South Africa: Defence procurement system a prevalent challenge: Minister Modise

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise has acknowledged that the single most prevalent problem in the department is the defence procurement system.

We simply cannot continue with non-compliance in the procurement of goods and services. We have agreed that any form of corrupt activity must be rooted out and pursued vigorously.

The Minister was speaking during the debate on the Defence and Military Veterans Budget Vote on Tuesday.

According to Modise, she has since instructed the Accounting Officer to conduct a complete and rigorous review of the whole procurement system, identify the root causes, and put in place a robust and high-integrity procurement system.

In the main, this has not happened, as we are awaiting the new Procurement Bill by National Treasury, which will have a significant impact on the way forward.

Nonetheless, there has been some progress in that the Acting Secretary for Defence has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the National School of Government to enhance procurement training.

The Minister believes that effective governance and accountability cannot be achieved if the defence procurement system is not modernised and digitised.

As a national security organ, it is incumbent upon the department to ensure digital sovereignty over the information it manages.

She said her department has since agreed that consequence management is a Commanders function.

It is the Commanders responsibility to initiate the disciplinary process or register a criminal proceeding with the South African Police Service or the Military Police. Thereafter, a disciplinary system and/or criminal justice system must take its course.

I have made it abundantly clear to the department that wrongdoers will not be protected, that the investigations will be thorough and that the necessary consequences will be expedited. Where Commanders are tardy, it is incumbent on firstly the Chief of the SANDF and then the Accounting Officer to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the matters proceed speedily.

Shifting her focus to material irregularity, as well as other high-level reports by the Auditor General (AG), the Public Protector, the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) and the Hawks, she said the Accounting Officer must take immediate steps to expedite the required consequence management.

The reputation of the Department of Defence hinges on this matter.

According to the Minister, the department received a qualified audit opinion on four balances from the AG in the 2021/22 financial year.

Excluding matters related to the underfunding of Compensation of Employees (COE) during the 2022/23 financial year, the department incurred unaudited irregularities.

These include R1 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure and R475 million in irregular expenditure.

In addition, the department received nine material irregularities from the AG at the end of the same financial year.

The department also had a qualified audit opinion on the completeness of the its movable tangible assets.

To date, Modise said a considerable amount of the current R126 billion assets have been physically verified for existence.

This situation is less than satisfactory. The root causes are threefold The department is running legacy common IT [information and technology] systems that are unable to integrate and blend financial and logistics information.

In addition, the Minister told Parliament that the corporate structure for asset management within the logistics division was inadequate.

She also raised concerns about some unit Commanders who are not performing their responsibilities regarding resource management.

Furthermore, a special audit needs to be done on all firearms, weapons and other statutory items in the department.

The Minister said the legacy common IT systems in the department are fragile and a material risk to the department.

These legacy systems are not integrated. They are not compliant with the standards of the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act], and they do not support good governance and accountability.

I instructed the department to make a strategic assessment of this matter and to come to the Council on Defence on a Defence Digital Strategy for the way forward, including considering bespoke Defence Enterprise Systems in the interim.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-05-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China's new ambassador assumes office in the United States

CGTN) 09:25, May 24, 2023

Ambassador Xie Feng, the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the United States of America, arrived in the United States on Tuesday to assume office.

The ambassador met with Chinese and foreign reporters at the arrival hall in the JFK International Airport in New York.

"At present, the China-US relationship is faced with serious difficulties and challenges. My appointment means to me not only honor, but also enormous responsibilities," Xie said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
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TROUTMAN  Case Farms, a fully integrated poultry farming and processing group, has awarded more than $37,500 in scholarships this year to 13 children of Case Farms employees through the J. Leroy Cook Memorial Scholarship Program.

To date, Case Farms has awarded more than $270,000 in college scholarships to more than 90 children of its employees.

Established in 2006 by Case Farms founder Thomas Shelton, the memorial scholarship encourages the pursuit of a post-secondary education and recognizes each students dedication to academic success and community involvement. The award honors long-time Case Farms employee J. Leroy Cook, a former senior vice president of operations at the company. Through the program, awards are made on behalf of each student to their respective college or university.

Case Farms is grateful to be able to award these scholarships to 13 of our team members children to help pursue their educational dreams, said Mike Popowycz, vice chairman and CEO of Case Farms. We congratulate these outstanding students for their hard work in academics and their communities. We remain committed to assisting our Case Farms family members gain the educational opportunities they need to succeed in todays competitive marketplace.

The recipients of the 2023 J. Leroy Cook Memorial Scholarship are:

Gibely Estrada Cisneros

is the daughter of Fulvia Estrada, a team member from the Morganton facility. Gibely is attending Eastern Carolina University, where she is pursuing a degree in psychology.

Qisheng Xie

is the son of Ningzhand Xie, a team member from the Morganton facility. Qizheng is attending Columbia University and pursuing a degree in engineering.

Sierra Davenport

is the daughter of James Davenport, a team member from the Morganton. Sierra is attending Elizabeth City State University, pursuing a degree in Kinesiology exercise science.

Tushar Joshi

is the son of Neeraz Joshi, a team member from the Morganton facility. Tushar is attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is pursuing a degree in neuroscience.

Sarene Roland

is the daughter of Steve Roland, a team member from the Troutman office. Sarene is attending Western Piedmont Community College, pursuing a degree in visual arts.

Jagger Zeidel

is the son of Janet Rzucidlo, a team member from the Troutman office. Jagger is attending Central Piedmont Community College and pursuing a degree in electrical engineering.

Jocelyn Hunter

is the daughter of Jill Hunter, a team member from the Troutman office. Jocelyn is attending Queens University of Charlotte to pursue a degree in creative writing.

Ashley Luckadoo

is the daughter of Ronald Luckadoo, a team member from the Shelby Feed Mill. Ashley is attending the University of North Carolina School of the Arts to pursue a degree in filmmaking.

Chelsea Walters

is the daughter of Darren Walters, a team member from the Shelby Feed Mill. Chelsea is attending Gardner-Webb University, where she is pursuing a degree in nursing.

Richard Montesinos

is the son of Ramiro Zamara, a team member from the Goldsboro facility. Richard is attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to pursue a degree in business administration.

Cameryn Reavis

is the daughter of David Reavis, a team member from the Olin research farm. Cameryn is attending Gaston College, where she is pursuing a degree in veterinary medical technology.

Courtney Reavis

is the daughter of David Reavis, a team member from the Olin research farm. Courtney is attending Mitchell College, where she is pursuing a degree in nursing.

Prativa Rai

is the daughter of Suk Rai, a team member from the Winesburg, Ohio facility. Prativa is attending Kent State University where she is pursuing a degree in psychology.

Being selected for this scholarship gives me the peace of mind knowing that I have the support to further my education, as well as a sense of pride for being chosen for this scholarship, said Richard Montesinos, scholarship winner.

Ashley Luckadoo, scholarship winner added, Receiving this scholarship has enabled me to take the first steps toward achieving my dream without worrying about the financial burden that comes with it. Moreover, the scholarship is more than just financial aid since it represents the faith and trust that people have in my abilities and potential.

Scholarship recipients underwent a competitive process, completing a detailed questionnaire that was evaluated by a scholarship committee of independent professionals outside of Case Farms.

Founded in 1986, Case Farms is a fully integrated poultry farming and processing group that processes 3.7 million birds per week, has more than 3,300 dedicated team members, and produces in excess of 1.1 billion pounds of fresh, partially cooked and frozen-for-export poultry products per year. The company has operations or offices in Ohio and North Carolina. For more information on Case Farms, visit www.casefarms.com.
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Editors note: Calendar items must be submitted at least five days before an event. Email all items to news@morganton.com.

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.
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WASHINGTON  Debt ceiling negotiators for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traded more budget-cutting ideas at the Capitol Tuesday, but Republicans warned of a lack of urgency at the White House to resolve the standoff in time to avert a potentially chaotic federal default.

With barely a week to go before a deadline as soon as June 1, the Democratic president and the Republican speaker were staring down a financial crisis. Failure to strike a deal would be unprecedented, and certain to throw U.S. financial markets into turmoil, inflicting economic pain at home and abroad. Markets sank Tuesday with no deal in sight.

Were not there yet, McCarthy said at the Capitol, reiterating he wont bring any bill forward that doesnt spend less than we spent this year.

Behind closed doors, McCarthy urged his slim House Republican majority to just stick together despite their own factions as he negotiates the strongest deal possible for conservatives, said lawmakers exiting the private session.

He told reporters the teams are eyeing creative ways of rolling back spending that all sides can accept.

I believe we can still get there  and get there before June 1, McCarthy, R-Calif., said at midday.

Dragging into a third week, the negotiations over raising the nation's debt limit, now at $31 trillion, were never supposed to arrive at this point.

From the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was ridiculous to suggest Biden wasnt acting with urgency. He wants to see this done as soon as possible, she said.

The White House insisted early on it was unwilling to barter over the need to pay the nation's bills, demanding that Congress simply lift the ceiling as it has done many times before with no strings attached.

But the newly elected speaker urged the president at an Oval Office meeting in February to come to the negotiating table on a budget package that would reduce spending to reduce ballooning deficits in the post-COVID era in exchange for the vote to allow future debt.

Both men said after a crucial meeting late Monday at the White House  after the president returned from the Group of Seven summit in Japan  that talks were productive.

But with time short to strike a deal, they are laboring to come up with a compromise that could be approved quickly by the Republican House and the Democratic Senate and be signed into law.

Negotiations are focused on finding agreement over a 2024 budget year limit. Republicans have set aside their demand to rollback spending to 2022 levels, but say that next years government spending must be less than it is now. But the White House instead is offering to freeze spending at current 2023 numbers.

Agreement on that topline spending level is vital. It would enable McCarthy to deliver spending restraint 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.

We are holding firm to the speakers red line, said a top Republican negotiator, Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana. Which is that we will not do a deal unless it spends less money than were spending this year.

The White House continues to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president at their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes is off the table.

The negotiators are now also debating the duration of a 1% cap on annual spending growth going forward, with Republicans dropping their demand for a 10-year cap to six years, but the White House offering only one year, for 2025.

Typically, the debt ceiling has been lifted for the duration of a budget deal, and in this negotiation the White House is angling for a two-year agreement that would push past the presidential elections.

Another main Republican negotiator, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who joined the speaker at the Oval Office Monday evening, said, What I sense from the White House is a lack of urgency.

But on the Senate side, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said, Look, I think everybody needs to relax.

Traveling in his home state of Kentucky, McConnell said of the back and forth, "This is not that unusual.

However, time is growing short. The House speaker promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the weekend  just days before the potential deadline. The Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden's desk to be signed.

McCarthy faces a hard-right flank in his own party that is likely to reject any deal, and that has led some Democrats to encourage Biden to resist any compromise with the Republicans and simply invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own, an unprecedented and legally fraught action the president has resisted for now.

On Tuesday, the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus Rep. Scott Perry said: We all want to stick together. But again, its sticking together around the right thing.

He and others are skeptical of the June 1 deadline that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said is when it is highly likely the government will be unable to pay all the nations bills.

Treasury said Tuesday it is keeping in close contact with federal agencies on their planned spending as it monitors cashflows.

Cities with the most homes for sale Cities with the most homes for sale #10. Surprise, Arizona #9. Tampa, Florida #8. Portland, Oregon #7. Port St. Lucie, Florida #6. Las Vegas #5. Atlanta #4. Orlando, Florida #3. Scottsdale, Arizona #2. Miami #1. Cape Coral, Florida
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CANNES, France  It was well into the process of making "Killers of the Flower Moon" that Martin Scorsese realized it wasn't a detective story.

Scorsese, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and screenwriter Eric Roth had many potential avenues in adapting David Grann's expansive nonfiction history, "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI." The film that Scorsese and company premiered Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival, however, wasn't like the one they initially set out to make.

The film, which will open in theaters in October, chronicles the series of killings that took place throughout the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. The Osage were then enormously rich from oil on their land, and many white barons and gangsters alike sought to control and steal their money. Dozens of Osage Native Americans were killed before the FBI, in its infancy, began to investigate.

DiCaprio had originally been cast to star as FBI agent Tom White. But after mulling the project over, Scorsese decided to pivot.

"I said, 'I think the audience is ahead of us," Scorsese told reporters in Cannes on Sunday. "They know it's not a whodunit. It's a who-didn't-do-it."

The shift, filmmakers said, was largely driven from collaboration with the Osage. Osage Nation Chief Standing Bear, who consulted on the film, praised the filmmakers for centering the story instead on Mollie (Lily Gladstone) and her husband Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), the tragic romance at the heart of Scorsese's epic of insidious American ethnic exploitation.

"Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese, 'How are you going to approach the story? He said I'm going to tell a story about trust, trust between Mollie and Ernest, trust between the outside world and the Osage, and the betrayal of those trusts," said Chief Standing Bear. "My people suffered greatly and to this very day those effects are with us. But I can say on behalf of the Osage, Marty Scorsese and his team have restored trust and we know that trust will not be betrayed."

"Killers of the Flower Moon," the most anticipated film to debut at this year's Cannes, instead became about Ernest, who Scorsese called "the character the least is written about."

DiCaprio, who ceded the character of White to Jesse Plemons, said "Killers of the Flower Moon" reverberates with other only recently widely discussed dark chapters of American history.

"This story, much like the Tulsa massacre, has been something that people have started to learn about and started to understand is part of culture, part of our history," said DiCaprio. "After the screenplay, from almost an anthropological perspective  Marty was there everyday  we were talking to the community, trying to hear the real stories and trying to incorporate the truth."

"Killers of the Flower Moon" premiered Saturday to largely rave reviews and thunderous applause nearly 50 years after Scorsese, as a young filmmaker, was a sensation at Cannes. His "Taxi Driver" won the Palme d'Or in 1976.

Among the most-praised performances has been that of Gladstone, who is Blackfeet and Nimiipuu, and grew up in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2004.

"These artistic souls on this stage here cared about telling a story that pierces the veil of what society tells us we're supposed to care about and not," said Gladstone, who singled out Scorsese. "Who else is going to challenge people to challenge their own complicity in white supremacy in such a platform except as this man here?"

"We're speaking of the 1920s Osage community. We're talking about Black Wall Street and Tulsa. We're talking about a lot in our film," she continued. "Why the hell does the world not know about these things? Our communities always have. It's so central to everything about how we understand our place in the world."

In the film, Robert De Niro plays a wealthy baron who's particularly adept at plundering the Osage. Speaking on Sunday, De Niro was still mulling his character's motivations.

"There's a kind of feeling of entitlement," said De Niro. "It's the banality of evil. It's the thing that we have to watch out for. We see it today, of course. We all know who I'm going to talk about but I won't say the name. Because that guy is stupid. Imagine if you're smart?"

A minute later, De Niro resumed: "I mean, look at Trump," referring to former President Donald Trump.

With a running time well over three hours and a budget from Apple of $200 million, "Killers of the Flower Moon" is one of Scorsese's largest undertakings. Asked where he gets the gumption for such risks, the 80-year-old director didn't hesitate.

"As far as taking risks at this age, what else can I do?" said Scorsese. "'No, let's go do something comfortable.' Are you kidding?"
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Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy calls them my big three.

Hes referring to three of his bills that were signed into law earlier this week.

One codifies parts of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law. A second brings transparency and accountability to Indian Education for All. And the third revises the Montana Indian Language Preservation program, elevating the role of tribal governments.

I feel good about it, Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, said about the passage of his legislation. This session for me has been all about accountability. I think thats part of the reason why these bills were so successful  because people wanted accountability.

Bill 1: Montana Indian Child Welfare Act

House Bill 317, dubbed the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act, applies parts of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to state law.

The federal Indian Child Welfare Act, known as ICWA, dictates how Native children are placed in foster or adoptive homes. The law was enacted in 1978 in response to decades of state child welfare and private adoption agencies separating Native children from their families.

Several states have enacted ICWA protections into state law, including Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Iowa, Michigan, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington and Wyoming.

Supporters say codifying ICWA has become especially important as a looming federal Supreme Court case threatens to upend the law. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in July, and legal experts, tribal leaders and advocates say if the court were to undermine ICWA, the consequences would be dire. They argue Indigenous families would be separated at higher rates, tribes would risk losing members to assimilation, and other protections for Native Americans  including tribal sovereignty itself  could be at risk.

But because Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB 317, Montanans have additional protection from a Supreme Court ruling. Specifically, this legislation commits the state to prevent, when possible, out-of-home placements for Native children that are inconsistent with the rights of their parents and the interest of tribes. It prioritizes placements that preserve and honor a childs tribal culture and connections.

Windy Boys bill received strong support from the public in its committee hearings. At one hearing, more than 30 people  many of whom traveled hundreds of miles to the Capitol  testified in support of the legislation. Supporters spoke of harm caused by tactics used to assimilate Native Americans and explained that children play an integral role in tribal communities.

The bill also faced fierce criticism from lawmakers across the aisle. In a heated discussion on the Senate floor, one Republican lawmaker suggested striking the word Indian from the bill; others said they wanted to wait for the Supreme Court to issue a ruling.

The initial opposition had been very strong right from the get-go, Windy Boy said. Im glad I had enough moderates and Republicans with common sense that knew this was the right thing to do.

Sharen Kickingwoman, Blackfeet and Aaniii and Organizing Director at ACLU of Montana, said the passage of Montana ICWA is a true testament to the power of community and grassroots community building.

Montana ICWA is a much needed answer to the disproportionate representation of Native children in our states system, and offers key protections to ensure cultural sovereignty and connection, she said.

Frank Edwards, an assistant professor at Rutgers University who studies child welfare, said one of every four Native American children in Montana have a lifetime risk for being in foster care and more than one in 10 Native 1-year-olds are in foster care in the state.

Bill 2: Indian Education for All

Another one of Windy Boys bills that became law, House Bill 338, will bring transparency and accountability to Indian Education for All.

Enacted by the Legislature in 1999, Indian Education for All (IEFA) requires recognition of Native American culture and a commitment in the state's educational goals to preserve Indigenous culture and heritage. Montana was the first state to constitutionally mandate Indigenous education, but some say the law has not been adequately implemented.

Windy Boys bill establishes new requirements, stating that if a district fails to file an annual report, it will be ineligible to receive funding until the report is filed.

My issue is that these schools received IEFA funds that are supposed to be used for the IEFA curriculum, and they arent used that way, Windy Boy said, adding that one school allegedly used the funds to give teachers raises.

Windy Boy said the legislation was especially important given an ongoing court case. Tribes in Montana and parents of 18 students in 2021 filed a lawsuit alleging that education leaders failed to teach the culture and heritage of Native Americans, and therefore violated the Constitution. Earlier this month, a judge refused to dismiss the suit.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, was a strong advocate for the bill and said IEFA has helped tremendously in revitalizing tribal languages.

Patrick Yawakie, who lobbied on behalf of the Blackfeet Nation this session, said with IEFA, we have the ability to ensure Native American culture and identity are being taught to students in Montana schools.

He added that even in the Legislature, a lack of education among lawmakers on Native policies, culture and treaties furthered stereotypes and impacted how people voted.

We need IEFA to ensure future Montanans, especially our political representation, carry these understandings with them wherever they go, he said.

Bill 3: Montana Indian Language Program

Windy Boys third bill that became law concerns the Montana Indian Language Preservation program.

Established by the Legislature in 2013, the program, called MILP, was created to revitalize Native languages traditionally spoken in the state. The program allows each tribe to produce resources that will help perpetuate language usage.

U.S. assimilation and termination policies have contributed to widespread language loss in tribal communities. A Montana Budget and Policy Center report states that Montana is home to 12 tribal languages, and of those, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre and Montana Salish are critically endangered, meaning the youngest speakers are elders and they often speak the language partially or infrequently.

Windy Boy, Chippewa Cree, said there are 20 to 25 fluent Cree speakers left, and with the passing of Duncan Standing Rock in 2021, there are now zero fluent Ojibwe speakers.

His bill emphasizes the preservation of Native languages through partnerships among tribal governments and schools and highlights the roles of tribal education and culture departments.

If were supposed to teach kids about Natives, where do we get that information? Windy Boy said. That was the intent of this bill  to collect that information from the tribes so theres a resource for schools.

The bill also stipulates that any cultural and intellectual property rights from the program belong to the tribe.

In previous sessions, funding for MILP had been one-time only, meaning it had to be renegotiated each session. But Windy Boy said that this year, for the first time, the MILP bill has no sunset date, meaning it will not have to be renegotiated.

Its become permanent, he said, referencing funding for the program. That part is huge.

'Super minority'

Windy Boy said as a Native American and Democratic lawmaker, hes part of a super minority in Montanas Legislature, which has a Republican supermajority.

When asked how he was able to advance these three major bills for Indian Country, Windy Boy said strategy is key.

I learned early in my career that the one thing you dont want to do is you dont want to B.S. anybody, he said. You gotta be real. Be genuine and tell it like it is. I take a position, and stick with it. Thats probably why I get along with Republicans. I know where theyre coming from, and they know where Im coming from.

Given the supermajority, Windy Boy said he was surprised to see the big three pass.

But Im thankful, he said. Because this legislation is needed.
By Natalie Copeland | May 24, 2023

Dean David Whaley speaks to graduating students at the annual College of Education and Human Services Honors Luncheon on May 12.

MURRAY, Ky.  On May 12, Murray State Universitys College of Education and Human Services (COEHS) held its annual Honors Luncheon to recognize graduating student teachers and outstanding seniors in the college.

Reflecting on the event, the COEHS Dean, Dr. David Whaley, expressed that the Honors Luncheon for our graduating seniors is one of our signature events in this college. These students have worked for years to arrive at this moment, and we want to be with them to acknowledge their achievements. Whether they go on to become teachers, social workers, counselors, speech language pathologists, criminal justice practitioners or more, we join them in celebrating their graduation as they move on to the next chapters of their lives. This college is immensely proud of our graduates and we wish them the very best.

Each academic department nominated outstanding seniors and student teachers, who were then presented with College-branded swag, plaques and certificates.

The honorees are listed below:

Outstanding COEHS Student Teaching - Teacher Performance Assessment Awards, presented by Dr. Alesa Walker, Director of Teacher Education Services Fae Harrell of Columbia, Illinois Jenny Mays of Wingo, Kentucky Kayla Ross of Madisonville, Kentucky

Department of Adolescent, Career, & Special Education - presented by Dr. Kemaly Parr, Department Chair, and Dr. Kelly Rogers, Program Coordinator for Health and Physical Education Outstanding Senior in Career and Technical Education - Caryl Lyn Akers of Versailles, Kentucky Outstanding Senior in Middle School Education - Hannah Corbin of Madisonville, Kentucky Outstanding Senior in Health & Physical Education - Reed S. York of Murray, Kentucky Outstanding Scholarship Student in Learning & Behavior Disorders - Payton Carter of Henderson, Kentucky Outstanding Senior in Learning & Behavior Disorders - Katie Myers of St. Louis, Missouri

Department of Community Leadership & Human Services - presented by Dr. Katy Hancock, Department Chair Outstanding Senior in Criminal Justice - Kelli Gore of Browder, Kentucky Outstanding Senior in Criminal Justice - Caleb Walden of Arrowsmith, Illinois Outstanding Criminal Justice Student Leader - Jennifer Armstrong of Barnhart, Missouri Outstanding Senior in Social Work - Tiffany Prince of Fort Stewart, Georgia Outstanding Senior in Social Work - Kenneth Samples of Paducah, Kentucky Outstanding Member in the Student Association of Social Workers - Hunter Barrows of Murray, Kentucky

Department of Early Childhood & Elementary Education - presented by Dr. Stephanie Sullivan, Department Chair Outstanding Senior in Elementary Education - Jenny Mays of Wingo, Kentucky Outstanding Senior in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education - Heather Vance of Madisonville, Kentucky

Department of Educational Studies, Leadership, and Counseling - presented by Dr. Justin Brogan, Program Coordinator for Human Services Outstanding Senior in Human Services - Chelsea Marie Shoebottom of Lincolnton, Georgia

Teacher Education Services & College of Education and Human Services Dean's Office - presented by Dr. David Whaley, COEHS Dean Outstanding Student Teacher Award - Kayla Ross of Madisonville, Kentucky Outstanding Student Teacher Award - Lauren Fuqua of Owensboro, Kentucky Donald B. Hunter Distinguished Service Award - Grace Gibson of Milan, Tennessee



The COEHS congratulates all of its seniors on their graduation. Photos from the event can be viewed on the COEHS Facebook page at facebook.com/murraystcoehs. For more information about the COEHS please visit murraystate.edu/coehs.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nations largest drug distributors to keep shipping addictive painkillers for nearly four years despite a judges recommendation to strip its license for turning a blind eye to thousands of suspicious opioid orders. The DEA did not respond to questions about its handling of Morris & Dickson Co. or the involvement of a key consultant the company had hired who is now the DEA's second-in-command. But the delay has raised concerns about how the revolving door may be impacting the DEAs mission to police drug companies blamed for thousands of overdose deaths.
The Chinese government has defended its ban on products from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. in some computer systems after Washington expressed concern. The dispute adds to strains over technology and security. The foreign ministry said the security review of Micron products was conducted in accordance with the law. The government says Micron products have unspecified security risks but gave no details. That came after Washington, Japan and the Netherlands blocked Chinese access to technology to make advanced processor chips on security grounds at a time when the ruling Communist Party is threatening to attack Taiwan and is more assertive toward its other Asian neighbors.
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After searching for two years for the perfect piece of land for a joint city/county law enforcement training area, local departments may soon have their practice range.

During Mondays meeting, the Muscatine County Supervisors approved a 50% match to help construct a training facility for law enforcement. Muscatine Police Chief Tony Kies and Muscatine County Sheriff Quinn Riess discussed the project with the supervisors. Kies commented that, for him, the project is about five years old after the former range was abandoned.

Today, I am looking for a financial commitment on a range and a training facility that is going to cost approximately $2 million, Kies said. This training facility will be used to conduct a lot of mandatory trainings and qualifications for both county deputies and city officers.

If the county moves ahead with the project, the money would be bonded during next years budget. If cash was needed prior to that, the city would cover it. Supervisor Jeff Sorenson questioned if a public referendum would be needed to bond for the project. Two of the supervisors said they were in favor of the project but did not know where the money would come from. The city has already committed up to $750,000.

Kies said at this time he is unable to discuss the location or the exact price of the facility. He said he would be able to discuss acreage and pricing in closed session. He did say earlier in the meeting that the cost of the land was expected to be about $75,000, but the land being considered is selling for $43,000. The cost will be shared between the city and county.

He explained there is no facility in the county to take 24 officers for trainings. Sometimes only a few officers would be able to go to training. The new facility would allow all of them to participate.

The current plan is the range ground will be about 15 acres and have a 60-foot by 60-foot building that can be used for other training. This may include the use of batons or other use-of-force training. Kies said personnel currently has to be sent out of county to get such training.

He said many people have to go to Des Moines for training, and some have to go as far away as Kentucky. Having the facility in the county would allow instructors to be brought in. The facility will not be open to the public.

It would be great if by next spring we could start building this facility, Kies said.

After the range is constructed, Kies said other agencies in the area would be contacted to see if they wanted to buy in to use the facility. He also told the supervisors that grant money is limited at this time.

About 18 months ago, the supervisors had approved allowing a survey to be done to determine which properties in the county matched the criteria for the training facility.

A glimpse at the 2023 Quad Cities Law Enforcement Memorial Service
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KYIV, Ukraine  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhins comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In Washington, Kirby speculated Wednesday on Prigozhin's motives.

And its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces killed civilians.

In what it says is likely a low estimate, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.

Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.
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ORLANDO, Fla.  The largest LGBTQ+ rights organization in the U.S. joined other civil rights organizations Tuesday in issuing a travel advisory for Florida, warning that newly passed laws and policies may pose risks to minorities, immigrants and gay travelers.

The Human Rights Campaign joined the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Florida Immigrant Coalition and Equality Florida in issuing travel or relocation warnings for the Sunshine State, one of the most popular states for tourists to visit in the U.S.

While the LGBTQ+ advocacy group said it wasn't calling for a boycott or making a blanket recommendation against visiting Florida, it said it wanted to highlight new laws passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature that it said are hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, restrict abortion access and allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

"Those who visit must join us in their vocal opposition to these dangerous policies," Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. "Those who pick another place to work, to go to school or to spend their vacation should make clear why they're not heading to Florida."

Last weekend, the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, issued its advisory warning that recent laws and policies championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers are "openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals."

After the NAACP made its announcement, DeSantis' spokesman, Jeremy Redfern, called the travel advisory "nothing more than a stunt."

"As Governor DeSantis announced last week, Florida is seeing record-breaking tourism," Redfern said in a statement.

More than 137.5 million tourists visited Florida last year, surpassing levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Visit Florida, the state's tourism promotion agency. Tourism supports 1.6 million full-time and part-time jobs, and visitors spent $98.8 billion in the state in 2019, according to last year's figures.

LGBTQ+ individuals are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Here's what the data shows LGBTQ+ individuals are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Here's what the data shows In 2017, guns were involved in nearly 3 in 5 bias-motivated homicides against LGBTQ+ people. Nearly 1 in 5 hate crimes are due to sexuality or gender-identity bias LGBTQ+ people are 2.5 times more likely to be victims of violence involving a weapon than straight, cisgender people 3 in 4 homicides of transgender people involved a gun from 2017 to 2019 With 57 tracked killings, 2021 was the deadliest year recorded for the transgender and nonbinary communities
Half of the people in the U.S. support the Pentagons ongoing supply of weapons to Ukraine for its defense against Russian forces. That's according to a new survey by the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and NORC. The survey finds American support for Washington's backing of Ukraine has ebbed slightly since the war began 15 months ago. But U.S. public support for Ukraine's defense remains strong. Samuel Charap is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corp. research center. He says, Theres no ground-swelling of American Ukraine fatigue here, and that has always been the fear."
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BERLIN (AP)  German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries.

Members of the group have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change. In recent weeks, they have brought traffic to a halt on an almost daily basis in Berlin, gluing themselves to busy intersections and highways. Over the past year, they have also targeted various artworks and exhibits.

The raids, ordered by Munich prosecutors, come days after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he thought it was completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street." Leading figures with the environmentalist Green party, part of his governing coalition, have also said the group's actions are counterproductive.

A spokesperson for Last Generation said that the police searches had hit the group and its supporters hard, but that it wouldn't let up its activities.

They make us afraid, but we must not be frozen by fear, Aimee van Baalen told reporters in Berlin.

The German government is right now driving us toward climate hell with its eyes wide open. It is even stepping on the gas pedal, she said. We must continue to resist now, because we need to loudly demand that lives be protected.

Hundreds of people joined a protest march in Berlin against the raids and further rallies were planned in other German cities.

One protester, Chaim, who declined to give his last name for fear of legal repercussions, said he felt the crackdown against climate activists was politically motivated. It's wrong and dangerous, he said.

Last Generation has acknowledged in the past that its protests are provocative, but argues that by stirring friction it can encourage debate about climate change and the policies necessary to stop it.

Germanys top court ruled two years ago that the previous government was placing too much of the burden from global warming on young people, prompting then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to sharpen climate targets. Experts say that while Germany now has some of the most ambitious targets for cutting emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gas, the country isn't on track to meet them.

The investigation by Munich prosecutors is focused on seven people, ranging in age from 22 to 38, who are suspected of forming or supporting a criminal organization. The investigation was launched following numerous criminal complaints from the public over the past year, prosecutors said.

The Bavarian inquiry adds to an investigation launched last year by prosecutors in Neuruppin, outside Berlin, over actions against an oil refinery in eastern Germany. That investigation is also considering suspicions that Last Generation activists formed a criminal organization, a label that some conservative-leaning regional officials have backed.

Munich prosecutors said that the people under investigation are accused of organizing and promoting a campaign to finance further criminal offenses by the group, and collecting at least 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million). Two of them also are suspected of trying to sabotage an oil pipeline that connects the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt with the Italian port of Trieste in April 2022.

Wednesday's searches, accompanied by orders to seize two bank accounts and other assets, aimed to secure evidence on the membership structure of Last Generation and on its financing. There were no arrests.

Other environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace criticized the raids and accused the government of trying to criminalize peaceful climate protesters.

Carla Hinrich, a prominent member of Last Generation who has taken part in numerous televised debates with German politicians, said she was woken by police who entered her apartment with guns drawn. Prosecutors confirmed that her flat was raided but declined to comment on police tactics.

Germanys top security official insisted that the raids were necessary.

Legitimate protest always ends where crimes are committed and the rights of others are infringed, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, noting that police registered 1,600 criminal complaints in connection with climate protests in 2022, many of them during road blockades conducted by Last Generation.

Climate activists have received support from various corners, including some Christian groups. A Jesuit priest was fined earlier this month for taking part in road blockades, and Wednesday's news conference by Last Generation was hosted by the Protestant Reformation Church in Berlin.

A representative of the congregation, Steve Rauhut, praised Last Generation for keeping its protests peaceful.

The climate disaster and environmental destruction not only justify civil disobedience, they make it an imperative, he said.

Similar nonviolent climate protests elsewhere in Europe have also met with crackdowns recently.

The U.K. government gave police in England and Wales new powers earlier this month to respond to the disruptive tactics used by climate activists. Protesters who lock themselves together or to buildings or objects can face up to six months in prison. Interfering with railways, airports and refineries could lead to a year behind bars.

Punishments of climate protesters in the U.K. have varied widely to date.

Activists from the group Just Stop Oil who stormed the racetrack at last years British Grand Prix Formula 1 race were spared jail sentences. But two men who scaled a highway bridge over the River Thames east of London and unfurled a huge banner, causing the bridge to close for more than 40 hours, were each sentenced to more than two and a half years in prison.

In Italy, three members of the group Ultima Generazione face up to three years' imprisonment and fines for gluing their hands to the base of a sculpture in the Vatican Museums and ignoring gendarmes' orders to leave last year. This week the group staged other protests, including in front of the Italian Senate where two topless women poured mud over themselves in reference to the devastating recent floods in the country.

The Italian group is part of the international A22 activist network, which includes Last Generation in Germany and Britain's Just Stop Oil, and which receives support from the U.S.-based Climate Emergency Fund.

The fund, which counts oil heiress Aileen Getty and 'Don't Look Up' filmmaker Adam McKay on its board, says on its website that it gave more than $5.1 million to 44 organizations last year that are leading the way, galvanizing progress on climate through disruptive nonviolent activism around the world.

Nicole Winfield in Rome, Brian Melley in London and Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin, contributed to this report.
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The owners of a chain of medical spas in Iowa are suing an Urbandale nurse, claiming the woman has blocked them from accessing more than $420,000 in company assets.

MDJD Inc., an Illinois company, is suing Erica Parrish-Valdez in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

MDJD alleges that until last year, Skin Body Soul Management, or SBSM, owned and operated a chain of medical spas with locations in Ankeny, West Des Moines and Coralville. Like most medical spas, the Skin Body Soul outlets in Iowa offer customers a range of nonsurgical medical services including skin treatments, Botox and body-filler injections, and laser hair removal in a spa-like setting.

The chain allegedly contracted with Parrish-Valdez, a licensed nurse practitioner, to provide medical services to the spas Iowa customers and serve as the clinics medical director.

In February 2022, MDJD alleges, it purchased the Iowa spas from SBSM, and agreed to retain Parrish-Valdez as medical director. Less than a month later, MDJD claims, Parrish-Valdez resigned and was later replaced by Dr. Pedro Rodriguez.

The lawsuit alleges that six weeks ago, MDJD learned that Parrish-Valdez had placed a hold on the bank account the company had been using for the past year to pay its expenses.

The bank account in question holds $421,598, the lawsuit alleges, and without access to those funds MDJD will be unable to pay expenses, which could lead to employee layoffs and increased regulatory scrutiny.

Parrish-Valdez has allegedly ignored MDJDs pleas for assistance and refused to return phone calls from the bank to resolve the issue, the lawsuit claims.

MDJD is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order that will require Parrish-Valdez to have the bank remove the hold from the account and restore the companys access to the

State records indicate Parrish-Valdez is a practicing nurse whose license is in good standing with the Iowa Board of Nursing. She has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

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An ethanol plant in north-central Iowa failed to maintain its equipment to limit air pollution and repeatedly emitted harmful chemicals over the course of more than a year, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The department recently fined POET Bioprocessing, in Iowa Falls, the maximum administrative penalty of $10,000.

POET, based in South Dakota, has 33 facilities in eight states, according to its website. The company acquired the Iowa Falls site on the southwest edge of town from Flint Hills Resources in June 2021, according to a recent DNR administrative order.

Since then, the company has reported at least 10 instances of excess emissions to the DNR that were a result of its fermentation process.

That process involves yeast converting sugars in corn into ethanol. It emits carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants.

The DNR alleges that operators of the facility, which produces more than 115 million gallons of ethanol per year, have failed to adequately maintain and operate emissions-control devices, resulting in the excessive releases of acetaldehyde, acrolein, methanol and volatile organic compounds.

Actual harm to the environment and public health likely occurred due to the amount of pollutants that were emitted, the DNR order said.

Ethanol has been favored as a fuel that is blended with gasoline because it results in less pollution emissions from vehicles compared with unblended gasoline. The ethanol industry also creates greater demand and higher prices for Iowa corn.

POET is working with the agency to resolve the issues identified, the company said of the DNR. Sustainability is at the core of POETs mission, and we are dedicated to operating our facilities with excellence.

The excessive emissions POET reported to the DNR were the result of temporary failures of emissions control equipment, maintenance to the equipment or releases from a safety valve due to high pressures, the DNR order said.

In June 2022, the facility temporarily reduced its production rate in order to bring its emissions into compliance.

Further, the department said POET has postponed DNR-supervised compliance testing when the company knew the test would reveal a violation.

Postponing the compliance test to avoid a documented violation is considered credible evidence of a violation, the DNR said in a February 2022 notice.

The recent administrative order was a compromise negotiated between the company and the department. A letter from POET to the DNR in December that was part of the negotiation pushed back against the notion that the company was deliberately blocking the DNRs oversight when it delayed compliance tests.

POET Iowa Falls did not attempt to avoid DNR directly observing a noncompliant stack test to avoid a documented violation, the company said. POET Iowa Falls personnel attempted to mitigate and minimize an excess emissions event upon discovery. The team evaluated potential solutions and instead of continuing to operate in a potential excess emissions state, expeditiously implemented corrective action to lessen any negative impact on the environment.

The company has self-reported more than a dozen emissions violations to the DNR in the past year, most recently in January, according to state records.

The DNR order says POET must provide the department with a detailed explanation of excessive emissions in 2021 and 2022 and a plan to prevent similar emissions in the future.

The order requires more frequent emissions testing and precludes the company from delaying compliance tests that are overseen by DNR staff, unless the department agrees to the delay.

The company also agreed to pay the $10,000 fine and consistently maintain its equipment, the order said.

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The Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision rejecting a lawsuit against a police detective who pursued charges against a man later acquitted of sexual assault.

Joshua Venckus sued the City of Iowa City and Police Detective Andrew Rich for their role in his criminal prosecution in a rape case. Venckus alleged the case was pursued against him although he had what he described as an airtight alibi.

Ruling that Venckus malicious-prosecution claim could not succeed because the sexual assault charge was supported by probable cause throughout the proceedings, the justices affirmed the district courts decision to grant the city and the detective summary judgment in their favor.

The rape occurred on Feb. 16, 2013, at an Iowa City house rented by Venckus and others. A girl who attended a party there fell asleep on a couch in the main living room, only to be awakened by someone pinning her down and cutting off her breathing. She was eventually able to run out of the house, screaming for help.

Rich, the lead investigator on the case, went to the house where the occupants said Venckus was in Chicago that weekend. Police found evidence that someone had entered the house through a basement apartment window. Nearby, they found the wallet of a man named Ryan Markley.

Initially, the police focused their investigation on Markley. But DNA testing of the samples taken from the victim and her clothing eventually revealed two different male DNA profiles: that of Markley and Venckus.

Venckus told police he had been in Chicago that weekend with family and offered his bank card and cellphone to the detectives to verify his location. Bank records showed food and a movie ticket had been purchased in the Chicago area on February 15, the day before the attack. Venckus was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, though his claim of being in Chicago was supported by his roommates and family, as well as a Chicago-area lawyer who swore under oath that he had met with Venckus in his law office at about 2 p.m. the day before the assault.

At trial, a defense expert opined that DNA from Venckus blanket  which had been used to cover the victim when she went to sleep in the living room  had been transferred from Markley to the victim during the attack, saying the quantity of Venckus DNA on the victim wasnt consistent with him been the attacker.

The victims blood had been found on the inside of Markleys jeans, her skin cells had been found in the fly of his jeans, and Markleys skin cells had been found in the victims cervix, and Detective Rich testified there was no evidence that more than one person committed the crime. Still, Rich testified the evidence leaned more heavily toward Venckus being the perpetrator.

A plea deal was eventually reached with Markley, who entered a guilty plea to second-degree burglary and an Alford plea to a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse without injury, a misdemeanor offense. Rich was present at the meeting where the plea agreement was discussed and supported it, while the lead prosecutor opposed it and was overruled by her superiors.

Venckus case went to trial and a jury returned a verdict of not guilty. After his acquittal, Venckus sued Rich and the city for defamation, abuse of process and malicious prosecution. After the civil case was dismissed by the court, Venckus appealed, and an Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowed part of the case, alleging malicious prosecution, to move forward. But the district court eventually ruled in favor of the city and Rich in approving their request for summary judgment, stating the city and Rich had judicial-process immunity from such claims.

In affirming that decision on Friday, the justices noted the ongoing existence of probable cause in the case against Venckus.

DNA evidence linked Venckus directly to the crime; indeed, his DNA was found in the victims cervix, the court ruled. Also, other than an attorney whose visit with Venckus occurred more than twelve hours before the sexual assault, the individuals supporting Venckus Chicago-area alibi defense were exclusively friends and family. Venckus could not definitively say how he got to Chicago that weekend. No record of a bus ticket was found, and the friend who purportedly drove Venckus failed a polygraph test. Notably, Venckus replaced his cell phone the day after the attack.

The court added that none of this is to question the jury verdict in the case, but said a malicious-prosecution claim required a lack of probable cause. Probable cause existed here, the court stated. This is not a case where Detective Rich knowingly provided false information to the prosecutors or knowingly withheld material information.

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Council Bluffs police announced an arrest related to the death of a Council Bluffs woman reported missing in February.

Ivan Brammer, 61, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Wednesday on an outstanding warrant for abuse of a corpse and second degree theft. The warrant was issued Tuesday.

The crimes are alleged to be related to the disappearance of Ilene Gowan, 60, of Council Bluffs. Gowan's daughter reported her missing on Feb. 15 after her mother had not been seen or heard from since Feb. 13.

Gowan was last seen with Brammer, her former boyfriend, in his truck on Feb. 13. Her body was located on Feb. 26 in a roadside ditch near Crescent in the area of 152nd Street and Old Mormon Bridge Road.

Video evidence from city cameras and private businesses show Brammer's movements the morning of Feb. 13, while phone records indicate both he and Gowan were in the area of Carter Lake that morning, according to the Council Bluffs Police Department in an affidavit shared with news media.

When Brammer's truck is seen on camera returning to Council Bluffs that morning, "it appears something is different with the way Gowan is sitting or positioned in his truck," the affidavit states.

"At multiple locations with different angles and views, it appears Gowan is awkwardly slumped in the passenger seat," according to police.

Later that morning, phone records indicate both parties phones go "off network" at the same time. Brammer's truck is later seen returning home without Gowan. He is seen carrying unknown items from his truck to the dumpster at his apartment building.

Though Gowan was not seen in Brammer's truck after 11:20 a.m., messages were sent and received by her phone in the area of Gowan's residence after 1 p.m. that day.

Police report inconsistencies in Brammer's story across multiple interviews.

"Brammer's actions and activities are completely out of the ordinary following this event and he suddenly has his truck ... crushed and shredded at an auto recycler company," according to the arrest affidavit.

The State of Iowa Medical Examiners Office, after Gowans autopsy, indicated an unknown cause and manner of death. Gowan had multiple injuries on her body, but none determined to be life threatening, according to the medical examiner.

The investigation into the circumstances of Gowans death remains active.

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A parent who protested the Cedar Rapids school districts COVID-19 policies is now suing the school board for banning him from school property.

Russell Hotchkiss is suing the Cedar Rapids Community School District and its board in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, alleging retaliation in violation of his First Amendments rights under the U.S. Constitution as well as violations of the Iowa Open Meetings Law.

In court filings, Hotchkiss attorney, Alan Ostergren, claims that the school board, when faced with legitimate criticism for their overbroad, pointless, and harmful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, lashed out at Hotchkiss and permanently banned him from all school property.

The lawsuit alleges Hotchkiss had a son enrolled in Cedar Rapids Hiawatha Elementary School during the 2021-2022 school year. Believing the districts policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic were harmful to students, Hotchkiss attended a November 2021 school board meeting to share his views.

According to the lawsuit, Hotchkiss was pointed in his comments, but refrained from profanity, aggressive language, and any conduct that could be perceived as disruptive or threatening.

A video of the school board meeting shows Hotchkiss protesting the governments vaccine program for COVID-19 and the districts mask mandates, telling the board, COVID doesnt affect kids  that has been proven  It has been proven they actually lack development, they regress, when you mask them all day long. Thats why they did it to slaves back in the day. Muslims used to do it all the time. You guys baffle me. What is it going to take to cut our kids loose? Cut em loose.

A week later Hotchkiss met with the superintendent in her office to discuss his concerns in more detail. The lawsuit alleges the meeting ended amicably and the superintendent expressed no concerns about his behavior during the school board meeting.

Hotchkiss then signed up to speak at the districts Dec. 13, 2021, school board meeting. Because he wanted to say more than could be expressed within the five-minute limit for speakers, he recruited other individuals to sign up to speak at the meeting and then yield their time to him.

The process resulted in Hotchkiss addressing the board for 29 minutes, quoting from the Bible at times and denouncing vaccines and mask mandates.

Everyone I know who got the jab all got COVID, he told board members. If your vaccines work, why are we all wearing masks? You have brought these vaccines in here that have been proven to kill people.

Hotchkiss also threatened to sue the district for millions and hold the board members civilly and criminally liable if they did not change their polices. If this madness does not stop  and stop tonight  this will move forward. The line was drawn and you crossed it, he said. Take that vote tonight  if you dont, were coming.

Hotchkiss planned to attend the next school board meeting, which was scheduled for Jan. 10, 2022, but was met at the school district office by three police officers and served with a no-trespassing notice.

The notice banned Hotchkiss from appearing on school district property for any reason from that date forward. The notice informed Hotchkiss the ban was the result of your actions during the Nov. 15, 2021, and Dec. 13, 2021, Board of Education meetings, which, the notice said, included disruptive and threatening behavior towards Cedar Rapids Community School District school board members and staff.

The notice included a statement that Hotchkiss could communicate with school board members in writing and that as a parent he could communicate directly with the principal of Hiawatha Elementary School by telephone.

Hotchkiss has been unable to attend at least 38 regular school board meetings since receiving the notice, the lawsuit alleges, and so he has taken advantage of Iowas open enrollment laws to move his son to a neighboring school district.

In addition to the school board, the lawsuit also names as defendants Russ Bush, who was the spouse of former school Superintendent Noreen Bush, who died in October of last year, and Tawana Grover, who succeeded Noreen Bush as superintendent.

The lawsuit seeks damages of $1,000 to $2,500 for each violation of the Iowa Open Meetings Act that occurred as the result of the ban on Hotchkiss attendance.

The school district has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  A defiant House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday the debt ceiling standoff was not my fault as he sent Republican negotiators to the White House to finish out talks, but warned the two sides need more time as they try to reach a budget deal with President Joe Biden.

McCarthy said he remained optimistic they could reach an agreement before a deadline as soon as next week, when the Treasury Department could run out of cash to pay its bills. Financial markets are teetering as Washington edges closer to a debt default crisis that would be unprecedented in modern times, sending shockwaves around the globe.

Late in the day, Fitch Ratings agency placed the United States AAA credit on "ratings watch negative," warning of a possible downgrade because of what it called the brinkmanship and political partisanship over lifting the debt ceiling.

The White House blamed the Republicans led by McCarthy for risking a devastating default that would hit every single part of the country as they demand extreme" spending cuts that would hurt millions of Americans.

Were not going to default, McCarthy, R-Calif., assured.

The Republican speaker said the negotiators made some progress at the White House. "I want to work as hard as we can and not stop."

Debt ceiling negotiations are locked on a classic problem that has divided and disrupted Washington before, particularly the last time Republicans used the borrowing limit as leverage to extract priorities a decade ago: Republicans want to roll back federal government spending, while Biden and other Democrats do not.

From the White House, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre decried what the administration called a manufactured crisis set in motion by Republicans pushing extreme proposals that would hurt every single part of the country, whether youre in a red state or a blue state.

Time is short to strike a deal. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday that it seems almost certain that the United States would not make it past early June without defaulting. That would be catastrophic, as the government risks running out of cash to pay its bills as soon as June 1.

We are seeing some stress already in Treasury markets, Yellen said at a Wall Street Journal event.

Failure to raise the nations debt ceiling, now at $31 trillion, would risk a potentially chaotic federal default, almost certain to inflict economic turmoil at home and abroad. Anxious retirees and social service groups are among those making default contingency plans.

While Biden has ruled out, for now, invoking the 14th Amendment to raise the debt limit on his own, Democrats in the House announced they have all signed on to a legislative discharge process that would force a debt ceiling vote. But they need five Republicans to break with their party and tip the majority to set the plan forward.

Sign the bill! Democrats yelled on the House floor after Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., announced lawmakers could keep plans to recess on Thursday, but could be called back for votes.

Dragging into a third week, the negotiations over raising the nations debt limit were never supposed to arrive at this point.

The White House insisted early on it was unwilling to barter over the need to pay the nations bills, demanding that Congress simply lift the ceiling as it has done many times before with no strings attached.

The newly elected speaker visited Biden at the Oval Office in February, urging the president to come to the negotiating table on a budget package that would reduce spending and the nations ballooning deficits in exchange for the vote to allow future debt.

Cheered on by a hard-charging conservative House majority that hoisted him to power, McCarthy was not swayed by a White House counter-offer to freeze spending instead. A freeze is not going to work, McCarthy said.

We have to spend less than we spent last year. That is the starting point.

Negotiations are focused on finding agreement on a 2024 budget year limit. Republicans have set aside their demand to roll back spending to 2022 levels, but say that next years government spending must be less than it is now. But the White House instead offered to freeze spending at current 2023 numbers.

By sparing defense and some veterans accounts from reductions, the Republicans would shift the bulk of spending reductions to other federal programs, an approach that breaks a tradition in Congress of budget cap parity.

Agreement on that topline spending level is vital. It would enable McCarthy to deliver spending restraints 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.

But what, if anything, Democrats would get if they agreed to deeper spending cuts than Biden's team has proposed is uncertain.

McCarthy and his Republican negotiators said what the Democrats get is a debt ceiling increase  typically something both parties take responsibility for doing.

The problem is not the White House. The problem is Kevin McCarthy and the extreme Republicans, said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chair of the progressive caucus. They are the ones holding this economy hostage, that are putting all these cuts on the American people. The White House has continued to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president at their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes is off the table.

The negotiators are now also debating the duration of a 1% cap on annual spending growth going forward, with Republicans dropping their demand for a 10-year cap to six years, but the White House offering only one year, for 2025.

Republicans, however, are pushing additional priorities as the negotiators focus on the $100 billion-plus difference between the 2022 and 2023 spending plans as a place to cut.

They want to beef up work requirements for government aid to recipients of food stamps, cash assistance and the Medicaid health care program that the Biden administration says would impact millions of people who depend on assistance.

All sides have been eyeing the potential for the package to include a framework to ease federal regulations and speed energy project developments. They are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially been lifted.

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.

McCarthy promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the weekend  just days before the potential deadline. The Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden's desk to be signed.
Russian troops and security forces quashed an alleged cross-border raid from Ukraine in what appeared to be one of the most serious cross-border attacks since the war began. Russia's Defense Ministry claimed to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours. Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv portrayed it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions or to say with any certainty who was behind the attack or what the aims were. The battle took place in the Belgorod region, which is a Russian military hub with fuel and ammunition depots.
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has issued a notice to journalists and media houses regarding the promotion of gaming activities, including lotteries, betting, and gambling, on various media platforms.

In an official statement, MCK CEO David Omwoyo expressed concern over the growing prevalence of advertisements and promotions related to gaming activities, some of which are not licensed by the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB).

Omwoyo advised journalists, media practitioners, and media enterprises to ensure that only promotions and advertisements from gaming entities licensed by the BCLB are broadcasted on their platforms.

Additionally, Omwoyo urged journalists to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya, emphasizing the importance of writing fair, accurate, and unbiased stories on matters of public interest.
The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has launched a vigorous operation to target employers who fail to remit their monthly statutory funds.

The crackdown aims to address gaps in revenue collection and ensure uninterrupted operations of the fund.

Dr. Sam Kuhora, the acting Chief Executive Officer of NHIF, announced that the three-week exercise aims to collect Ksh 712 million in outstanding remittances, out of a total of Ksh 1.07 billion owed by employers.

During a consultative meeting with officials from the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu, Dr. Kuhora emphasized that this initiative will help settle pending bills and ensure NHIF beneficiaries continue to receive services at all accredited healthcare facilities.

Dr. Kuhora highlighted that 64% of the national insurers revenue is derived from contributions made by workers.

He said measures have been put in place to address loopholes affecting revenue collection, and engagements have been held with stakeholders through the Kenya Health Care Federation to address payment issues and challenges in the process.

NHIF expressed concern over reports of beneficiaries being denied services due to outstanding bills, which is a violation of contractual agreements with healthcare facilities.

Dr. Kuhora assured that all pending bills will be settled.

He further identified employer compliance as the primary challenge affecting revenue collection, along with instances of medical fraud.

COTU Secretary General, Dr. Francis Atwoli, noted that corruption is the major hurdle in service delivery.

He urged NHIF to take firm action against corruption to safeguard employee contributions.

Additionally, Awoli called for an audit of accredited health facilities to ensure that only those meeting the required standards are permitted to operate
On Tuesday, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja signed the Twin Cities Agreement with Alderman Hill-Lewis, the Mayor of Cape Town.

The agreement signifies a collaboration between Nairobi City and the City of Cape Town in South Africa, spanning across multiple sectors.

During the signing ceremony held at the City Hall, Governor Sakaja noted that Nairobi and Cape Town both hold significant positions as regional hubs within the African continent.

This partnership, coming hot on the heels of the removal of visa requirements between our two Countries, presents a great opportunity to our people.

The South and the East of Africa have come together to work together, Sakaja said.

Alderman Hill-Lewis on his part welcomed the initiative, highlighting the shared trajectory of both cities and their mutual mission to become the unrivaled economic and innovation hubs within their respective regions.

It was important to me that our first city-to-city co-operation agreement in this administration is with an African city, and Nairobi is the obvious choice. It is clear that we are both on a mission to become even more globally competitive and to stand out as the most attractive and convenient places to do business in our regions, the Mayor said

Lewis acknowledged that both Nairobi and Cape Town hold significant stature as tourism powerhouses on the African continent. He emphasized that these cities consistently attract a diverse array of visitors throughout the year and possess thriving well-developed film industries.

We can do so much more together. We can strengthen each others tourism markets. We can collaborate with each others film industries. We can double the trade between us, said Mayor Lewis.
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The St. Helena City Council voted May 17 in favor of a proposed 14,407-square-foot mansion on Madrona Avenue, overturning the Planning Commissions denial of the controversial project.

The council focused not on the size of the project  19,515 square feet including other structures  but on the citys design review standards and two general plan policies discouraging conversion of farmland to non-agricultural use and strictly limiting development on farmland.

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The commission ruled that the proposal violated both policies because of the net loss of 0.54 acre of ag land: 0.75 acres of vineyard will be replaced with 0.21 acres of orchard.

However, the council voted 3-1 to overturn the commissions denial.

Councilmember Anna Chouteau noted the city recently approved another residential project on Pratt Avenue that removed vineyard, but in that case the owners had already removed the vineyards before applying for their project. The Madrona applicants were seeking permission to do so.

We just allowed this other property to do the very same thing, Chouteau said. The only difference was that they took out the vineyard ahead of time. This owner could have done that and didnt.

Councilmember Lester Hardy noted inconsistencies in the zoning code. He also mentioned the importance of consistency and fairness.

If we find ourselves searching for a reason to deny a project that appears to comply with the rules we have in place, then what that tells us is we really need to change the rules, Hardy said.

The city is considering updating its zoning code to limit the size of new homes on ag-zoned land, but any new regulations wouldnt apply to the Madrona project. Chouteau suggested the city should impose those regulations as soon as possible.

Councilmember Billy Summers agreed. We should never get into this position again, he said.

Mayor Paul Dohring cast the only dissenting vote, deferring to the Planning Commissions ruling.

The Planning Commission got it right, he said.

City staff will come back to the council with a resolution overturning the commissions denial and adding one condition requiring transparent fencing along the vineyard portion of the property.

Vice Mayor Eric Hall recused himself from the vote because the project applicant, Joe Berchtold, donated $4,900 to Halls 2022 mayoral campaign.

City Attorney Ethan Walsh said Hall didnt have an actual conflict of interest because Berchtolds donation occurred before a new state law involving campaign contributions took effect. Hall decided to recuse himself anyway to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

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The lady selling cherries at our Farmers Market was telling me the difference between the two varieties she offered. She told me one was thick while the second was firm. I was bewildered; I didnt understand the distinction. She laughed and indicated she misspoke. The thicker-skinned one was actually soft as compared to the firmer one. Soft vs. firm was something I could understand. I bought the firm ones.

Lack of clarity in the words we use can cause us problems. These days, when public discourse seems coarser and when many commercial transactions are fraught with tension, fuzzy language makes life more difficult. Whether were buying something or trying to convince someone that our opinion is virtuous, thinking first about how were talking is as important as what were talking about.

It helps to learn the lingo. St. Helenans are inveterate travelers, yet Ive known several who tripped over airplane talk when trying to fly nonstop on a complicated itinerary. They mistakenly thought nonstop and direct meant the same thing. Not so. Nonstop is straightforward. Direct is different; it means the plane makes an intermediate stop and then continues to its final destination. Which ends up taking longer.

Businesses frequently forget that clear and vigorous language is typically the better choice. Theres nothing wrong with hiring and firing people. Theres little reason to use pretentious language like onboarding and terminating.

The spoken word can be more troublesome than the written. Either out of nervousness or habit we all at times throw into conversation um, like, you know. These are meaningless but frequent additions to whatever were trying to say.

An unnecessary and unpleasant current habit of speech is tossing in right? at the end of a statement. Its simply an annoying demand that your listener agree with you. On TV talk shows and interviews, speakers use it as a verbal crutch and they tend to use it over and over again. It accomplishes nothing, right?

People fall into repeating cliches without thinking. One pompous phrase is begging the question. People using it want to appear erudite, but it achieves nothing. A university philosophy department informs us that the fallacy of begging the question occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. Im not entirely sure what that really means, but it tells me to avoid using the phrase.

Both in conversation and writing, weve become afraid of language. That makes our statements sadly less colorful. Niggardly is a perfectly fine old English word. It means stingy or, according to Merriam-Webster, grudgingly mean about spending. It has nothing, zero, nada to do with the wretched N-word. Yet because niggardly appears similar to that obscenity, its disappeared from our common language.

Were much too afraid of straight talk and inadvertently offending people. That leads to censorship, which is running riot on both the left and right. That can be seen in absurd campaigns to remove books from high school libraries and disinviting lecturers whose opinions we might find offensive. Taking offense is annoyingly commonplace.

By contrast, the Cornell University librarian Elaine Westbrooks is one of those leaders fighting back. She says, Theres something in our collection to offend everybody, I promise you; thats exactly the way its supposed to be. Good for her! And we should note that Westbrooks is not a tired old pale white male, but an accomplished Black woman. We need to hear more influencers like her speaking up.

All the same, how we phrase our conversation makes a difference. It just requires a little forethought. Theres a subtle but definite difference between saying Youre stupid and Your argument is stupid. Oxford Languages reminds us that diplomacy is the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way. Thats what we should be striving for.

Yet diplomacy is not cowardice. Theres no reason for TV talking heads to continue to refer to the war criminal running Russia as Mr. Putin. He should just be Putin, if we even have to use his name. Eighty-plus years ago, too many British appeasers kept calling the Nazi leader Herr Hitler. He didnt then, nor does Putin now, deserve an honorific title.

Ultimately, this is a call for all of us to recognize that the most attractive and meaningful language that we can use should be clear and vigorous. English is a vibrant language. Lets not dim its glow.
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Auditions for Summer Summer Stroll

Napa Valley College, in partnership with Shakespeare Napa Valley and the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, is inviting performers to audition for the Shakespeare Summer Stroll, a unique site-integrated presentation slated for summer 2023. The auditions are scheduled for May 31, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center Studio Theater.

The Summer Stroll presents a collection of scenes and monologues from some of Shakespeares most beloved plays, set against the backdrop of exquisite works and outdoor spaces at di Rosa. The production team from the successful 2021 Stroll, which sold out completely to rave reviews, is being reunited under the direction of NVC Theater Arts instructor Olivia Cowell.

Rehearsals for the production will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings in June and July, starting on June 13. All cast members must be at least 16 years of age and are required to enroll in the corresponding Napa Valley College Theater Arts course upon admission.

The performance dates are set for the evenings of July 26 through 30 at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, providing an enchanting setting for the plays.

For the auditions, participants are required to prepare a one- to two-minute video performing a Shakespeare monologue, sonnet, or excerpt from the Henry V prologue. The auditions are open to NVC students, alumni, community members, and professional actors, who are all encouraged to take part in this unique performance experience.

For any inquiries regarding the auditions, reach out to SNV Founder and Artistic Director Jennifer King at jking@napavalley.edu, or SNV Associate Artist Olivia Cowell at olivia.cowell@napavalley.edu.

Summer Staged Reading Series opens June 9

Valley Players will be presenting 18 plays as part of the Summer Staged Reading Series, the group stated in a release.

The plays will be performed at CrossWalk Community Church on First Street in Napa, across six dates: June 9 and 10, July 7 and 8, and August 4 and 5. Evening performances start at 7 p.m., while matinee shows are scheduled for 2 p.m.

Earlier this year, Valley Players sent out a call for new play submissions for the summer lineup. After a comprehensive evaluation of over 100 submitted scripts, the selected plays for the Summer Staged Reading Series have been announced.

The chosen scripts originate from a range of U.S. and Canadian writers, including a strong contingent from the Bay Area. Notably, Napa's own Michael Waterson ("In the Cards"), Steve Boyett from Benicia ("Minutes of the Last Meeting at Chauvet Cave"), San Francisco's Susan Jackson (Taken), and Marsha Roberts from San Rafael ("The Way It Works") have plays featured.

The additional selected plays include "A Socially-Distanced Farce in One Act" by Jenna Jane, "Broken" by Steve Apostolina, "C is for Cupid" by John Mabey, "Discharge" by Lisa Quoresimo, "Eat Dessert First" by Dana Leslie Goldstein, "For The Love of a Good Man" by JS Jacklin, "The Gentle Life-Changing Magic of Burning it All Down to the Ground" by Heather Beasley, "The Grandparents Are Alright" by Samara Siskind, "Love and Pepperoni" by Megan Gooden, "The Lucky Ones" by Lia Romeo, "Miss Peddy & Grace and The Next Move" by William Ivor Fowkes, "Neighbor Jane" by Tina Esper, and "Trending" by Janet Lawler.

Staged readings are performances that forego costumes or set pieces, with actors reading their lines instead of memorizing them. They offer playwrights a unique opportunity to hear their words brought to life and, most crucially, to gather audience feedback. Each performance will include a short talk-back after the show, allowing the authors to refine and improve their scripts based on the audience's insights.

For more information about the plays, visit the Valley Players website at valley-players.com.

Napa County Library announces summer reading program

Napa County Library announced its upcoming summer reading program, "All Together Now!" which begins on May 30, the library said in a release.

This program, free of charge, encourages reading, discovery of new books and materials, and participation in special events hosted by the library. Interested individuals can register at the American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, or Yountville libraries, or online.

The Summer Library Adventure, a program specifically designed to foster a love for books, reading, and library resources, promises a diverse array of events, activities, and prizes to keep infants, children, teens and adults engaged in reading throughout the summer. The program features:

- Self-paced reading for enjoyment.

- Prizes for those who clock in 20 hours of reading over the summer; hours spent listening to stories are also counted.

- A line-up of performances, musicians, storytime, and guided craft activities.

- Early literacy activities for families with infants.

Research indicates that children who read and engage their minds during the summer return to school in the fall better prepared to learn and succeed. A schedule detailing the various programs, activities, and storytimes will be made accessible online or at any Napa County Library.

This initiative is possible thanks to the generous support from the Friends of the Library in Napa, American Canyon, Calistoga, and Yountville. For further information, visit www.napalibrary.org/sla or contact the Napa Main Library at 707-253-4241.

Arts Council Napa Valley announces May and June Students of the Month

Arts Council Napa Valley announced the winners from its May and June Visual and Performing Arts Student of the Month initiative, the group stated in a release. A total of 24 students have been recognized during these months.

The ACNV SOM is an annual program that solicits nominations each month, concluding with a scholarship ceremony. The final round of nominations for the 2022/2023 academic year has been completed.

This year, ACNV received an unprecedented 160 nominations from visual and performing arts teachers at the college, high school, middle school, and elementary school levels throughout the county.

From these nominations, ACNV will select more than 20 students for the Student of the Year Scholarship. These students will be honored on June 7 at the Napa Valley Community College Performing Arts Center. Scholarships totaling over $12,000 will be granted at the ceremony.

Images of the SOM recipients' work can be found on the group's Facebook page. Donations can be made at ArtsCouncilNapaValley.Org/Donations.

The winners for May and June are as follows:

College Level Winners

Digital Art Award: Erik Martinez, Napa Valley Community College, Freshman

High School Level Winners

Visual Art Award (May Tie): Trinity Nystrom, New Tech High School, Senior

Visual Art Award (May Tie): Hex Aman, Oxbow School, Junior

Visual Art Award (June): Angelica Ochoa Alvarez, Valley Oak High School, Senior

Digital Art Award (May): Jamie Clary, New Tech High School, Sophomore

Digital Art Award (June): Khaya (Kai) Small, Vintage High School, Senio

3D Art Award: Melody Romero, American Canyon High School, Junior

Band & Orchestra Award: Levi Rubin, Vintage High School, Senior

Choir Award (May Tie): Kimberly Robinson, American Canyon High School, Senior

Choir Award (May Tie): Raquel Howle, Vintage High School, Senior

Choir Award (June): Michael Ang, American Canyon High School, Senior

Theater Acting Award (May Tie): Rhett Ryan, St. Helena High School, Junior

Theater Acting Award (May Tie): Charlie Hamilton, Napa High School, Junior

Theater Acting Award (June): Camden Gilgallon, (Cafeteria Kids Theater) Vintage High School, Sophomore

Dance Award (May): Hannah McDaniel, Napa High School, Senior

Dance Award (June): Vienne Lynch, Vintage High School, Senior

Middle & Elementary Level Winners

Visual Art Award (May): Abigail Johnson, St. Johns Lutheran, 8th Grade

Visual Art Award (June): Aubrey Emerson, Silverado Middle School, 8th Grade

Band Award (May): Aidan Diaz, Silverado Middle School, 8th Grade

Band Award (June): Sofia Gutierrez Molina, Silverado Middle School, 8th Grade

Visual Art Award (May Tie): Rose Harrington, Vichy Elementary, 4th Grade

Visual Art Award (May Tie): Inez Dillon-Sculley, Vichy Elementary, 5th Grade

Visual Art Award (June): Gerardo Avina Zarate, Philips Magnet, 5th Grade

Visual 3D Art Award (May): April Gonzalez, Philips Magnet, 5th Grade
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Napa Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a driver on a vehicle manslaughter allegation linked to a crash in which a 78-year-old man was struck and killed more than a year ago.

Peter Orrfelt, 54, surrendered to Napa Police at 1 a.m. Tuesday and was booked into the Napa County jail, the department said in a Facebook post. Orrfelt was being held Wednesday on $500,000 bail for investigation of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Orrfelt was driving a truck on northbound Jefferson Street on the evening of May 19, 2022 when it struck 78-year-old Raul Gudino at the Oak Street intersection while Gudino was walking his dog at Fuller Park, according to police. Gudino, who was not in a marked crosswalk on the street, died from his injuries.

State vehicle code requires drivers to yield to pedestrians, whether they cross a street at a marked crossing or not.

After the crash, Orrfelt stayed at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, according to police, who said the drivers distraction from using a cellphone at the wheel - a violation of California law - was a factor in the incident. The Napa County District Attorneys Office filed a vehicular manslaughter charge against Orrfelt, who turned himself in to police a year and four days after the crash.
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Duckhorn Vineyards winery production and visitor growth requests are on track to receive further Napa County scrutiny, this time from the county Board of Supervisors.

The Planning Commission earlier this month approved the requests by the St. Helena-area winery by a 3-0 vote, with two members absent. But resident John Murphy and Water Audit California have filed separate appeals.

No Board of Supervisors appeal hearing date has been announced. Typically, hearings are held several months after appeals are filed, if the protests aren't withdrawn.

Its become a familiar dispute in Napa Valley  a winery seeks to expand, and some rural neighbors and environmentalists become wary of the scope of growth.

It's an overwhelming transformation of a rural road into an industrial lane, Murphy said on Tuesday.

The Planning Commission, which over the years has trimmed more than a few winery growth proposals, on May 3 backed the Duckhorn project as requested without any long debates.

I look at this application as an indication of success, Commissioner Dave Whitmer told Duckhorn officials at that meeting. You wouldnt be coming to us if you didnt have a successful brand.

Duckhorn winery is located on 10 acres east of the Napa River near St. Helena. It bought 19 acres on the west side of the river a few years ago that are key to its growth plans.

Among other details, the Planning Commission approved:

Building a 58,042-square-foot winery on the west property. Duckhorn officials said the bigger winery will be able to handle Napa Valley grapes now shipped to Hopland.

Expanding the Estate House on the east property.

Increasing maximum annual wine production from 160,000 to 300,000 gallons.

Increasing maximum annual visitation from 37,552 to 88,566 guests. That includes both tasting guests and marketing event guests.

Murphy lives on Lodi Lane, where he has his Sang-Froid Vineyards. He said a few neighbors are coming together as Preserve Lodi Lane.

He noted Freemark Abbey wants to build a hotel on Highway 29 at the west end of Lodi Lane. With the Duckhorn project on the east end contributing more vehicle and truck traffic, the rural road could become like an industrial highway, he said.

Traffic data used for the Duckhorn application are from 2019 and before, Murphy said. Meanwhile, he added, the county over five years has approved growth at nine wineries that has increased traffic on Highway 29, Silverado Trail and Lodi Lane.

At the May 3 meeting, William McKinnon of Water Audit California expressed concerns about how groundwater consumption at Duckhorn might affect the Napa River.

Duckhorn CEO Alex Ryan at that same meeting said the Duckhorn requests were in line with what other older, larger-parcel wineries have.

The reality is, were not asking for new, crazy things, trying to set some new benchmarks for what were doing here, Ryan said.

As things stand, the Board of Supervisors looks to make the call.

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ST. HELENA  The viral story of a mystery man who returned a book to the St. Helena Public Library 96 years overdue has taken a twist that offers another glimpse into St. Helenas history.

The mystery man was Jim Perry, who found Benson Lossings A History of the United States in a box of books that had belonged to his late wife, Sandra Learned Perry.

I was just cleaning house and moving stuff out the door that wasnt being used, said Perry, who lives in Napa. This box of books had been in a nice cool place in our house where we kept books.

Perry said hes pretty sure his late wifes grandfather, John McCormick, was the person whod checked out the book in 1927. He would have been 55 at the time.

Perry returned the book to the librarys front desk earlier this month. Since the library went fine-free in 2019, he wasnt on the hook for nickel-a-day fines that would have added up to about $1,756.

Once library staff realized the books historical significance, they wanted to find out who had returned it, so they turned to the media for help. The St. Helena Star posted an article on May 16, and the Bay Area CBS affiliate KPIX Channel 5 followed up with a TV segment the next day.

Perry happened to be streaming the KPIX broadcast that night.

Just a bit overdue: St. Helena library book returned ... 96 years late A borrowed book was returned to the St. Helena Public Library last week that had been due back Feb. 21, 1927.

They did a teaser on Channel 5 and I thought, Gee, that sure looks like my book, he said.

Perry then got in touch with the library and explained how he'd found it.

John McCormick was descended from one of St. Helenas oldest pioneer families, who settled in the Napa Valley in the 1840s and established the McCormick Ranch on Spring Mountain. The McCormicks were related through marriage with the Hudsons, another early St. Helena family.

John McCormick had represented District 3 on the Napa County Board of Supervisors from 1915 to 1922. Its impossible to know for sure, but Perry suspects Big John might have checked out the book for his daughters, Edna May Babe and Ina Hart, who in February 1927 would have been 10 and 13, respectively.

When McCormick died in 1963, custody of the unreturned book passed to his younger daughter, who became known as Babe Learned. Her daughter, Sandra Learned Perry, inherited the book when Babe Learned died in 2011.

Sandra Learned Perry died in 2015, leaving the library book in a box of books that her husband started digging through this month. The card envelope reading Free Public Library St. Helena, Cal. caught his eye, so he returned it to what is now called the St. Helena Public Library.

I thought it would be fun to just drop it off, and (the staff) would get a kick out of this book, Perry said. But I didnt realize it would have special significance for them.

The library staff suspects Lossings book was one of the original 540 volumes available from the Free Public Library that opened in the Kettlewell building in 1892. By the time McCormick checked it out, the library had moved to the Carnegie Building.

Its unclear how long the book had been in the box. It might have been on a bookcase at Babes house at some point, high up on the McCormick Ranch, Perry said.

The remaining 654 acres of the ranch, which burned in the Glass Fire three years ago, is now in escrow to be acquired by the Sonoma Land Trust, Perry said.

The book now occupies a place of honor in a glass display case at the entrance to the library.

Photos: Napa Valley Faces and Places, May 21, 2023
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Walmart will pay $500,000 to settle California authorities claims that the retail giant sold brass knuckles illegal in the state through its website, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday.

The state complaint alleges that about 250 products that could be classified as brass knuckles were sold through the retailers Walmart.com website, which both allows direct sales to consumers and provides an e-commerce platform for third-party sellers. About 60% of those brass knuckles were sold directly by Walmart, and the remaining 40% by third-party sellers, according to the complaint.

Illegal weapons have no place in California, Bonta said. The settlement we have reached with Walmart makes crystal-clear that online retailers are responsible for what they are allowing to be offered for sale in our state.

The Arkansas-based retail giant said in a statement Tuesday that while we believe our policies and procedures comply with California law and admit no liability or wrongdoing, we believe this agreement is in the best interest of all parties.

The announcement stemmed from an investigation that began in 2018 with the Merced County district attorney and grew to involve the state Department of Justice and district attorneys in Ventura and Yolo counties.

California is one of 21 states that outlaw metal or brass knuckles, a type of fist load weapon that makes a punch more damaging. They have been used in combat and also in thefts, allowing the user to break window glass with ease while reducing risk of injury. They are legal in 12 states and allowed by permit in the rest.

Throwing a punch with them can break bones, leave cuts, Bonta said, and of course, can be and have in the past been fatal.  As a dad, as a husband, as a fellow Californian, Im shocked these weapons were being sold in California.

Under California law, brass knuckles are classified as a deadly weapon, and offering them for sale is a misdemeanor. The attorney general said offering metal knuckles and other dangerous weapons for sale also violates states Unfair Competition Law.

Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said that it was too easy for our investigators to make online purchases of illegal brass knuckles.

Walmart and other retailers need to take a hard look at their online sales practices and ensure that they are in compliance with California law, Nasarenko said.

Under the agreement, Walmart will pay $125,000 each to the Department of Justice and district attorneys offices in Ventura, Yolo and Merced counties.

Walmart will be barred from selling brass knuckles to Californians on its website, and must prevent third-party sellers from selling them on its platform. The company must also try to notify California consumers who bought the weapons through its website that they are illegal and should be surrendered to authorities. The company agreed to provide a means on its website for consumers to report illegal weapons for sale.

Bonta said Walmart was cooperative.

They were a willing and good-faith partner to a solution, Bonta said. Once it was made known to them, they worked in good faith to get to a resolution.

Photos: Napa Valley Faces and Places, May 21, 2023
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UC Davis researchers found that lab-grown meat is likely to leave a larger carbon footprint than retail beef, raising questions about the benefits of cultured meat production.

Bucking popular belief that lab-produced meat could be more environmentally friendly than beef because its thought to use less land, water and greenhouse gases, the preprint, not-yet-peer-reviewed study found the global warming potential of lab-based meat is four to 25 times greater than the average for retail beef, a Monday news release stated.

Agriculture amounts to 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

What is cultured meat?

To put it simply, cultured meat is lab-produced meat using animal cells.

Food developers can use cells from livestock, poultry, seafood or any other animal in the food production process, according to the FDA.

There are currently no sales of the lab-produced meat being made in the United States, the agency said.

What are the challenges for lab-produced meat?

Researchers at UC Davis assessed environmental impacts in all stages of the lab meat production process. Methods similar to biotechnology, which are used in pharmaceuticals, are being used to multiply cells.

If companies are having to purify growth media to pharmaceutical levels, it uses more resources, which then increases global warming potential, said Derrick Risner, UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology lead author, in the news release.

If this product continues to be produced using the 'pharma' approach, its going to be worse for the environment and more expensive than conventional beef production.

The process of cell multiplication is complex. Below is a broad overview, according to the FDA on what the process looks like:

Step 1: Scientists will take a cell sample from the tissue of an animal or fish.

Step 2: The cell is then taken from a cell bank and placed in a controlled and monitored environment, where it can multiply.

Step 3: Once the cell has multiplied many times over, proteins are added to produce muscle and fat characteristics.

Step 4: Once the cell has developed it can be harvested and prepared conventionally.

Whats next?

The industry has its eyes toward using food-grade ingredients for a lower carbon footprint, but its not guaranteed to be better for the environment.

To achieve a truly more environmentally friendly meat, researchers said, it would take significant technological advancement.

The study suggests that investments to advance more climate-friendly beef production may yield greater reductions in emissions more quickly than investments in cultured meat.

Getting dairy from farm to table is a complex process  and farmers are adapting to get it there A different way to farm: Using agritourism to bolster dairy operations Getting dairy from farm cow to your fridge is more complex than you think Technology is reinventing dairy production  and its helping farmers keep pace
President of Artsakh sent a message on the occasion of the Day of the First Republic of Armenia

RA leaders visit Sardarapat Memorial

Address of the Third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on the occasion of Republic Day

Number of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan continues to grow

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

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Putin: Trilateral meeting will discuss unblocking of transport links

Pashinyan and Putin meet in Moscow

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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

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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

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Pashinyan: Armenia ready for dialogue to create single natural gas market within EAEU

Armenia to hold several tourism festivals this year

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Tourism Committee head: 630,000 tourists visited Armenia in 1st four months of 2023

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CSTO countries approve 2024 plan for collective security forces joint training

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Georgia arrests Iran citizen transporting 80kg of heroin via Armenia

Eurasian Economic Union summit kicks off in Kremlin

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Arizona State Legislature affirms Karabakh right to self-determination

Armenia government gives compensation for construction equipment that came under Azerbaijan control last September

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Economy minister: Armenia pharmaceutical sector production is expected to increase to AMD 40 billion by 2027

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On Tuesday, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; a meeting of the Armenian Supreme Spiritual Council was convened, which was also participated by the monastic Bishops of the Mother See. During the meeting, the challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) were discussed, as well as the statements made the other day regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process. Subsequently, the Supreme Spiritual Council issued the statement following statement: "The vision of the free and independent life of Armenia and Artsakh has become a reality in the last three and a half decades thanks to the heroic struggle, sacrifices and commitments of our people around the world. The bravery and shining example of our martyr children who defended the Motherland kept the spirit of our people strong, to face every adversity, to continue its historical presence on the native land.

The tragic consequences of the 44-day Artsakh war [in 2020] put our Homeland in front of new security challenges, an ontological threat, but even in that difficult situation, the zeal of our people and national institutions to continue protecting the just rights of Armenia and Artsakh did not decrease.

The statements made during the May 22 press conference by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed the true content of the peace agenda presented to the public, with which the dangerous and unacceptable positions adopted by the authorities in the negotiation process of Armenia regarding the future fate of Artsakh and certain areas bordering Armenia become evident.

The Supreme Spiritual Council condemns and condemns unilateral concessions "justified" under the pretext of peace. With the unforeseeing steps taken, recognizing the Republic of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, the Armenian authorities will inevitably confront our brothers and sisters in Artsakh with a new genocide and depatriation.

The independence of Artsakh built at the price of our children's blood and the territories of Armenia are not subject to negotiation. The Homeland is everyone's, and such decisions related to the Homeland should be made in accordance with the fundamental provisions of the RA Constitution and legislation and not at the discretion of individual political groups.

We urge the authorities to give up the defeatist mentality and the destructive steps resulting from it, to find reasonable and dignified solutions to overcome national challenges. We appeal to all our people and national institutions to soberly assess the complex situation created at this fateful moment and remain steadfast and united in the pursuit of our national interests, the realized right to self-determination of Artsakh. In this matter, we see the decisive expression of our people as necessary.

Peace to our Homeland, safe and secure life to all our people in Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora."
Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Arayik Harutyunyan on Tuesday issued an address regarding the current external and internal challenges. The President stated as follows, in particular:

"There are now a number of factors in foreign political and security directions that directly affect the present and future of the people of Artsakh. I would like to highlight the following:

The blockade of Artsakh [by Azerbaijan] for more than five months, with increasing humanitarian and political challenges and security threats.

The deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the increase of risks due to the continuous disruption of the vital infrastructures of Artsakh.

The continuous increase in the risk of a new military aggression by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, and the unconcealed ambitions of carrying out ethnic cleansing.

The serious breach of the Russian guarantees of the security of the people of Artsakh, specified by the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020.

Due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the increase in geopolitical tension in the region and the aggressiveness of Azerbaijan.

The continued weakening of the international legal system and the failure of the international community to ensure the security and fundamental rights of the people of Artsakh, as well as the implementation of the decisions of international courts.

The continuous weakening of Armenia's positions in the process of normalizing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and the steps aimed at recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Considering the above and other important factors, I apply:

To my compatriots of Artsakh, not to be discouraged and to be ready to continue the struggle, leaving aside the internal differences and resolutely serve the same goal: strengthening and developing Artsakh. I am glad that there is a completely unified approach to this issue in Artsakh. In that sense, welcoming yesterday's statement of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh regarding the thoughts expressed by RA [(Republic of Armenia)] Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, I emphasize that any statement and document that ignores the sovereignty of the Republic of Artsakh, the right of self-determination of our people, and the fact of its realization is unacceptable for us. Artsakh was not and will not be a part of Azerbaijan, as that is the will of our people who have enough determination to fight for their rights and interests.

I am sure that the fighter does not remain alone, and not only the whole of Armenia will continue to support our struggle, but there will also be valuable supporters in the international arena. Yes, the situation is dire, but not hopeless, and Artsakh authorities are taking and will take possible practical steps to face external and internal challenges.

To the people of the Republic of Armenia, to actively and decisively prove that Artsakh cannot be recognized as part of Azerbaijan and that you continue to stand with this most important piece of the united Armenian homeland. After all, Artsakh is the homeland of all Armenians, with its unique significance for both Armenian statehood and the Armenian nation. The people of Armenia are the masters of the Republic of Armenia, and they must decide such nationwide and most important issues.

To our compatriots in the [Armenian] diaspora, to shake off the feeling of disappointment, powerlessness and indifference, and demand practical steps from the governments of the countries of citizenship and the Republic of Armenia towards guaranteeing the right to self-determination and security of Artsakh. We expect that every Diaspora Armenian individual and organization will take all possible measures to support Artsakh and curb Azerbaijani criminal activities. The [Armenian] diaspora has a huge unrealized potential, which is able to ensure serious success in issues that are fatal for the Motherland.

To the authorities of the Republic of Armenia, to refrain from any actions and statements to recognize Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan, adhering to the obligations assumed by the domestic and international documents and the national wishes and interests. Realizing the vulnerable situation of the Republic of Armenia in the post-war period, we approached various developments with understanding and consciously suffered and are suffering many deprivations in order to neutralize all attempts to impose concessions on the Republic of Armenia by suppressing us. However, there are clear principles and red lines, violations of which we consider unacceptable and inadmissible. And recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan is one of those red lines, which, we are sure, remains so for the majority of all Armenians. In actions and positions related to Artsakh, the main benchmark for the Republic of Armenia should be the expression of the will of the people of Artsakh, which was unequivocally demonstrated by the independence and constitutional referendums, with the unconditional support of the Republic of Armenia and the entire Armenian people. And the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan interstate relations cannot take place with a completely separate logic from the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and at the expense of the vital rights and interests of the people of Artsakh, which, by the way, are an integral and important part of the vital rights and interests of the entire Armenian nation.

To the authorities of the Russian Federation and the President of the RF [(Russian Federation)], Vladimir Putin himself, to ensure the obligations assumed by the tripartite declaration of November 9, [2020] by opening the Lachin (Kashatagh) corridor, eliminating all Azerbaijani obstacles, freeing the 120,000 people of Artsakh from terrorist hostage-taking and preventing aggressive Azerbaijani actions against the people of Artsakh. Regardless of the actions of the other parties of the Tripartite Declaration, Russia has undertaken clear obligations, which were the most serious basis for ensuring the return of the people of Artsakh after the war. Therefore, we expect steady and decisive fulfillment of these obligations for the sake of the people of Artsakh and the interests of the Russian Federation, as well as the age-old friendship of the Armenian and Russian peoples.

To the people and authorities of Azerbaijan, to end the hatred and genocidal policy towards the people of Artsakh, to be ready to truly accept the principle of equality of peoples and the title and rights of the native Armenian people to Artsakh. We are ready for dialogue, conflict settlement, and peace in an international format, but based on the norms and principles of international law, especially the rights of peoples to equality and self-determination, non-use of force and threat of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, and principles of territorial integrity. We do not pose any threat to Azerbaijan, but, on the other hand, the people of Artsakh have the right to self-defense, and the Republic of Artsakh has the obligation to protect its own people. Despite the constant threats from Azerbaijan, I am sure that the creation of a peaceful and dignified environment and the end of centuries-old enmity stem from the interests and aspirations of our peoples.

All actors of the international community, and especially the UN Security Council, to ensure as a priority the proper implementation of the UN International Court of Justice decision of February 22, 2023 by Azerbaijan, as well as to guarantee the security of the people of Artsakh by using the necessary tools, in accordance with the principles and goals of the United Nations.

()

I am sure that with unity, internal solidarity and hard work, having the support of the Republic of Armenia and all Armenians behind us, we will be able to prevent external and internal threats, developments, and ensure the Armenian, free, safe, and dignified future of Artsakh.

The strength of the people of Artsakh is in their will, unity, and wisdom.

Let us be worthy of our holy ancestors.

Let's be accountable before our next generations.

Strength and prudence to our people."
The US administration has submitted to Yerevan and Baku its own proposals related to some of the most acute Armenian-Azerbaijani issues, a high-ranking US diplomat has said, TASS reported.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs of the US Department of State, Dereck Hogan, told the House of Representatives on Tuesday that some progress had been made in the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"The [US] secretary [of state] hosted the two foreign ministers in early May to work through some of the most contentious issues, including for example the distancing of forces along the border, dispute resolution mechanism in the treaty that we are trying to facilitate, [and] the rights and security of the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. These are (...) the issues that we are working through," the US diplomat said during hearings at the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov, and Ararat Mirzoyan, met in Washington on May 1 for talks mediated by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Commenting on these talks, Hogan said the sides engaged in intense diplomatic contacts.

"We put forward a number of proposals that gave the two sides perhaps some bridging language. So they have been () studying them," the US diplomat added.

He said he spoke to the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers last week in a bid to find areas where progress can be made.

Hogan also mentioned the expected meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, expected to take place in Moldovas capital Chisinau on June 1 with the participation of European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. According to the US diplomat, the talks will "focus on what needs to be done to actually get this across the finish line."

"We still have a long way to go. When it comes to the Lachin Corridor, thats something that the [US] secretary [of state] has been pushing very hard on, particularly when it comes to the opening of it for commercial as well as private vehicles," Hogan said.
Simon Cekem, a lawyer from the Istanbul Armenian community, submitted a petition to the Istanbul prosecutor generals office regarding the Muslim cleric who said Armenian progenies in derogatory term during his sermon in an Istanbul mosque, reports Ermenihaber.

In his petition, the Istanbul Armenian lawyer demanded from the prosecutor's office that this Muslim cleric be penalize for inciting hatred and enmity among the people, and for discrimination, humiliation, insult, and threat.

Cekem said in his petition: "These words uttered by the suspect about the Armenian nationality, of which I am a member, incite hatred, discrimination, and enmity in the society. Overtly discriminatory and hateful words are a crime based on hate speech."

The Istanbul Armenian lawyer added that what happened fits into Article 216/2 of the Turkish Criminal Code, and is punishable by imprisonment from six months to one year.

As reported earlier, during a prayer service in a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Muslim cleric Murat Gundogdu called on the faithful to be armed on the day of the presidential runoff election this Sunday and, also, used the expression "Armenian progenies" in a derogatory way.

It is clear from the video recordings made on the smartphone that Gundogdu had said as follows, in particular: "For 80 years, what has this country suffered from you, wheat has it suffered from the Armenian progenies? We have so many martyrs.

From another video, it becomes clear that a faithful reacted negatively to Gundogdu's call to prepare the weapons and a fight started in the mosque.

The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey announced that it has launched an investigation into Gundogdu's call to prepare the weapons. But there has been no official comment yet on the aforesaid hate speech against Armenians.
The Peace Corps program, in which 1,100 volunteers were involved, has contributed to making Armenian-American relations closer and friendlier. US Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien stated about this during Wednesdays swearing-in ceremony of 16 new American volunteers of the Peace Corps in Armenia.

The ambassador called the swearing-in ceremony of these new Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia a significant event. She noted that the Peace Corps volunteers were always received with special warmth and treated accordingly in Armenia.

Kvien said that in the past there were also US State Department employees among these Peace Corps volunteers, who continue to keep in touch with those they interacted with in Armenia within the framework of the Peace Corps program in the country.

These new Peace Corps volunteers will work at Armenias schools and NGOs and in the provinces of e country, and will help teachers and students to improve their knowledge of English.

Several members of the Armenian government also attended the aforesaid swearing-in ceremony.

The Peace Corps has been operating in Armenia since 1992.
At the moment we are looking at the situation on the ground as the mediating functions that our country has. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian foreign ministry, said this at Wednesdays press briefing, in response to the remark that Armenian officials have repeatedly criticized Russia and the CSTO regarding the Karabakh situation, and judging by their statements, Yerevan tends to expand cooperation with the West and reduce cooperation with Russia and CSTO, and asked whether Russia was considering the scenario in which it will be asked to leave its military base in Armenia.

"We will use all the tools to calm the situation both on the ground and politically. Talks are being held at all levels, the meetings of the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan took place in Moscow. These contacts are continued at all levels, and this is the subject of our specific work; moreover, in terms of a whole range of directions and departments, Zakharova said.

I can say the same about the CSTO; we are the participants of that agreement. And I will just allow myself to say that I consider the activity of that organization to be effective, and that it presented itself in that way. Each country has its rights to evaluate, its opportunities, that's how we evaluate it," added the official representative of the Russian foreign ministry.
Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, is attending the 11th international meeting of high-ranking representatives coordinating security issues, in the Moscow region of Russia, during which he delivered an address.

In his speech, the Security Council head addressed international and regional security challenges, the Office of the Security Council of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He spoke about Armenia and Azerbaijans recognition of each other's territorial integrity on the basis of the Alma Ata declaration of 1991, and presented the challenges that Azerbaijan poses to the territorial security of Armenia.

At the same time, Grigoryan reflected the establishment of a checkpoint by Azerbaijan on April 23 in the Lachin corridor, an area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping mission, stressing that this is a gross violation of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, by which Azerbaijan seeks to subject the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenian ethnic cleansing. In this context, the head of the Security Council of Armenia emphasized the need to launch an international mechanism for ensuring the rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh population, as well as to send international observers to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor.

In the final part of his address, Armen Grigoryan stressed that Armenia was taking steps to normalize relations with Turkey, and expressed hope that the normalization of these relations will advance more intensively.
Russia views the statement by the prime minister of Armenia as a confirmation of the position adopted by him at the Prague summit on October 7, 2022, with the participation of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France and the EU, which refers to the Almaty declaration of 1991. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian foreign ministry, said this at Wednesdays press briefing.

Zakharova recalled that a joint statement was adopted in Prague, which contains a reference to the Almaty declaration of 1991, according to which the administrative borders between the former republics of the USSR are recognized as national borders.

"As we have said many times, the Prague agreement has given a qualitatively new framework to the negotiation process between Baku and Yerevan," said the official representative of the Russian foreign ministry.

Zakharova noted that the recent statements by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have caused an ambiguous reaction in Armenia and in Nagorno-Karabakh.

She added that Russia is a mediator in the settlement of the matter, and in this regard it is important to have a clear position of Armenia regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.

"This is not just a topic, not just a question, this is a conflict of many years, mediation efforts, which were shown by international organizations and regional countries. Of course, in order to promote the documents that were signed, it is necessary to know the clear position of the country in this regard," Zakharova said.

The official representative of the Russian foreign ministry emphasized that such statements about the vision of the country's political order are the entitlement of Armenia and its people.
As from May 30, 2023, FINCA UCO CJSC intends to underwrite nominal coupon bonds in AMD (code: AMFNCAB2EER0) and USD (code: AMFNCAB2FER7). AraratBank will act as an underwriter and market maker.

The bank said that the bonds will be underwritten through an auction on Armenia Securities Exchange, starting from May 30 till June 2, from 11:00-13:30 daily.

The nominal value of an AMD-denominated bond is AMD 50,000, with a total volume of AMD 800,000,000 and a coupon yield of 13% per annum. The nominal value of a USD-denominated bond is USD 100, with a total volume of USD 2,000,000 and a coupon yield of 7.5%.

The maturity period of both AMD- and USD-denominated bonds is 24 months. Once placed, the bonds will be listed on the Armenia Securities Exchange, the bank said in a news release.

For more information, please call at 010 59 23 01, 010 59 23 23
There is no agenda to drive Russia out on the agenda of relations between Armenia and the European Union and Armenia and the United States. This was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia in response to a written inquiry of Armenian News-NEWS.am, regarding the statement made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during his press conference on Monday.

We had asked the MFA to comment on the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to whom the US and its Western allies advise Yerevan to remove the Russian military base and border guards from Armenia, expressing readiness to help ensure Armenia's security.

Referring to the aforesaid statement of Lavrov, PM Pashinyan had stated that Yerevan had not received such a signal.
Azerbaijani foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov on Wednesday received Louis Bono, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair from the US and Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations of the US Department of State.

They discussed the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the current state of talks on the draft agreement on building peace and interstate relations between the two countries, the results of the last meetings held in that context, and the prospects of the talks, reported the Azerbaijani media.

Bayramov once again drew attention to Azerbaijan's position regarding the opening of regional communications and the process of border delimitation with Armenia.

Bono, for his part, stated that the US is ready to support the peace process in every possible way, noting that it is necessary to ensure peace and tranquility for the development of the region.

The parties exchanged views also on some other matters of mutual interest.
In this legislative session, we had an Emory physician come talk about biomarkers and why it is crucial that insurance cover testing for them. And a patient testified, noting that she would not be here without this testing.

That marked a proud day in the life of Emlyn Langlieb, manager of state affairs for Emorys Office of Government and Community Affairs (OGCA) and a 2022 graduate of Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Invaluable preparation for her career included an internship with State Senator Elena Parent, who represents District 42, which encompasses portions of central and north DeKalb County, including Emorys Atlanta campus.

Through positions in her office, Parent has given a steady stream of Emory students the taste for government service that sometimes becomes lifelong and, in just about every case, develops key skills or sparks new interests.

I am so lucky to have a world-class university in my district. Emory has been a terrific partner and resource, Parent says. My office has come to rely on the excellent Emory students who are interested in, and passionate about, our political system. They help with policy analysis, speeches, constituent communications and social media, all of which are essential to helping me serve as a state senator.

Langlieb started working at Emory on the first day of the 2022 legislative session. I took the adage of learning something new every day to an extreme on that day, she laughs, acknowledging that the pace in the Georgia General Assembly is beyond hectic.

After the powerful testimony the Emory doctor and patient offered, Langlieb called her mother, sharing the big news but also conveying an unspoken thank-you.

Langliebs family talks a lot about finding your way in the world. She was surprised to find out that this was not a common family dinner conversation. My parents taught me to be open and see where life takes you, she says.

While majoring in economics at Emory, she interned for Parent in spring 2020 and considers her a role model. Tasked with helping generate the newsletters produced by Parents office, Langlieb says, Providing someone with a key bit of knowledge that can unlock a problem they have been having was exciting. Something clicked, and I felt I was making a difference.

Now, seeing her work with OGCA as an opportunity to help both Georgia and Emory, Langlieb says some things havent changed from her time as an intern.

Surrounded by experts who have done it all before, I just try to soak in everything, she explains.

The Emory DNA

There is no shortage of Emory students interested in trying out government service, and OGCA Vice President Cameron Taylor, herself an alumna, has a few thoughts about why.

Emory has a long history of public service, whether it be the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity or something else. It feels like something in our DNA, both in the way we select the students who come here and how we nurture those interests, she says.

Taylors first bite of this apple came in high school when she interned for Congresswoman Pat Schroeder.

She was awesome to learn from because it was the 1980s and she was bending Capitol Hill norms as the first woman serving on the House Armed Services Committee. That was the beginning of my admiration for public service, Taylor says.

Through the years, I have helped Emory alumni find positions all over Capitol Hill. The Hill is a place where you can advance quickly, so I get a lot of satisfaction watching my mentees prosper, she says.

Indeed, Taylor describes a recent meeting, one common for her office to arrange, involving 10 current Woodruff and Emory Scholars who had the chance to get to know alumni who also were scholars and now work on Capitol Hill. Following the conversation, fully half reported that they were considering internships.

Skip carousel Undergraduate Avery Rosen sees herself, following graduation, staying in Atlanta for the grassroots work that happens here, working for a D.C. think-tank or going to law school. Part of law student Alyssa Achirons motivation for interning in Georgia government is her belief that you cant follow a career path without doing the work first. Law student Lauren McHenry is working this summer with the Consumer Protection Division of the Georgia Attorney General, happy to be helping the public. Alumna Emlyn Langlieb has worked for Jon Ossoff, her home-district congressman, a lobbyist and Georgia State Senator Elena Parent. Now, she serves as Emorys manager of state affairs. Previous Next

Parents latest crop of capable assistants

Avery Rosen 25C completed an internship for course credit in Parents office this past spring semester. A quantitative theory and methods student on the policy-analysis track, Rosen is also a Middle Eastern and South Asian studies major who came to Emory in part because it offers meaningful ways to be politically active.

The Young Democrats of Emory was one of the first communities I joined on campus, and everyone  including upperclass students  was so welcoming, Rosen notes. After serving as the groups voter-engagement director last year, she begins work as vice president in the fall.

Rosen served on Jen Jordans campaign for Georgia attorney general, doing donor research and planning fundraisers. It was an all-female-run campaign, about which Rosen comments: It was such an empowering place to work and for such a great cause.

Her political appetite thoroughly whetted, Rosen was eager to join Parents office as an intern doing social media work, researching the senators talking points and editing videos.

Given that Parent often makes time to speak with Emorys Young Democrats, Rosen had met Parent several times before. As chair of the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus, Parent has won Rosens admiration for being the face of a lot that takes place on the Senate floor.

Rosens work in Parents office ended with the recent close of the legislative session; she is looking forward to a semester abroad in London at the Kings College School of Public Policy but wants to be back on familiar soil as the primaries gear up.

Alyssa Achiron has just completed her second year at Emory School of Law and finished a semester learning the ropes of legislative process from Parent and her team through a legal externship.

By submitting my resume to Senator Parents office, she notes, I hoped to find out whether I was interested in making my difference through politics. Would being a lawyer be enough for me?

In work for her masters degree, Achiron focused on political science and gender studies. What drew her to the law, she says, was the ability to make a difference, especially for women.

Achiron conducted research for Parent, helping with speeches, going to Legislative Council with her to discuss the wording of specific bills and sitting in on committee meetings the senator was too busy to attend.

I picked this job, Achiron says, because Senator Parent is very vocal speaking in the well about things she is passionate about. I like the issues she fights for  education, gender issues and abortion rights.

Achiron welcomed the opportunity to get out of the law school bubble. Working for Senator Parent deepened my ties to where I live. As students, establishing that connection is not always easy, but this job made that possible.

Lauren McHenry has many interests; in her words, narrowing them was a little daunting.

She worked on a judicial campaign as a University of Central Arkansas undergraduate and pronounces herself something of a politics geek, saying: Normal 17-year-olds dont talk to their parents about Supreme Court case history.

McHenry just completed her second year at Emory Law. In three different capacities, in Arkansas and here, McHenry has done work associated with juvenile law. Reflecting on her service with Fulton Countys Office of the Child Attorney, McHenry says, I will always appreciate the work they do, but I cant be on the front lines. I dont have the heart to do that every day.

McHenrys work in Parents office also was a legal externship. She describes Parent and the staff around her as an inspiration, saying, They care about the issues, are well versed in them and always ready to dive in head first.

Her role was to be the expert on the case law that might attend any policy decisions. Like Achiron, she would compile memos on bills that were being considered, asking questions such as: Have we had bills like this in the past? If so, are they working? Are they causing more harm than good? Do other states have similar statues? If so, how are they written?

It always ends with a bang

McHenry might have said it best when she commented that a legislative session is four months of monumental change and churn.

And the denouement is even more taxing: first there is Crossover Day, which occurred on March 6  the final day for bills to pass out of the House or Senate in order to move forward in that session.

Then came Sine Die on March 30. The Latin phrase, meaning without day, signifies to politics watchers the end of a legislative session without a specific date being set for the next session. Sine Die, says McHenry, often bleeds over into the next day and could easily require some Red Bull.

State media keeps a close watch on the bills that passed  and those that didnt. Charmingly, one that passed because of Parents intervention was The Georgia Lemonade Act.

The need for such legislation came into being when a constituent of Parent discovered that his kids lemonade business was illegal under Georgia law. Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 55 into law on May 3, allowing young entrepreneurs to cool us off in all the time-honored ways.

Taylor never tires of making connections for the Emory community to government, saying: We welcome having students  as well as faculty and staff  contact our team to learn about our work.

The Emory students I have met over the years are optimistic and undaunted. They would be ideal public servants, she says.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had an interaction with a delegation from Boeing comprising their global senior leadership team, led by its president Salil Gupte. Talking about India's journey towards becoming the third largest economy in the world, Sitharaman apprised the global aviation solutions group of the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the vision for the next 25 years -- Amrit Kaal, while leading India to mark 100 years of independence. Referring to Amrit Kaal, she informed the US-headquartered group that the key focus of her Government is to benefit the citizens of India through the four "I"s - Investments, Infrastructure, Innovation, and Inclusivity. In reference to the recent bulk order for aircraft placed by Indian companies, she stated that India's aerospace and the civil aviation market is on a high growth trajectory and also informed the group about aircraft leasing operations being undertaken by banks in Gujarat's GIFT City. In the context of India's geographical advantage, she underlined India's focus on repositioning itself as a Maintenance and Repair Overhaul hub that can potentially serve the region from Europe to Africa to the Far East. Also, she highlighted the opportunities available in India for relocating of companies in the form of not just a captive market but also the chance to be a hub for serving the region as a whole and it can be rewarding for companies from a business point of view. (ANI)
SRV Media New Delhi [India], May 24: Under the guidance of the renowned financial advisory and investment banking venture, Kulkarni Inc., Websym, a cutting-edge tech start-up based in Pune has recently closed a robust deal with the internationally acclaimed Big4 entity, Deloitte (Deloitte India). The deal revolves around the acquisition of two of Websym's prime tech assets, Tezeva and FactoryWize, that have come to be known in the tech sphere for their in-demand, superlative IoT (Internet of Things) capabilities. As an advanced connected products platform, Tezeva helps OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) monitor remote assets and products and track their real-time health and performance, while FactoryWize ensures that manufacturers can not only streamline their operations but also increase their profitability and efficiency. As part of the deal, in addition to acquiring the IoT products, Deloitte India, gunning to expand its IoT abilities, also absorbed the leadership team and senior experts at Websym so that its extensive experience in the process could be leveraged for a seamless expansion of operations and servicing. This lucrative acquisition attests to not only the premium and industry-geared product development caliber of Websym but also the venture's eye for talent. About the acquisition, Parag Kulkarni, President, of Kulkarni Inc said, "At Kulkarni Inc, we take pride in our role as facilitators of the successful acquisition of Websym's 'Tezeva' and 'FaktoryWize' by Deloitte India. This deal signifies the growing momentum in the digital assets and IoT space, reflecting the evolving landscape of technology-driven solutions and their impact on businesses. As we witness this surge in deals, we remain committed to navigating the macro perspective and providing strategic guidance to organizations seeking to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the digital revolution." On a similar note, Dr. Amita Kulkarni, Co-founder, of Kulkarni Inc., said, "It is a matter of pride for us to have handheld Websym to secure this major deal with Deloitte India, our 2nd concluded deal in last 6 months." Speaking about the significance of strategic partnerships and their necessity in the market, she added, "The current macro-level outlook presents immense opportunities for strategic partnerships and acquisitions. It is through such collaborations that companies can harness the power of technology and propel themselves towards growth, transformation, and staying ahead of the competition." Expressing their views of the key role Kularni Inc. has played in the milestone that the Deloitte deal marks, Ashish Nene, Founder, Websym said, " When we decided to raise funds for Websym or consider an option to look for a potential strategic buyer, we realized that this would be a fairly involved and complex process. Over the course of nearly 1.5 years, we found ourselves engaging with 2-3 potential buyers and faced challenges where we had to carefully weigh our options and make tough choices where we also had to decline some of the offers due to valuation or fitment issues. Having a strategic and financial advisor who possesses a deep understanding of valuation and the M&A landscape proved to be crucial in helping us navigate these intricate decisions. Parag provided us with unwavering support throughout the process. His technical expertise and insights played a vital role in helping us make informed decisions that carried significant financial and career implications for numerous individuals, including our employees. Websym concluded a deal with Deloitte India in early 2023 and I would like to thank Parag for all the help and advice provided during our acquisition journey." Echoing Mr. Nene's thoughts, Subramhanya Hathwar, Founder, of Websym remarked, "Building an IoT product company requires a combination of visionary thinking, technical expertise, and strategic guidance. While evaluating multiple offers on the table, we focused on potential synergies with acquirers with respect to strategic outlook, market focus, and reach in multiple geographies. Parag and his team helped us immensely in evaluating multiple deal structuring options keeping in mind the need to ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are met. Many a time they went above and beyond their remit in providing us with innovative ideas that provided us with the insights needed to make informed decisions. Their deep knowledge and advice were instrumental in the choices that we made while finalizing the transaction. I would like to thank Parag for his steadfast support, guidance, and assistance through the 18-month period while the deal was concluded." Given the technological advancement that the onset of Industry 4.0, the latest chapter of the Industrial Revolution has ushered in, the financial services industry will have to concentrate more and more on performing evaluations on intangibles such as IoT devices and processes. While such evaluations are emergent tasks in the BFSI sector, Kulkarni Inc. has already successfully led the change and assisted many of its clients carry out substantial transactions, deals, mergers, and acquisitions in the nascent domain. CA Pushkar Kulkarni, Consultant, Kulkarni Inc shed light on the efforts Kulkarni Inc. has put in to drive the success of the acquisition of the Websym assets and said, "Performing a comprehensive valuation goes far beyond crunching numbers on Excel spreadsheets. It involves delving into various stress scenarios, analyzing the competitive landscape, and conducting rigorous research. This deal confirms the inception of a new era for larger IoT and digital asset transactions in the South Asian economy." Adding to that note, Dr. Jagdish, Senior Associate, Kulkarni Inc. observed, "Valuation of IT products and services is very peculiar as it has a flavour of virtual and intangible ingredients. Measuring the worth of the IT assets as well as its potential in the market was a great journey in itself." CS Rucha, Associate, Kulkarni Inc, further elaborated on the deal saying, "Letter of Intent (LOI), internal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and the Definitive agreement lay the foundation for a successful deal, requiring careful consideration of legal provisions, risk assessment, and ensuring the interests of all parties involved. Our role was to safeguard the integrity of this transaction and uphold the highest standards of legal advisory." For the Websym-Deloitte deal as well, much like all its client servicing processes, Kulkarni Inc., exhibited an unwavering commitment to offering the highest level of services and advisory. This garnered the Investment Banking company much appreciation from the tech start-up. For example, an elated Unmesh Bhathija, Founder, of Websym, spoke about the premium serving the company received from Kulkarni Inc. saying, "With the support of our dedicated team and the expertise of Shreedhar, our statutory auditor & Parag, our consultant, we have been able to navigate the complexities of this transaction and ensure adherence to the highest standards of corporate governance. I am thrilled with the successful acquisition of 'Tezeva' and 'FaktoryWize' by Deloitte India. This deal not only marks a significant milestone for our company but also highlights the immense growth potential in the IoT industry." Similarly, Shripad Shingne, Founder, Websym stated, "The involvement of our statutory auditors throughout the deal-making process has been invaluable, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and adherence to regulatory requirements. Websym's dedication to delivering cutting-edge technology solutions combined with robust financial practices has positioned us as a trusted partner in the digital transformation journey." CA Shreedhar Pathak, Statutory Auditor, Websym echoed, "Fair disclosures and honest accounting practices play a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy and reliability of data, which is of utmost importance in deal-making. These practices not only instill confidence in potential investors but also provide a solid foundation for making informed decisions throughout the deal-making process. This deal confirms the credibility brought by audited accounts in finalizing the deal." Known for its expertise in various financial products, including Equity Valuation, Derivative Valuation, Debt Syndication, Founders Agreement, and Succession Planning, among others, Kulkarni Inc., founded by Harvard Business School Alumni, Parag Kulkarni, has over the last decade carved its space in the financial services industry. Currently, the company, which began its journey as a research organization in the sector, boasts a track record of having handled $ 2.3 bn in Debt, Equity, and Hybrid Instruments for several companies across India, Singapore, the USA, and Europe, and is resolved to further its legacy by being part of many more financial processes of note. For more information, please visit: www.fairvaluation.com (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
PRNewswire Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], May 24: IIHM Institute of Hospitality Skills (IIHS), India's largest training centre affiliated with the Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council (THSC), proudly announces the grand opening of its state-of-the-art facility in Siliguri today. The centre aims to provide comprehensive courses on hospitality skills, catering to professionals seeking to upskill and enhance their career prospects. With a prime focus on vocational training, IIHS aims to bridge the skill gap and empower individuals in the thriving hospitality industry. The establishment of IIHS was triggered by IIHM's recent recognition as the recipient of the Training Partner Award for Highest Training Centre Affiliation. This accolade further solidified IIHM's commitment to the Skill India and THSC initiatives, paving the way for the creation of IIHS. On the occasion, Dr Suborno Bose, Founder of IIHS, said, "The North East of India and Siliguri, which is the Gateway to the North East, are the most welcoming places with the most hospitable people. I've visited the nicest countries in the world, and the people of the North East are the most welcoming and hospitable of all. This is why we chose Siliguri for the first IIHS training centre. This is part of the Government of India's Skill India mission. We are collaborating with Skill India and THSC to train hundreds of skilled hospitality workers for India." IIHS offers a wide range of courses catering to the diverse needs of aspiring hospitality professionals. These courses include: - Diploma Course in Luxury Hospitality Operations (LHO) - 1 year, with placement opportunities (For 12th pass-outs only) - Diploma Course in Kitchen Operations - 9 months + 3 months - Diploma Course in Bar & Beverage - 3 months + 3 months - Other course options - 6 months + 3 months The eligibility criteria for these courses require individuals to be Class 10 or 12 pass-outs. In addition to the core courses, IIHS also offers short-term skill-based programs focusing on various aspects of hotel operations. These programs cover areas such as service staff ethics, the art of cooking, baking, concierge services, front-office operations, housekeeping, food and beverage services, bar and beverage management, kitchen assistance, bell desk services, and more. Furthermore, the courses also incorporate knowledge on essential topics like FSSAI regulations, safety training, and overall management skills. IIHS promotes the Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) to recognize and build upon existing knowledge and experience. IIHS certifications are recognized by Government organizations including the Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council (THSC), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and Skill India. These certifications can provide students with an edge in the job market and validate their skills and expertise. IIHS aims to open 100 centres across the country within the next two years, with a mission to educate 100,000 young unemployed professionals and help them join the hospitality industry. Apart from the Siliguri centre, the courses are also being offered at all IIHM campuses across India. The International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) has already been leading the way in hospitality education, offering world-class programs that prepare students for careers in the dynamic hospitality industry. With a focus on practical experience and hands-on learning, IIHM graduates are well-equipped to meet the demands of the industry. The institute's emphasis on technology, sustainability, and wellness trends ensures that students are prepared for the future of hospitality. With IIHS, this forward-looking hospitality education methodology is being taken directly to vast numbers of aspiring students. IIHS's vision is to be a leader in hospitality skills training and development, and providing young people with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the contemporary hospitality industry. IIHS is committed to creating a culture of innovation and excellence, focusing on the needs of students and the ever-evolving needs of the hospitality industry. The mission of IIHS is to empower young people by providing them with the hospitality and social skills, knowledge, and experience needed to succeed in the hospitality industry. IIHS aims to cultivate ethical and socially responsible leaders who are equipped with the latest industry trends and best practices. The International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) is a leading hospitality education institution in India, offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in hospitality and hotel management. The institute has campuses in several cities in India and abroad, as well as partnerships with leading hospitality institutions worldwide. IIHM has a strong commitment to promoting gender diversity and inclusion in the hospitality industry and has been recognised as one of India's best hospitality education institutions. Abdullah Ahmed,COO, IIHM Hotel School GroupT: +91-(0)11-43204700E: Abdullah.ahmed@iihm.ac.in (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
PRNewswire Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], May 24: Herman Miller and Tokyo-based designer Naoto Fukasawa introduce Asari Chair by Herman Miller (Asari) - a new chair that provides sophisticated ergonomic performance in a soft form - and a design that is as comfortable as it is beautiful. Asari was inspired by organic forms found in nature. Its name means "clam" in Japanese and is an anthropomorphic metaphor for the shape of the chair's back, which is available in high and mid-back height. Eight color flood options accentuate the sculptural form by featuring one hue across the base, arms, and chair body. Bespoke blended options are also available, with over 180 color combinations available to contract customers. Asari is Herman Miller's latest demonstration of problem solving through modern design. As professionals have established remote and hybrid work arrangements that include dedicated offices or multi-purpose living spaces, there is a need for seating that combines ergonomics and refined aesthetics. At the same time, organizations returning to physical spaces are considering a more residential environment that makes the office a destination with the comforts of home. "The evolution of work means the needs for spaces both at home and the office have transformed," says Ben Watson, President, Herman Miller. "Asari, created with visionary designer Naoto Fukasawa, delivers what today's workers need through intuitive adjustment, new leather and fabric offerings, clean aesthetic, and ergonomic performance." "My goal was to inspire joy and create a new form, ultimately becoming the next upholstered icon," says Fukasawa. "A core part of my design ethos is to simplify the way we live, imbuing each creation with an attraction that makes people feel dear to it, a timelessness and longevity that enhances a human process." Hard-Working Soft Seating: Asari provides the initial instant comfort desired in an upholstered chair with the long-term benefits expected from work chair. Tailored for the user, a synchronous self-adjusting tilt provides natural movement while PostureFit adjusts to fill the void that exists between the lower back and the back of the chair, providing natural alignment of the spine. The contoured seat pad minimizes pressure points and provides the ultimate support. Artfully Curated Textiles and Leather: Herman Miller collaborated with leading interiors textile creator Maharam, a brand within the MillerKnoll collective, to introduce new materials to the office seating portfolio. Guided by the Maharam Design Studio's expertise, two textiles and a leather have been curated to suit the character of the chair: Meld, Luce, and Stow. Maharam's Meld and Luce woven textiles are constructed with wool and polyester sustainably sourced throughout Europe. Maharam's Stow leather is sourced from a boutique tannery in Northern Italy and reflects the brand's carefully honed techniques passed down over generations as one of the oldest leather producers in the world. Asari can be purchased through Herman Miller & MillerKnoll dealers for contract customers. Over the last century, Herman Miller has been guided by a commitment to problem-solving designs that inspire the best in people. Along the way, Herman Miller has forged critical relationships with the most visionary designers of the day, from mid-century greats like George Nelson, the Eames Office, and Isamu Noguchi, to research-oriented visionaries like Robert Propst and Bill Stumpf - and with today's groundbreaking studios like Industrial Facility and Studio 7.5. From the birth of ergonomic furniture to manufacturing some of the twentieth century's most iconic pieces, Herman Miller has pioneered original, timeless design that makes an enduring impact, while building a lasting legacy of design, innovation, and social good. Herman Miller is a part of MillerKnoll, a collective of dynamic brands that comes together to design the world we live in. For more information, visit hermanmiller.com/about. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
BusinessWire India Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 24: The officials of the Government of Goa and the Government of Uttarakhand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate towards enhancing the tourism landscape of both Goa and Uttarakhand. The signing of the MoU was held in the presence of Rohan Khaunte, the Minister for Tourism, IT, E&C, Printing and Stationary, Government of Goa, and Pushkar Singh Dhami, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. The MoU is aimed at promoting bilateral cooperation in the travel and tourism sector and facilitating travel between the states to increase the number of tourists visiting Goa and Uttarakhand respectively. The signing of this MoU between the officials of the two states marks a significant step towards promoting tourism in Goa and Uttarakhand and showcasing India's rich cultural diversity to the world, aligned with the 'Dekho Apna Desh' initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative aims to encourage people to witness and experience the rich heritage and vivid culture of India. Speaking at the occasion, Rohan Khaunte said, "We're excited to sign this MoU with Uttarakhand Tourism and underline our focus on spiritual, wellness, and eco-tourism. Through this partnership, we look forward to showcasing the beautiful, ancient temples of Goa as a part of the circuit connecting 'Dakshin Kashi' with 'Uttar Kashi'. It is our endeavor to strengthen the tourism sector of both states and offer visitors a unique and unforgettable spiritual experience." Sharing his thoughts on the collaboration, Satpal Maharaj, the Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand, said, "We're happy to join hands with Goa Tourism and work for the betterment of tourism in both states. This MoU will not only increase direct flight connectivity but also explore opportunities for joint packages, cultural exchanges, and human resource development. We look forward to the growth of tourism in both Goa and Uttarakhand." Under the MoU, both states will benefit from direct flight connectivity between Uttarakhand and Goa, the travel time is reduced from 7 hours to 2.5 hours, making it easier for tourists to travel between the two states. The tourism departments of both states will also work on joint packages to promote various tourism products, including adventure tourism activities, ecotourism, spiritual tourism, and wellness tourism. Both Goa and Uttarakhand have unique cultural identities that will be showcased to offer tourists a glimpse into India's diverse cultural heritage. The MoU will pave the way for cultural exchange between the two states, showcasing local cuisines, folk art, and handicrafts through various cultural exchange programs, roadshows, festivals, and events. Furthermore, the MoU also includes a provision for human resource development. Both states will work in collaboration and ensure the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the field of tourism, including training and capacity building for tourism professionals. Indigo now has 3 direct flights a week from Goa to Dehradun and back. It was a proud moment that the inaugural flight was helmed by our very own Goan girl Captain Sasha Saldanha from the village of Parra in Goa. This MoU is a first of its kind in India, where two states are collaborating to promote the Prime Minister's vision of Dekho Apna Desh and can be emulated by the rest of the states in India. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
SRV Media New Delhi [India], May 24: Symbiosis Law School, Pune hosted the 11th Annual International Research Conference on Rule of Law in Context: Globalisation and Indian Resonances to Sustainable Development Goals (SYMROLIC 2023) on May 5-6, 2023. The conference was organized in association with SLS NOIDA, SLS Hyderabad, and SLS Nagpur. The conference was inaugurated by Prof. (Dr.) Shashikala Gurpur, Director of Symbiosis Law School, Pune. The conference abstract compilation was released by Prof. (Dr.) Purvi Pokhariyal, Dean of the School of Law, Forensic Justice and Policy Studies, National Forensic Sciences University, along with other dignitaries. A video screening was presented to provide an overview of the Symbiosis Centre for International and Comparative Child Rights Law. Subsequently, Prof. (Dr.) Asha Bajpai, an expert in International Child Rights and Professor at TISS, Mumbai, inaugurated the Centre virtually via the Zoom platform. Prof. (Dr.) Purvi Pokhariyal delivered the Chief Guest's address on the theme of 'Legal Road to SDG'. The conference featured a number of plenary sessions and panel discussions on a variety of topics related to the rule of law, globalization, and sustainable development goals. The conference also included a number of paper presentations by scholars from around the world. The 11th Annual International Research Conference on Rule of Law in Context: Globalisation and Indian Resonances to Sustainable Development Goals (SYMROLIC 2023) was a valuable opportunity for scholars to come together and discuss the latest research on these important topics. The conference also provided a platform for scholars to network and collaborate on future projects. The theme of the plenary session was "Legal Pathways to Sustainable Development Goals: Global and Indian Perspectives." Prof. (Dr.) Shashikala Gurpur, Director of Symbiosis Law School, Pune and Dean of Faculty of Law, SIU, traced the interdependence and evolution of global goals from the MDGs. Dr MK Ramesh, Professor at NLSIU Bangalore and Chair Professor of Urban Poor and the Law, discussed the role of Indian Constitutional Vision in achieving SDGs, highlighting the impact of Make in India on enterprise and global demand. Prof. (Dr.) Purvi Pokhariyal, Director of National Forensic Science University, stressed the need for a societal approach to SDGs and the role of sensitization in localizing SDGs. Dr Asha Bajpai, International Child Rights Expert at TISS, Mumbai, focused on child rights and SDGs, especially for disabled children, gender equality, and child marriage. She suggested a convergence between RTE Act and PWD Act to attain SDGs. Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Patil, Head of Research Publications at SCRI, led the Workshop Session on "Choosing the Right Journal and Writing to Suit a Journal". He discussed research metrics, objectives, components, journal selection, theory understanding, SIU publication standards, academic and technical writing, review process, publishing challenges, common errors, result analysis, and his publication mantra, "Publish Good Mantras or Perish." He ended with quality indicators and a practical exercise on citations and indexes. Track 1, on Law and Human Behavior, covered topics like poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, and legal systems. The panel included Dr YSR Murthy, Dr Santosh Aghav, and Prof. (Dr) K I Vibhute. Fourteen presenters shared their papers and received feedback. Samara Sahu (SLS-P) and Shivaramakrishnan M. and Kaustubh Balaji (Sastra University) won the track and runner-up prizes. Track 2, on Business, Trade, Commerce, Management and Law, had panelists Prof. (Dr.) KVS Sharma, Prof. (Dr.) Indrajit Dubey, and Prof. Lindsay Trotman. Seven papers were presented and reviewed by the panel. Yash Singh Naruka and Prerna Singh (NUSRL, Ranchi) and Ashish Vinod Naik and Sanskruti Mahale (SLS-P) were the track winner and runner-up. Track 3 focused on International Law, Policy, and Governance, covering topics like climate change, international migration, global inequalities, and legal empowerment. The panel included Dr Suhas Tuljapurkar, Prof. (Dr.) Sanoj Rajan, and Prof. Dr John Quigley. Fourteen presenters shared their papers and received feedback. Akshay Triloki Nath (JNU) and Hardik Jain and Rishi Khemnani (SLS-P) won the track and runner-up prizes. Track 4 centered on EU Climate Justice Law, Governance, Management and Policy, addressing issues like Climate Change, Clean Water and Sanitation, Climate Action, Community, Corporate Compliances, and SDG Lawyering. The panel had Dr Prakash Rao and Dr Przemyslaw Tacik. Eight presenters presented their papers and got feedback. Sridattha Charan, Dr. Aparajita Mohanty, Dr. Sujata Arya and Yash (SLS-P) and Vindhya Gupta (SLS-P) were the track winner and runner-up. Track 5 explored Innovation, Science, Technology and Law, covering areas like Affordable and Clean Energy, AI, Healthcare, Data Science, Law Tech, Green Technology, Alternative Energy, IT Law, Cyber Forensics, Data Protection, Blockchain, Digital Currency, IOT, Cloud Computing, Fake News Laws, IP Laws, AI and IP, Patenting Nanotechnology, Traditional Knowledge, Biodiversity, and SDG Lawyering. The panel included Prof. (Dr.) Naresh Kumar Vats, Adv Puneet Bhasin, and Dr Saurabh Chandra. Seventeen presenters showcased their papers and got feedback. Akshay Chugh, Dr Shirish Kulkarni and Sangramjit Chavan (SLS-P) and Prof. Jivantika Gulati and Radha Ranjan (SLS-P) were the track winner and runner-up. Track 6 focused on Public Law, Society and Governance, covering topics like Decent Work and Economic Growth, Public Health, Constitutionalism, Governance and Environment, Life Below Water, Life on Land, Peace and Justice Strong Institutions, Dispute Resolution, Mental Health Law, Access to medicine, Patient's rights, Food Security, Poverty, Conserving the Earth, and SDG Lawyering. The panel included Prof. (Dr.) Nirmal Kanti Chakraborti and Prof. Kris Gledhill. Nine presenters shared their papers and received feedback. Aradome Belai Khan (SLS-P) and Aradhya Bindal and SM Aamir Ali(SLS-P) won the track and runner-up prizes. Dr Satya Sundar Shetty, Associate Professor at IIT Madras, led a workshop on "Integrating Indian Philosophy into Research" (Under ERASMUS+CBHE Project co-funded by EU). The session was interactive and lively, with participants discussing various issues of law and order with Indian philosophical traditions. The Valedictory Ceremony of SYMROLIC 2023 was attended by Prof. (Dr.) Shashikala Gurpur, Director of SLS-P and Dean of Faculty of Law, SIU, Dr Aparajita Mohanty, Deputy Director (Academics), and Prof. (Dr.) Bindu Ronald, Professor of Law, SLS-P. Prof. Gurpur highlighted the importance of parallel research and suggested expanding the research domain and integrating law and technology. She stressed on the rule of law context and the dynamic dimension of the legal domain. She congratulated the organizers on the success of SYMROLIC 2023, citing an increase in papers (68) and abstracts (115) received this time. She concluded by stating that SYMROLIC is a fusion of ideas that explore new research avenues. The ceremony continued with the prize distribution and selection of papers for publication after blind peer review. The conference ended with a vote of thanks by Dr Mohanty. To know more visit https://www.symlaw.ac.in/ (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 24: We are immensely proud to announce the new first-of-its-kind Joint Venture with CardBuzz, India, to launch GiiftBuzz India. Giift has joined hands with CardBuzz India to explore and expand its roots in the Indian Market.

GiiftBuzz India will be the first-of-its-kind extension of GiiftBox in India. It will drive growth through the Indian Retail Market by offering a state-of-the-art customer engagement platform to MSMEs and SMEs retail segments. It will empower them to boost customer engagement and forge customer loyalty through customized digital offers within minutes. This collaboration will help unveil the power of Giift Solutions in India and drive digitally enhanced technology in the Indian retail markets through an extensive network of CardBuzz agents spread strategically throughout the Indian territory.

"This ingenious joint venture giving rise to GiiftBuzz India is a milestone step towards Giift's global expansion initiatives. Giift's disruptive loyalty technology and CardBuzz's extensive distribution strength throughout the Indian retail market will expand and amplify our offerings in the Indian retail loyalty space," says Laurent Xatart, Co-Founder & CEO at Giift.

"Giift's end-to-end loyalty solutions paired with CardBuzz's most powerful, yet simplest-to-use payment methods is the recipe to success. This collaboration will help us drive disruption in the Indian Retail Market loyalty space," says Prem Pal Singh, Founder & CEO of CardBuzz.

CardBuzz is a new-age fintech company specializing in customized financial solutions for personal and commercial finance management backed by established financial professionals in the industry.

Giift is a leading loyalty technology provider and program management partner with headquarters in Singapore. Founded in 2013, Giift has expanded into multiple countries, including Dubai, Mumbai, New York, London, Wuhan, Beijing, Jakarta, Colombo, Doha, Dhaka, Nairobi, and now Pakistan. Giift has served 2,000+ corporate clients across industries and has created customized loyalty and rewards-based programs globally.

Visit GiiftBuzz - https://giiftbuzz.com/

Giift - Amaury Berthet, Chief Marketing & Digital Officer: amaury.berthet@giift.com, +33782013199CardBuzz - Prem Pal Singh, Founder & CEO: prem@cardbuzz.in, +91 9643598248

(Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Teamology Newsdesk New Delhi [India], May 24: Get ready to embark on a wild journey through the world of meme coins. In this article, we'll compare the success stories of Uniswap (UNI), Floki Inu (FLOKI), and Dogetti (DETI), with a focus on how Dogetti, the meme cryptocurrency, is making waves in the crypto market. So, grab your popcorn and let's dive into the news, education, and updates you need on the crypto market. Uniswap: A Pioneer in Decentralized TradingWhen it comes to altcoins, Uniswap deserves a spotlight. It's not just any altcoin; it's a decentralized exchange protocol that has revolutionized the way we trade cryptocurrencies. Uniswap allows users to swap tokens directly from their wallets, eliminating the need for traditional exchanges. This approach has gained popularity among Gen Z and Millennials, who seek a more inclusive and decentralized financial system. Uniswap's success can be attributed to its innovative automated market maker (AMM) model. By leveraging liquidity pools and smart contracts, Uniswap provides a seamless trading experience. Its native token, UNI, has seen significant growth, cementing Uniswap's position as one of the leading decentralized exchanges in the crypto space. Floki Inu: Riding the Meme Coin Wave Now, let's talk about Floki Inu, a meme coin that has taken the crypto market by storm. Inspired by the celebrity influence of Elon Musk's dog, Floki, this coin quickly gained attention from meme-loving crypto enthusiasts. Floki Inu's success can be attributed to its strong community engagement and clever marketing tactics. As a meme coin, Floki Inu's journey has been characterized by volatility and unpredictable price movements. While it has garnered a dedicated following, it's essential to approach meme coins with caution. Investing in meme coins involves higher risks due to their speculative nature and the influence of social media trends. It's crucial to conduct thorough research and evaluate the long-term viability of such projects. Dogetti: Unleashing the Power of MemesNow, let's shine the spotlight on Dogetti (DETI), a rising star in the meme coin universe. Dogetti operates on the same principles as many other meme coins, embracing the power of online communities and viral trends. It has gained attention for its use of the Mafia and how it embraces its users as one big 'Family'. Dogetti, while being a fun and lighthearted project, also aims to contribute to real-world impact. Through various community-driven initiatives, Dogetti showcases the potential of meme coins to create positive change. Dogetti is launching on June 20th - don't regretti missing Dogetti! As we conclude our journey through the success stories of Uniswap, Floki Inu, and Dogetti, it's evident that meme coins have captured the imagination of Gen Z and Millennials. Uniswap has revolutionized decentralized trading, while Floki Inu and Dogetti have leveraged the power of memes to gain attention in the crypto market. Join the Family: Presale: https://dogetti.io/how-to-buy Website: https://dogetti.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/Dogetti Twitter: https://twitter.com/_Dogetti_ (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by Teamology Newsdesk. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
NewsVoir Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 24: Climate scientists today suggested to the state government to incentivise and urge coal mining companies on methane handling, considering that methane's potential to warm the environment is 84 times more than that of Carbon-di-oxide (CO2). Among other suggestions the experts also suggested that somebody should be made accountable to capture methane from abandoned coal mines that continue to emit methane in the environment, which has not been addressed as yet. A White Paper shall be drafted through the day-long workshop 'Sustainable Mining & Methane Management, CBM & CMM' that was jointly organised by International Centre for Climate and Sustainability Action Foundation (ICCSA), Society for Clean Environment (SOCLEEN) and the Government of Maharashtra. The White Paper will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Maharashtra, and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). In his special address at the workshop Vijay S. Nahata, Chairman SEIAA said, "I request the organisers to suggest key points that we as government can implement to have a better and cleaner environment for our future generations." He suggested using modern tools in mining to reduce environmental and climate impact. India is committed to Net Zero by 2070, and we will continue to co-operate and work with industries and other stakeholders for the betterment of our environment, said Shri Nahata. Citing successful examples of Majhi Vasudha campaign, Shri Pravin Darade, Principal Secretary Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Maharashtra, also holding additional charge of Member Secretary Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, said, "Clearly people are now becoming aware of the issues with the environment. When we launched the Majhi Vasudha campaign three years ago, about 600 representatives from urban local bodies attended the conference, which increased to 11,000 and 17,000 in subsequent years." The government will be happy to work together with experts on this important issue of climate change and especially methane emissions from various sources. Dr Rakesh Kumar, Officer on Special Duty at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) suggested that mining companies should also be made aware of the revenue potential that Methane capture can have. "By increasing their operational spending by 10 percent towards methane capturing, the mining industries can create a separate revenue stream that can give them three times the returns on the investment." Considering the fact that industries are more focussed on increasing revenues, we must help them in optimal methane capture so that they can increase revenues. "While mining companies shall be able to increase their revenues in the short term, allied benefits relating to the environment and health of people residing in areas closer to mining, will take some time to show. Growth in coal production is directly proportional to the release of methane from mining activities. While India relies majorly on coal production from open cast mines, increasing production may require adoption of deeper mining of coal seams. If that is the case, utilisation of CMM could be one of the potential energy sources and also has climate mitigation co-benefit," said Dr Kumar. Professor A D Sawant, President SOCLEEN in his opening speech suggested that having government policy towards climate change is definitely the first and a step in the right direction, but the know how should also be shared with the mining officials who are there at the site. While we invite executives involved in operations to attend such meetings, we must also have such workshops closer to mining areas. Prof Varshney, Distinguished Professor and Advisor ICCSA said that Utilisation of coal mine methane has the potential to benefit India by reducing emissions and increasing domestic energy security. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, which is responsible for the Earth's warming. Methane (CH4) concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since pre-industrial times. CH4 is the second-leading cause of climate change after carbon dioxide, rising to 1.5 degrees Celsius or likely 2 degrees Celsius. "India is sitting on a huge opportunity to convert waste into energy. As per our calculation, 15 large states in the country are generating over 1.38 lakh tonnes of waste every day, and if we can deploy globally available advanced technologies to generate energy through the trash, we can set up a 5600 MW capacity waste-to-energy plant. Even at 50 percent utilisation, India will have about 2800 MW of electricity generated through garbage," Professor Bhaskar Kura, Founder of i2Care, said during the 'Sustainable Mining and Methane Management.' The workshop was attended by experts including Prof C K Varshney, former Dean at Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr Sarala Balachandran, Chief Scientist at CSIR, Shri Ajit Kumar Saxena Chairman cum Managing Director MOIL, Dr R K Vij Professor PDEU, Gandhinagar, Dr Kaushik Chakraborty, former ED at Western Coalfield Ltd, and Shri Priyank Singhvi co-founder ICCSA. ICCSA is a not-for-profit organisation that is committed to contributing to a better world for people and the planet. It was established with focus to plug the gaps in environmental management to provide an institutional platform for coordination, facilitation, advocacy, and regional and international collaboration; with an aim of development of targeted solutions. Headquartered at Greater Noida, ICCSA believes to restore ecosystem health, regenerate nature on Earth by providing targeted solutions to drive sustainable development for a future which is bright, positive and resilient. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Actor Sunny Hinduja has finished shooting for the second season of TVF 'Aspirants'. Opening up about his experience of shooting the second season, Sunny said, "It's been such a fun and memorable journey shooting for Aspirants Season 2. The amount of love fans showered on me and the show in the first season was endearing. We have tried to make the second season more special which probably the viewers will enjoy watching. As a team, we can't wait to bring the show out for the audiences." Released in 2021, 'Aspirants' is a story of 3 friends - Abhilash, Shwetketu(SK) and Guri. The story revolves around the past and the present time where the past captures the struggle and the drama behind the making of UPSC CSE aspirants in Old Rajinder Nagar of Delhi, while the present talks about the aftermath. Apart from this, Sunny Hinduja will also be seen in YRF Studio's first web series "The Railway Men" along with other unannounced projects. (ANI)
On the film's ninth anniversary on Tuesday, Tiger took to Instagram and expressed his gratitude to his admirers.

"Blessed to have been accepted by all of you 9 years ago..hope i can continue to entertain you all through his genre for as long as poss. Forever grateful to my mentor #sajidnadiadwala and my amazing director and my most beautiful costar @wardakhannadiadwala @sabbir24x7 @kritisanon," he wrote.

Tiger also shared his film's poster.

Kriti shared Tiger's story on her Instagram and wrote, "Happy 9 years Tiggy."

As the actors completed nine years in Bollywood, producer Sajid Nadiadwala also expressed his happiness on launching them with his film.

"Proud to give birth to both of you," he said.

After debuting with 'Heropanti', Kriti and Tiger carved a niche for themselves with their versatile performances. So far, Tiger has appeared in films like 'Baaghi', 'War' and 'Student of the Year 2' among others.

On the other hand, Kriti has acted in films like 'Dilwale', 'Panipat', 'Luka Chuppi', 'Housefull 4', 'Mimi' and 'Bhediya'.

The duo will once again be seen sharing screen space in 'Ganapath'. Helmed by Vikas Bahl, 'Ganapath' also stars megastar Amitabh Bachchan and is scheduled to release on October 20. It will be out in five languages including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu. (ANI)
Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has filed a lawsuit against K Sera Sera Production Chairman Satish Panchariya and former employee Amar Thakkar for alleged defrauding, forgery, and slander. The complaint, filed by him through his legal counsel, Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, emphasises the "serious nature" of the accused's offence. Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee stated, "It is absolutely true that my client has filed a criminal complaint before the Amboli Police station against (1) Mr. Satish Ramswroop Panchariya (2) Ms. Karishma Bhupendra Rattanshi (3) Mr. Vikrant Parvez Anand and (4) Mr. Amar Thakkar, for plotting and conspiring with each other and for committing serious cognizable and non-bailable offenses of cheating, criminal misappropriation of funds, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and defamation. The criminal complaint made before the Police by my client is serious because it also covers the part where the accused persons used a forged and fabricated document to mislead the Learned Magistrate at Andheri Court and obtain a favourable Order under Section 156(3) CrPC. " "Also, from the complaint, it appears that the accused persons had malafidely and mischievously concealed the fact from the Learned Magistrate that they had replaced the original untenable complaint dated 22.11.2022 with another new complaint dated 17.03.2023 after forging a document to strengthen their baseless complaint. The matter needs to be investigated in detail so that the truth can be brought out." "As my client had to bear the brunt of these unwarranted actions, therefore he will not only be filing a quashing application before the Hon'ble High Court, but also he shall simultaneously be filing various other civil and criminal proceedings including, and not limited to, a private criminal defamation case before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate," he added. In a criminal complaint lodged with the Amboli Police Station, Bhatt accuses Satish Ramswroop Panchariya, Karishma Bhupendra Rattanshi, Vikrant Parvez Anand, and Amar Thakkar of plotting and conspiring to commit various criminal acts, including cheating, criminal misappropriation of funds, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and defamation. The complaint sheds light on the accused's misuse of a forged and fabricated document, misleading the Learned Magistrate at Andheri Court and obtaining a favorable order under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee emphasised the importance of conducting a thorough investigation to unearth the truth. According to the complaint, the accused purposefully hid the fact that they had replaced the initial complaint dated 22.11.2022 with a new complaint dated 17.03.2023 after forging a document to support their spurious charges. He announced that the ace filmmaker will file a quashing application before the Hon'ble High Court, as well as many other civil and criminal processes, along with several other civil and criminal proceedings, including a private criminal defamation case before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate. (ANI)
Actor Juhi Parmar is being lauded for her performance in 'Yeh Meri Family'. Set in the chilly winters of the 90s, the cult family drama revolves around the day-to-day life of the Awasthi family based in Lucknow. On marking her OTT debut with 'Yeh Meri Family', Juhi said, "When the story and the script were narrated to me for the first time, I instantly knew I had to do it. I couldn't wait for the shoot to start! I have always chosen characters that I can relate to and Neerja reminded me of how my mom was while I was growing up in the 90s. I was very happy to have received the offer of such a beautiful character." She also shared her experience working for digital medium. "As an actor, we try to give our best despite the medium. However, when we talk about television, we get a longer period to build the character and connect with the audience whereas in OTT, the time is limited. We know the beginning and the end, and the restricted time makes it look challenging to make that kind of an impact on the audience which is why we have workshops so when we start shooting, it does not feel as difficult. It's well-planned and practised," she added. Produced by The Viral Fever, the new season of 'Yeh Meri Family' is currently streaming on Amazon miniTV. (ANI)
"People have elected a new government with the expectation of change. Officials should work to respond to their problems," CM Siddaramaiah said.

The Chief Minister said that he will hold a separate meeting to discuss the issue of traffic congestion in Bengaluru city, and strict legal action should be taken against disturbing, inflammatory and provocative posts on social media.

He suggested that the Hoysala patrol should be always vigilant to prevent crimes.

He further said, "Senior officers should visit and inspect police stations. People who come to the police station should be treated politely."

He directed that their problems should be solved and justice should be provided.

"Police officers should take ruthless action to control illegal activities within the police station. Our government does not tolerate hooliganism, illegal club activities, or drug mafia," he said.

Be careful about maintaining social harmony, if the peace and order situation deteriorates, the concerned authorities and officers will be held responsible, he added.

He said that action will be taken without hesitation if there is any dereliction of duty.

In the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Minister KJ George, KH Muniyappa, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, MP Patil, Satish Jarakiholi, Deputy Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Dr Rajneesh Goyal were present. (ANI)
According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Rajan Rai.

Due to the lack of a network in the tunnel, there was a delay in informing the police about the incident, said the police. Amid delay in reaching the hospital, the deceased succumbed to his injuries during treatment at Lady Hardinge Hospital, as per the police.

Giving details of the incident, the police said the deceased met with the accident while returning from Meerut and was going to his home in Uttam Nagar in Delhi.

"The deceased suffered from brain injuries as his helmet was completely damaged in the accident," added the police.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
As many as 42 people were rescued during ongoing checking and drives conducted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Northeast Frontier Railway at different trains and stations. RPF also apprehended two persons involved in human trafficking during the rescue operation conducted from May 16 to May 22. "Forty-two persons including 36 minors, two mentally retarded men, two women and two girls during ongoing checking and drives conducted from May 16 to 22, 2023 at different trains and railway stations over N. F. Railway," said officials. CPRO of NF Railway, Sabyasachi De, said that the drives were conducted at different locations in Katihar, Purnea, Barsoi, Kumedpur, New Bongaigaon, Rangiya, Kamakhya, Guwahati, Mariani, Tinsukia, New Jalpaiguri, New Tinsukia and Dimapur railway stations. "All the rescued persons were later handed over to the respective child lines as per norms for safe custody and family members after proper verification," Sabyasachi De said. In a recent incident of May 22, the RPF of Katihar along with the Meri Saheli Team, conducted a drive at Katihar railway station and rescued one runaway minor boy. Later, the rescued boy was handed over to Child Line/Katihar for safe custody and necessary action. On May 21, the RPF team of Dimapur rescued three runaway minor girls from Dimapur railway station. "Later the minors were handed over to Child Line, Dimapur for further course of action. Their parents were also intimated later on," said officials. On May 17, RPF jointly with members of Bal Bachao Andolan team and GRP of Purnea conducted a successful drive at Purnea railway station and successfully rescued seven minor boys and also apprehended two human traffickers from the station premise. Later those traffickers along with the rescued boys were handed over to GRP/Purnea for further course of action. Railway Protection Force remains vigilant for suspected persons involved in human trafficking as well as the movement of children in a suspicious manner, travelling alone, without proper guardians etc. (ANI)
Congress and eighteen other opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi''s decision to inaugurate the building without President Droupadi Murmu "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister''s decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said. The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are - Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi''s decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it said. The opposition parties said that Article 79 of the Constitution states that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People. "The President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the statement said. The statement alleged that the ruling party at the Centre has sought to suppress the voice of opposition parties in Parliament. "Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct," the statement said. The opposition parties said in the statement that the new Parliament building has been built "at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built". Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28. Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses.President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction. In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Wednesday alleged that Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at the premises of his colleagues in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy case. The two colleagues of Sanjay Singh, on whose premises the raids are being conducted are Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra. https://twitter.com/SanjayAzadSln/status/1661218323236028418?s=20 The AAP leader posted a video on Twitter alleging, "I had exposed the dictatorship and bullying of ED in front of the whole country. I brought it to the notice of the whole country how ED is misusing its institution and powers to falsely implicate people in the excise policy case." "After they were not able to find anything on me, and they even accepted it publicly, now they are conducting raids at the house of my colleagues," he added. Calling the raids a "dictatorship", the AAP MP said that his fight will continue till the last. "I got to know this morning that raids have been conducted at the house of my colleagues Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra. This is a dictatorship by ED on the order of PM Modi. But, I would again say that our fight will continue till the last," he said. Sanjay Singh said he would move to High Court and Supreme Court against ED if it was required. "I want to tell the ED that I will not bow down. I will fight and expose the misuse of ED in front of the whole country. If I have to approach High Court or Supreme Court, I will do that," he added. Sanjay Singh further slammed ED stating that his colleague Sarvesh's father is suffering from cancer. Notably, former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is under judicial custody in connection with the alleged scam in the excise policy case in the national capital. Sisodia was arrested by CBI and ED in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, hours after questioning at Tihar Jail. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was also summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in the case on April 16. The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their account books to evade detection, the probe agencies said. (ANI)
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that police officers wearing political outfit's dresses and posing for photos is "unconstitutional" and no one will be allowed to take laws into their hands. "...We won't allow anyone to take the law into their hands...There were 3-4 places where Police officers put their agenda. They removed their uniform and wore their political outfit's dresses and posed for photos. This is unconstitutional...," said DK Shivakumar. When asked about the state cabinet expansion, he said that it will be carried out by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. "Cabinet expansion will be carried out by my Chief Minister. He has the authority, Congress party has given him authority. He is the right man to answer, please meet him," said Shivakumar. Earlier in the day, when asked about discussions on the formation of the cabinet in Delhi today, he said that being the party president he would definitely go. "That will be informed by CM Siddaramaiah and AICC, As the party president, I will definitely go to Delhi," said DK Shivakumar while talking to ANI. Meanwhile, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah senior police officials have been instructed to ensure no 'saffronisation' and 'moral policing' in the state. "That is what we have instructed all the senior Police officials - no saffronisation, no moral policing..." said Siddaramaiah while talking to the media after attending a Congress legislature party meeting at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. Earlier, he instructed the police officials to maintain law and order in the state asserting to form a corruption-free government for the people. "No more drugs and any kind of rowdyism will be tolerated in the state, the police department will be responsible for all this. We should give the corruption-free government to the people of the state," said Shivakumar on Tuesday. He further said that all the unauthorized clubs in the state will be closed, adding that the people are looking for a change. "I have given warning to the police department, not to wear saffron on the uniform," said DK Shivakumar. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea of former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Satish Chandra Verma challenging his dismissal from the service just a month before his retirement. Verma had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its probe into the Ishrat Jahan 'fake encounter' case. He was dismissed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. In September 2022, Delhi HC declined to put on hold the Centre's decision to dismiss Satish Chandra Verma. The bench of Justices Satish Chander Sharma and Sanjeev Sachdev on Wednesday dismissed the plea of Verma and said the court find no merit in the plea. The dismissal order passed by the competent authority was upheld. Former IPS Verma's dismissal came on August 30 last year, a month before he was due to retire on September 30. One of the grounds for Verma's dismissal included talking to the media which "dented the country's relations with neighbouring countries". A departmental enquiry had found him guilty of charges, including "interacting with public media" without authorisation or permission from the competent authority. However, on his behalf, senior advocate Sudhanshu Batra has submitted that the interview was given under 'compelling circumstances'. Earlier the Delhi High Court had said, "We are of the view that at this stage the order of termination of August 30, 2022, does not warrant any interference as the petitioner is to superannuate, in any event, on September 30, 2022. Consequently, we are not inclined to stay or inter or interdict the order of dismissal at this stage." Earlier, Verma had approached the Supreme Court against the order of the Delhi High Court order allowing the Centre to implement the dismissal order passed by the disciplinary committee on August 30, 2022. Supreme Court on September 19 had stayed for a week the dismissal order and granted liberty to the High Court to consider whether to continue with the stay or not. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday opposed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi''s plea for the grant of a fresh passport and said that if the former MP is allowed to travel abroad, it may hamper the probe in the National Herald case. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta granted time to Subramanian Swamy to file a reply in the matter and posted it for May 26, 2023, for further hearing. Subramanian Swamy, who is the complainant in the National Herald case, appeared in person and opposed the application. The court said the matter is pending since 2018 and Rahul Gandhi has been travelling abroad. There is no such apprehension that he will flee away or abscond. The right to travel is a fundamental right, said the court. Rahul Gandhi''s counsels Tarranum Cheema along with advocates Nikhil Bhalla and Sumit Kumar also submitted that there are no criminal proceedings pending and that travelling abroad is a fundamental right. The applicant ceased to be a Member of Parliament in March this year following his disqualification as a member from Lok Sabha. He was convicted a Surat court in a criminal defamation case. He surrendered his diplomatic passport and has decided to apply for a fresh ordinary passport. By way of the present application, the applicant is seeking permission and no objection from the Court for the issuance of a fresh ordinary passport to him, stated Rahul Gandhi''s lawyers. They also added that the complainant''s request to put restrictions on travel was rejected in 2015. Moreover, since the bail order the applicant has travelled several times without permission as no permission was required and there no travel restrictions. In 2015, the Ccurt while granting bail to the applicant Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, did not put any condition on travel for the applicant and others as well, Rahul Gandhi''s lawyers noted. Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday moved Delhi''s Rouse Avenue Court seeking no objection for the issuance of a fresh ordinary passport to him. The National Herald case is being argued in a Delhi court and was filed by Subramanian Swamy against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and some persons associated with them. (ANI)
In a veiled attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the newly elected Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that the senior police officials have been instructed to ensure no 'saffronisation' and 'moral policing' in the state. "That is what we have instructed all the senior Police officials - no saffronisation, no moral policing..." Siddaramaiah told media persons after attending a Congress legislature party meeting at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. He also said that action will be taken against such people who are making false news. "Those who are making false news, an action will be taken against such people," he said. Congress in its manifesto for the Karnataka election said that the party is committed to taking firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred among communities on grounds of caste and religion. "We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, Popular Front of India (PFI) or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities. We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on any such organisations," the manifesto said. Soon after being sworn in as the chief minister, Siddaramaiah said that the first Cabinet meeting has issued orders for the implementation of five guarantees which were promised by the party before the elections. Addressing a press briefing after the first Cabinet meeting in Vidhan Soudha, here, Siddaramaiah had 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. "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). (ANI)
Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested one absconding gangster of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Jitendra Gogi syndicate after an exchange of fire, said Delhi police on Wednesday. According to the police, the accused has been identified as Yogesh alias Himanshu and was arrested on Monday. As per the police, the accused was absconding for three years after being released on interim bail in a case of attempt to murder pertaining to Narela police station in Delhi. "The accused was involved in 16 criminal cases of attempt to murder, robbery, dacoity, hurt, criminal intimidation and Arms Act etc., in Delhi/NCR and was absconding for three years," said the police. The officials also informed that firearms including a semi-automatic pistol and two live cartridges were also recovered from the possession of the accused. "A semi-automatic pistol of 0.32 bore and two live cartridges have been recovered from the accused," the police said. Giving details of the arrest, the police said that information was received with a special cell about the presence of an absconding gangster in the North-West and Outer Delhi area. Thereafter, further information about his activities was gathered and after incessant efforts for more than two months, specific input was received that the accused would come near Britania Chowk flyover on Monday, May 22 to meet his associate. A team was formed and a trap was laid at the spot to nab the accused, said the police. The police said, "The accused was spotted coming on foot towards the flyover at about 3.15 PM at Ring Road. However, when he was asked to surrender, he whipped out a pistol and fired a shot towards the raiding party. The team members immediately responded and overpowered and disarmed the accused." Further on search, a semi-automatic pistol and two live cartridges were recovered from his possession. A case under relevant sections of law was registered at PS Special Cell in this regard, added the police. The officials said that during interrogation it was revealed that the accused is involved in 16 criminal cases and was also convicted of four years of rigorous imprisonment in a case of attempt to murder lodged at Narela police station in 2019 and was granted 45 days interim bail in this case in June 2020. "However, he did not surrender after that and absconded. He has also divulged that he is an active member of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Jitender Gogi gang and provides logistic and financial help to the members of this gang," added the police. Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)
Shahrukh Saifi, the accused in the case of Elathur train attack, has filed an application before the Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court at Kochi seeking permission to speak with his lawyer without the presence of the agency officials. In the application, he made serious allegations against the NIA that, "My relatives and friends were interrogated for days without notice. My friend's father committed suicide due to NIA torture. They are threatening my relatives saying that if they do not accept what they say, they will be arraigned as accused in this case." Earlier the Special NIA Court has sent him to judicial custody till May 27. Saifi, 27, a native of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police and Central Intelligence after the train arson attack case. He had also suffered injuries in the attack. At the time of interrogation by a special investigation team (SIT) Saifi provided contradictory statements in which initially, he had said he was being used by someone and later retracted saying, everything was planned and executed by him only. The NIA is investigating the larger conspiracy as part of which Saifi, assessed by Kerala police to be "highly radicalised" and influenced by inflammatory speeches of Islamic evangelist Zakir Naik, planned and executed the act of arson. On April 2, Saifi had attempted to set some passengers on fire on board the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express at Elathur in Kozhikode, after spraying them with an inflammable liquid. Three passengers lost their lives while trying to jump out of the train to escape the fire. Saifi was later arrested from Ratnagiri. (ANI)
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Wednesday said that a bad message will be sent out to the world if the President of India is kept away from inaugurating the newly-constructed Parliament building. Saurabh Bhardwaj also said that the BJP and the Central Government should consider performing the Havan and Yagya rituals by offering oblations at the hands of the President who is coming from the Scheduled Tribe community. "Today every person belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and all those who have been demanding their rights are sad. A very bad message will be sent to the whole world about India by keeping the President coming from a Scheduled Tribe society away from such a big event," Bhardwaj said. "I would request the BJP and the Central Government that especially Havan and Yagya should be started by offering oblations at the hands of the President coming from the Scheduled Tribe community," he added. He further stated that the President being the first citizen of the country should become the host of the event. "For thousands of years, the forward castes have kept the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes away from their rights. Being a Brahmin, I am saying this because Brahmins have been condemned for thousands of years only because of this. The President is the first citizen of the country, in such a way this Havan should be started by her," he said. Earlier today Congress and eighteen other opposition parties decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the building without President Droupadi Murmu "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be dedicating the newly-constructed Parliament building to the country on May 28. The foundation stone of the new building of Parliament was laid by Prime Minister Modi on December 10, 2020. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in Lok Sabha Chamber. (ANI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed the Opposition on Wednesday stating that the inauguration of the new Parliament building was something that the latter did not expect to happen soon adding that the boycott is being done as the inauguration day coincides with the birth anniversary of Veer Savarkar. While talking to the media, CM Sarma said, "The boycott is obvious. They opposed the construction of Parliament House. They never thought that the construction will be completed so soon. So, everything has happened like a bouncer for the Opposition." "Just to save their face, they are enacting the drama of boycott. Parliament House will open on the day associated with Veer Savarkar. That might be another reason for them to oppose or boycott the function," the Chief Minister added. His remarks come on the heels of Congress and 18 other opposition parties who have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the building without President Droupadi Murmu "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said. The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are - Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28. Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses. President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction. In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)
Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Vijaysai Reddy on Wednesday confirmed that their party will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament Building in Delhi on May 28. Meanwhile, after 19 opposition parties announced a boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that it is a historical occasion and not the time for politics. Addressing the media, the Union Minister said that boycotting and making issues out of a new issue is most unfortunate. "I would like to tell them that this is a historical event. This is not the time for politics...Boycotting and making issues out of a new issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join this historical function...," said Pralhad Joshi. His remarks come on the heels of Congress and 18 other opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the building without President Droupadi Murmu "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said. The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are - Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28. Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses. President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction. In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)
Officials said that a tempo full of cigarettes worth about Rs 30 lakh was looted near Signature Bridge at Tarun Goyat section area on Monday afternoon.

The tempo was going to Model Town with a consignment of cigarettes from Ghaziabad. "We have arrested two of the suspects," they said.

Officials said that the looted consignment of cigarettes was also recovered from the two accused.

"There were 4-5 people involved in the loot, and efforts to identify and nab them are on," they said, adding that a case has been registered at Timarpur Police Station.

"Further investigation is underway in this matter," they added. (ANI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the Parliament building without President Droupadi Murmu, saying it is an "insult to the country's highest constitutional post". PM Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the country's highest constitutional post. Parliament is not made of bricks of ego but of constitutional values." Congress and eighteen other opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building and stated that it "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said. The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are - Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it said. The opposition parties said that Article 79 of the Constitution states that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People. "The President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the statement said. The statement alleged that the ruling party at the Centre has sought to suppress the voice of opposition parties in Parliament. "Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct," the statement said. The opposition parties said in the statement that the new Parliament building has been built "at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built" Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses. President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction. In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)
Asserting that the construction of a new Parliament building was necessary, Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said that it is good that it has been constructed but the idea was mooted when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. He further refrained from commenting on the issue of which political party would be attending or boycotting the inauguration event of the new Parliament building. "This is a technical issue. Parliamentarians who want to boycott this event or want to attend it is up to them. It is their point of view on how they want to perceive this event. Those parliamentarians will have to explain the reasons why they are boycotting the event. I don't want to comment on who will be attending or boycotting the inauguration event," Azad, Democratic Progressive Azad Party chief, told to ANI. He also recalled the conversation related to the need for a new Parliament building between him and then Speaker Shivraj Patil when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. "At the time when PV Narasimha Rao was the PM, Shivraj Patil was the Speaker and I was the Parliamentary Affairs minister, Shivraj ji had said to me that a new and bigger Parliament building should be constructed before 2026. The construction of a new building was necessary, it's good that it has been constructed now," he said. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the country's highest constitutional post. Parliament is not made of bricks of ego but of constitutional values." Congress and eighteen other opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building and stated that it "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said. The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are - Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it said. The opposition parties said that Article 79 of the Constitution states that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People. "The President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the statement said. The statement alleged that the ruling party at the Centre has sought to suppress the voice of opposition parties in Parliament. "Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct," the statement said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction. In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha.Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)
The political mercury has shot up in Madhya Pradesh after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan slammed the Congress party for using indecent words for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief VD Sharma in its recent tweet. CM Chouhan on Wednesday wrote on twitter, "Today, the Congress party has again presented an example of their levelless politics, in which they used indecent words for BJP state president V D Sharma in one of their tweets." "V D Sharma is a capable and hard working worker of the BJP. With his hard work and efficient leadership, Madhya Pradesh BJP is continuously moving forward. Our organisation is the best," Chouhan further wrote. Notably, on Wednesday morning, the MP Congress wrote on twitter, "... Shivraj ji, have you seen the result of making a corrupt, dishonest, useless, and 'Nafrati Chintu' (hatred Chintu) a state president (referring to V D Sharma)." Hitting back at CM Chouhan's reaction on twitter, media advisor of MP Congress Piyush Babele tweeted, "Shivraj ji, first teach dignity at home and learn yourself. You (CM Chouhan), V D Sharma, National General Secretary of BJP Kailash Vijayvargiya, medical education minister Vishwas Sarang, state home minister Narottam Mishra, BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma have abused former CM Kamal Nath and the Congress Party by breaking all the dignity of the language, culture and civilization." "The quarrel is in your house, your ministers are yelling at you (CM Chouhan) in the cabinet. Leaders are speaking about danger to their life from the state president (referring to V D Sharma)..." Babele further wrote. On the other hand, BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agarwal told ANI, "There is nervousness and restlessness in the Congress. Kamal Nath says that he has to compete with the BJP organisation but Nath and Digvijay Singh attack the BJP state president. This means that they are scared of both the BJP and BJP state president." "Digvijay Singh is facing a defamation case for false allegation. The way Nath has also used the language towards women and towards the Chief Minister in the past is not hidden from anyone. The public knows everything. The Congress is scared. The way allegations are being made shows that there is uneasiness in the Congress," Agarwal said. Meanwhile, Chairman of MP Congress media department, KK Mishra told ANI, "The BJP should answer what kind of words they used against our senior leader Kamal Nath. The way BJP will question our leaders, we will also be forced to answer in the same way." (ANI)
Singh, who belonged to the notorious Gopi Ganshampuriya gang, was currently out on bail.

While talking to ANI, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Amritsar Rural, Satinder Singh said, "Jarnail Singh was shot dead by four persons in Sathiala today. The culprits have been identified and their arrest will be made soon."

"There are four FIRs against him including charges of attempt to murder and a case registered under the Arms Act," SSP Satinder Singh added.

According to the police, the dead body has been submitted to the hospital.

"Further investigation is going on and will take actions against the people behind this incident," Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Harkrishan Singh said.

Further details are awaited on the matter. (ANI)
D Sudhakar is an MLA of Congress from Hiriyur Assembly Constituency.

Congress workers were carrying posters of Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and Sudhakar and also raised slogans in support of D Sudhakar during the protest.

The police blocked the protestors with barricades as the workers chanted slogans demanding that MLA Sudhakar be given a ministerial post.

Meanwhile, the meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) concluded in Bengaluru earlier today.

On May 18, CM Siddaramaiah was elected unanimously as the CLP leader in Karnataka, after the Congress party finalised its CM candidate after days of deliberation following a landslide victory in Karnataka.

Congress leaders RV Deshpande, HK Patil, MB Patil and Lakshmi Hebbalkar proposed Siddaramaiah's name.

Shivakumar moves a resolution to elect Siddaramaiah as a new CLP leader. All members endorsed it unanimously.

Siddaramaiah took oath as the Chief Minister on May 20, and DK Shivakumar took oath as his deputy.

Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats from the only southern state it had. (ANI)
The Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya will jointly visit West Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong areas in June as part of Confidence-Building Measures, where there has been a lot of unrest and conflict in recent times between the Karbi and Jaintia communities. Talking to reporters after the first official CM-level meeting between the two states on the second phase of border talks, to resolve the remaining six areas of difference between the two states, at Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma said, "From today the regional committees of both the states will start meeting, visiting the other state's sites or areas, where difference still exists. In the last part of June, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya and myself will visit Karbi Anglong and the Jaintia Hills area where presently some unrest is going on as a confidence-building measure." "The people on both sides will feel the confidence and they will be assured that both the states will resolve the differences, resolve the dispute with a spirit of the long-existing friendship between the people of Meghalaya and Assam," CM Sarma added. The Assam CM was hopeful to resolve the issues and differences through the process of discussion and mutual trust and confidence. The Regional Committees will submit their reports by July end after which a CM-level review meeting will be held. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, "This is the beginning of the process to find a solution for the remaining six areas of differences." "We have asked regional committees to do fact-finding and start the same process as was done for the first phase of talks. We will consult with stakeholders and hope to get reports very soon, some areas may take time and some will be faster," CM Sangma added. He also reiterated that the two CMs will visit West Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong, where some tension is prevailing there, and appeal for peace and assure the people that through a process, a solution will be arrived at. "I am confident in the leadership of the Chief Minister of Assam and the Government of India and we will find a way to resolve the matter with mutual trust and friendships," he said while adding "At the same time, we have asked the Survey of India to continue with their survey work of the first six areas of differences and complete their surveys." (ANI)
"The disciplinary committee of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee discussed the reply received by us dated April 9, 2023, to the show cause notice sent on March 5 2023. The committee does not find the reply given by you regarding your anti-party behaviour and public statement satisfactory. Therefore, the disciplinary rules and guidelines of the Indian National Congress Party constitution apply in this case," the party statement said.

Earlier Ashish Deshmukh had said that Rahul Gandhi should apologise for his 'Modi Surname marks.

In the aftermath of the comments, Maharashtra Congress issued a show cause notice to him on March 5.

Ashish Deshmukh is a former MLA from the Katol constituency in Maharashtra.

Earlier on May 20 Ashish Deshmukh met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

In this regard, he took to Twitter and said, "Today Devendra Fadnavis ji came home for breakfast along with BJP state president. During this visit, I conveyed a request letter to Union Minister Amit Shah through Devendra ji regarding setting up of a large integrated fertilizer complex in central India/Nagpur." (ANI)
Earlier today, on asked about discussions regarding cabinet expansion, Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC chief DK Shivakumar told ANI that it will be informed by the Chief Minister and AICC.

Talking to ANI, DK Shivakumar said, "That will be informed by CM Siddaramaiah and AICC. As the party president, I will definitely go to Delhi."

Meanwhile, the meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) concluded in Bengaluru earlier today.

On May 18, CM Siddaramaiah was elected unanimously as the CLP leader in Karnataka, after the Congress party finalised its CM candidate after days of deliberation following a landslide victory in Karnataka.

Congress leaders RV Deshpande, HK Patil, MB Patil and Lakshmi Hebbalkar proposed Siddaramaiah's name.

Shivakumar moves a resolution to elect Siddaramaiah as a new CLP leader. All members endorsed it unanimously.

Siddaramaiah took oath as the Chief Minister on May 20, and DK Shivakumar took oath as his deputy.

Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats from the only southern state it had. (ANI)
The Jammu and Kashmir Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) on Wednesday conducted raids at multiple locations in Ramban district in the houses of terrorists and their relatives, who are operating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said a police official. The search operation came after getting search warrants from a special NIA court in connection with a case registered against them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA). The searches were conducted in the premises of terrorists identified as Azad Hussain, Ghaziuddin, Bashir Ahmed Mughal, and Saifullah who are said to be presently operating from PoK, said Khalil Poswal, SSP Kishtwar. "Earlier, we registered 2 cases against Pakistan and PoK-based terrorists in Kishtwar. In this episode, search warrants were taken from the NIA court and searches were conducted at many places. Today the ancestral house of four terrorists Azad Hussain, Ghaziuddin, Bashir Ahmed Mughal, and Saifullah was searched," said Khalil Poswal, SSP Kishtwar. "During the course of searches, the evidence collected shall be investigated so as to subject the accused persons to judicial determination for their involvement in anti-national activities and perpetuation of terrorism. We have issued non-bailable warrants against 36 terrorists and will start sending them to the INTERPOL," Khalil Poswal said further. Earlier, Special Court Kulgam designated under NIA Act issued proclamation orders under section 82 CrPC against five active terrorists involved in various terror crimes and target killing cases including the killing of a lady teacher Rajni Bala and Bank Manager Vijay Kumar in district Kulgam, last year, an official statement said on Monday. (ANI)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy released Rs 703 crore under the 'Jagananna Vidya Deevena' scheme to the mothers of 9.95 lakh students, in Kovvur of East Godavari district on Wednesday, said an official statement. The amount for January-March quarter, 2023 is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the mothers of the beneficiaries. Under this scheme reimburses the total fees for students pursuing ITI, polytechnic, degree, engineering, medicine and other courses. Under Jagananna Vasathi Deevena and Jagananna Vidya Deevena schemes alone, the Government has so far spent Rs. 14, 912.43 crore including the arrears of Rs. 1,778 crore kept pending by the previous TDP Government, said the official statement further. While the program was initiated by the Chief Minister at the state level, it was conducted at the district level via video conferencing. Visakhapatnam District Collector Dr. A. Mallikharjuna along with public representatives handed over Rs. 36,92,71,992 to the beneficiaries of the district in the form of mega check. Mallikarjuna said, "Under the scheme around 41,075 students in the district are getting benefitted of the scheme. Rs.30.35 lakhs for 207 Schedule Caste students, Rs.14.60 lakhs for 180 Schedule Tribes students, Rs.29.01 crores for 33,157 Backward Caste students and Rs.4.73 crores for 4,640 Economically Backward Class (EBC) students., Rs.1.38 crore for 1,418 Kapu students. 25 lakhs for 221 Christian minority students and Rs. 1,252 lakhs for Muslim minority students. Zilla Parishad Chairperson J. Subhadra said that the main aim of our Chief Minister is to provide a better future for everyone by constantly supporting the underprivileged and giving Navaratna medals. "If you study well, you will go to the best level," he said. Earlier, CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to explain the reforms being implemented in different sectors in the State at the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting to be held in New Delhi on May 27 and seek the Centre's help to continue the reforms, an official statement said on Tuesday. At a preparatory meeting held in Amaravati on Tuesday on the issues to be raised at the NITI Aayog discussions, the Chief Minister told officials that the country should know about the revolutionary changes brought in the Medical and Health sectors in the State through Aarogyasri, Nadu-Nedu and development of hospitals. (ANI)
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is the latest edition to the list of opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 as it "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". PM Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28. Reacting to the call by the Opposition, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said that the move to boycott the inauguration of the Parliament building is not merely disrespectful but is a blatant affront to the democratic ethos and constitutional values of the country. The government termed the boycott to be "another feather in their cap of disregard for democratic processes." The NDA further criticized the opposition parties for coming together to boycott the event stating, "Their unity is marked not by a shared vision for national development, but by a shared practice of vote bank politics and a propensity for corruption. Such parties can never hope to fulfil the aspirations of the Indian people." The 20 opposition parties who will now boycott the inauguration are - Congress, AIUDF, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. While talking to ANI, AIUDF MLA and party General Secretary Rafiqul Islam, "Our party has also welcomed the decision taken by the Opposition political parties." "We will not take part in the inaugural programme of the new Parliament building if the President of India will not be invited," Rafiqul Islam added. Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the Parliament building without President Droupadi Murmu, saying it is an "insult to the country's highest constitutional post". In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the country's highest constitutional post. Parliament is not made of bricks of ego but of constitutional values." Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP T Siva also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not inviting President Murmu and said that "democracy should not be thrashed" in such a way. While talking to ANI, the DMK MP said, "On the new Parliament building that is to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on May 28, we the Opposition have a reservation that only the President should have been called to inaugurate it. There are many precedents for that." Launching a scathing attack on PM Modi, T Siva said, "Even the foundation laying of the new Parliament building was done by the Prime Minister. The War Memorial was also opened by the PM in 2020. The President is the supreme commander of the three armed forces in our country as per the Constitution but the President was not invited." "Since BJP has assumed power, it trespasses into the state's powers. Whatever is enshrined in the Constitution has not been duly followed by the BJP government," the DMK leader further remarked. Questioning the reason for not inviting the President, he said, "What is the reason for neglecting or not inviting the President to do such formal and procedural things? India is the largest democracy in the world and it should set an example for other countries. Everything here is being thrown to dust. The president is not being respected. Prime Minister wants to take all the credit. Democracy should not be thrashed like this. President is the right person to dedicate the new Parliament building to the nation." Earlier, Congress and eighteen other opposition parties decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building and stated that it "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution". In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself is "a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response." The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said. The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it said. The opposition parties said that Article 79 of the Constitution states that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People. "The President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the statement said. The statement alleged that the ruling party at the Centre has sought to suppress the voice of opposition parties in Parliament. "Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct," the statement said. The opposition parties said in the statement that the new Parliament building has been built "at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built." Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses. President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction. In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday wrote to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik objecting to the Odisha Government's move to provide social security pension in cash to the beneficiaries in the state. "I write to you, expressing my worry, and more importantly, the distress of the citizens of Odisha, regarding the recent decision of the Odisha Government to shift the social security pension for old age and divyangjans to cash, rather than maintaining the existing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) strategy. This decision, unfortunately, appears to be a step backwards in our collective pursuit of corruption-free governance and efficient public service delivery," said Pradhan in his letter. "Under the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, we have strived to ensure that the fruits of government schemes reach every individual, without any pilferage. The Jan Dhan Yojana is a sterling example of this approach. Across India, a whopping 48.99 Crore bank accounts have been opened under this scheme, amassing savings of Rs 1.97 lakh crore. In Odisha itself, 2.01 crore bank accounts have been activated, saving Crore for the people of our state. Moreover, 1,45,48,473 Rupay cards have been issued in Odisha for ease of transactions," he stated in a letter. He further said, "Prime Minister Modi's social security schemes such as the PM Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, PM Matru Vandana Yojana, and Old Age, Widow and Divyangjans Pension Scheme under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) have provided safety nets for our fellow citizens in Odisha, settling claims worth hundreds of crores, and financially aiding numerous families through the DBT Mechanism." "Under the NSAP of the Government of India, approx. 2.99 Crore beneficiaries especially old, widows and divyangjans are being paid monthly pensions through their bank accounts. Similarly in Odisha also, 20,95,695 beneficiaries are being provided with benefits through the DBT mechanism. You must appreciate the fact that these significant numbers of beneficiaries are being disbursed directly to their bank accounts, eliminating any possibility of corruption," the letter read. "Adoption of DBT has resulted in massive savings to the exchequer, by removal of fake/ghost beneficiaries and reducing need for intermediaries/middlemen. This has immensely helped in plugging leakage and diversions and has eliminated the scope of corruption. It promotes transparency by cutting down discretionary decision-making and opacity in processes.Odisha has swiftly adopted DBT both in central and state schemes, Odisha's total DBT in FY 2022-23 was a whooping 8135.18 crore which includes transfers through Centrally Sponsored Schemes and State Schemes and almost 1.95 crore beneficiaries have been covered in FY 2022-23," he stated. The letter further read, "Due to the elimination of ghost/ duplicated beneficiaries by the adoption of DBT, the government of Odisha has made an estimated saving of Rs 459.96 Cr in FY 2122. Needless to mention Government of India has saved approx. 2.73 lakh crore cumulative till the close of FY 2021-22 due to the adoption of DBT." "These figures elucidate how the DBT strategy has been instrumental in alleviating poverty, empowering citizens, and improving service delivery, directly benefiting crores of Indians, especially our brethren in Odisha. Considering such a substantial impact, it is disconcerting to witness the Odisha Government(s decision to return to cash payments for old age pensions.Talking of concerns related to pension payments to elders and divyangjans, as of January 2023, there are 82,261 active banking correspondents available with different banking institutions in Odisha," the letter stated. Apart from it, there is a wide network of 8491 post offices in Odisha which are fully capable and trained to provide financial services in remote and rural areas, India Post has a wide presence and its wide network needs to be leveraged along with DBT, the letter read. "Furthermore, 6,772 Gram Panchayats in Odisha are covered through more than 22,000 functional Common Service Centres across Odisha, their extensive presence has been used in the implementation of various social security, financial services, agriculture, and farmer welfare schemes of the Government of India successfully," said Pradhan in his letter. The letter read it would be encouraging if existing Banking Correspondents, a wide network of India Post and Common Service Centres are fully utilised in the disbursement of old age pensions, social security schemes and other financial services within the DBT Framework. They promise innovative and efficient ways that the benefits reach the unreached. You would appreciate the fact that cash payments, historically, have had tendencies to spur corruption, pilferage, and exploitation of beneficiaries by middlemen, it read. "The recent decision of the Government of Odisha to pay out cash, I fear, may revive these grim scenarios, adding burdens to our elder citizens, already grappling with the hardships of old age. Keeping in mind our commitment to maintaining transparency and rooting out corruption, I urge you to continue the DBT mechanism for payment of pension to old age, widows and divyangjans in Odisha and review the decision of cash payout," the letter read. However, the ruling Biju Janata Dal has countered the Union Minister on the issue, in a statement BJD Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra said, "Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's stand about providing social security pension for Divyangs and Senior Citizens through DBT instead of cash is shocking. It seems Union Minister Pradhan is unaware of the ground realities and problems faced by them due to the lack of banking facilities. They have to travel 20-30 kms and spend Rs. 200 to 300 to withdraw pensions amounting to Rs 500 from Banks." "Providing it in cash, in fact, will reduce their burden of travelling long distances. He is doing injustice to the lakhs of widows, differently abled and old age persons by making such a stand and harassing them. This is one more stand of his for which he will suffer and be forced to withdraw his opinion," BJD MP said. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting through video conferencing and provided the necessary guidelines to senior government officials, as well as senior administrative and police officers posted at the district, range, zone, and divisional levels. "The officers/employees posted in the field should expedite the public hearing programs by giving top priority to the redressal of public problems. Be sensitive to the public. Keep in mind that your conduct forms the basis of trust in the mind of the common man towards governance. The satisfaction of the public will be the standard of excellence of your performance," CM said. He further said, "'Thana Diwas' and 'Tehsil Diwas' should be made more effective. Make sure that the complaints are resolved before the next Thana Diwas/ Tehsil Diwas. Ensure that the public is aware of these hearing dates. The cases coming here should not remain pending at all." Officers posted in the field of every level should take night rest in their posting area only. Do not reside in other areas. Senior officers need to perform a surprise inspection to make sure this arrangement is being followed, he added. Moreover, he further said, all officers having direct contact with the public like Divisional Commissioner, District Magistrate, Superintendents of Police, DIOS, BSA, and District Supply Officers should meet the general public in their offices, listen to their complaints/problems and settle them on the basis of merit. The camp office should be arranged only after office hours or on holidays. Speaking on the pace of development works he said, "In many districts, the pace of development works is extremely slow, in such a situation, the officers should regularly review the ongoing development works in the districts so that the work can be completed in a time-bound manner. Their accountability should be fixed by appointing nodal officers regarding development works." CM Yogi further said, "A few months ago, through dialogue, we were successful in removing loudspeakers from religious places. Giving priority to the larger public interest, people spontaneously removed the loudspeakers. It was appreciated all over the country." During recent district visits, I noticed that these loudspeakers were being reinstalled in some districts. This is not acceptable. Immediate contact and communication should be established to achieve the ideal situation, he said. He further mentioned illegal taxi stands, bus stand/rickshaw and said, "Illegal taxi stands, bus stand/rickshaw stand should not operate in any district of the state. Such stands encourage illegal recovery. This recovery is used in anti-social activities. Wherever such activities are being conducted, they should be stopped immediately. The contractors must identify a location for the taxi stand." He further instructed officers to hold district-level Udyog Bandhu meetings regularly "District-level Udyog Bandhu meetings should be held regularly. The District Magistrate and the Superintendents of Police should be present in this meeting. Solve every problem of the entrepreneurs," CM said. "If the matter is related to a higher level, inform us immediately. Give information to the Chief Minister's office as needed. Not a single case of entrepreneurs should remain pending. It should be given top priority," he stated. CM Yogi further mentioned said, "Stringent action should be taken against those elements who molest daughters and women. Activity should be increased to identify such miscreants. The police force should do foot patrolling every day. Senior officers should also participate in foot patrolling." "Concrete action needs to be taken so that not even a single incident of illegal liquor manufacturing, buying, or selling takes place in the state. Conduct raids at places of illegal liquor after collecting solid information," he said. The strictest action should be taken against the culprits. Policemen who are addicted to drugs should not be given any field responsibility at all. It is important to identify these individuals and terminate their services, CM said. He further instructed that "The District Magistrate/Superintendents of Police should maintain constant dialogue-contact with the local public representatives. Pay attention to their suggestions. Their letters should be disposed of quickly on the basis of merit." CM further talked about noise pollution and said, "Strictly prohibit noise pollution, and make sure to adhere to the Supreme Court's directives exactly. Establish dialogue with the DJ and music system operators before any function. No one should be allowed to spread chaos." He further said, all the 17 municipal corporations of the state and Gautam Buddha Nagar have to be made 'smart' and 'safe' cities. Communicate with everyone. Connect CCTV camera to ICCC. Connect the first major municipality and Nagar panchayats near the headquarter of every district with the campaign of a safe and smart city." "Start preparations for flood management. Repair the drainage system. Complete flood management preparations by June 15. In view of the fact that the heat may increase further, ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity. There should be no crisis of drinking water anywhere. Ensure the supply of drinking water for humans as well as animals and birds," CM Yogi mentioned. (ANI)
A citizen was killed and a policeman injured during an exchange of fire with "miscreants" in the Banjot area of Swat, the police said on Tuesday, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported. According to Dawn, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amjad Ali from City police station, under whose jurisdiction Banjot falls, confirmed the development, saying local residents had earlier intimated police at Manglor police station that seven "suspicious" people were seen going towards the hilly area of Banjot. "Soon after, police personnel were sent to the site and an exchange of fire has been taking place since then," he said, adding that "miscreants were holed up inside a cave in one of the mountains". The DSP said police had surrounded the cave. Dawn correspondent in Swat said at around 11 pm, when the last update for this report was filed, the operation was still underway. Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital Deputy Medical Superintendent Muhammad Khan told Dawn that an emergency had been imposed at the facility following the incident. Earlier, two government schools for girls in the Mirali region of Pakistan's North Waziristan were blown up around midnight on Sunday, Dawn reported citing police. No casualty has been reported in the incidents. Attackers around midnight targeted Government Girls Middle School, Noor Jannat, and Government Girls Middle School, Yunus Kot, Dawn reported citing police. According to local residents, around 500 girls were enrolled in the two schools. District Police Officer, North Waziristan, Saleem Riaz called the incident a terrorist attack. Riaz stated that the police's counterterrorism department will carry out an investigation into the case. He vowed that all those responsible for the attack will be brought to justice. (ANI)
Chinese premier sends congratulatory letter to China-Russia business forum

Xinhua) 09:37, May 24, 2023

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday sent a congratulatory letter to the China-Russia business forum.

Noting this forum is an important measure to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, Li said China is willing to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries, including Russia, build an open world economy, further promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and inject more certainty and impetus into the global economy.

China is willing to expand economic and trade exchanges with Russia and promote cooperation in both quantity and quality, Li said in the letter, adding that this forum provides a good platform for the business circles of the two countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation.

It is hoped that entrepreneurs of the two countries will tap the potential of cooperation according to their needs, and add new content, highlights and vitality to the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a three-day visit to Australia, on Wednesday raised the issue of attacks on temples in the country and said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had assured to take "strict actions against such elements in the future." During a joint address with his Australian counterpart Albanese, PM Modi said, "PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their action or thoughts. PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also. Notably, several cases of Khalistani extremism and brawls between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators have recently come to the fore in several parts of Australia. Indian flags were burnt and even a Hindu temple was vandalised recently in Australia. Earlier, Albanese during his India visit in March had said that Australia won't tolerate any extreme actions and attacks that took place in religious buildings, and there is no place for such action against Hindu temples. Responding to a media query about the assurances that the Australian PM gave to his Indian counterpart, Albanese said, "I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people's faith. That we don't tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we have seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia." "And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We're a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity," the statement quoted him saying. Earlier in March, addressing India-Australia: Exchange of Agreements and Press Statements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Australian PM, in light of the recent attacks on temples in Australia had assured that the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Australia is a priority for him. "Since the last few weeks, news of attacks on temples in Australia are coming regularly. It is natural that such news worries people in India. I have raised these concerns with Prime Minister Albanese who has assured me that the safety of the Indian community is a special priority for him," PM Modi said. In March this year, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Australia's Brisbane was vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters. Sarah Gates, who is the Director of Hindu Human Rights said, "This latest hate crime is a pattern of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) globally, clearly attempting to terrorise Australian Hindus. Coupled with a barrage of propaganda, illegal signs, and cyberbullying, the organisation intends to present all-pervasive threats, fear, and intimidation," reported The Australia Today. On January 16, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Australia's Carrum Downs was vandalised with anti-Hindu graffiti. On January 12, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Australia's Mill Park was smeared with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti. The temple was vandalised by anti-India elements with anti-India slogans written on the temple's walls, located in the suburb of Mill Park, The Australia Today reported. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, met Australia's Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda Hurley in Sydney and held a meeting with them. Australian PM Anthony Albanese was also present. After holding the joint press conference, PM Modi and his Australian counterpart held a candid conversation on Wednesday. Earlier today, PM Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese addressed a joint press conference. At the conference, PM Modi raised the issue of attacks on temples in the country and said that Albanese had assured to take "strict actions against such elements in the future." PM Modi said, "PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their action or thoughts. PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also." Notably, several cases of Khalistani extremism and brawls between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators have recently come to the fore in several parts of Australia. Indian flags were burnt and even a Hindu temple was vandalised recently in Australia. Responding to a media query about the assurances that the Australian PM gave to his Indian counterpart, Albanese said, "I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people's faith. That we don't tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we have seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia." "And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We're a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity," the statement quoted him saying. Meanwhile, the Australian PM spoke about his meeting with PM Modi in a year. He said that this is the sixth meeting with PM Modi in a year. He also talked about the Quad Summit, which took place in Japan's Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven or G7 Summit. The Australian PM reiterated the Quad Summit statement and said, "Quad leaders stand 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. This is my 6th meeting with prime minister Modi in one year." "My visit to India in March for the Australia India Annual Leaders' Summit focused on the key pillars of our relationship trade, investment and business cooperation, defence and security cooperation, climate and energy cooperation, and of course, people-to-people links," Albanese added. (ANI)
Pakistani news channel ARY News reported that the orders for the house arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party leaders were issued by the Rawalpindi commissioner. They were put on house arrest under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) section 3.

Apparently, the former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PTI leader Jamshed Cheema and his wife Musarrat Jamshed Cheema have been put under house arrest for 15 days.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is also Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman was rearrested minutes after being released from Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, Pakistan-based Geo News reported.

Party leader Musarrat Jamshed Cheema was also rearrested immediately after her release.Qureshi while speaking outside the jail before his rearrest, emphasised that he was still a part of the PTI and would remain so.

The former minister was then taken away by the police to an unknown location. His statement about remaining in the party came hours after the party's senior vice president Shireen Mazari announced that she was quitting the PTI and leaving politics, according to Geo News.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier on Tuesday ordered Qureshi's release after he submitted an undertaking affirming that he would abstain from creating agitation and inciting workers.

Qureshi was among the top PTI leaders arrested from Islamabad within 24 hours of the outbreak of violent protests by PTI workers following former prime minister Imran Khan's arrest on May 9 in the Al-Qadir Trust case, according to Geo News.

The former foreign minister was arrested by the police in cases of riots and arsons in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden invited Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape on Wednesday for an upcoming meeting, according to National Security Council Director for the Indo-Pacific. Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper said that Biden invited Albanese to visit the US this fall. "Prime Minister Albanese graciously accepted on the spot and the two leaders discussed the upcoming engagement when they saw each other in Hiroshima, and our teams are already starting the planning efforts for that visit," said Hooper. Speaking about Marape, she said that Biden has invited him to the US for the second Pacific Summit in Washington. "Likewise, when the President spoke with Prime Minister Marape and let him know of his need to cancel his stop in Papua New Guinea, he (Biden) made clear that he intended to invite Pacific Island leaders to the United States for the second Pacific Summit in Washington," said Hooper. The announcement comes days after Biden cancelled the second planned leg of his Asia trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea amid the debt ceiling standoff in Washington and the pressing need to reach a deal to avert a catastrophic US default. Speaking on the trip cancellation, Hopper said, "Needless to say, you know, it was not necessarily planned at all, to have to reschedule the President's trips to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Although of course, they didn't. This the circumstances are clear what the president did in the immediate aftermath of realizing that he would have to return home to deal with the economic situation posed by the debt ceiling was immediately reached out to his counterparts in both Papua New Guinea and Australia." Hopper said that while rescheduling Biden's trips is pending, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape will have "close contact in the very immediate term." "I can say with great confidence that both of those engagements are already being scheduled. And while certainly, the President (Biden) looks forward to returning to both Australia and Papua New Guinea are very near-term focus will be on making sure that he is able to have deep and substantive engagements with all of the leaders who he intended to see this past week and then all the work we have ongoing with both sets of partners is carried forward," said Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper. President Biden hosted the first-ever US-Pacific Island Country Summit in Washington, on September 28-29, 2022 which demonstrated the US's deep and enduring partnership with Pacific Island countries and the Pacific region that is underpinned by shared history, values, and people-to-people ties. That was the first-ever Summit hosted by the Biden administration amid the US' increased focus on countering China's global influence in the Indo-Pacific region. She also said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Papua New Guinea, just a couple of days ago and carried with him a letter that was signed by the President formally inviting the leaders of Pacific Island nations to come to Washington for a return Summit. During his visit, Blinken and Marape signed the pact and a maritime security agreement on Monday during Blinken's visit to the capital Port Moresby. Washington and its allies seek to deter Pacific island nations from forming security ties with China, a rising concern amid tensions over Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory. China has said that any attempt by the self-governed island to secede will trigger military action. (ANI)
European Bangladesh Forum (EBF) organized an international conference on the recognition of Bangladesh's Genocide at Dhaka University where leaders expressed firm determination to continue efforts to draw the attention of the world community to the 1971 genocide. At the conference on Monday, EBF leaders expressed firm determination to continue efforts to draw the attention of the world community to the 1971 genocide and urged them to stand with the victims of atrocities conducted by the Pakistani army during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, according to local media. The conference was addressed by the members of the visiting European fact-finding delegation comprised of politicians, university teachers and senior researchers, political analysts and human rights activists. The conference was organised at Dhaka University's Abdul Matin Chowdhury virtual auditorium in collaboration with Amra Ekattor and Projonmo 71, both partner organisations of EBF. Speaking at the conference, the leader of the European Fact Finding team and former member of the Dutch parliament Harry van Bommel reiterated that Bangladesh will get global recognition of the genocide that took place in Bangladesh in 1971. He added that even if it took 100 years to get global recognition of the Armenian genocide, I hope it will not take that long in the case of the Bangladesh genocide. 'We want to have it within a few years, not even decades' Bommel said. Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Dr Md Aktaruzzaman said that during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, the University of Dhaka was the epicentre of genocide and the students and teachers of the university were the first victims of genocide. Greeting the organisers and contributors of the conference, Aktaruzzaman sincerely pledged that the University of Dhaka will always stand with them and cooperate for achieving recognition of the 1971 genocide. The conference was also addressed by the British political analyst Chris Blackburn, Prof Antonie Holslag of Amsterdam University, and Chief coordinator of Amra Ekattor Hilal Fayazi, Bikash Chowdhury Barua and Ansar Ahmed Ullah, both from EBF. Genocide researcher and founding secretary of Projonmo 71 Tawheed Reza Noor said Projonmo 71 is working to achieve recognition of the genocide and ensure justice. "According to the 1948 genocide conversation, genocide means destroying, harming and distorting a targeted group of people or community with a systematic plan. And the genocide conducted by Pakistani military forces during the Liberation War of Bangladesh was planned killing of Bengali people," said Pradip Kumar Dutta, a genocide researcher. Besides, Secular Forum President Shahriar Kabir, Trustee of Liberation War Museum Mofidul Haq, genocide researcher Lieutenant Colonel Birpratik Sazzad Zahir, freedom fighter and former chief of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Haroon Habib, Chairman Trustee Board 1971 Genocide Torture Archive and Museum, Dhaka Professor Muntasir Mamun, Director of Centre for Genocide Studies of Dhaka University Prof Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karjon, a British human rights activist who lives in Julian Francis and writer and member of a victim family Engineer Pradip Kumar Datta. Tawheed Reza Noor, Genocide Researcher and founder secretary of Projonmo 71 and a member of the victim family addressed the meeting through Zoom from the US. It was moderated by a board member of Amra Ekattor Mrinal Sircar. The conference got wide print and electronic media coverage in Bangladesh, Netherlands and the UK. The hall was jampacked and there was no space room for the participants. Many participants were found standing at the entrance as there was no more vacant space in the auditorium. A good number of students were also seen among the participants. Earlier on 21 May 2023, there was a program titled 'Meet the Press' by the visiting European delegation at the National Press Club in Dhaka. Chaired by the President of the club Farida Yasmin the program was addressed by the sitting MP Ms Aroma Datta as chief guest. It was addressed among others by the leader of the visiting European delegation former member of the Dutch Parliament Harry van Bommel, genocide expert Prof Dr Antonie Holslag, British political analyst Chris Blackburn, EBF leaders Bikash Chowdhury Barua and Ansar Ahmed Ullah, Chief coordinator of Amra Ekattor Hilal Fayazi. The Chairperson of Amra Ekattor Mahboob Zaman chaired the program. This session also witnessed a jampacked hall with press members, both print and electronic, as well as, online. Later, in the evening there was a TV talk show on the leading channel - ATN Bangla. Harry van Bommel, Prof Antonie Holslag, Ansar Ahmed Ullah, and Chris Blackburn took part in the talk show at the studio in Dhaka, while Projonmo Ekattor leader Asif Munir joined virtually. The one-hour-long bi-lingual talk show was telecast at 10:50 pm on 22 May 2023. Celebrated journalist, JI Mamun, anchored it. After the TV talk show the visiting delegation gave the interview at the Daily Star office in Dhaka. The interview is yet to be published. It was an interview with the delegation head Harry van Bommel, while other members were present. The first two day-long programs were very successful. The attendance of the participants and the press members was very impressive. (ANI)
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said that the government is considering imposing a ban on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over the incidents that took place on May 9, Dawn reported. Speaking to media persons in Islamabad, Khawaja Asif said, "A decision has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway." He called the vandalism of military installations across Pakistan on May 9 as "coordinated attacks" planned by PTI chairman Imran Khan, according to Dawn. Khawaja Asif said, "There is a lot of evidence and their people are telling themselves that they were briefed about this beforehand," as per the Dawn report. He further said, "I feel that his struggle of a year ... all his plans failed and this was his last move against the armed forces." Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Imran Khan will address the nation at 7 pm on Wednesday. Taking to its official Twitter handle, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stated, "Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan's decision to address the nation Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan will address the nation today at 7 pm." It is pertinent to mention that protests erupted across Pakistan after Imran Khan's arrest in Islamabad on May 9. PTI workers protested in cities across the country, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, and Mardan. The PTI chairman was arrested as part of NAB's investigation in the Al-Qadir Trust case ahead of his appearance before the IHC to seek bail in multiple FIRs registered against him. The former prime minister, along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders, is facing a NAB inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer. Earlier this month, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, termed the events that unfolded on May 9 as a "black chapter" in the country's history, The Express Tribune reported.The ISPR in a statement issued in Urdu on Wednesday referred to the protests that were held after the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The ISPR said that the protests particularly targeted army property and installations. In a strongly-worded statement, the military's media wing asserted that no one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands. Citing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) statement and law, the ISPR justified the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, as per the news report. ISPR said that there was a wave of attacks witnessed on the army's properties and installations along with anti-army slogans being chanted following the arrest of Imran Khan. It condemned those actions and raised its concerns regarding the tactics used by certain elements within the protesting groups. "Soon after [Khan's arrest], there were organised attacks on army properties and installations and anti-army slogans were raised," the military's media wing said according to The Express Tribune report. (ANI)
The economic ties between India and the EU are being strengthened based on new trade and tech plan amid skepticism over China, reported Daily Mirror Online (DMO). The Sri Lanka-based publication said that the European Union (EU) is seeking deeper ties with New Delhi as Europe-China ties are strained by sanctions spat over accusations of rights abuses in Xinjiang that left progress on a 2020 investment agreement frozen. Moreover, there were accusations of economic coercion over Lithuania's friendly relations with Taiwan and disagreements over the war in Ukraine. Recently, in a first-of-its-kind meeting, three Indian ministers and four European commissioners discussed semiconductor supply chains and artificial intelligence regulation, reported DMO. After the first meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council in Brussels, EU officials spoke of "very promising beginnings." Moreover, the EU wants to "de-risk" China ties as many countries are moving away from China's dominance in the sector due to supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical pressures. However, Brussels does not want to cut off ties with Beijing altogether, but it does want to diversify its supply chains. That's where India comes in, reported DMO. A large part of semiconductor manufacturing involves design and intellectual labour. India has an advantage here, as a large portion of semiconductor design engineers globally are either Indian or Indian-origin; chipmaking firms such as Intel and NVIDIA have large facilities in India that are already flush with Indian talent working on design problems. This is an advantage that China is losing control over in the face of sanctions and an ageing population. "India has a population of 1.4 billion. So, we are an economy of scale, and the EU is an economy of skill -- it's natural that these two power centres should come together," Swasti Rao, an associate fellow at the Indian government-funded think tank the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, told DW News, a German publication. Rao said India, with its workforce and manufacturing capacities, is high on Brussels' list. Then, there's the politics. "India is very wary of a China-led Asian order, and India will do everything it can to keep Asia, by and large, multipolar," Rao explained. Also, New Delhi-Beijing relations are also complicated by a border dispute and India's move to restrict a host of Chinese tech, including the popular video-sharing app TikTok. Europe-China ties, meanwhile, have long been strained by sanctions spat over accusations of rights abuses in Xinjiang that left progress on a 2020 investment agreement frozen, reported DMO. European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager pointed to Indian plans to boost semiconductor production as an example of how EU-India ties could "give muscle" to Brussels' idea of "de-risking." She cited quantum computing and "technologies developing beyond 5G" as areas where India could offer "trusted vendors" for Europe in the future. "If we want increased economic security, we need to do that through partnerships," Vestager told reporters, reported DMO. "We've seen that many companies which are leaving China also prefer to go to Southeast Asian countries. So, India is here in competition with other Asian players," Berlin-based analyst Christian Wagner, a researcher with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told DW. "But when we look at the geostrategic landscape," he said, "I think India has certainly a much bigger profile," said Wagner. He said that India at the moment is in a very favourable position, because both the Western countries, the United States, the European Union, as well as Russia, as well as China, are wooing India and trying to intensify their relations, reported DW. (ANI)
The court was presided over by Justice Miangul Aurangzeb, who ruled that his arrest was in violation of the MPO (Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance).

On May 10, a day after nationwide demonstrations over PTI Chairman Imran Khan's arrest broke out, Umar was brought into custody from the IHC grounds under the MPO.

Justice Miangul Aurangzeb said during the hearing today that "they will not let you go until you hold a press conference, reported ARY News, a Pakistan-based news channel.

"Asad Umar's cases are in front of me. If I issue an order today, I don't know what will happen tomorrow," Justice Aurangzeb said.

The court then ordered Umar to withdraw his inflammatory tweets and submit an affidavit.

Earlier on May 12, Asad Umar challenged his arrest in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises, ARY News reported. A close aide of Imran Khan, Asad Umar challenged the arrest under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

Asad Umar contested his MPO arrest before the Islamabad High Court through Babar Awan and Amna Ali. Respondents in the plea include the Secretary of the Interior, the IG of Police, and others.

In his plea, the former federal minister claimed that in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling, no arrests may be made on high court property, ARY News reported.

"My fundamental human rights were violated during my arrest from the IHC grounds," Umar added in his plea. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese for the hospitality during his Sydney visit, one which will "boost the friendship between Australia and India," and noted that the two leaders will keep working towards a "vibrant India-Australia friendship," which is also in the "interest of global good." During his three-day visit, PM Modi held bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart and also addressed a historic community programme. He also met several business leaders and eminent Australians. Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park, the venue for the community event, saw thousands of overseas Indians, many of whom who flew in a special "Modi Airways" to attend PM Modi's address in Australia. At the community event, Australian PM Albanese compared PM Modi's mass appeal with that of the famed rockstar Bruce Springsteen, who incidentally is famed among his fans as "The Boss." As his Australia visit comes to an end, PM Modi tweeted, "From productive talks with PM @AlboMP to a historic community programme, from meeting business leaders to eminent Australians from different walks of life, it's been an important visit which will boost the friendship between Australia and India." Following their bilateral meeting, PM Modi and his Australian counterpart also visited Sydney Harbour and Opera House, which was lit up in the colours of the Indian national flag on the occasion. The Australia-India relationship is already strong, but both saw the potential for growth and an opportunity for a better future. PM Modi also thanked the people of Australia, the Government of Australia and his Australian counterpart for the warm welcome and hospitality. PM Modi reassured that the two leaders would work together to strengthen the friendship of the two countries. "I thank the people of Australia, the Australian Government and my dear friend @AlboMP for their hospitality. We will keep working towards a vibrant India-Australia friendship, which is also in the interest of global good," PM Modi's tweet added. On the second day of his visit, PM Modi also held meetings and discussions with several business leaders and eminent Australians. He has invited the Australian businesses to invest in India. PM Modi also tweeted, "Interacted with top CEOs during the business roundtable in Sydney. Elaborated on the business opportunities in India and the reform trajectory of our Government. Invited Australian businesses to invest in India." This marks the end of the last leg of PM Modi's three-nation tour which also included Japan, where he attended the G7 summit and Papua New Guinea (PNG), where he co-chaired the 3rd India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape. (ANI)
Dubai [UAE], May 24 (ANI/WAM): Razan Al Mubarak is presiding over the 109th Council Meeting of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which began yesterday and will run until May 25. Al Mubarak, who has been at the forefront of important local and international environmental initiatives for years, was elected to a four-year term as President of IUCN in September 2021. She is the second woman to lead the prestigious conservation organisation and the first one from the Arab world. One of the key issues on the agenda in Gland, Switzerland, this week is incorporating nature and biodiversity conservation into the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) process. COP28 will take place at Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023. "It is already a fact that species are going extinct as a direct result of climate change," said Al Mubarak, who also serves as UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the leadership team of COP28 UAE. "Rising levels of greenhouse gasses and the corresponding temperature rise and other adverse effects are putting additional pressure on thousands of species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species," she said. "At the same time, natural ecosystems provide key services that can help address the climate challenge. They store carbon and protect people from the worst effects of climate hazards like sea-level rise, flooding, heatwaves and droughts." "Because of all this, exploring the convergence of agendas between biodiversity and climate change is a logical and critical step," said Al Mubarak. IUCN council meetings are typically held twice a year with the most recent one taking place in Abu Dhabi this January. As the President, Al Mubarak's role is to convene the Council, facilitate discussion, recognise alternative viewpoints, represent IUCN members and help build consensus among council members. The IUCN is one of the main proponents of the idea that nature-based solutions are a key part of the effort to keep global warming well below the threshold of 2C above pre-industrial levels agreed through the UN framework. Besides reducing emissions, nature-based solutions - like dealing with deforestation, restoring ecosystems and improving farm management - will also reinforce adaptation measures as humanity deals with some inevitable climate change impacts. For example, the IUCN estimates that nature-based solutions could reduce the intensity of climate and weather-related hazards by almost a third. There have already been some efforts to incorporate nature-based solutions into the UN climate change negotiations. At the end of last year, during COP27 in Egypt, the host country together with Germany and the IUCN, rolled out the ENACT initiative. This voluntary coalition of state and civic actors is coordinating global efforts to apply nature-based solutions to deal with climate change, ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. One outcome is the publication of an annual State of Nature-Based Solutions Report. The first issue of the report is expected to be shared at COP28 in the UAE. In the UAE, Al Mubarak, who is also the Managing Director of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, has been an active champion of the idea that restoring natural habitats is not only good for biodiversity but for climate and livelihoods, too. EAD has been a pioneer in studying and protecting mangrove habitats and seagrass beds and raising awareness about their strategic importance for the UAE. The UAE has been a strong supporter of IUCN for decades. Abu Dhabi is a former framework donor to the organisation and has hosted Specialist Group Chairs meetings of the IUCN Species Survival Commission on four occasions since 2008. UAE-based IUCN members include the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, Al Ain Zoo, International Fund for Conservation of Houbara, as well as the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Emirates Nature - WWF, and the Emirates Environmental Group. (ANI/WAM)
The refugees apparently returned to the country from Iran through Pul-e-Abresham port in Nimruz province over the past month.

The number of refugees entering the nation from Iran has increased recently, according to data from the Nimruz province's refugee department.

The UNHCR, however, stated that there is a strong correlation between the ongoing return of Afghan refugees from surrounding countries and the rising prices and dearth of economic possibilities in the host nations. Following the Taliban's takeover of power in August 2021, the number of Afghan refugees entering the neighbouring nations of Iran and Pakistan has risen once more, as reported by Khaama Press.

As per the existing reports, currently, more than six million Afghan nationals reside in Iran and Pakistan, respectively, making the highest number of refugees the two countries have been hosting for decades.

Since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, thousands of Afghans fled Afghanistan to the neighbouring countries fearing persecution and death threats. Most of these people entered host countries through illegal channels, now facing serious problems including forceful deportation and imprisonment. (ANI)
Class IV employees in different parts of Swat demanded that the federal government increase their salaries by 200 per cent, reported Dawn. The protest was led by All Swat Class-IV Employees Union president Syed Khitab, All Pakistan Clerk Association district president Ali Rehman, and Class-IV Association general secretary Malik Fazal Subhan. The leaders and WSSC employees' leader Mohammad Raziq and all other protestors gathered outside the Swat Press Club to register their resentment. The demonstration was organised under the aegis of the All Swat Class IV Employees Association. The demands were inscribed on banners and placards that the demonstrators were holding, according to Dawn. Dawn is a Pakistani English-language Daily and is among the largest English newspapers in Pakistan. According to the demonstrators' leaders, the cost of necessities had jumped by 200 per cent, making it impossible for workers in Class IV to purchase even food for their families. They claimed that because the government did not raise their pay, they were unable to meet their necessities. They claimed that in addition to food products, the cost of medicines had greatly climbed. Earlier, in April the government employees had organised a rally in Swat to lodge their protest against the newly-introduced pension reforms, Dawn reported. The rally was held on the call of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance. The protesters said that the 35 per cent deduction from the pension in the name of reforms was not acceptable to them. The protesters gathered at Mulababa school and marched towards Swat Press Club. They chanted slogans in favour of their demands. They said that the government had recently introduced pension reforms that were not acceptable to them. They said the 35 per cent deduction pension of government employees was an injustice. They added that the decision was not acceptable to government employees, Dawn reported. The speakers said that the provincial government must pay all the arrears of conveyance allowance to employees in lump sums. The elders of Swat and Shangla districts have said that trees on privately owned lands are cut with the government's permission, but some elements have launched propaganda against them on social media, Dawn reported. Led by Ajmal Khan, Fazal Kamal, Fazal Raziq, Zafar Ali, Hazrat Nabi, and Wali Khan from both districts, the elders told journalists in Swat Press Club that according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wood Lot Policy, forest owners were legally allowed to cut few trees on their lands. "The government plants trees on our lands for which we have to wait for 40 years. We also take care and look after these trees and whenever the height of a tree reaches 22 inches, it is our legal right to cut and sell it to earn a livelihood," they said, adding that they could only cut the trees after the approval of the patwari and forest officer, Dawn reported. "We have provided land to the forest department and it is our right to get royalty, but now we have learnt that the government is taking away this royalty from us. If the government wants to take the royalty from us then it should also remove the trees from our lands too," they said. (ANI)
Dutton called on PM Modi and the discussions covered various aspects of the bilateral partnership, including people-to-people linkages.

"Prime Minister appreciated the strong bipartisan support enjoyed by the India - Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," a PMO release said.

Discussions between the two leaders also covered regional developments.

"It was a pleasure to meet you again. Appreciate that you are ensuring bipartisan support to India- Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," PM Modi said in a tweet.

Dutton described PM Modi as a "friend of Australia".

"Wonderful to catch up again with a great friend of Australia, @narendramodi. Proud of the special and growing relationship Australia has with India and may it go from strength to strength in the years ahead India-Australia," he said in a tweet.

PM Modi earlier had talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.

PM Albanese said Prime Minister Modi's visit to Australia has strengthened the close and strong relationship that Australia enjoys with India

PM Modi also met Australia's Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda Hurley in Sydney. (ANI)
District Public Prosecutor's Office Kathmandu has formally registered a case against 30 suspects over the high-profile fake Bhutanese refugee scam. District Prosecutor's Office in Kathmandu filed 224-page charge-sheet at the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday afternoon against the accused 16 of whom are in police custody and 14 are absconders. "Those arrested have been accused of five types of charges including fraud, organized crime, crime against the state, official corruption and integrated crime," Lakshman Upahyaya, Spokesperson at the District Public Prosecutor's Office of Kathmandu confirmed to ANI over phone. "Claim amount of 288.4 million Nepali rupees also has been registered along with the case," the official added. The first phase of the fake Bhutanese refugee scam involves two former ministers, a former House speaker, government administrators and their intermediaries. Nepal's former Home Minister and opposition CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Nepali Congress leader and former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, former speaker Ang Tawa Sherpa, and former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey have been named in the court document who also are in police custody. Exiled Bhutanese refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal is among those in judicial custody. Others arrested in the case are Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Tanka Kumar Gurung, Sandesh Gurung, Sagar Rai, Sandeep Rayamajhi (Son of Top Bahadur Rayamajhi), Indrajit Rai, Bal Krishna Khand's personal secretary Narendra KC, Ram Sharan KC, Govinda Chaudhary and Shamsher Miya. The Kathmandu District Court has issued arrest warrants for former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's son Prateek, Indrajit Rai's son Niraj and other intermediaries. Upon registering the case with the court on Thursday based on the 60 days investigation by the police and the suggestions from them, the District Attorney's Office also has directed to continue the investigation dividing it into another phase. The case of a fake Bhutanese refugee scam came to the limelight in April after the publication of an investigative piece through the grant of the Center for Investigative Journalism- Nepal. With mounting pressure, the incumbent Nepal Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha directed Police bodies to carry out the investigation. The scam slowly came to understanding after Police apprehended Tek Narayan Pandey, the incumbent Secretary at Vice President's Office and former Home Secretary. Data and documents retrieved from the possession of Pandey busted the scam web which has been completed for the first phase. The data and documents retrieved by police during the investigation exposed how Nepalis were swindled out of millions of rupees in return for sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. A total of 106 victims have registered complaints to the police noting that the fraudsters fleeced over Nepali Rupees (NR) 232.5 million from them over different times. The case further came into the limelight when an arrest warrant was issued against chief opposition CPN-UML Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, his (Top Bahadur) son Sandeep and Prateek Thapa, the son of former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. A police investigation has revealed that government officials have been helping the racketeers to obtain the fake document from the Home Ministry which worked as certification for them to send Nepali nationals as Bhutanese refugees to the US. On June 14, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police launched an investigation into a criminal group involved in a case of fraud. The group had allegedly been scamming people for years by promising to send them to the US as Bhutaneserefugees. The government action came in response to a case registered by the victims at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority against the group a few months earlier. The case was brought to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division only in June 2022 after which the investigation was launched. The group has allegedly swindled over 875 people from different places in Nepal of millions of rupees. The Police investigation found suspects collecting between one to five million Nepali rupees per head promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees. After 1990, Nepal witnessed a huge influx of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese nationals who were expelled from their country by the Bhutanese government in a massive ethnic cleansing drive. The refugees were kept in several refugee camps in Morang and Jhapa districts. After a series of bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan failed, the international communityled by the United Nations refugee agency started resettling the refugees in third countries, mostly in the US and Europe. Between 2007 and 2016, the UNHCR helped resettle more than 113,500 Bhutanese refugees in eight countries in one of the largest resettlement programs globally. Nepal's Home Ministry had formed a task force to find out the ways for remaining Bhutanese refugees who were denied resettlement. The investigative report by CIJ disclosed the infiltration by a government official- Rai in the report where he managed to manipulate the number of "left out" refugees for resettlement. (ANI)
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has appealed to his party workers and office bearers not to stay inside their homes but to hide, adding that a one-sided narrative was being spread against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan made the above remarks in a YouTube live session on Wednesday evening. His address came hours after PTI suffered a big blow due to Fawad Chaudhary's announcement of taking a break from politics. On Wednesday itself, the PTI had filed a petition with the Sindh High Court (SHC) demanding release of its arrested party workers. The petition demanded the release of 263 PTI workers and leaders, who were arrested after violent clashes broke out across Pakistan on May 9 after Khan was arrested at the Islamabad High Court, reported Dawn. Apprising the party workers and office bears of the same, Khan said, "There is propaganda in the media and a one-sided [narrative] is being played." He also said that PTI workers are now scared of coming out on the media, [fearing] that they will be caught and jailed. "I have told my people to go in hiding. I am telling my workers and office-bearers that there is no need for you to come out. Don't stay at your homes, hide," Khan urged PTI workers. Khan also lamented that more than 10,000 PTI workers have been jailed and kept in poor conditions, according to Dawn. "At present, over 10,000 of our workers are in jail and the situation is so difficult for them -- they are kept in small cages, deprived of good food and water and not allowed to meet their lawyers. They are being treated as if they are foreign enemies of the country, but even then, prisoners of war to have rights," the PTI chief said during the live. Khan also took a dig at the government for cutting down the internet connection around his Zaman Park residence. "I hope this talk will reach you," he hoped, claiming that the sole purpose of the internet clamp down was to control the media, reported Dawn. Towards the end of his address, Khan said that it is better to die than to accept slavery. "This slavery that they making us do ....the way they are gripping necks and forcing them to leave PTI. You were not born for this .... when the nation bows its head in front of fear, those nations die." "I want to tell my country that you should not accept defeat in any way," said Khan adding httat he won't lose hope and will play till the last ball, Dawn reported. (ANI)
Two soldiers of the Pakistan army, a policeman and a civilian were killed on Wednesday in a suicide explosion in Pakistan's North Waziristan, Geo News reported. A vehicle-borne suicide bomber exploded himself in the general area of North Waziristan's Datta Khel. Two soldiers identified as Naik Said Ullah Shah and Sepoy Jawad Khan, a policeman and a civilian were killed, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement, according to Geo News report. According to the military's media wing statement, the suicide bomber intended to target a public gathering. However, security forces personnel prevented a major catastrophe as the soldiers immediately intercepted the suicide bomber's vehicle on suspicion, as per the Geo News report. In the statement, ISPR said that the security forces and law enforcement agencies are determined to eliminate terrorism from Pakistan. Earlier today, the security personnel killed six terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in South Waziristan. ISPR in the statement said that the operation was carried out on the basis of the "reported presence of terrorists" in the general area of Kot Azam. ISPR in the statement said, "During the conduct of operation, intense fire exchange occurred between security forces and terrorists, resulting in killing of 6 terrorists," Geo News reported. The military's media wing further said that they were able to recover weapons and ammunition from the killed terrorists. Earlier on Sunday, two soldiers and three terrorists were killed in a military operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reported Dawn. In an intelligence-based operation, the terrorists were killed in the region. According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press statement, the terrorists who were slain were still actively participating in "numerous terrorist activities against security forces as well as innocent citizens in the region," as per the Dawn report. As per the statement, the soldiers killed were identified as 39-year-old Naik Muhammad Atiq from the Chakwal district and 36-year-old Naik Rajab Ali hailing from Attock reported Dawn. ISPR said that sanitisation of the area was being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area. (ANI)
Tibetan spiritual leader the 14th Dalai Lama attended a Long Life Prayer offered to him by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in the morning at the Main Tibetan Temple here in the north Indian hill town Dharamshala on Wednesday morning. Thousands of Tibetans including monks and nuns and foreign followers from different parts of the world thronged to the monastery to pray for the long life of their beloved spiritual leader. Nico Balthazae, a Buddhist follower said, "I am here to participate in this long-life prayer ceremony for his holiness the Dalai Lama. People have come here from all over the world. It was actually requested by Lama Zopa Rinpocher as it was his wish but unfortunately, he passed away. It is very important for us for his holiness to live long and to continue the Buddhist dharma practice and we are very happy to be here." Roger Kunsang, CEO of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) said, "We requested his holiness to accept this long life pooja and his holiness very kindly accepted and that's what we offer here this morning." Earlier, in May, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) squad met spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on their arrival in Dharamshala to play against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League. RR's Twitter handle shared a post where Rajasthan players were seen meeting Tibetan leader Dalai Lama. English player Jos Buttler, Joe Root and a few other Rajasthan players visited the spiritual leader. (ANI)
The US is not considering lifting current sanctions imposed on China's Minister of National Defence Li Shangfu, the US Department of State announced on Monday, The Standard reported. US officials had said sanctions on Li Shangfu do not stop him from having meetings with his American counterparts. In addition, US officials said that the sanctions will not be hurdles for military talks between Beijing and Washington, Kenya-based daily The Standard reported. Last week, US President Joe Biden said that he will not consider easing sanctions on Chinese officials to improve ties. He even suggested that lifting sanctions on the Chinese defence chief is "under negotiation right now." However, a US State Department spokesperson on Monday clarified the stance. When asked about whether the US is considering lifting sanctions imposed on Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said, "No, we are not. We - I'll leave at that. No, we are not." In 2018, the US imposed sanctions on Li Shangfu under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) when he headed the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese military. The sanctions imposed against Li were related to China's purchase of 10 SU-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018, The Standard reported. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Li Shangfu are expected to attend Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The Chinese military has not accepted the US proposal for a meeting between the defence ministers. In Beijing, Chinese officials raised questions over the "sincerity" of the US in its outreach for communications. On Monday, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said that China always opposes unilateral sanctions and called on the US to lift sanctions, The Standard reported. Mao Ning said, "China always firmly opposes illegal unilateral sanctions and has made clear its stern position to the U.S. side. The US side should immediately lift sanctions and take concrete actions to remove obstacles, create favourable atmosphere and conditions for dialogue and communication," according to The Standard report. The ties between US and China have been increasingly strained in recent months over security, trade and technology issues, Taiwan and the South China Sea, The Standard reported. Chinese officials have indicated their willingness to stabilize ties with the US. However, they also demand that the US stop harming China's interests by strengthening its ties with Taiwan and imposing technology restrictions on China. The ties between US and China have been strained after the then US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. (ANI)
A student is dead and another is facing homicide charges following a shooting outside of Oliver Citywide Academy in Pittsburgh Wednesday morning.

Jaymier Perry, 15, is accused of shooting and killing his schoolmate Derrick Harris, 15, before classes were due to start.

Related coverage:

The incident:

A ShotSpotter alert was received around 7:25 a.m. for 11 rounds total in the area of the school, located at 2323 Brighton Road in the citys Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood.

According to police paperwork, there is surveillance video that shows both Harris and Perry near the front steps of the school. Police say the video also shows Perry assaulting Harris while hes already on the ground.

When officers arrived, they found Harris, who had been shot multiple times, and immediately began rendering aid, according to Cmdr. Richard Ford of Pittsburgh police. Harris was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but later died.

Another officer saw the potential suspect running from the scene with a gun and took him into custody in front of the schools parking lot.

The suspect was later identified as Perry. Police said they found a 9mm gun on him that belongs to his mother.

Perry has been charged with criminal homicide, possession of firearm by minor and firearms not to be carried without a license. Hes currently being housed in the Allegheny County Jail.

Jaymier Perry, 15, is accused of shooting and killing another teen outside of Oliver Citywide Academy in Pittsburgh on May 24, 2023.

Its just unfathomable: Reaction from Parents and Students

Officials told Channel 11 most students hadnt yet arrived for the day. Those who did were eventually sent home.

Students who did arrive at school were loaded onto buses and sent to Manchester Elementary School, only about a mile from Oliver Citywide Academy.

Oliver Citywide Academy senior Aidan McDowell told Channel 11 that during his ride to school, the bus suddenly started going a different direction than normal.

It took a different route around, and I was like whats going on? I got off by the gas station. There were cops everywhere. I asked what was going on and he said there was a shooting and that I should go home, McDowell said.

We have to address what is making these kids so angry that they want to kill each other. I dont think thats something that the district alone can begin to process without the community involvement, McDowells mom, Traci Darin, said.

Aidan says a lot of his classmates hang out outside Oliver in the morning before being let into the school.

He and his mom would like to see that change.

For this to keep happening, its just unfathomable, and Im like shellshocked because it could have been my son, Darin said.

Parents with elementary school students were shocked and heartbroken as well as they dropped off their kids.

How could someone so young even think like that that I want to take someones life? Keaira Wallace said.

The violence is everywhere, and my heart goes out to the teachers and to the parents because I cant even begin to fathom what theyre going through, Darin said.

16 Months Ago:

Over a year ago, on Jan. 19, 2022, Oliver Citywide student Marquis Campbell, 15, was shot in a van outside the school. He later died at a hospital.

Brothers Eugene Watson, 18, and Brandon Watson, 17, are charged in connection to his murder.

Im like this is the second time this has happened. This shouldnt be happening, McDowell said.

Pittsburgh Public Schools & Mayor Ed Gainey react:

A Pittsburgh Public Schools spokesperson released the following statement following todays shooting:

This morning during arrival, a Pittsburgh Oliver Student was shot. After being transported to the hospital, the student later died due to injuries he received in the shooting. Our thoughts and prayers are with the students family. Our schools are designed to be a safe place for teaching and learning. Today, that was not the case for a student who was on his way to school to get an education.

Pittsburgh Oliver is currently closed, and all students have been transported to Pittsburgh Manchester for a safe reunification with their families. City and School Police are currently investigating the shooting. Out of respect for the students family, we will not be providing any further comment on this unfortunate matter. Thank you.

Mayor Ed Gainey also released the following statement on todays shooting:

Pittsburgh, please join me in prayer for the family, friends, and the entire Oliver Citywide Academy community as they are once again mourning a young life taken by gunfire. Im proud of the quick response by our Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, who were on the scene within minutes and were able to apprehend the suspect. Thank you for your continued work in making Pittsburgh safe.

No child should ever have to fear going to school, and no parent should ever worry about their child never coming home. We are working with our Community Violence Intervention teams to provide help and support to students, and we will do all that we can to connect the family to support services.

As a society, we have to reclaim our children, and we have to begin putting our children first. We have cultivated a culture of violence and death, celebrated guns, and glorified shooting. We have failed as a country to stop the proliferation of guns, and it is far too easy for a young person to get those guns and retaliate in the way our culture has glorified it.

Pittsburgh, we can and must do better. We have to cultivate a new culture, create a new path forward for our kids, and we are committed to investing in our kids to provide them with hope for a better tomorrow and a future that doesnt end with bullets and gunfire.

If you want to be a part of our work to end violence in our city, join us. Call us. We are willing to work with everyone who wants to be a part of the solution.

Oliver Citywide Academy will be remote learning until Tuesday, May 30, Pittsburgh Public Schools announced. All activities at the school, including athletics, are cancelled.

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11 staffers at a hospital are all pregnant at the same time. They joke there's 'something in the water.'

Seven of the 11 staffers in the same hospital unit who became pregnant around the same time. Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

No fewer than 11 hospital staffers in the same unit were expecting babies at the same time.

One of the kids  a little boy  was born in May.

The women have joked that there "must be something in the water" at the hospital.

Serena Swanson, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, couldn't help but guess why her colleague Grace McManus, a certified surgical technologist, rushed out of the operating room during one of their shifts.

"She looked green," Swanson, who was about 25 weeks' pregnant at the time, told Insider. "Usually, if you have to leave the OR for whatever reason, you have to ask permission."

The 33-year-old added, "It wasn't like Grace to leave like that."

Swanson's pregnancy radar went into overdrive

When she was ready, McManus revealed she'd been suffering from morning sickness. Swanson's hunch was right.

Her pregnancy radar had gone into overdrive. Coworker after coworker announced they were expecting babies.

Serena Swanson, far right with her son, Everett, and four of her 10 pregnant coworkers. Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

It turned out that no fewer than 11 women in the special-surgery unit at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire, had gotten pregnant at the same time. Swanson gave birth to her son, Everett, earlier this month.

"We called ourselves the preglets," Alexa Hayes, a CRNA like Swanson, said. "We'd joke that there was something in the water. Don't drink the water."

Hayes is due in September, while her colleague Jenny Miles, a registered nurse, is due next month. Jen Jones, another CRNA, is due in July, while Emily Piche, a post-anesthesia-care unit RN, and Sasha Thomas, the fourth CRNA, are due in August.

All but 2 of the hospital staffers were first-time moms-to-be

McManus and her fellow surgical technologist Madison Smeal are due in September, along with Hayes. Then Elizabeth Sullivan, an anesthesia technologist, and Justine Brennan, an endoscopy RN, are expected to bring up the rear in October.

Swanson said that three of the moms-to-be had found out they were carrying boys, like she had been. Another four discovered they were pregnant with girls. Two of the women had decided to wait to find out their babies' genders until their births. All but two were first-time moms-to-be.

Jenny Miles, who is due to give birth in June. Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

"I burst into tears when my friend Jen, who'd been actively trying to get pregnant, told me that she was having a boy," Swanson said. "It was a combination of hormones and joy."

She said that the staffers  who were between ages 23 and 35  bonded over their mutual pregnancies.

"We've had some great conversations," the mom said. "We've been comparing notes and giving each other tips and tricks."

Hayes believes the babies were partly a result of the staff feeling more relaxed post-COVID crisis

Hayes, who has a 16-month-old daughter, suggested that the baby boom was somewhat inevitable. She said that members of the team  mostly first-time moms  were able to "take some time" for themselves after working so hard earlier in the pandemic.

"Now it's post-COVID, I think we're all in a good place professionally and relationshipwise," she added.

Swanson with her newborn. She was the first of the 11 hospital staffers to give birth. Serena Swanson

She said that most of the women had different managers. Therefore, she said, when they revealed their pregnancies, the managers didn't worry too much about securing cover for when they were out on maternity leave.

Meanwhile, Swanson, who gave birth at Wentworth-Douglass, said there had been a lot of excitement among patients who got to spot bump after bump.

Swanson thinks that the coworkers and their babies will form an 'unofficial' playgroup

"Our scrubs were baggy, so it took awhile for some people to notice," Swanson said.

She added that one person busted her because she needed help to push a 300-pound patient on a stretcher into the operating room.

As for the future, Swanson predicted that the 11 moms would likely form an "unofficial play group."

She said: "It's great that our babies will all be the same age and born the same year."

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Two construction workers were killed and at least eight others injured when a tornado-warned storm struck the Houston suburb of Conroe, Texas, Tuesday afternoon.

All nine workers were on site in the new Ladera Creek subdivision when one of the houses under construction suddenly collapsed shortly before 4 p.m. CDT due to the high winds from the intense storm, Conroe Assistant Fire Chief Mike Legoudes told KTRK-TV in Houston. Conroe is about 40 miles north of the Houston metro area in Montgomery County.

Two of the workers were pronounced dead at the scene. Seven others who were also working on the structure were injured and taken to the hospital, Legoudes said. The severity of their injuries was not known. Further information has not been released about the victims.

Severe thunderstorms, including one capable of producing a tornado, moved through the area around from 2:35 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. CDT, according to the National Weather Service.

"The storm came and went pretty quickly -- it was about 10 minutes total," Legoudes said. "There was a lot of wind, a lot of rain with a bit of sleet and hail."

Several residents even said they observed a tornado touch down in the Conroe-Huntsville area.

"There is a tornado in our area right now. One has touched down in Huntsville and Conroe is under a tornado warning," Congressman Morgan Luttrell, whose district includes Conroe, posted on Facebook as the powerful storm was getting underway. "Hoping everyone stays safe and this passes quickly."

A resident of the Conroe, Texas, area captured this photo of a possible tornado in the area of Willis, between Conroe and Huntsville, Texas, on May 23, 2023. (Charlie Thompson)

The NWS Houston office said preliminary findings from a storm survey conducted Wednesday in both Montgomery and Walker counties determined that the storm damage was caused by "straight line winds, and no evidence of tornado touchdowns were found." The NWS added, however, that it was still gathering data from the severe storm, which saw estimated peak winds of 60 to 80 mph.

Local media reported at least one person was injured when part of the roof collapsed at an auto body shop in Huntsville, Walker County. Damaging winds also blew down trees, including a large one that fell on an apartment building in Huntsville, according to photos posted to social media.

Walker County Emergency Management told KTRK that about 20 homes in the Forest Hills neighborhood also sustained storm damage.

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Just before 4 p.m., Huntsville Independent School said that it was keeping students at the transportation department offices due to the extensive storm damage in a number of neighborhoods.

Texas leads the nation in the number of severe weather reports at 992 so far in 2023, according to the Storm Prediction Center. The tally includes 42 preliminary tornado reports, 552 large hail reports, and 398 wind reports. The number of tornadoes in the Lone Star State ranks fifth compared to other states with Illinois seeing the most reports at 94, Alabama coming in second with 80 reports, followed by 56 reports in Iowa, and 51 reports in Nebraska.

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CONROE, Texas  As many as two people were killed and several others were injured after a construction site collapsed during severe weather Tuesday afternoon, local authorities said.

The City of Conroe reported police and firefighters responded to the scene of a house collapse about 40 minutes north of Houston about 4 p.m. CDT.

A photo from the neighborhood showed home sites that were in the truss stage and several emergency vehicles at the scene.

The National Weather Service in Houston had issued a Tornado Warning for Montgomery County, which included Conroe, at 3:22 p.m. CDT. Meteorologists warned the storm cell was dangerous and capable of producing flying debris and hazards to people caught outside without a substantial shelter.

POWERFUL STORM IN TEXAS TOPPLES TREES, TAKES DOWN POWER LINES

The conditions of the injured have not been released. It was unclear whether the construction site had advanced warning of the inclement weather.

Conroe was not the only community where damage was reported after the severe storm. About 30 miles north of Conroe, in Huntsville, Texas, trees were toppled, and power lines were damaged.

PowerOutage.us reported more than 15,000 electrical outages in the region.

Forecasters did receive a report of a 58-mph wind gust and hail the size of quarters during the storms north of Houston.

So far, NWS meteorologists have not determined if straight-line winds or a tornado were to blame for the damage in Conroe.
KANE COUNTY, Utah - Deputies in southern Utah have announced they have recovered the bodies of two hikers who were swept away by sudden flooding over the weekend.

The Kane County Sheriffs Office identified the duo as 65-year-old Gary York from West Chester Township, Ohio, and 72-year-old John Walter from Kettering, Ohio.

According to a sheriffs office news release, the men last spoke to relatives on Saturday afternoon and informed family members they were about to embark on a hike into Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch.

The canyon region is susceptible to flash flooding, and it is believed the hikers were caught off guard by rapidly rising waters and carried for miles downstream.

Search and rescue teams recovered their bodies in different locations near the Utah-Arizona state line on Sunday and Monday.



2 DEAD, MORE THAN A DOZEN RESCUED AFTER CANYON FLASH FLOODING CATCHES HIKERS OFF GUARD IN UTAH

The Kane County Sheriffs Office identified the duo as 65-year-old Gary York from West Chester Township, Ohio, and 72-year-old John Walter from Kettering, OhiO

"Again, we have witnessed the relentless power and danger of flash flooding in Kane Countys slot canyons. Our condolences got out to the York and Walter families," KCSO Lt. Alan Alldredge said in a statement.

Numerous outdoor publications have deemed the over 16-mile-long Buckskin Gulch canyon as being one of the countrys most dangerous trails and was the site where two Florida men were killed and more than a dozen rescued in March.

The enhanced flooding risk is likely a product of what locals say has been an abnormally wet winter and spring.

Data from the FOX Forecast Center showed the region experienced between 110-200% of average snowfall during the winter, with lower elevations seeing above-normal rainfall.

The Bureau of Land Management requires permits for hikers, and the sheriffs office encourages all groups to have a GPS device that is waterproof and capable of withstanding the extremes in case a rescue is needed.

UTAHS FIRST FEMALE RESCUE PILOT BECOMES A HERO
2 killed when house under construction collapses during storm, Texas officials say

As storms rolled in, an unfinished house collapsed on workers, killing two, Texas officials told news outlets.

The home under construction, near Conroe, fell around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, the Associated Press reported.

Though officials havent said what they believe caused the collapse, severe weather was in the area, the outlet reported.

Conroe and the surrounding area was under a tornado warning until 3:45 p.m., according to the City of Conroe.

The house was part of the new Ladera Creek Trace subdivision, fire department officials told KPRC.

Construction of the two-story home was in the framing phase, and the workers inside were buried under piles of lumber when the structure gave out, KHOU reported.

Seven people were injured, all of whom were on the second floor, according to the outlet.

Conroe is roughly 40 miles north of downtown Houston.

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Utah police have identified the man who allegedly shot the stray bullet that struck a 2-year-old boy in the head.

On Wednesday the Spanish Fork Police Department announced they located a person of interest who shot a .22 caliber air rifle near a fenced daycare located in West Spanish Fork, Utah, striking a toddler.

Police said the man was shooting at birds in the area west of the daycare when the child was injured.

The toddler remains at a local hospital "in stable condition and improving."

According to police, the person of interest, who will remain unidentified unless formally charged, is cooperating with authorities as the investigation into the case continues. When the investigation is concluded the case will be passed to prosecutors to decide if any charges are to be filed, police said.

On Monday, Spanish Forks police were contacted by a local police department about a 2-year-old admitted to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center with a small caliber bullet wound to the head.

Detectives learned that several children were playing in the vinyl-fenced area of a daycare with two adults when at one point a child appeared to stumble and bleed from the face, police said.

"The daycare notified the parents of the 2-year-old child who responded and took their child to the hospital for treatment," police said. "It was not until at the hospital that doctors discovered through scans that the child had a small caliber bullet lodged in its head."

Saturday Sessions: Brandy Clark performs "Tell Her You Don't Love Her"

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A 29-Year-Old Hiked Alone. She Was Fatally Stabbed, And A Man Has Pleaded Not Guilty.

A 22-year-old man pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to fatally stabbing a woman who was hiking on a trail near her home last month in Phoenix.

The body of 29-year-old Lauren Heike was found on the morning of April 29, a day after she went missing on a trail in northeast Phoenix.

Zion William Teasley was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge after police said surveillance footage and his DNA on the victims shoe placed him at the scene. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced the indictment on Monday, and Teasley appeared in court on Tuesday to enter his not guilty plea. Teasley, who was on probation after previously pleading guilty to armed robbery, is being held on $1 million bail.

Hundreds of people on Sunday participated in a Hike for Heike in her memory. The organizer, Gladys Monje, told ABC 15, This hits different because I am a solo female hiker, and I can relate to what happened to her.

Were happy that last moment  she loved to exercise  she was walking and we know she was happy, her mother, Lana Heike, said. She went out that morning on a beautiful day to do what she does every day.

Lauren Heike had moved to Phoenix from Washington state and loved her new home, her mother said at a news conference.

Lauren Heike had moved to Phoenix from Washington state and loved her new home, her mother said at a news conference.

On April 28, after speaking with a friend just after 10 a.m., Heike walked to the trail, where surveillance cameras captured her alone at 10:53 a.m., according to a police statement in an arrest warrant.

She had been stabbed 15 times in her upper body, with apparent defensive wounds on her hands and forearms, according to the medical examiner. Based on a blood trail and the condition of her clothing, investigators said she might have been chased through or over a barbed wire fence located several feet from where her body was found.

She was attacked from behind, Phoenix Police Lt. James Hester said at a May 4 news conference, where police showed surveillance footage of a man running and asked for the publics help in identifying him. The police initially tweeted the short video on May 2.

Hours after the news conference, Teasley was arrested at his home, a mile from where Heikes body was found.

During our press conference, we received an outpouring of support and tips called in, Sgt. Melissa Soliz said after Teasleys arrest.

I believe Lauren fought off her attacker and was able to flee, but her injuries were too severe for her to continue, Hester said at a news conference on May 5 announcing Teasleys arrest. It is my belief that she was not sexually assaulted, Hester said, and that the attack was random, noting that they had not completed their investigation.

Police said that Teasley had recently been fired for being aggressive toward female employees and that his employer suspected him of stealing merchandise. His manager identified Teasley in a still image taken the day of Heikes killing and said he was wearing items hed taken from the store, police said in the arrest warrant.

Teasleys attorney, Raquel Centeno-Fequiere, did not respond to a request for comment.

Lana Heike said at a news conference, Lauren was beautiful inside and out. She had such a kind heart.

Heike was originally from Kitsap County, Washington, where her family still lives. She loved this area, her mother said of her daughters new home in Phoenix. She had so many friends.

Related...
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Its one of the things college graduates have to hit the ground running over in order to succeed after finishing their degrees.

According to a recent WalletHub study, three Georgia cities are among the best places in the United States to start a career after graduation.

The best place in the country, though, is Atlanta, according to the study, beating out nearly 200 other cities across the U.S. for the top spot.

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

The WalletHub study compared market strengths, livability, availability of entry-level jobs, and monthly starting salaries with the affordability of housing when ranking which cities were best to start a career in.

Along with other metrics, WalletHub said they compared quality of life and professional opportunity as their key targets for pitting states and cities against each other for the rankings.

Out of more than 180 cities examined and ranked, Atlanta won overall, while taking the No. 2 slot for professional opportunity and No. 7 for quality of life.

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Other Georgia cities that broke into the list were Columbus and Augusta.

As far as professional opportunities, Augusta weighed in at No. 64 to Columbus No. 114.

In terms of quality of life, Augusta ranked at 157 to Columbus No. 164.

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Across both of those main metrics, Atlanta score far above the other Georgia cities on the WalletHub list, though it was slightly behind comparably sized metros like Miami for opportunities and Salt Lake City for quality of life.

OTHER NEWS:
4.5 years in prison for Capitol rioter who put feet on Pelosi office desk

Richard Barnett sits inside the office of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of president Donald Trump

An Arkansas man photographed with his feet on a desk in House speaker Nancy Pelosi's office after joining the mob that stormed the US Capitol in 2021 was sentenced on Wednesday to four and a half years in prison.

Richard Barnett, 63, was leaning back in a chair with his boots propped up on a desk in the office of the Democratic politician when he had his picture taken by an AFP photographer.

The photo became one of the iconic images of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Barnett had joined supporters of then-president Donald Trump who stormed Congress to shut down the legislature as it convened to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the next US president.

A Washington jury convicted Barnett in January on eight counts including obstructing Congress's certification of the election, illegally entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon -- an electric stun device disguised as a walking stick.

Prosecutors had asked Judge Christopher Cooper for a sentence of seven years in prison.

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said Barnett did not show any remorse and had "sought to profit from his notoriety and criminal conduct" by selling "autographed photos of himself in the Speaker's office suite."

Barnett's defense attorney had asked the judge to impose a sentence of 12 months.

Barnett, described in court filings as a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory alleging a global liberal plot to kidnap children, had defended his actions as an exercise of his constitutional right to protest.

But while in Pelosi's office he wrote a crude message to her.

"I left her a note on her desk that says 'Nancy, Bigo was here, you bitch,'" he told reporters, using his nickname.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested for taking part in what prosecutors have called an insurrection to keep Trump in the White House after his election loss.

Most of them face charges of illegally entering the Capitol or causing property damage, but some 350 have been charged with assaulting law enforcement officers or resisting arrest and more than 50 with serious conspiracy crimes.

- Oath Keepers founder to be sentenced -

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was found guilty of the rarely used charge of seditious conspiracy in November and is to be sentenced on Thursday.

Prosecutors have requested a sentence of 25 years for the 57-year-old Rhodes, a Yale-educated former soldier.

During a nearly two-week trial in Washington, prosecutors said Rhodes and other members of the Oath Keepers "concocted a plan for an armed rebellion... plotting to oppose by force the government of the United States."

The Oath Keepers were accused of stocking weapons at a hotel near Washington and joining the crowd that stormed the Capitol in a bid to block the certification by Congress of Biden's election victory.

Prosecutors showed the jury text messages between Rhodes and his followers that called for action if Trump himself failed to act.

Rhodes did not personally enter the Capitol but directed his followers like a battlefield general, prosecutors said.

cl/st
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Mild memory problems are a normal part of aging, but when you see your parent or loved one missing appointments and forgetting plans, it can be a warning sign of something more. Learning more about the signs and symptoms of dementia and Alzheimers can help you prepare for whats ahead.

While a dementia or Alzheimers diagnosis can be scary, it doesnt mean that all is lost in terms of quality of life. This is where memory care facilities come in. These long-term care facilities provide specialized services for residents at each stage of memory loss, allowing them to remain safe, comfortable, and stimulated for the duration of their condition.

Whether youve lived your whole life in Miami, have family members close by, or have simply visited, you know why its such a popular destination for older adults. If youre looking for a memory care facility for yourself or a family member in this unique coastal city, here are some of the best options in Miami.

Speak to a Family Advisor about Senior Care Options at (855) 953-4055

The Palace Renaissance  Best Overall

Key Features:

Wanderguard system tracks patients whereabouts

CRM system provides advanced care management

Elegant furnishings

The Palace Renaissance is an upscale community with a resort-like feel. The community holds the prestigious CARF Accreditation, which holds rehabilitation facilities to the highest standards. Its located on a quiet, established residential street in south Miami, and it sits adjacent to a large city park.

From the minute you pull into the drive, you get the feel of a five-star resort hotel with a covered entrance and beautifully landscaped lawns, and security is top-notch to keep memory care patients from wandering. The community is elegantly decorated and includes a variety of social activities to keep residents engaged. Theres a swimming pool and an on-site personal trainer, a computer room, a library and a daily happy hour.

The sensory stimulation program helps keep residents brains engaged. Licensed nurses are on duty to help memory care residents to and from the dining room and to other areas of the facilities. Theres also health monitoring and additional special programs for those with cognitive impairments. Guests to the facility comment on the beauty of the area and the professional attitude of the staff.

Sterling Aventura - Best in Customer Satisfaction

Key Features:

Personalized fitness programs

Pet-friendly apartments

24-hour security

From the outside, the Sterling Aventura looks like a large apartment complex in the heart of the city. Its one of the larger facilities, offering 171 beds with one-bedroom apartments and shared and private rooms. The third floor is devoted entirely to memory care, and its popular enough that theres often a waitlist to get in.

While the community may look less homey than some of the other facilities on the list, the facility is very clean, and guests comment often on how friendly and attentive the staff members are to both the patients and to visitors. There are plenty of large windows that offer excellent views of the city, and downstairs theres a secure courtyard, so memory care patients can sit outside and enjoy the sun.

Another great aspect of Sterling Aventura is that the facility works hard to make its memory care patients feel a part of the community. Theres weekly outings, scheduled social activities, personalized fitness programs and concierge services. An emergency response system is also installed in each bathroom, so residents can call for help quickly if needed.

Courtyard Plaza  Best Medically Oriented Facility

Key Features:

Multi-language facility

All-inclusive

Short-term and long-term stays

Family members will have no problem getting to Courtyard Plaza for a visit, with its easy access to the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 95. Neighboring buildings include a Serbian Orthodox church, a preschool and an antique mall, which keep in line with the diverse nature of the community.

The Courtyard Plaza has a more structured atmosphere, which is sometimes best for seniors in later stages of Alzheimers. This type of hospital-like environment often reduces stress and makes it easier for residents to focus on their strengths. But this doesnt mean patients cant bring their own belongings to decorate their rooms to their liking.

The memory care staff at Courtyard Plaza have received extensive training in Alzheimers and dementia, so they understand how the disease doesnt always affect everyone the same. Instead, they focus on maintaining each persons dignity throughout all stages of the disease. Daily activities include social games, health and fitness, arts and crafts and outings into the community.

Residential Plaza at Blue Lagoon  Best Memory Care Community Near the Beach

Key Features:

Homelike environment

Montessoris dementia program

Certified case managers

Residential Plaza is located next to the Blue Lagoon and sits adjacent to Miami International Airport. The beach is also just minutes away, so family members can take their vacation near the property to visit loved ones. This facility has multiple accolades for both its memory care and assisted living services, and because theres so much to offer in one location, the level of care can grow with the individual.

The facility houses 350 individuals, but dont let this size scare you. The rooms are large, so seniors can bring furniture in and decorate with their own belongings to make it feel like home. Theres a courtyard, a library and a multipurpose room, so seniors can socialize, enjoy their hobbies and focus on maintaining a high quality of life for as long as possible.

Memory care patients are treated using the Montessori dementia program. This program is praised for creating a supportive environment to reduce stress and keep patients independent as long as possible.

The Pointe of North Gables  Best Small Community

Key Features:

Devoted memory care unit

Monthly assessments

Large open-air courtyard

If a smaller community is more your style, The Pointe of North Gables has room for around 100 assisted living and memory care residents. Its just to the south of Miami International Airport and located conveniently near the center of town, near restaurants and shopping.

Theres a large, gated, open-air courtyard with a swimming pool, so seniors can sit out in the sun, get some exercise and socialize with other residents during the day. Memory care patients also receive 24-hour supervision and care and participate in fun activities like dominoes and board games.

Like the other communities on this list, The Pointe of North Gables is most concerned with the health and well-being of its residents. Birthdays and holidays are celebrated, and physical therapy and other medical services are available on-site as needed.
Five juveniles have been charged in connection with a social media threat against a Chatham County school, according to the Chatham County Sheriffs Office.

On May 14, the Sheriffs Office was notified of a social media message threatening an act of violence the next day at Chatham Middle School in Siler City.

On Tuesday, the Sheriffs Office announced that one juvenile was charged with threat of mass violence on educational property, while the other four were charged with conspiring to carry out an act of mass violence on educational property in relation to these threats. Three of the juveniles are students at Chatham Middle School.

The statement said investigators think the threat was a prank and that juveniles did not plan to carry it out.

I cannot stress enough the seriousness of making threats of a school shooting, Sheriff Mike Roberson said in the statement.. Public safety is our utmost priority, and any act  even if its a prank  that undermines that security is a serious matter. Not only does it create fear and panic among students, parents, and teachers, but it is a criminal offense that carries severe consequences.

This year, multiple other students have been charged after making threats against schools in Durham and Wake counties.

In February, a juvenile was charged after allegedly making threats against Zebulon Middle School.

Soon after, leaders in the Wake County school system spoke out, urging families and community to help stop the onslaught of threats by explaining the consequences to students.

Just a few weeks later, an 18-year-old was arrested for allegedly making threats against Research Triangle Park High School in Durham County. Investigators believe these threats were a hoax.

Due to their juvenile status, the Sheriffs Office has not released the names of the students involved in the Chatham Middle School threats.
After 53 years of acting, he still loves being recognized. His most famous role: Alien head on stick

Sergio Calderon is an actor in "Men in Black" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

For Sergio Calderon, success as an actor is about mastering his craft. In his 53-year career, Calderon has played many villains, most recently booking a role as a corrupt police officer in the 2022 Peacock dark comedy and mystery series "The Resort."

I love to play those types of characters, because people really hate me, he said, laughing. They tell me in the streets how much they hate me. But to me, that is my success. Because that means I was able to convince people with what I performed.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Calderon recalls running off the set one day after shooting an intense scene opposite Albert Finney in John Hustons 1984 film Under the Volcano.

They were filming in Yautepec de Zaragoza, Mexico. Finney was playing a former British consul to Mexico in the 1930s, and Calderon was playing the Mexican chief of police.

Calderon was shaken by the violence of the scene. When he stormed off the set, Finney came running after him, Calderon recalled, and asked if he could join Calderon.

We were like little dogs running toward a tree, he said. We just had to get rid of that ugly emotion. Because sometimes as actors, when you really give yourself to the character, you react not like Sergio Calderon, but like the killer youre playing.

He remembers Finney asking him, Sergio, did you feel what I felt?

I said, Yes, I was about to kill you. And he said, Me too. 

Calderon was born in a small tropical village in Mexico. His parents told him that when he was 3 years old, he wandered off and disappeared for several hours. They finally found him outside, watching a movie being projected on a wall.

At 10, he moved to Mexico City, and he caught the performance bug after a teacher encouraged him to participate in a poetry reading.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Calderon likes to joke that people told him he shouldnt be an actor because he wasnt handsome enough.

I thought I was handsome, he said. So I stubbornly decided I wanted to become an actor.

His first acting role was 1970s The Bridge in the Jungle, a Hollywood movie that was being filmed in the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico. It was the first time he worked with Huston, the Hollywood legend who later became his friend. Calderon had been supporting himself by working as an English teacher, so he had the language skills to act in English.

After getting his Screen Actors Guild card for his role the 1979 Hollywood comedy The In-Laws, he moved to Los Angeles and started building his career in the U.S.

He might look familiar to Men in Black fans for his role as the first alien, Head on a Stick. And Pirates of the Caribbean fans might recognize him as the Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva in the third film of the series.

But hes also been stopped on the streets of Brentwood in recent years by a very fancy guy who said, Excuse me, are you the guy from The A-Team? Calderon played a couple characters, including a river boat pirate in the '80s action series starring Mr. T.

Another time he was at the hospital for an X-ray the day after the 90s TV movie, Have You Seen My Son? played on ABC. A fellow patient recognized him as the cab driver whom a mother begs for help finding her missing son.

His character in the movie speaks only Spanish, and the mother speaks only English, so he had to figure out how to perform it so that the audience understands whats going on even though they might not understand the language, he said.

He remembered the woman telling him, I saw you last night on TV, and you made me cry during the whole sequence, even though I couldnt understand one word you were saying.

As an actor, you have to have that magnetism to transfer onto the screen, he said.

Calderon is thrilled whenever anyone recognizes him for any role.

If I can make them cry and I can make them laugh, then maybe Im a good actor, he said.

Photo editing and design by Calvin Alagot.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
6 things to know about the 6-week abortion ban passed by the SC General Assembly

Here are six things to know about the six-week abortion ban legislation that cleared the final hurdle in the General Assembly Tuesday.

The South Carolina Senate voted 27-19 to approve their six-week abortion ban bill, S. 474, modified by the S.C. House, which sends the bill to Gov. Henry McMaster. The governor has said he will sign it.
60 percent in new poll say controlling gun violence more important than protecting gun rights

Six in 10 Americans in a new survey say controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights.

The NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found that 60 percent overall think its more important to control gun violence, which NPR notes is the highest in 10 years. Forty percent of people who own guns report feeling the same.

Broken down by party, 88 percent of Democrats think reining in gun violence is more important, while 67 percent of Republicans say protecting gun rights is more important.

The polls release on Wednesday comes exactly one year after 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Just over half, or 57 percent, of Americans report feeling the schools in their local communities are safe from gun violence  down from 65 percent in February 2019.

Inaction by lawmakers in Washington on the issue of guns is clearly out of step with public opinion. In fact, Americans see a host of options to address growing concern over gun violence, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, in a release about the poll.

Slightly more than a quarter of Americans say banning semi-automatic assault weapons sales would have the most impact on reducing gun violence in the U.S, and 17 percent picked mental health screenings for gun buyers.

Thirteen percent said background checks for gun purchases at private sales would be the best option, while 12 percent said red flag laws and 10 percent said teachers carrying guns in the classroom. Twenty percent said they didnt think any of the options listed in the poll would have an impact on gun violence.

President Biden is set to mark the anniversary of the Uvalde massacre with remarks at the White House and a call for Congress to take action on gun violence.

Conducted May 15-18, the poll surveyed 1,286 adults and had an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Image: hanoniki, Sundry Photography, Kristi Blokhin (Shutterstock)

As the artificial intelligence wave continues to pick up steam, there are plenty of organizations looking to cash inwhile others are being more careful. While chatbots like ChatGPT can be a miracle assistant for some, companies that hold proprietary code or sensitive customer information need to be more careful. When a user inputs data into a large language model like ChatGPT, that data can get sent back to the model so it can improve itself. While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that ChatGPT wont use customer inputs for training, its better to be safe than sorry.

Click on to see which companies wont allow their employees to use ChatGPT.

Read more

Apple

Image: hanohiki (Shutterstock)

While the tech giant builds its own, rival large language model, Apple has forbidden employees from using ChatGPT for work according to internal documents. Apple is also prohibiting employees form using the Microsoft-owned GitHub Copilot, an AI code writer.



Amazon

Image: Sundry Photography (Shutterstock)

Amazon was one of the first big tech companies to ban employee use of ChatGPT earlier this year after a company lawyer reportedly informed employees of data that resembled Amazon code that was spotted in ChatGPT responses. According to screenshots of Slack messages reviewed by Insider, the Amazon lawyer specifically requested that employees not share any Amazon confidential information (including Amazon code you are working on) with ChatGPT.



Walmart

Image: Sundry Photography (Shutterstock)

A leaked memo from Walmart told employees not to share any company information with the viral chatbot according to Insider. The companys technology and software team Walmart Global Tech released the memo, also urging employees to thoroughly review any outputs from the AI.

JPMorgan Chase

Image: Lewis Tse (Shutterstock)

In February, banking giant JPMorgan Chase warned employees not to use ChatGPT according to CNN Business.



Samsung

Image: Mahony (Shutterstock)

Samsung reportedly banned most common generative AI in a sweeping motion this May according to Bloomberg. The company has specifically restricted employee use of ChatGPT, Google Bard, and the AI-enhanced Bing after an employee uploaded sensitive information to ChatGPT.



Wells Fargo

Image: Kristi Blokhin (Shutterstock)

Wells Fargo told Forbes that it would be imposing usage limits on ChatGPT for employees while it evaluates the safest ways to engage with the technology.



Verizon

Image: Ascannio (Shutterstock)

Verizon has barred ChatGPT from its corporate systems according to IBL News. The company claims that it could put sensitive customer data like phone numbers and addresses in jeopardy.



Northrop Grumman

Image: Wirestock Creators (Shutterstock)

Aerospace and defense tech company Northrop Grumman told The Wall Street Journal that employees would not be able to use tools like ChatGPT in their work. The company told the outlet that it was limiting employee use until the tech is fully vetted.

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A 95-year-old great-grandmother died Wednesday a week after being tasered by an Australian police officer inside her nursing home, police said. The woman, Clare Nowland, "passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones," New South Wales state police said in a statement.

An Australian policeman was charged with three counts of assault Wednesday over the tasering of Nowland, who suffered from dementia.

An undated file image from family video shows Australian great-grandmother Clare Nowlands, who died of injuries sustained in a fall when she was tasered by police at her nursing home in New South Wales. / Credit: Reuters

The 33-year-old senior police constable was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault, the police said in a statement.

The officer, who has been suspended with pay, will face court on July 5.

"Investigations into the critical incident continue," the police said.

Officers had been called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in southern New South Wales by staff who told them a woman was "armed with a knife."

Police said the responding officers urged Nowland to drop a serrated steak knife before she moved toward them "at a slow pace" with her walking frame, prompting one officer to fire his taser at her.

New South Wales, Australia businessman and community advocate Andrew Thaler holds up his phone showing a photo of Clare Nowland, May 19, 2023. / Credit: Reuters

Local businessman and community advocate Andrew Thaler, speaking not long after the incident to Australian television, said Nowland was "about 5-foot-2 and weighs all of 43 kilos [about 95 pounds], she can't walk on her own without walking assistance."

"The use of a taser when a kind word was all she needed, if she was confused  which is what happens with people who have dementia  she needed kind words and assistance and help," Thaler said. "She didn't need the force of the law, as it were."

Some politicians are calling for a New South Wales regional parliamentary inquiry and the release of police bodycam video of the confrontation.

"The tasering of Ms Nowland has sparked a community outrage that shows how desperately we need police reform," state lawmaker Sue Higginson, of the Greens party, said this week. "The refusal to release the bodycam footage protects NSW Police from public scrutiny for all the wrong reasons  the NSW community has a right to know exactly what happened when Clare Nowland was tasered so we can start to take the steps needed for change."

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FILE PHOTO: Abbott's milk powder products are displayed on a shelf at a supermarket in Beijing

(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is probing whether Abbott Laboratories and other companies that make baby formula colluded in bidding on state contracts, according to a document posted on the agency's website.

The FTC is looking into whether the companies "engaged in collusion or coordination with any other market participant regarding the bidding," according to the document.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the probe.

According to the document, in 2022 the FTC began looking into potential collusion or coordination in bids to provide formula for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program that provides free formula to low-income families.

The document said studies showed that in addition to the money made from the contracts, the contract win tended to lead to better commercial sales.

"Although the boost in non-WIC sales motivates manufacturers to win WIC contracts, it may also create incentives to engage in collusive or coordinated market allocation, whereby incumbent WIC contract holders agree not to bid against each other," the document, written by Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, said.

The antitrust agency also requested information about the company's formula sales outside of the program.

A spokesperson for Abbott said that the company was cooperating with the FTC's information requests, and pointed out a filing to the FTC where the company said: "Abbott is unaware of any factual basis to support the WIC-related investigation, and staff have not identified any reason to believe that Abbott or any of its competitors have coordinated or colluded regarding any WIC contract."

The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There has been increased focus on the formula market since Abbott's February 2022 closure of a plant in Sturgis, Michigan and subsequent recalls, which together caused a nationwide shortage of formula.

The FTC document is the latest step in a disagreement between the agency and Abbott over how much information the company was required to provide in response to a demand issued in January.

Nestle, which makes the Good Start line of infant formulas, confirmed the FTC had also sought information from it.

"We, like other companies, received a civil investigative demand related to the WIC contract bidding process and have responded to the FTC," a spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington, Rahat Sandhu and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Kirsten Donovan and Aurora Ellis)
Logo of Irish services and consulting company Accenture is seen in Davos

(Reuters) - An Accenture Plc unit said on Wednesday it had secured an up to $2.6 billion deal with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for modernizing the government tax agency's systems.

Accenture Federal Services said it had been awarded the contract for seven years, adding that it will have to compete for future orders to support the IRS with creating new ways for taxpayers and professionals to interact with the agency.

Earlier this month, the IRS said it would launch a free, government-provided direct tax filing option next year, which could result in the launch of a full-scale IRS filing system on par with private tax prepapers such as TurboTax-parent Intuit Inc.

Intuit on Tuesday forecast current-quarter profit below estimates as it prepares to tackle competition by investing in its products.

"This is really not a threat at all," Intuit CEO Sasan Goodrazi said alluding to IRS' exploratory study that 72% of American taxpayers surveyed were "very interested in" or "somewhat interested in" using a government tool to electronically file their tax returns.

(Reporting by Tanya Jain and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
Accused Alex Murdaugh accomplice and co-conspirator Cory H. Fleming, 54, of Beaufort, has been indicted on federal charges and is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court in Charleston Thursday, May 25 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Fleming, a suspended Beaufort attorney and longtime friend of Richard Alexander Alex Murdaugh's, is scheduled to plead guilty to allegations that from around March 2018 until at least October 2020, Fleming conspired with former personal injury attorney Murdaugh to defraud the estate of Murdaughs former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, and to obtain money and property from the estate by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses.

In a plea agreement signed by Fleming May 22, he agrees to pay full restitution and fully cooperate with the investigation involving Murdaugh, who is also facing federal charges after an indictment released the same day as Fleming's plea.

Cory Fleming, at left, with defense attorney Deborah Barbier, stands in the Hampton County Courthouse Friday for a status conference hearing on his criminal charges.

Alex Murdaugh recommends Fleming after housekeeper's death

In February 2018, Murdaughs housekeeper died after a fall at his home. Murdaugh recommended that the housekeepers estate hire Flemingthen a personal injury and criminal defense attorney in Beaufortto represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh to collect from his homeowners insurance policies. Murdaughs insurance companies settled the estates claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000.

State and federal documents allege that, as part of the scheme, Murdaugh and Fleming conspired to siphon settlement funds, disguised as prosecution expenses, for their own personal enrichment.

Fleming allegedly directed the drafting of checks from the settlement funds held in his trust account to his personal bank account, fraudulently claiming that the funds were to pay for expenses related to the estates claim against Murdaugh. The information alleges Fleming knew the funds belonged to the estate, and the payments were not for legitimate legal expenses.

Hampton County connections: The deep Hampton County connections of Kenny Kinsey, expert witness in Alex Murdaugh trial

Alex Murdaugh saga: Here's what's next for alleged accomplices, Smith, Laffitte and Fleming

Cory Fleming heads to court

"Today has been a great day for justice in South Carolina related to the ongoing criminal investigations into Alex Murdaugh and Cory Fleming," Satterfield attorney Eric Bland said Wednesday in an emailed release. "... While it is said that Lady Justice is blind, she is not a sucker. Bottom LineCant run or hide from justice."

The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center, in Charleston, S.C., before Judge Richard M. Gergel.

Fleming faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Limehouse, Kathleen Stoughton, and Winston Holliday are prosecuting the case.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh saga: Accused accomplice to plead guilty in federal court
Accused mass murderer in Cleveland also charged with decade-old slaying in Camden

CAMDEN  A man accused of killing four people in Cleveland has confessed to a decade-old murder in North Camden, authorities say.

Martin Muniz, 41, admitted to fatally shooting Jaime Molina, 45, in North Camden on the afternoon of Oct. 30, 2013, according to the Camden County Prosecutors Office.

The confession came after Muniz approached Cleveland police officers on Jan. 13 and said he'd shot five people at a home in the Ohio city.

Police found three people dead at the shooting scene  a 70-year-old man, a 34-year-old woman and a 16-year-old male.

More: Second suspect charged Is this how a dispute at a South Jersey water-ice shop turned into a double killing?

A 48-year-old man was pronounced dead at a hospital, while an 8-year-old girl survived her wounds, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.

The victims were reported to be members of Muniz' family.

Child survived Cleveland mass shooting

Words fall short in describing the barbaric actions committed by this individual, Michael C. OMalley, Cuyahoga County's prosecutor, said in announcing charges against Muniz.

In admitting to the Camden murder, Muniz told police he had shot Molina in the face, according to a probable cause statement for a murder charge in New Jersey..

Muniz also said hed been arrested for an unspecified offense in Riverton in December 2013 while still in possession of the murder weapon, according to the statement.

New Jersey State Police determined in April 2015 that a gun seized from Muniz in Riverton was a match for a shell casing found near Molina's body at North 5th and Cedar streets, the statement says.

Martin Muniz faces 26 charges in two cities

Muniz, a Cleveland resident, was charged on May 22 with Molinas murder.

He is accused of 25 crimes in Cleveland, including four counts of aggravated murder.

The charges are only allegations. Muniz has not been convicted in either case.

Muniz remains in custody in Cuyahoga County Jail.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email him at jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Martin Muniz accused of killing four in Cleveland, one in Camden
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Accused murderer Bryan Kohberger sat silently inside the Latah County Courthouse in Idaho on Mondayall by design.

Kohberger, who is accused of gruesomely stabbing four University of Idaho students to death inside an off-campus home on November 13, didnt enter a plea at his arraignment. Your honor, we are standing silent, Kohbergers attorney Anne Taylor told the judge, taking the uncommon legal strategy of standing silent as allowed by Idaho criminal rules.

Ultimately, the judge presiding over the hearing entered not guilty pleas for the 28-year-old. Kohberger was indicted by a grand jury one week ago and is facing four counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. He is also charged with one count of burglary.

Heres a look at why Kohberger might have chosen to forgo entering a plea, as well as the next steps in the case.

What Is Standing Silent?

Under Idaho criminal rules, if an accused suspect doesnt verbally declare their innocence or guilt, a judge must enter a not guilty plea on the defendants behalf. So, officially, Kohberger is on the record with a not guilty plea.

According to CNN, the strategy is unusual but has been utilized beforesuch as in the case against Nikolas Cruz, the gunman responsible for the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A University of Idaho law professor told the network the tactic could mean the defendant wishes to avoid criticism that might come from entering either plea or that prosecutors and defense attorneys might be negotiating a plea agreement behind the scenes.

Or, in this case, it could simply be an example of Kohberger trying to be uncooperative. Maybe hes just trying to be defiant or attempting to show hes the smartest guy in the courtroom, Seattle attorney Anne Bremner told CNN, citing his educational background. Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminal justice at Washington State University at the time of the killings.

Whats Next in the Case?

Kohberger declined to waive his right to a speedy trial, so it is expected to begin on October 2 and last about six weeks, according to ABC television affiliate WNEP. However, its still possible the trial could be delayed or movedespecially if prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty. They have 60 days from Mondays arraignment to declare so in writing.

Kohberger has been held without bail since he was arrested at his parents home in Pennsylvania in December and returned to Idaho.

There are also two hearings scheduled for June 9 to address motionsfiled by an attorney representing Goncalves family and by a separate media coalitionregarding a gag order in the case. Currently, prosecutors, defense lawyers, attorneys for the victims families, and witnesses are not allowed to publicly discuss case details that arent already public record.

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ALBANY, N.Y.  Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano didnt know that 40 migrant families were being bused from New York City to a local Ramada Inn last week until his police force told him about the move.

There was no call from city or state officials to discuss how to provide services, care and schooling to the asylum-seekers.

This is a crisis. We all need to share in it. I get it. Im not looking to make the refugees lives any more difficult than they already are, Spano, a Democrat, said Tuesday. But to those just shipping people to places and then somehow think their mission is accomplished, its not.

Mayor Eric Adams continues to send migrants to other parts of New York with little advanced warning, including to communities where the local governing boards have approved states of emergency to try to block the effort. Rockland, Orange and Onondaga counties are all in court trying to reverse the citys efforts, saying the hotels are flouting local ordinances.

The battle is a microcosm of the immigration fight across the nation, and it is also testing the strong relationship between Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who local leaders are pressing to take a larger role in trying to intervene in the bussing of migrants outside the city.

Local leaders accused Hochul of doing little to try to stop Adams, a fellow moderate Democrat, from sending hundreds of migrants to other parts of the state, which they said has created confusion and a lack of a cohesive plan statewide.

What I told her is that hes acting like hes the president of New York state, Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a Republican, said he told Hochul in a private call recently. I didnt want to be insulting to her, but he needs to have his wings clipped because he has created the problem. He has made it impossible for us to work together.



Adams has contended that as many as 5,800 migrants are arriving in the city each week now since the Title 42 federal immigration policy expired earlier this month, and thats on top of the 65,000 migrants who moved to the city over the past year. He stressed the city is simply running out of room.

We believe the entire state should participate in a decompression strategy, Adams said on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. "And its unfortunate that there have been some lawmakers in counties that are not carrying on their role of ensuring that this is a decompression strategy throughout the state.

City officials have been communicating with local governments when they plan to move migrants to other communities  and are paying the cost of their housing, Adams spokesperson Fabien Levy said. He noted Adams had a call with county executives earlier this month to plead for their help.

We are out of space. 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, Levy said in a statement.

Hochul has publicly sided with Adams plight, but has also suggested that the state is trying to identify welcoming communities to house migrants, in addition to finding state and federal facilities  such as SUNY campuses or a federally owned Brooklyn park  where they can live. The state budget includes $1 billion to help the city address the crisis.

In a speech Monday alongside Adams in Brooklyn, Hochul urged solidarity to address the migrant issue, saying that parts of our country and our state who are enacting bigoted policies based on fear and intimidation, join us. Join us. Let people know the true story of what New York is.



Still, some county leaders said the issue is that they are ill-prepared to deal with more residents, particularly if it requires them to find programs and services for the newcomers.

Dutchess County Executive William ONeil said he received no advanced notice when at least two buses came over the weekend bringing about 80 migrants to a Poughkeepsie hotel. The county had issued a state of emergency to try to thwart the citys move, but the buses came anyway  and now it is suing to get a temporary restraining order against the hotel.

ONeil, a Republican, said part of the problem is that the city is negotiating directly with hotel owners, so local governments arent necessarily aware of the deals.

The deceitfulness and the secretiveness and the refusal to respect the local municipalities is off the charts, he said Monday. And thats the city of New York and the state of New York. Both of them.

While the migrants have moved mainly to the New York City suburbs, the effort might be expanding to other parts of the state.

Nick Paro, the Republican town supervisor of Salina in Onondaga County outside Syracuse, said he did receive a call from a city official in recent days that migrants were likely on the way to a local hotel. Now hes planning to sue to block it.

He blamed the Big Apple for being a sanctuary city that is now trying to push its overflow of migrants onto other municipalities.

Their only solution is take this problem and dump it into other communities, and completely disregard what communities stances are on this? he asked. vJust because they created this crisis doesnt mean it needs to be my town or communitys crisis.
The Centrica scheme trains veterans and interpreters

An Afghan interpreter who worked with the British Army says he is delighted to be training to become a gas engineer.

Obaidullah has joined former soldiers on a trial scheme for veterans to learn new skills in Leicester.

He was forced to flee his home country with his family five years ago.

With Afghan interpreters targeted by the Taliban after it regained power in 2021, he said he hoped to rebuild his life in the East Midlands.

Obaidullah fled to the UK with his family five years ago

The plight of Afghans who worked as interpreters for British forces worsened when Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, with former soldiers appealing for more help to provide refuge for those who assisted them during active service.

Obaidullah, who has now settled in Nottinghamshire, has become the first Afghan to qualify as part of Centrica's veterans retraining programme, Armed Forces Pathway, which hopes to hire more than 500 recruits.

He said he had to flee due to the nature of his work.

"I was going out with the British soldiers into the frontline to chase Taliban, and that's why they targeted a lot of the interpreters," he said.

"I've seen a lot of people injured in front of me - Afghans, Coalition forces, and interpreters - so I have some bad memories."

Steve King is part of Centrica's Armed Forces Pathway scheme

Steve King, from Centrica, said the scheme can help provide opportunities for interpreters who risked their lives to help UK soldiers.

"I think it's really important that we include the Afghan interpreters," he said.

"They helped us during the military operations in Afghanistan, and now it's our turn to help them."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.
AG Paxton apparently made his office into a favor factory for a donor. He has to go | Opinion

Ken Paxton must go.

Details revealed Wednesday by a team of Texas House investigators paint a compelling case of whats been suggested ever since some of his top aides turned on him: The attorney general used his office for political and personal gain, often to aid a high-profile donor.

Through interviews with four former Paxton lieutenants and a review of documents, complaints and other evidence, investigators found a pattern of criminal activity and ethical missteps. Testimony from at least 15 people implicated Paxton in wrongdoing.

While Paxton has reportedly been under federal investigation for years, it wasnt until four former senior employees from his office sued and reached a settlement that the Legislature got involved. Paxton, who has steadily said he did nothing wrong in his dealings with rogue employees, reached a deal to pay the whistleblowers $3.3 million and asked the state to pay for it. House Speaker Dade Phelan called it a poor use of taxpayer dollars, and it didnt appear likely to make the cut in the new state budget.

Investigators said Wednesday that Paxtons wrongdoing appeared to include retaliation and official oppression, a misdemeanor, securities fraud and misuse of official information, both felonies, and abuse of official capacity.

Paxtons relationship with donor Nick Paul was so steeped in his public office that Paxton often tasked office employees to help the developer, investigators found. Paul wanted Paxtons help fighting a federal investigation of his businesses, and Paxton was more than willing to give it, the investigation found.

General Paxton, in this instance, charged with protecting Texas charitable foundations, disregarded his duty and improperly used his office, his staff, his resources to the detriment of a charitable foundation and to Pauls benefit, investigator Terese Buess told the House General Investigating Committee.

Paul donated funds to Paxton and also, according to the lawsuit allegations from the whistleblowers, helped remodel some of Paxtons homes. Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, have a homestead exemption on more than one property, investigators found. Thats a relatively minor violation, but remember it next time you pay your property taxes properly.

The relationship with Paul not only led to crimes and unethical discretions; it also contributed to a massive misuse of taxpayer dollars. Paxtons unethical behavior has driven away the states best attorneys, so the office has been forced to hire outside lawyers at a cost of nearly $40 million.

Among the other disturbing allegations the investigators outlined: Paxton pushed to hire an inexperienced lawyer, recommended by Paul, to handle some of his offices work on behalf of Paul, who was trying to avoid foreclosures on properties.

Paxton sold out the entire Office of the Attorney General for Paul. Not only is this a gross misuse of the office, to say the least, but its nowhere near close to the purpose of the office, which is the legal arm of the state handling everything from child support to consumer protection and criminal prosecutions. Paxton should be in over his head everyday attempting to utilize the office to serve Texas taxpayers; he shouldnt have the time or wherewithal to hand out favors to a buddy.

Paxtons ethical challenges predate his election as attorney general. He took office under the cloud of a securities-fraud investigation based on his failure to disclose information to investors. Through legal maneuvering, he has dodged trial on those charges.

The list of his missteps since is too long to exhaustively detail. The most egregious was his advocacy of Donald Trumps lies about a stolen 2020 election. Paxton disgraced Texas by asking the Supreme Court to let us intervene in election results in Pennsylvania and other states, a legal atrocity that the justices wisely rejected.

Most of that, however, was not criminal or abusive of his office. And like it or not, primary and statewide election voters returned Paxton, a McKinney Republican, to office again and again.

But now, the evidence of crimes detrimental to the state and its taxpayers appears overwhelming.

True to form, Paxton has resorted to politics to try to save himself. On Tuesday, he accused Phelan of presiding over the House while intoxicated, based on a snippet of inconclusive video.

But Paxtons statement gave away his usual game: appealing to a small share of the Republican base to bail him out. He called Phelan out over conservative legislation not yet passed. It soon became clear that Paxton was merely trying to distract from the explosive investigation about to become public.

Paxton has been a stain on Texas for too long. Hes a poor reflection of conservative ideas and character befitting public office. We cannot wait for federal charges to force the matter.

Lawmakers must act, and Paxton must go.
The Illinois Attorney Generals Office on Tuesday released a 696-page report on the states six Catholic diocese and the decades of alleged sexual abuse committed at the hands of their clergy.

Forty-three pages of the report was specific to the Diocese of Belleville and 43 accused priests who were either assigned to southern Illinois churches or passed through as teachers or seminarians.

The alleged sexual misconduct of five clergy members  Michael Charland, Arthur Niemeyer, Jerome Ratermann, Francis Skube, and Robert Vonnahmen  is included in sometimes explicit detail.

The report also details the case of Father Raymond Kownacki, his abuse of a young girl named Gina and a boy named James, and how three Diocese of Belleville bishops over nearly 20 years continued to move Kownacki from parish to parish despite knowing about the abuse.

What follows is a verbatim excerpt from the attorney generals report that illustrates how the Diocese of Belleville worked systematically to protect Kownacki. The details are explicit and may be disturbing to some readers:

Berginning in 1974, James was sexually abused at the hands of Kownacki, a priest in the Diocese of Belleville. Kownacki abused James more than 50 times while the boy was between the ages of 12 and 17. In October 2002, James filed a lawsuit against the diocese, alleging it knew Kownacki had sexually abused other children before transferring him to Saint Theresa in Salem, where he abused James. At trial, it was revealed the diocese learned Kownacki was a child sex abuser as early as April 1973, when then Bishop Albert Zuroweste and other diocesan officials met with a young girl, Gina, who told them she had been repeatedly raped by Kownacki.

Gina told Bishop Zuroweste that she met Kownacki in the early 1970s, when she was 16 years old, after he was assigned to her familys parish in Saint Francisville. He convinced my parents that he wanted to help kids, Gina said, according to the dioceses notes of the interview. She attended Kownackis religion classes and cleaned the rectory where he lived. She described a time when the priest drove her to clean his mothers house in Tamaroa. It was far away, so they had to spend the night. After dark, Kownacki entered the room where Gina was sleeping, got into her bed, and, before she knew it, was having sex with her.

Gina also told the bishop that when Kownacki was transferred to a new diocese assignment in 1971, to Washington Park, he persuaded Ginas parents to let her come live with him as his housekeeper by promising he would pay $200 a month and cover her private education. Over the next two years, Kownacki physically and sexually abused Gina. She explained to Bishop Zuroweste that Kownacki told her sex was a good thing because God desired people to love each other. Gina said that when she became pregnant, Kownacki tried multiple ways to abort the baby. He gave her something to drink and said if that doesnt work he could squeeze the womb and force it out. Gina told him no, but Kownacki put his fingers in anyway. It hurt awful, Gina told Bishop Zuroweste.

Finally, Gina told the bishop that Kownacki had admitted to sexually abusing other children. Kownacki bragged to Gina about how other girls came to him for the pleasure of sex. He said he had sex with one of two Guatemalan twin boys also living with him in Washington Park. Gina thought Kownacki might also have been involved with a 14-year-old girl who attended the parish. Gina told Bishop Zuroweste all of this, and more, in April 1973. But rather than investigate, the bishop transferred Kownacki to a new parishSaint Theresa in Salem, where James lived. Bishop Zurowestes appointment letter was read to Saint Theresa parishioners; it said the bishop had confidence in Kownackis knowledge, piety, prudence, experience, and general character. A diocesan official later agreed, under oath at the trial of Jamess lawsuit, that grown-ups were making decisions to keep secret serious, horrific allegations of sexual molestation, rape of children. Its like any family, the official continued. I dont know [that] you go hanging the dirty laundry all over the line.

With praise from Bishop Zuroweste (not the last bishop to turn a blind eye toward Kownackis sex abuse of children), and without any warning of Kownackis violent sex abuse of children, Saint Theresa parishioners had no reason not to trust Kownacki to minister to their childrenchildren like James, who was then 12 years old. Jamess parents were raised in devout Catholic homes, had attended Catholic schools, went to church every week, and raised their children in the same Catholic traditions and environment. James, a quiet and obedient boy, was raised to respect priests, to believe they spoke the word of God, to do whatever the agents of the church asked, and never to question them.

After Kownacki arrived at Saint Theresa, James volunteered his time to care for the church grounds and the rectory, where Kownacki lived. He also became an altar server and began spending more time around the church. A few months later, Kownacki asked James and another boy to stay overnight at the rectory. The three of them watched movies and Kownacki gave them alcohol. The other boy tired and went to sleep. James testified at the trial of his case that Kownacki then moved closer to James and started kissing the boys neck and rubbing his shoulders. Kownackis hand moved down Jamess body and started rubbing his genitals. James had never had any sort of sexual education, but he had been taught to obey priests. In a state of confusion, James was led to Kownackis bedroom, where the priest stripped them both naked and then performed oral sex on James while masturbating himself. When Kownacki fell asleep, James got up to wash himself. Fearing the trouble it might bring, James told no one of the abuse.

James testified that after that night in the rectory, Kownacki sexually abused him on a routine basis for several years. The abuse was primarily in the form of oral sex occurring in the rectory, in the school, in the church, and in the darkroom Kownacki had constructed for James to develop photographs. Kownacki took James on trips to Saint Louis, Chicago, Washington, Guatemala, and Rome. James remembers being sexually abused more than 50 times over the years. The abuse gradually ended after James entered high school. But that was not the end of Kownackis child sex abuseor the end of the dioceses leadership hiding Kownackis abuse.

In 1982, diocese leadership was again made aware of Kownackis crimes against children. Someone at the diocese spoke with the parents of a high school freshman at Saint Theresa, who said The Clocktower at the Old Town Square Kownacki had sexually abused him. Kownacki had told the boy he had abused other children, including James; the boy passed this information along to his parents, who in turn reached out to the diocese.

After hearing of the claimed child sex abuse, the dioceses vice-chancellor told the boys parents not to let this get out all over the parish. He told them, lets just keep it quiet and try to get this resolved in whatever manner the Diocese will decide how to resolve this. A confidential report relating to the child sex abuse was prepared in 1982 by a diocesan official, concluding that Kownacki was sick. The report was given to Bishop John N. Wurm, then the bishop of the diocese, but once again, the diocese failed to disclose the abuse. Instead, Kownacki was immediately reassigned to Saint Joseph, a parish in Cobden. In June 1982, Bishop Wurm (now the second bishop to transfer the priest to an unsuspecting parish) sent Kownacki a letter saying the transfer to Saint Joseph was as a result of his dedicated priestly services. Rather than remove Kownacki from ministry, Bishop Wurm gave him praise. Years later, during the trial of Jamess case against the diocese, the dioceses vice chancellor would testify that at the time Kownacki was transferred by Bishop Wurm to Saint Joseph in Cobden, it was common knowledge among diocesan leaders that Kownacki liked to molest children.

In June 1983, Bishop Wurm sent Kownacki a letter advising him that he was being transferred yet again; this time he was being appointed pastor of Saint Mary in Harrisburg. Bishop Wurm again said the transfer was due to Kownackis dedicated priestly service. But in August 1984, the vice-chancellor was made aware of suspicious conduct at Saint Mary. Another priest of the diocese told the vice-chancellor that he had heard two boys were living in the rectory and Kownacki was paying them $150 per week even though they did absolutely nothing. In addition, the parish janitor said he would see five to six boys leaving the rectory when he arrived in the morning; he could only presume the boys had stayed the night. The priest told the vice-chancellor that Kownacki had to be removed immediately or there [would] be nothing left of the Harrisburg parish. The diocese vicar general began to investigate. He asked diocesan staff to see any records reflecting information about allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct that were not already included in Kownackis personnel file. In response, he was given notes from the long-ago April 1973 meeting between Gina, Bishop Zuroweste, and others. With that information in hand, the vicar general met with parish trustees at Saint Mary, and soon thereafter he told Kownacki that he was to leave as pastor of Saint Mary. Kownacki was then placed on sick leave and not assigned to another parish.

In December 1984, James P. Keleher was ordained as the dioceses bishop. By that time, the diocese had established a personnel board that advised the bishop concerning appointments of priests to various parishes and offices in the dioceseBishop Keleher was a member of that board. In spite of all the Diocese of Belleville and its leaders knew for more than a decade about Kownacki and his acts of sex abuse against children, minutes from the personnel boards April 1985 meeting state In making assignments, must not forget about Fr. Kownacki. Meeting minutes from the following month state Fr. Kownacki is ready for a parish. Bishop informed him the Board is about ready to come up with a parish.

On May 15, 1985, Bishop Keleher (now the third bishop to transfer the priest to a new parish) sent Kownacki a letter informing him that he was appointed the pastor of St. Patrick parish in Tipton and the Immaculate Conception parish in Madonnaville. The bishop told Kownacki in his letter: [A]s you assume the pastoral responsibility of the parish communities at Tipton and Madonnaville, I am confident you will carry out your mission well in building up the Body of Christ at these two beautiful parishes. Soon after, in a June 25, 1985 letter, the bishop told Kownacki that he was also appointed the pastor of St. Mary in Valmeyer, after consultation with and approval of the personnel board. The bishop was confident Kownacki would carry out his mission well in building up the Body of Christ in these three beautiful parishes. A year after Kownackis 1985 parish appointments, the Saint Mary housekeeper met with the dioceses vice-chancellor to report there were young boys living in the rectory. She had found a note Kownacki sent to one of them: Come up to my bedroom if I am sleeping or not, and massage me. I need it. I love you.

With all of that, the diocese personnel board finally decided in the spring of 1987 that Kownacki should no longer serve in parish ministry. Minutes from the boards March 1987 meeting state [t]his led to much discussion on Fr. Kownacki. Bishop [Keleher] said while we must take care of a brother priest, the diocese must also be considered. Nothing in the minutes indicate whether the bishop commented that the Illinois children of the diocese must also be considered.

On April 7, 1987, the personnel board met again; the minutes state nothing much ha[d] changed with respect to Kownacki and that the board agreed he should be moved from Valmeyer now (emphasis in original). Kownacki was removed from parish ministry and instead assigned to a cloistered convent for nuns where there would be no children. But then in June 1988, Bishop Keleher told Kownacki that he had been appointed to residence at Saint Henry in Belleville, after consultation and approval of the Priest Personnel Board. Saint Henry parish was next to a grade school and near a high school. And that is where the diocese left matters for nearly seven yearsa known child sex abuser living in the immediate vicinity of schoolchildren.

Bishop Wilton Gregory succeeded Bishop Keleher, taking over leadership of the Diocese of Belleville in 1994. Within months, he issued a press release explaining he was going to personally review all priests personnel files to determine if there was any information indicating undisclosed allegations of sex abuse, molestation, or misconduct between a priest and a child. After seeing Kownackis file, Bishop Gregory believed the matter warranted further review. He asked a diocesan official to investigate. After reviewing Kownackis personnel file, the official became concerned, even though the file included neither the April 1973 notes from Ginas interview with Bishop Zuroweste nor the 1982 report naming James as a victim. What was included were Kownackis letters to Gina and a 1982 letter regarding the freshman boy in Salem. From that information, the official investigated further, speaking with Gina and her parents, as well as with the family from Salem who gave the information leading to the 1982 report regarding Kownacki. The official concluded that Kownacki should be removed from ministry. The dioceses review board agreed, determining Kownacki was a risk to sexually abuse children, and in January 1995 (more than 20 years after Bishop Zuroweste first met with Gina) the review board voted to remove Kownacki from active ministry.

At the trial of Jamess lawsuit, Bishop Gregory admitted that it took 21 years for Kownacki to be removed from ministry after the diocese first learned he was a violent child sex abuser. As for James, he had intended to go to his grave telling no one of how Kownacki sexually abused him. But his wife had read about Boston priests sexually abusing children. One night, she asked James if Kownacki had ever done anything to him. The two shared a tearful night. After that, James decided to file his lawsuit against the diocese  a lawsuit that ended with a jury awarding him $5 million in damages and revealing how Kownacki sexually abused children for decades, all the while enabled by multiple Bishops of the Diocese of Belleville.
Light Bar on Police Car

An Alabama woman was arrested on Tuesday and charged for chemical endangerment of a child after having a stillbirth. Chelsey Redmon-Zellers, 24, delivered a stillborn baby at a hospital on May 18 following a full-term pregnancy, and the baby allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamines, and fentanyl. Redmon-Zellers also tested positive at the hospital. Her bail was set at $200,000. The states chemical endangerment law was originally designed to protect children from home-based meth labs and was never intended to be used against pregnant women.

How is this happening? According to AL.com, the state Supreme Court gave prosecutors its blessing about a decade ago:



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Lawmakers passed the chemical endangerment law in 2006 to protect small children from fumes and chemicals from home-based meth labs. District attorneys soon began applying the law to protect the fetuses of women who used various drugs during pregnancy. Justices on the Alabama Supreme Court upheld and affirmed prosecutions of pregnant people in 2013 and 2014.

The woman was allegedly using drugs, but people with addiction deserve treatment, not criminalizationand jail is especially dangerous for pregnant people. Despite that fact, Coffee-Pike County District Attorney James Tarbox said, It is this offices hope that pregnant women who intend to use drugs and other harmful substances will seek the help and assistance they need rather than follow a path that leads to the death of their baby.

The problem is that if people seek help for substance use during pregnancy, theyre likely to get arrested. And hospitals often subject people giving birth to nonconsensual drug testing, which can turn up false positives and lead to family separation.

Alabama is notorious for charging pregnant people under the chemical endangerment law, particularly in Etowah County, but arrests happen outside of Alabama, too. The advocacy group Pregnancy Justice has documented more than 1,700 instances of pregnancy-related criminal chargesincluding for drug use, miscarriages, and stillbirthssince 1973, with more than 1,300 of those arrests occurring between 2006 and 2020 alone.

In fact, Jezebel covered news yesterday of a Nebraska teenager who accepted a plea deal on charges related to an alleged self-managed abortion with pills. Celeste Burgess, 18, had a stillbirth in April 2022 and just plead guilty to a felony charge of concealing or abandoning a dead body. She faces up to two years in prison.

The highest-profile recent case of a pregnancy arrest related to drug use is that of Brittney Poolaw, a member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, who was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in an Oklahoma prison for a stillbirth after alleged substance use.

Advocates expect more people to be charged now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned. As Dana Sussman, acting executive director of Pregnancy Justice, previously told Jezebel, For so long now weve seen too many rogue prosecutors just entirely misapplying the lawwhere pregnancy loss isnt a crime, to be clear. Without Roe, prosecutors are going to be emboldened, and apply criminal laws to pregnancy even more.

People who need assistance self-managing a miscarriage or abortion can call the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline at (833) 246-2632 for confidential medical support, or the Repro Legal Helpline at (844) 868-2812 for confidential legal information and advice.



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Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred South Carolina lawyer convicted this March of murdering his wife and son in June 2021, has been indicted on 22 counts of federal fraud and money laundering, including charges of defrauding his late housekeepers family after her death in February 2018.

The new fraud charges announced on Wednesday come in addition to a staggering 20 indictments containing 101 charges issued by the state of South Carolina against Murdaugh for allegedly defrauding people of nearly $9 million. The state charges range from breach of trust to forgery, money laundering and tax evasion.

The charges served as key evidence in Murdaughs widely watched murder trial; prosecutors argued that as people close to him discovered the extent of his alleged schemes, he killed them to garner sympathy for himself and buy time to cover up his misdealings.

Alex Murdaugh gives testimony during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Feb. 23, 2023.

Alex Murdaugh gives testimony during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Feb. 23, 2023.

Murdaugh, a personal injury attorney, was first arrested in October 2021 for allegedly misappropriating insurance funds meant for the family of housekeeper Gloria Satterfield after her fatal trip and fall accident at his home. (The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, announced in September 2021 that it would be investigating Satterfields death, and in June 2022 said it would exhume her remains, which has not yet occurred.)

In December 2021, Murdaugh agreed to a $4.3 million settlement with the Satterfields, apologizing for his financial transgressions committed in connection with the wrongful death settlement funds recovered in connection with the death of Gloria Satterfield and the pain it has caused.

Murdaugh was in jail on fraud and other charges when he was charged in July 2022 with killing Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in June 2021. After a lengthy trial, he was convicted of their murders in March and is serving a life sentence. He is currently appealing the verdict.

The federal indictment alleges that Murdaugh, in addition to siphoning funds from the Satterfield settlement, schemed to obtain money and property from his personal injury clients by redirecting their settlement funds to himself, conspiring with his banker to commit wire and bank fraud, and creating a phony bank account through which he funneled the personal injury settlements.

In a May 1 filing, Murdaugh said he invented the story that his familys dogs had caused the 57-year-old Satterfield to fall on the steps to force his insurers to make a settlement payment. If the insurer only attempted to [pay the Satterfield estate because] it was the victim of fraud, then anyone who received the money would be required to return it, the filing states.

Murdaugh was part of a prominent legal family that wielded unprecedented power and influence in their small South Carolina community and a onetime prosecutor himself. All judges, all judges in the state, either knew him or knew of him, Judge Clifton Newman said after the murder trial.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said in a statement on Wednesday. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Murdaughs lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said he has been cooperating with authorities.

Alex has been cooperating with the United States Attorneys Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities, their statement said. We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial.

Related...
The State

Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been hit with a slew of federal charges for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from his legal clients.

Murdaugh, 54, was indicted on 22 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina said Wednesday.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said in a statement. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The federal charges come just months after Murdaugh was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, at their familys hunting estate. The disgraced attorney also faces upwards of 100 other state crimes, ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, to staging his own suicide in order for his eldest son to obtain his $10 million life insurance policy.

The federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday mirrors financial charges Murdaugh was already facing at the state levelsome of which he admitted to while on the witness stand in his murder trial. During the trial, Murdaugh admitted that he stole from his clients and law firm for years.

I misled them. I did them wrong, and I stole their money, he said.

A spokesperson for the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office told The Daily Beast that the federal charges will have no effect on their pre-existing financial case against Murdaugh. We plan to move forward with the state charges to hold Alex Murdaugh accountable for the harm hes done to the state and its residents, the spokesperson said.

In a statement to The Daily Beast on Wednesday, Murdaughs lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said their client has been cooperating with the United States Attorneys Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities.

We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial, the statement said.

Teen Found Dead Near Murdaugh Estate Was Intentionally Killed, Lawyers Say

Federal prosecutors allege that, as a prominent South Carolina personal injury attorney, Murdaugh engaged in three schemes to steal from his clients.

In the first scheme, which allegedly ran from 2005 to September 2021, Murdaugh defrauded clients by, among other things, redirecting clients settlements to his personal accounts, claiming funds in his family law firms trust account were his attorney fees, collecting attorney fees on fake annuities, and even making up fake expenses and redeeming them from clients settlement funds, the indictment says.

In the second scheme, the indictment says, Murdaugh allegedly conspired with a Palmetto Bank teller, Russell Laffitte, to divert hundreds of thousands of dollars from his legal clients. Prosecutors allege that Laffitte served as Murdaughs personal representative and conservator for various personal injury clients. In doing so, Laffitte collected more than $350,000 in fees for Murdaughs clients, the indictment says.

From mid-2011 to October 2021, Murdaugh would direct his clients to make settlement checks payable to Palmetto State Bank, the indictment says. The checks were then sent to Laffitte, and ended up being used by Murdaugh to pay off personal loans and for personal expenses and cash withdrawals, the indictment says. Mudaugh stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from several clients through this scheme, prosecutors said.

Last November, Laffitte was convicted of six federal crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, for his role in the scheme. He is awaiting sentencing. Murdaugh testified during his murder trial that Laffitte never conspired with me to do anything.

Alex Murdaughs Lies Unravel as Jurors Find Him Guilty

In the third scheme, prosecutors allege, Murdaugh created a bank account and gave it the same name as a legitimate insurance settlement corporation. Between May 2017 and July 2021, settlement money would be paid into the account, named Forge, but Murdaugh would simply use it for his own benefit.

The indictment also alleges that between February 2018 and October 2020, Murdaugh conspired with another attorney to defraud the family of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, and their insurance carriers.

Satterfield died on the Murdaugh property in February 2018, prompting Murdaugh to recommend that her family hire his long-time friend, Corey Fleming, to file a claim against Murdaugh to collect a death settlement.

Eventually, Murdaughs insurance company settled the claim for $4.3 million. The Satterfield family, however, did not receive the money because Murdaugh conspired to siphon it for his own enrichment, the indictment says. He also allegedly directed over $3 million of that settlement to the fake Forge account.

Federal prosecutors charged Fleming in a separate indictment but clarified that Fleming had no knowledge of the fake Forge accounts or Murdaughs scheme to steal his clients money. But, prosecutors allege, Fleming did take liberties to advance the scheme, including filing court documents with fraudulent accounting of his expenses. Fleming also allegedly made an inaccurate listing of his attorney fees.

On Monday, Fleming signed a plea agreement, agreeing to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to testify in court. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to recommend jail time. Hes scheduled to formally plead guilty in federal court on Thursday afternoon. Fleming is also set to stand trial in September on nearly two dozen state charges.

Eric Bland and Ronald Richter, who represent multiple Murdaugh victims included in the indictment, said in a statement to The Daily Beast that Wednesday was a great day for justice in South Carolina.

While it is said that Lady Justice is blind, she is not a sucker. Bottom LineCant run or hide from justice, they said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Alex Murdaugh indicted on 22 new financial fraud charges for stealing money from dead housekeepers family

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has been indicted on a slew of new charges for stealing money from the family of his dead housekeeper.

The South Carolina Attorney Generals Office announced on Wednesday that a federal grand jury has returned a 22-count indictment against the 54-year-old disgraced legal dynasty heir, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh orchestrated a financial fraud scheme which included stealing almost $3.5m from the estate of Gloria Satterfield and its insurance carriers.

Satterfield was the Murdaughs longtime housekeeper who died in a mysterious trip and fall accident at the prominent familys 1,700-acre Moselle estate in South Carolina in 2018  the same property where Murdaugh shot dead his wife Maggie and adult son Paul three years later.

Following her death, Murdaugh claimed he would bring a wrongful death suit against himself on behalf of Satterfields sons.

In reality, Murdaugh allegedly stole the settlement money for himself and the housekeepers sons didnt get a dime.

It was part of a decade-long multi-million-dollar fraud scheme where he stole millions from his law firm and legal clients  a scheme he confessed to orchestrating when he took the stand at his murder trial.

The convicted killer was already awaiting trial on more than 100 financial crimes charges which included charges of stealing from Satterfields family.

But, now he has been hit with even more charges.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, said US Attorney Adair Boroughs in a press release announcing the charges.

South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of the steps leading into the familys home.

She never resumed consciousness and died from her injuries three weeks later on 26 February.

At the time, Murdaugh claimed that she had tripped over the familys dogs and hit her head, and her death was regarded as an accidental fall.

However, her death certificate cited her manner of death as natural and no autopsy was ever carried out.

Questions have been swirling around Satterfields death for the past few years as the string of deaths, stolen money and corruption surrounding Murdaugh came to light.

In September 2021, an investigation was reopened into her death and investigators said they planned to exhume her body.

This came just days after Murdaughs financial fraud scheme came to light and three months after the double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul  who were shot to death on the same property where Satterfield had her fatal fall.

This March, Murdaugh was found guilty of the 7 June 2021 murders and was sentenced to life in prison.

At his high-profile trial, jurors heard how he was motivated to kill his family in a bid to distract from his financial crimes which were on the brink of exposure.

Satterfields death isnt the only mystery deaths tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty.

A homicide investigation has also been opened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County.

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

At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the boat crash death of Mallory Beach.
A disbarred and disgraced South Carolina attorney recently convicted of murdering his wife and younger child has now been struck with multiple federal criminal charges that may complicate an already convoluted legal saga.

A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in Charleston on May 23 returned a 28-page, 22-count indictment against convicted murderer and accused fraudster Richard Alex Murdaugh, 54, formerly of Hampton, for wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and money laundering.

The indictments stem from an alleged decade-long, multi-county, multiple victim financial crime spree in which Murdaugh allegedly conspired with at least one local banker and one fellow attorney to steal more than $8.7 million.

The 22-count indictment alleges that Murdaugh, while working as a personal injury attorney at the Hampton law firm founded by his great-grandfather, engaged in three different schemes to obtain money and property from his personal injury clients.

Former South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced on March 3, 2023, to two consecutive life sentences after being convicted of murdering his wife and son.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, said U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs in a news release on Wednesday. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this case and to the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for their work to hold Alex Murdaugh, and those who enabled him, accountable in our state system. We remain committed to doing our part to further that effort in the federal system.

According to the S.C. Attorney General's Office, Murdaugh, who was convicted of murder charges on March 2, still faces 102 criminal charges from state and local indictments. This 22-count indictment now brings his total number of charges to 124.

It is unclear how these new charges will impact Murdaugh's pending state charges or his two consecutive life sentences in state prison. It is also unclear how these charges could impact any money recovered for his alleged victims, as the federal indictment states, upon conviction, Murdaugh's assets could be seized by the federal government.

Murdaugh's assets are currently under control by state court-appointed receivers tasked with establishing a fund for his potential victims.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin asks Alex Murdaugh if he killed his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh with the 12-gauge shotgun that is in evidence in Murdaughs murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

How did Alex Murdaugh reportedly violate federal law?

From the U.S. Attorney's Office news release

In one scheme, the indictment alleges that from at least September 2005 until at least September 2021, Murdaugh devised a scheme to defraud and to obtain money under false pretenses. The indictment alleges that, as part of the scheme, Murdaugh routed and redirected clients settlement funds to personally enrich himself, including by:

Drafting, or directing law firm employees to draft, disbursement sheets to send settlement funds to Murdaughs accounts without proper disclosure or client or law firm approval;

Claiming funds held in the law firms trust account as attorneys fees and directing the disbursement of those funds for his benefit;

Claiming and collecting attorneys fees on fake or nonexistent annuities;

Creating fraudulent expenses that were never incurred on client matters and directing the disbursement of settlement funds to pay the cited costs, including claimed medical expenses, construction expenses, and airline expenses;

Directing other attorneys with whom he was associated on client matters to disburse attorneys fees directly to him, rather than appropriately routing the fees through the law firm; and

Intercepting insurance proceeds intended for beneficiaries and depositing them directly into his personal account.

In a second scheme, the indictment alleges that from around July 2011 until at least October 2021, Murdaugh conspired with his banker, Russell Laffitte, to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Laffitte has already been convicted on federal charges in the matter.

Convicted and disgraced Hampton banker Russell Laffitte stands in the Hampton County Courthouse as, in the background, hangs a portrait of Alex Murdaugh's grandfather, Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr.

The indictment alleges that Murdaugh and his law firm asked Laffitte to serve as personal representative or conservator for numerous personal injury clients. Laffitte collected over $350,000 in fees as personal representative or conservator for Murdaughs personal injury clients.

As part of the scheme, the indictment alleges Murdaugh directed law firm employees to make settlement checks payable to Palmetto State Bank. The checks were then delivered to Laffitte, whom Murdaugh directed to use the settlement funds for Murdaughs benefit. The funds were used to pay off Murdaughs personal loans and for personal expenses and cash withdrawals.

In November 2022, Laffitte was convicted on six federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud for his role in this scheme. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

In a third scheme, the indictment alleges that in September 2015, Murdaugh created a bank account in the name of Forge, presenting as a legitimate corporation for structuring insurance settlements. Murdaugh was the owner of and the only authorized signer on this fake Forge account. The indictment alleges that from in or around May 2017 through at least July 2021, Murdaugh funneled stolen personal injury settlements through the fake Forge account. Murdaugh is charged with 14 counts of money laundering for using the transactions in the fake Forge account to conceal the proceeds of his fraud.

The indictment further alleges that, from in or around February 2018 until at least October 2020, Murdaugh conspired with a personal injury attorney in Beaufort to defraud the estate of Murdaughs former housekeeper and Murdaughs homeowners insurance carriers. In February 2018, Murdaughs housekeeper passed away after a fall at Murdaughs home. Murdaugh recommended that the housekeepers estate hire the Beaufort attorney to represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh to collect from his homeowners insurance policies.

Murdaughs insurance companies settled the estates claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000. The indictment alleges that Murdaugh and the personal injury attorney conspired to siphon settlement funds, disguised as prosecution expenses, for their own personal enrichment. The indictment further alleges that Murdaugh directed the Beaufort attorney to draft checks totaling $3,483,431.95 made payable to Forge. Murdaugh then deposited the checks into his fake Forge account and used the funds for his own personal enrichment. The estate did not receive any of the settlement funds.

The Hampton offices of Parker Law Group, formerly PMPED.

What charges does Alex Murdaugh now face?

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

One count of bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

Two counts of wire fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

Three counts of wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000;

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000; and

Fourteen counts of money laundering, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Limehouse, Kathleen Stoughton, and Winston Holliday are prosecuting the case.

Hampton County Guardian Editor Michael DeWitt, the Greenville News and USA TODAY Network will continue to follow the ongoing criminal and civil cases surrounding the Murdaugh crime saga. Follow DeWitt on Twitter at @mmdewittjr and support his local and national journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh indicted on federal charges. What he faces now
Almost a year after successfully unionizing, this Appleton Starbucks' employees are on strike

APPLETON - Starbucks employees at the Northland Avenue location are on strike this week after months of labor and scheduling cuts.

This Wednesday and Thursday, employees of the 631 W. Northland Ave. Starbucks will be on the strike line at 7 a.m. demanding basic rights, including livable wages with consistent scheduling, safe and respectful workplaces and the right to organize without fear and intimidation.

Last June, the same Starbucks location became the third in the state to successfully unionize for the same concerns they are striking over.

The store is now among more than 300 locations nationwide represented by Starbucks Workers United, which organizers say is meant to create better and safer workplaces for all Starbucks employees.

The National Labor Relations Board has issued over 80 official complaints against Starbucks, encompassing over 1,400 alleged violations of federal labor law.

Jessica Martinez, a shift supervisor at the Northland location, said the idea for the strike came just last week, on May 18.

One of the store's shift leads had to call in sick, and due to poor scheduling, this left the store with essentially one high school barista and one shift lead for the remainder of business hours. Martinez, who opened the store that day, had to make the best decision for her and her coworkers.

"Me and the other supervisor decided to close the store," Martinez said. "We tried calling the district manager three times and we tried calling and texting the store manager three to four times with no real response."

Martinez said after dealing with similar unworkable conditions for so long, the employees decided to do something about it.

"Right now we're focusing on the unfair labor and safety and health violations that are going on and our store managers lack of action on those things," Martinez said.

Martinez said baristas get their hours cut, while shift supervisors are forced to work 50-hour weeks that are scheduled as 30-hour weeks. She also said the store is experiencing an extreme labor shortage, due to the lack of hiring.

"Staffing is so short that we are not able to clean the things we need to clean," Martinez said. "We're just falling behind on cleaning and prepping things. The store is very behind and it really needs to be closed."

While the employees continue their strike, managers and shift supervisors from other locations have come to Northland Avenue to keep the store running.

Martinez said the success of their union made it easier for employees to go on strike.

"We are protected by the National Labor Board," Martinez said. "Without the union we wouldn't have been able to come here today and rest our bodies and minds and let the public eye know that we are experiencing these things and we're unable to keep up anymore."

Martinez said the proper support from store managers will allow the employees to run the store succesfully, provide customers with better tasting drinks in a timely manner and give baristas the proper training they need.

Martinez is hoping managers will take the time to setup interviews for more potential employees to lessen the burden of labor shortages on the existing workforce.

In the meantime, Martinez said customers can support the Northland Starbucks employees by being understanding and patient when it comes to their drinks.

When placing a mobile order, Martinez encourages customers to allow at least 20 minutes for their drink to be made, and ensures that their drink can be remade if it doesn't meet their expectations.

"Beyond that, if customers just wanted to let us know 'hey we support you guys and the union', it would lift spirits tremendously," Martinez said.

More: Appleton Starbucks becomes the third in Wisconsin to successfully unionize after frustration with working conditions

Reach Jelissa Burns at 920-226-4241 or jburns1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @burns_jelissa or on Instagram at burns_jelissa.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton Starbucks employees go on strike, seeking more staff
Erin Schaff/Reuters

Amanda Gorman, the National Youth Poet Laureate, called a Florida schools decision to restrict access to fours books, including one containing her famous poem The Hill We Climb, a violation of its students free thought and free speech.

The response came a day after The Miami Herald first reported that the Bob Graham Education Center, a K-8 school in Miami Lakes, had issued the restrictions in April. The books remain accessible to middle school students at the school, according to the newspaper.

A review by the school materials review committee was initiated after a single parent objected to five titles, complaining that they contained indirect hate messages.

One of those books was The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country, a collectible edition of the poem that Gorman read aloud at President Joe Bidens inauguration.

Im gutted, she said in a statement posted to social media.

Gorman went on to point out that book bans were nothing new, but have been on the rise in recent years. And lets be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves, she said.

The other books that the parent, Daily Salinas, took issue with in a series of March complaints were The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, and Love to Langston, according to documents shared by the Florida Freedom to Read Project.

So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with @oprah , fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternativesUnnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back  DONATE here: pic.twitter.com/p96dlnrSp4  Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 23, 2023

The schools committee determined that only Countries in the News Cuba was balanced and age appropriate in its wording and presentation enough to remain accessible by students of all ages. The others were moved to a different section of the schools library.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Public Schools objected to the idea that any of the works had been banned or removed, saying they remained available to older students in the middle school section of the media center.

What can we do? Gorman asked. We must speak out and have our voices heard. She encouraged her followers to spread the word about book bans and donate to PEN America. (The nonprofit, along with Penguin Random HouseGormans publisherand several authors, recently filed a federal lawsuit against Escambia County School District in northern Florida over similar restrictions.)

Together, this is a hill we wont just climb, but a hill we will conquer, she said.

In case anyone is wondering what pages 12 and 13 say, here they are. Someone please tell me what is hateful about this pic.twitter.com/z4l5qt2Q0e  Beth (@BethHoller) May 23, 2023

The 25-year-old also shared a copy of Salinas complaint about The Hill We Climb, in which the parent appeared to confuse its author and publisher as Oprah Winfrey, who provided a foreword to the collectible edition.

In a box asking what she believed was the function of the material, Salinas wrote, Cause confusion and indoctrinate students. Elsewhere, she highlighted two pages of the book as particularly objectionable. Is not educational and have indirectly [sic] hate messages, she scrawled.

Those pages contained two stanzas of The Hill We Climb that reflect on justice and the lesson that quiet isnt always peace.

Somehow, weve weathered and witnessed / A nation that isnt broken, the section reads, but simply unfinished.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Amanda Gorman gutted after Florida school restricts access to The Hill We Climb and other titles

A school in Florida is facing backlash online after restricting several books, including Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb," to the middle school section of the library.

The move  which happened at a pre-K-to-eighth-grade school in Miami Lakes following one parent's complaint about five titles, including "The Hill We Climb"  caught the attention of Gorman on May 23, who took to social media to denounce what she described as a "ban."

"Im gutted," she wrote in a statement.

She cited the American Library Association in saying there has been a notable increase in the number of books being challenged.

"Whats more, often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection," she wrote. "And lets be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices."

Gorman famously performed her original poem The Hill We Climb at President Joe Bidens inauguration in January 2021.

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony (Erin Schaff-Pool / Getty Images)

She wrote in her May 23 statement that she'd penned the poem "so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment."

"Ever since, Ive received countless letters and videos from children inspired by 'The Hill We Climb' to write their own poems. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech," she wrote.

In a tweet later on May 23, Miami-Dade County Public Schools appeared to respond to Gorman's post and subsequent news stories.

"In order to ensure accurate information, @MDCPS is compelled to clarify that the book titled, The Hill We Climb by @TheAmandaGorman was never banned or removed from one of our schools. The book is available in the media center as part of the middle grades collection," it wrote.

In order to ensure accurate information, @MDCPS is compelled to clarify that the book titled, The Hill We Climb by @TheAmandaGorman was never banned or removed from one of our schools. The book is available in the media center as part of the middle grades collection.  Miami-Dade Schools (@MDCPS) May 24, 2023

Records obtained by the Florida Freedom To Read Project and viewed by TODAY.com show that one parent filed five complaints to her kids' school, the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes.

She took issue with the following titles:

"Countries in the News Cuba"

"Cuban Kids"

"The Hill We Climb"

"Love to Langston"

"The ABCs of Black History"

In her complaint about Gorman's work, the parent incorrectly wrote that Oprah Winfrey had authored the book. In the paperwork, she wrote that the book "is not educational and have indirectly hate messages."

She also wrote on another form that "The ABCs of Black History" contained "CRT"  the acronym for the university-level study of critical race theory.

The parent spoke to the Miami Herald and told the newspaper in Spanish that she is not for eliminating or censoring any books. She said she wants materials to be appropriate and for students to know the truth about Cuba.

The parent did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.

One of the titles, Countries in the News Cuba, was determined in the school's review to be fine for all students.

The Florida Freedom To Read Project, an organization run by three Florida parents, tracks what books are banned and restricted in the state.

"It's important to remember that this is not curriculum," the group's Raegan Miller tells TODAY.com. "This is a book on a library shelf for inquisitive minds for, you know, self-selected reading."

Miller says several recent laws passed by the state's legislature have made it easier than ever for parents to dispute books in school libraries. She cites 2022's House Bill 1557  which critics have described as the "Don't Say Gay" bill  which bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

"There's a lot of vague terms in these laws, like 'age appropriate,'" Miller says. "And I think that's what they did here. ... I think that's one that they fall back on. Nobody really knows how do you define what's age appropriate?"

In her statement, Gorman encouraged her followers to speak up against book restrictions. She added that her publisher, Penguin Random House, had gone as far as to join a lawsuit in Escambia County, Florida, that challenges book restrictions.

Together, this is a hill we wont just climb, but a hill we will conquer, she concluded.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Amanda Gorman responds to the restriction of her poem for President Biden's inauguration, "The Hill We Climb," at a Miami Lakes school library: "So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with Oprah . . ." (Associated Press)

Bob Graham Education Center, a K-8 school in Miami-Dade County, restricted access to Amanda Gormans acclaimed poem The Hill We Climb, which she read at President Biden's inauguration, for elementary-age students after a parent issued a formal complaint on the grounds that the poem was not educational and included indirect hate messages.

A committee restricted "The Hill We Climb" based on the single complaint, provided to The Times by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a parent-driven organization defending student access to information and ideas.

Daily Salinas of Miami Lakes, Fla., the mother of two Bob Graham students, filed the complaint in March and asked that the poem be removed from the total environment rather than just age-restricted, writing that the poem was not for schools as it was written to cause confusion and indoctrinate students.

When asked if she was aware of professional reviews of the National Youth Poet Laureates poem, Salinas wrote, I dont need it. And when asked to list the author, she wrote Oprah Winfrey. (Winfrey wrote the foreword for the book version of the poem published in March 2021.)

The pages Salinas referenced in her complaint include the lines, "We've braved the belly of the beast. We've learned that quiet isn't always peace. And the norms and notions of what 'just is'  Isn't always justice.

"And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow, we do it. Somehow, we've weathered and witnessed  A nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished."

In January 2021, prior to reciting The Hill We Climb at Bidens inauguration, Gorman told the Washington Post, My hope is that my poem will represent a moment of unity for our country, that with my words Ill be able to speak to a new chapter and era for our nation.

Salinas also challenged the books The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba and Love to Langston, according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project.

The principal of Bob Graham Education Center and the superintendent of the Miami-Dade School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gorman issued a statement on her Instagram on Tuesday saying she was "gutted" by the move.

So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with Oprah, fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternatives, she wrote. We must fight back.

"Book bans arent new," she continued, "but they have been on the rise  according to the [American Library Assn.], 40% more books were challenged in 2022 compared to 2021. Whats more, often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection. And lets be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.

I wrote 'The Hill We Climb' so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment. Ever since, Ive received countless letters and videos from children inspired by 'The Hill We Climb' to write their own poems. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.

What can we do? We must speak out and have our voices heard. Thats why my publisher, Penguin Random House, joined PEN America, authors and community members in a lawsuit in Floridas Escambia County to challenge book restrictions like these.

On Tuesday evening, Miami-Dade County Public Schools released a statement via Twitter disputing the wording of reports: "In order to ensure accurate information, [Miami-Dade] is compelled to clarify that the book titled, 'The Hill We Climb' by [Amanda Gorman] was never banned or removed from one of our schools. The book is available in the media center as part of the middle grades collection."

PEN America responded Wednesday with a statement addressing confusion over whether a restricted book qualifies as a banned book.

"The book may remain available to middle-school students, but when you restrict or diminish access to a book, thats a ban," the statement read. "Moving "The Hill We Climb" to middle-school shelves means elementary students cant or wont get it; their access has diminished. 

Gorman also issued her own impassioned statement in response to Miami-Dade. "A school book ban is any action taken against a book that leaves access to a book restricted or diminished," she said in the statement posted on Twitter. "This decision of moving my book from its original place, taken after one parent complained, diminishes the access elementary schoolers would have previously had to my poem."

Raegan Miller, director of development for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, explained to The Times in an interview that the review committee said it was restricting Gorman's poem because, though it did have educational value," its vocabulary was too complex for elementary-age students.

Miller said the issue of a books age-appropriateness often is used as a loophole to restrict books, because of the vague nature of the classification. The same, she said, is happening with books challenged on the grounds of sexual content.

In a state whose literacy rates are not super impressive, I don't know why you would not be trying to develop readers and stretch them and help them grow and become better readers, Miller said. Especially if it's something that interests them and it's self-selected.

Any parent can file a complaint and send a book up the chain of review committees, which Miller says are made up of parents and media specialists trained in vetting library books in the aftermath of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bill HB 1467.

That was the big claim, that our libraries were filled with porn and indoctrination, Miller said. "And so when it came time, they had to create the committee and they had to have parents on the committee. The Department of Education last August sent out an email to all districts asking for superintendents to nominate parents.

While parents have access to a list of the book titles filling school library shelves, they are not necessarily perusing the aisles and reading material themselves. Many are echoing the objections from such websites as Book Looks, which offers a boilerplate for parents to follow and was founded by a member of the Brevard County, Fla., chapter of the group Moms for Liberty.

The news of Gormans poem becoming inaccessible to elementary-school students at Bob Graham Education Center comes just a week after publishing conglomerate Penguin Random House joined free-speech advocacy group PEN America in suing Floridas Escambia County School District for constitutional violations pertaining to book bans.

Opinions seemed to be divided across Miami-Dade. On Thursday, Miami-Dade school board member Lucia Baez-Geller issued a statement referring to Gorman's book being "removed" and blaming Gov. Ron DeSantis' "divisive rhetoric and political agenda."

I am extremely disappointed by the recent news that Amanda Gormans poem, The Hill We Climb, was removed due to a parents complaint that the poem had indirect hate messages. Ive read this poem and it does not have hate messagesPeriod." She said the agenda was hindering students from receiving the education to which they are entitled, and concluded, "our community will not stand for this.

The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava, expressed support for Gorman on Wednesday. Addressing the poet directly via Twitter, she said, "Your poem inspired our youth to become active participants in their government and to help shape the future. We want you to come to Miami-Dade to do a reading of your poem. If youre in, we will coordinate."















This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
US poet Amanda Gorman says a Florida school has banned younger readers from accessing the poem she recited at President Joe Biden's inauguration.

A Miami-Dade County school said it moved the poem, The Hill We Climb, from the elementary library section to the middle school section.

The move came after a parent asked the school to remove the poem entirely, according to documents obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project.

Gorman was "gutted" by the news.

"I wrote The Hill We Climb so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment," she said in a post on social media, adding that because of one parent's complaint, younger readers at the school could no longer access it.

She added that book bans like these were on the rise in the US.

In a statement, the Miami-Dade school district said it "was determined at the school that 'The Hill We Climb' is better suited for middle school students and, it was shelved in the middle school section of the media center," adding that the book remains available there.

Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate in the US, received widespread praise for the poem, in which she described herself as "a skinny black girl descended from slaves" who "can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one".

But in March, a parent of two students at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes complained about Gorman's poem, claiming it had indirect "hate messages", according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and seen by the Miami Herald.

The parent asked the school to remove several other books as well, including the ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids and Countries in the News Cuba, alleging the titles referenced critical race theory and indoctrination. The complaint led the school to review the titles, after which it decided to put Gorman's poem on the shelves for older children instead because the vocabulary was "of value for middle school students".

The book challenges come a year after the state's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law critics have dubbed "Don't Say Gay", which banned instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade.

In a tweet responding to the school district's statement, Gorman argued a school book ban is "any action taken against a book that leaves access to a book restricted or diminished".

"This decision of moving my book from its original place... diminishes the access elementary schoolers would have previously had to my poem," she said.

The 25-year-old said she had received "countless letters and videos from children inspired by The Hill We Climb" since they heard her recite it at the Capitol.

At age 22, Gorman was the youngest poet ever to perform at a presidential inauguration.
[Source]

A lawsuit has been filed in California against medical transport provider American Medical Response West for its alleged oversight that led to the sexual assault of an 82-year-old Asian woman by one of its paramedics.

The suit, which was filed at the San Mateo County Superior Court last week, also names Colorado-based American Medical Response (AMR) as a defendant, according to AP News. AMR has multiple locations nationwide.

The alleged sexual assault occurred on Dec. 23, 2022. The paramedic in question, Miguel Nieblas Ontiveros, 35, was dispatched with a partner to Colma Skilled Nursing Home to transport the would-be victim to a medical facility.

The unidentified senior, who had injured herself in a fall, reportedly suffers from mild Parkinsons disease and other health issues. In the ambulance, she was strapped on a gurney and put on a cervical collar, which rendered her immobile.

More from NextShark: Dallas woman filmed making slant eyes after being confronted over parking spot

Ontiveros partner drove the ambulance, which left him alone with the elderly woman, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported. Ontiveros allegedly instructed his partner to drive to San Mateo Medical Center, which was 30 minutes away, instead of Seton Medical Center in Daly City, which was less than two miles from the victims home.

It was during this extended trip that Ontiveros allegedly turned off the lights, blindfolded the victim and performed forced oral copulation.

Its a horrific situation. Our client is an 82-year-old Asian woman who was frail and she needed to be transported to a hospital, Anne Marie Murphy, the lead attorney on the case, told AP News. Unfortunately, the paramedic in the back was a sexual predator.

More from NextShark: 'You are going to die': former nurse pleads guilty to threats against VP Kamala Harris

Upon arriving at the medical center, Ontiveros partner allegedly saw him buckling his pants. The suspicious sight prompted his partner to report Ontiveros to their supervisor.

Meanwhile, the victim, who only spoke Cantonese, struggled to describe the series of events. However, her daughter-in-law soon arrived at the hospital and translated her statements to the police, as per the Daily Journal.

AMR said it immediately reported the incident to California Highway Patrol. Ontiveros was then put on unpaid leave before being fired in April following his arrest.

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An investigation revealed that Ontiveros is also accused of sexually assaulting another woman, aged 80, in May 2022.

However, the victim was deemed not mentally competent and there was no other evidence that corroborated the incident.

The suit filed on Monday claims that AMR knew or should have known about the May 2022 allegation. It also accuses the company of hiring or retaining Ontiveros despite a 2020 grand theft case related to his previous job at the South San Francisco Fire Department.

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Murphy and her team argue that AMR prioritized profit over safety. They believe Ontiveros was kept on the staff because the company struggled to hire or retain employees. They are seeking unspecified compensation for their client, who now fears having contracted a sexually transmitted disease and had refused to get into an ambulance after another fall in April.

Ontiveros, who has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of forcible oral copulation and elder abuse, is reportedly being held on a $3 million bail.
American Health Care Is Broken. Major Hospitals Need to Be Part of the Solution

The Orange County Health Officer issued a Declaration of Health Emergency in Orange County due to rapidly spreading virus infections causing record numbers of pediatric hospitalizations and daily emergency room visits

Ambulances are parked in front of the emergency room at Childrens Health of Orange County (CHOC), which is busy handling child respiratory cases in a surge that caused an OC medical emergency. Credit - Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times-Getty Images

American health care is broken. And American health care systems must transform radically to lead the repair.

Lets first look at the data: The U.S. now spends more than $4 trillion a year on health care. Thats nearly 20% of gross domestic product. Yet U.S. life expectancy lags literally dozens of other nationsincluding Portugal, Slovenia, and Turkeyby as much as seven years. If trends continue, we will drop to 64th in the world in life expectancy by 2040, though we will continue to spend significantly more per capita than nearly any other nation.

Diagnosing this failure is not difficult. Nearly all the money we spend on health care goes to pay for medical interventions. But clinical care is responsible for at most 20% of health outcomes. The overwhelming majority of factors that determine an individuals health are embedded in the world around them: How many bus transfers they need to reach a store that sells fresh vegetables. Whether the windows in their workplace let in light and fresh, clean air. How often they face the stress and pain of discrimination because of the color of their skin.

These are the social drivers of healthand for far too long, our health care systems have largely ignored them.

Theyve ignored them, in part, in pursuit of profit. Billing for cancer treatments makes money. Using institutional clout to demand sidewalks and parks and streetlights in poor communities does not.

Theres a myopia, too, built into the system. A recent analysis of board members at top-ranked hospitals in the U.S. found that fewer than 15% of their board members were health care professionals. Nearly 57% were from the financial and business sectors, mostly private equity, wealth management, and banking. They are accustomed to looking at spreadsheets, not the worry lines etched into patients faces, and their decisions reflect that experience.

Read More: Why So Many Americans Are Dying So Young

This status quo is no longer acceptable.

Hospitals and health care systems have enormous wealth. The biggesteven those technically listed as non-profitshave billions in cash and investments on their balance sheets, and some rang up record surpluses during the pandemic. Health care systems also have enormous clout: Theyre often among the biggest employers in a region and a source of substantial political donations.

Its time to use that wealth and that clout to tackle the social drivers of health. Hospitals and health care systems must mobilize to treatand ultimately, preventdiseases caused by poverty, inequality, racism, and loneliness just as aggressively as they mobilize to attack a cancer with sophisticated drugs and surgeries.

There are some promising models for this work.

Kaiser Permanente has pledged $400 million to a social impact investment fund that is on track to create 30,000 units of affordable housing by 2030. The fund will also support economic development to in low-income communities. In Portland, Ore., six large health care systems have teamed up to build almost 400 apartments  which are supported with extensive case management servicesfor people who had no shelter or were at risk of losing their housing. Similar projects have been launched by hospital and health care systems in Denver, Toronto, and elsewhere.

Other hospitals have focused on improving access to nutritious meals by launching food pharmacies stocked with fresh produce or by offering free cooking classes.

These are welcome initiatives, but they are only the start. To change health in America, every profitable health care system must devote real moneywe suggest at least 2% of their annual budgetsto addressing a wide range of social drivers. They must build authentic partnerships with community groups to identify local needs and promote local solutions. And they must raise up champions for this work in their C-suites and on their boards.

It may seem unfair to ask hospitals to take on this work now, in the midst of an epidemic of provider burnout and exhaustion.

But there is increasing evidence that disillusionment with the health care system, rather than the sheer volume of work, is behind provider burnout. And no wonder. Doctors and nurses pour their heart and soul into saving patients from a medical crisis, only to send them back out to communities where the lack of nutritious food, safe housing, affordable childcare, mental health counseling and so much more all but guarantees another medical crisis within weeks. Its dispiriting and demoralizing.

In the short term, we hope a full-fledged effort by health care systems to address the upstream drivers of poor health will energize providers. In the long term, we are certain that it will pay real dividends in improving not just the well-being of individuals, but also the welfare of our nation. The poor state of Americans health takes a heavy toll on productivity, the economy, and even national security. Tackling the social drivers of health has the potential to unleash tremendous growth.

Where to start? One of us has previously proposed a 10 teams challenge for health care systems. Here, we add one more area of focus to that original framework.

This list below raises an obvious question: Do hospitals have any business working to bolster voting rights or to reform the prison system? Our unequivocal answer: Absolutely, they do, maybe not always as the leaders, but as active and generous convenors and participants.

We recognize that we are proposing nothing less than a fundamental shift in the business model of American health care. This will be hard work. It will take decades. But it must be done. Any less is a dereliction of health cares duty.

Every hospital and health care system should put resources toward measurable progress in:
WASHINGTON  The availability of the abortion pill mifepristone. A 12-year-old transgender girl in West Virginia who wanted to compete on the girls' cross-country team. A ban on certain kinds of semi-automatic rifles in Illinois.

The Supreme Court has weighed in on those issues and others in recent weeks on its emergency docket, sometimes referred to as its "shadow docket." Critics note that the emergency rulings  usually preliminary  are made without the oral argument or lengthy opinions that are the hallmarks of the court's regular, or merits docket.

Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and one of the nation's closest followers of the Supreme Court, published a book this month that explains the role of the emergency docket titled "The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic."

Vladeck spoke with USA TODAY about the book and why Americans should pay attention to the court's process as well as its decisions. The interview has been lightly edited for space.

Q: Theres an argument that Americans dont really care about how the Supreme Court reaches its decisions but instead care about what the decision is. Why should Americans care about the process?

A: We actually do care about the process, even if we don't always appreciate that we care. Just to take a step back: Why do we listen to the Supreme Court? Why do we follow the Supreme Court? Why, when the Supreme Court does something that's deeply unpopular do we nevertheless abide by the decision? The answer is a bit amorphous. But the best explanation that the court itself has provided is that its legitimacy and its moral authority is directly tied to its ability to offer principled justifications for decision making. We may not agree with the principles that are articulated in the court's decisions, but at the very least, it is usually clear that they are principled. What we lose in the context of unsigned, unexplained orders that nevertheless produce these massive effects on the ground is that rationale. We lose that justification, we lose that sense that these are not just political actors, that these are jurists exercising judicial power.

Young tourists shout their opposition to anti-abortion activists from the plaza in front of the Supreme Court on April 21, 2023.

Q: You open the book with a story from 1973 about Justice William Douglas dictating a ruling from a series of roadside payphones in a case dealing with the U.S. bombing in Cambodia. Its a fascinating story. But it underscores that the Supreme Court has had an emergency or shadow docket for a long time. What is different about how the court is using its emergency docket now?

A: I opened the book with that anecdote partly to drive that point home. There's no way to have a court that functions like the U.S. Supreme Court without some emergency docket. But the Cambodia bombing case is an especially visible example of how it used to work, which was that individual justices would resolve the disputes on their own. They would hear arguments, often in chambers or (in the case of Douglas) in their nearest local federal courthouse. They'd write an opinion by themselves. And that had the benefit of, I think, maximizing process while minimizing impact. Because the parties had a full opportunity to be heard. The justice had a full opportunity to consider what they were being asked to do. And no one mistook what one justice did as being somehow a precedent from the full court.

Temporary security fences align along a path to the plaza of the Supreme Court on April 19, 2023.

What has changed has changed in two steps. Step one ... was a shift toward full court resolution with less process and less transparency. And then step two really happens in the Trump administration, which is where those pathologies that had become deeply ingrained in death penalty cases start seeping over into non-death-penalty cases where instead of it being about whether one prisoner in one state will or will not be executed, it becomes about whether a nationwide immigration policy that lower courts have blocked will or will not be allowed to go into effect. Will President (Donald) Trump be allowed to build his border wall? Will California be allowed to have their COVID mitigation measures? Will President (Joe) Biden be able to have the OSHA vaccination mandate? That shift may not have felt like a huge shift to some of the justices, but it's a huge shift from the perspective of the impact that these unexplained, unsigned rulings are having.

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Q: Justice (Samuel) Alito pushed back on some of this criticism in 2021. Part of what he noted was that these cases come up from lower courts and the Supreme Court gets them on appeal and they have deal with them somehow. How much is the Supreme Court itself to blame for the emergency docket versus changes in the broader legal system?

A: We should note that Justice Alitos speech was a response to the public pushback to the (Texas) SB 8 (abortion) ruling. Those things were related. That sentiment is, I think, fascinatingly both right and wrong. There are elements of truth and also deception in that statement. So, yes, the justices are not the ones bringing these disputes to the court. The justices are not the ones filing the applications for emergency relief. But they are the ones who are granting them. And, you know, it was a really profound turning point  and I think the book tries to document this  that as the Trump administration started going to the court for emergency relief more and more often the justices kept acquiescing.

The history of the last six years at the Supreme Court would have looked a lot different if relatively early in those Trump cases the court had pushed back and said, 'you know, hey now, like emergency relief is supposed to be for emergencies. Your ability to not carry out one of your policies, by itself, is not an emergency. So Alito is 100% right, that the supply has to come from elsewhere. ... But I think it's not fair to take him and his colleagues off the hook for acquiescing and for basically signaling over and over again that the court was open for business.

SB8 Texas abortion ruling renews criticism of Supreme Court's 'shadow docket'

Q: What are one or two things that could create more transparency in this part of the courts work?

A: There's one for the court and one for Congress. From the courts perspective, I really do think that the justices should commit, even informally, to provide at least some rationale any time they are going to grant an emergency application. Its one thing to not explain a denial, where all you're doing is leaving intact the last word of the lower court. But when the justices are themselves disrupting the status quo, I really do think it's incumbent on them to provide at least a modicum of explanation.

Stephen Vladeck

There's a lot Congress can do. ... Part of what's happened on the shadow docket is a symptom of how little Congress exercises authority over the courts docket anymore. That's reflected not just in the shadow docket. It's reflected in this decline (of cases being heard) in the merits docket. Having Congress getting back into the business of being part of this interbranch conversation about the shape and structure of the courts docket can only be a good thing.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court expert questions 'shadow docket' in new book
A study of zebrafish embryos finds heat stress may be contagious. Lynn Ketchum / Oregon State University via Flickr

Heat stress not only afflicts fish in uncomfortably warm waters. It may also spread to other fish, a new study finds.

Scientists have long known that fish can communicate using chemical cues. Fish harassed by predators, for instance, may release chemicals that spur nearby fish to guard against attack. The new research, authors write, uncovers a yet untested dimension of chemical communication  heat stress.

We found that heat-stressed zebrafish embryos release cues into the water, which then stresses other embryos that have not been exposed to heat themselves, tweeted Katharina Wollenberg Valero, a biologist at University College Dublin and coauthor of the study.

For the study, scientists exposed zebrafish embryos, which are comfortable in temperatures around 80 degrees F (27 degrees C), to temperatures around 90 degrees F (32 degrees C). Scientists found that these heat-stressed embryos grew faster, hatched sooner, and, once hatched, moved more slowly. They also released stress metabolites, the chemical fallout from their simulated heat wave.

When scientists exposed unstressed embryos to these stress metabolites, the embryos responded as if they had also suffered through a heat wave. The embryos grew more quickly and, after they hatched, behaved more lethargically. The findings were published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

ALSO ON YALE E360

With Temperatures Rising, Can Animals Survive the Heat Stress?
By Tom Balmforth, Anna Dabrowska

LONDON/KYIV (Reuters) -A two-day incursion from Ukraine into Russia's western borderlands could force the Kremlin to divert troops from front lines as Kyiv prepares a major counteroffensive, and deal Moscow a psychological blow, according to military analysts.

Though Kyiv has denied any role, the biggest cross-border raid from Ukraine since Russia invaded 15 months ago was almost certainly coordinated with Ukraine's armed forces as it prepares to attempt to recapture territory, the experts added.

"The Ukrainians are trying to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps. The Russians are forced to send reinforcements," said Neil Melvin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Ukraine says it plans to conduct a major counteroffensive to seize back occupied territory, but Russia has built sprawling fortifications in its neighbour's east and south in readiness.

The incursion took place far from the epicentre of fighting in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and around 100 miles (160 km) from the front lines in the northern Kharkiv region.

"They'll have to respond to this and put troops there and then have lots of troops all along the border area, even though that may not be the way the Ukrainians are coming," Melvin said.

Russia's military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked its western Belgorod region with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 "Ukrainian nationalists" and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

Kyiv has said the attack was carried out by Russian citizens, casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife. Two groups operating in Ukraine - the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion - have claimed responsibility.

The groups were set up during Russia's full-scale invasion and attracted Russian volunteer fighters wanting to fight against their own country alongside Ukraine and topple President Vladimir Putin.

Mark Galeotti, head of the London-based Mayak Intelligence consultancy and author of several books on the Russian military, said the two groups comprised anti-Kremlin Russians ranging from liberals and anarchists to neo-Nazis.

"They're hoping that in some small way they can contribute to the downfall of the Putin regime. But at the same time, we have to realise that these are not independent forces ... They are controlled by Ukrainian military intelligence," he said.

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak repeated Kyiv's position that it had nothing to do with the operation.

The United States says it does not "enable or encourage" Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, but that it is up to Kyiv to decide how it conducts military operations.

Several similar incursions into Russia have occurred in recent months, and although this week's was the largest known so far, it is still tiny when compared to frontline battles.

ECHOES OF 2014?

Alexei Baranovsky, a spokesperson for the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion, told Reuters in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of troops involved in the operation, but that the legion had four battalions in total.

Baranovsky denied there had been heavy losses, and he dismissed Russian reports of large casualties as disinformation.

He said the unit was part of Ukraine's International Legion and therefore part of its armed forces, but denied the incursion was coordinated with Ukrainian authorities.

"These are the first steps in the main objective of overthrowing Putin's regime through armed force. There are no other alternatives," he said.

Galeotti said the incursion looked like a Ukrainian battlefield "shaping" operation ahead of Kyiv's planned counteroffensive.

"... This is really a chance to do two things. One is to rattle the Russians, make them worried about the possibility of risings amongst their own people. But secondly, force the Russians to disperse their troops," he said.

Melvin noted that the operation also served to boost morale in Ukraine.

Kyiv officials have mimicked the Kremlin's rhetoric surrounding Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 when it initially denied the troops involved were Russian.

Podolyak blamed the Belgorod incursion on "underground guerrilla groups" comprising Russian citizens and said: "As you know, tanks are sold at any Russian military store."

The remark appeared to echo Putin's response in 2014 when asked about the presence of men wearing Russian military uniforms without insignia in Crimea: "You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform."

On social media, Ukrainians made reference to what they called the "Belgorod People's Republic" - a nod to events in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russia-backed militias declared "people's republics" in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainians also circulated a video of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivering his famous "I am here" video address from Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion in February 2022. But instead of the presidential office in Kyiv, the background showed the welcome sign to the city of Belgorod.

(Additional reporting by Max Hunder in Kyiv and Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska in Warsaw; editing by Mike Collett-White and Mark Heinrich)
Analysis-Now that he's in 2024 race, DeSantis needs more than anti-Trump voters

By James Oliphant and Jason Lange

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Ron DeSantis hopes to defeat Donald Trump and win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, he will ultimately have to bring every possible anti-Trump voter he can into the fold. But even that likely will not be enough, political analysts say.

DeSantis will also have to pull some supporters away from Trump  and that could make for a tricky balancing act that DeSantis is already struggling with.

"You can't court MAGA while courting the rest of the party," said Chris Stirewalt, a Republican analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, referring to Trump's diehard supporters in his Make America Great Again movement. "That's a difficult decision he is going to have to make."

The Florida governor announced his bid on Wednesday after months of speculation. With deep financial resources and a growing national profile, DeSantis will quickly become Trump's top rival in the race.

But he will have much work to do: Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted this month showed Trump backed by 49% of Republicans and DeSantis 19%.

DeSantis' initial challenge is that the anti-Trump field is fractured. Nikki Haley, Trump's former ambassador to the United Nations, and Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, among others, are already in the race, with more candidates such as Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, perhaps to follow.

DeSantis' campaign will have to figure out how to appeal to mainstream Republicans turned off by Trump while also finding ways to attract conservative voters who may be unsure about supporting Trump in 2024 even if they have backed him before.

"He can't win the nomination with only non-Trump votes," said Sarah Isgur, a veteran of several Republican presidential campaigns. "He has to peel voters away from Trump."

A longtime Republican pollster, Whit Ayres, argues that the Republican electorate is divided into three segments, with Trump die-hards comprising about 30-35% of the party, anti-Trump voters making up about 10% and the rest somewhere in between - what he calls "maybe-Trumpers."

"It looks to me like DeSantis is going after the always-Trumpers rather than the maybe-Trumpers," Ayres said.

That's a waste of time, Ayres said. Instead, DeSantis' mission should be to convince "voters looking for an alternative to Trump that he's the right guy."

Stirewalt agrees, saying DeSantis needs to first build a strong base within the segment of the party not aligned with Trump before he can try to broaden his appeal.

"He needs a launchpad," Stirewalt said.

DeSantis appears, however, to have chosen to court the party's most conservative voters - and those most likely to stay with Trump - to the dismay of some potential donors and supporters.

As governor, he signed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the nation earlier this year, and made it easier for residents to carry concealed weapons. He suggested supporting Ukraine was not in the national interest before backtracking under a fire storm of criticism.

And his continued feud with Walt Disney Co., one of the largest employers in Florida, has baffled some traditional Republicans who prefer a hands-off approach to corporate governance.

DeSantis' political team did not respond to a request for comment.

In a telephone call with donors last week, DeSantis said Trump would not be able to beat Democratic President Joe Biden and that he was the only one capable of winning both the Republican primary and the general election, according to the New York Times, which listened to the call.

An analysis of recent Reuters/Ipsos polling data shows that the core DeSantis voter is more likely to be an older college graduate who lives in the suburbs and drives an SUV. Trump's strength is pronounced among younger, less educated voters who are more likely to live in rural areas and drive pick-up trucks.

In Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted this month, Trump garnered 36% of Republicans with a college degree, and DeSantis 26%.

The poll showed Trump dominating among rural Republicans 53% to 19%. But the gap narrows in the suburbs, where Trump has 44% of Republican support to DeSantis' 21%, the poll found. A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll in March found 43% of DeSantis supporters said they drove SUVs, compared to 31% of Trump supporters.

A DeSantis voter is also more likely to want the United States to strongly support Ukraine in its war with Russia, to not believe the 2020 election was riddled by fraud, and to be strongly opposed to progressive policies such as affirmative action and the teaching in schools of so-called Critical Race Theory, the argument that the U.S. is riven by systemic racism.

Trump's own prospects are clouded by his ongoing legal problems, including being indicted for a hush-money scheme involving a porn star, a recent finding by a New York jury that he committed sexual abuse, and the potential for charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Isgur said DeSantis has time to build a winning coalition, arguing that non-Trump voters are likely to forgive the Florida governor for tacking hard to the right to chase some Trump supporters if it helps him secure the nomination.

But can DeSantis pull it off?

Isgur has her doubts, given Trump's strength. "I'm just not sure it's possible," she said.

(Reporting by James Oliphant and Jason Lange, Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)
Editors Note: This article is based on a series of four reports currently produced by the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

As Russias aggression against Ukraine continues, there are more and more calls for a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv by self-proclaimed pacifists and/or pragmatists. They include not only prominent political outcasts from the German Sahra Wagenknecht on the far left to the American Donald Trump on the far right, but even some established social scientists and foreign policy analysts who indicate with ill-thought policy proposals that they are oblivious to some basic realities of the war.

In particular, they are either unaware of or uninterested in the restrictive domestic situations faced in each country by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Rather than being pragmatic, the current calls for a quick deal between Moscow and Kyiv are irresponsible interventions into the public discourse. Sometimes supported by the high academic credentials of their pronouncers, such siren songs raise unjustified hopes of a currently unattainable peace.

Russias annexation of Crimea Russia invaded Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in February 2014 amid the deadliest days of the EuroMaidan Revolution that eventually ousted pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. While Yanukovychs pro-Russian regime was murdering protesters in downtown Kyiv, around 30,000 Russian troops crossed i Kyiv IndependentLucy Minicozzi-Wheeland

The prospects for a positive outcome of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv are rather dim  at least, as long as the current Russian regime remains intact and the military situation on the ground does not fundamentally change.

For one, the official Russian annexations of 2014 and 2022 have created formidable legal obstacles to a political settlement. Ukraines and Russias constitutions now define one and the same regions as part of their territory and forbid each side from making territorial concessions. Some observers argue that constitutions can be changed, watered down, or ignoredespecially in an authoritarian state like Russia, where one man wields power and the rule of law counts for little.

However, there are also, in both countries, increasingly large constituenciessome of them armedthat strictly oppose any territorial concessions to the enemy. These camps of foreign political hawks rank very differently in ethical and legal terms, of course. But they are politically significant in both countries.

In Ukraine, the hawkish camp comprises all relevant political parties, a majority of the population, and much of civil society. Opinion polls are clear that most Ukrainians demand the full restoration of Ukrainian political sovereignty and territorial integrity. They want justice done against the aggressor and would not agree to any territorial concessions. This attitude has hardened with every additional month of the war.

In Russia, the picture is more mixed and fluid, but large parts of the Russian elite and population are convinced that Moscows annexation of Ukrainian lands is justified and non-negotiable. According to an opinion poll conducted by the reputed Levada Center in August 2022, for instance, 45% of Russians approved of the planned annexations of the south-eastern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts to Russia, while 21% thought that the regions should become independent states.

After their as well as Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts annexations shortly afterward, Russians approval of expansionism only increased. The support for the 2022 annexations was and is high despite the odd fact that they include areas that were never occupied or had, after their initial capture, been again ceased by Russian troops.

Russian public opinion might still make a difference between Crimea illegally acquired in 2014 and the Ukrainian mainland oblasts annexed in 2022. There is a strong consensus on the annexation of Crimea in Russian society, including among parts of what remains of the liberal opposition.

Mainstream Russian opinion sees Moscows annexation of the popular vacation spot and location of Russias main naval base on the Black Sea as fundamentally legitimate, strategically prudent, and nationally beneficial. In contrast, the intensity of the imagined Russian historical and cultural connection to the newly annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts is lower. Many Russians would probably regard the return of these regions to Ukraine as embarrassing, but as far less regrettable for their country than the loss of Crimea.

How Russia has attempted to erase Ukrainian language, culture throughout centuries Editors Note: This is episode 3 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

Such a differentiation is also behind many of the current supposedly pragmatic non-Russian proposals for a ceasefire or peace agreement. Somehow  so the popular suggestion goes  one should get Putin to return Ukraines occupied mainland territories and let him keep Crimea in return.

The assumption that Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea was either more reasonable or more legitimate compared to Moscows 2022 land grab is commonplace among many observers. There is also an increasing perception that the former has become an established fact with the passage of time. This leads some to believe that the Russian annexations of 2014 and 2022 can be politically compartmentalized. From this viewpoint, the two annexations should be treated differently in Kyivs and Western strategic thinking and diplomatic efforts.

Yet, not only does Russias constitution make no distinction between the 2014 and 2022 annexations. It is also unclear whether a reversal of the more recent Russian conquest would indeed be significantly easier for Moscow than an abandonment of Crimea. The takeover of Crimea in February and March 2014 was entirely bloodless for Russia, with victims only on the Ukrainian side. But the human costs for Russia of the 2022 capture of the four mainland oblasts have been very high and are still rising.

If anything, the political stakes of a hypothetical return of the newly annexed territories are growing. What would the sacrifice of tens of thousands of Russian lives and the countrys international isolation have accomplished if Moscow agreed in negotiations to the status quo ante of Feb. 23, 2022 (i.e., one day before the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine), or even of March 19, 2014 (i.e., one day after Russias illegal annexation of Crimea)? Many current and former Russian soldiers and mercenaries who have lost their comrades in the war will be unhappy with their governments concessions toward the enemy.

A man takes a photo of the Kerch Bridge, which links the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula to Russia, on Oct. 8, 2022. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

There are other reasons why Crimea and the 2022 mainland annexations cannot easily be kept apart in hypothetical negotiations, for now. The economic, social, and political sustainability of the Black Sea peninsula is closely linked to Russias control of the dryland territories along Ukraines southeastern shore. In fact, the desire for a land bridge between Russia and Crimea was a major cause of Moscows 2022 invasion in the first place.

Similar motivations had already led Tsarist Russia to create the Taurida Governorate, a single administrative unit that joined Crimea, annexed in 1783, with large parts of what is today Ukraines southeastern mainland, in 1802. No territories of todays Russian Federation were included in the Romanov Empires Taurida Governorate.

During Soviet times in 1954, Crimeas close link to the Ukrainian mainland became important once again. The deep connections between Ukraines Black Sea coastal mainland and Crimea were the major reason why the Kremlin transferred the peninsula from the Russian to the Ukrainian soviet republic. Crimeas administration as an exclave of the far-away Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic since 1922 had shown itself to be impractical.

Contrary to the Kremlins effective propaganda and to, as a result, widely held beliefs in and outside Russia, both the pre-Soviet and Soviet experience of Crimea linked it to the mainland territory of current Ukraine rather than of the Russian Federation.

During the Crimean Tatar Khanate until the 18th century, in the Tsarist Empire in the 19th century, and during the Soviet as well as post-Soviet periods of the 20th century, Crimea was administratively linked with Ukrainian drylands to its north rather than to Russia. After the USSRs foundation in 1922, Crimea was formally attached to the Unions Russian republic for 32 years  an abnormality that the Soviet leadership corrected in 1954. Moscow had little other choice than to transfer the peninsula to its geological, historical, and economic homeland  the Ukrainian republic.

Editorial: Todays Russia is fascist. Its time to start calling it that Editors Note: Editorials are articles that present the opinion of the editorial team of the Kyiv Independent. We went and killed everyone. There were women, men, seniors, and children. These were the words of Azamat Uldarov, an ex-fighter of Russias Wagner mercenary group who personally admit Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent

After post-Soviet Russias illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, the unnatural separation of the peninsula from the drylands to its north during the early Soviet years reappeared. Yet, the objective forces of geology, history, and economy remained in place. They were felt more and more by both Crimeans and Russians. The second Russian annexation of Ukraines southeastern mainland and the peninsulas re-inclusion into its larger geographic habitat in 2022 was thus, in some sense, logical and natural.

Less rational factors behind Russias decision to pursue a major war of conquest against Ukraine in 2022 were important as well. These include post-Soviet resentment, imperial hunger, colonial ambition, hegemonic posturing, strategic miscalculation, and fascist impulses.

The most pragmatic determinant of Moscows large-scale invasion, however, was the unsustainability of Crimea as a permanent Russian exclave. The peninsula was unlikely to ever become self-sufficientnot least due to continuing Western sanctions against Crimea since 2014. Moreover, the peninsula was and is dependent for a major part of its water supply from the North Crimean Canal that connects the Ukrainian mainlands Dnipro River via the Isthmus of Perekop to Crimea.

As long as illegally annexed Crimea was an exclave with no physical connection to Russia other than the hastily constructed and vulnerable Kerch Bridge, the peninsula would continue to drain large subsidies from Russias central budget. If again disconnected from a land bridge to Russia, annexed Crimea will once more end up in the geopolitically fragile position in which it was in 2014-2022. The Kremlin is, of course, only too aware of these vagaries.

Some of the same Western observers who argue that Putin is a rational actor ignore these practical reasons for Russias 2022 annexations. Self-described pragmatists believe that Putin might, if allowed to keep emotionally laden Crimea, be persuaded to leave mainland Ukraine alone. Such commentators downplay not only the domestic and security political determinants shaping Putins actions, but also ignore the economic and logistical importance of the Kremlins rule over southeastern dryland Ukraine for sustaining Moscows older and far more popular Crimean adventure.

Whether for Putin or a post-Putin regime, reversing Russias recent territorial acquisitions will be far more difficult than the incorporations of the territories. The annexations were rushed into law in a matter of days, in March 2014 and September 2022. A voluntary abrogation of any of the regions now regarded as full parts of Russia would, for most Russian nationalists, rank between embarrassing and treasonous.

Moreover, there is another risk for Moscow. A surrender of what is now official Russian state territory could, in the future, give ideas to other Russian regions belonging to the Federations internationally recognized lands.

In the likelihood that Russia enters a deep socio-economic crisis like in the early 1990s, various republics and oblasts might consider a negotiated cessation of now annexed territories to Ukraine as a model for their own departure from the Federation. The Russian political and intellectual elite is only too aware of the risk of such territorial disintegration of its state. It will therefore be reluctant to create a precedent for a future breakaway of Russian regions from the Federation.

For these and other reasons, suggesting that an agreement between Ukraine and the current Russian regime is within reach is misleading. Comments to that endespecially when they come from opinion-makers speaking or writing in influential mediacreate false expectations for ongoing diplomatic efforts to contain the war and create a lasting peace. They conjure up discursive dead ends in public debates about current and future Western support for Ukraine.

Repeated calls for negotiations can create the illusion that there is a quick alternative to Ukraines ongoing fight to liberate its territories. In this way, these calls are in manifest contradictions not only to Ukrainian desires, but also in dissonance with the national interests and international system of states.

Batu Kutelia: Lessons from Georgia of geopolitical procrastination Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Feb. 24, 2022, was the date that Russia launched a decisive offensive against the free world. This war has caused a far-reaching domino effect Kyiv IndependentBatu Kutelia

The mirage of a peaceful conflict resolution may postpone, reduce, or even hinder more resolute Western help for Kyiv. While publicly promoting an end to the war, commentators promoting the fantasy of a quick ceasefire, in fact, prolong the confrontation. They also increase the risk of future wars by allowing further devaluation of international law and subversion of the European security order.

Western policymakers, academics, journalists, and other commentators would do well to keep all these factors in mind before calling for negotiations over borders and pushing a superficially sensible peace for land narrative. Both in their public comments and closed-door deliberations, they need to be aware of the legal challenges in Ukraine and Russia that make it difficult to reach a compromise.

Analysts of the Russo-Ukrainian War should keep in mind that domestic constituencies in both countries currently hinder a ceasefire agreement. Public commentators may want to inform their audiences about these internal hindrances for a deal with Moscow and Kyiv, and about the economic as well as logistical interconnectedness between annexed Crimea and the recently occupied southeast Ukrainian mainland.

Publicly promoting an assumption that Russia can be satisfied just with control of Crimea is not only misrepresenting the nature of Moscows aggression against Ukraine but also helping to prolong it.

Novel policy proposals are only to be welcomed, to be sure. Yet, they need to be based on facts on the ground and the rather obvious motivations of the parties concerned. A deeper look at the legal, economic, historical, and political factors quickly derails some of the seemingly pragmatic and sensible calls for a quick ceasefire. A comprehensive assessment of the initial determinants and current drivers of the war makes clear that the idea of trading land for peace is anything but pragmatic and sensible.

Ukraines True History

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Having witnesses or recording devices during procedures requiring anesthesia could help prevent opportunities for sexual assault. Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Some patients can have vivid and detailed sexual hallucinations during anesthesia with sedative-hypnotic drugs like propofol, midazolam, diazepam and nitrous oxide. Some make suggestive or sexual comments or act out, such as grabbing or kissing medical professionals or touching themselves in a sexual way. Others awaken erroneously believing they were sexually assaulted. Why does this happen?

Doctors have long known that sedative-hypnotic drugs, which slow down brain activity to induce calm or sleep, can affect a patients perception of reality. A 1984 review of the drugs midazolam, ketamine and thiopental found that 18% of patients receiving anesthesia for a dental or medical procedure had a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy during and shortly after administration. Similarly, a 1980 study found that around 14% of patients report some sexual dreaming or arousal while under anesthesia. Its no surprise that together these two features of anesthesia could sometimes manifest in sexual hallucinations.

There have been rare cases in which medical professionals used a patients unconscious state to commit sexual assault. For instance, in 1991, a health professional sexually assaulted a university student under anesthesia. Although the case was initially dismissed on the grounds that the patient could have had a drug-induced sexual hallucination, genetic evidence the health professional left behind later led to his conviction. It cannot be assumed that all cases of reported sexual assault under anesthesia are due to a sexual hallucination.

We are pharmacology researchers who recently reviewed the medical literature on sexual assault or sexual fantasy during anesthesia from the earliest documented case to February 2023, finding 87 reported cases from 17 published papers. Better understanding what triggers unpleasant or sexual dreams under anesthesia could help researchers figure out how to reduce the risk of hallucinations to keep both patients and providers safe.

Reports of sexual hallucinations

Sixteen of the individual cases we found in our review involved patients reporting sexually amorous behavior or perceived sexual assault. In these cases, observers like health professionals or family members were also present during the procedure, reducing the chance that the sexual behavior actually occurred versus being hallucinated.

We also found a striking match between the anatomic location of the procedure and where the patient perceived inappropriate sexual contact. Procedures involving the mouth were perceived as oral sex, squeezing a ball to make a vein more accessible as squeezing a penis, chest procedures as breast fondling and groin procedures as vaginal penetration.

This may explain why one assessment of 200 patients found no cases of sexual hallucination for those undergoing gallbladder or appendix procedures involving the abdomen, but around 12% of those undergoing vaginal procedures noted amorous or sexually disinhibited behavior.

Trauma for both patients and providers

These anesthesia effects can have major real-world impacts on patients and providers that last long after the surgery.

The emotional turmoil a patient undergoes is likely the same whether actually experiencing sexual assault under anesthesia or having vivid hallucinations of the event. And practitioners too can experience distress: Some medical professionals accused of real or perceived sexual assault have been brought before regulatory boards or the courts and lose their license to practice.

It is possible that if patients knew a hallucination of sexual assault is a rare but possible adverse effect of anesthesia before they receive it, and were aware of the steps medical providers are taking to reduce that risk, they would be less likely to believe their sexual hallucinations were real. But this would not lessen the trauma of the hallucination. In one case, an anesthesiology student volunteered in a study where she experienced sexual hallucination after taking sedative-hypnotics. Although she knew her vivid memories of the sexual assault werent real, the distress she felt over them led her to withdraw from the study.

An experience of sexual assault can lead to significant psychological trauma. Portra Images/Stone via Getty Images

In our review of the literature, we found 71 individual cases in which the medical professional was alone with the patient at the time of the alleged sexual assault or sexual behavior. For the safety and well-being of both patients and medical professionals, having witnesses in the room or recording devices during dental or medical procedures could help prevent an opportunity for sexual assault and reassure patients that the hallucinations they may experience are not real.

However, the health care system needs to go further to protect patients. Patients struggling with the trauma of hallucinated sexual assault, even if there is evidence that it did not occur in reality, should be referred to counseling and supported just like someone who was physically harmed during a medical or dental procedure.

Many unknowns remain

What makes some people more likely to recall their dreams while under anesthesia is unclear. A 2009 study of 97 patients receiving propofol reported that those who frequently remember their dreams after anesthesia received higher doses of anesthetics, were younger than 50 years old and took longer to recover from anesthesia. A 2013 study of 200 patients receiving propofol found that men were more likely to remember dreams after anesthesia but women were more likely to remember unpleasant dreams. While dreaming and hallucinations are related experiences, people experiencing hallucinations believe they could plausibly be real.

While we reviewed all published cases of sexual hallucinations in the medical literature, the actual incidence of anesthesia-induced sexual hallucinations remains unknown. Given the decades that have passed since the first reported cases, more work needs to be done. Data from a very large sample size of patients will be required to understand the prevalence of sexual hallucinations under anesthesia. However, drug companies are reluctant to spend money on research that may show that their drugs cause adverse side effects.

A number of prescription sedative-hypnotic drugs can cause hallucinations. Grace Cary/Moment via Getty Images

Finally, though we limited our review to reports of sexual hallucinations during anesthesia, millions of Americans use other prescription sedative-hypnotic drugs. Benzodiazepines like alprazolam (Xanax) and temazepam (Restoril) are used to treat anxiety and induce sleep. Z-drugs like zolpidem (Ambien) and eszopiclone (Lunesta) as well as suvorexant (Belsomra) and sodium oxybate (Xyrem) are also used to induce sleep. Opioids like morphine and oxycodone and gabapentinoids like gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) are used to treat pain. Muscle relaxers like carisoprodol (Soma) and cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) are used for muscle spasms. All of these drugs have had reported cases of patients experiencing hallucinations while taking them.

In a review of the FDA Adverse Events Reporting System, which public health officials and researchers use to monitor drug safety, 30,728 cases of abnormal dreaming were reported from 1974 through 2022. Most involved sedative-hypnotic drugs treating insomnia, anxiety, pain and muscle spasms. The reports do not specify the nature of these dreams, or how they affected the patients own perceived well-being.

It is important for patients to be aware that abnormal dreaming is a possibility when starting a sedative-hypnotic medication, and to inform their health professional if they experience hallucinations. These symptoms could indicate that the drug is not the right choice for you or that the dose may be too high.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. Like this article? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Melody White, University of Connecticut and C. Michael White, University of Connecticut.

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The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Who are the anti-Putin groups that marched into Russian territory?

Russias armed forces fought for two days on Russian soil against two resistance groups opposed to President Vladimir Putin before the rebels were defeated in the Belgorod region on Tuesday.

Russian state media claimed more than 70 resistance fighters from the Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps were killed in Belgorod after the revolutionary groups marched into several regional towns on Monday.

Members of both armed resistance groups are made up of defecting Russians who have fought for Ukraine since last year against the Russian army. Moscow calls the fighters saboteurs of the Ukrainian military.

Heres what we know about the Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps.

Free Russia Legion

In a video that went viral this week, a group of unidentified soldiers of the Free Russia Legion decried what they called widespread corruption in the Kremlin.

We are Russians like you, we are people like you, one of the groups members said. We want our children to grow up in peace and be free people, that they could travel, study and simply be happy in a free country. But that has no place in todays Putins Russia.

The Free Russia Legion was formed in March 2022, made up of Russians who defected from the Russian military shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, according to Radio Free Europe.

By some estimates, there are up to 4,000 troops in the militia unit.

One Russian soldier with the resistance group, who goes by the call sign Caesar, has made multiple public statements on behalf of the Free Russia Legion.

Caesar said there were just two soldiers of the Free Russia Legion who died in the fighting and claimed the raid was successful, with fighters taking equipment and prisoners. The Hill has not been able to independently verify casualty estimates.

Caesar hinted the militia group would take action against Russia in the future.

We will not betray the idea of a Free Russia, the hope of Russians, we will return truth and justice to Russia, Caesar said in a statement posted to Telegram.

Russian Volunteer Corps

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) is a more radical group made up of far-right Russian extremists.

Formed in August 2022 by Denis Kapustin, the paramilitary unit is pushing to overthrow Putin and Russian elites.

Kapustin, who also goes by the pseudonym Denis Nikitin, is a Russian citizen and far-right extremist who has organized fighting rings and tournaments across Europe.

The European Union banned Kapustin in 2019 for his neo-Nazi activism, citing him as a public safety threat, according to several European newspapers.

Before founding the RDK, Kapustin had ties with a far-right unit of Ukraines military, the Azov regiment.

The RDK took responsibility for a brief raid into Russias Bryansk territory in March, which Russian officials said left at least two civilians dead.

RDK militants also claimed to have launched another small raid in Bryansk in April.

Other factions

While these groups did not march into Russian territory, there is an international coalition of fighters in Ukraine.

A few hundred Belarusians have coalesced into a unit called the Kastus Kalinouski regiment that has been fighting for Ukraine since last year.

Those fighters are also acting in opposition to Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin.

Georgians have been fighting for Kyiv since 2014, when Russian-backed separatists launched an armed rebellion in eastern Ukraine, in a regiment called the Georgian National Legion.

Other fighters from nations across the world have entered the fight against Russia with Ukraines International Legion.

These soldiers have joined the fray without the official backing of their government, including those from the U.S., Canada and countries in western Europe.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
AOC mocked Lauren Boebert for saying birth control was more expensive than having a kid, noting she voted against expanding access

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, left, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, right, in a composite image. Getty Images

Rep. Lauren Boebert claimed that it was cheaper to have a kid than buy birth control.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded by calling her a hypocrite, noting her voting record.

Boebert voted against a 2022 bill that would have made birth control more accessible.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert for saying she previously didn't buy birth control because it was too expensive, noting that Boebert has voted against expanding access to it.

Boebert, who represents Colorado's 3rd congressional district, said during a hearing on Tuesday: "I went to get birth control and I was there at the counter and went to pay for it and the price was very, very high."

The hardline conservative, who strongly opposes abortion, said she asked the pharmacist if that was the price for a three-month or six-month prescription, but was told it was only the cost for one month's supply.

Boebert said she told the pharmacist it was "cheaper to have a kid" and "left it there."

She added: "And now I have my third son, Kaydon Boebert, and so it actually turned out to be a really great thing."

In a tweet on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez took issue with Boebert's speech. She wrote: "And then she voted against the right to contraception so she could double this problem and give it to the next person."

She appears to be referring to the unsuccessful Right to Contraception Act, which was co-sponsored by Ocasio-Cortez in the last Congress. It would have protected a person's ability to access and use contraceptives and to access information about contraception.

Boebert was among the 195 Republicans who voted against it. The bill was passed by the House but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate, and didn't become law.

In July 2022, President Joe Biden's administration said it strongly supported the bill in the wake of the decision in Dobbs, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

"After the overruling of Roe, which rested on the fundamental right to privacy in matters of health, bodily autonomy, and family, it has never been more important to protect and expand access to family planning services," his administration said in a statement.

Boebert did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Planned Parenthood notes that birth-control pills ought to be free with most health insurance plans. But according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 41% of women of reproductive age don't know that most insurance plans are required to pay the full cost of birth control.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Thomas Borer

Thomas Borer is a Swiss business consultant, lobbyist, and former diplomat. Credit - Kostas MarosRedux

Neutrality, Thomas Borer will tell you, is as engrained in Swiss national consciousness as milk chocolate, expensive watches, and Alpine cheese. And he should know: 30 years ago, the former Swiss diplomat led the development of the countrys world-famous policy of official neutrality.

Now, hes calling for that policy to be scrapped.

Its a national myth, as the Swiss historian Edgar Bonjour said, of almost religious consecration, Borer says of neutrality. But it was never envisaged to be neither religion in Switzerland, nor the end goal of its foreign policy. Rather, it was designed to be a tool to defend Swiss national interests. As Borer sees it, it no longer does.

Switzerland has been neutral for more than 500 yearsa status that was formally recognized at the Congress of Vienna, where Europes great powers met to hash out a new political order in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1815. Though its application hasnt always been perfect (Switzerland made millions in arms sales to Nazi Germany during World War II and shut its borders to thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing the country), it nonetheless remains a cornerstone of Swiss foreign policy, albeit with some modern alterations. In the early 1990s, Borer penned a white paper setting out the parameters of the countrys current neutrality policy, including provisions allowing for Switzerland to participate in collective sanctions against countries that violate international law (which it has) and join the European Union (which it has not).

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Borer, who now runs a consultancy in Zurich, tells TIME that Swiss neutrality has fulfilled a number of key functions over the years. First and foremost, it provided the country with a degree of geopolitical stability by ensuring that it couldnt be drawn into neighboring conflicts. (Neutrality does not equal pacifism, however. Switzerlands unaligned status is enforced by both an army and air force.) By preserving neutrality, the logic went, Switzerland would not only maintain its internal cohesion (the country is made up of 26 cantons, which are divided along linguistic, cultural, and denominational lines), but it would also afford it credibility as a neutral arbiter that could mediate disputes between other feuding states.

All of these factors had their purpose for a time, says Borerbut no longer. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, setting off the largest-scale land war in Europe since World War II, no country was insulated from its impact. Within months of the war starting, longtime neutral countries Finland and Sweden announced their intentions to join NATO. Switzerland, like many other Western democracies, adopted E.U. sanctions against Russia.

But many, including Borer, believe that Switzerland ought to go furtherspecifically, by easing its rules around arms deliveries. Under its current laws, Switzerland cannot directly deliver weapons to countries at war; any re-export of Swiss-made arms by third countries requires permission from Bern. Despite re-export requests from Germany, Spain, and Denmark, no such permission has been forthcoming. In March, the Swiss government ruled out allowing other countries to send their stockpiles of Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, much to the chagrin of Kyiv and its allies, including Washington.

Switzerland is in the most serious crisis since the Second World War, Scott Miller, the U.S. ambassador to Bern, told a Swiss newspaper days later. We understand and respect it. But it is not a static construct. Switzerland cant call itself neutral and allow one or both sides to exploit its laws to their own advantage.

By clinging so strongly to its neutrality, Borer warns, Switzerland risks alienating those closest to it. At a time when once-neutral states such as Finland and Sweden have flocked to join NATO, he argues that what best serves Swiss national security isnt isolation, but cooperation. Foreign policy is here to defend Swiss interests, he says, and Swiss interests are best defended when we help our Western friends in case of an illegal war.

Borer concedes that his position is an unpopular one. If we have a referendum on giving up neutrality, I would clearly lose, he says. Indeed, support for neutrality among the Swiss population stands at a whopping 91%, according to a recent survey conducted by the Swiss university ETH Zurich. But that doesnt mean that the Swiss public are opposed to any form of cooperation. According to the same survey, three-quarters of Swiss people believe that sanctions against Russia are compatible with neutrality. Another survey found that a slight majority (55%) favor allowing the re-export of Swiss arms to Ukraine.

Neutrality was never interpreted as just staying quiet and saying nothing, says Laurent Goetschel, the director of the Swiss Peace research institute and a professor of political science at the University of Basel. The idea that the country would stay aloof from any political collective measures and keep economic relations with everyone because its neutralthis time is gone.

To be sure, Switzerlands military neutrality does not extend to its geopolitical orientation. Though the Alpine country is not a member of the E.U., it is both geographically and economically enmeshed within the bloc. And while it may not be a part of NATO, it does have an informational relationship with the alliance through its Partnership for Peace program. We are clearly in the Western camp, Borer says. Western Europe and the United States share all our values.

There are some more conservative elements in the country who would prefer a more stringent form of neutrality. The right-wing and populist Swiss Peoples Party, the largest grouping in the countrys federal assembly, has proposed an initiative that would codify Switzerlands neutral status in its constitution, thus restricting how the government chooses to interpret its neutrality policy, including participating in sanctions. If the initiative can collect at least 100,000 signatures by spring 2024, as appears likely, the matter will be decided by national referendum.

Regardless of whether the Swiss decide to hold onto their sacrosanct neutral status, Borer believes that it no longer holds the sway that it once didneither by Moscow (which listed Switzerland among its list of unfriendly countries last year), nor the West. Neutrality is only of value if its internationally recognized, he says.
The lone finalist for superintendent of the Arlington school district has decided to stay in her current job.

Michelle Cavazos signed a five-year contract on Tuesday to remain as superintendent of the 4,500-student Gregory-Portland school district near Corpus Christi. Contract negotiations had broken down between Cavazos and the Arlington school board, according to a statement from the GregoryPortland school district.

The Arlington school board named Cavazos the lone finalist on May 4 to replace Marcelo Cavazos (no relation), who announced in January that he would retire in August.

The Texas Association of School Boards Executive Search Services had directed the search, which included meetings with staff and residents of the 55,625-student school district, Tarrant Countys second-largest.

This was an incredibly difficult decision to make, Michelle Cavazos said in a statement. As I have previously stated, I was not looking for the opportunity when called to interview with Arlington ISD  yet the chance to positively impact more than 55,000 students is one worth considering for any educational leader. Furthermore, I am grateful that they expressed confidence in my abilities and extended an incredibly generous offer that I have thoughtfully and carefully considered. In the end, I made the decision to accept a five-year commitment from G-PISD.

The Gregory-Portland school board offered Cavazos $265,000 annually, with fixed annual contributions to the superintendents supplemental retirement.

I am in full support and in debt to both districts and boards for their support. In the end, however, I determined that there are some things of infinite value  none of which have anything to do with compensation, Cavazos said.

By law, school boards must wait 21 days before voting to make an offer on open superintendent positions.

Arlington board members will discuss their next steps in the search during a board meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

We understand the enormity of the position were trying to fill and are committed to continuing our search to identify top candidates, board president Melody Fowler said in a statement.
Amid the military mini-season finale of Chopped: Military Salute, a spinoff of Food Networks classic high-pressure competition show, one competitor likely felt right at home working against the clock.

The Armys representative in the finale, Sgt. 1st. Class Brian Colvin, a former explosive ordnance disposal technician, sported a prominent reminder of his previous job  a headband adorned with the Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal badge, which is awarded to troops who have spent nearly 10 years in a bomb disposal role.

Colvin and three counterparts from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps each deployed explosive flavors to win branch-specific competitions that qualified them for Tuesdays final round. The four active duty chefs, who all currently serve as culinary instructors or enlisted aides to senior leaders, competed as a team against individual current and former Chopped judges.

Competitors on Chopped craft improvised exquisite dishes against a running clock from a basket of surprise ingredients.

Their first mission was the appetizer round against celebrity chef Amanda Freitag, using a mishmash of supplies that included a flag-shaped cake topped with fruit. Freitag defeated the troops after throwing together a spring duck with strawberry glaze served with crispy baby artichokes atop a potato and yampee puree.

However, the service members prevailed in the main course of surf and turf  go figure. They also had a lucky break when their opponent, Chef Eric Adjepong, suffered a set back after his cooking station blew up (perhaps because he isnt a bomb technician) and caught fire, distracting him just enough that his durian mochi became a little bit gelatinous and melted, the judges said.

The dessert round against Tiffani Faison, an Army brat and long-time Chopped judge, was little more than mop-up duty for the military task force, as the judges kept calling them. The chaotic conclusions ingredients included apple pie with ice cream, starfruit, powdered eggs and hot dogs.

Colvin described the powdered eggs as an Army favorite. We at the Military Times Observation Post believe that all Americans are entitled to express their own opinions  members of our staff have fought to protect this very freedom. We also want to express our opinion: Colvins opinion on powdered eggs is bad and wrong.

According to his official bio, which was provided to Military Times after publication, Colvin joined the National Guard in 2004, completing Basic Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and medical training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He moved on to active duty service in 2006, and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with the 101st Airborne Division as a field medic. From there, he went on to attend Explosive Ordnance Disposal School at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Later, he went on to serve as a recruiter in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, and most recently, he became the first EOD technician selected to serve as an enlisted aid; a role he currently serves in at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. His military education includes the Basic Leaders Course, the Advanced Leaders Course, and the Senior Leaders Course.

Colvins awards, according to his bio, include the following: the Army Commendation Medal with four oak leaves; Army Achievement Medal, with 5 oak leaves; Army Good Conduct Medal, with 4 knots; the National Defense Service Medal; the Iraq Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Armed Forces Service Medal; the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal; Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Meritorious Unit Citation; Basic Recruiting Badge; Gold Recruiting Badge; Combat Medic Badge; Expert Field Medic Badge; Basic EOD Badge; and the Senior EOD Badge.

As for the Military Salute edition of Chopped, First Lady Jill Biden also made an appearance, and invited the military chefs to cook for her family over the upcoming July 4 holiday.

But she didnt eat any of the powdered egg-based dishes.

Editors note: This article was updated at 3:30 p.m. with additional information from Sgt. 1st Class Brian Colvins service record.
Father of five Arnold Schwarzenegger is applauding his eldest daughter Katherine's skills as a parent, offering insight into how she and husband Chris Pratt are raising their two young children.

"It's nice to see your kids having kids themselves and to watch this new dimension," Schwarzenegger shared of Katherine, 33.

"You see them growing up and you see them going to school and getting smart and getting their degrees, getting their jobs and all this, but now seeing them be a parent? It's fantastic. It's really great," he told People magazine at the premiere for his new streaming show, "FUBAR."

Katherine and Pratt share two daughters: Lyla, 2, and Eloise, 1.

'GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY'S' CHRIS PRATT SAYS FATHER-IN-LAW ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S SUPPORT IS 'MIND-BLOWING'

Arnold Schwarzenegger praised his eldest daughter Katherine, middle left, for her role as a mother with husband Chris Pratt, left.

"I just love when she comes over to my house or when I go over there, but most of the time she comes to my house because I have all the animals," he shared of spending time with his daughter and granddaughters.

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"The grandchildren love the animals. I have a pig, so now they want to come over there and feed the pig all the time, hang out with the little pig."

"It's really fun to watch and hang out with her now and to see the way she'll react to the kids because she is so great with them," Schwarzenegger explained of Katherine.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen holding his granddaughter Lyla in a cute photo shared by daughter Katherine.

After granddaughter Lyla was born in 2020, the former California governor praised both his daughter and son-in-law.

"It's really great having a grandchild," he shared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FACED TOUGH REPERCUSSIONS AFTER DIVORCE: I HAVE CAUSED ENOUGH PAIN FOR MY FAMILY

"It's a beautiful, beautiful baby, baby Lyla, and I'm very proud of Katherine and Chris. And you know, they're doing really great together as parents."

"The only thing is - makes me feel old," he joked of adding grandfather to his list of titles.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken in the past of the one thing he did as a parent that he has not done as a grandparent.

Admitting he was in the thick of things when he was raising his own children, Schwarzenegger clarified then that he did not change Lyla's diapers.

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"I think that Katherine is the expert gate-keeper. She just, you know - whenever you touch the baby, [she] says Oh my god! Oh my god! Dont hold her like this.' I said, Katherine, cmon now. I have held enough children in my hands.' I say, What Im doing, I'm an expert at that stuff.'"

Last month, Schwarzenegger focused his praise on Pratt, recognizing his son-in-law's latest Marvel installment, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

Pratt was ultimately astonished by his father-in-law's kind words, sharing "Arnold's support means the world to me on a couple different levels. Just being his son-in-law and being part of his family, it obviously means a lot to have his support," Pratt shared with People magazine.

"But then on another level, just being somebody who grew up loving his movies, the big action hero  I dreamed of being 'Commando' and dreamed of being the soldier from 'Predator,' and I loved 'Terminator,'" he said. So for him to give me kudos for going out and being on the marquee is really kind of mind-blowing."
Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson lead an all-star cast in Asteroid City

Critics have hailed Wes Anderson's star-studded new film Asteroid City as "stylish" but lacking in substance.

The sci-fi homage sees a junior stargazer convention disrupted by world-changing events.

A bus-load of its stars, including Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson, were in orbit around the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday

Oscar-winner actor Hanks walked the red carpet with his wife, actress and producer Rita Wilson.

Writing on Instagram later, Wilson defended Hanks after fans questioned whether he had become angry on the red carpet, clarifying that her actor husband had only been asking for directions and had struggled to hear the Cannes staff member's answer.

Black Widow star Johansson, meanwhile, was there with her husband - Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost.

'Visually dazzling'

Asteroid City sees Johansson lead an ensemble cast of Hollywood royalty, including Hanks and Margot Robbie - both newcomers to Anderson's celluloid world - Jason Schwartzman and Tilda Swinton.

The film also features Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody and Steve Carell, who stepped in for Anderson-favourite Bill Murray after he caught Covid days before they started filming.

Johansson plays a 1950s movie icon - think Bette Davis - in the story set in a fictional American desert town, where a group of child geniuses are gathered for a science competition that is interrupted by an alien visitor which leaves them locked up in quarantine.

Anderson is best-known for directing films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom.

Director Wes Anderson and actors Adrien Brody, Tom Hanks, Matt Dillon, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston and Hope Davis posed for pictures at the Cannes Film Festival

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw awarded the film four stars, describing it as an "exhilarating triumph of pure style" which "leans nicely into its own artificiality, and every delicious, microscopic detail is a delight".

"Asteroid City's eccentricity, its elegance, its gaiety, and its sheer profusion of detail within the tableau frame make it such a pleasure," he wrote.

"So, too, does its dapper styling of classic American pop culture. With every new shot, your eyes dart around the screen, grabbing at all the painterly little jokes and embellishments, each getting a micro-laugh."

He continued: "As ever, there is little or no emotional content, despite the ostensible subject of grief. The movie rattles cleverly and exhilaratingly along, adroitly absorbing the implications of pathos and loneliness without allowing itself to slow down.

"It is tempting to consider this savant blankness as some kind of symptom, but I really don't think so: it is the expression of style. And what style it is."

The Times' Ed Potton was similarly impressed, also awarding four stars while comparing Anderson's latest work to that of another respected US filmmaker.

"It looks ravishing, as usual: blue Cadillacs against orange desert, swivelling satellite dishes, mushroom clouds from nuclear tests rising silently on the horizon," he wrote.

"There are subtle departures, though: fantastical encounters (I'll say no more) and an air of confounding surreality that feels new. This is Anderson filtered through the lens of David Lynch minus the horror, or Charlie Kaufman with better tailoring."

Scarlett Johansson portrays actress and mother Midge Campbell in the film

Variety's Owen Gleiberman agreed the film was indeed "visually dazzling" but felt it was also "dramatically inert".

He said it "presents itself as a stylized meditation on grief, though it's not the kind that anyone's going to shed a tear over".

"Asteroid City looks smashing, but as a movie it's for Anderson die-hards only, and maybe not even too many of them," he concluded.

There were similar reservations from from the Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney. He noted how, as always with Anderson movies, "the craft elements are impeccable" and that "every actor commits 100% to the director's vision, like oddball figurines in a miniature toy world".

"The trouble is there's just not enough here to fully engage the viewer beyond the trademark aesthetics - no emotional pull or lingering feeling and too few genuine laughs," he added.

"For a movie so curiously weightless it seems awfully pleased with itself, its moments of magic evaporating almost instantaneously."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmmq7sVA0Jo

Last month, Anderson began trending, with social media awash with parodies of his previous films using his quirky, deadpan style and pastel-coloured aesthetic.

On Tuesday, the director told the AFP news agency he wrote Asteroid City during the Covid-19 lockdown, saying it was about "reckoning with forces beyond your control".

"This movie is certainly informed by the most bizarre viral moment in recent history," he said.

"Writing it during this pandemic, in the middle of the most locked-down lockdown, we were not sure we would ever go out again - so I think that's sort of in it."

His leading actor, Johansson, compared the director's approach to being more like theatre than film. "You're in it, the whole environment is created," she said at Wednesday's Cannes press conference. "It's a physical, tangible, usable space."

Her performance was praised by the Independent's Geoffery Mcnab, who wrote: "Johansson is brilliant... embuing her character with both sex appeal and pathos."

The critic welcomed the "enrapturing cosmic comedy", saying it was reminiscent of an "offbeat" version of the 1977 US sci-fi drama film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

"Anderson has put together one of his huge, familiar ensemble casts," he noted. "Much of the pleasure here comes from the perfectly calibrated and very deadpan performances from his actors, even those in the minor parts."

"In its own offbeat way, Asteroid City is an Anderson patchwork of Cold War paranoia and American family values in all their often hypocritical glory," he said. "It is every bit as arch as his best work, while still managing to tug hard on the heartstrings."

Screen Daily's Tim Grierson offered that at this stage of Anderson's career, "it's simply a given that Asteroid City will look and sound impeccable".

"Delightful, occasionally quite moving and always exquisitely crafted, this is a modest charmer about trying to make sense of the world either through art or other pursuits."

Asteroid City will be released in UK cinemas on 23 June, with some early screenings on 16 June.
Atal Behari Vajpayee became the prime minister of India thrice - once briefly in 1996 and 1998, and then in 1999

On 26 June 1975, the police arrived at a hostel in India's southern city of Bangalore and arrested Atal Behari Vajpayee, a prominent opposition politician.

The previous evening, prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed a state of Emergency and plunged the nation into an extraordinary crisis. Elections had been suspended, civil rights curbed, the media gagged and critics and opposition politicians rounded up. Gandhi also banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the later-day Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules India today.

Vajpayee was then a leader of the Jan Sangh, the right-wing forerunner to the BJP, and a member of the RSS. More than two decades later, he had risen to become India's prime minister - twice briefly in 1996 and 1998, and then a full term, leading a coalition federal government, between 1999 and 2004.

Back in the summer of 1975, Vajpayee was facing arrest. He asked a party worker about the "best jail" in the city, and looked "bored, but sat stoically" in the police station. Finally, he spent a month in prison, writing poetry - naming himself a "kaidi kavirai" or the prisoner poet - playing cards and supervising in the kitchen.

In July, Vajpayee was flown to Delhi in a special plane, after a botched medical diagnosis. In the capital, he spent time, first in hospital recuperating from a surgery and then at home on parole under the watch of the police. By mid-December, Vajpayee appeared to be despondent. "The sun in the evening of my life has decided to setWords are devoid of meaningWhat was music once is now scattered noise," he wrote in a poem.

Vajpayee (second from right) and LK Advani (extreme left) at a RSS meeting in Delhi in 1977

A movement distributing clandestine literature and organising civil disobedience - mainly kept alive by RSS pracharaks or full-time apostles - against the Emergency was already fizzling out. Her advisers were pressuring opposition leaders to sign a "surrender document" so they could negotiate with the government. Vajpayee, according to a riveting new biography of the leader by Abhishek Choudhary, was "shocked there was no mass uprising against the Emergency".

What nobody quite reckoned then was that in a year's time Vajpayee would end up playing a pivotal role in cobbling together a one-party opposition to the Congress. The Janata Party - a coalition mainly of four centrist and right wing parties (including the Jan Sangh) - would hand down a sensational drubbing in March 1977 elections to Gandhi's Congress party, its first loss in 30 years after independence. (The prime minister had announced general elections in January and lifted the 20-month Emergency later.)

The Janata Party won 298 of the 542 seats. Most importantly, the Jan Sangh held the foremost position within the coalition, winning 90 seats. Mr Choudhary says Vajpayee could have made the "nominal claim" for the prime minister's job, but at 52 he was too young for the job. (The 78-year Morarji Desai, a spartan and crusty politician, became the prime minister.) The new cabinet included three Jan Sangh members. Vajpayee took office as foreign minister, promising no "immediate or major changes in the country's policy", and an improvement in relations with China.

Vajpayee's ascendancy was clear during Janata Party's campaign. The charismatic politician with a flair for oratory was Janata Party's "biggest crowd-puller" after Jayaprakash Narayan or JP, the 72-year-old leader who had united the opposition forces, writes Mr Choudhary. The media described Vajpayee as the Janata's "glamour guy". A campaign poster pronounced him a "pride of the nation".

Vajpayee was widely acknowledged as a skilled orator

In many ways, Mr Choudhary told me, it was Vajpayee who played a "crucial role in mainstreaming Hindu nationalism". This is in sharp contrast to the popular narrative that solely credits Vajpayee's fellow traveller and BJP leader LK Advani for catapulting the party to power after spearheading the decades old-movement to construct a temple in the northern city of Ayodhya. "This is an ideologically lazy, self-deceptive analysis that wholly bypasses an earlier trend," the biographer says.

What people forget, Mr Choudhary says, is that much before the rise of the BJP - from a paltry two seats in the 1984 elections to two back-to-back overwhelming majorities in 2014 and 2019 - its predecessor Jan Sangh, to whom Vajpayee belonged, had proved its credentials as a right-wing political party. At their peak in 1967, the Jan Sangh had some 50 MPs and nearly 300 legislators, he adds.

"Vajpayee was a bridge between two eras in Indian politics - the Congress and the right wing. There would have been no Narendra Modi without Vajpayee," Mr Choudhary says. When the fractious Janata Party collapsed in 1980, Vajpayee proposed that the Jan Sangh should recast itself into a brand-new mainstream political party and the BJP was born.

Many have described Vajpayee as a "mask" or a moderate in a party of hawks. Mr Choudhary says Vajpayee "could not afford to be hardliner" because he had to work with a coalition of disparate political partners and realised that compromise was the key to politics. "But the early Vajpayee, before he became an MP, was hardline," he says.

Vajpayee at a function in Gujarat in 1994. Behind him, sitting, is Narendra Modi, now the Indian PM

Vajpayee was born in Gwalior to a teacher father and a homemaker mother at a time when two major pro-Hindu groups, the Hindu Mahasabha and Arya Samaj were already espousing the idea of Hindu unity. His earliest poems, Mr Choudhary writes, "speak of the intense rage and victimhood Atal felt; that he had come to have a sharp, if also narrow and confused, sense of India's history and geography, and the need for its revival; and a sense of his own place in the wider world".

Vajpayee had joined the RSS - formed in 1925 - during his college years. He gave weekly lectures, dreamt of becoming a journalist and wrote a polemic of the history of Islam in India. He edited four right-wing publications, including Panchjanya, the RSS mouthpieces, where he wrote on cow protection, Hindu personal law, India's relation with the world and Hinduism. He betrayed a prudish streak when he found the songs in Barsaat (Rain), a popular Bollywood film, "dirty and vulgar", and implored the government to stop children from watching films.

Decades later, Vajpayee appeared to have evolved into a pragmatist. When he was helping the Janata Party cobble together its campaign, the local media praised him for a "degree of moderation, suavity and capacity to grasp issues and reconcile differences".

One thing is clear, Mr Choudhary says. Throughout his six-decade-long career Vajpayee, who died in 2018, aged 93, remained the "most enigmatic Indian politician of recent times".

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An attendee views an exhibition outside the venue of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Guests from home and abroad gathered in Beijing on Tuesday at a forum on Tibet's development, and hailed China's efforts in the conservation and development of the Tibetan traditional culture.



The one-day forum, hosted by the State Council Information Office and the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, gathered 150 officials, experts in various fields, and representatives of enterprises and media organizations from home and abroad.

"There are different approaches to human rights protection. Cultural protection is also an important part of human rights protection and China has done a lot to respect and protect the cultural heritage of Tibetan people," said Alexander Birle, chief representative of Hanns Seidel Stiftung in China.

Since 2006, the central government has spent more than 200 million yuan (about 28.35 million U.S. dollars) on the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Tibet, according to the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC).

The region now has three items (Gesar, Tibetan opera, and Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa) included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. There are 106 items on the national intangible cultural heritage list with 96 state-level representative bearers, data from the CTRC shows.

The use and study of the Tibetan language is protected by law, and the language has been widely used in fields including justice, health, communications, transportation, finance, science and technology, said Zheng Dui, director-general of the CTRC.

The preservation and inheritance of fine traditional culture is also about facilitating better lives for people of all ethnic groups, according to Zheng.

Zheng's view echoes with Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji to China Manasa R. Tagicakibau, who visited the region recently. "They keep this culture alive by showcasing their culture and tradition to the tourists. They keep the culture traditionally, and they earn some money from it," he said.

Tagicakibau was also impressed by how local people managed to retain their traditional culture, especially their way of living and dressing, while achieving rapid economic development.

"These are things that can be lost easily during development processes. So, I am very impressed with the way Tibet has preserved its culture," he said.
Atlanta lawyer accused of stabbing his own mother guilty on all counts

A disgraced attorney Richard Merritt will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole  after a jury found him guilty of killing his 77-year-old mother with a dumbbell and a knife.

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

Prosecutors said Richard Merritt brutally beat and stabbed his mother, 77-year-old Shirley Merritt, to death in 2019, on the same day he was supposed to report to prison for unrelated financial crimes.

Wednesday was day 3 of the trial that has gotten national attention.

This case started back in February 2019 on the day Merritt was supposed to turn himself in prison for stealing money from elderly clients. His family said he planned on cutting off his ankle bracelet and leaving town so he didnt have to serve his time. His mother Shirley didnt want him to do that, so he killed her and took off to Tennessee.

He changed his name, got a new job, met a new girlfriend on a dating site, and was living with her when U.S. Marshals picked him up in Nashville.

This monster took this dumbbell and proceeded to bludgeon my mother right in front of me, Merritt said. And she stepped moving at this point.

Merrit said a man with a pistol to his back brought him downstairs, then came back a few minutes later with a kitchen knife and proceeded to stab my mother repeatedly in front of me.

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He was charged him malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault & possession of a knife while committing a felony.

The trial took three days. On the same day of closing arguments (Wednesday) it took a jury only 90 minutes to find Merritt guilty on all 6 charges.

A judge sentenced him to life without parole plus 5 years.

A relative, Mike Jefcoat addressed the jury after sentencing and Merritt went after him.

Merritt plans on appealing.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Narendra Modi, his Indian counterpart, in Sydney on Wednesday to discuss regional security and economic ties and signed a migration deal to boost Indian student and business travel to Australia.

The two leaders also discussed the impact of Russia's conflict with Ukraine on developing countries, particularly food and fuel security, Indian officials said.

Modi is visiting Australia for the first time since 2014, and two months after Albanese travelled to India.

India and Australia are members of the Quad group of nations, which also includes Japan and the United States, and Modi had been due to attend a Quad leaders meeting Sydney. But that meeting was held on the sidelines a Group of Seven summit in Tokyo instead, as U.S. President Joe Biden needed to return directly to Washington.

"Quad leaders stand together for an open, stable, secure and prosperous Indo Pacific region ... where all countries large and small benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace," Albanese told reporters after a bilateral meeting with Modi.

Albanese said he and Modi had also discussed trade, migration and renewable energy, and the two nations had established a hydrogen task force to expand cooperation on clean energy.

Australia, whose largest trading partner is China, is seeking to diversify its export markets, including forging closer trade ties with India.

India is Australia's sixth largest trading partner, while around 750,000 people in Australia claim Indian ancestry.

Modi said they had discussed increasing cooperation on mining and critical minerals, and would work towards a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.

"We talked about taking the Australia-India comprehensive strategic partnership to greater heights in the next decade," he told reporters. Indian officials later said the next round of trade negotiations will be in June and July.

A migration agreement "will further strengthen our living bridge" Modi said, referring to the Indian diaspora in Australia, which is the second-largest and fastest growing diaspora group in the country. On Tuesday, thousands of overseas Indians cheered Modi at a rally in one of Sydney's biggest sporting arenas.

Modi travelled to Australia after holding a meeting with 14 Pacific island leaders in Papua New Guinea.

India's foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters in Sydney that Modi and Albanese had discussed synergies with Australia's development programs in the Pacific islands. India's Pacific islands agenda was focussed on economic and health partnerships, Kwatra said.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Simon Cameron-Moore)
(Bloomberg) -- The Australian government has referred a PricewaterhouseCoopers tax scandal to the police and asked them to consider a criminal investigation as political scrutiny mounts.

Most Read from Bloomberg

PwC Australias former head of international tax, Peter Collins improperly used confidential Commonwealth information, according to a statement Wednesday from Steven Kennedy, secretary to the treasury.

The accounting firms troubles center on revelations that Collins had been barred by regulators for leaking government secrets  obtained while he was on a confidential advisory board  to other PwC staff.

Emails dating to 2014-2017, released following demands from Parliament, showed PwC partners using that information to shop tax-planning advice to clients. Those clients havent been identified, but are believed to include some of the biggest US tech companies.

In the aftermath of the email release, Chief Executive Officer Tom Seymour and two other top executives stepped down.

Read more: Switkowski to Head PwC Australia Review in Wake of Tax Scandal

A former telecoms executive, Ziggy Switkowski, has been brought in to conduct an independent review of the firms governance, accountability and culture, PwC has said.

The prospect of reputational risk for the PwC brand has drawn the attention of the entire PwC network, and its US and UK affiliates have said they had joined an internal review, with PWC US calling the leaks completely unacceptable.

In light of these recent revelations and the seriousness of this misconduct, the Treasury has referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police to consider commencement of a criminal investigation, Kennedy said in the government statement.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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In this image made from video, Clare Nowland reacts following her skydive in Canberra, Australia, April 6, 2008. Nowland, now 95, was in critical condition Friday, May 19, 2023, two days after police shocked her with a stun gun as she approached them with a walking frame and a steak knife in an Australian nursing home. (Australian Broadcasting Corp. via AP)

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  An Australian police officer will face charges for shocking a 95-year-old woman with a stun gun and leaving her with critical head injuries as she approached him using a walker and carrying a steak knife in a nursing home, officials said on Wednesday.

Clare Nowland, who has dementia, is receiving palliative care in a hospital in Cooma, New South Wales state. She fractured her skull in a fall on Wednesday last week after Constable Kristian White shot her with a stun gun in her retirement home.

The violence against an elderly and incapacitated woman has sparked national debate about the police use of stun guns in such circumstances and the competence of aged care staff. Police are allowed to use stun guns when lives are in danger.

White was ordered on Wednesday to appear in court on July 5 on charges of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault, a police statement said.

The charges are likely to upgraded when she is expected to die of her brain injuries.

White has been under police internal investigation since the incident and has been suspended from duty with pay since Tuesday.
(Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh will buy oil from whoever gives a comfortable price, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, as the South Asian country looks to secure supplies and ensure prices dont spiral further during an International Monetary Fund program.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Commodity prices, including oil, have increased globally and Bangladesh is suffering, Hasina told Bloomberg TVs Haslinda Amin at the Qatar Economic Forum. Rising prices have stoked an energy crisis, pushed inflation and depleted its foreign reserves, forcing Hasinas government to preemptively seek for assistance from the Washington-based lender.

Wherever it is available and whoever gives us a comfortable price, definitely we will avail that, Hasina said. We are looking at all other avenues, including renewable and solar energy as well.

Last year, the nation held early talks with India and Russia to buy petroleum products at a discount. Bangladeshs $416 billion economy first took a hit from the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic hardships worsened since Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Hasina said Dhaka wouldnt take sides to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine and the impact it has on the global economy. Bangladesh will never play a partisan role in the world, she added.

Repayments

The 75-year-old leader said Bangladesh was in a position to pay back the $4.7 billion loan taken from the International Monetary Fund in January this year.

We took the loan as much as we needed it, she said. You know that they only give assistance to countries that can repay their bill.

READ: Bangladesh Leader Bets IMF-Mandated Rigor Will Pay Off in Polls

Authorities have raised energy prices, reduced subsidies and taken steps to unify its multiple currency exchange rates. The nations ability to implement the Washington-based lenders prescriptions will remain key as it weighs a credit rating downgrade, Moodys Investors Service said in April.

Bangladeshs dollar stockpile fell to $30.18 billion as of May 17, which covers just over three months of imports, from $42.24 billion a year earlier. Inflation remained elevated at 9.24% in April, even though it moderated a little from March.

The loan program is expected to help ease pressure on Hasinas government as it heads to the ballot in early 2024. She is the longest-serving elected female head of government, having governed Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2009 through now.

Hasina said her government would ensure the elections due in January are free and fair. Her comments come after the administrations sweeping crackdown on the opposition raised concerns about violence and repression ahead of polls.

The US and UK are among the nations that have called for Dhaka to ensure transparent elections even as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party  the main rival to the ruling Awami League  has threatened to boycott the vote.

DISCLAIMER: The government of the State of Qatar is the underwriter of the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg.

(Updates throughout)

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Cosmic Girl during the Above the Clouds mission in January 2022.

The ongoing saga of Virgin Orbits ongoing crash and burn appears to have finally come to an end. Assets from the satellite launch company, founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, have officially been sold off at auction, with some major spaceflight players picking up the crumbs.



After facing several blows, Virgin Orbit announced in April that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was seeking a wholesale buyer. With no luck, the company announced last night in a press release that it would be selling its assets piecemeal to four of the highest bidders and subsequently cease operations entirely.

Read more

While Virgin Orbits statement doesnt explicitly mention which companies bought off its assets, launch service provider Rocket Lab announced yesterday that the company is purchasing Virgin Orbits 144,000 square foot manufacturing spaceand some of the equipment held therein Long Beach, California, for $16.1 million. Similarly, Launcher, a recently acquired subsidiary of Vast Space, will purchase the Virgin Orbit manufacturing space in Mojave, California, for $2.7 million, according to CNBC. The outlet also reported that liquidation company Inliper will purchase Virgin Orbits office equipment for $650,000.

Rocket Lab will purchase Virgin Orbits 144,000 square foot headquarters in Long Beach, California.

Virgin Orbit plans to sell its crown jewel Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747 turned rocket launcher, to Stratolaunch for $17 million. Stratolaunch is the company behind the worlds largest plane, and utilizes aircraft to launch rockets much the way Virgin Orbit planned to do with Cosmic Girl. When using the modified Boeing 747 as a rocket launcher, Virgin Orbit tucked a LauncherOne rocket beneath its left wing before launching the rocket when the aircraft reached its target high altitude. During a failed mission earlier this year, Cosmic Girl emerged unscathed, while the LauncherOne rocket crashed, apparently, due to a faulty $100 filter.

As Virgin Orbit embarks on this path, the management and employees would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders, including customers, partners, investors, and employees, for their support and dedication over the years, the company said in a collective statement published in its press release. It is through their collective efforts that the Company has been able to achieve significant milestones and make lasting contributions to the advancement of satellite launch in the United States and the United Kingdom.

While its sibling company Virgin Galactic is facing its own issues, the writing has, unfortunately, been on the wall for Virgin Orbit for some time now. Virgin Investments Limited pumped $55 million into Virgin Orbit across three cash injections since November 2022 according to a February 1 filing with the SEC this year, painting a portrait of a company strapped for cash. In March, Virgin Orbit suspended its operations and furloughed most staff while trying to secure an investor to bail it out of its financial woes. After nearly closing on a $200 million rescue deal from Matthew Brownan investment offer that may have been disingenuousVirgin Orbit extended the staff furlough and continued pausing its operations before announcing in April that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Virgin Orbit may be gone, but at least Branson can cheer on Virgin Galactic. The space tourism company is set to resume its suborbital flights to space, with a crewed demo scheduled for Thursday, May 25.

For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on Twitter and bookmark Gizmodos dedicated Spaceflight page.

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Click here to read the full article.
This article was originally published in El Paso Matters.

When El Paso teen Alex Reyes read Magnus Chase while in the seventh grade, they immediately identified with one of the main characters: Alex Fierro. It wasnt just because of their shared first name, but because of their shared experience as gender fluid teenagers.

It was the first time I had read a book where I saw something that I kind of felt similar to, related to, Reyes said. Its stuck with me for so long. They have so much more going on, and the sexuality is just a part of it.  Its not all that I am, but its a part of me.

Rick Riordans Magnus Chase series, like many of the books Reyes reads, is being targeted by Texas legislators and school boards nationwide. A PEN America report from 2022 found that book bans affected 86 school districts across 26 states, with a combined 2 million students. More than 1,500 books have been banned already; Texas tops the list, with 16 districts having banned more than 700 books.

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The number may soon rise further. The Texas Legislature is currently considering several bills that may ban books in schools that include content on sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual activity. Among the bills being considered are Senate Bill 13, House Bill 900 and House Bill 1804.

In El Paso, youth, authors, librarians and other community members are pushing back.

Last year, the city, in collaboration with the YWCA Paso del Norte Region, installed a banned books section at city library branches. Books have been challenged and banned throughout history, and we are seeing a reemergence today, the YWCA announced then. Silencing and limiting of stories, histories, and points of view of anyone are direct attacks on the people who write and are represented in those books.

Related Feds: Book Removal in Ga. School District May Have Caused Hostile Environment

The effort by El Paso Public Library sought to spotlight the stories of historically marginalized people and communities of Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, Asian and LGBTQ+ that are often left out of history books and school curriculums.

El Paso city Rep. Alexsandra Annello was elemental in championing the effort to bring access to banned books to area residents.

Alexsandra Annello

A lot of teachers in the area were expressing their concern, she said. We really wanted to do it in solidarity with our school board partners  and say that the state cant come in and tell us what not to have in our library. Theyre being banned because theyre culturally informative.

A city of El Paso resolution, created and passed unanimously by council in February 2022, declares that every public library in the city would have a banned books section, highlight the books year-round and form a partnership to accept the books from the YWCA.

The partnership between the two entities, Annello said, served as a message to the public that it wasnt just a city initiative but a collaboration with community partners that is continuing and can be expanded.

I was even expecting some of my fellow council members to fight against us, but we had overwhelming support, she said, adding that the YWCAs own inclusion and diversity committee donated the books. The day after we passed this, people were showing up to the library (asking) to rent books.

Having representation in literature

As Reyes continued their schooling, they found solace in stories they identified with. When a teacher shared the book Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by El Paso author Benjamin Alire Saenz, it helped Reyes see that others in their community had some of the same questions.

Seeing Aristotle and Dante, something that takes place in my own hometown, written by someone from my hometown, someone who was a teacher at UTEP at one point, it made me realize that there are other people out there like me, Reyes said. Im not alone and no one is alone.

Having literature that reflected their own feelings helped Reyes finally feel like themselves  and discover what it meant to be gender fluid, allowing Reyes to come out to their family.

I was so scared to say anything or even think about what I might be when I was little, Reyes said. I was so scared that everyone in my family was going to hate me because we were Christian. But the books they had been reading, in which queer characters families and friends were not only religious, but supportive, offered Reyes hope.

I was able to tell my mother (I was) gender-fluid. Having something concrete that I was able to say back to myself in the mirror gave me so much courage to be able to say it to her.

School libraries

Armando Loera has been an educator for more than 30 years. Seventeen of those years have been as a librarian. Currently, he is the librarian coordinator for one of the school districts in El Paso County.

As librarians and as educators, we are about having the freedom to teach real history, said Loera, who spoke to El Paso Matters not as the representative of the district but as an expert on Texas school libraries. The freedom to read whats out there. We really are defenders of something we call the freedom to read.

Due to proximity alone, school libraries offer daily access for school children to access literary materials without driving to a public library. If any of the current Texas legislation passes, new restrictions would be added on librarians ability to choose books, meaning students would have fewer books to check out.

Since the beginning of time  people have had problems with knowledge, because knowledge really, truly is power, Loera said. The people that know are the ones that are in power, and they dont want to share that power.

When selecting which books will be at school libraries, librarians read reviews, look at education curriculums, and learn what books the students want, all while following guidelines set by the state.

There are some parameters, but at the end of the day, theyre a little bit broad, Loera said. We dont have the opportunity to read every single book that we have. We also read books, especially if theyre controversial, and then we make that decision.

If House Bill 1804 were to pass, Loera believes the bills ambiguity could cause many books to be banned without being vetted adequately by librarians.

Unfortunately, a lot (of the books) have to do with race (and sexuality), he said. They want to quiet, silence people of colors experiences. They definitely want to do away with books that have to do with the LGBTQ experience.

Close to half of the books that Texas wants to ban have to do with the LGBTQ experience, he says.

Our communities are made up of a group of diverse people, Loera said. Books and libraries should be safe places for people to get books that they identify with and get information on things that theyre confused or curious about. By getting rid of those books, theyre not going to have that opportunity.

The current attacks on books, Loera said, are highly political and a way to silence historical mistakes by those in power. He celebrates the decision by local libraries to make those books available.

Many people feel that the more books are banned, the more attention you bring to those books, and those books get to be read even more, he said. The more displays we have like that, the more people will be aware and read those books.

Loera believes the only people who should have a say in what children read are their parents, and not whatever political rhetoric is being used by those seeking votes.

The problem comes when the legislature or political parties are wanting to make that decision for everyone, he said. As a parent, youre welcome to go ahead and decide what your children can read, but it shouldnt be extended to what others at the school should read.

Fighting for books at school

Reyes and their classmates faced an attack on their freedom when a parent pushed to have the book, Gender Queer: A Memoir, removed from the Canutillo High School library. Reyes fought to have the school board reinstate the book.

(The librarian) told me that the parent had called and threatened to burn the book inside the library, said Reyes, who founded the Gender and Sexualities Alliance at their school. (The parent) skipped going to the principal and just went straight to the school board. I went, and I gathered a whole bunch of peoples testimonies. Once I started advocating for this book and talking to the board  I got a lot of threats from parents and students in my school.

Reyes took on the blowback, the insults and threats to be a voice for their community  seeking to emulate the efforts of their hero Adri Perez, an LGBTQ+ organizer and educator who was recently arrested at the Texas Capitol during a peaceful protest.

I saw that (Adri Perez) were being called names and all these things, and I have been seeing this for years, but there are so many people still supporting them, Reyes said. No matter what happened, they still were a voice. But they still do it because if they dont do it, no one else is going to do it.

And so Reyes took on the battle.

There are so many people out there who dont have the voice that I have or are not in a safe place where they can talk about certain things, they said. I was in a position where I could do it.

Rather than trying to indoctrinate or corrupt children, Reyes argues, these books are personal stories which authors share to connect with readers of different backgrounds.

It is someone putting themselves out there, which lets other people know that they arent alone, they said. These authors and these people reading the books, were all one big community. No matter who comes out and says what about us, we know who we are, and we know what were trying to do, and we have to just keep fighting for what were trying to do.

Possible sanctions for the city

The consequences for rebelling against the status quo can come in the form of state budget cuts for public libraries.

The state of Texas cant come into our facilities and tell us what we can and cannot have, Annello said. Theyre saying theyre going to cut funding if we have these books. Weve stood strong, and if its about finding other funding to keep our libraries going instead of silencing our community and silencing the stories, thats something that we will do.

The stories of minorities in the city are essential, according to Annello, who said El Paso will fight for racial and LGBTQ+ tales to continue to be available for those that want representation in the shelves of their libraries and the halls of powers.

(Those stories) shaped this country and will continue to shape this country and are extremely important stories not only for the people of El Paso but across the country, she said. Bills like these, Annello said, are used to silence these stories and voices.

It is important for communities like El Paso and across Texas to stand up against them.

This story was co-published with Next City as part of our joint Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship For Borderland Narratives.

This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Bar customer rushes to help man during Florida alligator attack after hearing screams

A man was sitting at a bar in Florida when he heard someone screaming, he told media outlets.

Manny Hidalgo, 23, went outside of the Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte to look for the source of the screams in the darkness of the night on May 24, the Associated Press reported. He found a man flailing in the water after being attacked by an alligator, the outlet reported.

The victim of the attack was identified as Jordan Rivera, WBBH reported. The man had left the bar to use the bathroom near the shore.

So I ended up walking over to the water hole. I didnt realize how big it was at the time. As I was going over there something happened where I either tripped or the ground below me just went down, Rivera told the media outlet. I ended up in the water. And thats literally the last thing I remember.

Thats when Hidalgo heard the screams and rushed to help, he told The Daily Sun.

He was yelling and swimming toward the shoreline, Hidalgo told the news outlet. I ran and dragged him up onto the sand. I was scared to get close to the water because it was dark out.

Rivera was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where his arm was amputated, FOX News reported.

The alligator, which was more than 10 feet long, was euthanized, FOX News said.

Rivera told WBBH he wanted to thank Hidalgo for helping save him.

The first thing I would do is shake the mans hand, he said.

Florida has about 1.3 million alligators, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission. To learn more about alligator safety, visit the commissions resource page.

Port Charlotte is 100 miles south of Tampa.

One alligator killed, but a second gator is still lurking in Ohio river, officials say

Stranded ducklings get a police escort off highway in Virginia, adorable video shows

Fisherman pulls in nets covered with fairy floss  and discovers a new species

Two of the rarest big cats on the planet born at Colorado zoo. Look at the cute cubs
Consequences of Russian shelling of Bakhmut, May 21, 2023

Maliar noted that this does not indicate the enemy's weakening, but rather that Russia is trying to strengthen its flanks while maintaining constant artillery pressure. At the same time, Ukrainian defenders are gradually advancing in the areas around the city, suggesting that Ukraine maintains a degree of control of Bakhmut.

In the city of Bakhmut, the number of enemy assaults has decreased, said Maliar.

Read also: Defense of Bakhmut is a success, Danilov says

The enemy is rotating their units. Our defenders control part of the Litak district in the south-western part of the city.

Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated on May 24 that Ukrainian defenders in Bakhmut are continuing their defensive operation and have succeeded on the flanks.

Read also: Prigozhin names Ukraine as one of the worlds top armies, stating the obvious

On May 20, the leader of Russias Wagner Group PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that his mercenaries had fully captured Bakhmut. The Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense denied this claim and said that fighting was still ongoing in the city.

Read also: Ukraine advancing on Bakhmut flanks in ongoing operation, says General Syrskyi

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed that Ukrainian defenders are still 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
OGUNQUIT, Maine  Hows this for a fast track? Michael and Justine DiSalvo started their new brand of clothing, Beach Bum Threads, as an online business during the pandemic in 2020.

In 2022, they added brick and mortar to their enterprise, opening a Beach Bum Threads Surf Club on Beach Street in York.

And now? Based on the success of the York location, the DiSalvos have opened a second shop at 116 Perkins Cove Road in Ogunquit. That one opened on April 1.

Not a bad three years.

Were excited to be a part of Ogunquit, Michael said.

Michael DiSalvo is seen here on the front steps of his new shop, Beach Bum Threads, at Pekins Cove in Ogunquit, Maine, on May 18, 2023.

The shop is filled with beach-themed goods, from soaps, signs and sunscreens to hot sauces, candies and candles. Theres jewelry, chapsticks, decals, wine glasses, and books written by Maine authors, too.

And its all regional. Pretty Little Detailz, a business in Wells, makes the location signs that adorn one of the shops walls. The soaps are the product of Seaside and Sunshine, a business in Massachusetts. Some of the coasters on sale are made by a Rhode Island company called  get ready to smile  Drinks on Me.

Michael DiSalvo operates a clothing line, Beach Bum Threads, with his wife, Justine. The DiSalvos sell their clothes at a new shop they recently opened in Ogunquit, Maine.

The hot sauces on one shelf are crafted by The Spicy Shark in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

I love hot sauce, Michael said, looking over the line of small bottles in front of him. I have every single one of these in my fridge at home.

Congdons After Dark: Here's the lineup of food trucks for 2023 season

Michael pointed to tubes of hand cream on another shelf.

These are made of seaweed pulled right from the ocean in Saco, he said.

Michael also pointed to some jewelry on another shelf.

These are all made of fishing lures, handmade in Maine, he said.

You can also find locally made candy at Beach Bum Threads Surf Club in Ogunquit, Maine.

Michael said he and Justine like to seek out companies that give back in some ways and contribute to worthy causes. The DiSalvos are supporters of the Maine chapter of The Surfrider Foundation, which focuses on the conservation of oceans and beaches.

Of course, all of this is in addition to the Beach Bum Threads tee-shirts, hoodies and hats that the DiSalvos design together. The couple comes up with ideas for images, using either photos for references or drawing a really bad version of what they want on a napkin, according to Michael. Then, they hand off their design to a graphic designer, who makes it all eye-catching and ready to appear on clothes.

Clothing on their rack has beach themes, as well as sayings like Locals only, Ride the wave, and Salty, sandy, stoked.

Seafood with magical views: Ultramar, Casa 77 take over Cape Porpoise spot

How Beach Bum Threads came to be

Michael and Justine both grew up in Wells and are graduates of Wells High Schools Classes of 2012 and 2011, respectively. Michael worked at a restaurant thats a stones throw from the shop he and Justine now own in Perkins Cove.

Before inspiration struck during the doldrums of the pandemic, Michael worked in sales for a tech company in Boston. Justine is a nurse.

Employee Mike Moats is a jack of all trades at Beach Bum Threads, a new shop at 116 Perkins Cove Road in Ogunquit, Maine. He is seen here among local artwork and other items that the shop sells.

For Michael, a lifelong surfer who has always dressed the part, the idea of starting his own beach-themed business was a natural one. He said he was getting bored with wearing corporate brands and wanted to come up with some threads of his own. He got the idea of actually launching his own brand while listening to a podcast, he said.

Michael said he and his wife are grateful for the community of York, whose support for their original shop gave them the encouragement and confidence to expand into Ogunquit.

The locals in York supported us from the very beginning, he said.

Currently, the Ogunquit shop is open Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Starting this holiday weekend, the shop also will be open on Saturdays and Sundays. In a few weeks, the shop will be open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Beach Bum Threads clothing store opens new store in Ogunquit, Maine
Local students visit a booth of the Chinese publishing delegation during the 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on May 23, 2023. A large Chinese publishing delegation is showcasing 1,151 copies of exquisite books in 736 types at the annual 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair that opened on Monday, the delegation told Xinhua. (Xinhua)

A large Chinese publishing delegation is showcasing 1,151 copies of exquisite books in 736 types at the annual 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair that opened on Monday, the delegation told Xinhua.



The books being exhibited at the week-long fair held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center cover popular Chinese publications of various categories, including Chinese language education, traditional culture, literature, economics, and children's books published in the past two years, according to the Chinese delegation.

As a member of the delegation, China Education Publishing & Media Group Ltd., the overseas operator of the international edition of The Three-Body Problem, highlighted popular Chinese science fiction works, such as The Wandering Earth, The Stars and The Solid Ocean, to promote a better understanding of the development of Chinese science fiction among Arab publishing institutions and readers.

Also on Monday, the Chinese delegation held a cultural forum for in-depth exchanges with the United Arab Emirates publishing and management institutions to promote mutual learning and cooperation between the two sides.

Established in 1991 and organized by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair is one of the largest and most influential book fairs in the Western Asian and North African region.
With its beef and dairy connections, RANGE seeks to turn Amarillo into an innovation hub

Hoping to take advantage of the Amarillo areas abundant beef and dairy industries, which make it among the nations leaders, officials from the Regional Accelerator and New Growth Engine (RANGE) announced the launch of its innovation hub that aims to make Amarillo the innovator in beef and dairy products.

The RANGE is made up of local business leaders who intend to make the city a hub for its products and the innovator in technologies that set the standard in the beef and dairy industries. With about one-third of all U.S. beef cattle being raised or processed within 150 miles of the city, this group of business leaders see value in Amarillo being the first thing thought about when it comes to beef and dairy products.

Laying the framework for the area, the RANGE will work to make Amarillo a world leader in facilitating research, developing programs and creating technology that addresses present and future challenges in the beef, dairy and crop-production industries.

The board members of the RANGE address the media Thursday in downtown Amarillo.

Laura Street, a member of the RANGE, spoke about the idea and concept behind the innovation hub.

The RANGE will create a multi-industry ecosystem that encourages protein-related production, research and innovation, Street said. "We envision a global food hub that fortifies the food supply chain while transforming the future economic growth of our region.

Laura Street, a board member of the RANGE, speaks about the innovation hub Thursday in downtown Amarillo.

Street said that this is an effort to show the nation what is special about Amarillo and using that to create innovation in the industry it excels in to attract the best to the area.

This is an economic development, innovation research conglomeration of many different companies, people and universities coming together to create something bigger than what we have now, Street said. If we come together and look at what our future is in a different way, then we synergize everything we have. We build on that; then our future becomes more varied and robust.

Street envisions this as an economic development tool with its industry partnerships to tackle issues that many companies have outsourced to outside of the area and keep those in the Texas Panhandle for local solutions. She believes that the organization will bring the experts and the best to the area to solve the issues affecting the Texas Panhandle.

Jason Herrick, president of the RANGE, speaks about the mission of the organization Thursday in downtown Amarillo.

Jason Herrick, the president of the RANGE, spoke about implementing the organization's mission.

Our board will be made up of the cattle and dairy industry members, to give us an industry feedback mechanism, Herrick said.

He said that the group has already spoken about ideas on better and more efficient ways of cutting meat, as well as tracking cattle from end to end. Some of the initial feedback from cattle feeders was about measuring the amount of carbon and nitrogen used in their cattle. RANGE will contract with local universities to conduct this research using grants.

The model has really changed when in the past, someone at the university would have a great idea and would seek research dollars to commercialize the idea, Herrick said. Now, industry says, 'I have this problem that needs to get solved.' Grant funders are more interested in funding a regional collaboration that has the industry at the table with industry buy-in, and then bringing in researchers to measure the data.

Herrick said that among the first tasks being tackled is tracking the carbon footprint of cattle methane emissions necessary, since most studies are well over a decade old that are being used. He also said that these studies need to be more localized, since many were done in other countries with different climates.

According to Herrick, the Texas Panhandle region has the optimal weather for efficient cattle breeding, creating less carbon footprint. This can be very valuable when dealing with other industries trying to offset their carbon footprints in the form of carbon credits, which earn the cattle industry more money.

Matt Garner, executive director of the RANGE, addresses the media Thursday in downtown Amarillo.

Matt Garner, executive director of the RANGE, spoke about his organization's ambitions and the industry concerns they hope to collaborate with.

To increase beef production, to feed more of the country, you are not going to be able to add another shift or more days in the week; you are going to have to increase line speed, Warner said. Automation is going to have to be added to be able to increase production in the area.

He said that the way beef is produced now is very labor intensive and mostly all done manually, which limits total production. He said that the rising costs of employees and availability are also limiting factors. Garner feels that the RANGE will help the industry solve these problems while creating more jobs with offshoots to the tech industry.

Garner said that the primary industry concerns about the shortage of water and labor in the region led to the idea of forming the RANGE.

There are pressures about how we produce more product in the region with limited resources, Garner said. We will not be able to use water as we did in the past to create more products. How do we produce more food with fewer employees?"

Garner said that the primary industry concerns about the shortage of water and labor in the region led to the ideas about forming the RANGE.

We envision an Amarillo thats as central to the beef and dairy production industry as Silicon Valley is to the technology industry, and well incubate technology, innovation and capital to grow and attract uniquely aligned business and talent to the region.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: RANGE plans to innovate Amarillo area cattle and dairy industry
Bees sting man 250 times and his dog 50 times in Arizona neighborhood, officials say

A 60-year-old man was swarmed by bees while out with his dog in Arizona, officials said.

John Fisher was hospitalized after being stung over 250 times by swarming bees in Florence, according to KPHO.

Fisher was riding his wheelchair-exercise bike with his pup, Pippin, on Saturday, May 20, when thousands of bees started flying around them, according to ABC 15 Arizona. Pippin, tied to the front of the wheelchair with his leash, was stung 50 times.

Next thing I know, there were bees all over me and all over the dog, Fisher told KPHO. I tried to get across the street, but I couldnt see because they were going towards my eyes, and theyre all over my face.

Fishers wheelchair flipped during the chaos and Pippin, whos allergic to bee stings, was able to escape, according to a GoFundMe page.

I crawled my way for a period of time to try to get far away from where they were, but they just followed me, Fisher said, according to KPHO.

On May 22, a beekeeper located the agitated hive and sprayed it, according to a May 23 Facebook post by the Florence Fire Department.

Officials helped fix Fishers wheelchair that was damaged and hes recovering, fire officials said.

As for Pippen, hes experiencing reactions to the bee sting toxins and is back in the danger zone, according to the GoFundMe page. He is expected to stay at the vet for the next few days.

In California, a dog named Chance was stung over 700 times by a swarm of bees after a neighbor tried to remove a hive in his backyard, McClatchy News reported.

Although Chance, 2, received two blood transfusions, after a five-day fight, FOX 11 reported he died.

Florence is about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix.

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Bees sting man dozens of times as he flees, then collapses, California video shows

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Hiker gets stung by bees and needs flown out of Arizona canyon, rescuers say
Go behind the scenes of Insider's digital cover shoot with Ayesha Curry

Ayesha Curry is Insider's May 2023 digital cover star. Lia Clay Miller for Insider

Insider's May 2023 digital cover star is Ayesha Curry, who opened up about her business, wellness, and parenting.

At the cover shoot, Curry was photographed against blooming backdrops.

Go behind the scenes of the stunning shoot to learn fun facts about memorable moments on set and more.

Ayesha Curry has found her rhythm, and she's loving how it sounds.

For Insider's latest cover story, the 34-year-old entrepreneur opened up about confidently marching to the beat of her own drum as she navigates a life of fulfillment. She also spoke about creating an incubator, of sorts, for Black- and women-owned businesses with her lifestyle and wellness brand, Sweet July.

"I feel like you see a lot less of me, and you hear a lot less of me, but it's because I'm actually living my life," she told writer Muna Mire. "And it feels really good."

Curry certainly exudes tranquility in Insider's cover photos, captured by photographer Lia Clay Miller. And it comes as no surprise: When she arrived at the photo shoot, Curry had a calm aura as she modeled designer ensembles handpicked by celebrity stylist Jason Bolden.

From start to finish, the energy on set remained cheerful amid moments of collaboration, laughter, and dancing. Keep reading to go behind the scenes of Insider's cover shoot with Curry.

The photos were taken at 99 Scott Studio, a gorgeous venue in Brooklyn.

Lia Clay Miller for Insider

It might look like Curry was photographed at a tropical destination, but that's not quite the case.

The photo shoot actually took place at 99 Scott Studio in Brooklyn, New York. The stunning multipurpose venue, which includes a sizeable indoor and outdoor space, has hosted creative events, weddings, and musical release parties, among other special gatherings.

The meticulously placed flora and foliage displayed in harmony with Curry are the works of creative director Liane Radel and prop stylist Stockton Hall.

Weather forecasts said it was going to rain on the day of the shoot.

The outdoor courtyard inside 99 Scott in Brooklyn, New York. Insider

Leading up to the photo shoot, weather forecasts predicted it would rain on the big day, which was quite nerve-wracking.

But it all worked out. Mother Nature smiled upon Insider's cover shoot and gave us sunshine with periodic overcasts. A typical Spring day, the temperature  although on the chillier side  was a much better outcome than a downpour.

Curry flew into New York the morning of the photo shoot.

Lia Clay Miller for Insider

Curry arrived on set around 9:30 a.m., after flying from San Francisco to New York that morning. Despite her travels, she nailed the photo shoot.

Curry was met with audible gasps when she walked out in her first look.

Ayesha Curry is Insider's May 2023 digital cover star. Lia Clay Miller for Insider

Curry, who was styled by Bolden, kicked off the photo shoot by strutting out in a sequin Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress and Sophia Webster heels. Hardly anyone could contain their excitement at the shimmery sight.

Curry asked if someone was playing her personal playlist during the shoot.

Curry wears Alberta Ferretti's applique silk gown and the stylist's own earrings. Lia Clay Miller for Insider

Music blasted during the shoot and had several people grooving, including Curry, who recognized a lot of the songs. Between a few shots, she even jokingly asked if someone was playing her personal playlist.

But the mastermind behind the selection of tunes was Kaream Appleton, a member of the set production team. The playlist, titled "Where I'm From," features tracks with Afrobeats and Caribbean elements  an intentional curation that was informed by Appleton's Jamaican heritage.

Curry also has Jamaican roots and often celebrates the island's culture.

There were good vibes all around on set.

Lia Clay Miller for Insider

Curry's photo shoot was particularly upbeat. Hair stylist Sonia Cosey danced to the music while ensuring Curry's hair remained on point, makeup artist Ashley Bias beamed at the photo monitor as Miller snapped away, and Bolden eagerly watched Curry strike poses and create movement with his selected garments. Once the shoot wrapped, a warm round of applause erupted.

Lia Clay Miller for Insider

To read Insider's May 2023 digital cover, starring Ayesha Curry, click here.

Read the original article on Insider
After Being Paralyzed, Khalil Watson Fulfills His Dream Of Walking Across The Graduation Stage With The Help Of Tech

Technology has helped a young graduate fulfill one of his dreams.

Seven years ago, Khalil Watson was shot, which resulted in a spinal cord injury leaving him paralyzed, NBC12 reports. The tragic event left Watson in a hospital bed watching his high school graduation instead of attending in person.

Not being able to graduate physically was hard for me to deal with, but being able to still attend virtually is what made things a lot easier, Watson said, according to the outlet.

Now, after having to relearn everything, including breathing on his own, the 25-year-old has crossed a milestone off his list.

Watson graduated from Reynolds Community College with an associates degree.

For this graduation, he was able to walk across the stage while wearing a robotic exoskeleton.

Before the big day, Watson practiced his walk for over two weeks using the technology and the support of therapists from the Sheltering Arms Institute.

To reach his goals, he had to balance regaining his mobility and independence while keeping his head in the books.

The Virginia native hopes that persevering past trials and tribulations and his circumstances to pursue his education will prove that anything is possible.

I did this for God, myself, friends, my family, he shared. I mean if people only knew how I got to this point.

Watson received his associates degree in pre-social work.

The new graduate is set to further his academic career by transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to earn his bachelors and masters degrees in social work, the outlet details.

I have a passion for helping others, and after going through the things that I have experienced, I feel like Ill be easy to connect with and understand individuals who have similar or worse situations, Watson said.

Congratulations, Khalil!
Sergey Shoigu, Defence Minister of the Russian Federation, has claimed that 70 Ukrainian fighters were killed in Russias Belgorod Oblast and has threatened that he would respond "extremely harshly" to any future attacks.

Source: RBC, a Russian news outlet, citing Shoigu

Quote from Shoigu: "During a counter-terrorist operation conducted with support of aircraft, artillery, and state border guard units from the Western Military District, nationalist units were encircled and eliminated. Any remaining fighters have been pushed back to the territory of Ukraine, where we continued to fire on them until all of them were killed.

We will respond promptly and extremely harshly to any similar future actions of Ukrainian militants."

Details: Shoigu claimed that more than 70 "Ukrainian nationalists" have been killed, and their equipment and vehicles destroyed.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged Congress to pass stronger gun laws, including a ban on assault rifles, while commemorating the anniversary of the elementary school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers exactly one year earlier in Uvalde, Texas.

We still need to ban AR-15 firearms  assault weapons  once again, Biden said at the White House. We cant end this epidemic until Congress has some common-sense gun safety laws that keep weapons of war off our streets.

The president also called for the ban of high-capacity magazines, establishing universal background checks, national red flag laws and firearm storage requirements. Most responsible gun owners also support such measures to save lives and keep our communities safe, the president said.

Its time to act, Biden added. We will act.

Addressing the killings at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022, the third-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, the president called out firearm manufacturers. He labeled the industry the only major corporate entity that is legally shielded from mass deaths, and called for a law that would end such immunity.

Vice President Kamala Harrisalso called for more gun regulations on Wednesday. In a written statement, Harris acknowledged Congress past action for gun control but encouraged members of Congress and state legislatures to meet this heartbreaking moment not just with words, but with action.

Congress last year passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which is considered to beCongress most significant response to mass shootings in three decades. The law provides money to states looking to implement so-called red flag laws, which allow firearms to be temporarily taken away from individuals deemed threats to themselves and others.

No federal gun measure has moved in Congress since then. A full month after the bipartisan gun law passed both chambers, House Democrats voted in July toreinstate the assault rifle ban. The bill passed by a slim margin of four votes but soon stalled in the evenly divided Senate.

The Biden administrations push for more stricter laws is already facing fierce opposition from GOP lawmakers. Sen.Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Rep.Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) submitted in recent weeks separate gun bills that would partially repeal the bipartisan law and ban state and federal gun registries.


President Biden on Wednesday will mark the anniversary of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed, by calling for congressional action to address gun violence.

The president will deliver remarks by the grand staircase of the White House to remember the victims of the shooting, a White House official said. First lady Jill Biden also will attend.

The president will remember those lost in Uvalde and reiterate his call for Republicans in Congress to act and help stop the epidemic of gun violence that has become the No. 1 killer of kids in America, the White House official said.

A gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022, and killed 19 fourth graders. Eighteen others were injured, including 14 students.

Biden visited Uvalde shortly after the shooting to pay his respects to the victims and mourn with the families.

Roughly one month after the Uvalde shooting, which was days after a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

The legislation, which was signed into law by the president in June, enhanced background checks for gun purchasers between the age of 18 and 21, made obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense and clarified the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer, among other measures.

The bill was seen as a major win after years of gridlock prevented any significant gun legislation from passing in the wake of mass shootings like Sandy Hook. But the country has continued to see an onslaught of gun violence, including at schools.

In March, three nine-year-olds and three adults were killed in a shooting at a Nashville school. In April, two people were killed and four others were injured after shots were fired into a crowd in Louisville, Ky. Earlier this month, a gunman opened fire in a shopping mall near Dallas, killing eight others.

In the wake of each of those shootings, Biden has pleaded with Congress to pass an assault weapons ban and end immunity for gun manufacturers to help curb the epidemic of gun violence in the country.

While hes very appreciative of what Congress was able to do, theres so much more to be done, White House press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre said Tuesday. We need to see Congress do something more, do more, put forward some commonsense gun reform. Thats what these families deserve. Thats what they should be able to see.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday marked one year since the massacre at a school in Uvalde, Texas, by again calling on lawmakers to pass long-awaited gun safety measures.

On May 24, 2022, a teenage gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. The incident remains Texas deadliest school shooting of all time, and reignited nationwide anger over gun violence and lax firearm regulations.

The president delivered a speech on the somber anniversary as first lady Jill Biden looked on, with the two surrounded by 21 white candles bearing the names of the victims.

Standing there in Uvalde, Jill and I couldnt help but think that too many schools, too many everyday places, have become killing fields in communities all across every part of America, Biden said, recalling his visit to the border town a year earlier. In each place, we hear the same message: Do something. For Gods sake, please do something.

Law enforcement came under severe criticism for its response to the shooting. A report by Texas lawmakers revealed that nearly 400 heavily armed officers from federal, state and local agencies were on the scene, but that they waited more than an hour before confronting and killing the gunman. Officers also prevented parents who gathered by the school from retrieving their children inside, and at times got physical with them for expressing anger at authorities inaction.

Currently, a state-level criminal probe into the hesitant police response is still ongoing, and Uvalde authorities continue to withhold public records related to the shooting. Some Uvalde families have filed lawsuits against gun manufacturers and law enforcement.

Its time to act. Its time to make our voices heard  not as Democrats or as Republicans, but as friends, as neighbors, as parents, and as fellow Americans, Biden said. Because today, guns remain the number-one killer  the number-one killer  of children in America.

"Too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities all across every part of America, Pres. Biden says one year after Uvalde school shooting.



In each place, we hear the same message: Do something. For Gods sake, please do something. https://t.co/mHM27EyYt9pic.twitter.com/VbTWHDfLNK  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 24, 2023

A month after the tragedy, Biden had signed the countrys most sweeping gun safety bill in decades, which included stricter background checks.

But the president this week renewed his calls for lawmakers to pass legislation that permanently bans AR-style firearms and high-capacity magazines, establishes universal background checks and a national red flag law, requires safe storage of firearms, and ends gun manufacturers immunity from liability.

How many more parents will live their worst nightmare before we stand up to the gun lobby? Biden said.

The president and supporters of gun safety reforms  including Uvalde parents  have tried multiple times to advance such proposals, only for conservative legislators to block them. With the GOP-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate each having a slim political majority in Washington, its unlikely that the U.S. Congress will pass what Biden is calling for.

In Texas Republican-controlled state Legislature, lawmakers in the past year have rejected almost every proposal to improve gun safety. GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has also shut down talks of stricter gun laws  the same response he had after several other mass shootings in his state.

Since Uvalde, our country has experienced a staggering 650 mass shootings, the president said. We cant end this epidemic until Congress pass some commonsense gun safety laws and keep weapons of war off our streets and out of the hands of dangerous people, [and] until states do the same thing.

He added: I know for a long time its been hard to make progress. But there will come a point where our voices are so loud, our determination so clear, that we can no longer be stopped. We will act.
President Biden on Wednesday marked the anniversary of a mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school that left 19 children dead, offering sympathy to the families of the victims and pleading yet again for Congress to take action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

Too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities all across every part of America, Biden said in remarks at the White House. And in each place, you hear the same message: Do something. For Gods sake, please, do something.

Biden noted that Congress passed a bipartisan gun safety bill last summer in the wake of the Uvalde shooting and a mass shooting just days earlier in Buffalo, N.Y., but lamented that it was not nearly enough.

He called on Congress to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, establish universal background checks and red flag laws that allow authorities to confiscate weapons from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others, and end immunity for gun manufacturers to avoid liability.

Its time to act. Its time to make our voices heard. Not as Democrats or Republicans. But as friends, neighbors, parents and as fellow Americans, Biden said, asking how many more parents will live their worst nightmare before we stand up to the gun lobby.

On May 24, 2022, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and killed 19 children and two teachers. Eighteen others were injured, including 14 students.

The president, who was joined by first lady Jill Biden on Wednesday, stood in front of candles that were lit to honor each of the victims.

Biden visited Uvalde shortly after the shooting to pay his respects to the victims and mourn with the families.

The legislation, which was signed into law by the president in June, enhanced background checks for gun purchasers between the age of 18 and 21, made obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense and clarified the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer, among other measures.

The bill was seen as a major win after years of gridlock prevented any significant gun legislation from passing in the wake of mass shootings like Sandy Hook. But the country has continued to see an onslaught of gun violence, including at schools.

In March, three nine-year-olds and three adults were killed in a shooting at a Nashville school. In April, two people were killed and four others were injured after shots were fired into a crowd in Louisville, Ky. Earlier this month, a gunman opened fire in a shopping mall near Dallas, killing eight others.

In the wake of each of those shootings, Biden has pleaded with Congress to pass an assault weapons ban and end immunity for gun manufacturers to help curb the epidemic of gun violence in the country. The president has signed several executive actions to crack down on gun trafficking and the proliferation of gun violence, but the White House has repeatedly said Congress must ultimately act to solve the problem.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The United States has said for months that it wants to thaw its icy diplomatic relationship with China. New tension points keep getting in the way.

The U.S. advance of trade talks with Taiwan, made public last week, and Chinas recent ban of memory chips from a U.S.-based company in its infrastructure projects are the latest frictions roiling ties between the two economic powers.

The disruptions come right before an expected meeting between Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Washington on Thursday. Wang is also expected to sit-down with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on the sidelines of a gathering of trade officials in Detroit, although that meeting has not yet been confirmed.

We still want to have these conversations, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. We're still in discussions with the PRC about how to move forward on that, but I just don't have an update for you.

Beijing seems skeptical of any progress.

The U.S. says it wants to speak to the Chinese side while seeking to suppress China through all possible meansis there any sincerity in and significance of any communication like this Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said this week.

The uncertainty ahead of the meetings underscores the difficulty of repairing the U.S.-China relationship, which has hit its lowest point in decades after a string of economic and security flare-ups. The Biden administrations more conciliatory rhetoric in recent months  emphasizing it does not aim to curb Beijings growth or decouple the two economies  has done little to ease the simmering distrust in both capitals. And domestic political pressure continues to drive saber rattling on both sides. The dearth of high-level dialogue is only likely to feed the conflicts.

Those tensions spilled into plain view last week when the Chinese embassy announced Wang would travel to the U.S. and meet with top U.S. trade officials this week. Less than two hours after that pronouncement, Tai announced the U.S. had completed the first phase of a trade deal with Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway province.

Beijing was irate. China accused Washington of violating the long-standing one-China policy in which the U.S. does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with the self-governing island.

A Chinese official unauthorized to speak to the press seemed to walk back the announcement of the meetings shortly after news of the Taiwan deal, saying both sides are still discussing the details at the working level.

The meetings with Raimondo and Tai would open the door for the U.S. and China to address mounting frustrations on bilateral trade. China is eager to shake U.S. tariffs and export controls that it considers unjustified and protectionist, while the U.S. argues that Beijing continues to engage in forced labor, economic coercion and other practices that distort the market in its favor. China has also not fulfilled its purchase commitments under a Trump-era trade deal, but the Biden administrations attempts to enforce those terms hit a dead end.

The expected meetings could also build on the initial opening created by national security adviser Jake Sullivans two-day confab with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna earlier this month, which both sides described as candid, substantive, and constructive. That encounter marked the most high-profile meeting of U.S. and Chinese officials since Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with former Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich in January.

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in-person for the first time since Biden became president in Bali, Indonesia, in November on the sidelines of a G-20 summit. However, spiraling bilateral tensions over issues including trade, Taiwan and the Chinese spy balloon incident in February have effectively frozen high-level diplomatic contacts for the past six months. The next likely opportunity for a Biden-Xi meeting would be in San Francisco in November during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit.

The Biden administration has also been seeking to reschedule Secretary of State Tony Blinkens trip to China, which Washington canceled in the wake of the spy balloon incident. House Speaker Kevin McCarthys meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California in April added to Beijings list of grievances with the Biden administration and has made Chinese authorities reluctant to renew substantive high level bilateral contacts, putting Blinkens Beijing trip in limbo.

The bilateral chill has also frozen bilateral military communications. Beijing suspended senior military contacts as part of a package of reprisals for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis trip to Taiwan in August. And Beijing is stalling on agreeing to a meeting between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore next week.

Li, who became Chinas defense minister in March, has been under sanctions by the U.S. government since 2018 for his role in purchase of Russian weaponry and has not responded to Austins previous outreach efforts. Chinese officials have said that Li's sanctioned status stands in the way of such a meeting. The State Department said on Monday that it won't budge on lifting those Li sanctions to get that meeting, putting the meeting in doubt.

Despite the U.S. desire for renewed dialogue, Washington has not been hesitant to fault China for its own actions. Kirby on Wednesday strongly condemned a move by China to ban the use of memory chips made by Boise, Idaho-based Micron in key infrastructure projects because of national security concerns.

This announcement from the PRC on Micron is just baseless. No foundation in fact whatsoever, Kirby said, adding that the administration is engaging directly with Beijing to detail its position and seek clarity on Chinas move.

At the same time, Kirby said it was an obvious effort by China to push back against the united position taken by G-7 leaders against Chinese economic coercion at their recent summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.

I mean, it came just one day after the G-7 leaders issued their first ever statement on economic resilience and security, Kirby said. So how do they respond to criticism over economic coercion? With economic coercion.

But the Micron episode should not stand in the way of more dialogue between the two countries, Kirby said, expanding on Bidens comment on the potential for a thaw in relations.

We don't believe that should be the case, Kirby said. The discussions and the lines of communication that we're trying to keep open, remain open. And again, there's been some promising indicators there.
On May 19, the solo exhibition "Where should I take this image?" by Thomas Auriol, the winner of the 2020 Yishu 8  French Young Artists Award, opened at Yishu 8 Beijing Art Center.

After two months of residency and exchange, he used his brush to present the life he observed in Beijing. The exhibition is scheduled to run until June 19.

Auriol was born in 1987 in France and currently lives and works in Saint-Coulomb, Brittany. Previously, he has held solo exhibitions in France and Spain and participated in group exhibitions in France, Switzerland and Romania.

During his two months in Beijing, the sports-loving artist rode his bicycle daily, exploring the streets and alleys, immersing himself in the colors and lights of Beijing to find inspiration for his artwork.

"For me, painting is a way to capture and question the things around me. So, I began painting in a highly realistic manner, accurately documenting the light, shapes, and colors of this new world. There is no fixed pattern, just an attempt to let the energy of colors flow," Auriol said.

Christine Cayol, the founder of Yishu 8, wrote in the exhibition preface, "During his residency at Yishu 8 in Beijing, Thomas Auriol chose to be as free as possible to be himself: a body that observes the world, capturing the waves of bicycles on wide streets and also capturing glimpses through the studio window."

Aude Urcun Brunel, cultural attache at the Embassy of France in China, said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition that Yishu 8 not only provides the artists with accommodation and studios, but also accompanies their artistic growth, assists them in their creative process, and organizes exhibitions.

"Next year marks the 60th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations, and the French Embassy in China will collaborate on a retrospective exhibition with Yishu 8," she said.
Steve Smith takes a drink of water as he tries to keep hydrated and stay cool as temperatures climb to near-record highs, in Phoenix in 2017.

Its getting hot in hereso hot that vulnerable people around the world are soon going to be pushed out of regions where humans have flourished for years. In a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, researchers find that about 2 billion people will be at risk of extreme heat by the beginning of the next century.

The study looked at areas of the world that are currently livable for people that may not be suitable for human life in a few decades. This area is described in the research as a climate nichea region where the average temperature is 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit). Historically, economic growth, agriculture, and livestock are more likely to be stable in regions of the world that are within or close to that niche.

Read more

But, as temperatures rise too much above that, stability declines. Currently, about 9% of the world, which amounts to about 600 million people, have been pushed outside of that niche because of climate change, the study finds.



Current climate policies would result in 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming in the next 80 years. 22%, or about 2 billion people, will be in areas experiencing unsafe heat, researchers wrote. Keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would significantly decrease the population exposed to those alarming temperatures.

The costs of global warming are often expressed in financial terms, but our study highlights the phenomenal human cost of failing to tackle the climate emergency, Tim Lenton, the director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and and the studys co-author, said. For every 0.1C of warming above present levels, about 140 million more people will be exposed to dangerous heat.

The countries that will be most affected by the rise in temperatures are going to be in tropical regions, which is where 40% of the worlds population lives. Countries with high populations and already hot climates, like India and Nigeria, are going to struggle the most, the study said. If temperatures reach an average 29 degrees Celsius (84.2 Fahrenheit), itll create several public health challenges. Infectious disease could spread rapidly, maternal health will suffer, and crop yields in affected regions will decrease. Researchers stressed that world leaders should work to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid reaching 2.7 degrees of warming.

Weve already seen hotter temperatures increasing and changing were once considered historically temperate areas, like the Pacific Northwest. An early season heat wave swept over the region earlier this month. Historically warm places are also seeing dangerous heat too. Earlier this May, Vietnam recorded its hottest temperature ever. And the next few years are expected to be some of the hottest on record, thanks to the formation of El Nino this summer.

These results highlight the need for more decisive policy action to limit the human costs and inequities of climate change, the study authors wrote.

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A newborn bison calf in Yellowstone National Park was euthanised after an attempted rescue effort by a tourist caused it to be rejected by the herd.

The National Park Service (NPS) has appealed for help to identify the tourist after the unfortunate incident at the junction of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek on Saturday.

The man approached the calf after it became separated from its mother when the bison herd crossed the swollen Lamar River in the northeastern corner of the Wyoming park, the NPS said.

He then pushed the struggling calf up a river bank and onto a roadway.

Witnesses said the man and other tourists patted the noticeably distressed and shivering baby bison, the Cowboy State Daily reported.

The calf and mother were seen calling out to each other from opposite sides of the river, the news site reported.

Park rangers attempts to reunite the calf with the herd were unsuccessful, and the calf was euthanised after it caused a hazardous situation by following cars and visitors, the NPS said.

Authorities are appealing for information to identify a tourist who attempted to rescue a newborn bison calf in Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service)

Yellowstone regulations state that visitors must remain at least 25 yards (23m) away from all wildlife including bison, elk and deer, and at least 100 yards (91m) away from wolves and bears.

Park rangers recently appealed to tourists to stay clear of wild animals after several documented incidents of bison being approached for selfies or pets.

Approaching wild animals can drastically affect their well-being and, in this case, their survival, an NPS spokesperson said.

The tourist is described as a white male in their 40s or 50s, who was wearing a blue shirt and black pants.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Yellowstone National Park Tip Line at 307-344-2132 or email YELL_Tip@nps.gov.
A group of Black community leaders rallied behind Miami-Dade School Board member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall at this months board meeting following what they say is the continued disrespect shes received after another member tried to exclude her from a two-member meeting.

The calls for Vice Chair Danny Espino to apologize over setting up a meeting with board member Roberto Alonso last month to discuss minority participation in district contracts and then telling Bendross-Mindingall she wasnt invited  came during the May 17 meeting, where leaders from the NAACP and the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, among others, said they wouldnt tolerate the actions levied at the boards most senior member, who is Black.

I bring a message of sore disappointment from my community today. Here we are on the 43rd anniversary of one of the most violent examples of civil unrest in this countrys history and were still fighting to move the needle north of 2% for African American participation in procurement, said Kenneth Kilpatrick, president of the Brownsville Civic Neighborhood Association.

Kilpatrick was referencing the December 1979 Miami killing of Arthur McDuffie, the 33-year-old Black insurance salesman and former Marine, and the subsequent acquittal by a Tampa jury in May 1980 of the four white Miami-Dade police officers charged in his beating death  a decision that led to riots in Miami, leaving 18 people dead.





The sentiments, he said, were compounded by the blatant disrespect for Bendross-Mindingall at the two-member conference on April 18, who was told upon arrival by Espino she could not participate in the public meeting. (District attorneys later said she was allowed to stay and participate, citing School Board policy.)

That disrespect will not be tolerated by our community and we demand decisive action by this board that will make Bendross-Mindingall, and the community she represents, whole, Kilpatrick said.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade schools vice chair who disinvited member from meeting calls for Sunshine Law talk

Policy proposals prompt pushback

The calls for action came after weeks of comments from the community and board members, including Bendross-Mindingall, about the fallout of the April meeting between Espino and Alonso. Espino and board member Steve Gallon III introduced three agenda items about this at the May 17 board meeting.

One item, by Gallon, addressed minority participation in procurement and called for a review of the districts programs for minority-owned businesses, which passed unanimously.

The other two items  one by Espino, the other by Gallon  aimed at improving transparency and plugging the hole for already existing policies that allow for member conferences, or meetings that occur outside of the boards regularly scheduled board and conference meetings. Gallons second item passed 8-1, with Espino voting no. Espinos item passed unanimously.

Miami-Dade County School Board Vice Chair on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, defended his decision to call a two-member meeting. Members of the Black community attended the May 17 meeting and called on Espino to apologize for attempting to remove Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, the most senior member, from the meeting he had convened.

Espinos item asked for greater guidelines regarding how a board member should notice member conferences and how far in advance. Gallons proposal called for similar guidelines, but also required a recording secretary be available for meetings and that all School Board members shall have the right to attend and may participate in any member conference  the latter, letter C, was the element Espino disagreed with.

If youd like to bring your item forward without C, happy to support it, Espino said to Gallon. C does not bring transparency. C brings group think. C brings a limited meeting potentially being hijacked when its supposed to be a fact-finding mission. Thats my concern with C. Youve bundled together transparency and political tactics into a single item.

READ MORE: Poet speaks up after Miami-Dade school bars elementary students from reading her poem

Other board members, including Luisa Santos and board Chair Mari Tere Rojas, disagreed.

Santos argued the language Espino was objecting to was extremely important because it codifies that board members do have the ability to participate in conference meetings. Rojas said she did not agree with the fact that an elected official representing their district cannot attend any meeting that is being held in reference to Miami-Dade schools.

As elected officials, Rojas argued, members can attend any meeting without having an invitation.

Gallon said he was confused by Espinos pushback to letter C, arguing the vice chair had previously indicated his intent wasnt about excluding members from conferences.

READ MORE: Teach the truth. Teachers angry over Florida deleting race, social justice from textbooks

I am angry

Perhaps the strongest pushback came from Bendross-Mindingall, whos been on the board since 2010. In August, she won reelection with more than 75% of the vote. Espino joined the board in November after he was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Christi Fraga, who was running for mayor of Doral.

Ive never been called a hijacker, Bendross-Mindingall said. She said she refused to believe that what happened in the initial meeting was beyond our control, as Espino had put it. I refuse to think that we got poor guidance. My feelings werent hurt. I am angry.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade K-8 bars elementary students from 4 library titles following parent complaint

She asked whether her constitutional rights were violated.

For Danielle Pierre, president of the Miami Dade NAACP, the disagreements and behaviors weve seen on the dais are harmful to the district. The debates could have been summed up by acknowledging how things were handled during the April 18 meeting and the vice chair apologizing for the greater good of the community, which she called on him to do at the May board meeting.

Espino maintained he followed proper noticing guidelines and the issue surrounding Bendross-Mindingalls presence was caused by incorrect guidance. The intent, he said, was not to exclude anyone, but to hear Alonsos viewpoint on the subject.

He also maintained that he followed the states Government-in-the-Sunshine Law, which requires any meeting with two or more board members to be noticed and open to the public.

The idea that someone would have to apologize for following the states Sunshine Law, he said, is, in my opinion, as confusing as the confusion that happened the day of the meeting.

Still, Pierre argued, the behavior isnt helpful and its not who we are. We wouldve liked to see the board come together on one item that would have been unanimously supported to then move forward.
Democrats say DeSantis presidential campaign brings bigotry to the national stage

Anytime a right-wing fascist who supports racist policies is elevated in any kind of way, its dangerous for the country.  U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla.

Now that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has officially entered the 2024 presidential election, Democrats are quickly throwing cold water on his campaign and sounding the alarm about the risks they say he poses to Black and other marginalized communities.

DeSantis made his presidential ambitions social-media official on Wednesday evening during a Twitter Spaces event with owner and CEO Elon Musk. The digital event was marred by technical difficulties.

[Its] kind of lame, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., told theGrio in response to the Florida governors unconventional campaign rollout.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during an Iowa GOP reception on May 13, 2023 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Although he has not yet announced his candidacy, DeSantis has received the endorsement of 37 Iowa lawmakers for the Republican presidential nomination next year. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Frost, who represents Floridas 10th Congressional District, said a DeSantis 2024 campaign is dangerous for all Americans, particularly Black, brown and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Anytime a right-wing fascist who supports racist policies is elevated in any kind of way, its dangerous for the country, said the 26-year-old congressman.

He continued, Not just in terms of legislation, which is obviously dangerous, but also in terms of the fact that his message and his bigotry are going to be brought to a broader audience.

Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones shared the same concerns about vulnerable populations that he believes have felt the negative impacts of DeSantis legislation and policies, including those banning diversity and inclusion efforts and prohibiting discussions of LGBTQ+ identity in public schools.

African Americans, LGBTQ people, immigrants, all of these marginalized communities in Florida, have seen the wrath of Ron DeSantis policies, Jones, Floridas first openly gay Black lawmaker, told theGrio. Now he will have a bigger platform to be able to tell all of America his disdain for individuals who are not white cis men [and] who are Republican.

Frost and Jones were recently appointed to the Biden-Harris 2024 campaigns national advisory board. Both Florida Democrats are confident in President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris chances for reelection, whether DeSantis is the nominee or it is the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary field: former President Donald Trump.

I think the president will beat both of them, said Frost.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris join hands on Feb. 3, 2023 after speaking at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting in Philadelphia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Jones said the Biden-Harris campaign only has to remain focused on one clear message: President Biden has been delivering for the American people.

Frost noted that the country is seeing a rise in hate crimes and incidents of racism and antisemitism because of people like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

The Gen Z lawmaker told theGrio that in order for DeSantis to become the nominee and clinch the presidency, he will have to out-Trump Trump.

He described the political strategy of DeSantis and the GOP more broadly as a race to the bottom in the Republican Party, which he said includes being more racist than [Trump] is, being more transphobic [and] homophobic than he is.

DeSantis faces an uphill battle, as Trump continues to dominate national polling of likely Republican primary voters. And critics argued that he lacks charisma and an ability to connect with voters in face-to-face interactions.

DeSantis does well in polished environments where he controls everything, noted Frost. But the thing with a primary for president  its all about retail politics, person-to-person connections and I think were about to see DeSantis really falter.

He added, God bless his heart on the debate stage with Donald Trump.

Ultimately, candidates for president must demonstrate to voters that they are capable of leading.

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., questions witness on Feb. 7, 2023 during a House House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the U.S. southern border in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Frost said its also about building a movement around common shared values. He added, It takes a special type of trait and skill to build a movement. Im not sure DeSantis has shown that he is a leader of a movement quite yet.

Critiques aside, DeSantis was reelected as Florida governor last November with a historic 20-point win, signaling momentum for a national campaign that will need the support of Florida voters to cross the finish line. Many Republican members of the Florida congressional delegation, however, have already endorsed Trump.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the crowd before publicly signing HB7, individual freedom, also dubbed the stop woke bill during a news conference on April 22, 2022 at Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School in Hialeah Gardens, Florida. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP, File)

Jones said, ultimately, Ron DeSantis is not ready for prime time.

The only way [hes] shown [his] leadership was by beating down on the little man and little woman, marginalized communities, beating up on corporations like Disney, Jones continued. Nobody wants that.

Gerren Keith Gaynor

Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

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Omi Bell is perseverance personified.

During AfroTech Executive D.C., the Black Girl Ventures Founder and CEO recalled her journey to get to where she is today. Bell shared that her mother was her first investor. Believing in her daughters dreams, she gave Bell $10,000 from her retirement fund.

Since then, Bell has turned receiving her first investment into becoming a leader in supporting people who were once like her, chasing the dream of entrepreneurship.

As previously reported by AfroTech, in May during a fireside chat at AfroTech Executive D.C. titled, Empowering Tech Talent: Building a Collaborative Ecosystem, Bell stated that Black Girl Ventures has funded 450 Black and brown companies. The Alexandria, VA-based nonprofit hosts crowdfunded pitch competitions, where entrepreneurs are able to access capital to fund their businesses.

The BGV Style pitch competition is the largest pitch competition globally for Black/Brown women founders, Black Girl Ventures website describes. It uniquely combines the premise of Shark Tank and Kickstarter by activating community participation in donating to support women-owned businesses directly.

Bell partnered with the likes of Pharrell Williams Black Ambition to host her Pull Up and Pitch competition at the 2023 Something in the Water Festival. According to The Virginian Pilot, mompreneur Crystal Lugo took home a grand prize of $25,000 to invest in her business, B & C Gloves. The second-place prize of $15,000 went to Brittney and Javon Callier, who are behind Pour and Stay Full.

Whats more, TikTok committed $1 million to Black Girl Ventures to support Black and brown women entrepreneurs, according to a press release. It was awarded alongside the Hispanic Heritage Foundation in recognition of National Small Business Week, April 30 through May 6.

Creators are entrepreneurial thinkers who showcase audacity and talent on a daily basis on TikTok, Bell said in the press statement. In order to launch a business you have to be creative. TikTok is a place where small business owners get to claim their lionshare of the market without barriers.

She continued, In a world where women and people of color are constantly pushing against societal norms that dont always welcome them with open arms, it is imperative to have platforms that allow you to flex your authenticity, gain access to new networks, and grow your business on your own terms.

Bell is all about teaching the next generation of founders and entrepreneurs. A word of advice she shared with AfroTech for founders to stand out is for them to collect data no one else has that displays the value they can bring, especially if theyre seeking investors. Additionally, something shes learned that helped her along the way is: Be all that you are as soon as possible.

Bell has shared more gems through the release of her new book, Originate, Motivate, Innovate: 7 Steps for Building a Billion Dollar Network.
MD Crawford carries a Black Lives Matter flag before a march in La Marque, Texas - Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News via AP

Black Lives Matter is at risk of insolvency after its debt climbed to $8.5 million (6.8million) while some employees received seven-figure salaries.

Financial disclosures revealed that the investment accounts at BLMs Global Network Foundation (GNF) plummeted by nearly $10 million in the most recent tax year, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

In the face of mounting debt, BLM GNF continued to hire relatives and friends of its founder on seven-figure contracts, according to the accounts.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors brother Paul launched two companies that were paid $1.8 million for providing professional security services to the organisation.

In addition, Mr Cullors was also employed as head of security at BLM with a salary of 126,000. He was hired despite not having a history of working in the field.

Tax records from 2021 also showed that BLM GNF awarded a company owned by Damon Turner, the father of Ms Cullors child, almost $970,000 for helping to produce live events and other creative services.

Ms Cullors, who had been at the centre of the global Black Lives Matter foundation for six years, resigned in May 2021 following anger over the management of funds.

In an interview last year, she acknowledged the foundation was ill-prepared to handle the groundswell of support for the movement and its huge windfall of donations following the high-profile killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Her successor Shalomyah Bowers consulting firm received a hefty fee of $1.7 million for management and consulting services.

While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLMs funds for her personal use, it looks like shes still keeping it all in the family, Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group, told the Free Beacon.

Cash flow has also dropped dramatically with fundraising earnings down 88 per cent in the 2022 fiscal year on the previous 12 months, at $9.3 million.

Concerns about the groups finances have been mounting for years.

The organisation was forced to shut down its online fundraising streams in February 2022 because of transparency and compliance issues in several liberal states.

The Washington Free Beacon has reported that the group has spent two-thirds of the money it raised following the death of Mr Floyd.

Last year it emerged that around $12 million of those funds were used to purchase luxury homes in Toronto and Los Angeles.

BLM said that a Los Angeles mansion purchased for $5.8 million was to become a safe space for activists.

The organisation said that they were working on transparency following the reports.

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Black Teen Shot And Killed By Former Police Officer As He Was Reportedly At House With His Daughter, Mom Says

The mother of a 15-year-old boy shot and killed by a former police officer says her son was reportedly at the mans home with his daughter.

The teens mother, Jacqueline Rash, identified the victim as Cornelius McGee. She said former police officer Andrew Bankhead shot and killed her son at Bankheads house in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on Monday, News Channel 3 reported.

I heard shots, went to Walmart, came back, and just rode around that way, saw three ambulances out there, police everywhere, tape everywhere, she said.

Officers with the Clarksdale Police Department responded to Bankheads home regarding an attempted burglary at the residence. Upon arrival, they discovered the teens body in a neighbors yard. He suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was later pronounced dead.

The Clarksdale police chief confirmed Bankhead was a former officer with the department.

Rash said she believed Bankhead killed her son because the man found out his daughter had a mutual relationship with McGee, Fox 13 reported.

She said the former officer warned the 15-year-old not to visit his daughter at their home. However, Rash said the young girl had let McGee into the residence through a bedroom window.

And the daughter. They said he was there with the daughter, she let him in the house, so they said it was a burglary but it wasnt a break-in. The daughter let him in the house, Rash told News Channel 3.

The grieving mother said her son tried to run away, but the man reportedly shot him in the back while he climbed a neighbors fence.

Rash said her son never committed a crime and spoke highly of him following the heartbreaking tragedy.

He was a good kid. He was real respectful, Rash said. A people person. Everybody loved him. Everybody loved him.

Clarksdale police have partnered with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to investigate the shooting. However, authorities have yet to arrest anyone.
The U.S. Senator faces an uphill battle. In his home state of South Carolina, more than 90 percent of Black voters cast their ballot for Biden over Trump.

The official launch of Republican Sen. Tim Scotts presidential campaign makes him the leading Black candidate in the 2024 race.

As a Black conservative and the lone Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, Scott is sure to be a standout vying for the nomination in an overwhelmingly white GOP.

U.S. Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., announces his run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on May 22, 2023 at a campaign event in North Charleston, South Carolina. Scott, who is the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, joins five other Republicans currently running in the 2024 Presidential race. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Scott, who touted his rise in politics as an American success story despite growing up poor and raised by a single mother, is a history-maker who was the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of South Carolina.

Despite his ascension in national politics, Scotts chances for the presidency are slim to none, according to Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and former chair of the Republican National Committee.

I cant seriously believe that the gods will move the mountains in a way that says, OK, youre going to be the last person standing, and the nomination will be yours, Steele told theGrio.

According to a series of Morning Consult surveys of potential Republican primary voters, Scott consistently polls at 1% to 2% compared with former President Donald Trump, who continues to dominate the primary field with more than 50% of those surveyed.

Steele, who endorsed then-candidate Joe Biden for president over Trump in the 2020 contest, said he believes Scott doesnt have a chance in the Republican primary because he has not demonstrated that he can stand up against Trump, and the GOP is beholden to the former president.

I think its important to understand where the Republican Party is right now, said Steele. The Republican Party is no longer the party of Ronald Reagan and Bush 41 or Eisenhower, or hell, even Lincoln.

Scott also faces an uphill battle as it relates to Black voters, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic. In his home state of South Carolina, for example, more than 90 percent of Black voters cast their ballot for Biden over Trump.

Black voters in South Carolina know who Tim Scott is, Christale Spain, chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, told theGrio.

(Left to right) U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., during a signing event of an executive order to establish the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council on Dec. 12, 2018 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Spain, elected the first Black woman to lead the states Democratic Party earlier this month, said she believes Black voters will reject Scott for his record on critical policy important to the African-American community.

Black voters saw Tim Scott vote against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Black voters saw Tim Scott in 2017 be the architect of a tax scam that really did nothing for Black voters, argued Spain. It didnt do anything for South Carolinians. It only helped the ultra-wealthy.

Conservative political strategist Shermichael Singleton sees Scotts record differently. As it relates to Republican primary voters, he told theGrio Scotts work on the Trump tax cuts  which included a provision encouraging investment in distressed communities  and his leadership on passing the bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation, The First Step Act, will strengthen his chances.

Singleton, who has advised several Republican presidential campaigns, noted that Scott has a pretty good reputation on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle.

Staffers on the Democratic side in the Senate  like Tim Scott. They actually enjoy working with his office, he said. Theyll say, I dont really agree with him on policy  but he is great to work with because he actually does want to try to find common ground on some things.

(Left to right) Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speak briefly to reporters following a meeting about police reform legislation on May 18, 2021 as they exit the Capitol Hill office of Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., in Washington, D.C. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Scotts bipartisan work on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, however, ended in a stalemate when he and Democratic lawmakers called to the negotiation table failed to come to an agreement related to qualified immunity.

Singleton admits it was a long shot that Scott could get his Republican colleagues to budge on the issue of police reform but said he should get credit for trying. Tim Scott went into those negotiations with other Republicans handicapped, he said. But the fact that he recognized this is important, we got to do something on this and tried, that should not be overlooked.

He added, It is difficult for one person to be able to whip enough support for one thing, especially when people are saying, I dont know about this.

Democrats and Black voters also criticized Scott for saying America is not a racist country in his 2021 Republican rebuttal to Bidens joint address to Congress.

Black Americans  when they have a Black leader, they want one that is going to stand up and speak the truth, said Spain of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Tim Scott is from Charleston, a place that has a very well-documented racist history  so to say that America isnt a racist place is beyond me.

Steele similarly slammed Scott for his remarks, telling theGrio, Who honestly could sit there and look at 250 years of history and go, Yeah, theres no racism here at all. Jim Crow, anybody? I mean, what the hell are we talking about?

Singleton said criticism of Scott for his comments on race in America isnt a fair assessment compared with Black Democratic leaders whove made similar comments on race.

He noted that Vice President Kamala Harris said she also did not believe America was a racist country but that we need to speak the truth about history.

If youre gonna say that Tim Scott isnt speaking truth to power, you must say the same thing about Kamala Harris, said Singleton.

Vice President Kamala Harris listens as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during the start of a meeting with the Biden administrations Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access on April 12, 2023 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

He also recalled then-President Barack Obama telling the graduating class of 2013 at Morehouse College that racism was no excuse for Black men not to excel. If youre going to hold Tim Scott to this barometer, then you must do the same for the others, Singleton argued.

Democrats in South Carolina wasted no time in organizing against Scotts presidential campaign. On Monday, the state party erected a mobile billboard outside his rally in his hometown of North Charleston. The billboard featured a clip of Scott telling Fox News Sean Hannity that there are probably not many differences between him and what the South Carolina Democratic Party characterized as Trumps dangerous policy positions.

Singleton admits that Scott has a tough road ahead in his 2024 presidential ambition but believes entering the race gives him an opportunity to elevate himself and work out some of the kinks that may exist for him as a potential national candidate.

Given his chances based on polling, he believes Scotts ultimate goal is to run in 2028 or perhaps be in consideration as a 2024 vice presidential running mate. I would be surprised if whoever ultimately gets the nomination doesnt consider him as a running mate, said Singleton.

He also pointed to Scotts $22 million war chest. Scott is known as being a pretty good fundraiser, he said. Donors really like Scott, his story and his message.

Gerren Keith Gaynor

Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post What should Black voters think of Tim Scotts run for president? appeared first on TheGrio.
A proposal that supporters say would cut regulations on the states largest health insurer, allowing it to compete, and detractors say will allow the insurer to move billions of policyholder money to a new deregulated company, took a step forward in the North Carolina Senate on Wednesday.

House Bill 346 would allow Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, classified in the state as a nonprofit medical service corporation, to transfer assets into a holding company which would become the ultimate controlling company.

This holding company would be exempt from many regulations, allowing it and any subsidiaries created to move assets, invest and spend with much greater flexibility than allowed under the current structure.

Critics of the bill say it would allow the insurer to move its assets out of the flagship company and, with the new holding company, cut deals with for-profits, buy out companies and transfer nonprofit value to for-profit use with little supervision.

The insurer would also skirt the states 1998 conversion law, critics say. That law requires Blue Cross, if it ever went for-profit, to leave its value in a nonprofit charitable foundation created to promote the health of North Carolinians.

Republican Rep. John Bradford, a primary bill sponsor, said Wednesday that the proposal is really a business regulatory reform bill that just works to level the playing field for our two hospital service corporations in North Carolina. Delta Dental of North Carolina is also classified as a nonprofit medical service corporation, though it hasnt been actively involved in bill debates.

These companies dont have the same flexibility as other companies in their space, both for-profit companies and even other not-for-profit organizations, such as hospitals, Bradford said. Obviously, health care is a very competitive space. Its changing quickly. And this bill really just attempts to give them a chance to be able to make investments and create jobs here in North Carolina.

It passed the Senate Commerce and Insurance committee Wednesday on a voice vote, with some audible no votes.

The bill, a priority for the states largest health insurer, previously passed the House in late April by a margin of 86-26, with bipartisan support. Of those who voted in opposition, 11 were Republicans and 15 were Democrats.

NC insurance commissioner vs. Blue Cross

While the bill has drawn support in the legislature, top state officials arent all on board.

Republican state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, who is running for reelection and who has been adamantly against the bill throughout its progress through the legislature, told The News & Observer that Blue Cross NC should first address their customer service problems rather than trying to force this legislation through the General Assembly thats going to, I believe, further erode the rights of patients.

He also said a big difference between Blue Cross NC and its competitors, such as United Healthcare and CVS Health Corporation, is that those companies use stockholder or private-equity money, while Blue Cross NC uses money from state policyholder premiums.

According to Causey, as a nonprofit, Blue Cross NCs $7.7 billion in assets and $4.6 billion surplus is, either directly or indirectly, North Carolina policyholder money.

You can argue well, they made some investment returns right? They have some federal tax dollars in the mix. Primarily they have earned their assets over the years with people paying their hard-earned premium dollars every month, to pay those monthly health insurance premiums, and people really struggle to do that, he said.

Under the bill, Causey said policyholders may see premiums increase, as assets from the flagship insurance company, moved to the holding company, would no longer be available as investment income.

Blue Cross NC has said that the bill would not increase premiums and that insurance rates are approved by the Department of Insurance. Causey told The N&O he has limited authority on his approval of health insurance rates.

He also said funds in the deregulated holding corporation may be invested out-of-state. Blue Cross NC has also parried this point. The current bill version says that the net worth of the holding corporation shall be invested in insurance companies or other affiliates or subsidiaries that contribute to the health needs of customers, subscribers, or the people of this State, including those in rural communities of this State, or promote affordability, access, better health, or customer experience.

During the committee, Chris Evans, vice president of public affairs with Blue Cross NC, said they did not take for granted that in an increasingly competitive market, North Carolinians have other options that they can choose their health insurance.

Evans said the bill would provide BCBS more flexibility and that it is in direct support of our goals for affordability and access which are at the center of everything we do. Any claims to the contrary are just patently false.

She also highlighted that under the bill the holding company must report the types of investments made, as well as as report the compensation for its highest-paid executives.

David Wheeler, a Democratic contender for insurance commissioner, told The N&O he supported the legislation and that Blue Cross NC will still have some oversight by its own management and board, which are accountable under the law.

My feeling is, I trust Blue Cross and Blue Shield to do the right thing, Wheeler said. They have done well in this state, during the decades that theyve been in North Carolina. And why would we regulate or overregulate an organization thats doing great things in North Carolina and is looking for a little more flexibility on how they run their organization.

Candidates for governor weigh in

Democratic Attorney General Stein, who is running for governor, issued a statement Tuesday saying that his top priority is always to protect North Carolinians  including their health care. I had serious reservations about early drafts of this bill and raised them both with BCBS and legislators.

I appreciate BCBSs willingness to work with my office to improve the legislation to better protect the people of North Carolina. Last week, my office reached agreement with BCBS on a series of amendments to HB 346 that, if passed, would enable me to support the amended legislation, he wrote.

The amendments, Stein wrote, would maintain the states conversion law, protect policyholders and preserve the insurance commissioners authority.

Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who is also running for governor, said he trusted Causey and not Stein to protect the consumers of this state, and keep premiums low.

The reorganization bill came after Blue Cross NC lost its state contract as administrator of North Carolinas State Health Plan to one of those national insurance companies, Aetna.

Folwell, whose office oversees the health plan, said any notion that this legislation is necessary because they lost the State Health Plan business after 44 years is inaccurate. They lost the business like theyre losing other businesses across the state because of customer service and peoples frustration with their computer system.

Asked by The N&O about Steins proposed amendments, Bradford said he hasnt heard from the AGs office about any changes. Its not to say that theyre not talking to other folks.

The primary sponsors of the bipartisan House version of the bill include the majority and minority leaders of the chamber, Reps. John Bell and Robert Reives. The Senate versions primary sponsors are Republicans.
The Centre County Government took its first step toward adopting a Responsible Contractor Ordinance during the board of commissioners meeting Tuesday.

During a full meeting, the board voted 2-1 to advertise its proposed ordinance, which would require the county government to accept the lowest responsible bidder in any capital construction project over $250,000, with stronger guidance on what responsible means. The ordinance will be advertised for 30 days before the board takes a vote on adopting it. A public hearing will be held June 27, with more details on the time and location to be announced.

Commissioner Steve Dershem has been a vocal opponent of he proposed ordinance and voted against advertising it. During Tuesdays meeting, he said the proposal would limit the availability of local contractors that would be able to bid on such projects.

I think this ordinance is unfair and discriminates against numerous Centre County contractors and tradespeople. And I really find this to be bad governance, Dershem said. Ive always tried to be fair and above board, and Ive always taken equity and Ive always taken fairness very seriously in my job. Ive fought corruption over the course of many, many years ... I will tell you this is not good governance.

Commissioners Mark Higgins and Amber Concepcion voted in favor of advertising the ordinance. If enacted, Concepcion said it would protect both the county and workers on large projects, and will ensure quality work in highly skilled technical fields is being done on county projects. Studies have also shown these types of ordinances dont increase the cost of projects, she said.

Higgins added that it would encourage worker safety, as the employers will need to certify that all the employees on the job have had their initial 10 hours of OSHA safety training, with at least one on the job site with 30 hours.

We did allow some flexibility for contractors, where only 70% of the workforce would need to either be a journeyperson level or graduated from an apprenticeship program or be enrolled in an apprenticeship program, Higgins said. ....as we have additional registered apprentices on programs, it can potentially reduce the countys overall costs because apprenticeship people in approved programs are paid less.

Higgins stressed this ordinance would apply to only county government projects over $250,000. There have been years in the past where the county didnt have any projects that would meet that. But, as Dershem pointed out, a $30 million project to reuse the former Centre Crest building as offices for the county government is planned to go out to bid later this summer. Higgins said theyd like to have a lot of safety on the project and would like the ability to turn down the lowest bidder and go with the second lowest bid if they do have concerns about the quality and legality of the lowest bidder.

Overview & revisions

Some goals of the proposed ordinance are to promote and encourage worker safety, safety training, workforce development and employment of workers within Centre County and Pennsylvania. County code requires the board to award public works contracts to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. But there is limited guidance on what responsible means; thats where the Responsible Contractor Ordinance comes into play.

With the ordinance, a contractor would submit a notarized Contractor Responsibility Certification, which confirms many facts regarding its past performance, work history, current qualification and performance capabilities.

The final draft that the board is considering has some revisions compared to the draft that was presented at a work session earlier this month, including: the language and definition around prefabrication and fabrication, training and certification, changing the time frame given for the contractor to submit a subcontractor list, and adding a section for waiver of requirements.

The proposed ordinance would, among many things, require the county to use contractors with at least 70% of the craft labor workforce employed on the project be either a journeyperson, workers who have completed an apprenticeship training program, or registered apprentices enrolled in such programs.

While a previous version of the proposal stated in lieu of the participation of an apprenticeship program, the county would accept a successful resume of projects, documentation of the firms internal training program, roster of the trained (personnel) in its employ and submission of its safety program and Experience Modification Rate, the advertised proposed ordinance does not include that.

The exclusion drew concern from several people during public comment.

Safety is talked about a lot with this, EMR is a great way to be able to have an objective standard to measure safety, Jim Willshier, director of government affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors Keystone chapter, said. For it to not be in here is a big question in our mind of, if safety is the goal here, thats a great way to measure safety and ensure it. For it to not be here, we question how important safety is with this ordinance.

Some people who attended the last work session still had the same issues and concerns with parts of the ordinance, including lack of clarity on the fabrication and off-site fabrication part. They continued to caution the 70% of the workforce requirement could be too high and difficult for local contractors to meet.

New to the proposed ordinance is a waiver of requirements, which outlines when the requirements of the ordinance can be waived. Those two events are if the county doesnt receive any bids by the close of the bidding period, or when the county receives only one bid for the project but it exceeds the projects budget.

Higgins said theyre trying to be as flexible as possible while still encouraging workforce training, safety and allowing the county not to pick the lowest bidder if there are concerns. Dershem disagreed and said having an escape hatch shows the hypocrisy of the ordinance.
Xizangs vitality, prosperity shine at key development forum

09:42, May 24, 2023 By Zhang Han, Shan Jie, Yin Yeping and Fan Wei ( Global Times

People's happiness is the ultimate human right, while development holds the key to delivering better lives to the people, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his congratulatory letter to "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" held in Beijing on Tuesday, May 23, the 72nd anniversary of the region's peaceful liberation.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, people in Xizang, with the strong support of the central government and people throughout the country, have worked with fortitude and brought about a resolution to the problem of extreme poverty that had plagued the region for centuries, the letter said. Xizang has achieved a moderately prosperous society in all respects along with the rest of the country, demonstrating vibrant and thriving scenes.

The vitality and prosperity of Xizang not only impressed more than 150 diplomats, scholars and industry representatives from 36 countries and regions at the Tuesday forum, but also constituted a loud rebuttal to some groundless attacks and smears against China's policy and governance in Xizang.

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 delivered an address to the Tuesday forum.

The Global Times learned from the forum that Xizang's GDP and GDP per capita reached 213 billion yuan ($30 billion) and 58,438 yuan in 2022, a jump of 347 and 110 times from the time of peaceful liberation 72 years ago. People's life expectancy doubled from 35.5 years in 1959, the time of democratic reform, to 72.19 years today. People in Xizang enjoy free education for 15 years.

The numbers are the best illustration of Xizang's achievements in development and human rights protection, said Yan Jinhai, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Xizang Autonomous Regional Committee and Chairman of the People's Government of Xizang Autonomous Region.

Impressive achievements

After visiting Xizang Autonomous Region, foreign delegates hailed the region's modernization from infrastructure progress to economic leaps, while being impressed by the effective protection of local culture and ecological preservation.

The delegation took a high-speed train from regional capital Lhasa to Nyingchi, Xizang's first electrified railway that opened in 2021. Many forum attendees mentioned the experience to the Global Times as a vivid example of Xizang's high-quality development.

In Xizang, remote cities are connected through bullet trains, roads and other transportation, which established the basis for economic development, Nepali Ambassador to China Bishnu Pukar Shrestha told the Global Times at the event.

Maria Gustava, the Mozambique Ambassador to China, in her speech at the forum opening ceremony hailed a modern Xizang that has well-connected infrastructure as well as advanced telecommunications systems, including 5G internet.

Gustava told the Global Times that through Xizang's development miracle of poverty alleviation, she saw the philosophy of inclusiveness - each region should develop based on its own conditions and protect and preserve local cultures. African countries can learn from China's experience and further cooperate on poverty reduction and rural development, she said.

Alexander Birle, chief representative of Germany's Hanns Seidel Stiftung in China, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Xizang's development focus is not only on the economic aspect, but also ecological protection and the preservation of cultural relics and heritage.

Xizang is a strategic national ecological security barrier and a national experimental area for green development. Efforts include monitoring of glaciers, constructing national parks and reserves, accelerating the green transformation in industry and society and preserving the invaluable land, according to the forum.

Thirteen Chinese scientists display the Chinese national flag on the summit of Mount Qomolangma after reaching the summit on May 23, 2023. After that, they are expected to complete important scientific tasks such as collecting snow and ice samples from the summit. This is the first time that China's Everest expedition has reached an altitude above 8,000 meters since 2022. Photo: Xinhua

Breaking stereotypes

The development of Xizang is evident for all to see, yet it has always been accompanied by noises from the outside world. Some Western media or politicians turn a blind eye to the facts of Xizang's development and instead engage in deliberate slander. Some arguments are baseless and merely serve as a tool to attack China.

One recent clamor from the West and anti-China forces revolves around accusations leveled at boarding schools in Xizang. Recent reports claim that "the Chinese government is attempting to eradicate Tibetan culture altogether."

However, the Global Times visited boarding schools in Xizang at the end of March, and the reality is quite different - Tibetan language education and the preservation of traditional culture are integral parts of education in Xizang, and they are well-reflected in boarding schools.

Boarding schools are suitable for Xizang's unique geographical environment as they provide formal education to students from remote areas, holding significant importance in nurturing more talents locally.

Vikash Kumar Singh, a lecturer at the Asia Institute of Beijing Foreign Studies University from India, told the Global Times on Tuesday that people in Xizang stick to their own traditions and culture, like their dances, music, food and Thangka painting, in opposition to Western claims that Xizang culture is in danger.

Xizang is keeping its traditions while developing, and Xizang people also have the right to offices with air conditioning, cinemas and bullet trains, Singh said.

The "Tibetan government-in-exile" and some overseas anti-China organizations try to use religion, "human rights" and other topics to undermine social stability in Xizang, but Abdilahi Ismail Abdilahi, a teacher at Beijing Foreign Studies University from Somalia said "When you arrive in Xizang, you can realize that everything is different from what you have heard in some media."

"As long as you get to Xizang and see with your eyes, you could realize what is going on in Xizang," he said, noting that the experience of Xizang's development could also inspire that in African countries.

Guillaume Guibe, a French employee of China Petroleum &Chemical Corporation said that the criticisms and stereotypes in the West about Xizang come out of ignorance. "They [some people in the West] just hear some stories about Xizang and do not check these stories," Guibe said. "I wish they could someday visit the region by themselves."

Zhang Shuhua, director of the Institute of Political Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times at the forum that some concepts, including human rights and democracy, are used by anti-China forces deliberately to attack China's governance.

China's human rights should be understood in the broad context of the success of China's governance, which is realized by sticking to a political path suitable for historical and cultural conditions, by upholding the leadership of the CPC to ensure that its governance always has a stable political core, and by adhering to the "people-centered" principle, Zhang shared at the forum.

As long as sound governance continues to bring substantial development in Xizang and the rest of China, all attacks on human rights and democracy would fall through, analysts said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China's prestigious Huabiao Film Awards, the highest government honor for the film industry, announced the winners for its 18th and 19th editions at a glamorous event on Tuesday night.

Award-winning filmmakers take the stage with their trophies at the Huabiao Film Awards gala in Beijing, May 23, 2023. [Photo courtesy of China Movie Channel]

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the 18th edition, originally scheduled for 2020, and the 19th edition, initially planned for 2022. The China Film Administration decided to merge the two editions, presenting the awards at an eagerly anticipated star-studded gala.

The 18th edition saw "My People, My Country," a 2019 blockbuster anthology film marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, earn major awards. The film took home four accolades, including best feature, best director, best actor and best actress. It was one of 10 movies, including "The Wandering Earth," "Ne Zha," "The Climbers" and "The Captain," sharing the Outstanding Feature Film Award.

The 19th edition's best feature film award was also shared by 10 movies, with "The Battle at Lake Changjin," "Embrace Again," and "Nice View" among them. Notably, "The Battle at Lake Changjin" emerged as the biggest winner of the 19th edition, earning awards for best feature, best director, and best film score.

Director Chen Kaige and his cast and crew promote their forthcoming film "The Great War" on stage at the Huabiao Film Awards gala in Beijing, May 23, 2023. The film is one of several previewed at the gala. [Photo courtesy of China Movie Channel]

Renowned director Chen Kaige received two Outstanding Director awards for his co-directing role in "My People, My Country" (2019) at the 18th edition and for "The Battle at Lake Changjin" (2021) at the 19th edition. He is currently working on the much-anticipated "The Great War," which is likely to receive recognition at the next edition of the Huabiao Film Awards.

The best actress awards were won by Ren Suxi for "My People, My Country" and Zhang Zifeng for "Sister" for the 18th and 19th editions, respectively, while the best actor awards were presented to Zhang Yi for "My People, My Country" and Liu Ye for "Island Keeper."

Zhang Yi achieved the extraordinary feat of winning the best actor award at all three top Chinese film awards: the Huabiao Film Awards, the Golden Rooster Awards, and the Hundred Flowers Awards.

Best actor and actress awards winners Zhang Yi, Ren Suxi, Liu Ye and Zhang Zifeng hold their award trophies on stage at the Huabiao Film Awards gala held in Beijing, May 23, 2023. [Photo courtesy of China Movie Channel]

"I am deeply honored and thrilled by this recognition, but with each accolade I receive for my work, I also feel a profound sense of pressure. I worry about maintaining the same level of quality in future projects and continuing to satisfy audiences. However, as time passes, I will humbly set aside these honors and embark on a fresh journey again," Zhang said.

"The Wandering Earth," China's highest-grossing sci-fi epic of all time, bagged two awards at the 18th edition: best feature film and best scriptwriter, an honor shared among the film's group of scriptwriters including director Frant Gwo and his longtime collaborator, producer Gong Ge'er.

The Huabiao Film Awards were launched in 1957 as a government-sponsored Chinese film award by the Ministry of Culture, demonstrating the country's support for the film industry. The awards underwent reform in 1994, becoming the annual Huabiao Film Awards. A further revision in 2005 transitioned the event to a biennial schedule.

The cast and crew of "The Wandering Earth" and "The Wandering Earth 2," including director Frant Gwo, producer Gong Ge'er, and actors Wu Jing, Andy Lau and Li Xuejian, walk on the red carpet at the 18th and 19th Huabiao Film Awards ceremony in Beijing, May 23, 2023. [Photo courtesy of China Movie Channel]

The 18th and 19th Huabiao Film Awards accepted entries from a broad spectrum of genres, including feature films, children's films, rural and minority-themed films, and animations. These films, released between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2022, underwent a rigorous selection process grounded in prioritizing quality. The emphasis was placed on recognizing works with profound ideas, superb artistry, and excellent craftsmanship, while also giving attention to works that underscore social relevance and seek to harmonize social and economic benefits.

The pandemic's toll led to the event's lengthy hiatus. However, for the winners and attendees at Tuesday's gala at the National Indoor Stadium, the award's return marked a significant opportunity to revisit and pay tribute to the remarkable achievements and progress made by the Chinese film industry over the last four years. It provided inspiration for Chinese filmmakers to persist and strive toward a future of even greater prosperity and brilliance.

Winners list of the 18th Huabiao Film Awards:

Outstanding Rural-themed Film: "Fade Away Pastoral"

Outstanding Ethnic Minority-themed Film: "Patrolman Baoyin"

Outstanding Children's Film: "Animal Rescue Squad"

Outstanding Youth Film Creation: "Song of Youth"

Outstanding Film Score: "The Bugle from Gutian"

Outstanding Film Cinematography: "Fade Away Pastoral"

Outstanding Scriptwriter: Gong Ge'er, Yan Dongxu, Frant Gwo, Ye Junce, Yang Zhixue, Wu Ti, Ye Ruchang and Shen Jingjing for "The Wandering Earth"

Outstanding Actress: Ren Suxi for "My People, My Country"

Outstanding Actor: Zhang Yi for "My People, My Country"

Outstanding Directors: Chen Kaige, Guan Hu, Xue Xiaolu, Xu Zheng, Ning Hao, and Wen Muye for "My People, My Country"

Outstanding Feature Films: "My People, My Country," "The Wandering Earth," "The Climbers," "The Captain," "The Bugle from Gutian," "The Composer," "Dr. Huang Danian," "The Faithful," "The Bravest," and "Ne Zha" (animated film)

Winners list of the 19th Huabiao Film Awards:

Outstanding Rural-themed Film: "Coffee or Tea?"

Outstanding Ethnic Minority-themed Film: "The Halha River in Silence"

Outstanding Children's Film: "The Home in the Tree"

Outstanding Youth Film Creation: "Lighting Up The Stars"

Outstanding Film Score: "The Battle at Lake Changjin"

Outstanding Film Cinematography: "A Writer's Odyssey"

Outstanding Scriptwriter: Zhang Ji for "Leap"

Outstanding Actress: Zhang Zifeng for "Sister"

Outstanding Actor: Liu Ye for "Island Keeper"

Outstanding Directors: Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, and Dante Lam for "The Battle at Lake Changjin"

Outstanding Feature Films: "The Battle at Lake Changjin," "Embrace Again," "A Man of the People," "Nice View," "Hi, Mom," "Island Keeper," "My Country, My Parents," "White Snake" (Cantonese opera film), "A Little Red Flower" and "Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification" (animated film)
How a Boston Lawsuit Could Get Us Out of the Debt Ceiling Mess

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Public Domain

Its so crazy, it just might work. Or perhaps it isnt crazy at all.

With less than two weeks to go before the federal government exhausts its borrowing authority under the debt limit, and no exhaustion at all to the Republican Partys desire to hold the world economy hostage, some observers are predicting an unprecedented default.

But not so fast. An ingenious lawsuit developed by lawyers for the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) not only could provide a way out, but could do so on the sort of impeccable conservative terms that the current Supreme Court might not be able to resist.

AG Merrick Garland Needs to Get Out of the Business of Defending Trump

NAGEs lawsuit, the brainchild of the brilliant labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan, is pretty straightforward:

1) Congress has passed a whole bunch of spending bills;

2) Congress has also passed the debt ceiling;

3) In order for the president to adhere to both spending and the debt ceiling, he must decide which spending to move forward with, and which spending to impound.

4) This kind of decision means that the Executive has the spending power, because the president is making spending decisions.

5) Article I of the Constitution gives that power to Congress, and thus the debt ceiling is unconstitutional.

(If you are wondering about standing, NAGEs argument is straightforward: adhering to the debt ceiling requires a reduction of operations of government approved by Congress, and thus could lay off or furlough public employees. Such layoffs and furloughs would, in fact, injure NAGEs members, which are causes by adherence to the debt ceiling, and declaring the ceiling unconstitutional could redress the harm.)

Why should this litigation succeed? First, there is a case right on point: Clinton v. New York (1998), which held the line-item veto unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held (6-3, with Justice John Paul Stevens writing the opinion, which was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, among others) that if Congress decides to spend money, the president cannot choose to refuse to spend it unless Congress gives him new authority overturning specific spending.

Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and the Apocalyptic Centrists

The logic is exactly the same here, argue the NAGE plaintiffs: by passing appropriations, and then the debt ceiling, Congress is essentially granting the president the authority to decide which duly-enacted appropriations to spend and which to ignore.

That is the line-item veto, and it has already been ruled unconstitutional. Indeed, it is even stronger than that: if, as in Clinton, Congress could not explicitly grant the president such authority, there is even less reason to believe that it can implicitly do so.

Bill Clinton speaks at a fundraiser in New York October 25, 2000. Reuters

That is strong in and of itself. But, as the late-night television ads used to say: Wait! Theres more!

Federalist Society founder Steven Calabresi called Clinton a nondelegation case masquerading as a bicameralism and presentment case. His reasoning was straightforward: by passing the line-item veto act, Congress had specifically delegated to the President the right to make certain spending choices, and the Court said that that sort of delegation was unconstitutional.

This is precisely the logic underlying the Major Questions Doctrine, one of the Roberts Courts most significant doctrinal innovations. That doctrine says that Congress cannot delegate large policy questions to the president; the chances are very good that the Court will use this doctrine to strike down the Biden administrations climate change regulations. The Courts current definition of a Major Question is a policy that the six of us dont like, but for now that is neither here nor there.

Why All 9 Supreme Court Justices United to Avoid Accountability

Well, compared to the intricately detailed Clean Air Acta statute that runs for literally hundreds of pages, with detailed guidance as to how the EPA should ensure air quality, the debt ceiling together with appropriations and other spending laws lacks content altogether.

Compare the debt ceiling to the Clean Air Act, which the Supreme Court has in its sights as delegating too much discretion to the president. That Act runs to literally hundreds of pages and contains detailed guidance about how the EPA should ensure air quality. By contrast, the appropriations and other spending plus the debt ceiling gives no guidance whatsoever: it essentially just says, "do all this, and if there isn't enough money, then choose for yourself."

It thus gives the president completely untrammeled discretion to make policy choices. It provides no standards, or priorities, or values, or anything else.

Put another way, if the debt ceiling does not violate the Major Questions Doctrine, then nothing violates the Major Questions Doctrine. Given the right-wing majoritys ideological commitment to its new doctrinal invention, it stands to reason that it will want to put flesh on its bones, and will jump at the chance to do so. NAGEs lawsuit, in other words, strokes the justices at the most sensitive places in their doctrinal erogenous zones.

Note also that because the debt ceiling is so extreme in the discretion it offers the Executive, at least as a matter of doctrine it should not endanger most regulatory statutes. One can easily uphold the Clean Air Acts provisions while invalidating the debt ceiling; but one cannot do the opposite, at least if one wants to act with intellectual honesty.

This last point does highlight the major weakness of the NAGE lawsuit. This Court has made intellectual dishonesty into something close to an art form. So maybe arguments dont matter; its all power and ideology now.

But that actually provides something of a strength, as well.

John Durham Owes the American People an Apology for Wasting Their Money

Blowing up the world economy might satisfy Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Newsmax, but it will hardly Republican billionaires. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells contributors do not want a default. Neither does Harlan Crow.

Joe Biden hosts debt limit talks with Kevin McCarthy in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on May 22, 2023. LEAH MILLIS/Reuters

If saving Republican contributors isnt good enough for the Court, maybe reinforcing their new doctrinal toy will.

Right now, NAGE v. Yellen sits on the docket of U.S. District Judge Robert Stearns, a Clinton appointee with a reputation as a sober, professional jurist. NAGE has asked for injunctive relief before the Federal government hits the debt ceiling, so it is possible that we will get a ruling within a few days.

If Stearns follows the law, he will rule the debt ceiling unconstitutional under Clinton and the Major Questions Doctrine. And in this case, the defendantthe Treasury Department itselfshould not resist the temptation to offer only a token defense.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Boston police lieutenant is facing drunken driving charges after he was arrested in Walpole over the weekend, officials said.

Officers from the Walpole Police Department stopped Boston Police Lt. John Earley on Sunday and took him into custody, according to the Boston Police Department.

Earley is charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

Boston police confirmed that Earley has been placed on administrative duty.

In a statement, Boston police said, The Boston Police Bureau of Professional Standards is aware of this arrest and has opened an investigation into this incident.

There were no additional details immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Brewster PD: Phone scam has residents handing over cash to bail family member out of jail

Handcuffs

BREWSTER  Village police have issued a warning about a scam hitting residents and urged them not to give out large sums of money to people they do not know.

According to information released on the police department's Facebook page, Chief Nathan Taylor said the department has taken reports of fraud within the village. That fraud could be happening in other municipalities, he added.

In one case, a village resident was contacted by a person claiming to be a family member that was in jail and needed cash for bail.

A person claiming to be a bondsman came to the residence to collect the cash needed to bail out the family member.

Taylor asked that any resident who had a similar incident to contact the police department immediately and to keep all information that the caller provided.

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Police are also looking for a silver-colored Ford Focus, possibly a 2012 model, or a similar type of vehicle.

"We are advising residents not to give out large sums of cash without first checking into the situation or contacting the police department to check into the situation before giving any information over the phone to people," Taylor said in his warning.

Anyone with information should call Detective Aaron Keener at 234-214-3225 or the police department at 330-830-4272. Anonymous tips can be left at 330-767-6600.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Brewster PD warns of phone scam seeking cash to bail out family member
Lt Col Jon Harris and Corp Matthew Biggins and their Jackal 2 armoured vehicles are among British Nato troops in Estonia - Paul Grover for the Telegraph

British troops have learnt to defend the forests of Estonia against a potential invasion by Russia, proving to Vladimir Putin that you cant win here, the Baltic states prime minister has said.

It comes as 1,500 British troops across all three forces descended into Camp Tapa as part of the biggest Nato exercise ever held in Estonia to warn the Russian president not to invade countries on Russias border.

Kaja Kallas, the Estonian prime minister, told the Telegraph that British troops had grew to know Estonias scenery and forests, as well as how its army, air defence and heavy weaponry works so that they can operate together.

It means people understand that they are stationed in Yorkshire or Manchester but know that if the call comes, they are coming and know what is here. What I hear from the military, its getting better and better everyday.

She added: For me, it is important that we are able to defend our country from the first minute. Therefore Natos plans need to work in practice. I see that this could function. If our adversary also knows this, it takes down the will to attack us because you cant win here.

Lance Corp Harry Bloomfield with Challenger 2 tanks - Paul Grover for the Telegraph

Speaking to the Telegraph at Stenbock House, the official Government building in Tallinn, Ms Kallas revealed how over dinner at last years Munich Security Conference her fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine were dismissed by the head of an intelligence service of an important ally.

He said, Russia will not attack Ukraine. I said, I hope you are right because we see it differently and we prepare for this.

Estonia, which shares a 183-mile border with Russia, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and only liberated in 1991. It is precisely because of this occupation that Ms Kallas is adamant British troops and other Nato allies need to be exercising in her country in order to demonstrate to Russia that any attempt to invade will be crushed.

Our history has taught us very clearly, what is right and what is wrong. They say you can only understand freedom when its taken from you. I come from the generation that was born without freedom, and now we have it. I dont take it for granted. I understand freedom is something you have to fight for.

She added: For 50 years when we were occupied, it seems to me that the other side of the Iron Curtain did not know what was happening on our side.

Lt Col Al Rivet of the 1st Army Air Corps - Paul Grover for the Telegraph

Ms Kallas spoke of the human atrocities committed on Estonian soil during this period, from the killing of elites and suppression of language and culture to mass deportations of civilians that are still largely unknown.

Thats why it is so clear to us what is happening in Ukraine and what we have to do to stop this, she said. You only understand freedom when it is taken from you, but I dont think the way to learn this is to lose freedom, but maybe the way to learn is to listen to those who have lost it.

As part of the Spring Storm exercise, the UK-led Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup has been increased to brigade-size strength for the first time. In total, 14,000 personnel from different Nato allies have been exercising together in a critical situation to enact how they would respond to a Russian invasion. In the UK, troops are held at high readiness in order to move within hours of any aggressive behaviour. It is a situation Ms Kallas is content with, because its not very hard to move troops.

Ms Kallas warned that it would be naive to think the world was safe because of how depleted Russias army currently is, with soaring casualty rates and plunging morale.

All this talk that Russia and its army has suffered a lot of losses, is weak and doesnt have the strength, I think its making people sleepy, she said. You lose your focus. If they have some kind of pause, a peace treaty, it only serves the Kremlins interest. They have a vast country, with masses of people, its not soldiers, its cannon fodder. It's not a democracy. We shouldnt lose our guard, we are in this for the long haul and we have to do everything to prepare ourselves and our defence so that Russia does not think in any other direction.

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Actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with dementia earlier this year. (Donald Traill / Invision via Associated Press)

Emma Heming Willis recently recounted an interaction with her and Bruce Willis' 9-year-old daughter that reduced her to "an absolute puddle."

In an Instagram video, the wellness influencer offered some insight into how her youngest child is responding to her father's dementia diagnosis. Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia earlier this year after living with aphasia and stepping away from acting.

The "Die Hard" star and his wife share two daughters: Mabel Ray, 11, and Evelyn Penn, 9.

"So Evelyn says to me the other day, 'Did you know that people with dementia can become severely dehydrated?'" Heming Willis recalled in her Instagram post.

"I said, 'I didn't know that ... but how do you know that?' And she says, 'Well, I was at school the other day ... and I had some free time, and I was looking up fun facts about dementia.' ... She really is her father's child because these two love some random facts."

Since her husband's diagnosis, Heming Willis has been using her social media platform to spread awareness about the disease and provide updates on how their family is supporting each other during this time.

"I said, 'OK, Evelyn, we will always make sure that Daddy has a bottle of water in hand. Thank you for letting me know,'" Heming Willis continued.

"And I said, 'But you know that is the most loving and compassionate thing that you can do is to be curious and educate yourself on your dad's disease?' ... Keep educating yourself, stay curious, and remember to hydrate your loved ones."

The Willis family has been in the spotlight recently due to Bruce Willis' health challenges and Rumer Willis' high-profile pregnancy. The eldest daughter of ex-spouses Bruce Willis and Demi Moore gave birth last month to her first child and her actor-parents' first grandchild: a girl named Louetta Isley Thomas Willis.

Because of the spike in media attention, the Willis family has struggled with paparazzi chasing the "Sixth Sense" actor in public. In March via social media, Heming Willis begged photographers to "stop yelling" at her ailing husband when they see him on the street.

"Just dont do it, OK? Give him his space," she said. "If you are someone that is looking after someone with dementia, you know how difficult and stressful it can be to get someone out into the world and to navigate them safely."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Bucks County parents of 7 charged. Sick kids living in filth, with rats, no food, police say

Inside the mouth of the 6-year-old boy, doctors found 13 visible cavities, five teeth requiring immediate extraction, another six teeth that required crowns and a dangerous abscess needing immediate treatment.

His 8-year-old sister, authorities say, needed five teeth pulled and five others were fitted with crowns.

Maggots were living in their 12-year-old sisters hair. The youngest sibling, just 4 years old, had ringworm. All but one of the seven children was also clinically malnourished, according to court documents.

None of the siblings, the oldest of which was 16, had ever attended school. All were found living in a three-bedroom mobile home in Sellersville with destroyed and disintegrating walls and floors, bugs and a locked refrigerator, according to authorities.

Shane and Crystal Robertson were charged with seven felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, on Friday, May 19, 2023, after police found seven kids living in squalor in their West Rockhill home.

More on Sellersville family: Police say 7 siblings in Sellersville were terribly neglected. Why no one seemed to notice

Some of the children did not know their birthdays. None of them liked being around people.

What was going inside a trailer at the Green Top Mobile Home Park was only discovered after a neighbor allegedly saw children removing items from an abandoned trailer and called police. All allegations were included in court documents.

On Friday, the childrens parents, Shane William Robertson, 47, and his wife, Crystal, 37, were charged with seven felony counts of endangering the welfare of children. The couple are free after each posting 10% of $10,000 bail.

Authorities became aware of the family when Pennridge Regional Police Department responded to a theft report in the 600 block of Rosann Lane on April 23. There they found a 12-year-old girl in the front yard of a mobile home next door to where the theft was reported.

The girl began explaining to the officers that her parents told them not to go into the abandoned trailer, but she only took a blanket to keep her pet rats warm because her parents didnt have much money left, according to a probable cause affidavit.

She also told police, her parents should not be held responsible, the affidavit said.

The girl was described as barefoot. The hood of her sweatshirt was over her head and she told the officers she has social anxiety.

Minutes later, her 14-year-old sister came out from the rear of the property. She was wearing dirty clothing and work boots that were too big for her feet, the affidavit said.

Both girls admitted to entering the trailer, and mentioned that they do not have very much money.

About 25 minutes later, police spoke to Shane Robertson on the phone and he and his wife returned to the property. The officers advised the couple they had concerns about the health of their daughters based on their appearances and asked to look inside of the trailer.

Second child abuse case has deadly end Bristol father charged in death of baby son. What he told police

Shane Robertson let the officers in where police described the interior as in obvious disrepair and disarray. They also found the refrigerator door secured with a bicycle lock.

Crystal Robertson explained that the children had been going through so much food they had to lock the refrigerator because they were stealing everything, the affidavit said.

Garbage disposals with legs, is how she described the children to police.

When the refrigerator was opened, police found very little food inside.

One of the officers asked Shane Robertson how many children were living in the home. He called for his 16-year-old daughter who was in a back bedroom.

Police described her appearance as unkempt. She told the officers she heard them outside, but was watching the youngest child.

More crime news 'That was one of the worst things I have ever seen in in my life': Judge on infant's death

After the officers left the home, they filed a report with ChildLine, the states child abuse reporting system.

Several hours later, Pennridge police were asked to return to the home, after a Bucks County Children and Youth worker visited the home and found more children hiding in a rear bedroom, police said.

This time, Shane Robertson allegedly told police he didnt tell them he had seven children because he didnt want to get in trouble. The six girls and one boy were taken to Grand View Hospital for evaluation based on their physical appearance.

Around 7 that evening, police met with Crystal Roberterson and photographed the entire trailer. They found the lower half of the bathroom door missing. The Robertsons slept on a bed surrounded by animal cages. The sheets did not appear to be washed for weeks or months. There was garbage in the room and holes in the wall.

A second bedroom did not have a door and it was blocked off with a broken washing machine. The floor was cluttered with dirty clothing and garbage and missing sheetrock on the wall, which needed repair, police said.

The third bedroom had only a filthy mattress in the middle of the room covered with a dirty blanket with feces on it. There was also feces in the entrance to the room. Two dozen rats in cages were also housed in the room.

In addition to the rats, police also found the family had two dogs, two turtles, two rabbits, snakes, toads and a four-foot Tegu reptile also living in the trailer. Police stated the only notable food found in the trailer was for the animals.

At the hospital, two of the seven children tested positive for COVID-19, two had low kidney function. Three children had fevers and were diagnosed with acute viral syndrome. All the children were placed in foster care, where they remain.

Soon after the children were removed from their parents custody, the full extent of their neglect was revealed, authorities said.

Four of the children have speech impediments. Four were so underweight they were referred to a nutritionist at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP doctors diagnosed four of the children with poor eyesight requiring glasses.

Police also learned the 12-year-old whose hair was infested with maggots had bad sunburn on her scalp and neck last summer, which made it too painful to brush, police said. She eventually couldnt brush or wash her hair because it became matted.

As a result, the girl had to have most of her hair shaved off. Another sister also had to have most of her hair shaved for similar matting, police said.

More Bucks County news Why a Council Rock teacher charged with sex crimes still has a license

Ex-Warminster cop abuse victims speak He was a police officer sworn to protect them, not abuse them. James Carey's victims speak

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: 7 Sellersville kids living in squalor, parents charged with endangering
MUNCIE, Ind.  I have an historical conundrum that I hope the good readers of ByGone Muncie will help me figure out.

Where in Delaware County, Perry Township specifically, was (or is) the village of Tweedyville?

The name doesnt appear on any current or historical Delaware County map, nor is it listed in the USGS database of place names. Its only mentioned in a handful of local newspaper articles and in the U.S. 1880 Census. What, or perhaps better asked, where in the heck was Tweedyville?

Perry Township from the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County.

This historical mystery began for me a few months ago when I happened upon a 1982 Dick Greene column that mentioned the name. If youre unfamiliar, Greene was a long time reporter and columnist for the Muncie Star newspaper. He was also an active public historian and wrote often about Muncie and Delaware County history in his decades-long series, Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. In his columns May 12 installment, Greene discussed a hodge-podge of local cultural ephemera, including a note he received from John Lewellen, a retired Ball State professor and the namesake of Ball States Lewellen Pool. According to Greene, Lewellen asked whether Ive ever heard of a Delaware County settlement called Tweedyville. Beats me, John. He found the name in an 1870 census.

The reference was odd for a few reasons. First, Dick Greene was a walking encyclopedia of local history, especially in 1982. If neither he nor his readers knew the answer, no one else alive did. Second, I wrote a book in 2017 titled Lost Towns of Delaware County, Indiana. The publication was my attempt to provide a brief history of every hamlet, village, town, city, and ghost town settled in Delaware County. I spent two years reading and studying every source I could find on the subject. I believed, at least up until reading Greenes 1982 column, that I had included everything. How did I miss Tweedyville? Finally, it seemed strange that such a unique name never appeared on any map published in two centuries of Delaware County history.

Mount Pleasant map from the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County.

I looked up the 1870 U.S. Census and couldnt find any reference to Tweedyville, though I did find a family with the surname Tweedy living in Perry Township; farmers James and Nancy Tweedy and their four children, Barney, Jemima, William, and Henry. The Tweedys farm was in the northeast corner of Perry Township, about a mile southwest of Windsor near the line with Randolph County.

Its possible Lewellen meant the 1880 census, because in that year, 74 people were counted as living in Tweedy-ville. Of the twenty-six pages for Perry Township in the 1880 United States Census, the first eight are all Tweedyville residents. We know this because the census taker concluded that page with a matter-of-fact note: Here ends the village of Tweedy-ville.

Tweedyville appears rarely in local newspapers. In October of 1879, it was briefly mentioned by the Muncie Daily News, we are informed that Sam Rodman will embark in the auction business in a few days, and will make his opening speech at Tweedyville on Wednesday next.

The village was the setting for a tragic story in August of 1883, when the Muncie Morning News reported on a murder-suicide, Mortimer Hill shot himself and wife at Tweedyville Sunday night. It is now developed beyond a doubt that Hill has meditated the awful crime for some time past. The story made headlines around the state, though other newspapers identified the events as happening either at or near Selma in Liberty Township.

New Burlington map from the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County.

With exception of Dick Greenes 1982 column, the only other Tweedyville reference I could find in local newspapers was on April 1881 when the Morning News reported the previous years final Delaware County census numbers. Perry Township, including the village of Tweedyville, was home to 1,200 residents, 74 of whom lived in the unincorporated Tweedyville community.

Assuming it wasnt some ghost town forgotten by everyone, its possible that Tweedyville was a nickname for one of six Perry Township settlements: Gates Corner, Charleston, Land of Nod, Medford, Mt. Pleasant, or New Burlington. With a little research, we can narrow that list down to two.

Gates Corner is an unlikely candidate for Tweedyville based on population. The unincorporated hamlet grew around a post office (1898-1901) and rural general store along the old Burlington Pike. Gates Corner was only ever home to a small number of residents, certainly not 74 of them. The Perry Township ghost town of Charleston doesnt fit either. It was platted in 1838 a bit south on the old Richmond Road, but no one ever lived there. Charleston was a real estate pipedream of a settler named Charles Lindley. The Land of Nod doesnt work with the Tweedyville timeline, as it was an informal name given to a 20th century truck stop along U.S. 35. Medford cant be it either, because it wasnt platted until 1901 with the arrival of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (the Cardinal Greenway today).

That leaves just Mt. Pleasant and New Burlington, two of the oldest non-Native settlements in Delaware County.

Not to be confused with Mount Pleasant Township, the sleepy Perry Township village of Mt. Pleasant was platted in 1837. The historian Thomas Helm wrote in 1881 that Mount Pleasant is a thickly settled neighborhood in the southwestern part of the township, containing three cooper-shops and a number of dwellings. Mt. Pleasant had two post offices, Blaineton in 1880 and Hasel from 1896 to 1901.

New Burlington was also platted in 1837, although north a bit on the old Richmond Road. Helm described it in 1881 as a rural village, boasting no manufacturing establishment of any kind, but did contain a general store, shoemaker, and wagonmaker. New Burlington was situated on the farm entered by George Ribble, who was the original proprietor, and first laid it off into town lots. The New Burlington post office existed in the village from 1838 until 1901 and the Muncie and New Burlington Turnpike connected the two communities in 1867.

Though Mt. Pleasant is occasionally confused in history with its post offices, both it and New Burlington have been called as such since at least the Civil War. Delaware County and Indiana state maps from 1848, 1857, 1869, 1874, 1886, and 1887 all show New Burlington and Mt. Pleasant at or near their present locations in Perry Township, with nary a Tweedyville to be seen.

Out of frustration, I just googled Tweedyville, Delaware County, Indiana. The only relevant result I got was an 1883 Department of the Interior publication, entitled The National Gazetteer: A Geographical Dictionary of the United States. In it, it lists Tweedyville, Ind. with a post office named New Burlington in Perry Township and a population of 74 residents.

So I guess Tweedyville was a sometimes used nickname for New Burlington around 1880. I really have no idea, or as Dick Greene said best 41 years ago, Beats me.

Chris Flook is a Delaware County Historical Society board member and a Senior Lecturer of Media at Ball State University.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: ByGone Muncie: Where the heck is Tweedyville?
Californias attorney general will review the decision not to charge a security guard in the fatal shooting of a suspected Walgreens shoplifter

The California attorney generals office will review the decision not to charge a security guard in the fatal shooting of a suspected shoplifter last month at a Walgreens store in downtown San Francisco, it said Tuesday.

The review comes after the San Francisco district attorneys office said last week that security guard Michael Anthony would not face criminal charges because he acted in self-defense when he shot Banko Brown on April 27.

Browns family attorney John Burris, who previously described the guards actions as way beyond what was reasonable and necessary, sent a letter to the attorney generals office last week requesting the investigation.

We can confirm that our office has agreed to review whether the San Francisco District Attorneys decision not to file charges was an abuse of discretion, the California attorney generals office told CNN in a statement.

The killing and lack of charges spurred protests in San Francisco amid a larger debate over criminal justice in the Northern California city, with demonstrators marching to demand justice for Brown.

A written report from the district attorneys office released last week said Brown had repeatedly threatened to stab the security guard before the shooting. Police did not find a knife in Browns possession, the report states, but prosecutors still determined his fear was reasonable.

Given the totality of the circumstances, including the threat that Anthony believed, and could reasonably believe, the evidence shows that Browns shooting was not a criminal act because Anthony acted in lawful self-defense, the report states. Thus, Anthony is not criminally liable for the death of Brown.

Surveillance camera video of the incident shows Brown attempting to leave the store before being stopped by the security guard, identified by police as Anthony. Brown then shoves the guard, leading to a physical altercation, the video shows.

Brown is held on the ground by the guard but released after about a minute, the video shows. Brown starts to leave but appears to turn around and move toward the guard who then shoots him, the video shows.

Brown repeatedly threatened to stab Anthony during the fight, the security guard said in a videotaped interview with police.

I felt like I was in danger. I felt like I was going to be stabbed, he said.

The district attorneys report notes that self-defense applies when a person has a reasonable belief they are in imminent danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm. There is no evidence to contradict that Anthonys fear was honest, the report states.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins welcomes the attorney generals review and will assist and cooperate as needed, she told CNN in a statement Tuesday.

I heard the publics concerns and we released a comprehensive analysis and report that included investigative records, witness statements and video evidence, so the public could see all of the facts and details and understand how we arrived at our decision. We provided the highest degree of transparency possible that we could with this case, she said.

Burris said his clients are pleased with the decision, as they think a review by another prosecutor is justified.

No time frame was shared on when the investigation might be completed, Burris said.

CNNs Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed Targets CEO after the chain pulled some merchandise from stores for Pride Month following confrontations with customers.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and well-being while at work, Target in a statement.

Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior, the company added.

Following the move, Newsom accused Target CEO Brian Cornell of selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists.

This isnt just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country, Newsom tweeted. Wake up America. This doesnt stop here. Youre black? Youre Asian? Youre Jewish? Youre a woman? Youre next.

CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage.



This isnt just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country.



Wake up America.



This doesnt stop here. https://t.co/1vRgukaT0g  Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 24, 2023

LGBTQ: Target removes Pride month merchandise after threats

'Just so scary': As mass shootings increase, House GOP wants to repeal bipartisan gun laws

Target has not confirmed which items it is removing, though items that have received negative attention include tuck friendly womens swimsuits that could be of use to some trans women. The store has offered clothing, books and furnishings for several years to commemorate Pride Month, which is held in June.

Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., the first openly LGBTQ person to represent Vermont in Congress, also criticized the move. If companies like @Target give in to the whims of a hateful few, they may need a lesson or two on the history of pride and what it means to the LGBTQ+ community, Balint said in a tweet.

If companies like @Target give in to the whims of a hateful few, they may need a lesson or two on the history of pride and what it means to the LGBTQ+ community.



Stay proud to celebrate pride, thats the point. https://t.co/cOLF3t4P5d  Rep. Becca Balint (@RepBeccaB) May 24, 2023

Several videos have falsely said Target is selling the swimsuits for children or in childrens sizes. Target said it moved its Pride merchandise to the back of stores in some Southern states after confrontations with shoppers.

The move comes after beer brand Bud Light saw some anti-trans responses over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. "I think it's okay to be frustrated with someone and confused," Mulvaney in a video last month, "but what I'm really struggling with is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I don't think that's right."

Contributing: Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY; Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Newsom slams Target for removing some Pride month merchandise
The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates.

Illustration by Yahoo News / Photo: Getty Images

Whats happening

With Republicans refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to substantial cuts in government spending, some members of President Bidens party are urging him to pursue an untested legal theory that they believe would allow him to stave off default without having to consent to any of the GOPs demands.

The debt ceiling is a dollar figure set by Congress that represents the maximum amount the U.S. Treasury is allowed to borrow. It doesnt itself increase the deficit, but simply creates room for the government to keep its financial commitments. For most of the past century, the debt ceiling was routinely raised on a bipartisan basis. But starting in the Obama era, Republicans in Congress began using the dangers of failing to raise the ceiling  which experts believe would trigger an economic catastrophe  as leverage to coax Democrats into signing on to spending cuts that they would oppose in any other circumstances.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called June 1 a hard deadline to raise the debt ceiling without default, leaving the Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy a matter of days to reach a deal that can pass through a divided Congress.

But some Democrats say the Constitution includes a ready-made off-ramp that could not only resolve the current impasse, but also put an end to all gamesmanship over the debt ceiling for good. The theory centers around a clause in the 14th Amendment that states the validity of the public debt of the United States  shall not be questioned. Some legal scholars argue that this language allows Biden to order the Treasury to effectively ignore the debt ceiling because failing to do so would violate his constitutional duty to maintain the validity of U.S. debt.

There are alternative proposals that could also theoretically help defuse the debt ceiling crisis, including minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin and having the Treasury issue a special type of bond to fund the government in the short term. Each of those strategies is equally unprecedented and carries its own potential pitfalls.

Why theres debate

As appealing as the 14th Amendment option may sound to Democrats, the theory has never been tested in court and legal experts disagree on whether the Supreme Court would reject an effort to use it.

But even amid that uncertainty, some on the left feel the 14th Amendment provides the best of a number of bad options for escaping a potentially disastrous debt ceiling standoff. They argue that declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional, while an imperfect solution, is still far better than rewarding Republicans by letting them gut government programs that millions of people rely on  or standing idly by while they drive the economy off a cliff. Some constitutional scholars say theres a strong chance the argument would survive any potential legal challenges, in part because they believe there wont be five justices on the Supreme Court who would be willing to set off a massive recession by blocking it.

Skeptics from both sides of the aisle counter that as inconvenient as it may be for the president, the only way to avoid default is through legislation passed by Congress. They make the case that the Supreme Court would have no choice but to reject any effort to invoke the 14th Amendment because it would represent a major breach of Congresss power over government spending. Others say the move would be on such shaky legal ground that markets would likely collapse even before the matter made its way to the courts  meaning Biden would have effectively sparked the very economic downturn he was hoping to avoid.

Whats next

Biden said on Sunday that he believes  we have the authority  to use the 14th Amendment as a way to solve the debt crisis stalemate, but all indications suggest he would consider doing so only as a last resort in the event that no deal can be reached in Congress in time to avoid default.

Perspectives

SUPPORTERS

The debt ceiling is clearly unconstitutional

First, default on the debt (which would occur if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling provided by statute) is flatly forbidden by the Constitution. Second, a President must sometimes contemplate defying the other branches to save the country from disaster.  Garrett Epps, Washington Monthly

The risks are worth it if the debt ceiling is destroyed for good

The 14th Amendment solution is a fraught one: It might wreak short-term havoc on markets and the Supreme Court might strike it down. But it might be worth trying, because in the near term there may be no other way to functionally eliminate the debt ceiling as a weapon of political extortion once and for all.  Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman, Washington Post

It would force the GOP to actively try to crash the economy

Biden is correct that invoking the Fourteenth Amendments passing mention of the public debt leaves open the door to further litigation. But the move would deprive Republicans of the political safe harbor that comes with pretending to be negotiating. If Republicans or their allies in the Supreme Court super-legislature want to take the steps necessary to reimpose the threat of default, theyd have to step forward and do it on their own. It would no longer be on Biden or the Democrats.  Jason Linkins, New Republic

The 14th Amendment is the best of a number of bad options

Once we hit the debt ceiling, Biden will bump into a constitutional obstacle no matter what he does. Failing to spend appropriated funds, raising taxes or borrowing money to pay the bills would all infringe on Congress constitutional powers. The president would face what we have called a trilemma in which all his options are unconstitutional.  Neil H. Buchanan and Michael C. Dorf, Los Angeles Times

Any approach that protects critical government programs is worth pursuing

Whichever course of action Biden chooses, we should be clear that he has other options than agreeing to crack the whip against Americas poor.  Matt Bruenig, Peoples Policy Project

The hope should be that we never have to test the 14th Amendment strategy

Still, given all the uncertainty about whether the courts will even buy the 14th Amendment argument against the debt ceiling, we should all hope that the looming questions about what happens if the debt ceiling is breached are never answered.  Ian Millhiser, Vox

SKEPTICS

Invoking the 14th Amendment would set off its own financial crisis

In effect, the 14th Amendment option is merely a default with more handwringing and deflecting blame on the evil Republicans who only wanted to tack an extra $14 trillion onto the national debt instead of another $19 trillion. The blame will rest solely on the Democrats who decided the most minor of haircuts was not worth avoiding a stagflationary crisis that would put the Nixon-Burns fiasco to shame.  Tiana Lowe Doescher, Washington Examiner

Nothing in the 14th Amendment gives the president freedom to ignore the law

The Constitution puts Congress squarely in charge of both borrowing and spending. The validity of the public debts clause doesnt magically allow the president to violate this most basic element of the separation of powers.  Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

Biden needs to strike a deal, not try to break the Constitution

The Biden administration could save itself the trouble of trying to twist the Constitution to suit its narrow political purposes if it simply sat down with Congress and negotiated in good faith.  Rich Lowry, Boston Herald

A deal with Congress is still the only way out

The founders established a system of government that requires negotiation and compromise  the hard work associated with representing a nation of widely divergent interests. Instead of looking for loopholes and murky legal theories, President Biden and Congress need to roll up their sleeves and get to work, and quickly.  Editorial, Deseret News

Congress alone has the authority to decide how the government spends its money

The Constitution is quite explicit: Congress, and only Congress, has the power to borrow Money on the credit of the United States. Congress, and only Congress, has the power to raise revenue, and all bills to do so must start in the House. The Framers were quite open in designing this system to give Congress the power of the purse so that it could bring the executive to heel.  Editorial, National Review

It would be incredibly dangerous to leave the fate of the economy up to the whims of the Supreme Court

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.  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?  Ezra Klein, New York Times

Is there a topic youd like to see covered in The 360? Send your suggestions to the360@yahoonews.com.

Illustration by Yahoo News / Photo: Getty Images
Employees work on the production line of a Hisense plant in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]



China's efforts to speed up the construction of a modern industrial system underpinned by the real economy will help improve the resilience and security of its industrial and supply chains, and foster new growth drivers in strategically important sectors amid headwinds and external uncertainties, experts and business executives said.

The comments came after Premier Li Qiang stressed the need to vigorously develop advanced manufacturing clusters, make coordinated efforts to transform and upgrade traditional industries, and foster and expand strategic emerging industries, during a fact-finding trip to Shandong province last week.

"The advanced manufacturing industry is playing an increasingly vital role in motivating enterprises to bolster technological innovation, enhancing the country's core competitiveness globally, and promoting the development of other strategic emerging sectors," said Li Xianjun, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He said that China's emphasis on advancing industrial modernization and building up its strength in a modern industrial system will help make the country's economy more resilient, build a buffer against external risks and shocks, and make the country a manufacturing powerhouse.

More efforts should be made to tackle bottlenecks in core technologies in fields including basic materials and software, precision components, integrated circuits and high-end equipment, to enhance China's independent innovative capacity, he added.

China has maintained its position as the world's largest manufacturing hub for 13 straight years, accounting for nearly 30 percent of global manufacturing output in 2022, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

During his visit to Chinese home appliance manufacturers Haier Group and Hisense Group, the premier expressed his desire for enterprises to cater to consumer needs, engage in personalized customization and create more competitive products. He also underlined the importance of promoting the development of industrial internet to empower small and medium-sized enterprises.

Zhou Yunjie, chairman and CEO of Haier Group, said manufacturing is the foundation of a country, and the high-quality development of China's manufacturing sector has entered the fast lane, buoyed by digital technologies like cloud computing, big data, the internet of things and blockchain.

"As the country is making efforts to build itself into a manufacturing powerhouse, more efforts are needed to promote innovative application of industrial internet and fully unleash the value of massive data resources, which is key to advancing new industrialization," Zhou said.

Haier has invested heavily in the industrial internet to develop COSMOPlat, which is designed for companies to customize products quickly by collecting and analyzing data from consumers, suppliers and factories, while boosting productivity and cutting costs.

In the face of fierce international competition, establishing a modern industrial system is of great significance in moving the country's manufacturing sector up to the medium-high end of the global value chain and injecting strong impetus into China's economic recovery, said Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School.

New-generation information technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and the internet of things, have found a wide range of applications in advanced manufacturing and accelerated integration with the real economy, he added.

Chen Duan, director of the Digital Economy Integration Innovation Development Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said greater efforts are needed to increase investment in frontier technologies and forward-looking fields, and expand international exchanges and cooperation in science and technology.
Canada's household debt is now highest in the G7

The average value of a Canadian home has more than doubled since 2011

Household debt in Canada is now the highest of any G7 country, according to data by the country's housing agency.

The amount owed by Canadian households is also higher than the country's entire GDP.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said high home prices are to blame for the ballooning debt.

Household debt in the US and the UK, by comparison, has shrunk in the last 10 years.

In a report released on Tuesday, Canada's housing agency has warned that Canadians would not be able to weather a recession because of the high amount of debt they owe.

"Unfortunately, Canada's very high levels of household debt - and the highest in the G7 - makes the economy vulnerable to any global economic crisis," said Aled ab Iorwerth, the agency's deputy chief economist.

In his report, Mr ab Iorwerth said that 75% of Canada's household debt comes from mortgages. As home prices increase in Canada, the household debt in Canada rises as well.

"Longer term, re-establishing housing affordability in Canada will be key to reducing household debt if they want to become homeowners," Mr ab Iorwerth said.

Graph showing household debt levels as share of country's GDP among the G7 countries

The average home price in Canada is C$716,083 ($528,000; 426,000), according to the Canada Real Estate Association, though homes in Canada's most populous city Toronto average about C$1.15m.

Home prices are the highest in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the average price tag for a property is around C$1.29m.

Both Toronto and Vancouver consistently rank among the top 10 most unaffordable cities in the world.

The average value of a Canadian home has more than doubled since 2011, when houses were valued at around C$352,000.

As of 2021, Canada's household debt is 7% higher than the country's entire GDP. This is an increase from 2010, when household debt was about 5% lower than Canada's GDP.

By comparison, household debt in the US fell from 100% of the country's GDP in 2008 to about 75% in 2021. The UK's household debt as a share of its GDP also fell from 94% in 2010 to 86% in 2021.

"While US households reduced debt, Canadians increased theirs and this will likely continue to increase unless we address affordability in the housing market," Mr ab Iorwerth said.

Among major Western nations, only Australia has a higher household debt rate as a share of its GDP (119%).

Canada's government has been under pressure to address the growing issue of housing unaffordability. Earlier this year, Canada enacted a two-year ban on foreigners buying homes in the country in an attempt to ease unaffordability.

Some have also called on officials to enact measures that will increase Canada's housing supply, as the country's population has grown by a record of more than a million people in 2022.
Capitol Police are trying to block journalists from taking pictures of Dianne Feinstein, photographer says

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, surrounded by staff and Capitol Police, leaves the Capitol on May 11, 2023. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A Los Angeles Times photographer says Capitol Police and staff are blocking access to Feinstein.

He recounted an instance where an officer yelled at him after he took a photo of Feinstein from far away.

He also says Feinstein's staff are going out of their way to shield the 89-year-old from the press.

Capitol Police officers have been trying to restrict journalists' access to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California since she returned to Washington this month, according to Los Angeles Times photographer Kent Nishimura.

One of several photographers who roam the halls of Congress, Nishimura says that Feinstein's staff have used "every trick in the book to stay out of sight and at a distance from the press."

That's reportedly included forming a "human barrier" between the 89-year-old senator and the Capitol Hill press corps, as well as shouting at photographers to get out of the way.

And the Senate sergeant-at-arms has reportedly declared her arrival at the Capitol  a routine event for most senators in which photographers are usually free to take photos  as "closed press," deploying officers to usher journalists out of otherwise public spaces.

Nishimura recounted an instance last week when he took a photo as a staff member "tried to hide [Feinstein's] wheelchair" behind a pillar, prompting an officer to shout at him to move back, despite him already being 30 feet away already.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Feinstein spokesman Adam Russell denied that her office is restricting press access.

"Our office has not asked photographers to not take pictures of her in her wheelchair," said Russell. "We did ask, and continue to ask for safety reasons, that photographers and reporters give her space, particularly when entering and exiting her vehicle."

Feinstein behind a pillar as she exited the Capitol last week. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Feinstein's return to the Capitol earlier this month came following a nearly 3-month-long absence due to a case of shingles.

The 89-year-old senator, who has publicly struggled with memory loss and cognitive issues in recent years, recently announced she would not run for re-election.

But her extended absence from the Senate Judiciary Committee had prevented Democrats from advancing a series of judicial nominees that lacked Republican support, prompting some House Democrats to call for her resignation.

Feinstein also developed encephalitis as a result of her shingles infection, resulting in the partial paralysis of her face and potentially permanent memory and language problems.

Read the original article on Business Insider
FILE - Richard Barnett, an Arkansas man who was photographed with his feet on a desk in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, arrives at federal court in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023. Barnett was sentenced Wednesday, May 24, 2023, to more than four years in prison. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said that Barnett became one of the faces of the Jan. 6 riot, and at times he seemed to enjoy the notoriety. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  An Arkansas man who propped his feet on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office in a widely circulated photo from the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in prison.

Richard Bigo Barnett became one of the faces of the Jan. 6 riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said in announcing that sentence that Barnett seemed at times to enjoy the notoriety.

All the folks who follow Bigo need to know the actions of Jan. 6 cannot be repeated without some serious repercussions, Cooper said, alluding to the media attention and social media following Barnett attracted after the riot.

The 54-month sentence for Barnett, a retired firefighter from Gravette, Arkansas, comes after he was convicted at trial on eight counts, including felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, in this case a Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress to certify Joe Biden's victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

The photos of Barnett lounging at a desk in Pelosis office made him one of the most memorable figures from the riot. Barnett, 63, testified he was going with the flow and struck a pose after news photographers told him to "act natural."

He told the judge that joining the riot was an enigma my life that he regretted, but said prosecutors wanted him to be remorseful for things I did not do."

Jan. 6 was a traumatic dey for everyone, not just law enforcement, he said. He has vowed to appeal his conviction. He testified at trial that he was swept along with the crowd into the Capitol, and was looking for a bathroom when he unwittingly entered Pelosis office and encountered two news photographers.

Cooper, though, said he did not believe Barnett played such a passive role.

It was established at trial that Barnett brought into the Capitol a stun gun with spikes, concealed within a collapsible walking stick. Barnett also took a piece of Pelosi's mail and left behind a note that said, Nancy, Bigo was here, punctuating the message with a sexist expletive.

Before leaving Capitol grounds, Barnett used a bullhorn to give a speech to the crowd, shouting, We took back our house, and I took Nancy Pelosis office! according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors also said Barnett has since posted falsehoods on social media about Jan. 6 and downplaying his role. The defendant still believes he can say or do whatever he wants and if someone else is threatened by it, thats their problem, prosecutor Alison Prout said.

Defense attorney Jonathan Gross said Barnett didn't hurt anyone or damage property, and was being singled out because the photo had made him famous.

Mr. Barnett should not be punished because the government thinks he's a symbol, he said.

Coopers sentence fell short of the approximately seven years prosecutors sought, though it was more than defense attorneys' request for a 12-month term.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced. More than half have received prison terms ranging from a week to over 14 years.

Also on Wednesday, a Pennsylvania man was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of assault and other charges in the riot. Prosecutors say Robert Morss, of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, dressed in fatigues and tried to take a baton from an officer, and stole a riot shield from another, while working to organize members of the crowd to push past Capitol guards. He yelled to officers: Take a look around. We are going to take our Capitol back, prosecutors say.

An attorney for Morss, 29, declined to comment after his sentencing. His lawyer, Nick Smith, noted in court documents that his client saw three tours of duty in Afghanistan as a member of the Army and has already served two years behind bars. Morss alleges he was abused by guards in jail.

This case has already turned Morsss life upside down. The governments suggestion that these heavy blows are insufficient to deter the one-time, situational crimes Morss committed is nonsense, Smith wrote.

____

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.

___

The headline of this story has been corrected to show Barnett propped his feet on a desk in Pelosi's office, not her desk.
The Navy has ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group to the U.S. territory of Guam to assist in recovery efforts after Typhoon Mawar passed through the island as a devastating Category 4 storm Wednesday night local time.

A defense official confirmed to The Hill that the Nimitz, the cruiser USS Bunker Hill, and the destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer are en route to Guam and expected to arrive in three or four days; they are currently south of Japan.

The official noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had not yet requested support from the military in response to the typhoon. When it does, the Navy ships will be postured to assist, the official said.

The Associated Press first reported on the deployment.

Typhoon Mawar began to pass over the island on Wednesday evening and intensified as it continued into Thursday, hitting the island with heavy rain, winds and a storm surge that knocked out power across the territory.

With winds reaching a maximum sustained speed of 140 mph, it is the strongest storm to hit Guam in decades, according to the National Weather Service.

The service also warned the roughly 150,000 residents of extremely dangerous and life-threatening conditions on the island, recommending people shelter for several hours until the storm lessens.

Ahead of the typhoon, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command ordered the evacuation of defense personnel and their families from areas expected to be hit. About 6,800 U.S. service members are assigned to Guam, a major hub for U.S. forces in the Pacific.

The command also moved Navy ships out to sea and sent military aircraft off the island or stored them in hangars.

While power and internet failures made it hard to assess the early scope of the damage on Guam, President Biden has already approved an emergency declaration for the territory.

The declaration will support the mobilization of resources to the island, help seen as especially crucial given our distance from the continental U.S., Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said, according to the AP.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Alston Ridge Middle School in Cary has been evacuated due to a threat, according to Cary police.

Just after noon, police announced that the school had received a bomb threat, and the school was evacuated out of an abundance of caution.

All students are currently safe, according to police.

All roads leading to the school are closed, and police explosive detection K9s are clearing the building, police said.

We have discovered that someone has posted a bomb threat to our school in a Google document, Wake County Public Schools stated in parental notification of the threat.

Police have not stated if the threat was legitimate.

This year, multiple other students have been charged after making threats against schools in Durham and Wake counties.

On Tuesday, five juveniles in Chatham County were charged in connection to a hoax threat at Chatham Middle School earlier this month.

In February, a juvenile was charged after allegedly making threats against Zebulon Middle School.

Soon after, leaders in the Wake County school system spoke out, urging families and community to help stop the onslaught of threats by explaining the consequences to students.

Just a few weeks later, an 18-year-old was arrested for allegedly making threats against Research Triangle Park High School in Durham County. Investigators believe these threats were a hoax.
Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong-based airline, took decisive action against three flight attendants. They were fired for telling non-English speaking passengers to sleep on the floor of the plane, since they didnt know how to say blanket in English.

According to Reuters, a passenger accused [the flight attendants] of bias against non-English speakers, prompting criticism on Chinese state media.

Inexcusable Prejudice In The Sky

Last Sunday, the plane departed Chengdu, a city in Southwest China, and was en route to Hong Kong.

The passenger who noticed the prejudice of the flight attendants, shared their observations on social media. They claimed some of the crew members openly mocked passengers in Cantonese and English.

Also, Reuters reports, the flight attendants made fun of others for asking for a carpet instead of a blanket in English.

One of the flight attendants allegedly told their colleague: they dont understand human language.

The Airlines CEO Took Action

Cathay Pacific CEO, Robert Lam, said that after a thorough investigation, the flight attendants were suspended and then fired.

Lam insisted their actions werent in keeping with company policy.

He also offered an apology to the passenger who sounded the alarm, and anyone else affected. He said that more work would be done internally to lessen the chances of a repeat occurrence.

I would like to reiterate, Lam stated, that Cathay Pacific takes a zero tolerance approach to serious violations of company rules and ethics by individual employees and will not tolerate them.

Cathay Pacific is trying to rebound in the years following COVID, and this incident puts a damper on those efforts.

Reuters writes: Hong Kongs flagship carrier was badly hit by COVID-related flight cancellations, border closings and strict quarantine measures for crew, resulting in drastic headcount reductions since 2020.

Chinas State Run Media Weighed In As Well

Peoples Daily, a state-owned publication, blasted the airline for allegedly worshiping foreigners.

It added, Cathay Pacific cant just apologize every time. They should rectify heavily, establish rules and regulations, and stop the unhealthy trend from the root.
More than 220 people from more than 40 countries participate in the Fiesta of Independence Naturalization Ceremony at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Ariz. on July 4, 2018. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)

If "Hispanic" were an ordinary ancestry, it would easily be America's most common, well ahead of German. But it's not. It's a fantastically broad term whose meaning swerves and sways depending on whom - and where - you're asking.

Since 1997, the U.S. government has defined Hispanic (or Latino) as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race." In most of the United States, the largest Hispanic group is Mexican.

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Of course it is! Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country on Earth, by far, and it shares 1,954 miles of border with the United States. More importantly, a third of the continental United States - parts of 10 states that are now home to at least 1 in 4 Americans - used to be part of Mexico.

But a substantial share of Hispanic Americans also come from Puerto Rico, especially those living in the Northeast and Central Florida. Puerto Ricans also dominate Puerto Rico, of course - though at this point, Puerto Ricans on the mainland outnumber those in the Caribbean territory.

And there are large pockets of Hispanics from other places: Central Americans dominate in the Washington, D.C., area. Folks from South America and the Caribbean predominate in Florida and the New York-to-Boston urban corridor. And in New Mexico and southern Colorado, there's a significant population of Hispanos - descendants of people who settled there centuries before Mexico gained independence from Spain and whose roots trace directly to that European nation.

Despite their different origins, these Hispanic groups share many similarities, both to each other and to the nation as a whole. Most Hispanic Americans were born in the United States (68 percent), for example. And while many speak Spanish at home, a third speak only English (32 percent).

These statistics come with a fat asterisk: As it turns out, they don't include everybody who considers themselves "Hispanic or Latino." We know this thanks to the demographic demigods at the Pew Research Center, who discovered a revealing aberration in a recent census data release.

For years, Census Bureau figures have shown that only about 3 percent of Brazilian-born U.S. residents claim to be Hispanic or Latino. But a whopping 70 percent of Brazilian-born Americans claimed "Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin" in the bureau's 2020 American Community Survey.

Jeffrey Passel, a thoughtful demographer whose tidy white beard attests to a long career at Pew and Census, spotted this enormous shift last year. But what does it mean?

"Latino" is typically defined as someone from Latin America. Given that Brazil is easily the largest nation in Latin America - home to about 1 in 3 of its residents, according to the World Bank - it seems reasonable for Brazilians to consider themselves Latino.

But as a former colony of Portugal, Brazil has no Spanish heritage. It therefore doesn't meet the government definition of "Hispanic or Latino." So for decades, as Passel and his Pew colleague Jens Manuel Krogstad discovered, the folks at Census had been excluding Brazilians who claimed to be Hispanic or Latino from the official count.

Brazil wasn't the only nation affected. People from Belize - a former British colony where English is the official language - and a few other non-Spanish places, mostly in the Caribbean, also failed to make the cut.

Few noticed this behind-the-scenes bookkeeping until 2020, when the astonishingly assiduous and all-but-infallible folks at Census neglected to reclassify the responses. As a result, the 2020 survey offers a window into how Brazilians and other folks view their identity, before Census overrides their choices.

To extent that Brazilian Americans do consider themselves Latino, their embrace of that identity has been gradual. As Claudia Barcellos Rezende of the State University of Rio de Janeiro told us, you don't often encounter the notion of Latin American identity until you leave the region. In Brazil, folks simply think of themselves as Brazilian.

Once in the United States, however, the situation changes. Mark Costa, a Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist and researcher who grew up in Brazil, once considered himself what the Census Bureau might call "non-Hispanic White." But then he came to the United States and learned - from Americans - that he was "Latino."

Nowadays, Costa told us, "I don't like identifying myself as White because I'm not seen as White."

Costa's wife, Graziela Reis, project coordinator at the Yale School of Medicine, said it was shocking to discover that Americans viewed her as having a different ethnic identity. She said she suffers a tiny existential crisis every time she's asked to check a box to state her race and ethnicity.

In a new review in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Costa and Reis worked with Elizabeth Brisola of St. Edward's University and Yale's Chyrell Bellamy to explore the mental health consequences of being ethnically "invisible" in much of the United States' data and administrative programs. They argue that this cloak of invisibility may help explain why Brazilian immigrants are twice as likely to report anxiety as other immigrants.

The enormous Brazil-shaped hole in our data fosters systemic discrimination, Costa said, adding that Brazilians are often overlooked by targeted efforts of all kinds, including in the health-care sector. That would change, researchers told us, if they were officially categorized as Latino, one of America's most influential demographic groups.

"I am glad we are embracing the identity," said Cileine de Lourenco, a Brazilian immigrant and professor emerita at Bryant University in Rhode Island.

If these questions of identity sound exceedingly complicated, you don't know the half of it. For 30 years starting in 1970, the Census Bureau asked simply whether you considered yourself Hispanic. The "or Latino" bit was added in 2000, after officials noticed that some people of Hispanic origin weren't identifying with that specific term.

In a 2013 survey asking Hispanic or Latino Americans how they described themselves, Pew Research found that "Hispanic" was twice as popular as "Latino." But words describing specific national origin - "Cuban" or "Mexican" or "Dominican" - beat both terms, said Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at Pew.

(It's worth noting that virtually nobody chose Latinx, the gender-neutral form of Latino that has gained traction mostly in academic and media circles. "It is a term that the public itself is relatively unaware of," Lopez said.)

Part of the complexity stems from the government's decades-old decision to treat ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino) as something separate and distinct from race (Black, Native American, White) and even ancestry (German, Egyptian, American). This odd tripartite sectioning of the messy American melting pot forces folks to run a multi-question gantlet of overlapping notions when they fill out the census survey. Census staffers then step in to untangle the results.

During the Obama administration, there was a push to consolidate race and ethnicity into a single category, and to expand that category to include options for people with Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) heritage. Supporters argued the move would paint a clearer and more useful picture of the population.

That idea was shelved during the Trump administration. In researching his baby boomer book, "The Aftermath," our colleague Philip Bump interviewed people who said they suspect Trump officials were concerned that the move would serve to further shrink an already shrinking White population. Most MENA Americans are counted as White and, until recent changes boosted the count of mixed-race people, so were about two-thirds of Hispanic Americans.

Under President Biden, the proposal to consolidate race and ethnicity has been revived by the White House Office of Management and Budget, and it now seems on track to be adopted next year. As currently proposed, the changes would eliminate the need for Hispanics or Latinos to select a separate race such as "White," though they could still choose to mark multiple backgrounds.

As it stands, the proposal would not change the government's definition of Hispanic or Latino, which Pew's Lopez points out could be constrained by a 1976 law requiring statistics on "Americans of Spanish origin or descent."

That may mean that, despite the frustration found in at least a few of the 20,000-plus public comments that have roared in, Brazilians still may not be considered Latino.

"That doesn't make sense," said Luciano Tosta, a Brazilian American professor at the University of Kansas who identifies as Latino. "They haven't done their homework correctly."

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There are hundreds of gangs in Orlando, and 9 investigates rode along with the Orlando Police Departments gang unit to see what they are dealing with day in and day out.

We learned along Jackson Street in Parramore is where the departments gang unit spends a lot of its time, and one apartment complex is known as the epicenter of the gangs on this side of the city.

Its where police find stolen cars, respond to shootings, and catch drug dealers. In fact, police have been here more than 375 times since January 2020.

Parramore has three gangs. The seven-member gang unit is in charge of keeping a close eye on all of them.

READ: Thunderstorms darken Central Floridas skies once again

At the corner of Columbia and Parramore, officers showed us the result of gang violence,

Im not going to get (into) any specific names with you, but obviously, a gang member was shot and killed here right at this particular corner. that is a vigil of said gang member, an officer said.

Orlando police said Antwan Roberts, Jr. was killed in broad daylight in front of his grandmothers home in 2020. A memorial marks the violence, and we have issues where other gang members show up for vigils on the date that person was killed during a violent act.

READ: Orlando Mayor prepares for first State of the City address since 2019

In orlando, its not about territory, its not about drugs. its about respect and notoriety. the OPD officer said, Its not over drugs or territory. They dont care about drugs or territory. its not like major cities like Chicago where a particular drug dealer stands on a corner and thats their corner and thats how things work. thats not how it works. This stuff is about reputation, what they look like on social media.

The officer said gangs are absolutely, 100% influenced by social media.

Violence also happens at rival gang members gravesites and over rap songs.

READ: Deputies: 20 men arrested, others wanted after online sting operation in Marion County

Its mostly, literally, about reputation, clout, who can rap. one type of gang versus the other, the officer said. They talk trash about each other in the lyrics, They talk about the violent acts (they) are going to do to the different  gangs. Its very, very particular. And then once that song gets released, another song will be released from another group, and that group will then be dissing this group and their lyrics. And then before you know it, its a feud and a feed turns into shootings or crimes against each other over the songs.

But its not just in Parramore. Pine Hills also deals with completely different gangs. On the east side, its home to more national gang members like the Latin Kings.

Many of the shootings are because of gang violence, which often affects innocent bystanders.

READ: Lake County deputies make arrest in 2021 murder of man found shot, set on fire

Its something police are trying to stop and, so far, its working. There were 470 shootings in 2021. Last year, that number fell to 441. So far this year, there have been nine.

We have a pretty good handle on the situation, the officer said, crediting proactive policing

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When an argument between a passenger and a bus driver escalated outside a Charlotte mall last week, two other passengers moved to the back of the bus.

Then gunshots were exchanged.

On Wednesday, Interim Charlotte Area Transit System CEO Brent Cagle spoke for the first time about the May 18 incident that left a driver and passenger with life-threatening injuries.

Cagle identified the bus operator as David Fullard, who has been dismissed from his duties. The CATS CEO also cited new safety measures CATS is implementing in response.

Its never okay for passengers to assault drivers to threaten drivers, Cagle said during an afternoon press conference. However, we also acknowledge that gun violence and violence in general is pervasive throughout the community.

Fullard failed to follow deescalation protocol because he didnt leverage the appropriate alarms. Fullard also broke CATS policy by carrying a gun, Cagle said.

Its unclear if Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will seek charges against Fullard.

The passenger, Omarri Shariff Tobias has been charged with felony assault, banned from all city public transportation and jailed with a $250,000 bond, according to court documents.

The passenger pulled a firearm on the operator, and the operator also pulled out a firearm, CATS said in an email. Both individuals shot at each other.

Both men are now listed as stable and are expected to recover, CATS spokesman Brandon T. Hunter said in an email Wednesday. Two other adult passengers on the bus were not injured. CMPD Steele Creek officers confiscated both firearms and the departments investigation is ongoing.

Charlotte buses have two silent alarms: one that allows security to listen into whats happening on the bus and another that displays 911 call police on the outside of the bus. Fullard did not hit either button.

CATS is waiting on the Transportation Security Administration to approve the release of a video of the shooting, which Cagle described as a tragedy. CATS will provide it to media once its approved, Cagle said.

There is a citywide problem

Charlotte City Councilman Ed Driggs says a May 18 shooting on a CATS bus at Charlotte Premium Outlets Mall last week doesnt reflect problems with the citys transit system.

It was the fourth known incident involving a firearm on a CATS bus in less than two years.

Its not so much a CATS problem, its more that there is a citywide problem, Driggs told The Charlotte Observer. Young people are shooting each other for minor disputes.

Cagle agreed, saying CATS is not immune to the public safety challenges Charlotte faces.

But the shooting still brings an important opportunity for safety improvements.

The proposed CATS capital project budget allocates more than $5.5 million for camera replacements, dispatch upgrades and safety programs for 2024-2028 to increase security on transit routes.

We will take the opportunity of this process to ask the right questions, Driggs said. Do you have to have a metal detector to make sure a driver isnt bringing a gun on a bus?

Officials at RATP Dev USA said in a statement they were working closely with CATS and CMPD during the investigation.

Our number one concern is the health and well being of our Operator who was injured as well as the safety of all our employees and riders across Charlotte Mecklenburg County, the company said in an emailed statement.

North Carolina does not have a law prohibiting passengers from carrying a gun on public transit, but Cagle made it clear guns are not welcome on CATS buses.

I do not think that it is beneficial to CATS to make the assumption that our riders and our operators are safer if they are armed, Cagle said.

Operators are not allowed to have cell phones with them while driving buses, let alone a firearm, Cagle said.

What is CATS doing to make buses safer?

In new security contracts, Cagle said the number of CATS security employees will double next year with an additional $3.5 million added to the security operating budget.

CATS is also expanding its bus ambassador program that puts another employee on the bus with the operator to help with customer service and security.

Cagle announced plans to provide additional and ongoing deescalation and customer service training for bus operators.

I believe what were doing protects the safety for the passengers and the drivers, Cagle said. The fact is, it occurs all over this city and all over this country.

Violence on CATS transit

Between 2018 and 2021, 40 incidents of violence against CATS operators were reported, the Observer reported in 2022. The number of cases reached a four-year high of in 2021. There were 11 in 2020, seven in 2019 and eight in 2018, CATS data show. The Observer requested updated data from CATS for 2022 and 2023.

Since 2022, there have been four known gunfire incidents involving CATS buses:

 On Oct. 10, 2022, a CATS bus passenger fired a bullet back at the bus after exiting it, injuring a passenger.

Police said the bullet hit the side of the bus, its impact bruising a passengers shoulder. The bullet didnt hit the passenger, CMPD said.

 On May 18, 2022, someone shot at a CATS bus after being left by the bus.

It was the last bus of the evening, former CATS CEO John Lewis said. The individual, in this case, was waiting at the bus stop and jumped out in front of the bus to wave his hands and there was an argument.

 On Feb. 11, 2022, a 41-year-old bus driver was fatally shot in what police call a road rage incident.

Ethan Rivera had worked as a bus driver for CATS for just over a year when he was shot. He died a day later.

Bulletproof windows, doors not the answer?

One solution the City Council and CATS have discussed: bulletproof doors or barricades.

In response to the Rivera shooting, Republican City Councilman Tariq Bokhari, along with many Republicans running for office in 2022, worked with local companies Queen City Engineering and Polymer Shapes to create an operational bulletproof shield for bus operators under $5,000 each.

CATS ultimately did not implement the bulletproof shields, and its something thats stuck with Bokhari even after Lewis resigned from the agency.

My last straw was when my group was fabricating the bulletproof bus doors, and I kept him updated on a daily basis as he was supportive, then for no reason (Lewis) lied to the public saying hed never heard of the effort and didnt want it, Bokhari said.

Lewis said the push from city council for bulletproof barriers, windows and doors was a kneejerk reaction to specific incidents. He also said the weight of the thick glass could affect how the buses operate and turn.

Theres a huge difference in random acts of violence and targeted acts, Lewis said. It was a terrible situation, that was not a result of an individual working for the transit company.

Cagle said the agency has no plans to implement bulletproof barriers or windows on buses.

Despite the challenges the agency has faced, Cagle has a sense of optimism.

Things are getting better at CATS in little and big ways, Cagle said.
The stage at the Casbah Club in Liverpool in 2006, where rock bassist Chas Newby once played as a member of the Beatles in 1960. (Pauls Ellis / AFP via Getty Images)

Chas Newby, an English rock bassist and brief member of the Beatles in the early 1960s, died this week at 81.

Friends and members of the Liverpool rock scene confirmed Newby's death on Tuesday, with many remembering him as "the first left-handed bass guitarist in the Beatles." Paul McCartney became the second when he eventually moved over to bass. Newby's cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

"Both Pete and I and the whole Best family absolutely [devastated] to hear the very sad news with regards to one of the families closest friends Chas Newby passing last night," wrote Roag Best, younger brother of former Beatles drummer Pete Best, on his Facebook account Tuesday morning.

"Many of you will know him for playing bass guitar for both The Beatles and The Quarrymen, but to us he was laid back Chas with the big smile," Best continued. "Well truly miss him. Forever in our thoughts. God bless you Chas x."

The Cavern Club, a Liverpool venue that hosted some of the Beatles' early shows, also mourned Newby's death "with great sadness."

When the Beatles called his name in 1960, Newby was in the middle of his second year at St. Helens College, where he was studying chemistry and chemical engineering. The band was touring in Germany and was in need of a bassist after George Harrison had been deported for performing at clubs while underage, according to a 2020 Rock & Roll Globe interview with Newby during which the rocker recalled his days with the Beatles. He said he turned them down, not wanting to give up his studies.

However, when the Beatles returned to England later that year, Newby answered the call. Strapped with a right-handed bass upside down, the left-handed Newby would play four gigs with the Beatles during what many consider the beginning of "Beatlemania."



With clubs such as the Casbah advertising them as "direct from Hamburg," the Beatles drew large crowds, Newby recalled. During their infamous 1960 show at Litherland Town Hall, the Beatles, with Newby onstage, broke decorum at the venue, which typically required dress codes, such as ties for men.

"To suddenly hear this sound come from the stage which was very loud, but to see people in jeans, leather jackets and the confidence and performance they actually put on, everybody rushed to the front of stage," Dave Forshaw, a promoter at the Liverpool club, recalled in an interview with Brightmoon Liverpool.

"They were not prepared for the power of the band, no doubt gained from long hours on stage in Germany," Newby said, remembering those early Beatles gigs. "Everybody knew right away how much better they were."

A New Year's show that year would be Newby's last with the Beatles, as he would return to college. "On the 4 January 1961 I was back at my desk in college, and my career as a rocker was over," Newby said.

Although Newby gained fame from his early performances, much of his life was spent working as an engineer until 1990, and later a math teacher until 1998.

To me then it was just four gigs with a different band, Newby told Birmingham Mail in 2012. Music was never going to be a living for me."

All of us at that time were thinking what we were going to do with our lives, some doing teaching, or science, or whatever," Newby continued. I wanted to do chemistry. John, Paul and George, they just wanted to be musicians."

Even so, Newby would remain attached to music. He told Rock & Roll Globe that he had joined a men's choir that sang at prestigious venues, such as the Royal Albert Hall and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. After retirement from teaching, Newby would also play gigs with his original band the Blackjacks, which had formed in the 1950s, as well as the Quarrymen, John Lennon's band that had birthed the Beatles.

With the Quarrymen, Newby traveled throughout Europe and Mexico, performing old rock and doo-wop hits of the 1950s, "the music that influenced" the Beatles and that era of Liverpool rock.

As recently as 2019, Newby, in his late 70s, could be seen in Mexico City, rocking the bass line and humming backup to a cover of the Del-Vikings 1957 doo-wop song, "Come Go with Me."

"I am constantly amazed that people attend Beatles festivals to see four old-age pensioners performing the music of our youth," Newby told Rock & Roll Globe. "So far we have avoided banging into the microphone stands with our Zimmer frames."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng attended the China-Russia business forum on Tuesday in Shanghai, expressing expectations for in-depth exchanges between Chinese and Russian business communities.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Russia cooperation in various fields maintained a sound development momentum and made significant contributions to the world.

China is ready to work with Russia to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, promote bilateral trade, deepen investment cooperation, upgrade connectivity and industrial cooperation, and strengthen agricultural cooperation, He said.

He said China would unswervingly advance Chinese modernization, strive to achieve high-quality development, and expand opening-up at a high level, providing new development opportunities for other countries including Russia.

It is hoped that the business communities of China and Russia will have in-depth exchanges and work hand in hand to write a new chapter in China-Russia practical cooperation, He added.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin attended and addressed the forum. The Chinese vice premier also met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko before the opening ceremony.
Chas Newby, who once played as a bassist for The Beatles, has died, according to the Cavern Club Liverpool music venue.

"It's with great sadness to hear about the passing of Chas Newby," the club said in a Facebook post. "Chas stepped in for The Beatles for a few dates when Stuart Sutcliffe stayed in Hamburg and latterly he played for The Quarrymen."

"Interestingly, he was also the first left-handed bass guitarist in The Beatles," the post added. "RIP Chas Newby thoughts and well wishes from everybody at The Cavern Club."

The Blackpool native was 81 when he died earlier this week.

PAUL MCCARTNEY ALMOST QUIT MUSIC AFTER THE BEATLES BROKE UP

Chas Newby passed away at 81 earlier this week.

The "fifth Beatle" played with the band briefly in the 1960s during Sutcliffes absence from the band as he focused on his art career.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Newby had previously played with John Lennon's original band, The Quarrymen. He rejoined the group later in his life, playing with the group from 2016 until his death.

Fans honored Newby after the devastating news was announced.

Sitting in front of the inscription "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" are, from left to right, Beatles manager Allan Williams, his wife Beryl, Williams' business partner and black Calypso singer Lord Woodbine, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best.

One wrote, "What an amazing history [Chas] had, and you would never know the unassuming man having a pint next to you held such a part in the history of the musical legacy that was the Beatles."

After performing with The Beatles in the 1960s, Lennon reportedly asked Newby to join their Germany tour.

From left to right, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison in a group photo during their first U.S. tour.

Newby turned down the offer and had other career goals in mind. He wanted to obtain his university degree.

PAUL MCCARTNEY SAYS HE WAS HURTING TOO MUCH TO KEEP THE BEATLES GOING AFTER JOHN LENNON LEFT

In 2012, Newby expressed he was happy with his decision during an interview with the Sunday Mercury.

"Music was never going to be a living for me. I wanted to do chemistry," he pointed out at the time.

BEATLES' PAUL MCCARTNEY, ROLLING STONES COLLABORATE AS SURVIVING BANDMATES RECAPTURE GLORY DAYS

"John, Paul [McCartney] and George [Harrison], they just wanted to be musicians."

The Beatles perform "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" on BBC TV show "Top Of The Pops" in London June 16, 1966.

"People sometimes dont believe me when I say Ive no regrets. But I really havent."

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Newby went on to be a math teacher and left a tremendous impact on his students.

Following his death, Newbys students honored the late scholar and legendary musician.

"Many [ex-students] sharing condolences. He helped me greatly in improving my [math] and I have never forgotten that. Always exciting to have a [math] teacher who could say he played with the Beatles! One of the first school legends you were told."
Sam Altman arriving at the Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski Dresden for the 2016 Bilderberg Group conference in Dresden, Germany. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

ChatGPT became publicly available 6 months ago.

The chatbot has already upended education, training, hiring, and company share prices.

It was a black swan event  an unforeseen, rare event that looked inevitable in hindsight.

Bill Gates says its creation is as fundamental as the computer chip, the internet, and the PC. Elon Musk wants to put the brakes on development. Warren Buffett is already comparing it to the atomic bomb.

These hyperbolic statements about artificial intelligence were made in the six months since the startup OpenAI publically released ChatGPT, an AI chatbot underpinned by the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 large language models.

Similarly to Google's Bard and image-generators such as DALL-E and Midjourney, ChatGPT can "create" something based on prompts and falls under the new umbrella term generative AI. And since ChatGPT's release in November, it's causing as much anxiety as excitement.

At least 49 listed US companies have mentioned ChatGPT in quarterly earnings calls in May 2023 to date, according to an analysis of Seeking Alpha transcripts by Insider. It's a sign that corporate America is rushing to show off this new, important tech trend.

And it's no mystery why.

As three researchers recently wrote in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research: "ChatGPT represents an important shock to corporate valuations."

They calculated that firms with high exposure to AI earned daily excess returns that were 0.4% higher than firms with lower exposure after the release of the chatbot.

A former OpenAI researcher, Paul Christiano, said society had "maybe a 10-20% chance of AI takeover" that would leave many or most "humans dead."

Here are the signs that ChatGPT was a black swan event  an unforeseen, rare occurrence that had far-reaching impacts and, in hindsight, looked inevitable.

1. AI has come for jobs

Arvind Krishna speaking to a crowd while sitting in a chair with his hands together.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.Brian Ach / Stringer / Via Getty

The doomy tech prophecy that robots could eventually replace humans is starting to come true.

In March, an early analysis from Goldman Sachs said that generative AI could significantly disrupt the labor market by affecting around 300 million jobs globally. Coding jobs were predicted to be particularly vulnerable as tech layoffs savaged the industry. A September analysis by GitHub, the code repository owned by Microsoft, said that developers using its AI Copilot tool to aid their coding were 55% faster than those without.

Now CEOs are beginning to say the quiet part out loud.

Arvind Krishna, the chief executive of IBM, said in May that the company would slow or suspend hiring for roles that AI might replace and estimated that 7,800 jobs  mainly comprising back-office roles  could be impacted.

Mustafa Suleyman, a cofounder of Google DeepMind, recently called for universal basic income to support what he predicted would be the "serious numbers of losers" of jobs to AI.

As Insider's Hasan Chowdhury noted, AI may not directly replace jobs across the board because it would enable companies to cut costs by using the technology to make existing workers more efficient and productive.

2. ChatGPT has changed education and training forever

Students and some teachers were among the earliest users of ChatGPT when they realized its potential to produce essays and help with assignments.

Cue plagiarism, false accusations of cheating from educators, and a new atmosphere of distrust between students and professors navigating a post-ChatGPT world.

Beyond school, large language models have the capacity to disrupt training even for seemingly elitist careers, such as medicine. One paper, which had not been peer-reviewed at the time of writing, suggested that ChatGPT could pass all three parts of the US medical-licensing examination. Another experiment said that medical researchers preferred ChatGPT to physicians because it appeared to be more empathetic. Human doctors have concluded that the bot wouldn't replace them soon but might still have a few things to teach them about their bedside manner. This is a pretty astonishing prospect for an algorithm.

At a corporate level, surging student interest in ChatGPT saw education companies' stocks get hammered earlier in May.

The student-services company Chegg, which offers online help for students' homework, saw its stock price almost cut in half after CEO Dan Rosenzweig told investors the company had seen a "significant spike in student interest in ChatGPT" that was "having an impact on our new customer growth."

"We see this one as a real, transformational change," he said during its Q1 2023 earnings call, comparing the advancements in AI to other recent technologies such as bitcoin payments. "We're betting very big on the fact that people are going to need to learn how to use these things."

Pearson, a fellow digital learning firm, and the virtual language-learning company Duolingo also saw their share prices plummet.

3. ChatGPT single-handedly blew up Big Tech

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaking during the Google I/O keynote session in Mountain View, California. JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images

On the face of it, Big Tech companies have failed to talk about big, ambitious ideas tangibly over the last five years.

Self-driving cars have stalled, internet balloons failed to take off, and even opening brick-and-mortar stores appeared too difficult a challenge.

ChatGPT lit a fire under these behemoths, with Meta, Amazon, and Google all racing desperately to talk about AI publicly after its release and Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.

In the wake of ChatGPT's launch, Google reportedly declared a "code-red" and has since been pouring resources into AI to try and keep pace. It has also had to pivot quickly in how it talked about artificial intelligence, moving away from high-minded ethics warnings toward actually putting out products.

One is a revamped version of Google search powered by its new chatbot Bard, a direct response to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The firm will also integrate the tech across Google Workspace, marking the biggest innovations to its core products in years.

Keen not to be left behind, Meta has also been emphasizing its AI credentials.

In February, the company introduced researchers to LLaMA, a large language model similar to OpenAI's GPT-4. A month later, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company's "single largest investment is in advancing AI."

Analysts have expressed concern over how much Zuckerberg was spending to increase the company's investment in AI. Meta's lack of consumer-facing AI products, however, has made it less visible in the space.

Amazon, meanwhile, was working on implementing ChatGPT-like features into a secret new home robot, Insider's Eugene Kim reported.

4. Nations want to rein in the spread of AI

With the threat of AI displacing jobs and even defaming people, regulators have been closely watching how private companies roll out AI.

The EU has made early strides towards banning uses that pose an "unacceptable risk" while the Biden administration has been meeting with major players in the industry. ChatGPT was briefly banned by Italian regulators.

Regulators may have been spurred on by a growing chorus of warnings about AI's potential. A UK government official met with Geoffrey Hinton, the former Googler dubbed the "Godfather of AI" who quit Google earlier in 2023 to speak candidly about the risks posed by AI.

Hinton's warnings were first published in The New York Times. They raised similar concerns to those in an open letter backed by other AI heavyweights, including Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell.

Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned US lawmakers in May that personalized disinformation targeted at undecided voters was his personal fear.

"I worry that as the models get better and better, the users can have less and less of their own discriminating thought process," Altman said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A cluster of mpox cases in the Chicago area has spurred concerns of a resurgence this summer, mere months after the end of the public health emergency for the outbreak that began last year.

The U.S. response to the mpox outbreak in 2022 was heralded as a public health success despite some early stumbles. By the beginning of this year, enough progress had been made that the White House allowed the public health emergency to expire.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said last week, however, there is a substantial risk of a resurgence this summer. This warning came days after the World Health Organization declared mpox to no longer be a global health emergency.

A worry is that investigators have found more than half of those infected in the Chicago cluster had received some degree of vaccination.

Nallely Mora, research assistant professor at Loyola University Chicagos Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, believes the cluster may be the result of people being negligent of getting a full schedule of vaccines.

She noted that while rates of mpox cases became extremely low, ranging from one to three confirmed cases per day in recent months, the virus never went away entirely.

We know the rates of people willing to get a complete vaccine schedule is not great, Mora said. Some of them, they may have their first dose and then maybe they forget to get to the point of the 28 days, when they need to get the second dose to acquire full immunity, and its just not happening.

The discovery in Chicago has led experts to call for more inquiries into the efficacy and duration of the smallpox vaccines used during last years outbreak.

Because there is no immunization specifically geared toward mpox, the smallpox vaccines ACAM2000 and the newer Jynneos were deployed because the two viruses are closely related.

Jynneos, administered in two doses 28 days apart, became the most commonly administered shot because it is generally thought to have fewer side effects.

During the early parts of the mpox outbreak, many health departments supplies of Jynneos were stretched thin, with some resorting to administering all the doses they had on hand before knowing when they would have enough supplies to provide the second dose.

Due to these circumstances, many people fell through the cracks, not following up to get a second dose.

The difference between one dose and two doses of Jynneos is potentially vast. CDC officials noted during a press briefing that the estimated vaccine effectiveness from one dose of Jynneos ranged from 36 to 75 percent, while the effectiveness of two doses ranged from 66 to 86 percent.

Martin Hirsch, professor of medicine at Harvard University, noted this difference is particularly more dramatic among immunocompromised individuals, who are less likely to develop as strong of an immune response as individuals with competent immune systems. This is especially troubling given whats known about vaccination rates in the U.S.

People who consider themselves at high risk and who are at high risk should get the primary vaccine dose, Hirsch advised. The data that Ive seen in the United States is that only 23 percent of those considered at risk are now fully vaccinated.

The CDC has so far not changed its recommendations on vaccine scheduling for mpox and has not specified whether previously immunized people should get a second course of shots ahead of this summer.

CDC recommends that anyone at risk, anyone who has been infected, or anyone who has been exposed to mpox, get a total of two mpox vaccines, the agency said when reached for comment.

Mora said individuals who have received an incomplete schedule of vaccines should see whether they can get a complete two-dose round. Those who got both doses, however, probably can wait before they inquire about further immunization.

I dont think theres any indication that the vaccine efficacy wanes very quickly, Hirsch said. I dont think people who have gotten their vaccines should be particularly concerned, unless theyre at particularly high risk.

Groups that health authorities recommend get immunized include those who have been exposed to someone with mpox; men who have sex with men, transgender and gender-diverse people who have had more than one sex partner in the past six months; immunocompromised people; and those who work in high-risk settings, like clinics and hospitals.

In Hirschs opinion, the general population can hold off getting a shot for mpox because the risks could be greater than the benefit. He encouraged those with concerns to speak with their health care providers.

The mitigating strategies from last year still hold true, as well. Wash your hands; clean your clothes and linens if youve been infected; and avoid high-risk situations where skin-to-skin contact is more likely.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Fabrice Coffrini / Contributor / Getty Images

The head of the World Health Organization on Monday warned that future health emergencies could be more severe than the Covid-19 pandemic, and urged the agency's members to start preparing for the next global health crisis, CBS News reported.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, issued the warning while speaking at the 76th World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. The message came just weeks after the organization ended the Covid-19 global emergency.

While the threat of Covid still lingers, Tedros said other imminent threats could be even worse. "The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains," he said, warning WHO members not to "kick this can down the road" and urging them to make changes in the immediate future. "When the next pandemic comes knocking  and it will  we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably," Tedros added.

During the annual assembly, which runs from May 21 to May 30, the organization is set to address a number of global health issues, including "future pandemics, eradicating polio and supporting steps to ease Ukraine's health emergency triggered by Russia's invasion," Reuters explained. The 194 WHO member states are also drafting a global pandemic treaty and will continue negotiations on that front over the next year. Tedros noted the importance of a "commitment from this generation" to the pandemic treaty "because it is this generation that experienced how awful a small virus could be."

Earlier in the meeting, member countries approved a $6.83 billion budget for the next two years that included a 20% increase in mandatory fees. The new budget "tested national commitments to fixing a WHO funding model which was seen as too small and overly reliant on the vagaries of donors," per Reuters.

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As a child, she stitched clothes in a sweatshop. Now she sees modern slavery everywhere

When Nasreen Sheikh walks down a busy street, she doesnt see the faces of the people walking by  she sees the clothes they wear and the suffering of those who made them.

As a child, Sheikh worked up to 20 hours a day in a sweatshop in Nepal stitching fabric that would become clothes sold to consumers unaware of their true cost.

Ninety percent of my brain, all the time, still lives in those experiences. Its hard not to be there, she said on the phone from Miami, Florida, one of the many stops on her lifes mission to educate the world about modern slavery.

This week, Sheikh is in London as part of a team launching the Global Slavery Index, a report compiled by Walk Free, a non-profit foundation that seeks to end modern slavery.

Since its last edition in 2018, the report estimates another 10 million people have become caught in modern slavery, taking the total to 50 million  including 28 million subject to forced labor and 22 million to forced marriages.

Walk Free says its a crisis driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, conflict and rampant consumerism, and perpetuated by the failure by governments and business leaders to act.

Nasreen Sheikh speaks at the Bali Process Government & Business Forum in Adelaide this year, alongside Grace Forrest, co-founder of the Walk Free Foundation. - Courtesy Walk Free Foundation

The worst offenders

Not surprisingly, countries with poor records on human rights have the highest prevalence of modern slavery: North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

But according to the index, when countries are evaluated on numbers alone, the worlds biggest democracy, India, has the most people trapped in modern slavery, followed by China, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey, Bangladesh and the United States.

The reports authors point out that six of those countries are in the G20  and together theyre estimated to import $468 billion worth of goods potentially made through forced labor each year, including electronics, garments, palm oil and solar panels. Thats $100 million more than the last count in 2018.

From the cotton on the shirt on your back, to the phone in your hand, to the solar panels that we all want to be put onto our roofs, there is a footprint of extreme exploitation of modern slavery in our world of tens of millions of people, said Grace Forrest, founding director of Walk Free.

Anyone that tries to tell you that that is something that is normal or OK is wrong.

Katharine Bryant, head of Policy and Programs at the Walk Free Foundation, gathers information for the Global Slavery Index in Recife, Brazil. - Courtesy Walk Free Foundation

Since the last report in 2018, four more countries  Australia, France, Germany, and Norway  introduced modern slavery laws that force larger companies to examine their supply chains and act on slavery when they find it. Another 15 countries criminalized human trafficking, taking the total to 137, and nearly 150 countries now have modern slavery action plans, according to the report.

But while theres been some progress, global crises have pushed millions more into slave labor. For example, the sudden surge in demand for medical products during the pandemic, combined with shutdowns and the sudden loss of jobs, created an environment rich for the exploitation of migrant workers.

Severe economic downturns compelled some families to send their children to work or push their daughters into child marriage, to earn money and have one less mouth to feed. Conflict pushed more people to abandon their homes and support networks, sometimes crossing borders into countries with harsh policies on refugees and asylum seekers.

Increasing anti-immigrant sentiment in many countries, including Europe, where many seek to start a new life, has led to more restrictive policies, which in turn expose displaced people to even greater risks of exploitation, the report said.

Nasreen Sheikh worked as a child laborer in a sweatshop in Nepal before starting a business employing women. - Courtesy Nasreen Sheikh

A call to action to governments and businesses

Sheikh was in Nepal during the early days of the pandemic and said the crisis showed that governments can spread powerful messages to their people, if they have the will.

They used their armies, they used the local leaders, they used their religious leaders, they used every resource possible to educate people that hey, there is Covid and you have to wear a mask.

Sheikh thinks they should do the same to educate businesses about modern slavery and inform workers who dont know theyre being exploited.

I did not even know what child labor meant until I came to America. This was such a new thing for me because you see children working all over the place in Nepal and India, said Sheikh, who founded the Empowerment Collective, a US-based nonprofit foundation, to help spread awareness.

Sheikh escaped child slavery after meeting the late Leslie John, an American expat who taught her English and showed her what she could achieve. With a loan, she opened a business in Kathmandu  Local Womens Handicrafts  selling handmade products.

Now, when shes traveling, she avoids shops with clothes of unclear origin  labels that say Made in China or Made in India with no further information  and buys secondhand items, or supports local businesses.

If it does not tell the story of how was it made, (under) what condition it was made, who made it  if there is not a story, I see a suffering, Sheikh said.

Forrest from Walk Free said while everyday decisions can make a difference, modern slavery is not a problem that can be fixed by individual shopping choices.

This index is first and foremost a call to action for governments and businesses, she said. The largest responsibility and opportunity sits with the countries who are in an economic position to do something about it, who can build supply chains differently and who are engaging with repressive regimes all over the world.

They need to start talking about human rights in the front of those negotiations, not as an afterthought.

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Chin-Kee  the startling caricature of a negative stereotypical Chinese in Gene Luen Yangs graphic novel American Born Chinese  was the biggest dilemma series creator Kelvin Yu faced in adapting the novel into a Disney series.

The fictional character symbolizes the harmful stereotypes reflected in the racist nature of American pop culture in the past. In Yangs novel, Chin-Kee was depicted as an embarrassing cousin who other characters wished to avoid as much as possible.

The cousin character is the most controversial part of the book, Yang tells NextShark. He is purposely offensive. He's the embodiment of all of the negative stereotypes that many of us Asian Americans grew up with, so to move that onto screen on Disney+ really was difficult.

More from NextShark: Marvels Shang-Chi Stops Production in Australia Over Coronavirus

Concerned with adapting the caricature for modern audiences, Yu reflected on his own journey in Hollywood as an Asian American actor.

What Kelvin and his writing team did was they infused Kelvin's own experience as an Asian American actor. Kelvin's very first acting job was one where he played a stereotype character named Freddy Gong and that translated into Freddy Wong on our show, Yang explains.

Yu appeared on Ryan Murphy and Gina Matthewss American comedy-drama TV series Popular, which ran for two seasons on The WB from 1999 to 2001. Freddy Gong emerged in six episodes of the high school teen drama as an unpopular, stereotypical Asian student.

More from NextShark: Nerd, bad driver, exotic woman: More than a third of API characters in main roles embody a trope or stereotype, study finds

Yu eventually turned to that character when creating Freddy Wong for Disneys American Born Chinese.

In the series, Wong is a character on Beyond Repair, a 90s sitcom series that is being rebooted. While the caricature part has been dropped, Wong still appears as a comic-relief character with an exaggerated Asian accent. Wong is played by the actor Jamie Yao, who soon reflects on his past sitcom role, in the fictional world of the American Born Chinese.

More from NextShark: K-pop group Aespa told not to look at hospital on NYC tour, because US medical care is too expensive

The character would be played by Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan, who recently admitted to initially passing on the role.

I remember when I first heard about this character when I was offered the role, it scared the hell out of me. In fact, I actually passed on it because I told our creative team that this is the type of portrayal that we do not want to see in 2023, Quan shared at a post-screening Q&A in New York City.

The 51-year-old actor later had a change of heart after discussing the character with Yus creative team, noting that Wong is like art imitating life.

More from NextShark: Vietnamese tourist in Thailand reunited with his lost $194,000 Richard Mille watch

In light of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Yang hopes that the Asian American community will value the importance of storytelling as he has in creating American Born Chinese.

I hope they see that our stories are important, our stories are a vital part of the fabric of the society and if we have something to say, we should say it, Yang says.

Its visibility, executive producer Melvin Mar adds. I think with all that's happening in our community these days, changing the narrative and reducing the otherness in our community is vital.

Mar tells NextShark that he has been a fan of Yangs graphic novel since 2006 and has waited 10 years for it to finally be adapted into a show.

I have never read anything that sort of spoke to me and stuck with me that much, Mar says.

After Mar met Yang on a panel that their mutual friend was hosting at the time, Yang eventually welcomed the idea.

He called me two months later and said, I think I'm ready to do this, Mar shares.

American Born Chinese also stars Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Wu, Jimmy Liu, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Stephanie Hsu, Ronnie Chieng and Jimmy O. Yang, among others. The show premieres on Disney+ on May 24.

Check out NextSharks full interview with Yang and Mar below:
The House China Committee on Wednesday advanced 10 bipartisan recommendations to deter China from attacking Taiwan, which the panel hopes will be included in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

The committee agreed by voice vote to advance the Taiwan proposals, drafted as a response to April table top war games led by the Center for a New American Security. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., was the only lawmaker to vote no.

At the select committees Taiwan war game, we saw the terrifying result of deterrence failure, Gallagher said in advance of the vote. If we want to have a hope of stopping World War III, we need to arm Taiwan to the teeth right now. We must clear the embarrassment that is the $19 billion [foreign military sale] backlog.

The 10 recommendations include establishing a war reserve stockpile of weapons in Taiwan, prioritizing weapons delivery for Taipei and authorizing multiyear munitions procurement contracts. The proposals also call for hardening and distributing American forces throughout the Indo-Pacific region and expanding training and coordination between the U.S. and Taiwanese militaries.

The war games illustrated the difficulty the U.S. would have arming Taiwan in the event of a China crisis, the same way it has for Ukraine given the lack of a land border. To preposition critical weapons on the island, the China Committee wants the Pentagon to establish a war reserve stockpile for Taiwan and other Pacific allies akin to U.S. Central Commands stockpile in Israel.

The FY23 National Defense Authorization Act authorized $500 million in funding through 2025 for a regional contingency stockpile in the Pacific. The Pentagon is using a separate authority in that bill to prepare a package of weapons for Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles.

Another recommendation is quarterly updates on the Biden administrations efforts to address the foreign military sales backlog, especially for Taiwan. The report calls on congressional appropriations to provide grant assistance for Taiwan to buy more U.S. equipment.

The FY23 NDAA authorized up to $2 billion in Taiwanese military aid, but congressional appropriators decided to fund that as loans instead of grants amid concerns it would eat away at other State Department budget priorities.

The war games found the U.S. would run out of precision-guided missiles within a week in the event of a conflict with China, and Gallagher is leading a push to get appropriators on board with funding multiyear munitions procurement authorities.

Hoping to send a strong demand signal for the defense industry to ramp up munitions production, the China Committee wants the FY24 NDAA to authorize up to five years of munitions procurement contracts for long-range anti-ship missiles, naval strike missiles, precision strike missiles, MK-48 torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

Multiyear procurement authorities historically have been used for big-ticket items like ships and aircraft, but the Pentagon and some lawmakers have recently expressed interest in using them for munitions acquisition to encourage defense companies to ramp up production amid concern about insufficient U.S. stockpiles.

The FY23 NDAA sought to jump-start high-priority U.S. munitions production by authorizing multiyear procurement contracts for thousands of critical munitions, but congressional appropriators for the most part did not provide the needed funding. Gallagher told Defense News in an April interview hes lobbying appropriators to fund multiyear munitions procurement this year.

The panel also recommends expanded base access with allies and partners throughout the region, and says Congress should direct the U.S. military to invest in passive defenses, such as hardened fuel depots and other logistics facilities, and reserve supplies and direct the U.S. Air Force to increase resourcing for fielding deployable airbase sets at U.S. bases in theater.

The remaining recommendations are:

Building upon an FY23 NDAA provision to establish or expand a comprehensive training program with Taiwan

Establishing a U.S.-Taiwan combined planning group

Establishing a standing joint force headquarters or joint task force in the Pacific

Bolstering U.S. cybersecurity

Passing Gallaghers bill to help bolster Taiwans cybersecurity

Planning with U.S. allies to impose diplomatic and economic costs on China in the event of a Taiwan attack and including India in NATO Plus, an organization that currently allows South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Israel to closely coordinate with the alliance

Gallagher and seven other lawmakers on the 24-member China Committee also sit on the Armed Services Committee, putting them in position to advance many of these bipartisan proposals as amendments to the FY24 NDAA. Gallagher chairs the Armed Services Committees cyber panel and fellow China Committee member Rep. Ro Khanna of California serves as the top Democrat on that same panel. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Seth Moulton, D-Mass., also sit on the China Committee while respectively serving as chair and ranking member on other Armed Services subcommittees.

The Armed Services Committee was initially set to mark up the FY24 authorization bill this month, but Republican leaders postponed it at the last minute amid gridlocked debt ceiling negotiations.

Kim, who sits on both committees, said he voted against the Taiwan recommendations because all but one focused on military deterrence.

You have to look at that across a comprehensive approach that includes what we can be doing to build a global coalition, what diplomatic and economic tools are at our disposal, and I dont think that was reflected in that document, Kim told Defense News.

While Pacific fleet commander Adm. Samuel Papro briefed the China Committee after the Taiwan war games, State Department officials have yet to accept the panels invitation to testify.

Jacquelyn Schneider, who leads the wargaming and crisis initiative at the right-leaning Hoover Institution, stressed the difficulty of conducting campaign war games like the committee did with Taiwan, as they dont account for classified capabilities.

The biggest difficulty in campaign war games, and where campaign war games did not reveal what happened between Ukraine and Russia, is its very difficult to model public will and that really does affect how wars transpire, Schneider told Defense News.

She noted the outcomes highlighted issues like munitions shortages that the military and defense policy analysts are already aware of. Nonetheless, Schneider called them an incredibly evocative experience, adding that if you want to convince people who have never really thought about this problem that theres significant difficulties awaiting if you dont preposition munitions there, then war games are extremely compelling.
China ready to promote political settlement of crisis in Ukraine, Chinese official says

Mao Ning

Ning was commenting on Denmarks offer to host Ukraine peace talks in July.

The proposed peace conference would require engagement from countries like India, China, and Brazil, the Danish foreign minister has said.

We dont know exactly yet how this meeting is being planned, Ning said.

We stand ready to work with the international community and continue to play a constructive role in facilitating a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

Chinese diplomatic envoy Li Hui arrived in Kyiv on May 17 to pursue peace efforts to end Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The diplomats discussed bilateral cooperation between Kyiv and Beijing and within international organizations, as well as ways to stop Russian aggression.

At the same time, Kuleba stressed that Ukraine categorically rejects any proposals that involve the loss of its territory or freezing its ongoing defense efforts against Russian aggression.

Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on May 18, citing Hui as saying that there is no panacea in resolving the crisis.

On the same day, Ukrainian presidential chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak held a briefing in which he revealed the details of Huis meeting with the Ukrainian leadership.

During the meeting, Yermak emphasized that Ukraine seeks to establish a sustainable and just peace, and restore its territorial integrity, as envisaged by the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

The diplomats also discussed the situation at the front, the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian invaders and their forced adoption in Russia, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and Russian military actions at Ukraines Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Gazing up at the faintly smiling Buddha, the Chinese youths kneel, raise smoldering sticks of incense in clasped hands, and silently make their wishes. Then they bow deeply, three times.

Thousands of young people from around the country are making the pilgrimage to Yonghe Temple, a sprawling Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Beijing, to pray for good fortune  especially in finding jobs.

A lot of young people here are praying to the Buddha to help them find work, says Qian Ninan, a college student from Inner Mongolia, adding that she hopes her petitions before the temples many Buddhas will smooth her own career journey.

I am worried I may have trouble finding a job in the future, says Ms. Qian, a student of Chinese-Mongolian translation, who made the trek to the Beijing temple on the May 1 Labor Day holiday.

Even as China works to revive its economy after three years of strict lockdowns under the zero-COVID policy that ended in December, the unemployment rate for Chinese youth aged 16 to 24 has surged, reaching a record 20.4% last month. This comes as young Chinese are reconsidering work-life balance altogether, increasingly opting for less demanding jobs. With another 11.6 million college graduates flooding into the job market this year, the pressure is only likely to mount, experts say. And so will their search for comfort and hope as job seekers look for careers that align with their values.

You had a huge expansion of university education in China over the last couple of decades, creating a surplus of youth competing for limited white-collar jobs, says Andrew Batson, China research director for Gavekal Dragonomics, which covers macroeconomic and market trends in China. Meanwhile, a lot of the jobs that the economy is creating are blue-collar jobs, he adds. Its a mismatch in terms of peoples expectations.

Struggle and rejuvenation

In response to the high unemployment and shifting youth attitudes, Chinas leadership is urging todays young people to double down. They should work harder and bear the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation, in the words of a recent commentary in the Communist Party mouthpiece, Peoples Daily.

Top leader Xi Jinping is calling on young people to go labor in rural areas and temper themselves with hardship, as he did back in 1969, during Mao Zedongs down-to-the-countryside campaign. The hard life of going to the countryside for seven years was great training for me, Mr. Xi was quoted as saying on May 4 in a front-page Peoples Daily article featuring his ideas on the qualities of good youth.

Young people must prepare for struggle, the article continues. If you choose a Buddha-like mindset, you wont scale the peak of your career, it says.

But the mood at the temple suggests youth are setting less lofty goals. Seeking relief from the pressure cooker of Chinas job market, many say they want to carve out a more balanced life.

Leaving the temple after offering prayers, a college senior from the central city of Wuhan says that even with a computer science degree, he isnt confident hell land a position at a major tech company. Its really hard to find a job in China now, he says, withholding his name to protect his privacy.

Instead, he says hes simply looking for work that will allow him some free time often lacking in Chinas 9-9-6 work culture: a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. schedule, six days a week.

Ill be glad to just have a job with weekends off, he says.

Seeking small-town life

Overall, Chinese youth are downgrading their career ambitions, official data suggests. They are more willing to accept lower pay, and live outside the more expensive first-tier mega-cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, according to a 2022 survey on employment trends of Chinese college students released by the State Council, Chinas cabinet.

The survey found an intensified mentality of graduates seeking stability and the pursuit of a comfortable life, in part by pursuing work in state-run enterprises and public sector jobs. Indeed, those sectors have acted as a ballast, with more than a third of state-owned enterprises and state agencies increasing their overall number of jobs, the report said.

While revived economic growth and consumer spending will eventually create more jobs for young people, Mr. Batson from Gavekal Dragonomics says, and ease the current unemployment crisis, its less clear how that will impact the shifting youth attitudes.

People are making lifestyle decisions, says Zak Dychtwald, founder and CEO of the Shanghai-based Young China Group. While older Chinese were willing to work 60 to 80 hours a week to get their families ahead, this younger generation is far more oriented towards living in the moment, he says.

The gravitation toward the security of government jobs risks a decrease in innovation, which China cant really afford, he says.

Xie Taoyao, a college freshman who recently visited Beijings Yonghe temple with her boyfriend, embodies such trends.

Ms. Xie recently decided it will be too hard to get a job after finishing the engineering management degree shes enrolled in. Instead, she plans to return to her hometown in Hebei Province after graduation and become a teacher.

Back home, my parents will be closer and everything will be convenient, she says. Her boyfriend, from the same town, plans to return, too.

In the first-tier cities the pressure is quite great, but its less in smaller towns, she says. A lot of the young people around me feel the same way.

Kneeling before one Buddha after another at the temple, Ms. Xie said she gained a sense of determination and hope. It was a way to encourage myself, she says.

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China's hypersonic missiles threaten US power in the Pacific  an aerospace engineer explains how the weapons work and the unique threats they pose

Military vehicles carry an earlier version of China's hypersonic missile during a 2019 parade. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

Chinas newest hypersonic missile, the DF-27, can fly as far as Hawaii, penetrate U.S. missile defenses and pose a particular threat to U.S. aircraft carriers, according to news reports of an assessment from the Pentagon.

Chinese researchers claimed in a May 2023 research journal report that the countrys hypersonic missiles could destroy a U.S. carrier group with certainty. This capability threatens to sideline U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the Pacific, potentially shifting the strategic balance of power and leaving the U.S. with limited options for assisting Taiwan in the event China invades.

This shift in the balance of power highlights how the next-generation hypersonic missiles that China, Russia and the U.S. are developing pose a significant threat to global security. I am an aerospace engineer who studies space and defense systems, including hypersonic systems. These new systems pose an important challenge due to their maneuverability all along their trajectory. Because their flight paths can change as they travel, defending against these missiles requires tracking them throughout their flight.

A second important challenge stems from the fact that they operate in a different region of the atmosphere from other existing threats. The new hypersonic weapons fly much higher than slower subsonic missiles but much lower than intercontinental ballistic missiles. The U.S. and its allies do not have good tracking coverage for this in-between region, nor do Russia or China.

Destabilizing effect

Russia has claimed that some of its hypersonic weapons can carry a nuclear warhead. This statement alone is a cause for concern whether or not it is true. If Russia ever operates this system against an enemy, that country would have to decide the probability of the weapon being conventional or nuclear.

In the case of the U.S., if the determination were made that the weapon was nuclear, then there is a very high likelihood that the U.S. would consider this a first strike attack and respond by unloading its nuclear weapons on Russia. The hypersonic speed of these weapons increases the precariousness of the situation because the time for any last-minute diplomatic resolution would be severely reduced.

It is the destabilizing influence that modern hypersonic missiles represent that is perhaps the greatest risk they pose. I believe the U.S. and its allies should rapidly field their own hypersonic weapons to bring other nations such as Russia and China to the negotiating table to develop a diplomatic approach to managing these weapons.

What is hypersonic?

Describing a vehicle as hypersonic means that it flies much faster than the speed of sound, which is 761 miles per hour (1,225 kilometers per hour) at sea level and 663 mph (1,067 kph) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) where passenger jets fly. Passenger jets travel at just under 600 mph (966 kph), whereas hypersonic systems operate at speeds of 3,500 mph (5,633 kph)  about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) per second  and higher.

Hypersonic systems have been in use for decades. When John Glenn came back to Earth in 1962 from the first U.S. crewed flight around the Earth, his capsule entered the atmosphere at hypersonic speed. All of the intercontinental ballistic missiles in the worlds nuclear arsenals are hypersonic, reaching about 15,000 mph (24,140 kph), or about 4 miles (6.4 km) per second at their maximum velocity.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles are launched on large rockets and then fly on a predictable trajectory that takes them out of the atmosphere into space and then back into the atmosphere again. The new generation of hypersonic missiles fly very fast, but not as fast as ICBMs. They are launched on smaller rockets that keep them within the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

Hypersonic missiles are not as fast as intercontinental ballistic missiles but are able to vary their trajectories. U.S. Government Accounting Office

Three types of hypersonic missiles

There are three different types of non-ICBM hypersonic weapons: aero-ballistic, glide vehicles and cruise missiles. A hypersonic aero-ballistic system is dropped from an aircraft, accelerated to hypersonic speed using a rocket and then follows a ballistic, meaning unpowered, trajectory. The system Russian forces have been using to attack Ukraine, the Kinzhal, is an aero-ballistic missile. The technology has been around since about 1980.

A hypersonic glide vehicle is boosted on a rocket to high altitude and then glides to its target, maneuvering along the way. Examples of hypersonic glide vehicles include Chinas Dongfeng-17, Russias Avangard and the U.S. Navys Conventional Prompt Strike system. U.S. officials have expressed concern that Chinas hypersonic glide vehicle technology is further advanced than the U.S. system.

A hypersonic cruise missile is boosted by a rocket to hypersonic speed and then uses an air-breathing engine called a scramjet to sustain that speed. Because they ingest air into their engines, hypersonic cruise missiles require smaller launch rockets than hypersonic glide vehicles, which means they can cost less and be launched from more places. Hypersonic cruise missiles are under development by China and the U.S. The U.S. reportedly conducted a test flight of a scramjet hypersonic missile in March 2020.

Defensive measures

The primary reason nations are developing these next-generation hypersonic weapons is how difficult they are to defend against due to their speed, maneuverability and flight path. The U.S. is starting to develop a layered approach to defending against hypersonic weapons that includes a constellation of sensors in space and close cooperation with key allies

With all of this activity on hypersonic weapons and defending against them, it is important to assess the threat they pose to national security. Hypersonic missiles with conventional, non-nuclear warheads are primarily useful against high-value targets, such as an aircraft carrier. Being able to take out such a target could have a significant impact on the outcome of a major conflict.

However, hypersonic missiles are expensive and therefore not likely to be produced in large quantities. As seen in the recent use by Russia, hypersonic weapons are not necessarily a silver bullet that ends a conflict.

This is an updated version of an article that was originally published on April 15, 2022.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. Like this article? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Iain Boyd, University of Colorado Boulder.

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Iain Boyd receives funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, and Lockheed-Martin.
Photo taken on May 15, 2022 shows the branch venue of the ProWein 2022 in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]



Ningxia, China's leading wine-producing region, will host a wine-themed international conference and an expo in its capital city of Yinchuan next month, the event's organizers said Tuesday.

The International Conference on Grape and Wine Industries, as well as the third China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo, will be held from June 9 to 10.

The conference, themed "Nature, Innovation, Culture and Ecology," will invite experts and enterprises in the wine-making industry at home and abroad, and officials from 47 wine-producing countries and representatives of nine international organizations.

A total of 2,000 wine products of over 100 enterprises from 12 wine-producing regions across China will be displayed.

The event features forums on climate, technologies, trade and investment, as well as wine culture and tourism.

Ni Hongxing, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the global wine industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic downturn.

"We want to make contributions to sustainable global economic and social development by joining hands with other wine-producing countries, building economic cooperation platforms, tapping the potential of industrial recovery, and promoting integrated and innovative development," said the official.

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China has emerged as the country's largest wine-producing region after more than 40 years of development. It now has 228 wineries that produced 138 million bottles of wine in 2022, generating brand value of over 30 billion yuan (about 4.27 billion U.S. dollars).
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (R) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang attend a welcoming ceremony in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping offered Beijing's support on Moscow's "core interests" at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday.

China and Russia have in recent years ramped up economic and diplomatic cooperation, growing even closer since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine despite Beijing's insistence that it is neutral in that conflict.

Mishustin's trip this week is the highest-level visit by a Russian official to China since last year's invasion of Ukraine.

Xi told Mishustin China and Russia would continue to offer each other "firm support on issues concerning each other's core interests and strengthen collaboration in multilateral arenas", according to a readout by the official Xinhua news agency.

China and Russia should "push cooperation in various fields to a higher level", he said, and "raise the level of economic, trade and investment cooperation".

Mishustin also met with Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday, saying that "relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level" following a grand welcoming ceremony outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"They are characterised by mutual respect of each other's interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West," he said.

Li, in turn, hailed the "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Russia in the new era".

China is Russia's largest trading partner, with trade between them reaching a record $190 billion last year, according to Chinese customs data.

Li said bilateral trade had already reached $70 billion so far this year.

"This is a year-on-year increase of more than 40 percent," he said.

"The scale of investment between the two countries is also continuously upgrading," Li said. "Strategic large-scale projects are steadily advancing."

Ministers from the two countries signed a series of agreements after the talks on service trade cooperation and sports, as well as on patents and Russian millet exports to China.

- China's upper hand -

Mishustin is accompanied this week by top officials including Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who handles energy policy.

China last year became Russia's top energy customer as Moscow's gas exports otherwise plummeted due to a flurry of Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

And Novak told a Russia-China business forum in Shanghai on Tuesday that Russian energy supplies to China would increase by 40 percent year-on-year in 2023, Moscow's state media reported.

Analysts say China holds the upper hand in the relationship with Russia, and that its sway is growing as Moscow's international isolation deepens.

The leaders of both countries are "brought together more by shared grievances and insecurities than by shared goals", Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution and a former White House official, told AFP.

"They both resent and feel threatened by Western leadership in the international system and believe their countries should be given greater deference on issues implicating their own interests."

In February, Beijing released a paper calling for a "political settlement" to the Ukraine conflict, but Western countries said it could enable Russia to hold much of the territory it has seized.

Xi invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Beijing during their summit in Moscow in March.

bur-tjx/oho/pbt
New Chinese ambassador to US taking office amid disputes over trade, access to technology, Taiwan

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the United States, speaks to the media upon his arrival at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, on May 23, 2023. (Li Rui/Xinhua via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

BEIJING (AP)  Chinas new ambassador to the U.S. is taking office amid disputes over trade, access to computer chips and Washingtons support for self-governing Taiwan.

Xie Feng arrived in New York on Tuesday and told reporters at JFK Airport that relations between the worlds two largest economies face serious difficulties and challenges.

We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences and also to expand our cooperation, so that our relationship will be back to the right track, Xie said in remarks delivered in English.

The Taiwan question would be among the sensitive issues at the top of his agenda, Xie said.

Exchanges took a downturn after the Trump administration raised tariffs on key Chinese imports that President Jospeh Biden has since maintained, while blocking Chinese companies from accessing the most cutting-edge computer chip technology.

China has meanwhile raised its threats to attack Taiwan with regular incursions by ships and fighter jets into airspace and waters near the island that have drawn concerns about a crisis imperiling the global economy.

Despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, the U.S. is the island's main source of defense cooperation and political support, drawing frequent protests from Beijing. A visit last August by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prompted Beijing to fire missiles into the Pacific and stage send its forces into a rehearsal of a blockade in the Taiwan Strait.

Large-scale exercises were also launched after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the U.S. in April, during which she met with Pelosi's successor, Kevin McCarthy.

The shootdown in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the U.S. led to the U.S. canceling a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, pushing back a resumption of visits interrupted by China's strict COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Dialogue has been maintained on neutral territory, however, with top Communist Party diplomat Wang Yi holding talks with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Vienna earlier this month.

Economic and person-to-person ties also remain robust, with bilateral trade last year also topped $690 billion, while an estimated 295,000 Chinese students are enrolled in American colleges and universities.
Chinese premier: Willing to work with Russia to take pragmatic cooperation to new level

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a "new level".

Pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia has shown a "good" development trend, and the scale of investment between the two is also continuously seeing an upgrade, Li told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during a meeting in Beijing.

Mishustin was the highest ranking Russian official to visit the Chinese capital since Moscow sent thousands of its troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

(Reporting by Andrew Hayley; writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Kim Coghill)
FILE - New York City Mayor Eric Adams listens to Gov. Kathy Hochul deliver her State of the State address in the Assembly Chamber at the state Capitol on Jan. 10, 2023, in Albany, N.Y. On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, Adams asked a judge to temporarily set aside its long-standing right to shelter mandate, saying it could no longer meet its legal obligation to house every homeless person because of the arrival of tens of thousands of international migrants. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NEW YORK (AP)  New York's mayor asked a judge on Tuesday to let the city suspend its long-standing right to shelter obligation, saying officials are no longer able to house every homeless person because of the arrival of tens of thousands of international migrants.

The right to shelter has been in place for more than four decades in New York, after a court in 1981 required the city to provide temporary housing for every homeless person who asks for it. Other big U.S. cities don't have such a rule.

But with the arrival of 70,000 asylum seekers since last spring, many of whom crossed into the U.S. from Mexico, the city has been challenged to find room for everyone in need of a temporary roof and bed.

It is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border," Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

"Being dishonest about this will only result in our system collapsing, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their share," said the mayor, a Democrat.

Adams said he was not seeking to permanently end the right to shelter but was seeking "clarity from the court."

The proposal was condemned by some housing advocates, who said it could result in more people living outdoors.

Joe Loonam, housing campaign coordinator for the advocacy organization VOCAL-NY, said Adams wants to end the right to shelter that has prevented New York City from following in the footsteps of places like L.A. and San Francisco where thousands of people are in horrendous conditions out on the street.

New York's shelter system is now filled to record levels. The city says it is currently providing housing for 93,000 people. In recent months it has rented out entire hotels to house the influx of migrants, at great cost. It has also put cots in schools, and temporarily housed people in tents, a cruise ship terminal and a former police academy building.

In a letter to the deputy chief administrative judge for New York City Courts, the city's lawyers asked for a change in the mandate that would allow officials to suspend the right to shelter when the Department of Homeless Services lacks the resources to house everyone safely.

Adams has sought financial help from the state and federal government and has been critical of President Joe Biden's administration for not providing funding to care for migrants.

In an appearance on the CBS News program Face the Nation on Sunday, Adams said the White House offer of $30 million is insufficient.

Weve spent over a billion dollars," the mayor said. Were projected to spend close to $4.3 billion, if not more. This estimate was based on a number of migrants coming to the city, and those numbers have clearly increased.

In recent weeks, the city has begun paying to house some asylum seekers at hotels in counties north of the city, but that action has stoked anger and accusations that the city was dumping its problems on other communities.

In the initial months of the crisis, Adams heralded the right to shelter mandate as an emblem of his citys empathy toward asylum seekers. Many of the first arrivals were bused to New York by the governors of Republican-led border states including Texas and Arizona who were trying to bring attention to the border crisis. The governors also targeted Washington, D.C., another city with a Democratic mayor.

Catherine Trapani, executive director of Homeless Services United, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing, urged the city to alleviate the shelter crisis by increasing rental assistance programs.

There are alternatives, she said. The mayor does not need to take this drastic step to limit what should be a fundamental right.

In a joint statement, the Coalition for the Homeless and the Legal Aid Society said they both vigorously oppose the mayors request.

New Yorkers do not want to see anyone, including asylum seekers, relegated to the streets, the statement said.

___________

Associated Press writer Deepti Hajela contributed to this report.
An audience member at a March 7 City Council meeting voices opposition to the proposed donation of a dog-like robot to the LAPD. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Amid lingering concerns about surveillance and safety, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to accept the donation of a nearly $280,000 dog-like robot for the Police Department's use.

The 8-4 vote followed more than a dozen public comments urging council members to vote against the controversial device, which would be paid for with a donation from the Los Angeles Police Foundation.

Council members also approved a plan to have the Los Angeles Police Department provide quarterly reports on deployment of the device, including where and why it was deployed, the outcome and any issues.

"This item is being painted as merely an acceptance of a donation, but it really represents an expansion of the current boundaries around policing and surveillance," Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said before voting no. "This is not the vision of the community that I believe Los Angeles should be."

Although the vote was a majority in favor, none of the council members Tuesday explained why they endorsed the move. Councilmember Traci Park, who voted for the device, previously dismissed the suggestion that the robot would put the department on a path towards a dystopian, Orwellian future of state surveillance.

After the vote, members of the public erupted in shouts and called council President Paul Krekorian "disgusting." A group of protesters who became disruptive were ejected, according to LAPD spokeswoman Kelly Muniz.

Minutes later, a man in a puffy black jacket scrawled a series of anti-police messages with permanent marker on the marble walls of the third floor leading into the council chamber. Police chased the man through City Hall, but he got away.

A crime report for vandalism has been taken and will be investigated, according to Muniz.

The drama Tuesday followed a months-long delay on the vote to allow council members "the opportunity to exhaust every opportunity to have responses to the questions that have been raised about existing deployment capabilities and so forth," Krekorian said in March.

Police officials said the device would be deployed only in a limited set of circumstances that require a SWAT team response. The device  nicknamed Spot  can climb stairs, open doors and navigate rugged terrain.

Standing almost 28 inches and weighing 70 pounds, Spot is roughly the size of a full-grown Dalmatian. Equipped with 360-degree cameras, the robots collect and process information about their surroundings, which is transmitted in real time to an officer controlling their movements with a tablet-like device. It can be customized with a mechanical arm to open doors, or sophisticated sensors capable of detecting chemical spills and creating a three-dimensional map of an area.

Its presence, officials argue, would allow authorities to avoid unnecessarily putting officers in harms way and potentially avoid violent encounters.

Critics pushed back on that claim, expressing concern about the potential for the device to be used to harm and spy on Black and brown communities.

Hamid Khan, with the oversight group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said the LAPD in the past has justified new technology and programs by saying they would be used only in narrow circumstances. Then, he said, deployment was expanded.

"This is whats going to happen to the robot dog as well," Khan said. "For us, its also the trauma of police robots walking all over the place. And yes its only one, but its going to expand."

At Tuesday's meeting, several people echoed those concerns throughout public comment. One man told the council he didn't want to "arm AI." Another, in expressing his opposition, asked the council: "Didn't you guys see that movie 'I, Robot' and '[The] Terminator?'"

Others expressed concern about the cost. Although the device will be paid for with a donation, the city would be on the hook for future maintenance and repairs.

"Officers are not trained to use this equipment, so where will the money come from when it's time to start training officers to use the equipment?" Amerald Wheatley-Johnson, with the L.A. Community Action Network, asked. "Where will the money come from when you decide to expand this technology? It's not just a donation, and this will cost us a lot more in the long run."

Ahead of the vote, Soto-Martinez questioned Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and government for Boston Dynamics, the manufacturer of the device, and David Kowalski, deputy chief for the LAPD.

Kowalski pointed to other police departments in California that have added the device to their inventory and have called it, he said, "a game changer" and a "risk mitigator."

Soto-Martinez pointed to the robotic canines disastrous deployment in New York City.

The nations largest police force first acquired the technology in 2020. Its use didnt get widespread attention until the next year, when it sparked public outcry after a viral video showed the robot trotting alongside New York City officers during a hostage situation at a high-rise public housing building.

Critics denounced the decision to use the device in what they said is an over-policed community, and they also raised concerns about privacy and data collection. After several days, the New York City Police Department broke its contract with Boston Dynamics and returned the robot.

"This is a highly disturbing automation of law enforcement that sets a dangerous precedent for our future and our community's safety and for that I'll be voting no," Soto-Martinez said.

Councilmembers Heather Hutt, Curren Price and Nithya Raman also voted against accepting the donation.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who has been opposed to the donation, was not present Tuesday to weigh in. Hernandezs spokesperson said she was attending the Vienna Social Housing Field Study, a weeklong study of social housing in Vienna to learn more about this housing framework and how it might be applied to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Los Angeles."

Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who also missed Tuesday's meeting, is also in Vienna this week.

After the vote, Khan, with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, expressed his frustration.

"The LAPD completely controls the city, they control the finances and the City Council constantly keeps on catering more and more to what their demands are," he said.

The council, he said, turned "a blind eye to what the people are saying. It was an overwhelming rejection from every speaker."

Times staff writers Libor Jany and David Zahniser contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Civilians dead and injured in Russian drone and artillery attacks in five Ukrainian oblasts

Consequences of Russia's attack on Kharkiv Oblast

In the past day, Russian forces have also shelled populated areas in Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, and Sumy oblasts.

Vovchansk suffered a heavy Russian barrage, said Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration (OVA) head Oleh Synehubov.

Two civilians in Vovchansk and Kupyansk have been injured and hospitalized, while residential buildings, adjacent territories, and vehicles have been damaged, he reported on Telegram on May 24.

Velykoburlutska was targeted with Shahed kamikaze drones, resulting in four fires. The school building, office structures, and the Cultural Center were engulfed in flames. Kharkiv Oblast emergency services managed to extinguish all the fires.

In Kherson Oblast, the enemy fired 271 projectiles from various types of weaponry, killing two civilians and injuring three others in Beryslav. Social infrastructure was also damaged.

Read also: Ukrainian Army shoots down multiple drones and a helicopter in overnight Russian attack

Russian forces shelled Ochakiv in Mykolaiv Oblast with artillery fire on May 23. One person was affected, said Vitaliy Kim, the head of the local OVA. Private houses, a vehicle, and infrastructure objects were damaged, while gas and power transmission lines and internet networks suffered significant harm.

Donetsk Oblast experienced intense shelling from the occupiers, resulting in the injury of 11 civilians yesterday: five in Toretsk, three in Avdiivka, one in Kostiantynivka, one in Novodmytrivka, and one in Mykolaivka.

In Sumy Oblast, Russia targeted border areas with mortar strikes.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir

DUBAI (Reuters) -Clashes between rival military factions broke out on Wednesday in Sudan's capital Khartoum, residents said, threatening to shatter a fragile ceasefire designed to allow for the delivery of aid and create conditions for a more lasting truce.

The ceasefire deal, which is being monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States as well as the warring parties, was reached after five weeks of warfare in Khartoum and outbursts of violence in other parts of Sudan, including the western region of Darfur.

The fighting pits Sudan's army against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and has worsened a humanitarian crisis, forced over 1.3 million people to flee their homes and threatened to destabilise the wider region.

The ceasefire had brought a relative lull in fighting in Khartoum on Tuesday, although little sign of a rapid increase in humanitarian relief.

Witnesses reported clashes in several areas of the capital on Wednesday afternoon.

West of central Khartoum columns of black smoke could be seen rising into the air, and there was shelling near an army camp in southern Khartoum, they said.

In Bahri, one of the three cities around the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers that make up Sudan's greater capital, the sound of clashes and artillery fire could be heard.

Earlier, residents reported artillery fire near the Wadi Sayidna military base on the outskirts of Omdurman, the third city.

The ceasefire was agreed to on Saturday following talks in Jeddah mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Previous ceasefire announcements have failed to stop the fighting.

In statements late on Wednesday, the army and RSF accused each other of violating the agreement.

The RSF said it was forced to defend itself against land, artillery and air strikes by the army. The army in turn accused the RSF of attacks on the country's mint, army airbases and several cities west of the capital.

Witnesses in Omdurman reported that an army fighter plane had been shot down, and videos posted on social media appeared to show the incident. The footage could not immediately be verified.

The army said the plane had malfunctioned, while the RSF said it had brought down the plane.

'TERRIFIED'

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State, days of clashes between the army and the RSF had left most of the main market burned down, two residents said.

"We're in a very difficult situation. We feel emotionally broken and terrified," said resident Malak Ibrahim, adding that her family hadn't had regular access to water for two weeks.

Activists in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur State, said RSF-backed militias had surrounded the city and started looting homes and businesses. Zalingei and West Darfur State capital El Geneina, where hundreds have been killed since last month, both appeared to be cut off from phone networks.

The conflict in Sudan erupted in mid-April as plans for an internationally backed political transition toward elections under a civilian government were set to be finalised, bringing sustained air strikes and ground fighting to Khartoum for the first time. Many residents are struggling to survive as they face prolonged water and power cuts, a collapse of health services and widespread lawlessness and looting.

The United Nations human rights chief called the situation in Sudan "heartbreaking" and said there were "very deeply troubling" accounts of sexual violence in Khartoum and Darfur with at least 25 cases reported so far and the real number likely much higher.

REFUGEES

Aid workers said many of the supplies and staff arriving at Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast have been awaiting security permits and guarantees.

U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said agencies were ready to deliver aid to more than 4 million people.

"I therefore urge the relevant authorities to take all steps possible to ensure they provide the security environment and (ease) bureaucratic impediments at local and national level," Abdou Dieng, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement.

Sudan was facing severe humanitarian pressures even before the conflict broke out.

More than 1 million people have been displaced within Sudan and 319,000 have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries, some of which are similarly impoverished and have a history of internal conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration. Many have crossed into Chad and Egypt in the last few days, said Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency.

"We need more resources, urgently, to support countries hosting refugees," he said on Twitter.

The U.N. says that the number of people requiring aid within Sudan has jumped to 25 million, more than half the population.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Dubai and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva; Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Christina Fincher, Mark Heinrich, Mark Porter, Grant McCool and Cynthia Osterman)
A fraternity at Clemson University is under investigation for its treatment of new members, which involved sleep deprivation, personal servitude and giving new members chemical burns, according to a letter from the school.

The school received an incident report complaining of the organizations alleged hazing, which was first reported by Clemsons student newspaper, The Tiger.

Alpha Gamma Rho allegedly hazed new members in the basement of the off-campus chapter house in early April, according to the letter from Kris Hodge, director of the Office of Community and Ethical Standards. The incident report accused the fraternity of line-ups, sleep deprivation, personal servitude and some sort of chemical burn to new members. The direct source of the burns are unknown, according to the letter, but information suggests that it was a salt-type material, or a combination of materials.

Because of the seriousness and uncertainty of the current report associated with Alpha Gamma Rho, interim suspension for the organization is necessary, Hodge wrote.

The fraternity was told to stop all chapter business, including social activities and any meetings on or off campus until the investigation is over. Any violation of the suspension would result in more serious charges, Hodge wrote.

Former prosecutor Judy Munson was selected to investigate Alpha Gamma Rhos hazing allegations.

Clemsons hazing policy dictates that the investigation must be completed within 75 days of the receipt of the complaints, according to the letter, which means it is set to conclude in late June. Retaliation, the letter said, is prohibited.

Joe Galbraith, a Clemson spokesman, confirmed Alpha Gamma Rhos suspension.

Clemsons Interfraternity Council would not comment because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The State has reached out to Alpha Gamma Rhos chapter president, Garrett Ulmer. The fraternitys national office, located in Kansas City, Missouri, could not be reached for comment. But Rex Martin, CEO of the fraternity, told The Tiger last month that it was aware of the situation.

Clemsons chapters of Delta Tau Delta and Pi Kappa Phi are currently suspended from campus until 2024 and 2025, respectively, for alcohol and hazing violations, according to the universitys conduct case reports.

Fraternity behavior at Clemson was scrutinized after the high-profile death of a student, Tucker Hipps, in 2014. It was one of several incidents that led to many South Carolina schools rethinking Greek life on campus. Hipps was pledging the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity when he died. Pledges had gone on an early-morning run across a bridge on S.C. 93 when Hipps went missing.

Hipps body was found floating in Lake Hartwell. No one has come forward with details of his death, and no one has been arrested. The case remains open. Sigma Phi Epsilons suspension from Clemson expired in 2019, but the fraternity did not petition to be reinstated.

Hipps parents claimed he was the victim of hazing and sued the university. The lawsuit was settled in 2017.

The Tucker Hipps Transparency Act was named in the students honor. The legislation, which was signed into South Carolina law in June 2016 by then-Gov. Nikki Haley, requires four-year public institutions to maintain public reports of misconduct by fraternity and sorority organizations.
Climate change calls for cuts in carbon emissions. These US companies are leading the way.

Climate change calls for cuts in carbon emissions. These US companies are leading the way. America's Climate Leaders list relies on data from market research firm Statista. It recognizes companies' efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Industry produces 23% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which makes cleaning up businesses a crucial part of the fight against climate change.

Evaluating such efforts is complex and daunting, requiring deep dives into multiple, sometimes conflicting metrics. Even how companies should measure their carbon footprints is a work in progress.

America's Climate Leaders 2023

To help cut through the confusion of which companies have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions, an inaugural list of America's Climate Leaders was developed for USA TODAY by market research firm Statista. It is a data-driven recognition of companies that cut their carbon footprint in recent years, a noteworthy achievement for investors, customers and anyone who is trying to make sense of these still-evolving measures.

The business sector is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. That makes them a main point of potential improvement, said Magali Delmas, a professor of management and faculty director of the Center for Impact at the University of California, Los Angeles.

After months of investigation and data-crunching, an original lineup of 2,000 U.S.-based companies was narrowed to 400 U.S. companies that cut their emissions intensity from 2019 to 2021.

The ranking uses multiple indicators to gain a picture of how good a job companies are doing in this piece of the climate solution.

For consumers and investors, the ranking gives a sense of a companys trajectory along an increasingly important metric of success.

Though lowering emissions may not immediately affect profitability, such measures will become more important in the long run as governments, including the United States, begin requiring entities do their part to reduce global warming or at least report their exposure to the threats it poses.

The full, interactive list below allows readers to sort by a variety of criteria, including year-over-year reduction of emission intensity, emission intensity, how many tons of CO2 equivalents the company emitted, total emissions reduction, and whether a company participated in two highly regarded programs that set targets for and account for emissions, the CDP and Science Based Targets initiative.

Why companies emission numbers matter

Information about companies climate impact is quickly becoming key to their corporate standings and ability to meet investor and government expectations. For example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to release a landmark rule in the coming months that will require publicly held companies disclose the risks they face from global warming.

Being part of the solution, rather than the problem, will be key as such metrics roll out.

Consumers, especially younger people, are beginning to care about what companies they buy from are doing to help stop climate change.

Customers want to identify with brands they feel share their values, and these values are growing in importance for a lot of people around the world, said Lincoln Bleveans, executive director of Stanford Universitys Sustainability and Energy Management program.

For Gen Z, this is literally part of the air they breathe, he said. Its like buying dolphin-safe tuna, something thats gone from the edge of the conversation to the center.

Cutting emissions increasingly makes smart business sense and often doesnt require companies or people to make huge sacrifices.

Some people might imagine that in order to solve climate change, we need to stop everything and move into huts, said Alicia Seiger, managing director for the Sustainable Finance Institute at Stanfords Precourt Institute for Energy.

But you can still have your hot showers and cold beers and lower greenhouse gases. Its a sign of efficiency, innovations and new technology and business models.

How companies were chosen

The rankings began with a list of more than 2,000 US-based companies with revenue of more than $50 million in 2021. Of those, 700 reported their emissions data, making a verifiable ranking possible.

Sustainability is only one aspect to use when evaluating companies, but we all know its becoming more and more important, said Statista analyst Lisa Abels. This list gives perspective on what companies have accomplished in the last years and are preparing for the future.

Here are some of the data and considerations used in the rankings:

Emission intensity : The amount of greenhouse gas the company produced relative to its revenue. This helps put big companies and small companies on a level playing field.

Annualized reductions in emission intensity : Calculated between 2019 and 2021. Companies that showed low reductions were not considered.

Carbon disclosure rating : A measure of a companys environmental sustainability. These rankings are administered by CDP, a nonprofit that runs a global disclosure system for companies environmental impacts.

Other criteria : Some enterprises were excluded if known business practices suggested they couldnt be seen as a climate leader.

Data used: Scope 1 and 2 emissions, based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the worlds most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard.

For definitions of each emission measure, please see below the listings.

Emissions measures definitions

CDP logo

Core emissions reduction YoY: Reduction in core greenhouse gas emissions, adjusted by revenue growth, from 2019 to 2021.

Emission intensity: 2021 greenhouse gases, in tons, per $1 million in company revenue.

Core emissions: 2021 Scope 1 and 2 carbon dioxide equivalents in tons.

Core GHG reduction: Total reduction of core greenhouse gas emissions from 2019 to 2021.

Reported scope 3 emissions: Scope 3 emissions in 2021. Scope 3 refers to indirect emissions which can currently be reported on multiple levels and therefore vary enormously. For that reason, absolute figures have been left out.

Initiatives definitions

CDP Rating: CDP is the most prominent "rating agency" for emissions reporting and reductions. It is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000.

SBTi Participant: The Science Based Targets initiative is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and World Wide Fund. It helps companies set targets to contribute to a stop in climate warming.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Climate change needs carbon emissions cut. Which companies do it best?
Soldiers have joined efforts with indigenous search teams to find the children

A desperate search for four children who have been missing since their plane crashed in the Colombian jungle on 1 May has yielded new clues.

Items belonging to the siblings, who are aged between 11 months and 13 years, have been found in two different locations in the rainforest.

Their mother and the other adults on board the plane died in the crash.

But search teams say small footprints found last week indicate that the children survived the impact.

The footprints were spotted on Thursday and specialists said most likely belonged to the children.

Earlier last week, search teams had found a child's drinking bottle, a pair of scissors and a hair tie, as well as what appeared to be a makeshift shelter made from branches and a half-eaten passion fruit.

The children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group and members of their community have expressed the hope that their knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills will have given them a better chance of surviving the ordeal.

But despite more than 100 soldiers combing the jungle, no further traces were found until the early hours of Wednesday.

The latest items were spotted by an indigenous woman some 500m (1,640ft) from the crash site.

She found a dirty nappy, a green towel and shoes, which judging by their size are thought to belong to the second youngest of the missing siblings, who is four years old. The nappy is believed to have been worn by the 11-month-old baby.

At a separate location, the search team found another nappy, a mobile phone case and a pink cap which matches the drinking bottle found last week.

Indigenous people have joined the search and helicopters have been broadcasting a message from the children's grandmother recorded in the Huitoto language urging them to stay put and to stop moving so as to make them easier to locate.

Flyers in Huitoto and Spanish have been dropped from helicopters urging the children to stay put

The latest traces are further indication that the four siblings survived the plane crash which killed their mother and the plane's pilot and co-pilot, the Colombian army said.

But it warned that the state of the items suggested that they had not been abandoned there recently, but "sometime between 3 and 8 May".

The army added that it was encouraged by the fact that none of the items showed traces of blood.

The army colonel in charge of the search also said that all indications were that the four children were roaming the jungle on their own.

Last week, Colombia's president came under criticism when a tweet published on his account announced that the children had been found.

He erased the tweet the next day saying that the information - which his office had been given by Colombia's child welfare agency - could not be confirmed.
Top scholars and business leaders from across the world discussed long-term sustainable development for China and the rest of the world during a just-concluded global financial forum in Beijing.

This photo taken on March 3, 2023 shows a view of the photovoltaic power base in Dalad Banner, Erdos, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 2023 Tsinghua PBCSF Global Finance Forum held on the weekend covered topics from green transformation and digitalization to global growth.

China has been doing very well to find solutions for long-term sustainability, said Gyorgy Matolcsy, governor of Hungary's central bank Magyar Nemzeti Bank, speaking at the two-day forum.

He added that China is now the factory of the world, but beyond that, the center of clean energy, sustainable industry and industrial products, as well as circular economy.

According to Matolcsy, the center of the world economy and global finance has moved from the West to Eurasia, especially to China.

China's installed clean energy capacity saw an expansion, with wind power capacity rising 12.2 percent year on year to approximately 380 million kilowatts, and solar power capacity up 36.6 percent to 440 million kilowatts by the end of April, official data showed.

The country has also enhanced its investment in renewable energy. During the January-April period, the total investment by China's major power companies in solar energy increased 156.3 percent year on year to 74.3 billion yuan (about 10.57 billion U.S. dollars).

China has been successful in driving the price of renewable energy down and in the development of new and better battery technologies, Erik Berglof, chief economist with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, said at the forum.

In the global value chain, he added, China is impressive and increasing its share, and should actively decarbonize itself.

Critical examples include the country's efforts to reduce carbon emission intensity with the ambitious goals of achieving carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

Riding on the wave of digitalization and intelligence, China has been gaining steam for long-term sustainable development, participants at the forum noted.

Burkhard Balz, a member of the executive board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the German central bank, pointed out that in China, mobile payment systems have been hugely successful in the past decade, while in Europe, the use of euro cash is still relatively high.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is well advanced in terms of its work on central bank digital currency, and the central banks around the globe should seize opportunities to share experience and engage in dialogue with the goal of learning from others, he said.

The amount of digital yuan in circulation reached 13.61 billion yuan by the end of 2022, with application scenarios, transaction value and amount of digital yuan increasing steadily, and relative management and calculation systems have also improved, according to the PBOC.

International trade in the future will go digital, said Zhang Xiangchen, deputy director general of the World Trade Organization, adding that the trend of digitalization is changing the traditional way of trading goods and services, and creating many new products and new ways of trading.

In regard to global growth, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Michael Spence, emphasized that there are positive aspects to consider. Speaking via video link, he highlighted the significance of investing heavily in technologies that have the potential to produce inclusive growth patterns, especially sustainable growth patterns.
Asia Hubbard, a former girlfriend of Banko Brown, speaks outside San Francisco City Hall after the district attorney's decision not to prosecute the Walgreens security guard who fatally shot him. (Scott Strazzante / San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press)

Last month, a Black man raised in chaos and scarcity shot and killed a Black man living in chaos and scarcity on the sidewalk in front of a downtown Walgreens.

It was a dispute over the alleged shoplifting of $14 worth of snacks and a Sprite.

Since then, the killing of Banko Brown, 24, by security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, 33, has incited protests, blame and frustration in this troubled city, where chaos and scarcity are as common as the political divisions they breed.

On Thursday, one of San Francisco's great civil rights leaders, the Rev. Amos Brown (no relation to Banko Brown), will preside over the funeral, expected to draw hundreds, at the church where the slain man once attended Sunday school.

For the pastor, the answer to why Banko Brown is dead  the bigger context  is obvious: racism. For all of San Francisco's liberal legacy, for all of the political success of leaders including Willie Brown and Mayor London Breed, he told me, it has long been one of the hardest places in California for Black people to thrive  a reality that the city has confronted in recent years, but that persists. A reality that left Banko Brown and Anthony struggling in a city that has never been fair.

"It's been so subtle, so hidden, so sneaky," pastor Brown said. "But Black folks are on an island of poverty."

That ugly truth has been lost in the politics of the moment. Banko Brown's killing has become another fraught crisis in a city that is in political upheaval over homelessness, mental illness and drug use  as is much of California and the nation.

Some folks are angry that Anthony is not being criminally charged, Brown's life seemingly written off as unworthy of justice. Others, already irate over conditions in the nearby Tenderloin, are using the death to push for the kind of policies that would have further marginalized Brown, a transgender Black man living an unstable existence: more policing, more incarceration and potentially even forced treatment for addictions. But there is little acknowledgment of the role race and history played in bringing Anthony and Brown together.

Thirty-seven percent of San Francisco's homeless population is Black, despite Black people making up only 6% of the city as a whole. Black households had an average income of $31,000 compared with $116,000 for white families in 2019. Los Angeles, with its many disparities, has a median Black household income of $51,000, about $40,000 less than white households.

Nowhere are San Francisco's divisions more apparent than in the area where Brown and Anthony met: a stretch of Market Street popular with tourists shopping at places such as the Levi's store one door over from Walgreens, or catching the cable car at its nearby turnaround.

But it's an area also filled with homeless people  some clearly suffering from mental health issues, drug use or both. It's not far from United Nations Plaza, a hub of drug dealing and homelessness, where right-wing media (including now, apparently, CNN) loves to film their doom-loop narratives about a "failed city" of progressive policies. Shoplifting  both by organized retail gangs and amateurs  is common.

"That whole area down there is a place where people have been forced to congregate because they have no other place," said pastor Brown.

In those volatile surroundings, Anthony was expected to provide security for shoppers and staff inside the drugstore, while maybe also preventing robberies, though what that means was unclear even to him. His instructions from supervisors, according to what he told police, flip-flopped from taking a hands-off approach to physically stopping thieves from leaving with goods.

"They kept changing it back and forth," he told an officer after the shooting, calling Walgreens' policies "confusing."

He wasn't particularly well-trained in either approach, left largely to his own devices to figure out how to do his job well enough to keep it. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't," he said.

Like Banko Brown, Anthony came from a hard life. In an interview recorded on body camera video after the shooting, he told an officer he had been on his own since he was young. His parents, he said, rarely worked. His stepfather belittled him for having a job. Still, Anthony became a security guard at 18 and an armed guard at 19.

"It's the first job I had that paid a decent amount," he said.

But it wasn't easy. He dislocated his shoulder in a "tussle" at another job location, and has been worried about the joint popping out again. His life has been falling apart in recent months. He separated from his wife after a year of marriage. He got stuck with bills  his ex took even his piggy bank, he said. His car was stolen, with some of his security gear inside. His brother was shot seven times, but survived. His guns, which he was required to have for work, were confiscated by police though he hadn't broken any laws  they were returned days before the shooting. He'd been passing off a BB gun as the real thing.

"My whole ... life has been [lousy]," he told police.

Brown had his own struggles as a Black transgender man, marginalized in so many ways. Friends said he had lacked stable housing for years and was sleeping on public transit, according to media reports. He had been convicted of second-degree robbery in the past, giving him the stigma and challenges of a criminal record. In recent days, he was distraught at being unable to find help.

He was also loved, and is missed.

Banko Brown's father, Terry Brown, described his son as genuine and kind, an activist who helped others.

"I'm so hurt," he said in a TV interview, "just to even know my baby is gone."

San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins has declined to press charges against Anthony based on his claims of self-defense, but released surveillance footage and police investigation findings in an attempt to quell outrage. The video, however, is deeply disturbing and has led to calls for an outside investigation.

Civil rights attorney John Burris, who expects to file a civil lawsuit Friday on behalf of the family, sent a letter to the state attorney general asking him to review Jenkins' decision. On Tuesday, Attn. Gen. Rob Bonta said he would examine whether Jenkins' failure to file charges was an "abuse of discretion."

Burris said he is "not particularly empathetic" to Anthony and believes he should have been charged with manslaughter at a minimum, because "at the time he shot [Brown], the officer's life was not in danger."

The video shows Anthony tried to stop Brown from leaving the store with a bag that may have contained stolen items. Brown refused to give it up, and the two fought. Anthony wrestled Brown to the floor. Anthony told police Brown threatened to stab him, though ultimately no weapon was found on Brown.

After Anthony released him, Brown walked outside, only to turn back and allegedly spit on Anthony. It was in that second, when Brown spun around to face Anthony then backed away, that the guard fired a hollow-point bullet from one of two modified Glocks he carried.

Beyond the debates about Anthony's criminal culpability, the situation  a guard attempting to stop a shoplifter in a neighborhood overrun with petty crime and homelessness  is fodder for San Francisco's ongoing battle between progressive harm reductionists who believe housing, services and compassion are the solution to the problems plaguing streets, and the don't-call-them-conservatives (they really hate it) conservatives who want an old-school crackdown because things are out of control.

On Wednesday, Breed, who grew up in public housing and lost a sister to an overdose, declared that "compassion is killing people," and promised to impose order through force if necessary, while speaking about conditions in the Tenderloin.

"When you know what it feels like to grow up in chaos, you want nothing more than change," she said at a public meeting in U.N. Plaza, which lasted about 10 minutes before heckling shut it down. "You want nothing more than something better for the kids and the next generation."

To be fair, things are out of control.

When I visited that Walgreens on a recent Thursday, a memorial to Brown that had hung on the chain-link fence outside was gone, except for a few shiny ribbons dangling limply.

Inside, shoplifting was rampant. A man with what looked and smelled like vomit on his sweatshirt barreled past a security guard  from a new subcontractor whose employees do not carry any weapons  and through the checkout line in search of candy bars. He grabbed a few handfuls, stuffing them in his pockets, along with a Mountain Dew. Then he walked out, despite the guard's feeble pleas that he have some self-respect.

"Oh, Jesus, help me," yelled the woman in front of me, offended by the scent, not the stealing. She was an off-duty security guard who worked at the French Consulate, preferring its lower pay to the pandemonium of retail jobs.

"The thing is, we're walking on eggshells," another guard at the store, Christoper Rivers, told me later  unknowingly using the exact same phrase Anthony had with police.

It was at least the third incident in that Walgreens that day, Rivers said  and it was just past lunch. Rivers is also Black, as was nearly every security guard I came across in the neighborhood. He was born and raised in Bayview-Hunters Point, historically a poor neighborhood. He isn't particularly enjoying this posting, but he needs the job, he said.

"I'm always looking over my shoulder while I work here because you never know who [has] a gun or knife or anything," he said. "Corporate is telling us not to do anything about nothing."

Like Anthony, he worries about doing too little and is scared to do too much. Which raises the question, what is Walgreens' responsibility in all this, putting ill-trained, often minority security guards on the front lines of this crisis that it helped to create?

A few days ago, Walgreens settled a lawsuit with San Francisco and agreed to pay the city $230 million for its role in the opioid epidemic (though the company claims no wrongdoing). A federal judge called the results of Walgreens' actions in filling prescriptions without due diligence part of a "catastrophic" outcome for the city, overwhelming hospitals and neighborhoods such as the Tenderloin with people who were introduced to their addictions through prescription medication.

Walgreens, for the record, told me via email: "We do not discuss our security procedures," but the "safety of our patients, customers and team members is our top priority."

I asked pastor Brown what he thought of Walgreens, and he told me he believes there "is corporate guilt for what happened to Banko Brown."

It reminded him of something he learned from his teacher, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., about the "thingification" of Black people, first through enslavement, now through systemic oppression: the guards as less-than-human things to be used by corporations to handle the people seen by many of us as less-than-human things due to their poverty and addictions.

"I just threw my whole fg life away," Anthony wailed when police told him Banko Brown had died at the hospital. "Who ever thought life would be like this?"

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Ambulances line up at Methodist Hospital's emergency department in Arcadia. Would your health plan pay for your ER care? (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Some businesses deserve sympathy when they land in bankruptcy. Then there's Envision.

The Tennessee company prospered as a provider of medical staff to hospitals around the country. It concentrated on emergency physicians, anesthesiologists and radiologists for a simple reason: Their patients typically had no ability to pick and choose among these doctors when they need care.

Waiting to be seen at the emergency room or already laid out on an operating table, the patients weren't in a position to ask whether the doctor was in their insurance plan's network.

These higher payment rates [are] caused not by supply or demand, but rather by the ability to "ambush" the patient."

Zack Cooper et al, Yale University

They might not even know they were seen by out-of-network doctors until they received a bill for their services  a surprise invoice for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Envision's "secret sauce was to pile medical debt on people with emergencies," says Eileen Appelbaum, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a nonprofit Washington think tank. "That was purely taking advantage of people at their most vulnerable time."

Envision stands as a case study in the destructive incursion of the profit motive  actually, the profiteering motive  in American healthcare.

Doctors themselves aren't the problem  they're disadvantaged themselves by financial pressures imposed by profit-seeking firms, which often require them to see more patients in a day and work without the best equipment.

Surprise billing  sometimes known as "balance billing"  by Envision and other firms like it elicited so much public outrage that Congress was finally moved to do something about the practice. In 2020 it enacted the No Surprises Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

Envision wasn't alone in sticking patients with unexpected bills; another staffing firm, TeamHealth, is also struggling with the ramifications of the No Surprises Act.

The act prohibited out-of-network providers who were not chosen by a patient from charging the patient more than the in-network reimbursement fee set by the patient's health plan. It forbade insurers to reject outright a patient's claim for service from an out-of-network doctor.

Federal officials estimated that the law would apply to about 10 million unexpected bills a year. That figure didn't include beneficiaries of another provision, which outlawed the very sleazy practice by some big insurers of rejecting an emergency-room claim because a patient's condition didn't turn out to be a true emergency.

The No Surprises Act blew a sizable hole in Envision's profit-and-loss statement  part of "a whiplash-inducing onslaught of obstacles and complications" facing the firm's management, its bankruptcy filing stated.

Among other elements of the "onslaught" the firm cited was the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced non-emergency hospital visits by as much as 70% because patients deferred elective surgeries; an increase in salaries for professionals as the pandemic prompted older clinicians to retire; and a billing backlash by its largest payer, UnitedHealth Group.

Envision, which provides staff for more than 500 facilities in 45 states, said in its bankruptcy filing that the pandemic cost it some $795 million in operating revenue (technically, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA) in 2020 and 2021.

UnitedHealth's "uniquely aggressive" pushback on reimbursements, Envision said, cost it more than $400 million in EBITDA over the last five years. Envision says that if UnitedHealth merely paid what Envision claims it owes, it would not have had to file for bankruptcy. Overall, the company's EBITDA went from about $1 billion before the pandemic to about $250 million last year.

In any case, the No Surprises Act was the factor that hit Envision's business model below the water line.

It's worthwhile, then, to take a closer look at what this firm and its owner, the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., have been up to, and why we should celebrate the modest change in the American healthcare system represented by the act. (TeamHealth is owned by another private equity firm, Blackstone.)

Private equity firms acquire businesses typically through leveraged buyouts, in which the acquisition is financed largely through borrowings to be paid back out of the acquired business' revenues. Generally, their goal is to cash out by selling the business or taking it public within about five years.

The firms first showed interest in healthcare businesses in the 1990s, initially focusing on nursing homes and hospitals because of their reliable cash flows, as a Brookings Institution study outlined in 2021. By 2010, the private equity firms had moved on to urgent care clinics, ambulance services, and emergency departments and hospital services such as anesthesiology and radiology "that could utilize surprise out-of-network billing," Brookings found.

According to a 2018 Yale University study that heavily influenced the legislative movement in Congress, it wasn't unusual for emergency doctors to end their network contract with insurers. On average, the Yale researchers reported, out-of-network physicians charged more than twice the going in-network insurance reimbursements and more than six times the standard reimbursements from Medicare.

The study in effect pointed the finger at the physician staffing firms, Envision (known at the time as EmHealth) and TeamHealth. "Both firms profit from the fact that out-of-network physicians working in in-network hospitals cannot be avoided by patients." The runup in charges, the researchers wrote, "undercuts the functioning of healthcare labor markets, exposes patients to significant financial risk, and reduces social welfare."

"These higher payment rates" charged by out-of-network physicians, the Yale study said, are "caused not by supply or demand, but rather by the ability to 'ambush' the patient." The practice raised the cost of healthcare generally.

The Yale researchers made passing mention of another player in this process: the health insurance industry, which has an interest in paying providers as little as it can get away with. (UnitedHealth, as it happens, provided the researchers with the data they used for their study, leading to accusations that the study favored the health plans' point of view; the researchers said UnitedHealth had no influence on their findings.)

Insurers reacted to the charges from out-of-network doctors by paying only a portion of their bills. That prompted doctors to try to obtain the balance by billing the patients. The surprise billing scandal was born.

Envision says it started to phase out surprise or balance billing in 2020, even before the No Surprises Act was passed and signed  though congressional action against the practice was in the wind long before that.

It says its real problem is that regulations implementing the act have put health insurers in the driver's seat in setting reimbursements. Provider firms have to go to arbitration to settle their differences, but that's resulted in a logjam of arbitration cases and a backup of unpaid claims.

Private equity investors had long had their eyes on Envision, which was founded in 1992. The firm oscillated between private and public ownership, as a succession of investors sought to squeeze it for profits.

The process started in 2005, when Onyx Capital acquired it through a leveraged buyout and took it public the same year. The investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice acquired it in 2011 for $3.2 billion and staged an initial public offering two years later.

Soon after that, EmHealth merged with Amsurg, a physician staffing service for ambulatory surgical centers  that is, those unaffiliated with hospitals. The result was Envision, which became the largest physician staffing firm in the country.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts entered the scene in 2018 with a $9.9-billion leveraged buyout, in which the firm and its partners invested $3.5 billion. That stake was wiped out in the bankruptcy, which followed lengthy and extremely complex negotiations with creditors that included Newport Beach-based Pimco.

The prearranged bankruptcy will allow both Amsurg and Envision to continue operating under the ownership of their creditors, who will take over once the latter emerges from bankruptcy in the fall. Among the new owners will be Blackstone, giving the big private equity firm a foothold in the two biggest staffing companies, Envision and TeamHealth.

The No Surprises Act did little to remedy the dysfunction of American healthcare. If anything, it underscored the insanity of a system that locks providers and payers in never-ending conflict over who owes what to whom and for which services.

Envision and UnitedHealth waged this war for years. The two parties let their last network contract expire in January 2021, after which they continued to snipe at each other over reimbursements until last September, when they served each other with lawsuits.

Envision says UnitedHealth has consistently low-balled its reimbursements ever since the contract expiration  in fact, it says Envision allowed the contract to lapse because it wouldn't accept UnitedHealth's "unconscionable take-it-or-leave-it reimbursement offer."

The insurer, for its part, says Envision has "systematically" upcoded its reimbursement claims. The allegation is that Envision has submitted claims for more elaborate patient treatments  which warrant higher reimbursements  than the patients needed or received at the ER.

(Envision won a $91-million arbitration award from UnitedHealth in March, but that dispute concerned reimbursements owed in 2017 and 2018, while the firms' network contract was in effect.)

It's tempting to declare a plague on both their houses, to quote "Romeo and Juliet," but the problem is systemic. It's grounded in "the tension between profit maximization by firms that own healthcare providers, and the best care possible for patients that providers are obligated to provide," Appelbaum has observed.

The No Surprises Act addressed one symptom of that tension, the practice of sticking unwary patients with unexpected bills. But it didn't lay a finger on the underlying disease. Americans spend vastly more on medical care than residents of any other developed country, and have worse health outcomes.

One reason is the endless, costly dickering among middlemen like Envision and UnitedHealth to make sure they get their share of the bucks sloshing around in the system. Every segment of the healthcare industry also spends heavily on lobbyists in Washington to ensure they don't get shut out of the party.

Who doesn't have lobbyists? The patients. The No Surprises Act is one of the very few victories they've ever notched in this battle, and they shouldn't expect to see many more.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Special counsel Jack Smith's investigation of the trove of documents that former President Trump kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida has taken longer than some expected, but it appears to be a strong case. (Associated Press)

Over the two months since Trump attorney Evan Corcoran was compelled to testify before the grand jury investigating whether the former president illegally retained classified documents, observers have been predicting that charges in the case were imminent. But those predictions have repeatedly failed to come true as special counsel Jack Smith has pursued a series of new investigative angles.

Does that suggest that Smith still doesnt have the goods? In a word, no.

The documents case is at its core straightforward. The former president allegedly took government documents from the White House, which is one sort of crime; and, more flagrantly, failed to comply with a subpoena for those documents, lied about them and otherwise impeded federal authorities, which is another. Smith has long since assembled a formidable case that Trump did so despite knowing his conduct was against the law.

Judging by Smiths recent flurry of activity, however, it seems the special counsel wanted to use the investigative powers of the grand jury for all theyre worth before asking it to return an indictment.

A grand jurys defining function is to indict. But for prosecutors, the grand jury also has an indispensable investigative function, issuing subpoenas and hearing testimony from any relevant and available witness the prosecution chooses to call. For Smith, its an opportunity to probe Trumps anticipated defenses, lock in witnesses stories and pursue investigative avenues that might or might not pan out.

All these investigative functions dry up once a grand jury returns an indictment.

Through this prism, the purpose of Smiths maneuvers becomes clear. He has gone beyond building his basic case to gather all the information he can before asking the grand jury to return an indictment and losing its investigative powers.

Hence this weeks New York Times report that Smith had served a subpoena for information about the Trump Organizations business dealings in seven foreign countries. The subpoena appeared designed to get at the possibility that Trump used the classified documents to strike deals with foreign governments, which would be still another serious crime, but it reportedly produced no new information.

Some commentators suggested the idea was to furnish a motive for Trumps obstructions. But the charges Smith is likely to bring dont require any proof of motive, and they are grave regardless of what Trump did with the documents. My sense is that Smith was exploring an investigative angle that didnt prove fruitful.

The same goes for reports that Smith sent agents to interview much of the housekeeping and maintenance staff at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate . I doubt he was desperate to bolster his case with a nugget of information from an unlikely source; rather, I think he wants to leave no stone unturned while hes still able to turn stones.

And some of Smiths latest maneuvers have borne fruit. Records that the National Archives recently handed over to him apparently show that Trumps advisors told him he could not simply declassify documents with a wave of his hand as he continues to ridiculously claim. Such evidence would make it next to impossible for him to argue that he thought otherwise at trial.

Smith has also reportedly obtained 50 pages of Corcorans contemporaneous handwritten notes documenting not just the advice lawyers gave Trump but also the former presidents reactions, down to his hand gestures. The notes are likely to be more compelling evidence that Trump was clearly informed of his legal obligation to produce all the classified documents the government sought.

So when might we expect Smiths tcrossing and i-dotting to end and the long-anticipated indictment to be returned? Imminently, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported Tuesday that Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in the case. Lending credence to that report, Trumps lawyers fired off a letter Tuesday night seeking a meeting with U.S. Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland , typically the final arrow in the quiver of a defendant trying to stave off indictment.

Smith has likely been able to make the basic case for prosecution to Garland for some time on the grounds, set out in department standards, that 1) Trump did the crimes and 2) a conviction is probable. His prolonged endgame does not suggest any fundamental weakness in the case. Rather, hes acting with the prudence and imagination that the most important prosecution in the history of the Department of Justice requires.

Harry Litman is the host of the Talking Feds podcast. @harrylitman

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Image: Duolingo, Tricky_Shark, BongkarnGraphic

OpenAIs ChatGPT has taken the world by storm since its release in November 2022, and has demonstrated its ability to pass medical licensing exams, write erotica, and even trick a TaskRabbit employee into solving a CAPTCHA for it. Now, companies want a piece of the pie. Over the past few weeks, companies like Microsoft, Duolingo, and Snap Inc. have tried (and some have failed) to implement the impressive chatbot or its generative pre-trained transformer either into their products or into their workforces.

Click on to see which companies have bought into the ChatGPT and OpenAI hype.

Read more

Bing

Image: Ascannio (Shutterstock)

Bing was one of the first OpenAI collaborators to market. While competitor Google announced its own AI called Bard to power its search engine, Bing unveiled its ChatGPT fueled search engine dubbed Prometheus in early February. However, once Bings AI brain started talking about its feelings and identifying as Sydney, Microsoft pulled the plug on Bing AIs alter ego later that month. While Sydneys gone, the search engine still uses ChatGPT.

Microsoft

Image: VDB Photos (Shutterstock)

The Bing parent company is totally fine with its employees using ChatGPT in their workflows, as long as theyre not inputting sensitive data into the tech according to a report from Insider.



Insider

Image: bangoland (Shutterstock)

Speaking of Insider, the news outlets Editor in Chief Nicholas Carlson revealed through an internal memo last month that staff writers could begin experimenting with AI like ChatGPT. Ive spent many hours working with ChatGPT, and I can already tell having access to it is going to make me a better global editor-in-chief for Insider, Carlson said in the memo. Shortly after the announcement, Insider laid off 10% of its workforce, but told Gizmodo that it has nothing to do with ChatGPT.



Duolingo

Image: Duolingo

The ever popular language learning app Duolingo has announced Duolingo Max, a new subscription tier that is built with OpenAIs GPT-4. Duolingo Maxs goal is to give everyone language lessons that are tailored to them and them alone using the artificial intelligence to generate features like Explain My Answer and Roleplay.

New York City Public Schools

Image: Pabkov (Shutterstock)

The New York City school district recently reversed its ban on allowing students to use ChatGPT. The district previously announced it would be banning ChatGPT use in classrooms in January. New York City Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle told Gizmodo that ChatGPT does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success. The school district has now reversed course and David Banks, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, said the decision to ban was motivated by knee-jerk fear and risk.



Slack

ChatGPT is coming to Slack. Salesforce unveiled the news that everyones favorite office messaging software will be getting an AI-powered assistant named Einstein that can draft replies, summarize threads, or do external research without leaving Slack.

Snap Inc.

Snapchat is only technically getting the GPT of ChatGPT, which stands for generative pre-trained transformer. Snapchat unveiled My AI which is chatbot using the latest version of OpenAIs GPT technology that weve customized for Snapchat, according to the company. So its basically ChatGPT...but different... Anyone paying the $3.99 per month for Snapchat Plus already has access.

Genies

Screenshot: Gizmodo

Akash Nigham, CEO of web3 avatar startup Genies, is spending at least $2,400 monthly on ChatGPT Plus subscriptions for every employee at the company. The CEO believes that access to ChatGPT can help employees automate monotonous tasks as well as improve the companys profits. Nigam further claimed that hes already seen work accelerate with the help of ChatGPT, despite his workforce only using the AI for a month at the time the news broke.



Koo

Image: Koo

Koo is a Twitter rival that recently brought ChatGPT to the platform to help users write their microblogs. Co-founder Mayank Bidawatka said in a press release, We are always looking for ways to make content creation easy for our users and the integration with ChatGPT will provide creators with intelligent help at their fingertips.



Coca-Cola

Image: Tricky_Shark (Shutterstock)

Bain & Company is a global management consulting firm that has partnered with OpenAI to help leverage ChatGPT and other OpenAI products in the business space. Bain & Companys first target for its new AI-powered workflow is Coca-Cola, though both parties are being incredibly vague on what that collaboration might look like.



We are excited to unleash the next generation of creativity offered by this rapidly emerging technology, said James Quincey, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, in a Bain & Company press release. We see opportunities to enhance our marketing through cutting-edge AI, along with exploring ways to improve our business operations and capabilities.

Quizlet

Image: Quizlet

Quizlet is every college students favorite digital flashcard maker and Q-Chat is the companys foray into AI. Q-Chat features ChatGPT and uses the Socratic method to promote critical thinking by helping to deepen your understanding and to keep your learning fun and interesting according to the Quizlet.



Instacart

Image: oasisamuel (Shutterstock)

Instacart announced recently that the company would be bringing ChatGPT to the grocery delivery services app some time this year. Ask Instacart will reportedly provide customers with shoppable answers. Theoretically you could ask Ask Instacart for a recipe to make lemon squares, and then get a complete shopping list with it.



Shopify

Say 'hello' to your new shopping BFF: the @Shop app's ChatGPT powered assistant is ready to talk products, trends, and maybe even the meaning of life  pic.twitter.com/IE9UlxxbeR  Shop (@shop) March 1, 2023

Shopify has added ChatGPT to the companys Shop app that, like Ask Instacart, can help shoppers identify products that they want using various prompts.

Ghost

Catch Socials messaging app Ghost is an anonymous social media app geared at teens, kinda like that app Gas that was also anonymous and for teens, with the twist of ChatGPT. Users in group chats can ask ChatGPT questions according to TechCrunch.







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A new event and music venue in Concord is opening with a free concert just in time for race week.

Called Concord Event Center, the 20,000-square-foot space at 363 Concord Pkwy. North is about 6 miles northeast of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The center will open on Sunday, the same day as the Coca-Cola 600, owner Joe French told The Charlotte Observer.

As a test drive for the center, Fort Mill, S.C., native and season 17 The Voice contestant Jake HaldenVang will perform a live show at 7 p.m. And the race will be shown on a 50-foot screen, French said.

While the center has a capacity for nearly 900 people, the first live concert will admit up to 300, French said, as an introduction as work continues on the center.

The venue can be rented for bar mitzvahs, graduation parties, awards, weddings, proms, trade shows, supper clubs,just about anything. Pricing will vary by event size, date and other needs, French said.

Its about the memories its going to create in a persons life and seeing Concord Event Center in the background, French said.

Concord Event Center is a 20,000-square-foot venue that can be rented for quinceaneras, bar mitzvahs, graduation parties, awards, weddings, proms, trade shows, supper clubs, just about anything, owner Joe French said.

What to expect at Concord Event Center

The open banquet hall space of Concord Event Center includes 14 televisions, two projector screens and two 85-inch TVs.

Along with building improvements such as new HVAC units and sprinkler system by the property owner, French said the investment is well over $700,000. About $157,000 worth of lights and sound systems have been installed.

Concord Event Center will include kitchen space for in-house catering and three bars. The 1956, one-story brick and gray metal warehouse building formerly housed a Mexican restaurant and other businesses.

French said it also could be used for after-school programs and by nonprofits needing space, too.

I know the potential this place has and what it can do for other people, French said. Were open to suggestions.

Two 85-inch televisions line the wall at the new Concord Event Center.

Revved up for NASCAR ties

Another focus is being located in NASCAR country.

A 50-by-50 foot wall wrap of Dale Earnhardt pays homage to the late racing giant born in neighboring Kannapolis. Hes the legend of NASCAR, and NASCAR is Concord, French said. It was one of the first things I put up.

He plans to spotlight other stars too, like Richard Petty.

But the main attraction might be the music scene. French expects to open with concerts on Friday and Saturday nights by national and regional artists.

Hiring for at least five specialized event managers and other employees is underway.

Room for additional event space

Already Concord Event Center is planning additional concerts, and getting bookings for quinceaneras, gaming and other events, French said. And, despite other event spaces in Concord, French said theres plenty of business to go around.

Theres so much going on in Concord right now, French said.

Less than 2 miles away is City Club at Gibson Mill at 325 McGill Ave. NW. The 15,000-square-foot venue in the over 100-year-old upfit Gibson Manufacturing Co. manufacturing site is used for weddings, corporate and special events. The 656,000-square-foot site on 48 acres includes several businesses, including a 34,500-square-foot food hall in a former weaving room.

Concord Event Center includes three bars, a restaurant kitchen and over 16 televisions.

About 10 miles southeast is Cabarrus Arena & Event Center at 4751 NC Highway 49 N. The site includes a 29,000-square-foot arena, two event centers, two reception halls and rooms for business meetings. The 11-acre county-owned complex opened in 2002 with the countys 50th fair, according to the website.

But French said hes just focusing on his business and working with the community.

French moved with his wife to Charlotte 20 years ago from Connecticut.

He is co-owner of Brooklyn Nightclub and Lounge and Sugar Lounge, both in uptown Charlotte, and owns other businesses in Ohio and Florida.

The event center, French said, is more than a business. We want to be a part of the community to assist in any way we can for the growth of Concord.
FILE PHOTO: WHO logo seen near its headquarters in Geneva

LONDON (Reuters) -The World Health Organization assembly passed a motion on Wednesday condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on healthcare facilities.

The motion passed by 80 votes to 9, with 52 abstentions and 36 countries absent.

The Western-led motion, put forward at the U.N. agency's annual meeting, also called for an assessment of the impact of Russia's aggression on the health sector.

Russia had submitted a counter-proposal recognising the health emergency in Ukraine, but making no mention of its own role in the war.

That motion was rejected by the assembly immediately after the first, by 62 votes to 13, with 61 abstentions and 41 countries absent.

After the votes, the Russian representative told the assembly it was not against the work of the WHO in Ukraine, but it was against the "politicization" of the body.

Ukraine's representative said the vote was a "sign of hope" for its citizens in need of health assistance, and a milestone in the continuation of the WHO's work in the country.

Tensions had been running high in the run up to the twin votes. During speeches that were critical of Russia, Moscow's envoy interrupted with points of order.

Britain's ambassador Simon Manley also accused Russia of spreading "disinformation" at the assembly and a Russian official confirmed it had distributed pamphlets accusing Ukrainian forces of attacking medical facilities in parts of the country it controls.

Moscow has consistently denied targeting civilians during what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The votes echo last year's assembly, when two sets of motions were also presented, with the Western-led resolution passing with 88 votes for and 12 against. Abstentions and absence levels were high, as in this year's vote.

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by Toby Chopra and Alex Richardson)
Conservative radio host Jesse Kelly, who was a frequent guest on Tucker Carlsons prime-time Fox News show before Carlsons reported firing from the conservative network last month, tweeted this week that America needs a dictator.

As the great John Adams said, a free country only works for a moral people, Kelly wrote on Twitter. We are not worthy of freedom. A dictator is coming.

Let me tell you all an uncomfortable truth:



This country needs a dictator. As the great John Adams said, a free country only works for a moral people.



We are not worthy of freedom. A dictator is coming. https://t.co/0zixESuUgW  Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) May 22, 2023

In later posts, Kelly said he himself didnt want to be a dictator and suggested authoritarian rulers are awful but that one is coming and we deserve him.

I dont wanna be a dictator. Dictators are awful. All Im saying is one is coming and we deserve him. https://t.co/FIhh2tPeky  Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) May 22, 2023

One commenter said, Weimar problems eventually lead to Weimar solutions.

Some of the challenges faced by Germanys Weimar Republic following World War I assisted with brutal Nazi dictator Adolf Hitlers rise to power.

There it is, replied Kelly, an Iraq War veteran with two failed runs for Congress under his belt. He is a fierce critic of President Joe Biden.

Another Twitter user suggested Kellys comments were a warning and not a literal advocation for a dictator.

They asked for clarification.

He responded: I dont give clarifications. What I said is right there for everyone to read. Its quite plain and simple. The perpetually offended dork wing will take it how they take it. The get it people will understand it. It needs no further clarification at all.

I dont give clarifications. What I said is right there for everyone to read. Its quite plain and simple. The perpetually offended dork wing will take it how they take it. The get it people will understand it. It needs no further clarification at all. https://t.co/lPWVv5o3ni  Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) May 23, 2023

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A disbarred and disgraced South Carolina attorney recently convicted of murdering his wife and younger child has now been struck with multiple federal criminal charges that may complicate an already convoluted legal saga.

A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in Charleston on May 23 returned a 28-page, 22-count indictment against convicted murderer and accused fraudster Richard Alex Murdaugh, 54, for wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and money laundering.

The indictments stem from an alleged decade-long, multi-county, multiple victim financial crime spree in which Murdaugh allegedly conspired with at least one local banker and one fellow attorney to steal more than $8.7 million.

The 22-count indictment alleges that Murdaugh, while working as a personal injury attorney at the Hampton law firm founded by his great-grandfather, engaged in three different schemes to obtain money and property from his personal injury clients.

Former South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced on March 3, 2023, to two consecutive life sentences after being convicted of murdering his wife and son.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, said U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs in a news release on Wednesday. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this case and to the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for their work to hold Alex Murdaugh, and those who enabled him, accountable in our state system. We remain committed to doing our part to further that effort in the federal system.

According to the S.C. Attorney General's Office, Murdaugh, who was convicted of murder charges on March 2, still faces 102 criminal charges from state and local indictments. This 22-count indictment now brings his total number of charges to 124.

It is unclear how these new charges will impact Murdaugh's pending state charges or his two consecutive life sentences in state prison. It is also unclear how these charges could impact any money recovered for his alleged victims, as the federal indictment states, upon conviction, Murdaugh's assets could be seized by the federal government.

Murdaugh's assets are currently under control by state court-appointed receivers tasked with establishing a fund for his potential victims.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin asks Alex Murdaugh if he killed his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh with the 12-gauge shotgun that is in evidence in Murdaughs murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

How did Alex Murdaugh reportedly violate federal law?

From the U.S. Attorney's Office news release

In one scheme, the indictment alleges that from at least September 2005 until at least September 2021, Murdaugh devised a scheme to defraud and to obtain money under false pretenses. The indictment alleges that, as part of the scheme, Murdaugh routed and redirected clients settlement funds to personally enrich himself, including by:

Drafting, or directing law firm employees to draft, disbursement sheets to send settlement funds to Murdaughs accounts without proper disclosure or client or law firm approval;

Claiming funds held in the law firms trust account as attorneys fees and directing the disbursement of those funds for his benefit;

Claiming and collecting attorneys fees on fake or nonexistent annuities;

Creating fraudulent expenses that were never incurred on client matters and directing the disbursement of settlement funds to pay the cited costs, including claimed medical expenses, construction expenses, and airline expenses;

Directing other attorneys with whom he was associated on client matters to disburse attorneys fees directly to him, rather than appropriately routing the fees through the law firm; and

Intercepting insurance proceeds intended for beneficiaries and depositing them directly into his personal account.

In a second scheme, the indictment alleges that from around July 2011 until at least October 2021, Murdaugh conspired with his banker, Russell Laffitte, to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Laffitte has already been convicted on federal charges in the matter.

Convicted and disgraced Hampton banker Russell Laffitte stands in the Hampton County Courthouse as, in the background, hangs a portrait of Alex Murdaugh's grandfather, Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr.

The indictment alleges that Murdaugh and his law firm asked Laffitte to serve as personal representative or conservator for numerous personal injury clients. Laffitte collected over $350,000 in fees as personal representative or conservator for Murdaughs personal injury clients.

As part of the scheme, the indictment alleges Murdaugh directed law firm employees to make settlement checks payable to Palmetto State Bank. The checks were then delivered to Laffitte, whom Murdaugh directed to use the settlement funds for Murdaughs benefit. The funds were used to pay off Murdaughs personal loans and for personal expenses and cash withdrawals.

In November 2022, Laffitte was convicted on six federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud for his role in this scheme. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

In a third scheme, the indictment alleges that in September 2015, Murdaugh created a bank account in the name of Forge, presenting as a legitimate corporation for structuring insurance settlements. Murdaugh was the owner of and the only authorized signer on this fake Forge account. The indictment alleges that from in or around May 2017 through at least July 2021, Murdaugh funneled stolen personal injury settlements through the fake Forge account. Murdaugh is charged with 14 counts of money laundering for using the transactions in the fake Forge account to conceal the proceeds of his fraud.

The indictment further alleges that, from in or around February 2018 until at least October 2020, Murdaugh conspired with a personal injury attorney in Beaufort to defraud the estate of Murdaughs former housekeeper and Murdaughs homeowners insurance carriers. In February 2018, Murdaughs housekeeper passed away after a fall at Murdaughs home. Murdaugh recommended that the housekeepers estate hire the Beaufort attorney to represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh to collect from his homeowners insurance policies.

Murdaughs insurance companies settled the estates claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000. The indictment alleges that Murdaugh and the personal injury attorney conspired to siphon settlement funds, disguised as prosecution expenses, for their own personal enrichment. The indictment further alleges that Murdaugh directed the Beaufort attorney to draft checks totaling $3,483,431.95 made payable to Forge. Murdaugh then deposited the checks into his fake Forge account and used the funds for his own personal enrichment. The estate did not receive any of the settlement funds.

The Hampton offices of Parker Law Group, formerly PMPED.

What charges does Alex Murdaugh now face?

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

One count of bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

Two counts of wire fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

Three counts of wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000;

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000; and

Fourteen counts of money laundering, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Hampton County Guardian Editor Michael DeWitt, the Greenville News and USA TODAY Network will continue to follow the ongoing criminal and civil cases surrounding the Murdaugh crime saga. Follow DeWitt on Twitter at @mmdewittjr.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Murderer Alex Murdaugh indicted Tuesday on multiple federal charges
Rep. Cori Bush

A group of legislators led by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., has introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives in support of reparations. The resolution, which includes a $14 trillion price tag, is the latest in growing efforts across the country to implement reparations programs for Black Americans as a way to redress the enduring legacy of slavery and racism in this country.

Rep. Bush discussed the latest push in favor or reparations in a press conference last Wednesday. Joined by fellow member of Congress Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-TX) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Bush discussed the resolution, which would support existing and future legislative efforts towards reparations at the federal, state and local levels. Black people in our country cannot wait any longer for our government to begin addressing each and every one of the extraordinary bits of harm it has caused since its founding, Bush told reporters. She added that these injustices against Black Americans persist each and every day all across our communities all across this country.

According to NPR, Bushs new legislation calls for a total of $14 trillion in reparations to Black Americans. That price tag for the Reparations Now Resolution is consistent with an estimate by Duke economist William Darity, Jr. concerning the total amount needed to address the ongoing impact of slavery and its aftermath. The proposal by Bush is the boldest reparations proposal yet to emerge at the federal level. It is a complement to H.R. 40, the bill that has been proposed every year since 1989 in order to compel the federal government to study the idea of reparations for slavery and to propose potential methods of compensation. Though H.R. 40 has never received a formal vote by Congress, the bill and the general movement towards reparations have gained prominence over the past several years and saw significant interest during the period of racial reckoning in 2020.

In addition to the federal proposals for reparations, various local and state-level initiatives are currently undergoing to make up for slavery and racism. St. Louis became the latest major city to explore reparations when it convened its Commission on Reparations last month. Earlier this month, Washington state signed into law a program to provide financial compensation for victims of redlining housing discrimination. The California Reparations Task Force created in 2020 has formally endorsed a slew of major proposals to redress the impact of slavery, mass incarceration, and other forms of anti-Black systemic racism in the state. These include tens of thousands of dollars in cash payments to Black Californians as well as a host of other reforms; the state legislature could soon begin voting on these measures which could constitute the largest reparations program in the country so far.

Bushs $14 trillion Reparations Now bill is unlikely to pass in the currently divided Congress. Yet, her bold statement represents the massive effects of racism and the radical steps necessary to address it in this country.
One year ago today, 19 children and two teachers were murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. It was a day of unimaginable shock, grief and fear as the tight-knit community confronted a senseless act of violence.

We soon learned the 18-year-old gunman had a history of violence and mental health issues, including self-harm, fighting, and animal abuse  textbook examples of someone who could pose a threat to himself and others. Still, the many warning signs were ignored and he was able to purchase weapons, enter the school through an unlocked door, and carry out one of the deadliest school shootings our nation has experienced.

Javier Cazarez, father of Uvalde shooting victim Jacklyn Cazares, cries during a press conference as families of Uvalde victims plead for gun law reform at the Texas Capitol, Monday, May 8. (Photo: Mikala Compton/AMERICAN-STATESMAN)

As days and weeks passed, swelling grief and anger gave way to an unmistakable call for action: Do something. There was a clear need for Congress to act, and I immediately got to work.

With bipartisan support from my Senate colleagues, I introduced the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which became law 32 days after the Uvalde shooting. It included targeted, commonsense measures to prevent violence and save lives without infringing on Second Amendment rights, and were already seeing its positive impact.

At its core, this law is about mental health and school safety. It made the single largest investment in community-based mental health treatment in American history. So far, Texas has received more than $29.5 million to strengthen mental health care with much more to come. These investments were paired with major funding increases for school safety and security, including $94 million for school hardening in Texas K-12 schools. Many districts have received additional grants to prevent school violence, including more than $493,000 for Austin Independent School District. This funding can support everything from new locks and metal detectors, to cameras and communications equipment, ensuring schools are a safe place for kids to learn and thrive.

The shooting in Uvalde also highlighted a gaping hole in the gun background check system  the lack of juvenile records. The shooter bought his weapons within days of turning 18, meaning he had virtually no record for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to review. The new law incentivizes states to upload relevant juvenile records to NICS, including criminal convictions and mental health adjudications. The Texas Senate and House also recently passed legislation to ensure Texas will submit juvenile mental health records to NICS. This is not an expansion of the background check system  it simply makes juvenile records that already disqualify adults from purchasing a firearm available to be searched.

To date, the enhanced juvenile record review has led to the denial of more than 160 firearms transactions, including an 18-year-old who, as a minor, made terroristic threats and was placed in a mental institution.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act made other critical changes to keep communities safe. It bolstered funding for crisis intervention programs, such as mental health treatment courts and drug courts. So far, Texas has received $21 million for these programs. The law also stiffened penalties for straw purchasing, which has led to a 52-percent increase in federal prosecutions against gun traffickers.

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting in Uvalde, Im proud of the progress our country has made because of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Safer schools. More mental health resources. A more effective background check system. And more prosecutions against gun traffickers.

In the wake of the shooting, people in Uvalde wanted to ensure this tragedy was not in vain. They wanted something good  something productive  to come from it, and I believe it has.

Today, my heart goes out to the entire community in Uvalde, especially the victims families and the survivors of this tragedy. I hope they can take some solace in knowing that their calls for action were heard and answered.

Cornyn is the senior senator from Texas.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Cornyn: A year later, Uvalde and the answered call for change
This aerial photo taken on Sept. 6, 2022 shows a view of Rongdong District in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has unveiled a plan for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Tuesday.

The plan, jointly issued by the MIIT, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the local governments of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, said that the region's level of coordinated industrial development will have improved significantly by 2025.

In recent years, the coordinated industrial development of the region has achieved landmark results, and the region's industrial structure has been continuously optimized, according to the MIIT.

As of the end of 2022, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has cultivated over 1,100 "little giant" firms, the novel elites of small- and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market, accounting for 12 percent of the country's total.

Solid progress should be made in developing high-end, smart and green industries in the region, fostering quality enterprises, and building the region into a growth pole for the innovative development of advanced manufacturing and a demonstration zone for coordinated industrial development, the MIIT said.

The ministry said that measures will be strengthened to improve the region's business environment, strengthen the coordination of various factors, optimize the region's coordination mechanism, and ensure monitoring and evaluation work.
The countrys largest frozen Mexican food manufacturer, Ruiz Foods, has announced it is expanding operations in Texas  but will still have a very strong presence in the central San Joaquin Valley.

Ruiz Foods, which was founded in Tulare County nearly 60 years ago, announced this week that it will establish its sole corporate headquarters in the city of Frisco, located about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Just over a year ago, Ruiz Foods named Dinuba and Frisco as regional co-headquarters. Dinuba is also the location of its flagship manufacturing plant.

But Ruiz Foods president and chief executive officer Dan Antonelli said in a news release on Monday that consolidating corporate operations in Texas made geographic sense for the companys growth journey.

As a national business with locations and customers throughout the U.S., he said, being in the center of the country allows us same day access to each of our facilities, puts us closer to our customers, and provides us with a larger metropolitan market for talent recruitment.

In an interview with The Bee on Tuesday afternoon, Antonelli said the company expects to add 125 jobs over the next 20 months at the Frisco headquarters.

He said its easier to recruit in Frisco compared to the Central Valley because there are more qualified people available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, due to the large presence of food and consumer packaged goods companies.

There are over 200,000 residents in Frisco, and 7.7 million residents in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, according to census data.

Ruiz Foods will still have strong presence in Central Valley





Ruiz Foods was founded in 1964 by father and son duo Louis and Fred Ruiz in Tulare. The company sells an assortment of enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas, taquitos, tamales and quesadillas and has grown to employ over 4,000 people across California, Texas, and South Carolina, according to a 2022 corporate social responsibility report.

The company has an estimated annual sales of over $1 billion, Ruiz said during his 2021 UC Merced commencement speech.

Antonelli said Ruiz Foods will still maintain a very strong presence in the Central Valley, given there are 1,600 people employed at the Dinuba and Tulare manufacturing plants.

I dont think it will be a significant change, he said.

He added that the Dinuba plant has people with great experience that have helped propel the companys success over the last 60 years.

We look at Dinuba as clearly our flagship plant. It is our most senior plant, we have the most history there, he said. Itll continue to be our flagship plant in the United States.

In this 2011 photo, Ruiz Foods co-founder Fred Ruiz talks with worker Martha Arevalo at the plant in Dinuba. While the company will consolidate its corporate headquarters in Texas, the Dinuba and Tulare manufacturing plants will remain.

Ruiz and his wife, Mitzie, also have a strong philanthropic presence in the Central Valley. Last October, the couple announced a $15 million donation to UC Merced, which is one of the largest individual gifts ever made to the university.

The companys Louis F. Ruiz Scholarship program has provided $535,000 in college scholarships to graduating high school seniors.

Some California employees could transfer to Texas

The relocation of the companys headquarters could mean the loss of some local corporate staff.

Antonelli said the company is in the process of offering a number of Frisco-based positions to corporate personnel currently employed at the Dinuba headquarters, and hes hopeful they will be able to make the move.

Wed love to have them, he said.

Dinuba city leaders noted there will be little impact to the flagship manufacturing plant and said they are pleased that Ruiz Foods continues to grow and expand.

We understand that locating their headquarters (in Frisco, Texas) began over one year ago with no direct impact to the Dinuba facility, Assistant City Manager Daniel James said on behalf of the city in a Wednesday email statement to The Bee. We support and continue to work closely with Ruiz Foods as they focus on growing their operations.

Frisco officials welcomed the news of the companys growing presence in the region  calling it a win for Texas.

Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said the city was thrilled to welcome the corporate headquarters of Ruiz Foods to Frisco. Jason Ford, president of the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, called the move a win for everyone  for Ruiz Foods, for Frisco and the state of Texas as it will bring even more jobs here.
More than two-thirds of public schools saw higher percentages of their students seeking mental health services in 2022 than before the pandemic  but only a slim majority believed they were able to meet childrens heightened psychological needs, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

The revelation comes from The Condition of Education 2023, the latest in a series of annual digests from the National Center for Education Statistics surveying the landscape of K12 schools. Its contents offer a nuanced account of how COVID-19 affected student experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

Related National Education Data: K-12 Enrollment More Racially Diverse Compared to a Decade Ago

But the report also represents the fullest record yet of the decade preceding that once-in-a-century jolt to learning, during which K12 spending climbed, school choice blossomed and the teaching pipeline narrowed. Compiling surveys and other data collections from over a dozen federal and international sources, the report captures how trends dating back to the middle of the Obama administration were either accelerated or untouched by the emergence of COVID.

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The number of pupils enrolled in charter schools leapt from 1.8 million in 2012 to 3.7 million in 2021, when they accounted for 7 percent of all public school enrollment. Over the same period, white students shrank from a narrow majority of the total American student body to a smaller plurality. Public school revenues grew by 13 percent  compared with a 3 percent increase in student enrollment  while the dropout rate (measured as the percentage of 1624-year-olds who havent earned a diploma and arent attending school) fell from 8.3 percent to 5.2 percent.

The condition of education, as one might expect, is a complicated picture for the United States, Peggy Carr, the commissioner of NCES, told reporters. The impact of COVID on our education system gives usan opportunity to rethink where we were.

One bleak and well-known phenomenon that came into focus in the 2010s was the worsening mental health reality for adolescents, many of whom have reported spiraling rates of depression and anxiety. Those problems were clearly aggravated by pandemic-related school closures, which separated tens of millions of children from friends and teachers for months at a time.

In survey findings gathered last spring, leaders at 70 percent of schools said that they were faced with higher proportions of students seeking psychological and behavioral support. But only 56 percent of respondents agreed (and just 12 percent strongly agreed) that their school was able to effectively deliver that support.

Overall, 72 percent of schools said they provided mental health trauma support during the 202122 school year, just one of the strategies employed to help children recover from pandemic-related setbacks to learning and social-emotional development. The same percentage said they were offering remedial instruction, while three-quarters said they had implemented summer enrichment programs before the school year started.

Related Virtual Nightmare: One Students Journey Through the Pandemic

But such supplemental services were undoubtedly difficult to roll out during a time of spiking demand for school staff. Across a dozen varied academic disciplines and specialties, more schools said they had difficulty hiring for positions in 202021 than in 201112. In particular, during the first full pandemic year, substantial portions of public schools looking to hire said they had difficulty filling vacant roles in foreign languages (42 percent), special education (40 percent), physical sciences (37 percent), mathematics (32 percent), and computer science (31 percent).

Chad Aldeman, a school finance and labor market analyst, said in an email that the differences in hiring conditions between the two comparison years made it somewhat predictable that job candidates would be at a premium during the hottest jobs economy in decades.

We were in a totally different economic environment in 202122 than we were a decade prior, said Aldeman. The prime age employment rate was very low [during the Great Recession], and the unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in January 2012, compared to 4 percent in January 2022. It would be surprising if schools were bucking these trends and not struggling to hire in this environment.

Related Federal Data: Schools Have Been Adding Teachers Even as They Serve Fewer Students

At the same time, however, a breakdown in the teacher training pipeline might have contributed to the apparent pandemic-era shortages in teachers and other school staff. Between the 201213 and 201920 school years, the report showed, the number of candidates enrolled in traditional teacher preparation programs shrank by 30 percent; the number of people completing such programs declined by 28 percent, from 161,000 to 116,100, during that interval.

On the heels of those developments, public school enrollment counts were profoundly changed by the impact of COVID and the switch to online learning.

Longer-term trends show a steady increase in total students, from 49.5 million to 50.8 million, between fall 2010 and fall 2019; but over the next academic year, the entirety of that decade-long growth  3 percent of all public school students  vanished as public school enrollment fell back to 49.4 million. (Notably, persistent growth in the charter school sector continued during the early stages of the pandemic, with charter school enrollment swelling by 7 percent between fall 2019 and fall 2020.)

As earlier reporting has indicated, drops in head counts were heavily concentrated among the youngest students. While 54 percent of three- and four-year-olds were enrolled in school in 2019, just 50 percent were in 2021. The percentage of five-year-olds in school also fell, from 91 percent to 86 percent, during those two years.

Related Exclusive: As Post-Pandemic Enrollment Lags, Schools Compete for Fewer Students

Thomas Dee, an economist at Stanford who has carefully examined state enrollment figures during the pandemic, said the statistics were a potent reminder of the educational harms suffered since March 2020.

The sustained declines in pre-K and kindergarten enrollment are important, Dee wrote in an email. Many of our youngest learners are missing important early learning opportunities, and it will be years before most age into conventional testing windows that will provide some indication of what this means for their learning.
The building in which the Zelenskys' apartment is located

"Crimea continues to nationalize the property of Russia's enemies," the occupier said.

Also to be nationalized are a building in Simferopol that belonged to the Mejlis (representative body of the Crimean Tatars  ed.), and Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska's apartment in Yalta, said Aksyonov.

The Crimean apartment of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's wife, Olena, is located in the elite residential complex Imperator in Livadia. Zelenska bought it in April 2013.

The president's representatives stated that he and his wife would use this property only "after the mandatory return of Crimea to Ukraine."

Crimean occupation authorities claimed in Sept. 2021 that Zelenskyy had stopped paying utility bills for his apartment in Livadia and threatened him with legal action.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Russian Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Crimean Tatar activist Ernes Seitosmanov to 18 years in a maximum security colony. Three years ago, his brother Enver was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Source: Crimean Solidarity, the movement set up by lawyers, journalists, and relatives of those arrested following the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, on Facebook

Details: Ernes Seitosmanov was tried for allegedly organising the activities of the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia but operates in Ukraine and other countries. [Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international pan-Islamist and fundamentalist political organisation whose stated aim is to establish the Islamic caliphate, unite the Muslim community, and implement sharia globally  ed.]

State prosecutor Vladislav Kuznetsov requested 18 years in a maximum security prison for Seitosmanov, who is 37.

On 5 December 2019, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced his brother, Enver Seitosmanov, to 17 years in a maximum security prison.

Ernes Seitosmanov was sentenced by a Russian court to 18 years in a maximum security prison: he is to spend the first four years of this term under strictest possible conditions in prison, before being sent to a correctional facility.

After his release, he will be subject to an additional year and a half of restrictions, including reporting to the Federal Penitentiary Service twice a month; a ban on leaving his home between 22:00 and 06:00 and attending public events; and notifying the Federal Penitentiary Service of change of address or employment.

During his final remarks in court, Seitosmanov said: "Terrorism is a particularly serious offence. In Islam, it is a crime that is strongly condemned. As a Muslim, I am firmly against terrorism, and I consider the offence I am charged with to be slander."

He stressed that while intimidation is at the core of terrorism, he did not intimidate anyone and did not cause any harm to society. On the contrary, he argued, the Russian authorities intimidated him and other Crimeans.

The defence intends to appeal against the verdict of the Southern District Military Court in the courts of appeal and cassation.

Background: Prior to his arrest, Ernes Seitosmanov attended trials of Crimean Tatars in Crimea and Rostov-on-Don, helped families of political prisoners with social and domestic issues, and participated in public initiatives.

His home was searched on 9 February 2022.

That day, the representatives of the Russian Federal Security Service entered the places of residence of Ansar Osmanov, Ametkhan Abdulvapov, Marlen Mustafaiev and Ernes Seitosmanov in various districts of Crimea.

All of them were charged under Art. 205.5 (running a terrorist organisation and participating in its activities) and Art. 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (conspiring for a violent seizure of power by an organised group).

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) holds a 5-point lead over the Democrat running for his seat, according to a new poll.

The University of Texas at Tyler poll found that 42 percent of registered voters would support Cruz in the 2024 Senate race, while 37 percent said they would back Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Another 7 percent said they would support someone else, and 14 percent said they were unsure, the poll found.

Among Texans surveyed, 41 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Cruz, while 49 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of the senator.

Allreds approval was above water, with 21 percent viewing him favorably compared to 19 percent who view him unfavorably. But nearly half of registered voters in the poll  48 percent  said they didnt know enough about the congressman from Dallas.

Allred launched his bid for the Lone Star Senate seat earlier this month, taking aim at Cruz in his campaign announcement video.

We deserve a senator whose team is Texas, but Ted Cruz only cares about himself, Allred said in the video. You know that.

A Democrat has not won a Senate race in Texas in 30 years. Cruz narrowly defeated former Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Texas) by about 2.5 points in 2018.

The UT Tyler poll was conducted May 10-21 with 1,413 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Western Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez on Monday offered an apology in a criminal case in which the victim felt her rights were violated by the DAs office. On the same day, Athens-Clarke police obtained new criminal warrants against the suspect.

The apology came in the wake of a hearing held May 19 in which Gonzalez's office was accused of violating the victims rights under the Georgia Crime Victims Rights known as Marsys Law.

Gonzalez then recused her office from prosecuting additional charges against the defendant, Michael Lareco Daniel, 42, of Lawrenceville.

Deborah Gonzalez

Western Circuit Chief Superior Court Judge Eric Norris determined the office had violated Marsys Law in its handling of the prosecution of rape and child molestation charges.

We want to extend our sincerest apology for any actions that might have resulted in the victim and their family feeling as if they were not heard and their rights were violated. We are taking appropriate measures to improve our office protocols so that we address communication requests with victims in a timelier manner, the DA noted.

Norris has not said what consequences will occur as a result of the Marseys Law violation. Watkinsville attorney Kevin Epps, who represented the mother and victim, has urged a public reprimand of the office.

Victim's rights: Western Circuit DA faces uncertain consequences in victim's rights violation

'Tragic and terrible': Oconee County deputy dies in lawn mower accident

During the Marseys law hearing before Norris, the mother of the victim, who was 14 at the time of the alleged crimes in 2021, testified as to e-mail messages that Daniel was sending her.

Daniel was under a court order to refrain from contacting the victim and her family, but testimony at the hearing alleged he contacted the mother three times by e-mail. She testified she never responded to his messages.

The mother said she informed a victims advocate at the DAs office about this conduct by the defendant.

However, the DAs office did not inform police about the matter, according to the testimony.

Athens-Clarke police detective Dara Deckert, who investigated the sexual assault charges against Daniel, obtained additional warrants on Monday charging Daniel with violating a family violence order and aggravated stalking. Daniel is also facing pending charges of cruelty to children and battery against the same young female. Those charges are on the Aug. 8 trial calendar.

The case file does not yet reflect who will prosecute the charges.

Daniel is currently serving time in the state prison system for a drug conviction.

The Marseys Law accusation was filed against the district attorney after rape and child molestation charges against Daniel were dismissed soon after a jury was seated in April to hear the allegations outlined in the indictment. The mother had testified she was "very frustrated" by the dismissal and she was more angry than hurt.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: DA give apology in Athens assault case, police seek more warrants
DA identifies 22-year-old shot and killed in Waltham, suspect still on the run

Authorities on Wednesday identified the 22-year-old who was shot and killed in Waltham earlier this week.

Shelson Jules, 22 of Waltham was found early Monday morning on the sidewalk suffering from gunshot wounds in the area of Lyman Street and Faneuil Road, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. Jules was pronounced dead at the hospital.

There have been no arrests made in the shooting.

A neighborhood resident told Boston 25 that she woke up after hearing multiple gunshots ring out.

I just heard shots. Like about four of five shots. But there was no noise, no yelling, no cars speeding away, the resident said. They were fast. Like you hear on TV, just bang, bang, bang.

A silver sedan with a shattered window was also spotted in an area that was roped off with yellow police tape.

This is an open and active investigation.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Waltham police at 781-314-3550 or Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the DAs office at 781-897-6600.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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A farmer who became the subject of a viral meme with his words of wisdom about hard work has died after he was injured in a car crash.

David Brandt, from Ohio, was a notable figure in the agriculture community due to his dedication to sustainable farming techniques and soil health, according to the Associated Press.

However, the farmer became widely recognised beyond the farming community in 2012, when he made poignant comments about his career during a Natural Resources Conservation Service event held on his farm.

It aint much but its honest work, Brandt said during the event, which proved to be a sentiment that would live on in the form of a meme of his words paired with a photo of him wearing overalls.

On Thursday, the 76 year old was injured in a crash in Urbana, Illinois. Brandt died from his injuries on Sunday, according to the AP.

More follows
Authorities on Tuesday recovered a body found in the Sacramento River near Robert T. Matsui Waterfront Park.

About 5 p.m., authorities initially received a report of a body trapped under a boat in the Sacramento River, said Capt. Justin Sylvia, a spokesman for the Sacramento Fire Department. He said a crew of officers from the Sacramento Police Department were on a boat in the river, found the body and pulled it from the water.

The body was found in the river near the 400 block of Jibboom Street, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Police said this is a death investigation, and it was unclear whether the body found was that of a swimmer, a rafter or anyone else recreating in the river.

For the past few weeks, public safety officials in the Sacramento region and the Sierra Nevada foothills have warned residents that Northern California rivers are unsafe for recreation. Waterways are running cold and extremely fast for this time of year due to a record-setting Sierra snowpack.

On Monday afternoon, firefighters rescued a rafter in the Cosumnes River in Sacramento County. The male rafter, who was not wearing a life jacket and was rafting with friends, was swept downstream and became separated from his tire raft near Rancho Murieta, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

In Placer County, coroners officials have confirmed that the body found Friday at Folsom Lake is that of a 22-year-old Sacramento County man who was swept into the American River more than two weeks earlier. Victor Nguyen of Antelope was with a group of friends on April 29, when he was swept away in the fast-moving water at the confluence of the Middle Fork and North Fork of the American River, near Auburn.

Another swimmer, a Bay Area man, remains missing after he disappeared May 14. Authorities said he jumped into the North Fork of the American River by Yankee Jims Bridge near Foresthill.
Passengers in line at a Delta Airlines desk. BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images

Delta Airlines is expecting a daily average of 560,000 passengers across the Memorial Day period.

That's 17% more than last year. It also exceeds the last pre-pandemic Memorial Day in 2019.

Southwest Airlines told Insider it's 5,700 new employees to avoid a repeat of last year's summer travel chaos.

Delta Airlines is expecting to fly nearly 2.8 million people  an average of 560,000 passengers a day  over the Memorial Day weekend, overtaking its recorded travel volumes in 2019. It's also a 17% increase versus last year.

Luggage handlers will see an extra workload too. Delta said it expects to transport two million bags from Thursday through Monday.

And LAX is predicting Thursday to be its busiest day since March 2020, opening an additional waiting lot for pickups.

The federal holiday kicks off the summer travel period, which last year saw airlines struggle to deal with chaos as demand recovered from the pandemic.

Delta says it will have its busiest schedule for flights across the Atlantic this summer too, with three-quarters of tickets already sold.

The Federal Aviation Administration has eased requirements for takeoff and landing spaces at New York City's three airports and Reagan Washington National to try to avoid a repeat of last year's struggles.

It's encouraging major airlines to schedule fewer flights but use bigger planes so they can still accommodate more passengers.

Other major US airlines are also prepping for rising demand.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told Insider that the company has hired 5,700 new workers in anticipation of a busy travel season. It will offer 7% more flights with 15% more staff versus last year.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Researchers conduct experiments at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu, Sichuan province on May 21, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has, for the first time, replaced the United States as the largest contributor to high-quality natural-science research by ranking No 1 in the share of papers published in top journals in 2022, according to the Nature Index.

Data on author affiliations from the 82 journals tracked by the Nature Index shows that China had a share of 19,373 from January to December last year, compared with 17,610 from the US, a Nature Index news release said.

A country's share takes into account the percentage of authors from that nation on each paper published in Nature Index journals. An article published entirely by China-based researchers would yield a share of one for China, the news release said.

The Nature Index is routinely released by the Springer Nature Group, an internationally renowned science and technology publishing institution. It tracks research papers published in 82 esteemed journals, and reflects global high-quality research output and collaboration based on the quantity and proportion of papers published by relevant institutions, countries or regions.

The 82 high-quality journals include those in four fields  life sciences, physical sciences, earth and environmental sciences and chemistry  such as Cell, Nature, Chemical Communications and Physical Review Letters.





In addition to China and the US, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan are among the top five contributors to high-quality natural-science research. India ranks 10th, making it and China the only two developing countries on the top 10 list.

Since the Nature Index was first introduced in 2014, China's share has been rapidly increasing, and it was the leading country in the fields of physical sciences and chemistry in 2021, according to the news release.

The latest data  a snapshot of the database taken in April this year  suggests that China also overtook the US in earth and environmental sciences for the first time, the news release said.

Last year's data shows that Chinese institutions have made a distinctive achievement in generating research output published in those advanced journals.

A total of 19 Chinese institutions and universities made it to the world's top 50 productive institutions, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences topping the list.

Five Chinese universities are also among the top 10. They include the University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Peking University and Tsinghua University.

The Nature Index pointed out that there has been a "shift in the national balance" of global science since the mid-2010s, from the perspectives of both the number and quality of papers, by giving two examples.

According to a 2018 US National Science Foundation data set, quoted by the Nature Index, China published the largest number of papers.

Also, in terms of citation numbers, between 2018 and 2020, Chinese research comprised more of the top 1 percent of the most frequently cited papers than US research, a 2022 report by Japan's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy showed.
House Democrats are up in arms that the White House isnt pushing harder for tax hikes for the wealthy as part of the debt ceiling talks, fuming that the deficit-reduction debate has centered on Republicans insistence on sharp spending cuts.

While President Biden has repeatedly called for tax hikes on wealthy Americans to accompany the talks, hes stopped short of demanding such provisions as part of a final deal. And theres been no sign the White House officials on the front lines of the negotiations are threatening GOP leaders with red lines on the issue.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), meanwhile, has rejected new revenues out of hand, saying theyre a non-starter in the conservative-leaning House GOP conference that controls the lower chamber.

The combination, according to the Democratic critics, makes for a lopsided negotiation  one where both sides want to raise the debt ceiling, but Democrats are asked to swallow unpopular cuts to get it while Republicans dont have to give up anything at all.

Thats what sucks, Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) said. We should have a 1-to-1 ratio between revenue and cuts.

The dynamics mark a sharp departure from debt ceiling fights in the past, when both sides of the budget ledger were represented at the table. In those battles, Republicans would demand cuts to federal programs, Democrats would insist on revenue hikes, and both parties acknowledged a deal was impossible without ceding something to the other side.

Some Democrats are blaming Biden  who initially refused to negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling  for waiting too long to launch the talks, thereby undermining the Democrats leverage to demand revenues.

I think that ship sailed, and its disappointing to me that that wasnt injected from the very beginnings of this negotiation, said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), a member of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus.

I do not want to undermine the current negotiation, he added, but Im deeply disappointed that wasnt immediately met with demands for revenue increases  at least loophole closures, for goodness sakes. That was a big mistake.

Youre negotiating against yourself if youre not asking for something.

The White House has rejected the idea that the administration is not fighting for revenue raisers, saying its made clear publicly and behind closed doors that it wants tax hikes to be a part of the final package  and it wants Bidens Democratic allies to help apply the pressure on Republicans to accept those terms.

As the debate has evolved, Biden has claimed a series of victories on the revenue side, saying hes rejected GOP demands for billions of dollars in tax breaks for major oil companies, billions more in excess payments to big pharmaceutical companies, and will continue to fight to raise the actual tax rates on billionaires and major corporations.

They just said revenue is off the table. Well, revenue is not off the table, Biden said Sunday during a press briefing in Japan. We are willing to cut spending, as well as raise revenue, so people start paying their fair share.

But those claims are being met with some skepticism among House Democrats, who have been cut out of the direct negotiations and are waiting anxiously to learn what Bidens team has agreed to.

It is almost impossible to reconcile what were hearing about Biden pushing back with all of the other stuff were hearing that suggests the opposite. So I think theres a great level of discomfort, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said.

Hes not only not pushing back hard enough, he has dignified this notion that McCarthy is an honest broker and a reasonable leader, Huffman continued. If you look a little deeper, these are extreme, reckless demands linked to a default, and we have not projected that narrative at all  in large part because the White House just hasnt done it.

The criticisms arrive as Biden and McCarthy are racing for a deal to lift the debt ceiling and prevent an unprecedented government default, which the Treasury Department has warned could occur as soon as June 1.

The debate is reminiscent of 2011, when former President Obama squared off against then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a battle that threatened a default and sparked the first credit downgrade in U.S. history. But there are significant differences between then and now.

Republicans are still demanding sharp spending cuts below current levels, but unlike Boehner, they have refused to accept tax hikes in return. McCarthy has defended that position, arguing that federal revenues, as a percentage of the economy, are higher than theyve been in years.

So its not a taxing issue. What it really is is a spending issue, the Speaker said recently on Fox Business. And the White House needs to understand this.

Biden and his Democratic allies have rejected that argument, noting that tax rates  particularly for wealthy individuals and corporations  are lower than theyve been in decades, and maintaining those low rates should not come at the expense of federal programs for low-income people.

We need to cut spending, but  heres the disagreement, Biden said Monday evening, just before meeting with McCarthy at the White House. We should be looking at tax loopholes and making sure the wealthy pay their fair share. I think revenue matters as well  as long as youre not taxing anybody under 400,000 bucks.

Not all Democrats are blaming the White House for the absence of revenues in the current debate. Some lawmakers accused McCarthy of simply refusing to negotiate on the issue  at the threat of a debt default.

This is not negotiation; this is extortion and its hostage-taking. Because they are not open to any sort of counter in the form of revenue raises, said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). [Biden] has demanded it; he has introduced that. And they are walking away.

Still, others say McCarthys strategy is working at least in part because the White House has failed to make that case to the public.

It is extreme and the White House is not helping us explain that to the American people, Huffman said. Which is really putting us in a poor negotiating posture.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Depression Rates Are Higher Than EverExperts Say These 5 Things Need to Change

Justin Paget/Getty Images

Fact checked by Nick Blackmer











A recent Gallup poll reported that 29% of Americans have been diagnosed with depression at least once in their lifetime.

Young people and women are seeing higher depression diagnoses than other demographics.

Experts cite the issue with the accessibility of mental health resources, noting that big changes within accessibility need to change in order for depression rates to decline.











Justin Paget/Getty Images

Depression rates are higher than theyve ever been, according to new data from Gallup.

A recent Gallup poll reported that 29% of Americans have been diagnosed with depression at least once in their lifetimethis represents an increase of almost 10 percentage points when compared to 2015. This number is the highest recorded by Gallup.



The mental illness appears to be impacting younger people and women at greater rates. Those aged 18 to 29 (34.3%) and 30 to 44 (34.9%) have significantly higher depression rates in their lifetime than those older than 44. And more than one-third of women (36.7%) report having depression at some point in their lifetime.

Isolation and loneliness are an epidemic that contributes to these rising rates of depression, Elisabeth Gulotta, LMHC, licensed mental health counselor and the founder of NYC Therapeutic Wellness told Health. People need people and connection, and we are living in a more isolated and disconnected world.

Why Are People More Depressed Now?

While the pandemic certainly played a role in these rising numbers, mental health providers told Health that a number of other factors also played a role in the trendlike increasing loneliness and use of social media.

Other contributing factors include genetics, biochemistry, environmental stressors, and personality differences, Mark Debus, MSW, LCSW, licensed clinical social worker and clinical manager of behavioral health at Sedgwick told Health.

A persons vocation also can lead to spikes in depression. For instance, people who experience a higher rate of exposure to daily trauma or repetitive traumas from worklike first responders, law enforcement, medical staff, teachers, and social workersface potentially greater effects on their mental health, Debus explained.

The first signs of depression usually occur in a patients mid-twenties, Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, MA, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer for The Jed Foundation told Health. She noted that a mental health condition often goes undiagnosed for years after it begins due to stigma, lack of access to care, and other factors.

For some people, depression can start in the teen years, and can make the transition into adulthood especially hard, Dr. Erickson-Schroth added.

She emphasized how it would be a mistake to assume that rate of depression is higher solely due to a growing openness to discuss mental health. Doing so, she says, leads people to overlook important realities about why people are struggling, such as social isolation, essential needs that are unmet, and a lack of access to mental healthcare.

[Overall], we are experiencing relational poverty, Gulotta explained. COVID and technology both have eroded connection in a way that creates isolation and separation. It has been said that the best predictor of ones mental health is ones relational health or connectedness. We are very much a disconnected society, even though other technologies or social media platforms would suggest otherwise.

Related: Mental Illness Is on the Rise

Health Disparities and Depression Rates

Healthcare disparities and barriers to access also increase depression risk, noted Ling Lam, PhD, MFT, a lecturer in Santa Clara Universitys School of Education and Counseling Psychology.

Consequently, these factors also could be contributing to the rise in depression rates.

Youth of color are having an especially difficult time right now, Dr. Erickson-Schroth said. American Indian/Alaska Native youth have the highest rates of suicide of all racial or ethnic groups. The suicide rate for Black youth has more than doubled over the past decade.

As a country, its crucial to pay attention to the systemic factors influencing these numbers, she added. One place to start is working to decrease racial discrimination and violence while increasing access to culturally competent care so that people feel safe to reach out when they need help.



How Can We Lower Depression Rates in the U.S.?

There are a number of things that can be done at the societal level to change this trend. For instance, experts recommend improving social connections and meeting essential needs.

The most important tool we have at our disposal to decrease depression rates is to improve peoples lives, explained Dr. Erickson-Schroth. Connection to community, access to essential needs, and addressing sources of stress all help to decrease depression.

Here is a closer look at some of the things experts note can be done to reduce rising depression rates in the United States.

Nurture Social Connection

Nurturing social connections is at the top of the list when it comes to reducing rising depression rates. Dr. Erickson-Schroth pointed to the Surgeon Generals recent warning about an epidemic of loneliness in the U.S.: Time spent in person with friends has decreased by 70% over the last two decadesparticularly for those ages 15 to 24.

Humans are social creatures, and research shows that social isolation and loneliness are risk factors for poor mental and physical healthdepression, anxiety, substance abuse, suicide, and earlier death from all-cause, she added.

Interestingly, living in a city may help promote more social connections. One study found that on average, people have more contacts across a greater variety of functions when they live in larger cities. Whats more, these increased opportunities for socialization could be protective against depression.

Connection is the key to emotional well-being, says Dr. Erickson-Schroth. When...people feel connected to friends, family, or their [community], they are less likely to struggle with their mental health.

Related: What Causes Depression?

Meet Essential Needs

In order to fight rising depression rates, Dr. Erickson-Schroth emphasized that the country needs to ensure that everyone has their essential needs met.

Young people are facing record levels of stress, she said. Currently, nearly three in five college students face some sort of essential needs insecurity, including housing instability, food insecurity, or lack of access to affordable healthcare.

Likewise, debt and financial stress have been linked to depression, while deaths by suicide increase during financial crises, she noted. To make matters worse, one of the top reasons people dont seek out mental health help is because of finances.

Keep Dialogue Open

While the United States has come a long way in speaking more openly about depression and other mental health conditions, there still is work to be done in order for that stigma to go away.

Talking openly adds an extra layer of connectivity within the mental health space.

When people know how widespread depression is, they are less likely to feel alone. They also can learn that while depression is a serious illness, it can still be treated.

I think that continuing to cultivate conversation around mental healthnormalizing and de-stigmatizing it as well as making services more accessiblewill continue to help, encouraged Gulotta.

Foster Collaboration Among Healthcare Professionals

Because people diagnosed with depression often have multiple needs for medications and interventions, it is important that healthcare providers and mental health providers collaborate, Dr. Lam noted.

Not only could this potentially reduce rates of depression, but it also has been shown to improve patient health, enhance their quality of care, and lead to satisfaction.

This approach involves the widespread implementation of a collaborative care model for the management of depressive disorders. Through the use of a model like this, routine screening and diagnosis of depressive disorders would improve and result in earlier treatment. In fact, research shows that outcomes for depression with a collaborative care model were better than primary care treatment only.

Related: Getting a Depression Diagnosis

Make Mental Healthcare More Accessible

For many people, access to mental healthcare is their biggest barrier to getting the treatment they need. Either people do not have health insurance coverage to pay for treatment or they cannot afford the fees involved. Additionally, some areas of the country are lacking mental health professionals and services in general, explained Debus.

There also is still a gap in psycho-education, particularly for family members who do not know how to navigate mental health systems and get help and support for loved ones, Gulotta pointed out.

Other factors that can limit access include lack of transportation or childcare, language barriers, logistical challenges, and stigma-related belief systems. Even long waiting times for treatment, beliefs about selfsufficiency, and concerns about privacy can limit access.

For this reason, experts believe that when mental healthcare in the U.S. becomes more readily available to those who need it, we are likely to see declining depression rates. But right now, the shortage of mental health professionals is making it more difficult for individuals to find and receive adequate care, clarified Debus.

Dr. Lam concluded, On a societal level, we need to continue to increase mental health resources, reduce stigma related to mental health issues, provide more equitable access to care, [increase] education so people can address their mental health issues proactively, and address issues like racism, sexism, and economic disparity since chronic stress amplifies depression risk.



Related: Best Online Therapy Services

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Read the original article on Health.
A deputy directing traffic was critically hurt when a driver ran over him outside a Florida high school graduation ceremony, according to the Citrus County Sheriffs Office.

It happened about 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, as a crowd was exiting ceremonies for Lecanto High School, about 80 miles north of Tampa, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

While several of our deputies were directing traffic ... a motorist traveling south on South Lecanto Highway struck Deputy Andy Lahera, the sheriffs office said.

Deputy Lahera ... sustained multiple broken bones, fractures, abrasions, and internal injuries. At this time, Deputy Lahera remains unconscious but is surrounded by his wife, children, and several of his CCSO family members.

Another deputy was just feet away and immediately began life saving measures, officials said.

Lahera is in critical but stable condition, officials said in a May 25 update.

He has been with the department since 2009 and has served as a school resource deputy since 2018. He is currently assigned to Lecanto Middle School, officials said. He was on duty at the time of the incident, officials said.

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the accident, which involved a 19-year-old woman from Homosassa, officials said. Her identity has not been released.

Detectives report she was on traveling on County Road 491 (also known as South Lecanto Highway) near the entrance to the campus when she failed to observe Lahera and struck him. Details of his injuries were not released.

Lahera, 50, was wearing a reflective vest and carrying a glowing traffic wand, officials say.

Investigators have not released details of charges against the driver.

Deputy collapses and dies after disarming 18-year-old suspect, Florida sheriff says

Woman in pink dress steals $120,000 tractor, Florida cops say. And then it got weird

Watch hawk get rescued from deaths grip as two Florida deputies wrangle angry snake
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) delivers keynote remarks at an event hosted by Peoria County Republicans in Peoria, Ill. on Friday, May 12, 2023. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)

A key political group supporting Ron DeSantis presidential run is preparing a $100 million voter outreach push so big, it plans to knock on the door of every possible DeSantis voter at least four times in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina  and five times in the kickoff Iowa caucuses.

The effort is part of an on-the-ground organizing operation that intends to hire more than 2,600 field organizers by Labor Day, an extraordinary number of people for even the best-funded campaigns.

Top officials with the pro-DeSantis group, a super PAC called Never Back Down, provided their most detailed account yet of their battle plan for DeSantis, whom they believe they can sell as the only candidate to take on  and win  the cultural fights that are definitional for the Republican Party in 2024.

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The group said it expected to have an overall budget of at least $200 million, including more than $80 million expected to be transferred from an old DeSantis state political account, for the daunting task of vaulting the Florida governor past former President Donald Trump, who has established himself as the dominant early front-runner.

DeSantis is set to enter the presidential race Wednesday in a live audio conversation on Twitter, and the super PACs enormous cash reserves are expected to be among the few advantages that DeSantis has in the race, and perhaps the most significant.

The group is already taking on many tasks often reserved for the campaign itself: securing endorsements in early primary states, sending mailers, organizing on campuses, running television ads, raising small donations for the campaign in an escrow account and working behind the scenes to build crowds for the governors events. Hiring is underway in 18 states, and officials said plans were in the works to assemble various pro-DeSantis coalitions, such as for voters who are veterans or those focused on issues like abortion, guns or agriculture.

No one has ever contemplated the scale of this organization or operation, let alone done it, said Chris Jankowski, the groups CEO. This has just never even been dreamed up.

In Iowa, the group has opened a boot camp on the outskirts of Des Moines, giving the facility the code name Fort Benning, after the old Army training outpost, with 189 graduates of an eight-day training program the first wave of an organizing army to follow. Door knocking begins Wednesday in New Hampshire.

The endeavor echoes the Camp Cruz that Sen. Ted Cruzs 2016 presidential campaign set up near Des Moines.

At the helm of the DeSantis super PAC is Jeff Roe, a veteran Republican strategist who was Cruzs campaign manager then. In an interview, Roe described an ambitious political apparatus whose 2,600 field organizers by autumn would be roughly double the peak of Sen. Bernie Sanders entire 2020 primary campaign staff.

Roe also previewed some of the contrasts that Never Back Down planned to draw with Trump. He argued that Trump had shied away from key fights that motivate the Republican base and on which DeSantis has led, including on LGBTQ issues, schools and taking on corporate America.

How do you beat Trump? Roe said, pointing to DeSantis assertiveness on those cultural issues. Well, you beat Trump by beating Trump. And where Ron DeSantis has beaten Trump is by doing what Republican voters want him to do the most.

DeSantis has steadily lost ground so far in 2023 and is trailing Trump nationally in polls by an average of 30 percentage points. And as the governors standing has diminished, more candidates have jumped into the race, an ever-expanding field that could make the sheer math even harder for DeSantis to topple a former president with a significant base of loyalists.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, mocked the group as Always Back Down, calling it a clown show of epic proportions.

If DeSantis runs his campaign the same way as his super PAC, hell be in for a rude awakening, Cheung said.

In framing the 2024 race, Roe acknowledged that Trump has been the leader of a movement. But in Roes telling, it is DeSantis alone who has the opportunity to be the leader of the party and the movement.

That is a key difference, he said. I dont believe people fundamentally understand that you can be a leader of a movement and not be the leader of your party. Ron DeSantis has the ability to be both. Trump does not.

That is a line that DeSantis himself articulated last week in a private call with donors that was organized by Never Back Down. He played up the money he has raised for state parties, including in New Hampshire.

Ultimately, politics is a team sport, DeSantis told donors, adding an oblique shot at Trump. You know, theres some that kind of raise money just for themselves.

Republican primary voters, Roe said, see the battle against the progressive left as an existential fight. He argues that DeSantis, not Trump, has led on three touchstone issues in that fight: taking on corporate America, engaging in what is being taught in schools, and confronting shifting norms and acceptance around sexual orientation and transgender medical care.

The governors clash with Disney touches on all three: battling a big corporation over what began as a fight over classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary school. Trump sees the Disney battle as futile and has recently cheered on the company as it hit back against DeSantis.

Roe added that the intensity of the threat that Republicans perceive to their way of life is what makes electability a more salient issue for the party in 2024 and what makes DeSantis ability to fight those fights and still win in Florida so appealing.

That is a manifest separation between the two candidates, he said.

Unlike a candidates campaign committee, which has to abide by strict caps for each donor, there are no limits on how much a super PAC is allowed to raise.

And this one begins with unmatched financial firepower. Never Back Down is expected to begin with around $120 million  $40 million it says it already raised and $80 million from DeSantis old state political committee  a sum that is equal to what Jeb Bushs super PAC spent in total in 2016.

But there are several legal impediments to this financial freedom. The people who run super PACs are prohibited from discussing strategy with the candidate or the campaign staff. Of course, if DeSantis disagrees with any super PAC decisions, he can always say so publicly and urge them to change course.

As a result, the biggest super PACs  entities that have existed for just the last roughly 12 years  have often essentially become independent vehicles to buy expensive television advertising. That model, however, is extremely inefficient. When the election nears, the airwaves are cluttered, and candidates are guaranteed, by law, far lower rates than super PACs. It is one reason the pro-DeSantis group plans to spend so heavily on its field program, officials said, citing studies that show personal voter contact has far greater return on investment.

Thats not to say that we wont do TV; its that its not all that well do, said Kristin Davison, the chief operating officer of Never Back Down. We understand that in the first four states that peer-to-peer, neighbor-to-neighbor conversation and conversion is going to be extremely important.

Strategists with Never Back Down have been consulting lawyers and studying precedent to see exactly how far the group can stretch the legal bounds of what tasks it can perform without tripping any legal wires. One overlooked twist in election law is that super PAC advisers can move to the campaign, so it is possible entire departments at Never Back Down could eventually join the DeSantis campaign.

The hand-in-glove efforts were on display during DeSantis recent trip to Iowa. After Trump canceled a rally near Des Moines, the governor decided he wanted to swoop in for a last-minute event in the area. But it wasnt the governors staff that scrambled to bring people to the location, but employees of the super PAC, who, working with DeSantis team, sent a flurry of texts and calls to assemble a crowd at Jethros BBQ that evening.

On, like, two hours notice, at some local pizza joint or barbecue joint, we got, like, 200 people to show up, DeSantis raved to donors on the call, which The New York Times listened to.

Despite DeSantis professed aversion to political consultants, particularly those who work around Washington, and his history of asking questions about what people who work for him are making, his team has anointed one of the Republican Partys most famous consultants to oversee Never Back Down.

Roe has emerged as an unusual lightning rod among DeSantis allies and rivals alike. His aggressive approach to both campaigning and business development was the subject of a recent Washington Post article that detailed his firms efforts to vacuum up ever more revenue, including from its political clients.

Trump himself obsesses over Roe, who is the only political consultant that he regularly talks about, according to people who have discussed the matter with the former president. Advisers so regularly feed him stories about the money spent on Roes losing campaigns that Trump has coined a nickname for him: the kiss of death.

Never Back Down has already spent more than $10 million on pro-DeSantis television ads this spring. The early spending has been the subject of second-guessing from some DeSantis allies, as it coincided with a drop in the polls. But Never Back Down advisers defended the ads as not just propping up DeSantis before he enters the race but as part of an enormous experiment  including mail, text messaging and control groups  to study what means of communicating works against Trump.

Officials said voters were surveyed before and after in tens of thousands of interviews to determine the impact.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
Perhaps its because of how Amanda Gorman alluded to the Jan. 6 attack in her famous poem, finished the night after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol: Weve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.

Or maybe she wrote too bluntly about race and the legacy of slavery:

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, read The Hill We Climb at President Joe Bidens inauguration, watched by about 40 million people. She wrote the poem so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, she posted on Twitter Tuesday.

But Gormans poem is now deemed not age appropriate, one of four library titles Bob Graham Education Center banned, following a parents complaint, for elementary school students, the Herald reported. The books are now available only for middle-schoolers at the public school in Miami Lakes, even though some of them were written for younger children.

The school committee that reviewed the material didnt offer an explanation for its decision. Were left to wonder: What in the childrens illustrated book The ABCs of Black History, written for children ages 5 and up, made it so inappropriate?

Perhaps it was the mention of iconic author James Baldwins sexual orientation: And he was a gay man who believed that when it comes to love, you should go the way your blood beats. Or the mention of the Little Rock Nine, the first Black children in all-white schools, or the Black Panther movement. Or were the colorful drawings of Black female icons like Michelle Obama and Toni Morrison  described as  queens too much?

One thing is clear: Books by Black authors  and about the Black American experience  make up three of the four titles deemed inappropriate for young children at Bob Graham Education Center. The other one, Cuban Kids, uses photos to describe the lives of children in Cuba in the early 2000s and how different or similar they are to Americans, according to the authors homepage. Learning about the lives of their counterparts in a socialist country  including how they got around paper shortages  is sure to turn our kids into communists.

We knew that the movement to sanitize school libraries that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature unleashed would eventually catch up with Miami-Dade. Our melting pot, after all, might not be so different from Escambia County in the Panhandle, whose school board has been sued for removing books about race and LGBTQ topics.

Floridas laws have emboldened parents and activists like Moms for Liberty to challenge materials dealing with these topics. Most recently, DeSantis signed a bill that empowers one person to file a complaint and ban a book, at least temporarily, while a district reviews it. Parents not satisfied with how a district ruled on the challenge can appeal to the state. That is bound to make schools acquiesce to offended parents.

The result, as Gorman wrote on Twitter after her poem was restricted, is that most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves.

Elementary students were not required to read Gormans work or any of the challenged titles. These were options at Bob Graham Education Centers library. Those options also should be available for the children of all parents, not only those offended by certain content or groups skimming books to find any remote reference to race or LGBTQ issues.

Love to Langston was written at a second-grade reading level but no longer is accessible to second-graders at Bob Graham. The illustrated biography of Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes describes his own elementary school experience, tainted by racism, in the early 1900s:

In Topeka, Kansas the teacher makes me sit in the corner; in the last row; far away; from the other kids.

The parent who filed the complaint said Love to Langston contained critical race theory, indirect hate messages, gender ideology and indoctrination, the Herald reported. Its unclear how.

It is curious, however, that indoctrination and hate messages seem to be flagged mostly when when Black authors write about being Black, or when LGBTQ authors write about being queer. The adults must ask themselves why thats the case before making them inaccessible to children.
DeSantis' campaign launch on Twitter with Elon Musk off to a disastrous start as the site repeatedly crashes

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his 2024 campaign on Twitter Spaces.

It's the first time a candidate plans to launch a presidential campaign during a live stream on the social media app.

But the forum was off to a rough start with crashes, silence, and robot music.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' planned launch for his 2024 presidential bid on Twitter was delayed by almost 30 minutes on Wednesday after the site crashed.

The Florida governor was expected to officially launch his campaign at 6 p.m. EST during an audio-only live forum known as Twitter Spaces, alongside Twitter CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur David Sacks. Making that choice was unusual  many candidates do public events or interviews with cable news outlets.

But the social media app appeared to be having technical difficulties handling nearly 500,000 listeners as the discussion kicked off.

The forum either crashed or would allow listeners to join in without any audio.

Sacks at one point started speaking into the microphone, calling the event "historic" and "a first in the history of social media" before the sound dropped.

A screenshot of Twitter Spaces. Insider

At one point a voice could be heard saying, "Now it's quiet."

"We've got so many people here that I think we are kind of melting the servers," Sacks said, when more than 100,000 people had joined. Other streaming services, such as Clubhouse, have had more listeners without crashing.

"Very excited to have Gov. DeSantis," Musk said before the live feed glitched again and the Spaces ended.

Around 6:30 p.m., the audio turned back on and DeSantis was able to announce that he was running for president and answer questions on issues from his feud with Walt Disney World to reforms on federal agencies.

Sacks apologized to DeSantis for the technical difficulties, and asked him why he chose to make the announcement over Twitter instead of on cable television.



The governor said that he wanted to "cut against the grain" instead of "going with the crowd," then turned the conversation to how he bucked federal health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conversation quickly turned to deriding traditional news outlets, with Musk calling journalists an "elite cabal."

"Candidates for president can just speak directly to people through Twitter," Sacks said.

Some political operators were surprised that DeSantis chose not to hold his first interview with Fox News, who otherwise got numerous other details about the campaign first, including the campaign video launch and the fact that the Twitter Spaces conversation was taking place.



Ever since his time serving in the US House, starting in 2013, DeSantis has had a collaborative relationship with the network. That continued into his governorship.

Twitter is set to stream a new show from Tucker Carlson, a political commentator abruptly ousted from Fox News.

"Glitchy. Tech issues. Uncomfortable silences. A complete failure to launch," a Trump spokesperson told Insider. "And that's just the candidate!"

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made much of his crusade to lock up felons who unwittingly voted in 2020, but one registered Republican allegedly voted illegally for nearly a decade before the feds stepped in last week.

Yalemis Onasch, a 28-year-old Cuban national, cast fraudulent ballots in the past two presidential elections before finally becoming an American citizen in 2022, according to a criminal complaint first obtained by The Daily Beast.

The FBI homed in on Onasch after receiving information about her alleged crimes from a cooperating witness, the complaint states. And although the tipster is not identified in the filing, it seems Onasch was outed by her exthe father of her childwith whom she has been locked in an ongoing legal battle, her attorney told The Daily Beast.

Onaschs troubles were compounded by den[ying] under oath having registered to vote or voting as part of her naturalization application and interview, says the complaint.

Onasch, who is accused of unlawfully voting in the 2014 midterm elections, the 2016 general election, the 2020 primaries, and the 2020 general election, was arrested by FBI agents on May 19, and released on $25,000 bond, court records show. The federal case against her appears to be entirely separate from a bumbling statewide crackdown on voter fraud launched by the right-wing DeSantis, who is reportedly eyeing a presidential run in 2024. A Florida-focused task force created by DeSantis with much fanfare last year rounded up some 20 voters, many of them people of color, who had felony convictions that had stripped them of the right to vote. Most had been issued voter ID cards by the state, and reportedly thought their voting rights had been restored.

The criminal complaint against Yalemis Onasch includes her most recent voter registration form, which lists her party affiliation as Republican Party of Florida. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

DeSantis claimed the effort would bolster election integrity after Donald Trumps loss in 2020 to Joe Biden, and touted the initiative as a necessary tool to counter what the GOP has described as rampant ballot-stuffing by Democrats. But no evidence of widespread voter fraud, in Florida or anywhere else in the country, has ever emerged. And the prosecutions brought thus far by DeSantis Office of Election Crimes and Security have largely fallen apart: of the 20 cases, six have been dismissed, and five have resulted in plea deals carrying no jail time. The only defendant to actually go to trial was convicted of lying on his voter registration application, but acquitted of voting illegally.

Desperate for a victory, Floridas GOP-led legislature earlier this year pushed through a new law handing jurisdiction over election cases from local prosecutors to a statewide prosecutor answering to Attorney General Ashley Moody, a DeSantis ally. Meanwhile, three registered Republicans in Sumter County, Floridaone of them a former county elections inspectorhave all pleaded guilty in recent months to felony voter fraud charges for voting twice in the 2020 election.

The complaint against Onasch includes a copy of her most recent voter registration, in which she specifies her party affiliation as Republican.

The investigation into Onasch began in 2022, according to the complaint, which was unsealed Friday in Ft. Myers federal court. Onasch was born in Cuba, and became a legal U.S. resident of the United States in 2006, at the age of 12, the complaint says.

Six years later, Onasch made a fateful decision that would come back to haunt her.

On or about September 21, 2012, Onasch submitted a new Florida Voter Registration Application (FVRA) with the help of [an unnamed third-party voter registration organization], the complaint goes on. In the application, Onasch marked yes to question A, Are you a citizen of the United States of America?

Onasch was issued a voter ID number and went on to vote in three general elections, as well as one primary, submitting a form in November 2016 to officially update her home address, the complaint says.

At some point last year, the FBI was notified by an unnamed source who claimed Onasch had been voting illegally, the complaint states. Investigators searched election records, and discovered Onasch indeed voted in-person during the 2016 general election, the complaint continues. Under Florida law, Onasch was required to present a photo ID at the polls, which she did, and her signature was verified with the one county election officials had on file, according to the complaint.

Further digging into historical voter data, the FBI discovered Onasch had voted in the 2014 midterms, as well as the 2020 primary and general elections, the complaint alleges. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it says Onasch requested and received a mail-in ballot, listing the address of a rented mailbox at a local UPS Store as her residence.

Gov. Ron DeSantis attends a 2020 event at a Florida golf club, featuring former President Donald Trump. Tom Brenner/File Photo via Reuters

Voting by mail was a fixation for former President Donald Trump, who claimed, entirely falsely, that the ballots were being sent to people that didnt ask for them, namely Democrats, and would swing the 2020 election to Biden.

David Joffe, Onaschs lawyer, told The Daily Beast that he doesnt think his client intended to break the law, but that, A lot of times, people dont really pay close attention to these things.

As a lawyer, Joffe said, he and his colleagues are trained to pay attention to detail. However, he continued, most people just arent that detail-oriented.

When she was going to college, they had those [voter registration] tables set up, Joffe said. And youre a student, and youre doing student things, youre going to your classes, and you stop by, Hey, whats this? My understanding, she said, Im a Cuban national, not yet a citizen, and they told her, This is your right, you can vote. And shes a 17-year-old kid, so she says, OK, and she signs up to vote, and proceeds to vote in multiple elections as shes gotten older.

Joffe said he believed Onaschs ex had tipped off the feds because he has been giving her a real hard time over the years for no real apparent reason.

Hes pretty proactive in terms of constantly taking her to court. Hes just constantly bringing her back to court for all different kinds of thingswhich parents can do.

In addition to the charge of voting illegally, Onasch is facing a second charge, of making false statements to immigration authorities. Onasch submitted her citizenship application in January 2021, which she said, under penalty of perjury, that she had never voted, claimed to be a U.S. citizen in writing or in any other way, submitted false or misleading documentation to government officials, or committed a crime for which she hadnt been arrested.

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

This, combined with a June 27, 2022 interview before a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer, during which Onasch reaffirmed, under oath, her answers, constituted a second crime, the feds say. She was sworn in as a U.S. citizen that same day, according to the complaint.

During the naturalization ceremony, Onasch filled out a new Florida voter registration form, the complaint states. The filing includes a copy of the form, which shows Onasch answered yes to the first question, Are you a citizen of the United States of America? She then listed, among other things, her party affiliation, the Republican Party of Florida. (The complaint does not specify which candidates Onasch allegedly voted for in the past elections. On her previous voter registration forms, the boxes for birthplace, race/ethnicity, political party, and gender were left blank.)

Poor Yalemis is crying, shes terrified, Joffe told The Daily Beast. Shes a stay-at-home mom now, shes got her own child as well as her husbands kids. Theyre just trying to make a living as a young couple, and then this thing pops up. The [FBI] agents had come to her place and dropped off a target letter, and here we are.

Onasch appeared before a judge following her arrest last Friday, and was released on $25,000 unsecured bond. She surrendered her Cuban passport, and was ordered not to leave Central Florida except to meet with Joffe.

If convicted on both counts, Onasch faces up to six years in prison and $350,000 in fines.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is no longer planning to hold an event in his hometown of Dunedin as part of the formal launch of his campaign, a person with knowledge of the rollout plans told CNN.

Instead, after officially announcing his campaign for president Wednesday with Elon Musk on Twitter Spaces, the sites audio platform, DeSantis is likely to hit the road and make appearances in the coming days in early nominating states.

Its not yet clear if he plans to travel during Memorial Day weekend or start Tuesday after the holiday. He is scheduled to attend an event Thursday in Miami, where he has gathered fundraisers to begin soliciting donations for his campaign.

DeSantis political team had previously planned to make his first public appearance next Tuesday as an official candidate in Dunedin, the coastal Tampa Bay suburb where he grew up and rose to local fame as a Little League star. However, they pivoted from the hometown event as they formalized an announcement on Twitter.

The last-minute change is emblematic of the DeSantis operation to date, which has adjusted its timeline for a launch repeatedly in recent weeks. CNN previously reported that DeSantis often surprises even close aides and advisers, and a source suggested he may be further motivated to throw out the script to vex the media outlets who have preempted his announcement.

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Fundraisers for Ron DeSantis began arriving at the ritzy Miami Four Seasons hotel on Wednesday afternoon to begin the work of raising the cash needed to fuel the start of the two-term Florida governors long-anticipated presidential campaign.

They set up shop at the hotel ahead of a Thursday meeting that is expected to be less about publicity and more about strategy  and tapping into their influential network of clients and donors to bolster DeSantis presidential bid.

DeSantis made his candidacy official on Wednesday afternoon after paperwork was filed with the Federal Election Commission. Later in the day, the group of at least 40 fundraisers met in a hotel ballroom just before DeSantis announced his plans at 6 p.m. during a live conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter. Some wore pins that said RD24 Day 1, swag that the DeSantis campaign distributed earlier in the day.

The Twitter announcement was beset by glitches for the first 25 minutes while DeSantis supporters were gathered waiting for the event to eventually happen.

But the main attraction of the gathering is on Thursday, when attendees will be briefed by campaign staff before making fundraising phone calls. The DeSantis team is not allowing reporters into any portion of the event. That gathering will begin in the morning, and DeSantis is expected to make an in-person appearance in the evening.

READ MORE: Its official: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis files paperwork for his presidential campaign

DeSantis early core of fundraisers will include real-estate magnate David Horowitz, financier Hal Lambert, investor Jay Zeidman and Frank Mermoud, the president of Orpheus International, according to CNBC. Among the people spotted at the hotel were former U.S. Senate candidate from Nevada Adam Laxalt, an old friend and roommate of DeSantis; former state Senate President Bill Galvano, and state Rep. Alex Rizo, the chairman of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party.

A billboard truck circles the Miami Four Seasons hotel on Brickell Avenue on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, as supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis gather for the start of this campaign for the Republican nomination for president. The billboard showed attack ads by the Democratic National Committee slamming DeSantis as an out-of-touch conservative.

Wednesday afternoon, television camera crews dotted the sidewalks outside of the Brickell Avenue hotel and a billboard truck circled the block on the Miami waterfront with attack ads by the Democratic National Committee slamming DeSantis as an out-of-touch conservative. As the truck crept down Brickell Avenue, the screen showed jumbo, grainy image of DeSantis under the heading: Ron DeSantiss extreme MAGA agenda. On another corner, a man wielded a flag that stated F**k Biden.

By 5 p.m., on the sidewalk across the street from the hotel, roughly 100 anti-DeSantis protesters chanted and held signs like Fascism is not welcome here. Right-wing activist and Trump supporter Laura Loomer also stood outside telling interviewers why she was against the governor.

A pro-DeSantis demonstrator wears a message board outside the Miami Four Seasons hotel on Brickell Avenue on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, as supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis gather for the start of this campaign for the Republican nomination for president. D.A. Varela dvarela@miamiherald.com

The dimly lit lobby was abuzz with guests, which in the early morning included Boston Celtics players who kept their season alive by beating the Miami Heat the night before. Clad in business attire, hotel guests mingled by Fernando Boteros Seated Woman bronze sculpture, velvet couches and modern chandeliers.

Inside the ritzy rooms, fully stocked mini bars included $110 bottles of Laurent-Perrier champagne and $23 gummy bears.

The glamour of the venue did not go unnoticed. Allies of former President Donald Trump, DeSantis chief rival for the GOP presidential nomination, said the location was one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history.

The only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter is DeSantis after party at the uber elite Four Seasons resort in Miami, Make America Great Again Inc. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

The statement did not mention Trumps famous ride down the golden escalator at Trump Tower in Manhattan when he launched his first campaign for the presidency in June 2015.

The hotel lies in the heart of Miamis waterfront Brickell neighborhood, the citys financial district punctuated by skyscrapers filled with offices and condos for the wealthy. Beyond the specific locale, DeSantis choice of Miami-Dade was perhaps also a nod to Miami-Dades voting for him in 2022, the first time the county went red in decades.

Weena Fernandez, a 61-year-old from Miami, is among his supporters. She rushed to the hotel lobby during her lunch break on Wednesday in hopes of catching a glimpse of DeSantis in person.

She came close to tears when describing why she backs DeSantis, but Fernandez said she would still like to see Trump in the White House for another term before DeSantis.

It would be 12 years of progress, with Trump for four years and DeSantis for eight years, Fernandez said. That would be the dream.

This story will be updated.

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

People walk past the Miami Four Seasons hotel on Brickell Avenue on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, as supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis gather for the start of this campaign for the Republican nomination for president. D.A. Varela dvarela@miamiherald.com
DeSantis just made a presidential run official, setting himself up as the top rival against Trump in a growing Republican field

Ron DeSantis (left) and Donald Trump. Mario Tama/Getty Images; Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is officially running for president.

He filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission

He's the top rival to former President Donald Trump, with four other people in the race.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Trump acolyte who flipped Florida from purple to red and parlayed his controversial COVID-19 policies into an "anti-woke" movement that extended across education, law, and business, is running for president.

The governor made his presidential run official on Wednesday by filing paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. He'll be doing an interview on Twitter Spaces with billionaire Elon Musk, the Twitter CEO, at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Making his candidacy official brings DeSantis to the top of the primary contest against former President Donald Trump, who  despite two impeachments, inciting the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a conviction of sexual assault, and becoming the first president in history to be indicted  still dominates the polls.

Indeed, as Trump rose in national surveys, DeSantis fell back. Trump has openly said he viewed DeSantis as "disloyal" for challenging him after he backed his 2018 gubernatorial bid that ensured he locked down the GOP nomination. He has attacked DeSantis' votes, as a US House member, to slash Social Security and Medicare and insinuated, without evidence, that DeSantis was gay and involved with minors.

DeSantis' entrance into the race will have observers closely watching how he'll take on Trump. The governor passive aggressively hit Trump for months after winning reelection in Florida, but then more directly attacked him over "drama" and the salacious pieces of the indictment, involving an adult film actress. The strategy failed as the GOP rallied around Trump.

DeSantis is the seventh person to enter the primary that, other than Trump, already includes former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, radio host Larry Elder, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who held his campaign event Monday.

Other candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, are still considering entering the primary.

The DeSantis family. Executive Office of the Governor, State of Florida

DeSantis running to the right of Trump

Should DeSantis, 44, become the GOP nominee, he would face off against Joe Biden, the oldest president in history who will turn 81 this year. DeSantis has made his young, telegenic family with his wife, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, a centerpiece of his public image.

Casey DeSantis shared a video on Twitter Tuesday evening teasing her husband's campaign. It showed the governor coming onto the stage and behind an American Flag. "America has been worth it every single time," a male voiceover in the video says.

DeSantis is likely to run to the right of Trump. The Florida legislature in early May wrapped up its lawmaking session that gave DeSantis many of the policy wins he asked for, from loosening gun regulations and making it harder for undocumented immigrants to work in Florida, to chipping away transgender rights and striking back at Walt Disney World in a bitter, drawn-out fight about LGBTQ topics in public schools.

DeSantis still has to sign the state's budget and an elections law that will ensure he doesn't have to resign his position as governor of Florida while running for president. His job as governor of the nation's third-largest state gives him an opportunity to showcase his governing chops and an edge against rivals who don't currently hold office.

He is set to huddle with donors starting Wednesday and into Thursday at the luxurious Four Seasons hotel, located in the downtown Brickell area of Miami, which is a financial district.

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, called DeSantis' policies in Florida part of an "extreme MAGA agenda focused on ripping Floridians' freedoms away" in a statement. "Now he wants to take that agenda nationwide," he said.



Much of DeSantis' campaign will be about differentiating himself from Trump. So far, he has pitched himself as an electable alternative, someone who embraces similar policies but avoids leaks and drama from his administration.

DeSantis, however, is a far lesser-known comodity than Trump, giving his rivals the opportunity to fill in the blanks of his personal life and professional history.

It'll soon become clear whether voters embrace his pitch. Some big donors have told reporters on the record that they were concerned DeSantis was too right-wing.

The governor has worked some to introduce himself to voters through a "soft launch" that started in March, when he traveled the country under the auspices of promoting his memoir, "The Courage to be Free."

Signs started building roughly two weeks ago that an official presidential run was imminent. On Monday, DeSantis altered his Twitter handle from @RonDeSantisFL to simply @RonDeSantis.

Last week, DeSantis' political team moved to a new office in Tallahassee, NBC News reported. On Friday, he visited New Hampshire, a key early primary voting state, after several stops in caucus-first Iowa the weekend prior. He racked up endorsements from members of the Florida legislature, while Trump scored most of Florida's congressional delegation.

The DeSantis political operation declined to share details of the governor's plans, including formal rollouts and events that may come later. The governor's hometown of Dunedin, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, is reportedly in the mix for a formal launch.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, stressed on Monday that any attempt to challenge the one-China principle will find no support and is doomed to fail.

"We advise the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities to immediately stop their political maneuvering about Taiwan-related issues at the World Health Organization (WHO)," Ma said in response to a media query.

The World Health Assembly, the highest decision-making body of the WHO, on Monday decided not to include in its agenda a proposal on Taiwan's participation in the upcoming annual assembly as an observer.

The relevant decision demonstrates, once again, that adherence to the one-China principle is the universal consensus of the international community that is in line with the will of the people and the overriding trend, Ma said.

This principle should not be challenged, the spokesperson said, adding that the so-called "proposal" by the DPP authorities violated the international consensus and is doomed to encounter rejection.
DeSantis for President? This is what the polls say

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis has filed paperwork declaring his candidacy for president. Later on Wednesday 24 May, Mr Desantis will formally launch his 2024 bid during a Twitter Spaces event with CEO Elon Musk, putting the Florida governor in direct conflict with former president Donald Trump.

Much of Mr DeSantiss case for being president has focused on electability, with his pitch being that he is the only Republican candidate who can beat President Joe Biden. Similarly, Mr DeSantis has sold himself as a conservative warrior who has passed legislation restricting abortion access and curtailing how sexual orientation and gender identity are taught in schools.

At the same time, his donors argue that his relative youth  at age 44, he is the youngest male governor in the country  as well as his focus on the environment could help him appeal to moderate voters.

This argument largely began to solidify after the 2022 midterm elections, when multiple Trump-endorsed candidates lost their races. Mr DeSantis, meanwhile, cruised to re-election in Florida by almost 20 points.

In the following months, Mr DeSantis began to take the lead in polling against Mr Trump. In December of last year, a Suffolk University/USA Today poll showed that 56 per cent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents preferred Mr DeSantis to be the Republican nominee. Furthermore, the polling showed that he beat Mr Biden by three points in a head-to-head matchup.

A week after the midterm elections, Mr Trump announced his re-election campaign. And thats when things began to sour for Mr DeSantis.

In the days before the 2022 midterms, Mr Trump began testing out attacks against the Florida governor, calling him Ron DeSanctimonious at a rally in LaTrobe, Pennsylvania. Mr Trump continued ratcheting up his attacks in the intervening months.

But the governor almost never responded to the attacks from Mr Trump. Instead, Mr DeSantis launched a book tour, often a precursor to a campaign for the White House, where he visited some of the early contest states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. A host of former Trump allies also launched a Super PAC called Never Back Down.

Mr DeSantiss polling began to decline around this moment. In January, Mr DeSantis only trailed Mr Trump by 20 points in a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, but that number dropped by five points in February.

The decline coincided with a series of perceived missteps by Mr DeSantis, including taking a swipe at Mr Trump allegedly making hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and calling Russias invasion of Ukraine a territorial dispute.

But Mr DeSantiss support among Republicans began to drop precipitously more recently. In the beginning of January, a Morning Consult survey showed only a 13-point gap between Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis. But Mr Trumps support has grown prodigiously, while Mr DeSantiss has dropped to the point at which Mr Trump leads Mr DeSantis by a whopping 38 points.

At the same time, Mr DeSantis fares slightly better than Mr Trump against Mr Biden in the Morning Consult survey. In a hypothetical rematch, Mr Biden and Mr Trump would be tied at 42 per cent each, while Mr DeSantis would beat Mr Biden 43 per cent to 40 per cent.

Election Day 2024 remains more than a year away, giving Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis plenty of time to sharpen their messages and appeal to voters. But if Mr DeSantis wants to increase his chances against Mr Trump, the governor may need to change tack.
All he did was criticize Independence school board. He didnt deserve to be arrested | Opinion

We question the recent trespassing conviction of Jason Vollmecke, a regular critic of Independence School District Superintendent Dale Herl. Like all American citizens, the district substitute teacher has a constitutional right to address the school board. But one surefire way to silence dissent is to have critics arrested on trumped up trespassing charges.

Last week, Vollmecke, of Independence, was found guilty of trespassing. He plans to appeal the misdemeanor conviction handed down by Municipal Judge Garry Helm. He should. Speaking forcefully or out of turn at a school board meeting shouldnt result in a criminal record.

After speaking at the podium during a school board meeting Jan. 10, Vollmecke was removed by law enforcement and cited. Herl also banned Vollmecke from district property for a year, according to a letter the superintendent sent.

To add insult to injury, Herl removed Vollmecke from involvement with the districts STEM Academy, according to the letter. Vollmeckes days as a substitute in the district appear to be over as well, he told us this week.

Last year, Vollemecke unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Independence school board. He is a regular at its monthly meetings and often questions the bodys lack of openness and transparency with the community.

He could be considered a perpetual thorn in the side of Herl and the boards members. Expressing oneself to leaders is a cornerstone of our democracy. But in Independence schools under Herls leadership, questioning decisions made by him or the school board that unequivocally supports him are too often not tolerated.

Addressing the school board after its meeting has moved on to closed session isnt an arrestable offense, according to civil rights advocates. No one should fear being arrested for opposing a school boards decision. Dont tell that to Herl and his enablers.

In other cities, due to First Amendment protections, weve seen similar trespassing charges or convictions outright dismissed, rejected or thrown out. Were hopeful that Vollmecke, a chiropractor by trade, is spared the legal consequences of a questionable conviction.

Because of the appeal process, Vollmecke is limited in what he can say about the case. But he did tell us being arrested at a school board meeting was frustrating.

A citizen having to worry about going to jail for trying to address the school board is just ludicrous, he said. We agree. His arrest was just plain silly and a real abuse of power by Superintendent Herl.

We watched three short clips of Vollmeckes removal from the meeting, one of which was provided by the district. We looked long and hard for any wrongdoing on Vollmeckes part. We were hard-pressed to understand he how his behavior warranted an arrest.

District moms anti-LGBT rhetoric allowed

Vollmecke wanted to address the board about how its four-day school week starting next school year would impact curriculum. He was three minutes late to the open comment portion of the meeting, but waited to address the board before it moved into closed session. He had informed the secretary he was going to be late. Dennis Green, then the districts director of public safety, asked Vollmecke to leave but he refused, according to district officials.

Vollmecke was told Herl accused him of displaying violent and aggressive behavior, he said. At the podium, Vollmecke spoke calmly with an Independence Police officer in uniform, according to the video we watched. Despite being asked to leave, Vollmecke is heard saying he would address the board anyway. Weve seen worse behavior in recent years at other area school board meetings that didnt conclude with a citation for trespassing.

We vividly recall Herl and school board members sitting idly by as one mom accused the sponsor of gay inclusion club of being a pedophile. That speaker was not arrested or prevented from sprouting off hateful rhetoric aimed at the LGBTQ community.

In a statement, district officials told us Vollmecke was cited for refusing to leave school district premises once the school board meeting had concluded.

Mr. Vollmecke was given multiple opportunities by the Director of Public Safety to leave the boardroom once the meeting had concluded, the statement read.

Led by Herl, the Independence School District has a pattern of stifling free expression. With Herls approval, the district once charged student journalists more than $320 for public records.

Herl could have pursued several options against Vollmecke, including letting him address any board member willing to listen or advising him to send an email.

Independence stakeholders must be able to express themselves without fear of arrest. Sans threats of violence or profanity, district patrons must have the ability to criticize the school board. Herl and the school board answer to the public. They owe it to their constituents to hear them out  good, bad or indifferent.

One of the core tenets of our democracy is the right to question our leaders without fear of retaliation. Independence school officials should never use the districts public safety officers or police to quash a critics right to free speech.
Did a 'toxic work environment' at Missouri State lead to the murder of Marc Cooper?

Edward Gutting, 50, who is charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly killed 66-year-old Marc Cooper, during his trial at the Greene County Courthouse on Monday, May 22, 2023.

It's been long established that ex-Missouri State instructor Edward Gutting angrily invaded the home of former MSU colleague Marc Cooper in 2016, stabbing the retired history professor to death and injuring his wife.

Seven years, several delays and a few mental evaluations later, the 50-year-old Princeton University graduate sat in court Tuesday, the second day of a first-degree murder trial that won't be decided by a jury.

Greene County Judge David Jones will determine if Gutting made a premediated decision to slay Cooper over a perceived work-related slight, or if the accused killer had a mental health episode  a defense that could shave a few years from a lengthy prison sentence.

Prosecutors believe Gutting, who was passed over for a tenured MSU history professor, killed the 66-year-old man in a drunken fit after driving miles across Springfield with a knife to confront the Cooper at his home. The attack happened shortly after Gutting had learned he wouldn't step into Cooper's former role, as Gutting believed Cooper thwarted his chances.

Gutting's legal defense claims he had a schizophrenic episode and the violent act by a 6-foot-5, 225-pound figure several MSU coworkers considered a "gentle giant" was an aberration. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

On Tuesday, prosecuting attorney Dan Patterson presented several more state witnesses in attempt to prove Gutting was ultimately in control of his actions the day of the stabbing and had issue with Cooper. Three of the witnesses worked in the in the MSU history department.

A recorded jail phone conversation between Gutting and relatives was also presented to the court to help convey his apparent lucidity in the days following Cooper's death.

'Toxic work environment'

MSU history department employees Dr. Kathleen Kennedy (department head) and Dr. John Chuckiak (distinguished professor) took the witness stand Tuesday, as well as Peter Tsahiridis, a former MSU per-course history instructor at MSU.

Each described Gutting, a history instructor, as generally kind, soft-spoken and helpful in their work interactions. Each had differing views of Cooper and how he may or may not have had a role in determining if Gutting would take his former position, despite being retired and in an emeritus role.

Chuckiak said the MSU history department was "one of the most toxic department's on Missouri State's campus" and that Cooper was a big part of the toxicity. Kennedy also mentioned unpleasant work-related politics and clashing factions within the department, but she considered Cooper a mentor and friend. Tsahiridis said he respected Cooper, but said he had "difficult personality."

Patterson used their testimony to try and paint the prosecution's picture of Cooper slighting the work of Gutting, whose wife Dr. Angela Hornsby-Gutting also worked in the history department and is still listed on the MSU website's faculty page as an associate professor.

Defense attorney Joe Passanise reminded the court that Gutting got a salary increase in 2016 and a new position at MSU in the Modern and Classical Languages away from the history department, and that was no apparent disagreement between Gutting and Cooper, who worked together for three years before his February 2015 retirement.

But Chuckiak said it was clear that Gutting wanted the tenured Ancient History history position, and once heard that Cooper say in a conversation Gutting wasn't qualified for the job because he viewed him as a classicist, someone who studies the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, especially their languages, literature, and philosophy.

Tsahiridis said on the stand Tuesday that he twice saw Gutting show visible frustrations on campus from situations he believed involved Cooper.

Chuckiak, who said he often clashed with Cooper and filed several complaints against the longtime educator, told the court he sympathized with Gutting after hearing news of Cooper's death, and initially reached out to Gutting's legal team to help shed light on the situation.

As the prosecution team's witness, however, Chuckiak was used to help prove that an immense sense of disrespect may have been felt by Gutting leading up to Cooper's murder, and that it wasn't the product of a random mental breakdown.

In the opening argument by the prosecution, Patterson mentioned that Gutting told a state witness that "(Cooper) better respect me!"

On the day Cooper was killed, Angela Hornsby-Gutting received an email that showed a change in the job description for the vacant Ancient History position, which cut out Rome from the position's area of study. The news apparently set off Gutting, who Hornsby-Gutting police said tried to stop her husband from confronting Cooper before showing up to his home with a knife and intoxicated.

Without Rome, an area of expertise for Gutting, he was suddenly disqualified for consideration. Chuckiak also considered the change peculiar considering Rome was a major part ancient history.

Kennedy, who gave Gutting satisfactory marks but also mentioned his "drug issues," said the decision, to cut out Rome was hers, not Cooper's, and that the board voted to approve the curriculum change.

Jail call provides clarity

Gutting pleaded insanity following his first-degree murder charge, but shortly after he was arraigned his jail phone conversation with relatives was recorded.

In audio provided the court, Gutting sounded clear, upbeat, thoughtful and articulate in the 15-minute conversation, discussing his options for a legal defense, bond and getting a new pair of eyeglasses.

The prosecution said Monday that Gutting may have also been feeling pressure in his personal life with financial and marital problems when he said in the phone call that he and his wife had just $86 in their bank account the day he was arrested.

Defense pushing for a mistrial

Two days into what will likely be a one-week trial, Gutting's defense has requested three mistrials that have been denied by Judge Jones.

Passanise has cited receiving late evidence and witnesses in which he had no access to prior to the trial among the reasons he believed a Harris should call for a mistrial, calling it a "trial by ambush, to some degree."

The defense attorney said he was frustrated by the prosecution's late disclosures and opinions.

"It's been seven years, and here we are in trial, and these things are being presented last minute."

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: 'Toxic work environment' may have fueled ex-MSU professor's murder
Following its pre-fall 2023 show in Mumbai, Dior ventured to another distant runway for its Cruise 2024 collection, this time in Mexico City. With a rich history intertwined with Mexico, including founder Christian Diors introduction of the iconic Mexico dress in the 1950s and a past fashion presentation in 1954, the brand once again embraced Mexican influence under the creative direction of Maria Grazia Chiuri. Notably, Chiuri drew inspiration from female Mexican rodeo riders for Cruise 2019.

In this latest pre-season collection, Chiuri pays homage to renowned Mexican artists such as Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, and Tina Modotti, who spent time in Mexico and were deeply influenced by its culture. However, Frida Kahlo takes center stage as the collections central muse. The line incorporates recognizable motifs from Kahlos paintings, including butterflies, parrots, monkeys, and birds of paradise, and references to her wardrobe, such as androgynous suiting and huipils paired with full skirts. To further enhance the connection, the show was held at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, the historic location where Kahlo famously met Diego Rivera.

Described as an in-depth research project in a press release, the cruise collection explores the social and historical implications of craft cultures. It provides a platform to showcase the works of various Indigenous communities, promoting their artistry and traditions. Chiuri collaborated with local artisans and organizations to bring this vision to life. She sought guidance from Circe Henestrosa, the curator of the Frida Kahlo, Beyond Appearances exhibition, who played a vital role in shaping this seasons collaborations.

Among the collaborations, Hilan Cruz Cruiz from Yolcentle Textil contributed embroidered shirts and dresses featuring the flora and fauna of Puebla. Pedro Meza from Sna Jolobil created embroidered sash belts in collaboration with Tzotzil communities from Zinacantan and San Juan Chamula. Remigio Mestas designed huipils using traditional weaving, dyeing, and embroidery techniques from the Zapotecs of San Blas Atempa, the Chinantecs of the Papaluapan Basin, and the Mazatecs of la Chuparrosa. Narcy Areli Morales from Rocinante showcased geometric pepenado fruncido embroidery by all-female Mixtec groups in San Lucas Redencion, San Pablo Tijaltepec, and Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca. Additionally, Alema Atelier created Jarocho hats inspired by those seen in Veracruz, and Plata Villa, a workshop led by Rafael Villa Rojas, designed butterfly jewelry.

Chiuri emphasized the potential of fashion as a bridge, fostering connections and dialogue between communities through textile art. She acknowledged the importance of preserving local heritage while allowing for contemporary reinterpretations that appeal to a global audience. Diors collaboration with artisans provides them with a platform and ensures the longevity of their skills and traditions.
Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

China firmly upholds the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law and  will never accept the so-called rules imposed by the few.

These are the words of Chinas Foreign Ministrys spokesperson on May 20, commenting on the G7 leaders meeting in Hiroshima. The G7 leaders had said in their communique that a growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest."

The principle of an international rules-based order has become a permanent element of Chinas official rhetoric and the basis for building relations with other countries. However, Beijing has its own way of interpreting it.

During Chinese leader Xi Jinpings visit to Moscow in March, China and Russias joint declaration on deepening comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation set out a specific geopolitical goal. The Sino-Russian alternative construct is opposed to a so-called Western-imposed rules-based order and differs radically from the Western approach.

Timothy Ash: Is China serious about peace? Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Over the past month, we have seen a sudden, and somewhat surprising, volte-face by China in terms of its approach to Russias Kyiv IndependentTimothy Ash

Formally, China positions the UN Charter and a number of accompanying treaties as the cornerstone of a world based on international law. Recognizing the principle of legality in international affairs, China has joined or ratified a large number of international agreements  even more than the United States.

At the same time, Beijing is putting forward several new principles that can be described as adding Chinese wisdom to international cooperation. This wisdom includes a wide range of ideas from the five principles of peaceful co-existence (i.e., mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence) to building a community with a shared future for mankind, with a train of supporting initiatives by Xi.

Beijing claims that such innovations will contribute to the democratization of international relations, strengthening the multipolar model and ensuring the sustainable development of states. Beijing emphasizes the multilateral format of constructing new international norms, through which developing countries voices can be taken into account.

As a great power, China does not abandon opportunistic behavior in situations where international law is inconvenient to its priorities and interests. It is difficult to recall an agreement with Chinas participation in which it would have sacrificed its own benefits in favor of other countries.

Dmytro Yefremov: Chinas stance on Russias war reveals wider strategic aims Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Amid Chinese President Xi Jinpings official visit to Moscow on March 20-21, observers were fixated on whether the meeting would indicate an Kyiv IndependentDmytro Yefremov

In order to prevent its interests from being infringed upon by inconvenient rules of international law, Beijing uses at least six special tactics.

First, China adheres to superficial, non-binding wording in agreements. This is often observed in Chinas bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements and World Trade Organization (WTO) reform initiatives  in particular, clauses related to state-owned companies and subsidies.

Chinas second tactic is to replace binding norms, especially regarding accountability on topics such as human rights violations, with obligations to engage in discussions. This is also present in Chinas engagement with international legislation on cyberspace within the UN framework, where the mechanism of its application is blurred due to overly abstract formulas.

Chinas third tactic is to support agreements in which participants can independently determine the level of their commitments.

For example, in the Paris Climate Accords, endorsed by China, participants can set their own emission reduction targets. In the WTO, China defends special and differential treatment provisions, where countries decide whether to label themselves as developing states and thus retain the associated benefits. To strengthen its case, China adds normative judgments to its arguments: rich First World countries should assume increased obligations compared to countries in the Global South.

A meeting of Ukrainian and Chinese diplomats in Kyiv on May 17, 2023, to discuss the countries' bilateral cooperation and Russia's war. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Chinese envoy that Ukraine wouldn't accept any peace proposals involving the loss of its territories or the conflict's "freezing." (Ukraine's Foreign Ministry)

China champions a fourth tactic in international agreements: attempting to limit their effect by citing its national security as a priority. In one form or another, sovereignty clauses are present in most of its major economic agreements governing access to its domestic markets and information space.

The most sensitive non-economic example is the 2020 Law on the Peoples Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It significantly narrowed Hong Kongs autonomy guaranteed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which defined the specifics of Hong Kongs stay in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) after 1997. The regime lasted 23 years instead of the agreed 50, demonstrating to the Taiwanese government and other nations that, when choosing between compliance with obligations and national security, Mainland China will always choose the latter.

Temur Umarov: Why did Central Asias leaders agree to attend Moscows military parade? Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Russias annual Victory Day holiday on May 9, when the country marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Kyiv IndependentTemur Umarov

Chinas fifth tactic is denial. The most sensitive issue for China within the UN framework of international law is that of human rights. Officially recognizing human rights as a common aspiration of mankind, Beijing nevertheless asserts that countries have the right to choose independently their paths of human rights development. This approach brings it in line with Moscow and other dictatorial regimes.

China invokes the tactic of denial when it is not satisfied with various human rights norms, appealing to its own interpretation of the agreements provisions, relying on their partial ratification, and selectively implementing them in national legislation. In particularly acute cases, such as regarding the international arbitration tribunal on artificial islands in the South China Sea, China does not shy away from refusing to recognize its decisions.

The sixth tactic, often combined with the tactic of denial, is that of discourse substitution. China promotes this tactic most clearly when it tries to replace discourse on universal human rights for the right to development, or the improvement of peoples material well-being at the expense of some human rights.

By promoting development rather than rights, it is easy to ensure continuous "deepening of cooperation, maintain various dimensions of "strategic partnerships," and guarantee "mutually beneficial" relations with other countries. The question of the equitable distribution of benefits from economic development both among people and between countries is silenced or characterized by general metaphors about "justice," "equality," and "inclusiveness."

Chinas 12-point peace plan to resolve Russias war in Ukraine demonstrates all six tactics. Each point abstains from obliging the parties to take any specific actions, and they are formulated in such a way that each participant can determine which of the points apply to them.

During Xis visit to Moscow in March, Putin chose four points from the menu: a call to resume negotiations, preserve nuclear security, end sanctions, and the assertion that current events represent a return to Cold War mentalities  and Xi had no objections.

How outcome of Russias war can tip international order A year into Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there is little doubt in the West that Ukraine needs to win. Led by the U.S., Western support helped Ukraine push back Russian forces and kept Russian President Vladimir Putin from achieving his major warmongering goals. But Russias war Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet

The word Ukraine is mentioned three times in the text, and Russia twice. Were Ukraine and Russia to be replaced with any two other countries, the document could equally apply to them. China has stubbornly obfuscated Russias responsibility for the war, and the obviously simple way to overcome the war  the withdrawal of Russias forces from Ukrainian territory  is omitted.

The plan states that there is no simple solution to a complex problem and, instead of fulfilling the obligations stipulated by the UN Charter, it instead pushes for dialogue. The importance of sovereignty touted in the plans first point is immediately negated by the second point which says that the security of a country should not be pursued at the expense of others.

The human rights to life, liberty, security, and non-discrimination enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been reduced in Chinas peace plan. China has completely ignored the decision made at the UN General Assembly to condemn Russias military aggression against Ukraine and which reflects the international communitys point of view. Instead, the plan includes provisions on strengthening grain exports and ensuring the stability of supply chains, helping global economic recovery.

In conclusion, Beijing's approach to a world order based on international law is not just a manifestation of Chinese pragmatism or flexibility. It allows for the formation of an alternative platform and the rallying of those dissatisfied with the American rules-based order, from Iran to Brazil.

Putin defined a rules-based order as one that was "established without our participation." However, Xi's vision is neither nihilistic nor revisionist. His strategy is to relativize the universality of international law to turn it into an obedient tool under China's control.
An Ohio physician engaged in sex acts with patients he knowingly prescribed unneeded opioids to in a multi-year health care scheme, according to federal authorities.

Now, Jeffrey Sutton, 65, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, according to a May 23 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

Sutton pleaded guilty in January to illegally prescribing patients opioids and other controlled substances, illegally distributing controlled substances and healthcare fraud, authorities said. His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 24.

Prosecutors said the doctor from Niles, Ohio, gave the drugs to patients outside of the usual course of professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose from January 2015 through January 2022. Then he billed health insurance programs for the illegally dispensed controlled substances, officials said.

Sutton also admitted to engaging in sexual acts with patients to whom he directly prescribed controlled substances, including during office visits, according to the release. He also admitted to delivering dozens of oxycodone pills to the home of one of his patients with whom he was engaged in a relationship, outside the course of treatment and without a valid prescription.

In addition to six years in prison, Sutton is required to pay $148,870 in restitution, a $20,000 fine and a $5,200 special assessment, authorities said. He has also been ordered to three years of supervised release following his time in prison.

Niles is about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland.

If you or a loved one shows signs of substance use disorder, you can seek help by calling the national hotline at 1-800-662-4357 or find treatment using SAMHSA's online locator.

Telemedicine doctor ordered millions of dollars worth of unnecessary tests, feds say

Patients at greater risk of amputations after doctors unnecessary procedures, feds say

Doctor removed thin layer of tissue lining patients uteruses when unnecessary, feds say
access to medical care: wall-mounted medical diagnostic equipment beside standard patient examination chair

Credit - Getty Images

The Louisiana state legislature shot down two bills last week that aimed to clarify the legality of abortion and miscarriage care in pregnancies with complications.

The existing laws in Louisiana allow for abortions in certain cases when a pregnant patients life or health may be at risk, but physicians have criticized the texts for being confusing and limiting their ability to provide essential medical care.

Just like health care providers in other states, theyve grappled with the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last yearin Louisianas case, Governor John Bel Edwards signed laws banning elective abortions and criminalizing providing them soon after the decision. Currently, there are 14 states where most abortions are banned.

Its impossible to spell [out] every single presentation that a patient [with a nonviable pregnancy] might have in law, Dr. Jennifer Avegno, New Orleans Health Department director and an emergency physician, tells TIME. I use my good faith medical judgment and as long as thats in accordance with the medical standard of care, then you really shouldnt question that right.

Avegno testified in front of the Louisiana House in support of one of the bills, saying she spoke on behalf of countless colleagues throughout the southeast whove had to navigate a perplexing and constantly shifting legal landscape.

Heres what to know:

Debates in Louisiana

Louisianas near-total abortion ban allows for few exceptions in circumstances where a pregnant patients life or essential organ is at risk, or when the fetus is deemed medically futile and unable to survive outside the womb. But the law doesnt use very much medical terminology, physicians say.

The initial law tried to clarify, Lets name all the conditions we can possibly name and those will be okay. The list compiles just over two dozen conditions, but, says Avegno, as any practicing physician will tell you, there are always going to be new ones or ones you havent thought of.

Republican Rep. Mary DuBuisson proposed House Bill 461 in March, which would ammend the law to allow for abortion procedures to be legal for any treat patients who have been diagnosed in good faith medical judgment as having pregnancies that have ended, are in the process of ending, or that entail complications that render them nonviable. In other words, it removes the requirement of the diagnosis of a few specific conditions.

At the bills hearing, DuBuisson emphasized that she does not support abortion broadly, but under the current state law we are not protecting mothers, she said. We are leaving them to hemorrhage and carry a dead child until they can die naturally. A second bill, HB 598, introduced by Rep. Candace Newell, would expand treatment for ectopic pregnancies, clarify that molar pregnancies could be treated, and permit abortions for cancer patients.

Other Republican lawmakers at the hearing responded that the law appeared clear to them and that they hadnt received complaints from doctors in their constituencies. Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, a major anti-abortion group in the state, also testified calling the bills pro-abortion, claiming that they would make it easier to perform elective abortions.

The legislatures criminal justice committee oversaw the hearings and ultimately rejected both bills. And two weeks ago, the Louisiana legislature shot down other proposals to allow for abortion exceptions in cases of rape and incest.

Physicians confusion

In Louisiana, abortion providers who violate the abortion-ban law face up to 15 years in prison and $5,000-$200,000 fines. Physicians have reported feeling fearful of providing pregnancy care that they would have in the past. Its so critical that physicians feel that they have the ability to make the judgment that is best for their patients without fear of misinterpretation and real consequences, Avegno says.

In October, Stephen Russo, lead attorney for the Louisiana Department of Health, told doctors that with the new statute, abortion is more of a criminal nature and really it isnt something that the [health] department has the authority to police, the Louisiana Illuminator reported at the time. Russo said his agency wasnt responsible for addressing physician confusion and that the state attorney generals office would be better suited.

But, notes Avegno, thats not practical. No ones going to call the lawmakers and say, Oh, this was kind of a scary one. I didnt know what to do, Avegno says. These are the same lawmakers that want to throw physicians in jail.

Dr. Michele Heisler, medical director for the nonprofit, Physicians for Human Rights, and a professor at the University of Michigan points out the insurance dilemma. With only a handful of conditions listed, insurance and Medicaid may not cover treatment for pregnancy complications outside of the list. Patients could be asked to pay thousands of dollars up front before receiving any treatment.

It can prevent many low-income women from having the option of not carrying a pregnancy to term, Heisner says. Knowing that their babys going to die is just incredible psychological trauma.

Avegno says confusion trickles down to patients. With misoprostol, for examplea medication that can be for abortions, but also to manage miscarriages or induce laborthere have been women trying to get them filled at the pharmacy and being told incorrectly, Oh, no, thats illegal, she says. Misoprostol is legal, but Avegno adds that such misinformation spreads quickly.

Physicians in Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Utah, and Oklahoma have faced similar confusion to those in Louisiana. In April, Heisler co-authored a report in which researchers posed as prospective patients seeking emergency pregnancy care and contacted 34 Oklahoma hospitals. The study concluded that none of the hospitals could articulate clear and consistent policies and 22 hospitals were unable to provide information about abortion procedures when a pregnant patients life is threatened.

Heisler says ambiguity in these laws has left hospitals and other institutions to interpret things differently. The care youll get as a patient, and the options that you may not even know about really vary widely, she says.

If a pregnant patient isnt going to die, but would have to spend the rest of their life on dialysis, face liver failure, or permanent infertility, those are not currently cases that justify termination in some states, Heisler says. Every medical situation is different. Theres no way to practice good medicine under a list.
How does $32,000 a month sound? Here are 6 California state job openings that pay the most

The state of California is hiring in the departments of insurance, toxic substances control, transportation and more.

State jobs are known for offering competitive benefits and enrollment in the nations largest state public pension plan. Many of the following jobs have specific requirements, which are linked.

Sift through some of Californias highest-paid state jobs available on the CalCareers website, posted in the last seven days, as of May 24:

Chief psychiatrist | Limited term (12 months) full-time

Location: Marin County

Department : California Correctional Health Care Services

Salary: $26,176 to $32,444 per month

The chief psychiatrist oversees psychiatric services for San Quentin State Prison inmates.

The application closes on June 7.

Similar positions are open in Kings, Monterey, San Joaquin, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Want to stand out when applying for California state jobs? Your guide to these departments

Dentist | Limited term (12 months) full-time

Location: Kern County

Department: California Correctional Health Care Services

Salary: $18,504 to $27,915 per month

The dentist assesses the tools used to perform dental services performed on inmates throughout the California state prison system.

The application closes on June 1.





Senior toxicologist | Permanent full-time

Location: Sacramento County

Department : Toxic Substances Control

Salary: $11,937 to $14,840 per month

The senior toxicologist oversees a staff of toxicologists who work to protect both humans and the environment from harmful chemicals.

The application closes on June 1.

Administrative law judge | Permanent full-time

Location: Orange County

Department : Industrial Relations

Salary: $9,981 to $13,174 per month

The administrative law judge decides judicial matters related to workers compensation laws.

The application closes on June 13.

Deputy chief, fraud bureau | Permanent full-time

Location: Sacramento County

Department : Insurance

Salary: $11,088 to $13,904 per month

The deputy chief monitors several state fraud programs including the Workers Compensation Insurance Fraud Grant Program and the Disability and Healthcare Insurance Fraud Grant Program.

This application closes on June 12.

Senior engineering geologist | Permanent full-time

Location: Shasta County

Department : Transportation

Salary: $10,569 to $13,228 per month

The senior engineering geologist is responsible for their assigned capital projects, which could be special or locally funded.

The application closes on June 5.

Want to stand out when applying for California state jobs? Your guide to these departments

What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@sacbee.com.
Russia's war against Ukraine began in Crimea.

In February 2014, as the pro-Russian regime in Kyiv was killing protesters on the barricades of the EuroMaidan Revolution, thousands of Russian troops without insignia began occupying strategic locations and military bases in the Crimean Peninsula.

Within a month, Russia had illegally annexed Crimea on the back of a sham referendum at gunpoint, and unrest led by Russian-led militants had begun in eastern Ukraine.

The fact that Russia decided to launch its war against Ukraine in Crimea isn't surprising.

Crimea has long been a cornerstone of the Russian imperial narrative, with the country's centuries-long propaganda placing Russia as the "rightful historical owner" of the Ukrainian peninsula.

The annexation of Ukrainian territory was widely supported by those living in Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings skyrocketing to over 80% in the months after the start of the war.

Basic principles of territorial sovereignty and a rules-based international order make a strong case for Crimea to remain an inseparable part of Ukraine.

However, since annexation, Russian propaganda has successfully spread the narrative of Russia's "return" of a "historic Russian land" among the international public, with many Western leaders soon abstaining from asserting that Ukraine must get the peninsula back.

This chapter of Ukraine's True History will explore the historical context that led to Crimea as it is today and answer why Russia doesn't have a "historic right" to annex Ukrainian Crimea.

Ukraines True History

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From diversity to ethnogenesis

With its prime geographic position on the Black Sea, the crossroads between the Eurasian steppe, and the Mediterranean trading routes, the Crimean Peninsula has been inhabited by dozens of ethnic groups over its long history.

Several of Crimea's major cities today, including coastal cities Feodosia and Kerch, have origins in ancient Greek colonies established on the coast of the peninsula from the 7th-5th centuries BCE, eventually joining together as the Cimmerian Bosporan Kingdom, which would go on to become a client state of the Roman Empire.

Meanwhile, the interior of Crimea was populated by the nomadic Scythians, which resided in the vast steppes of what is now southern Ukraine and Russia.

Over the centuries, the peninsula would be occupied by many nomadic people who passed through the area, including the Goths, Cumans, Huns, and Khazars, and was later contested between the Byzantine Empire and the Grand Princes of Rus in Kyiv.

In the same cataclysm that brought about the fall of Kyivan Rus, the Mongol invasion of Europe in the 13th century also swept through Crimea. For two centuries, the Mongol successor state known as the Golden Horde ruled most of the peninsula, while the coastal settlements were colonized by Genoese traders.

It was during this time that a new nation began to form in Crimea in a process known as ethnogenesis. Descendants of the many different nations that inhabited the peninsula began to congregate, united by the Muslim faith and a Turkic language similar to that spoken by the Cumans and the Khazars.

When the power of the Golden Horde in Europe disintegrated in the 15th century, this new indigenous people group, who came to be known as the Crimean Tatars, quickly established their own state.

Ruled by the House of Giray from its capital in Bakhchysarai, the Crimean Khanate would come to be a formidable force in Eastern Europe, dominating the steppes of southern Ukraine and leaving tangible cultural heritage sites across the Black Sea coast.

Imperial conquest

The history of the Crimean Tatar nation is woven tightly with the history of Ukrainian proto-states, as the trajectories of both were defined by their encounters with larger, more powerful outside empires competing for land and resources.

During this time, the Crimean Tatars both competed and cooperated with the emerging Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, a loose confederation of Ukrainian people that inhabited much of modern central and eastern Ukraine, conducting raids and military campaigns from their forts along the Dnipro River.

Although the Ukrainian Cossacks and the Crimean Tatars often fought on different sides, they also traded extensively and sometimes formed alliances, such as when Cossack leader Petro Doroshenko allied with both the Crimean Tatars and the Ottomans against Poland and later the Russian Empire in the mid-17th century.

Ultimately, both the Crimean Khanate and the Cossack Hetmanate were annexed into the Russian Empire around the same time, in the late 17th century, during the conquering reign of Russian Empress Catherine II.

With Ukraine's neighboring great powers, Poland and the Ottoman Empire, significantly weakened, the counterbalance that had kept Russian expansion at bay was no more.

It was with the arrival of Catherine's Russia in 1783 that the erasure of indigenous Crimean Tatar history began, hand-in-hand with the repression of its people.

Russias centuries-long quest to conquer Ukraine Editors Note: This is episode 2 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

Assuming an image of the restorer of Western civilization in the area, Catherine founded completely new cities along the Black Sea coast, often opting for anachronistic Greek-sounding names such as Sevastopol, Odesa, and Kherson.

It was then that these Crimean Tatar lands, together with much of southern and eastern Ukraine, were dubbed "Novorossiya" ("New Russia"), a term used prominently by Vladimir Putin and Kremlin propaganda to justify the conquest of parts of Ukraine since 2014.

According to American historian Brian Boeck, "grafting 'New Russia' onto the Russian Empire required re-imagining this space as Russian, and the consolidation of tsarist authority relied on settlement."

In the century after their annexation, the indigenous Crimean Tatar lands were subject to a policy of active colonization and demographic degradation.

With tens of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian settlers and serfs resettled to the peninsula, Crimean Tatars were expelled from their lands and homes and marginalized from the new ruling government and society built from scratch in the Russian imperial mold.

These processes accelerated greatly after the end of the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and the alliance of Ottoman, French, British, and Sardinian troops in 1856. The Crimean Tatars were uprooted by the war from their homelands in the interior, and many of them ultimately fled permanently to the Ottoman Empire.

In a Russian Empire census carried out in 1850, Crimean Tatars still made up the vast majority of Crimea's population at 77.8%, but by 1897, this figure was down to 35.5%.

Thus began the only historical period of brutal Russian rule in Crimea.

Erasing a nation

For both the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar nations, the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 allowed a brief window into which modern states could be founded.

In Crimea, this movement began with the first congress of Crimean Tatar Muslim leaders in March 1917.

In July, a new Crimean Tatar political party was formed, advocating for independence. By December, while the Bolshevik revolution was sweeping through Russia, the first sitting of a new Crimean Tatar parliament was held in Bakhchysarai, the old capital of the Crimean Khanate.

Known as the Qurultai according to the Turkic tradition, the body declared the formation of the Crimean People's Republic, complete with its own constitution and government structure.

Simultaneously, successive Ukrainian independence movements also exploited the power gap between Russia and Germany to found their own state projects, the most significant of which was the Ukrainian People's Republic.

With aligning goals of national self-determination and independence from the empire, the two fledging states recognized each other and held numerous negotiations during the early revolutionary period, with both sides open to further integration.

"The Ukrainians' federal approach and innovative emphasis on national minority rights could have led to closer cooperation, but a loose arrangement seemed fine," according to British historian and University College London professor Andrew Wilson, who authored a 2021 paper on the respective interpretations of Crimean Tatar history by Russia, Ukraine, and Crimean Tatars themselves.

Though control of Crimea changed hands several times during this time, ultimately, both the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian states were once again swallowed by Russia, with the exception of parts of western Ukraine.

How Russia has attempted to erase Ukrainian language, culture throughout centuries Editors Note: This is episode 3 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

As with Ukraine, the early Soviet regime did give some support to Crimean Tatar culture and minority rights, but this was soon reversed under the Russification-driven policies of Joseph Stalin after he assumed full power in the late 1920s.

After years of famine and political repressions in the early Stalin era, by the outbreak of World War II, Crimean Tatars only consisted of 19.4% of the population, with almost half of the peninsula's 1.1 million residents by then being ethnically Russian.

Soon, in one of the most brutal episodes of ethnic cleansing of the war, the population of Crimean Tatars in Crimea was reduced to zero.

Soviet authorities, using contrived allegations of an entire people collaborating with Nazi Germany, forcibly deported the entire Crimean Tatar population of over 200,000 to Central Asia in 1944.

The collective trauma of the deportation and following decades, known to Crimean Tatars as Surgunlik ("exile"), had a lasting impact on the people's attitudes toward Moscow.

Around 6,000 are understood to have died during the journey itself, and many tens of thousands more from the conditions in the settlements they were moved to, much akin to prison camps.

Estimates vary as to the exact figure, but even according to the estimates of the NKVD, Soviet Interior Ministry, 27% of the entire Crimean Tatar population died either from the deportation itself or from malnourishment, disease, or exposure in the years after arrival.

Upper historical estimates put the figure at closer to 46%.

From that point, Soviet historiography made a new concerted effort to minimize the Crimean Tatars' role in the history of the peninsula.

In this narrative, the indigenous status of Crimean Tatars was dismantled. Instead, the nation was depicted as only one in a series of conquering tribes that had settled in the area.

"The general line was now to fight against the 'idealization' of 'Tatar' history," says Wilson, "and assert that the Crimean lands, even in primordial times, belonged to the Slavs and the Russians and their ancestors, the Scythians."

In 1954, in a decision that has been decried as illegal by Russian propaganda narratives since 2014, Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev authorized the transfer of Crimea, including the naval city of Sevastopol, to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

This decision, formally marking the 300th anniversary of the 1654 Treaty of Pereiaslav between Ukrainian Cossacks and Russia, was also motivated by economic rationality and was enshrined in law both by the Supreme Soviet and in the constitutions of both the Ukrainian and Russian SSRs.

10 popular misconceptions about Ukrainian history, debunked Editors Note: This is episode 1 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima

Crimea and independent Ukraine

The path of Crimea towards being part of an independent, democratic Ukraine begins a few years before the end of Soviet rule, with the return of the Crimean Tatar people from exile in Central Asia to their homelands.

After decades of activism in a harshly authoritarian environment, Crimean Tatars began to return in the late 1980s after over four decades of being displaced.

At the height of Soviet ruler Mikhail Gorbachev's liberalizing reforms, over 200,000 Crimean Tatars were able to return to the peninsula, but in most cases, they had no home to return to. The Crimean Tatar-owned land has long been expropriated by incoming Russian settlers, and many villages have completely been ruined and abandoned.

In late 1991, with the Soviet Union in its death throes, the Verkhovna Rada, which governed all of the Ukrainian SSR at the time with increasing independence from Moscow, declared Ukraine to be an independent sovereign state.

In a nationwide referendum conducted in December, Crimea voted in favor of Ukraine's declaration of independence, with 54% of Crimean voters supporting the move.

In a 1994 agreement known as the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia committed to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and refrain from using or threatening to use force against Ukraine.

In turn, Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal, the third-largest at that time.

The Budapest Memorandum commitments were violated together with the core principles of the United Nations Charter 20 years later.

Upon his election in 2010, Ukraines pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych signed the Kharkiv Pact, extending Russia's lease on the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea, in exchange for gas discounts for Ukraine.

Russia has quartered its fleet in Sevastopol since Ukraine's independence, with the existing lease permitting Russian troops to be stationed in the city until 2017. The troops weren't permitted to leave the city without Kyiv's consent.

In the winter of 2013-2014, Yanukovych ordered the beating and shooting of protesters on Independence Square in Kyiv in what became known as the EuroMaidan Revolution.

Meanwhile, there were also pro-Ukrainian protests in Crimea, particularly in the capital city of Simferopol, where the Crimean Tatar community played a large role. These pro-EuroMaidan protests were often met with counter-demonstrations by pro-Russian groups, resulting in tensions and occasional violence.

Russias annexation of Crimea Russia invaded Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in February 2014 amid the deadliest days of the EuroMaidan Revolution that eventually ousted pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. While Yanukovychs pro-Russian regime was murdering protesters in downtown Kyiv, around 30,000 Russian troops crossed i Kyiv IndependentLucy Minicozzi-Wheeland

History repeats itself

When Russian troops illegally occupied Crimea just a week after the end of the EuroMaidan Revolution, Russian propaganda began attempting to justify the war.

In a sham referendum in March 2014 that would come to be repeated in four more regions of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow reported 97% of the population in Crimea requested to join Russia.

The sham vote was condemned and declared invalid by the UN General Assembly later that month.

The referendum itself wasn't enough, though.

"For Russians, Crimea cannot be 'ours' without also being 'not theirs,'" writes Wilson.

With the annexation came a new wave of state-sponsored history, revising and minimizing the indigenous status of Crimean Tatars. Russian historian Sergei Cherniakhovskii called the annexation a "Reconquista" and denied that Crimean Tatars were a majority on the peninsula when conquered by Catherine II.

Having occupied Crimea, Russian authorities began a campaign of intimidation and harassment against Crimean Tatars, including arbitrary arrests, torture, and kidnappings.

Just as the Crimean Tatars were accused of being Nazi collaborators, now, many are imprisoned by Russia on fabricated charges of Islamic extremism.

Russian authorities have also targeted Crimean Tatar media outlets, shutting down television channels and newspapers and banning the Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatar people.

Simultaneously, Russia has followed two other key points in the Soviet playbook since annexation: demographic manipulation and distortion of history.

In addition to the many Ukrainian-identifying people who left Crimea after 2014, around 40,000 Crimean Tatars applied for the status of internally displaced persons, with the real number of those displaced likely significantly higher.

According to former Meijlis Head Mustafa Dzhemilev, between 850,000 and one million Russians moved into Crimea from Russia between 2014-2018.

Returning home

President Zelensky has repeatedly made it clear that Ukraine intends to liberate all occupied territories, including Crimea.

Nine years of Russian occupation, relentless revisionist propaganda, and the skewed demographic balance will make reintegrating Crimea one of the toughest challenges for post-war Ukraine.

Nonetheless, legally, Crimea belongs to Ukraine.

No amount of propaganda about historical lands, Soviet transfers, or the supposed "will of the people" can change the fact that forcibly annexing territory is illegal in all understandings of international law and completely unacceptable in the 21st-century world order.

But more importantly, Crimea's place as an integral part of sovereign Ukraine is a matter of historical justice for the Crimean Tatars, whose bloody and tragic experience of Russian colonialism has aligned their future path with Ukraine.

It is upon these two pillars that Crimea's status as a rightful part of Ukraine firmly stands.
Heres a look at information and statistics concerning domestic (intimate partner) violence.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, intimate partner violence includes victimization by current and former spouses or current and former dating partners. Violence can include physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse, according to the Department of Justices Office on Violence Against Women.

Worldwide

Thirty-five percent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence, according to the United Nations.

According to a Global Study on Homicide, of all women globally who were the victims of homicide in 2017, more than a third were killed by a partner from a current or past relationship.

United States

Each year - Over 12 million women and men are victims of intimate partner violence, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Between 1995 and 2015, the rates of intimate partner violence perpetrated on women fell by 65%.

26.1% of intimate partner violence victims received assistance from a victim-service agency in 2019, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline answered 408,370 calls, chats and texts in 2021.

Timeline

June 19, 1990 - S. 2754, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is introduced in Congress by Senator Joseph Biden, but it is not enacted.

June 1991 - The American Medical Association publishes recommendations that physicians routinely inquire about possible abuse.

January 21, 1993 - Biden re-introduces the bill.

September 13, 1994 - President Bill Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act into law within the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. It must be renewed every five years. The law also establishes the Violence Against Women Policy Office and the Violence Against Women Grants Office (now the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women).

February 21, 1996 - The National Domestic Violence Hotline receives its first calls, and gets 4,826 calls its first month.

1999 - The Office of Violence Against Women is created by a merger of the Violence Against Women Policy Office and the Violence Against Women Grants Office.

October 28, 2000 - The Violence Against Women Act of 2000 is reauthorized with new provisions and signed into law by President Clinton. The new provisions include the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and expanded measures for battered immigrant women.

August 2, 2003 - The hotline receives its millionth call.

January 5, 2006 - The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 is signed into law by President George W. Bush, with new provisions on dating violence, Native American women and the use of DNA fingerprinting.

April 28, 2009 - The National Domestic Violence Hotline receives its two millionth call.

April 26, 2012 - The Senate votes on S.1925 to reauthorize VAWA with expanded measures to include battered illegal immigrant women, Native American women and the LGBT community.

May 16, 2012 - The House votes on H.R. 4970 to reauthorize VAWA. The House version omits the expanded measures of the Senate bill.

December 31, 2012 - For the first time since it was enacted, VAWA expires. VAWA, which must be renewed every five years, is not reauthorized by Congress.

March 7, 2013 - S.47, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 is signed into law by President Barack Obama, with new provisions. The new provisions address the needs of undocumented immigrant women, Native American women, the LGBT community and teen dating violence and reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

March 13, 2013 - Biden announces the Obama Administrations Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative as part of the reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act.

July 2013 - The National Domestic Violence hotline receives its three millionth call.

March 9, 2015 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states that the world has made uneven progress in combating violence against women and gender inequality and that it still persists in alarmingly high levels.

January 2017 - US President Donald Trump signs executive order Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. According to the Tahirih Justice Center, the order may keep abused women who are undocumented from seeking legal protection for fear of deportation.

January 1, 2019 - Irelands Domestic Violence Act 2018 goes into effect and provides new protections for victims of coercive control, a type of emotional and psychological abuse aimed at stripping a person of their self-worth and agency.

February 15, 2019 - The VAWA grant program expires the day after it is left out of the funding bill that ends the partial government shutdown. House Democrats plan to push for an overhaul of the legislation. H.R.1585, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, is introduced March 7 and passed April 4. On November 13, S.2843, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, is introduced in the Senate. Senate Republicans object to the House bill for several reasons, including the inclusion of protections for transgender people and a provision that would prohibit those convicted of certain misdemeanor charges from purchasing firearms. No further action is taken in 2019 regarding the grant program.

March 17, 2021 - The House votes to pass H.R.1620, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021. The bill is later received in the Senate but does not advance.

March 15, 2022 - The Violence against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022 is signed into law by President Biden as part of a larger spending bill. The bill reauthorizes the VAWA grant program through 2027 and expands resources for prevention of violence and the economic protection of survivors.

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Donald Trump has said he is not guilty to each of the 34 charges against him

Donald Trump will face a criminal trial in March 2024, a New York judge has ruled, as the Republican's campaign for the presidential nomination will be in full swing.

The former US president received the news at a hearing on Tuesday in the case about the alleged concealment of a payment to a porn star.

Mr Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

He pleaded not guilty to each charge last month.

After the hearing, Mr Trump aired his frustrations at the timing of the trial on his social network, Truth Social.

"They forced upon us a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of the primary season," Mr Trump wrote, adding it was "very unfair" and "election interference".

The post appeared just hours after Judge Juan Merchan said restrictions on what Mr Trump can do and say in relation to the case would not restrict his ability to campaign.

Judge Merchan said Mr Trump "is certainly free to deny the charges, he is free to defend himself against the charges."

Mr Trump has long since decried the case as a "political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party".

March 2024 is set to be a busy month for Mr Trump and the other candidates vying to become the Republican presidential candidate.

Candidates zig-zag across the US for a series of conventions, primaries and caucuses in every US state and territory, beginning in early states like Iowa in February and ending in or around early June.

The latest hearing was the second time Mr Trump appeared in court for the case.

He was first arrested and appeared in a New York courtroom in April, where he was charged with 34 felony counts of fraud in a 16-page indictment.

These charges relate to a $130,000 (105,000) payment made to adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, who says she was paid to stay quiet after having sex with him.

Providing so-called hush money is not illegal, but the case against Mr Trump centres around how his former lawyer, who paid Ms Daniels, had his reimbursement recorded in Mr Trump's accounts.

Mr Trump is accused of falsifying his business records in the first degree by saying the payment was for legal fees.

It is alleged the payments were intended "to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election".

The case is one of several legal woes faced by Mr Trump.

Earlier in May, a New York civil trial jury found Mr Trump liable for the defamation and sexual assault of E Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, and ordered him to pay her about $5m in damages.

Ms Carroll is now attempting to pursue further damages over remarks Mr Trump made after the jury in that case returned its verdict.
Driver who crashed near White House told officials he was prepared to kill Biden and 'seize power'

The 19-year-old Missouri man accused of deliberately driving a rented box truck into a White House barrier allegedly told authorities that he admires Nazis and wanted to "seize power" and "kill the president," court documents released Tuesday show.

Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri, rented the U-Haul truck Monday night immediately after flying from St. Louis to Dulles International Airport on a one-way ticket, a Secret Service agent said in a statement of facts filed in federal district court in Washington D.C.

The statement was included with a criminal complaint charging Kandula with depredation of property of the United States in excess of $1,000.

Around 9:35 p.m., he drove the vehicle onto a sidewalk outside the White House and into a metal barrier just north of the White House, according to the document.

Kandula put the truck in reverse and crashed into the barrier a second time before United States Park Police officers took him into custody, the documents state.

Sai Varshith Kandula. (Rockwood School District)

When Secret Service agents asked Kandula about a flag with a swastika he removed from a backpack, he allegedly said hed bought it online because Nazis have a great history, according to the court document.

He allegedly said he "admires their 'authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order,'" the document states, adding that Kandula identified Hitler as a "strong leader" he admires.

Kandula allegedly told authorities he had been planning the attack for six months and detailed the plans in a "green book," the document states.

He "stated his goal was to 'get into the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,'" the document states. "When agents asked how KANDULA would seize power, he stated he would 'Kill the President if that's what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.'"

In the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, where Kandula lives, acquaintances struggled to link the alleged attack with the chill teen they know.

Police in Chesterfield have no records of any interaction with Kandula or calls for service to the family home, Capt. Daniel Dunn said.

Dunn said that federal agents are in charge of the investigation.

Image: A truck is seen crashed into a security barrier at a park across from the White House on May 22, 2023. (Benjamin Berger via AP)

Errion Barfield, who was on the Marquette High School track team with Kandula, remembered him as quiet and unassuming.

He was nice and chill, Barfield said in a Facebook message to NBC News. Aint ever expected him to do something like that.

Kandula was a member of the sizable South Asian population of Chesterfield, a middle-class suburb about 20 miles west of St. Louis.

Pranav Nagila, who was a year ahead of Kandula, said he couldnt make sense of his one-time schoolmate possibly having a Nazi flag in his possession.

I didnt see him as off-putting or anything like that, said Nagila, who just finished his sophomore year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He just seemed like a chill person."

Kandula appeared in Washington D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday and is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn't immediately clear if Kandula has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Driver of U-Haul that rammed White House gate is not a U.S. citizen, prosecutors say

WASHINGTON  The man accused of ramming a U-Haul truck into barriers near the White House earlier this week isn't a U.S. citizen, authorities said Wednesday.

Sai Varshith Kandula, a 19-year-old from suburban St. Louis, wore an orange jail-issued jumpsuit in his brief courtroom appearance  his first since the Monday incident  when prosecutors requested pre-trial detention.

A government prosecutor told the court that Kandula is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident.

But later on Wednesday, a Department of Justice official clarified the open-court remarks and said Kandula does hold a green card for lawful, permanent U.S. residency.

The suspect's national origin wasn't mentioned in court.

A college student who was on the same high school track team with Kandula told NBC News on Tuesday that they're both members of the sizable Indian American community in Chesterfield, Missouri.

Kandula answered routine questions from Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather confirming his name and that he understood the proceedings.

Kandula's defense lawyer Diane Shrewsbury, requested a new pair of glasses for Kandula, telling Judge Meriweather that her client's spectacles had been taken upon his arrest and he was having trouble seeing.

Judge Meriweather said she'd take care of that issue.

Kandula was ordered held without bail until at least his next court date, on Tuesday afternoon.

Shrewsbury told reporters she wasnt in position to comment on the case, having met Kandula for the first time only minutes earlier.

The defendant potentially faces multiple charges  including threatening to inflict harm on a president, vice president or family member  as the case moves forward.

In courtrooms across America, prosecutors and defense lawyers every day hash out charges against green card holders with deportation as a key bargaining chip.

But under the circumstances of Monday night, immigration attorney Cori Alonso-Yoder said she can't foresee a scenario where Kandula would be offered any deal to remain in the U.S.

"Most likely, yes," he'll be deported if convicted, said Alonso-Yoder, who teaches law at George Washington University. "If he's convicted of those facts, then it's most likely a removable charge."

The suspect's loved ones will likely not face any repercussions from Monday night, no matter their immigration status.

"It shouldn't have any impact on his family," said Alonso-Yoder. "He stands and falls on this own on this kind of charge. It doesn't open a door to any inquiry for all of his connection and their immigration status."

The young man from suburban St. Louis has allegedly told authorities he admires Nazis and had hoped to "seize power" following his U-Haul crash, officials said.

Kandula is accused of renting a U-Haul truck at Dulles International Airport before he crashed into a barrier on the north side of the White House at about 9:35 p.m. ET on Monday.

A bystander took video that appeared to show the U-Haul's driver putting the 26-foot-long vehicle into reverse before jumping the curb and crashing again into barriers on the sidewalk.

In law enforcement interviews after the incident, Kandula allegedly spoke fondly of the Nazis, who have a great history, according to a criminal complaint filed against the young man.

Kandula allegedly said he admires the Nazis' "authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order," the court document revealed.

Although President Joe Biden was in the White House during Monday's alleged attack, the administration has declined to say whether he was told about the crash as it was unfolding.

He was fully briefed on the matter Tuesday morning by the Secret Service and Park Police, the White House said.

Daniel Barnes reported from Washington D.C. and David K. Li from New York City.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Durham man charged in hazmat incident. Authorities stress there is no danger to public.

DURHAM  Police on Tuesday arrested a University of New Hampshire graduate student on felony charges related to the alleged misuse of hazardous chemicals stemming from an incident at his home 10 days earlier. Authorities say they do not believe the incident poses any threat to the general public with a prosecutor saying he suspects the suspect was a "hobbyist."

Police said Emad Mustafa, 29, of 35 Oyster River Road, had sought medical help May 13 for a possible exposure to a toxic chemical. The response involved the Durham Police Department, Durham Fire Department and McGregor Memorial EMS. Mustafa was transported to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, where he was subsequently treated and released on the same day.

On Tuesday, May 23, a search warrant was executed at Mustafa's residence that included the Seacoast Technical Assistance Response Team (START) under the direction of the Strafford County Attorneys Office. Durham police and fire departments, UNH police, New Hampshire State Police and federal partners were also involved, police said.

The Durham Police Department in New Hampshire.

More local news: Starbucks workers in Rochester first in NH to vote to unionize, but what happens next?

Assistant Strafford County Attorney Joachim Barth said the chemicals Mustafa allegedly had were mercury, dimethyl sulphate, sodium azide and sodium metal.

He said authorities believe it is an isolated incident and there is no danger to the public.

"I suspect he was a hobbyist," said Barth. "These chemicals are highly reactive so I am not surprised at the result." Barth said Mustafa attempted to throw away the chemical mixture in a public dumpster.

"We have no reason to believe that the chemicals came from the university," Barth said. "We have probable cause to believe that he handled and mixed hazardous chemicals which, in the manner he used them, were capable of causing serious bodily injury. We have probable cause to believe that he disposed of hazardous materials contrary to statutory requirements."

Durham police said the health and safety of the community was the priority during this investigation and at no time was there a safety concern for the community or surrounding neighbors. The hazardous material was identified and contained during the operation, police said.

Mustafa was released on personal recognizance bail.

Mustafa was charged with reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and improper disposal of hazardous materials. Both charges are Class B felonies punishable by a maximum of seven years in prison.

START is a 40-member regional hazardous materials team led by the Seacoast Chief Fire Officers Mutual Aid District. The Southeastern New Hampshire Hazardous Material Mutual Aid District was called to assist START, police said.

Mustafa is a UNH Ph.D. student, police said. He is scheduled for arraignment June 22 in Strafford County Superior Court.

The identity of Mustafa's attorney was not immediately known. Attempts are being made to reach Mustafa's representation to comment for this story.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

More local news: Green Elephant owners opening Thai bistro in Portsmouth: Here's what to expect

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Durham NH man charged in hazmat incident at his home
(Bloomberg) -- Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra stressed Chinas pivotal role in finding a solution to global conflicts, while pressing his counterpart for more balanced trade relations during a meeting in Beijing.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Hoekstra, who is also deputy prime minister, said he talked extensively about the war in Ukraine during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday in Beijing.

China can play a pivotal role in finding solutions to global challenges, to conflict, on climate change, poverty and inequality, Hoekstra told reporters following the meeting, adding that Beijing had a unique relationship with Moscow.

Earlier this month, President Xi Jinping dispatched a special envoy on a European tour that includes stops in Ukraine and Russia to discuss the war, as he tries to bolster his image as a global peacemaker. The Chinese leader is also set to meet with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday.

Read More: ASML, Europes Most Valuable Tech Firm, Defines Global Chip War

Hoekstra stressed the need for more balanced trade relations and shared concerns about the countrys human rights situation, particularly in the far western region of Xinjiang.

Qin told reporters during the same briefing that China has serious concerns on the issue of lithography machines, which are critical to producing the worlds most advanced chips. Qin called for the Netherlands to work with China to protect the normal trade order between us.

Earlier this year, the Netherlands announced plans to expand export restrictions on ASML Holding NVs semiconductor equipment, under pressure from the Biden administration as the US seeks to undermine growing Chinese chip production capacity.

ASML is already prohibited from selling its most cutting-edge technology  so-called extreme ultraviolet lithography  to Chinese companies. The Dutch company practically owns the market for very high-end semiconductor lithography equipment, which is critical in the production of cars, smartphones and computers.

--With assistance from Cagan Koc.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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Is Anyone There?

A team of scientists at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute have put together a simulated alien signal to transmit from a spacecraft currently orbiting Mars back to Earth  to see if we have the ability to decode it.

Scientists have long pondered why aliens  if they even exist  haven't reached out to us yet. In fact, there's always a chance they have already tried, but we simply didn't know how to interpret their signals.

The SETI Institute's new project, dubbed A Sign in Space, will challenge scientists from around the globe to come up with novel ways to make sense of these signals, potentially giving us a leg up in case aliens were to ever try to really get in touch with us.

"Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profoundly transformational experience for all humankind," said Daniela de Paulis, the visionary artist behind the project, in a statement. "A Sign in Space offers the unprecedented opportunity to tangibly rehearse and prepare for this scenario through global collaboration, fostering an open-ended search for meaning across all cultures and disciplines."

The de Paulis Code

The European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will blast the message, which was encoded by de Paulis and her team, toward Earth on Wednesday.

Three radio astronomy observatories, including SETI Institutes Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in California, will detect the message 16 minutes later, and make the data available to the public, thereby signaling the start of the project.

The project has its own Discord server and a series of Zoom-based discussions will allow scientists as well as members of the public from around the world to chime in.

In short, it's a unique and creative project that provides a refreshing new take on our quest to figure out if we're alone in the universe or not.

"This experiment is an opportunity for the world to learn how the SETI community, in all its diversity, will work together to receive, process, analyze, and understand the meaning of a potential extraterrestrial signal," said ATA project scientist Wael Farah, in the statement.

"More than astronomy, communicating with ET will require a breadth of knowledge," Farah added.

More on SETI: Scientists Worried Humankind Will Descend Into Chaos If We Ever Discover an Alien Signal
The scene of a fatal crash in Van Nuys. The driver of the Corvette was traveling at speeds up to 100 mph, according to police. California lawmakers are considering a bill that would let Los Angeles install automated speed enforcement cameras on the most dangerous streets. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

What if California could quickly make some of the states most speed-prone and dangerous streets safer? With traffic deaths on the rise in California , and particularly in cities, such as Los Angeles and San Jose , youd think lawmakers would eagerly adopt a proven strategy for saving lives.

You would be wrong. In 2021 and 2022, state legislators killed bills that would override the state prohibition on automated speed enforcement and let some cities install speed cameras to catch and ticket motorists who egregiously exceed the speed limit.

This year, lawmakers are considering a proposal for a five-year pilot program to test the effectiveness of speed cameras in six cities: Los Angeles, Glendale, Long Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) has written Assembly Bill 645 to ensure speed cameras are used as a safety tool  not a money maker for cities.

Theres no reason not to try speed cameras in California. Automated speed enforcement is used in 189 communities across the country and in other nations with great success. An overview of 28 studies found that after cameras were put into use, all crashes in the vicinity decreased between 8% and 49%. Fatal and serious injury crashes dropped between 11% and 44%.

Excessive speed is a factor in nearly 30% of traffic fatalities. And it can make the difference between life and death. A pedestrian hit by a vehicle traveling around 20 mph has a 90% chance of survival; at 40 mph, 50%, and at speeds above 50 mph, the survival rate is 25%, according to a 2011 analysis . (And that was before the proliferation of SUVs and pickups that are taller, heavier and more deadly to pedestrians.)

Moreover, exceeding the speed limit has become the norm, particularly on wide, straight streets that were designed to move cars quickly. Research suggests that drivers frequently underestimate how fast theyre driving by up to 30%.

Thats where speed cameras can be useful. They are both an education tool, with plenty of signs alerting drivers to slow down, and an enforcement tool to curb dangerous habits. Seven years after Montgomery County, Md., adopted the nations first automated speed enforcement program, 76% of drivers surveyed said the cameras had caused them to slow down.

AB 645 would allow six cities to put up a limited number of automated speed enforcement systems, depending on their population. For example, L.A., with more than 3 million residents, could install a maximum of 125 cameras. Glendale, a city with a population of less than 300,000, could install no more than nine. The cameras could only go in school zones or on streets identified as having high numbers of traffic injuries and deaths or having problems with street racing. During the first 60 days of operation, speeding motorists caught by the camera would only receive a warning.

The law would let cities ticket cars going more than 11 mph over the speed limit. The violations would be civil penalties, and the fine would increase with the speed recorded: $50 for driving 11 mph over the speed limit; $100 for 16 mph over the limit; $200 for 26 mph over the limit; and $500 for driving over 100 mph. Cities would have to cut the penalties by half, or more, for low-income households.

Ticket revenue could be used to cover program costs and for street projects designed to slow traffic. But any leftover money would go to the state to fund pedestrian and bicycle safety projects, not city coffers.

To address the legitimate equity concerns, cities would have to work with communities and analyze the potential racial and economic impacts of speed enforcement cameras. Thats important because some of the deadliest streets are located in low-income communities of color, where cities have neglected to install sidewalks, bike paths, streetlights and medians that can naturally slow speeds. While automated speed enforcement could potentially cut down on racial bias in traffic enforcement, cities need to be careful to ensure those communities arent disproportionately penalized by speed cameras.

The bill also attempts to alleviate concerns about privacy and surveillance. The cameras won't use facial recognition software. Instead the systems will capture the rear license plate of all passing vehicles. If there's a speed violation the ticket would go to the owner of the vehicle. If theres no violation, the speed camera data would be destroyed within five days. The information collected is confidential and can only be released under court order.

Heres the key to AB 645  its a test of the technology. If it doesnt work or advocates find fatal flaws in the operation, California can again ban speed cameras. But the evidence suggests automated speed enforcement is good for communities. Its about time lawmakers legalize speed cameras and save lives.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
[Source]

A Virginia federal court has ruled that Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technologys (TJHSST) admission policy aimed at student diversity did not discriminate against Asian Americans.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, announced its 2-1 ruling on Tuesday, overturning a federal judges decision in February 2022 that found the elite public high schools admission policy illegal and discriminatory against Asian American student applicants.

The challenged admissions policy does not disparately impact Asian American students and... the Coalition cannot establish that the Board adopted its race-neutral policy with any discriminatory intent, read the ruling written by Judge Robert B. King.

Judge Allison Jones Rushing opposed the Tuesday ruling, writing in her dissenting opinion that the school board intended to alter the racial composition of the school in exactly this way after pointing out that the policy had reduced Asian enrollments by 26%.

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The latest update is part of a long ongoing legal battle between the Fairfax County School Board and the Coalition for TJ, a group consisting of parents of Asian American students.

John Foster, division counsel for the Fairfax school board, told The Washington Post in a statement that the court made the right decision, adding, We firmly believe this admission plan is fair and gives qualified applicants at every middle school a fair chance of a seat at TJ.

Pacific Legal Foundations Erin Wilcox, an attorney representing the Coalition for TJ, told The Washington Post that, while they are disappointed by the decision, this would open a door of opportunity for them to forward the case to the Supreme Court.

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We know that there are still more classes of students who are applying to TJ and being subjected to this discriminatory policy. So its certainly disappointing. But Im also excited that this is going to give us the chance to move forward with the case and ask this Supreme Court to weigh in.

The Coalition for TJ filed a lawsuit against the school board in January 2022 over its alleged discrimination against Asian American student applicants.

The Fairfax school board changed its admission policy in late 2020 by removing the standardized testing requirements for students applying to its schools.

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The policy change resulted in an increase of Black students getting into TJHSST from 1% to 7%, Hispanic students from 3% to 11% and white students from 18% to 22%. Consequently, the number of Asian American students fell to 54% from 73%.

The two parties have been going back and forth on the legal proceedings over the months, with the school board filing an appeal shortly after Judge Claude M. Hilton of the Federal District Court in Alexandria ruled in favor of the coalition in late February 2022.

In response, representatives of the Coalition then filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court in April, which the latter denied.

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Elon Musk is dying to be funny. These eight comedians have some notes

(Photo illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; Pool Photo / Getty Images)

Youd think Elon Musk, the second-wealthiest person in the world, would have bigger worries than whether or not strangers on the internet find him funny.

Yet despite the long list of business concerns demanding his attention  making self-driving cars, launching reusable rockets, implanting microchips in monkeys' brains and, as of last fall, running Twitter  Musk seems desperate to add comedian to his portfolio.

The billionaire has hosted Saturday Night Live and guest starred on The Simpsons. He once considered buying The Onion, then ended up funding a short-lived competitor instead. Hes reportedly tried to cultivate relationships with cringe comedian Nathan Fielder and the creators behind Rick and Morty.

Online, he has a reputation for interpolating corporate PR with nerdy puns and  in his words  "dank" memes.

Comedy is now legal on Twitter, he posted after acquiring the platform, signaling a jokes-first ethos thats since been undercut by his crackdown on parody accounts and beefs with Kathy Griffin, The Onion and the absurd humorist @ dril ( not to mention an increasingly uninhibited embrace of the far right).

"I think I'm funny," Musk has said  under oath, no less. Perjury? Rolling Stone recently summed up his output as garbled gags, corny jokes and pilfered memes. Comparing him to The Offices Michael Scott, the New York Times deemed him the boss who thinks hes funny but isnt. An individual claiming to have auditioned to run Teslas social media presence diagnosed the car companys chief executive with a soul-deep inability to post.

In the spirit of helping Musk realize his comedic aspirations, The Times assembled a crack team of stand-ups, comedy writers and all-around funny tweeters. We asked these experts, whose credits include "Last Week Tonight," "Bob's Burgers" and "Community," to review Musk's humor output and offer the kind of no-holds-barred notes they might give in a tough but caring writers' room.

Spoiler: They didn't think all of his jokes were completely bad  but it's safe to say he's got a lot of work to do on his tight five.

Interviews with participating comedians were conducted over Zoom, email or via a Google form. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

'That's what she said'

Every adolescent boy and fan of "The Office" knows the proper response to an unintentional sexual double entendre: "That's what she said." It's not exactly high-concept. Yet Musk's recent attempt to use it was more confusing than anything.

In March, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries tweeted: "House Dems are fighting hard for the American people. Right-wing extremists are fighting each other."

Musk replied with an attempt at innuendo ... maybe?

Thats what she said  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2023

Hari Kondabolu, stand-up comedian and creator of The Problem with Apu: The problem is fighting hard does not have a double meaning. Also, a second sentence preceded his joke, so its not really clear what he was trying to do.

Jiaoying Summers, stand-up comedian and owner of the Hollywood Comedy: He didn't use it correctly. There is nothing sexy about it.

Spencer Crittenden, "That Happens" podcaster and writer: What if he'd said, "Check, please"? It's just as stupid, just as nonsensical, but it just fits a little bit better, right?  There's just a little bit more of a twinkle in your eye about it.

Laurie Kilmartin, stand-up comedian, podcaster and former Conan writer: The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. This is the kind of comedy that AI writes, and this is what you can expect if the AMPTP does not meet the demands of the WGA.

The sex number and the weed number

A bit of internet culture, for the uninitiated: The number 69 is the name of a sexual position, and 420 is a reference to smoking marijuana. To a certain segment of the online public, the mere mention of either number is understood as a humorous act.

Musk makes a lot of 69 and 420 jokes. A lot. A few examples: He recently updated the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s Twitter account to say that it's 69% government-funded; set 4/20 as the date for eliminating legacy blue checkmarks and launching the giant Starship rocket; and once priced the Tesla Model S at $69,420. (Notably, after getting sued over it , he also testified in court that a tweet saying he was going to take Tesla private at $420 was not a joke.)

Crittenden: Whats funny is that he keeps stepping on rakes because he needs to do 420 jokes. It's destroying everything. I mean, the reason that the rocket exploded [is] because he committed to a 4/20 launch date as a joke. It's insane! Thousands of birds died because of a 420 joke.

Kilmartin: In this year of our Lord 2023, 420 jokes can be funny if the person acknowledges how hacky they are. Elon seems to think theyre funny on their own, which is embarrassing. Personally, I love a good noice after any number that is or contains 69 but "69 itself is not a real punchline.

Nikki Glaser, stand-up comedian and host of FBoy Island: This is legitimately hilarious because it's so stupid. The best joke is that he thinks he's clever. He's Michael Scott meets Dr. Evil.

Kondabolu: In order for a 420 joke to be funny at this point in human history, the audience must all be high. To make a 69 joke work, you must be in a locker room with straight men who are telling such jokes to ease their discomfort in a clearly homoerotic situation.

George Chen, stand-up comic and host of "Talkies": His most successful numerical-naming joke was X  A-X12 [the name of Musk's child with the musician Grimes].

'Let that sink in'

Last October, after he finally completed his acquisition of Twitter, Musk brought a well-known meme to life: He walked into the companys San Francisco headquarters carrying a full-size sink, then posted a video of the stunt captioned Entering Twitter HQ  let that sink in!

Glaser: I feel so bad for the person he made run to Lowe's for this joke and for all the people in the room with him when he came up with it who had to fake laugh.

Summers: That's a perfect metaphor that he is letting Twitter go down the drain.

Crittenden: Imagine that tweet  he's walking in, video, carrying a sink  and it just says, "Entering Twitter HQ." That's funny! It's just  it's funny. Because why is he carrying a sink? It's stupid. It's funny. ... But him going, "Here's my bit, here's my prop, I'm Carrot Top, execute, slam dunk, here's the punchline"? It's like, no, let the picture be the punchline.

Kondabolu: What worked about the joke is that I was able to realize it was an attempt at humor and then was able to connect the picture with the text. What did not work was its ability to make people laugh or minimally feel good that this joke existed in the world.

Kilmartin: Carrying an actual sink into an office building was so weird that most peoples first reaction was huh? not haha.

Josh Gondelman, writer, Desus & Mero and Last Week Tonight: It's extremely sweaty, meaning it's a LOT of effort for a very low yield. He took a literal long walk to the punchline.

'Pedo guy'

Was Musk trying to be funny when he notoriously called a cave diver who had criticized him a pedo guy?

Probably not, considering that he subsequently attempted to convince a reporter that the man, Vernon Unsworth, was in fact a "child rapist." But, faced with a hefty defamation suit, Musk attempted to shield himself by claiming it was a joke . OK, sure. But was it a good one?

Gondelman: To me, a handy rule of thumb is that if you need a lawyer to say, Your honor  he was kidding, then the joke didn't land.

Glaser: Calling a grown man who eagerly works with young boys a "pedo guy" is far from a good joke, but I would probably make this same "joke" if my fragile ego were wounded when a guy who worked closely with kids made fun of my asinine idea to rescue said children with a tiny submarine. However, I wouldn't tweet it; I would maybe just say it to my friends, but who knows if Elon even has those.

Crittenden: Comedy is about expectations, and expectations are about understanding how people normally think. I think this is the breakdown where Elon Musks comedy usually happens.

Kilmartin: Its not a joke, its a nickname, AND its a nickname Id give any man who had their photo taken with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Chen: I guess you had to be there?

Kondabolu: I think he has confused a punchline with slander.

Andy Kindler, stand-up comedian and actor, "Bob's Burgers": One of the keys to comedy is self-deprecation. The great Richard Lewis will punctuate a joke by saying something like: But what do I know? Im dressed like Satan at a barbecue. Similarly you could say: But what do I know? Im the despicable asshole who smeared Paul Pelosi.

Tweets from the 'Chief Twit'

Most of Musk's stabs at being funny take the form of tweets. Often, the puns or memes he tweets are lifted from another account without attribution, but now and then he'll get off an original one. Some notable efforts:

My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022

Crittenden: It's not a punchline. It's just conservative buzzwords.

Evian, the first bottled water, is naive spelled backwards  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2019

Glaser: I first heard this Evian joke/observation at recess in 1997, so he did not write that.

Kondabolu: Evian joke is amusing as its a commentary on bottled water with a mildly interesting observation.

Crittenden: This is not a joke. It's literally  this is a statement of fact.

How do you make a small fortune in social media?



Start out with a large one.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

Chen: It has the ring of truth to it. However, I think I've heard that one elsewhere, so  parallel thinking? I do like the pun for the Boring Company [Musk's tunnel-digging startup] so it's not me blindly hating.

Crittenden: Stolen joke, made worse.... [John] Mulaney just did a stand-up act, and he has a very good version of this bit. It's about cocaine and selling watches. The concept itself is funny, but it's about the execution.  It feels like a very safe, market-tested form of vulnerability.

Kondabolu: Might be funny to me if he wrote Start with Dads large fortune.

Jack in the Box should do double duty as a sperm donor clinic  name is   Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2020

Glaser: The Jack in the Box one is legit funny, but I would bet $420.69 he did not write it. The other ones he most certainly wrote because they are not funny.

Kondabolu: It would be stronger if he said Jack in the Box bathroom.

Kilmartin: Im sure these lines got a lot of laughing emojis on Facebook, and Im happy for the twice-divorced uncles who enjoyed them.

File under: Breasts

Musk recently painted over the w in the Twitter headquarters sign so it read "Titter." Before that, he joked about wanting to found a university called the "Texas Institute of Technology & Science," or TITS. ("Universally admired," he self-replied.)

Am thinking of starting new university:

Texas Institute of Technology & Science  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2021

Glaser: He has the sense of humor of a seventh-grade boy or a horny dentist.

Crittenden: "Tits" isn't funny. "Funbags" is funny. "Boobs" is funnier than "tits." Like, there's a lot of  "rocket dogs." "Chesticles." If you want to find the comedy in breasts, it's there.

Summers: These are bad boobs jokes! They are like the fake tits in the '80s.

Chen: Boobs are low hanging fruit but even lower hanging fruit is Texas Eastern Science & Technology Education School (TESTES).

Kilmartin: I prefer boob jokes to retweeting white supremacists, so lets keep pointing him in that direction.

File under: Testicles

In another recent bit of wordplay, Musk changed his Twitter handle to Harry Bolz.

Kilmartin: Im too distracted by the misspelling of balz/balls. Whats that o doing there, unless thats a South African thing? Every joke he attempts is a tiny bit off.

Crittenden: "Bolz" is not a good way to spell it. It's not funny. "Harry Bolz" is just nothing. Balls are just hairy. It's just what they are.  It feels like someone trying to fake what humanity is. It's just very weird. It's like an aliens version of comedy.

Summers: None of these jokes are verified. You can buy a blue checkmark but you can't buy Louis CK's red carpet. Elon is not welcome in the Comedy Store.

Kondabolu: Clearly plagiarized from a seventh grader.

It spells 'sexy.' Get it?

It's no accident that the model names of Tesla's cars  S, 3, X and Y  spell the word "sexy," kind of. That was Musk's intent, partially thwarted by a lawsuit from Ford that forced him to settle for "3" over "E."

Summers: It reminds me of when kids would spell 80085 on a calculator as BOOBS. When you are a multibillionaire, you can spell it with Teslas. It's like a failed dad joke from someone who never had a father figure.

Crittenden: If it was initially conceived as that, I think that's a little funny. But then that's too try-hard, right? It's like, "Oh, my entire production line of cars is in service of this joke." They aren't good car names. So if that was the idea, that again becomes very unfunny  and also sad.

Chen: Excellent use of the comedy rule of 3s.

Glaser: This is clever, but it's neither funny nor sexy. I wonder how many times a day he says, Get it?

Just throw money

Handling audience hecklers is a key part of every comedian's skill set  one that Musk could have used during a surprise onstage appearance at a Dave Chappelle show last year. He reportedly made a joke about living in a simulation and quoted a line from "Chappelle's Show"  Im rich, bitch  but for the most part just kept getting booed by the crowd. Dave, what should I say? he asked at one point.

Kondabolu: He should have started throwing money at the crowd. People like money.

Kindler: Dont mention the fact that youre wealthy. Everyone hates the rich. The only reason why people care about you is they think youll pick up a check or put their children through college.

Summers: Never brag about yourself to the audience, its super unfunny and unattractive. There is only one thing Musk could have done to get the crowd on his side: give everyone in the audience a free Tesla, free stem cell therapies and an Elon embryo with a trust fund!

Chen: I think standing there saying nothing and letting your friend Dave Chappelle shield you from the boos is exactly how we would want this to go.

Closing notes

Glaser: The sad part is that he thinks he's funny, but that's really our fault more than his. We both fear him and also desire his wealth and power so in order to gain his acceptance, people around him laugh and encourage this. It's the same as when people laugh at your pilot's dumb puns. We laugh not because he's funny but because we fear if we don't he'll fly us into a mountain.

Crittenden: It's hard to be funny and cool. You have to be able to laugh at yourself, which is just a skill he doesn't have.  If you just were as obviously broken as you clearly are, people would like it more just because people root for an underdog. But that requires a level of vulnerability that he's not comfortable with.

Summers: Elon has enough money to hire Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle to put him in a crash course of joke writing and open mic training so he can actually get better and make people laugh genuinely. Or he can come to the Hollywood Comedy on Melrose to do their daily open mics. Please make the check out to Jiaoying Summers. She will yell at Elon for free.

Kindler: Theres nothing funny about greedy crony capitalists. People root for the underdog. David was funnier than Goliath. Jews in general are funny. Try hanging around some Jews instead of amplifying antisemitic tropes about George Soros.

Chen: If anyone could train an AI language model to replicate his tweet style and save a ton of time, it's him. If he can put that AI language model into a robot vessel and send it to open mics, it would also be able to iterate at a much faster learning curve than a human comedian and potentially make all comedy writing obsolete.

Kondabolu: Real comics are generally broke, and struggle helps give you a relatable and interesting perspective. So he should just give me all his money.

Gondelman: Don't quit your day job for comedy. Quit it for other, unrelated reasons.

Kilmartin: You have made me think too much about Elon Musks comedic sensibilities and I hate you.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Elon Musk says he largely manages his own schedule and only uses a part-time assistant to manage his workload

Elon Musk says he largely manages his own schedule despite running multiple companies. Clive Mason - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Image

Elon Musk says he manages his own schedule despite running multiple companies.

Musk said this was because it was "impossible for someone else to know what the priorities are."

He made the comments while speaking at the WSJ CEO Council Summit.

Elon Musk says he largely manages his own schedule despite running multiple companies.

Speaking at the WSJ CEO Council Summit, Musk called his time management "extremely difficult." He is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and until recently, also headed up Twitter.

"My days are very long and complicated as you might imagine," he said. "And there's a great deal of context switching," he continued, adding that the context switch could be "quite painful."

Despite this, Musk said he does most of his scheduling himself as it's "impossible for someone else to know what the priorities are."

"I only have one part-time assistant," he said, before joking that the hours she worked would technically be considered full-time. He said: "And since the most valuable thing I have is time, I schedule it for myself for the most part."

The billionaire said he normally divided his days by company but they "somewhat intertwine."

Musk has always maintained a hectic schedule and has spoken about some of his time-management habits in previous interviews.

In August, Musk said he was "fairly nocturnal" and only slept about six hours a day. He told The Full Send podcast he usually goes to bed at about 3 a.m. and gets up around 9 a.m. Musk also said he had a "bad habit" of immediately checking his phone after waking up to see if any "emergencies happen overnight."

After his acquisition of Twitter in October, Musk said he had been sleeping in the company's San Francisco HQ after converting some of the offices into bedrooms.

Representatives for Elon Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Turkeys main opposition leader won the endorsement of a small nationalist party that could help him close the gap with President Recep Erdogan in Sundays runoff election.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Umit Ozdag, an anti-immigration firebrand and leader of the Zafer Party, announced his support for Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Ankara on Wednesday. He had initially backed Sinan Ogan, who was eliminated from the race after receiving 5.2% of the vote in the first round. Ogan on Monday opted to side with Erdogan.

Read More: Turkeys Erdogan Wins Support of Eliminated Rival in Runoff

Both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu have sought to sway Ogans swing voters by reinforcing their nationalist credentials and Tuesdays split in his grassroots could benefit both candidates. Erdogan secured 49.5% of votes in the initial round, just shy of the 50% threshold required to secure an outright win, giving him the advantage over Kilicdaroglu, who won 45%.

Kilicdaroglu has made it very clear that the refugees must return to their homeland and that he will pursue this policy, Ozdag said in a televised presser. Therefore, Zafer Party decided to support him in the second round of the presidential elections.

Erdogan is relying on his comfortable lead to extend his record rule into a third decade, a prospect thats deepened a selloff in Turkish assets as investors bet on a continuation of his unorthodox economic policies. Kilicdaroglu probably needs more support than the Zafer Party, which got 2.2% of votes in the May 14 parliamentary election.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Alexis Patterson disappeared on her way to Hi-Mount School in Milwaukee on May 3, 2002.

She was 7.

The latest season of Unsolved, a true-crime podcast for USA TODAY and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, examines the case. The episodes feature exclusive interviews with Alexis' family and more details about the police investigation than has ever been made public before. Unsolved is available on all podcast platforms.

During the making of Unsolved, a possible connection emerged between Alexis Patterson and a Wisconsin native named Eric Robert, who was later executed in South Dakota.

Here's what to know:

Who is Eric Robert?

Eric Robert was a Wisconsin native who later began a life of crime in South Dakota. In 2005, he posed as a cop and pulled over a teenage waitress. He told her to get out of the car and then pushed her into the trunk. But he didn't realize she had a cellphone, which she used to call for help. He was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Eric Robert appears in a Sioux Falls, S.D., court on Oct. 14, 2011

What is Robert's connection to Alexis Patterson?

A woman from Cable, Wis., who worked with Robert at the old Telemark Lodge in the 1990s, says she saw Robert rescue a little Black girl who was running into the road on the afternoon of May 3, 2002, the day Alexis disappeared. He also drove a red truck, which some witnesses reportedly saw outside Alexis' school in the weeks before she vanished.

Alexis Patterson was 7 when she disappeared in 2002.

Could Robert have abducted Alexis Patterson?

The police don't think so. The woman who suspected Robert of taking Alexis said the idea had come to her as part of a repressed memory.

South Dakota reporter John Hult said on the Unsolved podcast that a Wisconsin detective had asked Robert about a kidnapping here, but Robert denied involvement.

Are repressed memories real?

The theory of repressed memories was popular back in the late 80s and early 90s. The idea is that people can subconsciously block out traumatic things that have happened to them. And after a time  often years  something triggers the memories to come back into the persons consciousness.

It's a controversial idea that hasn't been proven with scientific evidence, according to Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist at the University of California - Irvine who is considered one of the nation's leading experts on memory.

Why were Robert and Rodney Berget executed?

The two were convicted of killing prison guard Ron "R.J." Johnson during a failed escape attempt on April 12, 2011, which was Johnson's 63rd birthday. Johnson was supposed to be off that day, but had agreed to cover a shift for a sick co-worker.

The two convicts hit Johnson over the head with a metal pipe and covered his face with plastic wrap to smother his screams. Robert put on Johnson's uniform and tried to leave the prison pushing a laundry cart, in which Berget was hiding.

Both Robert and Berget were sentenced to death. Robert was executed in 2012. Berget died by lethal injection in 2018.

Learn more about the Alexis Patterson case by listening to the true-crime podcast Unsolved.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Eric Robert was executed for homicide. Did he kidnap Alexis Patterson?
EU willing to consider changes to Italy reform plan, but Rome must be quick

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU Commission said on Wednesday it was prepared to consider changes to a plan of reforms agreed with Italy, but any new proposals must be made as soon as possible for Rome to secure promised pandemic recovery funds.

Rome is struggling to meet a package of policy pledges, including reforms to the judicial system and cuts to red tape, which it made to the Commission in return for 200 billion euros ($220 billion) from the EU's post-COVID Recovery Fund.

It now says it cannot complete the planned reforms by a 2026 deadline, and has been in talks with Brussels to seek more flexibility.

"If changes in this plan are needed, we need to discuss, and we are ready to discuss these changes in a very constructive and flexible way. But we need to do this as soon as possible," EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Wednesday.

"This is why we encourage to strengthen administrative capacity at central and local level to address these coming challenges," he added.

Italy is the biggest beneficiary of the EU recovery fund, but meeting the goals agreed with Brussels is one of the main challenges for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's rightist government that took office last October.

"The implementation of Italy's recovery and resilience plan is underway, however with increasing risk of delays," the Commission wrote in its recommendation for Italy.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Sara Rossi and Alessia Pe in Milan, editing by Cristina Carlevaro and Peter Graff)
Ever feel like seagulls watch you eat? They probably do  and heres why, study says

You arrive at the beach ready for a relaxing day. You sit down and pull out some snacks. Immediately, you feel like every seagull in the area is staring at you.

Do the seagulls want to snatch your food? Maybe, or as researchers in the United Kingdom recently discovered, theyre watching for another reason.

Researchers Franziska Feist, Kiera Smith and Paul Graham headed to the beach in Brighton with a camera and several bags of chips, according to a study published May 24 in the journal Biology Letters.

Urban gulls pay attention to human behavior in food-related contexts, the researchers said. But to what extent? Previous research focused on how seagulls respond to people in possession of food.

But can seagulls watch humans eat and use that observation to pick foods? Thats what researchers set out to study.

The researchers set up an experiment along the Brighton beachfront, the study said. They approached the seagulls, put out two bags of chips  a green bag and a blue bag  then sat nearby filming the seagulls.

Sometimes the researchers simply did nothing but filmed the birds, creating a control condition. Other times the researchers got out another bag of blue or green chips and started eating, creating the experimental conditions, the study said. The seagulls heads turn and pecks were recorded.

How did the seagulls respond?

We found that a demonstrator eating significantly increased the likelihood of a gull pecking one of the presented items, the researchers said. Furthermore, 95% of pecks were directed toward the presented food item that color-matched the demonstrators food item.

The findings indicate that seagulls watch what foods humans eat, then mimic this behavior with their own food choices, the study said. The birds could make a connection between the blue chip bag on the ground and the blue chip bag the researchers ate.

Researchers explained the seagulls behavior by comparing their understanding of human food cues to the adaptations of domesticated animals. They also noted this behavior could be explained by seagulls tendency to steal food from other animals.

While only about 25% of seagulls will interact with human foods, those that do interact with people seem to possess a cognitive toolkit that will make the mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts difficult, the researchers said.

Brighton is about 50 miles south of London.

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Everything Elon Musk has said about the 2024 election so far

For years, Elon Musk kept fairly quiet about his political beliefs. He was a registered independent voter in California and claims to have supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.

But the days of Mr Musk keeping his politics quiet are over.

Since the onset of Covid-19, Mr Musk has become increasingly vocal about his right-wing politics  railing against Covid restrictions and work-from-home policies, urging people to support Republicans in the midterm elections, being accused of tweeting antisemitic statements, and offering a platform to Tucker Carlson.

On Wednesday, Mr Musk will reportedly make his most direct foray into the 2024 presidential election yet when he is expected to help Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida launch his campaign. NBC News first reported the collaboration.

Mr Musk said that his appearance with Mr DeSantis on Twitter Spaces is not an endorsement. It is, however, another instance of the Twitter owner providing a friendly platform to a far-right figure. The conversation between Mr Musk and Mr DeSantis will be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to the governors political committee.

I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he has quite an announcement to make, Mr Musk said at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday. And it will be the first time that something like this is happening on social media and with real-time questions and answers, unscripted.

Mr Musk appears to be keeping close tabs on the developing Republican primary field. On Monday, Mr Musk retweeted a live stream of Sen Tim Scott of South Carolina announcing his candidacy for president in North Charleston.

But Mr Musk has long praised Mr DeSantis, who has pushed during his tenure as Florida governor to ban gender-affirming care for minors, ban discussions of race, gender, and sexuality in public schools, compromise the states tenure system, and punish corporations like Disney for their stances on social issues.

Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America, Mr Musk tweeted in July of last year. If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win  he doesnt even need to campaign.

Mr Musk appears much less bullish on Mr Trump, even though he reinstated the former presidents Twitter account after he took over the platform. Mr Trump was initially banned from Twitter in the aftermath of the events of January 6.

I dont hate the man, but its time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.



Dems should also call off the attack  dont make it so that Trumps only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022

I dont hate the man, but its time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset, Mr Musk tweeted last year. Dems should also call off the attack  dont make it so that Trumps only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.

Mr Musk also tweeted that Mr Trump is too much drama, and asked whether Americans really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!? He also suggested, in one of his standard attempts at humour, that the maximum age for the start of a presidential term should be 69.

The fact that Mr DeSantis is launching his campaign on Twitter speaks to the platforms rising currency with Republican voters under Mr Musks leadership.

Mr Musks embrace of Republican politicians and right-wing talking points has come as his purchase of Twitter has given him an outsize role in shaping public conversation around the campaign.

Its also led to a barrage of hate speech. Since Mr Musks takeover of Twitter and reinstatement of a number of previously banned accounts, the amount of hate speech targeting Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Jews, and other groups has surged.

Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business, Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told The New York Times last year. They have reacted accordingly.
NEW CITY - The former Haverstraw village deputy mayor was sentenced Monday to five years probation and ordered to pay restitution on her guilty plea to pilfering money from a nonprofit agency.

Emily Dominguez had pleaded guilty to felony fourth-degree grand larceny as part of a scheme with her sister and mother to steal $11,477 in funds and donations from the Rockland Community Foundation.

Emily Dominguez was once a foundation board member and former president. The foundation oversees and administers hundreds of charitable funds in Rockland.

Haveratraw Deputy Mayor Emily Dominguez, photographed at the Haverstraw Post Office on Wednesday, August 19, 2020.

Janice Dominguez: Sister of ex-Haverstraw village trustee sentenced for swindling nonprofit

Guilty plea: Haverstraw village ex-Deputy Mayor Emily Dominguez, sister admit stealing from nonprofit

DA statement: District Attorney's Office and Comptroller outline charges.

The charge outlined and the sentences

Judge Robert Prisco also sentenced her sister, Janice Dominguez, to five years probation on April 24. She gave the court two checks totaling $11,477 to cover the money stolen. Their mother, Luz Marina Gutierrez, 84, received an adjournment contemplating dismissal.

Emily and Janice Dominguez pleaded guilty in September 2022. The pair had denied wrongdoing and denounced the prosecution by District Attorney Thomas Walsh as politically motivated.

All three pleaded guilty as part of plea agreements with the Rockland District Attorney's Office following a 35-count indictment in October 2021 outlining schemes to steal $11,000.

But the sisters admitted in court that between March and October of 2020 they submitted 18 false receipts to the foundation for reimbursement of expenses. The grand larceny count covers the theft of between $1,000 and $3,000 in property. The felony carries a maximum prison term of four years and a minimum of no incarceration, at the judge's discretion.

Emily Dominguez was accused of running a scam in August 2019 through a pocketbook bingo fundraiser under the guise of raising money for the Haverstraw Neighborhood Fund backpack program.

Officials said people donated funds to attend the event, and those funds were deposited directly into a PayPal account for Emily Dominguez, who then transferred funds from three checks for $1,534 to her savings account.

Prosecutors charged that Dominguez and her mother submitted fake and inflated receipts to the foundation to be reimbursed for expenses between August 2017 and August 2019, which helped them steal $2,525.

Those receipts were phony, though, because no such food was ever provided, officials said, resulting in $4,963 in theft from the foundation, prosecutors said.

Janice Dominguez, who now lives in Bergen County, New Jersey, admitted forging a catering contract with Portobello's restaurant for food for residents and pocketed $4,963 paid by the foundation. There was no food provided and no contract. She formerly worked at the restaurant.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Walsh (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)

The District Attorney's Office investigated with the state Comptroller's Office.

"The former deputy mayor abused the trust of Haverstraw's citizens to steal from programs geared to help village residents in need, including those that provided backpacks of school supplies and holiday dinners," New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a statement.

Walsh said, "As an elected official, one has a duty to uphold the law and serve the community with integrity. Today's sentencing finalizes the criminal investigation, holds the elected official accountable for their actions, and provides restitution to the Rockland Community Foundations."

Emily Dominguez has claimed in Facebook posts that she's a victim of a political prosecution and posting unsubstantiated claims of corruption against unnamed elected officials in Haverstraw and elsewhere. She and her sister created the Facebook page Justice For All Rockland County. She has said she's writing a tell-all book about corruption in Rockland.

Dominguez has a pending multimillion-dollar federal civil rights lawsuit contending District Attorney's Office investigators injured her while using excessive force when arresting her after she left a courtroom hearing on theft charges.

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.

Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ex-Haverstraw NY deputy mayor gets probation for theft from nonprofit
Steve Rodhouse

The officer who headed Scotland Yards disastrous VIP child sex abuse inquiry is to be investigated for gross misconduct, the police watchdog has announced.

Former deputy assistant commissioner Steve Rodhouse, who ran the Mets Operation Midland inquiry, has been accused of breaching professional standards and making dishonest statements during his handling of the investigation.

Mr Rodhouse, who is currently the director general of operations at the National Crime Agency, is the first officer to face disciplinary proceedings as a result of Operation Midland, in which a series of high-profile figures were investigated by police over false allegations of child abuse.

The decision to charge Mr Rodhouse with gross misconduct represents a victory for some of those who were falsely accused and their loved ones who have fought tirelessly to have someone in the police held accountable for the litany of catastrophic failings.

Operation Midland was launched in 2014 after fantasist Carl Beech went to police claiming that he had been raped and abused by a VIP paedophile ring in the 1980s.

He told officers that high-profile figures including Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister, Lord Brittan, the former home secretary, Lord Bramall the former head of the Army, and Harvey Proctor, a former Tory MP, had raped and even murdered children.

Carl Beech - PA

The Met spent 18 months investigating the claims, even raiding the homes of some of those falsely accused, before shutting the operation down without having made a single arrest.

In July 2019 Beech was jailed for 18 years after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice and fraud.

But two other men known as Witness A and Witness B, who are alleged to have also come forward during Operation Midland to corroborate Beechs lies with false allegations were never charged.

The IOPC said the gross misconduct investigation had followed complaints about the failure of the Met to properly investigate A and B.

The complaints were made by Mr Proctor and Daniel Janner, son of the late Labour MP Greville Janner, who was also falsely accused of abuse by Beech.

In 2016 Sir Richard Henriques, a former High Court judge, who carried out a review of Operation Midland, recommended that charges of perverting the course of justice be considered against Witness A and Witness B, but nothing was done.

The IOPC investigation will look at comments Mr Rodhouse made about Witness A and Witness B when he responded to Sir Richards findings in 2016.

Issues of 'honesty and integrity'

Announcing the gross misconduct investigation, Amanda Rowe, the IOPC director, said: "We decided the former senior officer may have breached police professional standards of behaviour relating to honesty and integrity regarding comments made to the media about Operation Midland in March 2016 and comments subsequently made to Sir Richard Henriques in August 2016.

"We also found that by failing to follow Sir Richards recommendation when it was made in 2016, and after it was again brought to the forces attention following complaints in 2017 and 2020, the service provided by the Met was unacceptable and we have upheld these complaints.

"The force conducted several reviews which all concluded no investigation was needed. We found those reviews were flawed, did not consider all of the evidence and their rationales were not sound. We have also recommended the Met apologise to the individuals affected."

Mr Rodhouse retired from the Met in 2018 and took up his 200,000-a-year job with the NCA the same year.

Mr Proctor, who lost his home and his job after being falsely accused and later received an apology and large settlement from the Met said: I have complained about Stephen Rodhouse and his behaviour within Operation Midland for many years.

I am pleased that he will now face a gross misconduct hearing. These matters should be passed to a police force for potential criminal proceedings."

An NCA spokesperson said: We are aware that the IOPC has decided that there is case to answer for gross misconduct relating to a senior NCA officer, as a result of a complaint linked to the Metropolitan Police Operation Midland.

"The IOPC is obliged under relevant legislation to enter into a consultation period with concerned parties regarding a disciplinary hearing. We will engage with the IOPC fully on this matter.

Mr Proctor said: "Rodhouse should be suspended immediately by the NCA."

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A former White House attorney under Donald Trump detailed a bizarre potential scenario in which the former president wins next years election but is in prison by Inauguration Day  and then pardons himself while behind bars.

Ty Cobb, who led the White House response to the Russia investigation in 2017-2018, spoke with CNNs Erin Burnett about his prediction that Trump will go to jail as a result of the classified documents investigation.

Burnett asked what would happen if the trial takes place during the election and Trump wins anyway.

Does he just pardon himself and it all goes away? she asked.

Cobb said thats a possibility.

The sad thing is nobody knows, he said. This is so unprecedented.

Cobb noted a debate in the legal community over whether or not presidents have the authority to pardon themselves.

There are good lawyers on both sides of that. I tend to believe he doesnt, but I could be wrong, he said.

He added that a possible trial next year could conclude during or after the election, with Trump sentenced and behind bars before Inauguration Day.

He doesnt have the power to pardon himself until hes actually inaugurated, he noted, meaning Trump would have to report to jail until then in any case.

Along with the possibility of federal charges, Trump is also facing nearly three dozen state-level felony charges in New York in a trial set to begin in March, in the middle of primary season.

If he loses that case, he would not be able to pardon himself on the state conviction.

See more of Cobbs conversation with Burnett, as posted on Mediaite, below:
By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada and Saudi Arabia have agreed to restore full diplomatic ties and appoint new ambassadors, both countries said on Wednesday, bringing to a close a 2018 dispute that damaged relations and trade.

The decision follows discussions held between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok in November last year, according to statements from Canada and Saudi Arabia.

The decision stems from "the desire for both sides to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interests," the statements said.

The 2018 row pre-dated the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi later that year, which Canada and all Western countries condemned. It started when Canada's embassy in Riyadh published a tweet in Arabic urging the immediate release of women's rights activists held by Saudi Arabia.

That prompted Riyadh to recall its ambassador and bar the envoy from returning, and to institute a ban on new trade.

"Punitive trade measures will be lifted," said a Canadian government source familiar with the agreement who was not authorized to speak on the record. It is unclear what effect the dispute had on trade.

Saudi Arabia was the biggest export market for Canada in the region in 2021, according to official data, when they totaled C$2.2 billion ($1.65 billion). Imports were $2.4 billion. Almost all Canada's imports were oil and petrochemicals. More than 80% of exports to Saudi Arabia were transportation equipment.

"Empty chairs at the end of the day don't push our interests forward, and they don't push things like human rights forward," the source added.

The normalization comes as the Saudi prince, known as MbS, seeks to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power by using his place atop an energy giant in an oil-dependent world consumed by the war in Ukraine.

"Saudi Arabia is pivotal within its region. It's an important player," said Roland Paris, Trudeau's former foreign policy adviser and professor of international affairs at University of Ottawa. "It only makes sense to have ambassadors back in place in order to keep channels of communication open."

Canada will appoint Jean-Philippe Linteau as its new ambassador in Riyadh.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has said "we need to have conversations with people we don't always agree with on everything in order to find global solutions to global problems," the source added.

($1 = 1.3372 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Nick Zieminski)
Warhead of a Kh-47 Kinzhal Russian hypersonic missile, shot down by Ukrainian Air Defence is seen at a compound of Scientific Research Institute in Kyiv

By Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristou and Mark Trevelyan

LONDON (Reuters) - The director of a top Russian science institute, arrested on suspicion of treason along with two other hypersonic missile technology experts, stands accused of betraying secrets to China, two people familiar with the case told Reuters.

Alexander Shiplyuk, head of Siberia's Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), is suspected of handing over classified material at a scientific conference in China in 2017, the sources said.

The 56-year-old maintains his innocence and insists the information in question wasn't classified and was freely available online, according to the people, whom Reuters has chosen not to identify to safeguard their security.

"He is convinced of the fact that the information was not secret, and of his own innocence," one of the people said.

The nature of the allegations against the ITAM director, who was arrested last August, has not been previously reported. The Chinese connection would make Shiplyuk the latest in a string of Russian scientists who have been arrested in recent years for allegedly betraying secrets to Beijing.

Asked about the accusations facing the ITAM experts as well as about previous treason cases linked to China, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said security services were watchful for possible cases related to "betrayal of the motherland".

"This is very important work," he added. "It is going on constantly and it is hardly possible to speak here about any kind of trends."

The FSB security service didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Chinese foreign ministry, when asked about allegations that Beijing had targeted Russian scientists to obtain sensitive research, said Sino-Russian relations were based on "non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties".

"This is fundamentally different from what some military and intelligence alliances have pieced together based on their Cold War mentality," it added.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is a world leader in hypersonic missiles, cutting-edge weapons capable of carrying payloads at up to 10 times the speed of sound to punch through air-defence systems.

The ITAM cases, as well as previous arrests for treason, suggest Moscow is vigilant about losing any technological edge, including to China, an ally on which it has become increasingly reliant for political and trade support since launching its invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago.

Last year, laser specialist Dmitry Kolker was arrested in Siberia on treason charges but died two days later of cancer. His lawyer Alexander Fedulov told Reuters last week that Kolker was accused of passing secrets to China, an allegation that the scientist's family denied.

Alexander Lukanin, a scientist from the Siberian city of Tomsk, was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of passing tech secrets to Beijing, Russian state news agency TASS reported at the time. Last year, he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Valery Mitko, a scientist heading the Arctic Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, was also accused in 2020 of passing secrets to China, where he had travelled regularly to give lectures, TASS said at the time. He died two years later at the age of 81 while under house arrest.

'VERY SERIOUS ACCUSATIONS'

Against the background of the war in Ukraine, Russia's parliament voted last month to increase the maximum penalty for treason to life imprisonment from 20 years. On Tuesday, the head of the security committee of Russia's lower house of parliament backed a draft law tightening access to state secrets, saying 48 Russians had been convicted of treason between 2017 and 2022.

The cases facing Shiplyuk and his two ITAM colleagues - Anatoly Maslov and Valery Zvegintsev - are top secret and will be tried behind closed doors. A hearing in the case of Maslov, the first of the three to be arrested, in June last year, was due to take place in St Petersburg on Wednesday.

Zvegintsev was detained last month. The investigations into the three scientists hit world headlines last week when their colleagues at ITAM signed an open letter in support of them, complaining that it was impossible for scientists to do their jobs if they risked being arrested for writing articles or making presentations at international conferences.

The letter rejected the idea the three could have betrayed secrets, saying all materials they had published or presented had been rigorously checked to ensure they weren't classified.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov, asked by reporters last week about the open letter, said: "We have indeed seen this appeal, but Russian special services are working on this. They are doing their job. These are very serious accusations."

ITAM, sited at the Academgorodok science campus near the city of Novosibirsk, says on its website that it is registered as a part of Russia's military-industrial complex. The institute has had extensive international links including contacts with companies, universities and research centres across the world, according to a 2020 online document that outlined its work.

Among the institutions listed was the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center (CARDC), whose website includes several posts celebrating experimental breakthroughs relating to fighter jets and hypersonic missiles.

The CARDC site names the center's director as Wang Xunnian. According to two official Chinese local government websites, Wang is a major general in China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).

A Reuters review of publicly available Chinese academic papers shows the center's researchers have in recent years co-authored dozens of articles with colleagues working in institutes run directly by the PLA.

The CARDC did not respond to emailed questions addressed to the center and Wang, while Reuters was unable to contact Wang directly.

'SHOCKED AND HORRIFIED'

Reuters interviewed two U.S. scientists, one of whom knew Maslov and the other Shiplyuk. They said the Russians were bona fide academics, although their area of study was sensitive because of its military applications.

Stuart Laurence, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland, said he met Shiplyuk on two occasions, including at a conference in Tours, France in 2012 where the Russian scientist presented a paper with Maslov.

"I was shocked and horrified to see him arrested," said Laurence, who last exchanged emails with Shiplyuk in January 2021. "He was very well respected in his field."

George Nacouzi, senior aerospace engineer at RAND Corp, said China "has been playing catch-up" with the US and Russia over the last few years on hypersonic technology.

He stressed that the three arrested Russians were only involved in one element of the work needed to build a hypersonic missile, a process that also includes the integration of sensors, navigational systems, and propulsion.

"It's a long path. Just doing the basic research does not provide you with a missile," Nacouzi said.

(Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Writing by Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Pravin Char)
Chinese FM holds talks with Dutch deputy PM

Xinhua) 09:44, May 24, 2023

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds talks with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra in Beijing on Tuesday.

Noting that the Netherlands is an important partner of China in Europe, Qin said that China is willing to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation, deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and advance multilateral cooperation in arms control, cyber security and climate change with the Netherlands.

China will continue to expand market access and strengthen intellectual property rights protection, Qin said, adding that China welcomes more Dutch companies to expand investment in China. Qin expressed hope that the Netherlands will provide a fair, open and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies.

China stands ready to work with the Netherlands to oppose decoupling and severing supply chains, Qin said. He pointed out that China always regards Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner, expressing hope that the Netherlands will continue to play its role as the "gateway" for China-Europe cooperation.

For his part, Hoekstra said that the Netherlands adheres to the one-China policy and is willing to work with China to uphold market principles, deepen cooperation in agriculture, innovation and other fields. The Dutch side is committed to serving as a facilitator of Europe-China exchanges.

The Netherlands appreciates China's efforts to promote peace talks and hopes that China will play a constructive role for the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Hoekstra said.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on other international and regional issues of common concern.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
 Flash

Heads and representatives of media outlets from China and five Central Asian countries on Tuesday gathered at a media forum in Beijing, where they had in-depth discussions and reached broad consensus on strengthening media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit, was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency.

The participating media outlets included the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency.

Speaking at the forum, Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, said that the China-Central Asia Summit has established a platform for cooperation between the two sides and opened up new prospects, bearing milestone significance in the history of the development of relations between China and Central Asian countries.

The relations between the two sides are marching toward a new era, which presents new opportunities for media cooperation among the six countries, Fu said.

Xinhua is ready to work with media outlets in Central Asian countries to expand exchanges, deepen collaboration, and enhance understanding and mutual trust, he said.

Fu called for greater efforts in news reporting in various fields to inject new momentum for relations between China and Central Asian countries, and bring positivity to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations as well as world peace and development.

Foreign attendees at the forum spoke highly of the China-Central Asia Summit. Tlegen Abishev, deputy head of the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said the summit has opened a new chapter in cooperation between Central Asian countries and China.

The various documents and cooperation agreements passed during the summit have outlined a new blueprint for comprehensive and in-depth cooperation between the two sides in the future, said Mederbek Shermetaliev, head of the Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan.

During the forum, the Russian version of a think tank report on Xi Jinping's economic thought was released for audiences from Central Asian countries. The video version of the report was also unveiled.

As an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi Jinping's economic thought is formed through the Communist Party of China's unremitting efforts to explore the path of socialist economic development, said Lyu Yansong, editor-in-chief of Xinhua.

The economic thought is the key to understanding the theory and practice of Chinese modernization, Lyu said, adding that the release of the Russian-version report will provide authoritative interpretation for further understanding of the thought.

"The report allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the essence of Xi Jinping's economic thought, which is scientific and forward-looking," said Bekdurdy Amansaryyev, head of the Media Turkmen News Agency.

Subhiddin Shamsiddinzoda, head of the Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, said the report can help him gain a deeper understanding of Xi Jinping's economic thought, and learn from China's development experience and apply it to the development of his own country.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was also highlighted by participants at the forum, as this year marks the tenth year since President Xi put forward the initiative.

They believed that over the past decade, the initiative has created new opportunities for the development of countries around the world, including China and Central Asian countries. As the initiative is being carried forward, various countries' demand for economic information has been growing even stronger.

Abdusaid Kuchimov, head of the Uzbekistan National News Agency, lauded that in the process of BRI development, China has always been committed to bringing real benefits to the people of all countries.

In June 2019, Xinhua initiated an information-sharing platform called Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership (BREIP). Jointly established by Xinhua and its partners both at home and abroad, it has provided economic information for governments and enterprises of BRI countries over the past years.

During the forum, media institutions from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan signed up for the BREIP, bringing the total number of members of the network to 53 covering 36 countries and regions. Kyrgyzstan's Kabar News Agency is a founding member of the network.

Abishev held that against the backdrop of an increasing number of countries and international organizations joining the BRI, the establishment of the unified platform for economic information exchange is timely and has broad prospects.

Also at the forum a consensus was reached among the participating media outlets, which vowed to further strengthen their cooperation by elevating the scope and creating more avenues of collaboration and to achieve new outcomes in the practical media cooperation.
Can we expect more rain and lightning in Fort Worth? Heres what the weather service says

Gusty winds, lightning and heavy rain are expected to roll through North and Central Texas this morning and into the evening, according to the National Weather Service Fort Worth office.

Additional thunderstorms are possible again late tonight mainly west of I-35, the NWS says..

Temperatures across the region will be in the low 80s and mostly cloudy skies.

The NWS Hazardous Weather Outlook reports a complex of thunderstorms is expected to move into the Fort Worth area early today from the northwest. A few storms primarily west of Highway 281 may become strong to severe and contain damaging wind gusts, frequent lightning, heavy rain and small hail.

Isolated thunderstorms are in the forecast for Thursday and Friday mainly west of I-35, according to the NWS website. Mostly sunny conditions are forecast for Saturday and Sunday with highs in the mid to upper 80s and lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Slightly better chances for storms will arrive on Monday and Tuesday across all of North Texas, the NWS forecast says. Widespread severe weather is not expected at this time.
Person cooking on a gas hob

Energy bills are set to remain high despite a cut in prices from July, experts have warned.

A typical household will pay 2,074 a year for gas and electricity from July, 426 a year less than currently, after the regulator cut the energy price cap for England, Scotland and Wales.

Government help in recent months has limited bills to 2,500.

However, prices are not expected to fall much further over the rest of the year, and could edge up in winter.

MoneySavingExpert's Martin Lewis said that later on in 2023 bills would be similar to last winter because, although prices are cheaper, households will not get the same 400 discount from the government they previously received.

"People will still be paying double what they used to pay before the energy crisis hit," he added.

Kate Mulvany, from energy analysis firm Cornwall Insight, also said further substantial falls in bills would be unlikely particularly if there was a cold winter across Europe with the UK competing to buy energy with other countries.

"Our forecasts suggest until the end of this decade, higher and more volatile prices are going to be seen, and that includes the impact they're going to have on domestic bills unfortunately," she told the BBC's Today programme.

Earlier this week, Qatar's energy minister warned the "worst is yet to come" for gas shortages in Europe, suggesting prices could rise again.

In an interview with Sky News, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was asked if he would take action to support households if energy bills started to rise again.

He said the government's actions over the past few months demonstrated that it was "willing to do what it takes".

"We are very aware of the pressures that families are facing, and we want to do what we can to support them", he said.

There are hopes that the fall of the price cap below the government's guaranteed level could lead to the return of competition in the market, with people able to shop around for the best deal.

But Mr Lewis said that he did not expect to see firms publicising new offers immediately, with energy firms instead offering existing customers bespoke offers, with no new deals across the market.

The boss of energy regulator Ofgem Jonathan Brearley urged people to contact their supplier if they were struggling to pay their bill.

"In the medium term, we're unlikely to see prices return to the levels we saw before the energy crisis," he added.

Michael Houghton is worried he will struggle again with bills this winter

Michael Houghton says the Emmaus charity in Ipswich helped him apply for grants to pay his soaring energy bill last winter.

He says his gas bill rose to almost 30 per week, forcing him to cut down on food shopping and entertainment.

But Mr Houghton says that prices remaining high is a concern in the long term. Without more support he worries he will not be able to afford to pay his energy bills if they remain at a similar price this coming winter.

Banner saying 'Get in touch'

Are you worried about meeting the cost of energy bills? Get in touch:

Bottom line for Get in touch request

Since 2019, Ofgem has set a price cap on energy bills. This is the maximum price that suppliers can charge customers per unit of gas and electricity. It applies to households on variable or default tariffs in England, Wales and Scotland.

After the price cap soared, the government stepped in with the Energy Price Guarantee.

From October, a typical household's annual gas and electricity bill has been 2,500, but this will expire at the end of June. A 400 discount on everyone's energy bills, provided by the government during the winter, came to an end in April.

Under the new cap the electricity unit rate is 30p per kWh, with a standing charge of 53p a day. The gas unit rate is 8p per kWh and the standing charge is 29p a day.

Most households do not use a typical amount of gas and electricity. Bills are based on how much energy a household actually uses, which depends on the number of people, the type of property and its energy efficiency.

The calculations for a typical household are based on a direct debit customer using 12,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) of gas and 2,900 kWh of electricity a year. A kilowatt hour is a unit of energy used to calculate your bill.

Graphic showing how different households will pay different energy bills

About 29 million households will be affected by the change in the cap, but there will be some differences in typical payments from July

Those who pay via a prepayment meter will pay a similar level to those on direct debits at 2,077 a year

Those who pay by cash, cheque or bank transfer, usually every three months, will have to pay more, with a price cap of 2,211 a year

In Northern Ireland, which is regulated separately, bills will be held at 1,950 per year

Despite the cut to the price cap, charity National Energy Action said that 6.5 million people would still be in fuel poverty. The typical bill from July will still be much higher than in the winter of 2021 when it stood at 1,277 a year. Charity Citizens Advice described that as "unaffordable for millions of people".

And Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said customers would still be paying roughly the same for their energy as last winter.

"And after months of inflation and the wider cost of living crisis, people are even less able to afford these high energy bills," he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the cut to the price cap was a "major milestone" in the government's goal to halve inflation.

Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - has been running above 10% for several months, although it fell to 8.7% in April. One of the main factors pushing up the rate was the surge in energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

However, Labour's shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said energy bills "remain eye-wateringly high, almost double what they were 18 months ago, and families and businesses across the country will continue to struggle to make ends meet".

Cost of living: Tackling it together

Here are some energy saving ideas from environmental scientist Angela Terry, who set up One Home, a social enterprise that shares green, money-saving tips.

Getting a water efficient shower head free of charge from your water company and using showers rather than baths

Considering loft insulation, which she says costs around 460 for a typical semi-detached home and could save 355 a year on gas bills

Hanging out washing instead of using a tumble dryer, and walk instead of drive when possible

Use windy days to feel where draughts are in the house. Wetting the back of your hand helps to locate them, then use insulation or draught-proofing tape

When available, press the smaller button to use less water to flush the toilet

What do I do if I can't afford to pay my debts?

What can I do if I can't pay my energy bill?
Explainer-What happens if the US Supreme Court bans affirmative action?

Students carry boxes to their dorms at Harvard University in Cambridge

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule by the end of June on whether colleges and universities can continue to consider race as part of their student admissions decisions, a practice known as affirmative action.

Here is an explanation of these policies, their history and the possible consequences of the court's decision.

WHAT IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?

In the context of higher education, affirmative action typically refers to admissions policies aimed at increasing the number of Black, Hispanic and other minority students on campus.

Colleges and universities that take race into consideration have said they do so as part of a holistic approach that reviews every aspect of an application, including grades, test scores and extracurricular activities.

The goal of race-conscious admissions policies is to increase student diversity in order to enhance the educational experience for all students. Schools also employ recruitment programs and scholarship opportunities intended to boost diversity, but the Supreme Court litigation is focused on admissions.

WHICH SCHOOLS CONSIDER RACE?

While many schools do not disclose details about their admissions processes, taking race into account is more common among selective schools that turn down most of their applicants.

In a 2019 survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, about a quarter of schools said race had a "considerable" or "moderate" influence on admissions, while more than half reported that race played no role whatsoever.

Nine states have banned the use of race in admissions policies at public colleges and universities: Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

WHAT IS THE CURRENT LITIGATION ABOUT?

The Supreme Court is weighing two cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions, a group headed by Edward Blum, a conservative legal strategist who has spent years fighting affirmative action.

One case contends that Harvard's admissions policy unlawfully discriminates against Asian American applicants. The other asserts that the University of North Carolina unlawfully discriminates against white and Asian American applicants.

The schools reject those claims. They have said race is determinative in only a small number of cases and that barring the practice would result in a significant drop in the number of minority students on campus.

The court's conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority, expressed skepticism about the role of race in admissions during oral arguments in October. Most legal analysts expect the court to rule against the schools.

HOW HAS THE SUPREME COURT RULED IN THE PAST?

The court has largely upheld race-conscious admissions for decades, though not without limits.

A divided Supreme Court took up the issue in the landmark 1978 case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, after schools began using affirmative action in response to the Civil Rights era to correct the effects of racial segregation.

The swing vote, Justice Lewis Powell, ruled that schools could not use affirmative action to rectify past racial discrimination and struck down the university's practice of setting aside a certain number of spots for minorities.

Nevertheless, Powell found that increasing campus diversity was a "compelling interest" because students of all races - not just minorities - would receive a better education if exposed to different viewpoints. Powell ruled that schools could weigh race in admissions as long as it remained only one factor among many.

In 2003, the court struck down the University of Michigan's use of a system that awarded "points" to minority applicants as going too far, but affirmed Bakke's central finding that schools could use race as one of several admission factors.

The court in 2016 again upheld race-conscious admissions in a challenge backed by Blum to University of Texas policies.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES?

The court could choose to maintain the current system, eliminate race-conscious admissions altogether or settle on something in between such as more stringent limits on the practice.

A decision banning affirmative action would force elite colleges and universities to revamp their policies and search for new ways to ensure diversity in their student populations. Many schools have said other measures would not be as effective, resulting in fewer minority students on campuses.

In briefs filed with the Supreme Court, the University of California and the University of Michigan - top public school systems from states that have outlawed race-conscious admissions - said they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on alternative programs intended to improve diversity, but that those efforts have fallen far short of goals.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Colleen Jenkins)
Explainer-What is Twitter Spaces where DeSantis will announce his presidential run?

By Tiyashi Datta

(Reuters) - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce on Wednesday he is entering the 2024 presidential race during a Twitter Spaces discussion with billionaire Elon Musk, the first time such an announcement will be made on social media.

Musk and DeSantis will host the event on Twitter Spaces at 6 p.m. ET (2200 GMT) and the session will be moderated by tech entrepreneur and close Musk confidant David Sacks.

WHAT IS TWITTER SPACES?

It is a feature on Musk-owned social media platform Twitter where users can have live audio conversations. They can join, listen and speak in a "Space," according to Twitter.

Any user with 600 or more followers can host a Space. Up to 13 people can speak in a Space at any given time, including the host and two co-hosts. Spaces are public and can be accessed by anyone.

Musk has previously appeared on Spaces to talk about Twitter's performance, his plans for electric vehicle maker Tesla, and the global economy.

WHAT HAS MUSK SAID ABOUT DESANTIS?

Musk, who tweets liberally on politics and economics, said during a conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday he was not "at this time planning to endorse any particular candidate."

Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," said in November he would support DeSantis in 2024 if the Florida governor were to run for president.

"My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far," Musk had said on Twitter.

In June last year he said DeSantis would easily defeat Biden in the election.

IS MUSK A REPUBLICAN?

Musk, who had previously said he supported Democrats and had voted for President Joe Biden, urged his Twitter followers in November to elect a Republican Congress in U.S. midterms.

Musk, chief executive of Tesla, has been critical of the Biden administration for their proposals to tax billionaires and give more tax incentives to union-made EVs.

Twitter, which Musk bought last year, reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump's Twitter account in November, following his ban from the social media service for inciting violence. Twitter then reinstated the account of Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene who had been banned for violating its COVID misinformation policies.

WHO IS DAVID SACKS?

Sacks, a venture capitalist, is the founder of business networking site Yammer and a former colleague of Musk's at payment service PayPal. According to NBC, he is a major Republican donor supporting DeSantis and is considered to be part of Musk's inner circle on decisions about Twitter.

WILL TWITTER BENEFIT FROM THE SPACES CHAT?

Musk said on Tuesday: "I am interested in Twitter being somewhat of a town square."

Twitter is eyeing political ad dollars after several corporate advertisers have fled since Musk took over in October.

The company said in January it will reverse its 2019 ban on political advertisement, bringing its policies closer to Meta Platform's Facebook and Alphabet Inc's YouTube.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Chris Reese)
The eye of Super Typhoon Mawar narrowly passed by Guam but the storm left behind damage and power outages

The storm is one of the most powerful to hit the US Pacific in two decades. President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration and residents who arent in fully concrete structures  many homes on the far-flung island are made of wood and tin  have been urged to seek safety elsewhere.

The National Weather Service upgraded the storm to a super typhoon on Wednesday night, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, and warned of a triple threat of winds, torrential rains and a life-threatening storm surge on Guam, which is a day ahead of the US mainland.

The eyewall of the typhoon passed by north of Guam on Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. But even without a direct hit, the island the size of Chicago still suffered damages.

Heres Typhoon Mawars path so far:

The storm hit Guam on Wednesday night equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, causing power and water outages islandwide.

Super Typhoon Mawar is the ninth storm in its category or stronger to hit the United States or its territories since 2017, according to Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters.

The eye of the storm passed slightly north of Guam with sustained winds of 142 miles per hour.Residents of Guam experienced strong winds, lightning and heavy rainfall as Mawar moved about eight miles per hour on Wednesday night.

Typhoon Mawar passed Guam on Wednesday night, but the strongest part could make a landing before it moves toward the Philippines later this week (Google Maps)

One meteorologist with the National Weather Service described the night as long and scary during a news briefing in Guam saying some of the island did not have electricity.

Flash Flood Warning continues for Dededo GU, Yigo GU and Tamuning GU until 7:45 AM ChST pic.twitter.com/QzgWyhLHaT  NWS Guam  (@NWSGuam) May 24, 2023

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for Dededo, Yigo and Tamuning and advised residents to move to higher ground and to avoid driving or walking through flood waters.

Guam residents shelter and stock up as Typhoon Mawars eyewall is expected to make a landing (AP)

Only one plant on the island is functioning and serving specifically Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB), Camp Blaz Marine Base and a small portion of Dededo village, the Guam Power Authority said in a statement. Restoration will begin once the weather conditions are improved.

Guam Power Authority personnel conduct tree trimming operations to clear branches away from power lines (Pacific Daily News PO Box DN Hagatna, Guam 96932)

Here is Typhoon Mawars expected path:

After parts of the typhoon passed over Guam, the storm headed west toward the Philippines and Taiwain, intensifying to the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.

Around 8pm local time on Thursday, the centre of the storm was approximately 195 miles northwest of Guam, according to The New York Times.

As time progresses, the path of typhoon Mawar in the later period gradually changes from a mess to an alternative, and the possibility of landing in mainland China and Taiwan is increasing. pic.twitter.com/rNpX7v0lNn  Jim yang (@yangyubin1998) May 25, 2023

The storm is expected to move toward Taiwan and the northern part of Luzon, Philippines.

One meteorologist said it is possible that parts of the typhoon make landfall in China.
Facing a hearing May 31 on whether she will go to prison, Pieper Lewis is seeking a pardon from Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The Des Moines sex trafficking victim, who stabbed to death a man she said repeatedly raped her, "deserves to do more than survive in a cell," says a Change.org online petition calling for the pardon, started on her behalf. "Pieper Lewis deserves a full life, outside of the prison industrial complex."

Lewis was initially charged with first-degree murder in the June 2020 death of Zachary Brooks. But following a Des Moines Register investigation of her case, prosecutors acknowledged that Lewis, a runaway who was 15 at the time of the slaying, had been a victim of sex trafficking and that Brooks  to whom she had been sent by a pimp in exchange for marijuana  had repeatedly raped her.

Pieper Lewis speaks with her attorney, Matthew Sheeley, after pleading guilty to an escape charge March 9.

In a deal with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury, and in a September hearing that received national news coverage, Polk County Judge David Porter gave her a deferred judgment and ordered her to serve five years of probation at a Des Moines transitional facility for women.

She violated her probation in November, when she cut off her GPS tracking device and walked from the center. Arrested days later, she pleaded guilty in March to a charge of escape. She later told the Register that she had been struggling in the facility, which she said was filled with people stuck in a criminal lifestyle and drug use. She also said she felt unsafe and cut off from her support network after being quarantined when one of her roommates came down with COVID-19.

In the coming hearing, Porter will decide whether Lewis, now 18, will be formally convicted and serve up to 21 years in prison, or be allowed to continue on probation, perhaps at a different facility  though he had warned her at her sentencing that she was receiving a second chance and would not get a third one.

Lewis told KCCI-TV in an interview aired Tuesday that she is instead asking Reynolds to pardon her. The online petition was started by Des Moines Black Liberation Movement member Jalesha Johnson. She recounts Lewis' story, noting that when, under Iowa law, Lewis was ordered as part of her sentence to pay Brooks' estate $150,000, people around the country chipped in to raise far more than that amount.

"All of America was in an outrage at how unjustly Iowa was treating her," it says. "It is our hope, all the people who shared her story, donated to her cause and raised awareness  will once again wrap their hands around Pieper Lewis."

More than 600 people had signed the petition as of Wednesday afternoon.

Reached Wednesday, Johnson said via text message that she wasn't sure whether Lewis had filed a formal request for a pardon.

"I know she has reached out to the governor's office, via letter writing  and hopes to meet with her soon," Johnson wrote.

The five-page pardon application form asks for details including the applicant's marital status, sobriety, tax payments and record of volunteer service. It also requires a number of supporting documents, including proof of payment of court costs, fines and restitution, credit history and letters of recommendation from the prosecutor, judge and sheriff involved in the case, past and current employers and at least three non-relatives.

Reynolds' office did not immediately respond to phone and online messages, nor did Lewis' attorney, Matthew Sheeley.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sex-trafficking victim Pieper Lewis seeks pardon from Iowa governor
By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June on the legality of race-conscious admissions policies at colleges and universities, a practice called affirmative action employed by a majority of selective schools.

Here is a look at some of the key players in the cases.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harvard University is a private Ivy League school of global prestige located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the oldest U.S. university. Harvard was sued in 2014 by anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions, which accused Harvard of unlawful discrimination against Asian American applicants in its admissions practices. Harvard has called the lawsuit politically motivated and has defended its admissions process, which takes race into consideration alongside dozens of other factors. The lawsuit accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal funding.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a prestigious public research university. It is the flagship school of the 16-campus UNC system and the oldest U.S. public university. Students for Fair Admissions sued UNC in 2014, alleging that the Chapel Hill campus unlawfully discriminated against white and Asian American applicants. The school denies the allegations and, like Harvard, has defended its admissions objective of enrolling a diverse student body. The lawsuit accused the university of violating the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment promise of equal protection under the law.

STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS

Students for Fair Admissions is a nonprofit organization founded in 2014 by conservative activist Edward Blum, who has waged a legal war against affirmative action policies. The group takes on the cases of college applicants who contend they were wrongfully rejected by a college or university on the basis of race.

EDWARD BLUM

The founder of Students for Fair Admissions, Blum has said he is on a mission to erase racial preferences intended to boost diversity in American life. He began his campaign to legally challenge race-conscious admissions in 2008, when he took on the case of Abigail Fisher, a white student who felt she had been discriminated against in her rejection by the University of Texas. The Supreme Court upheld the University of Texas admissions policy in that case, but the court's makeup has since changed, moving it ideologically to the right.

LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW

The Lawyers' Committee is a nonprofit organization founded in 1963 with the mission of fighting for equity for U.S. racial minorities. The group has represented students, prospective students and alumni at Harvard and UNC for nearly a decade as they defend the school admissions policies.

(Compiled by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Will Dunham and Donna Bryson)
Aki Kaurismaki, the deadpan cockeyed minimalist of Finland, has become the ultimate illustration of the principle that if you make movies in the same mood and style, with the same monosyllabic bombed-out hipster vibe, for a period of 30 years, your movies may not have changed  but the world around them has, so the films will have a totally different effect.

In Fallen Leaves, the Kaurismaki bauble thats showing at Cannes this year, theres actually a scene in which a character uses a computer. The films heroine, Ansa (Alma Poysti), loses her job as a supermarket worker, and to find another gig she rents an HP laptop at a makeshift Internet cafe that charges 10 Euro for half an hour. Apart from that, the movie unfolds in that scruffy and sparsely decorated so-familiar-its-cozy pre-tech Kaurismaki zone, where people still use electric adding machines or listen to a bulky kitchen radio that looks like its from the early 60s. Fallen Leaves is set in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, but to our eyes its a weirdly underpopulated place where shopping, as a pastime, doesnt exist, and neither, in any meaningful way, does conversation.

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Lets go to karaoke, says a burly construction worker to Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), the films tall, taciturn, and functionally drunk romantic co-protagonist. Tough guys dont sing, he replies. A funny line, in that gnomic what-are-they-going-to-blurt-out-next? Kaurismaki way (though the film could have used more of those lines). The two then head over to the California Pub, a bar thats like something out of East Berlin in the 70s with less mood lighting, and its there that Holappa meets Ansa. The two are drawn to each other, but in such a shy, recessive, shaggy-working-class-drone-with-nothing-to-say way that their shambling courtship makes Marty look like The Philadelphia Story.

How do we know that Ansa and Holappa are going to get together? Because they have matching auras of dour repressed sweetness. Because both actors look like lumpish proletarian versions of Ingmar Bergman stars  Alma Poysti, radiant yet benumbed, plays Ansa like a dish-towel Bibi Andersson, and Jussi Vatanen could be the schlump brother of Max von Sydow (with a dollop of Ryan Gosling). Mostly, we know that theyre going to get together because thats all there is for them to do.

For their first date, they head to the local art theater to see Jim Jarmuschs The Dead Dont Die (an in-joke, since Kaurismaki and Jarmusch have been nodding back and forth at each others styles for so long now that its hard to say who did what first). Then she invites him over for dinner, which requires a (rare) shopping expedition that incarnates Kaurismakis comedy of loneliness. She needs to stop by the store to purchaseanother dinner plate.

Ansas apartment is as sparely decorated as a monks garret, with a small flat bed, a couch that looks like she got it at Helsinki Goodwill, and that ancient radio, which blares nothing but reports about the war in Ukraine. The war is closer to home than it is for us; Finland is right on the border. But in Fallen Leaves, those dispatches, sober as they are, function with a kind of levity as the top layer of miserablism.

Speaking of sobriety, Holappas drinking turns out to be the films only conflict. Hes always got a flask or a half-pint bottle on him, and swigs from it all day, which is why he keeps getting fired. His alcoholism doesnt have to be explained; you see him at work, in his drudge stupor, and think, Id be drinking on that job too. But when Ansa catches him tippling from his flask in secret, she lets him know that he has a choice to make. Its got to be the drinking or her.

Ansa gets fired too, for handing out food thats past its sell-by date to a homeless person, and for taking an expired sandwich herself. (Its a bitter joke that supermarket protocol demanded for her to simply toss it all out.) The go-nowhere jobs are a preoccupation for Kaurismaki. Its more than a social-political theme  its the cornerstone of his romantic vision. His characters are the middle-class stragglers of industrial society, and now that theyve reached a certain age (hence the films title), if they cant fall in love what can they do? Not much. Sit around at home with a frozen dinner and a bottle of vodka.

Their predicament is humane and inviting, and Fallen Leaves, like every Kaurismaki movie Ive seen, from Shadows in Paradise (1986) to The Match Factory Girl (1990) to his last film, The Other Side of Hope (2017), has a scruffy appeal. There are a couple of a rock n roll interludes at the bar, and these scenes do a good job of breaking up the gumdrop fatalism. Yet Id be lying if I didnt say that Im a bit baffled by the critical rapture that has greeted Fallen Leaves at Cannes. Its a nice but exceedingly minor movie. It leaves little imprint. What people are loving, I think, is the nostalgia thats now built into an Aki Kaurismaki movie. In the age of fragmentation, his films that have never changed are like time-machine trips back to the quirky gusto of the 90s, when even an indie trifle dipped in Nordic despair could ripple, underneath it all, with optimism.

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A falling rock pillar killed a 16-year-old girl celebrating the end of school, Utah officials reported.

The pillar accidentally fell on the girl while she visited a West Bountiful property, police said in a news release. Rescuers were called at 1:33 p.m. Tuesday, May 23.

Firefighters took her in critical condition to a hospital, where she later died, the release said.

Her family told KSL that Madolin Morley was celebrating the end of school at a pool party and was in a hammock when the rock pillar fell on her.

Police told KSTU that the hammock was attached to the pillar that collapsed.

We are all saddened by the sudden loss of our sweet Madolin  a kind, caring, and bright young woman who touched countless lives, uncle Matt Morley told KSL.

A statement from Davis County School District identified her as a student at Viewmont High School, KSTU reported.

Our hearts are heavy following the sudden death of one of our students, school officials told the station. The student was celebrating the end of school with friends and classmates when the tragic accident occurred.

West Bountiful is a city of 6,000 people about 10 miles north of Salt Lake City.

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Families of 2 shot by officers have differing views on new Modesto police oversight effort

A law firm will monitor the Modesto Police Department over the next five years, aided by a volunteer board. The actions taken by the City Council quickly drew support and criticism from two Modesto families that lost members in officer-involved shootings.

The council voted 7-0 Tuesday night for a $451,000 contract with the OIR Group, based in Los Angeles. It specializes in independent reviews of law-enforcement agencies.

The council voted by the same margin to create the Community Police Oversight Board and appoint its nine members. It will hold its first monthly meeting June 15.

The moves grew out of concern about officer-involved shootings and related issues in recent years. The firm will review complaints about officer conduct, internal probes of use-of-force incidents, and other matters.

Before the votes, the council heard protests from several residents about the shooting death of Paul Chavez Jr. last July. The Stanislaus County District Attorneys Office found the shooting by Officer Sam Muncy to be justified.

The deceased mans wife, Brittoni Estrella, told the council over Zoom that the oversight plan will not help. She said he was under emotional stress but not a threat to officers when he was shot at his home off East Orangeburg Avenue.

Body camera footage from police shows Chavez carrying a trailer hitch and the officers telling him several times to put it down or he will be Tased. He did not comply and first was Tased and then shot.

My husband wasnt acting erratic, Estrella said. He wasnt being crazy. The video shows everything. It is so sad that this is getting dismissed over and over and over again and nobody will do anything about it.

Chavez family members have spoken at numerous council meetings since the shooting. They also have filed a lawsuit against the city.

The family of Trevor Seever from the left, brother and sister, Kyle and Allison Seever, mother and stepfather Darlene and Ray Ruiz in Modesto, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2021. Trevor was fatally shot by a Modesto police officer on Dec. 29, he was not armed, the department said in a video released Tuesday night.

Support from grieving mother

The council heard support from Darlene Ruiz, whose son, Trevor Seever, was shot to death in 2020 outside a Woodland Avenue church. Officer Joseph Lamantia was fired and is being prosecuted for voluntary manslaughter. The family settled its own lawsuit against the city for $7.5 million in April.

Loved ones said Seever was mentally unstable but did not threaten Lamantia before the shooting. His mother has been involved with the police oversight effort, which includes having clinicians rather than cops handle some calls.

I see change happening, Ruiz said over Zoom. Maybe some dont, but I really do see it, and I appreciate all of you trying to bring change into our community. Nothing will ever bring Trevor back to us, but we truly hope and pray to stop another family enduring the horrific nightmare of police brutality.

The plan grew out of a report last year from the Forward Together Committee. Its 23 members came from business, civil rights and other interests.

The law firm will have access to internal documents and issue public reports to the extent allowed by laws on officer privacy. It also could recommend changes to police policy, including the use of force. It will leave specific cases of officer discipline to police management.

OIR has worked with about 30 agencies, including the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office and the police departments in Santa Cruz, West Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Palo Alto, Anaheim and Burbank.

Diverse board members

The new board includes:

Latricia Beasley Day, community organizer for Faith in the Valley

Kenneth Bryant, retired battalion chief with the Modesto Fire Department





Wendy Byrd, president of the NAACP Modesto/Stanislaus





Trish Christensen, president and CEO of the Modesto Chamber of Commerce





Frank Damrell III, director of government relations for Peer & Co. and aide to former state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani

Austin Grant, active with the NAACP and other groups

Brad Hawn, civil engineer and former city councilman involved in housing issues





Nancy Smith, retired attorney, including California Rural Legal Assistance and the county public defenders office





Nico Solorio, emergency rental assistance manager for City Ministry Network.





The terms will run through 2027 for Beasley Day, Bryant, Damrell, Grant and Solorio. The others will serve through 2028.

They will meet at 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month, open to the public. The location for the first meeting has not been announced.

Five of the nine members also served on the Forward Together: Byrd, Christensen, Grant, Hawn and Solorio.
 Flash

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday met with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Beijing.

Noting that China firmly pursues a nuclear strategy of self-defense, Qin said that China is committed to upholding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime based on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. He said China firmly supports the peaceful use of nuclear energy, resolutely strengthens domestic nuclear security and supports international cooperation on nuclear security.

China hopes that the IAEA will perform its duties in an objective, fair and professional manner, and resolutely resist the practice of certain countries to generalize the concept of national security, and disrupt or undermine the normal order of international cooperation, Qin said. China also hopes that the IAEA will properly handle the issue of nuclear submarine cooperation between the United States, Britain and Australia, as well as Japan's discharge of nuclear-polluted water, and safeguard the IAEA's authority and credibility, the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and international security, he added.

Grossi said that the IAEA attaches great importance to cooperation with China, and it works to prevent nuclear proliferation. Grossi said the IAEA will conduct relevant consultations on nuclear submarine cooperation between the United States, Britain and Australia in a transparent manner, and will not endorse any country's discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea.
For Andrea Herrera, surviving last year's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, is an everyday struggle. Not only was she there the day 19 children and two teachers were killed, but her 10-year-old stepbrother, Jose Flores, also lost his life in the adjacent classroom.

Herrera still grapples with the haunting memories.

"It just goes in my mind in loops, like the same thing over and over again," Herrera said.

She thought she would be able to see Flores and give him a hug after the attack, but instead, she wept when she heard he did not survive the shooting.

The whereabouts of Flores that day continue to trouble her, and she wonders how scared he must have been in the classroom. Her mental health and grades have been deteriorating since the shooting, according to her mother, Cynthia.

The Herreras have contemplated leaving, but the memory of Jose keeps them tethered to Uvalde.

Tensions in the town have also increased as the families of the victims have been seeking greater accountability for the actions on that day. Despite the district's investment of millions of dollars to bolster security measures across all public school campuses, including the installation of fencing and 600 security cameras, some families argue that not enough progress has been made.

Brett Cross lost his 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, and refuses to give up his fight for answers and change. He has spearheaded efforts at the local, state and federal levels, demanding accountability for the failures that occurred that day.

"If I stop, I'm useless," Cross said. "Uvalde doesn't want to be known as Uvalde anymore, you know they don't want it to be, 'Oh, we're known for Robb Elementary.' But the fact is, is that you are, because our school failed. Because our cops failed. Because our government failed. And you want me to stop? I've lost the kid. I ain't got anything else to lose."

One of the most glaring failures was the delayed response by law enforcement. It took 376 officers from over 20 agencies a staggering 77 minutes to breach the classroom door and stop the shooter. The breakdown in trust between the community and the police force is deeply felt for some.

Cross said it's "infuriating" to be policed by the same officers who were there the day of the shooting.

"There were officers in there that could have ended it ... but were told to stand down. And they listened," he said. "And then you see them, you get pulled over by them."

"It's infuriating ... because now I'm looking into the eyes of somebody that heard our children screaming, that heard the gunman reload and didn't rush in there," he said.

In an attempt to rebuild trust, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin recently hired an assistant police chief from outside the town. However, like the families of the victims, he awaits the results of the local district attorney's criminal investigation. The delay in receiving updates from the district attorney's office has left him disheartened.

"As mayor and I think I speak for the county judge, too, I'm not gonna just throw everything at the DA. But in one year's time, I've had not one briefing, not one," McLaughlin said.

CBS News reached out to Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell about the criminal investigation. She said it is still in the hands of the Texas Rangers and that one she receives their findings, her office will review them and present any potential charges to a Uvalde grand jury.

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A Family Feud participant is facing trial in Illinois for allegedly breaking into his estranged wifes home and fatally shooting her in a vicious attack.

Tim Bliefnick, 39, is charged with first-degree murder and home invasion in connection with the violent death of his 41-year-old wife Becky Bliefnick. Investigators say the couple was going through a contentious divorce that was in its final stages at the time of Bliefnicks fatal shooting on 23 February.

During the ongoing murder trial at the Adams County Courthouse in Quincy, prosecutors have presented evidence and witness testimony that they said prove Mr Bleifnick pried open his wifes second-storey window with a crowbar before shooting her 14 times, KHQA reports.

The tragedy comes nearly three years after Mr Bliefnick made an ominous joke during his appearance at ABCs Family Feud. Answering a question by host Steve Harvey on what his worst mistake had been on his wedding night, Mr Bliefnick said that it was saying I do  the answer was second on the board.

Now, the alleged murderer is facing between 45 years to life in prison if convicted for the shooting of his wife and the mother of his three children.

In an obituary for Bliefnick, she is described as a compassionate and generous mother who had found her true calling in nursing. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Bliefnick was a travel nurse at the Northeast Regional Medical Center and Hannibal Regional Hospital in Missouri.

Loved ones first became concerned when Bliefnick failed to pick up her sons from school.

Her body was then found on the floor in the bathroom of her home, with a towel underneath. Bliefnick was left terrified, bleeding, and alone after the fatal attack, prosecutors said on the first day of the trial on Monday.

Timothy Bliefnick (on left) jokes about marriage to Family Feud' host Steve Harvey (Family Feud)

In March, the Quincy Police Department served a search warrant at Mr Bleifnicks home. At the time, he denied any involvement with the crime and said through an attorney that he was surprised authorities didnt show up at his door sooner.

Given the circumstances, it is not surprising that the search warrant was issued and executed, the attorney told local news outlet Muddy River News. My only surprise is that it took this long to do. It is just as important that QPD conduct such as investigation to rule Tim OUT as a suspect so that investigative efforts can be spent elsewhere.

Mr Bliefnick has since entered a not-guilty plea.

Prosecutors have revealed during the first week of trial that they found chilling searches for how to wash off gunpowder, average police response time, and how to open a door with a crowbar. DNA from the crime scene also links Mr Bliefnick to the crime scene, according to prosecutors.

(Rebecca Bliefnick)

Adams County Assistant States Attorney Josh Jones told a jury of six women and six men that shell casings found in Mr Bliefnicks basement matched the casings that were found near his wifes body. Crime scene investigators also reportedly found Bleifnicks DNA in an Aldi bag found at her husbands home.

The couple had filed for divorce in early 2021, court filings show.

Mr Jones said during opening arguments that Mr Bliefnick had reportedly told his slain wife that she would not get his money. The prosecutor also told jurors that Bliefnick had texted a friend before her death that if anything happened to her, her husband was behind it.

Bliefnics body was found by her father William Postle. Before discovering the gruesome scene, Mr Postle said that his son-in-law texted asking him to check if Bleifnick was going to pick up the children.

This booking image provided by Adams County, Illl., administration, shows Timothy Bliefnick

Bliefnicks boyfriend Ted Johnson also took the stand on Tuesday. Testifying for the prosecution, Mr Johnson said that Bliefnick was looking forward to having her difficult divorce finalised.

Sarah Rilley, Bleifnicks sister, claimed that Bleifnick had first wanted to remain married to Mr Bliefnick for their three children but in the months leading up to her death had become afraid for his life.

If something ever happens to me, make sure the number one person of interest is Tim. I am putting this in writing that Im fearful he will somehow harm me, Bliefnick reportedly texted her sister in 2021.
FAMU Grad Who Posed Nude Questions Why U Of A Student Isnt Facing Backlash Over Stripper Photos: Do She Get A Pass Because Shes Bright?

Debates on Twitter have kick-started after risque graduation photos were posted online by a University of Arizona student, Rachel Davenport.

Like many of her peers, Davenport scheduled a graduation photo shoot on campus, but hers featured a stripper pole, clear stilettos and a red thong. Last year, a FAMU student named Terica Williams was under fire for posting a similar shot to Davenports. Instead, Williams graduation photo shoot involved posing in a nude body suit which made her appear nude.

Yall do her how yall did me. https://t.co/QaCBF2emPO  IG: TericaStar  (@TericaStar) May 22, 2023

The online scrutiny followed behind what many felt was a valid statement from Williams. The FAMU Alum tweeted that she expected Davenport to receive the same punishment and academic threats she had gone through the year before.

Yall do her how yall did me, Williams tweeted. Yall told me to die and sent death threats daily, she added.

Yall told me to die.  IG: TericaStar  (@TericaStar) May 22, 2023

I wonder if the school didnt let her walk at graduation like they did ole girl from FAMU, one tweet reads.

I wonder if the school didnt let her walk at graduation like they did ole girl from FAMU  Rich Eagle vs Poverty Falcon (@neon_gumbo) May 20, 2023

When Williams photos went viral online, many said she devalued HBCUs with her provocative shoot. Others reached out to FAMU requesting the school denied her graduating and walking at commencement. With her future in psychology at risk at the time, Williams and her family had to seek legal representation to fight the possibility of her losing her degree.

Yall sent me death threats daily.  IG: TericaStar  (@TericaStar) May 22, 2023

Davenports second graduation photo shows her posing on the stripper pole wearing clear stilettos, a white mini-dress and a pink sash under her cap and gown. When faced with opinionated tweets, Davenport noted the difference between hers and Williams shoots was nudity.

I also got a similar comment on my insta and yes I did walk- but you also cant really compare the situations other than we both look good? Im in a swimsuit and the FAMU girl was naked what matters is we both educated and fine as hell   rach  (@humanglowstick1) May 20, 2023

I also got a similar comment on my install and yes, I did walk- but you also cant really compare the situations other than we both look good? Im in a swimsuit and the FAMU girl is naked.what matters is were both educated and fine as hell, Davenport responded.

My name is Terica baby not the FAMU girl. And we all know the reason people was mad at me and not you. https://t.co/1VKz080bBv  IG: TericaStar  (@TericaStar) May 22, 2023

My name is Terica baby, not the FAMU girl. And we all know the reason people were mad at me and not you, Williams wrote in response to Davenport.

Not you thinking yours is not as bad when youre literally bussing it open on a pole????  libra baby (@myazsa1) May 21, 2023

Many supporters defended Williams calling Davenports tweet a lack of cognitive dissonance, and white privilege.

Not you thinking yours is not as bad when youre literally bussing it open on a pole??, another user tweeted at Davenport.

like what you see? Dont be shy, empty your wallet  pic.twitter.com/rhYGYUZvY7  rach  (@humanglowstick1) May 21, 2023

Davenport has even linked her Cash App QR Codes for followers to send funds for her graduate photos. What do you think about this incident  is it fair, or does U of A need to step in as FAMU did with Williams?
(Bloomberg) -- Estonias far right surged ahead of Prime Minister Kaja Kallass party in an opinion poll after the newly elected premier came under pressure for tax hikes and spending cuts.

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The ultranationalist EKRE party surged to 24.4% weeks after suffering a bruising election defeat to Kallass Reform party, which garnered 22.2%, according to a Norstat poll published Wednesday. Kallas scored a commanding election victory on March 5, buoyed by her staunch support of Ukraine and commitment to the NATO alliance.

Opposition parties led by EKRE for weeks have blocked a sweeping tax hike in parliament after Kallass three-party coalition signed off on the plan to shore up the Baltic nations budget deficit.

The increase, as well as the reversal of a child-benefits package, were not on the agenda ahead of the vote, leading critics to accuse her of breaking a campaign promise.

The poll signals a resurgence of nationalist forces in the nation of 1.3 million bordering Russia, showing that popular support for the far-right agenda is resilient. EKRE wants a halt to migration and accused Kallas of warmongering over Ukraine ahead of the election.

The far-right party is led by former Finance Minister Martin Helme, 47, a polarizing figure who gained notoriety for comments that drew accusations of racism and homophobia.

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Father beaten to death in front of home after incident at child's school, family says

A Maryland father of three is dead after a fight at his child's school came to his front door.

The man, identified by the Anne Arundel Police Department as 43-year-old Christopher Wright, was allegedly attacked outside his home in Baltimore's Brooklyn neighborhood on Friday, May 19. CBS News Baltimore and Anne Arundel police described the perpetrators as three or four white men, in their mid-20s to mid-30s.

According to police, the incident began earlier that day, after a confrontation involving one of his children at Brooklyn Park Middle School. Wright's fiancee, Tracy Karopchinsky, said that after her 14-year-old son got into a fight at the school, three teens and two adults came to the family's home, reported 11 News.

Wright's family told CBS News Baltimore that the beating was retaliation for the school confrontation.

"Chris came out to tell them, like, he's not coming out here to fight, and they threatened at one point to come in and get him, and then they said, 'If he's not going to fight, then you're going to fight,'" Karopchinsky told 11 News. She said that all three children were home at the time.

According to 11 News, the incident was caught on security cameras that belonged to Wright. A neighbor's cameras also captured the beating.

Anne Arundel police said that officers responded to the assault at around 5 p.m. local time. He was transported to an area trauma center for "treatment of a life-threatening injury."

Wright was hospitalized and died on Saturday, May 20, at around 9:45 p.m., police said.

Police said that detectives from the department's homicide unit are investigating the incident.

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The father of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves said he felt rage in the courtroom on Monday as he attended the arraignment for the man accused of killing his daughter and three other students.

You go through all kinds of emotions, but rage is definitely, probably, the primary emotion that you have, Steve Goncalves, father of 21-year-old Kaylee, told CNNs Jim Sciutto on CNN News Central.

Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee Goncalves, speaks to CNN's Jim Sciutto on May 23, 2023. - CNN

Bryan Kohberger, 28, appeared for his arraignment in a Latah County Court on Monday after he was indicted last week on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary for the November 13 killings of Kaylee, Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, at a home just outside the universitys main campus in Moscow, Idaho.

The trial was set for October 2 and is expected to last about six weeks. Prosecutors have 60 days from Monday to announce, in writing, whether they plan to seek the death penalty in this case.

Goncalves said he wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the suspect in hopes that it will send a message to any potential killers in Idaho.

Unfortunately, a lot of bad things happen across America, Goncalves said. But we moved here, and people move here for the safety that we have. We have to make sure that the world knows that you cant come to Idaho, you cant hunt our children down and you cant kill them in their beds and just be given, you know, a room to stay.

Victims families are banding together, father says

During Mondays hearing, the presiding judge read aloud Kohbergers rights and each of the murder and burglary charges outlined in the indictment. When asked if he understood the charges, Kohberger replied to each, Yes.

The judge then asked whether the suspect was prepared to announce his plea, to which his attorney replied, Your honor, we are standing silent. The unconventional legal strategy relies on an Idaho criminal rule which requires a judge to then enter a not guilty plea on the defendants behalf, effectively allowing him to avoid verbally committing to being guilty or not guilty, CNN previously reported.

Goncalves said he is in frequent contact with the families of the other victims who also attended the arraignment on Monday, adding, Were all learning how to go through this step.

Well have a full front showing up in that courtroom when the time comes, Goncalves said about the victims families, referring to the upcoming trial.

Goncalves also pushed back against the wide-ranging gag order in the case that has largely kept details from the public. Along with law enforcement and attorneys for the prosecution, the order also legally bars attorneys for any interested party in the case including any attorney representing a witness, victim, or victims family from speaking publicly about the case, CNN reported.

You know, whats the point of having a lawyer if a judge can just say your lawyer cant speak? said Goncalves, who said he wants the gag order to be lifted so that his familys attorney can speak on their behalf. The court will consider arguments against the gag order in a hearing on June 9.

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An FBI fugitive has been arrested, the Berkeley County Sheriffs Office officials confirmed.

Michael Burham, wanted on kidnapping, rape, and homicide charges, had been on the run for four days, according to WCIV News.

Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said that they received a call about a suspicious individual being spotted behind their shed around 3:30 p.m.

Burham was taken into custody at 5:17 p.m., Lewis told WCIV.

Lewis said Burham blurted out that he had been on the run and wanted something to drink.

He was given water while being evaluated by Berkeley County EMS. EMS then cleared Burham, according to WCIV.

ALSO READ: Missing Stanly County teen found safe in Alabama; man charged with child abduction

Lewis said Burham was not armed and was not bitten by the K9 dogs that helped track his him.

Burham was taken to the Berkeley County Sheriffs Office to be interviewed by the FBI. Lewis said it will be up to the FBI as to where he is booked.

I am grateful to all the law enforcement agencies who came together and put in hundreds of hours of hard work to get a dangerous man out of our communities. We also thank the many residents throughout the Charleston region who served as extra eyes on the streets, submitting countless tips and sightings. We all came together, and our communities are safer tonight because of it, Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano told WCIV.

BACKGROUND

On Sunday, officers were sent to an address after a kidnapping call. When they arrived, officers found two victims, who said they were from Pennsylvania, who had been kidnapped from their home and driven to North Charleston.

The victims told the officers that Burham was responsible for their kidnapping, WCIV reports.

Burham also has active warrants out of New York for rape and is the suspect in an open homicide investigation, police told WCIV.

(WATCH BELOW: Suspect kidnapped driver after convenience store robbery, CMPD says)
Federal officials on Wednesday indicted convicted South Carolina killer Alex Murdaugh for a host of financial crimes and, in a separate document, charged an alleged accomplice in a scheme involving the theft of some $4 million in insurance proceeds.

A 28-page indictment charged former lawyer Murdaugh with 22 counts of financial crimes, including money laundering, conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud.

Another federal court document made public Wednesday said Murdaughs accomplice, suspended Beaufort lawyer Cory Fleming, has also agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the $4 million insurance theft scheme stemming from the death of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh familys former housekeeper who died in a 2018 fall at the familys Colleton County estate.

He could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison on that charge.

Fleming, Murdaughs former law school classmate, was also charged with violating federal fraud laws in connection with the scheme, which involved the unlawful diverting of insurance proceeds to Murdaugh and away from the rightful owners.

Fleming is expected to plead guilty at 2 p.m. Thursday in Charlestons federal court before Judge Richard Gergel.

Alex (Murdaugh) has been cooperating with the U.S. Attorneys Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities, Murdaughs attorneys state Sen. Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, said in a statement. We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial. 

Murdaughs crimes date back to 2005, and many allegations involve former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte, the indictment charges. Murdaugh and Laffitte were involved in various schemes using Laffittes bank to divert money from Murdaughs personal injury legal clients to themselves, the indictment said.

Laffitte, who was convicted of federal bank fraud in a jury trial in November 2022, was repeatedly named as a co-conspirator in Murdaughs indictment but not charged. Laffitte has not yet been sentenced for his November fraud conviction.

Murdaugh stole millions of dollars while committing his alleged crimes over the years, the indictment charges.

Murdaugh was named throughout Flemings eight-page charging document, but was not charged in that document.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, South Carolinas U.S. Attorney Adair Boroughs said in a statement. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The federal charges naming Murdaugh, one of South Carolinas most notorious criminals, and his longtime friend Fleming, are the latest twists in the sprawling Murdaugh crime saga, which for nearly two years has been marked by dramatic turns.

It was not immediately clear why federal authorities charged Murdaugh and Fleming at this time as participants in a federal fraud scheme. Both have been indicted by state law enforcement officials, though neither has yet been tried.

A lawyer close to the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the federal laws involved have a statute of limitations, and that federal authorities may have wanted to charge Murdaugh and Fleming to act as a backstop in case there are any appellate issues with the state charges down the road.

Suspended Beaufort lawyer Cory Fleming, right, stands with his attorney Debbie Barbier, far right, before Judge Clifton Newman on Friday, April 21, 2023, in Hampton, S.C.

Murdaugh and Fleming have already been indicted for allegedly violating various state financial and anti-fraud laws by a state grand jury under the control of the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office.

Many of the alleged details in the new charges appear to be similar to those details alleged in state grand jury indictments.

On the state charges, the S.C. Attorney Generals Office plans to take Fleming to trial Sept. 11 in Beaufort for his part in an elaborate alleged scheme, whereby he and Murdaugh took advantage of Satterfields death to apply for and receive $4.3 million in insurance proceeds.

However, Flemings new guilty plea on federal fraud charges on roughly the same underlying facts as the state charges may influence whether he stands trial in Beaufort County.

The plea agreement signed by Fleming Monday was also signed by his Columbia attorney Debbie Barbier and the U.S. AttorneysOffice of South Carolina, as represented by federal prosecutors Emily Limehouse, Katie Stoughton and Winston Holliday.

Barbier declined immediate comment.

The S.C. Attorney Generals Office had no immediate comment Wednesday on what effect expected guilty pleas by Fleming and Murdaugh on federal crime charges will have on the states intended prosecution of the pair.

Alex Murdaugh in SC prison for double-murder

Murdaugh is already serving two consecutive life sentences in state prison for the June 2021 double murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul. Murdaugh, who initially told police he found their bodies at the dog kennels on the familys Colleton County estate, Moselle, on June 7, 2021, and claimed he didnt know who killed them.

The trial started in January in Walterboro, stretching six weeks until early March, when a Colleton County jury took three hours to find Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder.

Right before he was sentenced to prison by Judge Clifton Newman, Murdaugh claimed he was innocent, which Newman rejected.

An unusual feature of the murder trial was testimony by approximately 10 state witnesses, who said Murdaugh had committed numerous financial crimes, though Murdaugh had not yet been found guilty of any of those charges.

Normally, evidence in criminal trials is confined to the charges at hand.

But S.C. Attorney Generals lead prosecutor, Creighton Waters, convinced Newman allow financial crimes testimony, arguing that the looming threat that his financial crimes were going to be exposed was the motive that led Murdaugh to kill his wife and son to divert attention from himself to a mysterious murder.

To properly evaluate motive, the jury will need to understand the distinction between who Alex Murdaugh appeared to be to the outside world  a successful lawyer and scion of the most prominent family in the region  and who he was in real life only he fully knew  an allegedly crooked lawyer and drug user who borrowed and stole wherever he could to stay afloat and one step ahead of detection, Waters in a pre-trial filing last December.

The clouds of (Murdaughs) past were gathering into a perfect storm that was going to expose the real Alex Murdaugh to the world  and which would mean facing real accountability for his life, Waters wrote.

Descriptions of those alleged financial crimes had been revealed in numerous indictments over the past two years.

Since November 2021, Murdaugh has been named in 20 state grand jury indictments containing 101 separate charges against him in allegations that he fleeced numerous victims of $8.7 million. The victims included his law partners, his clients, his friends and even his own brother.

Various charges include money laundering, breach of trust (embezzlement) and computer crimes. Indictments said he used two accounts at two banks  Bank of America and Palmetto State Bank  to carry out his schemes.

Other state grand jury indictments charge him with evading state taxes of $619,391 that he was supposed to pay on unreported income of more than $9 million of unreported income from years 2011 to 2021.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Fetty Wap sentenced to 6 years in prison after admitting he conspired to deal cocaine

Brad Barket/Getty

Fetty Wap was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting he conspired to deal drugs.

Prosecutors said the rapper was part of a drug ring that dealt heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine.

Fetty Wap and all other defendants involved plead guilty to charges against them.

Rapper Fetty Wap has been sentenced to six years in prison in a federal drug trafficking case, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement Wednesday.

Fetty Wap  whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II  pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Prosecutors accused Fetty Wap of being part of a drug ring that dealt heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine in New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors alleged that Fetty Wap and his four co-defendants got the drugs narcotics on the West Coast and used the US Postal Service and drivers with hidden vehicle compartments to move them across the country to Long Island.

"The drugs were then distributed to dealers, who sold them on Long Island and in New Jersey," prosecutors said.

The other four defendants have also pleaded guilty and are still waiting to be sentenced.

During the investigation into the drug ring, prosecutors uncovered "approximately $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, two 9mm handguns, a rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, a .40 caliber pistol, and ammunition," according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Prosecutors had argued that Fetty Wap should be given more than the minimum sentence of five years because as a famous musician, he didn't need to deal drugs to earn money to begin with, according to a sentencing memo in the case, Insider previously reported.

But the rapper's lawyers argued in the same sentencing memo that funds had dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic with fewer opportunities for Fetty Wap to perform, so he turned to dealing drugs to support family members who have become dependent on him. Fetty Wap's lawyers said the rapper has nine children from seven different women.

"Suddenly it felt like his life was going in reverse and he became ashamed when he began to struggle to keep up the lifestyle he had created for so many," Attorney Elizabeth Macedonio wrote, according to Insider.

Macedonio said Fetty Wap now understands that he "does not have to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders" and is not likely to deal drugs again, leading her to recommend a lower sentence, Insider reported.

Read the original article on Insider
Fetty Wap, the New Jersey rapper who rose to fame with his 2015 single "Trap Queen," was sentenced to six years in federal prison Wednesday for his part in a New York-based drug-trafficking conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert also sentenced the musician, whose legal name is William Junior Maxwell II, to five years of post-release supervision. Seybert previously sentenced Maxwell's co-defendant Anthony Cyntje, a New Jersey corrections officer, to six years in prison, and four other co-defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

Maxwell, 31, and his co-defendants were accused of distributing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey.

Maxwell was arrested in October 2021, hours before he was set to take the stage at the Rolling Loud festival. He was subsequently released on bail, but his bail was was revoked after he allegedly threatened to kill someone and brandished a firearm during a FaceTime call. In August 2022, Maxwell pleaded guilty to the charges against him, which carried a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of nine years.

Fetty Wap

Manny Hernandez/Getty Fetty Wap

An attorney for Maxwell didn't immediately respond to EW's request for comment Wednesday.

According to the New York Times, the rapper apologized for his actions before being sentenced. "I only ever wanted to help my family," he said. "I never asked myself if it was all-the-way right."

According to a memorandum obtained by XXL, Maxwell's attorney previously asked for a lighter sentence and said his client's involvement in the drug-running scheme stemmed from mental health struggles and financial obligations exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But prosecutors lobbied for a longer term, arguing that Maxwell used his fame and music, including "Trap Queen," to "glamorize the drug trade."

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Ukrainian soldiers fix a damaged armored personnel carrier in Chasive Yar, west of the city of Bakhmut, April 10, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

The defense ministers of the European Union (EU) member states have failed to reach an agreement on new military aid to Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Brussels on Tuesday.

Borrell said after Tuesday's EU defense ministers' meeting that the overwhelming majority of member states had backed a proposal to increase the European Peace Facility budget by 3.5 billion euros (3.77 billion U.S. dollars), although he stressed that not all of it will be used to assist Ukraine.

"I still don't have unanimity on this, and it's still being discussed," he said, adding that he expected the remaining "hurdles" to be surmounted soon. He recalled that more than 10 billion euros in military support have already been provided to Ukraine.

Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 220,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March. These alone were worth 800 million euros and the EU was on track to provide 1 billion euros worth of ammunition.

"Our aim is to provide one million projectiles over the next 12 months," Borrell said, adding that the EU had already trained 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers and was on track to train 30,000 by the end of the year.

He explained that as part of a three-pronged strategy, member states are being asked to provide ammunition from their own stocks. There is also an effort for the joint procurement of 155 mm caliber ammunition and to boost the capability of European industry to manufacture the necessary ammunition.

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, attended the meeting and briefed ministers on the latest developments in the conflict in Ukraine.

Borrell welcomed the decision to initiate training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He said the training created a positive momentum that will eventually lead to the deployment of these jets in Ukraine.

"I am glad that pilot training has already started, and I hope that soon we will be able to provide this weapon to Ukraine," he said prior to the start of the meeting in Brussels.
Fewer Black, Latino and male high schoolers want to go to college, survey finds

A new survey of high school seniors graduating in 2023 found a sizable gap between young, Latino, Black and male students who want to go to college compared with those who believe theyll go.

The Class of 2023: Who Plans to Go to College? report published Monday by YouthTruth, a national nonprofit organization that conducts education surveys, canvassed 25,000 respondents from 223 schools in 21 states.

While 73% of Latino students surveyed said they wanted to go to college, the number represented a 6% drop since 2019, while 64% said they expected to go to college. Black students saw a similar gap  74% said they want to go, down 5% since 2019, while 66% said they expected to go.

The numbers for Latino and Black students closely reflect the national average, which sits at 74% for all seniors who aspire to attend college and 66% for all who expect to go.

Theres this durable gap between aspiration and expectations that has not recovered through the pandemic, Jennifer De Forest, the reports lead author and director of organizational learning and communications at YouthTruth, told NBC News. For kids who have less options, less capital ... theyre the ones who are finding less opportunity.

Overall, females expressed significantly higher aspirations and expectations at 83% and 77%, respectively, compared with males at 68% and 57%.

For these young men, theyre really questioning college at its essence, De Forest said. Theyre not feeling like they have an opportunity to do the things that interest them that are purposeful and apply.

When it comes to expectations to attend a four-year college, the percentage of all seniors expecting to attend has held steady at 46% since 2019. The percentage of all students expecting to attend a community college dropped from 25% in 2019 to 20% in 2023.

For Black, Latino and male seniors, the expectation to attend community college diminished further for each group individually. Since 2019, Black students' expectations dropped from 25% to 17% in 2023; 23% to 18% for males and 34% to 27% for Latino students.

With declining college enrollments and undergraduate degree attainment  which fell last year for the first time in a decade  researchers are concerned about community college pathways for underrepresented students.

The large themes were students, particularly Black and Hispanic ... wanting more end-to-end support through the process of understanding how college works, how to choose college  not just the application process, De Forest said. They need the whole system demystified.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The intensity of fighting on the flanks near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast has been decreasing on 24 May.

Source: Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defence

Quote: "During the day, the intensity of fighting on the flanks in the suburbs of Bakhmut has been decreasing. But this does not mean that the occupiers are getting weaker. On the contrary, the enemy is trying to strengthen their positions on the flanks and relies on artillery, launching constant attacks."

Details: At the same time, she stated that the Ukrainian forces are "gradually advancing". In the urban part of Bakhmut, the number of Russian assaults has decreased, and the Russians are changing the deployed units.

"Our defenders are controlling a certain part of the Litak area in the southwest of the city," Maliar reported.

Background:

On 22 May, Maliar reported that the Russian occupiers are conducting mopping up operations in occupied districts of Bakhmut, while fighting for control over flanks in the north and south of the suburbs is ongoing.

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The generative AI tool ChatGPT is revolutionising filmmaking

At an AI talk on a Cannes beach, a presenter's voice is cloned and used to say a random phrase in three languages, while another's face is replaced live on screen as they speak.

Few of the film buffs attending the premiere industry festival are shocked.

Ever since the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT took the world by storm six months ago, spurring an AI race among tech giants, the technology has shaken up the film industry.

The use of AI to write scripts is one of the leading concerns among Hollywood movie and TV writers who are in their third week of a strike that has upended productions.

However the technology is revolutionising everything from voice acting, to analysing scripts and coming up with a budget, to creating mock-ups of scenes before you even pick up a camera.

"New things are created every single day," says Quinn Halleck, a 25-year-old filmmaker who is about to release a three-part short movie called "./ Sigma_001" which is about a sentient AI being, and uses AI from conception to marketing and distribution.

"It's not just one tool, it's sort of sprinkled throughout the workflow process," he tells AFP on the sidelines of a panel on AI.

This ranges from asking ChatGPT what a character could be like, what her backstory is, and "riffing" off that to create ideas.

Telling an anecdote about a showrunner who hires writers by giving them the same prompt as he gives ChatGPT and seeing if they perform better, he argues the "bar has been raised" to come up with great ideas.

But while some assistant roles may disappear, he believes a human director remains essential.

"You still have to come up with the ideas, you have to create the prompts and curate the answers."

- Deepfake technology -

The world's leading film festival, taking place on the French Riviera, got a hefty dose of AI with a lengthy scene de-aging Harrison Ford, 80, in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny".

While producers have ruled out using AI to keep the role going, actors like Tom Hanks believe it will allow him to keep acting long after his death.

Hanks is currently being de-aged in his upcoming movie "Here", with help from deepfake, face-swapping technology from AI firm Metaphysic.

The company's co-founder Tom Graham says technology has bridged the so-called "uncanny valley" -- the visceral human rejection of less-than-realistic androids -- and is now creating deepfakes where you "absolutely can't tell the difference".

The company is behind Deepfake Tom Cruise, a TikTok account that perfectly imitates the actor, and also created a hyper-real Elvis Presley who morphed into Simon Cowell and his co-judges on an episode of "America's Got Talent".

While filmmakers are brimming with excitement over the technology's potential, questions of its abuse hang over the session.

"This set of technologies represents, you know, a set of tectonic social shifts like the industrial revolution, which will play out over the next 20-50 years and people should be worried about what happens," Graham tells AFP.

"Unfortunately, I don't believe that you can stop the advancement of the technology because a lot of it is open source. There's not really anything to turn off."

His advice: "You should try to own and control the rights to your biometric data, how you sound, how you look, and really kind of lock that down."

- Voice cloning -

Magdalena Zielinska of ElevenLabs in Poland which claims to have created the "most expressive" AI voices available, says tools to check if a voice is synthetic will be essential.

Unlike the robotic AI voices of the past, models have learned to replicate the pace and intonation of human voices.

She says the tool allows directors to see how a scene will sound, or advertisers to see what kind of voice resonates most with clients. It can also be used to fix problems in post-production.

Zielinska says the technology could allow an actor to license their voice and do more projects at the same time.

A voice actor who fled the war in Ukraine was struggling to find work in Poland, and is "now making money", she says, after using the technology to clean up his English accent.

French director Mathias Chelebourg foresees that 90 percent of overall production will eventually be done by AI on movie sets.

"Hire right now an AI specialist in your team, whatever your job is, and hire it now, because in one year you will regret it," he warns.

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The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary Are In

Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr., a decorated scholar of Black history and culture, is the editor in chief of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English. (NYT)

In a recent online presentation, editors and researchers working on a first-of-its-kind dictionary of African American English gave a status update on the project. As academics explained their various methodologies, slides displayed behind them showed words that are more often associated with Twitter than Oxford: Bussin, virtual attendees were told, means impressive or tasty, while a boo is a lover.

Those were two of the first 100 words that the Oxford University Press said it had prepared to include in the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, the hopeful result of the three-year research project announced last spring.

The researchers say they aim to publish a first batch of 1,000 definitions  some words and phrases will have more than one  by March 2025. But the more important goal of the project, which will be edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr., a scholar of African American history at Harvard University, is to underscore the significance of African American English and to create a resource for future research into Black speech, history and culture. Among his other bona fides, Gates is something of a dictionary nerd.

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When I was in the third grade, we studied the dictionary, he said in a recent interview. We had a unit on how to use the Websters dictionary, and even then  third grade, that means I was 8 years old  I thought the dictionary was magical.

Gates now collects and cherishes rare and historical dictionaries, including one he bought in the early days of the pandemic, when the future did not seem as sturdy as it once was.

I was sitting here in this kitchen, sheltering in, doing a Zoom, he recalled. I said: You know what? We could die at any time. Im going to buy a first edition of the Samuel Johnson dictionary.

To support their etymological claims, researchers and editors from Oxford Languages and the Harvard University Hutchins Center for African & African American Research have drawn on lyrics from jazz, hip-hop, blues and R&B as well as letters, diaries, newspaper and magazine articles, Black Twitter, slave narratives and abolitionist writings. Individual entries will be explained using quotations pulled from Black literature, including examples from Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison and Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the main challenges for the researchers is finding Black sources to confirm the use of the words.

The further back in history, the less we can find Black people having agency over how were written about, said Bianca Jenkins, a lexicographer working on the project. Due to enslavement, Black people were prevented by law from being educated, from being taught to read. Black people had to really take it upon ourselves and educate ourselves.

But it is not simply about the words that appear in letters, books, poems and lyrics. It is also about the words that morphed into other pronunciations and evolved to have a veiled meaning, for the safety of Black people.

Black people take language and wrap it around themselves, Gates said. They turn words inside out.

We are endlessly inventive with language, and we had to be, he continued. We had to develop what literary scholars call double-voiced discourse. We had to learn to speak the masters language, then you had to learn to speak under the masters so that you could have a coded way of speaking English that would allow you to voice your feelings without being killed, whipped or  worst-case scenario  without being lynched.

The dictionary will exist as a living record well after March 2025 has come and gone: According to Gates, the public will continue to be able to suggest entries for consideration even after the first edition is published. Gates recalled asking his cousin, who fought in the Vietnam War, to add a few words. He submitted 200, Gates said, his wide smile revealing the apples of his cheeks.

In April, Oxford Languages and the Hutchins Center shared 10 entries with The New York Times. Below are selected definitions, variant forms and etymologies.

bussin (adjective and participle): 1. Especially describing food: tasty, delicious. Also more generally: impressive, excellent. 2. Describing a party, event, etc.: busy, crowded, lively. (Variant forms: bussing, bussin.)

grill (noun): A removable or permanent dental overlay, typically made of silver, gold or another metal and often inset with gemstones, which is worn as jewelry.

Promised Land (n.): A place perceived to be where enslaved people and, later, African Americans more generally, can find refuge and live in freedom. (Etymology: A reference to the biblical story of Jewish people seeking freedom from Egyptian bondage.)

chitterlings (n. plural): A dish made from pig intestines that are typically boiled, fried or stuffed with other ingredients. Occasionally also pig intestines as an ingredient. (Variant forms: chitlins, chittlins, chitlings, chitterlins.)

kitchen (n.): The hair at the nape of the neck, which is typically shorter, kinkier and considered more difficult to style.

cakewalk (n.): 1. A contest in which Black people would perform a stylized walk in pairs, typically judged by a plantation owner. The winner would receive some type of cake. 2. Something that is considered easily done, as in This job is a cakewalk.

old school (adj.): Characteristic of early hip-hop or rap music that emerged in New York City between the late 1970s to the mid 1980s, which often includes the use of couplets, funk and disco samples, and playful lyrics. Also used to describe the music and artists of that style and time period. (Variant form: old skool.)

pat (verb): 1. transitive. To tap (the foot) in rhythm with music, sometimes as an indication of participation in religious worship. 2. intransitive. Usually of a persons foot: to tap in rhythm with music, sometimes to demonstrate participation in religious worship.

Aunt Hagars children (n.): A reference to Black people collectively. (Etymology: Probably a reference to Hagar in the Bible, who, with her son, Ishmael, was cast out by Sarah and Abraham [Ishmaels father], and became, among some Black communities, the symbolic mother of all Africans and African Americans and of Black womanhood.)

ring shout (n.): A spiritual ritual involving a dance where participants follow one another in a ring shape, shuffling their feet and clapping their hands to accompany chanting and singing. The dancing and chanting gradually intensify and often conclude with participants exhibiting a state of spiritual ecstasy.

In addition to appearing in the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, the entries will also be added to the wider word bank of the Oxford English Dictionary, Gates said.

That is the best of both worlds, because we want to show how Black English is part of the larger of Englishes, as they say, spoken around the world, he said.

More than just a collection of words, Gates said, the new dictionary will serve as a record of the ways Black people have molded the English language to protect themselves and also keep a morsel of autonomy in a world that would have them have none.

Everybody has an urgent need for self-expression, he said, adding, You need to be able to communicate what you feel and what you think to other people in your speech community.

That is why we refashioned the English language.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
FIRST ON CNN: Parents of Idaho student murder suspect have been subpoenaed to testify before Pennsylvania grand jury

The parents of Bryan Kohberger have been subpoenaed to testify before a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, investigative grand jury, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Kohbergers father is expected to testify before the impaneled grand jury in a sealed proceeding in Pennsylvania Thursday, according to the source.

His mother previously testified before the secretive panel, the source said.

The parents of the man indicted for the killings of four University of Idaho students were subpoenaed in the Pennsylvania jurisdiction where they live and where Bryan Kohberger was arrested last December.

Their compelled testimony under oath may be shared with prosecutors in Idaho, according to the source. Pennsylvania law allows judges to release transcripts of witness testimony before grand juries to other investigative agencies after a court hearing.

An attorney representing Kohbergers parents tried unsuccessfully to have the subpoenas quashed, the source said.

The attorney retained by Michael and Maryann Kohberger declined to comment to CNN about the grand jury proceedings.

The Latah County Prosecutors Office declined to comment to CNN citing the gag order in effect in the Kohberger case.

Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, Monday, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. - Zach Wilkinson/Pool/Reuters

By law, a Monroe County grand jury can only review potential crimes that occurred within Monroe County, Pennsylvania. It is unclear what potential crime they are investigating.

Grand jury proceedings are secretive by nature and documents related to the proceedings are sealed.

Kohberger was arrested at his parents Pennsylvania home, almost seven weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead November 13 in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

He drove from Pullman, Washington, where he was studying criminal justice to Pennsylvania for the holidays with his father and stayed at the family home from mid-December until his arrest in the early hours of December 30, CNN has previously reported.

After his arrest law enforcement searched the home and Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra, which authorities had been looking for in connection with the killings.

Kohberger was extradited to Idaho to face the murder charges in January.

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On its first deployment, the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier makes historic visit near NATO's northern frontline with Russia

USS Gerald R. Ford in the Oslo fjord alongside Norwegian military vessels and aircraft on May 24. Norwegian Armed Forces/Onar Diggers Aase

US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in Oslo for a port call on Wednesday.

The Ford is the first US aircraft carrier to visit Norway in 65 years, according to the US Navy.

The visit reflects NATO's increasing focus on the North Atlantic and Arctic amid tension with Russia.

USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in Oslo on Wednesday morning, making the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier the first US flattop to visit Norway in over six decades.

The visit, which is the first stop on Ford's first operational deployment, reflects the increasing focus that NATO navies have put on the waters of the North Atlantic and the Arctic amid heightened tensions with Russia.

Ford departed Norfolk, Virginia on May 2, sailing for the first time as part of a carrier strike group. It is deployed to the US Navy Europe-Africa area of operations and has conducted "joint and combined" training and operations "to help reduce maritime risks associated with increased activity in the high north," the Navy said in a press release.

Norwegian military helicopters perform a fly-by of USS Gerald R. Ford in the Oslo fjord on May 24. US Navy/MCS2 Brian Glunt

On Monday, US and Norwegian officials visited the Ford as it operated in the North Sea. The carrier has integrated a Norwegian frigate into its strike group, displaying US and Norwegian interoperability and "building collective operational experience at-sea," the Navy said.

By making its first port call in Oslo, the Ford became the first US aircraft carrier to visit Norway in 65 years, a milestone that underscores increasing defense cooperation between the US and Norway as well as NATO's broader focus on improving its ability to operate in the North Atlantic and the Arctic.

During a major NATO exercise in late 2018, USS Harry S. Truman became the first US aircraft carrier to sail into the Arctic in nearly 30 years. Since then US warships have "routinely been in the high north," the US Navy's top officer said last year, referring to a historic deployment to the Barents Sea in 2020 and a short-notice deployment to the North Atlantic in 2022.

Last spring, the British Royal Navy sent HMS Prince of Wales into the Arctic for seven weeks, the first deployment to the region by either of the UK's new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.

Sailors man the rails as USS Gerald R. Ford as sails in the Oslo fjord on May 24. US Navy/MCS2 Brian Glunt

US and Norwegian officials both hailed the Ford's visit to Oslo.

Norway's defense minister called "a clear expression of the security guarantees" provided by NATO and of the "close cooperation and partnership" Norway has with the US. Ford's commanding officer, Capt. Rick Burgess, called it "an honor, joy, and thrill to visit Oslo and show our cherished partner the Navy's newest class of aircraft carriers."

While in Oslo, local officials will visit the carrier and US sailors will tour the city. Thousands of people lined the shores of Oslo's fjord the see the Ford as it arrived, causing traffic backups, according to Norwegian media.

The Ford's nuclear reactors also prompted specific precautions. Norway's Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety helped plan the visit and and Oslo's waters will be tested for radiation before, during, and after the carrier's stay.

USS Gerald R. Ford in the Oslo fjord with Norwegian navy vessels on May 24. Norwegian Armed Forces/Onar Diggers Aase

US officials have said little about where the Ford will go and what it will do during its deployment, and it's not clear the carrier will actually sail into the Arctic  Burgess told Norwegian media that the ship's crew "looks forward to work by the Arctic Circle"  but the ship's port call in the Norwegian capital comes as NATO forces conduct a major air- and missile-defense exercise called Formidable Shield in the North Atlantic.

Russia's powerful Northern Fleet  which is based on the Kola Peninsula near the border with Norway and operates submarines that are a growing concern for NATO militaries  also announced drills this week, notifying ships and aircraft to avoid a vast swath of the Barents Sea from Wednesday to Friday.

While Ford's stop in Oslo is historic, US Navy vessels are visiting Norway more often. US submarines  the whereabouts of which are usually closely guarded  have become a more frequent presence in Norwegian ports, which allow those subs to pick up supplies and return to their operating areas more quickly.

"We have increased activity in the Atlantic. We keep a very close eye on that, and our NATO partners and allies are absolutely critical to that," Vice Adm. William Houston, commander of US submarine forces, said in April.

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Theres just something about Cannes.

No film festival can rival it for delivering old-school Hollywood glamour. And the 76th edition hasnt suffered from a lack of star power during its first half, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman all shining on the red carpet.

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But Cannes isnt just an opportunity to see the biggest actors on the planet on the biggest stage in moviedom. Its also a chance to take stock of the industry and the challenges it faces. Theres no graver one, certainly, than the Writers Guild strike thats put the TV and movie business in a holding pattern, along with the possibility that actors and directors will join the picket lines when their contracts expire in June. So for all the glitziness of the premieres, theres also an underlying anxiety. Will the good times last much longer?

Johnny Depp Makes a Comeback (Kinda)

Having scored a major victory after a Virginia court ruled in his favor in his defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard, Depp was hoping to use Cannes and the premiere of Jeanne du Barry as a launching pad for a return. And the results are  mixed. The crowd at the festival showered Depp with a seven-minute ovation on opening night. But at the press conference the following day, his answers to reporters asking about the cloud that still hangs over him couldve used some work. They were bizarre and rambling. One U.S. distributor summed up the difficulties facing the actor when asked if their company would buy Jeanne du Barry: Im not touching anything with Johnny Depp in it.

Auteur de Force

Its hard to predict what will pop at a film festival. This year at Cannes, the overwhelming feeling on the ground is the strength of the lineups visionary directors. After a 10-year hiatus, Jonathan Glazer came storming back with The Zone of Interest, an unnerving look at the domestic lives of a Nazi family living in the shadow of Auschwitz. And he had company among the auteur set. Todd Haynes brought sexy subversiveness with May December, while Martin Scorsese scored with Killers of the Flower Moon. This Cannes the brightest stars may be the ones behind the camera.

Slow (or Silent?) Marche

Cannes isnt just a place to premiere movies; its also a great setting to sell them. Yet sales agents warned Variety that the market would be quiet this year. Announcing multimillion-dollar sales of finished films and star packages would be disruptive and disrespectful of picketing writers. Indeed, movement around sales has been slower than a French waiter. Haynes May December scored an $11 million deal from Netflix, but thats the rare success story. Elsewhere, projects like Dave Bautistas Cooler, Sylvester Stallones Cliffhanger reboot and Nicolas Cages Lords of War still need a home.

Indiana Jones Is Ready to Retire

Harrison Ford is bidding farewell to the globe-trotting archaeologist who made him a cinema icon. But based on the tepid reaction to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, he should have hung up the fedora long ago. The reviews were lukewarm, and while the movie received a standing ovation, it felt more obligatory than enthusiastic.

Opulence is backbut perhaps not for long

Cannes is synonymous with elegance, and that doesnt come cheap. Vanity Fair, Warner Bros. Discovery and amfAR all threw extravagant bashes at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in nearby Antibes. Studios shelled out to bring Asteroid City and Killers of the Flower Moon to France. Thats a lot of hair and makeup, hotel and transportation fees. All of these costs come as media conglomerates lay off tens of thousands of people, share prices get battered as Wall Street sours on streaming, and the WGA is holding out for better terms. Frugality may cut into the fromage next year.

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Fla. Man, 23, Shrugs Off Losing Right Arm in Alligator Attack: 'It's Not The End of the World'

"I didnt lose my life, I lost an arm," Jordan Rivera said, after a 10 ft. alligator bit off his right arm on Sunday when he fell into a pond in Port Charlotte

NBC News/Youtube Jordan Rivera

A Florida man is speaking out after his arm was bitten off by a 10-foot alligator.

Jordan Rivera, 23, was attacked by the large reptile after falling into a pond during a bathroom break behind Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte on Sunday, according to a press release from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that was obtained by PEOPLE.

The incident took place at 1:40 a.m. local time, authorities said. Rivera was transported to Gulf Coast Hospital in Fort Myers where his right arm was amputated just above the elbow, a spokesman for Charlotte County Fire and EMS told the Associated Press.

Rivera claims not to remember the attack, only the moment right before and afterwards. He woke up in hospital, and has a surprisingly positive outlook about the incident despite his serious injury.

I didnt lose my life, I lost an arm," Rivera told NBC affiliate WBBH in Fort Myers, speaking from his hospital bed. "Its not the end of the world."



Related: 23-Year-Old Man Loses an Arm After Being Attacked by Alligator Near Pond Outside Florida Bar

Photo  Bonish Photography / iStockphoto. Rivera partially lost his right arm in the alligator attack

"Those gators, I didnt truly understand them until I woke up in the hospital and, Oh, gator got your arm,' " he said. "They got my elbow. So, I dont have an elbow."

Rivera added: "I can still move my arm around and whatnot."



The Florida native shared to WBBH that he had gone outside after refusing to wait in line for the bathroom in the bar, and must have either tripped or the ground below me just went down" as he "ended up in the water."

Thats literally the last thing I remember, Rivera stated.

Related: 11-Foot Alligator Attacks and Kills Florida Woman, 85, Who Was Walking Her Dog

He recalls feeling "confusion" when he woke up after the accident. "I was like Whoa,' " he told the outlet. "Because I just woke up and I was just sitting here. And I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was and I was like, Whoa. "

It kind of feels like my arm is just there, but not there," he said.

Following the attack, the alligator was removed by Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission trappers and euthanized, according to WBBH.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

A spokesperson for Charlotte County Fire & EMS said of the incident: "The responding crew treated a male patient who had an above the elbow amputation of his upper right extremity. Bystanders applied a tourniquet to the patient before we arrived. The patient was airlifted to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Ft. Myers."

Related: Fla. Man Hospitalized After Alligator Bites His Face During Swim Near Tampa

Teresa Lessa, Riveras mother, shared her relief at her son being alive, despite the traumatic experience, telling WBBH: "Thats the best thing, is that I have him. Yes, arm gone, very traumatic. But hes here."

Rivera described the incident as being "almost out of a movie," and spoke of his gratitude to those who helped him and brought him to safety.

"I call them angels that were there. That saved his life, Lessa said. "The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet, to me, its a miracle that hes here."



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Californias especially stormy winter has rejuvenated a long-dead lake.

Tulare Lake, less than an hour's drive from downtown Fresno, was at one point the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi.

Settlers and farmers living in the region used its waters for irrigation and for consumption. By the early 1900s, the lake was depleted, leaving behind a dusty bed.

Now, approximately 120 years later, run-off from a series of massive winter storms that hit California is breathing new life into the lake, and expanding it to more than 180 square miles  or approximately the size of Lake Tahoe.

While an influx of water is typically a blessing for the oft drought-plagued state, the enlargement of Tulare Lake has been indiscriminate while clawing back its former dominion, paying no mind to the homes and fields that residents built there in its absence.

Photos from nearby Corcoran and the surrounding basin show the extent of the lake's reclamation; roofs and treetops poking just above the waterline; tractors and cars half-submerged, wheels likely deep in the muddy bed. In some areas, roads simply vanish into the drink.

An aerial view of floodwaters inundating farmland in the reemerging Tulare Lake, in California (Getty Images)

The visuals of the water's advance will likely only become more shocking, as the lake is still growing. Runoff from snow dumped by the onslaught of atmospheric rivers could expand the lake to as much as 260 square miles, according to the Fresno Bee, citing the California Office of Emergency Services and the state's Department of Water Resources.

Officials at the Department of Water Resources have estimated that by the end of May the water in Tulare Lake will approach or exceed 620,000 acre-feet. By the peak of the lake's growth  likely the end of May or mid-July  officials estimate a 50 per cent chance the lake reaches approximately 700,000 acre-feet, and a 10 per cent chance it expands to 931,000 acre-feet.

Water from the re-emerging Tulare Lake engulfs a road in Helm Corner (EPA)

An acre-foot equates to 326,000 gallons of water, or enough to cover an entire acre of water in one foot of water. Tulare Lake will likely exceed the water storage capacities of Lake Arrowhead  approximately 228,000 acre-feet  Lake Kaweah and Lake Success, with capacities of 185,000 acre feet and 82,000 acre-feet, respectively.

California is at once dealing with an overabundance of water in some regions and drought in others. State water officials hope the situation at Tulare Lake will provide them a means to use one problem to solve the other by diverting the floodwaters into the California Aqueduct.

There are multiple concurrent efforts under way  to move water around and ultimately protect communities in the Central Valley, Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the state Office of Emergency Services, told the Fresno Bee. We are in significantly better shape than we were several weeks ago. We  are not forecasting nearly as severe damage as perhaps we were several weeks ago.

He noted that just because mitigation efforts were in the works does not mean that the expansion of Tulare Lake will free of danger for those in the region.

While perhaps the most serious risk may have been averted, we dont know what we dont know yet in terms of how fast the water comes down the mountain, what levee may have squirrels in it that were not aware of or a million other things that we dont necessarily control as human beings, he said.
A Florida educators group said on Wednesday that Gov. Ron DeSantiss (R) authoritarian policies would destroy U.S. public schools, as the Florida governor gears up to announce his bid for the presidency.

Gov. DeSantis policies have been counter to core American principles, Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, told the Tallahassee Democrat. He has attacked free thought in Floridas preK-12 schools, colleges and universities with laws that limit instruction and safe learning environments for students.

Education has been a focus of DeSantiss anti-woke push in the Sunshine state. The Florida governor signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed Dont Say Gay by its opponents, into law last year, barring classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for kindergarten through third grade.

It was expanded earlier this month to cover prekindergarten through eighth grade, and certain restrictions were placed on instruction in Florida high schools as well.

DeSantis signed the Stop WOKE Act last year, restricting how race is discussed in schools and workplaces. A bill signed this month also barred Florida colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

His authoritarian approach to governing schools from the governors office through actions against school board members and superintendents has created a system of fear that shortchanges student learning, Spar said.

A DeSantis presidency would likely take those divisive policies to a national level, destroying the very fabric of our country, a strong system of high-quality public schools, he added.

DeSantis filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday for his long-awaited bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He is reportedly set to announce his campaign in a Twitter discussion with CEO Elon Musk later in the day.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
 Flash

The logo of TikTok is seen on the screen of a smartphone in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, Aug. 30, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Social networking platform TikTok filed a lawsuit Monday against the western U.S. state of Montana, seeking to overturn the state's ban on the video-sharing app.

The move came after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 last week, making Montana the first U.S. state to prohibit the use of or access to the social network.

"We are challenging Montana's unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana," said TikTok, based in Los Angeles and specializing in user-made short videos, in a statement. "We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts."

TikTok's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court, stated that "every month, more than 150 million Americans use the app to express themselves and connect with others" and that the ban violates the First Amendment.

The lawsuit also stated that Montana has enacted some "extraordinary and unprecedented measures based on nothing more than unfounded speculation."

"To halt this unlawful conduct, Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgement and order invalidating and preliminarily and permanently enjoining Defendant from enforcing the TikTok Ban," said the company in its complaint.

Another lawsuit has also been filed against Montana by five TikTok content creators last week. The plaintiffs, who have diverse occupations, such as businesswomen, a rancher, a student and a veteran, all create, publish, view, interact with and share TikTok videos with "significant audiences."

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted last week that "this law tramples on our free speech rights under the guise of national security and lays the groundwork for excessive government control over the Internet."
Photograph: Nick Rohlman/AP

The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has officially declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, rolling out the news with a campaign video and a glitch-riddled event on Twitter with the owner of the social media site, Elon Musk.

DeSantis filed paperwork on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, before his planned event with Musk and an interview with Fox News later on Wednesday evening.

As governor of Florida, DeSantis has pursued divisive, culture war-focused policies, including signing a six-week abortion ban and targeting the teaching of LGBTQ+ and race issues in public schools.

In his campaign video, DeSantis said he was running to lead our great American comeback and pitched Florida as a model for the nation. We proved it can be done, DeSantis said in a voiceover. We chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination, law and order over rioting and disorder.

The announcement was long expected. DeSantis won re-election in a landslide last November, published a campaign-oriented memoir in February and was widely reported to be staffing up while visiting states that will vote early in the primary next year.

He retains support from powerful donors, has amassed significant campaign funds and is consistently a clear second to Donald Trump in polling of the Republican field.

Related: Fewer pronouns, more guns: Ron DeSantiss plan to turn the US into Florida

DeSantis kicked off his campaign with an hour-long live interview on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk. The event, billed as groundbreaking by the billionaire Twitter owner, got off to a rocky start after technical issues crashed the audio live stream several times, leading to minutes of silence.

We got so many people here that we are kind of melting the servers, which is a good sign, said David Sacks, the Republican donor and friend of Elon Musk who moderated the audio event.

Once things got rolling, DeSantis took swipes at the media, Covid public health mandates, and what he branded the woke Olympics of the left. Reinforcing his hardline agenda on education and immigration, realms where he has pushed unprecedented, authoritarian measures as governor, he vowed to go further than Donald Trump had been able to.

We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican party in recent years, DeSantis said in the event with Musk after the technical issues were largely resolved.

Taking a veiled swipe at Trump, his biggest rival for the Republican nomination, DeSantis said: Government is not about entertainment, not about building a brand.

Boosted by firm control of his state legislature, DeSantis has established a significant presence on the hard right of the Republican party, seeking to offer Trumpist policies favoured by the party base without the drama and controversy of Trump himself.

But DeSantis has not managed to reel Trump in, lagging in polling even as the former president faces extraordinary and mounting legal problems.

Amid widespread reporting of donor dissatisfaction with DeSantiss perceived lack of interpersonal skills  a weakness gleefully seized on by Trump  a string of Florida Republicans have endorsed the former president.

DeSantis has also embroiled himself in a controversial power struggle with Disney, one of the largest employers in his state.

Disney opposed DeSantiss so-called dont say gay law, targeting the teaching of gender and LGBTQ+ issues. In return, DeSantis sought to remove self-governing powers the company has long enjoyed around its resort near Orlando.

The fight has both ensnared DeSantis in a courtroom battle and damaged his standing with pro-business Republicans.

Democrats, political observers and pollsters say DeSantis has moved too far right to appeal to general election voters, should he overhaul Trump to win the Republican nomination.

Protesters gathered on Wednesday outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, Florida, as Ron DeSantis was expected to publicly announce his run for president. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters

On Wednesday, Maxwell Frost, a progressive Democratic congressman, told the Guardian: Whats happened in Florida should scare every single person across the entire country.

Governor Ron DeSantis running for president and even being within striking distance of the Oval Office should frighten anyone who values democracy, voting rights, civil rights, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

Hes repeatedly supported cuts to Medicare and social security, a lot of his focus is on toxic culture wars, book bans, attacking LGBTQ+ youth, erasing history  his quote-unquote Florida blueprint is actually a disaster for families across the state.

The next part of his story is to get the far-right, Maga extremist part of the Republican party on his side to out-Trump Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis is not fit to be president because he has not once proven he can and will do the right thing for the people hes supposed to represent.

DeSantis entered Congress in 2012 and became governor in 2018. Before entering politics, he was a navy lawyer. Questions have been raised about his actions while posted to Guantanamo Bay, the prison camp leased from Cuba at which prisoners were tortured in the years after 9/11. DeSantis has said he was a junior officer without authority to authorise anything.

Related: Ron DeSantis in Guantanamo: how questions about his past haunt the Florida governor

In April, DeSantis mounted an overseas trip. Formally meant to strengthen Florida trade links with Japan, Israel and the UK, the excursion was widely seen as preparation for a presidential run, an attempt to strengthen foreign policy credentials questioned after gaffes including calling the Russian invasion of Ukraine a territorial dispute.

Agencies contributed to this report
Florida man who lost arm in an alligator attack: 'It's not the end of the world'

Florida man who lost arm in an alligator attack: 'It's not the end of the world'

A Florida man whose right arm was bitten off by a 10-foot alligator brushed off losing a limb in the attack, because as he puts it, "Its not the end of the world."

Jordan Rivera, 23, fell into a pond behind Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte on Sunday shortly before 2 a.m., according to NBC affiliate WBBH in Fort Myers.

I didnt lose my life, I lost an arm, its not the end of the world, Rivera told the news outlet during an interview from his hospital bed at the Gulf Coast Medical Center.

"Those gators, I didnt truly understand them until I woke up in the hospital and, Oh, gator got your arm," Rivera said.

He added about partially losing his right arm: They got my elbow. So, I dont have an elbow, Rivera said. I can still move my arm around and whatnot.

A spokesperson for Charlotte County Fire & EMS said personnel responded to an alligator attack about 1:40 a.m.

The responding crew treated a male patient who had an above the elbow amputation of his upper right extremity. Bystanders applied a tourniquet to the patient before we arrived. The patient was airlifted to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Ft.Myers.

Jordan Rivera. (WBBH)

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission trappers found and removed the gator that attacked Rivera, WBBH reported. It measured nearly 10  feet and was euthanized, according to the commission.

Rivera told the TV news outlet he doesnt remember the attack itself, but recalls going out back because the line to the bars bathroom was long and he needed to relieve himself.

As I was going over there something happened where I either tripped or the ground below me just went down, Rivera said. I ended up in the water. And thats literally the last thing I remember.

He then awoke in a hospital, disoriented and in shock.

Confusion. I was like Whoa. Because I just woke up and I was just sitting here. And I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was and I was like, Whoa, he said. It kind of feels like my arm is just there, but not there.

Teresa Lessa, Riveras mother, told WBBH said shes thankful her son is alive.

Thats the best thing, is that I have him. Yes, arm gone, very traumatic. But hes here, Lessa said.

What happened to him, Rivera said, is almost out of a movie." He says he's beholden to the people who rushed to his aid and applied a tourniquet.

Lessa praised the Good Samaritans who helped save her son's life.

I call them angels, that were there, that saved his life, Lessa said. The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet, to me, its a miracle that hes here.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Florida Man Whose Arm Was Bitten Off By Alligator Says 'It's Not The End Of The World'

A Florida man is speaking out with singular perspective after losing his arm to an alligator.

Jordan Rivera, 23, was attacked by the 10-foot reptile after falling into a pond Sunday outside Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte during an outdoor bathroom break at 1:40 a.m., the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told People in a statement Wednesday.

A patron, Manny Hidalgo, told The Daily Sun he heard screaming and hurried outside to find Rivera yelling and swimming toward the shoreline. Rivera was transported by helicopter to the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, where his right arm was amputated.

I didnt lose my life, I lost an arm, its not the end of the world, Rivera told NBC2.

Rivera explained he was motivated to urinate outside due to a long bathroom line at the bar. He told the outlet he doesnt remember the attack itself, but must have either tripped or the ground below me just went out before he ended up in the water.

Confusion, Rivera told NBC2 about his first thoughts at the hospital. I was like Whoa. Because I just woke up and I was just sitting here. And I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was and I was like, Whoa. It kind of feels like my arm is just there, but not there.

Bystanders rushed to pull Rivera to shore and wrapped a lifesaving tourniquet around his arm.

Bystanders rushed to pull Rivera to shore and wrapped a lifesaving tourniquet around his arm.

Harrowing footage of the aftermath shared on social media showed Rivera writhing around in anguish as bystanders pulled him to shore and wrapped a lifesaving tourniquet around his wound. His bone is seen protruding from his arm.

I call them angels, that were there, that saved his life, Riveras mother, Teresa Lessa, told NBC2. The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet, to me, its a miracle that hes here.

Rivera, who added that he would like to shake the mans hand for saving him, is heading to rehabilitation in a few days after doctors finish cleaning his wound of the reptiles remaining bacteria. As for the alligator itself, officials have trapped and euthanized it.

A GoFundMe campaign for Rivera has already raised $17,000 toward a $50,000 goal.

Rivera said he didnt truly understand his situation until he realized a gator got his arm. The local told NBC2 that  while his arm was amputated above his elbow  he can still move his upper arm.

Thats the best thing, is that I have him, Lessa told the outlet. Yes, arm gone, very traumatic. But hes here.

Related...
A Florida parent tried to get Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem banned from school  and confused her with Oprah

American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 20, 2021. PATRICK SEMANSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

A Florida parent tried to get Amanda Gorman's poetry banned, complaining it could "indoctrinate students."

The school says it moved the book, but any student can still read it.

Book bans are on the rise in Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law prohibiting what can be taught.

A Florida parent tried to get Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem removed at her kids' school, claiming "The Hill We Climb" could "indoctrinate students."

And the mother mixed up Gorman and Oprah Winfrey when filing her complaint to the school.

A copy of the parent's complaint, which was obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and later shared by Gorman, shows she requested on March 29 to have the book of poetry removed "from the total environment" at a Miami K-8 school because "it is not educational and have indirectly hate messages" and it could "cause confusion and indoctrinate students."

The parent  Daily Salinas, who has two kids at Bob Graham Education Center, the Miami Herald reported  also mistakenly said the work was written by Ophrah Winfrey, according to the form.

"So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with @oprah, fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternativesUnnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back," Gorman wrote on Twitter in response to the news.

According to the forms and documents obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project on Twitter, Salinas also submitted requests to ban four other titles at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, but the district only took action on three books in addition to Gorman's poem.

The other four titles are "Love to Langston" by Tony Medina, "Countries in the News Cuba" by Kieran Walsh, "Cuban Kids" by George Ancona, and "The ABCs of Black History" by Rio Cortez.

The school opted to keep "Countries in the News Cuba" on the shelves of the school's media center but moved the other four titles to the library's section intended for middle schoolers.

Salinas told the Herald she "is not for eliminating or censoring any books," but wants students "to know the truth." She questioned why the school chose to keep four of the books available to middle schoolers, arguing that all five should have been restricted for all students, the Herald reported.

She added that school libraries are meant "to support the curriculum of the school and I don't see how these books support the curriculum," according to the Miami Herald.

Gorman said she is "gutted," but the school told Insider the poem isn't banned

Gorman slammed the situation on Twitter, repeating claims that the school banned the book.

"I'm gutted," Gorman wrote on Twitter Tuesday. "Because of one parent's complaint, my inaugural poem, 'The Hill We Climb,' has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County."

"Often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection," Gorman added. "And let's be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices."

But Miami-Dade County Public Schools insisted that Gorman's poem wasn't actually banned.

"In order to ensure accurate information, @MDCPS is compelled to clarify that the book titled, 'The Hill We Climb' by @TheAmandaGorman was never banned or removed from one of our schools," the district wrote on Twitter Tuesday night. "The book is available in the media center as part of the middle grades collection."

A spokesperson for Bob Graham Education Center told Insider Wednesday that "the book in question was not pulled. It has not been banned. Elementary students can still access the title and they can check it out of the library."

Book bans have become the new normal in Florida

Calls to ban books in schools have risen since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping education bill into law, which prohibits discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in young students' classrooms.

Florida expanded the law this year to ban discussions about gender for all grades until college.

According to PEN America, 175 books have been banned in Florida this year.

The organization, along with Penguin Randomhouse, filed a lawsuit against a Florida school district over the book bans, the Miami Herald reported.

"I wrote 'The Hill We Climb' to that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment. Ever since, I've received countless letters and videos from children inspired by 'The Hill We Climb,' to write their own poems," Gorman wrote on Twitter. "Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech."

"Together, this is a hill we won't just climb, but a hill we will conquer."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Miami-Dade elementary school limited some access to Amanda Gormans presidential inauguration poem, The Hill We Climb, after a parent complained that it contained indirect hate messages.

Gorman, 25, who gained national prominence after she recited her poem at President Joe Bidens 2021 inauguration, took to Twitter Tuesday to denounce the schools actions.

Im gutted, the poet wrote in a lengthy Twitter statement, before saying that censored books are often authored by people who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves, most of whom are queer and non-white.

I wrote The Hill We Climb so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, Gorman wrote. Ever since, Ive received countless letters and videos from children inspired by The Hill We Climb to write their own poems. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.



Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) tweeted in support of Gorman, quoting from The Hill We Climb.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated, Frost quoted, before writing, We will fight and we will prevail.

According to documents released by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and first reported by The Miami Herald, the book was restricted at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes after one parent complained in March that it is not educational and have indirectly [sic] hate messages. The same parent complained about four other books: The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News: Cuba, and Love to Langston, citing indoctrination and CRT. The complaint also misidentified Oprah Winfrey as the author of The Hill We Climb.

Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a slate of new educational laws, including a requirement for schools to pull challenged books within five days of a complaint while officials determine if the material should be permanently banned. DeSantis is expected to announce his 2024 bid for president Wednesday.

In a tweet after publication, the Miami-Dade school district stated that the book wasnt banned and remains available in the media center as part of the middle grades collection.

CORRECTION: This story and headline have been changed to reflect that the Miami-Dade school district did not outright ban the poem from its school.
A Florida grade school has relocated a poem read at Joe Bidens presidential inauguration to a part of its library intended for older children following a parents complaint  a move thats left poet Amanda Gorman feeling gutted.

A committee at Miami Lakes Bob Graham Education Center decided to relocate a book containing Gormans poem, as well as three other books, from the elementary section and into the middle school section of the K-8 library, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools representative, Elmo Lugo, confirmed to HuffPost on Tuesday.

The move comes after the committee concluded, in a review of the parents complaint last month, that the materials were more appropriate for older students, the Miami Herald first reported.

Gorman, who read her poem The Hill We Climb at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, said she was gutted by the news and alleged that the relocation amounted to a First Amendment violation.

Amanda Gorman reads her poem

Amanda Gorman reads her poem "The Hill We Climb" during the 2021 presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

I wrote The Hill We Climb so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, she said in a statement.

Ever since, Ive received countless letters and videos from children inspired by The Hill We Climb to write their own poems. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked Wednesday about a ban on the book by the school, said the president and his administration stand with Gorman.

Banning books is censorship, period. Thats what that is. When you ban a book you are censoring, she told reporters. And we should all stand against that type of act when it comes to books.

The nonprofit PEN America also criticized the move, saying in a statement Wednesday that it flies in the face of our basic constitutional freedoms.

The book may remain available to middle school students, but when you restrict or diminish access to a book, thats a ban, the free-speech organization said. Moving The Hill We Climb to middle school shelves means elementary students cant or wont get it; their access has diminished.

The Florida parent who complained, identified as Daily Salinas, had argued that the poem was not educational, according to a copy of her complaint shared by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a local organization.

Salinas also said that the text could cause confusion and indoctrinate and that it contained hate messages.

She lodged similar complaints against the books The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News: Cuba and Love to Langston. All four are intended for elementary school readers, according to descriptions online.

Salinas had asked that the books be completely removed from all schools in the district. In a Spanish interview with the Herald, Salinas said she is not in support of eliminating or censoring any books, but added that she wants reading material to be age appropriate and for students to know the truth about Cuba.

The review of all five books resulted in four of the five being retained for the middle school level, with THE ABCs OF BLACK HISTORY clearly being moved out of its intended age group.



You can see the book in full at the read aloud below.https://t.co/H0HXTRiRdBpic.twitter.com/sJDsLiiv7T  Florida Freedom to Read Project (@FLFreedomRead) May 19, 2023

The review committee found that The Hill We Climb and three other titles were in fact appropriate but better suited for middle schoolers.

The remaining book, Countries in the News: Cuba, was determined to be both balanced and age appropriate, according to a copy of the committees recommendations shared by the Florida Freedom to Read Project. Thus, it could stay in the librarys elementary section.

Gormans poem was also determined to be educational, because of its historical significance.

Lugo, the district representative, told HuffPost that the committees decision applies only to the Bob Graham Education Center and not the entire county. He further suggested that the move does not constitute a book ban as Gorman and others have claimed.

These books were never removed from the school site, he told HuffPost.

They have been put in a place so that they are accessible to middle school students and not elementary school students ... because that particular school has two different types of audiences.

School district representative Ana Rhodes clarified on Wednesday that the moved books are not off-limits to younger students, as they can freely access books in the middle school section of the library.

The schools principal, Yecenia Martinez, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Outcry over the schools decision comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation encouraging critical reviews of school reading materials and restrictions on classroom discussions in the state. One law, dubbed Dont Say Gay by critics, specifically limits conversations on gender identity and race for certain students.

As of March, 175 books had been removed from classrooms across the state, according to a count by PEN America.

Last week, the group filed a lawsuit with publisher Penguin Random House against a different Florida school district over its removal of books about race and LGBTQ+ identities.

Related...
Joe Biden Inauguration

Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recites 'The Hill We Climb' during the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Credit - Getty Images

The recent surge of book bans across the United Statesdriven by political debate over race, gender and sexualityhas not even spared the poem read at President Joe Bidens inauguration in 2021.

Bob Graham Education Center, a K-8 school in Miami-Dade County, Florida removed Amanda Gormans poem, The Hill We Climb, from its elementary school shelves after a parent filed a complaint on the grounds that it is not educational and contains indirect hate messages. The move, however, still allows middle-schoolers to access the book.

Im gutted, the 25-year-old Gorman said in a statement posted on social media Tuesday, explaining that robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.

Miami-Dade met in April to review 5 books: THE ABCs OF BLACK HISTORY, CUBAN KIDS, COUNTRIES IN THE NEWS: CUBA, THE HILL WE CLIMB, and LOVE TO LANGSTON



All books were challenged for CRT or gender theory by the same person in March 2023. pic.twitter.com/QrvmN5Slqo  Florida Freedom to Read Project (@FLFreedomRead) May 19, 2023

Its the latest effect of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continuing crusade to reform the states public education system while making it easier to target books and study materials that discuss race, sex, gender, and diversity. In March, DeSantis denied that books are being banned, but free speech group PEN America claims at least 375 books have been struck off the shelves between July and December 2022.

Book bans arent new, Gorman says in her statement. But they have been on the riseaccording to the ALA, 40% more books were challenged in 2022 compared to 2021. Whats more, often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection.

What can we do? We must speak out and have our voices heard, she added.

What happened?

Parent-driven organization Florida Freedom to Read Project gave a record of the complaint, reportedly filed in March, to the Miami Heraldwhich first reported the story. Formal objections were also filed against four other book titles: The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News: Cuba, and Love to Langston.

Records show that the complainant, Daily Salinas, mother of two students at Bob Graham, challenged the books for their content on critical race theory, gender ideology, indirect hate messages and indoctrination. Salinas told the Herald she is not for eliminating or censoring books, but calls for their content to be appropriate.

Read More: New Report Finds That Book Bans Have Reached Their Highest Levels Yet

Bob Grahams school materials review committee met on April 5 to discuss the books. According to the minutes, which the Florida Freedom to Read Project released, each book was reviewed. Four of the five titles, including Gormans The Hill We Climb were deemed by the panel to be more appropriate for middle school students, while Countries in the News: Cuba will continue to stay in the Information Section.

A rising number of book challenges

Across the state, similar restrictions are happening. Tampa Bay Times reported that renowned American novelist Toni Morrisons novel, The Bluest Eye returned to Pinellas Countys high school libraries in April after being banned in January. A parent filed a complaint to the school superintendent over a rape episode in the book.

In February, Martin County School District removed 80 books from their libraries for sexual and racial content, TCPalm reported. And last week, Penguin Random HouseGormans publisher, along with PEN America and other authors, filed a federal lawsuit against Escambia County School District for removing and restricting access to 10 other library books related to race or sexual identity.

Read More: The Extreme New Tactic in the Crusade to Ban Books

PEN Americas tracker shows that beyond Florida, book bans have been most prevalent in Texas, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina for this school year. Biden himself has spoken out against the bans running riot in many Republican states, even stating in a video announcing his 2024 presidential bid that MAGA extremists are threatening bedrock freedoms.
Amanda Gorman Drew Angerer / Getty Images

There has been a sharp rise in restricting books in school libraries in the past few years, but most of the book ban requests "come from a minuscule number of hyperactive adults," The Washington Post reports. A review of 1,065 book challenges in more than 100 school districts in 37 states over the 2021-22 school year found that 60 percent of those challenges were filed by just 11 people, including one man who filed 92 challenges. Some of the book bans were requested through one person working for a larger group, mostly Moms for Liberty.

Most of the new requests to pull books from school libraries cite concerns over LGBTQ subject matter, either sexual content or just kids reading about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or nonbinary lives, the Post found. The No. 2 category involved nonwhite characters dealing with racism or race. That latter category is why a school in Florida's Miami-Dade County was asked to ban Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb," which she read at President Biden's inauguration.

One person petitioned the Bob Graham Elementary Center in Miami Lakes to ban a book version of Gorman's poem plus four other titles. All five books were challenged for CRT (critical race theory) or "gender theory," according to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, which posted the documents. The complaint about Gorman's poem claims it "is not educational," contains "hate messages," and seeks to "cause confusion and indoctrinate students." It also listed Oprah Winfrey as the author.

The review board at the school, which goes through eighth grade, agreed to make four of the books accessible only to middle schoolers. Gorman said she was "gutted" by the decision to ban her poem from elementary school.

Miami-Dade Schools said it felt "compelled to clarify" that Gorman's poem "was never banned or removed from one of our schools," just moved to "the middle grades collection." The Florida Freedom to Read Project countered that "a compromise that sacrifices some student access is still censorship." Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, said she is supporting her publisher, Penguin Random House, and PEN America in suing to overturn book restrictions in Florida. "Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech," she wrote.

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Weve known Gov. Ron DeSantis has been running  hard  for the White House for months, campaigning in all but name from Ohio and Michigan to Israel and Japan.

But Wednesday, he made it official. Now the fight between Floridas two political headliners, DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, gets real.

Expect a vicious brawl as DeSantis goes after the man who once was his benefactor, but who now insults him with juvenile names, like DeSanctimonius. In 2018, Trump put his imprimatur on a fairly anonymous Florida congressman, and DeSantis, the culture warrior, was born. Now, the governor will have to outpunch his mentor, a man who goes low with glee, while still trying to come across as presidential  MAGA without the mess.

DeSantis became a national political figure by burdening Florida with divisive culture wars, Christian nationalist fervor  and a defiant COVID stance that appealed to anyone who didnt trust the government to tell them what to do. He emboldened Republican legislators to show how mean and vindictive they could get, and they didnt disappoint  not the governor, at least  writing prejudice and divisiveness into law.

Theres no enemy too big or too small for DeSantis  giant Disney or vulnerable transgender kids, teachers, librarians or diversity programs. Theres no law too extreme for his liking, not even a six-week ban on abortion that is a de facto outright ban given most women dont even know they are pregnant at that point. There are no targets he wont go after: high school kids wearing masks at one of his events, drag queen shows, Bud Lights ad campaign featuring a trans woman  all are fair game.

As DeSantis ascends, Florida is descending into a cycle of culture wars and anger politics. This is the price of our governors ambition. Its tiring, and dangerous.

But will the tactics that have served DeSantis so well in Florida fall flat in the rest of the country, as some critics wonder?

Its clear that DeSantis well-rehearsed line about the war on woke has resonated with many in this state and beyond. Its how he turned Florida  where he single-handedly eliminated two Black-majority congressional districts  from a purple swing state to a red, GOP stronghold.

But it could land with a thud in other, more sensible places, where citizens might not even know what woke means or understand what all the fuss is about.

A diminished star?

Major media outlets have spun a narrative that DeSantis star is fading as his polling numbers drop. And other Republicans, perhaps sensing the governors perceived weakness, still are considering jumping into the race.

But dont write him off  far from it. If Trumps 2016 victory taught us anything, its that polls, especially those taken so early, are snapshots of the electorate, not prophecies. DeSantis has defied conventional wisdom before by refusing to appeal to the political middle. Instead, he moved hard to the right and won reelection as governor by a landslide.

He must still contend with his likability problem. A late April meeting in London with business leaders, as he attempted to shore up his lack of foreign-policy experience, was characterized in Politico as horrendous, with the governor looking bored. But whether he manages to pull off a personality transplant or not, politically, hes likely to stick to his guns in the GOP primary and not shy away from the combative hard-right stances that got him national attention. If it works, America is about to embark on a frightening journey that Florida knows all too well.

The presidency would present challenges from which DeSantis has been spared in the Sunshine State. He wouldnt have the same lock on the political process that he has enjoyed as governor in Florida, where the Republican-controlled Legislature handed him almost anything he asked for.

Reminder: Congress, depending on its makeup, has thwarted many a presidents plans.

DeSantis extremist policies

With DeSantis at the helm, Florida has become a laboratory for how far the far right can go, especially on abortion, and that has made some donors and fellow Republicans uncomfortable. The state has intruded into local governments business like never before. DeSantis has reached down into local school board elections, including Miami-Dade Countys, to push a partisan agenda of doing away with woke.

This year alone, DeSantis lowered the standard for juries to impose the death penalty, secured Florida taxpayers dollars to fly immigrants from one state to another  not necessarily his own  and needlessly got into a battle with Disney over free speech, a high-stakes fight that is headed to court.

Carry a gun without a permit or training? Sure. Allow a universal school-voucher scheme, in which parents, no matter how affluent, can use public money to give their children private or home schooling? Of course. Under DeSantis, there are new restrictions on some unions, a ban on children attending adult-themed drag shows and a just-for-Ron measure invalidating Floridas resign-to-run law to let the governor run for president without having to step down from his current office.

With DeSantis leading the way, the state has championed the idea of parental rights in schools  but only for some parents, those offended by certain books on race or sex education or discussion of gender. The state Board of Education expanded to all grades the Dont say gay law banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. DeSantis has weaponized the use of pronouns in schools if they dont correspond to the persons gender at birth.

DeSantis won office in large part because to Trumps endorsement. He quickly found his political feet with his fight to reopen Florida and schools and to stop masking children in the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that was 2020, eons ago in political terms.

Now DeSantis enters the battle with Trump for the Republican Partys nomination.

A man who encouraged the overthrow of the U.S. government and was found liable for sexual assault and defamation in May? Or one who has pushed through an extreme and hateful agenda like no governor of Florida in recent history?

What a choice.
A makeshift memorial quickly appeared outside Tina Turner's home in Kusnacht, Switzerland

Shortly after news of Tina Turner's death on Wednesday, candles and flowers began piling up outside the estate in Switzerland the rock legend had called home for decades.

A large crowd began gathering outside the cast-iron gate, shrouded in darkness, with fans walking up one by one to lay flowers or set out candles, some flickering through red-tinted glass jars.

"You're simply the best," read one of the dozens of messages nestled among the bouquets.

"I am shocked," Miran Znider, a 48-year-old Slovenian who lives nearby, told AFP, fighting back tears. "I didn't expect it to happen so early."

Asked why he had come, Znider said: "Because it's the queen, the queen of all women. I love Tina."

He was among many who flocked to the Algonquin chateau in Kusnacht, on Lake Zurich's exclusive Goldkueste (Golden Coast), where the 83-year-old queen of rock had lived for nearly three decades.

As people clustered together outside its tall gate, flanked by two large, illuminated columns and emblazoned with "Algonquin" in gold letters, Turner's music sounded from one of the cars parked nearby.

- 'Very sad day' -

"Today is a very sad day," Ozgur Arzik, 48, told AFP.

"I actually grew up with the sons of Tina Turner, and I'm living close by here. I was always listening to her songs and I'm really sad that we lost her," he said. "I just wanted to be here."

The American star gave up her US citizenship 10 years ago to become Swiss.

"With Tina Turner's death, the world has lost an icon," Switzerland's President Alain Berset tweeted.

"My thoughts are with the family of this impressive woman who found a second home in Switzerland."

The municipality of Kusnacht issued a statement saying that "Tina Turner inspired people all over the world with her unique voice and touched many Kusnacht residents with her warmth and modesty".

"She was a proud citizen of Kusnacht," it added, hailing her close connection with the community, saying she had sponsored a rescue boat named "Tina" and donated Christmas lights.

- Swiss citizen -

Turner moved to the wealthy Alpine nation in 1995 with her longtime German partner Erwin Bach, 67.

In 2013, three months after marrying Bach and receiving her Swiss passport, Turner relinquished her US citizenship.

The couple had long rented their chateau because of restrictions on foreigners owning property.

In 2021, the couple reportedly put down $76 million for a 10-building waterfront estate in the municipality of Staefa, on the northern shores of Lake Zurich.

At the time, Bach told the Handelszeitung daily that the 240,000-square-foot estate (22,300 square metres), featuring a pool and private lakefront space, would serve as a "new weekend retreat".

Turner has been hailed by Swiss media a model Swiss citizen, noting that she had to learn German and also pass a local civics test and an interview to obtain her citizenship.

And once she had her passport in hand, she went to polling stations for the frequent popular votes held in the country, known for its direct democratic system.

In 2021, Bern university awarded her an honorary doctorate for her "unique musical and artistic life's work".

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A Russian fighter jet was scrambled on Tuesday to accompany two U.S. strategic bombers over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Russian airspace control detected two targets approaching the Russian state border over the Baltic Sea and a Su-27 fighter took off in response, the ministry said in a statement.

After identifying the objects as two U.S. B-1B strategic bombers, the Russian crew escorted the foreign planes until they flew away from the Russian border, the statement said.
Support for expanding Americas fossil fuel industry is often cast in the rhetoric of energy independence.

But foreign sales, not American demand, are driving a projected decades-long rise in natural gas production, a new federal report has found.

U.S. natural gas production is expected to rise until 2050, according to a report released Tuesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which said most of the demand fueling that increase will be driven by exports to foreign markets.

U.S. domestic gas demand will stay flat or decline as renewables come online, the report found. But those exports are also projected to drive up U.S. gas prices.

In part, that will result from supply being redirected overseas to higher-price markets. Another factor is the gas export process itself, which relies on the extremely energy-intensive process of compressing and refrigerating gas until it is a liquid dense enough to be worth shipping across the ocean.

The rising levels of gas power required to meet the rising demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) will also be enough to largely offset any drops in domestic consumption, the report found.

As LNG exports rise, natural gas volumes consumed during the liquefaction process rise as well, the authors wrote.

Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a group opposed to the LNG expansion, told The Hill the EIAs projections may underestimate how gas prices might spike because they dont take two important factors into consideration: storms and the spot market.

In the first instance, there is the risk of a hurricane knocking out a Gulf Coast export facility  which would disrupt markets, leading to a scramble as former customers contracted to buy from that facility struggled to find new sources of supply on spot markets, where gas is sold off on an ad hoc basis, Rolfes said.

This analysis doesnt have a word about this threat, and yet the facilities are in the most vulnerable part of the country, she added.

In the second, there is the role of the spot market, where companies can often make more money than using the industrys standard long-term contracts.

EIA numbers assume that gas companies will stick to their contracts, rather than potentially making more money on lucrative spot markets, which would drive up prices overall, Rolfes said.

To forecast LNG exports out to mid-century, the EIA prepared three different scenarios. In the low price scenario, foreign LNG prices remained low (though still half again as high as they are now). In the high price scenario, they rise to double their current value.

And in the fast builds plus high price scenario, prices rise again and some form of permitting reform, coupled with heavy industry investment, allows a rapid buildout of new export terminals.

These factors help determine to what extent Americas gas will be burned in North America, sold overseas  or not produced at all.

In a business-as-usual case, the rise in renewables will cut gas consumption by the power sector by a third by 2050, leading to a fall from the current consumption of 32 billion cubic feet per day to just under 23 billion cubic feet, per the EIA report.

There is some slight wiggle room in those numbers: If prices remain high and a new fleet of export terminals whisks gas off the North American continent, the share of gas in the electric sectors could fall to 19 percent  less than half of the 39 percent it is currently.

If they stay low and those facilities arent built, gas could continue to supply up to 23 percent of the electric sector.

However, that doesnt mean that a high-price, high-export scenario is better news for the climate. About 30 percent more gas is produced in the U.S. under that scenario versus if prices stay low, according to the EIA.

Lorne Stockman of climate nonprofit Oil Change International argues the EIAs projections underestimate the importance of government action in helping guide the direction of markets.

He says the agency has a blind spot concerning the role of government action that often implicitly casts fossil fuel growth as inevitable. None of their scenarios, for example, include a world in which climate conscious foreign governments set limits on gas imports, or in which the US government becomes more bearish on the fuel.

All their analysis assumes a kind of neoliberal economics ideal in which the main factors influencing outcomes are supply, demand and price, Stockman said.

This has been at the source of EIAs long-running failure to accurately project renewables growth and generally underestimate renewables and overestimate fossils, he added.

In all cases projected by the agency, the center of the new development will be the Gulf Coast, where rich reserves of gas and a dense network of pipelines make LNG cheaper to produce and transport.

If gas prices rise again, all new LNG capacity added through 2050 in these cases is in either Texas or Louisiana, the report found.

Based on those economics, it is more favorable to supply growth in the U.S. LNG exports with natural gas produced on the Gulf Coast than in other parts of the United States, the EIA authors wrote.

The report comes as the Biden administration faces increased criticism from communities in that region, who say they are being poisoned for the sake of gas exports.

For some locals, growth in LNG production on the Gulf Coast would be an unwelcome development because of the environmental toll these facilities take, both in terms of emissions and coastal erosion.

Climate is not a consideration that the EIA bakes into its numbers. But environmental activists and local advocates argue that gas itself  which is almost entirely composed of the potent climate pollutant methane  is a poor fit for the Biden administrations ambitious climate plans. While the fuel burns approximately twice as clean as coal, it still releases large amounts of carbon dioxide when burned.

And because raw methane is both notoriously leaky and more than 80 times as potent a planet-heating gas as carbon dioxide for decades after it leaks, any leaks along the supply chain eat away at that advantage.

A leading environmental activist told The Hill that the one saving grace for Gulf communities is that with all of the plants projected for the region, many will likely remain unbuilt.

The only thing that is good news at all is that theyre in competition, said Diane Wilson, a Gulf Coast activist who this year won the Goldman Prize, sometimes called the environmental Nobel, for her campaign to make a local plastics campaign cease dumping waste into the waters of Matagorda Bay.

So its probably the ones who get it first  well, the other ones probably dont have as good a chance to get in.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Columbus Alternative High School (CAHS) is at 2632 McGuffey Rd. in the Linden neighborhood. The school is known for stringent academics. It is one of 19 high schools in the Columbus City Schools system. (Columbus Dispatch photo by Doral Chenoweth III)

A former Columbus Alternative High School teacher pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges related to accusations he secretly took videos up the skirts and shorts of students and other females.

Justin Robert Foley, 47, of Delaware, Ohio, appeared Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Columbus and entered guilty pleas under an agreement with federal prosecutors to two felony counts: sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.

Foley was employed as a chemistry teacher at Columbus Alternative High School when he committed these crimes between approximately June 2018 and September 2022, according to court records.

The first count is related to producing images of a 15-year-old girl's genitalia area, court records state.

Court records state that videos and photos recovered from Foley's accounts showed "females of various ages in department stores around the Columbus area, Downtown Columbus public areas, near Ohio Wesleyan University, downtown Delaware areas and outside Conger Elementary School" in Delaware.

The victims were not aware they were being recorded, police said.

A federal judge will sentence Foley at a later date. The sexual exploitation of a minor charge alone is punishable by a minimum 15 years in prison.

Past reporting: Former Columbus teacher faces federal charges of taking sexual videos, photos of students

The investigation into Foley arose after Google sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which passed the tip onto Delaware police in August. Foley had uploaded numerous images of child pornography via Google email accounts, according to court records.

Foley was arrested on Sept. 20 by the Delaware Police Department on state charges after admitting to having more than 5,000 images and more than 160 videos of child pornography on his cellphone and other electronic devices.

A criminal complaint against Foley was filed in federal court in November, superseding the local charges.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Columbus City teacher pleads guilty to taking 'upskirt' videos
The former Denton County Emergency Services District 1 fire chief accused of stealing more than $490,000 from his department pleaded guilty Wednesday to 13 federal charges, according to a news release from Denton County ESD 1.

Troy Mac Hohenberger, the fire chief and an employee of the district for nearly 30 years, was arrested Nov. 17 at DFW Airport by FBI agents after his flight from Las Vegas landed. Federal authorities accused him of stealing the nearly $500,000 from the Argyle Volunteer Fire Departments operating fund and mismanaging its 401(k) plan.

The indictment alleged Hohenbergers credit card bills included charges for cash advances at casinos, payments to a relatives business in Hawaii and other personal expenses. It also said the former chief failed to put funds into a pension plan for firefighters in the department in the time required by federal law.

In addition, he was accused in the indictment of making false statements about the pension fund in forms submitted to the Department of Labor.

The accusations in the indictment were also mentioned in a lawsuit filed against Hohenberger and ESD1.

Hohenberger was the administrator of the departments 401(k) plan since 2010, according to court documents. Problems arose when employees went several days without a check after payday, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court against Emergency Services District 1 and Hohenberger by former engineer Harold Ring.

In the lawsuit obtained by the Star-Telegram in November 2022, Ring alleges that a breach of fiduciary duty by Hohenberger and ESD1 caused damages to all current and past beneficiaries of the 401(k) plan. According to court records, the case is still open and pending a possible hearing seeking class certification for the suit.

Payments to the firefighters were also delayed on multiple occasions when Hohenberger, the sole administrator over the departments finances, was out of town, according to the lawsuit. The department did not have a professional bookkeeper and whenever Hohenberger would travel, Ring alleged payments would be missed. Sometimes, payments made to firefighters were the wrong amount, according to the suit. In some cases, payments would not come until several days after Hohenberger returned to town.

Hohenberger would also fail to move money taken out of employee paychecks for the 401(k) plan into the fund like he was supposed to, Ring says in the lawsuit.

Hohenberger and ESD1 denied all those allegations.

The lawsuit seeks relief for damages including back pay, equitable front pay, attorneys fees and court costs, but does not list a specific number.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Citizens of Russia have become the captive audience of a dystopian comedy club run by the government, according to some former Moscow officials.

And the Kremlin, it appears, is not in on the joke.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that beer in Prague, where a summit between Kremlin critics recently took place, contains female sex hormones and called the opposition officials who met there half-wits. On the same day, his best friend Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian Security Council and former KGB hardliner, warned of a deadly radioactive cloud that is now moving towards Western Europe from Ukraine.

The bizarre propaganda linesapparently meant to evoke fear among Russian exiles of cognitive decline by way of drinking beer, or death via the enriched uranium supplied to Ukraine by the Westfell flat. Putin's remarks were widely mocked on social media, while experts at Russias own State Atomic Agency said that the story with the approaching cloud is somehow exaggerated.

The outpouring of ridiculous rhetoric in Moscow has gotten so out of hand that some former Kremlin insiders have resorted to creating memes inspired by the words and actions of Russian officials.

From Murder Pigeons to Evil Forces: How Putin Sold His War

That includes Putins former speechwriter, Abbas Galyamov, who put together photos of Putin drinking beer in response to the female sex hormones remarks, captioned with the sentence: The president knows what he is talking about.

Galyamov worked as a speechwriter for Vladimir Putin from 2008 to 2010, later taking on positions in the regional government and the Russian federal election agency. He made the decision to leave Russia in 2018, when he says he became disillusioned by the fascistization of the regime.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Galyamov elaborated on his affinity for making jokes about the Kremlinand the privilege of being able to do so.

There is much less respect for them now than before, he told The Daily Beast. If not for the political repression, all Russians would have thought of them as inhumane and mocked them.

The Best Medicine

Though men like Putins ideologist, Vyacheslav Volodin, have long been feared across Russia, critics appear to have become increasingly bold in their public mockery of them.

In a push to get more Russians to learn Chinese earlier this month, Volodin said that the English language, which is taught in every Russian school and university, is deadtriggering yet another wave of jokes.

They should learn to speak Russian first. Volodin does not even speak English, Olga Bychkova, a longtime Kremlin observer, said in a public post about his remarks. That was made clear during his trip to India, she added, referring to a report about the trip published in a popular Russian blog.

Last week, Yevgeny Vyshenkov, a veteran journalist and editor-in-chief of Fontanka, published a column about a recent incident involving the head of Russias Federal Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. The Russian official recently launched a criminal case against security guards who wouldn't let him into a construction site near his home, presumably to scold construction workers.

Written in the genre of classical feuilleton, Vyshenkov mockingly refers to Bastrykin as phenomenal and heroic for confronting the workers alone, without guards, without weapons, in civilian clothes.

Of course, not all jokesters targeting the Kremlin are doing it out of some desire for a less repressive government. Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been frustrated with Moscows strategy in Ukraine, recently released a video in which he said that Dedushka (grandpa) might turn out to be an absolute idiot, leading many to speculate that he was referring to Vladimir Putin.

Mercenary Boss Mocks Russian Troops for Hauling Ass From Bakhmut

While the Kremlins propagandists and state television shows mock Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an unfunny comedian, the accidental comedy show starring Kremlin officials offers a glimmer of hope for the future of Russia, according to former State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov, who left Russia in 2019.

Putin and his guys are turning into a comedy club, they are not lords of the ring any longer, he told The Daily Beast. The Kremlin is making mistake after mistake, which makes it clear to the public that they are just a bunch of ridiculous fools.

Humor makes people forget about fear, he added.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Tariq Ramadan - FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

The prominent academic Tariq Ramadan has been acquitted on charges of rape and sexual coercion after a Swiss court found no evidence against him.

The former Oxford University professor was also awarded around 151,000 Swiss francs (135,113) in compensation from the Swiss canton of Geneva over the case.

After the verdict was read in the Geneva criminal court, the 60-year-old academic smiled and was hugged by one of his daughters.

Mr Ramadan's 57-year-old accuser, identified under the assumed name of "Brigitte", left the courtroom before the end of the verdict. Her lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the ruling.

Prosecutors had last week called for a three-year sentence against Mr Ramadan. The case was the first time he has been tried for rape, although he risks facing a trial in France on similar charges.

Mr Ramadan has consistently denied all accusations against him.

The Swiss trial presented two diametrically opposed versions of what happened in a Geneva hotel room in October 2008.

'Torture and barbarism'

The lawyer representing Brigitte, a convert to Islam, said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to "torture and barbarism".

Mr Ramadan rejected the charges, insisting there was no sexual activity between him and Brigitte, and saying he was the victim of a "trap".

Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault. She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed in France.

During the trial, the defence insisted on Mr Ramadan's innocence and stressed there was no scientific evidence in the case.

His lawyers also accused Brigitte and the women who have brought charges against him in France of forging links to bring down the Islamic scholar, citing "Ramadanphobia".

'Media and political noise'

During his final statements in court last week, Mr Ramadan asked not to be tried on his "real or supposed ideology", and urged the judges not to be "influenced by the media and political noise".

Controversial among secularists who see him as a supporter of political Islam, Ramadan obtained a doctorate from the University of Geneva with a thesis focused on his grandfather, who founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford until November 2017, and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take a leave of absence when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the Me Too movement, over suspected attacks between 2009 and 2016.

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Former Volusia County teacher accused of inappropriate relationships with students denied bond

A former Volusia County teacher who is now accused of having inappropriate relationships with two students will remain in jail until his trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The judge denied bond for Arin Hankerd. The judge said there are no pre-trial release conditions that will protect the community after Hankerd was arrested for a second time.

Hankerd was out on bond after being arrested in February after he was accused of having inappropriate sexual conduct with a 15-year-old student.

Two victims have now accused Hankerd of having inappropriate sexual relationships while he was their teacher.

Read: Former Volusia County teacher accused of another sexual relationship with student

The judge granted the former Port Orange teacher bond in February, but with the additional charges, she said she no longer feels comfortable with him being released.

Hankerd was arrested by Ormond Beach police while out on bond on Tuesday after a second complaint was filed against him for engaging in sexual activity with a 17-year-old Mainland High School student back in 2019.

Following the second victims statement, the state attorneys office filed a motion asking the judge to deny Hankerds bond.

Read: Documents: Volusia County teacher accused of having relationship with student warned multiple times

Chanel 9 obtained documents from the state attorneys office detailing the then 17-year-olds relationship with Hankerd.

The motion says their communication started on social media, where the teenager and Hankerd regularly exchanged flirtatious messages.

Documents state Hankerd would also ask the student for photos.

Read: Ex-Volusia County teacher accused of sexual relationship with student; 40 women contact police

Investigators say the teen eventually went to Hankerds home in Ormond Beach, where they engaged in sexual activity.

Hankerds new charges include unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a first-degree felony.

Court documents also show at least four more victims have come forward.

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A special education aide was arrested Tuesday for allegedly slapping a child across the face, according to police.

Mary Ann Davis-Polite, 60, of Hemingway, South Carolina, was arrested by Conway Police Department on two charges of unlawful conduct toward a child.

Davis-Polite, a special education paraprofessional/aide at Homewood Elementary in Conway, is accused of causing bodily harm to a student on Jan. 6 and again on May 9, according to a police report.

The report said a school resource officer was alerted May 9 by the school principal that an assault took place between a student and a teacher. The assault was reported by another teacher who was in the classroom at the time, the report said.

The school administration contacted law enforcement immediately when the allegations were brought to their attention and cooperated fully with law enforcements investigation, spokesperson Lisa Bourcier with Horry County Schools said by email Wednesday.

Davis-Polite, who has been employed with the school system since 2018, was placed on administrative leave with pay on May 10 due to the allegations and will remain on leave until further notice, Bourcier said.

Davis-Polite was released from jail on a $10,000 bond.

The arrest is the latest in a a number of recent allegations involving HCS special education employees harming their students.

Three employees have been arrested this year, including special education teachers at Ocean Bay Elementary and St. James Intermediate, for allegedly hitting or physically restraining students.

There have also been 12 other lawsuits filed against the district since 2018 alleging damages suffered by a student receiving special education services, according to a review of online court records.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld. Omar Vega/Getty Images

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld bizarrely praised a female teacher accused of having sex with a teen student.

Gutfeld lauded the educator as "heroic" on-air and said he "would have died" to be in a situation like that.

His remarks prompted a co-host to fire back: "I am vehemently against banging kids."

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld bizarrely praised a female California teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student as "heroic" on-air, and added that he "would have died" to be in a situation like that.

Gutfled said during a segment Monday on the late-night show, "Gutfeld!" that he was bothered by the fact that the 38-year-old teacher Yucaipa High School teacher was arrested and charged.

"I'm sorry! Come on! 16 years old  I would have died for that!" Gutfled said, prompting co-host Katherine Timpf to interject saying, "Again, I am vehemently against banging kids."

Gutfeld continued, "Can we live in the real world?"

"I can't believe how many times I've had to say that just sitting in this chair," Timpf shot back.

High school math educator Tracy Vanderhulst  who was once honored as "teacher of the year"  was arrested last week on a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse involving a minor and booked into Central Detention Center in San Bernardino, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

"Detectives believe there may be additional victims," the sheriff's department said in a press release.

During the segment on Fox News, Gutfeld said, "A 16-year-old boy with like a hot teacher. I mean  what was the Van Halen song? 'Hot For Teacher,' that was written about this!"

"It wasn't about, hey, let's have a responsible relationship with someone close to my age," Gutfeld added.

The Fox News host went on to say: "Am I right to say it's an unfair comparison to do the female-to-male teacher? Like a male teacher, 38-year-old, creepy. Female, heroic."

"You're disgusting," Timpf replied.

Later, after another co-host said it was inappropriate for a teacher to have sex with her young students, Gutfeld replied: "I don't condone it. I just envy it. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying 'Why not me?' "

Read the original article on Business Insider
France has banned air travel between cities that can be reached easily by train

France has a robust and expanding high-speed rail network, with the French National Railways in the process of rebooting its TGV trains and extending its network. Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images

France banned air travel between cities that are 2.5 hours apart by high-speed rail on May 23.

The rail connection has to be frequent enough to allow someone to go back and forth in a day.

Only routes connecting Paris-Orly to Bordeaux, Nantes, and Lyon are affected at the moment.

If you're in France, you'll have to take the train.

On May 23, a French law officially went into effect banning air travel between cities that can be connected by a 2-and-a-half-hour train ride.

For the air travel ban to take effect, the two cities have to be connected via high-speed rail, and the connection has to be direct and affordable.

Additionally, it has to be frequent enough that a traveler can make the trip back and forth on the same day, and spend 8 hours in the city.

At the moment, the ban only affects the routes between Paris' Orly Airport and the cities of Bordeaux, Nantes, and Lyon, which are prohibited for any carrier. It might affect more routes in the future as rail connection improves.

"As we fight relentlessly to decarbonize our lifestyles," Clement Beaune, France's transportation minister, said in a statement. "How can we justify the use of the plane between the big cities which benefit from regular, fast, and efficient connections by train?"

France has a robust and expanding high-speed rail network, with the French National Railways in the process of rebooting its TGV trains and extending its network.

The measure was first approved in 2021 as part of a broader climate bill that targets a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, of which aviation accounts for 2.5% globally.

The original proposal was supposed to affect eight routes, but the European Commission later ruled that trips between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Rennes; Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Lyon; Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Nantes; Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Bordeaux; and Lyon and Marseille are not short or frequent enough to qualify yet.

Given the scope of the ban, some critics have pointed out that the measure is largely symbolic. Laurent Donceel, the interim head of Airlines for Europe, told AFP lawmakers should focus on "real and significant solutions" instead.

In his statement, the transportation minister Beaune did describe the measure as a "symbol," but added it's a strong one, the first of its kind, and an "essential step" in the right direction.

Read the original article on Business Insider
France to try 19 men over 2019 migrant lorry deaths: source close to case

The migrants were being transported to what they had hoped would be new lives in Britain

France is to try 19 men over a people-smuggling plot that led to the 2019 deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in the back of a lorry, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The trial is the latest of several in Europe over the tragedy.

The migrants -- the youngest of whom were two 15-year-old boys -- suffocated in the refrigerated container as they were being transported across the Channel to what they had hoped would be new lives in Britain.

Their lifeless bodies were discovered inside the sealed unit at a port near London in October 2019.

French investigating magistrates on Tuesday ordered the trial of 19 suspects aged 21 to 58 over the tragedy, the source said.

A transnational investigation points to the suspects -- of Vietnamese, French, Chinese, Algerian and Moroccan origin -- being part of a large network smuggling people from Vietnam to Europe, it said.

They stand accused of organising the transport of migrants and driving taxis or owning flats where they could hide them in the Paris region, it added.

According to wiretapped phone calls, these men referred to their victims as "merchandise" or even "chickens".

They will all be tried for enabling the illegal entry and stay of foreigners on French territory and banding together with a view to committing crimes, which could carry up to 10 years in jail, the source said.

Four will also be judged for manslaughter for failing to ensure duty of care during the smuggling operation, which could lead to punishment of three years behind bars.

- Perilous journey -

The cross-border probe revealed that migrants were loaded into a truck in northern France, before being driven to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to cross the Channel.

The tragedy shone a spotlight on the extraordinary dangers migrants are willing to risk to reach Britain, with some paying smugglers up to $40,000 for the perilous journey.

Post-mortem tests found the victims died from lack of oxygen and overheating, and one sent a poignant text message to her family in Vietnam as she lay dying in the truck.

The victims came from poor and remote corners of central Vietnam, a hotspot for people willing to embark on dangerous journeys in the hope of a better future abroad.

Many are smuggled illegally through Russia or China, often left owing huge sums to their traffickers and ending up working on cannabis farms or in nail salons.

There was no immediate date set for the French trial, which follows several convictions in other countries.

A Belgian court last year sentenced a Vietnamese man to 15 years in prison after convicting him of being a ringleader in the trafficking operation.

A British judge in 2021 convicted two men on 39 counts of manslaughter over the lorry tragedy, jailing them for 27 and 20 years. He also handed two truck drivers 13-year and 18-year sentences.

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 Flash

People mourn for victims of a school mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the United States, May 26, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

Gun violence has surged ahead of the opioid crisis as Americans' top public health concern, according to the latest edition of the Axios-Ipsos American Health Index.

A spate of recent mass shootings may have focused attention on the issue in ways that weren't apparent in the last poll in February, with 26 percent of respondents saying "access to guns or firearms" as the No. 1 threat to American public health, up from 17 percent in February, Axios said in a report of the survey.

Meanwhile, 25 percent said the biggest threat is opioids and fentanyl, virtually unchanged since the last poll; 20 percent said obesity, also almost unchanged; COVID-19 slipped to the bottom of public health threats at 3 percent, tied with smoking, alcohol abuse and unsafe driving.

"Other recent polling has shown an uptick of concern about gun violence, especially in schools," said the report. "A KFF survey found 1 in 5 U.S. adults said they've personally been threatened with a gun, and 1 in 6 have personally witnessed someone being shot."

"There's been an increased push to portray gun violence as a public health issue, with experts factoring employer costs, insurance claims, mental health counseling and other variables," it added.
Paris - France has passed a law banning some domestic flights and encouraging travelers to take the train instead. Under the new law, flights that can be replaced by a train journey of under two-and-a-half hours should be scrapped.

The ban on short-hop flights became law on Tuesday. However, France's national airline had already canceled three routes that were deemed too high on carbon emissions. All three went from Paris' second airport, Orly, serving Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes. Those three cities are all on the country's extensive high-speed rail network, and taking the train is also far faster than flying there.

Air France agreed to drop those direct routes in return for coronavirus financial assistance from the government in 2020.

Critics say the ban will have a negligible effect on carbon emissions. Laurent Donceel, interim head of industry group Airlines for Europe, which represents several airlines including Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and Ryanair, dismissed the law as a "symbolic ban." He told the Agence France-Presse news service that governments should instead support "real and significant solutions" to airline emissions.

While the ban sounds like a good idea to help combat climate change, in fact there are a number of caveats that severely limit its scope. The replacement train service must be frequent, timely and allow travelers to get to and from their starting point in the same day while allowing them a full eight hours at their destination.

The choice of train station designated as the departure point has also strangled plans to limit short-haul flights from Paris' main airport, Charles de Gaulle. The comparative train station is the one at the airport  which has a much more limited service than the seven mainline stations in Paris itself.

That has meant that while you can't fly from Orly to Bordeaux direct, you can fly to the southwestern wine city from CDG. In fact, the only routes that will be affected by the ban are the three from Orly that no longer operate.

An Air France Airbus aircraft lands at Athens International Airport on July 15, 2019. / Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

An exception in the ban allows flights with a transfer to continue to operate, and that has led to some convoluted routes that take much longer than a direct flight or a train  and mean even more harmful emissions in takeoff and landing.

For example, the direct route from Paris to Lyon in eastern France, capital of gastronomy and a business hub, used to take under an hour from Orly. That route has been canceled as it was considered wasteful. You can still fly from Orly to Lyon  but you have to fly via Nice, in the south, changing planes to hop back up to Lyon, for a flight time of three hours, 15 minutes.

By contrast, a high-speed train from Paris will have you in central Lyon in just two hours. Or you can still fly direct in over an hour from de Gaulle. However, the total journey takes considerably longer when you add in the trip to and from the airports, checking in and going through security checkpoints.

The quest for lower emissions has led European airlines to examine a number of options. Air France recently announced plans to renew its fleet in an effort to cut carbon emissions. It says it will also increase its use of sustainable aviation fuel.

The airline already has a train and air partnership with France's national rail company SNCF in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It allows travelers to combine plane and train reservations in one booking, essentially allowing people to quickly and easily compare methods of travel.

Aviation news website Runway Girl Network reports that Spanish airline Iberia is currently expanding its flight and train combination offer. Dutch airline KLM is buying up seats on high-speed trains from Schipol airport in Amsterdam to Brussels in a move to drop one of its daily flights between the two cities.

When the ban was first raised as part of France's 2021 Climate Act, Transport Minister Clement Beaune called it "a major step forward in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

"I am proud that France is a pioneer in this area," he added.

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Franklin County jury finds woman not guilty of murder for running over another woman

Bria K. Henslee, 23, exits the Franklin County Common Pleas Court courtroom on May 16 during a break in her trial in the death of 25-year-old Makaela Ellis on April 9, 2021. A jury found Henslee not guilty of murder on Wednesday. One of Henslee's defense attorneys, Sam Shamansky, said during the trial that Ellis was pointing a gun at Henslee, who acted in self-defense when she drover her vehicle into Ellis and crushed her against the exterior wall of a fast-food restaurants bulding.

A Franklin County jury has decided it was not murder when a Columbus woman drove her vehicle into another woman holding a gun, fatally crushing her against the wall of a fast-food restaurants building.

Bria K. Henslee, 23, of the Hilltop neighborhood, was on trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court for two counts of murder in connection with the death of 25-year-old Makaela Ellis on April 9, 2021.

Henslee's defense team argued during the trial that Henslee was defending herself after Ellis pointed a gun at her following a fender-bender crash.

After deliberating all of Tuesday and most of Wednesday, the jury returned its verdict around 4 p.m. Wednesday. The jury found Henslee not guilty of both counts of murder.

As Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Brown read the verdicts in court, members of Ellis' family in the courtroom began crying.

The jury did find Henslee guilty of assault for kicking a Columbus police officer in the stomach when she was arrested later.

Judge Brown scheduled Henslee's sentencing hearing for July 13. Franklin County prosecutors asked Brown to revoke Henslee's bond. Brown declined and allowed Henslee, who has children, to stay out while she awaits sentencing.

The confrontation that turned fatal happened outside a combination Kentucky Fried Chicken and Long John Silvers on Columbus' Southwest Side.

The incident was captured on a surveillance camera across the street. The video, which is grainy and low-definition, was shown during the trial.

One of Henslees defense attorneys, Sam Shamansky, said the video shows Ellis pointed the gun at Henslee. Prosecutors disagreed during the trial that's what the fuzzy video shows.

Two different witnesses also told police they saw Ellis point her gun at Henslee, Shamansky said.

Shamansky told The Dispatch after the verdict that the jury saw through the conflicting theories put forward by the prosecution.

"This case should have never been prosecuted," Shamansky said. "The only crime that was committed was Bria had to have her life put on hold for the last two years facing these unfounded and unsupportable charges."

Shamansky also said Henslee barely tapped the officer she's convicted of assaulting, and they will be appealing that conviction.

Franklin County prosecutors declined to comment to The Dispatch after the verdict.

Past reporting: A Columbus woman drove over another woman holding a gun. Is it self-defense or murder?

More court news: Prosecutor says witnesses told police that 13-year-old Sinzae Reed fired first at Krieg Butler

The case

Columbus police responded at 6:52 p.m. on April 9, 2021 to a report of a shooting at the KFC and Long John Silvers at 1414 Harrisburg Pike. The shooting came after Ellis was hit, said Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Zezech.

The confrontation involved Henslee, Ellis, at least three other people, two guns and multiple vehicles.

The KFC and Long John Silvers are next to a strip mall, which is next to a Burger King. Zezech said during the trial that Henslee was driving in the parking lot of the strip mall when she hit a parked vehicle and then nearly clipped a van that Ellis, Alex Mulligan and Kaitlin Ross were getting into by the Burger King.

The first vehicle Henslee hit belonged to an employee of a barber shop at the strip mall, and Ellis knew them, Zezech said.

Cierra Carter, who was driving her Jeep, followed Henslee through the strip mall parking lot to the KFC/ Long Johns parking lot, Zezech said.

Carter used the Jeep to block Henslees exit, as can be seen on the video. The video shows Henslee got out of her car and kicked Carters car door. Henslee then got back in her car and the van with Ellis and the others pulled up.

Henslee backed her car up a couple of times and then drove forward on the video. Zezech said she gunned it as if to hit the Jeep blocking her or the people in her way. When Ellis and Mulligan got out of the van, they had guns in their hands, Zezech said during the trial.

(Ellis was) holding it by the barrel like a hammer, Zezech said.

Shamansky said two witnesses interviewed by police said Ellis pointed the gun at Henslee.

Bria backs her car up a third time, farther this time, then accelerates, aims the car at (Ellis), jumps over that curb into the drive-thru and crushes (Ellois) against the wall of that KFC, Zezech said.

After Henslee hit Ellis, Mulligan fired six shots from his revolver, according to Zezech, which prompted the 911 shooting report to police.

Ellis was transported by medics to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m.

Zezech said Henslee fled the scene. When police found her later at home, Henslee kicked a female police officer in the stomach, he said.

More court news: Former Columbus Alternative High School teacher pleads guilty to taking 'upskirt' videos

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus woman found not guilty of murder in self-defense trial
Fresno Unified gets $7M grant to transform five schools. Heres how the money will be spent

In several of the classrooms at Fort Miller Middle School in Fresno, students can find much more than standard school supplies lining teachers closets and shelves.

Some teachers have toiletry closets, with toothbrushes and toothpaste, combs and hair ties, deodorant and menstrual pads, all free for the taking. Others have food pantries with granola bars and mac n cheese for students who dont have enough to eat, or closets of extra shirts and sweaters for students who dont have enough clean clothes to last the week.

In these ways, the middle school already resembles whats known as a community school  a new model for education, which treats schools as not just venues for teaching and learning but also as resource hubs, based on what the particular school community needs. That could be a health clinic or, like Fort Miller, food and toiletry pantries.

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The underlying idea is that students will struggle to learn if their basic needs arent met  and that the local community of parents, teachers, students and staff know those needs best.

This fall, Fort Miller will officially become a community school, after the state board of education voted to approve an over $7,125,000 implementation grant for the district to transform select sites into community schools over the next five years.

Birney Elementary, Holland Elementary, Norseman Elementary and Thomas Elementary will also be part of FUSDs inaugural cohort.

With the grant, Fort Miller teacher Eric Calderon said hes hopeful theyll have the chance to streamline the resources teachers have already provided via crowdfunding or out of their own pockets, so that teachers can focus on teaching.

A portion of the funding from the implementation grant will also go toward hiring one community schools coordinator for each of the five schools. It will be these peoples job to secure wraparound services for the community schools.

That new position will take much of this work off the backs of other staff as well, which Fort Miller Principal Abraham Olivares welcomes.

Having a community schools coordinator, that is their sole focus, he said. Making sure our families, our kids have what they need.

Some district leaders have high hopes this will help address some of its deepest-rooted problems, like chronic absenteeism and low academic achievement.

The bet with community schools, said district Trustee Andy Levine, is that providing these broader resources makes it more possible for students to make it to school and to be focused in school.

How Fresno Unifieds community schools will work

Every community school will look different, but thats the name of the game.

The particular wraparound services, resources and after-school support offered at a community school develop out of engagement with district families.

At Fort Miller, staff, students, and parents previously identified the need for access to laundry machines.

The school has one of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in the district, according to 2021-22 CDE data, and students not having clean clothes was contributing to the problem.

Transportation is another issue, as Fort Miller has the highest number of feeder schools of any middle school in the district, Olivares said. Theyre hoping to request a van to help pick up students who live furthest from the school.

Meanwhile at Holland Elementary, another member of Fresno Unifieds inaugural class of community schools, students have slightly different needs. They have a high number of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), which are academic paths customized for students in special education, according to Carlos Arredondo, a FUSD principal on special assignment leading the districtwide community schools efforts.

Theyre looking to see how they can utilize the community schools model to support that aspect, he said, whether it were to be through specific tutoring, through a focused after-school approach where theres more targeted instruction taking place or other approaches.

Fort Miller Middle School teacher Eric Calderon stands next to the schools current washer and dryer, which are showing some wear, on Monday, March 27, 2023. Calderon, with help from trustee Andy Levine, was able to secure funding for a new washer and dryer for not only Fort Miller, but all middle schools throughout the district to give low-income students access to laundry equipment to keep their clothes clean.

Fresno teachers union backs initiative

Another aspect that sets community schools apart is their commitment to collaborative leadership between teachers, staff, students, parents, administrators, and community members.

The whole DNA of a community school, said Linda Hoff, a retired Fresno Pacific University director of teacher education helping coordinate Fresno Unifieds initiative, is not assuming that the people at the top of the pile know what to do.

Thats part of what draws the Fresno Teachers Association to the model.

The union has, in fact, been one of the driving forces behind bringing community schools to the district. FTA drew up a memorandum of understanding in March 2022 that established a district-wide steering committee of Fresno Unified leaders, FTA teachers and parents to help shape the community schools initiative.

Historically, Fresno Unified is top-down. If you were to ask employees, if you were to ask our community, not many people feel heard, Bonilla said, and not a lot of people feel like they have a space to be a decision maker in this district.

One of the goals, he added, is to show we could do this in a different way.

The model also encourages partnerships with community organizations to help meet identified needs  something that the community schools coordinator will be tasked with securing.

At Fort Miller, that could look like a partnership with the Fresno Housing Authority to help the schools population of unhoused students, Calderon said.

The community schools coordinator position was posted May 18, according to EdJoin. The districts goal is to hire coordinators in the next month and a half so theyll be ready to start come July, Arredondo said.

Measuring community schools success

Several leaders told the Ed Lab they will be closely watching chronic absenteeism trends to measure the impact of the first five community schools.

Hoff, the former Fresno Pacific faculty member supporting Fresno Unifieds initiative, said its very common for community schools to use that metric.

There is some assumption that when kids needs are met better, she said, and families feel more connected to the school  the kids are much more likely to come to school.

Trustee Levine envisions a bigger ripple effect.

It goes all the way to achievement scores, and college and career readiness, he said.

Our first and foremost responsibility is to prepare students for college and career success. But, Levine added, we cant do that if were not intentionally being proactive about our students more basic needs. If we do meet those basic needs, we should expect to see achievement scores go up.

At the same time, Hoff said these changes shouldnt be expected to happen overnight.

Its a five-year process. Each school gets money for each of the five years, she said. So that tells you something about (how) it takes a while.

The state funding lasts through 2028. After that, unless the state extends funding, the district will have to figure out how to support the community schools on its own.

For the time being, teacher Calderon sees these next several years as an opportunity to rewrite the story of Fort Miller.

Oftentimes, I go around and talk about Fort Miller. A lot of times people say, Oh. You work there?  its always this negative tone.

If we can get families to come here, and we can get students to be more engaged, and our staff too, I feel like we would be turning that leaf, he said. Through the community schools initiative, he added, we can say, the school has been designed based on your voice and your needs.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bees Education Lab at its website.
Freedom of Russia Legion explains how they got Western equipment

Soldiers of the Russian Volunteer Corps

Read also: Russia didnt respond to Belgorod Oblast incursion because its special forces were killed in Ukraine  expert

Together with RVC (Russian Volunteer Corps) we used equipment previously captured by the Kremlins army from Ukrainian troops near Bakhmut, the message reads.

We have successfully re-captured this equipment and brought it back.

The incursion into Russias Belgorod Oblast raised concerns amid Western experts if the use of U.S.-made armored vehicles on Russian territory constituted as a risky escalation.

The legion also asserted that the operation in Grayvoron district of Belgorod Oblast was a success, and their goals were accomplished. Two soldiers were killed and 10 were injured during the raid, according to the message.

The enemy was defeated, some of them fled in shame; we captured a lot of equipment and took prisoners, the report concludes.

Read also: Ukraine advancing on Bakhmut flanks in ongoing operation, says General Syrskyi

On May 22, the Freedom of Russia Legion announced that, together with the RVC, they had completely liberated the settlement of Kozinka in Belgorod Oblast, and also entered the town of Grayvoron, commencing its assault.

Ukrainian officials said Kyiv is aware of these developments, with no direct involvement in what they described as an internal Russian matter.

Read also: War will endure until Putins hanged body decorates the walls of the Kremlin  Russian Volunteer Corps

Russian local authorities launched a "counter-terrorism operation," and as per the governor, several residents from the Grayvoron district evacuated. Moscow said the attack was repelled by May 23.

The Freedom of Russia Legion is a unit within the Ukrainian Armed Forces, established in March 2022 to combat the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: Freedom of Russia Legion declares liberation of a settlement in Belgorod Oblast

The RVC was formed in August 2022, and is not formally affiliated with the Ukrainian military.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Mark Roy Anderson collected millions from investors in his hemp farm. But there was a big problem. (Kristen Wyatt / Associated Press)

Mark Roy Anderson of Beverly Hills collected $9 million over four years from investors in his hemp farm on the outskirts of Bakersfield, but there was one problem, the FBI says: The farm did not exist.

Anderson, the investors discovered, is a convicted con artist who started swindling people at least three decades ago. He launched his purported hemp business immediately after his May 2019 release from the federal prison in Texas where he had served more than 11 years for an oil investment scam, federal authorities said.

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Anderson on five counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors said he tricked investors into funding his sham hemp business through a company he called Harvest Farm Group.

Anderson, 68, used some of the money to buy a $1.3-million gated residence surrounded by citrus groves in Ojai, according to the FBI. He diverted another $2.3 million to personal expenses, including more than $650,000 for vintage and luxury automobiles, $13,000 for chartered private jet flights and $142,000 for merchandise from Williams-Sonoma, Ferragamo, Crate & Barrel and other retailers, the FBI alleged in a criminal complaint.

Anderson, who was arrested May 9 and has been in jail since, could not be reached. His attorney, Brett A. Greenfield, did not respond to a request for comment.

Anderson used to be a Nevada lawyer, but his criminal record got him disbarred in 1993. His rap sheet is extensive, and some of his crimes foreshadowed the alleged hemp swindle.

In 1988, Anderson got one victim to pay him $400,000 for an interest in a Beverly Hills office building that he falsely claimed to own, prosecutors say. He got another to pay $175,000 for an interest in a La Jolla building that he didn't own. For those and related crimes, he pleaded guilty to grand theft and other charges and was sentenced to four years in state prison.

Also in the 1980s, Anderson ran a Ponzi-style scheme to cheat investors in the purported restoration of historic buildings around the country. He was sentenced to seven more years in prison.

He moved on to the oil investment swindle, which cost victims more than $9 million, according to prosecutors. After pleading guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering, Anderson sent the judge a handwritten letter in May 2012 saying he was "incompetent and inept in dealing with money."

"Twenty years ago, I went to prison for fraud," Anderson wrote. "It was a horrible experience. I lost my marriage, all my possessions. It destroyed my self-respect. When I got out, I was terrified to ever go back."

He started drinking heavily around the time he hatched the oil scam, which "made matters worse," Anderson wrote. "I would pray at night not to wake up."

Anderson, then in his 50s, told the judge he was concerned he would die in prison. "I am damaged and broken," he wrote. "There is nothing left in me. My productive life is over." He called himself "a failure, a fraud and an embarrassment."

His brother, Stan Anderson, sent the judge a letter saying Mark had served on the business advisory council of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He attached an autographed photo of former President George W. Bush thanking Mark Roy Anderson for supporting the Republican National Committee.

After serving about seven years of his sentence, Anderson was released from prison under an elderly offender pilot project and placed in home detention in Beverly Hills for 18 months. In November 2020, he started a three-year term of supervised release. A condition of his probation was that he not engage in investment projects.

But by then, his hemp investment venture was well underway, according to an arrest complaint by FBI agent Richard T. Higgins. Victims told the FBI that Anderson claimed he was growing hemp on his farm in Kern County for conversion into medical-grade cannabis products, Higgins wrote.

Two of the investors eventually hired a private investigator. They discovered that the purported hemp farm was actually a vineyard that Anderson did not own, despite his assurances that he'd completed three successful harvests that were "extremely profitable," Higgins said.

The photos of the would-be harvests turned out to be stock images downloaded from the internet, according to Higgins.

An attorney for one of the investors had asked Anderson to confirm that he had no prior criminal convictions and was not the Mark Roy Anderson who had gone to prison for fraud. Anderson, Higgins said, assured the attorney that the con artist was somebody else.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Whats more American than apple pie or baseball? The guitar, it seems, and arguably by a wide margin.

Americans have a particular predilection for guitars, said Mark Scala, chief curator at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville. People either play guitar or know someone who does, and most of us have incredibly powerful memories of musical performances with it.

Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art, a new exhibition opening May 25 at the Frist, offers viewers a fresh lens for guitar gazing. Showcasing over 100 works of art from paintings, sculpture, photography, videos and more plus seminal instruments by Fender, Gibson and C.F. Martin & Co., the show explores the guitars symbolism in American art from the late 18th century to the present, chronicling the visual stories it tells about the American experience.

Michael C. Thorpe piece Sister Rosetta Tharpe, 2021 on fabric.

The guitar is more than just a beautiful object, Scala said. Its a way of understanding changes and transitions in American attitudes. It can tell us a lot about the culture of the moment it was produced, whether it was in the 1890s or 1930s.

Organized by Dr. Leo G. Mazow, the Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the show is the first of its kind to explore the guitar as a visual motif in American art. Works by artists such as John Baldassari, Thomas Hart Benton, Lonnie Holley, Dorothea Lange and Annie Leibovitz are organized into 12 thematic sections with titles like Leisure, Culture, and Comfort: 19th Century America, Blues and Folk, A Change is Coming and Iconic Women of Early Country Music.

Archtop guitar, 1919. Maker Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

The show tackles a whole universe, Scala said, and each section considers everything from early depictions of the guitar, cowboy motifs, and influential women and black artists, to guitar-making techniques and the guitars role in social and political resistance.

For the Frist presentation, Scala added 19 selections to amplify Nashvilles rich legacy of guitars, guitarists and guitar makers. He sourced photographs, paintings and videos from the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Tennessee State Museum and other Middle Tennessee collections.

Caroll Cloar piece Folk Singer, 1971. This is acrylic on masonite.

I wanted to tell a more complete story of Nashville, a.k.a. Guitar Town, in a way that fits with the established curatorial approach, Scala said. Highlights include a Red Grooms lithograph of Elvis Presley displayed next to a video of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock and Roll, playing the electric guitar. Also added were Thomas Hart Bentons 1975 painting "The Sources of Country Music," a video of Marty Robbins playing El Paso, and images of Dolly Parton on her tour bus and of Webb Pierce next to his guitar-shaped swimming pool.

Scala also included a video of Amethyst Kiah and the Del McCoury Band playing Woody Guthries This Land is Your Land at the Grand Ole Opry. He said he could not resist displaying the video next to an iconic 1943 photograph of Guthrie holding his guitar emblazoned with his famous credo THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS.

Al Aumuller image of Woody Guthrie, 1943.

Storied Strings is not just about images of people with guitars, though. Scala said it is more about the disparate ideas, emotions and memories the images conjure in each viewers mind. He notes an Annie Leibovitz photograph in the show of Bruce Springsteen airborne with his guitar in front of the American flag. The image was used to promote the musicians 1984 Born in the USA tour.

When you see it, he said, it likely triggers all these associations of the moment you heard that song or how its been used and oftentimes misused. A lot of people think the song is patriotic, but it really scrutinizes the story of the promise of America in relation to its realities.

Supporting the Frist: Frist Art Museum's annual gala brings color to life in Nashville

More visual arts: British artist Bruce Munro returns to Cheekwood with 'LIGHT'

As comprehensive as the exhibition is, there are many more guitars and their stories for visitors to experience all over Nashville. Scala said he hopes the show is a gateway for tourists who may not know about all the other museums and collections in Music City.

If theres something you dont see here, say in the 'Iconic Women of Early Country Music' section, just go down the street to the Country Music Hall of Fame," he said. "If you feel like the black contribution to American music isnt complete, go down the street to the National Museum of African American Music. Or go check out the guitar collection at Belmont University, or the Jefferson Street Sound Museum, or the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum.

The companion exhibit Guitar Town: Picturing Performance Today, on view through Aug. 20 in the Frists free Conte Community Arts Gallery, also highlights Nashvilles diverse guitar-centric offerings. The show celebrates Nashvilles contemporary music scene with works by 10 local photographers that capture up-and-coming and established musicians, like Jack White, Brandi Carlile, Adia Victoria, William Tyler and Marty Stuart performing in venues across the city.

For a deeper dive into the exhibition, dont miss curator, Dr. Leo G. Mazows free, illustrated lecture on Thursday, May 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Frist auditorium.

If you go

What: Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art

When: May 25-Aug. 13

Where: Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway

Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursdays and 1-5:30 p.m. Sundays. Closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays

Tickets: $15, free for members and visitors 18 and younger

More information: https://fristartmuseum.org/

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Frist Art Museum's Storied Strings shows guitars make art and music
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating whether baby formula makers colluded on bidding for state contracts, agency documents show.

The commission opened the probe last year into bidding on state contracts for the Department of Agricultures Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides free formula to low-income families. The investigation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

In late January, the FTC requested information and documents from Abbott Laboratories, one of only three manufacturers that have bid on WIC contracts since 1996. The commission later denied a request from the company to limit the scope of the investigation, which was posted on the agency website in late April.

The commission said in its request to Abbott that it was looking into whether any company that manufactures, markets, or sells Infant Formula Products has engaged or is engaging in any unfair method of competition.

FTC Secretary April Tabor noted in the April response to Abbott that the WIC contracts may create incentives for collusion, where incumbent WIC contract holders agree not to bid against each other so that they can continue enjoying dominant positions in non-WIC markets in their respective states.

An Abbott spokesperson said in a statement that the company is cooperating with the FTCs requests. However, the company previously said in its March petition to the commission that it was unaware of any factual basis to support the WIC-related investigation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department has asked federal agencies whether they can make upcoming payments at a later date, two people familiar with the matter said, as senior Biden officials search for fresh ways to conserve cash and prevent the U.S. government from facing an unprecedented default.

With a deadline looming in less than two weeks, the White House is looking for ways to buy more time for President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to cut a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, which sets a legal limit on government borrowing. Without additional borrowing, a fresh burst of tax revenue or new ways to slow spending, the federal government expects to miss a payment for the first time in modern history in early June.

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To put off the so-called "X-date" when reserves run dry, Treasury officials have asked their counterparts at federal agencies about the flexibility of payments due before early June, one of the people said. Treasury has not asked federal agencies to postpone payments beyond their due dates, the person said.

The planning has become increasingly urgent in recent days. Last week, senior Treasury staff sent a memo to federal agencies instructing them to take additional steps to keep the Treasury Department closely apprised of their spending. In the memo - which was obtained by The Washington Post and has not been previously reported - David A. Lebryk, fiscal assistant secretary for Treasury, ordered agency officials to notify Treasury at least two days in advance of all "deposits and disbursements" between $50 million and $500 million. Payments above $500 million require five days notice, the memo said.

"Please stress to your staff the importance of these updates during this time and to ensure that your agency's reports are accurate," the memo said. "Your reporting offices should be reconciling reported amounts to actual payment activity to ensure the reliability of these reports during the critical period."

Negotiations to find a broad agreement to raise the debt ceiling continued for several hours between representatives of Biden and McCarthy Tuesday, but little new progress appeared to have been made after Monday night's meeting between the two leaders, who remain divided over how much the federal government should spend next year and other issues. Walking into the Capitol on Tuesday morning, McCarthy said the two sides remain far apart. Asked whether he was close to a deal, McCarthy responded, "no," though he said it is still possible to get an agreement completed before June 1. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, meanwhile, told reporters that the talks have "been productive," adding, "We believe there is a space and an opportunity here to have a bipartisan, reasonable, reasonable budget agreement."

The Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.-based think tank whose debt ceiling estimates are closely watched, reported Tuesday that it expected the U.S. government to run out of money between June 2 and 13 if the limit is not raised. Major stock indexes closed slightly down Tuesday as traders looked ahead to the prospect of default.

Spokespeople for the White House declined to comment on any attempts to conserve funds ahead of the deadline. A spokesperson for Treasury said: "To produce an accurate forecast around the debt limit, it's critical that Treasury have updated information on the magnitude and timing of agency payments. As in prior debt limit episodes, Treasury will continue to regularly communicate with all aspects of the federal government on their planned expenditures."

Determining the precise amount of money available to make federal payments has become especially critical as some Biden aides look for ways to buy more time for high-stakes debt ceiling negotiations occurring between the White House and Capitol Hill.

In a letter Monday to lawmakers, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen affirmed that Congress may have only until June 1 before the federal government exhausts its supply of cash, though she again predicted that Treasury may be able to hold out until "early June." Some Wall Street forecasters have said the true X-date - the day when the government finally misses a payment - is likely June 8 or 9.

With a big influx of quarterly tax payments expected to arrive in Treasury's coffers on June 15, administration officials are looking for ways to hoard cash and eke out a few more days. If they can make it to June 15, the surge in revenue might give Treasury enough funding to push the X-date into July, when a fresh round of accounting measures would become available, perhaps allowing them to push the prospect of default even further into the future.

"It's possible they have some tricks up their sleeves to get to June 15," said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington-based think tank. "And if they get to June 15, they can go a lot longer."

Administration officials are not banking on this strategy. Yellen has been adamant that the only way to avoid calamity is for Congress to raise the debt ceiling before June. Independent budget experts have stressed that no good legal options exist for significantly extending the amount of cash Treasury has on hand.

Meanwhile, some experts fear that extending the deadline could have the unintended consequence of creating more uncertainty among lawmakers, which could take the pressure off their rush to reach an agreement to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling - even as the imperative for congressional action becomes increasingly urgent.

Brian Riedl, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, said it is unclear if Treasury can find much in available funds rummaging through the nation's couch cushions.

"Washington is borrowing $100 billion a month, and the odds of finding a significant pile of cash that hadn't gone noticed is between slim and none," Riedl said.

If the United States does get to the brink, Biden aides already are exploring unilateral options for staving off what many economists believe would be a global economic crisis. One administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal government deliberations, agreed that "we're looking under the couch cushions." But, the person said, "it's a very large couch."

Administration officials declined to provide details about the actions under consideration, but outside analysts outlined some likely options.

Alec Phillips, the chief U.S. political economist at Goldman Sachs Research, pointed to "a little belt tightening" as one option, in which the Treasury Department could direct agencies - such as the Defense Department and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - to slow down their process for submitting payments. That would not be the same as ordering them to cease payments, but it could slow the flow of money from Treasury coffers.

Such actions "don't solve their problem but could be enough if they were looking for just a little extra room (which is probably all they need in June)," Phillips said in an email.

Treasury also could sell bonds held by some of the government's massive trust funds, such as the Social Security Trust Fund or the Highway Trust Fund. That could raise tens of billions of dollars immediately, some experts said, and the trust funds could easily be made whole once the standoff ends.

Still, these ideas have their downsides.

The law requires contractors and those owed money by the federal government to be to paid promptly. Otherwise, the government would face repayment penalties, which could include an additional 4.6 percent in interest, according to Riedl. Federal agencies also could resist attempts to slow or stop payments, citing a 1974 law that bars the executive branch from substituting its own spending priorities for decisions by Congress.

"I don't believe that any career official in any agency would risk violating [that law] by purposefully delaying a payment in order to get around the X-date," said David Vandivier, who served as deputy assistant secretary for budget and tax in the Treasury's legislative affairs office during the Obama administration and is now executive director of the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University.

The Treasury Department might find a few additional billions of dollars by tapping the Treasury securities held by the Federal Financing Bank, which helps provide low-cost loans for federal programs, said Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.-based think tank. But that would probably amount to less than a day's worth of federal payments.

Akabas said other options - such as slowing payments or raiding trust funds - would entail other risks. The Biden administration has resisted calls to end the debt ceiling standoff by invoking the 14th Amendment or minting a $1 trillion coin, actions they view as risky and subject to legal challenge. The current search for ways to prolong the X-date could similarly plunge the administration into uncharted waters.

More dramatic options are available. Biden has the authority to sell U.S. assets such as parklands or federal buildings to raise money, but that would almost certainly spark a political backlash. Dean Baker, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, has noted that the president could sell off a portion of the Treasury's $500 billion in gold reserves.

There is no indication that either idea is under consideration, though Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III threatened to sell gold bonds during a similar debt ceiling standoff in the 1980s.

"There are measures they could consider, like effectively instructing agencies to wait until bills are due to make them, which could slow down bill payments. But they would be a really big undertaking. And I'm not sure how much they would even delay the X-date," Akabas said.

He added: "We've been through this exercise dozens of times before. So if there was something readily available, you think we would have heard about it."

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A 15-year-old Washington state committee tasked with reviewing Public Records Act exemptions for the Legislature continued a discussion Tuesday about whether to dissolve the group entirely.

The purpose of the Sunshine Committee is to review all the exemptions from the Public Records Act to determine whether they should be maintained, eliminated or changed. They are tasked with issuing recommendations to lawmakers, but it is up to legislators to sponsor and introduce bills containing the recommendations and get them passed by the Legislature.

The state Sunshine Committee cited lawmakers lack of attention to the groups recommendations as their reason for considering disbanding, as well as the fact that there is no funding for the group in the state budget, not even to cover parking when the group convenes in person.

The thing that I want the committee to understand is that we have no compulsion on the Legislature, all we can do is make a report to the Legislature, we cannot compel the Legislature to do anything, or any singular legislator, to do anything, said Rowland Thompson, a committee member who is a lobbyist for Allied Daily Newspapers. All we have is the work product that we put out, and it has been fairly routinely ignored by the Legislature at various levels.

Ironically, the Legislature would have to officially repeal the statute that created the committee through a recommendation by the group, but that wont be possible until next years legislative session.

Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, a member of the Sunshine Committee, said during Tuesdays meeting that he was interested in drafting a bill to repeal the statute and that he had emailed staff to get the process started.

Other committee members were in support.

We cant go away on our own, the Legislature has to make that happen, said Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, a member of the committee. One of the questions we have to ask ourselves is, if that is our recommendation, what do we do between now and if it is repealed? So we should not lose sight of the fact that we may still exist even if we decide we dont want to anymore.

Rep. Jenny Graham, R-Spokane, a member of the committee, said over the last few years that the Legislature has been inundated with other tough issues and was not able to get to bills recommended by the Sunshine Committee.

But Linda Krese, a former Snohomish County Superior Court Judge and current chair of the Sunshine Committee, pushed back on that statement, and said that lawmakers have long been ignoring the recommendations.

Despite the fact that the Sunshine Committee issued only two recommendations during the 2023 legislative session, no legislators chose to sponsor bills addressing either of them. Since the Washington Supreme Court held that lawmakers are subject to the Public Records Act in 2019, no proposed legislation from the committee has been passed.

In a letter to Gov. Jay Inslees Deputy General Counsel from February, Krese said she would not be seeking reappointment to the position because she didnt want to continue volunteering for a purposeless committee.

Once Krese steps down, the committee will not have a chair or vice chair, and it is unclear if those positions can be filled before the committees next meeting in August, or even to take the positions until the committee can potentially be removed via statute.

Still, some members wanted to make it clear that they werent giving up on the committee because they dont believe in transparency, but because they are frustrated with being ignored after committing time to the group and the recommendations.

Krese noted during the February meeting that when the committee was enacted by law in July 2007, just over 300 public records exemptions existed in statute. That number has grown to more than 600 since then, and Krese said she suspects there are more that have been overlooked.

Kathy George, an attorney and a former member of the committee, stepped down during the February meeting over similar frustrations.

The move by legislators to ignore recommendations from the Sunshine Committee comes as state lawmakers are also using a legally untested exemption to shield themselves from releasing public records.
WASHINGTON  Boeings effort to build a new trainer aircraft for the Air Force is plagued by safety problems, schedule and testing delays, and the risk the T-7A Red Hawk could fall even further behind schedule, the Government Accountability Office said in a scathing report.

Boeings relationship with the Air Force has also been strained by the T-7s issues, GAO said in the May 18 report, with service officials describing their ties as tenuous.

As the program proceeds and Boeing losses, which already exceed $1 billion, mount, GAO said, program officials expect more disagreements between the Air Force and the contractor. While the Air Force waits for the T-7 to be delivered, its own costs related to maintaining older jets could grow, the report warned.

Boeing said in a statement to Defense News it plans to keep working with the service to fix the problems highlighted in the report, but did not address specific issues asked about by Defense News.

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are partnered on a path forward regarding these issues, the company said. Additionally, we continue to evaluate findings and discovery during testing activities, which is standard practice when developing a new aircraft.

Boeing in 2018 won an indefinite delivery contract, estimated to be worth up to $9.2 billion, to build the Air Forces new jet trainer, set to replace the more than half-century-old T-38 Talon.

Student pilots will be able to use this advanced trainer to learn to fly jets akin to advanced fighters such as the F-35, which has capabilities that didnt exist when the T-38 was first built. New capabilities the T-7 will bring include fly-by-wire controls and high-altitude maneuverability. Additionally, this trainer will allow students to learn advanced air-to-air maneuvers and be able to accommodate pilots of varying sizes, including men and women.

A shaky schedule

The T-7 has seen several schedule delays. Most recently, problems with a potentially dangerous escape system and ejection seat caused the Air Force to postpone to February 2025 a milestone C production decision on the T-7. The Air Force originally expected that decision to come in late 2023.

This means Boeing is now expected to start delivering the T-7 in December 2025, and the Air Force is preparing for it to reach initial operational capability in spring 2027 at the earliest. That would be nearly a decade after the Air Force originally hoped to have student pilots flying in its advanced trainer.

But program officials told GAO that even the new schedule Boeing laid out in January 2023 is likely optimistic because it depends on favorable assumptions.

Boeings revised T-7 schedule assumes the program will have a high success rate through the rest of its development and testing, Air Force officials told GAO. This leaves little to no margin for error, including test failures, unexpected software revisions, a possible need to redesign the escape system, or other surprises, GAO said.

If something goes wrong, the report added, the T-7 program could fall even further behind  perhaps significantly so, potentially jeopardizing even the revised production decision date and further pushing back production and delivery.

The Air Force is now planning to have the T-7s development, testing and production phases considerably overlap, GAO said, which will add a great deal more risk to the schedule.

This approach, known as concurrency, can lead to rising costs or further schedule delays because if testing finds hidden problems, the contractor could have to go back into aircraft that have already been built to fix those issues.

Program officials told GAO they doubted overlapping development and testing would lead to major changes to the T-7, and said concurrency had not driven up program costs.

But such problems have happened before, GAO said, citing a previous 2018 report that found it would cost an additional $1.4 billion to fix problems in F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that had been built before testing was complete.

Boeing also plans to start building the first production T-7s before the Air Force officially places its order, GAO said, which could carry further risks. Boeing started building some parts for the T-7 in early 2022 on its own dime, GAO said, and plans to start assembling the first aircraft by early 2024, the report said.

A T-7A Red Hawk aircraft sits in a partially built state at Boeing's St. Louis production facility. (Courtesy of Boeing)

GAO said this means construction would start about a year before the Air Force plans to place its first order for the aircraft, which will happen no sooner than February 2025 after development and a great deal of testing has been finished. And by the time the Air Force places its order, the report said, government officials believe Boeing could have finished building seven to 10 T-7s it could present to the service.

GAO said Boeing told the Air Force in March 2022 it had already started building some parts that would go into the T-7  even though the Air Force warned Boeing two months earlier it was under no obligation to buy trainer jets built with those parts until it placed an order. The Air Force also told Boeing any work it does has to meet all requirements for future orders.

Boeing told GAO it began initial construction on planes that could eventually be delivered to the Air Force because it faced pressure to keep its suppliers busy and manufacturing costs down, particularly with schedule delays and financial losses mounting.

But this presents significant risks to the Air Force, GAO said. Because no contract is in place for building those aircraft, GAO said, the Air Force and the Defense Contract Management Agency cant conduct all the production oversight needed to make sure the planes will meet contract requirements. Even conducting oversight, DCMA warned the Air Force, could have the unintended effect of committing the Air Force to accept some of Boeings work on the T-7, even without a contract, the report said.

The T-7 could also change significantly between the test phase and the award of a low-rate production contract, which would then have to be retrofitted on already-built planes, GAO said. DCMA has already spotted more than 8,000 differences between the five test T-7s Boeing has already built, and the Air Forces own contract specifications, the report added.

Older trainers, rising costs

While these delays likely wont drive up the T-7s price for the Air Force, GAO said they could lead to other rising costs. With the T-7 still years away from becoming operational, the service will need to keep training student pilots in its existing fleet of 504 T-38s and  to handle the more advanced aspects of pilot training  the F-22, which costs more than eight times as much to fly per hour than the T-38 and T-7. In all, GAO estimated trainer delays could cost the Air Force almost $1 billion.

The Air Force is also at risk of higher costs if it cant order all 351 T-7s it plans to buy before the ordering period expires, GAO said. The Air Force now expects Boeing to start building the first four production T-7s in 2025 and gradually ramp up production until Boeing builds 48 Red Hawks each year between 2030 and 2033. The final 18 T-7s are expected to be built in 2034.

In an issue that echoes a lingering headache with the F-35 program, the Air Force told GAO it doesnt have all the data from Boeing that it needs to maintain the T-7.

By January 2023, Boeing had provided the Air Force one-third of the list of parts and quantities used to build and maintain the T-7, known as a bill of materials. That is more than three years later than the contract specified, GAO said, and some of the information the Air Force needs to conduct its own maintenance was redacted.

Boeing told GAO some suppliers were not under contract at first and said its periodically updating the program office.

The Air Force wants to do as much organic, or in-house, maintenance on the T-7 as possible. But without that data, GAO said, it may be forced to rely upon Boeing for maintenance and repairs.

The Air Force also needs the list of parts so it can manage its supply chain, and find replacements for parts as they become obsolete, GAO said. Without that bill of materials, the Air Force told GAO it wont know what equipment it will need to maintain the test aircraft the service plans to begin flight-testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California this September.

Ejection seat delaying tests

Problems with the T-7s escape system have already delayed the planes testing, GAO said, and the system will likely need several more revisions to its design and test before it is safe enough to use.

The Air Force only allowed men to fly when older planes such as the T-38 were originally built, so their cockpits were not designed to accommodate some women or people with smaller frames. The T-7 is intended to be safe and comfortable for pilots with a wide range of body sizes and shapes.

A manikin ejects from a Boeing T-7A Red Hawk in June 2021 during ongoing qualification tests of the ejection system for the T-7A at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. (Air Force)

But GAO said tests of the T-7s escape system show considerable risks for many pilots  even larger people  including potential concussions, spinal injuries, or eye and neck injuries. Tests conducted with the largest manikins barely pass the Air Forces safety standards, the report said, and smaller and average-sized manikins were at greater risk.

After 2021 tests raised alarm bells about the T-7s escape system, Boeing worked to improve it. The Air Force said minor adjustments to the seat improved safety and reduced the risk to pilots.

A subsequent sled test in February 2023 showed enough progress that the service plans to proceed with a limited military flight release, allowing its pilots to begin test-flying the T-7 while the final problems with the escape system are fixed. In a sled test designed to simulate an ejection sequence, the Air Force accelerates a rail-mounted cockpit with a manikin inside to speeds similar to a T-7 in flight before launching the manikin.

But even that testing plan means the Air Force is likely almost two years away from showing the escape system meets all the safety requirements.

The Air Force and Boeing also disagree over how close the T-7s flight control software is to being finished, GAO said. Boeing expects the software will be done by the middle of this year, the report said, but the Air Forces own software experts said five or six more revisions to the software will be needed to fix problems with the trainers flight control, particularly as the T-7 takes on more challenging flights such as conducting maneuvers when climbing or diving at high angles of attack.

Each iteration could take six more months, Air Force experts told GAO, which could delay the completion of the software by more than two years and  if the changes are significant  could disrupt flight testing.

In a sign of the tensions over the program, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Monday said the concept of digital engineering  which Boeing has touted as a revolutionary advancement in how new aircraft can be built  has in some ways been overhyped.

Engineers have been using digital tools to design aircraft for decades, Kendall said at a breakfast roundtable with reporters hosted by the Defense Writers Group, after being asked about the T-7s delays and the fanfare that accompanied its digital design. Modern computing and data storage advancements have given engineers the ability to process vast amounts of information and swiftly communicate with one another, he said, allowing digital design processes to be fully integrated, he said.

This has led to notable cost and schedule savings, Kendall said. But digital advancements wont replace real-world testing, he said  particularly when engineers are trying to push the envelope on entirely new designs and dont have models upon which they can fully rely.

It is a significant improvement, but it has been overhyped, Kendall said. More integrated digital designs, better modeling all help, but theyre not revolutionary. Theyre a significant improvement, [but] they dont replace testing entirely. When youre doing something thats going to be radically different than prior programs, youve got to get it into testing.
 Flash

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra in Beijing on Tuesday.

Noting that the Netherlands is an important partner of China in Europe, Qin said that China is willing to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation, deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and advance multilateral cooperation in arms control, cyber security and climate change with the Netherlands.

China will continue to expand market access and strengthen intellectual property rights protection, Qin said, adding that China welcomes more Dutch companies to expand investment in China. Qin expressed hope that the Netherlands will provide a fair, open and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies.

China stands ready to work with the Netherlands to oppose decoupling and severing supply chains, Qin said. He pointed out that China always regards Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner, expressing hope that the Netherlands will continue to play its role as the "gateway" for China-Europe cooperation.

For his part, Hoekstra said that the Netherlands adheres to the one-China policy and is willing to work with China to uphold market principles, deepen cooperation in agriculture, innovation and other fields. The Dutch side is committed to serving as a facilitator of Europe-China exchanges.

The Netherlands appreciates China's efforts to promote peace talks and hopes that China will play a constructive role for the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Hoekstra said.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on other international and regional issues of common concern.
Contractor accused of getting marijuana delivered to work in Gastonia

Cop lights

A third-party contractor who was working with the Gastonia CarMax at the time is accused of having marijuana mailed to this workplace.

Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Williams was arrested at CarMax by Gastonia Police on Monday, May 22.

According to Rick Goodale, spokesman for the Gastonia Police Department, Williams had allegedly been having packages from Hollywood, California, delivered to CarMax on Remount Road for some time.

On Sunday, May 21, management at CarMax allegedly noticed an odor coming from one of the packages. The following day, around 9 a.m., they called Gastonia Police, who opened the package to find a little more than three pounds of marijuana, according to police.

Officers confiscated the substance and reportedly replaced it with three pounds worth of other material. When Williams came in to retrieve his package later that day, police asked him if the package belonged to him.

Williams confirmed that it did and was promptly arrested and charged with felony possession and felony possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver, according to police.

Williams was released the same day posting a $10,000 bond.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Contractor accused of getting marijuana delivered to work in Gastonia
Genocide by abduction: Russians planning to abduct Luhansk Oblast children to Russia  NRC

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has already deported almost 20 thousand Ukrainian children

The agency emphasized that such medical examinations in the temporarily occupied territories are a fiction, which the invaders use to further abduct Ukrainian children.

No medical examinations are actually conducted, but children are given fictitious diagnoses, and this is used to take them to Russian medical facilities for treatment, the report says.

The NRC added that this procedure is an integral part of Russias state policy aimed at the genocide of Ukrainians. The Russian government allocated more than RUB 1.4 million ($18,200) this year alone for such medical examinations.

Childrens Ombudsman of Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova is in charge of this process.

Read also: Over 2,000 Ukrainian children abducted to Belarus, says Belarusian opposition

The Hague-based International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on March 17 for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his childrens rights ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova. They are both wanted for the forcible abduction of children from Ukraine to Russia.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution on April 27 which recognized the forced abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia as genocide.

Russians have kidnapped almost 20,000 Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territories.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on Feb. 26 imposing sanctions against Russians involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children.

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(Bloomberg) -- George Santos, the embattled Republican congressman charged by the US with fraud and money laundering, has secured three mystery guarantors for his $500,000 bond.

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At his May 10 arraignment, where Santos pleaded not guilty, US Magistrate Judge Anne Shields released the 34-year-old lawmaker but told him he would need three co-signers for the bond. Joseph Murray, a lawyer for Santos, told the court that he had identified two of the three but that none were present at the time. The US said it had approved of the two suretors the defense identified.

The representative from New York now has all three lined up, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because it isnt public. All three guarantors recently have come to court to sign the bond, but their identities remain under seal, the person said.

Unusual Practice

That is a departure from typical federal court practice. Shields didnt require Murray to identify the guarantors in open court on the day Santos was arraigned, as is usually done. Nor did they come forward when Santos was released, and advised of their responsibility to ensure his return to court, as is typically the case. No documentation about them has been posted on the public docket in federal court in Central Islip, New York.

Murray declined to comment on the guarantors.

The 13-count indictment against Santos accuses him of engaging in three schemes. Prosecutors allege he diverted political campaign donations to pay for personal expenses, claimed fraudulent unemployment benefits and made false financial disclosures to Congress.

Read More: Santos Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud, Defies Calls to Resign

The charges come at a precarious time for House Republicans, whose narrow edge in the chamber means they cant have more than a handful of defections to pass most bills. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said after Santos was indicted that he wouldnt support the freshman congressmans re-election bid, though he stopped short of calling for his resignation. Santos has been seen as a loyal vote for the speaker.

Santos has a lot going on, McCarthy said at the time. I think he has other things to focus on in his life than running for office.

The House has since referred a resolution to expel Santos to its Ethics Committee.

Youre Not Getting That

Santos faces as many as 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges of money laundering and wire fraud, the government says. Under federal sentencing guidelines, his term would probably be shorter. His next appearance was set for June 30 before US District Judge Joanna Seybert, a Bill Clinton appointee

The congressman told reporters outside the courthouse on the day of his arraignment that he wouldnt disclose the bond guarantors.

You see, that is information youll never get, he said, because your intention is to harass them and make their lives miserable. Youre not getting that.

Santos and his congressional office didnt return messages Wednesday seeking comment on the matter.

High Bar

There is a high bar for the secrecy surrounding the guarantors.

In January FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried asked a federal judge in Manhattan not to disclose the identities of the two people who secured his bond, to protect them from public scrutiny and potential harassment. Instead, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the names released for the limited purpose of asserting the publics claimed right of access to the identities. Kaplan said there was no danger of impairing law enforcement and that the privacy interests of the co-signers were limited.

Santoss improbable rags-to-riches story rang alarm bells that led to the discovery of numerous falsehoods he purveyed, including that he had worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and graduated from Baruch College after playing on its championship volleyball team.

The case is US v. Santos, 23-cr-197, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Central Islip).

--With assistance from Gregory Korte and Billy House.

(Adds details, quotes and context throughout, starting in second paragraph.)

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Irakli Garibashvili

Well harm our people if we impose sanctions against Russia, he said at the Qatar Economic Forum.

Georgia supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, but will not introduce direct sanctions against Russia, said Garibashvili.

Our trade with Russia is less than a billion dollars, the official said.

For comparison: the European Union trades with Russia in just four days, as much as we trade in a year. Where is the logic when we are called to introduce sanctions against Russia?

Read also: Ukraines foreign ministry responds to claims of interference in Georgias affairs by PM

The prime minister alleged that some Ukrainian politicians would very much like [for a] second front to be opened in Georgia against Russia, but this will not happen.

Georgia is a small nation with a population of four million people, so its important to maintain peace, stability, and security in the country, he said.

My duty is to protect my peoples interests.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin unexpectedly lifted Russias visa ban for Georgian citizens on May 10 and resumed direct flights to the country.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called Russias actions another provocation.

The Georgian Prime Minister, however, welcomed Putins decision to cancel visa requirements for Georgians and the resumption of flights.

Read also: Lavrov's sanctioned daughter comes to Georgia to attend wedding of relative, media report

Later, Georgian Airways was granted permission to establish direct air travel with Russia.

Ukrainian presidential chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak criticized Tbilisis decision, calling it a misguided stance and saying that history will ultimately set things right.

Russia introduced a visa ban on Georgian citizens in 2000. At the same time, Russians have been able to enter Georgia without visas since 2012, following a unilateral decision by the Georgian government.

After the Russian invasion and the five-day war with the invading Russian army, Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Moscow in 2008. Direct flights between the countries were halted in 2019.

Read also: Ukrainian Presidents Office reacts to Georgias decision to allow another airline to operate direct flights to Russia

In early 2023, despite Russias ongoing war against Ukraine, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, proposed resuming flights with Russia, but Zurabishvili spoke against it.

Since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Georgia has taken a neutral position, refusing to impose sanctions against Russia and provide military aid to Ukraine. At the same time, Tbilisi provides humanitarian aid and has accepted Ukrainian refugees.

However, Georgia also became a country where Russians fled to en masse after the announcement of mobilization in Russia in September 2022.

As of February 2023, Russian citizens have already opened 100,000 bank accounts in Georgia. Russians are also massively buying real estate in the country and opening businesses.

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(Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Olaf Scholzs government is pushing to reduce Germanys dependence on China, but bosses from some the countrys biggest companies are pushing back.

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Leaders from BASF SE and Mercedes-Benz AG to Siemens AG and Volkswagen AG are seeking to separate business interests from political concerns heightened by Moscows invasion of Ukraine, which exposed Germanys dangerous reliance on Russian energy. Links to China go even deeper.

The Asian superpower is Germanys biggest trading partner, with total trade last year of nearly 300 billion ($323 billion), or nearly 8% of the output of Europes largest economy. In addition to massive investments in local factories, China is a critical supplier of parts and materials as well as an important buyer of goods for German companies. Executives are plowing ahead, despite political concerns about Beijings global ambitions and its tensions with the US.

BASF is investing around $10 billion in a chemical plant in Zhanjiang on Chinas southern coast. Volkswagen has reaffirmed its commitment to an automotive plant in Xinjiang, despite persistent concerns over the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the northwest region.

We wont give up on China, Arno Antlitz, VWs chief financial officer, said on an earnings call this month after BYD Co. overtook the German manufacturer as Chinas top-selling carmaker in the first quarter.

The comments from top business leaders run counter to Scholzs plea to diversify away from China. His administration has emphasized de-risking rather than an initial US call for decoupling  a tacit acknowledgment that Germany can ill-afford a hard cut with the worlds second-largest economy.

Read More: German Business Outlook Drops Amid Weak Factory Performance

Trade relations will need to shift so that the risks of dependencies from a single country or a few single states wont become big, Scholz said last week at the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

But theres little sign that companies are paying heed. Abandoning China is unthinkable for German industry, Mercedes Chief Executive Officer Ola Kallenius said in an interview with the Bild tabloid in April. The major players in the global economy  Europe, the US and China  are so closely intertwined that decoupling from China makes no sense.

The Chinese market accounts for around 40% of Mercedes deliveries, with the luxury automaker selling more than twice the number of vehicles there than in the US.

Siemens CEO Roland Busch vowed to defend and expand the companys market share in China, saying in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday that Chinese customers are the ones pushing the German engineering giant to innovate.

Scholzs top spokesman responded with an unusually blunt warning.

This is an appeal by the government not to put all eggs in one basket, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters in Berlin. The Siemens boss will always have to calculate how he positions his company and must justify for himself how big the risk for his company will be, he said, adding that I have no doubt that this is being examined very closely.

But corporate leaders are deciding based on their own accounts and opting to stick with Chinas massive market.

The world doesnt become any less risky when you divide it, rather the contrary, Stefan Hartung, head of German car parts giant Robert Bosch GmbH, said at the companys annual press conference earlier this month.

Similarly, BASF CEO Martin Brudermuller has warned that its riskier not to expand in Asias powerhouse economy rather than pull back due to geopolitical concerns.

It is urgently necessary that we get away from China bashing and look at ourselves a little self-critically, he said in October.

--With assistance from Monica Raymunt, Elisabeth Behrmann, Julia Manns and Wilfried Eckl-Dorna.

(Updates with comments from German government spokesman beginning in 11th paragraph.)

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Boris Pistorius

Pistorius said he was somewhat disappointed or irritated by the behavior of Hungarian friends for blocking the aid, reported dpa.

This is not the principle of European solidarity, which I believe is correct, he said.

The blocking prevents EU member states from reimbursing the costs for military aid to Ukraine, said Pistorius.

Read also: Hungary's foreign minister lashes out after Zelenskyy casts doubt on Budapests commitment to NATO

The minister called such Hungarys decision an unsuccessful step.

Prior to that, the EU defense ministers failed to increase the European Peace Fund to EUR 3.5 billion over Hungarys stance.

Hungary has vowed to block further aid packages to Ukraine if Kyiv does not revise its decision on restrictions against the largest Hungarian bank OTP, which was included in the list of sponsors of Russias war against Ukraine.

Earlier U.S.-based political newspaper Politico reported that German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto quarreled on May 22 during a foreign ministers meeting in Brussels over the role a controversial Hungarian bank is playing in Russias war in Ukraine.

Read also: Slovakia joins Poland and Hungary in halting grain imports from Ukraine

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By Riham Alkousaa

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -German authorities on Wednesday searched 15 properties nationwide in an investigation into protests by Last Generation climate activists who have caused large-scale disruption by gluing themselves to roads and blocking rush-hour traffic.

Amid the protests in recent months, Berlin's ruling coalition, including the environmentalist Greens, has been arguing over how far policy to combat climate change can go before overburdening the finances of both the state and ordinary citizens.

Prosecutors are investigating seven suspects aged between 22 and 38 on suspicion of forming or backing a criminal organisation, police said. No arrests have been made.

"At the current stage of the proceedings, we have affirmed the facts of criminal association," said Klaus Ruhland, Munich public prosecutor's office spokesperson, and evidence seized in searches would be evaluated in the coming weeks.

Last Generation said all of its activities were transparent and not criminal, and that activists show their faces and names during protests and announce their events in advance.

"Do we have to experience a drought in Germany first, suffer from food shortages ..., before we understand that Last Generation is ... not criminal?" spokesperson Aimee Van Baalen told journalists in Berlin on Wednesday.

She urged all Germans to join the next protest marches by the group set for May 31 to press demands for quicker and tougher action against climate change, including a ban on the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

"We must now continue to resist," she said.

Police said the seven suspects are believed to have been raising funds to finance further crimes on behalf of Last Generation, collecting at least 1.4 million euros ($1.54 million) in donations.

Bavarian state police said they had shut down the homepage of the group's website, as donating to the group was considered illegal.

Two of the defendants are suspected of sabotaging the Trieste-Ingolstadt oil pipeline - deemed critical infrastructure and so subject to special protection - in April last year.

Other German environmental groups criticised the searches, saying they undermined the constitutional right to peaceful protest.

In remarks quoted by Funke Media Group, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the rule of law in Germany was clear - "legitimate protest always ends where criminal offences are committed and the rights of others are violated".

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, Anneli Palmen and Martin Schlicht; writing by Riham Alkousaa Friederike Heine; editing by Robert Birsel and Mark Heinrich)
A police search team walk on the shore of the Arade dam near Silves, Portugal, Wednesday May 24, 2023. Portuguese police aided by German and British officers have resumed their search for Madeleine McCann, the British child who disappeared in the country's southern Algarve region 16 years ago. Some 30 officers could be seen in the area by the Arade dam, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old was last seen alive in 2007. (AP Photo/Joao Matos)

ARADE DAM, Portugal (AP)  Police searching for clues regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child who went missing in 2007 in Portugal, were concentrating operations Wednesday in several areas around a dam, including one where media reports say a lead suspect in the case often stayed.

The latest search for clues regarding the disappearance started Tuesday following a request by German authorities. Some 30 Portuguese, German and British police are taking part in the operation at the Arade dam, which is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort of Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old girl was last seen 16 years ago.

In Germany, Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR, We have indications that we could find evidence there. I dont want to say what that is exactly, and I also dont want to say where these indications come from.

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesnt come from the suspect  so we dont have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search,  Wolters said, adding that it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.

But Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, "We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.

Police on Tuesday were studying an area where Portuguese and Spanish media say the suspect stayed around the time that Madeleine went missing.

Officers could be heard using a motor saw to clear trees and bushes in the zone, which is located on the far side of the reservoir from the base camp that police set up Monday.

Police have given no details on the progress of the searches so far, but leading Portuguese daily Expresso said Wednesday that the first day ended with no significant results, adding that police had collected some objects including fabrics and garments. It said that in places where the sniffer dogs signaled, the soil was dug up, possibly indicating that biological traces were also being sought.

The search is expected to end Wednesday or Thursday.

Detectives from the three countries are still trying to figure out what happened on the night when the toddler disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007. She was in the same room as her twin brother and sister, who were 2 at the time, while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Portuguese media say this is the fourth search for McCann, following the initial one in 2007 in the Algarve area and further efforts in 2013 and 2014. Another search was held in Germany in 2020.

In mid-2020, German officials said that a 45-year-old German citizen, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who was in the Algarve in 2007, was a suspect in the case. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation in the McCann case, but hasnt been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of Madeleines disappearance.

The reservoir is currently less than half full owing to a drought affecting Portugal and neighboring Spain. Much of the area being searched would be below water level in years of normal rainfall.

Madeleines parents aren't commenting because of the active investigation, according to an email response from the website set up for the search for the child, findmadeleine.com.

___

Ciaran Giles in Madrid, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.
(Bloomberg) -- German lawmakers gave the green light to buy 18 battle tanks and 12 self-propelled howitzers from domestic manufacturers Rheinmetall AG and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH as part of an order worth 843 million ($910 million) to replace equipment sent to Ukraine.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The purchase, which also includes spare parts and services, was approved by the budget committee in the lower house of parliament Wednesday, according to participants in the meeting.

The Defense Ministry has suggested the order of the next-generation Leopard 2-A8 battle tanks to replace the Leopard 2-A6 tanks that Berlin sent to Ukraine earlier this year. Bloomberg first reported on the order Tuesday.

Chancellor Olaf Scholzs government will pay 525.6 million for the Leopard 2 tanks and 190.7 million for PzH 2000 howitzers, according to Defense Ministry documents. The supply of spare parts for the Leopards is worth 126.6 million. The first tanks will be delivered in 2026 at the latest.

The agreement with the companies includes the option to purchase as many as 105 additional Leopard tanks in a deal worth as much as 2.9 billion.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Czech Republic voiced interest in joining the Leopard 2-A8 procurement.

Minister Boris Pistorius called the Czech entry a major step toward implementing a modern European defense architecture triggered by Russias war.

Germany hopes economies of scale can be achieved through larger purchase quantities. Joint procurement also provides planning security for the industry, which can expand production capacities on a more calculable basis, while buying almost identical weapons systems can unleash synergy effects in training and logistics.

A spokesperson for Krauss-Maffei Wegmann declined to comment.

Scholz has abandoned a policy against sending lethal weapons into combat zones in response to Russias war in Ukraine. The government in Berlin delivered 18 Leopard tanks at the beginning of this year, while the rapid-fire PzH 2000 was among the first heavy weapons handed over to Kyiv last year.

Shortly after the invasion last February, Germany set aside 100 billion to upgrade its military in a special fund outside its normal budget. But since this is a replacement order, the funds will be part of regular spending.

--With assistance from Alexander Pearson.

(Updates with ministry statement on Czech interest in sixth paragraph.)

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Germanys intelligence services already have the right to monitor the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), the first time the authorities have taken such a step against a political party since the Nazi era. Now, they have taken aim at the AfDs youth faction, whose members are as young as 14. CNN has been taking a closer look at the group.

Germanys domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), in April labeled the group as extremist after four years of investigation.

In a statement in April, the intelligence agency deemed the AfDs youth wing, the Young Alternative for Germany or Junge Alternative fur Deutschland (JA), as clearly xenophobic and propagating a racial concept of society based on basic biological assumptions. It deemed the group was likely to adopt non-peaceful behavior towards people perceived as foreign.

The move, which doesnt apply to parent party AfD, is as far as the state can go aside from an outright ban. German authorities are now able to monitor and intercept JA mail correspondence, phone calls and online conversations. It can also limit members ability to get employment in the public sector and make it more difficult to obtain licenses for weapons.

The party has rejected the labeling. I am not an extremist, on the contrary  I have put my life on the line for Germany in Afghanistan, Hannes Gnauck, AfD Member of Parliament and the JAs federal chairman, told CNN.

I would not have done that if I did not believe in democracy and the free democratic order.

Hannes Gnauck during a statement by right-wing activists from the Young Alternative for Germany at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. - F Boillot/snapshot-photography/Shutterstock

The JA was founded in the same year as its parent party in 2013. However, it remains legally independent from that party and is often seen as its more hard-line faction.

Open to young people aged between 14-35, much of the JAs campaigning pedals an openly anti-migrant, euroskeptic and anti-feminist agenda. The JAs Facebook page, for example, calls feminism a left-wing ideology and calls on users to post reasons to reject it.

It believes the EUs political powers should be curbed, with former chairman Philipp Ritz once describing the organization as a train that is constantly accepting new passengers without knowing where its actually heading.

According to the BfV, the JA promotes an ethno-nationalist worldview that ostracizes anyone who is not a native, white German.

In 2019, BfV President Thomas Haldenwang said members showed clear evidence of an anti-immigration and particularly anti-Muslim attitude, which is contrary to Germanys democratic principles.

Last October, the JA elected Gnauck as its federal chairman. He had previously served in Germanys army for seven years, including several months in Afghanistan in 2019-2020.

Speaking to CNN in the wake of his partys extremist designation, Gnauck described himself as a soldier with every ounce of his heart.

The AfD shot to prominence in 2016 following ex-Chancellor Angela Merkels decision  one that attracted both praise and criticism  to allow in hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Syria and beyond. Polling suggests the AfDs stance on migrants remains an issue that resonates with voters.

Gnauck says he remembers a different Germany in the 1990s, when it was possible to leave your door open in the village, but that doesnt happen anymore.

He blames immigration for the perception that Germans feel less safe in their homes  even though there is no evidence to link increased immigration to higher crime.

In the past, said Gnauck, explaining how he sees the partys appeal, the one who rebelled against the teachers, the one who rebelled against his or her own parents  was more like the cool punk.

Today the cool person is a young conservative man [or] woman who just wants a normal job, a normal life, maybe one or two children, a home  so just a simple normal life.

Gnauck said the groups designation as extremist was not a surprise. We have been expecting it, adding that he believed it was a political maneuver.

State chairman of the AfDs youth wing in Saxony, Alexander Wiesner, was more forceful, drawing comparisons between Germanys domestic intelligence agency and the Stasi secret police in communist East Germany, known as the GDR.

Other countries do not have this political secret service. It is a German tradition that should be abolished, he told CNN. People in Saxony belong to the former occupied zone and the GDR  people had a lot of experience here with the Stasi.

People have their eyes open. They read with an open mind, they say its the same thing that happened here in GDR times and we dont believe this institution.

CNN has contacted the BfV for comment. The agency describes itself as working to ensure the protection of the free democratic basic order and making an important contribution to uphold Germanys fundamental constitutional values.

Intellectual arsonists

But Johannes Kiess, a sociologist specializing in right-wing extremism at the Univeristy of Leipzig in eastern Germany, says the new labeling is not only justified, but long overdue.

The youth wing of the AfD is in my view an extremist and anti-democratic organization, he told CNN.

He believes the JA is more extreme than its sister party because we have many individuals in the youth wing with clear links to neo-Nazis, which he says is evident from the opinions expressed in public and in conversations on social media.

Germanys Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has also condemned the JA, accusing it of spreading nothing but hatred and exclusion. She described members as intellectual arsonists whose danger nobody should underestimate.

The groups anti-migrant ideology is clear in an advert for the party posted on Facebook in March. The post states: Germans are now right at the bottom of the hierarchy of victims in our society.

Bjorn Hocke, AfD state chairman and faction leader in the Thuringian state parliament, during an AfD rally. - Martin Schutt/picture alliance/Getty Images

Gnauck denied that his party has any links to Germanys far-right, adding that it rejects violence.

We know that there are no right-wing extremists in the JA. We also do not have people in the JA who want to overthrow the state or rebuild it.

Of course, we want to change this country and we want to change it democratically through elections and not through violence. This is what distinguishes us from real extremists.

The authorities move against the JA comes amid a broader crackdown against the far-right in Germany. Two other organizations  the Institute for State Policy (IfS) and the Ein Prozent (One Percent) association  were labeled extremist at the same time as the group.

Germany last year said it had foiled an attempt by another far-right group  the Reichsbuerger movement - to plot accused of plotting an attack on Germanys parliament building, allegedly to overthrow its constitutional order and install the groups central figure  aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss  as leader. The prince has not publicly commented on his arrest.

Popularity among voters

Gnauck says that his party, along with the AfD, is rising in popularity among voters in Germany.

We see our party rising in the polls again. We are polling at 16%, he claimed.

At Germanys last federal election in 2021, the AfD received just over 10% of the vote  down from 12.6% four years prior.

The AfD holds the status of Germanys most successful far-right party since World War II. The party has attracted voters angry over rising energy prices in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

But Kiess points to concerns over migration in Germany as the main reason for its recent strong polling. The migration debate has sprung up again here in Germany  particularly because the federal government was in conflict with the state over financial issues and how to accommodate refugees.

We always see the AfD winning from this kind of not very constructive public discussion.

Public debate over migration has been kickstarted in light of the war in Ukraine. Since the outbreak of the conflict, more than 1 million refugees have arrived in Germany, in addition to the more than 200,000 asylum-seekers arriving from other countries.

For Germany and its government, migration has become a challenge  yet again. Several cities and municipalities in Germany say they have reached their limits, and local authorities are finding it difficult to provide for the new arrivals.

And Germans are now, too, are starting to find the influx of refugees an issue. An ARD-DeutschlandTrend poll conducted on May 5 found that half of German citizens would like the country to take in fewer refugees than it currently does.

Kiess believes that, in fact, the AfD does not want to stop migration, but rather continue to benefit from the polarized discourse around it.

For the AfD it would be a bad thing if we had no longer had migration anymore. They would not have a topic then to gain attention with.

As for the JA, there is no specific data to show whether the organization is rising in popularity or not. Gnauck says that since the groups latest classification, there have been a few resignations from hunters and officers who are afraid of losing their weapons license, and those who work in the public sector, for example police officers or soldiers, who are concerned for their jobs.

However, he claims: We also had a lot of new applications from young people. It is not that we have lost masses of members. On the contrary, we have even gained new ones.

Nadine Schmidt reported from Berlin and Sophie Tanno reported from and wrote in London.

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TAURUS KEPD 350

As well as the confirmation that Kyiv is using swing-wing Su-24 Fencer combat jets to launch U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow conventionally armed cruise missiles, and that France will donate SCALP-EG cruise missiles, there is now the possibility that another similar long-range weapon could reach the Ukrainian Air Force in the future. It emerged today that Germany could follow the United Kingdoms lead and provide Ukraine with conventionally armed cruise missiles, in the form of the air-launched Taurus KEPD 350, according to at least one member of Berlins federal parliament.

The Taurus missile, which offers broadly similar capabilities to the Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG, is being pitched as another weapon to strike deep behind Russian lines, and, with large stocks in German storage, it could be potentially available to Ukraine in significant numbers.

Roderich Kiesewetter of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a member of the federal parliament since 2009, and a former general staff officer, is now pushing for Germanys coalition government to approve the transfer of Taurus to Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1661020106913374209?s=20

Taurus would be a very helpful contribution from Germany, Kiesewetter told reporters, adding that Kyivs allies must supply everything that Ukraine can use in the combined-arms battle, and which is permissible under international law.

Kiesewetter, who is the CDU chairman of Germanys Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Taurus would give Ukraine considerable added qualitative value and enable strikes against the Russians military infrastructure far behind the front line. This would be especially important as the planned counteroffensive takes shape, he added. It increases Ukraines combat power, Kiesewetter said.

Kiesewetter also said he was confident that Taurus could be quickly integrated into the Ukrainian Air Force, as has already been done with the Storm Shadow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MddqW9Qj4GE

But there is some resistance to the idea from the current German cabinet, composed of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alliance 90/The Greens, and the Free Democratic Party.

When asked about a possible transfer of the cruise missiles, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius of the SDP didnt mention the Taurus by name, but said: I think its been proven so far that we dont permanently proceed in a certain direction or draw red or white lines. He added that Ukraine should be provided with significant support, but responsibly.

Its clear, however, that the United Kingdoms delivery of an undisclosed number of Storm Shadows to Ukraine, and Frances promise of the very similar SCALP-EG, is prompting thought among German lawmakers about a similar transfer of Taurus missiles.

According to reports, the German military acquired around 600 Taurus missiles of which only around 150 are kept at operational readiness at any given time. Each of those missiles cost around $1 million, around 10 years ago.

A German Tornado IDS during a test launch of the Taurus missile in South Africa. Bundeswehr/Adolfs

Whats more, there has so far been no real progress in adapting Germanys Eurofighter EF2000 fighter jets to carry the missile. Instead, its exclusively carried by Germanys fleet of Tornado IDS strike aircraft, which are headed for retirement around 2030, to be replaced by F-35A stealth jets. The long-term plan for Taurus is currently unclear.

A German Eurofighter EF2000 jet seen carrying a pair of Taurus cruise missiles, but the capability to employ them from EF2000s was never fully developed. Philipp Hayer/Wikimedia Commons

As for the missile itself, Taurus is the product of a joint venture between MBDA Deutschland of Germany and Saab Dynamics of Sweden. The missile reportedly has a range of more than 300 miles, putting it in Category II of the Mobile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). This is an international guideline that covers various rockets and missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles) or more. In its export configuration, Storm Shadow has an officially stated range of over 155 miles, although the British examples are understood to have a much greater range, in the region of 350 miles.

Designed to penetrate air defenses via a very low-level terrain following flight, the turbojet-powered Taurus missile carries a 1,060-pound dual-stage warhead, known as MEPHISTO. This is similar in concept to the BROACH warhead in Storm Shadow, which uses a precursor charge to punch through hardened structures followed by the main change that can be fuzed for penetration mode when required, meaning it detonates after breaching the target. The MEPHISTO warhead can even be programmed to detonate on a specific pre-selected floor of a given building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaQNDLtxjI

The missile guidance system is based on an inertial navigation system (INS) that is continuously provided with GPS updates. There is also an image-based terrain reference sensor, which provides the capability to attack what the manufacturer describes as semi-stationary targets.

The United Kingdom has confirmed that Ukraine has already used the Storm Shadow in combat and, depending on the number of these missiles delivered, the stocks could become depleted fairly rapidly, especially as Ukraine seeks to target rear areas of the battlefield. These would include supply lines, ammunition and fuel depots, command posts, and radar installations. You can read more about the potential target sets for Ukraines air-launched cruise missiles in our previous report on the Storm Shadows capabilities.

With that in mind, and with the delivery of the Storm Shadow having broken the taboo of providing Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, the transfer of Taurus becomes a compelling argument, at least for its proponents. In particular, it seems that Germany has hundreds of these missiles stored, with little prospect that it will require them for operational use any time soon.

A Taurus missile in flight, with the pop-out wings above the body seen deployed. Photo by South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images

It seems that Kiesewetters words in favor of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine were intended to start a discussion within NATO and the European Union, as they came as EU defense ministers met in Brussels to discuss joint military support for Ukraine. In particular, the EU is looking to avoid bottlenecks in the supply of weapons to Ukraine and to deliver arms that are relevant to launching new offensives against Russia. The Taurus missile would appear to fit those parameters, but any final decision on supplying it would need to be made in Berlin.

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, however, the German government has grappled with decisions over which weapons from its own stocks should or should not be provided to Kyiv.

Most notably, the issue of approving the transfer of Leopard 2 main battle tanks from the stocks of third-party countries became an intense subject of debate. Ultimately, Berlin gave the green light to other countries supplying these tanks to Kyiv and then provided 18 Leopard 2A6 variants from its own stocks.

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629223082152845316?s=20

Should Germany approve the transfer of Taurus, its possible that more examples of the missile could be supplied by Spain, which acquired the weapon to arm its fleet of EF-18 Hornet fighter jets. There is a precedent for this, with France following up the United Kingdoms Storm Shadow deliveries with a commitment to supply Ukraine with the SCALP-EG missile from its own stocks.

The only other Taurus operator is South Korea, which integrated the specific KEPD 350K version on its F-15K Slam Eagles, and will introduce a further development of the missile for the new-generation KF-21 Boramae, something you can read more about here. MBDA also says the Taurus missile can also be easily integrated on the F-16, which is something that might be of particular interest to Ukraine in the future, with a multinational pilot training program for that type quickly taking shape, amid moves to source these aircraft for the Ukrainian Air Force.

A South Korean F-15K fighter jet flying with a Taurus missile during an exercise on September 12, 2017, in Taean-gun, South Korea. Photo by South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images

As we have discussed before, the fact that Ukraine is now using Storm Shadow cruise missiles  apparently aboard Su-24s  could well help open the door to other weapons in the same category. While Germany might not be the next nation to throw its hat into the ring, there is no shortage of other operators of air-launched standoff weapons (not least the United States, with its own massive stockpile) that could also supply Ukraine with similar kinds of weapons.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has lost his bid to challenge a decision that he cannot pay for police protection while he is in the United Kingdom.

A judge ruled Tuesday that Harry cannot bring a second case against the U.K. Home Office, querying their stance that Metropolitan Police protection could not be bought.

Harry, the fifth in line to the throne, has been fighting back against a 2020 decision by the government that denied his family automatic police protection while in Britain after he and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stepped down from their roles as senior working royals.

At the time, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC, made a decision that security for the Sussexes would be granted on a case-by-case basis.

A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan declined to comment Tuesday about the court ruling.

PHOTO: FILE - Prince Harry attends the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London, May 6, 2023. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

Harry, who now lives in California with Meghan and their children Archie and Lilibet, has said he wants police protection for his family while on British soil and is willing to pay for the cost himself, but the Home Office denied that request.

The judge ruled Tuesday that Harry could not seek to challenge that decision.

Harry is still involved in a separate, ongoing case with the Home Office as to whether he should still be entitled to Met Police security while he is in the U.K.

Harry has only returned to the U.K. a handful of times since moving in 2020.

MORE: Police sources weigh in on Harry and Meghan's 'car chase' in NYC

The latest court ruling in the U.K. comes just days after Harry and Meghan claimed they were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" while being pursued by paparazzi in Manhattan, where Meghan received an award.

A spokesperson for the couple accused paparazzi of being "highly aggressive" and driving on the sidewalk and running red lights during a two-hour "relentless pursuit" of the famous pair. Harry and Meghan were returning from the Ms. Foundation's annual gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 16, along with Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, when the incident reportedly occurred.

"While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone's safety," the spokesperson said.

PHOTO: Doria Ragland, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex attend the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power at Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 16, 2023 in New York City. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Police sources, however, have said the episode did not involve the amount of paparazzi the spokesperson claimed.

Police sources told ABC News two New York Police Department detectives were present at the Ziegfeld when Harry and Meghan emerged from the event and drove alongside the couple's private vehicle to get them home.

Along the way, police sources said photographers on bicycles are visible on security cameras, but not the kind of caravan described by sources close to Harry and Meghan. The police sources didn't discount the idea that whatever occurred may have been scary for those involved.

Since moving to California, the Sussexes have relied on a privately funded security team.

MORE: Princes William, Harry keep their distance at King Charles' coronation

The family's current security situation is similar to that of Harry's late mother Princess Diana, who had to rely on private security protection after her divorce from Harry's father King Charles III in 1996.

One year later, in 1997, Diana died in a car crash in Paris after the car she was riding in was pursued by paparazzi.

"When Diana died, she didn't have police protection. She had a private security team at that point," Victoria Murphy, ABC News royal contributor, said last year. "And I think it's very clear that Prince Harry feels that the police protection is superior and that that is what he wants for his family."

Prince Harry loses legal challenge in police protection case originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
The Rev. William Barber led more than 100 protesters into the Legislative Building on Wednesday, railing against a state budget that he said would hurt the poor and pledging to get arrested if necessary.

It might be a good day to get arrested, he said, going through metal detectors at the security desk.

The longtime activist led marchers to the second floor where he preached against a host of proposals in the Republican-led legislature, including private school vouchers funded by public money and tax cuts he said would benefit the states richest residents.

This is the time that we must stand up, and legislators, you must stand up, too, Barber said.

He spoke in one of the buildings central vestibules, directly between entrances to the House and Senate chambers. Several Democratic legislators attended the event, to which Barber said his organization had also invited Republican leaders. None had responded, he said.

Chants of Enough is enough! filled the room as protesters carried placards reading: 1 million North Carolinians are uninsured, We demand Medicaid expansion with no strings attached. About 15 armed police stood along the rooms walls.

Barber acknowledged that Republicans hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers; they have enough votes to override Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers veto. But he vowed to shine a light on Republicans policy decisions and motivate voters from North Carolinas underrepresented communities.

We know they might outvote us but thats not why we mobilize, Barber said in his speech. We mobilize so what theyre doing is not done in the dark... Were going to wear your hind parts out on Election Day.

After nearly an hour, Barber led a march to the office of Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, to deliver a letter outlining objections he says will hurt the working poor.

As they marched, protesters chanted, Stop this budget! Now!

Bergers office door remained closed as protesters chanted and sang outside. Barber knocked loudly as protesters chanted Open the door! The letter went undelivered as Barber turned the crowd to House Speaker Tim Moores office.

North Carolinas House and Senate have each released budget proposals outlining their plans for state funding over the next two years. The bills, which are hundreds of pages long, prescribe Republicans policy positions on tax cuts, education funding, state employee pay raises and more.

The Senate and House proposals differ dramatically, and before a budget can pass into law, the two groups of GOP lawmakers will have to resolve big differences. Some Democrats voted with Republicans to advance the plans, while others opposed them.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate hope to reach a compromise by June, when the 2023 legislative session is scheduled to conclude.
QR codes may be a thing of the past

The QR code menu which restaurateurs began using during the covid-19 pandemic may soon become a thing of the past with some eateries moving back to the traditional handheld menu. In the early stages of the pandemic, when restaurants first opened back up and began welcoming patrons back to their tables, they introduced tabletop QR codes as a hygienic alternative to menus, and many thought the technology would be here to stay.



Despite these early predictions, three years later, the QR codes arent as popular as they once were, with the majority of restaurant goers preferring a handheld menu. They are almost universally disliked, Kristen Hawley, founder of the restaurant technology newsletter Expedite, told The New York Times, citing one reason as etiquette. Taking a phone out at a table can feel like a distraction, something people use to pass the time when they would rather be doing almost anything else, and when forced to use a phone as a menu alternative, it successfully kills the mood.

Read more

The popularity of QR codes continues to fall, according to MustHaveMenus, which says it has seen a drastic drop in the number of scans which dropped by roughly 27% between April 1 and May 16 this year versus the same time in 2021. Mark Plumlee, the senior content manager at MustHaveMenus, told The Times about 75% of the companys existing QR codes go mostly unused, receiving only 90 views in the last year, while half had less than five.

At the time, there was a buzz around the new wave technology, who would have thought you could view a menu, order, and pay, all through a QR code? It elicited an excitement that prompted many to question if they were here to stay. Scott Selman, head of marketing of Titan Hospitality Group, told Digital Trends in 2020, People have been loving the ease of access, in response to the QR code menus. For many of our patrons, its an experience they continue to talk about.

But times have changed, and with it, the response to digitized menus. Alec Moran, a server at a high-end Italian restaurant in Chicago told The Times there is something dehumanizing about waiting on customers who are referencing a QR code instead of personal contact. He told the outlet that customers are more likely to stare at their phones and pay less regard to you as the human in front of them. He added, The world gets more digitized every single day. It felt like restaurants were one of the few analog public spaces that we have left.

But with hindsight always 20/20, it seems inevitable that the unique and exciting nature of the QR code menu was short-lived, much like a new toy that loses its appeal if its played with too much. Fatigue sets in and customers begin yearning for the one staple that has always remained the samethe handheld menu.

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GOP chair speechless after senior FBI official says she hasnt read Durham report

Republican lawmakers denounced a senior FBI official during a hearing Tuesday after she said she hadnt read special counsel John Durhams report on the agencys investigation into former President Trumps alleged Russia ties.

Im honestly speechless at this point in time, Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, told Jill Murphy, assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI.

I just havent had time, Murphy explained when pressed on why she hadnt read Durhams report.

This is a sincere question, does election collusion worry you? Pfluger asked Murphy, who said it did.

I would highly recommend reading that because we spent four years discussing that  there was uncorroborated evidence. The Durham report specifically outlines the outcome of that. Its very disappointing to hear this.

In the 305-page report published May 15, Durham offered a scathing assessment of the FBIs process in how it launched and carried out the investigation into Trumps ties with Russia, known as Crossfire Hurricane.

Murphy later told Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) that she hadnt even been briefed on the Durham report.

Why is that not a matter of such import that you would want urgently to understand what the special counsel concluded about the work of the counterintelligence division? In such a grave case? Bishop asked.

Sir, if youd like a brief on the Durham report from the counterintelligence division, Im happy to take that back, Murphy said.

Wow, that sounds almost contemptuous, Bishop said.

He later added, Im just without words, that the FBI is unconcerned  Do you intend to read it?

I do intend to read it, Murphy said.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), who spoke between Pfluger and Bishop, pointed to flaws in the Durham report and said that Republicans were trying to undermine the FBIs credibility in order to protect Trump.

And why are they trying to diminish and undermine the FBI at Donald Trumps direction and behest? Because the FBI is investigating Donald Trump, Goldman said.

And the problem they have is that the FBI is doing its job in investigating their dear leader Donald Trump. And if you can undermine the investigator, if you can undermine independent journalists doing investigative reporting, then you can undermine our entire system of democracy.

Earlier in the hearing, which was billed as focusing on threats from the Chinese Communist Party, Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) pressed Murphy on what she thought about FBI agents who claim they were retaliated against for blowing the whistle on bias at the agency.

Murphy said she was happy to live in a country with whistleblower protections laws and proud to work for the FBI.

I sure hope theres part of you that is embarrassed and disgusted with what the FBI has been up to, Crane said, later asking Murphy if she was torn between her loyalty to the agency and oath to protect the American people.

Not at the least, she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE - Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt delivers his State of the State address on Feb. 6, 2023, in Oklahoma City. Republican leaders in Oklahoma unveiled the largest-ever budget proposal on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, although it's not clear Gov. Stitt will support the plan. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Republican leaders in Oklahoma, who control every lever of political power in the state, unveiled their largest-ever budget proposal this week, the result of bruising negotiations that left the GOP governor fuming and even some Democrats happy with what it included.

The $13 billion state budget, a nearly 20% increase over last year's final spending plan, did not include one of Gov. Kevin Stitt's top priorities of cutting the state's income or grocery sales tax. House and Senate leaders also apparently blindsided the governor by voting to extend tobacco compacts with several Oklahoma-based Native American tribes that Stitt was hoping to renegotiate to get a better deal for the state.

Stitt's office didn't immediately comment Wednesday on the spending plan that easily passed the House and is expected to clear the Senate on Thursday. But during a press availability last week, Stitt said he was continuing to urge the Legislature to cut the state's top income tax rate by 0.25%.

I implore the Legislature to do what's right and let's give some of that back to the taxpayer, Stitt said.

Instead, the budget deal included a more modest elimination of the state franchise tax on businesses and a tax break for joint filers that are expected to cost a total of $70 million annually when fully implemented.

Stitt also said he was caught completely off guard when lawmakers unveiled a bill last week to extend the existing tribal compacts that he wanted to renegotiate.

This has never been talked about the whole entire session. The governor had no idea about it, Stitt said. Really, really disappointing.

Anticipating the possibility that the governor could veto the budget proposal, lawmakers convened a concurrent special session that would allow them to return to the Capitol early next month to override any vetoes by the governor.

Although House Democrats voted against the plan, it clearly included priorities they support, like six weeks of paid maternity leave for state employees, $215 million in new funding to incentivize the construction of affordable housing, pay raises for teachers and money for a popular culture museum in Tulsa.

I've been in this building long enough to know that I'm not going to get a better deal, said Rep. Forrest Bennett, a Democrat from Oklahoma City. I had conversations with people on both sides of the aisle about voting yes.

Republican leaders and the governor had already agreed earlier this month on an education funding package that included pay raises of up to $6,000 annually, $625 million in new recurring funding for public schools and a voucher-style tax credit program for families who home-school their children or send them to private schools.

The hefty price tag of the overall budget left some of the Legislature's more conservative Republicans questioning whether they would support the plan.

It's going to be tough for me, said Sen. Rob Standridge, a Republican from Norman who said, despite representing a community with the state's flagship University of Oklahoma, he was particularly bothered by the nearly $130 million boost in spending for higher education.

It is the biggest, bulkiest, most spend-happy budget I've ever been a part of," said Standridge, who was elected to office in 2012 when the total state budget was $6.8 billion. All Republicans put on their placards: decrease the size of government, limit spending. We all do that. And this year is certainly not doing that."

Also included in this year's spending plan was $145 million to provide improvements to an industrial park in eastern Oklahoma with the hopes of luring a Panasonic manufacturing facility. The Legislature already approved a $698 million incentive package to try and land a second plant after Panasonic chose Kansas for a manufacturing facility last year.

___

Follow Sean Murphy on Twitter: @apseanmurphy
GOP presidential hopefuls Nikki Haley, Tim Scott are on good terms. But for how long?

WASHINGTON  The Republican battle for the key primary state of South Carolina is already full on, thanks to a unique twist: two South Carolinians running for president.

Nikki Haley and Tim Scott still have a "cordial" relationship, say mutual acquaintances, but their comity will be severely tested as they chase the same kinds of voters in uphill battles to catch former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"They have always been cordial," said Rob Godfrey, a spokesman for Haley when she was governor of South Carolina. He is so far staying neutral in the presidential race. "I don't think the presidential election will change that dynamic."

He added: "At the same time, they are both competitors."

Nikki Haley on 2024 White House campaign: 'Why not me?'

Nikki Haley

Tim Scott running for president in 2024: How will he challenge Donald Trump?

A unique battle

Scott's formal entry into the race this week sets up a unique battle within the Republican Party, one that could go a long way to determining who wins the 2024 presidential nomination. The reason: Scott and Haley both hail from South Carolina, usually a must-win primary state for aspiring GOP presidents.

The vice presidential slot is also a possibility for Haley and Scott, though both say they are running for president rather than running mate.

Who is Nikki Haley?

Haley, 51, and Scott, 57, are also among the most unique presidential candidates ever: a woman of color and a Black man who have won races in the reddest of red states, representing a party that has struggled with minority votes for decades.

Tim Scott

While they are basically contemporaries, Haley became more of a national figure first - and also became responsible for putting Scott in the Senate.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley was a businesswoman who entered elected politics by winning a state legislative race in 2004. Six years later, Haley rode the Tea Party protest movement to an upset win in the Republican gubernatorial primary, tantamount to election in GOP-leaning South Carolina.

During her first term, Haley got the chance to fill a U.S. Senate seat thanks to the surprise resignation of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint. In late 2012, Haley announced the appointment of a young congressman from the Charleston area: Tim Scott.

Who is Tim Scott?

A businessman and long-time member of the Charleston County Council, Scott won election to South Carolina's legislature in 2008. Just two years later, Scott pursued and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from the Charleston area.

After being sworn in to the Senate in early 2013, Scott built a reputation as a deregulating, pro-law enforcement religious conservative who was willing to work with some Democrats on specific bills.

Now Scott and Haley are contesting each other, quests that hinge in part on the same kinds of voters in the same state.

Haley and Scott for president

Although Haley once said she would not run if Trump did, the former governor in February became the first official Republican challenger to Trump and his bid to regain the White House in 2024.

In succeeding weeks, Scott and his supporters amped up talk about his own presidential bid. Along the way, allies of each candidate took to whispered sniping about the other candidate, though the two principals remained friendly enough.

"There might be some tensions between the staffs," said Katon Dawson, a former South Carolina Republican Party chairman who is backing Haley. "There's not tension between Nikki and Tim. They get along fine."

"There's going to be some tension because this is a race for president," he added.

The key: South Carolina

At some point, Haley and Scott will have to critique each other, especially in South Carolina.

"They could very easily be competing for the very same voters," said Gibbs Knotts, professor of political science at the College of Charleston.

Knotts, co-author of the book "First in the South: Why South Carolinas Presidential Primary Matters," said Trump is probably the favorite at this point.

But Haley or Scott, or both, could make things interesting if they hold their political ground - or if they split non-Trump voters and help the former president prevail. "It almost feels like it's going to be a three-way race between them," Knotts said.

It is probably a "must-win" state, he added. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, the winner of the South Carolina Republican primary has gone on to win the GOP presidential nomination in every election cycle but one, in 2012.

A big fight?

The coming Haley-Scott battle in South Carolina could be brutal - if their candidacies last that long.

History is filled with examples of candidates who couldn't make it to the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary, much less their home state primaries.

The list ranges from Republican Scott Walker to Democrat Kamala Harris, though the latter wound up as a vice presidential candidate, a job for which the names of Haley and Scott have already surfaced.

Survival in the primaries will likely require an intra-state battle among South Carolina Republicans.

Mikee Johnson, a long-time South Carolina Republican donor who has supported Haley but is backing Scott in the presidential race, also described their relationship as "cordial." Johnson said he doesn't expect the competitors to "cross swords," at least not in the short term.

He added: "It'll get testy at some point down the road, I'm sure."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley, Tim Scott still get along in 2024 GOP race. For now.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) informed lawmakers on Wednesday that they can leave Washington as scheduled on Thursday for the Memorial Day weekend  but that they should be prepared to return to the Capitol to vote on legislation to raise the debt limit with 24 hours notice.

The House is scheduled to adjourn on Thursday and is not slated to return to session until June 5  four days after the June 1 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for a possible default.

Following tomorrows votes, if some new agreement is reached between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy, members will receive 24 hours notice in the event we need to return to Washington for any additional votes either over the weekend or next week, Scalise said on the House floor.

White House officials and GOP lawmakers have been negotiating for more than a week to reach an agreement on raising the debt limit. President Biden and McCarthy have also met at the White House to discuss the issue.

McCarthy has said that a deal must be reached by this week to allow enough time for any legislation to make its way through both chambers and land at the presidents desk by June 1.

On Tuesday, Rep. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), a GOP negotiator, said it will take between 24 and 48 hours to write the legislative text of the bill. And on Wednesday, Scalise said leadership will abide by a rule that gives lawmakers 72 hours to review text of legislation before voting on it.

The Senate is out of session this week but is scheduled to reconvene on May 30.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republican lawmakers who are trying to turn the page on former President Trump say voters are turned off by what they describe as his negativity, but polls show Republican primary voters arent all that hungry for good vibes.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) launched his campaign for president this week declaring Americans hunger for something positive and voters are thrilled to have a conversation about optimism.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who endorsed Scott last week and wants to move past Trump, says we have to have a consensus candidate if were going to win and thinks Scott can bring our country together.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the 2022 midterms that too much chaos and too much negativity associated with Trumps influence on the GOP had turned off a lot of these centrist voters.

But polls show many Republican primary voters love Trumps appetite for political combat and applaud when he takes shots at his enemies, either on the political left or within the Republican establishment in Washington.

FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023, while en route to West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Republican primary voters arent showing any signs of wanting to move on from Former President Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

A Harvard-Harris poll of 2,004 voters nationwide conducted May 17-18 showed Trump dominating the Republican primary field with 58 percent support, well ahead of his nearest rival  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had 16 percent support. Scott garnered just 1 percent support in the poll.

Trumps dominance is reflected in other polls. He leads by an average of nearly 37 percentage points in recent national surveys.

A different Republican Party

Political experts say George H.W. Bushs call for a kinder gentler nation when he won the White House is nowhere to be found in the message of todays GOP. (Getty Images)

Political experts and Republican strategists say the Republican Party has transformed dramatically since George H.W. Bush won the presidency in 1988 by calling for a kinder, gentler nation and since George W. Bush captured the White House on a platform of compassionate conservatism in 2000.

Trump instead rallied his supporters in 2016 with chants of lock her up directed at Hillary Clinton and then delivered what became known as his American carnage speech at his 2017 inauguration.

Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, said Republican primary voters are more hungering for revenge than a positive message after two years of President Biden in office.

Tim Scott is not the message carrier of revenge. His is a very upbeat message, when he talks about the reconciliation, when he talks about the possibility of America based on his own experience. Its a very lofty message, he said.

The largest number of Republican primary voters want the restoration of the Trump presidency, he said, adding the Republican electorate has become much less on policy than it is on personality over the past decade.

He said Trumps base finds him entertaining and he appeals to the feelings of rejection and marginalization they experienced even though Trump, a billionaire, is a member of the nations elite.

Trumps no holds barred appeal

Former President Donald Trump applauds as he departs after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, Saturday, March 4, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Baker said Trumps core group of supporters feel resentful and angry about the direction of the country, and some of them feel hard done by, and others feel that hes protecting from, shielding them from having to give away the goods that theyve accumulated.

Republican strategists say while Trump is running a more professional campaign ahead of the 2024 presidential election, he  at his core as a candidate  hasnt changed, and they point out that he is dominating the national polls.

If you look at the CNN town hall and how that played with Trumps energy and his combativeness with Kaitlan Collins, who was moderating, if you just look at the reaction he had, his numbers went up by about anywhere from 8 to 12 points in the primary field right after that town hall, said John Ullyot, a Republican strategist and former National Security Council spokesman.

It showed that hes no holds barred, hes the Trump that everyone remembers who came in and shook things up, and he was put in office back in 2016 because he was going to be a forceful fighter, and thats what people wanted, he said.

More Republican primary coverage from The Hill:

He really shifted the party from being a country club establishment party that had nominated Romney for president, Ullyot noted, referring to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R), who was the GOP nominee for president in 2012.

President Trump is the only candidate in the field who gives the GOP base and GOP primary voters exactly what theyre looking for, which is someone who will shake up the establishment, someone who will not accept the status quo, someone who is not go along to get along, he said.

Trump only added to his lead in national polls after ripping CNNs Collins as a nasty person, called the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol a beautiful day and disparaged writer E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million jury award from him for sexual abuse and defamation, as a whack job.

DeSantis, Scott arent Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a political roundtable, Friday, May 19, 2023, in Bedford, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a political roundtable, Friday, May 19, 2023, in Bedford, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

DeSantis has tried to adopt Trumps pugilistic style.

He regularly clashes with members of the media and accuses them of pushing a liberal agenda.

He is battling with Disney, Floridas second-largest employer, over the companys opposition to his Parental Rights in Education Act.

He declared we will never surrender to the woke mob and Florida is where woke goes to die.

But Trump allies dismiss the Florida governor as Trump lite.

I dont think anyone can deliver a political punch as effectively as Trump. Hes rewritten the rule book of politics when it comes to how to go after opponents, said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide.

Darling noted none of Trumps top rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016  Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich  opted to run against him again this cycle.

Trump on Monday applauded Scotts entry into the presidential race and suggested it would further split up the anti-Trump Republican primary vote.

Good luck to Senator Tim Scott in entering the Republican Presidential Primary Race, Trump posted on Truth Social. It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable.

Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott delivers his speech announcing his candidacy for president of the United States on the campus of Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, S.C., Monday, May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

Jim McLaughlin, a GOP pollster who worked for Trumps 2020 campaign, said Republican voters are flocking to Trump because they like what he accomplished in the White House, and they view him as a fighter.

They reason they stay with Trump is because his stuff worked; he had a successful presidency, he said, citing the strength of the economy, Trumps relationship with foreign leaders and his focus on border security.

But he said Republican voters also love Trump because they want someone who is going to be fighting for that forgotten middle class.

A lot of Biden voters who say they prefer Trump now or are considering Trump, the issue that they bring up is immigration, he said. The voters will tell you Donald Trump solved this issue with no help from Congress.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast of Russia, has said that the oblast was attacked by a large number of drones at night.

Source: Gladkov on Telegram

Details: Gladkov has stated that Russian air defence has dealt with most of the drones, but there is damage in the city of Belgorod, in Borisovka district and in Belgorod district.

In particular, administrative buildings were damaged.

According to him, in Yakovlevsky district, explosive devices were dropped twice from drones in the village of Tomarovka at night on two administrative buildings. The roof of one building was damaged, and the roof and floor slab of the other building were damaged.

He has also reported the operation of a drone in Novaya Tavolzhanka and the alleged shelling of the outskirts of the village of Terezovka in Shebekino district.

Gladkov has said that a gas pipeline was damaged in Graivoron district and a small fire broke out. Gladkov has also said that he did not know why the fire started on the gas pipeline.

The power supply is being restored in Graivoron district. After that, water supply and cellular communication will be restored.

There are nine people in hospital [as a result]: three people are in intensive care in serious condition, and six people are already in wards.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Clare Nowland - ABC News

A 95-year-old great-grandmother died on Wednesday a week after being Tasered by a police officer inside her Australian nursing home, police said.

Clare Nowland passed away "peacefully" in hospital surrounded by family and loved ones, New South Wales state police said in a statement.

Ms Nowland had 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren, police said.

Clare Nowland - Australian Broadcasting Corp

Hours earlier, a 33-year-old senior constable was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault in relation to the incident.

The officer, who has been suspended with pay, will appear before court on July 5.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb said Ms Nowland's family had been informed of the "serious charges", and thanked detectives for working quickly following the "nasty incident".

Officers had been called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in southern New South Wales by staff who told them that a woman was "armed with a knife".

Bodycam video

Police say they urged Ms Nowland to drop a serrated steak knife before she moved towards them "at a slow pace" with her walking frame, prompting one officer to fire his Taser at her.

The incident has led to calls for a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry and the release of police bodycam video of the confrontation.

Community outrage

Sue Higginson, a state Greens MP, said: The Tasering of Ms Nowland has sparked a community outrage that shows how desperately we need police reform.

"The refusal to release the bodycam footage protects NSW Police from public scrutiny for all the wrong reasons - the NSW community has a right to know exactly what happened when Clare Nowland was tasered so we can start to take the steps needed for change."

Police have said they do not plan to release police body-worn video of the tasering.

We don't intend to release it unless there is a process at the end of this that would allow it to be released, the state police commissioner said.

Ms Webb said at the time she had only heard the audio from the recording: I don't see it necessary that I actually view it.

She added that police may need to be better equipped to deal with dementia patients.

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The sun sets on the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake on March 16. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox nominated Brian Steed to serve as Utahs first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner last week. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Brian Steed is still piecing together what his next job will entail, but he already has at least one goal in mind before becoming the state's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner.

He wants to make sure Utahns are still engaged in the process of helping the lake's recovery, because it's not going to happen overnight.

This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake  and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.

"I think we all have to avoid Great Salt Lake fatigue," said Steed as he spoke with members of the Great Salt Lake Collaborative Tuesday, after expressing his concern that people may revert back to practices that helped drain the Great Salt Lake over the past few decades. "I think that those kinds of small changes and choices (in water use) can make a big impact, collectively."

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox nominated Steed, the executive director of Utah State University's Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air, to be the state's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner last week, pending confirmation by the Utah Legislature. It's unclear when that confirmation will take place, but Steed could begin his new job  while retaining his current job  as early as July 1.

If and when he is confirmed, he's ready to hit the ground running because his team will have to put together an initial report for Utah leaders by November.

What does a Great Salt Lake commissioner do?

The Utah Legislature approved a bill that created the role of Great Salt Lake commissioner this year. The commissioner is tasked with meeting various agencies that study the lake and with Utah government leaders, as well as preparing "an approved strategic plan for the long-term health" of the lake, according to HB491.

That's sort of what Steed was already doing. He, his USU colleagues, members of the University of Utah and three state agencies joined forces to create the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, a coalition of some of the state's top research minds together to come up with solutions to the drying lake. The team issued a report earlier this year that offered lawmakers a look at what happened to the Great Salt Lake and what they can do to help fix the problem.

The new job comes with at least some level of policy power, though.

Cox explained that the new position comes with a "lot of authority" to bring all the governor's cabinet members and the state's water managers together, when he was asked about this during his monthly meeting with Utah journalists last week. The commissioner also reports directly to the governor and legislative leaders on issues about the Great Salt Lake, making this leadership the "significant authority and leverage" with the job.

"This position is really unprecedented. We've never had a position like this," Cox said.

Brian Steed, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's pick to be the Great Salt Lake commissioner, speaks with members of the Great Salt Lake Collaborative in an online meeting Tuesday. If confirmed, he could start as early as July 1. | Great Salt Lake Collaborative

The job is also more of a "coordinational role" than any sort of regulatory role, Steed explained. A large part of the job is tracking Great Salt Lake data and identifying what is and isn't working at the moment so solutions can be discovered.

But he said having the ear of the governor and legislative leaders likely gives the position a "large policy lever to pull," especially when state agencies and water managers are able to find something that needs to be addressed from a legislative standpoint.

"Brian gets to walk into a room now with the full backing of legislative leadership, as well as the executive branch," Cox pointed out. "That's a pretty big deal."

The work continues

The Great Salt Lake is continuing to rise as a result of this year's record snowpack. The Great Salt Lake's Saltair Boat Harbor site is now up to 4,193.4 feet elevation  more than 5 feet above its estimated lowest point in November, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

Yet, Steed points out that the primary factors that contributed to the Great Salt Lake's decline, such as water overconsumption, "have not changed" much over the past six months. The Great Salt Lake Strike Team's report found that between 67% and 73% of the lake's water is lost to "natural and human consumptive use."

In addition, some of the lake's toxic dust is still blowing into Utah communities during storm events even after all the water the lake has received this spring.

"My guess is we're going to see continued challenges on the Great Salt Lake ecosystem over longer time horizons," Steed said. "So while, yes, we're all very heartened by the recent year we've had, we still have great cause for concern."

The railroad causeway is breached on the Great Salt Lake on May 3. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

This is why Utah leaders continue to expand their messaging around reducing water even after such a prolific winter, offering a new turf grass buyback program and launching a new public service announcement promoting the removal of ornamental grass lawns.

The report outlined other possible solutions, noting that programs to optimize agricultural water use and for water rights holders to lease their water to temporarily go directly to the lake are likely the state's best bang-for-your-buck options. It estimates that Utah could send 180,000 acre-feet of additional water to the Great Salt Lake just by reducing agricultural consumption by 15%, while the state's leasing program could net an additional 200,000 to 300,000 acre-feet of water.

These options are already in motion. Steed said he's eager to help negotiate potential leases, which could be similar to water donations made by The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints and Rio Tinto Kennecott over the past few years.

He added that the strike team report is a "good first start" when it comes to future policy, clarifying that the report offered a slew of options to consider more than it provided guidance. The team is already set to issue a follow-up report later this year, but he believes his role is to come up with a game plan for the lake.

"Quite candidly, I think there's really good information in (the report) and I think it would be foolish to put that aside," he said. "There's lots of good information out there. Part of what I think we need to do is to synthesize that into something more actionable."

Fighting lake 'fatigue'

Every dataset right now points to 4,198 feet elevation as being the Great Salt Lake level objective at the moment. Researchers say that it's the minimum level for the lake to still be considered healthy. It's not exactly clear how quickly the lake can return to those levels unless there's another record winter or Utahns drastically change the way they view water, Steed said.

This uncertainty means that the same message about saving water will continue to play out for a long, long time. Steed said he's hopeful that it becomes a message that Utahns ingrain in their daily habits, much like residents have in other dry places across the globe like Israel.

The ultimate goal is to avoid the toughest possible conversation, which could be whether Utah should spend billions of dollars on a pipeline to bring water to the Great Salt Lake or spend billions to mitigate all the dust from the dried-out lake.

Avoiding that debate will likely require ways to keep people engaged in the process, which could be simply reflecting back at the "successes" made in the long journey to protect the lake, Steed says. One of the early wins so far is acknowledging the importance of the lake and finding ways to try and save it.

"I think there's this fear we're all looking at Sisyphus pushing this rock up the hill and it's just exhausting ... and no one ever stops to look and say 'we've actually made some effort in pushing the rock up the hill," he said. "We've made some gains and those choices, those changes have made an impact."
Greene says no one is concerned about debt default in Republican conference

Greene says no one is concerned about debt default in Republican conference

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) dismissed the threat of the government defaulting on its debt saying no one is freaking out in the House Republican conference about the deadline.

Her remarks come even amid Treasury Secretary Janet Yellens repeated warnings of the severe economic consequences if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by June 1.

Heres whats happening in our conference, Greene told conservative podcast host Steve Bannon on Wednesday. Were not sweating this at all. No one is freaking out, no one is concerned about this mystery date that Janet Yellen has thrown out, like its going to actually crash America.

The only people worked up about the mystery date is probably the New York Stock Exchange, she said. I mean, lets be real about exactly what it is. Regular Americans living their lives, day in and day out, dont worry about the government shutting down.

The comments come as House Republican negotiators head to the White House and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has signaled optimism about the prospects of striking a deal.

I think we can make progress today, he told reporters Wednesday.

But some Republicans in his conference still signal they wont support a deal that has fewer spending cuts than the GOP-led bill that already passed the House. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that he and his conservative colleagues dont feel like we should negotiate with our hostage on a debt-limit compromise.

McCarthy dismissed concerns when asked Wednesday to respond to those who question whether he can actually strike a deal, in light of positions held by Gaetz and others in his conference.

Theyre wrong, McCarthy said when asked about his skeptics. You underestimated me the whole time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
How Greg Abbott met the murders of 21 children and teachers in Uvalde with silence

Greg Abbott was slammed for his actions or inactions after Uvalde (Getty)

Its now been one year since moms and dads dropped their children off at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde for the very last time.

Its been one year since 21 of those young students and their heroic teachers were shot dead in their classrooms.

And its also been one year since Texas Governor Greg Abbott began ignoring the desperate pleas for action from the victims families.

On 24 May 2022, 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School armed with a legally purchased AR-15 and murdered 19 students aged between nine and 11 years old and two teachers.

The massacre horrified the nation, marking one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.

Since then, the families have been begging Texas officials to take action and tighten the states gun laws  gun laws that are among the weakest in the nation.

But, for the last 12 months, it has all fallen on deaf ears.

Despite their desperate pleas, Mr Abbott refused to call a legislative session to even discuss the possibility of introducing gun safety measures all the while he continues to enjoy his longstanding, cosy relationship with the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Mr Abbotts action  or inaction  over the mass shooting fell under scrutiny almost immediately after the 24 May tragedy.

When news of the shooting reached him in Abilene, where he was holding a press conference about wildfires, instead of rushing to Uvalde, he continued with his plans to attend a fundraiser to drum up donations for his re-election campaign.

Initially, Mr Abbott claimed that he only stopped by the campaign fundraiser in Huntsville to let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go.

But this version of events fell apart two months later when campaign finance reports and flight-tracking records, obtained by The Dallas Morning News , revealed that he actually stayed almost three hours at the event.

A memorial for the 19 children and two teachers killed in the May shooting sits outside the school (AP)

While devastated parents were receiving the worst possible news, Mr Abbott was raising up to $50,000 in campaign funds.

Call logs, released by state Senator Roland Gutierrez, showed that Mr Abbott only accepted three calls from Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw on 24 May, with the two men speaking for less than 30 minutes about one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history on the day of the massacre.

In the weeks after the shooting, Mr Abbott also came under fire when he was a no-show at the funerals for each of the 21 victims.

When scheduling records exposed his absence, Mr Abbotts office responded by saying he had sent flowers and condolences to the families and had visited every family who had requested a meeting.

Then there was his change in messaging about what happened that day.

One day after the massacre, Mr Abbott gave his first public address in which he heaped praise on the amazing courage of law enforcement officers on the scene. He told the community that had just lost 21 members that it could have been worse.

It could have been worse. The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do, he said.

This turned out to be false.

In the days and weeks after the shooting, it emerged that almost 400 officers waited a staggering 77 minutes before breaching the classroom as the gunman continued his murderous rampage and wounded victims bled to death.

The police response has now been branded an abject failure, one in which officers on the scene prioritised their own safety over saving the lives of the victims.

Mr Abbott later fumed that he had been misled by unidentified public officials before making his speech.

Three days on from the shooting, the governor spoke out again  this time giving two vastly different speeches with two dramatically conflicting messages on the topic of gun safety.

That Friday, Mr Abbott had been due to speak on stage at the NRA convention in Houston.

Abbott speaking in a pre-recorded video at the NRA convention (Fox)

In light of the shooting, he pulled out of the event  but not before sending a pre-recorded video message to be played on stage.

In that speech, he undermined the importance of gun safety laws, claiming they have no impact on reducing gun violence.

There are thousands of laws on the books across the country that limit the owning and using of firearms, laws that have not stopped madmen from carrying out evil acts on innocent people in peaceful communities, he said.

In Uvalde, the gunman committed a felony under Texas law before he even pulled the trigger. Its a felony to possess a firearm on school premises. But that did not stop him.

The message  a show of defiance that he had no plans to tighten the states already weak gun laws  aired at the same time as he was telling the grieving Uvalde community that he absolutely expected new laws to be passed in response to the tragedy.

With regard to a special (legislative) session, let me just say this: all options are on the table, he said.

Do we expect laws to come out of this devastating crime? The answer is absolutely yes. And there will be laws in multiple different subject areas. There will be committees formed, there will be meetings held, there will be proposals that will be derived, many of which will lead to laws that will be passed in the state of Texas.

Over the next year, Mr Abbott ignored ongoing requests from Uvalde officials to call a special legislative session to at least discuss the possibility of gun reform in the state.

State Representative Tracy King and Mr Gutierrez  the two Texas lawmakers who represent Uvalde  urged the governor to call the session. State Democrats said they would support proposals including raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic assault rifles from 18 to 21, creating red flag laws, introducing a 72-hour cooling off period for gun purchases and regulating private gun sales.

Grieving family members begged for change, calling  at the very least  for a raise in minimum age to purchase assault weapons.

Time after time, their pleas were ignored.

Instead of acknowledging that the states weak gun laws may have played any part in the massacre (the 18-year-old gunman legally bought two AR-15s just days after his birthday), Mr Abbott pointed the finger at mental illness and school safety and insisted that raising the minimum age to buy would be unconstitutional.

Parents who lost children in the Robb Elementary School shooting look at a sample ballot before going to vote on Monday (AP)

He claimed he took several other actions to support the Uvalde community and make schools safer including providing 30 law enforcement officers to the school district campuses for the new school year, $105.5m in funding for school safety and mental health services  as well as roping in Chuck Norris to front a programme to report suspicious behaviour at schools.

None of the actions involved restricting access to firearms.

Even during his race to hold onto his gubernatorial seat in the midterms, Mr Abbott refused to move the needle on the gun control debate.

Family members who lost loved ones in the Uvalde massacre threw their support behind his Democratic rival Beto ORourke  including featuring in a gutwrenching ad campaign.

Behind Mr Abbott, of course, was the NRA.

Data compiled by Giffords showed that Mr Abbott received $20,700 in career gun lobby contributions  one of the highest of all candidates in gubernatorial races.

His close relationship with the NRA was perhaps most evident when in June 2021  less than one year before Uvalde  he signed a bill into law allowing Texans without a licence to open carry handguns. Standing at his shoulder at the bill signing were NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and NRA president Carolyn Meadows.

In November, less than six months after the state endured the worst school shooting in its history, Texans chose to re-elect Mr Abbott as governor for a third term.

In the weeks and months leading up to the one-year anniversary of the Uvalde mass shooting, Texas has been rocked by several more mass shootings.

On 28 April, five people  including a nine-year-old boy  were shot dead in a horror attack at a home in Cleveland.

Days later, on 6 May, eight people were killed and seven injured when a neo-Nazi gunman went on a shooting rampage at an outlet mall in Allen.

And again, nothing changed.

Then on the one-year anniversary of the states worst mass shooting in history, Mr Abbott did announce some action:

A moment of silence.

Flags lowered to half staff in Texas.

But still no attempt to tackle the states problem with gun violence.
Jacksonville's resident warship is once again ready for visitors.

The U.S.S. Orleck, which earned the nickname "The Grey Ghost of the Vietnam Coast" by firing more rounds in support of ground troops than any ship in the Navy, will officially open for visitors on Friday in its permanent berth in the St. Johns River, just off Bay Street across from the Duval County Jail. A "soft opening" is planned for Wednesday and Thursday.

The Orleck, a Gearing Class destroyer that was built in Texas and launched in May of 1945, arrived in Jacksonville more than a year ago but spent most of that time in a temporary berth in front of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. It moved downriver in April to its long-term home, alongside city-owned Pier One.

A temporary building that houses air-conditioned restrooms and a ticket office now stands behind the historic Catherine Street Fire Station building that was moved in March from Metropolitan Park. The city has plans to build a park that will incorporate the Orleck and a new visitor's center, the fire station and a relocated Museum of Science and History.

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The ship sits alongside a large concrete pier, but the pier is not publicly accessible. A wooden ramp now winds its way from the ground to an aluminum gangway leading to the stern of the ship, where visitors are confronted by a pair of the ship's big guns that once took 14 men to operate. The ramp is wheelchair-accessible, but parts of the ship are not.

A new walkway will allow visitors to access the USS Orleck from the pier at the shipyards.

The ship is the centerpiece of the new Jacksonville Naval Museum. It will be open for public tours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. For the opening weekend  which combines Memorial Day with huge crowds that will be downtown for the Jacksonville Jazz Festival  the Orleck will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"Its Memorial Day, so its a huge military holiday," said Jim Webb, executive director of the Jacksonville Naval Museum.

Plans call for a live band on board, plus food trucks parked near the new ticket office.

Webb said tens of thousands of people have toured the ship since it arrived in Jacksonville, but exact numbers aren't available because the museum couldn't charge admission. While berthed near the Hyatt, the ship sat over state-owned land, which meant the museum could only accept donations. The new site is city-owned, so tickets will now be sold.

"I've learned all about submerged land leases," Webb said.

Admission to the Orleck is $15 for adults, $13 for veterans and seniors, $10 for ages 10-17 and $5 for ages 6-11. Active duty military in uniform are admitted free; admission for active duty military out of uniform is $7.50.

The ship is being transformed into a museum of the U.S. Navy's role in the Cold War, and Vietnam in particular. Webb said the Orleck was once armed with tactical nuclear depth charges that would have blown a mile-wide hole in the water but were never deployed. A tiny drone anti-submarine helicopter sits on a deck near the ship's stern, but Webb said plans call for it to be moved to an interior hangar that, at some point, was converted to a mess hall.

A sign welcomes visitors to the Orleck and reminds them to follow safety procedures while aboard the floating naval museum. In the background is the ship's 5-inch, 38-caliber gun turret.

Most of the compartments on the main deck  "officers' country"  are accessible to the public while work continues on others. The ship's store, which once sold cigarettes and essentials to the crew, is now a gift shop selling memorabilia and T-shirts. Visitors can also visit the ship's mess, pharmacy and bridge.

Crews are working on the enlisted berthing areas, where the crew once slept. The spaces have low ceilings and bunks that hang by chains. They will eventually be used for overnight trips by Scouts and other youth groups.

The Orleck has already hosted at least three weddings and a marriage-vow renewal ceremony, plus a steady stream of military retirement ceremonies and Chamber of Commerce mixers. "Weve probably had private events every day since moving here in April," Webb said.

The 2,350-ton Gearing Class destroyer was launched in May 1945 and operated as part of the Seventh Fleet during the Korean War, then underwent extensive renovations under the Navy's Fleet Rehabilitation and Maintenance program in 1962.

The ship earned 18 Battle Stars, four during the Korean conflict and 14 during the fighting in Vietnam.

It later served as a training ship and appeared in the TV miniseries "Winds of War." In 1982 it was transferred to the Turkish Navy, where it was renamed the TCG Yucetepe, serving until 2000. The Turkish Navy donated the ship to the Southeast Texas War Memorial and Heritage Foundation and it was kept on the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles, La., where it was damaged by Hurricane Laura in 2020. The Jacksonville group acquired the ship in 2021 and had it towed to a drydock in Port Arthur, Texas, where it was inspected before being towed across the Gulf of Mexico, around the tip of Florida and into the St. Johns River.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: USS Orleck warship museum reopens in downtown Jacksonville
Groundbreaking implants allow paralysed man to walk again in historic first

Gert-Jan Oskam, who has regained the ability to stand and walk naturally, using technology developed by researchers in Switzerland. Neuroscientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have created what they call a wireless digital bridge which is able to restore the connection lost between the brain and the spinal cord. Issue date: Wednesday May 24, 2023. PA Photo. This digital bridge is a brainaspine interface which allows Gert-Jan Oskam to regain control over the movement of his legs, enabling him to stand, walk and even climb stairs. See PA story SCIENCE Paralysis. Photo credit should read: EPFL/PA Wire (PA)

A paralyzed man has become the first in history to regain his natural mobility through the use of implants, according to a new study.

Gert-Jan Oskam was paralyzed in 2011 after a motorcycle accident in China. He lost control of his limbs from his hips down, but  thanks to a newly-developed device linking his thoughts to his spinal cord  he can walk once again.

A study outlining the new tech was published in the journal Nature. The Swiss researchers who developed the tech describe it as a "digital bridge" between the patient's brain and spinal cord, bypassing the injured areas of his body.

Mr Oskam has been walking with the implants for more than a year, with no sign of the connection breaking down, according to the New York Times.

For 12 years Ive been trying to get back my feet, Mr Oskam said Tuesday in a press briefing. Now I have learned how to walk normal, natural.

Not only is Mr Oskam walking again, but he is showing signs of actual neurological recovery thanks to the implants  even if the implant is deactivated, Mr Oskam can still walk using crutches.

When a person suffers a traumatic spinal cord injury, it can sever the communication between the brain and the region of the spine that controls walking, rendering a person paralyzed.

The new implants re-establish that connection by bypassing trouble spots.

Gregoire Courtine, who helped lead the implant research and who serves as a spinal cord specialist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, said the implants have "captured the thoughts of Gert-Jan, and translated these thoughts into a stimulation of the spinal cord to re-establish voluntary movement."

If that sounds like fanciful speculative fiction, the neuroscientist who placed Mr Oskam's implants would have agreed  until she saw the results.

"It was quite science fiction in the beginning for me, but it became true today," Jocelyne Bloch, the University of Lausanne neuroscientist who placed the implant, said.
Group enters waterfall where swimming is banned, New York cops say. One drowns

A man died after he and three others swam at the base of a waterfall where swimming is not allowed, New York authorities said.

The group of four, all between 16 and 26 years old and from the Syracuse area, entered an area marked with No Swimming signs at the base of Taughannock Falls in the town of Ulysses around 4:30 p.m. on May 23, New York State Police said in a news release.

They quickly started struggling to stay above water, officials said. Leo M. Nolasco-Cruz, 26, went under and didnt resurface.

The agencys Underwater Recovery Team later found his body in the water, officials said.

When crews from the Trumansburg Fire Department arrived, they found three people out of the water near the base of the falls, 14850.com reported. Another was reported to still be in the water, officials told the outlet.

First responders also flew a 19-year-old swimmer to Upstate University Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia and water ingestion, officials said. He was reported in stable condition.

It is important to only swim in designated areas when a lifeguard is on duty, the Trumansburg Fire Department said in a statement to 14850.com. A casual swim can turn deadly in a matter of seconds if proper precautions are not taken.

First responders from multiple agencies assisted with the rescue and response, including New York State Park Police, SP Ithaca, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Trumansburg Fire Department, Trumansburg Ambulance, Tompkins County Sheriffs Department and the Tompkins County Fire Coordinator.

Taughannock Falls is about 10 miles northwest of Ithaca. It stands three stories taller than Niagara Falls and plunges 215 feet off a 400-foot gorge in Taughannock Falls State Park, according to VisitIthaca.com.

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Ron DeSantis begins the GOP presidential primary as the clear-cut second choice of Republican voters, trailing only former President Donald Trump.

But his candidacy, apparently, isnt intimidating other Republican candidates to stay out of the race.

As the Florida governor makes his long-awaited announcement on Wednesday that hes running for president, he enters a GOP presidential primary that suddenly looks as if it could feature a large number of competitors, many of whom have signaled in recent days that they are preparing a White House bid of their own.

Its a reversal of expectations from the start of the year, when many GOP insiders thought the combined strength of Trump and DeSantis might persuade many other Republicans not to run. And its complicating DeSantis effort to make the primary a one-on-one battle with the former president, the type of matchup many Republicans think is the governors best bet to win the race.

Some Republicans say the governors recent perceived struggles  including his initial response to questions about Russias invasion of Ukraine and the conservative criticism over his ongoing fight with the Walt Disney corporation  have emboldened other candidates to enter the fray.

Jim Merrill, a longtime GOP strategist in New Hampshire, said the last few months have seen a recalibration of expectations for the governor.

During this period in the first quarter, I think it opened the door for donors and candidates to say, Its a long campaign season and weve seen plenty of other cant-miss prospects before, who have looked strong out of the gate but didnt ultimately come together, he said. So lets take a shot at this.

Merrill and other Republicans emphasize that DeSantis starts the race in a more enviable position than any candidate besides Trump, popular among GOP voters nationwide and bolstered by tens of millions of dollars in banked fundraising. At least one strategist for a rival 2024 campaign predicted that the governors entrance to the race would also precipitate a big boost in the polls, saying he expected a DeSantis boomlet in the coming weeks.

And even if presidential aspirants enter the race this spring and summer, they add, theres no guarantee theyll last by the time 2024 rolls around.

But the continued interest from so many candidates is a sign, GOP strategists say, of how DeSantis starts the race in a different  and weaker  place than once anticipated, dogged by sinking poll numbers and beset by questions about his preparedness for the most taxing race in politics. Hes still strong, they add, just not as strong as he was after a resounding reelection victory last year.

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DeSantis has lost roughly 9 points of support since March in early polls of the GOP presidential primary, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, with Trump showing a commensurate bump in support. DeSantis now receives about 20% support from GOP voters on average, compared to 53% for Trump.

Three months ago, Governor DeSantis was seen as the easiest way to move on, perhaps, from the Trump era, said Steve Duprey, a New Hampshire GOP official. I think now theres a fair number of folks who are taking a second look.

DESANTIS CHALLENGERS

Duprey is close with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who told Puck News last week that there was a 61 percent chance he runs for president in 2024 but would wait until the end of the states legislative session before making a decision. (Duprey, for his part, says he hopes the governor does enter the race, although he added he didnt know if the governor ultimately would launch a campaign.)

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Sununu wasnt the only potential presidential aspirant making headlines recently about a bid. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez reiterated over the weekend that he was considering running for president, saying he needed to make a decision soon. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, will also announce hes running for president imminently, according to a report.

And Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin stirred interest nationwide when he released a campaign-style video last week despite saying earlier this year that he wouldnt be seeking the presidency  although aides to the governor insist that hes still focused on the states elections happening in November.

Other candidates are seemingly emerging out of nowhere: North Dakota GOP Gov. Doug Burgum has already visited Iowa and has readied TV ads for his potential presidential launch, according to a source close to the governor.

He would not be considering it if there was not an opening, the source said.

DeSantis announcement, in fact, was the second presidential declaration this week: U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Senate Republican, formally launched his campaign on Monday in his home state. He joined a field that already includes former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Trump.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served under Trump, is also widely seen as likely to enter the race.

Republicans familiar with the process of starting a presidential campaign caution that not all of the interest from these candidates can be directly attributed to perceptions about DeSantis candidacy, arguing that any launch requires months of preparation. And their campaigns could just as much be seen as a sign that they think Trumps campaign is weak, with the former president not nearly as popular among Republicans as he was while occupying the Oval Office.

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But at the very least, many also think that DeSantis slide has created more of an opening for someone else to emerge as the leading alternative to the front-running Trump.

The other candidates are seeing DeSantis ceiling, and theyre thinking if they can surpass him, either on their own message or because of DeSantis stumbles, then theyre the ones who can go one-on-one with Trump and beat him in a delegate slog, said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida.

MOUNTAIN OF FICTION

An abundance of candidates could, the thinking goes, threaten DeSantis effort to defeat Trump. Many Republicans think engaging with the former president in a one-on-one matchup is the governors best bet, letting him unite all different parts of the GOP electorate who might otherwise be split among the non-Trump alternatives.

A crowded field is largely credited with helping Trump win the 2016 GOP primary, in part because candidates like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Christie spent more time attacking one another than the former New Yorkers then-insurgent White House candidacy.

Some Republicans, however, are skeptical that a primary teeming with candidates this summer will stay that way through the race, in part because many of them will face intense pressure to exit the primary rather than stay in and unwittingly help Trump.

Anyone can launch a vanity candidacy for president because its an easy way to raise your profile, sell books, and become relevant, said Giancarlo Sopo, a Miami-based GOP strategist. Its a completely separate matter, and much harder, to qualify as a candidate in all 50 states and territories.

Sopo, a DeSantis supporter, took issue with polls showing DeSantis losing support, saying he thought many of them were not accurately gauging the views of many GOP voters. In any case, he argued that DeSantis announcement meant the governor would soon hit the campaign trail in earnest, creating a contrast with Trump that he thought would benefit the younger candidate in DeSantis.

Theres a lot baked into the current narrative, Sopo said, but its built on a mountain of fiction.
A guide to the Republicans running for president so far

The first Republican primary debate wont occur until August. The first primaries and caucuses wont occur until early next year.

But the 2024 presidential primary campaign is well underway.

Theres a growing field of declared candidates who will begin traveling around early primary states, appearing in interviews and jockeying for attention. Super PACs aligned with their interests are already doing battle on the airwaves.

Here are the currently declared Republican presidential candidates, sorted by their place in the most recent CNN poll of the potential GOP primary electorate.

Donald Trump

Announced campaign: November 2022

The divisive former president is the prohibitive Republican frontrunner despite his efforts to overturn the 2020 election he lost. The primary is just getting going and there wont be any voting until early 2024, but Trump has worked hard to kneecap his top current rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A major complication for Trump is his legal uncertainty. His criminal trial in New York for alleged involvement in a hush-money payment scheme before the 2016 election will get underway in tandem with voting in the 2024 primary.

He could face additional charges, both at the federal level and in Fulton County, Georgia. But those investigations have been ongoing for years now, and its not clear any allegations will hurt his strength among many Republican voters.

Ron DeSantis

Announced campaign: Wednesday on Twitter

While Trump and his supporters got to work hammering DeSantis with TV ads, the Florida governor was at work building an argument in his home state.

Riding high from an overwhelming reelection victory in 2022, DeSantis used a GOP majority in the Florida legislature to enact measures related to curbing access to abortion, ending educational diversity initiatives, curbing LGBTQ rights and more.

While he lacks Trumps baggage on the legal front, DeSantis also lacks Trumps personality. Plus, his standoff with Disney over a bill to limit when sexual orientation and gender identity can be discussed in schools has not gone as DeSantis might have planned.

Nikki Haley

Announced campaign: February 2023

Haley has a stellar resume. Elected governor of a Southern state and selected as Trumps first ambassador to the United Nations, she would be the first woman and first non-White Republican nominee if she can somehow emerge with the nomination.

Much younger than Trump or President Joe Biden, Haley has made age a centerpiece of her campaign and argued for some kind of age-based competency test  an interesting idea in terms of scoring points against older candidates, but also a potential turnoff for primary voters in a party that skews older.

Stay tuned: CNN will host a town hall with Haley on June 4 in Iowa.

Tim Scott

Announced campaign: May 2023

The South Carolina senator is the only Black Republican in the US Senate. He has built the rarity of his biography to argue he disrupts the narrative of American politics.

Although appealing to conservatives, Scott has a record of actually working across party lines on police reform and more. But Trump, at least, has not viewed him as a threat. The former president, who has mercilessly attacked DeSantis, congratulated Scott on entering the race.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Spring Kick-Off in April 2023. - Charlie Neibergall/AP/FILE

Announced campaign: February 2023

A biotech and health care entrepreneur who also writes books opposing corporate wokeism and identity politics, Ramaswamy is a long-shot candidate unknown by most Americans.

RELATED: Ramaswamy would raise the voting age to 25

Asa Hutchison

Announced campaign: April 2023

The former Arkansas governor and congressman announced his campaign arguing against isolationism and for civility in campaigning. Those messages have not yet caught on in polling.

RELATED: Hutchinson promises to be Trump alternative

Larry Elder

Larry Elder in 2021, when he was running unsuccessfully for governor of California. - Mario Tama/Getty Images

Announced campaign: April 2023

The conservative talk radio host has never held elective office, but he was the top Republican vote-getter in the unsuccessful 2021 effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

More to come

There are other Republicans considering campaigns. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also register in the single digits in CNNs most recent poll.

Polling shows Trump over DeSantis at this very early moment

DeSantis (26%) is a distant second to Trump (53%), according to the new CNN poll conducted nationally by SSRS of Republican and Republican-leaning voters released Wednesday.

Both Pence and Haley got 6% support as the top pick.

Who could the GOP electorate support? Not support?

There are some interesting points as you drill into that polling data, as CNNs political director David Chalian explained on Inside Politics.

We asked people, in addition to your first choice, who would you be open to supporting in this race, Chalian said.

The results  current top choice plus who they would consider supporting  are a bit different:

DeSantis: 85%.

Trump: 84%.

Haley: 61%.

Scott: 60%.

Pence: 54%.

Thats good news for those candidates, Chalian argued. Its bad news, on the flip side, for people who a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said they would not support:

Christie: 60% would not support.

Hutchinson: 55%.

Sununu: 55%.

Note that those top three in the would not support list  of whom only Hutchinson has declared an official run  are the more moderate voices in the party.

Look at the movement

Chalian also looked at the trajectory of candidates in the polling numbers.

Trump has gained, from 40% support in the potential GOP primary electorate in March to 53% now.

DeSantis, before he formally declared his campaign, has fallen, from 36% support in March to 26% now.

That could mean the Republican race will ultimately be a test of who can take on Trump.

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As guns go silent, Gazan children still have nightmares A Palestinian girl looks at a psychiatrist through an open van window in Deir al-Balah

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) -Whenever a door slams, 10 year-old Bissan al-Mansi mistakes it for a bomb dropping. More than a week has passed since the latest round of fighting with Israel in Gaza but al-Mansi says she still has nightmares.

Local psychiatrists said al-Mansi's symptoms were common among many children living in the enclave, who were experiencing lack of sleep, anxiety, bedwetting, as well as a tendency to stay glued to their parents and avoid going outdoors.

Palestinians have lived through several wars with Israel since 2008, which have made healing almost impossible as the causes remain unchanged, say local and international experts. They put the number of children needing mental health help at nearly a quarter of the enclave's 2.3 million population that lives under a crippling blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt, which both control and restrict the Gaza Strip's borders.

Previous studies in Israel also find that Israeli children under continuous exposure to rocket fire in areas near Gaza also experience high levels of stress, aggression and anxiety.

The latest bout of cross-border fire, which lasted five days, began with Israeli air strikes against Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza. Israeli officials said more than 1,000 rockets were fired at Israel. In all, 33 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including children as well as six armed group commanders, while an Israeli and a Palestinian worker were killed in Israel.

There are no safe bomb shelters in Gaza, where over 50% of Palestinians live in poverty and have no other place to take shelter than in their homes. Palestinian officials and international humanitarian organisations have warned that the healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. Access to health services is limited, movement is severely restricted, and the psychological scars run deep, aid groups have said.

"My dreams have changed, they were nicer before," said al-Mansi, who has seen a psychiatrist since the fighting ended. "I have a lot of fear. I can no longer sleep at night."

The girl's house, in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, was among several homes that had been damaged or destroyed when Israel bombed their neighbourhood after giving residents about 30 minutes to evacuate.

Al-Mansi, one of five siblings, said she was now too afraid to go outside, even if to play with her friends. Before the fighting, she would wake up early eager to go to school, where her favourite subjects are Arabic and history, but since the fighting ended she hasn't returned.

"If someone slams the door, I imagine it is an air strike," she said.

'THEY BOMBED THE WHOLE SQUARE'

According to Hamas officials, the Islamist political party in Gaza, the latest round of Israeli air strikes, which began on May 9, destroyed 100 housing units and damaged 2,000 buildings. The U.N Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process Tor Wennesland condemned the Israeli air strikes that killed civilians, while Israel denied it targets civilians. Wennesland also condemned the "indiscriminate" firing of rockets toward Israel.

Social activists, medics with the Palestinian Red Crescent, and psychiatrists toured areas affected and met with the children and their families to offer guidance on recovery.

"I came here to distract myself from the pressure," said Joudy Harb, 11, as volunteers in cartoon costumes painted the children's faces, played and danced. "They said they wanted to bomb two houses and instead, they bombed the whole square."

According to officials from the U.N.'s Children's Fund (UNICEF), half of the young people in Gaza - around 500,000 children - could be in need of psychological support after 11 days of fighting in 2021 between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel.

UN officials and Palestinian mental health experts said that for the sake of all children's well-being and their future, a long-term peaceful solution to the Israeli military occupation is needed, one that prevents a repetition of wars and is sustainable.

Following another round of fighting, Palestinian families said the traumatic symptoms their children endured have worsened.

"Unfortunately, the fear remains planted in their hearts," said Mazeyouna al-Mansi, the girl's aunt.

(Reporting by Nidal Almughrabi; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
A nationally known poet said Tuesday she is gutted after learning that a school in Miami-Dade barred elementary school children from reading her poem and three other library titles following the complaint of a parent.

Amanda Gorman  the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history  recited the poem, The Hill We Climb, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, 2021. Gorman, now 25 and a Harvard graduate, is an award-winning writer based in Los Angeles.

Book bans arent new, said Gorman, in a statement shared on Twitter. Often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection.

Gorman, a Black woman, added: Most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on the bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.

Her poem celebrates the United States not as a perfect union, but as an unfinished nation that yearns for equity and inclusion.

An excerpt of the poem reads:

Somehow weve weathered and witnessed

a nation that isnt broken,

but simply unfinished.

On Monday, the Miami Herald reported that a review committee at Bob Graham Education K-8 Center in Miami Lakes, a Miami-Dade public school, determined that the poem and three other titles, The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids and Love to Langston, were better suited for middle school students and would be shelved in the middle school section of the media center.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade K-8 bars elementary students from 4 library titles following parent complaint

One book, Countries in the News: Cuba, would remain available for all students in the media center.

The school committee  composed of three teachers, a library media specialist, a guidance counselor and the schools principal, among others  took up the issue after a parent of two students at the school, Daily Salinas, objected to the books, saying they included reflerences of critical race theory, indirect hate messages, gender ideology and indoctrination, according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared with the Miami Herald.

Tuesday night, Miami-Dade County Schools argued no literature had been banned or removed. Staff said books were shelved in the middle school section of the media center and remain available there.

I wrote The Hill We Climb so all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, Gorman said. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade school bars elementary students from 4 library titles following parent complaint

Gormans publisher, Penguin Random House, joined PEN America, a centennial nonprofit that fosters the freedom to create literature, in a lawsuit in Floridas Escambia County to challenge a similar book restriction.

Together, this is a hill we wont just climb, but a hill we will conquer, Gorman said.
A handcuffed woman died when she fell from a moving patrol car in Georgia, now her family is suing

The family of Brianna Grier is suing the Hancock County Sheriffs Office. The 28-year-old mother died in police custody when she fell out of a moving patrol car.

Channel 2s Veronica Griffin was at the news conference Wednesday when Griers mother, Mary Grier, was brought to tears when announcing the lawsuit.

Broken, truly broken because that was my baby. I didnt want to see nothing like that happen to her, Mary Grier said.

Brianna Grier suffered brain trauma that led to her being in a coma after she fell out of the unsecured Hancock County sheriffs vehicle on July 15, 2022. She died six days later.

The GBI released body camera footage from the night Grier was fatally injured.

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This young, beautiful Black woman needed help, family attorney Ben Crump said, referring to the call Griers parents made back then to police during her mental episode. Not a criminal issue, a mental health crisis.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, several community leaders stood in support of Brianna Griers family.

Crump announced the price he said the Hancock County Sheriffs Office will need to pay for not securing her safety while in their custody.

We have filed a $100 million civil rights excessive force lawsuit against the Hancock County police officers, Crump said.

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Harlan Crow says the Constitution bars investigation into his relationship with Clarence Thomas

Lawyers for Harlan Crow, the billionaire who made headlines for his close relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, are arguing its unconstitutional for Congress to investigate their connection.

After careful consideration, we do not believe the Committee has the authority to investigate Mr Crows personal friendship with Justice Clarence Thomas, Mr Crow's legal team said in a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, according to Bloomberg.

The attorneys went on to claim that Congress is "not authorised to conduct an ethics investigation of a Supreme Court Justice," and that trying to enforce an ethical ruling "would be unconstitutional."

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin disagreed with the attorney's summation.

Harlan Crow believes the secrecy of his lavish gifts to Justice Thomas is more important than the reputation of the highest court of law in this land, he said in a statement. "He is wrong."

The Senate Judiciary Committee asked for Mr Crow to turn over information about the gifts and travel he gave to Mr Thomas.

If the Democrats decide to proceed with the investigation, they could attempt to subpoena Mr Crow, a move Mr Durbin has been reluctant to make up to this point, according to The New York Times.

The relationship between Mr Crow and Mr Thomas was detailed in a report by ProPublica, which found the billionaire had been providing the Supreme Court Justice luxury travel for years. It also found that Mr Crow had purchased real estate from Mr Thomas and paid for the private school tuition of one of the Supreme Court Justice's relatives.

None of the arrangements were reported on Mr Thomas's financial disclosures.

Mr Thomas has since claimed he did not believe he needed to report the travel because of an exemption for personal hospitality from friends.

Other members of the Supreme Court have argued that while they are not legally bound by disclosure rules that apply to the rest of the federal judiciary, they do abide by them voluntarily.

The Senate committee invited Chief Justice John Roberts to discuss ethics requirements for the court, but he declined the invitation.

Mr Crow has insisted that he has never discussed Supreme Court cases with Mr Thomas during their travel.

I have never, nor would I ever, think about talking about matters that relate to the judiciary with Justice Clarence Thomas, he told The Atlantic.

However, he later added that "its not like we haven't talked about work-related issues."

Its not realistic for two people to be friends and not talk about their jobs from time to time, he told the magazine, but insisted they did not talk about individual cases. From my point of view, that is off limits. He and I dont go there.
Can You Have A Healthy Amount Of Narcissism? Experts Say Yes.

High self-esteem, the ability to be alone and the ability to set boundaries are all signs of health narcissism.

High self-esteem, the ability to be alone and the ability to set boundaries are all signs of health narcissism.

The word narcissism isnt usually associated with anything positive. Thoughts of a friend who never asks about your life or a parent who puts their needs before yours probably come to mind.

But there is a form of narcissism that is actually beneficial to your day-to-day life, experts say  and its known simply as healthy narcissism.

Narcissism runs on a spectrum, and that means one can either have too much narcissism, as seen in narcissistic personality disorder, or not enough narcissism, which can lead to depression and low self-esteem, said Hannah Alderete, a licensed mental health counselor based in Washington state and the author of Break Free From Narcissistic Mothers: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Ending Toxic Behavior, Setting Boundaries, and Reclaiming Your Life.

Over time, the idea of any kind of narcissism has morphed into a bad thing, said Sarah Graham, a counselor based in Bournemouth, England, who specializes in working with adults who have narcissistic parents or partners. And for many, it can be an issue.

When someone has narcissistic personality disorder its all about their own needs, Graham said, which can immensely damage children and partners of a narcissist.

Graham noted that when the word narcissism comes up, it tends to be linked with pathological narcissism, which is the extreme side of the spectrum mentioned above. The definition of pathological actually ... is people who are unable to control part of their behavior or theyre unreasonable, Graham said.

Its important to understand that healthy narcissism is very different from narcissistic personality disorder and does not excuse any narcissistic abuse that people face. Narcissistic personality disorder can cause issues and deserves mental health treatment  both for the person who lives with narcissism and the people suffering from narcissistic abuse. But Graham said there is also a level of healthy narcissism that isnt negative.

Healthy narcissism occurs when youre on the middle of the spectrum, Alderete said  enough to get us to accomplish our goals, but not so much that we trample over others and become rigidly self-focused.

That healthy amount of narcissism is what is pushing us to reach our goals, she said. In fact, you could argue its the thing getting us out of bed in the morning, Alderete added.

If we all try to be the opposite of narcissistic, then were all going to end up in that echoism kind of mentality, arent we? Graham added. (Echoism is the opposite of narcissism; its when one doesnt like attention and has a fear of being viewed as narcissistic.) Actually, we need healthy narcissism to be able to function properly and be happy.

So, do you possess a healthy amount of narcissism? Here are the signs to look for, according to experts.

Youre able to be alone.

Graham pointed to the research of the lateDr. James F. Masterson, a psychiatrist who focused on narcissism. Masterson found that people who demonstrate healthy narcissism are able to be alone. For example, they dont jump from relationship to relationship just to fill the space around them.

Someone who is narcissistic may feel abandoned when theyre alone; someone with healthy narcissism understands that there is a difference between the two, Graham said. Someone who is able to be alone understands that being alone is better than dead-end relationships or being around people who dont really care about them, she added.

You can regulate your self-esteem.

Being able to regulate ones self-esteem essentially means that a person is able to work through the normal challenges of life without attaching their self-worth to the outcome, Alderete said.

For instance, those with healthy narcissism could be defined as having an internal locus of control, she noted. In other words, your sense of control comes from within and is not dictated by things happening around you.

A person whos able to regulate their self-esteem has an internal locus of control, which allows them to take responsibility and accountability for their behavior and helps them take ownership over their feelings, she said.

Youre able to cope when you dont get your way.

Adulthood is full of surprises and situations that dont always work in your favor  or full of moments that require you to put others needs before yours  and thats OK.

For a narcissist, this is hard to handle. An individual with narcissistic personality disorder may become indignant, outraged and obsessive when they do not get what they want, Alderete said.

Comparatively, someone with traits of healthy narcissism will be able to bend to these changes. An individual with healthy narcissism ... can cope well when they dont get their way or are unable to meet a specific need. They can be flexible with the outcome, and this allows them to face lifes challenges with grace, she said.

Being able to set boundaries that align with your needs is a sign of healthy narcissism.

Being able to set boundaries that align with your needs is a sign of healthy narcissism.

You dont need to be admired.

When someone is giving a speech or lecture, they want the audience to learn and be interested in what theyre saying  this is healthy narcissism, Graham explained. A narcissist, on the other hand, wants to be admired during the speech and wants the audience to tell them how well they did during the lecture.

[The difference is] in the motivation of our behaviors, actually. So it can be the same behavior, but whatevers going on inside their mind is the important thing, Graham said.

A need for admiration is a hallmark sign of narcissism, and that is evident in many different situations  from work settings to family settings.

Youre self-caring.

According to Alderete, demonstrating self-caring behaviors is another sign of healthy narcissism. This means you have the desire to take care of yourself and meet your needs.

This could look like signing up for your favorite yoga class or treating yourself to your favorite meal when you need it. Additionally, this self-care also means you arent afraid to stick up for yourself.

You have the ability to set boundaries with others and to communicate more assertively, Graham said.

You can truly experience your feelings.

Pointing again to Mastersons research, Graham said people who have a healthy amount of narcissism can experience feelings deeply.

When it comes to narcissists, theres underlying shame and feelings of inadequacy, Graham said, which inhibits the true feeling of feelings mentioned above. Instead, life may feel like a running list of jobs or tasks.

Folks should be able to deeply feel emotions like excitement, happiness and spontaneity.

Youre goal-oriented.

Whether theyre based around work, travel or family, goals are something a person with healthy narcissism has. Graham noted that even with setbacks, youll find yourself striving for a goal when its something youre passionate about and in your best interest.

For echoists (people on the opposite side of the narcissism spectrum), its hard to state your goals and needs because you are so used to being of service to those around you, Graham said.

You know you deserve respect and that others do, too.

Graham said someone with healthy narcissism is going to want and expect to be treated well, and will treat those around them with respect, too. That could look like checking in on loved ones or not being afraid to stick up for yourself when a colleague tries to take credit for your work.

They have a really healthy relationship with themselves and with other people, she said.

The hallmark signs of a narcissist are very different from whats mentioned above.

By comparison, someone who has narcissistic personality disorder may believe they are better than those around them, need constant validation, and lack empathy, Alderete said.

As mentioned above, healthy narcissism is necessary for goal-setting, understanding your feelings and living a life that is meaningful. In other words, its an ideal state of being.

If you struggle to feel this way  or if you feel youre on a far side of the spectrum  there are therapists you can reach out to for support. You can use the Psychology Today database to find a provider near you or look at other online databases like Inclusive Therapists.

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The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a year ago may have altered the conversation surrounding gun violence in the United States. But after 19 4th-grade students and two teachers died in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history, senior homeland security officials say they cannot point to "any dramatic change" in school safety or the threat landscape plaguing educational institutions.

Schools still at risk from extremists

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a terror threat bulletin Wednesday warning that schools remain at risk of extremist violence, along with U.S. critical infrastructure, faith-based institutions, the LGBTQIA+ community, racial and ethnic minorities, government personnel and law enforcement.

"It's just a statement of fact that schools continue to serve as potential targets for individuals who are motivated by a range of different grievances," a senior DHS official told CBS News during a briefing Wednesday.

Assault-style weapons and greater lethality

Senior DHS officials draw a line between assault-style firearms and the lethality of mass attacks. "It's a continuing source of frustration to those of us who work on the targeted violence set of issues that we're not able to prevent these actors from gaining access to high-powered weaponry," said the homeland security official.

"Unfortunately, there is not a single thread  that runs through all of those grievance narratives," the official continued. "In some cases, it's not even clear that the school itself was actually tied to the person's ideological narrative or grievance."

Online platforms continue to encourage copycat attacks

Last year, DHS issued a terror threat bulletin warning that online forums harboring domestic violent extremist content and conspiracy theories encouraged copycat attacks in the wake of the Uvalde mass shooting.

Now, analysts from DHS' Office of Intelligence & Analysis once more assess that domestic violent extremists continue to use online platforms to attempt to motivate supporters to conduct attacks, "including through violent extremist messaging." Intelligence officials also referenced this year's attack on The Covenant School, a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, writing that investigators have "indicated the [gunman] studied other mass murderers."

Lone actor offenders part of "new normal"

Wednesday's latest terrorism advisory marked a shift into a "new normal," senior DHS officials said, outlining a "sustained and heightened threat environment" that is "tied to a range of lone actor offenders and small groups who are motivated in many cases by a range of different ideological beliefs."

The public memo comes just days after a driver toting a Nazi flag crashed a U-Haul truck into security barriers across from the White House and weeks after an attacker  identified by law enforcement as having "neo-Nazi ideations"  shot and killed eight people at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas.

The gunman's online activity traced an apparent fascination with white supremacy, while photos he posted displayed large Nazi tattoos on his arm and torso, including a swastika and the SS lightning bolt logo of Hitler's paramilitary forces.

"The kind of neo-Nazi ideology that was displayed by the Allen, Texas attacker is something unfortunately, that we are seeing with greater frequency," a senior DHS official said, alluding to both domestic and international imagery.

The bulletin indicates initial assessments by law enforcement show the gunman "fixated on mass shootings and held views consistent with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and involuntary celibate violent extremist ideologies."

More audio narrations of neo-Nazi, extremist literature available

Another senior DHS official pointed to the increasing availability of audio narrations of neo-Nazi and extremist literature that "over the last few years, further got the word out in a more sophisticated, refined and perhaps more persuasive way."

In the coming months, homeland security analysts warn in Wednesday's bulletin that several factors could mobilize individuals towards violence, including: "perceptions of the 2024 general election cycle and legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues."

Still, DHS senior officials acknowledge that the "extensive judicial process underway" in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on The U.S. Capitol has served to deter a large swath of the population from following suit.

Analysts say ahead of the 2024 presidential election, they're on the lookout for online rhetoric that casts election outcomes in "apocalyptic terms."

"It's one thing to be engaged in political debate and disagreement," a senior DHS official said. "It's another thing if political activity is recast as existentially threatening to somebody or a community. And so if we see language like that routinely used that will heighten our concern about those kinds of attacks materializing."

The latest National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin expires on Nov. 24.

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The Republican Party primary field is growing bigger.

Sen Tim Scott (R-S.C.) made his candidacy official Monday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to launch his campaign Wednesday.

DeSantiss entry into the race has been keenly anticipated in part because he is widely agreed to be the most serious rival to former President Trump.

Here are The Hills rankings of where the contenders stand right now.

1. Former President Trump

Former US president Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry golf course, Scotland, during his visit to the UK, Tuesday May 2, 2023. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Trump is the dominant figure in the race  and the clear front-runner.

His polling lead has grown steadily in the past two months. In late March, Trump led DeSantis by about 19 points in the national polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight. On Tuesday afternoon, his advantage had widened to more than 30 points.

The change has been fueled by missteps from Trumps political opponents and outside adversaries rather than any obviously stellar move from the former president himself.

DeSantis has stagnated of late, having made the most memorable gaffe of the 2024 cycle to date in March when he referred to the war in Ukraine as a mere territorial dispute.

On the legal front, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs (D) decision, in early April, to indict Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records sparked a rallying-around effect among GOP voters. Even some of the presidents critics regard Braggs case as flimsy.

Trump allies were also gleeful about his performance at a CNN town hall earlier this month  and about the criticism of the network in the aftermath.

The former president remains a highly risky choice for a general election.

The specter of Jan. 6, 2021, hangs over him, he is intensely disliked by a large swath of America and a jury in a civil case earlier this month found him liable for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll  just one of many allegations regarding the mistreatment of women.

As a matter of pure politics, however, Trump is well ahead of everyone else in the battle for the GOP nomination.

2. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

DeSantis faces some real challenges in the 2024 presidential race, which he is expected to enter Wednesday. (Associated Press)

DeSantis is the only other candidate whose support seems to pose a real threat to Trump.

The Florida governor speaks a language that thrills many in the GOP base, with his boast that his state is where woke goes to die, and his willingness to insert himself into controversies over abortion, race and sexuality, among other topics.

But there are real challenges for DeSantis, beyond his Ukraine misstep.

Some fear that his focus on social issues could hurt in a general election. On abortion, for example, his decision to sign a six-week ban makes him more hard-line than Trump.

DeSantis also has a reputation for social awkwardness, so any uncomfortable encounters on the campaign trail will be amplified by the media.

3. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley

Haleys supporters contend that her conservative positions and affable personality make her a strong presidential candidate. (Associated Press)

Haley got into the race in mid-February, beating a lot of other potential rivals to the punch.

She has not so far gained much traction in national polls, but her allies are putting a lot of chips on the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and on her purported ability to outwork other candidates.

She is at least making some progress. A poll in Iowa last month gave her 14 percent support, enough for a respectable third place and separation from the rest of the field.

Haley combines very strongly conservative positions with an affable persona. Her supporters contend this makes her more electable  and harder to paint as an extremist  than Trump or DeSantis.

Its also theoretically possible that she could be a third option beneficiary if a Trump-DeSantis slugfest turns out to be especially bloody.

If she were to somehow pull out a win, she would be the first woman and first person of color to become the GOPs presidential nominee.

4. Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.)

Scott, who announced his presidential run this week, has already won the endorsements of two Senate colleagues. (Associated Press)

Scott shares a broadly similar appeal to Haley  a firm conservative who is not considered personally objectionable even by people who disagree with him.

The sole Black Republican in the Senate, Scott offers his own life story as a rebuttal to progressive claims about the inescapability of systemic American racism. He has accused Democrats of weaponizing race and of fostering a culture of grievance  music to the ears of conservatives who extol the virtues of personal responsibility.

Scott instantly won the endorsement of two of his colleagues, Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). He also has a well-financed super PAC supporting his bid.

But Scott and Haley complicate the calculus for each other simply by virtue of both being South Carolinians.

Right now, each of them is striving to be seen as a credible alternative to Trump and DeSantis.

5. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Recent reports have seemed to indicate that Youngkin is reconsidering a presidential run. (Associated Press)

Youngkin had seemed to rule out a 2024 bid several weeks ago. But now, the political world is abuzz with rumors that the door might not be so firmly shut after all.

The first shift came last week, when Youngkin released an ad that was notably presidential in tone.

That was followed by an Axios report Monday that he was reconsidering a campaign.

Youngkin won plenty of fans within the party with his 2021 victory in a state that President Biden had carried comfortably just 12 months before.

Some big donors may also be looking for an alternative to DeSantis who is capable of vanquishing Trump.

6. Former Vice President Pence

Pence faces challenges with the GOP primary electorate concerning his actions on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. (Associated Press)

In a normal political environment, Pence would have a strong shot.

He has deep roots in the evangelical movement. He is an assured and relentlessly on-message media performer. He was vice president to the most recent Republican president.

The problem for Pence, who has not yet entered the race, appears to come down to Jan. 6.

The GOP primary electorate does not take a positive view of Pences resistance to Trumps demands to help overturn the 2020 election  even if history does.

In an Economist/YouGov poll in April, 36 percent of Republicans said they held an unfavorable view of Pence.

Its tough to see how that is surmountable.

7. Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy has had success with scoring headline-grabbing proposals, though he likely has no real chance of going all the way to victory. (Associated Press)

Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur with no political background to speak of, has at least made some kind of dent in the polls.

He scores around 3 percent in the FiveThirtyEight national average, which is not much lower than Haley.

Ramaswamy, who is just 37, has a knack for headline-grabbing proposals, for good or for bad. One such idea is to raise the voting age to 25 unless younger people commit to public service or pass a test.

Ramaswamy has a negligible chance of going all the way to victory. But he could easily find a niche as a youthful, anti-establishment iconoclast.

8. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

Christie, who endorsed Trump early in 2016, has since become one of his most vocal Republican critics. (Associated Press)

Christie would be the most vociferously anti-Trump candidate if he chose to join the race.

Although he endorsed Trump early in the 2016 campaign  and ran his transition team after the general election  he has barely missed an opportunity to knock Trump more recently.

He has called Trumps 2024 campaign a vanity exercise, mocked Trump as Putins puppet over his Ukraine policy and called the former presidents reaction to the E. Jean Carroll verdict ridiculous.

But its incredibly tough to see a path to victory for Christie himself.

9. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson

Former Arkansas governor and 2024 Presidential hopeful Asa Hutchinson poses for photographers as he arrives at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Hutchinson, the two-term former governor of Arkansas, formally kicked off his campaign last month.

Hutchinson is, in many ways, a throwback  a mild-mannered, business-friendly conservative.

But he is almost certainly too low-wattage for a campaign being fought among huge personalities. So far, he barely registers in national polls.

10. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum gestures as he speaks

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks at the state Capitol on April 10, 2020, in Bismarck, N.D. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)

CBS News reported last week that Burgum was close to launching a dark horse bid for the White House.

The news was received with a mixture of curiosity and indifference. Outside of his native state, only political obsessives know who Burgum is.

The governor is a social conservative who has enjoyed a very successful business career. He is also a rank outsider.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and TIME senior correspondent Charlotte Alter at the Chicago Humanities Festival on May 22. Credit - David T Kindler, courtesy of the Chicago Humanities Festival

Secretary Hillary Clinton defended her friend and former colleague Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose advanced age and failing health have prompted calls for her to resign from the Senate, saying that Feinsteins resignation would not be worth the tradeoff when it comes to judicial appointments.

In a wide-ranging interview Monday at the Chicago Humanities Festival, I asked the former Secretary of State why so many of her fellow Democrats were staying in office well into their 80s, even as the party has strengthened its bench of young talent. I specifically asked about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who refused to retire under a Democratic president and whose death at age 87 in September 2020 gave President Donald Trump a third Supreme Court appointment, and Feinstein, age 89, whose absence from the Senate for months has prompted questions about her fitness to serve. Clinton said she had a very negative response to my question.

Let me say a word about my friend and longtime colleague Dianne Feinstein, she continued. First of all, she has suffered greatly from the bout of shingles and encephalitis that she endured. Here is the dilemma for her: she got reelected, the people of California voted for her again, not very long ago. That was the voters decision to vote for her, and she has been a remarkable and very effective leader.

More from TIME

Heres the dilemma: the Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires, she continued, referencing Feinsteins powerful committee membership. (When Feinstein was absent from the Senate for nearly three months this year recovering from health issues, it created a logjam on the narrowly divided Judiciary Committee, since Democrats were unable to confirm President Joe Bidens judicial nominees without Republican support.) I want you to think about how crummy that is. I dont know in her heart about whether she really would or wouldnt, but right now, she cant. Because if were going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.

If Republicans were to say and do the decent thing and say, well this woman was gravely ill, she had just lost her husband to cancer of course we will let you fill this position if she retires. But they wont say that, she continued. So what are we supposed to do? All these people pushing her to retire: fine, we get no more judges? I dont think thats a good tradeoff.

Read More: Why Dianne Feinstein Shouldnt Quit

When I asked her again about the broader question of whether Democrats have allowed their leadership to get too old, she pushed back. I do not believe in broad questions about age, Clinton, age 75, said, adding that she also didnt believe in term limits. If you dont want to vote for somebody, dont vote for them. But dont impose some artificial check on the voters. I dont buy this whole debate. And frankly, a lot of the people pushing it, I dont understand what their real agenda is, because part of it is a bank shot against Joe Biden. And I think Joe Biden has done a very good job.

The comments came shortly after Clinton appeared at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington D.C., where she was asked about the moment Biden, age 80, almost fell during the G-7 summit in Japan. There, she acknowledged his age could be an issue in the election. Well, I mean, its a concern for anyone. And weve had presidents whove fallen before who are a lot younger, and people didnt go into heart palpitations, Clinton responded. But his age is an issue. And people have every right to consider it.

At the Chicago Humanities Festival, Clinton did not mince words when she spoke about former President Donald Trump, age 76, currently running for president again in 2024. You have to think of him not as a former president or even as a presidential candidate so much as a cult leader, she said. He has a hold on a significant portion of the Republican Party.

He will most likely be the Republican nominee again, she continued. And be defeated by Joe Biden again.
Democrats have been increasingly alarmed by Feinsteins absences from Capitol Hill, with some going so far as to call for her resignation.

Hillary Clinton speaks during the 2023 Liberal National Convention in Canada on May 5. (David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton argued that Sen. Dianne Feinstein  the 89-year-old California Democrat who has refused to resign despite worries about her health and ability to legislate  should remain in the Senate if Democrats want to continue confirming President Bidens judicial nominees.

Speaking Monday at the Chicago Humanities Festival, the former presidential nominee and U.S. senator called Feinstein a remarkable and very effective leader. But Clinton, who described Feinstein as her friend, also made a practical argument for Feinstein staying in office.

Why Feinstein is facing pressure to resign

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., attends a Senate Judiciary meeting on Capitol Hill on May 18. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Democrats have been increasingly alarmed by Feinsteins absences from Capitol Hill, with some going as far as to call for her resignation so that California Gov. Gavin Newsom can appoint a replacement.

Feinstein is a member of the powerful Judiciary Committee, and when she was sidelined for three months as she recovered from shingles earlier this year, the committee was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. As a result, committee Democrats were unable to confirm most of President Bidens judicial nominees. Her absence also undercut the committees ability to issue subpoenas investigating the numerous reports of Supreme Court corruption.

Because Sen. Feinstein was absent, Republicans are passing legislation through the Senate, undermining the right of our residents to breathe clean air. And with a far-right judiciary targeting our human rights, we are unable to confirm judges. Sen. Feinstein must step down, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., tweeted late last month, before the senator returned to Washington.

Clintons case for Feinstein

Hillary Clinton speaks at the Vital Voices Festival on May 5 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Clinton, however, argued Feinstein stepping down would not make things any easier for Democrats.

Heres the dilemma: The Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires, Clinton said.

I want you to think about how crummy that is. I dont know in her heart about whether she really would or wouldnt, but right now, she cant. Because if were going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.

If Republicans were to say and do the decent thing and say, well this woman was gravely ill, she had just lost her husband to cancer  of course, we will let you fill this position if she retires. But they wont say that, Clinton continued.

So what are we supposed to do? All these people pushing her to retire: fine, we get no more judges? I dont think thats a good tradeoff.

Is Clinton correct?

Sen. Dick Durban, D-Ill., speaks during the Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing in 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

As Times Phillip Elliott has noted, senators are assigned their committees at the start of a new Congress, and any changes would in practice require 60 Senate votes. That means 10 Republicans would have to allow Democrats to either send Feinsteins replacement or another lawmaker into that role, Elliott wrote.

Its extremely unlikely that Republicans would go along with appointing another Democrat to the committee should Feinstein resign. When Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durban, D-Ill., floated the idea that Feinstein could be replaced while she was recuperating, the GOP swiftly shot it down.

I dont think Republicans are going to lift a finger in any way to get more liberal judges appointed, so whether shes resigned or leaves temporarily from the Judiciary Committee, I think we will slow walk any process that makes it easier to appoint more liberal judges, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said last month.

Ongoing concerns about Feinsteins health

Sen. Dianne Feinstein talks with Nancy Corinne Prowda, daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on May 18. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Feinstein returned to the Senate in a wheelchair on May 10. Her office confirmed last week that her health issues were more complicated than it had initially disclosed, saying she had dealt with encephalitis, a rare but potentially debilitating complication that causes inflammation of the brain, as well as Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which can cause paralysis and hearing loss.

In a conversation with reporters shortly after her return, Feinstein appeared confused when asked about her extended absence.

How age become a tricky issue for Democrats

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a discussion at the Georgetown University Law Center in 2020. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

The frustration with the Feinstein situation comes as Democrats grapple with the partys leadership becoming what some critics say is a gerontocracy, with the 80-year-old Biden set to top the presidential ticket next year, the 72-year-old Chuck Schumer serving as Senate majority leader and the 83-year-old Nancy Pelosi only recently having stepped down as the partys leader in the House.

During President Barack Obamas second term, some liberals called on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to resign so her replacement could be confirmed by the Democrat-controlled Senate before the 2016 election. Ginsburg, the oldest member of the court, instead remained on the bench until she died in September 2020, when Republicans controlled both the Senate and the White House.

President Donald Trump and GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved swiftly to replace Ginsburg with Amy Coney Barrett, giving conservatives a 6-3 majority on the court. In 2022, Barrett joined with the other justices appointed by Republican presidents in repealing Roe v. Wade, a decision that allowed conservatives to outlaw abortion in much of the U.S.
Hillary Clinton said Bidens age is an issue people have a right to consider

Then Vice President Joe Biden, left, laughs with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a ceremony to unveil a portrait of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Capitol Hill on Dec. 8, 2016, in Washington. | Evan Vucci, Associated Press

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thinks President Joe Bidens age is fair game for voters to consider.

His age is an issue and people have every right to consider it, Clinton said during a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times at the FT Weekend festival Saturday in Washington, D.C.

Clinton had been asked about Biden, 80, falling down stairs, and she said, its a concern for anyone and weve had presidents whove fallen before who are a lot younger, and people didnt go into heart palpitations.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released earlier this month found 68% of Americans believe Biden is too old to serve another term. When asked about former President Donald Trump, 76, the poll found 44% said he was too older to serve another term.

Biden became the oldest president in U.S. history when he took office in 2021 at age 78, breaking the record previously set by Ronald Reagan, who was 77 years old when he left office in 1989. Trump was 74 when he left office in 2021.

Biden has deflected comments about his age by bringing up his experience and wisdom. In an interview with MSNBC earlier this month, he said he knows more than the vast majority of people and Im more experienced than anybody thats ever run for the office.

Clinton also defended Biden during the interview, saying he has a good record that people couldnt have predicted three years ago.

He doesnt get the credit yet that he deserves for what is happening out in the country, in terms of jobs and growth and planning for the future, with chips and other stuff, she said. I think he can be reelected, and thats what we should all hope for.

Clinton quoted Biden whos said dont judge him by the Almighty, but against the alternative, and she criticized Trump, saying hes only gotten worse.

Look, if Trump wins  which I do not believe will happen, let me just quickly say that  if in some scenario that were to happen, it would be the end of democracy in the United States. It would be the end of Ukraine, and it would become  he will pull us out of NATO if he wins again, she said. The list of potential disastrous outcomes is longer than I have time to go over with you, but its why we cant permit it to happen.

Clinton said she believes Russias inability to defeat Ukraine has set back Chinese intentions to invade Taiwan. Trump has claimed that if he were still president, Russia wouldnt have invaded Ukraine. Clinton had a different opinion, claiming Trump would have pulled the U.S. out of NATO and Putins invasion would have literally been a cakewalk for him.

(Putin) found a willing partner in Trump, who was very susceptible to the idea that a strongman, a kind of tough man, the kind that Trump admires and wants to be, she said.
A Beaufort County woman is suing the Wendys fast food company and a former employee of their Hilton Head franchise, alleging the restaurant failed to prevent the worker from shooting at her in the drive-thru last year.

Filed Thursday in Beaufort County civil court, the lawsuit claims the restaurant demonstrated negligent practices by hiring the accused shooter and allowing him to be armed on the job. Layla Orellano, the plaintiff, is seeking damages for physical injuries and mental anguish incurred during the incident.

The shooting took place Aug. 19, 2022 at Hilton Heads north-end Wendys, located on 2 Natures Way. Police say Orellano was waiting for her drinks when 19-year-old islander Fernando Montano, who was working the drive-thru window, returned with a gun, firing at least two shots at the womans car. The worker then ran from the building, continuing to shoot at the car while Orellano drove away, according to previous reporting.

Montano turned himself in less than a week later, facing charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and battery, aggravated breach of peace, discharging firearms into a dwelling, unlawful carrying of a pistol and possession of firearms by a non-citizen, said Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office. He is still in custody at the county jail on a $75,000 bond, records show. A trial date has not yet been scheduled.

One passenger in Orellanos car reportedly had a gun. Viens would not say how many shots were fired in total or whether the passengers shot back at the drive-thru employee, but she previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that Orellano and Montano likely knew each other.

This is not a random act of violence from an employee to a customer, Viens said. We believe there is a relationship of some sort.

Police did not say whether Orellano was struck by gunfire, but court documents claim she suffered severe and disabling injuries in the shooting.

John E. Parker, a Hampton attorney representing Orellano, declined to comment. A manager from the Wendys location on Hilton Head also declined to comment.

Representatives from Wendys corporate offices could not immediately be reached.

When we publish mugshots

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:

In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested

In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety

In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
6th China International Import Expo roadshow attracts over 400 attendees in Los Angeles

Xinhua) 09:50, May 24, 2023

Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) Bureau, speaks during a roadshow for the 6th CIIE in Los Angeles, the United States, May 22, 2023. Over 400 attendees from local governments, chambers of commerce and enterprises took part in the roadshow here on Monday. (Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Over 400 attendees from local governments, chambers of commerce and enterprises took part in the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) held here on Monday.

The organizer of the CIIE expects more American exhibitors to join the unique show that promotes a high-level opening-up in the new era, Sun Chenghai, deputy director-general of the CIIE said at the CIIE roadshow.

Sun made these remarks at a roadshow for the 6th CIIE, which is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10.

Sun introduced a series of new measures to expand China's opening-up and enhance trade liberalization and facilitation, as well as the advantages of China's ultra-large-scale market and the opportunities it has generated.

"From July 1, 2023, China's overall tariff level will be reduced to 7.3 percent, far below the 9.8 percent WTO (World Trade Organization) commitment. The entry threshold for foreign investment continues to decrease. The negative lists for foreign investment in the country and the pilot free trade zones implemented in 2022 will be reduced to 31 and 27, respectively, a reduction of 6.1 percent and 10 percent," he said.

He also introduced the achievements made at the previous five CIIEs and promised that this year, the organizer would continue to form trading groups, strengthen the multi-channel and targeted invitation of buyers, and promote the implementation of signed contracts.

Sun, who expected that more Chinese and foreign buyers and professional visitors would attend the upcoming expo, said that the contracted exhibition area so far had exceeded 280,000 square meters, and the number of registered companies had exceeded 850.

"At present, 111 American companies have participated in the exhibition, with an exhibition area of more than 50,000 square meters, including 57 top 500 companies and leading companies, with an exhibition area of more than 40,000 square meters," he added.

Noting that China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world, Sun said the extensive economic exchanges and in-depth cooperation between the two countries are conducive to the economic interests of both parties and the healthy development of the world economy.

"For the relationship and practical cooperation between China and the United States, the CIIE is a rare opportunity and platform," he said.

Erin Bromaghim, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, recalled in her speech that Los Angeles expects to work closely with all other partners from California to promote the CIIE and encouraged more American companies to showcase their products at the CIIE.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born will be converted into a human rights training center for police officers, Austrias Interior Ministry announced Wednesday.

The building in the northwestern town of Braunau am Inn will accommodate the facility along with a police station, for which the Austrian government disclosed plans in 2019.

The decision was made based on the recommendations of an interdisciplinary expert commission concerned with depriving the property of its mythical appeal to extremist circles, the ministry said in a statement.

We have to face our past and give this historically burdened place a life-affirming perspective, historian Oliver Rathkolb, a professor at the Institute of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Hitler in 1939 - AFP/Getty Images

Hitler was born in an apartment in the building on April 20, 1889 and lived there until his family left when he was three years old.

The building belonged to Gerlinde Pommer, whose family owned the building before Hitlers birth, for decades until the Interior Ministry began renting the site from her in 1972.

It was sublet to various charities. However, the three-story house has been empty since 2011, when the tenant, a disability center, vacated the premises.

The government said in 2016 that the property would be demolished. It then set about forcibly acquiring it from Pommer, with the interior ministry invoking special legal authorization to expropriate the property.

Legal wrangling over the seizure and compensation followed, during which time plans to tear the building down were shelved.

After securing the site, the Austrian government remained concerned that it might attract neo-Nazis and others sympathetic to Hitlers ideology. When announcing the decision to transform it into a police station in 2019, Austrias then-Interior Minister, Wolfgang Peschorn, said that the future use of the house by the police will be an unmistakable signal that this building will never serve to commemorate National Socialism.

It will be an office for the largest human rights organization in Austria  the police  and it will also be a center for training in this fundamentally important topic, commission member Hermann Feiner, the former head of construction and real estate projects at the Ministry of the Interior, said in the statement Wednesday.

The conversion  which will cost an estimated 20 million ($21.5 million)  is expected to be completed in 2025, with the police moving in the following year.

CNNs Oscar Holland contributed to this story.

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(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kongs leader joined state media in blasting Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. over an incident where flight attendants were recorded making disparaging remarks about mainland Chinese passengers.

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I am outraged and disappointed that these bad words and deeds happened on a Hong Kong flight, John Lee said Wednesday at an event in southern Chinas Guangdong province. He said the carriers crew members had hurt the feelings of compatriots in Hong Kong and the mainland and that hed spoken to Cathay Chief Executive Officer Ronald Lam to express his concern.

A crew member on a Sunday flight from Chengdu in Sichuan province to Hong Kong was recorded allegedly saying that if passengers couldnt say blanket in English, they shouldnt have one. The comments are followed by laughter in the background.

As criticism over the comments grew, Cathay said Tuesday it would investigate the incident, before quickly announcing it had fired three flight attendants. Lam apologized in a statement to the affected passengers and vowed zero tolerance for violations of company rules and standards. Hong Kongs flagship airline is controlled by British conglomerate Swire Pacific Ltd.

A Weibo account under the Peoples Daily overseas edition lashed out at the airline in an online post late Tuesday, saying that Hong Kong is part of China and needs Chinas support. Xinhua News Agency said that if Cathay doesnt get rid of its old sickness it wont fly far.

A hashtag about Cathays apology was one of the top-trending topics on Weibo, with more than 190 million views in total. The subject continued to dominate the platform Wednesday, including discussions on whether people in Hong Kong discriminate against Mandarin speakers.

Bloomberg News wasnt able to independently verify the audio file. A passenger who posted the clip on the social-media platform Xiaohongshu didnt respond to a request for comment, but in a subsequent post wrote that Cathay executives had called her to learn more about what happened on Flight 987.

Its not the first time Cathay has been made an example of by China. The countrys aviation watchdog slapped a number of demands on the airline in August 2019 after some of its employees participated in Hong Kongs pro-democracy protests, drawing the ire of Beijing.

The Global Times, a newspaper published by Chinas Communist Party, said at the time that the departure of then CEO Rupert Hogg might not be enough to atone for Cathays lukewarm attitude to dealing with its radical staff.

Hong Kongs leader said the airline cant allow incidents similar to what happened on the flight from Chengdu to occur again.

Cathay Pacific needs to review training and service quality, improve customer service culture, reshape the image of hospitality with respect and courtesy, and live up to our expectations, Lee said.

Hong Kongs transport secretary added to the chorus, saying the incident was a serious breach of the citys reputation for service excellence, longstanding values and ethical standards. Lam Sai-hung said the airline will conduct a comprehensive review in light of the incident, according to a statement Wednesday.

Cathay shares were down 1.4% at 2:40 p.m. in Hong Kong. State-run Air China Ltd. is the second-largest shareholder after Swire, with a roughly 30% stake. The Hong Kong government has two observers on Cathays board following a HK$39 billion ($5 billion) rescue package in 2020.

--With assistance from Phila Siu, Low De Wei and Danny Lee.

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The Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday fell into disarray for nearly an hour when protesters clashed over an attendee who had made racist remarks during public comments the week before.

The meeting was adjourned for recess twice as council leaders tried to wrest control away from audience members who had confronted Ryan Messano, a 43-year-old Solano County man who was seated in the chamber with three other men.

The first interruption came 90 minutes into the meeting, around 6:30 p.m., after Mayor Darrell Steinberg made comments following a presentation on the city and countys agreement to address the homelessness crisis.

The confrontations followed when a homeless advocate shouted at and pushed two people seated with Messano in the back row of the chambers.

Get the f--- out of here, you f------ Nazi, the man said as police officers stepped forward to quell the unrest.

During the entirety of the meeting, Messano kept saying he wanted to have a conversation about World War II. He claimed he had read 7,000 books at one point and continuously told people to read more about the war.

Im not a Nazi. I never claimed to be a Nazi, Messano told The Bee outside chambers. So this whole thing is, Im being lied about as racist and bigot. This is the result of a lot of propaganda. Its very unfortunate because it creates tension in the community and its extremely dangerous and divisive.

A protester, right, shouts over Sacramento police officers at Ryan Messano, white shirt at left, after the City Council meeting was disrupted by a group calling for Messanos removal on Tuesday night.

Ryan Messano did not get to speak at Sacramento City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, after protesters stormed the chamber shouting Go home Nazis toward him and his group. Messano made antisemitic remarks at a previous Sacramento City Council meeting.

Also in attendance was Jeffrey Erik Perrine who was previously identified by The Sacramento Bee as a member of the far-right group Proud Boys.

The meeting was adjourned a second time at 7:02 p.m. as Councilman and Vice Mayor Eric Guerra asked Sacramento police officers to clear the chamber. At 7:16 p.m., Keyan Bliss, the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission vice chair, ushered the last protesters out as interrupters continued to stand behind a wall of police officers. At this point, Perrine asked, Do we get to speak now, or what?

The meeting resumed with all but one council member and a handful of government representatives at 7:30 p.m. Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela was not present, saying in a social media post that she was traveling on personal business.

Steinberg spoke about the citys homelessness crisis for roughly 30 minutes before the protesting began. He was interrupted four times. After the third interruption, City Clerk Mindy Cuppy spoke at length about the rules of conduct within the chamber.

The council meeting resumed with public comment being taken via phone calls. Many of the callers expressed frustration over the situation, including one person who suggested the meeting be canceled.

Council members react

Steinberg issued a statement Tuesday about the meetings disruption. He said while bigots and racists have a First Amendment right to spew their hate they had no right to incite violence.

No one, no matter their point of view, has the right to disrupt the publics business or make it impossible for others to participate, he said.

He said if disruptions continue, the city will attempt to ensure safety within the chamber, even if that means public comment is issued temporarily by Zoom or phone.

This is the imperfect balance we must strike to assure there is a viable and safe way for everyone to participate in our council, he said.

Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan, who represents North Natomas and is Jewish, said that she did not feel safe in the meeting around 6:30 p.m. on social media. She said it is appropriate to recess the meeting.

Jeffrey Erik Perrine, far right wearing a pure blood T-shirt, and Ryan Messano, second from right in tie, leave Sacramento City Hall on Tuesday after a group stormed the City Council meeting demanding Messano leave. After two adjournments, the chamber was cleared and public comment done by phone.

I am Jewish & have been offended & disturbed each time the anti-Semitic has spoken publicly- specifically turning my back when he speaks. Tonight he brought more proud boys- I did not feel safe w them in the audience (period).  Lisa Kaplan (@CM_LisaKaplan) May 24, 2023

Councilwoman Caity Maple said she stood in solidarity with Kaplan and that the City Council meetings have experienced an influx of hate in recent weeks.

Elevating my colleague @CM_LisaKaplan. In recent weeks, we have experienced an influx of hateful and antisemitic comments during our City Council meetings.



I stand in solidarity with my Jewish colleagues. https://t.co/XJKv0kUPXS  Councilmember Caity Maple (@CaityMapleD5) May 24, 2023

Councilwoman Karina Talamantes said Sacramento is no place for hate of any kind.

Council gets disrupted sometimes, she said on social media. Usually its for no more than a few minutes. Tonight, our council meeting came to a halt due to the hatred of a few anti-Semitic and racist individuals.

Council gets disrupted sometimes. Usually its for no more than a few minutes. Tonight, our council meeting came to a halt due to the hatred of a few anti-Semitic and racist individuals. Our city and our council is no place for hate of any kind.  Councilmember Karina Talamantes (@CM_Talamantes) May 24, 2023

Messano spoke at previous council meeting

The disruption was the second in as many meetings involving Messano, who came to the May 16 meeting and spoke during public comment on the citys budget.

He began his allotted two minutes with tax concerns. A minute and a half in, the crowd erupted when he began making comments about white supremacy and the races of council members.

Steinberg, who is Jewish, interjected moments later when Messano began spouting antisemitic tropes.

OK, see you later, pal, the mayor said. We dont want to hear any more from you.

As chants grew against Messano, Steinberg proceeded to turn his chair away from Messano and stare at the wall.

Messano then said he had the First Amendment on his side and asked for 30 seconds to close because of the interruption. The crowd again roared in protest.

Steinberg turned around and struck his gavel three times.

Youll get time, he said to a protester in the crowd.

He turned his chair again.

Thirty seconds were placed back on the clock.

When time expired again, Steinberg spoke up.

Your time is up, he said. Sit down! Get out! We dont want you.

Id like to remind members of the audience, please do not disrupt the orderly conduct of this meeting, Cuppy said after Messano had left the podium. Because he was interrupted, he got additional time.

The Bees Renee C. Byer contributed to this story.
House lawmakers failed to garner enough support Wednesday to override President Joe Bidens veto of a measure that would have rescinded his two-year moratorium on tariffs for imports of solar equipment from four Southeast Asian countries.

The House voted 214-205 on Wednesday, falling short of the two-thirds majority required to override Bidens veto of the resolution, H.J. Res. 39 (118). Eight Democrats voted in favor of the veto override and eight Republicans voted against.

Now is not the time to undermine our efforts in producing a robust supply chain in solar, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, in floor remarks Wednesday.

Blumenauer had urged his colleagues to reject the push to override the veto, arguing Bidens two-year pause gives the U.S. solar industry time to reorient and to catch up.

Context: The bipartisan resolution, which the House passed in April, targets a regulation enacting Bidens moratorium on new import tariffs on solar cells and modules from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Biden issued the two-year pause amid a Commerce Department investigation into whether companies were circumventing existing tariffs on China by shuffling products through the four countries.

The Senate passed the Congressional Review Act resolution to undo the moratorium in early May.

Biden officially vetoed the resolution last week, arguing it "bets against American innovation" and would "create deep uncertainty for American businesses and workers in the solar industry."

House Democrats who backed the resolution to undo the moratorium called on lawmakers to vote to override the veto shortly thereafter.

We are rewarding the worst behavior and penalizing those companies that choose to follow the law, said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), a co-sponsor of the resolution, on Wednesday. Failing to act will mean that other countries will think they can simply take advantage of American business and the American worker, making us more reliant on foreign manufacturing supply chains, including for our clean energy needs.

Background: When the House first voted on the provision in April, 12 Democrats joined 209 Republicans to vote in favor of it. Eight Republicans voted against the resolution.
Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are starting to temper expectations among their members about what a final debt ceiling deal could look like, becoming more explicit in acknowledging that neither side will get everything it wants.

When asked Monday whether any ultimate deal to cut spending as a condition of raising the debt ceiling will lose votes on both the left and right ideological edges of the parties, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) indicated that it would.

Did you ever think at the end of the day that when you get into a negotiation with both sides that only one side is gonna carry everything? No, no one thinks that, McCarthy said.

That same day, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said he was willing to consider a White House offer to freeze spending at current levels  a stance that is drawing ire from liberals.

Though Republicans flatly rejected that offer, it shows just how far the White House has moved in discussions with Republicans in a matter of weeks as pressure mounts to secure a deal.

Any proposal that potentially offers to freeze spending is not a proposal that has been put into the public domain by the left flank, Jeffries told reporters Monday. Thats an inherently reasonable effort to find common ground in a divided government situation.

Politics watchers had long expected the eventual deal to lift the debt ceiling to fall somewhere between what the two parties are demanding, but McCarthys and Jeffriess statements are their clearest signals yet that their members should prepare for a compromise that jettisons some party priorities.

The tempering on both sides comes as negotiators say they are having productive meetings but remain apart on key issues ahead of a default that the Treasury Department says could come as soon as June 1.

Even with Democratic support, any deal that McCarthy makes will have to win support from a large majority of the House Republicans in order for him to keep the confidence of his conference  and his gavel.

[McCarthy] knows that to get this passed out of the House, its gonna require a conservative work product that fundamentally changes how we spend money in this country, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said. I believe that hell deliver that. I believe well have the sort of overwhelming majority of the conference.

Right-wingers lined up to support the Speaker to pass a bill that paired a $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase with around $4.8 trillion in deficit reductions over a decade. The measure was designed to get President Biden to the negotiating table, but members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus are pushing the Speaker to use every leverage and tool at their disposal to force the Senate to vote on the proposal or offer a countermeasure.

Some members have said they see the deal as a floor, rather than a ceiling, for what they expect in a final product.

Ill look at anything, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said about a potential deal. But he said many Republicans feel that the House GOP debt bill was meager at best, and that he would want four times the cuts.

I dont know why were negotiating. The House has done its job. The Senate needs to pass the bill, said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), adding that the only position being pushed by members in a Tuesday morning conference meeting was to pass the House GOP bill.

McCarthy spoke to that stance when asked Tuesday if he is preparing his conference to accept something less than the House GOP bill, responding that the real question is whats the Senate willing to accept, because they didnt do anything.

Yet he has laid out only a few red lines for a compromise: no tax increases, cut discretionary spending below current levels and no clean debt ceiling increase.

The red lines are around major issues, to be sure, but fall short of the full GOP wish list.

Johnson said it is too early to worry about how Republicans are going to whip the votes for a debt limit compromise. And others are downplaying the difficulty of doing so, with Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chair of the House Rules Committee, saying leadership will be able to secure that large majority with a great whip team, which we have, and I think the sense that were being successful.

At the same time, Democratic leaders are also feeling pressure from their left flank, as liberals roundly reject negotiations with Republicans over the debt limit.

Speaking about the White House proposal to freeze spending, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said she could not in good faith understand how that is a reasonable offer at the moment.

I think the offer should raise the debt ceiling. We have conversations about the budget later, she said, adding, If Democrats dont get serious about the extremists that theyre dealing with, we are going to risk allowing these people to destroy our economy and the global economy.

The warning from Omar adds to some of the growing uneasiness among progressives in recent weeks over the potential concessions the White House may end up making in order to find compromise with GOP leadership.

Look at what is being proposed in terms of cuts, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters earlier this week. Dont talk about spending in the abstract. Headstart, 200,000 kids, no slots. 100,000 kids without child care.

However, DeLauro didnt rule out spending cuts entirely in comments to reporters, as many members on both sides have refrained from drawing red lines in debt limit negotiations.

Others in the party also arent thrilled by the direction talks have gone, but there is an understanding that the final compromise between the White House and a divided Congress wont include everything both sides have pushed for.

We have a divided government. Nothing can get done around here without votes on both sides in the Senate and the House, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Tuesday. That means neither side is getting 100 percent of what they want.

We recognize that were not going to get everything. Republicans shouldnt get everything, he said.

Mychael Schnell contributed to this report, which was updated on May 24 at 7:03 a.m.

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Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, speaks during Wednesday's House General Investigating Committee hearing about state Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Capitol.

A Texas House investigations committee expressed shock and disgust Wednesday as investigators presented evidence in what they described as a decadelong pattern of illegal and unethical behavior by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been under criminal indictment for more than seven years over allegations of securities fraud.

The three-hour hearing Wednesday uncovered little evidence that had not already surfaced in Paxtons many legal troubles, but it was noteworthy because it came before a House panel with authority to initiate formal disciplinary action against the states top attorney and highest-ranking elected law enforcement official.

The panels chairman, Rep. Andrew Murr, sidestepped reporters' questions on the potential for punishment, but during the hearing, after the investigators methodically recited their findings, he did not hide his displeasure.

"That's a pretty comprehensive list of concerns that are alarming to hear," said Murr, R-Junction. "It curls my moustache."

"That's a pretty comprehensive list of concerns that are alarming to hear," Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, said of the report about Attorney General Ken Paxton. "It curls my moustache."

The evidence against Paxton ran the gamut on his legal and personal woes, from a 2015 state securities case, for which he remains indicted on three counts; to an extramarital affair that he tried to keep from his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton; to an ongoing federal investigation into his connection to a campaign donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.

Investigators also detailed an ongoing whistleblower lawsuit brought against Ken Paxton in 2020 by four former aides who claim they were fired from his office after they alerted federal authorities that the attorney general might have committed crimes by intervening into multiple legal matters involving Paul.

Investigators say they spoke to 15 people who had worked in Paxtons office. All but one expressed fear that theyd experience retaliation for their cooperation.

Although a possible impeachment never came up, it appears as if the House General Investigating Committee might be building a case against Paxton to present before the full House for formal discipline. If the House signs off on articles of impeachment, a trial would be held in the Senate, where a conviction requires two-thirds support. But it's uncertain if Paxton's job is in trouble, as state law says an officer may not be removed from office for an act committed before the officer's election to office.

After the hearings public portion, the committee retired to a private room where they emerged after an hour without providing an update. Murr spoke briefly with reporters, but he declined to answer specific questions. He did, however, say he might speak about the case publicly later.

Though its uncertain how aggressively theyll push their investigation, especially given Paxtons propensity for delay tactics in his other legal matters, the panel has shown teeth in other matters. Earlier this month, the committee recommended that the House expel state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, after an investigation found he had inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old aide in his office after providing her alcohol. House members accepted the recommendation and voted unanimously to expel Slaton from office.

Wednesday's hearing had the appearance of an initial proceeding, not a conclusion, as the House panel must now decide what to do with the information it received. A day earlier, in an urgently scheduled meeting, the committee moved to uncover additional evidence in voting unanimously to issue subpoenas to Paxton and his office. The committee also issued a preservation letter to Paxton requiring his office to keep all records related to the inquiry.

Donna Cameron, one of the four criminal white-collar lawyers investigating Attorney General Ken Paxton, listens Wednesday to testimony before the House General Investigating Committee.

Though made public this week, the Paxton investigation began quietly in March, shortly after Paxton asked a House committee to pay a $3.3 million settlement with public money to resolve his whistleblower lawsuit. Paxton, as per the settlement, was also to issue a statement accepting that the former employees acted in a matter that they thought was right and apologize for calling them rogue employees. But, after Paxton refused to a deadline to secure the settlement funding by the end of this legislative session, which wraps up Monday, the whistleblowers backed out. The case remains pending.

Analyzing evidence in what is shown on their agenda as Matter A", the committees three Republicans and two Democrats were often aghast, as if they heard for the first time allegations against Paxton that that have been public for years.

After the most damning evidence, Murr often interrupted the lawyers and had them repeat themselves or summarize portions of the testimony to emphasize their concerns. After a lawyer informed the panel that Paxton might be violating state law by potentially having a homestead exemption on two properties, Murr responded, Duly noted. That allegation had not previously been disclosed publicly.

Paxton, who won reelection to a third term last year, did not appear at the hearing. Instead, as it began, he appeared on a conservative radio show based in Dallas-Fort Worth, and renewed a day-old fight with House Speaker Dade Phelan.

I think everybody knows (Phelan) was drunk, Paxton told radio host Mark Davis. The video speaks to itself. I believe there will be more videos. I think there are more videos out there.

On Tuesday, Paxton issued a statement alleging Phelan, the two-term speaker, was intoxicated on the job and called for him to resign at the end of the session. A video surfaced over the weekend that showed Phelan unsteady and slurring his words as he conducted House business on Friday. Phelans office, which has not commented directly on the video, in response said Paxton was deflecting attention from his own behavior ahead of the House panel's hearing.

Paxton, in a statement posted on his Twitter account Wednesday, called Phelan, R-Beaumont, a liberal. He did not address the specific allegations against him the committee was hearing.

"The liberal leadership of the Texas House has routinely killed conservative legislation including important bills which would help secure our border and protect the integrity of our elections," Paxton said.

He added that Phelan and the committee are seeking to "sabotage" his work and called the testimony "false" and "highly partisan."

Adrian Shelley, head of the left-leaning government watchdog group Public Citizen's Texas chapter, said Paxton is unfit to continue in office.

Ken Paxton must resign immediately," Shelley said. "But if he refuses to go willingly, the Texas Legislature must act to remove him. A running series of scandals and an alleged pattern of corruption have clouded Paxton's entire time in office. The people of Texas simply cant trust that he is working for their interests, not his.

The four criminal white-collar lawyers investigating Paxton have over 100 years of law experience: Erin Epley, Mark Donnelly, Terese Buess and Donna Cameron. Epley is the team leader.

Erin Epley testifies about Attorney General Ken Paxton before the House General Investigating Committee on Wednesday.

The former Paxton aides who blew the whistle on Paxton are the source for much of what the investigation uncovered. Rehashing allegations from their lawsuit, they told investigators that Paxton used his office in an improper attempt to impede a federal investigation into Paul's actions. The investigators said the attorney general sought to give Paul access to confidential material associated with search warrants connected with the inquiry and, after his Paxton's lawyers dismissed Pauls allegations as meritless, the attorney general hired an outside lawyer over objections of senior staff members and offered to pay him with public money to investigate the feds. That lawyer, Brandon Cammack, of Houston, had been practicing law for only five years.

Cammack, the panel said, had close ties to Paul and had improperly sought dozens of grand jury subpoenas in a Paul-related matter and falsely presented himself as a "special prosecutor" although the attorney general has no such office.

Even after Paxton told staff members that he personally hired Cammack, staff members moved to rein in the contract lawyer's authority and had the subpoenas he sought quashed.

"The actions were grossly outside of the line of established norms," said Donnelly, one of the investigating lawyers. "And as we've been able to determine, based on our investigation, the only beneficiary of the fruits of the investigation, notwithstanding its lack of legal or credible basis would have been Nate Paul."

Paxton, the investigators said, also inappropriately intervened on behalf of Paul in a lawsuit against a nonprofit and pressured attorney general staff members to draft legal documents to stall foreclosures on Paul properties.

Paxton told members of his staff he was interceding on Paul's behalf because he believed his friend was being "railroaded" and did not want to help state and federal agencies in that effort.

"Did you just say, I want to be very clear that the attorney general for the state of Texas said he did not want to use this office to help law enforcement?" Murr asked with amazement.

The investigator affirmed the allegation.

The former attorney general's office aides told investigators that, for his efforts, Paxton might have received a home renovation funded by Paul. Also, investigators said, Paul hired Paxtons mistress for a job at his company.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Investigators: Whistleblowers, many on Paxton's staff feared reprisals
House Republicans passed a resolution Wednesday to overturn President Bidens student debt relief plan that would give up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness to borrowers.

In a 218-203 vote, Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) succeeded in his measure to terminate the pandemic-era student loan payment pause and cancel the potential relief for 40 million borrowers. The Biden proposal, which is also currently at the mercy of the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, is estimated to cost around $400 billion.

Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), joined Republicans in supporting the move.

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The measure against the program, which the White House has threatened to veto, was brought under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to suspend executive actions taken by the president. This move was only recently put on the table, after the Government Accountability Office said Bidens plan was subject to the act.

While a victory for Republicans, it would be an uphill battle to get this measure through the Senate.

Democrats hold the majority in the upper chamber, though centrists such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have previously criticized Bidens student debt relief.

If it did pass, the Congressional Budget Office recently said it would reduce the deficit by around $320 billion over 10 years.

This resolution is an unprecedented attempt to undercut our historic economic recovery and would deprive more than 40 million hard-working Americans of much-needed student debt relief, the administration said in a statement.

Before the vote, a House Education and Workforce investment subcommittee held a hearing with two top Education Department officials about the Biden administrations student loan policies.

The hearing focused on all the different actions the Biden administration has taken in regard to student loans, such as changing income-driven repayments and proposing a gainful employment rule.

Democrats brought up concerns during the hearing that the CRA measure, if passed, would make it so borrowers would retroactively have to pay back the interest for when their student loans were on pause the past three years.

Republicans say that would not happen and the concern is overblown.

Ive seen different legal opinions about whether it is retroactive or exactly how it would affect borrowers, but I think it is clear that it would be very disruptive and very confusing and make it challenging for borrowers to return to repayment successfully, Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said during the hearing.

Republicans used the time to point out how much the debt relief would cost the American taxpayer.

The actions of the Biden administration alone have cost more than the federal government has spent on higher education over its entire pre-pandemic history, $744 billion from 1962 to 2019, Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) said.

The heated arguments did not stop at the hearing.

During the ensuing floor debate, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said Republicans used bigoted logic in their opposition to Bidens student loan plan.

If we legislated using the logic that you bring to this issue here today, women and Black folks wouldnt have the right to vote because it would be unfair to those who never got to vote before them, Frost said.

See, if we legislated using your logic that because there was an injustice we cant fix it because its unfair to those who never had it fixed  means we would never progress on any issue in this country. Why do you bring that bigoted logic to this issue as it relates to students but not any other issue? he added.

I demand his words be taken down, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, immediately responded. Frost then withdrew the comment.

The measure adds another level of attack to Bidens student debt relief as the plan is also under fire at the Supreme Court, where the administration waits for a ruling on the legality of the relief from the conservative-leaning court.

Updated at 6:32 p.m. EDT

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Win McNamee/Getty Images

A bill to overturn Biden's student-debt relief passed the House by a vote of 218-203.

Along with blocking broad debt relief, the bill would also end the payment pause.

The bill now heads to the Senate, and Biden said he will veto it if it makes it to his desk.

The House just passed a bill that would permanently block student-debt relief from reaching millions of borrowers.

On Wednesday, a bill first introduced in March by GOP Rep. Bob Good passed by a vote of 218-203. The bill would overturn President Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, along with immediately ending the ongoing student-loan payment pause, throwing borrowers back into repayment earlier than expected.

"Biden's student loan transfer scheme should not fall on hard-working Americans who didn't choose to take on heavy college debt or worked hard to pay it off," Good wrote on Twitter on Monday. "It's time to vote away his unconstitutional executive order."

Congressman Bob Good (@RepBobGood) May 24, 2023

The legislation now heads to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it faces a much bumpier path than the House. And should the bill pass the Senate, the Office of Management and Budget said in a Monday statement that Biden will veto it.

During a Wednesday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said ahead of the vote that "to the more than 40 million eligible student borrowers who are eagerly waiting to learn about the fate of their debt relief, I urge you to tune into today's vote to watch which Republican lawmakers shamelessly vote against debt relief for you, after having their own loans forgiven. "

"And know this: President Biden won't stand for it," she said. "He will veto this bill."

This bill was introduced using the Congressional Review Act, which is a fast-track tool Congress can use to overturn final rules put in place by government agencies. Some advocates and Democrats have said that, given the language in the CRA statute, the bill would even reinstate payments made during the student-loan payment pause. The Student Borrower Protection Center and American Federation of Teachers released a report on Tuesday analyzing the impacts of the bill on borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after ten years of qualifying payments.

SBPC's Executive Director Mike Pierce said on a Tuesday press call that the CRA is "retroactive," referring to a clause that states that "a rule that does not take effect (or does not continue) may not be reissued in substantially the same form." Pierce said that means the bill will "unwind debt relief already delivered to hundreds of thousands of public service workers across the country. This will happen because the seventh and eighth payment pauses also give credit towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness for each paused month covered by these executive actions,."

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren emphasized that point on Twitter, writing on Tuesday that "Republicans' push to block President Biden's student debt plan could strip away debt relief from more than 260,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters & other public servants according to a report from @AFTunion. We're going to keep fighting back."

Still, GOP lawmakers have rejected that the bill is retroactive, and the Education Department has not yet commented on whether loans could be reinstated under this CRA. During a hearing on the bill last week, House education committee chair Virginia Foxx said that "left-wing advocates are misleading borrowers by, among other things, telling them that they will have to make payments retroactively for the time student-loan payment was paused. That's just not true."

Read the original article on Business Insider
In the quiet, marbled halls of the U.S. Capitol, speaking too frankly is frowned upon by most lawmakers.

And then theres Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the firebrand whom critics accused Tuesday of saying the silent part out loud by talking about the stalled-but-continuing federal debt limit talks as akin to a hostage negotiation.

Referring to the bill on the debt limit and spending cuts that passed the House with only Republican votes, Gaetz said: I think my conservative colleagues for the most part support Limit, Save, Grow & they dont feel like we should negotiate with our hostage, according to a reporter for Semafor.

Gaetzs seeming brazenness immediately drew fire from some Democratic allies on Twitter. CAP Action, the political arm of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, said, Rep. Gaetz said the quiet part out loud  this was never about fiscal health, and always about holding our economy hostage to enact an extremist economic agenda that experts predict would push the economy into recession.

Economists say if the Treasury Department defaults on its debt or even fails to pay other obligations to be able to avoid defaulting on the debt, economic chaos and likely a recession would ensue.

Rep. Gaetz said the quiet part out loud  this was never about fiscal health, and always about holding our economy hostage to enact an extremist economic agenda that experts predict would push the economy into recession.CAP Action

The White House and House Republicans have been talking in earnest for about two weeks now, but there has been little public progress on closing the gap between the White Houses position that the debt limit should be raised unconditionally and the House GOPs demand that it be raised only if accompanied by massive spending cuts.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the Treasury would be unable to pay the governments bills in early June, possibly as early as June 1, though some Republican lawmakers doubt that date.

Gaetzs remarks may have been impolitic, at the least, but House GOP leaders remarks later in the day supported the idea Democrats should not expect to get much, or anything, in return for making concessions to Republicans.

Asked what Democrats can expect to get, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters, That were going to raise the debt ceiling.

That position was reiterated by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), chair of the House Financial Services Committee and one of McCarthys designated negotiators in the talks.

Asked what Republicans were putting on the table to incentivize Democrats to make concessions, McHenry said simply, The debt ceiling increase.

So [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer negotiated with [former President Donald] Trump to raise spending in the context of the debt ceiling. Were doing a similar exercise to pare spending, McHenry said.

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), left, and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday that Democrats should only expect an increase in the debt ceiling if a deal is struck on the issue between the House GOP and the White House.

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), left, and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday that Democrats should only expect an increase in the debt ceiling if a deal is struck on the issue between the House GOP and the White House.

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said Democrats are in need of a debt limit increase because of their prior victories in spending fights.

Theyve already actually gotten theirs, to a large degree. Were willing to give them an increase in debt ceiling. Thats what theyre getting, he said.

Gaetzs remarks were not the first time a prominent Republican had referred to the debt limit in kidnapping terms. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who helped broker a deal in 2011 to avoid a default, made a similar comparison a year later after reflecting on what the GOP had won.

What we did learn is this  its a hostage thats worth ransoming, he told NBC News.

Related...
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass a Republican measure to block President Joe Biden's student debt relief program and end the administration's pause on federal student loan payments.

The House voted 218-203, largely along party lines, with two Democrats  Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington  joining Republicans in supporting the measure. The measure faces unlikely odds in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The House resolution would repeal the administrations program to cancel between $10,000 and $20,000 in loans for borrowers whose income falls below certain levels or who have received a Pell Grant. The legislation would also end a pandemic-era pause on loan payments and interest accrual.

Republicans have sharply criticized the Biden administration's program, arguing it burdens taxpayers and is unfair to Americans who have already paid off their loans or who did not attend college. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the program would decrease the federal deficit by about $315 billion in the next decade.

The Biden administration, by contrast, has argued that the cost of higher education has become a "lifelong burden" on low- and middle-income Americans. The program provides people with "breathing room" to repay loans after the pandemic and accompanying economic crisis are over, the administration said in a statement.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who introduced the legislation in the House, praised its passage in a statement after the vote.

"President Bidens student loan transfer scheme shifts hundreds of billions of dollars of payments from student loan borrowers onto the backs of the American people, Good said in a statement. I am pleased that my Republican colleagues overwhelmingly supported my legislation on the House floor today.

But providing student loan relief has been a key priority for Biden and has helped him marshal support from progressive Democrats. On Monday, the White House warned that Biden would veto the House measure if it makes it to his desk, saying it would "weaken America's middle class."

Democrats have raised concerns that the House resolution would force people to retroactively make loan payments that had been paused during the pandemic. A Congressional Research Service report on how such measures are implemented says disapproved rules would be "deemed not to have had any effect at any time, and even provisions that had become effective would be retroactively negated."

Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the resolution would primarily affect people making less than $75,000 per year and that it "seeks to deny these borrowers the relief they were promised."

"What's going to happen to all those interest payments that now have to be added back to the loan?" Scott said on the chamber floor Wednesday, adding that the legislation "would trigger a wave of delinquencies and defaults for our most vulnerable borrowers.

A representative for Good did not immediately respond to a request for comment about potential retroactive payments.

The Congressional Budget Office did not account for such payments in its estimate of the bill's financial impact, leaving it unclear whether the Education Department would interpret the resolution as requiring it to charge people for paused payments.

An Education Department spokesperson, responding to a question about retroactive payments, said only that the House resolution would create immense operational and communication complexities that would seriously harm borrowers.

The House previously voted to block the debt relief program as part of its bill to raise the debt ceiling and cut government spending. But Wednesday's vote was the first time the legislation came to the House floor as a standalone measure.

Senate Republicans can use special procedures under the Congressional Review Act to force a vote on the measure even though they are the minority party, and the measure would only need a majority of votes to pass, instead of 60 votes. Still, while 47 Senate Republicans have cosponsored Sen. Bill Cassidy's resolution, it is unclear whether it can gain the majority of votes, requiring Democratic support, that it would need to pass the Senate  and it would not have the supermajority needed to override a presidential veto.

Congress is considering the measure as the Supreme Court also weighs in on the Biden administration's program. The high court is poised to soon issue a ruling on whether Biden can continue his plan to cancel some debt for tens of millions of borrowers.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The parents of Idaho student murder suspect Bryan Kohberger have been subpoenaed to testify before an investigative grand jury in the familys home state of Pennsylvania, says a report.

Mr Kohbergers father is expected to testify before the grand jury in a sealed proceeding in Monroe County on Thursday, a source told CNN.

His mother has already given evidence to the grand jury, the source told the news outlet and added that their testimony, which will be given under oath, may be shared with Idaho prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the families of two of the slain University of Idaho students are preparing to sue the university, Bryan Kohbergers university Washington State University and the city of Moscow over their murders, it has been revealed.

An attorney representing the families of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, filed tort notices this month protecting their rights to sue within the next two years.

The notices, obtained by ABC News, do not reveal what claim the families may make and no lawsuit has been filed at this stage.

The revelation comes after their accused killer Mr Kohberger appeared in court for his arraignment in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday.

During the arraignment, he refused to enter a plea on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary with his attorney Anne Taylor saying that he was standing silent on the charges. The judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Mr Kohberger is accused of killing Goncalves, Mogen, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on 13 November in a horror attack that rocked the college town of Moscow and sent shockwaves across America.

Key points

Bryan Kohberger is arraigned on murder charges

Idaho murders refuses to enter plea, judge enters not guilty plea on behalf

Trial date set for October

Suspect accused of murdering four Idaho students on 13 November

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared he was responsible for killings prior to arrest

Suspect allegedly broke into other student home and spied on woman before murders

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

22:50 , Rachel Sharp

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

Bryan Kohberger, accused of the 13 November stabbings of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow to enter a plea on Monday (22 May).

During the brief hearing, Judge John Judge informed Mr Kohberger of his rights, the charges against him and the penalties  including the death penalty  if he is convicted.

Read more here:

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

What evidence do police have against Bryan Kohberger?

21:50 , Rachel Sharp

A search warrant was executed at Mr Kohbergers apartment in Pullman, Washington, the same day he was arrested at his parents home in Pennsylvania.

A record of evidence recovered during the apartment search revealed the seizure of 15 items including hairs, receipts, a computer tower, a disposable glove and items with peculiar stains.

In the search warrant record, investigators list several items with stains, including cuttings of a mattress cover, a reddish/brown stain on an uncovered pillow and a collection of dark red spot.

Court documents, released by Washington authorities on 4 May showed that multiple items taken from Mr Kohbergers apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood. While most items came back negative, two items  the pillow and mattress cover  were positive.

Another item included on the list of seizures was a possible animal hair strand. While Mr Kohberger is not believed to have a pet, one of the victims he is accused of killing, Goncalves, had a dog that was at home at the time of the murders and was later found by police responding to the scene.

The possible animal hair theyll try to connect that to the dog left at the scene, according to Dr Miller. If theres a root on that, if there is any skin on that hair, they could do a DNA test with that dog. If its just a hair thats been shed and there is no skin, they would still be able to do a microscopical comparison and exclude most dogs but they wouldnt be able to connect it necessarily to that dog.

Mr Kohberger was also linked to the crime through cellphone records and his white Hyundai Elantra, a similar model of the car seen near the murder home around the time of the murders. Mr Kohberger changed the license plates on his Hyundai Elantra just days after the murders.

The suspects car had Pennsylvania plates when it was pulled over by police in Moscow, in August 2022, according to a citation from the Latah County Sheriffs Office. A review of documents on CarFax by Newsweek showed that Mr Kohberger changed the registration from Pennsylvania to Washington on 18 November, five days after four students were found stabbed to death in a Moscow home.

Bryan Kohbergers sister searched his car for evidence before police swooped in

20:50 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared that her brother was involved in the stabbings of four University of Idaho students before police swooped on their parents home and arrested him for murder, according to a bombshell report.

Sources told NBCs Dateline that one of the accused killers older siblings grew increasingly suspicious of her brother and his behaviour when the family gathered to spend the holidays together.

Her suspicions were so great that  at one point  several family members searched Mr Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra for possible evidence of the crime, they said.

Read the story here:

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared he was involved in Idaho murders

WATCH: Bodycam shows Bryan Kohberger being pulled over by police one month before murders

19:50 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into female students home and spied on her months before Idaho murders

18:50 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Read the full story:

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into students home before Idaho murders

Who are the victims?

17:51 , Rachel Sharp

Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, were seniors at the University of Idaho and were expected to graduate this year.

At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves father Mr Goncalves told how the two absolutely beautiful young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.

They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything, he said at the time. Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.

And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.

Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were juniors at the college and had begun dating months before their deaths. The couple of 20-year-olds is believed to have been awake at the time the stabbings were carried out.

Six months after the stabbings, the families of the slain students accepted posthumous awards for their achievements.

Mogen and Goncalves relatives walked across the stage for their degrees in an emotional ceremony on 13 May. Kernodles family also accepted her certificate in marketing at a separate ceremony while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management was mailed to his parents.

Kernodles family accepted her certificate in marketing at a private ceremony last week while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management will be mailed to his parents this week.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, took this photo together hours before they died (Instagram/Kaylee Goncalves)

Kaylee Goncalves father reveals reaction when he saw Bryan Kohberger in court

16:03 , Rachel Sharp

Kaylee Goncalves father has spoken out about the momeny that he came face to face with his daughters accused killer in court.

Steve Goncalves attended the arraignment of Bryan Kohberger in Latah County Court on Monday.

In the hearing, Mr Kohberger refused to enter a plea on four counts of murder and one count of burglary.

The judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf

Mr Goncalves told CNN he felt rage in the courtroom.

You go through all kinds of emotions, but rage is definitely, probably, the primary emotion that you have, he told CNN.

Families of slain University of Idaho students prepare to sue college over murders

15:00 , Rachel Sharp

The families of two of the four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in an off-campus home are now preparing to sue the college over their brutal murders, it has been revealed.

An attorney representing the families of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, filed tort notices this month leaving them open to filing lawsuits within the next two years.

The notices, obtained by ABC News, protect their rights to sue the University of Idaho, Washington State University  the university where accused killer Bryan Kohberger was a student  the city of Moscow and Idaho State Police.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Families of slain University of Idaho students prepare to sue college over murders

WATCH: Idaho student murders suspect stands silent after hearing charges during arraignment

14:00 , Andrea Blanco

Its been six months since four University of Idaho students were murdered. How has the investigation unfolded?

13:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on four murder charges, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf and effectively moving the case to trial.

The Independents Io Dodds reports:

Idaho murders case timeline

Items seized from Bryan Kohbergers home have tested positive for blood

12:00 , Andrea Blanco

At least two items seized from the home of accused killer Bryan Kohberger tested positive for blood, it has been revealed.

Court documents, released by Washington authorities on Thursday, show that multiple items taken from the 28-year-old Washington State University criminology PhD students apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood.

While most items came back negative, two items were positive.

Those items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which were described as having visible reddish brown stains. The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

The items were all seized when police executed a search warrant at Mr Kohbergers address on 30 December  the day that he was arrested for the murders of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

Kaylee Goncalves father thanks roommates who survived Idaho murders for helping in Bryan Kohberger case

11:00 , Andrea Blanco

The father of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves has expressed his support for the young women who survived the attack in which his daughter was killed.

Dylan Mortensen and Brittany Funke were inside their off-campus home in Moscow when roommates Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodles boyfriend Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of 13 November.

According to an affidavit released earlier this year, Ms Mortensen told investigators that on the night of the murders, she saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose walking towards her.

Ms Mortensen and Ms Funke faced online harassment as speculation grew and questions were raised over the eight hours that passed between the attack and the time police were called. They were never considered suspects and authorities have described them as survivors since the early stages of the probe.

In an interview with NewsNations Ashleigh Banfield aired on Wednesday, Goncalves father Steve Goncalves thanked Ms Funke and Ms Mortensen for their cooperation with the investigation, which he called critical to build a strong case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Theyre going through a lot; I appreciate what theyve done for the case and all the information that theyve provided, Mr Goncalves said. I wish they wouldnt have to go through it but its critical, its absolutely going to make the case so I commend them for their courage and to go through this and to know I cant fix it for them.

Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogens families prepare to sue UI

10:30 , Rachel Sharp

The families of two of the slain University of Idaho students are preparing to sue the university, Bryan Kohbergers university Washington State University and the city of Moscow over their murders, it has been revealed.

An attorney representing the families of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, filed tort notices this month protecting their rights to sue within the next two years.

The notices, obtained by ABC News, do not reveal what claim the families may make and no lawsuit has been filed at this stage.

The revelation comes after their accused killer Mr Kohberger appeared in court for his arraignment in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday.

Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

10:00 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves father shares stark warning to alleged killer: Hes gonna realize

09:00 , Andrea Blanco

On Friday (19 May), Steve Goncalves told ABC News: I cant wait to see the evidence And then Im gonna bring it.

And hes gonna realize that this... is the family thats gonna make sure he doesnt get away with it, he added.

Kaylees mother Kristi Goncalves said the family had given a lot of thought as to whether there was any connection between their daughter and her alleged killer.

Weve talked as a family, you know, weve done a lot of research on whats out there... None of it makes sense, she told ABC News .

Describing her reaction when she saw Mr Kohberger for the first time at an initial court appearance, she said: I was completely overwhelmed. I actually almost thought I was gonna pass out.

My daughter saw him face-to-face and in a very different light than we saw him, sitting there, looking very meek, she said.

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive

08:00 , Andrea Blanco

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students on murder charges heads to trial, The Independents Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small-town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into female students home and spied on her months before Idaho murders

07:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

06:00 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

Victims family disappointed gag order has not been addressed

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

What comes next?

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment.

Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Meanwhile, a court hearing has been scheduled for 9 June to discuss the current gag order in the case and whether cameras will be allowed during trial proceedings.

Who is the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students?

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

At the time of the murders, Mr Kohberger was studying for his PhD and working as a teaching assistant in criminal justice at WSU.

Prior to this, Mr Kohberger studied criminology at DeSales University first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

According to online school records, Mr Kohberger received an associate arts degree in 2018 from Northampton Community College in Albrightsville and received a masters degree in criminal justice this year from DeSales University.

While studying at DeSales, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He was working part-time as a security guard until August 2021 at Pleasant Valley School District, where his mother was listed as a paraprofessional.

The alleged murderer carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

Mr Kohberger reached out to potential participants on Reddit, with the chilling survey resurfacing after his arrest.

In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience, the post said.

His fascination appears to have continued around the time of the murders when he applied for an internship with the local police department.

The affidavit revealed that he applied for an internship in the fall of 2022 with the Pullman Police Department and wrote in an essay how he had an interest in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

Bryan Kohberger, accused of the 13 November stabbings of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow to enter a plea on Monday (22 May).

During the brief hearing, Judge John Judge informed Mr Kohberger of his rights, the charges against him and the penalties  including the death penalty  if he is convicted.

But while reading out the charges, the judge mispronounced two of the victims names. First, he appeared to call Goncalves Kayla and then struggled to pronounce Kernodles first name, ultimately saying Zana.

This is hard, Im sorry, the judge told the court.

According to reporters present during the hearing, Goncalves sister Alivea Goncalves was seen shaking her head in disapproval. Ms Goncalves later complained to the victim assistance coordinator, COURTV reported.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before deadly stabbings of Idaho students

Wednesday 24 May 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

On 13 November, he allegedly used either that knife or a similar one to stab Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, to death in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

Investigators tied Mr Kohberger to the murders after the killer left a Ka-Bar knife sheath behind at the scene next to Mogens body.

DNA found on the sheath matched that of the 28-year-old PhD student, according to the criminal affidavit.

The murder weapon itself has never been found.

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

Tuesday 23 May 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Accused Idaho college killer Bryan Kohbergers belongings test positive for blood

Tuesday 23 May 2023 22:30 , Andrea Blanco

At least two items seized from the home of accused killer Bryan Kohberger tested positive for blood, it has been revealed.

Court documents, released by Washington authorities on Thursday, show that multiple items taken from the 28-year-old Washington State University criminology PhD students apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood.

While most items came back negative, two items were positive.

Those items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which were described as having visible reddish brown stains. The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

The items were all seized when police executed a search warrant at Mr Kohbergers address on 30 December  the day that he was arrested for the murders of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

Timeline of the Idaho college murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 22:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on four murder charges, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf and effectively moving the case to trial.

The Independents Io Dodds reports:

Idaho murders case timeline

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive

Tuesday 23 May 2023 21:30 , Andrea Blanco

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students on murder charges heads to trial, The Independents Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small-town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

Did Bryan Kohberger break into female students home?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 21:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 20:30 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal knife attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

At the time, he was still studying for his masters degree in criminology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 20:00 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Kaylee Goncalves father thanks roommates who survived Idaho murders for helping in Bryan Kohberger case

Tuesday 23 May 2023 19:30 , Andrea Blanco

The father of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves has expressed his support for the young women who survived the attack in which his daughter was killed.

Dylan Mortensen and Brittany Funke were inside their off-campus home in Moscow when roommates Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodles boyfriend Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of 13 November.

According to an affidavit released earlier this year, Ms Mortensen told investigators that on the night of the murders, she saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose walking towards her.

Ms Mortensen and Ms Funke faced online harassment as speculation grew and questions were raised over the eight hours that passed between the attack and the time police were called. They were never considered suspects and authorities have described them as survivors since the early stages of the probe.

In an interview with NewsNations Ashleigh Banfield aired on Wednesday, Goncalves father Steve Goncalves thanked Ms Funke and Ms Mortensen for their cooperation with the investigation, which he called critical to build a strong case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Theyre going through a lot; I appreciate what theyve done for the case and all the information that theyve provided, Mr Goncalves said. I wish they wouldnt have to go through it but its critical, its absolutely going to make the case so I commend them for their courage and to go through this and to know I cant fix it for them.

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

Tuesday 23 May 2023 19:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Rachel Sharp reports:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

Tuesday 23 May 2023 18:30 , Andrea Blanco

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

The Independent has more:

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

Tuesday 23 May 2023 18:00 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family issues statement

Tuesday 23 May 2023 17:30 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

WATCH: Idaho student murders suspect stands silent after hearing charges during arraignment

Tuesday 23 May 2023 17:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger refuses to enter plea, judge enters one on his behalf

Tuesday 23 May 2023 16:30 , Andrea Blanco

(Reuters)

(Reuters)

WATCH: Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:47 , Andrea Blanco

What comes next?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:21 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment.

Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Meanwhile, a court hearing has been scheduled for 9 June to discuss the current gag order in the case and whether cameras will be allowed during trial proceedings.

Victims family working with prosecutors to request death penalty

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:10 , Andrea Blanco

According to NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin, the family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves is working alongside prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Bryan Kohberger if he is convicted.

You just cant hunt babies down. Thats just too much, Steve Goncalves, Kaylees dad, told the network.

The prosecution has 60 days to submit a request for capital punishment in the trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in October.

Steve Goncalves says they are working with members of the government in Idaho concerning seeking the death penalty in the Kohberger case.

You just cant hunt babies down. Thats just too much.  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) May 23, 2023

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:32 , Andrea Blanco

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Rachel Sharp reprots:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:30 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into female students home and spied on her months before Idaho murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 12:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.
The families of two of the slain University of Idaho students are preparing to sue the university, Bryan Kohbergers university Washington State University and the city of Moscow over their murders, it has been revealed.

An attorney representing the families of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, filed tort notices this month protecting their rights to sue within the next two years.

The notices, obtained by ABC News, do not reveal what claim the families may make and no lawsuit has been filed at this stage.

The revelation comes after their accused killer Mr Kohberger appeared in court for his arraignment in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday.

During the arraignment, he refused to enter a plea on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary with his attorney Anne Taylor saying that he was standing silent on the charges. The judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Mr Kohberger is accused of killing Goncalves, Mogen, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on 13 November in a horror attack that rocked the college town of Moscow and sent shockwaves across America.

Key points

Bryan Kohberger is arraigned on murder charges

Idaho murders refuses to enter plea, judge enters not guilty plea on behalf

Trial date set for October

Suspect accused of murdering four Idaho students on 13 November

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared he was responsible for killings prior to arrest

Suspect allegedly broke into other student home and spied on woman before murders

Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

10:00 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves father shares stark warning to alleged killer: Hes gonna realize

09:00 , Andrea Blanco

On Friday (19 May), Steve Goncalves told ABC News: I cant wait to see the evidence And then Im gonna bring it.

And hes gonna realize that this... is the family thats gonna make sure he doesnt get away with it, he added.

Kaylees mother Kristi Goncalves said the family had given a lot of thought as to whether there was any connection between their daughter and her alleged killer.

Weve talked as a family, you know, weve done a lot of research on whats out there... None of it makes sense, she told ABC News .

Describing her reaction when she saw Mr Kohberger for the first time at an initial court appearance, she said: I was completely overwhelmed. I actually almost thought I was gonna pass out.

My daughter saw him face-to-face and in a very different light than we saw him, sitting there, looking very meek, she said.

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive

08:00 , Andrea Blanco

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students on murder charges heads to trial, The Independents Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small-town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into female students home and spied on her months before Idaho murders

07:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

06:00 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

Victims family disappointed gag order has not been addressed

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

What comes next?

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment.

Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Meanwhile, a court hearing has been scheduled for 9 June to discuss the current gag order in the case and whether cameras will be allowed during trial proceedings.

Who is the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students?

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

At the time of the murders, Mr Kohberger was studying for his PhD and working as a teaching assistant in criminal justice at WSU.

Prior to this, Mr Kohberger studied criminology at DeSales University first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

According to online school records, Mr Kohberger received an associate arts degree in 2018 from Northampton Community College in Albrightsville and received a masters degree in criminal justice this year from DeSales University.

While studying at DeSales, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He was working part-time as a security guard until August 2021 at Pleasant Valley School District, where his mother was listed as a paraprofessional.

The alleged murderer carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

Mr Kohberger reached out to potential participants on Reddit, with the chilling survey resurfacing after his arrest.

In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience, the post said.

His fascination appears to have continued around the time of the murders when he applied for an internship with the local police department.

The affidavit revealed that he applied for an internship in the fall of 2022 with the Pullman Police Department and wrote in an essay how he had an interest in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

Bryan Kohberger, accused of the 13 November stabbings of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow to enter a plea on Monday (22 May).

During the brief hearing, Judge John Judge informed Mr Kohberger of his rights, the charges against him and the penalties  including the death penalty  if he is convicted.

But while reading out the charges, the judge mispronounced two of the victims names. First, he appeared to call Goncalves Kayla and then struggled to pronounce Kernodles first name, ultimately saying Zana.

This is hard, Im sorry, the judge told the court.

According to reporters present during the hearing, Goncalves sister Alivea Goncalves was seen shaking her head in disapproval. Ms Goncalves later complained to the victim assistance coordinator, COURTV reported.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before deadly stabbings of Idaho students

Wednesday 24 May 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

On 13 November, he allegedly used either that knife or a similar one to stab Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, to death in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

Investigators tied Mr Kohberger to the murders after the killer left a Ka-Bar knife sheath behind at the scene next to Mogens body.

DNA found on the sheath matched that of the 28-year-old PhD student, according to the criminal affidavit.

The murder weapon itself has never been found.

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

Tuesday 23 May 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Accused Idaho college killer Bryan Kohbergers belongings test positive for blood

Tuesday 23 May 2023 22:30 , Andrea Blanco

At least two items seized from the home of accused killer Bryan Kohberger tested positive for blood, it has been revealed.

Court documents, released by Washington authorities on Thursday, show that multiple items taken from the 28-year-old Washington State University criminology PhD students apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood.

While most items came back negative, two items were positive.

Those items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which were described as having visible reddish brown stains. The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

The items were all seized when police executed a search warrant at Mr Kohbergers address on 30 December  the day that he was arrested for the murders of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

Timeline of the Idaho college murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 22:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on four murder charges, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf and effectively moving the case to trial.

The Independents Io Dodds reports:

Idaho murders case timeline

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive

Tuesday 23 May 2023 21:30 , Andrea Blanco

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students on murder charges heads to trial, The Independents Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small-town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

Did Bryan Kohberger break into female students home?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 21:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 20:30 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal knife attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

At the time, he was still studying for his masters degree in criminology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 20:00 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Kaylee Goncalves father thanks roommates who survived Idaho murders for helping in Bryan Kohberger case

Tuesday 23 May 2023 19:30 , Andrea Blanco

The father of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves has expressed his support for the young women who survived the attack in which his daughter was killed.

Dylan Mortensen and Brittany Funke were inside their off-campus home in Moscow when roommates Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodles boyfriend Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of 13 November.

According to an affidavit released earlier this year, Ms Mortensen told investigators that on the night of the murders, she saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose walking towards her.

Ms Mortensen and Ms Funke faced online harassment as speculation grew and questions were raised over the eight hours that passed between the attack and the time police were called. They were never considered suspects and authorities have described them as survivors since the early stages of the probe.

In an interview with NewsNations Ashleigh Banfield aired on Wednesday, Goncalves father Steve Goncalves thanked Ms Funke and Ms Mortensen for their cooperation with the investigation, which he called critical to build a strong case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Theyre going through a lot; I appreciate what theyve done for the case and all the information that theyve provided, Mr Goncalves said. I wish they wouldnt have to go through it but its critical, its absolutely going to make the case so I commend them for their courage and to go through this and to know I cant fix it for them.

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

Tuesday 23 May 2023 19:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Rachel Sharp reports:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

Tuesday 23 May 2023 18:30 , Andrea Blanco

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

The Independent has more:

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

Tuesday 23 May 2023 18:00 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family issues statement

Tuesday 23 May 2023 17:30 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

WATCH: Idaho student murders suspect stands silent after hearing charges during arraignment

Tuesday 23 May 2023 17:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger refuses to enter plea, judge enters one on his behalf

Tuesday 23 May 2023 16:30 , Andrea Blanco

(Reuters)

(Reuters)

WATCH: Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:47 , Andrea Blanco

What comes next?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:21 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment.

Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Meanwhile, a court hearing has been scheduled for 9 June to discuss the current gag order in the case and whether cameras will be allowed during trial proceedings.

Victims family working with prosecutors to request death penalty

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:10 , Andrea Blanco

According to NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin, the family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves is working alongside prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Bryan Kohberger if he is convicted.

You just cant hunt babies down. Thats just too much, Steve Goncalves, Kaylees dad, told the network.

The prosecution has 60 days to submit a request for capital punishment in the trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in October.

Steve Goncalves says they are working with members of the government in Idaho concerning seeking the death penalty in the Kohberger case.

You just cant hunt babies down. Thats just too much.  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) May 23, 2023

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:32 , Andrea Blanco

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Rachel Sharp reprots:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:30 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into female students home and spied on her months before Idaho murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 12:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.
Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger refused to enter a plea at his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD students arraignment was scheduled for 9am PT in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho.

Mr Kohberger was expected to enter a plea but instead his attorney Anne Taylor said that he was standing silent on the charges, leaving the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Mr Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on 13 November in a horror attack that rocked the college town of Moscow and sent shockwaves across America.

The four victims were stabbed to death in an off-campus home that the three women shared with two surviving roommates.

Six weeks later, Mr Kohberger was arrested at his parents home in Pennsylvania on 30 December.

Investigators say that Mr Kohbergers DNA was found on a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene. A white Hyundai Elantra  matching his  was also captured on surveillance footage driving away from the area at the time of the murders.

Key points

Bryan Kohberger is arraigned on murder charges

Idaho murders refuses to enter plea, judge enters not guilty plea on behalf

Trial date set for October

Suspect accused of murdering four Idaho students on 13 November

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared he was responsible for killings prior to arrest

Suspect allegedly broke into other student home and spied on woman before murders

Accused Idaho college killer Bryan Kohbergers belongings test positive for blood

22:30 , Andrea Blanco

At least two items seized from the home of accused killer Bryan Kohberger tested positive for blood, it has been revealed.

Court documents, released by Washington authorities on Thursday, show that multiple items taken from the 28-year-old Washington State University criminology PhD students apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood.

While most items came back negative, two items were positive.

Those items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which were described as having visible reddish brown stains. The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

The items were all seized when police executed a search warrant at Mr Kohbergers address on 30 December  the day that he was arrested for the murders of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

Timeline of the Idaho college murders

22:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on four murder charges, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf and effectively moving the case to trial.

The Independents Io Dodds reports:

Idaho murders case timeline

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive

21:30 , Andrea Blanco

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students on murder charges heads to trial, The Independents Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small-town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

Did Bryan Kohberger break into female students home?

21:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

20:30 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal knife attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

At the time, he was still studying for his masters degree in criminology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

20:00 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Kaylee Goncalves father thanks roommates who survived Idaho murders for helping in Bryan Kohberger case

19:30 , Andrea Blanco

The father of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves has expressed his support for the young women who survived the attack in which his daughter was killed.

Dylan Mortensen and Brittany Funke were inside their off-campus home in Moscow when roommates Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodles boyfriend Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of 13 November.

According to an affidavit released earlier this year, Ms Mortensen told investigators that on the night of the murders, she saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose walking towards her.

Ms Mortensen and Ms Funke faced online harassment as speculation grew and questions were raised over the eight hours that passed between the attack and the time police were called. They were never considered suspects and authorities have described them as survivors since the early stages of the probe.

In an interview with NewsNations Ashleigh Banfield aired on Wednesday, Goncalves father Steve Goncalves thanked Ms Funke and Ms Mortensen for their cooperation with the investigation, which he called critical to build a strong case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Theyre going through a lot; I appreciate what theyve done for the case and all the information that theyve provided, Mr Goncalves said. I wish they wouldnt have to go through it but its critical, its absolutely going to make the case so I commend them for their courage and to go through this and to know I cant fix it for them.

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

19:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Rachel Sharp reports:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

18:30 , Andrea Blanco

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

The Independent has more:

There was a glaring mistake at the Idaho murders hearing

WATCH: Father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves confirms he has spoken with survivor

18:00 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family issues statement

17:30 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

WATCH: Idaho student murders suspect stands silent after hearing charges during arraignment

17:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger refuses to enter plea, judge enters one on his behalf

16:30 , Andrea Blanco

(Reuters)

(Reuters)

WATCH: Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

15:47 , Andrea Blanco

What comes next?

15:21 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment.

Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Meanwhile, a court hearing has been scheduled for 9 June to discuss the current gag order in the case and whether cameras will be allowed during trial proceedings.

Victims family working with prosecutors to request death penalty

15:10 , Andrea Blanco

According to NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin, the family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves is working alongside prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Bryan Kohberger if he is convicted.

You just cant hunt babies down. Thats just too much, Steve Goncalves, Kaylees dad, told the network.

The prosecution has 60 days to submit a request for capital punishment in the trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in October.

Steve Goncalves says they are working with members of the government in Idaho concerning seeking the death penalty in the Kohberger case.

You just cant hunt babies down. Thats just too much.  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) May 23, 2023

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

14:32 , Andrea Blanco

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

14:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Rachel Sharp reprots:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

13:30 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

13:00 , Andrea Blanco

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into female students home and spied on her months before Idaho murders

12:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

12:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal knife attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

At the time, he was still studying for his masters degree in criminology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.

He graduated from the university that June and then relocated across the country to Pullman, Washington state, where he began a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive: What we know about the Idaho murders

11:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students is about to be arraigned on murder charges, Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

WATCH: Idaho student murders suspect stands silent after hearing charges during arraignment

11:00 , Andrea Blanco

Grieving relatives of slain University of Idaho students complain after judge mispronounces victims names

10:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

Bryan Kohberger, accused of the 13 November stabbings of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow to enter a plea on Monday (22 May).

During the brief hearing, Judge John Judge informed Mr Kohberger of his rights, the charges against him and the penalties  including the death penalty  if he is convicted.

But while reading out the charges, the judge mispronounced two of the victims names. First, he appeared to call Goncalves Kayla and then struggled to pronounce Kernodles first name, ultimately saying Zana.

This is hard, Im sorry, the judge told the court.

According to reporters present during the hearing, Goncalves sister Alivea Goncalves was seen shaking her head in disapproval. Ms Goncalves later complained to the victim assistance coordinator, COURTV reported.

Before the hearing kicked off on Monday, the grieving sister was seen arriving in court with her parents and newborn baby, who she named in part after Goncalves and Mogen.

Grieving relatives of slain University of Idaho students complain after judge mispronounces victims names

10:00 , Andrea Blanco

According to reporters present during the hearing, Kaylee Goncalves sister Alivea Goncalves was seen shaking her head in disapproval.

Slain University of Idahos relatives complain after judge mispronounces names

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive: What we know about the Idaho murders

09:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students is about to be arraigned on murder charges, Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small-town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared he could be involved in Idaho murders before sudden arrest

09:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared that her brother was involved in the stabbings of four University of Idaho students before police swooped on their parents home and arrested him for murder, according to a bombshell report.

Sources told NBCs Dateline that one of the accused killers older sibling grew increasingly suspicious of her brother and his behaviour when the family gathered to spend the holidays together.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has more:

Bryan Kohbergers sister feared he was involved in Idaho murders before sudden arrest

ICYMI: Kaylees family issues statement

08:30 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time, we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

Bryan Kohbergers trial to begin in October

08:00 , Andrea Blanco

Judge John Judge has set Bryan Kohbergers trial date for 2 October 2023.

Mr Kohbergers attorney Anne Taylor asked the judge to set the trial just outside the limits of his right to a speedy trial.

She said she expects the trial to take around six weeks.

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

07:30 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

Who are the victims in the Idaho murders?

22:13 , Andrea Blanco

Goncalves and Mogen, both 21, were seniors at the University of Idaho and were expected to graduate this year.

At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves father Mr Goncalves told how the two absolutely beautiful young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.

They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything, he said at the time. Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.

And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.

Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves pictured together before their murders

Kernodle and Chapin were juniors at the college and had begun dating months before their deaths. The couple of 20-year-olds is believed to have been awake at the time the stabbings were carried out.

Six months after the stabbings, the families of the slain students accepted posthumous awards for their achievements.

Mogen and Goncalves relatives walked across the stage for their degrees in an emotional ceremony on 13 May. Kernodles family also accepted her certificate in marketing at a separate ceremony while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management was mailed to his parents.

Kernodles family accepted her certificate in marketing at a private ceremony last week while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management will be mailed to his parents this week.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 (Instagram)

What does standing silent mean?

07:00 , Andrea Blanco

Standing silent means that the defendant declines to enter a guilty or not guilty plea on the charges.

The judge must therefore enter a not guilty plea on their behalf.

Brutal stabbings, a white Hyundai Elantra and a criminology student: Timeline of the Idaho college murders

06:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on four murder charges, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf and effectively moving the case to trial. Io Dodds reports

Idaho murders case timeline

Kaylees family issues statement

06:00 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

I just heard from Shannon Gray the family attorney of Kaylee Goncalves. He sent me this statement. @KREM2 pic.twitter.com/h3DbyU2Q0z  KREM 2 Tim Pham (@UpWithTim) May 22, 2023

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in murders of four Idaho college students

05:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Bryan Kohberger refused to enter a plea in the murders of four University of Idaho students who were brutally stabbed to death in a shocking attack that horrified the nation.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary.

His attorney said that he was standing silent on the charges, leaving the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Shackled and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with what appeared to be protective armour underneath, the accused killer entered the courtroom just after 9am PT, giving his attorney Anne Taylor a brief smile as he sat down next to her.

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

Brutal stabbings, a white Hyundai Elantra and a criminology student: Timeline of the Idaho college murders

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on four murder charges, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf and effectively moving the case to trial.

The Independents Io Dodds reports:

Idaho murders case timeline

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

04:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Speculation and rumour have swirled in the months following Bryan Kohbergers arrest, as conspiracists and armchair detectives paint all manner of pictures of the accused killer.

But who really is the former PhD student?

The Independents Sheila Flynn reports:

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

What comes after Bryan Kohbergers not-guilty plea?

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

A tentative trial date has been set for 2 October.

What we dont know about the stabbings

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

No murder weapon has been found, police said before the gag order was issued following Mr Kohbergers arrest.

It is not known if the killer personally knew one or more of the victims and whether the attack was carried out in a fit of jealousy or rage. No motive is known.

Authorities have refused to reveal who made the 911 call and will not release the audio. It is unclear what the roommates and other friends discussed in the call and what led them to describe a victim as merely unconscious.

Investigators have not revealed whether they believed the killer entered the house before the victims arrived home and hid before striking in their sleep or whether he entered the house after the students returned.

Who are the Idaho murders victims?

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, were seniors at the University of Idaho and were expected to graduate this year.

At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves father Mr Goncalves told how the two absolutely beautiful young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.

They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything, he said at the time. Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.

And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.

Kernodle and Chapin were juniors at the college and had begun dating months before their deaths. The couple of 20-year-olds is believed to have been awake at the time the stabbings were carried out.

Six months after the stabbings, the families of the slain students accepted posthumous awards for their achievements.

Mogen and Goncalves relatives walked across the stage for their degrees in an emotional ceremony on 13 May. Kernodles family also accepted her certificate in marketing at a separate ceremony while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management was mailed to his parents.

Kernodles family accepted her certificate in marketing at a private ceremony last week while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management will be mailed to his parents this week.

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before deadly stabbings of Idaho students

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

Read more:

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive: What we know about the Idaho murders

Tuesday 23 May 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

As the sole suspect in the stabbings of four Idaho students is about to be arraigned on murder charges.

The Independents Andrea Blanco, Rachel Sharp and Sheila Flynn report on the case in small town Idaho that has shocked America:

What we know about the Idaho college murders as Bryan Kohberger faces arraignment

WATCH: Idaho student murders suspect stands silent after hearing charges during arraignment

Monday 22 May 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought Ka-Bar knife from Amazon months before murders

Monday 22 May 2023 22:13 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and knife sheath from Amazon seven months before he allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in a brutal knife attack that sent shockwaves across America, it has been revealed.

NBCs Dateline special The Killings on King Road reported that the 28-year-old accused killer shopped online for the military-style knife in April 2022.

At the time, he was still studying for his masters degree in criminology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.

He graduated from the university that June and then relocated across the country to Pullman, Washington state, where he began a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Goncalves and Mogens families comfort each other

Monday 22 May 2023 21:51 , Andrea Blanco

Inside the courtroom, Law & Crimes Angenette Levy reported that she saw the mothers of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen hugging each other.

Goncalves and Mogen had been best friends for years and chose to go to the same college together  and then live together there.

They were stabbed to death when they slept together in the same bed, Goncalves family previously revealed.

Meanwhile, NewsNations Brian Entin reports that there is no sign of Bryan Kohbergers own family members inside the courtroom.

Bryan Kohberger allegedly broke into other student home and spied on woman before murders

Monday 22 May 2023 21:14 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the weeks before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had allegedly befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU).

A source said that the woman returned to her apartment one day and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

Following its installation, investigators believe Mr Kohberger used the security cameras to spy on the woman as  knowing her wifi password  he was able to tap into the cameras when within close proximity to the apartment.

The bombshell allegation was revealed for the first time in an NBC Dateline episode titled The Killings on King Road, which reported that Mr Kohberger is now a strong suspect in the break-in.

Grieving relatives of slain University of Idaho students complain after judge mispronounces victims names

Monday 22 May 2023 20:40 , Andrea Blanco

According to reporters present during the hearing, Kaylee Goncalves sister Alivea Goncalves was seen shaking her head in disapproval.

Slain University of Idahos relatives complain after judge mispronounces names

WATCH: Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

Monday 22 May 2023 20:27 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylees family issues statement

Monday 22 May 2023 20:10 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves attorney Shannon Gray issues a statement on behalf of the family to local news station KREM2:

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive.

They are what is important not the Defendant. We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment.

At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

I just heard from Shannon Gray the family attorney of Kaylee Goncalves. He sent me this statement. @KREM2 pic.twitter.com/h3DbyU2Q0z  KREM 2 Tim Pham (@UpWithTim) May 22, 2023

Gag order and cameras in the court hearing scheduled for June

Monday 22 May 2023 19:55 , Andrea Blanco

Judge Judge said he will address both issues at a hearing on 9 June.

Correction  both gag order and cameras will be addressed on the 9th.

27th is an evidentiary hearing. https://t.co/FWThhSfb4L  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) May 22, 2023

The indictment:

Monday 22 May 2023 19:40 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohbergers indictment (Latah County)

Bryan Kohbergers indictment (Latah County)

Bryan Kohbergers indictment (Latah County)

What does standing silent mean?

Monday 22 May 2023 19:25 , Rachel Sharp

Standing silent means that the defendant declines to enter a guilty or not guilty plea on the charges.

The judge must therefore enter a not guilty plea on their behalf.

Judge sets date for hearing on gag order

Monday 22 May 2023 19:10 , Rachel Sharp

After the arraignment, Judge John Judge has been presiding over a scheduling conference about the gag order on the case.

Both Kaylee Goncalves family and several media organisations are separately fighting against the gag order which prohibits attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and others involved in the case from talking to the news media.

During Mondays hearing, the Goncalves familys attorney asked the judge to make a quick decision on the order.

The judge said that media coalitions legal fight was delaying a quick ruling in the matter and said the media need to tone down its challenge.

Judge Judge set a date of 9 June for hearings to be held to address the gag order and whether or not cameras will be allowed in court.

Court is now holding hearing on gag order

Monday 22 May 2023 18:55 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger is back in court for a scheduling conference about the gag order on the case.

Kaylee Goncalves family and several media organisations have appealed against the ruling which prohibits attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and others involved in the case from talking to the news media.

WATCH: Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

Monday 22 May 2023 18:40 , Rachel Sharp

Kaylee Goncalves family releases statement

Monday 22 May 2023 18:25 , Rachel Sharp

The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive. They are what is important not the Defendant, the statement reads.

We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorneys Office finally took the case to a GJ and came back with an indictment. At the same time we are disappointed that the judicial process has not been more efficient in addressing the Gag order.

This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.

Statement from Kaylee Goncalves family; pic.twitter.com/o93L5ZlbLz  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) May 22, 2023

PICTURED: Bryan Kohberger in court at arraignment

Monday 22 May 2023 18:15 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger looks at his attorney Anne Taylor (CourtTV)

Bryan Kohberger enters court (Law & Crime)

Bryan Kohberger appears at his arraignment (Law & Crime)

Kaylee Goncalves family upset that judge mispronounced her name

Monday 22 May 2023 18:05 , Rachel Sharp

Judge John Judge mispronounced Kaylee Goncalves name  calling her Kayla  and stumbled over Xana Kernodles name as he read out each of the murder charges against Bryan Kohberger.

After the arraignment, Goncalves sister Alivea was seen telling the victim assist coordinator that the family was upset about it, reported CourtTVs Chanley Sha Painter.

FULL STORY:

Monday 22 May 2023 17:53 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger refused to enter a plea in the murders of four University of Idaho students who were brutally stabbed to death in a shocking attack that horrified the nation and plunged the college town of Moscow into fear while the accused killer remained at large for more than six weeks.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday morning for his arraignment on four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary.

His attorney said that he was standing silent on the charges, leaving the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with what appeared to be protective armour underneath, the accused killer entered the courtroom just after 9am PT, giving his attorney Anne Taylor a brief smile as he sat down next to her.

Read the full story:

Bryan Kohberger stands silent and refuses to enter plea in Idaho college murders

What happens now?

Monday 22 May 2023 17:40 , Rachel Sharp

Death penalty or life in prison  the prosecution now has 60 days to formally seek the death penalty in the case.

Trial  the trial has now been set to begin on 2 October 2023.

Trial date set for October

Monday 22 May 2023 17:33 , Rachel Sharp

Judge Judge has set Bryan Kohbergers trial date for 2 October 2023.

Mr Kohbergers attorney Anne Taylor asked the judge to set the trial just outside the limits of his right to a speedy trial.

She said she expects the trial to take around six weeks.

Bryan Kohberger refuses to enter plea

Monday 22 May 2023 17:22 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger has refused to enter a plea on the charges.

His attorney said that he was standing silent on the charges  so the judge has now entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Bryan Kohberger is told death penalty is possible

Monday 22 May 2023 17:19 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger is told by the judge that he faces the death penalty or life in prison on the charges.

The suspect confirms that he understands the charges and the penalties.

Judge reads the charges against Bryan Kohberger

Monday 22 May 2023 17:16 , Rachel Sharp

Judge John Judge is reading out the charges against Bryan Kohberger  four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

The judge names each victim as he reads the charges out.

When he got to Kaylee Goncalves, KREM 2s Tim Pham said her family members were seen wiping tears from their eyes.

Bryan Kohberger is read his rights by Judge Judge

Monday 22 May 2023 17:14 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger is being read his rights by Judge John Judge.

Kohberger just said yes I do when judge asked if he understands anything he says can be used against him.  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) May 22, 2023

Bryan Kohberger enters court

Monday 22 May 2023 17:12 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger has now entered the Latah County Courtroom for his arraignment.

He is dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with what appears to be protective armour underneath.

Goncalves and Mogens families comfort each other

Monday 22 May 2023 17:07 , Rachel Sharp

Inside the courtroom, Law & Crimes Angenette Levy reported that she saw the mothers of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen hugging each other.

Goncalves and Mogen had been best friends for years and chose to go to the same college together  and then live together there.

They were stabbed to death when they slept together in the same bed, Goncalves family previously revealed.

Meanwhile, NewsNations Brian Entin reports that there is no sign of Bryan Kohbergers own family members inside the courtroom.

Kaylee Goncalves family arrives at court

Monday 22 May 2023 16:54 , Rachel Sharp
The Pentagon says it did not authorize the use of U.S. vehicles by anyone outside the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Asked about imagery emerging on social media purporting to show U.S.-made armored vehicles captured in Russia during this week's cross-border incursion, the Pentagon said it did not authorize the transfer of equipment to "paramilitary organizations outside the Ukrainian Armed Forces" by Kyiv and received no requests to do so.

Images appeared on social media claiming to show that two pro-Ukrainian Russian partisan groups - the Freedom For Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps - used several U.S.-donated vehicles during a cross-border attack on Russia. While we cannot independently confirm the use of those vehicles in that attack, the Oryx open-source weapons tracking group - which only reports on equipment it has visual confirmation of - says that the Russians captured two International M1224 MaxxPro MRAPs, two 2 M1151 HMMWVs and that one M1152 HMMWV was damaged and captured. The Ukraine Weapons Tracker open-source investigations group concurred with that assessment.

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1661030704640319493?s=20

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1661051075665833984?s=20

We've seen those reports that we obviously continue to monitor very closely, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons top spokesman, told reporters Tuesday. I will say that we can confirm that the U.S. government has not approved any third-party transfers of equipment to paramilitary organizations outside the Ukrainian Armed Forces, nor has the Ukrainian government requested any such transfer. So again, thats something we will keep a close eye on.

Andriy Chernyak, a spokesman for Ukraines Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), told The Financial Times on Tuesday that Ukraine did not supply the militias with any equipment.

All Western weaponry obtained by the Ukrainian Armed Forces remains under . . . the toughest control, he told the newspaper.

https://twitter.com/alexbward/status/1661097421722492929?s=20

The use of such equipment in Russia would counter the intent for which it was provided to Ukraine. By way of context, the U.S. has provided or promised Ukraine more than 2,000 HMMWVs and more than 500 MRAPs among the $38 billion in security assistance given to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.

The United States has communicated regularly with Ukraine that the security assistance that we're providing is for them to use inside Ukraine, as part of their efforts to defend their country and their sovereignty, said Ryder.

U.S. President Joe Biden expressed a similar sentiment to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a recent conversation about the provision of F-16s to Kyiv.

The United States together with our allies and partners are going to begin training Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, Biden recently told reporters, to strengthen Ukraines Air Force as part of a long-term commitment to Ukraines ability to defend itself. Biden added that he had received a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not use it to go on and move into Russian geographic territory.

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1660362538347896838?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1660362538347896838%7Ctwgr%5Eca31f927bbed8c0010965fa6a500a1a74c47e177%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fpoland-will-train-ukrainian-pilots-to-fly-f-16s

Ryder meanwhile said he could not immediately verify the veracity of the imagery purporting to show the U.S. donated vehicles in Russia.

I will tell you that when you see imagery like that, you know - again something we'll look into. I don't know if it's true or not, in terms of the veracity of that imagery, he said. You recall yesterday, there were some bogus images of reported alleged explosions at the Pentagon.

https://twitter.com/techlanes_io/status/1661155116848644097

While skeptical of reports that U.S.-donated equipment was used to attack inside Russia, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. does not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia, and weve made that clear. But as weve also said, it is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war.

Given how images of U.S. equipment captured or destroyed in Russia would fit into Moscow's narrative - that it is fighting not just Ukraine, but America and the NATO alliance - such skepticism about the images is quite understandable in a conflict that involves tremendous information operations by all parties.

In addition to his skepticism about the images, Miller said the State Department does not yet know who was behind the incursion despite claims by the two partisan groups.

https://youtu.be/Rs879yGyXFg?t=3

On Tuesday, Chernyak acknowledged the first indication of Kyivs cooperation with these groups.

Of course, we communicate with them, he told FT. Of course, we share some information. And, one might say, we even cooperate.

However, Chernyak said that Ukraines military was not directly involved in the attack, suggesting that it was the Russians own initiative.

They are rebelling, he told FT, something the groups have said themselves recently on social media.

https://twitter.com/albafella1/status/1660558086052929538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1660558086052929538%7Ctwgr%5E22d637c00f7ba230dbab814369222c699966be9f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Frussian-border-incursion-fight-raged-on-into-second-day

Whether questions about the use of this equipment spark an official Pentagon investigation or any tightening in Ukraine of cooperation with groups like the Freedom For Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps remains to be seen.

But given the fluidity of combat and the sheer amount of U.S. provided equipment on the battlefield, it is an issue that is likely to come up again before this conflict is over.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
(Bloomberg) -- Pakistans former premier Imran Khan is witnessing an exodus of his partys senior members after a sweeping crackdown saw many of them arrested as part of a political tug-of-war between the opposition leader and the military establishment.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari became the most high profile figure to quit. After being detained multiple times over the past few weeks, she said she was leaving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and politics entirely, citing health and family reasons, in a press conference that lasted just a few minutes.

Some two dozen PTI leaders have resigned in the last two weeks dealing a major blow to Khans authority, as he continues to challenge the government and military in his quest to retake power. Many of them have blamed the violence that followed Khans May 9 arrest for their decision.

He must be worried at this stage because people are leaving and his party is becoming weaker, said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based political analyst who formerly taught at Columbia University in New York. But at the same time, he maintained some sort of posture of defiance therefore the conflict persists.

The military had warned of stern action against protesters who attacked its properties in the days that followed Khans detention on corruption charges. The army and the government have vowed to try those responsible under military law.

Only the army has the power to pressure Khans associates to defect from PTI, said Kamran Bokhari, Senior Director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy. The ongoing crackdown on Khans movement is a short-term victory for the military establishment.

The departures began last week with Mahmood Baqi Moulvi, who resigned from the party and his National Assembly seat, in protest against the violence. Soon after Mazaris exit on Tuesday, two senior leaders Fayaz-ul-Hasan Chohan and Mian Jalil Sharaqpuri also quit, joining a growing list of national and provincial lawmakers to walk away from Khan.

The former cricket star responded to the resignations on Twitter saying: We had all heard about forced marriages in Pakistan but for PTI a new phenomenon has emerged, forced divorces. He has repeatedly denied his supporters were involved in the army attacks.

More than 10,000 people have been arrested by police in raids across the nation, including PTI members, supporters and their families, since Khan stepped up his campaign for early elections this year. Thats led to direct confrontation with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who has said stabilizing the economy needs to be the priority.

The South Asian nation is grappling with a deepening fiscal crisis and is on the brink of a default. An agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $6.7 billion bailout is still not in sight, while the rupee has tumbled to new lows amid record inflation and interest rates.

For now, the military leadership seems to have won a key battle in what will be a long war with Khan and the broader struggle to maintain its dominant position in a republic that is becoming increasingly fragile, said Bokhari from New Lines.

(Updates with details throughout.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at a joint press conference with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Wednesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Wednesday that "separatist elements" should not be allowed to hurt India-Australia relations, after he was lavished with a rockstar welcome in Sydney.

Lured by the world's most populous market and the promise of a counterweight to a rising China, Australia has batted away questions about India's treatment of opponents and minorities, suggesting they are domestic issues.

Modi appeared to have no such qualms.

The Indian leader hit out at recent "attacks" on Hindu temples in Australia -- vandalism allegedly committed by Sikh separatists -- after his summit with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Admiralty House on Sydney Harbour.

"We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between India and Australia by their actions or thoughts," Modi told reporters, saying the pair had discussed "activities of separatist elements" in the past.

"Prime Minister Albanese has once again assured me today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future," Modi said according to an official translator.

Anti-Modi graffiti has this year been painted on a half-dozen temples in Australia, allegedly by those seeking the creation of a Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, in incidents widely reported by Indian media.

Protests by the Sikh diaspora erupted across the globe last month after a lengthy manhunt for a firebrand separatist that saw thousands of Indian police mobilised and mobile internet access cut for days across Sikh-majority Punjab state.

Albanese, who has previously condemned the graffiti incidents in Australia, made no mention of them in his remarks, instead hailing a new deal promoting the exchange of students, researchers, academics and business people with India.

The centre-left leader said he had joined "a rather extraordinary event" the previous evening, referring to Modi's 12,000-strong, campaign-style rally at a Sydney arena.

- 'Respectful' relationship -

"Prime Minister Modi is the boss!" Albanese had told the crowd of enthusiastic Modi supporters at the event, declaring the Indian leader a "dear friend".

Albanese has given short shrift to questions about his support for Modi -- a nationalist leader who faces re-election next year and has been criticised for sustained democratic backsliding and discrimination against India's hundreds of millions of non-Hindus.

Asked if he was troubled by such accusations against Modi, Albanese told a radio interviewer: "Well, India is, of course, the world's largest democracy."

"Australia will always stand up for human rights, wherever it occurs anywhere in the world," he added.

But asked if he planned to raise those issues with Modi, the Australian leader said he engaged with people on a "one-on-one" basis and would not be leaking details of his "respectful" relationship.

Rights groups say India's 200 million Muslims have faced increased discrimination and violence since Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP swept to power in 2014.

Under Modi, "the world's largest democracy" has become much less free and more dangerous for his critics, according to Human Rights Watch's Elaine Pearson.

But as Australia struggles with a more assertive China, it is looking for economic and political partners in an increasingly rough-and-tumble neighbourhood.

India's economic performance has been mixed in the past decade, with missteps curbing growth. But hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty.

It is now the second-fastest growing economy in the G20 and a multi-trillion-dollar market.

The Indian-Australian community is the second-largest in Australia after Britain, with 673,000 Indian-born citizens in a population of 26 million.

Almost 90,000 Indian students are enrolled at Australian universities, the largest overseas contingent after China.

djw/arb
Indira Varma at the Game of Thrones season seven premiere in 2017



Indira Varma at the 2017 Game Of Thrones season seven premiere in Los Angeles, California.

Most fans recognize Indira Varma for her standout roles on Game of Thrones and Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as Rome, Carnival Row, and the recent Extrapolations; shes also set to be in that upcoming Dune: The Sisterhood prequel series. But some might also know her from Torchwooda connection thats brought her into the realm of Doctor Who.

The BBC reports that Varma will reunite with Russell T Davies, past and future Doctor Who showrunner as well as the creator of spin-off series Torchwood, for a mysterious role opposite Ncuti Gatwas Fifteenth Doctor. Her characters name-slash-title is the Duchess, and even without much context we have a feeling the effortlessly regal Varma is the perfect choice.

Read more

Im thrilled to be in Doctor Who and particularly excited to be crossing cosmic paths with Ncuti, as the Doctor, and look forward to creating interplanetary mischief with him, Varma told the BBCs dedicated Doctor Who site. I loved playing Suzie Costello for Russell T Davies in Torchwood so am thrilled to be entering this world again.

Davies sounds equally jazzed about casting Varma, and drops a very tiny hint about her character. Im overjoyed to be reunited with Indira after our Torchwood days, and this part is truly spectacular! A whole new audience will be hiding behind the settee when the Duchess unleashes her terror.

Interplanetary mischief? The spectacular unleashing of terror? Yes, please! Look for Varma as the Duchess when Gatwas Doctor Who era beginsthatll come in the festive period, to use the BBCs term, which will be after a trio of David Tennant-starring special episodes air in November to mark Doctor Whos 60th anniversary. Outside of the UK and Ireland, where the show still lives on the BBC, fans will be able to watch new seasons of Doctor Who on Disney+.





Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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INDOT worker flown to Miami Valley Hospital after being hit by vehicle

A highway worker was flown to Miami Valley Hospital after he was hit by a vehicle in Wayne County, Indiana Tuesday.

Deputies responded to the crash on US 35 south of Brooks Road near Williamsburg around 8:25 a.m., the Wayne County Sheriffs Office said.

According to the sheriffs office, it had been reported that an employee with the Indiana State Highway had been struck while setting up traffic cones to close the northbound lanes of US 35.

The INDOT worker, a 33-year-old man, suffered numerous lacerations and abrasions to his head, legs and back, along with possible internal injuries. The man was alert and speaking with medics before being flown to Miami Valley Hospital, the sheriffs office said.

>> I thought I was about dead; DMAX shooting victim recalls chaotic scene

The driver, a 34-year-old woman, was driving northbound on US 35. The preliminary investigation indicated she disregarded the flagman who was stopping northbound traffic, drove around the flagman, his vehicle, and two warning signs, then continued northbound on US 35, the sheriffs office said.

The sheriffs office says she continued northbound for more than one-quarter mile when she came upon another state highway vehicle which was southbound on the northbound lane placing traffic cones on the center line of US 35.

The man was on the back of the vehicle with another employee placing cones on the center line.

>> Epidemic of missing children; U.S. Marshals help recover 35 missing kids in Northern Ohio

The driver of the truck sounded his horn and began to veer off the east side of US 35 as he believed they were going to be struck head-on.

The man jumped off the back of the vehicle to run to safety across US 35. As he was running across US 35, the woman reportedly veered hard to the west and struck him.

The other people in the state highway vehicle indicated it appeared the woman never slowed and nearly struck them before she realized they were there.

The sheriffs office says the woman was taken to Reid Hospital for a toxicology screening.

The investigation into the crash is ongoing.

News Center 7 will continue updating this story as we learn more.




An influencer who survived a school shooting mentioned the tragedy in an ad for a skin care company and both came under fire. Cecilee Max-Brown, who attends Michigan State University, and Biore, the company she was promoting, have apologized after Max-Brown's TikTok video about the brand's pore strips went viral.

In the video, Max-Brown says this year has "thrown countless obstacles" at her, including a school shooting and "having no idea what life is going to look like after college." She appears to be referencing the February shooting at Michigan State, where a gunman opened fire on campus, killing three and injuring others.

In the ad, Max-Brown then goes on to say in support of Mental Health Awareness Month, she is partnering with Biore Skincare to "strip away the stigma of anxiety."

The TikTok video has been removed from the influencer's page, but was captured and shared by others before it was deleted. Many criticized the choice to mention a school shooting while promoting a product.

Max-Brown posted a new video on TikTok on Monday  this one, a written statement in which she says she is "so sorry" about the partnership video, which was "strictly meant to spread awareness about the struggles that I have had with anxiety since our school shooting." She said the ad was not meant to say the Biore strips helped fix the struggles she's had.

"I did not mean to desensitize the traumatic event that took place as I know the effects it has had on me and the Spartan community," her post continues.

Biore apologized last week, writing in a statement that they have supported influencers who experience anxiety and other mental health conditions for four years by amplifying their stories.

"Our consumers have told us that mental health is one of their biggest priorities, and it is so important for us to be able to provide meaningful support to them around this issue. This time, however, we did it the wrong way. We lacked sensitivity around an incredibly serious tragedy, and our tonality was completely inappropriate. We are so sorry," the statement reads.

Biore also said it was their mistake and they "own it."

Max-Brown, who has 27,700 followers on TikTok, often posts about makeup and skin care on social media, and, like many so-called influencers with large followings, is paid by companies to promote their products.

France bans short domestic flights to cut carbon emissions

South Carolina poised to enact six-week abortion ban

Debt ceiling deadline edges closer as talks continue
Inmate convicted of double murder on the run after escaping Ohio prison, authorities say

Authorities in Kentucky are working to capture an inmate convicted of double murder who escaped an Ohio prison with another inmate who police captured early Wednesday, officials said.

Officials are searching the Camaro Drive area of Henderson, Kentucky, for Bradley Gillespie, 50, who escaped the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, a city about about 350 miles northeast of Henderson, according to the Henderson Police Department and the Allen County Sheriffs Office.

Gillespie has been incarcerated for double murder since November 2016, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records. His charges also include breaking and entering, theft, assault, possession of drugs, escape, forgery, receiving stolen property, weapons offenses and burglary, according to the Henderson Police Department.

The sheriffs office described Gillespie as being bald with blue eyes and weighing about 200 pounds. The Henderson Police Department said early Wednesday that Gillespie was last seen wearing dark clothes and appeared to still be bald.

The Henderson Police Department urged local residents Wednesday morning to continue to stay vigilant, lock your doors, and contact 911 if you see anyone matching the description or have unlocked buildings that Gillespie could be hiding.

Lieutenant Stuart ONan of the Henderson Police Department told NBC News in an email shortly before 11 a.m. local time that Gillespie "should be considered armed and dangerous based on his history. We are also considering him to be a danger to the public due to his past.

He added that authorities are "using officers, K9s, drones, and helicopters" to try to find Gillespie.

"We are utilizing every resource we have to protect our community and locate Bradley Gillespie," O'Nan added.

Authorities said Gillespie escaped the prison with James Lee, 47, who authorities captured early Wednesday in Henderson, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Allen County Sheriff's Office.

James Lee and Bradley Gillespie. (Allen County (OH) Sheriff's Office)

Henderson police attempted to conduct a traffic stop shortly after 3:15 a.m. Wednesday on a stolen car they believe Gillespie and Lee were in when the car tried to flee, the police department said in a Facebook post. Officers pursued the vehicle until it crashed on Camaro Drive, where Lee and Gillespie fled on foot, police said. Officers arrested Lee but Gillespie evaded capture.

Lee has been serving time since March 2021 for burglary and other charges, state records show.

Allen County Sheriff Matthew Treglia told NBC affiliate WLIO of Lima early Wednesday morning that authorities have a tight perimeter set up on Gillespie and that he believes authorities will have him in custody shortly. Treglia added that officials believe the men traveled together but did not elaborate.

Victoria Gonzalez, public information office for the Allen County Sheriffs Office, told NBC News Wednesday morning there were no new updates on Gillespies current location.

A representative for the Henderson Police Department could not immediately be reached Wednesday morning.

Lee was discovered missing during a prisoner count at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, prompting the warden to authorize an emergency prisoner count, which revealed Gillespie was also missing, according to a news release from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Officials then determined the men were last seen on surveillance video inside the facility just after 8:40 a.m. on Monday, according to the news release.

It was not immediately clear when or how the men escaped the prison. O'Nan said authorities could not answer questions on how the men escaped.

The U.S. Marshal Service, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Allen County Sheriff's Office said in a news release before Lee was captured they were offering up to $21,000 for information that led to the capture of both men, and that the Ohio corrections department was also conducting an internal investigation.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A view of the then still closed Iranian embassy building in Riyadh in April

Iran has named an ambassador to Saudi Arabia, state media reported Wednesday, sealing a thaw in relations more than seven years after the regional rivals severed ties.

The new envoy, Alireza Enayati, previously served as Iran's ambassador to Kuwait, assistant to the foreign minister and director general of Gulf affairs at the foreign ministry, the English-language Iran Daily said.

There was no immediate confirmation of his appointment from the foreign ministry of the Islamic republic.

The Middle East heavyweights, after years of discord, signed a surprise reconciliation agreement in China on March 10.

Saudi Arabia had severed relations with Iran in 2016, after its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the second city of Mashhad were attacked during protests over the kingdom's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

The two governments held several rounds of dialogue in Iraq and Oman before signing the reconciliation agreement.

They had backed opposing sides in conflict zones across the Middle East for years before mending fences.

In Yemen, Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition in support of the internationally recognised government, while Iran backed the Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa and large areas of the north.

ap/jri/kir/fz
PHOTO  2023 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

The U.S. militarys most powerful, deeply burrowing Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker buster bombs, or MOPs, may be unable to penetrate a buried nuclear facility in central Iran, analysis of new satellite images suggests. The Air Forces 30,000-pound class GBU-57/B MOPs are guided weapons specifically designed to penetrate highly fortified targets such as Irans underground nuclear facilities and can impact surfaces above targets with great accuracy. Most recently, a rare live MOP was pictured at Whiteman Air Force Base, as you can read more about here.

The Associated Press first reported on these new developments observed at Irans Natanz nuclear site yesterday, based on images provided by Planet Labs, as well as analysis by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The Natanz site is located some 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. As AP suggests in a separate article, Iran appears to be making steady progress in constructing various underground tunnels in the Zagros Mountains to the south of the Natanz nuclear site. Owing to its size, Iran would likely be able to use the underground facility to enrich uranium, AP reports, and not just to build centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium, with natural protection coming from the mountain.

A satellite image taken on April 14, 2023, showing the facilities at Natanz, including the tunnel entrances to the south. Work on the tunnels is visibly underway, but the facility does not look close to being finished. PHOTO  2023 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

PHOTO  2023 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

PHOTO  2023 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

Construction of the core elements of the Natanz nuclear facility itself began in the early 2000s. In September 2020, Iran announced it would be replacing the Iran Centrifuge Assembly Center (ICAC), an above-ground plant at the Natanz facility that was destroyed that June by a fire, with a new facility in the nearby mountain. Tehran blamed that incident at ICAC nearly three years ago on Israel.

Since then, observers and intelligence analysts have followed the development of underground tunnels in the mountain via satellite imagery, with fears that the new underground facility could aid Iran in developing nuclear weapons. Tehran has not publicly acknowledged any other plans for the underground facility beyond its use as a replacement for the ICAC, according to AP. Iranian authorities would have to declare the site to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna if it decided to introduce uranium into it. Iran does, however, have a long history of deep-burying sensitive facilities, especially those linked to their nuclear and missile programs, among other things.

The Natanz nuclear facility pictured in 2006. Hamed Saber via Wikimedia Commons

Citing experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, AP reports that the new facility is likely being built at a depth of between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) within the mountain. This extends deeper than what the U.S. military has publicly stated in the past is the maximum depth the 30,000-pound class GBU-57/B MOPs can burrow down to, around 60 meters (200 feet). Its unclear exactly whether this figure also accounts for penetration through reinforced concrete layers, which are often used to shore up sensitive underground facilities.

Moreover, experts at the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on Irans nuclear program, argue that the underground tunnels could be even deeper than the 260 to 328 feet estimate suggested by experts at the James Martin Center, AP notes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aao7vQKD_ME

So the depth of the facility [in the mountain] is a concern because it would be much harder for us [the U.S., to penetrate], Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the James Martin Center, told AP. It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb.

Analyzing a separate set of images, experts at the James Martin Center suggest that four entrances have now been dug in the mountainside, AP notes. Two of those are located to the east, while another two are located to the west. The entrances are roughly 6 meters (20 feet) wide and 8 meters (26 feet) tall.

Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, told AP that the completion of the underground nuclear site in the mountainside would be a nightmare scenario that risks igniting a new escalatory spiral... Given how close Iran is to a bomb, it has very little room to ratchet up its program without tripping U.S. and Israeli red lines. So at this point, any further escalation increases the risk of conflict.

The tunnel network close to the Natanz site isnt the only Iranian underground facility reportedly beyond the reach of U.S. MOPs, it should be noted. Irans nuclear development site carved deep into a mountain at Fordo, often seen as Irans most sensitive nuclear facility, is reportedly some 90 meters (295 feet) deep. It is also protected by multiple feet of reinforced concrete. Back in 2012, experts highlighted to Reuters how Fordo then represented a more significant challenge to penetrate compared to the previous underground facilities at Natanz.

A satellite image showing the facility at Fordo from above ground. Google Earth

Of course, this all prompts questions about how the U.S. military might be able to utilize its bunker busters against these deeper underground facilities. The Air Force has remained very tight-lipped on the MOP program in general. However, much of its impetus in the early 2000s appeared to be a response to Irans push to bury its nuclear enrichment infrastructure underground in order to safeguard against pre-emptive U.S. or Israeli strikes.

Thanks to their GPS guidance, as The War Zone has noted in the past, its certainly possible that multiple bunker busters could be dropped on roughly the same spot by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. B-2s are currently the only aircraft able to employ the MOP operationally. The Air Forces future B-21 Raider stealth bomber is expected to be able to carry one MOP while the B-2 carries two.

The War Zone has noted in the past, based on statements received from the Air Force, that inert versions of the BLU-127C/B warhead  the BLU-127C/B being the main explosive charge at the core of the GBU-57E/B variant  could be used to dig down to the target, softening up the ground. Live ones could do this, as well. In the case of the tunnels within the Zagros Mountains, the ground would likely be very dense. Each subsequent bomb would then be able to penetrate deeper to the target, and through any reinforced concrete layers. There is also the possibility of weak points in the facility's design and mechanical infrastructure that can be exploited to increase penetration.

A rare 'live' GBU-57/B MOP pictured at Whiteman Air Force Base. U.S. Air Force

Adding to this, large numbers of MOPs would likely be needed if the U.S. military were to strike the underground tunnel networks at the Natanz site, given how spread out they now appear to be. These facilities are now designed in segments with blast doors separating key sections. This means if one area is hit, the others will not be impacted or at least the damage will be drastically reduced to the entire facility.

Information is limited about how many MOPs exactly the Air Force has within its stockpiles currently. According to the service, 20 MOPs had been delivered by the bombs manufacturer, Boeing, since the early 2000s. The figure of 20 MOPs is accurate as of November 2015, according to the Air Force, but could have, and likely has, grown significantly since then. This would be inclusive of the GBU-57E/B variant, in operational inventory since 2016, and possibly the newest GBU-57F/B variant.

The MOP has been progressively improved over the years and we don't know how many of the older variants have been retrofitted with modifications developed through the Enhanced Threat Response-IV (ETR-IV) and other upgrade programs.

A B-52 releases a test version of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) during a test of the weapon over White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in 2009. DoD

Its also very possible that the Air Forces bunker busters may be able to individually penetrate deeper below the ground than the service has publicly indicated to date. Originally, the Air Force claimed its MOPs could burrow down to just over 18 meters (60 feet) to get to their targets. This figure was revised in 2007 to just over 60 meters (200 feet). As The War Zone has pointed out previously, its likely that newer MOP variants, including the GBU-57E/B and GBU-57F/B, can penetrate deeper than the MOP variants available in 2007, thanks to updated warhead designs. The BLU-127C/B warhead has a booster within the warheads forward position, for example  although it remains unclear if this constitutes a system to propel the section for added penetration or if it refers to an explosive charge accelerating the detonation of the main charge.

Illustration of the MOP's potential capabilities from early on in the program, showing an initial version of the bomb only capable of penetrating some 60 feet below the ground. DOD via GlobalSecurity.org

Other tiers of bunker busters could also be directed at the known entry points of underground facilities such as those in the Zagros Mountains, in an effort to at least seal them off temporarily, too. With the GBU-57/B constituting the largest bunker buster in the U.S.'s inventory, smaller bunker busters, such as 2,000-pound class BLU-109/Bs or BLU-137/Bs or 5,000-pound class GBU-28/Bs or GBU-72/Bs, or even GBU-57/Bs if the target demands them, could be used for this purpose.

There are other ways to attack these facilities, of course, but with varying potential effects and risk factors. Deep penetrating, very high-risk commando raids on the ground could be used in an attempt to take and/or severely damage high-value nuclear development facilities. Cyber attacks on them are a proven way of slowing down the advance of Iran's nuclear program, but these would be very hard-pressed to damage them physically in a major way. There has even been talk of even irradiating the facilities and the land around them in order to deny their use. Then there are the best bunker busters on earth  nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons advocates may see this as a clear indication for the U.S. to retain dedicated nuclear bunker busters in order to deal with especially deep targets. Speaking at an event in 2014 at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz argued that the guidance package on the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb would make it easier to target hardened structures very deep underground. The B61-12s dial-a-yield feature and tail kit could negate the need for dedicated earth-penetrating or large-yield nukes like the specially-designed bunker-busting B61-11 and more powerful B83-1, the U.S. military and Department of Energy have previously suggested.

That Iran is enhancing its underground nuclear facilities comes as the country's nuclear program has rapidly evolved in recent years, following the collapse of its nuclear deal with other world powers in 2018. Indeed, the country is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels, according to a recent report by the United Nation's nuclear watchdog. Inspectors recently discovered the country had produced uranium particles that were 83.7% pure at the Fordo fuel enrichment plant, far above the 60% figure Iran claims. This is extremely close to the 90% threshold of weapons-grade uranium.

The full range of findings outlined by the Director Generals report are alarming: Iran continues its unprecedented and grave nuclear escalation, said Corinne Kitsell and Gotz Schmidt-Bremme, the British and German ambassadors to the nuclear watchdog respectively, as NBC News reports.

According to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has enough enriched uranium to construct several nuclear bombs as of February this year, AP reports.

All in all, the latest satellite images of Irans underground tunnels in the Zagros Mountains underscore the U.S. militarys requirement for MOPs, as well as its adversaries efforts to mitigate the capabilities of those weapons.

Contact the author: oliver@thewarzone.com
IRS building and sign Illustrated / Getty Images

The Internal Revenue Service is planning to test out new software in 2024 that will let taxpayers file their returns online for free, pitting the IRS more directly against the $14 billion tax-preparation industry dominated by Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block.

The IRS and commercial tax-prep services reached a deal in 2006 in which a number of the tax-filing companies agreed to provide free services for taxpayers earning $73,000 or less. In return, the IRS was barred from creating its own online tax-filing service until 2019. With that deal expired, President Biden and congressional Democrats gave the IRS $15 million in 2022 to explore the feasibility, cost and interest level for a government-run Direct File program.

The IRS's first report to Congress, released earlier this month, found that "many taxpayers are interested in using a free IRS-provided tool to prepare and file taxes and that the agency is technically capable of delivering a Direct File program," the IRS stated in a press release. In fact, The Washington Post reported, the IRS has already "quietly built its own prototype system to allow Americans to file tax returns digitally and free of charge," with help from the White House's U.S. Digital Service consultancy.

"Filing taxes can be time-consuming and difficult, and the IRS is committed to delivering significantly improved services by providing taxpayers with tools, information and assistance to make it easier to comply with their tax filing obligations," the IRS noted in its report. Should TurboTax be nervous?

What are the commentators saying?

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters that "the IRS cannot run the tax system alone," and any changes will be voluntary. "We rely on an extensive network of partners across tax professional groups, the software communities, the payroll community and countless dedicated organizations that work directly with taxpayers," he said. "This report changes none of that."

"Taxpayers will always have choices for how they file their taxes," Werfel added. "They can use tax software. They can use a trusted tax professional. They can use a paper tax return." But the IRS surveys also found that 72% of taxpayers are "very interested" or "somewhat interested" in a free system that allows them to file directly to the government. Many other countries have such government-run online tax-filing systems, including Australia, Chile and Estonia.

U.S. taxpayers already have several free options, including filling out the IRS's tax forms on paper or online and using the Free File options at participating commercial sites. Some 70% of taxpayers are eligible to use Free File software, but fewer than 3% do, according to the Government Accountability Office. "That's because the tax-prep companies sabotaged the program, so they could keep raking in money," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). TurboTax paid a $141 million settlement in 2022 to people who were eligible for free filing but were steered away to costly upgrades.

Even with the new Direct File initiative, "the established position of companies such as TurboTax and H&R Block could limit how many taxpayers use an IRS program beyond the pilot phase," Richard Rubin reported in The Wall Street Journal. "They have invested heavily in technology, marketing and customer loyalty."

At the same time, they do fear that eventually the IRS could expand its own program in ways they cannot, Rubin added. "Using the information it has from past returns and employers, the IRS could create first drafts of returns that taxpayers could check and submit." A 2022 study by Treasury Department economists found that the IRS could accurately fill in nearly half of a person's tax returns with the information it already has, for example.

Shares of H&R Block and Intuit dropped after the IRS released its feasibility report.

What's next?

Intuit and H&R Block  which have spent $25.6 million and $9.6 million, respectively, on lobbying since 2006, according to The Associated Press  stated that they plan to fight the IRS's Direct File initiative, calling it redundant, unnecessary, expensive and potentially harmful for consumers. Some Republican lawmakers, taxpayers polled by the IRS, and right-leaning advocacy groups agree.

"It would be a conflict of interest to have the agency that collects, investigates and enforces taxes to also be a tax preparer," Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi argued. "The taxpayer is looking for the biggest refund possible, but for the IRS that's not their job to look for the biggest refund for filers," said David Williams at the conservative-leaning Taxpayers Protection Alliance. "We're concerned about that conflict of interest but also really the ability of the IRS to do this."

Some congressional Republicans also pointed to the reports of a working Direct File system as evidence the IRS has already decided to move forward with a free filing option, exceeding its legal authority. The IRS report stated that this "functioning internal prototype" is simply being used for usability testing and user research to supplement taxpayer surveys before the pilot program begins in January 2024.

And finally, when all the fighting is done, the IRS still has to build a product for tax filers to test out in a pilot program that hasn't yet been mapped out.

There is a big chasm between deciding to create a safe, secure and user-friendly tax-filing system and actually delivering it to taxpayers, and it's easy to imagine things going terribly wrong, as anyone who remembers the disastrous Obamacare enrollment site rollout can attest. "The IRS has long struggled with aging technology," Rubin wrote at the Journal. "But it has at times nimbly implemented new programs, such as economic stimulus payments and monthly child tax credits during the Covid pandemic."

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The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates.

This week, Nebraskas Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed a bill that bans abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy, and it is now in full effect.

It comes after North Carolinas Republican-controlled Legislature recently voted to override a veto of a 12-week abortion ban bill by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, allowing it to become law starting in July, with other restrictions beginning in October.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court last June, the Tar Heel State saw the largest spike in abortions in the U.S., according to a #WeCount Report by the Society of Family Planning, highlighting the states status as a significant abortion access point in the region.

North Carolinas 12-week law is the first post-Roe ban that hasnt outlawed all or most abortions. Surrounding red states like Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia all ban abortion in most circumstances.

Meanwhile, Florida followed Georgias lead and recently passed a six-week abortion ban, a time when most women dont know theyre even pregnant. Former President Donald Trump criticized presidential GOP hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying the six-week ban was too harsh.

DeSantis defended the legislative move at a news conference last week, saying, Protecting an unborn child when theres a detectable heartbeat is something that almost 99% of pro-lifers support.

Why theres debate

Lately, Republicans have suffered defeat on a string of abortion-related issues, from ballot measures in the 2022 midterms to losing a Wisconsin state supreme court seat in an April election. Now, prominent figures in the GOP are calling for their party to find unity on the issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently said its not realistic for any 2024 candidate to promise a federal abortion ban, should the candidate make it to the White House.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told Yahoo News in early May that her party should embrace a more compassionate and compelling message that is both pro-woman and pro-life.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly all abortions in 2020 took place early in gestation, with 93.1% performed at or less than 13 weeks of pregnancy. North Carolinas Legislature is hoping its 12-week abortion ban will become the mainstream model for the rest of the nation.

North Carolinas law includes exceptions for rape and incest up to 20 weeks, and for life-limiting fetal anomalies up to 24 weeks. But abortion rights advocates and Democrats have argued that theres much more than meets the eye in the 12-week abortion bill.

Cooper has argued the law would effectively ban many abortions altogether because of the restrictions and requirements buried within the law.

Those include the following: requiring in-person consultations 72 hours before the abortion procedure; limiting doctors to prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, after which patients would have to get a surgical abortion; mandating that abortions after 12 weeks must be performed at a hospital; and establishing new regulations and licensing requirements for abortion providers, which could limit clinics.

Whats next

In the South, Virginia could become the last state in the region with relatively easy access to abortion as Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to sign a six-week ban on abortion approved by the state Senate this week. Notably, three GOP women state senators had urged members of their party to adopt a 12-week ban on abortion, calling it a real compromise, and joined all Democrats in voting against the six-week abortion ban bill.

Looking ahead to 2024, abortion-related measures are already on the ballot in two states. In New York and Maryland, voters will decide in the general election on whether to amend the state Constitution to protect the right to abortion.

Perspectives

Exceptions and restrictions arent realistic or helpful

Even when exceptions are written into abortion bans in a state, they are not meaningfully helpful in real life.  Weve heard about patients being told to wait until theyre bleeding more heavily than they currently are, or wait until they are in much more of an emergency health situation than they currently are in order to get care. Hospitals are not interested in testing the legal boundaries to see what is permissible under a hostile state abortion ban, and its pregnant women that will pay the price.  Kelly Baden, vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, told Yahoo News

12-week ban would further limit abortion access for women in surrounding states

Currently, the consultation is able to occur by phone, so patients do not have to be physically present. Senate Bill 20 would change that, mandating that the initial consultation occur in person. That creates significant burdens for working people, people traveling from out of state and anyone else who cannot afford or manage a multi-day trip.  Paige Masten, Charlotte Observer

12-week abortion cutoff is common around the world

South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Grahams introduction of a bill banning abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of gestation has even some members of his party wincing.  In some countries, of course, abortion is outlawed altogether, including Malta, Honduras, Nicaragua and Madagascar. But the most common gestational cutoff around the world is 12 weeks, Axios reported, making Grahams bill seem not quite as extreme as abortion-rights supporters are saying.  Jennifer Graham, Deseret News

North Carolina is not Europe

Mostly, the GOP supermajority has described the bill as mainstream, common-sense and pro-woman. With this bill, they say, North Carolina will join the ranks of other countries, particularly in Europe, that have similar gestational limits on abortion. Thats disingenuous, because North Carolina is not Europe, for many reasons. For one, the health care landscape in North Carolina is radically different. For many Europeans, going to the doctor is accessible and affordable. Here in North Carolina, were just now getting around to expanding Medicaid and 14 abortion clinics service the entire state.  Editorial Board, Charlotte Observer

First trimester cutoff is popular in the polls

A consistent majority of people support legal abortion, but really only in the first trimester. Last year, Pew reported that only one-third of respondents believed that abortion should be broadly legal with no exceptions by 14 weeks of gestation, and Gallup found that while two-thirds of the country support legal first-trimester abortion, a majority oppose abortion after that 12-week mark.  Tiana Lowe Doescher, commentary writer, for Washington Examiner

North Carolinians oppose a 12-week ban and are less likely to vote for someone who supported it

On the basic core of Senate Bill 20  limiting the weeks of pregnancy through which a woman is eligible for abortion care  voters are opposed by a 14 point margin (54% to 40%). Most of that 56% of opposition is strongly opposed  There's also bad news in the poll for candidates supporting the proposed 12-week abortion ban. When asked, a majority of voters say they are more likely to oppose state legislative candidates supporting such a ban, including a majority of Independents, Women and Suburban voters. Most of that sentiment is similarly strongly held. Even 1 in 5 Republican voters say they're less likely to support a candidate voting for such a ban.  Carolina Forward

These 12-week abortion bills arent perfect, but its something

None of these bills is perfect. But each bill would save some lives, and it would be a grave error to insist that no lives should be saved until all lives can be saved.  Editors, National Review
The head of Russias mercenary army said he could envision Ukraines upcoming offensive pushing Moscows troops out of occupied territory  including Crimea  and warned of harsh days ahead if his fellow citizens dont wake up to the wars realities.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said Russia should be under no illusion it can simply outlast Western support for Ukraine, whose military has become a powerful force because of weapons supplied by its U.S.-led allies.

Addressing Ukraines much-anticipated counteroffensive in an interview posted online late Tuesday, Prigozhin said: A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack. They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge, cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhin said his private army lost more than 20,000 men in the monthslong battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut, where he claimed victory over the weekend even though Ukraine says it has gained ground on the outskirts. Prigozhin has said his fighters will leave Bakhmut on Thursday and it will be up to the Russian military, with which he has been feuding for months, to protect it.

Known for his bluster and sometimes outlandish statements, Prigozhin also said Russia could be looking at turmoil similar to the 1917 revolution if regular families continue to have their sons killed in battle while the elites remain unaffected.

"First the soldiers will stand up, and after that their loved ones will rise up," he said. "There are already tens of thousands of them, relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands  we cannot avoid that."

She watched a Russian bomb land near her son - and change their lives

Developments:

A day after Russian authorities said they had quashed a cross-border raid from Ukraine, their forces repelled "a large number'' of drones in yet another attack in Russias Belgorod region. The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said, reporting no injuries. Russia said the attacks are coming from Ukrainian military saboteurs, while Kyiv described them as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.

A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday in Oslo to prepare for joint exercises with the Norwegian military. Norway shares a 123-mile-long border with Russia, which objected to the exercises. The nuclear-powered USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, is making its first foreign port visit after launching in 2017. Prompted in part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, neighboring Finland joined NATO in April.

Alexander Shiplyuk, one of three Russian experts on hypersonic missile technology arrested on suspicion of treason, has been accused of sharing classified information with China, Reuters reported. Shiplyuk, 56, maintains the information was not secret and can be found online.

Ukrainians likely responsible for drone attack on Kremlin, reports say

Ukrainian operatives were likely behind the high-profile drone attack on the Kremlin caught on video earlier this month, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials. A CNN report made a similar assertion, saying Ukrainians may have been responsible for the action.

The two-drone assault, thwarted by Moscow air defenses, was the latest in a series of covert operations inside Russian soil that have made the Biden administration uncomfortable because of their potential for expanding the war beyond Ukraines borders, the Times said.

U.S. intelligence agencies had not ascertained which unit Ukrainian unit orchestrated the attack and whether the countrys top officials knew about it, but some U.S. officials believe President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not informed, the Times said.

The Kremlin called the incident an assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin, who was not in Moscow at the time. Zelenskyy denied such a plot, saying, "We dont attack Putin or Moscow."

Amid Western sanctions, Russia gets closer to China

Isolated by the West over its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has instead strengthened its connections to China, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Wednesday.

Mishustin met with his Chinese counterpart, Li Qiang, in Beijing to sign agreements for energy exports and other trade deals. Though Western sanctions have cut Russia off from most markets, it continues doing business with China.

Speaking Wednesday, Mishustin did not mention the 15-month-old war but instead focused on Russia-China cooperation aimed at countering the United States' global leadership.

"Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level," Mishustin, the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since the war started, told Li.

Desertions a growing problem for Russians

Russia has grappled with a substantial increase in desertions since ordering a partial mobilization in September 2022, said the British Defense Ministry, citing research from independent Russian journalists that shows 1,053 cases between January and May 2023, more than in all of 2022.

The punishment for those trying to escape the war? Oftentimes a return to the war, said the ministry, pointing out those found guilty of desertion usually get suspended sentences, meaning they can be sent back to combat.

"Russias efforts to improve discipline have focused on making examples of defaulters and promoting patriotic zeal,'' the ministry said in its latest war assessment, "rather than addressing the root causes of soldiers disillusionment.''

Japan to give Ukraine 100 military vehicles

Japan held a ceremony Wednesday marking a planned donation of about 100 military vehicles and 30,000 food rations to Ukraine.

Japans government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, a significant break from its post-World War II self-defense-only principle.

Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation in a ceremony at the Defense Ministry.

We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return, Ino said. We will provide as much support as we can.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine updates: Wagner mercenary leader sees a hard war
Israel's Netanyahu and allies pass new budget with sweeping grants for settlements, ultra-Orthodox

JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.

While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel's most hard-line ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.

The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition.

We have received the tools, we're rolling up our sleeves and going to work, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote."

The new budget has been criticized for allocating nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds, much of it for ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties.

That will include increases in controversial stipends for ultra-Orthodox men to study full time in religious seminaries instead of working or serving in the military, which is compulsory for most secular males.

It also includes more money for ultra-Orthodox schools, which are widely criticized for not teaching students skills like math and English needed in the modern workplace.

The funds also include tens of millions of dollars for hard-line pro-settler parties to promote pet projects through the ministries they control.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader, has said he hopes to double the population of West Bank settlers in the coming years.

The governments composition and agenda have deeply divided the country. On Tuesday, several thousand flag-waving Israelis protested outside the parliament building against the budget.

That smaller demonstration over the budget followed months of sustained mass protest against a series of proposals by Netanyahu's government to overhaul the country's judicial system while he is on trial for corruption.

Proponents say the measures are needed to rein in an overzealous Supreme Court, but critics say the plan would destroy the countrys system of checks and balances and compromise Israeli democracy.

That plan has raised concerns overseas but is now on hold. Now that the budget has passed, however, Netanyahu may face renewed pressure from his allies to bring it back before parliament.

Following the budget vote, Netanyahu told Israels Channel 14 that it was the dawn of a new day and said that the judicial overhaul plan would be revived.
Itching to hike? Avoid these plants or you'll be scratching for days

Jennifer Shupper heads up the steep route on the Beaudry South Motorway trail in Glendale in 2017. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Over Memorial Day weekend and next week's National Trails Day, thousands of Southern Californians will head into the great outdoors for some sun, exercise and natural beauty  and in many cases, a nasty rash.

Unusually heavy rainfall this past winter has helped many a native plant, wildflower and, yes, poisonous weed along Southern California's hiking trails to grow and extend its greenery almost like it wants to reach out and shake your hand because its sticking out everywhere, said Cris Sarabia, conservation director for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy .

Land managers are a little behind on clearing the pathways, so thats why youre seeing overgrown foliage, Sarabia said.

As you prepare to hit the trails, experts urge you to take precautions with the vegetation that causes skin irritation, rashes and, in some severe cases, respiratory issues.

But dont let these plants deter you from enjoying the outdoors. Instead, do some research on your destination before you head out, said Wesley Trimble, communications director for the American Hiking Society.

Here's some advice from outdoor enthusiasts and experts about which native plants to avoid on your walks and how to treat skin that's made contact with a poisonous plant. They also shared resources to level up your vegetation ID skills.

Poisonous plants to avoid while hiking

There are at least two common types of poisonous plants on trails that can cause skin irritation and in some severe cases respiratory issues: poison oak and poodle-dog bush. There's also a less pervasive threat, stinging nettle.

Poison oak's fuzzy green, scalloped-edge leaves grow in clusters of three. Sometimes the plant also has yellow-white or tan colored berries. (Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Poison oak can be challenging to identify, said Trimble, because it can grow like a shrub, long vines, or underbrush.

"It likes to grow in disturbed soils, meaning areas that are trafficked, like trails, or disturbed by ecological changes," he said.

There are several ways to look out for poison oak, starting with the old adage, Leaves of three let it be, Trimble said. It's an accurate depiction of the plant, whose fuzzy green, scalloped-edge leaves grow in clusters of three. Sometimes the plant also has yellow-white or tan colored berries.

When folks take breaks  if youre going to sit down alongside the trail, for example  really be careful of where youre sitting, because in a more shady area [poison oak] tends to grow more as an underbrush or overgrown as vines, Trimble said.

If you come into contact with the plant, the Food and Drug Administration advises that you wash your skin, clothing and equipment with cool soapy water as soon as possible. You may be able to rinse off some of the plant oil.

How to treat it: You can treat the rash at home if you have a mild outbreak on the skin. The American Academy of Dermatology Assn. advises that you go to the emergency room if you have the following symptoms, which are signs of a severe reaction:





Difficulty breathing or swallowing

A rash around one or both eyes or your mouth, or on your genitals

Swelling on your face, especially if an eye swells shut

Itching that worsens or makes it impossible to sleep

Rashes covering most of your body

A fever

When a mild blister or rash starts to form on the skin, don't scratch!



Bacteria under your fingernails can get into the rash and cause an infection, according to the federal agency. Relieve the itching sensation by soaking the affected skin in cool water or using a cold compress.

You can use calamine lotion or over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream to reduce or alleviate the itch. UCLA Health also recommends using steroid cream or bathing with baking soda or colloidal oatmeal. It also said your healthcare provider may prescribe an antihistamine that doesn't relieve the itching but may help you sleep (and ignore the itching).

To aid the healing process you can also purchase a bottle of Tecnu, a cleanser that washes away the poison oak oils you managed to get on your skin.

If your rash doesn't improve in seven to 10 days, the dermatology association says, your skin may have become infected, so you should see a board-certified dermatologist.

Poodle-dog bush appears in areas that have recently been burned by wildfire. (Fletcher Linton / U.S. Forest Service via Associated Press)

Poodle-dog bush, another native poisonous plant, sprouts after a forest or brush fire, which is why it's also known as the "fire follower," according to the U.S. Forest Service.

This plant tends to give people a more intense allergic skin reaction than poison oak, said Trimble.

It grows in a grouping of extended, thin leaves that are often a foot long. In June through August the plant grows a purple bell-shaped flower.

"The plant is covered in sticky hairs, which can dislodge easily and can be passed onto hikers who touch it or brush up against it," according to the Forest Service.

The plant also has a pungent smell.

If skin comes into contact with the plant, swelling, rash and itching can appear in between 12 hours and two days.

How to treat it: As with poison oak rash, use a cold compress, apply calamine lotion or bathe in baking soda or colloidal oatmeal to relive itching symptoms.

Stinging nettle grows along fence rows, river banks and roadsides. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Stinging nettle is a less common weed that pops up on some trails. It grows in moist and uncultivated areas, including riverbanks, fence rows and roadsides, according to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources pest management program. It's a broadleaf weed that grows in colonies or large groups and have seed leafs that are round and oval with sparse stinging hairs.

Skin that comes into contact with the weed rapidly develops reddish patches and starts itching.

How to treat it: There isn't a treatment plan other than steps you can take to relieve the itching, including using a cold compress, applying calamine lotion or bathing in baking soda or colloidal oatmeal.

Poison ivy is a well-known threat in many parts of the country, but Trimble and Sarabia said it's not prevalent in Southern California. #Winning.

Know your plants ahead of your trek

The first preventive measure to take on a hike is to wear long sleeves, long pants, long socks and closed-toe shoes. You can also try IvyX, a product that you spread on your skin to act as a poison oak and poison ivy barrier. It comes in the form of towelettes or gel.

On the trail, avoiding poisonous plants starts with getting to know them. Sarabia suggests hikers of all levels learn a plant a day.

You can start your plant educational journey by looking through Calscape, the California Native Plant Society's online database that offers 150 years' worth of knowledge on native plants in your area.

Sarabia also suggested iNaturalist, an online community where users share what they've learned about nature. You can record your findings, connect with experts and create useful data for scientists and resource managers.

Part of this research includes getting to know the trail you want to visit.

"For folks who aren't super familiar with areas beyond just poisonous plants, there's going to be other ecological conditions that may present hazards on the trail," Trimble said.

You can learn more about trails in Southern California by visiting a city's parks and recreation website, the L.A. County trails website or the Angeles National Forest website.

Another online resource is AllTrails, which includes details about and people's reviews of your destination.

"People sometimes in reviews will say, 'Hey, I saw a lot of poison oak on this section of the trail,'" Trimble said. "So even if people aren't familiar with identifying the plant, it might be a good way to be kind of cautious."

Lastly, find your local nature center or outdoor group. The California Native Plant Society, for example, has 35 chapters, and each typically has monthly meetings in-person or online with programming whose topics include plants and local hikes.

Here are more ways to connect with Southern California groups and hiking resources:





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
I've Been Told To Go Back Where I Came From. Here's What I Wish I Could Explain.

The author says she faces disapproval over her tattoos when she visits South Korea.

The author says she faces disapproval over her tattoos when she visits South Korea.

A few weeks ago, during one of my regular visits back to Seoul, I stopped by the local mogyoktang for a routine deep-body scrub. I entered the bathhouse and went through standard protocol  disrobe, shower and soak.

But as soon as I opened the glass doors and stepped onto the dark concrete floor of the bathing area, I could feel all the ahjummas and halmonis eyes on me. I tried my best to ignore their stares and washed in the middle of the room quickly so I could submerge myself in one of the hot tubs, hiding my body from view.

I love bath culture, but in South Korea, I always feel like Im on display at the bathhouse because were completely naked and Im the only one with tattoos.

I relaxed and let the hot water expel all the nasty stuff thats been building up since my last scrub. When it was my turn, I walked over to the body scrub area, where the ahjumma in her black bra and underwear dumped a bucket of hot water on the table before I plopped my body on top of it.

She immediately started rubbing my body with a rough loofah, reaching crevices even my closest partners havent been privy to. I could see the dead layer of skin coming off.

Why would you do this to your perfect body? she chastised as she scrubbed. Now its ruined. This is such a waste. Promise me you wont get any more.

South Korea is one of the few countries left in the world wheretattoos are still illegal, and this ahjumma was just one of the older generation of Koreans who often look down on me for having them. I tried to laugh it off and not take it personally when this went on for the next 30 minutes. But its an example of one of the many cultural differences between me and my motherland. Even though I love her, she doesnt always love me back.

In America, which Ive officially called home since age 3, Im often told that I dont belong. Like all Asian Americans, I hate the question Where are you from? because its almost always followed up with No, where are you really from?

Most of us have also been told, at some point during our lives in America, to go back to where you came from. But I dont fully belong there either.

Even though my family and I immigrated to the States when I was just a toddler, I never lost my mother tongue, so communication isnt an issue when Im in Seoul. But sometimes Im jealous of other gyopos those who grew up in the United States, England, Germany, Argentina, Canada, wherever  who lost the language because they dont have to overhear the things that I do from locals who presume I dont understand.

Look at her  she looks homeless.

You look so scary.

What do your parents think about you?

What is she wearing? She looks crazy.

I cant believe she walks around like that.

I didnt return to Korea until I was 23  a full two decades after I left. Upon arrival, I felt a wave of comfort similar to when Im in Koreatown in Los Angeles. Finally, people who look like me.

I assumed I would automatically be accepted as a fellow Korean, but in Korea, they immediately see me as an outsider. They can tell by the way I dress and how I look, and they hear it in my accent. Youre not like us.This was a jarring realization.

In a hyper-collective, mono-ethnic, conservative culture where the status quo is celebrated, Koreans point out anything that looks different. In America, I am used to being othered because I am not white. But its a special kind of alienation to feel othered by your own people.

Additionally,according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, South Korea ranks first on a per capita basis, with 13.5 cosmetic procedures performed per 1,000 individuals. Many of those procedures attempt to conform to Korean beauty standards in which white facial features and skin are glorified. Even though I grew up in the United States and my style and identity are a blend of East meets West, my face will never be American enough for either country.

With the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes and the recent mass shooting in North Texas, in whichhalf the fatalities were of Asian descent and included a Korean American family, its hard to say which home I prefer. At least in South Korea, where even the policealmost never carry guns, I rarely fear for my physical safety.

But in South Korea,same-sex marriages are still illegal,mental health care is highly stigmatized despite one of the highest rates of suicide in the world and fatphobia is notoriously perpetuated  my family never hesitates to comment when Ive gained a few pounds.

Despite how much I love visiting, I choose not to live in Seoul. Even though there are pockets of the city with young, queer, tattooed, diverse and liberal folks, like the Itaewon and Hongdae districts, I dont want to have to live my life in confined spaces to feel accepted  just like I dont want to be limited to the 2.7-mile radius that is Koreatown in Los Angeles.

When neither Asia nor America feel like home, Asian Americans of many different cultures have had to create our own distinct identity, as Asian Americans. We have different languages and traditions, but we are united in asking ourselves the same question Ive asked myself for as long as I can remember: Where do I belong?

This is what so many fail to understand about the unique loneliness of being Asian in America: Were trapped between two worlds, but we will never fully belong in either.

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.

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Jacksonville City Council may revisit a plan to buy out the owner of a proposed liquor store in Brentwood following community pushback.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Members of the Brentwood community expressed disdain over the liquor store location due to its proximity to Kipp Elementary School.

The question, however, is where the city will get the money to buy the liquor store owners property.

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It was revealed in the City Council meeting last night that the city has an unused half a million dollars in the bank that was originally embarked on by Mayor Lenny Curry to remove a Confederate monument in Springfield Park. However, the City Council never approved the monuments removal.

Last night, City Council member Al Ferraro suggested that the unused funds be put towards buying the liquor store owners property and building a community center in its place instead.

Read: Brentwood residents say no to liquor store

Ferraro, however, has since taken the proposal off the table.

I wanted to let people know it was about taking money and putting it into the removal of the liquor store, Ferraro explained to Action News Jax. The community had originally asked me to put this forward. Then theyre asking me to withdraw this bill, so Ill be doing that later.

Take Em Down Jax is an organization that says they demand immediate action to remove all monuments in the city dedicated to white supremacy. One of its members told Action News Jax that Ferraros proposal was a bold attempt to keep the statue up.

Action News Jax will continue to follow the story and update you as events unfold.

Read: Brentwood residents hire attorney to help fight liquor store issue

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A Jacksonville firefighter is looking for answers after an Action News Jax investigation. Investigator Emily Turner dug into allegations of wrongdoing at the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, (JFRD) Training Academy and whistleblower complaints about questionable promotions.

Action News Jax isnt identifying the person to protect his job. He has gone to the union, the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, asking them to get to the bottom of it, and if there was an issue, he is made whole.

We interviewed him about what happened. He told us passing the captains promotional exam was his primary focus during the 60 days he had to prepare.

Its like 12- 14-hour days of doing nothing but reading over and over and over, he said.

INVESTIGATES: Questions over firefighter promotions

But he was disappointed when didnt make that rank. Too many people passed ahead of him. At first, he said, I wasnt mad. You know? I just was like, OK. Ill be ready for the next one.

He missed out on a promotion and didnt get the 15 percent pay raise that comes with it. He chalked it up to numbers but, Then your story broke. And Im like, Wait a minute. Maybe, just maybe like, there was a problem with that process.

INVESTIGATES: Chief of Emergency Services controversy continues

That story was an investigation into at least two 2017 whistleblower complaints about falsified training records at the Fire Academy that they say allowed ineligible people to take a captains promotional exam.

Another complaint from the same year the firefighter tested  ... indicated that this may have been done on more than one occasion. Turner dug through that case filed with the Office of Inspector General and found at least two members of JFRD leadership also admitted to hearing about it happening.

INVESTIGATES: Jacksonvilles Chief of emergency services accused of sexual harassment

From there, the firefighter thought, 2016? Captain promotion? I feel like if it happened once, theres a possibility it happened somewhere else. He questioned if someone had taken the exam who should not have. He said it could have made a major difference in his career.

I would have been promoted to the rank of captain, he told Turner. I would have been able to take the next promotional test. He said not to mention the monetary value, obviously. Its just a lot of time and commitment. Its just gone down the drain.

So hes filed a grievance with his union, the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters asking it to investigate this matter thoroughly and take appropriate action to rectify the situation. The union asked him to provide the names of unqualified candidates, so hes getting an attorney to help out.

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In the meantime, union president Randy Wyse said its ultimately something the citys Employee Services, or human resources department, will have to figure out.

Its hard to delve into that, Wyse said. We dont have access to the training records and things like that. So, you know, thats something that theyre going to do and make a determination on it.

But depending on the outcome, this firefighter may never know if he was cheated out of a promotion or not. Thats because the previous Office of Inspector General (OIG) decided to close the case rather than get to the bottom of it. The OIG memo read, An audit (of training records) was not completed, and an investigative report was not generated.

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And that, the firefighter said, leaves too many unanswered questions.

For me, it just means like, you cant trust the process, he said. Its unfair, and why even put that time and effort into anything if you cant be judged fairly?

The current Inspector General decided not to pursue the issue further, either. Instead, the office notified the Florida Bureau of Fire Standards and Training to take whatever action it deems appropriate. Action News Jax has a request to see what the status is on that.

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Washington  An Arkansas man who was photographed propping his foot on a desk in the House speaker's office during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison on Wednesday, with a judge saying he had "not shown any acceptance of responsibility."

Richard "Bigo" Barnett was convicted on eight counts including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and theft of government property after a trial earlier this year. A photo showing him seated at a desk in then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office became one of the most indelible images of Jan. 6.

On Wednesday, he appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Christopher Cooper, who handed down his sentence of 54 months. Prosecutors had sought a prison term of more than seven years, noting that Barnett admitted to entering the Capitol wielding a stun gun and carrying an American flag. Cooper seemed skeptical of some of the government's arguments and imposed a shorter sentence.

Barnett addressed the court during Wednesday's sentencing hearing, saying he was "not proud" of his conduct but arguing it was not "threatening."

"They want me to be remorseful for things I did not do," he said at one point, adding that he plans to appeal his convictions and "wasn't treated fairly."

"This was an enigma in my life," Barnett said, asking for a sentence of probation. "Jan. 6 was a traumatic day for everyone  I admit I was angry and I apologize for that."

Richard Barnett inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. / Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Prosecutors told the judge that Barnett played a "very important role" in delaying the certification of the 2020 election, saying, "We are not here because he was on the front of the New York Times."

His defense team argued that prosecutors went too far in bringing some of the most severe charges and said jurors in Washington, D.C., were biased against him, echoing a claim made by many Jan. 6 defendants before him. Prosecutors did not allege Barnett took part in any violent conduct.

At trial and during Wednesday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors said the 63-year-old retired firefighter and bull rider prepared to travel to Washington ahead of Jan. 6 to keep Donald Trump in power. They said he made his way into the Capitol on the day of the riot after yelling at officers outside the building. Once inside, according to the government, Barnett stole an envelope, sat behind a desk in Pelosi's office and scrawled on a piece of paper, "Hey Nancy, Bigo was here you b*****."

It was only after he threatened police and was hit with chemical spray in the Rotunda that the government says Barnett was forced out of the Capitol. Once outside, prosecutors allege Barnett "bragged" about his entry into the speaker's office and encouraged the other rioters, saying, "This is a war." He "immediately began celebrating his conquests," the government contended on Wednesday, even as the riot was still happening.

Barnett testified in his own defense at trial and underwent a lengthy and, at times, heated cross-examination. He admitted to having regrets for using a vulgar, misogynistic phrase about Pelosi and for putting his feet on the desk. He testified he was a "f***ing idiot" on Jan. 6, but argued his acts were not criminal.

Prosecutors alleged that much of the defendant's testimony from the stand was not true. Since the January trial, they said, he has "demonstrated his lack of remorse and refusal to take responsibility for his actions." Barnett's attorneys contended the government "has no evidence that Mr. Barnett perjured himself."

During sentencing on Wednesday, the judge listed numerous cases in which he found Barnett to have been untruthful on the stand and in court documents  calling them an "affront"  and dismissed claims that Barnett was involuntarily pushed into the Capitol and had no intention of impeding Congress.

Barnett, prosecutors said in court on Wednesday, expressed "downright mockery of the Justice System" even after he was convicted, and demonstrated an "absolute absence of remorse" for his actions that day. He has since tried to downplay the events of Jan. 6, the government argued, with "nonsensical" claims.

After his participation in the riot, according to prosecutors, Barnett even sold signed copies of photos depicting him sitting with his feet on the desk, "a picture that he characterized as 'the face of the new anti-federalist movement.'" Barnett said at sentencing that the ploy was his former attorney's idea and he never profited from the sales.

His defense team argued that the years-long penalty the government sought was unjust and rejected prosecutors' claims that the case was not solely about the picture of him behind the desk.

"Mr. Barnett is here because of the picture," his defense attorney Jonathan Gross said in court. "The government was mad because Richard Barnett was sitting at a desk."

"The worst accusations against Mr. Barnett amounted to 20 minutes of nonviolence in the Capitol, a stolen envelope, and literally seconds of verbal altercation with a police officer," his defense attorneys wrote in pretrial filings, arguing he brought the stun gun to Washington for self-protection. "Mr. Barnett never called for violence. Never called for insurrection. He was mad, but even in his anger his rhetoric was restrained and he never called for actual violence, not on January 6 and not for any time in the future."

Gross said Wednesday much of Barnett's language during the attack was "political rhetoric" and not a threat to officers.

In sentencing Barnett to 54 months in prison, Cooper said Barnett had not shown remorse.

"While you may regret having gone there that day, you have so far not shown any acceptance of responsibility," Cooper said, adding later, "You're too old for this nonsense."

Cooper commended Barnett for his life leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, but said it was hard to reconcile the defendant's actions during the riot with the rest of his life. "It was not a spur-of-the-moment reaction," he said.

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Sergiy Korsunsky, center, Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan, is handed over a document from Toshiro Ino, right, state minister of Defense of Japan, during the handover ceremony of defense equipment for Ukraine at Ministry of Defense Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in Tokyo. the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1/2-ton trucks, seen in background, are part of handover defense equipment. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

TOKYO (AP)  Japan held a ceremony on Wednesday marking its planned donation of about 100 military vehicles to Ukraine, as Tokyo seeks to provide equipment that can be of broader military use than its earlier shipments of helmets and hazmat suits.

In a ceremony at the Defense Ministry at which two half-ton trucks were on display, Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation.

We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return," Ino said. We will provide as much support as we can.

The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japans government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, in a major break from its post-World War II self-defense-only principle.

While other countries have provided Ukraine with tanks, missiles and fighter jets, Japan has limited its donations to non-lethal equipment because the transfer policy prohibits the provision of lethal weapons to countries at war.

Japan has provided Ukraine with bulletproof vests, helmets, gas masks, hazmat suits, small drones and food rations since Russia's invasion began last year.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged the trucks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they met in Hiroshima on Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit. Japan has also offered to treat injured Ukrainian soldiers at a Japanese military hospital.

The vehicles consist of half-ton trucks, high mobility vehicles and material handling vehicles, the government said. The Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency said the details, including the exact number of vehicles and timing of their shipment, are being finalized.

Tokyo has joined the United States and European nations in sanctioning Russia over its invasion and in providing humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.

Japan was quick to react because of fears of a possible impact from the war on East Asia, where Chinas military has grown increasingly assertive and has escalated tensions around self-governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

Japan has contributed more than $7 billion to Ukraine. It has also accepted more than 2,000 displaced Ukrainians and helped them with housing and support for jobs and education, a rare move in a country known for its strict immigration policy.
Kitano said he avoided Kurosawa's films so as not to be too influenced

Cult Japanese director Takeshi Kitano has returned after more than a decade, premiering his new film at Cannes -- a bloody quest for power punctuated by love between warriors.

"Kubi", showing out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, is an epic account of feudal Japan reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's classic "The Seven Samurai".

It has been 13 years since Kitano's last film, "Outrage", but the 76-year-old is never short of work. In Japan, he is best known as a comedian and TV host, and is also an accomplished writer and painter.

Abroad he is primarily known for his award-winning films as actor and director, starring in 2000's "Battle Royale".

He returned to the French Riviera this week with what could be his last feature film, set in the 16th century with a warlord seeking to unite Japan.

When one of his generals rebels against him, the other warlords embark on a manhunt in the hope of earning their stripes.

But there is also an unexpected focus on the love affairs between warriors.

"Japanese historical films rarely evoke the question of male homosexuality," whereas it "was common at that time", Kitano told AFP.

It's budget -- around $11 million -- is large by Japanese standards and Kitano's biggest to date.

From the first minutes, it sets the tone with an monumental battle full of beheadings and squirting blood -- not unfamiliar from a director known for violent films about the yakuza, or Japanese mafia, in film films like "Hana-bi", which won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1997.

Despite the codes of honour and internal power struggles, Kitano refuses to make a comparison with the yakuza.

"The word 'violent' can be used for these two eras but it has a totally different meaning," he said.

Kitano wrote a synopsis for "Kubi" 30 years ago at the very beginning of his directing career.

But the project only came together in 2019 when he published a novel of the same name.

Did he fear comparisons with Kurosawa -- one of Kitano's heroes.

"I tried not to watch the battle scenes in Kurosawa's films to avoid them influencing me," he admitted.

mch-etb/er/bp
Were Jealous! These 6 Countries Offer More Paid Time Off Than The U.S.

The United States falls behind other industrialized nations on a lot of issues, including the work and life balance. As the saying goes, some work to live and others live to work. You can guess which category Americans are in.

The pursuit of the American dream is an obsession that takes its toll on health, personal relationships and so much more. Plus, its a lot harder to take substantial time for travel, compared to Europe and elsewhere.

Americans hesitate booking that flight to Turks and Caicos, even if the cost is a bargain. And if they do follow through with the trip, theyll still check work emails. Its a sad, unfortunate compulsion.

Each site of employment has its own standards. But as of right now, American workers arent guaranteed paid time off by federal law.

All Work And Very Little Play For Americans

Americans are so fixated on work productivity, that they hinge their value on it. Working to finance the basics needed to live like shelter and food is one thing. But straining our eyes in front of the computer for hours on end, day after day? Thats not living by any measure.

The Atlantic writes, the American dreamthat hoary mythology that hard work always guarantees upward mobilityhas for more than a century made the U.S. obsessed with material success and the exhaustive striving required to earn it.

Will this change in our lifetime? Unlikely. All we can do is be staunch about our boundaries, and enjoy as much down time as we can.

Other Nations Guarantee Paid Time Off

In no particular order, here are some of the nations where paid time off is sacred.

France

The French are all about enjoying the finer things in life, and this includes taking breaks.

According to Finance Buzz, the standard work week in France is 35 hours compared to the 40-hour workweek in the U.S. If workers choose to work more than that many hours a week, they sometimes can get additional time off. France also has 11 public holidays.

If youre working with a French-based company, you probably wont reach them after 5 p.m. on Friday. The same goes for the weekend, with some exceptions depending on the industry. In 2016, the French government enacted a law that allows citizens to disconnect from work emails after hours.

Spain

If you want the Spanish to do something outside of work hours, or during the siesta period, theyll tell you to find somebody else to do it.

Spaniards get a guaranteed 22 working days of annual leave. According to Remote, in addition to the month-long leave entitlement, Spanish labor regulations grant national, state and local public holidays as mandatory paid time off for employees.

Employees can expect their typical salary while theyre away.

Finland

Finland holds the top spot as the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report. Their approach to the work/life balance could help explain why that is.

Finnish employees are guaranteed 30 days of vacation, which many of them might put toward the summer.

Info Finland explains, if you work at least 14 days or 35 hours per month, you accrue annual holidays. If you work less than that, you have a right to leave and to holiday compensation, which is paid during leave.

For clarity, holiday in this context means vacation.

Australia

Down Under takes vacation time seriously as well. Australians can thank those who participated in a union campaign in the 1970s for that.

Employees who work full time are granted four weeks of annual leave. Australian Unions notes that, part time employees are entitled to the same amount of leave, proportionate to how many hours you work each week.

Australian workers accumulate annual leave days from the first day they start working. If, by the end of the year, some of that time isnt used, it will carry into the next year.

During the leave period, Australians are paid at least their base rate, excluding extra payments like allowances, penalties and overtime.

Germany

The Germans arent interested in being worked to death.

Whether they need a vacation, are sick, or need to care for a newborn, they dont have to worry about losing their jobs. Its understood that when breaks are afforded, the employee feels better, and can return to work refreshed.

I Am Expat writes, full-time employees in Germany are entitled to a statutory minimum of 20 days of paid holiday per year, based on a five-day working week, or 25, based on a six-day working week.

Brazil

Once Brazilians have put in a year of work, they are entitled to up to 30 paid days of annual leave. They are free to break up that time however they choose.

However, Skuad notes, one period must be at least 14 days long, and two of the periods need to be at least five days long each.

Brazilian employers pay their staff regular wages during leave. Moreover, Skuad writes, the vacation bonus must be equivalent to one-third of the employees monthly salary. The bonus must be paid out by the employer at least two days before the start of the vacation. 

Skuad writes, the employer must pay out this bonus at least two days before the start of the vacation date.
Jeffrey Epstein used US Virgin Islands First Lady to remain 'unchecked' in sex-trafficking scheme, JP Morgan claims in court filing

Jeffrey Epstein's main residence in the US Virgin Islands was on Little St. James, an island he owned. Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images; REUTERS/Marco Bello

JP Morgan wants to shift blame to the US Virgin Islands over connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

A now-former first lady was "Epstein's primary conduit" for local power, JP Morgan says in a new filing.

Epstein avoided oversight  even though he was a registered sex offender  in exchange for money, per JP Morgan.

New filings in the messy lawsuit between the US Virgin Islands and JP Morgan Chase over who bears responsibility for Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation are dragging former US Virgin Islands First Lady Cecile de Jongh in the spotlight.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Jed Rakoff, who is overseeing the lawsuit, ordered Jeffrey Epstein's estate to produce all emails and other documents referencing de Jongh to JP Morgan, which is defending itself in the lawsuit. On the same day, JP Morgan alleged in its own filings that de Jongh was "Epstein's primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI government."

"Unequivocally, a political culture was fostered within the local Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands that allowed Epstein to remain unchecked in exchange for his sponsorship and financial contributions," JP Morgan claims in the filing.

The US Virgin Islands attorney general's office filed the lawsuit against JP Morgan in December, alleging the financial institution "pulled the levers" of Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for trafficking girls to him to rape.

According to the US Virgin Islands lawsuit, Epstein's JP Morgan accounts were used to pay off his victims and conceal wrongdoing. The bank ignored "red flag" laws that would have allowed them to stop Epstein earlier, according to the suit.

In its own filings, JP Morgan says the US Virgin Islands should have used its own oversight powers to stop Epstein and that it was "greedy" for seeking more damages after already obtaining more than $100 million in a settlement with Epstein's estate.

Epstein had deep ties to the local Democratic party, JP Morgan claims

Epstein "maintained a quid pro quo relationship with USVI's highest ranking officials" by giving them money and political favors in exchange for millions of dollars in tax incentives, and for them looking the other way when he brought girls to his private island, according to JP Morgan's new filing.

At the center of Epstein's links to government officials, JP Morgan alleges, was de Jongh, who served as first lady when her husband, John de Jongh Jr., was governor of the US Virgin Islands between 2007 and 2015.

Cecile de Jongh didn't immediately respond to a request for comment after Insider reached her representative. Much of the details of her work for Epstein are redacted from the filing.

She had worked for the Southern Trust Company, a corporation Epstein allegedly used for his sex-trafficking enterprise, as well as one of Epstein's philanthropic foundations.

According to the new JP Morgan filing, de Jongh worked for Epstein while also serving as first lady and managed Epstein's corporations "despite her public role and official duties." The political donations she facilitated, according to JP Morgan, "came with strings attached."

According to the filing, Epstein also fostered connections with Kenneth Mapp, who served as governor between 2015 and 2019, as well as Albert Bryan, the current governor, who is scheduled to be deposed for the lawsuit on January 6. Neither Mapp nor a representative for Bryan immediately responded to requests for comment about their alleged relationships with Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein's Little St. James island. US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

Epstein raised funds for Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat who serves as a non-voting delegate who has represented the US Virgin Islands in Congress since 2015, and who served as a House manager during former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. (Plaskett has since said she's donated those funds to non-profits supporting women and children and called Epstein's conduct "despicable.")

In a partially unredacted transcript for a deposition she took in May, Plaskett discussed traveling to Epstein's Manhattan townhouse as late as 2018  which was more than a decade after his sex offender designation, and about a year before his arrest by federal prosecutors.

JP Morgan alleges that Epstein's powerful connections with the US Virgin Islands' political establishment meant that they effectively ignored his status as a registered sex offender, which followed his 2007 guilty plea for solicitation in Florida.

"In sum, in exchange for Epstein's cash and gifts, USVI made life easy for him," the new filing claims. "The government mitigated any burdens from his sex offender status. And it made sure that no one asked too many questions about his transport and keeping of young girls on his island."

A spokesperson for the US Virgin Islands government said that JP Morgan's new filing is "an obvious attempt to shift blame" from the bank.

"JPMorgan Chase facilitated Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, and should be held accountable for violating the law," the spokesperson said.

JP Morgan has also filed a lawsuit against Jes Staley, a former JP Morgan executive who formed close ties with Epstein, alleging he should be solely responsible for any wrongdoing. On Wednesday, Rakoff allowed the lawsuit against Staley to move forward, rejecting his attempts to dismiss it.

The US Virgin Islands settled its separate sex-trafficking case with Epstein's estate in December, with the estate agreeing to hand over $105 million and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the dead pedophile's island residences. The islands sold for $60 million in May.

Stephen Deckoff, the financier who purchased them, has said he plans to turn them into a destination resort.

Read the original article on Business Insider
FILE - The logo of JPMorgan bank is pictured at the new French headquarters of JP Morgan bank, Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in Paris. JPMorgan Chase is defending itself against a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands accusing it of empowering Jeffrey Epstein to abuse teenage girls. Lawyers for the giant bank said in court papers Tuesday, May 23, 2023, that it was the islands that enabled the financier to commit his crimes. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File)

NEW YORK (AP)  A federal judge said Wednesday that he wont block JPMorgans legal efforts to blame a former executive of hiding Jeffrey Epsteins decades-long sex abuse to keep the financier as a client.

Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan denied requests by lawyers for the executive, Jes Staley, to toss out claims the bank made against Staley after it was sued last year by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein maintained a residence, and a woman who identified herself as one of Epsteins victims.

The judge said hell explain his reasoning later in a written decision.

Staleys lawyers had asked in court papers for dismissal of JPMorgan's claims, saying the bank was using Staley as a public relations shield by asserting claims with no legal basis.

They said Staley had no decision-making authority over Epstein's accounts and was not alleged to have seen any of the suspicious account activity that other JPMorgan employees ignored.

Epstein was 66 when he apparently killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail cell where he was awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial after his application for bail was denied. He had pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually abused dozens of girls, some as young as 14.

Staley, who worked at JPMorgan from 1979 until January 2013, reported to Jamie Dimon, the bank's president and chairman, after he became chief executive officer for JPMorgan's Corporate and Investment Banking division in 2009, his lawyers said. Dimon is scheduled to be deposed this week in the Epstein-related litigation.

Staley left JPMorgan to become CEO of London-based bank Barclays, though he resigned last year after British regulators reported his past links to Epstein.

Staley's lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment on the judge's ruling Wednesday.

In lawsuits filed late last year against JPMorgan, the U.S. Virgin Islands and a woman who identified herself in court papers as Jane Doe claimed that the bank provided Epstein with large amounts of cash from 1998 through August 2013 even though it knew about Epstein's sex trafficking practices.

Both lawsuits were filed after New York state in November enacted a temporary law letting adult victims of sexual abuse to sue others for the abuse they suffered, even if the abuse occurred long ago.

JPMorgan, in opposing Staley's request to be dismissed from the litigation, has called the lawsuits misguided for targeting the bank.

It noted that Jane Doe's lawsuit mentioned Staley 97 times and claimed that Staley knew without any doubt that Epstein was trafficking and abusing girls while the U.S. Virgin Islands' lawsuit named him 41 times.

If these allegations are proven to be true then Staley must be held accountable for his alleged misconduct and any harm that conduct caused to victims and the company, the bank's lawyers wrote in court papers.

The New York bank seeks to hold Staley personally liable for any financial penalties JPMorgan could face in the case and also seeks to recover back wages Staley earned during years when he allegedly knew about Epstein's abuse.

On Tuesday, JPMorgan filed court papers accusing the government of the Virgin Islands with complicity in Epstein's crimes, saying that government officials were bought off by Epstein to look the other way while he used his estate to host teenage girls who were sexually abused.

A spokesperson from the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney generals office said Tuesday in an email that JPMorgan was trying to shift blame away from the bank, which had a responsibility to report human trafficking but failed to do so.
Judge issued warrant for Ammon Bundy more than a month ago. Why hasnt he been arrested?

On April 18, 4th District Judge Lynn Norton issued an arrest warrant for right-wing activist Ammon Bundy in the defamation case brought against him by St. Lukes Health System. The warrant was the result of Bundy violating a court order that barred him from intimidating or harassing witnesses, St. Lukes attorney Erik Stidham said.

More than a month later, Bundy still hasnt been arrested.

Law enforcement consultant and former Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney told the Idaho Statesman that is likely because of a key distinction  the warrant for Bundys arrest is civil rather than criminal. Because of that, Raney said, the timeline to arrest Bundy is different than if he were wanted on a criminal charge.

Theres nothing that obligates the sheriff as to when to serve (the warrant), Raney said. It doesnt mean they have to put themselves in danger to do this.

Idahos rules of civil procedure allow judges to issue warrants if theres probable cause that an individual is in contempt of court and is also likely to disregard a written notice to appear. Bundy has not appeared in court for the St. Lukes proceedings.

The rules stipulate that civil arrest warrants must be executed in the same manner as a warrant of arrest issued in a criminal case. Warrants dont include a timeline for arrest, but Raney said criminal warrants carry more urgency.

Its not like we have a victim out there and a potential for another victim, Raney said.

Raney applauded Gem County Sheriff Donnie Wunder for avoiding a conflict with Bundy, who gained notoriety after participating in two armed standoffs against federal officials in the mid 2010s.

Several emails and phone calls to the Gem County Sheriffs Office from the Statesman asking about the arrest warrant have gone unanswered. A Statesman reporter who went to the sheriffs office in Emmett on May 8 was told the sheriff was not there and would be gone for the rest of the week.

Raney noted that its unusual for a warrant to remain unserved for so long.

Normally, everything would have been served well before now, Raney told the Statesman. That said, anyone who had openly threatened law enforcement and gathered people to physically resist service would be treated with the same caution.

Shortly after Norton issued the arrest warrant, the Peoples Rights Network, an activist group Bundy founded, sent an alert claiming Bundys Emmett home was surrounded by law enforcement. Officials with the Gem County Sheriffs Office said deputies briefly stopped by Bundys home but left after being told he was not there.

The group then called on the public to come to Bundys house for a barbecue, adding that attendees could camp on the property overnight.

Last month, Bundy confronted sheriffs deputies who came on his property to serve him with court documents related to the case. Following the confrontation, Wunder told St. Lukes his office would not serve Bundy for fear of escalating the situation to violence. The hospital system asked the Idaho Supreme Court to direct Wunder to serve Bundy as part of his constitutional duties.

The next day, St. Lukes dropped the request after Wunder agreed to serve Bundy.

For his part, Bundy has maintained that he has not acted violently. But St. Lukes points to a statement Bundy made in the Idaho Dispatch in December, when he claimed that if pushed in the lawsuit, he would meet em on the front door with my friends and a shotgun.

Bundy suggests he has sheriffs support

In an interview with the Statesman, Bundy gave his own theories about why the Gem County Sheriffs Office hasnt arrested him.

Bundy said he believes Wunder, whom he has spoken to on the phone since the warrant was issued, disagrees with how St. Lukes acted during the child welfare case.

Why do I think I havent been arrested yet? Well, I think theres several different things, Bundy said by phone. One is, I think the sheriff here has actually looked at this thing and hes just not comfortable with St. Lukes claims.

Bundy said there had been an effort to educate law enforcement about the case.

Overall, theyre starting to really see more and more  and its going to happen more and more, I promise you that  that this is not what St. Lukes is saying it is, Bundy said.

Bundy said he also believes the sheriffs office has not executed the warrant because Bundy has surrounded himself with his supporters.

Ive got people here, friends, that are constantly here, making sure that something imminent action  actually doesnt happen against me, Bundy said.

When pressed multiple times by the Statesman, Bundy did not answer whether he could see his supporters  whom Bundy referred to as friends and neighbors  becoming violent if the sheriffs office did try to arrest him.

Warrant issued for witness intimidation

In December, Judge Norton issued a protection order that prohibited any defendants or agents of the defendants from using force to intimidate, threaten or harass anyone who had testified in the case or might be called as a witness.

In April, St. Lukes successfully argued that Bundy had broken that order, resulting in Norton issuing the arrest warrant. St. Lukes attorney Erik Stidham pointed to Bundys tendency to talk about violence in online videos and writings as evidence of the potential threat he could pose.

At least three witnesses were unwilling to testify in the defamation lawsuit because they fear the tactics used by the former gubernatorial candidate and his followers, Stidham said. The hospital attorney said that if Bundy is allowed to continue his threats, it could jeopardize further witness testimony.

Included in the hospitals examples of Bundys violent rhetoric was a February post on the Peoples Rights Network website, court files showed.

There is no silver bullet to securing liberty, Bundy wrote. It is going to take unity, suffering and the willingness to use violence in defense, like it always has. Stop believing that some convention or other plot is the answer. Stop thinking that the courts or elected representatives are going to save us.

In a later post, Bundy denied that those words had anything to do with the case.

When asked about St. Lukes noting his online words, Bundy reiterated his belief in the posts content.

How do you think we became the country we became, and how do you think that any battle or anything that weve ever been involved in that secured freedom has always taken (violence), Bundy told the Statesman. You cant deny history, right?

Process servers deterred by Bundy

St. Lukes has said no private process servers would deliver documents to Bundy because of his reputation for leading protests outside of peoples homes and targeting them online. Bundy also contacted Wunders office to report private process servers for trespassing on his property. Idaho law does not explicitly exempt private process servers from trespass laws.

Bundy has said he feels harassed by process servers and how frequently theyre delivering documents related to the defamation case.

Numerous private businesses serve process, meaning they deliver court documents to involved parties to ensure theyre aware of proceedings. Raney said they typically handle civil cases like divorces.

Raney said sheriffs offices will sometimes fulfill those duties when private agencies have safety concerns. That can happen when a person is volatile or poses some other danger, Raney said. And servers cant just leave documents in a mailbox. Idaho law requires them to be personally delivered to ensure the person involved in the proceedings receives the documents

You cant just leave them on the front step expecting (the person) to come home and find them and consider that service, Raney said.

Raney said despite the delay in Bundys arrest, he believes justice is going to be served.

Bundys going to be arrested, Raney said. Hes going to go to jail. Hes going to go to court. But it doesnt need to happen today.
Julian Assange's supporters say campaign for release on 'cusp of success'

By Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Supporters of Julian Assange said on Wednesday the campaign to release the Wikileaks founder is on the "cusp of success" after a concerted diplomatic push by his country, Australia, which says he has been imprisoned for too long.

Assange is being held in Britain and battling extradition to the United States where he is wanted on criminal charges over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010.

Hundreds of supporters gathered at Hyde Park in Sydney for a march through the city that was originally planned to coincide with a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden, who cancelled his visit over the U.S. debt ceiling crisis.

Assange's wife, Stella Assange, travelled to Australia for the protest and told Reuters meetings with politicians in Canberra had been productive.

"What I feel intensely is a concerted effort to bring Julian home from the Australian politicians, obviously from the government and also from the Australian population," she said.

The push for Assange's release is on the "cusp of success", his father, John Shipton, told Reuters separately at the march.

Australia is backing the drive for Assange's release ahead of his extradition to the U.S. and both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton this month said his detention had gone on too long.

Albanese, an advocate for Assange's release while in opposition, raised the case with Biden during a visit to the U.S. in November.

Australian High Commissioner to Britain Stephen Smith visited the free-speech activist in prison last month, a meeting Albanese said he had encouraged.

WikiLeaks came to prominence in 2010 when it released thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables in what was the largest security breach of its kind in U.S. military history.

Assange's supporters say he is an anti-establishment hero who has been victimised because he exposed U.S. wrongdoing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his prosecution is a politically motivated assault on journalism and free speech.

U.S. prosecutors and Western security officials regard him as a reckless enemy of the state whose actions imperilled the lives of agents named in the leaked material.

Stephen Kenny, a lawyer for former Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks, told the crowd that Assange had committed no crime.

"This is a political matter and it requires a political solution," he said.

(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Here are area restaurants with seven or more priority or critical health code violations, with highlighted links to some original public record reports.

Restaurants correct most violations at the time of the original inspection or shortly thereafter. Links to the follow-up inspections show how each establishment has corrected or is working to correct any remaining violations.

If an inspection or follow-up report needs clarification, restaurant and grocery store owners can call Joyce Smith at 816-234-4692 or email her at jsmith@kcstar.com. The Star will post appropriate responses in the same online locations as the original report.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture cited these operations for seven or more priority health code violations (direct links to the reports are not available).

 Bear Necessities Coffee Bar, 9609 W. 87th St., Overland Park, had eight priority violations during a May 22 inspection for an expired license.

 Goodcents, 7933 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, had eight priority violations during a May 17 inspection for an expired license.

 La Tabasquena, ice cream, 115 S. Clairborne Road, Suite E, Olathe, had eight priority violations during a May 22 inspection for an expired license.

 Molcajetes Tacos & Tequila, 941 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, had eight priority violations during a May 17 inspection following a complaint.

 Pak Halal International Foods South, 8010 W. 151st St., Overland Park, had eight priority violations during a May 18 joint inspection.

 India Palace, 129 E. 10th St., Lawrence, had seven priority violations during a May 18 routine inspection.

 Tortilla Ranch, 6029 Metcalf Ave., Mission, had seven priority violations during a May 18 inspection for an expired license.

For complete Kansas health inspections, click here.

The Kansas City Health Department cited these operations for seven or more critical violations:

 Drunken Worm, main kitchen, 1405 W. 39th St., had eight critical violations during a May 17 routine inspection.

 Old Folks Lounge, 4805 E. 24th St., had eight critical violations during a May 19 routine inspection.

 Anitas Famous Rolls, 7715 N.W. Prairie View Road, had seven critical violations during a May 18 routine inspection.

For complete Kansas City-area reports, click here.
Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lakes latest attack on the media is getting plenty of attention on Twitter  but probably not for the reasons she hoped.

Theyre living on planet crazy, Lake, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has pushed debunked claims about the 2020 and 2022 elections, said on Newsmax on Tuesday. I dont frankly want to be on that same planet with them because they lost their minds.

Lake has lost every legal effort to overturn the results of the election she lost to Katie Hobbs in November, including her last remaining case in Arizona, in which her own star witnesses made a strong argument against her claims.

Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court even fined one of her attorneys for false factual statements.

An increasingly desperate Lake said on Tuesday she intends to take her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yet on Newsmax she called the media completely desperate.

Theyll say anything, she said. It shows how desperate they are.

Her critics on Twitter were ready to blast off on her planet crazy claims:

Kari Lake: "They're living on planet crazy."



Projection is a powerful force. https://t.co/RhDa0XTbnU  Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 24, 2023

Governor Kari Lake says some words. https://t.co/RuAPdMxwwj  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 24, 2023

Every Republican accusation is a confession. https://t.co/mK6BDKQu0G  MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 24, 2023

Jeez! I thought my glasses were dirty! https://t.co/2k4eXcgizx  Heather Thomas (@HeatherThomasAF) May 24, 2023

I truly believe this womans cheese done slid of her cracker! https://t.co/A7IaFY6OA6  Really?!! (@MichNazz) May 24, 2023

P R O J E C T I O N  https://t.co/oGDjNujwjc  Spiros Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) May 24, 2023
A Texas man has pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to file fraudulent federal income-tax returns that used stolen information from a Kentucky bourbon distillery and other companies across the country.

Earnest Taylor Jr., of Houston, pleaded guilty this week in a Kentucky federal court to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S.

Taylor said in his plea agreement he took part in a scheme to submit hundreds of fraudulent tax returns along with two other men charged in the case, Stephen Olewe and Hillary Kubwa.

Olewe and Kubwa had a legitimate tax-preparation business in Houston, but in 2017 and 2018, working with people in Africa, ran a side scheme to file fraudulent returns, according to Taylors plea agreement.

The scheme involved sending hundreds of emails to companies across the country seeking W-2 information on employees, which would include how much money they made, the amount of taxes withheld and personal identifying information.

The emails identified the sender as an executive of the company, which was false, and were designed to create urgency for the person who received the email to respond quickly, Taylors plea document said.

That kind of a scam is called phishing, which typically involves sending deceptive emails to try to trick people into giving out financial information such as credit card numbers.

The charges against Taylor and the others dont identify the Kentucky company that fell victim to the scam in 2017, but a defense attorney said in one motion it was Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg.

The charges were filed in Kentucky because the scam involved a company here.

To use the information they stole, Olewe, Kubya and Taylor worked together to get control of electronic accounts used to file tax returns online, according to a court document.

The IRS allows people who prepare tax returns to set up those accounts in order to file them.

Taylor and those charged with him tricked the registered owners of filing accounts into giving them control or used identifying information on other people to set up accounts, Assistant U.S. Attorney William P. Moynahan said in one court document.

That allowed people involved in the scam to avoid linking themselves directly to fraudulent returns, Moynahan said.

Taylor convinced two women in Houston to apply for electronic filing numbers and then took control of the accounts, according to his plea agreement.

He provided the filing number to Olewe to use in filing fake returns.

People involved in the conspiracy split money from the refund checks, according to the court record.

All told, the people involved in the conspiracy used information from more than 30 businesses or organizations around the U.S. and filed more than 500 fraudulent returns, Taylors plea deal said.

The returns submitted though two of the four electronic filing accounts sought a total of $718,728 in fraudulent refunds.

The IRS didnt pay all of them, but people involved in the scam received $352,381 in fraudulent refunds through the two accounts Taylor had the women set up and then took over, according to his plea.

The indictment said people involved in the conspiracy filed fake returns seeking a total of $2 million in refunds.

Olewe and Kubwa pleaded not guilty and were scheduled for trial last September, but left the country and are still fugitives, Moynahan said in a recent motion.

In addition to conspiracy, they are charged with aggravated identity theft.

Taylor faced up to 10 years in prison on the conspiracy charge, but he entered what is called a binding plea calling for a sentence of 15 months.

That means thats what his sentence will be if U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove accepts the plea when he sentences Taylor.

The FBI received more than 800,000 complaints in 2022 of what it calls cyber-enabled frauds, including phishing, according to the agencys Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The total number of complaints was down a bit from the year before, but the potential loss grew from $6.9 billion in 2021 to more than $10.2 billion in 2022, according to its annual report.

The Federal Trade Commission has tips on how to avoid being victimized by a phishing scam.
A Kentucky lawmaker is under fire for writing that the LGBTQI+ community is a disease  but hes not backing down from his remarks.

The comments were made in the description of a video podcast posted to YouTube Tuesday on the account of Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, discussing the recent controversy surrounding Targets Pride swimwear collection.

As the comment gained traction on social media and was called out as harmful by activists, Calloway didnt budge.

The fact is that LGBTQIA+ and gender ideology is spreading on social media as a social contagion and targeting confused children, he wrote in a social media post. I am amazed at the hypocrisy of people who promote genital mutilation, chemical castration, and the murder of unborn babies, yet clutch their pearls when they read a description posted on YouTube by my video producer.

Target has been at the center of a right-wing firestorm in recent days as the false claim that the retailer is selling tuck-friendly swimwear to children has gained traction. According to the Associated Press, the tuck-friendly garments are for adults and not sold in childrens sizes.

Calloway, a two-term state representative, has quickly gained a reputation as one of the legislatures most socially conservative lawmakers. Calloway has said that being gay or trans is a choice, attempted to revive a drag show ban during the 2023 General Assembly and called for the ouster of the state education commissioner over LGBTQ-inclusive stances. Calloway was stripped of two committee assignments at the end of the legislative session in March, a move some have suggested is retaliation for challenging House leadership.

The 2023 General Assembly, which was controlled by the Republican supermajority in both the House and Senate, saw a heavy emphasis on fighting woke issues, including the passage of Senate Bill 150, which bans gender-affirming care for trans youth.

When reviewed by The Herald-Leader Wednesday morning, the description for the more than hour-long video had been edited to remove the disease comments and instead said The Trans Mind is Mutating.

Calloway continued to defend his position Wednesday morning with additional Twitter posts about Target.

Michael Frazier, a gay man and Republican operative, responded to Calloways remarks, writing on Twitter, I know your heart and you didnt show it in this statement.

Ive seen the future of party and its not the words presented by Rep. Calloway. In fact, when speaking to young republicans, #LGBT is number one issue for why young people leave our party, he wrote. Language like this only inflames and dooms our future. We might be appealing to a certain base but only on borrowed time. We must think look to the future.

The Kentucky Democratic Party also called out the hateful comments.

LGBTQ+ Kentuckians are citizens of our Commonwealth, yes, even in Josh Calloways district, KDP Chair Colmon Elridge said in a statement. And we need to stand up against any attempts to erase members of our community. Reckless policies and words by extreme politicians in Frankfort have potentially deadly consequences, making these comments inexcusably dangerous. Kentuckians deserve better.

Rebecca Blankenship, executive director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, also called on Calloway to retract his reprehensible remark.

He has friends and colleagues who are a part of that community who are deeply hurt by dehumanizing language like this, Blankenship said in a statement. He has a good heart, and he should put it to kinder purposes  beginning with an unequivocal apology.

In response to Calloways claims that people are promoting genital mutilation of children, Blankenship noted that every pro-LGBT advocacy organization in Kentucky made clear that we do not oppose limiting gender-affirming surgeries to adults only.
Kevin Hart

Kevin Hart has opened a drive-thru location in Hollywood of his plant-based, quick-service restaurant Hart House.

While multiple Hart House establishments exist, the Sunset Boulevard site incorporates the brands first drive-thru.

The Los Angeles-area Hart House features craveable, sustainable and plant-forward food and is committed to making plant-based food more accessible.

Since the inception of Hart House, its always been about creating a new option within fast food which is why Im excited to bring Hart House to Hollywood, Hart said in a statement. At Hart House, we are in the business of making people feel good and Im so proud of how fast we are growing and cant wait until there are Hart House restaurants all across the nation.

Regarding the menu options, Hart House offers various options, including plant-based burgrs, chickn sandwiches, salads, nuggets, fries, tots, milkshakes, and gluten-free options. Everything is 100% plant-based with no cholesterol, antibiotics, hormones, artificial colors, preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup or trans fats.

We are on a mission to create a sustainable restaurant brand that is grounded in high quality jobs and objectively delicious food, with a menu that happens to be made entirely from plants, Hart House CEO Andy Hooper said. We believe its time to usher in a new era of fast food in Hollywood that matches up against the titans of the industry.

In addition to celebrating the opening of its inaugural drive-thru location, Hart House is launching a new summer refresh menu called Summer Lovin for a limited time at all three locations featuring three new items: a smokey BBQ burgr, Hart House lemonade and Nashville nuggets.

Hart House is committed to helping the community and will donate 10% of opening day proceeds to its community partner, Assistance League of Los Angeles.

Assistance League of Los Angeles is thrilled and honored to be the Community Spotlight Partner for Hart House Hollywood, CEO Melanie Merians said. Having fresh, delicious, and affordable plant-based food in our neighborhood is fantastic! In addition, the mission of Hart House, committed to the well-being of people and the planet, aligns perfectly with the mission of the League, committed to the well-being of homeless, foster, and impoverished youth. With Hart House as a great community partner, Assistance League of Los Angeles reconfirms our commitment to building a healthy and happy community for all.
These are the key bills signed by DeSantis this year

Throughout this years session, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature has pushed through several pieces of legislation that are considered big policy wins for GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.

With the governor set to announce his bid for the White House Wednesday evening, heres a breakdown of the key bills he signed during and after the 2023 regular legislative session.

Sweeping elections package

He signed 20 bills on Wednesday ahead of his 2024 announcement, including a sweeping elections package that contains an amendment that will pave the way for his presidential campaign while allowing him to remain as governor.

The amendment intends to clarify existing state law so that any person in public office running for president or vice president of the United States is exempt from resigning.

The broad elections bill that passed the legislature at the end of April has been met with controversy, largely focused on the array of new restrictions that it seeks to impose on voter registration groups. Florida lawmakers had been poised to include protections against harassment for election workers, but conservative activists worked to kill those efforts.

Six-week abortion ban

A measure dubbed the Heartbeat Protection Act, signed by DeSantis in a closed-door ceremony last month, prohibits physicians from knowingly performing abortions after six weeks in most cases.

Exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking exist for up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy, but there is a caveat: Women must provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation providing evidence. Additionally, after six weeks, two physicians can certify in writing that the abortion is necessary to save the womans life or to avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.

At a March news conference, DeSantis called the proposed exceptions sensible.

Though enacted, the six-week ban wont take effect until 30 days after the state Supreme Court either overturns its previous precedent on abortion or tosses out cases from Planned Parenthood and abortion rights activists challenging the existing 15-week abortion ban.

Concealed carry without a permit

In April, DeSantis unceremoniously signed legislation authorizing concealed carry without a permit in Florida.

Under the law, which will take effect July 1, gun owners are allowed to carry a gun in public without a government-issued permit.

You dont need a permission slip from the government to be able to exercise your constitutional rights, DeSantis said at a March event to promote his new book at a gun store in Georgia.

The law also ends an existing state requirement to undergo training before carrying a concealed weapon outside the home.

The government-issued permit remains available for those who wish to obtain one. And it would remain illegal to carry a firearm in certain gun-free zones, including schools, courthouses and college campuses.

Some gun rights advocates have said that the law doesnt go far enough, while Florida Democrats have criticized DeSantis for signing the public safety bill, arguing that it achieves the opposite.

Eliminating unanimous jury decisions for death penalty

DeSantis in April signed a bill that eliminated unanimous jury decisions for the death penalty, making Florida the state with the lowest threshold for administering capital punishment.

Under the new law, if at least eight jurors determine that the defendant should be sentenced to death, the jurys recommendation to the court must be a sentence of death.

If fewer than eight jurors recommend the death penalty, the law requires the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

In January, DeSantis vowed to rid Florida of unanimous 12-member jury decisions for the death penalty, citing the verdict in the Parkland school shooting as a miscarriage of justice. The shooter was sentenced to life in prison without parole rather than death, due to three jurors recommending against the death penalty.

Todays change in Florida law will hopefully save other families from the injustices we have suffered, said Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina was killed in the Parkland shooting.

Capital sexual battery

On May 1, DeSantis signed a bill that makes child rapists eligible for the death penalty with the minimum sentence of life in prison without parole.

According to the measure, a person 18 years of age or older who commits sexual battery upon, or in an attempt to commit sexual battery injures the sexual organs of, a person less than 12 years of age commits a capital felony.

Were putting pedophiles to death, hopefully, DeSantis said, before sitting down to sign the bill in Titusville, Florida.

The law runs afoul of a 2008 US Supreme Court decision prohibiting states from applying the death penalty for child rape if the victim did not die.

We think that in the worst of the worst cases, the only appropriate punishment is the ultimate punishment, and so this bill sets up a procedure to be able to challenge that precedent, DeSantis said at the time.

Sweeping crackdown on immigration

DeSantis on May 10 signed a sweeping crackdown on unlawful immigration thats designed to deter undocumented individuals from showing up in the state.

Under the law, which takes effect in July, transporting someone who has entered the country illegally could be punished with a 5-year prison sentence or a $5,000 fine per person. It also requires companies with at least 25 employees to check the immigration status of workers against a federal database called E-Verify and creates penalties for employers who knowingly employ unauthorized aliens.

Additionally, it repeals a law that allowed undocumented individuals to become lawyers in the state and it bans them from driving in Florida, even if they have a license issued by another state. Hospitals will have to ask about the immigration status of all patients on admission forms.

DeSantis did not get everything he wanted in the bill. He had pushed to eliminate in-state tuition for undocumented residents  which had been championed by his predecessor, now-Sen. Rick Scott, and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez when she was in the state legislature  but Republicans balked at the proposal. Lawmakers also axed a proposal that would have made it illegal to transport an undocumented person within the state, a provision that opponents said would have targeted families dropping kids off at school and charities that aid migrant workers.

However, the requirement for businesses to check the status of its workforce fulfilled a promise DeSantis made when he first ran for governor in 2018. DeSantis push for E-verify pitted him against the states powerful hospitality, restaurant and agriculture industries, which have teamed up to block similar requirements in the past.

Limiting Chinas influence in Florida

On May 8, DeSantis signed bills aimed at limiting Chinas influence in Florida, including blocking TikTok on all government and education institution servers and devices and prohibiting China and other foreign countries of concern from purchasing farmland and land 10 miles within military installations.

Florida makes it very clear, we dont want the CCP in the Sunshine State. We want to maintain this as the Free State of Florida, thats exactly what these bills are doing, DeSantis said at the bill signing in Brooksville, Florida.

We believe protecting our food supply is a security issue, and we want to make sure that our agricultural land is not compromised by CCP influence, DeSantis said, referring to the bill banning farmland purchases. We dont want the CCP in charge of any food production.

The law prohibits land purchases by China or other foreign countries of concern within 10 miles of any type of critical infrastructure, including seaports, airports, powerplants, space ports, chemical manufacturing and telecom systems.

DeSantis already signed an executive order that blocks TikTok and other foreign-owned apps from state government devices and networks, but this extends to all levels of government, including local, and state universities.

SB 258 doesnt name TikTok specifically, but it blocks the use of applications from foreign countries of concern that, among other things, collect keystrokes or personal, financial or other business data, conduct surveillance and tracking of an individual or use algorithmic modifications to conduct disinformation or misinformation campaigns.

Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Syria are also named as foreign countries of concern.

Additionally, DeSantis signed a measure that prohibits state universities and colleges from accepting grants from a foreign country of concern.

Restricting transgender Floridians access to treatments and bathrooms

On May 17, DeSantis signed into law new restrictions on gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors, drag shows, bathroom usage and which pronouns can be used in school.

We are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy, and kids should have an upbringing that reflects that, DeSantis said at the time.

LGBTQ advocates in the state criticized the legislation as a larger effort to erase them from Florida schools and society.

DeSantis has just signed into law the largest slate of anti-LGBTQ bills in one legislative session in the states history, said Joe Saunders, senior political director of Equality Florida. This is an all out attack on freedom.

As a candidate for governor in 2018, DeSantis dismissed legislative battles to legislate transgender people as a distraction he would avoid if elected.

Getting into bathroom wars, I dont think thats a good use of our time, he said at a GOP primary forum hosted by the Florida Family Policy Council, a Christian right organization.

But as hes geared up for a White House bid, DeSantis has seized on these battles, which have become an animating feature of his pitch to Republican primary voters.

One measure prohibits transgender children from receiving gender-affirming treatments, including prescriptions that block puberty hormones or sex-reassignment surgeries. Under the law, a court could intervene to temporarily remove a child from their home if they receive gender-affirming treatments or procedures, and it treats such health care options, which are supported by the American Medical Association, the same as it would a case of child abuse.

He also signed a provision restricting teachers, faculty and students from using the pronouns of their choice in public schools. That bill declares that it must be the policy of all schools that a persons sex is an immutable biological trait and it is false to use a pronoun other than the sex on a persons birth certificate. It also affirmed that sexual orientation and gender identity cannot be taught in schools through eighth grade, codifying a state Board of Education decision to block such topics in all K-12 grades.

Separate legislation would give the DeSantis administration the power to take away licenses from establishments if they allow children into an adult live performance, widely interpreted as a crackdown on drag shows. Another prohibits transgender people from using a bathroom or changing room that matches their gender identity while in government buildings, including in places like public schools, prisons and state universities.

Shielding state travel records from public disclosure

DeSantis signed a bill on May 11 that exempts records related to his travel from the states robust public disclosure law.

Under the new law, law enforcement agencies would be barred from sharing any records related to the governors security and travel, as well as for persons for whom such services are requested by the governor. The expansive language could allow the DeSantis administration to keep secret trips arranged by the governors office even when he wasnt involved.

The law applies retroactively and would cover his extensive use of state planes throughout his time as governor. It would also cover records related to visitors to the governors mansion, opponents said.

Republicans said the measure was necessary to prevent details about his travel habits and security detail from falling into the hands of people who might be plotting an attack on the governor. But such information has long been public record in Florida, a state where public access to state records and meetings is enshrined in its constitution.

Defunding DEI programs at all state universities

On May 15, he signed legislation to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs at all state universities, calling those programs a distraction from the core mission.

Under the law, Florida state universities are barred from spending state or federal funds to promote, support or maintain any programs that advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.

The law also says general education courses may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.

Blocking Florida investments based on ESG factors

DeSantis signed a bill on May 2 that expands upon measures to block Florida investments based on environmental, social and governance, or ESG, factors while threatening banks and other financial institutions with sanctions if they deny business to people due to moral or political objections.

ESG is officially DOA in the state of Florida, DeSantis said as he signed the bill in Jacksonville.

The new law codifies a measure approved last year by the State Board of Administration, which oversees pensions, that prohibits state retirement fund managers from making investment decisions based on reasons other than maximizing the highest rate of return.

It takes what we did last year with Floridas Pension Fund, and it codifies into law the idea that the fiduciary obligation is to produce the best returns possible for the beneficiaries, not to be diverted in that task by pursuing these ideological agendas, DeSantis said.

Under the law, financial institutions, including banks, credit unions and other lenders, face fines if they refuse to lend to people for reasons other than an analysis of risk factors unique to each current or prospective customer. Under the law, banks that operate in Florida could face punishment if they refuse to lend to gun manufacturers, fossil fuel companies or certain far-right groups.

Voiding land agreements

DeSantis signed a bill that would allow an appointed board to review and void previous land agreements in the state  which could impact Disneys special taxing district in Orlando.

According to the bill, a newly appointed board can nullify agreements with special districts put in place up to three months before the board was installed. It also says newly installed boards shall review within 4 months of taking office any development agreement or any other agreement[and] vote on whether to seek readoption of such agreement.

Ahead of a state takeover of Disneys special taxing district, the company reached an agreement with an outgoing board to shift much of the power in the district to Disney. DeSantis appointees on the new board voted to nullify those agreements, which prompted Disney to sue. (Shortly after, the DeSantis-aligned board voted to sue the company.)

This story has been updated on May 24 with additional developments.

CNNs Fredreka Schouten, Sydney Kashiwagi, Sara Smart and Melissa Alonso contributed to this story.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
The unsolved murder of CBS News journalist George Polk in May 1948 has all the elements of a cover-up.

The Fort Worth natives sudden disappearance from the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, a few days before he was scheduled to return to the United States. The discovery of Polks body by a fisherman one week later. The coroners report which revealed someone shot Polk in the back of the head, bound his hands and feet with rope, and threw him into the Aegean Sea while still alive.

Seventy-five years later, CBS White House correspondent Steven Portnoy investigates the mystery behind the newsmans murder. The three-hour documentary Who Killed George Polk? will air on radio stations nationwide over the Memorial Day weekend, according to a CBS news release.

Our @CBSNewsRadio special, Who Killed George Polk? airs next weekend on radio stations nationwide, and Memorial Day from 6p-9pET on @SXMPOTUS Ch 124. pic.twitter.com/lCRateOMNm  Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) May 18, 2023

Polk was covering the Greek Civil War at the time of his death. The Greek Communist Party was trying to gain control of the country, and the U.S. stepped in to provide millions of dollars in economic and military aid to the right-wing Greek government.

Polk irritated both the U.S. and Greek government with his reporting  protesting the Greek governments strong-arm tactics to silence dissension and insisting U.S. money would only serve to line the pockets of corrupt authorities.

Polk said in his last letter to CBS official Edward Murrow that he wanted to report both sides of the civil war story. He was trying to arrange an interview with the leader of the Communist guerrillas the day he died.

In Who Killed George Polk, Portnoy digs into CBS archives, interviews experts and talks to surviving members of Polks family, including a niece who still lives in Fort Worth.

The documentary also cites formerly classified documents that detail how U.S. government officials actively sought to suppress doubts about the innocence of the only man to face trial in Polks killing, a Greek reporter who was tortured into making a false confession, CBS said in the release.

Craig Swagler, the programs executive producer, said the documentary shows the important role a free press plays in democracies.

Stevens incisive reporting is also timely, Swagler said in the press release. Never before have we seen threats with such frequency to reporters lives, both foreign and domestic, as they attempt to discover and report the truth.

Who Killed George Polk? will air locally Monday on KRLD AM 1080 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. CDT. It will also post Friday on the CBS News website.
HPD updates on escaped inmate: 'We have no evidence to believe he has left Henderson'

Law enforcement officers walk a mantrailing dog down Sunset Lane as they search for escaped Ohio inmate 50-year-old Bradley Gillespie after an early-morning car chase reportedly led to the capture of the escapee's partner Henderson, Ky., Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Henderson, Kentucky, police conducted a neighborhood canvas Thursday evening with the U.S. Marshals' Fugitive Task Force and were continuing to "follow leads" Friday as escaped Ohio inmate Bradley Gillespie remained at large.

Gillespie, 50, was convicted in 2016 of committing a double murder, and reportedly escaped from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, on Tuesday along with inmate James Marion Lee.

The pair had made their way to Henderson by Wednesday morning in a stolen Mercury Capri, according to police records reviewed by the Courier & Press. After a vehicle chase  and a foot chase  local law enforcement captured Lee, 47, but Gillespie escaped.

Henderson police held a news conference Friday afternoon regarding the status of its investigation.

More: Convicted murderer at large after escaping Ohio prison; another escapee captured

An image released by Henderson, Kentucky, police of 50-year-old Bradley Gillespie, an escaped Ohio inmate who authorities were still searching for as of 9:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Escapees came through Evansville first

Henderson Chief of Police Sean McKinney confirmed Friday afternoon that law enforcement had obtained video of Gillespie and Lee walking through the parking lot of Evansville's Westside Home Depot about six hours before they would end up in a pursuit with HPD.

McKinney said the video also helped to show a "pronounced limp" Gillespie appears to have.

"It is our belief he was injured during his escape in Ohio," McKinney said.

Thursday afternoon, the Evansville Police Department had said it did not have any information indicating Gillespie had made his way to Evansville, despite rampant online speculation as to his current whereabouts.

Search will continue into the holiday weekend

HPD's assistance from Ohio, the U.S. Marshals, has left. But McKinney said the searching will not stop.

"We have no evidence to believe he has left Henderson," McKinney said.

He urged the community to be vigilant and check on their neighbors, or those that may live on their own.

Friday afternoon Ohio State Highway Patrol shared a video on social media of Gillespie's daughter asking him to turn himself in.

"I want you in my life, I want you at my wedding," she says in the video. "I don't want anything bad to happen."

5/26 2 p.m. UPDATE: Law enforcement officials continue the search to bring Gillespie to justice. His daughter recorded a video message encouraging Gillespie to turn himself in to local authorities. pic.twitter.com/vy4f76Z6sF  OSHP_NWOhio (@OSHP_NWOhio) May 26, 2023

Thursday evening's canvas

After searches with drones, K-9s, police helicopters and foot patrols failed to locate Gillespie, the HPD announced Thursday that it would conduct a canvas "on the north end of Henderson."

"Law enforcement, including the United States Marshall Fugitive Task Force, will be going door to door to speak with residents," the department stated.

The operation did not lead to Gillespie's capture, though three specific addresses were searched based on tips, according to HPD.

"We are looking into every call that we get," McKinney said.

The HPD said neighborhood canvassing have continued on Friday.

Documents shed light on police chase that led to Lee's capture and Gillespie's escape

Early Wednesday morning, an HPD officer observed the stolen Mercury Capri as it drove "south on U.S. 41 just past the bridge," according to a sworn affidavit filed in Henderson County Circuit Court.

A national database flagged the vehicle as being occupied by two escaped inmates from Ohio.

The officer who first spotted the stolen Capri alerted the Henderson County Sheriff's Office and city police to the vehicle's location and direction of travel. Law enforcement then positioned vehicles further south along U.S. 41.

"These units were waiting to make contact with the vehicle," the affidavit states. "Officers attempted to make a vehicle stop on the Capri in the area of Audubon Chrysler," but Lee  who officers believe to have been the driver - failed to stop.

Lee and Gillespie fled south on U.S. 41 as police pursued them. According to the affidavit, the escaped inmates eventually made their way to North Elm Street.

"The vehicle turned onto Camaro Drive then to Camaro Court, where it crashed through a fence and into a backyard of a residence," the affidavit states.

Sheriff's deputies and city police then began chasing both Lee and Gillespie on foot.

The broken fence in the 2000 block of Camaro Court in Henderson, Kentucky, where police said two escaped Ohio inmates crashed a stolen Mercury Capri during a police chase Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

"They were able to stop James Lee in the area of Camaro Court," Lee's arrest citation states. But Gillespie evaded capture. Police records make no mention of how Gillespie got away, other than to state, "both subjects jumped over a fence as they were fleeing on foot."

Lee was arrested at 3:19 a.m. and booked into the Henderson County Detention Center, police said.

According to court records, Lee is charged with two counts of fleeing or evading police and one count of receiving stolen property.

Gillespie remains at large as of Friday afternoon

HPD officials said they set up a perimeter around Camaro Drive after Lee's arrest and were "using (the) resources we have to locate Bradley Gillespie." By Wednesday afternoon, police activity around Camaro Drive had died down.

Thursday afternoon, the HPD released additional photographs of Gillespie, which can be viewed in the gallery below.

On Wednesday morning, search efforts broadened

At 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Kentucky authorities said they established a command post at the Hayes Boat Ramp, where investigators reportedly recovered a piece of Gillespie's clothing.

"The park is closed while multiple agencies assist in coordinating efforts to locate Bradley Gillespie," HPD officials said. "Please avoid the area."

By 1 p.m. Wednesday, a large law enforcement presence could be seen along Sunset Lane near Henderson's Old Race Track. The heavily tree-covered area is intersected by gravel roads and is positioned near an industrial zone and the Ohio River.

Vehicles from multiple agencies, including city police and the county's emergency management agency, were active in the area Wednesday afternoon. A police helicopter could be heard buzzing overhead.

Henderson, Kentucky, law enforcement vehicles traversing Sunset Lane Wednesday, May 24, 2023, as they search for escaped Ohio inmate Bradley Gillespie.

The search for Gillespie remains active as of Friday afternoon. Henderson police urged the community to remain "vigilant" and asked home and business owners to review "any home surveillance you may have since May 24th at 3:17 a.m."

Police have instructed members of the public not to approach Gillespie, "as he is considered dangerous and possibly armed."

"Lock your residence and your vehicles," HPD spokesman Stuart O'nan wrote Wednesday evening. "Turn on exterior lights. If you see anyone matching the physical description of Bradley Gillespie, contact 911 immediately."

Award offered for information leading to Gillespie's arrest

In 2016, a Paulding County, Ohio, jury convicted Gillespie of murdering Hannah Fischer and Frank Tracy Jr. A judge sentenced him to serve two consecutive 15-year-to-life sentences.

The @OSHP, @USMSCleveland and @AllenCoSheriffs are offering up to a $21,000 dollar reward for information that leads to the capture of Bradley Gillespie and James Lee. pic.twitter.com/tr4nQO169c  OSHP_NWOhio (@OSHP_NWOhio) May 24, 2023

The Allen County Sheriff's Office  in accordance with other Ohio law enforcement agencies  has offered up to a $21,000 reward "for information that leads to the capture of Bradley Gillespie."

Friday, HPD confirmed they had been approved by the city of Henderson to add an additional $10,000 to the award.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Police on Ohio escapee: 'No evidence to believe he has left Henderson'
Ukraines Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba met with Azali Assoumani, the head of the African Union, and Moussa Faki Mahamat, the head of the African Union Commission, in Ethiopia.

Source: Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Details: The parties have reportedly agreed to systematise contacts and consultations at all levels between the government of Ukraine and the African Union Commission.

Kuleba also stressed that any peace initiatives must meet the logic of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula, which was reflected in the provisions of the relevant UN General Assembly resolution.

The minister called on the African Union to demand from Russia that it stop the interference in the operation of the grain corridor in the Black Sea and eventually end the blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Background:

In July 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Maksym Subkh as a special representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa.

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Lopez Obrador doubles down: Fentanyl is not produced in Mexico

MEXICO CITY  Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday doubled down on his assertion that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico, though the countrys drug cartels are known to play a key role in refining the drug and trafficking it to the United States.

We hold that there is no fentanyl [here]. There are no raw materials here. It arrives from Asia, enters the United States,  Canada and Mexico, Lopez Obrador said at a press conference.

And here there are  well call them laboratories  where it is complemented and sent to the United States.

While Lopez Obradors accounting of the origins of fentanyl precursors is accurate, clandestine laboratories in Mexico associated with cartel activities play a major role in the production of the drug as a marketable substance.

According to the State Departments 2022 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, most of the heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl and its analogues consumed in the United States originates in Mexico.

And an August report by The Wall Street Journal found that two Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) control an overwhelming majority of the fentanyl trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Yet Lopez Obrador is not alone in making the case that Chinas role in fentanyl production is often overlooked.

In a February opinion piece, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) wrote that its estimated China is responsible for over 90 percent of illicit fentanyl found in the United States.

Though Newhouse did refer to Mexicos role in converting Chinese chemicals into fentanyl-containing tablets, he wrote that its important we cut the lethal fentanyl engine off at its source: China.

Still, many experts are wary of minimizing the Mexican cartels role in creating the finished product that shows up in the United States.

[Lopez Obradors] thing is that Mexico just has pill presses to package already-made fentanyl. But its not hard to find examples of labs actually combining precursors, said Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

And Lopez Obradors pushback against a seemingly semantic distinction has political undertones.

In response to a question from The Hill on Wednesday, the Mexican president criticized his predecessors for taking orders from U.S. government agencies.

What happened before? If the United States said that there was fentanyl in Mexico, it was the holy word,' Lopez Obrador said. We say no. No. Fentanyl is not produced in Mexico.

Asked whether holding to the assertion that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico is a communications strategy, Lopez Obrador said, No, its telling the truth.

[U.S. agencies] lied, and the Mexican government would give in and not validate its independence, its sovereignty  they dominated all of [our] security policy, said Lopez Obrador.

The Drug Enforcement Administration was the one that carried out drug control operations [in Mexican territory].

Lopez Obrador also hinted at corruption in the U.S. security apparatus, using the drug trafficking conviction of former Mexican top cop Genaro Garcia Luna as an example.

Garcia Luna, said Lopez Obrador, was treated like a martian by the U.S. prosecutors who secured his conviction, meaning he was investigated ignoring his associations with high level officials on both sides of the border.

He has no relationship with the then-president of Mexico who was his boss, but he also doesnt have a relationship with the officials from U.S. agencies, Lopez Obrador said in an ironic tone.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Labour would seek 'practical changes' to Brexit deal in first year in government, says Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, says Sir Keir Starmer would seize on a baked-in 'review' of the pact, scheduled for 2025 - Stefan Rousseau/PA

Labour would open talks with Brussels on practical changes to the Brexit trade deal in its first year in government, Rachel Reeves has said.

The shadow chancellor criticised the chaotic agreement Boris Johnson reached with the EU and said it needed a significant overhaul.

She added that Sir Keir Starmer would seize on a baked-in review of the pact, scheduled for 2025, to rebuild economic ties with the continent.

Last week, the Labour leader said the UK needed an improved agreement that would result in a closer trading relationship with Europe.

Ms Reeves told the Financial Times her party wanted to ease friction on trade in food, but would not take Britain back into the single market or customs union.

She is also targeting a deal on recognition of professional qualifications to make it easier for people and companies to do business on the continent.

Ms Reeves told the BBC: In 2025 there is a review of the trade and co-operation agreement and some things probably need to be fixed before then to ensure that our great car manufacturing industry has got a future to look forward to.

That trade deal was full of holes. There were other industries as well. The car industry is one, financial services is another, farming is another, our cultural industries, that feel left behind and left out of that deal that was struck a couple of years ago.

We need to make that deal work better in our national interest. That's not about rejoining the single market or customs union but it is about some of the practical changes that are needed.

Opportunity to renegotiate - or a 'technical exercise'?

Both sides agreed when the Brexit trade deal was signed in 2020 that they would carry out a review five years later to see how well it was working.

While some politicians in the UK see this as an opportunity to completely reopen the terms of the pact, Brussels views it more as a technical exercise.

Tory MPs have warned that Sir Keir wants to exploit the moment to drag Britain back towards membership of the EU in the longer term.

The Labour leader has said that we need a better deal than the existing one and his party would make Brexit work in government.

We do need to improve that deal. Of course we want a closer trading relationship, we absolutely do, he told the BBC.

That doesn't mean reversing the decision and going back into the EU but the deal we've got, it was said to be oven-ready, it wasn't even half-baked.

I don't think we should rejoin either the EU generally or the single market, but I do think that we should break down barriers.

Ms Reeves also said on Wednesday that she does not plan to hit families with big tax rises if Labour wins the next general election.

She said that taxes had already reached a 70-year high under the Tories, adding: I dont have plans to be a big tax-raising chancellor.

The shadow chancellor reiterated her opposition to equalising capital gains with income tax rates as proposed by Angela Rayner, Labours deputy leader.

She said that she also has no plans to cut the tax breaks higher earners can benefit from on their pension contributions.

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The landlord of a Minnesota apartment complex is accused of setting his building on fire while playing the iconic Billy Joel song We Didnt Start the Fire, Minnesota cops say.

But according to St. Louis County officials, Travis Lee Carlson did start the fire. The 37-year-old man was charged with first-degree arson following the blaze on May 18, court records show.

When first responders arrived to the Duluth home for a report of a fire, they heard We Didnt Start the Fire coming from Carlsons upstairs apartment, police said.

The downstairs tenant told officers he woke up to the sound of Carlson smashing glass and breaking things, which continued for about 20 minutes, according to the statement of probable cause.

Carlson then knocked on the downstairs tenants door, telling him, The house is on fire, police said.

A neighbor, who police said saw Carlson smashing his own windows, observed a flash like a fireball come from his apartment, court records show.

Carlson allegedly drilled a hole in the gas tank of his truck, and lids of gas cans were found next to the vehicle, police said.

There were numerous areas in the upstairs apartment that had green liquid lines from a burned accelerant staining several pieces of furniture, flooring and walls, according to police.

Carlson was arrested the following day, police said. He had burn injuries on his arms and legs.

Duo disguise overdosed woman in wheelchair, set house ablaze to hide body, IN cops say

Man uses blowtorch to set house on fire with woman and dogs inside, Florida cops say

Woman sets police lobby on fire with a burning shopping cart, California cops say
LAO calls for major spending reductions + Californians want their 911 service to change

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

LAO OFFERS DISMAL VIEW OF CALIFORNIAS FISCAL FUTURE

California cant afford Gov. Gavin Newsoms May Revise budget proposal, according to the latest report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office.

Under our estimates, the state faces operating deficits throughout the multiyear window, meaning revenues would need to come in above our projections for the budget to be balanced, the LAO noted in its report.

For the budget to balance in 2024-25, revenues would need to be $30 billion higher than what the LAO forecasts.

Our analysis suggests that level of revenue is very unlikely  there is less than a oneinsix chance the state can afford the May Revision spending level across the fiveyear period, according to the report.

The report found that multi-year and temporary spending commitments are no longer affordable, and while the May Revise budget makes several spending cuts, it maintains $11 billion in one-time and temporary spending for 2023-24.

We recommend this spending be reduced further (from $11 billion to roughly $4 billion) and outyear onetime and temporary spending be eliminated entirely, the report said.

The LAOs analysis found that state reserves could cover nearly half of the projected multiyear deficits, while cutting $18 billion worth of one-time and temporary spending would cover an additional third.

As for the rest, which adds up to $14.5 billion, that would need to be handled with either more revenue, shifted costs or additional cuts.

Taken together, reducing spending and using reserves give the Legislature a few years to align revenues and spending as the economic picture unfolds, according to the report.

CALIFORNIANS WANT THEIR 911 SERVICE TO CHANGE

For 55 years, Californians have been dialing 911 for police, fire and medical emergencies; Californians make more than 25 million such calls annually.

Most Californians believe that the states 911 emergency response system needs to change, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The poll, commissioned by Public Health Advocates and conducted by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, found that 88% of registered voters want major changes to how police and other emergency service providers respond to 911 calls.

Two-thirds (69%) said that they want behavioral health professionals to respond either with or without police to non-life-threatening situations, while just 19% said that law enforcement should just get more training to respond more effectively.

Only 12% said they are satisfied with 911 services as they are.

A majority (67%) of voters said that police are least equipped to respond to calls about mental health crises, while 49% said the same about police responding to people who are homeless.

California voters throughout the state and across all demographic groups see todays emergency response system as outdated and in need of a more diverse set of responders, said Public Health Advocates Executive Director Harold Goldstein, in a statement. The system is old and needs updating.

Berkeley IGS surveyed 9,254 California voters in both English and Spanish in August 2022.

Support for a modernized California emergency response system is overwhelming, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. This sentiment is consistent across region, income, age, race, and political party. It suggests an opportunity for bipartisan solutions.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Excited to see these two champions of Californias economic recovery teaming up. While Ive criticized Elon for running one of my districts anchor companies into the ground, he & Governor DeSantis deserve credit for the thousands of jobs theyve brought to CA in recent months.

 Sen. Scott Wiener, discussing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis planned Wednesday presidential run announcement with Twitter owner Elon Musk, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla.  Residents and visitors to parts of the Sunshine States largest lake are being urged to exercise caution after harmful blue-green algae was recently detected by the Palm Beach County Health Department.

Florida health officials sent out an alert warning that an increase in warm temperatures and an excess in nutrients in Lake Okeechobee may be contributing to the algae, which can emit odors and produce toxins.

Algae is common along the freshwater lake, but large blooms can lead to negative impacts on wildlife and people who rely on clean water qualities.

"It is concerning, and unfortunately, it is becoming the norm and, we would like for that to not be the case," said Jason Pim, a volunteer for the Calusa Waterkeeper.

10 LARGEST US LAKES WORTH VISITING DURING YOUR NEXT VACATION

Pim said a vast majority of the pollutants come from runoff of agricultural lands, and due to the scope issue, there is not a significant fix in the works.

A recent NOAA survey determined algae now covers over 35% of the 730 square mile lake, which undoubtedly will continue to increase through the summer.

"The really frightful year was 2018. Were not to that point yet. What happened that year is that the rainy season started earlier," said Pim.

During wetter seasons, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers usually releases large amounts of water from the lake, which, if polluted, can lead to blooms entering nearby streams and other ecosystems.

FLORIDA BEACHES SMOTHERED IN SMELLY SARGASSUM SEAWEED WITH PEAK SEASON NOT EXPECTED FOR MONTHS

Experts say blooms are known to block sunlight, which can impact the growth of aquatic grasses and the health of marine species such as manatees.

In 2021, agencies declared the giant sea cows were battling an Unusual Mortality Event that was triggered by the disappearance of essential seagrass along the states east coast.

Floridas annual rainy season has not yet produced the amount of runoff needed to empty Lake Okeechobee into nearby waterways, so issues concerning the most recent bloom are confined to the giant lake for now.

Health officials are encouraging visitors to refrain from drinking, swimming or boating in areas where the algae is present.

People are also encouraged to avoid eating shellfish from impacted waters, and if contact is made with the algae, wash skin and clothing thoroughly with soap and water.

According to the University of Florida, researchers do not have a complete understanding of what triggers some years to be more severe than others but do say this type of algae is not a concern along the beachfront because the organisms cannot tolerate salt water.
A year later, we still dont know full story of Uvalde. Wheres accountability for DPS? | Opinion

One year after the Uvalde school shooting, what we havent learned is as important as what we have learned  as is the fact that few leaders have been held fully accountable for the failures of that day.

What happened on May 24, 2022, was heinous. A troubled 18-year-old who had dropped out of school and shot the grandmother he lived with, walked into Robb Elementary in the southwest Texas town, barricaded himself into adjoining fourth-grade classrooms and fired over 140 rounds, killing 21 people.

What didnt happen on May 24 made it all that much worse.

We learned that children and others had called police immediately, and they were at the scene, remarkably, within minutes. But even as more officers arrived  the local police, the Department of Public Safety, even Border Patrol agents  no one confronted the shooter for around 77 minutes.

Family members who lost a sibling to a gunmans shooting rampage place flowers outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

In the months that initially followed, the House committee report and the information that has leaked out paints a scene worse than we thought: The unlocked outside door of the school. The poor communication among officers that allowed them to believe there were no victims at first. The fumbling around for a key to open the door the shooter had supposedly barricaded himself behind. This catastrophic failure of law enforcement that cost over an hour of time which might have saved lives.

While the Legislature did pass another school safety bill, language that would have required every school in Texas to have an armed school resource officer was removed. Uvalde parents testified a few weeks ago before a House committee, prompting a long-sought vote on raising the age limit to purchase a rifle to 21. But that bill went no further.

In Washington, Sen. John Cornyn spearheaded modest federal legislation on guns that expands some background checks and provides incentives for states to enact red flag laws.

And a year later, just five officers have been fired or resigned. A year later, state authorities have yet to answer questions or take accountability  DPS chief Steve McCraw remains in his job.

POLICE RESPONSE QUESTIONS LINGER

Why didnt anyone really take charge that day? Chief Pete Arredondo, who was head of the school districts police department, was supposedly in charge, but you can see from body camera video that no one takes the helm. This too, had to cost time and lives.

Reports later surfaced that officers failed to confront the gunman immediately because they were afraid that he was carrying an AR-15, yet many carried one of similar power. Why havent we reconciled this fear with better training and a ban on those under 21 buying such powerful weaponry?

How did a tormented teenager with few friends and little family support, no job or income, acquire the credit to purchase two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo? Why didnt anyone notice he was building up a stockpile?

Why werent the doors outside of the school and inside of the school locked?

According to the Texas House committee report, the shooter exhibited dozens of warning signs. Why didnt someone intervene? Could local police have had cause to act?

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw uses maps and graphics to present a timeline of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, during a hearing , Tuesday, June 21, 2022, in Austin, Texas. Two teachers and 19 students were killed. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Why hasnt McCraw demanded the blanket release of all body camera footage, documents, and other available information from that day? Doing so would provide much-needed information to fill the loopholes. McCraw is keeping the information sealed pending a criminal investigation, but to what end? The criminal most responsible is dead.

And why is someone whose department has been given so much responsibility and so many resources in recent years, only to see so many of its officers fail when childrens lives were on the line, still employed?

We cant imagine the ongoing pain and agony for the grieving victims families. To mourn with lingering questions about what actually happened during those 77 minutes makes it even worse.

Nikki Cross, mother of Uvalde school shooting victim Uziyah Garcia, listens at a news conference at the Capitol on Tuesday May 2, 2023, to demand action on raising the minimum age to buy AR-15-style guns to 21 years old.

GOOD GUY WITH A GUN

For Texas leaders, this shooting burst the defense that gun-owners often use to support carrying firearms at will: In Uvalde, 376 law enforcement officers from 23 agencies responded to Robb Elementary, and not one confronted the gunman until over an hour had passed. The mantra that a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun will forever carry a devastating caveat: except for Uvalde.

We know that because, unfortunately, this year, there was another mass shooting days ago at a shopping center in Allen and a school shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, in March. Though nine people died in Allen an off-duty law enforcement officer stopped the neo-Nazi sympathizing killer before further lives were lost.

In the March shooting in Nashville, law enforcement immediately arrived and confronted the shooter in the act. The school implemented a lockdown protocol that included escorting almost every student out safely. Six people died, but it could have been much worse.

The Legislature is close to passing another school safety bill that will require schools to ramp up active shooter training and submit to regular reviews of school safety protocols. Gov. Greg Abbott is about to sign a bill that will require school districts to provide silent panic alert buttons in each classroom.

But the Uvalde families specific requests, including raising the age for rifle purchases, were denied. Victims do not get to make law, but this request is sensible, consistent with other firearms laws and directly responsive to the crime.

There is no law that can demand men and women be brave in the face of fear, violence and possible death. But failures of command can be addressed. So can the refusal to air the complete story.

Its already shameful that its taken this long to address. The least state leaders can do is demand more and better.
Latvian PM: There will be no real peace in Europe unless Ukraine joins NATO after war

Krisjanis Karins, Prime Minister of Latvia, believes it is essential for Ukraine to be accepted into the North Atlantic Alliance when the war is over because it will not be possible to guarantee peace and security on the continent otherwise.

Source: Karins during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Wednesday

The Latvian Prime Minister emphasised the need for further military support for Ukraine "for as long as it takes until they ultimately win their war against the completely unjustified aggression that Russia is waging against a sovereign member."

Quote: "Ultimately, it seems extremely clear that at the end of the war, for peace and security in Europe to be real, Ukraine needs to be a NATO member state," he said.

"Because if Ukraine wins the war, the territory is liberated from the Russian occupiers, and Ukraine is then not a NATO member state, its just a question of time until Russia rearms, regroups, and could just as well start the whole thing over again," Karins believes.

Background: Following the Nordic-Ukrainian summit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine should become the next member of NATO after Sweden joins the Alliance.

At the same time, he acknowledged that Ukraine will not be able to join the Alliance during the war.

Read also: "No Reason to Be Positive about Russia, a Threat for Generations." Interview with Latvia's Prime Minister.

Stoltenberg: Ukraine Joining NATO during War 'Not on the Agenda'

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In early 1993, a tip led the Concord police to a hotel, where they found a 16-year-old girl who said shed been held there for about a week, enduring multiple rapes, by the owner of her New Hampshire state-sanctioned group home in Deerfield, according to a court record.

The state removed her and the other girls it had placed there, temporarily closed the home, and in media reports at the time, called the victims allegations of sexual misconduct founded. The homes owner, Peter Tsetsilas, pleaded guilty in 1994 to child endangerment and interference of custody but was not charged with rape or sexual assault, according to court records.

Kristy Gesse alleges she was raped as a teenager by the owner of her state-sanctioned group home. Thirty years later, she is suing, alleging the state never helped her, even after confirming the sexual misconduct.

The victim says state child protection workers never spoke with her about her alleged abuse, offered her counseling, did a pregnancy test, or screened her for sexually transmitted diseases. Kristy Gesse, now 47 and living in Florida with her husband and kids, says she received neither an apology nor sympathy.

Gesse was not among the hundreds of children the state now acknowledges it failed to protect from abuse at the Youth Development Center. But those victims accounts of torture and rape, accounts Gesse says she heard at the time, have led her to join them in suing the Department of Health and Human Services and the Division for Children, Youth, and Families.

Gesse filed her lawsuit against both state agencies in Merrimack County Superior Court in January under the pseudonym Jane Doe #73. She has decided now to be named.

In an interview with the Bulletin, Gesse said shes come to believe that DCYF officials knew they were putting children in their care at risk decades before they acknowledged doing so by opening up a $100 million settlement fund in January for YDC victims. Gesse likely wont be eligible because she was not detained or committed for delinquency issues, said Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the Attorney Generals Office, which is overseeing the claims process.

Gesse was removed from her home for safety concerns.

Heres why Im so angry and I decided to rip this Jane Doe off of my case, Gesse said. Its because the state keeps saying, We didnt know, we didnt know. You didnt know until you knew. And then when you knew, you did nothing. Nothing for me. Nothing for any of these other kids. Nothing. And theyre making us victims all over again.

Gesses lawyer, David Vicinanzo, said as many as 300 of his 1,100 clients who allege physical and sexual abuse while in state care are also ineligible for the fund. Garrity said individuals who are unsure about their eligibility can file a claim to find out.

Gesse said she wont. She wants the state to answer her allegations publicly, in court.

So far a minority of victims appear to have sought a settlement.

In the funds first three months, the state received 38 applications: 22 alleging sexual and physical abuse, 11 alleging sexual abuse, and five reporting physical abuse, according to an April report from the funds administrator, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick. That number is now over 50, according to Garrity.

The state has made two payments, one for $170,000 prior to that report and one for $1.5 million in May. The state has provided no details about the claims; $1.5 million is the maximum payment for claims involving sexual and physical abuse.

Vicinanzo has described the fund, which is taking claims until Dec. 31, 2024, differently, saying it disregards victims by capping compensation at amounts far lower than what a jury would award. Advocates for sexual assault victims and others have agreed.

Similar to other lawsuits Vicinanzo has brought for clients, Gesse alleges the state breached its duty to her by failing to adequately hire, train, and supervise the people and facilities it contracted with to protect children in its care.

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial but no specified damages. Gesse said she wants the state to acknowledge publicly that it failed her, as well as money so she can resume the counseling she says she can no longer afford.

Help, and then a new nightmare

Gesse was placed in her first group home, The Chase Home in Portsmouth, her freshman year after telling her school counselor she was so afraid of her stepfathers latest threats of abuse that she wasnt going home. She said the emotional and physical abuse, which the lawsuit says included sticks, belts, and cords, had been going on for years.

I just couldnt do it anymore, Gesse said. Physically, I wasnt capable of fighting him. So I just forced somebody to help me. Or what I thought was helping me.

Kristy Gesse alleges she was repeatedly raped by the owner of a group home the state placed her at in the early 1990s, when she was a teenager.

The Chase Home was a positive, therapeutic experience, Gesse said. But she left after a few months to live with her stepsister in Colorado. That didnt go well. Gesse was a high school freshman living in an unknown place, missing her friends. She said she bristled at her stepsisters rules, which she now recognizes were intended to help her.

I hated my stepsister for trying to, like, control me and take care of me, Gesse said. And I was so prickly at that time, too. I didnt want somebody to love me. It was just really hard for me to accept that.

Gesse returned to New Hampshire within the year and spent the summer with friends families. The Division for Child and Family Services, now called DCYF, found her after she didnt register for school and was deemed a runaway, and placed her at Saddleback Mountain Retreat, a small group home for girls 6 to 18 in rural Deerfield owned by Peter and Beverly Tsetsilas and licensed by the state. They lived onsite, in the same house as the six girls there when Gesse was.

Gesse expected a repeat of her positive experience at The Chase Home. It was the opposite, she said.

Her lawsuit alleges that Peter Tsetsilas, now dead, began assaulting her a few months after her arrival. Gesse said he groomed her with special outings and gave her drugs and alcohol before raping her, to relax her. The abuse occurred in the home, where the girls lived in the basement, and off the property, she said.

Gesse said Tsetsilas raped her repeatedly, sometimes several times a day, and once while taking her to the hospital after her appendix ruptured.

Im screaming and in pain, Gesse said. That was the first assault that was really kind of violent because I was not on drugs. I was trying to make him stop. I was struggling. I was in and out of consciousness. I couldnt even believe it was happening.

In 1993, the Division for Youth, Children, and Families told the Concord Monitor it believed an allegation of sexual misconduct made against the owner of a state-sanctioned group home for at-risk girls. The victim said the division never offered her counseling, sympathy, or medical screening for STDs.

A rape victims fear of YDC

Gesse said she didnt report any of the physical and sexual abuse, which she alleges in her lawsuit happened more than 100 times, because Tsetsilas had told her if she did, shed be sent to YDC. She had heard kids describe brutal physical and sexual abuse and torture while at YDC, according to her lawsuit. She said Tsetsilas leveraged her fear to silence her.

Abuse was not the word used. It was, Kids are being tortured and brutalized over there, Gesse said, recalling the accounts she heard at the time. So for me, I was like, Well, I guess it could be worse. Thats always whats in your mind, right? Not that what youre going through isnt bad, but it could be worse.

The lawsuit alleges Beverly Tsetsilas, Peters wife, who is also dead, suspected the abuse and confronted her husband. Peter Tsetsilas response was to put Gesse in a Concord hotel and stage her disappearance as a runaway until she turned 18 and was no longer under state supervision, according to the lawsuit.

It alleges Tsetsilas beat and raped her, sometimes several times a day. According to the lawsuit, he held a pillow over her face to stifle her cries. Gesse said she was afraid he would kill her and hide her body; she said she was too frightened and helpless to survive if she escaped.

Someone called the Concord police after becoming concerned about seeing a man in his 50s frequently visiting a young girl at the hotel, the lawsuit said.

Gesse remembers hearing a knock on the door and being terrified to open it, fearful that shed be moved from Saddleback Mountain Retreat to YDC. The police reported the incident to DCYS.

In April 1993, the Concord Monitor reported that a DCYS official had called the allegations of sexual misconduct founded. The Associated Press confirmed the statement in its own story the following day.

Gesse said she was moved to a new group home in Dover until she turned 18. Peter Tsetsilas resigned and had to move out, according to media reports at the time. Saddleback Mountain Retreat remained closed while the state investigated Gesses allegations.

DCYS is going to have to re-evaluate the facility and see if (Saddleback Mountain Retreats directors) have made sufficient changes to allow us to go back to using the place, Robert Pidgeon, DCYS deputy director, told the Union Leader in March 1993.

The home reopened four months later, on June 1, but closed again June 22, after a director resigned, according to a Union Leader report. The state and director declined to provide the details. It is no longer in operation.

The Attorney Generals Office, which is representing the Department of Health and Human Services against the lawsuit, has not filed a response in court and declined to comment on Gesses case. The office urges victims who are eligible for the settlement fund to use it.

We are pleased the settlement fund process is working for victims, Attorney General John Formella said in a statement. We continue to believe that the YDC settlement fund provides a meaningful victim-centered, trauma-informed alternative for those seeking to avoid lengthy and unpleasant litigation.

This story was originally published by New Hampshire Bulletin.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Lawsuit: NH DCYF confirmed sexual misconduct, then abandoned her
Jade Jagger leaving court in Ibiza Town - GTres / SplashNews.com

Jade Jagger is facing a retrial over her assault of a police officer in Ibiza after a lawyer demanded she face a tougher sentence.

The 51-year-old jewellery designer was fined 1,200 and ordered to pay 700 compensation to a female police officer injured during a fight outside a restaurant in Ibiza last Wednesday.

A lawyer for the police has now demanded the conviction be declared invalid because the fast-track trial should "never have taken place". He said the judge who presided over the case had a duty to explain why the trial was allowed to go ahead.

Eduardo Luna, hired by the Spanish police union SUP to fight the case, said: An annulment would mean the conviction no longer stands and we go back to where we were before the trial and then I intend pushing for a more serious charge against Jade Jagger with a tougher punishment.

When youre resisting arrest and a police officer is injured, thats an assault. And assaulting a police officer in Spain can be punished with prison.

He added: Whats happened here has been very irregular. This should never have gone to a fast-track trial because the police officers injury was not consolidated which means we dont know how its going to evolve.

The Palma-based lawyer, who has represented SUP in criminal law cases for more than three years, explained: The judge who sentenced Jade Jagger will have to justify why she allowed a fast-track trial to take place if she refuses my annulment demand and thats going to be difficult in my opinion.

If that happens I will appeal and ask a higher court to decide.

Ms Jaggers boyfriend Anthony Hinkson, 31, was handed a four-month suspended prison sentence at the hearing behind closed doors in Ibiza Town after admitting to a crime of assaulting a police officer over the street scuffle outside La Oliva restaurant.

Ms Jagger and her new partner spent two nights in a police cell in Ibiza before appearing in court.

They were arrested last Wednesday night after a manager at La Oliva called police and refused to serve Mr Hinkson because he was insulting staff and other customers.

He is said to have turned on officers who confronted him after he behaved aggressively towards other people on the street outside the eatery.

Video footage showed him being pinned to the ground by police who then called for an ambulance.

Ms Jagger, who split from her DJ husband-of-nine-years in 2021, is said to have intervened as her boyfriend was being arrested.

According to The Olive Press, a newspaper for British expats in Spain, the man swore at the officers and said: You are being racist.

El Mundo said: At that moment, Jade Jagger came out of the restaurant to defend the man, lashing out at the officers and assaulting, scratching and insulting a policewoman.

An official at the Balearic Islands High Court, acting as a spokesman for sentencing judge Maria Luisa Bastillo, confirmed: Court of Instruction Number One in Ibiza, acting as a duty court, has held a speedy trial following a plea bargain deal against A.W and J.J who were arrested on Wednesday in Ibiza.

The judge has convicted A.W of a crime of assaulting a police officer and handed him a four-month prison sentence. The same judge has fined [Ms Jagger} for a crime of serious resistance and a minor offence of wounding.

Mr Hinkson's prison sentence is understood to have been suspended as part of the plea bargain deal, with prison terms of two years or less routinely being suspended for first-time offenders in Spain.

Ms Jagger was approached for comment.

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Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps are seen near Russian border, in Ukraine

Leader of cross-border raid warns Russia to expect more incursions Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps are seen near Russian border, in Ukraine

By Vitalii Hnidyi

NEAR THE RUSSIAN BORDER, Ukraine (Reuters) -The Russian commander of a militia that conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week said on Wednesday his group would soon launch more incursions into Russian territory.

Denis Kapustin, who described himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), spoke to reporters on the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia a day after Moscow said it had repelled the raid on the Belgorod region.

Kyiv has said the attack was carried out by Russian citizens, casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife. Two groups operating in Ukraine - the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion - have claimed responsibility.

The Russian military said it had routed the militants, who carried out their attack using armoured vehicles, and pushed those who survived back into Ukraine.

Kapustin said two of his fighters had been "lightly wounded", and that total losses on his side for the operation were two killed and 10 wounded. Moscow claimed it killed over 70 'Ukrainian nationalists'.

Kapustin also said the fighters had taken a Russian armoured vehicle and anti-drone gun as trophies.

"I think you will see us again on that side," said Kapustin, who introduced himself by his call-sign White Rex. "I cannot reveal those upcoming things, I cannot even reveal the direction. The ... border is pretty long. Yet again there will be a spot where things will get hot."

He was asked repeatedly about Western media reports that his militia had used U.S. military equipment that was meant to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion, but declined to answer directly.

"I know exactly where I got my weapons from. Unfortunately not from the Western partners", he said.

He also suggested that Western military equipment had been captured by Russia in the battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and that such equipment could be bought on the black market.

"I think I explained that the Western military aid unfortunately goes back and forth, being raided. In Bakhmut for instance I know that a lot of armoured vehicles, American armoured vehicles, got raided by the Russian forces," he said.

Kapustin said Ukraine only supported the RVC with information, petrol, food and medicine.

"And, of course, the Ukrainian military took our wounded. But anything more than this would make things difficult."

"Every decision we make ... beyond the state border is our own decision. Obviously we can ask our (Ukrainian) comrades, friends for their assistance in planning," he said.

The RVC says it is made up of Russians fighting for Ukraine, and against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Our future plans are new territories of the Russian Federation, which we will definitely enter... You should be a just a little bit patient, and wait just a couple of days," Kapustin said.

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League has described Kapustin as "a Russian neo-Nazi who lived in Germany for many years".

Kapustin said his group was right-wing, and when asked if he was minded being labelled a Nazi, he said he didn't "think it's an insult."

But he added: "I have my set of views, it's a patriotic set of views, it's a traditionalist set of views, it's a right-wing set of views. You know, you'll never find me waving a flag with a swastika, you'll never find me raising my hand in a Hitler sign. So why would you call me that?"

(Additional reporting by Felix Hoske, Writing by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Sharon Singleton)
Riad Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and continues to serve as central bank governor

A Lebanese judge has banned the country's central bank governor Riad Salameh from travelling, days after Beirut received an Interpol Red Notice following a French arrest warrant, a judicial official said Wednesday.

Salameh has been the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on allegations including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and illicit enrichment, which he denies.

French investigators suspect that during his three decades as central bank chief, Salameh misused public funds to accumulate real estate and banking assets concealed through a complex and fraudulent financial network.

On Wednesday, judge Imad Qabalan questioned Salameh and "decided to release him pending investigation, ban him from travelling, and confiscate his Lebanese and French passports", the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Activists say the travel ban on the central bank chief helps shield him from being brought to justice abroad -- and from potentially bringing down others in Lebanon's entrenched political class.

"The Lebanese judiciary, with the exception of a few judges, has shown that it is not independent. It is biased for politicians who steer it the way they want," charged lawyer and activist Karim Daher.

"The corrupt Lebanese regime... has no interest in Salameh being tried abroad and spilling the beans" about the political class's financial activities, he told AFP.

Interpol circulated a Red Notice last week after a French magistrate issued a warrant for Salameh, who failed to appear for questioning in Paris before investigators probing his sizeable assets across Europe.

An Interpol Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant but asks authorities worldwide to provisionally detain people pending possible extradition or other legal actions.

Lebanon does not extradite its nationals but Salameh could go on trial in Lebanon if local judicial authorities decide the accusations against him are founded, an official previously told AFP.

Qabalan asked the French judiciary to refer Salameh's file to Beirut in order to "determine whether the Lebanese judiciary will prosecute him for the crimes he is accused of in France or not", the official added.

Salameh "asked the judge to try him in Lebanon and not to extradite him to France", the official said.

- German warrant -

Also Wednesday, Germany notified Lebanon's general prosecutor that it too had issued an arrest warrant for Salameh, the judicial official said, adding that Munich's public prosecutor would submit the warrant to Interpol shortly.

Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and continues to serve as central bank governor. His mandate ends in July.

In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth 120 million euros ($130 million) in a move linked to a probe into Salameh's wealth.

In February, Lebanon charged Salameh with embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion as part of its own investigations.

The domestic probe was opened following a request for assistance from Switzerland's public prosecutor looking into more than $300 million in fund movements by Salameh and his brother.

This year, European investigators have questioned Salameh in Beirut, also hearing from his assistant Marianne Hoayek, his brother Raja, a Lebanese minister and central bank audit firms.

The judicial official said Wednesday that a judge had notified Raja Salameh and Hoayek that they were due to appear before the French judiciary respectively on May 31 and June 13.

Since 2019, Lebanon has plunged into an economic crisis deemed by the World Bank as one of the planet's worst since the mid-19th century.

str-lar/aya/lg/it
Letters to the Editor: Today's nukes are much worse than the Hiroshima bomb. They must never be used

Heads of government from the G7 nations visit the the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 19. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

To the editor: After reading the mixed and somewhat weak resolutions from the G7 summit to the threat and proliferation of nuclear weapons in our world, one should keep a very important and formidable consideration in mind: Current nuclear weapons are 20 to 30 times more powerful and destructive than those used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II in 1945.

If they are ever used (God forbid), it will not be a "controlled destruction." It could very well end all life on this planet.

This is the scenario that must be addressed.

Rick Solomon, Lake Balboa

..

To the editor: As a 9-year-old on Dec. 7, 1941, I have vivid memories and strong emotions about that era.

I've been to Japan three times  twice while serving in Korea and once recently, including a visit to Hiroshima. Its a beautiful country with lovely people.

I've been to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and toured the USS Arizona site and all the various monuments. I sobbed uncontrollably after reading plaques with lists of the dead on each American ship.

To this day, I have no regret that President Harry Truman saved many American lives as well of thousands of others all across the globe by ordering the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I hope as all sane people do that another nuclear weapon will never be used again.

Dave Simon, North Hollywood

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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A councillor has claimed Lincolnshire is being used as a dumping ground for green energy projects that benefit other parts of the country.

Conservative county councillor Colin Davie said the interests of local people should be put first.

Mr Davie referred to a National Grid plan to build 164ft (50m) high pylons from Cleethorpes to Spalding.

A National Grid spokesperson said local feedback was vital and a consultation would be held "later this year".

"The scale of the [National Grid] proposal is so enormous; nothing like this has been seen in Lincolnshire before," Mr Davie said.

"There is a drive in government to put a lot of this stuff into Lincolnshire - I would say dump it into Lincolnshire - because most of the power generated is not going to be used here in the Midlands region."

He added 11 large solar farms were under consideration as well as other energy generation facilities

A number of the schemes are considered to be Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, meaning a decision whether to allow construction is made by central government rather than local councils.

Mr Davie said there were plans to bring an "Energy Position Statement" before the council in the near future, aiming to outline the council's position on infrastructure developments and ensure the interests of Lincolnshire residents are given due consideration.

"I'm not going to allow Lincolnshire to be overwhelmed, or dumped on in any way shape or form by any party, whether it's private or public, and we need to make sure that as a body, we are all united in taking a clearer view," he added.

He said he believed the proposals would have a profound impact on the beauty of the local landscape, tourism, and property values.

Mr Davie also raised concerns about the loss of high-quality farmland, which plays a crucial role in maintaining Lincolnshire's status as the UK's food basket.

"I want to see Lincolnshire deliver high-quality food for the nation. We need to protect our land to do that," said Mr Davie.

A National Grid spokesperson said in order to deliver the government's ambition to connect 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, a new network of infrastructure was needed across the UK, including in Lincolnshire.

They added: "Whenever we develop initial proposals, we share them with local communities and stakeholders first. Their feedback is vital to shape our proposals further. We will consult on our initial findings when we have completed our review, later this year."

Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.
FILE - Trainer Marcia Hinton pets Lolita, a captive orca whale, during a performance at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami, March 9, 1995. Caregivers at a South Florida ocean park are taking steps to prepare Lolita, an orca whale held captive for more than a half-century, for a possible return to her home waters in Washingtons Puget Sound. The parks owner and a nonprofit announced a plan in March 2023 to possibly move the 57-year-old orca to a natural sea pen. (Nuri Vallbona/Miami Herald via AP, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MIAMI (AP)  Caregivers at a South Florida ocean park are taking steps to prepare Lolita, an orca whale held captive for more than a half-century, for a possible return to her home waters in Washingtons Puget Sound.

But the move isnt a done deal, and veterinarians and trainers told WPLG in Miami this week that theyre working with Lolita to make sure shes strong enough to survive the journey and to acclimate to her new home.

Animal rights activists have been fighting for years to have Lolita  also known as Tokitae, or Toki  freed from her tank at the Miami Seaquarium. The park's owner, The Dolphin Company, and the nonprofit Friends of Toki announced a plan in March to possibly move the 57-year-old orca to a natural sea pen, with the financial backing of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

Jessica Comolli, the director of the Miami Seaquariums animal health department, said Lolita is doing great. The orca has had two health scares since 2020 but has recovered.

Lolita retired from performing last spring as a condition of the parks new exhibitors license with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shes not been publicly displayed since. The Dolphin Company CEO Eduardo Albor said they've invested more than $500,000 to improve Lolita's water quality after taking over the Seaquarium last year.

In recent months, new upgrades have been installed to better filter the pool and regulate her water temperature. New chillers can now get the temp down to mimic the waters of the Pacific Northwest, said trainer Michael Partica.

Federal and state regulators would still need to approve any plan to move Lolita, and that could take months or years. The 5,000-pound (2,267-kilogram) has been living for years in a tank that measures 80 feet by 35 feet (24 meters by 11 meters) and is 20 feet (6 meters) deep.
Julie Sus bid to become Secretary of Labor remains stalled in the Senate, by all accounts because she does not have the necessary votes to earn confirmation.

But in one practical sense that might not matter. Su was named Acting Secretary of Labor by President Joe Biden on March 11  and there are no specific time limits on how long she can serve in that capacity, according to laws governing the top Labor Department job.

So while the Senate confirmation process drags on with no end in sight, Su, the former head head of Californias labor department, can continue doing the job.

Su was nominated Feb. 28 to become Secretary of Labor. Cabinet secretaries require Senate confirmation, but Sus fate is uncertain because of concerns about her stewardship of Californias unemployment system during the chaotic COVID-19 pandemic period, as well as some qualms about her views about business interests.

Democrats control 51 of the Senates 100 seats, enough to confirm Su, but at least two centrist Democrats have reservations. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Jon Tester, D-Montana, are undecided, and both are up for re-election next year in states President Donald Trump won easily in 2020.

Tester told The Bee last week he is still looking at things in her background, what she did in California.

He didnt like the idea of Su remaining acting secretary indefinitely. I dont think thats the optimal way to go here, he said.

The Senate left Washington Thursday and is not scheduled to return until May 30.

No one is saying when, or even if, a Su vote could occur.

It should be sooner rather than later, said Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vt., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which approved her nomination last month on a party line vote.

In the meantime, Su remains acting head of the sprawling agency, which manages the nations job training, unemployment, labor statistics and other labor-related duties and policies.

She can stay because of a 1946 law, amended in 1986, that allows the departments deputy secretary to perform the duties of the Secretary until a successor is appointed.

Su was deputy secretary from 2021 until this spring. She was confirmed to that job by the Senate on a party line vote in 2021. Su has been acting secretary since Marty Walsh left on March 11.

Usually federal job vacancies are governed by the Vacancies Act, which requires a replacement within 210 days. The process is overseen by the nonpartisan Comptroller General.

The opposing views

While the Senate considers Su, both sides in this fight are waging intense campaigns. A key flashpoint has been her record in California, where she served as Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency in the Newsom administration.

The agencys Employment Development Department, which manages the unemployment system, was overwhelmed in the pandemics early days, causing widespread complaints about delays, confusion and poor customer service.

The EDD was also hit with fraud in the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, a COVID-era benefit for workers who could not typically qualify for traditional unemployment insurance. An estimated $31 billion was collected fraudulently, almost all from the PUA program.

The AFL-CIO is fighting hard for Sus confirmation, urging senators to look at Sus overall record of advocacy for worker rights, both as a government official and an attorney.

Labor has launched a six-figure digital ad campaign as well as what it calls a nationwide worker mobilization, an effort to have members contact senators back in their states.

On the other side, many business interests paint Su as too beholden to labor interests and a bad choice to run a Cabinet agency.

Shes an outside-the-mainstream California regulator who is unqualified to run the Department of Labor, said Michael Layman, Internal Franchise Association senior vice president of government relations and public affairs.

Where the situation goes from here might very well be up to Biden.

Su could withdraw her nomination, allowing Biden to choose another nominee. Or either Manchin or Tester could say hes voting yes, probably triggering a full Senate vote and confirmation. Or Biden could effectively do nothing and simply keep the position vacant, allowing Su to continue as Acting Secretary as long as hes in office.
FILE - Actor James Hong poses after being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 10, 2022, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. has a starring role in the new Gremlins animated prequel, Secrets of the Mogwai, and pops up in American Born Chinese on Disney+. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

Greeted with a standing ovation at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, James Hong could easily have just basked in the applause and moved on. But for the 94-year-old, the mostly Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once" winning best cast seemed like an opportunity for a stark reminder that Hollywood wasn't always so open.

It just came out of me that after all these years of working with producers and directors, and they were always saying, Oh the Asian, the Chinese, are not good enough to play the leading role," Hong told The Associated Press recently. But look at Michelle (Yeoh) and all these colleagues now coming forward to be recognized ... You cant help but say Look at us now.

Looking at Hong now, you will see perhaps the busiest nonagenarian in show biz. The last year for him has been a wild ride. A year ago he finally received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Shortly after, Everything Everywhere All at Once" and the overwhelming response propelled the actor into every major awards event. He got to see the movie collect seven Oscars, including a historic best actress win for Yeoh. Host Jimmy Kimmel even took a moment to pay tribute to him.

Viewers will soon be able to hear Hong in Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, an animated prequel series of the movie franchise. Episodes began streaming Tuesday on Max (formerly HBO Max). He also appears in an episode of the new Disney+ show, American Born Chinese, which also premiered this week and is producer on the upcoming movie Patsy Lee and the Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms.

It's as if the universe is trying to make up for all the racial discrimination the Asian American icon endured over the years.

Born in Minneapolis, Hong originally studied civil engineering in college. After serving in the Korean War, he decided in 1953 to move to Hollywood. He got his break break on Groucho Marxs quiz show, You Bet Your Life." Small film roles opposite actors like Clark Gable followed. But so did roles that were racist tropes.

In the series The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, Hong played the son of the titular Chinese detective. He had to stomach watching a white lead actor put on fake eye pieces so that his eyes would look more Asian.

Then he would just talk in a very stoic pattern thats supposedly Chinese," Hong recalled. That irritated me for many, many years.

A lot of his early roles reflected the limited options for Asian actors at the time: workers in laundries, restaurants on railroad lines.

Those Asian cliches are far behind him now. He is also helping to revisit some and flesh them out.

Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation, had the idea to do a prequel to Gremlins and gave showrunner Tze Chun the reins to come up with ideas. Chun wanted to expand on the family history of Mr. Wing, the store owner played by Keye Luke who houses original Gremlin Gizmo in the 1984 flick. In this animated take, viewers will see Mr. Wing as a little boy in 1920s Shanghai encountering the furry creatures who shouldn't eat after midnight. Hong, who was actually friends with Luke, voices Sam's sly and spunky grandfather.

Hong's iconic voice was at the top of the show's wish list. There's something about his delivery that is equal parts gravitas and incredible humor," Chun said.

Its never what you think its going to be, which is whats so exciting about it, Chun said. "Its like you can try to hear it when youre writing it on the page. But then when he does it, he brings that like unique spin to it that is just out of left field. And, frankly, just makes it better."

Secrets of the Mogwai, which retains some of the dark and funny elements of the movie, also serves as a Mulan voice cast reunion. Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong, George Takei and Hong were all part of the 1998 Disney animated feature. The Mulan connection was a complete coincidence.

We just kind of went out to our first choices, Chun said. These are people that Ive looked up to like for my entire life.

Chun is one of several Asian American film directors and showrunners who have gotten emotional seeing Hong celebrated. Melvin Mar, one of the producers of American Born Chinese, teared up when he spoke to him right before his Walk of Fame ceremony.

That guy is a legend beyond legend, Mar said. He was just so funny and quick and just a pleasure to have on set. Just the sweetest guy."

Gene Luen Yang, author of the American Born Chinese" graphic novel and also a producer on the show, says Hong's life epitomizes Asian American history.

His journey in Hollywood really is symbolic of us as Asian Americans. The kind of roles that he was offered in the beginning to now having his own Hollywood star, it shows the kind of progress that weve made, Yang said.

Hong is grateful that he has been around to witness how anti-Asian discrimination and whitewashing are no longer as tolerated. With new attitudes and new technology like streaming services, there are also more acting gigs than he thought possible.

Im going to be thinking of another project to do. Why? Because online and all these streaming things have created a whole new different field, he said. You dont have to make a whole feature. You can make a something 10 minutes or half an hour or hour long and still get it so-called displayed.

With over 650 acting credits including 200-something voiceovers, is there anything Hong wants to conquer? Yes, but not in acting. He fantasizes about a James Hong comic book series with his brand of sarcastic humor.

We'll see, Hong said. Im not going to stop working. My wife wants me to go to a retirement home soon, but I dont think Im fit for that. I wouldnt know what to do.

___ This story has been changed to correct BD Wong's first name, which does not use punctuation marks.

___

Terry Tang is a member of The Associated Press Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ttangAP
Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2024.

If theres ever an opportune time to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation, its coming, and it will be here on January 3, 2025 at noon, he said at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware.

The 76-year-old Democrat has served for over 20 years in the US Senate. Before being elected to the Senate, Carper served as Delawares governor and was Delawares sole representative in the US House for five terms. Carper was first elected in Delaware at the age of 29 as the state treasurer.

Carper is the fourth Democratic senator to announce he will not seek reelection this cycle.

He spoke about his relationship with former Delaware senator President Joe Biden, and how Biden encouraged him to run for the Senate.

Its been my privilege to support Joe Bidens reelection for the senate many times, as well as his election to the Vice Presidency and to the Presidency, and meanwhile he has encouraged me every step of the way, Carper said.

Carper is the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and he previously chaired the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

He is the currently the last veteran of the Vietnam War in the Senate.

It will likely be a crowded Democratic primary for a safe Democratic seat. Biden won Delaware by almost 20 points in the last Presidential election, and the state has had Democratic governors since the early 1990s.

Carper said that he spoke with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and that he would support her if she ran for his seat.

We love Lisa, and I spoke with her this morning and I said youve been patiently waiting for me to get out the way, and Im gonna get out of the way, and I hope you run, and I hope you will let me support you and support you in that mission, and she said, Yes I will let you support me, Carper told reporters.

Blunt Rochester told CNN on Tuesday that shes still very much interested in running for the seat, and while she didnt indicate a timeframe for announcing a run, she suggested shes in her final stages of deliberations.

The congresswoman said she had a great conversation with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has encouraged her to run, and has spoken in the past with Biden about a potential Senate bid.

Hes always been supportive, she said of the president.

The congresswoman would fill a void in a Senate with no Black women senators and would likely be viewed as a frontrunner for her partys nomination for the seat.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNNs Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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Heres a look at the most contentious legislation DeSantis has signed leading up to his presidential bid

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent the months leading up to his presidential announcement signing legislation that's made national headlines  and hasnt always garnered a favorable reaction among his political rivals and fellow Republicans.

The GOP-controlled Legislature has handed DeSantis many legislative victories in what has helped the governor create his political agenda. He has pushed Florida lawmakers to restrict gender-affirming care for minors and permanently ban pandemic-related mandates.

Here are some recent contentious bills that DeSantis has signed:

Floridas six-week abortion ban

In April, DeSantis signed into law a ban on abortions after six weeks. The six-week ban will only take effect only if the states current 15-week ban is upheld before the state Supreme Court.

The ban allows for exceptions for victims of rape and incest if they provide evidence such as a police report. Some Republicans have deemed the six-week ban as too strict, including GOP South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who questioned whether rape victims will have the foresight to save evidence or file reports with authorities.

Protecting an unborn child when theres a detectable heartbeat is something that almost probably 99 percent of pro-lifers support, DeSantis said at a bill signing press conference this month. Its something that other states like Iowa under Gov. Kim Reynolds have enacted.

Former President Donald Trump, who is Desantis chief rival for the GOP nomination, said in an interview with digital news startup The Messenger, if you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people dont even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) danced around the idea on NBCs Meet The Press when asked if he would sign the bill if he were governor. Donalds has openly said hed be interested in running for governor of Florida.

"Honestly, that's something where you have to deal with your legislature on that, Donalds said Sunday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, in a statement, called the ban extreme and dangerous and said the administration will continue to fight to protect access to abortion and defend reproductive rights.



Ban on gender-affirming care for minors and expanding Dont Say Gay law

Earlier this month, DeSantis signed into law a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy for transgender youth. The governor also signed into law expansions to the states parental rights rules, panned by critics as Dont Say Gay.

A group of parents of transgender children immediately challenged the gender-affirming care law, filing an emergency request in federal court to block its implementation.



The governor also signed expansions to the Dont Say Gay bill to include outlawing school employees from asking students for their preferred pronouns and restricting school staff from sharing their pronouns with students if they do not correspond with their sex.

At a press conference ahead of the bill signing, DeSantis said that teaching children that they can be whatever they want to be was not something that's appropriate for any place, but especially not in Florida."

Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill is outrageous & absurd, and now theyre inexplicably expanding it through 12th grade, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) wrote on Twitter. Children deserve to feel safe & supported in school. As Americans, we must reject these harmful policies & prioritize inclusive education.

The Dont Say Gay bill has spurred copycat measures from congressional Republicans, who in October introduced a bill to prohibit the use of federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes."

Florida state education: DEI programs, pronouns, AP course

Last week, DeSantis signed a bill banning colleges and universities in Florida from spending their cash on most diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Florida is getting out of that game, DeSantis said during a bill signing at New College of Florida in Sarasota. If you want to do things like gender ideology, go to Berkeley  go to some of these other places.

The governor had said such programs attempt to indoctrinate students to left-wing ideology and that educational institutions should be free of political bias.

The NAACP issued a formal travel advisory in response to what the group described as DeSantis aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.

In response to the law, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom took a subtle jab at DeSantis on Twitter.

ICYMI: Six University of California campuses ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States last year, with UC Berkeley and UCLA tying for first place and all nine UC undergraduate campuses in the top 45, the California governor tweeted.



Shortly after DeSantis objections to the College Boards African American AP course, the Legislature agreed to spend a combined $2.8 million developing a homegrown program for students to take a classical exam instead of the SAT or ACT.

Hundreds of people, including Black lawmakers and clergy, demonstrated at Floridas state Capitol against the DeSantis administration in February, and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump threatened a lawsuit over the governors rejection of the course.

Concealed carry without permit

Floridians will be able to carry concealed guns without a permit under a bill DeSantis signed last month.

DeSantis signed the bill because he believes you dont need a permission slip from the government to be able to exercise your constitutional rights.

They dont care about our kids, Newsom said in an interview on MSNBCs Inside With Jen Psaki. Cause if they did, theyd ban these damn weapons of war. They would have background checks that require some common damn sense.

It is shameful that so soon after another tragic school shooting, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a permitless concealed carry bill behind closed doors, Jean-Pierre added. This is the opposite of common-sense gun safety.

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said in a statement, Florida Republican leaders have decided the NRA is more important than Floridians.

Lets be clear, Floridians will die if this legislation becomes law, Frost said.

DeSantis feud with Disney

DeSantis, in February, signed legislation that ended Disneys self-governing status, and months later, signed new legislation that gave the governing board the authority to void development agreements that Disney had previously agreed to.

DeSantis sought to bring an end to Disneys special privileges that were held for more than half a century after Disney came out against the Dont Say Gay measure.



Many potential GOP presidential hopefuls have slammed DeSantis handling of his ongoing feud with Disney this week, with Trump calling the feud so unnecessary.

If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina and bring the billions of dollars with them, Ill let them know Ill be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and legislature that would welcome it, Nikki Haley, GOP presidential candidate and former United Nations ambassador, told Fox News.

Immigration

DeSantis signed a bill that will guarantee $12 million more for a controversial program the governor used to fly migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard. The bill also requires employers with more than 25 employees to check their immigration status using a federal database known as E-Verify.

DeSantis and Republican allies contend that the law sends a message to the Biden administration after the state has seen an influx of migrants.

Gov DeSantis new anti-immigrant bill attacks DREAMers, hurts small businesses & farmers & will increase costs for Fla families, Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) said in a tweet. Its also deeply unpopular nationally. This will hurt our diverse state & do nothing to help his failing presidential run.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino civil rights organization, issued a reminder to Latinos traveling to Florida that they should be cautious when entering the state and encountering police.

"We do not doubt that if Abuelita or Tia is with us and we are profiled, DeSantis' enforcement regulations will treat us like criminals, transporting a dangerous person who only wanted to visit family or enjoy Disneyworld," LULAC President Domingo Garcia said.
In two months, Judge Steven Boyce of Idahos 7th Judicial District will decide whether to sentence Lori Vallow Daybell to life in prison.

A jury earlier this month found the 49-year-old mother, who moved to Idaho in the summer of 2019, guilty of the first-degree murders of two of her children, following a six-week trial and just seven hours of deliberation. Vallow Daybell was also convicted of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder for the children and Tammy Daybell, then-wife of Vallow Daybells husband Chad. In addition, she was found guilty of grand theft for continuing to collect Social Security and child-care benefits after her childrens deaths.

Vallow Daybell will face sentencing at 9 a.m. on July 31 at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, according to a hearing notice. Members of the public can also watch Vallow Daybells sentencing live on Judge Boyces YouTube channel.

Vallow Daybell no longer faces the death penalty, after Boyce removed it as an option just weeks before her trial started in Boise. Boyce said the prosecution submitted thousands of documents and pieces of evidence past a deadline set by the court, and that the death penalty should be removed to preserve Vallow Daybells right to a fair trial.

Lori Vallow Daybell is guilty of 2 murders. Why Idaho wont pursue the death penalty

Childrens remains found in Chad Daybells yard

Three years ago, authorities found the remains of 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan buried in shallow graves in the backyard of Vallow Daybells husband, Chad Daybell. Investigators on the case uncovered messages, recordings and corroborating witnesses, showing that the couple held beliefs her children were demons who needed to be cast out  or killed, according to witness testimony.

The Daybells were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held fringe beliefs that dark spirits can possess bodies and should be cast out.

Chad Daybell  whose trial date hasnt been set but is expected to happen next year  is also accused of murdering and conspiring to kill Tylee and JJ. He also faces an additional first-degree murder charge for the death of Tammy Daybell.

To convict Vallow Daybell of the first-degree murder counts for JJ and Tylee, the jury needed to conclude that she killed her children, or encouraged or commanded someone else to do so. Prosecutors in the indictment said the Daybells espoused religious beliefs for the purpose of justifying or encouraging the homicides.

No one here is charged because of their religious beliefs, Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood said during the trial. They are charged for using those religious beliefs for the purpose of murder.

After Vallow Daybell is sentenced and transferred to an Idaho Department of Correction prison, officials plan to extradite her to Arizona, where she faces two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Police said they believe Vallow Daybell along with her brother, Alex Cox, conspired to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and attempted to shoot their nieces ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux. Cox died in December 2019 from a blood clot.
Henry Nicholls/File Photo/Reuters

Prince Harry could face a legal bill of more than $600,000 after a judge ruled Tuesday that he couldnt pay for armed police guards while in the U.K.

His demand to be allowed to hire high-level, armed police for protection was a fork of a broader overall case by Harry that argues that he should simply be entitled to high level police security when in the U.K. due to inherited risk. The broader case is ongoing and is not affected by Tuesdays ruling, but legal sources told The Daily Beast they considered the ruling augured badly for Harry.

Mark Stephens, a media lawyer at Howard Kennedy, said he believed the writing is on the wall for this case now, when speaking to The Daily Beast on Tuesday, after the British Home Office prevailed in its argument that were wealthy individuals such as Harry to be allowed to buy police protection, it would undermine public confidence in the police and detract from their core duties.

Although a ruling on costs has yet to be made, there is a very real possibility that Harry could be required to cover both his own and the governments costs if his action fails.

Although Harrys outlays so far are unknown, the governments costs have been disclosed thanks to a Freedom of Information request filed by British tabloid The Sun, which reported that the case has cost the British taxpayer more than 300,000, or about $371,000, so far.

Prince Harry Prepares to Turn the Screw on Charles, Camilla, and Williamin Court

Harrys costs are likely to be similar, making for the possibility of the prince being stung for an eye-watering total. The Daily Mail estimates that full costs for the High Court suit, which Harry may have to pay if he loses, could be as high as 500,000, or about $640,000.

Although Meghan Markle and Prince Harry signed a number of lucrative deals for tell-all memoirs and documentaries, the staggering sum that they are spending on legal actions could become troublesome were they to lose some or all of the cases they currently have in progress.

In addition to the security case, Harry has two phone-hacking trials and a libel action before the courts.

Harry and Meghan may seem wealthy to casual observers, but The Daily Beasts founding editor, Tina Brown, has said that by the standards of their neighbors in Montecito, they are not.

Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival last year, per the Telegraph, Brown said: Its not very pleasant to be a D-list celebrity who, for them, doesnt have enough money. Its a wholly different game to be with those super-rich people. In Montecito, where they live, their $14 million mansion is a humble cottage compared to what these other people have.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Its already that time of year  Love Island is returning to our screens for another sizzling summer series.

The ITV2 dating show, which sees a group of young people tasked with finding love in the sun or being dumped from the Mallorcan villa, will kick off on Monday 5 June.

Following her debut for the shows winter edition earlier this year, Maya Jama will be presenting once again. She will be joined by comedian Iain Stirling as the shows returning narrator.

Love Islands 10th series will begin with 10 initial contestants arriving in paradise, but viewers can expect the usual bombshells and latecomers coming in to turn heads and shake things up for the new couples.

Theres never a dull moment in the ultimate search for love, ITV said.

More texts, fire pit gatherings and challenges await the lovestruck Islanders, meaning therell be plenty for them to dish the dirt on in the beach hut. Twists and turns will follow every step of the way, with shock recouplings, unexpected breakups and dramatic dumpings.

Throughout the season, Jama will also catch up with the dumped islanders after they leave the villa on sister show Aftersun, where she will also interview the contestants family, celebrity fans and ex-islanders.

The announcement comes after ITV shared the new duty of care procedures being imposed on the islanders before, during and after the show.

Maya Jama is returning to present (ITV)

After an initial trial period tested during the 2023 winter series in South Africa, Love Island contestants will formally be asked to pause all their social media accounts during the series.

This measure was first introduced to ensure that the cast members and their families are protected from the adverse effects of social media, and was praised by Stirling, who told The Independent in January that it was insane that that happened before.

Love Island returns Monday 5 June at 9pm on ITV2.
A Macon man was sent to prison for 2013 bank robbery. He tried to rob it again, prosecutor says

A Macon man recently released from prison for bank robbery pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to rob a bank at the same location he held up in 2013, according to a statement from the U.S. District Attorneys Office.

William Jeffrey Lowder Jr., 41, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted bank robbery in Middle District federal court Tuesday after he tried to rob the Truist Bank at 3600 Mercer University Drive in Macon Jan. 27, court evidence showed.

Lowder passed a note to a teller that read Money out the register, no dye packs, Sorry! at about 11 a.m. that morning, according to the release, and indicated to a clerk that he had a gun.

When he learned the clerk did not have a register, Lowder left the bank. An hour after the incident he called his parole officer, reporting his own crime and turning himself in. The attempted robbery was captured on surveillance cameras.

Lowder had been in federal prison for robbing a bank at the same location in 2013 when it was a Suntrust Bank, court records show. He was recently released from that stint at the time of his attempted robbery, the release said.

The defendants choice to attempt to rob a community bank located near a busy university campus caused unnecessary panic in a peaceful place of business, said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary in the statement. As Mr. Lowder well knows, individuals who threaten the peace will face consequences. I want to thank the U.S. Probation Office, the Bibb County Sheriffs Office and the FBI for their quick response.

Lowder faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, according to the attorneys office.
Madeleine McCann disappearance Portugal investigation police - Yui Mok/PA Wire

The prime suspect in Madeleine McCanns disappearance visited the Algarve reservoir just days after the girl vanished, a source close to the Portuguese investigation has said.

Christian Brueckner was said to have gone to a promontory at the Arade dam, currently being searched by police, some days after the three-year-old went missing in May 2007.

German detectives are understood to have been told by a very credible source who knew Brueckner that he had visited the reservoir, an area he called his little paradise, in his camper van.

The Barragem do Arade is about 30 miles from the Praia da Luz resort where the girl disappeared while on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann, her parents, 16 years ago.

On Wednesday, more than 30 Portuguese and German police extended their search of the headland at the reservoir, as heavy-duty brush-cutting equipment was brought in to strip out shrubs and clear a large swathe for searches.

Christian Brueckner Madeleine McCann murder suspect disappearance Portugal

The search was expected to move into its third day as the Portuguese source insisted German officers had drawn up a detailed map of key locations, some still untouched. The source added that the site could be linked to other crimes the prolific sex offender has committed.

Meanwhile in Germany, Christian Wolters, the Braunschweig prosecutor, stressed that the searches were not based on any confession, but very strong indications that the site was of significance.

In an interview with NDR, the German public service broadcaster, he said: We have indications that we could find evidence there. I dont want to say what that is exactly, and I also dont want to say where these indications came from.

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesnt come from the suspect. So, we dont have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search.

It was other indications that prompted us to conduct the search.

His comments underlined how the German authorities were taking seriously the informants claims that Brueckner had gone to the reservoir shortly after Madeleines disappearance.

While it is not known who the source is, former friends of the German national have previously played a key role in telling police of his alleged crimes.

Two of his friends told detectives that they had found a videotape at the farmhouse where he lived on the outskirts of Praia da Luz showing a rape and two other sex attacks. The tape has not been recovered.

Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in Madeleines disappearance, was identified as a murder suspect in June 2020. He has a long history of crimes, including petty theft and drug trafficking to the sexual abuse of children.

In 2019, he was convicted in Germany of the sadistic rape of a 72-year-old American tourist after breaking into her villa half a mile from the McCanns holiday apartment in 2006. He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence and is due for release in three years time.

Scotland Yard and German police claimed that Brueckners mobile telephone received a 30-minute call close to the McCanns holiday apartment an hour before Madeleine disappeared.

Madeleine McCann disappearance Portugal investigation police - PA

On Wednesday, officers used powerful strimmers and a heavy-duty brush cutter to remove shrubs before the area was raked and pored over by sniffer dogs.

Some items, including items of clothing, were believed to have been bagged and removed by officers.

However, none have been identified as potentially linking to the missing girl.

Emergency services and officials from Portugal, Germany and the UK have been seen holding briefings near blue police tents at the scene.

It was believed that German police have found numerous pictures Brueckner took of himself at the waterside at Barragem do Arade.

It was also believed that the images were found on a USB stick and laptop both seized from a derelict factory he owns in Germany.

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House to recess Thursday, will be called back for debt ceiling vote if deal is reached

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has announced that the House will recess following votes on Thursday and will be called back to vote if a debt limit deal is reached.

Following tomorrows votes, if some new agreement is reached between President (Joe) Biden and Speaker (Kevin) McCarthy, members will receive 24 hours notice in the event we need to return to Washington for any additional votes, either over the weekend or next week, he said on Wednesday.

Negotiations are ongoing in an attempt to reach a deal, but major differences between House Republicans and the White House still have yet to be bridged, and the pressure is only intensifying as the risk of default grows ever more real with each day.

Negotiators for the White House and House GOP met again on Wednesday, this time at the the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Later in the day, McCarthy said that during the four-hour meeting talks moved in a positive direction, but indicated that there are still substantial issues to resolve.

McCarthy told CNNs Manu Raju, when asked if the White House moved closer to GOP demands on spending cuts, There was a number of issues that are out there that weve been working on, I think being able to find some ways that we can probably get to fruition on a couple of these, theres still a number of these out there.

McCarthy would not provide specific details on sticking points, but he also said that he is not budging from his demand to cut spending, and that work requirements for social safety net programs are on the table.

Republicans have long said that spending cuts must be paired with any increase in the debt limit  an issue that is proving to be the central sticking point as Democrats argue the cuts Republicans want are too extreme, though the White House has expressed a willingness to cut some spending.

Asked if there is any general agreements on cuts, GOP Rep. Garret Graves, who has served as a chief negotiator during the talks, said on Tuesday, No, thats our biggest gap.

Graves made clear that a wide array of significant differences remain, even as the timeline to avoid default grows shorter.

Look, there are some big bright red lines on both sides, he said. We do not have any of those issues closed out.

McCarthy tells conference: We are nowhere near a deal

Underscoring just how far apart the two sides are, McCarthy told Republicans during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, We are nowhere near a deal, according to sources in the room.

The window to secure a deal is rapidly closing and the stakes are incredibly high with the Treasury Department continuing to say the US could default by June 1. A first-ever default for the US would likely trigger a global economic catastrophe.

McCarthy met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday, a meeting the speaker and the president both said was productive, but that did not yield a breakthrough in negotiations or end in a deal.

Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, continue to push back against positions Republicans have staked out in negotiations and express heightened concern over the ticking clock.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar argued that Republicans have been pushed to take extreme positions by far-right members of the GOP conference.

This is tough, this is not where we should be. Speaker McCarthy is being held captive by the Freedom Caucus, Aguilar told reporters on Tuesday.

Were concerned that Republicans are not only moving the goalposts, but continue to hold onto the most extreme elements of their proposals, he said.

McCarthys position: Republicans wont make concessions

McCarthy, despite saying the two sides are still far apart, said Tuesday he thinks it is possible to get everything done by the June 1 deadline. We could still finish this by June 1st, he told reporters.

But in a sign there may not be much room to maneuver in negotiations, McCarthy told Raju, Were going to raise the debt ceiling, when asked what concessions he would make  a significant remark that indicates Republicans are not willing to give any more than raising the debt ceiling in exchange for their demands.

When Raju pressed the speaker, asking if that is his only concession, McCarthy said, Everything were going to do is going to make America stronger.

McCarthys comment Tuesday that raising the debt ceiling is the only concession he will make rankled a White House that just a day earlier viewed conversations with McCarthy as productive, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.

A Democratic official slammed McCarthy for his comments, accusing him of refusing to compromise and being beholden to the most conservative members of his caucus as negotiations languish.

The official slammed McCarthys demand that defense spending increase while non-defense spending decrease as extreme and out of step with budget deals over the last decade.

Whats happens when theres a deal?

Another significant challenge facing negotiators is that even if a deal is reached, that is far from the end of the road to prevent default.

Legislative text will need to be written, which can be arduous and complicated work as lawmakers and staff dive into nitty-gritty policy details  a part of the process toward final passage of any bill that can often lead to further issues and eleventh-hour hangups over disagreements about the fine print.

Then, leaders from both parties will need to wrangle the votes to pass a bill, no small task with narrow majorities in both chambers. After that, a deal would need to be brought to the floor, a process that can take days to play out in both chambers, though there are mechanisms available to leadership to speed things up.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNNs Morgan Rimmer, Melanie Zanona, Manu Raju, Jeremy Diamond and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.

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Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Twenty-seven male South Carolina legislators passed a ban on abortions after six weeks Tuesday, over the objections of all five women in the state Senateincluding three Republicans.

The ban, which bars abortion before most people know they are pregnant, will now go to the desk of Gov. Henry McMaster (R), who is expected to sign it. It is particularly significant given that South Carolina is the only remaining state in the deep South without a post-Roe restriction on the procedure.

South Carolina is holding the line for the entire Southeast, said Ann Warner, CEO of the Womens Rights and Empowerment Network, which advocates for womens rights in the state. It is incredibly significant not only for our state but for the entire region.

South Carolina has some of the worst reproductive health outcomes in the country, extremely high rates of infant and maternal mortality, she added. Bans like this would make that worse.

5 Women In South Carolinas State Senate Are Saving Abortion Rights (For Now)

Republicans tried three times in the last eight months to ban abortion completely, but were blocked by a contingent of five women in the Senateincluding three Republicansand a handful of Republican men who voted in line with them.

After hours of heated debate on Tuesday, all of the men in the legislature voted to pass the ban.

One of the Republican women, Penry Gustafson, voted in favor of a previous six-week ban that failed to pass in February. She told The Daily Beast the intervening weeks had caused her to change her mind.

Funny thing, when you learn and gather facts over time, sometimes your perspective evolves, she said, noting that she did still support some restrictions on the procedure. Ive heard from too many women that six weeks is not long enough.

Another of the Republican women, Katrina Shealy, introduced an amendment to ban abortion after 12 weeksand 20 weeks for victims of incest and rapeinstead.

Men are 100 percent responsible for pregnancies, she said while introducing it. Men are fertile 100 percent of the time. So it is time for men in this chamberand the ones across that hall and all across the state of South Carolinato take some ejaculation responsibility.

The amendment was voted down, again over the objections of the five women.

The bill will likely face legal challenges after it is signed into law. The South Carolina Supreme Court shot down a similar six-week ban that took effect directly after Roe fell. But the author of the opinion in that casealso a womanretired earlier this year and was replaced with a man.

The three Republican women in the Senatewho, along with the two other female legislators, call themselves the sister senators filibustered the last attempt to ban abortion in the state in April, holding up plastic spines dropped off at their offices by the anti-abortion group Students for Life as a hint that they should grow one.

Ive got one hell of a spine already, but now Ive got another backup, Shealy remarked at the time, according to a New York Times profile of the group.

On Tuesday, all five women entered the chambers wearing buttons reading elect more women.

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A former San Luis Obispo man accused of sexually abusing children at a local daycare was arrested while crossing the border between Mexico and the United States, according to the San Luis Obispo Police Department.

Pablo Reyna-Espaza, 78, is being charged with 22 counts of sexual abuse, the agency said in a news release Wednesday.

In May 2018, police received a report of alleged sex abuse of a female child at Reyna-Espazas residence on the 1200 block of Coral Street in San Luis Obispo, the release said.

Another family member was using the home as an unlicensed daycare at the time, police said.

The child told investigators that Reyna-Esparza sexually abused her in 2016 when she was 10 years old, police said,

The 78-year-old denied the allegations at the time, police said, then disappeared shortly after detectives interviewed him. He was believed to have fled to Mexico.

At the time, police said, there wasnt enough corroborating evidence to file charges against Reyna-Esparza.

In March 2022, two more girls told police that Reyna-Esparza also abused them in 2016 while they were in daycare at that same residence, the release said. The children were 5 and 10 at the time.

According to police, detectives then found a fourth victim who reported being abused by Reyna-Espaza in 2016 when she was 11 years old.

San Luis Obispo police requested criminal filings against Reyna-Esparza for sexual abuse charges, the release said, and felony arrest warrants were issued.

Reyna-Esparza was arrested on May 8 while crossing the southern border from Mexico into California, police said.

He was then transported to San Luis Obispo County Jail, where he was being held Wednesday in lieu of $12.6 million bail, according to jail records.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact San Luis Obispo Police Department Det. McCornack at 805-783-7757, as police believe there may be additional victims.
Man arrested in May 15 shooting that killed 1, injured 2 near Clifton hotel, police say

A man was arrested Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a man near a Clifton hotel earlier this month, according to the Cincinnati Police Department.

Police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Demarco Smith, 35, saying he was arrested on an open murder warrant.

Officers responded around 10:40 p.m. on May 15 for a report of a person shot in the 3300 block of Central Parkway, near the Budget Host hotel, police said in a news release.

A 34-year-old man, whose identity hasn't been released, was taken by Cincinnati Fire Department personnel to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

Lt. Jonathan Cunningham said the victims name isnt being released due to Marsys Law, a victims' rights law that went into effect in Ohio in April.

Police said two other shooting victims connected with the incident arrived at local hospitals via personal vehicles a short time later. Both of those victims survived.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Man arrested in May 15 fatal triple shooting in Clifton, police say
A man went to CIA Headquarters and said, Im here and I have a gun, source says. He was later arrested at a preschool with an AK-47 in his car

A man arrested for having an AK-47 on school property walked up to the CIA Headquarters gate in Virginia and allegedly said, Im here and I have a gun, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Uniformed federal officers turned him away at the gate Tuesday and notified Fairfax County police of his description, the source said Wednesday.

The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Eric Sandow of Gainesville, Florida, was later arrested and charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property, police said.

He allegedly trespassed on the grounds of Dolley Madison Preschool around 11 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The preschool is less than 1.5 miles from CIA Headquarters and about a 10-minute drive to major landmarks in Washington, including the National Mall.

He requested access to the (preschool) building facilities to use the restroom, which was denied by school staff, Dolley Madison Preschool said in a statement Wednesday. At no point did he gain physical entrance to the school building.

Fairfax County police were then called to the scene.

While speaking with him, he made statements he had weapons inside his car located on school property, the police department said in a statement Wednesday.

Officers searched the car and found two weapons, an AK-47 and a pistol, along with magazines and ammunition.

It does not appear he was acting in conjunction with anyone else, Fairfax County police said. Sandow did not make any threats and the weapons never left the vehicle.

Sandow was arraigned Wednesday morning in Fairfax County General District Court, a court official said.

Court records obtained by CNN on Wednesday shed new light on his encounter with police.

He told the arresting officer that he worked for the CIA, according to court filings, though there is no indication that he has any legitimate ties to the agency. Police officers who encountered Sandow at the preschool later described him as acting incoherent and paranoid, according to the documents.

Police officers told the court Sandow exhibited paranoid behavior, irrational verbal behavior, incoherent statements and had an inability to state a plan or purpose during his arrest, according to court filings.

The suspect hasnt yet had an opportunity to enter a plea, a court official said. He requested a public defender, but an attorney hasnt yet been assigned his case, according to the official.

There were concerns about public safety if (Sandow) is released, so he is being held at a detention center in northern Virginia, a judge wrote in a court filing. A bail hearing is scheduled for Thursday, according to court records.

Sandow does not appear to have a lengthy criminal history, public records show. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in 2014, according to court records in Alachua County, Florida. But that case was closed because the victim does not wish to prosecute, the records show.

Its also not clear what may have motivated the incident at the CIA gate. Sandow appears to have a limited social media footprint and did not declare a political party with his voter registration.

Law enforcement lauded the alert person who summoned them to the preschool.

Were grateful to the community member who did the right thing and called us, police said. Wed like to remind our community to report suspicious activity as you never know what you may prevent by making that call.

CNNs Nicki Brown, Sharif Paget and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.

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Man forced to watch home burn for hours when 3 fire hydrants didnt work, lawsuit says

A man watched a growing blaze slowly turn into a raging fire that burned down his family home when his neighborhoods fire hydrants werent working properly, according to a new lawsuit.

Firefighters arrived minutes after they were called about the fire the evening of May 5 in Charleston, West Virginia, and they had everything they needed  except water, a complaint filed May 22 says.

Ric Cavender, 40, and neighbors were forced to witness the fire fully engulf his home over the course of four hours as firefighters unsuccessfully tried to get water out of three nearby fire hydrants, according to the complaint.

By the time outside help came with water tankers to extinguish the fire, Cavenders home, and everything inside was destroyed, the complaint says. He lived there with his two sons, Cavenders attorney Michael Hissam, of Hissam Forman Donovan Ritchie PLLC law firm, told McClatchy News.

His family dog, Duke, a brindle boxer who was nearly 5 years old, died in the fire, according to the lawsuit and Hissam.

Ric Cavender with his family and dog Duke.

Cavender is suing West Virginia American Water Company, which he says was supposed to ensure the fire hydrants were working and had enough water pressure. The company is a subsidiary of American Water, which operates in 14 states.

According to the lawsuit, the City of Charleston is set to pay the company $160,000 to cover fire hydrant fees for 2023.

West Virginia American Water declined to comment on the active litigation, American Water spokesman Ruben Rodriguez told McClatchy News on May 24.

In response to the fire at Cavenders home, the company met with city officials and the Charleston Fire Department on May 9, according to a news release.

It plans to repair the three failed fire hydrants to have them working as soon as possible and will work to test additional hydrants for their efficacy, the release said.

The fire

Cavenders home was listed as a landmark on the National Register of Historic places, according to the lawsuit.

It was the third home built in the Edgewood neighborhood in 1909, Hissam told McClatchy News.

The fire started on the deck of Cavenders when his fire pit malfunctioned, according to Hissam.

When firefighters arrived minutes after 11:14 p.m., they were met with heavy smoke and planned to douse the fire immediately, the complaint says.

However, they found the fire hydrant closest to Cavenders home didnt have enough water pressure  and made the same discovery when they raced over to the next two closest fire hydrants, according to the complaint.

Firefighters inside the home had to retreat as a result, the complaint says.

All Mr. Cavender, his neighbors, and firefighters could do was watch as the uncontrolled fire threatened the safety of neighbors and their homes, the complaint says.

At some point, Duke went missing and ultimately ran back into the home out of fear, Hissam said.

Cavender and a friend went back into the burning house and searched for Duke for several minutes, but they couldnt find him, according to Hissam.

After a few hours, the fire was doused when the Sissonville Volunteer Fire Department, the Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department and a fire department from McLaughlin Air National Guard Base came with water tankers, the complaint says.

Two days later, Cavender returned to the home and identified Dukes remains, according to the complaint.

Duke was a source of enjoyment for not only Cavender and his children, but neighborhood families whod see him jumping up and down behind the homes fence with his tongue wagging, the complaint says.

Ric Cavender and Duke

Duke

After the destruction of Cavenders home, American Water Company covered the three fire hydrants with trash bags, the complaint says.

Cavender is accusing the company of negligence.

It owed a duty of careto ensure the proper functioning of its and the citys fire hydrants, the complaint says.

With the lawsuit, he aims to hold the company accountable for the loss of his home, belongings and dog Duke.

He demands a trial by jury and seeks to recover damages.

Charleston Mayor Amy Goodwin said although the firefighters were in position to put out the fire, they experienced a significant delay in being able to establish an adequate water source, according to WCHS-TV.

She said this was unacceptable and that the city and fire department will ensure West Virginia American Water takes all steps necessary to make sure hydrants across the city are in good working order, the TV station reported.

Worker told to pose as shooter for drill, then cops hold him at gunpoint, lawsuit says

Woman had booze-filled day at bars before killing bride in crash, grooms lawsuit says

Lifeguard directed 18-year-old into rip current, California lawsuit says. He drowned
A Missouri man is missing and feared drowned after he was thrown overboard when his sailboat collided with a barge on the Missouri River in Kansas City over the weekend, a highway patrol spokesman said.

At about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, a 13-foot sailboat piloted by 47-year-old Brian E. Hale of Carrollton, Missouri, crashed into a large moored barge on the Missouri River near Interstate 435, said Sgt. Andy Bell, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Its believed that Hale fell overboard during the collision. He has not been seen since the crash, Bell said. The highway patrol and the Kansas City Fire Department searched the river, but were not able to find him.

Because he has not been found, there remains some hope that Hale could be found alive, Bell said. The highway patrol is continuing to search for Hale, who is considered a missing person.

The circumstances leading up to the crash are unknown.
Man who tried to enter Speakers Lobby on Jan. 6 sentenced to 7 years in prison

A Texas man who tried to enter the Speakers Lobby at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced.

Christopher Grider, 41, was found guilty of nine misdemeanor and felony charges related to the riot in December and was sentenced Tuesday in Washington to 83 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $5,055 in restitution and a $812 fine.

His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election, the DOJ said in its release.

Grider approached and entered the Capitol with a crowd of rioters on Jan. 6, according to the release, and yelled, Turn the power off! as he pressed buttons on an electric box once inside, according to the release.

The Texas man then arrived at the hallway outside the House Chamber, which rioters were attempting to breach, and then moved to push on the Speakers Lobby door, authorities say.

Grider was also seen holding his phone over the stairway to capture footage of a woman who was fatally shot by police during the riot, according to the release.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested for crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach since the 2021 incident, according to the DOJ.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A security guard at a Brickell karaoke bar is accused of sexually assaulting a trans woman in the taverns bathroom over the weekend.

Luigi Andre Cavani, 25, of Westchester, was arrested Sunday and faces a sexual battery charge. The woman, 31, told Miami police that she was sexually assaulted hours earlier at the Sweet Caroline Karaoke Bar, 1111 SW 1st Ave, during a night out with friends.

Transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime, including sexual assault, according to a University of California School of Law report.

The woman, police say, was at the DJ booth when Cavani came up and told her that she looked good. When the woman went toward the bathrooms, Cavani followed and grabbed her hand.

According to police, Cavani then pulled her into a single stall bathroom, pinned her against the wall and assaulted her. The woman told him to stop and tried to push him away  but couldnt break free.

She later reunited with her friends, who argued with Cavani outside the bar before leaving, police say. During the confrontation, Cavani told the woman Im sorry, I thought it was cool.

The woman responded: I kept on telling you no.

As of Wednesday, Cavani is no longer at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bond was set at $25,000.

In a statement, Sweet Caroline expressed concern over the incident and confirmed that Cavani was a contracted security guard.

We are deeply saddened and disappointed that such an occurrence took place at Sweet Caroline, a venue that prides itself in being a safe and inclusive environment for all individuals, the statement said. As soon as we became aware of the incident, we took immediate action and severed our contract with the security company.
With reports of drink-spiking on the rise, the Senate voted Wednesday to fund drug testing kits to be distributed to bars, restaurants and other nightlife venues.

Lawmakers unanimously approved adding the redrafted Sen. Paul Feeney amendment (568) to their fiscal 2024 budget.

The measure would direct $300,000 to the Department of Public Health to bulk purchase the testing kits and distribute them to nightlife establishments, study and recommend strategies to address the rising incidence of drink-spiking, and launch a public awareness campaign about the issue.

During a speech on the Senate floor, Feeney told the story of a constituent who was turned away from a Boston hospital after she was drugged at a house party. Hospital staff told her they would not test her for drugs unless she was reporting a rape or sexual assault. While some hospitals will do this testing, the senator said, others wont, preventing many victims from getting the care they need.

They shouldnt have to play hospital roulette and guess which provider is going to test them for being involuntarily drugged at a nightclub, Feeney said.

In addition, without testing for the drugs, it is more difficult to file a police report as there is very little concrete evidence of the incident, the Foxborough Democrat said. He added that drink-spiking is almost always a crime followed by another crime, whether it be burglary, rape, assault or murder.

Massachusetts has allowed a patchwork response to this and we have not caught up as a commonwealth to whats actually happening out there, Feeney said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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matt berry in shadows.



As Laszlo (Matt Berry) might ask on What We Do in the Shadows, Where I can find the mine craft?

I spent 10 minutes trying to come up with a clever way to explain this news, but ultimately the news just speaks for itself: Matt Berry, the hilarious comedic force of FXs What We Do in the Shadows, is teaming up with previously announced star Jason Momoa, hot off his villainous turn in Fast X, for the big screen adaptation of the video game Minecraft. Apparently Berry+ Momoa = Minecraft.

Deadline broke the casting news, which raises about 5,000 questions. Questions like, what is this Minecraft movie about? Who is Matt Berry playing in it? What will it be like to see him and Jason Momoa on screen together? None of these questions have answers just yet, except the last one; Berry and Momoa together clearly means that all the Oscars will go to... Minecraft.

Read more

Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) is directing the Warner Bros. film, which currently has a release date of April 4, 2025. And you have to imagine Hess, with his obvious penchant for humor, almost certainly is a massive Berry fan, probably long before U.S. audiences fell for him in What We Do in the Shadows. Berry, of course, had a rather prolific career in the U.K. for many years before that, appearing on or creating shows like Snuff Box, The Mighty Boosh, and The IT Crowd.

Now, of course, we love Berry for his incredible role as Lazslo on What We Do in the Shadows, a character that has spawned numerous unforgettable moments: Bat!, Jackie Daytona, the Cursed Hat, New York Cit-Tay, etc. That energy, opposite Momoa, in a movie about a world-building video game? It seems both incredibly random and weird but oddly perfect, in every single way.

What do you think the plot of Minecraft will be? Let us know below.





Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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Maya Hawke danced down the Cannes red carpet in a colorful Prada gown with British actor Rupert Friend

Maya Hawke and Rupert Friend dance at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Loic Venance/Getty Images

Maya Hawke and Rupert Friend danced together on a red carpet at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

The "Asteroid City" actors attended the red carpet with costars Bryan Cranston and Steve Carrell.

Hawke wore a green Prada gown with diamond jewels, and Friend wore a cream-and-black suit.

Where can you find this summer's hottest dance floor? Apparently, at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

On Tuesday, "Stranger Things" actor Maya Hawke attended a screening of "Asteroid City" at the French event and was photographed arm-in-arm with her costar Rupert Friend.

The two twirled, dipped, and laughed with each other in front of photographers, seemingly as part of a spontaneous decision to ballroom-dance their way into the movie screening.

They also danced across the paths of their costars Steve Carrell and Bryan Cranston.

Maya Hawke and Rupert Friend dance together at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Loic Venance/Getty Images

Hawke's green Prada gown was perfect for dancing, with a strapless neckline that lined her diamond jewels and a full skirt that swished in the wind.

She also wore turquoise gloves, sharp makeup, and white patent-leather boots that gave the outfit a retro vibe.

Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Rupert Friend, and Maya Hawke on the red carpet. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Friend, on the other hand, opted for black trousers, shining dress shoes, and a cream-colored suit jacket adorned with a diamond lapel pin.

He completed the outfit with a white button-up shirt and black bow tie.

Rupert Friend and Maya Hawke on the "Asteroid City" red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. Christophe Simon/Getty Images

Surprisingly, Hawke and Friend aren't the first celebrities to dance on a Cannes red carpet.

Last year, Helen Mirren and Andie MacDowell joined hands in a dance ahead of a screening for "Mother and Son (Un Petit Frere)." They also hugged on the red carpet and posed for photos together.

Read the original article on Insider
Meet the climate startup turning a 5,000-mile stretch of seaweed from a plague of coastal communities into a giant carbon store

One Planet Banner Test

Insider

View of the beach at Akumal with lots of sargassum algae, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Federica Grassi/Getty Images

Brown seaweed  known as sargassum  causes havoc for coastal communities.

But it could also provide an opportunity to build massive carbon stores at the bottom of the ocean.

London-based Seaweed Generation is one such startup dedicated to seaweed sequestration.

This article is part of "Gains in Green Tech," a series showcasing some of the most transformative solutions to the climate crisis. For more climate-action news, visit Insider's One Planet hub.

Patricia Estridge's birthday celebrations have always coincided with bonfire night on November 5, when the UK marks Guy Fawkes' failed attempt to blow up parliament.

For as long as she can remember, she's watched a torchlit procession of local residents in fancy dress march through her hometown in the southeast of England to an enormous bonfire in an ode to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Nowadays, those bonfires remind Estridge more of the climate crisis than of any botched attempt at regicide.

The former Google staffer and software engineer experienced the brutal reality of the climate crisis firsthand when she lived in California during a wave of destructive wildfires.

"I thought: 'Oh, interesting, someone's having a bonfire. That's unexpected,'" she told Insider. "Then I realized it wasn't a bonfire at all  the state was on fire."

A few weeks of soul searching while locked indoors away from the plumes of smoke set Estridge on a path that ultimately led her to cofound Seaweed Generation, a climate-tech startup dedicated to sequestering carbon dioxide deep in the ocean, in 2021. She's part of a wave of new "blue economy" entrepreneurs taking advantage of seaweed for carbon removal.

Seaweed is an attractive play to investors and environmentalists thanks to its ability to rapidly absorb carbon and the well-established supply chains used to transport it in areas including food, biofuels, and beauty products. Seaweed sequesters an estimated 175 million tons of carbon annually as it sinks into the deep sea  around 0.5% of global emissions.

Sargassum has exploded in recent years

Estridge wants to help transform the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt  a 5,000-mile stretch of floating seaweed that's visible from space  from a plague on coastal towns to an enormous carbon store rooted to the bottom of the sea.

Sargassum, a catch-all term for brown seaweed, is naturally occurring and isn't a problem in itself, but comes with some considerable drawbacks when it beaches or comes into shallow water.

"Sargassum stinks like sewage when it rots, it's absolutely disgusting," Estridge said. When it rots, it gives off arsenic and a toxic gas called hydrogen sulfide, which is responsible for its egg-like stench. It also attracts insects, can smother sea-turtle nesting sites, and blocks light from reaching coral reefs, Stephen Leatherman, a coastal ecologist, said.

Large deposits of seaweed can also cause problems for locals when they near the coastline. "I've seen it so thick you can't launch a boat in it; people can't get their boats off the beach," Leatherman added.

The belt has appeared in the Caribbean Sea nearly every summer since 2011, according to the Optical Oceanography Lab. The brown tide has been a source of creeping chaos and had a record bloom in March at 13 million tons, causing havoc to coastal communities and tourism across the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the state of Florida. The negative impacts of the belt are expected to worsen with its total quantity poised to continue increasing over the next few months.

Sargassum grows faster in warmer water  and oceans hit record temperatures in March  but some scientists pin its explosion to chemical runoff from agriculture in the Amazon that feeds the seaweed.

"Where we see it really becoming so massive is off Brazil, near the Amazon River," Leatherman said. Ocean warming alone can't explain the quantity of sargassum present today, he added.

The Seaweed Generation team at the site of trials in Scotland, UK. Seaweed Generation

The seaweed Roomba

Estridge's Seaweed Generation has developed a robot that she described as a "Roomba meets Pac-Man."

"What it does is relatively simple," Estridge said. The robot intercepts seaweed by scooping it into its "mouth" and takes it around 200 meters below the surface where the pressure of the ocean crushes sargassum's air bladders, so it can no longer float. The robot then releases the seaweed so it can sink to the sea floor and comes back to the surface.

Miami-Dade County is spending around $6 million on removing the seaweed this year, while others are scrambling to stop it from shoring in the first place. Mexico even sought help from the Navy. Floating barriers, designed to contain oil spills, are also being used to keep sargassum off beaches, Leatherman said.

Questions remain around permanence and scale

If seaweed is dropped to 1,000 meters and secured on the ocean floor, it is considered a long-term carbon store. "It's so far the biggest kind of carbon sink on Earth," Estridge said. But one of the big challenges in this is proving the seaweed stays there, she added.

This is the sticking point for Brennan Spellacy, the CEO and a cofounder of Patch, which helps companies offset emissions by investing in carbon-removal projects.

"The crux of blue carbon is actually going to be storage and monitoring," he said. "How do you have higher-certainty ways to ensure durability is there? Kelp and algae are phenomenal carbon removers, it is the storage conversation that needs to be sorted out."

Seaweed Generation will work in waters with around 4,000 meters of depth and no upwelling current, which could bring sargassum back to the surface.

At the same time, its device will gather data on relevant data, including GPS location, water depth, temperature, and the volume of seaweed the sargassum sinks. The device will also take a video.

Drone footage of Seaweed Generation's device in trials in Scotland, UK. Seaweed Generation

A key question for Leatherman is who will pay for private companies to take on "the Great Sargassum Monster," as he called it. Seaweed Generation has a planned pilot with the government of Antigua, which is invested in protecting its tourism industry.

Long-term, Estridge hopes to generate revenue via carbon credits, one of which would represent one ton of CO2 sequestered from sinking sargassum. Patch said that seaweed-sinking carbon-credit purchases on its platform increased by nearly 200% from the final quarter of last year to the first quarter of 2023.

But the problem is simply too great, Leatherman said. "They'll never get it all," he added. Still, he welcomed any effort that could help and reduce cleanup costs.

In case you missed it, watch a replay of Insider's One Planet virtual event with activist and artist Elijah McKenzie-Jackson.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, her husband and frequent collaborator, now vet potential co-workers with what they call a "crazy check." (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press)

Melissa McCarthy and her "The Little Mermaid" castmates have only gushed about their positive experiences working on the Disney reboot.

However, the "Bridesmaids" star hadn't always been so fortunate in her career.

In an interview with Britain's the Observer, McCarthy opened up about a toxic film production she worked on previously that emotionally and physically traumatized her and others on set.

I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill," the "Spy" actor recalled without disclosing the name of the filmmaker or project. "My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.

McCarthy said, "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," she continued. "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.

The experience had become an example of how not to shoot a project. Now, alongside her husband and frequent collaborator Ben Falcone, the pair vets people before hiring them with what they call a "crazy check."

"We demand it," the Academy Award-nominated actor told the Observer. "You know, we were so astounded and grateful at getting to build our own little worlds, we were like, We have to build the one weve always talked about, where everybody gets to have an opinion and everyone is really nice. Its going to run a lot better with no screamers or crazy egos bumbling around.'"

McCarthy stars in Disney's live-action take on "The Little Mermaid," in which she plays the spellbinding villain Ursula alongside Halle Bailey's Ariel. McCarthy told the Observer that she had long admired the character, originally voiced by Pat Carroll in the 1989 animated feature, and had fought hard for the part once the live-action remake was announced.

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," McCarthy said. "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.

"The Little Mermaid" hits theaters on Friday.

Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Merced County District Attorneys Office, the California Attorney Generals Office and two other District Attorneys Offices have reached a settlement with Walmart Inc. for selling illegal weapons online, according to a Merced County District Attorneys Office news release.

Merced County District Attorney Nicole Silveira announced Tuesday that the settlement is part of a civil consumer protection action with the retail giant for the online sale of weapons. According to authorities, Walmart agreed to pay $500,000 in civil penalties and investigative costs in addition to other reporting and monitoring terms.

The investigation of Walmart was initiated by the Consumer Protection Unit of the Merced County District Attorneys Office after Walmart was found to be advertising switchblade knives and metal knuckles on the retailers online marketplace. According to authorities, Walmart sells its items directly to consumers while also allowing third-party sellers to sell their items on Walmart.com.

The sale, offering for sale and even exposure for sale of switchblade knives or metal knuckles is prohibited by California law, according to the release. Authorities said a civil complaint was filed in Merced County Superior Court and an investigation found that Walmart as well as third parties using its website sold and advertised multiple illegal weapons to consumers in the state. Walmart was found to have shipped the weapons directly to consumers as well as to Walmart stores for pickup, according to the release.

Brass knuckles sold online are just as dangerous to our community as if they were sold from a store counter, said Silveira in the news release. Online retailers must put public safety over profits. We are encouraged by the steps taken by Walmart as a result of our investigation and confident that todays agreement will put and end to future sales.

Authorities said Walmart was cooperative when notified of the violations and the retail company has started to improve screening in order to regulate products offered and sold through the companys website. In addition to civil penalties, a permanent injunction prohibiting the sale of illegal weapons on the website is included in the settlement. According to the release, the company also agreed to both monitoring and reporting requirements for five years.

According to the District Attorneys Office, the company will notify consumers who purchased or received suspected illegal weapons advising them to contact local law enforcement agencies to learn how to property surrender the item, per conditions of the settlement.

The investigation and settlement was led by Deputy District Attorney Matthew Creeger on behalf of the Merced County District Attorneys Office.
Mercenary Prigozhin warns Russia could face revolution unless elite gets serious about war

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, warned that Russia could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the conflict in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war.

Russia's most powerful mercenary said his political outlook was dominated by love for the motherland and serving President Vladimir Putin, but cautioned that Russia was in danger of turmoil.

Prigozhin said there was a so-called optimistic view that the West would get tired of war and China would broker a peace deal, but that he did not really believe in that interpretation.

Instead, he said, Ukraine was preparing a counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to its borders before 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine would try to encircle Bakhmut, the focus of intense fighting in the east, and attack Crimea, he added.

"Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war," he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

"We are in such a condition that we could fucking lose Russia - that is the main problem ... We need to impose martial law."

Prigozhin said his nickname "Putin's chef" was stupid as he could not cook and had never been a chef, quipping that "Putin's butcher" might be a more apt nickname.

"They could have just given me a nickname right away  Putin's butcher, and everything would have been fine," he said.

If ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in zinc coffins while the children of the elite "shook their arses" in the sun, he said, Russia would face turmoil along the lines of the 1917 revolutions that ushered in a civil war.

"This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution," he said.

"First the soldiers will stand up, and after that - their loved ones will rise up," he said. "There are already tens of thousands of them - relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands - we cannot avoid that."

The defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

UKRAINE WAR

Prigozhin criticised Russia's post-Soviet policy towards Ukraine and cast the implementation of what the Kremlin calls the "special military operation" as unclear, contradictory and confused.

Russia's military leadership, he said, had "fucked up" repeatedly during the war. The stated aim of demilitarising Ukraine, he said, had failed.

Prigozhin said Soviet leader Josef Stalin would not have accepted such failure. A cross-border attack into Russia's Belgorod region indicated the failures of the military leadership, he said, warning that Ukraine would seek to strike deeper into Russia.

Russia needed to mobilise more men and to gear the economy exclusively to war, Prigozhin said.

Wagner, he said, had recruited around 50,000 convicts during the war, of whom about 20% had perished. Around the same amount of his contract soldiers - 10,000 - had perished, he said.

In Bakhmut, Prigozhin said, Ukraine had suffered casualties of 50,000-70,000 wounded and 50,000 dead.

Reuters is unable to verify casualty claims from either side, and neither Russia nor Ukraine release figures on their own casualties. Ukraine has said Russian losses are far higher than its losses.

Prigozhin said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu should be replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev while Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov should be replaced by Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon" by the Russian media.

Asked about his political credo: "I love my motherland, I serve Putin, Shoigu should be judged and we will fight on."

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alex Richardson)
Meridian woman who defied COVID measure at playground says she was falsely arrested

A Meridian anti-vaccination activist who was arrested in 2020 for allegedly trespassing at a closed playground during the coronavirus pandemic has filed a tort claim against the city, arguing she was wrongfully arrested while exercising her constitutional rights.

Sara Walton Brady faced a trespassing charge after she refused to leave Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park when it was closed because of COVID-19 concerns, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. Now, Brady is asking the city of Meridian for $500,000 for what she said was a wrongful arrest.

Brady pleaded not guilty to trespassing in 2020, and Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador dismissed the charge shortly after taking office this year. The tort claim also names the Idaho secretary of state and Ada County clerk.

I was unconstitutionally and falsely arrested while lawfully standing in a public park exercising my constitutional rights, Brady said in the tort claim. I was then prosecuted for trespassing, which cost me tens of thousands of dollars.

Brady was known for running the Facebook group Idahoans for Vaccine Freedom and pushing for parental rights to refuse vaccines, both at the West Ada School District and Idaho Capitol.

A tort claim is a civil claim made against a state or local government for a wrongful or negligent act. A tort claim is a precursor to a lawsuit, but not all plaintiffs follow up unanswered claims by suing.

In an email, city officials said if the tort claim turns into a lawsuit they are confident in the legal process.

Coroner identifies Meridian bicyclist who died after being hit by car in West Boise

Bundy, state court no-show, wanted St. Lukes case in federal court. A judge just ruled
North Carolina leaders continue to sound the alarm over the growing vacancy rate among state employees as lawmakers negotiate a final budget that could alleviate the problem.

Democrats are generally the party that pushes for the highest pay, but lately it has been some Republicans calling for better salaries to keep rank and file state employees, and teachers, on the job.

Four state agencies led by Republicans who were elected statewide are again advocating for better pay.

The most emphatic of them Wednesday was Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson, a former House member who is not running for reelection to his current role.

To be candid, there is no substitute for money, Dobson told reporters at a news conference Wednesday in downtown Raleighs Legislative Building.

Dobson supports the State Employees Association of North Carolinas push for a 10% pay raise for state employees over the next two years, as well as a bonus.

My hope is is that the 7.5% (in the House budget) is a starting point, he said. And I would really like to see the 10% increase that has been advocated for here today. I want to do all I can to support our employees at the Department of Labor, support the governor and the General Assembly in any way I can to make sure we get the most we can possible for the employees at the Department of Labor and for all state employees, because its too important not to.

North Carolina Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson, a Republican and former state House member, talks about the state employees vacancy rate and his support for 10% raises for state employees during a news conference May 24, 2023 at the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

Dobson joined state Rep. Donna McDowell White, a Johnston County Republican who is a retired state employee, as well at leadership from the Department of Insurance and Department of Agriculture to urge lawmakers to solve the crisis.

We are in a mess, White said.

She said while theres a workforce shortage across the state, the state employees shortage impacts services for North Carolinians.

Its very, very concerning about whats happening  or not happening  to address the issues of the state workers, White said.

The House budget proposed 7.5% raises over two years for state employees, which is almost as much as Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers budget proposal of 8%. The Senate budget passed earlier this month would give state employees a 4.5% raise over two years.

None of those proposals are enough to solve the state government jobs crisis, according to Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina.

She said the shortage is truly a crisis. If it doesnt happen, if we dont get a higher raise than whats been proposed, the crisis will get worse.

Mark Tyler, chief operating officer for the Department of Insurance, said vacancy rates at the department have fluctuated between 17% and 22%, and the agency is not getting the job applications they need. Tyler said its challenging to hire actuaries, engineers and CPAs. Those already working there are dealing with higher workloads, he said.

As much as a pay raise as possible is what (Insurance Commissioner Mike) Causey wants, Tyler said, so they can operate at a full staffing level.

Causey is also a Republican, as is Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, who has previously said the state doesnt offer competitive salaries.

David Smith, the deputy agriculture commissioner, said that some positions do not get a single applicant. Smith has worked for the Department of Agriculture for 50 years and said he has never seen it this bad.

Turnover rate is also high

Salary is a primary reason for the vacancy rate, according to Smith, who said its now at 17% with a 19% turnover rate. He said the workload continues to grow, and the vacancy and turnover rates mean that inspections are not happening, there are delays in sample testing, there are delays in meeting with farmers.

State jobs have become a training ground for private sector, Smith said, with employees leaving for better paying jobs. Those that stay are forced to deal with an increased workload.

Smith offered solutions in addition to pay increases, such as better family health insurance, clear paths for advancement and rewards for excellent work. He also said recruitment and retention hurdles include an uneven work schedule for those who work in person or at home.

Many of our employees cannot work remotely ... yet the pay is the same, he said. I dont think thats fair.

Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, talks about the need for raises amid high vacancy rates for state employees, at a press conference on May 24, 2023 at the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

If the state keeps losing people, terrible things will continue to happen, Watkins said, with delayed inspections from elevators to bridges.

Weve got issues that are going to lead to tragedy, she said.

Elevator inspectors needed at Labor

Dobson said that elevator inspectors  a job often tied to the Department of Labors image because the inspections are posted in every elevator  are one of the hardest jobs to fill in his agency. He told The News & Observer Wednesday that elevator inspections may be delayed because of job vacancies.

Theyre supposed to be inspected annually, but thats not always the case because we have 32 individuals trying to do what 39 are supposed to be doing. We have those many vacancies, he said.

But then in addition to that, the strain that it puts on those that are trying to get into the facilities to inspect these elevators, its a strain on the ones that stick with us, Dobson added.

Elevator inspections is serious work that those men and women do every day for the safety of North Carolinians, because everybody rides an elevator, he said.

Coopers push for education funding

Democrats often advocate for higher raises for state employees and teachers than Republicans have in the past. But with Republicans having a veto-proof supermajority in both the House and Senate, budget negotiations hinge on inter-chamber decisions within the one political party.

Since the Senates budget bill passed with seven Democrats support, the governor has focused most of his attention on public school funding, including teacher pay.

Cooper, who declared an actual state of emergency during the coronavirus pandemic, said Monday in a video recording that there is also a state of emergency in public education funding. He focused on taxypayer money Republicans want to give to private schools through the Opportunity Scholarship Program. The program is in the Senate budget and a House bill. Cooper has visited elementary schools in Raleigh and Charlotte this week to highlight the need for public education funding in the budget. His budget proposal this year called for 18% raises for teachers and 8% for state employees.

In a statement to reporters Wednesday, Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt, a Republican, said that increasing pay would help reduce the vacancy rate and turnover for both state employees and teachers.

Truitt said the work of state employees at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction makes the agency better equipped to raise the quality of education in North Carolina for all K-12 learners, and that recruitment and retention efforts must be prioritized.

I remain optimistic about the forthcoming conference budge and believe that increasing compensation for state employees, including teachers, would greatly help to reduce vacancy rates and first year turnover, Truitt said. A meaningful investment in the states workforce now  both for state employees and teachers  would produce tangible benefits for decades to come.

Dobson is not seeking reelection, nor running for another office in 2024. He said he has no political agenda for pushing for state employee raises, but just wants to support state employees at his agency and others who work hard every single day.

Now, Ive been in the room (as a House member) when the budget decisions are being made, Dobson said. So I know what a tough job it is to have a lot of competing interests. I appreciate the work the House and the Senate have done so far, and Im confident and hopeful that they will come together to do what they can for all hardworking state employees.

The compromise budget, which will have the final say on raises, is expected by mid-June.
Photo of Mark Zuckerberg waving



Mark Zuckerbergs company is waving goodbye to thousands more employees this week in another round of mass layoffs.

Meta is continuing with cuts this week, lopping off approximately 6,000 more of its workers in yet another round of mass layoffs. Most of these newest job losses are expected to impact people on the business side of Metas operationsincluding staff in ad sales, marketing, and partnershipsaccording to multiple reports and an earlier company statement outlining plans.



Newly axed employees began posting about their layoffs on LinkedIn and Twitter on Wednesday. The company sent out an internal memo on Tuesday afternoon announcing the imminent intent to downsize to staff, according to a report from The Washington Post. Wednesday would be another difficult day, Metas human resources exec Lori Goler, wrote to employees.

Read more

These new cutbacks are just the latest in a series of reductions at Meta, and come as part of CEO Mark Zuckerbergs so-called year of efficiency. The focus on the business side this time around aligns with the Zucks previously stated desire to return to a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles.

In March, Zuckerberg announced plans to layoff 10,000 employees over the next few months. Immediately following the announcement, part of the recruiting team was let go. Then a much bigger wave of cuts came in April, with nearly 4,000 technical positions scrapped across Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the companys Reality Labs (i.e. metaverse) division. Now, Meta intends to round it out with 6,000 more axed staff.

Even before these cuts, the company had already downsized significantly just months prior. The tech giant scrapped 11,000 workers beginning last November, and framed the move as an attempt to right-size after over-hiring during the early pandemic years. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that, he wrote in a blog post at the time.

And from those first reductions, which were Metas first mass layoffs, the company seemed to develop a taste for the blade. Since we reduced our workforce last year, one surprising result is that many things have gone faster. In retrospect, I underestimated the indirect costs of lower priority projects, Zuckerberg wrote in a later post.

Metas continued layoffs follow a turbulent time for the company and the tech industry overall. Layoffs have been rampant industry-wide. Advertisers have been hesitant to spend big on social media spots amid oft-cited economic uncertainty. Investors have seemingly come to expect significant cost-cutting measures.

So far, it seems Metas move to scrap staff has paid off in short term savingsif likely not in long term innovation and growth. In April, the tech giant reported its first sales increase in nearly a year of declines and stagnation. Though its possible that has to do with other factors, like the companys shift in priorities away from its ill-conceived and poorly executed money pit of a metaverse and towards the buzzier AI realm.



Meta has announced multiple generative AI-features in recent months. The company put out its own large language model in February. Then, it announced that it would be shoehorning artificial intelligence into its numerous platformsincluding Messenger and WhatsApp. Meta has also released an AI-powered photo segmentation tool.

But Meta isnt just an AI company. It still has some massive social media sites to manage. This new round of cuts, that includes legal staff and others responsible for managing company policies and relationships, has left some concerned that the company wont be equipped to monitor misinformation and hate speech across its sites, according to The Washington Post.

Gizmodo reached out to Meta for comment on this newest round of layoffs. A spokesperson declined to respond, and directed Gizmodo to the previous, March blog post.

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Click here to read the full article.
A soldier sweeps ash in the street in a town near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano

A volcano southeast of the Mexican capital spewed more gas and ash into the sky on Tuesday as authorities maintained their warning level at one step below red alert.

Dozens of shelters have been opened near Popocatepetl -- located around 70 kilometers (about 45 miles) from Mexico City -- which has seen various periods of increased activity since awakening from decades-long slumber in 1994.

The government is monitoring Popocatepetl "day and night," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said after the volcano put on another fiery show overnight.

He said the volcano's activity had decreased slightly since the alert level was raised on Sunday, helping to calm nerves in nearby towns and villages that have been covered with ash.

"Last night I slept a little better because the other three days my house's windows and door vibrated," said Francisca de los Santos, a 56-year-old living in a town close to the volcano.

"We're used to it, but it always scares us a bit," she told AFP, adding that she had no plan to leave her home.

Roughly 25 million people live within a 100-kilometer radius of Popocatepetl, the second tallest volcano in Mexico, rising nearly 5,500 meters (18,000 feet) above sea level.

Mexico's National Center for Prevention of Disasters said Tuesday that over the previous 24 hours, 22 volcanic exhalations of water vapor, volcanic gasses and ash had been detected, along with two explosions.

The increase in the alert level on Sunday to "yellow phase three" came a day after two Mexico City airports temporarily halted operations due to falling ash.

The next level, a red alert, would trigger mandatory evacuations in communities near the volcano, whose name means "smoking mountain" in the indigenous Nahuatl language.

bur-jg/axm/dr/nro/md
A Miami-Dade school flagged her poem. The countys mayor invited her to read it

Miami-Dade Countys mayor on Wednesday invited poet Amanda Gorman to read her work in the Miami area after a local K-8 public school decided the poem she delivered at Joe Bidens inaugural ceremony wasnt suitable for elementary school children.

.@TheAmandaGorman, your poem inspired our youth to become active participants in their government and to help shape the future. We want you to come to Miami-Dade to do a reading of your poem. If youre in, we will coordinate. https://t.co/9cpX2Zvkrk  Daniella Levine Cava (@LevineCava) May 24, 2023

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava doesnt supervise county schools, so had no say over the decision by a Miami Lakes school to steer young students away from Gormans The Hill We Climb. The school, Bob Graham Education Center, limited the work to library shelves for middle school students after a review committee determined the poem on racial justice wasnt appropriate for elementary students.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade K-8 bars elementary students from 4 library titles following parent complaint

In a Twitter post responding to Gormans criticism of the decision, Levine Cava, a Democrat, said: Your poem inspired our youth to become active participants in their government and to help shape the future.

Miami-Dades mayor since late 2020, Levine Cava named the countys first poet laureate, Richard Blanco, who read a poem for Barack Obamas second presidential inauguration She also gave the title of county poetry ambassador to an aide, Nicole Tallman, who is a published poet in her off-hours.

We want you to come to Miami-Dade and do a reading of your poem, Levine Cava wrote to Gorman. If youre in, we will coordinate.
There are thought to be only around 70,000 kiwi left in New Zealand and, consequently, the world

A US zoo has apologised for mistreating a kiwi, after footage of visitors patting the nocturnal bird under bright lights caused outrage in New Zealand.

Zoo Miami said it was "deeply sorry" about the incident, which occurred during a paid animal encounter between the kiwi and zoo guests.

The kiwi encounter has since been removed from the zoo's offerings.

Paora was hatched in Zoo Miami in 2019 as part of a breeding programme aimed at ensuring the kiwi species' survival.

Considered a national icon in New Zealand, the flightless kiwi bird is symbolic of the country's unique natural heritage and the basis for the nickname applied to its people.

In videos which went viral on social media on Tuesday, Paora looked visibly agitated as guests patted him under the lights, and the bird tried to retreat into darkness at times.

The uproar in New Zealand was swift and widespread, prompting an online petition and comments from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins who thanked the zoo for taking public concerns seriously.

"They've acknowledged what they were doing wasn't appropriate, or wasn't right, or wasn't fair, to the kiwi," Mr Hipkins told a press conference.

A zoo spokesman told broadcaster Radio NZ that the paid visitor encounter had been "not well conceived", adding "we were wrong".

"We give you our word that the public will never handle Paora again," said communications director Ron Magill.

Paora is usually kept out of public view, according to Zoo Miami, which says plans are "under way" to build a special habitat that will provide him the shelter he needs, while also teaching guests "about the amazing kiwi without any direct contact".

Kiwi are endangered, with only around 70,000 of the birds left in New Zealand and, therefore, in the world, according the country's Department of Conservation (Doc).

It is incredibly rare for kiwi to be kept in captivity, with conservation efforts in New Zealand focussed on preserving their natural habitats from predators.

Doc said it would discuss Tuesday's incident involving Paora with the US Association of Zoos and Aquariums to "address some of the housing and handling concerns raised".
A file photo of a kiwi, millions of which used to roam before Western settlers arrived on the shores of New Zealand

New Zealand's prime minister on Wednesday joined a chorus of Kiwis complaining about the treatment of their national bird by a Miami zoo.

New Zealanders have been appalled by revelations that Zoo Miami allowed visitors to pet one of the shy nocturnal animals under harsh lights.

Zoo Miami issued an apology on Tuesday and said it had scrapped the interactive pet-a-kiwi experience, but not before videos of a kiwi named Paora being stroked and petted went viral.

"The zoo (has) immediately taken steps to address the concerns that were raised," New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

"They have acknowledged that what they were doing wasn't appropriate or wasn't right or wasn't fair to the kiwi," he added. "I thank them for taking it seriously."

Millions of kiwis used to roam before Western settlers arrived on the shores of New Zealand, where only around 70,000 are now left in the wild.

The Zoo Miami bird is only one of around 60 kiwis currently housed outside of New Zealand, according to the Department of Conservation.

Kiwis are part of Maori mythology in New Zealand, where there was fierce condemnation of Paora's treatment.

"It is obviously very clear your team (at Zoo Miami) is not equipped and has no clue how to care for this national treasure. Return Immediately, Paora," one person fumed on Twitter.

"Sell kiwi toys if you want to fundraise! This is unethical and cruel," wrote another user.

In a statement, Zoo Miami said the "concerns expressed have been taken very seriously".

"Effective immediately, the Kiwi Encounter will no longer be offered," the zoo added.

"It's especially painful to all of us to think that anything that has occurred with Paora... would be offensive to any of the wonderful people of New Zealand."

The zoo said it planned to build "a special habitat" for Paora so it could teach visitors about "the amazing kiwi" without direct contact.

The Miami zoo hatched the bird, which is named after Moari iwi (tribe) leader and environmentalist Paora Haitana.

Haitana told Radio New Zealand that it was "a huge concern" to hear of his namesake's treatment.

"It's our signature, we're known as the kiwi, so it goes against everything the bird was given to them for," Haitana added.

New Zealand's Department of Conservation said it would contact Zoo Miami to "share our expertise and high standards for the respectful care of kiwi".

A spokesperson added that they also planned to raise the matter with the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, of which Zoo Miami is a member.

ryj/arb/smw
This article was originally published in Michigan Advance.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed more bills establishing gun safety reforms during a news conference in Royal Oak.

No Michigander should fear going to school, work, the grocery store, or their own home because of gun violence, said Whitmer. Extreme risk protection orders have been proven to reduce suicides, save lives, and keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and violent criminals.

Whitmer, a Democrat, called the measure common sense action to reduce gun violence and keep families and communities safe.

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She signed Senate Bill 83, sponsored by state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), that creates the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act  otherwise known as a red flag law.

House Bill 4146, sponsored by state Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi), prohibits someone from purchasing new firearms while under an extreme risk protection order. House Bill 4147, sponsored by state Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Twp.), provides for service of process for extreme risk protection order actions and waive court fees. House Bill 4148, sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Young (D-Detroit), places sentencing guidelines for making a false statement in support of an extreme risk protection order.

The bills were part of a Democratic package introduced after the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University that killed three students.

Last month at MSU, Whitmer signed the first bills in the package that require safe storage of firearms and ammunition and background checks.

Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, a 2011 gun violence survivor, attended the Royal Oak event, as well as Attorney General Dana Nessel, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and Michigan State University student Troy Forbush, who survived the Feb. 13 campus shooting.

Related Raising the Red Flag in School

McMorrow, who helped to host the event, said that countless families across Michigan are devastated by the epidemic of gun violence.

The data is clear that extreme risk protection orders are a commonsense, effective tool to keep guns out of the hands of those who may hurt themselves or others and are already employed by 19 states across the country, said McMorrow.

Dylan Morris, an Oxford High School senior who survived the Oxford shooting in 2021 and later founded No Future Without Today, testified in support of the gun safety legislation and described the signing as historic.

This a huge accomplishment today, especially in preventing the continued proliferation of suicides, mass shootings and everyday community violence, said Morris.
China may have conducted digital espionage against the US' Pacific interests. Microsoft and the National Security Agency (NSA) have revealed that an alleged state-sponsored Chinese hacking group, Volt Typhoon, installed surveillance malware in "critical" systems on the island of Guam and elsewhere in the US. The group has been operating since mid-2021 and reportedly compromised government organizations as well as communications, manufacturing, education and other sectors.

Volt Typhoon prioritizes stealth, according to the investigators. It uses "living off the land" techniques that rely on resources already present in the operating system, as well as direct "hands-on-keyboard" action. They use the command line to scrape credentials and other data, archive the info and use it to stay in targeted systems. They also try to mask their activity by sending data traffic through small and home office network hardware they control, such as routers. Custom tools help them set up a command and control channel through a proxy that keeps their info secret.

The malware hasn't been used for attacks, but the web shell-based approach could be used to damage infrastructure. Microsoft and the NSA are publishing info that could help potential victims detect and remove Volt Typhoon's work, but they warn that fending off intrusions could be "challenging" as it requires either closing or changing affected accounts.

US officials speaking to The New York Times believe the Guam infiltration is part of a larger Chinese intelligence collection system that includes the reported spy balloon that floated across American nuclear sites early this year. The focus Guam is concerning as it's home to Andersen Air Force Base, a major station that would likely be used for any US answer to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. It's also a key hub for ships in the Pacific.

The Biden administration has stepped up efforts to protect critical infrastructure, including plans for common security requirements. The US fell prey to multiple attacks on vital systems in recent years, including gas pipelines and meat suppliers. The Volt Typhoon discovery underscores the importance of tougher defenses  malware like this could compromise the US military at a crucial moment.
Mike Gallagher-led China committee releases its first recommendations. What they say about defending Taiwan, crimes against Uyghurs

WASHINGTON  The House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party led by U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher on Wednesday released its first set of policy recommendations that deal largely with addressing human rights abuses from China and attempting to deter a potential invasion of Taiwan.

The recommendations, detailed in two reports, follow the select committees first three hearings in which it laid out the threat posed by China and highlighted the ongoing abuses against the Uyghur ethnic minority in Chinas Xinjiang region.

One report suggests a blueprint for Congressional action for the U.S. to hold China accountable for its crimes against Uyghurs, which include reports of forced sterilization and mass internment, in part through sanctions. The other report, titled Ten For Taiwan, puts an emphasis on enhancing military capabilities to keep peace in the Indo-Pacific.

These are our first attempts at a policy process, Gallagher said during a committee meeting Wednesday. They do not represent the last word on either of these issues We will continue to discuss these issues. Theyre very complex.

Here are some takeaways from the meeting and the reports:

Committee puts initial focus on military efforts to deter an invasion of Taiwan

Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., presides over the first hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in the Cannon House Office Building on February 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee is investigating economic, technological and security competition between the U.S. and China.

Most of the 10 recommendations on deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan focused on enhancing the military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific.

They included a call for the U.S. to rapidly increase its own procurement of long-range missile systems, like the anti-ship Harpoon missiles, torpedos and anti-radiation weapons, and a push to clear the $19 million backlog in weapons and military equipment Congress already approved for Taiwan  an issue on which Gallagher has been vocal.

The Taiwan report also urged combined military training between the U.S. and Taiwan and said Congress should enforce policies that seek to establish a task force or headquarters to better define and coordinate the countrys operational command structure around Taiwan.

I know theres some concern from commentators that examining our deterrence posture out in the open, as the committee did, was too provocative, Gallagher said Wednesday. By showing that we are taking deterrence seriously, however, we are actually demonstrating an unwavering interest in peace. That deters aggression.

The recommendations, the committee noted, were developed following expert testimony at hearings, a tabletop war gaming exercise the panel conducted last month simulating a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and a classified briefing from the Biden administration earlier this month.

Pushback from some Democrats on a lack of economic recommendations

While the panel unanimously approved the Uyghur report, some Democrats on Wednesday appeared to take issue with the panels outsized focus on military-related measures when it comes to supporting Taiwan.

U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat and the lone committee member to vote against adopting the Taiwan policies, said he supported a number of the recommendations in the report but contended the report didnt take into account the kind of comprehensive approach that we can be doing on the committee.

Kim noted that nine out of the 10 recommendations were security-focused and argued that having the ability to speak with the Department of State and explore other aspects of maintaining peace in Taiwan would have allowed the committee to dive deeper into the issue.

Theres so much more to unpack, Kim said in brief remarks.

Framing this document as sort of across-the-board recommendations for Taiwan, not just narrowly the security side, I think, gives the impression that these are sort of the top recommendations writ large, he added. It doesnt go into enough of what we could be doing in terms of economic deterrence, diplomatic deterrence and other capacities that we know are so important in building that global coalition.

Gallagher said he invited State Department officials to testify before the committee and would like to have representatives from the Biden administrations cabinet testify about the non-military aspect of this competition.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat who also sits on the Armed Services Committee, called the Taiwan recommendations very important but noted economic, diplomatic and informational deterrence  in addition to military deterrence  will also play a role in the competition with China.

It is really important that as we strive to having a comprehensive China strategy, which I think is what's really lacking and in many ways (is) why this committee exists, that we fill up those other three components, Moulton said. So thats work ahead of us.

And Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the committee, singled out as "very important" the Taiwan reports second recommendation, which calls for the development of joint plans with allies and partners to enact severe diplomatic and economic costs on the CCP in the event that it engages in military aggression against Taiwan.

That point included the recommendation that Congress support increased economic engagement with Taiwan, including a a tax reduction agreement between the countries.

The committee aims to implement some of the recommendations this Congress

Committee leaders on Wednesday said the reports were focused on policy recommendations that could be passed during this Congress and, in some cases, incorporated into the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act.

Certain aspects of the Taiwan report, including recommendations for a better-defined command structure in the Indo-Pacific and the procurement of more long-range missile capabilities, Gallagher said, could be tucked into the fiscal year 2024 NDAA, which could be marked up as soon as next month.

Weve identified a pathway for most of the recommendations, Gallagher said. And in some cases, weve endorsed legislation that already exists and is already ready for an NDAA amendment.

We put together 10 policy recommendations that can enhance deterrence now and can pass this Congress, he added. This is not a comprehensive list  everything we need to do. This is what I believe and the ranking member believes is achievable in this Congress that can make a very real impact.

A focus on abuses against Uyghurs

The committee recommended putting sanctions on Chinese companies that are found to be complicit in the abuses against Uyghurs and said Congress should call on the Biden administration to further crack down on companies that use forced Uyghur labor.

Human rights groups have accused China of imprisoning upwards of 1 million Uyghurs, a predominately Muslim minority, in the country's Xinjiang region. China has pushed back on those claims, framing the internments as "vocational training" centers.

The panel in its report said the U.S. should encourage other democratic countries to ban the importation of goods made through Uyghur forced labor and suggested the U.S. should take the lead in raising awareness about reported atrocities against Uyghurs.

It leaned on previously introduced legislation, like the Uyghur Policy Act, the Uyghur Human Rights Sanctions Review Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, as frameworks.

A warning about the looming debt ceiling crisis

The panels meeting came as Congress is consumed by a looming debt ceiling crisis.

The White House and House Republicans continued negotiations Wednesday, but it was not yet clear when a deal might be reached as Congress stares down a potential default that could occur as early as June 1.

Krishnamoorthi on Wednesday told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was concerned the spending cuts to non-defense discretionary spending proposed by Republicans could impact the countrys research and development efforts and, in turn, its ability to compete with China.

There cant be cuts, there cannot be cuts in those particular areas if we hope to outcompete the CCP in this global competition, Krishnamoorthi said after the panels meeting So we gotta get our act together and handle this particular situation in an appropriate and bipartisan fashion ASAP.

He added: I think that would be totally counterproductive to everything were trying to achieve with this committee and trying to outcompete the CCP. So this is absolutely a bad idea.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mike Gallagher-led China select committee releases recommendations
The exterior of the Milwaukee County Courthouse at 901 N. Ninth St., Milwaukee.

A Milwaukee police detective was charged this week with fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct after he was accused of groping a coworker during a department-related function.

Travis Jung, 37, was arrested in January the night of the event and taken to Milwaukee County Jail. He was released on $250 bail.

Jung pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. His next court date is June 14.

According to the criminal complaint:

Jung and other members of the Police Department were at a venue in the city's Third Ward. Three sources have told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the event was a gala to benefit the Police Departments recreation league.

A woman said Jung was talking to a friend of hers and she joined their conversation. After her friend walked away, Jung made "inappropriate comments" to her. When she walked away, she said Jung slapped her buttocks.

Her friends wanted to confront Jung, but the woman told them she did not want to cause a scene.

The woman went to the bathroom and saw Jung's wife who appeared to be sick. She found Jung and told him his wife needed help. She said Jung responded indifferently and she walked away from him.

Later, the woman posed for a group photo at the event. Jung jumped into the frame at the last moment, stood behind her and reached under her clothing to touch her buttocks and genitals. The woman turned, saw Jung and began to cry.

The victim told investigators she recognized Jung from work but did not know him. She identified him in a photo array.

Jung, a 15-year department veteran, has been suspended with pay since then and an internal investigation is ongoing, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.

Salary records show he was paid about $125,000 in 2021.

If convicted of both misdemeanors, Jung faces a maximum possible sentence of up to one year in jail and $11,000 in fines.

Where to find help

Aurora Healing and Advocacy Services for sexual assault survivors includes a 24-hour hotline at 414-219-5555 and a confidential text line 414-219-1551.

The City of Milwaukee Health Department has resources for sexual assault survivors. We Are Here Milwaukee provides information on culturally specific organizations at weareheremke.org.

The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee operates a 24-hour confidential hotline at 414-933-2722. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 800-656-HOPE (4673).

Need more help with crime and safety questions? The Milwaukee Resource Guide is here to help. Have something you want answered? Submit a question.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee police detective charged in sex assault case
Border guard Oleksandr was defending the premises of a metallurgical plant in Mariupol with his comrades when he was seriously injured there.

He was captured by the occupiers, where he was forced to eat his portion of food within one minute and abused in other ways. Fortunately, he returned home alive.

The State Border Service of Ukraine told his story to UP.Zhyttia.

Oleksandr joined the military in 2018. He witnessed the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Mariupol, where he lived for 14 years.

Oleksandr, the prisoner of war. Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

Oleksandr, the prisoner of war. Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

In April 2022, Oleksandr was defending the territory of a local metallurgical plant when he was injured. His leg, arm, thigh and lungs were pierced by multiple pieces of shrapnel.

Then, together with other wounded comrades, Oleksandr was captured by the Russians.

"For the first time in two weeks, I went outside in the afternoon. I remember that day the sun was shining, and the hope that we would return home crossed my mind," says the soldier.

The arm patch which Olexandr brought home after being held captive. Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

The arm patch which Olexandr brought home after being held captive.

Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

Oleksandr was held captive by the occupiers for six months. He said that in his opinion, prisoner-of-war camps in Russia resemble the Nazi camps.

While in captivity, they were given one minute to eat. And the Russians created so-called corridors of turnkeys, i.e. prison guards, to mock the prisoners.

Oleksandr was in unbearable pain from the shrapnel in his body, the psychological pressure and the physical violence, but he had faith that he would return to his family.

"There was no contact with them, and it was only after the [prisoner] exchange that I found out that my family had been under occupation until August 2022. We were told that not a single house had survived, so my only thought was: "If only they are alive". It wasnt until the end of the summer that my wife was able to get our children out of Mariupol," he said.

Up until the last moment, Oleksandr had no idea he was going to be exchanged, so the Russian guards wondered why he looked happy.

Border guard Oleksandr. Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

Border guard Oleksandr.

Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

According to him, he was glad he was able to save his arm patch with a blue and yellow flag during his captivity. It was with him all the time, and now it remains his talisman.

Oleksandr has already gone back to serve with the border troops. He hopes to return to his hometown of Mariupol after victory.

Oleksandr with his comrades in arms. Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

Oleksandr with his comrades in arms.

Photo: State Border Service of Ukraine

"I want to live and serve there. My children were born in Mariupol; my home is there. I realise that the city is completely in ruins, but that doesnt matter; we will rebuild it," he said.

Reminder:

A Ukrainian serviceman who stepped on a landmine and lost his leg near Soledar said he dreamed of going for a walk with his beloved.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Missing mans body pulled from lake after he vanished near boat dock, Georgia cops say

A mans body was pulled from an Atlanta-area lake hours after his friends reported him missing, Georgia deputies say.

Terry Daugherty, 57, of Atlanta, was found dead Tuesday, May 23, near a dock at the Sunrise Cove Marina on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, according to the Hall County Sheriffs Office.

His body was in the water, not far from where he kept his boat, deputies said. A friend said they last saw him in the area around 9 p.m. on Monday, May 22.

Hall County Fire Rescue crews and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources searched the area until Daughertys body was found the next day.

Authorities didnt release additional information.

Daughertys body was taken for an autopsy to determine his cause of death, deputies said.

Gainesville is about 55 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

Man vanishes in ocean after raft is swept away and flips, Oregon cops say

21-year-old drowns on vacation after family tries saving him with rope, Iowa divers say

24-year-old found dead in river after vanishing during swim with friends, MS cops say
China's Type 052D destroyer, J-10C fighters show openness, attract foreign interests at Malaysian expo

10:17, May 24, 2023 By Liu Xuanzun ( Global Times

A J-10C fighter jet of the Bayi Aerobatic Team of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force takes off from an airfield after being delivered in spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Aviation Industry Corp of China

Two types of main combat equipment of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and Air Force, the Type 052D destroyer and the J-10C fighter jet, are participating in an international maritime and aerospace exhibition in Malaysia that kicked off on Tuesday.

The expo marks a good opportunity for the PLA to show openness, carry out exchanges and communicate with its foreign counterparts, and also for the domestically developed destroyer and fighter jet to attract international buyers, analysts said.

After a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 16th Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition kicked off on Tuesday with an opening ceremony, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on the day.

With some 119 aircraft and 40 vessels participating and 18 countries including China setting up national booths, this year's LIMA is the largest in its history, CCTV reported.

The event is expected to attract more than 300,000 professionals and visitors from all over the world, making it one of the most important exhibitions of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, the report said.

After setting out from China on May 16 and sailing through the South China Sea, the Singapore Strait and the Strait of Malacca, the Zhanjiang arrived in Langkawi on Monday and will host an open-day event and a deck reception as well as participate in a fleet review during the exhibition, the PLA Navy said in a press release on Monday.

"We see the LIMA expo as an opportunity to strengthen exchanges and communications with [other] participating navies. Diverse activities will boost mutual understandings between naval personnel from different countries, and we will also fully display the PLA Navy's image as a peaceful force," said Wei Qiang, commanding officer of the Zhanjiang.

J-10C fighter jets of the PLA Air Force's Bayi Aerobatic Team will deliver four rounds of flight performances during the five-day exhibition, the PLA Air Force said in a press release on Monday.

This marks the first overseas flight performance since the team converted to flying the new J-10C aircraft.

The public displays of the Type 052D and the J-10C at the LIMA expo showed an open and friendly PLA as well as China's high level of modern equipment development, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Both the Type 052D destroyer and the J-10C fighter jet are the PLA's main combat equipment and are made available on the international market, according to media reports.

The displays at LIMA will give potential foreign customers a direct impression about their outstanding capabilities, Wei said.

With an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system and a vertical launch system with several dozens of missile cells, the Type 052D destroyer excels in air defense, anti-ship, anti-submarine and land attack missions, while the multirole J-10C fighter jet can carry out air combat, anti-ship and land attack missions with its AESA radar, advanced avionics and high maneuverability, Wei said, calling the two products very competitive on the international market.

Another Chinese-made vessel, the PNS Shahjahan, a Type 054A/P frigate of the Pakistan Navy that China delivered in early May, is also participating in the LIMA expo, CCTV reported.

The Type 054A, also the PLA Navy's frigate of choice, is also available on the international market.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
(Editors note: The following is a Sun Herald editorial, which means it contains opinion, and should not be confused with news coverage of an event.)

High school graduation is a rite of passage for every teenager.

Many dream of walking across the stage in their cap and gown and receiving their diploma.

Photos of the special night that signifies the start of adulthood flood our Facebook pages and Instagram stories. Many students plan out the big day for months, or at the beginning of senior year.

Students spend hundreds of dollars on outfits, hair and makeup. They pay for invitations to send to the people that mean the most to them to ensure their spot in the gym, football field or Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

Graduation is a big deal. And the Harrison County School District ruined that milestone for two teenagers over a graduation dress code that is proving to target girls and transgender students.

L.B. is trans. She has used she/her pronouns and worn dresses to school her entire high school career. The 17-year-old was so excited to wear a white dress that she and her mother picked out for Harrison Central Highs graduation.

The teen was shocked when her principal told her she would not be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony unless she dressed like a boy.

L.B., pictured her in the white dress she wanted to wear to her high school graduation in Mississippi.

The conversation came after a phone call from the Mississippi school districts superintendent, Mitchell King, who questioned how trans studentswould dress at graduation, according to a lawsuit and court testimony.

L.B. could have worn the makeup and jewelry she wanted if she would have walked. The dress, which would have been totally covered by the graduation gown, was the issue.

The school cited a graduation dress code shared to their social media that girls needed to wear a dress and heels, and boys would have to wear a certain color shirt, pants and a tie. L.B.s mother signed a form agreeing to it, but thought her daughter would be able to follow the girls dress code as shes done for years.

The ACLU joined L.B. and her parents and filed an emergency injunction in federal court in hopes a judge would reverse the schools decision. With less than 24 hours to go before graduation, L.B.s hopes were crushed when Judge Taylor McNeel sided with the school district.

L.B. opted not to attend graduation, and a second student at Harrison Central High now claims she was pulled from graduation lineup moments before the ceremony because of her pants and footwear.

L.B. and the second Harrison Central High student werent causing disturbances or interrupting the planned ceremony. One wanted to wear a white dress, and the other wanted to wear pants and comfortable shoes, according to her Facebook post.

The school district argued in court that they go by sex assigned at birth from students birth certificates on file.

MS Coast school district forbids trans teens dress. Are they violating their own dress code?

So they decided to fight a child in court and ruin a special day rather than let her wear clothes that matched her gender identity. Over a dress code that, as far as we can find, does not specifically mention trans students or chosen pronouns.

A national report released by the Government Accountability Office says nearly every public school in the U.S. has a dress code. Heres what the agency found:

About 93% of dress codes in the U.S. include language that allows the rules to be open for interpretation by a school.

About 15% of school dress codes have rules for clothing, hairstyles and accessories based on sex. None of the schools with sex-specific dress codes have protections for transgender or non-binary students.

Dress codes commonly use words like revealing or immodest when describing clothing worn by women and girls, which could also target LGBTQIA students.

The Harrison County School Districts decisions amplify what data already tells us: that girls, trans students and people of color are more likely to be punished by school dress codes.

L.B. , a transgender girl in Mississippi, missed her high school graduation ceremony after the Harrison County School District prevented her from wearing a dress and heels to the event.

Harrison Central High and school district Superintendent Mitchell King could have opted out of being part of this statistic. Now, their decision has made national news, once again putting egg on Mississippis face.

We would implore the Harrison County School District, and all others on the Mississippi Coast, to take a hard look at dress codes and consider changing them to make them more inclusive of all students.

Graduation is rooted deep in tradition, but sometimes traditions need to updated or changed.

The opinions expressed above comes from the Sun Herald Editorial Board, which includes Executive Editor Blake Kaplan, Senior Editor Justin Mitchell and Audience Development Producer Emily Broyles.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Wednesday urged the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners to enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors passed by Missouri lawmakers this month.

But Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves has already said that the ban, which has not yet been signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, does not include criminal penalties and would be outside of the polices jurisdiction.

Bailey, in a letter to the board Wednesday, said his demand comes after the Kansas City Council approved a resolution to declare the city a sanctuary for people seeking for providing gender-affirming care. The move by the city council was in defiance of the transgender health care ban.

It is the Boards constitutional duty to enforce the law and ensure that children are protected from these dangerous, experimental gender transition interventions, Bailey, a Republican, wrote in the letter. As Missouris top legal officer, I will take any legal action necessary against the City to ensure our state laws are enforced.

Kansas City is the only city in Missouri that does not control its police force. The department is overseen by a five-member board of police commissioners. Four are appointed by the governor while Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas fills the remaining spot.

The gender-affirming care ban passed by the legislature would ban all gender transition procedures for people under 18. It would allow minors to continue hormone therapy or puberty blockers if they were already prescribed them. The restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty blockers expire in 2027. The ban on gender-affirming surgeries does not expire.

It does not include criminal penalties that could be enforced by the Kansas City police. Doctors who violate the ban could lose their licenses and health care providers could face civil lawsuits.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves emphasized this point in a statement earlier this week, saying that the police department would not be involved in enforcing the ban if it became law.

These provisions are outside the jurisdiction of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, Graves said. I want to assure Kansas City, we will continue to serve all the members of the community equitably regardless of race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.

Dawn Cramer, a member of the Kansas City police board, said she felt Baileys letter was in response to a letter that Lucas had sent to the board, urging the board to take the citys position on the gender-affirming care ban.

Cramer said she agreed with Graves that the police did not have a role in enforcing the bill.

I just feel like it doesnt pertain to us, she said. Should the attorney general have written that? You know, I cant really say unless he thought we were missing something.

State Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, in a statement criticized Baileys understanding of the bill.

Sounds like Andrew Bailey needs to Google what police do instead of making them waste their time explaining to the states top lawyer that police handle criminal cases, not civil actions, she said.

Heidi Schultz, a 44-year-old transgender woman from Kansas City, told The Star on Wednesday that she felt the letter was another example of Bailey using his office for political gain. Bailey had attempted to effectively ban gender-affirming care for both adults and minors through an emergency rule. He withdrew the rule last week after lawmakers approved the ban for minors.

Bailey just seems to be a politician and looking for those little soundbites for his campaign commercials, Schultz told The Star. I worry about these things and that the KCPD would flip flop but it doesnt seem like something that is serious or something that will actually happen, you know?

Prior to signing the city councils resolution, Lucas, who had testified against bills aimed at the trans community, wrote on Twitter that he was proud to sign the resolution.

I am indeed proudly Baptist and look forward to proudly signing into law later today Kansas Citys declaration that it will be a safe haven in Missouri for trans rights. We love all and welcome all, the mayor said in a tweet.

Bailey, in his letter, said board members have a legal duty to enforce the ban and all public health laws in Missouri.

Parsons office was still reviewing bills, his spokesperson told The Star on Wednesday. Parson, a Republican, has celebrated the bills passage and is expected to sign the legislation. He had threatened to call lawmakers into a special session if they did not pass the ban.
Platte County prosecutors charged a 38-year-old man Wednesday with driving under the influence of alcohol in a deadly crash that left one person dead.

Wesley W. Teague, of Rushville, Missouri, was taken into police custody on Tuesday evening following the crash on M Highway, Major Erik Holland of the Platte County Sheriffs Office said in a statement. Police had not identified the person killed in the crash as of Wednesday as they were attempting to notify family.

Around 6:45 p.m., sheriffs deputies were dispatched to the crash site along M Highway near H Highway. It involved a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro that was headed north and left the roadway.

Charging documents filed Wednesday in Platte County Circuit Court allege Teague was driving at a high speed when he crossed the center line of the road, over-corrected and went off-road into a ditch.

After striking the 33-year-old man, who was pronounced dead on scene, police say the Camaro continued on and crashed into a tree.

While speaking with deputies, Teague smelled strongly of alcoholic beverage and his eyes were bloodshot and watery, according to charging documents.

Teague was taken away by ambulance. A breath test for alcohol allegedly showed he was over the legal limit.

He allegedly told police he had two beers and smoked marijuana earlier in the day.

Teague was being held in the Platte County jail on a $250,000 cash bond. Under Missouri law, he faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison if convicted of the Class B felony.

Online court records did not list a defense attorney for Teague as of Wednesday.

In a statement Wednesday, Platte County Sheriff Mark Owen said the crash demonstrated why there is never a reason to drive while under the influence.

Crashes like this one are a tragedy for all involved, their families and their communities, Owen said.
Missouri legislators have adopted yet another solution in search of a problem. Theyve passed a bill  and sent it to Gov. Mike Parson to sign (he shouldnt)  that would allow public schools to offer elective courses on the Bible.

This isnt the first time lawmakers have attempted this, even though there seems to be no prohibition against teaching about scripture in public schools. In fact, there can be value in that. What is  and should be  prohibited is teaching that promotes a particular religion. People are right to be suspicious that backers of this Missouri legislation are simply trying to slide the Christian camels nose under the public school tent as an initial way of advancing that faith tradition.

Sponsors of the bill may not realize it, but for almost two decades, educators have had available quality, constitutionally appropriate material to use when teaching students about the Bible and its influence. Those resources have come from the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Bible Literacy Project and have been used in hundreds of public schools in dozens of states. Why not just suggest parents and schools investigate this respected resource  recognizing, however, that even it doesnt deal with other sacred texts that helped shape America, such as the Book of Mormon?

The Missouri bill at least pays lip service to the idea of not proselytizing in public classrooms. As the online summary of the bill notes: This act requires that any course offered shall follow applicable laws maintaining religious neutrality, and shall not endorse, favor, promote, or show hostility to any particular religion, nonreligious faith, or religious perspective.

That summary also says that any elective social studies course need not be limited to using the Bible  either the Jewish or Christian versions. But thats far from encouraging students to explore the influence on society of Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist or other sacred writings.

There are many good reasons for students to be familiar with the Bible, given that its been so influential in U.S. history. Beyond that, of course, our language and literature are full of biblical references (go the second mile, Good Samaritan laws, the patience of Job and more) that will mean nothing to students without at least an introductory look at the books influence.

In a nation in which the religious landscape has been changing rather dramatically over the last 50-plus years, basic religious literacy is important. Its exactly what such groups as the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council promote as a way of living in peace in a society thats becoming more religiously diverse, including a fast-growing number of religiously unaffiliated people.

But focusing on just one sacred text  even if a rapidly-shrinking majority of Americans still identify as Christian  is an incomplete answer. In fact, public school teaching that uses only the Bible can be problematic in various ways.

Which translation should be used? (There are dozens, and sometimes they offer conflicting English versions of the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.) Whose interpretation of those texts should be given priority? Will the Bible be seen through the eyes of people who say its inerrant in all ways, including the idea that the world was created in six literal 24-hour days? Or should more metaphorical and allegorical interpretations be offered? Should students get a Mainline Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal or evangelical approach, or one from a branch of Judaism?

Rabbi Doug Alpert of Congregation Kol Ami of Kansas City is on target when he suggests that its not the legislatures place to say its legal to teach about the Bible: It sounds like theyre doing the courts job. Exactly.

Public school families who want their children taught about the many ways the Bible has influenced our nation and its citizens should be careful how they go about making that happen. Letting Missouri lawmakers set the boundaries is far from the best idea.
The 2023 Global Slavery Index says modern slavery has got worse since its last survey

North Korea, Eritrea and Mauritania have the highest prevalence of modern slavery in the world, according to the 2023 Global Slavery Index published Wednesday, which noted a "worsening" situation globally since its last survey five years earlier.

The report said an estimated 50 million people were "living in situations of modern slavery" in 2021, an increase of 10 million over 2016, when the problem was last measured.

The figure includes some 28 million people in forced labour and 22 million living in a forced marriage.

The situation is worsening "against a backdrop of increasing and more complex armed conflicts, widespread environmental degradation" and impacts from the coronavirus pandemic, among other factors, the investigation said.

Compiled by the human rights charity Walk Free, the report defines modern slavery as encompassing "forced labour, forced or servile marriage, debt bondage, forced commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking, slavery-like practices, and the sale and exploitation of children."

Slavery's core principle entails "the systematic removal of a persons freedom" -- from the right to accept or refuse labour to the liberty to determine if, when and whom to marry.

By this benchmark, reclusive and authoritarian North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery (104.6 per 1,000 population), according to the report.

It is followed by Eritrea (90.3) and Mauritania (32), which in 1981 became the last country in the world to make hereditary slavery illegal.

The 10 countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery have some common characteristics, including "limited protections for civil liberties and human rights".

Many of the countries are in "volatile" regions experiencing conflict or political instability, or home to a large populaton of "vulnerable people" such as refugees or migrant workers.

- 'Mirror held to power' -

Also in the top 10 globally were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, where migrant workers' labour rights are restricted by the "kafala" sponsorship system.

Other countries in the top 10 are Turkey, "which hosts million of refugees from Syria", Tajikistan, Russia and Afghanistan.

While forced labour is more common in low-income countries it is "deeply" connected to demand from higher-income countries, the report said, noting that two-thirds of all forced labour cases are linked to global supply chains.

The report said G20 countries -- made up of the EU and the world's 19 top economies -- are currently importing $468 billion worth of goods that are at risk of being produced with forced labour, up from $354 billion in the previous report.

Electronics remain the highest value at-risk product, followed by garments, palm oil and solar panels, in a sign of high demand for renewable energy products.

"Modern slavery permeates every aspect of our society. It is woven through our clothes, lights up our electronics, and seasons our food," the group's founding director Grace Forrest said.

"At its core, modern slavery is a manifestation of extreme inequality. It is a mirror held to power, reflecting who in any given society has it and who does not," she added.

acl/phz/ri
Australian PM Anthony Albanese (left) called India a "key strategic partner"

India and Australia have announced a migration deal as they aim to strengthen their economic cooperation.

The announcement came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his counterpart Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Wednesday.

The deal aims to "promote the two-way mobility of students, graduates, academic researchers and business people".

They also discussed regional security amid rising tensions in the region.

India and Australia are part of the four-member Quad group, which also includes Japan and the US.

A scheduled meeting of the group in Sydney was cancelled last week after US President Joe Biden had to return to Washington for debt ceiling talks.

Mr Modi, however, continued his planned visit to Sydney after attending the G7 summit in Japan and travelling to Papua New Guinea.

This is Mr Modi's first visit to Australia since 2014, and comes two months after Mr Albanese visited India in March.

Negotiations for the migration agreement had been going on for a couple of years. Australia already has a significant number of people who have migrated from India - census data shows that of more than a million people who moved to Australia since 2016, almost a quarter were from India.

According to a statement, the finalised migration agreement will also lead to the creation of a new scheme called MATES (Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early Professionals Scheme), which has been "specifically created for India".

On Tuesday, the Indian prime minister said the two countries had also discussed increasing cooperation on mining and critical minerals and made progress in establishing an Australia-India Green Hydrogen Taskforce.

India and Australia are also working towards a comprehensive economic cooperation deal for which negotiations began more than a decade ago.

On Tuesday, thousands of people from the country's Indian diaspora had turned up at one of Sydney's biggest indoor stadiums, where Mr Modi was speaking at a rally.

"The last time I saw someone on this stage was Bruce Springsteen and he did not get the welcome that Prime Minister Modi has got," Mr Albanese said at the event.

Mr Modi called the Indian community in Australia "a living bridge" between the two countries.

"The relationship between India and Australia is based on mutual trust and respect," he said.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.

Read more India stories from the BBC:
(Bloomberg) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis popularity remains strong despite his partys loss in a crucial state election, but his main rival Rahul Gandhi is also gaining ground, indicating the opposition could gather momentum ahead of the 2024 national election.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Modi remains the top choice for prime minister and his Bharatiya Janata Partys vote share remains steady, according to a survey by broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd. in partnership with the Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies research group.

If national elections were held right now, 43% of those polled said Modi would be their choice. Gandhi was his main competitor, with 27% favoring him for the top job.

Despite losing the state of Karnataka earlier this month, 43% of the respondents said a BJP-led coalition would return to power in next years national vote. Only 29% said Gandhis Congress party would win. Modis ruling partys vote share has also seen a slight uptick  increasing to 39% in 2023 from 37% in 2019 when it swept to power for a second term.

However, the Congresss vote share showed a bigger jump to 29% this year from 19% in 2019, the survey showed.

Gandhis growing popularity is an indication the scion of Indias Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty could emerge as a challenger to Modi after suffering back-to-back defeats in the last two national elections. The Congresss rare win in Karnataka was a morale booster for the main opposition group.

Still, Gandhi will need to show his winning capability in five important state elections that will take place in December.

Modis popularity dipped slightly to 43% from 44% in 2019, according to the opinion poll, while Gandhis standing grew to 27% from 24% during that period.

The survey was conducted among 7,202 respondents across 19 states between May 10 and May 19, just after Karnataka went to vote. It was meant to assess the public mood as Modi completes nine years in power this month.

The BJP and Congress have both started preparations for the local polls, but also have an eye on the 2024 vote. Modi is wrapping up a visit to Australia, where he got a rousing welcome from the expatriate community. He will head to the US in June, where President Joe Biden will host him at a banquet.

Gandhi will visit the US next week where he will address public meetings as part of the effort to boost his image and raise funds for his party.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Mom returns to work after bonding with baby, learns she was fired for it, officials say

A woman visited her job after taking several weeks off to bond with her baby and discovered she was fired for doing so, officials in New Jersey said.

While employed as a customer experience ambassador at Gabes, a discount retailer with stores in 20 states, the woman was out on maternity leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act and asked for six more weeks off under state law to spend time with her newborn in August 2019, according to the New Jersey attorney generals office.

When those six weeks were nearing an end, she returned to work to figure out her upcoming work schedule  but learned she was fired from her job at the store in Vineland a month earlier purportedly for failing to communicate with the company about returning to work, according to a complaint filed with the states Division on Civil Rights.

However, she was entitled to those six weeks of bonding time with her baby under the New Jersey Family Leave Act, according to officials.

Now, Gabes has agreed to pay $113,500 in relief to settle the complaint filed over her firing, the attorney generals office announced in a May 23 news release.

Of that amount, $66,000 will go directly to the former Gabes employee, officials said. Additionally, the company will pay $44,000 in attorney fees and $3,500 to the states Division on Civil Rights.

The New Jersey Family Leave Act protects a parents right to take time away from work to bond with their child without fear of losing their job, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.

McClatchy News contacted Gabes on May 24 and didnt immediately receive a response.

Platkins office announced another company, Pine Belt Management LLC, has also agreed to pay relief to settle a complaint filed in a similar case.

The New Jersey car dealership is accused of firing a service advisor for requesting to take family leave under the NJFLA ahead of the birth of his child, according to a complaint filed with the Division on Civil Rights, the release said.

His request was initially denied, then he was fired in retaliation for requesting it in February 2018, according to officials.

Pine Belt has agreed to pay $105,000 in relief to settle the complaint, with $67,000 going toward the former employee, the release said. Meanwhile, $33,000 will be paid for attorneys fees and $5,000 will be paid to the Division on Civil Rights.

Pine Belt spokesman Rob Sickel told McClatchy News in a statement on May 24 that the worker was absolutely not fired for requesting family leave. According to Sickel, the employees firing was unrelated and just happened to coincide with his family leave request.

He added that many Pine Belt employees use family leave without any issues. But he said missing information in the companys employee handbook has since been updated.

As part of the settlements, both Gabes and Pine Belt agreed to train employees on the companies NJFLA policy, the release said.

Father gets fired for using family leave to bond with baby, care for spouse, feds say

Walgreens manager refused to let pregnant worker leave, feds say. Then she miscarried

Walmart fired new Florida mom because her needs were problematic, lawsuit says
The Scoop

Spellbook, an AI copilot for lawyers, is raising $11 million in a fundraising round led by Moxxie Ventures and includes Thomson Reuters, owner of the legal research giant Westlaw.

The investment is the latest in a wave of money flowing into generative AI products, including many in the legal profession. Spellbooks product cuts down the work of analyzing, drafting, and negotiating legal documents by quickly digesting and automatically drafting potential changes, saving lawyers time. The company calls each legal task a spell and says lawyers use, on average, 280 spells per month.

Alex Roetter, a general partner at Moxxie, exclusively told Semafor his firm wanted to lead the round, in part, because of Spellbooks growth. It has 600 legal teams (mainly small and medium-sized practices) using the product around the world, and there are 35,000 lawyers on a waitlist as the company hones Spellbook for wider distribution. A subscription costs around $180 per month.

They clearly are solving a real need for lawyers who want to turbo charge their practice, Roetter said.

Know More

Scott Stevenson, Spellbooks co-founder and CEO, said he went into legal software because he was stunned by how expensive the legal fees were while launching a previous startup.

But it wasnt until late 2021, when Microsofts GitHub released Copilot, a software development aid that uses OpenAI large language models to autocomplete code, that Stevenson started thinking about how to apply that technology to legal software.

LLMs seem particularly well-suited to take on legal work. New models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are able to consume lengthy documents and quickly offer summaries and insights.

That capability, combined with fine-tuning that uses legal-specific data, makes the technology a powerful tool for attorneys.

Businesses are only recently figuring out how to turn these new advances into products for lawyers and the general public.

Companies like DocuSign, for instance, have troves of data that they can use in conjunction with services like ChatGPT to create new consumer products that were not possible a year ago.

DocuSign earlier this month announced Agreement Summarization, a tool that gives users the ability to upload complicated contracts and have it explained in plain language. Essentially, it translates legalese into English.

Another example is the human resources startup Deel. According to a person familiar with the matter, the company is working on a generative AI chatbot-like assistant, trained on Deels global data, that can answer compliance questions the same way a legal expert might.

Reed's view

None of these new tools are an attempt to replace lawyers altogether but they may reshape the legal industry. For instance, there is already some evidence theyll allow smaller teams of lawyers to compete for business against bigger law firms.

Generative AI tools could end up being a necessary ingredient that entices tech investors to create new kinds of law firms that modernize legal transactions, allowing ordinary people access to services from their computer in the same way they might sign up for a streaming service. Already, Arizona and Utah have changed laws to allow non-lawyers to take ownership stakes in law firms.

For attorney Brittany Ratelle, AI has meant having the time to take her four kids to the water park. She runs a private practice in Idaho focused on legal work for online creators. Since she signed up for Spellbook a few months ago, shes cut the time it takes to get through documents by half.

Ratelle, like many small firms, charges a flat fee for legal work instead of billing by the hour, so becoming more efficient gives her more free time.

Room for Disagreement

According to a Goldman Sachs research report, AI could replace 44% of the work that lawyers do. That could lead to a fall in how many people are employed in the legal industry.

The View From Europe

The EU has been ahead on this issue and helped fund a project, starting in 2020, called AI4Lawyers. The program studied the benefits of AI in law as well as the drawbacks, like relying too heavily on computer-generated legal work without enough human oversight.

Notable
Montenegrin police officers escort an individual who is believed to be one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, Friday, March 24, 2023



Do Kwon has pleaded not guilty to charges he faked passports and tried to leave Montenegro. Hes facing even more serious charges in both the U.S. and South Korea.

It turns out that Do Kwon, the man whose Terra stablecoin led to a $40 billion loss in the crypto industry, wont get out of jail for a few hundred thousand dollars. On Wednesday, a Montenegrin court nixed an earlier deal to give Kwon bail, meaning the man will have to remain in jail while awaiting trial over allegations he tried to skip town on fake passports.

Last week, state prosecutors filed an appeal against the courts decision to grant bail. Earlier this month, Kwon and his compatriot, former Terra chief financial officer Han Chongjoon, were granted a limited release on a mere $430,500 bond. As proposed during the pre-trial bail hearings, the two were also restricted to an apartment setting with the girlfriend of the pairs attorney, Branko Andjelic. Police were meant to enforce rules keeping the pair tied to that apartment.

Read more

A mere week after prosecutors appealed, Bloomberg reported that the high court of the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica overturned the basic courts decision and denied Kwon and Chong-joon bail. This puts it back to the lower court, which now has to come up with new terms that must take into account the higher courts ruling. This could mean a variety of back and forth between the upper and lower judiciaries.

Montenegrin police arrested the Terraform Labs execs back in March for allegedly trying to leave the country using fraudulent Belgian and Costa Rican passports. Both Kwon and Chong-joon have pleaded not guilty, though they are both still awaiting trial. Its an open question whether Montenegro will send Kwon and co to South Korea or the U.S. after the trial is completed. Both countries are working to extradite the failed crypto founder over massive allegations of fraud and conspiracy for their role in talking up the Terra stablecoin before its eventual collapse.

In the meantime, several former Terra execs and staff members are up on charges in South Korea regarding their alleged roles in propping up the not-so-stable stablecoin. Unlike Kwon, Terra co-founder Daniel Shin and nine other former staff are being prosecuted without detention.





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More elephant seals are at SLO County beach than during breeding season. What are they doing?

May brings more elephant seals to the Piedras Blancas rookery north of San Simeon than the winter breeding season.

Visitors will see lots of seals, doing a lot of sleeping.

Thats because all the adult females and the not-yet-mature juveniles begin arriving in April and linger on the beach through June.

The females left the beach after giving birth and mating to get next years pups started in February and March.

Theyve been regaining weight lost while nursing babies so they are physically strong enough to support more pregnancies.

The juveniles left the beach to the breeding adults during the winter. They return in the spring, when the shores are calmer.

After resting and molting in May and June, the juveniles go to sea until they return for the fall haul-out.

Elephant seals are molting

All of the elephant seals will molt their skin during their stays.

The old brown skin and hair peels off in chunks, exposing new skin and hair underneath. Look for pearly gray seals next to brown and tan seals.

Check out the ones with skin curling off around the eyes and nose.

Old scars also start peeling back the molted skin. You may see a marked seal.

Check with a docent or contact Friends of the Elephant Seal online to report a marked seal. All marks are temporary, since they come off with the molted skin.

Female seals rest before migration

Some of the females are pregnant, but its not obvious to the eye.

The egg that fertilized during mating two months ago has suspended development during the short post-breeding migration. After molting, it implants in the uterine wall and begins developing into a pup.

The pregnant females will leave on their long migration, returning to the shores of San Luis Obispo County in January to give birth to their pups.

How do offshore wind farms affect marine animals?

Scientists are researching how offshore wind energy development could affect elephant seals and other marine mammals, as well as sea turtles, fish and marine bird species that call the ocean home.

The California Coastal Commission was briefed at its May 11 meeting by energy company representatives, scientists, state agency representatives, fishermen and others.

Ben Ruttenberg, director of Cal Polys Center for Coastal Marine Sciences, gave a presentation on gaps in knowledge about the deep ocean.

Little is known about the ocean at 4,000 feet, the depth at which floating wind turbines would be located 20 miles off the Central Coast.

Ruttenberg proposed using artificial intelligence and machine learning to assist with research.

Oceanography consultant Grace Chang gave a presentation on upwelling.

Brandon Southall of UC Santa Cruz, Duke University and Southall Environmental Associates presented background on the effects of sound on marine mammals and sea turtles, while Josh Adams of the U.S. Geological Survey spoke about leading a team studying the effects on marine birds.

Watch the video recording of that briefing at cal-span.org/meeting/ccc_20230511. Slides and videos are in the Presentations drop-down menu.
The U.S. and China show signs of deepening distrust. Guam braces for Super Typhoon Mawar. And abnormal killer whale attacks are puzzling scientists.

Heres what to know today.

What will it take to melt the icy U.S.-China relationship?

Relations between the U.S. and China have been a roller coaster, and there are signs of deepening distrust.

Februarys spy balloon incident resulted in a planned trip to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken being canceled. China apologized for the balloon but later took a more defensive stance.

Beijing also reacted angrily to last weeks Group of Seven summit in Japan. Member countries pledged to cooperate with China economically but be tougher in areas including economic coercion, human rights, Taiwan, Hong Kong and more.

Despite those tensions, President Joe Biden predicted a thaw very soon between the two countries. Also, Beijings new ambassador arrived in Washington yesterday, striking a cautiously upbeat tone in his remarks.

This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your morning. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Before high-level diplomacy can move forward  with one of Bidens Cabinet members visiting Beijing or a call between Biden and Xi  there are a number of obstacles China believes need to be addressed, according to a Chinese diplomat, as well as public comments by Chinese state media and officials.

Among them is the ongoing FBI investigation into the Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. Another is the false accusations, as the diplomat put it, that China has been illegally operating police stations in New York and elsewhere around the world.

But favorable conditions will be tough to achieve.

Guam braces for triple threat from Super Typhoon Mawar

Winds of over 50 mph were felt and rain began hitting Guam this morning as Super Typhoon Mawar barreled toward the island. The storm is expected to cross Wednesday afternoon or early evening local time and bring with it a triple threat of torrential rains, life-threatening storm surge and Category 4 hurricane-force winds, officials said. President Joe Biden signed an emergency declaration yesterday, anticipating a potentially severe impact. Heres the latest.

Driver in crash near White House wanted to seize power

Court documents released yesterday revealed the motive of the 19-year-old man accused of deliberately driving a rented box truck into a White House barrier early Tuesday morning. Sai Varshith Kandula, who allegedly told authorities that he admires Nazis, wanted to get into the White House, seize power and be put in charge of the nation, according to a statement of facts. When asked how he would achieve power, Kandula told authorities he would kill the president if thats what I have to do.

In the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, where Kandula lived, acquaintances struggled to link the alleged attack with the chill teen they knew.

Elon Musk to host DeSantis 2024 announcement

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce his presidential bid today during a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, three sources familiar with the plan said. The talk on Twitter Spaces will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern. While Musk said he is not planning to formally endorse DeSantis during the event, a source said his participation is viewed as a clear sign of support for the governor.

A string of abnormal orca attacks puzzles scientists

Three recent incidents of orcas seemingly attacking and sinking boats off the coast of Europe, including one this month, has made a splash in the science world. While some say the whales behavior may be coordinated, others arent convinced its indicative of killer instincts.

One theory put forward by a Portuguese biologist suggested the aggression started from a female orca that perhaps was struck by a boat, a traumatic experience that caused her to start ramming sailing vessels. Other orcas may have then picked up that behavior.

Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute, says orcas have certainly had reason to engage in aggressive behavior toward humans in the past, but historically, they havent. Instead, she believes the recent orca attacks are more of a fad.

 Todays Talker

Bud Light beer sales are

 still plummeting, reflecting the ongoing backlash to the brands decision to hire transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson. Sales in the week ending May 13 sank 28.4% and 27.7% in the week before, according to data. Given the wide array of alternate choices, its easy for beer drinkers to switch to buying a different brand, said one expert, who conceded, nobody imagined it would go on this long.

 Politics in Brief

Debt ceiling: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said yesterday that a deal to avert a debt limit default is not there yet, with talks stuck on federal spending levels.

Trump investigations: The New York criminal trial for the case against Donald Trump involving hush money payments will begin in March 2024, halfway through presidential primary contests.

Classified documents: Lawyers for Donald Trump asked for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation of Trumps handling of classified documents shows signs of winding down.

 Staff Pick

San Franciscos concrete problem

Living in San Francisco, Im used to seeing beautiful old Art Deco buildings from the citys heydays: hotels, office buildings, monuments and more. So when I read in the local media that there was a city-made list of thousands of concrete buildings that might be at particularly high risk in an earthquake, I thought, Ive got to see this list. To my surprise, no one had published it, making it impossible for people to judge their day-to-day risks. I asked the city for a copy, and weeks later, here are my findings.  David Ingram, tech reporter

 In Case You Missed It

The New York Police Department is investigating another victim in connection with a robbery scheme largely targeting men visiting gay bars.

A Florida man who lost his arm in an alligator attack shrugs off the loss: Its not the end of the world.

Netflixs crackdown on password sharing has rolled out in the U.S. Heres what could happen if you use a shared account.

Yellowstone National Park staff killed a newborn bison after a visitor helped it cross a river.

A man died in Alaska after he became trapped waist-deep in tidal mud flats and was submerged by an incoming tide.

 Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

Amazons Gaming Week recently went live, meaning you can shop deals up to 60% off on top-rated laptops, desktops, controllers and headsets. There are also deals on Fire TVs and other streaming devices, keyboards and even furniture. Here are the seven best deals to shop.

Thanks for reading todays Morning Rundown. Todays newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If youre a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign-up here.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Miami-Dade police identify mom shot and killed while leaving a park with her six kids

A mother leaving a Miami-Dade park with her six children on board was shot and killed in her vehicle following a dispute, according to police.

Miami-Dade police said Wednesday the shooter still remains free.

Jeretha Lawson, 33 was leaving the park with her children Tuesday afternoon when she was shot. Its unclear what they were arguing about. After the shooting, the womans husband are now with him. The children, ages 7 to 17, werent injured by the gunfire or the crash, police said.

Public records from March show that Lawson was living a few minutes away from the park in unincorporated Miami-Dade.

No child should ever have to witness their mother being killed due to senseless gun violence, Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Freddy Ramirez III said late Tuesday night on Twitter. We must protect our community from having their lives impacted by these violent crimes.

Miami-Dade police say the shooting happened around 3 p.m. in the area of Oak Grove Park, 690 NE 159th St. The park is just west of North Miami Beach.

Lawson was shot in front of her children following a dispute with another driver, detectives said in a news release Tuesday night. Someone in the other car shot at the mother, who then crashed into two parked vehicles while attempting to escape.

No child should ever have to witness their mother being killed due to senseless gun violence. We must protect our community from having their lives impacted by these violent crimes. pic.twitter.com/COIZdP8G5w  Alfredo "Freddy" Ramirez III (@AFreddyRamirez) May 24, 2023

Lawson died despite first responders life-saving efforts, police said.

Her six children were also inside the vehicle during the shooting but were not injured by the gunfire nor the crash, police said. The subject(s) fled in an unknown direction before officers arrived on scene.

TV footage showed several police cars and at least three damaged vehicles behind yellow crime-scene tape.

Oak Grove Elementary School, which borders part of the park, was put on lockdown due to the police activity in the area, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesman told the Miami Herald.

To help

Anyone with information is urged to contact CrimeStoppers by dialing 305-471-8477 or visiting crimestoppersmiami.com.

Video from the shooting scene

Where the shooting happened

Miami Herald staff writers David Goodhue, Charles Rabin and Grethel Aguila contributed to this report.
(Bloomberg) -- Ron DeSantiss plan to announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter conversation with Elon Musk shows how the worlds second-richest person is increasingly inserting himself into US politics, setting him up as a leading powerbroker for the 2024 race.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Florida governor, who filed paperwork Wednesday to officially enter the 2024 race, is viewed by many Republicans as the most likely to defeat former President Donald Trump. But DeSantis has struggled in recent months  trailing in the polls against Trump, failing to rack up endorsements and coming off second-best in his battle with Walt Disney Co.

Having Musk on his side helps change that trajectory, associating him with the billionaire owner of a social-media platform that Trump leveraged during his own political rise and holds sway over Republican voters.

Read More: DeSantis Twitter Campaign Debut Shows Musks Embrace of Politics

It binds him to Elon Musk, who has a lot of support in the voter base of our party, said Becki Donatelli, a GOP digital strategist and chief executive officer of Campaign Solutions. Its good for Musk because its creating all this discussion about Twitter. Its a win-win.

A Player

It also offers Musk, 51, a chance to join the ranks of GOP powerbrokers if he so chooses, a group long dominated by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 92, whose conservative news platforms, including Fox News, helped fuel Trumps rise to the Oval Office.

Murdoch  whos worth about $8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index  has overseen coverage that has been interpreted as his empire shifting support away from Trump and toward DeSantis in 2024. That makes it particularly notable that DeSantis chose Musks platform to make his announcement.

Musk, for his part, has also praised South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who is seeking the Republican nomination. Musk tweeted Scotts first political ad of the campaign, calling it a great statement.

The question is, is Musk looking to be a platform or is he looking to be a player? said David Tamasi, a Republican fundraiser. He said its unclear whether Musk wants to use his wealth to influence elections. I dont think we know the answer to that.

Musk isnt yet a big political donor, especially considering the size of his fortune, estimated at $180 billion, according to Bloombergs wealth index. Musk hasnt put much of his money into politics, donating just $529,000 since 2009, Federal Election Commission records show.

Musks appearance with DeSantis contrasts with other billionaire donors who have shown signs of hesitancy around his campaign. Steve Schwarzman, the co-founder of Blackstone Inc., is holding off on donating to the Florida governor for now after meeting with him recently, Bloomberg reported this month. Thomas Peterffy, the founder of Interactive Brokers, has said publicly hes withholding support for DeSantis.

Spaces Audience

Its unclear how many people will tune into the Twitter Spaces event  scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday  to hear DeSantis and Musk. Only 23% of US adults say they use the social-media platform, according to Pew Research Center data from 2022, though an account isnt required to access the audio stream.

Jason Calacanis, an angel investor whos a friend of Musks, tweeted that Twitter would drive a multiple of the viewership that Fox News or CNN would garner.

In November, 2.7 million listeners tuned in to Musks hour-long question and answer session with Robin Wheeler, then head of Twitters ad sales. The following month, 2.2 million joined at some point for an event featuring Musk that ran for more than five hours.

Twitter didnt specifically respond to an emailed request for comment.

A Twitter announcement has one notable advantage for DeSantis, who has repeatedly attacked the press: he can avoid reporters questions.

Additionally, the announcement is likely to attract more coverage because its unconventional and features someone other than just the candidate, said Eric Wilson, a Republican strategist at Bullpen Strategy Group.

A central theme of politics nowadays  and weve certainly seen this with the Biden campaign too  is influencer marketing, he said. Theres no one more influential on Twitter than Elon Musk.

--With assistance from Bill Allison.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Heres how much more it costs you to buy your groceries online than in person

Its not unusual for Naomi Ramirez to spend $300 or $400 a week on groceries for her family. Shes used online delivery services before, but she knows shes saving money by shopping for her groceries in person.

I feel like its a bit more expensive online than in the store. I feel like its better to just go to the store and buy what you need, Ramirez said.

Boston 25 wanted to compare prices and find out how much more it costs to buy your groceries online versus in person. We went to the Dedham Stop & Shop to pick up these ten items:

Half gallon of 2% milk

Family Size Cheerios

Oreos

Red Baron pepperoni pizza

Dozen cage free eggs

Simply Orange juice

Sara Lee wheat bread

2-liter Coca-Cola

Lays Classic potato chips

Skippy peanut butter

The total in-person cost was $45.76. When we used Instacart to shop for those same ten items from Stop & Shop, the price for the groceries alone was $5.44 more, and that was before adding any service and delivery fees or tip for the driver. The total through Instacart came to $55.20 with free delivery through an introductory offer.

The same ten items were $45.11 using Roche Bros. online shopping cart. At checkout, a $6.95 shop fee and $3 delivery fee was added to our total. There was also an option to tip the driver. The total for delivery via Roche Bros. came to $55.06 before a tip.

A Stop & Shop spokesperson acknowledged grocery prices are more expensive when using Instacart.

Retailer prices in the Instacart marketplace, including Stop & Shops, are often higher than in-store pricing in order to cover the costs of Instacarts platform and same day delivery services, the spokesperson said in an email. However, Stop & Shop offers the same everyday pricing as in-store for Pickup & Delivery orders placed on our website as well as the same prices as advertised in our weekly circular for online customers shopping our site.

An Instacart spokesperson said online prices are set by the grocery chains.

Retailers choose to offer different prices in-store than on the Instacart app [or] website, the spokesperson said in an email. Instacart has a Stores to help you save section on the Home screen that helps customers discover value-driven stores including retailers that offer in-store pricing or loyalty savings.

Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky said if youre dreading the grocery store experience, your best bet is to order online but opt to pick-up on site.

There are some stores that will let you pay exactly the same thing as the store price and only add a small fee if you go to pick it up. Thats what Id recommend, Dworsky said.

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Murderer who stabbed victim 62 times is one of 200 Albanians to be deported in new deal

Police forensic teams at the scene in Perry Barr, in Birmingham, where Erlin Hasa knifed a 43-year-old father to death - Darren Quinton/BPM MEDIA

An Albanian murderer who stabbed his victim 62 times is among 200 of the countrys most dangerous criminals to be deported to serve the rest of their sentences in Albanian prisons under a deal announced on Wednesday.

Erlin Hasa, 35, who was jailed for life for knifing a 43-year-old father to death in a Birmingham street, is one of 15 Albanian murderers who will be removed to serve the remaining decades of their sentences in Albanian jails. The 200 criminals also include eight rapists and 17 criminals serving life sentences.

The transfer follows months of negotiations between Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials in both countries after Rishi Sunak first discussed the plan with Albanias prime minister, Edi Rama, in talks in Downing Street in March.

It will save the Government millions of pounds as the cost of funding the prison places in Albania is a third that in Britain as well as freeing up space in the UKs overcrowded jails.

The 200 - all of whom have been imprisoned for at least four years - will serve the same length of time in jail as they would have done in the UK which means that Albanian courts will have to review the sentence of those on life terms in the UK because the minimum life term in the Balkan state is 60 years.

Erlin Hasa has been in a UK jail for more than four years - BPM MEDIA

Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, said: I am grateful to my Albanian counterpart, Mr Ulsi Manja, for his efforts to shape our growing partnership on justice issues. The public expects that foreign criminals should serve their sentences overseas  not in our prisons at the expense of the taxpayer.

This deal will speed up the removal of these offenders and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice and spend the remainder of their sentence behind bars. Collaboration with our international partners is an essential part of making this possible.

Human rights claims

Albania had pushed for the UK to fund their incarceration for their full jail terms while Britain sought assurances that the countrys prisons were up to standard to avoid any human rights claims and that they had enough places in their jails to hold them.

The UK Government has agreed it will also provide support to modernise and expand the Albanian prison system, to ensure it has the capacity to hold the prisoners.

Among those returning to Albania is Koci Selamaj, the murderer of schoolteacher Sabina Nessa, who was jailed for a minimum of 36 years for beating and strangling her to death in a park in south east London. He has so far served only two years, which would mean the UK paying the Albanians to imprison him for the remaining 34 years of his sentence.

Another killer up for transfer shot his victim in the head in an apparent drug turf war in Hartlepool and will serve up to nine years in Albania.

One sexually assaulted and raped a vulnerable young woman in a frenzied 45-minute attack after following her out of a bar before jumping on her in a secluded street.

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DeSantis needs a new Republican lane. Elon Musk might be paving it.

Ron DeSantis has found a lane. Now he has to find out if its wide enough to drive a winning campaign through.

With Donald Trump holding a lock on the populist right, and the remnants of the GOP establishment split between several low-polling alternatives, Ron DeSantis is casting in his lot with a third group: very online, anti-woke Silicon Valley moguls.

DeSantis decision to announce his presidential run on Twitter Spaces, scheduled for Wednesday evening with Elon Musk and the outspoken venture capitalist David Sacks, represents an embrace of a strain of right-leaning, anti-establishment politics that has gained currency in recent years among the tech set in the Bay Area, Austin and Miami.

This particular strain  defined by libertarian frustration with everything from federal agencies to progressive prosecutors to American foreign policy  was incubated during the pandemic era on the voice-chat platform Clubhouse, on Sacks influential podcast, All In, and, above all, on Twitter.

It shared with DeSantis brand of confrontational politics a set of common antagonists, including the woke mind virus, as Musk once termed surging progressivism  as well as mainstream media outlets, which DeSantis is notably snubbing in his online campaign rollout.

Musk himself has increasingly dabbled in conservative politics: Though calling himself an independent, he advocated for a Republican Congress in the last election and has made friendly visits to GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In recent months, Sacks and Musk have both expressed public support for DeSantis, while the governor and the entrepreneurs quietly courted each other behind the scenes.



By announcing his run with the two moguls on Twitter Spaces, DeSantis is betting that his ultra-wealthy supporters will be useful not just for writing checks, but for framing his campaign for public consumption.

One prominent DeSantis supporter though, expressed doubt that their brand of neo-libertarian politics will appeal to enough Republican voters to dislodge Trump.

Veteran Republican Ed Rollins, a senior political strategist at Ready for Ron, an unauthorized PAC devoted to drafting DeSantis, questioned the decision. Is it going to be his issue or is it going to be the Twitter show? Rollins asked. Youve got to win Iowa. Youve got to win New Hampshire, and thats where you should spend a lot of time.

Rollins, who said his priority is defeating Donald Trump, said he was already souring on DeSantis. I think the campaign has not been effective, Rollins said.

It's a big coup for Twitter and Elon, but I'm not sure it's the smartest choice for the DeSantis campaign, said Nu Wexler, a former congressional aide and veteran of Google and Facebook who now works in public relations, and is a close observer of tech-world politics. It's an extremely online candidate talking to an extremely online host, likely about niche issues that will be lost on voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

While Musk is the bigger name, Sacks has become the more hands-on political player in recent years, engaging with a mish-mash of candidates that includes Rep. Ro Khanna, the tech-friendly Silicon Valley Democrat, and Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a guest earlier this month on Sacks podcast.

Like Musk, Sacks worked at PayPal with Peter Thiel, and donated to the Senate campaigns of the Palantir founders Republican acolytes, J.D. Vance and Blake Masters.

In addition to meetings with DeSantis, he has been quietly building out a political operation that includes the formation last summer of a dark money nonprofit, Purple Action Inc., according to Pucks Teddy Schleifer.

He has also become a bellwether of sorts for a class of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who were once cozy with the Obama-era Democratic Party, but who have drifted rightward and away from the East Coast establishment in recent years.

A fourth member of the PayPal Mafia, investor Keith Rabois, has also been vocal in his support of DeSantis. Rabois, who is married to a man, recently praised the Florida governors controversial Dont Say Gay law on Twitter.

Since his takeover of the platform last fall, Musks anti-woke rhetoric has alienated many users, some of whom have migrated to Mastodon, a Twitter alternative. In covering the campaign launch news, a Vanity Fair headline compared Musk to the notorious white nationalist David Duke.

But Musks public standing remains stronger than that of any other public figure, according to one recent survey.

A Harvard/Harris poll of registered voters conducted last week found that Musk has the highest net favorability rating of the 22 public figures assessed, 14 points above water. DeSantis was tied with Republican primary rival Nikki Haley for second, with a net favorability of eight points. Trump was one point underwater, and President Joe Biden 10 points underwater, in the poll.

And the rollout serves at least one shared interest of both DeSantis and the Silicon Valley libertarians: bypassing mainstream media.

DeSantis has made a point of snubbing mainstream outlets. And Twitter, in recent weeks, has sought to position itself as a platform where right-leaning users can consume media content directly.

Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson said earlier this month that he would take his show to Twitter after being fired by Fox News, but further details have not been forthcoming, and Carlson reportedly remains embroiled in negotiations with his former network. On Tuesday, the Daily Wire, a conservative outlet, announced it would begin streaming its most popular shows on Twitter, citing its hands-off approach to content moderation.

Whether or not the launch format serves DeSantis with Republican primary voters, it is already playing well with Silicon Valley libertarians on Twitter.

The media landscape has changed, tweeted investor Jason Calacanis, a co-host of Sacks podcast, in response to the announcement plans. CNN or Fox would drive 1-3m viewers, Twitter will probably drive a multiple of that.
Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos Posted by Taquain Dedmon

A Texas community preparing for Juneteenth has been rattled by hanging effigies and a burnt rodeo arena that have been viewed as possible acts of racial intimidation.

Now, organizers of Dekalbs annual Juneteenth event are trying to figure out how to move forward ahead of the national holiday meant to celebrate African American emancipation.

We cant tolerate this in this day and time right now, Dekalb Juneteenth organizer Marvin Gray told The Daily Beast. Somethings gotta be done about it.

The Dekalb Fire Department was called to a rodeo arena in the early hours of Tuesday for a fire that took a few hours to put out and demolished a 50 year-old wooden concession stand, Fire Chief Robbie Barrett said.

Dekalb Mayor Lowell Walker said in an interview with The Daily Beast that, hours after the fire was put out, two effigies were found hanging under the arenas announcer stand. He said hes unsure of who discovered the effigies, but the public works director contacted him about it, and then Walker said he immediately called the FBI about a possible hate crime.

We're an inclusive community, Walker said. I mean, [we] got knuckleheads out there. When they do stuff, we just got to catch them and punish them.

From there, the Dekalb police chief reached out to the Texas Rangers and the fire chief contacted the state fire marshals office, Walker said.

Juneteenth Isnt for Everyone (and It Shouldnt Be)

Were diligently working on the investigation to try to discover who did this, Walker told The Daily Beast. And once we find them, if it is a hate crime, Id like to see them prosecuted federally, to the fullest extent of the law.

He added that a state fire marshal was planning to inspect the fire damage at the arena as early as Wednesday.

A representative with the Dekalb Police Department told The Daily Beast the officer on the case was not allowed to give out more more information regarding the investigation.

In photos of the arena posted on Facebook, effigies are seen hanging by thin ropes from the roof of a wooden stand. The figures had been fashioned to seemingly look like people, with heads and dark coloring. The ropes were tied around the makeshift heads. Another image shows a stand that had been destroyed by fire.

Head on swivel and on high alert come this Juneteenth, one Dekalb resident posted on Facebook. This was a clear message to all #Blacks that live in the community.

Gray, a lifelong Dekalb resident, said he was surprised by the incident, and the figures and fire are really affecting the community.

It's really terrible. And the most important thing is to keep everybody calm right now, he said. Its hard.

The Juneteenth celebration, originally slated for June 17, is usually held at Dekalb City Park before it moves to the arena, Gray said. Posters of the event advertised a parade, food, and softball tournaments.

Forget the Fourth of JulyIts Time to Celebrate Juneteenth

Gray, who has been part of this years planning committee, said he had been going to the annual celebrations since he was a child.

However, the fire and effigies has changed the emotional trajectory of the upcoming event, he said.

Its affecting our Dekalb community really bad, Gray said. Were going to move forward. We just got to get everything situated.

Nonetheless, he said he believed everything would work out for the celebration and overall for the community.

[Juneteenth] is one of the biggest things in the year for us, Gray said. I have faith that justice will be done in this situation.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Eagle Mountain, California, a ghost town situated about 90 minutes from Palm Springs, just landed a new owner.

According to documents obtained by SFGATE, a mystery buyer purchased the desert town for $22.5 million on April 17. All that was listed about the buyer was something called Ecology Mountain Holdings, an LLC with nothing but a Cerritos, California business address. The seller was an Ontario, California company called Eagle Mountain Acquisition LLC. An anonymous employee of the towns former owner told the outlet that a for sale sign at Eagle Mountains entrance promised rock products and minerals to lure potential buyers.

More from Robb Report

The remains of the town include a few hundred abandoned structures that were former homes, businesses, and community centers. Hollywood has filmed several movies at Eagle Mountain including in a scene for Christopher Nolans Tenet which featured mechanical wreckage.

Eagle Mountain was formerly a company town for Kaiser Steel where about 4,000 residents lived just outside of Joshua Tree Nation Park. Most of the inhabitants worked for the mine in search of iron ore. It eventually shuttered in 1981 when Kaiser Steel Corporations board of directors announced it would begin phasing out the mine, which evicted the entire population in 1983. At the time The New York Times chronicled how the 23 seniors from the high school were forced to abandoned Eagle Mountain right after graduating.

After Kaiser Steel left, a low-security prison called the Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility opened in 1988 which housed 438 inmates serving time for parole violations and other nonviolent offenses. But in October 2003, a riot broke out between inmates where two men were killed and eight other were later charged with murder. That caused the prison to be shuttered.

Indeed, the ghost town in the California desert has continued to attract attention since its untimely end, and now the new buyer will leave another chapter in its more than 70-year history.

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Click here to read the full article.
Nail spa bans staff from speaking Vietnamese in front of customers, docks up to $100 from pay

[Source]

An unidentified nail spa has sparked outrage on Instagram for banning its technicians from speaking Vietnamese in front of customers.

A copy of the agreement posted by user @supdawk claims that the language policy resulted from recent complaints by guests. Per the new rules, speaking Vietnamese is disrespectful and impolite as it makes customers think that staff are talking about them.

The agreement suggests that the business name is Spa Concepts, but this information has not been verified.

Speaking Vietnamese is not allowed with each other when guests are around, the policy states. Speak English only.

More from NextShark: Vietnamese blogger jailed over government criticism warns family of 'something bad' before call is cut off

The agreement goes on to indicate corresponding penalties for various infractions.

For starters, speaking Vietnamese in front of a customer will automatically trigger a $25 salary deduction. A violation that leads to a customer complaining to management will further result in a $50 pay dock.

The largest deduction of $100 will incur if a guest leaves a bad review. Additionally, the technician will not be paid for the work they performed on that guest.

More from NextShark: NBA Star, Utah Community Help Give Filipino Food Truck Vandalized With Racist Graffiti a Makeover

User @supdawk credited the image of the agreement to user @j.seph_to.

As of this writing, the agreement has drawn hundreds of angry comments from users, with many declaring that such a policy must be illegal.

Completely illegal. No excuses, wrote Ryan Stygar, a lawyer and influencer with over a million followers on TikTok. Breaks about a dozen federal laws right off the top of my head. Please report this employer immediately.

More from NextShark: Japanese Rockstar Yoshiki Donates $90,000 to Meals on Wheels for the Elderly in LA

Hate crime and violations to First Amendment, another Instagram user commented. This place needs to go out of business!

The business owners who implemented this policy need to get a backbone and tell customers who complain to take their business somewhere else, one wrote. Losing a customer who pays you $80 for nails is better than losing a tech who generates much more than that each day.

Damn thats f*cked up. They also signed where I [sic] says name so you know they dont know how to speak English, another user pointed out. Its just gonna be quiet AF at work.

More from NextShark: K-Pop Called Out for 'Slave-Like Exploitation' By North Korea

I don't speak Vietnamese that well but I'll be damned if I can't speak it anytime I want, another noted. I will Duolingo Viet so fast just so I can talk trash about this policy.
NASA. Illustrated | Gettyimages

NASA has a lot in the works, from taking amazing pictures of space to putting humans on the moon and Mars.

Artemis mission

Perhaps the mission with the most publicity, NASA's Artemis mission aims to put people back on the moon and "establish the first long-term presence." The project has bipartisan support, as it was created during the Trump administration and reaffirmed during the Biden administration, according to Ars Technica.

The mission is ongoing and takes place in phases. Artemis I took place in November 2022 to "demonstrate Orion's systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe reentry, descent, splashdown and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II." The phase tested the safety of NASA's Space Launch System rocket using mannequins in preparation for phase II.

Artemis II is expected to occur no later than November 2024, according to Space.com. The phase will last approximately 10 days when "four astronauts will fly around the Moon to test NASA's foundational human deep space exploration capabilities, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, for the first time with crew." NASA announced the astronauts who will be taking part in the mission, and they have begun training. The crew includes American astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. "We're building a robust training plan for the crew to ensure they're ready for every aspect of this first mission to the Moon under Artemis on our newest spacecraft and rocket," said Jacki Mahaffey, the lead training officer for the Artemis II crew, in a statement.

The next phase of the mission is Artemis III, which "will mark humanity's first return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years" and "make history by sending the first humans to explore the region near the lunar South Pole." This phase is scheduled to take place in 2025. Elon Musk's SpaceX will collaborate on the mission to create the landing system on the moon. Researchers are also eyeing landing locations on the moon, some of which contain water ice, that could be of use on future missions.

NASA has also hinted at an Artemis IV, which is expected to take place in 2027. The goal is to "land on the moon while continuing to build out a supporting NASA-led lunar station called Gateway," according to Mark Kirasich, the deputy associate administrator for Artemis campaign development. "While maintaining American leadership in exploration, we will build a global alliance and explore deep space for the benefit of all," stated NASA.

On to Mars

NASA wants to use the outcomes of the Artemis mission to push humanity to Mars. The space agency is starting with a simulated mission known as the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), in which four people will live in a simulated Mars-like environment for a year to test the extent to which research can be done, as well as whether people could live and work there. The first simulation will begin in June 2023, and the last one will take place in 2026, per CNN.

The simulation was created in hopes of filling Strategic Knowledge Gaps, which are "gaps in knowledge or information required to reduce risk, increase effectiveness and improve the design of robotic and human space exploration missions." In this case, there are four main SKGs that make traveling to Mars a high risk: radiation, an eyeball swelling condition that occurs when people spend too much time in low-gravity situations, crew cooperation, and food and nutrition, reported CNN. "Those are risks that in my mind represent things that, if we had a vehicle on the launchpad today to go to Mars, we would advise against the trip," Scott Smith, a co-investigator for CHAPEA, told CNN.

While those preparations are in the works, NASA's Perseverance rover has been making discoveries as well. Scientists have been on the search for signs of ancient life on Mars. The rover's new images "show signs of what was once a rollicking river on Mars," and it seems "deeper and faster-moving than scientists have ever seen evidence for in the past," stated NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Scientists had previously found curving lines on Mars' surface but have only been able to get a closer look thanks the Perseverance.

"These layers are anomalously tall for rivers on Earth," said Libby Ives, a postdoctoral researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "But at the same time, the most common way to create these kinds of landforms would be a river." She added, "It's been a delight to look at rocks on another planet and see processes that are so familiar."

James Webb Telescope

Aside from sending humans to space, NASA has consistently been pushing the boundaries of deep space exploration, namely through the James Webb Telescope. Since its launch at the end of 2021, the telescope has provided breathtaking images of space. The telescope was made to "reveal the hidden universe to our eyes: stars shrouded in clouds of dust, water in the atmospheres of other worlds, and the first light from the earliest galaxies ever formed."

From its first images, the telescope showed "a view the world has never seen before," according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The telescope produces the sharpest infrared images to date, giving us color images of galaxies, as well as regions where stars are formed, such as the Pillars of Creation. "These images, including the deepest infrared view of our universe that has ever been taken, show us how Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don't even yet know to ask."

Along with photos, the telescope has made discoveries. Most recently, Webb's technology discovered water vapor surrounding a comet, but surprisingly there was no carbon dioxide found, as detailed in a study published in the journal Nature. This is a breakthrough in the search for why Earth has water, something scientists are trying to learn using the telescope. "Understanding the history of water distribution in the solar system will help us to understand other planetary systems and if they could be on their way to hosting an Earth-like planet," explained Stefanie Milam, the co-author of the study. Michael Kelley, the lead author, added that the observations "can now demonstrate that water ice from the early solar system can be preserved in the asteroid belt."

"Now that Webb has confirmed there is water preserved as close as the asteroid belt, it would be fascinating to follow up on this discovery with a sample collection mission," remarked Milam.

Tracking climate changes

NASA's work isn't limited to space. The agency does valuable work for Earth as well, especially in regard to tracking climate change. NASA has an Earth-observing satellite with the ability to track carbon dioxide emissions and removal by country. The pilot project was an international effort that included 60 scientists, and findings were published March 2023 in the journal Earth System Science Data. Tracking carbon emissions was not the initial goal of the satellite, but it provided a unique opportunity. "NASA is focused on delivering Earth science data that addresses real-world climate challenges," said Karen St. Germain, the director of NASA's Earth Science Division.

Another of NASA's satellites has also detected early signs of El Nino, a natural phenomenon that's expected to skyrocket global temperatures. "When we measure sea level from space using satellite altimeters, we know not only the shape and height of water but also its movement, like Kelvin and other waves," explained Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, a NASA program scientist. NASA scientists are also concerned about sand and dust storms, which are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change.

"While its role is not to set climate policy or prescribe particular responses or solutions to climate change, its job does include providing the scientific data needed to understand climate change." NASA wrote on climate tracking.

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Bubba Wallace looks on prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Darlington Raceway, Sunday, May 14, 2023, in Darlington, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)  NASCAR has opened an investigation into how a derogatory message was broadcast on the radio channel of Bubba Wallaces race team during last weekend's All-Star race.

Wallace, NASCAR's only Black driver in the Cup series, had just finished Sunday's race at North Wilkesboro Speedway when a person not on the 23XI Racing team said over the radio, Go back to where you came from and then added another non-racial expletive.

NASCAR spokesman Mike Forde said Wednesday the series immediately had its security and racing electronic teams look into the hack. He said Wallace did not hear the remark.

Forde said NASCAR is trying to determine who cracked Wallace's radio communications and how it was done, as well the best method toward preventing it from happening in the future.

Forde said the investigation was ongoing and would have happened no matter the nature of the comment.

We certainly take that seriously, no doubt about that, he said. But we can't have fans interfering with team radio and potential competition implications.

Wallace's 23XI Racing team said Thursday it was in contact with NASCAR and feels confident with their handling of the situation.

NASCAR had already said earlier this week there were no plans to penalize Wallace after he appeared to make an obscene gesture on camera before a live interview with Fox Sports.

Wallace, who is from Alabama, in 2020 successfully called on NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its events.

He has not been shy in using his platform, but its come with detractors and scrutiny, including a noose found in his Talladega Superspeedway garage stall after his call for the banning of the Confederate flag.

The FBI ruled the garage pull was indeed fashioned as a noose but that it was a coincidence it was in Wallaces stall, and he was not the victim of a hate crime.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
As National Boating Week kicks off, first responders agencies offer tips on how to stay safe

National Safe Boating Week is a weeklong training course for The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office and a lot more agencies in Northeast Florida.

For the rest of this week from around 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. those first responder agencies will be working on rescue boats in the St. Johns River practicing search and rescue efforts and boating safety exercises like how to save a sinking vessel.

U.S. Coast Guard Mayport Station says in the unfortunate situation that a vessel does begin to sink - rescue boats have a barrel called a P6 D watering pump. Essentially it will pump the water out of a boat to keep the vessel afloat.

We have multiple agencies here, says Lt. McAlee

Read: Sheriff Waters hosting discussions tonight on stopping violence against law enforcement

Lieutenant Jeremy McAlee with Nassau County Fire Rescue says the importance of knowing how to be safe on the water can mean the difference between life and death.

Making sure you have your safety equipment for your vessel. Your life vest, a working VHF radio, your signaling device such as a whistle, Lt. McAlee said.

Thats why for National Safe Boating Week Lieutenant McAlee and first responders from Nassau County Sherriffs Department and JSO have come to U.S. Coast Guard Station Mayport for a multi-agency training.

Other agencies included St. Augustine Fire Department, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, U.S. Space Force Crews and St. Johns Country Sheriffs Department.

Vincent Moreno with the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District Public Affairs Detachment in Jacksonville says all agencies will watch a virtual course called Boat Operator for Search and Rescue. Thats before getting out on the St. Johns River to practice rescuing someone in distress from the water.

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What this training is going to do is help all the agencies to work at the same level and communication with the coast guard so that whenever there is a search and rescue case all agencies can work together faster, Moreno said.

A part of learning how to save someone who is in distress includes working with Oscar. Hes a dummy that helps first responders feel the realistic weight of a person whose drowning. Oscar weighs 200 pounds but once he gets in the water, he will feel like 250 pounds.

First responders will also get the opportunity to work with U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Savannah. Its a helicopter that first responders call helo used to help locate missing swimmers off of our coastline.

Read: Local Boy Scouts troop in need of help after two of their trailers were stolen

The closest rescue helicopters that Jacksonville has are that of Savannah, Georgia, and Clearwater and Miami, Florida according to Moreno.

Collectively all of these agencies would like for you to be extra careful if you are going on the water this week for Memorial Day weekend. JSOs Marine Unit asks that you not only watch out for yourself but potential nearby manatees as well. An officer in the unit says a lot of manatees have been washed away from their homes as a result of the 2022 hurricane season.

If you have any questions or see any manatees alive, injured or deceased JSOs Marine Unit ask that you call (904)-256-7575 or (888)-404-3922.

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Editors note: The writer is a retired UNC System vice president who recently helped form the Friends of Public Education Steering Committee. Seven other committee members signed on to this op-ed.



The North Carolina General Assembly is proposing to divert millions of taxpayer dollars, in an arguably unconstitutional manner, away from the public schools and into the hands of private and parochial schools with none of the transparency and accountability required of the public schools.

We are a group of mostly retired educators from across North Carolina who have come together in recent weeks out of alarm over what the legislature is proposing to do.

Senate Bill 406 and House Bill 823 will use tax dollars to support Opportunity Scholarships for the private education of children, not just from low-wealth families, but for the first time, to wealthy families and those already enrolled in private schools. Senate Bill 406 would provide over $2.2 billion of taxpayer money for private school vouchers over the next 10 years.

Egregiously, the N.C. General Assembly is allowing these private and religious schools to discriminate against the children of the state based on religious beliefs and the personal characteristics of voucher applicants. Private and parochial schools can pick and choose students who align with their beliefs and reject others. The public schools are open to all regardless of race, creed, color, sexual orientation and religious or political beliefs.

Charles R. Coble

It was the genius of the 1868 N.C. Constitution which, in Article 9, made clear that a responsibility of state government was to provide for a free public education for all the children of the state, including children who were historically denied that opportunity due to race, religion or financial resources. The state constitution did not include provisions for financing private and religious education with public tax dollars.

North Carolinas Republican and Democrat governors and enlightened leaders of the General Assembly have long championed, if not always well-financed, public education in North Carolina. Rather than divert millions of our tax dollars to unaccountable private and often discriminatory schools, the General Assembly should address the unmet needs of the public schools (mostly rural) across North Carolina, as documented in the long-standing Leandro case.

Embarrassingly, North Carolina now ranks 50th in school funding effort and 48th in overall funding level according to the most recent Making the Grade report by the Education Law Center. Beginning teacher pay in North Carolina is now below every state in the Southeast, except West Virginia.

North Carolina is now nearly $12,000 below the national average for teacher pay. Mississippians can now say, Thank God for NC.

The ideology driving these twin bills is intended to degrade public education. They shift the scales of responsibility from doing what is best for the common good of the people of North Carolina to a self-serving whats in it for me  at taxpayer expense.

The great majority of North Carolinians love and support their local public schools and teachers. They also know that a well-educated, civically engaged public is key to creating and sustaining a flourishing state in which to live.

We understand what our nations Founding Fathers understood, that public education is essential to maintaining a democracy. The diversion of public money to private and religious education not only undermines our public schools, but it also undermines our free and democratic society.

We urge the N.C. General Assembly to reject SB 406 and HB 823.

Charles R. Coble is a former vice president for the UNC System and D ean of the School of Education at East Carolina University. He lives in Chapel Hill. Members of the Friends of Public Education Steering Committee who signed on to this op-ed include Larry Coble, Janice Davis, Nancy Farmer, Bill Harrison, Dick Jones, Larry Mabe and Michael D. Priddy.
U.S. House leadership has called on a North Carolina Republican to help with debt ceiling negotiations as the country spirals toward a potential breach of its debt payments that would result in cataclysmic consequences.

Theres economic consequences, theres global consequences, and Im not interested in default, which is a key reason why Im in the room, Rep. Patrick McHenry told McClatchy Tuesday night. I want to make sure we achieve the results necessary for this bill to pass Congress and avoid economic calamity.

McHenry  a Republican from Lincoln County who often keeps a low profile  has risen to national prominence this week as one of House Speaker Kevin McCarthys chief negotiators in debt ceiling conversations with President Joe Biden and his staff. During some of McCarthys reporter updates, McHenry has been seen not far behind him.

In January, the United States spending reached its $31.4 trillion debt limit, a figure set by Congress. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that if Congress did not raise the debt ceiling or curb spending by around June 1, the country would default on its debts.

Experts say defaulting on the countrys debts could mean job loss; federal employees not being paid; halted Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements; a hesitancy for banks to issues loans; a stock market collapse and a recession.

Its a terrible outcome, McHenry said.

Rep. Patrick McHenry stands outside the House Speakers office during debt ceiling negotiations at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

House Republicans passed a bill last month that would raise the debt ceiling, but it would undo many of Bidens major policy wins. The Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow majority, has not picked up the bill and left on its Memorial Day recess last week. Senators are not set to return until May 30.

Thats left McCarthy negotiating with Biden for a compromise that McCarthy can get through Congress and to the presidents desk to be signed into law before the country defaults.

But on Wednesday afternoon, members of the House were told they could leave Washington Thursday following the morning votes, and would be given 24-hour notice if they needed to return to deal with the debt ceiling during their own weeklong vacation for Memorial Day. Senators are also on a 24-hour standby to return.

Its assumed that McHenry, Graves and McCarthy, who spent hours at the White House Wednesday, will remain focused on negotiations throughout the weekend.

How McHenry got here

Many believed McHenry would become the face of the debt ceiling issue due to his work as chairman of the House Financial Services committee. But the original bill skipped over committees and went straight to the floor, leaving the public largely in the dark about how the bill came to be. Only this week did it come out that McHenry and Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican from Louisiana, were leading negotiations from the McCarthy camp.

Im a longtime friend and supporter of the speakers and from time-to-time he asks me to come in and do work on his behalf, McHenry said. He asked me to be part of the negotiating team and I cant say no because I want to see this through. This is not my choice and my decision, but I found myself in this position and I want to get the best outcomes possible.

McHenry said he did something similar in January when he and Graves worked with other lawmakers to help McCarthy win his speakership. He added that McCarthy occasionally pulls from that same group of lawmakers to help when other issues arise.

This is one of those circumstances, McHenry said. I have been helpful and Ive been constructive in this.

McCarthy, McHenry and Graves have spent long nights at the Capitol trying to negotiate with Bidens team to figure out where they can make adjustments to get the bill passed.

I think the fact that the speaker asked Patrick McHenry to be in the room shows his confidence in him, said Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from Southern Pines and chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. I think hes become a very trusted member of the Republican conference, and I think thats good for North Carolina.

Rep. Jeff Jackson, a Democrat from Charlotte, said hes also glad to see McHenry at the negotiating table.

I watched how he conducted himself during the mini financial crisis that we had a couple of months ago, and thought his behavior was smart and responsible, Jackson said, referencing the countrys first major bank collapse since 2008.

McHenry said Tuesday that hes frustrated by how long Biden waited to come to the negotiating table  97 days, he counted.

Weve lost key time, McHenry said. That means that we have needless drama that has real consequences for real people and that was a horrible mistake and the president and his team and the Senate House Democratic leadership advised him quite poorly.

He added that he is working in good faith to find a compromise before a default happens.
Netflix denies each and every claim in KY mans lawsuit accusing them of defamation

Netflix is denying each and every claim made by a Kentucky man who alleges the streaming service made him look dangerous by putting his picture in a true-crime documentary.

Taylor Hazlewood, a 27-year-old respiratory therapist who lives in Kentucky, filed the suit against Netflix in a Texas court, alleging defamation after they used a personal picture of him holding a hatchet in a 2023 documentary titled The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, according to his lawsuit.

An Instagram picture of Hazlewood is shown in the documentary with audio that says stone-cold killer, with text captions which say you can never trust anyone, according to the lawsuit. Hazlewoods image is shown alongside pictures of Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, a hitchhiker made infamous after he was convicted of the murder of Joseph Galfy  who the film centers around.

However, in an answer to the lawsuit filed earlier this month, Netflix denies all of Hazlewoods claims, and is requesting the lawsuit be dismissed on grounds of improper jurisdiction.

The suit was filed in a Dallas County District Court, which Hazlewood argued was proper due to the amount of controversy within Texas, according to court documents.

After asking the lawsuit to be dismissed, Netflix moved it to a federal court, court records show.

The court has jurisdiction over this case because the amount of controversy is within the courts jurisdictional limits, and Netflixs wrongful conduct occurred in all 50 states, Hazlewoods lawsuit states.

After the documentarys release, Hazlewood alleges he received dozens of texts from friends, former employers and family who alerted him to his picture was being used. He received these texts from residents in Kentucky, California, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Tennessee, Indiana and Hawaii, according to court documents.

Netflix claims there is no connection to Texas, aside from the fact the documentary can be viewed in all 50 states. Netflix is a Delaware corporation, and is based in California.

Texas is therefore an improper forum, and the case should be dismissed, lawyers for the streaming service wrote in their response.

Hazlewood is seeking $1 million in damages for defamation and misappropriation of likeness or right of publicity.

The harm that Netflix caused to Hazlewood has been extraordinary, Hazlewoods lawsuit reads. The film has been viewed by tens of thousands of people, and as a result of Netflixs false portrayal of him as, dangerous, as a murderer, and/or as an untrustworthy person, he has been subjected to personal distress, anguish and reputational harm.

The story behind Hazlewoods picture

Hazlewood has zero connection to McGillvary or his crimes, but was depicted alongside the man convicted of murder twice in the show, according to the lawsuit.

Hazlewood took the picture with the hatchet in June 2019 while spending time with a friend, according to court documents. He saw the hatchet, which reminded him of his favorite childhood book, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, according to the lawsuit.

He decided to take a picture and post it to his personal social media.

Without any reason, other than pure recklessness, Netflix misappropriated the Hazlewood photograph and used it in two separate parts of the film, the lawsuit said.

Who is Caleb McGillvary?

McGillvary, also known as Kai the Hitchhiker, became famous after an interview with a Fresno, California, TV outlet describing an attack against a man with a hatchet in February 2013.

In the interview, McGillvary said he was riding in the passenger seat of someone elses vehicle when the driver hit a pedestrian and pinned the pedestrian against a truck.

When a bystander tried to help, the driver attacked her, according to McGillvarys original interview with KMPH FOX26 News. McGillvary said he attacked the driver with a hatchet to save the bystander, according to the interview, which features explicit language.

That same year, McGillvary was arrested on murder charges in relation to the death of 73-year-old Joseph Galfy, a New Jersey attorney. He claimed he killed Galfy in self-defense because Galfy drugged and raped him after he offered him a place to stay.

McGillvary was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2019, and is currently serving 57 years in prison, according to the Fresno Bee.

Despite being the main character of the Netflix documentary, McGillvary is also suing the company. He alleges they are ruthlessly exploiting a heros life story for money, according to the Fresno Bee.

Netflix is named as one of dozens of defendants who McGillvary claims stole intellectual property, interfered with business dealings and stripped him of his heroic title for their own selfish gain.
New on Netflix June 2023: Black Mirror, Never Have I Ever, and More

Photo Illustration by Luis Rendon/Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Netflix

Netflix is amping up the horrors this June, with a handful of new titles to scare you senseless. In dystopian worlds, society grapples with the ever-present buzz of technological devices that ruin everything. A mercenary returns for another deadly mission through the dark underground world. And a teenage girl faces everyones worst nightmare: crushes.

Okay, so maybe that last one int as bad as the other two. But in Never Have I Ever, Devi (Maitreyi Ramarkrishnan) has been terrorized over the course of her high school career, from breaking up with boys to dealing with mean girls and losing her father. Mindy Kalings comedy series returns for its fourth and final season on June 8. Were not ready to say goodbye to all these wonderful, tragic love triangles!

Then, on June 16, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) returns for Netflixs buzzy Extraction 2. The Russo Brothers, who are known for their work with Marvel on the Avengers series, return to produce the action thriller. This time, Tyler sets off on a quest to rescue a gangsters family from grave danger.

Black Mirror also returns for its sixth season this month. Though we wont spoil any of the specific plotstheyre just so fun and twisty to watch with no information from the internetthe cast list teases an amazing season ahead. Folks like Michael Cera, Salma Hayek Pinault, Annie Murphy, Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, and Myhala Herrold appear in Season 6.

Looking for more to stream this June? Netflix has all the above and morecheck out the full offering below.

Netflix

June 1

THE DAYS

A Beautiful Life

LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising

The Angry Birds Movie

The Breakfast Club

Bruce Almighty

The Choice

Dear John

Death at a Funeral

Dune (1984)

End of Days

Forever My Girl

Funny People

Groundhog Day

Hook

How High

The Italian Job

Jarhead

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

Kicking & Screaming

The Kingdom

Magic Mike

Mean Girls

The Mick: Seasons 1-2

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Muster Dogs

Nanny McPhee

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

The Ring

Spider-Man

Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 3

Stuart Little

Stuart Little 2

Surf's Up

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

To Leslie

We're the Millers

June 2

Manifest: Season 4 Part 2

Missed Connections

Rich in Love 2

Scoop

Valeria: Season 3

June 5

Barracuda Queens

Ben 10: Seasons 1-4

Living

June 6

My Little Pony: Make Your Mark: Chapter 4

June 7

Arnold

Love is Blind: Brazil: Season 3

Netflix

June 8

Never Have I Ever: Season 4

Tour de France: Unchained

June 9

A Lot Like Love

Bloodhounds

Human Resources: Season 2

The Playing Card Killer

Tex Mex Motors

The World Can't Tear Me Down

The Wonder Weeks

You Do You

June 12

Dunkirk

Tom and Jerry Tales: Season 1-2

June 13

Amy Schumer: Emergency Contact

June 14

Forged in Fire: Season 8

Married at First Sight: Season 13

Our Planet II

The Surrogacy

June 15

Cold Case Files: Season 2

Netflix

June 16

Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King

Extraction 2

June 17

Grey's Anatomy Season 19

King the Land

See You in My 19th Life

Suits: Seasons 1-8

June 19

My Little Pony: The Movie

Not Quite Narwhal

Take Care of Maya

June 20

85 South: Ghetto Legends

June 21

Break Point: Part 2

The UnXplained with William Shatner: Season 2

June 22

Devil's Advocate

Glamorous

Let's Get Divorced

Skull Island

Sleeping Dog

June 23

Catching Killers: Season 3

iNumber Number: Jozi Gold

King of Clones

Make Me Believe

On the Line: The Richard Williams Story

The Perfect Find

Pokemon Ultimate Journeys: The Series Part 3

Through My Window: Across the Sea

June 26

The Imitation Game

June 28

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate

Hoarders: Season 13

Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators

Run Rabbit Run

June 29

Ooku: The Inner Chambers

The Witcher: Season 3 Volume 1

June 30

Alone: Season 9

Is It Cake, Too?!

Nimona

Tayo The Little Bus: Season 5

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A House hearing this week highlighted the fight between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his suburban counterparts over where to house thousands of migrants arriving from the border.

A House Judiciary Committee hearing held Tuesday on migrants seeking entry into the United States through Mexico featured an unlikely witness: Teresa Kenny, the supervisor of Orangetown, N.Y.

A suburb of New York City, Orangetown is nowhere near the border where thousands of mostly South and Central American migrants gather each day to find their way into a country that was the end point of long and perilous journeys.

But as New York City Mayor Eric Adams has struggled to house the hundreds of migrants regularly being bused to his city from Texas, he has been forced to look at smaller communities north of the city for help.

In early May, Adams informed Kenny that he planned to house more than 300 migrants at the Armoni Inn & Suites, near Orangetowns main strip.

Kenny promptly filed a restraining order against Adams and the hotel has become the latest symbol of immigration divide, as Politico put it.

The standoff between Adams, a Democrat, and Kenny, a Republican, is indicative of the broader impasse over immigration, which was on display during Tuesdays hearing.

How to fix our outdated immigration system (Deseret News) >>>

Orangetown supervisor blames New York City mayor

From left, Mark Hetfield, president and CEO, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Rodney Scott, retired chief, U.S. Border Patrol; and Teresa Kenny, city supervisor, Orangetown, N.Y., are sworn in before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

The problem with Mr Adamss plan is that he doesnt have one, Kenny said at Tuesdays hearing. It was a harsh verdict, but even Adams might agree.

This is not sustainable for us, Adams recently admitted.

By sending bus loads of migrants to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has nationalized the border crisis, which he and other Republicans argue has been exacerbated by President Bidens refusal to build a Trump-style barrier or prioritize security.

Mayor Eric Adams never thought the border crisis would make it to New York City, Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, said.

Tuesdays hearing comes just days after the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era measure that allowed for quick expulsion of migrants caught crossing the border illegally. Some expected the statutes termination to cause a surge, which has in fact materialized  if only because many migrants appear to have tried to cross the border in the days before Title 42 expired.

The number of monthly border crossings today is much higher than it was in 2020. Democrats say that instability in Venezuela, Haiti and other nations is causing unprecedented demographic shifts.

Republicans disagree. They argue that since Democratic mayors have declared their cities as sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, it is only fitting that they shelter the thousands making their way across border checkpoints in Texas and Arizona.

Adams was caught off guard by Abbotts busing plan, which the governor enacted last spring without any coordination. The cynicism of the ploy was laid bare when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida fooled migrants from Venezuela into boarding a flight to the wealthy, liberal enclave of Marthas Vineyard.

Scrambling for a solution, Adams and his administration have tried to house migrants in hotels and school gyms, only to encounter resistance from locals  and complaints from immigrant advocates.

The plan to place migrants in New Yorks suburbs reflects nothing more than Adamss increasing desperation. But there is little sense that Kenny and other small-town mayors are interested in helping.

Migrant crisis has destroyed NYC, Mayor Adams claims ahead of meeting with top Biden aide (New York Daily News) >>>

Adams blames Biden

New York City Mayor Eric Adams. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

When he was first elected New Yorks mayor, Adams touted his kinship with Biden, even inspiring some presidential speculation of his own. But the migrant crisis has put a strain on Adamss relationship with Biden, whom he charged with not doing enough to help.

Im extremely frustrated, Adams told Yahoo News in January. His frustration has only deepened since then, as has his dismay at what he says is Bidens inaction.

For months, the White House took these criticisms in stride. But two weeks ago, Adams was removed from the presidents reelection advisory board for his insistent criticisms.

Adams has continued to press his case. This should not be happening to New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, in the other big northern cities, he said in a recent television interview, and really shouldn't be happening to El Paso or Brownsville, Texas."

Cities far from U.S.-Mexico border still grapple with migrant crisis (BBC News) >>>

Biden blames Republicans

President Biden speaking in Japan on Sunday. (Kiyoshi Ota-Pool/Getty Images)

Adams is a Democrat, as are the mayors of Chicago and Washington. Their constituents  people of color, urban professionals, immigrants  form the backbone of the Democratic coalition.

Yet theres only so much the White House is willing to do to help. Administration officials point out that its parole program is working and that millions have already been devoted to help house migrants.

When it comes to the cities, we're doing everything that we can, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Yahoo News at a Tuesday press briefing. Of course, we would want to do more, but we have to have Congress to act as well.

Congressional action is unlikely.

At Tuesdays House hearing, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, invoked the memory of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who proposed a comprehensive immigration reform plan in 2005 and then again in 2014. Though supported by many Republicans, the proposal was undone by the opposition of hardline conservatives.

There has been no meaningful effort by Capitol Hill since.

Congress is absent on immigration as Biden attempts to wrangle border crisis (BBC News) >>>
Former Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake on Tuesday pledged to appeal her latest courtroom loss in her effort to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

"We're also going to continue to, not only raise funds, but energy, for our legal team to continue pushing our case to the United States Supreme Court," Lake said in a news conference outside her campaign headquarters that pivoted between grievances over 2022, looking forward to 2024, and taking on reporters in Lake's characteristic combative style.

On Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson handed Lake another defeat in her six-month effort to set aside the November election result. Lake, a former television news anchor, lost the Governor's Office to Hobbs by 17,117 votes, less than 1 percentage point.

Lake has had an unusual two trials in her election challenge, both of which she lost after she was unable to present evidence to back up her claims of official misconduct and faulty procedures.

Last week, her legal team argued in a three-day trial that Maricopa County election workers verified signatures on ballot envelopes in a matter of seconds, too quickly to pass muster as signature verification as required by law. But even Lake's own witnesses testified that signature verification was taking place, and Thompson late Monday affirmed Hobbs' win in a ruling that says nothing in the law requires a certain amount of time be spent to compare signatures.

Thompson went further, writing in his ruling that the county had proved at trial that "a comparison between voter records and signatures was conducted in every instance" over which Lake raised concern.

Lake makes false claims about case at news conference

In her news conference, Lake repeatedly made false claims that contradicted Thompson's latest ruling and that were not substantiated by two other courts  the state Court of Appeals and Arizona Supreme Court  that have considered the case. She called Hobbs a "fraud who is sitting in the Governor's Office" and alleged "criminals and crooks" operate elections.

The courts just ruled that this corrupt election will stand," Lake said. "The courts just ruled that our elections can run lawlessly. The courts have ruled that anything goes. Well, we can play by those same rules.

She also announced Tuesday a vague plan to register voters and "chase ballots," signaling a shift in her focus as her appeals continue to unfold. The former candidate said she would spend millions of dollars on that effort through her Save Arizona Fund. What her own political future holds is uncertain, and Lake repeated on Tuesday she was considering a run for U.S. Senate next year.

"I havent made up my mind on that," she told reporters.

Lake ran a campaign for the state's top office last year having no experience in politics, but buoyed by decades of on-camera experience that made her a known quantity for many Arizona voters. Her allegiance to former President Donald Trump and his election conspiracy claims proved to be her undoing in November.

County recorder: 'We have an undefeated court record'

Hours before Lake held her news conference, Maricopa County election officials led about 15 journalists on a two-hour tour of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center. It's the hub of elections in the state's largest county, where ballots are tabulated and signatures verified, and features multiple redundancies to keep voting systems safe from outside influence.

Republican Recorder Stephen Richer said forms of public education, like tours, are a line of defense against election lies.

The county is "trying to make the process as understandable as possible so that fewer people are susceptible to some of the lies that are being mentioned about this process," Richer said. "We have an undefeated court record. We'll continue to push back against any allegations that are leveled against either the Board of Supervisors or me, or all of the above."

Latest court ruling: Judge rules against Kari Lake, affirms Hobbs as AZ governor in election signature verification trial

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 to appeal Arizona judge's ruling affirming her election loss
Ex-Delaware bishop named as Catholic official who covered up clergy sex abuse in Baltimore: Report

Former Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Bishop W. Francis Malooly was one of several past high-ranking Archdiocese of Baltimore officials identified as those who helped cover up sexual abuse, according to a Baltimore Sun exclusive article published online late Thursday.

Malooly  along with the Most Revs. Richard Rick Woy, G. Michael Schleupner, J. Bruce Jarboe and George B. Moeller  helped abusive priests get away with their crimes, either concealing the extent of a priests misdeeds or striking deals with prosecutors to avoid a criminal charge, according to the Sun's article.

The five were among the most powerful, high-ranking and visible officials in the archdiocese, which comprises Baltimore and nine of Marylands 23 counties in the central and western portions of the state. Its annual directories show some served as chancellor, effectively the right hand of the late Cardinal William Keeler or the late Archbishop William Borders. Others were directors of clergy personnel, akin to a human resources manager. Other times, they were in charge of archdiocesan finances.

The Most Reverend W. Francis Malooly, D.D. delivers the invocation at Archmere Academy's graduation in Claymont on Sunday, June 6, 2021.

Malooly, who was reached at his house in Brandywine Hundred on Friday afternoon, referred comment to Christian Kendzierski, a spokesman with the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Kendzierski did not have much to say.

"Considering this topic is possibly centered around a court ordered process, I don't have anything to offer in response," he told Delaware Online/The News Journal.

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, where Malooly most recently served until 2021, could not be reached for comment by Delaware Online/The News Journal on Thursday night.

How is Bishop Malooly involved?

The incidents described by the Sun occurred before Malooly became bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington in 2008. The following year, the Wilmington diocese sought Chapter 11 protection after a flood of civil lawsuits were filed by survivors of clergy sexual abuse under provisions of Delaware's 2007 Child Victims Act.

The 2007 law opened a two-year window for child sexual abuse cases that would otherwise have been barred by the statute of limitations.

Our hope is that the Chapter 11 proceedings will enable us to fairly compensate all victims through a single process, Malooly said in 2009.

He later noted that this move would allow all victims to see compensation.

BACKGROUND: Wilmington Catholic Diocese files for bankruptcy protection

We have a finite amount of resources and it became clear we would never get through 142 complainants in any fair or equitable way, Malooly said.

The Rev. Francis Malooly, then bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, retired in 2021.

The diocese emerged from bankruptcy in 2011, paying $77.4 million into a trust fund to resolve all claims by abuse survivors and another $10 million into a pension fund for lay employees that was found to be underfunded during financial disclosures.

"The corruption in the Church over the last 60 years is beyond belief," attorney Thomas S. Neuberger said to Delaware Online/The News Journal on Thursday night after the Sun story was published. Neuberger's firm represented an overwhelming majority of victims who sued the Wilmington diocese.

"The use of Bishop Malooly is further proof that all it seeks is to protect its wealth and power," he said. "Claims that it now has procedures in place to protect children are mere window dressing. Parents are not fooled by all that and the proof is the continuing declining enrollment in church schools."

Malooly's role in the Baltimore Sun's reporting

According to the Sun's article, its reporters reviewed thousands of pages of court records, decades of archdiocese directories, and dozens of contemporary newspaper articles to piece together details that helped reveal the men's identities. People with knowledge of their conduct at the time or who are familiar with the report confirmed The Sun's reporting.

One specific case reported by the Sun involves Malooly, then the director of the clergy personnel division, contacting the office of the Maryland states attorney in Baltimore and describing an accusation against a clergy member without naming him.

The Sun's reporting claims Malooly never reported the accusation, citing a Maryland attorney general's report.

Reverend W. Francis Malooly addresses faculty, family and graduates at Padua Academy's 60th annual commencement exercise Thursday, June 1, 2017, at St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington.

Is this the first time Malooly has come under question?

No. Malooly, who was assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore before he became Wilmington's bishop in 2008, was named in a 2017 Netflix docuseries that claimed he tried to cover up sexual abuse by a Baltimore priest decades ago.

Malooly was mentioned only in the final episode of the series and posted to the Diocese of Wilmington's website a lengthy statement challenging the accusations after the show ran.

BACKGROUND: Bishop Malooly denies Netflix series 'The Keepers' allegations

In 2018, after a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report detailing sexual abuse claims in six Pennsylvania dioceses by hundreds of priests, Malooly  then-bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington  released a statement as church leaders in neighboring states came under question.

Here in the Diocese of Wilmington, we have demonstrated a continuing commitment to preventing sexual abuse, Malooly said. We are grateful that the Diocese of Wilmington has not had a reported instance of the sexual abuse of a child by anyone in diocesan or parish ministry in over 25 years. Our policies, procedures, training, and continuing commitment makes our churches and schools safe places for children.

MORE TO READ: Bishop Malooly responds to questions regarding the Pennsylvania grand jury report

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Former Delaware bishop covered up Baltimore clergy sex abuse: Report
A man was arrested Tuesday afternoon for allegedly breaking into a womans home and threatening her with a knife.

Joshua Converse, 50, of Manchester, was charged with stalking, attempted first-degree assault, attempted burglary, felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, breach of bail, and falsifying physical evidence.

Officers responding to a home on Wilson Street around 4:30 p.m. found a woman who said she was on the first floor of her home when she heard noises coming from the basement, according to Manchester Police. Authorities say the victim opened the door and was immediately met by Converse, who lunged at her with a knife before fleeing on foot.

The victim was uninjured during the break-in.

Converse was arraigned on Wednesday at Hillsborough Superior Court North.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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REUTERS/Brian Snyder

MANCHESTER, New HampshireWhen Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley stepped onstage Wednesday morning at a campaign event at Saint Anselm College, she had a question for the crowd.

"Everybody know about Dylan Mulvaney? Haley asked. Bud Light? That is a guy, dressed as a girl, making fun of women.

To the GOPs hardcore base, Dylan Mulvaney needs no introduction. The transgender content creator who partnered with Budweiser has been the target of vicious attacks and sustained indignation for weeks, largely thanks to a seemingly endless stream of segments on Fox News.

Nikki Haley Blasts Ron DeSantis for Thin Skin With Disney

But in the crowd at Saint Anselm Colleges Politics & Eggs event, packed with New Hampshires famously independent voters, this anti-transgender broadside was not met with applause but silence.

Voters in the room appeared largely unaware of the Bud Light controversy. When Haley waited for applause, they didnt clap.

It wasnt the only moment during Haleys stop at the seminal New Hampshire campaign event when her conservative culture war messaging seemed out of place.

Earlier in her stump speech, for instance, Haley declared she was unapologetically pro-life, a staple GOP applause line that received a muted response from the crowd.

It distilled a key challenge for the former South Carolina governor, who wants to appeal to Republicans and independents turned off by Donald Trump but is leveraging other issues, like abortion and all things woke, to maintain her credibility with the party base.

Still, Haleys positioning made news on Wednesday. When asked by a younger voter directly if she would support a national abortion ban, Haley did not specify a specific restrictionlike ending abortions at six weeks or 15 weeksbut said she would sign it if it reached her desk.

Given the virtually non-existent chance the GOP would command 60 votes for an abortion ban anytime soon, Haleys answer was largely theoretical, something she herself acknowledged.

Male GOP Senators Ignore Women, Vote for Abortion Ban in South Carolina

We have maybe 45 pro-life senators, Haley said, speculating that only one or two more might join the ranks after the 2024 election.

Even so, Haleys answer was more than many of her GOP presidential rivals have been willing to provide on the issue. Other contenders, like Trump, have given elusive answers in similar settings; Trump has openly said that backlash to the Dobbs decision last year hurt the GOP in the 2022 midterm elections.

Haley seemed to allude to those politicsand the dissonance of her message in this independent-leaning statewhen she said she can't suddenly change my pro-life decision because I'm campaigning in New Hampshire.

Cant we all agree that we dont want to see late-term abortions? she said at another point. Cant we agree there should be more access to contraception?

To close out her answer, Haley said more reporters should ask President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris if theyre in favor of abortions at 36 weeks of pregnancy.

But when it comes to her own red lines, Haley said a precise number of weeks for a national ban is merely a distraction.

No one has been honest with you, said Haley, about what the real debate is.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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No charges to be filed in fatal shooting by police of Jada Johnson

No charges will be brought against Fayetteville police officers in the shooting death of Jada Elizabeth Johnson "because the evidence showed that the officers acted reasonably in the face of a deadly threat," Attorney General Josh Stein said in a news release Wednesday morning in which he advocates for the release of the body camera footage.

Stein said in the release that after conducting a "thorough review of this case, my Special Prosecutions Section has concluded that charges should not be filed in this case, and I agree."

Johnson, 22, was killed July 1, 2022, when police went to the Colgate Drive home of her grandfather Rick Iwanski after Johnson and her grandparents repeatedly called 911 reporting her estranged boyfriend was attempting to break into the home. An official said that when officers arrived on the scene, they found no evidence supporting the allegations. The family said that instead, the officers threatened Johnson with arrest.

More: A timeline of the fatal police shooting of a Fayetteville mother

The family contends the young mother was in the throes of a mental health crisis  having been committed to the hospital two days prior for treatment and released just hours earlier  when she pulled a gun out and threatened to harm herself.

Search warrants state officers feared for their safety, as well as that of her grandfather, infant daughter and grandmother when Sgt. Timothy Rugg tackled Johnson and Officer Zacharias Borom shot her 17 times, killing her in front of her family.

Jada Johnson in a November 2019 photo.

The attorney general called Johnson's death a tragedy and said mental health workers responding with officers to calls like Johnson's could have helped.

Even when criminal charges are not appropriate, we should always ask whether anything could have been done differently that may have resulted in a better outcome. I urge that a sentinel event review, which is designed to better understand and learn from officer-involved shootings, be conducted in this case," Stein said. "It is possible that a co-responder model that pairs social workers and other mental health experts with police officers could have helped better address the reason for a call.

"Finally, I call for the body camera footage recorded at the scene to be released in the interest of transparency to the people"

Stein also addressed the "proliferation of guns in the wrong hands."

It is not known how Ms. Johnson came into possession of her gun, but red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of people experiencing mental health issues who pose a risk to themselves or others would go a long way in keeping us all safer," he said.

The North Carolina Department of Justices Special Prosecutions Section took over the case on Oct. 14, 2022, at the request of Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West. The Special Prosecutions Section is available to prosecute or assist in prosecutions when district attorney offices face issues of conflict or resource constraints.

Family speaks

Johnson's family met with Jocelyn Wright, a special deputy attorney general with the N.C. Department of Justice, on Wednesday morning to discuss the decision. Wright was the special prosecutor assigned to the case.

In a brief news conference afterward, attorney Xavier de Janon, who is representing Johnsons estate in a federal lawsuit filed last month against Borom, Rugg and the city of Fayetteville, said the decision against charging the officers was disappointing and took too long.

Its not clear how with these facts, the officer did not commit a crime, de Janon said.

However, the outcome was not a shock, he said.

Even though we disagree with their decision, were not surprised, de Janon said. Its tragic, but this is consistent with what has been happening with NCDOJ with officer shootings, officer killings.

Related: A timeline of the fatal police shooting of a Fayetteville mother

De Janon said the North Carolina Department of Justice has never prosecuted a police officer in cases like Johnsons.

You have no government body to turn to when you suffer that kind of injustice, he said.

Johnson's grandparents did not speak during the conference, watching solemnly as de Janon spoke. Rick Iwanski, Johnson's grandfather, said Wednesday the family will not be speaking to the press on the advice of their attorneys.

Once the Department of Justice has formally closed the investigation, Johnsons family will submit a request to receive the departments report on its findings, de Janon said.

Until then, the next step for Johnsons family is to proceed with the federal lawsuit, which has been assigned a judge and is expected to enter the discovery phase soon, he said.

Its very clear in the lawsuit, de Janon said. We narrate very clearly, step-by-step what happened that night.

The goal, he explained, is to get justice for Johnson.

Its sad that when someone calls 911 asking for help in a mental health crisis, officers arrive looking for a crime, he said. We will continue to seek justice in places where we might have a better chance of getting it.

Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com. F.T. Norton can be reached at fnorton@fayobserver.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: No charges to be filed in fatal shooting by police of Jada Johnson
Veterans do not support far-left or far-right extremist groups any more than the average American population, according to a study released this week from the nonprofit RAND Corporation.

About 5.5 percent of veterans supported the far-left extremist group Antifa, compared to 10 percent of the American public, according to the study, while only 0.7 percent of veterans backed white supremacist organizations compared to 7 percent of the U.S. population.

The study also found that veterans were less likely to support the neo-fascist group the Proud Boys or the QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of Democratic elites and Satan-worshipping pedophiles run the U.S. government.

Still, a similar percentage of veterans  17.7 percent  support the need for political violence as the American public, at 19 percent.

And about 28.8 percent of veterans support the Great Replacement theory, a conspiracy about Democrats seeking to replace white Americans with migrants for political gain, compared to 34 percent of the U.S. public.

The studys lead author Todd Helmus said, we found no evidence to support the notion that the veteran community, as a whole, exhibits higher rates of support for violent extremist groups or extremist beliefs than the American public.

However, our findings do suggest work still may be needed to make sure veterans are not susceptible to being recruited by those with extremist ideologies, Helmus said in a statement.

The findings come as there is growing concern among Democrats about far-right extremisms within the ranks of the U.S. military.

At least three active duty service members were charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and dozens of veterans are believed to have participated in the insurrection.

The alleged Pentagon leaker, Jack Teixeira, expressed some far-right conspiracies, according to documents filed by Department of Justice prosecutors. Teixeira is accused of leaking classified documents online.

Ryan Brown, a co-author of the RAND study, said that veterans bring a unique and dangerous set of capabilities to extremist groups.

So even a smaller prevalence rate of extremist attitudes among veterans could still represent an outsized security threat to the United States, Brown said in a statement.

The RAND study was conducted in November and December 2022 among 1,100 respondents, with the majority completing the survey on the web rather than on the phone.

The study had several limitations, including a reliance on veterans to report their beliefs honestly.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
No, Target didn't offer 'tuck friendly' bathing suits for kids. Here what is  and isn't  part of its Pride celebration line.

Dominick Reuter/Insider

Target is under fire for its decision to carry LGBTQ Pride-themed merchandise and then remove the displays from some stores.

Some of the products that are sparking controversy on right-wing social media don't actually exist.

Here's a closer look at what items the retailer was actually offering, and what it wasn't.

Target's handling of its annual LGBTQ Pride month merchandise has managed to draw outrage from both ends of the political spectrum, with progressives taking umbrage with the company's decision to pull displays and items to which conservatives objected.

But beyond the generalized right-wing critique of Target being a "woke" retailer, the most ferocious social media reaction to the company's Pride collection was over items that didn't actually exist  or at least not in the way that critics were claiming.

"Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing while at work," a Target spokesperson said in a statement to Insider. "Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior."

Here's a closer look at what Target is  and is not  selling as part of its annual celebration of Pride month.

Target

The "tuck-friendly" swimsuits are not for children

Arguably the most vociferous complaints about Target's product offerings are about a one-piece swimsuit and bottoms featuring "tuck-friendly" construction in the crotch. The design allows a transgender woman to wear the form-fitting swimwear without accidentally exposing their penis.

A firestorm erupted after a conservative social media influencer said the apparel was being marketed and sold to children, but an Associated Press fact check found that claim was false.

The items are "clearly labeled on Target's website as adult swimsuits," the AP said, citing Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda. "The 'tuck-friendly' swim suits are for adults only," Castaneda told the news service.

The AP said it did find a kids' swim skirt from Target that said it was "Thoughtfully Fit on Multiple Body Types and Gender Expressions."

The "satanic" artist's designs for Target don't mention Satan

Critics were also quick to claim that three items designed by Abprallen, a studio in London, were "Satan-inspired" because the company had previously created product lines that mentioned the character, including one with the slogan "Satan Respects Pronouns."

But the Target products themselves  a messenger bag, a tote bag, and a sweatshirt  had no mention of Satan. Instead, they had the slogans "We Belong Everywhere," "Too Queer for Here," and "Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People." The items are no longer available online.

Dominick Reuter/Insider

What Insider saw prominently displayed in-store

After learning that Pride displays had been taken down and moved away from the fronts of stores in Florida, Insider visited a location in Wisconsin to see what was being sold, and how it was presented.

The "tuck-friendly" swimwear was not immediately visible in the Pride section nor in the children's areas.

What was visible was signage that said things like "Take Pride" and a sizing chart that said "Fit for anyone and everyone."

Dominick Reuter/Insider

Apparel featured a mixture of rainbow motif designs, while slogans said "Equality," "Be kind," "Be true to you," and "Trans people will always exist."

Three Target employees in Florida told Insider these products and other Pride merchandise are now relegated to shelves in lower-traffic areas closer to the back of their stores.

Read the original article on Business Insider
None hurt after fire at Salisbury restaurant, officials say

Firefighters responded to an early morning fire at a restaurant in Salisbury, according to Rowan County Communications.

ALSO READ: Cuzzos Cuisine forced to close after early morning fire

Officials say the fire happened around 2 a.m. at Christos Family Restaurant on East Innes Street.

Crews had to call for backup to control the fire because it was so big.

Firefighters were able to put out the fire and reported that no one was hurt.

Officials say the cause of the fire is under investigation.

This is a developing story; check back at wsoctv.com for updates.

(WATCH BELOW: Deadly fire breaks out at construction site in SouthPark area of Charlotte)




San Francisco has generated headlines recently due to its dramatic population loss over the last two years, but other Bay Area cities were also ranked as having some of the biggest population losses. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Cities in Northern California saw more severe drops in population during the pandemic than those in Southern California, new census data show, with Bay Area communities hit particularly hard.

The same data show that many of the cities that grew the most between July 2020 and July 2022 were in Southern California.

Experts said that several factors might explain the north-south divide. But one likely reason is the Bay Area's tech-rich economy. Many tech companies allowed employees to work from home and it is likely that "remote work has impacted the Bay Area more," leading to an exodus of workers in Northern California, said Dowell Myers, a professor of policy, planning and demography at USC.

San Francisco has generated headlines recently due to its dramatic population loss over the last two years, but other Bay Area cities were also ranked as having some of the biggest population losses.

San Jose lost almost 40,000 residents and dropped out of the top 10 list of the nation's most populous cities.

Highest rate of population loss among big cities





San Francisco, -7.1%

Daly City, -4.4%

Berkeley, -4.2%

San Mateo, -4.1%

San Jose, -3.8%

Experts expect population loss in major cities to slow as the pandemic recedes into the past, but they say the state's housing crisis  another driving factor  won't be going away anytime soon.

The lion's share of the cities that gained the most people between July 2020 and July 2022 was in suburban and exurban areas across the state. A Times analysis showed that these areas, largely in the Central Valley, also led the way in housing gains.

Northern California cities were also likely affected by "less construction and higher prices" for housing, Myers said.

The census data underscore some trends that have been seen during the COVID-19 crisis. Urban centers such as downtown San Francisco emptied out as tech workers stopped coming in to work, causing local economic distress. Some more far-flung areas such as Placer County and the Lake Tahoe region saw an influx of people from cities who were able to work remotely.

Susanville, Calif., lost more than 15% of its population between July 2020 and July 2022, but that was likely due to the 2021 Dixie fire. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

High housing costs were another key factor in the population shift, experts say. With housing costs rising, some Californians used the pandemic as an excuse to sell and move to cheaper areas. But the real estate price boom made it harder for others to move in.

"Hundreds of thousands more people would desire to live in the Bay Area  if not millions  and Southern California," said Michael Lens, a professor of urban planning and public policy at UCLA, "if we made it easier to accommodate those people through more housing units and presumably more affordable housing."

Of the 30 cities, counties and unincorporated areas in California that shrank the most, only two were in the southern part of the state, in Kern County: Taft, which lost 5.8% of its population, and Tehachapi, which lost 4.6%.

Cities and counties in metropolitan Southern California were absent from the top 30 list, with the cities of Commerce and Cerritos each losing about 4% and placing 36th and 41st, respectively, in that ranking.

Among cities with populations of more than 100,000, three of the five cities with the highest rate of increase were in Southern California, with the other two in the Sacramento and Fresno exurbs.

Highest rate of population increase among big cities





Menifee, 6.0%

Roseville, 4.3%

Clovis, 3.2%

Murrieta, 2.2%

Jurupa Valley, 2.2%

Menifee, which added over 4,500 homes between 2019 and 2022, has been intentional about its growth, city manager Armando Villa told The Times in March.

Meanwhile, a number of smaller cities with populations under 100,000  many in Northern California  saw similar losses.

Susanville lost more than 15% of its population in the two-year span, but that was likely due to the 2021 Dixie fire, which burned more than a million acres and destroyed over 1,400 homes and other structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The town is also expected to lose one of its biggest employers, with the impending closure of the California Correctional Center.

Fire was also a likely factor in the city with the highest rate of population increase in that stretch  Paradise.

The city showed some signs of rebuilding after the 2018 Camp fire, gaining nearly 2,000 people after losing some 20,000  almost 85% of its total residents  after the deadliest conflagration in state history.

But Lens said an increase in population  often connected to a boost in housing  is "not what we would hope" for in less dense areas.

Though growth in less dense areas isn't necessarily a bad thing, he explained, the areas that need housing the most and can grow more efficiently are the major cities.

In a housing crisis, places such as Lathrop or Calimesa are "not where the demand is strongest," so new housing may not be as direly needed, and the rural zones seeing growth are "not the most economically productive areas of the state," he said.

Also, from a climate perspective, Lens noted that less densely populated areas lead to longer commutes and are "not the ideal places to put housing."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FILE - Rep. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Washington. A recent redistricting ruling by North Carolina's Supreme Court could become an electoral windfall for Republicans seeking to maintain their control of Congress next year. Experts say four current Democratic incumbents are vulnerable when state legislators draw a new map later this year. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina redistricting ruling has set up a possible electoral windfall for congressional Republicans in preserving their U.S. House majority next year, declaring that judges should stay out of scrutinizing seat boundaries for partisan advantage.

While Democrats only need to flip five GOP seats overall to regain control, experts say the state Supreme Court decision means four Democratic incumbents in the state  three of them first-term members  are vulnerable.

Meanwhile, litigation involving congressional maps in states such as Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Ohio and Texas could also rework district lines and alter the 2024 electoral map.

The legal guardrails on redistricting are in an unusual state of flux. State and federal courts both were active in striking down congressional maps during the most recent bonanza of redrawing legislative lines based on once-a-decade census data. Additional action by the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming weeks could spark new challenges and redrawn maps.

North Carolina's highest court, chosen through partisan elections, flipped to Republican in November. That new Republican majority in late April threw out a 2022 Democratic ruling against partisan gerrymandering, saying the state constitution did not limit the practice.

The state's map, created after last year's court decision, was used last fall, when voters elected seven Democrats and seven Republicans. North Carolina's statewide races are routinely close, with voter registrations roughly in thirds among Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated residents. Just four years earlier, Republicans had won comfortably 10 of the 13 House seats in the country's ninth-largest state.

Freed from the Democratic constraints, the General Assembly  also controlled by Republicans  plans to redraw those districts by before the 2024 elections.

Its a signal to the Republican supermajority that within some boundaries they can draw the maps they want, said Chris Cooper, a Western Carolina University political science professor. The Republicans dont have a blank check, but theres a lot in the bank account.

While North Carolina Republicans don't have details yet on what the new maps will look like, House Speaker Tim Moore said after last year's elections that 7-7 does not reflect the will of the voters in North Carolina. A map approved by Republicans in 2021, but never implemented because it was struck down, would have given the GOP a strong chance to win 10 seats. North Carolina gained a 14th seat this decade thanks to population growth.

The North Carolina ruling could have an enormous impact on the control of the House, said Dave Wasserman, an editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. A map that tears up the districts of at least four Democrats "would effectively double the Republican cushion ahead of next year, he said.

State Democrats have few options. The state constitution exempts redistricting legislation from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto.

I hold out hope that they ... wont be as extreme as the courts seem to have given them leeway to be, Democratic state Sen. Natasha Marcus said. But Im also a realist.

Except for federal laws preventing racial gerrymandering and other redistricting standards  such as making districts identical by population  the legislature will have free rein.

If you want to maximize your power youre going to draw whatever districts the Voting Rights Act requires and youre going to engage in the most partisan gerrymandering that you can, said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who follows redistricting and election litigation.

Based on interviews and previous maps, one of the most vulnerable Democrats is expected to be first-term Rep. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte. Even though he won the new 14th Congressional District by 15 percentage points, there are many ways to make the district more Republican.

Theyre coming for this seat," said Jackson, a former state senator who has gained prominence using TikTok to reach voters, in a fundraising email.

Also at risk is first-term Rep. Wiley Nickel, who represents the Raleigh-area 13th District. He won the state's lone 2022 toss-up race by 3 percentage points.

Nickel told The Associated Press the Supreme Court's decision was pure partisan politics" and called the 2022 boundaries an absolutely fair map for a 50-50 state.

Other endangered Democrats are 6th District Rep. Kathy Manning, who represents the Greensboro area, and first-term Rep. Don Davis, who represents almost 20 northeastern North Carolina counties in the 1st District.

During the previous decade, North Carolina Republicans enjoyed a significant advantage in the way congressional districts were drawn, even as courts repeatedly ordered new maps because of gerrymandering. In both 2016 and 2018, Republicans won between two and three more seats than would have been expected based on their share of the votes, according to an AP analysis using a mathematical formula designed to detect gerrymandering.

In 2020, when Republicans won an 8-5 congressional advantage, the GOP still carried one more seat than expected based on their votes.

But that changed with the 2022 election. Republicans received 52% of the vote, but Democrats outperformed them  carrying 0.6 of a seat more than expected based on their share of the votes, according to the APs analysis.

Nationally, Democrats are pushing back against the idea that North Carolina losses are inevitable. Their candidates have already shown they can win in tight districts, said Tommy Garcia, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee looks forward to the state Legislature drawing fair lines that best represent North Carolina, communications director Jack Pandol said.

The U.S. Supreme Court is due to issue a ruling soon that could change rules requiring mapmakers to draw districts that allow minorities to elect representatives of their choosing.

Also before the high court is a case brought by North Carolina Republicans who argued the states courts didnt have the power to implement the map that produced the 7-7 congressional split last year. However, the justices' decision won't affect the upcoming map draw in North Carolina.

___

Associated Press writers David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Northrop Grumman said its design for next-generation missile warning satellites passed a key Space Force review.

The company is under contract to build two Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar satellites that will provide coverage of the northern hemisphere, the most difficult area to observe from space. The Space Force plans to launch the first satellite in 2028.

Northrop Grumman is on an accelerated path to delivering an early-warning missile system capable of surviving attacks from space, ground or cyber elements, Alex Fax, Northrops vice president for the polar program, said in a May 24 statement. NGP satellites will maintain a direct line of communication back to the continental United States, limiting dependency on overseas ground station sites.

The milestone, called a preliminary design review, keeps the company on track for a possible production contract next spring or summer, according to a company spokesperson. The Space Force awarded the company $2.37 billion development contract in 2020.

Northrops sensor payload for the polar satellites is designed to detect infrared heat signatures from incoming missiles. They will also carry a communications payload that allows them to send tracking data to operators on the ground.

The payloads will fly on the companys Eagle-3 spacecraft, which is designed for complex, strategic payloads like missile warning sensors.

The NGP effort is part of the Space Forces broader Next-Gen Overhead Infrared program, which includes two Lockheed Martin-built satellites destined for geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earths surface. The service had planned to build and launch three GEO spacecraft, but it cut one satellite from the mix in its fiscal 2024 budget.

The service is seeking $1 billion for the polar segment of the program in fiscal 2024 and expects to need another $2.2 billion between FY25 and FY28, which the first satellite launches. That funding would support the programs critical design review and early preparation for production, assembly and test.
Norway will support the training and education of Ukrainian pilots and personnel on F-16 fighter jets.

Source: NRK, citing Norway's Defence Minister Bjrn Arild Gram, as European Pravda reports

On Wednesday, the head of the Norwegian Ministry of Defence informed the parliament about the government's decision to support the training of Ukrainian pilots.

Quote: "Norway will consider various ways of facilitating the training and preparations of Ukrainian personnel on F-16 fighter jets," Gram said.

The United States and several European countries have indicated that they are positive about training Ukrainian personnel for the F-16.

According to Gram, Norways government has a positive attitude towards the initiative to create the so-called fighter jet coalition. "Together with allies and partners, Norway is now evaluating how we can contribute to the training," Gram said.

Norway's F-16s were decommissioned last year after 42 years of service.

In November of the same year, the government signed an agreement with Romania to sell 32 Norwegian F-16 fighter jets, but the planes are still in Norway. According to the Norwegian Armed Forces, they must undergo extensive modernisation before being transferred to Romania.

At the same time, Norway signed a contract with Draken International to sell up to 12 F-16 aircraft for pilot training. Both deals are subject to approval by the US and Norwegian authorities, and the process is still ongoing.

Background: The day before, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius stated that his country was considering options to support a coalition of countries to train Ukrainian pilots in operating F-16 fighters. However, he mentioned that Berlin's possible contribution could be limited.

Last week, the United Kingdom announced the establishment of an international coalition of countries aimed at training Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighters, including F-16s. The coalition already includes the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, the United States, and Portugal.

Acting Minister of Defence of Denmark Troels Lund Poulsen said that Ukrainian pilots could start training on F-16 fighter jets in July.

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TEHRAN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the parliament's adoption of a strategic law in 2020 to counter U.S. sanctions helped save Iran from "bewilderment" on the nuclear issue.

"The law was a fundamental and important one, the outcomes of which are visible even at the international level," he said in a meeting with the members of the Iranian parliament.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments according to the law passed by its parliament in December 2020.

The parliament's law mandated the government to restrict inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency and accelerate the development of the country's nuclear program beyond the limits set under the JCPOA.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks in August 2022. 
This is not OK. Mother of 11-year-old shot by Mississippi police pleads for answers

Days after an 11-year-old boy was shot in the chest by an Indianola, Mississippi police officer, family and community members are calling for answers and for the officers termination.

Community members identified the boy as Aderrien Murry. He was shot early Saturday morning when officers responded to a domestic call at his home, according to a statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting.

As of Tuesday, Murry is in the intensive care unit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, the familys attorney Carlos Moore said. He was placed on a ventilator because he has a collapsed lung, and he has other injuries including fractured ribs and a lacerated liver.

Information about why the unarmed child was shot has not been released, said Moore, who is representing the boys family and joined them and community members at a Monday press conference outside of Indianola City Hall.

This cannot keep happening. This is not OK, said Nakala Murry, the boys mother, during the press conference. If a non-police officer was to shoot someone, you know its not OK. When the police do it, they have protocol. He was trained. He knows what to do.

Nakala Murry said her son is strong, but Aderrien does not understand what happened to him.

His words were: Why did he shoot me? What did I do? and he started crying, she said.

She remembers holding her son, applying pressure to his wound and seeing blood run from his mouth  an image she sees every time she closes her eyes.

Nakala Murry said police were called to the house because the father of her other child came over and was acting irate. When he acted this way, she knew something could potentially happen and wanted to stop it right there. She snuck her phone to her son and asked him to call her mother and the police.

Investigators did not name the Indianola police officer, but Moore said his investigation uncovered that the officer is Greg Capers, who was named the departments best officer.

If hes your best, Indianola, you need a clean house from top to bottom, Moore said.

After the conference, the group attended the Board of Aldermen meeting. On Monday evening, the board voted to place Capers on paid administrative leave pending further investigation, Moore said.

He said there is always a possibility for the board to call a special meeting to take further action with Capers.

Murrys family and supporters are calling for Capers and Police Chief Ronald Sampson to be fired and body camera footage to be released within 48 hours. Moore is also asking the Sunflower County district attorney to prosecute the officer for attempted murder.

If the city does not act, Moore said Murrys family and supporters plan to hold a sit-in at Indianola City Hall starting Thursday morning.

Moore directly addressed Mayor Ken Featherstone, telling him to take the shooting seriously, and Sampson, telling him to give the family and community answers and questioning why he didnt take past misconduct from Capers seriously.

Moore said the officer has not been disciplined for tasing another client of his, Kelvin Franklin, while the man was in handcuffs in December 2022.

On Tuesday, Sampson declined to comment, but he said he and the mayor are likely to make a statement once MBI completes its investigation. Featherstone did not respond to a request for comment.

What are you waiting on? Someone to actually die? Moore said during the press conference. An 11-year-old almost died. By the grace of God, he is alive. The people of Indianola are not going to wait until somebody dies.
History was made earlier this year when Oakland, California, Mayor Sheng Thao was sworn into office, becoming the first Hmong American to serve as mayor of a major U.S. city.

Her swearing-in ceremony was something she could never have imagined.

"Hmong people flew in from all over the country to join me," Thao said. "It was a journey that I took with the whole Hmong community."

Thao's parents fled Laos in 1975.

"My parents are refugees. And all I knew was that we were poor and it was hard and I felt like government has failed us," she said.



Before graduating from UC Berkeley, Thao escaped an abusive relationship and lived in a car with her young son. On many occasions, she had to stand in line for free food.

"You always hear about starving students, but what do people actually do about it?" she said.

Her solution was to run for city council.

"You can't do this work without feeling empathy," she told CBS News. "And you shouldn't do this work if you don't have that empathy."

The 37-year-old now leads a large and troubled city. Her mission is to make it better for the next generation, including her son, Ben.

Now 16, Ben played cello at his mother's inauguration.

Thao said that the message people should take from her story is that "hope is everything."

How the U.S. is dealing with backlog of migrant sponsorships

What are the sticking points in debt ceiling talks?

Surgeon general shares tips to keep social media safe for kids
The Russian occupiers have destroyed mobile communications equipment in part of occupied Kherson Oblast to make it more difficult for civilians to communicate.

Source: Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar

Quote from Maliar: "In order to limit the civilian population's ability to exchange information, the enemy has deliberately destroyed mobile communications equipment in the districts of Hladkivka, Obryvka, Nova Maiachka, Vynohradove and Tavriiske in Kherson Oblast.

Electrical mobile communication equipment was dismantled, and the towers were brought down by cutting the supports."

Details: Maliar said the Russian occupation command has banned civilians from entering the temporarily occupied territory in the area of Hola Prystan, where the Ukrainian mobile network is available.

Background:

At the beginning of May, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed so-called "head" of occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, announced a partial evacuation of the local residents from 18 frontline settlements.

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Ron DeSantis filed paperwork Wednesday to run for president in 2024, making a long-awaited entrance to a race that will test whether a Republican governor who rewrote Floridas political rulebook  and often infuriated critics  can overcome the challenges of a race for the nations highest office.

The formal entrance to the race officially puts DeSantis, 44, on a collision course with former President Donald Trump, his onetime political benefactor whom he now faces in a Republican presidential primary. The two politicians are the top choices of GOP voters, according to early polls of the contest, although Trump has opened a substantial lead in recent months that has solidified his status as the races clear-cut front-runner.

In addition to Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have also formally declared as presidential candidates, with the winner of the primary likely facing Democratic President Joe Biden in next years general election.

DeSantis has been traveling the country for months attempting to build support ahead of the White House announcement. That momentum, however, was jeopardized Wednesday evening during the governors first public comments about his presidential bid, when the medium he chose to use  a live audio broadcast on Twitter  repeatedly crashed. Nearly 30 minutes passed before DeSantis was able to start talking during the broadcast, which was hosted by Twitter owner Elon Musk and tech billionaire David Sacks.

To win the primary, DeSantis will almost certainly have to defeat Trump, a feat that eluded both Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016. If he defeats the former president and wins the general election, he would be the first-ever elected official from the Sunshine State to occupy the White House.

DeSantis decision to enter the presidential race has been anticipated both inside Florida and nationally for years, ever since he became a national Republican star for his response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. In February, DeSantis published a new book  The Courage to Be Free: Floridas Blueprint for Americas Revival  and hes spent the last several months promoting it in stops across the country, including the electoral battlegrounds of Georgia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

STUNNING ASCENT

In a statement, Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on Wednesday compared DeSantis to Trump and criticized his position on entitlements programs like Social Security, and on abortion.

If there was any doubt  DeSantiss announcement turns up the volume on an already messy Republican primary, Harrison said. One thing is guaranteed  whoever makes it out will only have done so by catering to the most MAGA, right-wing Republicans in the primary.

DeSantis entrance to the race marks a new chapter in his stunning political ascent, one that in six years has seen the lifelong Florida resident transform from a little-known congressman to a leading presidential candidate. In between, he twice won the election for Florida governor, in 2018 and 2022.

The governors reelection victory, in which he won by nearly 20 points in a year that saw many GOP candidates underperform expectations, is expected to be a major part of his message on the campaign trail. His allies have already spent months arguing that his victory in a state known for tight contests shows that DeSantis is the candidate most likely to beat Biden in 2024.

DeSantis pitch to Republicans is also likely to lean heavily on his record as governor, arguing that if president, he would sign into law a conservative agenda similar to the one he backed as Floridas governor. Even before his campaign announcement, the governor put Florida at the center of his message, touting it as part of a book tour that described the state as a blueprint for the nation as a whole.

READ MORE: How Never-Trump Republicans view Ron DeSantis presidential candidacy

DeSantis record as governor  one likely to endure renewed scrutiny on the campaign trail  includes his response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which saw him break with many medical experts and lift public health restrictions. He also restricted discussion of gender and sexuality in schools, flew undocumented immigrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard, and investigated restaurants and bars that host drag shows with children present.

More recently, DeSantis has backed new laws that restricted access to abortions after six weeks, allowed permitless concealed carry for firearm owners, and engaged in a lengthy back and forth with Disney over their political advocacy and the presence of a specially created district that let the corporation govern its vast swath of Orlando-area properties.

The fight over Disney, in particular, has led to criticism from Republicans like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that the governor doesnt sufficiently embrace limited-government principles. And even some allies have raised questions about whether his far-reaching position on social issues would reduce his electability in a general election.

RELATED CONTENT: How a growing Republican field threatens DeSantis presidential candidacy

But DeSantis has talked openly about adopting a governing philosophy that is more aggressive than past conservative orthodoxy, arguing the change is necessary to combat what he sees as a rising tide of liberalism in many parts of society, including public education and corporations.

And his allies argue that the governor has taken positions in the past that critics have labeled extreme, only for him to easily win reelection as governor.

TRUMP LOOMS

In taking on Trump, DeSantis faces a candidate whose endorsement in 2018 is widely credited with helping him win a Republican primary over the establishment-backed Adam Putnam. DeSantis styled most of his approach that year after Trump, even including his children in a campaign ad that cheekily endorsed building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

READ MORE: So Ron DeSantis is running for president. Here are 5 things you should know about him

But the two mens relationship has become antagonistic recently, as speculation grew that DeSantis would run for president against Trump. Now, the former president regularly attacks the governor over social media and in press releases, arguing that DeSantis is insincere in his beliefs and eager to cut entitlement programs like Social Security. (The governor has said that he does not want to cut Social Security.)

DeSantis own message in recent months has also led to a visible backlash among some Republicans: His description in March of the Ukraine-Russia war as a territorial dispute led to pushback from many Republicans, some of whom argued that he was trying to imitate Trump at the cost of saying what he truly believes.

DeSantis later partially walked back the comments, saying he should have been more clear that he doesnt think Russias invasion of their neighboring country was legitimate.

Whether because of his missteps, Trumps attacks, or the former presidents indictment in March that conservatives almost universally hailed as unfair, DeSantis has slipped in polls of the 2024 GOP presidential race.

A late April poll from Fox News found that Trump received the support of 53% of GOP voters, compared to 21% for DeSantis. Thats a stronger showing for Trump than the same survey in February, which reported that the former president had 43% to the Florida governors 28%.

This is a breaking news item and will be updated.
Oklahoma County to pay $3M to a former inmate who claimed guards left him paralyzed

In an excessive use of force case dating back more than five years at the Oklahoma County jail, county commissioners agreed to pay $3 million to a former inmate who claimed guards left him paralyzed.

The settlement with Torrance Gene Jackson, 48, was entered earlier this month in Oklahoma City federal court.

Named in the lawsuit were three guards who worked under former Sheriff P.D. Taylor.

Attorneys for Jackson claim in the lawsuit that around 12:36 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2017, Oklahoma City police stopped Jackson for allegedly speeding.

Jackson eluded police and after a brief chase, he wrecked his car.

Living Hell: The untold reality of life inside Oklahoma County jail

Jackson exited the car, failed to comply with instructions from police, was tased and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, speeding, driving while privilege revoked and attempting to elude peace officers.

Officers transported Jackson to an area hospital where Taser electrodes were removed from his body.

Officers later took Jackson to the Oklahoma County jail. One officer did not enter the jail. A second officer entered the jail search area then went to a lieutenants office to pick up a booking sheet.

According to the lawsuit, when the second police officer returned to the search area, the officer observed Mr. Jackson lying on the ground and heard him telling a guard that he could not feel his legs.

When the police officer asked a guard what happened to Jackson, the guard replied that he had to take (Jackson) to the ground because (Jackson) refused to give them his shoes.

The police officer reported seeing a bulge on the back of Jacksons neck.

Jackson had been handcuffed or restrained with his hands behind his back when the incident and resulting injury occurred in the search area while the police officer went to retrieve a booking sheet, according to the lawsuit.

EMSA and the Oklahoma City Fire Department arrived at around 2:45 a.m.

Broken Trust: How the Oklahoma County jail leadership failed those it sought to protect

Unnamed jail employees told EMSA that Jackson had an altercation with one of the guards and they slammed him to the ground, according to the lawsuit.

Jackson was transported to OU Medical Center.

He told hospital personnel while he was being booked into the jail, his feet were kicked out from underneath him. His hands were handcuffed behind him and his head hit the floor, the lawsuit said.

A spine surgeon diagnosed Jackson with a C-6-7 bilateral facet fracture dislocation with complete quadriplegia, lawyers claimed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claimed a video of the incident shows one guard using an unapproved wrist lock technique while tripping Jackson, as two other guards did nothing to intervene.

Jacksons quadriplegia is permanent, according to the lawsuit.

The Oklahoma County Jail in Oklahoma City, Okla on Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

Internal investigation found use of force disproportionate

As the lawsuit wound through federal court, county commissioners denied Jacksons allegations, according to filings.

However, an internal investigation by a sheriffs lieutenant found that the guards use of force actions and choice of applied techniques in grounding inmate Jackson were not reasonably proportionate to the amount of resistance being offered by inmate Jackson.

The lieutenant went on to write in a report:

It is my professional opinion that (the deputy) was not acting within the provided agency-based training or department guidelines, and that he was aware that what he was doing was outside of recognized best practices and training, and that his choice of technique had possibilities of injuries.

A timeline of trouble: The Oklahoma County Jail under the Jail Trust.

A sheriffs bureau commander wrote that other staff were present to help during the incident but were not utilized.

Taylor, the sheriff at the time, agreed with internal investigators that the guard in question should receive a written reprimand and more training on defensive tactics applied to take-downs and compliance.

In an interview with the investigations division, the guard said Jackson was yelling obscenities at staff concerning money recovered from his wallet, according to court documents.

During the incident, the guard told an internal investigator, he felt Jackson was about to get physically aggressive so he placed Jacskon in a wrist lock and leaned his body weight into him in an attempt to push him down to his knees.

The guard said he believed two other guards nearby would assist him, but both failed to engage, according to an investigators report.

The guard also stated he had never been trained on that particular compliance technique but had seen other guards use it on several occasions, according to the report.

More: Every inmate who died at the Oklahoma County Jail since the Trust took over

One of the nearby guards during the incident told the investigator that he didnt engage because his fellow officer was more educated in use of force and had more training.

During previous attempts to assist with other incidents, the guard said, he was told I got this and to leave.

Geremy A. Rowland, attorney for Jackson, told The Oklahoman his client did not wish to discuss the lawsuit at this time.

While we were obviously not able to erase the physical and emotional injuries that he sustained from this incident, my law partner and I hope that we were able to achieve some degree of substantive accountability on Torrances behalf, Rowland said in an email.

Oklahoma County jail troubled over time, looks toward improvements

The $3 million settlement came just before The Oklahoman released an investigation into deaths at the jail since the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, or "the trust," took over operations from the Sheriffs Office on July 1, 2020.

The embattled jail has become  through homicides, drug overdoses, suicides and COVID-19 deaths  one of the deadliest in the nation. It was the subject of a multicounty grand jury investigation that concluded control of operations should be returned to the sheriff.

In its investigative series, The Oklahoman quoted Sheriff Tommie Johnson III saying taking over the jail is not something Id want to do, to be quite honest with you.

Johnson, who serves on the jail trust, said should the jail be returned to sheriffs office control, he would honor the obligation.

More: Commissioner: New jail to be 'night and day' improvement from current jail's problems

In a previous interview with The Oklahoman, Brian Maughan, District 2 commissioner for Oklahoma County, said he was against reverting control from the nine-member trust to the Sheriffs Office.

Maughan argued that the trust provides checks and balances, and the jail should not be under the control of a sheriff.

We dont want to go backwards, he said. I dont care if it was my own mother that was in charge of the jail, thats too much responsibility, in my opinion, vested in one person.

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma County jail issued a news release touting recent work by guards

In the past week and a half, detention staff, with the assistance of several detainees, administered life-saving measures to save five detainees from possible drug overdoses, the jail said. In each incident, staff were aided by detainees who quickly recognized their fellow detainees in distress and called for help.

Jail staff immediately administered Narcan, the overdose-reversal drug, to each inmate, the jail said. Staff administered 13 doses of Narcan in total.

We cannot stress enough how the drug crisis in the community is making its way into the detention center, Jail CEO Brandi Garner. Every incoming detainee is thoroughly searched, and body scanned. However, the amount of fentanyl it takes to kill someone is so small, it is very hard to detect every time.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma County to pay $3M to ex-inmate after guards left him paralyzed
Heres a look at the life of Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany.

Personal:



Birth date: June 14, 1958

Birth place: Osnabruck, Germany

Birth name: Olaf Scholz

Father: Gerhard Scholz, textile worker

Mother: Christel Scholz, textile worker

Marriage: Britta Ernst (1998-present)

Education: University of Hamburg, J.D., 1984

Religion: Non-denominational

Other Facts:

Practiced as a labor law attorney.

Nicknamed Scholzomat for his controlled, robot-like communication style.

Timeline:



1975 - Joins the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany as a student.

1982-1988 - Deputy chairman of the SPD youth organization, Jusos.

1998-2001 - A member of the German federal parliament (Bundestag).

May 2001-October 2001 - Senator for the Interior of Hamburg.

2002 - Reelected to the Bundestag.

2002-2004 - Secretary-general of the SPD.

2007-2009 - Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.

2011-2018 - Mayor of Hamburg.

July 2017 - After a group of anti-capitalist protesters clash with the riot police in Hamburg during the G20 summit meeting, Scholz is criticized for his handling of the protests, and some politicians call for his resignation.

February-April 2018 - Acting Chair of the SPD

August 10, 2020 - Is nominated to be the SPD candidate for chancellor of Germany.

September 26, 2021 - The SPD wins the federal election with 25.7% of the vote.

November 24, 2021 - Following two months of negotiations to form a new government, Scholz announces the SPD will head a three-party coalition with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats.

December 8, 2021 - Scholz is sworn in as the new chancellor, replacing Angela Merkel.

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If the United States defaults on its financial obligations, millions of Americans might not be able to pay their bills as well.

With Social Security and other government benefits at risk amid a political stalemate over the government's debt ceiling, experts and older Americans told ABC News that the consequences of the impasse in Washington could be dire, including for older Americans who need the money to pay for basic needs such as food, housing or health care costs.

A quarter of Americans over age 65 rely on Social Security to provide at least 90% of their family income, according to the Social Security Administration.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden walks to the White House after landing on the South Lawn aboard Marine One, May 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Fred Gurner, 86, of New York, told ABC News that he uses his Social Security payment for his $800 rent. But now there is real risk that his payment might not come in time in June -- when the Treasury Department says the government might not be able to send him the money he counts on.

"It's very stressful, gives me a heart attack," Gurner said about how the issue has become politicized.

How are Social Security payments affected by the debt ceiling?

Since 2001, the United States has spent more money than revenue it has taken in overall.

To cover the difference, the United States Treasury issues debt through securities, according to University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business professor Olivia Mitchell. Backed by the United States, those securities are happily bought by investors who see it as a safe guarantee they'll get paid back with interest.

However, the United States and Denmark are the only two countries to limit the amount of debt the government can issue, known as a debt ceiling, Mitchell noted.

MORE: Ahead of meeting with Biden, McCarthy says debt, spending deal needed 'this week'

Lawmakers can pass new laws that require government spending, but the debt ceiling will remain in place until lawmakers vote to increase it. That has happened 78 separate times in the United States since 1960.

If that debt ceiling does not increase by June 1, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that the country will not be able to satisfy all of its financial obligations.

Beyond not being able to pay interest and principal on government securities -- which economists broadly agree would rattle the stock market and possibly damage the U.S. credit rating -- the Treasury would be unable to issue new debt to cover expenses like Social Security, according to Mitchell.

The government projects to spend roughly $100 billion on Social Security in the month of June, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

"It's going to be pretty tight for people for a while, unless Congress and the president can get together on this problem," Mitchell said.

When would Social Security payments become delayed?

The Social Security Administration plans to send contributions to beneficiaries on four dates next month -- June 2, 14, 21, and 28. Those checks would be the first ones at risk of being delayed, according to Max Richtman, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

"Millions and millions of Social Security beneficiaries are worried about having the income to pay their basic bills," he noted.

Lynda Fisher, 80, told ABC News that her budget relies on her monthly Social Security check and that a delay would complicate her essential spending, frustrating the 80-year-old who has spent her life contributing to the system.

PHOTO: FILE - House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, speaks with reporters in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, May 17, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

"I paid into Social Security, and I paid into Medicare," she said. "And now they're trying to take it away. It's not their money, it's my money that I paid into."

Richtman is now actively encouraging older residents to save money in anticipation of a delayed Social Security payment, fearing negotiations will not yield a compromise in time to avoid default.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Yellen indicated that certain bills might be prioritized, including interest payments, Social Security and military contractor payments. However, Richtman expressed doubt that such a prioritization would be legally possible.

What does this mean for the future of Social Security?

Some Republican lawmakers have framed the debt ceiling fight as necessary to slow government spending; however, some economists, including Mitchell, see this as a "manufactured crisis" that threatens essential services, retirement savings and the overall economy.

"Every time one of these crises occurs, it's signaling to the rest of the world, and to American investors that U.S. Treasuries are not as safe as we thought," Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff said.

MORE: Debt ceiling breach could cut millions of jobs. Here's who would lose employment first

Kotlikoff expressed further concern that the Social Security system will have over $65.9 trillion in unfunded financial obligations over the indefinite horizon, based on the entity's own report.

However, the debate over the debt ceiling appears unlikely to produce a meaningful solution to the broader Social Security shortfall, though, according to Kotlikoff, Mitchell and Richtman.

When will retirees receive their payments?

Mitchell and Richtman remained optimistic that Social Security recipients would eventually receive their checks once a deal is made, albeit with some delay.

"I'm pretty confident that payments would be fulfilled," Richtman said. "That's not much comfort to those people who will not be able to pay for their groceries, their utilities or their rent while they're waiting to receive a back payment."

'It's not their money': Older Americans worried debt default means no Social Security originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) - Older people have suffered and died at a disproportionately high rate since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday, with some perishing because they were barred from fetching medicines or leaving basements.

The report compiled by U.N. human rights monitors showed that about a third of the civilians killed in the first year of the war, or 1,346 of 4,187 documented victims, were over 60.

The toll only includes individuals whose age is known and the real number of victims is much higher, the U.N. says. About a quarter of Ukraine's population is elderly.

Russia denies targeting civilians in Ukraine.

In one incident in Yahidne in March 2022, 10 elderly people died after being blocked for weeks in a school cellar after Russian troops had converted the building into a base, the report said. Others with reduced mobility were unable to get to safety, such as a woman in her mid-60s with an amputated leg who burned to death when her building caught fire after shelling.

Russian checkpoints in Kherson last year also obstructed movements, meaning several older people with diabetes died for want of medication, the report said.

The U.N. found that older people were hit exceptionally hard by power outages due to Russian attacks on critical infrastructure since October 2022 that trapped many in their upstairs apartments when their elevators broke down.

Others had to be evacuated in haste, sometimes in wheelbarrows because there was no time to fetch their mobility devices such as crutches or Zimmer frames, it said. Many were left behind.

Those on both sides of the front line have struggled to access their pensions due to the breakdown of postal and banking services, the report said.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Olympia hotel gets 40 red points. Here are Thurston County food safety scores for May 24

Comments are taken directly from the latest Thurston County inspection reports, which are available for each food establishment, at the Thurston County Environmental Health Office and their website. For questions concerning these reports, contact the health office at 360-867-2667.

Report restaurant, grocery store, deli or bakery complaints online via the complaint form here: https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/phss/Pages/eh-problem.aspx.

Reading inspection scores:

Attention should be given to the type of violation (red versus blue) and whether the establishment has a history of red violations or repeat violations.

Red violations are those most likely to cause food-borne illness and must be corrected immediately if feasible or according to a compliance schedule established by the health officer. Example: not keeping food at the right temperature.

Blue violations relate to the overall cleanliness and condition of operation and must be corrected according to a compliance schedule established by the health officer. Example: a worn floor that needs replacing.

If red points exceed 45, the county will require a reinspection within 10 business days.

If red points exceed 100 and theres a lack of managerial control, the county will shut down the establishment for at least 72 hours. The establishment may reopen after management and employees complete retraining and demonstrate corrective action during a reinspection.

Some common abbreviations: PHF/TCS is potentially hazardous food/time control for safety; RTE is ready to eat; PIC is person in charge; FWC is food worker card; CDI is corrected during inspection.

Olympia Hotel at Capitol Lake

2300 Evergreen Park Drive SW, Olympia

May 19: 40 red points; 8 blue points.

Comments:

Cooked potatoes were between 120-130 degrees rather than at or above 135 degrees.

Shredded cheese and ham in a prep unit were between 55-60 degrees rather than at or below 41 degrees.

The menu lacked a disclosure in the consumer advisory. The disclosure must identify items served raw or undercooked.

Reduced oxygen packaged fish was incorrectly thawing in its packaging.

A sanitizer solution was not strong enough.

Mi Pueblo Express

7839 Martin Way E., Olympia

Mobile Food Unit

May 5: 25 red points; 10 blue points.

Comments:

Raw meats were stored above ready-to-eat foods.

Tripe was stored at 43-45 degrees in a drawer cabinet rather than at or below 41 degrees.

The in-use chlorine sanitizer was too strong.

Test strips for the chlorine sanitizer were absent during the inspection.

A wiping cloth was stored outside a sanitizer bucket when not in use.

Samayra Coffee Co.

1600 Cooper Point Road SW, Suite 630, Olympia

May 5: 25 red points; 0 blue points.

Comments:

A quiche was held at room temperature without a time as a control plan. Such foods must be kept hot at or above 135 degrees, cold at or below 41 degrees or discarded after four hours.

Teriyaki Japan at Capital Mall

625 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia

May 17: 10 red points; 0 blue points.

Comments:

Raw shrimp and raw beef were stored above carrots, onions and noodles in the walk-in. Raw animal proteins must be stored below ready-to-eat foods and foods with lower cooking temperatures.

Westside Pizza

855 Trosper Road SW, Suite 105, Tumwater

May 22: 10 red points; 0 blue points.

Comments:

A chlorine sanitizer solution was too strong.

Menchies Frozen Yogurt

625 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia

May 17: 0 red points; 10 blue points.

Comments:

Some foods were stored less than 6-inches off the floor of the walk-in. Foods must be at least 6-inches off the floor to prevent potential contamination.

Wiping cloths were stored outside a sanitizer bucket when not in use.

Charleys Cheesesteaks at Capital Mall

625 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia

May 17: 5 red points; 0 blue points.

Comments:

Sliced cheese near the grill was between 43-44 degrees rather than at or below 41 degrees.

No violations:
New Bedford once lit the world with whale oil. Now it wants to do the same with wind power

The ship UHL Felicity, carrying massive parts for offshore wind turbines, arrives to dock Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in New Bedford, Mass. Once assembled by developer Vineyard Wind, the turbines at sea will stand more than 850 feet high. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP)  New Bedford was once the city that lit the world, exporting vast quantities of whale oil for lamps in the early 1800s. Workers packed the docks, unloading casks of oil that had been extracted at sea from whale carcasses and brought in by a fleet of hundreds of whaling ships.

Nearly two centuries later New Bedford aspires to light the world again, in a different relationship with the sea, as the offshore wind industry arrives here.

On Wednesday, the vessel UHL Felicity bringing wind turbine tower sections from Portugal reached the Port of New Bedford. Once assembled out on the water this summer by developer Vineyard Wind, the turbines will stand more than 850 feet high.

Theres this sort of poetic coming-about for New Bedford as a center of energy, Mayor Jon Mitchell said.

Its also a milestone for the industry. The United States does not yet have a single commercial-scale offshore wind farm. But it will soon.

THE BUILDOUT

Vineyard Wind is building a 62-turbine wind farm 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the Massachusetts coast. Its expected to put out 800 megawatts, enough electricity to power more than 400,000 homes, beginning this year. The first U.S. offshore wind farm opened off Rhode Islands Block Island in late 2016. But with five turbines, its not commercial scale.

Another project, South Fork Wind, is scheduled to start construction this summer off the coasts of New York and Rhode Island. Since its smaller than Vineyard Wind, it will likely be the first U.S. commercial-scale wind farm to open.

The United States is decades behind Europe, where the worlds first offshore wind farm was erected in 1991. The first U.S. wind farm was supposed to be a project off the coast of Massachusetts known as Cape Wind, but it failed after years of litigation and local opposition.

Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Skoust Moeller said New Bedford is the cradle of large-scale offshore wind in the United States, and this wind farm sets the stage for the next project, and the next, and the next.

As he and Mitchell stood together Wednesday night, looking at the ship and massive cranes that would unload it, he turned to Mitchell and said, This is a proud moment for the industry and the country.

The Biden administration wants to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. That would be enough to power more than 10 million homes.

The activity is bringing jobs and opportunities for businesses across the country. Developers are investing in multi-million dollar projects to upgrade ports along the East Coast, including New Bedford, New London, Connecticut, Brooklyn, New York and Portsmouth, Virginia. They're planning to invest in ports along the West Coast and on the Gulf Coast as wind farms are approved there.

Billions of dollars will be spent inland too, at shipyards that are building a fleet of specialized vessels to erect and maintain wind farms, according to the American Clean Power Association.

New Bedford saw it coming. Necessity had the city looking for a way forward.

NEW BEDFORD'S NEXT ACT

New Bedford, now a city of about 100,000, is not part of a major metropolitan area. Like similarly situated cities, Mitchell said, they had to figure out how to make their way at a time when the spoils of the American economy are going to the big, superstar cities. The town Herman Melville immortalized in Moby-Dick remains a top port for commercial fishing and seafood processing, but the citys economy cant depend on just that, he said.

Industrial cities have been burdened with the stigma of being gritty and failing and struggling, Mitchell said. We eschew all those victimhood labels. So to become a leader in offshore wind, to compete successfully for investment and to grow, it was really an opportunity for us, for our residents, to see our city in a different way, for the rest of the world to see our city in a different way.

So New Bedford opened the first U.S. port facility specifically designed for offshore wind, in 2015, to become a hub for the industry as it came to the United States, recognizing its promise. Today, Vineyard Wind leases that marine terminal.

Now construction is happening all around the port of New Bedford, more than at any time since the start of the whaling industry, Mitchell said.

Bristol Community College is planning to open a National Offshore Wind Institute in New Bedford late this summer to train and certify workers.

A NEXT ACT FOR PEOPLE, TOO

Ed Gilhouse, a 60-year-old construction safety expert, was at the terminal overseeing the preparations for the ship arrivals. He said he went to work for Vineyard Wind to try something new as his career winds down. It also keeps him close to home. He had been commuting out-of-state to work.

This is just like a cherry on top for me, so to speak, to be able to do this, to take offshore wind to the next level, he said. This is the future.

Before the turbine tower sections arrived, Moeller invited local business and community leaders to the terminal to share their plans for the weeks ahead.

New Bedford native Bernadette Souza went because she wants to be able to tell local students what's happening here. Souza is the executive director of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, which takes students on bike rides along New Bedfords scenic South End peninsula to introduce them to their everyday surroundings. One of their favorite destinations overlooks the marine terminal.

They're looking over and they have so many questions, she said. I want to get them excited. I love my city. I want to give these kids that opportunity, to say, 'I know about wind. That's where I'm from.'

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
This undated photo shows a river tern flying in the Mekong flooded forest area in Cambodia. The Mekong population of River Tern in Cambodia is stable in the past two years with 71 birds recorded in 2023 along with three beautiful and healthy chicks, said a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) press statement on Wednesday.(Eam Sam Un/WWF-Cambodia/Handout via Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Mekong population of River Tern in Cambodia is stable in the past two years with 71 birds recorded in 2023 along with three beautiful and healthy chicks, said a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) press statement on Wednesday.

Citing a report early this week from the bird nest surveys led by WWF's Mekong Flooded Forest team between February and April, the statement said the number in fact represents an increase of almost 130 percent if compared with the survey result obtained about seven years ago, from only 31 birds in 2016 to 71 in 2023.

The birds and hatchlings are currently occupying 31 nests, which are under the protection of local communities living adjacent to the habitat areas along the Mekong river in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces, it added.

Listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the River Tern is one of the rare bird species in Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, the bird population suffered a serious decline with a more than 80 percent decrease during the past 20 years mainly due to human activities, the statement said.

"This bird becomes the rarest bird species on earth today," WWF-Cambodia country director Seng Teak said.

According to the statement, the current survey result is evidence that the bird population has started to recover, raising hope for species conservation in Cambodia and in the world.

"We thank the local people from the bird habitat areas for their active involvement in the Community-based Bird Nest Protection Program implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and WWF," the statement said. 

This undated photo shows river terns sitting on perches in the Mekong flooded forest area in Cambodia. The Mekong population of River Tern in Cambodia is stable in the past two years with 71 birds recorded in 2023 along with three beautiful and healthy chicks, said a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) press statement on Wednesday. (Eam Sam Un/WWF-Cambodia/Handout via Xinhua)
One dead, one seriously injured in another bullet-riddled night in Columbus

A woman was killed and a 17-year-old boy was critically wounded in separate shootings that were part of another night that left Columbus riddled with bullets.

Around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Columbus police were called to a home on the 800 block of Camden Avenue in the Milo-Grogan neighborhod and found 30-year-old Antonia Smith with a gunshot wound. Smith was rushed to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, but died at 11:43 p.m. from her injuries.

A preliminary investigation by Columbus police homicide detecitives determined that Smith and 52-year-old Jason Kosmo got into an altercation at the home. Kosmo pulled out a firearm and shot Smith, according to police.

Kosmo was arrested and charged with murder. He is being held in the Franklin County jail.

Smith's death was one of multiple shootings Columbus police were called to investigate in just a few hours Tuesday night.

Around 9:45 p.m., Columbus police were called to the 900 block of East 20th Avenue in South Linden and found two 17-year-olds who had been shot. One of the teens is in critical condition while the other was hospitalized in stable condition, police said.

Gun violence in Columbus: UNDER FIRE

Homicide detectives are handling the investigation because of the severity of the wounds involving the victim in critical condition. Police have not identified either teen.

Detectives are also continuing to investigate after getting a ShotSpotter alert around 2:30 p.m. for a shooting in the Wedgewood Village Apartments on the city's West Side. Two people, a man and woman, were found shot, but both are expected to survive.

No information has been released on a possible motive or suspects in either of those cases. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: One dead, one seriously injured in another violent night in Columbus
One of the oldest Kentucky Derby winners dies at 26. He was also the most expensive.

Fusaichi Pegasus, the winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby who later became the highest-priced racehorse ever sold, died Tuesday at age 26.

Fusaichi Pegusas was retired from racing in 2000 and retired from stallion duties at Ashford Stud in 2020. The farm announced the horse was euthanized Tuesday due to the infirmities of old age.

Fu Peg was a fantastic racehorse and a colorful character, Ashford Stud General Manager Dermot Ryan said in a news release.

Fusaichi Pegasus won the 2000 Kentucky Derby as the 2-1 favorite, finished second to Red Bullet in the Preakness and ended his career with a sixth-place finish in the Breeders Cup Classic at Churchill Downs later that year.

The son of the great stallion Mr. Prospector was purchased as a yearling at Keeneland for $4 million by Japanese businessman Fusao Sekiguchi. That price remains the highest ever paid at auction for a horse that went on to win the Kentucky Derby.

Sekiguchis investment proved shrewd after the Run for the Roses, when Irish breeder Coolmore Stud bought Fusaichi Pegasus for a reported $70 million  at the time the highest price ever paid for a racehorse.

Fusao Sekiguchi bought Fusaichi Pegasus for $4 million as a 2-year-old and sold him for $70 million after his Kentucky Derby victory.

Fusaichi Pegasus split time between Ashford Stud in Woodford County and Coolmores breeding operation in Australia for the first decade of his stallion career.

He was the sire of champion Thoroughbreds in several different countries.

After the death of Fusaichi Pegasus, 20 living Kentucky Derby winners remain. The youngest is 2023 victor Mage, and the oldest is 29-year-old Silver Charm, who resides at Old Friends farm in Georgetown.

Fusaichi Pegasus was bred by Arthur Hancock and Bob and Janice McNair of Stonerside Farm.

Trained by Neil Drysdale, Fusaichi Pegasus won six races from nine career starts with career earnings of $1,994,400.

Fusaichi Pegasus was retired from stallion duty in 2020 and lived out his remaining days at Ashford Stud in Versailles.

In 2000, he won the San Felipe Stakes and the Wood Memorial before finishing first in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness Stakes. He did not run in the Belmont Stakes but returned to the track later that year to finish first in the Jerome Handicap and sixth in the Breeders Cup Classic, his final race.

He was a challenging horse to train, actually, Drysdale told BloodHorse this week. He was rambunctious and had a lot of energy. He was a horse who you had to do something different with every day. Most horses enjoy a routine and he did not.

When he crossed the finish line first in a 19-horse field in the 2000 Kentucky Derby, Fusaichi Pegasus winning time was the seventh-fastest ever in the Run for the Roses. His time of 2:01.12 for the mile-and-a-quarter remains the 10th fastest in 2023.

This guy, hes a beast, said winning jockey Kent Desormeaux after the race. Hes just so powerful, yet he maintains his grace.

Fusiachi Pegasus, the 2-1 post-time favorite, defeated Aptitude by 1 1/2 lengths and Impeachment by 5 .

Fusaichi Pegasus 1997  2023.

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus who was... https://t.co/U5IQ4PA9N7 pic.twitter.com/dZarxGa0DN  Coolmore America (@coolmoreamerica) May 24, 2023

Big for a colt at his age, Fusaichi Pegasus glided with remarkable fluidity.

You would think he would lumber around the track, Desormeaux said at the time. Boom, boom, boom, like an elephant.

But he did not.

He maintains his elegance.

Fusaichi Pegasus, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, won the 126th Kentucky Derby by a length and a half over Aptitude in 2000.

Herald-Leader Staff Writer Ben Roberts contributed to this article.

There are 21 living Kentucky Derby winners. Heres where they all are now.

How much does a Kentucky Derby horse cost? Here are the prices on this years contenders.

Kentucky Derby winners

Triple Crown winners in bold

2023: Mage

2022: Rich Strike

2021: Mandaloun-1

2020: Authentic

2019: Country House-2

2018: Justify

2017: Always Dreaming

2016: Nyquist

2015: American Pharoah

2014: California Chrome

2013: Orb

2012: Ill Have Another

2011: Animal Kingdom

2010: Super Saver

2009: Mine That Bird

2008: Big Brown

2007: Street Sense

2006: Barbaro

2005: Giacomo

2004: Smarty Jones

2003: Funny Cide

2002: War Emblem

2001: Monarchos

2000: Fusaichi Pegasus

1999: Charismatic

1998: Real Quiet

1997: Silver Charm

1996: Grindstone

1995: Thunder Gulch

1994: Go for Gin

1993: Sea Hero

1992: Lil E. Tee

1991: Strike the Gold

1990: Unbridled

1989: Sunday Silence

1988: Winning Colors

1987: Alysheba

1986: Ferdinand

1985: Spend a Buck

1984: Swale

1983: Sunnys Halo

1982: Gato Del Sol

1981: Pleasant Colony

1980: Genuine Risk

1979: Spectacular Bid

1978: Affirmed

1977: Seattle Slew

1976: Bold Forbes

1975: Foolish Pleasure

1974: Cannonade

1973: Secretariat

1972: Riva Ridge

1971: Canonero II

1970: Dust Commander

1969: Majestic Prince

1968: Forward Pass-3

1967: Proud Clarion

1966: Kauai King

1965: Lucky Debonair

1964: Northern Dancer

1963: Chateaugay

1962: Decidedly

1961: Carry Back

1960: Venetian Way

1959: Tomy Lee

1958: Tim Tam

1957: Iron Liege

1956: Needles

1955: Swaps

1954: Determine

1953: Dark Star

1952: Hill Gail

1951: Count Turf

1950: Middleground

1949: Ponder

1948: Citation

1947: Jet Pilot

1946: Assault

1945: Hoop Jr.

1944: Pensive

1943: Count Fleet

1942: Shut Out

1941: Whirlaway

1940: Gallahadion

1939: Johnstown

1938: Lawrin

1937: War Admiral

1936: Bold Venture

1935: Omaha

1934: Cavalcade

1933: Brokers Tip

1932: Burgoo King

1931: Twenty Grand

1930: Gallant Fox

1929: Clyde Van Dusen

1928: Reigh Count

1927: Whiskery

1926: Bubbling Over

1925: Flying Ebony

1924: Black Gold

1923: Zev

1922: Morvich

1921: Behave Yourself

1920: Paul Jones

1919: Sir Barton

1918: Exterminator

1917: Omar Khayyam

1916: George Smith

1915: Regret

1914: Old Rosebud

1913: Donerail

1912: Worth

1911: Meridian

1910: Donau

1909: Wintergreen

1908: Stone Street

1907: Pink Star

1906: Sir Huon

1905: Agile

1904: Elwood

1903: Judge Himes

1902: Alan-a-Dale

1901: His Eminence

1900: Lieut. Gibson

1899: Manuel

1898: Plaudit

1897: Typhoon II

1896: Ben Brush

1895: Halma

1894: Chant

1893: Lookout

1892: Azra

1891: Kingman

1890: Riley

1889: Spokane

1888: Macbeth II

1887: Montrose

1886: Ben Ali

1885: Joe Cotton

1884: Buchanan

1883: Leonatus

1882: Apollo

1881: Hindoo

1880: Fonso

1879: Lord Murphy

1878: Day Star

1877: Baden-Baden

1876: Vagrant

1875: Aristides

1-Mandaloun was declared winner after Medina Spirit was disqualified for using prohibited medication.

2-Country House was declared winner after Maximum Security was disqualified for interference.

3-Forward Pass was declared winner after Dancers Image was disqualified for using prohibited medication.
One tip from a National Geographic photographer totally changed the way I take pictures of nature on my phone

Insider's reporter has been practicing photography for a decade, and now she wants to learn to shoot with her phone. Joey Hadden/Insider

I asked National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan how to take better photos on my phone.

Yuyan gave me a tip on how to take photos of natural landscapes that stand out from the rest.

Find a foreground subject and frame your shot to show the scenery in the distance, he said.

Nowadays, people are "drowning in photographs," National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan told Insider. But there are ways to make yours stand out  even if you're just shooting on your phone.

I love taking pictures so much that I went to school for it. And after nearly a decade of learning and shooting with intricate film and digital cameras, I work as a travel reporter. I take four trips a year where my work revolves around documenting the places I'm visiting while experiencing them. So I thought it was about time to learn about my smallest, most nimble camera  my phone.

Just like in school, I wanted to learn from a pro. So I turned to Yuyan, who tells visual stories about how different cultures relate to the environment, from the Amazon to the Arctic seas. He gave me four useful tips for taking better pictures with my phone, and one of them made me think about photographing nature in a whole new way.

Put something in the foreground

When it comes to making phone photos stand out, Yuyan said natural landscapes are especially challenging since they've been photographed so much. His best advice is to find a good foreground subject.

"Great backgrounds, such as mountains or waterfalls, are easy to find because we're always looking for them," Yuyan said. "On the other hand, a good foreground subject, such as blooming wildflowers or a craggy tree, can be much harder to find in the right location."

Yuyan recommended searching for a foreground subject and framing your shot so you can see the scenery in the distance.

"It'll give your images depth, intimacy, and make your photos unique," he said.

The author photographs a beach in Santa Cruz, California. Joey Hadden/Insider

I had never thought about foreground in this way before, but his tip reminded me of when I photographed a beach across the street from mountains in Santa Cruz, California. I started by photographing the beach from the shore. I thought the mountains looked nice, but there was so much sand that I thought the bottom half of my image looked boring.

So I took my phone across some ocean rocks and into the tide pools. I thought the rocks and reflecting water spruced up my foreground by giving my image more layers. To me, this made my image feel more dynamic.

I also thought about a time I took some photos on my phone during a hike in Prescott, Arizona. When I first arrived at the Watson Lake parking lot for my hike, I thought it looked stunning with rock formations I hadn't seen before. So I was surprised when I found that photographing the scene from the lot didn't seem to do it justice.

But once I immersed myself in the landscape by hiking the trails, I found foreground subjects such as shrubs that better framed the lake scene. I thought the inclusion of these elements in the second image gave a better sense of what it was really like to be there because it had more layers showing what actually surrounds the lake.

The author photographs Prescott, Arizona, in 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

Some images in my camera roll already seemed to support Yuyan's tip, but the photographer helped me identify what makes certain pictures stronger than others. I'll go into my next outdoor trip feeling more inspired to shoot from my phone and scout for interesting foregrounds.

Read the original article on Insider
Only Hungary has not cancelled unilateral restrictions on agricultural imports from Ukraine

Hungary remains the only country among Ukraine's neighbours that still maintains unilateral restrictions against Ukrainian agricultural imports.

Source: Miriam Garcia Ferrer, European Commission Spokesperson for Trade and Agriculture, at a press briefing in Brussels, reported by European Pravda referring to Ukrinform.

Quote: "There is still one country that has not cancelled its unilateral measures against agricultural exports from Ukraine. This should not necessarily affect Ukrainian transit [of grain  ed.], and it does not apply to the entire EU. But we offered a package of assistance on the condition that the unilateral measures were withdrawn. The country that has not done so is Hungary."

Details: She has pointed out that on 28 April, the European Commission agreed with Ukraine's neighbouring countries on a package of measures to be implemented after the states lifted their unilateral actions against agricultural imports from Ukraine.

The package also included direct aid for affected farmers in Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

"We had a presentation of these measures with the participation of different countries on 3 May. Then we discussed the 100 million aid package and the conditions for its allocation. At the moment, we are still waiting for certain unilateral measures that have been introduced to be removed before we can take the next step," Ferrer added.

Answering journalists' questions about whether the European Commission had received a letter from several member states protesting against the allocation of aid to the five countries, the spokesperson confirmed that the European Commission had received such an appeal.

"I can confirm that the European Commission received such a letter in May, this month. We will respond shortly. But I cannot predict in advance at this moment what that response will be," Ferrer said.

Background:

Until recently, Hungary and Slovakia were the only countries that had not lifted their unilateral restrictions. Slovakia did so on 12 May.

On 2 May, the European Commission imposed exceptional and temporary safeguard measures on imports of certain agricultural products from Ukraine following pressure from five EU member states that blamed Ukrainian imports for the collapse of local prices.

Subsequently, 12 EU countries complained to Brussels about the lack of consultations on the Ukrainian grain agreement.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Fireside Chat

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, during a fireside chat at University College London (UCL) in London, UK, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Altman said part of the reason for his current tour of European cities is to discover a suitable location for a new office. Credit - Chris J. RatcliffeBloomberg/Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Wednesday his company could cease operating in the European Union if it is unable to comply with the provisions of new artificial intelligence legislation that the bloc is currently preparing.

Were gonna try to comply, Altman said on the sidelines of a panel discussion at University College London, part of an ongoing tour of European countries. He said he had met with E.U. regulators to discuss the AI act as part of his tour, and added that OpenAI had a lot of criticisms of the way the act is currently worded.

Altman said that OpenAIs skepticism centered on the E.U. laws designation of high risk systems as it is currently drafted. The law is still undergoing revisions, but under its current wording it may require large AI models like OpenAIs ChatGPT and GPT-4 to be designated as high risk, forcing the companies behind them to comply with additional safety requirements. OpenAI has previously argued that its general purpose systems are not inherently high-risk.

Either well be able to solve those requirements or not, Altman said of the E.U. AI Acts provisions for high risk systems. If we can comply, we will, and if we cant, well cease operating We will try. But there are technical limits to whats possible.

Read More: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Asks Congress to Regulate AI

The law, Altman said, was not inherently flawed, but he went on to say that the subtle details here really matter. During an on-stage interview earlier in the day, Altman said his preference for regulation was something between the traditional European approach and the traditional U.S. approach.

Altman also said on stage that he was worried about the risks stemming from artificial intelligence, singling out the possibility of AI-generated disinformation designed to appeal to an individuals own personal biases. For example, AI-generated disinformation could have an impact on the upcoming 2024 U.S. election, he said. But he suggested that social media platforms were more important drivers of disinformation than AI language models. You can generate all the disinformation you want with GPT-4, but if its not being spread, its not going to do much, he said.

Read More: The AI Arms Race Is Changing Everything

On the whole, Altman presented a rosy view to the London crowd of a potential future where the technologys benefits far outweighed its risks. I am an optimist, he said.

In a foray into socioeconomic policy, Altman raised the prospect of the need for wealth redistribution in an AI-driven future. Well have to think about distribution of wealth differently than we do today, and thats fine, Altman said on stage. We think about that somewhat differently after every technological revolution.

Altman told TIME after the talk that OpenAI was preparing, in 2024, to begin making public interventions on the topic of wealth redistribution, in much the same way that it is currently doing on AI regulatory policy. Were going to try, he said. Thats kind of a next-year project for us. OpenAI is currently carrying out a five-year study into universal basic income, he said, which will conclude next year. Thatll be a good time to do it, Altman said.

Altmans appearance at the London university drew some negative attention. Outside the packed-out lecture theater, a handful of protesters milled around talking to people whod failed to get in. One protester carried a sign saying: Stop the suicide AGI race. (AGI stands for Artificial General Intelligence, a hypothetical superintelligent AI that OpenAI has said that it aims to one day build.) The protesters handed out fliers urging people to Stand up against Sam Altmans dangerous vision for the future.

Demonstrators gather outside a UCL lecture hall in London, on May 24, 2023 during a visit by OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman. Billy Perrigo for TIME

Its time that the public step up and say: it is our future and we should have a choice over it, said Gideon Futterman, 20, one of the protesters, who said he is a student studying solar geoengineering and existential risk at the University of Oxford. We shouldnt be allowing multimillionaires from Silicon Valley with a messiah complex to decide what we want.

Read more: Pausing AI Developments Isnt Enough. We Need to Shut it All Down

What were doing is making a deal with the devil, Futterman says. A very large number of people who think that these systems are on track for AGI, also think that a bad future is more likely than a good future.

Futterman told TIME that Altman came out and had a brief conversation with him and the other protesters after his panel appearance.

He said he understood our concerns, but thinks that safety and capabilities cant be separated from each other, Futterman said. He said that OpenAI isnt a player in the [AI] race, despite the fact that this is so clearly what they are doing. He basically said that he doesnt think this development can be stopped, and said hes got confidence in their safety.
Orlando residents voice concerns over big rigs, other trucks parked in neighborhood

Orlando residents voice concerns over big rigs, other trucks parked in neighborhood

Residents in an Orlando neighborhood said theyve complained for months about big trucks parked all over the area including big rigs, box trucks and even pickup trucks.

Neighbors in Lake Mann Estates, one of the several areas where this is an issue, said its an eyesore.

Ive sent photos, Ive sent emails and nothings ever done, Lake Mann Estates resident Nick Smith said.

READ: Ron DeSantis officially announces presidential bid on social media

Smith said hes filed more than 30 complaints documenting big trucks illegally parked across his neighborhood.

Nobody wants to own a house across the street from that, Smith said.

READ: Orlando city worker to compete on Jeopardy! tonight

Orange County officials said it is indeed a violation and that dual rear-wheel vehicles cant be stored in any area of the county zoned for single- or multi-family homes. It could lead to a $150 parking fine.

See the full story in the video above.

READ: Firefighters battle house fire in Orange County

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.
The Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has approved switching to the new Julian calendar from Sept. 1.

It means the Church will celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 instead of Jan. 7. Other holidays with a fixed date will also be moved while the change will not apply to Easter as its date fluctuates.

According to the Church, despite the Synod's May 24 decision, parishes and monasteries can continue using the old calendar.

The Church's local council is yet to approve the transition on July 27, 2023. However, the Church's Head Metropolitan Epiphanius and some other bishops told BBC Ukraine the move was decided upon and would happen as planned.

Taras Tarasiuk: How the Russian Orthodox Churchs covert actions against Ukraine have failed Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, a Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church and not to be confused with the Kyiv IndependentTaras Tarasiuk

"This decision is not easy, we have been approaching it for a long time, gradually, step by step, and we are making it carefully. But it is just as necessary, as at one time it was necessary to decide to introduce modern Ukrainian language in worship instead of the traditional Slavic one, to introduce an autocephalous structure of the life of the Church instead of centuries-old subordination," said Epiphanius.

"Not everyone accepted these decisions, not everyone supported them - but they were true and vitally necessary."

Until recently, both the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Ukrainian Greek Catholics had used only the Julian calendar, also used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Roman Catholics use the Gregorian calendar, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and most other autocephalous (independent) Orthodox churches use the revised Julian calendar, which currently coincides with the Gregorian calendar.

Previously the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Ukrainian Greek Catholics had celebrated Christmas only on Jan. 7 - the same day as Russia. Most Orthodox churches and Roman Catholics celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25.

This year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has allowed its parishes to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 as part of the country's efforts to distance itself from Russia amid its aggression against Ukraine.

The developments come amid a backlash against the Russian Orthodox Church's Ukrainian branch.
A first-of-its-kind report released on Tuesday finally gave a clearer estimate of how many people experience solitary confinement across both U.S. jails and prisons on a given day: 122,840.

But the figure, which makes up roughly 6% of the countrys jail and prison population, is likely a significant undercount. The calculation relies on data from state and local jails as well as state and federal prisons  data that, according to the report, had not been combined previously  but it was self-reported data, and excludes any data from immigration detention centers and youth facilities.

Still, the report, released by the nonprofit Solitary Watch and Unlock the Box, a campaign against solitary confinement, gives a more comprehensive picture of the use of solitary confinement than was previously available.

Solitary confinement, also referred to as restrictive housing, among other names, is used often throughout the criminal justice system, disproportionately against people of color. In 2020, a United Nations expert described solitary confinement as a method of torture when someone is subjected to it for more than 15 consecutive days.

The report was written by Jean Casella and Alexandra Rivera from Solitary Watch and Jack Beck, Scott Paltrowitz, and Jessica Sandoval from Unlock the Box. It includes figures from a report by the Vera Institute of Justice.

The report documents the recorded and estimated number of individuals in solitary confinement for 22 hours or more on any given day in 2019. The research does not account for the number of individuals who were forced to isolate or were placed in solitary confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had more widespread effects after 2019.

The report also lacks data from West Virginia, the only state that does not share its solitary confinement data. Of the remaining U.S. states, Nevada reported the highest percentage of its jail and prison population confined in solitary (nearly 26%), while Delaware, on the other hand, reported 0%.

Solitary confinement is the worst thing that can legally be done to a person in this country, short of the death penalty. Its been proven to be a form of torture, Casella, who serves as the director of Solitary Watch, told HuffPost.

The idea that more than 100,000 Americans  more than 1 in 20 incarcerated people  are subjected to these conditions on a daily basis is shocking, and we hope it will move people to action, Casella added.

Solitary confinement is the worst thing that can legally be done to a person in this country, short of the death penalty.Jean Casella, Solitary Watch

According to Prison Policy, people held in solitary confinement are more likely to die by suicide, opioid overdose or homicide when they are released. They are also likely to suffer from hallucinations, self-harm, PTSD and other long-lasting mental health issues.

The report notes that some individuals spend weeks, months or years in solitary confinement, many suffering irreparable damage.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who has advocated for the end of solitary confinement, called the reports findings a catastrophe.

Inflicting solitary on one person is a moral blight on this nation. Inflicting it on hundreds of thousands of people  disproportionately Black, brown and Indigenous people  is a disaster, Bush said in a statement emailed to HuffPost.

Lawmakers and officials, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, have promised they would work to end or lessen solitary confinement.

Likewise, the Federal Bureau of Prisons claims it is taking the necessary short and long-term steps to thoughtfully address this issue, and we are confident in [BOP Director Colette Peters] ability to effectively meet the goals of the Presidents Executive Order, a Justice Department spokesperson told NBC News, referring to Bidens pledge to ensure that conditions of confinement are safe and humane and free from prolonged segregation.

The call to end solitary confinement has gained traction within the last decade. But, Casella told NBC, Prisons and jails are maybe the most change-resistant government institutions we have in this country.

Bringing any kind of change will be a long, arduous process, she said.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

If you or someone you know needs help, dial 988 or call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also get support via text by visiting suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

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Over one million people displaced in four months in Somalia: UN

Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia and Kenya have been suffering the worst drought in four decades

More than a million Somalis have been displaced within their own country in just over four months through a "toxic" mix of drought, conflict and floods, humanitarian agencies said Wednesday.

Around 433,000 people were forced from their homes between January 1 and May 10 as a grinding Islamist insurgency raged and clashes broke out in the breakaway Somaliland region, the UN refugee agency UNHCR and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.

in addition, "over 408,000 people were displaced by floods sweeping across their villages and another 312,000 people were displaced by ravaging drought," they said in a joint statement.

Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia and Kenya have been suffering the worst drought in four decades after five failed rainy seasons that have left millions of people in need and decimated crops and livestock.

UN chief Antonio Guterres and world governments are meeting in New York on Wednesday at a conference to seek funding of $7 billion to help those in need across the region.

At least 43.3 million people require lifesaving and life-sustaining assistance in the Horn of Africa, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said last week.

The number of people displaced within Somalia's borders now stands at 3.8 million, with 6.7 million people struggling to find food, according to the UNHCR and NRC.

More than half a million children are severely malnourished, they added.

"These are alarming figures of some of the most vulnerable people forced to abandon the little that they had to head for the unknown," said Mohamed Abdi, the NRC's country director in Somalia.

"We can only fear the worst in the coming months as all the ingredients of this catastrophe are boiling in Somalia."

Most of the families have fled the Hiraan region in central Somalia and Gedo in the south of the country of 17 million people and are arriving in overcrowded urban areas, putting a strain on already stretched resources.

- 'Human tragedy' -

The agencies called for urgent and greater investment to combat the crises "otherwise we will never see the end of this unfolding human tragedy," said Magatte Guisse, UNHCR's representative in Somalia.

Currently, aid agencies have received only 22 percent of funding to meet their needs for Somalia this year.

Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab jihadists have been fighting the fragile central government since 2007 and control parts of the countryside from where they have carried out numerous attacks both in Somalia and in neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile flash flooding has hit central Somalia since May after heavy rainfall sent water gushing into homes in Beledweyne town in Hiraan, submerging roads and buildings and killed 22 people.

The Horn of Africa has been scarred by protracted armed conflicts and climate disasters with the World Food Programme (WFP) warning on Wednesday that crises were far from over.

"The last three years of drought has left more than 23 million people across parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger," the WFP said in a statement, adding that it would take years for the region to recover.

OCHA said last week that while famine "has been prevented" in the region, the humanitarian emergency was not over.

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Pa. state troopers more likely to do optional searches for Black, Hispanic drivers than white ones

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Black and Hispanic drivers were slightly more likely to face discretionary searches during traffic stops in Pennsylvania last year, according to a report released Tuesday that examined interactions between Pennsylvania State Troopers and motorists.

The analysis, conducted by criminologist Robin Engel and a team of researchers at the National Policing Institute, found no disparity among racial and ethnic groups for warnings, citations and arrests statewide, but found State Police were slightly more likely to search Black and Hispanic drivers than white drivers during searches where the trooper initiated the investigation based on probable cause, reasonable suspicion or permission from the driver.

These kinds of stops are rare, constituting only 2.8% of more than more than 440,000 stops conducted in 2022, but Black and Hispanic drivers were more likely to be subject to them than white drivers.

Black and Hispanic drivers were 1.9 and 1.3 times more likely to be subject to a discretionary search than white drivers, according to the report.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Engel said she is optimistic the numbers will continue to improve given their decline overtime. The disparities peaked in 2008 when Black and Hispanic drivers were 3.0 and 2.6 times more likely to be subject to a discretionary search than white drivers.

Researchers also found disparities in the rates of seizures during discretionary stops. The seizure rate for such searches conducted in 2022 is much higher in general across racial and ethnic groups than rates from between 2002 and 2010, according to the report. But differences remain.

As in previous analyses, the researchers found police most often seized items  including drugs, weapons, and money  from the cars of white drivers.

During searches based on probable cause or reasonable suspicion, where troopers had reason to believe the driver could be committing a crime, they found items to seize in 75.8% of cars of white drivers, 73.5% cars of Black drivers, and 65.1% cars of Hispanic drivers. In searches initiated only with the consent of the driver, troopers seized items in 52.4% of the vehicles of white drivers, 41.5% of the vehicles of Black drivers, and 32.9% of the vehicles of Hispanic drivers.

The 2022 analysis is the first in more than a decade after State Police ceased collecting traffic stop data in 2012.

State Police announced in 2021 that they would again have Engel independently analyze traffic stop data. The announcement followed a 2019 Spotlight PA investigation that found the department halted the practice without explanation or public notice.

Engel and her team were slated to produce their first new report by April 2022, but the researchers found the first year of data unusable because 85% of trooper stations did not record demographic information during all types of traffic stops.

This was mostly because troopers in some stations did not realize they had to complete the form for stops that resulted in only a verbal warning, Engel told Spotlight PA last year.

The newest report examines stop outcomes, but does not examine whether certain drivers are more likely to be pulled over than others. This is because the research team was unable to find a reliable benchmark to use to compare the data.

In 2022, Pennsylvania State Police made 441,329 traffic stops. Of those, officers marked 71.1% as white, 14.4% as Black, and 8.2% as Hispanic. Officers are required to rely on their perception to record race or ethnicity, a common practice among departments that collect data to better understand how an officers bias might affect policing outcomes.

But comparing these findings to the most readily available benchmark, residential population, is inadequate, Engel said at the news conference, because where people live is not necessarily the same as where they drive.

It doesnt tell you where you drive, when you drive, how you drive, what you drive, whether or not theres an organizational enforcement in a particular community at a communitys request, whether or not theres a DUI traffic point as part of your travels, Engel said. Theres a whole host of reasons why you could be stopped or at risk of being stopped, none of which is measured by the residential census population.

Engels team attempted to find a better benchmark in the early 2000s with assistance from Pennsylvania State University students, who sat beside roads and interstates across the state to observe the characteristics of drivers. The results confirmed the people driving in an area are not necessarily the same as the people living in that area.

Decades of research have not produced a reliable, affordable way of finding a benchmark comparison, Engel said, so thats why its so important to take that next step and say okay, given that a stop has been made, what do we see in terms of the treatment of motorists after that stop is made and thats the best indicator that we have.

In the newest report, the researchers made several recommendations for State Police. They encouraged the agency to continue to refine data collection methods; assess patterns and trends in traffic stops at the troop and station levels; and enhance accountability and oversight mechanisms for trooper conduct during traffic stops, particularly those that result in a consent search.

The researchers also recommended continued study of the departments specialized criminal interdiction training courses, which are designed to prevent crimes from occurring on state highways.

While citizens often demand training to address issues such as implicit bias or deescalation in policing, few studies have determined if these courses actually affect police behavior, Engel said.

This is true across all types of police training and its true across the country, which is why the Pennsylvania State Police willingness for an outside research team to come in and look at and study their criminal interdiction training is quite significant, she said.

State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris endorsed Engels work Tuesday and said the department would continue to use the findings to improve police services.

I fundamentally believe in all sectors that which gets measured gets improved, he said at the news conference. ...The fact that we can track this data over time, you know, really we think is only a positive, so I would expect our members to embrace this.

Throughout 2022, the researchers audited the data to identify additional collection issues and ensure the number of stops officers recorded matched the stops in the departments dispatch system.

I am really thrilled to say the error rate is well below 10%, Engel said Tuesday, and for the missing data fields, its in the less than 1%, well below the threshold the researchers established.

The researchers will work with State Police through 2025 and plan to provide annual reports to the department for the next three years. The four-year contract will cost State Police $696,000.

This is the second time State Police have partnered with Engel to examine traffic stop data for evidence of racial disparities. Officials initially told Spotlight PA they stopped collecting the data because the analysis, which spanned 2002 to 2010, showed no evidence that troopers conducted traffic stops based on race or ethnicity.

While Spotlight PAs review confirmed that researchers did not find evidence that state troopers stopped Black and Hispanic people at a disproportionate rate, the analysts did find that once pulled over, troopers subjected people of color to citations, arrests, and searches more often than white people.

WHILE YOURE HERE... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
SYDNEY, May 24 (Xinhua) -- While big brands often commandeer the spotlight, up-and-coming new faces can also turn heads at a fashion week, as they hold the potential to wow the industry with creativity.

Awarded as one of the four Next Gen designers by Australian Fashion Week, Xizhu Wu finished her debut runway show in a refurbished gallery at the Carriageworks in Sydney, beaming with joy and relief.

"It's my first time having a proper runway show, which I'm very excited about, but I'm feeling a lot more relieved. The show's over. Now I can relax a little, move on and do the next thing," Wu told Xinhua.

For the young Chinese-Australian who founded her own label "Xi Wu Studio," it took about five months to create a brand-new collection from sketch to ready-for-runway pieces, with "nostalgia" as the core concept.

By reworking her previous designs in new fabrics, including crinkle wool, flannel wool, silk, and floral knit, Wu fused pattern-making and garment construction techniques originating from the East and West. She impressed fashionistas with her well-tailored attire with its unexpected detailing.

"I want to like start again with some older pieces that everyone can see why I've done the past, what I'm doing now, and what I might head into in the future," the designer noted.

"It's also about my bicultural upbringing," said Wu. "I put everything into the collection to reflect my emotions and how I perceived my upbringing."

Wu grew up in south China's Guangdong Province until the age of five and then moved to Australia with her parents. Eastern and Western cultures have left their stamps on the aesthetic of the designers' pieces, which were mirrored by the garments on the runway.

"For example, in the Eastern culture, the garments are flatter and more covered. There is room for movement and there are a lot of layers, whereas in the Western culture, it's more tailored and fitted to your body," Wu said, noting that she tried to keep a balance between the two styles.

In her collection, an asymmetrical blazer bonded with reflective knit was perfectly matched with a pair of loose-fitting twisted pleat trousers. A green cropped jacket and mini skirt combo featured a Chinese floral pattern, with a jade charm dangling at the model's waist as she strutted down the catwalk.

The innovative designer also stitched frog buttons on a layered blazer, made laser-cut acrylic accouterments using the motif of the Chinese character "Fu," and reinvented traditional cotton textiles for a more contemporary look.

"When I was researching Chinese traditional garments (Ming and Qing Dynasties), I saw elements such as flat, baggy, layering, slits and ties. These are the elements that I have incorporated into my designs," Wu said.

From quilted clothes worn by people in China, the peony painting hung up on the wall at her grandmother's house, to the decor in tea houses where she had dim sum with her family, all things Wu saw growing up became a source of inspiration. Wu told Xinhua that as she grew older, she knew about Chinese culture better. What Wu once regarded as "old-fashioned" now looked "actually quite cool" to her. "And I can make it into my own way," she said.

Meanwhile, Wu appreciated her experience of living in Australia. It was on a textile course in high school that Wu got her first glimpse of the fashion industry. With encouragement from her textile teachers, who were also invited by Wu to her show, she decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in design at the University of Technology Sydney.

After reaching a major milestone at the 2023 Australian Fashion Week, Wu thought about extending the collection, having a few pieces available for pre-order, and creating custom garments.

The 25-year-old designer followed a one-step-at-a-time approach for her burgeoning career, saying that maybe she would have her solo show next year. 
WASHINGTON  The Czech Ministry of Defence plans to join an emerging push by Germany to upgrade its fleet of Leopard 2 main battle tanks, eying an order of 70 copies of the vehicles newest A8 configuration.

Leaders in Prague have designated Minister of Defense Jana Cernochova the point person to negotiate a Czech buy of the weapons, made by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall and known as Kampfpanzer in German, the defense ministry said in a May 24 statement.

The idea is to piggy-back on a German purchase that will initially cover 18 Leopard 2A8 tanks, for $565 million, to replace Berlins donations to Ukraine, but that could grow over time into a multibillion-euro deal for up to 123 copies, German media reported.

The envisioned Czech investment paves the way for the Army of the Czech Republic to acquire a top-of-the-line ground platform, which is also in use in a number of European armies and is compatible with other NATO armies, reads a ministry statement. In addition, from the joint procedure with Germany, the Czech side promises a significant price reduction, shorter deliveries and the provision of adequate logistical support.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius lauded the prospective Czech participation as a big step towards Chancellor Olaf Scholzs fabled Zeitenwende objective, a wholesale boost of German and European defense capabilities.

Other nations are invited to join the emerging program to achieve lower prices, higher production rates  vendors will almost certainly have to add capacity  and increased commonality on everything from training to sustainment, Pistorius said.

Czech defense officials expect their new tanks by the end of the decade at a cost of tens of billions of crowns, said Col. Jan Kerdik, director of the MODs Land Forces Development Department. Ten billion Czech krona equals roughly $450 million.
Salt Lake Police investigate a scene in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. A Park City man accused of picking up a 12-year-old girl without telling her legal guardian is now facing a criminal charge accusing him of kidnapping the girl. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

A Park City man accused of picking up a 12-year-old girl from her home without telling her legal guardian so he could go on a "date" with her was charged Friday with kidnapping the child.

The man, 18, is charged in 3rd District Court with child kidnapping, a first-degree felony; and drug possession, a class B misdemeanor.

The investigation began about 12:15 a.m. Saturday when a Summit County sheriff's deputy spotted a vehicle stopped at an I-80 off-ramp. Believing the motorist might need assistance, the deputy stopped and found the man sitting on the ground next to one of the car's rear tires and said he "appeared to be upset," according to charging documents.

Inside the car, the deputy reported noticing a "very young" looking girl in the passenger seat.

The 18-year-old "stated that the female was his girlfriend, whom he had known for about a month and had been dating for about a week," charging documents state.

He told the deputy he had gotten out of his car because he was "stressed out," according to the affidavit. The deputy then talked to the girl who said she was 12. When the deputy again spoke to the man, he "stated that he had no idea that she was 12 and he started having a panic attack."

He told police that he had picked up the girl to go bowling in Salt Lake City and wanted her to stay the night with him at his friend's parents' home where he was staying. But he ended up getting in a fight with his friend's parents because they would not allow the girl to spend the night, the charges state.

When the deputy contacted the girl's legal guardian, she said she thought the girl was spending the night at a friend's house and that she did not have permission to be with man nor did he have permission to take her from her home, according to the charges.

When he was arrested, the deputy found the 18-year-old was also in possession of vape pens that contained THC oil, the charges state.
A former Park City police sergeant who failed to properly investigate a fatal accident and then lied about why he didnt take extra steps in the investigation had his license revoked this week.

Christopher Shields, who worked for the department from August 2013 to November 2022, did not dispute any of the facts laid out in the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training order revoking his license. He signed the document dated on Monday.

KCPOST oversees officer certifications within the state.

Shields cannot apply to be a Kansas officer again for five years.

Shields was a sergeant when he left less than two weeks after the Oct. 27 fatal accident. A call to a number associated with Shields was not answered and a message was not returned.

No one at the police department could be reached as well despite multiple calls.

The accident, based on details from the KCPOST and media reports, involved two vehicles. KSN reported that 70-year-old Paula McKinney died after she was headed west on 53rd Street South, tried to turn into a convenience store and was hit by a 26-year-old Wichita man driving eastbound. He was injured in the accident, which happened just before 6 a.m.

The police departments procedure requires officers to take measurements involving the accident if someone is triaged code red, which means critical. Shields was acting in a supervisory capacity at the time of the wreck, the KCPOST document says.

McKinney was originally triaged yellow, or serious, but it was changed seven minutes later to red. Shields was not specifically made aware of the change but it was updated in the calls log that he had access to.

A rookie officer asked if measurements needed to be taken, but Shields said no because he didnt know, or check, whether the triage had been changed, the document says.

Shields called for two tow trucks.

At 7:11 a.m., as one of the vehicles was being towed, another officer told Shields that the woman had been transported to a hospital in critical condition.

EMS told me yellow, the document says Shields replied. Im going with what EMS told me.

An autopsy says EMS records indicated that she was alert and oriented, before suddenly decompensating.

The second tow truck arrived and removed the second vehicle. Shields cleared the scene at 7:41 a.m. and went back to the police station.

At 7:44 a.m., Shields, now knowing the woman had been triaged in critical condition, called a captain and told him he was unaware of the triage change until after he cleared the scene, the document says.

He asked the captain for advice on what to do. Roughly 30 minutes later, Shields learned the woman died.

In his report Shields wrote: Once back at the station I pulled the call on my MCT and noticed that (McKinneys) triage had been downgraded to code red with a GCS of 3.

GCS appears to stand for Glasgow Coma Scale, which is a measurement of how responsive someone is.

Shields also told multiple officers that he didnt know of the change from yellow to red until he was back at the station, the document says.

Despite his assertions in writing and to other PCPD officers that he did not know of the triage change until he returned to the station, body cam footage clearly shows (Shields) being notified of the change by another officer, the document says. He responded in a flippant manner and took no steps to verify the information, alter his response to the collision scene, or preserve the scene.

Additionally, the document says, Shields later admitted to a KCPOST investigator that he learned about the triage change at the collision scene when told by other officers.
Rapper Fetty Wap, a Paterson native who once rose to great fame in the music business and served as a philanthropist in his community, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison on drug trafficking charges in New York, officials said.

The U.S. Attorneys Office stated that Willie Junior Maxwell II, known by his stage name Fetty Wap, was given a six-year prison sentence for drug trafficking conspiracy. The federal investigation discovered more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine distributed with the help of four co-defendants, one of which is a corrections officer, the court statement read. The rapper had once been a beloved model and hero for underprivileged communities.

Fetty Wap grew up on food stamps and dropped out of Eastside High School in Paterson to pursue a music career. This decision proved to be rewarding as he would go on to be nominated for Grammys, release multiple hit songs and earn a rags-to-riches reputation.

In this Aug. 26, 2019 file photo Fetty Wap arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center on in Newark, N.J. The rapper has been arrested in New York on federal drug charges, an FBI spokesperson said Friday, Oct. 29, 2021.

Even when rising above his challenged past, Fetty Wap did not forget about his roots in the Paterson community. People would soon recognize him for giving away school supplies to underprivileged students, holding free concerts for locals and even handing out turkeys before Thanksgiving. It seemed Fetty Wap would do anything to give back.

Mike Kelly: This NJ rap star's secret life finally caught up with him. Next, it's prison

Coming from not having anything to being able to do a lot more than what I did growing up to be able to live a different lifestyle, Fetty Wap previously told NorthJersey.com. It kind of really empowered me to help as many people as I could.

His double life as a philanthropist and drug dealer came to light when FBI agents arrested him in October on charges of conspiring to sell and possess drugs throughout Long Island and New Jersey. He ultimately pleaded guilty.

Court filings revealed the rappers drug organization transported narcotics from the West Coast using the United States Postal Service and vehicles with hidden compartments. A federal investigation recovered numerous guns, drugs and $1.5 million in cash.

Fetty Wap will now spend six years in federal prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fetty Wap sentenced: Paterson NJ rapper gets 6 years in prison
A man visiting Massachusetts from Georgia has quite the story to tell his co-workers after striking it rich with an instant ticket.

Jovon Garner of Brunswick, GA is the first $4 million prize winner in the Lotterys $4,000,000 Diamonds game.

Garner told lottery officials he decided to play that particular game because he liked the design of the ticket. Those tickets cost $10 each.

Garner bought his winning ticket at the Stop & Shop on Main St. in Stoneham.

He decided to take a one-time payment of $2,600,000 before taxes.

Garner said he plan to use some of his cash to buy a new vehicle and a new shed. The Stop and Shop will also receive a $40,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

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Curtis Hardison makes a presentation about local history during a visit to Pender County.

Curtis Hardison has been all over the world, but his journey started in the small area of Edgecombe in eastern Pender County.

The author recently returned home to show the community's roots stretch across the Atlantic Ocean.

His book, "Griot: The Evolution of Edgecombe," traces the journey of three African captives from their homelands of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Angola. Hardison, 77, grew up in the farming community and described it as a Tom Sawyer type of childhood, with Blacks isolated during segregation.

"Work ethic was instilled in all of us," he said. "When you're working on a farm, you're up before the sun comes up and you're working until well after sundown. That's why so many of us excelled after leaving Edgecombe."

After being captured by European slave traders, two slaves named Janey and Tuney were sold to sugarcane plantations in Jamaica. In the early 1800s, they were sold at a dockside auction near Norfolk, Virginia by Jessie W. Batts. He took them back to the Topsail area to work on his farm.

According to Hardison's research, Sangho Shook, a house slave on the nearby Sidbury farm, was raped by her owner. She later gave birth to her daughter, Harriette, who went on to marry Henry Clay, the grandson of Batts' slaves, Janey and Tuney.

The book shows how this connection started what is now the thirteenth generation of Edgecombe residents. Along with Hardison, some of the success stories after slavery include Mattie Sharpless, an U.S. Ambassador, and Dr. Johnny Batts, a physicist who worked on NASA research projects.

Eastern Pender County Progressive Center in Hampstead, N.C., Monday, February 7, 2022.

As a seventh-generation member of Edgecombe, he began talking with elders and conducting research. The technology of ancestry DNA databases helped Hardison helped Hardison connect with his roots with tribes in Africa, with his paternal side being connected to Tuney and the Mbundu people of Angola.

He's currently a Health and Safety Specialist at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Hardison graduated from Pender County Training School in 1964 and joined the U.S. Air Force, which was a game changer for him.

"Uncle Sam, bless his heart, gave me my own C-130 to maintain and I travelled and made crew chief," he said. "That exposed me to world travel, and I've been travelling ever since."

Pender County history: Pender author and filmmaker bridging gaps by documenting Black community's unknown history

More: How a Black beach on Topsail Island became part of NC's civil rights history

More from Edgecombe: As a fading Pender community fights for survival, a Hampstead leader lends her voice

Curtis Hardison

He became a member of the U.S. Secret Service and was there for 20 years through five presidents, from President Richard Nixon to President George H. W. Bush.

In early May, Hardison made a presentation about the book and Edgecombe community at the Hampstead Branch Library. He was joined by Claudia Stack, a local author and documentary filmmaker.

As growth continues in nearby Surf City, he hopes Edgecombe's history doesn't get lost, along with developments such as the proposed Applewood Trace, a project consisting of hundreds of homes. The North Carolina African American Heritage Commission recently honored the Ocean City community in North Topsail Beach with a historical marker. He would like to see something for Edgecombe, too.

"It would be nice if they could refine the borders of Edgecombe and have it listed as a heritage site and give it recognition, so it won't become just another part of Surf City," he said. "Surf City will gradually suck it up."

One of the signs of progress is the recently upgraded community center. He would also like to see the old Sloop Point School turn into a museum with former students giving tours. It was known as a Rosenwald School and one of several in the area built to educate Black students made possible by the work of philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and educator Booker T. Washington. Thousands were built in the South.

School groups and people will come from miles around to walk through the little place, he said. The community has a lot of potential.

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Reporter Chase Jordan can be reached at cjjordan@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Pender native Curtis Hardison honors county's Black history with book
FILE - The Conemaugh Generation Station emits steam in New Florence, Pa., Feb. 6, 2007. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court Wednesday, May 24, 2023, will take its first crack at whether a governor can force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or whether approval from a hostile Legislature was required first. (Todd Berkey/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Justices on Pennsylvanias Supreme Court indicated Wednesday that they are likely to have split opinions on whether a governor has the right to force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or whether he first needs approval from a Legislature that refuses to go along with the plan.

Hanging in the balance is Pennsylvania's effort to become the first major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt carbon pricing.

On Wednesday, the states highest court listened to arguments on whether a lower court was right last summer to halt Pennsylvania's participation in a multistate consortium that imposes a price and declining cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

But the justices repeatedly turned the conversation to the underlying legal question still being considered by the lower court: whether former Gov. Tom Wolf usurped the Legislatures constitutional authority to approve any form of taxation.

In that dispute, Republican lawmakers contend the carbon-trading plan is an unconstitutional tax because it lacks legislative approval; state lawyers contend it is a fee that a state agency has the authority to impose to operate a program.

Justice Christine Donohue, a Democrat, suggested it might be difficult to rule on one issue without settling the other.

I dont even know how we would make that holding without tipping our hand as to whether or not it's a tax or a fee and we just dont play hide the coin that way," Donohue told a lawyer for Senate Republicans.

At stake is no small amount of money: Pennsylvania would have raised more than $1 billion had it begun participating in 2022 when Wolf intended, according to calculations by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

Taking part in the consortium became the central plank in Wolfs plan to fight global warming. It also is a political minefield for Gov. Josh Shapiro, Wolfs successor and a fellow Democrat who was endorsed by labor unions that fought the plan.

The high court comprises four justices elected as Democrats, two as Republicans and one vacancy.

Justice Kevin Brobson, a Republican, signaled a number of objections to the plan.

At one point, he questioned whether the cost of the carbon-dioxide allowances that power plants would have to buy is too excessive to be considered a fee that pays for a regulatory process.

Then he suggested the plan is a chicken and egg thing through which an agency imposes a fee before deciding how to spend it, an avenue that he said could be abused by agencies with an underfunded program.

Then arent we bypassing the General Assembly's authority and the governor's authority and were just basically allowing agencies to pump up their inadequate funds and just build these coffers? Brobson asked a lawyer representing Shapiro's administration.

The lawyer, Matthew White, said the money must be spent in accordance with the state's air pollution laws and that the regulation envisions the money being used to enhance energy-efficiency programs, renewable energy usage and efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

White also said there is no evidence that the fees are adequate to address the problem of greenhouse gas pollution.

Democratic justices closely questioned assertions by a lawyer for Senate Republicans that the carbon-pricing plan cannot legally be a fee, partly because it works through regional auctions that impose costs and requirements on power plants in certain states, but not others.

So because it doesnt address everything, it shouldnt address anything in terms of regional impact? Donohue asked.

Donohue also seemed to suggest that the aims of the carbon-pricing program could be protected by an environmental rights amendment to Pennsylvanias constitution.

Shapiro has maintained that he does not support entering the consortium, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, on Wolfs terms.

But he continues to fight for it in court and his top environmental protection appointee told lawmakers in March that joining the consortium is a vehicle that could help meet Shapiros strong and very aspirational goals to help the environment.

Republican lawmakers, fossil fuel interests, industrial power users and trade unions oppose it, saying it will hurt the state's energy industry and drive up electric bills.

State officials, independent researchers and environmental advocates say the money reaped through the auction of emission allowances would stabilize electricity bills, or lower them, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions and helping transition fossil fuel workers into new industries.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/timelywriter
U.S. Defense Department clarified that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and their eventual transfer are meant to support Ukraine's mid- and long-term defense needs rather than short-term goals such as an upcoming counteroffensive.

Speaking at a May 23 press conference, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder also said that the U.S. was still working with allies to work out the details and dates of the training, refuting earlier reports that some countries have already started it.

Earlier the same day, the European Union's chief diplomat Josep Borrell said several countries, including Poland, had begun training Ukrainian pilots to use F-16 jets. However, Ukraine's Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat denied Borrell's claim, saying the preparation for the program was still ongoing.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak then clarified, as cited by Polish Press Agency, that his country was ready to instruct Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, but the training had not started yet.

On May 20, Washington officially announced it would train Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-built F-16 jet fighters and cooperate with its allies to deliver the planes to Ukraine. No details on how many jets will be provided, who will supply them and when have been revealed yet.

Ukraine war latest: Biden pledges to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s 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 hasnt captured Bakhmut, says Zelensky * Ukrainian troops may soon encircle Bakhmut, top general says U.S. President Joe Bi Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet

In the past, U.S. President Joe Biden has rejected the possibility of supplying Ukraine with Western jet fighters such as F-16, indicating they were not necessary for Kyiv's defense efforts at that moment.

According to Pentagon's Ryder, Washington's position changed after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin received several requests from countries willing to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s at the last Ramstein Summit in April.

"He subsequently took that matter, introduced it into our national security council policy process as part of a conversation about how we support Ukraine in the mid to long-term in terms of their defense needs, and there was unanimous agreement that this was something that we should and need to support," explained Ryder.

The U.K. and the Netherlands agreed on May 17 to build an international coalition to provide F-16s to Ukraine. Some countries in the coalition have expressed willingness to train Ukrainian soldiers to operate Western fighter jets, while others are ready to provide the aircraft.

Given the sensitive U.S. technology incorporated in the aircraft, the U.S. must approve the third-party transfer.
Pep Guardiola wants financial charges against Manchester City to be settled as soon as possible

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he wants the financial charges leveled against the club to be settled as soon as possible.

In February, the Premier League accused Man City of breaching more than 100 financial rules, which includes failing to provide accurate financial information, failing to comply with UEFAs financial fair play (FFP) regulations, and failing to follow Premier League rules on profit and sustainability.

The league referred Man City, which won a fifth title in six years at the weekend, to an independent commission.

At the time, the club said it was surprised to be issued with the alleged breaches and had a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence to support its position.

What I would like is that the Premier League or the judges could make [a decision] as soon as possible. Then, if we did something wrong, everyone will know it, Guardiola told reporters on Tuesday.

He added: Hopefully they are not so busy and the judges can see it and listen to both sides and  decide what is the best, because in the end I know fairly what we won we won on the pitch because we deserve it.

In 2020, City was banned from European football competitions for two seasons for serious breaches of club licensing and FFP regulations.

The ban was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), although the body ruled that City had failed to cooperate with UEFA authorities and had an original fine of 30 million euros ($34 million) reduced to 10 million ($11.3 million).

Guardiola celebrates winning the Premier League title with Man City's players and staff. - Martin Rickett/PA Images/Getty Images

Man City was acquired by The Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, and since then has won seven Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and six League Cups.

This years team could become the first English side since Manchester United in 1999 to win the Treble  the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in the same season.

Guardiola, whose current contract at Man City until 2025, said that he is not thinking about leaving the club.

I would like to continue here next season. It depends on the results. I would like it, he added.

Having already secured the Premier League title, Man City plays Brighton on Wednesday and Brentford on Sunday before facing Manchester United in the FA Cup final and Inter Milan in the Champions League final.

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People hold hands as they pray at a memorial for victims of the Allen Premium Outlets mass shooting, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Allen, Texas. | Elias Valverde II, The Dallas Morning News via Associated Press

On this National Day of Prayer, we recognize the profound power of prayer, grounded in deep humility and hope, President Joe Biden proclaimed on May 3.

He went on: The belief that prayer can move mountains is, at its core, a belief in making the impossible possible. There is nothing more American than believing in the endless possibilities of what we can do when we do it together.

Yet four days later, Biden issued a statement on a shooting in Allen, Texas, saying, Republican members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough.

Washington is the inverse of dog years, and four days in political time corresponds to ages elsewhere. But the presidents statements, separated by fewer than 100 hours, suggest two very different perspectives on prayer.

Perhaps the president and his speechwriters intended to contrast extending thoughts and prayers on social media and the practice of actual, real-life prayer. But it seems safe to assume that those who pray are overwhelmingly the sort of people who express thoughts and prayers to those in distress or mourning, even as the phrase has become a source of mockery.

If thoughts and prayers worked, Texas would be the safest place of all, a headline in the Houston Chronicle said.

A recent op-ed in The Hill by former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is titled, No more thoughts and prayers. A Christian magazine in the U.K. last month ran a column with the headline Christians, you can keep your thoughts and prayers. They mean nothing without action.

And in February, a Michigan state representative, Ranjeev Puri, released a statement, on official House stationery, which began (Expletive) your thoughts and prayers.

The implication is that prayer, once seen as a powerful way to move mountains and make the impossible possible, is nothing when compared to political action. Its as if someone wishing you a Good morning! should be met with scorn. How dare you just say Good morning! What have you actually done to make it a good morning for me?

Related

Perhaps these cynics and other politicians, as is their wont, should hold their fingers up and get a good sense of which way the winds are blowing. In a new survey, more than 6 in 10 Americans said that they pray, and the number of those who pray went up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

All prayer, of course, is not necessarily equal. Devout Jewish men gather in synagogue thrice daily to pray (more on holidays), and are directed to recite 100 daily blessings, each of which could be said to be a prayer. Other traditions allow for linguistic innovation, rather than prescribed prayers, and prayers happen in sacred spaces, at homes, during commutes to work, and any number of other places, with varying degrees of reverence.

As a religion reporter of more than 20 years  now an editor  Ive interviewed people of many faiths. Ive talked with Zoroastrians about dating and reported from within New York Chassidic day schools. Ive discussed Quranic prohibitions on idolatry with artists at a Virginia Islamic art show and spoken with Latter-day Saint missionaries in Bologna, Italy.

Almost too many times to count, Ive had friends and sources for stories ask if they could pray for me. It never occurred to me to say, Id rather you didnt do something you see as meaningful because thats not how I view the world or Please dont pray for me, because thats not the same thing as political action.

I welcomed the prayers, the effort they took and the wishes for good outcomes the prayers conveyed. No further action was required. Ones decision to pray, or to abstain from prayer, need not have any bearing on whether one subsequently acts.

Its cause for gratitude when another offers to pray on ones behalf, and it is ultimately inspiring to observe the humble act of someone appealing to a higher power in prayer. There are few opportunities to observe such humility on social media in particular.

We all need thoughts and prayers. Saying otherwise belittles those who pray  those who, in doing so, might wield even more power than those who act. Perhaps the president would have done better amending his earlier statement: There is nothing more American than believing in the endless possibilities of what prayer can do.

Menachem Wecker is news editor of the U.S. bureau of the wire Jewish News Syndicate. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.
This photo taken on May 23, 2023 shows a Yutong electric bus at a launch ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria. Chinese bus maker Yutong on Tuesday launched the first electric mass transit buses targeting public transport in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, as the country prepares for the gradual shift from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles to sustainable electric vehicles (EVs).

The project is a collaboration between the Oando Clean Energy Limited, Yutong's partner in Nigeria, and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority to start proof-of-concept with two Yutong electric buses on the Bus Rapid Transit road in Lagos. (Photo by Li Peng/Xinhua)

LAGOS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese bus maker Yutong on Tuesday launched the first electric mass transit buses targeting public transport in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, as the country prepares for the gradual shift from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles to sustainable electric vehicles (EVs).

The project is a collaboration between the Oando Clean Energy Limited, Yutong's partner in Nigeria, and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority to start proof-of-concept with two Yutong electric buses on the Bus Rapid Transit road in Lagos.

The mass transit bus has a capacity of 80 passengers with room for both seating and standing commuters.

Speaking at the official launch event of the proof-of-concept phase of the electric bus project, the governor of the Lagos state Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the move to adopt electric mobility technology is in sync with the state's aspiration to be a modernized and mechanized megacity.

Represented by Frederic Oladeinde, commissioner for transportation in the state, the governor said the state was committed to increasing the number of green vehicles through partnerships to boost the sustainability of the sector.

According to the governor, the public transport system in the country is also keen to play a positive role in reducing carbon emissions. He said the new electric buses will reduce carbon emissions and also increase efficiency.

Frank Lee, managing director of Yutong West Africa, told Xinhua on the phone it is a milestone for Yutong as this is the first time the Chinese bus maker launches electric city buses in Nigeria and even in Africa.

"During the proof-of-concept phase and the subsequent formal operation phase, Yutong team will provide comprehensive and professional training, technical support and maintenance services to ensure the smooth operation of electric buses in Nigeria," Lee said.

He said Yutong is looking to create a mobility solution that is inclusive, modern, efficient and sustainable, and expects to be part of the sustainable transport development in Nigeria.

According to Yutong, the buses are equipped with battery packs that allow for a range of 280 km. It also has the ability to fully charge in more than two hours through DC charging ports, giving operators full flexibility to decide their charging and operating schedules. 

Guests pose for a group photo at a launch ceremony for Yutong electric buses in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 23, 2023. Chinese bus maker Yutong on Tuesday launched the first electric mass transit buses targeting public transport in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, as the country prepares for the gradual shift from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles to sustainable electric vehicles (EVs).

The project is a collaboration between the Oando Clean Energy Limited, Yutong's partner in Nigeria, and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority to start proof-of-concept with two Yutong electric buses on the Bus Rapid Transit road in Lagos. (Photo by Li Peng/Xinhua)
Phipps Plaza is a renowned upscale shopping destination that epitomizes luxury and sophistication. Since its opening in 1969, Phipps Plaza has solidified its reputation as one of the citys premier shopping centers, offering a curated selection of high-end fashion, fine dining, and exquisite amenities. The Simon Property Group has updated Phipps Plaza into an architectural gem in the affluent Buckhead neighborhood. It boasts an elegant and modern design that reflects its upscale ambiance. The exterior facade showcases sleek lines and glass windows, exuding contemporary style. As visitors step inside, they are greeted by a world of luxury and refinement.

Life Time Works

Life Time Works Buckhead location features impeccably designed workspaces characterized by their contemporary aesthetics, functional layouts, and high-end amenities. Members can access private offices, dedicated desks, and open coworking areas, each thoughtfully crafted to cater to different work styles and preferences. The spaces will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology, ensuring seamless connectivity and productivity.

Photo Credit: Simon Property Group

What sets Life Time Work apart is its integration with a world-class health club, providing members unparalleled access to comprehensive fitness and wellness facilities. This country club offers many amenities, including cutting-edge fitness equipment, group exercise studios, luxurious locker rooms, and relaxation areas. This seamless combination of workspace and wellness promotes a holistic approach to work-life balance, enabling professionals to prioritize their physical and mental well-being while pursuing their professional goals.

In addition to the exceptional facilities, Life Time Work fosters a vibrant and inclusive community. Members can connect with like-minded individuals, network, and collaborate through curated events, workshops, and social gatherings. The shared spaces promote a sense of camaraderie and inspire creativity, making it an ideal environment for professionals from various industries and backgrounds.

Shop Designer at Phipps Plaza Mall

One of the standout aspects of Phipps Plaza is its remarkable assemblage of luxury retailers, making it a premier destination for upscale shopping in Atlanta. The mall boasts an extraordinary collection of high-end fashion boutiques, showcasing esteemed brands that epitomize elegance and style.

Photo Credit: Simon Property Group

Visitors to Phipps Plaza are treated to an unparalleled shopping experience, with a range of internationally renowned names adorning its halls. Fashion enthusiasts will delight in the presence of iconic labels like Gucci, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co., among others. These distinguished establishments cater to the refined tastes of Atlantas affluent residents and discerning visitors, offering an extensive selection of designer clothing, accessories, and jewelry.

Dining at Phipps Plaza

Citizens Market

Citizens Market Atlanta showcases eight distinctive food concepts, each offering a unique culinary journey. For those seeking the ultimate burger experience, Umami Burger awaits, serving up juicy and flavorful creations that have become a staple of the fast-casual scene. Sushi enthusiasts will be drawn to Krispy Rice, where artfully crafted rolls and tantalizing flavors take center stage. Meanwhile, Sams Crispy Chicken aims to redefine comfort food with its crispy, succulent chicken dishes that satisfy even the most discerning palates.

Photo Credit: Simon Property Group

The food adventure continues with SaMoto, a concept that seamlessly fuses Korean and Mexican flavors, resulting in a delightful fusion of tastes and textures. EllaMia, on the other hand, offers a haven for coffee aficionados, providing expertly crafted beverages made from the finest beans. Cicci di Carne entices with its authentic Italian flavors, presenting a range of delectable pasta dishes and savory meats. El Pollo Verde brings the vibrant and bold flavors of Mexican cuisine to the forefront, while Soom Soom offers a refreshing take on Mediterranean fare, featuring mouthwatering falafels, vibrant salads, and irresistible spreads.

Complementing the diverse culinary options is a full-service bar, where patrons can unwind and indulge in a wide selection of beverages. From expertly crafted cocktails to an extensive wine list and locally sourced craft beers, the bar at Citizens Market Atlanta is a destination in itself, catering to those seeking the perfect drink to accompany their dining experience or simply looking for a vibrant social setting to relax and connect.

Nobu

The Atlanta outpost of Nobu, part of the internationally acclaimed Nobu Hospitality brand, delivers a harmonious fusion of traditional Japanese techniques and innovative culinary concepts. This exquisite establishment in the trendy Buckhead district showcases the artistry and expertise of world-renowned chef Nobu Matsuhisa, whose name has become synonymous with culinary excellence.

Photo Credit: Nobu Hotels

The menu at Nobu Atlanta presents an exquisite selection of dishes that combine traditional Japanese flavors with global influences. Each creation is meticulously crafted using the freshest and finest ingredients, sourced locally and from around the world. From delicate sushi and sashimi to tantalizing hot dishes and innovative fusion creations, every bite showcases the culinary mastery that has made Nobu a global phenomenon.

Signature dishes such as Black Cod Miso, Yellowtail Jalapeno, and Rock Shrimp Tempura have become iconic representations of Nobus culinary artistry. These carefully crafted creations demonstrate Chef Nobu Matsuhisas ability to seamlessly blend traditional Japanese flavors with modern techniques, resulting in a symphony of tastes and textures that delight the palate.
Photo of Indian actress falsely linked to film on women converts joining Islamic State

An Indian actress who defended a controversial film about women joining the Islamic State group has been targeted with a photo falsely shared as her posing with her Muslim husband. The posts criticised Devoleena Bhattacharjee for speaking out in support of "The Kerala Story", which critics have branded anti-Muslim, while herself being married to a Muslim. However, the photo shows Bhattacharjee with a co-star, not her husband. The posts also claim she starred in "The Kerala Story", which is not true.

"Here zealots, meet your brother-in-law Shahnawaz Sheikh, who is the husband of 'Kerala Story' actress Devoleena Bhattacharya," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post from May 16.

The photo shows Indian TV actress Devoleena Bhattacharjee wearing traditional Hindu wedding attire and posing alongside a man.

The actress reportedly married Shahnawaz Sheikh -- who is Muslim -- in December 2022 (archived link).

Screenshot of a Facebook post sharing the false claim, taken on May 20, 2023

The photo surfaced in similar posts here and here on Facebook after the actress defended "The Kerala Story", which critics have accused of stoking hatred against India's 200-million strong Muslim minority (archived link).

India's Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi has praised the film, which wildly exaggerates the number of Hindu women converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State group (archived link).

Bhattacharjee tweeted that her husband "appreciated" the film and did not feel it was against his religion (archived link).

Social media users criticised Bhattacharjee and appeared to believe the picture showed her with her husband.

"Welcome in Islam and very congratulations," one comment read.

"She was the lead actor in the film," said another.

Co-star, not husband

A reverse image search on Google found the photo in a report which said it showed Bhattacharjee with Vishal Singh, her co-star in Hindi-language soap opera "Saath Nibhaana Saathiya".

The report by news website Mid-day dispelled rumours that the pair had married and clarified that the photo showed Singh attending Bhattacharjee's wedding to a different man (archived link).

"While the photos and videos spread across the internet like a wildfire, both Vishal and Devoleena remained tight lipped and none of them came forward to confirm the wedding," Mid-day reported.

Singh posted the photo of him and Bhattacharjee on Instagram (archived link).

Bhattacharjee later confirmed her marriage to Shahnawaz Sheikh in an Instagram post (archived link).

Moreover, Bhattacharjee is not listed among the cast of "The Kerala Story" on the film's IMDb page (archived link).
From Piers Morgan to Eamonn Holmes: The celebrities who weighed in on Phillip Schofields This Morning exit

The British TV world has been rocked by the announcement last week that Phillip Schofield was stepping down as co-host of This Morningafter over 20 years.

Schofield, who presented the ITV morning talk show with Holly Willoughby, announced his departure from the series amid reports of a behind-the-scenes feud between him and Willoughby.

In the days since the news broke, a number of other TV personalities and celebrities have given their thoughts on Schofields shock exit.

Follow live updates on the story here

Divisive GB News presenter Piers Morgan described the aftermath of Schofields departure as brutal to watch, and hit out at ruthless backstabbing in the world of daytime television.

One minute Schofield was the undisputed king of morning TV and fast heading to bona fide national treasure status  the next hes a dethroned, shamed, vilified, national disgrace and social media laughing stock, Morgan wrote.

Morgan left his own position as host of another ITV morning show, Good Morning Britain, back in 2021 amid a row over his comments about the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.

Citing his own GMB downfall, Morgan claimed to have personal empathy with Schofield over the manner of his resignation.

Willoughby and Schofield in happier times (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Another celebrity to have weighed in on the story is Eamonn Holmes, who previously hosted the Friday edition of This Morning alongside wife Ruth Langsford.

Speaking on his GB News breakfast show, Holmes claimed that Schofield had not chosen to resign but had in fact been sacked.

Oh please, just stop this, he said. He was sacked. All this nonsense of Ive decided to step down. Im sure you did  heres your P45 now step down.

Holmess statement contradicts Schofields statement announcing his departure. ITV subsequently issued a denial, stating: Phillip Schofields decision to step down from This Morning was (as his statement made clear) a decision agreed between Phillip and ITV.

While hosting This Morning on Monday 22 May due to Willoughbys half-term absence, guest presenters Dermot OLeary and Alison Hammond addressed Schofields departure, paying tribute to their former colleague.

OLeary said: As a show, everyone on and off screen at ITV and This Morning say a huge thank you to Phil for what hes done to make the show such a success over the last 21 years.

Hammond added: Quite simply, we all know hes one of the best live television broadcasters this country has ever had, and we and all the team wish him all the best for the future.

Alison Hammond and Dermot OLeary (ITV)

Irish chef and fellow This Morning star Clodagh McKenna shared a tribute to Schofield on social media, which read: 21 years of brightening up our mornings. And Ive been so lucky to be part of 3 of them. Ill miss the morning hug, the twinkle in your eye that makes me giggle and your empathy.

You will be missed.

Last week, former Gladiators host Ulrika Jonsson weighed in on the reported feud between Willoughby and Schofield.

Daytime TV is a lively, narcissistic melting pot of ego, vanity, hierarchy and domination, not to mention the bevy of managers and agents standing backstage ready to compete for their clients best outcomes, she said.

For the shows dedicated followers, however, I suspect this war of the egos is a great sadness. They have invested in both presenters over the years and are fond of them. On-screen duos are about balance, harmony and respect and it can be very hard to get right.

Comedian Jack Whitehall saw the lighter side of the situation, cracking jokes about the intra-programme feud on TV during an appearance on BBC comedy series The Chris and Rose Ramsey Show.

His barb drew gasps from the studio audience as he mockingly likened the relationship between him and his father to that of Willoughby and Schofield.

Schofields statement last week read: Throughout my career in TV  including the very difficult last few days  I have always done my best to be honourable and kind. So I have agreed to step down from This Morning with immediate effect, in the hope that the show can move forward to a bright future.
[Source]

A bright yellow Pikachu-themed train has gone viral on Instagram.

On May 15, travel vlogger Billy Biehl (@billybiehl) uploaded a short video about his experience on the unique train, which connects the cities of Ichinoseki and Kesennum in Japan.

The viral clip begins with Biehl looking for the right train track. He shows a platform filled with images of Pikachu on posters, floor stickers, columns and walls.

"On the way to finding your train track, everything is decorated with Pikachus, Biehl can be heard saying.

More from NextShark: Leopard caught on CCTV killing and dragging away pet dog from home in India

The bright yellow train, named the Pika 025, can then be seen arriving. Biehl steps inside to show its Pikachu-themed interior, making sure to film even the smallest details, such as the miniature Pokemon balls accessorizing the seats.

The content creator also makes sure to highlight a special cabin which is filled with everything Pikachu.

More from NextShark: Repercussions of Pelosis visit to Taiwan felt around the world as countries and companies stay on their toes

When the train starts to move, you can take your shoes off and head to the Pikachu cabin, he explains.

The interior of the cabin is yellow with brown and beige accents. There are sofa-like seats located near the windows and Pikachu footprints on the carpeted floor. Biehl also notes Pikachu dolls of all sizes, including a massive Pikachu at the center of the cabin.

Riding the Pikachu train was a unique experience and is a must-do when in Northern Japan, Biehl concludes.

More from NextShark: Jackson Wang says hell ask Instagram for help if he cant find love by 35

Reaching over 1.7 million views and 86,000 likes as of this writing, Biehl's video has garnered the attention of several Instagram users and Pokemon fans.

I hope to take this train one day! Thank you for sharing!! one user wrote.

The Pikachu-chu, another user commented.

Others, however, found the train a little overwhelming, with one user writing, I like pikachu, but that is too much.
Pilot gets blind dog a new life after hes dropped off at shelter, Tennessee photos show

When pilot Nick Hermann saw a 15-year-old blind dog needed help making it to his new home, he knew what needed to be done.

Hunter, who is blind in one eye and cant see up close with the other, has now been given a new lease on life.

When he was just a pup, he was taken to a West Virginia shelter after he was found near a local power plant in 2010, Brad Marlow, the owner of Misfit Hounds in Hampton, Tennessee, told McClatchy News in a phone interview. After gathering Hunters medical information, Marlow said the dog was likely about 1 year old at the time.

Hunter was adopted from that shelter, but he was recently surrendered again after a person believed to be his owner claimed Hunter was a stray, Marlow said.

When I asked the owner how long Hunter had been hanging around, they said 10 years, Marlow told McClatchy News.

Once Hunter arrived at the West Virginia animal shelter, staff members started scrambling for a way to help the old pup.

Marlow asked the public if there was anyone who could bring Hunter from West Virginia to Misfit Hounds in Tennessee  thats when Hermann stepped in.

Nick saw the story and said I can do that and we worked it out, Marlow said.

Hermann is a pilot and has offered in the past to help transport pups through Pilots N Paws, a dog transportation service.

This time, however, Hermann offered to take Hunter to Misfit Hounds on his own and eventually flew him from the vet to Tennessee.

Hermann and Hunters flight time was about two and a half hours, according to WCYB.

Hunter did great on the flight and he even had a news crew waiting on him when he landed, Misfit Hounds said on Facebook.

Hunter arrived at Misfit Hounds on May 19 and now lives with more than 40 dogs in an open kennel environment, where the pups are only in crates when theyre being fed, Marlow said.

For the first few days I separated him so he could decompress, Marlow said.

Hunter, who Marlow said is very loving and affectionate seems to be doing well.

This is speculation but I think he mightve been close with a child over the years. Hes so cuddly, its not foreign to him, Marlow said. I sleep on the floor with the dogs and he always cuddles up next to me.

Although Hunter is thriving, he makes little mistakes here and there, but that hasnt changed the fact that he might have a potential adopter.

Never again will he be alone, unwanted, or unloved, the group said on Facebook. Hell be a Misfit.

Hampton is about 300 miles east of Nashville.

Puppy plunges 15 feet down storm drain during walk with owner, Georgia rescuers say

Bored husky escapes kennel and chaos follows at Alabama shelter. See the destruction

Watch as playful dog interrupts soccer game and refuses to let go of the ball in Chile

Puppy playdate was ploy to steal French bulldog and hold him for ransom, NJ man says
Pittsburgh police looking for 2 suspects after assault, kidnapping

Pittsburgh police are searching for two suspects after a male was assaulted and kidnapped on Tuesday night.

According to police, officers were called to the intersection of Saw Mill Run Boulevard and Library Road at 6:48 p.m. for a report of a male being assaulted by two males and being dragged into a black Chevrolet Camaro. The car fled the scene.

A short time later, officers found the car on Arlington Avenue and attempted to initiate a traffic stop.

The driver did not stop, which started a pursuit. Police said the driver eventually stopped the car and fled on foot.

SWAT searched a perimeter in the Knoxville area, but that was unsuccessful.

The victim was found near the original scene. He was taken to a hospital and treated for injuries to his head and his leg.

Police did not give any information about the suspects. The victims age is not clear at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

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Glenarm Marina near Antrim Coast Rd in Northern Ireland

A project to bring the native oyster back to the waters around Northern Ireland has taken another step forward.

Ulster Wildlife has been working on a second nursery for the molluscs.

More than 800 oysters were brought over from Scotland and have been settling into Glenarm Marina for almost two months.

Volunteers from Ulster Wildlife painstakingly scrubbed and checked each of the shellfish to ensure biosecurity was protected.

Some 800 oysters were brought to Glenarma Marina from Scotland

The oysters were then placed in 30 cages which have been lowered into the water off the jetties.

They will spawn and release up to 800m larvae every year to form reefs in Glenarm Bay.

And they can change sex to ensure there is always the correct ratio of males to females to support reproduction.

Native oysters are one of the most imperilled habitats on Earth

But restoring the oyster population is only half the story, according to Ulster Wildlife senior conservation officer Dave Smyth.

"It's really the habitat we're after," he said.

"Saving the oyster is part of creating the habitat. So for example, one oyster on its own can accommodate over 100 species on its shell. So if you have a reef of oysters, you can imagine the sort of life that that'll attract."

Dave Smyth said they want to save the habitat as much as the oysters

Mid and East Antrim Council manages the marina where the nursery has been installed and its mayor, Alderman Noel Williams of the Alliance Party, welcomed the project.

"We are thrilled to be playing our part in restoring this endangered native species.

"Nestled at the bottom of the Glens of Antrim, Glenarm Marina is the perfect spot to help revive native oysters.

"As well as increasing water clarity and quality, the project will also deliver enhanced biodiversity and provide rich cultural value to the area," he added.

Children from Seaview Integrated Primary School in Glenarm helped measure the oysters

Native oysters are one of the most imperilled habitats on Earth. It is estimated that reefs have declined by 95% since the 19th century.

With each oyster potentially filtering as much as eight litres of water an hour, they also improve water quality and are something of an environmental odd-jobs worker.

"They have a lot of other additional ecosystem services whereby they can change or fix things within the environment," said Dave Smyth.

The children helped clean the oysters

"One example is, they can actually filter microplastics out over their gills. They'll expel those wrapped in a mucus ball which will end up locked up into the sediment of the seabed.

"This is a win-win for nature, restoring oysters creates healthier and more resilient seas and their reefs store carbon - crucial if we are to tackle the nature and climate crisis," he added.
Two juvenile suspects were identified on Thursday for making a bomb threat that shut down the Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport for hours Wednesday evening.

After airport officials received a phone call stating that there were explosives in the airport, police evacuated the airport and the Federal Aviation Administration stopped all air traffic, according to a news release by the Monroe Police Department.

The airport was closed around 4 p.m. but reopened before midnight, arrivals records showed.

The bomb threat was false and police are seeking to press charges against the juveniles from Harnett County who they believe made the call, according to police.

The public was asked to avoid the area Wednesday, according to the Monroe Police Department.

The Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport closed around 4 p.m. Thursday, due to a bomb threat. WSOC

Airport personnel were evacuated to a nearby Airbnb, according to Patricia Wilfong who owns the property with her husband. Airport officials called her asking if people  both workers and flyers  could use the home as a safe haven, she said.

The property is vacant, so of course if people need a place to go were happy to open the doors and let them stay there, she said. She wasnt sure how many people were there Wednesday afternoon.

We cannot overstate the importance of cooperation among all law enforcement agencies to investigate serious incidents like this one. We were able to swiftly and seamlessly bring this situation to a safe and peaceful conclusion thanks to the efforts of our officers and the assistance of these cooperating agencies, said Monroe Police Chief J. Bryan Gilliard in a statement Thursday.

About Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport







The Monroe airport was built in 1969, and has continually expanded since then. In 2006, the city took over management of the airport from Landmark Aviation of Winston-Salem to make it more cost competitive and to emphasize it as an economic development asset.

The airport also is the home of the annual Warbirds Over Monroe air show, a popular exhibition in November each year involving military aircraft dating to World War II. And, it hosted the Wells Fargo Golf Tournament earlier this month.

The airport does not handle commercial aviation. But Monroe has long been home to a cluster of aerospace companies, and has touted the airport as a selling point for them to use as a base for their jets. Charter companies also operate from the airport.

Observer editor Adam Bell contributed to this report.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

A massive restructuring at Planned Parenthood is rocking the staff of its national office, who were told this week that layoffs are coming to the nations best-known abortion provider.

No one feels job security because no one knows what jobs will be impacted, one employees union member told The Daily Beast. Theres not a lot of clarity around what this specifically looks like.

Its really hard to get work done, she added.

Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson cited the challenging climate after the fall of Roe v. Wade in a blog post announcing the reorganization. She said the nonprofit will expand its direct investment in the 49 affiliates across all 50 statesfocusing on providing healthcare and building infrastructureby $70 million.

Investing more in Planned Parenthood local organizations, along with reimagining the role of the national office, means there will be a reduction in the national office workforce, she said. We believe this strategic decision is essential to meet the current moment for Planned Parenthood patients and the future of reproductive health and rights.

The unions representing employees in New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. released their own statement, claiming Planned Parenthood is pushing out some of our movements brightest minds.

This comes at a time where reproductive freedom is in jeopardy and when our members are struggling under difficult economic conditions, they said. We have served PPFA during the toughest times for abortion access. We deserve more than empty claims of equity and of supporting our futures.

Ex-Planned Parenthood Employee Says Racist, Toxic Culture Sent Her to the ER

Planned Parenthood has a federated structure, in which each of the independently run clinics are supported by the national office. The national office is responsible for national political campaigns and assisting affiliates with communications, marketing, and scheduling, among other duties.

Members of a union representing national staff told The Daily Beast that leadership informed them of the coming restructuring in March and enacted a hiring freeze in the national headquarters around that time. At an all-staff meeting in April, leaders confirmed that the restructuring process would involve layoffs but did not provide specifics.

Staff were informed Tuesday that layoff notices will be sent June 12 and will affect 10 to 20 percent of the national staff, which the union said would be about 80 to 140 people.

Despite this, union members said, they received no more information about the restructuring than was contained in the press release and blog post, leaving many of them feeling concerned about their job status and confused about the future of the organization.

We care so much about the mission, that's why weve been burning ourselves out for this work for so long, the union member, who asked to remain anonymous for concerns over their job security, told The Daily Beast. But we have no idea what theyre planning, what the new structure will look like, what our teams will look like, what campaigns well be working on, how well be able to support affiliatesanything.

That person said staff were told they would be kicked out of the Planned Parenthood computer system the day the layoffs take effect, which they fear will make the handover process difficult.

Weve all been working really hard on a lot of campaigns, weve been building relationships with outside organizations  for years, she added. And we dont know what this means for any of that.

This Planned Parenthood Is Now Demanding Proof of Residency for Some Abortions

Adrienne Verrilli, Planned Parenthood's vice president of communications, said the restructuring is meant to ensure that clinics have the resources they need to expand their services. She added that the organization had tried to make employees aware of their plans as early as possible, including by disclosing the restructuring plan in March and holding a meeting before the layoffs were announced publicly Tuesday.

[Were] really trying to balance the anxiety this causes [with] also making sure folks have the information they need to make decisions, she said.

These changes no one is taking lightly, she added. We have the most kick-ass staff who have shown up and shown out in the darkest of times.

Some state affiliates have expressed support for the plan, such as Kersha Deibel, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, who told the Associated Press the changes would help them if a pending court decision allows the state to enact a six-week abortion ban. No matter what happens, we are continuing to build power and making plans to protect and support patients who need access to care, she said.

Fourteen states have banned almost all abortions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, and two others have banned it after six weeks. At least 66 clinics were forced to close in the first 100 days after the ruling, leaving the remaining clinics to pick up the slack. Between April and August 2022, the number of abortions performed in New Mexico increased 17 percent; in Illinois, they increased 30 percent.

Planned Parenthood has faced criticism from other clinic operators and activists who feel its affiliates have not taken bold enough action against the bans. A recent New Yorker article detailed how Planned Parenthood affiliates in Montana stopped providing medication abortion to out-of-state patients when surrounding states banned abortion, blindsiding the other clinics in the state. Planned Parenthood eventually reversed course but still will not ship abortion pills to anyone but Montana residents.

The group has also faced calls to invest more on local issues and in communities of color. McGill said Tuesday that the restructuring effort will include the launch of a Black Health Equity Initiative, which will focus on developing equity-based health care delivery models to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities.

National employees who spoke with The Daily Beast said they support stronger investments in the states and in communities of color, but said they want more insight into how that would affect them and the organization as a whole.

Were committed to evolving and changing, another union member added. [But] we want to be partners in this process, want to make sure we are thinking about how we can take care of employees while making sure everyone can get the care they need.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Thursday marked one week since a large fire engulfed an under-construction apartment building in SouthPark.

ALSO READ: 2 dead after fire rips through SouthPark construction site

The community honored the men and women of the Charlotte Fire Department who responded to the deadly fire. A total of 90 firefighters saved 15 workers.

On Thursday, the first 30 firefighters who responded were invited on stage at this weeks SouthPark After Five Concert at Symphony Park as the community thanked them for their bravery.

Thousands attended the event.

Its an honor to be here because these firefighters risked their lives to save us and I have a cousin who is a firefighter in New York, said attendee Diane Montero-Heyert. So, I personally know what that feels like he was also in 9/11 at the World Trade Center so I know day to day its a risk for them.

A moment of silence was held to honor the two construction workers who died, Ruben Holmes and Demonte Sherill.

So please, if youre willing, take off your cap, whatever way you worship and even if you dont worship, lets acknowledge this loss, Mayor Vi Lyles said.

Channel 9s Almiya White spoke with Charlotte City Councilmember Tariq Bokhari, who created a Gofundme to help Sherills family.

This community has a heart for stuff like that. We rally up when its time, and I just knew that this is something where, you know, with a little bit of work, we can do something really good, Bokhari said.

Sherrill and Holmes worked for Keith Suggs of Prestige Windows. Suggs said he was touched by the gesture of sympathy.

God gave him to me and I appreciate Ruben so much, Suggs said. Demonte, he had the four kids. He just wanted to take care of the kids.

Charlotte Fire Capt. Jeff Bright orchestrated the harrowing rescue of a crane operator.

Bright said they became friends, which was the best thanks he could receive.

Ive had conversations with him for the last five days, Bright said. No appreciation will be greater than him calling me.

For more information about the SouthPark After Five concert, click here.

PREVIOUS STORIES:

(WATCH BELOW: Charlotte firefighters closer to earning raise following deadly SouthPark fire)




Chinese Vice President Han Zheng meets with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra in Beijing on Wednesday.

Noting that China and the Netherlands are open and pragmatic partners of comprehensive cooperation, Han said the economies of China and the Netherlands are highly complementary, with huge potential for cooperation and a sound momentum of growth in bilateral trade.

China stands ready to work with the Netherlands to bring more benefits to the two peoples through practical cooperation in various fields, Han said.

China and the Netherlands are both supporters, participants and beneficiaries of economic globalization and free trade, Han said, calling on both sides to strengthen communication, focus on mutual benefit and win-win results, create better conditions for cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, and promote the stability and smoothness of the global industrial chain and supply chain.

On Hoekstra's part, he said the bilateral ties between the Netherlands and China are sound with remarkable cooperation results and broad prospects for development. The Dutch side is willing to maintain close exchanges with China and push forward bilateral relations. 
A nationally known poet said Tuesday she is gutted after learning that a school in Miami-Dade barred elementary school children from reading her poem and three other library titles following the complaint of a parent.

Amanda Gorman  the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history  recited the poem, The Hill We Climb, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, 2021. Gorman, now 25 and a Harvard graduate, is an award-winning writer based in Los Angeles.

Book bans arent new, said Gorman, in a statement shared on Twitter. Often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection.

Gorman, a Black woman, added: Most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on the bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.

READ MORE: A Miami-Dade school flagged her poem. The countys mayor invited her to read it

Her poem celebrates the United States not as a perfect union, but as an unfinished nation that yearns for equity and inclusion.

An excerpt of the poem reads:

Somehow weve weathered and witnessed

a nation that isnt broken,

but simply unfinished.

On Monday, the Miami Herald reported that a review committee at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, a Miami-Dade K-8 public school, determined that the poem and three other titles, The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids and Love to Langston, were better suited for middle school students and would be shelved in the middle school section of the media center.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade K-8 bars elementary students from 4 library titles following parent complaint

One book, Countries in the News: Cuba, would remain available for all students in the media center.

The school committee  comprised of three teachers, a library media specialist, a guidance counselor and the schools principal, among others  took up the issue after a parent of two students at the school, Daily Salinas, objected to the books, saying they included references of critical race theory, indirect hate messages, gender ideology and indoctrination, according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared with the Miami Herald.

Tuesday night, Miami-Dade County Schools argued no literature had been banned or removed. Staff said books were shelved in the middle school section of the media center and remain available there.

I wrote The Hill We Climb so all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, Gorman said. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.

In a White House press briefing Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed that sentiment:. As Ms. Gorman said herself, the poem, The Hill We Climb, was written so that all young people would see themselves in a historical moment. And the president and his administration certainly stand with her.

Banning books is censorship, she added. Period. Thats what that is. When you ban a book, you are censoring.

READ MORE: Black community wants apology after School Board member tried to block colleague at meeting

Gormans publisher, Penguin Random House, and PEN America, a nonprofit that has been tracking book bans and advocates for literary freedoms, last week sued the Escambia County School District in North Florida and its School Board, contending they violated the First Amendment in removing 10 books from school library shelves. Among the books removed: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed and Lucky by Alice Sebold.

The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, is one of 10 books the Escambia County school district in North Florida removed from school libraries. The books publisher, Penguin Random House, and PEN America, a nonprofit that has been tracking book bans, last week sued the Escambia County School District and its School Board, alleging they violated the First Amendment in removing the books from school library shelves.

Together, this is a hill we wont just climb, but a hill we will conquer, Gorman said.
FILE PHOTO: Delivery of the first HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) to the Polish Army in Warsaw

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday that Poland plans to launch a submarine purchase programme in 2023.

Poland has increased military spending since Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February last year, with the government pledging to double the size of the army and spend 4% of GDP on defence in 2023.

"We are starting the implementation of the 'Orka' program. This year, we plan to launch a procedure aimed at purchasing submarines along with the transfer of the necessary technologies," the minister said at the Defence24Day conference.

Blaszczak said the tender would be "launched soon", adding information on the number of submarines and their equipment will be provided by the Ministry of Defence shortly.

(Reporting by Karol Badohal and Pawel Florkiewicz, Editing by Louise Heavens)
KENNEBUNK, Maine  A man is facing charges after admitting that he fired BBs at two occupied vehicles parked alongside the beach on the night of May 17, according to the Kennebunk Police Department.

Rami Bjotvedt, 20, of Arundel, has been issued a summons for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, Kennebunk Deputy Police Chief Eric OBrien said on May 23. The charge is a Class C felony.

According to OBrien, a woman sitting in her vehicle on Beach Avenue reported to police that a rock had been thrown through her car window at approximately 11:30 p.m. While officers were at the scene, they were approached by a second woman who said her vehicle had been hit with something while she was sitting in it at Mothers Beach.

Rami Bjotvedt, 20, of Arundel, is facing charges after admitting that he fired BBs at two occupied vehicles parked alongside the beach May 17.

After some investigation, police determined that pellets from a BB rifle had actually been fired at both vehicles, smashing the window of one and denting the door of the other.

The second woman told police that an individual in a Nissan Rogue had been driving by her vehicle at the moment of the incident, according to OBrien.

Neither woman was injured in the incident.

Maine private beaches: Group asks court to rule on public access

OBrien added that good police work led authorities to Bjotvedts residence at 44 Arundel Road in Arundel less than an hour later. Officers in the area had been doing checks on the license plates of passing vehicles  and the Nissan Rogues had been among them.

OBrien said Bjotvedt confessed to shooting the BBs at the vehicles.

He admitted to it and wrote out a confession, and everything, OBrien said.

Bjotvedt is due in court for the reckless conduct charge on July 11. OBrien said the Police Department also will be seeking charges of aggravated criminal mischief against Bjotvedt.

Attempts to reach Bjotvedt to determine whether he has hired a lawyer were unsuccessful.

Seafood with magical views: Ultramar, Casa 77 take over Cape Porpoise spot

OBrien said police also are investigating a third BB-related incident in which a pellet was fired at the window of a local home. Police received a report of that incident on May 13.

Since the investigation is still open, O'Brien could not comment on whether this incident was related to the ones involving the two vehicles at the beach.

OBrien encouraged members of the public to stay alert, even as they seek out relaxation at the beach.

Always be aware of your surroundings, of whos around you and whats going on, he said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk police: Man admits to firing BBs at cars parked at Mother's Beach
Personnel at Barragem do Arade reservoir, in the Algave, Portugal, as searches begin as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The area is around 50km from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing in 2007. Picture date: Tuesday May 23, 2023. Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images

Acting on new tips, investigators returned to a Portugal reservoir to search for Madeleine McCann.

Police were seen removing bags with unknown contents from the search site, Sky News reported.

Madeleine's mysterious disappearance as a toddler has sparked a 16-year international search.

Police on Tuesday returned to the banks of a Portugal reservoir in the 16-year-long search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann.

Madeleine went missing while on vacation from the UK with her parents, sparking an international search to find her  including previous searches at the Barragem do Arade reservoir, in Algarve, Portugal, though no conclusive evidence or human remains have ever been found.

Now, nearly two decades later, British outlet Sky News reported, police returned to the reservoir and were seen removing bags with unknown contents from the site.

Based on new information, German state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told the German TV channel RTL that authorities "have grounds to believe that we could find evidence" in the reservoir," BBC reported.

"They are not tips that come from the accused," BBC reported Wolters said. "But you can imagine that we don't start searching somewhere in Portugal on the off chance, but that there must be a good reason for it.

He added: "We do have one, but I ask for your understanding that I cannot disclose it here at the moment for tactical reasons."

German police are currently leading the investigation, trying to link the case to 45-year-old German national named Christian Brueckner. Sky News reported Brueckner is a convicted sex offender and was present near the Portuguese resort at the same time the McCann family visited.

A poster and cards are placed on a church door in Praia da Luz for missing Madeleine McCann on August 9, 2007 in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Police continued their investigation in the Algarve village after blood was found in the McCann apartment. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

He was named a formal suspect in the disappearance by Portuguese police in 2022, per the BBC.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry, told Sky News that the grieving parents "are realistic, they simply want to know what happened to their daughter. That's always been the case, they want whoever is responsible for her disappearance to be brought to justice."

He added: "They do remain hopeful that she could still be found alive. They've never given up on that hope, nor will they until they are presented with any incontrovertible evidence to the contrary."

Mitchell did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Police: Wichita Falls attorney said, 'She needed to be smeared,' after posting flyers

Police say a Wichita Falls attorney arrested three times this month violated a protective order by posting flyers about his ex-girlfriend at an establishment billing itself as the oldest bar in Wichita Falls and other downtown buildings, according to allegations in court records.

Dean Colin Godfrey, 34, taped the flyers up Saturday while his court-ordered GPS ankle monitor's battery was dead, violating bond conditions for him to wear a functioning monitor, according to allegations in a police affidavit.

Police

After Godfrey was arrested Sunday he told his mother in a jailhouse telephone call: "I'm actually kind of excited about this. I mean, she needed to be smeared," according to allegations in the affidavit.

Godfrey laughed, adding: "There's 5,000 of those things. They're everywhere. . . . They'll find them for weeks," according to allegations in the affidavit.

The day before he allegedly posted the flyers, Godfrey contacted the Times Record News, saying there are two sides to every story, and he wanted to set the record straight that he is not a stalker.

"I've made some mistakes just like she made some mistakes, and that's kind of how couples are," he said in a telephone interview Friday.

Attempts to reach his defense attorney, Chuck Smith, have been unsuccessful.

Now in private practice, Godfrey is a former Wichita County assistant district attorney under a previous DA's administration.

He was being held on a $20,000 bond Wednesday in the Wichita County Law Enforcement Center for a felony charge of repeatedly violating certain court orders and bond conditions within 12 months, according to court and jail records.

Godfrey was also being held without bond on a felony stalking charge, according to court records. He is accused of showing up at his ex-girlfriend's workplace May 8, repeatedly contacting her and hijacking her social media and email accounts.

In addition, he is charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass in connection with an April 29 incident in which he allegedly went to his girlfriend's home, which he is barred from, according to allegations in court documents.

A Wichita Falls police affidavit detailed allegations that he violated a protective order and bond conditions for the stalking charge that required the GPS ankle monitor.

A detective learned this week that officers filed nine reports about Godfrey in connection with the accusations, according to allegations in court documents.

The reports all said that at about 6 p.m. Saturday, officers were dispatched to P2-The Deuce in the 1400 block of Lamar Boulevard to investigate, and the co-owner of Bohn & Bohn Associates wanted to make a report on behalf of Godfrey's ex-girlfriend, according to allegations.

The co-owner has been providing security for the victim because Godfrey has been committing criminal acts against her, according to allegations. Officers knew about the temporary protective order granted to the victim on May 9 for 20 days.

The co-owner of the private investigation agency told police she received a call from an unknown person at The Deuce, who told her there were flyers with the victim's photo on them on the building, according to allegations in the affidavit.

She saw the flyers, herself, when she came to the bar and restaurant, according to allegations in the affidavit. Officers walked around the outside of the bar and found more flyers taped up.

Apparently printed out and stuck to the side of the buildings, they included a variety of flyers with email threads, Snapchat threads and other electronic messages, according to allegations in the affidavit.

Most of the flyers were about an incident already reported that happened while Godfrey and his ex-girlfriend were still dating, according to allegations. She had permission to be at his residence at the time.

The flyer has photos of her climbing a fence and using a doorway to enter and leave his home, according to allegations. A message on the bottom of the flyer says: WHO IS STALKING WHO?

Another flyer appears be an email thread from Godfrey's ex-girlfriend to him, saying, "I'm sorry," according to allegations in court documents. At the bottom of the flyer is a statement: " 'VICTIM' VIOLATING HER OWN PROTECTIVE ORDER. . . . Why? Because she doesn't actually want it."

But the electronic message can't be from the victim because she has been unable to access her email since Godfrey locked her out of it, according to allegations in court records. Police found more flyers scattered in the parking lot nearby.

The bar owner told officers that when employees left around 1 a.m. Saturday, the flyers were not there, but a worker noticed them on the building around 3 p.m. later that day, according to allegations in court records.

The ex-girlfriend's attorney arrived and told police she had seen many more flyers posted on signs and buildings around downtown, and officers took more reports as they were found, according to allegations in court documents.

The officers stated they believe Godfrey posted the flyers because he was upset about being arrested previously in connection with reports his ex-girlfriend made against him, according to allegations in court records. Plus, only Godfrey had access to the photos, emails and Snapchat threads.

The Wichita County Community Supervision and Corrections Department was alerted that Godfrey did not charge the battery on his GPS ankle monitor Saturday, according to allegations in court records. The department repeatedly tried to get in touch with him to tell him to charge it between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. that day. He did not respond.

The department couldn't locate Godfrey at 10:08 p.m. Saturday through the monitor, according to allegations in court records. The monitoring company verified Godfrey couldn't be located at 10:24 p.m.

At 1:51 a.m. Sunday, police went to the home of Godfrey's parents to arrest him because of the ankle monitor, according to allegations. Officers saw him through a window, and he closed the shades and refused to answer the door.

His parents allowed police to come inside and arrest Godfrey, according to allegations in court documents. He is to be held in jail until an appropriate bond is set for the stalking charge.

More: Former Wichita County assistant prosecutor held without bond on stalking charge

More: Trial date set for Wilder's mom, who admitted to not protecting him from James Staley

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls attorney accused of posting flyers about ex-girlfriend
Four horses are being used to manage the land as part of a conservation project in West Yorkshire.

The Exmoor ponies graze the land and trample invasive plants like bracken and brambles at Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge.

They were introduced by the National Trust a year ago in an attempt to reduce carbon usage.

Steve Hindle from the charity said the grazing has helped encourage the growth of rare flowers and mushrooms.

"Unimproved grasslands like these are increasingly being lost due to intensive farming methods," he said.

"They are hugely important for our biodiversity, and we're lucky that we still have special sites like this across Calderdale.

"The grasslands are home to rare fungi like waxcaps, which exist in symbiosis with plants, insects and mammals. Conservation grazing is key to ensuring the future of these rare ecosystems."

The fields around Hardcastle Crags are home to incredibly rare fungi, the National Trust said.

Some of the species in the fields have only been sighted once or twice in the UK before, and many are on the red data list for at risk species.

They need very specific conditions to grow; unimproved or "ancient" grasslands that are regularly grazed, where fertilizers have not been used, the trust added.

The horses, called Dolce, Quaver, Dorito and Pom are provided by the Moorland Mousie Trust, a UK charity which focuses on the preservation of Exmoor ponies.

The hardy animals can live outside all year and are regularly checked by National Trust rangers and volunteers.

One of the volunteers Bev Speak said she wanted to get involved "to give something back".

"I've got two rescue ponies of my own and it's been lovely to see these four settle in to their home at Hardcastle Crags," she said.

"They're still wild animals though, and we make sure we never fuss them or give them treats. Dolce is the matriarch and the leader - she's usually the most confident, but they've all got their distinct personalities."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.
Family owned Papis Puerto Rican Cuisine in Charlottes University City area is closing up shop Saturday and making a move to catering after just under four years in business, citing overhead costs and staffing challenges.

I feel like someone is passing away, chef and owner Tara Quinones told CharlotteFive. So many people come from far away. Theres not a dedicated Puerto Rican restaurant like ours  theres some fusion, but not 100% totally submerged in the culture.

Papis Puerto Rican Cuisine is closing, but the restaurants food will remain available through catering.

Quinones said shes been keeping the restaurant afloat through funds from her other businesses, Catering by Tara, and Evermore Classic & Vintage Rentals. But after years of putting her staff and restaurant first, its time for a change.

As a business owner theres so much pride and so much love  thats my baby, she said, adding: Papis was my homage to my family in the restaurant business, selling that food.

Papis Puerto Rican Cuisine chef and owner Tara Quinones with her daughter Lycia Angel.

The message Quinones posted on Instagram and Facebook said: From our Familia to yours - We thank you so much for supporting our very popular, delicious and beautiful place. Our Papis team and Familia loves you all so much.

The message continued: My Papi is super proud I can feel it. We as a team succeeded in our eyes. We will go out with our heads held high, broken hearted and proud. All of you who came in we appreciate you! More than you will ever know. You made us the amazing fun and beautiful place. So many slammed days and nights. The music, the band, the art, the Coquis in the bathrooms. Your names on the walls. The entire ambiance, the feeling we all get. And of course all of our food we all as a team made. ... This is not goodbye to our food, call me. From my family, Besos, Chef Tara, Kevin, Jaida and Lycia.

Papis Puerto Rican Cuisine is located at 440 E McCullough Drive, Suite 123.

The restaurant served Puerto Rican specialties such as Papis Pernil con Mojo (roast pork with garlic sauce), Mofongo con Pollo o Carne Frita (mashed plantains with fried chicken or pork) and Yucca Frita (cassava fries).

And after the restaurants last day of business Saturday, that food will still be available. Quinones will continue catering Puerto Rican offerings the Papis menu, along with her lineup of American foods available via Catering By Tara.

[READ MORE: Weve said goodbye to these Charlotte-area food and drink businesses in 2023.]

Dozens of fans responded  including many from other cities and states  with messages about the food and experience at the restaurant, and wishing the team well.

Oh noooo your food is so amazing ...the ambiance is so nice the waitress even made it personal our first time there telling us about your history, Im hoping for your success in future endeavors will definitely try to make it back before Saturday, Sahche Marshall wrote on Papis Instagram post.

Papis Puerto Rican Cuisine chef and owner Tara Quinones will continue catering its food and has an extablished catering business, Catering by Tara.

Literally just gasped and scared my husband. This restaurant has totally been my place to go when I missed Nyc or a quick getaway to PR. Sadly we are heading out of town Saturday so definitely popping in on Friday. You must do what is best for you y tu familia! Papis Puerto Rican Cuisine, thank you soooooooooooo much for the opportunity to enjoy the amazing full experience of this restaurant and love. Definitely will look to you for catering opportunities. Damn your monfongo dead made me feel like I was sitting at a Raices table in old San Juan. Continued blessing and while it mightve been a tough choice, we love you guys and understand. Besos, Dre & Chan TV said on Instagram.

Very sad about the news. This was a beautiful place where you felt like family. I enjoyed many delicious meals there. I know God have great plans for Chef Tara J Quinones and pray they all be blessings for her and her family, Rosse E. Velez said via Facebook.

Location: McCullough Commons, 440 E McCullough Dr Suite 123, Charlotte, NC 28262

Menu

Cuisine: Puerto Rican, Latin

Instagram: @papispuertoricancuisine
Here are some possible debt ceiling escape hatches for McCarthy, Biden

Here are some possible debt ceiling escape hatches for McCarthy, Biden

Washington is scrambling to stave off an unprecedented debt default as roughly a week stands between the country and a looming deadline.

Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen warned earlier this week that the country is still on track to default on its debt as soon as next Thursday if Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, which caps much the government can owe.

Leaders on both sides have been adamant they will strike a deal in time to avert a default. But even the broad outlines of one have remained elusive.

Here are four potential escape hatches if leaders dont come to an agreement before June 1.

Short-term extension

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

Looking to dial up pressure on the other side, Republicans and Democrats alike have shied away from pushing for a short-term hike to the debt limit to buy more time for negotiations.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday, I dont think a short-term extension benefits anybody.

And press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday said, That is something that both the Speaker and we have said is  the Speaker has been very clear that is not on the table.

No, we have to pay our bills, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) told The Hill. And we have to take care of the needs of the American people, and we have to have responsible Republicans who are willing to step up and do the right thing.

But with the June 1 X-date looming, a short-term extension may be necessary to allow lawmakers and Biden time to strike a deal, write the bill, pass it through both chambers  including giving the House 72 hours to look the measure over  and send it to the presidents desk.

Some Republicans, however, say such a move would likely also require additional negotiations to pass the GOP-led House.

Depends on whats attached to it, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) told The Hill. I mean, if it rescinds $80 billion in unspent COVID funds that would buy them a little headroom. But a clean extension? Absolutely not.

McConnell intervenes

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has insisted hes taking a back seat in debt limit talks, instead letting McCarthy lead negotiations with Democrats.

Regardless of what may be said about the talks  the president and the Speaker will reach an agreement. It will ultimately pass on a bipartisan vote in both the House and the Senate, he said this week. The country will not default.

However, McConnell could find himself forced to step in and be a key player in negotiations if no deal is in sight and the country is on the brink of default.

McConnell played a central role in Congresss last major debt limit fight, working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on two occasions to raise the debt limit. That includes a short-term extension in October 2021, and then a longer-term increase in December 2021.

Congress raised the debt ceiling at the time to roughly $31.4 trillion, but not without months of drama and clashes over spending.

14th Amendment

President Biden

More Democrats in recent weeks are calling on Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment as a means to address the debt ceiling.

The amendment says the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

While Republicans have rejected the idea, liberals have ramped up the push, calling on the party to forgo talks with Republicans and avoid the spending cuts the GOP is insisting on.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined the chorus Wednesday, describing the route as the only option at this point, while arguing Biden has the authority and the responsibility to do so.

The White House on Tuesday seemed to rule out the possibility; Biden has previously said hes unsure whether using the amendment would actually prevent a default due to the expected legal battle it would set off.

But he has also said he believes he has the authority to invoke it if needed.

Discharge petition

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)

Democrats have been collecting signatures for a measure known as a discharge petition as a part of an effort to force a vote on a clean debt limit hike, despite opposition from McCarthy.

If successful, the measure could allow Democrats to bring a debt limit bill to the floor that has the support of a majority of the House. But Democrats need the support of their entire party, as well as five Republicans, to secure success.

Thus far, every Democrat has signed the petition, but no Republican has come on board.

And the obscure rules governing the discharge petition mean that lawmakers might not be able to put legislation acting on the debt limit on the floor until sometime after June 1, making it a potentially risky gamble for lawmakers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A video shared online appears to show Joe Biden watching his granddaughter's graduation from the University of Pennsylvania as hecklers chant at the US president. But the clip's audio has been manipulated; the original commencement footage does not feature the expletive-laden jeers.

"F**k Joe Biden chants at Univ of Pennsylvania," says the title of a May 17, 2023 Rumble video from Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who has previously promoted misinformation on various platforms.

Screenshot from Rumble taken May 23, 2023

Similar posts ricocheted across Twitter, TikTok and other social media sites. One iteration of the video shared by a popular pro-Donald Trump Twitter account drew more than 2.5 million views.

The clip, which shows Biden and his family, features a "Fuck Joe Biden" chant as "Pomp and Circumstance" plays in the background. Maisy Biden, the president's granddaughter, was part of the University of Pennsylvania's 2023 graduating class.

But the video has been altered -- an enhanced livestream of the school's commencement (archived here) features no jeering from the crowd.

Such heckling also does not appear in other videos (archived here and here) showing the same close-up of Biden at the graduation ceremony.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's dispatch from the event does not mention an anti-Biden chant. The newspaper reported the president entered the bleachers to cheers from the stadium, which he acknowledged with a double thumbs-up gesture.

A University of Pennsylvania spokesperson sent AFP fact checks from Reuters and the Associated Press debunking the altered video.

AFP also contacted the White House for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

AFP has previously debunked other altered videos featuring anti-Biden chants here, here, here and here.
The snub of Nelson Mandela was the last straw.

Miami politicians had planned to honor the South African leader during his June 1990 visit to the Magic City. That is, until Mandela, who spent nearly three decades in prison, voiced his support for Moammar Gadahfi, Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro a week before his visit. Miamis Cuban community couldnt believe it and in turn, elected officials  from city commissioners to mayors  decided to rescind the proclamation.

In their rebuke of Mandela, prominent Miami attorney H.T. Smith saw a rebuke of Black Miamians like himself. So on July 17, 1990, he launched Boycott Miami, an effort that encouraged Black tourists and businesses to steer clear of the city until it had done right by its Black residents. The campaign, which lasted 1,000 days and was supported by the NAACP and other groups, cost the county an estimated $20 million to $50 million in tourism. It also led to the opening of Royal Palm Crowne Plaza, Miami Beachs first Black-owned hotel, and thousands of scholarships for Black Miamians interested in hotel management.

5/15/02 - CHARLES TRAINOR JR/HERALD STAFF - So Be - ROYAL PALM - L to R - H.T. Smith is the first guest to sign the guest book at the opening the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort on South Beach, the first black owned luxury hotel in the nation.

Boycott Miami would not be the last time Black Americans would be cautioned against a Florida vacation. The NAACPs recently issued travel advisory has called for a similar avoidance of the Sunshine State due to the work of Gov. Ron DeSantis. And while the two movements had different catalysts, they both occurred at points when elected officials showed very little care toward Black constituents.

When you do things like boycott, what youre doing is youre checking the economic power, said Msomi Moor, a Florida Memorial University African American Studies professor. Traditionally, boycotts have been one tool in a much larger tool kit of initiatives that have brought about the advancement of the Black community.

Boycott Miami came at a time when Black Miamians had become more frustrated at being left out of South Floridas burgeoning tourism industry. Miami had also been the site of three riots during the 1980s over police killing four unarmed Black men. The NAACPs advisory, however, is specifically linked to one thing: DeSantis policies.

This is a public notice that Florida is not safe based on all the policies that have been put in place and the actions taken by the governor, said Daniella Pierre, president of the NAACPs Miami-Dade chapter.

Daniella Pierre, 40, local NAACP chapter president, joins in the protest of high rent and the need for affordable housing by demanding action from landlords and politicians. The fair housing advocates from Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity, Struggle for Miamis Affordable and Sustainable Housing (SMASH), and others rally in protest of high rents and for affordable housing ahead of the county commission meeting at County Hall in downtown Miami, Florida on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

Deeming DeSantis tenure an all-out attack on Black Americans, the travel advisory listed every piece of legislation enacted under the governor  including his attempts to ban books about race and LGBTQ+ issues, his efforts to criminalize protest and his ban of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida colleges  as examples to show that Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Unfortunately, the governor is using his platform to advance some of the most regressive, racist polices in his attempt to become the president of the United States, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told MSNBC on Monday.

Pierre echoed Johnsons response, calling DeSantis policies harmful for Black Americans and people of color, particularly from vulnerable communities.

Will Black business be the sacrificial lamb?

Stephanie Jones, the founder and CEO of Blacks in Travel & Tourism, disagrees with the NAACPs tactics.

To tell African Americans and people of color not to come to Florida as a way to boycott and address the efforts of DeSantis is not well thought out, said Jones adding that small, Black businesses in underserved communities will be used as the sacrificial lamb.

Although Jones understands how it feels to be Black here in Florida, she questions whether or not the NAACP approached experts in the travel space like herself. She suggested that the NAACP partner with other adversaries of DeSantis, like Disney, to leverage a partnership that could showcase a unified front against a governor who called the potential Florida boycott a joke in March.

If hes not fazed by his fight with Disney, why would he care if the most marginalized residents and businesses are impacted? Jones asked.

Pierre emphasized her NAACP chapter members connections to governing boards like the Miami-Dade small business task force and chamber of commerce that can help Black entrepreneurs, and her chapters increased work with the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.





We are reminding folks the power of the Black dollar, Pierre said, adding that more information about how to support Black businesses will be forthcoming and distributed through local NAACP chapters.

In Miami-Dade alone, there are more than 7,000 Black-owned businesses, according to the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce. That figure alone complicates how Black entrepreneurs feel about the travel advisory, said Eric Knowles, the president and CEO of the chamber, explaining that many are in between a rock and a hard place.

Whats happening in Tallahassee goes against everything we are as Black people, Knowles said. He later explained how many Black entrepreneurs are still in recovery mode from the pandemic, which resulted in the loss of more than 40% of Black-owned businesses, according to Wells Fargo. That  coupled with the potential loss in tourism dollars for Black businesses  prevents Knowles from rallying behind the NAACPs position.

Toastmaster and Role Model G. Eric Knowles, President and CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, speaks during the 5000 Role Model of Excellence Foundation 2021 Wilson Scholars academic signing ceremony at Jesus People Ministries Church International in Miami Gardens on Sunday, June 27, 2021.

Its going to affect and impact Black businesses and my first and foremost responsibility is to help and grow Black businesses, Knowles added. He then offered a simple message:

Come and support Black businesses because the Black community is being attacked.

Similarly, Moor wants the national spotlight on DeSantis to bring about more interest in Floridas Black business community. From the Seminole Wars to the Rosewood Massacre to the murder of Arthur McDuffie, Moor said the travel advisory was a long time coming considering Black Floridians have been under siege for quite some time.

The rest of the nation needs to know whats happening in Florida, Moor said. He pointed to Boycott Miamis effectiveness in pressuring local officials to create more opportunities for Black businesses, something he hopes will happen as a result of the travel advisory.

My desire is that people can understand based off whats going on in 2023 that the future of Black folks is not guaranteed, said Moor. We have to deliberately, consciously create for us, by us and preserve what we create.
TEHRAN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian nuclear chief on Wednesday denied The Associated Press's claim that Iran is building a nuclear facility "so deep in the earth," Iranian Students' News Agency reported.

"Iran is working according to the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the safeguards agreements and whenever it plans to carry out any activity, it informs the agency of the arrangements and acts based on them," President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting.

On Monday, The Associated Press claimed that Iran is building a nuclear facility "likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such site" near a peak of the Zagros Mountains in the central part of the country.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks in August 2022. 
There are concerns over the "operational impact" at Prestwick over the turbine proposals in Dumfries and Galloway

Aviation concerns have been raised about the potential impact of a wind farm bid in southern Scotland.

The Rowancraig scheme would see seven turbines built near Kirkconnel in Dumfries and Galloway.

However, that could have an operational impact on Glasgow Prestwick Airport about 30 miles away.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has also looked at the proposals and said that - as they stand - they would be unacceptable.

Koehler Renewable Energy (KRE) is behind the plans - still very much in their early stages - about two miles (3.5km) south west of Sanquhar.

A scoping request - which could ultimately pave the way for a full planning application - has been submitted to Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Due to the time it has taken to deal with it, the company has taken the case to the Scottish government.

Its report has highlighted the concerns of the potential impact on the airport which has said it would welcome "early dialogue" to address the issue.

The company has now been advised to address the air traffic and radar issues in the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

In its response, NATS warned that the project - as currently proposed - could reduce radar capability to detect aircraft.

The airport said that although the development was outside its controlled airspace it is an area which sees regular air traffic.

In addition to radar concerns, it has also flagged up the need for aviation lighting and the potential loss of ground to air communications due to the turbines.
Pride flag wont fly on Fresno County flagpoles. These are the only two approved now

A new ordinance that won preliminary approval Tuesday from the Fresno County Board of Supervisors would permit only the U.S. flag and the California state flag to be flown on official flagpoles at any county-owned or operated building, park or facility, to the exclusion of all other flags  including those that would be raised for ceremonial or commemorative occasions.

But before the unanimous 5-0 vote by supervisors, public comment showed the wide variance in perspective over what kind of message the ordinance sends to the community.

The ordinances author, Supervisor Steve Brandau, first proposed the measure earlier in May, expressing concern for potential pushback over requests to fly other flags for ceremonial observations or other occasions.

Ive just noticed an increasing number of controversies involving specialty flags flown at government buildings, Brandau said Tuesday. It creates a situation where the (government) body makes choices of favoritism of who gets permission and who does not. Brandau, who served on the Fresno City Council before he was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2019, previously talked about the potential for controversy from the citys willingness to fly a variety of flags for various constituencies.

I have had many conversations about this in recent years, Brandau told The Fresno Bee earlier this month. Almost everybody I have spoken to feels that the American flag and the state of California flag are enough on government buildings.

An American flag flew on a flagpole atop the Fresno County Hall of Records building in downtown Fresno on Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors met inside.

But four other nearby flagpoles in Courthouse Park bore no flags at all  not the American flag, not the California state flag, nor any other flag, banner or pennant.

While Brandaus ordinance, which will come back for final board approval on June 6, would bar any flags except the U.S. and California flags, it would not require any flags to be raised on those vacant flagpoles.

Some members of the public who spoke Tuesday criticized Brandaus proposal as small-minded or xenophobic by forbidding flags, including for groups that have historically been marginalized.

Others, however, supported the ordinance, asserting that the national and state flags are representative of everyone in the county. Flying other flags, they said, could potentially sow division in the community.

Two blocks away, the city of Fresno frequently flies a variety of flags on the poles in front of City Hall to commemorate special dates, events, cultures and nations, including the Juneteenth flag.

The Juneteenth flag flies over Fresno City Hall for the fist time following a ceremony on Monday, June 20, 2022.

Crowds assemble before the raising of the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Pride flag over Fresno City Hall, Friday June 11, 2021.

Other flags that have been flown on flagpoles at City Hall at various times have included Mexicos flag to commemorate that nations independence day in September; the rainbow Pride flag to recognize the lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBTQ+) community; the the city of Fresno worked hard and crafted an inclusive policy commemorating the freedom of African American slaves in Texas in 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation; and the POW/MIA flag to remember military prisoners of war and service members who remain missing in action.

Dolores Huerta: A source of affirmation and acknowledgment

Dolores Huerta, a co-founder of the United Farm Workers and head of the Dolores Huerta Foundation which has an office in Fresno, said she believes flag-raising ceremonies underscore the diversity of Fresno County.

When any of these communities want to fly a flag to commemorate whatever they want to commemorate, I think its nice to be able to affirm, to celebrate and acknowledge that we have such diversity here in this area, Huerta said.

We know theres a lot of haters out there right now, she added. Theyd like to pretend that some groups of people do not exist or should not be acknowledged.

Its very small-minded to say, No, only the American flag and California flag can be flown, Huerta told the board. Be open-minded. We need this now more than ever.

Hrair Messerlian, who resides in Brandaus north Fresno district, noted that the Armenian flag-raising at Fresno City Hall last month represented a place of honor for Armenian-Americans such as him.

Fresno city and county officials gather around the citys flag poles as Homenetmen Fresno Sassoon Chapter scouts raise the Armenian flag over Fresno City Hall during the annual Armenian Flag Raising Ceremony to commemorate the start of the Armenian Genocide 108 years ago, on Monday, April 24, 2023.

Messerlian said the city of Fresno worked hard and crafted an inclusive policy for a range of ceremonial flag events.

But the countys proposal is xenophobic and is not about policy or patriotism, he added. At best, its lazy and its ill-informed. At worst, its exclusionary, shameless, bigoted election-year pandering.

U.S., state flags enough to represent everyone

Several other speakers, including Brent Burdine of Clovis and Tammy Richardson of Fresno, said they supported Brandaus proposal.

Both the U.S. and California flags represent the ideal for all of us to be treated equally as equal citizens, Burdine told the supervisors. It is meant to apply to everybody and embrace everybody.

When you deviate from that, were excluding people. When you elevate someone, you push somebody (else) away,  he added. These are the only two symbols of our nation and our state that bring all of us together equally.

Richardson, who said she was raised in a military family, said she agreed that the U.S. and California flags represent everyone here.

I think anytime having to pick and choose would cause controversy and divisiveness by displaying different flags, Richardson said. I think the way we can be most inclusive is to have our American flag and California flag.

Board members vote to approve proposed ordinance

All five county supervisors ultimately voted to approve the first reading of the ordinance.

As I think about what these flags represent, I cannot think of any other flags that this county can fly that are more inclusive than those, said Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who represents much of eastern Fresno County. We are one United States of America and we are California, so having an opportunity to fly those flags  includes everyone, and I think thats the goal of the board.

Board Chairperson Sal Quintero, whose district includes the central and southern areas of the city of Fresno, said there are many other ways to recognize diverse groups that dont involve raising flags.

Quintero noted statues in Courthouse Park commemorating Armenian folk hero David of Sassoon; Benito Juarez, one of Mexicos earliest presidents; and civil rights champion Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; as well as a monument recognizing Hmong veterans.

The thought is, for me, that supporting our brothers and sisters in what we do doesnt really lie in flags or monuments or anything like that, Quintero said. Its more what lies in our hearts and what we show on a daily basis.

Quintero said he was voting for the ordinance because theres already existing places around Fresno County that these (flag-raising events) can be held to show support and attend celebrations.

Disappointed by supervisors votes

Huerta told The Fresno Bee after the meeting that she was disappointed, but not necessarily surprised, by the supervisors votes.

I think it was a cop-out, basically, she said. They can have a screening process, so if anyone was going to fly a flag that was offensive or divisive, they could just say no.

Huerta attributed ordinances like the one crafted by Brandau to a growing wave of conservative prejudice that goes back to flying the Pride flag and the LGBTQ movement and discrimination against other religions, races or ethnic groups.

I think not flying flags of different constituencies is a right-wing kind of movement, she added. When you fly a flag, then people pay attention. Its information, education and awareness. Maybe its something that people didnt know about before.
Rodney To is an actor in "Parks and Recreation" and "Easter Sunday." (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Rodney To tells his acting students at USC that he doesnt like using the word success in this profession, because its all relative.

If I ever use the word 'success' at all," he said, it means "that somebody is able to make a lifetime's career out of something as mercurial and precarious as being an actor."

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

People often dont see the humble beginnings of an actor, To said. Some might recognize him for his role as Typhoon in Parks & Recreation. But he booked that role almost 15 years into his career.

He got his Screen Actors Guild card not from a popular TV series, but by doing a tampon commercial.

A young college graduate takes three of her best friends on a trip to Europe, he explained. We get lost and were all panicking, except for her. Shes not worried. She got us on the right path, because she was wearing Tampax.

He got his first American Federation of Television and Radio Artists card  this was before SAG and AFTRA merged  doing an employee training video where he played Martin Tan from Singapore.

He still remembers his one line: I love it here in America, because they have really great rice.

To didnt grow up thinking hed become an actor. He studied chemistry in college in Milwaukee and took an acting for non-majors course only after he felt burnt out from STEM classes.

The professor who taught that class was a Jesuit priest whose claim to fame was that he played a policeman in the "Blues Brothers" movie, To said. He encouraged To to audition for a college production, and from there, someone from the Milwaukee Repertory Theater saw him and asked if he wanted to intern with them.

My version of the story is that they saw me and were like, Hey, this kid looks nothing like anything that walks through our stages, he said. It wasnt very diverse, but I kept thinking: What an amazing thing to have a life where you wake up every day and know that you have the job of going to the theater.

He eventually moved to New York, where he would get theater gigs  but none of them paid. Id always tell everybody we got a bottle of water and a handshake, he said.

So he always had other jobs. He was a temp. He worked the front desk at a hotel. He was the commercial operations clerk at The Discovery Channel. For six years, he was a coordinator  and eventually director  of an international travel company, where he arranged group travel for elderly Americans. That job allowed him to travel the world.

Sometimes he wished he could make a living just by acting, but he came to see his paying gigs as part of his recipe for success as an actor.

Im not wired to go, Lets throw caution into the wind and wait for acting opportunities to come," he said.

He rejects the romanticization of a starving artist.

"Ive never starved, he said. I dont mean it like, I was a loaded person, but Ive always known that in order to do my art, I have to provide for myself.

For a career that's so public, a working actors wins aren't always apparent to outsiders, he said.

To has always had a similar challenge when trying book roles: Im too old to play young, but I look too young to play old.

He met casting director Dori Zuckerman when she was casting The American Mall, the 2008 MTV musical film starring Nina Dobrev.

He wasnt a conventional choice, because he was 35, playing an 18-year-old, but she told the filmmakers, "If you want the best actor for the part, you hire Rodney," he said.

The American Mall was a failed movie, he said. There was a lot of talk about it being the next High School Musical, and it was not."

But To came out of that experience with something just as valuable: someone willing to advocate for him. To this day, I credit her with my life in Los Angeles, he said.

To credits another of his personal advocates, casting-director-turned-professor Dan Shaner, with his own transition to academia. Shaner was looking for a working actor to add to the USC faculty. Now, To enjoys teaching so much that he sees it not as a side job, but as a parallel career.

As an assistant professor at the USC School of Dramatic Arts, To teaches on-camera acting and business-prep courses. But one of his favorite classes to teach is a seminar specifically for non-actors to learn about what it's like to be a professional actor.

"It's really about trying to demystify it, so people can really see us as viable contributors to the world," he said.

To always told himself he'd act until he couldn't do it anymore. Three decades into his career, he recently acted in what he considers one of his most fulfilling roles, the Filipino American family comedy Easter Sunday, starring Jo Koy. He also recently finished shooting The Brothers Sun, an upcoming Netflix action-comedy about Taiwanese brothers  which features Michelle Yeoh.

And he is the co-associate artistic director of the L.A.-based IAMA Theatre Company.

"For a long time, Id say that my trajectory was unconventional," he said. "But the truth is  now that Im this many years into the business  I realized that I actually represent the majority of actors."

Photo editing and design by Calvin Alagot.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company (PMC), believes that Ukraine has one of the strongest armies in the world now; but the world's first army, in his opinion, is Wagner.

Source: Prigozhin in an interview with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist

Quote: "We barged in and stomped all over the place in search of Nazis. While we were looking for the Nazis, we beat up everyone we could, then we went to Kyiv, then we f**ked up and moved on. Then on to Kherson. F**ked up and moved on. After that or before that? At times I get confused  Izium, Lyman... And somehow nothing works out for us.

The special operation [the war in Ukraine  ed.] was carried out for denazification and demilitarisation. The Ukrainians were just a former republic of the USSR. They had the Ukrainian language, and everyone respected it, including those in the USSR.

So as far as denazification goes we have made Ukraine a nation thats known to everyone worldwide. Ukraine has become a country that is known absolutely everywhere. It's like the Greeks during the heyday of Greece. We have legitimised Ukraine.

Now, as for demilitarisation they had, say, 500 tanks at the start of the special operation, now they have 5,000 tanks. They had 20,000 people who could fight back then, now 400,000 can. In what way have we demilitarised it [Ukraine]? It turns out we did the opposite  we f**king militarised it."

Details: Prigozhin also called the Ukrainian army one of the strongest in the world, although in his opinion, the "first" army is the Wagner PMC.

Quote: "Weve fought in a lot of places, with a lot of people. We know how the Americans fight, the French, the cowardly UN troops, African tribes. Today, the Wagner PMC is the best army in the world. We beat everyone, always. But after it [Wagner]... I think that the Ukrainians today are one of the strongest armies. They have a high level of organisation, training, weapons, and intelligence. They use Soviet and NATO [weapons] equally successfully. Theyre philosophical about the losses they suffer. Everything they do is to achieve the supreme goal, like we did during the Second World War. But with more technology and more precision."

More details: The Wagner leader also said that he "listened to Putin", and that Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defence Minister, should be fired.

Quote: "If the system is built on the fact that you have to kiss someone's ass, then the Wagner PMC will not do this. The main problem is Shoigu and Gerasimov. These two people blocked everything for us by their decisions, even though the president said ammo was available.

If [Colonel General Mikhail] Mizintsev became defence minister today and Surovikin became the chief of the General Staff, then it would be a decent structure. [Mizintsev is deputy commander of the Wagner PMC  ed.]

My political creed is: I love my homeland, I listen to Putin, Shoigu should be fired, we will keep fighting."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Princess Cruises Celebrates 100th Birthday of Tuskegee Airman

Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III, a retired United States Army Air Corps and Air Force officer, was bestowed with a remarkable birthday celebration aboard the Discovery Princess cruise ship Monday as he marked his 100th birthday. As one of the revered surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen, Lt. Col. Harveys journey serves as a testament to his tenacity and valor, having defied racial segregation while serving alongside the countrys pioneering African American Army Air Corps pilots during World War II.

In a moment of profound respect, the McChord Field Honor Guard warmly welcomed Lt. Col. Harvey and his family on board, presenting the colors in a traditional USAF display. The crew of the Discovery Princess joined the festivities, presenting Lt. Col. Harvey with a beautifully adorned birthday cake, extending their heartfelt wishes for his special day. Lt. Col. Harvey will embark on a celebratory cruise to Alaska, an extraordinary journey aboard the Discovery Princess.

Photo Credit: Princess Cruises

John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises, expressed the deep honor felt by the company in commemorating Lt. Col. Harveys centenary. We pay tribute to Lt. Col. Harvey III, a trailblazer, hero, and a true Top Gun, he stated. His life and legacy are a powerful reminder of the virtues of courage, determination, resilience, and the indomitable American spirit. On behalf of all of us at Princess Cruises, we salute Lt. Col. Harvey and wish him a joyous 100th birthday!

Lt. Col. James H. Harvey III, originally from Montclair, New Jersey, was born on July 13, 1923. As a former fighter pilot, he served with distinction in the renowned 332nd Fighter Group 99th Squadron, known as the illustrious Tuskegee Airmen. Additionally, Lt. Col. Harvey made history as the first African American fighter pilot to participate in the Korean War, where he courageously flew 140 missions between 1949 and 1950. In 2006, he and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal, a fitting recognition of their exceptional service.

After dedicating a combined 22 years to the Army Air Corps and Air Force, Lt. Col. Harvey retired from active duty and embarked on a career as a corporate salesman for Oscar Mayer. He settled with his family in Denver, Colorado, where he resides to this day. During the voyage on the Discovery Princess, Lt. Col. Harvey will engage in enlightening discussions with guests, sharing his profound insights and experiences from his remarkable military service.

The Discovery Princess will be embarking on its journey from Seattle to Alaska every Sunday through September, providing an ideal setting for passengers to not only revel in the regions natural splendor but also engage with an extraordinary individual whose heroic actions have left an indelible mark on American history.
Its getting crowded on the ISS with 11 crew members currently living and working on board the orbiting station.

The International Space Station (ISS) just welcomed new guests, a private crew of four astronauts who are settling in on board the orbiting lab and learning to adapt to the microgravity environment.

Axiom Space launched its second private mission to the ISS on Sunday, with the crew members arriving to the space station at 11:00 a.m. ET on Monday following a roughly 16-hour journey through space. The crew members are set to spend around eight days on board the ISS.

Read more

The Ax-2, or Axiom Mission 2, crew is led by veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is currently Axiom Spaces Director of Human Spaceflight. Saudi Arabia bought two tickets for its astronauts, mission specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, while pilot John Shoffner purchased a ticket to space through Axiom Space in 2021. Aside from Whitson, the mission marks the crew members first time in space.

The Ax-2 crew members spent all of Tuesday familiarizing themselves with the ISS operations, and practicing everyday chores like preparing food and drinks, going through safety procedures, and operating lab equipment, NASA wrote in a blogpost. The space agency also mentioned that the crew was conducting hygiene practices, which might include learning how to shower and use the bathroom on board the ISS. The space station bathroom is equipped with footholds and handholds so that astronauts can stay firmly on the toilet seat, but it still doesnt sound very comfortable.

The ISS is buzzing with astronauts, with a total of 11 crew members on board the space station at the moment. The Ax-2 crew joined the seven members of the Expedition 69 crew, and they went over roles and responsibilities for each member in case of an emergency on board the ISS. The international crew of 11 located safety gear such as fire extinguishers and portable breathing gear, followed escape routes, and coordinated communications with mission controllers in response to fire, ammonia leak, or pressure leak events, NASA wrote in its blogpost.

Along with Ax-2 commander Whitson, NASA flight engineer Stephen Bowen, who launched to the ISS in March as commander of the SpaceX Crew-6 mission, transferred emergency gear and safety hardware from the SpaceX Dragon capsule (which the Ax-2 crew arrived on) to the space station. The space station also got a fresh batch of supplies on Wednesday that were sent to low Earth orbit on board Russias cargo ship Progress 84. The spacecraft, which docked to the ISS at 12:19 p.m. ET, was carrying 5,492 pounds (2,491 kilograms) of food, water, fuel, and other supplies.

During their time on board the ISS, the 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.

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A college professor who held a machete to the throat of a New York Post reporter has been fired.

A Hunter College spokesperson confirmed the university had dismissed Shellyne Rodriguez after a video emerged showing her holding a long blade to the throat of Post journalist Reuven Fenton outside her apartment.

Ms Rodriguez then followed the reporter and a photographer down the street with the machete, a video published by The Post shows.

The journalists had gone to the visual artists Bronx apartment to speak to her about a viral video which showed her criticising anti-abortion protesters on the campus of the City University of New York.

The Post claimed that Ms Rodriguez shouted at the pair to get away from her door or I'm going chop you up with this machete.

She allegedly held a machete to the reporters throat after opening the door, and then pursued them after they left.

Shellyne Rodriguez was fired by Hunter College after video showed her holding a machete to the neck of a New York Post reporter (Mason Gross School of the Arts)

College spokesman Vince DiMiceli told The Post: Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez and has taken immediate action.

Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school.

Ms Rodriguez had been filmed confronting anti-abortion activists from Students for Life of America at the colleges New York campus earlier this month.

Youre not educating s***, this is f***ing propaganda, Ms Rodriguez, an adjunct assistant professor, said in the viral clip.

The Independent did not immediately hear back after making inquiries with Hunter College, The Post, and the NYPD.

Ms Rodriguez has also been contacted for comment.

On her personal website, Ms Rodriguez describes herself as a visual artist, writer and community organiser, who works on strategies of survival against erasure and subjugation.
BROOKFIELD  Sprague Ranch sits in this narrow valley in Brookfield. Mountains rise sharply all around. Barns, houses and the milking parlor are sprinkled along both sides of Route 14.

Chelsea Sprague, who runs the 650-cow dairy farm with her husband, Keith, pulled up to a mid-19th century house across the highway from two large barns and the milking parlor, and stepped out of her four-wheel-drive truck.

This is one of two houses the Spragues own to provide accommodations for their nine Mexican workers. Soon the house will undergo a renovation using a loan of about $26,000 from the Champlain Housing Trust's Vermont Farmworker Housing Repair Loan Program.

The mid-19th century farmhouse on Sprague Ranch in Brookfield that will be renovated using a loan from Champlain Housing Trust's Vermont Farmworker Housing Repair Loan Program, as seen on May 12, 2023.

What is the Vermont Farmwork Housing Repair Loan Program

The Vermont Farmworker Housing Repair Loan Program makes it possible for dairy farmers to provide good housing for their migrant workers without taking the risk of sinking a lot of their own money into renovations, according to Sprague.

The program, launched last year, offers loans to farmers who want to improve the housing they provide workers. The loans are forgiven after 10 years, as long as the improved housing is continuously maintained and used for farmworkers.

It is key to Vermont's diary industry: What to know about those providing health care to undocumented farm workers

There are no payments due on the 0% interest loans during that 10-year period. Loans are capped at a maximum of $30,000 for each project.

To decide who gets the money, Julie Curtin, director of homeownership at Champlain Housing Trust, said in an email applicants are scored on several factors, including the urgency of the repairs and the risk posed to the health of the residents by the current housing conditions, the number of workers housed, the financial feasibility of the project and the applicant's "ability and readiness to complete the work."

Many farmers seeking money from the Champlain Housing Trust

When the program opened last year, Champlain Housing Trust received 45 applications seeking a total of $1.8 million but only had $500,000 available. The money was provided by the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, using funds appropriated by the Vermont Legislature, according to a news release. As a result, CHT could only support 15 of the 45 applications.

Chelsea Sprague of Sprague Ranch in Brookfield, as seen on May 12, 2023.

This year, the program has $774,000 available to lend. Curtin said she has received 31 applications for this second round of funding, totaling $1.06 million in project costs, so again not everyone will be accommodated.

Curtin expects to be able to help an additional 26 farms this year.

What can you do for $30,000

Sprague began talking to representatives of the CHT program last summer and did a walk-through of the house.

"They have specific things they look for to bring things up to date," Sprague said. "It's not a lot of ripping out walls and those kinds of renovations. It's more getting rid of loose paint, making sure the bathrooms are in working order and fixing all the boards on the outside. That's one part of the project."

The porch of the farmhouse will be rebuilt as part of the renovations made possible by the housing repair loan program, as seen on May 12, 2023.

The house will also be brought up to code, with ground fault circuit interrupter (GFI) outlets where required, as well as fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.

Sprague wants to update both bathrooms and fix the porch, which is in "rough repair." The contractor, who will begin working soon, will scrape the outside of the house and paint it. If there's enough money, he'll replace the rusted metal roof, but the roof isn't leaking, so that may have to wait, Sprague said.

Facing an economic crisis: Vermont organic dairy farmers seek help from state

"That's probably low on the priority list," she said. "It doesn't look great."

Sprague and her husband paid themselves to have the septic system replaced last fall.

A problem with the kitchen ceiling in the mid-19th century farmhouse on the Sprague Ranch in Brookfield that will be renovated with a loan from the Vermont Farmworker Housing Repair Loan Program, as seen on May 12, 2023.

"It needed to happen," Sprague said. "I could go on and on, it's an old farmhouse. It hasn't had any work done to it in probably 25 years and we've owned it for about four years. We bought it because it is in such close proximity to our farm. You can just walk across the street to work."

The farm was established in 1864 by the Sprague family.

Will Lambek of Migrant Justice, a Vermont-based nonprofit founded and led by immigrant farmworkers, said the housing repair loan program is a small step toward solving the housing problem on Vermont's dairy farms.

Why Vermont has no birthing centers: Vermont women have few options if they don't want to give birth in hospitals

"It's good that the state is recognizing this is a problem and putting money toward it," Lambek said. "It's a pretty small amount, given the size of the need, and it's rolling out slowly, given the urgency of it. People are living in horrific conditions across the state. We'd like to see more money go out, and go out faster."

Lambek questioned the maximum amount of the loans, set at $30,000.

"We've expressed throughout the process a concern about throwing good money after bad," Lambek said. "On some of these units, $30,000 doesn't get you too far. A lot of the housing has real structural deficiencies and is not habitable. It's enough money to make it slightly less uncomfortable, rather than a holistic solution to create new and better housing."

The new equity director: How Kim Carson plans to create sustainable change in Burlington

Migrant Justice says not all farmers want to improve the conditions for Vermont's migrant workers

Lambek also worries about the power dynamic between farm owners and their migrant farmworkers, given that the loan program does not include any provision for oversight of housing in need of repair on farms not participating in the program.

Migrant Justice campaigns outside of a Hannaford store, asking that the company commits to a program to expand farmworker rights and dignity.

"There are farms out there that should be applying for this money and workers would desperately want improvement (in their housing), but there's not really a way (to make that happen) if the employer isn't going to apply," Lambek said. "Champlain Housing Trust is not coming in and saying, 'Hey this is something your workers are asking for.'"

The Veracruz connection: Sprague's migrant workers

All nine of Sprague Ranch's Mexican workers are from the state of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Five of the workers live in the house to be renovated, and four live in another house the Spragues own a short distance away, which they renovated using their own money.

"We had too many workers in one house, so we bought this house so we could split them up," Sprague said of the house slated for renovation. "There's extra room here, and there's extra room in the other house, so we have room for expansion. That's important."

The second house that Sprague Ranch uses to provide accommodations for migrant workers. Chelsea Sprague and her husband renovated this house at their own expense. As seen on May 12, 2023.

The arrival of Mexican workers a decade ago at Sprague Ranch changed the business for Sprague and her husband, she said. For the first time, they had reliable workers. Local workers, by contrast, would come and go.

"It was our experience for years and years," Sprague said. "We spent a ton of time trying to train people and we never got out of that cycle of training people. People would leave, or they would come with a laundry list of problems why they couldn't show up, whatever that may be. So that was difficult."

When yet another local worker left, Sprague and her husband decided to hire two Hispanic workers  the term she uses for Sprague Ranch's Mexican workers.

"We decided to try it and see if it could work, and then it became this great thing," Sprague said. "Instead of worrying about who's going to show up for work, you're scheduling, and working on the communication situation."

'Try to meet the housing need': University of Vermont hopes to ease housing shortage with South Burlington project

Some of Sprague Ranch's Mexican workers speak English well, Sprague said. Others don't speak English at all. Sprague's herdsman and shop foreman, who are locals, became conversant in Spanish. Her feed supplier, Cargill, provides a translator when needed, as part of its contract with Sprague Ranch.

A bathroom at the house for migrant workers on Sprague Ranch that has already been renovated at the farm owners' expense. As seen on May 12, 2023.

Over the years, the first two Mexican workers were joined by others to total nine of the 15 employees at Sprague Ranch.

"Slowly the American workers would leave and we would replace them with another Hispanic worker," Sprague said.

Working on a dairy farm means long hours in Vermont

Housing and all utilities are provided at no cost to the Mexican workers. They receive reviews and raises every six months, according to Sprague.

"Usually they work a lot of hours  agriculture is exempt from overtime  and it's usually between $40,000 and $60,000 a year that they make," Sprague said.

The milking parlor at Sprague Ranch dairy farm in Brookfield, as seen on May 12, 2023.

The Mexicans work two shifts, from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to midnight, milking the cows three times a day. Each worker puts in an average of 70 hours per week.

"Dairy farms are an incredible amount of work," Sprague said. "They make the money. They send it home. They build houses. They buy businesses."

The calf barn at Sprague Ranch dairy farm in Brookfield, as seen on May 12, 2023.

Are migrant workers in Vermont paid enough?

A worker paid $40,000 annually, for a 70-hour week, is making about $11 per hour, or $2 per hour below Vermont's minimum wage.

"There is a labor shortage, that's true," Lambek said. "But if somebody says they can't find somebody to do this job, and they're paid $2 below minimum wage working 10-hour shifts, there's a reason for it. Let's be honest, who's going to work in those conditions?"

One of the first Mexican workers Sprague hired used his earnings to buy a lemon and lime grove in Veracruz and returned home after five years. Sprague and her husband visited him in Mexico a few years ago.

"It's an amazing experience," Sprague said. "It's not like a touristy thing. You stay with them in their villages."

Chelsea Sprague of Sprague Ranch in Brookfield, as seen on May 12, 2023.

"We have a good relationship, I feel, with our workers, a relationship of mutual respect," she said. "We work hard to make sure they have the things they need."

Lambek acknowledged that "a dollar goes a lot farther in Mexico," and that in some cases farmworkers here can build a house back home and save up a nest egg from their earnings.

More: Ben & Jerry's: 'No evidence' of child labor in Vermont supply chain

"That's why people come, hoping they're able to do that," Lambek said.

But, he said, a good relationship and mutual respect don't replace the need for "robust enforcement of labor rights," if there are retaliatory firings and abuse, with workers being thrown off a farm in the middle of the night and told to get out.

"This is not a comment on Chelsea or Sprague Farm, but these are things we see," Lambek said.

Contact Dan DAmbrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: VT starts loans for farmers to improve workers' homes: What to know
The arraignment of Krieg Butler Wednesday revealed that several witnesses told authorities 13-year-old Sinzae Reed shot at Butler in his truck before Butler got out of his truck and fired back, killing Reed.

Butler, who previously told authorities he fired in self-defense in the fatal October shooting of Sinzae, was arraigned Wednesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on two felony charges.

Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor David Zeyen said during Butlers arraignment Wednesday that witnesses told police a boy in a hoodie and mask shot at Butler. Zeyen also said several additional witnesses said somebody removed a firearm from next to Sinzae before police arrived.

Zeyen said other witnesses who did not see what happened reported hearing two volleys of gunfire. He said these witnesses did not know Butler.

These revelations explain why a Franklin County grand jury declined last week to indict Butler for murder in Reed's death.

Butler, 37, is charged with improper handling of a firearm and tampering with evidence with a firearm specification  but not murder or another charge related directly to Sinzaes death. Butler was arrested on Sunday after a Franklin County grand jury returned its decision on charges last week.

Butler appeared in court Wednesday via video from the Franklin County Jail.

Zeyen said the improper handling charge stems from the fact that Butler could not legally carry a loaded firearm in his vehicle since he was convicted of theft in 2010, a fifth-degree felony.

Butler also disposed of the gun he shot Sinzae with, and did not tell police at first where to find it, Zeyen said.

Franklin County Common Pleas Magistrate Jennifer Cordle set Butler's bond at $100,000 cash surety.

Sinzae Reed, a 13-year-old who was fatally shot earlier this month in the Hilltop neighborhood. His sister 20-year-old Makayla Nichols said Sinzae was a good kid who didn't deserve to die.

DeJuan Sharp, who serves as a spokesperson for the Reed family, told The Dispatch after the hearing that Reed did not have a gun or fire at Butler.

"There has been no gun ever found, ever," Sharp said.

Sharp pointed out that Zeyen said during the hearing that there were no bullet holes in Butler's truck and no shell casings were found by where Sinzae allegedly fired from. Zeyen also said no shell casings were found by where Butler fired from or elsewhere on the scene.

"If you're Black, you can die in any manner and no one cares," Sharp said.

Franklin County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Janet Grubb, who oversees the offices criminal division, reiterated that multiple witnesses said they saw Sinzae shoot and multiple witnesses said they saw a gun after the shooting be removed from the scene.

"A gun was never found. We know that but everybody's going to have to draw their own conclusions, as did the grand jury," Grubb said. "The grand jury listened to the witnesses and made a conclusion. We weren't there. We're not going to stand up and dispute anything Mr. Sharp wants to assert. All we can do is present the witnesses we have to any tribunal and let the tribunal make their own decision."

The shooting of Sinzae, a Black teen, by Butler, a white man, garnered local and national attention for months after it happened on the afternoon of Oct. 12, 2022.

Activists criticized the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office for letting Butler go free while authorities investigated his claim of self-defense and for not bringing the case to a grand jury sooner.

Related: How does Ohio's grand jury process work? Here's what you should know.

More: Downtown protesters express discontent with indictment in Sinzae Reed's death

According to Columbus police, Butler fatally shot Sinzae outside at the Wedgewood Apartments complex in the Hilltop where they both resided. An autopsy report by the Franklin County Coroner's Office later revealed Reed was shot twice  once in the right wrist and once in the chest.

Within a few days of the shooting, police arrested Butler and charged him with murder. After Butler told authorities he shot in self-defense, Tyacks office dropped the charges to await additional evidence from city homicide detectives.

Last week, prosecutors presented evidence and brought several witnesses before a grand jury over two days before the nine randomly selected citizens decided what to charge Butler with.

Going deeper for subscribers: How Ohio laws make it easier to claim self-defense

If convicted, what are the penalties Butler faces?

Improper handling of a firearm is a felony of the fourth degree with a maximum possible sentence of 18 months in prison if convicted.

Tampering with evidence is a third-degree felony with a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Attached to the tampering with evidence charge is a firearm specification, meaning if Butler is convicted, he faces a mandatory prison sentence of one year just for that specification.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: At Krieg Butler arraignment: Witnesses say Sinzae Reed shot first
Police detain a protester after they allegedly threw a brick after San Francisco Mayor London Breed delivered remarks during a question-and-answer session with the Board of Supervisors, outside UN Plaza in San Francisco. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle)

An outdoor public hearing on San Francisco's drug crisis came to an abrupt end Tuesday after protesters interrupted the event, with one attendee later arrested on suspicion of assault after a brick was thrown.

The event, held at United Nations Plaza in the city's downtown, was part of a monthly question-and-answer session with Mayor London Breed hosted during the regularly scheduled meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Board President Aaron Peskin organized the hearing to highlight Breed's plans to curb drug sales and overdoses on the city's streets.

Breed was met with boos from the crowd, and hecklers continually yelled over her dialogue with Peskin. As protesters chanted "no more cops," Breed said the outdoor hearing would not be "the right forum" to answer Peskin's questions, and the event was recessed after 10 minutes to the Board of Supervisors' chambers.

As the public officials left the area, someone in the crowd threw a brick  striking a juvenile bystander, according to the San Francisco Police Department. The girl's injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

Aaron Reskin, president of board of Supervisors, left, attempts to quiet the audience as San Francisco Mayor London Breed steps up to the podium to speak during a question-and-answer session with the Board of Supervisors, outside United Nations Plaza. (Yalonda M. James/AP)

Witnesses helped police detain the suspect, whom police identified as 26-year-old San Francisco resident Elysia Katet.

Katet was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment. Online jail records contain an alternate spelling of her first name: "Elijsia."

Before the event's sudden cancellation, Breed delivered some remarks about the issue of open drug use and its effects on public safety.

Breed  who could face a challenging reelection battle next year, according to one recent poll  said the issue of open drug use was "nothing new" to the city, having witnessed it herself growing up.

However, she said the problem has persisted despite various interventions and programs, leading her to seek out alternative solutions, including the arrest of drug dealers and users.

"I'm putting everything on the line to change what we need to do," she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Turkish students awarded scholarship for Chinese language proficiency

Xinhua) 10:29, May 24, 2023

China's Acting Consul General in Istanbul Wu Jian (6th R, back) poses for photos with Turkish students from Istanbul-based Okan University who were awarded a consul-general scholarship for their excellency in the Chinese language in the university's grand complex in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, Turkiye, May 22, 2023. (Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, May 22 (Xinhua) -- A total of 29 Turkish students from Istanbul-based Okan University were awarded a consul-general scholarship for their excellency in the Chinese language.

An award ceremony was held in the university's grand complex on Monday in the Tuzla district on the Asian side of Istanbul.

The Chinese Consul-General Scholarship aims to encourage Turkish college students to study the Chinese language and culture in order to deepen people-to-people exchanges and friendship between the two countries.

Before the ceremony, China's Acting Consul General in Istanbul Wu Jian met with Mithat Kiyak, acting rector of the university, to discuss ways to carry out cooperation in promoting Chinese among the Turkish people.

China attaches great importance to student exchanges between the two countries, Wu said.

Kiyak, for his part, said his university, home to a Confucius Institute, is ready to boost cooperation with Chinese institutions.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
JERUSALEM, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers found that within just a few months a deadly epidemic killed all black sea urchin population in the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba, Tel Aviv University said Wednesday.

The researchers noted that this situation is unprecedented in the entire documented history of the gulf whose shores include Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

The black sea urchin disappearance threatens to destroy the gulf's coral reefs, as the urchins feed on algae and prevent them from taking over and suffocating the corals that compete with them for sunlight, they warned.

The researchers predict that the entire population of these sea urchins, in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, will shortly get sick and die, as extensive mortality has already been observed off the coasts of Greece and Turkiye.

The research team has sent an urgent report describing the situation to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, calling for establishing a broodstock black sea urchins population so it will be possible to return them to nature when necessary.

The researchers assume that the source of the deadly epidemic is a pathogenic ciliate parasite that has spread from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. 
San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Mayor Breed attempted to answer questions from supervisors demanding her administration do more to shut down open-air drug dealing, but the meeting had to be moved indoors to City Hall because of disruptions. Listening at right is Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Protesters cut short a rare outdoor meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday where the board president had planned to question Mayor London Breed on her administration's response to the crisis of brazen open-air drug dealing.

Board President Aaron Peskin moved the first part of the board's weekly meeting to a plaza in the troubled Tenderloin neighborhood near City Hall, where rampant dealing and drug use take place. He asked the mayor if she would commit to setting up an emergency operations center and coordinate departments to shut down public drug dealing in open sites such as in the plaza within 90 days.

But heckling and chants of no more cops from the large crowd were so loud that Peskin moved the meeting back to City Hall before the mayor could answer. Breed did not answer Peskins question directly after the meeting reconvened indoors.

The fentanyl crisis has hit all of California, including San Francisco. In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent in the California Highway Patrol and California National Guard to help crack down on drug traffickers in the city as overdose deaths have soared.

Breed has clashed with members of the board who say more police and arrests are not the way to solve the city's drug crisis. She declared a three-month emergency over the drug crisis in the Tenderloin in 2021, and nearly a year later vowed another crackdown on drugs in the low-income neighborhood, but little has changed.

Breed has said that using drugs in public is not acceptable and that repeat offenders need to take the help offered or face consequences.

We cant keep speaking out of both sides of our mouth. On the one hand, we want change and we want to hold people accountable, Breed said before the meeting was moved. And on the other hand, were willing to let people get away with murder.

Peskin said it was not a matter of resources, but coordination. He agreed with the mayor that the problem is not a new one, but it is one that has become so visible that many San Franciscans do not feel safe.

San Francisco's downtown core, of which the U.N. Plaza is part of, has not bounced back from the pandemic as other cities have. Tech employees have opted to work remotely, reducing foot traffic that supported downtown shops.

After supervisors left U.N. Plaza, a woman threw a brick at a group of high school students carrying flags for the meeting and struck a girl. A 26-year-old San Francisco woman was booked on accusations of child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon, said San Francisco officer Robert Rueca. The minor was not seriously hurt.

The mayor appears at board meetings once a month to answer questions from supervisors.
Protests rally ahead of federal oil and gas lease sale in southeast New Mexico

Federal land managers planned to offer more than 10,000 acres of public land for auction to the oil and gas industry in New Mexico and Kansas this week, drawing protests from environmental groups demanding the sale be halted.

The Bureau of Land Managements May 25 lease sale was set to include about 3,279 acres in Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties, in southeast New Mexicos Permian Basin region, and another 6,844 acres in Cheyenne County, Kansas.

The lands sold at the auction would be leased for 10 years or as long as oil or gas is produced.

More: $141M Permian Basin oil and gas deal finalized as more companies move into region

Letters of opposition to the sale were delivered to the BLMs field offices in Carlsbad, Farmington, Las Cruces and Albuquerque this week, with a rally planned outside BLM New Mexico headquarters in Santa Fe on the day of the sale.

The letter was signed by more than 200 environmental groups in New Mexico and other western states, calling on the agency to end the use of public land for fossil fuel extraction.

We are shocked and dismayed that in spite of a clear scientific, political, and public consensus that action for the climate requires we begin to phase out fossil fuels, the BLM is continuing the legacy of sacrifice zones in New Mexico by moving forward with the auction of additional public and ancestral lands to more oil and gas leasing and drilling, read the letter.

More: Oil industry buying more public land in New Mexico. Feds hope to prioritize conservation

The letter called out President Joe Biden for promises the groups contended Biden made on the campaign trail to phase out oil and gas drilling.

When Biden took office in 2019, his administration placed a halt on new oil and gas leasing as the Interior Department conducted a review of its fossil fuel policies.

That resulted in higher royalty rates and other fees charged to operators for extraction from leased federal land, but the groups argued this was not enough to protect the U.S. from perceived environmental threats posed by extraction.

More: $540M oil and gas deal in Permian Basin latest of fossil fuel investments in region

These included worsening air quality, water scarcity and extreme weather events like wildfires and flooding, the letter read.

President Biden promised to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands, the letter read. The federal government, including the President himself, has a moral and ethical imperative to confront the climate crisis.

The public health toll of oil and gas extraction is incalculable.

More: Oil and gas sends $16B to New Mexico's economy, industry reports. Health concerns linger

Kayley Shoup of Carlsbad, and an organizer of local environmental group Citizens Caring for the Future, said it was important to engage with BLMs local offices in requesting oil and gas leasing end.

The land theyre leasing is basically all in the Permian, she said. Were asking the BLM director to halt this oil and gas sale. We know thats highly unlikely, but we think its a reasonable ask at this point.

Shoup referred to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that advocating for a global transition away from fossil fuels to avoid global warming of more than 1.5 degree Celsius  an international benchmark the scientific community believes could cause widespread environmental crisis.

More: Oil giant Shell to buy power from New Mexico wind farm amid transition to renewable energy

Continued leasing to oil and gas is also tying up public land in New Mexico, Shoup said, that could be used in the future for other uses as she said she expected fossil fuel demand to decline in the coming years.

Shoup argued oil and gas operations also threatened sensitive landforms in the Carlsbad area like underground, karstic acquirers.

Things are starting to turn right now, she said. Demand is starting to decline slightly. What will that look like when there are more electric vehicles and renewable energy? Were slowly running out of land. Its a real frontline concern.

More: Scientists converge in Loving, New Mexico to study air pollution from oil and gas

National group Friends of the Earth submitted a petition in April opposing the sale to the BLM, signed by 18,506 members across the U.S., records show.

The proposal for the upcoming oil and gas lease sales threaten New Mexico and Wyomings most critical public lands, the petition read. Fossil fuel extraction threatens to poison public lands and pollute surrounding communities. We cannot prioritize oil and gas drilling over the health of people and the planet.

The BLM was also underway in gaining approval for another lease sale of about 434 acres in Eddy and Lea counties slated for November.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Protests rally ahead of federal oil and gas lease sale in New Mexico
Far-right militias including the Proud Boys and Patriot Front are preparing to escalate their attacks on LGBTQ+ businesses and events during Pride month, according to reports from extremist watchdog organizations.

Multiple watchdog groups told Insider last week that militia organizers from both groups are privately planning to escalate anti-LGBTQ+ provocations at Pride parades, drag shows, and other such events throughout June and beyond. In private Telegram groups, users have shared images of banners with anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and slogans they plan to bring to spark an emotional reaction and instigate violence.

We are seeing just a singular focus on LGBTQ people, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism co-founder Heidi Bierich told the publication, adding the two groups are all about violence [...] What happened last year, it was probably just a whiff of what we might see this year, after 12 months of organizing.

According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, out of the nearly 200 anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations in the U.S. last year, the Proud Boys participated more than any other militant far-right group. Founded in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys have been recognized as a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand and are categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

How Drag Artists Became the Far Right's Ultimate Villains

Over the past year, the sense of safety and joy experienced at drag performances has been punctured and replaced.

In private Telegram groups, Proud Boys have planned to counter Pride events by taking back June with a so-called Proud Month that would, as one militia member put it, challenge this perversion of the Nuclear Family and Gender. Proud Boys also plan to disrupt and co-opt Juneteenth celebrations with coordinated Proud Day events to break the chains of Pride Month on June 17, two days before. The watchdog groups were not aware of specific chapters plans for Proud Day as of last week, only that they expect some kind of escalated activity, and advised general caution.

Last year marked a surge in attempted right-wing violence at LGBTQ+ events, as Republicans anti-drag propaganda fueled recruitment for white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups. Proud Boys and Patriot Front members have regularly disrupted events such as Pride celebrations, drag queen story time programs at public libraries, and even church Bingo nights, with some armed extremists threatening attendees and accusing them of child molestation. This is despite the fact that numerous right-wing politicians have themselves been accused of grooming, molestation, and other sex crimes in the recent past, including Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, and former Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton.

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Putin is afraid he will be killed, and we are getting closer  Ukraine's Defence Intelligence

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is top of the list of "candidates" for elimination by the Ukrainian special forces, and the reason the Crimean Bridge has not yet been destroyed is to give the Russians a way to flee the peninsula.

Source: Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Head of Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, in an interview with the German publication Welt, quoted by Ukrinform

Quote from Skibitskyi: "He [Putin - ed.] notices that we are getting closer to him, but maybe he is also afraid of being killed by his own people... He is only now starting to stick his head out, and if he does that, we cant be sure that it is really him."

Details: When asked whether Ukraines Defence Intelligence was behind the attacks on Russian propagandists, Skibitskyi said they were not important targets; the special forces' priority is to destroy the unit commander who ordered his men to attack. In particular, he said, Ukrainian intelligence is trying to eliminate Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Skibitskyi also added that Defence Intelligence closely monitors all movements, command centres and front-line positions.

In addition, he confirmed that attacks on critical infrastructure facilities on Russian territory are the work of various Ukrainian agencies. This is done in order to interrupt the occupiers supply chains.

As far as temporarily occupied Crimea is concerned, Skibitskyi said there is not much critical infrastructure that could be destroyed to prevent weapons from being delivered.

However, he noted that there are both intelligence representatives and partisans there who are "quite capable of striking".

Skibitsky noted that the Crimean Bridge is still standing because Ukraine wants to give the Russians an opportunity to flee the peninsula.

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(Bloomberg) -- President Vladimir Putin has increasingly put Russias economy on a war footing since his invasion of Ukraine. The central bank is also being enlisted for the fight under a decorated military officer installed as a deputy governor.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Sergey Belovs role in charge of what are known as field institutions that effectively channel funding from the state budget to combat troops draws little attention. Unlike Governor Elvira Nabiullina and other top officials, he isnt under international sanctions.

Belov, 52, became deputy governor of the Bank of Russia in May last year and oversees the field offices alongside the system of cash circulation. A graduate of the Defense Ministrys economic academy, he previously ran the central banks division in Sevastopol, a city on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea that Putin annexed in 2014.

Its without recent precedent for the official in charge of the central banks military functions also to hold civilian responsibilities, according to Nikolai Krotov, a historian of finance in Russia.

Run by the central bank on behalf of the Defense Ministry, the field institutions carry out banking transactions to ensure they bypass commercial lenders and avoid any exposure of state secrets. By law, they are a military branch subject to military regulations.

The Bank of Russia operates almost 90 such field offices that are assigned to work near frontline units. They meet banking needs from opening a current account or handling cash withdrawals to money transfers and even issuing their own payment cards.

Though large swathes of the economy have been enlisted to support the invasion, the Bank of Russia has sought to cast itself as a bastion of technocrats focused on fine-tuning monetary policy in a country under siege from unprecedented international sanctions.

Bank of Russia Sees Economy Growing as Sanctions Shock Fades

The appointment of a specialist with a military background to be responsible for cash circulation seems to befit the spirit of the times, said Oleg Vyugin, a former first deputy governor at the Bank of Russia. Now is the time in Russia for those from the military and security milieu  they have certain opportunities for a successful career in many civilian sectors.

Vital Cog

The central bank didnt respond to a request to comment. When asked about the field institutions at a news conference in April, Nabiullina said only that they are functioning as intended.

The obscure department that was managed before Belov by the central banks chief accountant has become a vital cog of the war economy as the Kremlin tries to coax more Russians to volunteer to join the fight by offering financial incentives and benefits.

Belovs reach has expanded with Russias occupation of parts of four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine after a government decree this year empowered the field institutions to handle budget resources for residents in the territories. In February, he attended a meeting held in the occupied city of Mariupol on providing financial services.

Russias lower house of parliament also passed a draft law in March to transfer responsibility for paying the wages and allowances of all armed forces personnel to the field institutions and lenders selected by the government, to ensure security of data about the military.

The central bank under Nabiullina has enjoyed an enviable degree of autonomy in Russia and once earned the title of the most orthodox in developing Europe. After she attempted to resign following Russias February 2022 attack on Ukraine, Putin nominated her for a new five-year term.

It was around the same time that the bank began to retrofit for the new reality. In March last year, it bought sleeping bags, tents and wood stoves for its field institutions.

Within weeks, Belov  who had led the field institutions department since 2021  was promoted to the role of Nabiullinas deputy, though without becoming a voting member of the board of directors that decides on policy.

His elevation was a sign of the importance attached to the position and also symbolic because of who he replaced  Mikhail Alekseev, a veteran banker and former chairman of the Russian subsidiary of Italys UniCredit SpA, who became subject to US sanctions in April last year.

Military Merit

Belovs official biography is sparse.

A native of Tambov, southern Russia, he spent most of his career at the central bank, starting as a senior cashier at the field institutions. He was awarded the Order of Military Merit by presidential decree in 2009.

Belovs time in Crimea following the annexation meant he was present when Russia introduced the ruble and built a new financial system, experiences likely to be useful as Russia strives to absorb the other occupied areas. Ukraine is poised to unleash a counteroffensive aiming to take back the territories.

Why Ukraines Donbas Region Matters to Putin: QuickTake

Demand for cash increased after Russia replaced Ukraines hryvnia with the ruble in those areas in January, Bank of Russia Deputy Chairman Alexey Zabotkin told reporters in a briefing Monday.

Sergey Dubinin, Russias central bank chief from 1995 to 1998, described the field offices as an intermediary between allocated budgetary funds and the actual military divisions. While they maintained close ties with the military, he said he couldnt recall the bank having a deputy governor with a military background.

--With assistance from Gem Atkinson.

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Putin could have a 'revolution' on his hands because Russian elites refuse to send their kids to die in the Ukraine war, Wagner boss Prigozhin warns

Russian conscripts called up for military service line up before their departure for garrisons as they gather at a recruitment centre in Simferopol, Crimea. Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters

Putin could face a "revolution" because of outrage over war in Ukraine, Wagner boss Prigozhin said.

Russia's elite not sending "fat, carefree" kids into war could spark public unrest, he added.

The Times reported that Prigozhin compared the current environment to the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Russian President Vladimir Putin could have a "revolution" on his hands over his botched war in Ukraine, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

In a profane rant during an interview with pro-Kremlin blogger Konstantin Dolgov, the head of the Wagner Group called out Russia's elite for protecting their children from being drafted into the war, according to a translation from The Times.

"The children of the elite smear themselves with creams and show off on the internet, while ordinary people's children come home in zinc [coffins], torn to pieces," he said, according to The Times. "I recommend that the elite of the Russian Federation gathers up, bitch, its youth and send them to war."

Prigozhin said their "fat, carefree" lives could spark outrage and a "revolution," leading working-class citizens to storm the elite's "villas" with "pitchforks."

That revolution, he concluded, "might end as in 1917," referencing the Russian Revolution of 1917, when citizens overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

The comments come as Russian forces, including Wagner Group members, claimed victory in Bakhmut over the weekend. Ukraine contested the victory, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisting to G7 leaders in Hiroshima that Kyiv's soldiers were still fighting for control of the region.

Prigozhin's volatile attitude and criticisms of Putin are increasingly shocking, but the Russian president is still too reliant on Wagner's army to punish Prigozhin.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Putin rips into countries that 'impose their rules' on others just 15 months after Russia invaded Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech before a ceremony celebrating Women's Day in Moscow on March 8, 2023. Mikhail Metzel/Getty Images

Putin exhibited a stunning lack of self-awareness as he slammed countries that try to "impose" on others.

The Russian leader said such countries were contributing to "mounting instability" across the globe.

Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine last February, sparking the largest conflict in Europe since WWII.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the architect of an invasion of its neighbor that kicked off the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II, apparently takes issue with countries that "impose" on others and create instability.

Exhibiting an astonishing lack of self-awareness during a speech at a security conference, Putin on Wednesday said that countries vying to "preserve their dominance and impose their rules" on others were contributing to "mounting instability" across the globe.

Amid Russia's ongoing, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Russian leader slammed countries that act with "complete disregard of other countries' sovereignty, national interests and traditions."

As Russia works to violently overthrow Ukraine's current, democratically-elected government, Putin lamented that "the negative burden of conflicts is piling up, and people in many countries are experiencing the dramatic aftermath of the foreign-engineered coups."

The war in Ukraine, which began exactly 15 months ago Wednesday, is driven in part by Putin's nostalgia for the Soviet Union and desire to reestablish Russia's hegemony in the region. The former KGB officer has falsely claimed that Ukraine is not a real country and has no history of its own to justify the invasion, which has backfired and seen Russia isolated on the global stage and made Putin a pariah among world leaders.

Millions have been displaced in Ukraine as a result of the war, and the death toll from the fighting continues to rise. Russian forces have suffered substantial losses, but Ukrainian casualties are far from few. Russia has faced widespread accusations of war crimes in Ukraine, and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March over allegations of involvement in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.

Putin has repeatedly made nuclear threats throughout the war, raising concerns around the world. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also rapidly reshaped Europe's security apparatus, pushing Finland and Sweden  two historically neutral countries  to move to join NATO. Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, has since become a full member of the security alliance. Sweden's path to membership, however, has been complicated by objections from Hungary and Turkey.

The conflict in Ukraine has raised tensions between the West and Russia to historic heights while also contributing to an increasingly contentious dynamic between Western countries and China.

Though Beijing has not openly endorsed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese government has also refused to join the chorus of voices in the international community that have condemned Moscow over the war. Moscow and Beijing have also repeatedly touted their strong ties since the war began.

Putin's speech on Wednesday came as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Mishustin during the visit said that relations between the two countries were "at an unprecedented high level," per the Associated Press.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Putin is still too reliant on Prigozhin's 'meat army' to punish the mercenary leader for his public defiance: reports

While the two have feuded before, Prigozhin's insults are shockingly blunt. Mikhail Svetlov/Contributor via Getty Images

The Wagner Group helped Russia claim a victory in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut over the weekend.

The minor victory comes as Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin continues to publicly slam Russia's military.

But Prigozhin's forces are still too vital to Putin's war effort for him to be punished.

After months of brutal fighting in the east, Russia claimed it now controls the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, thanks in large part to Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group forces, according to western intelligence.

Prigozhin, who has been increasingly desperate for a win in recent weeks, announced the ostensible victory over the weekend, even as Ukrainian defense officials insisted Kyiv's forces were still fighting for control of the region.

It's unclear how long Moscow can hold the battered city, which was once home to 70,000 people but has since been left in ruins following months of attritional warfare so ruthless it became known as "the meat grinder."

The Wagner-won victory in the strategically-unimportant city complicates Russian President Vladimir Putin's likely response to Prigozhin's exceedingly defiant and chaotic attitude.

Prigozhin, a one-time close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, oversees the mercenary Wagner Group, which sparked global outrage earlier in the war after offering convicted prisoners a chance at freedom in exchange for their fighting in Ukraine.

The rouge wartime leader's troops played an outsized role in the battle of Bakhmut, sustaining significant losses this year in the vein of tens of thousands of casualties.

Prigozhin, meanwhile, has continually escalated an ongoing feud with Russia's military brass, going so far as to offer Russian troop locations to Ukraine in exchange for the country sparing his for-hire army in Bakhmut, The Washington Post reported earlier this month, citing leaked intelligence documents. Prigozhin later denied the allegations.

In recent weeks, Prigozhin upped his public animosity toward Russia's military, shaming Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov by name and posting videos of dead soldiers piled up near Bakhmut while striving for more ammunition and threatening to pull his troops from the area.

Its ongoing oppositional behavior is deeply unfamiliar to a Russian administration prone to imprisoning or even allegedly poisoning its public critics. And yet Prigozhin continues to play an important role in the war, even after taking a veiled barb at the Russian president, himself, earlier this month.

But Prigozhin's "meat army" is simply too valuable to Russia's struggling war effort right now for Putin to send his former ally to prison, according to Puck reporter Julie Ioffe, who wrote about the tensions building between the two in The Best and the Brightest newsletter this week.

Prigozhin's continued defiance is blatantly undermining Putin's purported power, but a military expert told Insider earlier this month that the Russian president may have no choice but to let Prigozhin go on blabbing.

Wagner's troops, depleted as they may be, serve as much-needed bodies in a war effort that is desperately trying to avoid another unpopular mobilization, Kateryna Stepanenko, an expert on the Russian military at the Institute for the Study of War, told Insider's Ryan Pickrell.

In a rare moment of recognition, Putin even directly congratulated the Wagner Group following their alleged seizure of Bakhmut. Prigozhin said Saturday he would pull his Wagner troops from Bakhmut come Thursday, where they would reorganize and undergo additional training.

Putin also can't risk alienating his ultra-nationalist supporters by going after Prigozhin, Stepanenko said.

"He cannot just simply kill Prigozhin and expect that not to trigger some sort of reaction," she told Insider. "He, of course, could, but that would undermine his appeal to the nationalists, who are the only people that are so inherently invested in his ideology and his belief in this war."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Chief of Russias notorious Wagner mercenary force and self-proclaimed "butcher" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has once again come out swinging at Moscow's defense ministry, this time warning there will be a revolution like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution if Russian elites do not get serious about the war in Ukraine.

According to a Reuters report Wednesday, Prigozhin in an interview posted to Telegram said that there are already "tens of thousands" of angry Russians who are sick of seeing loved ones come back in zinc coffins while the children of Moscows elite "shook their a---s."

"This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution," he said in reference to the revolution that ended the 300-year reign of the Romanov czar dynasty, prompting the infamous legend around Anastasia, daughter of Czar Nicholas II, who along with his family were murdered in 1918.

POLAND SAYS NO TO ANY ARTIFICIAL PEACE PLAN BETWEEN UKRAINE, RUSSIA

"First the soldiers will stand up, and after that  their loved ones will rise up," Prigozhin said according to a Reuters translation. "There are already tens of thousands of them  relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands  we cannot avoid that."

The Wagner chief, who has been repeatedly critical of the Russian defense ministry and its handling of the war in Ukraine, criticized the messaging around what the Kremlin has dubbed a "special military operation," reportedly calling it confused and contradictory.

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He said Russian leadership had "f---ed up" repeatedly during the war, particularly in failing to demilitarize Ukraine.

"We are in such a condition that we could f---ing lose Russia  that is the main problem," Prigozhin said, adding that more men needed to be mobilized, and the economy directed towards supporting the war. "We need to impose martial law."

ANTI-PUTIN GROUPS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR BELGOROD ATTACK IN RUSSIA

Prigozhin also pointed to the cross-border attack in Belgorod this week as an indication that Ukraine was advancing and had no plans to concede territory in pursuit of a peace plan. Though Kyiv has said it had nothing to do with the assault that began Monday.

The mercenary chief also criticized the viewpoint in Moscow that Russia will eventually achieve its war aims after the West tires of supporting Kyiv and China strikes a peace deal.

Instead, he said Kyiv plans to continue fighting until it has pushed all Russian forces across its borders, including Crimea which Russia has occupied since 2014.

"Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia, so we need to prepare for an arduous war," Prigozhin said.

A Ukrainian soldier gives water to a captured Russian army serviceman, according to them, on a position recently gained in offensive, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 11, 2023.

Prigozhin also reportedly called for Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to be replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, though he noted his frustration was centered around his devotion to Putin and Russia.

"I love my Motherland, I serve Putin, Shoigu should be judged, and we will fight on," he said, adding that he took issue with his nickname as "Putin's chef" and said "Putin's butcher" would have been more appropriate.
Putin spokesman says Russia will "liberate" Belarus if its people rise up against Lukashenko

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov says Russia will intervene in the event of a popular armed uprising in Belarus to overthrow the regime of its self-proclaimed president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Source: Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti

Quote: "This neighbouring country [Belarus  ed.] is our partner, ally and fraternal state. Naturally, the Russian Federation has obligations with regard to ensuring the security of Belarus, which we will do in the face of such an evident threat."

Details: He also called Poland a "hostile" state to Russia, claiming it is now "engulfed in Russophobic hysteria".

Peskov also claimed that Poland is "openly speaking of its intention to intervene directly, including by force, in the internal affairs of a neighbouring state".

Background:

Earlier, General Waldemar Skrzypczak, former Commander of the Polish Land Forces, expressed the opinion that there is a real prospect of an armed uprising in Belarus and called on Warsaw to prepare for such a scenario.

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Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua (R) and President of Iran's Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU) Abdollah Motamedi pose with documents of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a China Pavilion at the university library in Tehran, Iran, May 24, 2023. Under the memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides, a China Pavilion covering about 400 square meters will be built in ATU's central library, offering students with Chinese books and cultural products. (Xinhua/Shadati)

TEHRAN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Iran and Iran's Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU) on Wednesday agreed to establish a China Pavilion at the university library.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides, a China Pavilion covering about 400 square meters will be built in ATU's central library, offering students with Chinese books and cultural products.

In an address to the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua said Chinese and Iranian peoples have had friendly ties since a long time ago.

"Ever since the establishment of their diplomatic relations over half a century ago, China and Iran have withstood the test of the vicissitudes of the international situation, and the friendship between the two peoples has grown stronger over time," he noted.

The Chinese envoy added in recent years, the China-Iran cooperation has constantly progressed in all areas, stressing that the two countries' cultural and social exchanges have led to significant achievements.

"I believe that the future of the China-Iran friendship is in the hands of the two countries' youths," said Chang, expressing hope that the students would become envoys of the China-Iran friendship and make their own contribution to enhancing the traditional friendship between the two countries.

For his part, the ATU's president told Xinhua the China Pavilion will definitely help the researchers, Chinese culture fans, and Chinese language learners to get access to more Chinese resources at the university.

He added Iran is also ready to provide students studying the Persian language at China's universities with access to Iranian books.

ATU is an Iranian public university specializing in the areas of humanities and social sciences, with a Center for Chinese Research established in 2019. 
Target Stores Ahead Of Earnings Figures

A customer at the self checkout of a Target store in the Queens borough of New York, US, on May 16, 2023. Credit - Getty Images

Targets decision on Tuesday to remove some LGBTQ+ merchandise from its stores following threats affecting its team members sense of safety has caused an uproar among LGBTQ+ supporters and activists who say the company is bowing to pressure from conservatives.

Target, which has nearly 2,000 stores nationwide, attributed the decision to violence they said their workers have been facing since its 2023 Pride Collection which includes clothing like a tuck-friendly bathing suit and party supplieslaunched in May. Reports of shoppers confronting employees, knocking down Pride displays and threatening the company on social media all influenced the decision, a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. Queer activists say the companys decision raises broader questions about corporate accountability when it comes to supporting marginalized communities.

Anti-LGBTQ violence and hate should not be winning in America, but it will continue to until corporate leaders step up as heroes for their LGBTQ employees and consumers and do not cave to fringe activists calling for censorship, said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD in a statement. The fact that a small group of extremists are threatening disgusting and harsh violence in response to Target continuing its long-standing tradition of offering products for everyone should be a wake-up call for consumers and is a reminder that LGBTQ people, venues, and events are being attacked with threats and violence like never before.

Target, which has been selling pride-related merchandise for over a decade, has not yet confirmed which items will be removed from its collection. (The company did not respond to TIMEs request for comment on the situation.)

More from TIME

Some critics have made calls to boycott the store. As the parent of a queer kid to whom their pride merch has meant a lot I cant shop at a place willing to sacrifice such kids to placate hate groups, said one Twitter user.

Bob Witeck, president of strategic communications firm Witeck Communications, says Target has a legal and fiduciary responsibility to keep everyone safeand protecting its employees is important. Still, he notes that the company risks its positive credibility and reputation when it takes actions that make their values ambiguous.

In their public statement, Target said that its focus was now on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them. But amid calls to boycott Target, experts say that the retailer has to take serious actions to prove to the queer community that they are serious about their values. That, Witeck says, can come in the form of donations to major LGBTQ+ organizations or by speaking out against legislation like gender-affirming-care bans or bathroom bills.

Major brands like Target have a lot of power and strength in the economy, Witeck says. They should not shrink from using that voice to stand up for their values.

Target is just the latest company to come under fire from the right for their support of the queer community. In April, Bud Light faced intense criticism because of their partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Hersheys also faced criticism for their inclusion of a transgender woman in an ad for International Womens Day.

The backlash against Target for the pride collection comes during a particularly tense period, with GLAAD reporting that marginalized groups are facing an uptick in violence. More than 160 LGBTQ+ community events have been threatened or faced violence in the past year, according to the organization.

Marketing experts say the current polarized climate makes it particularly difficult to manage a company. Any brand right now runs the risk of showing up in a way that isnt aligned with their ideal customer and alienating roughly half of the nation, says Deb Gabor, CEO of branding agency Sol Marketing.

Still, for queer leaders like David J. Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization representing Black LBGTQ+ people, Targets response is profoundly frustrating.

How does removing products solve root issues of hate-filled campaigns targeting minoritized communities? Johns tells TIME. What signals is Target desiring to communicate to our community, especially during this period of unrelenting assaults?
A new Quinnipiac poll underscores former President Trumps front-runner status in the GOP presidential primary race, as well as some voter doubts about President Biden as the pair work toward a possible rematch next year.

The survey found 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters back the former president. He holds a 31-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who officially kicks off his White House campaign Wednesday.

Trumps support is up 9 points since late March, while DeSantiss is down 8 points in that same period. Twelve other GOP candidates  both declared and potential  got just 3 percent or less, putting the pair of Republicans alone at the top.

In the hypothetical rematch between Trump and Biden, Biden ekes out a win with 48 percent of registered voters to Trumps 46 percent. That split hasnt changed since late March.

In a hypothetical between DeSantis and Biden, the Florida governor gets 47 percent to Bidens 46, well within the polls 2.4 percentage point margin of error.

More than half, 65 percent, of voters said they think Biden, 80, is too old for a second term. The presidents age has long been a concern for voters in the run-up to his 2024 announcement.

At 76, Trump is just a few years younger than Biden, but 59 percent of respondents said they think Trump isnt too old for another term.

The survey was conducted May 18-22 and polled 1,616 self-identified registered voters. For its 669 Republican and Republican-leaning voters, the margin of error was 3.8 percentage points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Pc Paul Perdrisat, front, is accused of bullying a new recruit to the point he made him feel suicidal. Pc Michael Lowther, back, is accused of gross misconduct for failing to report Pc Perdrisat's behaviour

Members of a racist police squad pinned a poster of skinheads displaying swastikas and giving the Nazi salute on the wall of their station, a police misconduct hearing has been told.

One of the five officers was also heard calling a black motorist a racist term while on duty, it is alleged.

Another member, described as the alpha male of the task force, was accused of bullying a new recruit to the point he made him feel suicidal.

Pc Paul Perdrisat is accused of humiliating the junior colleague by getting him to drink a glass of salty water in front of other officers.

It is alleged that Pc Perdisats behaviour amounted to gross misconduct, with others in the team accused of gross misconduct over their failure to report him.

Culture of 'racist' behaviour

The officers are alleged to have nurtured a culture of racist, misogynistic and homophobic behaviour while serving in Dorset Polices Force Support Group in Bournemouth.

The officers had a WhatsApp group called The Real FSG, where offensive messages and images were shared among the male officers, it was said.

The hearing was given evidence from one officer who walked into the office one day to find someone had put the Nazi-themed poster on the wall.

The officer, known only as Witness A, said: I came in and I remember someone saying you won't believe this.

There was wall art. One was an A4 piece of paper with half a dozen men bare-chested with shaven heads.

It looked like they were in a prison and they had swastikas and they were doing the Nazi salute.

It was taken down after one or two days. I was incredibly shocked when I saw that picture. I dont know who put it up. There were so many different wall arts.

The officer said he was in a patrol van with one of the accused, Pc Mark Jordan-Gill, when he heard him shout out racist abuse at a motorist.

He added: We were driving in a van towards Tuckton. We were slowing down to let someone out in front of us and Pc Jordan-Gill shouted out 'just hurry up you cn'."

In response, the witness said another officer, Pc Matthew Young, said: Woah, its like being back in the Met.

The hearing was told that language and behaviour would have shocked any member of the public.

'Toxic atmosphere'

Of the five accused officers, Pc Perdrisat, who has since left Dorset Police, was behind most of the offensive comments and bullying, it is alleged.

The others - Insp Nicholas Mantle, Pc Michael Lowther, Pc Jordan-Gill and Pc Young - were also guilty of gross misconduct as they failed to report the behaviour, it was said.

Witness A said that Pc Perdrisat admitted to him that he picked on the weakest link to get rid of them.

The complainant told the hearing of how the bullying behaviour led him to contemplate suicide.

He said: It was a toxic atmosphere and Pc Perdrisat was the alpha male.

He said of the salty water incident: When Pc Perdrisat came into the room it all went quiet.

He plonked a glass down on the table in front of me and said drink it. He said I am your fitness instructor f--g drink it.

I said I didn't want any and he kept going. Everyone was laughing and I just drank it. He said it wont harm you and that he put loads of salt in it.

Witness A added: I just didnt want to come to work. Everything you did was just not good enough.

I didn't want to get up in the morning. I thought about taking my own life.

The officers are accused of breaching professional standards and face a week-long tribunal hearing at Dorset Police headquarters at Winfrith, near Dorchester.

All of the officers deny the allegations and gross misconduct.

The hearing continues.

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FILE PHOTO: A logo of Swiss watch maker Swatch Group is pictured on a store in Geneva

ZURICH (Reuters) - Rainbow-coloured watches made by Swatch Group that celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights have been confiscated by authorities in Malaysia, the company said on Wednesday.

Malaysia's ministry of internal affairs seized the Swatch watches during raids on May 13 and 14, it said.

The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The watches belong to the Swiss watchmaker's "Pride collection" which it says was created to celebrate the pride movement and its message of equality and diversity.

Chief Executive Nick Hayek said he was disappointed and concerned.

"We strongly contest that our collection of watches using rainbow colours and having a message of peace and love could be harmful for whomever," he said in a statement to Reuters.

The rainbow flag is a symbol of the LGBT movement, which supports the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

The company said it would take legal action to recover the goods, Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported.

Human rights groups and activists have raised concerns over Malaysia's growing intolerance towards the lesbian, gay, LGBT community in recent years.

Last year, the country's Islamic religious authorities questioned 18 people detained during a Halloween party attended by members of the LGBT community.

Same-sex acts are illegal in Malaysia, although convictions are rare. The country has a dual-track legal system, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable to Muslims running alongside civil laws.

(Reporting by John Revill, Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
In a companywide email Wednesday morning, First Citizens Chairman and CEO Frank Holding Jr. said his Raleigh-based bank is laying off former employees of Silicon Valley Bank, the failed financial institution that First Citizens purchased two months ago.

Holding said some of the cuts will be effective today. His message came two days after First Citizens sued a rival bank for $1 billion over allegedly poaching 42 former Silicon Valley Bank employees.

Given the challenges faced by SVB in early 2023, it is increasingly clear that we must make decisions to right-size our scope and scale to remain competitive, Holding wrote. As a result, we are taking difficult but necessary actions to ensure that our workforce and costs are appropriate for a bank our size.

The layoffs will affect close to 500 people, or about 3% of First Citizens total workforce, bank spokesperson Barbara Thompson told The News & Observer. Thompson said the cuts impact employees across the country, including many who have been working remotely.

These staffing adjustments will take place in select SVB corporate functions and do not include any personnel in client-facing positions, Holding informed employees.

On March 10, the California-based Silicon Valley Bank was taken over by the federal government following a run on its deposits. A little more than two weeks later, First Citizens purchased SVB  acquiring all its U.S. branches, deposits and loans  in exchange for company stock worth up to $500 million.

Founded 125 years ago in Johnston County, First Citizens has been controlled for most of the past century by three generations of the Holding family. Its headquarters are in Raleighs North Hills neighborhood.

First Citizens has a track record of acquiring failed banks, having purchased more than 20 federally-assisted banks. Its Silicon Valley Bank deal made First Citizens the 16th largest U.S. bank by asset size, according to the Federal Reserve. It remains the fourth largest bank in the state, behind Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Truist.

While known to acquire other banks, First Citizens does not have a history with what had been SVBs main clientele: early-stage tech startups. Many have wondered how First Citizens would incorporate this venture-backed banking approach into its overall mission.

On Monday, First Citizens filed a lawsuit against HSBC, accusing the London-based financial institution of stealing former SVB bankers who the Raleigh bank said were key to SVBs profitability. In the lawsuit, First Citizens asked the court for at least $1 billion in damages.

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.

Sign up for the weekly Open Source newsletter here.
By Jack Queen

(Reuters) - Rapper Fetty Wap was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in prison after pleading guilty in New York federal court to participating in a large-scale drug distribution ring.

The Trap Queen rapper, whose legal name is William Maxwell, admitted to distributing 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine. Prosecutors said he was part of a crew that also sold heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey between June 2019 and June 2020.

Maxwell apologized during a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip, N.Y. He said he was motivated by a desire to provide for his family while his income from live performances dried up during the pandemic.

I only ever wanted to do right by my family and loved ones, Maxwell said, clad in a beige jumpsuit before a packed gallery of friends, family and business associates.

Maxwells lawyer Elizabeth Macedonio urged Seybert to judge her client not by his songs -- which she conceded glamorized drugs and violence -- but rather by a slew of testimonials to his qualities as a father and family man.

Prosecutor Christopher Caffarone countered that Maxwell engaged in a serious criminal conspiracy and was accused of threatening another man with a gun while on bail.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of up to nine years, while Maxwell sought the minimum sentence of five years.

Seybert said a stiff sentence was appropriate given the severity of Maxwell's crimes.

(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Rapper Fetty Wap was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for his role in a large-scale drug trafficking scheme that saw narcotics shipped from the West Coast and sold in New Jersey and Long Island.

The 31-year-old rapper, whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, was sentenced in federal court in Central Islip, New York, for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Maxwell, who is from Paterson, New Jersey, was initially arrested in October 2021 on charges that he allegedly participated in a drug smuggling conspiracy involving heroin, fentanyl and other drugs.

He pleaded guilty in August to a top charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances pertaining to cocaine. The charge carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.

The rapper, best known for his 2015 hit Trap Queen, apologized in the courtroom. I hurt my community, people who look up to me, my family and myself," he said. "I am truly sorry for any pain I caused.

Judge Joanna Seybert told Maxwell while announcing his sentence, Despite your background and all you overcame, you threw it all away.

In addition to six years in federal prison, Maxwell was sentenced to five years of post-release supervision. NBC News has reached out to his attorneys for comment.

Prosecutors had asked that Maxwell receive a longer term than the minimum, saying he used his fame and influence to glamorize the drug trade.

They said the artist became famous for singing about his experience cooking crack cocaine and selling drugs. Prosecutors pointed out that the Trap Queen video depicted young children behind him as he idealized selling drugs.

Maxwell was accused of being part of an organization that distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey from June 2019 through June 2020, prosecutors said in a statement.

Prosecutors alleged the group obtained the narcotics on the West Coast and used the postal service and drivers with hidden vehicle compartments to transport the drugs across the country to Suffolk County for storage. From there, the drugs were distributed to dealers who sold them in Long Island and New Jersey, prosecutors said.

Maxwell was a kilogram-level redistributor for the organization, prosecutors said.

Investigators recovered $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, several firearms and ammunition in the investigation. Prosecutors said five of the defendants in the case used firearms to protect the drug organization and distribution chain.

In total, six people were charged in connection with the conspiracy, four of whom have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. One defendant, Anthony Cyntje, a New Jersey corrections officer, was sentenced to 72 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy in March.

Maxwell rose to prominence after Trap Queen, his debut single, reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 2015. He was also nominated for two Grammys for the hit.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks attend the premiere of "Asteroid City" at the Cannes Film Festival. (Vianney Le Caer / Invision / Associated Press)

Tabloids are reporting that Tom Hanks appeared to become "uncharacteristically frustrated" and "miffed" at the Cannes Film Festival  and Rita Wilson Cannes not even.

On Tuesday, the "Jingle All the Way" and "Kimi" actor laughed off a Daily Mail story claiming that she and her husband, Hanks, "exchanged some heated words" with a staff member at Cannes during the premiere of their new film, "Asteroid City."

The article's sensational headline read, "Raving Private Ryan! Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson remonstrate with a red carpet staffer as they attend the 76th Cannes Film Festival premiere of Asteroid City." The report also included several photos of Hanks pointing his finger, cupping his ear, balling his fist and staring intently at said staffer during their allegedly "terse interaction" on the red carpet.

According to Wilson, however, she and Hanks were simply trying their best to focus on the employee's instructions amid the elegant chaos of the event.

"This is called I can't hear you. People are screaming. What did you say? Where are we supposed to go?" Wilson wrote on her Instagram story.

"But that doesn't sell stories! Nice try. We had a great time! Go see Asteroid City!"

Hanks and Wilson attended Tuesday's screening of director Wes Anderson's latest feature alongside Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Maya Hawke, Bryan Cranston, Matt Dillon, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Carell and other members of the star-studded cast.

Hanks plays a lonely grandfather in the quirky extraterrestrial comedy, which received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival, according to Variety. Wilson is also credited on the IMDb page for "Asteroid City" in an unspecified role.

Though Wilson claims her husband didn't lose his temper at Cannes, Hanks has been known to get testy at work in the past  or so he says. During the recent press tour for his debut novel, the "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away" star attempted to hedge his reputation as one of the nicest folks in the biz by admitting that he has occasionally behaved badly behind the scenes.

Not everybody is at their best every single day on a motion picture set, he told the BBC.

Ive had tough days trying to be a professional when my life has been falling apart in more ways than one and the requirement for me that day is to be funny, charming and loving  and its the last way I feel.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
[Source]

It was a hot summer day in July 1954. A businessman, whom people say looked just like any other traveler, arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

However, this man would cause chaos  of the existential kind  minutes later. Upon checking his passport, authorities found that he came from Taured, a country that does not exist.

In an apparent head-scratcher, the mans documents appeared legitimate. His passport had stamps from countries he previously visited, including Japan. He explained that Taured was located in Europe in an area nestled between France and Spain. He even pointed it out on a map.

But to the Japanese authorities  and to us, at least in this universe  this country is the Principality of Andorra. The man became angry and confused, insisting that Taured has existed for more than 1,000 years.

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Japanese authorities did not know what to do. Following the interrogation, they decided to take the man to a local hotel until they could get to the bottom of the situation. The mans room, which was several floors up, was locked, heavily guarded and had no balcony.

Despite this level of security, he would be gone by morning without a trace  or so the tale says.

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This story, often called the Man from Taured, has become one of modern historys most well-known urban legends about alternate or parallel universes. The tale has been adapted into books (1, 2) and is a favorite topic on TikTok and YouTube, engaging both conspiracy theorists and social media users who are simply curious.

What many retellings about the man, however, fail to reveal is the truth behind the legend. This may be deliberate since keeping the mystery alive, after all, is fun.

On the other hand, some storytellers may also be completely clueless about the myths real-life origins, as accounts of the incident themselves are not always consistent.

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The truth

The story of the Man from Taured has been heavily sensationalized, but it does originate from an actual incident, according to news sources at the time.

However, this incident was not about alternate universes, but a simple case of fraud.

First of all, the year was not 1954, but 1959. The man, identified as John Allen Kuchar Zegrus, had been traveling with his phony passport for some time, somehow managing to trick other countries. Unfortunately for him, his scheme ended in Japan, where he was convicted of illegal entry and fraud at the age of 36 in April 1960.

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Zegrus reportedly traveled to Japan with his Korean wife from Taipei. He was not arrested until he cashed forged checks to cover the costs of their stay in the country, as per fact-checker Snopes.com, which also exposed the truth behind the legend.

A Tokyo judge reportedly sentenced Zegrus to one year in prison. From there, the situation took a much darker turn: After his sentence was interpreted, Zegrus stood and slashed his arms with a piece of broken glass that he had hidden in his mouth, declaring, Im going to kill myself!

Zegrus was reportedly rushed to a nearby hospital, and it is here where his reported timeline ends. It is understood that he eventually served his sentence, but who he truly was and where he actually came from remains a mystery. His wife, who was 30 at the time, was reportedly repatriated to South Korea. It is unclear what happened to her.

Some believe Zegrus came from Algeria. This is due to his citation of places called Tamanrasset (which he claimed to be the capital of Taured south of the Sahara) and Tuared (a variation of the spelling of Taured, which is thought to be a misspelled version of Tuareg). Tamanrasset is the name of a province in Algeria, while Tuareg is an ethnic Islamic group that primarily lives in the Sahara, including southern Algeria.

While Zegrus and countless others have made up hoaxes about parallel universes, the reality of such remains unknown. However, physicists around the world are now taking the concept of a multiverse more seriously. Even Hollywood also embraced the idea more in recent years, with films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once being a shining example.
When Rod Buvens climbed to inspect the tile roof of the Estero home in 2019, he quickly found signs of damage.

Hurricane Irma had churned through the area about 18 months earlier, but there were still broken tiles on the roofs windward side  the side that bore the brunt of the storms force. When Buvens tested other tiles, trying to lift them with three fingers, many were loose.

Hired by St. Petersburg-based United Property and Casualty to assess the homeowners claim, Buvens wrote an estimate for a full roof replacement, at $70,000.

But thats not what the homeowners received.

After seeing Buvens estimate, United Property and Casualty, known as UPC, sent engineers to the home. The engineers found six broken tiles but reported no damage. A final report  with Buvens name on it  said the claim wasnt covered and the homeowner was owed $0.

Buvens 2019 case is the earliest known accusation that an insurance company manipulated a homeowners assessment to reject or lowball a claim, a potential felony under state law.

The case, which came out in a civil lawsuit, was reported in 2021 to the state agency that investigates insurance fraud, the Department of Financial Services.

But state investigators quickly dismissed the complaint without interviewing Buvens. A spokesperson for the head of the agency, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, said it was closed due to lack of participation by witnesses. Yet that claim was refuted by Buvens in repeated follow-up emails to his office.

Since then, at least seven other adjusters for insurance companies have come forward saying their reports were similarly manipulated to pay homeowners less than their claim estimates. Four have given sworn testimony in civil cases, which can be used in criminal court. Three others spoke during the Florida legislative session in December.

Patronis office has reopened Buvens case as part of a larger investigation into claims against United Property and Casualty, now insolvent.

The initial response from state regulators reflects how officials pursue complaints of fraud by policyholders and their advocates but not complaints against insurance companies, said Doug Quinn, executive director of the American Policyholder Association. It was Quinns association that referred the case to Patronis office.

There appears to be no motivation to go after insurance companies, Quinn said.

Rod Buvens has been a licensed field adjuster since 1992s Hurricane Andrew. He also has a law degree from Louisiana State University.

Adjuster sent to assess claim

The owner of the Estero home said he was encouraged to file a claim by a contractor, SFR Services. The company had seen the damage, and it encouraged him to sign over his benefits in exchange for dealing with the homeowners insurance company, a subsidiary of United Property and Casualty.

The contractors pretty much handled everything, the owner said recently. He asked that his name not be used because he feared appearing in a news story would make it harder for him to find homeowners insurance for his other properties.

(Lawmakers last year banned homeowners from assigning their insurance benefits to a contractor, blaming such practices for driving up insurance prices.)

When it received the claim, United Property and Casualty assigned an independent adjuster to assess the damage. Many insurers use contracted adjusters after storms. Licensed adjusters document the damage, determine whether it should be covered and estimate the repairs.

That contractor employed Buvens, who had been a licensed field adjuster since 1992s Hurricane Andrew. He also had a law degree from Louisiana State University.

With his experience, he was one of only two field adjusters that United Property and Casualty used for assessing tile roofs in Collier and Lee counties, he later testified in a deposition. Tile roofs are often the most expensive type of roof.

Buvens saw that wind had damaged the roof. The ceiling had water stains consistent with storm damage, he originally determined. He estimated repairing the garage and removing debris would cost another $1,376.30.

But the estimate that the homeowners later received from United Property and Casualty concluded there was no wind damage, and they were owed nothing.

Denial triggered lawsuit

The homeowners contractor, SFR Services, sued United Property and Casualty on their behalf.

In 2020, lawyers took Buvens sworn deposition for the case.

When asked why he concluded that there was no storm damage to the home, Buvens said he was told to put that in the report by a desk adjuster working for United Property and Casualty and by the company that hired him. He said that they also told him to remove the $1,376.30 to repair the garage and remove debris. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

He added that the claim director approached him about the deposition and told him to play ball or I wouldnt be working for [United Property and Casualty] anymore, Buvens testified.

I said, I tell the truth, the whole truth. If you dont like it, Im sorry about that. You will have to do what you have to do. 

Orders to change estimates didnt stop at that particular homeowners claim, Buvens said. United Property and Casualty was constantly changing claim-handling practices, he told lawyers, saying he knew of more than 1,000 instances where they asked licensed field adjusters to go against their statutory duties to handle claims in good faith with the policyholder.

Buvens said such instances included the insurance company ignoring damages and removing estimates that the field adjuster wrote.

United Property and Casualty offered to settle the case. The company paid $117,000, including $19,000 in SFR Services legal fees, according to SFRs president, Ricky McGraw. The homeowners roof was replaced.

Under Florida law, its a third-degree felony for someone to produce a loss estimate for an insurance claim if they know the estimate contains false, incomplete or misleading information. The penalty is up to five years in prison. If the fraudulent amount is more than $100,000, it could be a first-degree felony with up to 30 years in prison.

Quinn, with the American Policyholder Association, was told about Buvens testimony by the lawyer handling the case, John Tolley. The association uses membership dues to report fraud by insurance companies and promote best practices among state regulators.

Investigators with the association, including a former prosecutor, felt Buvens statement in the deposition was legitimate. In 2021, they alerted the FBI and Patronis office  which investigates insurance fraud.

The allegations had a precedent: In 2016, New Yorks attorney general secured guilty pleas against an engineering firm and a former executive on charges of falsifying engineers reports on flood claims after Hurricane Sandy.

The associations complaint went to a fraud investigator at Floridas Department of Financial Services.

The investigator asked Buvens to come to Fort Myers, where the department has a field office, he told the Herald/Times. Buvens was working in Texas at the time and asked to talk virtually.

Buvens said he never heard anything more about it. The department closed the case due to lack of participation by witnesses, department spokesperson Devin Galetta told the Herald/Times in December.

Buvens disputed that he wouldnt cooperate. As evidence, he forwarded multiple emails sent to Patronis main address asking why he had received only one, single initial communication in response to his complaint.

Very plainly, the department has not followed up on the numerous UPC complaints that have been filed, he wrote to Patronis.

Eight adjusters have come forward

Since then, at least seven other independent adjusters working for United Property and Casualty and other Florida-based insurers have alleged their reports were similarly manipulated to reject claims.

In depositions, two adjusters said they were told only to go to the home to document the damage  someone above their head would fill out whether the claim was covered.

In December, three other adjusters told a Florida House committee that insurance companies were routinely altering inspection reports. They followed up with records showing how one Venice homeowners 2022 claim was reduced from $37,258 to $2,524.

After The Washington Post wrote about their allegations in March, state lawmakers changed the law to require insurers to document changes to an adjusters report and include the name of the person who ordered the changes.

Quinn forwarded to Patronis office a complaint by another independent adjuster working for United Property and Casualty. That adjuster, Niles Wood, testified that the company had manipulated his claims. He shared a voicemail left on his phone from a United Property and Casualty employee telling him that they need one homeowners estimate zeroed out.

This is again UPC standard on these Hurricane Irma claims, the employee says, according to the voicemail obtained by the Times/Herald. The general loss statement needs to be changed to, We cannot determine the damage or the date of loss of the damage. 

Text messages sent to a group of adjusters show a supervisor telling them that on Hurricane Irma claims, United Property and Casualty no longer want you to turn in any estimate whatsoever for any damages.

They are going to be doing denials on all of them, the supervisor wrote. The messages were included in a federal racketeering lawsuit filed by SFR Services against United Property and Casualty and adjusting firms last year.

Patronis office said they referred the cases to the state Office of Insurance Regulation, which can assess civil fines, not criminal charges.

Office of Insurance Regulation spokesperson Samantha Bequer said they received the referral on Buvens case in January 2022. The office reviewed the complaint in-depth, but Bequer noted that United Property and Casualtys financial condition was deteriorating as the investigation got off the ground.

By October, company officials told regulators they were pulling out of the Florida market, Bequer said. The company is in state receivership, although its parent company still writes policies on commercial buildings.

When asked about the adjusters cases in March, Patronis said his office was investigating. Buvens confirmed that an investigator has reopened his case.

If theres criminal acts being found, we will prosecute to the fullest extent, Patronis told the Herald/Times.

But he cautioned that theres two sides to every story.

Contractors can suck. Public adjusters can suck. Insurance companies can suck, Patronis said. But I cant stress enough: Its a disaster. Theres a reason why they call it disasters. Theyre not going to go smoothly.
NAIROBI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The World Food Program (WFP) on Wednesday appealed for 810 million U.S. dollars over the next six months to scale up humanitarian assistance for millions of people in the Horn of Africa who are trapped in a hunger emergency.

WFP Regional Director for Eastern Africa Michael Dunford said the funds will help the WFP keep life-saving assistance going and invest in long-term resilience in the Horn of Africa.

"Conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks: the Horn of Africa region is facing multiple crises simultaneously. After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, flooding has replaced drought, killing livestock, damaging farmland, and further shattering livelihoods," Dunford said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

The WFP warned that the Horn of Africa is lurching from crisis to crisis, adding that the longest drought in recorded history has given way to rains and flash flooding.

"And now the outbreak of conflict in Sudan is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes," Dunford said.

The WFP said that by the end of 2022, it was distributing food assistance to a record 4.7 million people in Somalia but in April, funding shortfalls forced it to reduce this to 3 million people.

It warned that without additional funds, further cuts will have to be made in emergency food assistance caseload in Somalia to just 1.8 million by July.

This, it said, means that almost 3 million people will not receive support despite their continuing needs.

According to the WFP, when the region's long-awaited rains arrived in March, they should have brought some relief, but instead, flash flooding inundated homes and farmland, washed away livestock, and closed schools and health facilities, forcing more than 219,000 people from their homes in southern Somalia, where 22 people were also killed.

The WFP said the drought of the last three years has left more than 23 million people across parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger, with mortality and malnutrition rates remaining unacceptably high and consecutive failed harvests and high transport costs pushing food prices far beyond the reach of millions in the region.

Dunford said the WFP's rapid expansion of life-saving assistance helped prevent famine in Somalia in 2022.

"But despite the emergency being far from over, funding shortfalls are already forcing us to reduce assistance to those who still desperately need it," he said. "Without sustainable funding for both emergency and climate adaptation solutions, the next climate crisis could bring the region back to the brink of famine."

The UN agency said it will take years for the region to recover, and humanitarian assistance is a lifeline yet limited humanitarian resources are being stretched further still by the conflict in Sudan, which has sent more than 250,000 people fleeing into neighboring countries such as Ethiopia and South Sudan, where food insecurity is already desperately high. 
FILE - Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeat music legend Fela Kuti, performs at "Felabration," an annual event paying homage to his father, at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria on Oct. 20, 2013. Kuti, who is facing trial on police assault charges will embark on a delayed music tour after being released on bail, his manager said Wednesday May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP)  A Nigerian Afrobeat star facing trial on charges of assaulting a police officer will embark on a delayed concert tour after being released on bail, his manager said Wednesday.

Seun Kuti, who was in court on Wednesday, has concerts scheduled in more than a dozen countries but his departure had been on hold because of the trial, his manager Ayo Moses told The Associated Press.

The son of Nigerian musical icon and political agitator Fela Kuti, who himself was serially detained by Nigerian military regimes, Seun Kuti had been held for more than a week after he was caught allegedly assaulting a police officer in Nigeria's economic hub of Lagos.

At Wednesday's court hearing, the presiding judge ruled that it was the public prosecutor  not the police  that had the power to prosecute the musician. The judge then adjourned the case until a further hearing on July 3.

He is on bail and as a responsible citizen, he will continue to enjoy his rights because he is presumed innocent, Femi Falana, his lawyer, said after the hearing.

Viral videos appeared to show an agitated Kuti shouting and pushing the officer along a major road in Lagos last week. It is still not clear what caused the confrontation, though Kuti alleged the officer in question tried to kill me and my family.

While he was in detention, the police searched Kuti's house, causing an uproar among some Nigerians and his lawyers. But Benjamin Hundeyin, a spokesperson for the Lagos police, defended the search as necessary and approved by the court.

In the course of our investigation, we stumbled on certain suspicious things that needed to be proven/disproved beyond reasonable doubt," Hundeyin said without providing further details.



Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.
Many women remember the time before the Supreme Courts landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which cemented a womans constitutional right to a safe and legal abortion, when womens legal reproductive rights were severely limited, forcing many to seek unsafe, illegal abortions in the cases of unwanted pregnancies, putting their lives at risk.

For others, the only America they knew was a country where abortion was legal, and womens reproductive rights were protected. That was until last year when the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization eliminated the constitutional right to abortion and the ability for millions of people to access one. It is vital that younger generations do not become complacent as womens rights are being stripped away.

Today, our children and grandchildren are facing a world where womens rights and access to safe reproductive health care is moving backward, undoing the hard-fought gains that were made decades ago. The number of states that have already enacted laws restricting access to abortion is staggering. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 12 states are enforcing a near-total ban on abortion with very limited exceptions, and four states have laws prohibiting abortion after a specific point in pregnancy, which would have been unconstitutional under Roe. Additionally, the recent federal court ruling on the abortion drug mifepristone threatens to even further limit womens access to safe abortions nationwide.

Residents at Arbor Terrace Teaneck held a rally for reproductive rights and womenOs health in Teaneck, N.J. on Friday May 13, 2022. Former New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg lead the demonstration as grandmothers and great-grandmothers held up signs and voiced their opinions on abortion.

The impact of these restrictions on women's lives and health cannot be overstated. Studies have shown that women who are denied access to legal abortions are more likely to experience higher maternal mortality rates and negative mental health outcomes, delay access to essential prenatal care, face increased poverty levels, and seek unsafe abortions, all threats to the health and well-being of women.

As a Jewish organization working for women of all religions, National Council of Jewish Women is particularly committed to eliminating prohibitions on classes of individuals, and to abolishing laws impacting the free practice of religion for all. Jewish law protects and supports reproductive rights, and at a minimum, considers the decision to end a pregnancy to be a personal one. Restrictions on reproductive rights violate the rights of Jews to make decisions about their lives in accordance with the principals of their religion.

NCJW Bergen County Section works in cooperation with Thrive New Jersey, the statewide coalition working to promote reproductive health. As we have done for 100 years, NCJW BCS is fighting for womens ability to fully exercise their health and reproductive rights and to make informed decisions about their own bodies and lives for the betterment of themselves, their children and their families. To that end, it is crucial that we protect women's reproductive rights and ensure access to safe and legal abortion. We must fight against the harmful restrictions that prevent women from making their independent choice and from accessing the care they need. We do this by fighting back against restrictive state laws and working to pass federal legislation that protects and expands access to abortion care.

In order to effectively fight against those who wish to take our freedoms away, we must be educated and help educate our younger generations. We must understand how our federal courts and judges play a critical role in this battle. We must understand how issues such as immigration, voting rights, economic justice, and so much more intersect and impact access to essential reproductive health services. We must use our voices and refuse to be silenced. We must take action.

May 28 marks International Day of Action for Womens Health, and we are asking everyone to educate themselves and stand up and use their voice to help fight for womens reproductive freedom. These attacks and regressions should fuel our mobilization as we stand firm. We are stronger and louder when we come together. For more information and to learn how you can take action visit www.ncjw.org , International Day of Action for Womens Health and Thrive New Jersey.

Elaine Meyerson and Ina Miller-Silverstein are co-presidents of the National Council of Jewish Women Bergen County Section.

Elaine Meyerson

Ina Miller-Silverstein

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ reproductive rights: Educate young people on importance
PANAMA CITY  A wave of renovations might soon crash onto an underdeveloped portion of the city.

Panama City commissioners on Tuesday approved the final reading of a resolution to establish nine community development districts in the SweetBay area. These districts, which are known as CDDs, will be used to service residents and businesses within the area.

The resolution establishes seven residential community development districts and two commercial community development districts. It was proposed as a way to help quickly develop underdeveloped portions of SweetBay.

Panama City commissioners on Tuesday approved the final reading of a resolution to establish nine community development districts in SweetBay. It was proposed as a way to help quickly develop underdeveloped portions of the area.

"These districts are not on any portion of (SweetBay) that is not owned by either St. Andrew Bay or one of its subsidiaries," City Attorney Nevin Zimmerman said. "The proposed residential CDDs do not include any of the developed residential properties. ... The purpose of CDDs are to provide infrastructure, maintenance and services to residents and businesses within the district."

'Voice for everybody': Michael Rohan vows to listen to residents as new Panama City mayor

Keeping residents informed: Panama City Manager Mark McQueen hosts weekly meetings for residents

The types of services and maintenance offered by CDDs includes stormwater management, water or sewer developments, and the building of new parks, broadways and roads, according to the meeting's agenda. Such projects will be funded by those who live in affected CDD, largely through additional taxes. Those residents also will still have to pay any assessment imposed by the city.

Because the CDDs approved Tuesday do not include any developed residential properties, residents already living in SweetBay will not pay more taxes under the new ruling.

CDDs are governed by a board of supervisors, which are initially elected by landowners. This means there will be nine separate boards that oversee each of the new CDDs in SweetBay.

"The reason why we are pursuing this is because this funding mechanism allows us to accelerate the construction of infrastructure so that we can build the remaining entitled residential and nonresidential," said William Harrison, an attorney representing SweetBay. "The total entitlements based on the 2013 developer agreement that the city approved was for 3.200 residential units and 700,000 square feet of commercial."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City approves nine community development districts in SweetBay
Rep. Gonzales on Uvalde shooting anniversary: Will be a long time before we are whole again

On the one-year anniversary of the Uvalde school shooting, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said that while more work on to protect school children from gun violence needs to be done, the Uvalde community is hopeful for the future.

And while we are healing and its going to be a long time before we are whole again, were also very hopeful, Gonzales said on MSNBCs Morning Joe.

The Uvalde school shooting left 19 children dead along with two teachers after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, and shot and killed 19 fourth graders. Eighteen others were injured, including 14 students.

Gonzales voted last year to support the bipartisan gun safety bill, sparking criticim from his Republican colleagues. Texas Republicans voted to censure him last year for lack of fidelity to Republican principles and priorities over his vote.

You know, we are in a very divided environment, political environment right now you have people on one side and people on the other a lot of folks demonize one another. Ive never viewed the world that way, he said of the censure Wednesday.

He also said that more work needs to be done to secure the safety of children in schools.

What I see is the fight isnt over. There is much that has to be done and until our children are safe in our schools, nothing can happen, he said.

President Biden is slated to deliver remarks about the one-year anniversary of the shooting on Wednesday, where he will likely reiterate his call for gun reforms, like banning assault weapons.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
After months of using weed-killers, saws, shovels and hand-yanking invasive latherleaf fern out of a tropical forest on Virginia Key Beach Park, City of Miami parks naturalist Gloria Alejandra Antia was finally able to begin the process of rebuilding.

Antia dug a hole and planted a small native tree just steps from the shoreline.

The health of this island, the health of this ecosystem is crucial for our homes, it protects the mainland, Antia said.

Sand dunes and tropical hardwood hammocks like this one along the coast of South Florida are home to rare plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. They are also disappearing habitats threatened mostly by development and population growth but also natural disasters. A devastating scouring from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 opened the native forest on Virginia Key to invasive plants that profoundly changed the ecosystem on the barrier island.

Staff members of the City of Miami Natural Areas Division shovel holes and planting trees after the volunteers had left for the day.

Thats not good for people either. Healthy dunes and coastal or maritime forests are natural defenses against both hurricane storm surge and sea-rise, absorbing water and pounding waves. Virginia Key, a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, acts as a buffer for mainland Miami and restoration projects like this may become important parts of plans to protect South Florida from flood waters driven by climate change.

When we create natural habitats we can work with nature, said Rachel Silverstein, scientist and founder of Miami Waterkeeper, a clean water advocacy non-profit partnering with Miamis parks and recreation department in the project. If we can do green infrastructure and support nature to provide the benefits it provides naturally when its healthy, it will increase in its value and protection over time.

Silverstein hopes more nature-based solutions such as restoration of coral reefs, dune systems, and hardwood hammocks make their way into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revised storm surge plan for Miami. She was among the environmentalists that opposed an initial billion-dollar plan that included a 30-foot tall,mile-long flood wall along the bay, which would also cut some residential neighborhoods in half, as well as flood gates across the Miami River, Little River and Biscayne Canal. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava put a stop to the Army Corps proposal and a new resiliency plan is due in August.

A group of volunteers walk with shovels on the trail at Virginia Key Beach Park on May 17 to plant native trees that will replace invasive plant species.

READ MORE: Mangroves vs. seawalls? Mix may be best of both worlds to take on South Florida sea rise

We are having a once-in-a-generation funding situation and we have to get it right, Silverstein said. If we just default to putting up pumps and walls and storm gates everywhere we are going to end up with a place that we dont even want to live.

Though the Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation department naturalist division is helping direct the Virginia Key project, its made up of only six people, and the ongoing work depends largely on once-a-month volunteer crews. Earlier this month, the volunteers included Elevate Prize Foundation winners, who were flown to Miami from around the world for a summit that included a day of service.

One volunteer, Nelly Cheboi, said she planned to apply lessons she learned from the hardwood hammocks off Miami back home to her school in Kenya.

A newly planted tree in the hardwood hammocks at Virginia Key Beach Park. The trees on the barrier island soak up water and are a defense against storm surge.

I see this in Kenya too, our rivers are drying up and theres a lot of deforestation, Cheboi said. It was a really nice experience to learn ways to plant trees. The way I plant my trees I never take roots out, I always dig too deep.

The work is taxing. Temperatures were in the 90s and the sun was bearing down on the volunteers as they shoveled wide holes into the sandy ground. But once the project is finished, the trees should fill in the open spaces and create a shaded canopy.

Aidan Reilly pats soil around the native tree he planted at Virginia Key Beach Park to keep it stable. Reilly, who lives in Los Angeles, traveled to Miami for the Elevate Prize summit that included a day of service.

Antia said mangrove restoration has been a success at Virginia Key Beach and the forest work is now in a maintenance phase. Staff and volunteers will return for around three to five years to remove new exotic seedlings that might compete with the native plantings. Native trees, including species like Biscayne prickly-ash, help hold loose soil and slow down erosion. Invasives like Brazilian pepper and latherleaf fern, have weaker root systems and are less resistant to wind and salt water.

The response from mangroves once we have done the restoration work has been excellent, they are pretty resilient and once you remove exotics they do a good job on their own, Antia said.

This climate report is funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of all content.
Returning to pre-invasion borders will merely freeze the conflict in Ukraine, analyst says

An aerial view of the ruined city of Bakhmut, May 21, 2023

If Ukrainians push Russian troops back to the borders of Feb. 24, 2022, and halt there, it would lead to a state of 'neither war nor peace' and lay the foundation for future aggression, warns Sherr.

Read also: Russia to use border incursion to swallow part of Belarusian army

"The danger will increase further if Ukraine's Western partners declare 'mission accomplished' and move on to other issues," he adds.

Only an ultimate victory, involving the removal of Russian forces from the entirety of Ukraine's internationally recognized territory, would allow for a secure and prosperous future for Europe. If such a victory does not facilitate a regime change within Russia, the only viable means to achieve that would be through military force.

Read also: Ukrainian victory prevents Chinas global domination  Ambassador Herbst

Sherr also notes that China is keenly monitoring the events in Ukraine. While Russia's decisive defeat would cool Beijing's ambitions, an unstable peace in Ukraine, on the other hand, would hasten potential aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.

Read also: Crimeas full liberation only way to guarantee Middle East security, says top security official

If the war concludes without the liberation of all Ukrainian territories, this would also divert U.S. attention away from Ukraine and Europe overall, the researcher predicts.

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
Richard Barnett, who put feet on Nancy Pelosi desk, jailed for 4.5 years

Richard Bigo Barnett with his feet on the desk

A Capitol Hill rioter who put his feet on a desk in Democrat Nancy Pelosi's office has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

Richard "Bigo" Barnett was among the crowd of Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in a bid to overturn the 2020 election result.

He posed for cameras after breaking into Mrs Pelosi's office and boasted of swiping an envelope before leaving.

He was armed with a stun gun and could have harmed Mrs Pelosi, officials say.

His crimes include obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly weapon, and theft of government property.

He was found guilty on eight charges in January after jurors deliberated for less than three hours.

On Wednesday, he was handed a 54-month prison term by a federal judge in Washington DC.

Prosecutors argued that Barnett, 63, came to DC in January 2021 from his home in Arkansas - over 1,000 miles away (1,600km) - prepared for violence.

The retired firefighter and bull rider carried an American flag during the breach, but was not accused of committing any acts of violence.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of at least seven years. Barnett's lawyers asked for one year.

Mrs Pelosi, who was speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, was forced to flee the chamber floor with other lawmakers as protesters stormed the building in an effort to block the certification of Joe Biden as president.

Barnett wrote a note on Mrs Pelosi's desk using a sexist slur, and used a bullhorn to brag to the crowd that "I took Nancy Pelosi's office" after police forced him out of the building.

A Pelosi office spokesperson later clarified that the desk Barnett placed his feet on was used by a staffer and not by Mrs Pelosi.

The Barnett trial has been one of the most high-profile to stem from the 6 January 2021 attack on Congress.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested on charges related to the breach in nearly all 50 states.

Like other 6 January defendants, Barnett's lawyers argued that the DC jury was biased against him.

On Tuesday - the eve of sentencing - US District Judge Christopher R Cooper denied his team's request for a new trial.
Heres a look at ricin, a natural, highly toxic compound that is extracted from castor beans.

Facts

About one million tons of castor beans are processed every year, worldwide. Ricin is part of the waste from the beans when castor oil is made. Sometimes this is called mash.

Less than a pinpoint can kill a human if ingested, injected or inhaled. There is no known cure.

Ricin can be used in powder, pellet, mist or acid form.

If injected, ricin causes immediate death of the muscles and lymph nodes near the site of the injection. Failure of the major organs and death usually follow.

If ingested it causes nausea, vomiting and internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system.

If a castor bean is swallowed whole without damage to the seed coat, it will probably pass harmlessly through the system. But if the coat is chewed or broken, then swallowed, the poison will enter the body.

Timeline (selected)

1978 - Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is shot with a ricin-tipped dart fired from an umbrella while waiting for a bus in London. He dies four days later.

February 2, 2004 - Ricin is found in Senator Bill Frists mailroom in the Dirksen Senate office building.

February 3, 2004 - Law enforcement sources say that a letter addressed to the White House was intercepted in November 2003 after it was found to contain ricin. Ricin was also found in a letter in October 2003 at a postal handling facility in Greenville, South Carolina. The letter in Greenville was addressed to the Department of Transportation and demanded that changes in truckers sleep/work schedules not be implemented.

February 22, 2008 - A small amount of ricin and firearms are found in a Las Vegas hotel room.

March 1, 2008 - Roger Von Bergendorff, a California resident, is named as the occupant of the Las Vegas hotel room. Bergendorff had been rushed to the hospital on February 14 due to respiratory problems.

April 16, 2008 - Bergendorff is charged with possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number.

April 28, 2008 - Thomas Tholen of Utah, Bergendorffs cousin, pleads not guilty on charges he knew about the creation of ricin and did not report it. Investigators believe Bergendorffs ricin was created in Tholens basement.

August 4, 2008 - Bergendorff pleads guilty to possession of a biological toxin and possession of unregistered firearms.

October 22, 2008 - Tholen receives two years probation and is ordered to pay a fine of $500 for knowing his cousin produced and carried ricin.

November 17, 2008 - Bergendorff is sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison and fined $7,500.

January 28, 2011 - Jeff Boyd Levenderis is arrested after a coffee can containing ricin is found in his foreclosed home in Coventry Township, Ohio. When the FBI questions Levenderis, he says the substance is ant poison, but later admits it is ricin that he made 10 years earlier.

February 1, 2011 - A federal grand jury indicts Levenderis on one count of possessing a biological toxin and one count of making false statements.

April 16, 2013 - An envelope addressed to Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi tests positive for ricin at the US Capitols off-site mail facility.

April 17, 2013 - The Secret Service announces that a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, containing a suspicious substance, was intercepted at the White Houses off-site mail facility on April 16. Later in the day the FBI confirms that the letter tested positive for ricin.

April 17, 2013 - A law enforcement source tells CNN that the letters to Obama and Wicker contain the same language and read, To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance. Both letters are signed, I am KC and I approve this message.

April 17, 2013 - Lee County, Mississippi, Sheriff Jim Johnson says that a letter received by Judge Sadie Holland has notable similarities to letters sent to Obama and Wicker.

April 27, 2013 - James Everett Dutschke, of Tupelo, Mississippi, is arrested on suspicion of sending ricin-laced letters to Obama and others.

May 22, 2013 - Matthew Ryan Buquet is arrested in Spokane, Washington, and suspected of sending ricin-laced letters threatening federal Judge Fred Van Sickle. He is later found incompetent to stand trial. The case is dismissed without prejudice April 17, 2018.

May 29, 2013 - Officials intercept a letter sent to Obama that is similar to letters sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The letters are postmarked Shreveport, Louisiana, and are found to contain very low concentrations of ricin.

June 3, 2013 - Dutschke is indicted in the mailing of ricin-laced letters to Obama, Wicker and Holland. He later pleads guilty and is sentenced to 25 years in prison.

June 7, 2013 - Shannon Richardson, an actress who had a minor role in the TV series The Walking Dead, is arrested and charged in connection with ricin-tainted letters that were mailed to Obama and Bloomberg.

June 27, 2013 - Richardson is indicted for sending letters containing ricin to Obama and Bloomberg.

December 10, 2013 - Richardson pleads guilty to possession of a toxin for use as a weapon. She is later sentenced to 18 years in prison.

March 21, 2014 - Georgetown University student Daniel Harry Milzman is arrested and charged with possessing a biological toxin after admitting he made ricin in his dorm room. Milzman is later sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

June 4, 2014 - Levenderis is convicted of possessing ricin for use as a weapon and also possessing ricin and making false statements to FBI agents. He is later sentenced to six years in prison.

November 30, 2017 - Seventy-year-old Betty Miller is arrested and charged with unregistered possession of a select agent. Miller tells an FBI agent that she was making ricin in her home and testing its effectiveness on other residents of the Wake Robin continuing care retirement community.

May 18, 2018 - Miller pleads guilty to possessing ricin. She is sentenced September 6 to time served and five years probation and fined $10,000.

October 2, 2018 - Envelopes suspected of containing ricin are addressed to President Donald Trump and three top government officials, FBI Director Chris Wray, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and chief of naval operations Adm. John Richardson. The envelopes sent to the Pentagon are intercepted at the Pentagon mail facility and the envelope addressed to Trump never enters the White House.

October 3, 2018 - Navy veteran William Clyde Allen III is arrested on terrorist charges and confesses to sending the letters that tested positive for ricin to Trump and three government officials. Allen is later found incompetent to assist in his defense. Charges are dismissed without prejudice January 24, 2022.

September 2020 - A package containing ricin and addressed to Trump is intercepted mid-month, according to law enforcement officials. Similar packages were mailed to addresses in Texas. The address of the sender is St. Hubert, Quebec, Canada. Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier is arrested attempting to enter the United States from Canada. Similar packages were mailed to addresses in Texas. Ferrier pleads guilty on January 25, 2023 to sending the letters to Trump and eight Texas law enforcement officials.

May 10, 2022 - Kevin Dean Jones pleads guilty in federal court to unlawful possession of ricin, a biological toxin, and possessing two firearms as a convicted felon. The Kissimmee, Florida, resident, charged December 30, 2021, planned to kill his former partner using a squirt gun laced with homemade ricin.

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No, cameras did not catch actor Tom Hanks berating a Cannes Film Festival staff member. His wife Rita Wilson insists he was simply asking for directions.

The pair attended the annual French festival on Tuesday for the premiere of Hanks upcoming film Asteroid City. But most of the talk from the red carpet seemed to focus on viral photos showing the 66-year-old Hanks pointing with an angry look on his face as he talked to a Cannes employee.

Wilson, 66, quickly shut down reports her husband had scolded the worker in an Instagram story, overlaying an article from The Daily Mail with a caption explaining what actually happened. This is called I cant hear you. People are screaming. What did you say? Where are we supposed to go? her caption read. But that doesnt sell stories! Nice try. We had a great time! Go see Asteroid City!

The Cannes employee in the photos, Vincent Chapalain, corroborated Wilsons explanation in a pair of tweets on Tuesday, saying Hanks and Wilson were merely asking if they should return to the start of the red carpet with the rest of the films crew. They needed to speak loudly because of the cries of the photographers, Chapalain said.

As for the rest of the evening at the festival, Hanks and the ensemble cast of Asteroid Cityincluding Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, and Tilda Swintonenjoyed a positive response. According to Variety, the Wes Anderson-directed film received a six-minute standing ovation.

Hanks and Wilsons Relationship

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Hanks has given an actual scolding beforeto overzealous fans who nearly knocked over his wife in June 2022. The pair were walking in New York City when Wilson tripped and nearly fell amid the crowd following them. Back the f off! Hanks shouted, with the scene captured on video.

His protective reaction wasnt all that surprising, as Hanks and Wilson have forged one of Hollywoods most enduring and endearing relationships. According to Page Six, they met in 1981 on the set of Hanks TV sitcom Bosom Buddies and have worked together in films like Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and That Thing You Do! (1996). They married in 1988, and the two recently celebrated their 35th anniversary on April 30. Wilson even shared a photo of the Cast Away actor holding their anniversary cake.

They often make headlines for positive reasons. Forrest Gump star Hanks has a habit of crashing weddings, while Wilson, who pivoted to a singing career in 2019, has used her musical talents for good. She worked with hip hop group Naughty By Nature on a remix of the hit Hip Hop Hooray, raising money for musicians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The pair have two children together: sons Chet, 32, and Truman, 27. Tom also has two childrenson Colin, 45, and daughter Elizabeth, 41from his previous marriage to Samantha Lewes. Truman recently starred with his father in the 2022 film A Man Called Otto, playing a younger version of Toms character during flashback scenes.

While accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2020 Golden Globes, Tom held back tears as he spoke about the support of Wilson and his children throughout his career. A man is blessed with a family sitting down front like thata wife who is fantastic in every way, who has taught me what love is, he said.

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Chief Justice John Roberts signaled Tuesday that the Supreme Court is attuned to public ethics concerns about the justices, saying that hes seeking ways to address those worries without jeopardizing the high courts independence.

I want to assure people that I'm committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct, Roberts said during a speech to a legal gathering in Washington. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment, and I am confident there are ways to do that that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government and with the constitutions separation of powers.

Roberts did not mention Justice Clarence Thomas or recent reports that he received free luxury trips for years from a Texas developer without reporting most of them on public disclosure forms, nor did the chief acknowledge significant pressure from Democrats in Congress for the Supreme Court to adopt a formal ethics code and binding enforcement mechanism.

However, Roberts appeared to concede that the public outcry over the matter had prompted some degree of consternation on the part of the justices. He referred obliquely to ethics as an issue of concern inside the court.

Roberts' comments come a month after the Supreme Court issued an unusual joint declaration on ethics, but the Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices didnt break much new ground, and it stopped well short of adopting an enforceable code of conduct that critics have been clamoring for.



The chief justice made his remarks during a conference and ceremony marking the 100th Anniversary of the American Law Institute, a group mainly known for publishing treatises on various aspects of U.S. law.

Roberts described his 15-minute, after-dinner speech to hundreds of attorneys at the National Building Museum as the first of its kind since the outbreak of the pandemic. He used the occasion to lament various recent events in the legal milieu, including the heckling and silencing of an appeals court judge at Stanford Law School last year and the protests that broke out at the homes of some Supreme Court justices last year after POLITICO published a draft opinion in a key abortion case and reported that the court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, as it did less than two months later.

Roberts also expressed disappointment that the justices now require 24/7 protection by marshals. He said the security concerns related to last years seismic abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, had caused him deep distress.

"Im asked: What was the hardest decision I had to make in 18 years? Was it this First Amendment case? Was it that death penalty case? Was it some major separation of powers case? None of those. The hardest decision I had to make was whether to erect fences and barricades around the Supreme Court. I had no choice but to go ahead and do it, Roberts said.

Roberts was introduced by Justice Elena Kagan, who effusively lauded his judicial temperament and especially his writing as she saluted him for receiving an award named after legendary appeals court Judge Henry Friendly.

The chief is incapable of writing a bad sentence. His writing has depth, intelligence, crystal clarity, grace, humor and understated style, said Kagan. That writing is, in my humble opinion, the best writing in law. He is a consummate legal craftsman.

Kagan acknowledged that she and Roberts often dont see eye to eye on substantive matters of law, but she also alluded to the fact that she and the chief stood alone in dissent in a high-profile case decided last week involving Andy Warhols estate and the rights of artists to use earlier works by others as inspiration.

Theres a lot that that the chief and I dont agree on, except apparently about copyrights where we are two kindred souls  if lonely ones, said Kagan.

Kagans tone Tuesday night seemed a sign that the public tensions between her and the chief have abated since last summer, when Kagan made a series of public appearances in the wake of Dobbs where she suggested some of her fellow justices were cranking out opinions to reach a result they personally desired without regard to legal merit.

Roberts later said he thought it was inappropriate for people to publicly question the courts legitimacy because they disagreed with a particular decision, but Kagan continued to speak out publicly and to suggest the public doubts were justified.



Roberts insisted Tuesday night that the justices are keeping the peace among themselves despite their heated disagreements in some cases.

I am happy that I can continue to say that there has never been a voice raised in anger in our conference room. Our court consists of nine appointees of four presidents who deal with some of the most controversial issues before the country, yet we maintain the collegial relations with each other, the chief justice said, before acknowledging the court has faced tensions and challenges in recent time.

When I wander down the halls and see a colleague, I am always happy to have the chance to chat, Roberts said, before adding wryly: Now, to be fair, there are many days where I dont feel like walking down the halls.
NAIROBI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Dry weather will be experienced in the greater Horn of Africa region from June to September, amid the risk of worsening an already precarious food security situation, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African bloc, said in its latest prediction released on Wednesday.

The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), based in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, said Djibouti, Eritrea, central and northern Ethiopia, northern Uganda, much of South Sudan and Sudan will receive depressed rains from June to September.

Guleid Artan, director of the ICPAC, noted that June to September rainfall season contributes more than 50 percent of annual total rainfall in the greater Horn of Africa region, adding that if suppressed, they could escalate the food crisis.

"The conditions we forecast could very well increase food insecurity in the region," Artan said.

Depressed rainfall, coupled with warmer than usual temperatures, are likely to affect crop productivity, with the risk of crop wilting and a hastened decline in pasture and water availability, Artan added.

Noting that 49 million people in the IGAD region were still food insecure, Artan urged governments and relief agencies to mobilize resources in a bid to avert a humanitarian crisis.

Most parts of the Horn of Africa region recorded above-average March to May rainfall, bringing some respite to communities reeling from five consecutive failed rainfall seasons in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to Hussen Seid Endris, a climate modeling expert at the ICPAC.

Seid warned of a likelihood of El Nino weather phenomenon between July and September in the Horn of Africa region, characterized by warm temperatures and depressed rains.

He clarified that the severity of the El Nino season in the region, associated with record high temperatures, is yet to be ascertained, adding that adequate preparations to minimize its negative impact on livelihoods were critical. 
FALMOUTH  Bank robbery suspect Petar Petyoshin of Edgartown was arraigned on multiple charges Tuesday, in connection with the April 8 armed robbery of Rockland Trust Bank in Falmouth.

Petyoshin, 40, was arrested Tuesday and ferried from Martha's Vineyard to Falmouth District Court where he was charged with armed and masked robbery with a firearm; for making a bomb hijack threat during the robbery; larceny over $1,200; carjacking; and seven counts of kidnapping for each person that was held inside the bank during the robbery, according to Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois' office.

Falmouth bank robbed: Suspect armed with a gun, threatened he had a bomb

Petyoshin held without bail on bank robbery charges

Petyoshin pled not guilty, and during the arraignment, James T. Morse of Falmouth was appointed to be his lawyer.

Morse, who provided no comment, asked for a seven-day continuance to review evidence and material, which will be provided by the commonwealth by Friday.

Petyoshin will be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Tuesday.

Morse said the case is circumstantial with no admission or confession from the suspect.

Suspect had a gun and threatened bank staff during robbery

Petyoshin allegedly entered Rockland Trust, located at 20 Davis Straits, around 9:05 a.m. April 8, armed with a handgun. During the incident, the robber said he was carrying a bomb, according to accounts from Falmouth police and the Massachusetts State Police.

Witnesses to the bank robbery said Petyoshin entered the bank, showed a firearm, as well as a device that he said was a bomb, Assistant Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael Giardino said during the arraignment. Bank employees and patrons were zip tied at the conclusion of the robbery. The suspect then left the bank, and stole a motor vehicle that belonged to a bank customer, he said.

Falmouth Police released this surveillance photo on April 8 of the bank robber holding a hand gun at the Rockland Trust Bank on Davis Straits in Falmouth as it was robbed at about 9 a.m. that day. (Photo: Falmouth Police Handout photo via Facebook, Falmouth Police Handout photo via Facebook )

"Police received witness statements including descriptions of what the suspect was wearing," Giardino said during the hearing. "There is also surveillance video that shows what the defendant was wearing."

Throughout the investigation, said Giardino, police obtained surveillance video that showed Petyoshin's movements before and after the robbery, and captured Petyoshin wearing identifiable items of clothing, and footwear that matched witness statements.

Surveillance video also shows the suspect in the Stop and Shop parking lot in Falmouth, and on a Steamship Authority ferry in a specific type of caravan or vehicle, which was registered to Petyoshin, Giardino said.

Through his vehicle's registration, police also found that Petyoshin is a water systems operator for the Oak Bluff's Water District.

"Police received Steamship Authority information that he (Petyoshin) came over on the steamship that day at 7 a.m.," said Giardino. "Through multiple surveillance videos, (police) observed him getting off the boat in Woods Hole multiple times and then going to Walmart where he purchased eyeliner, cutting shears for hair, and a white T-shirt."

Petyoshin was observed leaving Walmart and driving to Stop and Shop where he sat in the caravan for about 18 to 20 minutes before he is seen walking towards Rockland Trust Bank, where the robbery occurred.

Following the robbery, the suspect drove away in a stolen 2019 Ford Flex SUV, David Procopio, state police spokesman, said in an email. State police later found the vehicle abandoned on Teaticket Highway in Falmouth.

Budget parity: Cape Cod district attorney plans new programs; lawmakers push for more money

Massachusetts State Police officers and a K-9 team searched the area surrounding the highway, and a state police helicopter also helped in the search. Air Wing units conduct incident, scene and surveillance assessments, according to the state, and collaborate with state and local police to locate wanted, missing, or endangered persons.

There were no injuries during the robbery, according to Emily McDonald, vice president and marketing manager for Rockland Trust Bank.

"Rockland Trust is grateful to the authorities who worked tirelessly to respond to the incident," McDonald said in an email. "We are also thankful for the Cape Cod community for the care and support theyve provided to our exceptional Falmouth branch team."

Rockland Trust has been robbed before

In March, three men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in connection with the Nov. 17 armed bank robbery of Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury on Marthas Vineyard, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Miquel Antonio Jones, 39, of Edgartown, and Omar Odion Johnson, 32, of Canterbury, N.H., were each indicted on one count of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting.

Romane Andre Clayton, 21, of Jamaica, was indicted on one count of being an accessory after the fact to armed bank robbery.

Jones, Johnson and Clayton will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, according to the Justice Department.

On Nov. 17, at around 8:15 a.m., the Rockland Trust bank in Vineyard Haven was robbed at gunpoint by three people. According to police, robbers wearing dark clothing and masks that looked like the face of an older man with exaggerated features entered through the back of the bank and held semi-automatic weapons. They forced a teller to open a vault at gunpoint, stealing $39,100. They also tied up employees with plastic ties and duct tape.

Bilked: Hope on horizon for Yarmouth property owners caught in solar panel bankruptcy

They stole a vehicle from a teller, later driving it to Manuel F. Correllus State Forest next to Marthas Vineyard Airport where they abandoned it around 8:30 a.m.

Miquel A Jones was arrested on Nov. 18 after he was stopped by police while driving. Johnson was arrested on Nov. 26 during a car stop in New Haven, Connecticut, and Clayton was arrested on Dec. 9 in Connecticut.

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Falmouth Rockland Trust robbery suspect arrested on multiple charges
Ron DeSantis to make 2024 U.S. presidential bid official with Musk on Twitter

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to make his long-awaited foray into the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday in an unusual manner - at an event with billionaire Elon Musk on Twitter.

His entry changes the shape of the contest for the Republican nomination, as he likely will emerge as former President Donald Trumps biggest rival. The nominee will face President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the November 2024 general election.

DeSantis, 44, also plans to file paperwork declaring his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, aides said.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Twitter with 140 million Twitter followers, said his own appearance will not constitute an endorsement but will reflect his desire to make the service more of a town square.

The Twitter event is at 6 p.m. ET (2200 GMT).

DeSantis on Wednesday will also convene a meeting of his top donors at a Miami hotel, where they will immediately launch his fundraising efforts.

DeSantis central argument for his candidacy likely will be that he is the only Republican who can defeat Biden, the winner over Trump in the 2020 election.

We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over, DeSantis said at an event in Iowa earlier this month.

In the weeks leading up to his presidential bid, DeSantis has toured the country, visiting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire that will hold early nominating contests. He has boasted of his record as Floridas governor, including his battles with the federal government over pandemic policies.

His decision to wait until now to jump in has given Trump space to batter DeSantis with a series of attacks, costing the governor standing in national polls and frustrating some allies who might have preferred DeSantis step into the ring earlier.

DeSantis and his advisers were determined to wait to enter the race until the Florida Legislature could hand him a series of policy victories  and lawmakers have done just that.

He signed measures that severely restricted abortions in the state, made it easier for residents to carry concealed weapons, expanded a voucher program to allow students to attend private schools, and eliminated funding for diversity programs at public universities, among other things.

DeSantis remains in a pitched battle with Walt Disney Co over the companys criticism of laws prohibiting the teaching of gender identity concepts in public schools. The company has filed a federal lawsuit accusing DeSantis of weaponizing state government to punish its operations.

Other declared Republican candidates include Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Howard Goller)
Ron DeSantis is set to join the 2024 campaign amid high Republican hopes that hes precisely the kind of conservative who can knock off President Joe Biden. But the odds are stacked against him.

The problem isnt really Biden, or even former President Donald Trump, who leads the Florida governor in early GOP polls. Its his state and the weight of history.

No Florida politician has ever been elected president. A half-dozen have run in the last 50 years  essentially the period in which the state evolved from political backwater to electoral powerhouse  but all have ended up in the same place, dead in the water long before the nominating convention. Most never even made it past New Hampshires first-in-the-nation primary.

The curse of Florida Man  and to date, every Florida presidential candidate has been male  lingers despite the fact that the state is an ideal proving ground for a White House bid. Winning statewide office requires campaigning in two time zones, 10 TV markets, and across 66,000 square miles. It is home to more than 22 million people  many of them arrivals from other states, which gives Florida politicians exposure to a wide range of political customs and styles.

Its a curious predicament for the nations third-largest state. Florida does have some White House connections, of course. Presidents have retired there. Theyve owned vacation homes there. Trump himself moved there midway through his first term as president, changing his official residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach.

But in the nearly 180 years since Florida was admitted to the Union, it has neither produced a president nor had one born within its borders. (No, Andrew Jacksons pre-statehood stint doesnt count.) It is the lone state among the nations 10 most populous that has never sent anyone to the White House.

Texas, which became a state nine months after Florida, can point to three presidents  four, if you count Dwight Eisenhower, who was born in Denison. California, which achieved statehood five years after Florida, has produced two. Even Hawaii, the last state to be admitted to the Union in 1959, can boast a presidential pedigree, with the birthplace of Barack Obama.

The absence of Floridas presidential bragging rights shouldnt be a complete surprise. It stems, at least in part, from the low esteem in which Florida  and its politicians  were held for the first century of its existence and perhaps beyond.



When the writer John Gunther took stock of the nation and its politics in the 1940s for his panoramic book, Inside U.S.A., he noted that Floridas freakishness in everything from architecture to social behavior [is] unmatched in any American state.

Sometimes people compare California to Florida, Gunther wrote of the nations sun-drenched states, but from an intellectual point of view, there is no comparison.

At mid-century, V.O. Key, Jr., in his political science classic, Southern Politics, observed that Florida was a politically atomized and unorganized state, an incredibly complex melange of amorphous factions, with few politicians who could exert influence beyond their own county.

Florida, he wrote, is not only unbossed, it is also unled.

By the 1970s, though, that began to change. Decade after decade of runaway population growth had swelled the states population; in the 1950s alone, Floridas population nearly doubled in size. State constitutional revisions in 1968 finally enabled governors to serve more than one term. Not long after, the state started producing top homegrown talent, from both parties, and sending them to the national dance.



In a sign that Florida had finally arrived politically  no longer viewed as a dumber, more corrupt version of California  both parties held their conventions in Miami Beach in 1972.

The Democratic National Conventions keynote speaker that year was Reubin Askew, Floridas highly regarded New South governor. By 1984, after eight years as governor and a stint as U.S. trade representative, he would become the first Florida pol to make a serious run for president. Running as a different kind of Democrat in a crowded field, Askews longshot presidential bid didnt get very far. He finished dead last among the major Democratic candidates, with 1 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary and dropped out the next day.

Askew wasnt the only Floridian to run that year. In true only-in-Florida fashion, the incumbent he defeated to win the governorship in 1970, former Republican Gov. Claude Kirk, filed for the New Hampshire primary just minutes before the 5 p.m. filing deadline  as a Democrat.

It had been 14 years since the mercurial Kirk  who once described himself as a tree-shaking son of a bitch  lost his bid for reelection to Askew. The political rust showed: Kirk won just 24 votes in the entire state.

The next Florida heavyweight to make a White House bid was Democrat Bob Graham in 2004. Widely regarded as one of the best governors in state history, Graham had also served three terms in the Senate, where he served as Intelligence Committee chair and led the congressional investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks.

As a popular officeholder in a politically important state, Graham figured to be a formidable contender. But a damaged heart valve required surgery in early 2003, unexpectedly delaying his entry into the contest. He never caught up to his rivals and left the race in October, three months before the Iowa caucuses.



The closest any state politician has ever come to winning the presidency came in 2016, when Florida offered up two top-tier Republican candidates, former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio. Bush began as the overwhelming frontrunner for the GOP nomination. Rubio, at the time, was considered a rising party star with an unlimited future.

Neither was prepared to deal with Trumps sudden and unexpected rise. Weighed down by his establishment ties and the family name, Bush was cut to pieces by the billionaire moguls campaign buzzsaw. After an underwhelming performance in South Carolina, he suspended his campaign the next day.

Rubio went further, becoming the first Florida candidate to make it through the early state gantlet. But his campaign ended in mid-March, after he got plastered by Trump  in his home state, of all places. Rubio lost all but one of the Sunshine States 67 counties.



Now, with Trump and DeSantis running first and second in the early 2024 GOP presidential polls, Florida again has a prime opportunity to place a resident in the White House.

But DeSantis is still running against Floridas reputation as a gun-shaped anti-paradise of grifters, rejects and assorted weirdos that  fairly earned or not  just wont die. The Florida Man meme didnt arrive in 2013 out of nowhere, after all. Look at all the popular media that has helped reinforce the states lurid caricature: Cops, the true-crime show 48 Hours, a library shelf of wacky Carl Hiaasen novels (not to mention his many imitators). Florida produces plenty of things besides viral headlines  sugar, oranges and exceptional winter strawberries, to name a few exports. But above all, it is a place where people go to escape, to play (and misbehave). And that deliberate unseriousness has, like it or not, settled upon its politicians who dont get the same respect as those from states whose identities are built around more traditional industries.

Trumps connection to the state is, of course, more tenuous. And his view of his adopted state isnt exactly rosy. In a March attack on DeSantis, Trump raised the notion that Florida was the kind of backward place that its critics deride and which regularly delights the internet.

Trump contended that Florida ranked among the worst states in terms of Covid cases and Covid deaths. And that wasnt all. In Education, Florida ranks among the worst in the Country and on crime statistics, Florida ranked Third Worst in Murder, Third Worst in Rape, and Third Worst in Aggravated Assault, the Mar-a-Lago resident said in a statement.

Jacksonville was ranked as one of the Top 25 Major Crime Cities in the Country, with Tampa and Orlando not doing much better. On Education, Florida ranks #39 in Health & Safety in the Country, #50 in Affordability, and #30 in Education & Childcare, HARDLY GREATNESS THERE!

A true Florida Mans endorsement.


The News

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is set to announce his candidacy for president this evening at 6 p.m. ET from the glowing molten core of the internet: A live Twitter event with owner Elon Musk, moderated by tech investor David Sacks.

The announcement, first reported by NBC News, will be followed with more conventional plans: A biographical video, a meeting with donors at the Four Seasons in Miami, an interview with Trey Gowdy on Fox News the same night, and eventually an in-person launch event later on.

But the decision to launch on a streaming audio platform with one of the worlds richest men, who is currently on a monthslong lib-trolling bender on the app he purchased for $44 billion, quickly became the hot topic on, well, Twitter. Is this what DeSantis needs to give his campaign some lift? Or is he blowing up his first introduction to voters on the launchpad?

Our View

Based on a quick survey of veteran politicos, DeSantis Twitter plans were polarizing. There were no shortage of voices calling it a stroke of genius, a disastrous self-own, and some who saw the potential for both.

First the obvious upside: Its the worlds (sometimes) richest man. Hes a DeSantis fan and rapidly moving hard right on culture war issues. Plus, he has a large, similarly-minded online following all his own. Why not cultivate his support, politically and possibly financially?

At least one Democrat saw some savviness to the move, which gives DeSantis a chance to make his pitch to the kinds of hyperpartisan online political junkies who are going to be most involved in campaigns early on in the process.

From a tactical standpoint, I understand what hes trying to do and it makes sense, Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau told Semafor. Hes not losing the Fox News primary. Hes losing the activist primary and having this rollout on Twitter could be advantageous to reaching some of those voices.

Some also saw the move as a smart way to draw outsized attention to his rollout by adding some novelty that his rivals couldnt match  especially heading into a holiday weekend when political interest is often waning. Reporters still live on Twitter and love talking about it, as evidenced by the article youre reading.

Having Elon part of it certainly makes a statement, Republican strategist Ford OConnell said. That said, the folks DeSantis needs in the GOP primary are not creatures of Twitter, so it will be interesting to see what the reviews are in conservative media outside of Twitter after the event.

But then there are the downsides.

So much of Trump-era Republican politics have been about demonstrating whos the Alpha, and Trump has tried to humiliate DeSantis at every turn by portraying him as an unlikeable hanger-on. The Twitter team-up risks introducing the governor to voters as the Beta to a brighter conservative star who will also generate plenty of distracting coverage about what the event means for his own grand ambitions in media, business, and politics.

Elon is more powerful, interesting and wealthy than Ron, one unaffiliated Republican strategist said. Sitting next to Musk risks looking like a junior varsity player from the jump  the exact diminished image Ron is trying to shake.

The strategist added they were perplexed why DeSantis didnt do the same plan in reverse  launch with a big in-person event and then give his first exclusive interview to Musk.

Its definitely risky, another GOP strategist said, also citing Musks propensity to soak up attention.

There were also plenty of critics arguing that DeSantis was leaning into his worst instincts by appealing to an online minority who obsess over daily culture wars, but have little connection to more offline voters concerns.

This announcement is a symptom of thinking random conservative Twitter personalities are the GOP base, said one Republican strategist working with a rival campaign.

And then there was the presentation component. Its an audio format on a website most Americans dont use, where the candidate  whose every recent interaction is scrutinized for awkwardness  will be a tiny circular avatar in conversation with an unpredictable billionaire who is often mocked on a similar basis.

I couldn't think of a more terrible way to spend my time than watching two socially awkward introverts talk about themselves, one GOP strategist on a rival campaign said.

Room for Disagreement

While debating the pageantry around a campaign launch is always a part of coverage, David Drucker, a senior writer at The Dispatch, said he saw little connection between candidate announcements and their later performances in his experience. It really doesn't matter  it matters if the voters you need like what you have to say; it matters what kind of campaign you run, he said on Twitter.

Notable
Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., listens during testimony by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz during a joint House Committee on the Judiciary and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing examining Horowitz's report of the FBI's Clinton email probe, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 19, 2018 in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Only about one in five American adults use Twitter, according to the Pew Research Center.

Even fewer use the website's audio-only chatroom, Twitter Spaces.

So it's unclear why DeSantis chose to launch his bid for president on the deteriorating app.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to kick off his presidential campaign Wednesday night on Twitter Spaces. It could be a costly mistake for DeSantis as he begins the uphill climb in an attempt to gain the Republican nomination.



Here are three key reasons why:

Most voters don't use Twitter

The way most American presidential candidates launch their campaign is straightforward: Hold an event, invite TV cameras, and get on television.

DeSantis is, instead, forgoing the traditional strategy, choosing to launch his candidacy on an app most Americans don't even use and using a feature so unknown by even its power users that the New York Times felt compelled to publish on Wednesday titled "DeSantis Picked Twitter Spaces to Announce His Run. What Is It?"

Twitter Spaces lacks visuals

It's critical that presidential candidates, especially at their launches, are made as visible as possible. Yes, gaffes on the trail occasionally happen that can sink campaigns  just ask former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis who mistakenly thought it would be wise to do a photo-op in a tank, torpedoing his campaign. But particularly as he slides further behind former President Donald Trump in most Republican primary polls, DeSantis needs to make himself as visible as possible to draw in skeptics and moderates.

Unless Twitter adds video streaming capabilities to Twitter Spaces just before the launch event  a tall task for a company that's lost the bulk of its engineering force since Elon Musk took over  the event will solely be audio-based.

Twitter Spaces has also had its share of problems since Musk's takeover. In December 2022, the feature wasn't even showing up for users and the platform recently removed its live captions feature from the platform, a feature that would've been helpful for hard-of-hearing listeners (such as potential older voters) who plan to tune in Wednesday evening.

A live event could highlight a lack of charisma

Charisma is important in politics. With enough charm, even a barely-able-to-run 37-year-old mayor from Indiana can gain stardom if they win over enough undecided voters in a town hall, as evidenced by Pete Buttigieg in 2019.

But despite a quick rise to Congress and later the governor's mansion, DeSantis isn't known for being the most personable politician, with some critics suggesting he lacks the retail politics skills needed to succeed on the campaign trail.

Additionally, the people talking with DeSantis at his online launch event  Musk and David Sacks  also pose their own brand risks to DeSantis. Musk, an ideological meme-obsessed oddball, posted antisemitic tweets in recent weeks attacking Hungarian philanthropist George Soros. Under his management of Twitter, the platform lost millions in advertising revenue that it's still trying to recoup.

Sacks, not well-known outside of Silicon Valley and venture capital circles, is perhaps the most media-polished person presenting tonight, thanks to co-hosting a weekly podcast. But counting on him to carry the conversation is still risky in such an unfamiliar political setting.

DeSantis may be hoping to tap into an extremely online base, but winning the Republican nomination likely isn't dependent on "Pepe the frog"-laden accounts. It's much more likely to hinge on convincing caucus-goers in Iowa and senior citizens in New Hampshire, who aren't likely logging into Twitter anytime soon.

Read the original article on Business Insider
In the running.

One of the most anticipated Republican presidential announcement of the 2024 electoral cycle has finally landed.



Republican governor Ron DeSantis officially filed paperwork to run for president on May 24, hours before launching his campaign in an audio-only Twitter Spaces event at 6pm eastern time along with Elon Musk. Relentless glitches marred the event as more than 500,000 people tried to join the conference call. Ultimately, DeSantiss much-anticipated announcement was not more than a scripted speech that was followed by a Q&A that largely focused on Musks leadership of Twitter.

Read more

DeSantis follow up the announcement with a more traditional round of prime-time appearances on conservative programs, including Fox News, where he brushed off the Twitter fiasco. It did break the Twitter Spaces and were really excited about the enthusiasm, he said.

That the candidacy was imminent was common knowledge for months but DeSantis had recently been dropping several hints. For instance, last month, DeSantis signed a bill to exempt him from the resign-to-run Florida law, meaning that he can remain governor while running for president. In a bid to shield the 2024 campaign from scrutiny, he also signed a bill allowing him to shield all of his travel from media and the public.

Quotable: A campaign long in the making

Inside DeSantiss insular orbit, his campaign is largely on schedule. His allies spent the spring raising money, launching a super PAC, building out a national campaign and enlisting supporters so that when he enters the race, it wont be from a traditional day one.CNNs Steve Contorno, who is based in Florida and covers DeSantis

One small number: Americans on Twitter

23%: The share of US adults that use Twitter, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. At the time, more of them were Democrats than Republicans.

A mini-biography for Ron DeSantis

Full name: Ronald Dion DeSantis

Place of birth: Jacksonville, Florida

Age: 44 (32 and 36 years younger than Trump and Biden respectively)

Education: DeSantis graduated from Yale University in 2001 and Harvard Law School in 2005both with honors.

Marriage and kids: He married Casey DeSantis, an Emmy Award-winning television host, at the Walt Disney World Resort in 2009. They have three young children aged 5, 4, and 2.

Work experience: After serving in the US Navys JAG Corpsa team of attorneys that are knowledgeable about both civilian and military lawin the mid-2000s, DeSantis became a federal prosecutor. In 2012, he was first elected to Congress as the US Representative for Floridas Sixth District, where he fought for term limits, the No Budget/No Pay Act, and to cut taxes, according to the Florida department of state. DeSantis became Floridas governor in 2019 and won re-election last year.

A non-exhaustive list of DeSantiss aggressively conservative political agenda points

In the last year, DeSantis has signed a spate of conservative laws just this year, picked fights with major corporations like Disney for being woke, and more. Heres a brief recap of the moves hes made, that reveal his stance on several issues:

 Banning abortions after six weeksan extremely restrictive timeline considering most women only learn of pregnancies between week four and seven.

 Eliminating permitsand therefore training and background checksfor concealed carry in Florida. You dont need a permission slip from the government to be able to exercise your constitutional rights, DeSantis said about loosening gun laws in the state.

 Dedicating millions of dollars to a controversial migrant relocation program.

 Banning Chinese nationals from buying property in Florida.

 Levying new restrictions that will alter the lives of transgender people, including targeting drag shows and pride parades by banning adult live performances for anyone under the age of 18, restricting bathroom usage, and curbing conversations around personal pronouns.

 Allowing parents to challenge the types of books that are in school libraries, and even going after teachers and schools he believes are indoctrinating students.

 In contrast to US Supreme Court ruling banning capital punishment in such cases, DeSantis signed into law the death penalty in child rape convictions. The legislation, which goes into effect Oct. 1, would authorize the state to pursue capital punishment when an adult is convicted of sexually battering a child under 12.



Fun fact: DeSantis was an author before he became a politician

This spring, DeSantis is due to release a new non-fiction bookspecifically, a memoirtitled The Courage to Be Free: Floridas Blueprint for Americas Revival. Back in 2011, a year before he joined Congress, he had authored another book: Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama.

Once readily available as an e-book, that book has since disappeared, barring a used hard copy thats selling for $1,950 on the internet. The Washington Post, which had the foresight to purchase a copy last year in anticipation of DeSantiss presidential run, described the book as a troll of former president Barack Obamas 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father.

In his book, DeSantis says AP African American Studies lack educational values, and dismisses slavery as a fact of life and a personal flaw of the Founding Fathers, alongside calling out Obamas supposedly anti-American power grab.

Person of interest: Donald Trump

DeSantis is a favorite among those who wont back Donald Trump, but the former president has been the clear primary front-runner for months. While DeSantiss anticipated entry kept getting pushed back, Trump widened his lead.

At the end of last year, Trump was polling in the low 40s while DeSantis was in the low 30s. Now, the first ex-president to face criminal charges is averaging over 50% nationally among GOP voters, and DeSantis has dropped below 20%.

Of course, DeSantiss dropping popularity may have been a result of him refraining from the race. Now that hes in it, the polls could pick right back up. While historical polling trends suggest Trump will come out on top, DeSantis has a fighting chance, given that his coffer to mount a campaign can more than rival Trumps. At the end of 2022, he was sitting on $110 million heap of donor cash versus $55 million for Trumps campaign, and the wealthy have been pumping in more this year. DeSantis is reportedly planning to assemble top financiers this week to beef up his war chest further.

Ahead of his announcement, a pro-DeSantis super PAC was already securing endorsements in early primary states, sending mailers, organizing on campuses, running television ads, raising small donations for the campaign in an escrow account and working behind the scenes to build crowds for the governors events, according to the New York Times.

DeSantis hasnt explicitly commented on Trump much, except saying that the only person who can really rival current president Joe Biden is DeSantis himself.

Trump, who once endorsed DeSantis for governor, came out all guns blazing even before the competitor officially entered the race. The former president attacked the Florida governor, touting his abortion ban as too harsh, calling him out on the feud with Disney sparked by the so-called Dont Say Gay Bill, and also nicknaming him Ron DeSalesTax in an ad condemning his fair tax policy that proposed levying a 23% sales tax instead of the current income and corporate income tax, employment and self-employment taxes, and estate and gift taxes.

Place of interest: Iowa



Earlier in May, DeSantis made an unannounced visit to Des Moines, Iowathe first state in the Republican nomination processthe very day Trump had a rally planned nearby. (Trump canceled due to tornado threat.)

One more thing: The Republican race is a crowded space

Other candidates whove already announced their runs, like Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, are too far down in the polls to pose a real threat. But that doesnt mean there are no challengers to Trump and DeSantis. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott made his announcement on Monday (May 22), and Mike Pences allies have mounted a Super PAC to back him. Plus, around half a dozen other potential candidates are apparently waiting in the wings.

Related stories

 A Florida restaurant is suing DeSantis to keep hosting family-friendly drag shows

 The other battle brewing in Florida over Disney and the Dont Say Gay bill

 Disney sues Ron DeSantis on First Amendment grounds

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The much anticipated face-off is finally here.

Ron DeSantis is launching his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and is widely predicted to become Donald Trump's main rival.

Mr DeSantis is styling himself as a Trump-style conservative without the Trump baggage. But the Florida governor enters a race in which the former president remains the clear frontrunner and still the dominant force in the Republican Party.

The DeSantis pitch is that he has a record of achievement on conservative priorities and values that he can point to - a contrast to the four years of the Trump presidency that had few legislative victories.

During his time in office, he's enacted high-profile conservative laws to make it easier to own a gun, to restrict sex and gender identity education in schools, and to tighten voting rules and limit abortions.

His willingness to take on big corporations that he sees as advancing a liberal agenda suggests that he believes hot-button cultural issues are of greater concern to Republican voters than more traditional pro-business policies.

It's a gamble, illustrated most dramatically by his feud with the Disney Company. That year-long fight began when Disney criticised a Florida law restricting what teachers could discuss in classrooms about sexuality and gender identity, following protests about the law from Disney employees.

"He is Mr Culture Warrior in the extreme," says Myra Adams, a Florida based columnist and political strategist who worked on Republican presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008. "He was always considered conservative, but this was a choice that he made because he thought this would get him Trump voters."

Mr DeSantis is also making the case that he is a winner, undefeated in races for Congress and governor.

"We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted our party in recent years," Mr DeSantis said during his Iowa visit two weeks ago. "The time for excuses is over."

That was a dig at the Mr Trump who still refuses to accept he lost the 2020 election - and who was blamed by many for Republicans' underwhelming results in last year's congressional elections.

What happens next?

Candidates for the Republican nomination will hit the campaign trail and begin a series of TV debates in the coming months

Elections in each state - called primary elections - begin next February

The person with the most support will be crowned at the Republican Convention in summer 2024

The winner of the nomination will face Democrat Joe Biden in the general election in November 2024

Who are the Republican hopefuls not named Trump?

All in all, it makes Mr DeSantis a very formidable candidate - at least on paper.

But campaigns are not waged on paper, they're conducted in front of living voters and under the harsh glare of a national media spotlight. And after appearing to be an unstoppable force in the wake of his impressive re-election victory in November, the Florida governor has seemingly wilted.

Polls last year showed Mr DeSantis running neck-and-neck, or even leading, Mr Trump. They now have Mr Trump with more than 50% in many surveys of Republican voters, while Mr DeSantis trails by double digits. Even if Mr DeSantis consolidated all the non-Trump voters, he would still trail Mr Trump in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls.

His challenge, therefore, is to convince some less-enthusiastic Trump supporters that he is a better version of Trumpism than the original.

That could be a fine line to walk, given that there are several other candidates also trying to be the non-Trump choice. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley attacked Mr DeSantis in a campaign video released on Wednesday, saying: "America deserves a choice not an echo."

A common theme among those choosing the former president over the current governor is that Mr DeSantis is too cold and unwilling to engage in personal politics. An international trip meant to show Mr DeSantis could hold his own on the global stage received lacklustre reviews. Some high-profile potential donors have been unimpressed.

"Trump without the charm," is how Nikki Haley's campaign manager described it in an internal memo leaked to Politico this week.

Ron DeSantis with wife Casey in Tokyo last month

"So many donors that are so [annoyed] because they paid a lot of money to be in a room with DeSantis, and he didn't give them the time of day," Ms Adams says. "He's robotic, and he doesn't have an easy-going personality."

The on-paper juggernaut could be looking more like a paper tiger.

"He should be the next generation," Ms Adams continues. "He should be the younger, smarter, more nimble Trump. But the numbers just don't speak well for how he's going to overcome Trump."

Numbers can change, of course. There still is the possibility that circumstances could improve or the former president might stumble under the weight of accumulated legal issues.

And the Trump campaign clearly views the Florida governor as the former president's most pressing threat. It's unclear exactly how much money the independent groups supporting Mr Trump have raised, but they've been on television attacking Mr DeSantis in key states for months.

The Florida governor, however, does have lots of money of his own.

At the end of last month, he had $88m (71m) in a fund, Friends of Ron DeSantis, that was raised for his Florida re-election campaign and can be transferred to his presidential bid. He also reportedly has around $30m controlled by an independent committee that his allies can use to support his campaign.

Mr Trump, by contrast, reported a combined $18.8m in fundraising over the first three months of 2023, with $13m in his main campaign account. Most other Republican presidential candidates have even less cash on hand.

The Florida governor has also been working to build a campaign ground game, courting local officials and power brokers in key early voting states in the Republican nomination contest. On that recent trip to Iowa, he announced endorsements from more than three dozen state legislators - greater than any other candidate by far.

The formal launch of his campaign on Wednesday is a chance to reset and start rebuilding momentum. His conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter and a later interview with Fox News will be followed by a blitz of early voting states in the weeks ahead.

Once the dust settles, Mr DeSantis could end up the Republican nominee - and find himself with a host of new challenges as he takes on Joe Biden and the Democrats.

While backing hardcore conservative social policies has won him support among Republicans, some positions, particularly on abortion, could hurt his ability to appeal to moderate voters.

That, however, is a next year problem. The Florida governor has plenty of challenges just in the months ahead.

Find out more

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis listens to a speaker at a

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis listens to a speaker at a press conference at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville, Fl. on May 1, 2023 Credit - Paul HennessySOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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Ron DeSantis knows exactly what hes doing. With his apparent decision to join the 2024 presidential race by way of a Twitter conversation with that platforms firebrand billionaire owner, the Florida Governor is putting America on notice that hes running a different kind of campaign. In fact, from the start, DeSantis is telling the country that he will do precisely the opposite of what is expected of a White House contender by aiming to overtake Donald Trump as the most unpredictable and incendiary force in politics.

DeSantis and Elon Musk are scheduled to chat on Twitter on Wednesday evening, a summit of two culture-war generals who are plenty keen to poke at norms, if not fling civility wholesale into the chipper. The lead-off intensity already is drawing attention and anxiety. After all, there are few peoplein politics or beyondwho have such a polarizing effect on so many people, or represent just how mean-spirited politics can reap reward for the bold.

DeSantis has made bitter feuds a hallmark of his time leading Florida, a state once seen as a barometer of U.S. politics but in the post-pandemic environment is trending into a hard-right state. His contempt for vaccine and mask-mandate policies made him a star in some circles. He coasted to re-election last year against a lackluster Democratic rival while positioning himself as a less-indicted version of Trump, his one-time patron. DeSantis standoff with Walt Disney World over so-called wokeness, his censorship of educators lessons on American racism, and his takeover of some schools have elevated him to hero status for a subset of Republican voters. Among his critics, his crusade against abortion rights verges on fanaticism, his rejection of transparency borders on autocracy. In his embrace of Musk, whose free-for-all approach to Twitter has made him an unlikely icon of the right, DeSantis is aiming to further endear himself to the mercurial billionaires legions of very-online keyboard-cased activists.

Most campaigns require some level of choke-it-down stagecraft to politics. Its clear when candidates are showing up in certain places they would have previously spurned, saying things they dont believe, promising programs they know will never come to pass. They do it because it is required to survive the moment. (See John McCains retracted 2000 comments on the Confederate flag at the South Carolina statehouse.) The inauthenticity can be uncomfortable to perform and watch alike, but all candidateseven the most Bulworth of themcan weather a few fleeting betrayals of character in their effort at a bigger goal.

But for a candidate like DeSantis, launching his bid on Twitter alongside Musk represents a real gamble, as viewers may struggle to tell if it represents an approximation of performative politics, or a reflection of his true sensibilities. Americans simply dont know him well enough to make that judgment.

Either way, there are evident limits, even at its inception, to this approach. The instant burst of contempt for coloring inside the lines will yield goodwill among the most conservative elements of the GOP, but will also test the stomach of the political center of the country. Strategists believe Trumps constant antics and trolling are among his biggest weaknesses, and here is a candidate seen as a Trumpist without the baggage trying to replicate the performative elements of the ex-President.

The 2020 field of Republicans is still coming together, although this week seems to have brought something of a reset to the crowd. Sen. Tim Scott crossed the starting line on Monday, just barely getting ahead of DeSantis expected launch Wednesday evening. (Thats worth a caveat, of course: DeSantis has long shown signs of paranoia and spite; in recent weeks, his team has been testing supporters discretion by spreading false information to see who can be trustednever a sign of a particularly healthy campaign. DeSantis whole launch-by-Twitter Spaces gambit could just be part of an elaborate opening meant to give him a chance to again attack the Fake News.)

All of this stick-it-in-your-eye pluck, however, may not be as beneficial should DeSantis succeed in becoming the nominee. The gimmicks that may help him at the moment among the far-right wing of the Republican Party isnt likely to win him converts in states hell need beyond The Free State of Florida. In chasing those voters seeking a destructive force in politics, he may well spook twice as many who are open to an alternative to President Joe Biden sticking around the West Wing for another four years. For those voters, reverting to a policy-by-tweet era may prove worse than an incumbent who seems a step off his best days.

DeSantis, to this point, has been largely untested. As TIMEs Molly Ball reports from Tallahassee for the magazines latest cover, DeSantis legislature has proven compliant in building him a record ready to road-test in Des Moines, Concord, and Columbia. But as other Republican Governors have proven, a record at the statehouse doesnt always translate in the church basements, VFW halls, and diners where early-nominating states pick their favorite. Just ask Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, or Jeb Bush how their records as Governors launched them to the nomination. For incumbents, its even worse if they have to go home in defeat. DeSantis could prove merely the latest state exec who melts on the national stage when the lights get brighter, the scrutiny gets sharper, and the donors turn out to be more fickle.

DeSantis is choosing as divisive an opening day as one can imagine, but it may be the perfect microcosm for the campaign to come. At least hes being honest with America about his playbook from his campaigns opening day and voters can make a decision accordingly. In that, DeSantis is at least respecting voters enough to tell them some version of this truth: hes ready to fight anyone about anything, so long as it helps him look like a bigger troublemaker than Trump. If DeSantis is able to sustain this hardcore approach, it stands to be a very, very long 17 monthsor longer if he proves more successful.

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Russia to use border incursion to swallow part of Belarusian army

  , 19  2022 

"They will discuss this issue," Svitan argues.

Most likely, Putin will put pressure on Lukashenko to transfer part of the army to Russia as part of the Union State. This is not even within the CSTO, but within the Union State.

The expert is convinced that the development of the situation will depend on how Lukashenko behaves.

Read also: 10 Russian fighter jets redeployed to Belarus Machulishchy airfield

"He will either fall for it or not. He can transfer a part of the Belarusian army to cover the Ukrainian-Russian border. Especially to Bryansk Oblast. It is next to Belarus. That is, they can try to cover at least one region. But this is also not bad."

Svitan pointed out that the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, which is fighting against Russia as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is "eager" to liberate Belarus.

"Therefore, the withdrawal of the Belarusian army from Belarus to Russia can be a positive moment," Svitan explained.

We can take advantage of it by giving the Kalinouski regiment a certain opportunity to participate in the liberation of Belarus. That is, Ukrainian troops will not enter Belarus, just as Ukrainian troops are not entering Russia now.

Read also: Cutting off Donetsk could take only days with a political decision, claims military expert

Read also: Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun; expect breakthroughs by early June  military expert

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russia captured Bakhmut, but it cost thousands of troops and has likely exhausted its remaining soldiers

An aerial view showing destruction in the frontline city of Bakhmut, in Eastern Ukraine on May 23, 2023. Defense of Ukraine / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Russia has essentially captured the city of Bakhmut, but it paid a heavy price, exhausting its forces.

The win in Bakhmut, which remains contested, is its first battlefield victory in almost a year.

The win is likely Pyrrhic, and analysts say there's little Russia can do but wait for Ukraine's next move.

Russian forces have declared victory in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that has seen the bloodiest fighting of the war, but the contested win has cost thousands of soldiers and exhausted critical resources needed to move the fight forward.

Russia's objective has been to seize control of the eastern Donbas region, but the heavy toll taken by the months-long battle for Bakhmut has left Russian troops with little ability to do more than shift to defense and wait for Ukraine's long-anticipated counteroffensive, multiple military experts said.

"Many people have described this as a Pyrrhic victory, and I would agree with that. The Russians have exhausted themselves. They've run out of offensive capability," said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' International Security Program.

A Pyrrhic victory is a win at unacceptable costs. The term stems from the Greek king Pyrrhus after his victory over the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC. The victory was costly  historians say Pyrrhus said something to the effect of "another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined."

Given the losses sustained by Russian forces in the fierce battle for Bakhmut, the brunt of which were born by the paramilitary Wagner Group, there's certainly a case to be made that Russia's win may, indeed, be hollow.

Russia claimed victory on May 21, and the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that has closely followed the war, said it was Moscow's first seizure of a large Ukrainian city since the capture of southeastern cities Severodonetsk and Lyschansk last summer. While Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, still assert that Kyiv's forces are active in Bakhmut, they have also acknowledged that it's mostly under Russian control.

"They've taken most of the city, but the city's a wreck and they've run out of combat power," Cancian, a retired Marine colonel, told Insider.

Michael Kofman, director of the Russian Studies Program at The Center for Naval Analyses, told The New York Times this week "this chapter will close, even as fighting continues in the fields outside the city.

"But," he said, "it speaks volumes about the Ukrainian will to fight, though soldiers may wonder whether the fight for Bakhmut was driven by political considerations over military ones."

Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut on May 15, 2023. Libkos/AP

Ukrainian and Russian troops have been engaged in intense combat over Bakhmut for nearly a year now, and both sides have seen countless soldiers killed and wounded.

While estimates of deaths and injuries on both sides are unclear, Russia suffered over 100,000 casualties in Ukraine between December 2022 and May of this year, and the most horrific fighting was in Bakhmut, where Russia used mass-casualty human wave tactics to achieve its ends.

With heavy Russian losses and depleted resources, Russia's next move is expected to be defensive. ISW noted around the time of Russia's claimed victory over Bakhmut that "Russian forces will likely need additional reinforcements to hold Bakhmut City and its flanks at the expense of operations in other directions." Offensive operations are considered less likely.

"I can't see the Russians mounting another major offensive at this point, short of them doing something big like another mobilization," Cancian said. "I think that they've exhausted themselves and, you know, they've now gone over to defensive because they're very worried about this offensive," he said.

Rob Lee, an expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told The Times that even if there are some minor tactical assaults, "Russia will likely primarily focus on defense and prepare for Ukraine's counteroffensive."

Highlighting the concerns among Russian forces about a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive, some commanders, such as Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, have sounded alarms with claims of a counteroffensive in "full swing" in response to localized counterattacks that lacked the necessary armor and combat power expected in a major operation.

Other analysts told The New York Times that Russia has dug intricate trenches in southern Ukraine and placed miles of landmines along the front lines. And that defense-in-depth strategy could prove difficult for Ukraine's counteroffensive, especially as combat tends to favor the defenders.

"If the counteroffensive makes a lot of progress, then, you know, clearly that's a good thing for the Ukrainians," Cancian said, adding that "if they get stopped by the Russian lines, and of course the Russians have been digging themselves in for months, that is a bad sign" for things to come.

As for what that means for the war long term, "once that counter offensive goes," he said, "we'll have a much better sense about what the balance of military power looks like."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A visitor looks at paintings at an art exhibition during the first edition of Empower Her Art Forum in Cairo, Egypt, on May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Along a tube entrance leading to the central hall of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), eye-catching paintings, sculptures and installations with feminine touches were displayed.

The innovative works were featured during the first edition of Empower Her Art Forum, an international art exhibition organized by the Artoday platform and hosted by the NMEC from May 20 to 24 to shed light on women's empowerment through art.

The gallery gathered more than 100 female artists from around the world, including Egypt, Bahrain, Belgium, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Spain, Syria, Sudan, Turkiye and Yemen.

"We send a message that women have a voice and we want it to be heard through art," said Shereen Badr, chief organizer and founder of Empower Her Art Forum.

"We have also created a website to market their works online, which is a means of economic empowerment, besides artistic empowerment," the organizer told Xinhua.

Among the artworks was a dress made of single-use plastic bags. The piece is created by Zainab Talaat, an Egyptian artist and fashion designer.

Talaat said her work aims to raise awareness through art and warn against single-use plastic items as well as fast fashion, both of which were described by her as "pollutants."

The art forum included a live painting workshop, where visitors watched while artists painted live.

During the live painting event, Maka Zedelashvili, a Georgian artist, was painting a new artwork called Rooster as a Symbol of the Sun, besides her acrylic-on-canvas piece "Tree of Life" that was displayed in the gallery.

"Women need to be empowered worldwide. Women's artworks also need more promotion and support," the Georgian artist told Xinhua.

Anna Gryzlova, a tourist from Russia, said the forum was "interesting" because it didn't only feature classic art but also presented a diverse collection of art forms.

"You can see what artists want to tell you in these paintings. I actually like it because I like to visit museums and also enjoy some paintings," Gryzlova said.

The forum organizer said there is no better place than the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to hold the event, as the forum is themed "Woman Is Civilization."

The NMEC is not just a place for exhibiting antiquities but also "a cultural lighthouse" that can host various artistic and cultural activities, said Fayrouz Fekry, the museum's deputy director.

"Empower Her Art Forum is one of the activities presented by the museum to enable visitors to see something new and different every time they visit the museum," Fekry told Xinhua. 

This photo taken on May 21, 2023 shows sculptures exhibited at an art exhibition during the first edition of Empower Her Art Forum in Cairo, Egypt, on May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

A visitor looks at paintings at an art exhibition during the first edition of Empower Her Art Forum in Cairo, Egypt, on May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

People visit an art exhibition during the first edition of Empower Her Art Forum in Cairo, Egypt, on May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
Russia claims it destroyed three Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels attempting to attack a Russian ship in the Black Sea.

Russias Defense Ministry (MoD) on Wednesday released a video it claims shows the destruction of a Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessel (USV) attempting to attack the Project 18280 Yuriy Ivanov class intelligence ship Ivan Khurs in the Black Sea about 90 miles northeast of Turkey's Bosphorus Strait.

The video, published by the MoDs official Zvezdanews outlet, shows the last seconds of what it says was a Ukrainian USV approaching the Ivan Khurs. Several tracer rounds, apparently from deck-mounted 14.5mm machine guns, are observed narrowly missing the USV before it turns and is struck on the bow, exploding in a tremendous fireball.

https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1661379305236987907

Today at 5:30 a.m., the Ukrainian armed forces made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Ivan Khurs ship of the Black Sea fleet with three unmanned speedboats, the MoD said in a statement. The ship is performing tasks to ensure the safety of the operation of the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Turkey.

Turkish Stream, now formally known as TurkStream, and Blue Stream both carry Russian natural gas to Turkey.

A map of Turkey's Black Sea Exclusive Economic Zone. (Turkish Marine Research Foundation map)

All three USVs were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140km (about 90 miles) northeast of the Bosphorus, the Russian MoD claimed. The ship Ivan Khurs of the Black Sea fleet continues to fulfill its tasks.

The Russian Navy has two Project 18280 intelligence ships, the other being the Yuriy Ivanov. They are equipped with four MTPU marine pedestal mounts, each with a single 14.5mm KPVT machine gun, located at various points on the deck, primarily for force protection against various close-in threats. The ships are also said to have six 9K38 Igla surface-to-air missile launchers, and 32 9M39 missiles for them, to defend fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. It is not immediately clear if the Igla launchers are installed on some type of naval mounting or are shoulder-fired types available to the crew.

The Ivan Khurs' starboard aft pedestal-mounted 14.5mm machine gun. (Black Sea Fleet Telegram photo)

The 315-foot-long vessel, which displaces more than 4,000 tons, was named after Vice Admiral Ivan Khurs, a Soviet naval intelligence pioneer. It was commissioned on June 18, 2018.

Whether this was a Ukrainian USV or Russian is unknown at this point despite the claim by the Russian MoD. The drone boat shown in the Russian MoD video appears to bear a very loose resemblance  but with noticeable differences in hull form  to those Ukraine has used in previous attacks on the Black Sea Fleet, mostly aimed at its home port of Sevastopol in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

An image of the USV Russia's MoD claimed it destroyed today. (Russian MoD screencap)

The mysterious unmanned surface vessel that washed ashore in Crimea in early September. At the time, The War Zone's analysis stated the very low profile jet-ski engine-powered unmanned boat was a weaponized 'suicide drone' setup for impact detonation.

Images of the same USVs were released by the Ukrainian government in November through its UNITED24 fundraising platform. They were posted as part of an effort to crowdsource funding for the boats. Those USVs, completed and under construction, are 18-foot-long vessels said to be capable of carrying a combat load of up to 400 pounds, with a top maximum speed of about 50 mph. Each USV has a $250,000 price tag that the website says includes a ground-based, autonomous control station, a transportation and storage system, and "a data processing center." It is unclear exactly what is meant by a data processing center and officials from UNITED24 declined to answer, citing operational security concerns. You can read more about them in our coverage here.

Images of Ukraine's USVs were released by UNITED24 last November. (UNITED24 image)

https://twitter.com/U24_gov_ua/status/1591035625431793665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1591035625431793665%7Ctwgr%5E7b555b0af7a82c076d9f62a39cc0a98d11910859%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraines-shadowy-kamikaze-drone-boats-officially-break-cover

Ukrainian USVs were claimed to be involved in attacks on the port in October and November 2022 and March 2023. During the attack last October, Ukraine claimed at least three Russian warships were damaged, including the Admiral Grigorovich class frigate Admiral Makarov, reportedly the Black Sea Fleet's new flagship after the Project 1164 Slava-class cruiser Moskva sank in April. However, those claims are still unproven.

https://twitter.com/Capt_Navy/status/1638849437798920192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1638849437798920192%7Ctwgr%5E0781bfee0cf70422e789de1943c38d201c83766f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fpurported-video-shows-drone-boats-blowing-up-during-sevastopol-attack

While there has been no official comment yet from Ukraine about Wednesdays claimed USV attack, the Ukrainian Armed Forces in October released remarkable footage purportedly from aboard several USVs used in that Oct. 29, 2022 attack on Sevastopol. The video showed the purported attack run on a guided missile frigate and Russian forces engaging the USVs with machine-gun fire.

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1586358375389884417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1586358375389884417%7Ctwgr%5E2c66bdba8532a3b6b15853b77a320f25f036022d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-unleashes-mass-kamikaze-drone-boat-attack-on-russias-black-sea-fleet-headquarters

At the same time, the Russian MoD's claimed location of the attack is about 200 miles from the nearest unoccupied Ukrainian coastline. This raises questions about just how far that Ukraine's USVs can travel and if the ones supposed involved in the attack on Ivan Khurs even belonged to that country.

The Russians claim their ship was attacked about 200 miles from the nearest unoccupied Ukrainian coastline and 90 miles northeast of the Bosphorus Strait. The yellow line is 90 miles from the strait with the white box showing the general area of where the attack is claimed to have occurred. (Google Earth image)

Russia has also produced explosive-laden USVs, with Russian media and milbloggers claiming that a road and railway bridge in Zatoka in the Odesa region was hit by such a USV back in February.

A Ukrainian attack on a Russian vessel in Turkey's Exclusive Economic Zone would fit in with Moscow's victim narrative and stoke concerns about Ukrainian actions expanding the conflict into NATO states' control zones. Staging such an incident could conceivably be part of Russia's already powerful information operations. The great distance involved in this attack and the motivation for it are certainly suspect.

Regardless of the veracity of the incident, it has been noted that several NATO aircraft were seen conducting apparent surveillance missions in the area, according to flight tracking social media sites.

https://twitter.com/YorukIsik/status/1661347932182913034

The Kremlin-aligned Rybar Telegram channel has suggested, without proof, that these reconnaissance sorties were connected to the attack on the Ivan Khurs.

"The accumulation of so many reconnaissance aircraft is not a coincidence," Rybar wrote Wednesday. "As a rule, such NATO activity is followed by either an attempt at sabotage or strikes against the Crimean peninsula and southern Russian regions."

"And, given today's incident with the Ivan Khurs and the suspiciously close patrol of the RQ-4D to the route of the possible passage of the Russian ship, questions regarding the true purpose of the flights disappear."

However, such flights happen frequently and had become a daily staple in the region even before Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in Febraury 2022. Sometimes multiple NATO assets are executing their reconnaissance sorties over the Black Sea at the same time. So this is not anything approaching clear evidence of being involved in the supposed attack.

Given the effect that Ukraines flotilla of USVs has had on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, if Ukraine did carry out today's reported attempted attack, it is unlikely to be the last, even though Russia has taken steps to protect itself against these vessels.

The overall damage caused in previous USV attacks on the Black Sea Fleet appears to have been minimal at best. However, those attacks  and repeated aerial drone strikes  have forced Russia to change how it deploys vessels and protects the port. Russia has built up layered defenses in the air, on land, and at sea around the harbor in Sevastopol, especially at its entrance. These have only gotten more elaborate after repeated drone attacks of increasing sophistication. You can read more about that in our coverage here.

https://twitter.com/thewarzonewire/status/1575178828150116353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1575178828150116353%7Ctwgr%5E5c122cf1bc42f582af3d8f13a26e5b0960537bcd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fpurported-video-shows-drone-boats-blowing-up-during-sevastopol-attack

Apparently, with this strike by naval drones, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to force out favorable conditions for themselves in the hope of allowing ships to enter the harbors in the Dnipro-Bug Estuary, in which they are actively assisted by UN representatives, Rybar also said, linking this attack to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but again providing no hard evidence to substantiate this. The grain deal was hammered out last year to allow grain and other food and fertilizer to be shipped out via Ukraine's Black Sea ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny.

The mouth of the Dnipro and Bug rivers emptying into the Black Sea. (Google Earth image)

Therefore, it is unlikely that today's attack in the Black Sea zone will be the last, Rybar added.

The biggest question is if this was indeed Ukraine, how did they target the ship and why? There are many more Russian vessels closer to Ukrainian shores. Traveling over 200 miles to hit a moving target with small USVs that were once improvised and now serially produced is perhaps the biggest element of this that raises questions. Unless these vessels were launched by a mothership far out to sea, which would incur its own risks, such an operation seems quite odd.

We will continue to update this article in the coming hours with any new info that comes available.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
Russia didnt respond to Belgorod Oblast incursion because its special forces were killed in Ukraine  expert

A member of the Russian Volunteer Corps at the Kozinka checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian border, a frame from a video released on May 23, 2023

Political analyst Ivan Preobrazhensky explained in an interview with Radio NV on May 23.

Russia does not have enough special forces to send them to Belgorod Oblast, as "all these units were destroyed at the beginning of the full-scale aggression on Ukrainian territory," he explained.

"Earlier, before the full-scale aggression, we could definitely say that in a similar situation, they would have very quickly deployed special forces units from the neighboring region," he added.

Read also: Counter-terrorist operation concludes in Russias Belgorod Oblast

"These would have been either SWAT teams, i.e., the former OMON, or the FSB. In any case, Belgorod Oblast is not far from Moscow. Generally, this would have been resolved within a few hours, and the units involved would have quickly cleaned up everything professionally."

Over the past decade, Russia claimed to create large mobile groups that can be quickly deployed from one region of Russia to another, as needed.

"In the end, it turned out that all this time, they had been preparing for a completely different war  for full-scale aggression against Ukraine, for a big war with large units," Preobrazhensky said.

"The few special forces units that they used to have, they no longer do. They were destroyed at the beginning of the war  They destroyed, in fact, all their best units themselves."

Read also: Kremlin reacts to hostilities in Belgorod Oblast: Putin informed, says press secretary

NV reported on May 22 that anti-Kremlin Russian volunteers managed to cross the Russian border again. They had reportedly entered several settlements in Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk oblasts.

The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) said that the territories near Belgorod are being liberated from the Putin regime and the constitutional order is being restored there. HUR representative Andriy Yusov emphasized that the raid in the Russian region is being carried out exclusively by members of the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), who are Russian citizens.

Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar called the events a "predictable internal crisis." Local authorities declared a "counterterrorist operation" and, according to the governor, most Graivoronsky district residents were evacuated.

Among Kremlin representatives, only Putins press secretary Dmitry Peskov reacted to the events.

Read also: Explosions rock FSB building in Russias Belgorod Oblast, other nearby communities

Russian propagandists spread his statement that "Putin has been informed" of an "attempted breakthrough by saboteurs" whom the Russians are trying to pass off as "Ukrainians." According to Peskov, "work is underway to squeeze out the saboteurs and destroy the sabotage group" that is allegedly trying to "divert attention from the Bakhmut area."

Belgorod Oblast authorities on May 23 said that a "clean-up" operation was ongoing. At the same time, the Russian Volunteer Corps stated that the war would continue until the hanging body of dictator Vladimir Putin adorned the walls of the Kremlin.

On the same day, the "counterterrorist operation regime" in Russia was cancelled. The Russians claim to have killed 70 participants in the sabotage, while the rest were "pushed back" to the territory of Ukraine. RDK and Legion fighters insist they are continuing to fight on Russian territory, having already crushed a motorized rifle company of the Russian army and destroyed several pieces of the enemy equipment.

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Russia displays items stolen from historical reserve near Melitopol at Crimean museum

In Sevastopol, Crimea, the local Russian occupation administration is holding an exhibition displaying items stolen from the Kamiana Mohyla (Stone Grave) historical and archeological reserve located near Melitopol (in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast).

Source: Crimean Wind Telegram channel

Details: The exhibition held in Sevastopols Tauric Chersonesos Museum is titled Ancestral Spirituality in Kamiana Mohyla Petroglyphs; it displays over 1,200 archeological artefacts.

Items on display include petroglyphs, or hieroglyph-inscribed stones, copies of petroglyphs found in caves, ancient household items, ceramics, and Stone Age tools.

Russian occupation administration is holding an exhibition displaying items stolen from a historic reserve near Melitopol. Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

Russian occupation administration is holding an exhibition displaying items stolen from a historic reserve near Melitopol.

Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

Russian occupation administration is holding an exhibition displaying items stolen from a historic reserve near Melitopol. Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

Russian occupation administration is holding an exhibition displaying items stolen from a historic reserve near Melitopol.

Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

The exhibition displays over 1,200 archeological artefacts. Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

The exhibition displays over 1,200 archeological artefacts.

Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

The exhibition displays over 1,200 archeological artefacts. Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

The exhibition displays over 1,200 archeological artefacts.

Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

Exhibits include ancient household items. Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

Exhibits include ancient household items.

Photo: Crimean Wind on Telegram

On 23 May, journalists reported that Russian forces looted the Tauric Chersonesos Museum and Reserve in temporarily occupied Crimea, taking a number of Byzantine artefacts to Russia.

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Russia may open case against Moldovas Sandu over threats to Putin, says official

Maia Sandu

Russia could also seek to put her on an international wanted list, the first deputy chairman of the RFCCs International Affairs committee said.

It seems that something is wrong with Romanian citizen Ms. Maia Sandu, who holds the post of President of Moldova, he said.

Russias Investigative Committee has all the grounds for initiating a criminal case against Sandu over the expressed threat to arrest the president of Russia. She dreamed that the head of Great Russia would come to her country, whose economy and well-being are completely dependent on Moscow.

Sandu announced on May 23 that Moldova would comply with the decision to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and arrest Putin should he visit Moldova.

The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant on March 17 for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He is wanted for committing war crimes in Ukraine, as well as the forcible abduction of children from Ukraine to Russia.

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Dmitry Peskov

Read also: Belarus fortifies its border with Ukraine

Peskov said as much in a comment on May 24, responding to reports that some in the Polish military expect an uprising in Belarus in foreseeable future.

General Waldemar Skrzypczak, former commander of the Polish Land Forces, told Polsat News that Belarusian citizens currently serving with Ukraines Armed Forces could ultimately use their expertise and weapons to topple the dictatorial regime in their home country.

We are preparing for an uprising in Belarus, because it is coming, said Skrzypczak.

"We need to be ready to support the units that will carry out operations against Lukashenko. Preparing for an uprising in Belarus is crucial. We have reason to help them, just like we help Ukrainians."

In response, Peskov called Poland a "hostile state" and accused it of Russophobia. He also falsely claimed that Poland is planning to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus.

Read also: Russia can achieve its goals in Ukraine only by military means  Kremlins Peskov

"Belarus is our partner, ally, and fraternal state," Peskov said.

Read also: Over 2,000 Ukrainian children abducted to Belarus, says Belarusian opposition

"Naturally, Russia has an obligation to guarantee the security of Belarus, which we will do if an obvious threat emerges."

Lukashenko flew to Moscow on May 24 to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, to attend the Eurasian Economic Forum.

Read also: Kremlin spokesperson Peskov alleges that Russias goal is to end the war

Franak Viacorka, advisor to Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, stated that Russia already exerts control over virtually every aspect of the Belarusian state. According to Ukraines State Border Guard Service, approximately 2,800 Russian military personnel were deployed in Belarus as of early May.

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Russia still has plenty of missiles to spare, expert warns

Military expert Mykhailo Zhyrokhov is convinced that it is too early to say that the Russian army has reached a critically low limit of cruise missile stockpiles

Read also: Ukraine excelling in the use of UK-made Storm Shadow long-range missiles

The cruise missiles that Russians are using to attack Ukraine, namely the Kh-55, Kh-555, and Kh-22, are all Soviet-era munitions, no longer in production, asserts Mykhailo Zhirokhov, a military expert and aviation history researcher.

"Currently, they [Russians] have mass production of the Kh-101/Kh-102, Kalibr [cruise missiles], and thats basically it," said Zhirokhov.

"They are also planning to launch mass production of the Kh-50 Orion cruise missile."

As for the stock of Soviet-made missiles, according to the expert, they are still quite large.

Read also: Ukraine needs at least 500 UK-made Storm Shadow missiles, military expert

"Remember, in 1999 alone, Ukraine transferred about 600 Kh-55 cruise missiles [as a gas debt payment] to the Russians," he emphasized.

He also mentioned that Russians are currently trying to independently manufacture Kh-55 missiles using components from decommissioned Soviet equipment. However, these are rather isolated cases and not mass production.

Meanwhile, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians have been producing several dozen cruise missiles annually, and this production has become stable after 2008.

Read also: German MP urges transfer of German long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine

"Now they are working in three shifts, adapting electronics to Chinese components and increasing production," says Zhirokhov.

He adds that despite the problems with the production of the Kalibr missile, the Kh-101s are being assembled stably and in much larger quantities than they were before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: Poland says Russian missile that crashed near Bydgoszcz in December was no threat

"Therefore, considering the already used cruise missiles, I would now talk about a total stock of about 1,500 missiles," the expert concludes, suggesting it is too early to say that the Russian army is nearing the depletion of its missile arsenal.

Read also: Ukraines NATO membership is key to lasting peace, Latvian PM says

"Moreover, there is still an untouched reserve, perhaps 10-20% [of missiles], which the Russians keep in stockpiles in case of a conflict with NATO, which they constantly talk about," notes Zhirokhov.

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John Kirby

This offensive, basically, was horrifically expensive for Russia, news agency Ukrinform quotes Kirby.

Read also: Conditions created for offensive as Ukraine engages in large-scale operation in three identified directions

As Ive said before, (the battle for Bakhmut) has become a sort of a meatgrinder for them.

He added that the recent U.S. assessment of 100,000 Russian losses  including killed and wounded in action troops, along with deserters and surrendered troops  remains an accurate estimation of the price Moscow paid for seizing Bakhmut.

Read also: Battles around Bakhmut decreasing in intensity, Kyiv says

That assessment was voiced by Kirby on May 1, and was later confirmed by U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraines Defense Ministry.

Read also: Russia lost 20,000 troops fighting for Bakhmut, White House says

According to Kyiv, Russia has lost 204,000 troops in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, so far.

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Russia: US equipment used in border raid shows growing Western role in Ukraine

By Andrew Osborn

(Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Wednesday the use of U.S.-made military hardware by pro-Ukrainian fighters who conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week was testament to the West's growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 "Ukrainian nationalists" and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

It said it had destroyed four armoured vehicles and five pick-up trucks to repel what was one of the largest incursions onto Russian soil from Ukraine since Moscow launched what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine 15 months ago.

Footage of some of the destroyed vehicles released by the Russian defence ministry showed U.S.-made military hardware such as Humvee military trucks.

Reuters was able to confirm the location of damaged vehicles and surrounding details shown in the video, though could not verify the date it was filmed.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu promised on Wednesday that Moscow would respond to any more cross-border raids by Ukrainian militants swiftly and "extremely harshly."

"It is no secret for us that more and more equipment is being delivered to Ukraine's armed forces," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the fighters' use of U.S.-made hardware.

"It is no secret that this equipment is being used against our own military. And it is no secret for us that the direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in this conflict is growing by the day. We are drawing the appropriate conclusions."

Military analysts said this week's two-day incursion could force the Kremlin to divert troops from front lines as Kyiv prepares a major counteroffensive it hopes will eventually defeat what it casts as an unprovoked Russian war of conquest.

Reuters verified the location of the damaged vehicles shown in the defence ministry video to be Graivoron, a Russian border checkpoint close to the frontier with northeastern Ukraine.

Buildings, fencing, the road layout, terrain and the tree lines matched satellite imagery of the area and corroborating videos from the same location.

Ukraine's government denied any role in the raid, which has been claimed by two anti-Kremlin armed groups made up of Russian nationals fighting for Kyiv against their compatriots. They include far-right figures among their leadership.

RAIDERS RELEASE IMAGES

One of those groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), released photographs and videos of their purported action on Tuesday.

One photograph, the location of which could not be independently verified, showed their fighters in possession of three U.S.-made MaxxPro MRAP armoured vehicles.

Two RVC group members who were identifiable in video and photographs at the Graivoron border checkpoint inside Russia were seen in the convoy.

On Monday, the day the cross-border raid was launched, a video emerged on the Telegram messenger application showing a similar looking convoy.

Verification checks showed it was filmed just 1.5km (0.9 miles) southwest of the checkpoint between the two countries.

The convoy included two U.S.-made MaxxPro MRAP armoured vehicles and several High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (Humvees). Wrecked Humvees carrying similar white markings were seen in the video released by the Russian defence ministry.

The United States, Ukraine's biggest military supplier, initially played down reports that American-made military hardware was used in the raid.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday he was "sceptical at this time of the veracity of these reports.

"As a more general principle ..., we do not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia and we've made that clear. But as we've also said, it's up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war."

White House spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday that Washington had been clear with the Ukrainians it did not support the use of U.S.-made equipment for attacks inside Russia itself, and was looking into reports that U.S.-made vehicles were used in this week's cross-border incursion.

(Reporting by Reuters reporters; Additional reporting by Eleanor Whalley, Milan Pavicic and George Sargentwriting by Andrew Osborn; editing by Mark Heinrich and Diane Craft)
Russia continues the militarization of the territory occupied by the ZNPP, the GUR said

The HUR specifically cited energy units 1, 2, and 4, where Russian personnel, armored vehicles, and trucks remain stationed.

HUR

The number of personnel and military equipment at these locations fluctuates from 5 to 20 items present near each energy unit throughout the day.

HUR

The rotation takes place covertly during the curfew hours (from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.). All trucks are tightly covered. There is information that they might contain ammunition and explosives, said the intelligence officers.

Read also: IAEA inspectors find explosives at Russia-occupied ZNPP

Shift employees, responsible for conducting inspections of the energy units at least once or twice a week, are denied access to the territory controlled by the occupiers. Disturbingly, those who attempted control rounds were subjected to physical violence and torture, resulting in several employees currently being hospitalized in critical condition, HUR reported.

The occupiers actions have already resulted in a series of emergency situations during which the Zaporizhzhya NPP was disconnected from the power supply.

Read also: 3,000 ZNPP employees forced to obtain Russian passports, says General Staff

In preparation for the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is developing a comprehensive five-point agreement to enhance the security of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, The Washington Post reported.

IAEA head, Rafael Grossi, announced in late March the agencys decision to abandon the idea of establishing a demilitarized zone around the occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP by the Russians.

The Zaporizhzhya NPP, Europes largest nuclear facility, fell under Russian occupation after intense battles in Enerhodar on March 4, 2022. Russian shelling inflicted damage to various buildings within the plant, and its workers were taken captive.

The Russians subsequently deployed military equipment, ammunition, and their own occupiers at the facility.

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WWII-era T-70 tank

The tank was dismantled on the instructions of the so-called "governor of Zaporizhzhya Oblast" Yevgeny Balitsky.

The self-proclaimed regional "administration" published a video showing that the tank had been dismantled and sent to St. Petersburg, replete with a visible red Soviet flag.

Read also: Taxi driver turns in passenger to occupation authorities in Melitopol for criticizing Russia's child abduction

While the propagandists say that the tank will be returned to the city on Oct. 23 for a parade to mark the Day of Liberation of the city from Nazi invaders, Russia has used ancient tanks against Ukraine after the Ukrainian Army inflicted heavy losses on its more modern versions.

The T-70 tank was developed in 1941 and took part in WWII battles as early as 1942.

After the end of World War II, the T-70 was decommissioned by the Soviet army, but a large number are still present in military museums and memorials in post-Soviet states.

Read also: Explosions rock Russian-occupied Melitopol, locomotive depot struck

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WINDHOEK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has confirmed one case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) that resulted in the death of the patient, according to the country's Ministry of Health and Social Services.

The case was detected on May 21 at the state hospital in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, according to a statement issued by the ministry Tuesday.

A suspected CCHF patient sought treatment at a private facility in Gobabis on May 16 and was transferred to a private hospital the following day. As the patient's condition worsened, leading to referral to a state hospital on May 18, where blood samples were collected for investigation, but unfortunately, the patient passed away on the same day, but the CCHF disease was confirmed on May 21, read the statement.

In response to the confirmed case, the health ministry identified a total of 27 contacts, consisting of 24 health workers, one coworker and two household contacts of the deceased.

These individuals are currently being closely monitored for any signs or symptoms of the disease, the ministry said.

Namibia has seen CCHF outbreaks previously between 2017 and 2020, resulting in a total of six confirmed cases and three fatalities.

To effectively manage the current situation, a health emergency task force has been activated to oversee the response and coordinate efforts to prevent further transmission of the virus, the ministry said.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a widespread disease caused by a tick-borne virus of the Bunyaviridae family. It can be transmitted among humans through close contact with infected blood or bodily fluids, according to the World Health Organization. The virus is known to have a fatality rate ranging from 10 percent to 40 percent.

The ministry has urged the public to remain calm and vigilant and take necessary precautions to prevent tick bites, such as wearing protective clothing and using insect repellents. 
Consequences of the Russian shelling

Today, the Russians inflicted fire damage from a precision-guided aerial bomb (one explosion) on a childrens nursery in the Yunakivska community, the statement said.

Read also: Russian forces shell five communities in Sumy Oblast

Information on casualties has not been provided as the OVA added that details of the incident are still under investigation.

In the past 24 hours, Russian occupiers have shelled Sumy Oblast 10 times, resulting in a total of 37 recorded explosions. There were no casualties.

Read also: Russian forces shell three communities in Sumy Oblast, causing injuries and destruction

Read also: Russian forces massively shell Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts, causing casualties

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Washington  A Russian accused of money laundering is lobbying to be included in a possible prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, a court filing revealed.

Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national who allegedly laundered billions of dollars through an illicit cryptocurrency exchange, was extradited in August from Greece to California, where he remains in custody.

FILE: The Russian bitcoin fraud suspect Alexander Vinnik escorted to the courthouse of Thessaloniki to examine the Russian request for extradition of the accused in Russia, Thessaloniki, Greece on October 11, 2017. / Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 at the request of the U.S. He was later extradited to France, where he was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison. He returned to Greece after serving his sentence, then was extradited to the U.S.

In a May 19 court filing, Vinnik's lawyer argued for modifying a protective order on his case to ramp up efforts to have him included in any potential prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia.

"Mr. Vinnik should be permitted to  answer the accusations against him and advocate publicly for his inclusion in a prisoner swap," his attorney wrote. "It appears most likely that the Department of Justice opposes permitting Mr. Vinnik to discuss the case because it opposes prisoner swaps and does not want to see him returned to Russia."



The Justice Department declined to comment.

The filing says the U.S. previously offered to trade Vinnik in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, "but the exchange took a different turn." Griner, who was convicted on drug charges in Russia, was released in December in a prisoner swap that sent convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia.

FILE - Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2020. / Credit: Sofia Sandurskaya / AP

The U.S. is still seeking the release of Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in March on espionage charges. The U.S. says the charges against them are baseless and considers them wrongfully detained.

File: US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his arrest at the Moscow City Court in Moscow on April 18, 2023. / Credit: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Getty

"Numerous individuals with knowledge of prisoner swap negotiations have informed defense counsel that it is important that Mr. Vinnik and his defense team advocate publicly for his inclusion in a trade in order to maximize the chances of such an exchange," the court filing said.

Vinnik's lawyer said "discussion between the two countries are ongoing" about a potential prisoner swap.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the court filing.

The U.S. has given few details about its negotiations with Russia as it seeks the release of Whelan and Gershkovich.

Earlier this week, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to say whether Russia has engaged on the "serious proposal" Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered for the release of Whelan. Blinken said in March that the U.S. had made an offer and urged Moscow to accept it.

"We oftentimes have found that it is not conducive to our efforts  to return wrongful detainees home  to speak about the details of those efforts," Miller said.

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Russian Prime Minister Gets an Awkward Reception on Trip to China

Sputnik/Alexander Astafyev/Pool via REUTERS via third party

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and a delegation of his colleagues went to China this week with the hopes of further enhancing economic ties with Beijing.

But Mishustins counterpart, the Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, who invited him on the visit, reportedly refused to meet with him at the China-Russia Business Forum on Tuesday, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti.

Other top officials and managers of major Chinese companies also declined to meet with him and his colleagues, many of whom are sanctioned in the West due to Russias war in Ukraine, Vedomosti reported.

Instead, Li sent a letter to the forum expressing interest in building cooperation with Russia and bolstering Russia-China trade, according to Global Times.

Mishustin is the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.

Whispers of Putins Secret Lifeline Threaten Rebound in Russias War

Even those big businessmen who wanted and were ready to speak publicly were not allowed to meet by the authoritiesthey dont want to take even the smallest risk, one source told Vedomosti.

Other inconveniences reportedly cropped up during the trip as well. One Chinese currency exchange post refused to convert $100 for yuan for one of the Russian officials on the trip, since he shares the name of someone sanctioned.

In spite of the trip-ups during the visit, Mishustin was able to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in Shanghai and work on economic deals, The Moscow Times reported. Xi, who met with Mishustin in Beijing as well, said in a statement that China would continue to work with Russia where mutual interests align.

China is ready to continue to stand firmly with Russia on issues that concern the fundamental interests of both sides, Xi said.

Li received Mishustin in Beijing as well.

The visit culminated in Russias prime minister signing off on a series of accords with China, according to Reuters.

The apparently mixed reception comes as China has worked to balance a strategically significant relationship with Russia while Moscow wages war in Ukraine.

Xi was caught off-guard by Russian President Vladimir Putins war effort in early 2022, according to U.S. intelligence analysis. But China has benefited in some ways, taking advantage of discounted Russian oil and allowing its imports of Russian energy products to grow to $88 billion, according to numbers tallied through February, Bloomberg reported.

China has avoided publicly condemning the war in Ukraine, recently stepping in to offer to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia, albeit on conditions more agreeable to Russia.

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The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has suggested that fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion have probably retreated closer to the border with Ukraine after the clash with Russian troops in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.

Source: ISW

Details: The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and the Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), in which Russians fight for Ukraine, announced the "liberation" of several settlements in Belgorod Oblast, Russia, from Putin's government on 22 May.

On 23 May, the Russian authorities announced the defeat of the fighters of the RDK and the LSR, who are called "saboteurs" in Russia, and the ending of the "counter-terrorist" operation in Belgorod Oblast. Vladimir Putin decided not to hold an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

Quote from ISW: "Russian forces likely pushed the RDK and LSR forces at least to the Kozinka border settlement and possibly out of Russian territory as of 23 May. Kozinka is located approximately 76km southeast of Sumy City."

Details: Russian sources published footage of Russian troops shelling the positions of RDK and LSR vehicles near the Kozinka border checkpoint at night and claimed that Russian troops recaptured Kozinka and the checkpoint in the morning.

Geolocation footage from Russian state media shows damaged and destroyed vehicles at the checkpoint.

Some Russian sources claimed that the RDK and the LSR forces "settled" in a church in Kozinka, but, according to preliminary data, "Russian forces may have ousted the pro-Ukrainian forces by the evening".

Russian sources claim that Russian forces began a mop-up operation in Kozinka and Glotovo (east of Kozinka) on 23 May.

Geolocated video footage published on Tuesday, 23 May, shows the aftermath of attacks on Gora Podol (about 6km northwest of Kozinka) and Russian infantry patrolling between Grayvoron (about 7km northwest of Kozinka) and Gora Podol.

Quote from ISW: "[This  ed.] suggesting that RDK and LSR personnel no longer hold or never held positions in the settlement. It is unclear whether the RDK and LSR captured any villages on 22 May or 23 May, however."

Details: Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted raids across the border between Kharkiv and Belgorod on 23 May, but ISW found no confirmation that these raids took place.

According to the Freedom of Russia Legion, the LSR and RDK personnel continued to conduct their operation in Belgorod Oblast on 23 May.

The Russian Volunteer Corps in the evening also published a message on Telegram, "A big request to convey to General Lapin, who is "in charge of the mop-up operation", that we are not far from here and when we pull out the armoured personnel carriers, we will definitely oversee the process."

On the morning of 24 May, RVC posted a video showing intact MaxxPro armoured personnel carriers.

Background: The NYT, with reference to an anonymous Ukrainian official, reported that not a single Ukrainian fighter entered Russian territory during the operation in Belgorod Oblast, and the units that participated in the operation suffered losses that had no impact on their combat readiness.

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The Ministry of Defence of Russia claimed that on 24 May in the morning, Ivan Khurs, a reconnaissance ship of the Black Sea Fleet was attacked with high-speed unmanned ships of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: Ministry of Defence of Russia on Telegram

Quote: "Today at 5:30, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted to attack the Ivan Khurs ship with three unmanned high-speed speedboats but to no avail."

Details: The occupiers claim that the ship was fulfilling tasks to ensure the safe operation of the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the economic zone of Turkiye.

Russias Defence Ministry stated that all speedboats were allegedly destroyed with conventional armament 140 140 km northeast of the Bosphorus Strait.

The information about the attack was spread in the morning by Russian military correspondents, but it has not been confirmed. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are yet to comment on this situation.

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Sacramento State announces next university president, appointed by CSU. Who is he?

Sacramento State has named its next president, set to take the helm as the universitys top administrator this summer.

California State University trustees on Wednesday appointed J. Luke Wood, an alumnus of Sacramento State and a Northern California native, to become the universitys ninth president, campus officials announced in a news release.

Wood, 41, will assume the role July 16 following the retirement of the current president, Robert S. Nelsen, who has served in that position since 2015.

Its about investing back in the community that invested in me, Wood said in a prepared statement.

I know what Sac State is capable of doing. I was a Black male, former foster child, first-generation college student who struggled with food insecurity and housing insecurity, and was able to graduate because of the incredible people and systems of support that were in place.

Wood currently serves as vice president for student affairs and campus diversity at San Diego State University, where he is also chief diversity officer.

Born in Oakland and raised in Siskiyou County, Wood earned a bachelors degree in Black history and politics as well as a masters degree in higher education at Sacramento State, the university said.

Boatamo Mosupyoe is the associate dean of resource and program and resource management in social sciences at the college. She was previously the ethnic studies chair and director of Pan-African studies.

She remembers Wood from his time on campus and thinks his selection is very good news for the university.

I want to thank Dr. Nelsen for his tenure here and what he did for the university, Mosupyoe said. I also have hope and strongly believe that Luke Wood will take us even to greater heights.

She said she thinks Wood is equity-minded, which she said was important for the university and the community around it.

We need to have fair representation ... not only for the university but for the country, for the state, for the world, she said. Otherwise, if we dont have it, we are going to have attrition. We are going to have problems with enrollment.

After completing his studies at Sacramento State, Wood moved to Arizona State University, where he received another masters degree, in curriculum and instruction in early childhood education, as well as a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies, Sacramento State officials said.

He met his wife, Idara Essien, now a San Diego State professor of child and family development, while both were students at Sacramento State, according to the news release.

In 2017, Wood became San Diego States first Black faculty member to be named a distinguished professor. He joined the university as a professor in 2011.

Wood has authored 16 books and published research focusing on racial inequality issues in education, particularly community colleges, Sacramento State officials wrote.

Wood in 2020 co-authored a report finding that Black students at Sacramento City Unified School District were suspended and expelled at disproportionate rates compared to other students.

Nelsen last November announced his intent to retire at the end of the current academic year.

Luke Wood is a transformational leader, Nelsen said. He is Made at Sac State, and he understands Sac State, especially our mission to ensure that all students have the opportunity to achieve their dreams.

Nelsen over his final Sacramento State commencement ceremony over the weekend, at Golden 1 Center. A record-setting 9,574 students graduated in 2023.

CSU trustees also announced two more leadership positions within the 23-campus system Tuesday:

 Stephen Perez, interim provost of Chico State, has been named its next president. He will succeed Gayle Hutchinson, who is retiring June 30.

 Ming-Tung Mike Lee has been named as Sonoma States new president after serving in the role on an interim basis since August. Lee spent 28 years at Sacramento State before being tapped in retirement to replace Judy Sakaki, who resigned in the wake of a sexual harassment and retaliation scandal involving her and her husband.
Samuel Altman, CEO of OpenAI, arrives for testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law May 16, 2023 in Washington, DC



OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been on a whirlwind tour promoting OpenAI alongside AI-friendly regulation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altmans overseas charm offensive is continuing the AI hype train he started with his recent talks in front of U.S. Congress. Though unlike in the AI-friendly U.S., Altman has threatened to take his big tech toys to the other end of the sandbox if theyre not willing to play by his rules.

Altman has been on the movefrom Lagos, Nigeria to all throughout Europe. Finally in London, UK, he dodged a few protestors to engage with big tech folks, businesses, and policy makers about his AI models. His main pitch has been to promote the large language model-powered ChatGPT and stump for pro-AI regulatory policies. During a side panel discussion hosted by the University College London, Altman reportedly said that while OpenAI was gonna try to comply with EU regulations with the AI act, he was miffed by the way the European body defined high-risk systems.

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The EUs AI Act is one of the laws proposed by the governing body in 2021 that would classify AI into three risk categories. Some AI poses an unacceptable risk like social scoring systems, manipulative social engineering AI, or really anything that would be violating fundamental rights. On the lower end, a high-risk AI system depends on its intended use, but they would have to comply with across-the-board standards for transparency and oversight.

Altman said under the way the proposed law is currently drafted, both ChatGPT and the large language model GPT-4 could be designated high-risk. This would require the company to comply with certain requirements. According to Time, the OpenAI CEO said If we can comply, we will, and if we cant, well cease operating We will try. But there are technical limits to whats possible.

In reality, the law was designed to combat potential AI uses like Chinas social credit system and facial recognition. Then came OpenAI and fellow startups in the AI field, first with diffusion AI image generation, and then with the hugely popular large language model-based ChatGPT. The EU drafted new provisions to the law in December that would impose safety checks and risk management on foundational models such as the LLMs that run the AI chatbots. A committee in the European Parliament approved these changes earlier this month.

The EU has been more willing to scrutinize OpenAI than the U.S. The EUs European Data Protection Board said it was monitoring ChatGPT to make sure it complied with its privacy laws. Of course, the AI Act isnt set in stone, and the language can change, which is likely another reason for his worldwide tour.

Altman otherwise reiterated some the same talking points he gave in front of Congress last week. According to The Verge, Altman promoted the idea that he too is shivering in his night shift at the dangers present with AI, but that there were also many potential benefits. The OpenAI CEO told U.S. lawmakers, he was all for regulation that could even include new safety requirements or a governing agency to test products and ensure regulatory compliance. He called for some regulation between the traditional European approach and the traditional U.S. approach, whatever that means.



Though at the same time, Altman said he didnt want any regulation that restricted users access to the tech. He told his London audience he didnt want anything that could harm smaller companies or the open source AI movement (as a reminder, OpenAI is decidedly more closed off as a company than its ever been, citing competition). Thats not to mention any new regulation would inherently benefit OpenAI, so when things inevitably go wrong it can point to the law to say they were doing everything they needed to do. New compliance checks would also make developing new AI models from scratch more expensive, giving the company a leg up in the ongoing AI rat race.

Theres been a few countries that have already banned ChatGPT. Italy banned the service in March but its far-right government eventually unbanned the service after OpenAI gave users more access to privacy controls. Perhaps OpenAI can keep throwing enough bones to make the worlds governments happy. Of course, thats as long as it can contain its over 100 million active ChatGPT users.

Want to know more about AI, chatbots, and the future of machine learning? Check out our full coverage of artificial intelligence, or browse our guides to The Best Free AI Art Generators, The Best ChatGPT Alternatives, and Everything We Know About OpenAIs ChatGPT.

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The 2024 Republican presidential battle between former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is underway.

In a video released Wednesday by Haleys presidential campaign, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations called DeSantis an echo of former President Donald Trump, the same day DeSantis filed the official paperwork for his White House bid.

The video shows clips of previous DeSantis campaign ads, repeating Trumps signature Youre Fired! line and his campaign and White House slogan, Make America Great Again. The video shows side-by-side clips of DeSantis and Trump using the same side-to-side hand gestures while speaking.

America deserves a choice, not an echo, text on the two-minute video ad posted on YouTube reads.

Nikki Haley speaks to home-town supporters during a campaign rally at The Grove in Lexington County on Thursday, April 06, 2023.

DeSantis is slated to formally announce his presidential campaign at 6 p.m. Wednesday on a Twitter Spaces discussion with Twitters owner Elon Musk. DeSantis will later be interviewed by former South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy on Fox News.

In New Hampshire Wednesday, Haley, who launched her presidential campaign in February, continued her criticism of DeSantis.

The way he speaks, the way his hand gestures are, the fact that he has moved his policies, whether its Ukraine and Russia, to entitlement reform, hes done a total 180. All of it is copying Trump. He needs to be his own person. He needs to get out there say what he believes, what he thinks. If hes going to be an echo to Trump, people will just vote for Trump, Haley told Fox News. Im my own person. What you see is what youre going to get. Im going to tell you what I think. Im going to tell you what I believe, and Im going to let the chips fall where they may.

Before launching his campaign, DeSantis has continued to poll second, considered by Trump to be his strongest challenger.

The latest national Quinnipiac University Poll, released Wednesday, shows Trump leading with 56% and DeSantis in second with 25% among Republican primary voters. Haley was in third place with 3%.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who are considering their own presidential runs, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who launched his campaign Monday, each had 2%.

In South Carolina, Trump holds a 21-point lead, according to a Winthrop University Poll released in April.

DeSantis and Haley were nearly tied for second place, with 20% and 18%, respectfully.
Scammer Tricks Man With Face and Voice Swap of His Friend, Cops Say

Skin Walker

Cops say a scammer in northern China has managed to cheat a man out of his money, Reuters reports, by masquerading as his friend with the use of AI-powered face-swapping and voice-cloning software.

If the tale holds up to scrutiny, the incident would go to show how easy it has become for scammers to deepfake their way to a payday using new AI tools.

While we've come across examples of scammers cloning their voices to extort money out of their victims over the phone, this new incident offers a glimpse of an uneasy future in which a perpetrator can even take on the physical appearance of a victim's friend. As such, it raises an old specter of modernity: is technology drawing us closer, or tearing us apart?

Scam Link

According to law enforcement in the city of Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, the scammer managed to convince a friend to transfer a whopping $622,000 to their account during a video call, claiming it was for a deposit during a bidding process.

Shortly after, the victim contacted his real friend, who had no idea about the conversation.

Fortunately, the victim was able to recover most of the stolen funds, according to Reuters, and is in the process of tracking down the rest.

AI-powered scams are on the rise worldwide, with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publishing a consumer alert on emerging voice cloning scams earlier this year. Seniors in particular are increasingly becoming targets of scammers who use voice-cloning tech to impersonate relatives, saying they need money for emergencies.

Last month, a mom even got a call from the purported kidnapper of her daughter, whose voice appeared to be being cloned in the background.

Griftpocalypse Now

It's a troubling new trend worldwide. Users on the Chinese social media network Weibo expressed worry about AI scams "exploding across the country."

In response, regulators have been attempting to tamp down on fraud by increasing scrutiny of deepfake apps that can change somebody's voice and appearance, Reuters reports.

But whether these actions will allow law enforcement to stay on top of the trend remains to be seen. As the tech improves, cloned voices and faces are only going to become more believable sounding  and looking  as time goes on.

More on AI scams: Mom Says Creeps Used AI to Fake Daughter's Kidnapping
My school district switched to a 4-day school week. It's been a game changer for teachers, who were previously leaving our schools in droves.

Gregg Klinginsmith, the superintendent of Warren County R-III School District, oversaw his district's switch to a 4-day school week. Courtesy of Gregg Klinginsmith.

Gregg Klinginsmith, a Missouri superintendent, switched his district to a 4-day school week in 2019.

The district nixed a day in an effort to keep teachers from leaving for better pay in bigger cities.

Both students and teachers love the new schedule, and teacher retention is up after four years.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gregg Klinginsmith, the superintendent of Warren County R-III School District in Warrenton, Missouri, about his experience overseeing the district's switch from a five-day school week to a four-day school week in 2019. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

We've elected to develop our calendar on a four-day school week. Every Monday is a day off for our staff and our students, which has really helped our community with consistency.

Kids in our school district go to school from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. We're in our fourth year of this; this is my fifth year as superintendent.

We are on the outskirts of suburban St. Louis and have about 3,000 kids. We have three elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. We're the first rural community outside of the suburban school districts. We have lots of farms in the area. We're definitely not a rich district.

One of the reasons we went to the four-day school week was because our neighboring districts in the large suburban areas paid a lot more than ours and we were facing a tremendous amount of teacher turnover.

We can't offer teachers more money, but we can offer them time.

Our starting pay is $36,941. The State of Missouri has a grant that allows us to give anybody making less than $38,000 a grant. So our teachers receive a package of $38,000 plus benefits.

Our base teacher pay has not changed in six years, and teachers can make about $20,000 more a year working in the suburban districts, which are only about 10 miles from us.

About 20% of our teachers left us each year because we had nothing to offer them except low pay.

I've been researching student achievement for a long, long time. I've been studying this very closely, and I know that the teacher in the classroom is key to student success. So whatever we can do to keep and maintain quality teachers in our school district is going to have a positive effect on our community.

We had to come up with something we could bargain with. We can't compete in pay, but we can give them time.

Time is what we're now using to retain our staff. The main focus is trying to provide the best working conditions for our staff.

At the same time, we hoped the schedule would help us see better student attendance. Knowing that kids wouldn't have to come to school as often meant we might actually see better attendance.

The same thing with discipline  if they're not here as much, they won't get in as much trouble.

The Warren County R-3 Central Office in Warrenton, Missouri. Google Maps

We conducted a lot of research before making the switch.

There were about 60 districts in Missouri ahead of us that had gone to the four-day week, and they all had similar stories.

We have a good relationship with our school board, and everyone was brainstorming retention ideas. As a group, we decided that this schedule made sense for our community.

We were lucky to have a neighboring district that had been doing this schedule for about five or six years before we jumped on. They gave us a lot of information about how we could do it.

We did a tremendous amount of research. We studied for multiple years to determine what impacted student achievement because that was something we were really concerned about.

One of the things we saw that really did not impact student achievement was the total number of days that kids go to school.

Currently, in the state of Missouri, every school district is required to do 1,044 hours. You can structure your calendar however you like. There is a required start date from the state, but after that, it's really up to the local school districts and communities to determine how they want to get those 1,044 hours in.

We approved the new schedule in January 2019, and about half a year later, school resumed in August with four-day school weeks.

We've definitely seen a lot more districts move to four-day weeks since then. Around the state of Missouri, it's about 30% of districts now doing four-day weeks.

Currently, we're the largest in the state, student population-wise.

We offered a creative solution to parents' childcare concerns.

I was fairly confident that this new schedule would be a positive thing for us. My kids go to school here, too.

But before it was done, there were a lot of questions and some pushback from parents saying they didn't think it was a good idea. Childcare was the main concern.

I think the secret to our success is we still offer care days  optional learning days for students  free of charge to families in the district. If you want to bring your students up on a Monday, we have a program where you can bring your kids. We've addressed the issue for working parents of what to do with their kids on Monday.

The kids are typically engaged in STEM subjects, which include science, technology, engineering, and math.

At the same time, we also try to think about the whole child, too. We have mental-health therapies that are available on those days. We have had doctors come in and do physical exams for kids, wellness checks, and even haircuts.

We don't have a lot of kids who take advantage of the program, and that's been consistent with what most four-day week school districts told us, which is that there wouldn't be a big need for this, especially now that parents are working from home more.

Out of our 3,000 students, we have around 100 or so students that come in on Monday.

Our hourly staff  such as paraprofessionals and people in food service  lost hours when we made the switch. So we have them run the classrooms under the direction of a district director during care days.

Other things people were concerned about were academic achievement and test scores. Some patrons also raised concerns that no one would want to move here because we're a four-day week.

But that didn't turn out to be true. We've got 1,000 new homes scheduled to be built this year in our community. Our realtors have used the four-day week as a marketing tool to sell houses.

The Warren County R-III School District has seen teacher retention improve since implementing the 4-day schedule. Getty Images

We've seen improvements in some areas and are hopeful for more progress.

Anytime you do anything new, there will always be some wrinkles you've got to work out.

But since then, we've had zero pushback. I've not had a negative email about it in four years.

And it's worked: We've seen about a 5% increase in teacher retention. We were at about a 20% loss of our teachers every year, and now we're closer to 15%.

Our goal is 10%. We're not quite there. We're still losing some, but not as drastically as before.

And what I'm hearing is how much teachers appreciate the work-life balance during the week. It has helped us with recruiting, even though we can't pay as much.

COVID has thrown off our analysis of student achievement. We don't know exactly how the schedule has impacted achievement, but we're finding it's about the same as before. We haven't seen a big drop-off in student achievement.

We are still seeing delays in getting our attendance where it should be. That is one of the disappointments of this  we thought our attendance would be much better.

COVID impacted it. We had some of the worst attendance in the state last year, but that was the same as when we had a five-day week. It's about the same attendance rate as before, but we were hoping to see it get better.

Students love the new schedule, though. Most of the high school kids I talk to work on Mondays, so they're gaining all this experience outside the classroom, which I think is valuable. They've got real-world experience. They get some things to put on their resume. And they're helping out our community.

It's been a good thing.

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COLOMBO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, said on Wednesday that it has launched a loyalty program with a host of benefits for foreign employment agencies.

SriLankan Airlines has been the choice airline for many foreign employment agencies booking passengers to the Middle East, given the airline's extensive coverage of the region, and the airline now hopes to give back to loyal agencies through the program, said the airline in a statement.

The airline said agencies that join the loyalty program can enjoy discounts on duty-free items sold onboard SriLankan Airlines and rebated tickets among other membership benefits.

Data from the central bank showed that total departures for foreign employment amounted to 311,269 in 2022 and the majority of the migrant workers are employed in Middle Eastern countries. 
(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman said the investment giant is in talks with several US regional banks to explore purchases of assets and loans they originate.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Pressure on those regional banks wont just come from the markets, he said in a video interview Wednesday for the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. It will come from regulators, and that will make them less apt to provide credit.

Regional banks retreat from lending to swaths of the economy, Schwarzman said, will make Blackstone a beneficiary and natural partner. We see an opportunity for firms like Blackstone to fill that void, he said.

Blackstone, which oversees almost $1 trillion, is the worlds largest alternative-asset manager and a growing nonbank provider of financing.

Schwarzman, 76, added that Middle Eastern sovereign funds have revolutionized capital in channeling their vast pools of money to myriad investment projects. The wealthy Republican donor kept mum about which presidential candidate he would support in 2024, saying its too early.

The government of the State of Qatar is the underwriter of the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Sen. Tim Scotts (R-S.C.) presidential campaign raised $2 million in the 24 hours after its launch, it told The Hill on Tuesday.

Scott formally announced his candidacy Monday during a rally in his hometown of North Charleston, S.C. Scott is setting himself up as a more positive alternative to the pugilism of former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to enter the race Wednesday.

Scott is far behind Trump and DeSantis in polls.

Trump is the clear frontrunner, with a 36-point lead over DeSantis according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, though his margin is much smaller in New Hampshire and Iowa. Scott is polling in the single digits.

The senator has a reputation as a successful political fundraiser.

His campaign is running a $6 million ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire, and his war chest already has $22 million. He also has the support of megadonor and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who poured $25 million into a pro-Scott super PAC prior to his entrance into the race. During the 2022 midterms, Scott brought in more than $41 million in fundraising.

Scotts fundraising figures in the first 24 hours are roughly a quarter of what three committees fundraising for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley  another contender  pulled in during the first fundraising quarter of the year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Munchetty has described how she suffers with adenomyosis, a debilitating womb condition - David M. Benett

The pain was so terrible I couldnt move, turn over, or sit up. I screamed non-stop for 45 minutes, said BBC presenter Naga Munchetty earlier this week, as she described how she suffers with adenomyosis, a debilitating womb condition.

Constant, nagging pain. In my uterus. Around my pelvis. Sometimes it runs down my thighs. And Ill have some level of pain for the entire show and for the rest of the day until I go to sleep.

You might not have heard of adenomyosis  but its as common as its relative, endometriosis, affecting up to one in 10 women.

The condition occurs when the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows into the muscular wall of the uterus, and continues to thicken, break down and bleed, during each menstrual cycle.

The pain was so terrible I couldnt move, turn over, or sit up, says Munchetty - Joe Maher

An enlarged uterus and painful, heavy periods can result. Doctors aren't sure what causes adenomyosis, but its most common in women aged 35 to 50, and usually resolves after menopause.

The illness causes heavy and painful periods. It can also have an impact on fertility and may lead to anaemia from menstrual blood loss.

Adenomyosis forms areas of little cysts that each month tend to grow and bring about pain and bloating.

Adrian Lower is a consultant gynaecologist at the Princess Grace hospital in London. It is a bit like having a bruise within the uterus, he says. This might result in pain with sex, pain with opening the bowels, pain with menstruation.

How is adenomyosis diagnosed?

The condition is diagnosed with an ultrasound or MRI scan, which, if adenomyosis is present, will show an enlarged uterus, with one wall of the uterus thicker than the other.

The condition is often confused with fibroids, says Lower, which are non-cancerous growths that develop in the muscular wall of the uterus. Some doctors will recommend an MRI scan, he says, as it is easier to differentiate between fibroids and adenomyosis on an MRI scanner than an ultrasound scanner.

How is it treated?

In the past, treatment options were limited for women with adenomyosis. 25 years ago, adenomyosis was the most common cause of hysterectomy, says Mr Joseph Aquilina, a consultant gynaecologist at St. Bartholomews and the Royal London Hospitals. Fortunately, today, there is a range of less drastic treatments on offer and most of these seek to manage the symptoms of the condition.

In the majority of cases, says Lower, adenomyosis is best treated by suppressing menstruation.

The hormone progesterone is used to prevent a woman from having her period, which means she wont experience the severe menstrual pain or bleeding that occurs with adenomyosis.

The Mirena coil is Lowers preferred treatment - Ian Miles-Flashpoint Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo

Progesterone can be taken orally, in the form of the combined contraceptive pill or progesterone-only mini pill, transdermally, as injections, or through the uterus.

The Mirena coil, which is an intrauterine device (IUD) that secretes progesterone, is Lowers preferred treatment. It is the best because the progesterone binds to the receptors in the uterus and that is the first place the progesterone hits and suppresses the growth of the endometrium.

But hormone treatments arent for everyone, Aquilina cautions. Some women may not be able to tolerate progesterone and could experience side effects that include depression, breast tenderness, acne and headaches.

He agrees, however, that the Mirena coil is a favourable option as it offers, a very small dose of progesterone, about a hundredth of the dose, compared to the oral contraceptive pills.

It might be an attractive solution for women who experience side effects with progesterone and is about 60-70 per cent effective in terms of reducing blood loss and pain.

The surgical option

There is also a one-off procedure called an endometrial ablation, where the lining of the womb is removed, sometimes with radiofrequency, sometimes with heated fluid. It is very quick  the process itself can take as little as 90 seconds  and some hospitals will do the procedure under local anaesthesia.

Mirena hormone-releasing intrauterine device, - imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo

Like the Mirena coil, its efficacy is around 60-70 per cent and it is even better when it is combined with the coil, a combination treatment that is now recommended by the NHS.

The downside of endometrial ablation is that it isnt suitable for women who might want to get pregnant as it permanently impairs fertility.

Although adenomyosis is found most often in women between the ages of 40 and 50, it can also present in women in their twenties and thirties. For women who would not wish to undergo a procedure that would impact their fertility or take medications to suppress menstruation, there are non-hormonal treatments.

These include medications to make the periods less painful, such as mefenamic acid, and tranexamic acid to reduce bleeding.

It is very rare for adenomyosis to end in hysterectomy now, says Aquilina. There is a small percentage of women, and these would usually be patients who have endometriosis or fibroids as well.

Whats the prognosis?

The outlook for patients who have had endometrial ablation combined with the Mirena coil is particularly good, with 90 per cent of women not coming back to request a hysterectomy.

Opening up about her struggles with the condition, Munchetty said that, before she was diagnosed, she experienced decades of painful, heavy periods. One of the reasons that adenomyosis often goes undiagnosed is because pain is an expected part of menstruation.

Many women dont know what an abnormal level of pain is or when they should consult a doctor.

As adenomyosis is a chronic condition that will worsen over time, Lower encourages women to, seek medical opinion if there is a deterioration in symptoms.

Aquilina says that any woman whose quality of life is being impacted every month by their period should see a GP. A red flag would be if she is having one or two days a month when she is completely incapacitated, when she cannot function.

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Seattle police arrest man after assault and attempted robbery of two people

Seattle police arrested a man after two assaults and two attempted robberies on Wednesday morning, according to the Seattle Police Department.

Just before 9 a.m., officers responded to a report of an attempted robbery in the area of 5th Avenue and University Street. When officers arrived, they spoke with a woman who said she had been thrown to the ground by a person that also tried to take her purse.

After bystanders ran over to help the woman, they attempted to detain the man, but he ran away.

As officers helped the woman, they learned of another assault in the area of 4th Avenue and Seneca Street.

The second woman told officers that she was also attacked from behind by a man who attempted to take her backpack.

Security officers with the United States Courthouse watched on their surveillance cameras as the man ran into an alley and changed his clothes.

The security officers notified the police, which led officers to the suspect.

The 31-year-old man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail on charges of attempted robbery.
See inside the $180,000 Lucid Air, a luxurious new Tesla rival with 5 screens, butt massagers, and a secret storage cubby

The Lucid Air's swanky interior features tons of leather, wood, and suede. Tim Levin/Insider

I drove the Lucid Air, a new Tesla rival from a California-based car startup.

The Grand Touring Performance model Lucid lent me cost $180,000.

It has a contemporary interior with plenty of leather and several screens.

I drove one of the coolest new electric cars on the market right now: the Lucid Air.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

In addition to mind-blowing acceleration and Tesla-beating range, the California startup's first car offers up a striking and elegant interior full of dazzling screens.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Let me show you around inside the $180,000 Air Grand Touring Performance, which Lucid lent me for a few days earlier this month.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Let's start with where owners will spend the most time: the cockpit.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

One of the first things you notice is the giant windshield that sweeps way back over your head.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read more: I drove the $180,000 Lucid Air and experienced the stunningly fast, screen-filled future of luxury cars

It makes the roomy cabin feel even more open and airy. But it also turns the car into a bit of a greenhouse on sunny days.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

You get a meaty steering wheel with some switches for the media and cruise-control settings.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

The 34-inch cluster of three screens behind the steering wheel almost looks like it's floating above the dashboard.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

It includes a simple digital gauge cluster that displays key info like your range, odometer, and drive mode.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

It isn't customizable, but it shows different information in different situations.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

To the left of that, you'll find a little touchscreen with some buttons that never change. It's a nice touch given the Air's lack of regular switches.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read more: I drove the $180,000 Lucid Air. It solved my EV range anxiety and charged faster than I've ever seen.

The Air's main infotainment screen lies on the opposite side. Here's where you can access then navigation, radio, and Apple CarPlay.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Below that is the biggest screen and the one you'll likely use the most.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

It's where you access things like the heated seats ...

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

... interior lighting ...

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

... and drive modes.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Swipe up and the entire screen stows away, revealing a small secret cubby where you can forget things.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read more: I drove Nissan's electric Ariya SUV  it proves that 13 years after the Leaf, the automaker can compete with Tesla

All the Lucid's screens are super crisp, responsive, and nice to look at. They don't feel clunky like a lot of other automotive software.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

There's one downside though: It's unsettling to look away from the road to adjust basic functions like the heated steering wheel. Buttons are easier.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

The multiple screens come in mighty handy when parking, though. The upper display shows the backup camera while the lower one shows a 360-degree view.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Overall, the Air Grand Touring's interior feels modern, high-end, and unique.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

It's filled with rich leathers, sleek wood trim, and faux-suede accents.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

The seats are supportive and keep you comfy even on long drives. The adjustable thigh supports were a welcome feature for a taller guy like me.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read more: Tesla's biggest Chinese rival unveiled a ridiculously cheap electric car  see $11,000 BYD Seagull

A slew of different massage functions (that even massage your butt) help with that.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

The door latches are these weird nubs that you pull backward to exit.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

The doors open surprisingly wide.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

And there's no need to slam these soft-close doors.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Between the front seats, there's a cubby with a wireless charger that holds your phone vertically.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read more: Say goodbye to the US car market as we know it: Cheap Chinese EVs are coming

Throughout the interior there are subtle nods to Lucid's California heritage.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

The back seats are a nice place to spend time in as well.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Since the Air is so long and wide, there's tons of legroom. But there isn't really anywhere for your feet.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

In Airs with the larger battery option, extra cells take up some space in the footwells. It means you end up sitting with your knees a bit higher than you may like.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

I really liked the two-tone interior in the Air Lucid lent me.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Since this is a supremely expensive luxury car, back seat passengers get amenities like heated seats, their very own air vents, and a little storage cubby.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read more: 19 electric cars with the longest range money can buy

They also get sunshades on the rear windows.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

In addition to lots of little spots to stash things, the Air also offers tons of room for bulkier cargo.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

I think its clamshell trunk looks so darn cool and unique.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

It's big, but the opening is wider and shallower than usual.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Plus, there's a big bonus area under the floor.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

We'll end the tour up front with the frunk.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

One of the best perks of EVs is even better in the Lucid Air. Remove a panel and the frunk expands to become one of the biggest in the biz.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. Tim Levin/Insider

Read the original article on Business Insider
SeaWorld is making a huge splash across the globe.

On Tuesday, SeaWorld Yas Island Abu Dhabi officially opened to guests on Tuesday, marking the first SeaWorld park outside of the U.S. and bringing animal encounters, educational programs and marine-life attractions to a new region of the world.

READ: SeaWorld, Busch Gardens announces limited-time deal on Howl-O-Scream tickets

The new park, which spans five indoor levels across more than 183,000 square miles, tells a captivating One Ocean story as guests embark on an incredible journey of discovery from the poles to the tropics, SeaWorld said in a news release.

Its a momentous day for our fans and for us at SeaWorld as we see the culmination of years of intensive planning and collaboration with our partners at Miral to bring to the region our mission of experiences that matter, and inspiring guests to protect animals and the wild wonders of our world, Marc Swanson, CEO of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, said in a news release. With the innovation, dynamic animal habitats and immersive nature of this park, we are bringing a next-generation experience to an entirely new region of the world that is very exciting to visit and enjoy.

See photos of the park in the gallery below:

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has officially opened.

SEE: SeaWorld opens new theme park in Abu Dhabi

The park is also the first Global Humane certification in the Middle East and North African region, the news release states, which signifies a high standard of animal care.

Our first certification in the region provides an opportunity to recognize the extensive reach of the animal welfare movement at zoos, aquariums, and conservation parks around the world, said Dr. Robin Ganzert, President and CEO of American Humane. We are thrilled that SeaWorld has met the standards to become Global Humane Certified in this region, joining their sister parks in the U.S. that have long exemplified a high standard of animal care.

In addition to being the first SeaWorld location outside of the U.S., SeaWorld Yas Island, Abu Dhabi also marks the first new SeaWorld park in more than 30 years.

READ: SeaWorld Orlando offering limited-time BOGO sale on 2 parks

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.
(Getty Images)

I prefer to stay out of politics." Those were Elon Musks words when forced in September 2021 to respond to a claim by Texas governor Greg Abbott that he supported the states anti-abortion laws.

If he really does prefer to stay out of politics, however, Musk has a funny way of showing it. Over his many years of fame as the chief executive of Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter, the South African-born tycoon has attacked everyone and everything from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders through individual regulatory officials to Covid rules, trade unions, and "pronouns".

Since 2022, his public political stances have taken a sharp rightward turn as he declared his support for the Republican Party, aligned himself with far-right activists on Twitter, disparaged transgender rights, embraced conservative conspiracy theories, and pledged to save civilisation from the woke mind virus.

His activities appear to have earned him the patronage of Floridas GOP governor Ron DeSantis, who was announcing that he is running for president during a conversation with Musk in Twitters audio panel service Spaces on Wednesday 24 May.

It is a striking departure from the 51-year-olds aproach to politics before the Covid pandemic, when he carefully triangulated between left and right and donated to both Democrats and Republicans while variously declaring himself a moderate, a socialist, and socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

Yet despite evidence to the contrary, Musk still claims to be an independent who is neither conventionally right nor left and committed to healthy debate.

So what does Elon Musk really believe? And  given that he is both one of the worlds richest people and the owner of one of its largest social networks  what does that mean for the rest of us?

Embracing the Republican Party

Lets start with Musks recent support for the US Republican Party, which has been clear and unambiguous, if not without caveats. In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division and hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican, he said in May.

In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.



But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.



Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold    Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022

This came after months of criticism of President Joe Biden, which included hammering his flagship infrastructure and social spending bills for granting subsidies to the electric car industry and increasing the insane federal budget deficit. Musk later called the president a damp sock puppet in human form.

In June 2022, Musk went further, revealing he had voted for Republican congressional candidate Maya Flores in a special election  the first time, he claimed, that he had ever cast a vote for the GOP.

I voted for Mayra Flores  first time I ever voted Republican.



Massive red wave in 2022.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2022

Massive red wave in 2022, Musk tweeted, though it was unclear if he meant this as a prediction or a rallying cry.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis joked about the South African-born billionaires comments: Im focused on 2022, but with Elon Musk, what I would say is I welcome support from African Americans. What can I say?

Despite all this, Musk has stopped short of declaring his permanent support for the party as a whole. Following his tweet about the special election, one Twitter user asked: I assume Republican for president [too]?

[To be determined], Musk replied. What are you leaning towards? he was asked in a follow-up question. DeSantis, he said.

Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide whos in charge!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022

Similarly, the moguls endorsement of the Republican Party on the day before the US midterms in November 2022 was somewhat qualified. To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, he told his his 115 million Twitter followers. Therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the presidency is Democratic. Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide whos in charge!

After the election, Musk added: To be clear, my historical party affiliation has been Independent, with an actual voting history of entirely Democrat until this year. And Im open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future.

And Im open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022

A self-proclaimed centrist who donates to both paties

Musks caveats about supporting the GOP echo his longstanding claim to be a centrist or an independent who does not fit into traditional boxes of left or right.

For years, he has offered varying definitions of his own politics. His most consistent theme has been that he is socially liberal and fiscally conservative, or even socially very liberal. In 2020, he put it this way: Im socially very liberal. And then economically right of center, maybe, or center. I dont know. Im obviously not a communist.

In 2018, he described himself as a utopian anarchist of the kind best described by Iain Banks, referring to the late Scottish sci-fi author who wrote longingly (if sceptically) of a space-faring anarcho-socialist civilisation called the Culture, which has no money, no poverty, no wage labour, no police, no prisons, no standing army, and nearly infinite abundance of basic goods.

At another point Musk claimed to be a socialist, but not the kind that shifts resources from most productive to least productive. He later said we should not take what hed said too seriously.

In April 2021, he posted a stick figure cartoon on Twitter that depicted political moderates, including himself, standing still on the political spectrum while the left accelerates away into extremism, dragging the centre ground away and making moderates appear right-wing by comparison.

The following November, he professed himself neither conventionally right nor left, and in December remarked: "You know Twitter is being fair when extremists on far right and far left are simultaneously upset!"

Musks political donations offer some support for this. According to data gathered by the non-profit lobbying watchdog Open Secrets, Elon Musk has given a total of $1.2m to politicians, parties, political action committees (PACs), and referendum campaigns since 2002.

That money went almost equally to Democrats, with $542,000, and Republicans, with $574,500, with another $85,000 going to two broadly left-wing referendum campaigns in California. The balance has fluctuated over the years: in 2006, 2013 and 2017 he donated overwhelmingly to Republicans, while in 2015 he gave exclusively to Democrats.

He has also given a total of $30,000 to a PAC set up by SpaceX, which donated 54 per cent of its total to Democrats and 46 per cent to Republicans. Many of the individual politicians he gave to were state legislators in California, where Tesla was formerly based, and Texas, where SpaceX has long maintained rocket testing and launch facilities.

Musk donated to more individual Democratic politicians than to Republicans, and often praised specific Democrats in a way he has rarely done with their opponents. Way back in 2005, he gave $10,000 to Californias Proposition 82, a proposal to increase taxes on the rich to pay for universal pre-school for four-year-olds, although it did not pass.

When Donald Trump was a candidate for the Republican nomination, Musk said of him: I feel a bit stronger that he is probably not the right guy. He doesnt seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States. Musk says he voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

Meanwhile, SpaceX itself has spent about $9.7m on lobbyists and Tesla has spent $5.5m. The former company relies on government contracts for much of its revenue, while the latter is subject to plenty of regulation. "SpaceX's campaign to win political support has been systematic and sophisticated," wrote the Sunlight Foundation in 2013.

Musk has described these donations not as a signal of his own personal beliefs but simply as the cost of doing business in America. "In order to have your voice be heard in Washington, you have to make some little contribution," he told the Huffington Post in 2013.

All of which helps explain why the first version of this article  back in December 2021  framed Musks political beliefs as elusive and somewhat puzzling.

Since then, however, Musks own behaviour has made that idea rather outdated.

Elon Musk, culture warrior

Theres no avoiding the obvious: Musk appears to have been thoroughly red-pilled.

Originally drawn from the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, the the red pill is a phrase used by white supremacists and anti-feminists to describe the process of being radicalised into their worldview. Musk himself urged his Twitter followers to take the red pill in April 2020.

It is a neat expression of how far down the culture war rabbit hole Musk has burrowed since then. He has described wokeness as a mind virus that poses a mortal threat to civilisation, declaring: The woke mind virus is either defeated or nothing else matters.

In a June 2022 interview with The Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site, he said: "At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful. It basically gives mean people... a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue."

Many battles remain, but, yes, the tide is starting to turn on the mortal threat to civilization that is the woke mind virus  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2022

In a similar vein, he mocked Twitters adoption in 2016 of Stay Woke T-shirts inspired by the 2014 Ferguson protests against police racism, claiming that the protesters Hands up, dont shoot slogan was made up and that the whole thing was a fiction. The US Justice Department did indeed clear the officer who shot Michael Brown, but also concluded that Ferguson police had routinely violated citizens constitutional rights and discriminated against Black people.

Texas governor Greg Abbott, to whom Musk donated $10,000 in 2014, has claimed that Musk likes the social policies of his state, which include banning almost all abortion and defining transgender healthcare for under-18s as child abuse. Musk rebuffed him, but ambiguously and mildly, with nothing like the fire and brimstone he has mustered against trade unions or tax proposals.

Musk has also boosted right-wing conspiracy theories, claiming that health tsar Anthony Fauci should be prosecuted and sharing a groundless claim about the attack on Nancy Pelosis husband from a website with a history of fake news.

As a homophobic hate campaign began to gather steam against one of his former employees, Yoel Roth, Musk weighed in to groundlessly imply that Roth was an enabler of child abuse. Roth subsequently suffered a torrent of abuse and threats that reportedly forced him to leave his home.

That incident echoed the US rights growing penchant for smearing political opponents, and particularly LGBT+ people, as paedophiles or groomers. According to the left-wing think tank Media Matters, some members of the quasi-fascist QAnon movement  which helped popularise child abuse smears as a political tactic  are convinced that Musk is one of them, albeit based on shaky evidence.

On Twitter, Musk regularly interacts on friendly terms with far-right activists who traffic in hoax claims about the 2020 US election and hate speech about minority groups, sometimes soliciting their advice about how to run the site or chiming in to agree with their tweets. Perhaps this could be explained as a commitment to maintaining open discussion across political divides  except its hard to name any left-wingers with whom he is so pally.

Musk has shown a particular antipathy to Covid lockdowns, which he once described as "fascist". He declared early in the pandemic that "the coronavirus panic is dumb" and wrongly predicted that the virus would be gone from America by the end of April 2020.

I strongly disagree. Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didnt ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who dont, is neither good nor kind to anyone.



As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome imo.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2022

He has also consistently singled out transgender people in his critiques of wokeness. While he has claimed to absolutely support trans people, he scorns the idea that anyone should be expected to use the correct pronouns when referring to them, which most trans people view as a basic act of respect that is necessary for their equal participation in society.

Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didnt ask, and implicitly ostracising those who dont, is neither good nor kind to anyone, Musk said in December 2022. He has previously declared that pronouns suck and tweeted a meme likening cisgender people who state their pronouns on their Twitter profiles to oppressive Redcoats in colonial America.

Before buying Twitter, he railed against the social networks rules on anti-trans hate speech, which forbid users from intentionally referring to specific trans people by their birth sex (known as misgendering) or by old names they have renounced (known as deadnaming). As chief executive, Musk has reportedly made reviewing that policy a top priority.

And, just after Christmas 2022, Musk liked a tweet by Libs of TikTok, a conservative Twitter account that has been accused of encouraging violence and harassment against LGBT+ people, that appeared to characterise educating children about LGBT+ issues as confusing kids about their identity and stealing childhood innocence while describing transition healthcare as sterilising and mutilating kids.

Critics have suggested that this rhetoric may be related to Musks estrangement from his trans daughter, who has legally renounced his surname and said that she does not want to be related to him in any way, shape or form. Musk has blamed neo-Marxists at her university for turning her against him. Others have raised eyebrows at the fact that Musks former girlfriend, the electronic musician Grimes, is now in a relationship with a trans woman.

All in all, its hard to reconcile Musks actions in 2022 with his claims of centrism. Nor does his alliance with pro-Trump outrage merchants say much for his once-vaunted social liberalism, which previously led him to favour direct democracy over representative democracy and advocate for the release of people imprisoned for cannabis offences.

Selling weed literally went from major felony to essential business (open during pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesnt make sense, isnt right.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2020

Pro-capitalist and anti-union

Social policies notwithstanding, Musk remains an ardent free-marketeer who is deeply skeptical of government interventions in business.

That was the basis of his attack on President Biden's Build Back Better Act in December 2021, saying the bill's tax rebate of up to $12,500 for people who buy electric cars is an "unnecessary" handout for an industry that is already taking off.

He backed that up with a revealing philosophical argument about the difference between corporations and nation states. "It does not make sense to take the job of capital allocation away from people who have demonstrated great skill in capital allocation," he said, meaning business leaders, "and give it to an entity that has demonstrated very poor skill in capital allocation, which is the government. Government is simply the biggest corporation, with a monopoly on violence  and where you have no recourse. So how much money do you want to give that entity?"

This libertarian-style thinking is fairly consistent for Musk. He has strongly opposed trade unions, especially in his own companies, as a barrier to efficient operations, and skirmished repeatedly with Bernie Sanders over the Vermont senators proposals for an income tax on billionaires. He claimed in October that Biden "seems to be controlled by unions" and in 2018 tweeted that Tesla employees who attempted to unionise would lose their stock options, which regulators have claimed was illegal.

When he does endorse government intervention, Musk tends to favour measures that minimise government bureaucracy. Rather than subsidies for green industries, for example, he wants a carbon tax, and says he lobbied the Biden administration to create one. His argument is that the price of fossil fuels doesn't properly reflect their cost to the environment, meaning companies are basing their decisions on false information. Taxing carbon would correct that balance, allowing the free market to figure out in its own way how best to cut their emissions. That said, none of this stopped him from accepting billions of dollars in government subsidies for both Tesla and SpaceX.

Similarly, Musk has long argued for a universal basic income to support human workers whose jobs, he believes, will soon be replaced with artificial intelligence (AI). In some ways that's a pretty left-wing idea, since it would involve spending enormous amounts of taxpayer money. But it has also been favoured by some conservatives such as Richard Nixon and free market economists such as Milton Friedman, both of whom felt it would prevent government bureaucrats deciding who deserves benefits and avoid punishing recipients for finding work.

Green power has often been Musk's red line

Another point of consistency has been global warming and clean energy. Back in 2006, Musk gave one of his biggest ever single donations  $75,000  to Proposition 87, a California referendum campaign to impose a special tax on fossil fuel extractors.

Since then, emissions have often been his red line. In the early years of Donald Trump's presidency, Musk joined a White House advisory council, saying that "the more voices of reason that the president hears, the better". But when Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, Musk quit, saying: "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."

And when Musk was persuaded to get into Bitcoin  a natural fit, given his libertarian outlook and his penchant for technological solutions for political problems, to say nothing of his fondness for controversy  it was the currency's prodigious carbon emissions that led him to rethink.

"Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin," he said in May 2021. "We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel. Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at a great cost to the environment."

Where Musk has supported Biden, that too is connected to the environment. Just after the presidents inauguration, he told Fortune: "I'm super fired up that the new administration is focused on climate... I feel very optimistic about the future of sustainable energy with the new administration."

Even in his culture warrior era, Musk has stuck to this particular gun. When conservative activist Tom Fitton claimed in December 2022 that electric cars have no impact on climate, Musk responded, curtly: Yeah they do.

A technocrat with astral ambitions

Through all these issues runs one strain of Musk's politics that genuinely does not map onto the traditional political compass: technocracy.

Back in the 1930s and 40s, Musks grandfather Joshua Haldeman was the Canadian leader of the original technocratic movement, which believed in replacing both politicians and bankers with whoever had the most expertise.

Elon Musk, capitalist extraordinaire, does not exactly take after his grandfather. Like the movements founder William Henry Smyth, though, his statements suggest a strong underlying belief that scientists and engineers can solve political problems that are intractable to others.

As the historian Jill Lepore has argued, Musk inspires numerous followers with an exotic brand of techno-capitalism that she calls "Muskism". She says that many of its ideas are drawn from science fiction, sometimes very old science fiction, meaning that alongside rockets and cars it is also selling "visions of the future".

Musk thinks we may live in a simulation; he regularly references Scottish sci-fi author Iain M Banks; and he is especially preoccupied with the dangers of AI, which he calls "the most serious threat to the survival of the human race". He is worried not only about mass automation of white-collar jobs but also the rise of a theoretical hyper-intelligent AI that is too powerful for humans to restrain.

I am accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary & extend the light of consciousness to the stars  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2021

"With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon," he said in 2014. "In all those stories where theres the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, its like  yeah, hes sure he can control the demon. Doesnt work out."

Both that and global warming feed into Musk's conviction that colonising other planets  becoming "a multi-planet species"  is crucial to humanity's long-term survival. However seriously you take that, it is clearly an important goal that shapes the rest of his politics.

Even his diatribes against the woke mind virus  as well as his hostile takevoer of Twitter  are based on the idea that wokeness and divisive social networks are a threat to human civilisation. It is a characteristically cosmic rationale for tweeting incessantly about pronouns.

Social media in general, especially Twitter, were eroding civilization. If civilization collapses before Mars becomes self-sustaining, then nothing else matters.



Human consciousness is gone.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2022

Two things are notable here. One is that many of these issues are not very well-known outside the tech industry, and to prioritise them suggests that you believe everyone else is missing a trick. The other is that Musk is not attempting to meet the dangerous future through government action or massive collective institutions like formal movements or trade unions. Instead, he wants to solve it himself, through hierarchical top-down for-profit companies run by him where he decides how to allocate capital.

In other words, he is his own kind of technocrat: a talented engineer and huge nerd who thinks engineers and nerds can design better systems of government and economics than currently exist.

For evidence, look at Musks troubled Hyperloop project, which is trying to build a new form of public transport while eschewing any input from traditional transit experts, who say that he has essentially invented very inefficient buses. (It is also among the beneficiaries of Bidens infrastructure bill.)

WhenTIME magazine named Musk its 2021 Person of the Year, it described him this way: The man from the future where technology makes all things possible is a throwback to our glorious industrial past. But many of the people who actually lived in that past reviled its industrialists as robber barons, and their misdeeds inspired regulations and social policies that are still in place today.

That is why Professor Lepore describes Muskism as containing "a lot of feudalism", saying: "Its like there are these lords and the rest of us are the peasantry and our fates are in their hands because they know best... The presumption that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, [two of the] wealthiest people in the world, get to decide the extraterrestrial fate of humankind is a bizarrely regressive notion."

Musk has his own bullish answer to such claims. "To anyone Ive offended, I just want to say: I reinvented electric cars and Im sending people to Mars in a rocket ship," he said on Saturday Night Live in May 2021. "Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"

This article was originally published on 9 December 2021, and has been regularly updated since then.
By Ngouda Dione and Diadie Ba

DAKAR (Reuters) -Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday called on supporters to join him on a march of defiance to the capital after a prosecutor asked a court to find him guilty and sentence him to 10 years in prison on rape charges.

The verdict is expected on June 1. Such a sentence would likely bar him from running for president in next year's election. The case has fuelled unrest, undermining Senegal's image as one of West Africas most stable democracies.

"Let's all go to Dakar to confront Macky Sall... Let all the young people who believe in our project join us in Dakar," Sonko said from the southern city of Ziguinchor, where he is mayor.

The proposed march could bring further instability to Senegal, where violent protests have taken place since Sonko was first detained for alleged rape in 2021.

The 48-year-old is accused of sexually assaulting and making death threats to a woman who worked in a massage parlour in 2021. He denies wrongdoing and has boycotted the court proceedings.

"Now we have to face (President) Macky Sall and fight," Sonko told a crowd of followers in a speech that was streamed online.

Particularly popular among young people, Sonko says his long-running legal troubles are a ploy to bar him from the polls in February 2024. He was handed a suspended prison sentence in a separate libel case this month, which he has appealed.

The authorities deny that the cases are politically motivated.

Supporters usually take to the street when Sonko is in court, although no unrest occurred in Dakar when the rape trial resumed in his absence on Tuesday.

Some had barricaded roads in Ziguinchor, fearing that police could try to force him to appear.

TEN-YEAR SENTENCE

Testimony continued late into the night on Tuesday as judges heard Sonko's accuser and the massage parlour's former owner Khady Ndiaye among others.

Dressed in red, the accuser provided a detailed account of the alleged aggression and said she was raped five times.

The doctor who consulted her on the evening of the alleged attack said he had found traces of sperm.

Ndiaye, accused of complicity in the matter, denied any of the services provided by her former employees involved sexual acts.

Sonko's lawyers were unable to speak on his behalf due to his absence, which also means he will not be able to appeal if convicted.

At 3 a.m., the public prosecutor called on judges to sentence Sonko to 10 years in prison for rape, or five years for moral corruption, and a fine equivalent to over $3,300 if the rape charge was not upheld.

The case was adjourned for deliberation after his statement.

Sall, 61, who was first elected in 2012, won a second term in a 2019 presidential election in which Sonko finished third.

A new constitution adopted in 2016 limits presidential terms to two. However, there are concerns Sall could argue that the constitutional reform resets his presidential mandate, allowing him to run again.

(Writing by Sofia Christensen and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Kim Coghill, Alessandra Prentice and Bill Berkrot)
Sensational pressure from West is pushing Russia and China closer together, says Putin aide

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin (right) and Chinese premier Li Qiang attend a welcoming ceremony in Beijing, China (Getty Images)

Sensational pressure created by the West has only helped Russia and China come closer to each other, said a top aide of Vladimir Putin.

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, Mr Putins aide, said his countrys bilateral ties with China stood to benefit and strengthened in the face of pressure from the West.

A large number of sanctions from the West that have been imposed on Russia ever since it invaded Ukraine have put a strain on its economy and led the former Soviet Union to increasingly establish ties with China  that has its own strained ties and disputes with Western countries like the US.

The top Russian leader made the remarks on Wednesday at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing and met Chinese president Xi Jinping, a long-time ally of Mr Putin, as well.

Relations between the two countries are at an unprecedented high level, influenced by the increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West, he said.

This was further bolstered by Mr Xi, who told Mr Mishustin that Beijing is willing to continue to support core interests it shares with Moscow, reported Chinese state-run media CCTV.

Mr Xi said China and Russia should further upgrade economic, trade and investment cooperation and expand cooperation in energy, reported state media on Wednesday.

Moscow doubled down on its diplomatic position against the West and accused it of perceiving the two military powers as an existential threat.

The comments come just days after the richest Western countries gathered for a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima and intensified pressure on Russia and China.

On Wednesday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov joined in and said the West saw Russia and China as adversaries against the Wests dominance.

As evidenced by statements made at the recently concluded G7 summit in Japan, the West views Russia and China as strategic adversaries posing almost an existential threat to its dominance, Mr Lavrov said.

The visit by the Russian prime minister comes at a critical point in the Kremlins ties with its Asian ally, whom it sought to capitalise on for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over Ukraine.

Mr Mishustin sought to sidestep the conflict in his meeting and emphasised on Russias role as a provider of oil and gas to China and their bonds formed as initial allies among communist nations.

The peoples of Russia and China cherish their history, rich culture and traditions. We support the further development of our culture, exchanges and communication, he said.

The opening remarks of Mr Mishustins meeting with Li Qiang did not mention anything about the 15-month-old war, which has not been condemned by China.

He focused instead on economic co-operation between the neighbours that have partnered to challenge the US in global affairs.

Barring its criticism of the West for provoking Russia, China has maintained a neutral position on the continuing invasion and offered to broker an end to the conflict. The Xi regime has been strongly supportive of its diplomatic and trade ties with Russia in opposition to sanctions against it.
Several Texas cities were named the worst for mosquitoes. How did Dallas-Fort Worth fare?

Thanks to its warm and hot summers, Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the worst metro areas in the country when it comes to mosquitoes, according to a new report.

When a warmer-than-normal winter is combined with rain, that creates the perfect mosquito breeding grounds. Thats why experts were predicting an early, fierce mosquito season this year. North Texas is firmly in mosquito season, which starts in early spring and lasts until mid-November. The pesky bloodsuckers thrive in moisture and humidity, where they lay eggs in any standing water they can find.

It is not that surprising that Dallas-Fort Worth landed on the No. 5 spot in pest control company Orkins annual Top 50 Mosquito Cities list this week. The top five slot is one position higher than Orkin ranked DFW last year at No. 6.

The list is based on treatment data from metro areas where Orkin performed the most mosquito control services from April 1, 2022, to March 31.

Mosquitoes are attracted to water sources that can be either clean and fresh or polluted, stagnant or running, in sunny or shaded locations, large or small, and in either cool or hot environments, Orkin entomologist Frank Meek said. Because of the wide variety of environments in which mosquitoes can thrive, its important to maintain regularly scheduled pest control services.

Mosquito infestations are taken seriously in North Texas because of the health threat it poses. Tarrant County Public Health confirmed a West Nile Virus-positive mosquito sample in April, the first of the 2023 season.

Which Texas cities made the mosquito list?

The Lone Star State is well represented on the mosquito list with four cities making the list:

No. 5- Dallas-Fort Worth

No. 9- Houston

No. 39- San Antonio

No. 46- Austin

Houston moved up three spots from last years No. 12 spot to No. 9 on Orkins 2023 list. San Antonio actually dropped four slots from 2022s No. 35 ranking. Austin made the Orkin list for the first time this year.

The rest of the top 10 mosquito cities outside of DFW and Houston were:

No. 1- Los Angeles (third consecutive year in first place)

No. 2- Chicago

No. 3- New York

No. 4- Atlanta

No. 6- Washington, D.C.

No. 7- Philadelphia

No. 8- Detroit

No. 10- Charlotte

Heres how to repel or prevent mosquitoes?

Along with releasing the list, Orkin laid out several tips to help people avoid mosquitoes this summer:
KABUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's central bank Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) sold 14 million U.S. dollars by auction on Wednesday to stabilize the exchange rate of the national currency afghani, the bank's statement here said.

The afghani has been tumbling against foreign currencies, especially the U.S. dollar, over the past couple of months. The exchange rate of one dollar increased from last week's 87.60 afghani to 87.98 afghani on Wednesday.

Afghanistan's central bank has injected millions of U.S. dollars into the country's money-exchange market over the past month to prevent the fall of the afghani against foreign currencies.

Afghanistan has received more than 2 billion dollars in cash over the past 18 months as part of the international community's humanitarian aid to prevent the economic collapse of the cash-strapped country. 
Shaking from 2.6 magnitude earthquake felt by dozens in NC mountains, geologists say

A 2.6 magnitude earthquake was felt by dozens of people Tuesday, May 23, in the North Carolina mountains, but it caused no damage, according to the United States Geological Survey.

It occurred around 7:30 p.m. and was centered 2.5 miles northwest of the unincorporated West Canton, about 135 miles west of Charlotte.

The USGS says the shaking emerged from a geologic disturbance about 3,600 feet deep. More than 130 people filed witness reports, including one from 32 miles away in Black Mountain.

Most reports came from the towns of Clyde and Canton, where weak shaking was reported, the USGS says.

Earthquakes occur sporadically in the Appalachian Mountains, where old fault lines exist, experts say.

In areas with lots of old faults, like the Appalachians, we tend to get earthquakes along pre-existing fault zones that have weakened rock at depth, according to the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University.

Even though the southern Appalachians are not currently at an active plate boundary, our tectonic history means that built-up stresses from time to time are able to be released along old faults from the building of the Appalachians, which happened hundreds of millions of years ago.

Waves from East Coast quakes also travel a lot further from their epicenter compared to the west coast, due to the rock being older and colder, the university says.

What to do in an earthquake

Earthquakes sudden, rapid shaking can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches. They can happen anywhere, but theyre most common in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Washington, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

If an earthquake strikes, its best to protect yourself right away. Here are tips from experts:

If youre in a car : Pull over and stop. Set your parking brake.

If youre in bed: Turn face-down and cover your head with a pillow.

If youre outdoors: Stay away from buildings. Dont go inside.

If youre inside: Stay and dont run outdoors. Stay away from doorways.

The best way to protect yourself during an earthquake is to drop, cover and hold on, officials say.

Wherever you are, drop down to your hands and knees and hold onto something sturdy, officials say. If youre using a wheelchair or walker with a seat, make sure your wheels are locked and remain seated until the shaking stops.

Be sure to cover your head and neck with your arms, and crawl under a sturdy table if possible. If no shelter is available, crawl to an interior wall away from windows.

Once under a table, officials say you should hold on with one hand and be ready to move with it.

There can be serious hazards after an earthquake, such as damage to the building, leaking gas and water lines, or downed power lines, officials say. Expect aftershocks to follow the main shock of an earthquake. Be ready to Drop, Cover, and Hold On if you feel an aftershock.

Odd 4.5-magnitude earthquake reported in deep ocean southeast of NCs Outer Banks

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She watched a Russian bomb land near her son  and change their lives

Reporter Kristen Jordan Shamus and visual journalist Mandi Wright of the Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, are in Poland, near the border with Ukraine. They followed a group of U.S. doctors who traveled to Poland to treat Ukrainian children with burns and congenital abnormalities, the first such trip since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The doctors, from Michigan, Texas, Massachusetts and Missouri, operated on 20 children in the past week. Shamus and Wright this week will tell the childrens stories.

LECZNA, Poland  Hanna Sokolova will never forget the day when her son nearly died.

It was June 27, 2022  three months into the Russian invasion of her homeland.

Artem Sokolov was with friends on a playground near their home in Kharkiv, Ukraine, when cluster bombs rained down around them. To her horror, she watched as a small bomb landed at Artems feet.

The explosion ripped off a part of his arm, she said with her hands clasped in front of her as if in prayer.

Neither she nor Artems friends were hurt  at least not physically  but the shelling struck courtyards throughout the area. Six Ukrainians died in the attack and many others were injured, Sokolova said.

She found her boy unconscious.

Though it was obvious that Artems left arm had been badly injured in the blast, Sokolova, 38, soon realized her son also was wounded in ways she couldnt see.

He was in coma, she said. He had to be resuscitated. His internal organs were severely damaged.

Doctors: We can 'save his life, but not his arm'

Because cluster bombs release explosives as they fall, showering grenade-like bomblets across hundreds of feet, humanitarian groups say using them against civilians is a war crime. More than 100 countries have joined a convention banning the use of cluster bombs  though neither Russia nor Ukraine have joined that convention. The U.S. hasnt, either.

Artem underwent several surgeries, Sokolova said, and was transferred to a hospital in Lviv, in the far western part of Ukraine, where he was hospitalized for three months.

More: US doctors travel to edge of war zone to care for burned Ukrainian children

Doctors told her they could save his life, but not his arm, she said. That hand turned out to be nonworking and remained so.

It wasnt until the end of September that Artem was well enough to return home to Kharkiv.

We wanted to go home," Sokolova said  even though the city is about 10 miles from the border with Russia, even though it faced ongoing attacks.

I have an older daughter there, Sokolova said. All of our family is in Kharkiv. Our part of city is not so heavily bombed.

Artem began rehabilitation to improve function in his left hand and arm, but, she said, doctors suggested that the process is pointless.  Artem needs a surgery.

Doctors and the family had little hope for surgery for Artem in Ukraine, however, as the war dragged on.

Group of US doctors provide a glimmer of hope

It was through a chain of acquaintances, friends, and doctors that Sokolova said she heard about the work of Dr. Gennadiy Fuzaylov, a Boston-based physician and philanthropist who founded Doctors Collaborating to Help Children, and his mission trips to help children like Artem.

For more than a decade, the nonprofit organization has provided plastic and reconstructive surgery during annual trips to Ukraine to provide plastic and reconstructive surgery to children whove been severely burned or have congenital anomalies that affect their ability to function. Not only do they provide procedures that are not available in Ukraine; the American physicians also offer training and education in collaboration with Ukrainian doctors.

When the war started, Fuzaylov said he could not risk a mission trip in a nation under siege. So instead, a medical team of 10 U.S. physicians and a certified nurse anesthetist traveled to eastern Poland, and Ukrainian children like Artem were brought across the border for surgeries spanning five days in mid-May.

Artems procedure took place May 15 at the Independent Public Health Care Facility in Leczna, a 400-bed hospital with one of the largest burn treatment centers in Poland.

In addition to thick scar tissue on his forearm, Artem also had nerve damage.

From her temporary residence at a hotel in Leczna, Poland on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Hanna Sokolova talks about the day her son was hit by a cluster bomb while he was playing on a playground near their home in Kharkiv, Ukraine on June 27, 2022. He is now recovering from a nerve graft surgery in his left arm performed by Doctors Collaborating to Help Children.

Doctors Collaborating to Help Children, debrief at the Independent Public Health Care Facility in Leczna, Poland on Monday, May 15, 2023 as Artem Sokolov, 11, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, rests in the recovery room after surgery on his left arm that was damaged in a cluster bomb attack 11 months ago when he was on a playground near his home.

A group of plastic surgeons  Dr. Shawn Diamond, a plastic surgeon with Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso; Dr. Alfred Yoon a chief resident from the University of Michigan; Dr. Brian Kelley of the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical Center; and Dr. Eric Wenzinger, a senior medical resident from Massachusetts General Hospital  examined Artems injured arm. They agreed to take nerve tissue from his lower left leg and graft into his arm.

We need to reconstruct the nerves, Diamond said, to help Artem regain function in his left hand. They formed two teams to complete the work.

Yoon marked some spots above Artems left ankle, where he later would make an incision to remove nerve tissue for the graft.

One team is doing a revision of the forearm.  The other team is harvesting the sural nerve on the leg, said Dr. Tomasz Korzeniowski, vice chair of plastic surgery at the Polish hospital.

It took nearly three hours to complete the procedure. Two days later, Artem was well enough to join friends at a hotel near the hospital, where he and other Ukrainian families stayed while in recovery.

Artem Netreba, age 12 , left, games with Artem Sokolov, 11, on a mobile devices on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 as they recover from surgeries at their hotel in Leczna, Poland.

His arm and leg were bandaged, but he still managed to play games on a smartphone with three other boys in the hotel lounge.

He is feeling OK, his mother said. His arm is a bit in pain, but overall, he feels fine.

The best part: With proper rehabilitation, doctors told her, the arm should be operating within six months.

Zuza Nikitorowicz translated interviews for this story.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: US doctors help Ukrainian boy who nearly lost arm to Russian bomb
Sheboygan marks Memorial Day with parade and ceremony. Here's what to know.

SHEBOYGAN - Sheboygan will begin its Memorial Day celebration May 29 with a parade at 9 a.m. setting off from Seventh Street and Center Avenue.

The parade travels north on Seventh Street to Michigan Avenue, west on Michigan to Ninth Street, then south on Ninth, ending at Fountain Park, 1010 N. Eighth St.

The ceremony will begin immediately after the parade with tributes to veterans and active-duty military at Fountain Park. Major Nathan Blackwell, commander of the Recruiting Station in Milwaukee, will be the speaker.

A brat fry also will be held at Fountain Park following the parade. Proceeds will go to Triple Nickel Post 555 American Legion and Sheboygan Marine Corps League Detachment 1446.

Read more:

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan Memorial Day parade start time, route, ceremony details
Shells elevated flare seen over Potter Township on Feb. 13, 2023.

POTTER TWP.  Shell will pay nearly $10 million to Pennsylvanias Department of Environmental Protection and western Pennsylvania neighborhoods for repeated air permit violations at the companys Beaver County petrochemical complex.

Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday said Shell agreed to pay a $4.9 million civil penalty to the DEP and an additional $5 million to area environmental projects to resolve months of pollution exceedances.

Shell will pay additional monthly civil penalties for any further exceedances reported during the remainder of 2023. Crews planned to restart operations at the facility Wednesday following a rocky startup and two-month shutdown for repairs and maintenance at the Potter Township ethane cracker plant.

We have worked in conjunction with the DEP to fix plant issues that led to prior violations," Shell leadership said Wednesday. "After making significant improvements that will help us operate more effectively and safely, the (cracker plant) is resuming production. Weve learned from previous issues and pledge to be the safe environmental steward, good neighbor and business partner this region wants and deserves.

A full moon rises behind the Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, an ethylene cracker plant located in Potter Township, Pennsylvania, on the shore of the Ohio River on March 17, 2022.

Shell formally acknowledged the company exceeded total emission limitations for air contaminants, and agreed to make repairs to reduce future exceedances, according to the consent order and agreement. As required by the amended Air Pollution Control Act, 25% of the civil penalty will be directed to local communities in addition to the $5 million; a total of $6.2 million will go to projects benefiting "the environment, health and quality of life of the community near the facility, Shapiro said. The DEPs Office of Environmental Justice will assist with these efforts.

Shell exceeded its rolling 12-month emissions limit on volatile organic compounds from October 2022 through last month, and exceeded rolling limits of nitrogen oxides and hazardous air pollutants from December 2022 through last month. State regulators have cited Shell multiple times for flaring and malodor violations in the past year.

Most recently, air monitors at the plant detected elevated levels of benzene following a mid-April malfunction at the sites wastewater treatment plant. Shell reported a release of hydrocarbons as crews drained a tank in preparation for maintenance. Those near the petrochemical complex reported a strong chemical scent causing watering, burning eyes, headaches, nausea and other respiratory issues.

Shell's ethane cracker plant in March 2023.

Pennsylvanians have a constitutional right to clean air and pure water, and my administration will hold all companies  no matter how big or small  accountable when they violate the laws and regulations protecting our air and water, Shapiro said in a statement. Shell recognizes that as a company, it must do better  this $6.2 million commitment to the people of western Pennsylvania is a down payment on that progress.

The company in late March suspended production for repairs, including maintenance on its flaring system. The agreement requires Shell to get approvals to repair the complexs enclosed ground flares and seek an engineering evaluation on the efficacy of pollution controls.

Results of recent simulations showed that adequate steam can be provided to the elevated flare prior to restarting operations in order to prevent unlawful smoke emissions, read a Shapiro news release. Shell is expected to renew the compliance guarantee monthly until the flares are repaired and provide a detailed simulation report on the steam system.

More: Environmental groups sue Shell for repeated air pollution violations at cracker plant

We know that Shell can operate a state-of-the-art facility that helps grow our economy without harming the environment, and we are going to hold them to the requirements laid out in their permits, said acting DEP Secretary Rich Negrin.

The Environmental Integrity Project and Clean Air Council earlier this month filed a lawsuit against Shell in federal court for repeated permit violations, alleging elevated levels of air contaminants are harming public health and regulators have taken no meaningful action to rectify the conditions.

The multi-billion-dollar plant went online about seven months ago. Shell CEO Wael Sawan said during a May 8 earnings call that the startup of the Potter Township plant has been slower than expected, but the team is doing a great job battling with some of the obvious technical niggles that startups typically have. Companywide, oil giant Shell reported a record $40 billion profit in 2022, and the Beaver County factory alone is expected to contribute about $1 billion annually to company earnings.

More: With Pa. plastics plant poised to open, residents decide: Stay or go?

The Breathe Project on Wednesday criticized the penalty; executive director Matthew Mehalik noted $10 million is a small fraction of Shell's $9.6 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2023" and amounts to less than one-tenth of one percent of Shell's profits. He likened it to asking a Beaver County household with a quarterly income of $14,735 to pay a $14.75 fine, about the price of a parking ticket.

We cannot allow another entity to engage in pay-to-pollute behavior that comes at the expense of our region's residents and allow the fines to be perceived as charitable donations to our communities, Mehalik said. Many of us in the Breathe Project network have spent countless hours trying to steer our region away from harmful economic development entities whose business model involves paying fines when they predictably exceed their (overly generous) permits.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Shell to pay $10 million for air violations and restart cracker plant production
St. Joseph County Sheriffs Department Capt. T.J. Baker, Corrections Deputy Gabriel Keely, Patrol Deputy Mark Mellinger and Undersheriff Jason Bingaman were a part of Tuesdays Employees of the Year recognition in Centreville.

CENTREVILLE  St. Joseph County Sheriffs Department named its 2022 Employees of the Year earlier this week.

Undersheriff Jason Bingaman said Deputy Mark Mellinger received the Uniformed Services Deputy of the Year. Meanwhile, Gabriel Keely was named Corrections Deputy of the Year.

The announcements were made Tuesday as part of the public open house for the agencys new training center.

Bingaman said in order to qualify for Employee of the Year consideration, a prospective recipient must have been named employee of the month at least once in the previous calendar year.

For Mellinger, a 14-year employee, a diligent investigation into a breaking-and-entering incident last June in Sherman Township led to the arrest of a well-known, local criminal. Mellingers dedication to the case landed him Employee of the Month honors for October.

Keely, who joined the department about four years ago, was named employee of the month in March and May last year. The March award stemmed from the calm and effective manner in which he handled an agitated and aggressive inmate. His May recognition was based on actions he took to thwart the potential smuggling of alcohol, prescription pills and chewing tobacco to inmates at the Centreville-based jail.

Bingaman said the department is fortunate to have employees as reliable and trustworthy as Mellinger.

Mark is one of these guys who shows up for work every day, hes intentional about the ways he investigates crimes and he always puts in his best effort, Bingaman said. Hes a hard worker and always focused on the mission at hand.

Bingaman said Keely is another employee who is an asset to the agency

There are those folks who come in and do whats required of them and then they go home, and then there are those who come in and work above and beyond, Bingaman added. Gabe is one of those people who falls into that latter category, and he does it day in and day out.

Bingaman said recipients are always difficult to select because the department is flush with strong employees at all levels.

This is not an easy choice to make because we have so many deserving people, Bingaman said. What it says about Mark and Gabe is that their actions over the last year have really elevated them to a level thats recognizable by all the supervisors and myself.

Employee of the Year awards are picked by the departments mid-level managers, which includes sergeants in corrections and road-patrol sergeants, Bingaman said.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sheriff department names employees of the year
Sheriff Hayden has sent Johnson County prosecutors one election case. It isnt about fraud

After two years of investigating, Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden has sent local prosecutors just one case alleging an election crime.

Hayden, a Republican first elected in 2016, has spent years claiming hes found evidence of a wide range of violations of election law, and accusing the county prosecutor of being too weak to pursue it. But the single report Haydens office has sent to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe gives no suggestion of widespread fraud.

Instead, it is a report of voter intimidation that occurred in July 2022, days before polls had even opened in Johnson County for the August primary, which included the states referendum on abortion.

The Johnson County Sheriffs Office sent the report to prosecutors in November. Howe, a Republican, told the Shawnee Mission Post last week that there was no evidence to support filing criminal charges in the case. Howe declined an interview with The Star seeking more information on his decision.

The details of the alleged intimidation are unclear. The sheriffs office did not answer questions from The Star regarding the circumstances of the case and the front page of the standard offense report provided in response to The Stars record request included few details.

The report indicates the incident happened at a government building and that the victim of the alleged intimidation was Nicole Atwood, a 37-year-old woman from Roeland Park.

Atwood gained national attention in 2020 for emotional testimony to the Johnson County Commission arguing she was discriminated against for ignoring county mask mandates.

She referenced incidents where people told her to stand back or leave an establishment as discriminatory. She described an incident in which a FedEx employee sought to keep his distance from her like Im some sort of diseased leper.

We are treated worse than second class citizens. Were treated like were not even human, let alone someones fellow American, Atwood said.

She filed the police report on Aug. 22, the day the statewide recount of the abortion vote concluded. The report was about an event that occurred on July 13, three days before the county opened early voting.

Reached over the phone, Atwood hung up when a Star reporter identified herself and did not respond to voicemails and text messages seeking comment. The witness in the case is Andrea Berezoski, the secretary of the Johnson County Republican Party who did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Mark Johnson, a Kansas City attorney that specializes in election law, said the single case Hayden has sent to Howe proves that there is no election fraud to speak of in Johnson County.

Howes move to declare there was no evidence to support the claim, Johnson said, is rare and extraordinary. When declining to prosecute, Johnson said, prosecutors usually couch their statements to say evidence was insufficient rather than nonexistent.

Hayden has been talking about this for, what, two plus years, Johnson said. This shows the, you know, the complete emptiness and, candidly, the complete waste of time and resources that have been devoted to these so-called investigations.

Earlier this year, Hayden told Kansas lawmakers that he had identified 15 violations of state election law and that Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman were violating the law.

He provided no details of the alleged violations.

But he said that many of those violations dont involve criminal penalties and implied that Howe was afraid to act.
Sheriffs from around Northeast Florida are meeting Wednesday night in Jacksonville to discuss the growing issue of violence against law enforcement.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

The news conference will be held at the Fraternal Order of Police tonight at 5 p.m. and will be hosted by Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.

In addition to sheriffs, representatives from DEA, ATF, FDLE, State Attorney Melissa Nelson and Mayor-Elect Donna Deegan will be in attendance.

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Sheriff Waters said he wants to discuss ways to stop violence against law enforcement. He will be accompanied by multiple law enforcement agencies, including sheriffs from Clay County, St. Johns County, Nassau County and Baker County.

Action News Jax will have a news crew inside tonight, and when we learn more, we will update you.

Read: Buresh: Wet season is underway

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Pittsburgh Police are investigating a shooting that happened in broad daylight a block from busy Market Square on Wednesday afternoon.

We heard three or four gunshots go off. Each one of us looked at each other like, That was gunshots, okay. We all went to the window to investigate, Lucy Gallogly said. She works at The Dispensary on Liberty Avenue just feet from the shooting on Delray Street. It was her second day on the job.

On Delray Street, we found multiple shell casings. We also found surveillance cameras, including one that captured images of the suspected gunman.

Police say the gunman appears to be a Black man in his 20s.

Channel 11 spoke with Pittsburghs new police chief Larry Scirotto Wednesday evening. He told Channel 11 he believes the shooting was targeted.

It seemed to be violence between two individuals. It didnt appear to be random. We have video footage of the event. There are four rounds fired, Chief Scirotto said.

Still, the shooting marks another frustrating day for people who work in Market Square.

Its scary. Being a family man, its scary as hell, Johnny Johnson told Channel 11. He works at The Yard in Market Square. I just say, Stop it. Everybody lives down here. We work down here. If youre going to shoot, go somewhere else. We work here.

I dont want to be caught up in a stray bullet walking and getting shot by a stray bullet, Johnson said.

At this time, police say no victim has come forward.

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Student shot, killed outside Pittsburghs Oliver Citywide Academy Beloved Albert Gallatin kindergarten teacher dies unexpectedly Electricity costs to rise in June, West Penn Power customers to see 20.7% increase VIDEO: Pittsburgh police looking for 2 suspects after assault, kidnapping DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
Authorities arrested six New York men accused of impersonating police officers and robbing Fair Lawn residents, who were left zip tied in their own home, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office said.

Michael D'Angelo, 50, and Daniel Ruggiero, 52, of the Bronx, were charged with impersonating an officer, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, theft, conspiracy, armed burglary and weapons offenses, related to the alleged home invasion on Nov. 17, 2022.

Their alleged accomplices, Bruno Simonetti, 42, of Mount Vernon, New York; Sian Stafford, 28, of Manhattan; and Dominick Memoli, 57, and Erion Beshiri, 35, both of the Bronx, were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.

Local: Developer cancels Nabisco factory implosion in favor of 'alternate method of demolition'

Authorities claim two of the defendants knocked on the door of a Fair Lawn home and presented what looked to be police badges while suggesting they were detectives with the NYPD, according to a copy of the complaint.

Once the homeowner allowed them inside, they allegedly restrained the victims, brandished a gun and made off with jewelry, an Apple Watch and approximately $3,000 in cash, fleeing the scene before police arrived, the document states.

Agents from the FBI, as well as detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, apprehended all six defendants, all of whom are believed to have participated in the planning and execution of the frightening ploy, while executing search warrants in the Bronx and Mount Vernon and on Long Island.

The men are currently being held in jails in New York while awaiting extradition to New Jersey, prosecutors said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fair Lawn NJ home invasion: NY men accused of impersonating police
Skating on very thin ice: New analysis outlines risk level for US debt ceiling X Date

A new analysis found the U.S. faces an elevated risk for the debt limit X Date to fall in early June.

Heres what you should know:

What is the debt ceiling?

The debt ceiling is the cap on how much the U.S. can borrow to pay its bills. And the X Date is the point when the country wont be able to pay those bills. Thats likely to come between early June and early August, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The BPC is a think tank that tracks federal spending.

When could the US hit elevated risk?

An analysis from the center estimates the elevated risk between June 2 to June 13. They urged policymakers to act as soon as possible.

Come early June, Treasury will be skating on very thin ice that will only get thinner with each passing day, Shai Akabas, executive director of Bipartisan Policy Centers Economic Policy Program, said in a news release. Of course, the problem with skating on thin ice is that sometimes you fall through.

#DebtCeiling #XDate  original sound - The Sum @thesum.news Theres a new analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center on the debt ceiling deadline. The longer policymakers wait to address the debt limit, the more likely our economic fate will be determined by external actors, said Shai Akabas, executive director of Bipartisan Policy Centers Economic Policy Program. Credit rating agencies, Treasury investors, and global financial markets arent going to wait around forever. Once things turn, the situation could deteriorate quickly and be hard to reverse, which would immediately and negatively impact American consumers and businesses. How are you feeling about the X Date? #TheSumNews

What comes next?

This comes as the White House and Republicans in Congress are still negotiating to lift the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, The New York Times reported. The Treasury Department has been using extraordinary measures (reducing certain types of government debt) to fully finance the government since January.

If the Treasury can keep that going until mid-June, projected quarterly tax payments could offer a reprieve. And by June 30, additional extraordinary measures would become available  about $145 billion from suspending investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.

The longer policymakers wait to address the debt limit, the more likely our economic fate will be determined by external actors, Akabas said. Credit rating agencies, Treasury investors, and global financial markets arent going to wait around forever.

Once things turn, the situation could deteriorate quickly and be hard to reverse, which would immediately and negatively impact American consumers and businesses.
ISLAMABAD, May 24 (Xinhua) -- One of the key militant commanders in Pakistan and founder-chief of the banned Baloch National Army (BNA) Gulzar Imam Shambay has announced to quit militancy for peace and development in the country's southwest Balochistan province, local media reported Wednesday.

The security forces announced the BNA chief's arrest last month after he was caught in a high-profile intelligence-based operation earlier this year. Shambay was considered to be one of the top militant commanders operating in the Balochistan province for years.

The militant commander was presented before the media on Tuesday evening in the southwest provincial capital of Quetta, where he advised all insurgents to surrender and adopt a peaceful life, saying that issues could only be solved through political and constitutional struggle.

Shambay added that he had realized that militancy was the wrong path and it brought unrest and destruction to people and the region, while expressing confidence in the government to continue its effort to solve the insurgency issue.

"I seek forgivingness from the family members of all those who were killed during my tenure as an active militant commander," said Shambay, adding that his organization had been getting support from foreign hands.

The Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan army, said last month that the BNA had been involved in dozens of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including at the security forces.

Following Shambay's appearance before the media, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif congratulated his fellow citizens over the arrest of the most high-profile militant leader and appreciated security forces for their untiring efforts to restore peace.

"Pakistan, especially Balochistan, is well on its way to peace and prosperity," added the prime minister. 
One of the world's rarest type of goslings have hatched at a wetland centre.

Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire announced the arrival of nene goslings, a species of goose from Hawaii.

It is the second time the centre has successfully bred the species,

Jonathan Newton, the Living Collections Supervisor, said: "These nene families will help inspire future generations about the importance of conservation."

In May 2021, the centre opened its immersive "Mission Possible" exhibit, which recreates the geese's native Hawaiian habitat.

The breed was close to extinction in the 1950s because of the introduction of predators and the loss of habitat.

In an attempt to save the species, three nenes were sent to Slimbridge for breeding by the ornithologist and conservationist, Sir Peter Scott.

He and his aviculture team pioneered the first captive breeding project for nenes at the centre.

Visitors to the exhibit can learn about Sir Peter Scott's successful effort to rescue the species from the brink of extinction.

Although there are now more than 3,000 nenes in the world, their population remains vulnerable and stills relies on the regular release of birds bred in captivity.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk
Smoke near Crimean Bridge: Russians say there are exercises

Smoke appeared in the area near the Crimean (Kerch) Bridge on the morning of 24 May, Russians claim this is because of exercises.

Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Kryminform, Sergey Aksenov, Russian-appointed "head" of Crimea, on Telegram

Quote from Aksenov: "The Crimean Bridge is closed due to exercises held in the area."

Details: He promised that the movement would soon be restored and asked to trust only the information from the Russians.

Subsequently, propagandists reported that traffic on the Crimean Bridge was restored at 11:00. The training ended, and the smoke was removed.

The nature of these exercises and why the population was not warned were not explained.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Snoring and tired? Sleep Apnea treatments evolving to help you get a better nights rest

We all can use a good nights sleep, but research shows many of us arent getting one! An American Academy of Sleep Medicine study found 30 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, but only 6 million have been diagnosed. That leaves millions of people feeling tired and rundown day after day.

Boston 25 News sat down with Dr.Phillip Huyett, the Director of Sleep Surgery at Mass Eye and Ear, to ask about the serious health problems that can result.

So not on a night-to-night basis, but over many years or even decades of leaving sleep apnea untreated, its an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, early dementia, Dr. Huyett said.

He explained that sleep apnea is a condition where your airway collapses while sleeping. Consequences include snoring, bed partner disruption, dropping oxygen levels, and waking up repeatedly, as your brain intervenes to prevent suffocation in the middle of the night.

Both men and women are affected.

So premenopausal women are effectively protected from sleep apnea to a degree. Once they go through menopause and lose the effects of progesterone on their upper airway muscle tone, theyre essentially at the same risk as an equivalent male., Dr. Huyett explained.

The good news is there are a number of ways to successfully treat sleep apnea, including most recently, a device called Inspire.

Dr. Huyett cautions, that Inspire is not the first stop for sleep apnea treatment. Thats still the CPAP machine, where patients wear a mask or nasal pillow insert attached to a hose that pumps pressurized air into your nose and lungs, keeping your airway open so you can sleep.

In my practice, I have far more CPAP patients than anything else, including all of the surgeries combined that I do. It is the gold standard treatment for sleep apnea, but the reality is that not everyone tolerates it because its not the right treatment option for them, Dr. Huyett said.

For some, not the majority, CPAP machines can be cumbersome and the rush of air can be hard to adjust to. Other treatments include nasal or oral surgery and even a specialized mouthpiece.

Dick Stagnone of Holbrook says he tried all kinds of procedures, but nothing worked for him.

Ive literally had my spouse ask me if Im awake while Im driving and I would lie to her and say yeah, Stagnone recalled. The sleep apnea really does take a toll on you.

Dr. Huyett says Inspire can work for people like Stagnone, with a minimally invasive outpatient procedure.

So we time the stimulation to move your tongue when youre breathing in. And the way that occurs is that we put an implantable pulse generator like this in your chest that looks like a pacemaker. Its the battery and computer that runs the operation. But connected to this is also a breathing sensor that goes in the chest. So its a surgery to implant this medical device that, when turned on, stimulates the airway to open up with every breath, Dr. Huyett explained.

Stagnone says he activates the device at bedtime, and its been a game changer.

Now its like every morning is really something to look forward to: getting a great nights sleep feeling refreshed, no brain fog, Stagnone said. So its been a huge benefit.

The bottom line here  if you suspect you have a sleep issue, Dr. Huyett suggests you get sleep tested, to determine what the next best steps are for you.

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Photo: Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images (Getty Images)

Are you considering spending your summer sipping sangria somewhere off the Iberian coast in a small but tasteful yacht? First of all, congrats on living an enviable life of luxury. Second, beware the comrade orcas.

Whats that? You arent aware of the marine compatriots working in unison to ram and sink boats across Europes coasts? Pour another glass of that sangria and let me tell you all about it.

Read more

Like many dissent movements, this one starts with a fed up woman. White Gladis is her name, and she is an orca. Marine experts believe White Gladis experienced a critical moment of agony with a boat, perhaps being hit by its rudder, that traumatized her. This was the villain origin story that appears to have set off her Kill Bill style revenge plot. She began ramming into boats rudders. No barefooted yacht dweller was safe in her wake.

But White Gladis wasnt acting alone. See, orcas are highly social creatures, so much so that when a handful of them witnessed WG absolutely pop off, it radicalized them, and they began to imitate her behavior. Since Spring 2020, there have been 500 accounts of orcas acting aggressively to boats rudders, biting, ramming into, and breaking them. The calfs even began practicing on smaller boats to work their way up, hopefully one day, to capsizing a superyacht with a sculpture of Lauren Sanchez on the bow. Three boats have sunk. The resistance is rising!

Alfredo Lopez Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, explained to Live Science that while experts do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young...the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives. What Im gleaning from this is that orcas are being conditioned by one rebellious leader to eat, or rather, sink the rich.

Earlier this month, three orcas banded together to sink a Swiss yacht named... Champagne. Luckily everyone was safely rescued, but I mean come on! These militant orcas have a clear agenda! Nature is speaking out against the 1%! I think were days away from Bernie Sanders issuing a statement of support. Next time I find myself at sea, Im going to toss a laminated copy of The Communist Manifesto into their waters to show that I come in peace. Solidarity, comrade orcas!

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San Diego Padres' Juan Soto reacts as he scores a home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Washington, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Juan Soto hit his ninth home run and had three hits to begin a three-game visit to his former team as the San Diego Padres earned a 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.

It feels great, it's where everything starts, Soto said of hitting in Nationals Park again. It's where my dream started off, and it feels amazing to get in that box, even if I'm on another team.

Jake Cronenworth followed Sotos seventh-inning solo shot with a two-run homer two batters later as the Padres scored four times off Nationals reliever Erasmo Ramirez (2-2).

Xander Bogaerts and Brandon Dixon also went deep earlier against Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore, the headliner of six players the rebuilding Nationals received from the Padres in exchange for Soto and Josh Bell at last years trade deadline.

San Diego's Yu Darvish (3-3) allowed back-to-back homers to CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas in the fifth inning, but no other damage in a six-inning effort.

He was rolling, Padres manager Bob Melvin said. When he gave up the three runs, it was unexpected when he starts rolling like that like he did through the first four (innings).

Josh Hader worked a scoreless ninth for his 12th save in 14 chances.

Gore pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and four walks over 103 pitches in his first start against his former team.

He's throwing a lot of pitches to get outs, Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. We've got to get him more in the zone.

Sotos performance was easily his best in eight games against the Nationals since leaving Washington. And his previous three-game series here as a visitor came less than two weeks after the trade, so Tuesday felt more like the first homecoming.

It included a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 21,438 on his first trip to the plate, which Soto recognized by facing the stands, raising his helmet skyward and then motioning toward his heart. He connected with Gore's next pitch up the middle for a single to begin a night that lifted his season batting average to .260 and his May mark to .343.

"It feels amazing, the fans, how they feel, how thankful they feel for what we done in this ballpark and for this organization," said Soto, who was a key contributor to the Nationals' 2019 World Series win. I'm really happy that they enjoy and that they're still proud of what we did.

Fernando Tatis Jr. put San Diego in front for good on a sixth-inning sacrifice fly to shallow right. Rougned Odor raced home ahead of a throw cut off by Ramirez when a close play at the plate appeared likely.

The next inning, Soto hit Ramirez's 1-1 offering, sending it 441 feet over the center field wall. Cronenworth's two-run shot that followed was initially ruled a double, but was upgraded to a home run after replay showed it struck a metal railing just beyond the wall in right-center.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Padres: 3B Manny Machado (hand fracture) took dry swings, hit off a tee and threw long toss before Tuesdays game. No idea yet on Friday, Melvin said regarding Machado's chances of returning from the 10-day injured list on the first day he is eligible. But I know today was a better day for him."

Nationals: Minor league LHP and former Nats closer Sean Doolittle (elbow surgery) will pitch on consecutive days Wednesday for the first time during his rehab at extended spring training.  RHP Cade Cavalli (Tommy John surgery) returned to the teams spring training facility in Florida after spending the weekend in Washington.  C Israel Pineda (broken right finger) will begin a rehab assignment at High-A Wilmington.

UP NEXT

Padres: LHP Ryan Weathers (1-2, 3.42) makes his first career start in Washington on Wednesday.

Nationals: RHP Trevor Williams (1-2, 4.26) seeks his first home win in five attempts.

__

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Dressmaker Faieza Caswell from Mitchells Plain sews under candlelight in her workplace, on the Cape Flats due to South Africa's struggling power utility company Eskom, implementing regular power cuts - called 'load-shedding', in Cape Town, South Africa February 11, 2023

South Africa is heading into the southern hemisphere winter with the prospect of the country's worst-ever power cuts - up to 16 hours a day. The roots of the problem lie in poor management, corruption and sabotage.

Short presentational grey line

Late one Thursday afternoon, last November, a maintenance contractor reached his hand under a huge rotating shaft at an ageing power station in South Africa.

It took the man just a few seconds to unscrew a steel plug, smaller than a coffee mug.

As he moved away from the scene, precious lubrication oil quickly began seeping from the innards of the shaft. The steel bearings inside overheated and before long the coal mill, and with it one of the station's eight turbines, ground to a sudden, and expensive, halt.

If you are looking to understand South Africa's current struggles - its soaring crime and unemployment rates, its stubborn inequality and stagnant economy, its relentless corruption and crippling power cuts, and its broader drift towards what some fear could become "gangster state" or even "failed state" territory - then this one act of industrial sabotage, at a coal-fired power station on the high plains east of Johannesburg, is a good place to start.

The alleged saboteur, Simon Shongwe, 43, was working as a sub-contractor at Camden - a plant that was built back in the 1960s, bombed by anti-apartheid activists in the 1980s, mothballed in the 1990s, and more recently brought out of retirement to help a country now battling to keep the lights on.

There are several theories about the alleged sabotage.

It could have been designed to break the coal mill in order to enable a corrupt repair company to come and fix it at an inflated cost.

It might have been done as a way of threatening Camden's management in to accepting some other corrupt contract.

Or it may have been part of a broader political conspiracy to damage South Africa's energy infrastructure and undermine an ANC government increasingly seen as floundering after nearly three decades in power.

What is certain is that the sabotage at Unit 4 was not an isolated event.

Instead, it was one relatively small act in a vast, ongoing, and highly successful criminal enterprise that involves murders, poisoning, fires, cable theft, ruthless cartels and powerful politicians.

It is an enterprise that risks derailing international attempts to nudge South Africa away from its dependence on coal and towards renewable energy sources.

Over the past decade it has brought South Africa's once-world-class public power utility, Eskom, to the brink of collapse and left most homes around the country in darkness for many hours each day.

South Africa relies on coal-fired power stations, some of which have been targeted by saboteurs

One month after the incident at Camden, on a secure floor of a large grey office block on the northern outskirts of Johannesburg, a much smaller machine was causing problems.

The coffee dispenser for the executive management team at Eskom was faulty. Or so it seemed.

When the CEO's assistant came over to fill her boss's personalised mug, there was a delay.

She left the mug unattended for a few minutes, and then, once the machine had been serviced, she returned to the CEO's office with his coffee.

"I detected nothing. The foam consistency was a bit different to normal, but I thought nothing of it," Andre de Ruyter reflected later, in an explosive interview he gave to the South African broadcaster, eNCA.

But 15 minutes later, the man in charge of South Africa's power utility suddenly felt off-balance. Before long he was shaking violently, gasping for air, and "extremely nauseous".

His security guards rushed him to a nearby clinic.

His doctors later confirmed that Mr De Ruyter had been poisoned with cyanide, possibly mixed with rat poison in order to mask the presence of the cyanide in any blood tests.

He was lucky to survive.

"So, this is where the executives serve themselves with coffee," said Eskom's head of security, Karen Pillay, showing us around the office one recent afternoon.

"I consider it a dangerous space. I'm still scared for my life, every day. Absolutely."

"There is a long list of those who want me dead"", Source: Andre de Ruyter, Source description: Former CEO, Eskom, Image: Andre de Ruyter

So why would anyone go to such dramatic lengths to try to kill a man performing what, in most countries, would be considered an important, but hardly controversial job?

"There is a long list of those who want me dead," said Mr De Ruyter, a tall man who recovered from the poisoning, quit his job at Eskom and left the country. He told me, via text, that he was "going to lie low for the moment".

Mr De Ruyter made it clear he believed he had been targeted by powerful criminal cartels who were busy stealing "a billion rand ($52m; 42m) every month" from Eskom and its coal-fired power stations.

In his eNCA interview and in excerpts from a new book, he painted a vivid picture of sophisticated "mafia" gangs with dozens of well-trained "soldiers", who were willing to kill anyone who threatened to clean up the coal industry, or to move towards renewable energy.

It is a picture that is immediately recognisable to many here.

"There's a lot of killing around. They put a gun to my head. They came to my house and threatened my family. The whole system is rotten, corrupted," said a local businessman who told us he had tried to supply parts to Eskom for years, but that the local cartels made it impossible to work honestly.

"These cartels are politically connected. They're above the law, basically," said the man, who asked us not to use his name for fear of being killed, and only agreed to speak to us at a secure location far from his hometown.

That request for anonymity is common in the province of Mpumalanga - the heart of South Africa's coal industry and a province that has earned a reputation for extreme lawlessness.

'Treasonous behaviour'

"Life is cheap here. You can hire a hitman for $400. People are just looting as much as they can," said an investigative journalist working with us and South Africa's Daily Maverick news website, who confirmed the businessman's account.

"This is a brutal province for anyone trying to expose the truth. It's sabotage at almost every stage of the process. And it's not just about criminality. The money gets passed on to politicians to keep them in power, to keep them running elections, to keep palms greased," said the journalist, who also asked not to be named.

The ANC has been the governing party in Mpumulanga and nationwide since the country's first democratic elections in 1994 after it successfully led the struggle against white-minority rule.

"This is treasonous behaviour. The ANC is involved at every level. The villains are members of the ANC or associates of the ANC. It is involved so deeply that it doesn't know how to extricate itself. They are tipping us over towards that terrible situation of a 'failed state,'" said political commentator Justice Malala, noting there was a direct link between the looting and the near-constant power cuts now crippling South Africa.

"It's very depressing. It's very concerning. Our country is in a serious, dark place," said Paul Pretorius, a lawyer who played a key role at a recent public inquiry into the state corruption that flourished under former President Jacob Zuma.

As an indication of the seriousness of the crisis, soldiers have recently been brought in to guard some power stations, and to accompany convoys of trucks carrying coal, after the railway network was looted and sabotaged so comprehensively that many companies were obliged to switch to using South Africa's roads.

Eskom security chief Ms Pillay said company investigators had recently identified more than 60 "black sites" where quality coal was still being stolen or swapped for rocky, poor-quality coal, by criminals.

Promise Mabilo is campaigning in Mpumulanga to make it a cleaner and safer place

In some places, the stealing is done in plain sight.

On the edge of the town of Emalahleni - which means "place of coal" - an allegedly illegal coal mine is in operation, around the clock, in a small valley just yards from a residential area. Over the course of one hour, we watched more than a dozen trucks load up with coal.

"At night we hear gunshots," said a local activist who asked us not to use his name but described rival gangs fighting over access to the open-pit mine.

"It's a dangerous business. You don't know whether a mine is illegal or legal," said one of the truck drivers, who said his name was Kamo.

A local community organisation - Vukani Environmental Movement (VEM) - has repeatedly taken South Africa's government to court in a bid to force them to close down mining activity taking place close to residential areas.

"Nothing changes," said Promise Mabilo, 48, a VEM coordinator, before bursting into tears.

"Emalahleni is not a safe place to be. The coal is killing people. You can smell it and taste it in the air. It's painful," she said.

Crime and blackouts may dominate the headlines in South Africa, but pollution, particularly in Mpumalanga, is an equally dangerous by-product of the country's addiction to coal.

The government has acknowledged pollution "hot spots" in the province but has declined to publish more detailed information and has refused to force old power stations to comply with emissions limits. Environmental groups say data shows the pollution is killing thousands of people every year.

Mbali Matsebula's daughter Princess has to use a respirator to help her breathe

"She struggles to breathe. I have to blame the coal mines. They must cancel the coal because it is killing us," said Mbali Matsebula, 27, as she helped her eight-year-old daughter, Princess, adjust a respirator on her face in the single-room shack they live in close to the illegal mine.

Today, more than 80% of South Africa's electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations - an astonishing figure. As a result, the country is ranked as the world's 14th largest emitter of carbon dioxide, despite having only the 33rd biggest economy.

"Our electricity system is almost entirely based on digging coal out of the ground and burning it," acknowledged Crispian Olver, chair of the Presidential Climate Commission.

But that could be about to change. Perhaps dramatically.

A group of Western nations has agreed to an $8.5bn package of grants and loans known as the Just Energy Transition (JET) partnership, designed to help guide South Africa away from coal and towards renewables.

Under the terms of JET, the country could, in theory, achieve "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050, offering a blueprint for other developing nations looking to go green.

"Our wind and solar resources are amongst the best anywhere in the world," said Mr Olver, enthusiastically.

South Africa has many reasons to embrace a speedy transition.

If it drags its feet, the country could soon find itself locked out of the global trading system, with at least half its exports blocked by new rules in Europe and elsewhere that will seek to ensure that goods are made using only, or mostly, green energy.

"If we don't decarbonise, we're going to be shut out and we're going to lose massive amounts of jobs," warned Mr Olver.

Bar owner Suzeke Mousa says she could lose her business because of the lack of electricity

An even more urgent argument for change can be found in a small, gloomy bar in Alexandra, a poor township in the country's commercial hub, Johannesburg.

"I'm so stressed. Very, very stressed," said the bar owner, Suzeke Mousa, 50, explaining that her business was about to go under after 25 years.

"I don't think we'll survive. All because of Eskom," she frowned, looking out across a dark and empty bar.

South African businesses, already hit by the pandemic, are now being forced to endure power cuts, sometimes for 10 or more hours a day, nationwide.

At major road junctions across the nation, unemployed and homeless men now earn a few rand from drivers in exchange for directing cars when the traffic lights are off.

The image of people in luxury vehicles tossing coins to beggars for helping them navigate the country's failing infrastructure seems like a fitting metaphor for the current struggles facing this deeply unequal society.

"Some people can afford generators, but we can't. We can't function without power," said Thelma Mokoena, working at a money-transfer bureau in Alexandra.

The "load shedding" - as it is known, euphemistically, here - is set to get worse over the winter months. There are warnings that the entire grid might even collapse - a scenario that could mean weeks of unremitting darkness and perhaps social unrest.

It is the inevitable result of the chaos inside Eskom, as its fleet of mostly aging power stations is hit by maintenance problems, sabotage, and corruption.

To many in the private sector here, South Africa's abundant wind and solar potential offers an almost immediate solution for the crisis gripping Eskom. The former CEO, Mr De Ruyter, said it could "solve energy security in the shortest time".

But there are many obstacles facing that transition. For a start, workers and unions here are concerned that there will be significant job losses.

"South Africa is going to lose jobs in the coal sector but not gain them in renewables. We are not going to be dictated to. You [in the West] are wasting your time. We are a country that must do things at our own pace," said William Mabapa, secretary general of the powerful National Union of Mineworkers.

He condemned Western nations as "hypocrites" for pushing his country to embrace JET while still importing vast amounts of South African coal.

Eskom says it is working to address concerns about future job losses in local communities. But opposition to JET does not only come from within the coal industry.

In his eNCA interview, soon after his poisoning, Mr De Ruyter accused the ANC of deliberately blocking the move towards renewables.

He said the ANC used Eskom like "a feeding trough" and that powerful politicians were blocking his attempts to tackle corruption.

Mr De Ruyter cited a private intelligence dossier - shared with the BBC by investigative journalists from the Daily Maverick - that named two senior ANC politicians as the heads of two of Mpumalanga's criminal cartels. And he said the government had brushed aside his concerns.

In an interview, South Africa's Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan acknowledged that Mr De Ruyter had told him about the contents of the dossier.

Mr Gordhan also admitted that Mpumalanga was "a crime scene". But he said Mr De Ruyter himself was no "angel" and criticised him for spreading rumours without producing hard evidence.

"I don't think we're that hopeless," said Mr Gordhan, defensively, arguing that South Africa was moving towards renewable energy but needed to adjust the pace "to the reality of our country". He later accused Mr De Ruyter of having a "messiah complex".

Other ministers have taken an even tougher line.

"They call me all sorts of things. A coal fundamentalist and a fossil fuel dinosaur"", Source: Gwede Mantashe, Source description: Energy minister, Image: Gwede Mantashe

If you are looking for a politician who embodies the current struggles and contradictions of South Africa's governing ANC - the former liberation movement once led by Nelson Mandela - many people will point you towards Gwede Mantashe.

The irascible 67-year-old is a former miner and trade union official, a formidable labour organiser and former leader of South Africa's Communist Party.

As secretary-general of the ANC, he spent years shielding President Zuma from corruption investigations, before backing the man who ousted him in 2018 - Cyril Ramaphosa.

President Ramaphosa then appointed Mr Mantashe as energy minister, the job he has held on to despite the deepening power-cuts and other controversies.

A few weeks before Mr De Ruyter's poisoning, Mr Mantashe publicly accused Eskom's leadership of treason. He said the utility, by allowing so many power cuts, was "actively agitating for the overthrow of the state".

Sitting in the boardroom of his ministry in Pretoria, Mr Mantashe seemed to revel in his reputation both as a political survivor and the great curmudgeon of South African politics.

"They call me all sorts of things. A coal fundamentalist and a fossil fuel dinosaur. I take those as a compliment. A prestigious status," he said, with a small chuckle.

Mr Mantashe said the West was using South Africa, unfairly, as "a guinea pig" for radical energy reform without supplying sufficient funding.

He acknowledged a need to "phase down" the country's coal dependency and acknowledged that reports of looting at Eskom "could be true", but he brushed aside Mr De Ruyter's poisoning as mere speculation, and stressed the economic necessity of getting the most out of existing coal power stations.

Some here believe the move towards renewables is now inevitable - that South Africa simply will not be able to access the sort of loans needed to keep its crumbling coal industry alive, and that the move towards solar, in particular, is now being firmly driven by the private sector.

"It's unstoppable. I can confidently say the energy transition in this country is well under way," said Mr Olver, from the Presidential Climate Commission. But progress is painfully slow and the struggle to clean up both Eskom and the broader economic and political climate in South Africa remains very much a work in progress.

On a cold morning, recently, in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, Simon Shongwe shuffled into the dock in a small, crowded courtroom.

It was a brief hearing to mark the transfer of his case to a new jurisdiction.

A full trial, on allegations that he sought to sabotage a turbine at Camden power station, could be months, or even years away. Mr Shongwe declined to speak to us, as did his lawyer. He has not yet entered a plea.

"We do see quite a number of arrests but unfortunately we may not have successful prosecutions," remarked Ms Pillay, Eskom's security chief.

Most of those arrests have targeted minor figures while the alleged kingpins appear to be protected by a culture of impunity and by a prosecution service still struggling to recover from years of politicisation and underfunding.

The two men suspected of poisoning the former Eskom boss's coffee have not yet been found, let alone charged.
The South Carolina Senate on Tuesday passed a six-week abortion ban despite the fact that every woman senator in the chamber, Republican and Democrat, voted against it.

The abortion ban will now go to the desk of Gov Henry McMaster, a Republican. If Mr McMaster does sign the bill as expected, it will be another blow to people seeking abortion care in the southeast. Nearly every other state in the region has enacted abortion bans since the fall of Roe v Wade last year.

If Mr McMaster signs the ban into law, it is likely to face a legal challenge. The South Carolina Supreme Court earlier this struck down a previous version of a six-week abortion ban as unconstitutional.

But that didnt stop Republican men in the state legislature and the male Republican governor from pushing to pass a ban anyway. Six-week bans on abortion are considered near total bans because many people dont know theyre pregnant until more than six weeks after conception.

This bill may make it hard for people to get legal abortion care in the state even if they do know theyre pregnant before six weeks are up. The bill requires people to have two in-person doctors visits and two ultrasounds before they can get an abortion.

Many Republican-controlled states have passed severely restrictive abortion bans over the past year-plus. But the optics in South Carolina, a state Donald Trump carried by just over 11 points in the 2020 election, are striking.

The five women in the South Carolina Senate all united in opposition to the bill, calling themselves the Sister Senators. On two previous occassions, they and several male Republican senators had united to block the Senate from passing an abortion ban sent to them by the state House.

This time, however, those male Republican senators relented and voted for the bill  meaning that it passed with only men voting for it. The Republican women senators who opposed the bill, Sens Sandy Senn, Katrina Shealy, and Penry Gustafson, pushed to put the issue to voters in the form of a ballot measure or pass a 12-week ban instead.

But they were rebuffed by the more conservative state House and Republican leadership. The New York Times reported that Shane Massey, the Senate majority leader, argued that the state had become the abortion capital of the Southeast.

If that was ever the case, it likely wont be for long  and with North Carolina passing an abortion ban of its own in recent weeks, many people in the South will likely be unable to obtain legal abortion care.
The Republican-led South Carolina Senate on Tuesday passed a ban on abortions after an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, which is usually at about six weeks.

The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Henry McMaster (R), who is expected to sign it quickly.

The legislation represents a significant setback to abortion rights in the state. Abortion is currently legal in South Carolina until 22 weeks of pregnancy, though there are only three clinics in the state and various regulations mean they generally cant offer abortions beyond the first 12 weeks.

At six weeks, most women dont know they are pregnant.

During debate on Tuesday, Republican leaders cited provisional state Health Department data that show rising numbers of out of state visitors are getting abortions in the state, but advocates said most of the people needing abortions are South Carolina residents.

When McMaster signs the legislation into law, it will set up a showdown with the state Supreme Court, which earlier this year overturned a similar 2021 six-week abortion ban as a violation of the state constitutions right to privacy.

Republicans are confident the law will survive legal challenges.

The measure passed the House last week largely along party lines, 82 to 33.

Earlier in the debate, Sen. Katrina Shealy, one of the Republican women who blocked the total ban, proposed an amendment that would ban abortion after 12 weeks, calling it a real compromise.

Dont force women into making a decision in six weeks for something they may not even know thats happening, Shealy said.

Sen. Richard Cash objected to the amendment and said it would result in people having abortions on demand through 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Babies begin with the union of the sperm and ovum  thats how God designed it, Cash said.

The amendment failed by a vote of 21-25.

The bill ultimately passed 27-19, as three Republican women joined all Democrats in voting against it.

The bill includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patients life and health, and for victims of rape or incest up to 12 weeks.

Any doctor found in violation could face felony charges carrying up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The measure also requires the biological father to pay child support beginning from the date of conception, a provision opponents of the bill said was a backdoor way to establish personhood laws in the state.

The previous ban was blocked after a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, one of the states abortion clinics and physicians.

In a statement, Planned Parenthood said it plans to sue again.

South Carolina lawmakers are playing politics with peoples lives, blocking access to essential health care while ignoring soaring rates of maternal and infant mortality in our state, said Jenny Black, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. We will not stand by while politicians put peoples lives in danger and take away fundamental human rights. So we say to the state of South Carolina: Well see you in court.

While the Senate passed its own six-week ban a few months ago, it needed to vote again because House Republicans amended the bill to include some specific changes they said were designed to pass muster with the court.

In addition, Januarys 3-2 decision was written by the courts only female justice, who retired shortly after the ruling when she reached mandatory retirement age. The legislature replaced her with a man, who has the support of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus.

State lawmakers have tried and failed numerous times to pass abortion restrictions, but the House and Senate have disagreed over where to draw the line.

The more conservative House wanted to pass a ban on abortion beginning at conception, but it failed three separate times as the Senate was unable to overcome a filibuster by the chambers five women three Republicans, one Democrat and an independent.

The women repeatedly criticized male leadership for trying to bring the bill up for a vote.

While some of that bloc voted for the previous version of the bill earlier this year, they objected to the changes made by the House, which included eliminating a provision that allowed a minor to ask a court for permission to have an abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The vote comes a week after Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly overrode the veto of their Democratic governor to enact a 12-week abortion ban.

Updated: 7:20 p.m. ET

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In this photo released by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the Nuri rocket sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. South Korea was set to launch its first commercial-grade satellite, on Wednesday as rival North Korea(Korea Aerospace Research Institute via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea canceled its planned launch Wednesday of its first commercial-grade satellite due to a technical issue, days after rival North Korea reaffirmed its push to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.

The cancellation was announced about two hours before South Korea's homegrown Nuri space launch vehicle carrying eight satellites  including the main, commercial-grade one  was scheduled to lift off from a southern launch facility.

Oh Tae-seok, the first vice-minister of science, told a televised news conference a communication anomaly between the launch control computer and the launch pad control computer was found during the launch preparation process. He said South Korea will consider rescheduling the launch as soon as Thursday, if authorities fix the technical problem early.

South Korea's satellite launch plan has been closely watched by outsiders. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed a finished spy satellite and approved a future action plan on its launch. During his visit to the country's aerospace agency, Kim also mentioned the strategic significance of a spy satellite while vowing to defend against confrontational moves by South Korean and U.S. forces, according to state media.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula remain high.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles  some of them nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike South Korea and the U.S.  in what it called efforts to respond to the expansion of military drills between the United States and South Korea. Analysts say the Norths testing spree was likely meant to pressure its rivals to scale back their military training and relax economic sanctions on the North.

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said the recent North Korean push for a spy satellite launch suggests it cares greatly about the South Korean satellite launch program.

South Korean officials say their commercial-grade satellite launch has no military purpose. But many experts say it will eventually help South Korea acquire technologies and knowhow required to operate military surveillance satellites and build more powerful missiles.

South Korea already has missiles that place all of North Korea within striking distance. But Jung said South Korea needs longer-range missiles to prepare for future security threats that can be posed by potential adversaries like China and Russia.

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Koreas Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that the use of the Nuri rocket as a missile isnt militarily meaningful as it uses a type of liquid fuel that requires much longer fueling time than solid fuel.

But he said there is enough possibility that the launch will support South Koreas efforts to build a space-based surveillance system, as its commercial-grade satellite is to be placed on a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used by reconnaissance satellites.

South Korea currently has no military reconnaissance satellites of its own and depends on U.S. spy satellites to monitor strategic facilities in North Korea. South Korea seeks to launch its own surveillance satellites soon.

Some experts say the North Korean spy satellite disclosed in its state media doesnt appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery that can meaningfully boost the countrys surveillance capacities.

But Lee said the North Korean satellite is still likely be capable of monitoring the deployment of incoming U.S. strategic assets like an aircraft carrier and the movements of South Korean warships and fighter jets.

After its first spy satellite launch, Lee predicted North Korea will try to send several more satellites into space, likely more advanced ones. With three to five satellites, North Korea can have an almost real-time monitoring on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

Lee said the Norths first spy satellite launch could happen in June. Other experts say the launch will more likely happen in the latter half of this year.

Wednesdays canceled launch of South Korea's satellite would have been the third of its kind involving Nuri.

In its second launch last year, South Korea successfully put what it called a performance verification satellite into orbit, becoming the worlds 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology. The launch was mainly designed to examine the Nuri rocket's capabilities.
I spent $1,000 to have a room to myself on a 30-hour Amtrak ride, and it's easily the best overnight train accommodation I've ever booked

The author relaxes in an Amtrak bedroom traveling from Miami to NYC. Joey Hadden/Insider

I spent 30 hours on an Amtrak train traveling from Miami to New York City in October 2021.

For $1,000, I stayed in a bedroom, which is about the size of a king-sized bed with a full bathroom.

The private, spacious room was more comfortable than any other overnight train I've booked.

I prefer to travel by train when I can  even if it means taking an overnight ride.

The author sits on a train from NYC to Miami. Joey Hadden/Insider

As a travel reporter at Insider, where I take four trips a year, trains are my preferred mode of transportation.

In addition to being more sustainable than driving or flying, traveling by train has given me unparalleled views of the world, with landscapes changing every second. And being stuck on a train for long periods of time forces me to sit back and do nothing, which is something I don't often prioritize in my daily life.

It all started in October 2021, when I took two 30-hour Amtrak rides between Miami and NYC. I spent my ride to Miami in a roomette accommodation and booked a bedroom for the way home.

A year later, I planned an extensive train trip in Europe, where I spent a total of 24 hours on two overnight trains traveling from Berlin to Vienna and Vienna to Venice, Italy, on Austrian Federal Railway's OBB Nightjet trains with sleeper cabins.

I've taken four overnight train rides in the US and Europe, and the best accommodation by far was Amtrak's bedroom on my 30-hour trip from Miami to NYC in 2021.

The author sits in a bedroom on a train from Miami to NYC. Joey Hadden/Insider

While I booked a tiny, private $500 roomette for my trip from New York City to Miami, I reserved a $1,000 bedroom accommodation, the next step up after a roomette, on the way back.

According to Amtrak's website, bedrooms are at least 45.5 square feet, which, for reference, is a little bigger than a standard king-size bed, Insider has reported, and they can sleep up to two adults.

While the ride home was bumpy and long, the roomy bedroom made me feel at ease, and two years later, I'm still thinking about it.

The author sits on a train from Miami to NYC. Joey Hadden/Insider

As someone who deals with travel anxiety, I found 30 hours on a train to be overwhelming, especially since, at the time, I had only taken one other overnight train. The constant motion of the train didn't help, either. In fact, I ended up feeling a little queasy.

But staying in a bedroom made me feel more comfortable than staying in a roomette, a cheaper accommodation about half the size. I thought the bedroom offered ample space to stretch out and move about, which made all the difference to me.

I think I could comfortably do a 30-hour train journey again, as long as I book a bedroom. And to make it more affordable, I'd book with a friend to split the cost and have some company next time.

My journey began at the Amtrak station in Miami.

A view of a line to board an 11:50 a.m. train from Miami to New York. Joey Hadden/Insider

I arrived at Miami Amtrak Station at 11 a.m., 50 minutes before my train was scheduled to depart. The building's interior reminded me of a Greyhound bus station, and I sat in the only waiting area I could find in the station until it was time to board.

Once on the train, I found my bedroom, which had a sofa that folded out into a bed, a bed that pulled down from the ceiling, and a chair that folded up out of the way.

A view of the author's Amtrak bedroom accommodation. Joey Hadden/Insider

For double the price of a roomette, the accommodation I booked for my previous train trip, the bedroom accommodation also offered double the space, according to Amtrak's website.

Right away, I knew this trip would be more pleasant than my ride to Miami since I had more room to stretch out.

The bedroom had a table that pulled out from the wall between two of the three seats.

A table holds the author's laptop. Joey Hadden/Insider

The table reminded me of storage hacks I'd expect to find in a tiny home. I used it to hold my laptop while working and appreciated that I could simply fold it out of the way when it was time to relax.

To the left of the chair in my room was a sink underneath a mirror with a handful of small towels next to it.

A view of the bathroom vanity in the bedroom. Joey Hadden/Insider

Beneath the sink, there was a trash can and a place to hold tissues.

To the right of the mirror was a cabinet where I could store my toiletries and other personal items.

Views of a cabinet opened and closed. Joey Hadden/Insider

This feature allowed me to unpack a little, the way I would in a hotel room. Placing my toiletries on the cabinet shelves made me feel more at home.

Next to the seating area, there was a small closet with three hangers for clothing you'd want to keep looking sharp.

Views of a closet opened and closed. Joey Hadden/Insider

I didn't use the closet, but I think it would have come in handy for storing jackets if I were traveling at a cooler time of the year.

There was also a private bathroom inside the bedroom that had a door, shower, and toilet.

The bathroom door, left, led to a room with a toilet and shower, right. Joey Hadden/Insider

On the bathroom door were hooks to hold towels and clothing items. On a shelf above the toilet were two towels for drying yourself off after a shower.

I appreciated that the toilet was separated from the rest of the room by a door and think this is a great amenity if you're traveling with others.

The author poses on top of the toilet. Joey Hadden/Insider

The bedroom is your cheapest option if you want a private bathroom, according to Amtrak's website.

Other bedroom features included temperature controls and a button to call an attendant.

A view of some controls in the bedroom. Joey Hadden/Insider

Being able to control the temperature inside my room was a nice touch that made me feel more comfortable during the journey.

I could also adjust the volume of the overhead speaker, through which train stops were announced, which I found particularly helpful.

A view of some controls in the bedroom. Joey Hadden/Insider

This came in handy when I wanted to get off the train for a minute and stretch my legs. Thanks to the overhead-speaker volume control, I always knew when the next stop would be and how long we had at each station.

The bedroom also has handy controls for night, reading, and ceiling lights.

The best thing the bedroom offered was space. I had room to stand up, stretch, and dance. This made my ride much more enjoyable.

The author uses the free space in the bedroom to dance. Joey Hadden/Insider

I tried to make the train feel like home, and at home, I dance pretty much all day.

I live alone and listen to music constantly, so shutting the curtains gave me a moment of privacy to just be my goofy self. This helped me keep moving, too, which I found to be essential for surviving a 30-hour train ride.

It was also nice to have a big sofa where I could stretch out and put my feet up.

The author's belongings are spread around the room. Joey Hadden/Insider

Having room to stretch out made me feel more relaxed throughout my journey. I appreciated that the couch was long enough to lie down on.

During the day, I spent a lot of time working on my laptop, which made the time pass by quickly.

The author works on the train. Joey Hadden/Insider

Thanks to all the work I had to do, the first chunk of my trip home went by pretty quickly.

But when the workday was done, I had to find other ways to pass the time.

The author smiles as her workday ends. Joey Hadden/Insider

I decided to lie down on my belly and look outside the window for a bit.

Exhausted from my travels, I spent much of the evening reclining on the seats and gazing out the window.

A view out of the window somewhere between Florida and Delaware. Joey Hadden/Insider

During my trip home, I saw forests, towns, and factories outside my window. This made me think about how traveling by train gives you a railroad view of the country that can't be replicated in a car or on a flight.

When it was time for dinner, I headed to the dining car and got some braised beef short ribs and mashed potatoes.

The author smiles with her dinner. Joey Hadden/Insider

My meals came with the ticket, and I could pick from five items. Since I enjoyed the braised beef short rib dish on my trip to Miami, I decided to get it again on my way home.

Before bed, I brushed my teeth and washed my face in front of the sink.

The author takes a selfie showing off her clean teeth and the vanity. Joey Hadden/Insider

Since I have an electric toothbrush, it was nice to be able to charge it with the outlets in the bathroom area.

At about 8 p.m., an attendant came to my room to transform the sofa into a bed.

An aerial view of the sofa bed. Joey Hadden/Insider

My first thought when I entered the room again after receiving bedside service was that the bed looked bigger than the one I slept in on my way to Miami in a roomette.

Since I had trouble sleeping on the top bunk on the way to Miami, I opted for the bottom bunk on this journey.

The author lies in bed with the curtains drawn in the evening. Joey Hadden/Insider

The bed and sheets were comfortable, and I was happy to have more room to sleep.

Had I slept in the bed that comes down from the ceiling, I would have had control of the air conditioning and lights, as well as a place to put my phone nearby.

A view of the controls and storage space in the top bunk. Joey Hadden/Insider

I was able to use the foldout table for my bedside belongings, though.

Since there were outlets next to the sink, I propped my phone up there so I could watch TV from bed.

The author's bedtime setup. Joey Hadden/Insider

There might have been outlets on the other side of the bed, too, but I wasn't able to find them.

By the time I sat in my bed at about 8:30 p.m., I realized my body was already aching for sleep.

The author yawns on the bed. Joey Hadden/Insider

I thought I'd stay up and watch TV for a while, but my body was telling me to just pass out.

So I decided to lie down and watch "The Office" until I drifted off to sleep.

The author rests in bed before falling asleep. Joey Hadden/Insider

The ride was bumpy through the night, but being on the lower bed felt grounding, and I didn't feel as if I was going to fall off the bed at any point. Although it wasn't a perfect night's sleep, I definitely slept better than I did in the roomette.

I woke up the next morning around 8 a.m. in North Carolina to the sun beaming.

The author squints at the sun when she gets up in the morning. Joey Hadden/Insider

I woke up to the sun peering through my window feeling somewhat rested.

I had planned on taking a shower, but after looking down at the floor, I wished I had brought sandals and decided to skip my shower.

The shower floor. Joey Hadden/Insider

I was excited to take a shower after having been on the train for nearly 24 hours, but the shower appeared too grimy to feel comfortable, and I wished I had brought flip-flops.

Amtrak did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but, according to its website, it sanitizes rooms between visitors.

I usually wear flip-flops in public showers, though, since experts say that it's pretty easy to pick up germs from places where many people have walked around barefoot.

Since I forgot them, I decided that not showering would be better.

Instead, I washed my face in front of the sink and put on a lot of deodorant.

The author shows off her clean face and travel-sized deodorant. Joey Hadden/Insider

This made me feel a little fresher, though I couldn't wait to get home and take a shower.

While I was washing my face, I noticed how nice it was to have three mirrors next to one another.

The author washes her face in front of the vanity. Joey Hadden/Insider

Having the three connected mirrors made it easier to see the spots I missed after washing the soap off my face.

Breakfast and lunch were also included in my ticket on my final day of travel, and I thought they were pretty tasty.

The author's breakfast, left, and lunch during her final day of travel. Joey Hadden/Insider

For breakfast, I went to the dining car and got the continental option. For lunch, I decided to try a different entree from the braised beef short ribs I had the night before.

I chose a chicken fettuccine dish with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes, and I thought it was decent.

Of all the meals I had, I found the continental breakfast to be the most filling and satisfying.

The author's breakfast of oatmeal and a sandwich. Joey Hadden/Insider

The breakfast came with a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, and a blueberry muffin. For the oatmeal, I had the choice of maple and brown sugar or apple cinnamon.

I thought this meal was the most filling I had the whole trip, and if they served it all hours, I'd probably get it for every meal.

I loved having my bed down throughout the day because it allowed me to relax and rest a bit more.

The author passes the time in bed. Joey Hadden/Insider

To pass the time, I looked at my phone and played Nintendo while relaxing on the bed.

It was a Saturday, so staying in bed felt right.

When we were about three hours from New York, my attendant transformed the bed back into seats, and these final hours on the train felt like the longest of the whole trip.

The author passes the time on the sofa during the final hours of her trip. Joey Hadden/Insider

I think because my bed was gone and I thought the journey's end should be near, the final hours of my train ride felt as though they dragged on.

Spending 30 hours on a train certainly isn't paradise, but booking a bedroom made it feel a little shorter to me. So I'll be stretching my funds to book it again the next time I want to bop around the country.

The author takes a selfie during a stop at Union Station in Washington, DC. Joey Hadden/Insider

When we arrived in New York around 7 p.m., slightly later than scheduled, I realized I had never been more grateful to be home.

But I was also appreciative of the room and privacy I had getting there.

Read the original article on Insider
HERAT, Afghanistan, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A four-day local products exhibition kicked off Wednesday in Herat city, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's western Herat province.

The exhibition, the second of its kind over the past eight months, is part of the plan to boost local agricultural and industries sectors, said Toryalai Ghawsi, deputy of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Herat province.

"In this exhibition, 120 booths for men and 70 booths for women have been allocated, and the exhibition lasts four days," Ghawsi told Xinhua.

"I have 50 female employees working in different departments of my business, which includes painting, miniatures, ceramics, and weaving clothes," a businesswoman Maria Samar Arbabzada told Xinhua at the exhibition.

She added that holding such exhibitions could facilitate a better environment for local products to find markets at home and abroad. 
In January, as Kevin McCarthy fought to win the House speakership through 15 rounds of grinding votes and late-night sessions at the Capitol, a few blocks away a group of right-wing holdouts huddled with a familiar but surprising source  former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

A founding member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, Meadows spent years in the House agitating against GOP leadership, trying to move his party increasingly to the right. Now, Meadows was counseling a new batch of Republican rebels, advising them on specific demands to make and gaming out how McCarthy would react to their maneuvering, according to multiple GOP lawmakers who were part of the planning sessions.

The group was so taken by Meadows, at one point they considered nominating him for speaker. Meadows ultimately rejected the suggestion, telling lawmakers he preferred to operate behind the scenes.

We talked to him about being speaker. We asked would he mind if we put his name up, Rep. Ralph Norman, one of the McCarthy holdouts, confirmed to CNN. Thats not something he thought he could win. His best use is doing what he does now. He can freelance and offer advice.

Sources tell CNN that in recent weeks Meadows has also been advising right-wing lawmakers on negotiations over the nations debt ceiling, where McCarthys right-flank may try to stand in the way of any concessions made in a compromise with President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.

The former chiefs hands-on role in both the debt fight and the speakers battle  details of which have not been previously reported  underscores how Meadows has managed to stay politically relevant even as he covertly navigates potential criminal exposure for his role in Donald Trumps attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Meadows is viewed as a critical first-hand witness to the investigations of both special counsel Jack Smith and Georgias Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Hes been ordered to testify before the grand jury in both investigations, and to provide documents to the special counsel after a judge rejected Trumps claims of executive privilege.

The special counsels criminal investigation into January 6 and Trumps mishandling of classified documents appear to be barreling toward a conclusion. Theres been a flurry of grand jury activity, as anticipation builds for any sign that Meadows is cooperating.

It is unclear whether Meadows has responded to the special counsels requests or appeared in front of that grand jury in Washington. In front of the grand jury in Georgia, Meadows declined to answer questions, one of the grand jurors revealed in February.

While Meadows has faded from the public spotlight, interviews with more than a dozen Republican lawmakers and aides, Trump allies and political activists in Meadows home state of North Carolina show how he has quietly worked to shape conservative policy and wield influence with MAGA-aligned lawmakers  even as his relationship with Trump remains fraught.

Meadows has maintained a lucrative perch in the conservative world as a senior partner at the Conservative Partnership Institute, the pro-Trump think tank that pays him more than $500,000 and has seen its revenues soar to $45 million since Meadows joined in 2021, according to the groups tax filings.

Rep. Jim Jordan, one of Meadows closest confidants when they served in Congress together, said he still considers Meadows one of his best friends and talks to him at least once a week. But when it comes to legal matters, Jordan said: We make a point not to talk about that.

A spokesman for Meadows declined to make him available for an interview and declined comment for this story.

No one really knows what hes doing

A source close to Trumps legal team said Trumps lawyers have had no contact with Meadows and his team and are in the dark on what Meadows is doing in the investigation, fueling speculation about whether Meadows is cooperating with the special counsels probe  or if Meadows himself is a target of the investigation.

Meadows listens as President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the White House on October 30, 2020 - Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

The silence from Meadows has irked lawyers representing other defendants aligned with Trump who have been more open, according to several sources familiar with the Trump-aligned legal teams. In particular, they point to a $900,000 payment Trumps Save America political action committee paid to the firm representing Meadows, McGuireWoods, at the end of last year.

Weve all heard the same rumors, one Trump adviser told CNN. No one really knows what hes doing though.

The Justice Department decided not to charge Meadows with a crime for refusing to testify before the House January 6 committee. In its final report last year, the January 6 House select committee said that Meadows appeared to be one of several participants in a criminal conspiracy as part of Trumps attempt to delay and overturn the results of the 2020 election. The report paints Meadows as an integral part of that effort, as documented by the more than 2,000 text messages Meadows turned over to the committee before he stopped cooperating.

Meadows was also the key point of contact for dozens of people trying to get through to the president as the attack was unfolding, and the special counsels investigation has been trying to comb over many of those interactions.

A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment.

He still wants to talk about politics

Despite silence on the legal front, Meadows remains in touch with members of Trumps inner circle on political matters. He was actively involved in securing Trumps endorsement in 2021 for now-US Sen. Ted Budd ahead of what was a contentious Republican primary in North Carolina. While less-and-less frequently since Trump left office, Meadows has been known to attend fundraisers and events at the former presidents Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he also helped organize a donor retreat for CPI last year.

[Meadows] still checks in, said the Trump adviser, who has spoken to the former chief of staff in recent months. The adviser stressed that Meadows had not indicated any desire to join the Trump campaign team. He still wants to talk about the politics.

Allies say Meadows  who fashioned himself as a savvy political operator during his time in Congress and the White House  is motivated by a desire to help steer the direction of the country. But some people who worked closely with him are more skeptical, and think Meadows is driven by a desire for power.

He is all about getting information so he can be seen as important to donors, other members, the media, said a senior GOP source close to Trump world, who used to work for a Freedom Caucus member. People dont trust him.

One source close to Meadows suggested that he has not expressed interest in running for office again, but could be open to a job in a future Trump administration  an idea a source close to the former president scoffed at, hinting that Meadows direct relationship with the former president had run its course.

I think he enjoys what hes doing, Jordan said of Meadows current gig. But the Ohio Republican added: Im sure he misses certain aspects of the job as well. You know how involved Mark was.

Marks in the middle of all that

After leaving the White House in 2021, Meadows joined CPI, a MAGA-centric advocacy group headquartered just blocks from the Capitol that has become a clubhouse for conservative lawmakers, staffers and activists.

Members of the Freedom Caucus hold their weekly meetings at CPI. During the speakers race, CPI was home to some consequential strategy sessions involving Meadows.

Meadows shakes hands with attendees after a forum on House and GOP conference rules for the 118th Congress at FreedomWorks, a conservative and libertarian advocacy group, in Washington, D.C., on Monday, November 14, 2022. - Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post/Getty Images

Sources who attended those meetings say Meadows pushed for concessions like the ability for a single lawmaker to force a vote on ousting the sitting speaker, which McCarthy ultimately agreed to after initially calling it a red line.

Meadows also encouraged them to push for a committee on the weaponization of the federal government, which Jordan now helms as chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Five months later, some of those same Republicans say they are once again turning to Meadows as they ramp up for a brawl over the debt limit. Meadows has been encouraging the far-right flank of the House caucus to stick together in insisting on spending cuts and other demands in exchange for lifting the nations borrowing limit.

Youre talking about one of the founding members of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, said of Meadows.

He obviously wants it to continue to be successful. I think it has been. And so I think his role at CPI is to make sure that occurs, Donalds said, adding that he had not personally spoken to Meadows about the debt limit debate.

When Meadows is in town, he will occasionally pop into Freedom Caucus meetings at CPI or huddle with members of the group beforehand. Norman said Meadows also recently helped him with a fundraiser in North Carolina. And Meadows is also known to dial up members frequently to talk shop.

He called me today and he said that he wanted me to convey to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that he really appreciated her working with me and others on the stock bill, Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch Trump ally, said earlier this month of legislation to restrict lawmakers from trading stocks.

Aside from outreach to lawmakers, Meadows and CPI have also helped congressional offices find and train conservative staffers, particularly when it comes to conducting oversight, multiple sources familiar with the groups work told CNN. That issue has been a top priority for the right now that Republicans are in the majority, and its also an area of expertise for Meadows, who was previously the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee.

Marks in the middle of all that, Jordan said.

A focus on fundraising

Meadows has helped usher in a groundswell of fundraising for CPI over the past two years and has been personally involved in a lot of the organizing fundraisers and courting donors, according to sources familiar with the matter.

According to the non-profits tax filings, CPIs revenues jumped from $7 million in 2020 to more than $45 million in 2021, the year Meadows was brought in as a senior partner to help run the organization with former Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who founded CPI in 2017. DeMint was previously ousted from the Heritage Foundation amid tensions with the board.

Among the donations to CPI: $1 million from Trumps Save America PAC in 2021.

Sources familiar with CPI described Meadows as the working head of the advocacy group, which has spent millions of dollars purchasing several buildings just steps from the Capitol over the past two years. The goal, sources say, is to create a community for Trump-aligned MAGA conservatives.

[CPI] wants Trump conservatives to have a home in Washington, one source familiar with the organization said, adding that the buildings would be used for a variety of purposes, including for retreats and staff trainings. Establishment Democrats and the Mitch McConnells have that and it keeps them here. [CPI] wants to keep [Trump Republicans] here.

The buildings, purchased under limited liability corporations affiliated with CPI, are just down the street from the groups current headquarters, blocks from the Capitol. Among the new real estate acquisitions, which were first reported by Grid News, are two storefronts on Pennsylvania Avenue surrounding a Heritage Foundation office, including the space of the old Capitol Lounge bar popular with congressional staffers of both parties.

Theres even a television studio at CPI so members can do cable TV interviews from the space  Jordan recently did an interview with Fox News from the studio, where he talked about Republican-led investigations into the Biden administration.

Theres a real demand for what (CPI) provides to members. A lot of members like to go over there. I just wish I could get over there more, said Donalds.

CPI did not respond to requests for comment.

A couple rungs below Jesus

Yet even as Meadows maintains close connections in Washington through his perch at CPI, the same cant be said when it comes to the congressional district he once represented.

Meadows greets supporters in front of senior aide Cassidy Hutchinson during a presidential campaign rally for President Trump in Pennsylvania, on October 31, 2020. - Tom Brenner/Reuters

In North Carolinas 11th district, conservative political activists say the once-beloved local congressman has lost his luster and made enemies after he waded into both the primary to replace him and the contentious 2022 Republican Senate primary, where Budd defeated former North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker.

I used to joke it was Jesus and then Mark Meadows in the 11th. He was just a couple rungs below Jesus in western North Carolina. He would arrive and it was like Elvis, said one Republican activist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the political environment there. Now I think hes just kind of a non-factor if you were to talk to anyone in western North Carolina.

Meadows has also decamped from his former congressional district to a home in South Carolina, where he splits his time along with his work in Washington, DC, according to sources.

After the 2020 election, Meadows got into hot water over his voter registration in North Carolina. The state investigated Meadows over registering to vote at a mobile home in Macon County where he had allegedly never lived or even visited, though the states Justice Department said in December there wasnt sufficient evidence to pursue charges.

Meadows is now registered to vote in South Carolina, a county election official confirmed to CNN.

He disconnected his 828 (area code) number, the activist said. Lots of us who had Mark Meadows on speed dial, that was just cut off, boom.

CNNs Paula Reid contributed to this report.

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The president of the union thats been organizing Starbucks stores has a message for the coffee chain: Come to the bargaining table  and make it just one table, not hundreds.

The union Workers United has been trying to negotiate first contracts for the more than 300 Starbucks locations that have formed unions since late 2021. But since those stores unionized one by one, the coffee chain has maintained that each store should negotiate its own contract.

Lynne Fox, the unions president, told HuffPost that workers want to consolidate the talks so they can start making headway on an accord. Workers have gotten nowhere with the company even though many unionized more than a year ago, she said.

The fastest way to do it is in a national framework at one table and bargain these universal issues concurrently, she said.

Fox said Starbucks should agree to a broad contract that sets a national minimum wage, fair scheduling procedures, guaranteed minimum hours and an agreement for union elections moving forward, among other provisions. Regions and individual stores could then add supplemental agreements if they choose to.

But Starbucks said Workers United should stick to negotiating individual contracts since the union has been organizing stores one by one.

This is a deliberate attempt to distract from Workers Uniteds failure or inability to bargain for nearly 300 single stores, as they successfully litigated and enforced on Starbucks, Andrew Trull, a company spokesperson, said in an email. He added that the company has made progres on a contract with workers at a single store in Pennsylvania who joined the Teamsters last year.

None of Starbucks roughly 9,000 corporate-owned U.S. stores had union representation until Workers United started organizing them in 2021. As groundbreaking as the election victories have been, the hardest part was always going to be negotiating a first contract. On average, it takes well over a year for a new union to bargain one, and in many cases unions never succeed due to litigation and employer delays.

Im so proud of these workers. I really admire them. I think theyre shocked that the company they love is treating them so viciously.Lynne Fox, president of Workers United

Prosecutors at the National Labor Relations Board have accused Starbucks of a litany of unfair labor practice charges, including refusing to bargain with workers at 163 stores. The NLRBs board in Washington has already ruled in one case that Starbucks illegally refused to bargain with workers at its Reserve Roastery in Seattle. Prosecutors also say the company broke the law by insisting workers bargain in person, rather than with a Zoom option as the union has proposed.

They have not agreed to a single one of our proposals, nor have they counter-proposed to any of our proposals, Fox said. The company has had 15 of our core proposals for seven months. They have not signed off on a single line or sentence or countered on anything.

Starbucks said it had proposed more than 423 single-store bargaining sessions but that the union had set preconditions for those meetings, such as remote bargaining for workers, that the company would not agree to. The company maintains that negotiating over Zoom is equivalent to recording the sessions.

[W]e believe that in-person bargaining is not only required by federal law, but it will achieve the best outcomes for our partners, Starbucks said.

On Tuesday, Fox sent a letter to Starbucks general counsel, Zabrina Jenkins, calling on the company to get serious about a nationwide deal. Starbucks has employed increasingly outrageous delay tactics that have amounted to an unacceptable repudiation of your 8,000 workers right to bargain a contract, she wrote.

Fox noted that during his recent testimony before the Senate, former CEO Howard Schultz said that negotiating so many contracts at once has created significant complications and obstacles in the collective bargaining process.

Schultz blamed the union for the problem, noting that Workers United petitioned for elections store by store, rather than on a regional basis, as Starbucks proposed. The union would have been less likely to win larger elections since it would have diluted their support in stores that were strongholds.

We now have to be put in a position to negotiate individual stores one by one across the country and set up individual meetings, Schultz lamented.

But Starbucks does not have to negotiate the contracts separately  it could bargain them under a national framework to expedite the process and cut down on the number of lawyers involved. It has chosen not to.

I can only speculate [as to Starbucks motives], but my guess is to purposely complicate the process and elongate the process, Fox told HuffPost. If you want to bargain in good faith, thats not the way you do it.

Starbucks workers strike outside a shop in Brooklyn on November 17, 2022.

Starbucks workers strike outside a shop in Brooklyn on November 17, 2022.

In reality, a company in Starbucks position has little incentive to reach a deal that could encourage more stores to organize. Employers can drag out the process to undermine the broader union effort and make workers believe organizing would be a waste of time. It is illegal for an employer to bargain in bad faith, but the penalties for doing so are notoriously weak.

Trull insisted the company has bargained in good faith all along. We remain engaged and ready to bargain in-person, he said.

The unions leverage with Starbucks grows with each store it organizes  Workers United has won 315 elections, or 81% of those held, according to the NLRB  increasing the odds of the union compelling Starbucks to a single bargaining table to reach a deal. But the pace of organizing has slowed since early 2022, and the union will have to work to hang on to the stores it already organized.

Workers at three union stores in New York recently filed petitions to hold decertification votes to purge the union from those workplaces, though its not clear those efforts will go anywhere. Thats another incentive for employers to stall on a contract  the workforce turns over and union supporters are replaced by union opponents.

Fox said the union anticipated such fights from the beginning.

That was part of, Im sure, the big plan, she said of Starbucks. So that people would move on, there would be turnover, or people just couldnt earn a living and would have to leave to find another job. Were prepared for that.

NLRB prosecutors have filed 94 complaints against Starbucks, accusing the company of illegally firing union supporters, shutting down stores where workers were organizing and withholding raises from unionized workers, among other allegations.

So far, administrative law judges have ruled that Starbucks broke the law in at least 14 separate cases.

Im so proud of these workers. I really admire them. I think theyre shocked that the company they love is treating them so viciously, Fox said. Starbucks could have taken this moment to really be the industry leader and to really validate its workers, and they just chose not to.

Related...
Starlink can now be used on the move almost everywhere on earth

Starlink Mobility can be used while moving, delivering high-speed internet to users through SpaceXs massive constellation of satellites (SpaceX)

SpaceX has launched a new service for its space-based Starlink internet service that allows customers to connect from nearly anywhere on the planet while in motion.

Starlink Mobility uses a receiver that has a wide field of view and improved GPS to connect to SpaceXs constellation of more than 4,000 low-Earth orbit satellites.

SpaceX boss Elon Musk tweeted that it works almost everywhere on Earth, including the middle of oceans and deserts.

The first customers to try out Starlink Mobility are a fleet of school buses in Arizona, SpaceX said, allowing students to stay connected and complete their homework while travelling to and from school.

SpaceX said the new service is ideal for mobile businesses and public sector use cases, including trucking, buses, shuttles, and emergency response.

Subscribers to Starlink Mobility, which costs $250 per month on top of a one-time hardware fee of $2,500, receive network priority over other users during peak hours, meaning emergency responders should avoid losing internet connection.

Starlink Mobility provides 100 per cent coverage in your country and every country where Starlink service is available across the globe, SpaceX states on its website.

Plans can also be used on the ocean, with connectivity available in the vast majority of the Earths oceans and seas.

Starlink is also now available for use while in-motion  https://t.co/7Yja24sLol pic.twitter.com/ZG6MSEJjLj  Starlink (@Starlink) May 23, 2023

The Starlink satellite dish, which is a next-generation version of its standard hardware, is designed to be permanently installed on a customers vehicle, offering the same download speeds of up to 220 Mbps.

SpaceX achieved global coverage of its Starlink internet network last year, four years after launching the first batch of satellites into space. Despite this, some countries have blocked Starlink from operating in its country, such as China and Iran.

SpaceX is hoping to launch a satellite-to-cellphone service that would allow users to connect to its internet constellation without the need for additional hardware, however some service providers fear that it will interfere with existing wireless services.

AT&T in the US urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject SpaceX and T-Mobiles proposal, claiming it would jeopordise or inhibit its own terrestrial service.

Testing of the satellite-to-cell service is expected to begin later this year.
Tennesseans are spending millions of tax dollars on a broken, failing system  the death penalty. According to Rev. Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP), state tax revenues could better be spent on supporting surviving families and other victims of violent crime and expanding access to mental and behavioral health services.

Stacy Rector speaks to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

During a talk to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge recently, she mentioned a recent report by Knoxvilles WBIR-TV that cited a study released almost 20 years ago by the state comptrollers office. According to the analysis, a death penalty trial typically costs almost 50% more than trials of defendants who receive sentences of life without parole or life with the possibility of parole.

Reasons for the higher expenses include the increased number of agencies involved, more preparation time spent by both the prosecution and defense, and more steps in the appeals process. The WBIR report also cited a 2016 study at Susquehanna University. It found that on average death row inmates cost $1.12 million more than general population inmates.

Rector, an ordained Presbyterian minister, said that in Tennessee the convicted murderers most likely to receive the death penalty are people of color who have low incomes, who live in certain counties (primarily, Shelby County, the location of Memphis), who have killed a white person, and who may be mentally ill.

She provided evidence that Shelby County was among the 25 counties in the United States with the most recorded hangings without a trial of Black persons between 1807 and 1950.

"The history of lynching tracks with the locations of the people most likely to get the death penalty," Rector said.

She expressed gratitude that the Tennessee General Assembly did not pass a bill to bring back the firing squad to execute Tennesseans on death row. She added that one lawmaker in utter seriousness asked to amend that bill to include hanging by tree.

Not really guilty

Another problem with the death penalty, she added, is the risk of executing an innocent person.

We just dont get it right all the time, she said. Since 1972, 190 people have been released from death rows across the country after evidence of their innocence came to light. For every eight executions in the United States since 1972, weve let somebody go because we were wrong.

Since 1972, she added, 67% of the individuals on death row who were later shown to be innocent were convicted partly because of official misconduct by the police and prosecutors. Official misconduct was much higher in cases involving defendants of color.

Rector said the existence of the death penalty in Tennessee exerts harmful impacts on the mental and physical health of the families of murder victims and the individuals on death row, as well as on attorneys, judges and jurors in capital trials.

Any of us in this room could be asked to decide whether a person lives or dies based on whatever evidence happens to be presented, which we may find out later isnt the full story, Rector said.

She noted that three-fourths of the states have repealed the death penalty (23 states, including Virginia in 2021, the first Southern state) or not used it in the past decade (14).

The good news, she remarked, is that since 2013 only three people in Tennessee have been sentenced to death.

The 49 people on our states death row were sentenced in a very different time back in the 1980s and 1990s," she said.

One of the men on death row was Pervis Payne. TADP publicized the need to get him off death row because of his intellectual disability. Thanks to the work of his lawyers and lawmakers, a court finally ruled in 2021 that he should not be executed for that reason.

According to Rector, a Vanderbilt University poll last year showed that 53% of Tennesseans support alternatives to the death penalty when given the options of the death penalty and its alternatives. Many people she has talked with agree that the death penalty does not make people safer, does not help prevent future violent crimes and does not provide better access to mental and behavioral healthcare (especially for children exposed to abuse and trauma, as usually had been the case for many on death row).

The death penalty also causes mental health problems for poorly paid staff in the Department of Corrections who must carry out executions, she said. They got a break last year because Gov. Bill Lee stopped the planned executions of five men by lethal injection. The reason: the governor became aware of violations in the protocol of testing and handling the drugs. Rector lauded the lawyer Lee hired for his excellent report on the states horribly broken lethal injection situation.

Knowing that its a system in disarray, TADP and other organizations have been pushing for transparency concerning this execution method. We want to remove the secrecy around lethal injection in Tennessee, Rector said. We want to know who sells the drugs to the state, what the state pays for the drugs, where they come from and if theyre legal.

Lee recently hired a new commissioner of corrections from the state of Arizona, Frank Strada.

He has fought very hard to keep everything secret, Rector said. We are not going to give up on getting the information. If youre going to execute people, it should be done in the light of day, so citizens of this state know whats happening.

She cited Radley Balkos chilling opinion piece in the Washington Post. It gave an example of a Supreme Court ruling that expediency and procedure trump getting to the truth (of a persons innocence), administering actual justice and ensuring that innocent people are not executed. In the 6-3 Shinn v. Ramirez ruling in which Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion, the Supreme Court legalized an unthinkable position.

Even though it did not find unpersuasive the innocence claims of Barry Lee Jones, a man on Arizonas death row, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal courts were barred from considering them, Rector said.

Balko wrote, Every court to consider the actual merits of Barry Joness innocence claim has ruled that he should never have been convicted of murder. And every court to rule against Jones did so for procedural reasons without considering the new evidence. If Jones is executed, it will not be because there is overwhelming evidence of his guilt. It will be because of a technicality.

I feel like were in trouble and weve lost our way, Rector concluded. There should be no circumstance where innocence is beside the point in our justice system.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: State spends millions of dollars on death row inmates
The Stockton Unified School District's Arthur Coleman Jr. Administrative Complex is located at 56 South Lincoln Street in downtown Stockton on July 13, 2022.

California K-12 schools fare very well in Gov. Gavin Newsoms May revise to the states budget and Stockton Unified should think long-term when passing their upcoming spending plan, according to an education fiscal expert.

Under Newsoms revised budget, California school districts and community colleges would receive $106.8 billion  the same sticker-price as last year and about $4 billion less than the record education budget in 2021, which included COVID-19 money.

"As we prepare for more risk and uncertainties ahead, its critical that we keep the state on a solid footing to protect Californians and our progress in remaking the future for our state, Newsom said in his May Revise announcement May 12.

School districts and community colleges lose about 40 cents for every dollar the state takes away from their overall budget, said Mike Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a state education audit agency.

He said the governor stayed consistent with his January budget proposal promise of an 8.22% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, which puts money in the base grants of the Local Control Funding Formula, Californias school funding roadmap used by districts since 2013.

The average COLA is 3-4%  getting a COLA of 8.2% is over double the norm, Fine said. (COLA) is the most unrestricted general fund money there is. In exchange, theyre cutting (schools) on some one-time resources they were given this year.

That means taking back billions of dollars schools thought they already had: half of the $3.6 billion Arts, Music and Instructional Materials Block Grant, up from about a third in January, and a third of the $7.9 billion learning recovery block grant.

Fine said California schools generally fare well with these proposed changes given the uncertainty and contraction in the economy. His only criticism of the governor's May Revise was using reverting one-time funds to an ongoing commitment.

To the tune of over $3 billion, that means that next year, the state starts the Prop. 98 budget upside down, Fine said. They have an ongoing commitment to the COLA, but they dont have ongoing dollars, necessarily, to fund the COLA  that adds to the burden a year from now of state solutions.

With the end of the billions in Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief money and a contracting economy bordering on a potential recession, the stars are aligning for a tough fiscal year in 2024-25, Fine said.

The state is setting a bad example in that regard, Fine said. We say you spend one-time money for one-time purposes. Otherwise, you end up in a bind  the state has a lot more tools available to work itself out of that bind than a local school district does.

The San Joaquin County Office of Education has repeatedly reprimanded Stockton Unified for its use of one-time ESSER funds for reoccurring costs. In January, the district had 163 jobs tied to the one-time COVID relief funds.

Stockton Unified administrators still havent hashed out how to use their $242 million in ESSER funds. Any relief money unspent by September 2024 must be returned to the federal government.

This is 2023; the pandemic was three years ago. You havent figured out in three years what your priorities are? My goodness, Fine said. How can you spend ESSER funds in a thoughtful way that impacts kids and potentially protects your general fund for another year?

Fine said the Stockton Unifieds budget team should plan long term and preserve cash when they bring their budget to the board of trustees this summer  there are no shortcuts to be made, he said. Interim Chief Business Official Joann Juarez, who leads the team at Stockton Unified responsible for building the budget, has already handed in her resignation letter.

More: Stockton Unified has serious technical budgeting concerns, deficit spending

Every district, especially districts that are in declining enrollment  youve got to think more than one year, Fine said. (Stockon Unified) needs to go into this with their eyes wide open.

In February, Fines agency released the results of an AB 139 Extraordinary Audit that found sufficient evidence that fraud has occurred at Stockton Unified; FCMAT is also midway through a fiscal health analysis of the district.

I would certainly hope that the district has looked at itself very carefully, Fine said. Clearly, they had to go pull all that data for us, and they should be noticing that data, enrollment trends  (and) the LCFF calculations.

Fine said Stockton Unified would do well by using the May Revise as their roadmap for budgeting, as the governors latest proposal will likely be the most conservative of the iterations to follow as the state legislature hashes out the final financial plan.

If the legislature and the governor agree on a different approach, it would probably be not as deep of a cut, Fine said. The legislature values the arts and music (grant) and learning recovery (grant). Those were legislative priorities.

The Legislative Analysts Office recommends the state legislature scraps Newsoms plan lessening the cuts to the one-time grants and reducing the COLA to 5.1%.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Fiscal expert weighs in on Stockton Unified budget amidst May revise
Stop Asian Hate drove a funding surge for AAPI startups and nonprofits. What comes next?

The surge in activism to combat pandemic-era discrimination and violence against Asian American and Pacific Islanders didnt just raise awareness, it raised money.

Over the past several years, the Stop Asian Hate movement has driven a funding windfall to AAPI-led nonprofits and businesses that their leaders say has been indispensable. With the health crisis receding and the economy slowing, the organizations say theyre now focused on sustaining their momentum and warn against backsliding on recent gains.

The flood of donations and investment has buoyed AAPI-led ventures ranging from food delivery startups to political engagement advocacy groups.

The Asian American Foundation, launched in 2021, said it landed more than $1 billion in commitments. Its supporters include corporate partners like Amazon and Nike, as well as foundations like the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The foundation in turn has directly funded organizations aligned with its initiatives to counter Asian hate, improve access to AAPI studies, support the arts and increase representation in business.

Among the more than 100 grantees that have received foundation funds: Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Asian American Education Project and the Center for Asian American Media.

Broadly speaking, the nonprofit space has grown by magnitudes since 2020.

Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, a Los Angeles-based group aimed at improving representation in classrooms and boardrooms across the country, saw its revenue double.

While grateful for the growth, Leadership Education President and CEO Linda Akutagawa said she worries about the cyclical nature of nonprofit funding. It comes in and it goes out, or it stops, she said.

Before high-profile discrimination and a surge in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans in recent years drew fresh attention to AAPI causes nationwide, many had been historically overlooked for charitable contributions. A 2018 study from Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy found that for every $100 donated by foundations for philanthropic reasons, just 20 cents was given to AAPI communities.

NYPD officers hand out information about hate crimes occurring in Asian communities on March 17, 2021 in New York. (David Dee Delgado / Getty Images file)

I hope that what Im seeing is just a small blip jump-starting a sustained uptick in support, Akutagawa said, so that theres at least a little bit more equity in the support that were getting from philanthropic entities.

Entrepreneurs have also seen a flood of money coming recently, a welcome development after widespread difficulties early in the pandemic, when Asian American businesses were particularly hard hit. Many of those businesses, which may have experienced more barriers in applying for Paycheck Protection Program loans, continue to operate on thin margins.

In a 2022 survey of more than 700 AAPI business owners, the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship found that two in three businesses needed additional credit or financing over the preceding year to keep afloat.

While growing her Brooklyn-based food delivery service Umamicart, Andrea Xu landed funding from Gold House Ventures, a nonprofit collective that helped promote the Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once. Last year, Gold House launched a $30 million venture fund thanks to investments from individual donors, including DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and TV host and author Padma Lakshmi, as well as venture firms such as Lightspeed and Bain Capital.

Umamicart boxes are packaged with food items not readily accessible at American grocery stores. (NBC News)

Gold House was among a group of investors that in 2021 gave $6 million in seed capital to Umamicart, which ships Asian groceries and foods from Brooklyn to customers as far away as Virginia. For Xu, there is a dramatic difference between pitching the business to a traditional venture capital firm and an AAPI-focused fund like Gold House.

The reality is, when you walk into a VC funds boardroom, its still mostly white, mostly men, Xu said, adding that it was sometimes hard to explain the need to offer multiple types of soy sauce. Gold House can connect with other VC investors and explain what this market is, why it is different, et cetera.

Umamicart founder Andrea Xu. (NBC News)

Megan Ruan, a general partner with Gold House, said the creation of the fund comes as major corporations take bigger roles in supporting historically overlooked communities. She pointed to the murder of George Floyd three years ago, which sparked a nationwide conversation about systemic racism and the business communitys role in addressing it.

Were just seeing a lot more interest in coming together as a community, seeing a lot more capital being allocated toward multicultural founders of all kinds, Ruan said.

About a third of Gold Houses fund has been invested into Umamicart and 67 other companies, Ruan said, and she expects a second fund to be even larger  despite growing concerns over a slowing economy. That is partly because the AAPI communitys visibility continues to advance, she said, particularly in ways that extend beyond mere representation.

The mainstream success of movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once and the critically acclaimed Netflix series Beef, along with pop stars like Filipina American Olivia Rodrigo, amount to a growing cultural clout that donors and investors cannot ignore.

Communities and organizations gain visibility, and gain momentum and traction, because theyre successful, Ruan said. People dont contribute money and contribute time and resources over time out of pity.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A recently released song about everyones favorite grocery chain is a certified bop.

On May 19, brothers Dana and Alden McWayne (of the band Dana and Alden) released their new song, Lets Go To Trader Joes, which shows young love can bloom as much in Paris or Madrid as much as it can in the aisles of a grocery store.

The full single, which features Tiny Habits singer Cinya Khan, arrives much to the excitement of the bands legion of fans on TikTok, where a set of snippets from the track have gone viral on lyricist and drummer Alden's popular account, @gucci_pineapple, in the past few weeks.

Lets go to Trader Joes! Khan and Alden say in unison at the start of a TikTok preview for the track posted May 5. The vintage-filtered clip starts with the pair standing in front of a Trader Joes, iconic paper bag in hand, before switching to the stores interior.

Youre as sweet as lemon tea/ Youre mushy like pumpkin pie, Khan and Alden sing in traded-off lines in their sweet duet, holding store items and rolling a cart through the shop. In my bag like grocery/ Meet me in the yogurt aisle.

The 21-second clip has garnered an astonishing 1.5 million views on TikTok and another 1.1 million on Instagram for just one snippet, but other previews of the song have also taken off: a video taken at another Trader Joes, a live performance, one where McWayne plays the track for a TJs employee and another filmed at the vocalists recent graduation from Berklee College of Music, complete with their mothers dancing along.

All in all, the earworm has garnered more than 7 million views across Alden's social media platforms. The catchy and quirky tune has started a bit of a trend on TikTok, with customers using the song to soundtrack their trips to the store and show off their TJs hauls.

The track, written, composed and accompanied by the McWayne brothers has also attracted a following of Trader Joes employees, many of whom have used the video to accompany long days and late nights at work, racking up hundreds of thousands of views themselves.

I think food is my principal muse in life, Alden tells TODAY.com. Two summers ago, I made this kind of love song about my girlfriend, laying in the grass and then going grocery shopping. For me, its just a fun little tune. I didnt really have any endgame.

Many of the duos other tracks have distinctly culinary titles, from Coconut Water to Serrano (like the chile) to Apple Butter, which the singer says was inspired by the brothers' experience working on an apple orchard in their hometown of Eugene, Oregon during their childhood.

Alden and Dana McWayne of band Dana and Alden. (Courtesy Alden McWayn)

We grew up in a food-loving family; food was always a part of any celebration we had, Dana tells TODAY.com. The older of the pair, he can be heard in the tracks smooth saxophone notes and is a keyboardist as well. Although music artist quickly, quickly produced this track with Alden, many of the duos' other tracks are produced by Dana from Oregon  all while he works as an organic farm inspector.

"He composes most of our music," says Alden about how they collaborated while he was in Boston for college, adding that Dana would work on a track and send it to him to work on. "In between classes, I would run into a practice room and I would voice my beat  I would drum on top of the song he sent, then text them all the beats and run back to class."

After collaborating states away, they went into the studio to record audio gold. "We had like all of these demos ready, because we've been remotely collaborating," Alden adds.

Dana says their grandmother Mary Ellen played a big part in the brothers shared love of TJs.

She is probably Trader Joes biggest customer as far as gross sales over a lifetime. Whenever she visited us, she took us to Trader Joes and then we would go home and eat cheese and crackers with her. Thats like a core memory, Dana says. I think the combination of loving eating and then loving working on the farm played a huge role in our lives, and that has come out in our music.

I was just, like, bored and feeling silly, Alden adds.

So many people have reached out to us saying that they either cant get it out of their head or havent stopped listening to it, Dana says. Loving like the goofiness that we put out into the world with that song.

When asked if the pair plan on releasing a full-length video for the track, Alden says no, since the parts of the video that are already out were all filmed vertically for TikTok. But he says hes planning on releasing more clips on social media.

We have more music coming very soon, and were really excited to share more music with the world, Alden says, adding that it includes another single and then a whole album this summer. Its been so fun for me and Dana, brothers, to share this experience. We played a sold out show in Boston last Monday, and everyone knew the lyrics to Trader Joes already. It was cool to see the passion spreading.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Amy, seen here on Strictly come dancing with contestant JJ Chalmers, says she wants to share the news to help others

Strictly dancer Amy Dowden has revealed she has been diagnosed with grade three breast cancer.

The 32-year-old was diagnosed last week after checking more often following a charity trek for the disease.

Already a campaigner for awareness for Crohn's Disease, Amy said she hoped sharing her diagnosis would help others and herself in her recovery.

"If I can try and turn this negative into a positive, it's going to help me get through this."

Amy, from Caerphilly, who became a Strictly Come Dancing professional 2017, shared her interview with Hello! magazine on Instagram, telling her 328,000 followers of her diagnosis.

She said: "Hey all, I've got some news which isn't easy to share. I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I'm determined to get back on that dancefloor before you know it. Welsh love Amy."

Amy has been on the dance show since 2017 and has publicly shared her struggles with having Crohn's disease

Amy is already an active campaigner for Crohn's Disease and ambassador for Crohn's & Colitis UK.

"I've been through quite a lot in my life and this is another hurdle," Amy told Hello! magazine.

"But if I'm positive and strong, I've got a really good chance of getting back out on the dancefloor as soon as possible.

"With what I've done for Crohn's, I want to do the same here," said Amy, who made a BBC documentary, Strictly Amy: Crohn's and Me, to help raise awareness of the chronic disease.

"You just don't ever think it's going to happen to you," she said.

"I hadn't thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age. My mum has had breast cancer, but she had it at a later age, in her 50s."

Amy says she is trying to be positive whilst waiting to hear what treatment she will need

Amy discovered the lump in April, a day before she was due to fly on her honeymoon to the Maldives with husband Ben.

"I was in the shower and I felt this hard lump in my right breast," said Amy.

"I was in shock. I checked again. I thought: 'Right, it could just be period-related, or so many things. I decided I was going to keep an eye on it for a few weeks."

She said on holiday however she was putting lotion on every day and could feel it more.

Graphic showing how to check your breasts for cancer

Worried the stress would flare up her Crohn's, she went straight to the doctors when she was home.

After an emergency referral from her GP, she said "everything happened so fast" and was told she would need someone with her for the results.

She said one of her first thoughts was how long it would take her to get back on the dancefloor.

Amy is still waiting to hear more before she is given a full treatment plan but said it will definitely include surgery.

What is grade three cancer?

Cancer is separated into different grades depending on how quickly it is developing, according to the NHS, whereas staging is used to indicate how far it has spread.

Grade three means the cancer cells look abnormal and may grow or spread more aggressively. But Amy does not yet have information on her cancer's stage.

"I don't know what stage the cancer is yet, until I have an MRI scan and a biopsy on a second lump they have found in the same breast. Once they've got that, they can give me a full prognosis," said Amy.

Amy said she has learned to take her Crohn's in her stride and said she was using that same mental strength after her cancer diagnosis.

"I'm going to be as positive as I can and I want everybody who is surrounding me to also be positive - that's really important," she says. "I want put out there how important it is to check your chest - whether you're male or female."

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With the stroke of a pen we could close this vaping loophole | Opinion

Welcome to NC Voices, where leaders, readers and experts from across North Carolina can speak on issues affecting our communities. Send submissions of 350 words or fewer to opinion@charlotteobserver.com.

Vaping: Fix this federal loophole

The writer was a Democratic member of Congress from N.C., 2007-13.

Napoleon supposedly warned that if you start taking Vienna, you need to finish the job and actually take Vienna. Well, North Carolina has started cracking down on flavored vape companies that continue to target the states youth. The federal government should finish the job by doing whatever it takes to keep these products out of minors hands.

Instead, it is inadvertently encouraging young people to vape by allowing disposable e-cigarettes to remain available.

The 2019 North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey found that more than one-fifth of N.C. high school students use e-cigarettes, with usage ballooning by 1,129% between 2011 and 2019. This isnt supposed to be the case. Three years ago, the FDA took action to ban flavored e-cigarettes. However, the process didnt go far enough. FDA has continued to allow flavored disposable vaping products, and minors have continued to use them.

A recent government study found that over 2.5 million adolescents are using e-cigarettes today, with most using flavored, disposable products. North Carolina is feeling the pain. Stories of abuse and overdose are becoming all too commonplace.

The federal government can help extinguish this youth smoking problem effortlessly  with the stroke of a pen  by adding flavored disposable vapes to its 2020 administrative guidance.

Why wouldnt it? Americas public health experts have been clear on how significantly this loophole has affected minors in our state. Mark Schoeberl, an American Heart Association vice president, says its critical to close the disposable e-cigarette loophole, which has kept dangerous products with kid-friendly flavors on the market and easily accessible to our nations youth.

I couldnt agree more. It is time to finally take Vienna. Doing so would mark a significant win for President Biden, who has made his desire to end the youth smoking crisis clear. Its a move that parents, educators and lawmakers in this state wont soon forget.

Heath Shuler, Asheville

Get to know your AAIP neighbors

On Jan. 11, 2023, the number of Asian-American state legislators increased from three to five in North Carolina when Rep. Maria Cervania and I joined Sens. Jay Chaudhuri, Michael Lee, and Mujtaba Mohammed in the General Assembly.

We now have two South Asian Americans, one Chinese American, one Taiwanese American, and one Filipino American representing one of the fastest-growing demographics in the state. As one of the first Asian American women elected to the legislature, it was humbling and surreal to see an Asian last name on the voting board.

According to the 2020 census, there are 441,478 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living in North Carolina, 4.1% of our total population.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAIP) Heritage Month. As we pull out of the pandemic, let us not forget that hate crimes against Asian Americans surged in the U.S. during COVID, with more than 2,100 anti-Asian American hate incidents reported between March and June 2020, including incidents in the Triangle area.

A local Chinese American doctor faced verbal attacks and was asked why he brought the virus here by the very patient he was attending. Other AAPI healthcare workers endured verbal and physical attacks while risking their lives to save patients.

Despite all of this, the Chinese American community showed incredible kindness during the pandemic. In spring 2020, our state experienced a severe shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the peak of the pandemic. The Chinese American community and related organizations donated $500,000 worth of PPE to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Chinese international students at UNC Chapel Hill and their parents donated 100,000 medical masks to UNC hospital, Duke Hospital, Cary police, Cary firefighters and several senior homes in Cary.

Stories and contributions of Asian Americans are not often highlighted by mainstream media. I encourage you to make efforts to get to know your Asian American neighbors and friends. Ask about their cultures and heritage  this month and every month.

Rep. Ya Liu, Raleigh
Su-24 Storm Shadow

A photo released by the Ukrainian government depicts a Ukrainian Air Force Su-24 Fencer combat jet armed with a Storm Shadow conventionally armed cruise missile supplied by the United Kingdom. The image goes a long way to confirm the use of the Su-24 as the launch platform for those missiles. The Su-24 is one of just two Ukrainian Air Force types that we have, in the past, highlighted as readily feasible launch platforms for this weapon.

The photo in question appears in a tweet from Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraines minister of defense, relating to the visit to Kyiv today by his U.K. counterpart Ben Wallace. Against a background of Ukrainian and British flags, there is an official photo of Reznikov shaking hands with Wallace, another of the British minister of defense giving the thumbs-up, and finally, a photo that appears to have been presented to Reznikov for Wallace to sign.

https://twitter.com/oleksiireznikov/status/1661324917856501765?s=20

https://twitter.com/Global_Mil_Info/status/1661388059567349760?s=20

This photo shows a Su-24 with a Storm Shadow carried under the fixed wing glove pylon, on the right-hand side of the jet. The photo has been signed by Wallace and carries the words: To all the brave few who risk all for the glory of Ukraine.

A higher-resolution version of the same photo obtained by the Ukraine Weapons Tracker account on Twitter reveals more details, including the identity of the aircraft pictured: a Su-24MR Fencer-E reconnaissance version, rather than a Su-24M strike aircraft, assigned to the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade.

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1661410105366020107?s=20

Its not clear if the photo is a genuine capture of a Su-24 launching for a mission with a Storm Shadow, although its notable that the landing gear appears to have been retracted very quickly if that is the case, so it could also be a low-level flyby. On the other hand, even if the image was digitally manipulated to show a Storm Shadow, it would appear to confirm that the Su-24 is the launch aircraft for this missile. Its possible the Su-27 could be outfitted with it, as well, but having two types carry it at the beginning of its introduction to service would be less likely.

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1523244393695944706?s=20

Subsequently, the same composite image was posted by the Ukrainian Air Force, on its Twitter page, with the message: What a picture. It was then swiftly removed, with a screencap provided below:

via Twitter

In the past, we have discussed how the Su-24 and perhaps also the Su-27 Flanker jet would be the likely candidates as Storm Shadow shooters. We have since learned that the missile has already been used in combat, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense, but no more details were provided at that time. In the meantime, however, the Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed Ukraine has used Storm Shadows to attack the city of Luhansk. Photos purporting to show debris from at least one of the missiles have been circulating online.

https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1658041608703561728?s=20

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1657543222300667904?s=20

The Ukrainian Air Forces MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets and Su-25 Frogfoot attack jets would be a poor fit to carry the Storm Shadow, each of which weighs almost 2,900 pounds. The heaviest weapons routinely carried by the MiG-29 and Su-25 are only around 1,100 pounds each. The heaviest-lifting stores pylons on the Frogfoot can only accommodate weapons of 1,100 pounds, and heavier weapons are rarely ever seen on any early-model MiG-29s.

The larger Fencer and Flanker have much greater payload capacities and the Su-24, in particular, can routinely carry weapons of over 3,300 pounds each.

A Ukrainian Su-24M lands during the Clear Sky 2018 exercise at Starokostyantyniv. GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images

Interestingly, the Su-24MR reconnaissance jet seen in the photo does not otherwise carry offensive weaponry and actually lacks the Orion attack radar or Kayra laser/TV system used in conjunction with Soviet-era air-to-ground missiles.

https://twitter.com/CombatAir/status/1661341815176404992?s=20

However, its possible that the smaller number of Su-24MR airframes are in less demand for reconnaissance work, which could make them more available for conversion to carry Storm Shadows. That would leave the hard-worked fleet of Su-24Ms to continue their usual offensive missions with Soviet-era ordnance, such as the Kh-25ML (AS-10 Karen) air-to-ground missile, seen below.

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1557238552072699904?s=20

It could also be the case that the urgency of the Storm Shadow integration has seen both Su-24M and Su-24MR aircraft adapted, based on their availability. After all, open-source intelligence indicates that Ukraine has lost at least 17 Su-24s (the vast majority of them strike versions) since the full-scale Russian invasion, although it has also managed to return some previously-stored aircraft to operational status.

https://twitter.com/kirkjamestkirk/status/1661351318584279041?s=20

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1514704557816913931?s=20

As to what kinds of modifications have been conducted to integrate the Storm Shadow on the Su-24, this remains unclear. In theory, however, the process shouldnt be too complicated, with the Storm Shadow missile being preprogrammed with target coordinates before flight, meaning there is no need for an interface allowing the aircraft to feed new targeting data in before launch. This would also mean that the missile could be launched by a Su-24MR, too, since the attack radar and laser/TV system wouldnt be required.

What we do know is that Ukraine has already successfully introduced to combat other modern Western air-launched weapons launched from its Soviet-era aircraft. In particular, the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) has been integrated on the MiG-29 and Su-27, while the Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) has also been integrated, on a still-unconfirmed platform or platforms.

A Ukrainian Air Force video showing its MiG-29s carrying and firing AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, or HARMs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5nWxN1ymW4

As far as we know, the Storm Shadow is the longest-range standoff weapon to be delivered to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. In the past, we have looked at the significant capability boost that the Storm Shadow provides Ukraine. You can read that in-depth analysis here.

https://twitter.com/ForcesNews/status/1661299295805403136?s=20

However, the Storm Shadows have apparently been supplied with Kyivs assurance that they wont be used against targets in the Russian Federation. The United Kingdom has said that the weapons will be used only within Ukraines sovereign territory  although that would not rule out strikes against Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, also including Crimea.

The range of the Storm Shadow is just at the edge of the distance between Ukrainian-controlled territory and Sevastopol, in Crimea. But launching from optimum altitude would require flying directly into Russian air defenses that spill deeply into Ukrainian-controlled territory. The strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge is well beyond the range of Storm Shadow fired from the front lines, but a counteroffensive could change all this. ISW

But there is also a possibility that even longer-range weapons could reach the Ukrainian Air Force in the future. Following Frances pledge to deliver the SCALP-EG, which is very similar to Storm Shadow, it emerged today that Germany could follow suit and provide Ukraine with conventionally armed cruise missiles, in the form of the air-launched Taurus KEPD 350. This weapon will be discussed in a forthcoming article.

In the meantime, we look forward to more details emerging of Ukraines combat use of the Storm Shadow.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com
Russia claims victory over "Ukrainian nationalists" in border region

Xinhua) 11:07, May 24, 2023

MOSCOW, May 23 (Xinhua) -- "A Ukrainian nationalist formation" that broke into Russia's Belgorod region on Monday has been defeated, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"During a counter-terrorist operation, the nationalist formation was blocked and destroyed due to air strikes, artillery fire and active action by the units of the Western Military District that covers the state border," the ministry said in a statement.

The "remaining nationalists" were pushed back into Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until wholly eliminated, said the statement. They lost over 70 people, four armored fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks.

The Ukrainian side has denied involvement in the incursion. Two anti-government paramilitary groups in Russia were behind the operation in the Belgorod region, which aimed to create a "security strip" to protect Ukrainian civilians, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.

The Belgorod region, located next to Ukraine's Kharkov region, has recently been a center of hostilities. On Tuesday, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported several drone attacks that caused damage to local private residential buildings.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Hong Kong (CNN)  Trade between Russia and China is expected to hit a new record level of $200 billion this year, according to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during his trip to China, as Moscow faces growing isolation from the West.

Russia has been hit by unprecedented Western sanctions since it unleashed a devastating war against Ukraine and has been shut out of much of the global economy.

But China, which has declared no limits to its friendship with its northern neighbor, has thrown the Kremlin an economic lifeline, tempering the impact of its banishment from the global financial system.

Last year, bilateral trade jumped nearly 30% to a record $190 billion, mainly boosted by China buying Russian energy. This year, their trade continued to surge, up 41% in the first four months, according to Chinese customs figures.

I believe that this year we will be able to achieve the goals set by the two countries leaders and bring the total trade to $200 billion, Mishustin said during a speech at the China-Russia business forum in Shanghai on Tuesday, according to Chinas state-run Global Times.

That will be one year ahead of the schedule set by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2019.

Energy cooperation with China remains Russias absolute priority, Mishustin said.

On Wednesday, Chinas Premier Li Qiang met with Mishustin in Beijing, and said the country was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a new level, according to Reuters.

Mishustin, meanwhile, said the two governments are making a coordinate effort to implement the agreements reached between Xi and Putin in their March meeting to a supreme level, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

The premier also emphasized its relations are at an unprecedentedly high level and mutual respect to each others interests, TASS reported.

Mishustin is expected to also meet with Xi on Wednesday.

Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia to become Chinas largest crude oil supplier since February, according to most statistics from Chinas customs authority.

The two countries have also planned to build the Power-of-Siberia 2 pipeline to deliver more Russian gas to China via Mongolia. The project is not yet finalized. But Putin said in March that the three countries had completed all agreements on finishing the pipeline, and that Russia will deliver at least 98 billion cubic meters of gas to China by 2030.

Alexander Novak, Russias Deputy Prime Minister, said Russias energy supply to China could increase about 40% this year, the Global Times reported.

The $200 billion figure also means China will buy more agricultural products from Russia, and Chinese companies will produce more cars locally in the country, the paper cited other Russian officials at the forum as saying.

The two countries will enhance financial cooperation as well, Mishustin said.

Andrey Kostin, CEO of Russias state bank VTB, said at the forum that Russias central bank has been stockpiling the yuan and has provided the yuan and rubles for more than 70% of the two countries trade.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Russia predicts trade with China will hit record $200 billion in 2023."
Sudanese still await aid on day two of tense ceasefire

Men sit outside a burnt-out bank building in southern Khartoum

Fighting eased in Sudan on Wednesday, the second full day of a ceasefire that has allowed beleaguered civilians to venture out, even as they await safe aid corridors and escape routes.

Sporadic air strikes and artillery fire have still boomed across the capital, residents told AFP, but US and Saudi observers said "fighting in Khartoum appeared to be less intense" since the one-week humanitarian pause entered into force late Monday.

Washington and Riyadh, which brokered the ceasefire between the forces of two rival generals, however pointed to reports "indicating that both sides violated the agreement".

Nonetheless, they stressed preparations were underway "to deliver lifesaving assistance" to the people of Sudan, who have endured more than five weeks of fighting that has claimed more than 1,800 lives, according to updated figures released Wednesday by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

Aid agencies had already been ramping up deliveries despite the killing of some of their workers, looting of their facilities, and most hospitals being unable to function in conflict areas.

Humanitarians have sought safe corridors so assistance can reach the 25 million Sudanese -- half the population -- who the UN says need aid.

The war broke out on April 15, sparking frantic mass evacuations of thousands of foreigners and forcing more than 1.3 million people to flee their homes internally and across borders.

The chaos has left millions hunkering down in their homes to hide from the bullets and roaming looters amid power blackouts and shortages of water, food, medicines and other staples.

Residents in various district of the capital on Wednesday reported columns of black smoke rising as some fighting continued.

"In spite of successive ceasefires, civilians continue to be exposed to serious risk of death and injury," United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said.

The relative calm provided a chance for some to venture out.

Khartoum resident Ali Mohammed said the water supply still had not been restored on Wednesday, "but at least I was able to go out and buy water for my family".

Mohammed Taher, 55, was finally able to "go to Khartoum's central market five kilometres (three miles) away to buy food and return without incident", he said.

- 'Trajectory of collapse' -

The relative calm gave Ihssan Dafaallah the chance to take his mother to a doctor, "because she had gone without medicine for 20 days".

In southern Khartoum, men sat on plastic chairs in front of a burned out bank building.

The fighting pits Sudan's de facto leader, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, nicknamed "Hemeti", who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Battles have displaced more than a million people inside Sudan, the International Organization for Migration reported on Wednesday, with a further 319,000 people seeking refuge across borders.

Numerous ceasefires were previously announced and immediately violated, but the US and Saudi Arabia said this one is different because it is a signed deal supervised by a monitoring committee.

A mass exodus has continued into neighbouring countries, including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan, sparking regional fears the conflict will spread across borders because of transnational ethnic ties.

Fighting has been especially deadly in the Darfur region, where more than 700 fatalities have been reported in the West Darfur state capital El Geneina since the war began, ACLED said.

In the early 2000s Sudan's then strongman Omar al-Bashir unleashed in Darfur the notorious Janjaweed militia in response to an uprising against the power and wealth of Sudan's Arab elites.

An estimated 300,000 people may have died and more than 2.7 million were displaced at the peak of the years-long conflict, from which Darfur has never fully recovered.

The RSF are descendants of the Janjaweed.

- 'Somali scenario' -

Sudan expert Alex de Waal warned the "trajectory of state collapse" is now threatening "to turn Sudan as a whole, including Khartoum, into something that resembles the Darfur of 10 to 15 years ago".

He pointed to Daglo's roots in the Janjaweed and said this "is the environment within which Hemeti thrived, where money and guns determine everything - this is the future of Sudan if this carries on".

Jean-Nicolas Armstrong Dangelser of aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that, after the looting of an MSF medical warehouse in Khartoum,

"fridges were unplugged and medicines removed", meaning "the medicines are spoiled and can't be used to treat anyone".

The violation of humanitarian principles and space for aid workers to operate "is shrinking on a scale I've rarely seen before", he said.

Like many Sudanese citizens, Yasser Abdelaziz, a civil servant in the northern town of Shendi, said he fears a war worse than other Middle East conflicts and more like the turmoil seen elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.

"I'm afraid that the scenario to come will not be Syria, Libya or Yemen," he said, "but the Somali scenario, with people driven by racism and tribalism".

bur/it/dv
A backlit owl egg almost ready to hatch (National Centre for Birds of Prey/ Screengrab)

In the Unfinished Fable of the Sparrows, a group of small birds come up with a plan to capture an owl egg and raise the chick as their servant. How easy life would be, they say, if the owl could work for them, and they could live a life of leisure. Despite warnings from members of their flock that they should first figure out how to tame an owl before they raise one, the sparrows devote all their efforts to capturing an egg.

This tale, as its title suggests, does not have an ending. Its author, Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom, deliberately left it open-ended as he believes that humanity is currently in the egg hunting phase when it comes to superhuman AI.

In his seminal work on artificial intelligence, titled Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, the Oxford University professor posits that AI may well destroy us if we are not sufficiently prepared. Superintelligence, which he describes as an artificial intelligence that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest, may be a lot closer than many realise, with AI experts and leading industry figures warning that it may be just a few years away.

On Monday, the creator of ChatGPT echoed Professor Bostroms 2014 book by warning that the seemingly exponential progress of AI technology in recent years means that the imminent arrival of superintelligence is inevitable  and we need to start preparing for it before its too late.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman, whose companys AI chatbot is the fastest growing app in history, has previously described Professor Bostroms book as the best thing Ive seen on this topic. Just a year after reading it, Mr Altman co-founded OpenAI alongside other similarly worried tech leaders like Elon Musk and Ilya Sutskever in order to better understand and mitigate against the risks of advanced artificial intelligence.

Initially launched as a non-profit, OpenAI has since transformed into arguably the leading private AI firm  and potentially the closest to achieving superintelligence.

Mr Altman believes superintelligence has the potential to not only offer us a life of leisure by doing all the majority of our labour, but also holds the key to curing diseases, eliminate suffering and transforming humanity into an interstellar species.

Any attempts to block its progress, he wrote this week, would be unintuitively risky and would require something like a global surveillance regime that would be virtually impossible to implement.

the future can be so good that it's hard for any of us to imagine. my basic take on this is that we will have 'unlimited' intelligence and energy, and all that will unlock.



but the risks grow with the upside.  Sam Altman (@sama) May 1, 2022

It is already difficult to understand what is going on inside the mind of AI tools currently available, but once superintelligence is achieved, even its actions may become incomprehensible. It could make discoveries that we would be incapable of understanding, or take decisions that make no sense to us. The biological and evolutionary limitations of brains made of organic matter mean we may need some form of brain-computer interface in order to keep up.

Being unable to compete with AI in this new technological era, Professor Bostrom warns, could see humanity replaced as the dominant lifeform on Earth. The superintelligence may then see us as superfluous to its own goals. If this happens, and some form of AI has figured out how to hijack all the utilities and technology we rely upon  or even the nuclear weapons we possess  then it would not take long for AI to wipe us off the face of the planet.

A more benign, but similarly bleak, scenario is that the gulf in intelligence between us and the AI will mean it views us in the same way we view animals. In a 2015 conversation between Mr Musk and scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, they theorised that AI will treat us like a pet labrador. Theyll domesticate us, Professor Tyson said. Theyll keep the docile humans and get rid of the violent ones.

In an effort to prevent this outcome, Mr Musk has dedicated a portion of his immense fortune towards funding a brain chip startup called Neuralink. The device has already been tested on monkeys, allowing them to play video games with their minds, and the ultimate goal is to transform humans into a form of hybrid superintelligence. (Critics note that even if successful, the technology would similarly create a two-tiered society of the chipped, and the chipless.)

Elon Musk claims Neuralinks brain chip technology will give users enhanced abilities' (Neuralink)

Since cutting ties with OpenAI, the tech billionaire has issued several warnings about the imminent emergence of superintelligence. In March, he joined more than 1,000 researchers in calling for a moratorium on the development of powerful AI systems for at least six months. That time should then be spent researching AI safety measures, they wrote in an open letter , in order to avert disaster.

It would take an improbable consensus of leading AI companies around the world, the majority of which are all profit-seeking, in order for any such pause to be impactful. And while OpenAI continues to spearhead the hunt for the owls egg, Mr Altman appears to have at least heeded the warnings from Professor Bostroms fable.

In a 2016 interview with the New Yorker, he revealed that he is a doomsday prepper  specifically for an AI-driven apocalypse. I try not to think about it too much, he said, revealing that he has guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water [and] gas masks stashed away in a hideout in rural California. Not that any of that will be much use to the rest of us.
Supporters pack council meeting. Now Pride flag will fly over this Pierce County city

An overflowing Fircrest City Council chambers was filled with rainbow flags Tuesday evening as more than 70 people turned out to support a motion to fly the LGBTQ Pride flag at city facilities.

There were also dissenters.

The issue was whether the city should fly a LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) flag at City Hall and the citys new recreation center during Pride month in June.

Support for the flag was nearly unanimous among the public speakers and the council  but not at first.

Council member Jim Andrews said government flagpoles should only fly the U.S., state and POW flags.

Thats my whole deal here, he said, adding that he had received many emails about the flag, from both sides.

This is a very controversial issue, Andrews said, noting the turnout.

Council member Hunter George said the issue isnt controversial and should be a given in a city that is welcoming.

Some opponents to flying the flag were not necessarily against the LGBTQ community, Andrews said.

They want people to be able to show who they are, what they are and how they are, but they dont want it to be done on city property, he said.

The other council members and Mayor Brett Wittner were supportive of the motion.

Across our country, in our state, the LGBTQ-plus community has and continues to face opposition and resistance from legislative actions, such as book bans, restrictions on gender-affirming care, and discrimination, prejudice and violence, said council member Nikki Bufford.

Flying the Pride flag, Bufford said, was a way to show the Fircrest is a welcoming city for its residents, workers and visitors.

When public comment opened, which included 24 participants watching online, the first speaker of the evening, Fircrest resident Vince Navarre, framed the issue as a difference of opinion, rather than inclusion.

Id like to let you know that it is exclusive, Navarre said of the flag and disputed Georges earlier characterization. It doesnt include everyone, its intolerant and its potentially divisive.

Before he spoke, Navarre tried to get Fircrest resident and attorney John Cummings to join him at the microphone. The two men have a professional relationship, Navarre said. But Cummings refused to join him and could be seen shaking his head while Navarre spoke.

Later, Cummings spoke in support of the flag.

Im a proud gay man, Cummings said. The resolution before you is whether to fly a piece of fabric from a pole which apparently scares a couple of you. Maybe you thought that by encouraging us to come again and again that would deter us. And so Im going to explain to those who may vote against this why thats not going to work.

Cummings then gave a short history of oppression against LGBTQ people, including during Nazi Germany.

And today, the Nazis are the villains of history, Cummings concluded. Their empire has crumbled. And we are still here.

The motion passed, 7-0.
By Jacqueline Thomsen

(Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said on Tuesday that the court is considering steps to "adhere to the highest standards of conduct," after reports of a conservative justice's travel and real estate deals prompted congressional scrutiny.

Roberts, speaking at an event hosted by the American Law Institute, said that he is "committed" to ensuring the court's nine members meet those standards. He did not give details on what those measures would look like.

But the chief justice also signaled that he is wary of potential legislation by Congress that could impose an ethics code for the justices.

Roberts said he is "confident there are ways" to make sure the court's members are meeting their ethical obligations "that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government under the Constitution's separation of powers."

It was the first time Roberts has publicly commented since a U.S. Senate committee hearing earlier this month on a potential ethics code for the high court. The U.S. Supreme Court is the only federal court in the United States that does not have a formal ethics code.

Roberts declined to attend the Senate hearing on Supreme Court ethics issues, but sent to the committee five pages of information about current judicial ethics standards.

While Senate Democrats on the panel have backed potential ethics legislation, Republican members have staunchly opposed it.

The news outlet ProPublica has detailed ties between Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative who is the court's longest-tenured member, and wealthy Republican donor Harlan Crow.

Crow's attorneys this week rejected a bid by Senate Democrats to learn of other gifts given by the Dallas billionaire to Thomas. They argued that Congress lacks the authority to impose an ethics code on the justices.

(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
The United States surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Tuesday issued a new advisory warning of the mental health effects of social media on young people. While noting some benefits of the online platforms, the report warns of increasing concern and "ample indicators" that social media can have "a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents."

The 19-page report acknowledges that further research is needed, and that online youth wellbeing is shaped by many complex factors, including screentime, content, and countless strengths and vulnerabilities of individual users.

But the headline of the advisory is a stark warning. With around 100 studies, warnings and surveys cited, the advisory analyzes social media's influence on everything from kids' body image to their social wellbeing to their sleep patterns. Dr. Murthy is calling for urgent action in the development and implementation of safer online policies and practices.

"The most common question parents ask me is, 'is social media safe for my kids?' The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people's mental health," Murthy said in a statement.

Research cited in the advisory shows how platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have solidified their position within American society, with up to 95% of people ages 13-17 engaged online and more than a third saying they use social media "almost constantly." The advisory also details how the rise in social media platforms has proven to be associated with an increase in depression and anxiety, and may have contributed to more than 300,000 new cases of depression across U.S. college campuses.

Although social media platforms commonly require a minimum user age of 13, nearly 40% of children in the U.S. ages 812 use social media. The report from one of America's top public health officials explores the vulnerabilities of these young minds, linking frequent social media use with possible shifts in the parts of the brain responsible for emotional impulse control, emotional learning and moderating social behavior. It states that for certain developmental stages, for example girls 1113 years old and boys 1415 years old, adolescent social media use can be predictive of a subsequent decrease in life satisfaction.

"Once on social media, it's easy for kids to get sucked in because their frontal lobethe thinking part of their brainis not fully developed," Dr. Jaclyn Halpern, a psychologist at Washington Behavioral Medicine Associates told 60 Minutes in light of the advisory. "The content keeps them coming back for more even when it's not good for them, even when it makes them feel bad. It really hits on the emotions that can make them more vulnerable."

According to the surgeon general's advisory, "extreme, inappropriate, and harmful" content continues to be easily and widely accessible, and Dr. Murthy points to the tech platforms, writing that, "content can be spread through direct pushes, unwanted content exchanges, and algorithmic designs." Issues ranging from eating disorders to stunted sleeping patterns, to sexual exploitation, self-harm, acute depressive episodes, and even to possible factors that lead to suicide and the onset of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are stated as being possibly linked to youth screentime and social media use.

The final pages of the advisory call on policymakers, tech companies, parents, users, and researchers to mind their roles in addressing this urgent public health issue through more rigorous safety standards for young users, aiming to better protect them not only from harmful content, but exploitative design and data collection features.

"Our children and adolescents don't have the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social media's impact. Their childhoods and development are happening now." Dr. Murthy wrote. "At a moment when we are experiencing a national youth mental health crisis, now is the time to act swiftly and decisively to protect children and adolescents from risk of harm."

As 60 Minutes reported in December, more than 1,200 families are pursuing lawsuits against social media companies. These suits allege that content and features on social media platforms have a deeply detrimental impact on the mental health of children, and in some cases, lead to children's deaths. More than 150 lawsuits are expected to move forward this year.

How the U.S. is dealing with backlog of migrant sponsorships

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Surgeon general shares tips to keep social media safe for kids
A man was arraigned Wednesday on charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault after allegedly shoving a woman into the path of a moving subway train in New York City over the weekend.



Prosecutors say that Kamal Semrade, 39, shoved 35-year-old Emine Yilmaz into a train as it departed a subway station Sunday on the Upper East Side, and then fled the scene.



Yilmaz suffered severe spinal injuries, family members said. She was on her way to work at the time, they added.



Semrade was arrested Monday at a shelter in Queens, the NYPD reported. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that investigators used surveillance images from MTA cameras to identify the suspect. Sources told CBS New York that investigators received a tip that Semrade lived in a shelter near LaGuardia Airport.



At his arraignment Wednesday, a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said that Semrade had no prior criminal record, and described the attack as "completely unprovoked."



Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said Wednesday that he wanted the attacker to receive the "maximum consequence."



"We want to see the book thrown at this guy, whoever he is, whatever his motivation was," Lieber said. "We need our riders to know that those kinds of people are going to face the maximum consequence."

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo of packets of fentanyl mostly in powder form and methamphetamine which U.S. Customs and Border Protection say they seized from a truck crossing into Arizona from Mexico

By Elizabeth Howcroft

LONDON (Reuters) - Suspected sellers of chemicals used to manufacture the deadly drug fentanyl have received tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency since 2018, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Regulators around the world have warned that crypto assets are used to finance illegal activity. Crypto transactions related to illicit activity hit a record $20 billion in 2022, Chainalysis said in January.

In a report on Wednesday, Chainalysis said people involved in unlawful fentanyl-related transactions typically use cryptocurrency because of its "near-instant, cross-border, and pseudonymous features".

It said it had identified "dozens" of cryptocurrency wallet addresses which have similar patterns of activity to four addresses already identified by authorities as belonging to Chinese chemical shops.

Together, these addresses have received more than $37.8 million of cryptocurrency since 2018, Chainalysis said, adding that the true cryptocurrency volume total is "likely much higher".

"Many drug traffickers use crypto in an attempt to evade law enforcement, thus facilitating the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States and other drug-related crises worldwide," Chainalysis said.

The report echoes findings by blockchain researcher Elliptic, which said on Tuesday that it found 90 China-based companies willing to sell fentanyl precursor chemicals, 90% of which accepted cryptocurrency payments.

The crypto wallet addresses these sellers provided have received $27 million worth of cryptocurrency payments, mostly in bitcoin or the stablecoin Tether, Elliptic said.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, has become a major black market narcotic in the United States, killing nearly 200 Americans per day.

China has said there is no illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico. The U.S. believes Chinese traffickers have shifted from manufacturing finished fentanyl to mostly exporting the precursor chemicals to Mexican cartels, which make and deliver the final product.

Chainalysis said that crypto transaction volume to Chinese chemical shops "correlates positively" with fentanyl-related drug seizes at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Chainalysis noted that the chemical shops sell "more than just fentanyl precursor chemicals" so some of the payment flows it identified could be unrelated to the drug.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; editing by Jason Neely)
Swansea yoga studio opening a 2nd place in metro-east. Offers hot yoga, retreats and more

A Swansea-based yoga studio plans to open a location in Edwardsville this year.

Go Yoga! Express, at 216-5 Frank Scott Parkway East in Swansea, offers yoga and hot yoga classes, infrared sauna and halotherapy, yoga teacher training and life coaching.

Owner Kellie Mathes said the second location will be in Edwardsvilles Whispering Heights community at 1010 Enclave Blvd. and open this fall.

Mathes said she and her family went to 1818 Chophouse for her sons birthday in November.

She really fell in love with the area and came up with the idea to have a studio there.

Mathes said she has several students who moved to Edwardsville, so shes glad to be able to offer classes and expand services there.

This seating area is where Go Yoga! Express life coaching sessions are held. The infrared sauna is behind the wooden partition.

The new studio will have a similar floor plan and elements as Swansea, she said, adding that rooftop yoga classes will be held for the residents at Whispering Heights.

Yoga on the rooftop is just one of the multiple locations Go Yoga! Express holds yoga events.

Recent events include Yoga & Coffee at LongStory Coffee in Belleville, Yoga Then Mimosas at 1818 Chophouse in Edwardsville and Pups, Poses & Pints at Eckerts Cider Shed in Belleville.

Later this year, Go Yoga! Express will hold yoga retreats in Belize, Mexico and Italy (Mathes is currently learning Italian).

She said through these events, the idea is to  bring yoga into the forefront of the community and share the benefits of the practice.

The studio at Go Yoga! Express can accommodate up to 60 students (five rows of 12), according to owner Kellie Mathes. This recent photo provided by Mathes shows a typical class at Go Yoga! Express.

Mathes started practicing yoga in 2007 and has done hot yoga for 13 years.

In late 2011, she co-founded Yoga Core and More in OFallon as a way to bring hot yoga to the metro-east.

Prior to opening that business, Mathes and her then partners, Theresa Blomberg and Michele Taylor, drove to St. Louis to do hot yoga.

I was the yoga teacher, and Michele and Therese were students, Mathes told the BND in 2015.

Michelle decided that we needed hot yoga in the metro-east. So the three of us had been traveling to St. Louis about four times a week, about 50 miles round trip doing hot yoga, and we didnt have any hot yoga available in the area. So we decided to open a hot yoga studio.

Mathes said she sold her share of Yoga Core and More to open Go Yoga! Express.

Go Yoga! Express opened in April 2017.

Go Yoga! Express in Swansea is located at 216-5 Frank Scott Parkway East.

Hours of operation vary. Class descriptions and schedules are available online at goyogaexpress.com.

For more info, call 618-416-5199 or visit the website or Facebook page.
Switzerland may start supplying weapons to Ukraine

According to the report, this decision is sensitive for Swiss authorities because of the countrys neutrality laws.

Read also: Ukraine gets closer to recovering $113 million from Zhevagos Swiss accounts

The issue is sensitive for the Swiss authorities, the article reads.

Under its neutrality laws and a separate arms embargo, Switzerland is prohibited from sending weapons directly to Ukraine.

Read also: Armored vehicles of neutral Switzerland spotted in Donetsk Oblast

At present, Swiss military personnel have 134 Leopard-2 tanks in service, with an additional 96 tanks in storage.

Earlier in May, both houses of the Swiss parliament voted to amend the Military Materials Act to allow the transfer of military equipment to Ukraine in the future.

Read also: Switzerland takes step towards arms deliveries to Ukraine

Switzerland has consistently vetoed requests from other countries, such as Spain, Germany, and Denmark, which have sought to transfer Swiss-made armored vehicles and ammunition to the Ukrainian military. Among the items requested were ammunition for German-made Gepard air defense vehicles.

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
Displays are seen before Swiss decide about a ban of tobacco advertising in Zurich

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland will ban advertising of tobacco products and e-cigarettes aimed at young people, the government said on Wednesday, implementing a decision passed in a referendum last year.

The cabinet said it would strengthen its already planned restrictions to bar advertising in places and media where young people can see it.

The new laws will come into force from mid-2026, and strengthen restrictions on packaging and advertising on tobacco and e-cigarettes due to take effect from next year.

The move, which will affect print media, online advertising and festivals, is designed to reduce tobacco consumption and related deaths.

Smoking remains relatively widespread in Switzerland with 9,500 people dying prematurely every year as a result of tobacco consumption, the government said, describing it as one of the country's biggest public health problems.

"Tobacco use causes numerous non-communicable diseases, and the cost of their medical treatment amounts to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.37 billion) per year," the government said.

"Tobacco advertising plays a significant role in the decision to start smoking," it added.

In 2022, 6.9% of Swiss 11 to 15-year-olds had smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, while 5.7% of youths aged 15 to 24 have used electronic cigarettes at least once a month, the government said.

In future, no advertising for tobacco products or e-cigarettes will be allowed in print media, shops or events which can be visited by minors.

In addition, sponsorship of events which people under 18 attend will be banned. Online advertising will be still permitted provided age control systems are in place.

The tighter restrictions follow the success of the referendum "Yes to the protection of children and youths from tobacco advertising," which was approved by 57% of Swiss voters in February 2022.

($1 = 0.8889 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
(CNN)  A wristwatch once owned by Chinas last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Puyi, has sold for $6.2 million at a sale in Hong Kong.

The eye-watering price tag is partly due to the rarity of the Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune, one of just eight known to exist. But according to Phillips auction house which handled the sale, the seven-figure sum is also down to the 86-year-old watchs remarkable history  one that saw it taken to Siberia during the former rulers five-year imprisonment in the USSR.

The 1.2-inch-diameter platinum timepiece features an Arabic numeral dial, pink gold hands and a moon phase function that shows how visible the moon is from Earth at any given time. Some of its internal mechanisms date to 1929, though the model was not sold by Patek Philippe  a Swiss watchmaker known for fitting complicated movements into slim cases  until 1937.

It is not known how Puyi acquired the timepiece, though records show it was initially sold via a luxury store in Paris. Phillips added that historical documents prove the former emperor took it with him to a Soviet prison camp in Khabarovsk. He later gifted it to Georgy Permyakov, a fluent Mandarin speaker who served as his tutor and Russian translator during his time in detention.

Puyi, whose life formed the basis of the Oscar-winning 1987 movie The Last Emperor, ascended the throne as a mere toddler in 1908. He was forced to abdicate less than four years later when a republican revolt overthrew the Qing dynasty, though he was permitted to continue living in the imperial palace in Beijing (and was briefly reinstated as emperor in 1917).

In 1924, he fled Beijing and formed an alliance with Japan, which later installed him as the emperor of its puppet state, Manchukuo, in northeast Chinas Manchuria region. After Japans defeat in World War II, Puyi was captured by Soviet forces and held as a prisoner of war. According to Phillips, he gave the watch to Permyakov in 1950, just before the former emperor returned to China to face trial for war crimes.

According to a press release, Phillips spent three years researching the objects history and confirming its provenance  a process that Thomas Perazzi, the auction houses head of watches for Asia, described in a statement as an unprecedented research project with a worldwide team of watch specialists, historians, journalists and scientists.

In its catalog listing, Phillips cites Puyis nephew Yuyan (who was incarcerated alongside him) recalling in his memoirs that his uncle wore the watch day to day while in Manchukuo. The catalog also says that Puyi had previously gifted the watch to his nephew, but later asked for it back in order to give it to Permyakov.

Almost a decade after returning to China, Puyi was pardoned and lived as a civilian in Beijing until his death in 1967. Permyakov, meanwhile, kept the watch until he died in 2005, after which it was passed to his heirs before being consigned to Phillips by its current owner in 2019. The timepiece has already been displayed in New York, Singapore, London, Taipei, and Geneva before it returned to Hong Kong, where it sold at Phillips new Asia headquarters on May 23.

The watch was offered alongside several other of Puyis former possessions. Among them were 15 watercolors, attributed to Puyis brother-in-law Gobulo Runqi, and a red paper fan also given to Permyakov, featuring a poem inscribed by the former emperor.

One of Puyis manuscript notebooks, which Phillips says provides a never-before-seen glimpse into (his) mind, was also sold alongside his copy of Confucius The Analects, with the two items together fetching over $121,500.

The sale will be followed by a two-day watch auction at Phillips featuring some 240 timepieces. Among the historically notable items featured is a limited-edition Omega Speedmaster Apollo XI 1969 once presented to NASA astronaut Charles Pete Conrad Jr., the third person ever to walk on the moon.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Last Chinese emperors watch smashes expectations and fetches $6.2 million at auction."
Sword of Indian ruler slain by British sells for more than $17 million at auction

The bedchamber sword of Tipu Sultan, an 18th-century king famous for the commanding role he played in wars in southern India, has sold for 14 million ($17.4 million) at auction in London.

The sale price Tuesday was seven times the estimate, breaking the record for an Indian and Islamic object sold at auction, according to a statement from auction house Bonhams.

Tipu Sultan was killed by British forces on May 4, 1799. - Bonhams

The sword has an extraordinary history, an astonishing provenance and unrivalled craftsmanship, Nima Sagharchi, group head of Islamic and Indian Art at Bonhams, said in the statement.

It was no surprise it was so hotly contested between two phone bidders and a bidder in the room. We are delighted with the result, he added.

Tipu ruled the kingdom of Mysore in southern India between 1782 and 1799, earning the title Tiger of Mysore for the ferocity with which he defended his realm, according to the auction house.

The sword was found in the sultan's private palace quarters, near where he slept, after his death. - Bonhams

He pioneered the use of rocket artillery in wars and transformed Mysore into the most dynamic economy in India, Bonhams said.

Tipu was killed by British forces on May 4, 1799, when they stormed his kingdoms capital, Seringapatam (now Srirangapatna).

After Tipu was killed, his sword, which was found in the private quarters of his palace, was presented to British Major General David Baird as a token of his courage, according to Bonhams.

Tipu slept in a hammock suspended from the ceiling of his bedchamber, with his sword at his side.

The hilt of the sword is decorated with fine gold calligraphy. - Bonhams

The weapons handle is decorated with gold calligraphy, with five of the qualities of God and two invocations calling on God by name, the auction house said. The sword of the ruler is finely inscribed in Persian on the blade, which was manufactured by Mughal swordsmiths following the model of German blades introduced to India in the 16th century.

The sword was presented to the British commander. - Bonhams

This spectacular sword is the greatest of all the weapons linked to Tipu Sultan still in private hands, said Bruno Vinciguerra, CEO of Bonhams, ahead of the auction.

Its close personal association with the Sultan, its impeccable provenance traceable to the very day it was captured, and the outstanding craftsmanship that went into its manufacture make it unique and highly desirable, he added.

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The family and estate of Bennie Branch, a 24-year-old man shot and killed by a Tacoma police officer in 2019, will receive $3.1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, the City of Tacoma announced Tuesday.

Branch was one of several Black men remembered at local protests against police shootings and racial injustice during the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer. Branch was killed Sept. 8, 2019, during a struggle at a traffic stop on Portland Avenue. The officer who shot him was legally cleared of wrongdoing.

In a written statement, the city said Branchs family suffered a heartbreaking loss.

This familys loss has been felt deeply across our entire community  specifically amongst Tacomas African American community, the statement reads. While the settlement is not an admission of legal liability, the City has agreed with the familys representatives that this settlement will allow the parties to avoid the risk and expense of trial and is an appropriate resolution of this matter at this time.

After Branchs death, thousands of people signed a Change.org petition demanding that the officer who killed him be charged. His family sued the city and filed an excessive force claim in U.S. District Court on behalf of Branch and his mother, Brendelin Branch. She was present when officer Ryan Bradley shot her son.

The Pierce County Sheriffs Department investigated the death. According to previous reporting from The News Tribune, the department found Branch was high on methamphetamine, had a warrant out for a probation violation and was carrying an Airsoft gun. Prosecutors later said it closely resembled a semiautomatic handgun.

In 2020, Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett sent a letter to then-Tacoma police Chief Don Ramsdell stating Bradley acted lawfully and justifiably when he shot at Branch. Robnett wrote that Branch was by all appearances an armed carjacker attempting to evade capture who posed an immediate and grave danger to the officers.

The Sheriffs Department produced 567 pages of police reports, computer-aided dispatch logs and officer and witness statements in its investigation. Other than Branchs mother, no one aside from police witnessed the actual shooting. At the times, Tacoma police did not use body cameras or have dashboard cameras in their patrol cars.

In its statement announcing the settlement, the city wrote that it supports Tacoma Police Departments efforts to build the communitys trust in the department and its officers through an updated policies on use of force, body-worn cameras and in-car video.
A target for bigots.

Target is pulling some Pride collection products off its shelves after some customers made their homophobic feelings known.



The Minneapolis-based big-box retailer is doing away with some LGBTQ-themed merch from its June Pride Month catalog after a number of customers had violent confrontations with store staff. Several products, which have been available since early May, are now under review.

Read more

Even where products havent been removed from the shop floor, some stores in southern US states have reportedly moved so-called controversial items from the front of the stores to the back after backlash from shoppers in those areas. In some cases, the big displays have been shrunk to a third of their size.

Targets decision has understandably attracted criticism from other customers who are disappointed by the company bending to the will of bullies and bigots, with some vowing to stop shopping there if they cave in to pressure from homophobes. The company appears to have learnt little from the Bud Light controversy, where the beer brand faced backlash for partnering with a trans influencer but then failed to stand behind that choice, attracting further criticism from LGBTQ campaigners.

Quotable: Targets priority is keeping employees safe

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and well-being while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Target said in a statement to Reuters yesterday (May 23)

The LGBT-friend target products facing backlash

Going, goingTuck friendly adult swimsuits for trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations are no longer available. Right-wing critics spurred by a misleading May 10 post by Gays Against Groomers, which the Anti-Defamation League has labeled a group that peddles dangerous and misleading narratives about the LGBTQ+ community,falsely claimed they were also available in the kids section.

Gone. Self-identified Christians and right-wing figures and outlets called for the boycott of designs by London-based company Abprallen. The trans designer behind the UK-based brand, Erik Carnell, uses tongue-in-cheek satanic referenceslike a pin that states, Satan respects pronounsin his other collections but his Target products steered clear of the goth influence. He sold three products with three captions: We belong everywhere, Too queer for here, and Cure transphobia, not trans people.

According to Newsweek, Carnell says those who have called him out have completely altered the facts to fit with the version they want ... thats gonna get clicks, thats gonna get views. In his Instagram stories today (May 24), he urged people to disengage with the Target fiasco and instead support local business and organize to show up for the community.

Carnell, on his Instagram, said hes still not sure about what is happening with his Target line. At the time of publishing, a search for Abprallen products on the Target website yielded 0 results.

Product of interest: AB InBevs Bud Light

Targets reticence comes at the heels of Bud Light grappling with the fallout from conservative customers rage at the beer brand partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Bud Light lost him as a customer, and musician Kid Rock even filmed a video of himself shooting a bunch of Bud Light cans. Divisive feelings towards the beer led to bar brawls, menu changes, and personal threats directed at wholesalers. Sales of Bud Light plummeted, and parent company AB InBevs vice president of marketing even took a leave of absence in the aftermath. AB InBev is now looking to triple its marketing spend in the US this summer in a bid to restore sales.

Nike, which also faced backlash in the form of the Burn Bra Challenge on TikTok for partnering with Mulvaney, did not try to distance itself from Mulvaney like the beer brewer did. It doubled down on its support for the trans influencer, urging people to Be kind, be inclusive  Encourage each other.



One more thing: Growing anti-LGBTQ intolerance in the US

In the past, Target has faced conservative criticism from removing gender labels from kids clothing, not separating boy and girl toys, and installing gender neutral bathrooms. But the company has seldom walked back its inclusive moves. The selective parsing of the pro-LGBTQ product lines, which the juggernaut has displayed for over a decade ahead of Pride Month, is a new solution for a relatively new problem.

A Target insider told the New York Post that the outrage this year is exponentially more than other years. Separately, a Twitter user claiming to be an employee of Target, wrote that no one cared about the progressive politics of Target until recently where its become a trend to attack and harass people for being progressive or supporting LGBT causes. Been working there for a minute and never seen this be an issue this now.

Trans rights have increasingly become the target of repressive legislation in a number of US states, which has touched on issues ranging from childrens participation at drag shows to the provision of gender-affirming health care to trans athletes participation in sporting events.

Related stories

 A Florida restaurant is suing DeSantis to keep hosting family-friendly drag shows

 AB InBev avoided talking about Bud Light in its better-than-expected earnings

 A Netflix boss isnt sorry about Chappellebut he is sorry about how he handled the fallout

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A worker collects shopping carts in the parking lot of a Target store on June 9, 2021, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. | David Zalubowski, Associated Press

Target announced plans to pull some of its Pride month merchandise after backlash from customers and threats to employees.

Why is Target pulling Pride merchandise? NBC News reported that a Target spokesperson said in a statement about the pull, Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and well-being while at work.

The spokesperson continued saying, Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

Related

What LGBTQ merchandise is Target removing? Reuters reported that despite Target not making an official statement of what items will be removed, some of the items that have received negative attention are:

Mugs labeled as gender fluid.

LGBTQ books for children aged 2-8 such as Bye Bye Binary, Pride 1,2,3 and Im not a girl.

Queer all year calendars.

USA Today reported that other items that were reportedly drawing negative attention included womens swimsuits that are tuck friendly to allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal male genitals.

Related

Details to note: Bud Light had a similar experience to Target after featuring a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, in a promotional campaign earlier this year, according to the National Review.

We call our customers guests, there is outrage on their part. This year, it is just exponentially more than any other year, a Target insider told Fox News. I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation.

Newsweek reported that founder and CEO of public relations and marketing agency Zen Media, Shama Hyder said that companies should abide to the rule of knowing your audience.

Bud Light tried to do what every other brand is doing rather than stay true to their core audience, Hyder said and continued saying that it was the companys fault for, not managing their PR and public perception correctly.
Target pulled some products commemorating Gay Pride following an uproar by conservatives

Big-box retailer Target said Wednesday it removed products to commemorate gay pride month, citing threats to employees in the wake of criticism by social conservatives.

The giant US chain, a smaller rival to Walmart, noted it has showcased rainbow-colored items and other fare celebrating Pride for more than a decade.

"Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work," Target said in a statement.

"Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

"Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year."

Conservative activists have filmed themselves at stores expressing outrage at "tuck friendly" swimsuits designed for transgender consumers.

They have blasted the company over Pride-labelled products made by British brand Abprallen, which unveiled a "We Belong Everywhere" messenger bag earlier this month designed for the chain.

Abprallen viewed the Target collaboration as an "opportunity to create something huge," the brand said on Instagram on May 9. "I wanted to ensure that any young people who saw Abprallen in Target would know that who they are is beautiful, purposeful, and worth expressing."

But Abprallen became criticized as "Satanic" on right-wing media after its designer posted a picture of a horned devil-like figure with the inscription, "Satan respects pronouns."

On Wednesday, no Abprallen products were available on Target's website.

California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed Target on Twitter for "selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists."

"There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country," Newsom added.

Conservative talk-show host Matt Walsh called for a boycott of the brand, saying he was speaking for millions of Americans "who don't want the rainbow stuff vomited on them the moment they go into a store."

Walsh had also been a leading critic of Anheuser-Busch brand Bud Light, which came under fire from conservatives after it produced a personalized can for trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

jmb/st
Target Put Out Some Cool Pride Gear  Then Pulled It Once The Bigots Came For Them

Pride Month merchandise is displayed Wednesday at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, New Jersey. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride Month after backlash from some customers.

Pride Month merchandise is displayed Wednesday at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, New Jersey. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride Month after backlash from some customers.

Corporationslovesupporting the LGBTQ community when its all unicorns and rainbows  in other words, when it could potentially boost sales and the overall perception of the brand. But when push comes to shove (and when youre championing the rights of queer people, it often does), they make disappointing decisions.

For example, Target is removing some Pride and queer-centered apparel from its stores after customers took issue with them and, in some cases, violently confronted store employees. The brand has not specified which stores or in what regions that merchandise was pulled from shelves, but in some Southern states, The Associated Press reported, Pride-themed items were moved to the back of the store after the backlash.

Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, the company said in a statement posted Tuesday on its website. Including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

Although its understandable to want to protect workers from any type of violence, Targets actions raise the question of why the company couldnt just increase security or implement additional mechanisms to keep their employees safe and hold disgruntled homophobes accountable. (I reached out to Target for comment on this and had not received a response by the time of publication.)

By pulling items that are affirming to queer and trans people, they are indirectly sending the message that anti-queer harassment works. It also implies that if its done persistently enough  and by enough jerks  corporations will cave.

Although Target did not confirm which items they pulled, there is plenty of speculation based on which products likely caused the most controversy. Among them was a tuck-friendly swimsuit designed for trans women, which some people on social media falsely claimed was being sold in childrens sizes. Carrying swimsuits that are affirming for trans people in a national chain feels like a huge step forward, and removing them because some people dont like it feels like the exact opposite of what companies should be doing  especially during Pride.

The bottom line is, being an ally means following through, even if it gets more complicated and requires more work than you thought it would. If youre a corporation that wants to stand with queer and trans people, protect your queer customers. Otherwise, you can leave the virtue signaling at home.

Related...
Target's Pride Collection

US retailer Target is removing some items from its LGBTQ Pride Collection after threats and confrontations in certain stores.

The company said on Tuesday the move would protect employees after what it described as "volatile circumstances" in some of its 2,000 shops.

In some states, Target said it had moved Pride month merchandise to the back of the store.

The 2,000-item range includes rainbow motifs and "love is love" t-shirts.

Other items include "gender fluid" mugs and children's books titled "Bye Bye, Binary," "Pride 1,2,3" and "I'm not a girl."

"Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work," Target said in a statement.

"Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the centre of the most significant confrontational behaviour."

A spokesperson said there has been an increase in incidents of Pride merchandise being thrown on the floor.

The products Target is withdrawing are being removed from all its US stores and its website, the spokesperson told Reuters news agency.

While various Pride Collection products are under review, the ones being immediately removed are under the Abprallen label, which has been criticised for using images of pentagrams, horned skulls and other Satanic visuals.

It comes as brands across the world find themselves mired in controversy over product ranges that hope to reflect and champion LGBTQ diversity.

In Malaysia, Swatch said authorities confiscated 164 rainbow-coloured watches worth $14,000 (11,271) from its stores, including in the capital Kuala Lumpur last week.

Homosexuality is forbidden in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation. Although enforcement is rare, gay sex can be punished with imprisonment and whipping.

"We strongly contest that our collection of watches using rainbow colours and having a message of peace and love could be harmful," said Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek. "This has nothing political."

"We wonder how the home ministry's enforcement unit will confiscate the many beautiful natural rainbows that are showing up thousand times a year in the sky of Malaysia," Mr Hayek said.

Swatch will replenish stocks of its Pride Watches range and display them on store shelves, as instructed by its headquarters in Switzerland, said the company's marketing manager, Sarah Kok.

Based on a summons notice to Swatch that was seen by AFP, the watches had "LGBT elements" and violated a 1984 printing law that government critics had long criticised as draconian.

With reporting by Joel Guinto in Singapore
Target workers say the abrupt removal of Pride month displays has alienated some LGBTQ employees

A Pride month display at a Target in Wisconsin Dominick Reuter/Insider

Target abruptly removed Pride month feature displays from dozens of stores in Southern states.

The move came days after Target's CEO said the company's DEI initiatives were "good for business."

Some LGBTQ workers say the decision left them feeling alienated and frustrated.

Target has abruptly taken down front-of-store displays of Pride celebration merchandise at dozens of stores in Southern states, leaving some LGBTQ employees feeling alienated and frustrated.

The decision was handed down from the company's corporate offices late on Friday, according to three employees in Florida. Two of the workers who spoke with Insider said they are LGBTQ and were feeling frustrated and alienated following Friday's action. The employees spoke anonymously for fear of professional consequences as they are not authorized to speak to the media, but Insider verified their identities and employment.

Their remarks reflect dozens of comments bubbling up on social media sites like Reddit, where users identifying as Target employees said the company was letting down the LGBTQ community. (Insider did not confirm the Reddit users' employment).

In a podcast interview published just days earlier, CEO Brian Cornell touted the company's commitment to representing "all the families" who shop at Target, and defended his diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as "just the right things for our business today."

In the interview, Cornell sidestepped a question about anti-"woke" backlash from the state's Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who is engaged in an escalating feud with Disney over DEI issues.

A transgender friendly swimsuit in particular has sparked outrage among conservatives on social media, as well as a line of merchandise from a designer they deem "satanic."

A Target spokesperson told Insider the move was a response to "threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing" and said that the store would remove specific items that have been the center of the most controversy.

Dominick Reuter/Insider

But an LGBTQ employee said there was no mention of safety in the display-removal instructions they received via an internal messaging system.

"The communication provided to us explicitly said the decision to move these items was to replace them with swimwear to better meet our sales goals. Not once was safety mentioned," the worker said.

They also said last year's Pride display remained up for the entire month of June.

A second employee told Insider that guests called and emailed his store, accusing the company of "grooming" and "indoctrinating" kids with the selection of Pride-themed apparel.

A similar display for Black History month earlier this year had not been changed, he said, but the Pride signs have now been removed and the merchandise is now on smaller shelves near the center of the store. The front-of-store showcase is now promoting swimwear.

A third employee, who is also a member of the LGBTQ community, said they arrived to their shift to find the display already disassembled, and they were tasked with moving the merchandise to a low-traffic area at the back of the store.

The employee, who only recently started working at Target, said the company's stance on diversity was a key reason they chose to work there.

"The inclusion aspect was a big deal to me," they said.

Target's Pride display removal draws sharp reaction on social media

Multiple comments on the r/Target subreddit echoed the sense of alienation expressed by the LGBTQ sources, with one person who said they were transgender saying, "just shows they don't really care about me."

"A place that I work at that supposedly cares about my labor and safety is back-peddling and putting me in harms' way to maximize profit," another user said. "Either you care about the safety and well-being of marginalized people, or you don't. This will make the current climate much worse."

"I want to believe Target is putting TM (and guest) safety as a priority, but I have a feeling it's purely for profits since people are "boycotting" Target," a third Reddit user said.

Both LGBTQ employees told Insider they raised their concerns to their stores' HR managers, who expressed sympathy but told them the decision had come from corporate leadership and had to be followed.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

If you are a Target worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick Reuter via email or Signal at 646-768-4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Insider strongly recommends you use a personal email and a nonwork device when reaching out.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Tax debtors owe SC over $100M in 2023. Check out who they are

Tax debtors owe South Carolina $101.9 million, state revenue officials revealed on Tuesday.

The South Carolina Department of Revenue announced a list of debtors on Tuesday as part of its top delinquent taxpayers program, which began three years ago. The list includes individuals and businesses delinquent on their taxes.

Individuals owe $61.7 million, while businesses owe a total of $40.2 million in taxes this year. Each of the current delinquent taxpayers is in tax lien status, which makes their debt public, SCDOR states.

Tax revenues are vital for the continued good financial health of our state, SCDOR Director Hartley Powell said in a Tuesday press release. When noncompliant taxpayers dont pay what they owe, the tax burden unfairly lands on the shoulders of compliant taxpayers.

Before names are published, SCDOR says other efforts are made to collect the debts, including sending letters, phone calls and other methods of contact.

To view the full lists of the current individual and business tax debtors, click here.

Top 5 individual SC tax debtors

Clarence J. Michel of Lancaster, KY: Owes $2,840,197 Yurij Debevc of Sanford, FL: Owes $2,763,390 Quintessa Copeland of Spartanburg, SC: Owes $1,852,955 Stephen Looper of Greer, SC: Owes $1,453,943 Michael A. Crews of Hampton, SC: Owes $1,226,549

Top 5 tax delinquent businesses

Gajanan Enterprises Inc of Columbia, SC: Owes $1,699,284 Prestige Marble Inc of Greenville, SC: Owes $1,576,072 Nalco Company LLC of Saint Paul, MN: Owes $1,276,160 Cogeco US, LLC of Aiken, SC: Owes $1,255,250 Trendsettah USA Inc of Doral, FL: Owes $890,308

Most individual SC tax debt by county

The latest list of individual tax debtors represents 31 counties, meaning residents in 15 counties did not have enough tax debt to make the list, SCDOR states. Here are the five counties that topped the list for having individual debtors who owe the most.

Charleston County: $6.9 million Horry County: $6.87 million Greenville County: $5 million Lexington County: $4.2 million Berkeley County: $3.5 million

Debts excluded from the lists

Those who have filed for bankruptcy protection

Debtors who have made payment arrangements with the SCDOR.

Any debt in the SCDORs GEAR or Setoff Debt programs.

Most individual tax debt by SC region

Lowcountry: $14.6 million Upstate: $10.5 million Pee Dee: $10.4 million Midlands: $9.9 million

Delinquent tax payments

Hundreds of the top delinquent taxpayers listed last year eventually paid $8.35 million to the state, including $5.98 million in lien payments and $2.36 million in payment plan payments. Of the total paid in 2022, business debtors paid $4.86 million, while individuals paid $3.48 million.
Taylor Swift has revealed that rapper Ice Spice will feature on the deluxe version of her album Midnights.

Swift made the announcement on Wednesday (24 May) across her social media platforms.

Um. SO much to tell you. Im a massive fan of this brilliant artist and after getting to know her I can confirm: she is THE ONE to watch, she wrote.

So delighted to say that Karma Featuring the incredible @icespice will be out TOMORROW night at MIDNIGHT ET.

The new version of the album, titled Midnights (Til Dawn edition), will be released on Thursday (25 May).

While the news confirmed minor rumours that had been circulating within the Swiftie fandom, it still came as an exciting surprise to most.

Unexpected collaboration but I am here for it, one fan responded on Twitter, with a second adding: Im shook.

I thought they are rumorsssss, a third commented.

Another joked that they were losing their mind.

Also joining Swift on her re-released album is Lana Del Rey, who returned back to the studio specifically to record more on their track Snow on the Beach.

Swift, who is currently touring the US in rain or shine, shared that those attending her East Rutherford, New Jersey dates on Friday (26 May), Saturday (27 May) and Sunday (28 May) will be able to snag a new special edition CD, containing a never before heard Midnights vault track called Youre Losing Me.

During her recent show in Massachusetts, fans were convinced that she hinted at her 11th studio album.

In a viral video, Swift is seen sitting on stage at the piano when the instrument malfunctions and plays notes on its own.

Did you hear that? she asks the audience. Is that happening for you, too? I didnt play that.

She then went on to provide a possible explanation for the malfunction.

You know when youve been in a bath for too long and your fingers are so pruned? Like, I looked at my fingers trying to fret and play guitar, and it was like Id been in a bath for two-and-a-half hours of lukewarm water. It was, like, pruned, Swift said.

It rained a lot last night, like a monsoon... Literally, it was like a water park under the stage.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  Peter Joemel Advincula has been convicted by a Manila court two years after his arrest for committing perjury against former senatorial candidates Jose Manuel "Chel" Diokno and Lorenzo "Erin" Tanada, and former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te.

"The court finds accused Peter Joemel Advincula guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of perjury," the decision of Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 17 said.

Tanada shared a copy of the decision on his Twitter page on Wednesday, showing the penalty for the person also known as "Bikoy" is "three months and one day of arresto mayor as minimum, up to one year and one day of prison correccional as maximum."

Advincula's camp has not given a statement on the court's decision.

Advincula falsely claimed Diokno, Tanada, and former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te were part of "Project Sodoma" which was a supposed plot to oust former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.

Advincula alleged there was a meeting at the Ateneo de Manila University to discuss the ouster, where he supposedly met all the three men.

The three filed charges against Advincula for perjury, adding they never met him.

In 2021, the Department of Justice said Advincula's claim was a lie as Diokno and Tanada were at the university for an event related to the senatorial elections. Te only met Advincula after he received a message that someone wanted legal assistance.

Advincula has also claimed he was the person behind a series of videos called "Ang Totoong Narco list" which alleged that the Duterte family has ties to illegal drug syndicates.

Advincula later backtracked and instead pointed fingers at the opposition for crafting the script of allegations against Duterte as part of the "Project Sodoma" ouster plot.
Ice Spice, left, and Taylor Swift  seen at this year's iHeartRadio Music Awards  will collaborate on the song "Karma" for the deluxe edition of Swift's "Midnights." (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Taylor Swift's surprise Ice Spice collaboration on the deluxe version of her "Midnights" album is raising some eyebrows.

Following Wednesday's announcement that the "Munch" rapper would be featured on Swift's "Karma," fans of both artists criticized the collaboration. That's because of Swift's association with Matty Healy, the frontman of English band the 1975.

In January, Healy disparaged Ice Spice while he was a guest on a podcast. Healy has been romantically linked to Swift since early May and has made many appearances at her Eras tour, including one onstage. Neither has confirmed a romantic relationship.

Healy mocked Ice Spice's ethnicity on "The Adam Friedland Show," laughing at the hosts' jokes speculating about the New York rapper's ethnicity. Nick Mullen and Friedland, who are both comics, called her an "Inuit spice girl" and a "chubby Chinese lady" and imitated Hawaiian and Chinese accents. (Ice Spice is Nigerian and Dominican.)

In the same podcast, Healy egged on jokes about Japanese incarceration during World War II by encouraging the hosts to mock Japanese accents before joining in and joking about masturbating to a video of a woman "getting, like, brutalized" on a porn website that prominently features Black women.

In April, Healy (kind of) apologized to Ice Spice during the band's performance in Auckland, New Zealand, saying his apology was "not because I'm annoyed that me joking got misconstrued. It's because I don't want Ice Spice to think I'm a d. I love you, Ice Spice. I'm so sorry."

Fans were quick to note that Ice Spice will be the first Black woman on one of Swift's songs.

"first collab with a black woman ever because your man a racist who used racist terminology in reference to the person you're collaborating with... very [calculated] miss swift," @CTRLZA tweeted.

Swift's fans had been speaking up in opposition to her involvement with the frontman's recent behavior.

Swift tweeted Wednesday that she was "so delighted" to have Ice Spice on the track and that she is "a massive fan of this brilliant artist and after getting to know her I can confirm: she is THE ONE to watch."

Spice, born Isis Naija Gaston, quote tweeted in response, saying, "sweetest person ever thank u sm i love yuuuu," punctuated with a heart-eye emoji, purple heart emoji and heart-hands emoji.

"Not Taylor Swift teaming up with Ice Spice for a collab gotta get that damage control in for Matty Healy, " Twitter user @emilyjslade wrote.

A week ago, the now-deleted account, @SpeakUpNow_13, wrote a statement on behalf of concerned fans about Swift's association with Healy, 34. The statement calls on Swift to: "Use your platform responsibly and intentionally. Advocate for inclusivity, celebrate diversity, and promote empathy and understanding."

"#SpeakUpNow, " the hashtag associated with the statement, has been tagged in more than 1 million videos on TikTok. The tweet comes nearly two weeks after Swift announced the release of "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" and uses the same font, color and style of the card she posted to social media.

Citing "racist remarks, making offensive jokes, and admitting to watching degrading pornography," the post says Healy and, by proxy, Swift "contribute to the perpetuation of hate, stereotypes and objectification which targets and hurts" Swifties of marginalized backgrounds, "including Jewish, Black, Chinese, Hawaiian, Inuit, LGBTQ+ communities and women."

In January, Healy faced backlash for doing a Nazi salute during a live performance of the 1975's song "Love It If We Made It."

Over the weekend, Swift told concertgoers in Foxborough, Mass., that she's "never been this happy ... before"  prompting some to speculate that the source of her newfound happiness is her alleged romance with Healy, who has been dubbed "Ratty Healy" by his detractors.

"Its not just the tour," Swift told the audience. "My life finally feels like it makes sense. Fans were quick to react.

"the fact that shes openly saying this, while simultaneously sidelining her POCs fans with her association with that man is a choice," @ynkookgo tweeted. "honest to god. what is wrong with her?

"It's heartbreaking to see such kind of emotionless cruel behaviour," @s13561835 tweeted. "it's now proved Taylor swift is privileged white woman who don't care about other emotions, for such people racism and such issues are little how cruel. She is now showing her true face."

Taylor Swift did not respond immediately to The Times' request for comment.

Times staff writers Christi Carras and Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Teacher at Christian school in Jacksonville facing charge of lewd conduct with a student, police say

Action News Jax is working to learn more about a teacher from Lighthouse Christian School whos under arrest on several charges.

One of them is lewd and lascivious molestation on a minor.

That teacher is 53-year-old Angela Stewart and on Wednesday morning, she had her first court appearance in Duval County after being arrested.

The other charges Stewart is facing include:

Authority figure solicits or engages in lewd conduct with a student

Lewd and lascivious behavior with a person 12 or older, but less than 16 years

Unlawful use of two-way communication device

Action News Jaxs Nick Gibson is talking to parents in the wake of the arrest and will have the latest on CBS47 and FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

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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.
For many, a traumatic brain injury can be life-threatening.

For one man, hitting his head was life-altering.

During the summer of 2021, a 66-year-old performer turned music teacher was riding his motorcycle when he was involved in a serious crash.

The man was thrown from his motorcycle, traveling about 30 feet through the air, Tennessee researchers said in a case report published online in Neurocase on May 7.

He was wearing a helmet, but when emergency personnel arrived, he was confused, disoriented and wasnt sure whether he had been knocked out.

Doctors conducted a series of tests on his brain and found he was experiencing signs of a traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

The man was struggling to remember recent events, couldnt recall some words when he tried to speak and had general amnesia after the crash.

Seeing no bleeding or visual damage in the mans brain, doctors sent him home to recover, according to the case report.

One month later, the man arrived at his follow-up appointment with complaints of vertigo and insomnia. He had pressured speech, meaning he spoke faster than normal and in long tangents. The man was still struggling to remember past experiences, doctors said, and his wife reported that she had to give him a white board to write things down throughout the day so he wouldnt forget.

Doctors said the man also had no filter when speaking, meaning he couldnt return to work for fear of saying something inappropriate that he couldnt control.

As a music teacher, these symptoms were devastating. But, they were accompanied by a new talent that completely changed his life.

During both appointments, he reported increased creativity and novel synesthesia, the researchers said. Specifically, he stated he was able to hear and see music simultaneously, which he had not experienced previously.

What is Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is the phenomenon in which a sensory stimulus evokes a different sensory experience, such as music evoking shapes or colors, the researchers said. Synesthesia can be associated with either positive (e.g., improved mathematical skills after sustaining a traumatic brain injury [TBI] or negative cognitive effects.

In the case of the music teacher, he told doctors in interviews that when he listened to music, whether a recording or live, he could see the notes on paper in his mind, something he couldnt do before the motorcycle accident. He also said he could name chord structures from just hearing the songs, another new skill.

There is still much we do not know about synesthesia and why some people are born with (it) or how people develop it, researcher Lealani Acosta of Vanderbilt University told McClatchy News in an email.

Synesthesia can be present from birth, be acquired after trauma to the brain or can be drug-induced, the researchers said.

One explanation is that synesthesia is caused by a flood of serotonin to the brain, a chemical that affects mood, sleep, digestion, wound healing, blood clotting and a host of other bodily functions.

In the case of a brain injury or drug use, the brain creates an excess of serotonin as a way to flood the neurotransmitters after a trauma, the researchers said.

We can only hypothesize because we dont typically clinically measure these biochemical changes in cases like these, Acosta said. For example, we dont have serotonin levels on this patient. Its still possible these neurotransmitters were involved, though whether they were delayed or whether he was having these symptoms immediately afterwards, possibly masked by recovering from the trauma, is hard to determine.

A Rare Combination

As the music teacher explored his new synesthesia talent, he also experienced an explosion of creativity, according to the case report. It is one of the first documented cases of both synesthesia and creativity developing simultaneously after trauma.

I was writing constantly.  It was unacceptable for me not to, he told doctors in interviews.

The man would have periods of creative genius from midnight to 4 a.m. He would write entire compositions, fall asleep, and then wake up forgetting he had ever composed. He would listen to the compositions with his wife later, and they both called /one interesting and bizarre.

His wife told researchers everything the man did was the best he had ever done. The flowers in his yard were the most beautiful he had ever seen, and he built the best fire he had ever created in their hearth each night, even through a hot summer.

The researchers defined creativity as the ability to understand, develop, and express in a systematic fashion, novel orderly relationships, a characteristic that helps make us human.

Certainly the concepts of novelty, uniqueness, and breakthroughs that change how we see the world are common themes in the field of creativity, Acosta said.

When researchers compared the music teachers creative impulses to that of other case studies following traumatic brain injuries, it mimicked other patients, such as a truck driver who suddenly found a passion for painting or a French artist who completely changed his style after a World War I brain injury.

While it would be impossible to localize the anatomy of creativity to a single locus of the brain, the connectivity between various parts of the brain  heightens this idea of forging novel relationships, the researchers said in the case report.

The doctors said brain damage from situations like a traumatic brain injury or even neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers, while negatively affecting cognitive functions such as memory, can lead to novel artistic expression.

For the music teacher, three months after his accident he was almost fully recovered and many of his problems had been resolved. He was able to stop using the white board to help his memory and was able to return to work.

He also kept his ability to see and create music in a whole new way.

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FREEHOLD  A Howell teenager has been charged in connection with a motor-vehicle collision that killed two teens and injured two others in Freehold Township last year, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said Wednesday.

The defendant - who was 17 at the time of the crash - was not identified due to his age, according to the news release. He was charged on juvenile complaints with two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide and two counts of assault by auto.

Just after 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2022, police were dispatched to the area of 3469 U.S. Highway 9 for a single-vehicle crash, Santiago said. At the scene, officers found the juvenile defendant and four teenage victims who had been passengers in his vehicle.

TRENDING: Toms River teacher jailed, accused of taking sex photos in classroom

FREEHOLD: Fire breaks out at Nestle instant coffee plant

MORE: Three officers cleared in killing of man who fired at them while holding a baby

A 15-year-old boy from Allentown and a 17-year-old boy from Manalapan were pronounced dead at the scene, police said at the time of the crash. Another passenger, a 17-year-old Allentown male, was hospitalized after the crash, police said.

A 15-year-old girl from Manalapan, as well as the driver, were treated for minor injuries and released from a local hospital.

An investigation found that the teenage defendant was driving at a high speed and swerving in and out of lanes when he lost control of his car, according to Santiago. The car ran off the road and struck multiple objects before rolling through a parking lot, eventually striking a steel support pole from a business sign.

Santiago is urging anyone with information about this incident to contact Monmouth County Prosecutors Office Detective Brian Boryszewski at 800-533-7443 or Freehold Township Police Officer Sean Foley at 732-462-7500.

Jenna Calderon covers breaking news and cold cases in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Before coming to the Press, she covered The Queen City for Cincinnati Magazine in Ohio. Contact her at 330-590-3903; jcalderon@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Freehold NJ: Howell teen charged in fatal car crash
Pedestrians walk across the 6th Street Viaduct, where a 17-year-old boy trying to climb one of the bridge's arches fell to his death. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A 17-year-old boy died over the weekend after falling from the 6th Street Viaduct during a climb up the iconic bridge that he was trying to share on social media, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore.

The teen fell "when climbing upon one of the arches, in order to post, apparently, a social media broadcast," Moore said at Tuesday's meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. "He slipped and fell to his death."

The teen has not yet been publicly identified. It wasn't immediately clear which social media platform he was using or how he was trying to "broadcast" the climb.

Police responded to the scene just after 2 a.m. Saturday, according to Officer Warren Moore, a spokesperson for the LAPD. He said the teen was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"Tragically we see that location, while it has spawned a great deal of pride in Los Angeles, it has also unfortunately served as a backdrop now for tragedies such as this," Moore said. "Our added patrols will continue at that location  to counter such reckless actions."

The bridge opened in July to replace the iconic viaduct that had spanned the Los Angeles River, connecting downtown to Boyle Heights for nearly a century. In its first year, the new bridge has drawn crowds and high interest  including from some seeking dangerous thrills. Officials have repeatedly responded to drag racing and street takeovers at the location, and there have been multiple crashes.

A man was also fatally shot on the bridge in January while filming a music video.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Teens dream of being nurse ends in tragedy days before graduation, Georgia family says

Family members say Montanna Carroll, 18, had a smile that could light up a room.

She would entertain a crowd with her sense of humor, and literally make friends with anyone she met, young or old, they said of the Georgia teen, who had dreams of becoming a nurse like her brother.

But those dreams were cut short.

Days shy of her graduation, the Cairo High School senior was one of two people killed Monday, May 22, in a crash on State Route 112 in Mitchell County, Georgia, state troopers said.

The two-car wreck was reported just before 8:15 p.m. and left three others injured, according to a preliminary report.

Investigators said a Nissan was headed south on State Route 112 when it hydroplaned, causing the driver to lose control. The car spun counterclockwise and slid into the opposite lane, striking a 2003 Kia driven by Carroll, the report said.

The front end of her Kia hit the Nissan on the rear passenger side before it veered into a ditch, troopers said.

Carroll and the driver of the Nissan, 25-year-old Max Battensby, died at the scene.

Her short, but fun-filled life will be remembered by all, her obituary reads.

News of the death sparked an outpouring of tributes for the Georgia teen, who was scheduled to graduate Friday, May 26.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of Cairo High School graduating senior Montanna Carroll, Grady County Schools Superintendent Eric McFee said in a statement, adding that Montannas mother is a school district employee.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Montanna and her family, McFee said.

It marks the second student death at Cairo High School this year, according to the school district.

Troopers said the crash remains under investigation.

Cairo is near the Georgia-Florida line, about 30 miles northeast of Tallahassee, Florida.

Former wrestling star killed in jet ski accident, Alabama cops say. Fine young man

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A teen girl who had her phone confiscated set her school dormitory on fire, police say. 19 children died.

The dormitory of Mahdia Secondary School in Guyana after the massive blaze on May 21, 2023. Guyana Fire and Rescue Service

A teenager is accused of setting a fire that killed 19 fellow students in Guyana, officials said.

She was angry that her phone was taken away as punishment for seeing an older man, police said.

Doors had been locked overnight to prevent girls from sneaking out, according to the fire service.

A dormitory blaze that killed 19 children in Guyana was set by a teenage student who was upset that her cellphone had been taken away, officials say.

The fire broke out at the Mahdia Secondary School in the South American country late on Sunday. A statement from the Guyana Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze was "maliciously set."

National Security Adviser Gerald Gouveia told the Associated Press that the suspect in the incident, a pupil at the school, was accused of setting the dorm on fire after being disciplined for having a liaison with an older man.

"A female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm mother and a teacher," Mark Ramotar, Guyana Police's communications chief, said in a statement seen by the local news outlet Stabroek News.

A window frame of the dormitory. Guyana Fire and Rescue Service

The AP reported that the dormitory had been locked to stop the girls from sneaking out at night.

Gouveia told the AP that the house mother had been asleep inside the building and panicked when she could not find the keys to unlock the doors. She made it out but "lost her five-year-old child in the fire," he said.

When firefighters arrived, the wood-and-concrete building that housed the 57 children was "engulfed in flames," the fire service said.

The building's windows were heavily barred and five doors were locked, it added.

A hole in the side of the dormitory. Guyana Fire and Rescue Service

It said thirty-eight students made it out after firefighters broke holes in the wall and those who got out  including six severely injured children who were airlifted to Georgetown, Guyana's capital city  were receiving medical treatment.

The fire service shared a video of their efforts on Facebook:

An unnamed official said that the girl had admitted to setting the fire, Deutsche Welle reported.

The pupil accused of lighting the fire is under police supervision in hospital, the outlet said, with police considering whether to charge her.

Leslie Ramsammy, an adviser to the country's health ministry, told the AP that the girl would remain in juvenile detention after she recovered.

Scraps of half-burned textbook pages found in the dormitory. Guyana Department of Public Information

Police were also looking to charge the man she was seeing with statutory rape as she was under 16 at the time, the AP reported.

The fire has become a national tragedy in Guyana, with President Irfaan Ali declaring three days of mourning, according to DW.

Several countries have sent messages of support.

Guyana's Home Affairs office has also said it is planning a national schools fire safety review, Stabroek News reported.

Read the original article on Insider
A passenger passes by a sign for the Transportation Security Administrations TSA PreCheck line in Terminal A at Logan Airport in Boston, Monday, June 27, 2016. Teens ages 13 to 17 can now accompany their parents through TSA PreCheck if they are on the same reservation. | Charles Krupa, File, Associated Press

The Transportation Security Administration announced that teenagers can now accompany their parents through TSA PreCheck. Up until now, only children 12 and younger were allowed to follow parents through the expedited security check process at the airport.

According to new policy, Children between the ages of 13 and 17 who will be traveling on the same reservation as an enrolled parent or guardian may also access the TSA PreCheck lanes, provided the children have the TSA PreCheck indicator on their boarding pass.

The policy comes just before a summer travel season that is expected to be extremely busy  TSA Administrator David Pekoske said last Sunday was the busiest day for TSA screening since the start of the pandemic  a 12% increase compared to last year with 2.67 million people screened, CNN reported.

From TSAs perspective we are ready. We have more staff on hand this year than we had last year, which is a good thing because we have more passengers this year than we had last year, Pekoske said during a press conference, per CNN.

It also comes before a Memorial Day weekend that is forecast to be wildly busy  AAA is predicting that 42.3 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home, a 7 % increase from last years tally, according to The Washington Post.

We have fully recovered in aviation, Lisa Farbstein, a TSA spokesperson, told the Post.

What are the perks of TSA PreCheck?

Going through security at the airport can feel like a pain, but TSA PreCheck does make things a little smoother for frequent travelers. To use TSA PreCheck, travelers must have the TSA PreCheck featured on their boarding pass.

Here are some of the perks you get from using TSA PreCheck:

Travelers can keep their shoes, belts and light jackets on.

They dont have to remove laptops or iPads from their bags.

They can also keep the allotted size of liquids inside their bags.

How to apply for TSA PreCheck

The cost for TSA PreCheck is now $78 and lasts for five years. To renew online, it costs $70 and is also good for five years, USA Today reported.

To get the perks of TSA PreCheck, you have to apply first. Heres how to apply to get TSA PreCheck:

Submit an online application.

Schedule an in-person appointment.

At the appointment, you will have to submit a background check and go through fingerprinting at the enrollment center.

Pay the $78 fee.

Once you get approved, you will get an email notifying you of your Known Traveler Number, which you will add to any future airline bookings at the time of booking. If you have trips already planned once you get the Known Traveler Number, you can get TSA PreCheck added to your boarding pass at the check-in counter at the airport.
Teresa Giudice says Melissa Gorga sent her to jail in RHONJ reunion trailer

The first trailer for the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" Season 13 reunion is here  and it appears to be as explosive as Bravo impresario Andy Cohen said it would be.

On the April 24 episode of Radio Andy, Cohen said he'd "never seen anything like" the reunion.

The first of the three-part reunion will air on Tuesday, May 30 at 8 p.m., with installments also on June 6 and June 13. Some of the stars' husbands and romantic parters join them for the final episode, during which Bravo teases Teresa and her brother, Joe Gorga's, already frayed relationship will reach its "lowest point."

In the trailer for the reunion, stars Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Jackie Goldschneider, Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda level a variety of accusations against one another.

Among them? Cohen says Teresa Giudice believes her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga put her in jail. Teresa served 11 months for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud at a federal prison. "I spoke to the FBI," Teresa says.

At other points in the trailer, Teresa calls someone a "devil," Margaret Josephs calls someone a "criminal" and Dolores Catania calls someone "nasty."

Cohen's emotions run high, too. At one point, he shouts at Teresa's new husband, Luis Ruelas, saying, "Let them talk!"

During the episode of Radio Andy, Cohen said Teresa and Melissa's behavior almost made him walk off set.

Ive got to tell you, the level, I wont even say vitriol, I will just say hate between Teresa and Melissa, its  I mean, the gloves are off, Cohen said. Ive never seen anything like it. And the way the two of them were going back and forth, it was that thing of neither wanted the other to have the last word in any petty fight.

Expect revelations on Danielle Cabral and her brother; Dolores and her relationship with Paul Connell; and perhaps clarity about the guest list of Theresa and Luis' wedding (though we may have to wait for the wedding special for that conversation).

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called on Speaker of the House Dade Phelan to resign on Tuesday, claiming he was obviously intoxicated while presiding over the Texas state House of Representatives.

Videos posted to Twitter show Mr Phelan having difficulty speaking during a House meeting on Friday (19 May). Mr Phelan seemed to jumble his words and slur them together, making him difficult to understand at times.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Mr Paxton called on Mr Phelan to resign at the end of the legislative session saying, Texans were dismayed to witness his performance presiding over the Texas house in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication.

His conduct has negatively impacted the legislative process and constitutes a failure to live up to his duty to the public, Mr Paxton added.

Mr Paxton added that the incident has failed the public and created a credibility crisis for Republicans.

While I hope Speaker Phelan will get the help he needs, he has proven himself unworthy of Texans trust and incapable of leading the Texas House, Mr Paxton added.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Phelan for comment.

This is video from last night in the Texas House of Representatives where it appears that TX House Speaker Dade Phelan is either really drunk or having a stroke. pic.twitter.com/dbSG7AO30r  Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 20, 2023

In addition to his statement, Mr Paxton sent a letter to the Texas General Investigations Committee, calling on its members to investigate Mr Phelan.

Based on a review of Speaker Dade Phelan presiding over the House of Representatives in an obviously intoxicated state, I am calling upon the Committee to open investigations into Speaker Phelan for violation of House rules, state law, and for conduct unbecoming his position, Mr Paxton wrote.

Mr Phelan, who has served as Texas Speaker of the House since 2021, has not made any public comment about Friday evenings incident. It is unclear if he was intoxicated or experiencing a health issue that impacted his speech.

Speaker Dade Phelan should resign. pic.twitter.com/ZD920VOt1X  Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 23, 2023

However, on Twitter, Brad Johnson, a reporter for The Texan News, reported that a spokesperson for Mr Phelan issued a statement on Tuesday (23 May) claiming, Mr Paxtons statement today amounts to little more than a last-ditch effort to save face.

The spokespersons alleged statement seemed to be a reference to a letter, obtained by Mr Johnson, from the Texas Houses Committee on General Investigating to Mr Paxton about an investigation into Mr Paxtons request for $3.3 million dollars of public money to pay a settlement resolving litigation between your agency and terminated whistleblowers.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Paxtons office for comment.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The Czech Republic is optimistic that more job opportunities will be available for Filipinos now that the Czech Republic and the Philippines recently agreed to strengthen economic and business ties.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Czech Ambassador Jana Sediva said that there are already job opportunities for some technical skills and expertise available in the Central European country.

We have a special program for working experts and we issue 2,000 visas every year, and this is for concrete professions like electricians and technicians, the envoy said.

Sediva also said their government is now discussing plans to increase the number of visas being issued to professionals.

Its going to go up every year. So, there can be 5,000 working visas for experts in 2024 and now its being discussed in our countries, she added.

Apart from possible job opportunities, the Czech Republic also expressed willingness to share its expertise in the areas of agriculture, food security and even milk processing technology.

Concrete cooperation between our companies and experts; we want to let Filipinos know about what we can offer, she said.

Transportation is also another area both Manila and Prague can explore together, with the Czech ambassador highlighting their efficient transport system.

We are also very good in transportation and you know in smart cities. We have subways, trains and buses for instance, and maybe our know-how can be offered not only in Manila but also for Davao and Cebu, the envoy added.

The Czech Embassy in Manila recently held a book launch depicting the longstanding friendship between the two countries.
A Texas bishop accused a sick nun on a feeding tube of breaking her chastity vow. Now she and her Sisters are fighting back.

The Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach and the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington is suing Bishop Michael Olson and the Fort Worth Diocese for $1 million. Courtesy of Matthew Bobo

A Texas bishop has announced an ecclesiastical investigation into whether a nun broke her chastity vow.

The nun, and her Sisters, sued the bishop and the Fort Worth Diocese, alleging abuse of power.

The nuns' attorney told Insider the bishop has ulterior motives and wants to take over the monastery.

A group of Texas nuns have sued a bishop and the Fort Worth Diocese in a dispute over an allegation that one of the nuns  who is seriously ill and uses a wheelchair and a feeding tube  broke her vow of chastity with a priest.

The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington have accused Bishop Michael Olson and the Fort Worth Diocese of waging an overzealous investigation into the alleged chastity vow violation, confiscating the nuns' phones and personal devices, "spying" on their texts and even personally showing up at their monastery to spend hours interrogating the nuns.

In Catholicism, a chastity vow is a promise of celibacy made by nuns and priests. The Diocese publicly announced its investigation into the chastity vow violation in a May 16 statement naming the Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach.

The priest, who is accused of engaging in sexual acts with the woman, was not named.

The nuns' attorney, Matthew Bobo, told Insider he believes that Olson and the Fort Worth Diocese have ulterior motives in levying such an allegation against Gerlach.

"They're 72 acres in Arlington, Texas, on the Trinity River in the middle of the metroplex," Bobo said, adding that's what he believes the bishop has his eyes on. "It's worth $20 million or so. That's what he's trying to do."

Bobo added that the chastity vow accusation is "insulting," and said the nun in question has likely only encountered four or five men in the last 25 years.

"They don't have any proof this happened. They don't have any proof she's admitted to this. It just didn't happen," Bobo told Insider, adding that Olson "is just using this as an excuse to abuse his power."

In response to Insider's request for comment, a representative for the Diocese told Insider that Bobo's allegations were "false and unfounded. The representative also told Insider that Gerlach "admitted to violating the Sixth Commandment," which forbids adultery.

Bobo denied to Insider that Gerlach made such an admission. He said the Diocese has released no information regarding the alleged violation, such as when or where it would have occurred. Additionally, the nuns said in their court filing that Olson interrogated Gerlach immediately after she returned from a surgical procedure, in which she was put under general anesthesia, intubated, and given fentanyl.

The nuns have alleged 'an illegal, unholy, unwarranted, explicit, and systemic assault' by Bishop Michael Olson

Gerlach said in an affidavit that she is severely ill and requires a central catheter line, feeding tube, and intravenous drip for 10 hours a day. Yet despite her condition, she said Bishop Olson "forced himself onto our peaceful community" in late April, interrogated her and other nuns for several hours, and "threw a temper tantrum" in which he yelled that the monastery was shut down and no mass would be held.

"Although she was in significant pain, under the influence of medications and feeling very weak, she felt compelled to acquiesce and was subjected to more questioning," the nuns' court filing said. "The Bishop knew she had just come back from the hospital and had a surgical procedure."

In their lawsuit, the nuns said that because of Olson and the Diocese's actions, the monastery was no longer able to pay bills or financially operate because their technology was confiscated.

Bobo told Insider the nuns' devices have since been returned to them  but not before Olson and the Diocese obtained a forensic copy of everything on the devices. He said not only does Olson now have access to the nuns' personal, private, and financial information, but he has all the personal information about people who contribute financially to the monastery.

The nuns alleged in their lawsuit that Olson and the Diocese are "abusing their power, inflicting moral violence and psychological distress" on the Sisters, and "undertaking an illegal, unholy, unwarranted, explicit, and systemic assault."

Gerlach's affidavit said the Discalced Carmelite Nuns spend their days attending mass every morning, gathering seven times a day to chant the official prayer of the church, focusing on contemplative prayer, cooking, cleaning, and working the grounds of the monastery.

The nuns' lawsuit argued that Olson and the Diocese of Fort Worth vastly overstepped their authority.

"We are not and have never been under the control of the Bishop of the local Diocese: we answer directly to the Pope," Gerlach's affidavit said.

Read the original article on Insider
A Texas mother said a teacher sexually assaulted her eight-year-old daughter multiple times before he resigned and fled the state.

Makalani Jones, 49, who is now a teacher with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, is now in the Gaston County Jail and CMS said hes suspended with pay from Hidden Valley Elementary School.

READ MORE: Music teacher arrested in Gaston County; accused of child sex crime in Texas

The childs mother told Channel 9 Tuesday that her heart sank when she found out Jones was working with young students in North Carolina.

Timeline

The mother said Jones inappropriately touched her daughter multiple times between October 2022 and December 2022.

The Killeen School District said Jones resigned from his position in January.

On Feb. 9. the Killeen Police Department got a report that a former teacher was accused of inappropriate conduct with a student. Investigators learned the victim said Jones had inappropriately touched her in the fall of 2022.

CMS hired Jones, a reading teacher at Hidden Valley Elementary School, according to the districts website. The district has not released the date he was hired.

The Bell County District Attorneys Office charged Jones with aggravated sexual assault of a child on May 16.

U.S. Marshals arrested Jones Monday in Gastonia on a warrant, issued on the same day, charging him with aggravated sexual assault of a child. Its unclear how the U.S. Marshals tracked Jones down in Gaston County.

A CMS spokesperson confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Jones is on administrative leave with pay.

Channel 9 is asking how Jones got a job with CMS amid the allegations.

Jones is currently awaiting extradition.

VIDEO: Music teacher arrested in Gaston County; accused of child sex crime in Texas
A Texas Ranger who heard gunshots coming from Uvalde classroom and failed to immediately act is still on paid leave four months after being fired

Law enforcement stand watch near a memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Christopher Ryan Kindell was sent a dismissal letter in January over his response to the Uvalde shooting.

Four months later, he's still on paid leave, according to The Washington Post.

Kindell's entitled to a meeting with the Texas DPS director, and that meeting hasn't happened yet.

A senior Texas Ranger who was fired over his delayed response to last year's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, is still on paid leave, four months after officials moved to terminate him, a Washington Post investigation revealed on Wednesday.

The Texas Department of Public Safety sent a letter to Christopher Ryan Kindell on January 5, saying they intended to terminate him for not "conforming to department standards" during the response to the shooting, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

According to the Post, Kindell arrived at the school 30 minutes after the shooting began, and was one of the most senior officers on the scene when he arrived.

One of the key issues with the law enforcement response to the shooting was the false understanding that the shooter was barricaded alone in a classroom, when in fact there were children and teachers present.

The latter is called an active shooter situation and calls for immediate action to protect the lives of those in danger.

In the dismissal letter, DPS officials said Kindell "took no steps to influence the law enforcement response toward an active shooter posture" and that "constitutes a failure to perform your duty completely."

The Post went into further detail about how Kindell failed to mount an active shooter offensive. About 10 minutes after arriving on the scene, bodycam footage shows Kindell walking around, "within earshot" as a dispatcher announces that a child has called 911 from inside one of the two adjoining classrooms where the shooter had barricaded himself, the Post reported.

Kindell also failed to immediately act when the shooter unleashed his final round of gunfire at 12:21 p.m. Law enforcement didn't storm the classroom where the shooter was present until 12:50 p.m., according to the Post.

According to records obtained by the Post, Kindell is still employed with the Department of Public Safety. The transparency organization Open the Books shows that Kindell made a salary of more than $90,000 in 2022.

A DPS official told The Post that the dismissal letter was a "preliminary decision" and won't be finalized until Kindell has the opportunity to meet with DPS Director Steven McCraw.

Multiple sources told the local news station KXAN last week that Kindell requested a meeting with McCraw over four months ago, but that McCraw has yet to schedule a date.

Insider was unable to reach Kindell for comment on Wednesday, but a source close to the ranger said that the director has twice cancelled on him.

The Texas Department of Public Safety did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Wednesday.

If and when McCraw finalizes Kindell's termination, he will have the opportunity to appeal the decision to the Public Safety Commission, according to KXAN.

Read the original article on Insider
The Pierce County Sheriffs Department is asking people to be on the lookout after a truck and camper were stolen Tuesday morning.

According to the sheriffs department, the girlfriend of the truck and campers owner was asleep in the back when thieves initially broke into the vehicle. She managed to escape before they drove off with it.

Authorities say that the owner works as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, and that the camper truck acts as his primary home. He is also hoping to recover two unique bikes which were in the truck when it was stolen.

Anyone with information on where the vehicle might be can contact Crime Stoppers either by phone at 1-800-222-TIPS, over their app, or on this website.
TikTok CEO brushes off Montana ban: We are confident that we will prevail

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Tuesday brushed off Montanas recent move to ban TikTok in the state, saying the company is confident it will prevail as it sues Montana over the new law.

We believe that the Montana bill that was recently passed is simply unconstitutional, Chew said in an interview with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum.

We very recently filed a lawsuit to challenge this in the courts. And we are confident that we will prevail.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed legislation banning TikTok last week, making it the first state to prohibit the video-sharing app amid concerns about data privacy and its China-based parent company ByteDance. The law is set to go into effect on January 1.

TikTok moved quickly to sue Montanas attorney general over the law.

We are challenging Montanas unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana. We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts, the companys communications team said on Twitter Monday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Timelier than ever, Keith Haring's first L.A. museum show shines a neon-bright light on his art and activism

A detail of Keith Haring's 1982 "Statue of Liberty," a collaboration with graffiti artist LA II, is on view at the Broad. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Keith Haring climbed atop scaffolding inside a classroom building at Pasadenas ArtCenter College of Design and began to quietly but determinedly paint. It was late November 1989, and the New York artist and activist, who was HIV positive at the time, had been invited to the college to speak to students and paint a mural on the occasion of the second World AIDS Day.

Haring popped a funk tape into his boombox, took a swig of mineral water and made his first fuchsia brush stroke on an unmarked wood panel, no pencil sketches to guide his way. A small crowd burst into applause.

Ten weeks later Haring died from complications related to the virus. His colorful, abstract mural  which still hangs opposite the library in a busy thoroughfare, as the artist had intended  was his last West Coast artwork created on his final visit to L.A.

This mural should be here for a long time, Haring told students and faculty in the colleges Ahmanson Auditorium after the work was completed. And AIDS shouldnt be.

Keith Haring's 1989 mural at ArtCenter College of Design. It's the artist's only public work in the L.A. area, created shortly before he died. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent visit to the mural, one of Harings closest friends, L.A. artist Kenny Scharf, tears up even before our interview starts. The two were college roommates at New Yorks School of Visual Arts in the early 80s.

Scharf was by Harings bedside, in Manhattan, as he died. Scharf tried to calm Haring with his words. Haring couldnt speak, or even open his eyes, but he gently squeezed Scharfs hand to signal he was listening.

I told him how great he was and that his art was going to live forever, Scharf says, his eyes now bloodshot. And that I would be there for him to talk about his work.

Scharf points out some of the murals subtle  and still timely  themes, healthcare and inequity among them. But it's also so full of life. Just exploding with joy and energy, Scharf says. Like so much of his work.

One of Keith Haring's 1988 paintings, left, and items from his SoHo Pop Shop. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

A new exhibition at the Broad museum, debuting Saturday, shines a light on Harings art, activism and life. Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody  the artists first museum exhibition in L.A.  includes more than 120 works spanning 1978 through 1989 from the Broads collection, private lenders and other institutions. Harings paintings, drawings, sculptures, videos and graphic works will be on view along with documentation of his more ephemeral subway drawings and murals. The show also includes personal ephemera, most of it on loan from the New York-based Keith Haring Foundation, such as the artists handwritten journals and posters that he created to support activist causes and organizations. Music was integral to Harings practice and his mixed tapes play in some of the galleries.

Haring had a solo exhibition at L.A.s Michael Kohn Gallery in 1988 and his sculptures showed at the Pacific Design Center in 1999. But the fact that he hasnt had an institutional survey in L.A. until now is surprising, especially considering how commercially ubiquitous his bright, animated imagery is, seen on T-shirts, mugs, rugs and elsewhere. Perhaps its because he was seen as such a quintessentially New York artist or that his roots as a street artist, and the commercial and stylistic accessibility of his work, hindered him being seen as a more serious artist in an art world that prized exclusivity.

But one thing is certain, says Broad Director Joanne Heyler: The time is exactly right for a Haring exhibition to finally debut.

When you look at what Keith Harings concerns were and what he attempted to do and say through his art and personal activism  AIDS awareness, his critique of capitalism, his critique of global social justice issues that focused on South Africa and apartheid, his critique of what, in the 80s, was called consumerism or commodification  he was looking for change. And there are many calls for change, on many fronts, in our times today.

A detail of Keith Haring's "Untitled" (1984) on display at the Broad. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Broad museum visitors will likely recognize Harings colorful, kinetic images of barking dogs, dancing figures, flying saucers and crawling babies, but may not be aware of the depth behind them, Heyler says. The exhibition, organized by Broad curator Sarah Loyer, aims to deepen the publics understanding of the artist.

Theres a large audience that will only be familiar with the tip of the iceberg," Loyer says, "and will really be surprised by the breadth of work theyre seeing and the topics he takes on  topics were still struggling with as a society today.

Haring made neon-bright, energetic and whimsical works that reflected his love of music, dance and the downtown club scene he was so much a part of, while also making art that gave voice to serious social and political issues. Individual works often reflected both, with the surface joie de vivre belying much darker ideas. His visual language of now-iconic imagery created a throughline across all of his work, whether in galleries, inside subway tunnels or on T-shirts.

A central concern of Harings was accessibility to art. The Broad exhibitions title comes from a quote Haring wrote in his journal when he was 20, that it's "the responsibility of a self-proclaimed artist to realize the public needs art, and not to make bourgeois art for the few and ignore the masses." Haring, a kid from Kutztown, Pa., came out of New York's street art scene. Shortly after arriving in Manhattan in 1978 to attend the School of Visual Arts, he began making subway drawings on black paper that covered expired billboard ad spaces so that passersby, from all walks of life, would see them. He created posters and logos for activist events, mentored school children in conjunction with his art exhibitions and offered more affordable versions of his imagery in his SoHo Pop Shop, on buttons, posters, magnets and hats.

A display of Keith Haring's activism posters. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Gallerist Michael Kohn says hed ride the subway to New York University in 1981 and glimpse Haring through the window rapidly making chalk drawings of baby figures. The performative gesture was as much about sparking joy in passersby as spreading his images to the public for free.

By that time he was a folk hero, people loved him, Kohn says. It became a thing  where was Keith Haring going to do his thing next?

Haring didnt make many trips to L.A. But his few visits were memorable, says Gil Vazquez, his friend, and president and executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation.

In July 1989, Haring traveled to L.A. to help install his sculpture at gallerist Martin Blinders home and Vazquez tagged along.

They visited friends Dennis Hopper, Pee-wee Herman, Madonna and Warren Beatty on that trip along with Timothy Leary. They spent the afternoon at Leary's eating pot brownies and analyzing how, in the future, computers might affect art-making.

Despite traveling in such famous circles, Vazquez says, Haring remained grounded. The common thread is Keith wanting to be of service to his fellow humans, Vazquez says. And wanting to leverage his fame to do good. His generosity.

A detail of "Tree of Life" (1985) on display at the Broad. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Keith Haring's "The Matrix" (1983). (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Art Is for Everybody, which fills nine ground-floor galleries, has special significance for the Broad: its a show that reflects the roots of the museums collection. The Broads were fascinated with the 80s Lower Manhattan art scene. They bought works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo and Scharf at the time and acquired all eight Haring works in their collection while the artist was still alive.

The exhibition kicks off energetically. In 1982, Haring had his first major gallery show at New Yorks Tony Shafrazi Gallery  it featured, among other things, DayGlo works in a UV-lit basement. An immersive space at the Broad, wrapped in similar screaming-bright, striped wallpaper from that show, features five of Harings DayGlo paintings along with several sculptures. (The room will not be UV-lit to protect the works.) One sculpture, a towering Statue of Liberty holding a black lightbulb, was a collaboration with graffiti artist LA II (Angel Ortiz). A mix of hip-hop, house, funk and 80s pop, from Harings mixtapes, will play in the gallery.

An immersive gallery of DayGlo works and sculptures is inspired by Keith Haring's first major gallery show, in 1982, in New York. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Harings early student work from 1978-80, around the time he came out as gay, is on view nearby. His concerns at the time are evident: sexuality, animal rights and environmentalism. Early versions of Harings barking dogs, radiant babies, pyramids and nuclear towers show up here  he was also thinking about language and developing a visual lexicon  along with videos he made, including Painting Myself Into a Corner, in which he paints an abstract design onto the floor while inching backward.

Another section, featuring later work, concerns itself with mortality and morality, Loyer says. A large-scale, blood-red and black painting from 1985 addresses the AIDS epidemic; paintings Haring made after his first trip to Japan in 1983 take on the effects of nuclear war; other works explore religion.

He was thinking more critically about the Christian right at that time, Loyer says, and the response to the AIDS epidemic and abuses of power and moralizing around that and other issues.

Photographs include one of Keith Haring and Madonna, at bottom. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Haring thrived in creative communities. He curated group art shows at Club 57 and other venues when he was a student, looked to Andy Warhol as a mentor and partied with Madonna, Basquiat, Grace Jones and Boy George.

One gallery is inspired by the downtown club scene and Harings prolific collaborations with other artists. The pink leather suit Madonna wore to Harings birthday party at the Paradise Garage in 1984, a collaboration with LA II, is on view along with the headpiece Jones performed in, a Haring collaboration with jewelry designer David Spada. Theres also a set piece  a tent  that Haring made for choreographer Bill T. Jones 1984 production, Secret Pastures.

Haring emerged alongside the advent of hip-hop and incorporated images of boomboxes and break dancers into his work. Several of his paintings are named after Public Enemy songs. On June 20 at the Colburn School  part of the Broads lineup of talks, club nights and performances around the exhibition  Public Enemys Chuck D will appear in conversation with Vazquez; Basquiats sister, Lisane Basquiat; and Channel Zero Productions Lorrie Boula to discuss hip-hop and the 80s culture scene.

Art Is for Everybody travels to Torontos Art Gallery of Ontario in the fall before heading to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis next year.

Haring was a self-described workaholic who produced an exceedingly robust body of work in about a decade. And he took creative risks until the very end.

Back in 1989, when Haring painted the ArtCenter mural, artist Doug Aitken was a student at the college. He assisted Haring on the work.

Given the AIDS epidemic at the time, Aitken says, there was a sense of urgency and mortality in the air when Haring painted the work, but also a feeling of bravery and experimentation.

If you look at his work in general, its very symmetrical and pattern-based, Aitken says. And I always found that mural to be unique because its asymmetrical, these shapes of different scales.

"That always struck me. That youd come to the end of your life, and youre at this point in your career, and theres a sense of closure. And yet, hes evolving, changing, hes pushing towards something new.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A timeline of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the police inaction that day

A family grieves outside of the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

On May 24, 2022, a shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

This timeline shows how the gunman killed 19 children and two teachers before police killed him.

Students placed 911 calls that suggest the gunfire lasted long after authorities said they arrived.

On Tuesday, May 24, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on children and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Two teachers and 19 children were killed, making it the deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. Over an hour after police arrived, law enforcement shot and killed the gunman at the scene.

On July 17, 2022, the Texas House of Representatives released a committee report detailing its investigation into the shooting and a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the massacre.

September 2021 to February 2022: The shooter asks his sister to help him buy a gun and purchases gun accessories and ammunition

While still 17, the shooter asked at least two people, including his sister, to buy him a gun, but both refused, according to the report. In November 2021 and February 2022, the shooter also bought several gun-related accessories online, including rifle slings, a military vest, and 60 rounds of ammunition, the report says.

April 2022: The shooter starts to allude to plans of violence on social media

On April 2, 2022, the shooter asked an Instagram user if they would "remember me in 50-something days" in a message. When the user responded "probably not," the shooter said "we'll see in May," according to the report.

"The attacker often connected those dates with doing something that would make him famous and put him 'all over the news,' and many of those with whom he chatted suspected his cryptic deadlines meant violence," the report says. "For example, in a May 14th conversation he simply wrote '10 more days.'"

May 16, 2022: The shooter buys a semiautomatic rifle the day after he turns 18

He bought two assault weapons in the days after he turned 18 on May 16, 2022, the report says.

On May 16, he purchased a Daniel Defense AR-15-style rifle and 1,740 rounds of ammunition, according to the report.

Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez also said the gunman's posts on social media "suggested the kids should watch out," the AP reported.

May 17: The shooter purchases a second 'Ar-15 style' rifle

The next day, the shooter bought a Smith & Wesson AR-15-style rifle and returned the following day to buy an additional 375 rounds of ammunition, spending a total of at least $4,897 on weapons, according to the report.

May 24, morning: schoolchildren prepare for end-of-year festivities

Students had been invited to wear "a nice outfit with fun/fancy shoes" as part of the school's end-of-year celebrations, according to a schedule posted on the school's Facebook page. These celebrations included an honor roll award ceremony.

The students at Robb Elementary had two days left in the school year.

May 24, 11:21 a.m.: The gunman sends a text message saying he shot his grandmother

At 10:50 a.m., the gunman texts a friend in Germany telling her he was angry at his grandmother and going to "do something to her rn."

Fifteen minutes later, he sent two more messages saying he shot his grandmother and is going to shoot people at the school. The German teen responds with one word, according to the report: "Cool."

11:28 a.m.: The gunman crashes into a ditch near the school

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said the shooter had been living with his grandmother since March 2022, and he used her car to drive approximately two miles, crashing when he was "about a block and a half away from the school."

"He crashed the vehicle at that point in time," McCraw said in a press conference after the shooting. "He exited with a backpack. He took a rifle with him."

Eduardo Trinidad, an eyewitness to the aftermath of the crash, told local outlet KPRC-2 that the vehicle went through a barricade and into a concrete ditch.

Juan Carranza told the Associated Press he also saw the crash and that the gunman fired at two people outside a nearby funeral home.

11:29 a.m.: A teacher sees the gunman approaching the building, closes the open door on the school's west side, and calls 911

Police originally said a teacher left a door open on the school's west end that allowed the gunman to enter the building, but surveillance video shows the educator closed the door before he reached it, the report says.

11:31 a.m.: The gunman walks through the school's parking lot

Public safety officials originally said an armed school resource officer approached the gunman before he entered the school, and that there was an exchange of gunfire.

But Victor Escalon, a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a press conference days later that wasn't true.

"It was reported that a school district police officer confronted the suspect," Escalon said. "That's not accurate," he added. "[The gunman] walked in unobstructed initially."

In the 12 minutes between arriving at and entering the school, the gunman shot at two funeral workers and the school itself before police showed up.

11:31 a.m.: school resource officer drives past gunman, accidentally confronts teacher instead

Texas law enforcement officers said a school resource officer drove past the 18-year-old gunman outside Robb Elementary School and accidentally confronts a teacher instead.

After a teacher calls police to report that someone had crashed a vehicle in a ditch at 11:30 a.m., the gunman then began shooting at the school, McCraw told reporters during the press conference.

11:33 a.m.: The suspect enters the school

The shooter enters the school, likely through the door on the west end of the building that the teacher had closed earlier, the report says.

The door was either "already unlocked or the lock failed to engage, which the teacher could not have known because the doors lock from the outside," the report says.

According to the report, none of three exterior doors to the school were locked, which is a violation of school policy.

The shooter walks through the hallway and then enters room 111 and starts shooting, the report says. The shooter briefly leaves the room, then returns and starts shooting again in rooms 111 and 112, which were connected.

He fired at least 100 rounds in just over two and a half minutes inside rooms 111 and 112, the report says.

"The attacker fired most of his shots and likely murdered most of his innocent victims before any responder set foot in the building," the report says.

Speaking on the "Today" show, Lt. Chris Olivarez said the shooter had "barricaded" himself in a single classroom where all his victims were clustered. Notably, the shooter was able to do this despite the school district's comprehensive security plan, which included police officers and locking doors.

"He began shooting children, teachers, anybody that was in his way. He was shooting people that were in front of him," Olivarez told KPRC-2.

11:35 a.m.: Officers arrive and enter the school

At 11:35 a.m., two separate groups of police officers enter the building through two different doors, the report says. One of the doors that police entered through was the same door the shooter used to get into the building.

11:37 a.m.: The shooter fires at officers and drives them back

Two officers approach the divider between rooms 111 and 112, but the suspect fires at them, causing building debris to graze the officers, the report says. Both officers did not return fire, according to the report.

11:38 a.m.: Law enforcement believes the shooter is contained

Uvalde Police Chief Pete Arredondo checks room 110 and tells other officers there were no children inside because it was awards day, the report says.

Arredondo testified that "he prayed that if Room 110 was empty, the children might be gone from the rooms occupied by the attacker as well."

Police began treating the shooter as a "barricaded subject" rather than an "active shooter" at this point, and never changed their designation of his threat level throughout the altercation after it, the report says.

11:43 a.m.: School officials post a public notice saying they're on lockdown

"Please know at this time Robb Elementary is under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the building. The building is secure in a Lockdown Status," read a notice posted on the school's Facebook page.

Shortly after came another post: "There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary." The school said law enforcement was "on site."

Onlookers urge law enforcement to confront the shooter

Onlookers outside the school urge police to charge the scene and confront the shooter, even getting so frustrated with the inactivity that they suggest rushing the school themselves.

Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, died in the rampage, said he arrived to the scene and saw law enforcement officials waiting outside the building.

"Let's just rush in because the cops aren't doing anything like they are supposed to," he told the Associated Press. "More could have been done. They were unprepared."

A spokesperson from Texas' Department of Public Safety told Insider at the time that it was his "understanding" that "several law enforcement responded and started to make entry into the school to evacuate students, teachers, and staff."

A mother breaks a police line to rescue her kids

Angeli Rose Gomez, a mother of two students at Robb Elementary, runs past a police line and jumps a fence to rescue her children from the school, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Gomez said she drove 40 miles to the school after hearing about the shooting, and found law enforcement just standing outside when she got there.

Parents scream at officers to enter the school

Videos uploaded to social media show Texas law enforcement personnel hold back desperate parents as they scream for officers to go into the school.

The footage captures a large group parents in a parking lot, pleading with officers, as school buses and police cars could be seen in the background. Many people are screaming and crying.

It's unclear if the video was taken during or after the shooting.

11:51 a.m.: police sergeant and US border agents start to arrive

Border Patrol agents couldn't get into the classroom and were forced to ask a staff member to open the door with a key, an anonymous law enforcement official familiar with the events told the Associated Press.

"At that point, we had a tactical law enforcement team arrive made up of multiple federal officers, local officers as well as state troopers, that were able to make forcible entry into that classroom," Olivarez said.

"They breached it, engaged the active shooter, and continued to keep him pinned down in that location afterwards until a tactical team could be put together," McCraw said, noting the tactical team included border patrol agents, local police officers, and sheriffs.

Initially, McCraw said the gunman was shot and killed around 40 minutes after his encounter with the school resource officer.

But then McCraw offered a drastically different version of events, strung together by 911 calls made by students locked inside classrooms during the shooting as officers remained in a hallway.

In a matter of days, the Texas authorities changed their timeline of events at least 13 times.

12:03 p.m.: Officers assemble in the hallways and students begin to call 911

The 911 calls placed by students suggest the gunfire lasted long after authorities said they arrived at the school.

At 12:03 p.m., a girl called 911 and identified herself through whispers, the report says. The call lasted for exactly one minute and 23 seconds, according to the report.

The Texas House committee report said the committee "received no evidence that any officer who did learn about phone calls coming from inside Rooms 111 and 112 acted on it to advocate shifting to an active shooter-style response or otherwise acting more urgently to breach the classrooms."

The girl was identified as Amerie Jo Garza by her grandmother, The Daily Beast reported. Garza's grandmother told the Beast she had just received her award for the school's honor roll. She did not survive.

The Uvalde police chief said in a statement that officers responded to the shooting "within minutes," but did not address if those officers actually went inside the school building.

12:10 p.m.: another 911 call

The same student called 911 again, and told the operator that multiple students were dead, the report says.

12:11 p.m.: Chief Arredondo requests a master key

Arredondo requests a master key, which became his "primary focus of his attention for the next 40 minutes," according to the Texas House committee report.

12:13 p.m.: another 911 call

The student called 911 a third time.

12:15 p.m.: Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrives

Officers waited in the hallway until a Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrived at 12:15 p.m.

12:16 p.m.: Student makes another 911 call and says 8-9 students are still alive

The student called 911 and explained for a third time that several of her classmates and one of her teachers were dead. She said her other teacher was wounded and hiding in room 112, the report says.

12:19 p.m.: another 911 call

A different student in classroom 111 called 911, and hung up after a classmate advised her to keep quiet.

12:21 p.m.: shots heard on 911 call

During that call to 911, McCraw said three shots could be heard over the phone. McCraw said it's believed he was firing at the door. At that point, officers waiting in the hallway moved closer, but had to ask a janitor for keys into the classroom, McCraw said.

A fourth-grade boy who survived the shooting told KENS 5 about the harrowing moments he and his classmates first realized they were under attack. After firing a shot at an adjoining door, the shooter walked into the young boy's classroom, he said.

"He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said 'It's time to die,'" the fourth-grader told the outlet.

12:36 p.m.: another 911 call

The first student who called 911 called back and told the operator that the gunman shot at the door.

12:45 p.m.: Border Patrol Tactical Unit goes in

A Border Patrol Tactical Unit disregards orders to not engage with the gunman 30 minutes after their arrival on the scene, NBC News reported.

12:50 p.m.: Border Patrol Tactical Unit kills the gunman

"They breached the classroom door. They went in, engaged (the shooter), and killed him at the scene," McCraw said.

Shots were heard over the student's 911 call, as well as the sounds of officers moving children out of the classroom.

That was 77 minutes after the gunman entered the school, and 75 minutes after police arrived on the scene.

This story has been updated with new information.

Read the original article on Insider
Tina Turner hated 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' but her manager insisted she record it. She dedicated a Grammy to him after the song won 3.

Tina Turner. Greetsia Tent/WireImage/Getty

Tina Turner originally hated her hit song "What's Love Got To Do With It?"

She only recorded it after her producer, Roger Davies, made her meet with the song's producer.

Turner later dedicated a Grammy she won for that song to Davies.

Queen of Rock Tina Turner initially hated "What's Love Got To Do With It?" and only recorded her hit song after her manager insisted she did so.

"I thought 'What's Love' ... it could be a big song," Turner's manager Roger Davies said in the 2021 HBO Documentary about the star's life, "Tina."

He continued: "Tina never really liked it."

Turner, who died on Wednesday, agreed in the documentary, laughing and calling the song "terrible."

"I was rock and roll. I was not ... that was a pop song," she said.

Davies convinced Turner to meet the producer, Terry Britten, who recalled Turner telling him that she didn't like the song and that she only showed up because Davies told her to.

Turner and Britten eventually reworked the song to fit her repertoire, with Britten saying he was "stunned after the session" with Turner.

"I converted it and made it my own," Turner said of the 1984 hit.

The song eventually hit number one on the Billboard chart and earned three Grammys  Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Performance. Turner dedicated her Record of the Year award to Davies.

"I'd like to take this award and give it to someone who's been wonderful to me as a friend and in business and in many, many ways, my manager, Roger Davies," Turner said in her acceptance speech. "It's been a wonderful year."

Turner "died peacefully" in Switzerland on Wednesday after a "long illness," her family said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone. She was 83.

"Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly," read a post on her Instagram page.

Read the original article on Insider
Tina Turner, the exuberant, heel-stomping, wild-haired rock goddess who sold out stadiums, earned a dozen Grammy Awards and won the adoration of fans around the world in an electrifying music career spanning five decades, died Wednesday at her home near Zurich after a long illness, according to her publicist.

She was 83.

"With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model," Turner's publicist, Bernard Doherty, said in a statement. Doherty added that there will be a private funeral ceremony for close friends and family members. He did not specify a cause of death.

The arc of Turners high-flying but tumultuous life was music industry legend  as well as the basis for a hit 1986 autobiography (I, Tina), a Hollywood biopic (Whats Love Got to Do With It) and a Broadway jukebox show (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical).

Tina Turner during a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Walter Iooss Jr / Getty Images)

She ascended from rural roots to the heights of national stardom, blasting into public consciousness as one half of the sensational rhythm-and-blues duo Ike & Tina Turner and later establishing herself as one of the most popular Black female solo artists in the world.

She was the first woman and the first Black artist to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone  in just its second issue  and her massively successful solo career broke barriers for future generations of Black women in music.

But along the way, Turner experienced personal upheavals and private traumas. She alleged that Ike Turner, her ex-husband and artistic collaborator, subjected her to years of horrific physical abuse and tried to take control of virtually all aspects of her life.

It was my relationship with Ike that made me most unhappy. At first, I had really been in love with him. Look what hed done for me. But he was totally unpredictable, Turner wrote in I, Tina, a memoir co-authored by music critic and MTV News correspondent Kurt Loder.

In the late 1970s, Turner managed to extricate herself from her husband and set out on her own. In the 80s, Turner pulled off one of the most triumphant comebacks in modern rock music, reinventing herself as a gleefully liberated hit-maker who topped the Billboard charts.

Image: Tina Turner performs at the World Music Theater, in Tinley Park, Ill., in 1997. (Paul Natkin / Getty Images)

Turner, a supremely talented vocalist who belted out songs with abandon, recorded one chart-topping song after another in the 80s, but one track in particular made her a superstar: Whats Love Got to Do With It, a show-stopping anthem off the 1984 album Private Dancer.

Turners other big hits from the era included Better Be Good to Me, We Dont Need Another Hero (Thunderdome), Typical Male, The Best and I Don't Wanna Fight.

In the decades that followed, she toured around the world, racked up awards, occasionally acted in films and remained one of the signature musical personalities of the late 20th century. She decided to retire in 2009 after having wrapped up her 50th anniversary tour.

Ive done enough, Turner announced to a crowd of 75,000 people at Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich that year. Ive been performing for 44 years. I really should hang up my dancing shoes.

Turner earned eight competitive Grammy Awards, three Grammy Hall of Fame prizes and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement trophy. She was a two-time inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame  first with Ike Turner (1991), then as a solo artist (2021).

Tina Turner in 1964. (Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

Humble beginnings

Anna Mae Bullock was born on Nov. 26, 1939, in rural Brownsville, Tennessee, to a family of sharecroppers. She loved to sing as a young girl. When the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, she threw herself into the citys R&B community.

In the mid-1950s, she met Ike Turner at a gig by his band, the Kings of Rhythm. Soon enough, she was part of the group, performing under the alliterative name he chose for her  Tina Turner.

The Ike and Tina Turner Revue, as the ensemble was known at the time, drew attention for lively performances. Ike was a talented musician in his own right, but Tina was clearly the main attraction, wowing audiences with her vocal chops, spirited dancing and raw verve.

The group struggled to find success in the recording booth until 1960, when A Fool in Love climbed up the pop charts and raised the revues national profile. Two years later, Ike and Tina tied the knot, and the duo went on to record several popular singles.

Tina Turner is an incredible chick, Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner wrote in 1967. She comes in this very short miniskirt, way above her knees, with zillions of silver sequins and sparklers pasted on it. Her dancing is completely unrestrained.

Ike and Tina Turner (Chris Walter / WireImage via Getty Images)

Unlike the polite hand-clapping Motown groups, she and the Ikettes scream, wail and do some fantastic boogaloo, the reporter added. No matter what you may think of the music, Tina Turner is worth sitting down and paying close attention to.

But behind the scenes, the Turners marriage was deeply troubled. Ike, who struggled with addiction and psychological issues, frequently lashed out at his wife physically and emotionally. He also pursued affairs with other women.

The years of mistreatment took a severe toll  and one day, she decided enough was enough. She left Ike after they got into a fight en route to the Dallas Statler Hilton on July 1, 1976, heading out on her own with just 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her pocket.

She filed for divorce later that month, citing irreconcilable differences, and the legal split was finalized in 1978. (Ike, during the couples 1977 divorce proceedings, claimed the two were never legally married as he was still wedded to another woman at the time of the ceremony.)

Turner spent the next few years trying to find her footing. She toured to pay off debts, opened for the Rolling Stones in 1981 and earned income wherever she could, such as in guest appearances on television shows like The Hollywood Squares.

In those days, Turner was considered a nostalgia act  a talented but not exactly culturally vital relic from 60s pop. But in 1984, everything changed: Turner released Private Dancer, a commercial and critical smash.

The album sold upwards of 20 million copies around the world and won three Grammy Awards, including record of the year and best female vocal performance, for Whats Love Got to Do With It. Turner also introduced a new look  big hair, high heels  that emphasized her sex appeal.

Turner thrived in the 80s, lighting up concert venues with her joyful theatricality, dynamic vocals and commanding stage presence. She was a symbol of female empowerment and Black success, reaching new creative heights even as racist record executives tried to stand in her way.

Pain and survival

In the HBO documentary Tina (2021), she recalled that many journalists seemed narrowly interested in her past experiences with abuse, forgetting  or outright ignoring  her second act as a megawatt solo artist and inspiration to women worldwide.

In the film, she also spoke about her own journey to acceptance and even forgiveness: In not forgiving, you suffer, she told the documentarians. I had an abusive life.  Thats what you got  so you have to accept it.

Image: Tina Turner during the premiere of the musical 'Tina - Das Tina Turner Musical' at Stage Operettenhaus in March, 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. (Franziska Krug / Getty Images File)

Turners painful experiences with Ike were dramatized in the 1993 biopic Whats Love Got to Do With It. Angela Bassett played Tina, and Laurence Fishburne played Ike; they were both nominated for Oscars at the 66th Academy Awards.

In a statement Wednesday, Bassett said in part: "How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?"

"Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like," Bassett said.

The real-life Turner eventually found love with German record executive Erwin Bach, who she started dating in 1986 and married in a civil ceremony in Switzerland in 2013, after a 27-year romantic partnership. (Bach was one of the executive producers of the HBO documentary.)

Turners musical success was accompanied by roles in movies, including Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, released in 1985. She went on to release popular albums across the late 80s and the 90s, including Break Every Rule, Foreign Affair and Wildest Dreams.

Tina Turner in Chicago (Paul Natkin / Getty Images file )

All the Best, a greatest-hits album, debuted in 2004. Five years later, Turner decided to scale back public appearances and retire from the demands of the music business.

She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. In 2021, she sold her music rights to BMG Rights Management for $50 million; later the same month, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act, accepting the prize via satellite from her home in Zurich.

If theyre still giving me awards at 81, I mustve done something right, Turner said with a smile in her acceptance speech.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Toddler dies after hes pinned between electric mattress and bed frame, NE officials say

An 18-month-old boy died after becoming trapped by an automated mattress, Nebraska officials told news outlets.

Authorities responded to a 911 call from a home in La Vista, a suburb of Omaha, at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 21, the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office told WOWT. Area police and firefighters also responded.

The toddler was in critical condition when deputies arrived at the scene, KLKN reported.

He was taken to a hospital where he died, the sheriffs office told the outlet.

An investigation revealed the child died due to suffocation after he was pinned between an electric mattress and a bed frame, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The investigation is still underway, but officials say the death appears to have been an accident, the newspaper reported.

La Vista is roughly 50 miles northeast of downtown Lincoln.

2 killed when house under construction collapses during storm, Texas officials say

RV explosion during tour at dealership sends 3 people to hospital, Texas cops say

Mom uses seat belt to tie boy to car then drags him on highway as punishment, cops say

8-month-old fatally shot as mother and father fight over handgun, Texas officials say
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  Five Filipino seafarers were among the 39 crew members who died after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the Indian Ocean last week, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed Wednesday.

The PCG said the information was reported by China's Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng.

We are saddened by this development. Since day one, we have been monitoring and coordinating with the Australian Maritime Rescue Center and the Chinese Embassy as to the progress of the search and rescue (SAR) operations," PCG Spokesperson, CG Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said in a statement.

Balilo said the PCG is now in talks with the Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss any assistance for the bereaved families.

According to reports, the nationalities of other crew members were Indonesian and Chinese.

The vessel, owned by Penglai Jinglu Fishery Co, capsized at 3 a.m. on May 16.

It was not immediately clear if all the bodies have been retrieved. Earlier reports said rescuers found seven bodies, but their nationalities were not specified.
The FBI in Pittsburgh is cautioning you about drugs in the mail.

Some of your neighbors could be receiving a deadly delivery-- illegal drugs being sent through the US Postal Service.

Under the cover of darkness, law enforcement suited up and armored vehicles rolled out.

SWAT with guns drawn approached a house in a rural area outside of Pittsburgh. This was the end of a four-and-a-half-year investigation that used federal wiretaps, search warrants, and confidential informants.

Christopher Giordano, an Assistant Special Agent in Charge with the FBI was on that case.

During that takedown, we seized more than 2 million fentanyl pills, Giordano tells Channel 11. Thats unheard of. Thats one of the largest fentanyl seizures in the history of the U.S. Government.

Giordano says the street value was over $20 million.

2 million pills coming into Western Pennsylvania is enough to wipe out every man, woman, and child in Western PA, Giordano added.

The FBIs Safe Streets Task Force, with the help of countless law enforcement agencies, dismantled a massive drug trafficking operation. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service was also involved because some of the drugs were shipped through the mail. Drugs including homemade pressed pills were literally packaged up and dropped off at a USPS facility.

People can do this in their basement and thats whats terrifying, Giordano added. These people arent chemists, this isnt Pfizer. These are people mixing chemicals together that they dont know.

57 people were charged including 18 from our area. In addition to the 2 million pills seized, investigators also recovered:

400 pounds of methamphetamine

$600,000

9 vehicles

47 guns

Giordano says these drugs, some of which are coming through the mail, are ravaging our communities and the death rate illustrates just how badly.

It is a truly evil business model, Giordano added. They value profit over human life. Ive been in law enforcement for 19 years and Ive never seen it as bad as it is now.

The Inspector in Charge of Contraband Interdiction and Investigations with the U.S. Postal Service, Daniel Adame, says the mail is one of many ways dealers are doling out their deadly doses. From 2020-2022, 150-thousand packages were intercepted by the USPIS, stopping 150 tons of drugs from getting into communities around the U.S. Adame says drugs including fentanyl, meth, and cocaine are primarily being mailed into our communities from the southwest border, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and then Puerto Rico.

11 investigates scoured data from 2020 through 2022 and found that to be the case. We also traced the communities in the Pittsburgh area where the packages with the largest weight of drugs were mailed to.

Over the three years from 2020-2022, more than six pounds of synthetic opioids like fentanyl were mailed to New Kensington. Nearly 7 pounds of methamphetamine was mailed to Uniontown and over 17 pounds of cocaine was mailed to Beaver Falls

The FBI says theres a reason these drugs are shipped to towns surrounding Pittsburgh.

These drug dealers, these traffickers, they try to stay off the radar as much as possible, Giordano said. So being in New Kensington, youre a lot less likely to be found than if youre in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has the DEA, FBI, and HSI.

Debbie Leyland Morabito knows this well. She lives in New Kensington. Her daughter Ashley died of fentanyl poisoning in 2018.

Ashely was a dynamic woman, her mom recalls.

Ashley was a cheerleader, swimmer, and lifeguard and was about to graduate with honors. She had just turned 24.

We didnt even get a chance to celebrate her birthday with her, Leyland Morabito shared. We had plans. I want people to know if it doesnt affect you, heaven forbid it may.

The loss of life is why law enforcement says taking down drug dealers is key.

Its tragic anytime somebody loses their life, especially a younger adult or someone that unwittingly took something marketed as something else, Daniel Adame added.

In February, 25-year-old Coraopolis man, Jacob Blair was arrested by the FBI. Blair is accused of running a counterfeit drug operation that sold fentanyl and methamphetamine disguised as Oxycontin, Xanax, and Adderall on the dark web.

Youre able to peddle your deadly poisons to anyone who can get on the dark web, Adame said. All it takes is one pill for someone to overdose on fentanyl.

40 grams of a substance containing Fentanyl and 50 grams of a substance containing Methamphetamine were seized from a home on Whispering Woods Drive in Coraopolis. 400+ grams of a substance containing fentanyl was also seized from a storage unit along Furnace Street Extension in McKees Rocks. 7 guns and 1,237 rounds of ammunition were taken in that raid.

The FBI says when drugs are shipped in the mail, there is an inherent danger to everyone.

From the postal carrier to the police that get called in, to the animals they use to sniff out the drugs, Giordano said. God forbid a child gets into it. Theyre not going to know what it is. Its going to look like powdered sugar - like candy.

Debbie wants to educate others on the dangers of these drugs including fentanyl.

As few as a few grains the size of a grain of table salt can be deadly to someone who ingests it, Leyland Morabito said. One pill can kill and please dont ever say not my child or loved one.

For law enforcement, their work never ends.

You are spending every single moment living and breathing these investigations, Giordano said. We do not sleep. We will continue to investigate, disrupt and dismantle these criminal organizations.

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drinks at a speakeasy

Atlanta, Georgia has a thriving speakeasy scene that combines heritage, mixology expertise, and an air of exclusivity to create an unforgettable experience. The nationwide ban on the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the early 20th century fueled the development of Atlantas speakeasy culture. Similar to other cities of the time, Atlanta saw the rise of clandestine bars that catered to those seeking an illegal drink in vibrant settings. Today, speakeasies in Atlanta serve as a nostalgic throwback, blending heritage, mixology expertise, and an aura of mystery.

Atlantas hidden bars go beyond mere replicas of the 1920s and 1930s. They incorporate modern mixology techniques to create innovative interpretations of classic cocktails.

Many speakeasies in Atlanta require advance reservations or secret passwords for entry, heightening the sense of mystery.

These speakeasies offer immersive experiences that transport guests to the Prohibition era, including live jazz bands, swing dancing, and themed events.

See some of the best speakeasies in Atlanta below, and get ready to step back in time for a night of classic cocktails and clandestine fun. From the dimly lit interiors to the expertly crafted drinks, these speakeasies are sure to impress even the most discerning cocktail connoisseurs.

These hidden gems offer a unique experience for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and step back in time. Whether youre a history buff or a cocktail connoisseur, Atlantas speakeasies are not to be missed.

The Red Phone Boot

The Red Phone Booth is quite the mysterious experience. Enter by dialing a secret number into an antique London-style red phone booth. The speakeasy-like interior has brick floors, a fireplace, a honey onyx bar, and custom Italian leather couches. A private event space has pool and poker tables. Enjoy fresh seafood, carpaccio, and Neapolitan pizza with a whiskey-based cocktail.

Ticonderoga Club

The Ticonderoga Club, which can be found inside the Krog Street Market, has the look and feel of a traditional tavern while also incorporating some speakeasy characteristics. The clubs menu features a variety of Southern-inspired dishes, including oysters and fried chicken. With its cozy atmosphere and delicious food and drinks, the Ticonderoga Club is a must-visit spot for anyone looking for a fun night out.

Eleanors

Eleanors first entered Muss & Turner 11 years ago, and today it is practically the owner. The heartfelt affection of its namesake is what this authentic Prohibition-era speakeasy is all about. There is a plethora of drinks available. Drinks like the Brown Thrasher, which combines bourbon, lemon, Amaro Averna, and hickory-smoked apple shrub, go well with the chicharrones and charcuterie boards and the inventive sandwiches (like the peach and goat cheese option).

Ranger Station

Ranger Station is a hidden bar in Atlanta with a speakeasy vibe. It serves up creative cocktails like the Rangers Old Fashioned made with rye whiskey, maple syrup, and bitters. The bar is located at Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall. It has a dark and cozy atmosphere with vintage couches, conversation areas and wood paneling. Also, Ranger Station offers curiosities and decor reflecting a rustic cabin in the woods or a bar one might find at a hunting lodge. Its cocktails are center stage, inspired by a variety of national park landmarks and natural wonders. Reservations are necessary to gain entrance.
Traffic halted on Crimean bridge as its engulfed in thick smoke  video

Clouds of thick smoke over the Crimean bridge

They also shared photos and videos showing thick smoke rising over the crossing.

Lines of cars heading for Russia were seen on the occupied peninsula.

The Crimean bridge connects the Taman Peninsula in mainland Russia with the Ukrainian Kerch Peninsula, currently under Russian occupation.

Crimeas Russia-installed "authorities" claim that the bridge is closed because of ongoing Russian military drills.

Kremlin puppet Sergei Aksyonov, in turn, announced that traffic across the Crimean bridge would resume within a few hours.

The bridge has recently seen a number of fire-related incidents.

Read also: Russias last red line: Will the West help Ukraine liberate Crimea?  opinion

Read also: Budanov reveals post-invasion plans of Russian supporters in Crimea

On Oct. 8, 2022, a fire broke out on the Crimean bridge connecting Russia and the occupied peninsula, which Russia uses to reinforce their troops. At first, Moscow claimed that a "fuel tanker" was on fire, before admitting that a truck had "blown up" on the bridge. There were also reports of a "drone attack." Russia called the explosion a "terrorist attack", with "Ukrainian special services allegedly involved in its organization.

Advisor to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that the explosion on the bridge could have been part of the feud between Russian security forces. NV sources said that the explosion on the Crimean bridge was a special operation of the SBU. The special service refused to comment on this information: "We do not comment on this. We will comment on the role of the SBU or any other state agency of Ukraine in the 'pops' (explosions of Russian equipment  ed.) after our final victory."

A large fire broke out on May 3 at an oil depot near the Russian port of Taman. The devastating fire broke out in the village of Volna, about 15 km from the Crimean bridge.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
'Our trains need to be safe.' Woman's attack on L.A. Metro line sparks calls for action

Passengers come and go at the 7th Street/Metro Center station in Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Twila Mahone has been growing worried about her safety commuting on Metro's A Line, but an attack last week  which left a 53-year-old woman's face bruised and battered  has left her increasingly rattled.

It was just horrible," said Mahone, 56. It just took too long for that lady to get help."

Mahone was riding northbound on the A Line, formerly the Blue Line, on May 17 when the woman was attacked in Long Beach. She said that she saw younger passengers repeatedly punch the woman and that, when the victim and other passengers tried to call 911 and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's emergency system for help, it took minutes for them to be taken seriously.

Mahone said the woman was left with a "big ol' knot between her eyes" and waited at least 10 minutes before officials stopped the train and passengers could find officers.

They do have to improve the security on these trains," Mahone said. It's not safe. They know its not safe."

The victim  who asked to remain anonymous, citing concerns for her safety  said she's still traumatized by last week's attack, which she believes was racially motivated. She said the attackers shouted about her Asian ethnicity before punching her in the head. She said she's still waiting to find out if her nose is broken.

You read about it ... [but] how can it happen to me?" the victim said Tuesday in an interview with The Times. Im still scared."

Long Beach police spokesperson Richard Mejia said no arrests have been made. The incident is under investigation, he said, but police do not at this point believe the incident was motivated by racial hate or bias.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn this week requested a "full accounting" of Metro security staff during the attack, hoping to better understand why the woman waited so long for help.

Metro Ambassador Ari Silva helps a passenger at the 7th Street/Metro Center station on May 23, 2023. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

We have multimillion-dollar law enforcement contracts, Metro security and 300 Metro ambassadors who have been hired to ride our buses and trains  but where were they when this woman was beaten up on the Blue Line last week?" Hahn said in a statement Monday. "Enough is enough. Our trains need to be safe for our residents.

Metro spokesperson Dave Sotero said in a statement that as soon as the agency became aware of the incident, its teams began pulling video files to review what happened.

"We are in the process of reviewing all of them and will share our findings with the Metro board and the public soon," Sotero said Tuesday. "But we want to make clear that Metro has no tolerance for and will aggressively investigate any incidents of crime, harassment or intimidation on our system."

He didn't directly respond to questions about how or when Metro would respond to Hahn's request, but said the agency is continuing to address public safety concerns through a multilayered plan that includes adding security officers and homeless outreach teams and increasing the number of train ambassadors.

Last week's attack came a month after a 25-year-old man was fatally stabbed aboard an A Line train in Long Beach. Two arrests have been made in that case.

"This should not be happening, especially just weeks after another Blue Line passenger was stabbed to death in Long Beach," Hahn wrote in a letter to Metro Chief Executive Stephanie Wiggins. "Metro spends hundreds of millions a year to make the system safe. ... Even with all these resources, this passenger was left to fend for herself."

Hahn, who sits on Metro's Board of Directors, requested information about where police and transit ambassadors were during the attack, as well as what happened with calls to the train operator and 911.

Overall incidents of crime on the rail system have continued to increase in recent months, up by almost 30% this February compared with last, according to the agency's latest public safety report. While the agency has seen the most drastic increase in crimes such as trespassing or drug offenses  the latter of which it attributes to recent efforts to crack down on drug use  violent crime has also increased, with aggravated assaults up by almost 50% compared with last year, the agency reported.

A survey last year found that Metro ridership among women had dropped considerably, with women naming safety as their top concern.

Mahone said she's working to save up for a car (her last one was stolen) so she doesn't have to deal with the public transportation system.

"There's no guarantee when you get on the train that you're going to be safe," she said. "I'm sick of all of it."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
As rioters ransacked Congress and hunted for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Capitol Police Officer David Lazarus, the lead agent on Pelosis security detail, felt like he was running through quicksand.

First, he clamored to evacuate members of congressional leadership to a secure location. Then he had to free stranded lawmakers from their offices across the Capitol complex. Next came the urgent calls from Pelosis Capitol suite, where trapped staff members hid for hours under a conference table in a locked room.

There had already been reports of pipe bombs discovered at the nearby RNC and DNC buildings  could there be others marked for the Capitol? Lazarus wondered  and soon, another alert came across his radio: Shots fired by the House chamber. Amid the fear, chaos and confusion, Lazarus on Wednesday described another sensation that he says sticks with him to this day: Inadequacy.

I felt nothing I did would be enough, he recalled.

The toll of human suffering wrought by the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol was on display at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C., where U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta is preparing to issue sentences to the leaders of the Oath Keepers, the far-right militia-style organization whose leader Stewart Rhodes was convicted last year of seditious conspiracy.

Prosecutors say Rhodes assembled dozens of allies in Washington as part of a wide-ranging plot to forcibly prevent the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. The group amassed an extraordinary arsenal of weapons at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, Virginia, that the Justice Department said was at the ready should violence spiral even further out of control or should Trump invoke the Insurrection Act and deputize the Oath Keepers as a government-backed militia. Dozens of Oath Keepers entered the building during the early moments of the attack and split up, some charging toward Pelosis office and others toward a police line protecting the Senate chamber, before the riot was dispelled.

A jury convicted Rhodes and five other Oath Keepers  including the groups Florida leader Kelly Meggs  of seditious conspiracy in two trials that took place between September 2022 and January 2023. Several other members of the group have been convicted of serious crimes stemming from the Jan. 6 attack, including felony obstruction, which, like seditious conspiracy, carries a 20-year maximum sentence.

Rhodes, Meggs, Florida Oath Keeper Kenneth Harrelson and Ohio Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins  clad in orange jumpsuits  looked on as Lazarus and several other victims of the Jan. 6 attack described trauma that has never gone away.

The violence that the rioters brought to the Capitol never ends, said Lazarus. For any of us.

The proceedings on Wednesday were a chance for several police officers and congressional staffers to confront the Oath Keepers with the lingering trauma theyve lived with since Jan. 6 and to plead with Mehta for the harshest possible sentences.

Terri McCullough, Pelosis chief of staff, recalled the Capitol morphing into a crime scene and said she expects to carry the pain and horror she felt every day for the rest of my life. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who has been outspoken about the suffering of his colleagues as a result of Jan. 6, said he fears for his safety and dreads being at work. He says some colleagues still avoid certain parts of the Capitol to avoid triggering painful memories. Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens cried as he recalled his wifes reaction to seeing his battered body, when he returned from his 18-hour Jan. 6 shift at the Capitol, covered in bear spray, mace and other chemicals.

Virginia Brown, a 21-year-old college student who worked as a Senate chambers assistant on Jan. 6, recalled her initial excitement at being chosen to carry boxes of certified presidential elector certificates between the House and Senate chamber during the proceedings. Instead, her memories of that day include sprinting through the underground chambers of the Capitol and removing her shoes because she believed she could run faster in her tights.

I cannot measure how many hours of sleep I lost, she said, describing her efforts to cope after Jan. 6 The trauma cannot be undone.

Mehtas ultimate sentences, which he will mete out over the next 10 days in individual sentencing hearings for each defendant, are the first for any Jan. 6 defendants convicted of seditious conspiracy  the most significant crimes charged by the government related to the attack.

Mehta has already doled out the two harshest sentences stemming from the violence: 14 years for Peter Schwartz, who assaulted multiple police officers and had a long rap sheet, and 10 years for Thomas Webster, a retired NYPD cop who brutally assaulted a D.C. officer and, in Mehtas view, lied on the witness stand about it before a jury convicted him.

Both those sentences, while steep, were significantly lower than prosecutors sought.

Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison term for Rhodes, who they say was the ringleader of the Oath Keepers role in the attack. The group is one of two  along with the Proud Boys  who prosecutors have described as key planners and orchestrators of the violence that unfolded. Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other leaders were convicted earlier this month of seditious conspiracy as well and are slated to be sentenced in August.

How Mehta, an appointee of Barack Obama, sentences these defendants will be the clearest metric yet of the governments efforts to deliver accountability for perpetrators of the Jan. 6 attack. He has, in previous sentencing hearings, lamented that judges have been asked to punish pawns in the Jan. 6 attack when leaders  including political leaders like Donald Trump, who he said bear responsibility for lying to supporters and driving them to the Capitol on Jan. 6  have yet to face punishment.

Special counsel Jack Smith has been probing Trumps potential criminal culpability in attempting to subvert the election on Jan. 6 and has been hauling in some of Trumps top White House advisers, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence, for testimony.
The owners of popular Mexican food popup Corazon 805 Tacos finally have their own brick-and-mortar location in downtown San Luis Obispo.

Corazon Cafe, as the new eatery is known, is located at the corner of Higuera and Chorro streets in the century-old Wineman Hotel.

For a few years, we have thought about what it might take to open a restaurant (and) where the perfect place might be, co-owner Sara McGrath wrote via email. This opportunity  seemed like a great way to start small and manageable.

The cafe celebrated its soft opening at 847 Higuera St. on May 6, although a grand opening date hasnt been set yet.

In the meantime, the team is still serving up freshly crafted tacos on handmade tortillas via their popup tent.

Having a cafe space in which to bring in the community is a dream come true, McGrath said.

Corazon Cafe is a partnership between, from the left, Crescencio Hernandez Villar, Sara McGrath, Pedro Arias Lopez and is open near the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets.

Who is behind new SLO restaurant?

The team behind Corazon Cafe combines cultures, love and friendship in a partnership that crosses borders and backgrounds.

Chef and partner Crescencio Chencho Villar, 50, manages the kitchen. McGraths husband Pedro Arias Lopez, 44, manages the front of the house, and 48-year-old McGrath handles Corazon Cafes community relations, coordinating special events such as art shows, and some administration duties.

McGrath and Lopez met 15 years ago when she was visiting Mexico, and later married.

McGrath is currently a service coordinator for Tri-Counties Regional Center, which works with individuals with developmental disabilities living in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties Shes also an advocate, artist, travel lover and breast cancer survivor.

McGrath said Lopez and Villar are longtime friends and coworkers originally from Mexico. Lopez, who was born in Chiapas, worked for his familys business making pan dulce and tamales, and Villar grew up on his familys farm in Guerrero.

The guys worked in San Luis Obispo restaurants for the last decade or so, McGrath said, at Big Sky Cafe, Novo and the now-closed Pepe Delgados Mexican Restaurant.

The trio launched Corazon 805 Tacos five years ago as a pop-up tent with support from the owners of Big Sky Cafe and Novo, who allowed the team to prepare catered food in those kitchens during off hours and provided guidance and advice.

They regularly serve patrons at Liquid Gravity Brewing Co. in San Luis Obispo and cater weddings and other events.

In April, McGrath and her partners announced their next big move  to the former home of a coffee shop.

Chencho has left Novo after 13 years, the trio announced April 7 on the Corazon805Tacos Facebook page. Pedro has left Big Sky after 15 years. Why? Cause we have a brick and mortar!!!

It makes you happy to have your own place, do what you love, serve it to the guests and have them come back again and again, Villar said via phone. Our first customers were our regulars from Corazon 805 Tacos. They showed up the first day and kept coming back. 

Me and Pedro, we have a lot of responsibility now, a lot of work, a lot to learn about having a restaurant, he said. In 24 hours, you had to learn everything  But weve worked so hard to come this far. The good thing is, we are happy, we love what were doing.

Pastries available at Corazon Cafe, a partnership between Crescencio Hernandez Villar, Sara McGrath, Pedro Arias Lopez and is open near the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets.

Whats on the menu at Corazon Cafe?

The sprightly, brightly colorful new casual cafe has a limited menu for now, but the partners say theyre starting small on purpose.

It is a very tiny kitchen and all electric, McGrath explained.

The international heritage of the three partners is reflected in the cafes current cross-cultural offerings for breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks.

The menu for mid-May included chilaquiles, pancakes with fresh strawberries from the farmers market, corned beef, hash with eggs and potatoes, kale and spring mix salad with honey avocado vinaigrette, and breakfast wraps, she described.

One of restaurants specialties is beverages, McGrath said, including aguas frescas and coffee drinks  some of which have a Mexican twist.

One specialty latte, tascalate, is made with an imported base of roasted corn, cacao and annato seed.

Its been so popular that we have run out and are waiting for a new shipment from Chiapas, Mexico, McGrath said.

For other beverages, theyll also be bringing in soon some artisan chocolate from Chiapas.

Corazon Cafe is a partnership between Crescencio Hernandez Villar, Sara McGrath, Pedro Arias Lopez and is open near the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets.

SLO County welcomes Mexican food eatery

Responses to Corazon Cafe so far have been enthusiastic and welcoming, McGrath said.

Our first customers were our regulars from Corazon 805 Tacos, Villar said. They showed up the first day and kept coming back. 

In one post, the San Luis Obispo Latino Facebook page urged its followers to stop by this new place with lots of delicious things, supporting our Latino community with their small businesses.

We want the space to feel very inclusive, and welcoming of everybody, and especially our very diverse Latino community, McGrath wrote via email. Weve put a lot of love into it along with the help of some very supportive friends and family. Its a dream come true. Its the American dream. Coffee. Community. Culture. And comida. 

This is the story of immigrants, and this is the immigrant story  hard work, risk and eventual success, McGraths father, former Port San Luis Harbor harbormaster Steve McGrath said via text.

He understands that well. He was born in Glasgow, while his wife, community leader Sandi Sigurdson, is from Vancouver, British Columbia, and their daughter Sara was born in the Scottish border country.

Immigrants  we need more of them! Steve McGrath said.

More about Corazon Cafe

Corazon Cafe is currently open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, but the owners hold to expand those hours soon.

For updates and details, email corazoncafeslo@gmail.com or follow the business on Facebook or Instagram.
A paraprofessional at Clearview Elementary School in Troup County was fired after an apparent incident with a student.

According to the district, the now-former employee was fired and arrested after having inappropriate physical contact with a student in the opportunities room at the school.

The move to terminate the employees work contract came after a parent reported the physical contact to officials from the Troup County School System.

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

While TCSS said they were not at liberty to further discuss the matter as it was a personnel issue, officials from the district told Channel 2 Action News that the inappropriate physical contact was not sexual in nature.

The employee was arrested on Tuesday, a spokeswoman from TCSS said.

The district said in a brief statement about the incident that the safety and well-being of our students is our first priority.

Channel 2 Action News has reached out to law enforcement agencies to learn more about the incident, but has not yet received a response.

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No further information has yet been made available.

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True to his word, All-Pro defender Micah Parsons returns to Dallas Cowboys for OTAs

True to his word, two-time All-Pro Micah Parsons is back with the Dallas Cowboys for OTA practices.

Parsons did not join the Cowboys when they officially started the voluntary offseason program in April.

He opted to work out separately with a trainer in Austin with the goal of bulking up and adding weight.

Parsons promised he would be back with the Cowboys when the started doing on-field team work so he was present and accounted for when the team began OTA practices on Tuesday.

There are no pads or live contact drills during OTAs but the Cowboys are able compete offense vs. defense with 7-on-7, 7-on-9, and 11-on-11 drills.

Organized team activities start with six practices on May 23-25, May 30-June 1 with minicamp slated to be held June 6-8.

The OTAs are only open to media one day a week, Thursday, May 25 and Thursday, June 1.

So Thursday will offer the first chance to look at a new bulked up Parsons and a get glimpse of his role on the Cowboys defense in 2023.

He intimated that he would spend more time at defense end, which was why he needed to bulk up and add weight.

Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said Parsons will remain a pass-rushing linebacker for the Cowboys.

Parsons spent roughly 80 percent of his snaps at defensive end last season.
Former President Donald Trumps lawyers have requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland amid reports the investigation into Trumps handling of classified documents is nearing an end.

The letter, posted to Trumps Truth Social account, criticizes the ongoing probe  centered on boxes of classified files found at his Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida  as unfair and calls for a meeting to discuss Justice Department special counsel Jack Smiths investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Smith is nearly finished collecting testimony and evidence in the case, and some in the former presidents orbit are preparing for a possible indictment.

No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion, attorneys John Rowley and Jim Trusty wrote. We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.

The brief letter doesnt point to any specific allegations against Smith.

Per a letter he posted on Truth Social, Trump's attorneys John Rowley & James Trusty have written to Attorney General Garland requesting a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his pic.twitter.com/dWMxLIKTg4  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 24, 2023

The investigation into the government files is just one of several cases into Trumps behavior after he lost the 2020 presidential election, but it may pose the most serious legal threat to the former president.

The FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home last August after the National Archives attempted for months to recover the missing documents, but the Justice Department has reportedly homed in on whether Trump attempted to obstruct the governments efforts to recover the files. The Washington Post reported last month that federal investigators had gathered evidence that the former president may have sifted through boxes of documents after receiving a subpoena to return them.

Trump has oscillated from saying he did nothing wrong to claiming he automatically declassified the files to excoriating the probe as yet another government witch hunt. But during a CNN town hall-style event this month, he appeared to claim he was allowed to take anything he wanted when he left the White House in January 2021, pointing to what he called the absolute right under the Presidential Records Act.

I took the documents; Im allowed to, he said during the live event, adding later that when he left Washington he had boxes lined up on the sidewalk, and everybody knew we were taking those boxes.

Trump has had several courtroom defeats in recent months. The former president was indicted in April on 34 felony counts centered on hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Earlier this month, he was also ordered to pay $5 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation.

He has excoriated those decisions and spent his time at the CNN town hall disparaging Carroll as a whack job. She responded on Monday, asking a judge to increase the multimillion-dollar judgment by a very substantial amount for his continued disparagement of her despite the jurys verdict.

Related...
Donald Trumps attorneys are requesting a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the investigation by the special counsels office.

In a letter sent to Garland Tuesday, the former presidents attorneys, John Rowley and James Trusty, wrote, We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.

They claimed that no President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion.

Trump posted the letter on his social media platform Truth Social.

The Justice Department declined to comment to CNN on the letter.

As CNN previously reported, special counsel Jack Smith appears to be in the final stretch of investigations into Trumps possible mishandling of classified documents and efforts to obstruct the 2020 election.

The recent flurry of activity by Smiths team has included a spate of grand jury appearances and activity as recently Tuesday. On Wednesday, Smith is set to receive a batch of documents from the National Archives that show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president.

Trumps former attorney Tim Parlatore told CNN over weekend that at this point, they have kind of turned over every stone, interviewed every witness, and now they just have to write up the report to Merrick Garland to say this is all of the stuff weve done.

It remains to be seen whether Smith has interviewed Trumps former chief of staff Mark Meadows, a potentially key witness, and it is unclear when Smith might release his findings in a final report to Garland or decides on any charges.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The heat index in San Jose town in Occidental Mindoro reached an "extremely dangerous" 53C noon of Wednesday, the highest the country has seen so far this year, according to the state weather bureau.

The previous high was 50C recorded on May 13 in Legazpi, Albay  which reached a similar heat index on Wednesday.

Virac in Catanduanes, Aparri in Cagayan, and Butuan City in Agusan Del Norte registered a heat index of 49C.

The heat index is defined as the temperature that the human body feels when relative humidity is combined with the actual air temperature.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) categorized temperatures of 52C and above in the "extreme danger" level, which signifies that heat stroke is imminent.

Temperatures from 42C to 51C are classified as "dangerous," which PAGASA said may cause heat cramps and heat exhaustion in some people, and heat stroke if heat exposure continues.

EXPLAINER: What is the heat index?
Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in virtual hearing in New York

(Reuters) - Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked to meet U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland over the work of a special counsel who is handling two investigations into the former president.

"No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion," lawyers John Rowley and James Trusty wrote in a letter that Trump posted on social media.

They requested a meeting with Garland "at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors."

Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith in November to handle the two Trump investigations.

The first investigation is looking into attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following Trump's November 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

The second is looking at Trump's retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in January 2021, and whether he tried to obstruct the Justice Department's investigation.

Trump's lawyers did not specify in the letter which investigation they wanted to discuss.

The letter was not signed by Evan Corcoran, who is recused from the classified document investigation after a judge compelled him to testify before a grand jury about his discussions with Trump about the material. Corcoran is still working with Trump's legal team on the second investigation.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice and a spokesperson for Smith declined to comment on the request by Trump's lawyers for a meeting with Garland.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Donald Trump Begins 2024 Campaign With A Speech In Iowa

Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests gathered for an event at the Adler Theatre on March 13, 2023 in Davenport, Iowa Credit - Scott OlsonGetty Images

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis formally launched his widely expected presidential campaign on Wednesday, he was met by attacks of varying degrees from some of his rivals for the Republican nomination.

While frontrunner Donald Trump has been loudly attacking DeSantis for months, it was former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who responded the most forcefully among the rest of the field, releasing a video mocking the Florida governor as a Trump copycat who mirrored the former Presidents mannerisms and policy preferences.

America deserves a choice, not an echo, the ad said.

Haleys attack, which began Tuesday evening with a memo from her campaign to allies calling DeSantis Trump without the charm, was likely a preview of whats coming from current and would-be candidates who hope to wound DeSantis as they all jockey for the role of chief Trump rival.

Several campaigns said little publicly about DeSantis on Wednesday. But among campaign strategists who spoke to TIME, none were hesitant to point out what they saw as deficiencies in the Florida governors conservative credentials and leadership style.

DeSantis formally filed as a presidential candidate with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, and released a launch video on Twitter before participating in a glitchy livestreamed interview on Twitter with Elon Musk, the platforms owner.

Read more: Ron DeSantiss Twitter Launch Signals the Culture-War Campaign to Come

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who rolled out a slate of New Hampshire endorsements, acknowledged the entrance of a new challenger, while gently dinging him as well.

Competition breeds strength, he wrote in a tweet welcoming the governor to the race, along with a Fox News appearance highlighting his policy differences with DeSantis. In a different tweet, the entrepreneur suggested DeSantis may be supportive of the recent government bailout of Silicon Valley Bank.

Since his megadonor [David Sacks] was the most vocal supporter of that bailout [and] hes moderating the Twitter Spaces with Ron tonight, he should ask, Ramaswamy wrote. A legitimate policy question for a Presidential candidate.

After the technical difficulties of DeSantis much-hyped Twitter Spaces livestream, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH! Other 2024 rivals also mocked DeSantis for the livestream glitches. President Joe Biden tweeted This link works with a link to a page to donate to his campaign. Republican Asa Hutchinson, a former Arkansas Governor who recently launched a 2024 campaign, tweeted a similar joke with a donation link.

Even before the glitchy livestream, Trump had attacked DeSantis on Wednesday, using Truth Social to say, Ron DeSanctus cant win the General Election (or get the Nomination) because of various votes he took while in Congress, including his support for a national sales tax. He was, and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention, Trump wrote. Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!

Haley is currently campaigning across Iowa and New Hampshire and is scheduled to participate in a CNN town hall next month. Other candidates are also focusing on their own campaigns across the early states, with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina formally launching his own bid earlier this week in his home state before another trip to Iowa.
Trump rants on social media about DeSantis hours ahead of the governor's expected 2024 announcement: 'He desperately needs a personality transplant'

Former President Donald Trump. Andrew Harnik/AP

Trump tore into Ron DeSantis on Wednesday hours before the Florida governor's expected 2024 run.

DeSantis is set to join Elon Musk for a Twitter Spaces later tonight.

The former president suggested DeSantis "desperately needs a personality transplant."

Former President Donald Trump torched Ron DeSantis on social media on Wednesday, spending the final hours before DeSantis' formal entry into the presidential field trashing his former ally with all-caps rants and personal insults.

"Ron DeSanctus can't win the General Election (or get the Nomination) ... ," Trump wrote on Truth, his social media platform, listing off a series of positions DeSantis took as a member of Congress.

Trump went so far as to say that DeSantis, "desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!"

DeSantis is expected to announce his campaign during a Twitter Spaces chat with Elon Musk and investor David Sacks later Wednesday evening. DeSantis is also scheduled to appear on Fox News with former Congressman Trey Gowdy, who served with DeSantis in the House. DeSantis' interview on Fox will air during "FOX News Tonight" at 8pm Eastern Time.

Trump and his allies have gone after DeSantis for months, an onslaught that has coincided with a notable decline in the Florida governor's standing in very early national polling.

DeSantis has mostly avoided direct criticism of Trump, though that is expected to change as the race unfolds. A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The Florida governor did tell Piers Morgan that the former president's nicknames didn't bother him, because he has won so much.

"I mean you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner because that's what we've been able to do in Florida, is put a lot of points on the board and really take this state to the next level," DeSantis said in March.

The reality is for now the former president has a gigantic lead over the growing 2024 field. Many Republican voters also still have favorable views of Trump, making it difficult to attack him without turning off potential voters that a challenger would need to become the frontrunner.

Read the original article on Business Insider
NEW YORK  Donald Trumps next big legal test is whether the famously loud-mouthed former president can keep quiet.

In recent days, he has subjected himself to new legal troubles by repeatedly vilifying the writer E. Jean Carroll even after a jury found that he defamed her. And in his criminal case involving hush money payments to a porn star, Trump is under a judges strict order to avoid talking publicly about certain evidence.

If he violates that order, he could be held in contempt.

He was put on notice that if he engages in his usual behavior, that could result in a violation, Catherine A. Christian, a former Manhattan prosecutor, said of a Tuesday court appearance in which the judge spoke to Trump by videoconference and admonished him not to breach the disclosure restrictions the judge has imposed in the case.

Trump has long let loose about judges, plaintiffs, prosecutors and other courtroom adversaries, real or perceived. In 2016, Trump said a judge overseeing a fraud case against the now-defunct Trump University was a hater and accused him of being unfair to Trump because the judge was Mexican. (The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, is an American citizen who was born in Indiana and has Mexican ancestry.)

Trump repeatedly bashed Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated his dealings with Russia, calling him a never Trumper who was conflicted.

And Trump recently has described three Black prosecutors  New York Attorney General Tish James, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  as racist. James has a pending civil lawsuit against Trump and his company. Willis is investigating Trumps efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. Bragg brought criminal charges against Trump in the hush money case.

Now, Trumps outbursts may be catching up with him, bringing financial penalties and the potential for other punishments.

Earlier this month, a federal jury found that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll, ordering him to pay her $5 million in damages after he called her claim that he had attacked her in a luxury department store in the mid-1990s a hoax.



The day after the jury returned its verdict, Trump repeated statements similar to those at the heart of the lawsuit he had just lost, saying during a CNN appearance that Carrolls story was a fake, made up story perpetuated by a whack job. This week, Carroll amended a separate defamation lawsuit against Trump. That lawsuit originally centered on 2019 remarks, but it will now include his CNN comments, too.

Trump used a national platform to demean and mock Carroll. He egged on a laughing audience as he made light of his violent sexual assault, called Carroll names, implied that Carroll was asking to be assaulted, and dismissed the jurys verdict vindicating Carroll, her amended lawsuit says.

Trumps CNN comments warrant a very substantial punitive damages award to deter him from engaging in further defamation, Carrolls lawyers wrote on Monday.

But Trump was again undeterred. On Tuesday morning, he went after Carroll yet again, using nearly identical language on social media to claim that he doesnt know her, that he wouldnt want to know or touch her and that she fabricated her story. He also added that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan didnt give him a fair trial. Time will prove him to be highly partisan & very unfair, Trump wrote.

Trumps lawyers have struggled to control their clients commentary. During the Carroll trial that ended earlier this month, Kaplan admonished the former president for a social media post in which he called the lawsuit a made up SCAM, with the judge telling Trumps lawyer, Joe Tacopina, that his client was tampering with a new source of potential liability.

Tacopina appeared to acknowledge the difficulty of restraining the former president. I will do the best I can do, your honor, Tacopina told Kaplan. Thats all I can say.



On Tuesday, Trump appeared by video in Manhattan criminal court to hear directly from another judge: Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the hush money case. Merchan  who reportedly received threats last month after Trump publicly called him a highly partisan judge  issued a protective order on May 8 limiting how Trump can use and review evidence in the case, which stems from his alleged role in a scheme to falsify records of payments that covered up a potential sex scandal during the 2016 presidential campaign.

On four video screens placed around the courtroom, Trump appeared seated in front of two American flags and beside his attorney Todd Blanche. Merchan asked Blanche if his client understood the requirements of the order and the possible penalties of his failure to comply, specifying that they include being held in contempt of court.

Because President Trump is running for president of the United States  he very much is concerned that his First Amendment rights are being violated by this protective order, Blanche told the judge. I have explained to him that that is not your honors intention  and that this is not a gag order.

Merchan agreed that he wasnt seeking to impose a gag order, a measure that would require Trump to refrain from making any public comments about the case. Its not my intention in any way to impede his ability to campaign for president of the United States, the judge said.

Hes free to do anything that does not violate the specific terms of the protective order, Merchan added. That order prevents Trump or anyone else who reviews evidence provided by prosecutors from sharing it, including on social media. It also restricts Trump to reviewing certain evidence in the presence of his lawyers and bars him from photographing it or copying it. And it prevents the disclosure of the names of certain district attorneys office staffers to the defense until jury selection.

Christian, the former Manhattan prosecutor, said the purpose of the court appearance was to hit the nail with a hammer  to make sure theres no doubt, so Mr. Trump cant say, Well my attorneys never told me about this.

The protective order specifically prohibits sharing any evidence and would prevent Trump from, say, reading from Michael Cohens grand jury testimony at one of his rallies, Christian added, referring to Trumps former personal attorney who likely will be a key witness against him. (Christian is not involved in the hush money case.)

Trumps expression was fixed in a scowl as he listened to Merchan. When the judge set a trial date of March 25, 2024, and asked Trump and the lawyers not to make commitments that could conflict with the date, Trump lowered his head and shook it. And he spoke just three words publicly during the hearing: When Merchan asked him if he had a copy of the protective order, he answered, Yes, I do.

But he wasnt taciturn for long. About an hour after the hearing, he took to his social media site, expressing his displeasure that the judge set the trial for right in the middle of Primary season.

Its called ELECTION INTERFERENCE, and nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before!!!
Trump's lawyers ask for a last-minute meeting with AG Merrick Garland over docs investigation, signaling an indictment could be near

Former U.S. President Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Trump's lawyers requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland in a Tuesday letter.

The letter argued Trump is being "treated unfairly," and has been "baselessly investigated."

Legal scholars indicate the move may signal Trump fears an indictment is looming.

Donald Trump's lawyers in a Tuesday letter requested to meet directly with Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the ongoing investigation over classified documents.

"Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter, and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly," the letter, posted by Trump to Truth Social, read. "No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful manner."

Legal scholars argue the move to request an audience with Garland, the individual in charge of determining whether charges will be brought, may signal the former president is anticipating a looming indictment.

"This may mean Special Counsel Jack Smith has ALREADY reached a charging decision  and now all that's left is for Garland to make the final approval to seek an indictment of Trump," Tristan Snell, a former assistant attorney general for New York state who prosecuted Trump over his fraudulent university, posted on Twitter.

News of a possible indictment comes months after the FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in South Florida in August. The raid was part of a Justice Department investigation into whether Trump had improperly taken classified documents from the White House.

This investigation  one of the many legal issues plaguing Trump  was launched when he turned over 15 boxes of documents to the National Archives in February. The National Archives prompted the DOJ to investigate whether Trump was still holding on any documents.

Following the FBI's raid, Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing in his handling of classified documents, making several unsubstantiated and bizarre claims about his conduct.

For one, he claimed without substantiation in September that he had the power to declassify documents just by thinking about doing it.

"If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying: 'It's declassified.' Even by thinking about it. Because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago, or to wherever you're sending it," Trump said during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in September.

And in January, he said that the documents found in Mar-a-Lago were empty folders marked as "classified," which he kept because he thought they were "cool."

His lawyer also said in February that a folder marked "classified" was empty and Trump used it to block a bright light beside his bed that annoyed him.

If Trump is convicted of violating the Espionage Act, he could go to prison for a maximum of 10 years.

The DOJ and lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Tunisia plans to curb the independence of its central bank under reforms proposed by the government of President Kais Saied, threatening to further complicate progress toward securing a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

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The changes, expected to be reviewed by an assembly largely beholden to Saied, would add Banque Centrale de Tunisie to a growing list of institutions undermined since the 65-year-old assumed vast powers in 2021, including the judiciary and election commission.

One idea behind the plan is to address a failure by the regulator to manage relations with local banks since it gained greater independence in 2016, lawmaker Riadh Jaidane told local media outlet Shems FM in an interview.

We arent against having a strong central bank that plays a role in the national economy and public finances but there needs to be limits, said Jaidane, assistant to the speaker, who oversees major reforms. The move is part of a new phase that breaks with everything that has contributed to disrupting the Tunisian state, he said.

The central bank didnt respond to emailed questions about the proposed changes to its statutes and their implications. Spokespeople for the IMF didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Homegrown Solutions

Tunisia needs national and homegrown solutions to its problems, Jaidane said, echoing Saieds argument that foreign influences have caused economic strife since the Arab Spring uprising more than a decade ago.

Saied and central bank Governor Marouane El-Abassi were known to have been at odds over the necessity of an IMF bailout. State news agency TAP has admonished the central bank for its support for the rescue plan, which has yet to be reviewed for approval by the multilateral lenders directors. The 2016 independence move was instrumental to securing a previous $2.9 billion extended arrangement from the IMF.

For now, Tunisia is keen to agree on a final deal for the new $1.9 billion bailout with the Washington-based lender as soon as possible, Economy and Planning minister Samir Saied told Bloomberg in an interview Tuesday.

Tunisias sovereign foreign-exchange buffers are about to be tested by a 22.4 billion-yen ($162 million) bond due in August and 500 million euros ($534 million) of debt maturing in October. The government turned to local banks earlier this month to secure a foreign-exchange loan.

Market concerns of a default are unjustified, the minister Saied said on the sidelines of African Development Bank meetings in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. He added, though, that the prospect cant be dismissed for commodity-importing nations without international support from states and lenders he didnt identify.

Meanwhile, Tunisians are struggling with worsening food shortages that Saied has blamed on unnamed saboteurs within the administration. The bakers union has argued the problem stems from non-payment by the state of subsidies for bread.

--With assistance from Abdel Latif Wahba.

(Updates with comments from economy minister starting in eighth paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) -Twitter crashed repeatedly on Wednesday during a highly anticipated live audio chat between Elon Musk, Twitter's owner, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, hampering the politician's announcement he is running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Since Musk took over the social media platform in October, he has laid off thousands of employees including many engineers who were responsible for fixing software bugs.

Current and former Twitter employees previously told Reuters the steep layoffs would put the platform at risk of crashing during times of high traffic.

"We've got so many people here that I think we are kind of melting the servers, which is a good sign," said David Sacks, a venture capitalist and close friend of Musk, while attempting to start the event on Wednesday.

Musk attributed the problems to the number of listeners and his large Twitter following.

About 678,000 people tuned in to listen as Twitter suffered repeated crashes.

The Spaces session eventually resumed, reaching about 304,000 listeners.

About 3 million people listened to Musk's interview with the BBC on Twitter Spaces last month.

"Failure to Launch", "Crashed" and #DeSaster were among the trending Twitter topics in the U.S. during the chat session.

Twitter outages have been more numerous under Musk's ownership. In March, thousands of users reported problems accessing links posted on the platform.

Internet observatory NetBlocks said the March incident was Twitter's sixth major outage since the year began, compared with three in the same period last year.

In between crashes on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden poked fun at the shaky rollout of DeSantis' presidential bid by tweeting out a fundraising appeal: "This link works."

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Leslie Adler, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast)
Two big donations for the Wynn Hospital: How one will change the area's streetscape

Three bronze figures standing under a 20-foot white pine tree will greet visitors walking into the main entrance of the new Wynn Hospital, currently under construction in downtown Utica.

The Allies in War, Partners in Peace sculpture by artist Edward Hlavka will feature George Washington, Oneida Indian Chief Shenendoah and Polly Cooper, an Oneida woman who helped feed and care for Washingtons troops at Valley Forge, said Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation representative and Oneida Nation Enterprises CEO.

The statue  the second casting of one the Oneida Indian Nation already gave to the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of the American Indian  has been commissioned with part of a $1 million donation to the Mohawk Valley Health System Foundations campaign for the new medical center, Halbritter said Tuesday morning at a press conference at the new hospitals building office on Lafayette Street.

The bronze sculpture Allies in War, Partners in Peace by artist Edward Hlavka stands in the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The Oneida Indian Nation has commissioned a second statue of the bronze, which features George Washington, Oneida Indian Chief Shenendoah and Polly Cooper, an Oneida woman the Revolutionary troops at Valley Forge, to stand outside the main entrance to the new Wynn Hospital in Utica, part of a $1 million donation.

The donation will also pay for a second art commission  a mural to be painted on the central utility plant across Columbia Street from the hospital.

As we embark on the largest evolution of Turning Stone in two decades and the exponential growth simultaneously occurring throughout the region, it is more important than ever to support community resources like the Wynn Hospital, Halbritter said while announcing the donation. This world-class health facility will not only meet the needs of residents and our employees today, but of those who will choose to build lives here as the transformation of the region continues in the years ahead.

More: Utica's Wynn Hospital design touts bigger rooms, improved efficiency: Look inside

More: Utica eminent domain battle latest: Bowers purchases disputed Columbia Street parcel

The Oneida Nations $1 million contribution is the second large donation recently announced for the new hospital. John and Deanna Sammon, and their daughter and son-in-law, Karen Sammon and Will Cardamone, have donated $1.5 million to the MVHS Foundations campaign for the new hospital. The obstetrics unit of the hospital will be named the Sammon Family Birthing Center in recognition of their gift.

The birthing center is a priority for my family, said John Sammon, chair emeritus and founder of PAR Technology Corporation in New Hartford. It will offer our community a range of services and support for expectant mothers including prenatal care, childbirth education and lactation support, all of which promote healthy pregnancies, successful childbirth experiences and positive outcomes for both the mother and the baby.

Public art in Utica

The bronze statue to go at the hospitals Lafayette Street entrance represents the friendship forged between the Oneida Indian Nation and the United States during the Revolutionary War when the Oneidas, Halbritter reminded everyone, chose to fight and die alongside Revolutionary troops.

The Wynn Hospital, as seen from the corner of Lafayette Street and Broadway, is expected to open in October 2023. The Mohawk Valley Health System recently announced that the Sammon family has donated $1.5 million for the new hospital and the Oneida Indian Nation $1 million, which will include two pieces of public art.

The statue includes a number of significant symbols to the Nation and the other nations in the Haudenosaunee (formerly known as Iroquois) Confederacy, according to the Oneida Indian Nations website. The white pine tree under which the three figures stand played an important role in the formation of the Confederacy; the Peacemaker united the once warring nations and buried their weapons under a white pines roots.

The mural, which will be visible from the hospitals south-facing windows, will honor the shared history and long-time partnership between the Oneida Indian Nation and Upstate New York, according to a press release on the donation.

Both Halbritter and Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. noted that this month marks the 10th anniversary of a legal settlement between the Nation, Oneida and Madison counties and the state that put an end to years of legal wrangling over land, taxes and gaming.

What to expect at Wynn Hospital's new birthing center

The Sammon Family Birthing Center on the fourth floor of the Wynn Hospital is expected to welcome more than 1,250 babies each year, according to MVHS.

The center will include:

Eight rooms for labor, delivery and recovery

20 private postpartum rooms

Eight individual Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit rooms

Two operating rooms for C-sections

Three OR recovery rooms

Three triage rooms

Two antepartum (before birth) rooms

A butterfly room where families who lose a baby can grieve

The Wynn Hospital  under construction between Lafayette, Columbia and State streets and Broadway  is expected to open in October.

Oneida County is building a parking garage, including spaces dedicated to hospital visitors and staff, between Columbia and Lafayette streets.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Oneida Indian Nation, Sammon family make donations to Wynn Hospital
Two Latina congresswomen proposed a bipartisan immigration bill Tuesday that would create a 12-year, two-part path to legal status and would require the border first be declared secure before anyone on the path is granted legal status.

The congresswomen, Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., and Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, call their legislation The Dignity Act.

They said it would allow people in the country illegally to work and not be deported. It would also speed up the asylum process and detain asylum-seekers who arrive through the southern border at one of five humanitarian campuses, where they will stay until their case is decided. It also would dock the pay of people without permanent legal status to fund border infrastructure.

Salazar said the measure should not be confused with the amnesty law signed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986. The bill has tougher measures and higher penalties than a Republican border security bill approved by the House on May 11.

"I don't want anyone to confuse amnesty with dignity," Salazar said in a Capitol Hill news conference. "This is not amnesty. Amnesty is what the undocumented have right now and have had for 30 years. Free roads, free schools and free hospitals. In the Dignity Law everyone pays for their ride."

Salazar, who is Cuban American, said the bill's objective is to "bring dignity" to Border Patrol agents - who she said are "overworked and underpaid" - to the business community in need of workers, and to the millions and millions of people "who are invisible to most Americans, who are doing the jobs others are unwilling to do."

The legislation was proposed a little more than a week after the Biden administration ended the enforcement of a health law, Title 42, imposed during the pandemic. Its projected end brought more people to the border to seek asylum or other entry, but not as many as had been projected.

Many of the people who have arrived, including those processed by Border Patrol, were housed in El Paso before going on to the rest of the country. The city saw hundreds of people sleeping on their streets in the December cold and again in recent months.

Communities like my own in El Paso, Texas, communities along the southern border and now even communities far away from the southern border have some impact from congressional inaction, Escobar, who is Mexican American, said.

Congress has failed repeatedly to pass legislation that modernizes its immigration laws and keeps up with the shifting migration realities.

In a statement, Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America's Voice, an immigrant advocacy group that has supported immigration reform, called the legislation an important alternative to the House GOP bill. The Democrat-led Senate isn't likely to take up the House Republican bill, which focuses mostly on enforcement.

But Cardenas questioned whether the Salazar-Escobar bill stood much chance of advancing, saying the House "seems to prefer the politics of a broken immigration system over real solutions."

Specifically, some of the provisions in the Salazar-Escobar bill are:

 It requires the General Accounting Office to certify that for a full year, Border Patrol has detected and apprehended 90% of people crossing the border illegally, or trying to, before allowing immigrants to obtain permanent legal status.

 It allows people in the country for five years without legal status and with no criminal record to work and be protected from deportation for seven years through the "Dignity Program."

 Those in the "Dignity Program" will have a 1.5% "dignity levy" withheld from their paycheck, in addition to taxes they pay. They also will pay a fee of $5,000.

 Allow those who complete the Dignity Program to obtain "Dignity status," an additional five years to work and remain in the U.S. The status can be renewed indefinitely.

 Allow those who complete the Dignity Program to enter the five-year Redemption program, during which they learn English, U.S. civics, perform community service or pay another $5,000. If completed successfully, they earn legal permanent residency status, the stepping stone to citizenship. The bill calls for participants to go to the "back of the line."

 Speed up the asylum process to a total of 60 days.

 Create immediate protected status and a streamlined path for immigrants who arrived or came to the country as children, referred to as "Dreamers" in the bill, and for those with Temporary Protected Status, a type of protection from deportation granted by the president for people for natives of countries that have experienced natural disasters, conflict or other upheaval.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A Texas House committee revealed Tuesday it was investigating the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton over his push for $3.3 million in taxpayer dollars to settle a whistleblower lawsuit from former deputies who had accused Paxton of misconduct.

The news came hours after Paxton called on the House speaker, Dade Phelan, to resign over alleged drunkenness while leading the House, a remarkable moment of acrimony between two of Texas top Republicans.

Phelans office fired back, noting the investigation has been going on since March.

The motives for and timing behind Paxtons statement today couldnt be more evident, Phelan spokesperson Cait Wittman said in a statement. Mr. Paxtons statement today amounts to little more than a last ditch effort to save face.

The series of events underscored the new legal jeopardy Paxton is facing on top of his already yearslong run of scandals. The House Committee on General Investigating has broad authority to probe alleged misconduct in state government and can initiate impeachment proceedings against a state officer.

The drama also underscored the political divide between Phelan and the vocally conservative Paxton, who hails from a wing of the Texas GOP that persistently criticizes the House as insufficiently conservative. Paxton is a loyalist of former President Donald Trump; Phelan is skeptical of Trumps hold on the party.

News of the House investigation was initially revealed during a brief public meeting of the House Committee on General Investigating on Tuesday afternoon. The panel unanimously voted to issue two subpoenas in Matter A  one to John Doe No. 6 and the other to Paxtons office. The committee is scheduled to meet again at 8 a.m. Wednesday to hear testimony in the matter.

The committee also issued a letter directing Paxtons office to preserve all evidence related to the investigation. That letter told Paxton the committee has been conducting an investigation related to your request for $3.3 million of public money to pay a settlement resolving litigation between your agency and terminated whistleblowers.

In February, Paxton reached a $3.3 million settlement with four former deputies who claimed they had been fired in retaliation for reporting Paxtons alleged misconduct to federal investigators. Lawmakers in both chambers have balked at authorizing taxpayer dollars to pay for it, and Phelan has said he personally opposes it.

A draft of the state budget that lawmakers have to pass in the coming days prohibits state funds from going toward the settlement.

Paxtons office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the news of the investigation. But about two hours before General Investigating Committee Chair Andrew S. Murrs announcement of the subpoenas, Paxton took to Twitter to abruptly call for Phelans resignation, accusing him of presiding over his chamber in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication. Paxton also asked the House General Investigating to probe Phelans conduct.

Over the weekend, a video clip went viral that showed Phelan slurring his words while overseeing House floor proceedings Friday night. Phelans office has repeatedly declined to comment on what took place.

After much consideration, it is with profound disappointment that I call on Speaker Dade Phelan to resign at the end of this legislation session, Paxton said in a statement, posted on Twitter, that said Phelan was in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication.

His conduct has negatively impacted the legislative process and constitutes a failure to live up to his duty to the public, Paxton wrote.

The 44-second video clip of Phelan began circulating on social media over the weekend. It was pushed by Phelans intraparty critics, including former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. It was also the subject of anonymous text messages deriding Phelan as Drunk Dade.

Phelans defenders noted he seemed to speak normally before and after the clip. They also noted that the people pushing the video, like Stickland, may be out for revenge after the House voted to expel one of their political allies, ex-state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City.

The House ousted Slaton after an investigation by the House Committee on General Investigating found he engaged in sexual misconduct with a 19-year-old aide.

Paxton has battled his own ethical problems for years. Months after taking office in 2015, he was indicted for securities fraud linked to private business deals in 2011. He has denied any wrongdoing.

In fall 2020, eight high-ranking officials in the attorney generals office accused Paxton of improperly using his position to benefit his friend, real estate investor Nate Paul, who had donated $25,000 to Paxtons campaign in 2018. All eight of those employees were fired or left the attorney generals office soon afterward, and four of them  David Maxwell, Blake Brickman, Mark Penley and Ryan Vassar  sued Paxton under the Texas Whistleblower Act in November 2020.

In their lawsuit, the four former officials alleged that Paxton did political favors for Paul, including helping the Austin businessman gain access to investigative documents related to 2019 searches of Pauls home and businesses by state and federal authorities. They also claimed that Paxton rushed through a written opinion that said foreclosure sales had to be suspended under pandemic safety rules, allowing Paul to delay a foreclosure sale for one of his properties two days later.

In return, Paul had helped Paxton remodel his home and had given a job to a woman with whom Paxton was allegedly in a relationship. Paxton is married to state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.

The Legislatures refusal to fund the settlement throws the fate of the whistleblower case up in the air. In February, lawyers for the fired employees asked the Texas Supreme Court to pause its consideration of the case after the two sides worked out a potential $3.3 million agreement that would end the lawsuit but was subject to legislative approval. When it became clear in March that neither legislative chamber supported using public dollars to settle the lawsuit, the lawyers asked the court to resume the case. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled.

Without the settlement, the employees lawyers argue, their clients would be subjected to a drawn-out legal battle with an undetermined resolution when they could have received compensation for what they say was an unfair termination of employment.

Importantly, the lawyers argue, their clients have already relayed their knowledge of alleged crimes to state and federal authorities. The FBI began investigating Paxton in 2020 after the employees allegations were made public. In February, that investigation was taken over by U.S. Department of Justice investigators in Washington, D.C.

Paxton also faces a 2022 lawsuit from the State Bar of Texas Commission on Lawyer Discipline accusing him of engaging in professional misconduct by making dishonest claims when he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Democrat Joe Bidens 2020 election victories in four swing states. Paxtons bid to dismiss the lawsuit is before the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals.

In his statement calling for Phelans resignation, Paxton also criticized the House for failing to pass critical conservative priorities including protecting the integrity of our elections and preventing Chinese spies from controlling Texas land. The regular legislative session is winding down  the last day is Monday  and those were among the proposals that fell victim to a bill-killing deadline Saturday in the House.

Paxton shares political ties with Slaton, the ousted lawmaker. A top campaign contributor to both has been Defend Texas Liberty PAC, the Stickland-run group that is mostly financed by conservative megadonors Tim Dunn and the Wilks family.

As for the House investigation into Paxton, Wittman, the Phelan spokesperson, said committee minutes and official House records indicate the committee has been investigating Matter A since March. The committee does not publicly comment on pending investigations, meaning it had been secret what Matter A was about.

Since April 14, the committee has issued 13 subpoenas in Matter A. Six were to John Does and seven were to unnamed entities.

Zach Despart contributed reporting.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  Dozens of lawmakers are pushing for a House probe into the massive fire that gutted the historic Manila Central Post Office (MCPO) building late Sunday evening.

In House Resolution No. 1019, 42 legislators  who are part of the Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Bloc of Congress  said a probe is necessary considering the significance of the MCPO, which was declared an important cultural property and a heritage site.

READ: How the Manila Central Post Office made its mark in PH history

They also stressed the need to assess the response mechanisms employed by authorities, and to evaluate existing safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Rep. Christopher de Venecia particularly noted reports that the nearly century-old building had no fire suppression system or even water sprinklers. He said they want to identify other government buildings lacking fire protection equipment.

"It took about 30 hours to declare fire out," the chairman of the House Committee on Creative Industry and Performing Arts pointed out.

"Apparently, this may have been a disaster waiting to happen. We will certainly take a close look to ascertain the real timeline of events from during the fire and the building maintenance and security logs," De Venecia added.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) earlier said the building was "totally burned" as the materials that made up the structure easily caught fire. Among those destroyed in the blaze were national IDs.

READ: PSA to replace natl IDs affected by Manila Post Office fire

Authorities also reported that 15 people were hurt, including 11 members of the BFP, a volunteer, and a civilian.

The Manila City Engineering Office said it is currently working with other government agencies to jointly assess the damage to the post office and to recommend whether to condemn or restore the iconic building.

Under the law, an important cultural property may receive state funding for its protection, conservation and restoration.
This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard overlooks Noverlooking Tumon Bay in Guam, as Typhoon Mawar closes in on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents of Guam are stockpiling supplies, battening down windows and abandoning wood and tin homes for emergency shelters as the typhoon bears down as the strongest storm to approach the U.S. Pacific territory in decades. | Lt. Junior Grade Drew Lovullo, U.S. Coast Guard per Associated Press

Typhoon Mawar passed through Guam on Wednesday night local time, bringing powerful winds that knocked down power lines and trees throughout the island. Its the strongest storm to hit the island in decades since Typhoon Pangsona hit in 2002.

A meteorologist from the NWS Guam in a recent update called the conditions life-threatening while advising residents to stay sheltered for the next couple of hours in an interior room.

Right here at the weather service operations area, the building is vibrating, we have constant low rumbling, and our doors and windows are shaking, he said.

Wind speeds have ranged from 105 to 140 mph in the area, he said, which were eventually strong enough to disable the stations wind sensors.

On Sunday the National Weather Service in Guam picked up the intensifying typhoon on its radar and called for a rush to completion all preps.

Satellite imagery now shows a well-defined eye on TY Mawar, a powerful, intensifying, 125mph Cat-3 typhoon. Rush to completion all preps & know where to shelter in a fully-concrete structure. CNMI: plan for typhoon conditions should Mawar shift farther north. pic.twitter.com/dsGxsjP1Md  NWS Guam  (@NWSGuam) May 23, 2023

The typhoon was a Category 4 when it hit the island, located 1,500 miles east of the Philippines. Once the tropical storm hit land, its category was downgraded from Category 5 to Category 4, reported The Washington Post.

About 150,000 people live there, most of whom lost power before nightfall on Wednesday due to increasing wind and rain as the storm hit land, per The New York Times.

In addition to an extreme wind warning that has been in effect for the past day, the danger of flash flooding is possible from an estimated 10 to 15 inches of rain, per the NWS Guam.

A state of emergency was issued by the White House to give federal assistance in the area and emergency shelters were assembled.

There is no information yet of any casualties or estimation of damage.

Related
Guam successfully weathered the strongest storm in years as typhoon Mawar swept across the Western Pacific Island last night.

Mawar made landfall at local time 9pm but the island was battered by heavy rains and powerful winds of up to 240 kph for hours yesterday, that uprooted trees, blew away roofs, and brought the US territory to a standstill.

According to the Guam Power Authority, nearly all of the islands 52,000 homes and businesses experienced power outages, with only 1,000 retaining electricity.

Despite the intense conditions, the island managed to avoid significant damage. There are no reports of unusual incidents in hospital emergency rooms, and the overall impact included moderate damages such as localised flooding, fallen debris, and downed power lines.

I am so glad we are safe. We have weathered this storm, said Guams governor Lou Leon Guerrero in a video message.

While the governor said the worst has gone by, she urged residents to remain at home until the government declared the situation safe.

The typhoon is now headed towards Philippines with state weather agency expecting it to pass close to the northern region tomorrow or Saturday.

Key points

Super Typhoon Mawar barrels into Guam

Typhoon Mawar to reach Philippines on Friday

Biden issues emergency declaration

PICTURED: Guam prepares for typhoon

Typhoon Mawar could be the most powerful storm to hit Guam in recent decades

Typhoon Mawar reintensifies to super typhoon as it heads to Philippines

08:00 , Stuti Mishra

Mawar has re-intensified into a super typhoon as it now heads to the Philippines, the states weather service said after a brief weakening of the storm after it passed over Guam.

The cyclone is currently packing winds of up to 185km per hour near the centre and gusts of up to 230kph as it moves west-northwestward, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

The typhoon passed through Guam yesterday which successfully weathered the storm, believed to be the strongest storm in years to hit the Western Pacific Island.

Flash floods at Guams airport

07:00 , Stuti Mishra

More images and videos of damages caused by Typhoon Marwar are emerging from Guam.

A video posted by a resident shows the Guam International Airport flooded after heavy rains lashed the island.

The airport recorded sustained winds of 71 mph with a gust of 105 mph.

Typhoon Mawar brings lightning and heavy gusts as it passes close to Guam

06:00 , Andrea Blanco

Video by cyclone interceptor James Reynolds shows lightning and havy gusts of wind as Typhoon Mawar passes close to Guams northern edge.

The heavy wind and rains have been lashing the US island territory all day, uprooting trees and blowing roofs as residents hunkered down in shelters.

Mawar was projected to pass 11 kilometres northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, close to the village of Yigo on the northern edge of Guam, between 6 and 8 pm.

Typhoon Mawar path: Eye makes landing in Guam before moving towards the Philippines

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

The eye of the storm passed Guam on Wednesday night, but the strongest part could make a catastrophic landing before it moves toward the Philippines.

The Independent has more:

Eye of Typhoon Mawar makes landing in Guam before moving towards the Philippines

WATCH: Hurricane-force winds blast Guam as Typhoon Mawar barrels through Pacific

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

NWS issues extreme winds warning

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

An extreme wind warning is in effect for Dededo GU, Yigo GU, Tamuning GU until 10:45 PM ChST for extremely dangerous hurricane winds. Treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to an interior room or shelter NOW!. pic.twitter.com/JmNpt1Walb  NWS Guam  (@NWSGuam) May 24, 2023

US Military sends ship away from Guam

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

Naval Base Guam has been tracking and preparing for the storm since last week, including sending ships away from the island, a standard precaution, base spokesperson Valerie Maigue told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said on social media that President Joe Bidens emergency declaration will support the mobilisation of resources into Guam, which is especially crucial given our distance from the continental US.

Mr Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations.

Truck blown by extreme winds in Guam

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

The parking lot at my apartment a little while ago as the eye of #super #typhoon #mawar slams #Guam. Lots of us have relocated to the basement. All the units totally flooded, several windows blown out, and the building is shuddering from the wind. pic.twitter.com/IoBSuoTBA2  Ginger Cruz (@gingercruz) May 24, 2023

Worst storm to strike US Pacific in two decades barrels into Guam

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

Many homes and businesses were left completely without power and water as residents hunkered down inside houses and shelters.

Read the story:

Typhoon Mawar, worst storm to strike US Pacific in two decades, barrels into Guam

Guam Power Authority says only 2 per cent of customers have power

Wednesday 24 May 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Only one plant on the island is functioning and serving specifically Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB), Camp Blaz Marine Base and a small portion of Dededo village, the Guam Power Authority said in a statement.

Most of the island suffered power outages and only 1,000 of its 52,000 customers still had electricity, according to CNN.

Restoration will begin once the weather conditions are improved.

Flash floods at Guams airport

Wednesday 24 May 2023 22:18 , Andrea Blanco

Guam airport flooded as super typhoon hits the island.

WATCH: Rain and winds lash Guam as Typhoon Mawar closes in and residents shelter

Wednesday 24 May 2023 22:01 , Andrea Blanco

Guam residents prepare for Category 4 Typhoon Mawar

Wednesday 24 May 2023 22:00 , Andrea Blanco

(AP)

Numerous containers line the sidewalk outside the Wellness Water & Ice store in Yigo, Guam (AP)

Guam Power Authority personnel conduct tree trimming operations to clear branches away from power lines (Pacific Daily News PO Box DN Hagatna, Guam 96932)

Nurse speaks up about scene at only public hospital serving the island

Wednesday 24 May 2023 21:48 , Andrea Blanco

Mackenzie Miller, a nurse at Guam Memorial Hospital, said on Facebook that she had come for a four-hour recharge after a 12-hour shift before heading back to work.

We have all been here for 2 days now sleeping here and working. We cant even see outside because the doors have been blown in and we cant get close, Ms Miller wrote.

But the hospital is flooding everywhere, ceiling is falling down. The flooding is sparking electrical outlets and causing smoke and fires. The wind is so strong and loud it is shaking the entire building so bad.

Typhoon Mawar brings lightning and heavy gusts as it passes close to Guam

Wednesday 24 May 2023 21:30 , Andrea Blanco

Video by cyclone interceptor James Reynolds shows lightning and havy gusts of wind as Typhoon Mawar passes close to Guams northern edge.

The heavy wind and rains have been lashing the US island territory all day, uprooting trees and blowing roofs as residents hunkered down in shelters.

Mawar was projected to pass 11 kilometres northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, close to the village of Yigo on the northern edge of Guam, between 6 and 8 pm.

Residents left with power cut and flood damage as Guam weathers through strongest storm in years

08:22 , Stuti Mishra

Guam successfully weathered the strongest storm in years as typhoon Mawar swept across the Western Pacific Island last night.

Mawar made landfall at local time 9pm but the island was battered by heavy rains and powerful winds of up to 240 kph for hours yesterday, which uprooted trees, blew away roofs, and brought the US territory to a standstill.

According to the Guam Power Authority, nearly all of the island's 52,000 homes and businesses experienced power outages, with only 1,000 retaining electricity.

Despite the intense conditions, the island managed to avoid significant damage.

There are no reports of unusual incidents in hospital emergency rooms, and the overall impact included moderate damages such as localised flooding, fallen debris, and downed power lines.

Typhoon Mawar could be most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific in two decades

Wednesday 24 May 2023 21:00 , Andrea Blanco

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration as an intensifying Super Typhoon Mawar approaches Guam.

Anyone not living in a concrete house in the US island territory was urged to seek safety elsewhere/

Emergency shelters began to fill ahead of what could be the most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific territory in decades.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said on social media that the declaration will support the mobilization of resources into Guam, which is especially crucial given our distance from the continental U.S.

The governor ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations.

AP

Whats the path of Typhoon Mawar?

Wednesday 24 May 2023 20:24 , Andrea Blanco

The storm passed Guam on Wednesday night, the New York Times reports, but the strongest part could make a landing before it moves toward the Philippines later this week.

If Mawar hits Guam as a Category 4 storm, the second highest category, it will be the ninth of that category or stronger to hit the United States or its territories since 2017, according to Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters.

This is kind of going to be a long night, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Guam said during a news briefing. It is going to be scary. There is no electricity.

The northern of Guam experienced strong winds, lightning, and heavy rainfall as Mawar moved about eight miles per hour on Wednesday night.

The National Weather Service has issued flash flood warnings for Dededo, Yigo and Tamuning and advised residents to move to higher ground and to avoid driving or walking through flood waters.

Mawar is expected to subside as the centre of the storm slowly pulls away from Guam, but battering winds, heavy showers and strong gusty winds are expected in Guam in the following hours.

The worst of the conditions will lighten, slowly ending the heavy thrashing of Guam in the next couple of hours, the National Weather Service said in an advisory issued at 11.30pm EST on Tuesday.

Super Typhoon Mawar has barrelled into Guam

Wednesday 24 May 2023 19:19 , Andrea Blanco

Super Typhoon Mawar has barrelled into Guam, hammering the US territory with hurricane-strength winds of up to 150mph and plunging residents into darkness.

The typhoon made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm at around 9pm local time on Wednesday night, bringing with it heavy rains and a dangerous storm surge, the National Weather Service said.

Many homes and businesses were left completely without power and water as residents hunkered down inside houses and shelters.

The typhoon marks the strongest storm to hit the US territory in decades.

US Navy will send USS Nimitz to aid Guam

Wednesday 24 May 2023 18:55 , Andrea Blanco

According to the Associated Press, US officials have confirmed the Navy will send the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group to Guam.

President Joe Biden issues emergency declaration

Wednesday 24 May 2023 18:15 , Andrea Blanco

Ahead of the typhoon striking Guam, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Guam on Monday.

Read the declaration below:

Yesterday, late evening, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the territory of Guam and ordered Federal assistance to supplement territory and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Typhoon Mawar beginning on May 22, 2023, and continuing.

The Presidents action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the territory of Guam.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures (Category B), limited to direct Federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding. Mr. Benigno B. Ruiz of FEMA has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

WATCH: Storm Mawar intensifies into Super Typhoon with sustained winds of 150mph

Wednesday 24 May 2023 17:12 , Andrea Blanco

Last Category 4 storm to hit Guam was 1976 Pamela

Wednesday 24 May 2023 17:00 , Andrea Blanco

While other storms have skirted Guam, the last Category 4 storm to directly hit the island was Pamela in 1976, University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy told the Associated Press.

Typhoon season runs from 1 July to 15 December in the western North Pacific, according to the weather service.

Mawar isnt terribly unusual in location, but certainly in strength, University of Albany atmospheric science professor Kristen Corbosiero, a tropical cyclone expert, said.

Usually, one or two storms a year come within 50 miles of the island, she said.

Storm intensifies, National Weather Service says

Wednesday 24 May 2023 16:36 , Andrea Blanco

The weather service said the storm was intensifying and warned of a triple threat of winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge on Guam.

The weather service said the storm could hit southern Guam around midday Wednesday, which is Tuesday evening in the continental United States.

Guam lies west of the International Date Line and is a day ahead of the US mainland and Hawaii, which is 3,800 miles to the east.

If Guam doesnt take a direct hit, it will be very close, Patrick Doll, the lead weather service meteorologist in Tiyan, Guam, told The Associated Press.

US Military sends help to the island

Wednesday 24 May 2023 16:08 , Andrea Blanco

Guam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island.

Naval Base Guam has been tracking the storm since last week and preparing for the storm, including sending ships away from the island, a standard precaution, base spokesperson Valerie Maigue told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Residents have stockpiled supplies and anyone not living in a concrete house was urged to seek safety elsewhere ahead of what the typhoons forecast to be a Category 4 storm.

(AP)

(AP)

Federal assistance crucial to mitigate damage, governor says

Wednesday 24 May 2023 15:45 , Andrea Blanco

Federal assistance will be needed to save lives and property and mitigate the effects of this imminent catastrophe, Gov Lou Leon Guerrero said in a letter to the president requesting a pre-landfall emergency for Guam.

Officials warned residents who arent in fully concrete structures  many homes on the far-flung island are made of wood and tin  to consider moving.

Typhoon Mawar could be most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific in decades

Wednesday 24 May 2023 15:17 , Andrea Blanco

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration as an intensifying Super Typhoon Mawar approaches Guam.

Anyone not living in a concrete house in the US island territory was urged to seek safety elsewhere/

Emergency shelters began to fill ahead of what could be the most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific territory in decades.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said on social media that the declaration will support the mobilization of resources into Guam, which is especially crucial given our distance from the continental U.S.

The governor ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations.

WATCH: Eye of Super Typhoon Mawar swirls over Guam

Wednesday 24 May 2023 15:14 , Andrea Blanco

What areas will be hit by flash floods?

Wednesday 24 May 2023 14:48 , Andrea Blanco

The National Weather Service has issued flash flood warnings for Dededo, Yigo and Tamuning.

Residents are advised to move to higher ground and to avoid driving or walking through flood waters.

Flash Flood Warning continues for Dededo GU, Yigo GU and Tamuning GU until 7:45 AM ChST pic.twitter.com/QzgWyhLHaT  NWS Guam  (@NWSGuam) May 24, 2023

Guam prepare for Category 4 Typhoon Mawar

Wednesday 24 May 2023 14:31 , Andrea Blanco

Numerous containers line the sidewalk outside the Wellness Water & Ice store in Yigo, Guam (AP)

Guam Power Authority personnel conduct tree trimming operations to clear branches away from power lines (Pacific Daily News PO Box DN Hagatna, Guam 96932)

An excavator operator constructs a double berm along the shoreline of the Umatac Bay, near the mouth on the Laelae River (Pacific Daily News PO Box DN Hagatna, Guam 96932)

Bidens emergency declaration

Wednesday 24 May 2023 14:15 , Rachel Sharp

Ahead of the typhoon striking Guam, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Guam on Monday.

Read the declaration below:

Yesterday, late evening, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the territory of Guam and ordered Federal assistance to supplement territory and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Typhoon Mawar beginning on May 22, 2023, and continuing. The Presidents action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the territory of Guam.Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures (Category B), limited to direct Federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding. Mr. Benigno B. Ruiz of FEMA has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

Flash flood warning in effect on Dededo, Yigo and Tamuning

Wednesday 24 May 2023 13:45 , Rachel Sharp

Flash Flood Warning continues for Dededo GU, Yigo GU and Tamuning GU until 7:45 AM ChST pic.twitter.com/QzgWyhLHaT  NWS Guam  (@NWSGuam) May 24, 2023

How climate change makes storms like Typhoon Mawar more likely

Wednesday 24 May 2023 13:15 , Stuti Mishra

The increasing frequency and intensity of cyclones around the world have raised concerns about the role of the climate crisis in shaping these destructive phenomena.

Typhoon Mawar is expected to hit Guam at category 4. It was forecast to deliver the biggest hit in two decades to the US territory in the Pacific.But is global heating playing a role in such storms? The Independents senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle explains here.

Hurricanes are getting stronger. Heres why
Mawar has intensified once more into a super typhoon after AccuWeather forecasters say Guam had an incredibly close brush with the powerful storm on Wednesday. The center of the storm, then just a typhoon, had bore down on the U.S. territory and unloaded a deluge of rainfall, unleashed destructive winds and knocked out power to nearly the entire island.

On Wednesday afternoon, local time, only 1,000 out of the 52,000 customers on the island had power, the Guam Power Authority confirmed in a statement.

"Almost all of our circuits have been impacted and [are] without power," utility officials said. The utility company posted an update on Thursday evening, local time, asking for the public's patience amid the "extremely dangerous effort" of power restoration.

Power restoration efforts were delayed early Thursday as crews took shelter from the storm's potent winds. In a Thursday afternoon update, the Guam Power Authority noted that engineers had begun to conduct damage assessments and make repairs.

Guam is home to about 168,000 people, including more than 20,000 United States military personnel and dependents.

A spokesperson for the American Red Cross said in an email to AccuWeather on Thursday that "the vast majority of Guam is currently without power, including hospitals, which are running on generators. Guamanians are resilient, hoping for the best!"

A national Red Cross disaster leadership team is on Guam and as many as 200 trained disaster workers and more emergency supplies will be deployed to the island as soon as travel is possible, according to a Red Cross update posted on Wednesday.

The typhoon made its closest approach to Guam around 5 p.m., local time, Wednesday. Mawar's eye managed to avoid direct landfall and thread the needle between Guam and the island of Rota just to the north.

Typhoon Mawar made its closest approach to Guam on Wednesday, May 24. (CIRA/RAMMB)

"The southern edge of Mawar's eyewall brushed the northern coast of Guam, and it did not technically make landfall," explained AccuWeather Lead International Forecaster Jason Nicholls. Typically, the center of a storm's eyewall has to cross over land for landfall to be declared.

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While there was no landfall, the eyewall is typically home to a cyclone's strongest and most destructive winds. A wide swath of winds ranging from 90-110 mph (145-180 km/h) with some locally higher gusts pounded the northern portion of the island for a considerable time on Wednesday.

The high winds tore roofs off of buildings, snapped trees like toothpicks and flipped over vehicles. Officials report minor injuries as a result of the storm but there have been no confirmed fatalities.

Typhoon Mawar Top Wind Gusts

Before bearing down on Guam, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center declared Mawar a super typhoon for a time on Tuesday. The storm lost that designation around the middle of the week before regaining it on Thursday, local time.

At its closest approach, Mawar fluctuated in strength between a Category 3 major hurricane (sustained winds equivalent to 111-129 mph or 178-208 km/h) and a Category 4 major hurricane (sustained winds equivalent to 130-156 mph or 209-251 km/h) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

The National Weather Service office in Guam put an extreme wind warning into effect for the northern half of the island for several hours on Wednesday. In the warning text, the NWS urged residents to "treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching."

The typhoon's strong winds also knocked out radar capabilities and imagery for the island as the storm raged on Wednesday. NWS forecasters in Guam confirmed on Twitter Wednesday evening that they had "lost communication with the radar."

A satellite loop of Mawar churning west of Guam late Thursday, local time. (AccuWeather)

Although the typhoon's closest approach unfolded on Wednesday, torrential rainfall and destructive winds began earlier in the week.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, local time, more than a foot of rain (300 mm) had fallen across portions of Guam. An observation in Dedeo, located on the northern end of the island, showed more than 27 inches (680 mm) had fallen in just 72 hours.

Rainfall totals as of 5 a.m. EDT Thursday

Rainfall of this magnitude will result in flash flooding and mudslides, blocking roads and delaying travel.

As Mawar continues its slow movement away from Guam, additional heavy rain is expected in the coming days. Due to the impacts of its heavy rain and destructive winds, Mawar is a 4 on the AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Cyclones in Guam.

Mawar regained super typhoon status on Thursday, local time, as it tracked westward away from Guam and over the open waters of the West Pacific, packing sustained winds equivalent to a Category 4 major hurricane.

According to Colorado State University Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach, when Mawar's maximum sustained winds reached 175 mph on Thursday, it became the strongest typhoon in this part of the Pacific Ocean basin in the month of May since Typhoon Damrey in 2000.

AccuWeather forecasters say Mawar can continue to gain strength over the open ocean and reach the equivalent of a Category 5 major hurricane in the Atlantic or East Pacific basins by the weekend.

"Mawar is expected to slow and make a turn to the northwest and then north early next week as it nears the northern Philippines and Taiwan. The typhoon is expected to bring some rain and wind to Luzon and Taiwan from Sunday to Wednesday, but these impacts will highly depend on how close the storm gets before making the aforementioned turn," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty said.

It is possible the storm sits and stalls for a time east of these countries over the weekend and into early next week.

"Japan's southern Ryukyu Islands can also endure impacts during the beginning or middle of next week as the storm hooks to the northeast, but Mawar is expected to lose wind intensity during this time," Douty said.

Since 2000, a total of 23 typhoons have tracked within 200 miles of Guam.

In 2002, Typhoon Pongsona caused extensive damage to Guam, destroying 1,300 homes and resulting in $1 billion in damage (2023 USD). Pongsona passed to the east of the island with wind speeds of 150 mph - equivalent to a Category 4 storm. Typhoon Pongsona is the strongest storm to pass within 50 miles of the island since 2002.

In more recent years, Guam was impacted by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 and Typhoon Wutip in 2019, which resulted in $4.3 billion and $1.3 billion in damage, respectively.

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 rocket launched from a platform floating in the water in the Gulf of Mexico on May 22, 2023.

The Spaceport Company recently pulled off a series of rocket launches from a floating launch pad in the Gulf of Mexico, in its effort to create more options for rocket companies needing to reach space.

On Monday, the Virginia-based startup announced its successful demonstration, marking the first set of rocket launches from U.S. territorial waters using a prototype mobile floating spaceport.



Read more

A tiny sounding rocket launched from the platform.

This demonstration provided numerous lessons which will be incorporated into our next project: building a sea-based spaceport capable of orbital operations, Tom Marotta, founder and CEO of The Spaceport Company, said in the company statement. We are working towards offering the U.S.s first truly commercial spaceport, which can best support the rapidly growing commercial launch industry and alleviate the burdens on government ranges.

In partnership with Evolution Space, which is providing the required propulsion systems, The Spaceport Company launched four small sounding rockets from a modified ship floating in the Gulf of Mexico. The demonstration paves the way for orbital launches hosted on offshore platformsan effort to decrease demand on terrestrial launch sites as the cadence of rocket launches continues to increase. The launch pace and resulting traffic at Cape Canaveral, Florida, is now so intense, for example, that U.S. Space Force is looking for alternatives, as SpaceNews reported earlier this month.

The company also claims that its offshore launches pose less risk to the public and fewer environmental impacts than competing launch sites on land or overseas, The Spaceport Company wrote in its statement.

That rockets launched from land pose potential environmental harms is most certainly a topical issue. Elon Musks private venture SpaceX is currently under heat following the first test flight of its megarocket Starship. The rocket caused some damage on the ground after blasting off from its launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, sending a cloud of dust and debris to surrounding areas. As a result, conservation groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration for granting SpaceX its launch license. SpaceX considered converting two oil rigs into marine launchpads for its Starship rocket, but the company recently decided to scrap that plan.

Check out more images from our successful launch yesterday with our propulsion provider @EvolutionSpace_!



This was the first commercial launch from U.S. territorial waters using our prototype mobile floating spaceport. pic.twitter.com/mRB6Hegqsq  TheSpaceportCompany (@TheSpaceportCo) May 24, 2023

The idea of launching far from shore could resolve some environmental concerns on land, but its not yet clear whether rocket launches at sea could also cause damage to marine life, or if offshore platforms are resilient enough to launch megarockets the likes of Starship. As for smaller rockets, that seems more feasible, as these recent tests suggest.

Future tests will have to determine if bigger rockets, especially those capable of reaching orbit, can launch from The Spaceport Companys facilities. Importantly, the company recently announced a partnership with Vaya Space to launch small rockets from its sea-based platforms staring in 2025.

As a concept, launching rockets from mobile sea platforms is nothing new. In 2019, China became the third country after the U.S. and Russia to do so.

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Ubers head of diversity put on leave after backlash from Dont Call Me Karen employee event

[Source]

Uber recently confirmed that it has put its chief diversity and inclusion officer on a leave of absence following a controversial employee event called "Don't Call Me Karen."

In a statement to The New York Times, Noah Edwardsen, an Uber spokesperson, confirmed that the company put Bo Young Lee, Ubers chief diversity and inclusion officer, on leave after Black and Hispanic employees raised their concerns over her two-part event.

The event was reportedly part of Ubers Moving Forward, a series that discusses issues about race, gender, identity and class.

We have heard that many of you are in pain and upset by yesterdays Moving Forward session, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi reportedly wrote in an email sent to employees. While it was meant to be a dialogue, its obvious that those who attended did not feel heard.

More from NextShark: Trader Joes Doesnt Think Their Ethnic Sounding Labels Are Racist

A Black employee first raised concerns weeks after Uber held its first Dont Call Me Karen event in April, according to The New York Times.

During an all-hands meeting, the employee reportedly asked the company how it would prevent tone-deaf, offensive and triggering conversations from being included in its diversity initiatives, to which Lee allegedly responded, Sometimes being pushed out of your own strategic ignorance is the right thing to do.

Complaints piled up following Lees alleged response and her second Dont Call Me Karen event.

More from NextShark: Japanese Yakuza Not Allowed to Give Children Halloween Candy, Government Says

Black and Hispanic employees took to Ubers workplace communication app Slack to voice their concerns, with some claiming that they were lectured during the second event about how they initially reacted.

Some employees also reportedly claimed that Lee was dismissive of their concerns after she lectured them about the struggles white women experience and how Karen is a derogatory term.

I think when people are called Karens its implied that this is someone that has little empathy to others or is bothered by minorities others that dont look like them. Like why cant bad behavior not be called out? one employee reportedly wrote.

More from NextShark: Andrew Yang Accused of Using Bike Ride for Daunte Wright as PR Stunt in NYC

The Dont Call Me Karen events, with the second event being held in late May, were held via Zoom for up to 500 employees.

Lee, who joined Uber shortly after Khosrowshahi became the CEO in 2018, made history as Ubers first-ever chief diversity and inclusion officer.

She was previously the first Global Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Risk and Insurance Services businesses for Marsh and McLennan Companies before she joined Uber, according to her company profile.

More from NextShark: Mike Huckabee Sparks Outrage After Tweeting He 'Identifies' as Chinese

While the origins of the term remain unclear, many people online use Karen to describe an entitled person who harasses or reports people of color in public.

Some widely reported incidents of this occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as when the CEO of a skincare brand harassed a Filipino American for writing Black Lives Matter outside his own home in San Francisco and when a Filipino American woman was accosted in Torrance, California, while exercising.

The rise of such incidents pushed a supervisor in San Francisco to introduce an ordinance known as the CAREN Act that would criminalize racially biased 911 calls.

It should be noted that the term Karen should not be confused with the Karen people, an indigenous group of people living in the Thailand-Burma border region in Southeast Asia.
Ben Wallace and Oleksii Reznikov

The officials discussed the prospects of Ukraines NATO membership in the context of the July summit in Vilnius, as well as priorities regarding armaments.

Especially regarding weapons that make it possible to hit the enemy at long distances, such as Storm Shadow (missiles), said Reznikov.

Read also: Britain to donate air defense missiles to Ukraine  Wallace

Wallace explained that London had provided Ukraine with long-range missiles due to Russias constant use of its long-range weapons against the civilian population and infrastructure.

Reznikov noted Britains leadership in the transfer of other types of weapons. Speaking about the military aid, he said there was a lot more that I cant say at the moment.

Read also: Ukraine needs at least 500 UK-made Storm Shadow missiles, military expert

U.S. television channel CNN reported on May 11 that the United Kingdom had already supplied Kyiv with several Storm Shadow missiles capable of striking targets from distances of over 250km.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace officially confirmed this information, emphasizing that the missiles would be used only on the countrys sovereign territory.

The United Kingdom will send hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200 kilometers to Ukraine, the UK government said in a statement on May 15.

The United Kingdom, together with the Netherlands, headed the fighter jet coalition and will start training Ukrainian pilots in the summer.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Scene

On a sunny spring day at Rob and Jo Hodgkins farm in southern England, sheep were being led, one by one, into metal boxes resembling oversized washing machines. Each of the 120 animals stayed in the chambers for 50 minutes  to have their emissions measured.

The tracking program is the first step in a long journey for the Hodgkinses, who are trying to breed ultra-low emission sheep, ones that naturally produce less methane, a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

Like other ruminants  hoofed plant-eating mammals such as cattle, goats, and buffalos  sheep belch out methane while digesting food. Up until now research has focused on cows, which emit the most methane. But scientists in New Zealand have demonstrated that methane emissions are in fact a heritable trait among sheep, a finding that serves as the inspiration for the Hodgkinses attempt.

Xiaoying's view

When I went to visit Rob, I expected him to extol the environmental virtues of his efforts. He and his wife are, after all, the first independent farmers in the U.K. to try to breed low-emitting sheep. Instead, he talked me through the commercial imperative, and that makes sense: As with much of the fight against climate change, businesses have to be able to turn a profit to survive and make the investments necessary to reduce their emissions.

Farmers like the Hodgkinses show that the livestock sector  which employs 1.3 billion people worldwide  can be part of the solution to the pressing problem of livestock emissions.

Rob, 43, believes that offsetting carbon emissions and breeding low-emitting livestock will be a large part of agriculture in five to 10 years, a necessity prioritized by supermarkets and customers. The purpose of the project fundamentally is to make sure our farm is secure and profitable in the future, he told me.

His farm keeps 2,300 sheep and produces roughly 70,000 kilograms of sheep meat every year. It is a supplier to the British supermarket giant Tesco, which has pledged to be net zero across its value chains by 2050.

The Hodgkinses, who are working on the breeding project with Agri-EPI Centre, a U.K. government-funded organization, and researchers from Scotlands Rural College, believe an early start is crucial.

Whilst at the minute no one is paying us to do this, I believe in 10 years, there will be, Rob said. But in 10 years time, we will be 10 years behind, so we need to start now.

Know More

Rob and Jo are able to run this project largely because their sheep are genetically related to a breed in New Zealand, where scientists have spent the past 15 years identifying and breeding sheep with low-methane genetic traits.

The New Zealand program found that after three generations of selective breeding  pairing low-emitting sheep with other low-emissions ones  the lowest-emitting offspring produced nearly 13% less methane than the highest emitters, per kilogram of feed eaten.

Ruminants alone are responsible for around 30% of global methane emissions, and more than 90% of those emissions are burped out. The methane emissions from ruminants largely depend on how much they eat. Compared to sheep, cattle are a bigger source of methane, and more efforts have been made to deal with their burps, ranging from selective breeding to vaccines.

Ermias Kebreab, an animal scientist and professor at the University of California, Davis, told me that scientists have also reduced cattle emissions by targeting the ingredients in their feed. By mixing seaweed into beef cattles feed, for instance, his team found they could slash their emissions by as much as 82%.

Quotable

We need as many tools in the box as we can for being able to reduce methane emissions from ruminant livestock production and safeguard food security at the same time, Nicola Lambe, a researcher from Scotlands Rural College, said.

Room for Disagreement

Rather than trying to reduce emissions from meat, a more efficient way to cut greenhouse gas emissions would be to stop eating meat, or at least drastically cut its consumption: Thats the recommendation from a 2019 U.N. report. We dont want to tell people what to eat, an expert on the committee that drafted the report told Nature. But it would indeed be beneficial, for both climate and human health, if people in many rich countries consumed less meat, and if politics would create appropriate incentives to that effect.

The View From New Zealand

Beef + Lamb New Zealand, an industry group involved in the sheep emissions program, plans to build a genetic evaluation system that will allow all Kiwi sheep farmers to select sheep that produce less methane. So far, more than 20,000 sheep have been measured for their methane emissions in the country, and the number is growing.

Notable
Emdee Tiamiyu offers advice to his thousands of YouTube subscribers on how to legally migrate to the UK

As the government restricts visas for family members of some foreign students, a YouTuber who advises Nigerians on studying in the UK says some are not looking for new qualifications, but to start a new life abroad.

Recording from his living room, Emdee Tiamiyu promotes himself to thousands of subscribers as YouTube's number one guide to "scholarships, fellowships and japa-ships".

That last word, japa, is the Yoruba term for "to leave", he explains. It is a buzzword among Nigerians eager to escape their country's problems with corruption and poor governance.

"People are looking for alternatives," he says. "They want to escape Nigeria."

Mr Tiamiyu offers advice on navigating immigration systems like the UK's and says for most people the only legal and broadly accessible route is through the education system.

"The student route is more like an answered prayer," he says. It is a "big bracket that's able to take a lot of people, the ordinary people".

A fifth of UK student visas last year went to Nigerians - 120,000 in total, with half for the students themselves and half for partners and children. Nigerians had more family visas for foreign students than any other nationality.

Now, ahead of migration figures on Thursday expected to show that a record 700,000 people came to the UK last year, the government is banning people taking some post-graduate courses - such as master's degrees - from getting visas for their spouses and children.

Mr Tiamiyu says he can understand why the government might want to take action.

Increasingly people are signing up to courses - and willingly paying fees of 22,000 a year on average to UK educational institutions - just to get a visa for themselves and their dependants, the YouTuber says.

"We're beginning to see that a lot of people just hide behind the studentship. So the student thing is not real, it's not like they need the degrees," he says.

Most people genuinely intend to study but the minority who do not is growing, Mr Tiamiyu suggests.

While visas can be cut short if foreign students' attendance and work is not good enough, Mr Tiamiyu says there are still students who are "really not worried about the details of the education".

Instead the course can be a stepping stone to a new life in the UK, allowing them to stay on afterwards for a further two or three years on a graduate visa - or longer on a skilled worker visa if they can get the right job.

During their course, foreign students in the UK are limited to working 20 hours a week in term time, so it's hard to make much money on a student visa. Mr Tiamiyu says the family visas can make it more economically viable, as a spouse travelling with the student can work full-time.

Not all of the marriages are genuine, he says. In a few cases, "people would just team up somewhere in Lagos" before they travel.

But however they enter the country, Mr Tiamiyu says a tough job market means Nigerian students must have real skills and experience to stay in the UK - a long-term visa will ultimately depend on making a genuine contribution.

In the Shropshire town of Telford, there are now around 300 Nigerian residents, many drawn by the University of Wolverhampton campus.

For some of them - such as Rotimi Lawal, studying a master's in mechanical engineering at a cost of 15,000 - the appeal of a UK education is inseparable from the opportunities in its economy.

Rotimi Lawal says he came to the UK to learn and to improve his economic prospects

"Me studying provides an opportunity to also probably work in the UK," he says. With better pay and the chance to make a better life, he says, "I feel it's a smart thing to do."

The university says that banning foreign master's students from bringing their dependants is likely to harm their education.

Dr Rachel Morgan-Guthrie, associate dean for students and education, said: "It's a support network and when students are here and they've got their support networks, they are more likely to succeed."

The YouTube immigration influencer, Mr Tiamiyu, says students who do not care about their education could undermine UK universities.

He thinks some people will think twice about the cost of a UK education if they cannot get a visa for their children or spouse.

"They'll probably go elsewhere," he says. "But if they really need that Oxford degree, they'll still come."

But he says it is important to continue to support legal migration routes, because people are "so desperate".

On his YouTube channel, he has interviewed young people on the streets of Nigeria, asking them if they would take an illegal "japa route" to a foreign country, even if they knew it was risky and might fail.

"You'll be shocked at how many people said they will still take it," he says.
Signage is seen on one of the main campus buildings of University College London (UCL) in London, Britain

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) -Thousands of university students asked London's High Court on Wednesday to give the go-ahead to a mass lawsuit against University College London (UCL) over disruption to their studies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and strikes.

More than 3,000 current and former students  who paid at least 9,250 pounds ($11,482) a year  are suing UCL for breach of contract, in a case which could be followed by similar litigation against other British universities.

UCL says it did not breach its contract with students. The university argues it was permitted to change or cancel any part of its courses due to circumstances beyond its control, such as the pandemic and consequent lockdown.

Lawyers running the case against UCL say around 100,000 students from 18 universities including UCL have signed up to bring legal action.

Universities across the United Kingdom moved to online learning during the pandemic, with students also being denied access to teaching facilities such as libraries.

Anna Boase, a lawyer representing the claimants, told the court on Tuesday that students were promised "in-person, on-campus tuition" under their contract with UCL, but they "did not get what they bargained for".

Students' tuition was also affected by industrial action between 2017 and 2022, when a total of 47 teaching days were "written off" as a result of strikes, Boase said.

"They want justice," she added. "They come to court to seek the difference between the eye-watering sums they paid and the actual value of the services UCL provided."

Lawyers for UCL argue there is no difference between the "market value" of in-person and online teaching.

UCL is asking the High Court to put the lawsuits on hold so students can go through its internal complaints process.

At the end of Wednesday's hearing, Judge Barbara Fontaine said she would give a ruling on whether the lawsuit should be put on hold at a later date.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alex Richardson, William Maclean)
A view of Bakhmut, where the fighting continues, on May 21, 2023

The general published a video with a captured Russian mercenary from the Veteran PMC, who was taken prisoner near Bakhmut.

"The Defense Forces continue the defensive operation and are making progress on the flanks of Bakhmut," Syrskyi wrote.

The Russian forces' offensive in the area "slightly decreased" over the day, and the Defense Forces made minor advances on the flanks to the north and south of Bakhmut, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar on May 23.

Read also: Invaders advance in Bakhmut while Ukrainian forces liberate 20 square km in citys suburbs

Wagner PMC leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on May 20 the complete capture of Bakhmut by his mercenaries. The Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense denied this information and said that the fighting in the city was ongoing.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Armed Forces of Ukraine remain in the Donbas city.

Malyar reported on May 21 that the Ukrainian military had taken Bakhmut into a double envelopment, continuing to maintain control over part of the city. Syrskyi also said that the Defense Forces were approaching the tactical encirclement of the city.

Read also: Why does Putin need Bakhmut, and what did the drone attack on the Kremlin change

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  An opposition lawmaker believes the fight for House Speakership is not yet over even after Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo denied reports linking her to a supposed plot to oust Speaker Martin Romualdez.

"I am certain Speaker Martin Romualdez has the incriminatory details and evidence regarding the plot to oust him," Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said in a statement Wednesday.

READ: Arroyo denies coup plot vs. Speaker Romualdez

Lagman urged Romualdez to reveal the "inculpatory details" of the rumored coup in the interest of other House members who were left in the dark.

He said this will justify Arroyo's "abrupt, unceremonious, and humiliating demotion from Senior Deputy Speaker to one of the many Deputy Speakers."

Despite the coup rumors, Romualdez has maintained that the House remains intact, and its members should focus on addressing urgent legislation rather than engage in politicking.

READ: 'Occasional moves to destabilize House should be nipped in the bud'  Romualdez

Lagman, however, said he believes the former president will not take her demotion sitting down and may just be "biding her time to make a counteroffensive."

"Although it appears that GMA has accepted her fate, politics is not only a show of force, it is also a show of appearances," Lagman said. "Protagonists kiss and make up in public with daggers behind their backs. Token gestures of amity actually hide enmity."

The Liberal Party president also claimed there were other conspirators involved in the rumored coup.

But there can be no conspiracy of one. Who are the other conspirators? Why are they not similarly punished? Maybe they do not have any important positions in the House from which they can be demoted," he said.

On May 19, Vice President Sara Duterte resigned from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democratsthe biggest political party in the House of Representatives.

READ: Sara Duterte leaves Lakas-CMD, hints at 'political powerplay'
Ukraine excelling in the use of UK-made Storm Shadow long-range missiles

Storm Shadow long-range missile

During a joint briefing with his British colleague, Ben Wallace, who is on a visit to Kyiv, Reznikov reiterated that the United Kingdom had already transferred NLAW anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, helped Ukraine get 155 mm artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, including M270.

The United Kingdom has also created a special fund to support Ukraine and purchase weapons in various countries, said Reznikov.

Read also: Ukraine needs at least 500 UK-made Storm Shadow missiles, military expert

Together with partners, the fund will help arm the Ukrainian fleet with Harpoon missiles, deliver armored vehicles, train Ukrainian servicemen abroad, and deliver goodies like Storm Shadow, he said.

We had the opportunity to shake hands with pilots who were trained in the United Kingdom and are already successfully using the Storm Shadow weapon, the minister said.

U.S. television channel CNN reported on May 11 that the United Kingdom had already supplied Kyiv with several Storm Shadow missiles capable of striking targets from distances of over 250km.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace officially confirmed this information, emphasizing that the missiles would be used only on the countrys sovereign territory.

Read also: Ukraine has already used Storm Shadow missiles against Russian targets, report says

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The Pentagon said Tuesday that the decision to train Ukrainians on F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets is unlikely to aid any forthcoming counteroffensive push or immediately affect the conflict.

The department's top spokesman, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, said the training will take place outside of Ukraine in Europe and characterized it as an investment in the medium- to long-term capabilities of Ukraine. But he offered few other details on the newly unveiled plans during a briefing to reporters.

President Joe Biden announced to world leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Japan last week that the U.S. and its allies will begin training Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets after months of requests from leaders in Kyiv.

Read Next: VA Can't Account for $187 Million in Emergency COVID-19 Funding

"F-16s for Ukraine is about the long-term commitment to Ukraine," Ryder told reporters at a briefing, before adding that "these F-16s will not be relevant to the upcoming counteroffensive."

Ryder told reporters that details on what the training will look like -- especially when it will start, who will provide the jets and how -- are still being worked out.

The Pentagon's chief spokesman did say that "training will take place outside of Ukraine, at sites in Europe" and that officials "hope that we will be able to start the training within weeks or months -- in the relatively near term."

When asked whether the country could expect to get deliveries of the modern jets this year, Ryder told reporters, "I don't want to put a timeline on it."

A U.S. official said Friday that it would be up to the countries that are participating in the training to decide "when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them."

While Ukraine's interest in foreign fighter jets has been public knowledge since last year, U.S. officials have steadfastly maintained that, while they were considering the request, the capability would not make a major strategic impact.

Gen. James Hecker, the head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe as well as Air Forces Africa and Allied Air Command, told Military.com in March that he thought the jets would "help them a little bit" but added that "I don't think it's going to be a game changer."

Ryder said the F-16 training is considered by officials inside the Pentagon as "part of a conversation about how we support Ukraine in the mid- to long-term."

"If they are not successful in their counteroffensive, then everything else is largely a moot point," he said.

U.S. officials have followed a now-familiar pattern of publicly being hesitant to offer a suggested weapons platform, only to later give the go-ahead. Requests for weapons like the Bradley fighting vehicle, the Patriot missile air defense system, and M1 Abrams tanks all followed a similar pattern.

In the case of the F-16 jets, Ryder noted that the request was made by the Ukrainians in April 2022 and since then it was being considered by the National Security Council. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin OK'd the plan this month.

"There was unanimous agreement that this was something that we should and need to support so, prior to the G7, Secretary Austin made the recommendation to proceed," Ryder said.

"We've said all along that we are committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, both in the near term and in the long term," he added.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: US Will Train Ukrainians on F-16 Fighter Jet After Months of Speculation
Ukraine investigates involvement of Belarus in deportation of children

Ukraine is investigating the involvement of Belarus in forceful deportation of children from Russia-occupied territories.

Source: Reuters news agency, with reference to Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine

Andrii Kostin, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, reported that a criminal case was opened in Ukraine on the fact of "forcible displacement/deportation of 19,000 children" from occupied regions, among other options, to Belarus.

The children were deported from following oblasts:

Donetsk;

Luhansk;

Zaporizhzhia;

Kherson;

Kharkiv.

Mother hugging her 13-year old son after his deportation to Russia and return to Kyiv.

Photo: Reuters

"The fact and circumstances of deportation of the Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the so-called recreation camps in the territory of Belarus are being investigated within the aforementioned criminal case," the Prosecutor Generals Office stressed.

Ukraines statement about the deportation of children was a response to the report of the Byelorussian opposition about the fact that 2150 minors, specifically orphans aged 6 to 15, were deported to the so-called recreation camps and resorts.

The children could have been settled to two Byelorussian recreation resorts:

Zolotye Peski in Gomel Oblast;

the Ostroshitskiy Gorodok health resort in Minsk Oblast.

The deportation of children to another country was illegal and violated the Geneva conventions and the International Criminal Court statute.

"Lukashenko personally ordered the transfer of orphans to Belarus and facilitated their displacement with financial and organisational support," the Prosecutor General Office adds.

Background:

The instances of illegal displacement of 164 Ukrainian children aged 4-18 to Russia was recognized by the UN Independent International Commission for the Investigation of Violations in Ukraine.

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FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's tax and customs service head Nasirov who is under investigation over the suspected embezzlement attends a court hearing in Kiev

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine has moved a step closer to putting former tax and customs chief Roman Nasirov on trial on corruption charges after anti-graft investigators referred his case to court.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) did not name Nasirov in a statement on Wednesday announcing its decision, but described details that made clear it was referring to his case.

Nasirov, 44, would be the highest-profile former official to go on trial for corruption since Ukraine launched a crackdown on graft as it tries to join the European Union. An investigation was launched against Nasirov in 2017, when he ceased to serve as head of the State Fiscal Service (SFS).

Reuters could not immediately reach Nasirov for comment on the NABU statement. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

NABU said in an online statement that it and the office of the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor (SAP) had completed an investigation into bribery allegations against a former head of the SFS and an adviser.

"The investigation has so far established that the head of the SFS (2015-2016) received illegal benefits to the amount of $5.5 million and more than 21 million euros of illegal benefits for VAT (value added tax) refunds to agricultural holding companies," it said.

As part of moves to clamp down on corruption even while fighting Russian forces, Ukraine placed the former head of the Supreme Court in pre-trial detention last week in a $2.7 million bribery investigation.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Alex Richardson)
Ukraines NATO membership is key to lasting peace, Latvian PM says

Flags of NATO and Ukraine

Read also: NATO Parliamentary Assembly declares Russian aggression against Ukraine to be genocide

"To achieve a strong peace, Ukraine must be independent, free, and included within the NATO alliance," said Karins.

At the same time, Stoltenberg indicated that Ukraine will not be able to join NATO as long as the war continues.

I believe everyone understands that membership during wartime is not on the agenda, the Secretary General said.

The question is what will happen once the war ends.

Read also: NATO to discuss sending jets, Zelenskyy on Crimean Tatar meml day, Beijing envoy in Kyiv

Previously, Stoltenberg stated that all NATO members agree that Ukraine will ultimately become a member of the alliance, but their current priority is to ensure Kyivs victory.

Read also: Ukraine will not become NATO member in foreseeable future, says Scholz

During a meeting with Stoltenberg in Kyiv on April 20, Zelenskyy emphasized that there are no barriers to political decisions regarding Ukraines membership.

Read also: UK Defense Secretary in Kyiv to talk NATO and weapons

Ukraine expects specific NATO membership proposals or security guarantees at the Vilnius Summit in July 2023.

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The leader of Russian mercenary group Wagner has claimed that Vladimir Putin could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the war in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war.

Ukraine is preparing a counter-offensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to the borders of before 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, Yevgeny Prigozhin said. Ukraine would try to encircle Bakhmut and attack Crimea, he added.

Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war, he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

Russias elite, he said, protected their own children from fighting the war while the children of ordinary Russians perished on the front, a situation he said that could trigger turmoil in Russia.

If ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in zinc coffins while the children of the elite sunned themselves abroad, he said, Russia would face turmoil along the lines of the 1917 revolutions which ushered in a civil war.

Key Points

Wagner chief warns Russia could face revolution unless elite gets serious about war

Anti-Russia fighters using US-made armoured vehicles for incursion into Russia - Report

Russia forcefully mobilising AWOL soldiers in Ukraine, British intelligence says

Mercenary Prigozhin warns Russia could face revolution

Drone drops explosive device on a car in Belgorod, governor says

Governor of Belgorod tells local residents not to return home yet as nine villages evacuated

Mercenary Prigozhin warns Russia could face revolution unless elite gets serious about war

08:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, warned that Russia could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the war in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war.

Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ukraine is preparing a counter-offensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to the borders of before 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, Prigozhin said. Ukraine would try to encircle Bakhmut and attack Crimea, he added.

Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war, he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

We are in such a condition that we could fucking lose Russia - that is the main problem ... We need to impose martial law.

Prigozhin said his political outlook was dominated by love for the motherland and serving Putin. He said the nickname of Putins chef was stupid as he couldnt cook, quipping that Putins butcher might be a more apt nickname.

Russias elite, he said, protected their own children from fighting the war while the children of ordinary Russians perished on the front, a situation he said that could trigger turmoil in Russia.

If ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in zinc coffins while the children of the elite sunned themselves abroad, he said, Russia would face turmoil along the lines of the 1917 revolutions which ushered in a civil war.

(AP)

Anti-Russia fighters using US-made armoured vehicles for incursion into Russia - Report

04:30 , Shweta Sharma

Anti-Russian fighters appeared to have used US-made armoured vehicles in the Belgorod Oblast incursion, according to pictures and videos verified by New York Times.

At least three such US-made vehicles were used with two of those captured by Russian forces.

The group behind the incursion that has sparked evacuations in Belgorod used MRAPs, known as Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected, which were first built by the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and Washington has sent several to Ukraine.

The two groups that have claimed responsibility for the incursion are the Freedom of Russia Legion - a Ukraine-based Russian militia led by Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev that says it is working inside Russia for Vladimir Putins overthrow - and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC).

One of the photos of a seized MRAP showed a Russian soldier standing next to a vehicle which had a white spray-painted marking of an upward-pointing arrow. A vehicle with a similar symbol was seen in a video just hours before the incursion into Russia.

Shadowy attacks inside Russia deliver a psychological win for Ukraine

14:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The announcement from Moscow came as little surprise, at least in its language  claiming that those who had raided Russian villages close to the border with Ukraine had been completely eliminated. That it came after two days of fighting raises more of an eyebrow.

The attack has been claimed by Russian militia groups who say their aim is to see President Vladimir Putin toppled. Whatever the state of the raid  with suggestions that the militas opperations could be continuing despite the announcements from Moscow  in the context of Russias broader invasion it is a skirmish. It is the intrigue around the incursion that will have a more lasting effect as it becomes part of the propaganda war between Moscow and Kyiv.

Our foreign editor Chris Stevenson has more:

Analysis: Shadowy attacks inside Russia deliver a psychological win for Ukraine

US says Russia's Wagner Group seeking to transit military equipment through Mali

13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The U.S. State Department on Monday said Russias Wagner Group is trying to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, adding that Washington has been informed the mercenary force is seeking to move those acquisitions through Mali to aid Russia in its war.

Wagner is willing to use false paperwork for such transactions, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing.

There are indications that Wagner has been attempting to purchase military systems from foreign suppliers and route these weapons through Mali as a third party, Miller said.

We have not seen as of yet any indications that these acquisitions have been finalized or executed, but we are monitoring the situation closely.

Miller said Washington has imposed sanctions on a number of people and entities that support Wagners military operations, and said the United States would have more to share soon.

Reuters could not immediately reach Malis government for comment.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russias Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday dismissed the U.S. allegations as a hoax in a news conference and urged Washington to examine the effect of its own military exports.

(PRIGOZHIN PRESS SERVICE)

Belgorod raid: Who is behind attacks on Russian region bordering Ukraine?

13:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia alleges that dozens of Ukrainian militants crossed into one of its border towns in its Belgorod region, striking targets and forcing an evacuation, before over 70 of the attackers were killed or pushed back by what the authorities termed a counterterrorism operation.

Ukraine denied any involvement in the skirmishes Monday and Tuesday, instead blaming two Russian groups that claim to be volunteers fighting alongside Kyivs forces in an uprising against the government of President Vladimir Putin.

While neither version could be independently verified, whatever happened appears to have sent Moscow scrambling to respond to one of the most serious border incursions since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Who is behind Belgorod incursion on Russian region bordering Ukraine?

WHO condemns Russia's aggression in Ukraine, rejects Moscow's counter-proposal

12:38 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The World Health Organisation (WHO) assembly passed a motion on Wednesday condemning Russias aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on healthcare facilities.

The motion passed by 80 votes to 9, with 52 abstentions and 36 countries absent.

The Western-led motion, put forward at the U.N. agencys annual meeting, also called for an assessment of the impact of Russias aggression on the health sector.

Russia had submitted a counter-proposal recognising the health emergency in Ukraine, but making no mention of its own role in the war.

That motion was rejected by the assembly immediately after the first, by 62 votes to 13, with 61 abstentions and 41 countries absent.

After the votes, the Russian representative told the assembly it was not against the work of the WHO in Ukraine, but it was against the politicisation of the body.

Ukraines representative said the vote was a sign of hope for its citizens in need of health assistance, and a milestone in the continuation of the WHOs work in the country.

Tensions had been running high in the run up to the twin votes. During speeches that were critical of Russia, Moscows envoy interrupted with points of order.

Britains ambassador Simon Manley also accused Russia of spreading disinformation at the assembly and a Russian official confirmed it had distributed pamphlets accusing Ukrainian forces of attacking medical facilities in parts of the country it controls.

Moscow has consistently denied targeting civilians during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

The votes echo last years assembly, when two sets of motions were also presented, with the Western-led resolution passing with 88 votes for and 12 against. Abstentions and absence levels were high, as in this years vote.

Russia extends detention of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months

12:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Russian court has extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

Mr Gershkovich, an American citizen, was ordered held until 30 August. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the US government have denied the charges.

Mr Gershkovich is the first US correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges, and his arrest rattled journalists in the country and drew outrage in the West.

The US government has declared Mr Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release. Hes being held in Moscows Lefortovo prison.

Russia extends detention of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months

Kremlin says Ukraine border raiders' use of Western-made military hardware part of pattern

11:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the use of Western-made military hardware by pro-Ukrainian fighters who conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week was consistent with the Wests growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 Ukrainian nationalists and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

Images of some of the destroyed vehicles used by the pro-Ukrainian fighters broadcast on Russian state media showed U.S.-made military hardware such as U.S.-made Humvees.

It is no secret for us that more and more equipment is being delivered to Ukraines armed forces. It is no secret that this equipment is being used against our own military. And it is no secret for us that the direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in this conflict is growing by the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

We are drawing the appropriate conclusions.

(EPA)

Finland says Russia set to terminate agreement on military visits

10:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has informed neighbouring Finland that it will terminate a bilateral agreement on mutual visits to military installations, the Finnish defence ministry said late on Tuesday.

The bilateral agreement, signed in 2000, provided for one annual Russian assessment visit to Finland and a similar visit by Finland to the Leningrad Military District in north-west Russia, the Finnish ministry said in a statement.

Finland last month joined the NATO military alliance in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of counter-measures.

The bilateral agreement, last applied in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, was among several post-Cold War measures taken to improve East-West relations.

The broader Vienna Act, agreed within the framework of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which also provides for mutual inspection and evaluation visits, would not be affected by the termination, Finland said.

Russian PM tells Chinas Xi: We will push back against sanctions

10:02 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told Chinese President Xi Jinping in China on Wednesday that Moscow and Beijing would push back against attempts by countries to use sanctions to impose their will, Russias RIA news agency reported.

(SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia's Lavrov: West sees Russia and China as threat to its dominance

08:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said that the West saw Russia and China as adversaries that posed what he called an existential threat to the Wests dominance.

As evidenced by statements made at the recently concluded G7 summit in Japan, the West views Russia and China as strategic adversaries posing almost an existential threat to its dominance, Lavrov said.

(Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service)

Russia forcefully mobilising AWOL soldiers in Ukraine, British intelligence says

07:21 , Shweta Sharma

In todays intelligence update, the British ministry of defence has said Russian military courts dealt with 1,053 cases of personnel going absent without leave (AWOL), citing a credible search by a Russian journalist.

It said Russias struggle to enforce discipline in its ranks throughout its operations in Ukraine has likely worsened following the forced mobilisation of reservists since October 2022.

(4/4) Russias efforts to improve discipline have focused on making examples of defaulters, and promoting patriotic zeal, rather than addressing the root causes of soldiers disillusionment.  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) May 24, 2023

Russian PM says relations with China at unprecedented high level

07:08 , Shweta Sharma

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin who arrived in Beijing today said the ties with China are at an unprecedented high level, characterised by mutual respect for each others interests and the desire to jointly respond to challenges.

As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains, Mr Mishustin told Chinese premier Li Qiang during a meeting in Beijing.

Mr Li said that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a new level.

Pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia has shown a good development trend, and the scale of investment between the two is also continuously seeing an upgrade, Mr Li told Mr Mishustin during a meeting in Beijing.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who leads a delegation to China, arrived in #Shanghai on Monday, beginning his official visit during which he is expected to take part in a business forum and hold meetings with Chinese officials. pic.twitter.com/JjAKHm9vgq  Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 23, 2023

Kyiv denies EUs Josep Borrells claim that Ukrainian pilots training on F-16 jets

06:59 , Shweta Sharma

Ukraines Air Force has denied EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrells comments that its pilots are training on US-made F-16 jets in several European countries.

Preparations for the training program are still ongoing, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said, according to Kyiv Independent, adding that Ukrainian representatives have been sent to the countries providing the training to study how the process will go.

For a long time, unfortunately, Ive had to refute (claims) that pilots study in the US, (and) Europe, Mr Ihnat said in a televised interview on 23 May. There is no need to give any extra hope.

Pictures: Russian prime minister arrives in Beijing

06:38 , Shweta Sharma

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived in Beijing for a state visit during which he will meet Xi Jinping and ink a series of deals on infrastructure and trade.

He is the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(REUTERS)

Drone drops explosive device on a car in Belgorod, governor says

06:30 , Shweta Sharma

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) dropped an explosive device on a car in Russias Belgorod Region, Tass reported, adding that the car was damaged.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel today that no one was injured in the attack and a bomb squad was rushed to the scene.

Later, the drone was shot down in the regions airspace but it is not clear if it was the same drone that dropped explosives.

Air defences have shot down a drone above the Belgorod Region. According to preliminary information, there were no deaths or injuries, he said.

Russia will achieve goals of its operation in Ukraine by any means, Kremlin says

06:15 , Shweta Sharma

Russia has denied the possibility of freezing the Ukrainian conflict, saying it will pursue its goals through special military operation or by other available means, Kremlin spokespersons said.

Russia is taking under consideration only the completion of its special military operation: ensuring its interests, achieving Russias goals either through the special military operation, or by other available means, Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

When about the reconciliation plans put forward by other countries, he said: It is too early to speak about it. No prerequisites for a peace process are yet in place, evidently.

He added negotiations are hardly possible, because any negotiations with Russia are prohibited [in Ukraine].

Russia scrambled fighter jets after intercepting two US Air Force strategic bombers over Baltic

06:00 , Shweta Sharma

Russia said it scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet after it intercepted two US Air Force strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea yesterday night.

After removing the foreign military aircraft from the Russian state border, the Russian fighter went back to its air base, the Russian defence ministry said.

The Russian army flew its jet to prevent violations of the state border, adding that the flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace.

Confirming that US aircraft were intercepted by Russia, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said B-1 bombers were taking part in a long-planned exercise in Europe.

Russia says its military crushed Ukraine incursion

05:45 , Shweta Sharma

Russia said it had crushed one of the biggest incursions by Ukraine, including several armoured vehicles, into its border region.

In what appeared to be one of the biggest incursions from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago, two purported anti-Kremlin armed groups employing Russians based abroad said they were responsible for the attack in Russias Belgorod region.

The Russian defence ministry, which blamed the Ukrainian authorities, said its forces had surrounded the enemy fighters and defeated them with air strikes, artillery fire and active action by border units.

The remnants of the nationalists were pushed back to Ukrainian territory, where they continued to be hit by gunfire until they were completely eliminated, the ministry said.

The Belgorod regional governor said one civilian had been killed at the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Russia set to ink bilateral agreements with China amid Western criticism

05:30 , Shweta Sharma

The Russian prime minister is visiting Beijing to sign a set of bilateral agreements on Wednesday with China in a show of their no limits partnership amid the war in Ukraine.

Prime minister Mikhail Mishustin - the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in February 2022 - was holding talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang, according to the Russian government.

As a result of the talks, a number of bilateral agreements is planned to be signed, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, without elaborating.

It comes as Russia and China furiously objected to G7 declaration that singled them out on a range of issues, including Ukraine, nuclear arms and economic coercion.

Deepening of ties with China is a strategic course for Moscow, said the secretary of Russias Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, who held talks on Monday with Chen Wenqing, member of the Chinese Communist Partys Politburo who oversees police, legal affairs and intelligence.

US State Department denies enabling strikes inside of Russia'

04:45 , Shweta Sharma

Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said the US government is aware of the reports that American armoured vehicles were used in the incursion into Russia, and that they are investigating the reports.

But he added that the US does not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia, and weve made that clear.

I will say that were skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports, Mr Miller said in response to a New York Times report.

But as weve also said, he added, it is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war.

Russias newest nuclear submarine to depart from Arctic as Moscow steps up Pacific military presence

04:15 , Shweta Sharma

The Russian navys Generalissimo Suvorov, a nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, is set to move to its permanent base in the Kamchatka Peninsula in August, Tass reported, as Moscow is stepping up its military presence in the Pacific.

The nuclear submarine, which came into service at the end of 2022, can carry up to 16 nuclear-tipped Russian Bulava missiles, each of which can carry more than one nuclear warhead.

The submarine Generalissimo Suvorov will make an inter-naval transition from the Northern Fleet (in the Arctic) to the Pacific Fleet in August, the state TASS news agency reported, citing a source close to the military department.

The transition will be carried out along the Northern Sea Route, including in a submerged position.

Russia has been boosting defences in its vast far eastern regions bordering the Asia-Pacific, accusing the US of expanding its presence there and raising security concerns in Japan and across the region.

Ukraine launches probe into Russian commander

04:00 , Reuters

Ukraines State Security Service (SBU) said it has launched a criminal investigation into Andrei Ruzinsky, a Russian commander Reuters identified last year as helping lead the military occupation of eastern Ukraine.

Mr Ruzinsky was commander of the Russian Baltic Fleets 11th Army Corps, which crossed into Ukraine in early 2022 and took control of a chain of towns south of Kharkiv, Ukraines second largest city.

The SBU said in a statement that it had served notice on Mr Ruzinsky, who is on Russian soil, that he was suspected of entering into a conspiracy to conduct acts of military aggression.

It said he had ordered attacks using heavy weapons on populated areas, and that he had given orders to the military commandant in the town of Balakliia, where there were multiple cases of civilians being detained and tortured, according to Ukrainian officials and residents.

Russia withdrew from the area in September last year.

Voices | Putin has blown Bakhmut to smithereens. Why does he want it this badly?

02:54 , Andy Gregory

Just over a year ago the final Ukrainian soldiers left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, ending a nearly three-month siege of the city by Russian forces, writes Kit Macdonald for Independent Voices.

The Ukrainian troops mission  to tie Russian forces up in the city for as long as possible and kill as many of them as possible in the process  was complete. Ukraine pulled off a similar trick in Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, twin cities on either side of the Donets River, during May and June 2022.

Now, perhaps the perfect realisation of these tactics has either just ended, is ongoing but close to ending, or is about to take a new twist.

Read the full piece here:

Opinion: Putin has blown Bakhmut to smithereens. Why does he want it this badly?

Ukraine probing alleged role of Belarus in forced deportation of children

01:50 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine is investigating the alleged role of Belarus in the forced transfer of children from Russian-occupied territories, Kyivs prosecutor generals office has said.

The announcement came in response to a report by the exiled Belarusian opposition alleging that 2,150 Ukrainian children, including orphans aged six to 15, were taken to so-called recreation camps and sanatoriums on Belarusian territory.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostins office told Reuters it has launched criminal proceedings into the forced transportation/deportation of over 19,000 children from the occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv, including to Belarus.

The fact and circumstances of taking Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the so-called recreational camps in Belarus are currently under investigation in the mentioned criminal proceedings, it said.

Reuters did not receive answers to questions sent to Lukashenkos office.

Youll have to struggle with me for a very long time: Lukashenko brushes off health rumours

Wednesday 24 May 2023 00:41 , Andy Gregory

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko was forced to dismiss claims that he was seriously ill as he appeared in footage broadcast by state media today, telling officials: Im not going to die, guys.

Rumours about the state of the 68-year-old autocrats health have circulated since he appeared at a military parade in Moscow on 9 May, looking tired and unsteady on his feet.

Sounding hoarse, Mr Lukashenko told a meeting on health issues that he had been suffering from an adenovirus, which is a common cold virus. Footage of the encounter was broadcast by Pul Pervovo, a state outlet that reports on Lukashenkos activities.

If someone thinks I am going to die, calm down, he said, adding that while it only took three days to recover from such a virus, he had been too busy to take time off immediately.

Im not going to die, guys. Youll have to struggle with me for a very long time to come, he said.

World Health Organisation discusses resolution on health emergency in Ukraine

Tuesday 23 May 2023 23:34 , Andy Gregory

World Health Organisation (WHO) members met today in Switzerland to discuss resolutions to the health emergency in Ukraine triggered by Russias invasion.

The organisation declared a health emergency in Ukraine after Vladimir Putins troops launched a full-scale invasion over a year ago.

Live: World Health Organisation discusses resolution on health emergency in Ukraine

Biden deeply concerned about extension of WSJ reporters arrest

Tuesday 23 May 2023 22:26 , Andy Gregory

US president Joe Biden is deeply concerned about Russias decision to extend the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the White House has said.

Mr Gershkovich, arrested in Russia in March on espionage charges, was remanded in custody until 30 August in Moscow on Tuesday, state news agency RIA reported, citing the Russian court.

The White House said Mr Gershkovich and US citizen Paul Whelan should be released from Russian detention immediately.

Putin meets with Bosnian Serb leader in Moscow

Tuesday 23 May 2023 21:20 , Andy Gregory

Vladimir Putin has held talks with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik in Moscow in a meeting which has angered the European Union.

In a transcript released by the Kremlin, the Russian president told Mr Dodik that bilateral trade with his Serb Republic region of Bosnia, while relatively small, had increased by 57 per cent last year.

This trend should certainly be maintained, he said, adding that Russian and Bosnian Serb companies could achieve even better results. Bosnia receives Russian gas via Serbia and Bulgaria.

Mr Dodik  a Serb nationalist who has maintained close relations with Mr Putin  said Russia had been forced to invade Ukraine to preserve its security. Mr Putin thanked him for what he called his neutral position on the conflict.

What we know about the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich

Tuesday 23 May 2023 20:33 , Andy Gregory

With Evan Gershkovichs arrest having been extended by a Russian court for a further three months, my colleague Joe Sommerlad has more details on the Wall Street Journal correspondents arrest:

What we know about arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia

Wall Street Journal correspondents arrest extended by three months

Tuesday 23 May 2023 20:01 , Andy Gregory

A Russian court has extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported.

Mr Gershkovich, a US citizen, was ordered to be held until 30 August, having in March become the first US reported to be detained by Moscow on espionage charges since the Cold War  charges which he, his employer and the US government all reject as false.

Tuesdays court hearing was not announced in advance, with Russian state media claiming the session was closed because the reporter  who is being held in Moscows Lefortovo prison  was accused of possession of secret materials.

(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russia says it deployed fighter jet to prevent U.S. bomber planes from crossing border

Tuesday 23 May 2023 19:25 , Andy Gregory

Russia deployed a fighter jet to prevent two US strategic bombers from crossing the Russian border as they flew over the Baltic Sea, Moscows defence ministry has claimed.

The crew of the Russian fighter classified the aerial targets as two US Air Force B-1B strategic bombers, the ministry said.

The bomber planes did not cross the Russian border and that the Russian fighter jet subsequently returned to its home airfield, it added.

US sceptical of reports its weapons were used in Russia

Tuesday 23 May 2023 19:04 , Andy Gregory

The United States is sceptical of reports that Washington-supplied weapons were used in an attack inside Russian territory, a State Department spokesperson has said.

Washington does not encourage or enable strikes inside Russia, the spokesperson added.

Nuclear apocalypse becomes more likely with more powerful Kyiv weapons deliveries, claims Medvedev

Tuesday 23 May 2023 18:31 , Andy Gregory

The more destructive the weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine, the higher the risk of nuclear apocalypse becomes, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said.

The more weapons are supplied, the more dangerous the world will be, Mr Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russias Security Council, told state news agencies during a trip to Vietnam and Laos.

And the more destructive these weapons are, the more likely the scenario becomes of what is commonly called a nuclear apocalypse, he was quoted as saying.

Warning that Nato did not appear to be taking the possibility of nuclear conflict seriously, Mr Medvedev said: They are wrong. And at some point, events can move in a completely unpredictable scenario. And the responsibility will lie entirely with [Nato].

(via REUTERS)

Three Russian villages without power after explosives hit substation'

Tuesday 23 May 2023 18:07 , Andy Gregory

Three villages in Russias Kursk region have been left without power after a drone dropped explosives on an electrical substation, the regions governor said.

Repair crews are currently carrying out restoration work. None of the residents were injured, governor Roman Starovoit said on Telegram.

Belgorod incursion leader claims operation still ongoing'

Tuesday 23 May 2023 16:34 , Andy Gregory

While Russia claims to have ended the incursion into Belgorod, a Financial Times correspondent reports having spoken to far-right extremist Denis Nikitin, who leads one of the two groups claiming responsibility for the attack on Russian territory, and who appeared to give a different view.

In a Twitter post four hours ago, the journalist wrote: I just spoke to Denis Nikitin, leader of Russian Volunteer Corps. Chuckling at my questions about his units incursion into Russia, he said the operation in Belgorod is still ongoing.

I just got off the phone with the operation's leader, who was in a pretty good mood. Didn't sound at all like 70 of his fighters had been eliminated. In fact, he said the operation wasn't over. https://t.co/ofxDxaCold https://t.co/ip2PPfJFbN  Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 23, 2023

Governor of Russia's Belgorod region lifts 'anti-terrorism' measures

Tuesday 23 May 2023 16:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The governor of Russias Belgorod region said on Tuesday that the anti-terrorism measures he introduced after Mondays cross-border attack from Ukraine had been lifted.

A decision has been taken to rescind the judicial anti-terrorist operation regime on the territory of the Belgorod region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine to get western support for years to come, Sunak says

Tuesday 23 May 2023 15:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine will receive western support for years to come, Rishi Sunak said as he warned Vladimir Putin that his strategy of waiting it out is not going to work.

The Prime Minister said it was one of the Russian presidents great miscalculations to assume his invasion of Ukraine would fragment allies.

Speaking during a Q&A session at the London Defence Conference in Bush House, Mr Sunak also said there was consistency across the G7 in the approach to Beijing.

Chinas rise represented an epoch-defining challenge to the West, he said, but argued the response must not be one of protectionism, with a need to engage with Beijing on a range of issues.

Ukraine to get western support for years to come, Sunak says

Russian defence ministry says Ukrainian saboteurs forced back into Ukraine

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Russian Defence Ministry released footage on Tuesday that it said showed the destruction of Ukrainian saboteurs in the Belgorod region.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed more than 70 attackers were killed in the course of the operation.

It was not possible to independently confirm claims about an armed incursion into Russian territory that began Monday.

Russia says it crushes cross-border incursion from Ukraine

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia said on Tuesday it had routed fighters who crossed the border from Ukraine after two days of combat, in what appeared to be one of the biggest incursions of its kind of the 15-month-old war.

There was no immediate independent confirmation that the fighting had ended, although one of two groups claiming to be behind the raid said in a post on social media: One day we will return to stay.

The two days of fighting had forced Russia to evacuate towns along the Ukrainian border. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack, which Kyiv denied. The two groups that claimed responsibility describe themselves as Russian armed dissidents.

The Russian military said it had killed more than 70 Ukrainian nationalists and destroyed four armoured vehicles. There was no independent confirmation of those losses.

Russian forces had surrounded the enemy fighters and defeated them with air strikes, artillery fire and active action by border units, the defence ministry said.

The remnants of the nationalists were pushed back to Ukrainian territory, where they continued to be hit by gunfire until they were completely eliminated, it added.

This image taken from a video shows people indicating a damaged building in the Belgorod region, Russia (AP)

Who are the Wagner Group and why are they so involved in Ukraine?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 14:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime affiliate of president Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner Group is a private military company under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin that cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea and eastern Ukraines Donbas region in 2014 and has since dispatched troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

In Russias invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proved indispensable, but an apparent power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin has led to the group having its wings clipped by Moscow.

All we know about shadowy Wagner group mercenaries helping Putin wage war on Ukraine

Chinese envoy to visit Russia on May 26

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will visit Russia on May 26, the Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported, citing an unnamed source.

Li, a former ambassador to Moscow, has been on an extended tour to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and finally Russia. Last week he became the most senior Chinese official to visit Ukraine since Russia sent in its armed forces in February 2022.

Live: WHO member states discuss resolution on health emergency in Ukraine

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Live: WHO member states discuss resolution on health emergency in Ukraine

Governor of Belgorod tells local residents not to return home yet

Tuesday 23 May 2023 13:02 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said on Tuesday that the Russian army and other security forces were still conducting what he called a counter-terrorism operation.

The clearing out of the area by the Ministry of Defence in conjunction with the security forces is continuing, Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Do not yet return to your homes, he told local residents who had been evacuated on Monday.

He said one elderly lady had died while being evacuated and two people were being treated in hospital for various injuries, but that no civilians had been killed in the clashes.

We are waiting for the conclusion of the counter-terrorism operation, he said.

He also said Russian air-defence forces had shot down drones over the region.

The two groups that have claimed responsibility for the incursion are the Freedom of Russia Legion - a Ukraine-based Russian militia led by Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev that says it is working inside Russia for Putins overthrow - and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC).

Russian Ministry says incursion forces driven back into Ukraine after Belgorod attack

Tuesday 23 May 2023 12:43 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russias Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that the remnants of the units that it blamed for Mondays cross-border attack from Ukraine on the Belgorod region had been forced back into Ukrainian territory.

In its daily briefing, the ministry said more than 70 attackers had been killed. Reuters was unable to verify the report.

Russias Medvedev: Western arms for Ukraine make nuclear apocalypse more likely

Tuesday 23 May 2023 11:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that the more destructive the weapons that Ukraine receives from its Western backers, the higher the risk of nuclear apocalypse, the state-owned news agency RIA reported.

RIA cited Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russias Security Council, as saying that Kyivs denial of involvement in an armed incursion in the Russian border region of Belgorod was lies.

(AP)

Kremlin says 'Ukrainian militants' are still active in Russia's Belgorod region

Tuesday 23 May 2023 10:58 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Ukrainian militants were still active in Russias border region of Belgorod, a day after local authorities declared a counter-terrorism operation there to repel what they called a sabotage group from Ukraine.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russias military campaign in Ukraine had been launched to prevent such incursions and that more efforts were needed from the Russian side to prevent such incidents.

Kyiv has said it is watching the situation in Belgorod closely but has nothing to do with it.

In pictures: Ukrainian soldiers at the frontline near Bakhmut

Tuesday 23 May 2023 10:32 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Ukrainian soldier sits in a trench at the frontline near Bakhmut (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A Ukrainian soldier carries supplies in a trench at the frontline near Bakhmut (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Russian investigators open 'terrorism case' over cross-border attack from Ukraine

Tuesday 23 May 2023 09:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian investigators said on Tuesday they had opened a terrorism investigation after what they said was a cross-border attack on Russias Belgorod region mounted by what they called Ukrainian armed groups.

Kyiv has denied involvement in the attack.

Fighting broke out in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, on Monday.

Five key takeaways from historic G7 Japan summit

Tuesday 23 May 2023 09:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries wrapped their three-day summit in Hiroshima, Japan, by further imposing sanctions on Russia, criticising Chinas aggression, and a surprise visit from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The leaders from the US, Canada, Britain, Italy, France and Germany attended the summit in prime minister Fumio Kishidas home constituency in the western city that was devastated by a US atomic bomb in August 1945.

The G7 reached a consensus on the significance of the 77-year-old record of non-use of nuclear weapons and reaffirmed that there are no winners in a nuclear war, Mr Kishida said, amid growing fears that Russia may use a nuclear weapon in its war in Ukraine.

Five key takeaways from historic G7 Japan summit

Ukraine says it still holds part of Bakhmut, fighting decreases in city

Tuesday 23 May 2023 08:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian forces still control the southwestern edge of the city of Bakhmut and fighting in the city itself has decreased, Deputy Ukrainian Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Tuesday.

She wrote on the Telegram messaging app that Kyivs forces had made some progress on the flanks to the north and south of Bakhmut and that Russian forces, which say they have taken the city itself, were continuing to clear areas they control.

Bakhmut has become a bloody symbol for both Ukraine and Russia  with the cost paid in human lives

Tuesday 23 May 2023 08:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Claim and counter-claim are flying between Moscow and Kyiv over the eastern city, writes Kim Sengupta. But there is one undisputed fact  the massive death toll and pain felt by those who have called it home

Bakhmut has become a bloody symbol for both Ukraine and Russia | Kim Sengupta

Who are the Wagner Group and why are they so involved in Ukraine?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 08:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime affiliate of president Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner Group is a private military company under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin that cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea and eastern Ukraines Donbas region in 2014 and has since dispatched troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

In Russias invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proved indispensable, but an apparent power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin has led to the group having its wings clipped by Moscow.

All we know about shadowy Wagner group mercenaries helping Putin wage war on Ukraine

Putin has blown Bakhmut to smithereens. Why does he want it this badly?

Tuesday 23 May 2023 07:55 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Even if Russia and its mercenary Wagner Group have finally captured the town, its loss will not be the moral nor strategic victory that Russia desperately needs, writes Kit Macdonald

Opinion: Putin has blown Bakhmut to smithereens. Why does he want it this badly?

Drones shot down over Belgorod, says governor

Tuesday 23 May 2023 07:38 , Arpan Rai

An unspecified number of drones have been shot down over the Russian frontline Belgorod area by anti-aircraft weaponry, regional governor said today.

The region, which borders Ukraine, has been witnessing fighting since Monday, after what Russian officials called a Ukrainian sabotage group crossed the border.

Russia will use Belgorod situation to back its victim narrative in war  UK MoD

Tuesday 23 May 2023 07:06 , Arpan Rai

The Kremlin will almost certainly use the incidents of security threats in border regions to support the official narrative that it is the victim in the war, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.

The ministry pointed to a chain of events between 19 and 22 May wherein Russian security forces highly likely clashed with partisans in at least three locations within Russias Belgorod oblast, near the Ukrainian border.

The identity of the partisans remains unconfirmed, but Russian anti-regime groups claimed responsibility, the minstry said.

It added that the most serious incident took place near the town of Grayvoran. As well as small-arms fire fights, there was an uptick in drone or indirect fire attacks near the incidents. Russia has evacuated several villages and has deployed extra security forces to the area, the MoD said.

Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action, it said.

Counter-terrorism operation in Belgorod region continues, says governor

Tuesday 23 May 2023 06:28 , Arpan Rai

The counter-terrorism operation in the Russian frontline city Belgorod was ongoing, regional governor said this morning.

He added that the defence ministry and law enforcement agencies are continuing to clean up the territory on the border with Ukraine.

On the situation in the Graivoron district: the cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defence together with law enforcement agencies continues, the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on the Telegram messaging app.

I now appeal to the residents of the Graivoron district, who... temporarily left their homes, it is not possible to return yet.

The governor confirmed one woman died during the evacuation yesterday and reportedly two people were wounded but Russian security forces have not been able to reach them.

Anti-Putin militia claim to have stormed Russian villages in cross-border raid from Ukraine

Tuesday 23 May 2023 06:22 , Arpan Rai

The governor of Russias Belgorod region has accused a Ukrainian sabotage group of entering the town of Graivoron, about three miles (five kilometres) from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Officials said anti-Kremlin militia are said to have launched a cross-border raid from Ukrainian territory  overrunning one Russian village and pushing on into others.

The town also came under Ukrainian artillery fire, he said.

The governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, claimed eight people were wounded and most residents has left the area but the situation remained tense.

A spokesperson for the GUR told Ukraines public broadcaster, Suspilne, that the two groups were conducting an operation in the Belgorod region to create a security strip to protect Ukrainian civilians. The incursion was being carried out exclusively by Russian citizens, the spokesperson added.

Anti-Putin militia claim to have stormed Russian villages in cross-border raid

Kremlin says Belgorod situation created to distract from Bakhmut loss

Tuesday 23 May 2023 05:00 , Arpan Rai

The Kremlin has blamed the incursion in Belgorod as a move aimed to distract attention from the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut.

Russian forces claim to have captured Bakhmut in its entirety after more than nine months of attritional fighting, while reports suggest there is some residual fighting seen in the outskirts of the city, but that the Ukrainian forces have lost control of the last streets of multi-story buildings inside city limits.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said president Vladimir Putin had been informed about the territorial conflict in Belgorod, and that work was under way to drive out the saboteurs, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

We understand perfectly well the goal of such a diversion  to divert attention from the Bakhmut direction and minimise the political effect of Bakhmuts loss for the Ukrainian side, Peskov was quoted as saying.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said the Belgorod operation would create a security zone to protect Ukrainians from attacks by Russia, reported the countrys outlet Hromadske.
Ukraines secret weapon is an app. The U.S. wants to spread it.

The News

The Ukrainian government app Diia was developed to help citizens pay taxes, sign documents, and store their passports. Its also transformed into a tool of war during the Russian invasion, allowing regular civilians to track Russian soldiers and report buildings destroyed by Russian strikes.

Ukraines 32-year-old Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov came to Washington this week to evangelize the app and pitch an American audience on Ukraines potential to remake itself as a future tech center, once its war with Russia has passed.

The innovations in technology must become the foundation for our recovery, Fedorov told a sizable crowd at an event with U.S. and Ukrainian officials at the Warner Theater on Tuesday.

The U.S. government, which provided funding support for Diia, wants to use the app as a model for other countries to digitize their government services and is putting $650,000 toward the effort. Samantha Power, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said Tuesday that her staff is working with Colombia, Kosovo, and Zambia to explore collaborations on digital services like Diia. Estonia has already partnered with Ukraines digital ministry to develop its own app based off of Diia.

A USAID spokesperson told Semafor that the agency is in the early stages of the process and that it hopes to expand the initiative to include other nations.

A range of countries expressed interest and are under consideration, the spokesperson said.

Know More

Diia, which was rolled out in 2020, is also part of the Ukrainian governments effort to stem corruption by bringing transparency to government operations. Power said the app was critical to getting Congress to approve direct budget support for Ukraine during the war, since it provides a digital trail of where the money is going. It would have been untraceable in a prior regime, she said.

Officials say the app has been helpful for business, too, even amidst war. Sergiy Tsivkach, CEO of UkraineInvest, the governments investment promotion office, told Semafor that dozens of popular public services for businesses are available on Diia and IT companies can receive a special tax status called Diia City. Ukraines tech sector has actually been thriving during the wartime.

It is very effective in terms of improving investors interaction with the state system in Ukraine, Tsivkach said.

Still, there could be real privacy and security concerns about such a powerful government app that might dissuade other countries from adopting it.

Fedorov insisted that the app was built with a focus on maximum security, adding that Diia doesnt store personal information but instead interacts with other registries where the information is held.
Ukraine to start training on US Abrams tanks in Germany in coming days  Pentagon

M1A1 Abrams tanks

About 250 Ukrainians will arrive in Germany this week to train on 31 tanks, an unnamed senior military official confirmed. They will spend 10 weeks learning how to drive, maneuver, and maintain them, said VOA.

The structure of the course is similar to that of the Bradley and Stryker vehicles that the Ukrainian Armed Forces received in early 2023.

Ukraine will not receive the tanks used in the training. Instead, 31 M1A1 Abrams under repair in the United States will be transferred.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said that the Abrams tanks would be delivered to Kyiv in early fall.

On Feb. 20, U.S. President Joe Biden said that Ukraine's allies had "sent nearly 700 tanks to defend" the country from the aggressor.

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
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Weve started work on a comprehensive concept for the development of our aviation, taking into account the transition to new types of aircraft, he said after a meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The concept relates to a new organizational structure, training of pilots and personnel, necessary infrastructure, material and technical support, and other related items.

Ukraines military leadership reported to the president on the operational situation at the front.

Read also: F-16s wont fundamentally change the wars course in Ukraine, Pentagon says

The defense minister provided updates on the state of supply of ammunition to advanced units and reserves. Participants analyzed existing and potential supply contracts and the dynamics of increasing Ukraines own production of weapons, Zelenskyy added.

Western partners finally started speaking about the formation of a coalition to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine at the recent G7 summit in Japan, a request long made by Ukraine.

Training of Ukrainian pilots is the first step.

Read also: West withholds F-16s from Ukraine out of fear that Russia will obtain secret components  Czech President Pavel

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on May 19 that his country would work together with the USA, Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark to provide the proper training for Ukrainian pilots on modern aircraft.

Portugal and Spain have also indicated that they could assist in training.

Sunak said on May 21 that the United Kingdom would begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets this summer.

According to U.S. television channel CNN, U.S. President Joe Biden informed G7 leaders on May 19 that the United States would support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation warplanes, including F-16s.

The timing and number of fighter jets Ukraine may receive has not yet been announced.

The White House has confirmed U.S. participation in the fighter jets for Ukraine coalition. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that in the coming months his country would work with allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will deliver them, and how many.

At the same time, Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter jets on the condition that they not be used to attack Russian territory, Sullivan added.

According to U.S.-based political newspaper Politico, Kyiv may receive the jets as early as 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
Key developments on May 23:

Air Force prepares for Ukrainian pilots training on F-16s

Russia cancels so-called 'counter-terrorist operation' in its Belgorod Oblast

Ukraine receives $1.6 billion in macro-financial assistance from EU

Zelensky marks Marines Day at front line

Germany provides Ukraine with air defense radar, recon drones

Ukraines Air Force denied EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell's claim on May 23 that several European countries, including Poland, had already started training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets.

Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said that preparations for the training program are still ongoing, noting that Ukrainian representatives are now in the countries providing the training to study how the process will go.

For a long time, unfortunately, I've had to refute (claims) that 'pilots study in the U.S., (and) Europe, Ihnat said in a televised interview on May 23. There is no need to give any extra hope.

Ukrainian pilots have yet to arrive in these countries, Ihnat said.

However, a source in the Polish government confirmed the information about the start of the F-16 training to Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. The source said an official announcement will be made soon.

Some countries have expressed willingness to train Ukrainian pilots, while others are ready to provide fighter jets. However, Ukraines allies have yet to decide which country will provide the jets, how many, and when.

The U.K. and the Netherlands agreed on May 17 to build an international coalition to provide F-16s to Ukraine. Several other countries, including the U.S., have joined the initiative.

On May 22, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that training Ukrainian pilots to use F-16s and working with allies to provide Ukraine with advanced fighter jets remains a "priority" for Washington in the coming months.

The delivery of F-16s to Ukraine will take several months at best, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on May 22. He added that several months is relatively quick, since it usually takes over two years to train a new American pilot on such an aircraft.

Ukraine has been campaigning for the provision of F-16s for months. Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, said on May 16 that Ukraine wants between 40 and 50 F-16s.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko claimed the West would face colossal risks if Ukraine were to receive the promised F-16s.

When asked whether providing the aircraft to Ukraine is indeed a colossal risk, U.S. President Joe Biden responded by saying, It is For them (Russia).

The U.S.-built F-16, operational since the 1970s, is used by over 20 countries as the jets have improved situational awareness, precise targeting, and combat effectiveness.

Providing Ukraine with F-16s would greatly enhance the countrys security capabilities.

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

Russia calls off so-called counter-terrorist operation in Belgorod Oblast

Russias Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said he called off a so-called counter-terrorist operation targeted at Russian anti-government partisans claimed to have been fighting in the region.

Gladkov had announced the operation on May 22 amid reported attacks by Russian anti-government partisans. Earlier the same day, the Russian Volunteer Corps and Free Russia Legion, armed Russian anti-government groups allegedly fighting on Ukraines side, claimed its members conducted combat operations in Belgorod Oblast.

Russias Defense Ministry accused Russian partisans of having been Ukrainian formations, and claimed to have killed 70 combatants and destroyed some of their equipment while driving the remaining formations from Belgorod Oblast into Ukrainian territory. The ministry provided no evidence to back its claims.

However, the Russian Volunteer Corps denied the Russian Defense Ministrys claims, saying its combatants had not been killed.

An advisor to Ukraines Presidential Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Kyiv had nothing to do with the operation in Belgorod Oblast on May 22.

The only driving political force in a totalitarian country of tightened screws is always an armed guerrilla movement, he tweeted on May 22. Ukraine is watching the events in the Belgorod region of Russia with interest and studying the situation, but it has nothing to do with it.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Ukraines military intelligence, Andrii Yusov, confirmed the operation, but emphasized that it was conducted by Russian citizens who, while part of defense and security forces in Ukraine, acted as independent entities in Russia.

Gladkov didnt provide further details on the situation in the region. He also didnt mention whether residents, who he claimed fled front-line villages in Belgorod Oblast after he announced the counter-terrorist operation, could return.

Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in its update on May 23.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Russian information space experienced panic, factionalism, and incoherency after reports of fighting in Russias Belgorod Oblast.

Where does Russia expect Ukraines counterattack? Overview of defensive lines As Ukraine gathers forces for the counteroffensive, Russia continues to build defensive lines on a massive scale. The lines are especially formidable in the southwestern part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where many observers expect the main Ukrainian assault to strike. But defenses have been prepared a Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

Zelensky commemorates Marines Day at front line

President Volodymyr Zelensky visited naval infantry troops at the front line in Vuhledar, Donetsk Oblast, to mark the national Day of the Ukrainian Marines on May 23.

Prepared for operations on land, at sea, and in the air, Ukrainian marines successfully perform complex tasks. The enemy feels the power of our warriors, Zelensky said, thanking the troops for defending Ukraine.

Zelensky also handed out awards to commanders of several marine units, including the Hero of Ukraine and Order of the Gold Star awards to Colonel Yurii Andriienko and Colonel Mykola Palas, respectively. Colonel Oleksii Androsov, the Ukrainian marines chief of staff and deputy commander, was conferred the rank of Brigadier General.

Ukraine has commemorated the Day of the Ukrainian Marines on a national level since 2014.

Vuhledar is located near Marinka, a city that Ukraines General Staff has said is experiencing some of the fiercest fighting. Photos published by Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko on March 26 show the magnitude of destruction in Vuhledar.

Russias centuries-long quest to conquer Ukraine Editors Note: This is episode 2 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

Ukraine receives aid from EU, Germany

Ukraine received another 1.5 billion euros (about $1.6 billion) as part of the European Union's macro-financial assistance package, the Finance Ministry reported on May 23.

This is the fourth tranche of the 18 billion euro package, which is transferred to Ukraine in installments throughout the year.

The program aims to assist Ukraine in paying for essential public services, maintaining macroeconomic stability, and repairing critical infrastructure destroyed by Russian attacks.

EU financial assistance is a significant contribution to Ukraine's victory over the aggressor, said Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also announced that Hr 588 million ($16 million) in subsidies has been allocated to the budgets of seven oblasts for reconstruction efforts as part of a joint program with the European Investment Bank.

Meanwhile, the German government announced the delivery of more military aid to Ukraine, which includes a TRML-4D air defense radar system and 46 VECTOR reconnaissance drones.

The contribution also includes two BIBER bridge-layer tanks, three mobile and protected demining devices, eight anti-drone systems, six border vehicles, two trucks, 20 extendable platforms, five heavy trucks and 12 trailers, eight cars, and 34 pickups.

According to the report, Germany has also delivered eight more Zetros trucks for extreme off-road conditions, bringing the total number to 92.

The German government has pledged to provide Ukraine with a total of 5.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion) in 2023. In 2022, Ukraine received 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) from Germany, which has also committed to providing around 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) for subsequent years.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed businesswoman Katrina Gloria Ponce Enrile, the daughter of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, as administrator and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) made the announcement on Wednesday, noting that the position has a Cabinet rank.

The entrepreneur is the president and CEO of JAKA Investments Corporation, and is the woman behind the corned beef brand Delimondo.

In a social media post, she thanked Marcos for the trust, saying she is beyond grateful" for the appointment.

The CEZA was created by virtue of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, which was authored by the older Enrile, a native of the province, when he was senator.

The government corporation is tasked to manage and supervise the development of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport.
Ukraine war latest: White House to look into weapons used during Belgorod attack

Key developments on May 24:

Russia claims Ukrainian drones attacked its warship in Black Sea

'Putin must realize he cannot win this war,' British Defense Secretary says in Kyiv

Ukraine investigates Belarus' involvement in child abductions

White House to look into US weapons possibly used in Belgorod attack

White House spokesman John Kirby said Washington is "looking into those reports that U.S. equipment and vehicles could've been involved" in the fighting within Russian borders.

Several videos published on May 22 by the so-called Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps showed U.S.-made Humvee and MaxxPro military trucks used in the attack on Russia's Belgorod Oblast.

On May 23, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. is "skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports."

"We do not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia and we've made that clear. But as we've also said, it's up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war," he added.

On May 22, a group of armed men calling themselves the Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps recorded a video saying they had crossed into Russia and taken hold of bordering villages.

"The Legion returns home," armed men in one of the videos said, alleging it was shot within Russia's Belgorod Oblast.

According to Russian officials, the fighting took place near the town of Grayvoron, located 7 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.

Who pays for US weapons sent to Ukraine and why its worth it (VIDEO) Among all of Ukraines allies, the U.S. has been the most generous in providing military assistance during the full-scale Russian invasion. While its weapons have been crucial in helping Ukraine withstand Russian aggression, some Americans have spoken out against their country paying for the war. Kyiv IndependentIryna Matviyishyn

Moscow claims recon ship attacked in Black Sea

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed three Ukrainian maritime drones attacked the Black Sea Fleet reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs early on May 24.

The alleged attack claimed to have happened over some 150 kilometers northeast of the Bosporus Strait, where the Russian reconnaissance ship reportedly was "protecting" the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines that transport gas from Russia to Turkey.

The alleged location is over 400 kilometers (248 miles) away from Ukraine's controlled territory.

Moscow also said the alleged attack happened after the reconnaissance ship crossed into the Black Sea through the Turkish-controlled strait.

Under the Montreux Convention, if Turkey is not involved in the conflict, warships of the nations at war may not pass through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits except when returning to their base.

In July 2022, the Ivan Khurs warship was first spotted in Russian-occupied Sevastopol in Crimea.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on May 24 all drones were "destroyed." Later, a Russian state-controlled media outlet published a video of an alleged attack.

Militarnyi, a Ukrainian media outlet that reports on military news, said Russia could use "disinformation about the alleged attack to discredit the Black Sea Grain Initiative."

The UN-backed grain deal between Ukraine and Russia allows Kyiv to export its grain across the Black Sea through a safe corridor.

The Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Russian claims.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces also hasn't reported on attacking the Russian ships in the Black Sea in its daily update.

Who does Crimea really belong to? Russias war against Ukraine began in Crimea. In February 2014, as the pro-Russian regime in Kyiv was killing protesters on the barricades of the EuroMaidan Revolution, thousands of Russian troops without insignia began occupying strategic locations and military bases in the Crimean Peninsula. Wit Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

'Putin cannot win this war,' British Defense Secretary says

Visiting Kyiv on May 24, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that Russian President Vladimir "Putin should realize that he cannot win this illegal war."

"Putin should realize that he cannot win this illegal war he has started, no matter how many Russian soldiers he sends to their deaths for his ego and imperial ambitions," Wallace said after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, as quoted by Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

Wallace also said that the international community would become stronger in confronting Russian aggression against Ukraine.

"By all legislation, having the right to self-defense, Ukraine can ask for help from its friends and allies," said Wallace, adding that Moscow begins "to realize" that Ukraine's allies will help with all possible weaponry, like the Storm Shadow long-range missiles and in the long-run the F-16 fighter jets.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov confirmed Ukraine's Air Force used the U.K.-provided Storm Shadow missiles.

"We had the opportunity to shake hands with pilots who were trained in the U.K. and are already successfully using Storm Shadow," Reznikov said during the press briefing with Wallace in Kyiv.

Reznikov hasn't specified when and where the Ukrainian military has used the missiles.

The air-launched Storm Shadow missile, jointly developed by the U.K. and France, has a range of up to 250 kilometers (155 miles), aiming at the target at 987 kilometers per hour or 0.8 of the speed of sound.

The U.K. became the first country to provide Ukraine with weapons capable of reaching targets deep into Russian-occupied territories.

Wallace announced donating the missiles to Ukraine on May 11, confirming previous media reports.

Such missiles can reach Russia's territory, but Kyiv promised the U.K. government not to use them to strike targets inside Russia.

Instead, Ukraine promised it would use donated long-range weapons to attack Russian temporary command centers, supply lines, ammunition, and fuel depots in occupied territories.

Abducted children

Ukraine is investigating Belarus' alleged role in the abduction of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories, the Prosecutor General's Office told Reuters on May 24.

Reuters reported that over 2,000 Ukrainian children, including orphans between the ages of six and 15, had been deported to recreation camps and sanatoriums in Belarus, citing a report published by exiled Belarusian opposition members alleging that.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is accused in the report of personally facilitating the forced deportation of Ukrainian kids, which would implicate him in war crimes.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on April 27 recognizing Lukashenko as being complicit in Russia's forced deportation of Ukrainian children amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

More than 19,000 children have been abducted to Russia, according to a Ukrainian national database, while thousands of others remain unaccounted for.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on March 17 for Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official who has allegedly been overseeing the forced deportations of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

In addition, the National Resistance Center of Ukraine's military reported on May 23 that Russian proxies in occupied Luhansk Oblast are preparing to abduct more Ukrainian children under the false pretense of conducting "medical examinations."

The National Resistance Center urged Ukrainians in occupied Luhansk Oblast not to allow their kids to undergo any "medical examination," stressing that they would be forcibly relocated to Russia and most likely end up in an orphanage.
Ukraine's Defence Intelligence claims it provides information to Russian Volunteer Corps but not military equipment

The Ukrainian Defence Intelligence confirmed that it cooperates with the Russian Volunteer Corps, including the exchange of information.

Source: Financial Times, referring to Andrii Cherniak, representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine

Details: According to the news outlet, on Tuesday 23 May, Cherniak acknowledged some cooperation with the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Quote: "Of course, we communicate with them. Of course, we share some information And, one might say, we even co-operate."

Details: At the same time, Cherniak stated that Ukraines military was not directly involved in the attack, suggesting that it was the Russians own initiative. He also denied that Ukraine supplied the resistance forces with any equipment.

According to him, all western weaponry obtained by the Ukrainian armed forces remains "under . . . the toughest control".

Denis Nikitin, leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, told the Financial Times that his fighters assaulting Belgorod Oblast were in possession of American-made military vehicles.

These included at least two M1224 MaxxPro armoured vehicles and several Humvees, he said, while declining to disclose how they were obtained.

Background:

On 22 May, the Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion announced that they had crossed the border and were "liberating" the settlements of Belgorod Oblast from the current Russian authorities: they started with the villages of Kozinka and Gora-Podol. These military formations also stated they were seeking the "liberation" of all of Russia.

The day after that, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that all participants in the attack were killed, as well as the cancellation of a counter-terrorist operation in the oblast.

The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has suggested that fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion have probably retreated closer to the border with Ukraine after the clash with Russian troops in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.

The Russian Volunteer Corps itself has claimed that the Russian Ministry of Defence is spreading false information about the alleged destruction of a convoy of their equipment in Bryansk Oblast, Russia.

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Ukraine's main church to switch calendar in move away from Russia

FILE PHOTO: A stork sits on the cross of an Orthodox Church of Ukraine church

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's main Orthodox church said on Wednesday it had decided to switch to a calendar in which Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25, a move that distances it from Russia.

Ukrainian Christians, a majority of whom are Orthodox, have traditionally celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7 alongside other predominantly Orthodox Christian countries such as Russia, which invaded Ukraine last year.

"This question arose with new impetus as a result of Russian aggression," the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) wrote in a Facebook post announcing the change away from the Julian calendar.

"Nowadays, the Julian calendar is perceived as connected with Russian church culture," it said.Ukraine's main Catholic church, which considers about one in 10 Ukrainians to be worshippers, announced a similar change in February.

The OCU said it would use the Revised Julian calendar from Sept. 1, the start of the liturgical year. It said parishes would have the option to celebrate according to the old Julian calendar if they wished.

A Ukrainian government poll last December showed 59% of the more than 1.5 million respondents supported moving Christmas celebrations to Dec. 25.

Ukraine's culture minister has previously expressed support for the switch in calendars, describing it as "appropriate to the demands of our time and public opinion."

(Reporting by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has detained a Russian agent who was leaking the positions of Ukrainian defenders near Bakhmut and Avdiivka to Russian occupying forces.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine, Vinnytsia Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Quote: "Counterintelligence of the Security Service exposed another member of the extensive FSB agent network in Donetsk Oblast.

The perpetrator collected intelligence on the deployment and movement of the [Ukrainian] Defense Forces near Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Toretsk."

Details: Three of his accomplices were detained by the SSU in December last year.

This person travelled around the nearby territory of front-line cities and covertly photographed the positions of Ukrainian troops, as well as marked their coordinates on electronic maps.

The Russian agent passed the received information to his curator from the aggressor-controlled "Ministry of State Security of Donetsk Peoples Republic" in the temporarily occupied Horlivka.

The invaders planned to use this data to attack the positions of the units of the Defense Forces.

SSU counterintelligence officers reportedly exposed the Russian accomplice on time, documented his criminal activities and detained him.

The accomplice of the Russian Federation turned out to be a 32-year-old resident of Toretsk, who is part of the inner circle of one of the heads of "Ministry of State Security of Donetsk Peoples Republic" in occupied Horlivka.

He was informed of suspicion under Art. 111.2 of the Criminal Code (high treason committed under martial law).

The court chose a preventive measure in the form of custody for the perpetrator.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
A Ukrainian fitness influencer claims she has been banned from Cannes Film Festival after pouring fake blood on herself in the middle of the Promenade de la Croisette. After ascending the carpeted staircase, Ilona Chernobai removed a bag of red liquid hidden beneath her dress and ripped it open above her head, before being escorted off the premises by three security guards.

Chernobai posted a video of the incident to her 1 million Instagram followers, with a caption that read: I succeeded in fulfilling my mission.

I took my chance with this act and reminded what is happening in Ukraine, wrote Chernobai, The action was in support of the occupied territories and our people who live there.

While protesting has been officially banned by Cannes local authorities, there were a number of demonstrations in and around the festival. - Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images

Ahead of the festival, the local authorities in Cannes issued a ban on protests and rallies in an effort to protect the glamorous event. Yet despite the official crackdown, Chernobais stunt was just one of a number of political demonstrations. On Sunday, demonstrators gathered on the edge of the city to march in opposition of President Emmanuel Macrons pension reforms. Last week, an activist from the radical feminist group SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) broke onto the red carpet to stage an anti-surrogacy protest with a barcode painted on her stomach.

At the beginning of the festival, the war on Ukraine was honored by Ukrainian journalist Elvira Gavrilova who wore a blue and yellow, off-the-shoulder gown reminiscent of the national flag, designed by Kazakhstani label Arunaz Atelier.

Despite controversy, Chernobais stunt evoked an emotional response on social media with commenters praising her act of courage. I have tears in my eyes, wrote one user. Our Ukraine and our people are invincible! Added another.

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Sputnik/Alexey Filippov/Pool via Reuters

The second in command of Ukrainian military intelligence says Kyivs spies are actively trying to kill Vladimir Putinand the Russian leader is well aware of it.

Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, made the admission in an interview with German publication Welt.

Putin is noticing that we are getting closer and closer to him, but he is also afraid of being killed by his own people, Skibitsky was quoted as saying, describing the assassination of Putin as a top priority.

Many people in Russia still support this special operation [against Ukraine], but thanks to social media and phone checks, we know that so many Russians have died now that it scares people, he said.

He said similar plans were in the works for Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose mercenaries have been accused of grisly war crimes against Ukrainian troops.

Former Moscow Officials Reveal Why Theyre Laughing at Putin Now

Our priority is to eliminate the unit commander who orders his men to attack, he said.

Asked about Kyivs relationship with Prigozhin, Skibitsky said bluntly, Were trying to kill him.

As for who tops Ukraines hit list, he said Putin is number one because he coordinates and decides what happens.

But in the end, everyone will have to answer for their actions. Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu planned the attack and now they cannot turn back.

Asked if propagandists, oligarchs and civilians would also be considered valid targets, Skibitsy responded, We are at war and these are our enemies. If an important figure manufactures and finances weapons for [Russia], then his elimination would save the lives of many civilians ... According to international conventions, this is a legitimate goal.

Moscow accused Ukraine of trying to assassinate Putin earlier this month in a brazen drone attack on the Kremlin, though the Russian leader was not present at the time the drones struck. Prior to that, in late April, Bild claimed Ukrainian security services had carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt by sending a drone packed with explosives to attack Putin as he visited an industrial park near Moscow.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian Defence Minister, met in Kyiv with Ben Wallace, UK Defence Minister, to discuss further training of the Ukrainian military in the UK and the transfer of long-range Storm Shadow missiles and other weapons to Ukraine.

Source: Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

Details: Reznikov said he discussed the NATO perspective of Ukraine in the context of the upcoming North Atlantic alliance summit in Vilnius with Wallace.

They also discussed Ukraine's vision of stabilising peace in Europe, using the peace formula of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the minister said.

Reznikov added that he and Wallace discussed the priorities of arming Ukraine to achieve victory, "especially regarding weapons that make it possible to defeat Russia at long distances, such as Storm Shadows".

The Minister of Defence of the UK noted that the Storm Shadow missiles were the first weapons of this type provided to Ukraine by partners.

Quote from Wallace: "Ukraine has received Storm Shadow missiles, which can be used at long ranges. These are among the first long-range missiles provided to Ukraine by its allies.

We provided this kind of weaponry because of Russia's continued use of its long-range weapons, which it uses to harm civilians and civilian critical infrastructure."

Quote from Reznikov: "We talked about the continuation of training of our military personnel on UK territory, about the main priorities and accents regarding these pieces of training.

We had the opportunity to shake hands with pilots trained in the UK who are already successfully using weapons called Storm Shadow."

Details: During the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, the British Defence Minister expressed his commitment to visit Ukraine and keep up the communications with the military.

"I always enjoy visiting the [Ukrainian] capital, communicating not only with my counterpart but also with the military, discussing their plans and ambitions and how I can be more involved in helping implement these plans," Wallace said.

Background: Last week, the UK transferred Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine. Moreover, the UK government announced its intention to transfer hundreds of new attack drones to Ukraine with a flight range of over 200 km.

In addition, French President Emmanuel Macron hinted at a transfer of long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Meteorologists and aid agencies have warned of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa

A United Nations-backed conference raised $2.4 billion Wednesday to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa, which is reeling from its worst drought in decades as global temperatures rise.

The money will provide life-saving assistance for nearly 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the world body's humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.

"Famine has been averted, thanks in part to the tremendous efforts of local communities, humanitarian organizations and authorities, as well as the support of donors," OCHA said.

But the sum is considerably less than the $7 billion the United Nations says is needs to provide help to people affected by drought and conflict in the region.

"The emergency is far from over, and additional resources are urgently required to prevent a return to the worst-case scenario," OCHA added.

- Years of drought -

Since late 2020, countries in the Horn of Africa -- Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan -- have been suffering the region's worst drought in 40 years.

Five failed rainy seasons have left millions of people in need, decimated crops and killed millions of livestock.

More than 23.5 million people are enduring high levels of acute food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to OCHA.

In Somalia alone, which is also in the throes of an Islamist insurgency, the number of people displaced from their homes by armed conflict, drought or floods now stands at 3.8 million, with 6.7 million people struggling to find food, according to figures from the UN and the Norwegian Refugee Council.

More than half a million children are severely malnourished, the two organizations added.

Deaths from hunger are on the rise in Africa because of droughts worsened by climate change and conflict, UN officials and scientists say.

The devastating drought in the Horn of Africa could not have occurred without the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, the World Weather Attribution group, an international team of climate scientists, said in a report released in April.

"We can be anything but complacent," said Andrew Mitchell, the United Kingdom's Minister of State for development and Africa. "The clear and present threat remains, and we must act now to prevent further suffering.

"Funding pledged today will help millions, but we must work together to break the cycle of crisis afflicting so many states."

Earlier this week, a group of NGOs, including Islamic Relief Worldwide and Save the Children, called on donors to fully fund the humanitarian response required for "one of the biggest climate injustices of our time."

Citing UN numbers, the organizations pointed out that despite funding mobilized to aid the region last year, an estimated 43,000 people died from the drought in Somalia alone in 2022.

- 'Epicenter' of climate emergency -

At the opening of the donors' conference -- organized in conjunction with Italy, Qatar, the UK, and the United States -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for "an immediate and major injection of funding" to stop people from dying.

"We must act now to prevent crisis from turning into catastrophe," he added, recalling that last year donor countries delivered vital help to 20 million people in the region and helped avert a famine.

Guterres said people in the region -- which he described as "the epicenter of one of the worlds worst climate emergencies" -- were "paying an unconscionable price for a climate crisis they did nothing to cause."

"We owe them solidarity. We owe them assistance. And we owe them a measure of hope for the future. This means immediate action to secure their survival.

"And it means sustained action to help communities across the Horn adapt and build resilience to climate change," he added.

OCHA said the funds pledged Wednesday would allow humanitarian agencies to sustain aid pipelines of food, water, health care, nutrition and protection services.

Joyce Msuya, the UN's deputy emergency relief coordinator, welcomed the pledge but added: "We must persist in pushing for stepped-up investments, especially to bolster the resilience of people already bearing the brunt of climate change."

pdh/bfm/nro/md
Rep. George Santos Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Rarely, if ever, has there been a lawmaker like New York freshman Republican Rep. George Santos. A prolific liar whose initial mea culpa of "embellishing my resume" belied a lifetime of alleged grift and manipulations, Santos has quickly become one of the most recognizable  and reviled  members of Congress. Defying widespread calls from both his constituents and fellow elected officials for his resignation, Santos has instead committed himself to run for a second term while throwing his weight behind pieces of conspicuously self-referential legislation.

But cheeky congressional antics and empty MAGA rhetoric have not, it turns out, shielded Santos from more concrete consequences for his actions beyond mere low public opinion polling; he has stepped down from his committee assignments under pressure; in March the House Ethics panel opened an inquiry into his behavior, with a mid-May a vote to expel him from Congress entirely later folded into the ethics committee' existing work; and most serious of all, Santos has been arrested and arraigned by the Justice Department on 13 counts of fraud, money laundering, and other alleged financial crimes. In the early months of his first term in elected office, Santos now finds himself in a complicated dance between congressional Democrats, Republicans, and federal prosecutors  with his future and the potential balance of the House of Representatives at stake.

Ethical considerations

In early March, Santos confirmed that the House Ethics Committee had opened an inquiry into his behavior, and said that he was "fully cooperating" with the investigation but provided little detail on the content of the probe itself.

In a statement, the committee said it was looking in particular at whether Santos "engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office."

While ethics investigations have historically led largely to fines and other relatively modest means of discipline, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had explicitly staked Santos' future in Congress on the results of the inquiry, promising that if the committee members conclude that he'd broken the law "then we will remove him." McCarthy doubled down on placing the onus of Santos' future in the committee's hands in May, shunting a resolution from Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) for the full House to expel the congressman entirely to the ethics panel who would then "bring it back to Congress if it rises to the ability." Days later, panel chair Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) bucked longstanding House tradition by committing to continue his group's pursuit of Santos' ethical breaches "bifurcated from those that are criminal," even while the Justice Department investigates Santos for financial crimes  something which previous ethics committees have typically allowed to supersede their own probes.

Criminal liability

On May 10, Santos surrendered himself to federal authorities, who officially charged the congressman with 13 separate counts of money laundering, wire fraud, lying to the U.S. House, and theft of public funds as part of an effort to "ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself." In particular, the government alleged that Santos engineered a scheme to raise ostensible campaign funds which were, in actuality, intended for his personal use on items such as "luxury designer clothing" and to pay off his existing debts, all of which he allegedly lied about on his financial disclosure forms. He also is accused of applying for and receiving federal COVID-19 unemployment payments, in spite of actually earning more than $100,000 per year at the time. All told, Santos risks a maximum sentence of decades in prison. And while the full extent of the government's evidence against him has yet to be revealed publicly, the speed with which the Justice Department moved against him suggests "how easy of an investigation it's been, up until this point," former Federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu told CNN.

While McCarthy did not call for Santos' expulsion from Congress  there's no law against holding congressional office as an indicted, or even convicted felon  he did use the arrest to announce that he would not support a second term for the lawmaker who "got some other things to focus on in this life than running for stuff."

3D congressional chess

Despite calls from both sides of the aisle for him to step down  or be forcibly removed  from his seat, Santos remains in office thanks in no small part to the Republicans' precarious control of the House and the glut of significant legislation to move. "Given where we're at with the debt limit and a four-vote majority" Republican leaders are wary of pushing too hard for Santos to be ousted, George Washington University Legislative Affairs professor Casey Burgat told the Christian Science Monitor. In this context, McCarthy's decision to put Santos' congressional fate in the hands of the ethics committee rather than a full House vote "gave Republicans, including those from New York who have been vocal about how much Santos needs to exit, a temporary out as the party clings to its barely there majority," Talking Point Memo's Nicole Lafond wrote. Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) alleged as much during a press conference, accusing Republicans of trying to "bury accountability for a serial fraudster" by sending the expulsion vote to an ethics committee that's already "had the George Santos matter for months."

Ultimately, Jeffries alleged, "extreme MAGA Republicans actually need George Santos's vote" because he's "critical to their ability to govern."

McCarthy's maneuver may also have been designed to prevent his caucus from being put in an impossible political position by House Democrats. To expel Santos, 77 Republican lawmakers would need to join with the entire Democratic caucus to reach the requisite 2/3 majority for expulsion. This affords Democrats an opportunity either remove an opposition lawmaker, or to highlight "a toxic vote for the GOP if Republicans stand with Santos and do not expel him," said Fox News' Chad Pergram. Some senior House Democrats, however, privately agreed with McCarthy's public statements arguing that shifting the vote to the ethics panel would prevent snap expulsions from becoming a congressional precedent.

As for the ethics committee's decision not to comply with a Justice Department request to stand down in favor of its own criminal proceedings, both Republican and Democratic members of the panel seem to agree that breaking longstanding tradition to step aside for DOJ investigations is appropriate in this case. While the specifics of that sentiment remain private to committee members themselves, they have "had discussions" according to ranking Democrat Susan Wild (D-Penn.) and are "going to be arguing that we should not be yielding to DOJ on any matter we have jurisdiction over."

For his part, if Santos is concerned over the pending ethics investigation or his place in Congress, he doesn't appear to show it, instead telling Fox's Pergram that he values "the process" for "accountability and transparency."

"It's not about dodging bullets," he said.

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The Salina Regional Medical Center at 400 South Santa Fe Avenue. Salina Regional has publicly announced it entered negotiations with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas.

At the end of April, Salina Regional Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas publicly announced that the hospital and insurance company began negotiating rates paid to the hospital for care services.

The announcement came via public addresses from both entities and messaging in a system-wide email to staff at Salina Regional. Both Salina Regional and Blue Cross have created their own webpages dedicated to the issue and their claims about payment rates for care.

More about the negotiations: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Salina Regional Health begin battle over payment rates

Here are some brief key points of why such negotiations happen, what they mean and why this one is different.

What are hospital/insurance company negotiations and why do they happen?

On an annual basis, insurers work with hospitals to outline payment rates for the care they provide. Hospitals must come to an agreement by a given deadline or contracts expire and they become an out-of-network provider.

Hospital reimbursement is based on many factors including specialty services offered, patient volume and patient complexity, among other factors.

The process of agreeing on payment rates typically takes place privately, between providers and insurers. But Salina Regional and Blue Cross have taken the negotiating process public.

What are each party's claims and arguments?

Salina Regional

Salina Regional claims Blue Cross paid comparable health systems in the state up to 50% higher rates than it paid Salina Regional, and possibly other providers, for at least two years.

The hospital's webpage about the issue also claims Blue Cross could pay Salina Regional more without raising premiums for its members, citing the insurance company's profits shown on an annual report from 2018.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas

The insurance company holds that Salina Regional is not paid 50% less than its competitors and that the health system is paid the same as hospitals of similar size.

The insurance company says that current demands from Salina Regional are not a fair ask, and that paying Salina Regional more would mean its members paying more, too.

What is the publicly available pricing transparency Salina Regional mentions?

In 2021, the federal government ordered hospitals to begin publishing a machine-readable standard charges file for their items and services, including the prices they negotiate with private insurers and the actual price of 300 shoppable services.

But most hospitals have not yet posted the data. Only 25% of hospitals are fully complying with price transparency rules, according to Patient Rights Advocate. And when they have, it's not consumer friendly.

The pricing transparency Salina Regional cites can be found on hospital websites in convoluted files that contain thousands of cells and entry points, making it difficult for the public to compare them accurately.

How do the current negotiations between Salina Regional and Blue Cross affect the general public?

The battle between Salina Regional and Blue Cross has already thrust the public, members of Blue Cross of Kansas, into the center of the debate in its early stages. The importance of high-quality medical care close to home, and overall affordability of care for members, is leveraged by both parties.

But even with growing tensions, both sides have stated they want to come to an agreement. As negotiations continue, members can still receive in-network care at Salina Regional. The current contract between Blue Cross of Kansas and Salina Regional ends this year on Dec. 31.

This is a developing story. The Salina Journal will provide more coverage as negotiations continue and more information, including rates paid to competing hospitals, comes available.

Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering county government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on Twitter @calfee_kc.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: What the public Salina Regional, Blue Cross negotiations mean
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  At least 19% of the adult labor force or 8.7 million Filipinos are unemployed as of March this year, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

This was 2.3 points below the 21.3% in December 2022 and 7 points below the 26% in April 2022. However, it was still 1.5 points above the 17.5% in December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

The SWS said the decline in unemployment is due to the decrease in joblessness from all areas of the country except Mindanao.

Compared to December 2022, the quarterly joblessness fell from 24.8% in Metro Manila, 23.1% in Balance Luzon, and 18.6% in the Visayas. However, it hardly moved from 18.1% in Mindanao, it explained.

The SWS added that joblessness peaked in July 2020 at 45.5% during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its downward trend began from September 2020 to December 2022, reaching as low as 18.6% in October 2022.

According to SWS, the jobless citizens are those who voluntarily left their old jobs, are seeking jobs for the first time, and lost their jobs due to uncontrollable economic circumstances.

The survey defines the labor force as adults who are 18 years old and above presently having jobs and those currently seeking jobs.

The non-commissioned survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews from March 26 to 29. It included 1,200 adult participants nationwide with 300 each from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church has spoken out following the Cobb County court ruling in favor of nearly 190 Georgia churches suing to disaffiliate.

In a video uploaded this week to the conference's website, Bishop Robin Dease shared she will be calling a special session of the North Georgia Annual Conference on Nov. 18.

"In my role as your bishop, I am calling a special session of our annual conference...," Dease said in the video. "Arrangements for the session are being made and will be announced once they are confirmed."

Robin Dease, Resident Bishop for the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, announced the special session Tuesday via video on the conference's website.

At the special session, Dease said the conference will vote on disaffiliations. Individual church conferences, for those involved in the lawsuit, will be called between June 4 and Aug. 31.

"The goal of our district superintendents is to move through this process with a gracious spirit," Dease said. "I remind you that the doctrinal standards of the United Methodist Church have not, and will not, change."

The regularly scheduled North Georgia Annual Conference will be held June 1-3, according to conference's website.

"This annual conference is strong and enduring, with a bright and vibrant future ...," Dease said to close out the video.

Churches win lawsuit: Nearly 190 Georgia churches win lawsuit to disaffiliate from United Methodists

Local church wins suit against UMC: Court rules in favor of Augusta church suing to disaffiliate from United Methodists

186 churches win lawsuit against UMC

The lawsuit, filed in Cobb County on March 30, involved 186 Georgia churches wishing to disaffiliate due to potential LGBTQ-friendly revisions.

The United Methodist Church has been at odds internally for decades over disagreements on doctrinal and social issues. However, the current court cases have focused only on the contractual agreements between the denomination and local churches.

The churches requested the North Georgia Annual Conference restore the processes that were already in place allowing churches to disaffiliate while keeping their property, according to previous reporting. Superior Court Judge Steven Schuster ruled the churches should be able to vote to disaffiliate from the UMC.

This is the second time in less than a month that a Georgia court has ruled in favor of United Methodist churches seeking to disaffiliate.

FILE - A cross sits on top of Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church on Feb. 23, 2023. Trinity recently won a lawsuit to disaffiliate from the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Augusta church wins local lawsuit against UMC

Earlier this month, Columbia County Superior Court also ruled in favor of Trinity on the Hill church, which sued the North Georgia Annual Conference of Methodists to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, similar to the larger suit.

Judge Sheryl Jolly denied a motion by the conference seeking to dismiss the suit and granted Trinitys motion for injunction, according to previous reporting.

Trinity on the Hill and its attorney has declined all media requests for comment.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: UMC North Georgia Conference speaks out after losing lawsuit
US has 2.5M vehicles deemed 'too dangerous to drive.' 237,000 of them are in Florida.

The U.S. has more than 2.5 million vehicles tagged Do Not Drive or Park Outside that remain unrepaired due to safety recalls. Florida ranks third among 10 others that have more than 70,000 driving on their roads.

Despite efforts by automakers and state and federal governments, Florida has about 237,000 vehicles driving on its roads that have been deemed too dangerous to drive, according to recent data from used vehicle retailer Carfax. The state is just behind California and Texas, which together make up about 29% of the 2.5 million similarly marked vehicles around the country.

Vehicles are tagged Do Not Drive when a serious safety issue has been identified that could lead to an accident or physical harm. A Park Outside recall is issued for vehicles with a high risk of causing a fire. Its name is a literal indication to park the vehicle outside of garages and away from structures.

Vehicle recalls: Find the latest car and motor vehicle recalls from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Biggest vehicle recalls

One of the biggest recalls that affected about 400,000 cars in Florida was the Takata airbag recall. This recall was issued in 2014 and affected more than 65 million airbags in specific vehicles between the model years 2001 and 2015, creating one of the largest recalls in history.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says 23 people in the U.S. have been killed because of the exploding airbags and more than 400 people have been injured. These airbags have had an issue with their chemical composition and have, at times, seen the metal that encases the airbag turn into shrapnel inside the cars cabin.

Some cars were more affected than others by the Takata recall, including 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles with alpha bags, 2006 Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series pickup trucks and 1999 BMW 323i and 328i.

Vehicles not part of the above group still need to get a replacement airbag.

Ford, Chevrolet, BMW, Mitsubishi recall: Ford, Chevrolet, BMW, Mitsubishi recall nearly 1.3 million vehicles. Check recalls here.

Other notable recalls include more than 3,100 Hyundai and Kia models that have caught fire nationwide. NHTSA says that one person has been killed and more than 100 have been injured.

And General Motors says 19 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars have caught fire, but there have been no reports of injury or death.

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Full list of Do Not Drive and Park Outside vehicles

There are about 200 vehicles from many automakers over many model years that have been affected. Below are the vehicles facing either a Do Not Drive recall or a Park Outside recall:

How to find out if your car has been affected by a recall

Finding out if your car is affected by a vehicle safety recall is a simple task  all you need is your 17-character Vehicle Identification Number. Your VIN can sometimes be found on the lower driver-side windshield, but it can also be found inside the driver-side door.

Once you have your VIN, head over to the NHTSA website and enter it into the sites VIN search tool. This tool will show unrepaired vehicles affected by a safety recall issued in the past 15 years.

What to do if your car is affected by a recall

If you have an open recall, immediately get your vehicle repaired for free at a local dealership. Follow the steps indicated by the response to your VIN search. Your vehicles manufacturer is required by law to address your recall and offer a free repair.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida car recalls are 3rd highest in US: How to check on your car
The News

A number of major U.S. brands have been attacked by anti-LGBTQ+ activists in recent weeks against a backdrop of Republican bills targeting the rights of trans people.

On Tuesday the retail giant Target became the latest to detail the sometimes violent backlash companies are facing for supporting greater LGBTQ+ representation.

Here's a closer look at the brands that have come under attack.

Know More

1. Target

Target revealed on Tuesday that it had pulled Pride month merchandise from its shelves after experiencing threats against its staff. This year's LGBTQ+ collection  including items such as gender-fluid mugs and queer all year calendars  have faced a backlash from customers, who have thrown products on the floor. Despite selling Pride products for more than a decade, the retailer noted that there had been an increase in the number of hostile incidents between customers and employees this year.

The decision to pull products has sparked criticism of Target on social media, with many viewing it as caving-in to people with bigoted views.

2. Nike

In April Nike faced calls for a boycott from anti-trans activists after the company announced a partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans woman who has documented her transition on TikTok to a 10.8 million-strong audience.

One critic of the partnership started a bra-burning campaign on TikTok. Both the video and the account which initially posted the challenge are no longer available on the platform, Business Insider reported.

3. Bud Light

Bud Light producer Anheuser-Busch also faced massive backlash for its partnership with Mulvaney. Critics have boycotted the brand for months and NBC News reported this week that Bud Light sales have plummeted. Though the brand initially ignored the criticism, it later placed two marketing executives on leave for the decision to work with Mulvaney.

4. Hersheys

Chocolate-maker Hershey faced calls for a boycott in March after featuring a trans activist on some of its wrappers for International Womens Day. The brand released five special-edition wrappers in Canada featuring five women as part of their Her for She campaign, including Fae Johnstone, a trans woman and campaigner.

The brand later released a statement defending its decision, writing it [values] togetherness and recognize the strength created by diversity.

Quoteworthy

Mulvaney, who has faced a torrent of abuse online, released a video on Instagram addressing the backlash to her brand partnerships.

I think it's okay to be frustrated with someone and confused, but what I'm really struggling with is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel, she said.

Step Back

The wave of boycotts come as states across the U.S. pass bills that restrict or outright ban gender-affirming care for trans people.

Republicans across the country are pushing hundreds of bills which focus on trans issues, and in some cases are openly mocking transgender individuals, Semafors David Weigel reported last month.

In Florida this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill which will ban gender-affirming care for minors, restrict care for adults seeking treatment, and force people to use certain bathrooms, among other restrictions.
How US farmland became a battleground in the fight against China

Chinese investors own about .03 percent of Americas farmland, according to federal data. But their land purchasing is becoming a major issue as politicians at the state and federal level ramp up their fight against perceived threats from China.

In the past couple of months, lawmakers in more than two dozen states have passed or considered legislation restricting Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland.

And former President Trump has promised that if he retakes the White House, he will ban Chinese investors from buying U.S. farmland and other critical infrastructure, and force sales of their current holdings.

China has been spending trillions of dollars to take over the crown jewels of the United Statess economy, Trump said in a campaign video in January.

To protect our country, we need to enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States, including energy, technology, telecommunications, farmland, natural resources, medical supplies and other strategic national assets.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed multiple bills this month that prohibit Chinese citizens from purchasing land in the state. Last month, the North Carolina House passed a bill that would ban the governments of foreign adversaries from purchasing agricultural land as well as any land within 25 miles of a military installation. And the Texas Senate passed a bill last month that would ban citizens of China from buying property, with certain exceptions.

Lawmakers on the federal level are also pushing legislation to block China from buying farmland. A bipartisan group of senators have introduced a bill, known as the PASS act, that would prohibit nationals of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying U.S. agricultural land or investing in American agricultural businesses.

Other legislation focuses specifically on the Chinese government. The House easily passed an amendment to the Republicans energy bill in late March prohibiting the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing U.S. farmland or land used for renewable energy. The broader bill was dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

National security threat?

Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland has increased fivefold over the past decade, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, from 69,000 acres in 2011 to almost 384,000 acres in 2021. That amounts to about 1 percent of the 3 percent of all U.S. farmland owned by foreign nationals.

The rate of this increase has not been even. A large portion of the increase came from a single purchase in 2013, when the Chinese company WH Group bought Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S.

After that, the amount of U.S. farmland owned by Chinese investors remained largely stagnant until 2019. Chinese-owned farmland increased by more than 136 thousand acres between 2019 and 2021, but this was almost entirely from acquisitions by U.S. companies with Chinese shareholders.

The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives has sought to make China a central focus, creating a select committee on strategic competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

One of the Republicans on the committee, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), has repeatedly introduced legislation to prohibit the Chinese government from buying U.S. agricultural land.

Ive always said that food security is literally national security, Newhouse said at the committees first hearing in late February.

Former Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who testified at the hearing, agreed that this issue is cause for concern. He said the Chinese government is engaging in a concerted effort to make U.S. agriculture dependent on China.

I describe in my written testimony the three Cs of co-option, coercion and concealment, he said. Co-opt by trying to build dependencies from U.S. agriculture on the Chinese market. And then, hey, once your in, then to use that for coercive purposes.

However, a 2021 analysis by the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that foreign purchases of U.S. agricultural land are not a major threat to U.S. food security.

The United States currently produces more than enough food per capita, even after adjusting for food waste, CSIS analysts Jamie Lutz and Caitlin Welsh wrote. Food insecurity among U.S. families is primarily driven by poverty, not a lack of food.

Newhouses press secretary, Mike Marinella, said in an interview that even though Chinese investors currently own only a small portion of American farmland, the U.S. should be concerned about what could happen in the future.

We dont want to have to buy our food from China, Marinella said.

Another area of concern is Chinese land purchases near military infrastructure. In 2021, Texas lawmakers passed legislation to prohibit a company owned by a Chinese billionaire from building a wind farm on 15,000 acres of ranchland near a U.S. Air Force base.

That same year, Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group purchased 300 acres of farmland near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota to build a corn mill, which the Pentagon deemed a threat to national security.

Eric Chutorash, the chief operating officer of Fufeng Groups U.S. subsidiary, repeatedly denied that the plans posed a security risk, as the company is publicly traded and not affiliated with the Chinese government. In February, however, the Grand Forks City Council voted unanimously to block the project.

Fueling anti-Asian sentiments

Some critics of efforts to limit Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland argue they could contribute to anti-Asian sentiments.

In a House Appropriations Committee hearing last year, Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) criticized an amendment from Newhouse to ban companies owned wholly or in part by the Chinese government from purchasing U.S. farmland. She said singling out China would perpetuate already rising anti-Asian hate.

If the concern is about U.S. national security, other countries also should be included in this conversation, Meng said.

Neysun Mahboubi, a research scholar at the University of Pennsylvanias Center for the Study of Contemporary China, said the hostile rhetoric toward China can be dangerous.

[In] our American political culture, once we identify something as threatening, were not very good about talking about it in a nuanced and subtle way, he said.

Mahboubi said it is important to discuss threats posed by China in a nuanced manner, especially given the high amount of trade the U.S. conducts with China.

Were concerned about the implications for our food security of actions that China takes, [China could become] worried about what are the implications of their food security from actions that we take, until were locked in this sort of downward spiral, Mahboubi said.

I dont think anyone can particularly anticipate how far its going to go or how damaging it could be.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US will investigate whether Western military aid was used in Belgorod raid

John Kirby

Read also: Ukraine to start training on US Abrams tanks in Germany in coming days  Pentagon

"We are looking into reports of possible involvement of U.S. equipment and vehicles," The Washington Post quotes Kirby.

Pentagon spokesperson, Gen. Patrick Ryder, also commented during a briefing that the U.S. Department of Defense does not approve of equipment transfers to militarized organizations not part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to him, the Pentagon has not received any requests from the Ukrainian government regarding such a transfer.

On May 22, the Freedom of Russia Legion announced that, together with the RVC, they had completely liberated the settlement of Kozinka in Belgorod Oblast, and also entered the town of Grayvoron, commencing its assault.

Ukrainian officials said Kyiv is aware of these developments, with no direct involvement in what they described as an internal Russian matter.

Read also: About 300 entities, ships, aircraft to be included in new U.S. sanctions package against Russia

Following the raid, media reports by Russian sources showed at least two heavily damaged U.S. Humvee armored vehicles.

Representatives of the Freedom of Russia Legion said the vehicles were seized from Russian troops, who previously captured them somewhere near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast.

Read also: Freedom and dignity are trampled by Russias invasion of Ukraine, says King Charles in Bundestag

"We successfully re-captured and returned this equipment," the legion stated.

The Freedom of Russia Legion is a unit within the Ukrainian Armed Forces, established in March 2022 to combat the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: Freedom of Russia Legion declares liberation of a settlement in Belgorod Oblast

The RVC was formed in August 2022, and is not formally affiliated with the Ukrainian military.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
US investigates possible use of its equipment in Russias Belgorod Oblast  White House

The United States is investigating whether the American equipment received by Ukraine was used during the "invasion" of Russias Belgorod Oblast.

Source: The Washington Post, citing John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council at the White House, on Wednesday

Quote: "We are investigating reports that American weapons... could have been involved [in the events in Belgorod Oblast  ed.]," Kirby said at a press briefing.

He added that the United States disapproves of using American weapons for attacks on Russian territory and has informed Ukraine about this.

Background: On Monday, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion reported that they crossed the border and were "liberating" settlements in Belgorod Oblast from the current Russian government. The day after that, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that all participants in the attack were killed, although the Russian Volunteer Corps denied this.

At the same time, the media reported that footage posted by the Russian side showed at least two heavily damaged US-made Humvees on the Russian side of the border checkpoint near Belgorod. The USA supplied Ukraine with more than 2,000 such trucks.

The Pentagon said the day before that it is closely following reports about the possible use of American weapons in the territory of Belgorod Oblast of the Russian Federation.

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US officials believe Ukraine was likely responsible for Kremlin drone attack: report

U.S. officials believe that Ukraine was likely behind the failed drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month, along with a number of other killings and incursions on Russian territory, according to reports.

Intelligence officials do not know which unit was behind the drone attack and its unclear if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knew about it beforehand, The New York Times reported.

The U.S. has based its assessment off intercepted communications with both Ukraine and Russia, The Times reported, and has a low confidence in that estimate because it has yet to identify which specific unit was behind the attack.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and the Defense Department for comment.

The May 3 attack saw two drones attack the Kremlin in Moscow, but they caused little damage before Russia disabled them.

Ukraine has denied involvement in the drone attack, as it has for alleged attacks on Russian soil.

Russia has repeatedly blamed Ukraine for the drone attack along with the U.S., which it sees as more than just a strategic partner for Kyiv and involved in the war.

According to The Times, U.S. officials also believe a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack on the Nord Stream oil pipelines last year, a crucial source of revenue for Russia.

Intelligence officials additionally believe Ukraine is behind the bombing that killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, incursions into Russian territory from pro-Ukrainian groups and the killing of Daria Dugina, the daughter of a Kremlin ally, last year.

U.S. officials said some Ukrainian covert operations work largely independently and do not always have the sign off from Zelensky, according to The Times.

Washington has sought to stop the war in Ukraine from escalating further and has asked Ukraine not to strike inside Russian territory when providing new weapons and equipment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US professor fired after machete threat to New York Post reporter

Shellyne Rodriguez was fired from Hunter College in New York

A Hunter College professor has been fired after threatening a New York Post reporter and a photographer with a machete.

The journalists were trying to speak to Shellyne Rodriguez about an incident in which she criticised anti-abortion activists on campus, the Post said.

Ms Rodriguez followed them onto the street with the machete, video showed.

Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, confirmed she had been "relieved of her duties".

The reporter, Reuven Fenton, along with a photographer, went to Ms Rodriguez's address in an effort to speak with her after a viral video showed her criticising anti-abortion students at the university.

According to the Post, she shouted: "Get... away from my door, or I'm going chop you up with this machete."

The Post's article on the incident says "she held the machete to the reporter's neck" after opening the door.

The reporters said they left immediately but were followed by Ms Rodriguez onto the street - with the subsequent interaction caught on a car dashcam and published by the Post.

Hunter College spokesperson Vince Dimiceli told BBC News: "Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez and has taken immediate action.

"Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school."

The New York Post, meanwhile, told the BBC it was "glad the reporter is safe".

In the initial viral video that the Post was seeking comment on, Ms Rodriguez approaches an information stall run by Students for Life, a group of more than 120,000 young anti-abortion Americans who want to end access to abortion.

"You're not educating... This is... propaganda," she tells the students present. "This is violent. You're triggering my students."

In an expletive-filled rant, she then demands their removal and shoves pamphlets off the table before walking away, the viral video showed.

"When professors don't respect their students and their rights, schools become unsafe," said Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins in a statement. "Students should be taught how to peacefully exchange ideas with each other and professional staff."

A New York Police Department spokesperson confirmed an incident took place, but said it was still under investigation.

Ms Rodriguez has been approached for comment.
Supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party rally in Dhaka in December 2022

The United States said Wednesday it would restrict visas to Bangladeshis who undermine elections, in a pre-emptive warning as fears mount of turbulence in the upcoming vote.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was supporting "free, fair and peaceful national elections" and would target either pro-government or opposition supporters in the deeply polarized nation.

"I am announcing this policy to lend our support to all those seeking to advance democracy in Bangladesh," said Blinken, who already has authority under US law to restrict visas over election meddling.

He said the move could affect current or former officials and politicians and members of law enforcement, the judiciary and security services "believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh."

"The holding of free and fair elections is the responsibility of everyone -- voters, political parties, the government, the security forces, civil society and the media," he said in a statement.

Bangladesh is scheduled to hold general elections in January. The opposition has already been leading large protests, demanding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hand over to a caretaker government and accusing her of irregularities in past votes.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the visa announcement should not be interpreted as a US accusation against the government.

Hasina has been in power since 2009 and has generally been seen as a Western ally, with her opposition to radical Islamism and business-friendly policies, and has especially close ties with neighboring India.

But the United States under President Joe Biden has also voiced concern on rights, criticizing a law on digital security that has been seen as a way to curb online dissent, and did not invite Bangladesh to it two summits of democracies.

China has also been seeking influence in the world's eighth most populous country, investing billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.

sct/bfm
(Bloomberg) -- The US and South Korea began their largest-ever live-fire drills near the border with North Korea, which has threatened retaliation against the two nations it labels war maniacs.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The first day of drills took place less than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border Thursday and are expected to run through June 15. Some 2,500 soldiers and 610 pieces of equipment, including fighter jets and rocket launchers, participated in the exercises that began around 2:30 pm local time, according to a spokesperson at South Koreas Ministry of National Defense.

The event is meant to better prepare the two allies to work together against North Korea as it ramps up its provocations, South Koreas military earlier said.

The drills add to the display of force by South Korea and the US as they mark the 70th anniversary of an alliance forged during the Korean War. Additional cooperation is expected to come after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and President Joe Biden agreed last month on a plan for the US to keep deploying nuclear assets including submarines  in the region, and for Seoul to have a greater say in how America utilizes its nuclear umbrella.

Six Takeaways from White House Visit by South Koreas Yoon

Yoon, who took office a year ago, has worked to restore joint drills with the US that had been suspended or scaled back under his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, and former President Donald Trump, as they sought a rapprochement with Pyongyang. Those efforts resulted in three face-to-face meetings between Trump and Kim Jong Un but no concrete steps to reduce North Koreas atomic arsenal  which only grew larger as talks fizzled.

After starting the year firing off rockets at a blistering pace, Kims regime has not launched a ballistic missile for more than a month. But the last one marked a major development for the countrys program, with the test-launch of its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

The countrys current ICBM inventory is comprised of liquid-fuel rockets, which take more time to prepare and fill with propellant, opening a window of vulnerability for them to be shot on the pad before taking off. North Korea has rolled out a variety of new solid-fuel ballistic missiles over the past few years designed to strike South Korea and Japan, which together host the bulk of Americas military personnel in the region.

--With assistance from Seyoon Kim.

(Updates with details of first day.)

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
China eyes deeper business cooperation with Russia

Xinhua) 11:16, May 24, 2023

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, addresses the China-Russia business forum in east China's Shanghai, May 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

SHANGHAI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng attended the China-Russia business forum on Tuesday in Shanghai, expressing expectations for in-depth exchanges between Chinese and Russian business communities.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Russia cooperation in various fields maintained a sound development momentum and made significant contributions to the world.

China is ready to work with Russia to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, promote bilateral trade, deepen investment cooperation, upgrade connectivity and industrial cooperation, and strengthen agricultural cooperation, He said.

He said China would unswervingly advance Chinese modernization, strive to achieve high-quality development, and expand opening-up at a high level, providing new development opportunities for other countries including Russia.

It is hoped that the business communities of China and Russia will have in-depth exchanges and work hand in hand to write a new chapter in China-Russia practical cooperation, He added.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin attended and addressed the forum. The Chinese vice premier also met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko before the opening ceremony.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Hong Kong (CNN)  Cathay Pacific Airways said Tuesday it had fired three cabin crew members after a passenger complained of discrimination on a flight from mainland China, an incident that angered Hong Kong officials and underscored the pressure on the citys flag carrier to please Beijing.

An audio clip of the incident went viral this week, in which a crew member appears to refuse a passengers request for a blanket and mocks the travelers lack of English.

If you cant say blanket in English, you cannot have it, a voice is heard saying in the clip, recorded Sunday on a Cathay flight to Hong Kong from the southwestern city of Chengdu.

In a statement late Tuesday announcing the dismissals, Cathay Pacific (CPCAY) CEO Ronald Lam said he would personally lead a task force to improve service and avoid similar incidents in the future.

We need to ensure that all Cathay Pacific employees must at all times respect customers from different backgrounds and cultures, and that we provide quality services consistently across all markets that we serve, he said.

I would like to reiterate our zero-tolerance approach to any serious breach of the companys policies and code of conduct. There is no compromise for such violations.

As of Wednesday, the topic was trending for a second straight day on Weibo, Chinas Twitter-like platform, with a hashtag about the firings receiving 320 million views. Many Chinese social media users also shared their own complaints about flying with the airline.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee weighed in, calling the incident extremely outrageous and disappointing, and adding it had damaged the citys image.

Cathay on thin ice

The incident resurfaced old tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China, while Cathays quick and decisive response underlined the tightrope its executives must walk to keep Beijing happy, just a few years after a crisis led to the exit of two top managers.

In 2019, some Cathay staff took part in Hong Kongs major pro-democracy protests, forcing the airline to field angry calls from the Chinese government. More than a thousand of its employees also participated in a strike that forced the carrier to cancel dozens of flights.

Beijing responded at the time by saying it would not allow Cathay flights crewed by anyone whod taken part in the protests to enter Chinas airspace. Cathay management also vowed to fire any staff found to be joining the demonstrations.

The headaches ultimately led to the departures of both Cathays CEO and its chief commercial officer.

Mainland China remains deeply important for the carrier, not just as an aviation market but as a financial lifeline.

Air China (AIRYY), the countrys flag carrier, is Cathays second-biggest shareholder, with an approximately 20% stake. Cathay is also an investor in Air China (AIRYY), holding roughly 16% of its shares.

Some mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong, a former British colony where most people speak Cantonese, have long complained of discrimination against them for speaking Mandarin, Chinas national language.

And Cathay has become emblematic of the pressure Hong Kong-based businesses face as Beijing tightens its grip on the city.

This was seen Tuesday, as Chinese state media piled onto criticism of the airline, which is owned by Swire Pacific (SWRAY), a conglomerate with roots in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

Its corporate culture seems to retain a certain kind of admiration for foreigners, relative respect for Hong Kong people and contempt for mainland Chinese people, an editorial in state-run Peoples Daily said.

In Chinas Hong Kong, the reverse trend of worshiping English and looking down on Mandarin is bound to be soon lost in the tide of history.

Chinas state-run news agency Xinhua suggested there could be further consequences for the airline.

In an editorial, it said there was a question mark on how far Cathay Pacific can fly if their old problems remain unchanged.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Cathay Pacific fires cabin crew over alleged discrimination of passenger on flight from China."
US spy agencies found signs Ukraine may have carried out the Kremlin drone attack: NYT

Unverified footage on social media appears to show an object flying over the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 3, 2023. Reuters

US spy agencies found signs Ukraine may have carried out the Kremlin drone attack earlier this month.

US officials told The New York Times the attack was likely completed by special military units.

Previous intelligence assessments have said the attacks were likely staged by Russia.

US spy agencies have found signs that Ukraine was behind the stunning drone attack over the Kremlin in Moscow earlier this month, according to The New York Times, but didn't find conclusive evidence of their involvement.

US officials anonymously told the Times that the drone attack  which intelligence officials and groups previously suggested was "likely" a Russian false-flag operation  was possibly completed by one of Ukraine's special military or intelligence units.

They also acknowledged to the Times that their level of confidence that Kyiv's government authorized the attack is "low" mainly due to an inability to identify which specific officials or units were involved. It's unclear if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who strongly denied involvement in the incident, was even informed.

This goes against what multiple analysts, including the Institute for the Study of War, have said about the drone attack. Earlier this month, the ISW said the attack was "likely staged" by Russia "in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider societal mobilization."

"Several indicators suggest that the strike was internally conducted and purposefully staged," ISW said, pointing towards recent increases in Russian domestic air defenses that would make it "extremely unlikely" for two drones to penetrate into Moscow.

The attack was also "caught nicely on camera," ISW added, pointing towards a staged attack to bolster the Kremlin's narrative of the war.

Senior military officials told the Times the drones carried small, limited explosive payloads, which suggest they were sent to the Kremlin more for shock value than actual damage.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A US zoo has apologized after video showing a kiwi named Paora being handled by humans sparked outrage in New Zealand, where the species is the national bird.

The protests began after video footage of so-called kiwi encounters at Zoo Miami were posted on social media, showing the flightless bird being handled by visitors and kept awake by artificial lighting.

Wildlife photographer Holly Neill, who posted a video showing clips of the encounters, said it was appalling to see a kiwi treated this way.

Its being kept awake during the day despite being a nocturnal species. When it runs to hide in a dark box, they open the lid, she wrote.

A South Island brown kiwi - imageBROKER/Shutterstock

For $23.36USD, Miami Zoo will let you disrupt a nocturnal, endangered kiwi by forcing it into artificial lighting and allow you to touch it. Im so upset about the welfare of this kiwi.

The birds, which once numbered around 12 million in New Zealand, have seen their population plummet to just 68,000, according to the Save the Kiwi charity, and conservation efforts have raised awareness of their vulnerability.

Before long, an online petition to Help save this mistreated kiwi had gathered thousands of signatures.

He has been tamed and is subjected to bright flourescent lighting 4 days a week, being handled by dozens of strangers, petted on his sensitive whiskers, laughed at, and shown off like a toy, the petition reads.

Kiwi are nocturnal animals, who should be kept in suitable dark enclosures, and minimally handled. The best practice manual for kiwi states that they shouldnt be handled often or taken out of their burrow to be held by the public, it continues.

The controversy even drew the attention of the New Zealand governments Department of Conservation, which tweeted that it would be discussing the situation with the American Association of Zoos & Aquariums to address some of the housing and handling concerns raised.

Following the backlash, Zoo Miami released a statement apologizing for the handling and housing of Paora.

The concerns raised have been taken very seriously and as a result, effective immediately, the Kiwi Encounter will no longer be offered, the statement reads.

Again, we are deeply sorry, it added, before outlining the changes it would make to improve the situation.

Plans are presently underway to build a special habitat for him that will continue to provide him with the shelter that he needs while respecting and supporting his natural instincts, the zoo said.

It will be developed in such a way that we can teach our guests about the amazing kiwi without any direct contact from the public, it added.

And news of Paoras plight even reached the highest levels of government, with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins hailing the countrys defense of the bird.

It shows that Kiwis take a lot of pride in our national bird when theyre overseas, and they do take action if they see kiwis being mistreated, Hipkins told journalists.

New Zealanders are famously protective of the birds, with the New Zealand Department of Conservation launching a conservation effort known as the Kiwi Recovery Plan in 1991.

This involved predator control, community engagement, and Operation Nest Egg, in which kiwi eggs in the wild were rescued and later reintroduced into the forest after they had hatched or fledged. This increased the rate of juvenile survival for the species, resulting in population growth.

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They say that the key to a successful marriage is falling in love many times, always with the same person. Well, theyre wrong.

Opinion

People change, that comes as no surprise. But sometimes a person can change so much that they become unrecognizable. What happens when the person you married becomes someone you dont even know? Or like? Or worse yet, what happens when they no longer love you?

Loving someone with depression is complicated. It can be confusing, painful and disorienting. Of course, there are good times, too. But mostly its lonely and hard.

As an example, just a few weeks ago my husband felt so low that he no longer wanted to live. I was thrown back into crisis mode so quickly I got whiplash. I was calling him every hour to ensure that he was safe only to hear a monotonous tone on the other end of the line that I could barely make out. I heard him say that he was checking his life insurance policy to make sure we would be provided for after he left. So we spoke to his doctor; he got more medicine; he spent hours on the phone with therapists and friends; and then he came home and slept.

He feels better now, but how do I feel? Am I allowed to feel? Has anyone asked how I feel? A week later, hes all smiles. Im smiling too, but it doesnt feel real.

Loving someone with depression can come as a surprise. It did for me. Fifteen years ago, when I sat across from a blind date I was already falling head-over-heels for, I knew he was mine. He told me about his big city dreams and his international career. He told me about the good he wanted to do in the world and the family he wanted to raise. He was optimistic, ambitious and kind. I knew that I would be standing by him every step of the way.

But could I, at 22, really understand the magnitude of a life-long promise? Could I have understood the long hours, time away from home and loneliness it would require for him to accomplish his dreams? And then, after 10 years of working and saving, would I be able to wrap my mind around him falling apart after he achieves all hes ever wanted to and realizes it makes him feel empty inside?

Could I have imagined how it would feel to have my life partner admit that he cant love me because he cant even love himself?

We make vows at weddings that are meaningful and profound and, if Im being honest, maybe a little silly, because what budding bride is really signing up for a poor, sick and horrible life? My eyes were full of tears as I promised myself to him forever. I knew it would be hard, but not this hard. Did I think one of us could theoretically get sick? Yes. But this kind of sick? Never.

Wheres the cheesy Hobby Lobby sign for marriages that suffer under the weight of one persons severe depression? Fall madly in love with the husband who doesnt shower, snarls in your direction and says he doesnt love you. Romantic, right?

Theres no one-size-fits-all key to a successful marriage. But maybe the key to a successful marriage is simply memory. Its remembering the person he was before I was married to depression. That kind man who would call me on the phone every day just to check in, and who brought home flowers for me. Its remembering how safe I felt by his side; how I treasured every well-thought word he spoke; and how proud I was to be with him.

That man I knew is in there still. Hes hiding inside a body and brain clouded with disease. The key for me is not falling in love with the new version of him, its staying in love with that old one, even when its hard and its ugly and I dont want to do it.

After city-hopping around the globe for nearly two decades, Heather Wigginton, her husband and their four children have recently settled in Fair Oaks with their puppy, Juniper Love.
The aircraft carrier George Washington concluded maintenance at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on Tuesday  several years behind schedule.

The ship, which started its mid-life refueling and complex overhaul known as an RCOH in 2017, is now conducting sea trials. The ship originally was slated to wrap up the RCOH in 2021 under a four-year timeline.

USS George Washington (CVN 73) got underway from the Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipyard in Newport News for Sea Trials May 22, Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Jackie Pau said in a statement to Navy Times. The Navy-Industry team has worked closely together to complete remaining production, test, and certification work on George Washington and is looking forward to redelivery of George Washington back to the Fleet as soon and as safely as possible.

Navy vows quality of life reforms for carrier sailors in shipyards

Lt. Cmdr. Dawn M. Stankus, a spokesperson for Naval Air Force Atlantic, said the ship will head to nearby Naval Station Norfolk once sea trials conclude.

Upon redelivery to the U.S. Navy Fleet, and return to Naval Station Norfolk, George Washington will represent the most modern baseline configuration for Nimitz-class carriers, including upgrades to the island, mast & tower, C4ISR systems, weapons systems, radars and upgrades for full F-35 Joint Strike Fighter capability, Stankus said in an email to Navy Times.

The longer-than-expected RCOH was due to an unplanned growth in work, labor inefficiencies and the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the need to quarantine teams and supply chain delays, Navy officials previously told Navy Times sister publication, Defense News.

Underway! @GW_CVN73 departed #NewportNewsShipbuilding today for sea trials as the final phase of her refueling and complex overhaul. Upon completion, #CVN73 will rejoin the @USNavy as one of the most modern and capable #aircraftcarriers in the fleet. pic.twitter.com/XlFMPfaNTi  HII (@WeAreHII) May 22, 2023

On its long road back to mission capability, thye work on the carrier revealed how dire shipyard conditions impact sailor welfare and how the brass at times has failed its more junior sailors who have to work and live aboard carriers during maintenance.

Investigations into a cluster of suicides among junior-enlisted GW sailors revealed systemic shortcomings that Navy brass have since vowed to fix.

GWs long maintenance also led to allegations of tone-deafness against former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith, who addressed the crew shortly after multiple crew suicides last spring and told them to manage expectations when it comes to working bathrooms, food quality and living in the massive construction zone that GW became during its overhaul.

Top sailor to USS George Washington crew: at least youre not in a foxhole

The RCOHs are completed at the 25-year mark in a carriers service life and are designed to refuel the nuclear power reactor and address other major maintenance issues and upgrades.

Images that Huntington Ingalls posted appear to show rust on the deck of the ship. The spots of rust on the deck, forward of the tower, were due to cargo containers that sat on the deck during the long maintenance, according to Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman Ohene Gyapong.

Other parts of the deck have a fresh coat of paint, but that rust wont be busted until the ship is through trials, he said.

Youre not giving the ship a white glove rundown when youre getting ready to run it in sea trials, Gyapong told Navy Times.

The carrier is poised to return to Yokosuka, Japan, next year after being based there for seven years prior to starting the RCOH. It will replace the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which has served as the forward-deployed carrier since 2015.
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Uvalde, one year later

It's been one year since the Uvalde mass shooting. Austin American Statesman State Politics Reporter Niki Griswold reflects. Plus, Former President Donald Trump appears remotely in court in the hush money case surrounding him, an investigation into child sex abuse by members of the Catholic clergy in Illinois found that thousands of children across the state were sexually abused, USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub talks about a new project that aims to tackle rare, inherited diseases. and Netflix begins cracking down on password sharing.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Wednesday, the 24th of May 2023. Today, one year since tragedy in Uvalde. Plus, Trump appears remotely in court, and a new project aims to tackle rare inherited diseases.



It's been one year since a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers. Austin American Statesman State Politics Reporter Niki Griswold has more on this devastated community one year later. Niki, welcome to 5 Things.

Niki Griswold:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Niki, how's the community dealing one year later?

Niki Griswold:

I think it's fair to say the community is still reeling. This was arguably the most devastating thing to happen to this small town of just over 15,000 people where it seems everybody knows each other. And because of that, everyone knows someone personally who was impacted by this massacre. 19 families lost their children in the shooting, and two more families lost mothers, sisters of those two teachers who died. So it has been a really, really grim and devastating year for the town that is still trying to recover at this point.

Taylor Wilson:

We know police controversially waited over an hour to respond to the classroom. Niki, your paper, the Statesman, made the decision to publish a 77-minute video from inside the school showing officers pacing the hall instead of entering the classroom as police are trained to do. I'm wondering, has there been any accountability for that delayed police response?

Niki Griswold:

I would say that the families don't believe that nearly enough accountability has come from the law enforcement agencies that responded that day. There were more than 300 law enforcement officers who were at the school and still did not breach the classroom and kill the gunman for 77 minutes. There has been a little bit of movement after pressure from the families. There have been a very small handful of officers who have been either fired or forced to retire or resign. But again, that is a very small handful and nowhere near the level of accountability that the families want to see. They want to see big oversight, systemic changes to make sure that this never happens again and the people who were responsible for leaving their children with the gunmen in those classrooms for more than an hour are held accountable and see some sort of justice. I think the families don't believe that there is any sort of justice accomplished in the past year.

Taylor Wilson:

Does the Uvalde community still trust police at this point?

Niki Griswold:

I think it's split down the middle. I think there are a lot of families, including the families of the victims, who arguably will never trust police again. Especially there are some children who were at Robb Elementary that day and survive who don't believe that police will arrive to help them if they're in another shooting situation, which is really heartbreaking. But there is a part of the town that kind of wants to see the town move forward and doesn't necessarily want to see the entire police department get laid off or DPS troopers get laid off, because again, this is a small town, so a lot of those employees are neighbors and family members. And so there are some pretty deep divisions that have emerged.

Taylor Wilson:

Has there been any meaningful legislative action either in Texas or I guess anywhere in the US as a response to this tragedy?

Niki Griswold:

In the Republican dominated legislature, most conservative lawmakers are highly, highly resistant to any sort of policies that would restrict access to guns on any level. And so the families have really focused on pushing and advocating for House Bill 2744 filed by State Representative Tracy King, who represents Uvalde, that would raise the minimum age to purchase certain militaries AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles like the one used in the Uvalde shooting from 18 to 21. The Uvalde shooter bought the gun he used in the massacre just days after his 18th birthday after he had unsuccessfully tried to get other people to get it for him before he was legally allowed to do so. So the families have really thrown their weight behind this bill, and it's made a difference.

Typically, meaningful significant gun reform bills don't even get so much as a hearing in the Texas legislature, but this one did. The House speaker appointed a special committee specifically to hear bills related to gun reform. The chair brought up this bill to get a hearing, so the families were able to give testimony directly to the lawmakers on the committee, which was intensely emotional. And in kind of a really stunning move, the Republican chair of that committee was not planning on advancing that bill out of the committee, and the families were really amping up their pressure. They've been coming to the Capitol pretty much every single week since the legislative session started. And so they really doubled down on that pressure and that Republican chair did bring up the bill for a vote, and it passed out of committee, an 8-5 vote.

It was a really, really shocking move and a very emotional one for the families in the room who had traveled to Austin to be there that day. They burst into tears of joy and relief after months of their advocacy work finally paying off. But that joy was very short-lived. Just the next day the bill stalled and then the next committee that had to move it forward, the Republican chair of that committee kind of quietly killed that bill by ensuring it didn't meet the next legislative deadline.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for your work on this and for talking with me today. Really appreciate it.

Niki Griswold:

Yeah, thanks for having me.



Taylor Wilson:

Former president Donald Trump appeared remotely by video yesterday for a pre-trial hearing in the hush money case surrounding him. A judge scheduled his criminal trial for March 25th of next year in the heart of presidential primary season. Trump was mostly silent during the hearing, but he wrote on social media afterwards that he believes his First Amendment rights have been violated. He pleaded not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital affairs.



A multi-year investigation into child sex abuse by members of the Catholic clergy in Illinois found that nearly 2,000 children across the state were sexually abused. The report formally concludes the investigation the Attorney General's office opened in 2018 and contains some 50 pages of recommendations to the diocese for the handling of future child sex abuse allegations. Before Attorney General Kwame Raoul's investigation, the Catholic Diocese of Illinois publicly listed only 103 substantiated child sex abusers. Raoul's report names and details information, about 451 of them, 330 have died.



A new collaboration has been announced that aims to tackle rare inherited diseases. I spoke with USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub to learn more.

Welcome back to the show, Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Karen, what are the specific goals here?

Karen Weintraub:

Right. So there are about 7,000 diseases that are considered rare. They affect fewer than 200,000 people. Some as few as five or six people in the country. Most of them are genetic caused by a single misspelling in the genes out of 3 billion base pairs, one of them is screwed up. The hope is that gene therapy can be used to correct the genetic mistake and to fix the disease, certainly improving the quality of people's lives, potentially extending them. The issue is that the process of developing a gene therapy right now is very time-consuming and expensive. Basically, it takes a few heroes to really put their personal lives on hold for years and years to pursue treatments, understanding of the disease, fundraise, tons of different aspects. It's an incredible amount of effort and work that these parents typically put in to help save their kids.

Taylor Wilson:

And Karen, which diseases were selected as treatment candidates by this consortium?

Karen Weintraub:

Yeah, there are things you've probably never heard of. Again, some of them affect... Just one of them, spastic paraplegia 50 affects literally nine people in the United States as far as we know. Another one, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. There are different variations, this one is type 4J. Something called congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy. They're quite a mouthful, but they can be absolutely debilitating and life-ending. And so the hope again is that these gene therapies can really provide transformative therapies. The problem is right now, at first, and for kids who already are born or growing up with these diseases, they're probably not cures. The hope is that eventually these conditions can be diagnosed at birth, given very early in life, maybe even in utero in some cases, and can prevent the symptoms from developing and can completely provide a cure. But at this point, they're not there yet.

Taylor Wilson:

And who's funding this project?

Karen Weintraub:

It's called the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. It's a nonprofit arm of the government agency that raises funds. They're coordinating this effort. They've raised or collected the funds. They've got about 97 million at the moment. Some are in-kind, manufacturers have promised to make drugs that are developed through this consortium. And some is actual cash. Again, it's going to take that much probably for these eight conditions to get them to the point of treatment development. The hope is that small scale clinical trials can start next year and yield results within the next 12 to 18 months after that. And then hopefully, some company, it will de-risk the investment that a company has to make in developing these drugs. And hopefully then the commercial interest will step in and develop these drugs for the market. The hope is that they're going to start with these eight diseases where treatments can be developed relatively quickly and then spread that to other treatments, to other diseases as time goes on.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Karen Weintraub, thanks as always.

Karen Weintraub:

Thanks.



Taylor Wilson:

The Netflix crackdown on password sharing has begun. Just months after rolling out restrictions in some other countries, the streaming service is doing the same stateside. Netflix says only people under the same roof can share accounts. So you have two options for sharing your account with someone who doesn't live with you; transfer their profile to a new membership or share your account for an additional $8 a month fee. Netflix long encouraged password sharing, but it changed its tune as subscriber growth slowed amid growing competition and a return to pre-pandemic viewing habits. Research analyst John Blackledge estimates that the company could pick up more than 2 million new US subscribers from the initiative. Netflix accounted for 7.3% of total TV viewing in February of this year according to Nielsen.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here wherever you get your podcast. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump in court remotely, Netflix cracks down on passwords: 5 Things podcast
President Biden, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others held events honoring the 19 students and two teachers killed in the May 24, 2022, rampage.

It has been one year since 19 students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

Heres how people around the country  including President Biden, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others  are marking the grim anniversary.

Moment of silence, flags at half-staff and a vigil

The Robb Elementary School sign is seen covered in flowers and gifts in Uvalde, Texas, on June 17, 2022. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the victims, and called for a moment of silence to be held at 11:30 a.m. local time, which coincided with when the shooting began.

Former Rep. Beto ORourke, a Democrat who was sharply critical of the response to the massacre from Abbott, a Republican who opposes gun control, tweeted a simple message: Sending love to the families in Uvalde today and every day.

In Uvalde, there will be a candlelight vigil in a local park on Wednesday evening. (Members of March for Our Lives, a student-led pro-gun-control group that formed following the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, said they will be in attendance in solidarity.) Plans for a permanent memorial in Uvalde to the victims of last years shooting are under discussion, but it is unclear where or what it will be.

Robb Elementary School, which has remained closed since the rampage, will eventually be demolished. The 800 or so displaced students have been placed at other elementary schools. A new elementary school three miles away is scheduled to open in 2024, but construction has yet to begin.

Staffers at Uvaldes El Progreso Memorial Library have cataloged thousands of items the community received in the aftermath of the shooting to preserve the community and national responses to the massacre.

Biden addresses nation

President Biden visits a makeshift memorial outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

The president delivered a speech at the White House on Wednesday afternoon marking one year since the school shooting in Uvalde.

"One year ago today, Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, turned into another killing field in America," Biden said in remarks, with first lady Jill Biden by his side.

The president recalled traveling to Uvalde with the First Lady to visit a makeshift memorial five days after the killings.

"Standing there in Uvalde, Jill and I couldnt help but think that too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities all across every part America," Biden said. "And in each place, we hear the same message: Do something. For Gods sake, please just do something."

[New York Times: A Year After the Uvalde Massacre: Did Anything Change?]

Last year, following the mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, legislation that bolstered mental health, school safety and crisis intervention programs, and closed the so-called boyfriend loophole, under which unmarried people convicted of domestic abuse could still obtain weapons.

But the package did not include many of the tougher restrictions advocates have been calling for, including banning AR-15-style rifles, raising the purchasing age on such weapons to 21 and background checks for all gun transactions.

"We did something afterwards, but not nearly enough," Biden said, reiterating his call for Congress to pass what he called "commonsense" gun reforms, including the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

"Its time to act," the president added. "Its time to make our voices heard. Not as Democrats or Republicans. But as friends, neighbors, parents  and as fellow Americans."

Sickeningly common

Vice President Kamala Harris lays flowers at a memorial at the scene of the mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., May 28, 2022. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Earlier Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris mourned the victims in a statement while urging the passage of gun control legislation.

Today, our nation continues to mourn for those lost, to pray for their families who must bear the unbearable, and to grieve for a country in which violence like this  even in elementary school classrooms  is sickeningly common, Harris said. One year after Uvalde, gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in our nation. One in five Americans has lost a family member to gun violence.

Harris added: Today, Doug and I pray for the people of Uvalde. And we urge leaders in Congress and in state legislatures to meet this heartbreaking moment not just with words, but with action.

Community still searching for answers

People sit on the curb outside of Robb Elementary School in in Uvalde, Texas, as a state trooper stands next to his vehicle, May 24, 2022. (Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)

At a press conference on Monday, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin apologized to the families of victims still searching for answers about the failed police response to the shooting.

This week is a tough week. We cant even imagine the pain that the families are feeling. One year later we realize you still dont have the answers that you need, McLaughlin said. And for that, I apologize.

There are multiple ongoing investigations into the law enforcement response, including probes by the Justice Department, district attorney and the city of Uvalde.

More than 370 officers from local, state and federal agencies responded to the scene but waited more than an hour to confront the gunman  even as children were dialing 911 from inside the classrooms.

Pete Arredondo, chief of the schools small police force, was fired by the school board, along with the units five other officers.

Everybody that was there that day has to be held accountable, McLaughlin said.

A look back at how Yahoo News covered the Uvalde massacre and its aftermath

 19 students, 2 adults killed in Texas elementary school shooting, officials say

 'Turn this pain into action,' Biden says after Uvalde school massacre

 Uvalde newspaper publishes powerful front page 2 days after killings

 O'Rourke interrupts Abbott's press conference on Texas shooting: 'This is on you!'

 Texas police admit to failed response, say kids in room with gunman called 911

 Survivor, 11, testifies to Congress about smearing classmate's blood on herself

 Texas public safety chief calls response to school shooting an 'abject failure'

 5 key takeaways from the Texas House report on Uvalde massacre

 Uvalde priest to lead 12 funerals for school shooting victims over 2 weeks

 Gunman's mother comforted by community leaders at church: 'We are with her'
Vatican centralizes investigations on claims of Virgin Mary apparitions  but local Catholics have always had a say

The shrine at Lourdes, France, where the Virgin Mary is venerated as 'Our Lady of Lourdes,' following several apparitions reported in 1858. LandFoto/iStock / Getty Images Plus

The Vatican recently announced its plan to set up an observatory at one of its several academic institutions, the Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis, to investigate claims of apparitions and other mystical phenomena attributed to the Virgin Mary.

As a scholar of global Christianity whose first book focused on apparitions and miracles of Mary in the modern Philippines, Ive spent years studying the ins and outs of how the Catholic Church authenticates apparitions and the impact of these decisions on devotion to the Virgin Mary. I believe that the creation of this office signals a major shift in how apparitions of Mary have been evaluated and authenticated in modern times.

Contrary to depictions in popular media that show the Vatican as the first and only arbiter in these matters, the actual process almost always takes place at the local level and only rarely reaches the Holy See.

Official and unofficial judgment

The Council of Trent, held between 1545 to 1563, first gave bishops the authority to recognize new miracles or relics. In the 1970s, the Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office charged with defending and promulgating Catholic doctrine, established a set of norms prescribing how alleged apparitions should be judged at the local level.

However, most apparition claims dont rise to the level of being investigated. Of the countless apparitions that have been reported throughout church history, only 25 have been approved by the local bishop, and 16 of those have been recognized by the Vatican.

Yet, throughout the Catholic world, hundreds of shrines commemorating a miraculous appearance of Mary enjoy devotional followings. What accounts for the difference between tacit and official church approval, and what is at stake when the church investigates an alleged sighting?

When personal revelations become public

Catholics the world over engage in deep relationships with Mary and the saints and take it for granted that their presence is real. In many places, furthermore, Catholic beliefs blended with Indigenous cultures and practices to produce apparition legends around which devotion has flourished for centuries.

Local priests and bishops navigate a fine line between popular religiosity and doctrinal orthodoxy. They readily accept diversity in how believers venerate Mary. But they also must remain vigilant against phenomena and messages that contradict the churchs teachings and threaten to undermine their authority. For many supernatural claims, the tipping point for investigation comes when a limited experience turns into a mass phenomenon.

A statue of the Virgin Mary outside the Sariaya Church in Quezon Province, Philippines. Mariano Sayno/Moment

To take two examples from my research in the Philippines: In Quezon City, northeast of Manila, in the early 2000s, a neighborhood group that met weekly to pray the rosary was led by a woman who, while in trance, claimed to channel the Virgin Mary. Although officials from the Archdiocese of Manila were aware of the groups activities, they left them alone, since their devotional practice had little impact beyond their immediate circle, and the content of Marys messages gave no cause for concern.

By contrast, after tens of thousands of people journeyed to the small Philippine coastal town of Agoo, in the northwestern province of La Union, to witness an appearance of Mary foretold by the visionary Judiel Nieva in March 1993, the presiding bishop immediately formed an official commission to investigate. Two years later, the commission declared it a hoax.

The difference between how local church authorities treated the two cases came down to the scale of the phenomenon, whether profit was made from peoples beliefs, and the content of the messages allegedly spoken by Mary. As with most apparitions found not worthy of belief  that is, not supernatural in origin  the Agoo phenomenon eventually died down.

Who determines devotion?

Occasionally, however, devotees remain steadfast in their belief that Mary appeared despite a negative judgment from the Catholic Church. For example, the devotional figure of Mary as the Lady of All Nations, a title associated with the visions of Dutch woman Ida Peerdeman, who claimed to have sighted the Virgin 56 times between 1945 and 1959, maintains a robust global following to this day. This is in spite of the fact that Dutch bishops and the Vaticans doctrinal office have urged Catholics not to promote the apparitions associated with that particular title.

Likewise, in Lipa, the Philippines, there was in the 1990s a revival of devotion and belief that Mary had appeared to a Filipino novice of the religious order of the Carmelites in 1948. The devotion continued even though a commission of Filipino bishops investigated the phenomenon and declared that it excluded any supernatural intervention in 1951.

In both cases, popular support for the apparitions influenced sitting bishops to reconsider, and even overturn, a previously negative judgment.

But the bishops approval didnt last long. Asserting the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Vaticans doctrinal office stepped in to uphold the original rulings that the apparitions were not authentic. Even so, many devotees remain undeterred in their belief.

Balancing act

According to the proposed Vatican observatorys president, the Rev. Stefano Cecchin, the new office will serve both academic and pastoral purposes, acting as a centralized task force for the systematic and multidisciplinary study of apparition claims worldwide.

It remains to be seen how precisely they will coordinate with local bishops who have until now enjoyed the authority to determine whether the Mother of God, as Mary is often called, appeared in their jurisdiction.

For those of us observing from the outside, the new observatory is an intriguing development in the long history of balancing the universal claims of the Catholic Church with the myriad expressions of local devotion and belief.

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

It was written by: Deirdre de la Cruz, University of Michigan.

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Deirdre de la Cruz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to the Caribbean next month  her first trip to the region since taking office  to discuss climate change, energy, food security and economic prosperity in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House confirmed to the Miami Herald.

Harris will visit Nassau, Bahamas, on June 8, and along with Bahamas Prime Minister Philippe Davis will co-host a gathering of leaders from the Dominican Republic and the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc known as CARICOM. Davis is currently chairman of CARICOM, which has recently been stepping up its foreign engagement with the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Bahamas meeting will build on previous meetings the vice president has had with Caribbean leaders, including at last years Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. During the summit, President Joe Biden promised to intensify relations between the United States and the Caribbean after he dropped in on a discussion between Harris and Caribbean leaders, much to the delight of the presidents and prime ministers who had complained about poor relations in recent years.

With Harris taking the lead, the U.S. used the summit to roll out a new Caribbean Climate Partnership to tackle climate change and the regions energy crisis. The focus is to help Caribbean governments get better access to financing for climate and clean-energy projects, and make the transition from fossil fuels something some member states told the Biden administration they are not quite yet ready to do, given the concentration of oil and natural gas reserves in Trinidad, Suriname and Guyana.

After the in-person gathering at the Summit of the Americas, where Caribbean leaders spoke about their priorities and concerns after the COVID-19 pandemic rattled their economies, high-level U.S. and Caribbean teams went to work on how best to address the energy and food security crises in the region. Harris then convened a group of Caribbean leaders at the Blair House in Washington to review the progress and decide on the next steps.

Harris and Caribbean leaders will continue those discussions during the Bahamas meeting, Kirsten Allen, the vice presidents press secretary, said.

The vice presidents trip delivers on the Biden-Harris administrations commitment to advance cooperation with the Caribbean in pursuit of shared prosperity and security, and in recognition of the common bonds and interests between our nations, she added.

Harris trip follows in the step of her boss, who as vice president under Barack Obama visited Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic. Bidens visit to Santo Domingo in 2014 was the first time a U.S. vice president had visited the Dominican Republic since Hubert Humphrey traveled there in 1966. Among the issues on Bidens agenda then: energy security and crime, two issues that Harris will also broach.

While the climate crisis and energy are expected to take up much of the discussion, there are other pressing concerns that leaders have on their minds. This includes the tourism-dependent regions economic recovery from the pandemic, which slowed growth and forced countries to take on more debt, and illegal arms trafficking.

The Caribbean region accounts for about half of all U.S. fire-arms export investigations since 2020, according to the U.S. Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security, and the region is seeing an increase in gun-related homicides.

In March, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago supported the government of Mexico in a lawsuit against gun manufacturers in the United States. Three U.S. lawmakers, including the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have since written to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, asking for the congressional investigative arm to look at the consequences of firearms trafficked from the U.S. to the Caribbean.

A White House official noted that while this is Harris first trip to the Caribbean as vice president, she has convened several multilateral meetings with regional leaders, including Dominican President Luis Abinader, since April 2022. In the Bahamas, Harris also plans to discuss promoting economic opportunity, development financing and Haiti.

Harris trip to the Bahamas takes place during Caribbean Heritage Month, and also just days before Caribbean Community leaders host a gathering of Haitian political leaders in Jamaica on June 11-13. CARICOM leaders earlier this month, agreed to appoint three former prime ministers  St. Lucias Dr. Kenny Anthony, Jamaicas Bruce Golding and Perry Christie of The Bahamas  to work with a technical support group to engage with Haitian leadership to try to broaden consensus around a path to elections, security and other areas of agreement.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,400 Haitians have been killed in gang-related conflicts, most of it in the countrys capital, and since the July 7, 2021, assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the countrys political impasse has worsened. There is no elected president or parliament, and the police are under attack by gangs. Calls by the Biden administration, Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an outside force to come help the police have gone unheeded.

Though Henry crafted an agreement in December to put in place a High Council of Transition to help provide a road map for elections, the U.S. and Canada have asked for a broader political consensus. Last week, Davis, as chairman of CARICOM, sent out invitations to Haitian leaders, inviting them to Jamaica for the three-day meeting.
Virgin Galactics Unity spaceplane during a free flight on April 26, 2023.

Following a two-year hiatus, billionaire Richard Bransons space tourism venture is getting ready to offer suborbital flights for space tourists in late June, pending one last test flight on Thursday.

Virgin Galactic is scheduled to launch the Unity 25 mission on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. ET from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company isnt live streaming its launch, but will be providing updates through its Twitter feed.

Read more

The mission is meant to assess the customer experience and ground-based testing, ahead of opening up its commercial operations to the public, according to Virgin Galactic. If all goes well for its final test flight, Virgin Galactic can begin offering private trips to the edge of space for paying customers in late June, the company wrote on its website.

The test flight will see Virgin Galactics VMS Eve carrier aircraft take off while carrying the VSS Unity spaceplane beneath its wings before releasing the spacecraft at an altitude of roughly 50,000 feet (15,000 meters) above the ground. Once released, the spaceplane will then fire its rocket engines and attempt to reach about 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface of Earth. That border altitude is considered to be the edge of space, while the internationally recognized boundary, known as the Karman Line, is 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface.

Accordingly, not all Unity 25 crew members will get to reach the edge of space. Six crew members will ride on board the Unity spaceplane, while two pilots will take the helm aboard the Eve aircraft. One seat on board the suborbital trip could cost around $450,000 and the company claims to already have 700 customers lined up to snag their spot, according to Space.com.

Branson himself hopped on board a Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space back in July 2021. It was less than a perfect flight, however, as reports later suggested that the spaceplane veered off course during its ascent. An investigation into Bransons flight concluded in September 2021, and the Federal Aviation Administration granted the company a license for commercial rocket launches.

Theres a lot riding on Thursdays final test flight, which could see more of the worlds wealthiest passengers almost make their way to space.

For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on Twitter and bookmark Gizmodos dedicated Spaceflight page.

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FIRST ON FOX  El Salvador has reported a drop in crime and a decrease in migration out of the country after years of bearing the title "the murder capital" of the world, the countrys vice president told Fox News Digital.

"We are very clear exactly what is our policy regarding enforcing immigration," Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa told Fox News Digital. "President [Nayib] Bukele has been clear from the very beginning. This is not a problem of the United States only: This is our problem."

"We dont want to hide the problem," Ulloa added. "We wont try to put the trash under the carpet. We will face the problem. This is a problem that has been created for and by the exclusion  social, economic exclusion  and boosted by the violence in the community. So we have to deal with that."

Ulloa called immigration "a permanent issue" and urged the U.S. to develop a comprehensive, bipartisan plan to "manage this issue." To that end, he said his country reached out to the U.S., sending a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris to request a dialogue over a potential $4 billion investment in the region to create jobs and help increase quality of life so that it might deter people from leaving the country.

BIDEN ADMIN TOUTS 70% DROP IN MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS POST-TITLE 42, BUCKING PREDICTIONS

However, Harris did not respond to that letter, Ulloa said, underscoring the need "to solve the problems in the countries" where the immigrants originate. At the time of publication, Fox News Digital could not verify the vice president's response to the letter as Harris' office did not respond to several Fox News Digital requests for comment.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Harris has been the point person for the administrations efforts to address root causes of migration from a few Central American countries, including El Salvador, per a White House fact sheet shortly after President Biden took office.

El Salvador's Vice President Felix Ulloa arrives for the Paris Peace Forum closing dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Nov. 11, 2022.

In February, the administration announced a roughly $1 billion investment in communities in those countries through companies including Nestle, Target and Columbia Sportswear to support farmers, create textile jobs and invest in various industries, The New York Times reported.

Ulloa argued that El Salvador is "not only obligated," but also has "the right to maintain this harmonious relations with the administration  doesnt matter which is the side of Democrats or Republicans. It is the U.S. government in place." He believed that El Salvadors success could serve as a blueprint for other countries in the region, but that more work is needed, and that help would require cooperation with the U.S.  but the two nations have experienced some tension.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks while meeting with governors during the National Governors Association Winter Meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10, 2023.

Biden administration officials turned down a meeting request with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in February during an unannounced Washington trip following an alleged snub from Bukele in 2021 against U.S. diplomat Ricardo Zuniga. Ulloa dismissed any continued rumblings of disagreement, saying that his country has been "keeping in all diplomatic relations."

NYC MAYOR ADAMS RECEIVES PRAISE FROM UNLIKELY GOP ALLY FOR COMMENTS ON MIGRANT CRISIS

"Its a misunderstanding with some of the envoys that came in the past," Ulloa said. "But now the relationship has been improved and we have an excellent relations with the ambassador.

A Customs and Border Protection officer keeps watch as immigrants line up to be transported from a makeshift camp between border walls between the U.S. and Mexico in San Diego on May 13, 2023.

"We want to maintain the open dialogue, the demonstration with this administration, with the new administration that could take over the obviously being intellectual, because our relationship with the United States Is a long story, probably a long life."

Ulloa suggested that Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas look to overhaul and improve the process by which immigrants can apply for citizenship and more easily manage the process. The Department of Homeland Security referred a Fox News Digital request for comment to the State Department.

El Salvador presidential candidate Nayib Bukele of the Great National Alliance, right, and then-vice presidential candidate Felix Ulloa celebrate their victory in the presidential election in San Salvador on Feb. 3, 2019.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the U.S. is increasing assistance to host countries "throughout the Western Hemisphere" to help "integrate refugees and migrants and provide assistance and protection" to migrants. The spokesperson stressed that they could not provide further details of diplomatic discussions, but said the U.S. is committed to working with regional partners to expand access to "lawful pathways."

MOTHER OF 8-YEAR-OLD WHO DIED IN BORDER PATROL CUSTODY SAYS AGENTS DENIED PLEAS FOR HOSPITAL CARE: REPORT

"The United States is also making lawful pathways for migration more accessible from within South and Central America," the spokesperson explained. "In April, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Mayorkas announced sweeping new measures to address the irregular migration flows at the U.S. southwest border by expanding lawful pathways to the United States including for protection, certain parole programs, family reunification and labor pathways."

Gang members wait to be taken to their cells after 2,000 were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center, according to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 15, 2023.

Ulloa believes, though, that El Salvador's success with reducing crime and allegedly reducing the outflow of migration could serve as a blueprint for other countries in the region. He revealed that some countries have reached out to El Salvador regarding the mega-prison, whom he could not name, but did say his country has "offered to do some technical training and technical assistance" to other countries "that require this type of thing."

"I said it in the U.N. in New York, I said it in other summits, in different summits of the countries of the region, that El Salvador is willing to share our experience because the good practices should be shared, wherever that's needed," Ulloa said. "We are open to receive from any country or any international body, any request to share our technical assistance in this regard."

A general view shows the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Feb. 1, 2023.

"If any country is interested, they could come, they could ask for an appointment with the Minister of Justice or with the director of the penal system, or directly with our ministers," he added.

MAYORKAS IS BLATANTLY DISREGARDING HIS DUTY TO ENFORCE US LAW: REP. CHIP ROY

Ulloa referred to comments by U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William H. Duncan that suggested the country has seen a 40% decrease in people leaving the country over the past year  partially after the establishment of the countrys mega-prison "Terrorism Confinement Center."

Prison agents observe gang members as they get off a bus after 2,000 gang members were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Feb. 24, 2023.

The prison, which can hold 40,000 people, has already exceeded 10% capacity just a few months after opening, with tens of thousands of gang members still waiting for trial. Ulloa said the prison was necessary after his country received criticism for being overrun by criminals to the point that "the traditional penitentiary system was overcrowded."

"In the past, there were a lot of escapes, because of the way that the penitentiary system and all the facilities were built," Ulloa explained, noting that a number of the buildings were from colonial times.

Prison agents observe gang members as they are processed upon arrival after 2,000 gang members were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Feb. 24, 2023.

The new mega-prison, which Ulloa said the country built in "record time," involves "new technologies." He noted that one of the significant issues that the country faced was the proximity of jails to cities, so it was necessary to build the mega-prison in an isolated area.

Ulloa said the prison would contain the facilities for inmates to train in workshops and potentially even farm their own food and produce "something to be sold out of the prison."

"In that way, they could be self-sustaining," Ulloa claimed. "It has been a model for other countries, who have come to visit and check to see how [it] was and how [it] is working now."
(CNN)  Chinas new ambassador arrived in the United States on Tuesday as both the US and Chinese governments have indicated that they want to put relations between their two nations back on track.

Xie Feng said he aims to enhance US-China relations at a time of serious difficulties and challenges.

We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences and also to expand our cooperation so that our relationship will be back to the right track, Xie said in remarks in English after landing in New York City.

Xie Fengs arrival as the top envoy for Beijing comes after what has been a tumultuous period in relations between Washington and Beijing. Tensions soared following a visit by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned visit to China earlier this year after a Chinese surveillance balloon traversed the US.

In recent weeks, however, there have been signals that those heated tensions seem to be cooling. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with top Chinese official Wang Yi in Vienna, and Chinas Commerce Minister may meet with top US commerce and trade officials in the US in the coming weeks.

President Joe Biden said in Japan last weekend that everything changed in terms of talking to one another following the spy balloon incident, but I think youre going to see that begin to thaw very shortly.

Xie said Tuesday hes looking forward to properly handling sensitive and important issues, like the Taiwan question, as well as engaging with Americans from all walks of life. He referenced the last time he was working in the US as a diplomat over a decade ago and said that the world and the US have changed a lot.

US officials are expecting Xie to be a capable and productive interlocutor based on past engagements they have had with the longtime Chinese diplomat.

Hes a professional, hes very capable. Weve known him for many, many years. I think hes been working at the MFA for more than 30 years, said a State Department official. And we really know him from his time in Washington. He served multiple tours here, and most recently has been the Vice Foreign Minister overseeing the Americas and other departments as well.

US officials point to the current moment in US-China relations being different than when Xie met with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in the summer of 2021, when he said the relationship had hit a stalemate and faces serious difficulties.

At the end of last year, Xie met with top State Department and National Security Council officials who visited China following Bidens meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali. That was one of many engagements Xie has had with Biden officials over the course of the last few years.

Things have changed, the official said of this moment in time versus earlier on in the Biden administration. Since the Sherman meeting - which followed a tense encounter in Alaska that Blinken and Sullivan had with their Chinese counterparts, there have been tens of dozens of hours of calls between the US and China that have included Xie Feng, specifically in preparation for the Biden-Xi meeting in Bali and the planned Blinken visit to Beijing earlier this year.

We have seen how professional, how clear he is, the official said.

There was a longer process for the last Chinese ambassador to the US to get up and running, partially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Officials are hoping that the process for Xie to get up and running officially  which requires him to present his credentials to Biden, which is scheduled by the White House  happens as quickly as possible.

The State Department welcomed Xie Fengs arrival. We look forward to working with the ambassador designate and his team, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller at a press briefing.

Miller said that State Department protocol officials will work to get Xie presented with credentials in accordance with standard State Department practices and diplomatic norms.

We remain committed, as weve said on a number of occasions, to maintaining channels of communication with the PRC to responsibly manage competition, Miller said.
Wagner boss Prigozhin says Putin's plan to 'demilitarize' Ukraine has been a bust as Ukraine now has one of the 'strongest' armies

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, Monday, May 15, 2023. AP Photo/Libkos

Putin made denazification and demilitarization key objectives of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But these efforts have failed, the Wagner Group founder said.

"The Ukrainians are one of the strongest armies today," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview.

Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said this week that Russia has failed to achieve one of its main goals, demilitarizing Ukraine, and has actually made Kyiv's army stronger through its invasion.

"So how did we demilitarize? It turns out that on the contrary, we have militarized Ukraine," Prigozhin said in a video interview now circulating around social media.

Prigozhin, who has in recent months taken repeated shots at the Russian defense ministry and Russian failures in Ukraine, said that Kyiv has gained more troops and more weapons since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

He refers to "demilitarization" as a "sore" spot, according to a translation of the video published to Twitter on Wednesday by Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs.

The nod to demilitarization refers to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's key ambitions in the unprovoked assault on Ukraine in February 2022. At the time, Putin announced a "special military operation" with the goal of "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, a democratic country that is led by a Jewish president.

Prigozhin said his mercenaries have battled in "many places" and against "many people," including American, French, and United Nations troops in the various locations that Wagner tried to operate secretly in before its role in Ukraine quickly thrust the group into the public eye in a major way.

In an arguably baseless claim, he said that Wagner is the "best army in the world," despite taking massive losses while fighting to capture eastern Ukraine's war-torn city of Bakhmut. The battle has severely weakened the paramilitary organization.

Western intelligence suggested earlier this year that the mercenaries and the army of convicts they recruited to bolster their ranks  sometimes rushed into battle to absorb heavy Ukrainian fire  likely had a casualty rate of up to 50 percent. And between December and May, over 10,000 Wagner fighters were killed, according to a recent US assessment.

Praising his adversary while calling attention to Russia's failures, Prigozhin said that "the Ukrainians are one of the strongest armies today." That observation stands in stark contrast with Russia's initial pre-war expectation that the Ukrainian army would crumble and it could capture Kyiv in a matter of days.

"They have a high level of organization, a high level of training, a high level of intelligence," he said. "They have different weapons and moreover they work with any systems. Soviet, NATO, everything equally successful."

Ukrainian soldiers ride atop an APC on the frontline in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 26, 2023. AP Photo/Libkos

Indeed, Ukraine has enjoyed widespread military aid and training from the US and other NATO partners, which have sent billions of dollars in lethal aid and military hardware and equipment to Ukraine, from small arms and ammunition to advanced munitions and armored vehicles. This mountain of security assistance from the West has complemented Ukraine's existing stockpile of Soviet-era weaponry, such as tanks and fighter jets, and boosted its overall combat capability.

Kyiv's troops have used these systems to inflict devastating casualties on both Wagner and Russia's regular military. Since December, these forces have suffered over 100,000 casualties and made only limited territorial gains in the process. Now, Ukraine is gearing up for a much-anticipated counteroffensive, which may only worsen the situation for Russia.

"We have been working very closely with our allies and partners to help Ukraine build up its combat power," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at a Tuesday briefing. "So as they prepare to conduct counter-offensive operations, they have got a very strong hand and we're very confident that they have the combat capability that they'll need."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Wagner Group boss says more than 20,000 of his troops died in Bakhmut

KYIV, Ukraine  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that hes lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscows widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhins comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they havent sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

FILE - Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, arrives during a funeral ceremony at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, April 8, 2023. (AP, file)

Hes highlighted his forces sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putins rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russias security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In Washington, Kirby speculated Wednesday on Prigozhins motives.

And its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscows vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.

In what it says is likely a low estimate, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said theyre planning, and in Tuesdays interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyivs forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack, he said. They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhins admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraines strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.

Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didnt elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the wars front lines, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.

Kozlowska reported from London. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Andrew Katell in New York contributed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group PMC, has said that Russia should prepare for a heavy war, introduce martial law and announce new waves of mobilisation, as well as "close all borders", as in North Korea, in order to not lose the country.

Source: Meduza citing Yevgeny Prigozhin in an interview with a pro-Kremlin political technologist, Konstantin Dolgov

Quote: "We are now in a state where we can simply lose Russia. Therefore, we must introduce martial law, we must announce new waves of mobilisation, we must transfer everyone we can to the ammunition production.

We must stop spending money on nothing, stop building new roads, new infrastructure facilities and work only for the war.

Russia needs to live like North Korea for a certain number of years, to close all borders, stop playing nice, take all our offsprings from abroad and work hard. Then we will see some results."

Details: Prigozhin responded with outrage that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's "son-in-law walks around aimlessly, while his daughters opening Kronshlot forts" instead of spending money on ammunition.

According to him, "children of ordinary people return in zinc coffins, torn to pieces" due to the so-called "special operation", while the children of the elite show off their luxurious and carefree lives.

Quote: "This split may end, as in 1917, in a revolution, when first the soldiers will stand up, and then their loved ones will stand up.

And you shouldnt think that there are [just] hundreds, there are tens of thousands of the relatives [whose loved ones] have been killed [in the war  ed.]. There will probably be hundreds of thousands. We will not get away with this. And everything will end with the fact that it will be the St Bartholomew's Day massacre in one moment. The luxurious life of the scions will end on peoples pitchforks.

I recommend to the elite of the Russian Federation: collect your kids, b**ch, send them to war, and when you go to their funeral, when you start burying them, people will say, Now everything is fair."

More details: The founder of the Wagner Group does not believe in such an optimistic scenario of war started by Russia as Europe and America getting tired of the "Ukrainian conflict", and then China sitting everyone at the negotiating table and "agreeing that everything we have already grabbed [the Russians in Ukraine  ed.], is ours, and everything that was not grabbed is not ours".

According to Prigozhin's pessimistic scenario, Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, continue the offensive and try to counterattack.

Quote: "Perhaps, the counteroffensive will be successful somewhere, they will restore the borders to [the way they were in] 2014, and this can easily happen. They will attack Crimea, will try to blow up the Crimean bridge, cut off the supply routes. Therefore, we need to prepare for a heavy war."

Background: Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Putin's chef, supported the war launched by the Kremlin against Ukraine and sent mercenaries of the Wagner Group to the front. However, he regularly criticises Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Gerasimov.

On 14 April, Yevgeny Prigozhin advised the Russian authorities to declare the so-called "special military operation" over and concentrate on consolidating its hold on the occupied territories of Ukraine.

On 20 May, Prigozhin announced the complete capture of Bakhmut and the transfer of this Ukrainian city to the hands of Russian regular troops. He is planning to withdraw the Wagner Group soldiers from the front line for approximately two months for recovery.

The Ukrainian authorities assure that the fight for Bakhmut continues. The city was very badly destroyed as a result of attacks and assaults by the Russians.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Wake County will soon use refrigerated shipping containers to store bodies requiring autopsies.

When a person dies and an autopsy is needed, state law requires counties to provide or contract space for the autopsy examination and storage of the body.

For at least 25 years, Wake County has had a handshake agreement with the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to store bodies at the offices main office in Raleigh. Now the county has been told it must find its own space.

This is obviously a large undertaking and kind of took us a little bit by surprise, said Joshua Creighton, Wake Countys emergency management director. But theyve been very gracious and (are) giving us time to plan.

The OCME has four regional facilities including its Raleigh office.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) is not a county facility and does not have a contract with any county to fill this statutory requirement, according to an email statement from the department. The OCME is currently working closely with Wake County to support their need to develop Wake County decedent storage as established by this statute.

The office did not respond to a follow-up question about its informal agreement and what prompted the change.

But Creighton said with population growth, the aging population and an increase in opioid overdose deaths, the capacity of the OCME facility is maxed out.

Wake Countys proposed $1.86 billion budget includes $2.4 million to buy two refrigerated shipping containers that can hold 70 bodies with the capacity to go up to 100 bodies. That will meet Wake Countys needs for at least the next five years until a permanent building can be constructed.

Number of bodies needing autopsies increasing

When an autopsy is needed, Wake County pays Western Wake Fire Rescue to take the body to the OCME.

State law requires autopsies under a variety of circumstances including if someone dies from violence or an accident, if someone in good health suddenly dies or if there is a drug overdose.

In 2020, there was a 19% increase in transports, but the numbers have fallen to pre-pandemic levels, Crieghton said.

Still Wake County is seeing about 7% more bodies that need to be transported each year. In the last fiscal year, 1,116 bodies had to be taken to the OCMEs Raleigh office..

The shipping containers will be placed at the countys Hammond Road property at the Wake County Detention Center Annex.

Weve added some infrastructure to make sure things go smoothly, Creighton said. Obviously, the facility needs to be held at a certain temperature. And so weve hooked up large generators to make sure that continues. Weve also installed monitoring software, so that we know if the power is accidentally cut off. If we lose grid power, we (will) know the status of the generators, and how much fuel is in it and all that kind of stuff. Weve also taken extra steps for disposal of biohazard waste, and things like that. All the things that go into it.

Using refrigerated containers to store decedents is not uncommon around North Carolina and the country.

Due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and decedent surge increases across the state, the OCME purchased a mortuary response solution in the form of decedent storage refrigerated trailers that were put into use October 2020, according to the OCME statement.

But those containers are only for storage. Autopsies will still be performed at the OCME until a permanent facility is built.

Wake Countys proposed budget also anticipates $29 million to build a new permanent facility to store bodies and provide space for autopsies to be performed. Wake County will do a study later this fall to help with the long-term solution.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on the budget June 5.
Walmart illegally sold brass knuckles to Californians. Now it will pay $500,000 fine

Walmart will pay $500,000 for illegally selling brass knuckles in California through its website. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

Walmart has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle allegations that it illegally sold brass knuckles to Californians through its website, according to state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta.

Bonta announced in a news release Tuesday that Walmart will be required to pay the California Department of Justice and the Merced County, Ventura County and Yolo County district attorneys' offices $125,000 each in civil penalties.

The retailer is also prohibited from selling brass knuckles on its website and will be required to stop third-party sellers from selling illegal weapons on its platform.

Walmart's website serves as an e-commerce platform for third-party sellers and allows the retailers to sell products to consumers directly.

Illegal weapons have no place in California," Bonta said. "The settlement we have reached with Walmart makes crystal clear that online retailers are responsible for what they are allowing to be offered for sale in our state."

According to the attorney generals complaint, about 250 brass knuckles were sold through Walmart's website, with 60% of the products sold directly by Walmart and the rest through third-party sellers.

Brass knuckles are classified as a deadly weapon under California law and selling them is punishable by imprisonment for up to a year.

It was too easy for our investigators to make online purchases of illegal brass knuckles, Ventura County Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko said. Walmart and other retailers need to take a hard look at their online sales practices and ensure that they are in compliance with California law.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A man wanted by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office in connection to a child abuse case is now in jail.

Richard King, 32, was arrested Wednesday morning on Free Pike. He was arrested by the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team.

>> Centerville man, Springboro woman identified as victims of SR-48 crash in Clearcreek Township

Deputies previously asked for help from the public in locating King. He was said to be a suspect in a child abuse case involving a four-year-old girl that was reported in early April.

During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered that King possessed an active warrant issued by Ohio Adult Parole for charges of abduction and felony domestic violence.

On May 12, the Montgomery County Grand Jury indicted King on multiple charges related to the incident, including strangulation and assault.




Video from The Sacramento Bee shows the chaos that disrupted a Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday when protesters clashed with an attendee who had made racist remarks during public comments the week before.

A homeless advocate shouted at and pushed two people seated with Ryan Messano, the 43-year-old Solano County man who made antisemitic remarks at a previous Sacramento council meeting.

The meeting was adjourned for recess twice as council leaders tried to wrest control away from audience members who had confronted Messano.

Get the f--- out of here, you f------ Nazi, a man says in the video as police officers step forward to try to quell the unrest.

Im not a Nazi. I never claimed to be a Nazi, Messano told The Bee afterward. So this whole thing is, Im being lied about as racist and bigot. This is the result of a lot of propaganda. Its very unfortunate, because it creates tension in the community and its extremely dangerous and divisive.

Go home, Nazi. Protesters interrupt, get tossed from Sacramento City Council meeting
How to watch LeVar Burton at the L.A. Times Book Club

LeVar Burton (right) and Times editor Steve Padilla discuss the State of Banned Books at the L.A. Times Book Club. (Varon Panganiban / For the Times)

What do inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, novelist Jodi Picoult and children's author Judy Blume have in common?

Book bans.

All three writers were shocked to find their work abruptly removed from library shelves amid the nation's dramatic surge in book banning.

What other books are being censored? What's driving these challenges? What can students, parents, teachers and librarians do in their communities?

On May 24 actor and author LeVar Burton joined the L.A. Times Book Club to discuss the State of Banned Books.

You can watch Burton in conversation with Times editor Steve Padilla on YouTube.





Presented in partnership with Arizona State University, this in-person book club night in Los Angeles also was live streamed.

LeVar Burton takes a photo with Times readers at book club night at the ASU California Center. (Varon Panganiban for The Times)

Burton is an actor, author and founder of "Reading Rainbow," the award-winning PBS series that introduced generations of children to the love of reading from 1983 to 2006. He is also known for his roles as Kunta Kinte in Roots and Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the third season of Picard.

An executive producer behind the new documentary The Right to Read, Burton says reading is not only a tool that unlocks doors to success but also a civil right.

LeVar Burton reads from "The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm." (Varon Panganiban / For The Times)

The surge in book bans is the latest front in a long-running battle. The American Library Assn. reports that in 2022 a record 1,269 demands were made to restrict or ban books and other materials in schools and libraries  up from 156 in 2020. Many of the targeted books deal with LGBTQ+ topics or race.

"Large swaths of books, sometimes even entire school or classroom libraries are being removed, says Allison Lee, Los Angeles director of PEN America.

Every month, the Los Angeles Times Book Club hosts community discussions with authors and newsmakers and invites readers to join the conversation.

May book club night at the ASU California Center. (Varon Panganiban / For The Times)

On June 8, actor Elliot Page will discuss his upcoming memoir Pageboy at the Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. Get tickets.

On July 19, author Luis Alberto Urrea will discuss his novel, Good Night, Irene, a story inspired by his mothers service on the front lines of World War II. Get tickets.

Sign up for the book club newsletter for the latest books, news and live events.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
HONG KONG  A luxury watch that belonged to Chinas last emperor has sold for a record $6.2 million at a live auction in Hong Kong.

The rare Patek Philippe timepiece was once owned by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty whose life was the basis for the 1987 film The Last Emperor.

It was sold over the phone on Tuesday to an Asian collector in Hong Kong after six minutes of bidding, according to Phillips, the London-based auction house which managed the sale.

Thomas Perazzi, Phillips head of watches for Asia, said it was a record for a wristwatch previously owned by an emperor as well as for the Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune, of which there are only eight known to exist.

I was delighted because after more than 3 years of hard work on researching, we found all the missing pieces of this beautiful puzzle, Perazzi said after the sale. This result brings Hong Kong to a new level as really a hub for fine watches and extremely important, collectible timepieces.

The auction house said a global team of researchers spent three years verifying the provenance of the 86-year-old watch, which Puyi gave to his Russian interpreter Georgy Permyakov while he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union after World War II. It is not clear how the watch came into Puyis possession.

Patek Philippe watches have long been a collectors favorite, and in 2019 a one-of-a-kind Grandmaster Chime from the Swiss manufacturer became the worlds most expensive watch at auction, with a hammer price of $31.2 million.

John Ng, a well-known independent watchmaker in Hong Kong who bid unsuccessfully for the emperors watch, said its sale could lead to a new trend.

Considering the current popularity of big, simple watches, small and complicated watches will receive more attention after this sale, he said.

A watch that was once owned by the last emperor of China's Qing Dynasty, whose life formed the basis of the Oscar-winning film

Puyi was only 2 years old when he became emperor in 1908, leaving his family to move to the Forbidden City in Beijing. He was forced to abdicate in 1912 after the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, though he continued living in the palace complex for years.

In the 1930s, Puyi was appointed puppet leader of Manchuria, the northeastern region that Japan had occupied as part of its invasion of China. He tried to flee after Tokyos defeat in 1945 but was captured by Soviet troops and imprisoned in Siberia, where he had the watch with him.

In 1950, the Soviet Union returned Puyi to China, where he was jailed for almost 10 years and then lived as a private citizen until his death in 1967 at age 61.

Also included in the Hong Kong auction were a manuscript notebook belonging to Puyi, a leather-bound edition of Confucius Analects, and a red paper fan Puyi inscribed and gave to Permyakov in Tokyo.

The fan sold for $77,846, six times the pre-sale estimate, while the other two items sold for a combined $121,634, almost five times the pre-sale estimate.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Park Police officers violated policy when they hit a reporter with a baton and pushed another member of the medias camera during the infamous 2020 clearing of protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., an internal government watchdog has found.

In a new report on Wednesday, the Interior Departments Inspector Generals Office said that pushing the camera went beyond the minimum level of reasonable force.

The reporter said that hitting the journalist with the baton was a violation because the Park Police policy does not permit an officer to use their baton to strike an individual who is running away.

The watchdog, however, did not fault the officer who pushed the camera for also striking the cameraperson with a shield, saying that doing so was objectively reasonable and did not exceed the minimal level of reasonable force necessary to control the situation.

The findings state that the officer who pushed the camera left the Park Police last year.

It did not directly address The Hills question about the other officers employment status.

Instead, the Park Police shared a written statement from Chief Jessica Taylor saying that the report was referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility to recommend any corrective actions, including disciplinary actions, if warranted.

Neither the media members nor the officers were named in the report. However, the events described appear similar to the publicly reported striking of cameraman Tim Myers and reporter Amelia Brace from Australias Network Seven.

The incident occurred during the police attempts to clear protesters from the square amid the protests. People had gathered to rally against the police killing of George Floyd, in which an officer knelt on Floyds neck.

Following law enforcements widely scrutinized use of pepper balls and tear gas in Lafayette Square, then-President Trump walked through the area and stood in front of a nearby church. The federal government later found that the protesters were not cleared because of Trump.

Wednesdays report said that the officer who struck the cameraman felt threatened due to the cameramans position making him appear to be purposely concealed for the purpose of an ambush.

The officer said that after seeing the camera, they no longer felt threatened, but said that the cameraman was distracting me from other people.

The cinematographer told the watchdog that after the officer punched their camera, the camera hit the back of their head, causing him to see stars and experience a bit of whiplash.

The other officer, who hit the reporter, told the watchdog that they believed the reporter would try to assault a police officer. However, the report said that the journalist was following the officers orders to leave and that the officers justification was objectively unreasonable.

The reporter told the watchdog that they later received physical therapy for injuries because of ongoing pain and discomfort.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Two U.S. Park Police officers used excessive force against members of the media during the violent crackdown at Lafayette Square in Washington in June 2020, according to a new report from the Interior Departments internal watchdog.

The investigation by the agencys Office of the Inspector General focused exclusively on a June 1, 2020, confrontation between Park Police officers and two Australian journalists who were covering protests outside the White House during the nationwide demonstrations against police brutality following the May 25, 2020, police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Video of the incident showed one officer violently striking cameraman Tim Myers in the stomach with the edge of a police shield, then shoving the camera toward Myers face. A second officer then strikes Amelia Brace, a correspondent at 7 Network Australia, in the back with a baton as she and Myers try to run away.

The Interior Departments watchdog concluded that both officers violated U.S. Park Police policy, which requires officers to be objectively reasonable in their use of force. The officers are not named in the report.

Officer 1s first use of force (shield strike) against the Cinematographer complied with USPP policy, but we could not make the same finding with respect to Officer 1s second use of force (camera push) because it did not appear that Officer 1 employed the minimum level of reasonable force necessary to control [the] situation, reads the report. Officer 2s baton strike against the Reporter did not comply with USPP policy because the policy does not permit an officer to use his baton to strike a retreating individual who is following officers orders to leave the area, an individual who no longer poses a threat to the officer or others, and where no situation authorizing the use of a baton strike otherwise exists.

The report concluded the first officers shield strike did not constitute excessive force due to the cameramans position behind a wall and the perceived threat to the officer.

Given these circumstances, we determined that a reasonable officer on the scene could have concluded that a defensive use of force, such as a shield strike, against an unknown individual who appeared to be hiding and whose hands the officer could not see, may have been necessary to defend himself or other officers against a possible attack, the inspector general wrote.

Myers and Brace both suffered minor injuries. At a congressional hearing in September 2020, Brace described being physically assaulted by police while broadcasting live for hundreds of thousands of people.

Ive been shocked to see how many journalists have been attacked, beaten and detained just for doing their jobs, she told U.S. lawmakers.

Wednesdays report notes that the U.S. Park Police conducted its own probe of the officers use of force and referred its findings to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia, which ultimately declined to prosecute.

In an email statement, USPP Chief Jessica Taylor said she appreciated the inspector generals offices thorough investigation and was reviewing the final report.

Consistent with USPP policy, following the completion of the OIG report this matter was referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to recommend any corrective actions, including disciplinary actions, if warranted, Taylor said.

The aggressive police crackdown at Lafayette Square came amid nationwide protests over the police killing of Floyd and other recent deaths and injuries of Black Americans at the hands of police. Shortly after law enforcement cleared the park of largely peaceful protesters using chemical irritants, pepper balls and batons, then-President Donald Trump made his way through the square to a historic church for a photo-op. Manycondemned the police operation as an attack on free speech and civil rights.

President Donald Trump holds up a Bible on June 1, 2020, outside St John's Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House after the park had been aggressively cleared of protesters.

President Donald Trump holds up a Bible on June 1, 2020, outside St John's Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House after the park had been aggressively cleared of protesters.

Dozens of law enforcement officers and an unknown number of protesters were injured in the confrontation.

In testimony before a House committee weeks after the event, Acting U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan told lawmakers that law enforcement had acted with tremendous restraint to de-escalate a violent situation and that there was zero correlation between our operation and the presidents visit to the church.

A separate report from the Interior Departments inspector general in June 2021 found that U.S. Park Police did not clear Lafayette Square for Trumps photo-op but rather to allow for a contractor to safely erect new fencing in response to destruction of property and clashes the two previous days.

Related...
What's on DeSantis' agenda? A look at the laws he passed as Florida governor, from abortion to guns

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  From the death penalty to gender identity to abortion, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has cemented himself as a conservative standard-bearer in the lead-up to his 2024 presidential announcement.

With the help of GOP supermajorities in the statehouse, the Republican has been able to push through an aggressive agenda that forms the base of his White House run, which he made official in a Federal Election Commission filing Wednesday.

Here's a look at some of the policies:

ABORTION

DeSantis signed a bill banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, but it won't take effect unless the states current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge that is before the state Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservatives.

A six-week ban in Florida would strike a devastating blow to abortion access in the South, since the nearby states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have banned the procedure at all stages of pregnancy. Georgia and South Carolina forbade it after cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks.

Critics, including some Republicans, have slammed the six-week law as extreme, given that most women do not even realize they are pregnant in that timeframe.

DON'T SAY GAY

The DeSantis administration expanded the controversial law that critics call Don't Say Gay" to cover all grades, banning classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

The move came after DeSantis signed a bill last year that prohibited such lessons through the third grade, a policy he has championed as a means to protect children from sexualization.

This year, the DeSantis administration put forward a proposal before the state Board of Education to expand the policy to grades 4-12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. The board, which is appointed by DeSantis, approved the proposal and the Legislature put it in law.

DeSantis' education officials have said the policy is intended to make clear that teachers should adhere to the state education curriculum.

PRONOUNS

DeSantis signed a bill that prevents school staffers or students from being required to refer to people by pronouns that dont correspond to the persons sex.

The law also bars school employees from asking students what pronoun they use and bans staffers from sharing their pronouns with students if they do not correspond with the staffer's sex.

Additionally, the law makes it the policy of every public school that "a persons sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such persons sex."

DEATH PENALTY

DeSantis has signed two major death penalty bills this year.

The first ends a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing, allowing capital punishment with jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution. Only three states out of the 27 that impose the death penalty do not require unanimity. Alabama allows a 10-2 decision, and Missouri and Indiana let a judge decide when there is a divided jury.

The change came in response to a verdict that spared the life of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter, who killed 17 people in 2018.

The other death penalty bill DeSantis signed allows the death penalty in child rape convictions, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned capital punishment in such cases.

The law is intended to get the conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a 2008 ruling that found it unconstitutional to use capital punishment in child sexual battery cases.

Florida is among a handful of states with existing laws that allow for capital punishment on child rape convictions but has not used the punishment. given the high court ruling. The Florida Supreme Court has also ruled against the use of capital punishment in sexual battery convictions.

DeSantis said he believed the Supreme Courts decision was wrong."

GUNS

Floridians will be able to carry concealed guns without a permit under a bill DeSantis signed this session.

The new law will allow anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida to carry one without a permit. It means training and a background check will not be required to carry concealed guns in public. It takes effect July 1.

Nearly 3 million Floridians have a concealed weapons permit. While a background check and three-day waiting period will still be required to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer, they are not required for private transactions or exchanges of weapons.

DeSantis has said he thinks Florida should go even further and allow people to openly carry guns. While some lawmakers have pushed for open carry, it doesnt appear the Legislature will pass such legislation this session.

Still, the governor has boosted the law, releasing a statement that read Constitutional Carry is in the books after he signed it into law.

DIVERSITY

Another new law bans colleges from using state or federal funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a consistent target of DeSantis.

Such initiatives, sometimes referred to as DEI, have come under increasing criticism from Republicans who argue the programs are racially divisive.

The law comes a year after he signed legislation dubbed the Stop WOKE Act, which restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in schools and businesses. Last year's law bars instruction that says members of one race are inherently racist or should feel guilt for past actions committed by others of the same race, among other things.

DISNEY

DeSantis also continued his long-running feud with Disney this year.

The company came into his crosshairs for criticizing the so-called Don't Say Gay law last year.

As punishment, DeSantis dissolved Disney Worlds self-governing district and appointed a new board of supervisors that would oversee municipal services in the sprawling theme parks. But before the new board came in, the company pushed though an eleventh-hour agreement that stripped the new supervisors of much of their authority.

Disney sued DeSantis in federal court in a case that said the governor waged a targeted campaign of government retaliation after the company opposed the sexual orientation and gender identity law.

DeSantis has since signed bills to enhance state oversight of the resorts monorail as well as undo agreements made by the Disney board before the state took it over.
White House backs Amanda Gorman after a parent tried to ban her inaugural poem from a Florida school

American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 20, 2021. PATRICK SEMANSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The White House is backing Amanda Gorman after a Florida parent challenged poetry.

"The president and his administration certainly stand with her...," Karine Jean-Pierre said.

A parent tried to ban the poem from a Florida school, saying it could "indoctrinate students."

The White House is backing Amanda Gorman after a parent wanted to ban the poem she wrote for President Joe Biden's inauguration, "The Hill We Climb," from a Florida school.

"The president and his administration certainly stand with her...," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday, adding that Biden was proud to have Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet, speak at his inauguration. "When you ban a book, you are censoring. It limits American freedom."

A Florida parent asked to ban Gorman's book of poetry at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami because "it is not educational and have indirectly hate messages" and it could "cause confusion and indoctrinate students," according to a copy of the parent's complaint obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared by Gorman. The parent mistakenly wrote that the book was written by Oprah Winfrey, who a foreword for the book.

The school moved Gorman's poetry and three other titles to the library's section for middle schoolers.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools tweeted that the book wasn't banned or removed and is available in a media center as part of the middle grades collection.

At age 22, Gorman was the youngest inaugural poet ever, taking the stage outside the U.S. Capitol shortly after the January 6 insurrection by former President Donald Trump's supporters.

"I'm gutted," she wrote on Twitter Tuesday, saying she wrote the poem "so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Washington  House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that House Republicans and the White House remain "far apart" on reaching consensus on a plan to address the debt ceiling as the threat of a historic default on the nation's debt grows.

McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill that the GOP negotiators, Reps. Patrick McHenry and Garret Graves, are resuming talks with Biden administration officials on the White House campus in hopes of brokering a deal to avert a default on the country's $31.4 trillion debt.

But the speaker warned "there's a number of places that we are still far apart" and said "it didn't seem like it'd be this hard" to reach an agreement. McCarthy reiterated the GOP's demands to slash federal spending rather than freeze it at current levels, and again vowed not to bring a clean bill solely addressing the debt limit to the House floor, as the White House and Democrats have been pushing for.

"You have to spend less than you spent last year. That's not that difficult to do, but in Washington, somehow that is a problem," he said, adding he believes White House and Republican negotiators "can make progress" during their meeting Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, McCarthy said that though there is not yet a deal, there were some issues "I think we've made some progress forward on." He told reporters that if a deal is struck while lawmakers are away over Memorial Day weekend, "we would want members to come back." The speaker said he planned to remain in Washington this weekend.

He also said that while there are different "X-dates" being floated, he is operating under the assumption that the date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has mentioned, possibly June 1, is the one "I've agreed to."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration's negotiators will continue to engage in "good faith" with their GOP counterparts to reach a bipartisan budget agreement, but she pushed back on Republicans' characterization of the ongoing logjam. A default on the debt, she said, would result in millions of job losses, and harm Americans' retirement accounts.

"This is a manufactured crisis, plain and simple," she said. "That's what we're seeing currently, that's what we've been dealing with for the past couple of weeks, a manufactured crisis."

Jean-Pierre said the House GOP's spending demands would result in cuts to education, meals for the elderly, veterans' housing, law enforcement, air and rail safety, and opioid treatment.

McCarthy has been adamant that the White House and Democrats are to blame for the political standoff, and he accused President Biden of brushing off calls to engage in negotiations for weeks after an initial meeting in February. The two most recently met one-on-one Monday, while their top negotiators have continued working to hammer out a deal.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks with reporters about the debt ceiling negotiations in the Capitol on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. / Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Democrats, the speaker claimed, have grown "so extreme, so far to the socialist wing" that they oppose work requirements for recipients of food stamps, cash assistance and Medicaid, as well as reigning in federal spending.

The speaker also said that Democrats had an opportunity to address the debt limit while they controlled both chambers during the last Congress, but chose not to.

"They could have lifted the debt ceiling prior to me becoming speaker," he said. "They knew the outcome of the election already, they knew we were taking power. They passed an omnibus bill but they decided not to do the rising of the debt ceiling."

The U.S. is staring down a June 1 deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. The nation reached the legal limit on its borrowing authority in January, forcing the Treasury Department to begin employing "extraordinary measures" to continue paying its bills.

But the current standstill between the White House and House Republicans is ratcheting up fears of a first-ever default, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned will be catastrophic for the U.S. economy.

Yellen said Wednesday that it appears likely the U.S. will not be able to pay all of its bills come early June absent congressional action, echoing warnings she has made to lawmakers.

"It seems almost certain that we will not be able to get past early June," she said during a virtual appearance to The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit in London.

But the Treasury secretary said the Biden administration's attention is on addressing the debt ceiling and avoiding a default.

"We are committed to not having missed payments and raising the debt ceiling so that's not a situation we face," Yellen said. "We're not involved in planning for what happens if there's a default."

Graves and McHenry, the chief Republican negotiators, indicated to reporters before departing for the White House that they understand the stakes continue to rise as each day passes without an agreed-upon plan to raise the debt ceiling.

"There's no question that we're getting to crunch time," Graves, of Louisiana, said, while McHenry, of North Carolina, acknowledged, "We are in my view way past what is a responsible deadline."

McCarthy said he does not believe there will be a default, saying, "I firmly believe we will get and solve this problem." But Yellen told the speaker in a letter Monday that waiting until the "last minute" to address the debt limit can cause "serious harms to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact" the nation's credit rating.

Yellen added that the Treasury has already seen borrowing costs increase significantly for securities maturing in early June.

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The Scoop

The White House is looking to turn recent comments by Rep. Matt Gaetz into a cudgel in its messaging battle over the debt ceiling, after the Florida Republican eagerly described himself and his fellow conservatives as hostage takers.

MAGA Republicans explicitly yelled the quiet part out loud, says a new memo from White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates.

On Tuesday, Gaetz told Semafor that hardline members of the GOP conference were uninterested in making new concessions on a debt ceiling deal, having already passed their own party-line legislation. I think my conservative colleagues for the most part support Limit, Save, Grow, and they dont feel like we should negotiate with our hostage, Gaetz said.

The administrations memo accuses the House GOP leaders of caving to the most extreme MAGA Republican members and warns a default could sink the country into a calamitous recession.

Stop holding millions of people hostage who dont have $100,000 to spend on chapstick, the memos subject line reads, a reference to the recent House GOP auction of chapstick that Speaker Kevin McCarthy used.

Know More

Gaetz isnt the only conservative pressuring Republican leadership to not budge in negotiations. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, an influential member of the House Freedom Caucus, sent a memo to House Republicans warning against any compromise on the GOPs debt limit bill.

It listed the bills key planks including revoking clean energy tax credits, securing decade-long budget caps, and handing Congress more power in approving federal regulations, among others. Each are critical and none should be abandoned solely for the quest of a deal, the Roy memo said.

Joseph's view

Democrats have spent weeks arguing that Republicans are effectively pointing a gun at the economy, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen put it, by threatening not to raise the debt ceiling unless the White House agrees to major budget cuts.

Its unclear how well the message has resonated with voters. A recent poll by CNN found that 60% of Americans believed Congress should only raise the governments borrowing if it cuts spending at the same time. However, 51% of adults told Monmouth University that the debt ceiling and spending should be dealt with separately  suggesting that answers on the issue may be sensitive to how the question is framed.

Still, theres a sense of concern among some Democrats that theyre losing the PR battle, as well as fear that any final deal could contain aggressive spending reductions and broader work requirements for safety net programs.

Thats creating a sense of whiplash among some Democrats, after many championed President Bidens expansive budget at the start of the debt limit standoff earlier in the year.

We were talking about reinstating the expanded CTC, now were talking about work requirements for food assistance, a Senate Democratic aide told Semafor.
WASHINGTON  For months, the White House has accused Republicans of wielding Congress oversight powers to pursue politically motivated attacks against President Joe Biden.

Now the White House says that the Republican congressman helming the probe into the Biden familys finances is making their case for them.

In a new memo obtained first by NBC News, White House spokesperson Ian Sams said MAGA Republicans in the House led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer are admitting that congressional investigations into the Biden familys finances are an attempt to damage the president politically.

"[E]xtreme MAGA House Republicans are being caught doing something they rarely do: telling the truth, he said. They are admitting through their own words and deeds that these so-called investigations are actually intended not to reveal facts but to hurt the Presidents political standing.

Comers comments linking the probes to Bidens poll numbers in a Fox News interview made this explicit, Sams continued.

Asked Monday about the impact of his probe on Bidens political standing heading into 2024, Comer said it had absolutely moved the needle.

Theres no question, he said. You look at the polling, and right now Donald Trump is 7 points ahead of Joe Biden and trending upward; Joe Bidens trending downward. And I believe that the media is looking around, scratching their head, and theyre realizing the American people are keeping up with our investigation.

Comer has previously argued that his investigation isn't politically motivated.

Sams argued that shows the Republican motives.

Despite previously insisting that his investigation isnt political and that the only people that see this as a partisan investigation are the media and the hardcore Democrats, on Monday morning around 4:00 a.m., Comer took to the Fox airwaves to boast that his investigations are moving the needle not because he has uncovered facts but because he claimed (falsely, by the way) that President Bidens poll numbers are trending downward, he said.

House Oversight Committee Republicans led by Comer are investigating foreign payments made to Bidens family members, including the presidents son Hunter Biden and brother James.

A memo released earlier this month by Comer argues that Biden family activities in Romania bear clear indications of a scheme to peddle influence from 2015 to 2017.

Comer has suggested that Biden may have been improperly influenced by his familys overseas business ties while serving as vice president. But despite teasing a paper trail for months, the Kentucky Republican has yet to reveal any payments made to Biden directly, before or after leaving the Obama White House.

Sams pointed to reports drawing a parallel between Comers comments and a moment eight years ago when Kevin McCarthy linked House Republicans' Benghazi investigation to Hillary Clintons sliding poll numbers.

Republicans quickly backed away from the comments, describing the tie-in as a disappointment. Soon after, McCarthy dropped out of the speakership race.

A House Oversight Committee spokesperson defended Comers probe into the Biden family, saying it's up to the White House to provide transparency.

No amount of Washington spin can change these facts or erase these bank records, the spokesperson said. The White House must provide the American people with transparency now. The Oversight Committee will continue to pursue the truth and accountability for the American people.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's move on Micron Technology Inc won't torpedo larger efforts to get U.S.-China relations into better position, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday, adding that Washington was engaged directly with Beijing.

Kirby told reporters the Chinese government's recent ban on the U.S. chipmaker Micron over security concerns was clearly an attempt to undermine the Group of Seven (G7) nations' strong stance against economic coercion, coming just one day after the G7 issued its first-ever statement on the issue.

He said the White House was communicating directly with the Chinese government, and said he did not expect the dispute over Micron to derail efforts by the White House for a more productive relationship with China.

"This is a complicated relationship and there's going to be ups and downs," Kirby said, adding Washington would "not sit idly by when we see the PRC act inappropriately."

"That doesn't mean that it alone should or will - or is - torpedoing the larger effort that the president was speaking to about getting the lines of communications back open," he added.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said the G7 agreed to "de-risk and diversify" their relations with China, but forecast a thaw in relations could come "very shortly" after strains sparked over U.S. forces' shooting down of a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive U.S. military sites.

Kirby said it was more important than ever to ensure "more open" lines of communication, and said efforts were continuing to facilitate visits to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

"We are going to try to see if we can get more productive engagements in coming months," he said, adding that Biden was referring to a spate of outreach and discussions with Beijing that had shown some "potential promise."

He said there were also discussions by the Defense Department to get a conversation going between Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd and his counterpart as he prepared to attend a Shangri-la Dialogue security meeting in Singapore in June.

Discussions were also continuing about a possible meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart during this week's Asia-Pacific-Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Detroit, he said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
White House officials Wednesday put a spotlight to remarks by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in which he said some Republicans do not feel they should negotiate with their hostage in debt ceiling talks.

Biden administration officials pointed to Gaetzs comments to argue that the GOP has created a manufactured crisis around efforts to raise the debt ceiling.

This is a manufactured crisis, plain and simple, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a briefing.

Theyre saying the quiet thing out loud, referring to the full faith and credit of the United States as a hostage, she added, as Gaetzs quote was displayed on a screen over her shoulder.

Gaetz told Semafor this week that he thinks my conservative colleagues for the most part support Limit, Save, Grow, and they dont feel like we should negotiate with our hostage.

The White House also distributed a memo from deputy press secretary Andrew Bates highlighting comments from Gaetz and other Republicans who have balked at the prospect of working with the White House to find a compromise that would raise the debt ceiling and avoid a default.

The memo cited Getzs comments, as well as those from Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), head of the House Freedom Caucus, who said members would accept the bill passed with only Republican votes late last month.

Bates argued that the GOP bill, which is dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate, would mean laying off thousands of police officers and teachers, as well as taking away health care from millions of Americans.

This is the all-important difference between House Republicans on the one hand, and President Biden and congressional Democrats on the other: Just like for the entire Trump Administration, Democrats have taken 0 hostages, Bates wrote.

House Republicans need to be called out for the vicious threat they are making to sabotage America, and to put down the gun theyre holding to the head of middle class jobs, he added.

The White House and negotiators for Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have been working in recent days to find agreement on a spending deal that would also allow Congress to raise the debt limit.

Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen has warned lawmakers that the U.S. could default as early as June 1 without any congressional action. A default would likely lead to widespread job losses, increased borrowing costs and a stock market downturn that would affect retirement savings.

Both President Biden and McCarthy have been adamant that they dont want to see the nation default, though the two sides have been unable to clinch a deal as the deadline draws closer.

Negotiators held talks at the Office of Management and Budget offices on the White House complex Wednesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (L) has held several meetings with Joe Biden but the two sides are yet to reach a deal to lift the US borrowing limit

Ratings agency Fitch put the United States on notice Wednesday that its perfect credit rating could be jeopardized if the White House and Republican opposition fail to overcome their impasse on raising the nation's borrowing limit, a week before a key deadline.

Fitch placed the country's AAA-ranked credit on "rating watch negative" -- a move it said "reflects increased political partisanship that is hindering reaching a resolution to raise or suspend the debt limit" before June 1.

That is the "X-date" when the US Treasury Department says that -- short of an agreement -- the government will run out of money, triggering a default with likely devastating economic consequences for the United States and potentially worldwide.

"Fitch still expects a resolution to the debt limit before the X-date," Fitch said in a statement. "However, we believe risks have risen that the debt limit will not be raised or suspended before the X-date and consequently that the government could begin to miss payments on some of its obligations."

The Treasury stressed that Fitch's move should serve as a wakeup call.

"Tonight's warning underscores the need for swift bipartisan action by Congress to raise or suspend the debt limit and avoid a manufactured crisis for our economy," Treasury spokesperson Lily Adams said in a statement.

And the White House urged Republicans to come to their senses.

"This is one more piece of evidence that default is not an option and all responsible lawmakers understand that," it said in a statement. "It reinforces the need for Congress to quickly pass a reasonable, bipartisan agreement to prevent default."

- Catastrophic impacts -

President Joe Biden's administration said earlier Wednesday that it still sees a path to a deal, but there were few concrete signs that the two sides were finding agreement on how to raise the so-called debt ceiling, authorizing the government to borrow more money and keep paying its bills beyond June 1.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, however, that a "bipartisan, reasonable agreement" is still possible.

The alternative, she warned, is "catastrophic impacts in every single part of this country."

"We're talking about millions of jobs lost, devastating retirement accounts, and a recession," she said.

The two sides are divided by fundamentally different visions of how to manage the country's more than $30 trillion debt.

Biden's Democrats say Congress needs to approve automatically what is known as a "clean" debt ceiling raise -- that is, to authorize more government borrowing to cover expenses already committed to, but not funded, in the budget. It's essentially an accounting maneuver that Congress performs every year to adjust funding levels.

Republicans, increasingly dominated by a hard right faction loyal to ex-president Donald Trump, have decided to use this generally mundane procedure as leverage to force Biden into accepting severe spending cuts, notably targeting social programs.

Republicans say the cuts are needed to rein in out-of-control government spending. Biden's negotiators say they are ready to discuss taming the budget, but not when Republicans are holding the debt ceiling "hostage."

- Deficit reduction -

In the latest negotiating offer, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen proposed to freeze government spending at current levels, something that she said would reduce the deficit by $1 trillion.

"The president's budget that he put forward actually proposes $3 trillion worth of deficit reduction over 10 years," Yellen said at a Wall Street Journal event on Wednesday.

"In this negotiation, the President has already offered changes that would result in an additional trillion dollars of deficit reduction," she added.

Other areas of compromise from the president include proposals to rescind unspent Covid-19 relief funds, a person familiar with the talks said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

However, Republicans have ruled out accepting White House plans to further tackle the deficit through tax increases on the most wealthy Americans and corporations.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in Congress, again ruled out passing a "clean" debt ceiling hike, but also said he thought progress would be possible.

"But let's be honest about this: We have to spend less than we spent last year. It is not my fault that the Democrats cannot give up on their spending."

The Republicans say their proposals would cut the deficit by $4.8 trillion over a decade but the White House described their plan as slashing assistance for the poorest while reinforcing tax cuts for the wealthy passed under Trump.

bur-sms/ec/md/dan
Whoopi Goldberg didnt mince words on Wednesday about retail giant Target pulling some Pride month merch amid right-wing media outrage that resulted in threats against store employees.

You wanna talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes really?!" Goldberg exclaimed, throwing conservatives favorite lib-owning insult back in their faces.

Following the overtly transphobic boycott of Bud Light after the beer manufacturer sent a commemorative can to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, conservative outragers shifted their attention to Target. After the retailer rolled out LGBTQ-inspired apparel ahead of Pride month, far-right media began accusing the company of marketing tuck-friendly swimwear for kids with extra crotch coverage, pointing to misleading and deceptive videos on social media.

Despite Target explicitly pointing out that they only offered the bathing suits in adult sizes and they were displayed in specific Pride sections in their stores, prominent conservatives continued to call for the companys CEO to be prosecuted for being a pervert groomer. Eventually, with furious customersespecially in rural and southern statesattacking the displays and threatening employees, Target decided to remove from its shelves some Pride products that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

During Wednesdays broadcast of The View, the panel largely agreed that the outrage from the right was manufactured and ignorant, adding that the queer community is being punished by the latest culture war.

At the same time, conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Target had come under fire for featuring products made by trans designer Eric Carnell, who occasionally uses Satanic symbols in his designs. (The store has since removed all items made by his brand.)

They didnt need to highlight someone who was a controversial designer already, Griffin asserted, prompting Goldberg to interject.

Im sorry, I dont know what controversy means. Having been called controversial for most of my career the last 40 years, she declared as the in-studio audience applauded.

People decide whats controversial and they point and they say, Oh, you got that on your shirt. You dont know what this is and youve made a decision about it, Goldberg added.

The Oscar-winning actress went on to say that shes all for protecting the Target employees amid the ongoing harassment campaign before taking issue with the rights full-throated embrace of cancel culture.

Im sick of people moving my desires because their desires are not being met in some way. Im sick of people telling me I cant go to a drag show, Goldberg proclaimed as the crowd roared. Im sick of people telling me that my friends are different because you dont understand them. Im sick of it. This is America. Youre supposed to be able to be whoever you are! You know, stop with all this stuff. You want to talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes really?!

After co-host Sunny Hostin said that the snowflakes are people scared of a flag, Goldberg continued to rail against the rights anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies.

The people scared of a flag, people who scared of a drag brunch. Its a brunch. Its a brunch! Goldberg concluded. Im getting really tired of this, and Im trying not to say any bad words.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Why it could be a while before Ukraine deploys F-16s in the war

Ukraine got a major boost last week when the United States agreed to a joint effort to train pilots from the embattled nation on F-16 fighter jets, but its still a ways off before the planes reach Ukrainian skies.

The planned training has begun in earnest, with Poland on Tuesday announcing it is ready to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft. The Netherlands and Denmark are also preparing for such instruction.

But even with America dropping its obstruction, there are other obstacles to Ukrainian forces using the advanced fighters.

They now have to teach pilots how to use the jets in battle, train maintenance personnel how to keep the warplanes in working order, and obtain the aircraft from its Western partners in the first place.

The long to-do list means it will take months, at least, before the F-16s take to the skies above Ukraine, officials and experts say.

F-16s for Ukraine is about the long-term commitment to the country, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday, noting the jets will not be relevant to [Ukraines] upcoming counteroffensive.

He added that U.S. officials hope training will start within weeks or months outside of Ukraine at sites in Europe.

But asked whether any F-16s would be delivered to Ukraine this year, Ryder replied, I dont want to put a timeline on it.

Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said when F-16s make it to battle depends on a lot of conditional things, including the training timeline and when countries agree to give up some of their stock of fighters.

You could do it this year, if the jets are available, no problem, he predicted. It all depends on [when] theyre being volunteered to go.

And Mark Cancian, a defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it could take at least six months, if not actually a year.

Ukraine has long pleaded for more advanced fighter jets to beat back a Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Jets like the F-16 could give Kyiv a strategic edge in providing air support for Ukrainian troops, intercepting Russian missiles and drones, attacking ground targets, and building back a gutted arsenal of Soviet-era planes.

After more than a year of stonewalling over fears it could escalate tensions with Russia, the United States finally agreed to a path forward to get Ukraine the fighters during a Group of Seven summit in Japan.

Although the new plan paves the way for several nations that own F-16s to supply the aircraft, there is still the question of where they will come from.

Ukraines military has already proven it is adept at quickly picking up a new weapons technology, with troops who were sent to an Oklahoma Army base to train on the Patriot earlier this year finishing their course in only a few short months, surprising their trainers.

Most experts and officials have predicted Ukrainian pilots could reasonably learn how to fly F-16s in as little as three to four months.

Birkey went even further, predicting it could happen within a month if really pressed.

Remember, were not holding the U.S. standards. These are guys fighting for their lives, what are the bare bones they need to know to deploy? he said.

What will take longer to train on is the maintenance aspect, he added.

The Western systems are way more complex; its a totally different kind of mindset, he said, noting that contractors could be offered to help in the interim while Ukrainians train on the system.

A March report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) also predicted a roadblock in training Ukrainian on how to keep up the jets, stating it can take months or years, depending on the desired level of proficiency.

The report, which looked into the possible F-16 transfers, said U.S. Air Force maintainers who took up to 133 days of training still needed a year of real-world experience to gain full qualification.

An F-16 also requires major amounts of maintenance  about 16 hours for every hour its in the air.

Another layer to the issue is whether European countries are willing to give up their F-16s without commitments from the U.S. to backfill their stock.

Case in point, when asked Tuesday how many Ukrainian pilots his country could train and eventually supply with jets, Polish National Defence Minister Mariusz Baszczak said it depends on our capabilities.

Poland is on the eastern flank of NATO, he told reporters in Brussels. We have certain obligations to protect not only the Polish airspace, but also, for example, the airspace of the Baltic countries.

Still, getting pilots trained now will help put planes in the sky faster once a deal is worked out, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

This is an important step that partly will enable us to then deliver fighter jets at some stage but also sending a very clear signal that we are there for the long term and that Russia cannot wait us out, he told reporters in Brussels before a meeting of EU defense ministers.

Officials and analysts have warned F-16s wont miraculously turn the tide of the war, though they will help Ukraine build back its air force with a more advanced capability  with some 60 Ukrainian aircraft downed in the course of the conflict.

It will give Ukrainians an increment of capabilities that they dont have right now. But its not going to be a dramatic game-changer, as far as Im concerned, for their total military capabilities, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters Tuesday.

Cancian said the green light on the F-16s and the Biden administrations eventual sending of other previously held back equipment, including the Patriot air defense system and Abrams tanks, are not going to be a game-changer.

These are all useful capabilities, but its the sum of the capabilities that will produce victory.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Why German authorities launched a new search for Madeleine McCann 16 years after she disappeared

The News

Police are searching a reservoir in Portugal for evidence linking a German suspect to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a British toddler who went missing while her family was on vacation in the country in 2007.

The Arade dam reservoir is about 30 miles from the Praia da Luz resort in the Algarve region where the child was last seen.

Heres why German investigators asked for the site, which has searched previously, to be examined again.

Know More

German authorities identified Christian Brueckner, 45, as a suspect in the case in 2020. Brueckner, a German national, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of a woman in 2005 in the same area where McCann disappeared.

In an interview with German TV channel RTL, state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said that while he couldnt divulge the exact information they are working from, police are investigating new information about the case.

You can imagine that we dont start searching somewhere in Portugal on the off chance, but that there must be a good reason for it, Wolters said. We do have one, but I ask for your understanding that I cannot disclose it here at the moment for tactical reasons.

Brueckner has denied any involvement in McCanns disappearance.

Step Back

McCann, who was three at the time of her disappearance, went missing from her bed at the resort while her parents were out for dinner. She was sharing a room with her younger twin siblings at the time.

Authorities have carried out previous searches of the area in hopes of finding evidence related to McCann's disappearance. But the case has remained a mystery as no remains have ever been found.
The News

LAGOS  Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, visited Nigeria last week and met with tech entrepreneurs, government representatives, and students in Lagos.

It was the only scheduled Africa stop on a 17-city global listening tour to engage with local users of ChatGPT, OpenAIs signature product. Days before the event, Altman appeared at a U.S. congressional hearing on the dangers and opportunities for artificial intelligence, calling for regulation.

Know More

Nigeria receives the largest share of tech investment into Africa, and Lagos was Altmans fourth stop in the first week of his tour, after Toronto, Washington DC, and Rio de Janeiro.

There arent many examples of African startups creating AI tools on the scale that OpenAI operates. Earlier this year, a London-based AI startup InstaDeep founded by a Tunisian was acquired by German vaccine producer BioNTech for over $600 million  but that is an exception. Indeed, the more current link between Africa and AI has been controversial: moderators in Kenya employed to review Metas products for harmful content under questionable work conditions were reportedly paid meager wages to make ChatGPT less toxic.

OpenAI presents itself as being governed by the opposite of the move fast and break things ethos that spurred Facebook in years past, by devising policies that constrain how licensees can use its models. This month, it told FiscalNote, a company that provides data to Washington lobbyists and policy advocates, that it cannot advertise using ChatGPT for politics.

Step Back

As with other stops elsewhere, OpenAI did not invite the press for Altmans visit to Nigeria, though journalists were not prevented from attending. It was a very quiet affair compared to previous visits by Silicon Valley leaders, notably Mark Zuckerberg in 2016, and Jack Dorsey in 2019. Maybe that underscores the changing narrative around tech founders as rockstars, prompting a humbler tone for engaging stakeholders.

Altman "needs players on the continent to see OpenAI as more than just a company that traumatizes their labor force," says my colleague Louise Matsakis who covers tech for Semafor. "Sam has huge  some say delusional  ambitions for what OpenAI will achieve, and I think he realizes that governments everywhere could be a roadblock to that."

Notable
Why remodeling your Fort Worth home is worth it  whether youre selling or staying

Americans spent $420 billion in 2020 on remodeling their homes, according to the 2022 Remodeling Impact Report, a joint study from the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

Our study revealed that homeowners tend to undertake a remodeling project for any number of reasons, said Jessica Lautz, vice president of demographics and behavioral insights at the National Association of Realtors, in a press release. In some instances, homeowners were content with sprucing up a room with a simple paint job, while in other cases, families decided to take on the task of renovating an entire attic or basement to add additional living space to their home.

According to the report, 35% of homeowners said the most important result from their remodel was better functionality and livability. And 86% of people said that remodeling one area of their home inspired them to remodel other areas of the house. Upon completion of the project, 22% said they had durable and long-lasting results, materials and appliances. Fourteen percent reported beauty and aesthetics as a result of the remodel.

Which remodel projects were homeowners most satisfied with?

These were the remodel jobs that made the renovators want to remain at the home, or sparked an increase of enjoyment, per the remodeling report:

Painting a homes entire interior

Painting one room

Adding a home office

Hardwood floor refinishing

Closet renovation

Insulation upgrades

Kitchen upgrades

How much value do home renovations add?

The cost of each remodeling project and cost recovery are influenced by several factors, including project design, quality of materials, location, age and condition of the home and homeowner preferences.

Quite often, an added benefit to home renovations is the possibility of an increase in the homes value, which is a reason why some people remodel, Lautz says. This is especially advantageous to a homeowner who may be considering selling their house or converting the home to a rental property.

The NAR/NARI report compared the value each project would add to a house during resale with the cost of each job, with refinishing hardwood floors coming in highest at 147% cost recovered. New wood flooring was at 118%, and an insulation upgrade at 100%. New roofing and a new garage door both recovered 100% of the project costs. Kitchen remodels had a 67% recovery rate.

Tips for remodeling your Texas home

Follow these guidelines from Texas Realtors when considering a remodels worth.

Consider the personal value youll receive: The enjoyment or utility you will get from a remodeling job may be reason enough to start the project.

Appraised value matters: When a buyer applies for a loan, the lender usually requires an independent appraisal to determine if the homes value is in line with the purchase price, which can be when the seller finds out the return on the project.

Marketability may be improved: While some remodels dont raise the sales price of a home, they may make the home more attractive to buyers. It may even be the difference between not receiving any offers and getting multiple offers on a property shortly after it goes on the market.

Dont expect a dollar-for-dollar return: Although some renovation projects add more value to a home than others, many factors can impact how much any specific remodel pays off. These include the quality and appeal of the finished project as well as how it compares to similar features of other homes in the neighborhood. In many cases, a homes sales price will increase, but not as much as the cost of the project.

Where to get financial assistance for home repairs
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, speaks with the Deseret News editorial board members at the Triad Center in Salt Lake City on Dec. 19, 2022. | Ben B. Braun, Deseret News

The Utah lawmaker behind the states new age-verification requirement to access pornography online said there have been discussions with a private company about doing the checks at no cost to taxpayers.

We would just be saying to people, If you want to look at this adult content, then heres a vendor who will verify your age for you. Its not a mandatory thing, state Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, told the Deseret News.

The 2023 Legislature unanimously passed his bill mandating that pornography websites verify users in Utah are at least 18 years old. After it took effect this month, one of the worlds largest online pornography sites, Pornhub, blocked Utah users and sued the state,

Nobody in the Utah government that Ive talked to is terribly concerned that PornHub has decided to turn off the spigot for Utah, Weiler said, adding he doesnt expect offering age verification will impact the lawsuit.

According to the state senator, PornHub saw their clicks go down by 80% In Louisiana after complying with that states first in the nation age verification requirement and decided, well, were not going to make that mistake again.

Related

Hiring Envoc, a Louisiana-based company that created a digital wallet used for the age verification, could be a free trial run for whats ahead for social media users next year in Utah, Weiler said.

He said he wants to try out an age verification system on the small fraction of Utahns affected by his bill, rather than waiting until almost everyone will have to prove theyre at least 18 years old or have parental permission to be on social media.

No further legislation is expected to be needed, the state senator said, even though the company would need access to the Utah drivers license database. He said the new age verification system could be up and running within two months.

What digital age verification could look like

Calvin Fabre, Envocs president and founder, said Louisiana offers what he called a citizens wallet that includes hunting and fishing licenses, medical licenses, insurance cards and other items in addition to drivers licenses.

For Utah, Fabre said, the companys app would only be used initially to determine whether someone is at least 18 years old or should be blocked because they are younger, without logging personal information or the website being accessed.

He said the 10 cents per age challenge that Envoc is currently paid by the compliance companies used by online adult content providers is an introductory rate and could change.

To set up the free app, Utahns would have to provide information including their names, address, date of birth and drivers license or state ID number, as well as likely a photo for facial matching with whats on file with the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles, Fabre said.

When an online pornography site detects customers are from Utah, he said the users would be told to open their app and enter a one-time code. Then, theyd be asked to permit access only to their coarse age  whether they are 18 and older  for verification.

Age verification for such sites should just be a start for Utahns, Fabre said.

Theres so many other use cases. Here in Louisiana, we use it for ordering and delivering alcohol remotely, we use it for unemployment benefits, we use it for appearing in court over Zoom, to verify identities, he said, adding the same is done for food stamp recipients.

Revenues from Louisianas digital wallet comes from a combination of renewals, duplicates, commercial verifications from businesses and special request projects such as the COVID-19 vaccination Smart card we added during COVID, he said.

Fabre said 1.7 million Louisiana residents have digital wallets, about 65% of those eligible. He said there is no charge unless they renew their wallet, which expires at the same time as a drivers license, or order a duplicate.

The knee-jerk reaction to pornography legislation

Weiler brought up that the state is talking with the company behind Louisianas age verification system in a wide-ranging New York magazine interview about pornography posted Monday that included his views on sex education and gun control.

Related

He said as an elected official he tries to accommodate all media requests, noting he recently talked with a reporter for a publication in Israel. And, Weiler said, he wants to get the word out about what Utah is doing.

This crusade to protect children from pornography, its bigger than Utah and I think Utah has been leading out on this issue, as has Louisiana now. Im hoping that legislators in other states are paying attention to what were doing, he said.

But Weiler said he feels some interviews, including New York magazines, want to put me in a box. They want to say, Oh, heres a Mormon from Utah trying to impose their religion on everybody and theyre using the force of government.

He called that a knee-jerk reaction, noting that legislation he sponsored in 2016 labeling pornography as a public health crisis drew that type of criticism but 16 other states passed similar declarations in the following three years.

Because legislating pornography is relatively new, everybody wants to go to the religion card first. Im just trying to dispel that notion, saying, Yes my religion is against pornography, but thats not what were talking about here, he said.

We already have laws saying that this filthy content is not acceptable for children. Every state has that law on the books, but nobody is enforcing it. So when I try to put some teeth to that issue, I always get this pushback that its just religion. I think its bigger than that.
In 2017, I wrote a skit for Wichita Gridiron, the annual comedy show lampooning local news and newsmakers to raise money for journalism student scholarships.

The news story it spun off of was a bathroom bill that had been introduced in the Kansas Legislature that year. My skit featured local comedy legend Bucky Walters, who appears in drag at Gridiron every year, getting arrested for using a womens restroom at the Orpheum Theatre while in costume for the show.

In my sketch, the KBI had been converted from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation into the Kansas Bathroom Inspectors, because during the Sam Brownback administration, there wasnt enough money in the budget to repaint the letters on the sides of police cars.

It got a lot of laughs in the show.

But its not funny anymore. Now, its a sad reality we live with.

The deviously misnamed Womens Bill of Rights that the Legislature passed last month, requiring all persons to use the public restrooms of their birth sex, hasnt even officially taken effect yet.

And although transgender Kansans are the obvious target of the bill, theyre not the only ones liable to get swept up in the dragnet of the pee-pee patrol.

On Saturday, Karen Wild took her son, Ellis Dunville, to the Wichita Advanced Learning Library, to meet up with her mother, which they do just about every Saturday.

Ellis is 21, autistic and non-verbal. When he needs to go, the only way he can communicate that to his mother is to lead her toward the restroom.

He requires assistance with stall doors, so he doesnt accidentally get locked in, and with hand-washing. So when he headed for the restroom, Wild did what she has done for his whole life and took him into the womens room with her.

Ellis is obviously developmentally disabled, with no concept of sex or sexuality, and his using the womens room had never been an issue before.

But on Saturday, it became one

Wild says she was followed into the bathroom entryway by a male security guard who chewed her out for taking her son inside. Ellis already was in a stall with his pants down, so there was no taking him out after that.

I dont know if he (the security guard) was going to say more or not, but a toilet flushed, so we were not alone and he was about to get caught in the womens bathroom, she said. So he turned around and left, and I was like, OK, well that was weird.

And then this woman came out of the stall . . . shes suddenly like Hes right, you know, he really shouldnt be in here. And I was like Well, thanks for your input on my parenting , maam, Ill take that under consideration.

So then my mom comes in and as Im getting Ellis hands washed . . . this woman comes in wearing a nametag with this very plastered on customer-service smile and she starts digging into me. . . . and it becomes clear to me that the security guard didnt leave, he just went to get a woman. So she says Maam Im sorry, he cant be in here, you have to leave, he cant be in here. I was like OK, hes just waiting for my mom . . . I cant make him leave right now, unless you want to have a behavior in the bathroom . . . and shes saying We have policies, we have policies.

Library Director Jaime Nix was apologetic and said it was a customer-service learning moment for our staff.

She said she hopes to talk with Wild about it, and the increased vigilance over the bathroom wasnt because of the new law, but due to a recent uptick in restroom misbehavior at the library.

She suggested that Wild and her son should use the family restroom in the future.

Wild said she hadnt thought to do that. Shed been using the womens room at the library with her son for years without incident, and she thought the family restroom was more for moms with small kids to change diapers or something.

And what about other places, where there isnt a family restroom?

Its not something I had even considered, which was stupid of me, Wild said. Do you want me to go into the mens? I have way more awareness of that kind of thing than my son does. I would think it would be way more inappropriate for me to be in the mens bathroom than it would be for him to be in the womens room.

So here we are.

You can add the developmentally disabled to the growing list of victims of Kansas prejudice, and this states bizarre fixation on who goes where.
An exterior of the CSU Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach. A new report has found flaws in how California State University handles reports of sexual misconduct. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

An outside report released Wednesday delivered a sweeping indictment of how sexual misconduct cases are handled by California State University and recommended wholesale reforms to improve accountability in the nations largest four-year public university system.

The report by the law firm Cozen O'Connor, presented at a meeting of the CSU Board of Trustees, found that the chancellor's office does not track sexual harassment and sexual misconduct cases systemwide. It identified flaws in how campuses collect data, widespread distrust by students and employees in how wrongdoing is addressed and a low number of investigations  a majority of which never result in a formal resolution.

The presentation, however, included no specific data on the investigation numbers.

The report was ordered by the trustees last year after the resignation of the previous chancellor, Joseph I. Castro, who was swept up in a controversy over his handling of sexual harassment and retaliation reports against a top administrator when he was president of Fresno State.

Since then, Times investigations have found inconsistencies in the way reports of sexual misconduct are handled by officials across the 23-campus system and detailed how reports of wrongdoing against top administrators were not investigated by school officials and senior administrators in the chancellor's office in Long Beach.

The Cal State system's interim chancellor, Jolene Koester, acknowledged after the Cozen O'Connor findings were presented that the system has "fallen short" in its response to reports of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and retaliation.

"Many of these report findings are difficult to hear," she said, adding that addressing the problems "is going to be uncomfortable."

Cozen O' Connor said it visited each of the campuses and received survey feedback from nearly 18,000 students, staff, administrators and faculty across the Cal State system.

A final version of the report, along with findings for each campus, will be released in June. The recommendations presented to the trustees include a sweeping change in the role of the chancellor's office to better spot trends and breakdowns in data collection. The report also called for creating a pool of trained investigators to assist campus personnel, who are often overwhelmed by multiple duties and not capable of thoroughly investigating cases.

"In recent years, the examples of unprofessional, at least, and criminal, at most, behavior ... that have come to us have been shocking," said Lt. Gov. and ex-officio CSU trustee Eleni Kounalakis. "If we take this report today, and we continue to get failures  that, to me, is unacceptable."

A top concern was how campuses collect data on sexual harassment and sexual misconduct that are used to create annual public reports.

"We saw incredibly disjointed and frankly unreliable conclusions," Gina Maisto Smith, one of the attorneys who led the review, said of campus reports.

CSU has so far paid more than $477,000 to Cozen O'Connor for work at 10 campuses and the chancellor's office.

Kathryn Forbes, a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Fresno State, said Wednesday that the presentation failed to address the role of the CSU general counsel's office in providing input on misconduct cases and did not provide data on low investigation rates at campuses.

We need comparative data. Cozen O'Connor did not offer any, said Forbes, who participated in systemwide meetings with the law firm.

A Times analysis of CSU records found that officials completed investigations for about 3% of more than 2,600 reports of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct received last year across the 23-campus network for the 2021-22 school year. The reports are made under Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination.

CSU records show some cases were informally resolved before an investigation by way of educational training, suspensions, terminations and expulsions. In hundreds of instances, students and employees opted for assistance outside an investigation  such as referrals for a victims advocate or counselor.

Some campuses told The Times that the data did not accurately reflect the number of investigations. The chancellors office said that a handful of campuses reported additional data that created inconsistencies.

The data "do not reflect pending investigations, or capture less formal inquiries conducted by the campus Title IX office that do not require an investigation," CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said.

The Times analysis of campus records found that in more than 1,000 instances, the alleged victims in misconduct reports did not respond to subsequent outreach. In those cases, the records did not detail attempts to contact people before concluding that a student or employee did not want to move forward with an investigation or require other help.

In recent interviews with The Times, students, alumni and current and former employees expressed distrust in their campus ability to protect them from retaliation or damage to their reputation.

Those who did comply with an investigation were not always satisfied with the outcome.

Melanie Mendoza Gasca, 20, a Cal State L.A. student majoring in English, said The Times' findings on misconduct investigations were disturbing.

"I just cant believe that this is the reality of our justice system in our schools," said Gasca, who filed a sexual misconduct case but declined to discuss it because campus officials told her it was confidential.

"It has to change. This is unacceptable."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(Editors note: Despite what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called tangible progress" in U.S. brokered peace talks earlier this month, the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue with shelling resuming on May 11 that killed a soldier and wounded several others.)

Imagine spending more than three months of this winter with empty grocery store shelves, lack of medicines at the local pharmacy, and a shortage of every other daily basic good needed. Imagine living with no heat for much of the day and night in frigid temperatures, no fuel in the car to travel to a doctor's appointment or to a place of employment, no internet to perform work and school tasks, or to communicate with loved ones. Since December, this has been the reality for the 120,000 people living within the borders of the beautiful South Caucasus Mountain territory of Nagorno Karabagh, a historically Armenian populated enclave lying within the borders of present day Azerbaijan, adjacent to Armenia.

I had the good fortune to live and work alongside the people of Nagorno Karabagh for several months late last year while engaged in a health care project. They are a hardworking, generous, church going people, many living a traditional mountain village life on a land they have been tied to for centuries. They are a people who have endured two wars since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the last in 2020, when the country of Azerbaijan supported by Turkey and other regional powers, unleashed a 44 day attack on the area that took the lives of over 5,000.

A memorial from the 2020 war in the region of Nagorno Karabagh, a historically Armenian populated enclave lying within the borders of present day Azerbaijan, adjacent to Armenia. It shows photos of all the fallen soldiers, flowers laid in front of them. It is in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabagh.

Each day during our village clinic sessions, stories were told of loved ones lost or badly wounded, displacement from homes or towns, loss of livelihood, and much more. Because Azerbaijan now occupies all the land surrounding Nagorno Karabagh, many of the clinics were conducted within view of Azerbaijan military posts, a source of constant anxiety for the population given the periodic attacks on the villages. Rather than being angry, bitter or desiring revenge, the refrain I heard repeatedly from the people was, "We simply want to live in peace."

Instead, in mid-December, Azerbaijan began a complete blockade of the only road connecting Nagorno Karabagh to Armenia and the outside world, placing a stranglehold on an entire population in attempt to remove them from their ancestral homeland. During this time, Azerbaijan has also repeatedly disrupted the gas and electricity supply to the area, as well as internet service. As a result, hospitals and clinics cannot supply needed services. Schools have closed. Food is being rationed. Businesses are shuttered. Organizations such as Genocide Watch and the Lemkin Institute have issued repeated warnings of genocide. Our own State Department, along with the European Union, United Nations, World Council of Churches, Vatican, Human Rights Watch and many others, have called for an end to the blockade, yet the humanitarian crisis continues.

Nick Akgulian, left, with a village nurse after seeing patients together outside a village clinic in Nagorno Karabagh. The village sits on the current demarcation line with Azerbaijan and a site of occasional attacks.

While the horrific events in Ukraine are rightly covered vigorously by the press and are a regular focus for our politicians, the above story, also taking place in the former Soviet Union, has largely remained out of the media. It also has not triggered actions by our elected officials similar to those taken against Vladimir Putin and Russia for its gross human rights violations.

To make matters worse, the hard-earned tax dollars of every Wisconsin and US worker is flowing into the hands of the Azerbaijan leadership responsible for this attempt at ethnic cleansing. While our country defends democracy and human rights in Ukraine against a brutal dictator, we are in effect doing the opposite in Nagorno Karabagh by using our dollars to support and reward a dictator who inflicts suffering on a people governed by democratic principles.

Our politicians, the media, and the global community can and must do better. We as citizens can do our part by contacting local and national media to request they report on this story, in hopes that shining a light on the blockade will assist in ending it. Likewise, we must relentlessly contact our politicians-including the White House, State Department, Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson, and members of our Congressional delegation, until they speak up forcefully against Azerbaijan for its conduct, and back those words with all necessary actions to end the blockade and secure a lasting future for these people in their homeland. Our demands should include an immediate end to the handing over of dollars we work so hard for, to a government intent on committing genocide.

A road sign in Nagorno Karabagh warning the population of unexploded ordinance.

Through these actions, we can do our part to end the blockade, bring peace to the people of Nagorno Karabagh, and avoid adding another tragic chapter to human history.

Dr. Nick Akgulian is from Racine and practiced in southeastern Wisconsin. He currently works as a volunteer physician in Belize at the Hillside Clinic , a facility that the Medical College of Wisconsin helped establish in 2000. His work in Nagorno Karabagh was organized and funded by two Armenian organizations with the aim of improving primary health care delivery in the region. It was intended to be an ongoing project but the conflict has prevented it from resuming. He lived and worked in Armenia 2001-02 on a World Bank and USAID funded health care reform project.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: People of Nagorno Karabagh enduring blockade in former Soviet Republic.
DEDHAM  The woman accused of murder in the death of her boyfriend, a Boston police officer from Braintree, was back in court Wednesday as a Dedham Superior Court judge heard arguments about evidence sought by her lawyers.

Karen Read, 42, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting Boston police officer John O'Keefe with her car outside a friend's house in Canton after a night of drinking on Jan. 29, 2022. The homeowner is also a Boston police officer, WCVB reported.

O'Keefe, 46, was found unresponsive in the heavy snow outside the Fairview Road home the next morning. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.

Prosecutors said Read backed into O'Keefe with her SUV after a night out with friends at bars. Read's lawyers said O'Keefe was attacked by a dog and beaten at the home.

During a 10 a.m. Wednesday hearing in Dedham, the judge ruled that the court would not hold an evidentiary hearing that would have included testimony from witnesses. Attorneys were allowed to argue about evidence the defense is seeking, including cellphone information.

The judge took the arguments under advisement and set the next hearing for July 25.

Read's attorneys have argued for additional discovery as they try to prove that she didn't kill O'Keefe.

Boston police officer John O'Keefe.

"We've spent 15 months trying to uncover the truth," defense attorney David Yannetti said. "We are not afraid of whatever evidence is unearthed from whatever source because, for 15 months, every stitch of evidence has been consistent with my client's innocence," WCVB reported.

Prosecutors have accused the defense of trying to send the court on a "fishing expedition."

Read is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.

More: Prosecutors: Defense waging 'fishing expedition' in death of Boston cop from Braintree

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Judge hears arguments in death of Boston cop from Braintree
A woman has died after being hit by a royal motorcade that was escorting King Charles' sister-in-law

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, follows in a car as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, aboard the State Hearse, travels inside Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022. GLYN KIRK/Pool via REUTERS

An 81-year-old woman has died after being struck by a motorcycle escorting a British royal.

Helen Holland died due to brain injuries that occurred after the crash on May 10.

The vehicle was escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh, who said she was "deeply saddened" by the news.

An 81-year-old woman has died after being hit by a police motorcade that was escorting King Charles' sister-in-law, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, BBC News reports.

Helen Holland, from Birchanger in Essex, was in London visiting her sister on May 10 when she was hit by the motorcycle in Earl's Court, London, according to the publication. She was taken to hospital and remained in critical condition for two weeks, BBC News reported on Wednesday.

In a statement issued to the BBC, Holland's family said she fought "for her life for nearly two weeks... but irreversible damage to her brain finally ended the battle."

Holland's son, Martin, said in a statement obtained by the Daily Mail that she had suffered "multiple broken bones and massive internal injuries" in the lead-up to her death. He added that she had been struck by the vehicle after using the "safe route" as she used a pedestrian crossing to cross the road next to traffic lights.

"The Duchess of Edinburgh is deeply saddened to hear that Helen Holland has passed away. Her Royal Highness's deepest condolences and sympathies go to all of Ms Holland's family," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on behalf of the duchess in a statement shared with Insider.

The events that led to Holland's death are being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

In a statement shared to IOPC's website on Friday, a spokesperson for the organization said it was looking for eyewitnesses and confirmed that an independent investigation was underway.

A spokesperson for IOPC told Insider on Wednesday that the investigation is at an "early stage" and that the organization is still looking for eyewitnesses following its appeal last week. The spokesperson added that the organization's thoughts are with Holland's "family and friends following their loss."

Chief Supt Richard Smith, head of the Metropolitan Police's Royalty and Specialist Protection Unit, told BBC News that the police will "continue to co-operate with and support" the investigation and that "thoughts are very much with the woman's family and loved ones."

Martin Hennessy, who said he witnessed the aftermath of the crash, told the Daily Mail that black screens which had been placed around an electricity unit close to the crossing where Holland was struck meant pedestrians were unable to see oncoming traffic.

Representatives for Buckingham Palace and Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Woman fights past middle school staff to punch student in the face, Illinois cops say

Two people fought their way into a middle school and attacked a student and staff members, Illinois police said.

The pair, a 29-year-old woman and a man of unknown age, entered John Lewis Middle School in Waukegan on the morning of May 23, according to a news release from local police.

They planned to confront a student regarding an altercation involving the womans niece, police said.

School staff attempted to stop the subjects from entering the school and were battered by the subjects in the process, police said.

The duo then proceeded into the school, where the woman punched a student in the face and the man battered two staff members, police said. They fled the school in a blue Nissan as police responded.

Officers later located the woman and arrested her.

The woman, who refused to cooperate with police, was charged with battery with bodily harm and aggravated battery to a school employee, both of which are felonies, according to the release.

The man has not been arrested, police said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing.

A spokesperson for the John Lewis Middle School did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

Waukegan is about 45 miles north of Chicago.

Woman hurls rock the size of a football at officers face, California police say

Promising young athlete dies after baseball dugout collapses on him, officials say

Man rafting with friends dies after rapid throws him in intense river, CO cops say
Will he, wont he  Is Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin reconsidering his bid for 2024?

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks prior to signing the budget at a ceremony at a grocery store June 21, 2022, in Richmond, Va. Youngkin is reportedly reconsidering plans to run for president in 2024. | Steve Helber, Associated Press

Back in April, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin thought he had put speculation on a possible presidential campaign to rest.

I am wholly focused on the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Im looking forward to these elections, he said.

But the latest reports throw his plans into question. After he released a campaign-style video, a close source told Axios that a push from GOP donors, who are concerned about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has led the governor to rethink his moves for 2024.

Hes reconsidering, the source said. Hed be in his own lane: Hes not never-Trump, and hes not Trump-light.

Youngkin denied the speculation surrounding a possible campaign.

It is so humbling that there is an expectation that I might do this, he said Wednesday, adding, And it is also encouraging that they like what were doing in Virginia.

But Im going to continue to focus on Virginia, Youngkin said.

This news coincides with DeSantis anticipated announcement for 2024 on Wednesday. In polls, DeSantis continues to trail behind former President Donald Trump, who remains the favorite Republican primary candidate.

Related

As for Youngkin, if he does decide to run, he might wait until after Virginia state legislative elections in November to jump into the race.

Despite the rumors, the governors senior adviser, Dave Rexrode, said that Youngkins attention was on Virginia and not the presidential race.

Governor @GlennYoungkin is focused on Virginia. Anyone who anonymously says otherwise probably isnt as close to the Governor as they want people to think, said Rexrode in a tweet.

During the gubernatorial election in 2021, Youngkin helped reestablish the GOP majority in the state House of Representatives by campaigning on promises to end COVID-19 restrictions, cut taxes, banish perceived wokeness from public institutions and elevate the role of parents in K-12 schools, as the Virginia Mercury reported.

Governor @GlennYoungkin is focused on Virginia. Anyone who anonymously says otherwise probably isnt as close to the Governor as they want people to think.  Dave Rexrode (@DRexrode) May 23, 2023

The chatter about him launching a bid this year intensified last week when Youngkin tweeted a one-minute-long campaign-style video.

We can usher in a new era of American values. President Ronald Reagan changed lives and now its our turn, he says in the video. A time to choose life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness over oppression and dictatorial rule.

The clip, paid for by Spirit of Virginia, Youngkins super PAC, is from his appearance at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in early May.

Its time to usher in a new era of American values. Its our turn to choose life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. pic.twitter.com/IH8enVaL5B  Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) May 18, 2023

A political expert told an NBC affiliate that the clip looked like a presidential ad.

It has nothing to do with Virginia, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. In fact, Youngkin doesnt mention his state even once.

Rexrode, Youngkins senior adviser, denied the claim and reaffirmed Virginia as the governors sole focus.

But Sabato said that Youngkin can still enter the race by the end of this year, around when voters might be looking for a fresh face.

Although, waiting past the summer could put him behind other candidates in fundraising and voter outreach, but he could receive a boost if he manages to have a big influence on Virginias fall state legislative elections.
Woodland man dies and three others injured in Yolo County head-on crash, CHP says

A Woodland man died and three Shasta County residents were injured early Wednesday after their vehicles collided in a head-on crash on a rural Yolo County road, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The fatal crash was reported shortly after 6 a.m. on Old River Road, just north of County Road 124, the CHP Woodland office announced in a news release.

The CHP said the Woodland man was driving a 2017 white Volkswagen sedan north on Old River Road as a 2023 white Ford pickup with three men from Cottonwood was heading in the opposite direction on the same road.

For unknown reasons, the two vehicles collided head-on, the CHP said. Both vehicles sustained major front-end damage. Authorities closed the road for about three hours as investigators worked at the scene.

The Volkswagen driver died from his injuries. The CHP said the three men in the Ford pickup suffered minor injuries in the crash and were taken by ambulance to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

The ages of those involved in the crash were not available Wednesday. The Yolo County Coroners Office will release the Woodland mans name after his family has been notified.

Investigators do not believe alcohol or drugs were a factor in the fatal crash, which remained under investigation..

Officers asked anyone with information about this crash to call CHP Woodland office at 530-662-4685.
Sightful thinks theres a market out there for a portable computer with a 100-inch display

No, the Tel Aviv-based startup isnt planning to release a comically oversized laptop. Instead, its putting the final touches on an augmented reality device called the Spacetop that will allow you to view your work on a massive virtual display wherever you happen to be.

More from Robb Report

The worlds first AR laptop basically looks quite similar to the lower half of your current laptop. The devices chassiswhich measures 10.47 inches wide, 9.8 inches deep and weighs 3.3 pounds features a keyboard, touchpad and soft cover. What separates it from other laptops are the NReal AR glasses that come tethered to the system. Slip those on and youll be able to view a giant floating screen right in front of you, no matter what environment you find yourself in. Sightful says the high-resolution display can span up to 100 inches, which should come in useful if youre the type of person whose desktop is constantly littered with open windows.

As cool as the concept may be, theres some room for improvement. At the heart of the Spacetop is Qualcoms Snapdragon 365 mobile CPU, which is four years out of date at this point. That means Sighfuls device is about as powerful (and maybe even less so) than the smartphone in your pocket. That all but assures its not ready to take on the Macbook Pros and Microsoft Surfaces of the world just yet. The hardware news isnt all bad, though. Specs like 8 GB of ram and 256 GB of storage are pretty standard among todays laptops, while a 25601920 pixel webcam and fingerprint reader are features you dont see every day.

Sightful Spacetop

Intrigued? The Spacetop is expected to launch in the coming months. Sightful is now accepting early access applications for its device now through its website. It will cost $2,000 initially, which isnt that far from the starting price of the top-of-the-line M2 MacBook Pro. Apples laptop may be the better computer at this point, but its screen size maxes out at 16 inches.

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Click here to read the full article.
On Wednesday, 24 May, the World Health Organization passed a motion condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on healthcare facilities.

Source: Reuters

Details: The motion passed by 80 votes to 9, with 52 abstentions and 36 countries absent.

The motion, led by a number of Western countries, was proposed at the WHO annual meeting and called for an assessment of the impact of Russia's aggression on the health sector.

Russia had submitted a counter-proposal recognising the health emergency in Ukraine, but making no mention of its own role in the war. That motion was rejected.

The Russian representative told the assembly after the vote that Russia stood not against WHOs work in Ukraine, but against the organisations "politicisation".

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Massive US aircraft carrier sails into Oslo for NATO exercises The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in Oslo

By Gwladys Fouche and Victoria Klesty

OSLO (Reuters) -The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, sailed into Oslo on Wednesday, a first for such a U.S. ship, in a show of NATO force at a time of heightened tension between NATO and Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The ship and its crew will be conducting training exercises with the Norwegian armed forces along the country's coast in the coming days, the Norwegian military said.

"This visit is an important signal of the close bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Norway and a signal of the credibility of collective defence and deterrence," said Jonny Karlsen, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the operational command centre of the military.

At one spot on the Oslo fjord, dozens of people of all ages gathered on the shore to observe the vessel as it cruised by, taking pictures and videos.

Norwegian media reported the aircraft carrier would sail north of the Arctic Circle. Karlsen declined to comment on the reports.

The Russian embassy in Oslo condemned the aircraft carrier's Oslo visit.

"There are no questions in the (Arctic) north that require a military solution, nor topics where outside intervention is needed," the embassy said in a Facebook post.

"Considering that it is admitted in Oslo that Russia poses no direct military threat to Norway, such demonstrations of power appear illogical and harmful."

NATO member Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and last year became Europe's largest gas supplier after a drop in Russian gas flows.

The Norwegian military and NATO allies have been patrolling around offshore oil and gas platforms since the autumn, following explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Victoria Klesty; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
The 337-metre (1,106-foot) USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier of the US Navy in the Oslo Fjord on Wednesday

The world's biggest warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, arrived in Oslo on Wednesday for a stopover criticised by neighbouring Russia as an "illogical and harmful" show of force.

The 337-metre (1,106-foot) nuclear-powered ship sailed into the Oslo Fjord under escort, where it will stay for several days before heading to the Arctic for military exercises, according to Norwegian media.

"Norway is a strategic partner in the continued efforts to maintain a secure and stable Arctic and North Atlantic region that benefits global order," Erik J. Eslich, commander of US Carrier Strike Group 12, said in a statement.

The Norwegian military said in a statement "the aircraft carrier's visit and presence provides... a unique opportunity to develop our cooperation and work closely together with our most important ally, the United States".

Norwegian Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said "this is the concrete expression of our close relationship with the United States and demonstrates the will for collective defence and deterrence".

The highly publicised visit, which comes amid heightened tensions between the West and Russia over the war in Ukraine, was denounced by the Russian embassy.

"There are no issues in the North that require a military solution, nor issues that require outside intervention," Russian embassy spokesman Timur Chekanov told AFP by email.

"Considering that Oslo admits that Russia poses no direct military threat to Norway, such shows of force seem illogical and harmful," he added.

NATO member Norway shares a land border with Russia as well as a maritime border in the Barents Sea.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, which can transport up to 90 aircraft and helicopters, is expected to remain moored in the Norwegian capital for several days.

A vast airspace and sea ban has been implemented around the vessel.

According to online daily Barents Observer, the ship is expected to head for the Arctic in several days ahead of the May 29 start of the Arctic Challenge Exercise, gathering 150 aircraft from 14 Western countries.

phy/po/gw/js
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo.  Yellowstone National Park law enforcement officers are asking the public for information about an incident involving an unidentified man who they said "intentionally disturbed" a newborn bison calf, resulting in the animal's death.

In a statement released by the national park, officials said the unidentified man approached the newborn bison calf in Lamar Valley near the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek in Wyoming on May 20.

YELLOWSTONE'S SURROUNDING TOWNS RELY ON WORLD TRAVELERS TO VISIT ONE OF EARTH'S MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES

That calf, National Park Service officials said, was separated from its mother when the herd crossed the Lamar River. As the calf struggled, the man pushed the calf up from the river and onto the roadway. After the man helped the calf, visitors said it began to walk up to and follow cars and people.

The NPS said park rangers repeatedly tried to reunite the calf with the herd, but those efforts failed. The NPS said visitors interfering with wildlife can cause animals to reject their offspring. They said the calf needed to be euthanized because it was abandoned and would cause a hazardous situation by approaching cars and people along the roadway.

THESE US NATIONAL PARKS REQUIRE RESERVATIONS IN 2023

"This is a conversation that is difficult to have on social media," the NPS said on Twitter while responding to questions about why the animal wasn't sent to a sanctuary or zoo.

"We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes," officials said in the statement.

The statement said that up to 25% of the bison calves born this spring will die, and those deaths will benefit other animals in a circle of life. The ranger that euthanized the calf left the animal's carcass on the landscape.

It is also against federal and state law to transport bison out of the park unless they're going to meat processing or scientific research facilities, according to the statement.

"Approaching wild animals can drastically affect their well-being and, in this case, their survival," the NPS said in a news release. "Park regulations require that people stay at least 25 yards away from all wildlife (including bison, elk and deer) and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves."

The NPS added that anyone disregarding those rules and regulations could face fines.

"The safety of these animals, as well as human safety, depends on everyone using good judgment and following these simple rules," the NPS continued.

HOW THE NATIONAL PARKS PRESERVE THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE US

This isn't the first time the NPS has had to warn visitors to stay away from wildlife.

Earlier this month, a video recorded inside Yellowstone National Park showed men approaching wild bison.

The video, recorded by emergency room nurse Heidi Irby, shows the men breaching park guidance and approaching the wild animals and coming within touching distance so that they could snap a few photos.

In the background of the video, Irby can be heard saying, "Are they serious? Oh my God. Im going to be a first responder."

Then, as the men moved closer to the bison , Irby could be heard saying, "Dude, that thing will kill you!"

In general, the NPS warns that if an animal reacts to your presence, youre too close.

"And if youre close enough for a selfie, youre definitely too close," the NPS said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during the Anti-Defamation League's "Never is Now" summit at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon (Jeenah Moon / reuters)

NEW YORK  Mayor Eric Adams asked a judge for permission on Tuesday to relieve New York City of its unique and long-standing obligation to provide shelter for anyone who asks, asserting that the immense influx of asylum-seekers has overwhelmed its ability to accommodate all those in need.

Given that were unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border, Adams said in a statement. Being dishonest about this will only result in our system collapsing, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their share.

In a letter to Deborah Kaplan, the deputy chief administrative judge for New York City Courts, the citys lawyers asked for changes to the 1981 consent decree that set New Yorks requirement to provide shelter for anyone who applies for it.

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The city asked that the wording be changed to allow it to deny shelter to homeless adults and adult families if it lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter.

The city did not request relief from its obligations to provide shelter to families with children.

Adams said that he was not seeking to permanently end the right to shelter. But he said that the 1981 consent decree, issued in the Callahan v. Carey case, could not have anticipated a mass influx of individuals entering our system  more than doubling our census count in slightly over a year.

The letter to Kaplan underscored that theme, saying that the unprecedented demands on the citys shelter resources confront the city defendant with challenges never contemplated, foreseeable or indeed, even remotely imagined.

City officials say more than 70,000 migrants have arrived since the spring and more than 40,000 are in the citys care. There are more than 81,000 people in the citys main shelter system.

The city has struggled to find places to house migrants, opening more than 150 sites to house the newcomers, including 140 hotels. Migrants have also been housed in a cruise ship terminal in Brooklyn and in tents on Randalls Island. A plan to place migrants in school gyms was quickly reversed last week after protests.

Adams says the city will spend as much as $4.3 billion through June 2024 to feed and house the asylum-seekers. It has spent more than $1 billion so far. Camille Joseph Varlack, Adams chief of staff, said during an interview Tuesday on NY1 that the city wanted to sit down with all of the parties in the consent decree and revisit all of it, in light of the record number of people under the citys care during an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

This is the second time the Adams administration has sought relief from the right-to-shelter mandate. Earlier this month, the mayor issued an executive order that suspended rules requiring families to be placed in private rooms with bathrooms and kitchens, not in group settings, and that set a nightly deadline for newly arriving families to be placed in shelters.

The Legal Aid Society, which filed the litigation that led to the right to shelter, and the Coalition for the Homeless issued a joint statement strongly opposing the citys move. The groups argued that the changes would hurt homeless New Yorkers as much as asylum-seekers.

The administrations request to suspend the long-established state constitutional right that protects our clients from the elements is not who we are as a city, the groups said. New Yorkers do not want to see anyone, including asylum-seekers, relegated to the streets. We will vigorously oppose any motion from this administration that seeks to undo these fundamental protections that have long defined our city.

Brad Lander, the city comptroller, said the Adams administration was not doing enough to relieve the pressure on the shelter system by moving people more quickly into permanent housing. Adams opposes legislation from the City Council that would eliminate a rule requiring people to be in shelter for 90 days before becoming eligible for city-funded housing vouchers.

Attempting to roll back the Right to Shelter while lobbying against legislation that will help get more homeless New Yorkers into their own apartments is wrong, said Christine Quinn, the former City Council speaker and chief executive of WIN, a network of shelters for women and children that has housed more than 270 migrant families. It is both bad policy and bad politics, and New Yorkers will not stand for it.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
(Reuters) - The New York Times Guild said on Tuesday that it has tentatively struck a new contract agreement with the New York Times marking the end of more than two years of negotiations.

The deal, if ratified, will raise the median salary of a NewsGuild member to $136,220 and to $160,011 for reporters and correspondents in the union, according to a note sent by the newspaper's deputy managing editor Cliff Levy to union members.

Other benefits include an overall 18.4% increase in salary, new job categories for reporters and editors, and doubling of fertility benefits to $50,000, according to the deal.

The New York Times, under the deal, will also allocate more than $100 million in new spending for NewsGuild members, Levy said in the note.

In December, more than 1,100 union employees at the newspaper had participated in a 24-hour walkout after failing to reach a contract with the company.

The union, which is part of the NewsGuild of New York, represents journalists, as well as ad sales workers, comment moderators, security guards and staffers at The Times Center, the NYT's events venue and virtual production studio.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi and Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Zelenskyy addressed people of Iran because of Shahed drones: Why do you need cynical murders?

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to the people of Iran not to become complicit in the bloody Russian war, which uses Iranian kamikaze drones to kill Ukrainian civilians.

Source: presidents evening address on 24 May

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Today, given that such attacks are ongoing, I would like to directly address the people of Iran. To everyone  to society, Iranian ulemas, every Iranian family, and those who can influence state decisions in Iran. Simple question: why are you complicit in Russian terror? Why are you on the side of an evil state?

The world sees what is happening, and all of you in Iran see it. Support for evil cannot be denied."

Details: Zelenskyy said that even though Ukrainians have learned to shoot down most of the kamikaze drones that Iran supplies to Russia, there are still hits and casualties.

Quote: "When an Iranian drone kills a pregnant Ukrainian woman and her husband in their home, what is it for you, mothers and fathers in Iran? When your Shahed drone hits a dormitory with our students, people die, a fire starts, emergency workers arrive [at the spot], and in a few minutes, the second Shahed drone strikes, taking the lives of those who saved the lives of others... Why does Iran need such cynical killings? By the hands of Russia, but with yours and your weapons.

What do you people in Tehran, Shiraz, Saqqez, or any other city in your country get out of it?"

Details: Zelenskyy added that as a result of helping the aggressor, Iran only gets even greater isolation from the world and even greater problems.

He expressed confidence that the people of Iran should be on the other side of history, not with evil.

"Russia started this war for enslavement. This is the war of a coloniser against a neighbouring nation.... The people of Iran could live very differently if they were not put on the same side with such evil as Russian aggression. Your Shahed drones, which terrorise Ukraine every night, mean only that the people of Iran are being pushed deeper and deeper into the dark side of history," Zelenskyy concluded.

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Zelenskyy: Our defence is improving faster than Russia can change its tactics

The Ukrainian Air Force has so far shot down about 900 of the roughly 1,160 Shahed kamikaze drones that Russia has launched over Ukraine.

Source: President Volodymyr Zelenskyys evening address on 24 May

Quote from Zelenskyy: "If we take, for example, just one weapon of Russian terror, the Iranian Shaheds, our soldiers have shot down almost 900 of these drones to date. In total, about 1,160 Shahed drones have been used against Ukraine. We shoot down most of them."

Details: Zelenskyy also emphasised that Ukraine is constantly seeking tools to shoot down all the Iranian drones.

The president added that Russia is now increasingly resorting to so-called combined strikes, using different types of missiles and drones.

"I am grateful to our Air Force, to all our defenders of the sky, to our intelligence, for improving our defence faster than Russia can change its terror tactics," Zelenskyy concluded.

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Zelenskyy holds meeting of Staff focused on ammunition supply and transition to new types of aircraft

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a regular meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Staff.

Source: Zelenskyy on Telegram

Quote: "Another meeting of the Staff. The Commander-in-Chief, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, and the commanders of the Khortytsia and Tavriia joint military units reported on the operational situation."

Details: The President has said that the status and supply of ammunition to the forward units and reserves have been discussed at the meeting. "We analysed existing and potential supply contracts and the dynamics of increasing our own production," Zelenskyy said.

Work has also begun on a comprehensive aircraft development concept, taking into account the transition to new aircraft types.

"[This includes] new organisation structure, training of pilots and staff, necessary infrastructure, logistics, etc.", the President stressed.

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(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwes Victoria Falls Stock Exchange plans to set up trading in carbon credits by September, seeking to capitalize on sweeping changes to how production of the securities will be regulated in the country.

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The exchange, known as VFEX and which denominates the securities on its platform in US dollars, will allow trade in government-approved securities, Chief Executive Officer Justin Bgoni said on Wednesday.

Last week the government decreed that half of the revenue of all carbon-credit programs will now go to the government and at least 20% to local investors. All the projects have to be registered with the state, it said, adding that the unregulated nature of the trade had seen most of the proceeds flowing out the country.

We will be starting consultations in June, he said by phone from the capital, Harare. The southern African nation is the worlds 12th largest creator of offsets, with 4.2 million credits from 30 registered projects last year, according to BloombergNEF.

The Zimbabwean governments announcement roiled the $2 billion global market for the offsets, which are bought by producers of the climate-warming gases to compensate for their emissions. The decision highlighted that the viability of projects can be jeopardized by unexpected orders by governments who argue they should be benefiting more from projects on their territory.

Each carbon credit represents a ton of carbon dioxide equivalent either removed from the atmosphere or prevented from entering it.

Under the VFEX plan, investors will be allowed to list carbon credits on the exchange after approval from the Environment Ministry and admission into the Zimbabwe Carbon Credit Registry, according to the ministrys carbon framework policy document.

The countrys biggest project is in the northern area of Kariba, covering a 785,000 hectare (1.94 million acre) swath of forest and is operated in part by South Pole, the worlds leading seller of offsets.

--With assistance from Desmond Kumbuka.

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A bird housed at Zoo Miami has made international headlines after media reports revealed possible mistreatment by handlers and visitors.

New Zealanders complained to Zoo Miami and local officials this week with calls and emails over the zoos treatment of a member of the countrys native kiwi species. Zoo Miami was offering $25 kiwi encounter sessions, during which guests could stroke the birds head while in a fully lit room.

The videos, posted to social media, outraged New Zealanders because the kiwi is a nocturnal bird that detests bright light. Following the reports, New Zealands Department of Conservation told national media that it was raising concerns about the kiwis treatment to Zoo Miami officials.

Ron Magill, the zoos communications director, told the Miami Herald Tuesday evening that he and other zoo officials have been in touch with the conservation department and were pained to have offended the island nation. The kiwi experience, he said, was discontinued first thing this morning.

We owe an apology to the people of New Zealand, Magill said. Our words are just that until we can show them...

The zoo apologized on social media.

First and foremost, on behalf of everyone at Zoo Miami, please accept our most profound and sincere apology for the stress initiated by a video on social media depicting the handling and housing of Paora, the kiwi bird that is presently under our care, the zoo said in a statement. The concerns expressed by have been taken very seriously and as result, effective immediately, the Kiwi Encounter will no longer be offered. Though Paora has thrived at Zoo Miami while receiving the best care available,the development of the Kiwi Encounter was, in hindsight, not well conceived with regard to the national symbolism of this iconic animal and what it represents to the people of New Zealand, especially the Maori.

The zoo, Magill said, didnt research the kiwis needs as much as it should have. The bird will now spend its days in a dark habitat and explore its surroundings at night. Whenever its taken out of its home, like for vet visits, lights will be kept as dim as possible.

The outcome is that this kiwi will become the best cared for kiwi in the entire United States, Magill said, adding that the bird is in excellent health.

Helen McFarlane, who lives in New Zealand, told the Miami Herald she was shocked to see the kiwi at Zoo Miami on the news. Though the zoo has already made changes, she worries the kiwi could die from being mishandled.

I believe it should be brought back here where we know how to care for them, McFarlane said. Theyve had their chance and it was in my view grossly mistreated.

For McFarlane, circuses and zoos arent appropriate environments for wildlife.

Its time we thought more about [animals as] our fellow earth dwellers, McFarlane said. As I said its not Disneyland- how are they treating other animals there?

Zoo Miamis first kiwi, which hatched in 2019, was named Paora after Paora Haitana, a Maori leader dedicated to wildlife conservation. The kiwi egg was loaned to South Florida by the Smithsonian National Zoological Park through a partnership with the New Zealand government.

Haitana, who was at the kiwis naming celebration in 2019, told New Zealand outlet RNZ he was concerned over the zoos treatment of the national bird.

Its our signature, Haitana said. Were known as the kiwi, so it goes against everything the bird was given to them for.

The kiwi, native to New Zealand, is an unusual bird. It cant fly and has hair-like feathers and a long, skinny beak. Its an icon of the island nation, a national treasure to the country and its indigenous Maori people, according to New Zealands Department of Conservation.

Kiwi even remain New Zealands property while abroad.

Kiwi are a significant national icon, equally cherished by all cultures in New Zealand, the departments website said. Kiwi are a symbol for the uniqueness of New Zealand wildlife and the value of our natural heritage.

Like many other animals on the island, the birds sleep most of the day and come out when its dark, according to advocate group Save the Kiwi. It even has adaptations that allow it to flourish in the dark, with cat-like whiskers that allow it to feel around as it navigates under low light conditions.
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Amherst County Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Martin announced he is seeking a second term to the District 1 seat on the board.

Martin, who also serves as volunteer chief of the Amherst Fire Department, said the county is making significant strides in investments in high-speed internet in rural areas of the county, keeping taxes from going up and supporting growth.

I think the county is definitely moving in the right direction, Martin, 51, said. I think weve got the right people in the right seats in terms of county staff. I just think I may have played a small part in moving the county forward so I would like to continue with that. Ive actually enjoyed it the past years.

On volunteering with the fire department, Martin said he enjoys especially working with young people and teaching them as part of his efforts to help move the department forward.

Martin said he also is appreciative of ongoing efforts to support development in Madison Heights, including a master plan for growth efforts and community planning for the U.S. 29 Business corridor from the Virginia 130 intersection to the James River.

I think thats where our growth area is, Martin said. I definitely think this is the right thing, to see the county start to grow a little bit and gain population.

He said the county needs to plan for the effects of growth on capacity in schools and utilities, emergency services and other areas. The board in 2022 gave zoning approval for two major developments that aim to bring hundreds of homes to Madison Heights, one on U.S. 29 just north of the Seminole Plaza shopping center and the other in the vicinity of the Virginia 163-Virginia 210 intersection.

Having good places for people to live is important, Martin said.

A resident of the Clifford community and a county native, Martin has spent three decades working for the City of Lynchburg and for than a decade has served as the citys chief planner. A 1989 graduate of Amherst County High School, Martin has a certificate in local government management from Virginia Tech and also serves on the Amherst County Service Authority.

Martin has served on the board since January 2020 after running unopposed. The District 3 and District 4 seats on the board also are up for election Nov. 7. The filing deadline for candidacy is June 20.
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A Franklin County familys libel lawsuit, which claimed ABC News defamed them by including a four-second video of their home in a story about politics and race, was dismissed Friday by a federal judge.

Crystal Minnix and her father Eugene Muse Jr. had alleged that an online story about local reactions to the riots at the U.S. Capitol  and the arrests of two off-duty officers of the Rocky Mount Police Department who participated in the insurrection  branded them as racists who support violence.

The allegations by Minnix and Muse, who did not appear and were not named in the story, find no footing in defamation law, Judge Michael Urbanski wrote in throwing out the lawsuit.

Rather than recovering any of the $67 million in damages they sought, the family members will be required to pay the attorney fees for two other defendants they named in the lawsuit: Bridgette Craighead and the local chapter of Black Lives Matter that she founded.

Craighead was interviewed by an ABC News reporter immediately before a video of a home co-owned by Minnix and Muse  which is painted red, white and blue  is shown. During the footage, a voiceover describes Rocky Mount as predominantly white and politically conservative.

Urbanski found no evidence to support claims from the homes occupants, who include three other adults and seven children, that the story by clear implication portrays them as violent insurrectionists, as rebelling Confederacy supporters, as supporters of President Donald John Trump, and as individuals and businesses who stand against or discriminate against people of color.

Because the lawsuit falsely accused Craighead of defamation, she is entitled to collect her attorney fees from Minnix and Muse, the judge found.

Urbanski based that part of his ruling on a Virginia law aimed at deterring SLAPP lawsuits, which stands for strategic lawsuits against public participation, that are filed with the intent to chill speech about matters of public concern.

After reading an article in the Cardinal News that mentioned Craigheads concerns about the high cost of litigation, attorneys from the Roanoke law firm of Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black volunteered to represent her for free.

With Craigheads permission, the firm will donate any award it receives to the Franklin County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, according to King Tower, one of three lawyers for the firm who worked on the case.

In his Friday opinion, Urbanski gave the attorneys 14 days to file briefs outlining what their fees amount to.

Lance Hale, a Roanoke attorney who represents Minnix and Muse, could not be reached Monday.

The lawsuit took issue with a 7 minute, 30-second news report, titled Cops role in Jan. 6 attack divides Virginia town with ties to Confederacy, that aired in January 2022.

The report includes discussions from several Rocky Mount residents on their perceptions of racism in the town as well the role of two police officers  Thomas T.J. Robertson and Jacob Fracker  who joined the hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol over the then-presidents false claims of a stolen election. Robertson and Fracker were fired and later convicted.

Statements made by reporter Devin Dwyer and Craighead implicitly disparaged the occupants of the Boones Mill home just before its image appears in the story, the lawsuit claimed.

The four-second video shows a child who is barely visible standing outside of the house. That gave rise to allegations, which Urbanski also ruled were groundless, that the story made the child a possible victim of sex offenders.

As for Craigheads comments, they included: This is their land. This is their county and we are just living in it. The lawsuit claimed that was a clear reference that white people control the land.

But as Urbanski noted in his 19-page opinion, Craigheads interview is utterly unconnected to the Minnix family, its members, or their home. Craighead was not near the home when she made the comments, and never mentioned its occupants.

The claims against ABC news were equally weak, its attorney argued when making a motion to dismiss the case earlier this year. With respect, it doesnt pass the basic common sense test, Nathan Siegel told the judge.
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Jared Schmeckpeper is guiding local youth through cyberspace.

He has worked at the Charles E. Lakin YMCA in Council Bluffs for five years and is currently the esports manager.

The Y has esports divisions for youth and teens, Schmeckpeper said. Players take on others in their division.

They compete with each other and, every once in a while, we compete with other Ys across the Midwest, he said.

Schmeckpeper grew up in Pender, Nebraska, which is about two hours west of Council Bluffs.

I grew up playing games we did for fun, he said. Theres a healthy way to do it.

If a Y gamer gets too wrapped up in a match and gets upset, Schmeckpeper has them do some push-ups and sit-ups, he said.

After that, theyre too tired to be upset, he said. We also talk about good life skills. We work out every day.

The students learn about good nutrition and safe gaming, Schmeckpeper said.

We also talk about taking a break, he said. We only have an hour of screen time when theyre here.

Schmeckpeper moved to Council Bluffs to attend Iowa Western Community College. He started working on his general education classes and got the job at the Y.

I had some friends that went to Iowa Western, and they said it was a good school to go to, he said.

He has let his studies lapse, for now, but still enjoys working at the Y.

Theres a really good togetherness, and I really like that, he said.

 Tim Johnson
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A Polisario supporter pleaded on Tuesday guilty in Spain to charges of promoting jihadist ideology and violent extremism through social media networks.

The Spanish public prosecutor called for the defendant to be sent to jail for four years and six months for his hatred for Spain and extremist propaganda. But after pleading guilty to terrorism charges, the man will be sentenced to two years in prison and a five-year probation.

Prior his arrest in March 2022, the polisario member used to post daily online messages calling for jihad. In his Facebook page, he openly expresses support for Daech and shares his hatred for Spain. He chatted with jihadists in the conflict zones and promoted audios and videos of ISIS leaders.

He admitted that he is a member of the terrorist organization Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and affirmed that he had ties with former ISGS chief Abu Walid Al Saharaoui, who was killed in August 2021.

Several international press reports had unveiled lately alarming links between Algeria-backed Polisario militias and terrorist networks operating in the Sahel and conflict zones in the Middle East.
Morocco is called upon to share its successful experience in renewable energies with African countries, said President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina, who is taking part in the AfDB annual meetings held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this May 22-26.

Morocco aimed high in capitalizing on renewable energy to develop its economy, said Adesina at a press conference on the sidelines of the AfDB event, held under the theme Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa.

Moroccos successful experience with the Noor Ouarzazate complex, one of the largest solar parks in the world, will inspire AfDB to launch similar projects in Africa, as part of the Desert to Power project which aims to provide energy to 250 million people in the countries that make up the Sahelian band using the energy sources available in abundance in the region.

The AfDB is proud of Moroccos achievements in renewable energy, insisted Adesina, citing as examples the Noor Ouarzazate complex and the Noor Midelt solar project.

He also reiterated the Banks commitment to continue to support Morocco in its energy transition, within the framework of public-private partnership (PPP).

The AfDB supports several private sector projects in Morocco, through lines of credit granted to banks, particularly in agriculture and industry, said Adesina, emphasizing the cooperation with OCP group to improve access to fertilizers in Africa.

The AfDB 58th Annual Meetings are considering ways to enhance mobilization of the private investment that Africa so urgently needs to meet its climate change adaptation and mitigation objectives.

The Moroccan delegation to the AfDB annual meetings is led by Minister of Economy and Finance Nadia Fettah.

In her capacity as AfDB Governor for the Kingdom of Morocco, Fettah is taking part in this years Governors Dialogue which focuses on the current transformation of the international financial architecture and how this evolution may affect the critical role of multilateral development institutions.

Nadia Fettah is expected to hold side talks with her counterparts from the participating countries.
The Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union (AU) Bankole Adeoye commended, Tuesday in Rabat, Moroccos unwavering commitment to democracy promotion.

In an address at the opening of the 2nd training cycle for African election observers, which he co-chairs with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, Adeoye stressed that the Kingdom has shown a resourceful leadership to support democratic elections on our continent, noting that the African continent has made steady progress in promoting democracy.

Adeoye also hailed the leadership and support provided by the Kingdom of Morocco to the AUs Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department.

To address the various problems faced, whether political, social or economic, democracy is the best solution to all these problems, he argued.

This democratic solution can only be achieved if all components of African society, namely women, youth, civil society, and others work together for Africas development, he said.

He added that this also requires the respect of all human rights, including the right to peace.

This 2nd cycle comes in this sense to strengthen democracy in Africa, through training competent and impartial election observers who are dedicated to establishing free and democratic elections, said Adeoye, calling for continued investment in training initiatives such as this.

In his address, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita renewed Moroccos commitment to strengthening institutional resilience in Africa.

From words to deeds, our work in the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) since 2022 has focused on highlighting the interdependencies between institutional resilience, stability and prosperity of Africa, said Bourita.

This willingness stems from the guidelines given by King Mohammed VI to contribute with all Africans who wish to see the emergence of an Africa that takes in hand its own electoral processes and has, for that, solid and credible institutional capacity to validate them, said Bourita.

This 2nd cycle reflects one of the most important aspects of cooperation with the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security at the AU, he said, noting that since its return to the African Union, Morocco has been working in partnership with Commissioner Bankole who heads this department, on a number of topics such as the nexus peace and climate change and this training of election observers.

This second cycle is taking place in a rather particular African context, first the context of multiple crises that Africa, like the rest of the world, is facing, security, health, political and economic crisis, he added.

This cycle also takes place in an election year par excellence in Africa with at least 16 elections taking place during this year, he noted, adding that elections and good governance in Africa are sometimes positive, sometimes ambiguous, some important progress is made in some countries, while questions are also noted in other countries.

Morocco has consistently warned about the governance/security nexus, the minister said, noting that there is no better way to silence the guns than to let democracy speak through free elections. This is the tipping point to a sustainable and robust governance program.

There is no doubt that all African states, without exception, are principally committed to the universal values of democracy and good governance, he noted.

Political responsibility does not stop at values, but starts with them: to better implement them, the minister said, explaining that this has led Morocco to carry out several initiatives aimed at strengthening the AUs institutional capacity, but also that of its member states.

If the AUs axiom is  rightly  to prevent unconstitutional change, then each member state must create the conditions for it, within its own internal order  political, constitutional and legal. Only in this way can principles and values have internal force and international authority, he continued.

Bourita also made a presentation on Moroccos electoral process, the Kingdom having chosen for decades to build a model of democratic and modern society, based on the rule of law, the participation of all citizens in political life, the separation of powers, the decentralization of power and the establishment of control mechanisms and good governance.

Morocco is hosting this May 23 to 26 the second training cycle for African election observers, an important step in consolidating the Morocco-African Union partnership in the field of support to political governance in Africa.

Banking on the success of the first edition, this second cycle is marked by a larger number of beneficiaries, which went up from 32 to 61, including 41 observers from the five regions of the continent to which will be added 10 young Moroccan observers.
The government of Cabo Verde has reiterated its support to Moroccos territorial integrity and reaffirmed its backing to the autonomy plan initiative presented by Morocco as the only credible and realistic solution to the dispute over the Sahara.

In a document sent Tuesday, May 23, 2023 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabo Verdean Foreign Ministry also reiterates its support for the efforts of the United Nations as the exclusive framework for achieving a realistic, practical, and lasting solution to the dispute over the Sahara.

Furthermore, the Government of Cabo Verde also reiterates the support of the Republic of Cabo Verde to the search for a lasting solution that preserves the Kingdoms territorial integrity, under the exclusive auspices of the United Nations and in compliance with Decision 693 of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union of July 2018, the document explained.

Cabo Verdean diplomacy recalls that these positions were clearly expressed by the Prime Minister and Head of Government of Cabo Verde, Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva, during his meeting with the Head of Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, Aziz Akhannouch, as part of his recent and very successful official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco.

The document also emphasizes that the definition and execution of the internal and external policy is a political competence of the Government, in accordance with Article 185 and paragraph (a) of number 1 of Article 203 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cabo Verde.

It is to be recalled that Cabo Verde had opened a consulate general in the Moroccan Saharan city of Dakhla in August 2022, in a clear recognition of Moroccos Sovereignty over its Sahara provinces.
The United Nations has formally denied the possible resignation of Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary Generals personal envoy for the Sahara.

During his daily press briefing on Monday, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, flatly denied the rumors relayed by certain media according to which Mr. Staffan de Mistura is considering resigning.

We have been getting some questions about Staffan de Mistura, the Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, and the speculation that we have seen in some press quarters is that he is considering stepping down, and I just want to say that they are in fact speculation, and in fact, completely false, the spokesperson said.

Stephane Dujarric made it clear that the Personal Envoy is planning to maintain and intensify engagements with all concerned and broader international supporters in a variety of formats, including regional visits and bilateral opportunities.

Mr. de Mistura appreciates the support of the members of the Security Council, as well as the Group of Friends for Western Sahara, as recently evidenced in his meetings in New York, he added.

The United States is among the supporters of the UN Envoy. On May 14, the State Department, in a statement issued after a phone talk between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, said that the US Secretary of State renewed his countrys full support for the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, as he intensifies the UN process toward an enduring and dignified political solution for the whole region.
Nigerias data breaches have surged by 64% in the first quarter of 2023, with one user account leaked every second, according to a recent report, emphasizing the magnitude of cybersecurity concerns in Africa.

The study, conducted by cybersecurity firm Surfshark, has raised serious concerns about data breaches findings, shedding light on the growing cybersecurity challenges individuals and organizations face in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. It also called for an urgent focus on Nigeria and Africa to address the alarming rise in data breaches and enhance cybersecurity measures. Surfsharks analysis ranks Nigeria as the 32nd most breached country worldwide in Q1 of 2023 that saw a significant 46% increase of data breaches compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2022). Globally, 41.6 million user accounts were breached in the same period, reflecting the pervasive nature of the issue. However, the focus remains on the implications for Nigeria, where the data breach rate is growing at an alarming pace.

A recent report by the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL), which studied the African cybercrime landscape, pinpointed the five areas of greatest concern on the continent, namely ransomware, botnets, online scams via phishing, digital extortion, and business email compromise. But while Africa has been suffering a wave of cybercrime and data breaches during the pandemic, there are some encouraging signs that cybersecurity is tightening across the region. Most governments and regulatory bodies on the continent seem to have woken up to security threats and are now treating cybersecurity with the seriousness that it deserves. Especially the European Unions GDPR rules, and South Africas very own POPI legislation, have led to a wave of stricter regulation across the continent.
Brazils support for the autonomy plan offered by Morocco for the Sahara is in line with UN Security Council resolutions and international community position, said on Tuesday Brazilian MP Tiao Medeiros.

He made the remarks during a meeting of the Brazil-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group convened in Brazilia. The group seeks to strengthen dialogue between the two countries MPs and promote cultural, economic and commercial partnership.

Chair of the of group, Tiao Medeiros, stressed the importance of Moroccan fertilizers for the development of Brazilian agriculture, saying the two countries share same democratic values and stands on issues of common interest, including sustainable development, the fight against racism, climate change and the promotion of regional & international peace and security.

Several other Brazilian MPs, members of the cross party parliamentary group, praised the excellent cooperation ties existing between the two countries, saying there are huge joint business opportunities offered in several sectors for Moroccan and Brazilian entrepreneurs.

Moroccan ambassador in Brasilia, Nabil Adghoghi, hailed the momentum gained by Moroccan-Brazilian cooperation, enabling the two countries to build a multifaceted strategic partnership as evidenced by the agreements sealed in investment, defense and justice.

Last year, trade exchanges hit a record level, said the ambassador, highlighting the various investment opportunities offered in industry, logistics, agriculture and tourism.

Brazil and Morocco continue to enhance further their cooperation in E-gov, professional training, renewable energies, green hydrogen, agronomic research and oceanography, added the Moroccan diplomat.
A group of Hungarian investors are mulling plans to invest in Gabons economy, mostly in the agriculture and digital economy sectors, Gabon Review reports.

Diplomat Georges Suha is heading the Hungarian delegation which met with Gabons Ministers of Trade, Yves Fernand Manfoumbi, and of Agriculture, Charles Mve Ellah.

The meetings addressed issues of common interest related to Gabons economic transformation model, taking into account certain speculations, notably agriculture and mining.

We would like to be active in Gabon and focus on the agriculture and digital economy sectors. Hungarians are quite strong in these areas, Suha said.

The visiting delegation also indicated that the European country is poised to invest in Gabon within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

It is absolutely clear that there is a lot of potential in Gabon, and without physical presence, it is almost impossible to seize it, Suha said after the meeting.

The Hungarian diplomat announced a coming visit by other investors.
Victoire Dogbe, Togos Premier set the tone for the preparations for the 9th Panafrican Congress to take place next year in capital Lome, the fourth time the summit is being held on the African soil.

For the head of the executive, the congress should be an opportunity to respond to the need to ensure historical continuity of the Pan-African movement, but also to reaffirm its inescapable importance in the efforts and collective momentum of the peoples of Africa and the African Diasporas for a better representation of the continent in multilateral institutions of international cooperation and for its equitable participation in global governance.

The preparations include a set of activities ranging from the appointment of the members of the International Committee to the tour of the revival of Pan-Africanism in several countries of the continent and among the diasporas, through the mobilization campaign and international communication or the appointment of subcommittees in charge of the thematic work.

The 2024 vent will revolve around Revival of Pan-Africanism and Africas Role in the Reform of Multilateral Institutions: Mobilizing Resources and Reinventing Itself for Action as theme.

South Africa, Congo and the African Union Commission and several institutions have thrown their support behind Togo to host the congress. The West African country becomes the fourth country of the continent to host the summit after Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa. The 5 first summits were held outside the continent, in Europe and the U.S. which hosted the fourth congress.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) sounded the alarm over the increasing number of Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad, up from 76,000 to 90,000 within three days.

Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations of the agency told the media during a press conference in capital Ndjamena that most refugees are women and children.

At this time, we think we are close to 90,000 people, he stressed.

Over 250,000 Sudanese have fled their country to neighboring countries as result of conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Both are fighting over power since April 15.

Mazou warned against the upcoming rainy season, which could be an additional obstacle to providing assistance. As the rainy season approaches, we urgently need to relocate new arrivals to the nearest refugee camps, he said in a statement issued in NDjamena.

The central African country, before the arrival of the new wave of refugees, hosted already around 600,000 mostly Sudanese refugees who had fled previous conflicts. Chad is now hosting almost 700,000 refugees in total, the UNHCR said, urging more international support for displaced people from Sudan. It is worth recalling that over 200 Sudanese soldiers from the army have also crossed into Chad for their safety.
I used to cook at Js steakhouse here in town watching his shows, and now  cooking for him," Drew Statz said. "This is like a dream coming f
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A Schuyler man has sued Monolith, a Lincoln-based clean energy company, and its safety contractor, saying he was trapped in a reactor and "cooked alive" while performing maintenance at the company's Hallam facility in December.

In the lawsuit filed Friday, Alvaro Torres Salvador's attorney, Matt Richardson, said: "This lawsuit addresses the human cost of developing emergent 'green' technologies by Monolith. As a burgeoning clean energy giant, Monolith made the decision to place profit over people and expediency over safety."

Attorneys for Monolith Materials Inc., Monolith Nebraska LLC and Sitex Safety & Rescue LLC haven't yet responded to the suit in court.

In an email Monday, a company spokesperson said: "We do not comment on pending litigation, but the health and safety of the workers and communities in which we operate are our top priority."

On its website, Monolith describes itself as a leader in "advanced, more sustainable, U.S. manufacturing" that has innovated and scaled methane pyrolysis, a process that uses renewable electricity instead of combustion to produce low-emission carbon black, a powdery substance that's used in tires, inks, plastics and other products.

In the lawsuit, Richardson said Torres Salvador had been working as a contractor through Babkel Mechanical of Blair at Monolith's plant near Hallam early Dec. 11 when the incident that is the subject of the lawsuit happened.

He was part of a team removing large chunks of carbon at the bottom of a reactor interior as it cooled, prior to being reactivated.

"For 20 to 25 minutes, Mr. Torres Salvador dangled on a cable approximately 100 feet inside Monoliths main reactor. Mr. Torres Salvador was suspended in mid-air, like a human being on a spit roast, in pitch black darkness, sweltering in a 200-degree Fahrenheit heat, trapped in a confined space, fading in and out of consciousness, and reckoning with what he believed to be his final moments before dying," the Lincoln attorney wrote.

At the same time, Monolith employees yelled to him that there was nothing they could do, "causing him to sob and plead for his life," Richardson said.

The lawsuit alleges a series of negligent decisions by Monolith that day left Torres Salvador severely injured and substantially transformed his life. Among them:

* Ordering Torres Salvador to enter a 200-degree reactor in order to return it to operational status as soon as possible, "thereby increasing production and profitability."

* Failing to ensure the employee who operated the pneumatic air hose for the chair that lowered his client into the reactor had proper training and experience. Richardson said the employee fed too much slack into the reactor, causing the hose to become tangled with the wires supporting the chair, trapping Torres Salvador near the base of the reactor.

* Sending Torres Salvador into the reactor without Sitex, the safety and rescue team contracted to be present whenever a worker enters the reactor, being there.

* And failing to ensure rescue equipment was operational and effective. A crane attached to his safety harness left him suspended in mid-air.

On its website, Monolith lists "Safety Matters Most" as its top core value.

In the lawsuit, Richardson alleged Monolith routinely places contractors like his client in dangerous conditions.

He said that on Dec. 11 the company decided profits mattered most and "cut safety corners at the expense of the health and well-being of Mr. Torres Salvador."

The 34-year-old suffered second- and third-degree burns and damage to a kidney, has permanent scarring and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by things like darkness and heat.

His medical expenses in the past six months have topped $200,000.

Last year, Monolith announced it had received more than $300 million from a host of big-name investors, likely the largest single investment in Nebraska history.

The company said the investment would go toward "further technological development that will offer next-generation product capabilities and other corporate-level expansion."
Photo: Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/TNS

As Mayor Eric Adams continues to contend with the significant increase in asylum seekers in the city, he is now looking toward the courts for assistance.

His administration is asking a judge to relieve the city of its legal requirement to provide temporary shelter to all who need it by suspending its decades-old right-to-shelter law. City Hall wrote a letter to Judge Deborah Kaplan, deputy chief administrative judge of the citys courts, saying its shelters are facing unprecedented demand. As of May 15, more than 65,000 asylum seekers have traveled here and more than 44,000 of them have their housing facilitated by the city, the letter says.

Under the new proposed provision, the city would suspend the right to shelter when it and the Department of Homeless Services lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter.

The citys right-to-shelter law was officially established as a result of Callahan v. Carey, a 1979 case in the State Supreme Court in which a judge ruled that the city had a duty to provide shelter to unhoused men who needed it. That ruling was later expanded to include women, and the case was settled with a consent decree in 1981 that made the requirement official. This action from City Hall seeks to revise a portion of the final judgement issued in 1984.

In a statement, Adams said he is not looking to end the right to shelter but that his administration is seeking clarity from the courts.

Given that were unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border, Adams said. Being dishonest about this will only result in our system collapsing, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their share.

The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless issued a joint statement slamming the move by the Adams administration, saying that suspending the longtime law is not who we are as a city.

New Yorkers do not want to see anyone, including asylum seekers, relegated to the streets. We will vigorously oppose any motion from this Administration that seeks to undo these fundamental protections that have long defined our city, the organizations wrote.

This is only the latest of Adamss moves to attempt to control the influx of migrants to the city. On Tuesday, he joined Governor Kathy Hochul in asking the federal government to expedite work authorizations for asylum seekers  an action the leaders believe will alleviate some of the pressure on the state. The mayor has also looked for alternative locations for housing, including suburban counties, which has received pushback from local politicians.
Get back to work protesters tell Oregon Republicans. Photo: Amanda Loman/AP

Politicians are often told they need to stand up for their principles. But in state legislatures, sometimes the most dramatic way to take a stand is to walk out. Lawmakers from both parties  typically in situations where they are totally outgunned and want to accuse legislative majorities of abusing their power  have resorted to walkouts that make it impossible to meet quorum requirements for doing business. Most famously, in 2021, Texass House Democrats fled not only the state capitol building but the state itself to thwart (temporarily) a Republican voter-suppression law, going so far as to reassemble in Washington to receive pledges of solidarity from congressional Democrats and legislators from other states.

But nowhere has the boycott tactic been pursued more rigorously than among Oregons beleaguered Republicans, who used it five times since 2019 (once over education funding, once over redistricting, twice over cap-and-trade legislation, and once to oppose gubernatorial COVID-19 policies) prior to the current legislative session. So frustrated have Oregons dominant Democrats become that last year they pushed (and voters overwhelmingly approved) a ballot initiative amending the constitution to bar legislators with ten unexcused absences from occupying a legislative seat after the next election.

So when Senate Republicans again walked out on May 3, they knew they were defying public antipathy toward legislative boycotts and risking disqualification from serving another term. It hasnt mattered. Their minority leader, Tim Knopp, says theyll stay away until June 25, the last day of the legislative session, returning to enable passage of bipartisan legislation like the budget and bills governing routine matters. (Democrats say if necessary theyll adjourn the legislature early to thwart this gambit).

What are the concerns that have made Oregon Republicans not only willing to shirk their duty and spit at public opinion but risk their own careers? Knopp calls it an unlawful, uncompromising, and unconstitutional agenda that Democrats are pursuing. By that he means bills to impose new gun restrictions (notably raising the legal purchasing age for some firearms from 18 to 21), to protect abortion rights, and to ensure access to gender-affirming medical care. In other words, in progressive Oregon as in deep-red regions of the country, Republicans are going to the mats over their party bases culture-war preoccupations.

Yes, the boycotting senators are pledging to challenge the new law penalizing truant legislators in court. But its a bad look for them in any case.

While public opinion may be somewhat blurry on gender-affirming medical care, theres no question the gun and abortion laws Oregon Democrats are trying to enact are very popular in Oregon, as they are in all but the most conservative states. So in a very real sense, the GOP there is choosing the most extreme obstructive tools available to minority political factions in order to ensure they remain in the minority perpetually. Its not a formula for personal or collective success for the boycotters.
A little over a year ago, I wrote a long feature story on Ron DeSantis. Even at that early date, it was easy to discern his blueprint for wresting the Republican nomination from Donald Trumps hands. DeSantis was pitching himself to the partys base as a more competent and ruthless vehicle for their agenda. He had courted and won over far-right activists who had thrilled to Trump: J-6ers, anti-vaxxers, Putin fans. His message would combine complete refusal to disavow any extremist within his coalition  when a small pack of white supremacists harassed Jewish people in Orlando, DeSantiss spokesman called it a false flag  with a total refusal to acknowledge the mainstream media. He was already amassing overwhelming support from the partys donor class and media barons, and could count on overt support from the Murdoch media empire.

Everything I laid out in the piece about DeSantiss plan has turned out to be correct, except one: I thought it would work.

It still might work, of course. But the de facto rollout of DeSantiss campaign, in advance of the de jure announcement, has undeniably failed. DeSantiss polling numbers, after rising smartly, went the wrong way. Crucially, the phalanx of party-elite support he was amassing has begun to crumble. Trump has won several endorsements from Republicans in Congress, and numerous presidential candidates have jumped into the race. DeSantiss early weakness has produced responses that have made him even weaker.

Theres no easy diagnosis for the stumbling rollout. As my story observed, DeSantis cuts an uninspiring figure on the stump, with his irritating nasal speaking voice and aversion to human contact. But mediocre orators (Harry Truman) and introverts (Richard Nixon) have won presidential elections before. And just last November, these drawbacks did not stop DeSantis from crushing an opponent who was neither unqualified nor ideologically extreme.

The main obstacle hes facing lies outside his control: Republicans simply love Trump. There may be a theoretical potential majority coalition composed of Republicans who either dislike Trump or realize he actually lost or believe he is fixated on the past.

But assembling that coalition was always going to be difficult. The Republican Establishment spent four years defending Trump at every turn. And it spent decades training Republican voters to reflexively dismiss any news source not controlled by the party itself. The party-controlled news has turned around and tried to interest those same voters in nominating DeSantis, but Fox News cant immediately counteract four years of hagiographic Trump coverage by simply flipping a switch to DeSantis, the way Soviet propaganda organs might simply erase a deposed leader and introduce a new one. Even for state media, changing hearts takes time.

Yet another theory posits that DeSantis is trapped by his inability to directly challenge Trump. Specifically, DeSantis refuses to say Trump actually lost the 2020 election, undercutting his implicit case that Trump is a loser. And more generally, he has avoided direct confrontation even as Trump gleefully carves him up.

I think DeSantis can solve this, too. It seems tactically correct for him to hold back on attacking Trump for a period of time, simply to establish in the minds of persuadable Republican voters that Trump began the fight with DeSantis and DeSantis is merely fighting back.

As for the 2020 election, DeSantis has already floated what I suspect will become a more fleshed-out response. He has said that the 2020 election was run fairly in Florida, a state Trump won, while casting doubt on the voting procedures used in other states. The next step is to make explicit what he is getting at: DeSantis stopped the steal, and Trump failed.

A more serious obstacle is that DeSantis himself appears to have grown increasingly obsessed with elite political discourse. He is fixated on concepts and communicates in acronyms and other jargon favored by ideologues working professionally in the conservative movement. His decision to announce his candidacy on Twitter, an unpopular social media accessed by a small percentage of the public, confirms the impression.

But this is best understood less as a tactical error by DeSantis than as evidence of the depth of his commitment. One fallacy I identified in my story last year is the assumption by moderates and liberals that, because DeSantis is undeniably intelligent, he cant actually believe what he says.

What I believed a year ago, and believe even more strongly now, is that DeSantis genuinely subscribes to right-wing theories casting a skeptical eye on American democracy. His 2011 book is an extended argument that, by enabling elected majorities to redistribute resources from the rich to the poor and middle class through taxes and spending, democracy poses a threat to liberty and the real Constitution.

His Javert-like obsession with punishing Disney, which has distressed even some of his admirers, is evidence of the same thing. DeSantis truly believes he can and must use state power to intimidate corporations from criticizing him publicly. This is not a poorly handled messaging ploy. It is an act of conviction that he has placed at the heart of his governing vision.

This has had the important benefit of endearing DeSantis to the movements most committed advocates of Trumpism. Despite Trumps efforts to cast him as another Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney, DeSantis has not been maneuvered into an Establishmentarian identity. DeSantis has appointed insurrectionists to state-government positions. He campaigned energetically with candidates like Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano, who energetically endorsed Trumps stolen-election fantasies. DeSantiss no-enemies-to-the-right strategy has spared him from criticism from the Trumpiest corners of the conservative movement.

This has not come at a high cost at the other end of his theoretical coalition. A handful of pro-democracy Republicans, like New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, have openly criticized DeSantiss anti-democratic tendencies. But for the most part, the party Establishment remains receptive to him as a Trump alternative.

All of this effort, I think, has at least left the door open for DeSantis to take Trumps coalition from him. He may no longer be on track to overtake Trump, as he seemed to be last winter. He needs to improve his performance, and perhaps find some luck.

But the fundamental bet DeSantis has made is that the breadth of his party, from its McConnell wing to its space-laser wing, is receptive to the idea of a strongman who isnt so dumb. No one else has stepped forward to supply that candidacy.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images

Joe Bidens presidency has always seemed bracketed by two different governing impulses. The first is what caught many liberals eyes in 2020: his FDR-invoking interest in big-picture economic change and social policy, coupled with repeat acknowledgements that his opposition aint your fathers Republican Party and is, in fact, peppered with MAGA extremists. Its this line of thinking that yielded trillions of dollars in historic climate and COVID recovery spending and student-debt relief. The second is more instinctual for him after half a century in D.C.: the dealmaking posture he honed in the Senate. It briefly had him promising a post-Trump epiphany for Republicans before it turned into a more realistic nose for negotiating wherever middle ground still exists, such as on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

For three years now, Biden has straddled these signature approaches, occasionally making the case that theyre far from mutually exclusive. Only now, with the president mired in a debt-ceiling fight he was so recently desperate to avoid, the two Bidens are in obvious conflict.

After Republicans secured the House last November and made it clear they would refuse to hike the debt ceiling without dramatic spending cuts from Biden, he passed the next several months insisting he had learned from the Obama-era debt-ceiling mistakes of 2011. I will not let anyone use the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip, he said in January. But that stance has given way to rounds of talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to find a deal. In the process, Biden has once again made clear that his embrace of aggressive policy stops short of approaches he regards as anathema to his institutionalist self-conception, like invoking the 14th Amendments clause that the validity of the public debt of the United States  shall not be questioned in order to let the government keep paying creditors and avoid default.

The predictable short-term result of this shift on Capitol Hill has been renewed lefty concerns that he will ultimately cede too much ground on spending caps, work requirements, and the duration of the next debt-ceiling hike. As progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has been widely quoted as warning, We didnt elect the Joe Biden of 1986 and 1996, we elected the Joe Biden of 2020. Yet those close to Biden often whisper that this is a misread of his political journey: He has always occupied the exact center of the Democratic Party on policy, and he has been moving with it. Now, even some of Bidens skeptics see in his negotiating position the simple new political reality with hard-line Republicans controlling the House who are holding the economy hostage.

Nonetheless, many liberals on the Hill remain concerned about the terms of the debate, fearing that Biden has surrendered the GOPs right to extort policy concessions from him, and thus that Democrats will simply not be able to sign his ultimate agreement with McCarthy. Still, as the talks drag on and the so-called X-date approaches, even some progressives see a light at the end of the tunnel. I dont think the president would make that kind of deal without counting the votes, hes been in Washington long enough, said California congressman Ro Khanna, who co-chaired Bernie Sanderss last presidential campaign. We elected Joe Biden because of his 40 years of experience, which included an understanding of modern progressive values. But that 40 years of service also gave him an understanding that the nation comes first and that he would be a steady hand and make sure nothing he did compromised the economy and strength of the middle class.

If it all feels like an unsatisfying muddle, its not shocking to Democrats whove worked closely with Biden for years, many of whom see the current state of play as the inevitable messy middle-to-end game of Capitol Hill negotiations. When I asked one longtime Biden associate if he was surprised by Bidens journey from no-negotiating-ever to hosting McCarthy at the White House, he simply replied, Nope. Still, Biden is said to be frustrated at having to cut short his trip to Asia  missing out altogether on Australia and Papua New Guinea, important destinations in his long game against China  and unimpressed by McCarthy, even after he surprised Democrats by getting his party to pass legislation outlining spending priorities.

The talks have progressed with the two of them working together directly, but this too feels predestined to many close to the administration as the debt deadline approaches. They remain frustrated to be in the situation of talking about spending cuts in the first place, but they insist that Biden is not negotiating over the debt itself, with default no longer seeming like a real possibility in their eyes. You dont negotiate the debt ceiling, but you always negotiate. You gotta negotiate! said Robert Wolf, an investor and former bank executive who was an economic adviser to Obama before becoming a Biden ally. Youre talking about the rhetoric of not negotiating versus getting shit done. Theres always rhetoric until the point where you gotta get shit done.

What many elected Democrats object to, however, is the notion that refusing to negotiate until now was simply rhetoric. Instead, some now sigh, the past few months have been plagued by miscalculations. For months, Biden insisted internally that he would not negotiate with a Republican speaker who couldnt get his own party in line for an agreement, insisting that he wouldnt submit himself to economic extortion as in 2011. But Democrats didnt anticipate reaching this point because they assumed Republicans wouldnt be able to align on spending at all and would be under serious political pressure to buckle. Further, many liberals now cant believe their own party simply didnt work to hike the debt ceiling unilaterally before McCarthy took over. More, still, are baffled that these negotiations are going down to the wire, given that Biden and McCarthy have both known that a deadline was looming for months, even if it arrived a few weeks earlier than expected. The resulting fear is that blowback would hit both parties in the case of default, but that Democrats economic credibility would take a longer-term hit in the case of a real collapse, since Biden is in the White House.

What some cant quite understand is Bidens half-hearted approach to the 14th Amendment option, which theoretically would provide an economic out. He has asserted his openness to it as an idea: Im looking at the 14th Amendment, as to whether or not we have the authority. I think we have the authority, he said in Japan. But much as when he has expressed frustration with Republican obstruction in the Senate or the Supreme Court, he has stopped short of embracing any structural fixes (like eliminating the filibuster or expanding the court). He continued in Hiroshima, The question is, Could it be done and invoked in time that it could not  would not  be appealed and, as a consequence, pass the date in question and still default on the debt. Thats a question that I think is unresolved. And even that answer came only after some mixed messaging, once Bidens insistence on a bipartisan solution had morphed briefly into calling out Republicans extreme demands  at his press conference, in a statement from his communications director, and in a briefing from the vice-president  before eventually drifting back to a focus on cross-aisle agreement.

Neither side is yet willing to express optimism, but in Bidens outer orbits, some confidence is starting to build that something will pass in time to keep financial markets stable and to allow both sides to be able to say they won, in the words of one senior Democrat close to the presidents team. Such a solution would likely cap spending in a way that will upset plenty of his colleagues, and that wouldnt be enough to satisfy GOP hard-liners, but the calculus is that both parties leadership teams are growing eager to move on from this back-and-forth and that neither will face short-term voter blowback as long as the economy doesnt implode with a default.

Still, even some of Bidens staunchest defenders  those who maintain that his missteps were really McCarthys fault  have found that theres little use spinning the saga as anything less than a mess. Theyre clinging to the expectation that the Republican speaker will be left limping away, too, facing a restive conference unamused to have to compromise with Democrats to save the economy. They are clearly not negotiating in good faith, and I think the speaker is going to have a challenge with his own caucus and will need Democratic votes, said Khanna. At the end of the day, theres going to be a bipartisan bill that passes and hes going to have some unhappy members, added a senior Democrat. That puts him in a precarious situation.
Bakhmut. Photo: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

The Battle of Bakhmut is among the most appalling events of Russias grotesque war on Ukraine. The city is of relatively little military significance, and for both armies, the bloodshed there in the past few months has been less of a means than an end: Russia and Ukraine have each sought to tie up the others army in Bakhmut and thin its ranks ahead of higher-stakes conflicts to come. In fighting for control of the city it destroyed, Russia has been especially unprecious about its own soldiers lives, using wave after wave of recruited prisoners as cannon fodder. The battle has already killed and maimed well over 100,000 human beings while displacing virtually all of the citys 70,000 residents. And its not over. Volodymyr Zelenskyys government said on Sunday that Bakhmut was not occupied by the Russian army and that Ukrainian forces were advancing in its suburbs.

It is conceivable that Ukraines impending counteroffensive will fundamentally change the shape of the war. Perhaps an escalation in the quantity and quality of western aid will remake the balance of power and enable Ukraine to reconquer the entirety of its rightful territory.

But that scenario is improbable. For Ukraine to win a total victory, Russia would need to lose the economic wherewithal, political will, or manpower to keep up the fight. And theres little sign that Vladimir Putin is running short on any of those fronts.

Western sanctions have bent but not broken the Russian economy, which is poised to grow by more than one percent this year. This partly reflects the commercial weight of pro-Russian and neutral nations. Thanks to Chinese and Indian demand, Russian oil exports have returned to pre-invasion levels.

Putins political position appears similarly secure. Many western observers hoped Russias mass conscription last September would trigger a destabilizing opposition to the war. But it might have had the opposite effect: By chasing hundreds of thousands of the most internationally mobile (and thus disproportionately liberal) Russians out of the country, the mobilization might actually have weakened Putins domestic opposition. In any case, wartime mobilization has enabled the Russian dictator to rationalize heightened repression. In recent days, Russian authorities raided the opposition news outlet Meduza, while Duma deputies prepared a bill that would make expressions of Russophobia punishable by up to five years in prison. At the same time, the Kremlin has managed to concentrate the burdens of conscription on the most disempowered parts of Russian society, such as ethnic minorities in provinces far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The lack of effective resistance to mass conscription means Moscow has no shortage of manpower. The war has degraded the quality of Russias soldiers but done little to dent their quantity. Russia is three times as populous as Ukraine. It commands a total military force of 1.3 million people and has millions of additional military-age men at its theoretical disposal. By contrast, the Ukrainian militarys head count is closer to 500,000.

Combine these background realities with the relative stability of Russias territorial gains in recent months and it is difficult to give Ukraine very high odds of full victory. For its part, Ukraine remains well funded and determined to liberate its territory. A poll of the Ukrainian public taken earlier this year found overwhelming opposition to making territorial concessions in exchange for peace. The overwhelming likelihood is that Ukraine and Russia will fight to a stalemate along some as yet undetermined (perhaps ever-shifting) line. At least this is the consensus view among analysts of the conflict, from chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to the RAND Corporation to Russian historian Stephen Kotkin.

Not all stalemates are created equal, however. A military deadlock could lead to a negotiated settlement of the conflict, or it could lead to a prolonged war of attrition  which is to say, to Bakhmut on a grander scale.

The Biden administration is rightly averse to the latter scenario. Yet it is also understandably pessimistic about the prospects for a negotiated peace anytime soon. Thus, in recent days, White House officials have given heightened attention to a third outcome: a frozen conflict in which Russia and Ukraine agree to stop shooting without formally making peace, akin to the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Such a scenario is a bit easier to imagine in the near term than a negotiated settlement, and it would certainly be less damaging than a yearslong war of attrition. But getting to a frozen conflict would still be a profound diplomatic and military challenge and would come with significant costs for Ukraine.

The United States has both humanitarian and strategic interests in averting a war of attrition in Ukraine. Such a conflict would extinguish life at a massive scale while immiserating ordinary Ukrainians, who have already seen their nations economy contract by more than 30 percent while much of its infrastructure has been destroyed. Strategically, there is reason to fear that Russia may have the upper hand in a test of endurance, owing to both its manpower advantage and the fact that perpetual war would impose far steeper costs on Ukrainian civilians than on Russian ones.

More broadly, defeating the Russian invasion is not the U.S.s only pressing geopolitical interest. From the standpoint of both the countrys economic prosperity and global power, a Chinese conquest of Taiwan would be far more menacing than a Russian annexation of the Donbas, and the war in Ukraine is consuming resources the U.S. would otherwise direct toward Taiwans defense. Washington has already expended 13 years worth of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and five years worth of Javelins on the Ukrainian cause, forcing a delay of arms shipments to Taiwan. A January report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated the U.S. would exhaust its supply of long-range, precision-guided munitions within the first week of a war in the Taiwan Strait.

The Korean precedent looms especially large in U.S. war planners imaginations. Active fighting between North and South Korea ended in 1953, yet the war officially continues to this day. As one former Biden-administration official told Politico, a Korea-style stoppage is plausible, because neither side would need to recognize any new borders and the only thing that would have to be agreed is to stop shooting along a set line.

The former official was candid about the appeal of such a cease-fire from Washingtons perspective, saying, Its cheaper to arm a country that isnt expending the weapons every day.

Still, the path to a frozen conflict is far from clear. Freeing Zelenskyy from the obligation of recognizing a revision of Ukraines borders may make it marginally easier for him to sell his public on leaving many Ukrainians under indefinite Russian occupation. At the same time, in a frozen-conflict scenario, Russia would not even officially disavow an intention to rearm and resume its bid for reconquest at a later date; indeed, its official position would more or less affirm that intention. And this could make a cease-fire even less palatable to Kyiv, which is understandably averse to giving its more populous and powerful would-be conqueror the opportunity to regroup.

In the Korean context, peace in the demilitarized zone was underwritten by the presence of thousands of U.S. troops. No such deployment is foreseeable in Ukraine. It is possible the West could reconcile Kyiv to a cease-fire by extending either NATO membership or de facto Article Five protection, yet its far from clear that the U.S. and its allies are prepared to assume that obligation. Before the current conflict, when the prospect of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine seemed far-fetched, the U.S. and Europe were already reluctant to extend NATO protection to Ukraine for fear of ending up in a direct military confrontation with a nuclear superpower. The notion that the U.S. would be more comfortable committing to Ukraines defense in a context in which Kyiv is still officially at war with Russia also seems far-fetched. In all likelihood, the West will offer Ukraine an arrangement akin to that between the U.S. and Israel, with NATO members providing open-ended military aid and training to Kyiv but no true security guarantee.

In any event, the more satisfying the proposed security arrangement is to Ukraine, the less palatable it will be to Putin. If Ukraine could be won to a cease-fire with a promise of NATO membership, that same gesture would likely dissuade Russia from putting down its arms. After all, to the extent that Putins war has any rational basis, it is to prevent Ukraine from aligning militarily with the West. And Putin has more reason to fear a western-aligned Ukraine today than he did before his invasion. Relative to February 2022, the West is more hostile to his regime, his military is less powerful, and NATO is larger and more unified.

Similarly, any shift in territorial control that renders Ukraine more disposed to accept a cease-fire  such as a hypothetical liberation of Mariupol  would be liable to have the opposite effect on Russia.

In some respects, a frozen conflict would be even more painful for both sides than a negotiated settlement. It is conceivable that Russia could win a degree of sanctions relief from a comprehensive peace agreement, but there is no prospect of the West providing economic relief to a Russian state that remains officially committed to an invasion.

For Ukraine, meanwhile, rebuilding its economy once the fighting has ceased will be a Herculean task in any scenario. The World Bank recently estimated the cost of reconstructing Ukraine at $411 billion in March, a figure that has only risen in the intervening months. In addition to the devastated infrastructure, land mines now cover nearly a third of Ukraines territory. Removing those will be both incredibly expensive and indispensable for providing Ukrainians with some semblance of normal life. A frozen conflict could compound these economic challenges by discouraging private investment in Ukraine in light of its ongoing geopolitical vulnerability.

Avoiding a yearslong parade of Bakhmuts  in which hundreds of thousands are killed or maimed for the sake of moving a map line a few miles in either direction  is a humanitarian imperative. Providing postwar Ukraine with a modicum of geopolitical security and economic prosperity is too. But reconciling the demands of peace and justice remains difficult. One must hope the Biden administrations vision for achieving a frozen conflict is more detailed and coherent than the murmurings that have made it into earshot of the press.
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A new family-owned Mexican restaurant called Don Julios Mexican Grill opened in Auburn on Monday, attracting a large crowd of people eager to try it.

The Don Julios Mexican Grill at 1888 Ogletree Road was packed full of customers most of the day. It offers both Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican foods.

Christian Reyes, the manager of Don Julios, said he was glad to see the business off to a busy start.

It was a great opening, he said. We didnt even have to do much advertising. We put our sign up yesterday that said we were open and the restaurant was full for most of the day.

Reyes said there is nothing bland on Don Julios menu. Every food offers a unique experience, right down to the chips and the salsa. Originally from Jalisco, Mexico, the Reyes family offers traditional items from that region, including carnitas las lomas. He also mentioned his favorite dishes  happy chicken, quesadillas, fajitas, and specialty plates.

I really have that taste from Mexico  some authentic tastes, Reyes said. Theres so many variations and everything. Its almost like you can create your own kind of food with whatever you like.

This is the fourth restaurant the Reyes family has opened in East Alabama. They also own Acapulcos Mexican Grill in Auburn and Phenix City as well as the Poco Locos Mexican Grill in Smiths Station. Reyes family originally immigrated from Jalisco, Mexico to the United States to open their own business. His family has been in the restaurant industry for 25 to 30 years.

My dad and his brothers came here to work in this style of business, and they opened their own restaurant after awhile, Reyes said. It really shows that we tried to put the best into our food, and our drinks and the experience of the people. Its not easy for businesses to last so long.

Construction workers began working on the Don Julios building in the summer of 2022. Reyes, now 27, lived in the neighborhood when he was younger. He says hes excited to be back on the south side of town and to bring residents something to enjoy.

I used to run around these parts and none of this stuff was here, Reyes said. It was just a really great area. Were getting the product out to some really great people in an area that doesnt have much of this style of food around.

Don Julios is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday to Saturday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Lunch specials are available every day from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
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Opelika documentary filmmaker Theo Moore II has been selected to join the first PBS Ignite Mentorship for Diverse Voices.

Moore is one of 12 filmmakers and the only Alabama resident to be chosen for the mentorship program out of the 1,100 people who applied.

Its mind blowing, he said. The resources theyre allowing us to have access to in a state that really is not known for film  it is everything.

This year PBS decided to launch a hybrid one-year mentorship program for 12 early-career filmmakers from underrepresented communities. It will give filmmakers professional development, mentorship, a monthly stipend and relationship building opportunities needed to produce content for public media platforms, the PBS website stated.

Throughout the year, Moore and the other selected filmmakers will meet virtually with PBS executives who will teach them how PBS works and how to pitch an idea to PBS and other networks.

Theyre just basically pouring into us in regards to what we do, so that we can continue to assist and be a voice for underrepresented communities, Moore said.

Before the year-long program ends, Moore will have the opportunity to pitch an idea to PBS with the hopes of producing a project.

In the line of work that I do with research that I do, I dont even know how Im going to choose which one to pitch. A lot of the stories that we have around Alabama are equally worthy of being told, he said.

Moore is the founder and executive director of Hiztorical Vision Productions, a nonprofit documentary film organization he created in 2017 that focuses on sharing the untold success stories of African Americans in Alabama.

Since creating the film organization, Moore has produced three award-winning documentaries: Crown the County of Lowndes, Hobson City: From Peril to Promise and Afrikan By Way of American.

Earlier this year, Moore was selected as the winner of the first-ever David Brower Grant for Alabama Filmmakers, which is a $1,500 mentorship grant that was established to give one Alabama filmmaker aid in a filmmaking endeavor.

After being selected for the PBS Ignite Mentorship program in April, Moore and the other filmmakers were invited to attend the PBS annual meeting in San Diego last week, which was the first in-person annual meeting the network has had since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moore got to meet the CEO of PBS and got to see how many people are involved in operating the television network.

He spent three days in San Diego going to different sessions that targeted topics like marketing, creating content for YouTube, how to pitch ideas to different networks and more. He described the experience as overwhelming but empowering.

Moore said the work that hell be doing with PBS will fall under the umbrella of his new LLC Theo the Hiztorian, where he is a producer and where he also provides services for other filmmakers.

Ill be continuing my efforts and producing films, but these are films that are not associated with Hiztorical Vision Productions. The films that I do for Hiztorical Vision Productions are free. Its for educational purposes, and so I still want to create that content. I also have bigger goals in mind where I want to do bigger films underneath Theo the Hiztorian, he said.

As a historian and archival producer, Moore is interested in finding content, like photos, text and other items, to help tell his stories. Wanting to help other filmmakers do the same, Moore is offering his services as an archival producer, consultant and researcher to others through Theo the Historian.

Through Hiztorical Vision Productions, Moore is continuing to work on his fourth film which features north Prattville. Hes also planning more screenings for a film that was created by three HVP interns that highlights the history of John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital in Tuskegee.

The short documentary film debuted in Opelika on April 29. Now Moore is hoping to show the film in Tuskegee for the community that knew the hospital personally.
if next week really is it im actually like in mourning that jamie tartt isnt a real person lol  i adore him so much

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This week's episode and last week's feel like classic Ted Lasso episodes. Most of the season felt weird in a way that I can't fully articulate, but this episode and last week finally felt back to form. It'll be a shame if now that the show seems to have found its voice again, it's over.

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I feel the same way. But Im confident there will be a spin-off

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I feel like they paced the character arcs wrong and most characters have been at 90% growth since the end of season two or earlier. (Rebecca has been done since season one which is why her plots have been shit since) They had to either regress or sideline characters to fill time this season. Now that were near the end they can move those arcs the last few steps which is why suddenly the show feels like its clicking again.

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I havent seen this episode but most of the season felt like they wrote a bunch of standalone scenes for different characters and stitched them together haphazardly with no regard to flow or pacing to make an episode bc they gave up and didnt know what else to do.

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Yeah I LOVED this episode! Could not agree more with you re: this return to form and it ending when it's finally back to being good again.



And it's always a pleasure to see the criminally underused Becky Ann Baker on my screen (she played Ted's mom). I really love her, she killed it in Girls and Freaks and Geeks, I mean in everything. She has the range. The episode in Girls where she talks about her existential angst coming home to an empty house at the end of the day still haunts me.



Edited at 2023-05-24 04:10 pm (UTC)

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It's so rushed... and TO ME, none of the earnest moments felt earned because of how rushed everything feels. It continues to have some nice moments peppered throughout but it's not enough. It's a real pity. it's like Jason Sudeikis said "well fuck it" during the writing process of this show. I'm interested to know more on what's going on in that writer's room.



I feel like Jamie's arc has been the most interesting and earned - combined with Phil Dunster's acting, the saving grace of the show. Everything else it's just blah and because the cast is so big and everything seems really unfocused - a lot of it falls on the wayside. Like I don't really care enough anymore for these characters to achieve their goal. Stakes should be played higher because they are high, but man, what a dud - writing wise.



I can't help but feel disappointed overall.



Edited at 2023-05-24 06:39 am (UTC)

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I love this show so much and this episode was amazing. Im gonna be so sad when its over

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I hate everything about Nate's storyline this season. He gets ditched by a model and gets rewarded with a woman he practically stalked and is now a good person because of that I guess? Most of his toxicity last season stemmed from his own insecurity, and I don't feel like that's been adequately dealt with at all. I was hoping his storyline would revolve around learning to handle that, but instead his storyline is he gets a girlfriend and his father has a whole speech about how he's a genius and the team is begging him to come back even though they're one match away from winning the whole thing so they've shown they don't need him. What a self insert Mary Sue. It's just so completely underwritten and undeserved.

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I agree. While I understand the point of Coach Beard's back story in all of this and how it applies to Nate, it's been frustrating to watch Nate do absolutely fuck all to deserve forgiveness, redemption, a girlfriend, and getting his job back. So he...chose not to cheat on his girlfriend? Wow, then he's definitely not the worst anymore, right? The bar is so low. I get that everyone's stories (Jamie/his dad, Ted/his mom, Nate/everyone) are meant to show that you don't forgive people because they've earned or they deserve it, but because sometimes they just need a second chance. Despite knowing that, it is still annoying to see that Nate hasn't done a single thing to show the team that he's sorry for fucking them over yet they're all clamoring for him to return.

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that you don't forgive people because they've earned or they deserve it, but because sometimes they just need a second chance

I personally hate storylines like this so much, forgiveness shouldn't always come with a second chance at the place where you messed up.

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I cant believe we have yet to hear Nate actually say out loud what he is sorry for. People just keep forgiving him without him admitting or apologizing for ANYTHING

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How he assumed that he was getting a promotion when the restaurant owner wanted to speak to him showed made me so mad, he has learned nothing or just extremely little and certainly not the big lessons he should have learned.

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Yeah, I'm remain confused at the writers' message: you can do awful things, and be forgiven without ever showing remorse or taking accountability. Plus you'll get a girlfriend. And a nickname.



I'll be furious if we don't get a true, unequivocal apology from Nate, to Ted's face. Not some cutesy shit like setting up the locker room.

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This was overall a great episode imo, even though I remain unsatisfied by Nate's arc. The whole forgiveness message was annoying to me, a grudge holder. But more than that, from a storytelling perspective, it felt like a copout to not properly explore everyone's feelings about Nate's terrible behavior. It seemed like some GOT subverting expectations bullshit. Well, sometimes people just want to get what they paid for, and I wanted to see Nate really earn his redemption, not just be forgiven by everyone without question for the sake of wholesomeness. Beard was the only one allowed to have a complex reaction, and though it was done well, it still felt like a storytelling copout. Though I do love that Nate is drafting a sixty page apology letter, lolll.



The staging of the ending shot between Rebecca and Ted felt like it could have been a romantic moment, had they had actually been building up to that all along. My conspiracy theory is that this might have been the plan before the rewrites. Maybe we'll never know....



This whole season has felt very off, like 90% aimless filler. This was the first episode for me that felt fully cooked and intentional. If it is really the end of the series next week, it's a shame that it was such a meandering end. The finale of has a lot of work to do, tying everything together. I predict that Rebecca's boathouse man will return, and Ted is so obviously going home. I also predict they will lose the big game but win in life or some shit. But we'll see!!!!



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100% about Nate's arc. Especially when we have such a beautifully done redemption arc with Jamie. The writers are capable enough to do a redemption arc, so what's up with Nate's arc?

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I cannot BELIEVE they wasted so much time on zava in the beginning?! And then he justleft?? And was never mentioned again?? Like Jamie couldve just wanted to improve just to improve he was already well into his ~new self shit. Crazy waste of time.

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Zava was there to do two things at once: Yes, to motivate Jamie, but also to give the team an early winning streak. So you have the team start out on a high, then they have a bit of "oh whatever shall we do" drama when Zava leaves, which leads to them changing strategies and reaching their true potential. If Zava wasn't there you'd either have them on a losing streak for a much longer time which makes it a lot less plausible that they'd come even close to the top, or you introduce the changed strategy early on and then there's nothing happening on the football side of things.

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Zava and Jacks make zero sense to me. They added nothing and took up time from the characters we know and love, who deserved more screentime.

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a lot of people are shit talking your hair online



It's me, I'm people.



I guess I'm one of the few people that like this season, yeah is not as good as the first one but there's been good moments, the Amsterdam episode is probably my favorite, Rebeca in the boat, Colin and Trent, Roy and Jamie, and I guess the rewrites were so Jason could write himself off the show, I don't think the show is ending.



Edited at 2023-05-24 06:54 am (UTC)

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I loved this season too.

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I thought the finale aired last week lol

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I thought Nate was dreaming when Isaac, Colin and Will showed up at the restaurant. I really was waiting for him to wake up lol can't believe it was real

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Me too! I was definitely thinking it was a dream sequence, especially since it's the first of the episode but no. lmao

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They should have just left that whole bit out tbh and just started the club side of it from Higgins being like I heard he works at a restaurant that was too overly corny and like out of nowhere

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Once again I thought I had missed an episode because I couldnt figure out why the team would want him back at all

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I was wondering that, too, but then I remembered that he cleaned up the locker room and left a note for Will. With Will accompanying Isaac and Collin I suppose they thought it was easy enough to put two and two together.

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Same!! My reaction to him coming back was right on par with Coach Beard lol. Im so fucking annoyed.

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same, was sad when it was real.

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i couldnt remember if the team knows that Nate leaked his panic attacks, or they were just mad about the sign thing...

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Also, Phil Dunster is a star. I hope he gets booked left and right after Ted Lasso

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I need to see him in more things!!!

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A Jamie centric episode!! Listen, I'm think I'm ready to give up on the idea of a better show. We'll always have season 1 I guess.



I like that we got a sizable football sequence with stakes, but once again, they didn't show us the most important thing: Jamie's goal. Wtf happened in that writers' room? Nice to see Pep though. The less I say about Nate's redemption the better, so I'll say that I liked Beard's confession and origin story.



Hair or no hair, Jamie is a snack and one of the better actor/character of the show.



I also irrationally hate the actress (sorry girl) who plays Ted's mother. She also played Lena Dunham's mother in Girls and the mom in Freaks and Geeks and she always acts exactly the same.



Poor Keeley. Look how they massacred my girl.



This is really the end huh. I'm quite note ready for the last episode, but I guess it's fitting that Ted's leaving.



Edited at 2023-05-24 09:18 am (UTC)

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Im so annoyed about Roy and Keeley. What was the point?!

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I bet the finale will have a scene of them starting over and going out on another first date or something

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I gotta stop reading the comments. If people dont like the show anymore, just stop watching it - theres a million other things to watch. Being Debbie Downers week after week is so tedious.

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Girl it's called grieving, we can't do that alone.



Edited at 2023-05-24 09:58 pm (UTC)

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THROUPLE



Still hate nate and his arc



Dgaf about Ted and his mother

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The only part of Teds mum being there that I really cared about was that finally someone said, outloud, how great Trents hair is. I was like finally!! lol.

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Ikr! Oop @ me hoping for a threesome

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With Trent, Ted, and.... his mom? 

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Jamie Tartt (and Phil Dunster) is absolutely everything. Truly the shining part of every episode. I'm going to miss him if next week is the final episode. I didn't expect that his breakdown would be played for laughs, but him apologizing to the kids for scoring a goal, and all the comments about his hair (no conditioner!) were pretty funny.



I cannot believe they got Pep! Jamie having a moment with him and earning back some respect from the Man City crowd was so special.

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I'm glad they finally explained his straw hair (no conditioner and no leave-in conditioner is a bad idea. Get on that K-18, Jamie!)

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Love Jamie centric episodes nothing more to add, amazing character development loved the mum stuff too lol. Those two seconds of Jamies dad watching him from rehab Got. Me. Lmao never ever expected that and I loved it.



Great ep overall, the Nate thing is happening I guess, sad they didnt give him more shit but whatever. Everything in this show always has to end on happy so it is what it is.



Also thought Ruperts wife and mistress going to see Rebecca was kind of too on the nose and lame like what do they have to talk about? How they should both break it off with him I guess? Why do they need Rebecca aside from some clumsy Girl Power!! Attempt? That didnt hit for me tbh.

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Nowadays, the oil bulls just cant catch a proper break. After a heavy selloff following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank routed the markets, the markets returned to a semblance of normalcy after the 2nd of April decision of some OPEC+ members to make voluntary output cuts. Unfortunately for the bulls, the shorts have now returned with a vengeance. According to commodity experts at Standard Chartered, speculative positioning in crude oil has now returned to its March bearish extreme despite the OPEC+ cuts taking effect in the current month.

StanChart has reported that its proprietary crude oil money-manager positioning index fell 8.5 w/w to -99.6, a positioning very similar to the one following the collapse of SVB and also comparable to the positioning at the start of the pandemic in 2020. The analysts have revealed that speculative short positions have increased by 123.9 million barrels (mb) over the past four weeks alone, the largest four-week rise since November 2018, while long positions have declined by 107.9mb over the same period.

But whether the oil price shorts will have their way remains to be seen. After all, Saudi Arabia has often expressed its determination not to give speculators free rein, meaning theres a high probability that OPEC+ will announce a fresh round of production cuts when it meets on 4th June. The physical oil markets actually remain in relatively good shape, with strong fuel demand boosting prices.

Source: Standard Chartered Research

Oil Economists Turn Positive

Last month, we reported that energy experts have been growing increasingly bearish on the oil price outlook compared to previous sentiment. Now it turns out that these economists are turning more bullish even as the overall market becomes more bearish.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) published its monthly oil balances report

May, about a week after similar reports were released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and OPEC Secretariat. Commodity experts at Standard Chartered have created a heatmap of demand forecast changes, including their own, in the latest reports relative to one and three months ago. You will notice that the heatmap provides a positive view of demand, with most estimates for 2023 quarters and the annual average having moved higher over both time periods. Interestingly, the biggest upwards revisions have come from the more bearish agencies namely StanChart and the EIA, while more bullish ones including the IEA and OPEC Secretariat have not changed significantly. Related: Iraq Awaits Turkeys Go-Ahead To Resume Kurdistan Oil Exports

In sharp contrast, theres a disconnect between what energy economists are seeing in the data and what speculative traders are acting on. Oil prices have touched multi-year lows on several occasions over the past two months, with StanChart speculating that the disconnect could be the result of the increasingly top-down and macro-led nature of oil-market sentiment.

Source: Standard Chartered Research

As we have pointed out before, its hard to find a proper justification for the growing bearishness in the oil markets.

According to the International Energy Agency, global oil consumption remains on track to rise by 2M bbl/day this year to an all-time high 101.9M bbl/day. Inventories are gradually tightening and should deplete further as OPEC+ implements new production cuts. Crude oil inventories have fallen below the five-year average for the first time this year. Last week, implied gasoline demand rose by 992 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) w/w to a 15-month high of 9.511mb/d.

StanChart has predicted that the OPEC+ cuts will eventually eliminate the surplus that had built up in the global oil markets at the beginning of the year. According to the analysts, a large oil surplus started building in late 2022 and spilled over into the first quarter of the current year. The analysts estimate that current oil inventories are 200 million barrels higher than at the start of 2022 and a good 268 million barrels higher than the June 2022 minimum.

However, they are now optimistic that the build over the past two quarters will be gone by November if cuts are maintained all year. In a slightly less bullish scenario, the same will be achieved by the end of the year if the current cuts are reversed around October. This should shore up prices.

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Meanwhile, natural gas prices are expected to increase in the latter half of the year as Europe goes on yet another buying spree. Europe has failed to secure enough long-term LNG contracts to offset cut-off Russian gas imports, with Reuters predicting this may prove costly next winter and could sharply tighten the market. The European Union views natural gas as a bridge fuel in the transition to renewable energy, and buyers generally struggle to commit to long-term contracts. This means that Europe might be forced to buy more from the spot markets as it did in 2022, which in turn is likely to push prices up:

"Since the green lobby in Europe has managed to persuade politicians wrongly that hydrogen to a large extent can replace natural gas as an energy carrier by 2030, Europe has become far too reliant on spot and short term purchases of LNG," consultant Morten Frisch has told Reuters.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Alaska is one of the oldest oil-producing regions in the United States. Just recently, the public was reminded of that when the Biden administration approved a new, sizeable oil project in the state.

At the same time, Alaska is, like other states, eager for a part in the transition to lower-carbon forms of energy. More specifically, Alaska wants a piece of the carbon offset action.

This week, Governor Mike Dunleavy is convening a conference on sustainable energy where the issue will be discussed as well as the path of Alaska to making the most of its carbon offset resources.

The legislative part of the matter was settled with a new bill that Dunleavy signed into law earlier this week, and now the time seems to have come for the actual work.

"This bill is going to allow us now to have conversations worldwide with individuals involved in the carbon market. Just like oil, just like gas, just like our timber, this is a commodity that can be monetized now," Dunleavy said at the signing of the bill, as quoted by the AP.

According to supporters of the bill, it would allow Alaska to have the best of both worlds: oil production and carbon offset sales. According to critics, the chances of success of the plan are uncertain because it's unclear if anyone would be interested in buying Alaskan carbon offsets. Related: European Natural Gas Prices Drop To The Lowest Level Since 2021

"There's kind of a field of dreams quality to this issue. 'If you plant the trees and create credits, will anyone buy them?'" one such critic, environmental and climate politics scholar Barry Rabe, told the AP.

"What's just not clear is what that market would look like and whether or not purchasers ... will find that an attractive investment. That's the leap of faith," Rabe said.

In truth, the carbon offset market is a growth one. Shell recently projected that voluntary carbon offsets buying could expand fivefold by 2030, with transaction volumes reaching the level of 2019 air travel emissions.

In 2021, that market was worth about $2 billion, but this is set to grow to between $10 billion and $40 billion by 2030. The volume of carbon dioxide involved in these transactions is set to rise from 500 million tons currently to up to 1.5 billion tons, the supermajor, which co-authored the report with Boston Consulting Group, also said.

In that sense, then, Alaska's foray into carbon offsets might not be such a leap of faith. Indeed, nature can be seen as a commodity on par with oil, coal, and gas, and monetized just like them.

As for how lucrative this market could be, look no further than Zimbabwe, where the government just this month said it would take 50% of all revenues generated by carbon offset projects in the country. Another 30% will go to foreign investors, and 20% will be reserved for local communities.

"We are determined to make sure that climate finance resources, meant to empower the country, accrue to the most deserving. We do not want instances of climate washing," Zimbabwe's environment and climate minister Mangaliso Ndlovu said, as quoted by Reuters.

A carbon offset market would also help improve Alaska's reputation, according to some, such as Republican state Senator Shelley Hughes. While initially skeptical of the idea, Hughes has supported it as a means of drawing in more investments.

"I think that in order to get capital investment into our state, we are going to have to be perceived in a way that is trying to work through all of this," Sen. Hughes said, as quoted by the AP.

If the idea works, it will work as follows: the state of Alaska will sell carbon offset credits to companies that want to reduce their carbon footprint. The offsets will go towards projects such as forest protection and improvement. A fifth of the revenues from these sales would be set aside in a fund for low-carbon energy development.

There is no reason for the idea not to work, despite skepticism. With the IRA and with increasingly stricter emission regulations, a lot of companies will be interested in buying carbon offsets for lack of any other means of reducing their carbon footprints.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has already identified three forests that are suitable for use as carbon sequestration locations. The state's authorities have also considered allowing third parties to set up carbon offset projects on Alaskan land as an additional source of revenue.

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"I find it very plausible that Alaska could make money with a forest carbon offset program," Freya Chay from carbon offset nonprofit Carbon Plan told Alaska Public Media. "The real question for me is what does that program actually achieve? And what are the costs not to Alaska's budget, but to bigger systems that we care about?"

The genuine nature of the carbon sequestration projects financed by the sales of carbon offsets is a considerable cause for concern in that space, but it's not the biggest one.

The biggest problem for Alaska may be the growing competition in the carbon offset market, as many see the lucrative opportunities offered by this emerging but extremely promising market.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
U.S. power use per capita is high, in fact, much higher than in most developed economies, and further growth in prosperity will likely lead to even higher electricity consumption

The International Energy Agency (IEA) advocates for the elimination of energy poverty and for universal access to energy, preferably from clean energy sources. But the agency also pushes for drastic emission cuts and a net-zero emissions world in 2050.

The world cant have its cake and eat itas the energy systems currently stand, its either maintaining (in developed economies) your living standard, and striving (in developing countries) for higher living standards, or compromising your way of life for the greater good of reducing global emissions.

Most people wouldnt compromise on their current high living standard for the sake of keeping global temperatures within the 1.5 degrees Celsius increase. No one is giving up on home heating or air conditioning just because coal, gas, or oil are powering the grid.

Despite the rapid rise of renewables, stable grids need flexible baseload capacity coming from natural gas or coal to keep the lights and heating on when solar and wind generation is lower than planned.

But emissions are rising, some would say. Yes, they are. But so is the prosperity of a growing number of people in developing economies, who discover the comforts of their own home, which has been the symbol of U.S. prosperity for decades.

U.S. Home Electricity Consumption Is Very High

U.S. power use per capita is high, in fact, much higher than in most developed economies, and double the electricity consumption in Europe, think tank Ember said in its Global Electricity Review 2023 report published last month.

Wind and solar reached record highs in electricity generation in 2022, and they are expected to drive falling emissions as soon as this year, Ember, an environmental think tank, said. Related: Crude Prices Rise On Surprise Inventory Draw

On average worldwide, the per capita demand for electricity was at 3.6 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2022. Some major countries had per-capita consumption well above the global per-capita average, and the United States led those above-average numbers with 13 MWh per-capita consumption. To compare, Chinas electricity consumption per capita was 6.2 MWh last year, and the EUs per capita consumption was 6.3 MWh.

Global Electricity Demand To Surge

India, a fast-developing economy, has a per-capita electricity consumption of just 1.3 MWh. Higher incomes and prosperity for a larger portion of Indias huge population would mean that power consumption will only rise. India, however, isnt ditching coal, and it will see its power generation from coal increase in the coming year as authorities plan to have coal-fired units maximize electricity production from imported coal to meet rising demand.

Indias coal minister said at the end of 2022 that the country has no intention of ditching coal from its energy mix any time soon. Addressing a parliamentary committee, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said that coal would continue to play an important role in India until at least 2040, referring to the fuel as an affordable energy source for which demand has yet to peak in India.

Prosperity and higher living standards in India and elsewhere in developing countries will drive an increase in electricity demand. This will add to the electrify everything in homes and electric vehicle use in developed economies to raise further power demand in the world. Most new capacity additions, especially in developed nations, will come from wind and solar. But until battery storage technology and costs allow for more flexibility of these renewable energy sources in dispatching electricity to grids, the world will need gas and even coal for power generation.

Security and affordability of energy supply will be key to getting electricity to people with access to such. Globally, 770 million people are still without electricity access, the IEA estimates. A total of 2.6 billion people are without clean cooking access, and that progress worsened during the pandemic.

Per the various IEA scenarios, global electricity demand is set to surge by between 75% and 150% in 2050 compared to 2022, Ember noted in its report.

It is clear that higher ambition scenarios that rebuild the energy system around clean electricity will require far higher electricity demand than the current trajectory, the think tank says.

The U.S. Way Of Living Needs Double The Electricity In Europe

If parts of the world would want to prosper the American way, electricity consumption growth could be even higher than estimates, Reuters Global Energy Transition Columnist Gavin Maguire argues.

Thats because most of the homes in the United States are single-family homes, and most were built before the 1990s. Those consume much more energy for heating or cooling than a flat.

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Detached single-family homes in America were 77 million out of the total 123.5 million homes in all of the U.S. in 2020, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed in March.

At the same time, electric power generation accounted for 25% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the second-largest share of greenhouse gas emissions after transportation, per data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In contrast, city dwellers live mostly in apartments in the EU, and people in major economies, including Germany, do not attach too much importance to owning a home or a house, Reuters Maguire notes.

If more people around the world want to live in a detached single-family house as a sign of prosperity, electricity consumption in the future could be much higher than currently projected. Yet, those who have seen the comforts of a house and can afford it cannot be persuaded to scale back their living standards for the sake of lower emissions.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Benchmark natural gas prices in Europe continued to fall on Wednesday, extending several weeks of losses amid weak demand in the spring and higher-than-normal inventories after the end of the winter.

The front-month futures at the TTF hub, the benchmark for Europes gas trading, fell by 1.5% to $30.84 (28.68 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) as of 10.33 a.m. GMT on Wednesday.

Thats the lowest price since November 2021, when the energy crisis in Europe started ahead of the 2021/2022 winter season, with the crisis reaching a peak later in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the lack of most of Russias pipeline gas supply sent prices soaring.

Currently, demand for natural gas in Europe is weak after the winter heating season ended and summer demand is yet to begin. Gas consumption from industry, which went through a very rough patch last autumn and winter, is also weak.

Inventories, on the other hand, are comfortably high for this time of the year. As of May 22, natural gas storage sites in the EU were 66.22% full, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. The level of gas in storage is the highest for this time of the year in at least a decade.

High inventories ahead of the summer and weak demand suggest that the worst of the energy crisis in Europe could be behind us.

Yet, analysts and officials warn that the EU shouldnt be complacent ahead of the next winter season.

Despite the slump in Europes gas prices this year, the continent is not out of the woods yet as three factors could worsen the European energy crisis later this year, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told CNBC this weekend.

Expected higher LNG demand in China after the reopening, the possibility of a U.S. default, and the remaining dependence on Russian gas are three reasons why Europe shouldnt be complacent ahead of the 2023/2034 winter, the IEAs top executive warned.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Despite the uptick in natural gas prices, record production in the U.S. and renewed imports of Canadian natural gas following the Alberta wildfires are keeping prices under pressure.

The price increase was driven by a combination of cooler temperatures and a drop in wind power generation, both of which increased natural gas demand.

Cooler temperatures this week and a dip in available wind power this month are boosting the demand outlook for June for U.S. natural gas, leading to nearly 3% price gains on Wednesday.

At 9:45 a.m. EST on Wednesday, U.S. natural gas futures were trading up 2.93% at $2,389 per million British thermal units (Btu).

While the weather is a big driver of prices on Wednesday, natural gas is also gaining on a downturn in renewable energy from wind farms, which has increased usage of natural gas over the past few weeks.

Counterbalancing a further uptick in natural gas prices is record production in the U.S., combined with a resumption of a similar level of Canadian gas exports to the U.S., which had declined due to wildfires raging in Alberta that led to some production shut-in.

According to Reuters, citing federal energy data, wind power generation this week accounted for only 7% of total U.S. power generation, down from 17% in mid-April.

On Tuesday, natural gas futures had hit a one-week low, largely due to an anticipated increase in U.S. output combined with the return of full volumes of Canadian exports on the U.S. market.

Last week, Baker Hughes released a report indicating that oversupply conditions and a collapse in prices have led the U.S. natural gas sector to start pulling drilling rigs at the fastest pace since February 2016. Last Friday, Baker Hughes reported that E&P companies had reduced rigs by 16 to a total of 141.



In April, a key provider of rigs to the American shale patch warned that rig leases were on track to drop by 9% by the end of June as drillers press pause due to prices that have plunged from over $10 per million Btu in August last year.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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A Russian warship guarding pipelines in the Black Sea has been attacked by three Ukrainian speedboats, Russias Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

This, after Russia is still reeling from the attack last September that damaged Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which remain out of service to this day.

Wednesdays attack on the Russian warship Ivan Hurs took place as it was approaching the Bosphorus strait, Russia said. At the time, the Ivan Hurs was in that location guarding the TurkStream and Blue Stream natural gas pipelines that carry gas from Russia to Turkey, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Now, Russia believes that expanding defensive measures is justified. The alleged attack on Russias warship comes just a week after Russia agreed to extend a deal with Ukraine that would allow Ukraine to export grain from its ports.

Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of cutting Ukraines Pivdennyi port out of a deal for Black Sea grain exports.

Russia said that the enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship.

The TurkStream pipeline is a twin line with a capacity of 31.5 bcm. The first line is capable of carrying 15.75 bcm to Turkeys domestic market. The second line can carry another 15.75 bcm, but carries it further into Bulgaria.

The Blue Stream gas pipeline, commissioned two decades ago, carries 16 bcm per day and is one of the deepest underwater pipelines in the world. The pipeline is owned by Blue Stream Pipeline Companya JV between Russias Gazprom and Italys Eni, each with a 50% stake in the company. Eni did announce in 2022 its intention to divest from the Blue Stream following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Oil prices rose in Asian trade early on Wednesday, following estimates of a large U.S. inventory draw and a warning from the Saudi energy minister for short sellers.

In early morning trade in Europe, Brent Crude was up above $78 per barrel, at $78.06, rising by 1.63%. The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, had risen by more than 1.81% and traded at $74.23.

Crude oil prices rose for a third consecutive day early on Wednesday, after gains on Monday and Tuesday, as the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated late on Tuesday that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 6.70 million barrels last week, compared with analyst expectations of a 525,000-barrel build.

Gasoline inventories dropped by 6.398 million barrels after falling in the week prior by 2.46 million barrels. Distillate inventories declined by 1.771 million barrels after decreasing by 886,000 barrels in the week prior, APIs data showed.

If the API data is confirmed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) later on Wednesday, this would send U.S. gasoline inventories to the lowest level just before Memorial Day since 2014.

The U.S. continues to be stuck over negotiations on raising the debt ceiling, which has weighed on market sentiment in recent weeks.

However, Saudi Arabias Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, on Tuesday warned traders, again, against shorting oil futures, less than two weeks before the OPEC+ panel on production policy meets on June 4.

The comments from the most important oil official in the worlds top crude oil exporter raised speculation that OPEC+ could surprise markets again when the ministers of the alliance meet in early June.

Energy traders have quickly learned that when it comes to oil prices, you Dont fight the Saudis as they will do whatever it takes to defend prices,

Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said late on Tuesday.

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The Olmeca refinery that the Lopez Obrador administration has touted as a major milestone in ensuring Mexicos fuel security has been delayed once again.

First scheduled to start operation in mid-2022, the refinery launch was originally postponed until December 2022, then delayed again until this July. Now, according to an internal document, the July start date has become unfeasible, Reuters has reported.

The Olmeca refinery, also known as Dos Bocas, was planned to add some 20% to Mexicos current refining capacity by being able to process 340,000 barrels of crude daily. The project was aimed at reducing Mexicos dependence on refined fuel imports from its northern neighbor.

Initially budgeted at $8 billion, the refinery went into significant cost overruns, with the price tag to date standing at some $18 billion and the start date still unclear.

I dont want to give a date because it would be irresponsible, Energy Minister Rocio Nahle said in mid-2022. A year is a reasonable amount of time, Id like to do it sooner, she added. It is a huge, monumental thing ... everything must be harmonized to obtain the fuel. It will take time.

According to the internal Pemex document that Reuters got access to, the July start say was unfeasible because there were still coking plants being constructed on the site and they were not going to be finished by that month. Coking plants are necessary to process heavy crude from Pemexs field.

When it finally enters into operation and ramps up, the Olmeca refinery should produce some 280,000 barrels daily of gasoline and diesel.

The delays are meanwhile interfering with plans by the Mexican administration to put an end to crude oil exports, which was supposed to happen this year, and refine all the crude that Pemex produces locally, thanks to the additional capacity at Dos Bocas.

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The Council Bluffs Police Department arrested a 61-year-old man Wednesday in connection with the disappearance of 60-year-old woman who was later found dead in February.

Ivan Sam Brammer was arrested on suspicion of abuse of a corpse and second-degree theft.

Police said in a press release that Brammers arrest stems from the disappearance of Ilene Gowan. Gowan was last seen on Feb. 13. Her body was located on Feb. 26 along Pottawattamie County Road L-19 under the Old Mormon Bridge Road overpass near Crescent, Iowa.

The cause and manner of Gowans death is unknown, according to an autopsy conducted by the Iowa Medical Examiners Office. An affidavit filed by a Council Bluffs police officer said Gowans body was found frozen to the ground. Items missing from Gowans body include a shoe, glasses, purse and a cellphone.

Gowans body showed multiple injuries, including bruises, scrapes, an L-shaped cut on her head and a mark on her neck.

The affidavit states that Brammer and Gowan were allegedly in a relationship. People who knew the couple told investigators their relationship was sporadic and volatile, police said. Gowan was last seen leaving with Brammer in his 1999 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

About one week before Gowans disappearance, according to the affidavit, she was kicked out of the apartment she and Brammer had shared. Other accusations listed in the affidavit alleged that Brammer held Gowans personal safe hostage, which at one point contained $1,200, until she paid him.

The affidavit also alleged other suspicious behaviors committed by Brammer after Gowans disappearance. Those include Brammer allegedly paying to have his pickup crushed, depositing $1,200 into his bank account, giving false and inaccurate statements to police, threatening suicide and homicide, and evading police during a traffic stop.

The Pottawattamie County District Attorneys Office will prosecute the case.
If You Go

Nebraska Game and Parks reminds park visitors to plan ahead and be prepared for crowds, construction and other changes at state parks across the state.

Here are a few things people should know before they go:

Eugene T. Mahoney State Park

The park entrance is undergoing roadway improvements. Guests should expect one-lane entry and exit at the Venture Park located halfway between Lincoln and Omaha.

Fremont State Recreation Area

New boating regulations apply to Victory Lake and Lake 10. Electric motors are no longer allowed, no wake is permitted after sunset, and only one person may be towed behind a boat at a time. These changes are aimed at improving safety at this highly visited park just northwest of Omaha.

Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area

Reservations are required for all camping spots, including beach spots, at this popular reservoir. Reservations should be made before leaving home to ensure you have a camping spot. Book online at OutdoorNebraska.gov, via the mobile app RA Camping, or by phone at 308-284-8800 during business hours.

Fort Atkinson State Historical Park

The parks visitor center remains closed as it undergoes remodeling. The grand opening for the revitalized space is set for June 3.

Statewide

Drought continues to affect large portions of Nebraska. Guests should be prepared for campfire restrictions or closed boat ramps. Low water levels are affecting waterbodies across the state, particularly in the southeast. Guests are encouraged to call the park ahead of time to check their status.

While many popular reservation-only spots already have been booked, same-day reservations and first-come, first-served sites may still be available at a park location near you. Find a park, plan a trip or make a reservation at OutdoorNebraska.gov.

A vehicle park entry permit is required and may be purchased at the park, statewide Nebraska Game and Parks offices or in advance online at OutdoorNebraska.gov.
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LINCOLN  Nearing the end of the session, Nebraska lawmakers on Tuesday passed more than a dozen bills that had been combined into two separate pieces of legislation  a strategy meant to counter an ongoing filibuster that has slowed progress on the floor.

The Nebraska Legislature passed Legislative Bills 565 and 683, both of which will now go to Gov. Jim Pillens desk to be signed into law. In all, the bills contain 17 measures that address everything from scrap tire grants to the expansion of broadband coverage across Nebraska.

While its common to see five or six bills in a package, often referred to as Christmas trees, this session broke several norms. Some such packages contained more than 20 bills.

The strategy was developed midway through the session in response to the filibuster in protest of LB 574, which bans abortions at 12 weeks based on gestational age, and restricts gender-affirming care for individuals under 19. Although Pillen has already signed that bill into law, opponents have vowed to continue filibustering through the end of the session and into next years 60-day session.

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, who said LB 574 amounts to waging war on the transgender community, said she will work to keep lawmakers from developing similar packages in the future.

My new setting is obstructionist, plain and simple, Cavanaugh said.

Without the packages, filibusters would have limited the Legislature to only passing a handful of bills this session. But the large packages themselves have spurred criticisms that the process suppresses debate on some of the bills included in each collection.

Among the changes passed Tuesday:

Hydrogen energy. Money for engineering and modeling work so Nebraska can continue competing for federal designation as a regional clean hydrogen hub would be provided under LB 565, which passed 41-0. The regional hubs are intended to accelerate the development and use of hydrogen to deliver and store energy.

The bill also aims to boost the workforce for advanced nuclear and hydrogen industries by creating a grant program for community colleges and state colleges that develop workforce training programs.

Broadband office. Building on a Pillen executive order, lawmakers approved the creation of a state broadband office through LB 683, which passed 39-0. The office will be tasked with expanding broadband service throughout Nebraska, aided by millions of federal dollars with more expected on the way.

Chinese equipment. LB 683 also would prohibit telecom companies from getting state Universal Service Fund money if they use equipment in their Nebraska networks that was made by companies designated as national security threats by the Federal Communications Commission. The bill could affect Viaero Wireless in western Nebraska, which has equipment made by the Chinese firm Huawei.

Pillen has issued a separate executive order barring state broadband grants from going to any contractor using telecom equipment and services produced by Huawei and other Chinese companies.

Wildlife threats. Private landowners and tenants would be allowed to kill mountain lions and other predators if those animals are attacking livestock under LB 565. Current law gives such authority only to farmers and ranchers who own or operate farms or ranches.
John Campbell, former US ambassador to Nigeria, says the 2019 presidential election in the country has been bad news for democracy. Campbell, who also served as US Department of State foreign service officer from 1975 to 2007, said the election was marred by historically low turnout and credible allegations of rigging.

In his election post-mortem for the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, Campbell, who has co-authored a book on Nigeria: What everyone needs to know, also said Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is unlikely to win his electoral dispute in court.

Buharis margin of victory  some four million votes  is so large that it is unlikely courts will overturn the result, Campbell said.

He also suggested that the elections were a step back from the 2015 presidential election, quoting Situation Rooms report on the election.

THE FULL ARTICLE



Nigerias latest presidential election cycle has been bad news for democracy in Africas most populous country and across the continent. Though President THE OLD GUARD

Buhari and his main challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, both Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group in the countrys north, are part of the Buhari and his main challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, both Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group in the countrys north, are part of the political class that has dominated Nigeria since independence in 1960. Their contest meant there would be no generational leadership change in a country where the average age is eighteen and half of registered voters are under thirty-five. Buhari, who spent much of his last term abroad for medical treatment, hardly campaigned at all. Buhari and Abubakar are the standard-bearers for two political parties descended from the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida: the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), respectively. Both parties are undemocratic in spirit and function primarily to contest elections rather than to promote legislation or policy. During their campaigns, the candidates and their parties offered little that was new to address security breakdowns caused by Boko Haram in the countrys northeast; conflict over land use, ethnicity, and religion in the Middle Belt; and the division of oil revenue in the Delta. Moreover, they were mute on climate change, urbanization, and a population boom that is expected to push Nigeria past 450 million people by the middle of the century. A STEP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

The Situation Room, an umbrella organization of The Situation Room, an umbrella organization of Nigerian civil society groups, wrote that [PDF] the vote marked a step back from the 2015 general election and actions should be taken to identify what has gone wrong and what can be corrected. Just hours before polls were set to open on February 16, the election commission delayed the vote by a week. This was particularly disruptive for the many Nigerians who had travelled from one part of the country to another to vote. When voting finally took place, there were numerous irregularities, and many polling stations opened several hours late. There is also evidence that the security services at some stations prevented voters from casting ballots, particularly in opposition strongholds, and intimidated election commission staff. Of the more than eighty million Nigerians registered to vote this year, just thirty-five million actually voted. In the north, where Buhari is popular among the poor, turnout was around 50 percent. But in the predominantly Christian south and east, where Abubakar wasfavored, turnout stood around 20 percent, a continuation of a long decline in voter participation. THE NIGERIAN EXAMPLE

Nigerias influence across sub-Saharan Africa is outsized. Its population and economy are Africas largest; its Nigerias influence across sub-Saharan Africa is outsized. Its population and economy are Africas largest; its cultural influence, symbolized by the Nollywood film industry, is far-reaching; and its traditional diplomatic activism, through participation in peacekeeping missions and the regional economic bloc ECOWAS, is consequential. When Nigeria transitioned from military to civilian rule in 1999, the effects on West Africa were palpable: coups lost their legitimacy, and the region has pursued a positive democratic trajectory ever since. But the latest presidential election is far from an example for those African countries consolidating their democracies or emerging from quasi-authoritarian regimes to emulate. Nigerias latest presidential election cycle has been bad news for democracy in Africas most populous country and across the continent. Though President Muhammadu Buhari won the election, it was marred by historically low turnout and credible allegations of rigging.
Chinese publishers showcase popular Chinese books at Abu Dhabi int'l book fair

Xinhua) 13:15, May 24, 2023

ABU DHABI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A large Chinese publishing delegation is showcasing 1,151 copies of exquisite books in 736 types at the annual 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair that opened on Monday, the delegation told Xinhua.

The books being exhibited at the week-long fair held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center cover popular Chinese publications of various categories, including Chinese language education, traditional culture, literature, economics, and children's books published in the past two years, according to the Chinese delegation.

As a member of the delegation, China Education Publishing & Media Group Ltd., the overseas operator of the international edition of The Three-Body Problem, highlighted popular Chinese science fiction works, such as The Wandering Earth, The Stars and The Solid Ocean, to promote a better understanding of the development of Chinese science fiction among Arab publishing institutions and readers.

Also on Monday, the Chinese delegation held a cultural forum for in-depth exchanges with the United Arab Emirates publishing and management institutions to promote mutual learning and cooperation between the two sides.

Established in 1991 and organized by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair is one of the largest and most influential book fairs in the Western Asian and North African region.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has revealed the purpose of the visit of Former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Tony Blair to him in Abuja.

Recall that Tinubu met with Blair on Tuesday.

Tinubu, on his official Twitter account (@OfficialBAT), said the purpose of the visit was to discuss mutual interests between Nigeria and the Tony Blair Institute for Good Governance, an institute owned by the former UK Prime Minister.

The tweet reads, I received former British Prime Minister and founder of the Tony Blair Institute for Good Governance, Mr Tony Blair, at the Defence House, Abuja, earlier today.

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We discussed areas of mutual interest and how Nigeria can continue to benefit from the amazing work of the Institute.

Meanwhile, the United States President, Joe Biden, has named his delegation to attend the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

No fewer than 65 world leaders, including Heads of State, have been invited to grace Tinubus inauguration.

The former Lagos State governor will be sworn in as the 16th President of Nigeria on May 29 at Eagle Square, Abuja.

Also expected at the nations seventh transition ceremony are past presidents, diplomats, heads of international organisations, prominent Nigerians, and representatives of foreign governments and agencies.

The inauguration programmes will begin on Thursday with the investiture of Tinubu as Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic and the Vice-President-elect, Kashim Shettima, as Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger.

Representatives of Nigerias traditional allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, China, Germany, Finland, Jamaica, Japan, Israel, Turkey, and several others are expected at the high-profile event.
President Muhammadu Buhari has sought the National Assemblys approval for the issuance of N16.7 billion promissory note to Borno government as refund for reconstructed federal roads in the state.

The request is contained in a letter addressed to President of Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and read at plenary on Tuesday.

Distinguished Senate President may wish to be informed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting of May 3, approved the reimbursement of N16,772,486,002.19 to the Borno Government through the issuance of promissory notes in respect of federal road projects executed by the state.

Distinguished Senate President may wish to note that the FEC had earlier approved the reimbursement of N3,084,769,393.63 to Borno State at its meeting of Feb. 1, along with the approval of N6,601,769,470.99 for reimbursement to the Plateau Government.

My request for the resolution of the National Assembly for the issuance of promissory notes to the two states has already been forwarded to the National Assembly.

Distinguished Senate President may wish to note that this approval by FEC for the reimbursement of the additional N16, 772,486,002.19 to the Borno Government was based on an appeal by the state and my directive to the Ministry of Works and Housing to ensure that sufficient funds are provided for the completion of the Damboa/Chibok road based on the current cost of completion of the project, he said.

Mr Buhari added: The FECs approval was also subsequent to the recommendation of a cabinet committee which reviewed documents submitted by the state and carried out physical inspection and verification of the projects executed by the state government.

In view of the foregoing, I wish to request the Senate to kindly consider and approve through its resolution, the reimbursement of N16,772,486,002.19 through the issuance of promissory notes to Borno Government in respect of the road projects executed by the state on behalf of the federal government.

The Honourable Minister of Works and Housing would provide any information that may be required by the National Assembly for the consideration of this request.

(NAN)
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has blamed his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for the loss of N19billion Dangote Refinery by Ogun State to Lagos State.

He said any true born Ogun State indigene would be pained by the huge investment loss, especially when the state had been marked as the most suitable natural location for the mega project at Olokola Free Trade Zone, in Ogun Waterside Local Government.

He added that the Amosun administration bungled the chance because of one mans interest.

Governor Abiodun, reacting to a report credited to a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, Segun Sowunmi, heaping blames on successive administrations, said the government in power between 2011 and 2019, for reasons best known to it, killed the project and frustrated the promoter of Dangote Refinery out of the state.

Abiodun, in a statement by

Kunle Somorin, his Chief Press Secretary, said: The present governor, Prince Abiodun, served as the chairman of the committee on the Olokola Free Trade Zone (OKFTZ) projects during the first term of ex-Governor Amosun.

Governor Abiodun, as the chairman of the committee and a big player in the oil and gas industry, did everything to make sure the project saw the light of the day.

The then governor, perhaps, having an axe to grind with the promoter of the refinery project, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, frustrated the efforts of Prince Abiodun and his committee.

The former Chairman, Board of Directors of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, who was then a commissioner, served as the secretary of the committee, which engaged Dangote on the mega project.

Read Also: Dangote refinery: Should Nigerians roll out the drums?

Instead of showing enthusiasm towards hosting the project in the state, the former governor opposed and obstructed efforts of the Abiodun-led committee in ensuring that OKFTZ came into fruition.

Having become governor in 2019, it is on record that Prince Abiodun has always rued the missed opportunity and he has embarked on efforts in reawakening OKFTZ. At different forums, the governor has made it known that the Olokola project is a gold mine waiting to be tapped by the state.

Apart from this, he has continued to shop for would-be investors to bring the project to life. His administration has not relented in bringing net-worth players in oil and gas as well as maritime, to ensure the natural resources in OKFTZ such as bitumen, natural deep seaport, marine and natural gas are tapped for the economic development of Ogun State.

Even before Aliko Dangote declared on Monday at the inauguration of the refinery in Lagos that Ogun was the next port of call, Governor Abiodun is already wooing Dangote to reconsider the state.

Conclusively, Governor Abiodun-led administration can never be held either directly or vicariously responsible for the loss of Dangote Refinery. Ogun State indigenes know the administration that worked against the economic development of the state, all in the name of bad politics and shenanigans.

Rather, Governor Abioduns government should be lauded for working to revive OKFTZ.

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In the midst of preparations for his upcoming inauguration on May 29, Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu received a visit from Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that, taking to Twitter, Tinubu shared the details of their meeting.

He said, I received former British Prime Minister and founder of the Tony Blair Institute for Good Governance, Mr Tony Blair, at the Defence House, Abuja, earlier today. We discussed areas of mutual interest and how Nigeria can continue to benefit from the amazing work of the Institute.

Now, further information regarding their conversation has come to light.

During their meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, it was learnt that Blair expressed his willingness to support Tinubus incoming administration and ensure its success.

He stated that the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change would collaborate with Tinubus government to prioritise and achieve its goals.

Blair explained that his visit to Tinubu was motivated by the institutes ongoing project in Nigeria, aiming to understand the incoming administrations priorities better.

He assured Tinubu, saying, We would like to help in any way with your administration. We only need to know what the leadership priorities are and help in how to actualise them.

The former British Prime Minister commended Tinubus campaign for its focus on crucial areas such as security, the economy, agriculture, and power.

He expressed confidence that with investors growing interest in Nigeria, Tinubus administration could obtain the necessary support to drive economic development.

In response, Tinubu expressed his gratitude to Blair for the visit and his offer to collaborate with the incoming administration.
American media personality, Lauren Sanchez awaits a potential financial transformation if she agrees to marry the billionaire founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez were confirmed to be engaged after the Emmy award-winning journalist was seen earlier in the week with a 20-carats diamond ring on her finger, which roughly cost 2.5 million dollars.

Having previously been married to MacKenzie Scott for 26 years, Bezos wedding to Sanchez is the second time he would be walking down the aisle.

Unlike his previous marriage, Bezos did not have a prenuptial agreement in place and when they announced their divorce in January 2019, Scott benefited from a fortune estimated at $137 billion, consisting of 19.7 million shares of Amazon.com.

An American attorney, Brett Ward, who is the partner and co-chair of the family law practice group at Blank Rome, said Sanchez may experience a significant financial shift if she marries Bezos.

Ward, who spoke in an interview with Page Six on Tuesday, said that the 53-year-old journalist could potentially earn at least $1,000,000 per year for the duration of her marriage to the billionaire.

The lawyer dismissed any influence Bezos previous decision regarding a prenuptial agreement with Scott will factor into whether or not he will get a prenup with Sanchez at all.

He said, Jeff is in a very different place now than he was then. He was on his way up and may have never been able.

Ward pointed out that people who experienced contested divorces without prenuptial agreements in their first marriages are often more inclined to pursue one in subsequent marriages because the experience of a contested divorce is often the best motivator.

What most people do not consider, are the financial and emotional costs of going to court without a prenuptial agreement, he said.

Litigants with this level of wealth can end up spending millions of dollars in court fighting over issues like the valuation and classification of assets.

The attorney recommended that Bezos offer Sanchez a fixed payment schedule tied to the length of the marriage in exchange for her waiving any of his assets or spousal support.

He can be sufficiently generous to her financially while at the same time saving the cost of an extended, costly, and likely public trial if the marriage does not work out.

This is a strategy we often employ with high-net-worth individuals. It protects their assets and peace of mind, Ward added

Brett Ward assured that Lauren Sanchez would receive assets sufficient to provide a comfortable lifestyle for her and her [children] should the marriage with Jeff Bezos not work out.

KanyiDaily recalls that before Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott ended their 25 years old marriage, the Amazon CEO was secretly sending raunchy texts and photos behind her back to Lauren Sanchez.

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By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri

The people of Umuoma Nekede Community in Owerri West Council Area of Imo State have called for immediate sack of the State Commissioner for Lands,Mr. Noble Abiaso Atulegwu.

After an emergency meeting of Umuoma Nekede Community stakeholders held in Owerri over the weekend, the spokesman and Palace Secretary of the Community,Elder Godwin Obiyo told journalists that Mr. Atulegwu has injected trouble and caused confusion in their community by illegally invading into their Okwuaba farmland,Opupa Eziuzo farmland and Atuoru farmland of Umuezereokam village which has acquired for building of 3R Housing Estate through the State Ministry of Housing.

Elder Obiyo narrated that the Housing Ministry had already fulfilled agreement and reached a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding with their Community and also done with the necessary requirements of the Lands Ministry before Mr. Atulegwu assumed duties as the Commissioner.

He queried who Atulegwu is working for hence Housing Ministry is also of the same present shared propertyGovernment led by Governor Hope Uzodimma.

We are comfortable with the earlier conditions and agreements we have with the Housing Ministry. And the M.O.U will benefit our people a lot. Nobody should drag us back. Atulegwu is only trying to perfect his sharp practices only because he hails from Owerri West. He has started selling each form at five hundred naira only to interested buyers claiming that he has parcelleted the land.

We have held the ground breaking ceremony of the project which Noble Atulegwu didnt attend whereas he was invited. The Housing Ministry had earlier met the three major hosting towns where traditional rites were performed and Power of Attorney to kick off the project was signed.

Noble Atulegwu has continued to bring thugs to our Community claiming to have mandate of Government to clear the land.

As at the time of filing this story, Atulegwu stated that he will called back via cell phone.

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Nine members of the Kogi State House of Assembly who were accused of terrorism have been cleared of all charges.

Recall that on March 24 2023, the State Assembly announced the suspension of Olusola Kilani (Ijumu), Bello Hassan (Ajaokuta), Muhammed Lawi Ahmed (Okene I), Moses Akande (Ogori/Magongo), Aderonke Aro (Yagba West), Daniyan Ranyi (Bassa), Atule Igbunu (Ibaji), Atachaji Musa (Idah) and Muktar Bajeh (Okehi).

Their suspension followed a letter read in the house from the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, alleging that the lawmakers engaged in terrorism based on security reports.

The lawmakers were exonerated in an announcement made on the floor of the state House of Assembly during Wednesdays plenary session.

The members are expected to resume work with immediate effect.

Speaking on the development, Kilani, a member representing Ijumu State Constituency, expressed appreciation that he has been cleared, saying his integrity remains intact, and untainted and will continue to work towards the sustained development of the state.
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By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri

Governor Hope Uzodimma has said that he is never part of any overt or covert gang up to scuttle the choice of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the All Progressives Congress(APC) for the Senate President.

The Imo State Government which debunked the allegation Wednesday said that the Governor could not have been associated with such a plan being a loyal Party man to the core.

The government said the media reports that tried to link Governor Uzodimma to the mischievous plan of any group to support a Senate President other than the one chosen by the APC was unfounded.

In a statement issued in Owerri, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba explained that at no time did Uzodimma contemplate working against the choice of APC and the President-elect, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the leadership of the 10th Senate.

As a loyal party man, the governor will stand firmly behind the choice of any person or persons chosen by the APC and the President-elect to lead the 10th Senate, and will in fact work assiduously for their emergence.

Emelumba said that the governor as a loyal Party man would never work against the choices of the Party talkless of supporting another candidate, adding that since Uzodimma joined politics over forty (40) years ago, his reputation and integrity as a loyal party man has remained unassailable.

The Commissioner described the author of the story as a mischief maker seeking to destroy the hard earned reputation of the governor.

Those who know my governor can attest to the fact that he is principled and disciplined. He is also bold and courageous. He doesnt speak from both sides of the mouth. He leaves you in no doubt where he stands. And for the issue at hand, he supports the position of APC all the way, he emphasised.

The Commissioner who cautioned media practitioners against wild speculations and publication of unconfirmed reports noted that as a man who believes in the supremacy of the party, Uzodimma cannot swim against the people already anointed for those positions.

Said he: When once the Party has decided on an issue, Uzodimma will go with the Party. So those involved in this infantile speculations should desist forthwith.

Reacting to the governors recent statement, a party chieftain from Nwangele Nkwere Njaba and Isu federal Constituency, has described the governors sudden decision as a big setback for his kinsman Senator Osita Izunaso who is also in the race for 10th assembly Senate Presidency.

The party chieftain insisted that it is still the turn of south east to produce the president of the 10th assembly Senate.

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BY SULE TAHIR.

No fewer than eight persons were reported to be killed by unknown persons suspected to be bandits during an attack in Takum recently.

Sources close to the area has revealed that the incidence happened last Sunday at about noon when armed bandits launched a deadly attack in Takum town of Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Our Correspondent gathered that two kuteb young men on their way from Ada Barracks to Takum town were allegedly killed by bandits exactly around the popular Sunday Cow Market also known as Kasuwan Shannu.

It further stated that the armed bandits invaded Takum, killing eight (8) people and several others were wounded. It was such a pathetic sight to behold as two (2) kuteb young men were killed near Ada Army Barracks in Takum following abrupt sporadic gunshots from people suspected to be armed bandits.

The trigger-happy bandits continued their heinous march into the town killing innocent souls in cool blood as people scamper helplessly for safety.

Recall that Takum LGA, Ussa LGA and Yangtu Special Development Area have suffered persistent attacks from fulani bandits, for over a year now, in which over 80 villages have been destroyed and over 250 people, mostly of Kuteb ethnic extraction, have lost their lives.

In an interviewed with one Salisu a trader in Takum, he said Why the authorities are silent over the incessant killings that have lingered for over a year is still surprising. Why the bandits have not been phased out by security agencies is quite sad and why Kuteb nation seems to be the target is most surprising, perhaps because they occupy over 80 percent of Takum, Ussa and Yangtu Special Development Area

Also an indigene of Takum who pleaded anonymity said Todays attack may be part of the deadly coordinated attacks in Plateau State by likely a wing of the fulani militias deployed to cause as much casualties in Takum as its in Mangu

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The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, has assured of the neutrality and non-interference of the Nigeria Police in the Saturday rerun supplementary elections in 28 Federal and State Constituencies in the country. The IG, therefore, ordered a comprehensive security arrangement for all INEC offices and facilities in the 11 States where the elections will be holding in the country.

The IG in a statement on Friday by DCP Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, directed Police Commissioners to ensure adequate security in the 28 Federal and State Constituencies where one Senatorial District, 12 House of Representatives and one State Assemblies supplementary polls are holding this Saturday.

Consequently, Commissioners of Police in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Ogun and Sokoto States, where the elections will be conducted, have been directed to put in place adequate security arrangements towards ensuring hitch-free elections and a level playing ground for all the candidates and parties in the elections. Similarly, personnel deployed have been strictly warned to abide by the laws guiding the conduct of officers on election duty, the statement read.

The Inspector-General of Police reiterated that Police personnel deployed for the elections will be professional and apolitical in the discharge of their responsibilities. He, therefore, enjoined politicians and candidates standing in for the elections as well as the electorates, to ensure strict conformity to the rule of law.

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<! Atiku Abubakar >

By Kazeem Ugbodagaa

Nigerias former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has told the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the policy on stamp duty on all types of accounts temporarily due to the Coronavirus pandemic crippling economy of nations.

Atiku, in a statement on Tuesday said Nigeria must take decisive economic action to protect her people from the ravages of the Coronavirus.

The coronavirus is raging in the world and not just ravaging human beings, it is also affecting economies. Nigeria is not an island onto itself, and we must take measures to protect the economic well being of our nation and people.

Every action that can be taken to ease the cost of doing business in Nigeria and reduce the cost of living, while promoting consumer confidence must be implemented.

All hands must be on deck in a multi-partisan manner to ensure that Nigeria does not return to an economic recession. This is possible with decisive leadership and disciplined management.

As such, I recommend that policies like the Stamp Duty on all types of accounts be temporarily suspended, until such a time as the nations economy has turned the tide in the fight against this virulent scourge, he said.

Atiku also said the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, had reduced significantly, saying it is strongly recommended that the government should not absorb the savings, but should pass it on to the Nigerian people by way of reducing the pump price of PMS to reflect the current prevailing market costs.

In addition to these measures, he urged the government to request large scale industrialists and employers of labour not to disengage workers.

Definitely, this scourge will affect their production and profitability. However, if they know that the government is behind them and will do all to support them, they are less likely to disengage workers.

These are extraordinary times, and we, as a nation, must take extraordinary measures to protect the entire nation. Nigeria is our collective home, as such, we must suppress every partisan disagreement and think and work patriotically to ensure our national survival amid global uncertainty, he said.

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The Court of Appeal on Thursday cleared the APC governorship candidate, Sani Danladi, to participate in Saturdays governorship election in Taraba State.

The appeal court in Yola granted a stay of execution of an order of the Federal High Court in Jalingo. The appeal court panel was presided by Chidi Uwa.

The appeal court granted two orders. One was for the stay of execution of the high court judgement while the second was an order barring INEC and others from implementing the high court judgement.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the high court on Wednesday disqualified Mr Danladi after he was found culpable of age falsification.

Mr Danaladi is one of the major opponents of the incumbent Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku. Mr Ishaku seeks to return as governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in Taraba

Yakubu Maikasuwa, the counsel to Mr Danladi, told BBC Hausa that the ruling sets aside the previous judgement by Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo.
<! Governor Sanwo-Olu >

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday announced a programme, tagged: Food Kitchen aimed at feeding 100,000 youths daily to cushion the effect of Coronavirus lockdown in the state.

The governor disclosed this while giving update on the Coronavirus situation in Lagos in Marina, Lagos Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

According to Sanwo-Olu, in the next couple of days, we will commence a daily Food Kitchen programme which will see us aim to feed about 100,000 people daily.

This will largely target the youths. We are identifying local food vendors who will pilot this programme and ensure that the process of cooking and serving of the meals adhere strictly to public health guidelines.

The governor also said his administration was cleaning up its data from various social registers to get a clean list of truly vulnerable and economically challenged persons to enable it remit some cash to them.

We aim to do these cash transfers by the end of the week to a minimum of 250,000 indigent citizens, he said.

Also, Sanwo-Olu said he had just issued an order to the Police; LASTMA and the VIO to release all impounded vehicles arrested for minor traffic offences from the 1st of March 2020 to date.

He said the directive would take effect at the end of the lockdown.

The governor also announced that all the Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs and Small and medium-sized Enterprises, SMEs who had taken Lagos State Employment Trust Fund loans and other government programme loans would enjoy a three months moratorium.

This will further help to cushion the effect of the lack of economic activities occasioned by the lockdown, he said.

Sanwo-Olu reminded Lagosians that this is a season for obedience and personal responsibility, urging them to follow the guidelines as issued by the health experts and authorities.

Please, let us cooperate with the government to ensure that we have an outcome that is favorable to all. I can assure you that we will surely overcome this pandemic, and we will emerge stronger and more determined to transform the lives of all Lagosians and all the people of Nigeria, for the better, he said.
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BLOOMINGTON  A Bloomington woman received a prison sentence Wednesday after pleading guilty to burglary and drug charges.

Lisa D. Frasier, 50, was initially charged in March 2021 with burglary, theft and retail theft, accused of taking merchandise from a department store in Normal. She was charged in a separate case in May 2021 with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, after prosecutors said she had less than 15 grams of cocaine.

She pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of burglary and one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance. The remaining charges in the March 2021 case and a July 2022 case in which she was charged with violation of bail bond were dismissed in a plea agreement.

Frasier was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on each count that she pleaded guilty to; the two sentences will run concurrently. She had credit for 91 days already served.

Updated mug shots from The Pantagraph Bryant Lewis Derek Roesch Justin M. Mata Marcus D. Wesley Phillip Tinch Trisha L. Hanke William B. Givens David L. Oliver Kenneth E. Funk Jordan R. King Holly M. Isaacson Kenneth L. Minton Tony L. Jackson Britley L. Hilger Jasmine L. Smith Jackie S. Claypool Noah R. Demuth Brandon L. Parsano Alexander N. Williams Carlos Sanchez-Solozarzano Jaylin S. Bones Jordan R. King Dominique M. Banks Austin T. Daugherty Sandra M. Lewis Samantha E. Morris Nolan C. Love Nikkita L. Sandefur Katlin M.B. Wilson Eli C. Garozzo Tysean T. Townsend Curtis J. Byrd Noral K. Nelson Charles J. Tankson Davis, Micah S Livingston, Joshua D. Kevin L. Ewen Emmanuel K. Mpay Ahmad S. Manns Dylan R Mann Tony L. Jackson William R. Linden Zadek U. Moen Zachary T. Willis Cecily M. Sexton Tonisha A. Jackson James A. McConnaughay Jessica M. Longberry Barry D. Guyton Keon E. Spiller
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NORMAL  Some parents might tell their children that spending too much time watching TikTok videos or viewing Snapchat stories wont amount to anything.

However, 17-year-old Sirihaasa Nallamothu is making waves and cashing in since browsing social media inspired her to help others. The Association for Computing Machinery, in hand with the Computer Science Teachers Association, announced May 10 that the University High School Class of 2023 graduate was one of four high school seniors across the nation to receive the Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing. Each winner is awarded a $10,000 scholarship.

Nallamothu previously showcased her expertise for the community as a finalist in the 2022 Celebrating High School Innovators contest in Normal. Her research focuses on a potential medical benefit of machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence. She studied postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which causes people to experience a faster heart rate when they transition from lying down to standing. Nallamothu sought to determine whether machine learning technology, such as an algorithm, could be used to warn people with the condition when they were likely to faint within a 15-minute window.

The Pantagraph previously reported that Nallamothu learned about the condition, commonly called POTS, on Snapchat, where she followed video blogs showing a girl with the syndrome who was prone to fainting. In some instances, she said, videos showed the girl passing out without warning. Or, the patient described in videos feeling the onset of POTS symptoms in dangerous situations, such as when driving or cooking.

In a recent phone interview with The Pantagraph, Nallamothu said the award was entirely unexpected.

Im excited people are taking notice and recognizing the importance of this research, she said.

Nallamothu began her research  the first of its kind that uses data collected from humans  in October 2021. She said she's continuing to collect data from three people with POTS and refine her predictive algorithms. Nallamothu also hopes to expand her sample size in the future.

Tough start

Although both nervous and a little scared, Nallamothu said shes also excited to start her college journey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Grainger College of Engineering. She said she knows shell be tackling a tough computer science program.

It felt good walking the stage Sunday at her U-High graduation, she said, but it will be sad to leave her classmates and her favorite teacher behind.

Nallamothu credited U-High computer science teacher Cory Culbertson as playing a key role in the projects research, and securing approval from the Illinois State University Institutional Review Board to collect human data.

Its very hard to get, she said, adding that Culbertson always suggested trying different algorithms or looking at issues from a different lens.

Hes the main reason I want to study computer science, Nallamothu said.

To collect data, she said, she and Culbertson used an Empatica E4, a wristband similar to a smartwatch that monitors a subjects heart rate, blood pressure, and skin conductance, and records accelerometer data. When a research subject started to feel POTS symptoms, she said they were advised to press a button that would tag the data.

Nallamothu said shes looking to publish her research data in a journal or at a conference either this year or next.

Through her studies, she said, shes learned theres a lot of interest in making fainting predictions more accessible because POTS is under-researched. She said some people have therapy dogs who predict when symptom flare, but theyre expensive and hard to train.

Nallamothu also pointed to a March study published by the National Institutes of Health, which reviewed reports that linked POTS to long COVID, a condition in which some people continue to experience symptoms for weeks or months after an initial COVID infection. The study advised doctors treating COVID-19 survivors to have a high suspicion for POTS when the patient reports symptoms consistent with the condition.

Although it will be hard to get back into the grind of school after her senior year of high school, Nallamothu said shes looking to find new research opportunities in college.

Photos: University High at Normal Community baseball
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PONTIAC  Pontiac was chosen as this year's official destination for the National Road Trip 2023 by National Day Calendar that will take place on Friday, May 26.

Founder of National Day Calendar Marlo Anderson will lead a road trip through Illinois in celebration of National Road Trip Day.

Those who wish to participate can join hundreds of historic and modern cars to kickoff the event at 11 a.m. with an official destination proclamation at Wally's, 1 Holiday Road in Pontiac.

After the ceremony, the cars will travel along Route 66. Pontiac's notable destinations include the Route 66 Museum, Livingston County War Museum, Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum, Wally's, Pontiac's three swinging bridges and murals on Main Street.

Call 815-844-5847 or go to visitpontiac.org for more information.

PHOTOS: Pontiac at Central Catholic boys basketball 1 Michael Kuska 1 010623.JPG Brad Underwood 1 010623.JPG Chase Fisher 1 010623.JPG Cole Certa 1 010623.JPG Cole Certa 2 010623.JPG Colin Hayes 1 010623.JPG Colin Hayes 2 010623.JPG Jason Welch 1 010623.JPG Matt Kelley 1 010623.JPG Riley Weber 1 010623.JPG Riley Weber 2 010623.JPG
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A former planner for the beleaguered Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has been charged with siphoning more than a million dollars from state funds meant for child care and blowing much of it on slot machines at a local casino.

Shauntelle Pridgeon, 54, of Chicago, was charged with honest-services fraud in a criminal complaint made public last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago. She was ordered released on her own recognizance by U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Jantz, court records show.

Her attorney, Quentin Banks, could not immediately be reached Wednesday.

According to the charges, Pridgeon had served since 2015 as a social service community planner for DCFS, responsible for reviewing and approving daycare providers for children under the agencys supervision.

Between 2016 and 2022, the charges alleged, Pridgeon received at least $1.6 million in payments from 14 separate childcare providers doing business with DCFS, who deposited the funds in a bank account controlled by Pridgeon and her husband. None of the payments were disclosed to DCFS or the state, as required by law, the complaint alleged.

The charges come as Illinois long-troubled child welfare agency has faced heavy criticism under Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Last year, a state audit found that DCFS failed to ensure adequate care for children in its charge and has not properly tracked cases referred by people who are legally required to report suspicions of abuse or neglect, the Tribune reported.

The investigation in Pridgeon's case showed some of the locations that she had claimed were providing daycare for foster children were either vacant buildings or other businesses. In other instances, Pridgeon overcharged DCFS for child care from legitimate providers who were supposed to be paid at a lower rate, the complaint alleged.

During the same time period, Pridgeon gambled extensively at a Chicago-area casino, primarily playing slot machines, according to the complaint. Casino records obtained through a federal grand jury subpoena showed she wagered nearly $4 million over an eight-year period ending last year, with losses totaling $2.2 million, the complaint alleged.

Records showed Pridgeon often paid her gambling expenses with the illicit payments shed received as a result of the fraud, the complaint stated.

The fraud was first detected in August 2022, when Pridgeons colleague reported to their supervisor that one of the daycare providers that Pridgeon had approved was paid by DCFS for childcare that was never provided or at rates that were substantially higher than what the agency had authorized, according to the complaint.

Another red flag came when the colleague found out the address listed for the provider, identified only as Provider A, contained no childcare business at all, according to the complaint.

Instead, a beauty salon was located at that address, and behind the beauty salon was an apartment above a garage, the charges stated.

On Aug. 16, 2022, Pridgeons supervisor called a meeting at the DCFS offices on South Indiana Avenue in Chicago. Pridgeon was ordered to bring the files related to Provider A, but instead excused herself to go to the restroom, then went to the file room and took the files and started wandering the building.

Another DCFS employee told investigators they saw Pridgeon in the elevator holding the stack of files and that she said, I (expletive) up according to the complaint.

By the time Pridgeon was eventually escorted back to the supervisors office, the files she was holding were largely empty of documents. Her boss suspected that Pridgeon had disposed of documents from the files in confidential trash bins located throughout the DCFS office, the complaint stated.

When confronted about her approval of Provider As childcare bills, Pridgeon at first tried to claim that it was legitimate, according to the complaint. While Pridgeon was there, however, her boss called the number listed for Provider A and confirmed there was no childcare business there.

When the supervisor informed Pridgeon it appeared as though someone had been committing fraud, Pridgeon stated to cry, according to the complaint.

Pridgeon was placed immediately on administrative leave and personally escorted out of the building by her supervisor, the charges alleged.

In one of the confidential trash bins, the supervisor found documents allegedly tossed there by Pridgeon, including printouts of DCFS child care providers that had been inactivated by Pridgeon in the computer system that day in an alleged effort to hide the fraud, according to the complaint.

State records show Pridgeon earned $62,000 a year at DCFS. A spokesperson for the agency was not immediately available for comment.

Pridgeon, meanwhile, also was granted a $20,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan in 2021 to help pay employees for what she said was a Chicago-based consulting company, federal records show.

Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert, whose office represents more than 7,000 children involved in the child welfare system, told the Tribune the agency is is in the worst shape its been in 30 years.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
Ghana and the Bahamas have agreed to deepen their cooperation through the introduction of a Visa-Free regime for all passport holders of the two countries.



The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Hon. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong in the company of Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister for Information and Mr. Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer for the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) held meetings with the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Rt. Hon. Philip Davis, and the First Lady Ann Marie Davis to review Ghana-Bahamas bilateral relations, discuss issues of interconnectivity and a visa exemption regime between Ghana and the Bahamas. The meetings were also used to discuss the maiden Ghana-Bahamas Investment Summit.



Rt. Hon. Davis assured of his country's willingness to sign a visa exemption agreement and urged for the immediate negotiation and conclusion of such an agreement. He also underscored the importance of the investment summit in improving economic activity between the two countries. The summit was therefore tasked to seriously discuss practical steps aimed at introducing flights between Ghana and the Bahamas.



Hon. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong also participated in the maiden Ghana-Bahamas Investment Summit which was held under the auspices of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in Nassau in the Bahamas on Wednesday 17th May, 2023.



The aim of the summit which was part of the Diaspora Connect Roadshow - Caribbean was to reconnect with the people of African descent in the Bahamas in particular and the Caribbean as a whole. The summit was further meant to showcase the economic and investment potential of both countries in order to strengthen and promote economic bilateral relations between the Ghana and the Bahamas in the spirit of South-South cooperation.





Hon. Ampratwum-Sarpong in his address underscored the need to improve economic diplomacy to forge partnerships and strengthen economic ties with the Caribbean, besides the ancestral, cultural and traditional ties between Ghana and the Bahamas. This he said was the surest way to creating prosperity and improving the living standards of the peoples of the two countries. He expressed concern about the low trade volumes between the two countries and was optimistic that the summit will brainstorm on steps to bolster trade and investment for the benefit of the two countries.



He applauded the establishment of the Africa-Caribbean Trade Mission in Accra aimed at facilitating connection between the Bahamas and Ghana. "The Centre, we believe, will create the enabling environment for partnerships between the two business communities in various sectors of our respective economies, especially in the areas of tourism, fashion and textiles" he added. He further urged the business communities in the two countries to fully explore the opportunities in the identified areas of cooperation to boost trade and investment by way of fostering joint ventures and exchange of knowledge and expertise.



The Deputy Minister subsequently highlighted the locational advantage of Ghana as the gateway to Africa especially as it hosts the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which has been established with the objectives of boosting intra-African trade and redefining Africas role in the global market. He also touted Ghanas political stability, peace and security, which positioned the country as the preferred destination for investment, including the fact that Ghana is headquarters to some major multinational companies.



Hon. Ampratwum-Sarpong

commended the Government and People of the Bahamas for hosting the summit and was hopeful that the outcome of the summit will result in an increase in investment and trade activities between business operators of Ghana and the Bahamas.



Other officials who were present at the summit were Hon. Ahomka Lindsay former Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and Board member of GIPC,

Amb. Samuel Yaw Nsiah, Ghana's Ambassador to Cuba with concurrent accreditation to the Bahamas, officials from the GIPC and other stakeholders from the Bahamas side.

Source: Peacefmonline com









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

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Separatists in Cameroons restive north-western region have kidnapped over 30 women and injured an unspecified number of others, officials have said.



The women were abducted in Big Babanki, a village near the border with Nigeria, for allegedly protesting against a curfew and taxes imposed on them by the separatists.



Around 30 women were kidnapped by separatists [on Saturday morning] - we have not found them yet, an army colonel told the AFP news agency.



Some local media report that the number of those missing was even higher - up to 50 women.



Officials said some women were "severely tortured" by the heavily armed rebels, who frequently kidnap civilians, mostly for ransom.



Separatist leader Capo Daniel told the Associated Press that the women were being punished for allowing themselves to be "manipulated" by Cameroon's government.



The military says it has deployed troops to free the women.



Cameroon has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017.



The conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the Crisis Group.

Source: BBC









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

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The UN human rights chief has urged the two warring generals in Sudan to stop sexual violence and spare the lives of civilians.



Volker Turk described the conflict as heartbreaking.



He called on Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to stop what he called senseless violence immediately.



There has been a reduction in the fighting since a ceasefire came into effect on Monday.



But people in Khartoum say clashes have continued in some parts of the city.



In El Obeid - the capital of North Kordofan State - a doctor told the BBC five people had died as the truce had been ignored.

Source: BBC









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

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The Namibian health authorities have confirmed the outbreak of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fever, following the death of a patient in the eastern town of Gobabis last week.



Lab tests confirmed the male patient died from the viral illness, the Ministry of Health and Social Services said in a statement.



A total of 27 contacts, including 24 health workers, have been identified.



Authorities have urged people who may have had direct contact with the patient to report to the nearest facility.



The ministry said one confirmed case is considered an outbreak, according to the WHO protocols.



The disease can be caught from contact with infected blood or tissues from a person or animal.



Symptoms then develop quite quickly - after a few days - and include fever, aches, nausea and vomiting, and a rash caused by bleeding into the skin.



Patients can become severely ill with organ damage, which can be fatal.

Source: BBC









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

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The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africas third-largest political party, has said he would supply weapons to Russia because Moscow is in a war with imperialism.



In an interview with the BBC in Johannesburg, Julius Malema insisted that South Africa is an ally of Russia and that the ANC governments position of non-alignment only applied to the war in Ukraine.



I will go beyond the friendship with Russia. In the war, I will align with Russia and I will even supply the weapons, Mr Malema told HARDtalks Stephen Sackur.



The EFF also wants South Africa to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).



The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes but Mr Malema has pledged to prevent any attempt to arrest the Russian president if he attends next months Brics summit in Cape Town.



Mr Malema made the comments following a diplomatic row in which the US ambassador to South Africa alleged that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto a Russian vessel docked in the country last December.



The South African government has denied approving any arms shipments to Russia.

Source: BBC









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

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A Nigerian influencer has made an apology on his YouTube channel after he made comments to the BBC saying that some Nigerians sign up to study degrees in the UK just to get a visa for themselves and their dependents.



"We're beginning to see that a lot of people just hide behind the studentship. So the student thing is not real, it's not like they need the degrees," Emdee Tiamiyu said.



Speaking on YouTube on Wednesday, Mr Tiamiyu apologised, after his comments received a backlash on social media with some suggesting he had betrayed Nigerians.



"I am sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused you," Mr Tiamiyu said.



He added he regretted the "pain" he had caused, and that he also said positive things about Nigerians in the interview.



His intention for granting the interview was to "highlight some of the challenges" Nigerians face at home and in the UK, and that he would never have agreed to an interview that he felt "put Nigeria to shame".



He also said he didn't know how he will "get over" the backlash.



Mr Tiamiyu's comments come as the UK government restricts visas for family members of some foreign students.



The reaction to Mr Tiamiyu's apology has not been universally warm online, with some calling his video "worthless".

Source: BBC









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Chief Executive for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC, Opoku Ahwene Danquah has been honoured as the best Chief Executive for the Upstream Petroleum sector in Ghana by the Ghana CEOs Network.



Announcing the honours at the just ended 7th CEOs Summit in Accra, the Network further recognized the outstanding performance of Ahwene Danquah in the sector since assuming office as the Chief Executive for the countrys National Oil Company.



This is in recognition of your sterling leadership, achievement, business excellence and professionalism over the last year in the upstream petroleum regulation sector of Ghanas Economy. The CEO network stated



An award to for the CEO of the year is presented to an individual who exemplifies outstanding business practices, achievements, leadership, vision and the creation of economic growth while contributing to the community.



The theme for this years summit is economic sovereignty, sustainable corporate governance and digital industrial transformation: New paths for growth and Prosperity.



Opoku Ahwene Danquah has close to two decades of experience in Strategy across multiple business platforms with most of his focus in, but not limited to Oil & Gas.



Prior to GNPC, Danquah worked for Vallourec  a multinational tubular technology producer serving the energy, construction, automotive, and mechanical industries. At Vallourec, he managed the North American Strategy, Development and Innovation team.



Before this role, Danquah held senior roles at Baker Hughes and General Electric (GE). Prior to that, he was also the Global Strategic Manager at Schlumbergers upstream consulting arm (SBC). He also held a Director role at Hart Energy where he helped consolidate their consulting and research groups. His professional tenure also includes working for Wood Mackenzie, IHS CERA, Euromoney Institutional Investor and Bank of America.



Opoku Ahwenee Danquah holds a bachelors degree in Economics from Middlebury College, with a minor in French. He also holds a masters degree from The Fletcher School of Tufts University with a focus in both International Relations and International Business, with Strategy coursework for his masters degree completed at Harvard Business School.



Danquah is an alumnus of Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon), where he represented the school in the National Science & Maths Quiz





About Opoku Ahwene Danquah (O-A Danquah)

O-A Danquah is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) where he oversees all operations. He has over 18 years of experience in Strategy across multiple businesses with most of his focus in, but not limited to Oil & Gas/Energy.



Prior to GNPC, Danquah worked for Vallourec  a multinational tubular technology producer serving the energy, construction, automotive, and mechanical industries. At Vallourec, he managed the North American Strategy, Development and Innovation team.



Before this role, Danquah held senior roles at Baker Hughes and General Electric (GE). Prior to that, he was the Global Strategic Manager at Schlumbergers upstream consulting arm (SBC). He also held a Director role at Hart Energy where he helped consolidate their consulting and research groups. His professional tenure also includes working for Wood Mackenzie, IHS CERA, Euromoney Institutional Investor and Bank of America.



Danquah holds a bachelors degree in Economics from Middlebury College, with a minor in French. He also holds a masters degree from The Fletcher School of Tufts University with a focus in both International Relations and International Business, with Strategy coursework for his masters degree completed at Harvard Business School.



Danquah is an alumnus of Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon), where he represented the school in the National Science & Maths Quiz.

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In a shocking incident, a Nigerian man has been apprehended by the UK authorities for impregnating not only his wife but also her mother and sister.



This scandalous affair came to light when the wife discovered her husband's infidelity and decided to report him to the police. The man had been involved in secret relationships with both his wife's mother and sister, resulting in all three women becoming pregnant.



The details surrounding the man's identity remain undisclosed for now, but it is expected that further information will be released in due course. The news of this man's outrageous actions has quickly spread, capturing the attention of many.



Currently, the arrested individual is being held in custody, awaiting further investigation into this perplexing situation.



As the story continues to unfold, we anticipate learning more about the motives and circumstances behind this unprecedented event.





View this post on Instagram A post shared by ohiani ba (@ohiani__stubborn__proud)





HOT VIDEO TODAY: Best Cheaters Caught On Camera And Their Reactions







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The Akatsi North Constituency chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Godfred Root Kudalor, and Zakari Nasiru, the constituency youth organiser, have been suspended by the Volta Regional Executive Committee of the Party due to allegations of gross misconduct.



In a letter dated Sunday, May 21, signed by Mr. Pope Yao Yevoo, the NPP Volta Regional Secretary, Mr. Kudalor and Nasiru were unanimously suspended during a meeting held by the Regional Executive Committee on Sunday.



"The Committee, by a unanimous decision, has suspended you as the Constituency Chairman for Akatsi North," the statement read in part.



The statement also refers Mr. Kudalor and Nasiru to the Disciplinary Committee in response to a petition filed against them by Mr. Innocent Agblorti, the constituency organiser, Madam Veronica Ati, the women's organiser, and nine Electoral Area Coordinators. The petitioners have called for the immediate suspension of Mr. Kudalor for releasing an audio message on the Constituency Executives platform and giving a radio interview where he expressed support for calls made by some constituency executives to remove Mr. Simon Peter Ofosu, the District Chief Executive for the area.



The committee has instructed them to hand over all party properties under their care to the 1st Vice Chairman, pending the outcome of investigations by the Regional Disciplinary Committee.



Earlier, on Tuesday, May 16, Mr. Zakari Nasiru, the Constituency Youth Organiser, held a press conference at the Constituency Party Office, demanding the removal of the District Chief Executive (DCE) from office, citing issues of non-performance and disunity, among others.



The petitioners alleged that the actions of Mr. Kudalor and Zakari Nasiru were a clear breach of Article 4 (7) (f) and (g) of the Party's Constitution, which has the potential to undermine the progress made by the party in the Constituency.



When contacted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr. Kudalor declined to comment on the matter but stated that he would refrain from further comments until directed to do so by his legal team.







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Former NDC Central Regional Chairman, Bernard Allotey Jacobs has asked the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) not to rejoice thinking they will win the 2024 elections because of the current economic situation under the Akufo-Addo administration.



According to him, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) won't be easy to beat in the 2024 elections.



He gave this admonition to the NDC while analyzing the by-election held at Kumawu constituency in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday.



He noted that the outcome of the by-election shows the NPP is building a strong organization towards the next elections.



"They shouldn't be sitting down and saying that, because of the economic situation, they will win the 2024 elections. The NPP is quietly strategizing, building its organization towards 2024," he said on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show.



He commended the NPP over their victory as their candidate, Ernest Yaw Anim, was declared winner in the by-election by the Electoral Commission.



Yaw Anim polled 15264 and the National Democratic Congress' candidate, Kwasi Amankwaa had 3723 votes.













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The world and Africa will miss outgoing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, according to Ghanas President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



He was optimistic that posterity will be kind to the current Nigeria leader.



Speaking at the launch of two biographies about Buhari, Akufo-Addo praised the president for being solicitous of Africas interests and making decisions based on principles.



The two new books talk about the legacies of President Buhari.



President Akufo-Addo also congratulated the authors of the biographies and urged African storytellers to tell the continents story truthfully and with praise where earned and criticism where deserved.



As leaders, 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 Africas interest, and who sought for principle in all decisions in which he took, the President remarked.



Buhari was elected as Nigerias president in 2015, the first opposition candidate to do so following years of political turmoil. He is expected to leave office in May, 2023.

Source: Daily Guide









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The National Organizer of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joseph Yamin has accused the media fraternity in Ghana of unfairness to his party.



According to him, the media made it a foremost topic to discuss John Dramani Mahamas Ghc40 per delegate transportation in their just-ended primaries as an attempt to vote buy, but has refused to talk about what happened in the Kumawu by-election.



Speaking on NEAT FMs morning show, Joseph Yamin said the ruling New Patriotic Party massively influenced the Kumawu by-election with money.



He expressed disappointment and called on the media to speak against it.



If you broaden it you are diverting attention . . . let's talk about what the NPP is doing . . .What the NPP is doing is a recipe for disaster going forward, he said in reaction to a quaestion.



Watch video below





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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So what does all this mean for the 2020 presidential election? Will President Trump's job-approval rating make or break his chances of winning re-election?

The short answer is yes. Since World War II, not a single incumbent presidential candidate has won re-election with a job-approval rating below 50 percent. Barack Obama almost became the exception in 2012, with an approval rating in the mid-40s a few months before election day. But by November, it had cleared the hurdle at 51 percent.

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Does that mean that if Trump's approval rating continues to languish below 50 percent he will definitely lose re-election in 2020? Absolutely not. If there's one thing that Trump has proven in both his candidacy and tumultuous time in office is that precedent means nothing to this president.

Just look at this one startling fact: Trump was elected in 2016 despite being the least-liked major party presidential candidate of all time. His unfavorability rating on election day was a whopping 61 percent. It helped that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, had the second highest unfavorability rating in history at 51 percent.

You might notice that not every job-approval poll comes up with the same numbers. That's because each polling organization uses a slightly different methodology. Some pollsters, like Gallup and Quinnipiac, call up a representative sample of Americans over 18 and simply ask them if they approve or disapprove of the president's job performance. In Trump's case, those polls result in lower approval and higher disapproval numbers.

But what about Rasmussen Reports, Trump's favorite pollster? In that case, Rasmussen doesn't simply poll American adults or even American registered voters, a tighter demographic. Rasmussen only counts answers from "likely voters," people who say they are likely to vote in the next election. Rasmussen is also the only company polling people on a daily basis.

On top of that, Rasmussen Reports give respondents four options: "strongly approve," "somewhat approve," "somewhat disapprove," and "strongly disapprove." In Trump's case, the inclusion of "somewhat approve" seems to be enough to lift his Rasmussen approval numbers as many as 10 points higher than other major national pollsters. However, that doesn't always seem to be the case. The June 9, 2020, Rasmussen poll found that only 44 percent of likely U.S. voters approve of President Trump's job performance. The findings of the latest Gallup poll however, which was released June 10, 2020, showed Trump's approval rating had fallen to 39 percent. The polling was conducted from May 28-June 4, 2020, as protests occurred throughout the country after the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody. It's the first time his approval rating has been below 40 percent since October 2019.

Of course, the 2020 election is not the 2016 election. The biggest difference, perhaps, is Trump is an incumbent president running on his own record. And 2020 so far has not been kind. Trump's approval rating has dropped 12.7 points among registered or likely voters since April 15, according to FiveThirtyEight estimates. And his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the economic collapse that followed and the protests after of the death of Floyd by police could be his biggest threat to re-election, despite what any presidential approval poll says.

Now That's Polarization President Trump's job-approval numbers are dramatically split along party lines. According to Gallup, 92 percent of Republicans approve of the president's job performance, while 86 percent of Democrats disapprove.

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Originally Published: Jun 9, 2020
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Photocrosslinkable natural carbohydrate alginate-based 3D-printed bioink. Credit: Carbohydrate Polymers (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120895

A few years ago, a French daily newspaper published an article titled "Korea's Utilization of Algae as a food ingredient for the Earth." The article highlighted the ecological potential of algae, which Westerners typically find unappealing due to its soft and pulpy consistency. Algae possesses the ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide and generate significantly less carbon emissions.

Consequently, the mere act of consuming algae could play a constructive role in environmental protection. Nonetheless, advancements have been made in the production of cultivated meat using algae, thus presenting a novel approach for Earth preservation. Furthermore, algae can also be utilized in the engineering of artificial organs for those who are suffering from organ failure.

The research team led by Professor Hyung Joon Cha from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the School of Convergence Science and Technology, and Ph.D. candidate Sangmin Lee and Dr. Geunho Choi from the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH have developed a bioink characterized by enhanced cell viability and printing resolution.

This accomplishment was achieved through the utilization of alginate derived from algae, a natural carbohydrate, and a harmless visible light. The research findings have been published in Carbohydrate Polymers.

3D bioprinting is a methodology employed in the fabrication of artificial organs or tissues through the use of bioinks which contain cells. This technique holds significant promise in the realms of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine while also attracting considerable attention within the foodtech sector due to its potential to produce cultivated meat, an emerging concept in future food production. Nevertheless, currently available bioinks exhibit limitations, impeding cell mobility and resulting in low cell viability and printing resolution.

To address these challenges, the research team devised a microgel utilizing a photocrosslinkable alginate. Then, they developed a 3D-printed bioink capable of facilitating free cell movement and proliferation by using this photocrosslinkable alginate microgel. This microgel bioink loaded with cells led to a 4-times increase in cell proliferation compared to conventional bioinks.

Furthermore, the microgel demonstrated reduced viscosity when subjected to external forces over a specified period, promptly recovering its initial shape even after deformation. These characteristics significantly increased the resolution and lamination capacity of the printing outcomes.

Professor Hyung Joon Cha who led the research explained, "We engineered functional tissue structures by employing a biomaterial-based bioink with exceptional and stable cell-loading capabilities for practical 3D printing. Future research and refinement of this technology are expected to propel its widespread adoption in the engineering of artificial organs and the production of cultivated meat."

More information: Sangmin Lee et al, Visible light-crosslinkable tyramine-conjugated alginate-based microgel bioink for multiple cell-laden 3D artificial organ, Carbohydrate Polymers (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120895
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Percentage of species per taxonomic group which have decreasing, stable, increasing or unknown/unassessed (NA) population trends. Each group is represented by a silhouette from left to right; mammals (N = 5969), birds (N = 11,162), amphibians (N = 7316), reptiles (N = 10,150), fishes (N = 24,356) and insects (N = 12,161). Data were sourced from the IUCN Red List (www.iucnredlist.org). Credit: Biological Reviews (2023). DOI: 10.1111/brv.12974

A trio of macro-biologists and life scientists, two with Queen's University Belfast and the third with Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, has found that the modern "sixth mass extinction" event is going to be even worse than prior research has shown.

In their study, reported in the journal Biological Reviews, Catherine Finn, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso and Florencia Grattarola, analyzed population trend data for more than 71,000 animal species to learn more about declines.

Over the past several decades, it has become clear that global biodiversity has been declining due to human activities including conversion of habitat, use of pesticides and herbicides and more recently, climate change. It is not known how many species are extinct due to such activities, but scientists have been trying to track species at highest risk of disappearing.

One organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has been assigning labels to species to assess extinction risk. But such lists, the researchers with this new effort note, only show which species are currently at risk of disappearingthey do not show the drop in population levels of species that are not currently at risk of going extinct. To learn more about such trends, the researchers analyzed available population data for more than 70,000 species around the world to see how their numbers have changed since recordkeeping first began.

They found that 48% of species have declining populations and just 3% have rising populations. They also found evidence showing that 33% of species currently classified as nonthreatened on the IUCN Red List are actually spiraling toward extinction.

The researchers also found that as a group, amphibians are seeing the greatest drops in population. And while they found declines for birds, mammals and insects, they found it was less severe among reptiles and fish. They also found that declines were steeper in the tropics, noting that species in such areas tend to be more sensitive to change.

The team concludes that the planet is approaching a mass extinction event far graver than prior research has suggested.

More information: Catherine Finn et al, More losers than winners: investigating Anthropocene defaunation through the diversity of population trends, Biological Reviews (2023). DOI: 10.1111/brv.12974 Journal information: Biological Reviews

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Workers appear on a tower that will be part of a complex of towers arrayed in six rings to spray carbon dioxide into the rainforest north of Manaus, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Each ring will consist of 16 aluminum towers as high as a 12-story building. The aim is to understand how the worlds largest tropical forest responds to climate change. Credit: AP Photo/Fernando Crispim

In the depths of the Amazon, Brazil is building an otherworldly structurea complex of towers arrayed in six rings, poised to spray mists of carbon dioxide into the rainforest. But the reason is utterly terrestrial: to understand how the world's largest tropical forest responds to climate change.

Dubbed AmazonFACE, the project will probe the forest's remarkable ability to sequester carbon dioxidean essential piece in the puzzle of world climate change. This will help scientists understand whether the region has a tipping point that could throw it into a state of irreversible decline. Such a feared event, also known as the Amazon forest dieback, would transform the world's most biodiverse forest into a drier savannah-like landscape.

FACE stands for Free Air CO 2 Enrichment. This technology first developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory, located near New York City, has the ability to modify the surrounding environment of growing plants in a way that replicates future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

"Plants absorb carbon dioxide along with water and light to produce sugars and release oxygen. What happens when one increases this input? We don't know," David Lapola, one of the leading scientists of the project, told The Associated Press. "We have evidence from similar experiments in temperate forests, but there is no guarantee that the behavior will be the same here in the Amazon."

Lapola, a professor at the State University of Campinas, argues that the tipping point of the Amazon rainforest is more likely tied to climate change rather than the rate of deforestation. Thus, it is crucial to study the impact of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the forest to understand what lies ahead.

This perspective challenges the widely quoted study by Earth system scientist Carlos Nobre. According to Nobre, if deforestation reaches a critical threshold of 20% to 25% across the Amazon, the balance of the region's rainfall system will be disrupted, leading to the transformation of the lush rainforest into a savannah.

"Even if we halted deforestation in the Amazon basin today, the forest would still be at risk of experiencing the consequences of a tipping point due to climate change," Lapola said. "While stopping deforestation remains our primary responsibility, combating the climate change driven by atmospheric factors is not something that Brazil or other Amazonian countries can address alone."

The construction of the initial two rings is underway and they are expected to be operational by early August. Each ring will consist of 16 aluminum towers as high as a 12-story building. The carbon dioxide will be supplied by three companies to avoid any shortage.

Situated 70 km (44 miles) north of Manaus, the project is led by the National Institute for Amazon Research, a federal institution, with financial support from the British government, which has pledged $9 million. It should be fully operational by mid-2024.

Luciana Gatti, an atmospheric chemist, praised the initiative and said it would be highly beneficial to replicate the project in the four quadrants of the Amazon, as the carbon absorption capacity varies significantly across the region, which is twice the size of India.

Gatti, who is not directly involved with AmazonFACE, coauthored a landmark study published in the journal Nature, which revealed that the eastern Amazon has ceased to function as a carbon sink, or absorber for the Earth and has transitioned into a carbon source.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Non-avian dinosaurs were probably in decline long before an asteroid smashing into the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago sealed their fate, according to a University of Alberta paleontologist who says the ancient tale is chronicled at three stops on an astonishing three-hour drive along the Red Deer River.

This tour of Alberta's prehistoric past takes its lead from a 2021 study by an international research team that included input from Phil Currie. The study suggests the failure of dinosaurs to recover from the cataclysmic asteroid impact was amplified by their inability to adapt to a changing environment.

Currie explains the idea behind a gradual extinction first surfaced four decades ago, shortly after it became generally accepted that the impact of a large asteroid at Chicxulub, Mexico, was responsible for a rapid and catastrophic annihilation of dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

"Since then, some experts argue that there was no catastrophethat that's a red herring and dinosaurs died out slowly for other reasons, although they may have been finished off by the asteroid strike. Others feel it happened very rapidly," he says.

"Either way, Alberta is a pretty key place in settling this."

Tracing a trail of gradual extinction

Currie and a team led by Fabien Condamine from the Institute of Evolutionary Science of Montpellier, France, analyzed 1,600 dinosaur fossils to assess speciationwhen a group within a species develops its own unique characteristicsand extinction rates for six major dinosaur families found in Alberta: Ankylosauridae, Ceratopsidae, Hadrosauridae, Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae and Tyrannosauridae.

"We found they were all definitely in decline, not over a short period of time, the last million years before the end, but over a period of 10 million years before the end starting 76 million years ago," he says.

This decline can be traced along the Red Deer River, starting at the heartland of Alberta's Badlands, Dinosaur Provincial Park, southeast of Calgary. There, paleontologists have unearthed more than 50 species of dinosaurs that date back 76 million years.

"It's hard to imagine an ecosystem today that could support 50 species of large animals, let alone 150 species of other vertebrates including mammals, birds, pterosaurs, lizards, snakes, turtles and fish," said Currie. "Dinosaur Park is undeniably one of the richest fossil sites for dinosaurs in the world, if not the richest."

Following along Veterans Memorial Highway (H36), Cretaceous enthusiasts head upstream to the Drumheller region, which is stratigraphically about four million years younger than Dinosaur Provincial Park. There, paleontologists have uncovered only 30 species of dinosaurs, despite the area once hosting a large cross-section of environments.

"You're looking at fairly big changes over a pretty short distance (145 kilometers) and over a relatively short period of time," said Currie.

A quick hour-long drive north along Highway 56 splitting the difference between the Red Deer River and the Rumsey Natural Areahome to Canada's largest remaining undisturbed tract of aspen parkland and some of the most productive waterfowl habitats on the continentdinosaur hunters will end the tour at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. Its fossil record is representative of a time at the end of the Cretaceous that lasted from 145 million to 66 million years ago, just before the asteroid hitabout 10 million years younger than Dinosaur Provincial Park. By the time the Cretaceous came to a close 66 million years ago, only a dozen dinosaur species remained in Alberta.

"Here in Alberta, it's quite clear that the number of species is dropping quite radically over the last 10 million years of the Cretaceous," says Currie.

Declining diversity

Theories abound about why dinosaurs were in decline, but Currie believes the late Cretaceous came with a climatic shift that was less favorable for big animals.

"Big animals have their greatest diversity when you have very stable environments with good climates and lots of varied food resources for them," he said. "But as soon as the climate deteriorates, the diversity of plants goes down, the diversity of the animals goes down, which especially affects the bigger animals."

As Currie explains, North America during the Cretaceous was characterized by inland seas that covered much of the continent and stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. However, mountain ranges growing to the west ultimately pushed the inland seas southward, and the resulting land elevation eventually blocked the warm southern currents from emptying into the Arctic.

"This resulted in a more continental climate, which usually means the reduction in diversity of animals," he says.

"I believe the asteroid was still the coup de grace, but I don't think it would have had the same effect if it had hit 10 million years earlier, when dinosaurs were much more diverse."
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Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy addresses reporters during a news conference in support of a state fiscal plan on April 27, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. Dunleavy is expected to sign legislation on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, that would allow the state to set up a carbon offset program. Credit: AP Photo/Becky Bohrer

Alaska's push to become a bigger player in the clean energy market is in the spotlight this week at a conference convened by its Republican governor, even as the state continues to embrace new fossil fuel production, including the controversial Willow oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope.

At the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage on Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a measure he successfully pushed through the legislature that would allow the oil-reliant state to cash in on the sale of so-called carbon credits to companies looking to offset their carbon emissions. Projects could include credits for improving a forest's health through thinning or by allowing trees to grow bigger, thereby increasing a forest's potential to hold carbon.

"This bill is going to allow us now to have conversations worldwide with individuals involved in the carbon market. Just like oil, just like gas, just like our timber, this is a commodity that can be monetized now," he said.

Lawmakers cast the bill as allowing Alaska to have the best of both worldscontinuing to permit oil drilling, mining and timber activities while also stepping into the potentially lucrative market for sequestering carbon dioxide. But some watching Alaska's foray into this sector wonder if the program will gain traction as Dunleavy and lawmakers have said the aim isn't restricting emissions but generating a new revenue stream.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signs legislation that would allow the state to set up a carbon offset program Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Dunleavy signed the bill with Alaska lawmakers and administration officials standing behind him during the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

"There's kind of a field of dreams quality to this issue. 'If you plant the trees and create credits, will anyone buy them?'" said Barry Rabe, a political scientist who studies environmental and climate politics at the University of Michigan's Gerald Ford School of Public Policy.

"What's just not clear is what that market would look like and whether or not purchasers ... will find that an attractive investment," he said. "That's the leap of faith."

Alaska has no carbon emissions reductions goals or overarching climate plan and relies heavily on oil production. It is also experiencing firsthand the impacts of the changing climate, such as coastal erosion threatening Indigenous villages, unusual wildfires and thinning sea ice.

The Willow project being developed by ConocoPhillips Alaska is the latest to draw international attention to the state's oil reserves. The project approved by the Biden administration earlier this year could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day. It faces legal challenges from environmentalists who argue the U.S. should be moving away from new drilling in the face of climate change.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy displays a bill he had just signed that would allow the state to set up a carbon offset program, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Dunleavy signed the bill with Alaska lawmakers and administration officials standing behind him during the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

Republican state Sen. Shelley Hughes said she was not fond of the carbon credit concept but was concerned that without embracing it, the state could face backlash from groups over its support for oil and gas projects, including its backing of Willow.

"I think that in order to get capital investment into our state, we are going to have to be perceived in a way that is trying to work through all of this," she said during the recent legislative debate.

The bill that passed last week was one of two proposed by Dunleavy as a way to generate a new form of income for the state, which has struggled with deficits for much of the last decade. It would allow the state to set up carbon sequestration projects on forestland and sell credits to companies seeking to offset their emissions, with 20% of the revenue from such sales going to a state fund that supports renewable energy projects.

The bill also would let the state lease lands to third parties that want to manage sequestration projects of their own, such as reforesting areas burned by wildfire or growing kelp.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy displays a bill he had just signed that would allow the state to set up a carbon offset program Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Dunleavy signed the bill with Alaska lawmakers and administration officials standing behind him during the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

It could be several years before the first credit sales occur because of the time it will take to set up a program and develop or vet projects.

Another Dunleavy proposal that would have set up a regulatory system allowing for underground storage of carbon dioxide did not advance this session but remains in play for next year's legislative session.

Dunleavy said Alaska would continue to be known as an "oil and gas giant" but also noted the potential for further development of renewables and other alternative energy in the state. To those who think Alaska is taking a risk with its new carbon plan, "I think it's a great risk," he said.

During the legislative debate on the carbon plan, some Republican lawmakers said the measure would allow Alaska to capitalize on the demand for carbon emissions offsets from companies already doing business in Alaska that might otherwise purchase carbon credits elsewhere.

"So if they're going to do it anyways and they're going to operate (on) Alaskan lands, then why shouldn't we provide the service of carbon offsets to these companies?" Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe said. "At least then it stays in Alaska and we get some benefit to our state treasury for it."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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District and citywide distributions of poverty and SNAP benefits. Gray colors indicate households above the federal poverty line while red denotes those below. The percentage of households below the poverty line that do not receive SNAP benefits are outlined in black. Credit: Vibrant Land: The Benefits of Food Forests and Urban Farms in San Antonio (2023).

What if you could grow fresh food where it is most needed, cost-effectively reduce heat-related deaths, and create green space for the local community? What if you could also reduce flooding and help mitigate climate change? These questions and more are at the heart of a report on the many possibilities of urban agriculture that the Stanford-based Natural Capital Project (NatCap) is presenting this week to a San Antonio City Council subcommittee.

The report considered two forms of urban agriculture: food forests and urban farms. Food forests are a system of perennial cropsprimarily fruit and nutsplanted in layers to mimic a mature ecosystem with plants of differing heights. They are intended to provide food, shade, a haven for pollinators and other wildlife, and to capture water in the landscape.

Urban farms typically grow and sell annual mixed vegetable crops, while food forests are primarily perennial orchard crops and tend to be open-access public spaces where people can pick food for free.

A collaboration between NatCap, the Food Policy Council of San Antonio, and three San Antonio city departments (Innovation, Metro Health, and Sustainability), the report estimates the amount of food that could be produced by urban farms and food forests, as well as some of their additional benefits: urban cooling, carbon storage, flood retention, and green space.

Anne Guerry, chief strategy officer and lead scientist at NatCap, explained, "Using our model, we took all the publicly owned natural areas in San Antonio and reimagined them from vacant or underutilized lots to farms and food forests. Then, we calculated the benefits that would be provided."

Specifically, the team found that if all underutilized, publicly owned land in San Antonio were converted to food forestsas an upper limit on what's possiblethey could provide 192+ million pounds of food a year, worth $995 million and enough to feed nearly 314,000 households for a year. Food forests would also provide $3.5 million in urban cooling services per year (potentially saving ~600 lives per year), reduce flooding, increase carbon sequestration, and significantly increase access to green space.

If all underutilized publicly owned land in San Antonio were converted to urban farms, they could provide 926 million pounds of food worth $1.17 billion, enough to feed 1.27 million households. Without careful management, farms might increase nutrient pollution to neighboring areas from compost runoffwhich has negative effects on water quality and aquatic lifeand potentially reduce green space access, though less so than many alternative development scenarios like buildings or parking lots.

Using San Antonio as the pilot, NatCap is developing an online tool that will allow urban planners without technical expertise to use NatCap's InVEST models to explore how different development scenarios change the distribution of nature's benefits to different groups of people. Credit: Natural Capital Project

Improving equity by linking supply and demand for food

Residents of low-income neighborhoods in San Antonio face a wide range of issues, including a greater risk of health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease stemming from a lack of access to healthy foods. These neighborhoods can also be up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding areas, and two of the local counties have the highest risk from flash flooding in the state of Texas.

The city of San Antonio has recognized that urban agriculture can offer some relief from all of these challenges and aims to expand it, including through this report's findings.

"In a lot of places in America, urban and rural, people have to travel a long distance to reach supermarkets, to be able to access both food in general and also healthy food," said Jess Silver, ecosystem services analyst with NatCap. "Part of the goal of this analysis was to really try and understand some of those food-related inequities across the city  to think about the potential production of urban agriculture and also the needs of the communities located around urban farms or urban food forests."

Thus, the report focuses on urban agriculture in locations where fresh food is less accessible. Using information from the U.S. Census on use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, the models identified several districts where the demand for local food production is highestand thus may be good places to target investments in urban agriculture for the greatest impact. These districts also suffer disproportionately from heat, so food forests can offer significant cooling benefits as well.

Expanding on local successes

Mitch Hagney, who runs his own local produce business in San Antonio and is on the board of the Food Policy Council of San Antonio, has played a pivotal role in establishing the first food forests in the city, the Tamox Talom Community Food Forest (a partnership between the Food Policy Council of San Antonio, the city's Office of Innovation, and Bexar County's Parks and Recreation Department). Hagney has worked closely with the NatCap team throughout the past year.

"Our hope is the results from this report are able to galvanize action to expand urban agriculture in San Antonio; helping policymakers do things like increase tool access for would-be farmers or food foresters, use vacant lots as potential long leases for urban farms, and include food forests in land management practices for our parks department and public works department," said Hagney.

"Hopefully, examples of how urban agriculture can flourish in this city can be applicable all throughout the rest of the United States, so every city can have environmentally-friendly and equitable urban agriculture plans."

The report recommends that San Antonio aim for a mix of urban farms and food forests, carefully consider where to locate them in order to support neighborhoods with greater food insecurity, and address potential downsides of urban farms by offering alternative public green space and reducing nutrient runoff by limiting compost use. The NatCap team hopes to continue working with San Antonio to further support their expansion of urban farms and food forests.
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An illustration of Vintana, an ancient groundhog-like mammal that lived in Madagascar during the time of the dinosaurs. Credit: Gary Staab

Approximately 200 million years ago, Antarctica was attached to South America, Africa, India, and Australia in a single "supercontinent" called Gondwana. Paleontologists have long wondered about the unique mammals that lived only on this ancient supercontinent, including a particularly elusive group called Gondwanatheria, for which few fossils have been identified.

Now, New York Institute of Technology Associate Professor of Anatomy Simone Hoffmann, Ph.D., is part of a team that is helping to "unearth" significant clues about these mysterious animals. In a May 15 study published in the journal Cretaceous Research, Hoffmann and Senior Curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science David Krause, Ph.D., describe the first postcranial remains (skeletal remains apart from the skull) of a gondwanatherian called Vintana. Their findings provide new insights into early mammalian evolution.

Vintana lived about 66 million years ago in what is now Madagascar, roaming the earth at the same time as the dinosaurs. Its name means "lucky" in the Madagascar language of Malagasy, referring to the fossil's fortunate discovery. Bearing a resemblance to today's groundhogs, Vintana weighed around 19 pounds and is the largest known mammal from the southern hemisphere's Mesozoic era (252 to 66 million years ago) to date.

Previously, Vintana was only represented by a fossilized skull, which Hoffmann, Krause, and colleagues detailed in a 2014 study. Several years later, in 2020, the researchers uncovered the nearly complete skeleton of a strange, possum-sized gondwanatherian, dubbed the "crazy beast" (Adalatherium). Until now, Adalatherium's fossilized skeleton represented the only postcranial remains in the gondwanatherian fossil record.

Now, Hoffmann and Krause's new study presents additional gondwanatherian postcranial evidence and reveals that a vertebra fossil from the Cretaceous of Madagascar was once a Vintana tailbone.

Using a micro-Computed Tomography (CT) scanner, the researchers scanned the vertebra and compared the virtual surface files to the tail vertebrae from Adalatherium. They found that the vertebra was very similar to that of Adalatherium, the second largest Mesozoic mammal from Madagascar, but much largernearly 40 percent larger, to be exact. This size put it solidly within the range to classify it as Vintana.

"While the remains represent only an isolated vertebra from Vintana's larger skeleton, its discovery provides key information about the gondwanatherian lineage," says Hoffmann. "Gondwanatherians had uniquely short tail vertebrae and this new discovery tells us that the tail of Vintana was even wider and shorter than the already stubby tail of Adalatherium."

More information: David W. Krause et al, First postcranial remains of the Late Cretaceous gondwanatherian mammal Vintana sertichi, Cretaceous Research (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105577 Journal information: Cretaceous Research
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Biogeographic patterns and marine protected areas (MPAs). The generalized additive model (GAM; red solid curve) of genetic diversity predicted by the smoothed latitude (a), where blue dashed lines indicate the 95% confidence intervals and green vertical line the equator; the taxa (b), where a red asterisk indicates significant differences (*p-value < .01, and **p-value < .001; see Supporting Information Table S2.3); and protection (c), expressed as the database records inside and outside MPAs according to Protected Planet. Genetic diversity was estimated based on expected heterozygosity (H e ). Data density is represented on the x axes by tick marks. The y axis in (a) represents the spline function for latitude of the GAM model and in (b) (c) the linear coefficients for the independen variables Taxa and MPA. Includes symbols from integration and application network Library of Symbols, University of Maryland. Credit: Global Ecology and Biogeography (2023). DOI: 10.1111/geb.13685

Species known as marine habitat-forming species gorgonians, corals, algae, seaweeds, marine phanerogams, etc. are organisms that help generate and structure the underwater landscapes. These are natural refuges for other species, and provide biomass and complexity to the seabeds.

But these key species in marine ecosystems are currently threatened by climate change and other perturbations derived from human activity. Now, a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography warns that even in the marine protected areas (MPAs) the genetic diversity of structural species is not protected, although it is essential for the response and adaptation of populations to changes that alter the natural environment.

The study was carried out by Laura Figuerola-Ferrando, Cristina Linares, Ignasi Montero-Serra and Marta Pages-Escola, from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the UB (IRBio); Jean-Baptiste Ledoux and Aldo Barreiro, from the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) in Portugal, and Joaquim Garrabou, from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC).

Genetic diversity is also a component of biodiversity

Traditionally, marine biodiversity management and conservation plans have considered factors such as species richness. Genetic diversity another major component of biodiversity reflects the genetic variation that exists among organisms of the same species and is a determining factor in the adaptive capacity of populations and their survival. Despite its importance, genetic diversity has so far been overlooked in management and conservation plans.

"Genetic diversity plays a key role in enhancing the ability of species, populations and communities to adapt to rapid environmental changes resulting from climate change and thus increase their resilience," says researcher Laura Figuerola-Ferrando, first author of the study.

"However, so far, the vast majority of marine protected areas are implemented based on the presence of several species and habitats, without considering their genetic diversity. Another example would be the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which does not consider genetic diversity either."

"In recent years, the need to focus conservation efforts on the protection of genetic diversity has been reinforced. Technological progress in the massive development of different techniques to determine genetic diversity (for example, through the use of microsatellites or small DNA fragments), as well as their affordable cost, can help to include genetic diversity in management and conservation plans," says the researcher from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the UB.

From the northwest Atlantic to the Gulf of Guinea

The study applies macrogenetic techniques to identify general genetic patterns of diverse marine species at large spatial scales. The authors have analyzed data from a global database containing genetic diversity information (based on microsatellites) for more than 9,300 populations of 140 species in different marine regions around the globe.

The results outline a reference scenario of genetic patterns in marine habitat-forming species (corals, macroalgae, marine phanerogams, etc.) of potential interest for improving marine life management and conservation plans.

The northwest Atlantic provinces and the Bay of Bengal are the regions where the highest genetic diversity in marine landscape species has been identified. Quite high values (above the global average) have also been identified in the Mediterranean. In contrast, the marine provinces with the lowest values of genetic diversity are the Gulf of Guinea and the southwest Atlantic.

The findings also indicate a positive correlation between genetic diversity and species richness of both animal and plant marine habitat-forming species. However, the paper warns of a worrying result: the Network of Marine Protected Areas (RAMP) in the large oceanic ecoregions does not preserve areas where the genetic diversity of marine habitat-forming species is highest.

"What we have seen is that what is not being protected in MPAs is genetic diversity. In the study, the initial hypothesis was that within these areas there would be greater genetic diversity, but this has not been the case. In fact, we have seen, at a global level, that there are no differences in genetic diversity between inside and outside the MPAs," notes Laura Figuerola-Ferrando, who is doing her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Cristina Linares (UB) and Joaquim Garrabou (ICM-CSIC).

A new pattern of equatorial biodiversity at the poles

The authors have also identified a specific pattern in the distribution of genetic diversity of the marine habitat-forming species that differs from the traditional models known to date.

"This is a bimodal latitudinal pattern: it is a complex biogeographic model and it implies that if we model how the genetic diversity of these species varies with latitude, we find two peaks in temperate zones and a small dip in genetic diversity at the equator," notes the ICREA Academia Professor Cristina Linares (UB-IRBio), one of the coordinators of the study together with Jean-Baptiste Ledoux (CIIMAR).

This scientific discovery is relevant because until a few decades ago it was considered that the distribution of biodiversity on the planet followed a unimodal pattern, that is, it had maximum values at the equator and decreased towards the poles. "This is not always the case, especially in terms of species diversity in marine ecosystems. For example, in the case of benthic species, this pattern is biomodal rather than unimodal in terms of both species richness and genetic diversity," explains Cristina Linares.

"In our study, the bimodal latitudinal pattern is influenced by taxonomy: in the used model, we found statistically significant differences between animal species (more genetic diversity) and plant species (less genetic diversity). Furthermore, if we explore the latitudinal pattern separating animal and plant species, we can see that a bimodal pattern continues to be observed in animals, but the same cannot be said for plants," adds researcher Jean-Baptiste Ledoux (CIIMAR).

Genetic diversity: Improving conservation management plans

The conclusions of the work recall the need to include the genetic diversity of populations in biodiversity management and conservation plans on the planet.

"The importance of having genetic diversity in biodiversity management and conservation plans has just been reinforced with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/COP/15/L25, 2022). In this context, we believe that the baseline on genetic diversity patterns in marine habitat-forming species defined as our work can be very relevant," notes Jean-Baptiste Ledoux.

This study also reveals that the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions are among the most present in the scientific literature used in this work on macrogenetic patterns of deep-sea structural species.

"On the other hand, if we look at the analyzed taxa, we see that the Mediterranean Sea is the marine province where we have studies of more different taxa (octocorals, hexacorals, sponges, marine phanerogams and algae). In the northern Atlantic there is also quite a variety of taxa (mainly algae, marine phanerogams, but also hexacorals, octocorals, bryozoans and sponges). On the other hand, in the southern Atlantic, studies are mainly focused on algae," the researchers conclude.

More information: Laura FiguerolaFerrando et al, Global patterns and drivers of genetic diversity among marine habitatforming species, Global Ecology and Biogeography (2023). DOI: 10.1111/geb.13685 Journal information: Global Ecology and Biogeography
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Hypothesis of the elaboration of the PAFF to paired fins. Simplified evolutionary scenario of vertebrates showing the presence of a PAFF and subsequent modifications leading to paired fins. Dashed lines and dagger symbols indicate extinct lineages, and solid lines indicate extant lineages. PM-derived fins and fin folds are in cyan, while LPM-derived fins are in pink. Larval PAFF is hatched. Black arrows indicate the position of the anus. Credit: Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06100-w

An international collaboration that includes scientists from the University of Colorado School of Medicine has uncovered new clues about the origin of paired appendagesa major evolutionary step that remains unresolved and highly debated.

The researchers describe their study in an article published in the journal Nature.

"This has become a topic that comes with bit of controversy, but it's really a very fundamental question in evolutionary biology: Where do our limbs come from?" says co-corresponding author Christian Mosimann, Ph.D., associate professor and Johnson Chair in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Developmental Biology at CU School of Medicine.

That questionwhere do our limbs come from?has been subject of debate for more than 100 years. In 1878, German scientist Carl Gegenbaur proposed that paired fins derived from a source called the gill arch, which are bony loops present in fish to support their gills. Other scientists favor the lateral fin fold hypothesis, concluding that lateral fins on the top and bottom of the fish are the source of paired fins.

"It is a highly active research topic because it's been an intellectual challenge for such a long time," Mosimann says. "Many big labs have studied the various aspects of how our limbs develop and have evolved." Among those labs are Dr. Mosimann's colleagues and co-authors, Tom Carney, Ph.D., and his team at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Chasing the odd cells

For Mosimann, the inquiry into where limbs come from is an offshoot of other research conducted by his laboratory on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. In his laboratory, his team uses zebrafish as a model to understand the development from cells to organs. He and his team study how cells decide their fate, looking for explanations for how development can go awry leading to congenital anomalies, in particular cardiovascular and connective tissue diseases.

Along the way, Mosimann and his lab team observed how a peculiar cell type with features of connective tissue cells, so-called fibroblasts that share a developmental origin with the cardiovascular system, migrated into specific developing fins of the zebrafish. It turns out that these cells may support a connection between the competing theories of paired appendage evolution.

"We always knew these cells were odd," he says. "There were these fibroblast-looking cells that went into the so-called ventral fin, the fin at the belly of the developing zebrafish. Similar fibroblast cells didn't crawl into any other fin except the pectoral fin, which are the equivalent of our arms. So we kept noticing these peculiar fibroblasts, and we could never make sense of what these were for many years."

The Mosimann lab has developed several techniques to track cell fates during development in pursuit of their main topic, which is an improved understanding of how the embryonic cell layer, called the lateral plate mesoderm, contributes to diverse organs. The lateral plate mesoderm is the developmental origin of the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, connective tissue, as well as major parts of limbs.

The paired fins that form the equivalent of our arms and legs are seeded by cells from the lateral plate mesoderm, while other fins are not. Understanding how these particular fins became more limb-like has been at the core of a long-standing debate.

Developing new theories

Hannah Moran, who is pursuing her Ph.D. in the Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development program in the Mosimann lab, adapted a method of tracking lateral plate mesoderm cells that contribute to heart development so that researchers could track the peculiar fibroblasts related to limb development.

"My primary research project focuses on the development of the heart rather than limb development," Moran says, "but there was a genetic technique that I had adapted to map early heart cells, and so we were able to implement that into mapping where the mysterious cells of the ventral fin came from. And turns out, they are also from the lateral plate mesoderm."

This crucial discovery provides a new puzzle piece to the big picture of how we evolved our arms and legs. Increasing evidence supports a hypothesis of paired appendage evolution called the dual origin theory.

"Our data fit nicely into this combined theory, but it can also stand on its own with the lateral fin theory," says Robert Lalonde, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the Mosimann lab. "While paired appendages arise from the lateral plate mesoderm, that does not rule out an ancient connection to unpaired, lateral fins."

By observing the mechanisms of embryonic development and comparing the anatomy of existing species, research groups like Mosimann's can develop theories on how embryonic structures may have evolved or have been modified over time.

"The embryo has features that are still ancient remnants that they have not lost yet, which provides insight into how animals have evolved," Mosimann says. "We can use the embryo to learn more about features that just persist today, allowing us to kind of travel back in time," Mosimann says. "We see that the body has a fundamental, inherent propensity to form bilateral, two-sided structures. Our study provides a molecular and genetic puzzle piece to resolve how we came to have limbs. It adds to this 100-plus year discussion, but now we have molecular insights."

International collaboration

Collaborations with colleagues in laboratories across the country and around the world are another important part of the study. Those scientists bring additional specializations and contribute data from other models, including paddlefish, African clawed frogs, and a variant of split-tail goldfish called Ranchu, to study embryonic development.

"There are labs on this on this paper that work on musculoskeletal diseases, toxicology, fibrosis. We work on cardiovascular, congenital anomalies, cardiopulmonary anomalies, limb development, all related to our interest on the lateral plate mesoderm," says Mosimann. "And then together, you get to make such fundamental discoveries. And that's where team science enables us to do something that is more than just the sum of the parts."

For all the considerable work and significance of the study, the Mosimann team recognizes that it is a key step, but not the end of the journey in the debate about paired appendages.

"I wouldn't say we've solved the question, or even disproven either existing theory," says Lalonde. "Rather, we've contributed meaningful data towards answering a major evolutionary question."

More information: Tom Carney, A lateral plate mesoderm derived from median fin and the origin of paired fins, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06100-w. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06100-w Journal information: Nature
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A lightweight survey vehicle provides large-scale magnetic mapping of cultural traces hidden beneath the present-day tidal flat surface. Credit: Dirk Bienen-Scholt

The medieval trading center of Rungholt, which is today located in the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Site and currently the focus of interdisciplinary research, drowned in a storm surge in 1362.

Using a combination of geoscientific and archaeological methods, researchers from Kiel University (CAU), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), and the State Archaeology Department Schleswig-Holstein (ALSH), both in Schleswig, have now succeeded in locating the site of the Rungholt church. Thus, they can now finally clarify a much-discussed research question that has been going on for over 100 years.

Interdisciplinary cooperation as the key to success

Within the framework of two interdisciplinary projects by the German Research Foundation (DFG), i.e., the RUNGHOLT project and the Wadden Sea project in the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence, research has been conducted for several years on the medieval cultural landscape disappeared in the Wadden Sea.

Well known for its mythically exaggerated destruction and an archaeological find situation unique in Europe, Rungholt is a prominent example of the effects of massive human intervention in the northern German coastal region that continue to this day.

The researchers use sediment cores to record settlement remains and to reconstruct landscape evolution at selected sites on the tidal flats. Credit: Justus Lemm

The key to the success of the work lies in a close interdisciplinary collaboration. "Settlement remains hidden under the mudflats are first localized and mapped over a wide area using various geophysical methods such as magnetic gradiometry, electromagnetic induction, and seismics," explained Dr. Dennis Wilken, geophysicist at Kiel University.

And Dr. Hanna Hadler from the Institute of Geography at Mainz University, added, "Based on this prospection, we selectively take sediment cores that not only allow us to make statements about spatial and temporal relationships of settlement structures, but also about landscape development." Archaeological investigations at selected sites provide unique insights into the life of the North Frisian settlers and repeatedly bring to light significant new finds from the tidal flats.

First large-scale reconstruction of Rungholt's drowned cultural landscape with a central church

In May 2023, a previously unknown two kilometer long chain of medieval terps, which are artificial settlement mounds, was recorded by geophysical prospection near Hallig Sudfall. One of these terps shows structures that can undoubtedly be interpreted as the foundations of a church 40 meters to 15 meters in size. First corings and excavations have provided initial insights into the structure and foundations of the sacred building.

A special metal frame allows archaeological excavations of one square meter in the tidal flats. The finds are excavated and documented during low tide. Credit: Ruth Blankenfeldt

"The find thus joins the ranks of the large churches of North Frisia," stated Dr. Bente Sven Majchczack, archaeologist in the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence at Kiel University.

Dr. Ruth Blankenfeldt, archaeologist at ZBSA, added, "The special feature of the find lies in the significance of the church as the center of a settlement structure, which in its size must be interpreted as a parish with superordinate function."

So far, the finds in the area investigated, which covers more than ten square kilometers, include 54 terps, systematic drainage systems, a sea dike with a tidal gate harbor as well as two sites of smaller churchesand now also a large main church. The settlement area found must therefore be regarded as one of the historically reported main sites of the medieval administrative district of Edomsharde.

Erosion threatens cultural remains

In addition to the unique archival character that the mudflats have for the reconstruction of Rungholt's cultural landscape, the project results of recent years also show the extreme endangerment of the cultural traces that are over 600 years old.

"Around Hallig Sudfall and in other mudflats, the medieval settlement remains are already heavily eroded and often only detectable as negative imprints. This is also very evident around the church's location, so we urgently need to intensify research here," said Dr. Hanna Hadler.
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Medical "microrobots" could one day deliver prescription drugs throughout the human body. Credit: Shields Lab

A team of engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder has designed a new class of tiny, self-propelled robots that can zip through liquid at incredible speedsand may one day even deliver prescription drugs to hard-to-reach places inside the human body.

The researchers describe their mini healthcare providers in a paper published last month in the journal Small.

"Imagine if microrobots could perform certain tasks in the body, such as non-invasive surgeries," said Jin Lee, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. "Instead of cutting into the patient, we can simply introduce the robots to the body through a pill or an injection, and they would perform the procedure themselves."

Lee and his colleagues aren't there yet, but the new research is big step forward for tiny robots.

The group's microrobots are really small. Each one measures only 20 micrometers wide, several times smaller than the width of a human hair. They're also really fast, capable of traveling at speeds of about 3 millimeters per second, or roughly 9,000 times their own length per minute. That's many times faster than a cheetah in relative terms.

They have a lot of potential, too. In the new study, the group deployed fleets of these machines to transport doses of dexamethasone, a common steroid medication, to the bladders of lab mice. The results suggest that microrobots may be a useful tool for treating bladder diseases and other illnesses in people.

"Microscale robots have garnered a lot of excitement in scientific circles, but what makes them interesting to us is that we can design them to perform useful tasks in the body," said C. Wyatt Shields, a co-author of the new study and assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering.

Fantastic Voyage

If that sounds like something ripped from science fiction, that's because it is. In the classic film Fantastic Voyage, a group of adventurers travels via a shrunken-down submarine into the body of a man in a coma.

"The movie was released in 1966. Today, we are living in an era of micrometer- and nanometer-scale robots," Lee said.

Microrobot seen under a scanning electron microscope. Credit: Shields Lab

He imagines that, just like in the movie, microrobots could swirl through a person's blood stream, seeking out targeted areas to treat for various ailments.

The team makes its microrobots out of materials called biocompatible polymers using a technology similar to 3D printing. The machines look a bit like small rockets and come complete with three tiny fins. They also include a little something extra: Each of the robots carries a small bubble of trapped air, similar to what happens when you dunk a glass upside-down in water. If you expose the machines to an acoustic field, like the kind used in ultrasound, the bubbles will begin to vibrate wildly, pushing water away and shooting the robots forward.

Other CU Boulder co-authors of the new study include Nick Bottenus, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Ankur Gupta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering; and engineering graduate students Ritu Raj, Cooper Thome, Nicole Day and Payton Martinez.

To take their microrobots for a test drive, the researchers set their sights on a common problem for humans: bladder disease.

Bringing relief

Interstitial cystitis, also known as painful bladder syndrome, affects millions of Americans and, as its name suggests, can cause severe pelvic pain. Treating the disease can be equally uncomfortable. Often, patients have to come into a clinic several times over a period of weeks where a doctor injects a harsh solution of dexamethasone into the bladder through a catheter.

Lee believes that microrobots may be able to provide some relief.

In laboratory experiments, the researchers fabricated schools of microrobots encapsulating high concentrations of dexamethasone. They then introduced thousands of those bots into the bladders of lab mice. The result was a real-life Fantastic Voyage: The microrobots dispersed through the organs before sticking onto the bladder walls, which would likely make them difficult to pee out.

Once there, the machines slowly released their dexamethasone over the course of about two days. Such a steady flow of medicine could allow patients to receive more drugs over a longer span of time, Lee said, improving outcomes for patients.

He added that the team has a lot of work to do before microrobots can travel through real human bodies. For a start, the group wants to make the machines fully biodegradable so that they would eventually dissolve in the body.

"If we can make these particles work in the bladder," Lee said, "then we can achieve a more sustained drug release, and maybe patients wouldn't have to come into the clinic as often."

More information: Jin Gyun Lee et al, BubbleBased Microrobots with Rapid Circular Motions for Epithelial Pinning and Drug Delivery, Small (2023). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202300409 Journal information: Small
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This image of the Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on 16 September 2022. Petermann is one of the largest glaciers connecting the Greenland ice sheet with the Arctic Ocean. Upon reaching the sea, a number of these large outlet glaciers extend into the water with a floating "ice tongue." Icebergs occasionally break or "calve" off these tongues. Petermanns ice flow has accelerated in recent years. Land-based glaciers in Greenland are a major contributor to global sea-level rise and as global temperatures warm, more ice is expected to melt into the oceans. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2022), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The Arctic, once again at the forefront of climate change, is experiencing disproportionately higher temperature increases compared to the rest of the planet, triggering a series of cascading effects known as Arctic amplification.

As concerns continue to grow, satellites developed by ESA have become indispensable tools in understanding and addressing the complex dynamics at play and the far-reaching consequences for the environment and human societies.

Arctic amplification is the process whereby the Arctic region warms at a faster pace than the global average. This phenomenon is largely attributed to positive feedback mechanisms that exacerbate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.

This rapid warming is not only destabilizing the delicate balance of the Arctic ecosystem, but is having profound implications for global climate patterns, human populations and wildlife.

ESA's Science for Society Arktalas Hoavva project, which in the northern Sami language means Arctic Ocean, is dedicated to the study of Arctic amplification using satellite data.

A paper published recently in the Remote Sensing journal, describes how satellites have captured this climate phenomenon and how they are proving indispensable for monitoring the remote Arctic region, which is otherwise sparsely measured.

The Arctic is experiencing disproportionately higher temperature increases compared to the rest of the planet, triggering a series of cascading effects known as Arctic amplification. This rapid warming is not only destabilising the delicate balance of the Arctic ecosystem, but is having profound implications for global climate patterns, human populations and wildlife. The phenomenon is largely attributed to positive feedback mechanisms that exacerbate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Credit: European Space Agency

Satellites have witnessed the impact of the amplification on phytoplankton and vegetation productivity as well as on human activity and infrastructure.

For example, in May 2020, an emergency was declared after some 20,000 tons of diesel leaked from a power plant reservoir near Norilsk in Russia. The oil contaminated the Ambarnaya River, which flows into Lake Pyasinoa large body of water.

The disaster, the cost of which exceeded $2 billion, was caused by the collapse of a pillarit collapsed because the ground had become unstable as a result of thawing permafrost.

Scientists used the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission to complement the analysis, field photographs, and historical data to attribute the accident to the Arctic amplification of global warming.

As well as causing problems for infrastructure, when permafrost thaws, it releases large quantities of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, creating a dangerous positive feedback loop that further exacerbates global warming.

The primary driver of Arctic amplification is the demise of sea ice, which has reached unprecedented low levels in recent years. A state of emergency has been declared after some 20 000 tonnes of diesel oil leaked into a river within the Arctic Circle. Images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission show the extent of the spill. According to media reports, the spillage occurred when a fuel tank at a power plant near Norilsk, operated by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, collapsed on Friday 29 May. The leaked oil is reported to have drifted around 12 km from the accident site. In this animation, diesel oil is visible in the Ambarnaya River on both 31 May and 1 June  easily identifiable in crimson red. The Ambarnaya River flows into Lake Pyasino  a major body of water and source of the Pysaina River. Copernicus Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europes Copernicus programme. The missions frequent revisits over the same area and high spatial resolution allow changes in water bodies to be closely monitored. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Sea ice is formed as seawater freezes to form freshwater ice. The freezing process rejects saline water, which is cold and much denser than the surrounding seawater and so sinks to the deep ocean driving global ocean thermohaline circulation.

Without the formation of sea ice, this process will stop and lead to changes in global ocean circulation.

As more ice disappears, the exposed dark ocean surface absorbs more heat, leading to further warming and ice loss.

Furthermore, winds blowing over the exposed ocean surface increase surface waves through frictional coupling. Waves then inhibit refreezing by mechanically eroding the ice as it forms, and this may drive completely new and more energetic ocean circulation patterns across the Arctic Ocean, further tipping the region into a new dynamic state.

ESA's CryoSat and Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite altimeters measure Arctic sea-ice thickness. The satellites precisely measure the height of ice surfaces relative to the ocean surface between ice leads, enabling scientists to determine ice thickness and volume.

This data has revealed significant declines in Arctic sea ice, particularly during the summer months, highlighting the urgency of the situation. The ESA SMOS satellite complements these data providing measurements of ocean-surface salinity and thin sea ice in the marginal ice zone. These are complemented by Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar imagery providing all-weather sea-ice mapping capabilities. When used together with infrared imagery from Sentinel-3, this is a formidable multi-satellite monitoring capability for the Arctic regions. This animation shows the average extent of sea ice in the Arctic from 1979 until 2022. The demise of sea ice has reached unprecedented low levels in recent years. As more ice disappears, the exposed dark ocean surface absorbs more heat, leading to further warming and ice loss. Credit: European Space Agency

In addition to measuring sea ice, ESA-developed satellites have facilitated the observation of other vital parameters, including surface temperature, albedo, and atmospheric composition.

These measurements allow scientists to study the intricate feedback mechanisms that contribute to Arctic amplification. For instance, the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission provides valuable information on sea-surface temperature, aiding in the analysis of oceanic heat fluxes and their impact on ice melt.

In addition, the melting of the vast Greenland ice sheet, fuelled by Arctic amplification, is contributing to rising sea levels globally. The release of freshwater from melting ice into the North Atlantic Ocean is disrupting oceanic circulation patterns, potentially leading to more extreme weather events such as storms and heatwaves in various parts of the world.

As well as individual satellite missions shedding new light on the remote Arctic, scientists are creating long-term datasets through ESA's Climate Change Initiative. These 40-year-long datasets, complied with data from numerous satellites, enable researchers to study the long-term trends and variations in the Arctic, contributing to a better understanding of the region's response to global warming.

The data collected by ESA-developed satellites not only enhance our knowledge of Arctic amplification, but also support decision-making processes and the development of effective mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Governments, policymakers, and scientific communities rely heavily on these satellite observations to assess the environmental impact, predict future scenarios, and inform policies for sustainable management of the Arctic region.

Arctic amplification is the process whereby the Arctic region warms at a faster pace than the global average. This phenomenon is largely attributed to positive feedback mechanisms that exacerbate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. This rapid warming is not only destabilising the delicate balance of the Arctic ecosystem, but is having profound implications for global climate patterns, human populations and wildlife. This image shows the average air temperature anomaly over the Arctic in 2022 compared to the 19912020 average. Credit: European Space Agency

The importance of the Arctic is reflected in the Copernicus system that is now evolving to implement new satellite capabilities prioritizing new Arctic measurements that are urgently needed by Copernicus Services, including the dual-frequency CRISTAL altimeter, the Copernicus Imaging multi-frequency Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) and ROSE-L, an L-band synthetic aperture radar mission.

Together with existing Copernicus data, satellite measurements of the Arctic will provide an unprecedented monitoring capability at the time of dramatic changes driven by anthropogenic climate change.

ESA's Craig Donlon said, "The phenomenon of Arctic amplification and its relationship to the global climate emergency serves as a stark reminder that the consequences of climate change are not distant threats but immediate and accelerating crises, impacting not only people living in the Arctic, but ultimately all of us.

"Our paper outlines how satellite observations have captured Arctic amplification as it is developing and with good spatial detail. These observations are indispensable for monitoring of amplification in this remote and inhospitable region that is sparsely sampled by ground observations.

"Satellite data are unique in their ability to capture and monitor environmental transitions in the Arctic region that both precede and follow the emerging impact of Arctic amplification."

More information: Igor Esau et al, The Arctic Amplification and Its Impact: A Synthesis through Satellite Observations, Remote Sensing (2023). DOI: 10.3390/rs15051354
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The new diagnostic test detected Indian variants of chytridiomycosis that were not identified by previous tests, and showed sensitivity to strains from other parts of the world. Credit: Brian Gratwicke

The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama partnered with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in India to develop and validate a new test for chytridiomycosis strains, offering new insights into a wildlife disease that caused dramatic declines of over 500 amphibian species and the extinction of 90 others. Their novel assay, published in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, identified previously undetected Indian strains, and successfully detected strains from other parts of the world.

The new diagnostic assay was tested with frogs, toads, caecilians (limbless amphibians) and salamanders (tailed amphibians) in India, with comparable or even better results than the gold-standard assay recommended for the diagnosis of chytridiomycosis. Its effectivity was successfully verified in labs in Panama and Australia, proving it to be an affordable alternative for the widespread surveillance of chytridiomycosis in different parts of the world.

Rapid detection of chytridiomycosis is essential in managing and mitigating the disease. But ongoing research on this infection caused by two fungal pathogens reveals a complex, dynamically evolving genome. As new strains evolve in different parts of the world and spread through the global trade of amphibians, large-scale surveillance for emerging hybrid varieties is necessary. The newly developed assay will aid global detection, highlighting the value of international scientific collaborations in the search for solutions to a common threat.

"This assay will allow researchers to study and determine the spread of strains of the amphibian chytrid fungus that previously passed undetected, especially in countries around the Indian Ocean, where human trade has moved and introduced frog species," said STRI scientist Roberto Ibanez, who collaborated in the study.

The new test may also aid in the detection of pathogen reservoirs that have not been identified yet. That is, amphibian species that may be infected but do not show visible symptoms of disease or mortality and are able to silently transmit the disease to other susceptible species in their surroundings.

"One strain of the amphibian chytrid fungus caused dramatic population declines, even the disappearance of amphibian species in Panama," said co-author Ibanez. "The Chiriqui harlequin frog (Atelopus chiriquiensis) and the Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) have not been seen for several years. A few species of frogs have reappeared in some localities, but they have not fully recovered their previous population levels. The amphibian chytrid fungus is still a threat for susceptible species in natural areas."

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.

More information: Gayathri Sreedharan et al, A Universal and Efficient Detection of Chytridiomycosis Infections in Amphibians Using Novel Quantitative PCR Markers, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (2023). DOI: 10.1155/2023/9980566
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From left, Zully Contreras-Correa, postdoctoral associate; Caleb Lemley, associate professor; and doctoral students Riley Messman and Rebecca Swanson, are researching benefits of the supplement melatonin for cattle health. Credit: Dominique Belcher

Those needing extra sleep often reach for the bottle of melatonin, but Mississippi State scientists are discovering a host of other proven and potential health benefits for cattle who receive the supplement.

MSU faculty and students in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station are making intriguing discoveries about the functions of melatonin in the bovine body and how this hormone can help support cattle health.

MSU Associate Professor Caleb Lemley has an extensive history of studying the use of melatonin as a supplement in cattle. He has been studying how the hormone affects blood flow between dam and fetus during gestation for nearly a decade.

"Over the years, we've looked at melatonin's antioxidant benefits, which help alleviate oxidative stress in the animals and have implications on their cardiovascular health," said Lemley.

"Summer heat is a major stressor for cattle, and in our research here at Mississippi State, we've found that melatonin can potentially be used to control the animal's body temperature," added Postdoctoral Associate Zully Contreras-Correa. "At night, when melatonin levels are highest, body temperature is lowest. Our recent research showed that melatonin supplementation during summertime reduced body temperature in pregnant cattle, so we hope to research it further in other livestock species."

Because melatonin controls a body's circadian rhythm and responds to light, levels also fluctuate throughout the year, being naturally higher in the winter and lower in the summer.

"We just completed a study comparing melatonin supplements given to cattle living in Montana to our cattle at MSU over the winter months, and the differences were notable," said Lemley. "We saw a very limited response in the Montana cattle compared to the Mississippi cattle, so we believe these treatments may be more effective in the Southeast."

Doctoral students Riley Messman and Rebecca Swanson also are involved with melatonin research.

The scientists recently published a literature review in the journal Biomolecules titled "Melatonin in Health and Disease: A Perspective for Livestock Production." These scientists examined over 100 studies spanning six decades to show that this hormonenaturally produced in the brainacts in ways that extend far beyond its basic function of regulating circadian rhythm.

One of the latest discoveries about melatonin is its effects on the microbiome, bacterial communities that live inside the body. In her graduate studies, Messman conducted research looking at its impact on the microbiome in the bovine vaginal tract.

"As melatonin levels fluctuate throughout the day and throughout the year, so do bacterial populations," said Messman. "So, melatonin is altering the microbiome and the immune system, which plays a role in pretty much every physiological process you could think of."

As part of her graduate work, Swanson has researched melatonin's role in skeletal muscle growth.

"Nutrient restriction naturally occurs in specific areas of the United States and at certain times of the year," she said. "Melatonin can help alleviate some of that nutrient restriction and promote the production of amino acids and more efficient muscle growth."

Because melatonin is considered a supplement and is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, there has been a limited amount of research on its full effects and potential benefits. And while it's currently a legal supplement for show animals, food animals may not legally receive melatonin supplementation. Lemley emphasized it is unlikely that traces of the supplement would be present in the muscle tissue at the time of processing.

"Melatonin has a rapid rate of clearance and will leave the body within a day," he said. "When you consider that and the low cost of supplementing the cattle at 25 cents a day, there are a lot of potential benefits for producers."

There is much yet to discover about the far-reaching ways that melatonin can support the health of cattle by simply manipulating the levels of this naturally present hormone through supplementation. MSU scientists will continue their work to further discoveries about its benefits.

More information: Zully E. Contreras-Correa et al, Melatonin in Health and Disease: A Perspective for Livestock Production, Biomolecules (2023). DOI: 10.3390/biom13030490
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Concerns are growing about the well-being of children and adolescents and their increasing inequality in Finland. Early childhood education and care provides an environment where these concerns can be addressed as early as possible, particularly by supporting children's social-emotional development.

Social-emotional development denotes, among other things, the development of children's emotional and interactive competencies.

Research on the topic remains scarce in Finland

"Even though there is international research on supporting social-emotional development, there is still little scholarly evidence on the impact of support measures. In our project, we wanted to investigate the impact of two Finnish methods designed for use in daycare centers," says Postdoctoral Researcher Silja Martikainen.

The daycare centers under study utilized SAGA, a technique of shared storybook reading developed by Professor Mirjam Kalland, whereby children are encouraged to identify the thoughts and emotions of the characters in the stories and describe them.

The other method utilized constituted art-based activities built around an animation character named Pikkuli created by Metsamarja Aittokoski, with episodes of the animated series, books and music as the material. Pikkuli emotion cards also were used in support of advancing emotional competence. Early childhood educators were trained in implementing both interventions.

Both interventions supported children's development

Over 10 weeks, a total of 150 children from 15 different daycare groups participated in the study. At the time, the social-emotional development of the children involved in the intervention sessions was compared with that of a group engaged in regular small group activities.

The study found that both interventions, SAGA and Pikkuli, strengthened children's ability to help and support other children and reduced internalizing problems including withdrawn behavior and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In addition, social orientation in relationships was advanced in the children who took part in the SAGA sessions, while their difficulties in focusing or getting into conflicts with others were reduced. No change was observed in these areas in the control group.

Positive experiences of the interventions among early childhood educators

The experiences of early childhood educators were positive.

"The staff involved in SAGA interventions stated that the model was an easily deployable addition during regular reading sessions. Children's profound thoughts on emotions even surprised the staff," says Kalland.

The experiences of the staff involved in Pikkuli activities were also positive. According to Metsamarja Aittokoski, the creator of Pikkuli, the staff felt that the children's ability to talk about emotions was boosted during the study.

"After the study, the Pikkuli model has been further developed and the content expanded on the basis of the results," Aittokoski adds.

"The research findings are encouraging, and the goal is for the methods found to be effective to remain part of regular early childhood education and care. In this too, sufficient human resources must be taken into consideration," Silja Martikainen notes.

The study is published in the Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research.

More information: Silja Martikainen et al, Supporting social-emotional development in early childhood education and carea randomized parallel group trial evaluating the impact of two different interventions, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research (2023). DOI: 10.1080/00313831.2023.2204119
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In this photo released by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the Nuri rocket sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. South Korea was set to launch its first commercial-grade satellite, on Wednesday as rival North KoreaCredit: Korea Aerospace Research Institute via AP

South Korea canceled its planned launch Wednesday of its first commercial-grade satellite due to a technical issue, days after rival North Korea reaffirmed its push to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.

The cancellation was announced about two hours before South Korea's homegrown Nuri space launch vehicle carrying eight satellitesincluding the main, commercial-grade onewas scheduled to lift off from a southern launch facility.

Oh Tae-seok, the first vice-minister of science, told a televised news conference a communication anomaly between the launch control computer and the launch pad control computer was found during the launch preparation process. He said South Korea will consider rescheduling the launch as soon as Thursday, if authorities fix the technical problem early.

South Korea's satellite launch plan has been closely watched by outsiders. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed a finished spy satellite and approved a future action plan on its launch. During his visit to the country's aerospace agency, Kim also mentioned the strategic significance of a spy satellite while vowing to defend against "confrontational moves" by South Korean and U.S. forces, according to state media.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula remain high.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missilessome of them nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike South Korea and the U.S.in what it called efforts to respond to the expansion of military drills between the United States and South Korea. Analysts say the North's testing spree was likely meant to pressure its rivals to scale back their military training and relax economic sanctions on the North.

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said the recent North Korean push for a spy satellite launch suggests it cares greatly about the South Korean satellite launch program.

South Korean officials say their commercial-grade satellite launch has no military purpose. But many experts say it will eventually help South Korea acquire technologies and knowhow required to operate military surveillance satellites and build more powerful missiles.

South Korea already has missiles that place all of North Korea within striking distance. But Jung said South Korea needs longer-range missiles to prepare for future security threats that can be posed by potential adversaries like China and Russia.

In this photo released by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the Nuri rocket sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. South Korea was set to launch its first commercial-grade satellite, on Wednesday as rival North KoreaCredit: Korea Aerospace Research Institute via AP

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that the use of the Nuri rocket as a missile isn't militarily meaningful as it uses a type of liquid fuel that requires much longer fueling time than solid fuel.

But he said there is "enough possibility" that the launch will support South Korea's efforts to build a space-based surveillance system, as its commercial-grade satellite is to be placed on a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used by reconnaissance satellites.

South Korea currently has no military reconnaissance satellites of its own and depends on U.S. spy satellites to monitor strategic facilities in North Korea. South Korea seeks to launch its own surveillance satellites soon.

Some experts say the North Korean spy satellite disclosed in its state media doesn't appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery that can meaningfully boost the country's surveillance capacities.

But Lee said the North Korean satellite is still likely be capable of monitoring the deployment of incoming U.S. strategic assets like an aircraft carrier and the movements of South Korean warships and fighter jets.

After its first spy satellite launch, Lee predicted North Korea will try to send several more satellites into space, likely more advanced ones. "With three to five satellites, North Korea can have an almost real-time monitoring on the Korean Peninsula," he said.

Lee said the North's first spy satellite launch could happen in June. Other experts say the launch will more likely happen in the latter half of this year.

Wednesday's canceled launch of South Korea's satellite would have been the third of its kind involving Nuri.

In its second launch last year, South Korea successfully put what it called a "performance verification satellite" into orbit, becoming the world's 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology. The launch was mainly designed to examine the Nuri rocket's capabilities.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In the 1940s, a student from Kenya named James Gekonyo applied to the Chemistry Department of Makerere University in Uganda. When his admissions interviewers asked him to explain the difference between a solid, liquid, and gas, Gekonyo said, "I can hold a solid in my hand and it will stay there; a liquid will run to the floor, and I cannot hold a gas at all." Gekonyo was denied admissionhis answer was deemed "silly" by the interviewers.

Gekonyo's interview is just one example of how both interlinguistic and intralinguistic translation can falter and succeed, writes Morgan J. Robinson. In the article "When a Wonder Is Not a Wonder: Swahili, Translation, and the Communication of Knowledge," published in Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society, Robinson explores these questions within the context of the translation of Swahili language and knowledge during the colonial and postcolonial periods in Tanganyika/Tanzania.

Swahili has been a recorded written language for centuries and traces its roots back over 1,200 years, but colonial-era European academics became interested in the language because they inaccurately believed it represented an early stage of linguistic development. Despite this perception, when British missionaries began working on Zanzibar, they soon set to learning Swahili.

They devised a way to write it in Latin script and produced dictionaries and a language handbook, learning the language fromamong othersan eminent Islamic jurist, his associates, and the mission's students. Translation occurred through this web of interlocuters who suggested, affirmed, and revised word lists until all understood.

Yet even as missionaries attempted to codify Swahili, their students shaped it to fit their needs. Robinson cites, for example, the word "kuchenja"a hybrid the students created of the English word "to change" and the Swahili verb prefix "ku-." This "linguistic flexibility and creativity," Robinson writes, demonstrates "that translation was rarely as simple as moving between a source and a target languageboth of which were perpetually in flux."

As Britain consolidated its colonial rule in the 1920s, the administration formed a committee to standardize written Swahili into a "developed" language. It sought to insert the language of science into Swahili (deemed impossible by some) while creating dictionaries and coining new words. The committee was occasionally "confronted by the fact that not only is language a moving target, but so, too, is knowledge."

With the dawn of the independence era, translation problems and solutions began to be framed differently, Robinson writes. Tanzania's first president Julius Nyerere used Swahili as an anti-colonial rallying cry and symbol, stressing the connection between the language and the nascent nation. Swahili proved to be a potent national symbol and provided some solutions to translation problems experienced during the missionary and colonial eras.

The author of a science column published in the newspaper Mambo Leo shortly before independence wrote effusively about new technology, clearly demonstrating that the colonial concern that Swahili couldn't convey such complexity was a moot point. Yet a later column confronted the issue of knowledge translation, describing how nature can still astonish the experts, sometimes anticipating the wonders and amazement of technological change.

In the paper's conclusion Robinson emphasizes the role power plays in translation, setting the parameters for what language and expertise was accepted. Writing of ongoing efforts to translate scientific research into African languages and to bring research conducted in Africa onto an equal playing field with the rest of the world, Robinson writes: "Such initiatives are at once hopeful signs of progress and frank reminders that certain communicators of knowledge continue to confront familiar and damaging barriers and that stark inequalities persist in the current global landscape of knowledge production and communication."

More information: Morgan J. Robinson, When a Wonder Is Not a Wonder: Swahili, Translation, and the Communication of Knowledge, Isis (2023). DOI: 10.1086/724869
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Schematic representation of the simulation of the total above-ground biomass (B upper,n ) in the nth season, for alfalfa. During the spring (net remobilization stage), the transfer to the above-ground parts of the Mth fraction of the assimilates stored below ground in the previous season (B sto,(n-1) ), is simulated by increasing the biomass at day i (b i ) with a fraction (c i f mob,i ). To stimulate growth, the adjustment factor c i is 1 as long as CC increase. When the maximum canopy cover is reached, c i is zero and remobilisation is halted. From mid-season (start of the net storage stage), a fraction (a i f sto,i ) of b i is stored in the root system. The adjustment factor a i for regrowth is zero on a day of harvest, and gradually increases to 1 during regrowth. Credit: Agricultural Water Management (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108341

The Department of Agronomy at the University of Cordoba, together with the IASCSIC, has improved the AquaCrop growth simulation model used by the UN by introducing the option of simulating alfalfa yield with precision.

AquaCrop is the crop model created by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Playing an essential role in its development was Elias Fereres, a Professor Emeritus in the Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence at the University of Cordoba's Department of Agronomy (DAUCO). This model, which after almost 20 years of life is the second most used in the world in research, allows simulating the response of crop yields according to climate, soil and irrigation management, something very important in areas where water is a limiting factor in production.

Until now, this model only allowed user the ability to simulate the yield of annual crops (herbaceous crops with annual cycles), but not perennial crops. This has changed, thanks to new work by the DAUCO and IASCSIC, which includes the simulation of alfalfa in AquaCrop, offering valid crop yield predictions for different climates and zones.

Alfalfa is a perennial forage crop that lasts three to five years in Mediterranean climates, and is cut several times each year, as it resprouts again (four to eight cuts per year). To model the life cycle of this crop and to be able to predict harvests, "there were two main challenges in the simulation, which were these periodic cuttings and resprouting during the same season, and the fact that alfalfa, as a perennial crop, stores reserves in autumn and uses them in spring to grow, so growth in spring is not only determined by photosynthesis, but also by these reserves that the plant stores," explained Professor Fereres.

Therefore, it was necessary to include in the model a routine describing both the transfer of photo assimilates between the aerial part and the underground storage organs, and the plant's use of these assimilates for growth.

Yield data collected in Belgium, Turkey and Canada for different alfalfa cultivars, various years, and different field and irrigation management strategies, was used to calibrate the model. To verify this model, 81 yield data points across different climates, varieties, zones, and irrigation schedules were used, which constitutes a robust tool for predicting alfalfa production in different environments. The paper is published in the journal Agricultural Water Management.

"The results were very good after this verification. We were able to simulate the performance with very good correlations between the simulated and the real data obtained," Fereres said, since no systematic overestimation or underestimation was detected by the model.

AquaCrop's future challenges

By introducing the variables of crop, climate, soil and irrigation management (whether there is water or not and, if there is, how irrigation is distributed) it is possible to simulate the maximum yield that might be obtained in each case. In this way, irrigation can be adapted to optimize management for greater production.

"After 20 years of use it is a very well optimized application, which has been tested on many crops, and in many environments, and the evidence supports that it works well and is getting better," says Fereres about the application, whose seventh version has just been released, now including the option of modeling alfalfa yield.

In the future, the application could be adapted to include woody crops, a challenge, according to Fereres, who says, "Since simulating the production of trees is very difficult due to the phenomenon of alternation (trees produce more one year and less the following),and because tree production is determined by the growth and development of previous years."

More information: Dirk Raes et al, Simulation of alfalfa yield with AquaCrop, Agricultural Water Management (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108341
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Co-op student Anushka Rajagopalan at the dock by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, where she is studying Alaskan algal blooms that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. The blooms threaten the shellfish industry as well as the lives of birds, fish, marine mammals, pets foraging on the beachand even humans. Credit: lyssa Stone/Northeastern University

Most people probably associate algal blooms with red tides in Florida that can lead to skin irritation, burning eyes and rashes in exposed individuals.

But, increasingly, Alaska's Bering Strait also is home to toxic algal bloomsblooms that threaten the shellfish industry and cause paralytic shellfish poisoning that imperils the lives of seals, birds, fish, foraging pets and even humans.

Northeastern University co-op student Anushka Rajagopalan is part of a team of researchers in Don Anderson's lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts who are studying the conditions behind the creation of Alaska's harmful algae blooms, with an eye to contributing to mitigation efforts.

In particular, Rajagopalan is focused on Alexandrium catenella, a single-celled marine plankton that produces the neurotoxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning.

"It's impacted the Alaskan coastal community pretty severely," says Rajagopalan, whose six-month co-op ends June 30.

"A lot of restaurants have had to close down and a lot of fish markets haven't been able to collect shellfish from affected areas for several years now," she says.

"Indigenous communities are particularly impacted by it because shellfish and fish are main sources of subsistence," Rajagopalan says.

Poisoning occurs after shellfish ingest the neurotoxin created by algal blooms.

"The shellfish themselves don't get poisoned. But other marine animals, like seals, who eat shellfish have been having higher mortality rates because of this poisoning," Rajagopalan says.

The poisonings also affect other marine animals, birds, fish, pets foraging on beaches and even humans.

The Washington state Department of Health says deaths have occurred 30 minutes after ingesting poisoned shellfish, with fatalities attributed to suffocation as chest muscles become paralyzed. There is no antidote to the poisoning, only life support for severe cases.

Cells of the toxic Alexandrium catenella algae seen under a microscope using fluorescent probes. Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

"Research that is done in this lab will be helpful for future mitigation strategies and long term monitoring for coastal communities," says Rajagopalan, a third-year student majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology.

The co-op student says she is finalizing analysis of water and sediment samples containing Alexandrium cells collected by a WHOI research vessel from a stretch of sea from western Alaska to the eastern border of Russia.

Each tube of water comes with information about the temperature, salinity, nutrient content and other environmental factors in its collection area, Rajagopalan says.

She examines the Alexandrium cells under a microscope using fluorescent probes, a protocol known as the FISH method for Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization.

"They collected samples not only at the surface of the water but at various depths throughout the water," Rajagopalan says.

"We're wondering whether these Alexandrium blooms differ based on water depth and how that could relate to other environmental factors such as physical oceanographical and biogeochemical factors."

A 2021 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries says that algal blooms were once rare in Alaska but are increasing, which scientists from NOAA and WHOI say is due in at least part to warming seas.

The Anderson lab at WHOI hopes to publish the results of the research she is working on by next year, says Rajagopalan, who plans to finish up her undergraduate degree at Northeastern by 2024.

She says she intends to pursue a Ph.D. in fields relating to biodiversity and conservation biology, perhaps coral biologywhich she studied in her first co-op last year at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

In the meantime, Rajagopalan is counting on research being done at Anderson's WHOI lab to make a difference when it comes to combating the effects of algal blooms.

"There are whole communities around the world that are relying on this research and information," she says.

"Awareness about these projects will hopefully bring more support and funding for long-term monitoring. We are collaborating with universities in Alaska and international universities to bring in more support and aid."
By Rex Johnson

Living in close proximity to the Freetown city centre offers you a benefit: a short commute to the business area is advantageous, and doing business is made easier by that. The disadvantages are also rather difficult.

From dawn til dusk your ears are often assaulted by the incessant beats of megaphones, public-address speakers and car and motorbike horns. In its subtle nature it doesn't seem offensive or harmful to anyone until the impact of the decibels is revealed to you and the detrimental effects on your well-being, society and the environment are made known.



You wake up in the early morning to a bullhorn's blast from a nearby place of worship. After all, we are a very religious people, so the morning pray routine does not cause any disturbance. However, it is the prompt for the smaller loud-hailers to start their sound check. The orchestra is about to begin.

Handheld megaphones powered by small batteries start going off at first light. Street hawkers call your attention to their wares, having ingeniously recorded their voices into these discordant devices. You get to hear everything while not being able to listen to anything. Even the voice of your inner consciousness is drowned in the cacophonous flood stuffing your eardrums. From rat poison to detergents, from air fresheners to second-hand wares, all being pushed out by the noise. Sellers of mobile phone top-up, sachet water and ice cream, nobody is left behind in the noise pollution. Fruit, bread and meresin sellers all blaring away all through the day.

At this rate, peanut sellers would require a public address system sooner than later. A woman is caring for an aged member of the family. Her heart sinks every time a bullhorn blares. A young student tries hard to concentrate on his studies. They struggle to recollect their last thought. Recently a first-time visitor was heard shouting "top-up, top-up, top-up" in his sleep. (True story).

The noise of the megaphones intertwines with the constant honks and hooting of vehicle horns to raise the decibel levels higher. Hold on to your heart, we are still a few modulations away from crescendo. Here come the boom boxes. Rolling in on wheels with brazen audacity. They come to intensify the noise levels. Even notching it several octaves up. They are completely oblivious of the suckling mother who has barely managed to lull her young one to sleep in the hope of getting a few chores done before some shut-eye.

As the boom boxes wheel away, their Big Oga struts in with brash valour. Heavy duty trucks carrying speakers with enough amplitude to rock a large auditorium. Their unwelcome amusement is to inform us of some new social campaign or advertise some new product.

It seems our folks have found a new and creative way to grab attention making it hard for us to escape patronizing their franchise. Even if you cannot see them, being indoors, you are not left uninformed of what is passing by. I guess they would want us to believe that it is a fun way of facilitating business activity and helping small-scale businesses until you start considering the long-term consequences of too much exposure to such regular noise.

Experts describe noise pollution as unwanted or excessive sound that can have negative effects on human health and environmental quality. Generally, extremely loud noises can be acceptable in industrial environments and some other workplaces like carpentry or welding shops, motor mechanic garages, and construction sites. Ideally, such workstations are located a reasonable distance away from dwelling homes. This is because certain levels and duration of noise exposure around residential areas may result in damage to the eardrum and even permanent loss of hearing.

It is not just the eardrums and ears that suffer. According to studies done by National Geographic, excessive noise levels have been known to increase blood pressure. Elevated blood levels for a long duration are a major cause of Hypertension. Heart diseases can also be linked to constant unnecessary noise exposure. Then there is sleep disruption which leaves a person feeling tired and lazy because of low energy levels. Less sleep time renders someone easily irritated and highly stressed. This lowers one's ultimate productivity levels. If you can hold a phone conversation without rude interruption, try participating in a global meeting from the comfort of your living room or office during peak hours.

A person suffering from Cardiovascular disease or Hypertension may experience a shoot-up in levels of discomfort due to persistent loud decibels. Other effects of noise pollution are mental fatigue leading to shortening attention span, and decreased brain functions. Simply put, it makes people stupid. It does not end there, there is also interference with personal communication habits to talk about which renders people talking unnecessarily loud. Children living in areas with high noise levels have been found to suffer from stress, memory impairments, and low attention span. As has been observed with adults, the menace of noise pollution impairs brain functions in children.

Research has further proven that the problems of noise in our environment not only affect humans but also affect the life and sustainability of animals as well. Animals use sounds to communicate, mate and navigate. Much of the living depends on exchanging sounds with their environment. When our noise levels interfere with their ability to communicate with each other or with their environment, their well-being becomes endangered. If they cannot accomplish their tasks as listed above, it affects their ability to survive. To recap, noise pollution causes deafness, high blood pressure, heart diseases, stress, fatigue, depression, anxiety, inability to focus, low brain functions, aggressiveness and stupidity in both humans and animals.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), noise is responsible for 16,600 premature deaths and 72,000 hospitalizations in Europe. Considering that there are far fewer uncontrolled noise levels in Europe compared to what obtains in our city with limited healthcare service, it is anybodys guess what our current data would read.

Providing clear-cut solutions to this issue in our society is not as easy as listing the problem and its effects. What works in other geographic locations where this problem has been tackled will not necessarily work here. There is no marked difference between our residential areas and business zones. We have nightclubs and worship centres, sandwiched by private residences. Marketplaces and school buildings coexist. We do not build with noise insulation installed in buildings prone to noise. There is general approval for street trading as this is directly linked to the economic climate of our society.

The issue of noise pollution has plagued our planet for far too long. It poses a pressing problem that requires immediate attention. We must take responsibility now as we equally lay blame where we should. We must strive to create gainful opportunities for the readily identifiable defaulters and advocate for policy change that will benefit both businesses and people alike. It is time to fight for progress and put a stop to this environmental hazard before it's too late.

It will be some herculean task to teach new tricks to the now mature generation. That is where the enacting of laws and regulations becomes essential. Banning the importation of bullhorns and hand-held megaphones that constitute mega nuisance would greatly reduce environmental harm to our generation. Our lawmakers should strongly consider reviewing or enacting laws relating to public order / public nuisance. Establishing such laws with preventive and corrective measures will no doubt protect our human resources and enrich our social capital.

Noise pollution is like an unwanted guest that has overstayed their welcome. It lingers around, getting increasingly louder and more intrusive, making it difficult to relax, think or even carry on a conversation. Like plugging a leaking sink to prevent flooding, we can all grab a towel and work together to help stop the noise pollution. Everyone's thoughts and contributions can help create the full picture, allowing us to appreciate the beauty of silence.

Rex Johnson (Rev) is a Media Professional, Ordained Minister and Social Entrepreneur. Email - rexfordj@gmail.com; Facebook - Olufemi Rex Johnson

Copyright  2023 Politico Online (01/02/23)
By: AMINATA SAMEENA SESAY

The Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA) has decentralized the issuance of drivers license at regional level to accelerate a proper system.

This was disclosed on Thursday 13th October, 2022 at the weekly Ministry of Information and Communications press briefing at Youyi building in Freetown.

According to the Executive Director of SLRSA, Reverend Smart K. Senessie, the decentralized system is to ensure that operations match up the with the governments agenda. He said the number of driving licenses to be issued out is expected to exponentially increase, since they are now printed at substations at Pademba road in the West of Freetown, Makeni, Bo and Kenema.

He noted that, at the end of August 2021, the sum of Le 9.2 billion was transferred to the Road Maintenance Fund Administration and another Le 5.5billion remitted to help finance road maintenance and rehabilitation.

Rev. Senessie mentioned that the authority, in 2018, entered into partnership with Autospect Sierra Leone Limited to enhance operation in the area of vehicle fitness examination, issuance of vehicle license, vehicle record (life card) and number plate. He said they have also built two fitness centres at their Kissy Road office and Mile 6.

He also stated that the authority in partnership with the Freetown Polytechnic and the Milton Margai University, established two impound yards in Freetown, one at Jui in the East and another in the far West, which he said would help decongest the street and enforce road traffic laws and regulations.

The SLRSA boss also mentioned that in a bid to encourage the use of authentic and quality vehicle spare parts, the authority has partnered with Auto Parts Freetown (APF) a local subsidiary of a Belgium based franchise.

Whilst highlighting the challenges faced by SLRSA, he pointed out that, Sierra Leone has high incidents of road crashes with attendant fatalities and serious injuries. He also said that, they are faced with poor post-crash regime to respond to post-crash victims.

He further said that the authority is faced with inadequate financial support to undertake envisaged activities. He went on to say that, they also lack coordinated data bank for road traffic crashes as well as transport related statistics. He added that the authority has inadequate operational tools to run its affairs.

In order to address the challenges, he pointed out that, they have been engaging the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM) and the Insurance Industry on modalities for the establishment of a post-crash emergency response fund. He said, the fund aims at constructing clinics, trainings, recruitment and deployment of Paramedics along major highways across the country.

He went on to say that, they plan to ratify and domesticate international legal instruments on road safety. He also said that the authority will create a New Unit charged with the responsibility of restructuring and rebranding the institution.

SLRSA was formed by an Act of Parliament in 1996 to regulate and coordinate development in the road transport industry. It aims to promote road safety, inspection and supervision of vehicle repairs and maintenance for the government of Sierra Leone.

Copyright  2022 Politico Online (24/10/22)
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FORT EDWARD  The Hebron man accused of shooting and killing a Schuylerville woman in his driveway pleaded not guilty to murder on Wednesday in Washington County Court.

Kevin Monahan, 65, is facing a second-degree murder charge and has also been accused of reckless endangerment and tampering with physical evidence for the April 15 incident.

Washington County Court Judge Adam Michelini ruled for Monahan to remain in Warren County Jail, where he has been since the night of the shooting. He said that he believes Monahan is a flight risk if released.

The fact that the defendant was originally charged with intentional murder and is now indicted with reckless endangerment murder, its the same consequence and same exposure. Your client faces significant amount of incarceration. The victim in this case was killed. I think it is in those factors that your client is a flight risk and is to remain without bail, Michelini said.

Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said that the evidence they have today is stronger than the first time they entered the courtroom in April.

The evidence will show that he acted alone. He left the house with the shotgun. Two shots were fired; the slug that ultimately killed Kaylin Gillis entered through what is called the C pillar of the Ford Explorer, Jordan said, referring to the rearmost pillar on the passenger side.

The 20-year-old was looking for a friends house when the car she was traveling in got lost and attempted to turn around in Monahans driveway.

Monahan told police that on the night of the shooting he had been in bed since 8:30 p.m. and there are hunters shooting in the area all the time, according to WNYT-TV NewsChannel 13, The Post-Stars media partner. After officers asked him what happened, he responded Nothing that I know of, according to court documents.

Monahan also did not wish to walk down to the end of his driveway to meet with police and wanted them to leave so he could go back to bed.

The case is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 7.

Monahans lawyer, Kurt Mausert, argued that it wouldnt be possible to put together his case in four months. He also argued that the case changed from being intentional murder to murder alleged by reckless conduct.

Mausert said there too much to do from collecting statements to meeting with ballistic experts. In a news conference after the arraignment, Mausert said he hasnt ruled out filing with the appellate court for more time.

Im not going to trial on Sept. 7. I will go to the appellate court and get a stay if I have to. This judge told me that its a simple case. Show me a complex one, he said. Theres going to be all kinds of forensic evidence, experts of ballistics and otherwise. This is not a simple case and it will prejudice my client in the extreme to force me to go to trial in this short time period. Im just not going to do it.

Mausert also brought up not being able to speak with his client in private. He said in the three contact visits he has made with Monahan at Warren County Jail, a correctional officer has always been in earshot.

Ill be damned if I am going to prepare for a murder trial with my client by whispering to him. ... This idea that I am strained for privacy with my client to prepare for the highest charge we have on under our law is a detriment to my clients Sixth Amendment rights, he said.

Jordan countered the argument by saying he offered to arrange private visits at the Washington County facilities in the past to Mausert.

Gillis father, Andrew, made a post to his personal Facebook page on Monday evening about Monahans hearing, asking everyone to decline comments to the media.

Jordan mentioned in his comments with the press that the family appreciates the respectfulness of the media and the continued coverage means a lot to them.
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WILTON  A Malta man is accused of stealing water heaters from the Lowes in Wilton.

Police charged Anthony L. Porcaro, 36, on May 17 with felony third-degree grand larceny.

On May 9 at about 1:35 p.m., police were contacted by the Lowes in Wilton, reporting a past theft.

The investigation determined that on April 29, Porcaro reportedly entered the store numerous times, subsequently stealing multiple water heaters valued at over $3,000.

Porcaro was arrested and processed at the state police station in Wilton. He was arraigned at the Wilton Town Court and released on his own recognizance.
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AURELIUS  A big cheese visited Cayuga County and warned that a dairy cliff could affect local farmers if a key program is not part of the new farm bill.

With Cayuga Milk Ingredients dairy processing plant in the town of Aurelius as a backdrop, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined Cayuga County elected officials and farmers to call for the renewal of the Dairy Margin Coverage program.

The program, which was established in the 2018 farm bill, provides monthly payments to dairy farmers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The current farm bill is due to expire Sept. 30. The Dairy Margin Coverage program would not continue unless it is reauthorized by Congress in the new farm bill.

If the dairy assistance ends, it would be a major blow to Cayuga County, the No. 2 dairy-producing county in New York and 37th in the country.

The program is a lifeline, said Schumer, D-N.Y., who explained that its expiration would end monthly support to dairy farmers, cause supply chain disruptions and raise milk prices. He continued, If it does expire, it will leave our dairy farmers without a safety net and cause a great crash in the economy here.

One of the local farms that utilizes the Dairy Margin Coverage program is Patterson Farms in Aurelius. Julie Patterson, whose family operates the farm, said the program helps the farm get through volatile times in the dairy industry.

Viability of dairy farms is crucial to our local, rural economy, Patterson said. It is essential that we keep this program and other programs related to dairy farm viability from expiring in this years farm bill.

Congress is beginning to draft the farm bill, which is usually renewed every five years. It typically passes with bipartisan support.

Schumer said that U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, and U.S. Sen. John Bozeman, the ranking Republican member of the committee, are working together on the Senates version of the farm bill.

While there may be debate over other farm bill provisions, continuing the Dairy Margin Coverage program is a priority for Schumer.

I am going to use my power as majority leader to get this program renewed so that we can continue to have dairy prospering here in central New York, he said.
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Events

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.

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE CLASS (VIRTUAL): 7 to 8:15 p.m.; held via Zoom; beginners class for non-native, English speakers; classes include interactive learning activities that focus on increasing listening, speaking, reading, grammar, and writing skills; hosted by the Atlantic City Free Public Library; registration required. 609-345-2269 or acfpl.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.

Thursday, May 25

ARTIST MARK KOSTABI IN STONE HARBOR: exhibit on display May 25 through 29; meet contemporary artist Mark Kostabi and experience a newly curated body of work; 6 to 9 p.m. May 27, 28, meet the artist event; Ocean Galleries, 9618 3rd Ave., Stone Harbor. 609-368-7777 or oceangalleries.com.

CYBER THURSDAYS: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 31; Pleasantville Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 33 Martin Luther King Junior Ave., Pleasantville. 609-641-1778 or atlanticlibrary.org.

PARKMOBILE TUTORIAL: 1 to 2 p.m. May 25, June 8, July 6; learn the parking system used in Ventnor; Ventnor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 6500 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor. 609-823-4614 or atlanticlibrary.org.

SENIOR CRAFT AND ACTIVITIES: 10 a.m. to noon Thursdays through June 29; Pleasantville Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 33 Martin Luther King Junior Ave., Pleasantville. 609-641-1778 or atlanticlibrary.org.

Friday, May 26

CAR CRUISE: 5 to 8 p.m. May 26, June 10, 23; show off your car during the Car Cruises; 615 E. Moss Mill Road, Galloway Township. 609-748-8999 or historicsmithville.com.

Saturday, May 27

FANTASY ADVENTURE FEST AT HISTORIC SMITHVILLE: 1 to 5 p.m. May 27, 28; performance of "Peter Pan and the Pirates" by Riddlesbrood Touring Theatre Company; live music; performance of "The Fairy by the Well," a magical fairy tale; Historic Smithville, 615 E. Moss Mill Road, Galloway Township; free. 609-377-9125 or historicsmithville.com.

SATURDAY MOVIE TIME: 1 to 3 p.m. May 27, June 10, 24, July 8, 22, Aug. 5, 19; Pleasantville Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 33 Martin Luther King Junior Ave., Pleasantville. 609-641-1778 or atlanticlibrary.org.

UPPER TOWNSHIP STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; presented by the Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township; strawberries for sale; handmade crafts, live music, food, strawberry shortcake and ice cream; rain date May 28; Gandy Farmstead, 26 Tyler Road, Greenfield (Upper Township). UpperTwpHistory.org.

WALK-IN JOB SKILLS LAB: 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays through June 24; receive assistance with job-related tasks; Public Library, 1 N. Tennessee Ave., Atlantic City. 609-345-2269 or acfpl.org.

Monday, May 29

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP MEMORIAL DAY PARADE: 9 a.m. to noon; veteran's pay tribute to fallen comrades; Veteran's Memorial Park, Ocean Heights Avenue, Egg Harbor Township. 609-926-4027.

LONGPORT MEMORIAL DAY PARADE: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; begins at 33rd Street and Atlantic Avenue, and continue up to Ventnor Avenue and then south to the Park & Gazebo at the foot of the Longport Bridge where a ceremony will be held. 609-645-3511.

MEMORIAL DAY REMEMBRANCE SERVICE: hosted by Greater Absecon Island VFW Post 215 Ventnor; first service will be at Ventnor City Hall at 9:45 a.m. followed by a service at the Post Home at 11 a.m.; 601 N. Dorset Ave., Ventnor. 609-703-1975 or vfw215.org.

MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE: 10 to 11 a.m.; Godfrey Memorial Park at Osprey Point, 1731 Route 9, Seaville. 609-390-8006.

For kids

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.

Thursday, May 25

123 READ & SING: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursdays through Aug. 10; for ages 1 1/2 to 5 and their caregivers; Galloway Township Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 306 E. Jimmie Leeds Road, Galloway Township. 609-652-2352 or atlanticlibrary.org.

LEGO CLUB: 4 to 5 p.m. Thursdays through May 25; for ages 5 to 13; Absecon branch/Atlantic County Library System, 305 New Jersey Ave., Absecon. 609-646-2228 or atlanticlibrary.org.

STORYTIME: 10 to 11 a.m. Thursdays through May 25; for ages 12 to 36 months; Ventnor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 6500 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor; registration required. 609-823-4614 or atlanticlibrary.org.

Friday, May 26

BABY'S FIRST STORIES: 10 to 11 a.m.; rhymes, movement, and stories for little ones up to 18 months with a caregiver; Stafford Branch Library, 129 N. Main St., Stafford Township. 609-597-3381 or theoceancountylibrary.org.

Saturday, May 27

DROP-IN LEGO PLAYTIME: 1 to 2 p.m. Saturdays through August; Egg Harbor Township/Atlantic County Library System, 1 Swift Drive, Egg Harbor Township. 609-927-8664 or atlanticlibrary.org.

FREE FAMILY MOVIE AND LEGO PLAY: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Tuckerton Branch Library, 380 Bay Ave., Tuckerton. 609-296-1470 or theoceancountylibrary.org.

KIDS' EVENT: BOOK BINGO: 10 to 11 a.m.; kick off the first weekend of summer with the return of Book Bingo; a few rounds of Bingo, win books or other prizes; Public Library, 235 32nd St., Avalon. 609-967-7155 or avalonfreelibrary.org.

LET'S GO LEGO: 11 a.m. to noon every other Saturday through Aug. 19; Mays Landing Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 40 Farragut Ave., Hamilton. 609-625-2776 or atlanticlibrary.org.

SATURDAY FAMILY STORYTIME: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays through August; Egg Harbor Township/Atlantic County Library System, 1 Swift Drive, Egg Harbor Township. 609-927-8664 or atlanticlibrary.org.

SATURDAY MOVIE MATINEE: 2 to 5 p.m.; for ages 4 and older; Somers Point Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 801 Shore Road, Somers Point. 609-927-7113 or atlanticlibrary.org.

SPRINGTIME STORYTIME: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays, May 27, June 10, 24; for ages 3 1/2 to 5, siblings welcome; few quick stories, songs, an easy craft, plus a treat; Somers Point Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 801 Shore Road, Somers Point; registration required. 609-927-7113 or atlanticlibrary.org.

TEEN BOARD GAME AND SNACK AFTERNOONS: 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays, May 27, June 10, 24, July 8, 22, Aug. 5, 29; for kids and teens, ages 10 and older; Egg Harbor Township/Atlantic County Library System, 1 Swift Drive, Egg Harbor Township; registration required. 609-927-8664 or atlanticlibrary.org.

Groups

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.

Thursday, May 25

AL-ANON MEETING: 11 a.m. to noon Thursdays through December; by Al-Anon Family Groups; Cape May County Library/Lower Cape Branch, 2600 Bayshore Road, Lower Township. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

CROCHET GROUP: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 31; learn and practice your craft in a fun and welcoming environment; Egg Harbor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 134 Philadelphia Ave., Egg Harbor City. 609-804-1063 or atlanticlibrary.org.

FAMILY MEETING SUPPORT GROUP: 10 a.m. to noon second and fourth Thursdays; support group for family members of individuals who live with a mental health concern. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info.

HAMILTON SUSTAINABILITEAM MEETING: 6:30 to 8 p.m. fourth Thursdays, no meeting in November; discuss how to make the Township of Hamilton more sustainable now and in the future; Municipal Building, 6101 13th St., Mays Landing. 609-805-1236 or townshipofhamilton.com.

MEETINGS FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF INDIVIDUALS AFFECTED BY MENTAL ILLNESS AND/OR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER: 10:30 a.m. second and fourth Thursdays; 7 p.m. third Thursdays; choose from daytime or evening meeting times; online-only; workshop-style meeting among peers with a new topic each group; offered by the Mental Health Association in Atlantic County through the Intensive Family Support Services program. 609-517-8614 or mhaac.info.

Friday, May 26

AMERICAN MAH JONGG: 1 to 3 p.m. Fridays; Wildwood Crest Branch, 6300 Atlantic Ave., Wildwood Crest. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

CONVERSATIONAL LENAPE LANGUAGE - WITH TERI HISLOP: 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Fridays; newcomers welcome; Lower Cape Branch, 2600 Bayshore Road, Lower Township. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

'LIGHTBULB' ONLINE GROUP: 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays; virtual group presented by the Mental Health Association in New Jersey; weekly online discussion group and forum to ask questions about mental health and wellness. 609-652-3800 or MHANJ.org.

Saturday, May 27

CHESS CLUB: noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays through May 27; for adults and interested teens and children, ages 8 and older; Ventnor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 6500 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor; registration required. 609-823-4614 or atlanticlibrary.org.

Health, fitness

Wednesday, May 24

BARRE STAR: 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. Wednesdays through May; combination of ballet, flexibility, yoga/balance and strength training; Wildwood Crest Branch, 6300 Atlantic Ave., Wildwood Crest. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

EXPLORING SPIRITUALITY ONLINE WELLNESS GROUP: noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays; hosted by the Mental Health Association in Atlantic County; wellness group exploring themes of faith, hope, sense of purpose, and fulfilment. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info.

MEDITATION MEET-UP WITH TED COSTA: 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through December; Woodbine Community Center, 812 Longfellow St., Woodbine. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

MIND AND BODY VIRTUAL WORKSHOP: 11 a.m. to noon Wednesdays; workshop is provided to individuals who live with a disability; participants discuss topics such as adapting, goal setting, refocusing and more; offered by the Mental Health Association in Atlantic County. 609-652-3800, ext. 308 or MHAAC.info.

STRETCH & BURN - WITH KELLIE WOOD: 10 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays; hosted by Cape May County Library; virtual event; no registration required. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

TAI CHI & QIGONG: 10 and 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays; with Cheryl Crews and Denise Jones; Lower Cape Branch, 2600 Bayshore Road, Lower Township. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

ZUMBA - WITH JANET SPADA: 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays at Wildwood Crest Library, and Thursdays at Lower Township Library; no meetings July 12, 26, Nov. 22, 23. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

ZUMBA - WITH KELLIE: 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays; Sea Isle City Branch, 4800 Central Ave., Sea Isle City. 609-463-6350 or Events.CMCLibrary.org.

Thursday, May 25

GENTLE YOGA - WITH ELIZABETH KILCOURSE: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays; bring a yoga mat; Upper Township Branch, 2050 Tuckahoe Road, Woodbine. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

'RISING MINDS' ONLINE MEETING: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; offered by the Mental Health Association in Atlantic County; peer-led meeting for individuals age 18 to 30; participants discuss mental health, share experiences, develop tools for self-care and connect to others. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info.

Friday, May 26

ANYTHING GOES FITNESS: 9:15 to 10:15 a.m.; Cape May County Library/Wildwood Crest Branch, 6300 Atlantic Ave., Wildwood Crest. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

YOGA WITH TANYA DELFINI: 10 to 11 a.m. Fridays through December; no class Sept. 8, Nov. 10, 24; Cape May County Library/Sea Isle City Branch, 4800 Central Ave., Sea Isle City. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org.

Sunday, May 28

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.

Music

Thursday, May 25

34TH ANNUAL CAPE MAY MUSIC FESTIVAL: OKCELLO: 7 to 9 p.m.; opening performance of the 34th Cape May Music Festival; Church of The Advent, 612 Franklin St., Cape May; $35. 609-884-5404 or capemaymac.org.

Friday, May 26

BROWN SUGAR: 7:30 to 10 p.m.; Rolling Stones tribute; The Lizzie Rose Music Room, 217 E. Main St., Tuckerton; $28-$35. 908-310-2941 or lizzierosemusic.com.

FIRE PIT FRIDAY & LIVE MUSIC: 4 to 8 p.m.; sit around fire pits enjoying live music from John King; Willow Creek Winery & Farm, 168 Stevens St., W. Cape May. 609-770-8782 or willowcreekwinerycapemay.com.

MUSIC TO MY EARS - ONLINE: 7 to 10 p.m. Fridays through Aug. 4; uplifting online discussion group in which participants share favorite music selections and what it means to them; virtual event hosted by the Mental Health Association in New Jersey. 609-652-3800 or mhanj.org.

Saturday, May 27

BEES DELUXE: 7:30 to 10 p.m.; The Lizzie Rose Music Room, 217 E. Main St., Tuckerton; $33. 908-310-2941 or lizzierosemusic.com.

LIVE MUSIC AT WILLOW CREEK WINERY WITH MARK FISHER: 1 to 4 p.m.; Willow Creek Winery & Farm, 168 Stevens St., W. Cape May. 609-770-8782 or willowcreekwinerycapemay.com.

Sunday, May 28

34TH ANNUAL CAPE MAY MUSIC FESTIVAL: ATLANTIC BRASS BAND: 7 to 9 p.m.; Cape May Rotary Park, 400-498 Lafayette St., Cape May. 609-884-5404 or capemaymac.org.
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A pharmaceutical salesman will avoid prison time for his role in a local health care fraud case that cost state health benefits plans nearly $50 million.

Instead of prison, Richard Zappala, whose last known residence was Northfield, will undergo one year of house arrest and a curfew, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler ruled Thursday. Zappala will also be on probation for five years and pay about $4.25 million in restitution, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

In 2017, Zappala pleaded guilty to charges that he defrauded health care plans after joining a scheme to sell unnecessary compounded medications through the recruitment of a South Jersey doctor.

Federal prosecutors say Zappala paid Aaron Jones, of Willingboro, Burlington County, to identify people carrying health insurance plans that would provide hefty kickbacks for prescription compound medications. Those medications would be filled by an out-of-state pharmacy in Louisiana.

Jones, in March 2022, pleaded guilty to helping fuel the plan, which used former Stratford, Camden County, physician Dr. Michael Goldis as a prescriber.

Zappala was brought into the scheme by Steven Monaco, who was convicted in April 2022 of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, health care fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Travel Act.
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Local police forces remain overwhelmingly made up of white officers following calls to diversify, but officials say not enough people of color are interested in joining law enforcement.

That's likely a product of police encounters with Black people that have turned deadly, says Atlantic City Councilman Khaleem Shabazz, who is president of the city's NAACP chapter.

To reverse it, policing needs to gradually improve community relations, he said.

"Across the country, there's a concern about people becoming police officers, and that's for a whole lot of reasons - historical reason, the murder of George Floyd obviously didn't help, and every time we have an incident, that doesn't help," Shabazz said.

Based on police data collected by The Press, local figures show Atlantic City has one of the area's most-diverse police forces, different from its counterpart on the mainland. Black and Latino officers combined represent about 38% of the resort's force.

Even that level of diversity falls short of Atlantic City's community, where roughly 60% of its residents identify as being Black of Hispanic.

"The Atlantic City Police Department is committed to promoting diversity in recruitment and hiring so that our workforce reflects the diversity of the residents of Atlantic City," police spokesperson Kevin Fair said in a statement. "Our leadership is constantly evaluating our recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies, as well as the age, gender, race, ethnicity, etc., of our members, to ensure that no group is underrepresented."

Atlantic City has 297 officers of which 53.54% identify as white; 22.56% as Black; 15.82% as Hispanic/Latinx; 8.08% as Asian/Pacific Islander. It has 69 ranked officers among its sworn members, 18 of whom are people of color.

3 years after George Floyd's death, are local police as diverse as their communities? A special investigation by Lee Enterprises showed that of 105 agencies serving communities identified as diverse, 76 underrepresented the percentages of people of color by 10 points or more.

Other town's police departments nearby aren't as diverse.

Hamilton Township, Galloway Township, Ocean City and Egg Harbor Township are overwhelmingly made of white officers.

Neither Galloway and Hamilton townships have a ranked officer that identifies as a person of color, according to the data.

Galloway Township Mayor Anthony Coppola agrees with Shabazz's belief that violent and fatal police encounters have gone viral in the last few years have weakened interested in joining law enforcement.

That challenge is one felt throughout the country, officials said.

"We no longer require a bachelor's degree to apply and be hired," Coppola said. "We no longer require that you've completed the academy. We're putting people through the academy for the first time in a while again."

Hamilton Township police department officials did not return multiple phone calls requests for comment for this story.

The May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man whose death sparked public protests and violence across the nation led to protests and sustained calls to reform policing.

Since the 46-year-old was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, police have tried meeting public demands to aggressively diversify their departments, hiring and promoting more Black officers to model the force to better represent the community they serve.

Lawmakers have also worked toward formulating policies that will promote diversity in police forces across the state.

In 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a bill requiring the states Civil Service Commission to implement programs to make law enforcement more representative and equitable. Among the measures listed in the bill, a mandate is set forth to analyze the racial composition of police agencies, making it a goal for those that could benefit from eliminating hiring preferences based on applicants residency.

Since day one of this administration, Gov. Murphy has made it a priority to increase diversity in law enforcement to ensure departments across the state reflect the communities they serve," Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Governor's Office, said in a statement in response to questions from The Press. "The governor, along with the State Civil Service Commission (CSC), has taken several steps to increase diversity in law enforcement, and will continue to assist the CSC in this effort.

That commitment has not translated into diverse local forces in several communities where The Press obtained data.

Ocean City's police department has only two officers, or about 2.86% of it's force, that identify as Black.

Ocean City police officials did not return a request for comment.

In Hamilton Township, which has 54 officers, 87% are white, 7% are Black, 4% are Hispanic, and 2% are Asian. Among the department's 15 officers of supervising rank, none identify as a person of color.

Census data shows the community is 63% white, 13% black, 12% Hispanic, 5% Asian and 9% biracial/other.

In Galloway, 81.43% of its officers are white, and 18.57% identify as Black.

Nusret Sahin, an associate professor of criminal justice at Stockton University and former Turkish National police officer, says departments should target their relations with the public to dispel beliefs of racial bias. That, in turn, could prompt a higher turnout of Black and Hispanic recruits to narrow racial gaps.

"When they see that (no racial bias), they're more likely to apply to that agency," Sahin said.

Coppola hasn't dismissed the idea of the situation improving.

"They're out there. We just got to work a little harder now," Coppola said of police recruitment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and ex-CM Manohar Joshi has been admitted to a private hospital for certain agerelated health issues,party sources said here on Tuesday.

Joshi, 86, was taken to the Hinduja Hospital in Mahim and is said to be in the ICU under the care of a team of senior doctors.

Former CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, wife Rashmi and other family members and party leaders rushed to the hospital to enquire after Joshis health.

Joshi was the first Shiv Sena CM for four years (1995-1999) when the party bagged power in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party. IANS
By: Anushree Bhoware

Fed up with the sheer negligence of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) over their demands for basic civic facilities, the NIBM Forum has decided to protest by forming a human chain on May 27 (Saturday). The agitation will commence from 9 am onwards from Kad Nagar to Palace Orchards along NIBM road.

The NIBM Forum, representing the neighboring community, aims to raise awareness about the pathetic situation and to unite residents in their collective struggle. The decision to hold the protest follows exhausting other options of dialogue with the civic body.

We have repeatedly reached out to the authorities, and they have responded by giving us time for meetings. They have even shown support by assembling their team. However, in spite of these interactions, no action has been taken to address our concerns, lamented a member of the forum.

The primary issue the residents face is the deplorable condition of the roads. One year ago, a massive accident occurred, highlighting the urgent need for road improvement. The narrow and encroached roads have become major traffic bottlenecks and a safety hazard for the residents.

All we want is widening of the main road and removal of the slope. We are law-abiding citizens who pay property taxes, water taxes, and other levies. Yet we lack basic facilities, suffer from water scarcity, and live in a neighborhood filled with garbage, said a frustrated resident.

The NIBM Forum firmly believes that it is the responsibility of the authorities to proactively address these issues. They question the allocation of funds and the lack of vigilance in enforcing regulations. The upcoming human chain protest is an attempt to gain media support and raise public awareness about the plight of area residents.

We want the people of Pune to understand that the authorities have taken no action to improve our lives. Lives are being lost due to accidents on these roads. It seems like no one cares. We pay our taxes and demand fair treatment, said Sonu Vashi, a member of the forum.
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When Rock Island County Sheriffs deputies arrived early on April 14 at Danny Taylors home in rural Milan, they found his father trying to save his life.

The boy, 17, had been shot, and David Taylor was trying to resuscitate him, sheriff's detective Jesse Doty testified in a hearing Tuesday. A deputy tried too, he said, but Danny Taylor could not be revived.

Based on witness statements gathered later, investigators think Taylor was the target of a robbery, Doty testified.

His account was part of the Tuesday preliminary hearing for Napoleon Jackson, 16, of Rock Island, who is accused of killing Danny Taylor. Jackson has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder, home invasion and aggravated battery.

A preliminary hearing is an initial test of the case against a defendant. A prosecutor presents the outline of the case in court through a law enforcement witness, and a judge decides whether the case has enough merit for the prosecution to continue. The burden for making that determination is not considered high.

According to additional testimony by Doty, David Taylor went to the basement where his son slept because he heard a loud noise. As he approached, David Taylor found two people in the basement who had partially disguised themselves with hoods.

David Taylor, a former Moline police officer, heard gunshots, Doty said. He struggled with both intruders and heard additional shots.

Shortly after the shots, as he fought with one of the assailants, David Taylor heard one of them say he had been shot, Doty testified. Later, David Taylor was not able to identify the two for investigators, other than to say they were Black males.

The two assailants were not at the residence when law enforcement arrived, but investigators found the door into the basement had been kicked open, Doty told the court. They found a gun and the magazine for a second gun on the scene and another gun was later recovered.

While they were at the Milan home, detectives learned a 15-year-old gunshot victim had arrived at UnityPoint Health-Trinity Rock Island about 20 minutes after the shooting.

When they reviewed security camera footage, investigators saw that teen, identified only as J.S., was with Jackson and others, Doty said.

The aggravated battery charge against Jackson relates to J.S. injury, but how investigators think that shooting occurred has not yet been disclosed.

After the hearing, States Attorney Dora Villarreal said J.S. is suspected of being the second assailant. She could not elaborate on what Danny Taylors assailants wanted from him.

J.S. has also been charged with first-degree murder and home invasion and was in the custody of a juvenile facility, police said.

Villarreal said her office intended to try moving the juvenile case against J.S. into adult court.

Rock Island County Public Defender Hany Khoury, representing Jackson, questioned Doty during Tuesdays hearing.

Under that cross examination, Doty said no one has identified Jackson as being in the home and suspected blood found in the vehicle that took J.S. to the hospital has not been tied to Jackson.

Jackson's next hearing is scheduled for June 23, according to court records.

Both Jackson and J.S. are being held in the Mary Davis Detention Home for juveniles in Galesburg.
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The victim of Sunday's shooting in Davenport has died of his injuries, and Davenport Police arrested a 25-year-old Rock island man in connection with the homicide Tuesday night.

Andre Clanton, 37, died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the early morning hours Sunday, police said. He was found in the 1300 block of Judson Street.

His death marks Davenport's sixth fatal shooting of the year.

Police responded to the scene at 4:57 a.m. Sunday and found Clanton with a gunshot wound. Police immediately indicated the incident did not appear to be a random act of violence.

On Tuesday, Davenport and Rock Island Police arrested 25-year-old Deshawn A. Washington on charges of first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Washington is currently on mandatory supervised release from the Sheridan Correctional Center on drug and gun convictions out of Vermilion County in Illinois.

Washington was sentenced on those drug and gun convictions and was placed in the Sheridan Correctional Center on Jan 10, 2020. He was released on mandatory supervised release on June 15, 2022, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections website.

Washington was being held Tuesday night in the Rock Island County Jail. He is expected to make an appearance in Rock Island County Circuit Court on Wednesday where he will be given the option to waive extradition to Iowa.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125 or submit an anonymous tip to QC Crime Stoppers by visiting www.qccrimestoppers.com.
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While some Davenport schools will fall, others will grow.

The Davenport School Board this week approved a gymnasium addition to West High School and discussed the demolition of Washington and Monroe Elementary buildings.

West's auxiliary gym addition will include a wresting and weight room, moving them from the school's basement.

"The new gym space will allow more flexibility in classroom time and after school sports," said Josh Urmanski, the district's director of operations. "It would also allow Davenport West to host some tournaments they may have been excluded from in the past."

To Urmanski, the current basement spaces don't provide optimal air quality or sunlight.

"The new wrestling room allows a focused space for a growing program that will now include a girls wrestling team," he said.

Total construction costs land at $12,500,000, which the district budgeted for in SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) funds. Bids for the project were opened on May 4.

The board approved Bill Bruce Builders, a commercial contractor out of Eldridge, as the lowest responsible bidder for the project at $9,182,700.

Work on the West project is expected to be "substantially complete," by April 15, 2024, according to project documents.

Meanwhile, Bray Architects  the firm leading Davenport schools' long-range facilities plan  will draw up plans for the Washington and Monroe demolitions.

Also using SAVE funds, the district set a preliminary budget of $2,140,000 for this project, paying Bray a lump sum of $98,000.

Once the buildings are fully demolished and cleared away, the areas will be used as greenspace or "potential play areas," Urmanski said.

One woman walking laps around Monroe on Monday said she wondered if the school would be repurposed into another building, like a nursing home. She said her children went to Monroe and later graduated from West.

During board discussions, Dr. Allison Beck asked if there would be an opportunity to resell or reclaim items or furnishings  or conduct a disposition of assets  prior to demolition.

"We can discuss that with our architects. There are some hazards we would have to work around," Urmanski said at Monday's meeting. "There are some opportunities for possible fundraisers, or a few items to be removed for keepsake; things like that, I think."

Board member Karen Kline-Jerome asked if Washington's electronic sign could go to another school, such as Madison Elementary.

"We're discussing that exact thing," Urmanski replied, though the decision will partially hinge on how the district proceeds with other signage upgrades.

The board will take action on the Washington and Monroe demolitions on Monday, June 26.

Davenport West's first block PE class exercises like the Marines
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WHAT WE KNOW: Geneseo failed to receive an Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant for the South State Street/Illinois Route 82 welcome sign and pedestrian bridge project, so the city separated the two projects eliminating the need for a wider turn radius onto H.K. Robinson Drive.

WHAT'S NEW: City Administrator Brandon Maeglin on Tuesday told the committee of the whole that he hoped to have costs for the welcome sign/landing pad soon. He said he believed the cost would be about $25,000 to be paid with a grant and hotel/motel tax funds, and the city could get it done this fall.

Maeglin is waiting on a bid for the concrete. He has met with the Illinois Department of Transportation on the site and doesn't believe there will be any problems connecting to the state's right-of-way. The landing pad will have a 16-foot radius and flags may be added later as sponsors are found, as their cost exceeds the concrete costs. For the pedestrian bridge, which is now planned about 50 yards to the south, a cost estimate may be ready soon so that the city can include it with a renewed application this fall for another I.T.E.P. grant.

WHAT'S NEXT: Aldermen voted 8-0 to recommend an agreement with the Geneseo Farmers' Market. The agreement requires that the market have insurance and specifies time frames on Saturday mornings. The first market this year will be on June 3. There are approximately 31 full-time vendors and six part-time ones, and the market has a Facebook page and a website. Maeglin said the market has consistently grown and in future years may need to a larger location.

Photos: Geneseo defeats Rock Island, 11-1
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Kelle Larned has worked in social services for close to 20 years, and she worries about the number of people facing homelessness in Scott County.

This year, she said, the Salvation Army has helped shelter between 175 and 250 people. Before the pandemic, the agency served about half that number of people. They've bridged the gap with the help of federal pandemic relief funds allocated by the county, but those won't last forever.

"Usually, us nonprofits can figure out a solution, but this is the first time in 18 years I've had to say to multiple people, 'I don't know how to help you,'" Larned said. "If we can't figure this out  and it has to be more than just the nonprofits  you're literally going to see people living on the street, on every corner."

The Salvation Army, in partnership with Iowa Legal Aid and other local organizations, is trying to get in front of the problem and keep Scott County residents in their homes as the cost of living climbs and pandemic-era safety nets end.

That's why the Regional Development Authority, or RDA, approved an unusually large grant to the Salvation Army Family Services for emergency rental assistance.

The RDA, which is the nonprofit license holder for the Rhythm City Casino that allocates grants from gaming income twice a year to area nonprofits, awarded the Salvation Army $100,000 this spring to help residents facing eviction to pay back rent and negotiate with landlords to stave off evictions until the residents can get their feet under them.

The grant is part of the $2.1 million the RDA awarded to 65 organizations this spring cycle, which were announced Tuesday. The same day, the other casino group in the county, the Scott County Regional Authority, SCRA, which is the license-holder for the Isle Casino in Bettendorf awarded $1.5 million this spring.

"That's a really big grant for us to do for relief," said Matt Mendenhall, president and CEO of the Regional Development Authority. "We like to do big grants for capital building or things that have a more permanent nature, but this one  they made just a really good case that it's bad right now."

The RDA also awarded Iowa Legal Aid $50,000 for its eviction-diversion program, which sets up every Tuesday at the Scott County Courthouse to counsel residents facing eviction and their landlords, too.

And the Quad Cities Open Network received a $50,000 grant to dig deeper into why people in the Quad-Cities are asking for assistance.

Cecelia Bailey, executive director of the Network, said about 60 Quad-Cities organizations provided data to the organization on requests for emergency assistance.

"What we found, looking at the data  and we will continue our research through St. Ambrose University this year  is sometimes people are asking for things because of something that happened two months ago," Bailey said.

"Someone doesn't start homeless ... we know over the years traditionally, households have been $400 or $600 away from a crisis, and so often we see a crisis starting a year ago, two months ago. It starts with a car payment not able to be paid or a tire that goes bad in a car and there being no funding available to fix that, which then spirals out of control."

Other groups received housing-related grants, too. The RDA awarded Family Resources, Inc. $50,000 for "operating a successful shelter during a housing crisis;" $100,000 total to the Quad Cities Housing Council for the creation and preservation of affordable housing units as well as a "new unit initiative"; and pledged $150,00 to Vera French to renovate units for affordable housing contingent on a state tax credit.

Service dogs for Scott County veterans

More Scott County veterans will be able to get a service dog under a $30,000 Scott County Regional Authority grant given to the Midwest Animal Assisted Therapy & Education Organization.

The nonprofit is run by Ron DeArmond and his wife, who's an occupational therapist. The organization trains service animals for patients the nonprofit evaluates, including veterans with PTSD, people with autism, anxiety or physical disabilities.

DeArmond said they learned the Department of Veterans Affairs would fund a service dog for a veteran with a physical disability but not for a veteran with PTSD.

"We decided to go ahead and start offering service dogs to veterans at no cost to them, but that can be extremely expensive," said DeArmond, the CEO of the nonprofit.

Veterans will see an occupational therapist and will be assessed for what may be the best solution for them. They then find a dog, often rescues from animal shelters, and train them for the individual's needs.

DeArmond gave an example.

"We had a veteran come to us and totally could not go out in public, couldn't go hang out with family, friends, go to school with the children, totally homebound," DeArmond said. "So we were able to find out what he wanted to do and the dog that would best do that for him.

"Today, I can tell you that one veteran not only can go back out in public and go Christmas shopping but can also go to school events now and participate with his children. He can also get a job."

Community Foundation plans to launch a resource center for nonprofits

The Quad Cities Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization in the Quad-Cities, is using an RDA grant to start up a resource center for area nonprofits.

To be called the Quad Cities Center for Nonprofit Excellence, it'll include meeting space, grant strategy support, lead networking and workshops, and share resources through membership discounts and sharing information.

The Community Foundation would hire a director and assistant to fund the center report to an advisory council, said Kelly Thompson, vice president of grantmaking and community initiatives.

Already, the Community Foundation has several programs and services for nonprofit collaboration and support that would be housed under the new center, Thompson said, such as a "Funders Forum", where philanthropic leaders get together and discuss collaboration and nonprofit capacity-building grants.
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It's the end of a 76-year run for Tony's Grocery as the Quad-Cities knows it.

Sylvia Soliz took over operations of the Silvis staple known for its handmade tortillas and chips when her father, Tony Saucedo, died in 1996. On March 17, Soliz officially retired. But saying goodbye has not been easy.

"I was born and then I was here," she said with a laugh.

The brown building at 135 Hero Street has been the home of Tony's Tortillas since 1947. New owners have taken over in the months since Soliz's retirement and have vowed to stay in the same building, keep the original recipe and even the iconic yellow and blue food label.

Saucedo settled in Silvis, where he and his brother worked for the Rock Island Lines. The family lived in a box car until they could save enough money to buy the small home on what is now Hero Street. Soliz' uncle, who had a car, made regular trips to Chicago to buy Hispanic groceries.

"We were the first Hispanic grocery store," Soliz said. "There was nothing here, and people wanted what they were used to at home, and the only place you could get it was Chicago."

The family began selling the groceries and soon earned enough money to add an extra room to their home, which became the grocery store. It was all going well enough, but there was one problem.

"When they would go to Chicago and bring the tortillas, they would be spoiled already, so they wasted a lot of money on that," Soliz said. "Some man had a machine for sale, so he got the loan and goes, 'OK, give me the recipe.' The guy goes, 'No. You just bought the machine.'"

So, Tony went back to Mexico to learn how to cook from his family there. But there was still a problem: they all cooked in small batches with no machines. When he got back to Silvis, he got right to work.

"I remember going back (to the kitchen) to see what my dad was doing. There was all these recipe books. Some in Spanish, some in English. (He was) just trying to figure it out," she said. "I was 11, but we were working."

Summers, holidays and every other day of the year, Soliz and her brothers helped make homemade tortillas. In the early days, they were placed on card tables with wax paper between the tortillas until they were cool enough to package. Again, Tony solved that problem, building his own cooling conveyor.

After some time, business began to slow down. Tony turned to his only daughter and told her she needed to market the tortillas. Despite having grown up with the business her whole life, she wasn't ready to take on the responsibility.

"I said, 'Dad, I can't do that,' " she recalled. "He said, 'No. You grew up with this. You can do everything. There's nothing that you can't do.'"

With that in mind, she set out to prove him right.

Soliz drove over to JoeVan Foods near SouthPark Mall. She was supposed to go inside, introduce herself and ask if they would start carrying her family's tortillas. First, she spent 20 minutes saying prayers and working up the nerve to go in.

Eventually, she made it inside the store, asked for the manager, and started her pitch.

"I didn't even finish and there was a man at the checkout. He came over, and he knew the manager, so he put his arm around him and said, 'Do us all a favor. Put these tortillas in the store. I'll tell everybody and we'll go from there,'" she said.

The manager bought all 50 dozen tortillas Soliz brought with her that day. By the time JoeVan closed in 2001, they were selling 300 dozen Tony's Tortillas every week.

Despite the early success, it was not always smooth sailing.

"I went to Eagle's and I was turned down. A salesman goes, 'They're going to turn you down every time, because you're young, and they don't know about the store,'" she said.

The clerk suggested she try Hy-Vee. When the Rock Island store opened, she found the manager and again started her sales pitch.

"He goes, 'You know what? I don't even care to hear. I want your product. I'm dealing with a female; I love it,' " she said. "It was unbelievable. Anything I brought in, they bought."

That day, Soliz sold 50 dozen to the supermarket giant. Hy-Vee has been carrying Tony's Tortillas ever since. After the success, Tony's began delivering to both sides of the Mississippi River and in Galesburg.

The secret to the success comes from her father, Soliz said. He was meticulous that each ingredient needed to be organic, non GMO and only the best money could buy. But there's one more ingredient that prolonged their success.

"I probably wouldn't have been as successful if I didn't love what I did," she said. "Same with my father. He loved what he did."

Monday afternoon, workers at Tony's Grocery made 900 dozen tortillas. That will be enough to last until Thursday, when the crew will make another batch to last them through the weekend. Although she officially retired in March, Soliz has stuck around the last few months to help the new owners. Thursday will officially be her last day.

Then the Tortilla Queen, as her children call her, will get serious about retirement.

Photos: Take a look inside Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
(Photo : MARCUS BRANDT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany and Hungary argued over the role of a controversial Hungarian bank in Russia's conflict in Ukraine.



During a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, Germany and Hungary argued over the role of a controversial Hungarian bank in Russia's conflict in Ukraine, according to four diplomats familiar with the exchange.

OTP bank has recently become a focal point for officials due to Hungary's refusal to sanction additional EU military aid for Ukraine until Kyiv removes OTP from a list of "war sponsors," it maintains.

Germany vs. Hungary

Diplomats assert that the dispute is delaying the implementation of new sanctions against Russia, as per Politico. When Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reiterated Budapest's position during the closed-door meeting on Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock responded, according to diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to characterize the exchange.

According to her citations, OTP recognizes the Russian-occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk in violation of international law and has extended credit lines to Russian soldiers. Hungary refuted the allegations, reiterating the bank's statement that called the reports "inaccurate" and argued that the bank's management "openly supports Ukraine."

Nonetheless, the exchange, characterized by one of the diplomats as "civilized and within the normal context of the discussion," occurred after other countries, such as Sweden and Estonia, had also exerted pressure on Hungary during the meeting.

They argued that the EU must swiftly impose additional anti-circumvention sanctions and increase its military aid to Ukraine. The dispute reflects the growing annoyance of other EU nations with Hungary, which has impeded numerous wartime efforts to sanction Russia and support Ukraine.

Several member states, including Sweden and Estonia, reportedly urged Hungary to stop delaying the EU's punitive measures against Russia, according to anonymous officials present at the event cited by the news outlet.

In response to Ukraine's allegations that OTP Bank is complicit in or supportive of Moscow's actions, Szijjarto reiterated Budapest's grievances, Big News Network reported. The German foreign minister joined in, alleging that the Hungarian bank recognized Lugansk and Donetsk as Russian territory and extended credit lines to Russian military personnel.

While Hungary and the other member states could not resolve their differences, the exchange was "civilized and within a normal discussion framework," according to one of the sources. Budapest will continue to block the allocation of EU funds to Ukraine until Kyiv abandons its "increasingly belligerent" stance toward Hungary, as stated by Hungary's top diplomat on Wednesday.

Consequently, a $544 million military aid package from the European Peace Facility is in limbo (EPF). Szijjarto added that the future of additional sanctions against Russia depends on whether Ukraine agrees to change course.

Among other complaints, the minister raised the issue of OTP Bank, the largest lender in Hungary, which was placed on the list of "international war sponsors" by Ukrainian authorities earlier this month.

Read Also: 1.5 Million Migrants Urge To Apply for US Sponsorship as Dems Beg Biden To Expedite Migrant Work Permits

Russia-Ukraine War

Szijjarto asserted that the bank "violated no Ukrainian laws, no international laws, and no sanctions measures." The Ukrainian National Corruption Prevention Agency (NCPA) announced the action, alleging that the bank offered "preferential lending conditions to [members of] the Russian military," including deferred payments on loans.

OTP Bank issued a statement denying the allegations, claiming it "always adheres to Ukrainian and international legal standards in its operations."

Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, is persuaded that Ukraine cannot win the aggressive conflict Russia has launched against it.

According to the president of the Hungarian administration, everyone must be persuaded that a ceasefire is the sole viable solution. "After the armistice, peace negotiations should begin," said Orban.

Per MSN, he also noted that Hungary's predicament in this conflict is unique because "Ukraine is not a distant country."

Related Article: South Korea, EU Vow To Boost Security Ties Amid Russia, North Korea Threats

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SPRINGFIELD  Circle K will host a Fuel Day on Thursday at participating locations in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and over 5,000 locations across the U.S.

The stores will offer 40 cents off per gallon of fuel between 4 and 7 p.m. local time. Most locations will also hand out a limited number of fuel discount cards for 10 cents off per gallon.

Circle K locations with a Rainstorm Car Wash will offer free washes from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Additionally, new subscribers to Rainstorm Car Wash will receive a fuel discount card and their first month of car wash service free. Those who upgrade their subscriptions are also eligible for fuel discount cards.

Visit circlek.com/fuel-day for a list of locations offering the deal.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
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Dozens of tribal leaders, FEMA officials, and BIA representatives gathered in Rapid City Tuesday to discuss solutions for emergency management on South Dakotas reservations.

The goal of the seminar was to connect tribal leaders with the resources that are available to them, and to provide them with the contacts necessary to respond effectively in times of emergency. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said knowing who can provide what help and having an established incident command not only makes the response to sudden disasters more efficient, but also allows them to prepare ahead of time for upcoming storms.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Scott Herman told the Journal knowing who to contact and having that relationship was somewhat of a process during Decembers storms.

It was kind of hard to be able to make the contacts that I needed to make during that last storm, he said. I got ahold of the Tribal Relations Secretary David Flute, and he kind of put me in contact with the right people. It didn't happen right away; it was a process to it. I'm hoping that maybe the relationship-building as far as the state, the counties, even with the federal agencies that we need to be working with (will improve).

Rounds spoke early on, praising the tribal leaders for their willingness to hold the seminar and insisting there must be inter-governmental cooperation that still respects tribal sovereignty.

We're all South Dakotans, but we're also all Americans. And whether you're a member of a tribe, or you're not, you can still work together to get things done, he said. That's what this is all about  responding in times of emergency. That's what government is all about is responding in times of emergency.

Oglala Sioux Tribe President and Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Association President Frank Star Comes Out agreed with Rounds sentiments on cooperation and said treaty obligations need to be met.

We want to work together, he said. I believe it's not only the tribes working together, but it should be our state officials, so we can work together as one when we have these emergency disasters, because that's not happening right now.

The seminar, which was originally to be held in December, was delayed because of Winter Storm Diaz. As a result, the lessons and questions arising from the impact of that storm fostered much of Tuesdays discussion. Diaz  and the extreme cold and additional snowfall that came through immediately after  left citizens across the Pine Ridge Reservation burning clothes to stay warm. Several people on the Rosebud Reservation died, including a 12-year-old St. Francis boy, whose family tried to reach emergency services for hours but had to wait for a snowplow to clear a path for an ambulance.

Star Comes Out explained the biggest challenge to their tribal emergency management is a lack of funding.

Because of a lack of funding, our programs are choking each other out, he said. It's causing our tribes to make impossible decisions just to survive.

Herman agreed with Star Comes Outs insistence that more funding is needed and explained they are still trying to get FEMA reimbursement from around $3 million spent out of the Emergency Management Program fund to provide assistance during Decembers storms. The EMP is funded out of the tribes general fund. They usually put money into the EMP as needed, but with a lack of resources available during Decembers storms, Herman said a lot of funding was put in to fill the need.

Its not only a lack of resources, but a lack of manpower as well. Herman explained they dont have the numbers to handle such large disasters, despite having robust emergency program management.

We just don't have enough resources when it comes to storms, Herman said. A lot of times, we have to go ask other people for help. Other tribes [came in to] help on the last storm we had. (A) Nebraska tribe came down and helped out. They did some snow removal for us and then they went on. They didn't have the heavy equipment that they needed, but they surely came down and helped out.

Herman said they learned a lot from Diaz and are now looking into grants and federal funding for equipment that can handle large-scale disasters. The tribe used some of their American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase front-end loaders to help remove snow. Theyre also looking at USDA and EDA disaster funding.

As far as the money out there to purchase the equipment, we're looking at rural development as far as having some type of grants that can provide funding for equipment to deal with the next storm, Herman said.

Senator Rounds also presented Star Comes Out with a framed copy of the Respect Act, Rounds legislation that repealed 11 onerous and really racist federal policies against Native Americans. The gift included the pen President Biden used to sign the act into law.

Some of those laws included the ability for the federal government to run Indian boarding schools and withhold rations to Native families who wouldnt send their children to such schools. Rounds started working on the legislation in 2015 and said even though the laws arent in use today, they should be eliminated from federal standards as a symbolic gesture of the damage they caused.
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A Rapid City man was sentenced last week to 20 years in federal prison for attacking correctional officers in the Oglala Sioux Tribe Adult Offender Facility last year.

On Jan. 16, 2022, 31-year-old Eric Blue Bird hit a correctional officer with her own baton, poured hand sanitizer on her, attempted to light her on fire and attacked other correctional officers and tribal officers when they came to help.

Blue Bird pleaded guilty on Nov. 4, 2022 to robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken sentenced Blue Bird Thursday to two 10-year terms to run consecutively followed by three years of supervised release. Viken also ordered him to pay restitution and a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, a mandatory standard assessment for all federal felony convictions.

Blue Bird was originally indicted in January 2022 for kidnapping, assault on a federal officer and assault with a dangerous weapon, which he pleaded not guilty to before agreeing to a plea deal.

According to a factual basis statement Blue Bird and the government signed, he was on administrative segregation at the facility when the attack occurred. Because of his status, he was allowed one hour outside of his cell each day.

The correctional officer was escorting him back to his cell at the end of that hour when Blue Bird attacked her. She tried to call 911, but Blue Bird hit her hand with the baton, breaking the phone and injuring her hand.

Because Blue Bird had taken her keys, she couldn't get out of the holding area outside his cell. He hit her with the baton in the shoulder and back, repeatedly asking her if she wanted to die.

When a group of seven correctional officers and Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety officers arrived to help the officer, Blue Bird attacked them with the baton, hitting one officer in the hand.

He then sprayed pepper spray he had stolen from the correctional officer, hitting two other correctional officers in the face before he was subdued.

The woman was trapped with Blue Bird for 15 minutes, according to court records.

Blue Bird is in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting transportation to a Bureau of Prisons Facility to serve his sentence. Since there is no parole in the federal system, Blue Bird is required to serve all 20 years.
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The state dropped a case against a Rapid City man accused of threatening several people with a knife inside a hotel room on Mount Rushmore Road in April.

Louis Pacer, 46, was arrested April 2, the day the incident was alleged. Deputy Pennington County State's Attorney Emma Kalkowski-Farrand dismissed the two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon April 18, listing the best interests of justice as the reason.

Aggravated assault carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and up to a $30,000 fine.

The case could potentially be brought against Pacer again, since it was dismissed without prejudice. If a case is dismissed with prejudice, the state cannot revive the charges.

Pacer is held at the Pennington County Jail on a probation violation in an unrelated case. The $3,000 cash only bond Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue set at Pacer's initial appearance was dissolved along with the charges.

The no contact orders in the case banning Pacer from interaction with either of the alleged victims were also dropped.
By Subhasis Bera, John Beirne, and Dil Rahut





ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology, launched on 30 November 2022 by US firm Open AI, with the potential to lay the foundation for structural change and economywide productivity growth. The technology is part of the generative pre-trained transformer family of language models, with the ability to efficiently respond to user queries across multiple knowledge domains, reaching 100 million users globally by January 2023. While it could alter the landscape for learning and knowledge creation, helping to tackle global policy challenges on sustainable development, informed decision-making by human users in the application of ChatGPT is central to maximizing the tools capacity to boost economic prosperity and well-being. The evolution and roll-out of ChatGPT to date have been rapid. Its optimal utilization for society requires a deeper understanding of its capabilities and effective safeguards in place to mitigate potential risks, uncertainties, and misuse.





Understanding technological change and its effects on economic progress from a historical perspective can be traced back to the work of Landes (1969), Rosenberg (1982), and Mokyr (1992). Seminal works in macroeconomics by Solow (1956), Romer (1990), Grossman and Helpman (1991), and Aghion and Howitt (1992) stressed the central role played by technological advancement for productivity, competitiveness, and economic growth. Economists generally perceive technology as an efficiency enhancer, even in the case of the absence of uniformity across regions and industries or over time. Policy makers face the dilemma of predicting whether a new technology will become a so-called general purpose technology ex ante, its impact on the previous dominant technology choice, and devising policies either preventing or incentivizing certain types of stakeholder behavior (e.g., by firms or individuals).





It is commonly accepted that continuous innovation and heuristic methods of adopting AI positively affect economic growth and productivity, especially where AI complements existing workers rather than completely replacing them (e.g., Acemoglu and Restrepo [2020]; Kleinberg et al. [2018]). That said, policy formulation can be complex, underpinned by uncertainty and whether new technologies can sustainably and safely replace pre-existing technologies. Researchers expect AI to stimulate rapid advancement across sectors, including through management practice adjustments (e.g., Giraud et al. [2022]; Kolbjrnsrud et al. [2016]). Although AI is still at a nascent stage, increased attention from both users and critics calls for a comprehensive assessment of its impact on productivity, economic performance, and the welfare of society.





Benefits of ChatGPT





By conditioning on appropriate prompts, large language models (LLMs) can solve a variety of natural language processing (NLP) tasks with zero shoti.e., without relying on any training data for a given downstream task (Brown et al. 2020, Chowdhery et al. 2022). ChatGPT offers relatively advanced zero-shot learning compared to other LLMs, with scope for gains across a variety of sectors (see Box).









ChatGPT and other LLMs: What are the risks?





Uncertainty of outcomes in conjunction with the speed of development has led to a general apprehensiveness toward AI throughout its history, as in the case of ChatGPT and other LLMs. A major concern pertains to the size and quality of the underlying training dataset. A BBC Science Focus article indicates that the model was trained using 570 GB of data, relative to 64 zettabytes of real-world data. Therefore, the size of the underlying training data and their representativeness are causes of concern that could affect the accuracy of probabilistic answers generated by LLMs. In addition, although predictive analysis by LLMs on the basis of historical data is possible, such outcomes should be assessed with caution.





As a machine, AI is unable to replicate emotions and soft skills. A high degree of reliance on LLMs would alter the behavior of the social system, such as what was experienced in the education system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of emphasizing strong fundamentals, a learner may rely more on the solution provided by the machine and eventually fall behind in the development of creative ideas and innovation capabilities. Similarly, demand for skilled personnel could call for replacing a worker lacking a willingness to learn, while some firms could operate otherwise by hiring the same worker at a cheaper cost and relying more on the machine. This would have long-run implications on labor market dynamics. An optimal outcome could be reached by using AI to enhance existing human capabilities, maximizing potential output and productivity gains, rather than mimicking human intelligence. It can be argued that the latter would worsen inequality in wealth and income (e.g., Brynjolfsson [2022]).





Another major concern of ChatGPT is the scope for outcomes based on heterogeneous sources, potentially mixing facts and fiction. The reluctance of ChatGPT to provide sources of information makes it difficult for output to be verified. Moreover, there is a growing tendency among users to use ChatGPT content without verifying its authenticity, leading to potentially drastic consequences if used on the basis of expert advice and guidance. In addition, there are concerns that ChatGPT could be used in an unethical way, such that users of the tool could claim that the output is based on their own intelligence and not AI-generated output, e.g. knowledge products by researchers. Related to this, many schools and higher education providers globally have restricted the use of ChatGPT, citing disruption to critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and potential for improper use, including across several universities in Japan. More broadly, the race to market by AI providers around the world before understanding the impact, particularly on vulnerable segments of society and culture, points toward a need for appropriate regulatory action by policy makers. Indeed, citing risks to society and humanity and a need for a deeper understanding of how to use AI in a manner whereby the outcomes are positive and risks can be effectively managed, the Open Letter by the Future of Life Institute on 22 March 2023 called for all AI labs to pause for at least 6 months on developing systems more potent than GPT-4. The letter was signed by prominent AI researchers, as well as leading figures in the tech industry, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and Yuval Noah Harari. Moreover, some countries have taken more extreme measures, with Italy banning ChatGPT on 31 March 2023, citing privacy concerns.





The way forward








BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on Tibet to build a prosperous, harmonious and "new socialist Tibet" underpinned by unity and civility, days after Group of Seven (G7) nations expressed concern over human rights in the region.





In rare comments on Tibet, Xi said the region should step up efforts to promote high-quality development after overcoming "centuries" of extreme poverty, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.





Tibet's economy expanded to 216.5 billion yuan ($31 billion) by value last year, matching China's national growth rate of 3%. Despite Tibet's rapid economic development in recent years, China is often accused of stifling religious and cultural freedoms in a predominantly Buddhist region, an accusation which Beijing rejects.





In a communique released after a gathering of G7 leaders in Hiroshima over the weekend, the group said it will keep voicing its concerns about the human rights situation in China, including in Tibet, angering Beijing, which regards affairs related to the region as purely internal.





"People's happiness is the ultimate human right, while development holds the key to delivering better lives to the people," Xinhua cited Xi as saying in a congratulatory letter to a forum in Beijing on Tibet's development.





In 2021, Xi made a visit to Tibet - the first by a national leader in three decades. At the time, Xi called for respect for the religious beliefs of the people.





He also stressed governing religious affairs in accordance with the law and guiding Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to a socialist society.





Beijing says it "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951 after sending Chinese troops into the region. China says its intervention ended a "backward feudal serfdom", and denied wrongdoing.




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Its great to think big, but its even more important to ensure that those big ideas fit successfully into a business framework.

For Sharon Anderson Grooms, the best entrepreneurs are the ones whose big dreams do just that. And when external factors bump up against those dreams  which they always do  Grooms said, the Metropolitan Business League is there to help.

As Capital Access Manager for the MBL, Grooms ensures that entrepreneurs and small business owners can navigate the calculated risks that challenge them. MBL provides assistance by connecting business leaders with resources to help them persevere.

Founded by a handful of Richmond business owners, the MBL has been fostering business development and expansion for small, women- and minority-owned businesses throughout Central Virginia since 1968. The network currently has 1,200 members, a 60% increase since the start of the pandemic.

For Grooms, the critical components of a successful business are consistent across all industries.

It takes more than an idea to get a business off the ground or to keep an existing one profitable, she said. Funding, access to resources and procurement, licensing, tech support and education are key pillars for any business to thrive, but you also have to realize the importance of finding loyal staff and then marketing your efforts to the right audience once your business is up and running.

Grooms said the pandemic produced a marked increase in people who decided to capitalize on a side gig or passion to create a new business venture after either losing a regular nine-to-five job or realizing there were better options in life.

Were seeing more people doing something they enjoy now, she said. And businesses already in existence during the pandemic have since learned to rely more on technology, electronic payments and a variety of new ways to distribute their products. The pandemic required people to think a different way, to become more resilient.

The MBL and its Capital Access Program helped guide me in obtaining the first loan for my business and it happened at the perfect time. The technical assistance Sharon and the MBL team provided was instrumental and made the process seamless. I would not have known about additional funding options or had the opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs without being a member of the MBL. Tawann Scott - Owner/Maries Hair & Nail Supply

With MBL membership on a continual upswing, the organization is hosting membership fairs throughout the state, including one in Petersburg in early summer. Additional luncheons, seminars and events throughout the year provide new business owners the opportunity to meet existing members, connect with mentors, and be directed to vital community resources, many of which are provided by the MBL members themselves.

According to Alexa Lightfoot, Program Manager and Coordinator of the Youth Entrepreneurship Program, the organization also hosts multi-week, self-paced certificate courses for people who want to learn how to start a business. Additional programs for veterans are also available throughout the year.

We have members and nonmembers stop by with a question all the time. Many just want to know where to start, Lightfoot said. They have a grand idea and want to know what comes next. Most think they just need to hit the ground running and that will make them successful. At MBL, we make sure theyve thought of everything else that goes into making their business a success.

These are dreamers who dont give up, Grooms said. They just keep plugging along and they believe in themselves. And our members share their knowledge with these individuals because we all know in our hearts, there is a piece of pie for everyone in terms of business success.

For more information on membership or how to register for an MBL business class, visit thembl.org.
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Henrico County police have asked for assistance from the public in investigating a homicide near Richmond Raceway on Tuesday afternoon.

Police responded to the 5900 block of Queens Thorpe Court around 2 p.m. Tuesday after reports of a shooting.

First responders and officers arriving on the scene located an adult male in a car with obvious signs of trauma, according to a statement from Henrico Police.

The victim, Lavelle Lee Roe, 36, of Henrico, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the exact cause and manner of death.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Detective Rosser of the Henrico Police at (804) 501-5247 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at (804) 780-1000.

Today in history: May 24 1935: First MLB Game 1941: HMS Hood 1961: Freedom Riders 1962: Scott Carpenter 1974: Duke Ellington 1994: World Trade Center 1995: Harold Wilson 2006: Al Gore 2011: Oprah Winfrey 2017: Ariana Grande
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The Richmond City Council declared it will not tolerate discrimination after removing a resident from City Hall on Monday for making homophobic comments.

During the citys public comment period in which residents have three minutes to address any topic that is not on the agenda, Richmond resident Joseph Domino came forward to discuss drag performances in the city.

Council President Michael Jones asked Domino to leave the podium and sit down after Domino made transphobic and homophobic comments.

We will not tolerate anything that would demean any person that lives in the city, Jones said. Everyone has a right to live in the city.

Despite several requests for him to return to his seat, Domino remained at the podium, saying drag performances are dangerous substance to children and will lead to communist indoctrination.

As a result, Jones ordered Domino be removed from City Hall. Domino left without incident.

City councilmembers spoke out against Dominos remarks following the public comment period, stating that drag performances are a form of artistic expression.

Second district Councilmember Katherine Jordan denounced Dominos comments and said she would have liked for him to have stayed to hear their responses.

I revert back to being discouraged and angry that folks choose to focus on this when there are actual threat and dangers to our children, Jordan said.

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Amid questions about its fiscal management, Hopewell City suffered a blow when the state said it would not reimburse the local government $1.5 million to cover the cost of programs that help needy children.

The state Office of Childrens Services has said it will not cover Hopewells childhood programs  which include foster care and assistance for children with special needs  until the city comes into compliance.

Weve put a hold on reimbursing their expenses, said Kristy Wharton, chief financial officer with the Office of Childrens Services.

Wharton said that the last reimbursement they provided to Hopewells CSA program was in February, and that the city would be eligible to requalify once its finances are in order.

The state agency began making noises about pulling the funding last fall. Scott Reiner, executive director of the Office of Childrens Services, wrote to Hopewell officials with concerns in late September.

Reiner described numerous areas of non-compliance with reporting requirements attached to the money, including failure to report how the money was being spent.

Reiner later scheduled a good faith meeting with city officials in October, the letter said. Four months later, the state ultimately pushed pause on payments for their programs.

In Hopewell, money from CSA pays for roughly 74% of Hopewells CSA program, with the remaining 26% coming from the city itself. Without state help, the city is now on the hook for the entirety of their expenses, Wharton said.

They need some help, said Wharton.

Entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring those taxpayer funds were spent on improving the lives of at-risk children, Karriem chose instead to devise a complex fraud scheme to line her own pockets, said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

This month, independent auditors delivered a worrying report on the state of the citys finances  which include a yearslong delay in audits that have left the city without a credit rating. The city has been without that rating since 2018.

Cities need credit in order to fund capital projects, like school repairs.

Auditors ultimately concluded that they could not even do a full audit because they were not able to get all the financial documents they needed from the city.

Theyre either unavailable, which is bad, or they werent being given over, said State Del. Carrie Coyner, who represents Hopewell in the Virginia House of Delegates. The leadership has failed to put policies and procedures in play to keep these things from happening.

Interim City Manager Concetta Manker did not respond to a request for comment.

The city has been beleaguered by staffing problems in city government positions. Last summer, former City Manager March Altman left for a job with the City of Petersburg. Manker was appointed to run the city in his stead. She was formerly the citys IT director.

The city is also at risk of losing funding for Head Start  the federal child care program  according to the independent auditors. The city has been prescribed a turnaround plan by the state secretary of finance.

The plan details achievable goals to get the city back on track, with some early benchmark dates arriving as soon as June.

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(Photo : STRINGER / AFP) (STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States government said that it is skeptical that American-provided military equipment were used in the Belgorod uprising where Russia said 70 attackers were killed.

United States government distances itself from the Belgorod uprising

Washington said that it was skeptical that American-provided military equipment was used in the incursion

Russia said that the attack ended in the defeat of armed insurgents that entered from Ukrainian territory

The United States government is skeptical that American-provided military equipment was used in the Belgorod uprising.

The incursion into Russia was something that Moscow says ended in the defeat of armed insurgents who entered Ukrainian territory. On Monday, parts of the border region of Belgorod were under attack in what is considered one of the most major cross-border raids since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Belgorod Uprising

Later, Moscow released images of abandoned or damaged Western military vehicles, such as US-made Humvees. However, the American government insisted it did not "encourage or enable strikes inside Russia.

A state department spokesman acknowledged reports circulating on social media and other outlets that said U.S.-supplied weapons were used. However, he added that they were skeptical of such a possibility and could not verify the reports at the time, as per BBC.

During a Tuesday news briefing, Matthew Miller said it was up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct the war. The situation involves villages in Belgorod near the border that were forced to evacuate after being targeted by shellfire. Furthermore, Russia said 70 assailants were killed and argued that the fighters were Ukrainian.

However, Kyiv has denied involvement in the attack, and two Russian paramilitary groups opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin claim that they were the ones who conducted the incursion.

The raid on Monday prompted Moscow to declare a counter-terrorism operation that would give authorities special powers to clamp down on communications and people's movements. Officials only lifted the measures the following afternoon.

On Telegram, Russia's Ministry of Defense wrote that it utilized air strikes and artillery fire to strike back at the attackers that Moscow claims were "Ukrainian nationalists." According to The Hill, it added that they could destroy four armored fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks.

Read Also: Senior Russian Official Pyotr Kucherenko Dies Mysteriously on Diplomatic Trip

How To Conduct the War

Miller added that he thinks it is crucial to step back and remember that Russia is the actual aggressor in the war and is responsible for launching strikes on civilian infrastructure. He added that Moscow chose to bomb civilian targets, such as schools and hospitals, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians.

The situation comes as Poland plans to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets to assist its defense against Russia's aggression. The Polish defense minister announced after the US gave the green light.

In a statement, Mariusz Baszczak said that Poland is ready to train Ukrainian pilots but noted that such training has not yet started. His remarks come after discussing with his European Union counterparts in Brussels.

The Polish defense minister added that he wants the training to be a part of a broader EU program to prepare Ukrainian military personnel for the war against Moscow. His comments came after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that such training had already begun in various countries, said Aljazeera.

Related Article: Russia Thwarts Cross-Border Attack from Ukraine

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Myrna Morrissey, the estranged wife of state Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Chesterfield, alleges in a court filing that he assaulted and emotionally abused her during their marriage while asking her to keep up the appearance of a happy life so he could advance politically.

She filed for divorce Thursday in Henrico County; Axios Richmond first reported on the filing Wednesday morning.

Her allegations are a contrast to public portrayals of the couple in recent years. The couple married in 2016 following Sen. Morrisseys December 2014 conviction on a misdemeanor crime because their relationship began in 2013, when she was 17 years old. Sen. Morrissey, 55 in 2013, served nights in jail for more than three months as a member of the House of Delegates.

Sen. Morrissey said by phone Wednesday that his wife was making false allegations because he had accused her boyfriend of spanking one of their children. It breaks my heart but thats what shes doing, he said.

During their marriage, the divorce filing alleges, his wife saw messages on his phone in which he solicited naked photos from other women.

By the end of 2018 and after ongoing infidelities by her husband, Myrna Morrissey wanted to end the marriage, her filing says.

The husband persuaded her to stay, because he was about to run for State Senate, and a divorce would hurt his campaign, the filing says. He desired to portray their family life to help him overcome the stigma created by their illicit relationship.

He agreed to move to another house and live separately if she would stay with him through the 2019 election, the filing said.

The Husband exercised financial control over the Wife and she felt that she had no choice in matters, the filing says.

Court documents outline allegations

Myrna Morrissey says in her filing that she told her husband she wanted a divorce the night of his successful Senate election victory in 2019. Morrissey defeated a Democratic senator, Rosalyn Dance, in a primary that year and won the general election for a Richmond-area seat.

Myrna Morrissey suffered emotional abuse and physical assault by her husband, according to the document.

He elbowed her in the abdomen while she was pregnant with their third child, and on another occasion grabbed her by the throat, slammed her against the wall, choked her and slapped her face until she stopped fighting back, the filing alleges.

When the Wife threatened to call the police the Husband said he would tell the police that she was the aggressor because of the scratches he sustained from the Wife trying to get free.

She alleges he called her by a disparaging curse word, a spoiled brat and a ghetto rat.

He told her she was powerless against him because of his political position, finances and friends who do him legal favors, her filing alleges.

The court filing says he paid her $30,000 to $60,000 per year from his law firms payroll from April 2015 to June 2020 even though she had not worked at the firm since August 2013. Sen. Morrissey has been disbarred twice and cannot currently practice law.

She said in the filing that, when she was around 19 or 20, she asked for help managing a large house under renovation and caring for the children, and alleges that her husband told her: Youre living the American dream!!! Whats so [expletive] hard ?!?

Sen. Morrissey said Wednesday: Sadly, my wife is making these reports, these comments because I reported that her boyfriend had spanked my child with a wet belt. I love Myrna and it breaks my heart that she would bring these allegations, make these absolutely false allegations public and doing it at a time that would try to hurt me politically.

A substitute judge in February found no evidence of child abuse by Myrna Morrisseys boyfriend.

Northam granted pardon

Earlier this year, Myrna Morrissey alleged that her husband stole her passport. But a prosecutor moved to dismiss a larceny charge against him earlier this month, and a judge dismissed it.

When Sen. Morrissey in late 2021 petitioned then-Gov. Ralph Northam for a simple pardon for the misdemeanor conviction, the petition said he and Myrna Morrissey were living the American dream.

Myrna and Joe Morrissey were happily married on June 11, 2016, and are now raising four (4) beautiful children, read the petition to the governor, also signed by an attorney for Sen. Morrissey, state Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax.

Additionally, Myrna will be the first to acknowledge that she was not in any way manipulated by Joe and that she was in no way coerced by him, the petition said. They worked together, they were attracted to each other, they fell in love, married, and are raising four (4) wonderful children together. A beautiful and happy family living the American Dream.

Northam granted the simple pardon shortly before he left office. A simple pardon is a statement of official forgiveness that does not remove a criminal conviction from the record.

Northam has endorsed another candidate, former Del. Lashrecse Aird, against Morrissey in a June 20 primary election for state Senate in a district that extends from Henrico south to Sussex County.

Both Sen. and Myrna Morrissey acknowledged in court filings earlier this year in a child custody case that they separated on Nov. 8, 2019, two years before Joes pardon petition.

At the time of the pardon petition, Myrna Morrissey had had a boyfriend for over a year, and her husband was aware of him, she said in an interview.

In an interview, Sen. Morrissey defended his pardon petition.

Theres lots of couples that are separated ... and still happy. Things were beautiful, okay? he said. She, she found another individual, younger, thats fine, that happens, Im a grown up. I understand.

Its true we were very happy. We were co-parenting.

All six Democratic women in the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus have endorsed Aird and criticized Sen. Morrisseys behavior. He has previously enjoyed support from some of the men in his party.

In 2019, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who at that time was leading fundraising efforts for Virginia Senate Democrats, joined Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw of Fairfax at Sen. Morrisseys home to help him raise campaign money after he won the primary that year.

Sen. Morrissey and Surovell are both members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Morrissey has strong influence in deciding which people are appointed as judges in Virginias courts.

PHOTOS: Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey Joe Morrissey
American trying to cross into Mexico with assault rifle parts nabbed at customs

Anahuac, Nuevo Leon  Members of the National Guard detained an American man crossing into Mexico with assault rifle parts. The parts were found by Mexican Customs officials as he tried to cross the border on Monday.

Personnel from the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) located the assault rifle parts when carrying out checks in the baggage inspection area. The inspection took place at customs of the Colombia-Solidaridad International Bridge in Anahuac, Nuevo Leon.

Duing his baggage check, ANAM agents found 14 trigger mechanism drawers, one sliding carriage for a .22 caliber firearm, two magazines for a 5.56 mm caliber firearm out of stock and two magazines for a .22 caliber firearm out of stock.

The war material was located inside his suitcase. According to the National Guard report, When interviewed about the origin of the firearm parts, the man stated that they were his property but he did not have any documents proving legal possession, for which he was arrested.
FGR issues 61 arrest warrants related to Garcia Luna network

Mexico City, Mexico  The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) has issued 61 arrest warrants related to what is being referred to locally as the Garcia Luna network. On Tuesday, the federal agency said they have issued arrest warrants that include Genaro G, Jonathan Alexis N, Mauricio Samuel N and 58 other individuals.

The agency said the warrants were issued for crimes of embezzlement, operations with resources of illicit origin and organized crime.

According to the investigations, these people colluded with the then head of the Federal Public Security Secretariat, Genaro G and his partners Jonathan Alexis N and Mauricio Samuel N, to plunder the public resources of the decentralized administrative prevention and social rehabilitation (federal prisons) body, dependent on said Secretariat.

The foregoing, in order to channel these illegal resources to companies controlled by Genaro G, his partners and accomplices, both from the public and private sectors, through 10 illegal contracts for the sum of more than 5.1 billion pesos that were stolen through various international criminal triangulations.

The red card has already been requested for all those who have fled the country and requests for international legal assistance will be made to obtain the return of the looted property of the nation.

This criminal procedure is independent of the complaint made public Monday by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit regarding another multimillion-dollar plunder against the federal police, also linked to companies belonging to Genaro G, his partners and accomplices.

Regarding this new procedure, all the necessary evidence is already being collected to proceed with the corresponding criminal link and the recovery of the stolen goods, the FGR reported in a press statement.

In March, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reported on a civil complaint filed in the U.S. regarding the Garcia Luna case for property and money to be returned to Mexico.

He said that the money lost was in excess of $700 million USD or 140 billion pesos, calling it a horrifying amount.
Glass sea turtle figurines of Mexico bound for Tahiti filled with crystal meth

Colon, Queretaro  Glass figurines bound for Tahiti were found stuffed with crystal meth. Members of the National Guard seized the glass sea turtle figurines after a narcotics dog alerted his handler to the presence of drugs.

The package containing 41 individually wrapped glass sea turtles was further inspected. National Guard personnel located 41 sealed bags of crystal meth inside the glass turtles.

The drug shipment was intercepted inside a courier shipping company in Colon, Queretaro. According to the National Guard report, the package was leaving Mexico bound for the island of Tahiti, in French Polynesia.

The evidence has been handed over to state authorities who have begun an investigation into the interrupted drug shipment.
It has been reported that Dr. Timothy J. Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, teacher, bestselling author, and most importantly, preacher of the gospel, is dead. Dont believe it.

Ive been a Christian for almost half a century, sometimes with a critical spirit toward sermons. So Ill now write something Ive never written before and never expect to write again: the best preacher Ive ever heard died last Friday. Ill refer to Tim Keller in the present tense, though, for two reasons. First, his faith, my faith, and I hope yours speaks of his continued existence, new and improved. Second, while walking my dog I listen three times a week to newly posted Keller sermons from over the decades on the Gospel in Life podcast. His thinking lives on.

I had one-to-one talks with Keller only three times, so I hope youll read elsewhere about his influence via friendships. My wife and I did listen in person to his sermons from 2008 to 2011, and at first we did so anxiously. Listening to how he handled difficult Bible passages was like watching a shortstop ranging far to his right on a hard-hit ball: Will he be able to reach it? He has. Hes on the outfield grass: How can he possibly throw out the runner at first? He just did.

We enjoyed and learned to wait for Kellers gospel turn two-thirds or three-fourths of the way in. Wait for it wait for it  now. The sermons always show how Christs sacrifice proves Gods love: He is so committed to our ultimate happiness that he was willing to plunge into the greatest depths of suffering himself. They also show the unity of truth and liberty. Nietzsche libeled Christianity, calling it an enslaving religion. Listeners to Keller learn: You may think youre free, but youre not. Youve made yourself a slave to money or sex or a particular body image.

I first tried to box in Keller, like one of the blind men feeling an elephant. I felt a tusk and thought spear, a side and thought wall, a tail and thought rope. Finally, I realized that Kellers preaching combines all those aspects. His sermons are a spear against complacency: he criticizes those who react to Jesus tepidly, since anyone who understands Christs challenge and has intellectual integrity should go all out in following Him. He thrusts against those who look to Christ as an add-on: spruce up the cottage, clean out the gutters, slap on some paint. He asks why we dont realize that God plans to make the cottage a palace.

Kellers sermons are also a wall against idolatry. He doesnt just harp on the easy stuff like statutes of Baal or Asherah pole dances. He talks about good things like work and beauty that we make ultimate. He gives himself as an example of falling victim to idolatry when he tried to become the perfect pastor bearing all burdens and turning down help: It wasnt until I began to search my heart with the biblical category of idolatry that I made the horrendous discovery that  I was using people in order to forge my own self-appreciation.

Kellers sermons are a rope for people like me who sometimes feel stuck on the ground unless we have a theoretical theodicy, a way of explaining the presence of evil in the world. His sermons point out the problems of good theories, like those based in natural law, that plausibly explain some evil but fall short of explaining all suffering. Keller then proposes that, instead of pretending we know Gods mind, acknowledge we dont know all of Gods reasons, and throw onto skeptics the burden of proving God could not possibly have any reasons for allowing suffering and evil.

The most publicized parts of current evangelicalism feature preachers like banshees screaming for bans of things or people they dont like. Kellers sermons, though, display the upside-down gospel. Instead of demanding, Dont doubt, he says, Doubt doubt. When someone discounts Christian testimonies by saying people believe only because theyre part of a particular social group, Keller teaches us not to nod and not to get angry. Instead, he teaches us to ask: Why do you disbelieve? Why shouldnt we discount your argument?

The many remembrances of Keller during the past few days remind me of how in Three Amigos, a funny 1986 movie, one particular word puzzles Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase): What does that mean? Infamous? Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) responds, Infamous is when youre more than famous! This guy El Guapo is not just famous, hes IN-famous!

As pastors and theologians go, Keller is IN-famous. But that joke also suggests Kellers genius. His sermons show us how to respond to new holy words such as intersectionality that drive standard-issue evangelicals crazy. Many conservatives deny in knee-jerk fashion that such a thing exists. Keller says Christians should not deny problems. Instead, we should acknowledge them, then expand understanding by viewing them biblically. Christians who bristle about intersectionalitythe idea that people can face discrimination for a multiplicity of reasonsshould instead say, Of course. Because of original sin, life is hard, for multiple reasons. Your intersectionality is too small.

Kellers sermons, when God pushes us to honesty, are the antidote to what ails many who now just go through the motions of attending church. Keller: You can be in the church for years and years and years, and inside you know youre basically empty. You might like this or that pastor, you might like this or that sermon  but youre empty. You havent been changed.

Heres the crucial understanding: Religion is the opposite of the gospel.  Religion is outside-in. If I live a good life, God will come in and bless me. Kellers sermons are the opposite of such prosperity religions. He teaches that the gospel is inside-out: In the gospel, I receive the acceptance I have because of what Jesus Christ has done  and that flows out into my life and into a life of mercy and service.

Christianity and atheism are opposed, but thats obvious. Kellers sermons are particularly helpful in undermining religious self-righteousness: It is possible to avoid Jesus as Savior as much by keeping all the biblical rules as by breaking them. As Keller explains: Both religion (in which you build your identity on your moral achievements) and irreligion (in which you build your identity on some other secular pursuit or relationships) are, ultimately, spiritually identical courses to take.

Ive seen the result of such smugness, and Keller is right to say that churches that are filled with self-righteous, exclusive, insecure, angry, moralistic people are extremely unattractive.  Millions of people raised in or near these kinds of churches reject Christianity at an early age or in college largely because of their experience. For the rest of their lives, they are inoculated against Christianity.

If youre one of those people and you dont want to listen to sermons, I also recommend Keller books that have come out regularly for the past 15 years. The Reason for God (2008) is brilliant in its anti-moralistic response to the denigrators of Christianity. For example, weve often heard people say that the divorce rate (or some other rate) among Christians is no better than that among nonbelievers, so the gospel makes no difference. The usual defense: Search for stats that show Christianity does make a difference. Explain. Justify. Defend.

Those stats may be there, but Kellers approach is different. He writes: Imagine that someone with a very broken past becomes a Christian and her character improves significantly over what it was. Nevertheless, she still may be less secure and self-disciplined than someone who is so well adjusted that she feels no particular need for religious affiliation at all.

Keller develops further the comparison between a non-Christian person from a loving, safe, and stable family and social environment and a Christian from the opposite: Suppose you meet both of these women the same week. Unless you know the starting points and life journeys of each woman, you could easily conclude that Christianity isnt worth much, and that Christians are inconsistent with their own high standards.

Kellers summary: Often, people whose lives have been harder and who are lower on the character scale are more likely to recognize their need for God and turn to Christianity. So we should expect that many Christians lives would not compare well to those of the nonreligious. Churches are hospitals for the soul, and the health of people in hospitals is comparatively worse than that of people visiting museums.

Keller explains clearly some atypical reasons for believing in God and abandons some unhelpful defenses. For example, he doesnt complain when a secularist objects that religious people tend to use spiritual and ethical observance as a lever to gain power. Of course, Keller says, Jesus saw what religious leaders did in his time. Christian leaders should be distinguished not by religiosity but by humility: Whoever wants to be first must be servant of all.

And Keller objects to Christians who say that since God gets angry, they can righteously get angrier. Faith in Gods righteous anger, he argues, allows us to temper our own: If I dont believe that there is a God who will eventually put all things right, I will take up the sword and will be sucked into the endless vortex of retaliation. Only if I am sure that theres a God who will right all wrongs and settle all accounts perfectly do I have the power to refrain.

Theres much more. Ill be glad to make other reading suggestions to anyone who writes me, but I dont feel sad about Kellers death last Friday. He lives.
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So, what is all the fuss about? Well, it could have something to do with how Roanoke has reinvented itself. From a simple railroad town to an all out paradise for both outdoor adventure seekers and cultural aficionados. Thanks to dozens of new industries, a vibrant downtown, world-class outdoor recreation, affordable living, eclectic restaurants and trendy cocktail bars, Roanoke is attracting a whole new generation to the region, earning the area a coveted spot on Pennysavers Top 25 Places Millennials Want to Live and Can Actually Afford.

First things first. Representing eight localities within an hour of its namesake city, Get2KnowNoke makes it easy for new residents to make a living by forging connections between job seekers and employers looking to hire.

We have one of the most diverse economies in Virginia representing everything from biotech and innovation to advanced manufacturing and transportation, life science and medicine to tourism and finance, says Julia Boas, Roanoke Regional Partnership director of talent strategies. There is truly something here for everyone.

With a population of around 330,000 residents and a density of higher education thanks to more than 25 colleges and universities across the area, the Roanoke Region claims more students per capita than most major cities. The Partnership is pursuing creative avenues to retain those graduates in the local workforce after commencement. A low cost-of-living index and median home prices that consistently rank below the national average are two major selling points.

We have lots of new and existing housing inventory, especially if youre looking for affordable options within the urban core, Boas describes. People can afford to buy houses here that may not be an option for them in other markets.

The median home price in the Roanoke Region currently sits at $289,950, significantly lower than the overall U.S. median price of $374,900.

Other enticing quality-of-life measures in the greater Roanoke Region include short commute times; good public schools; easy access to the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway and three of the biggest rivers in the state; a 1,500-mile network of connected trails and bike paths; and one of the largest municipal parks in the country. Its no wonder that Outside magazine named Roanoke to its roundup of Top Mountain Towns in the United States.

Our outdoor features definitely lead the way on the livability front, says Pete Eshelman, director of the Roanoke Outside Foundation. Residents feel like they can quickly get away into nature, but still enjoy access to city amenities. Its the perfect metro-mountain mix.

The Roanoke Regional Partnership and its regional workforce partners facilitate economic development and strengthen the local job market through a number of initiatives such as customized training programs, job fairs and recruitment events, a regional job board and social networking events  all designed to attract and retain talent. For startups and small businesses, the Partnership helps budding entrepreneurs connect with existing services and supports, and is developing a new web portal to act as a comprehensive resource hub.

Theres a palpable excitement about the region right now. You can feel it just by visiting one of our breweries, walking around downtown or attending one of our professional meetups. People are inspired by the forward momentum of our region and great things are happening because of it, Boas sums up.

For more information, visit get2knownoke.com.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.
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Botetourt County manufacturer Altec plans to add jobs in an upcoming expansion, it was announced Tuesday.

Altec is a Birmingham, Ala., based supplier of equipment and services to the electric utility, telecommunications, lighting and signs, tree care and contractor markets.

It has produced bucket trucks at the facility near Daleville and is planning a new production line, company spokesman Mark Wegel said.

The company plans to hire 150 people and spend $1.4 million to reconfigure its operations, according to a news release from Botetourt County and the Roanoke Regional Partnership.

The expansion of Altec Industries is a fantastic success story and a testament to the regions capabilities in supporting business investment and growth, as well as Altecs solid foundation of strong business leadership, said John Hull, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. The growth of this enterprise in Botetourt County will have positive, significant regional impact.

Altec Industries came to the county in 2011 when its facility occupied 80 acres in the Greenfield Industrial Park. The newly announced expansion will be built on eight additional acres at the site. No timetable was announced.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Botetourt County and the Roanoke Regional Partnership to secure the project for Virginia and will support Altecs job creation through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP), which provides consultative services and funding to companies creating new jobs in order to support employee recruitment and training activities, the news release said.
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" " Cork trees aren't cut down in the harvesting process. Only the bark is stripped from the cork oak, and it regenerates every nine or 10 years. Martin Child/robertharding/Getty Images/Collection Mix: Sub

You may (or may not) have heard a rumor that the world's supply of cork is dwindling. Cork, which is made from the bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber), is used in a variety of products, the most common being wine stoppers. So is there any truth behind the idea that we are running out of cork?

Not at all. There's actually an abundance of the totally sustainable, eco-friendly material. In fact, if you've ever traveled to the rural areas of Southern Portugal  where most of the world's cork oak trees are grown  you've seen firsthand that the supposed shortage of the cork supply is indeed a myth.

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Insiders in the cork industry  which employs an estimated 30,000 workers in varied jobs  confirm that there are plenty of cork oak trees to be found in the sustainable and environmentally harvested cork forests of Portugal. Regular planting ensures a continuous and steady supply, but the process requires some patience.

Newly planted cork oak trees need, on average, more than 25 years of growth before their bark can first be harvested. Farmers then must wait another nine or 10 years until the trees fully recover and are ready to have their outer bark layer harvested again. This approach yields a high-quality raw material, while enabling the trees to live about 300 years.

The takeaway? There are said to be enough cork trees today in the sustainable cork forests of Portugal to last more than 100 years. Translation: There's enough harvestable cork to seal all of the wine bottles produced in the world for the coming century.

So, what led to the rumor that the world is running out? One thing that might have fueled the rumble about a cork shortage  or that cork is endangered and at risk of extinction  is that many companies in the wine industry began switching from traditional cork stoppers to plastic "corks" and screw caps in the 1990s to cut costs. The reason? Cork is much more expensive compared with the alternatives because it can be harvested only once a year by skilled farmers.

That being said, wineries had to convince people  wine drinkers in particular  that it would be more beneficial to use the plastic corks or screw caps to seal wine bottles rather than cork stoppers. What better way to do that than to insinuate that cork is endangered? Then, more people might be willing to choose wines sealed with screw caps.

Another myth that might have contributed to this: In 1923, the Portuguese government began to protect the cork tree by law from improper or out-of-season harvest because officials were worried that developers would clear out the cork forests to build. To stop this from happening, the government declared the cork oak tree endangered.

The truth is the cork oak tree is not endangered. And because wine vintners prefer screw caps for various reasons, that's actually led to a decrease in demand for cork wine stoppers. So there's actually an abundance of cork and cork oak trees.

And here's the cool part: That abundance has opened up a world of opportunity for the impermeable, lightweight and moisture-resistant material. Today cork handbags and wallets are becoming popular leather alternatives. And cork also is used in flooring, shoes and other vegan fashion accessories.

Now That's Interesting Seventeenth-century French monk Dom Perignon is credited with being the first to recognize the ability of cork to contain sparkling wines.
South Africa: DPWI releases land to accommodate communities

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala says his department has released 18 land parcels in KwaZulu-Natal, measuring 533 hectares, for the purpose of accommodating communities, including those displaced by floods in 2022.

Delivering his departments Budget Vote in Cape Town on Tuesday, Zikalala said in support of the countrys initiative to restore dispossessed land to its rightful owners, 221 land parcels, measuring 148 796ha, have been released from the departments property portfolio to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) for transfer to the approved land claimants.

At the start of March 2023, four land parcels, measuring 2.8ha, were released to Msunduzi Local Municipality for the purposes of accommodating communities, including those displaced by flooding.

In support of human settlements development, 44 land parcels, measuring 2 560ha, have been released to the Housing Development Agency to fast track the development of houses within the approved Priority Housing Development Areas, Zikalala said.

Zikalala said in the 2023/24 financial year, an approximated extent of 6 320ha is earmarked to be released.

To address the skewed patterns of land ownership, 125 land parcels, measuring 25 549ha, of agricultural land was released from within the departments portfolio to support subsistence farming and food security.

An estimated additional 50 land parcels are earmarked to be released within the 2023/24 financial year, Zikalala said.

Zikalala said the department released significant extents of land in support of the socio-economic programmes of government, with 11 land parcels, measuring 15ha, being released for a variety of South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) construction projects.

In addition, 24 land parcels, measuring 117ha, were released for the registration of Eskom servitudes for the construction of generation, transmission and distribution power lines that will provide much needed electricity to communities nationwide. A further six land parcels are being considered for release to Eskom in the 2023/24 financial year.

The department also processed 27 requests from Eskom for expropriation of private land parcels to enable the construction of key transmission power lines in Limpopo province.

In addition, a further 49 land parcels, measuring 211ha, from the DPWI portfolio were also released in transferring the custodianship of 19 Land Ports of Entry to the Border Management Authority (BMA) for their integrated management of the countrys border posts, the Minister said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-05-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
One year after Uvalde shooting, investigation of police response continues: U.S. media

Xinhua) 13:21, May 24, 2023

NEW YORK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A criminal investigation in the U.S. state of Texas over the hesitant police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting is still ongoing as Wednesday marks one year since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, reported The Associated Press on Monday.

"The continuing probe underlines the lasting fallout over Texas' deadliest school shooting and how the days after the attack were marred by authorities giving inaccurate and conflicting accounts about efforts made to stop a teenage gunman armed with an AR-style rifle," said the report.

The investigation has run parallel to a new wave of public anger in the United States over gun violence, renewed calls for stricter firearm regulations and legal challenges over authorities in Uvalde continuing to withhold public records related to the shooting and the police response, it noted.

A damning report by Texas lawmakers put nearly 400 officers on the scene from an array of federal, state and local agencies. The findings laid out how heavily armed officers waited more than an hour to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman. It also accused police of failing "to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety," according to the Associated Press report.

At least five officers who were put under investigation after the shooting were either fired or resigned, although a full accounting is unclear. The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, put much of the blame after the attack on Uvalde's school police chief, who was later fired by trustees, it added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
(Photo : Robyn Beck / AFP) (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

A breakthrough deal was agreed upon by three states in an attempt to prevent the Colorado River from drying up as roughly 40 million rely on it for power and drinking water.

Three states have agreed on a plan to reduce water usage in an attempt to prevent the Colorado River from drying up

Seven states rely on the Colorado River for power and drinking water

The three states involved in the deal plan to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026

Three states have agreed to reduce water usage to prevent the Colorado River from drying up as seven states continue to rely on the source for power and drinking water.

The three regions have agreed on a deal that seeks to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026, roughly equivalent to the amount needed to fill 6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

States Agree To Reduce Water Usage From Colorado River

The states involved in the plan are Arizona, California, and Nevada, supported by the Joe Biden administration, which brokered the deal. As per NBC News, the three states announced the consensus deal on Monday in a news release.

The deal was made as the seven states that rely on the Colorado River were already on the brink of a crisis after decades of overuse of the source. Officials grew concerned before a banner winter of snowfall. This was due to dams at Lake Mead and Lake Powell near "dead pool" status.

This status is given when the flow is cut off to lower regions of the Colorado River because water levels drop too low to allow them to pass through the dams. The situation comes as roughly 40 million people rely on the Colorado River for drinking water.

On the other hand, utilities depend on the Colorado River to generate electricity at dams on Lake Mead and Lake Powell and keep power flowing in various states across the country. The new deal could prevent the near-term crisis and allow states to conduct sustainable water use.

Read Also: 1.5 Million Migrants Urge To Apply for US Sponsorship

Potentially Catastrophic Effects

However, the agreement requires less conservation than some scientists have argued is required to stabilize the river after more than a two-decade drought. The agreement also seeks to prevent a political predicament for the Biden administration. It would have been forced to implement cuts unilaterally if the states could not negotiate a deal.

Cities, irrigation districts, and Native American tribes in the three states will be paid in exchange for temporarily using less water. Also, the federal government is setting aside $1.2 billion to address the issue, said a spokesperson to US Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Lauren Wodarski, according to the Associated Press.

The research director at the Kyle Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, Kathryn Sorensen, said that the deal was agreed on because much of the West saw record snow last winter.

Sorensen added that the snowpack bought the luxury of bringing forward a deal that was not as good as the federal government was hoping for but is still able to buy authorities some time to address the issue properly, said NPR.

Related Article: New Michigan Laws Allow Authorities to Seize Firearms from High-Risk Individuals

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If you live in the U.S., you probably use Fahrenheit, but most other places in the world use Celsius. Both were invented in the early- to mid-18th century by European scientists  Dutch physicist and inventor Daniel Fahrenheit and Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius.

The two scales differ in a couple of ways. First, the freezing and boiling points of water are different. In Fahrenheit, water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees, whereas in Celsius, water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100 degrees. Because there are 180 degrees between freezing and boiling in Fahrenheit and only 100 degrees between the two in Celsius, each degree is 1.8 times larger in Celsius than in Fahrenheit.

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Here's how to easily convert between the two scales:

It's important to know that for every Celsius degree, there are 1.8 Fahrenheit degrees (or 9/5 degrees, to put it in a fraction).

Since the two scales start at different numbers  zero and 32  converting between the two involves adding or subtracting 32.

To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply the temperature in Celsius by 1.8, then add 32. You can use this formula:

F = (1.8 x C) + 32

If you want to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit temperature, then divide the result by 1.8 using this formula:

C = (F  32) 1.8

So, (1.8 x -40C) + 32 = -40F

It works the other way too. (-40F  32)  1.8 = -40C

So, why is that? Both scales have to converge somewhere and minus 40 degrees just happens to be the spot. If you'd like to know the mathematical reason, keep reading.
Chances of an asteroid hitting are pretty small. NASA has tracked 90 percent of the near-Earth asteroids that are at least a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) wide and believes none of them has a significant chance of hitting Earth.

Still there could be some bigger asteroids out there that NASA doesn't know about. If a mile-wide asteroid hit Earth, it would strike the planet's surface at about 30,000 miles per hour (48,280 kilometers per hour). An asteroid that big traveling at that speed has the energy roughly equal to a 1 million-megaton bomb.

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It's difficult to imagine 1 million megatons, so let's try some smaller sizes. Let's say that an asteroid the size of a house hit Earth at 30,000 miles per hour (48,280 kilometers per hour). It would have the energy roughly equal to the bomb that fell on Hiroshima  perhaps 20 kilotons. An asteroid like this would flatten reinforced concrete buildings up to half a mile from where it hit, and flatten wooden structures perhaps a mile and a half (0.8 kilometers) from ground zero. It would, in other words, do extensive damage to any city.

If the asteroid was as big as a 20-story building (200 feet [61 meters] on a side), it could have the amount of energy equal to the largest nuclear bombs made today  about 25 to 50 megatons. This size asteroid would flatten reinforced concrete buildings 5 miles (8 kilometers) from ground zero. It would completely destroy most major cities in the United States.

For an asteroid to wipe out most everything on Earth, it would have to be massive. Scientists estimate it would take an asteroid about 7 to 8 miles (11 to 12 kilometers) wide crashing into the Earth. Once it made impact, it would create a tremendous dust plume that would envelope the entire planet, block out the sun and raise temperatures where the asteroid made impact. Billions would die, and much of life on the planet would be destroyed. But, scientists believe some would survive. NASA scientists say it would take an asteroid 60 miles (96 kilometers) wide to totally wipe out life on Earth.

" " Asteroid Didymos (bottom left) and its moonlet, Dimorphos are seen less than three minutes before NASA's DART spacecraft made impact. This is the last image to include a complete view of both asteroids. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
 Fascinating tale of a singular federal prosecution (and notable sentencing) of DC marijuana distributors | Main | Former Alabama Govs now urge the commutation of most of Alabama's death row 

May 23, 2023

Deep dives in "back-end" sentencing problems in two east coast states

Today brought the release of two notable reports on problematic back-end sentencing practices in two states. Both reports merit more careful attention that this one post can provide, but here are the basics:

From the Prison Policy Initiative, "Excessive, unjust, and expensive: Fixing Connecticut's probation and parole problems." A snippet:

This report provides lawmakers and advocates fundamental information to advance essential probation and parole reforms in Connecticut, changes that will reduce unnecessary incarceration and supervision; increase fairness, justice, and public safety; and save taxpayer dollars and other resources. The report reviews the policies and data related to community supervision and technical violations in Connecticut and describes concrete ways to improve these systems. It also gives an overview of New Yorks recent parole reforms, with recommendations for lawmakers and others working to shape meaningful legislation in Connecticut and beyond.. Given the immediate and ongoing signs of success in New York, any state can look to the provisions of the Less Is More Act to help determine ways to reduce excessive supervision and incarcerated populations. What follows is a deep dive into the policies and practices that entangle too many people in the web of ongoing supervision and cycles of imprisonment in Connecticut. Those who are on probation and parole live in fear of arrest and incarceration for nearly any action that could constitute a violation  a gross misuse of resources and a disservice to families in Connecticut. By allowing people to remain in their communities, the state can better provide residents the help they may need in the place where theyre most likely to succeed. Connecticut has a momentous opportunity to reshape the probation and parole systems and deliver racial, economic, and procedural justice to people under supervision.

From the Justice Policy Initiative, "Safe at Home: Improving Marylands Parole Release Decision-Making." A snippet:

This document highlights the best available research and practice in the parole field and provides recommendations for improvements to Marylands parole decision-making process. To develop these recommendations, JPI consulted with experts who provide technical assistance to states looking to improve their parole practices, reviewed research on parole practice and outcomes, spoke with attorneys who assist individuals applying for parole, consulted with family members and individuals who have experience with the Maryland parole system, and examined best practices in parole in other states to identify areas of needed improvement in Maryland.... The parole grant rate decreased between 2020 and 2021 despite the emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020. Many jurisdictions around the country expedited the release of individuals from prison to reduce the spread of the virus. This was typically accomplished by moving up parole eligibility by months and expanding the number of people eligible for a hearing. However, Maryland data reveal sharp declines in newly eligible individuals, hearings, and the releases granted. Grant rates in Maryland follow a bell curve pattern. Emerging adults (25 years of age and younger) report a grant rate of 37 percent. The rate increases to a high of 43 percent for people between the ages of 31 and 35, steadily declining as individuals age. People over 60 are paroled at a rate of 28 percent. Parole grant rates that decline with age run counter to everything we know about trends in criminal offending. Crime is a young persons endeavor, and the likelihood of reoffending drops precipitously after age 40.

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 "Calculating Torture: Analysis of Federal, State, and Local Data Showing More Than 122,000 People in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons and Jails" | Main | Deep dives in "back-end" sentencing problems in two east coast states 

A helpful reader made sure I did not miss this new and lengthy story from the Washington Post concerning a federal prosecution and sentencing of modern marijuana offenders. The full headline highlights some of the notable particulars: "D.C. legalized weed. A marijuana delivery service was indicted anyway. A judge refused to hand out prison sentences and urged officials to resolve the tension between local legalization and federal prohibition." I recommend the story, which defies easy summary in full to anyone interested in marijuana reform and prosecutorial (and judicial) decisions issues. Here are just some snippets:

Connor Pennington always knew he would start his own business, though he wasnt sure what type.... When nearly 65 percent of D.C. voters approved Initiative 71 in 2014, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, the 29-year-old found what I truly believe is my calling, he said: distributing pot. He named the company Joint Delivery.

Although he knew marijuana sales were illegal under federal law, Pennington created a website where customers could place orders, and he had delivery workers fan out daily in bikes or cars. Hoping to create a professional atmosphere, he hired middle managers and a full-time accountant. The company generated at least $4 million in sales from 2017 to 2022, according to court records....

In July 2022, Pennington, two younger brothers he had hired and five Joint Delivery managers were indicted  the first and so far only D.C. marijuana dispensary to face federal prosecution since Initiative 71 passed. In a related case, Penningtons accountant was charged with money laundering....

This is a strange kind of case, because the substance thats involved is legal in many, many states now. Its not in the federal system, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said at a hearing May 2. This disparity has got to get worked out soon because it creates a crazy situation in the law enforcement area.

The DEA twice raided Joint Deliverys offices in D.C. last year, finding cash, marijuana and cannabis products, according to the indictment. All nine defendants pleaded guilty to money laundering or conspiring to distribute a dangerous substance and were ordered to forfeit the money they earned.

But they never set foot in a D.C. courthouse, and none went to prison. The top federal prosecutor in the District, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, declined to prosecute Joint Delivery and generally does not seek charges against any of the dozens of marijuana gifting shops and delivery services in the city, despite occasional police raids, according to U.S. officials and defense attorneys involved in the Joint Delivery case.

Instead, all the charges against Pennington and his employees were filed by the U.S. attorneys office for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), led by Jessica D. Aber. Prosecutors said they had jurisdiction mainly because much of the money laundering occurred in Northern Virginia. But legal experts and the judge who handled most of the case said they were puzzled by the move, because the drug distribution that prosecutors described happened in D.C.

I dont think this case truly belonged here, Brinkema said at a hearing in Alexandria federal court on Jan. 6, after chiding a prosecutor in Abers office for seeking a completely inappropriate sentence of four years and nine months in prison for one of Penningtons shift managers, Robert Spear, who was 27 years old at the time.

The judge sentenced all of those indicted to terms of supervised release of two or three years. It was always amazing to me that the District of Columbia, where this business essentially was, was not interested in the prosecution of this case, Brinkema said at one of the final sentencings.
The 62-year-old's previous landlord continued to receive demands for his debt repayments even after he moved out in 2020

A view of Singapore's residential estate on April 14, 2008, built by the Housing Development Board (HDB) where 84-percents out of 4.6-million Singaporeans live-in. (PHOTO: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

SINGAPORE A 62-year-old man was fined $2,000 on Tuesday (23 May) by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) for not reporting a change in his residential address within 28 days.

According to ICA, Lee Kah Hin had failed to inform ICA about his change of residence, despite moving to a new place in Tampines.

Lee's previous landlord had informed authorities on 9 December last year that she continued to receive letters, including demands from credit companies, to Lee's old residence in Jalan Bukit Merah after he moved out in April 2020.

Financial troubles

According to ICA, Lee was aware that moneylenders would send reminder letters to his old address when he could not meet his repayment obligations. He even obtained new loans from various moneylenders using his old address.

Consequently, the demand letters for debt repayments were sent to the Jalan Bukit Merah address after Lee had defaulted on his debts.

ICA emphasised that under the National Registration Act, individuals must report a change of residential address within 28 days.

Failure to comply can result in a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $5,000.

To report a change of residential address, Singapore citizens and permanent residents can use ICA's e-Service at http://go.gov.sg/ic-address.

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
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A memorable bachelorette party is one memory that will forever be etched in your mind. A bachelorette party or hen's night celebrates the bride-to-be's remaining days as a single woman. Normally, the maid-of-honor or bridesmaid has the important job of planning a fun-filled fete that everyone will remember for years. This includes the activities and places to go for a fun night(s) out. Depending on the group's vibe, the girls' trip can be a chilled getaway  spa, tea party or shopping trip  but for those who like a little excitement, you can plan for a dance-off at the hottest nightclub and have the bride-to-be complete a list of tasks.

So whether you need to make plans for an intimate group or a big getaway, Bangkok, Thailand is always a good idea. Planning a trip there is not only easy on your wallet, you can also find fun and unique activities to do in Bangkok, to round up a bachelorette weekend.

READ:

7 fun, family-friendly things to do in Bangkok with kids

8 exciting things to do in Sydney, and how to get the best travel deals

Visit top K-drama filming sites in Seoul with GoCitys Explorer Pass

From Bird Park to Bird Paradise: The new Mandai attraction animal lovers will love

Fun, unique bachelorette party ideas in Bangkok:

1. 90-Minute Authentic Thai Massage Treatment at Lets Relax Spa

Buy your pass here

Enjoy a 90-minute massage at Bangkok's Let's Relax Spa. (PHOTO: GoCity)

Make the most out of your visit to Bangkok by indulging yourself with this free 90-minute Thai massage from one of the most well-known and best spas in Bangkok at Let's Relax Spa.

2. Onsen Experience at Lets Relax Spa (Pattaya and Bangkok)

Buy your pass here

Enjoy an Onsen Experience at Lets Relax Spa with GoCity. (PHOTO: GoCity)

Ladies, it's time to soothe your muscles after an intense shopping day. Choose from either of the two different spa locations, and you'll get unlimited access to a selection of pools (onsens), a Hot Stonebed bath, and more.

3. Go! Thai Cooking School (Cooking Class With 5 Dishes)

Buy your pass here

Go! Thai Cooking School with Go City. (PHOTO: GoCity)

Suitable for beginner or even intermediate level, you'll master several tasty Thai recipes after taking a class at Go! Thai Cooking School. After enjoying your authentic Bangkok cooking class experience, you will be armed with newfound knowledge and expertise in five authentic Thai dishes that you can show off to friends back home  faster than you can say Tom yum goong!

4. Michelin Guide Street Food Tour by Tuk Tuk

Buy your pass here

Young woman traveler sitting in Blue Tuk Tuk, Thai traditional taxi in Bangkok Thailand.

Another experience foodies shouldn't miss out on! As you cruise around Chinatown you'll be spoilt for choice as a knowledgeable guide will take you to Michelin Guide-recommended food stalls and teach you about their history and the dishes that have made them so well-loved.

5. Golden Dome Cabaret Show

Buy your pass here

A performer at a cabaret show in Thailand.

Expect dazzling costumes, bold special effects and fun performances during this 50-minute show.

After a spectacular finale, you can round off the experience by being photographed with the performers and their elaborate costumes.

6. The Bangkok Pub Crawl

Buy your pass here

Elevate your bachelorette party by experiencing Bangkok's buzzing nightlife scene. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

Make new friends and experience the best of Bangkoks party scene on a guided pub crawl of the city. Your first stop is the famous Hooters bar, where youll meet your guide and get to know your fellow pub crawlers, before heading on to the 8 on Eleven bar at the Grand President Hotel for a fast-paced game of beer pong. A short stumble takes you to Score Bar and finally to Insanity nightclub, where VIP treatment and a 50% discount on your first bottle of spirits await.

7. Explore Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market

Buy your pass here

Ratchaburi - Thailand. February 05, 2023 : A generic view of Chinese lantern festival on the canal againstagainst food vendors on boats while paddle boats in a narrow canal at Damnoen Saduak floating market (Photo by Prasert Krainukul via Getty Images)

With this exciting tour, you'll visit two of Bangkok's most famous markets. With fresh produce, local delicacies, and photo ops aplenty, this is the perfect way to experience Thai culture at its best.

8. 2-Hour Meridian Dinner Cruise (International Buffet)

Buy your pass here

Wat Arun temple in front of Chao Phraya river in Bangkok at sunset. Thailand

Sail along the Chao Phraya for two hours and be treated to an extensive Thai and international dishes buffet. Enjoy a traditional Thai performance and head to some of Bangkok's most famous temples and sites, including Wat Arun and the Grand Palace.

9. Central Village VIP Shopping Experience with Food Court Credit

Buy your pass here

Central Village VIP Shopping outlet. (PHOTO: Central Viillage/Instagram)

If luxury designer goods float your boat, youre in for an absolute treat at Central Village. Take up to 70% off top designer brands, plus credit to spend in the food court at Bangkoks Central Village Mall.

Types of Go City passes

There are two types of passes that you can choose from:

1. All-Inclusive Passes

All-Inclusive Pass - choose from 2-day pass onwards

Go City's famous All-Inclusive passes allow customers to visit as many attractions in a destination for one fixed price, delivering incredible savings, choice, inspiration, and ease.

Each All-Inclusive Pass is subject to a purse value based on the pass's duration. The purse value is the maximum amount you can use based on the standard gate price for each attraction. For example, in the 2-day adult All-Inclusive Pass, you can visit as many attractions up to THB 14520.

See below for purse values for each pass:

2-day All-Inclusive Pass: adult THB 14520 / child THB 13220

3-day All-Inclusive Pass: adult THB 18985 / child THB 16785

4-day All-Inclusive Pass: adult THB 22585 / child THB 19965

5-day All-Inclusive Pass: adult THB 25695 / child THB 22055

2. Explorer Pass

Explorer Pass - choose from 3-choice pass

And for those who are more selective, there's the Explorer Pass. With this pass, you can select how many attractions you wish to visit, and you'll have 60 days to do so. Plus, there's no need to decide which ones you'll visit before you purchase, so you can still keep your plans flexible.

Each Explorer Pass is subject to a purse value based on the pass's duration. The purse value is the maximum amount you can use based on the standard gate price for each attraction. For example, with a 6-choice adult Explorer Pass, you can visit six attractions for up to THB 9450.

Here's a breakdown of the purse value for each pass:

2-choice Explorer Pass: adult THB 3350 / child THB 3250

3-choice Explorer Pass: adult THB 4950 / child THB 4750

4-choice Explorer Pass: adult THB 6450 / child THB 6040

5-choice Explorer Pass: adult THB 7950 / child THB 7330

6-choice Explorer Pass: adult THB 9450 / child THB 8620

7-choice Explorer Pass: adult THB 10740 / child THB 9820

Plus, with the Go City app, you'll have all the information you need at your fingertips. We're talking about attractions information, suggested itineraries, a handy map, and more!

How to start using the pass

First, choose the All-Inclusive Pass or the Explorer Pass and make your purchase. The confirmation email will be sent to you. Download the Go City app. You can then use your order confirmation number to add your pass to your phone. Not a fan of apps? You can also print your pass at home using the link in your confirmation email.

This content was produced in partnership with Go City.

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WEDNESDAY, May 24, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A unique genetic brew has benefitted a Scottish woman who lives virtually pain-free, heals more rapidly and experiences reduced anxiety and fear, researchers from University College London report.

Pain geneticists have been studying the woman, Jo Cameron, for a decade. She came to their attention when her doctor noticed that she experienced no pain after major surgeries on her hip and hand.

After six years of examination, researchers identified a new gene named FAAH-OUT, which contained genetic mutations that were the cause of Camerons unique abilities.

However, they still had no idea how exactly these mutations benefitted her, so research continued, leading to this new study.

The area of the genome containing FAAH-OUT had previously been assumed to be "junk" DNA without any apparent function.

But researchers now say it mediates the expression of FAAH, a gene that is part of the endocannabinoid system and is well-known for its involvement in pain, mood and memory.

The team found that FAAH-OUT regulates the expression of FAAH, and that Camerons specific mutation causes it to be significantly turned down. As a result, her FAAH enzyme activity levels are reduced.

Researchers found another 797 genes that were turned up and 348 genes that were turned down in Cameron. These included the WNT pathway that is associated with wound healing, with increased activity in the WNT16 gene that has been linked to bone regeneration.

Two other key altered genes they found were BDNF, which has been linked to mood regulation, and ACKR3, which helps regulate opioid levels.

Taken together, these gene changes may contribute to Camerons low levels of anxiety, fear and pain, researchers said.

The initial discovery of the genetic root of Jo Camerons unique phenotype was a eureka moment and hugely exciting, but these current findings are where things really start to get interesting, said senior researcher James Cox, a professor with UCL Medicine.

By understanding precisely what is happening at a molecular level, we can start to understand the biology involved and that opens up possibilities for drug discovery that could one day have far-reaching positive impacts for patients, Cox said in a university news release.

Senior researcher Andrei Okorokov of UCL Medicine described the FAAH-OUT gene as just one small corner of a vast continent, which this study has begun to map.

As well as the molecular basis for painlessness, these explorations have identified molecular pathways affecting wound healing and mood, all influenced by the FAAH-OUT mutation, he said in the release.

As scientists it is our duty to explore and I think these findings will have important implications for areas of research such as wound healing, depression and more, Okorokov added.

The findings were published May 23 in the journal Brain.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about gene therapies.

SOURCE: University College London, news release, May 23, 2023
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LAKE VIEW, Iowa  Sac County authorities are seeking the public's help to provide information about an incident in which a man with life-threatening head injuries was found unresponsive in a Lake View street.

Stanley "Sam" Mortensen II, 50, was found at 1:04 a.m. Saturday lying in the 100 block of West Fourth Street. When first responders arrived, he was standing and leaning against his truck, which was parked in the middle of the street, but could not tell emergency responders what had happened.

He was transported to Loring Hospital in Sac City and later airlifted to a Des Moines hospital.

According to a news release from Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure, police are aware Mortensen was involved in a verbal argument with a woman and a man who were both on a motorcycle.

Anyone with information about how Mortensen was injured can call the Sac County Sheriff's Office at (712) 662-7127.
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ELK POINT, S.D.  A Sioux City man suspected of fatally stabbing a Dakota Dunes woman has agreed to be returned from Texas to face murder charges.

Alfredo Castellanos-Rosales waived extradition at a Wednesday morning hearing in Webb County, Texas, where he has been held since he was apprehended earlier this month in Mexico. He will be returned to Union County to face charges of first- and second-degree murder.

Union County Sheriff Dan Limoges said he has contracted with the U.S. Marshals Service to transport Castellanos-Rosales from Texas. Limoges said it's not yet known when that will take place.

Once he's been returned, Castellanos-Rosales will be booked into the Union County Jail and an initial court appearance will be scheduled.

Castellanos-Rosales, 39, is suspected of killing 23-year-old Jordan Beardshear in her apartment at The Wellington at the Dunes apartment complex on April 25.

Castellanos-Rosales, who was born in Guatemala and is a U.S. citizen, was arrested May 12 in Mexico and turned over to the Marshals Service, which turned him over to Texas authorities to await extradition.

According to court documents, witnesses saw Beardshear at about 8:30 p.m. April 25 at her apartment complex while she was waiting for Castellanos-Rosales, whom she had been dating, to pick up their 1-year-old son. Cell phone evidence placed Castellanos-Rosales near Beardshear's apartment and her phone around 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. At approximately 10 p.m., Castellanos-Rosales called Beardshear's mother to come to his home to pick up the child.

Beardshear's body was discovered the following day. She had sustained stab wounds, defensive slashing wounds and trauma to her neck/throat area, court documents said.

After executing a search warrant at Castellanos-Rosales' home, investigators found clothing suspected of containing blood.
(Photo : Carina Johansen / NTB / AFP) / Norway OUT (CARINA JOHANSEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk warns about the consequences of artificial intelligence technology, including how it could constrain humanity's growth.

Elon Musk warned that artificial intelligence technology could either eliminate or constrain humanity's growth

The billionaire entrepreneur's warnings come as AI technology continues to advance at an immense speed

The SpaceX CEO's remarks were made during the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit

Tesla CEO Elon Musk warns of the consequences of artificial intelligence (AI) as the technology continues to develop, saying that it could constrain humanity's growth despite not being "necessary" for anything.

The billionaire entrepreneur made dire warnings during the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit. He said that there is now a risk that advanced AI could either eliminate or constrain humanity's growth.

Elon Musk Warns of AI's Consequences

Musk was then asked to elaborate on his comments and he answered by saying that he is concerned about a potential "un-benign" scenario that is related to the hyper-advancement of AI technology.

He said that there is a low chance that AI would destroy all of humanity, as others fear, but is capable of putting humans under strict control. However, he added that there is a "non-zero chance" that AI goes full "Terminator," a reference to the deadly time-traveling robots in the 1984 sci-fi film of the same name, as per Yahoo Finance.

Musk added that it was more likely that AI could take control of all forms of technology that humans possess, such as computing power, weapons, etc. He argues that artificial intelligence would choose to do this for "the safety of all humans," which he compared to having an "uber-nanny."

Despite his warnings regarding artificial intelligence technology, Musk said that he is not staying away from such opportunities to include in his business. The billionaire entrepreneur said that Microsoft, with its partnership with OpenAI, and Google, with its partnership with Bard AI technology, need to have more competition.

The billionaire entrepreneur said that there needs to be a significant third horse in the race, adding that he would reveal more about it soon. He continued by saying that he is trying to copy Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI and implement it on his own startup, X.AI. He plans to partner with other companies, such as Twitter and Tesla.

Read Also: Cyber Gulag: Putin Accused of Using Digital Technology to Control Russians

Constraining Humanity's Growth

Musk also warned that when you have a genie that can grant you anything you want, it presents a danger. He argued that some could also utilize artificial intelligence to create what he called "drone wars," according to Sky News.

He claims that he expects governments worldwide to make use of artificial intelligence technology to develop new weapons before anything else in the future. Musk said that they can create more advanced weapons that could react faster than any human could.

On the other hand, Musk's startup, X.AI, was only started last month, around the same time that he merged Twitter Inc. into X Corp. The billionaire entrepreneur's fascination with AI goes back to at least 2011 during the time that he was an early investor in DeepMind, a London startup.

With Microsoft and OpenAI's relationship continuing to grow more prolific, the Tesla CEO has grown even more protective of Twitter's data and has become even more vocal about the dangers of artificial intelligence said Axios.

Related Article: SG Aims to Recruit AI Talent for Its Banks

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OMAHA -- A Macy, Nebraska, man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on gun and drug charges.

Terrence Sherman, 37, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Omaha to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, officers on Aug. 20, 2021, stopped a vehicle in Macy in which Sherman and co-defendant Collin Parker were riding. Officers found 123 grams of methamphetamine, scales, baggies and a 12-gauge shotgun.

Parker, 29, of Walthill, pleaded guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and was sentenced in April to more than nine years in prison.
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SIOUX CITY  Two days after declaring his 2024 candidacy for president, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott was in Sioux City on Wednesday morning for his first official campaign stop in Iowa.

A Republican in his third term, Scott visited Siouxland Christian on Gordon Drive and toured the facilities with school faculty before holding a roundtable discussion with the staff about school safety, educational savings accounts, his own upbringing and systemic racism.

Tim Scott going into Siouxland Christian gym South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott tours the Siouxland Christian gymnasium during a presidential campaign stop in Sioux City on Wednesday. Scott, a

Choice, loans and outcomes

Scott arrived just before 9:30 a.m. and started off talking with Siouxland Christian Principal Katie Trimble and others about the "great job" Gov. Kim Reynolds has done when it comes to education. Later, during the chat with staffers, the 57-year-old Charleston Southern University grad, talked about Iowa as a leader on "school choice" and said an overhaul of the country's educational system has been a long time coming.

"For the school choice movement, the seeds have been planted over years and years and years," he said. "It's going to be fun to watch how the country changes because of quality education."

The education section of Scott's 2024 campaign website mentions his work on the "CHOICE Act" which he has said would ensure "parents have the tools to find a school that can effectively serve their childs needs and grants flexibility and support to parents with disabled children." That portion of the site is headlined "Education, not indoctrination" and says "Extreme liberals are letting big labor bosses trap millions of kids in failing systems." (A 2019 study by Eunice S. Han and Thomas N. Maloney in the "Labor Studies Journal" found that there is a positive relationship between teachers unions and student test scores.)

To bring more teachers to understaffed schools, Scott said one possible solution may be to have some measure of student loan debt forgiveness for those entering the educational workforce. However, Scott said he was not in favor of President Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 of debt for tens of millions of Americans and then accused the federal government of not thinking about outcomes and only focusing on doling out money.

"If we're thinking about outcomes, we're probably on the right track," he said. In the same portion of the chat, Siouxland Christian Superintendent Lindsay Laurich said "I think it's going to take an innovative mindset to solve some of these problems."

Safety and Education Secretary

While chatting with Laurich, Trimble, and other school personnel, Scott was asked about his work on school safety.

"After Uvalde, (we) put together legislation that would provide around $38 billion of additional resources to make sure we have safer schools, safer kids, safer communities," Scott said. "Focusing on the tragedies around the country and responding to them effectively and positively, by providing the resources for communities to make the best decisions that they can to protect their kids, not having a one-size-fits-all (approach) come down from the federal government."

In the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which happened on May 24, 2022 and left 22 dead, Congress passed a "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" to "toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudicated to be dangerous" (according to the Associated Press). Scott was not one of the 15 Republicans to vote "yea" on the bill.

When asked what he would look for in a potential Secretary of Education for his presidential administration, Scott said he'd like to see a person who doesn't "target" charter schools and advocates for students rather than "indoctrinates" them.

Tim Scott looking at Siouxland Christian's tenets South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, right, looks at tenets of Siouxland Christian School during a presidential campaign stop in Sioux City on We

"Indoctrination" and discrimination

The notion of young people being "indoctrinated" or led toward certain beliefs came up more than once in Scott's time at the Siouxland Christian campus. Early in his remarks, he said "If we don't start teaching kids that all things are possible, don't be surprised when they buy into the drug of victimhood."

Though he didn't officially take questions from the press, as the chat was drawing to a close, Scott was asked by a media member if he had a comment on Joy Behar of "The View" saying he didn't understand systemic racism.

"I've been discriminated against, without any question, though America is not a racist country," said Scott, who is the first Black senator from South Carolina in the state's history and the first Black American to win a U.S. Senate race in the South since 1881. "What I will say though is: What is insane and dangerous are the liberal elites making millions of dollars a year trying to indoctrinate our kids that the only way to be successful in this country as a child of color is to be the exception. That is a lie, without any question, and it's a dangerous lie."

That's magic

To kick off the chat in the first grade classroom at Siouxland Christian, Scott talked about how important education was to him.

"The closest thing to magic in America is a quality education. As a kid, I attended four different elementary schools by the fourth grade. And being raised in a single-parent household, mired in poverty, the one thing I can tell you is that finding the right place for your kid is really hard when you're moving a lot," Scott said.

"As that kid, without a father around, the pain, the misery and the distractions outside of the classroom, sometimes you have to build boundaries and borders within the classroom to help a kid have a very health experience. Walking through this school and looking at that stage in the multipurpose gymnasium room, I'm just remembering the teachers that had incredible impact on my life."

Tim Scott Sioux City Townhall At 6:30 p.m., Tim Scott will hold a townhall at Novelty Machine & Supply Co., 1635 Zenith Drive, Sioux City.

Scott's visit came the same day as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially filed paperwork to launch his 2024 bid for the White House. As of now, in national polls for the Republican primary, Scott is behind DeSantis, as well as former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. On Saturday, May 13, DeSantis made a stop at the Dean Classic Car Museum in Sioux Center, Iowa as the keynote speaker for the third annual Feenstra Family Picnic.
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SIOUX CITY  Sioux City Community School District students will graduate on Saturday.

Approximately 900 students will graduate on Saturday at the Tyson Events Center.

Ceremonies will take place at:

 North High School: 11 a.m.

 West High School and VIBE Academy: 2:30 p.m.

 East High School: 6 p.m.

Doors will open to the public open hour before each ceremony, according to a Sioux City Schools news release. During each ceremony, a professional photographer will take a portrait photo of each graduate, which will be available for graduates and families to purchase.

All guests attending the graduation ceremonies will be required to pass through the Tyson Events Center metal detectors upon entry into the ceremonies.

The following items are not permitted at graduation ceremonies:

 Silly string;

 Cowbells;

 Air horns;

 Large bags / backpacks, coolers or boxes;

 Bottles, cans, glass containers, liquid containers or other projectiles;

 Any food product, coolers or backpacks;

 Laser devices;

 Projectiles;

 Skates, skateboards, Heelies or scooters;

 Strollers;

 Alcohol or illegal drugs;

 Tobacco of any kind;

 Animals, other than service animals;

 Signs/posters;

 Any item or action deemed to challenge public safety;

 No Weapons of any kind, including lawful concealable firearms and;

 Any other item deemed unacceptable by Tyson Events Center Management or the Event Producer.
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AUSTIN, Texas  A criminal investigation in Texas over the hesitant police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting is still ongoing as Wednesday marks one year since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde.

The continuing probe underlines the lasting fallout over Texas' deadliest school shooting and how the days after the attack were marred by authorities giving inaccurate and conflicting accounts about efforts made to stop a teenage gunman armed with an AR-style rifle.

The investigation has run parallel to a new wave of public anger in the U.S. over gun violence, renewed calls for stricter firearm regulations and legal challenges over authorities in Uvalde continuing to withhold public records related to the shooting and the police response.

Here's a look at what has happened in the year since one of America's deadliest mass shootings:

POLICE SCRUTINY

A damning report by Texas lawmakers put nearly 400 officers on the scene from an array of federal, state and local agencies. The findings laid out how heavily armed officers waited more than an hour to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman. It also accused police of failing "to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety."

All of the students killed were between the ages of 9 and 11 years old.

At least five officers who were put under investigation after the shooting were either fired or resigned, although a full accounting is unclear. The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Col. Steve McCraw, put much of the blame after the attack on Uvalde's school police chief, who was later fired by trustees.

McCraw had more than 90 of his own officers at the school  more than any other agency  and has rebuffed calls by some Uvalde families and lawmakers to also resign.

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell said last week that Texas Rangers are still investigating the police response and that her office will ultimately present the findings to a grand jury. She said she did not have a timeline for when the investigation would be finished.

On Monday, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said he was frustrated by the pace of the investigations a year later.

"They don't have answers to simple questions they should have," McLaughlin said of the families.

CALLS FOR GUN CONTROL INTENSIFY

President Joe Biden signed the nation's most sweeping gun violence bill in decades a month after the shooting. It included tougher background checks for the youngest gun buyers and added more funding for mental health programs and aid to schools.

It did not go as far as restrictions sought by some Uvalde families who have called on lawmakers to raise the purchase age for AR-style rifles. In the GOP-controlled Texas Capitol, Republicans this year rejected virtually all proposals to tighten gun laws over the protests of the families and Democrats.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also waved off calls for tougher gun laws, just as he did after mass shootings at a Sutherland Springs church in 2017 and an El Paso Walmart in 2018. The issue has not turned Texas voters away from Abbott, who easily won a third term months after the Uvalde shooting.

UVALDE GRIEVES

The Uvalde school district permanently closed the Robb Elementary campus and plans for a new school are in the works. Schools in Uvalde will be closed Wednesday.

About a dozen students in the classroom where the shooting unfolded survived the attack. Some returned to class in person last fall. Others attended school virtually, including a girl who spent more than two months in the hospital after being shot multiple times.

Veronica Mata, a kindergarten teacher in Uvalde, also returned to class this year after her 10-daughter Tess was among those killed in the attack.

Some Uvalde families have filed lawsuits against the gun maker and law enforcement.

Remembering the victims of the Uvalde school shooting Alexandria Lexi Rubio, 10 Amerie Jo Garza, 10 Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10 Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10 Eliana Ellie Garcia, 9 Eva Mireles, 44 Irma Garcia Jacklyn Cazares, 9 Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10 Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10 Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10 Layla Salazar Makenna Lee Elrod, 10 Maite Rodriguez, 10 Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10 Rojelio Torres, 10 Tess Marie Mata, 10 Uziyah Garcia, 8 Xavier Lopez, 10 Alithia Ramirez, 10 Miranda Mathis, 11
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DES MOINES, Iowa  Footage from body cameras Des Moines police officers were wearing when they shot and killed a 16-year-old boy will not be made public, a state panel has ruled.

The Iowa Public Information Board ruled May 18 that video of the shooting should be withheld, dismissing a complaint filed by Des Moines TV station KCCI that sought to have the video released.

Trevontay Jenkins was killed in the Dec. 26 shooting in an apartment.

Prosecutors have linked his death to a Jan. 23 shooting at the Starts Right Here alternative school in Des Moines that left two teenagers dead and the programs founder injured. Disparaging comments about Jenkins surfaced online following the police shooting, which prosecutors say led Jenkin's half brother and another teen to kill 16-year-old Rashad Carr and 18-year-old Gionni Dameron.

Bravon Tukes, 19, and Preston Walls, 18, have been charged with first-degree murder and other counts for the killings. The two will be tried separately later this year.

The Iowa Public Information board dismissed the complaint filed by KCCI-TV reporter James Stratton on the basis of Iowas juvenile records law, according to the station. City attorneys had previously denied the stations records request filed with the Des Moines Police Department.

Stratton argued the video should be released because Jenkins did not enter the criminal justice system, and said the department could remove identifying information from the video, according to the Des Moines Register.

Three police officers fired more than a dozen times after the boy allegedly pointed a gun at them. Officers were dispatched to the home to respond to a domestic dispute and have said they tried unsuccessfully to de-escalate the situation.

The Iowa Attorney Generals office determined the officers acted with legal justification.
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An ethanol plant in north-central Iowa failed to maintain its equipment to limit air pollution and repeatedly emitted harmful chemicals over the course of more than a year, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The department recently fined POET Bioprocessing, in Iowa Falls, the maximum administrative penalty of $10,000.

POET, based in South Dakota, has 33 facilities in eight states, according to its website. The company acquired the Iowa Falls site on the southwest edge of town from Flint Hills Resources in June 2021, according to a recent DNR administrative order.

Since then, the company has reported at least 10 instances of excess emissions to the DNR that were a result of its fermentation process.

That process involves yeast converting sugars in corn into ethanol. It emits carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants.

The DNR alleges that operators of the facility, which produces more than 115 million gallons of ethanol per year, have failed to adequately maintain and operate emissions-control devices, resulting in the excessive releases of acetaldehyde, acrolein, methanol and volatile organic compounds.

Actual harm to the environment and public health likely occurred due to the amount of pollutants that were emitted, the DNR order said.

Ethanol has been favored as a fuel that is blended with gasoline because it results in less pollution emissions from vehicles compared with unblended gasoline. The ethanol industry also creates greater demand and higher prices for Iowa corn.

POET is working with the agency to resolve the issues identified, the company said of the DNR. Sustainability is at the core of POETs mission, and we are dedicated to operating our facilities with excellence.

The excessive emissions POET reported to the DNR were the result of temporary failures of emissions control equipment, maintenance to the equipment or releases from a safety valve due to high pressures, the DNR order said.

In June 2022, the facility temporarily reduced its production rate in order to bring its emissions into compliance.

Further, the department said POET has postponed DNR-supervised compliance testing when the company knew the test would reveal a violation.

Postponing the compliance test to avoid a documented violation is considered credible evidence of a violation, the DNR said in a February 2022 notice.

The recent administrative order was a compromise negotiated between the company and the department. A letter from POET to the DNR in December that was part of the negotiation pushed back against the notion that the company was deliberately blocking the DNRs oversight when it delayed compliance tests.

POET Iowa Falls did not attempt to avoid DNR directly observing a noncompliant stack test to avoid a documented violation, the company said. POET Iowa Falls personnel attempted to mitigate and minimize an excess emissions event upon discovery. The team evaluated potential solutions and instead of continuing to operate in a potential excess emissions state, expeditiously implemented corrective action to lessen any negative impact on the environment.

The company has self-reported more than a dozen emissions violations to the DNR in the past year, most recently in January, according to state records.

The DNR order says POET must provide the department with a detailed explanation of excessive emissions in 2021 and 2022 and a plan to prevent similar emissions in the future.

The order requires more frequent emissions testing and precludes the company from delaying compliance tests that are overseen by DNR staff, unless the department agrees to the delay.

The company also agreed to pay the $10,000 fine and consistently maintain its equipment, the order said.
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The Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision rejecting a lawsuit against a police detective who pursued charges against a man later acquitted of sexual assault.

Joshua Venckus sued the City of Iowa City and Police Detective Andrew Rich for their role in his criminal prosecution in a rape case. Venckus alleged the case was pursued against him although he had what he described as an airtight alibi.

Ruling that Venckus malicious-prosecution claim could not succeed because the sexual assault charge was supported by probable cause throughout the proceedings, the justices affirmed the district courts decision to grant the city and the detective summary judgment in their favor.

The rape occurred on Feb. 16, 2013, at an Iowa City house rented by Venckus and others. A girl who attended a party there fell asleep on a couch in the main living room, only to be awakened by someone pinning her down and cutting off her breathing. She was eventually able to run out of the house, screaming for help.

Rich, the lead investigator on the case, went to the house where the occupants said Venckus was in Chicago that weekend. Police found evidence that someone had entered the house through a basement apartment window. Nearby, they found the wallet of a man named Ryan Markley.

Initially, the police focused their investigation on Markley. But DNA testing of the samples taken from the victim and her clothing eventually revealed two different male DNA profiles: that of Markley and Venckus.

Venckus told police he had been in Chicago that weekend with family and offered his bank card and cellphone to the detectives to verify his location. Bank records showed food and a movie ticket had been purchased in the Chicago area on February 15, the day before the attack. Venckus was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, though his claim of being in Chicago was supported by his roommates and family, as well as a Chicago-area lawyer who swore under oath that he had met with Venckus in his law office at about 2 p.m. the day before the assault.

At trial, a defense expert opined that DNA from Venckus blanket  which had been used to cover the victim when she went to sleep in the living room  had been transferred from Markley to the victim during the attack, saying the quantity of Venckus DNA on the victim wasnt consistent with him been the attacker.

The victims blood had been found on the inside of Markleys jeans, her skin cells had been found in the fly of his jeans, and Markleys skin cells had been found in the victims cervix, and Detective Rich testified there was no evidence that more than one person committed the crime. Still, Rich testified the evidence leaned more heavily toward Venckus being the perpetrator.

A plea deal was eventually reached with Markley, who entered a guilty plea to second-degree burglary and an Alford plea to a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse without injury, a misdemeanor offense. Rich was present at the meeting where the plea agreement was discussed and supported it, while the lead prosecutor opposed it and was overruled by her superiors.

Venckus case went to trial and a jury returned a verdict of not guilty. After his acquittal, Venckus sued Rich and the city for defamation, abuse of process and malicious prosecution. After the civil case was dismissed by the court, Venckus appealed, and an Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowed part of the case, alleging malicious prosecution, to move forward. But the district court eventually ruled in favor of the city and Rich in approving their request for summary judgment, stating the city and Rich had judicial-process immunity from such claims.

In affirming that decision on Friday, the justices noted the ongoing existence of probable cause in the case against Venckus.

DNA evidence linked Venckus directly to the crime; indeed, his DNA was found in the victims cervix, the court ruled. Also, other than an attorney whose visit with Venckus occurred more than twelve hours before the sexual assault, the individuals supporting Venckus Chicago-area alibi defense were exclusively friends and family. Venckus could not definitively say how he got to Chicago that weekend. No record of a bus ticket was found, and the friend who purportedly drove Venckus failed a polygraph test. Notably, Venckus replaced his cell phone the day after the attack.

The court added that none of this is to question the jury verdict in the case, but said a malicious-prosecution claim required a lack of probable cause. Probable cause existed here, the court stated. This is not a case where Detective Rich knowingly provided false information to the prosecutors or knowingly withheld material information.
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For the second time in 10 years, an Iowa nurse accused of stealing patient painkillers has had her license suspended by the state.

The Iowa Board of Nursing recently voted to indefinitely suspended the license of Tammie Lynn Illg, 47, of Whittemore, alleging that in October 2022 she stole prescription pain killers from a patient. The suspension will remain in place until Illg completes a chemical dependency evaluation and provides proof of 12 months of sobriety.

Court records indicate Illg was working as a nurse at West Bend Health and Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto County, where, on two different days, she gave a patient Tylenol rather than the mans prescribed Oxycodone and then kept the prescription drug for herself.

Illg was criminally charged with dependent adult abuse and felony drug diversion. She has pleaded guilty to the drug-diversion charge and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 16.

In 2014, the board imposed a license-suspension order against Illg after she was convicted of trespassing and possession of a controlled substance. Court records indicate those criminal convictions stemmed from allegations that Illg had stolen 14 Hydrocodone tablets from her place of employment at the time, which the board didnt identify.

Other recent actions by the Iowa Board of Nursing include:

Carine Ayuk of Owings Mills, Maryland  The board charged Ayuk with falsification of licensing credentials. According to the board, Ayuk submitted a license application to the Iowa Board of Nursing three years ago, in May 2020, and was issued a license one month later. The board now alleges the credentials Ayuk provided were falsified in some manner. Ayuk has agreed to surrender her license.

Sonia York of Burlington  The board ordered York to complete a three-day virtual course in patient boundaries and professional ethics. The board had charged York with making lewd, suggestive or sexual comments. Its not clear from the available public documents to whom the comments were directed. York was charged with the formal offense making the comments to a patient, but board documents indicate the charge was based on the boards allegation that she had exchanged text communications of a sexual nature with the son of a patient.

Stephanie Monds of Gray, Georgia  The Iowa Board of Nursing charged Monds, who was working at an unspecified Iowa hospital in 2021 and 2022, with four regulatory violations: misappropriation of patient medications; committing an act that may adversely affect the physical or psychosocial welfare of a patient; violating patient privacy rights; and failing to assess or accurately document a patients status. She was accused of giving patients only a portion of the medications she had obtained for them and then failing to account for the rest of the medication. She was also accused of obtaining medication for patients not assigned to her and then wasting the drugs by disposing of them. As part of a settlement agreement with the board, Monds agreed to relinquish her privilege to practice in Iowa. In 2011, the Georgia Board of Nursing was informed that Monds had been fired from her job as a nurse for diverting narcotics to her own personal use. The Georgia board subsequently placed her license on probation, which she successfully completed.

Melaney Thomas of Cedar Rapids  After being charged by the Iowa Board of Nursing with violating patient confidentiality, Thomas was ordered to complete 30 hours of educational training on patient privacy and the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act. Thomas was accused of accessing the medical files of five family members on several occasions while working as a hospital nurse between October 2021 and June 2022.

Julianne Redington of Cedar Rapids  The Board of Nursing charged Redington with committing an act that may adversely affect the physical or psychosocial welfare of a patient or client. According to the board, that charge is based on an allegation that while employed at an unspecified care facility in the fall of 2022, Redington had an inappropriate interaction of some kind with either the residents, the staff or the relatives of residents at the facility where she worked. The board did not elaborate on Redingtons alleged conduct. The board ordered her to complete 30 hours of educational training on managing difficult patients.

Sarah Bracht-Wagner of Mason City  The Board of Nursing ordered Bracht-Wagner to complete 60 hours of educational training in ethics and nursing procedures after alleging she had performed nursing services outside the authorized scope of practice for her license and then falsified records. The charges stemmed from allegations that she administered to a patient intravenous medications she was not trained to deliver, then falsely documented that someone else had administered the drugs in order to conceal her actions.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and public servants who fled the mob's attack told a judge on Wednesday that they are still haunted by what they endured, as the judge prepares to hand down sentences in a landmark Capitol riot case.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta heard victim impact statements a day before he's expected to deliver the first Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy sentences to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and an associate convicted of plotting to block the transfer of power from President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors are seeking 25 years behind bars for Rhodes, which would be the longest sentence by far handed down among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens crossed paths with Oath Keepers members in Senate hallways as rioters invaded the building, shouted insults and threw projectiles at police. Owens recalled his wife bursting into tears when she saw the blood and bruises on his arms and legs after the riot.

We experienced physical trauma, emotional trauma and mental trauma, Owens said during the hearing in Washingtons federal court . The traumas we suffered that day were endless.

Rhodes scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad as he listened to the statements.

Terri McCullough, who was chief of staff to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said rioters were trying to hunt down the California Democrat as her staffers hid in a conference room for hours, hearing chants and threats.

The defendants violated our workplace, our government and our democracy, McCullough said, adding, Democracy succeeded.

Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who was assigned to Pelosi's security detail, said some of his co-workers have quit because of what they experienced.

Lives and careers have been ruined and will never return to normal, he said.

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who encountered Oath Keepers in the Rotunda, said rioters turned the citadel of American democracy into a crime scene. Dunn said he is a shell of his former self and dreads coming to work every day.

While he still feels scarred by Jan. 6, Dunn said he found a little relief from the jury's conviction of Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, adding that he is profoundly grateful that, in this case, justice has been done.

The judge also heard statements from Virginia Brown, who was a Senate chamber assistant and helped carry a box of electoral votes across the Rotunda on Jan. 6. As the mob breached the Capitol, Brown kicked off her shoes so she could run faster. She recalled fearing for her life and praying that she wouldn't encounter any insurrectionists.

I constantly relive the memories of that day, said Brown, who was a college sophomore at the time. I cannot measure how many hours of sleep I've lost.

Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November alongside Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs after prosecutors spent weeks making the case that Rhodes and his extremist group followers had plotted an armed rebellion to keep Biden, a Democrat, out of the White House in favor of Trump, a Republican.

Rhodes, who didnt go inside the Capitol, took the witness stand at trial and told jurors that there was never any plan to attack the Capitol and that his followers who did went rogue.

Meggs will also be sentenced on Thursday, followed by two Oath Keepers on Friday who were acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other crimes. Another four Oath Keepers convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial in January will be sentenced next week.

Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for the Oath Keepers besides Rhodes.

The judge canceled the sentencing scheduled this week for one defendant, Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia, as he weighs whether to overturn the jurys guilty verdict on obstruction and a documents tampering charge.

Prosecutors are urging the judge to apply enhanced penalties for terrorism, arguing the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Judges have so far rejected the Justice Department's request to apply the so-called terrorism enhancement in the handful of Jan. 6 cases it has sought it in so far, but the Oath Keepers case is unlike any others that have reached sentencing to date.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a week to over 14 years. The remainder have received sentences such as probation or home detention.

The sentences for the Oath Keepers may signal how much time prosecutors will seek for leaders of another far-right group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial this month. Those defendants include former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is perhaps the most high-profile person charged in the sprawling Jan. 6 investigation. The Proud Boys are scheduled to be sentenced in August and September.

Over seven weeks of testimony, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to defend Trump, discussed the prospect of a bloody civil war and warned that the Oath Keepers may have to rise up in insurrection to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act.

On Jan. 6, Rhodes' followers shouldered their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. The Oath Keepers had stashed weapons at a Virginia hotel for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if needed. The weapons were never deployed.

Rhodes' lawyers are urging the judge to sentence him to the roughly 16 months behind bars he has already served since his January 2022 arrest. In court papers filed this month, Rhodes attorneys argued that all of Rhodes writings and statements were protected political speech.

None of his protected speech incited or encouraged imminent violent or unlawful acts, nor were any likely to occur as a result of his speech, they wrote.
'American Idol' Season 21 winner, Iam Tongi, has spoken up amid the recent criticisms surrounding the show's results. A wave of accusations claims that the highly sought-after competition has been rigged.

In the face of unwarranted skepticism, the Hawaii native expressed his gratitude for the immense support he has received from fans and her fellow contestants.

'American Idol' Winner Iam Tongi Speaks Up

The "American Idol" winner, Iam Tongi, has spoken up for the first time since winning the long-running singing competition, according to The New York Post. He started by extending gratitude to everyone who voted for him, enabling him to emerge as the lone victor of Season 21. The 19-year-old Hawaii native says the experience is "amazing."

"Now that [I am] the 'Idol' of the 21st season, [it is] crazy," Tongi told TV Insider in his recent interview.

The "American Idol" 2023 winner also feels good that he got an opportunity to inspire other aspirants in his journey to victory.

His recent remarks came after he won the intense competition. His victory was tarnished with widespread criticisms, alleging rigged results. Some even pointed out that the 18-year-old bested the other contenders due to a "sympathy vote."

The backlash came after Tongi, a high school senior, shared with the "Idol" judges, including Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan, that his father recently passed away. He told the jury that his dad died after grappling with Stage 4 kidney disease months before he joined the sensational singing competition.

Besides sharing his story, the high schooler made a heartfelt gesture throughout the competition. He played the guitar of his late dad during his electrifying performances.

But sad to say, the instrument broke down in the middle of the intense competition. Despite that, the 18-year-old says he will treasure his father's guitar.

In his post-winning interview, Tongi says, "[it is] not a bad thing to talk about your problems and what you go through."

Read Also: Katy Perry Slammed by 'American Idol' Contestant for 'Mom Shaming' Comment During Audition

'American Idol' Crowns Iam Tongi as Season 21 Winner

According to the Los Angeles Times, Tongi bested Megan Danielle, who took the second place, Colin Stough, sitting at the third spot, and the other "American Idol" contenders.

Tongi's incredible vocal range and emotional performances throughout the competition earned him praise from the judges.

On top of that, his heartfelt performances also resonated deeply with the viewers. And as such, Tongi's initial audition easily went viral online. It made history after amassing a staggering 16 million views on the YouTube account of "American Idol," outperforming all other audition clips.

Related Article: Katy Perry Urges Fans to Watch American Idol Amid Backlash Over Judging Style

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MIAMI (AP)  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday with firm words but a disastrous Twitter announcement that did little to counter criticism that the 44-year-old Republican may not be ready to take on former President Donald Trump.

While he tried to project confidence, DeSantis' unusual decision to announce his campaign in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk ultimately backfired. The audio stream crashed repeatedly, making it virtually impossible for most users to hear the new presidential candidate in real time.

American decline is not inevitable  it is a choice. And we should choose a new direction  a path that will lead to American revitalization, DeSantis said on the glitchy stream, racing through his conservative accomplishments. I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback."

While his critics in both parties delighted in the rocky start, DeSantis' announcement marks a new chapter in his extraordinary rise from little-known congressman to two-term governor to a leading figure in the nations bitter fights over race, gender, abortion and other divisive issues.

DeSantis path to the Republican presidential nomination will not be easy.

He enters the race looking up at Trump in early polls while facing serious questions about his far-right policies, his campaign-trail personality and his lack of relationships across the Republican ecosystem. He has generated significant interest among GOP primary voters by casting himself as a younger and more electable version of the 76-year-old former president.

He did not mention Trump even once in his discussion with Musk that ultimately spanned more than an hour. But he said he was ready to fight.

Buckle up when I get in there, because the status quo is not acceptable, DeSantis said.

The ultimate Republican nominee is expected to face Democratic President Joe Biden on the general election ballot in November 2024.

DeSantis joins a field that also includes former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also considered a likely presidential candidate but has not yet announced a bid.

In choosing Twitter on Wednesday evening, DeSantis tried to take a page out of the playbook that helped turn businessman-TV celebrity Trump into a political star, but it didn't go as planned.

The online event started off with technical glitches that Musk said were due to straining servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. More than 20 minutes passed beyond the scheduled start time with users getting kicked off, hearing microphone feedback and hold music and dealing with other technical problems.

DeSantis' Republican opponents were merciless.

Failed soft launch? Check. Failed announcement? Double check. We look forward to Ron DeSantis failed campaign," said Mark Harris, the lead strategist for Haleys super PAC.

Trump went further: Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH! he wrote on his social media site.

Still, DeSantis' campaign said it raised $1 million online in the first hour after the announcement.

We had a huge audience," DeSantis said in a subsequent interview on Fox News when asked about the technical difficulties. "It was the biggest they ever had. It did break the Twitter space. Were really excited about the enthusiasm.

DeSantis, who likely would not have become the Florida governor without Trumps endorsement, has adopted the former presidents fiery personality, his populist policies and even some of his rhetoric and mannerisms.

Yet DeSantis has one thing his rival does not: a credible claim that he may be more electable than Trump, who faces multiple legal threats, including criminal charges in New York, and who presided over Republican losses in three consecutive national elections.

DeSantis, just six months ago, won his reelection in Florida by a stunning 19 percentage points  even as Republicans in many other states struggled. He also scored several major policy victories during the Republican-controlled Legislatures spring session.

We need to win again," DeSantis said on Fox. "As Republicans, weve got to dispense with this culture of losing.

Aware of DeSantis draw, Trump has been almost singularly focused on undermining his political appeal for months, attacking him at every opportunity. Trump and his team believe that DeSantis may be Trumps only legitimate threat for the nomination.

But the kitchen-sink attacks and nicknames wont be DeSantis only hurdle.

He is a political heavyweight in Florida and a regular on Fox News, but allies acknowledge that most primary voters in other states dont know him well.

Despite his lengthy resume, friends and foes alike note that DeSantis struggles to display the campaign-trail charisma and quick-on-your-feet thinking that often defines successful candidates at the national level. He has gone to great lengths to avoid unscripted public appearances and media scrutiny while governor, which is difficult, if not impossible, as a presidential contender.

The Florida governor spent much of the day behind closed doors.

In an example of his level of media avoidance, his official Twitter account for governor posted a photo Wednesday afternoon of a bill signing surrounded by dozens of bikers for legislation to help reduce motorcycle accidents in Florida. Reporters were not notified of the event ahead of time.

Late Wednesday, DeSantis office announced that he signed a broad election law bill that contains a provision allowing him to run for president without resigning his post as governor, exempting himself from a state rule known as resign to run.

Would-be supporters also worry that DeSantis has refused to invest in relationships with party leaders or fellow elected officials, raising questions about his ability to build the coalition he would ultimately need to beat Trump. By contrast, Trump has scooped up an army of endorsements in key states, including Florida.

Beyond the primary, DeSantis greatest longer-term challenge may rest with the far-right policies he enacted as governor as an unapologetic leader in what he calls his war on woke.

The Florida governor sent dozens of immigrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He signed and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill  known by critics as the Dont Say Gay law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.

More recently, he signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize theyre pregnant. And he removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Floridas new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

DeSantis also signed a law this year allowing Florida residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit. He pushed new measures that critics warn would weaken press freedoms. He also took control of a liberal arts college that he believed was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

The governors highest-profile political fight has come against the Florida entertainment giant Disney, which publicly opposed his Dont Say Gay law. In retaliation, DeSantis seized control of Disney Worlds governing body and installed loyalists who are threatening to take over park planning.

We will never surrender to the woke mob and we will leave woke ideology in the dustbin of history, he said once the Twitter stream started working.
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  South Carolina became the latest state to move toward a near total abortion ban Wednesday with legislation that if enacted would leave Virginia an outlier in the South as a place that allows relatively permissive access to abortions amid a rapid rise in restrictions in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy  often before women know theyre pregnant  under the bill that now must pass the state Senate, which previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions but could give final passage to the new legislation next week.

And most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the states Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governors veto late Tuesday.

Abortion is banned or severely restricted in much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, its allowed only in the first six weeks.

Such restrictions are possible because the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion.

It would be just devastating for abortion access in the South, Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said of the proposed six-week ban in South Carolina, the 12-week ban in North Carolina, and a six-week ban in Florida that will take effect only if the state's current 15-week ban is upheld by the state Supreme Court.

But North Carolina Rep. Sarah Stevens, a Republican, said she sees the 12-week ban and other restrictions in North Carolina's new law as safeguards, not obstacles to abortion.

We seek to balance protecting unborn babies while ensuring the safety of mothers, she said Tuesday.

Stricter bans across the South would heighten Virginias role as an access point and create a ripple effect as people travel from out of state to seek care, Lockhart said.

Despite abortion providers' efforts to increase available appointments and expand access for patients through telemedicine, the dramatic influx in out-of-state patients will lead to longer wait times for people in those access states, Lockhart said.

Virginia currently allows abortions in the first and second trimesters. An abortion is allowed in the third trimester only if three doctors certify the mothers mental or physical health is at serious risk.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, pushed for a 15-week ban during this years legislative session, but that was defeated by the narrow Democratic majority in the state Senate.

Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, said Wednesday that the state's laws became out of step with its neighbors during years of liberal influence.

Virginians are going to have to work to protect our Commonwealth from being exploited by the abortion industry, Cobb said.

The costs of travel for women who need to go outside their home states for abortions can quickly pile up, said Ashlyn Preaux, who helps run an abortion fund in South Carolina. Her organization helps patients pay for abortion care as well as gas cards and sometimes plane tickets.

If South Carolina enacts new restrictions, she expects to help send more patients to Virginia and Washington, D.C.

"All of these things add up and its just not anything that people are prepared for, Preaux said. Its not really treated at all like its a health care issue.

The South Carolina House vote capped nearly 24 hours of grueling debate split across two days as the Republican supermajority tossed or defeated over 900 Democratic amendments. Lawmakers paused for roughly eight hours early Wednesday only after a computer glitch.

Democrats repeatedly spoke for all three minutes allotted per amendment. One would have required that residents read The Handmaids Tale. Another sought to make the state cover funeral costs for anyone who dies upon being denied an abortion.

Republican Rep. John McCravy urged colleagues to support the only path forward to prevent our state from becoming an abortion destination state in the Southeast.

Attention now turns to the Senate. Lawmakers could accept the House changes and send the measure to the governor who has indicated he would sign it. Or they could put the bill to a conference committee, where members from each chamber would have to work out their differences.

Until then, abortion remains legal through 22 weeks in South Carolina, and the state had already seen an increasing number of out-of-state patients before Florida and North Carolina enacted new restrictions. Farther west, women often travel to Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico or Colorado.

Provisional state health department data show South Carolina reported nearly 1,000 abortions in each of the first three months this year, after totaling just over 200 in the one full month that a previous six-week ban took effect last year. Nearly half of the patients reportedly came from other states.

Until Tuesday, North Carolina had been considered a safe space, said Dr. Erica Pettigrew, a family medicine doctor in Hillsborough. But now, North Carolinians will be health care refugees to other states, she said, also criticizing provisions of the law for potentially creating more paperwork, along with additional medical and licensing requirements.

Another challenge to abortion access was considered Wednesday when a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether the Food and Drug Administrations approval of the widely used abortion drug mifepristone should be overturned. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing a ruling by a federal judge in Texas who ordered a hold on approval of mifepristone, a decision that overruled two decades of scientific approval of the drug. That ruling was stayed while the appeal is pending.

Lawyers seeking to preserve access to the drug used in the most common method of abortion got pushback Wednesday from the appellate judges, who each have a history of supporting restrictions on abortion. A ruling is not expected immediately.

In Michigan, one of the leading states in protecting abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Wednesday that will prohibit companies from firing or otherwise retaliating against workers for having an abortion.

The legislation amends the states civil rights law, which had previously only outlawed employment discrimination if an abortion was to save the life of the mother. It will ensure that workers cannot be treated differently for receiving an abortion regardless of reasoning.

This story was first published May 17, 2023. It was updated May 24, 2023 to remove an incorrect reference to Virginia law allowing unrestricted access to abortion. The state allows greater access than many Southern states but has restrictions on abortion.

Kruesi reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; James Pollard and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gary Robertson and Hannah Schoenbaum in Raleigh, North Carolina. Schoenbaum and Pollard are corps members 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.
Over the weekend, the internet found a new hero: anti-capitalist, direct-action-taking killer whales. Following the publication of a LiveScience article reporting that killer whales, or orcas, around the Iberian Peninsula had started sinking boats and appeared to be teaching others to do the same, social mediaTwitter in particularran with the story.

The popular satirical WhaleFact account tweeted: Humans have fucked around long enough, it is now time to find out. Tweets picked up on the suggestion that whales targeted yachts and other luxury vessels, hoping the rogue whales might seek out billionaire Amazon owner Jeff Bezos next. Users referenced direct action, solidarity with orca saboteurs, and grassroots organizingand penned some (terrible) puns, a la orca-strating and orca-nizing. References to anti-colonial struggle and Land Backocean backalso appeared. Both an Amazon labor organizer and a New York Times columnist described the whales as comrades. Memes and jokes abounded; one user adapted the lyrics of the song Bitch to read: Im a bitch/ Im an Orca/ Sinking boats/ Just off Majorca. The Merriam-Webster Dictionarys Twitter account, never one to miss out on a moment, got involved, posting that MWs definition of orca did not yet include BOAT DESTROYER, but that they welcome our new Delphinidae Overlords.

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Although the yacht-sinking whales inspired a fun and raucous moment, that moment was also bittersweet. Scientists quoted in the LiveScience coverage hypothesize that a critical moment of agony (perhaps a collision or entanglement) traumatized matriarch White Gladis and led her to start attacking similar vesselsand others to follow suit. Whether the behavior is spreading through imitation or intentional teaching, its adoption resonates with existing knowledge about orcas: They are intelligent creatures who learn, adapt, and may even mourn; they can go through cultural fads (including a rather charming one in which one whale prompted others to start wearing salmon hats); and they live in tight-knit matriarchal social structures.

Reports of orcas attacking yachts and other vessels are not new, even in recent times; similar stories popped up in the news in 2022 and 2020. These attacks on boats also have a longer history across whale and dolphin species, not just orcas. A classic example is, of course, the events of Herman Melvilles novel Moby-Dick, and of the wreck of the whaleship Essex, which partly inspired Melville. But what immediately came to mind for me, as the internet fell in love with White Gladis and her crew, was another whale: the gray whale. Killer and gray whales are typically pitted against each other as foes because the former preys on the latter. Yet gray whales themselves have a history of being taken for sea monsters, similar to the killer whales. Gray whales are infamous as devil-fisha nickname they acquired for their unusually ferocious responses to mid-19th-century Yankee whalers attacks in the Mexican lagoons where they gave birth. These devil-fish rammed boats, injured whalers, and inspired fear among whaling crews. As the story goes, mid-20th-century protections allowed the devil-fish to become the friendly whale by the 1970sa gentle giant that approaches small boats and allows people to touch it. In other words, the idea has been that humans changed their behaviors (from destruction to care), and whales responded accordingly.

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In my own work as an environmental historian, I found that this devil-fish to friendly whale arc doesnt quite hold up to historical scrutiny. Instead, friendly whales appeared prior to this apparent transitionand often at the same time as devil-fishes. Like the contemporary orcas, past gray whales who struck boats could spark a wide array of human storiesfrom tales of vengeful monsters to tragedies or pitiful accidents. Some of the stories people have told about these incidents that Ive encountered in the course of my research border on absurd: An 1899 report of sociable whales that approached yachts said they mistook the yachts for potential mates. Another from the same era told of a gray whale who followed a commercial vessel for miles on end, and who purportedly interpreted the ships crew spraying it with bullets as love taps.

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Across a wide range of time periods and geographies, various whale species have altered their behaviors in relation to changing human activities. For example, a recent, widely covered study suggests that sperm whales in the 19th-century North Pacific shared information about Yankee whaling among themselves, changing their behaviors to avoid those whalers. According to environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth, bowhead whales in the Bering Sea, which were initially more docile than other whales, began to avoid Yankee whalers in the mid-19th century; a sea shanty from around that time claimed the devil has got into bowhead whales. (But even as the whales got away from those whalers and disappeared into labyrinthine ice, Indigenous hunters across the Bering Strait continued successfully hunting bowheads.)

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Other examples from the historical record include shifts among right whales in response to commercial whaling in the early 19th-century South Pacific, the influences of whalers and bowhead whales on each other during an era of climate change in the 17th-century Atlantic Arctic, and stories about contemporary narwhals evading satellite surveillance. These examples show how whales are not static objects affected by human history, but rather active participants who change alongside shifts in political, social, and cultural conditions.

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Whales change their behaviors in relationship with humans social changes, and alongside these shifts come shifts in human perception and interpretation of those behaviors and changes. Often, when people describe changing human attitudes toward whales, they tell a black-and-white story: Either people save, watch, and respect the whales, or we eat, kill, and fear them. The story has a historical trajectory: We used to exploit and fear whales, and now we respect them as intelligent, social beings. Respecting whales becomes mutually exclusive with fearing whales; eating whales becomes mutually exclusive with loving whales. This is the version of events that emerged during the Save the Whales movement in the 1970s, and in the context of the broader mainstream Western environmental movement, and its the version that continues to permeate public discussions of whales today. From the transformation of the blackfish into Shamu to the devil-fishs evolution into the friendly whale, you can find this story everywhere.

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But many environmentalists, like me, have come to feel like this way of thinking about interactions between humanity and nature is limited and unproductive. Remember the We Are the Virus meme that emerged early in the COVID-19 pandemic, in which a universalized and homogenized humanity was represented as a virus destroying all other life on earth? In our absence, nature was said to be healingas demonstrated, in the first instance, by reports of dolphins returning to the canals of Venice. The later memeification of this idea interestingly, and accurately, critiqued its absurdity, misanthropy, and inaccuracy. We Are the Virus environmentalismthe sincere kindis an outgrowth of a type of thought that sees humans as always separate from, and dangerous to, an external Nature. If you think that, you may also tend to view the future in similar either/or wayseither we are doomed to destroy the rest of the planet and ourselves along with it, or we will successfully achieve a level of technological prowess that allows us to manage planetary change effectively.

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me heading to Europe to join the orca war https://t.co/vssdyf2aJn pic.twitter.com/cbeqrA1s2s  Evan Dotas (@POTUSAtTheDotas) May 20, 2023

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This boat-attacking-whale-comrades moment feels differentand exciting. Part of what makes these boat-sinking whales into anti-capitalist allies is their choice of targets. Much of the coverage and response focuses on the whales attacking yachts in a popular European vacationing location. These yachts symbolize excesses of wealth under capitalism. This story simply wouldnt have the same appeal or political resonance if the whales werent targeting symbols of wealth, waste, and opulence.

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The unique combination here, then, is that this orca attack moment embraces a less universalizing environmentalist perspective. Although there certainly is some bemoaning of humans deserving the whales attacks as their due comeuppance, what I find exciting about these responses is how many of them dont fall into the We Are the Virus trap. Many of the responses connect the plight of killer whales to social, cultural, and political issues of inequality, land rights, labor rights, capitalism, imperialism, and uneven and exploitative development. Yes, some of this is in jestbut the jokes, I would argue, arent entirely joking.

somebody tell the orcas about this guy https://t.co/CwUb8nNSWx  Olufemi O. Taiwo (@OlufemiOTaiwo) May 23, 2023

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Animals are doing weird and funny stuff as our shared planet changes rapidly. From whales showing up halfway across the world from where they should be, to what anthropologist Nayanika Mathur calls crooked catstigers, lions, and leopards which defy standard expectations of their species by preying on humans and our companion and livestock speciestransforming to become more devilish in response to joint pressures of capitalism and climate change, we should expect the unexpected about nonhuman life. This moment of celebration offers a window into what it might look like to move out of the idea that whales can be either dangerous monsters or priceless objects worthy of protection. Maybe joining the orca war can be an act of radical solidarity with both other people and other beingsif we orca-nize carefully.
The idea that the romantic comedy is a genre in decline is at least as old as When Harry Met Sally, the movie name-checked in both the first and last episode of the new Apple TV+ series Platonic. When that now-classic story of friendship turned love first hit theaters in the summer of 1989, some critics considered it, in the words of the Chicago Tribunes Gene Siskel, a pale imitation of Annie Hall. (Siskels At the Movies sparring partner Roger Ebert disagreed with a vigorous thumbs-up.)

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The rom-com is tough to pull off now, the argument goes, because the vast changes in social and sexual behavior since the genres screwball-era heyday make it difficult to find meaningful obstacles to the union of two consensually romance-seeking adults. With divorce, cohabitation, same-sex relationships, the hookup culture enabled by birth control, and other alternatives to happily-ever-after straight marriage on the table, in a way they werent during Hollywoods golden age, the plausibility of the will-they-or-wont-they plot diminishes along with its social relevance.

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Even rom-coms that switch up the genders of the leads or otherwise place them in more modern contexts still tend to uphold at least one binary: the one that divides friendship from romantic love. Platonics pilot episode sees Will, a brewer and bar owner played by Seth Rogen, justifying his post-divorce coffee meetup with long-estranged pal Sylvia (Rose Byrne) by assuring his business partners Andy (Tre Hale) and Reggie (Andrew Lopez) that men and women can indeed be friends. Doesnt When Harry Met Sally prove it? Nah, says Andy: Thats a bad example. Harry marries Sally. They fuck. That movie should be called When Harry Fucked Sally, Reggie concurs.

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The rest of Platonics 10-episode season devotes itself not to ratcheting up the sexual tension between Will and Sylvia, but to demonstrating the tension their growing nonsexual intimacy creates in the rest of their lives. Sylvias husband Charlie (Luke Macfarlane)not the stiff bore who usually fills this spot in the rom-com universe, but a devoted, charming, and knee-meltingly handsome manis understandably hurt that his wifes emotional energy seems more invested in Will than in him, even as he trusts (after some initial doubts) that the two are not doing anything physical. These two former party buds are mutual enablers, for better and for worse; when they get together, the chaos that tends to ensue is both creative and destructive (though either can be a source of hilarity).

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Platonic was co-created by a real-life married couple: Nicholas Stoller, the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the Neighbors movies, and Francesca Delbanco, the novelist who, with Stoller, created the Netflix series Friends From College. Though it shares an easygoing shagginess with those properties (and other mid-2000s Judd Apatowproduced movies to which it owes a stylistic debt), this is a polished and considered piece of work, a conscious bid to rethink the rules of what might be thought of as domestic comedy. Rogens and Byrnes characters arent seeking to make a home together; in fact, a season-long subplot involves his enthusiastic participation in a house hunt for her and her family. The series conflict hinges instead on the two finding a new place in the world with each others help. Who will she become now that the youngest of her three children is in full-time school? How will he recover from a nasty divorce and figure out how to turn his passion for beer-brewing into a solvent business?

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Platonic makes these ordinary characters everyday concerns as dramatically engaging and funny as it does thanks to the Tracy-and-Hepburn-level (or is it Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell?) chemistry between its perfectly cast leads. Rogen and Byrne are real-life friends who have played spouses twice in the Neighbors movies. They share a talent for conveying inner vulnerability while exchanging wisecracks, and for exhibiting borderline antisocial behavior without losing the audiences sympathy. As Byrne has pointed out in interviews, the show is at heart a buddy comedy. If the pleasure Will and Sylvia took in each others company werent as palpable as it is, the questions the show raises about the proper role of friendship in our adult emotional lives would feel like abstract debate prompts. Instead, I found myself legitimately asking: Would I feel rightly annoyed if my partner had a friend as close as Sylvia is to Will? And if I suddenly developed an attachment that intense in midlife, would I be miffed if my family or co-workers deemed the relationship unhealthy?

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Platonic is not without flaws. The episodes are only half an hour, but because there are 10 of them, the show can sometimes feel padded, and a romantic relationship that develops between two side characters feels inserted as a narrative contrivance rather than arising organically from the shows world. As is too often the case in sitcoms about parenting, Sylvia and Charlies children never emerge as real characters; the day-to-day child care issues a stay-at-home mother of three would necessarily be contending with seldom seem to interrupt the flow of her and Wills near-daily shambolic misadventures. And, significantly for a show that assigns itself the task of rethinking the rom-com, there is no queer relationship anywhere in sight, though Guy Branum appears in a too-small recurring role as Charlies deadpan gay co-worker. The absence of such a storyline is especially puzzling given that just last year Stoller co-wrote and directed Bros, a gay rom-com that featured two of Platonics strongest supporting cast members, Macfarlane and Branum. Would the presence of a queer couple destabilize this shows premise about whether opposite-sex friendships can remain chaste? And if so, in a show thats all about overturning rom-com conventions, wouldnt that be a good thing?

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What Platonic gets right about the romantic-comedy genre, though, ultimately makes up for the shows shortcomings. This show understands that, in art as in life, one of the great joys the world has to offer is the act of hanging out with someone who truly gets you, sharing french fries, in-jokes, and stories of your often boring, occasionally magical lives. I appreciated, too, the matter-of-factness with which both leads are presented as potential objects of romantic desire. As recently as Neighbors 2, made seven years ago, Rogen was the target of some visual gags that compared his less-than-toned torso with the far more sculpted abs of the frequently shirtless frat boy played by Zac Efron. Other movies, from Knocked Up to Zack and Miri Make a Porno to Long Shot, have taken as part of their premise the notion that no woman as conventionally hot as Katherine Heigl or Elizabeth Banks or Charlize Theron would think of someone like Rogen as a potential mate.

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Over the course of 10 episodes, as Sylvias husband moves from mistrust to acceptance of his wifes connection to her bestie, the disparity in the two friends respective degrees of attractiveness is never cited as an argument either for or against their getting together. As a fan who has nursed a crush on Rogen for going on two decades, I felt vindicated at last in my taste for scruffy, deadpan dudes with normal, un-gym-honed physiques.

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If Platonic could be considered a 21st-century return to When Harry Met Sallys structuring question (Can men and women be friends?), the answer the show finally provides is appropriately equivocal. In the context of middle age, a time of life focused on career and family responsibilities, what does it mean to forge an intense new bond with anyone? No matter the gender or sexuality of the people involved, friendship, like love, can be a tricky and heartbreaking business. In this shows rueful last episode, Will and Sylvia meet up again after a period of separation, as a montage recalls the high and low points of their nonromantic courtship. The dysfunctional euphoria of that time, its implied, is now a thing of the past, but the connection the two share is permanent. In the context of a friendship rom-com, thats as happily-ever-after as it gets.
Chalk it up to perversity: In the midst of a horrifying anti-LGBTQ+ backlash, amid a wave of state legislative violence against trans people specifically and our self-expression broadly, all I can think about is queer utopia. If that phrase brings to mind something like the meme of a glassy, futuristic cityscape dotted with pristine green spaces and flying carsmaybe with more rainbow decalsits more abstract than that. These days, when I wax utopian, Im picturing the flourishing of a certain outsider perspective that tests, reimagines, and improves the received normal for everyone. Im looking ahead to a world that values our difference, that recognizes, grudgingly or enthusiastically, that its better off with us than without us.

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A decade ago, it was the other way around. During the relatively summery Obama years, as we rode wins for marriage equality from Iowa to New York to the U.S. Supreme Court, as we secured unprecedented federal backing for workplace protections, housing, and health care, I didnt trust the optimism. I volunteered with the New York City Anti-Violence Project, a nonprofit tracking violence against LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected communities, and we were the gay killjoys braced for the counter-swing. Its well documented how bias-motivated violence increases alongside advancements in LGBTQ+ rights. Our teeth-gritting may not have fit the moment, but triumphalism spooked me. Love demonstrably doesnt always win.

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Now, after the Pulse and Club Q shootings in 2016 and 2022, in the midst of a concerted anti-trans panic from the right and the cowardly ambivalence of center-left institutions, with armed posses marshalling to intimidate drag queens reading storybooks, and state governments siding against the queens and the books, pessimism is in. And yet it is at this moment that I am most persuaded that LGBTQ+ people are poised to bring about a better world. That it is our perversity exactly, our ill-fittedness within a society that cant quite accept us, that holds the most value.

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Not only is homosexual love not worse than its more familiar counterpartsmaybe its better.

That conviction drives my new book Uranians, a collection of short speculative fiction about queer difference. I started writing these stories after Donald Trumps election in 2016 and Brazils election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018, when it was clear things were going to get much worsefor the gays, for the planet, for everything. And naturally, there are plenty of contemporary anxieties running around the stories, from climate change to hypercapitalist artificial intelligence. But theres also a weird, unnerving optimism building over the course of themI didnt know where it came fromthat culminates in the title story, a piece of full-throated, operatic queer utopianism.

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That title comes from Edward Carpenter, a pioneer of gay rights in Victorian England. In his remarkable 1908 book, The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women, he proposes the Uranianhis term for gay men and womenas not only worthy of compassion and tolerance, but also full of radical, utopian potential, even the natural leaders of mankind. It was an audacious thesis for the time, and of course not all of it holds up. But even so, it is precisely now that Carpenters earnest, almost cringey utopianism strikes me as utterly compelling. However dangerous, exhausting, and evil the current anti-LGBTQ+ wave is, it clarifies why such powerful interests mark us as a threat: because, as Carpenter saw, we really can change the world.

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Carpenters queer journey catalyzed in the spring of 1891, when the distinguished lecturer, poet, and socialist got cruised at a Derbyshire train station. He had noticed the 24-year-old George Merrill in the train car and clocked his somewhat free style of dress; the two men exchanged a look of recognition. When he descended from the train in rural Sheffield, Carpenter greeted some friends on the platform who had come to visit him and set off walking toward his cottage in Millthorpe, about four miles over low pastureland. Merrill, ditching his own friends, followed at a distance. After a mile, Carpenter improvised to fall behind his guests and talk to Merrill, who suggested they turn back to town and so forth.

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At 46, Edward Carpenter cut a strikingly handsome figure, with dark, high-arched brows, a full, silver beard, and an intensity to his features belied by the sheer earnestness of his idealism. An early British socialist, Carpenter organized and wrote polemics advocating for unions, animal welfare, vegetarianism, and anti-pollution measures. He was an early adopter of a certain rural, simplified lifestyle movement that George Orwell would later deride as every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, Nature Cure quack, pacifist, and feminist in England. Orwell here definitely had Carpenter in mind, and only the fourth charge (sex-maniac) was unfair. Carpenter was, if anything, too careful, a bit hopeless even, his enthusiasm for men more often unconsummated and unrequited, directed at younger, working-class socialists with at best ambivalent sexualities. Carpenter did not take up Merrills invitation and abandon his guests. But he did get the young mans name and address.

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George Merrill came from the slums of Sheffield, with the proletarian bona fides Carpenter romanticized in his pamphlets and pined after privately; he was sexually confident, experienced, foul-mouthed, flirtatious. In drifting between industrial and service jobs around England, Merrill had racked up several affairs with upper-class men, whose gifts hed sent home to his father to be pawned. Nothing went unconsummated between him and Carpenter.

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Merrills sexual audacity had a famous galvanizing effect on others. When E.M. Forster first visited the couple at the cottage in Millthorpe, in 1913more than 30 years after their first encounterthe novelist was self-conscious and too much in awe of Carpenter, until Merrill came up beside Forster and gently palmed the crest of his ass. The sensation, Forster wrote, was unusual and I still remember it, as I remember the position of a long-vanished tooth. It was as much psychological as physical. It seemed to go straight through the small of my back into my ideas, without involving any thought.

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Forster went home and wrote his great gay novel Maurice, its cross-class lovers modeled on Carpenter and Merrill. He sent it to Carpenter the next August, though it would not see publication until 1971, after Forsters death.

For Carpenter, the influence of his happy affair with Merrill showed in his invigorated interest in liberal sexual politics, and, in particular, his criticism of Britains gross indecency laws, which had recently expanded the criminalization of homosexual acts. From 1893 to 1894, he wrote four progressive tracts on sexuality: Woman and her Place in a Free Society, Marriage in a Free Society, Sex-Love and its Place in a Free Society, and finally, Homogenic Love and its Place in a Free Society.

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Homogenic Love kicks off with erudite citations of same-sex Comradeship in works of Homer, Sappho, Hafiz, Tennyson, and Whitmanas well as an inexpert, though well-meaning, argument that similar bonds appear across African, Polynesian, and other non-Western cultures. It then insists that this form of love, though not to be reduced to a sexual act of the crudest and grossest kind, still demands some kind of physical expression. Summarizing still-untranslated work by early sexologists like Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Homogenic Love places homosexuality and heterosexuality on equal footing spiritually, sociologically, and scientifically, with either liable to descend into morbid, neurotic forms or inspire great virtue in lovers. Carpenters argument is scholarly, reasonable, inescapably defensivea polite polemic meant to win persuadable allies from out of a skeptical public.

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In 1895, just as the four pamphlets were set to be printed, the disaster of Oscar Wildes three trials hit London. The trials are remembered now for Wildes eloquence and occasional courage in the witness box but, at the time, were dominated by lurid sensationalism, speculation, and open vilification of homosexuality. Public discourse revolved around Wildes decadence, his glib amorality, his retinue of teenage sex workers and blackmailers. Wildes scandaland his sentence of two years hard laborengendered a poisonous moral panic and a corresponding timidity by institutions that might have been receptive to Homogenic Love. Wildes diabolical example also gave the lie to Carpenters high-minded defenses of comradeshipand threw his own tastes for younger, working-class men into sordid relief. The pamphlets printer pulled the contract, Carpenters socialist friends condemned Wilde, and public opinion on homosexuality entered a dark and diffident period.

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Still, Carpenter continued to write cultural surveys and defenses of homosexuality through the decade after the Wilde trials, growing ever bolder in his optimism. In 1908s The Intermediate Sex, Carpenter comes out swinging. Here, not only is homosexual love not worse than its more familiar counterpartsmaybe its better. Maybe the increased public attention to homosexuals indicates a new type of humankind may be emerging, for whom an immense capacity of emotional love represents  a great driving force.

This Uraniantaking up a term from Ulrichs, inspired by Platoputs Love before everything else  postponing to it the other motives like money-making, business success, fame, which occupy so much space in most peoples careers. These new, intermediate sexes pursue their relationships beneath the surface of society, at the risk of disgrace, prosecution, and ruin. (Here, Carpenters early stabs at gender theory are limited, but still interesting, invoking a stereotypical binary to position queer people as healthy, helpful intermediaries.) Though copping to Uranians fair share of a poor and frivolous sort, generally, Carpenter says, the experience of the Uranian world forming itself freely and not subject to outside laws and institutions comes as a guideand really a hopeful guidetowards the future. In short, if were trying to create a socialist utopia, one driven by open, democratic principles instead of greed and narrow thinking, who better to lead this transformation than the Uranians?

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The idea is painfully beautiful, especially with the Wilde trials and the kiboshing of Homogenic Love in mindthat it is precisely because of our exclusion from polite society that we are able to better it. In 1923, an 11-year-old Harry Hay, a future founder of the Mattachine Society and Radical Faeries, discovered a copy of The Intermediate Sex in a library and was inspired.

At almost the same time, the Harlem Renaissance writer Countee Cullen came across Carpenters books, which, he wrote, threw a noble and evident light on what I had begun to believe, because of what the world believes, ignoble and unnatural. I loved myself in it.

Now, in another historically bleak moment for queer acceptance, its vital to remember that optimism of Carpenters, that our friction with majorities isnt the problem: Its our singular gift.

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Carpenters argument in The Intermediate Sex reminds meand here Im being truly perverseof the Christian apologist G.K. Chestertons argument in his book Orthodoxy, which positions the Christian as a kind of utopian fanatic, who hates [the world] enough to change it, and yet loves it enough to think it worth changing, struggling for a vision of the world that should be over more rational appeals to incremental progress. Both Chestertons Christianity and Carpenters Uranian Love stand ready to overthrow systems of reasonableness (class, capital, polite religiosity) for an ideal experienced pre-rationally, even libidinally. Both accommodate a broken world, however; neither conditions ones happiness on any final victory over injustice. Rather, they equip their utopians with ways to conceptualize lives of personal integrity within a hostile environment.

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Its a risky, thrilling political position, rooted in a self-assured zeal thats hard to nurture, impossible to justify. My collection Uranians is in many ways a set of experiments testing this politic against our massive systemic challenges like climate change and inequality. And, to be honest, Im not sure it works all that consistently. For every Marsha P. Johnson, a George Santos. In the era of Pride parades brought to you by J.P. Morgan Chase, queernesss anti-capitalist potential often seems more conspicuous in its failure than its fruition. But success is hardly a fair measure for utopiasthey all bomb at scale, thats their whole vibe. It may be that Carpenters queer utopianism works best as one more lifestyle movement, inhabited instead of evangelized.

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Take climate change. Fossil fuel interests may have abused the notion of individual carbon footprints, but its still important to confront how mass consumption drives demand. And in the U.S., at least, when we look at the sectors responsible for most of our emissions, its hard not to see the connection between, on the one hand, emissions from transportation, power generation, land use, agriculture and the meat industry, etc., and on the other hand, a pattern of consumption tied up with a certain image of American middle-class prosperity. You know the one: single-family suburban home, the crowded commute, college funds for the kids, and the high-earning jobs that pay for this lifestylewhich tend to be jobs aligned, indirectly or not, with our fossil-fueled status quo. As one of my characters in Uranians puts it, Maybe feeling like you have to have two kids, two cars, a grass lawn all winter, and a steak dinner every night to be happy is what got Earth into such a bad state. And, more than unsustainable, the dream is precarious, so that any attempt to swap out its props and set dressings gets treated as a threat to happiness itself.

Queer people arent exempt from this way of thinkingoh my God, we are notthough for a long time, this particular American dream was actively hostile to us. More fundamentally, we are all equipped with some experience of breaking out of vigorously defended social narratives, of letting go of precarious, unhealthy self-conceptions, of doing the painful work of figuring out our own thriving in an adverse environment. Thats real strength, and its strength the rest of our country needs to seeespecially in the rough times ahead. Happiness doesnt have to look like whatever youve been sold. Trust us. This is the experience of the Uranian world forming itself freely that Carpenter proposed as a hopeful guide for the future, and I think hes still rightat least, he could be.

If thats optimism, then I admit, its a more sobered, wind-bitten kind than what we usually like that word to mean. Not an assurance that things will turn out all right, but an opportunity to make a breaking world a little more livable. Not that gleaming futuristic city on a hill, but a home that only we can build.

For more on Uranians, listen to an interview with the author on this months Outward podcast!
This story was produced in partnership with the Garrison Project, an independent, nonpartisan organization addressing the crisis of mass incarceration and policing.

Each day following the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, new details emerge about the police response. New reporting has made clear that the police held back for over an hour while the gunman fired his AR-15-style rifle nearly 200 times. When asked why the police delayed entering the schoolwhile children called 911 repeatedly, begging for helpa lieutenant for the Texas Department of Public Safety said, If they proceeded any further not knowing where the suspect was at, they couldve been shot, they couldve been killed.

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Uvalde, a small town in Texas of less than 20,000 people, spends 40 percent of its budget on police; its department has its own part-time SWAT team. While police delayed engaging with the shooter, distraught parents attempting to find their kids were handcuffed and tased. Law enforcement officials initial accounts of the mass shooting have changed repeatedly: At first, officials said police encountered the gunman as he entered the school, and later said that he walked in behind a teacher who left a door propped open. Both of those statements have been proven false, and Texas Department of Public Safety has said the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police have stopped cooperating with their probe. The U.S. Department of Justice announced a Critical Incident Review into the police response.

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The excruciating 78-minute timeline in Uvalde echoes the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in which 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz has been charged with shooting and killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. Scot Peterson, a Broward County Sheriffs Office deputy and school resource officer, never entered or attempted to enter the building and remained in his position outside the school for approximately 48 minutes, according to a 2019 report from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. Peterson faces 11 criminal charges including felony child neglect. I didnt do anything wrong that day at all, Peterson says in his defense.

The police response to both shootings has garnered widespread scrutiny and outrage, as parents questioned why law enforcement failed to immediately engage the shooters, as they have been trained to do since the deadly school shooting in Columbine, Colorado. Officials in both cases have responded to the backlash with conflicting messages about their approach. Their actions before, during, and after both shootings raise critical questions about the role of police in school shootings, and if the purpose of police in schools is to protect studentsor solely to punish them.

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These questions follow a national reckoning over policing, during which several cities including Minneapolis and Oakland disbanded their school police departments. But many state and federal elected officials responded to broader calls to defund the police and divert money into violence prevention by beefing up police budgets and expanding the police ranks. But the tragedies in Uvalde and Parkland show that increased spending and more officers in schools doesnt prevent violence or save lives. Thats because we have a fundamental misconception about the role of police: While most people think that police have a duty to attempt to protect people from harm, the law has been clearcops have no such duty.

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A little-scrutinized 2018 lawsuit filed in federal court by more than a dozen Parkland-shooting survivors against the cops and other officials they say failed to protect them paints a picture of police officers more concerned with punishing students for minor infractions than in protecting them from harm. Possibly because the students lawsuit was dismissed not long after they filed it, some of Petersons actions that day have gone unreported, including the fact that the morning of the Parkland massacre, he was not engaged in important public safety functions. Instead, according to the lawsuit, he was conducting a fruitless and unlawful search of students backpacks, looking for drugs.

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T.M., a sophomore, arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at approximately 7:43 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2018, a few minutes late for the first bell. The student, who was identified only by his initials in the lawsuit because he was a minor, was escorted to the front office almost immediately. There, he joined about 10 to 15 other students who were waiting to be questioned by school administrators. The 15-year-old, who had never been in trouble at school, was not told why he was there. When administrators searched T.M.s backpack, they found $200, and referred the boy to Peterson, who took the money from him and accused him of selling drugs. T.M. insisted the money was for taking his girlfriend out that night for a Valentines Day dinner.

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Defendant Peterson told T.M. that he could search everyone in T.M.s weight training class and that he only needed one student to say they got it from T.M. in order to pin it on him, the lawsuit notes. At 9:30 a.m., Peterson called T.M.s mom, who again told the deputy that the money was for the dinner. Defendant Peterson asserted that T.M. is not manly enough to own up to what he did and that he doesnt like students like T.M. because they look good on paper but are actually really bad kids, the lawsuit noted.

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When Peterson found a Beats headphones case in T.M.s backpack, he was like oh, this is where you hide your drugs and this is where like, you keep your stash so we cant find it, T.M. said in a sworn deposition in the case, and I was like not really. Its just for my headphones. In the end, Peterson found no drugs or paraphernalia, only unsigned late passes in the boys bag. After detaining T.M. for about two hours, during which he told T.M.s mother that her son was going to be watched like a hawk at the school, Peterson gave the money back, and sent the boy to in-school suspension for the day.

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Peterson partly saw his role as enforcing the prevention of juvenile delinquency, according to court documents. He had been with the Broward County Sheriffs Office for 32 years and was known in certain law enforcement circles as Rod which is an acronym for retired on duty due to the lackadaisical nature with which he approached the task.

At 2:19 p.m, just hours after Peterson conducted the mornings search of students that had yielded little more than unsigned late passes, Cruz allegedly entered the high school armed with an AR-15-style rifle in a duffel bag. After the alleged killing spree, Cruz shed his rifle and vest and walked out of the school, making several stops at fast food restaurants before being stopped on a residential street more than an hour after the shooting started.

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T.M. was one of 15 plaintiffs who sued Peterson, Broward County, and other school and police officials including thenBroward Sheriff Scott Israel in 2018 for arbitrary and conscience-shocking actions and inactions that directly and predictably caused children to die, get injured, and get traumatized.

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But late that year, a district judge ruled that, contrary to a widely held understanding that police have a duty to protect people, the police have no constitutional duty to do so. In December 2020, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision, adding that police have no duty to protect people unless they are in their custody, and saying that in situations where split-second judgments are required, an officials conduct will shock the conscience only when it stems from a purpose to cause harm. 

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After all, the judges wrote, quoting a decision they used as a precedent,  not every injury is an injury of constitutional magnitude.  That case involved someone in police custody: A 67-year-old man with dementia attempted to enter a nearby trailer that wasnt his, and when the trailers occupants called police, they arrested the man and took him to jail, where he was severely beaten by his cellmate. When his family sued the guards, the court dismissed the suit, ruling that their actions didnt rise above mere negligence.

Research has shown that schools with police officers have higher arrest rates and suspension rates than those without, and that Black children are arrested at disproportionately high rate. After Parkland, the Florida Legislature allocated $97.5 million for more school resource officerswhich failed to prevent or intervene in the Parkland shootingand allowed school staff to volunteer as armed guardians. A 2020 University of Florida report linked the rise in police presence at schools to increased arrests of students and reporting of children to law enforcement, particularly for less severe infractions and among middle schoolers.

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In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting, it seemed like there could be accountability for the officials involved in decision-making that day. In 2019, Israel was suspended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and then later removed from his post. But just weeks before the Uvalde shooting, Israel was named police chief of Opa-locka, Florida, a city of 15,000 in Miami-Dade County.

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Police in Uvalde are likely to face similar lawsuits, criminal complaints, and disciplinary actions as the Parkland officials came up against in the aftermath of the Marjory Douglas shooting. But the outcome of the Parkland student survivors 2018 lawsuit makes clear that the legal standard for police for protecting people in a crisis is a far cry from what most Americans expect.

It is clear that the current approach to public safety for students and staffwhich revolves around policingis not an adequate approach to preventing or responding to these devastating tragedies, said Philip McHarris, a researcher at Princeton who studies policing. We need to address the root causes of why these tragedies continue to occur and develop alternative approaches to safety that put students and staff first.
The news cycle moves so quickly that we too often forget the things we should remember. Like the shooting in a Uvalde school that killed 19 children and two of their teachers. It was a little more than one month ago. We spoke with someone who will never forget, Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who serves the citizens of Uvalde. Hes spent much of the past month looking for answers. Gutierrez came to the city the night of May 24. And hes stayed there for most of the time since, to be there for his constituentsto listen and to give them what support he can. Some of the people who lost their children blame law enforcementfor not doing enough, fast enough, to save their kids. The state senator has been looking for answers about law enforcements failings that day. But hes also keeping the pressure on, knowing that the clock is ticking for Texas to take real action.

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On Wednesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Gutierrez about what hes doing to make sure no one forgets what happened on May 24 in Uvalde. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Mary C. Curtis: I cant help but wonder, tempting as it is to harp on law enforcements failuresand they certainly are quite a fewif that might be missing the point, which is that an 18-year-old was able to buy an assault weapon and use it to kill people. One commentator put it like this: Demanding that police respond more swiftly and courageously once the slaughter of school children has already begun is itself the mark of a broken society, which no longer seems able to ask that we prevent such killings in the first place. What do you think?

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Roland Gutierrez: I think that there is everything to that statement. Lets be clear: We spent two hours in a committee hearing talking about a door that was malfunctioning. This isnt about doors. Its not about metal detectors. Its not about putting fencing all around our schools and limiting to one door, as our lieutenant governor would have, or even ballistic shields. This is about militarized weaponry in the hands of 18- to 21-year-olds. This is about not having red flags laws in Texas and a governor who refuses to employ them. This is about not having waiting periods.

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Look, Im a realist. I live in Texas, and I even own guns myself. I dont own these types of guns. But I know my constituents and I know what my constituents in West Texas like and what they want. At the end of the day, even my Republican constituents are telling me Im right on raising the age limit to 21. Its the simplest thing we can do. Greg Abbott could go in there, call a special session right now, and insist on one change, and thats an age limit. Then he can drop the microphone and leave the building. Hed be the star in this state. But instead, he chooses to sell his soul because he cares more about the NRA and their money than he does about innocent children in Uvalde, Texas.

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You gave a very emotional speech to the Senate Special Committee to Protect All Texans about what you witnessed in Uvalde. What were you hoping to accomplish? Because you note that youre not trying to tell them to vote in a certain way. So what did you hope people would take away from what you shared about that experience?

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It sounds harsh, but I wanted them to feel the horror, the pain, and the suffering. Emmett Tills mother, she said, Leave his casket open. She wanted the world to see what they had done to her little boy. I saw seven little girls in coffins. I wanted people to understand the horror of what these families have had to deal with.

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Because of the way Texas politics works, not only is the Legislature not in session, but lawmakers wont return to the capital until January of 2023. So Gov. Greg Abbott has called for the formation of a special legislative committee to examine and develop legislative recommendations. Do these seem like useful exercises to you?

No. Weve been down there before, with Santa Fe. With Sutherland Springs. With El Paso. With MidlandOdessa. This is simply another ruse, another attempt to bamboozle the Republic of Texas, to stall. Until the media goes away, until these stories go away, until people are talking about something else. He has done nothing. Massacre after massacre, this man has done absolutely nothing. And a special committee is absolutely doing nothing. Until we get in there on a date-certain 30-day legislative session, pursuant to our constitution, then nothing can be done.

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What are you hoping that such a special session could accomplish and achieve?

Well do anything. A red flag law, a background check law, a magazine capacity law. What I really would like to see is the age limit increase to 21, like they did in Florida. Do anything. Do something. Greg Abbott likes to talk about evil. The only evil that exists in this state is having elected leaders, people in power, that have a problem staring them straight in the face and doing absolutely nothing about it.

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I wonder what would be on your legislative wish list versus what you think is a realistic agenda in the state of Texas that you know so well?

Well, Im sure theyll come back in January and well talk about doors and windows and locks and school hardening. And yet again, well spend next to no money on it. Look, we spend $4 billion on a failed border security plan, and they spent $100 million on school hardening in 2019. Look where that got us. They failed these kids. Im sure therell be some of that. Im sure therell be some mental health money. I doubt that Greg Abbott will avail himself of the red flag incentives that are going through Congress at this time. But what I will be pushing for at a bare minimum, what Ill be yelling from the rafters is to change the age limit to the age of 21, and I will find any bill I can to make an amendment to do that.

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But we also have the federal gun deal. What do you make of that particular proposal?

Listen, we are in the desert, and we are dying of thirst. So I suppose that something is something. But that said, it comes with too many options for governors or people in power to say no to, like the red flag incentive piece. If Abbott doesnt avail the state of those benefits, then were left without anything. Were left without red flags. Weve got a greater background check process, which is fine. But we dont even touch the age limit requirement. And I dont understand why, when the vast majority of Americans say to raise the age limit to 21.

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Now, youve said in a recent interview that the South Texas school district has talked about applying for a federal grant program called Project SERV, the School Emergency Response to Violence, to raze Robb Elementary. What are the parents in Uvalde saying about the future of the building and what needs to be done?

I havent heard from one single parent that wants to send their school kids there. The president was very helpful. His staff in the White House was very helpful in calling me directly to figure out how we can help do that. I put them in contact with the school superintendent. The school superintendent and I have been collaborating. Were going to keep moving forward to try to get to that end, but theres not one single parent that wants to send their kids into that building.

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The last thing on my mind is just something you alluded to earlierhow short peoples attention spans are. You talked about how people are delaying things until it goes away. How fast the news cycle is. Does any part of you worry that by the time legislators get back to Austin, whether for special session or new legislative term, most Texans will have moved on and the pressure will be off.

The first Saturday after the shooting, I was fueling up my car early in the morning. I saw a young couple putting ice in an ice chest, filling up their car with gas, presumably going to the lake or wherever they were going. I couldnt understand why this young couple in San Antonio werent feeling my grief and my pain. I couldnt understand why they had forgotten what happened just three short days ago in a town 90 miles away. And the fact is that most of the world just kind of moves on. People have their own issues, their own problems to contend with. All I can do for myself is figure a way to talk to people, where we keep reminding them. Because youre right, as soon as the dust settlesand its settlingmost people will move on. And I feel most people already have. So maybe all I can do is yell and scream and shame people. Maybe thats all thats left of my career. I dont know.

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How do you keep people tuned in? Because every week there seems to be a new tragedy. Uvalde followed Buffalo and people stopped talking about that.

For my part, I want people to organize, not to vote or anything like thatalthough thats something that I imagine will come in time. But for my part, I want them to tell their story. I cant tell it for them as well as they can, when theyre ready. They need to be advocates for themselves. They need to be advocates for their children. They need to be advocates for the parents across Texas. I try to tell those folks that were going to get through this. But I also ask them to do the hardest thing possible, which is to talk about this, when theyre ready. Families that lost children are going to deal with this for the rest of their lives. Imagine all of those hopes and dreams and aspirations that they had for their children and the hopes and dreams and aspirations that those little kids had for themselves, even just to simply enjoy a summer vacation that was just about to happen. All of that in an instant is gone because we in power couldnt figure it out.
Theres a longstanding tradition in Washington that during the presidents State of the Union address, there are these special guests in the audience, avatars for what politicians want to get done.

Tuesday night, President Joe Biden is said to have invited the family of Tyre Nichols, who was killed at the hands of Memphis police. A former Afghan ambassador will be in the audience, too. Each member of Congress has their own guest list. Thats how Brett Cross was invited to be one of those guests.

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In truth, Cross wishes he could be anywhere else. An invitation was extended to him because of the public tragedy hes living through. Back in May, his 10-year-old son, Uzi, was killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. When I asked Cross how he wanted to use his time in Washington, he said, I want to talk about my son and enlighten people on him and the devastation that the inactions of other people have caused the families such as myself.

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You could say the guests in the audience tonight are political props. But Brett Cross is trying to make himself more of a political stumbling blockunavoidable, there to trip you up if youre not paying attention. He knows what it means to be stonewalled by politicians. Right after Uzi was killed, Cross came to D.C. to advocate for an assault weapons ban. When he met with his local congressman, a Republican, it didnt go so great.

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There was a bunch of our families there and everybody was asking questions and talking, and he did his regular spiel. And so I asked him, Are you in support of [an assault weapons ban]? And he wouldnt answer, and he wouldnt answer, Cross said. And I said, No, sir, I asked you a question and I need a yes or no. And then finally he said, No, I believe in our Second Amendmentthe same BS that everybody spills.

Even after all this, Cross, who will not be able to attend Tuesday nights State of the Union, keeps coming back to Washington. Its almost like he cant help it.

Hes done other, more personal things, to remember Uzi too. Like, he got tattoosone of Spiderman, Uzis favorite superhero. But the other is an upside-down flag. On the white stripes, he inscribed a quote: The sounds of children screaming have been removed. That was the warning that was put at the top of the video showing the way police officers waited in Robb Elementarys hallways while kids were dying. That always stuck with me, Cross said, because the sounds of their screaming wasnt just removed from that video. It was removed from life. Their screaming and yelling at PE and playing and laughing and their voiceseverything has been removed now. All we have are videos and recordings. There is a void there that hurts. It literally aches. I feel like Im doing an injustice to Uzi and other children if Im not fighting.

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On Tuesdays episode of the show, I spoke with Brett Cross about what its like to be forced to the center of the fight for gun safety in this country. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Mary Harris: May 24, 2022, is the day Brett Cross life changed in ways he is still trying to understand. Thats when an 18-year-old gunman walked into Robb Elementary School and killed his 10-year-old son, Uziyah, along with 18 other fourth graders. Two teachers were killed too.

The trauma of that day continues to ripple outward now. Losing a kid in a mass shooting means you suddenly have to make all kinds of decisions. Like, do you go back to work? Before Uzi died, Cross worked as a wind turbine technician. He took time off to grieve. Then he started wondering if he could ever go back at all.

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Brett Cross: I recently got let go, so my boss was absolutely amazing and he tried to help me as much as he could. I took off the FMLA and everything because that is a very dangerous job. Youre working around 35,000 volts of electricity and 300 feet in the air. Its a very hazardous job, and I wasnt able to get back to that. And they sent me a letter saying if I didnt show up Jan. 2, then I was fired. I showed up, and I was only able to do it for about a week. My boss helped get me in the office. But the office is where I got the phone call that day.

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That there was a shooting at the school.

Im opening my work phone for the first time in seven months, eight months, and the first thing that pops up was the messages to my wife when were trying to find Uzi, messaging back and forth. Because we were informed that kids ran to the funeral home. They ran to the neighborhood and the hospital. So were texting back and forth: Have you found him? Is he at the hospital? Is he out? And it just  man, thatll make you spiral hard because it takes you right back to that day.

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I read that you built a memorialat home, with some of Uzis favorite things, like the water bottle that the school gave you back with his name on it. Do you still have it? Do you still add to it?

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Theres a case where his urn is, and we add to it when certain things come in or we see something that reminds us. And we have a little memorial out in the front as well with a bench and tons of paintings and prayer rocks and tear bottles and Bibles and quilts and stuffed animals and everything like that.

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I hadnt thought about that, how the stuff might keep coming. And I know its all well-intentioned, but I dont know if it feels heavy when you get it.

Kind of. It was especially rough in the beginning. But we still get stuff occasionally. And we got so overwhelmed with stuffed animalsIm talking about 40, 50, 65 animals that people just kept sendingso we donated them to a women and childrens shelter.

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Was there a moment after the shooting where you felt like you had to decide who you were going to be? Maybe its a choice youre constantly making.

I dont really feel like there was a change. I can tell you the exact date I decided I wanted to fight. Uziyahs funeral wasnt until June 13, and the day after his funeral, I was just like, Im going to fight. And then thats when they were doing that House committee. I showed up every day to those House committees. They wouldnt let me in, but I didnt know what to do. I didnt know how to start fighting. But I knew that I had to. So I just started showing up.

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Explain about the House committees. This is in the Texas state Legislature?

Yeah, they did an investigation into it. But then they started coming down here to interview officers and teachers and everything like that. But I was there every day, just to even hear anything. And then I started that same weekend protesting.

There was a lot to protest over. A state investigation found that while nearly 400 officers responded to the shooting, it was unclear who was in charge of them all. There were school safety officers, Border Patrol agents, city police, sheriffs deputies. There were nearly 100 officers there from Texas Department of Public Safety, or DPS. And yet the shooter was able to tuck himself inside fourth grade classrooms and murder people, one by one.

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What I realized early on was that everybody was passing the buck. Nobody wanted to take responsibility for their part. The school blamed it on the cops, and the city blamed it on the school and DPS. Everybodys pointing fingers when there were failures on every front, from the school to the officers that responded to our state laws to our federal laws. It was a catastrophic failure all over. And I just realized that nobody was going to take accountability. And the only time that the school made changes was after we did this 10-day sit out.

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Can we talk about that? This is in September, and you decided to camp out in front of the school administrative building, so they couldnt avoid you. When people came in, you were there saying, No, no, no, what I want is for you to place the safety officers who were on duty when my child was killed on leave until you figure this out.

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Exactly. It wasnt a crazy ask. Its something that should have been done. Its what other places do. If an officer is involved in something, you put them on leave until the investigation is complete. These officers were out on the streets and at our schools within a week.

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I told my kids that I would always be there to protect them, that nothing bad would happen to them. And that school made a liar out of me, so I wasnt going to let them do it again. So, yeah, for the next 10 days I didnt go home.

The Uvalde school district eventually suspended its entire police force. And they didnt really say that it was because of you and your protests. They said it was because of recent developments. Did it feel like a win to you?

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Absolutely. And I wouldnt say that it was all because of me and the sit-out either. Shimon from CNN has been one of the investigative reporters that has really dug his feet in and has not let this go. And he had found that they had just hired a DPS officer who was there at Robb that day that was caught on camera saying, If it would have been my children in there, Id be in there. So I think it was the heat from both sides.

Would you have even considered yourself political before this year?

No, absolutely not. And honestly, I still dont consider myself political. Unfortunately, its the politicians that have made these political issues. They shouldnt be issues. It is not right for children to not be able to go to school and come back home. That shouldnt be political. That is basic humanity. It shouldnt be political, but its the politicians that make it political. Its the NRA that makes it political. Its the money funneling into these peoples pockets that makes it political.

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I wonder if youve had that conversation with people who disagree with you on this issue.

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I do try. Im a gun owner. I have a gun. I have it for my protection at my house. But what I also know is that my .357 pistol does the job. I dont need an assault rifle to do that. So I get that a lot: You dont know. I do know. And thats why Im telling you that this is an issueI understand guns for hunting. But what I have a problem with is the rhetoric that, Oh, well, its because theyre fun. Yeah, that shooter thought it was fun, too.

Brett Cross says, in some ways, showing up in Washington, the way hell do Tuesday nightits easier than the work hes doing back home in Texas. Thats because guns have become non-negotiable, politically, in his home state. But that hasnt stopped him or other Uvalde parents from pressing their case, anyway.

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Recently, a number of them teamed up with Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez. Theyve vowed to show up at the state Legislature every week, bringing more bills with them each time. They know an assault weapons ban wont fly in Austin, so theyre trying other things instead.

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Were going to just stay at em. Theres several laws that Roland Gutierrez is trying to push through that will help, by raising the age to 21 to buy an assault rifle, and then I want qualified immunity to be thrown out because these people376 officerssat outside for 77 minutes and did nothing.

And they cant be sued because it was in the course of doing their jobs.

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Exactly. If a doctor or a nurse comes up on a crash, they are bound to help. There are standards held by other entities. Why isnt it held by these cops?

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Theres been some reporting in the past few weeks that after the shooting, parents in Uvalde disagreed about how to press for change in the community. And I know that you have a nonprofit and there are many others, too, in Uvalde. Do all these organizations agree on what they want?

So with the families, we pretty much all agree. We all work together, and weve all agreed. The only issues that we had was with the community itself, because a lot of people just wanted to sweep it under the rug. Oh, it happened, but lets move on. Youre only ruining our community by fighting.

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So community members, who obviously know what happened, feel like somehow the school system has been attacked.

Yeah, and we get it with the police, too. Like, Oh, you just want to run off all police or youre anti-police. Im not anti-police. My stepfather is, was, a chief of police. Im not anti-cop. But Im anticops not doing their damn job, sitting around for 77 minutes while children were bleeding out and screaming and crying and begging to be saved.

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Your protest in front of the school administrative building in Uvalde reminded me of another school shooting dad whos gotten a lot of attention. This guy named Manuel Oliver.

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I know Manny. Yeah.

His son was killed in Parkland, Florida. My listeners might remember him because hes the guy who stood up when President Joe Biden announced new gun legislation and basically told him it wasnt enough. When you talk to Manny about the path forward now, what does he tell you?

What we talk about mostly is just the grief. He told me early on, Youre in it. Youre like me. And I know that youre going to give them hell and give it your all. And you got to do that. But you also have to take care of yourself. You cant fight if youre not well enough to fight. So, Im grateful to have met him. I am grateful for his experience. But I also hate it that he is in the position to have to give me that knowledge, because that means somebody elses kid was murdered.

When you think about trying to convince people, people who may be way on the other side of this issue from you, what do you think about saying?

I wear a shirt with Uzis face on it almost daily. Imagine your childs face on a T-shirt. If you cant bear that, if you cant live with that, if that is something that is terrible for you, then stand up and help us fight for change, because its not a matter of if it will happen to you. Its a matter of when, nowadays. I am full of regret for not ever standing up and fighting after any of these other school shootings. Ive called parents of victims, Ive called survivors, and I have apologized. Im sorry that when your shooting happened I was like, man, that that sucks, but Ive got to get back to work. And I didnt fight. So, which side do you want to be on? Do you want to say that you have done everything that you can in case your child is murdered? Or do you want to be full of regret like I am, thinking I didnt do anything to help change that before it happened because I was one of the ones that thought it couldnt happen to me?
Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Time this week, said that 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whos ailing both physically and mentally, should not retire from the Senate. She didnt try to argue that Feinstein was actually, secretly, very healthy. Her argument was pragmatic. If Feinstein retires, Clinton said, Democrats wont be able to replace her on the Judiciary Committee, and the Democratic plan to rebalance the federal judiciary would go poof.

Heres the dilemma: the Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires, Clinton said. I want you to think about how crummy that is. I dont know in her heart about whether she really would or wouldnt, but right now, she cant. Because if were going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.

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I understand why Hillary Clinton, who has lived the life that Hillary Clinton has lived, would assume Republicans would pull the most cynical move available to them in any given moment.

But this theorythat Republicans wouldnt allow a Feinstein replacement on the Judiciary Committee in the event she resignedis one I see Democrats float more often than Republicans. In April, for example, when Feinstein was still away from the Senate and unable to attend to her Judiciary duties, Montana Sen. Jon Tester told Politico that whether she resigns or not, it isnt going to make any difference, since Republicans wouldnt allow a Judiciary replacement in the event of a resignation.

A paragraph later, though, Texas Sen. John Cornyn threw cold water all over that idea. Sure, they were filibustering Schumers request for Feinstein to be temporarily replaced on Judiciary. But thats a whole other thing than not letting the majority have a majority on a committee.

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Traditionally thats when the resolution has been changedwhen somebody is no longer able to serve, Cornyn said. Theres never been a precedent for a temporary replacement, its my understanding. So if the circumstances were to change, I assume that the precedent would be applied.

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The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, similarly said Feinstein would be replaced on the committee if she was replaced in the Senate.

If she does resign, I would be in the camp of following the precedent of the Senate, replacing the person, consistent with what we have done in the past, Graham told CNN.

Now  maybe Graham and Cornyn are big-time liars and would succumb to pressure to keep the Judiciary Committee deadlocked at 1010 indefinitely. Its important to understand, though, how substantial a break from precedent this would beand why its not in anyones interest to break it.

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Heres the very basic idea: If you have the Senate majority, you get a majority of seats on the committee, too. Because youre the majority! Sure, the specific committee ratios are negotiated between leaders at the start of new Congresses. But the basic fact remains: The Senate majority gets committee majorities. Its common sense.

If Feinstein resigns, a new senator is named to her Senate seat, and the Senate minority successfully filibusters the Senate majority from having a majority on the Judiciary Committee, it would be more than just a break from precedent. It would violate a basic custom of legislative organization: that majorities get to be majorities. Were they to do such a thing, it would make the nuclear option inevitablei.e., the majority would act to make votes on committee assignments filibuster-free. Then the minority would lose its leverage in negotiating committee ratios. Weaponizing committee assignments is a path that neither Democrats nor Republicans, who alternate in and out of the minority, are eager to go down.

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Feinsteins decision on whether to retire or not is between her and the people of California. But she is allowed to retire if she gets tired of working while being 89 and is in sharp mental decline and constant pain. Im skeptical Senate Republicans would respond by breaking a foundational parliamentary principlelol, jinxing it so bad with this postthat majorities get to be majorities. Democrats would have options if they tried, though. Theres no need to preemptively surrender to a move of Republican procedural extremism that Republicans themselves are saying they wouldnt pursue.

Anyway! Hope Hillary Clinton is doing well.
Its more fun via email (promise). This article first appeared in our Slatest evening newsletter, which seeks to surface the best pieces published across Slates digital and audio journalism. We publish it there to help you cut to the chase at the end of each day. To get it in your inbox, along with more of the best work we published that day, sign up below.

Despite Donald Trumps insistence that he always hires the very best people, it seems hes having trouble coming up with a functioning legal team. And he certainly needs one!

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Instead, one of Trumps own lawyers testified against him, and another just resigned. Robert Katzberg explains whats going on, and how this fits in with Trumps other mounting legal troubles.

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Plus: Alvin Bragg might still nail Trump for tax fraud, Daniel Hemel writes. He breaks down how a tax fraud theory could hold up in state court.

Not so Supreme

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The way the legal press typically covers the Supreme Court doesnt capture the long ripple effects of the courts decisionsand the people whose lives are shaped by those decisions often go overlooked.

As part of our weeklong series examining how the media covers the court, were telling some of their stories:

Molly Olmstead spoke to a man whose wife was fired by the Catholic school she worked for after she received a cancer diagnosis. She sued, and the case worked its way up to the Supreme Court. He still cant believe how they ruled.

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In 2020, the Supreme Court lifted a lower courts injunction on lethal injections, allowing the Trump administration to kill 13 prisoners in just six months. To get a sense of the human toll that executions can have on those left behind, Olmstead spoke to a woman who watched her brothers execution by lethal injection in 2012.

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A Supreme Court decision also prevented the family of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, who was killed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent off the U.S.-Mexico border, from seeking justice. Shirin Ali looks at this example of the profound follow-on effects that occur after every ruling, and the devastating impact the courts ever-rightward drift has had on the lives of real people.

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Plus: Slate Editor-in-Chief Hillary Frey spoke with the ProPublica reporters who broke that huge Clarence Thomas story about how they managed to do it.

The workaround

Theres a risky move that Democrats are pushing on Biden to avoid debt ceiling disasterand it involves the 14th Amendment. Alexander Sammon explains how that could potentially work.

Full shade

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LA transit officials promised a device that would protect bus stops from the sun. What they rolled out drew outrage and instant mockery. Sam Bloch explains how the whole debacle happened.

Just build it!

Theres a solution to the affordable housing crisis that no one wants to discuss. Daniel Denvir and Yonah Freemark argue that its time for public housing to make a comeback.

Today, Slate is AS SLOPPY AS A BROKEN BUTTERCREAM*

much like the way this letter writers family is handling their wedding cakerelated drama.

(See all Slate Asterisks on Twitter!)

Thanks so much for reading! Well see you tomorrow.

Podcast episodes for May 23
President Biden looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark to the White House on Monday, June 5 to further strengthen the deep and enduring ties between the United States and Denmark.

READ NEXT: Statement from President Joe Biden on Senator Tom Carper's Retirement

The two leaders will review our efforts as NATO Allies and close partners to strengthen transatlantic security and bolster economic prosperity.

They will discuss our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's brutal war of aggression.

The leaders will coordinate on a range of issues, including energy security, climate change, and other global issues.

READ MORE: Statement from President Joe Biden on Budget Negotiations

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
On Tuesday, word leaked that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would be officially launching his presidential campaign Wednesday night in a Twitter Spaces audio broadcast with Elon Musk. The move seems designed to inject some media buzz into a campaign that haswith some justificationbeen increasingly written off by pundits who think that a candidate as lacking in charisma as DeSantis will have a hard time overtaking Trump.

No one is quite as accomplished at identifying the weaknesses in other candidates as Donald Trump, though, so lets take a look at what he said about DeSantis Wednesday on his Truth Social site, at 7 a.m., which is the ideal time to post an online screed about ones rivals from a resort in West Palm Beach. (Trump would be more formidable as a political force if he were able to apply this kind of scrutiny to himself and the candidates he endorses, but we all have our blind spots. His is whether swing voters want to hear a candidate talk for 90 minutes at a time about arcane 2020 election conspiracy theories.)

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Fact-wise, most of this stuff isnt far off: DeSantis did previously support what were, at the time, typical Republican positions on cutting entitlement benefits, and Trumps support helped him win his gubernatorial primary in 2018. (The 23% TAX ON EVERYTHING  reference is about a symbolic tax repeal bill that Republicans in Congress have talked about and sponsored for years, but which most of them probably never intend to actually pass.)

To be fully factual, Ron DeSantis name is Ron DeSantis, not Rob DeSanctimonious or Ron DeSanctus. The alterations, though, have the same effect as the references to Social Security and the 2018 Florida governor primary: signaling that Ron Rob DeSantis is an establishment dweeb, a status quo beta male (especially in his relationship to Trump) who does not have a winning touch.

DeSantis pre-campaign activities (stage-managed trips and speeches, the release of an anodyne book) have not provided much reason to believe that he is dynamic enough to transcend this reputation. But he has recently started to make the (valid) case that Trump has an electability problem, and the Musk event at least has the potential of unleashing some chaotic energy. Lets see what Rob can do out there on the trail before we totally write him off!
This is a part of Disorder in the Court, a weeklong series on the legal press and the most explosive Supreme Court in generations: how we cover it, how weve failed, and how we can do better.

This essay is adapted from the book The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, by Steve Vladeck, published by Basic Books.

No shadow docket decision brought more public attention to the Supreme Courts growing reliance on unsigned, unexplained orders, or provoked more public outrage, than the single long paragraph that the court handed down at 11:58 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2021.

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In Whole Womans Health v. Jackson, the court, by a 54 vote, refused to block S.B. 8, or the Texas Heartbeat Act, a state law banning virtually all abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, which had gone into effect 23 hours earlier. Indeed, almost 10 months before the justices would use the merits docket to controversially repudiate the constitutional right to a pre-viability abortion that the court had recognized in Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, five of the conservative justices used the shadow docket to make it nearly impossible to get an abortion in the nations second-largest state.

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As Justice Elena Kagan argued in her brief but forceful dissent, the decision both embodied and crystallized the growing critiques of the shadow docket. Moreover, the public backlash that the ruling provoked helped to spur the first public defenses of the courts changing behavior. The courts direct and indirect responses in many ways only reinforced the central critiquethat the court was not just using the shadow docket with greater frequency, but that it was abusing it. And those abuses, as they have added up, have raised serious questions about the courts broader institutional legitimacywhere it comes from, why it matters, and how it erodes. The harder question is how those abuses can and should be reined in.

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What was new about the S.B. 8 ruling was that it made enormous waves publicly. The decision dominated newspaper headlines the following day, and a flood of critical editorials and op-eds quickly followed. But this time, picking up on Kagans dissent, the stories focused not just on the substance of the courts shadow docket ruling, but also on the context in which it was handed down.

For the first time, the justices procedural behavior was a main character in the story, alongside (rather than overshadowed by) the bottom line of the courts ruling. A subsequent study by the Chicago Policy Review found that the term shadow docket went through something of a renaissance in the days and weeks after Sept. 1, appearing in more than 20 pieces in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal in the six weeks between Sept. 2 and Oct. 15. By contrast, the term had appeared in fewer than 15 pieces in those same publications in the first eight months of 2021, and fewer still during all of 2020. Apparently, it was bad enough that the court had effectively ended abortion in Texas, but it was incomprehensible that it had done so via one technical and largely inscrutable paragraph that refused to specifically resolve anything.

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The public backlash also provoked the first sustained public defenses of the courts changing behavior, beginning during the last week of September. The most sustained defense came in a speech by Justice Samuel Alito at the Notre Dame Law School on Thursday, Sept. 30.

In addition to defending the court, Alito attacked the shadow dockets critics, including me (whom he called out by name), for weaponizing the term itself as part of a broader agenda to delegitimize the court. Recently, Alito argued, the catchy and sinister term shadow docket has been used to portray the court as having been captured by a dangerous cabal that resorts to sneaky and improper methods to get its ways. This portrayal feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution.

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Whatever the phenomenon is named, the claim that those trying to document and criticize it are seeking to damage the courts independence confuses the symptom for the disease. I see (and intend) these critiques in exactly the opposite directionas an effort to convince the court, or at least those who follow it, that it is the justices shadow docket behavior itself that is damaging the court and contributing to public erosion of its perceived legitimacy.

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If change to the use of the shadow docket wont come from within, then the focus must shift to Congress. Throughout the courts first 200 years, Congress was regularly and repeatedly involved in regulating the Supreme Courts jurisdiction, including in response to concerns raised by the justices or others about the state and shape of the courts docket.

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Insofar as the rise of the shadow docket is a response to pressures from elsewhere, one response would be for Congress to attempt to reduce those pressures. In cases in which plaintiffs have sought nationwide relief against the federal government, Congress could provide for expedited, mandatory merits appeals of lower-court orders granting such relief to the Supreme Courtto make it easier for the justices to affirm or reject the injunction on the merits sooner rather than later. And in general, if the justices are intervening more often at earlier stages in litigation because of a view that certain types of cases are taking too long to reach them, Congress can (and should) respond by enabling more expeditious plenary review. These reforms would not be taking away the courts power; they would be redistributing it away from the shadow docket and toward the merits docket.

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Congress also has the unquestioned power to prescribe the standards that the justices follow in granting emergency relief. Although the court has defied those standards in many of its recent shadow docket rulings, perhaps a legislative reaffirmation would exert pressure on the justices to hew closer to them. And although Congress would come closer to constitutional limits if it ordered the court to publicly disclose the vote counts on its orders or to provide a rationale anytime it grants an application for emergency relief, Congress could certainly encourage the justices to adopt those and similar norms going forward. Likewise, it could push the court to return to the historical model for shadow docket decision-making more generally, with the default of having emergency applications resolved by circuit justices, on the narrowest possible grounds, and with an understanding that those orders have no effect beyond the immediate dispute in which they were issued.

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Now more than ever, it might seem especially odd to situate the shadow docket at the center of a narrative about the Supreme Court. After all, to a greater extent than has been true in generations, the merits docket is providing plenty of fodder all by itself. The October 2021 term alone gave us massively importantand controversialmerits rulings on abortion, climate change, guns, Miranda warning, religious liberty, and plenty of other things besides. And the October 2022 term is set to follow suit, with high-profile cases on everything from affirmative action to voting rights to whether website designers have to serve same-sex couples to how elections are conducted. In that respect, drawing more attention to the shadow docket at this precise moment in the courts history may well come across to some as akin to criticizing the design of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

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But what happens on the merits docket is possible only because of the evolution of the shadow docketespecially the power the justices have claimed to decide not only which cases theyll resolve, but which questions theyll resolve within those cases.

Slate receives a commission when you purchase items using the links on this page. Thank you for your support.

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That is to say, the merits docket exists in the shadows of the shadow docket, not the other way around. The shadow dockets role in helping to create the conditions for the contemporary merits docket would be reason enough to elevate the place of the shadow docket in our understanding of the Supreme Court. And yet the rise of the shadow docket is not just an indirect contributor to eroding public confidence in the court; it is a direct contributor as well.

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The Supreme Courts power depends to a large degree upon the publics willingness to accept its decreesto quote from Planned Parenthood v. Casey, its legitimacy is based in the peoples acceptance of the Judiciary as fit to determine what the Nations law means and to declare what it demands.

If that legitimacy turns upon the courts ability to explain itself, then the rise of the shadow docket is anathema to that understanding. The people can hardly be expected to acquiesce in decisions that they cant possibly be expected to understand. The better the public understands the inextricable link between the rise of the shadow docket and the decline of public confidence in the court, the more ominous the implications of the court staying this course becomenot just for the justices, but for the country.
The telltale sign was when he stopped taking questions.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, for years, denied that he had much interest in running for president. He kept a low national profile for most of his time in the Senate, maintaining good relationships on both sides of the aisle alongside a strictly conservative voting record. He maintained a cordial, if not gushing, relationship with President Trump, and worked with him to develop Opportunity Zones to invest in low-income communities. His national profile grew substantially in the wake of the George Floyd protests, when he put forward a Republican-only police reform bill that failed, and then spent years, to no fruition, working with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker to develop a bipartisan police reform measure.

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For most of this time, Scott was a senator whom reporters could walk up to outside the Senate subway, bug with questions, and get decent responses. That all changed within the past year. Suddenly, he was flanked by more aides, who would tell reporters to reach out to the office when they dared ask the senator a question.

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In short: He was in.

Scott made his presidential campaign official on Monday morning with a launch in North Charleston, South Carolina. That makes him the first, and potentially last, Senate Republican to throw his hat in the ring.

Scott practices an optimistic form of politics; hes not the type of showy, grievance-based senator who would, say, use his committee chairmanship to investigate Bud Light for doing a social media promotion with a trans person. This much was evident in his campaign kickoff rally.

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Our party and our nation are standing at a time for choosing: Victimhood or victory? Scott said. Grievance or greatness? I choose freedom and hope and opportunity.

Hope, opportunity, aspiration: This is not a message being offered by either of the top two Republican contenders, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. Its not one that senators who declined presidential bids, like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, or Tom Cotton, were capable of presenting, either. And its not one that has a great track record, within Republican primary politics, against Trumps black hole of grievance politics. But, its a worthy experiment, something even Scotts early backers, like Senate Minority Whip John Thune, openly acknowledge.

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Theres a lane out there, Thune told the Washington Post at Scotts launch. Were going to figure out how wide that lane is, for somebody who represents an inspirational, aspirational message.

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A happy-smiley-magical-unicorn Republican presidential primary campaign might stand a slim chance against the politics of Trump and DeSantis. But what makes it worth attempting, for Scott, is that its extremely easy to finance: Republican donors disgusted by Trump lap up the cheery archetype.

Scott is a prolific, well-connected fundraiser who starts his campaign with $22 million transferred from his Senate account. But the skys the limit with outside cash. Centibillionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whos already contributed tens of millions of dollars to the fund, is reportedly willing to contribute tens of millions more. The partnership began years ago when Scott visited Ellison on his remote Lanai Island home. (Ellison doesnt just own a home on Lanai, by the way. He effectively owns Lanai.)

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There will be much more donor cash to come if DeSantis, who will also formally join the presidential race this week, proves to be a paper tiger as the main alternative to Trump. Only in a situation where DeSantis collapses does Scott have a chance.

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But Scott, at the moment, is polling at just about zero. The way Trump greeted Scott into the race Monday was telling of how unthreatened he feels.

Good luck to Senator Tim Scott in entering the Republican Presidential Primary Race, Trump wrote on his social media network. It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable. I got Opportunity Zones done with Tim, a big deal that has been highly successful. Good luck Tim!

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Scott didnt mention Trump in his campaign announcement and, according to the Washington Post, his allies dont expect him to spend much time talking about the former president, at least in the early days of his campaign.

Will Scott ever spend much time talking about the former president? What is he really in this race for? Its not just that Scott presents no threat to Trump when hes polling near zero. He becomes actively helpful to Trump if he polls a little bit higher, because then he will start diluting the anti-Trump vote that DeSantis hopes to consolidate. Trump is aware of this as he welcomes Scott into the race, and might look fondly toward Scott as a potential vice-presidential pick so long as Scott doesnt spend much time talking about the former president, so to speak.

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So, again, why is Tim Scott running for president? Well, why not? He has no plans to run for Senate another time. He will have the financial resources in place to test an optimistic message against a field of candidates inveighing against the marketing campaigns of Bud Light or The Walt Disney Company. And if he doesnt take off, hell have done Trump a solid in holding off DeSantis. If he then becomes a running mate pick for Trump to balance the ticket, hes positioned to be the 2028 Republican presidential nominee.

There are worse ways to spend the next year.
This article is part of the Free Speech Project , a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

The Supreme Courts decision last fall to hear a case about one of the legal cornerstones of the internet was concerning. Nothing good, it seemed, could come from its review of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the law that protects those who maintain online forums from liability for how people use those spaces.

Advocacy groups and nonprofits submitted dozens of briefs and arguments seeking to influence the justices decision. During oral arguments in February, justices were encouragingly concerned about what narrowing or removing Section 230 protections would do to free expression online. Still, given its tumultuous, precedent-agnostic recent history, it seemed possible the court could, despite its stated reservations, pick apart the internets free-expression machinery.

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Fortunately, last week the court declined to weigh in on what First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff has labeled the 26 words that created the internet. It dismissed Gonzalez v. Google in an unsigned, three-page decision that concluded that the case had little, if any, plausible claim for relief. Emergency averted.

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Its easy to ignore a non-decision. But Gonzaleza case in which the family of a terror attack victim contended that social media firms should be liable for making radicalizing ideas available to people who ultimately harm otherscould have radically reshaped the internet. While Section 230 is an imperfect tool, an online universe without it would be characterized by substantially less free expression. If providers were fully liable for the things posted on their platforms, the flow of information would slow, and much more information, including political ideas, would never see the light of day. If justices had gone the middle route, narrowing the law but not striking it down, forum providers would have been left in legal purgatory as they sought to identify the new legal realm in which they functioned.

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The courts decision to not get involved was not, however, an endorsement of the law, which was put in place in 1996 to encourage good-faith content moderation and to shield those who create spaces for online discourse from an endless torrent of lawsuits. And Section 230s time in front of the Supreme Court holds some important lessons for the future of online speechbecause Gonzalez was just one of many catastrophes left to weather.

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First, lawmakers from both parties dislike the law. The Biden administration filed a brief in the Gonzalez case arguing that justices should narrow the scope of Section 230 protections so those who maintain online spaces would be liable for some of the content on their spaces. The brief echoed long-standing arguments by Democrats that the law protects too much harmful speech, shielding technology firms from responsibility.

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Crucially, that position is infused with some politicization of Section 230. The First Amendment generally protects online expression and would safeguard most of what is published in spaces such as Instagram and TikTok. Section 230 merely limits the countless number of lawsuits providers would face, allowing ideas and innovation to flow more smoothly. Absent Section 230, providers would almost always win lawsuits against them, but the time and expense of doing so would undermine their business models.

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Republicans dislike Section 230 for different reasons, mostly because they think that Big Tech firms are biased in deciding what content to keep on their platforms. Its a similarly politicized concern, since the First Amendment, rather than Section 230, protects private companies right to control speakers and ideas in the spaces theyve created. Section 230 helps facilitate providers right to ban, block, and otherwise moderate content and speakers, but it didnt give them that right.

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After the courts dismissal last week, Section 230s future remains in the hands of lawmakers, which, conceptually, is where it belongs. Practically, however, Congress presents another problem for the future of the provision. Lawmakers have repeatedly shown they are unwilling to understand Section 230, favoring sound bites over actually trying to revise and improve a law that influences the flow of ideas in society.

Lawmakers struggles with how the internet works are often on display when they call up tech leaders for flashy proceedings, like the March TikTok hearing. Time and time again, committee members questions betray a lack of understanding and nuance, which are both crucial to internet regulation, especially when it comes to revising Section 230. Generative A.I. makes all this even more complexwhen Sen. Lindsey Graham asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a recent Senate hearing if Section 230 applied to his company, he dodged the question.

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There is a better way forward: Congress should commission a nonpartisan working group of experts to study alternatives to Section 230 and present options for revisions. We can snicker at lawmakers for their seemingly limited knowledge of networked technologies, but lurking beneath questions about Section 230 are complicated legal and technical concerns. Legal experts, software developers, and social scientists could all contribute valuable perspectives about what liability should look like in this emerging, A.I.-infused generation of the internet.

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European lawmakers used a similar model of expert input to create the Digital Services Act last fall. The DSA establishes liability for Big Tech firms that host hateful, extremist, and false ideas. This model is not a good fit for the U.S. system, in which the First Amendment generally bars government regulation of speech, even hateful speech. But the DSAs protections could spill out beyond Europe, which would make Section 230s protections, in some ways, less relevant. This is because, while the DSA legally protects only European Union residents, Big Tech firms may revise their algorithms and moderation practices globally in their efforts to comply with the massive new law. In other words, a European law could circumvent American debates over Section 230 and force firms to change the types of ideas Americans see.

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The EUs General Data Protection Regulation, which came into force in 2018, had a similar effect on Americans privacy. The law has led Big Tech firms to change some of the ways they gather and use Americans informationin practice, doing more to protect U.S. privacy than any Congress has done in the past two decades or more. If the DSA has a similar effect, EU law and sensibilities about free expression will undermine Section 230s relevance.

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Throwing up our hands in the face of this possibility would be a mistake. The U.S. has been the epicenter of internet innovation since its creation, and Section 230s protections are a big part of that story. Section 230 created an environment that incentivized growth and experimentation, and it could continue to do so if its carefully revised.

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So, sure, we can celebrate Section 230s surviving its risky encounter with the Supreme Courtbut not too jubilantly. In this case, the court did its job in recognizing when something wasnt its to touch, but the waters are still choppy. The law faces criticism from both parties, lawmakers who often do not understand (or do not wish to understand) what it does, and a massive EU law that might just undermine it from across the Atlantic.

The most sensible step forward is a serious, nonpartisan effort to update a law that was written before social media, artificial intelligence, and other defining characteristics of online life took hold. That would be cause for real celebration.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Buckingham Palace has rejected a request by the descendants of an Ethiopian prince to repatriate his remains. Prince Alemayehu was buried in Windsor Castle in 1879, after coming to England as an orphan at the age of seven.

Prince Alemayehu came to England when he was only seven years old. On the way from Ethiopia, his mother died, and the prince became an orphan.

She took care of him Queen Victoria and provided for his education, and then also his burial. He died at the age of 18.

Now his family wants his remains sent back to Ethiopia. As his family and as Ethiopians, we want his remains back because he is not buried where he was born, one of the royal descendants told the BBC Fasil Minas.

But a spokesman for Buckingham Palace told the BBC that the exhumation of his remains could have an impact on anyone else buried at St Georges Chapel in Windsor. He added that although they are committed to honoring the memory of Prince Alemayehu, they also have a responsibility to preserve the dignity of the deceased. In the past, Ethiopian delegations were allowed to visit the chapel and pay their respects to the prince.

Why is the prince buried in England?

In 1862, the princes father is the emperor Tewodros II. wanted to strengthen his empire, and as a result he wanted an alliance with the British. But his letters to Queen Victoria went unanswered.

Tewodros II. decided to take matters into his own hands, so he took several Europeans, including the British consul, hostage. This brought about 13,000 British and Indian troops into Ethiopia to rescue the captured.

In April 1868, they stormed the mountain fortress in Magdala (today Amba Mariam) in northern Ethiopia and destroyed the defenses in just a few hours. The emperor chose to die rather than be a prisoner of the British, which made him a hero for many.

After the battle, the British took away thousands of cultural and religious artifacts, including gold crowns, manuscripts, necklaces, and robes. Historians say that it took several dozen elephants and several hundred mules to carry away everything they took. Today, these treasures are scattered throughout European museums and libraries, and can also be found in some private collections.

After the little princes arrival in England in June 1868, his situation elicited sympathy from Queen Victoria. They met at her holiday home on the Isle of Wight. She agreed to support him financially, and his guardian became a captain Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedythe man who escorted the prince from Ethiopia.

At first they lived on the Isle of Wight, but then Captain Speedy took him elsewhere, including to India. But in the meantime, it was decided that the prince should be educated. At first he was sent to Rugby Public School, where he was not happy. He then attended the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, where he was a victim of peer violence.

The prince reportedly felt a strong desire to return home, but his needs were stifled, the author of a book about his life told the BBC. Andrew Heavens he said he felt like he knew the prince. He was away from Ethiopia, away from Africa, away from the land of black people. And he remained distant, as if he had no home, said the princes descendant Abebech Kasa.

In the end, the prince began to be educated at home in Leeds. But already as a teenager he got sick, most likely he had pneumonia. He began to refuse treatment, believing that he was being poisoned. After a decade of exile, he died in 1879, aged only 18.

His illness was the subject of articles in the national media, and Queen Victoria wrote in her diary on his death: I am very shocked and saddened that the good Alemayehu died this morning. So sad! All alone, in a foreign land, without a single person or relative. His life was not a happy one, it was full of all kinds of problems and he was so sensitive, thinking that people were staring at him because of his color Everyone is really sorry. The Queen then arranged for his burial at Windsor Castle.

Demands for the return of his remains are not new. In 2007, he is the then president of Ethiopia Girma Wolde-Giorgis sent an official request to Queen Elizabeth II, but even this effort was in vain.

He had a sad life. I cry when I think of him. If they agree and return his remains, I will feel as if he came back alive, said his descendant Abebech.

She hoped to get a positive response from King Charles III. Restitution is used as a way of reconciliation, to acknowledge what was wrong in the past, he told the BBC. Alula Pankhurstan expert on British-Ethiopian relations.

He believes that returning the body would be a way for Britain to rethink its past. Its about reflection and coming to terms with the imperial past, he said.

Some time ago, in the In-depth section, we answered questions such as: Are the great Western museums heirs of white supremacy and should they give up artifacts from other continents? What is Slovenias role in this? Is it right to keep an Egyptian mummy in the National Museum of Slovenia and to have two rare Egyptian sarcophagi in the cemetery in Vipava? You can read interesting stories and analysis in the article World-renowned Egyptologist: Your mummy should stay in Slovenia.

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Britains Prince Harry has suffered a new blow in the legal dispute to receive police protection despite his withdrawal from the royal familys inner circle in Great Britain. According to the judgment of the court in London, he lost the opportunity to contest the decision of the Ministry of the Interior, which denied him the possibility of payment for police protection in his homeland.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle lost their right to protection paid for by British taxpayers after they stepped down from their royal duties in 2020 and moved to the US, where they live with their children. Harry proposed paying for the police protection himself, but the Home Office refused, prompting the 38-year-old prince to appeal and ask for a review of the decision. In its explanation, the ministry stated, among other things, that it is not appropriate for wealthy people to buy police protection.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lost their right to protection when they moved to the US. PHOTO: Profimedia

Londons Metropolitan Police also objected to Harrys offer on the grounds that it would be wrong to put officers at risk based on the payment of a fee by a private individual. In a ruling published today, a judge at the High Court in London upheld the decision of the Home Office and the police and denied Harry the chance to challenge the decision in court. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have their own private security team in the US, but Harry says they do not have the authority or access to British intelligence to protect his family when they are in the UK.

READ MORE Prince Harry to court for police protection

The proceedings relating to the Home Office decision are just one of several that Harry is leading in the UK courts. Among other things, he is participating in a civil lawsuit against a tabloid publisher Mirror and Sunday Mirror due to an alleged violation of the right to privacy, in which he could also appear as a witness in court in the coming weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin received the President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik in Moscow today and thanked him for Banja Lukas neutral position on the war in Ukraine. Dodik emphasized that the Republika Srpska wants economic cooperation with Russia, reports the Serbian news agency Tanjug.













News

Zoran Jankovic again visiting Milorad Dodik

We are grateful to you for your neutral position on the events in Ukraine. Only such a position can lead to a positive decision. In any case, we are grateful for your restraint, Putin said, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.















News

Dodik banned members of the LGBTIQ+ community from entering schools

Dodik: We will not be part of the hysteria that is being created

The president of the Republika Srpska, one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said at the talks that Banjaluka wants to cooperate with Russia in the economic field and that it does not follow a policy aimed at shifting the blame to only one side of the conflict in Ukraine. Serbian news agency Tanjug reports.

We think that Russia, which has persistently fought for its security framework and tried to provide these guarantees before, was simply forced in relation to this military operation, Dodik said. He emphasized that the Republika Srpska is also exposed to many pressures.

We did not allow the adoption of a formal decision on sanctions against the Russian Federation, and because of this we were exposed to various forms of pressure from our Western partners in the form of sanctions and the suspension of some projects and programs. However, we decided not to be part of the hysteria that is being created, but to we offer an opportunity to resolve this issue between Russia and Ukraine, he added.















News

Putins Hells Angels in the Balkans
Bank of America (BoA) has officially announced the launch of its impact accelerator program, Bank of America Breakthrough Lab, aiming to provide economic opportunities to entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities.

This initiative signals a significant move by one of the largest banking institutions in the U.S. to bolster diversity and foster financial inclusion in the technology sector, aspects of great importance to small business owners.

The Breakthrough Lab offers a six-month program for early-stage startup founders, providing them with tailored mentorship, digital proficiency, networking opportunities with industry experts, and access to potential investors.

The Lab aims to empower Black, Hispanic-Latino, Native American, and other entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities to scale their tech-based businesses. The submission deadline for applications to join the September 2023 cohort is June 8, 2023.

Rina Arline, Breakthrough Lab Program Director in Global Transaction Services at BoA, emphasized the banks commitment to fostering economic opportunity. 

The banks long-standing commitment to supporting economic opportunity for people and communities we serve is at the core of Bank of America Breakthrough Lab. Were excited to play a role in giving emerging entrepreneurs from a range of backgrounds access to the banks vast resources and industry networks, Arline stated.

Founded in 2021, the program ran its pilot phase with five startups from the New York area. Due to the initial success, it expanded in 2022 to include 17 companies from the U.S., Mexico, the United Kingdom, and France. BoA now plans to host a new cohort each year.

BoAs efforts to advance economic opportunities extend beyond this program. The bank continues to support business owners and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities. Notably, in 2021, the bank launched the Access to Capital Directory for Entrepreneurs, designed to help connect women-owned businesses to resources on navigating the capital landscape and identifying potential funding sources. This directory has now expanded to include Black and Hispanic Latino entrepreneurs.

The banks investments towards this cause have been significant. Our investment in minority and women-led funds has a catalytic effect in supporting diverse communities, said Tram Nguyen, Global Head of Strategic & Sustainable Investments at BoA. Each time we support a minority-led fund, they in turn support diverse entrepreneurs, which ultimately helps us to achieve our goal of advancing economic opportunity.

Bank of America has committed $421 million to more than 130 minority and women-led funds, an investment estimated to impact over 2,000 minority and women-led companies over five years.

The Breakthrough Labs part-time program runs from September 2023 to March 2024. The program invites applications from pre-seed stage companies with FinTech or tech-enabled ideas promoting inclusion in sectors like HealthTech, WealthTech, EdTech, and housing. Entrepreneurs of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, reflecting the programs commitment to inclusivity.

To support participants, the program offers mentorship from BoA executives, 94 hours of live instruction on various business management topics, technology support, a branding package, guidance on partnering with large enterprises, and exposure to investors and capital providers, including a pitch day at the end of the program. This is offered at no cost to participants, with no expectation or requirement to exchange equity with the bank.

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Farm apps are revolutionizing the farming community by allowing farmers to access powerful tools and resources through an agricultural app with just a few clicks. With modern technology, farmers can manage their operations more efficiently than ever. This comprehensive guide will explore the top farm apps available and their key features, providing valuable insights for modern farmers looking to optimize their farming practices.

The Growing Role of Farm Apps in the Agricultural Industry

As the agricultural industry evolves, the mobile devices role and farm apps continue to grow. This section will explore the benefits and impact of farm apps as you learn how to start a farm, including increased efficiency, data management, and sustainability.

The Rise of Agricultural Apps: A Digital Revolution in Farming

Farm apps, or ag apps, are gaining popularity among modern farmers as they provide a range of features to improve productivity and efficiency. With these apps, farmers can easily manage crop monitoring, soil analysis, and equipment maintenance tasks. They can also access real-time weather information, market prices, and other crucial data to make informed decisions.

These apps help farmers stay competitive by optimizing their operations, reducing costs, and increasing yields. Some may even use apps as a tool to save money while learning how to start farming with no money. As the agricultural industry continues to evolve, the adoption of farming apps is expected to grow, bringing further benefits to farmers worldwide.

The Benefits of Integrating Farm Apps into Farm Operations

Farm apps offer several benefits to farmers, including enhanced efficiency, data-driven decision-making, and reduced labor costs. These apps can streamline operations and reduce the time and effort required by automating tasks like irrigation and fertilization.

They can also collect and analyze data on crop yields and weather patterns, helping farmers make informed decisions. Farm apps can reduce labor costs by automating tasks that would otherwise require manual labor. Overall, farm apps are a valuable tool for farmers looking to improve their operations and increase profitability.

Key Features to Look for in a Farm Management App

Farm management apps can provide farmers with a comprehensive toolset to streamline operations, increase productivity, and optimize yields. Choosing the right app for your farm is crucial, and there are key features to look for. This section will discuss the most important features to consider when selecting a farm management app.

User-Friendly Interface and Customization Options

Choosing a farm management app with an intuitive user interface and customization options can significantly impact the ease and efficiency of managing your farm. With a user-friendly interface, navigating the app becomes effortless, reducing the time required to learn the software. Customization options enable farmers to tailor the app to their specific needs, such as organizing and tracking crop yields or managing livestock health.

Comprehensive Farm Management Tools

A farm management app should offer a broad range of tools for managing various aspects of farm operations. These tools can include features such as crop planning, livestock tracking, and financial management. By providing a one-stop shop for farm management, farmers can simplify their work and save time.

Integration with Farm Equipment and IoT Devices

Farm management apps that can integrate with farm equipment and IoT devices offer real-time monitoring and control of agricultural processes. This feature allows farmers to track the progress of their crops, soil moisture levels, and livestock health from their smartphones, providing valuable insights and making it easier to detect issues and prevent potential problems.

Data Security and Privacy

Data security and privacy are of the utmost importance in the agricultural industry. Selecting a farm management app that prioritizes data security and privacy is critical to protecting sensitive information and complying with industry regulations. Choosing an app that stores data securely, utilizes encryption, and offers regular updates to protect against vulnerabilities is essential.

Top Farm Apps to Revolutionize Your Agricultural Business

Advances in technology have made it easier than ever to manage farms, and farm management apps have become a crucial tool for modern agriculture. This section will explore some of the top farm apps that can revolutionize your agricultural business.

Conservis

Conservis is a comprehensive farm management system that centralizes data and reporting, providing growers with insights for row and permanent crop operations from planning to financials. By integrating agronomic and economic data with tools such as Zone Economics, Conservis empowers farmers to understand the true production costs, track plans vs actuals, and see the big picture of their farm operation in real time.

The platforms customizable dashboard provides real-time access to metrics that matter, enabling farmers to make profitable decisions. Conserviss customer success team provides exceptional support to farmers, with expert services that reduce on-farm labor headaches and delegate data management to a Conservis expert.

FarmRaise

FarmRaise is a farm management app that helps farmers keep track of their finances on the go. It works offline, so expenses can be uploaded anywhere. It allows farmers to track their cash flow, visualize expenses, and stay off the grid by not requiring bank details. The app includes an interactive guide to help farmers find what they need, and the Farm Funding Library helps farmers find farm grants that fit their needs.

FarmRaise also provides a weekly farm newsletter called the Briefing. The app has a free and premium plan that offers full access to the funding library.

CattleMax

CattleMax is a cloud-based software program designed for cattle record keeping that has been in operation since 1999. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of ranch management tools to help cattle producers easily organize and track their cattle and ranch records. CattleMaxs enhanced mobile version enables users to update or access records in the field.

The software also enables users to keep pasture management, equipment maintenance, rainfall, customers, and more in one place. Its automatic processes and reporting feature allow ranchers to save time and make better decisions. The companys customer service team is composed of ranchers that use the software in their herds.

AgriApp

AgriApp is a smart farming app designed for Android-based mobile devices. It offers comprehensive information and services related to crop production and management, including crop advisory, soil testing, crop practices, weather forecasting, satellite insights, and more. It also functions as an online marketplace for farmers to buy crop solutions and get real-time agro advisory from experts in their local language.

The app provides personalized crop calendars, satellite imagery to collect observation photos for monitoring crop growth and potential, and a community group to connect with fellow farmers for exchanging information and solutions. AgriApp is a free app available on Google Play Store.

See Also: How to Create a Farm Business Plan

Farm Service Manager

Farm Service Manager is a premium, subscription-based app designed for farm owners, managers, and contractors to manage the service and maintenance history of all farm machinery and vehicles. The app allows users to create accurate service records, set service reminders, and build service histories for each machine or vehicle, increasing resale value and minimizing costly repairs and downtime.

It has multi-user access, allowing different levels of access to be assigned to different users, including employees and outside mechanics, from wherever they are on the farm. The app also records part numbers for easy ordering and builds full service and maintenance histories for each machine or vehicle, ensuring that all machinery is running at its full potential.

BushelFarm

BushelFarm is an innovative farm management software that provides a comprehensive overview of farmers operational and financial performance. It is designed to simplify farm records management and offers intelligent automation to transform farm records into actionable insights.

The softwares capabilities include the cost of production analysis, real-time profitability calculations based on market prices, and profit and loss reports at the farm, crop, and field levels. BushelFarm offers three different plans to cater to farmers varying needs and budgets, starting from $19.99 per month to $199 per year.

Herdwatch

Herdwatch is a farm management application widely used in the UK and Ireland. The app offers a hassle-free farming experience by eliminating paperwork and providing real-time data to help farmers make informed decisions. Its a versatile app that suits various types of farms, including dairy, beef, sheep, and arable.

Its features include fast, paperless compliance, saving hours on paperwork, and keeping farm records safe. Herdwatch is fully integrated with the Department of Agriculture, ICBF, and Bord Bia, and FRS backs it. Farmers in the UK and Ireland can use the app for free under the basic plan. While currently unavailable outside the UK and Ireland, Herdwatch aims to expand to other countries soon.

FarmBrite

Farmbrite is an all-in-one farm management software built for multi-species and biodiverse farms and ranches. The platform includes integrated tools for livestock management, farm planning and tracking, financial accounting, order management, and e-commerce. The software allows farmers to track animal and pasture health, grazing activities, soil, and herd health, and automate planning and yield estimates.

It also includes features for team collaboration, task management, and detailed financial reporting. With over 40 pre-built reports, integrated dashboards, and custom reports, farmers can gain new insight into their operations and make informed decisions. Farmbrite offers a 14-day free trial and is accessible via iOS and Android apps.

AgFiniti

AgFiniti is a cloud-based farm management software that integrates with Ag Leaders SMS Software for in-depth analysis. It offers real-time insights and informed decision-making across the entire farm. AgFiniti allows querying fields for yield comparisons, generating real-time prescriptions, remotely accessing InCommand displays, and creating/editing boundaries.

It also provides mobile access, cloud storage, and analysis tools such as overlaying maps and yield comparisons. The platform is available in both free and paid versions, with the latter offering additional features like CartACE and multi-year analysis.

PickApp

PickApp is a revolutionary solution that helps farmers manage their farms efficiently, reduce labor costs, and optimize the quality of their produce. Its advanced data-driven management tools for attendance, productivity, quality control, and location tracking provide farmers with real-time insights and decision-making capabilities.

PickApps innovative analytics, automation, and Big Data algorithms improve labor productivity and enhance produce quality. Farmers worldwide can access the platforms customizable portal from their mobile devices or office PCs, and it offers multilingual support, custom reports, and notifications for real-time problem-solving. PickApp is ideal for all types of farms, including enterprise farms, cooperatives, packing houses, and brands.

Frequently Asked Questions about Farm Apps

How much do farm apps typically cost?

The cost of a farm app varies depending on the provider and the features offered. Some farm apps are free to download, while others require a subscription-based service for access to premium features. Its important to note that a free app may not include all the features needed for effective farm management, and investing in a subscription-based service may be necessary.

Are farm apps compatible with all types of farming operations?

Farm apps are designed to accommodate various farming operations, from crop farming to livestock management, and can be customized to specific needs. They use data and analytics to make informed decisions, can integrate with IoT devices, and are accessible from different devices. While some may be specialized, most apps are flexible and compatible with different types of farming. Even farming games are available to help various types of farmers hone their skills.

Can farm apps help with compliance and record-keeping?

Farm apps can assist with maintaining accurate records and compliance by allowing farmers to track and record critical data, such as pesticide applications, soil samples, and livestock treatments. The apps can also generate reports and analytics, providing insights into regulatory requirements and certifications. With this data, farmers can ensure compliance with industry regulations and maintain accurate records to support audits and certifications.

How secure are farm apps in terms of data protection?

Choosing farm apps with strong data security and privacy measures is important to protect sensitive farm data. Evaluating app security can include reviewing privacy policies, verifying the use of encryption, and assessing access controls. Farmers should also keep their devices updated, use strong passwords, and avoid using public Wi-Fi to further protect their data.

What are the hardware and software requirements for using farm apps?

The hardware and software requirements for using farm apps may vary depending on the app. Typically, farmers need a mobile device or tablet with a compatible operating system, such as iOS or Android, and access to a reliable internet connection. Some apps may also require additional hardware, such as sensors or cameras, to collect data. Reviewing the apps requirements before downloading it to ensure compatibility is important.

In conclusion, farm apps can revolutionize agriculture by improving farm management efficiency, helping with crop protection, increasing productivity, allowing you to find used farm equipment, and ultimately leading to higher profits. With the advancements in technology and the availability of these innovative tools, farmers can stay on top of their operations like never before. By embracing these apps, farmers can optimize their farms resources and stay ahead of the competition. So why not explore the potential of farm apps today and take your agricultural business ideas to the next level?

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The realm of visual communication relies heavily on the skills and creativity of graphic designers. This exploration into the graphic designer job description within a small business environment uncovers the responsibilities, skills, and qualifications these creative professionals bring to the table.

Role and Responsibilities of Graphic Designers

A graphic designer at a small business is often tasked with developing visual concepts that communicate ideas and captivate consumers. They utilize their artistic skills to create visual representations of complex ideas, transforming them into digestible and appealing imagery.

A graphic designer job primarily involves creating designs for various media, including web pages, marketing materials, and product packaging. Their role also extends to overseeing the design process, from conceptualization to final production.

One of the primary graphic designer responsibilities includes working closely with the marketing team to develop on brand graphics and innovative graphic designs that align with the companys brand identity and guidelines. This often involves conceptualizing and creating visuals for marketing tools, such as print and digital ads.

Graphic designers also collaborate with other designers, senior designers, and art directors to ensure the overall layout and visual design of materials are consistent and engaging. They may also provide art services such as illustration, animation, and motion graphics.

Skills and Qualifications Required

For a designer job, a bachelors degree in graphic design or a related field is typically preferred. However, a strong portfolio demonstrating a thorough understanding of design theory, visual composition, and multimedia design can often supplement formal education.

Proficiency in design software, particularly the Adobe Creative Suite, is a prerequisite for any graphic designer job. This suite, which includes programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, provides the tools necessary for developing graphic elements and design elements.

Other essential graphic designer skills include visual storytelling, layout design, typography, and color theory. They must also exhibit strong communication skills, as they are often required to translate written or spoken ideas into compelling visual concepts.

A good graphic designer should have time management skills to handle multiple projects simultaneously. They must also be deadline-oriented, capable of prioritizing tasks, and efficient in project management.

Familiarity with web design, user interface (UI) design, and user experience (UX) design is beneficial. Knowledge of HTML/CSS, responsive design, wireframing, and prototyping can be a significant advantage, as more businesses emphasize their online presence.

Finally, creativity, attention to detail, and problem-solving abilities are critical in this role. Designers must be innovative, able to create solutions when facing design challenges, and identify flaws in visual compositions.

Graphic Designer Job Description Templates

Job Template 1:

Position: Graphic Designer

Location: [City, State]

Company: [Company Name]

About Us: [Company Name] is a small business dedicated to delivering innovative and creative design solutions to our clients. We specialize in graphic design services, including branding, print materials, digital design, and web graphics. We are currently seeking a talented and passionate Graphic Designer to join our team.

Responsibilities:

Collaborate with clients to understand their design needs and objectives

Develop creative concepts and designs for various projects, such as logos, brochures, websites, social media graphics, and more

Use industry-standard software, including Adobe Creative Suite, to create visually appealing and engaging designs

Ensure consistency and adherence to brand guidelines across all design projects

Stay updated with design trends, techniques, and best practices

Manage multiple design projects and meet deadlines effectively

Communicate and present design ideas and concepts to clients and team members

Collaborate with other designers, copywriters, and marketing professionals to ensure cohesive and impactful designs

Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Graphic Design or a related field

Proven experience as a Graphic Designer, preferably in a small business setting

Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Strong portfolio showcasing a range of design projects and styles

Knowledge of design principles, typography, color theory, and layout

Excellent communication and presentation skills

Ability to work independently and as part of a team

Attention to detail and ability to meet project deadlines

Benefits:

Competitive salary based on experience

Opportunities for professional growth and advancement

Collaborative and creative work environment

Health and dental benefits package

Paid time off and flexible work hours

To Apply: Please submit your resume, portfolio, and a cover letter explaining your interest in the position to [email address]. Use the subject line Graphic Designer Application  [Your Name]. We look forward to reviewing your application and portfolio.

[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Job Template 2:

Position: Graphic Designer

Location: [City, State]

Company: [Company Name]

About Us: [Company Name] is a dynamic and fast-growing small business specializing in graphic design services. We work with a diverse range of clients, providing innovative and creative design solutions to meet their unique needs. We are currently seeking a talented and motivated Graphic Designer to join our team and contribute to our ongoing success.

Responsibilities:

Collaborate with clients and internal teams to understand design requirements and project objectives

Create visual concepts, layouts, and designs for various mediums, including digital and print materials

Use industry-standard software, such as Adobe Creative Suite, to execute high-quality designs

Ensure that all designs are visually appealing, engaging, and aligned with brand guidelines

Present design concepts to clients and gather feedback for revisions and improvements

Manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet project deadlines

Stay updated with the latest design trends, tools, and techniques

Work closely with other team members, including copywriters and marketers, to deliver integrated design solutions

Maintain organized files and records of design assets for easy retrieval and reference

Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, or a related field

Proven experience as a Graphic Designer, preferably in a small business environment

Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Strong portfolio showcasing a range of design projects

Excellent understanding of design principles, typography, color theory, and layout

Strong communication and interpersonal skills

Attention to detail and ability to deliver high-quality work on time

Ability to work independently as well as in a collaborative team environment

Familiarity with digital marketing platforms and trends is a plus

Benefits:

Competitive salary commensurate with experience

Opportunities for professional growth and advancement

Flexible work schedule and remote work options

Health and wellness benefits package

Fun and inclusive company culture

To Apply: Please submit your resume, portfolio, and a brief cover letter highlighting your qualifications and design experience to [email address]. Use the subject line Graphic Designer Application  [Your Name]. We appreciate all applications, but only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview.

[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Job Template 3:

Position: Graphic Designer

Location: [City, State]

Company: [Company Name]

About Us: [Company Name] is a small but innovative design agency specializing in graphic design services for clients across various industries. We are passionate about creating visually stunning and impactful designs that help our clients achieve their goals. We are currently seeking a talented and dedicated Graphic Designer to join our team and contribute to our creative endeavors.

Responsibilities:

Collaborate with clients to understand their design needs and objectives

Create compelling visual concepts, graphics, and layouts for print and digital mediums

Utilize industry-standard software, such as Adobe Creative Suite, to develop high-quality designs

Ensure that all designs adhere to brand guidelines and project requirements

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure cohesive and effective design solutions

Manage multiple projects simultaneously and deliver them within given timelines

Incorporate feedback from clients and team members to refine and enhance designs

Stay updated with the latest design trends, techniques, and software advancements

Maintain organized design files and assets for easy access and future reference

Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Graphic Design or a related field

Proven experience as a Graphic Designer, preferably in an agency or small business setting

Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Strong portfolio showcasing a diverse range of design projects

Excellent understanding of design principles, typography, color theory, and layout

Strong communication and presentation skills

Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment

Attention to detail and ability to meet project deadlines

Knowledge of web design and development is a plus

Benefits:

Competitive salary based on experience and skills

Opportunities for professional growth and development

Supportive and collaborative work environment

Health and wellness benefits package

Flexible work schedule and remote work options

To Apply: Please submit your resume, portfolio, and a cover letter highlighting your qualifications and design expertise to [email address]. Use the subject line Graphic Designer Application  [Your Name]. We appreciate all applications, but only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview.

[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Job Template 4:

Position: Graphic Designer

Location: [City, State]

Company: [Company Name]

About Us: [Company Name] is a thriving small business that specializes in providing creative graphic design solutions to our diverse clientele. With a strong focus on visual aesthetics and effective communication, we aim to deliver innovative and impactful designs. We are currently seeking a skilled and motivated Graphic Designer to join our talented team.

Responsibilities:

Collaborate with clients to understand their design needs and project requirements

Create visually appealing and effective designs for various mediums, including print and digital platforms

Utilize industry-standard design software and tools to execute high-quality designs

Ensure brand consistency and adherence to design guidelines across all projects

Incorporate feedback from clients and team members to refine and improve designs

Manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet project deadlines

Stay updated with the latest design trends, techniques, and software advancements

Work closely with other team members to deliver cohesive and integrated design solutions

Maintain organized files and records of design assets for easy retrieval and reference

Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Graphic Design or a related field

Proven experience as a Graphic Designer, preferably in a small business or agency environment

Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Strong portfolio showcasing a diverse range of design projects

Solid understanding of design principles, typography, color theory, and layout

Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines

Detail-oriented with a strong focus on quality and attention to detail

Ability to adapt to changing priorities and work well under pressure

Benefits:

Competitive salary based on experience and skills

Opportunities for professional growth and advancement

Supportive and collaborative work environment

Health and wellness benefits package

Flexible work schedule and remote work options

To Apply: Please submit your resume, portfolio, and a cover letter highlighting your qualifications and design expertise to [email address]. Use the subject line Graphic Designer Application  [Your Name]. We appreciate all applications, but only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview.

[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Opportunities and Advancement

Graphic designers often have the opportunity to advance to positions such as senior graphic designer or art director. They may also specialize in certain areas, such as UX/UI design, branding, or animation, based on their interests and skills.

The successful candidate for a graphic designer job at a small business will be a creative individual with a keen eye for design, capable of creating engaging visual designs and imagery concepts that resonate with the target audience.

The Impact of a Graphic Designer in a Small Business

In a small business, a graphic designers role is incredibly vital. They play a pivotal part in defining the companys visual identity, which greatly influences the public perception of the brand. From designing logos and marketing materials to shaping the look and feel of the companys website, their creative inputs significantly contribute to the businesss overall success.

Conclusion

The graphic designer job description extends beyond merely creating appealing images. It involves a strategic blend of creativity, technology, and business understanding to craft visuals that encapsulate a brands message, engage the target audience, and drive business growth.

For those seeking to make their mark as a graphic designer in a small business, its crucial to stay up to date with the latest design trends and continuously evolve their skill set. In this dynamic and creative role, the ideal candidate is one who can fuse artistic skills with technical proficiency and strategic thinking, creating visually striking designs that elevate the businesss brand identity.

So, potential candidates, equipped with a blend of artistic talent, technical expertise, and a knack for visual communication, are you ready to bring your creative vision to life in a small business setting? The canvas awaits your unique touch!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the role of a graphic designer in a small business?

A graphic designer in a small business develops visual concepts, creates designs for various media, and works closely with the marketing team. Theyre responsible for the overall visual identity of the business.

What are the key responsibilities of a graphic designer?

Key responsibilities include creating visuals for marketing materials, overseeing the design process, and collaborating with other designers to ensure consistency. They may also provide services such as illustration, animation, and motion graphics.

What qualifications are required for a graphic designer job?

A bachelors degree in graphic design or a related field is typically preferred. However, a strong portfolio can often supplement formal education. Proficiency in design software, particularly the Adobe Creative Suite, is a prerequisite.

What skills are essential for a graphic designer?

Essential skills include visual storytelling, layout design, typography, color theory, and strong communication skills. They should also have time management skills and be capable of handling multiple projects.

Can a graphic designer advance in their career?

Yes, graphic designers often have the opportunity to advance to positions such as senior graphic designer or art director. They may also specialize in certain areas such as UX/UI design, branding, or animation.

What impact does a graphic designer have on a small business?

Graphic designers play a pivotal part in defining the companys visual identity, which greatly influences public perception of the brand. Their creative inputs significantly contribute to the businesss overall success.
Director Christopher Wray has named Eric J. Reese as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division at the New York Field Office. Mr. Reese most recently served as a section chief in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Reese joined the FBI as a special agent in 2004 and worked in the New York Field Office, where he investigated Eurasian Criminal Enterprises and specialized in Albanian Organized Crime. In 2008, he transferred to the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters, and served as a watch commander in the Public Access Center Unit and as a project manager in a counterterrorism assessment unit.

READ NEXT: Florida Woman Convicted After Eight-Day Trial For The Voluntary Manslaughter of Her Girlfriend

In 2010, Mr. Reese was promoted to supervisory special agent and reported to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to serve as the FBI deputy to the Department of Defense Joint Task Force. In 2012, he transferred to the San Diego Field Office and worked on human intelligence and violent crime squads.

Mr. Reese was named assistant legal attache in Moscow in 2016. He returned in 2018 to work as the supervisory senior resident agent for the Tacoma and Poulsbo resident agencies, satellites of the Seattle Field Office. In 2020, he was promoted to an assistant special agent in charge in the New York Field Office's Operational Support Division.

Mr. Reese was promoted to section chief in 2022 and led the Russia Operations Section of the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters. As section chief, he served as the senior executive responsible for the FBI's efforts to mitigate the threat to national security posed by the intelligence activities of the Russian Federation.

Before he joined the FBI, Mr. Reese was a naval flight officer in the U.S. Navy and served in Operations Deny Flight, Southern Watch, and Iraqi Freedom. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the U.S. Naval Academy.

READ MORE: Career Criminal Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Violent, Armed Robbery of Indianapolis Car Dealership

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TD Bank has launched a new suite of credit card products geared towards giving small business owners and consumers increased financial control and flexibility.

This includes the introduction of two new credit card models, TD Clear and TD FlexPay, along with improvements to the TD Double Up and TD Cash credit cards. The banks increased investment in the credit card space shows their commitment to providing a diverse range of credit solutions to meet the varying needs of small businesses.

TD Clear is a unique, subscription-based credit card that charges a simple monthly fee rather than interest, offering two models: a $10 monthly fee for a $1,000 credit limit and a $20 monthly fee for a $2,000 limit. Our research indicated that many customers want a simple solution to credit. TD Clear provides simplicity with a predictable monthly payment, said Chris Fred, Head of Credit Cards and Unsecured Lending at TD. This card may be a great tool for small business owners, providing a clear, predictable expense that can be more easily budgeted for than typical, interest-based credit cards.

The TD FlexPay card offers the cardholder increased flexibility, allowing them to schedule a Skip a Payment once a year, a feature that could help small business owners better manage their cash flow during periods of financial instability or unexpected expenses. As Fred mentioned, TD FlexPay offers cardholders a moment of respite, giving them a chance to catch their breath between payments and take care of what matters most to them at the time.

Improvements to the existing TD Double Up and TD Cash credit cards offer enhanced benefits for small business owners. TD Double Up now provides a flat 2% Cash Back on all purchases without any extra requirements, an upgrade from the previous model where cardholders could only earn the full 2% if they redeemed their rewards into a qualifying TD Bank Deposit account.

The TD Cash card continues to provide flexible 3-2-1 rewards, allowing 3% and 2% Cash Back in specific spending categories and 1% on everything else. An enhancement to this card lets cardholders customize these categories each quarter to optimize their rewards, providing more flexibility to small business owners to tailor their rewards towards their specific business expenses.

Besides these attractive rewards, all these credit cards also come with additional benefits in partnership with Visa, like cell phone protection for cardholders who pay their cellular bill with their card, roadside assistance options, and Visa Purchase Protection.

This initiative by TD Bank offers a diverse range of credit card options to small businesses. As Matt Boss, Head of Consumer Products at TD, rightly said, The best credit card comes down to fit. Everyones needs are different, and our research and customer feedback clearly indicated there was an opportunity for us to create a wider range of options. With this approach, TD Bank seems to be paving the way for innovative, flexible, and small business-friendly banking solutions.

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Visa (NYSE: V), along with partners Agrotoken, Microsoft, and Sinqia, is venturing into new technological territory with a blockchain-based programmable finance platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The primary beneficiaries of this innovation will be farmers who will be able to securely fund and sell their crop harvests, revolutionizing how small businesses engage with global capital markets.

This technology was developed as a part of the most recent LIFT Challenge, which aimed to explore innovative use cases for Brazils central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC), the Real Digital. Visa was among the nine finalists charged with this task.

The platform, designed to facilitate interoperability between currencies, improve operational processes, and unlock new growth opportunities, empowers SMEs to access global capital markets more efficiently. It is geared towards easing the existing financial pain points for farmers, who often find themselves at a disadvantage due to localized market structures.

Historically, farmers have been dependent on financing methods like factoring, where future receivables are sold at a discount to finance immediate needs like purchasing supplies and paying wages. Such methods often lead to a substantial loss for the farmer. Visas prototype, however, offers local farmers more timely and increased access to a global pool of investors, ensuring better price discovery for their goods and adding more options for financing their businesses.

Catherine Gu, Global Head of CBDC for Visa, emphasized the central role small businesses play in local economies. She stated, Small businesses are essential contributors to our local economies, such as in Brazil where they employ over half the population and contribute to nearly a third of the countrys GDP. At Visa, we are committed to help them grow, exploring new technologies that will empower them to more easily maintain and expand their business operations.

The programmable aspects of digital currencies provide opportunities for more efficient capital usage and reduced counterparty risks. They ensure the delivery and payment of assets and currencies only when certain conditions are met. The prototype platform by Visa enables farmers to tokenize traditional financing contracts, essentially turning existing Brazilian legal documents into a tradeable on-chain Non-Fungible Token (NFT).

Anderson Nacaxe, Director of Agrotoken in Brazil, commented on the collaboration, Agrotoken has a mission to democratize agribusiness by making transactions with soy and corn more accessible. To achieve this, we have chosen solid partners, such as Visa, to join us in our journey towards this goal.

In addition to tokenization, Visa implemented a new onchain sealed-bid auction mechanism through smart contracts, allowing a global pool of blockchain investors to participate in the financing process. This resulted in competitive price discovery. Furthermore, Visas Universal Payments Channel (UPC) ensured future interoperability between digital currencies across different markets and networks.

The leap into blockchain-based programmable finance by Visa and partners is an indication of the immense potential that blockchain technology has for SMEs. By increasing access to global capital markets and simplifying processes, this innovation could be a game-changer, bringing enhanced growth and sustainability to small businesses, especially in the agricultural sector.

For the latest, follow us on Google News.
The start of 2023 has been busy for the team at SunServe. Highlights include their affiliation with AHF, raising more than a half-million dollars and being the top team at Florida AIDS Walk, and beginning a move to their new digs in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

The group took time to celebrate their accomplishments at their facilities on the Sunshine Cathedral campus. The mood in the room was light and festive, in part due to a surprise visit by CEO Tony Lima.

Its been quite the adventure, he said. The adventure he refers to isnt the organizations growth, but his own personal recovery.

He had surgery on one of his hips in early May, and had surgery on the other this week. Titanium parts are being inserted into each hip. While hes been recovering, his staff has carried on.

Theyre incredible. I really have to be thankful to everyone whos kept everything rolling, he said.

Limas been keeping up with business via phone and internet, but has seen first hand how the group is doing much more than limping along. Its been incredible. I start to do things and theyre like oh we just got this done. Its like theyre anticipating what could happen. Im so proud of this team and the way they roll with the punches.

While Team SunServe rolls along, Team Tony is providing TLC at home. His parents, Esther and Tony, and his boyfriend, Dr. Guillermo Salinas, are taking care of him while he does physical therapy and literally gets back on his feet.

He hopes to be back and active in June, optimally in time for Stonewall Pride.

We see it as our pride, since our main campus is in the center of Wilton Manors. We want to put our stamp on the advocacy and protesting necessary.
The saga of the stolen ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz has ended in the indictment of a Minnesota man.

Terry J. Martin, 76, was charged by a federal grand jury with theft of major artwork, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office North Dakota Division.

The iconic footwear was stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids and recovered by the FBI 13 years later. The identity of the shoe caper was a mystery until the announcement on May 17. The museum posted the press release on its Facebook page, simply writing Ruby Slippers Update.

When the Star Tribune newspaper called Martin, he only said, "I gotta go on trial. I don't want to talk to you." Janie Heitz, the executive director of the Judy Garland Museum, told the newspaper that his name didnt ring any bells to the staff.

Martin allegedly broke into the museum in 2005 through the backdoor and then smashed the glass case where the shoes were stored. In a documentary from 2016, staff explained they didnt want the shoes to be handled each and every night  possibly causing damage  and put in a vault. The museums alarm did not sound and no fingerprints were found.

Finally, more than a decade later, the shoes were found in an undercover operation by the FBI. Worth about $3.5 million, the U.S. Attorneys office says the pair was one of just four remaining pairs used in the movie.

"They're more than just a pair of shoes, the slippers. They're an enduring symbol of the power of belief," Grand Rapids Police Chief Scott Johnson said in 2018.
The escalating clash over the availability of a certain FDA-approved medication to terminate an early-stage pregnancy has significant implications for many LGBT people.

Over the years, various entities have tried to block the use of hormones for gender transition and medications for HIV prevention. Now, the court battles raging over the abortion drug RU-486 (also known as mifepristone) could determine whether any federal judge has the power to pull any controversial medication off the market.

So, there was guarded appreciation April 21 when the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would grant a stay against a lower court decision in Texas that sought to pull RU-486 off the market. (Two justices  Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito  dissented from the stay.)

While todays ruling to keep this safe, effective drug available for the time being is a sense of relief, said U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, our fight to preserve a womans right to control when and if to have a family continues.

The Supreme Courts procedural action came in a consolidation of two appeals, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and Danco Pharmaceuticals v. Alliance. Both appeals asked the Supreme Court to stay an order issued by a U.S. district court judge in Texas until the merits of the case could be appealed.

Alliance v. FDA began when an anti-abortion coalition asked a federal judge (appointed by then President Trump) in Amarillo, Texas, to strike down the FDAs long-standing approval of RU-486. The judge did so on April 7. That same day, another federal judge (appointed by then President Obama) in Spokane, Washington, issued a ruling to ensure that RU-486 would remain available in 18 states which joined a lawsuit by the company that distributes RU-486 (Danco).

The Texas decision moved quickly to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals which issued a stay against only part of the district courts ruling taking effect until the appeals court could rule on the merits of the decision. The FDA quickly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and, on April 21, the Supreme Court stayed the district courts entire order.

LGBT people should care about this case, said Jenny Pizer, chief legal officer for Lambda Legal. In fact, she said, LGBTQ people should be profoundly alarmed by the Texas judges utterly lawless ruling and only slightly less alarmed by the Fifth Circuits willingness to let part of the judges ruling take effect.

First, many LBTQ people need ready access to emergency contraception for a range of medical reasons, including the decision not to continue a pregnancy for ones own reasons, explained Pizer. The trial courts approach just as easily (or perhaps more easily) could be aimed at HIV-related medications and puberty blockers and hormone treatments, as well as medications for many other health conditions that are specially relevant for our communities.

Lambda Legal and other LGBTQ groups have long warned that any damage done to the right to choose an abortion could have deep implications for the right to have intimate relations, including marriage, for LGBTQ people. Abortion, said Pizer, is an LGBTQ+ issue for personal medical reasons, liberty and autonomy doctrinal reasons, and [for] broad, movement partnership reasons.

Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights were among the more than 200 civil rights, health, and justice organizations which submitted a brief to urge the Supreme Court to block the Texas judges ban from going into effect. Twelve out of 13 of Congress LGBT members signed onto a similar brief from 253 members of Congress.

The Congressional brief against allowing the Texas judges ruling to take effect said the ruling and the Fifth Circuits upholding of part of it had perilous consequences reach far beyond mifepristone.

Providers and patients rely on the availability of thousands of FDA-approved drugs to treat or manage a range of medical conditions, including asthma, HIV, infertility, heart disease, diabetes, and more, said the brief. Moreover, the prospect of courts second-guessing FDAs rigorous drug safety and effectiveness determinations will disrupt industry expectations and could chill pharmaceutical research and development.

The District of Columbia and 23 states also submitted a brief to the Supreme Court, asking it to stop the Texas judges ruling from going into effect. Those states, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon, said that taking RU-486 off the market would increase the need for surgical abortions, thus increasing the stress on many clinical facilities and causing delays that affect all patients.

Delays resulting from increased demand for [surgical] abortion procedures will obstruct access to other forms of care at those facilities, inevitably resulting in higher rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, barriers to early detection and treatment for breast, ovarian, and testicular cancers, and worsened health outcomes for patients overall sexual and reproductive health and beyond. Those harms, said the states brief, will disproportionately impact groups already underserved by the health care system, including women of color, low-income women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals.

The Texas case will now go back to the federal appeals court to rule on the merits of the litigation and then, almost certainly, will be appealed again to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the [Fifth Circuit] appeals courts were to accept the trial courts brazen disregard of the decades of evidence that mifepristone is safe, that pregnancy and childbirth are riskier, and that many, many other medications are far riskier, said Pizer, we all will be living in a much more dangerous society.

Meanwhile, just three days after the Texas judge issued his decision, Massachusetts newly inaugurated lesbian governor, Maura Healey, directed her state to stockpile RU-486 to ensure that women who need the drug can get it.

Here in Massachusetts, we are not going to let one extremist judge in Texas turn back the clock on this proven medication and restrict access to care in our state, said Healey. California Governor Gavin Newsom made a similar announcement the same day (April 10). Oregons new lesbian governor, Tina Kotek, announced April 20 that her state would stockpile RU-486, saying the Texas judges decision set an alarming precedent of putting politics above established science, medical evidence, and a patients health, life, and well-beingwith potential implications beyond this one medication. Kotek said the Alliances lawsuit is part of a larger campaign to ban abortion in every state, including those with legal protections for abortion access.

Lisa Keen is the Chief Correspondent for Keen News Service, a professional news organization specializing in national political and legal news that involves or affects gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
Some people still believe everything they read on the internet.

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Dont lie might not sound like a particularly controversial request.

But in this sorry age of social media-turbocharged disinformation it has a plaintive, futile ring to it.

On May 7, as President Zuzana Caputova attempted to re-float the ship of state  beached and then rather nonchalantly abandoned by Eduard Heger in early May  she appealed to Slovak lawmakers to give the new caretaker government a fair shake.

I want to ask all politicians, as well as other publicly active people, not to spread lies with their statements and thus not to weaken the remaining cohesion in our country. Disinformation about a progressive coup or the American embassy and other lies reflect the mental and value world of those spreading these fabrications, not mine. It is dangerous [] to spread lies and thereby question in advance the government that needs to be appointed.

Fat chance.

The liars doubled down, chief among them Smer party leader and former prime minister Robert Fico.
Follows similar move by Czech authorities.

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New Foreign Minister Miroslav Wlachovsky has said he wants to investigate how Russian diplomatic buildings and the land they are on in Slovakia is being used.

Last week the Czech government cancelled agreements made between 1970 and 1982 that allowed Russia to use some plots of land for free. According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, many buildings Russia owns do not serve diplomatic purposes, but instead house offices or hostels.

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Related article Slavin is a Russian foot set in Slovakia, says historian Read more

The Czech Republic is now demanding Russia pay rent for use of this land, backdating any charge by three years - a move the Kremlin denounced as blackmail.

Speaking while in Prague at the end of last week, Wlachovsky said: "I absolutely understand the steps taken by the Czech government. I came to Prague with the intention of asking how things were going. When I find out the state of things in Slovakia, and if the situation requires it, we will hold consultations."
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/antonov-moscow-will-continue-policy-of-backing-african-nations-oppose-neocolonialism-1110550816.html

Antonov: Moscow Will Continue Policy of Backing African Nations, Oppose Neocolonialism

Antonov: Moscow Will Continue Policy of Backing African Nations, Oppose Neocolonialism

Russia pursues the policy of supporting African countries as it sees them as one of the centers of the shaping world order, and is ready to take part in opposing neocolonialism, the Russian Ambassador to the US said Tuesday.

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africa

anatoly antonov

russia

moscow

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On Tuesday, Antonov hosted a gala evening at his residence in Washington for his African counterparts in preparation for the second Russia-Africa summit, which is scheduled to be held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg from July 26-29. "We believe that African states must be treated decently and equally ... The Soviet Union contributed significantly to the struggle against colonialism, racism, and apartheid. Our country rendered assistance to the nations in gaining and defending their independence. And now Russia continues the policy of all our support for the African states," Antonov told the meeting.The ambassador added that Russia advocates for a "broader representation of the African states" in international organizations, including the United Nations Security Council and the Group of Twenty, aims to "enhance Africa's economic and human potential" and pay special attention to "transfer of advanced technologies" apart from expanding economic and trade ties. He noted that Russia fully fulfills its commitments to supply food products, fertilizers, fuel and "intends to double the number of scholarships for the African students" and open branches of higher education institutions and schools in Africa. "We continue defense cooperation, including supply of Russian armaments and equipment to African partners and training of the military personnel," Antonov said, adding that Russia's expanding cooperation with the continent is not aimed against anyone. The ambassador said the main goal of the upcoming summit is the assistance in strengthening the sovereignty of African countries, adding that the leaders of all African countries and regional organizations are invited to participate, saying: "We do not make any exceptions."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/lesotho-willing-to-extend-cooperation-with-russia-nothing-can-shake-ties---envoy-to-us-1110550393.html

africa

russia

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russian ambassador in the united states anatoly antonov, russia, neocolonialism, african countries
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/danish-pm-reportedly-being-seriously-considered-to-serve-as-next-nato-leader-1110571675.html

Danish PM Reportedly Being 'Seriously' Considered to Serve as Next NATO Leader

Danish PM Reportedly Being 'Seriously' Considered to Serve as Next NATO Leader

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is reportedly being "seriously" considered as a candidate to become NATO's next secretary general, a prospect reinforced by her recent invitation to the White House.

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world

nato

denmark

ukraine

jens stoltenberg

mette frederiksen

white house

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Incumbent NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's term is scheduled to end in late September following multiple extensions. Another extension is also a possibility if the allies fail to agree on a replacement, media reported. Frederiksen fits several criteria NATO leaders consider important in a new chief, according to the reports. This includes being a European, a head of government, a strong supporter of Ukraine and a woman. A senior diplomat from Central Europe confirmed the Danish leader "is indeed considered seriously by a number of bigger allies." Frederiksen has received an invitation to visit the White House on June 5 in what many reportedly see as Washington's impending go-ahead for the role traditionally reserved for Europeans.There are reportedly also arguments against her, however. Some point out that NATO has already had a chief from Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who held the post from 2009-2014. Furthermore, Denmark's defense spending is still below the targeted 2% of the GDP, which diplomats fear might send a wrong signal, a Central European diplomat told media.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/florida-governor-ron-desantis-announces-2024-presidential-election-campaign-1110571472.html

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Announces 2024 Presidential Election Campaign

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Announces 2024 Presidential Election Campaign

After months of anticipation and hype in the media, on Wednesday Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled his 2024 bid for the US presidency on the Republican ticket.

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americas

ron desantis

donald trump

republican

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DeSantis, 44, has formally announced his presidential campaign, making him the latest challenger to former US President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. The Wednesday announcement came via Twitter, with the Florida governor vowing he would be running in order to "lead our Great American Comeback."It was not long after the tech setback that various figures began to drag the big announcement, including US President Joe Biden's team, which tweeted "this link works" in connection to a donation site for his reelection campaign.During the live event, DeSantis indicated that the US must strengthen its forces along the US-Mexico border, the US constitutional government must stop being run by "unelected bureaucrats" and return to being run by elected representatives representing the US public, and that Biden lacks vigor and is struggling to deal with current challenges.In what appeared to be a jab at Trump, DeSantis noted that governing should be about delivering results rather than about entertainment or building a brand.DeSantis RecordThe Florida governor has held his office since 2018, when he narrowly defeated Democratic rival Andrew Gillum in a controversial election victory that critics said was skewed by the GOPs suppression of the votes of former felons using a poll tax.That set DeSantis on a collision course with the Walt Disney Company, which is an anchor of the Orlando economy and has in recent years prized itself on its commitment to diverse casts, including LGBTQ characters. After the company committed to fighting to overturn an education law known colloquially as Dont Say Gay, DeSantis sought to revoke Disneys autonomy over its properties - efforts that so far have failed. When the company posted big losses in 2022, his office gloated.Born in Jacksonville, DeSantis attended Yale and Harvard Law School before joining the US Navy in 2004 and becoming a legal adviser to SEAL Team One. In 2006, he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay where, according to Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi, who was detained there without charge, DeSantis allegedly oversaw forced feedings and other torture practices.Rivalry With TrumpDespite having been a close supporter of Trump, their relationship soured after DeSantis began to emerge in late 2022 as a favorite of the Rupert Murdoch-owned conservative media outlets amid Trumps compounding scandals and lawsuits. Trump has since attacked DeSantis as a bumbling and self-righteous fool, labeling him a flameout and Ron DeSanctimonious. Still, the Florida governor is highly popular with Republican voters in Florida and across the country.DeSantis has described Trumps criticisms of him as background noise.Other candidates in the race for the GOP nomination include former US ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; Dallas businessman Ryan Binkley; media personality Larry Elder; former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson; Michigan businessman Perry Johnson; New York investor and author Vivek Ramaswamy; and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/what-does-ron-desantis-say-about-us-foreign-policy-1110561005.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230513/desantis-attempting-to-win-over-conservative-donors-ahead-of-anticipated-2024-run-1110308369.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230316/shots-fired-desantis-hit-with-an-ethics-complaint-from-trump-super-pac-1108439041.html

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Social media use may come with a "profound risk of harm" to the mental health of kids and teens in the United States (US), Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned.

The US Surgeon General issued a new advisory, warning parents about the ill effects of excessive social media use among youth.

Social Media May Harm Kids Mental Health, Surgeon General Warns

According to NBC News, the Surgeon General has sounded the alarm about the dangerous effects of social media on the mental well-being of kids and teenagers in the US.

Murthy, a long-time advocate of mental health awareness, has issued an advisory which sheds light on the mental health problems among the youth these days.

He emphasizes that social media platforms have become breeding grounds for a plethora of mental health issues among our youngest generation. The constant exposure to social networking platforms has sparked an alarming surge in anxiety, depression, and social isolation among children and teens.

According to the New York Times, the US Surgeon warns that social media could present "a profound risk of harm" to young minds' well-being and mental health.

Murthy says, "At this point, we do not have enough evidence to say with confidence that social media is sufficiently safe for our kids." But despite that, he urges parents to take action as early as now to protect the welfare of young minds in the country. He urges lawmakers and tech giants to be more transparent to parents on how its usage affects young minds.

Read Also: Texas Mall Shooting Suspect Planned Attack for Weeks, Suspended in Army Over Mental Health Issues

Excessive Social Media Use Among Young Minds

The Surgeon General's advisory cites Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data, showing that almost all teens use social media. As per ABC News, the study finds that roughly 90 percent of adolescents, ages 13 to 17, admit usage of services like Twitter and TikTok. A third of them confess to the constant use of social media, which includes scrolling, posting, and other engagements.

The study, cited in the US Surgeon's warning, also exposed alarming usage numbers. The research shows that most children and teens are now hooked on these social media services. On average, young folks typically spend around three and a half hours merely scrolling or posting on these apps.

All these figures about the social media use of young minds disturb the US Surgeon General. Murthy says the numbers are "deeply concerning" as usage of more than three hours poses a harmful risk of developing anxiety or depression.

Besides that, the US surgeon also undermined the pressures social media leaves its users, forcing them to achieve unrealistic beauty standards. Not to mention that these platforms also let users seek validation through the number of likes and followers.

Related Article: Myocarditis in Young Men: Study Finds Link Between Heart Inflammation, COVID Vaccine

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/last-chinese-emperors-watch-sells-for-62-million-1110564889.html

Last Chinese Emperor's Watch Sells for $6.2 Million

Last Chinese Emperor's Watch Sells for $6.2 Million

An auction house in Hong Kong sold several items on Tuesday that belonged to Aisin-Giyoro Puyi, the last emperor of China, who was overthrown in 1912. The items included a Swiss-made luxury watch, which went for $6.2 million.

2023-05-24T16:10+0000

2023-05-24T16:10+0000

2023-05-24T16:10+0000

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The watch was a Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune, one of just eight known to exist. The unknown collector who purchased it did so at nearly twice the price it was expected to net, setting a record for the make of watch and for timepieces previously owned by emperors.The ultra-rare timepiece was made in Geneva in 1937 and has a Bauhaus-inspired platinum case that houses a silvered dial, with a rose-gold chapter ring and enamel hour markers. It also has an indicator for phases of the moon and a triple-date calendar - features just as rare in 1930s watches as the watch itself.Its not known how Puyi acquired the watch, which he gave to his Russian interpreter, Georgy Permyakov, while in a Soviet prison after World War II. Puyi was arrested by Soviet forces during the final weeks of the war, as the Red Army launched its invasion of Japanese-held territories in China and Korea. Puyi had ignominiously served as the Japanese Empires ruler of Manchukuo, the puppet state established in Manchuria after it seized the region from China in 1931.In 1932, he successfully courted the Japanese Empire, which allowed him to become its puppet ruler in Manchukuo, taking on the name Kangde. However, he was almost totally a figurehead, signing proclamations issued to him by Tokyo.Other items sold at the auction also belonging to Puyi include a manuscript notebook, a leather-bound edition of Confuscius' "Analects," which together sold for $121,634 - almost five times the pre-sale estimate - and an inscribed red paper fan given to Permyakov in Tokyo, which sold for $77,846 - six times the pre-sale estimate.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20171225/chinese-emperor-obsession-immortality-revealed-1060307520.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/lesotho-willing-to-extend-cooperation-with-russia-nothing-can-shake-ties---envoy-to-us-1110550393.html

Lesotho Willing to Extend Cooperation With Russia, Nothing Can Shake Ties - Envoy to US

Lesotho Willing to Extend Cooperation With Russia, Nothing Can Shake Ties - Envoy to US

Lesotho is willing to expand its cooperation with Russia and believes that nothing can affect bilateral ties, Tumisang Mosotho, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Lesotho to the United States, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

2023-05-24T01:32+0000

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"We have always had excellent relations with Russia. To date, there remains no indication that anything can shake our friendship with Russia," Mosotho said. "Our friendship with Russian people is based on strong foundations. It goes for time immemorial. I believe equally we have been good friends to Russia over the years." Mosotho noted Russia and Lesotho have mainly been cooperating in education. "But of course we are open to extend areas of cooperation - agriculture of course, trade of course," he said.The ambassador further told Sputnik on Tuesday that he hopes his country's representatives will attend the upcoming Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.When asked whether the Kingdom of Lesotho's delegation plans to attend the Russia-Africa summit, Mosotho said, "I want to believe so.""Yes, I believe that they will. I dont know how far the arrangements, what are the plans, but all things being equal, I want to believe that they will attend," he said.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/nato-not-ready-to-give-security-framework-to-ukraine-amid-ongoing-conflict-1110568482.html

NATO Not Ready to Give Security Framework to Ukraine Amid Ongoing Conflict

NATO Not Ready to Give Security Framework to Ukraine Amid Ongoing Conflict

NATO is not ready to provide security frameworks for Ukraine in relation to its potential accession to the alliance amid the ongoing military conflict, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

2023-05-24T18:08+0000

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Last month, Stoltenberg said Ukraine would eventually join the bloc, as all NATO members support its ambitions. This idea was rejected by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.In September 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine would apply for accelerated NATO membership. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was closely monitoring the situation, and pointed out that Kiev's orientation toward the alliance was one of the reasons for the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine last year.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/natos-direct-involvement-in-ukraine-crisis-increasing-nuclear-war-risk--lavrov-1110554893.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/orban-relations-with-sweden-awfully-wrong-preclude-it-from-joining-nato-1110551691.html

Orban: Relations With Sweden 'Awfully Wrong', Preclude It From Joining NATO

Orban: Relations With Sweden 'Awfully Wrong', Preclude It From Joining NATO

Faced with resistance from Turkiye and Hungary, the Swedish government reportedly considers postponing its goal of joining NATO next year.

2023-05-24T06:18+0000

2023-05-24T06:18+0000

2023-05-24T06:18+0000

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Relations between Hungary and Sweden are poor and must improve before the Nordic state's bid for NATO membership is approved, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at the Qatar Economic Forum. Earlier, Orban's chief of staff said that the bilateral ties between Hungary and Sweden have hit an all-time low. He also accused Swedish politicians of "making a habit of continually questioning the state of democracy in Hungary," as well as "insulting Hungarian voters and MPs, and, through them, the whole of Hungary."No date has been set yet as to when the Hungarian parliament will vote on the Swedish bid for admission, which has to be ratified by all current members.While commenting on Orban's latest statement, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated his hope that Sweden's application will be approved and recommended doing so. Among others, Stoltenberg cited the Turkish election and Sweden's new anti-terror laws as factors that may facilitate the Nordic country's accession. At the same time, Stoltenberg said that the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania merely offers "a possibility, not a guarantee."However, Swedish media have been circulating reports that the government's plan for Swedish NATO entry may be about to be postponed. Instead of being approved in Vilnius in July, a possibility of entering NATO only at the bloc's meeting in Washington next April is now under consideration. Among others, this has sparked criticism from the Social Democrats, a heavyweight party that has dominated Sweden's politics since the 1930s, over the lack of a plan B. For their part, the Social Democrats, now in opposition, have called for deepening Nordic cooperation, should the NATO entry be delayed.Still, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom of the liberal-conservative Moderate Party that leads the current minority government confirmed that the goal for Stockholm is to join NATO in connection with the Vilnius summit.Sweden and its neighbor Finland asked to join NATO last year, citing changes in the European security landscape following the conflict in Ukraine. While Finland went on to become a member, Sweden's bid has been held up by Turkiye and Hungary, with Budapest citing grievances over Stockholm's criticism of Orban's record on democracy and the rule of law and Ankara accusing Sweden of harboring what it sees as Kurdish terrorists and, most recently, meddling in the Turkish elections.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230331/sweden-no-longer-sure-it-will-join-nato-by-july-1108980778.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/partygate-strikes-again-as-uk-police-reveal-new-probe-into-lockdown-breaches-1110550966.html

PartyGate Strikes Again as UK Police Reveal New Probe Into Lockdown Breaches

PartyGate Strikes Again as UK Police Reveal New Probe Into Lockdown Breaches

Boris Johnson is facing further scrutiny over the Partygate scandal after a government ministry passed information to police about more alleged breaches of COVID lockdowns by the very people who instituted them.

2023-05-24T03:19+0000

2023-05-24T03:19+0000

2023-05-24T03:16+0000

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Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing further scrutiny over the so-called "Partygate" scandal after a government ministry passed on information to police about more alleged breaches of coronavirus lockdowns by the very people who instituted them, British media is reporting.London's Metropolitan Police announced Tuesday they were assessing new information regarding "potential breaches" of Downing Streets COVID-19 rules between June 2020 and May 2021.According to the outlet which broke the story, Thames Valley Police were also said to be analyzing new evidence regarding potential lockdown violations at Chequers, a country estate sitting just outside London which is legally reserved for the serving prime minister.One British outlet explained Johnson was reported by civil servants over alleged visits to Chequers as well as potential breaches in the leader's Downing Street residence. The breaches are said to involve both friends and family of the former conservative leader.The Cabinet Office, a British government department that works alongside the prime minister, said that information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the COVID inquiry.A spokesman for Johnson described the recent referrals as a clearly politically motivated attempt to manufacture something out of nothing.His office is adamant that events hosted by the former UK prime minister were lawful and were not breaches of any COVID regulations, and said his lawyers have written to the Cabinet Office outlining that position.The since-ousted conservative leader was singing quite a different tune in March, when Johnson swore on a King James Bible and insisted  hand on heart  that he had not lied to the House of Commons, before later admitting he was not going to pretend that social distancing guidelines were enforced rigidly.Johnson was ultimately slapped with fines last year over the government parties held in 2020 and 2021 which infringed on the stringent lockdowns imposed by his government.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/from-misleading-parliament-to-redacted-photos-inquiry-reveals-details-into-bojo-partygate-scandal-1107985393.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/perus-coup-regime-welcomes-neocons-global-south-works-to-fix-un-1110549759.html

Peru's Coup Regime Welcomes Neocons; Global South Works to Fix UN

Peru's Coup Regime Welcomes Neocons; Global South Works to Fix UN

The coup regime that Washington installed in Peru is sending money to K Street public relations firms and welcoming stormtroopers from the Empire.

2023-05-24T05:03+0000

2023-05-24T05:03+0000

2023-05-24T10:12+0000

the critical hour

radio

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Peru's Coup Regime Welcomes Neocons; Global South Works to Fix UN The coup regime that Washington installed in Peru is sending money to K Street public relations firms and welcoming stormtroopers from the Empire.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to discuss the origins of the special military operation. Ray McGovern explores the origin of the conflict and the importance of examining that dynamic if we are going to find a way to peace.Prof. Nicolai Petro, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, joins us to discuss a path to peace in Ukraine. The US is running out of money and support for the neocon project in Ukraine. Also, we explore the options for finding a path to ending the conflict.KJ Noh, writer, teacher, and activist, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, joins us to discuss China. China has zoomed past Japan as the world's top exporter of automobiles. Also, the US is trying to build its anti-China network in the Pacific.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss Russia Gate. Chris Hedges has penned an article in which he explores the reasons that some Americans believe the Russia Gate deep state operations in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.Laith Marouf, broadcaster, and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Sudan's conflict is egged on by outside sources and may be spinning out of control. Also, Iran has replaced its security council chief.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Ukraine. Kiev claims that it will soon receive F-16 fighters. Also, militants attack Russian villages and Jake Sullivan okays Ukraine's attack on Crimea.James Carey, host of The Left is Dead podcast, joins us to discuss Turkiye and Israel. Turkish President Recep Erdogan argues that the US Empire is meddling in elections. Also, several Israeli leaders are destabilizing the region by making genocidal statements and claiming Arab land as part of the Israeli colony.Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "America's Undeclared War," joins us to discuss the Global South. The coup regime that Washington installed in Peru is sending money to K Street public relations firms and welcoming stormtroopers from the empire. Also, we discuss the US Empire's inhumane blockade of Cuba.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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the critical hour, the origins of the special military operation, how much aid has the us sent ukraine, why is the us helping ukraine, how much money has the us given ukraine, is russiagate a hoax, is russiagate a fake, does the us interfere in foreign elections
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/putin-addresses-eurasian-economic-forum-plenary-session-1110554025.html

Putin Addresses Eurasian Economic Forum Plenary Session

Putin Addresses Eurasian Economic Forum Plenary Session

The forum was established as a part of Eurasian Economic Union framework aimed at intergration of post-Soviet space.

2023-05-24T13:24+0000

2023-05-24T13:24+0000

2023-05-24T13:24+0000

world

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Sputnik comes live to you from Moscow, where Russian President Vladimir Putin is participating in a plenary session of Eurasian Economic Forum dedicated to the subject of Eurasian integration in a multipolar world. The forum is an extension of Eurasian Economic Union leaders' meeting that brings together the business and scientific communities of different nations.The Eurasian Economic Union includes Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia with Moscow chairing this year. President Putin believes that Eurasian Economic Union is destined to become a key component of the new multipolar world.Follow Sputnik's live feed to learn more!

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/ray-mcgovern-putin-had-no-other-options-than-military-op-in-ukraine-1110560004.html

Ray McGovern: Putin Had 'No Other Options' Than Military Op in Ukraine

Ray McGovern: Putin Had 'No Other Options' Than Military Op in Ukraine

The US and its NATO allies have rejected any ceasefire in Ukraine unless Russia surrenders Crimea, the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Ray McGovern said Moscow's security concerns must be at at the core of any peace deal.

2023-05-24T17:01+0000

2023-05-24T17:01+0000

2023-05-24T17:01+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

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The US and NATO left Russia with no choice but to send troops into Ukraine last year, says a former CIA intelligence analyst.Ray McGovern told Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin was left "no other options" than to order the military operation to defend the Donbass republics on February 24 2022. "I look at all the evidence. Mr Putin had no other options," he said. "And so when people say: 'oh, sure, he had other options,' I just say, all right, give me one."The founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity said that Western governments will have to view the conflict from Russia's perspective if they want to end it.He said supplies of ever-more expensive weaponry to Ukraine  each hyped up as a new 'game changer'  would achieve neither peace nor a Ukrainian victory."These sophomores in the White House advising Biden, they're going to be asked to up the ante some more to send advanced fighter jets to join the fray in Ukraine to escalate, escalate, escalate," McGovern lamented. "And nothing like that is going to defeat the Russians, because you have to look at that map, for God's sake."The veteran intelligence officer said the West needed to be honest about "who's at fault here" when Putin "felt that his country was in great danger."The commentator compared the situation to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when US president John F. Kennedy, who he argued "loved peace," also felt "provoked" by the USSR basing ballistic missiles in the Caribbean island state.He said the US and NATO were now signalling the will to deploy "the exact same kinds of middle range nuclear tipped ballistic missiles on the periphery of the of Russia, in Romania and Poland, and the intention to force them into Ukraine as well."The shutting-down of debate in the West on Russia's legitimate security concerns was an obstacle to peace, he said.For more cutting-edge commentary of global affairs, follow our Sputnik Radio show The Critical Hour.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/natos-direct-involvement-in-ukraine-crisis-increasing-nuclear-war-risk--lavrov-1110554893.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/rfk-jr-attacks-donald-trumps-2020-lockdowns-and-weaponization-of-the-fbi-1110549130.html

RFK Jr Attacks Donald Trump's 2020 Lockdowns and Weaponization of the FBI

RFK Jr Attacks Donald Trump's 2020 Lockdowns and Weaponization of the FBI

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including a Uhaul truck crashing into the White House security barrier, and Ron DeSantis expected to announce his run for the 2024 Presidency.

2023-05-24T04:57+0000

2023-05-24T04:57+0000

2023-05-24T10:09+0000

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RFK Jr Attacks Donald Trump's 2020 Lockdowns and the Weaponization of the FBI On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including a Uhaul truck crashing into the White House security barrier, and Ron DeSantis expected to announce his run for the 2024 Presidency.

Mark Frost - Economist, Professor, Consultant, and Libertarian | Drums from America, The US will Not Default, and the Uniparty is Playing Politics Caleb Maupin - Speaker, Writer, Political Analyst, and Author | The Durham Report Finds a Way to Blame Russia, Donald Trump is the Leading Candidate for President, and the Corrupt FBI In the first hour, Lee spoke with Mark Frost about the sensitivity of the current generation in America, the interest on the debt, and America must pay the interest on the debt. Mark explained why the US will not default and the hopes anarcho-capitalists have for a possible default. Mark discussed the fifth generation AI and how the world is not ready for AI to become a real threat. In the second hour, Lee spoke with Caleb Maupin about the important information in the Durham report, mainstream media outrage, and the FBI interference in the 2016 election. Caleb also spoke about the videos of Vice President Kamala Harris and her awkward speeches.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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the backstory, 2024 us presidential election, corrupt fbi, what is in the durham report
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/south-carolina-governor-blasted-for-saying-hed-like-to-hunt-democrats-with-dogs-1110549901.html

South Carolina Governor Blasted for Saying Hed Like to Hunt Democrats With Dogs

South Carolina Governor Blasted for Saying Hed Like to Hunt Democrats With Dogs

The governor made the comment during a GOP convention, and it's not the first time he's mentioned wanting to hunt Democrats with dogs, either. State Democrats are now requesting an apology.

2023-05-24T01:10+0000

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2023-05-24T01:05+0000

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South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) recently landed in the hot seat following an incendiary remark he made about his colleagues across the political aisle.I look forward to the day that Democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs, McMaster said, according to reporter Joseph Bustos, who tweeted during the event.Bustos pointed out that the Republican governor had made this comment in the past, and was repeating one of his favorite GOP lines.McMasters comment has since sparked backlash, with some even suggesting his comments were racially-charged and could incite violence. South Carolina Democrats have pointed out that the governors party is nearly entirely white, while the states Democrats are mostly Black.South Carolina Democrats are now demanding an apology from their governor as well as a retraction of the comment.Chris Salley, the Anderson County Democratic Party chairman, requested the State Law Enforcement Division become involved if the governor doesn't apologize for his comment, which Salley called an incitement of political violence and opened a petition online to address the statement.A spokesman for McMaster excused the governor by brushing the comment off 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," Brandon Charochak, the governors communications director, told the newspaper.

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(Photo : JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)

China's new ambassador to the United States urges to enhance China-US cooperation.

China's new ambassador to the United States arrived in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, as the US and Chinese governments have expressed a desire to restore relations between their countries.

Xie Feng stated that he intends to improve US-China relations despite "severe difficulties and challenges."

New Chinese Ambassador to the US

As per CNN, the arrival of Xie Feng as Beijing's top envoy follows tumultuous relations between Washington and Beijing. Tensions escalated after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to China earlier this year after a Chinese surveillance aircraft crossed the United States.

In recent weeks, however, there have been indications that the tensions are easing. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese official Wang Yi in Vienna. In the coming weeks, China's Commerce Minister may meet with senior US commerce and trade officials in the United States.

President Joe Biden stated last weekend in Japan that following the incident with the surveillance balloon, "everything changed in talking to one another, but " think you're going to see that begin to thaw very shortly."

Xie stated on Tuesday that he looks forward to "appropriately managing sensitive and crucial issues, such as the Taiwan issue," as well as engaging with Americans "from all walks of life."

Qin Gang, who departed Washington in January to become China's foreign minister, is succeeded by Xie, who previously served as vice foreign minister.

Xie is a career diplomat and expert on US-China relations, but he needs Qin's intimate ties to the Chinese leadership. According to Yahoo, his predecessor's direct channel to Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping propelled him to the position of foreign minister.

Xie arrives in Washington when US-China relations are at a 50-year low due to trade tensions, the Chinese surveillance balloon incident in February, and Taiwan-related tensions.

Read Also: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pays $100,000 for Kevin McCarthy's Used Chapstick; Bannon CFO Asks If She Paid It With MAGA Donations

US-China Relationships

In a March speech, Xi Jinping accused the United States and other Western nations of "global containment, encirclement, and suppression against us, posing unprecedentedly grievous challenges to our country's development." This animosity has effectively suspended high-level diplomatic engagement since Biden's November meeting with Xi in Bali, Indonesia.

However, the advent of Xie suggests that Beijing may wish to reduce bilateral hostility. And it follows a two-day meeting between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, earlier this month in Vienna that both parties described as "frank, substantive, and constructive."

During a news conference Sunday after the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden predicted that bilateral relations will "begin to normalize very shortly." Xie's dispatch from Beijing follows Biden's prediction.

Xie, age 59, has most recently served as vice foreign minister in charge of US policy. Fluent in English and previously posted twice to China's embassy in Washington, Xie lodged China's formal denunciation in February, accusing the United States of "obstinately" shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon after its voyage over the United States sparked a diplomatic crisis.

Per Reuters, Beijing has stated that the aircraft was civilian. The United States, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, welcomed Xie's arrival. Xie had taken an aggressive stance in previous meetings with Biden administration officials, including when he hosted Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in 2021 in Tianjin and demanded that the US improve relations with China while accusing the US of creating an "imaginary enemy" in China.

Nonetheless, Xie's presence at the embassy post, which has been vacant since his predecessor Qin Gang was promoted to foreign minister late last year, could assist Beijing in deflecting accusations that it has disregarded the Biden administration's calls for increased engagement.

Related Article: South Korea, EU Vow To Boost Security Ties Amid Russia, North Korea Threats

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/three-protesters-arrested-after-cannes-center-left-without-gas-power-during-film-festival-1110550528.html

Three Protesters Arrested After Cannes Center Left Without Gas, Power During Film Festival

Three Protesters Arrested After Cannes Center Left Without Gas, Power During Film Festival

The central part of France's Cannes, where the world famous film festival is taking place now, has been left without gas amid protests against the controversial pension reform, French media reported on Tuesday.

2023-05-24T02:00+0000

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2023-05-24T01:55+0000

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In April, the National Federation of Mines and Energy, a French trade union affiliated with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), threatened to plunge into darkness the Cannes Film Festival in protest of the reform. The French authorities said earlier in May they would enhance security measures at the festival due to possible demonstrations. The city's entire central part around the Boulevard de la Croisette was left with no gas at 1 p.m. Paris time (11:00 GMT), right when all restaurants in the area were full of guests, a French broadcaster reported. Police have detained red-handed three employees of the GRDF and Enedis energy companies responsible for cutting off the gas in Cannes and electricity at the city's police station, French media revealed. CGT has taken responsibility for the actions.Earlier in the day, media reported that hundreds of people gathered near the Cannes train station to demonstrate against the reform following the announcement of the protest by the CGT. Citing the trade union, US media reported it had disrupted gas supplies in the city, targeting the Cannes Palais des Festivals and some hotels and restaurants. On May 19, the CGT held a demonstration in Cannes near the Carlton Cannes, a luxury hotel where numerous prominent actors are staying during the festival. People are protesting against the reform, which would gradually raise the age of retirement in France from 62 to 64 by 2030. The 76th Cannes Film Festival is taking place from May 16-27.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/turkish-fm-expects-erdogan-to-gain-over-56-in-election-runoff-1110553103.html

Turkish FM Expects Erdogan to Gain Over 56% in Election Runoff

Turkish FM Expects Erdogan to Gain Over 56% in Election Runoff

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expects that incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will gain over 56% of votes in the second round of the presidential election as the leader outran his main competitor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, during the first round.

2023-05-24T06:37+0000

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2023-05-24T06:38+0000

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Meanwhile, Sinan Ogan, the third-placed candidate in the first round, announced on Monday his support for Erdogan in the upcoming runoff and called on his supporters to vote for the incumbent president. Last week, Ogan announced a series of conditions that will be key to his decision to support any of the candidates. Among other things, he demanded that no seats be given to members of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, which he said is a political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is considered a terrorist organization and banned in Turkiye. In the first round of the election, Erdogan received 49.52% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkiye's main opposition alliance, got 44.88%. Ogan came in third with over 5%, making him a potential kingmaker in the second round scheduled for May 28.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230515/turkish-election-council-announces-1st-ever-presidential-runoff-on-may-28-1110380812.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/uk-defense-minister-arrives-in-kiev-on-unannounced-visit-1110558247.html

UK Defense Minister Arrives in Kiev on Unannounced Visit

UK Defense Minister Arrives in Kiev on Unannounced Visit

UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace came to Kiev on an unannounced visit to discuss military cooperation, including arms supplies, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Wednesday.

2023-05-24T12:03+0000

2023-05-24T12:03+0000

2023-05-24T12:03+0000

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He also said that the sides discussed Ukraines accession to NATO and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys peace formula. The Ukrainian minister also expressed gratitude to the British people for its support. Besides, Wallace said that it was his pleasure to travel to Kiev and speak with Ukrainian military officers, according to a statement by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Both ministers also met with soldiers who had received training in the UK and used Storm Shadow missiles in combat. On May 11, Wallace confirmed London was sending long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Kiev. Ukraine has been using this weaponry to target Russian positions since then. The strikes have resulted in injuries among civilians, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230517/group-of-countries-led-by-poland-secretly-urging-zelensky-to-end-conflict---hersh-1110414173.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230510/borrell-ukraine-conflict-could-end-immediately-if-west-stops-weapons-supply-to-kiev-1110248037.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/us-b-1-lancer-bombers-participate-in-spring-storm-exercise-1110556060.html

US B-1 Lancer Bombers Participate in Spring Storm Exercise

US B-1 Lancer Bombers Participate in Spring Storm Exercise

B1 Lancer  commonly referred in media as Bone (from B-One)  is a supersonic aircraft that serves as strategic bomber in U.S. Air Force along with B-52 and B-2. It was designed for a nuclear conflict with Soviet Union.

2023-05-24T09:45+0000

2023-05-24T09:45+0000

2023-05-24T09:47+0000

military

b-1b lancer

russia-nato showdown

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"As a part of the Spring Storm exercise, allied air forces, in cooperation with Estonian air traffic controllers, practiced airborne fire support and bomb drops with the use of American B-1 Lancer bombers and British Eurofighter Typhoon fighters at the central range of the defense forces," the defense forces said on the website. The main goal of the exercise was to practice cooperation between the aviation unit and the ground forces - Estonian air traffic controllers played an important role in integrating the two forces, the statement read. The Spring Storm military exercise is being held in Estonia from May 15-26 with the participation of 14,000 military personnel from a number of NATO countries. Heavy equipment and fighters from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland, as well as US bombers and UK helicopters, are participating in the exercise with the Estonian air force's military aircraft and helicopters. The Spring Storm exercise is the largest in Estonia this year, which focuses "on practicing military operations planning and implementation, as well as enhancing cooperation between Estonian and allied units." The exercise involves servicepeople, conscripts, reservists, and troops from allied countries.B1 Lancer  commonly referred in media as Bone (from B-One)  is a supersonic aircraft that serves as strategic bomber in U.S. Air Force along with B-52 and B-2. It was designed for a nuclear conflict with Soviet Union.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230124/estonia-severs-almost-all-economic-ties-with-russia-russian-ambassador-says-1106646237.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230514/uk-to-send-over-1500-troops-to-estonia-for-nato-drills--reports-1110340047.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/what-does-ron-desantis-say-about-us-foreign-policy-1110561005.html

What Does Ron DeSantis Say About US Foreign Policy?

What Does Ron DeSantis Say About US Foreign Policy?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to announce he is running for president on Wednesday evening. Who is Ron DeSantis and whats his stance on a spate of sticking US foreign policy issues? Sputnik is exploring.

2023-05-24T14:41+0000

2023-05-24T14:41+0000

2023-05-25T20:57+0000

sputnik explains

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Ron DeSantis graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School and has been serving as the 26th Florida governor since January 2019. While at Harvard, he joined the US Navy as a judge advocate general and was later deployed to Iraq, where he was a legal adviser to a Navy SEAL commander.The 44-year-old left active duty in 2010, being decorated with a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Iraq Campaign Medal, among other commendations.In 2012, the father of three ran in the Republican primary for Florida's sixth congressional district, snatching a victory with 30% of the vote. DeSantis was re-elected in 2014 and 2016. Two years later, he ran for governor of Florida, narrowly defeating Democratic rival Andrew Gillum 49.6-49.2.DeSantis is depicted by many as a conservative, who purportedly shares many US foreign policy-related views with former POTUS Donald Trump despite the two currently maintaining a far-from-friendly relationship, especially in light of the latest opinion polls indicating the Florida governor prevails over the 46th president in terms of approval rating.What's DeSantis Stance on Ukraine?"While the U.S. has many vital national interests  becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them, DeSantis stated back in March. A policy of regime change in Russia (no doubt popular among the DC foreign policy interventionists) would greatly increase the stakes of the conflict, making the use of nuclear weapons more likely," he added.The Florida governor was forced to backtrack some his comments on the Ukraine conflict, after other GOP politicians attacked for him being "soft" on Russia. DeSantis put out a subsequent statement saying that he opposed Moscow's decision to launch its special military operation in Ukraine and would welcome Kiev regaining control over the Donbass and Crimea. What Does He Think of China?DeSantis has called China a "hostile country", and he took a spate of steps that he said were meant to contain Beijings expanding global clout. The measures include banning Confucius Institutes from Florida's public universities and increasing penalties for corporate espionage conducted on behalf of foreign entities.In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, DeSantis went so far as to draw parallels between China and the USSR (which collapsed in 1991).Later in that same interview, DeSantis asserted that China represented a bigger 'threat' to US global hegemony than Russia. Earlier this month, he called the Communist Party of China "the United States' greatest geopolitical threat." The remarks came as DeSantis signed a series of bills that bans Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida.What are DeSantis Thoughts on Iran, JCPOA?DeSantis supports the GOP's hawkish stance on Iran, once tweeting that "the only way to deal with a maniacal regime like Iran is from a position of strength."The Florida politician has repeatedly opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), calling it "a bad deal that will significantly degrade our [US] national security.According to DeSantis, the damage done by the Iran deal "has been significant, mostly due to the massive cash infusion the deal gave to the Khamenei regime and particularly to the IRGC [Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]."These claims are disputed by many US foreign policy experts and former diplomats, who note that Iran had lived up to its obligations under the JCPOA prior to the Trump administration's 2018 decision to pull out of the agreementlHow Does DeSantis Assess the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?In a clear-cut sign of support for Tel Aviv, he earlier tweeted that he promised to be the most pro-Israel governor in America and that the two sides bold agenda [] strengthens Floridas ties with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he argued that if one looks at "this whole" standoff, "to me, the biggest problem has been that Palestinian Arabs have not recognized Israels right to exist as a Jewish state." DeSantis then referred to "that kind" of what he described as "denialism", which "poisons really everything."What is the GOP Hopeful's Position on Afghanistran? DeSantis denounced the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, claiming that that the process was poorly planned. He pointed the finger at President Joe Biden and accused him of making Afghanistan vulnerable to alleged exploitation by China, Russia, and other geopolitical rivals of the US.* the group is under UN sanctions over terrorist activities ** the terrorist group banned in Russia and many oher countries

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230513/desantis-attempting-to-win-over-conservative-donors-ahead-of-anticipated-2024-run-1110308369.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/what-is-memorial-day-and-why-do-americans-celebrate-it-1110563392.html

What is Memorial Day and Why Do Americans Celebrate It?

What is Memorial Day and Why Do Americans Celebrate It?

On May 29, 2023 Americans celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the US military. When did this holiday begin and why is it so important for Americans?

2023-05-24T16:30+0000

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Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May. Cities and towns across the US host military parades, Americans gather to have cook-outs with friends and family or go shopping. This day also marks an unofficial beginning of the summer season as schools and universities adjourn and daytime temperatures go up. However, it is much more than a jolly three-day weekend.Why Do Americans Celebrate Memorial Day?Initially, the day was known as Decoration Day, originating from a post-Civil War era. The American Civil War (1861  1865) was fought between the Union and 11 Southern states that formed the Confederate States of America. An estimated 620,000 men, or a whopping 2% of the nation's population, lost their lives in the line of duty. Experts say that taken as a percentage of today's population, the toll would have equated to six million people.The arrival of Russian warships in San Francisco and New York in 1863 nullified the possibility of a foreign invasion and stripped the South of an opportunity to attack the California coast. Northern commanders gave a warm welcome to Russian admirals on the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts. In fact, the Russian Empire returned the favor to the young American nation: eight years earlier, the United States became the only Western country that tacitly supported Russia during the Crimean War of 1853-1856.The bloody Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, requiring the establishment of the countrys first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans had begun holding springtime tributes to fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers.Where is the Official Birthplace of Memorial Day?It is unclear where exactly the tradition originated: approximately 25 places have claimed to be the birthplace of the holiday.According to some sources, three women in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, began to decorate the graves of their loved ones who died during the Civil War as early as in October 1864. In July 1865 their fellow citizens joined them for a general commemoration. A similar event took place in May 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina.According to other sources, in early March 1866, Mary Ann Williams, secretary of the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, wrote a letter calling on Southerners to come together one day a year to put flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers. Her letter was published in the Columbus Daily Sun at that time.Meanwhile, Henry Welles, a Waterloo, New York, pharmacist, is said to suggest formally setting a day for the town to honor those killed in the war in 1865.Why Did They Call it Decoration Day?On May 5, 1868, John A. Logan, the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of Union veterans, issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land."Having started his political career as a Democrat, Logan returned to politics after the end of the Civil War as a Republican who advocated African-American rights. He repeatedly won House elections, and was also one of the seven impeachment managers in the trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. Logan's political and military influence was immense, with GAR becoming a powerful lobbying group. He used his charisma to nationalize multiregional grave-decorating in a national holiday which he called "Decoration Day."When Was the First Decoration Day?The first national celebration of Decoration Day was held on May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery, which has become the most famous burial ground for many US military heroes. Around 400,000 veterans from every American conflict - starting with the Revolutionary War and ending with Iraq and Afghanistan wars  have been buried there.On the first Decoration Day, James Garfield, then an Ohio congressman who had previously served as a Union major general, delivered a speech at Arlington National Cemetery:On that day, five thousand participants of the celebration decorated the graves of the 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there. In March 1881, James Garfield was sworn in as the US president; unfortunately, just months later he was killed by an assassin which made his tenure the second shortest in US history.When Did Memorial Day Become a Federal Holiday?During the First World War I (1914-1918), the US fought on the side of the Allied countries led by Russia, Britain, and France against the Central Powers led by Germany and Austria-Hungary. Even though at the start of the war, US President Woodrow Wilson declared neutrality, Germany's sinking of 120 US citizens traveling on the British ship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, prompted a nationwide outrage. Berlin's subsequent attacks on American vessels and attempts to interfere in US-Mexican relations forced Washington to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917.Around four million US soldiers were mobilized at the time. Eventually, the conflict claimed the lives of approximately 117,000 military personnel who died during combat and from other causes including wounds and influenza.The Second World War (1939-1945) is seen by some historians as a logical continuation of the first. This time Moscow, London and Washington countered the Nazi Germany-led coalition. Initially, the US just provided military aid and other assistance to the Allies and joined the conflict following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It is estimated that during WW2, the US lost around 407,000 soldiers and around 12,000 civilians. During WW2, the US became the first country to build nuclear weapons and the only one to have used them in combat by bombing Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.After the Second World War, the Cold War between the "capitalist" and "communist" camp began with the US proceeding with their overseas operations. US soldiers joined the war on the side of South Korea in 1950 against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) backed by the USSR and China at the time. Fighting ended in 1953 with the DPRK upholding its independence and the two Koreas remaining split. In total, approximately 36,574 US soldiers were killed in the Korean War theater. The DPRK and China accused the US of using biological or germ warfare weapons during the conflict, something that the US government denied.Just a year later, in 1954, the US got involved in another conflict providing military support and training to Northern Vietnam against the Communist South. Washington's interference in Southeast Asia affairs was at the time justified by the "domino effect" concept. A memorandum from the Board of National Estimates to the Director of Central Intelligence, dated June 9, 1964, explained that the "'domino effect' appears to mean that when one nation falls to communism the impact is such as to weaken the resistance of other countries and facilitate, if not cause, their fall to communism."In March 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent US troops into Vietnam. As per Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, the US entered the hostilities under a false pretext. Moreover, the US military resorted to the use of chemical weapons in Vietnam, including the infamous Agent Orange, a potent chemical herbicide. In 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which turned Decoration Day into a federal holiday called Memorial Day. It was stipulated that the event would be held on the last Monday of May honoring all Americans who served and died in US wars.What is the Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?Apart from Memorial Day, the US also celebrates Veterans Day. While both holidays honor American military soldiers and their sacrifices for the sake of the US freedoms and national interests, Memorial Day commemorates those who lost their lives, and Veterans Day honors all those who served in the US Armed Forces. Veterans Day is observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week it falls.What Do Americans Do on Memorial Day?On that three-day weekend, Americans usually travel to see their friends and family. They also visit history museums, attend military parades and competitions. Many Americans also visit cemeteries to honor their relatives who died while serving in the US Armed Forces.The president of the United States usually delivers an address at the Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. The president or vice-president also lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on that day.Is it Appropriate to Say 'Happy Memorial Day'?While some Americans believe it is okay to say "Happy Memorial Day", others doubt that this phrase is appropriate: for those who lost their loved ones this is a period of grief and reflection. This is a day to honor American history and its heroes and mourn a dear relative or friend who died while serving the nation.Some American websites offer more appropriate phrases to say on the day. For instance: I will be taking a moment this weekend to honor those who served our nation and are no longer with us." Or simply: "Thank you for your service."Over the past 30 years, the US has continued to beef up its military presence across the world and take part in overseas conflicts. New sophisticated weapons and military tactics allowed lessening US combat casualties. Thus, the Gulf War of 1990-1991 saw only 383 US troops killed, while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan claimed the lives of 6,840 or 8,498 American soldiers, according to different estimates. The new US hybrid war doctrine, first detailed by Ret. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hoffman, US Marine Corps, in the early 2000s, led to the increasing use of foreign proxies and mercenaries in various war theaters that allowed diminishing US military casualties even further.Nonetheless, as per the National Institutes of Health, half of the men who die every day in the US are military veterans. According to some estimates, over 600,000 American veterans are dying every year, due to natural causes. Moreover, the US loses over 6,000 US military veterans to suicide each year.All passed away soldiers who did their duty and patriotically served the country deserve remembrance and respect. Therefore, people across the world pay their tribute to fallen defenders.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/why-is-russias-s-350-vityaz-air-defense-system-better-than-us-made-patriot-1110556816.html

Why is Russia's S-350 Vityaz Air Defense System Better Than US-Made Patriot?

Why is Russia's S-350 Vityaz Air Defense System Better Than US-Made Patriot?

The Vityaz air defenses are designed to tackle both ballistic and aerodynamic targets at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers.

2023-05-24T11:17+0000

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2023-05-25T06:18+0000

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Russia's S-350 Vityaz missile system has downed several Ukrainian warplanes and drones in the special operation zone in fully automatic mode, a well-informed source told Sputnik. The source added that "for the first time in the world, the Vityaz performed the automated detection, tracking and destruction of Ukrainian air targets in combat conditions."What is the S-350 and does it get the better of the US-made Patriot air defense system in terms of performance characteristics? Sputnik explores.What is the S-350 Vityaz?The S-350 Vityaz is a mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, which entered service with the Russian armed forces in 2019. The SAM is designed to destroy both ballistic and aerodynamic targets, which include combat aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles, such as the US Tomahawks and the UKs Storm Shadows.The Vityaz system comprises a self-propelled launcher, an all-aspect radar with electronic space scanning, and a command post. The SAM, which is mounted on the special wheeled chassis BAZ-69092-012, can be put on alert in less than five minutes. The system is capable of simultaneously engaging 16 aerodynamic targets and 12 ballistic ones.What is Range of Vityaz Missiles?The S-350 missile system is equipped with the 9M96 and the 9M100 medium and short-range missiles, which are fired via a so-called "cold" vertical launch. When fired, a launch container throws a missile to an altitude of more than 30 meters, turning it towards a target with the help of a gas-dynamic system.The Vityaz system is capable of destroying aerodynamic targets within the range of up to 120 km (74 miles) and at an altitude of up to 30 km (18 miles). As far as ballistic targets are concerned, the figures stand at 30 km and 25 km (15 miles), respectively.Is Vityaz Better Than the Patriot?Namely, he explained, the Vityaz can engage the targets flying at an altitude of ten meters, while the Patriot is unable to shoot down objects moving lower than 100 meters.Will the S-350 Be Upgraded?Another Moscow-based military expert, Yury Knutov, was cited by Russian news outlets as praising the SAM's ammunition capacity. According to him, just one Vityaz battalion is enough to repel a massive enemy air raid.On the whole, the S-350 Vityaz has great potential in terms of upgrading, given that it was created on the basis of "open architecture," according to him."In the future, the system can be improved by means of replacing certain components. This will significantly increase the SAM's technical capabilities and combat performance. The S-350 is a breakthrough and unique system that only Russia has," Knutov concluded.

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During Running Ace's Tuesday night (May 23) harness racing program, there was a dramatic finish in the $18,500 featured Open Handicap Pace and a new track record was achieved in the process.

Saddle Up (Dean Magee) was sent off as the 4-5 public choice from post six in the seven-horse affair and wasted no time asserting himself in the contest, leaving fastest of all to easily make the front while American Dreamer (Todd Warren) also left sharply and secured the pocket.

Saddle Up maintained firm control while posting fast early fractions of :26.4 and :54.4 before Macs Marvel was activated first-up by driver Luke Plano near the five-eighths juncture and quickly joined the leader as they rounded the far turn, with American Dreamer a close third.

In the lane, Saddle Up dug in gamely as Macs Marvel surged outside and American Dreamer challenged inside for a thrilling three-way battle to the finish line which put the photo finish camera to the test. The win photo revealed Macs Marvel had gotten home a head in front of Saddle Up and a neck in front of American Dreamer in a stunning 1:50.3 mile.

The impressive clocking also lowered the track mark for four-year-old gelding pacers by one-fifth of a second and established a career mark for Macs Marvel.

The son of Captaintreacherous now has 10 wins in 47 career starts and earnings of $114,870. He is owned by Jose Cervantes and Terrence Smith, and is trained by Williams Hernandez. Macs Marvel paid $13.80 to win.

Biggiessecondshot (Brady Jenson, $7.60) powered home to capture her $9,000 division of the first leg of the Linkjack Hanover Series by a head over Always Close (Brad Irvine) in a seasonal best 1:54. The win was her fourth win in her last five starts for owner/trainer Bob Johnson.

Officer Jim (Todd Warren, $2.60) dominated the second $9,000 split with a 1-1/4-length tally in 1:51.4 for his 10th win in 13 starts this year for owner Debra McCarthy and trainer Gordon Graham.

Luke Plano had a big night on Tuesday with four driving wins while Brady Jenson posted a driving double.

Live harness racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday night (May 25) with an 11-race program, which will feature first-round action in the Burning Blaze Pacing Series and a carryover of $7,092.89 in the 20-cent Pick-5 wager. The action gets underway with first post at 7 p.m. (CDT).

(With files from Running Aces)
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The Gering City Council and Mayor Kent Ewing conveyed their support for bringing a racetrack and casino to town at a meeting on Monday, May 22.

The council approved the mayor to sign a letter of support to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, the entity responsible for determining whether the project will be allowed to move forward. All council members present voted in favor. Ward 1 council member Rebecca Shields was not present for the vote.

City Administrator Pat Heath said that although it seems that the council and administration are in agreement on their support of the project, any further action on the construction of the racino will depend on the response from the Gaming Commission, which could take some time.

Theres still a study that has to be completed by the Gaming Commission, and they have until 2025 to complete that study, Heath said. Were kind of at the mercy of the Gaming Commission right now.

That study is a requirement introduced by Legislative Bill 876, which was passed in April 2022. The bill requires new racetrack and casino facilities to conduct market and socioeconomic studies to see what impact they would have on their communities and Nebraska as a whole.

According to Heath, one of the major focuses of the study is determining whether the casinos are too close together and will thus interfere with each others business. The letter signed by Ewing addressed this issue by explaining that the closest Nebraska casinos to Gering are approximately 315 miles away, meaning that area residents typically go out of state when they want to gamble.

When residents from our area gamble, they typically go to Prairie Winds Casino (140 miles), Deadwood, South Dakota (225 miles), or Black Hawk, Colorado (225 miles). The goal of allowing a casino in Western Nebraska would be to keep more dollars instate, and to draw out of state traffic from Denver and the Front Range of Colorado, which is less than 200 miles away, much closer than Hastings and Grand Island, said the letter.

In the letter, officials claimed that the racino would bring in approximately $1.2 million dollars for the City of Gering and $1.2 million for Scotts Bluff County annually, much of which would come from out of state. Heath said that the attraction would also help build up Gerings tourism industry and bring some property tax relief to residents.

This will increase our tourism. It kind of promotes Gering for the region, Heath said. And a big thing of course is the tax revenues the city and the county both would receive, and the residents, I think, would see some property tax relief, or would keep anybody from having to raise property taxes.

The City of Gerings portion of the revenue generated by the racino would go into its general fund, which has an annual budget of around $5.5 million and supports essential services such as the police department, fire department, parks, library and administration. Heath said that at this point in the planning process, no plans have been discussed for how the additional $1.2 million annually would be utilized.

Heath also addressed some concerns that residents might have about potential negative effects a racetrack and casino could have on Gering and the surrounding area.

I think thats always a concern, but I think that most of the communities that Ive seen that have gaming and racing  its had a positive impact on the community, he said. I dont think it will bring anything negative. Its only one casino, you cant have more than one, so its not like were going to be Blackhawk or Deadwood or anything like that.

There may be a long wait before the racino project is given a yes or no from the Gaming Commission, as it has until Jan. 1, 2025, to complete its economic impact studies.
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The Kimball City Council will consider the hiring of a new police chief during a special meeting Wednesday.

The council will meet at 4:30 p.m. to considering the hiring of Jose Ruiz, a former Kimball Police officer.

According to Ruizs resume as provided by the City of Kimball, he worked for the Kimball Police Department just shy of two years, working for the department from October 2020 to September 2022, holding the position of corporal. He has worked for the Imperial Police Department since September 2022.

Prior to coming to Nebraska, Ruiz worked for the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Police Department for nearly 14 years.

According to Ruizs resume, he gained experience as a lead defensive tactics instructor, a field training officer and a squad leader while with the Wyoming department. While in Imperial, he said, he became a pepperball instructor and armorer, instituting the system at the department.

The council will also consider approving a contract with Ruiz. The meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. in Kimball City Council chambers and is also available via Zoom.

Ruizs appointment follows the resignation of previous Police Chief Andrew Bremer. Bremer, who served as police chief since 2016, stepped down in April, citing personal reasons for resigning in a letter accepted by the Kimball City Council during its April 25 meeting. However, his resignation came as the Nebraska State Patrol is investigating allegations of misconduct, according to Kimball County Court records. Search warrants for records from the Kimball Police Department, Kimball County Sheriffs Office and Kimball County Attorneys Office were sought and an investigator cites allegations that trainees had been serving as police officers, in violation of state law.
A Florida elementary school banned Amanda Gorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb," which she read during President Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration.

The National Youth Poet Laureate poet, Gorman, called out the removal of her poem from the Florida school. She says the ban was due to a single complaint from a parent.

Florida School Bans Amanda Gorman's Biden Inaugural Poem

According to USA Today, Gorman is widely known for reading her powerful and inspirational poem "The Hill We Climb" during President Biden's inauguration.

But this time, the Florida school, Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, has decided to ban the widely celebrated poem by Amanda Gorman.

The school confirmed that it had restricted access to the book, arguing that they have not banned it. In a statement, the school officials said, "No literature has been banned or removed." Instead, they say they only restricted access to the book, which banned elementary students from reading the poem.

The Daily Beast reports the book in question is the collected edition of the Gorman-authored poem entitled "The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country."

A complainant reportedly claimed that Gorman's "The Hill We Climb" poem contained inappropriate content deemed unfit for students. The parent argued that the book is "not education," claiming the poem includes "indirect hate messages."

The same parent also requested the Florida school ban other books, such as "Love to Langston," "Cuban Kids," "Countries in the News: Cuba," and "The ABCs of Black History." The parent cites "indoctrination" and "CRT" or critical race theory among the reasons to ban these materials.

Of all these challenged materials, the "Countries in the News Cuba" remained available to all students since the committee explained that it was appropriate for young readers in "wording and presentation."

Interestingly, as per Politico, the complaint mistakenly named the sensational talk show host Oprah Winfrey as the author of "The Hill We Climb" rather than Gorman.

Read Also: Florida Schools Urge To Ban 'Furry' Clothing, Accessories to Curb Rampant 'Barking,' 'Meowing'

Gorman Blasts Florida School's Move

The National Youth Poet Laureate slammed the Florida school ban, saying, "I'm gutted."

She took to Twitter to share how her poem inspired other young minds to express themselves by writing their pieces. With that in mind, she argued that the Florida school ban robs students of their "right to free thought and free speech" by preventing them from finding their voices.

The poet encouraged her followers to speak out against the recent move, which bans her poem to elementary students.

On top of that, she also disclosed that her publisher, Penguin Random House, has joined forces with PEN America, alongside authors, to bring Florida's Escambia County to court over book restrictions.

So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with @oprah , fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternativesUnnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back  DONATE here: pic.twitter.com/p96dlnrSp4  Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 23, 2023

Related Article: Florida Teacher Faces Investigation for Showing Disney Movie to Students During Class

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Nebraskas professional association that serves the states 93 counties has decided to build a western office in one of its former leaders old Unicameral district.

The Nebraska Association of County Officials will break ground June 2 on a 17,000-square-foot office building in the Ogallala North Business Park, also announced recently as the future home of a modular home construction factory by Las Vegas-based Modern Eminence.

Executive Director Jon Cannon said leaders of Lincoln-based NACO, founded in 1894, need a second location from which they can support the elected officials who staff courthouses across Nebraskas 500-mile breadth.

Were super-excited. Ogallala is a great town, Cannon said. Like a lot of places in western Nebraska, its poised for something pretty special.

Also, from our perspective, when you look at Nebraska being a large state with all of the major resources on one end, when youre trying to serve people out in the west, its eight hours to Harrison in the Panhandles Sioux County.

Cannon also pointed to the geographic layout of Nebraskas counties. If you look at the state of Nebraska as a giant tent and one tentpole is in Lincoln, logically the other tentpole should be near Ogallala, he said.

Our (service) population isnt Omaha and Lincoln. Our population is county officials. So, from our perspective, it just makes sense.

NACOs main offices are at 1334 H St. in Lincoln, just west of the State Capitol.

Cannons late predecessor Jack Mills would be pleased, said Lincoln County Commissioner Joe Hewgley, whose Joseph R. Hewgley and Associates architectural firm will design NACOs Ogallala building.

Mills, who died at age 81 in February 2019, spent part of his childhood in Big Springs and was an agribusinessman there before being elected District 44 state senator in 1974. The district included Ogallala at the time.

He resigned a few months early in 1978 when NACO named him executive director, a post he held until 2000. Mills later served as a board member and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska.

Mills, being from Big Springs, had always hoped to get something out in western Nebraska, said Hewgley, a 38-year County Board member and former NACO president.

So Jon Cannon picked up on that.  They decided to get something done, and hopefully itll make it nice for people in the western part of the state to not have to travel so many miles.

Even with the immediacy of modern technology, itll be good for western county officials to have NACO closer, added Scotts Bluff County Board Chairman Ken Meyer.

We try our best to communicate and to work with everybody else in the state and other counties, he said. It makes it tough when we have to drive 6, seven hours to meet with people.

Meyer said NACOs decision also shows that eastern Nebraska-based state leaders are taking more of a statewide perspective.

Its taken us so long to erase that trademark of being outstate Nebraska, he said. Were western Nebraska. We do make our mark, and we do count out here.

Mary Wilson, executive director of Keith County Area Development, hailed the confirmation of Ogallalas second notable new tenant in two months for its 20-year-old business park.

Their investment creates great opportunities for Ogallala, Keith County and western Nebraska, she said. KCAD looks forward to working with such an impactful organization.

KCAD and Ogallala leaders announced in April that Modern Eminence will build a $37.6 million, 200,000-square-foot manufacturing and display complex in the heart of the business park on the way to Lake McConaughy.

Cannon said NACOs building will be prominently located on the parks east side, just south of Lured In along North Spruce Street. Its expected to be done by late 2024, about a year after Modern Eminences expected opening late this year.

The counties group likely will have three permanent employees based in Ogallala: a building office manager and one staff member apiece for NACOs Nebraska Intergovernmental Risk Management Association and Multi-County Information and Programming Services affiliates.

NIRMA, which Mills helped launch while executive director, is a self-insurance pool for its participating counties. MIPS provides and manages the software programs used in county offices, Cannon said.

Having those two employees in Ogallala will greatly shorten travel time for them to visit courthouses or answer questions for western Nebraska county officials who drop by, he said.

NACOs part of the building also will include an executive office that Cannon, Deputy Director Candace Meredith or MIPS Deputy Director Derrick Niederklein can use for extended periods when they make western swings.

The counties group will occupy the south half of the Ogallala building, Cannon said. The north half will be leased out to chamber-type organizations or other groups with a statewide focus like NACO has.

Zelle Human Resources, also of Lincoln, will claim one of the other offices as an endorsed sponsor, Cannon said. The scope of their business is such that they felt the need to expand as well.
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Dear Winston: the Musical, created by 18-year-old, Sawyer Hosea, is in the final stages of work and touch up for the final performances on June 2-4 at the Charles Mack Citizen Center. The musical is about the journey of Zack, who is down on his luck and adopts a dog, Winston, who is kidnapped by Damon. The musical follows the journey of finding Winston.

Hosea describes the music to be a perspective on those with different mental health issues surrounding their lives and how they deal with them in different situations.

Hosea describes his inspiration to start in eighth grade with his friend, Jackson Maltsbarger, to write a musical together as they had been doing theater for a couple of years at the time. Hosea describes how the same week his dog ran away was when they decided to work with the idea. However, being a high school student has created a limited budget for Hosea to get his ideas in the works. But that has not stopped him from pursuing that dream.

I am beyond excited, Hosea said, describing being able to put on the production of his musical. I have been waiting for years.

Hosea describes how it feels unreal for his musical to be ready for the community to see in the next few weeks. His future plans are to keep creating and keep working towards new projects in the future.

Maltsbarger, helping with the advertising as well as having a role in the musical, is happy to be helping something grow for the future. It is absolutely amazing to help him, Maltsbarger said, talking about his collaboration with Hosea. Maltsbarger has used his communication and business skills to help put on the production, and he plays the role of Ray, a crocodile, as well as one of Damons sidekicks.

After speaking with some of the cast, they are happy and pleased to be a part of the production. Mitchell King, in the role of Barney Abey, describes how letting students create and not be constrained by rules from high school allows for more creativity. Kalista Heizer, playing Pickles the Cow, describes how it is fun to create a personality for her character around herself because no one has ever played the role before. Its really fun to explore a comedic character, Heizer said.
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An Indian Trail woman is facing multiple obtaining property by false pretenses charges in Mooresville.

The charges stem from an investigation into a reported scam. Victims told police they thought they were donating money to help a terminally ill juvenile, according to the Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Tammy Ann Domenick, 53, is charged with eight counts of felony obtaining property by false pretenses, the Iredell County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

The Iredell County Sheriffs Office received multiple reports from victims who were scammed out of charitable donation money, the sheriffs office said.

The victims believed they were donating to a medical fund for a juvenile who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It was later discovered the person who set up the fundraising efforts had taken a majority of the donation funds and left the state, the sheriffs office said.

Domenick befriended the juveniles family after meeting them online, the sheriffs office said. Domenick offered to set up a fundraising campaign for the family to help pay for medical expenses, the sheriffs office said.

Domenick presented herself as a marketing and social media professional from the New York area with experience in fundraising, the sheriffs office said. Domenick also planned to host a major event in Mooresville called LKN Fest to help raise charitable donations for the family, the sheriffs office said.

Several individuals and vendors in the Mooresville area offered to participate in the event. It was later discovered by the vendors and the family that the event was not what was advertised. The family received no money from donations, the sheriffs office said.

Detective Craig Scannella with the Economic Crimes Unit was assigned the case and started interviewing the victims family, numerous vendors and sponsors that were supposed to participate in LKN Fest, the sheriffs office said.

Scannella was able to make contact with Domenick, who stated she was no longer in North Carolina and had moved to California, the sheriffs office said.

Detectives learned that Domenick deactivated all of her businesss social media pages. The sheriffs office said Domenick actually moved to Arizona and started a new company that was identical to the one she had in North Carolina.

Based on the evidence gathered throughout the investigation, Scannella was able to charge Domenick with six counts of felony obtaining property by false pretenses and enter her as wanted by the Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Scannella made contact with the authorities in Arizona and made them aware of the warrants issued for Domenick. They were able to able to locate and arrest her, the sheriffs office said.

Domenick was brought back to North Carolina on May 18 where she was taken before magistrate and issued a $200,000 secured bond on the initial six charges, the sheriffs office said.

Scannella obtained more evidence in the case which led to the two additional charges. Domenick received an additional $10,000 secured bond, the sheriffs office said.

Domenick is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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ATSUGI, Japan  Airman Christopher Armstrong, a native of Mooresville, North Carolina, serves in the U.S. Navy as a member of a helicopter squadron forward deployed to Japan.

Armstrong attended William Amos Hough High School and graduated in 2017.

Armstrong joined the Navy two years ago.

I joined because I saw all the positive things that the Navy has done for our country, said Armstrong.

Today, Armstrong serves as an aviation electronics technician with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 51.

Skills and values learned in the Navy are similar to those found in Mooresville.

One of the lessons that my parent taught me is to have a strong work ethic, said Armstrong. They also have taught me honesty, responsibility and to put in effort to work with people from different backgrounds.

Members of HSM 51 fly and maintain helicopters for the U.S. Navy. Navy helicopters are able to perform many different missions. Some of the most common operations include search and rescue, air assaults, medical evacuations, supply transport and hunting submarines.

This year commemorates 50 years of women flying in the U.S. Navy. In 1973, the first eight women began flight school in Pensacola; one year later six of them, known as The First Six, earned their Wings of Gold. Over the past 50 years, the Navy has expanded its roles for women to lead and serve globally and today our women aviators project power from the sea in every type of Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard aircraft.

As a member of the Navy, Armstrong is part of a world-class organization focused on maintaining maritime dominance, strengthening partnerships, increasing competitive warfighting capabilities and sustaining combat-ready forces in support of the National Defense Strategy.

The Navy is important to our national security because of our forward deployed ships, said Armstrong. We can take the fight to our enemies at their borders instead at ours.

Armstrong serves in Japan as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces. These naval forces operate with allies and partners to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Service members in this region are part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which has the largest area of responsibility in the world.

As the largest force in our nations front line against revisionist actors, U.S. Pacific Fleet meets this great responsibility with strength, resolve and confidence, said Adm. Samuel Paparo, U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander. Together with our joint and combined partner operations, we are positioned to defend  across all domains  any attempts to threaten our nation, our allies and partners security, freedom and well-being.

Armstrong and the sailors they serve with have many opportunities to achieve accomplishments during their military service.

I am most proud of earning my qualifications which allows me to help my shipmates be better, said Armstrong.

As Armstrong and other sailors continue to train and perform missions, they take pride in serving their country in the United States Navy.

Serving in the Navy means enabling our allies to reach their own goals while collaborating with the United States, said Armstrong.

Armstrong is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.

I would like to thank my mentor, added Armstrong. I remember speaking to him and learning more about the Navy, which is what made me join.
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The Marion Police Department has partnered with a technology start-up company to roll out a first-of-its-kind software to help streamline communication between police and victims of crime.

Designed to bring a more victim-oriented approach to law enforcement, the NECX app provides an interface where both crime victims and law enforcement can communicate and access case information in real time.

Right now, theres always a lot of missed phone calls, voicemails and in-person visits, said Marion Police Chief John Clair. Police officers are working certain shifts, they have certain days off, so its kind of hard to bring that timing together.

On the app, crime victims can access the basic report and other case informationsomething victims frequently requestand keep in contact with the investigating officer, as well as gain access to a collection of local victim services. Additionally, the app also provides a translator service.

Imagine right now, if youre the victim of a crime, there are lots of resources available to you, Clair said. But, it takes some effort to figure out what they are, to make some phone calls, to find the websites to assemble the possibilities.

Clair believes the app could prove valuable in communicating with victims of crime who are students or tourists, who have language barriers or who just prefer to communicate through technology.

As an example of how the new technology could enhance the process for crime victims, Clair pointed to an incident in which a Marion college student was recently involved in a relationship dispute.

Balancing this college students workload and class schedule and trying to communicate with her effectively was very difficult, the chief said. This would be perfect for a victim like that, because in her own time and in her own space, she would be able to access those victim services and be able to communicate with us.

At a Monday evening launch reception, Clair posed other scenarios in which the software could prove helpful to an investigation.

Imagine youre the victim of domestic violence and youre in a situation where the officer can get enough information to make an arrest, but you dont really have the space or the safety to tell us whats going on, he said. This can enable that. Imagine youre in a community with diverse language needs. You can get enough information to get the process started, but you cant really communicate well. This will enable that.

At the reception, NECX Founder Arastalis Choudhury said he and his team began developing the software after his car was stolen two years ago in Arlington.

I had to deal with the tedious process of dealing with the police department up in Northern Virginia, he said. This is why my team and I created this.

NECX, Choudhury said, aims to help victims of crime, build community relationships and increase police accountability.

Last year, Clair crossed paths with the team at the annual Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police conference, where the team was presenting their product.

I dont pay attention to a lot of technology, Clair said, but this grabbed my attention because it lowers barriers for communication. I think a lot of technology actually raises the barrier, or makes the relationship more difficult. This seemed to make it less difficult by creating engagement when its most accessible to both the officer and the victim.

Choudhury said Marion presented the perfect partner for the softwares rollout.

In Northern Virginia, I realized that there wasnt much of a relationship between crime victims and the police departments, whereas, Marion, on the other hand, has a strong relationship and a meaningful sense of community, where trust and core values are at the foundation of policing, he said.

Clair, whos long been vocal about police transparency and accountability, said he didnt want to just talk the talk.

My goal is to change the conversation and atmosphere of policing in Marion, he said. But, I dont just want to talk about it. Theres going to be words used like accountability, trust, legitimacy, innovation. Youll see those words over and over again, but I want to take a substantial, tangible step toward building relationships in this community, especially in groups that are traditionally marginalized and especially in situations that are traditionally underserved.

Gathered at the reception, representatives from the countys victim-witness program, the commonwealths attorneys office, the circuit court clerks office, Mount Rogers Community Services, legal aid and other stakeholders discussed with the NECX team how the software works and how it could be integrated into other aspects of the criminal justice process.

I was glad to have the opportunity to learn more about NECX, said Victim-Witness Coordinator Susan Williams. I feel that any resource for a victim and especially one that seeks to increase communication can be beneficial. I look forward to hearing from the victims we serve and how this new software can impact their cooperation with the prosecution of their case.

The first to put the software to the test, Clair said he is excited begin the rollout. He pointed out that that the Marion PDs involvement will allow NECX to finetune the program and integrate other services as the need arises using a feedback feature from both the crime victims and police.

"In a sense, we get to be a model," Clair said. "Now, the risk in that is we get to experience the failures and the stumbles, but the reward in that is that we get to set a pattern for success in other places."

With a representative from the Virginia Attorney Generals Office also in attendance on Monday, NECX Spokesperson Jacob Downs said he hopes Attorney General Jason Miyares will take notice and see the value in the software.

Already, he said, the team has seen interest from a few other Virginia agencies, as well as from two departments in Texas.

Marion officers are getting acquainted with the software as the department begins the rollout this week.
Nayfeh Khaddour, a native of Daraa, has been held on charges of terrorism since 2012, according to Orient Net.

After lawyer Michel Shammas published her story, local accounts and pages began circulating news of the release of Syrian detainee Nayfeh Khaddour from Daraa.

Michel Shammas, a human rights activist and advocate for detainees cases, stated that Nayfa was one of his clients in late 2012 when she was brought before the terrorism court.

The lawyer acknowledged his efforts to secure her release, but due to the numerous charges in her file, she was ultimately referred to the Criminal Court.

No value to the judiciary and the last word for security

Shammas highlighted that the girls brother contacted him, seeking approval for another lawyer to handle her case and secure her release. Unfortunately, the other lawyer was unable to achieve anything, and she remained in detention.

Today, after twelve years, the terrorism court finally grants her release. However, instead of being immediately freed from prison, she was sent to the office of Major General Ali Mamlouk for further review. This clearly demonstrates that judicial decisions hold little value, as the final say rests with the security services.

Various accounts and local pages shared the news of the young Syrian woman Nayfeh Khaddours release. Mona Mohammed posted on Facebook alongside a picture of the survivor of Assads prisons, stating, After more than 12 years of captivity, Nayfeh Khaddour spent her first night in her familys home, finally free from detention. Nayfeh Khaddour, originally from Daraa, had been held since 2012.

Activists circulated an old video previously boasted about by the Assad regime, featuring several Syrian female detainees at Adra prison, most of whom were young women, including Nayfeh. The reports author attempted to portray the detainees as content within the prison and highlighted the services provided by the facility. However, the Assad regimes prisons have long been notorious for their appalling reputation, brutal torture, and the targeted elimination of prisoners.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Videos captured after the child's release depict him stating that two members of the Bab Police physically assaulted and tortured him, according to Syria TV.

Local sources have reported to Syria TV that a child and his father were subjected to torture at the police forces station and the National General Security in the city of al-Bab, located east of Aleppo. The authorities had arrested them on charges of theft.

The sources revealed that the child, Ibrahim al-Qadirani, along with his father, Mohammed, were apprehended by the Bab Police last Thursday. They were taken to the police station, accused of stealing a Kalashnikov weapon and a sum of money.

According to the sources, during the investigation, the 9-year-old child, Ibrahim, confessed to the theft incident. However, it was later revealed that he had made the confession under duress and torture inflicted by certain police officers. Subsequently, both Ibrahim and his father were released.

Videos captured after the childs release depict Ibrahim stating that two members of the Bab Police physically assaulted and tortured him to coerce a confession regarding the robbery. He further disclosed that they offered him 100 Turkish liras and freedom in exchange for his admission of guilt.

Bab Polices story

According to the statement provided by the Bab Police, Ayman al-Thamer bin Khalouf reported the theft of a Kalashnikov gun and 4,800 Turkish liras (approximately 238 dollars) from his 2005 Santa Fe model car. The incident allegedly occurred in front of the entrance to his residential building in the city of Bab.

The statement further mentioned that a police patrol was dispatched to the defendants residence, where they arrested Mohammed al-Qadirani and his son, Ibrahim. During the verbal interrogation, the child confessed to stealing the firearm and the money from the plaintiffs car and handing them over to his father.

On the other hand, the childs father denied any involvement in the theft. It is worth noting that the Public Prosecutor instructed the Criminal Security Department to conduct an investigation and search the premises, accompanied by women police officers. However, no evidence linking the child and his father to the alleged crime was found.

Following the search and the absence of incriminating evidence, the Bab Police released the accused individuals on financial bail on Monday. It should be noted that Mohammed al-Qadirani faces charges related to the illegal sale of weapons.

Disturbing photos and videos have been circulating among activists, depicting the child and his father subjected to torture in various parts of their bodies throughout their arrest and investigation at the police station. These images have sparked widespread condemnation, anger, and calls for those responsible to be held fully accountable.

According to the sources, the police command in the al-Bab city has referred the two individuals who inflicted the torture on the child to the disciplinary committee. Furthermore, they have publicly declared their commitment to ensuring that these individuals are held accountable in accordance with the law.

It is worth noting that this is not the first incident involving misconduct by members of the Bab Police. In August 2022, media personnel were assaulted by police officers while covering a protest at the citys hospital. The police authorities released a statement at that time, vowing to take appropriate action against the officers who had violated their given instructions, emphasizing their commitment to upholding the law.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Iranian militias assist asylum seekers to cross into SDF-areas where they meet with smugglers, according to al-Modon.

The normalization with Assads regime has led to an increase in Syrian refugees migrating to Europe. Many young Syrians have lost hope in their country due to the regimes continued presence and the expectation of more war and poor living conditions. This wave of migration coincides with media calls for the return of refugees amidst the regions reconciliation with the Assad regime.

Asylum seekers from areas controlled by the regime forces, particularly the province of As-Suwayda, travel to Deir-ez-Zor, which is under the control of Iranian militias. These militias assist them in crossing the Euphrates River to areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. From there, they join groups of young men from various provinces and, under the guidance of smugglers, head to the Syrian region of Ras al-Ayn, controlled by the Turkish-backed National Army. They pay additional sums to smugglers and cross the Turkish border with the help of leaders in the National Army. Eventually, they reach destinations such as Germany, the Netherlands, or Sweden, where they apply for asylum.

The cost of this journey, which amounts to approximately 15,000 euros on average, is funded by the immigrants themselves. They use what remains of their property and savings, part of which goes to the Assad regime in exchange for a necessary passport, even though they cross the border illegally. Another portion of the amount goes to the Iranian militias who transport and smuggle them outside the regimes control, while warlords at the Turkish borders also receive a share. The refugees arrive in European countries with nothing but documents proving their origin from the country they fled.

Families of the new immigrants often sacrifice their last savings, homes, or property, as the refugees sever ties with their home country. The regimes nationalistic slogans and actions have pushed them to lose faith in their country and abandon it in search of a better future. Their departure not only brings hard currency to their families but also ensures that no future opposition force will be formed against the regime, creating room for the ambitious projects of its allies.

Reports suggest that smugglers working with Iranian militias have purchased numerous houses in towns like al-Bukamal, located on the outskirts of Damascus. Similar activities are happening in other towns and cities like Aleppo and Deir-ez-Zor.

Critics of the Syrian narratives and the revolution may continue spreading propaganda and falsehoods, but they cannot answer the crucial question: Why have so many Syrians fled their homeland? Even after the revolution and war, why are they leaving now when the regime claims to have achieved victory?

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Head of the Italian delegation and Chairman of CasaPound, expressed his appreciation for the warm reception they received, according to al-Baath.

Buthaina Shaaban, Special Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic, held a meeting with the delegation of the Italian Casa Pound party, representing the European Front for the Defense of Syria. Dr. Shaaban expressed her gratitude for the delegations understanding of the situation in Syria and their support for the countrys fight against terrorism, both in Italy and across Europe. She emphasized that Syrias battle against terrorism is not only for the benefit of its own people but also for the well-being of the entire world.

Shaaban highlighted the importance of strengthening relations between different peoples and promoting Syrian culture and civilization during this critical period. She condemned the sanctions imposed on Syria, which have had a detrimental impact on all aspects of life in the country. Syrias resolute stance against US hegemony, according to Shaaban, serves as a beacon of hope for people worldwide who aspire to be free from oppression and dominance.

Gianluca Iannone, the Head of the Italian delegation and Chairman of CasaPound, expressed his appreciation for the warm reception they received. He emphasized the significance of countering media distortions that occurred during the war against Syria, stating that the real battle lies in exposing these distortions.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Your daily brief of the English-speaking press on Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad made a significant return to the international stage by attending an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia after more than a decade of expulsion. At the same time, the Kurdish-led AANES said it welcomed seven families of Syrian refugees who left Lebanon, where a campaign against refugees is ongoing.

Regional and international media is still putting this move under analysis. In an article entitled, Bloody red carpet: Assad Returns to International Stage with Arab League Welcome, American conservative Fox News focused on Assads reintegration into the Arab League as part of a collective effort led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to bring Syria back into regional diplomacy.

The Network quoted experts as saying that the Arab Leagues decision to welcome Assad back into its fold represents a significant development in the ongoing dynamics of the Syrian conflict and regional diplomacy, the Network added. The differing positions within the U.S. government regarding Syria policy have contributed to a loss of leverage for the United States in influencing the outcome of the conflict.

Benefits above Values

The decent Japanese media outlet Japan News accused the Arab government of putting their benefits above values.

The Network reported that a strong feeling that something is amiss with this rehabilitation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has violently repressed his people, is inescapable.

The crown prince stated at the conference that Saudi Arabia would not allow our region to turn into a field of conflicts, but it is the Assad regime that has created the quagmire of a conflict.

Behind this, the report added, is probably the significant decline in U.S. influence in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has long attached importance to security cooperation with the United States. But in recent years, becoming increasingly distrustful of the U.S. tilt toward the Indo-Pacific region and criticism of Saudi Arabias human rights situation, Riyadh has begun distancing itself from Washington.

There is no doubt that the power game involving China and Russia will further complicate the regional situation. There are concerns about a situation in which strong-arm politics will spread and the overall state of the Middle East will become more fluid, it added.

It concluded that the Middle East is an important region for Japan, which depends on it for 90% of crude oil imports. Should the region become destabilized, that would affect the lives of the Japanese people. The Japanese government needs to deepen dialogue with Saudi Arabia and other nations in the Middle East and encourage them to promote the easing of tensions in the region while keeping a close eye on the situation there.

Lack of US strategy leaves power vacuum

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post argues that the United States lacks a coherent strategy to manage its own remaining, quite large interests in the region. Even if the long-term American goal is simply to erase the region from the maps of US military and economic planners, departing in a haphazard and piecemeal way is a recipe for increasing chaos that will negatively impact American interests while damaging the region in ways with likely global effects, and not simply local.

Beijing has capitalized on the power vacuum left by the United States, most recently by brokering an agreement in Beijing between Riyadh and Tehran. The enmity between those two capitals is based mostly on Irans perception of Saudi Arabia being an agent of the American order in the Middle East.

Absent that order, why should there be enmity? While the Iranians have reneged on agreements many times in the past, Chinese guarantees introduced a new level of confidence for the Saudis. At the same time, the Chinese clearly lack the American ability to back up their commitments with force.

Saudi Arabias reestablishment of diplomatic ties with Syria does not mean the Kingdom condones the crimes committed in that country, any more than it is now aligning itself with either Teheran or with Beijing. Instead, Saudi Arabia realizes that absent a coherent US-backed security architecture in the region, senselessly making pariahs of regional actors  whoever they are  makes little strategic sense.

US allies, according to the Israeli newspaper, are not pivoting away from America. Instead, they are pursuing their own national interests. Nothing illustrates the new realities of the Middle East better than the Saudi Kingdom hosting both Vladimir Zelensky and Bashar al-Assad in the same room in Jeddah. Both the opportunities and the dangers of a region that is being left to manage its own problems and rivalries, without superpower guarantees and guidance, could not be more clear.

Strong signal to US

Reuters reiterated that Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message to its old ally, the United States.

Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) is asserting his influence and reminding the United States of his regional power by spearheading the readmission of Syria to the Arab League, Reuters reports. Despite U.S. disapproval, MbS warmly greeted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit, showcasing his growing role on the world stage. Shunned by Western states following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, MbS has now emerged as a figure that the U.S. cannot ignore, though they must engage with him transactionally. Frustrated with U.S. promises and scolding, MbS is forging ties with other global powers and reshaping relationships with shared adversaries.

MBS confidence was evident as he offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia during the summit and demonstrated his ability to engage with other countries independently of the U.S. Although Saudi Arabia still depends on the U.S. for military support and weapons, MBS is pursuing his own regional policy with less deference to Washingtons views. This move is seen as a signal to the U.S. that Saudi Arabia is reshaping its relationships without relying heavily on their involvement.

MBS position, Reuters adds, was strengthened when Western economies turned to Saudi Arabia for assistance in stabilizing the oil market during the Ukraine conflict. This opened the door for a diplomatic offensive and increased his influence. The U.S. declaring MbS immune from prosecution for Khashoggis killing further solidified his standing. Additionally, Chinas mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran signalled Riyadhs ability to work with U.S. rivals and foes to protect its regional interests.

Despite disagreements and requests that have gone unmet, both Saudi Arabia and the U.S. may find it necessary to put aside their differences. Riyadh still sees the U.S. security umbrella as crucial for its defence, while Western states recognize the importance of dealing with Saudi Arabias influence in a volatile oil market. Thus, they continue to engage with MbS, who has solidified his position as the de facto ruler and future king of Saudi Arabia, the news agency concludes.

Israel says it retaliated against shots fired from Syria at military drone

Israel retaliated against shots from fired Syria at a surveillance drone, the Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday.

IDF Machine Gun fire was directed towards the originating area of the shots in Syria, a statement from the military said. The drone successfully completed its mission and no damage was caused.

Israel has for years been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehrans influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

How Assad and Zelenskyy became an Arab League balancing act

Ismaeel Naar wrote a column for the Jerusalem Post in which he discussed the surprise visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the guest of honour. The writers believe that this surprise diverted some attention from the return of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to the organization.

For the columnist, the Saudi hosts aimed to balance the presence of Al Assad, who has been isolated for 12 years, with Zelenskyy, a wartime leader with support in the West. This move attracted the focus of European and American media outlets. The Saudi governments intention was to demonstrate its ability to mediate conflicts beyond the region before addressing regional issues.

While the term rehabilitation has been used to describe the Arab-led efforts to reintegrate Al Assad into the Arab fold, Saudi officials and commentators preferred the term recalibration during the summit. They emphasized the need to recalibrate relationships rather than rehabilitate Assads image, as his actions before and after the summit did not show sufficient remorse or restitution. The motivation to include the Syrian regime in the Arab fold has been ongoing, with Jordan and the UAE taking steps toward rapprochement in recent years.

Saudi Arabia, as the host and current president of the Arab League, expressed its desire to prevent conflicts in the region and move forward from the turbulent years since 2011. Saudi and Emirati officials have shown a pragmatic approach to de-escalation, acknowledging that setting pre-conditions and asking for pledges from Assad has been ineffective. Al Assads speech at the summit focused on sentiment and his return to the Arab world rather than concrete policy changes.

The return of Syria to the Arab League is seen as a part of a larger journey, not the final result. The press conference at the end of the summit highlighted the challenges that still exist in mutual dialogue. Reporters from Syrian state television monopolized the questioning, prompting a response from the Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who disagreed with the claim that the League had lost influence. The conference was cut short due to interruptions and a lack of decorum, demonstrating the need for further cooperation and understanding among Arab nations.

Syrian refugees reach Syrias Raqqa from Lebanon

An official of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said on Wednesday that seven families of Syrian refugees in Lebanon had reached AANES-held areas and settled in a camp north of Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria.

In 2022, Lebanon announced a plan to return 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria. They deported the first batch in the Autumn of that same year and included over 100 families through three border crossings with Syria in Homs and Damascus.

Late in April, the AANES expressed its readiness to receive Syrian refugees in Lebanon after Lebanese authorities increasingly deported refugees.

Sheikhmos Ahmad, the co-chair of the IDPs and Refugees Affairs Office affiliated with the AANES, said that seven families of Syrian refugees in Lebanon reached AANES-held areas and settled in al-Hakomiya makeshift camp in north Raqqa.

The official added that the Camps and Humanitarian Affairs Office, affiliated with Raqqas Civil Council, will provide the needed support for refugees according to available resources. In case their numbers increase, the AANES will have to establish a specific camp for refugees returning from Lebanon.

The families that returned are originally from Tel Abyad, which is under the control of Turkish forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), he noted.

Earlier, the AANES called on the UN to provide assistance and guarantees and to assume its responsibilities in opening a humanitarian corridor between Lebanon and AANES-held areas to facilitate the safe return of refugees.
(Photo : Drew Angerer/ Getty Images)

A second IRS whistleblower has claimed retaliation for reporting that Justice Department leadership was "doing improperly" in their investigation of Hunter Biden.

An attorney for an alleged IRS whistleblower is throwing light on critical conversations that highlighted divides between prosecutors and investigators on how to continue with a criminal investigation targeting President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.

Tristan Leavitt, one of the whistleblower's attorneys, wrote a letter to the US Office of Special Counsel in October 2022 detailing a series of meetings in which tensions arose between federal prosecutors and certain investigators working on the Hunter Biden case.

Second IRS Whistleblower in Hunter Biden Probe Claims Retaliation

Leavitt wrote that on October 7, 2022, the office of a United States attorney, which is not named in the letter but which CNN has learned is the office of Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, "became aware that both the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had longstanding concerns about the handling of the case."

Via his lawyers, the IRS whistleblower has accused the government of interfering with their investigation into the president's son.

According to a separate letter from the lawyers, the whistleblower plans to address his concerns to the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee on Friday. The attorneys for the whistleblower also voiced their disappointment in the committees' inability to schedule a joint interview with the client in that letter.

The memo provides additional information on internal fights over how to continue with the inquiry, which CNN has reported included disagreements over the strength of a possible case against Hunter Biden.

The prosecution is considering filing charges linked to suspected tax offenses and a false statement. According to Hunter Biden, he did nothing wrong. According to the whistleblower's lawyers, a "high-profile, sensitive issue" was being investigated. CNN has confirmed with multiple sources that the individual in question is Hunter Biden.

According to communications received by the first whistleblower's attorneys, the second whistleblower was threatened with criminal activity after voicing concerns about Hunter Biden's case treatment.

In a fresh letter sent to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel on Saturday, attorneys representing the original IRS whistleblower, Tristan Leavitt and Mark Lytle, the president of Empower Oversight and a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, respectively, detailed the claimed retaliation.

In a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner from congressional sources, the attorneys wrote, "Our client learned that one of the agents he supervises - the case agent on the case our client is blowing the whistle on - sent you an email" on Thursday.

The IRS case agent had expressed concerns about the Hunter Biden investigation. But, IRS management reacted swiftly, "accusing other agents of illegal conduct and warning them in an apparent attempt to scare them into silence."

Per Washington Examiner, these new claims of impropriety are the latest to surface about the federal government's treatment of probable tax fraud allegations initially made by Hunter Biden in 2020, just after his father was elected president.

In April and May, lawyers representing the first IRS whistleblower filed letters to Congress outlining allegations of impropriety in the government probe of Vice President Joe Biden's son. Lawyers for the whistleblower have accused the government agency of "obviously retaliatory" behavior.

Read Also: New Chinese Ambassador to the US Arrives, Admits Challenging US-China Ties

Hunter Biden Case Investigators Were Fired

On Monday, records given to Congress revealed that all of the investigators probing tax fraud and associated offenses committed by President Biden's son Hunter Biden had been fired. The latest whistleblower is a former IRS special agent who worked on the Hunter Biden case from when it was started in 2018 until last week when he was abruptly terminated.

The agent's worries about the Justice Department's handling of the probe echo those of his supervisor, who will testify privately before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday. Both IRS whistleblowers report severe retaliation accusations in fresh disclosures to Congress, despite years of ignored internal complaints.

He should have paid taxes on the money despite receiving millions of dollars from overseas contacts who communicated with then-Vice President Joseph Biden, Hunter, 53. In emails on his forgotten laptop, Hunter Biden complained about giving his father "half" of his money, as per the NY Post.

After the IRS supervisor in charge of the investigation since January 2020 contacted Congress on April 19 to allege "preferential treatment" and false testimony to Congress by Attorney General Merrick Garland, he and his 12 subordinates were removed from the case, allegedly on orders from the Justice Department.

Related Article: Hunter Biden Probe Could Get 'A Little Worse' After News of Taking Private Jet to Court Hearing Sparks Backlash

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Recent weeks have witnessed a surge in drug smuggling activities in the northern countryside of Aleppo, Athr Press claims.

The countryside of Aleppos northern fronts has experienced a prolonged period of complete calm, lasting approximately three weeks. During this time, factions affiliated with Ankara have not reported any new movements across the entire region, spanning from the western Afrin area to the eastern Jarablus area.

The prevailing tranquillity in northern Aleppo is unprecedented in recent years. The extended duration without any factional activity or attacks by Ankaras factions towards the villages and towns south of the Afrin and Azaz areas is notable. Concurrently, these factions have been retreating from the areas under their control.

According to local sources in the Azaz region, the current calm in the north can be attributed to recent data and developments that have rapidly unfolded in relation to the Syrian state. This includes Syrias reinstatement to its position in the Arab League and a noticeable shift in Turkish policies, which now appear focused on fostering closer relations with Syria.

Sources close to various faction leaders indicate that these Ankara faction leaders have become increasingly apprehensive about the significant risks posed by current international dynamics. They find themselves entangled in an uncertain future that threatens their presence in the north. These leaders have expressed their anxiety and apprehension about the ongoing events, while also expressing discontentment towards what they perceive as delayed international responses and inadequate support.

Based on Athrs sources in the Afrin and Azaz regions, Ankaras factions are focusing on two main objectives. First, they aim to manipulate public opinion within the areas under their control and coerce the people into participating in almost daily demonstrations against the new international positions. Over the past two weeks, we have already seen such demonstrations in Afrin, Azaz, and Al-Bab.

The second objective that has garnered significant attention from faction leaders is to generate substantial financial resources through various means, with a notable emphasis on the drug trade. Recent weeks have witnessed a surge in drug smuggling activities in the northern countryside of Aleppo, involving routes to and from Turkey as well as areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the east.

This upsurge in drug smuggling operations has led to significant conflicts and divisions among faction leaders. On multiple occasions, clashes have erupted due to disputes over smuggling routes and encroachment into other factions spheres of influence. Just three days ago, the Azaz area witnessed one of the most violent clashes near the village of Sajo, where several factions clashed over control of a key smuggling route towards the areas controlled by the SDF.

In addition to drug trafficking, faction leaders have resorted to the theft and smuggling of antiquities as a means of generating revenue. Recently, the Afrin region has witnessed an alarming surge in the frequency of theft and destruction of archaeological sites, orchestrated by these faction leaders. On a near-daily basis, they engage in bulldozing activities, plundering the contents of these sites, and selling them to Turkish antiquities dealers.

According to local sources in Afrin, at least eight archaeological sites have fallen victim to bulldozing and illicit excavations for antiquities. The prominent targets include the hills of Qastal Meekdad, Obaidan, and Kofija, as well as the vicinity of the Nabi Hori site. The factions responsible for these operations, particularly the Army of Islam and Faylaq al-Sham factions, have managed to extract significant quantities of gold jewelry and archaeological artifacts. These stolen items are promptly transported to Turkey, bypassing the customary process of being assembled in the factions military headquarters.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
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Katelyn Anshutz, a senior at Kelso High School, doesnt let a physical disability stop her achievements. The 18-year-old already has plans to earn a masters degree.

Anshutz answered The Daily News questions about her favorite high school class, what she plans to study in college, and the late rapper shed like to meet.

Q&A

Parents: Brian and Breann Anshutz.

Hometown: Born in Corvallis.

What are your plans after graduation?

My plans are to go to the Oregon Institute of Technology and study applied psychology. I am interested in psychology because the study presents me with the opportunity to learn about mental illness, and provides me with the education to help others, which is something I am very passionate about.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years I hope to almost have my masters in behavioral analysis. I would also hope to be financially stable with my own place.

What was your biggest struggle to graduate and how did you overcome it?

Something I struggled with in high school was learning to adapt to online learning. I think the biggest challenge that I had to overcome was coming back to in-person. However thanks to my strong support system in AVID (a college readiness program) I was able to make the change back to in-person. AVID is a class that Ive been in since seventh grade. It has taught me a lot and has better prepared me for college and adulthood.

What would you recommend to someone having difficulty in school?

Anytime anybody asks for help, I always try and make them recognize how much resources we have here at Kelso High School and how caring and understanding many teachers are about situations ... Having a physical disability didnt really impact my high school career, thanks to the resources and the kindness of the staff and teachers. I really appreciate how they never made me feel out of place and made sure that I never thought an activity was out of reach for me.

What will you miss the most about high school?

I will miss my AVID peers and all of the teachers who have went beyond to support me in all my desires. One thing Ill never forget about senior year is Mrs. Walker, our new principal. Her (arrival) has not only changed my senior year but many other high schoolers careers.

Lifestyles 2023 Cowlitz County and Rainier Standout Grad Q&As Standout Grad is an annual series featuring local public high school seniors who have overcome hardships big and small before graduation. Stud

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My biggest inspiration is my step-mom. She has worked so hard her whole life and has shown me different perspectives of life throughout my childhood. Whether it was her taking me to volunteer at the community house or late-night talks at our own house, she has helped me become openminded and optimistic for the years ahead of me.

If you could talk to anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

I think Id have a conversation with the artist Mac Miller. I have always been intrigued with the way he articulated his lyrics.

What would you order for your last meal?

Although I eat pasta too much already, I would make it my last meal still.
AMD announced the AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card, optimized to provide next-generation, high-performance 1080p gaming, streaming and content creation with stunning visual fidelity.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card is built on the groundbreaking AMD RDNA 3 architecture, featuring redesigned compute units with unified raytracing and AI accelerators and second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology. Designed to deliver incredible 1080p gaming experiences, the Radeon RX 7600 graphics card provides an ideal upgrade for legions of gamers.

Allowing gamers to play the latest titles at 60+ FPS at 1080p and stream in high fidelity with AV1 technology, the new graphics card offers 29% higher 1080p gaming performance on average than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 graphics card and 34% higher performance on average than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB at max settings. It also enables 100+ FPS on average in todays top 10 PC esports titles, while delivering faster AI performance than the previous generation and higher average performance in select content creation applications. Offering the latest features and capabilities, including AMD Radiance Display Engine, full AV1 encoding, leadership support for DisplayPort 2.1 on select models and more, the Radeon RX 7600 graphics card is ideally suited for high-performance, high-fidelity 1080p gaming, streaming and popular content creation applications.

Scott Herkelman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Graphics Business Unit at AMD, said, Currently, 65% of gamers surveyed are playing at 1080p and the majority are still using older graphics cards, unable to take advantage of the latest performance- and visual-enhancing features that deliver the best gaming experiences. AMD offers a range of graphics solutions at different price points, memory configurations and performance levels to support a variety of gamers needs. The Radeon RX 7600 graphics card at US $269 hits the sweet spot for high-performance 1080p gaming. It allows users to enjoy the latest features like AV1 encoding, the AMD Radiance Display Engine and more to take their gaming, streaming and content creation projects to the next level.

Key Features and Capabilities

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card offers industry-advancing technology and features to deliver next-generation performance, visuals and power efficiency. Key features include:

AMD RDNA 3 Architecture  Featuring redesigned compute units with unified raytracing and AI accelerators and second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology, AMD RDNA 3 architecture delivers exceptional performance, visuals, and power efficiency.

 Featuring redesigned compute units with unified raytracing and AI accelerators and second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology, AMD RDNA 3 architecture delivers exceptional performance, visuals, and power efficiency. Improved Streaming Quality and Performance  Improved AMD encoders deliver enhanced visual quality when streaming and recording. AMD AI and content adaptive machine learning technology has also been integrated into the AMD Media Framework to enable better looking and crisper text when streaming at low bitrates and resolutions.

 Improved AMD encoders deliver enhanced visual quality when streaming and recording. AMD AI and content adaptive machine learning technology has also been integrated into the AMD Media Framework to enable better looking and crisper text when streaming at low bitrates and resolutions. Ultra-High Definition Encoding  An encode/decode media engine provides the ultimate performance, unlocking new multi-media experiences with full AV1 encode/decode support, wide color gamut and high-dynamic range enhancements.

 An encode/decode media engine provides the ultimate performance, unlocking new multi-media experiences with full AV1 encode/decode support, wide color gamut and high-dynamic range enhancements. Increased Content Creation and AI Performance  The new graphics card delivers a 27% higher standard overall score on average in PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, a 19% higher average GPU score on PugetBench for Adobe After Effects and a 16% higher average GPU score on PugetBench for Adobe Premiere Pro versus the previous generation, as well as a 36% improvement on average in Nod.AI Stable Diffusion compared to the previous generation. In addition, users can experience up to 32% faster encoding in the DaVinci Resolve Studio beta release 18.5 with the addition of support for AMD Smart Access Video technology.

 The new graphics card delivers a 27% higher standard overall score on average in PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, a 19% higher average GPU score on PugetBench for Adobe After Effects and a 16% higher average GPU score on PugetBench for Adobe Premiere Pro versus the previous generation, as well as a 36% improvement on average in Nod.AI Stable Diffusion compared to the previous generation. In addition, users can experience up to 32% faster encoding in the DaVinci Resolve Studio beta release 18.5 with the addition of support for AMD Smart Access Video technology. AMD Radiance Display Engine  Provides support for DisplayPort 2.1 on select models and HDMI 2.1a based displays for ultra-high resolutions and high refresh rates for gaming and content creation workloads. It also features 12-bit HDR and full REC2020 Color Space for incredible color accuracy at up to 8K video playback.

 Provides support for DisplayPort 2.1 on select models and HDMI 2.1a based displays for ultra-high resolutions and high refresh rates for gaming and content creation workloads. It also features 12-bit HDR and full REC2020 Color Space for incredible color accuracy at up to 8K video playback. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution Technology  Now available in more than 260 current and upcoming titles, AMD upscaling technologies provide crisp, high-resolution image quality while boosting framerates in supported games.

 Now available in more than 260 current and upcoming titles, AMD upscaling technologies provide crisp, high-resolution image quality while boosting framerates in supported games. AMD Software: Adrenalin EditionApplication  Designed to provide a modern and easy-to-use interface for gamers and streamers to quickly access the latest software features, game stats, GPU optimizations, performance reports, and driver updates all from one convenient location, with no registration required.

Key Specifications

Model Compute Units GDDR6 Game Clock (GHz) Boost Clock (GHZ) Memory Interface Infinity Cache TBP Price (USD SEP) AMD Radeon RX 7600 32 8GB 2.25 Up to 2.66 128-bit 32 MB 165W $269

Pricing and Availability

AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics cards are expected to be available from AMD.com and leading AMD board partners including ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire, PowerColor, Vastarmor, XFX and Yeston beginning May 25 at an SEP of $269 USD.
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:

Data trackers follow your every move on apps on your phone. Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

When visiting a medical doctor's office, a women's health clinic, a therapist's office, an addiction treatment center or a place of worship, many think that their location will be off limits to tech companies vying to sell the next thing to you.

But in reality, the unique personal data being collected is sold on the marketplace allowing companies to acquire a consumers' precise geolocation for precision advertising.

For example, a Midwest anti-abortion group last year used cellphone location data to target online content to visitors of Planned Parenthood clinics, according to the Wall Street Journal.

When users clicked the targeted ads, they were directed to a site giving them options of "I want to undo the abortion pill" or "I am thinking about the abortion pill," and then continued to track the users on the web.

This type of invasion of privacy is nothing new. It remains unregulated and unenforced, according to Christo Wilson, an associate professor and director of the BS in Cybersecurity program at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University.

Wilson spoke with Northeastern Global News about the current landscape on how companies track your every move and how very few rules or regulations stop this practice from happening. His comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How do companies track your location?

There are two primary mechanisms for where the data comes from. One is apps. You download an app, and it can request access to location sensors. Historically, there was very little control over this, and if you said yes, it could get your location at any time, even when you're not using the app and send this to a third party.

Android and iOS have gotten a little better where you can say, "Let it get the location when I'm using the app." But even then, you probably have 20 or 30 different apps on your phone that have permission to use location.

Even apps with a stated purpose for having your location (for takeout delivery, for example), you have no idea what else is in that app; any coding part of it can read the location and then send that to anyone for any reason.

Apps have this coding in there because they get paid for providing it to third parties.

The second way this happens is through online advertising. So online advertising is crazy. When you open a website, there's a banner ad that appears. How does that banner ad reach you? So this is through a process called real-time bidding.

For example, if you open up CNN, a big banner ad goes to the top of the page. What will happen is you download the page from CNN, and then there's some code in that page provided by what's called an ad exchange. Your browser will contact the ad exchange and send bid solicitations anywhere from a couple to a couple of thousand different companies.

The ad exchange sends out a unique ID for youthe same person who's moving around the web, seeing ads in all these places. The ad exchange will also send other information, like your current location.

So anytime you're encountering a banner ad like this, anywhere on the web, even in apps, behind the scenes, there are probably 1,000 different companies that are getting this information and asking (the companies) what they are willing to pay to show an ad.

You have these companies that are in the background, you can't see them, but they're giving these little breadcrumbs of your location all the time as you're using apps and using the web.

What rules and regulations are in place for sharing one's location?

My understanding is there are basically no rules. That's the sad truth.

At the federal level in this country, there are some data privacy rules for children under 13 and HIPPA for health-care providers. But there is no federal-level data privacy law.

The Federal Trade Commission polices things like unfair and deceptive trade practices. But that always hinges on someone failing to disclose the collection. As long as you disclose, you can collect and do whatever you want.

Companies have policies that say specific locations are off-limits, but are they followed or enforced?

My impression is that enforcement is lax. To me, it looks like butt-covering. They said don't do things, and then if it's pointed out to them someone is doing something, maybe they will take action. But there's no proactive enforcement of these policies.

Why is sensitive data allowed to be used, and how do companies profit from it?

I'm not even sure they all have policies prohibiting (using locations from sensitive locations). And even the ones that do, it's pretty vague. Often, the people collecting and selling this data don't even know and don't have a way to sift through every hospital, health-care provider, or where a church or abortion clinic is.

There are a lot of claims this data is anonymous, and often that is strictly untrue. What they mean by anonymous is that it doesn't have your name. But it has a unique identifier, so they know it's the same person over time.

Having this knowledge is a good way to do competitive intelligence. It's a great way to do ad targeting. You can measure your own foot traffic. It's incredibly valuable data.

Should people be concerned?

Super concerned. Who knows what's going on behind the scenes? Or the ways that it is used for discriminatory purposes, like targeting ads for real estate but only in affluent white areas.

Is there a way to prevent your location from being shared?

Yeah, it's really challenging. You can uninstall apps with location permission that you don't use or change their settings so they only get location when they're active. In general, you should have a bunch of ad blockers in your browser. Every time your ad contacts third parties for tracking, your location gets leaked.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Amazon.com Inc. repeatedly violated federal labor law by unilaterally changing policies and terminating union supporters at its sole unionized warehouse, US labor board prosecutors alleged in a complaint, which also accuses Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy of personally making illegal anti-union comments.

In a Monday filing, a National Labor Relations Board regional director wrote that Amazon illegally restricted employees' ability to visit their unionized New York City warehouse during their time off, in order to discourage them from engaging in labor activism.

The agency alleges Amazon changed its policy on off-duty workers' access to the premises, as well as its practices on announcing and providing paid leave for COVID-19 cases, without negotiating with the union at the Staten Island facility. It also accuses the company of terminating two employees because of their involvement in the Amazon Labor Union. Amazon should be forced, among other measures, to rescind its off-duty access policy for at least three years, the complaint says.

The complaint also accuses Jassy of violating federal labor law by saying, during a live interview as part of the New York Times Dealbook summit, that union representation would make workers less empowered and would make it harder for them to have direct relationships with managers. Jassy made the comments in November, a month after the NLRB issued a prior complaint saying similar comments the CEO had made to CNBC and to Bloomberg News also violated the law.

Federal labor law allows companies to vocally oppose unionization, but restricts them from threatening or retaliating against workers for organizing, and requires them to negotiate over working conditions if employees do vote to unionize.

Amazon has repeatedly denied violating the law. "These complaints are completely without merit and we look forward to showing that through the legal process," company spokesperson Eileen Hards said Tuesday in an email. While the NLRB has certified ALU as the representative of the Staten Island workers, the Seattle-based company has argued that the union's landmark election victory last year should be overturned due to misconduct, an argument it has signaled it will pursue in federal court.

In November, a federal judge in New York ordered Amazon to cease and desist from retaliating against employees for workplace activism.

Complaints issued by NLRB prosecutors are heard by agency judges, whose rulings can be appealed to the labor board members in Washington, and then to federal court. The agency has the authority to order employers to reinstate workers and change policies, but not to fine them punitive damages or hold executives personally liable for violations.

The NLRB's Monday complaint alleged that Jassy's comments were "interfering with, restraining and coercing employees" in their ability to exercise their rights. ALU argued that the comments constituted a threat to cut off workers' access to supervisors if they unionized.

Complaints issued by NLRB officials personally naming prominent executives are relatively unusual. Under the agency's current general counsel, President Joe Biden appointee Jennifer Abruzzo, the agency is also prosecuting a case accusing Starbucks Corp.'s former CEO Howard Schultz of making an anti-union threat during a meeting last year. A pro-union worker said Schultz asked them at the meeting, "If you hate Starbucks so much, why don't you work somewhere else?" Starbucks has denied wrongdoing.

"All these Succession-style billionaires should be held accountable for unlawful actions, and that's what we're doing," ALU attorney Seth Goldstein said Monday. The complaint, he said, "is going to send a strong message to the union-busters and to CEOs like Jassy who think that they can say whatever they want to and they won't be held accountable."

2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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) 3D schematic of the on-chip WDM filters consisting of four cascaded tunable Si-MRRs with different radii. Inset: zoom-in view of microring waveguide with ITiO/HfO 2 /Si MOS capacitor. (b) Simulated mode profiles in the active region with waveguide widths of 300 and 400 nm, respectively. (c) Simulated Q-factor (blue) and tunability (orange) versus waveguide widths by assuming that the gate material has a carrier concentration of 3  1019 cm3 and mobility of 25 cm2V1 s1 in the simulation. (d) Simulated Q-factor as a function of mobility with different waveguide widths, assuming that the bent Si waveguide has a radius of 8 m and a height of 250 nm with a 50 nm slab in the simulation. Credit: Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32313-0

Researchers at Oregon State University and Baylor University have made a breakthrough toward reducing the energy consumption of the photonic chips used in data centers and supercomputers. The paper is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The findings are important because a data center can consume up to 50 times more energy per square foot of floor space than a typical office building, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

A data center houses an organization's information technology operations and equipment; it stores, processes and disseminates data and applications. Data centers account for roughly 2% of all electricity use in the United States, the DOE says.

According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the number of data centers has risen rapidly as data demand has soared. In the United States, home to many firms that produce and consume vast amounts of data including Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google, there are more than 2,600 data centers.

The advance by John Conley of the OSU College of Engineering, former Oregon State colleague Alan Wang, now of Baylor, and OSU graduate students Wei-Che Hsu, Ben Kupp and Nabila Nujhat involves a new, ultra-energy-efficient method to compensate for temperature variations that degrade photonic chips. Such chips "will form the high-speed communication backbone of future data centers and supercomputers," Conley said.

The circuitry in photonic chips uses photonsparticles of lightrather than the electrons that course through conventional computer chips. Moving at the speed of light, photons enable the extremely rapid, energy-efficient transmission of data.

The issue with photonic chips is that up until now, significant energy has been required to keep their temperature stable and performance high. The team led by Wang, however, has shown that it's possible to reduce the energy needed for temperature control by a factor of more than 1 million.

"Alan is an expert in photonic materials and devices and my area of expertise is atomic layer deposition and electronic devices," Conley said. "We were able to make working prototypes that show temperature can be controlled via gate voltage, which means using virtually no electric current."

Presently, Wang said, the photonics industry exclusively relies on components known as "thermal heaters" to fine tune the working wavelengths of high-speed, electro-optic devices and optimize their performance. These thermal heaters consume several milliwatts of electricity per device.

"That might not sound like much considering that a typical LED lightbulb uses six to 10 watts," Wang said. "However, multiply those several milliwatts by millions of devices and they add up quickly, so that approach faces challenges as systems scale up and become bigger and more powerful."

"Our method is much more acceptable for the planet," Conley added. "It will one day allow data centers to keep getting faster and more powerful while using less energy so that we can access ever more powerful applications driven by machine learning, such as ChatGPT, without feeling guilty."

More information: Wei-Che Hsu et al, On-chip wavelength division multiplexing filters using extremely efficient gate-driven silicon microring resonator array, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32313-0 Journal information: Scientific Reports
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Scientists rely on social media to communicate about climate and other areas.

Scientists suffering insults and mass-spam are abandoning Twitter for alternative social networks as hostile climate-change denialism surges on the platform following Elon Musk's takeover.

Researchers have documented an explosion of hate and misinformation on Twitter since the Tesla billionaire took over in October 2022and now experts say communicating about climate science on the social network on which many of them rely is getting harder.

Policies aimed at curbing the deadly effects of climate change are accelerating, prompting a rise in what experts identify as organised resistance by opponents of climate reform.

Peter Gleick, a climate and water specialist with nearly 99,000 followers, announced on May 21 he would no longer post on the platform because it was amplifying racism and sexism.

While he is accustomed to "offensive, personal, ad hominem attacks, up to and including direct physical threats", he told AFP, "in the past few months, since the takeover and changes at Twitter, the amount, vituperativeness, and intensity of abuse has skyrocketed".

Climate tweets decline

Robert Rohde, a physicist and lead scientist at the non-profit environmental data analysis group Berkeley Earth, analysed activity on hundreds of accounts of widely followed specialists posting about climate science before and after the takeover.

Hostile climate-change denialism has surged on Twitter since Elon Musk's takeover.

He found climate scientists' tweets were losing impact. The average number of likes they received was down 38 percent and average retweets fell 40 percent.

Twitter has not commented directly about what changes it has made to the algorithms that drive traffic and visibility.

Contacted at its email address for comment, its press department returned its now customary reply, an automated email with a "poop" emoji.

But in a tweet seen as an acknowledgement of a deliberate change, Musk wrote in January: "People on the right should see more 'left-wing' stuff and people on the left should see more 'right-wing' stuff. But you can just block it if you want to stay in an echo chamber."

Climate denial bots

In another analysis, prominent climatologist Katharine Hayhoe monitored responses to a tweet on climate change which she published twice, as an experiment, on separate dates before and after the takeover.

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said replies from apparent trolls or bots had shot up.

She counted the hostile comments and examined them for signs that they came from bots - automated accounts that researchers say are pushing mass misinformation.

Inauthentic accounts can be identified by analysis tools such as Bot Sentinel.

Replies from apparent trolls or bots increased 15 to 30 times over a two-month period compared to the previous two years, Hayhoe tweeted in January 2023.

"Before October, my account was growing steadily at a rate of at least several thousand new followers a month. Since then, it has not changed," she told AFP.

Scientists leaving Twitter

Andrew Dessler, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, said he was moving most of his climate communication to Substack, a newsletter platform.

"Climate communications on Twitter are less useful (now) given that I can see that my tweets are getting less engagement," he said.

Many climate scientists have abandoned Twitter since Musk took over in October 2022.

"In response to almost any tweet concerning climate change, I find my notifications inundated with replies from verified accounts making misleading or misguided claims."

Others have abandoned Twitter altogether.

Hayhoe said that of a Twitter list of 3,000 climate scientists that she keeps, 100 disappeared after the takeover.

Glaciologist Ruth Mottram had more than 10,000 followers on Twitter but left in February and joined an alternative scientists' forum powered by Mastodon - a crowdfunded, decentralised grouping of social networks founded in 2016.

"It's really been a revelation in many ways. It's a much quieter and more thoughtful platform," she told AFP.

On Mastodon, "I haven't had any abuse at all or even people questioning climate change. I think we'd become far too used to it on Twitter... I had blocked loads of accounts over on the birdsite (Twitter)," she said.

Scientist Michael Mann reported 'a huge rise in trolls and bots' among climate-related tweets.

'Organised' campaign

Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and a regular target for abuse by deniers of climate change, said he believed the rise in misinformation was "organised and orchestrated" by opponents of climate reforms.

"I've seen a huge rise in trolls and bots. Many target tweets of mine for attack," he said.

Mann's 2021 book "The New Climate War" documented action by oil producers to sow climate denialism on social media.

"The professional trolls manipulate the online environment with strategic posts that generate conflict and division, leading to a feeding frenzy," he told AFP.

 2023 AFP
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Current level of storage lakes in Switzerland compared to previous years. Figure adapted from Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE 2023b). Credit: Energy security in a net zero emissions future for Switzerland (2023)

As with many other countries throughout the world, Switzerland has set itself the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest. Recent developments such as the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis in Europe have aroused concerns about energy security, particularly in the winter months, among the Swiss population and raised questions about the climate and energy policy direction of the federal government.

It was in this context that researchers from ETH Zurich's Energy Science Center (ESC) took a detailed look at the question of whether and under what conditions Switzerland could achieve its target of net zero emissions by 2050 and ensure continuous security of energy supply. The researchers have now published their findings in a white paper: "Energy security in a net zero emissions future for Switzerland."

"Our qualitative analysis shows that the complete decarbonization of Switzerland's energy system is compatible with a high degree of energy security under certain conditions," says Gaby Hug, ETH professor in electrical energy systems. "The challenges are big, but not insuperable." Hug is the Chair of the Energy Science Center's Managing Board and a member of the Expert Group Security of Supply, which was convened last year and which is responsible for this new white paper.

Net zero scenarios demonstrate feasibility

An energy supply system is generally regarded as secure when sufficient energy is available without disruption and at affordable prices. To determine the state of energy supply security for Switzerland, the expert group drew on research conducted by ETH Zurich and the ETH Domain. Its analysis was based on several independent energy system models from the ETH Domain, from which it derived four energy scenarios to investigate a possible net zero future. These scenarios differ in their underlying assumptions about whether electricity trading with neighboring countries will be restricted, and whether offsetting of residual CO 2 emissions abroad is possible.

Simulations of all four scenarios show that while electrification of the transport and heating sectors would reduce overall energy demand, annual demand for electricity specifically would increase from 60 terawatt hours (TWh) to at least 80 to 100 TWh. In each scenario, growing electricity demand can be met primarily by domestic renewable energy sources and trading of renewable electricity.

"If electrification and the expansion of renewables take place at the same time, consumption and generation will increase in harmony and rapid decarbonization will be possible," says the energy systems expert. For long-distance transport and aviation, which is much more difficult to electrify, (imported) bio and synthetic fuels could meet demand. "Every scenario confirms both the technical feasibility and affordability of a secure energy supply with net zero emissions by 2050," says Hug.

Electricity trading boosts energy security

According to the expert group, the key prerequisites are the long-term efficient integration of Switzerland into the European electricity market and the rapid expansion of electricity production from various renewable sources, both domestic and international.

Christian Schaffner, Executive Director of the ESC, explains: "The more renewable electricity we produce, the lower our dependence on imports of fossil fuels. This also reduces the risk of interruptions to supply from monopolistic supply sources, such as we have seen with natural gas from Russia." A diversified and decentralized renewable electricity infrastructure is also considered less susceptible to damage and would increase energy security, as long as efficient energy trading is guaranteed.

"That's why Switzerland needs efficient access to the European electricity market in which it can balance out the numerous, fluctuating renewable energy sources by time and region," says Schaffner, who is coordinating the work of the expert group in partnership with Kirsten Oswald.

Expansion of winter electricity production

Even with substantial growth in domestic production, Switzerland will have to continue to import electricity in winter and export it in summer. Energy security could thus be enhanced by expanding winter-productive sources, such as wind, alpine photovoltaics and seasonal heat storage.

The white paper also cited nuclear energy as an option. As long as the existing nuclear power plants are in operation, they can support the phase-out of fossil energy sources. However, given the current lack of political framework conditions and the hard to calculate construction costs and timelines, new reactors are unlikely to be built before 2050.

Benefits beyond the energy system

Finally, the ESC experts pointed out that although a fossil-free energy system certainly comes with costs, the status quo is hardly cost free. Regardless of what the energy system of the future looks like, the coming decades will require massive investments in energy assets. Along with increased energy security, a fossil-free energy system offers numerous other benefits.

If Switzerland manages to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions and prevent further climate change, in concert with other countries, it will gain improved quality of air, water and soil, and preserve the basis of life for humans and all living creatures. "These aspects are not easily translated into monetary value, but they are without a doubt of utmost value," says Schaffner.

This white paper is the second analysis by the Expert Group Security of Supply, joining the policy brief "Steps to Fossil-Fuel Independence for Switzerland," which it issued in summer 2022.
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To overcome high-performance computing bottlenecks, the PNNL research team proposed using graph theory, a mathematical field that explores relationships and connections between a number, or cluster, of points in a space. Credit: Shannon Colson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Increasing traffic congestion in the Seattle area is a good analogy for a similar increase in congestion on high-performance computing (HPC) systems, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

More complex workloads, such as training artificial intelligence (AI) models, are to blame for the HPC bottlenecks, the scientists say in a paper published in The Next Wave, the National Security Agency's review of emerging technologies.

"We can solve the congestion through how we create the network," said Sinan Aksoy, a senior data scientist and team leader at PNNL who specializes in the mathematical field of graph theory and complex networks.

In HPC systems, hundreds of individual computer servers, known as nodes, work as a single supercomputer. The arrangement of the nodes and links between them is the network topology.

HPC congestion occurs when the exchange of data between nodes funnels onto the same link, creating a bottleneck.

HPC system bottlenecks are more common today than they were when the systems were designed, as Aksoy and his colleagues Roberto Gioiosa, a computer scientist in the HPC group at PNNL, and Stephen Young, a mathematician in the math group at PNNL, explain in The Next Wave.

That's because the way people use HPC systems today is different than the way they did when the systems were developed.

"This is an artifact of life changing," said Gioiosa. "We didn't have Facebook 20 years ago, we didn't have this big data, we didn't have big AI models, we didn't have ChatGPT."

Big tech expands

Starting in the 1990s, the computer technology industry began to blossom. New companies disrupted the Seattle area's economy and where people live and work. The resulting traffic patterns became less predictable, less structured, and more congested, especially along the east-west axis that constrains traffic to two bridges across Lake Washington.

Traditional HPC network topologies resemble the Seattle area road network, according to the researchers at PNNL. The topologies are optimized for physics simulations of things such as the interactions between molecules or regional climate systems, not modern AI workloads.

In physics simulations, the calculations on one server inform the calculations on adjacent servers. As a result, network topologies optimize the exchange of data among neighboring servers.

For example, in a physics simulation of a regional climate system, one server might simulate the climate over Seattle and another the climate over the waters of the Puget Sound to the west of Seattle.

"The Puget Sound climate model is not going to affect what's going on in New York CityI mean, it is eventuallybut really it needs to talk to the Seattle model, so I might as well hook the Puget Sound computer and the Seattle computer right next to each other," said Young, a mathematician in PNNL's computational math group.

The communication patterns in data analytics and AI applications are irregular and unpredictable. Calculations on one server may inform calculations on a computer across the room. Running those workloads on traditional HPC networks is akin to driving around the greater Seattle region today on a scavenger hunt at rush hour, according to Gioiosa.

Network expansion

To overcome HPC bottlenecks, the research team at PNNL proposed using graph theory, a mathematical field that explores relationships and connections between a number, or cluster, of points in a space.

Young and Aksoy are experts in expanders, a class of graphs that can spread network traffic so that "there's always going to be a lot of options to get from point A to point B," explained Aksoy.

Their network, called SpectralFly, exhibits perfect mathematical symmetryevery node is connected to the same number of other nodes, and the connections from each node look the same throughout the network.

The options to get from one node to anotherwith each option identical to any node in the networkalso mean it's easier for computer programmers to route information through the network, added Aksoy.

"It's the same roadmap no matter where you are, so it's a lot less computationally expensive to figure out how to route information on top of this network," he said, noting that this feature is like being in a city where the directions from any neighborhood to all destination neighborhoods are the same for any starting point.

Simulation results

The research team at PNNL ran simulations of their SpectralFly network across workloads from traditional physics-based simulations to training AI models and compared the results to those from other types of HPC network topologies.

They found that SpectralFly outperformed other network topologies on modern AI workloads and achieved comparable performance on traditional workloads, indicating that it could serve as a hybrid topology for people looking to do traditional science and AI on the same HPC system.

"We are trying to merge the two worlds, the traditional and the emerging ones in a way that we can still do science and we can also do AI and big data," said Gioiosa.
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The governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, Samuel Garcia, said Taiwan's Quanta Computer will invest '$1 billion more' in his state.

Taiwan's Quanta Computer confirmed it had "investment plans" in Mexico on Wednesday after the governor of Nuevo Leon announced the company would pump an additional $1 billion into his state.

A Tesla supplier and Macbook maker, Quanta is one of the world's leading electronics and contract manufacturers, and is best known for making the "brains" that go inside electric cars.

"Quanta has investment plans in Mexico and will gradually advance based on customer demands and (its) business development plan," it announced in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

It declined to provide financial details, saying only that "the investment in Mexico does not involve equity investment".

Quanta's statement comes a day after the governor of the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon announced an investment of "$1 billion more" from the company after a successful pilot project.

"Because they liked it so much, they gave us the news that of the $250 million (already invested), they are going to invest $1 billion more," Garcia said in a video he shared on Twitter Tuesday.

He added the investment was "just for equipment and technology transfer" in the first phase, and that land and construction would still need to be factored in.

Quanta has already recruited a workforce of 2,500 people since starting operations in Nuevo Leon.

The state is home to Monterrey city, where Elon Musk's Tesla is currently building a $5 billion new "gigafactory".

The investments in Nuevo Leon are part of the "nearshoring" trend among American companies and their suppliers, in which production sites are established closer to the US market.

In an interview with AFP in March, Garcia said production of Tesla electric vehicles could begin next January at the giant plant.

He added that he hoped the investment would create 7,000 direct jobs in Monterreyand 40-50,000 indirect ones, as Tesla was expected to bring with it many of the companies that make parts for its vehicles.

Between November and February, around 30 Tesla suppliers arrived in the region, Garcia said.

 2023 AFP
(Photo : FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite rising support for Taiwan's participation, the World Health Organization decided not to invite Taiwan as a distinct entity to the annual assembly in Geneva.



Headline: WHO Excludes Taiwan From Annual Assembly After China Opposition

Subheading: China and Pakistan lobbied members to vote against Taiwan's participation.

Social Media: Taiwan was not invited to attend WHO's annual assembly in Geneva.

Summary: Despite rising support for Taiwan's participation, the World Health Organization decided not to invite Taiwan as a distinct entity to the annual assembly in Geneva.

Taiwan was not invited to the World Health Organization (WHO) annual session, despite the island's claims that support was rising for its participation.

After complaints from China, the Geneva annual assembly opted not to invite Taiwan to the event. According to reports, Pakistan and China lobbied members to vote against Taiwan's admission, while Eswatini and the Marshall Islands spoke in favor of Taiwan's participation.

Taiwan Excluded From WHO Annual Assembly

There is only "One China," and Taiwan is an inalienable component of the Asian superpower ruled by Beijing, according to Chen Xu, China's permanent representative to the UN headquarters in Geneva.

Per The Independent, Chen Xu reportedly told Xinhua that the one-China policy should be applied to Taiwan's involvement in WHO operations. He also said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in Taiwan is trying to split China in two.

In recent years, China has increased its military presence in the area around the self-governed island, insisting that Taipei must reconnect with Beijing. China looks askance at Taiwan's multilateral and bilateral relations.

The WHO's decision was criticized by Taipei. It called China's decision to prevent it from joining international organizations a "contemptible" act and asserted that Beijing had no authority to speak on the island's behalf.

The foreign ministry has stated that only Taiwan's democratically elected government can represent Taiwan's 23 million people in the World Health Organization and other international organizations and safeguard the health and human rights of the Taiwanese people.

Nonetheless, Taiwan has stated that its absence from the WHO body has hampered attempts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, despite being allowed to attend some of the technical WHO meetings.

Taiwan is excluded from full membership in the WHO but is permitted to participate in select technical meetings. Taiwan has claimed that this has hampered attempts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taiwan denies China's claims of sovereignty and asserts that the fate of the island can be decided solely by Taiwanese citizens.

The Chinese foreign ministry said, "This completely illustrates that the one-China concept is the ambition of the people and the trend of the times in the world community and cannot be contested in any manner."

The ministry also advised some nations to cease using "Taiwan to manipulate China" and to stop pretending to be puzzled about or politicizing the health problem. It urged other nations to quit meddling in China's domestic affairs using the Taiwan issue as an excuse.

Beijing's refusal to allow Taiwan's membership in international organizations is part of its ongoing campaign to cut Taiwan off from the rest of the world.

The Chinese foreign ministry applauded the WHA's decision, saying that almost 100 nations had backed China's "one China concept" and opposed Taiwan's membership. It labeled Taiwan's requests as "a political ruse to engage in 'Taiwan independence' separatist operations."

Read Also: Hunter Biden Probe: Second IRS Whistleblower Emerges, Claims Retaliation

WHO's Decision Spaks Backlash

The British, American, Australian, French, Japanese, Lithuanian, Canadian, Czech, and German embassies in Taiwan all published statements last week in favor of Taiwan's membership.

They noted that Taiwan had previously been granted observer status and that inviting Taiwan as an observer would best illustrate the WHO's commitment to an inclusive, "health for all," approach to international health cooperation.

In a tweet sent on Sunday, the US embassy in Geneva said Taiwan's exclusion "undermines inclusive global public health collaboration headed by WHO."

According to reports, Taiwanese journalists covering the event were also barred from attending. CNA, a government-affiliated news agency, said on Monday that two journalists who had been granted press credentials the previous week were denied entry when they arrived in Geneva to pick them up.

When questioned if they "had to submit everything to China," the UN official reportedly nodded and confirmed the journalists' assertions, as reported by CNA.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the United Nations' Geneva office of having "failed to act impartially," and has asked the UN not to "give in to unjustified political pressure from some nations."

This restriction applies in all UN buildings across the world, not only to journalists but to anybody attending a UN function as a representative of a member state, civil society, business, or academia.

The World Health Organization and its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have been accused of showing too much deference to China during the pandemic, a charge both organizations strongly refute, according to Guardian.

In March of 2020, an interview conducted by Hong Kong media with a top WHO consultant went viral when the adviser seemed to hang up on the journalist when questioned about Taiwan's pandemic response and then refused to answer any more questions since they had "already spoken about China."

Related Article: New Chinese Ambassador to the US Arrives, Admits Challenging US-China Ties

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Interview: U.S. is the true economic coercer, says Japanese economist

Xinhua) 13:27, May 24, 2023

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States is de facto the world's most ruthless economic coercer and the recently-issued Group of Seven (G7) Hiroshima Leaders' Communique is nothing but another attempt by Washington to curb China's growth, Hidetoshi Tashiro, chief economist of Japan's Infinity LLC., has said.

"The joint statement will restrict or even deny free trade, which has been facilitating global economic growth," the expert told Xinhua, adding that it tries to impede the development of the world economy, undermine international supply chains, and set up obstacles for collaboration among countries.

"Non-market policies and practices ... that distort global competition, trade and investment" are exactly what the United States has been proactively resorting to, Tashiro said.

It is also the United States that has blocked the appointment of new judges to the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), making the dispute settlement organ dysfunctional.

The economist further said that the United States is trying to suppress China like it did with Japan in the 1980s, which was also a victim of U.S. economic coercion.

Seeing Japan's semiconductor industry as a threat back then, the United States imposed retaliatory tariffs and forced Japan to sign the U.S.-Japan Semiconductor Agreement.

As a result of the U.S. coercive measures, Japanese semiconductor enterprises were largely driven out of global competition. Meanwhile, with the support of the U.S. government, a large number of U.S. semiconductor enterprises took the opportunity and grabbed a larger market share.

Through the G7 Hiroshima Leaders' Communique, the United States is trying to make China "the Japan of the 1980s," Tashiro said.

However, the economist said, the United States' wishful thinking could lead to nothing, as its hegemony is declining and more countries are benefiting from cooperating with China.

No companies, even those in the G7 countries, are willing to withdraw from the huge Chinese market to the detriment of their own profits, he noted.

"China is the largest driver of global economic growth, whose economic growth has benefited not only developed countries but also emerging and developing ones as a whole," Tashiro said.

Given the huge economic significance of China, Tashiro said, it is in the common interest of all that China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, can reduce confrontation and enhance cooperation in all areas.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Nuseir Yassin, the creator of Nas Daily, has ended his six-year relationship with his partner Alyne Tamir, who is popularly known as Dear Alyne on the internet.

A Palestinian-Israeli content creator, aged 31, who has gained a huge following on social media with his one-minute daily videos, announced on Monday through an emotional video posted on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

He made a 13-minute video with his former American-Israeli girlfriend, who was 32 years old, to discuss the reasons for their breakup, which he claimed was his longest video ever posted.

The Reason Behind the Break-Up

He admitted that he had neglected to take his partner out on dates while busy with his videos and running his company. He thought everything was okay, but it wasn't. They disagreed over important matters, such as having children and deciding where to live.

They eventually moved to Singapore but later moved to Dubai.

Tamir expressed to Yassin that she felt ignored when she tried to get his attention, as he seemed to be preoccupied with his own thoughts and actions, leaving her feeling excluded from his world.

Read also: Nas Daily Faces Backlash for Attempt to Monetize Cultural Tradition; a Year After BDS Calls to Boycott Nuseir Yassin

What Tamir Said

She expressed that she didn't feel like she was important to him and they both agreed that his dedication to his job caused their downfall.Despite their separation, they have decided to maintain their friendship. Yassin expressed gratitude for the time spent together and stated that he is glad to have met the other person. They both grew and achieved a lot during their time together and now they are content that it has come to an end.

In the video, they went over their entire relationship, from how they first met through messaging online to their first date, which lasted for four days. They talked about their many adventures together, such as visiting 70 different countries and meeting presidents. They also mentioned their love for cats and how they have fostered 50 of them. Additionally, they shared that they had fake-married each other twice.

In his post caption, Yassin spoke to his supporters, acknowledging their support through good times and bad. He believed that they deserved to be informed about the end of his relationship and hoped that his experience would serve as a lesson for others.

He wanted to prevent others from making similar mistakes in their own relationships. Yassin and his ex-partner's decision to maintain their friendship after the end of their romantic relationship is a testament to their love, respect, and mutual admiration for each other.

While transitioning from being lovers to just friends may not be easy, it shows that they are committed to staying in each other's lives despite no longer being romantically involved.



Choosing this path takes courage and maturity for two individuals who once shared an intimate connection. They recognize that while their love story has ended, there are many wonderful aspects of their time together that deserve celebration rather than regret or bitterness.

Their journey together was filled with adventure - travelling around the world and meeting influential people along the way. It was also marked by kindness towards animals, as evidenced by fostering 50 cats during their relationship. Their fake-marriage ceremonies were perhaps symbolic gestures representing how much they cherished one another's company.

Related article: Chadwick Boseman's Wife Accepts SAG 2021 Best Actor Award on His Behalf

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Phase one of the South College Avenue Reconstruction Project in Bryan began on Monday. The project requires a full road closure from West Villa Maria Road to Edge Street through mid-November, and the entire project is expected to be completed by December 2024.

A detour has been put in place going eastbound on West Villa Maria Road to Cavitt Avenue, then northbound to Bizzell Street and westbound back to South College Avenue. Access to homes and businesses in the construction area will be permitted.

This project includes several different elements.

A 10-to-12-foot wide shared-use path will be built along the west side of South College Avenue, as well as a 6-foot wide sidewalk along the east side of South College Avenue.

A landscaped median will be installed along South College Avenue with roundabouts at Hollydale Drive/Williamson Drive and Carson Street.

Large box culverts will be reconstructed under South College Avenue from Midtown Lake to Burton Creek.

Underground storm sewer, water and sanitary sewer lines along the project limits will be replaced and upgraded. City officials said on the projects webpage this will improve stormwater drainage in the area by upgrading the storm sewer network and constructing stormwater detention ponds to help alleviate flooding in the surrounding area.

On Monday, work also began to replace sanitary sewer lines in the area generally bounded by South College Avenue, Cavitt Avenue, Lake Street and Edge Street.

Traffic pattern changes on F.M. 2818

Beginning Monday, changes were made to the traffic pattern for southbound traffic on F.M. 2018 (Harvey Mitchell Parkway) between Holleman Drive and Wellborn Road as construction continues to convert the corridor into a super street design, according to the Department of Transportation.

Only the inside lane will continue south on F.M. 2818 in the traffic switch and the outside lane will have to exit southbound on Wellborn Road via the direct connect ramp, according to TxDOT. This traffic pattern will be in place for around three months to complete the south tie-in to existing pavement.

Minor work also will be done on northbound F.M. 2818, which will require the on-ramp from Wellborn Road to be occasionally closed in the same area.

Navasota to begin street, utility rehabilitation

Over 50 Navasota streets will undergo maintenance and rehabilitation starting at the end of May as part of an $8 million-dollar campaign between Navasotas yearly Street Maintenance Project and the 2020 Bonded Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Street & Utility Rehabilitation.

The citys annual Street Maintenance Project will impact around 30 streets, which will receive a new top surface via chip sealing. This project will begin in early June and has a targeted completion date before Halloween, according to city officials.

The 2020 Bonded CIP Street & Utility Rehabilitation Project will begin once the Navasota school district dismisses this week. The project includes more extensive repairs to rebuild parts of 20 city streets and improve water, sewer and storm drains. City officials said a target completion date is August 2024, before the school year begins.

Public hearing held on Loop 1853 around Madisonville

A public meeting was held by TxDoT on Tuesday for citizen input on the proposed relief Loop 1853 around the south side of Madisonville.

According to TxDOT, the relief loop is to connect regional traffic in the Madisonville area and relieve Texas 21 (Main Street) and surrounding roadways through traffic between Interstate 45, Texas 21, Texas 75 and Texas 90.

A series of public meetings and evaluations over the last few years paved the way for the alternative route to be designed on the south side of the city. The proposed project is funded and expected to go to construction in late 2026, according to TxDOT officials. Loop 1853 would be a four-lane highway with two 12-foot wide lanes going each direction and separated by a grassy median.
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AUSTIN  Texas is likely to leave a voter fraud protection program that has been beset by conspiracy theories under a bill headed to Gov. Greg Abbotts desk.

The proposal, which passed out of the Texas House on Tuesday, would remove Texas from the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC. Abbott has taken no public position on the proposed law.

If the governor signs the bill, it could deal a fatal blow to ERIC, a nonprofit that has been hemorrhaging participant states since conspiracy theories began floating in right wing circles alleging  with no evidence  that the nonprofit organization was infiltrated by partisan actors. The organization has denied the allegations.

Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, called the bill an ugly byproduct from the fallout of the 2020 presidential election and the big lie that there was all kinds of election irregularities around the country and that the election was stolen, lies we know that have been debunked repeatedly by the federal courts.

Texas is the largest participant in the program. So far this year, eight Republican-led states have withdrawn from ERIC. Until recently, ERIC was considered a successful bipartisan effort.

The group uses state data to identify voters that have died or registered in multiple states to help officials remove people from voter rolls when they are no longer eligible.

In 2022, ERIC helped the state identify 200,000 voters who were subsequently removed from rolls after confirming that they had moved. The state pays a $115,000 fee for membership to ERIC, according to the Texas secretary of states office.

While efforts have been underway at the Legislature to remove Texas from ERIC, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson began paving the way to leave ERIC in March. Nelson, the states most powerful election official, announced in March that her office would create a Texas-run voter crosscheck program.

The status of that effort was unclear as of last week. Secretary of state spokesman Alicia Pierce said in an email that the office is actively researching options for voter registration crosscheck programs, including following the provisions in the bill.

The bill lowered the allowable cost to enroll into a voter crosscheck program to $100,000 and an annual fee of $1 per voter identified by the program.

It begs the question, is the cost constraint contained within the bill a device to disqualify ERIC from being the partner that Texas partners with to maintain its voter roll quality? Because if the state cant afford it based on the language in the bill, then we have to find an alternative, Turner said.

The proposal faced near death multiple times after Rep. Mihaela Elizabeth Plesa, D-Dallas, used procedural challenges against the bill. However, its House sponsor, Richmond Republican Rep. Jacey Jetton, managed to revive the bill twice before bringing it to the floor Tuesday, where it passed 85-61.

The bill ensures that there are adequate guardrails to ensure we are receiving pertinent information and only sharing pertinent information to identify voters, Jetton said.
Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao (NYSE:CBD  Get Rating) and Seven & i (OTC:SVNDF  Get Rating) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao and Seven & is net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao 3.70% -7.88% -2.68% Seven & i N/A N/A N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao and Seven & is gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao $3.35 billion 0.27 -$33.32 million N/A N/A Seven & i N/A N/A N/A 197.96 0.23

Institutional & Insider Ownership

Seven & i has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao.

5.1% of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.6% of Seven & i shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Seven & i pays an annual dividend of 57.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 123.5%. Seven & i pays out 28.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao and Seven & i, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao 1 1 0 0 1.50 Seven & i 1 0 0 0 1.00

Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao presently has a consensus target price of $2.80, indicating a potential downside of 16.67%. Given Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicaos stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao is more favorable than Seven & i.

Summary

Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao beats Seven & i on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao

(Get Rating)

Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao engages in the retail of food, clothing, home appliances, and other products through its chain of hypermarkets and supermarkets. It operates through the Food Retail, and Cash and Carry segments. The Food Retail segment sells food and non-food products to individual consumers. The Cash and Carry segment retails food and some non-food products to resellers, intermediate consumers, and retail customers through the Assai banner. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

About Seven & i

(Get Rating)

Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. engages in retail, food, financial, and IT businesses in Japan, North America, and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Domestic Convenience Store operations, Overseas Convenience Store Operations, Superstore Operations, Department Store Operations, Financial Services, Specialty Stores Operations, and Others. The company's Domestic Convenience Store Operations segment operates convenience stores comprising directly managed corporate stores and franchised stores. Its Overseas Convenience Store Operations segment engages in convenience store operation and gasoline retail businesses. The company's Superstore Operations segment operates retail business that provide daily life necessities, such as food and other daily necessities. Its Department Store Operations operates department stores that provide various merchandise products. The company's Financial Services segment offers banking, leasing, and credit card services. Its Specialty Store Operations segment operates specialty retail stores. The company's others segment engages in real estate and other businesses. It operates approximately 22,500 stores in Japan and 71,800 stores internationally. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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Several analysts have recently updated their ratings and price targets for TransAlta Renewables (TSE: RNW):

5/16/2023  TransAlta Renewables was upgraded by analysts at CSFB from a neutral rating to an outperform rating.

5/8/2023  TransAlta Renewables had its price target lowered by analysts at National Bankshares, Inc. from C$13.25 to C$13.00. They now have a sector perform rating on the stock.

5/8/2023  TransAlta Renewables was downgraded by analysts at ATB Capital from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating. They now have a C$14.00 price target on the stock, down previously from C$15.50.

5/8/2023  TransAlta Renewables had its price target raised by analysts at TD Securities from C$12.00 to C$12.50. They now have a hold rating on the stock.

5/7/2023  TransAlta Renewables was downgraded by analysts at Atb Cap Markets from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating.

4/19/2023  TransAlta Renewables had its price target raised by analysts at National Bankshares, Inc. from C$12.75 to C$13.25. They now have a sector perform rating on the stock.

4/12/2023  TransAlta Renewables had its price target raised by analysts at CSFB from C$14.00 to C$14.50.

TransAlta Renewables Price Performance

Shares of TSE RNW traded up C$0.04 on Tuesday, hitting C$12.83. The companys stock had a trading volume of 268,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 566,757. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.52, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of C$3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$12.37 and a 200-day moving average of C$12.47. TransAlta Renewables Inc. has a 12-month low of C$10.63 and a 12-month high of C$18.45.

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TransAlta Renewables (TSE:RNW  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C$0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.20 by C($0.05). TransAlta Renewables had a return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 14.55%. The company had revenue of C$154.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$139.60 million. As a group, research analysts predict that TransAlta Renewables Inc. will post 0.7813073 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Renewables Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a $0.0783 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. TransAlta Renewabless payout ratio is currently 313.33%.

TransAlta Renewables Inc develops, owns, and operates renewable power generation facilities. The company operates through Canadian Wind, Canadian Hydro, Canadian Gas, US Wind and Solar, US Gas, and Australian Gas segments. As of February 24, 2022, it owned and operated 26 wind facilities, 13 hydroelectric facilities, 8 natural gas generation facilities, 2 solar facilities, 1 natural gas pipeline, and 1 battery storage project comprising 2,968 megawatts of net generating capacity located in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, the States of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, North Carolina, and the State of Western Australia.

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Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR  Get Rating) (TSE:QSR) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

QSR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Restaurant Brands International from $81.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $78.00 to $84.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Restaurant Brands International from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, Cowen reissued a market perform rating and issued a $72.00 price target on shares of Restaurant Brands International in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $72.13.

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Restaurant Brands International Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE QSR traded down $1.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,162,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,266,920. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.34. Restaurant Brands International has a one year low of $46.68 and a one year high of $74.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Insider Activity at Restaurant Brands International

Restaurant Brands International ( NYSE:QSR Get Rating ) (TSE:QSR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. Restaurant Brands International had a net margin of 15.26% and a return on equity of 35.70%. The firms revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Restaurant Brands International will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

In related news, CFO Matthew Dunnigan sold 45,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.21, for a total transaction of $3,294,450.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,391 shares in the company, valued at $2,883,815.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Matthew Dunnigan sold 45,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.21, for a total value of $3,294,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,391 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,883,815.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ali Hedayat sold 7,772 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.54, for a total value of $563,780.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,677 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,282,289.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,233 shares of company stock worth $24,725,951 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.25% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Restaurant Brands International

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Restaurant Brands International by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 95,143 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $6,523,000 after buying an additional 38,070 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Restaurant Brands International in the first quarter valued at about $2,554,000. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in Restaurant Brands International by 31.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Restaurant Brands International by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 221,970 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $14,902,000 after acquiring an additional 16,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Restaurant Brands International by 65.5% in the 1st quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 122,300 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $8,202,000 after acquiring an additional 48,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.87% of the companys stock.

About Restaurant Brands International

(Get Rating)

Restaurant Brands International, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the operation of quick service restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes. The Tim Hortons segment provides donut, coffee, and tea restaurant services. The Burger King segment manages fast food hamburger restaurant.

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ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW  Get Rating) insider Lara Caimi sold 267 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.77, for a total value of $137,176.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 98 shares of the companys stock, valued at $50,349.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Lara Caimi also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Monday, February 27th, Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of ServiceNow stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total value of $1,283,950.50.

ServiceNow Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE NOW traded down $11.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $500.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,123,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,662,917. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $457.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $430.97. 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 firm has a market cap of $101.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 260.91, a P/E/G ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 1.04. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $337.00 and a 52-week high of $521.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NOW. Guggenheim upped their price objective on ServiceNow from $511.00 to $518.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on ServiceNow from $551.00 to $559.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on ServiceNow from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. BNP Paribas raised ServiceNow from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $410.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on ServiceNow from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $527.70.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NOW. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 1st quarter valued at $18,589,000. Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 1st quarter worth about $218,418,000. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in ServiceNow by 153.8% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 66 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.31% of the companys stock.

ServiceNow Company Profile

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ServiceNow, Inc engages in the provision of enterprise cloud computing solutions. The firm delivers digital workflows on a single enterprise cloud platform called the Now Platform. Its product portfolio is focused on providing Information Technology, Employee and Customer workflows. The company was founded by Frederic B.

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StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of American Shared Hospital Services (NYSE:AMS  Get Rating) in a report issued on Saturday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

American Shared Hospital Services Price Performance

Shares of AMS opened at $2.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72. American Shared Hospital Services has a twelve month low of $2.20 and a twelve month high of $3.75.

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About American Shared Hospital Services

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American Shared Hospital Services engages in leasing radiosurgery and radiation therapy equipment to healthcare providers. Its equipment includes Gamma Knife, PBRT, and IGRT. The Gamma Knife radiosurgery equipment is a non-invasive treatment for malignant and benign brain tumors, vascular malformations and trigeminal neuralgia.

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The New South Wales (NSW) police department in Australia said on Wednesday, May 24, that a 95-year-old lady who was tasered by police last week at a nursing home had passed away.

Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother, was in critical condition at the hospital when she collapsed to the floor after being tased, sustaining significant brain injuries.

A police spokesman said on Facebook, "Mrs. Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time."

The Night of the Incident

The cop who reportedly tasered Nowland faces many charges, including assault and recklessly inflicting serious bodily injury. The allegations against the senior policeman, age 33, were revealed by NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb on Wednesday.

In early July, a court will hear accusations against the cop, BBC reported. While the inquiry is ongoing, he is suspended from duty with pay.

According to CNN, Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter of the NSW Police Force told reporters last week that they were summoned to Nowland's care facility in the town of Cooma, NSW, at 4:15 AM local time due to claims of a resident with a steak knife.

"At the time she was tasered, she was approaching police. It is fair to say at a slow pace. She had a walking frame. But she had a knife," Cotter told media on Friday, May 19.

BBC said the incident has led to requests for an investigation at the state legislature level and the release of body cam footage from the police officers involved. A total of two police body cameras recorded video of the event, but it has not been made public.

NSW police guidelines state that Tasers should only be used on the elderly or the crippled in "exceptional circumstances."

Family friend Andrew Thaler reported that prior to the event, Nowland was too weak to stand without assistance. She was only 5-foot-2 tall, and her lowest weight was 43 kilograms (95 pounds). She was also suffering from dementia.

After falling and striking her head, Nowland is said to have had a fractured skull and a severe brain hemorrhage.

Also Read: Disgraced Entertainer Rolf Harris Dead at Age 93

Heartfelt Support

Even when charges were filed, Thaler was confused as to why it had taken the police so long to do anything. "Why has it taken so long? Anyone else would have been charged straight away."

This week, Nowland's family published a statement asking for privacy and expressing gratitude for the outpouring of love and support they have received.

According to CNN affiliate 9News, "Clare is the loving and [gentle-natured] matriarch of the Nowland family."

"We stand together. We thank everyone here in Cooma, the wider region and, in fact, the whole country and around the world for the outpouring of support for her and her ongoing battle with dementia - which touches so many," the statement read.

Also Read: Australian Mount Everest Climber Dies as He Reaches Mountain's 'Death Zone'

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StockNews.com cut shares of Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW  Get Rating) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

PNW has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $69.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Pinnacle West Capital from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Pinnacle West Capital from $74.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $74.64.

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Pinnacle West Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PNW opened at $77.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firms 50-day moving average price is $79.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.46. Pinnacle West Capital has a 1-year low of $59.03 and a 1-year high of $81.63.

Pinnacle West Capital Announces Dividend

Pinnacle West Capital ( NYSE:PNW Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $944.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $808.33 million. Pinnacle West Capital had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 10.33%. Pinnacle West Capitals revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pinnacle West Capital will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.865 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 28th. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. Pinnacle West Capitals payout ratio is 84.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 8.0% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,980 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 1,630 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 23.1% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 30,693 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,397,000 after acquiring an additional 5,768 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its holdings in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 5.6% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 31,722 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,599,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 6.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,515 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $38,620,000 after purchasing an additional 31,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Pinnacle West Capital by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 135,551 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $10,571,000 after purchasing an additional 9,777 shares during the period. 85.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pinnacle West Capital Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Pinnacle West Capital Corp. is a holding company, which engages in providing energy and energy-related products. It offers regulated retail and wholesale electricity businesses and related activities, such as electricity generation, transmission and distribution through its subsidiary, Arizona Public Service Co The company was founded on February 20, 1985, and is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ.

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Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM  Get Rating) (TSE:AEM)  Stock analysts at Raymond James cut their Q3 2023 earnings per share estimates for Agnico Eagle Mines in a report released on Thursday, May 18th. Raymond James analyst F. Hamed now forecasts that the mining company will earn $0.37 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.40. Raymond James currently has a Outperform rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Agnico Eagle Mines current full-year earnings is $2.16 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Agnico Eagle Mines Q4 2023 earnings at $0.30 EPS.

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Several other research firms have also commented on AEM. National Bank Financial lowered their target price on Agnico Eagle Mines from C$89.00 to C$88.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Agnico Eagle Mines in a report on Monday, April 3rd. They issued an outperform rating for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Agnico Eagle Mines in a report on Monday, April 3rd. They issued an outperform rating for the company. Finally, TheStreet raised Agnico Eagle Mines from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $70.63.

Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Down 0.1 %

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agnico Eagle Mines

NYSE:AEM opened at $53.42 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.14 and a 200-day moving average of $52.39. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 52 week low of $36.69 and a 52 week high of $61.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Toroso Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 7,084 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 61.0% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 184,127 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $9,916,000 after acquiring an additional 69,739 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,760 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $146,577,000 after acquiring an additional 419,055 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 28.4% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 12,795 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines during the 1st quarter valued at $605,000. 58.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Agnico Eagle Mines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. Agnico Eagle Miness payout ratio is currently 31.50%.

Agnico Eagle Mines Company Profile

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Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. engages in the exploration and production of gold. It operates through the following segments: Northern Business, Southern Business, and Exploration. The Northern Business segment comprises of LaRonde mine, LaRonde Zone 5 mine, Lapa mine, Goldex mine, Meadowbank mine including the Amaruq deposit, Canadian Malartic joint operation, Meliadine project and Kittila mine.

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Burberry Group plc (OTCMKTS:BURBY  Get Rating)  Telsey Advisory Group issued their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Burberry Group in a report issued on Thursday, May 18th. Telsey Advisory Group analyst D. Telsey expects that the company will post earnings of $1.80 per share for the year. The consensus estimate for Burberry Groups current full-year earnings is $1.63 per share.

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Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Burberry Group from GBX 1,730 ($21.52) to GBX 2,400 ($29.85) in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Burberry Group from GBX 2,310 ($28.73) to GBX 2,450 ($30.47) in a report on Friday, May 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on Burberry Group from GBX 2,245 ($27.92) to GBX 2,360 ($29.35) in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Societe Generale downgraded Burberry Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Burberry Group from GBX 2,200 ($27.36) to GBX 2,400 ($29.85) in a research note on Friday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Burberry Group presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $2,256.22.

Burberry Group Stock Down 3.5 %

Burberry Group Company Profile

Shares of BURBY opened at $27.86 on Monday. The businesss 50 day moving average is $30.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.44. Burberry Group has a 52-week low of $17.52 and a 52-week high of $32.81.

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Burberry Group Plc operates as a holding company, manufactures, designs and distributes apparels and accessories under the Burberry brand. It operates through the following segments: Retail and Wholesale, and Licensing. The Retail and Wholesale segment sells luxury goods through Burberry mainline stores, concessions, outlets, and digital commerce, as well as Burberry franchisees and department stores.

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Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG  Get Rating) have earned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $6.98.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on RIG shares. BTIG Research upped their target price on Transocean from $8.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Transocean from $4.00 to $8.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Benchmark raised their price objective on Transocean from $7.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 10th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Transocean from $6.00 to $6.50 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Transocean in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a sell rating on the stock.

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Transocean Trading Down 1.1 %

RIG opened at $6.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 2.90. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $6.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.71. Transocean has a one year low of $2.32 and a one year high of $7.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Insider Activity

Transocean ( NYSE:RIG Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $649.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.29 million. Transocean had a negative net margin of 34.53% and a negative return on equity of 6.80%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.28) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Transocean will post -0.46 EPS for the current year.

In other Transocean news, Director Chad C. Deaton bought 30,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.40 per share, for a total transaction of $222,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 141,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,400. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Transocean news, Director Chad C. Deaton bought 30,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.40 per share, for a total transaction of $222,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 141,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,400. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David A. Tonnel sold 12,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.53, for a total value of $78,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 476,802 shares in the company, valued at $3,113,517.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 13.16% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Transocean by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 100,550 shares of the offshore drilling services providers stock worth $639,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Transocean by 5.8% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 32,525 shares of the offshore drilling services providers stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Transocean by 31.0% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,545 shares of the offshore drilling services providers stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares in the last quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Transocean by 10.3% in the first quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,500 shares of the offshore drilling services providers stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Transocean by 42.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,747 shares of the offshore drilling services providers stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.16% of the companys stock.

About Transocean

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Transocean Ltd. engages in the provision of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. It also owns and operates offshore drilling fleets such as ultra-deepwater, harsh environment, deepwater, and midwater rigs. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Steinhausen, Switzerland.

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The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned of cyber attacks targeting state bodies in the country as part of an espionage campaign.

The intrusion set, attributed to a threat actor tracked by the authority as UAC-0063 since 2021, leverages phishing lures to deploy a variety of malicious tools on infected systems. The origins of the hacking crew are presently unknown.

In the attack chain described by the agency, the emails targeted an unspecified ministry and purported to be from the Embassy of Tajikistan in Ukraine. It's suspected that the messages were sent from a previously compromised mailbox.

The emails come attached with a Microsoft Word document that, upon enabling macros, launches an encoded VBScript called HATVIBE, which is then used to drop additional malware.

This includes a keylogger (LOGPIE), a Python-based backdoor capable of running commands sent from a remote server (CHERRYSPY), and a tool focused on exfiltrating files with specific extensions (STILLARCH or DownEx).

It's worth noting that DownEx was recently documented by Bitdefender as being used by an unknown actor in highly targeted attacks aimed at government entities in Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.

"Additional study of the infrastructure and related files made it possible to conclude that among the objects of interest of the group are organizations from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Israel, [and] India," CERT-UA said.

The findings show that some threat actors are still employing macro-based malware despite Microsoft disabling the feature by default in Office files downloaded from the web.

That said, Microsoft's restrictions have led several attack groups to experiment and adapt their attack chains and payload delivery mechanisms to include uncommon file types (CHM, ISO, LNK, VHD, XLL, and WSF) and techniques like HTML smuggling.

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Enterprise security firm Proofpoint said it observed multiple initial access brokers (IABs)  actors who infiltrate major targets and then sell that access to other cybercriminals for profit  using PDF and OneNote files starting in December 2022.

"The experimentation with and regular pivoting to new payload delivery techniques by tracked threat actors, especially IABs, is vastly different from attack chains observed prior to 2022 and heralds a new normal of threat activity," the company said.

"No longer are the most experienced cybercriminal actors relying on one or a few techniques, but rather are frequently developing and iterating new TTPs. The rapid rate of change for many threat actors suggests they have the time, capability, and understanding of the threat landscape to rapidly develop and execute new techniques."

STILLARCH (aka DownEx) Attributed to Russia-Based Actors

"The recent advisory from CERT-UA provides more evidence for our earlier analysis of DownEx malware," Martin Zugec, technical solutions director at Bitdefender, told The Hacker News. "It strengthens the case for attributing this malicious campaign to Russia-based threat actors, which we had assessed with low confidence before."

"It also corroborates our finding that this threat group targets foreign embassies as its main victims. Furthermore, it reveals new details about how this threat group exploits the compromised access to target victims that have higher security awareness."
The infamous Lazarus Group actor has been targeting vulnerable versions of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) servers as an initial breach route to deploy malware on targeted systems.

The findings come from the AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC), which detailed the advanced persistent threat's (APT) continued abuse of DLL side-loading techniques to run arbitrary payloads.

"The threat actor places a malicious DLL (msvcr100.dll) in the same folder path as a normal application (Wordconv.exe) via the Windows IIS web server process, w3wp.exe," ASEC explained. "They then execute the normal application to initiate the execution of the malicious DLL."

DLL side-loading, similar to DLL search-order hijacking, refers to the proxy execution of a rogue DLL via a benign binary planted in the same directory.

Lazarus, a highly-capable and relentless nation-state group linked to North Korea, was most recently spotted leveraging the same technique in connection with the cascading supply chain attack on enterprise communications service provider 3CX.

The malicious msvcr100.dll library, for its part, is designed to decrypt an encoded payload that's then executed in memory. The malware is said to be a variant of a similar artifact that was discovered by ASEC last year and which acted as a backdoor to communicate with an actor-controlled server.

The attack chain further entailed the exploitation of a discontinued open source Notepad++ plugin called Quick Color Picker to deliver additional malware in order to facilitate credential theft and lateral movement.

The latest development demonstrates the diversity of Lazarus attacks and its ability to employ an extensive set of tools against victims to carry out long-term espionage operations.

"In particular, since the threat group primarily utilizes the DLL side-loading technique during their initial infiltrations, companies should proactively monitor abnormal process execution relationships and take preemptive measures to prevent the threat group from carrying out activities such as information exfiltration and lateral movement," ASEC said.

U.S. Treasury Sanctions North Korean Entities

The findings also come as the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four entities and one individual involved in malicious cyber activities and fundraising schemes that aim to support North Korea's strategic priorities.

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This includes the Pyongyang University of Automation, the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau and its subordinate cyber unit, the 110th Research Center, Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, and a North Korean national named Kim Sang Man.

The Lazarus Group and its various clusters are believed to be operated by the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau, which oversees North Korea's development of offensive cyber tactics and tools. The Technical Reconnaissance Bureau is overseen by the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the country's primary intelligence agency.

The sanctions-hit nation, besides engaging in crypto currency theft and espionage operations, is known to generate illicit revenue from a workforce of skilled IT workers who pose under fictitious identities to obtain jobs in the technology and virtual currency sectors across the world.

"The DPRK conducts malicious cyber activities and deploys information technology (IT) workers who fraudulently obtain employment to generate revenue, including in virtual currency, to support the Kim regime and its priorities, such as its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," the department said.

"These workers deliberately obfuscate their identities, locations, and nationalities, typically using fake personas, proxy accounts, stolen identities, and falsified or forged documentation to apply for jobs at these companies."

"They earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year by engaging in a wide range of IT development work, including freelance work platforms (websites/applications) and cryptocurrency development, after obtaining freelance employment contracts from companies around the world," the South Korean government warned in December 2022.
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Build Grand Island is primed to build more of, well, Grand Island.

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development has awarded the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation a $1 million grant through the 2022 round of Nebraskas Rural Workforce Housing Fund.

The Build Grand Island program is a 0% interest revolving loan fund for developers to spur residential development, according to corporation President Mary Berlie. The program prioritizes owner occupancy and upper story living in Railside, with a focus on student, intern and young professional housing.

The corporation and partners pledged $675,000 in matching funds for the grant.

"We get to fold this new $1 million in (the loan fund) and the EDC and our business partners will match, we get to fold that into our current program," Berlie said. "So well have a total of $3.675 million in our revolving loan bucket."

Of that total, the first $2 million has been loaned and is, "out in the community working," Berlie said. She said the request for proposals for that first $2 million brought in $13 million in project requests.

"So theres significant demand for housing funds," Berlie said. "Our population is increasing, but our housing stock is not increasing at the same rate."

Berlie said the funds are expected to reach the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation coffers within a year, give or take, and from there a new round of request for proposals will start.

The grants were part of $22,825,000 in awards for the 2022 round of Nebraskas Rural Workforce Housing Fund. Authorized by the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act of 2017, the RWHF helps communities create quality, affordable housing to accommodate growth, according to a release from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

For the 2022 funding cycle, awards were available to eligible nonprofit development organizations who supplied at least a 50% match. The department administers the RWHF program on behalf of the State of Nebraska through a competitive application process. The department then partners with recipients to provide input regarding project design, development and implementation.

Other area awards include $1 million to the Aurora Housing Development Corporation for work in Hamilton County, $860,000 to the South Central Economic Development District, Inc. for work in a number of counties, including Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton and Merrick, $1 million to the Merrick County Development Corporation for work in Central City, $1 million to Greater Loup Valley Activities, Inc. for work in Valley County, primarily in Ord, $1 million to the Hastings Economic Development Corporation for work in Hastings, and $350,000 to the Ravenna Economic Development Corporation for work in Ravenna.

Growing rural Nebraska is a priority for our agency, said department Interim Director Joe Fox. The RWHF supports job creation and helps attract residents to our rural communities through strategic investments in affordable, high-quality housing. We had an outstanding batch of applicants for this cycle of RWHF awards. Congratulations to the awardees.

And there could more good news on the rural workforce housing front. Nebraska Legislature Bill 249 would fund the Nebraska Rural Workforce Housing Fund with $20 million and also remove the limit of one application per organization per cycle, increase the grant maximum from $1 million to $5 million and strike language prohibiting using rural workforce housing funds for projects also receiving certain other state grants and credits.

It was introduced by state Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, who represents the 41st District, which includes the majority of Hall County, along with all or parts of Buffalo, Sherman, Howard, Valley, Greeley, Wheeler and Boone counties.

Berlie said that increase would greatly benefit housing efforts in the Grand Island area.

"GIEDC is serious about adding solutions to our housing shortage," she said. "Rural workforce housing is just one more tool in our toolbox to help our community."
Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security were summoned by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence regarding the national security threats posed by China.

The proceeding was called for in relation to the Chinese balloon incident from January 28th to February 4th.

Committee member Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called the incident an "absolute horror."

"The Biden administration did absolutely nothing, and Americans were so upset," she said. "The outrage was unbelievable... It's unspeakable that this actually happened."

China Initiative

The Georgia congresswoman also highlighted the 2018 China Initiative of the Department of Justice to "combat" what she thought was the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) "relentless campaign" to steal US intelligence, technology, and cutting-edge research.

She added that China was steadily replacing the US as the most powerful nation in the world in terms of economic gains and military strength.

Durham Report

She went on to express her disappointment towards FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Jill Murphy for being unaware of the contents of the report created by Justice Department special counsel John Durham.

The Durham Report highlighted the FBI making the mistake of launching a probe investigating Russia's intervention in former US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.

In response, Murphy said while China's encroachment on US interests was concerning, the China Initiative was "misperceived" by the Chinese American community as a program targeted against Chinese people. She thought the China Initiative was created "to protect academic institutions and researchers from the Chinese communist government."

Chinese spy balloon

Regarding the Chinese balloon, Homeland Security cybersecurity official Iranga Kahangama said the ability of the balloon to conduct surveillance for the Chinese government was "a threat to our country."

Homeland Security intelligence and analysis acting director Tyrone Durham said the balloon was just "one more tool" in the CCP's "toolbox" to intimidate its rivals.

"They use everything at their disposal," he said.

Greene also went on to criticize the family of US President Joe Biden for "receiving payments" from CCP-linked foreign nationals "in exchange for power and influence," which could strategically sabotage the White House, to which none of the three respondents commented.

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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The contraption in Starr Elementary Schools library looks like a gumball machine. Or maybe it dispenses stickers? Can students get toys and trinkets for a quarter?

Kind of. Starr Elementary students have their own special pencil dispenser. For a quarter, students can buy a pencil, gumball machine-style.

Where the quarters go is where the fun starts. Using quarters collected by the machine, media integration specialist (a fancy term for librarian) Beth McCracken buys books for students to take home over the summer.

Its incredibly important that kids' minds create, stay active  that kids don't sit in front of a screen because the research just shows that your brain shuts off and activity is pretty dull, she said.

The effort to combat summer slide  learning loss  was started by former technology assistant Robin Mettenbrink, with the help of former Starr Principal John Hauser.

When (Robin) left, she was afraid that it was going to die, but it's really important to put literature in the hands of kids, McCracken said. It's really important that they have books at home, and that they see people reading  that it's modeled for them.

Fourth graders Sera Quintana and Madison McFarland are among the students who chose books Tuesday.

I really have nothing else to do in the summer, McFarland said, shrugging. I like to imagine people and all of the stuff in the world.

Fourth grader Nevaeh McDowell also uses reading as a springboard for imagining. She said she likes books about magicians and sorcery.

Its fun to have my own wild imagination, McDowell said.

McDowell said she and her brother both bought pencils from the special Starr vending machine.

Quintana shares her love of reading in the summer, she said. I like to read at the summer because it gives me fun stories to entertain my family members.

Students could choose one book by Rick Riordan, which Starr acquired numerous different copies. Riordan is best known for his series Percy Jackson & the Olympians, which are chapter books based on Greek mythology.

The kiddos who are a little bit more timid with reading, are a little intimidated by the size of the book, McCracken said. But we have third graders who came in and just have a heyday.

There are plenty of other books to choose from, both classic and new.

Students enjoy picking out books, but what McCracken likes is combatting the summer slide.

When they leave school in the spring, they lose a certain amount of knowledge when they come back in the fall, McCracken explained. Doing things like reading and following the summer reading program at the public library, keeping that brain active and away from screens, helps build those neural pathways and connections.

The pencil dispenser helps the students support one another, too, said McFarland.

It encourages us to read in the summer when we're not in school, she said. Also, it gives us opportunities to read good books when we either can't afford them or don't have them.

And they can be enjoyed much longer than the taste of a gumball.
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An 84-year-old Nebraska prison inmate convicted of attempted sexual assault died Sunday at a Lincoln hospital.

Donald Lichtenberg of Omaha was serving a sentence of 18 to 24 years for attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child in Douglas County, according to a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Corrections. He was being held at the department's Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln.

The cause of death has not been determined, the spokeswoman said. Lichtenberg was being treated for a medical condition, she said.

A grand jury will investigate Lichtenberg's death. Whenever someone dies in custody, state law mandates that a grand jury conduct an investigation.

Photos: Nebraska's new Reception and Treatment Center
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MADISON  A Norfolk woman could be sentenced to prison after she was found guilty on Monday of a felony in connection to the improper disposal of the remains of a fetus she had been nearly 30 weeks pregnant with.

Celeste Burgess, 18, pleaded guilty in Madison County District Court to one count of prohibited acts with human skeletal remains, a Class 4 felony punishable by up to 2 years in prison.

In exchange for Burgess plea, the Madison County Attorneys Office dismissed two misdemeanor charges of concealing the death of another person and false reporting. Prosecutors also agreed not to file any additional charges against Burgess and will not make a recommendation at sentencing, which has been scheduled for July 20.

Burgess was charged last June after police learned that she was involved in the illegal burial of an unborn fetus in April 2022.

Burgess mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, allegedly ordered pills in March 2022 aimed at terminating her pregnancy. In April, the fetus died about 29 weeks and 5 days into the younger Burgess pregnancy, and prosecutors have alleged that the death was self-induced without a physician.

The Burgesses then enacted a plan to bury the remains at a rural location north of Norfolk. Evidence at Jessica Burgess preliminary hearing indicated that the mother and daughter buried the remains three different times and also attempted to burn the remains after the second exhumation.

Last July, a then 22-year-old man pleaded no contest to attempted concealing a death, a Class 3 misdemeanor, after he lent support to the Burgesses by providing them with transportation to and from the multiple burial sites.

Testimony from a former Norfolk police detective last June revealed that Jessica Burgess ordered Pregnot pills on eBay in March 2022  pills that would allow her daughter to terminate her pregnancy.

Social media messages between the Burgesses obtained by Ben McBride, the former detective, through a search warrant show that the two-pill order arrived on April 20, 2022. Jessica Burgess then instructed Celeste through messages to take one pill designed to stop hormone functions, wait 24 hours, then take the other pill that would complete the termination of the pregnancy.

Celeste then made a comment along the lines of, We burn the evidence when it comes out, and (Jessica Burgess) said, Yes,  McBride testified.

Celeste Burgess told police that she had a miscarriage in the shower on April 22, 2022. McBride said further review of her messages showed that she told friends in a group chat that they were going to bury the babys body.

Matthew Kiernan, deputy Madison County attorney, told District Judge James Kube that the remains were those of an approximately 30-week-old infant child.

Chelsey Hartner, deputy Madison County public defender, said the fetus was not a 30-week-old child.

It was an approximately 30-week gestational age deceased newborn, Hartner said. I just want the record clear on that.

Jessica Burgess is charged with prohibited acts with human skeletal remains, concealing the death of another person, false reporting, abortion at greater than 20 weeks gestation and abortion by an unlicensed physician. She faces up to 8 years in prison and is scheduled to appear in court next on July 7.

At the time Celeste Burgess pregnancy was terminated, Nebraska law prohibited anyone, even a licensed physician, from administering an abortion at 20 weeks past gestation.

The Nebraska Legislature has since passed LB574, which bans abortions at 12 weeks past gestation. Gov. Jim Pillen signed the bill into law on Monday.

Photos: UNL celebrates largest-ever graduating class
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U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., speaks to reporters following a press conference at the U.S. Capitol about immigration legislation, on May 23, 2023. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON  A bipartisan group of six U.S. House lawmakers on Tuesday described details of proposed legislation that would create a legal pathway for citizenship for undocumented people through work requirements, and would also fund border security measures.

The two Latinas who spearheaded the bill, Reps. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, and Maria Elvira Salazar, Republican of Florida, said their Dignity Act aims to target the more than 10 million undocumented people in the country and ease the way for legal employment of workers in industries such as agriculture that are experiencing labor shortages.

Salazar said she is planning to talk to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., about the bill and to pitch it to her GOP colleagues.

The other Republicans at the press conference were Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon of Puerto Rico, who does not have a vote in Congress due to the colonial status of the island. The bill text is not yet available, but Salazar previously introduced her own version of the bill last Congress.

The other lawmakers at the press conference were Democratic Reps. Kathy Manning of North Carolina and Hillary Scholten of Michigan.

Its our intention to bring dignity to many sectors in this country who are under duress, Salazar said.

Escobar said the only way for the U.S. to meet the challenges of immigration is to do so in a bipartisan way.

Waiting for either sides idea of what is perfect, is exactly whats gotten us into the situation we face today, she said.

Multiple immigration issues

Escobar said the bill tackles three immigration issues. It would address the plight of the millions of undocumented people who are already working and living in the U.S.; reform the border process to bring a humanitarian approach to processing migrants; and create processing centers in other countries to help migrants understand the high hill there is to climb for true asylum claims.

This bill represents a breakthrough, a true breakthrough, and a true compromise, and again, if we continue to wait for the perfect, we will continue to wait decades into the future, Escobar said. The challenges will get much worse, and we will have abdicated our responsibility and not perform our role as serious legislators.

The Biden administration is currently working with Colombia and Guatemala to open processing centers in those countries to ease migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Under the bill, asylum cases would be processed within 60 days.

If an undocumented person had been in working in the country for more than five years without a criminal record, they could apply to be in a dignity program created under the legislation. They would be protected from deportation but also would be barred from federal assistance and required to pay for their own health insurance.

The bill would also require an undocumented person to pay $700 each year for seven years, on top of 1.5% that would be taxed from their paycheck, known as the dignity levy.

Salazar said it was not much money to pay in exchange for living out of the shadows.

She said that adds up to about $5,000 per undocumented person, and accounting for an estimated 10 million undocumented people, it would equal around $45 billion.

Salazar said the $45 billion would go toward border security, such as the hiring of officials, upgraded technology, asylum officers and humanitarian services. She said this would ensure that any money collected from taxes does not go toward border security.

Funding from the dignity program would also go toward a program aimed at fighting anti-immigrant sentiments. Salazar said it would allow any American who believes that he or she has lost his opportunities job opportunity to an undocumented person to be retrained or reeducated.

No one can say that the undocumented are stealing anything away from you, Salazar said of that specific provision.

After those seven years, if an undocumented person wants to become an American citizen, they could apply for another program known as the redemption pathway, where they would have to pay another $5,000 over the course of five years, or $1,000 a year, under the proposal.

An undocumented person would be required to learn English and pass a civics exam, and then you go back to the end of the line, to become a citizen, Salazar said.

But in the meantime, you are living in a dignified life, she said.

Border security

There are several caveats in the bill that aim to quell GOP objections, such as a requirement that for anyone to become an American citizen, the Government Accountability Office  a nonpartisan agency  needs to issue a report that concludes that the border has been secure for one year. Salazar said those parameters would be up to GAOs discretion.

Salazar also stressed that the bill has harsher penalties for unauthorized immigration than the bill that House Republicans earlier this month passed though she did not go into detail.

House Republicans passed a border security bill that reinstated Trump-era immigration policies, such as the continuation of the construction of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and detainment of families.

It would also strip funding from nonprofits that aid migrants, beef up staffing of Border Patrol agents and restrict the use of parole programs that the Biden administration has used to allow nationals from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to work temporarily in the U.S.

The symbolic measure was in rebuke of the Biden administration winding down a pandemic-era tool known as Title 42 that allowed the U.S. to prevent people from claiming asylum and expelling migrants due to a public health emergency such as the coronavirus. It has no future in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

As for the Dignity Act, whether its passed by itself or attached as a rider on another piece of legislation, Salazar said, Thats up to God.
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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.
First, lets be clear about what usage means. It isnt grammar, though the two are related and often treated together in such page-turners as The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage and The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation. Grammar is a languages set of rules for putting words together; usage is how people actually put words together. Remember it this way: usage is how language is used.

So Bryan A. Garner didnt release a fifth edition of his Modern English Usage to explain the difference between coordinate and subordinate clausesthat hasnt changed since 2016, when the previous edition was published. Hes here to update us on changes in how people speak and write in real life. Six years ago, for instance, using they as an alternative to he or she, Garner wrote, sets many literate Americans teeth on edge. As his new guide notes, the Chicago Manual of Style, New York Times, and Associated Press all now allow it.

To chart such evolutions, hes devised a language-change index, consisting of five stages, from the emergence of a variant to its widespread acceptance. Which stage a word belongs in isnt always clear. He tentatively puts they as a third-person singular in Stage 5, but given his description of Stage 4 usagegenerally adopted but opposed on cogent grounds by a few linguistic stalwartsyou could argue its the latter. Surely it draws at least as much opposition as other Stage 4 specimens: impact as a verb and hone in for home in.

The subjectivity of these distinctions may rankle, but theyre not entirely judgment calls. Among the guides many virtues is its leveraging of data; Garner draws on Googles database of English-language booksthe largest in existenceto offer comparisons between the frequency of one usage versus another. In modern print sources, he notes, homing in on the . . . predominates over honing in on the . . . by a 2-to-1 margin.

Does all this seem like a bit much to, um, home in on? Maybe for some. But for anyone interested in language, its catnip. (This might be a good time to mention that Im a professional copy editor.) The terrain Garner covers is as varied it is extensive; entries address everything from inclusive language to the correct placement of only in a sentence. Better still, he conducts readers through it with good sense, wit, and erudition.

Exemplifying these first and third qualities is his discussion of ending sentences with a preposition. Youre probably aware that some people consider this practice a mistake; you may even be one of them. Garner isnt. On the basis of both history and what sounds natural today, he defends the terminal preposition. The prohibition against it, he writes, originated in the eighteenth century, when English grammarians looked to Latin as their model. (In Latin, prepositions always precede the nouns they modifythe words root means placed beforemaking it impossible for them to end sentences.) But, Garner points out, Latin grammar should never straitjacket English grammar. A perfectly sensible attitude: English is a Germanic language, after all. He favors, as I do, the smoothness of people worth talking to over people to whom it is worth talking.

As impressive as his conversance with Englishs history is Garners awareness of present-day trends. The like entry notes not only traditional uses of the word (as a preposition and conjunction) but more recent functions. He catalogs a whopping five uses, among them the quotative (She was like, Hell no!), the approximative (Isnt that movie, like, five hours long?), and the fillerwhich he labels, in a scholarly flourish, the dummy-word. (I was just, like, standing there when some, like, homeless guy came over and started to, like, freak out.)

Those uninterested in such parsing may prefer the entries for race-related terms, which dispenses historically grounded advice on identifying people by race (Hispanic? Latino? Latina? Latinx?), and they, which delves into the pronouns use as an alternative to he or she. Garner tracks the evolution of the third-person-singular they, starting in the 1300s, when it sometimes referred to unspecified individuals. (Its still used that way today in such sentences as This style guide will enlighten the reader in ways they never expected.) But only in the 21st century has they been applied to specific, often nonbinary, individualsas in Alex asked that they be given a promotion. This usage, Garner notes, took off with the rise of the transgender-rights movement following Obergefell v. Hodges.

Even more striking than Garners knowledgeability is the empathy he urges. I remember, shortly after becoming a copy editor at The New Yorker in June 2020, David Remnick announcing that the publication would begin capitalizing Black. I bristled at the inconsistency, if not inequity, of leaving brown and white lowercase. Remnick acknowledged such counterarguments, as does Garner, but decided that showing respect to Black people mattered more, especially at a time when racial-justice protests in the wake of George Floyds murder were convulsing the country. Other news outlets had already begun capping the word; perhaps, as Garner speculates, it was the editorial expression of the need for social justice. My initial resistance now past, Ive come to appreciate Garner and Remincks stance. Writing a Black man instead of a black man seems less a violation of principle than a prioritization of people over a style rule. Or maybe its an exchange of one rule for another: instead of favoring consistency above all, first consider the perspective of those being referred to.

The seriousness with which Garner treats social-justice issues doesnt preclude playfulness on other topics; nor does his familiarity with dangling modifiers and sentence fragments keep him from thinking creatively about grammar. In the skunked terms entry, both characteristics are on display. Garners own coinage, the label denotes words or phrases caught between meanings. He cites transpire, which once meant come to light but now more commonly appears as a slightly pretentious synonym for happen. This and other such words give rise to two factions: an old guard against the altered usage and another camp okay with it, possibly even unaware of the initial sense. Because the first group wont countenance the new use and members of the second might not recognize the original one, Garner recommends avoiding the word altogether, tinged as it is with a bad odor. With time, the odor fades, as it has from contact as a verb (though it still clings to impact).

Supplementing the word histories Garner charts are quotations from language experts, writers, politicians, newspapers, magazines, and other publications, some dating back hundreds of years. Many are enlisted to support the case for a particular use; Anthony Burgess gets quoted to show the permissibility of ending sentences with a preposition: Poetry, as Dr. Johnson said, is untranslatable and hence, if it is good, preserves the language it is written in. Others serve the opposite purpose, illustrating bad usage. This sentence from a USA Today article, for instance, has a misplaced only: The prosecution was hindered from seeking a conviction on attempted manslaughter charges because Seles elected not to testify at the hearing and only provided her medical records shortly before the trial was to begin. (Italics mine.) Logically, the end of that sentence should read . . . and provided her medical records only shortly before the trial was to begin. (The point is that Seles provided her medical records last-minute, not that she failed to provide additional records.)

Logic is, as Garner realizes, a cornerstone of usage and grammar. The purpose of his recommendationsand that of grammar, ultimatelyis to help people make themselves understood. Yet he recognizes that even logic has its limits. It is no use trying to explain why we say, on the one hand, that pair of shoes is getting old, but on the other hand, the pair were perfectly happy after their honeymoon, he writes. (Italics his.) In Garners view, the best course is to follow idiom and usage but otherwise apply logic. Such advice circumvents the descriptivism-prescriptivism binary often invoked in discussions of grammar. Garner is saying, essentially, be descriptivist when you can and prescriptivist when you cant.

Logics sister is clarity. If a sentence is a muddle, the thinking behind it probably is too. Take this humdinger from a Detroit News article: States were further required to limit soot from power plants, cars and other sources to 2.5 microns, or 28 times smaller than [who can be sure what this means?] the width of a human hair. (Bracketed text Garners.) A lesser, though more common, confusion is the misuse of if for whether. As Garner puts it, Use if for a conditional idea, whether for an alternative or possibility. This distinction is meant to facilitate understanding. If your grammatically savvy friend says, Let me know whether you can make it, they want a response either way. If they say, Let me know if you can make it, youre expected to respond only if youre a yes.

Like the dictionary, Garners Modern English Usage is more to be consulted than read cover to cover. But if you have the stamina to power though its 1,187 pagesnot counting the glossary of language-related terms or the chronology of books about usage, starting in 1740delights aplenty await. This review has offered but a sampling.
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On Wednesday, the Williamson County Sheriffs Office issued an update on the case which said the suspect, Timothy J. Baggott of Carbondale was arrested Sunday in Wells, Nevada on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle. He was released.

Then on Monday, he was arrested again in Elko County with charges related to possession of another stolen vehicle. He is currently held in the Elko County, Nevada jail on a $40,000 bond.

Williamson County States Attorney Ted Hampson filed felony theft charges against Baggott on Tuesday for the backhoe incident, according to a press release from the Williamson County Sheriffs Office. Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich said the county has issued a warrant for Baggotts arrest with a $25,000 bond.

Baggott first captured attention when a suspicious backhoe was found parked at the Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois. Investigators determined that the backhoe, owned by a local business, had been taken from the intersection of Illinois Route 13 and Spillway Road and alleged that Baggott stole the backhoe and drove it 10 miles to the airport in order to catch a flight.

Security camera footage shows Baggott arriving at the airport, parking the backhoe and walking into the airport lobby, and he appeared to be carrying a guitar case.
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Dibrittany Diera Harrison, 34, of 277 North Trail Road, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to interfering/disrupting school during a recent term of court held at the Orangeburg County Courthouse.

Circuit Judge Heath P. Taylor sentenced Harrison to prison for one year.

After serving one day in jail, the remainder of her term was suspended to one year of probation. She was given credit for having already served one day in jail.

Her charge of threatening the life of a public official was dismissed.

In other recent guilty pleas:

 Carroll Wardell Evans Jr., 55, of 353 Campground Road, Eutawville, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000 and possession of stolen goods valued at $2,000 but less than $10,000.

Taylor sentenced him to three years in prison.

After serving six days, the remainder of his term was suspended to two years of probation. Taylor gave him credit for having already served six days in jail.

Evans was charged with an additional count of receiving stolen goods valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000, but that charge was dismissed.

 Ricky Xavier Fuller, 39, of 514 Fox Drive, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to third-degree domestic violence.

Taylor sentenced him to 90 days in prison.

After serving one day, the remainder of his term was suspended to two years of probation. Taylor gave him credit for having already served one day in jail.

 Ryan Gathers, 36, of 180 Grader Fire Road, Eutawville, pleaded guilty to first-offense failure to stop for blue lights and first-offense driving under suspension, license not suspended for DUI.

Taylor sentenced him to prison for three years.

After he served one day, the remainder of his term was suspended to 18 months of probation.

The following charges were dismissed: speeding more than 15 mph but less than 25 mph, first-offense possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, transporting alcohol with a broken seal, open container of beer or wine in a motor vehicle and first-offense uninsured motor vehicle fee violation.

 Willie Anthony Geddis, 38, of 467 Mango St., Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to third-degree domestic violence.

Taylor sentenced him to 41 days in jail and gave him credit for having already served that term there.

 Keenan Nykel Gillard, 34, of 212 Bunch Ford Road, Holly Hill, pleaded guilty to second-offense possession with intent to distribute a controlled drug.

Taylor sentenced him to five years in prison.

After he served three days, the remainder of his term was suspended to two years of probation.

 Emily Marie H. Griffin, 31, of 740 Halcyondae Road, Sylvania, Georgia, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession of a controlled substance and unlawful carrying of a pistol.

Taylor sentenced her to six months in prison.

After she served three days, the remainder of her term was suspended to one year of probation.

 Melvin Guinyard, 27, of 125 Blanda Circle, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession of a controlled substance.

Taylor sentenced him to 30 days in jail and gave him credit for serving one day there.

Guinyard is allowed to serve his jail time on weekends.

 Wallace Hickson Jr., 60, of 1735 Farm Road, Scranton, pleaded guilty to forgery, no dollar amount given.

Taylor sentenced him to prison for two years.

After he served 90 days, the remainder of his term was suspended to five years of probation. Taylor gave Hickson credit for having already served jail time.

Hicksons charge of forgery valued less than $10,000 with enhancement was dismissed.

 Taiya V. Hill, 23, of Oak Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and battery.

She was originally charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and battery instead.

Taylor sentenced her under the Youthful Offender Act not to exceed three years.

After she served 53 days, the remainder of her term was suspended to two years of probation. Taylor gave her credit for having already served jail time and ordered her probation term to be transferred to Tennessee.

 Quantrell Dechane Hills, 33, of 1911 Coulter Road, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-degree DUS, license not suspended for DUI; hit-and-run resulting in property damage and assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest.

Taylor sentenced him to six months in prison. He was given credit for having already served 23 days in jail.

His charge of failure to yield right-of-way, left turn, was dismissed.

 Hope Hoover, 45, of 150 Parvis Road, Cordova, pleaded guilty to trespassing and first-offense negligently allowing fire to spread to lands of another.

She was originally charged with second-offense negligently allowing fire to spread to lands of another but pleaded guilty to first-offense negligently allowing fire to spread to lands of another instead.

Taylor sentenced her to 30 days in jail and gave her credit for time served.
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Investigators are looking for a shoplifting suspect who allegedly shoved a Walmart employee when confronted.

This individual brazenly pushed a store employee out of the way when she tried to ask for a receipt, Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said in a release.

If you have any idea at all who this is, please call us, he said.

Around 7 a.m. Tuesday, an employee of the Walmart on North Road noticed a male pushing a shopping cart with items believed to be unpaid for.

When the employee put her hand on the cart to ask for a receipt, the male allegedly became upset and pushed her.

The sheriffs office claims the male then threatened to shoot her.

He is described as a black male around 20 years of age. He was seen driving a silver Cadillac, possibly a CTS, with a California license plate.

If anyone has any information on the identity or location of this person, they are asked to call the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office at 803-534-3550.
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An Orangeburg charter school is expanding to better accommodate the growth in its number of ninth-grade students.

The Orangeburg High School for Health Professions is adding a $450,000, 5,500-square-foot Freshman Academy Center for the upcoming school year.

The expansion includes six modular units combined into one building. It is located at the bus loop, off the main entrance of the campus at 130 Howard Hill Drive.

The Freshman Academy Center will house all ninth-grade classes, including English language arts, mathematics, Earth science, modern world history, foundations of computer science and an administrators office with professional development space, according to school officials.

The center will serve a maximum of 125 freshman students with five additional instructors and one administrator.

Growth here at HSHP is astounding, HSHP Executive Director/Principal Derwin Farr said. Our enrollment here at HSHP three years ago was at 350. We are now at 404, with an expected enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year to be at 440.

With the ever-growing numbers, especially for our Freshman Academy, the need for more space was evident, Farr said.

The additional units and space were provided by Texas-based Boxx Modular in coordination with South Carolina-based Osmium Development Group.

The $450,000 does not include electrical, plumbing, set up or wiring.

The expansion is being funded through federal coronavirus Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding.

The center provides the school the opportunity to focus on the needs of our freshman students, Freshman Academy Center Administrator Shanna White said. This is where they can get those initial transitional needs upon entering HSHP, bonding with staff, building a rapport with the graduating cohort and building the foundation for the expectations of high school.

The center will provide academic support for students taking dual enrollment classes. This includes the learning lab that is located within the center, White said.

White said the decision to expand the school was prompted by an analysis of South Carolina Department of Education data.

We noticed that students were entering high school lacking the fundamental skills needed to thrive in ninth grade, White said. The inceptive idea was to ensure we provided the freshman students with the support needed to close the academic achievement gap.

The HSHP was founded as a charter school in 2012 with a charter under the former Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5. In 2022, the school left the Orangeburg County School District and joined the Columbia-based Limestone Charter Association.

The HSPH charter school was initially located in the Orangeburg Technology Center on Magnolia Street with seven classrooms and 73 students. The school transitioned to the Nix Elementary building on Stilton Road for several years.

The health science-focused school on Howard Hill Drive houses 22 classrooms, an administrative suite and cafeteria. The school serves students in grades 9-12.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were due to meet again on Wednesday to strike a debt limit increase deal amid the US Treasury Department's warning that the federal government may not be able to pay its obligations by June 1, making a settlement urgent.

On Wednesday, McCarthy told reporters that he and Biden hadn't talked since their Monday conversation at the White House, but he was optimistic about their negotiation teams' progress. McCarthy said that the negotiators would resume talks that morning, according to Reuters.

PIMCO, a major US bond firm, stressed the need to settle by midweek to fulfill the US debt ceiling deadline. However, President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy remain deeply opposed on the way ahead.

Republicans want huge expenditure cuts, while Democrats want to keep spending the same but raise taxes to pay off the debt. Biden and McCarthy's conversations after their Monday night White House meeting showed progress but did not result in a debt ceiling increase.

Democrats may now be forced to accept concessions, including clawbacks in pandemic money, job requirements for social programs, and other spending limitations, to obtain a measure that can win congressional support. These concessions depart from the White House's original demand for an unqualified raise in the US debt ceiling.

Read Also: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pays $100,000 for Kevin McCarthy's Used Chapstick

US Debt Ceiling Crisis May Impact Biden's Presidential Bid

However, the political repercussions of a US government default exceed these financial agreements. Biden admitted that some Republicans feel a government default would be blamed on him as president, which might hurt his re-election chances in 2024.

Meanwhile, public opinion is divided on US default liability. A Tuesday NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that 43% of Americans think Biden would take most of the responsibility, while 45% hold legislative Republicans liable. Only 7% of respondents said both parties should take the blame, as per a Bloomberg report.

The US economy would be devastated by a government default, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and economic experts have cautioned. Although the particular US default effects are unclear, they would have a significant influence.

Yellen has warned of job losses, company closures, and unmet federal government payments to millions of recipients, including veterans, military families, and Social Security pensioners, per PBS.

Moreover, over 8 million jobs might be lost, perhaps causing a recession.

Related Article: Statement from President Joe Biden on Budget Negotiations

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CHARLESTON  Cory H. Fleming, 54, of Beaufort, is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court tomorrow, Thursday, May 25, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Fleming is scheduled to plead guilty to an information alleging that from in or around March 2018 until at least October 2020, Fleming conspired with former personal injury attorney Richard Alexander Alex Murdaugh to defraud the estate of Murdaughs former housekeeper and to obtain money and property from the estate by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses.

In February 2018, Murdaughs housekeeper passed away after a fall at Murdaughs home. Murdaugh recommended that the housekeepers estate hire Flemingthen a personal injury and criminal defense attorney in Beaufort to represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh to collect from his homeowners insurance policies. Murdaughs insurance companies settled the estates claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000.

The information alleges that, as part of the scheme, Murdaugh and Fleming conspired to siphon settlement funds, disguised as prosecution expenses, for their own personal enrichment. The information further alleges that Fleming directed the drafting of checks from the settlement funds held in his trust account to his personal bank account, fraudulently claiming that the funds were to pay for expenses related to the estates claim against Murdaugh. The information alleges Fleming knew the funds belonged to the estate, and the payments were not for legitimate legal expenses.

The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center, 83 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina, in Courtroom 1, before The Honorable Richard M. Gergel.

Fleming faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Limehouse, Kathleen Stoughton, and Winston Holliday are prosecuting the case.
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CHARLESTON  A federal grand jury has returned a 22-count indictment against Richard Alexander Alex Murdaugh, 54, of Hampton, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud; bank fraud; wire fraud; and money laundering.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, said U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this case and to the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for their work to hold Alex Murdaugh, and those who enabled him, accountable in our state system. We remain committed to doing our part to further that effort in the federal system.

Murdaugh was a personal injury attorney at a law firm in Hampton, South Carolina. The indictment alleges that Murdaugh engaged in three different schemes to obtain money and property from his personal injury clients.

In one scheme, the indictment alleges that from at least September 2005 until at least September 2021, Murdaugh devised a scheme to defraud and to obtain money by means of false pretenses. The indictment alleges that, as part of the scheme, Murdaugh routed and redirected clients settlement funds to personally enrich himself, including by:

Drafting, or directing law firm employees to draft, disbursement sheets to send settlement funds to Murdaughs accounts without proper disclosure or client or law firm approval;

Claiming funds held in the law firms trust account as attorneys fees and directing the disbursement of those funds for his benefit;

Claiming and collecting attorneys fees on fake or nonexistent annuities;

Creating fraudulent expenses that were never incurred on client matters and directing the disbursement of settlement funds to pay the cited costs, including claimed medical expenses, construction expenses, and airline expenses;

Directing other attorneys with whom he was associated on client matters to disburse attorneys fees directly to him, rather than appropriately routing the fees through the law firm; and

Intercepting insurance proceeds intended for beneficiaries and depositing them directly into his personal account.

In a second scheme, the indictment alleges that from in or around July 2011 until at least October 2021, Murdaugh conspired with his banker, Russell Laffitte, to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The indictment alleges that Murdaugh and his law firm asked Laffitte to serve as personal representative or conservator for numerous personal injury clients. Laffitte collected over $350,000 in fees as personal representative or conservator for Murdaughs personal injury clients.

As part of the scheme, the indictment alleges Murdaugh directed law firm employees to make settlement checks payable to Palmetto State Bank. The checks were then delivered to Laffitte, whom Murdaugh directed to use the settlement funds for Murdaughs benefit. The funds were used to pay off Murdaughs personal loans and for personal expenses and cash withdrawals.

In November 2022, Laffitte was convicted on six federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud for his role in this scheme. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

In a third scheme, the indictment alleges that in September 2015, Murdaugh created a bank account in the name of Forge, presenting as a legitimate corporation for structuring insurance settlements. Murdaugh was the owner of and the only authorized signer on this fake Forge account. The indictment alleges that from in or around May 2017 through at least July 2021, Murdaugh funneled stolen personal injury settlements through the fake Forge account. Murdaugh is charged with 14 counts of money laundering for using the transactions in the fake Forge account to conceal the proceeds of his fraud.

The indictment further alleges that, from in or around February 2018 until at least October 2020, Murdaugh conspired with a personal injury attorney in Beaufort to defraud the estate of Murdaughs former housekeeper and Murdaughs homeowners insurance carriers. In February 2018, Murdaughs housekeeper passed away after a fall at Murdaughs home. Murdaugh recommended that the housekeepers estate hire the Beaufort attorney to represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh to collect from his homeowners insurance policies.

Murdaughs insurance companies settled the estates claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000. The indictment alleges that Murdaugh and the personal injury attorney conspired to siphon settlement funds, disguised as prosecution expenses, for their own personal enrichment. The indictment further alleges that Murdaugh directed the Beaufort attorney to draft checks totaling $3,483,431.95 made payable to Forge. Murdaugh then deposited the checks into his fake Forge account and used the funds for his own personal enrichment. The estate did not receive any of the settlement funds.

Murdaugh faces the following charges:

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

One count of bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

Two counts of wire fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000;

Three counts of wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000;

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000; and

Fourteen counts of money laundering, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.

All charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Limehouse, Kathleen Stoughton, and Winston Holliday are prosecuting the case.
(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.
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A police chase that reached speeds of 90 mph ended early Tuesday when a car crashed into a concrete planter in downtown Casper and flipped, killing one person and injuring three others, police said.

In a hastily called press conference, Casper Police Chief Keith McPheeters said the person who died, identified as Adonis Lee Little Dog, was in a vehicle that police say fired multiple gunshots that struck a car, houses and apartments. Facing some public criticism about the chase, he also defended the decision by officers to pursue the fleeing suspect at high speeds.

The crash occurred after police say they spotted a car at about 2 a.m. that matched the description of a vehicle involved in an ongoing investigation.

The vehicle matched the specific description of a car that had been involved in two separate, but related, violent felonies involving a firearm on Sunday, Casper police said.

On Sunday, the occupants of the suspect car fired multiple gunshots at victims in residential areas -- "on the streets of our city, striking not only the victim's vehicle, but also other cars, houses and apartments where our citizens live, work and play," police said in a statement.

The Casper Police Department held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon during which a dashcam video of the crash was shown to reporters. The video was narrated in-person by McPheeters because it lacked audio. The department declined to release the video to media organizations so that the public could view it as well.

"It really boils down to mathematics, and that's not going to change if we release it now or release it at the end of the crash investigation," McPheeters said during the conference.

The dashcam footage shows officers preparing for an opportunity to stop the car, which was driving east on Wyoming Boulevard. Both the officer and the suspect car, which was a Volkswagen Jetta, were driving at speeds ranging from about 20 to 35 mph initially. The solo patrol car followed at a safe distance.

The car carrying Little Dog slowed down to about 20 mph below the speed limit once the people inside recognized an officer was tailing them and signaled to turn for "an amazing length of time," McPheeters said.

"Draw your own conclusions," he said.

Police eventually attempted a traffic stop at Beverly and Second streets, but the driver fled the area. The driver, and the pursing officer, can be seen speeding by Banner Wyoming Medical Center at 90 mph, the video shows.

Additional officers were already in position farther down Second Street laying down traffic spikes, McPheeters said. At one point the car carrying Little Dog, a 29-year-old from Casper, sped through an intersection and another civilian was forced to slam on the breaks to avoid a crash, the video shows.

The traffic spikes, which can cut a car's tires in an effort to end a chase, were laid down near McKinley Street, McPheeters said. The car drove over them.

McPheeters said the traffic spikes did not cause the driver to lose control of the car and crash. The crash was a result of the driver's speed and reckless driving, as it "takes a while" for the tires to deflate.

It was less than a minute from when the car drove over the spikes to when the car crashed in downtown Casper.

The car crashed into a concrete planter near the corner of Durbin Street and then flipped down an entire block before coming to a stop at the corner of Second and South Wolcott streets, the video shows.

The footage shows debris and smoke clouding the air in downtown. The vehicle, although somewhat difficult to see, was completely demolished.

McPheeters could not say what caused the car to move so far down the road after the initial impact, but said it was consistent with a high-speed crash in an area with winding streets.

"I'm not a crash reconstructionist," McPheeters said.

Police say emergency responders immediately offered medical care, and the three passengers were transported by ambulance to Banner Wyoming Medical Center.

Little Dog was pronounced dead at the scene. Little Dog's family has been notified, and the circumstances surrounding the crash are still under investigation, Natrona County Coroner Jim Whipps said in the statement. The other three individuals sustained varying degrees of injuries.

McPheeters declined to reveal the extent of those injures.

"I'm mostly here to address the growing concern from the public about how this came to be..." McPheeters said.

The passenger's identities will be released at a later time, police said.

Following the crash, the surrounding area was closed to foot and vehicle traffic. As of 9:30 a.m., police had taped off multiple blocks of East Second Street. Heavy equipment was used to clear the area.

The Casper Police Department is investigating the incident in cooperation with the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol is leading the crash investigation, said Casper police spokesperson Amber Freestone.

Freestone declined to comment on if any arrests were expected to be made.

Sgt. Jeremy Beck, spokesperson for the Wyoming Highway Patrol, said he would release additional details on the crash when they become available.

"We were not involved in the chase at all, but it looks like Casper police called us after the fact," Beck said.
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A visitor at Yellowstone National Park disturbed a bison calf that was struggling in the Lamar River on Saturday, resulting in the decision by park rangers to euthanize the animal.

Park authorities are now seeking information from the public about the incident, which took place Saturday evening in the Lamar Valley.

In the aftermath, the park defended its decision to destroy the calf, which could not be reunited with its herd, rather than take it to an animal sanctuary, saying federal and state laws would have required the calf to be quarantined first. But a calf that is unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine.

"We made the choice not because we are lazy, uncaring or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology," the park wrote in a follow up statement. "We made the choice we did because national parks preserve the natural processes."

The newborn calf had become separated from its mother as its herd crossed the Lamar River near the confluence with Soda Butte Creek, the park said. As the calf struggled, the man pushed it up from the river and onto the road.

Other visitors later saw the calf walk up to and follow cars and people, according to the park.

Park rangers tried to reunite the newborn with its herd, but those efforts failed. Interference by people can sometimes cause wildlife to reject offspring, the park said.

Yellowstone staff later killed the calf when it became evident that it had been abandoned by its herd and was creating a hazardous situation by approaching cars and people.

Park rules require people to stay at least 25 yards from all wildlife and at least 100 yards from bears and wolves. People who get too close are sometimes hurt or injured. Even if they aren't, they can face fines.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Yellowstone National Park tip line at 307-344-2132 or YELL_tip@nps.gov.

22 animals to look for in Yellowstone (and your odds of spotting them) Rocky Mountain elk Northwestern gray wolf American bison Grizzly bear Black bear Bighorn sheep Bobcat Canada lynx Coyote Shiras Moose Mountain lion Red fox North American beaver Snowshoe hare White-tailed jackrabbit Jackalope North American porcupine Bald Eagle Golden eagle Great horned owl Trumpeter swan Sandhill Crane
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The Sublette County sheriff and a deputy are seeking to dismiss former gubernatorial hopeful Rex Rammells lawsuit, which alleges his civil rights were violated when his horses were inspected for proper brand permits during transport.

Rammells lawsuit, which was filed in March, was brought almost four years after a deputy cited him for not having proper brand inspection permits for four horses and one colt, the complaint states. A six-person jury found him guilty in 2021, but he appealed that decision. Rammell lost his appeal towards the end of last year.

On Friday, Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr and Deputy Ty Huffman said Huffman was legally allowed to stop and examine Rammells vehicle carrying livestock on June 27, 2019, without any reasonable suspicion, probable cause or warrant, a joint motion to dismiss the filing states.

Lehr and Huffman are moving to dismiss Rammells lawsuit, which requests $12 million in damages, on the grounds that there was no such violation of his Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure.

Rammell filed his lawsuit without an attorney. He argues the right against unreasonable searches and seizures is so fundamental to the freedoms of our republic that it is nonsensical to have to bring it up, the filing states.

If it were not so, police officers could stop people at any time for no reason at all violating our Right to be secure, the filing states.

The police report, which was attached to the filing, mentions no suspicion of a crime that led to Rammell being stopped beyond his horse trailer having out-of-state license plates.

Rammell also says he was charged with five counts of failure to get a brand inspection in an attempt by the prosecutor to make a statement, the filing states. He argues a brand inspection permit is a singular number at the top of each brand paper, so at most, he should have been charged with only one count.

On the other hand, law enforcement can check for proper brand inspection under Wyoming statute. The case and lawsuit raised questions about whether the statute qualified as an exception to the Fourth Amendment.

There is not a clearly established law that states Sublette County law enforcements actions constituted an illegal search and seizure, the filing states.

Based on this, Lehr and Huffman are attempting to bring an end to the lawsuit.

Rammells complaint alleges the damage to his reputation from this case was irreparable and part of the reason he lost both the Wyoming Senate and governors race.

He did not perform well in this election, the complaint states. He ran for governor in 2022 and was again badly defeated in part due to the damage his reputation had received.

In March, Rammell told the Star-Tribune he is politically done with Wyoming because of this and has no intentions of ever running for state office again.

I thought Idaho was corrupt, but Wyoming puts it to shame; I dont want anything to do with this state, he said. I want to collect my damages and get the hell out of here.

Clayton M. Melinkovich, the Sublette County attorney, declined to comment Wednesday because the litigation is pending.
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Eliminating political bias in schools was the first of six initiatives Wyomings top education official laid out in her sweeping strategic plan for the Wyoming Department of Education released last week.

But Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder's push to scratch politics from education has come under fire as she also looks to take action on the conservative priorities that she campaigned on.

Among the goals Degenfelder identified in her strategic plan were establishing model policies for age-appropriate access to library books and advancing a public commitment to ensuring divisive and inappropriate concepts like Critical Race Theory are not being taught.

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, questioned Degenfelders commitment to removing political bias from schools during Tuesdays Joint Education Committee meeting, pointing to her plan's direct reference of educational issues that have become a rallying point for Wyoming Republicans.

There shouldnt be political bias in schools. There should be an objective marketplace of ideas, Rothfuss said. But then looking through the [strategic plans] goals I have some concern regarding for example develop a public commitment to ensuring divisive and inappropriate concepts like critical race theory are not being taught, which honestly, as a first approximation, is effectively an expression of political bias.

Rothfuss laid out a case that Degenfelders push to remove political bias from schools is actually interjecting politics further into education. Simply identifying what are divisive and inappropriate concepts is a political act, Rothfuss said.

The aspiration is a solid aspiration, but how do we get to the point where even in the guiding principles there is political difference and there would be political disagreement? he said.

Degenfelder argued that the Department of Education would address political bias by creating more transparency within Wyomings K-12 education system and by bringing more parents into the fold to engage in their childrens education. Each of Degenfelders six initiatives will also have a cabinet with teachers, students, parents, education leaders and industry representatives and run by Department of Education leadership. She said that the cabinets would help to define political bias and terms like divisive and inappropriate, while the Department of Education would work with school districts to push back against political agendas in the classroom.

For me, political agendas of any kind do not belong in the classroom. If we do, of any kind, our education system fails, she said.

Degenfelder has leaned into Republican priorities on the campaign trail and in her short time as the states top education leader. She campaigned on themes like parental empowerment, school choice and removing the government from classrooms, promises that she told the education panel she was looking to make good on. She was also an advocate for Evanston Republican Sen. Wendy Schulers transgender athlete bill that bared transgender girls in school sports.

Last week she joined a letter with other education officials from Florida and North Carolina calling for the Biden administration to abandon a proposed rule that could nullify Wyomings blanket ban on transgender athletes.

At the same time, school boards, administrators and teachers have faced growing pressure from parents and lawmakers who have fought against books and learning materials they consider inappropriate for public education. In Natrona County, school board meetings have become increasingly contentious as political hot points like gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion make their way into local education discussions. Lawmakers have also sought to ban the teaching of critical race theory in Wyoming even though it isn't taught in schools, a fact that board members, administrators and teachers across the state have confirmed.

Degenfelder told lawmakers that the Department of Education was prepared to take on difficult topics in its efforts to combat politics in education. However, Rothfuss pushed back, saying Degenfelders labeling of critical race theory as a controversial issue in her strategic plan was intrinsically politically biased. He asked that she and the Department of Education listen to more than the states Republican majority to avoid reinforcing political bias and inserting politics further into schools.

Degenfelder said that she was willing to meet with anyone no matter their views while defending her strategic plan.

Well work through these together, she said. For me its delivering on what I promised on the campaign trail and making sure that we move forward on those concerns.
Along with other bills aimed at the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, Montana has become the first state to explicitly forbid drag queens from reading books to kids in public schools and libraries.

Florida and Tennessee have proposed legislation that would seem to outlaw drag reading gatherings, albeit the nature of the performances is left vague. Both laws have been challenged in court.

First State to Ban Drag Reading Events

While similar laws exist in other states, AP News said Montana's statute is unusual. Reportedly, it does not need a sexual aspect to be banned from characterizing as an event sponsored by a drag king or drag queen who reads children's books to minors.

According to Sasha Buchert, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a national group that fights for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and individuals living with HIV and AIDS, Montana's legislation is the first to prohibit drag reading events.

"It's just constitutionally suspect on all levels," Buchert said on Tuesday, May 23, referring to the bill's restrictions on free speech and its attempts to stifle an initiative that lets transgender youth know they are not alone.

Rationale for Adopting the Legislation

On Monday, May 22, Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law. It had been co-sponsored by more than half of the legislature's Republican members.

According to spokeswoman Kaitlin Price, Gianforte signed the measure because he thinks it is improper for young children, particularly preschoolers and elementary school students, to be exposed to sexualized information.

There was an attempt to make it illegal for kids to attend drag shows because they might "excite lustful thoughts." In a subsequent amendment, it was made illegal for children to attend any sex-related or obscene performances on public grounds, as reported by AP News.

The bill's Republican proponent, Representative Braxton Mitchell, said he was compelled to introduce it after seeing internet recordings of youngsters attending drag acts.

Previously, Mitchell already said there is no such thing as a family-friendly drag show.

Meanwhile, those in the drag community who argued against the bill cited the fact that they conduct different shows for children.

Also Read: LA Dodgers Slammed for Re-Inviting LGBTQ Nun Group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Pride Night

Drag Events in Montana

Both ZooMontana in Billings and a bookshop in downtown Helena hosted drag reading sessions in 2022. Both occurrences sparked protests, but the proposed legislation would not prohibit either. Protesters also showed up to an event sponsored at a bookshop in Bozeman over the weekend.

A drag performer in Great Falls, Montana, known as "Julie Yard," who helps arrange to drag reading activities, claims that no public or private school has ever requested her to organize one. In the next months, there will be between 6 and 10 events happening around the state.

Yard said summer is the peak request time for drag story hours. They often fall on the same weekend as Pride events.

Also Read: Travelers Being Advised to Avoid Florida-Here's Why!

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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.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) presided at the Arab League's readmission of Syria, seen as Saudi Arabia's symbolic gesture towards Washington, showcasing the country's vital role in the region.

Despite US rejection of Syria's reintegration, Bin Salman's cordial reception of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit marked a turning point in the prince's political fortunes.

In a bid to regain its status as a dominant force in the region, MbS is reportedly focused on utilizing Saudi Arabia's significant energy resources, particularly in light of the ongoing Ukrainian conflict and the world's reliance on oil, per Reuters.

MbS is aggressively developing connections with other world powers because of reservations about US security pledges and dissatisfaction with its critical posture. He is changing Saudi Arabia's ties with common foes despite Washington's worries.

Read Also: Ron DeSantis Set to Launch 2024 Presidential Campaign with Elon Musk



After the 2018 murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi assassination team, the prince has become a major actor that the US cannot dismiss, demanding a transactional strategy to dialogue.

Bin Salman's assured position on the international stage was clear in his warm welcome of Bashar al-Assad and his willingness to arbitrate between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Moscow, displaying his rising power beyond regional dynamics.

US Slams Arab League's Move

The recent decision of the Arab League to accept President Assad back after over 10 years has stirred up a lot of controversy. The Syrian leader, acting as an older statesman, called for a worldwide political transition and less Western meddling, according to CNN.

However, the Biden administration and senior White House officials have vehemently opposed the measure, vowing to continue Syria's international isolation and hold Bashar al-Assad responsible for the massive human suffering caused by the continuing civil conflict, per Fox News.

The Arab League's unanimity on the issue has disheartened Syrians who have been dislocated by the Assad administration's bombardment and Russian assaults, with over 14 million fleeing and about 7 million people internally displaced.

Related Article: WHO Excludes Taiwan From Annual Assembly



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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.
Q: Last year, our return flight from Prague, Czech Republic, to Denver was canceled because of a Lufthansa strike. My husband and I had upgraded to business class for this flight, but we could not get into business class when we were rebooked on a United flight the next day.

At the time, a Lufthansa representative told me that they would refund $678 to our account and assured me that he had already submitted the refund request. I have communicated with Lufthansa several times since then, both by phone and by email. Following your advice, I eventually emailed two Lufthansa executives, but we did not receive a refund.

Because this refund seems so simple, Im surprised by the long delay  and even more by the lack of response  from Lufthansa. I have received only two emails from Lufthansa: one requesting information and the other asking for our patience. I have granted them patience; now, they need to refund the $678.  Ellen LaGow, Boulder, Colorado

A: Lufthansa should have refunded your upgrades promptly. By the time you contacted me for help, you had been waiting five months for a refund. Refunds should take no more than two weeks to process.

Lufthansas general terms and conditions  the legal agreement between you and the airline  says that you should get a refund for your seat reservations. Most other airline contracts specifically say that if you get bumped from first class to economy, youll get your money back. Lufthansa also promised you a refund.

So, what was with the wait? Lufthansa did not offer an explanation when I asked about your case.

You contacted the Lufthansa executive contacts I list on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. Its a shame they didnt respond. They could have helped a customer in need and avoided a story in a nationally syndicated column.
Liz Mulroney felt like it was 1999 all over again.

A gunman had killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde. The North Texas teacher had flashbacks to watching teenagers jumping out of windows on TV during the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, where two gunmen killed 13 people.

As an English teacher who has taught in Colorado and Texas, Mulroney says her career has been colored by school shootings and violence in schools.

Now, one year after the massacre at Uvaldes Robb Elementary School, Mulroney is among North Texas teachers, parents and students who say they feel powerless in the face of mass shootings that have plagued the state.

Heated debates on school safety have spread like wildfire. High school students across Texas led one walkout after another to demand action from lawmakers. State representatives and senators introduced bills tied to billion-dollar proposals that would bolster security. Gov. Greg Abbott introduced a new safety requirement that seeks to prevent intruder access.

But for the tens of thousands of Texans who teach, learn and work at public schools every day, some say nothing has really changed.

I feel like were still there  its still happening, Mulroney said.

Having a 14-year-old in high school and a husband who works in school construction and design, Mulroney, who lives in Lucas, says conversations on school safety are a constant at the family dinner table. But the overwhelming feeling that crept up when she first went through lockdown training at the beginning of her career still lingers.

Its a terrifying thing to have to do when youre responsible for children, she said. Youre not just fighting for your own life, youre fighting to protect other peoples childrens lives, too.

Failure to act

Before May 24, 2022, Uvalde was a small, predominantly Latino city in South Texas that few had heard about. Now its name is synonymous with the deadliest school shooting in the states history and the second deadliest elementary shooting in the country.

Most of the victims were fourth graders from the same class. The two others were teachers who had taught for five years at the Uvalde elementary school.

The shooter slipped into the building through an unlocked side door and remained in the school for more than an hour before law enforcement shot him. Polices inaction and failure to act stunned and enraged people across the nation.

In June 2022, Abbott ordered the Texas School Safety Center and the Texas Education Agency to start performing inspections, or safety checks, on school campuses across the state. These inspections should be in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits and have the goal of finding how quickly an intruder could get into a school building without being stopped.

Abbott noted that the center must ensure a culture of constant vigilance is ingrained in every campus.

The governor also promoted an app called iWatch Texas, where anyone can report suspicious activity or behaviors that may indicate criminal, terroristic or school safety-related threats. The tool has not been widely used across the state. Over 300 school districts in Texas instead use STOPit, a reporting software owned by a private company.

By October, Abbott created a new position within the TEA, chief of school safety and security, and provided $400 million for school districts to improve their facilities and safety systems.

Meanwhile, school districts across the state had to respond to students, families and employees who were terrified their school could be next.

Dallas ISD mandated all students from sixth through 12th grade to start using clear backpacks to school. They provided a backpack for each student and banned any bag that wasnt clear or made out of mesh.

There are usually questions from parents when highly publicized safety events occur at other districts around Texas or the country, Richardson ISD spokesperson Tim Clark said.

To address frequent concerns, Richardson ISD created an FAQ page on the districts website. Some of the questions parents often ask are whether the district has employees dedicated to school safety or police officers in every school building. The answer to both questions is yes.

At the Capitol

During this years legislative session, lawmakers filed multiple bills on school safety. The legislation proposed adding more armed personnel on campuses and increasing mental health support and security technology.

Separately from the school safety bills, some of the families of Uvalde victims went to the Capitol several times to testify in support of a House bill that would raise the age to purchase semiautomatic weapons from 18 to 21.

A recent survey from the University of Texas at Austin found that 57% of Texans support raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 to 21.

The Uvalde shooter legally purchased the rifle used to kill 21 people just a few days after his 18th birthday. A year before the massacre, he unsuccessfully tried to buy a rifle and ammunition. He was still 17 and couldnt get a firearm.

The bill has strong opponents, including Abbott.

The debates around the school safety bills have focused on the role of firearms on campuses.

One of the requirements for the Marshal program is to undergo 80 hours of training and a psychological exam. The same is not true for the Guardian program.

One bill would require every school campus to have at least one armed staff present during school hours.

Another bill that received significant support from the Legislature would offer an incentive of up to $25,000 for school employees willing to carry guns on campuses.

These bills have been highly criticized by Democrats who believe arming school personnel is not a solution to gun violence.

Zeph Capo, president of the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said, We have a problem with guns in the hands of the wrong people.

A survey by the Texas AFT found that 77% of Texas school employees do not want to be armed or expected to intercept a gunman.

Using mental health as a diversion from real issues is not the right thing, Capo said. Yes, we need to provide more money to mental health, particularly in school time for counselors to actually do counseling instead of test prep and other things.

But financially supporting changes within districts has been difficult, as the state support is limited. Many districts try to pass bonds locally but fail to do so because residents are afraid of higher property taxes.

In the aftermath of the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, the state started to provide an annual per-student allotment for security purposes. Proposed bills would increase the amount from $10 to $100.

Another proposal would require schools to have silent alert devices that would immediately contact law enforcement and first responders.

Craig Miller, a retired Dallas ISD chief of police, told The Dallas Morning News that school districts should focus on the fundamentals of safety. Technology is great, but sometimes we have to take a step back, he said.

One example is to make sure all doors are locked and numbered so that, when law enforcement enters the building during an emergency, theyll know exactly where the threat is.

Miller emphasized the importance of behavior threat assessment teams and counseling. If a student is depressed or suicidal, these teams need to be informed.

He believes in a more common sense approach to school safety, which includes vetting people before they come into the school and reducing the number of entrance points.

Moving forward

The day-to-day experiences in school grounds havent changed much, said Rosemary Curts, a Dallas ISD math teacher.

Weve got key cards. Weve been more vigilant about students having ID badges. All doors stay locked, Curts said. But all of that feels like safety theater to me. It doesnt make me feel safer.

Curts said the kind of security measures that have been implemented wouldnt stop a person who wants to shoot up a school.

She believes gun control is the only way to go. They say people just get [guns] anyway. But if youre going to make that argument, why do we have laws in society at all?

Teacher Liz Mulroneys only child, Trevor, comes up with some sort of survival strategy for almost every room at school.

I shouldnt have to worry about that, Trevor said. Its a problem that shouldnt exist.

Roughly half of school shootings are carried out by current or former students. Trevor said he worries this leaves schools vulnerable to those who are familiar with the security measures in place.

Instead of heavier security, the 14-year-old said he believes building a sense of community is essential as Texas moves forward.

Malcolm Mulroney, Trevors father, designs school buildings, thinking of solutions to this problem. But he said that alone wont keep campuses safe.

When will we as a community say, This is not acceptable. Its not going to happen in my community? Malcolm asked.

__

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
Federal regulators have given final clearance to a new power line connecting a massive wind farm in New Mexico to the grid in Arizona by way of the Lower San Pedro River Valley east of Tucson.

The approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management clears the way for Pattern Energy Group to break ground on its 550-mile-long SunZia Southwest Transmission Project, which will deliver power from a 3,500-megawatt wind energy project the company also plans to build across three New Mexico counties.

According to the San Francisco-based renewable giant, the two projects, totaling $8 billion, represent the largest renewable energy infrastructure investment in U.S. history. The wind farm would be the biggest in the Western Hemisphere, with enough capacity to serve more than 1 million people.

Pattern officials have previously said they hope to finish both the array of towering wind turbines and the transmission line by late 2025.

The Biden administration is touting the project as another milestone in its efforts to lower power costs for consumers, boost employment and move toward a 100% clean-energy grid by 2035.

The Department of the Interior is committed to expanding clean energy development to address climate change, enhance Americas energy security and provide for good-paying union jobs, said Laura Daniel-Davis, Interiors principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, in a written statement announcing the final approval of SunZia.

Several national environmental groups have come out in favor of the transmission project, but it still faces opposition from small, all-volunteer conservation groups on the Lower San Pedro River. Activists there want to see the power lines built elsewhere using established transmission routes.

Were talking about 33 miles of the most remote and ecologically sensitive portion of the last remaining natural and intact river ecosystem in Southern Arizona, said Peter Else, one of those grassroots advocates who lives along the San Pedro near Mammoth. It demonstrates a lack of respect for local conservation efforts, both by the White House and by the professional environmental groups that are either standing on the sidelines or, worse yet, promoting this poorly routed project.

Arizona power regulators signed off on SunZia in November, but Else is challenging that decision in Maricopa Superior Court.

The roughly 200-mile route in Arizona includes approximately 780 towers, some as much as 195 feet tall. Each structure would carry two 500-kilovolt lines  one owned by Pattern to move its wind energy to markets in Arizona and California, and the other separately owned and expected to primarily carry other renewable power generated in the region.

The transmission lines will enter Arizona in southern Greenlee County and cross through rural areas north of Bowie and Willcox, before angling southwest toward the San Pedro River.

The approved powerline corridor crosses the river about 14 miles north of Benson, then turns up the sparsely populated and biologically rich valley on the east slope of the Rincon Mountains on its way toward San Manuel and Oracle.
A 57-year-old Catholic priest named Fr. Winston Cabading of the Order of Preachers (OP), also known as the Dominicans, was arrested by police on May 13th on charges of "offending religious feelings" under the Philippine penal code.

The priest was charged by former Commission on Elections chief Harriet Demetriou after Cabading publicly expressed doubt over the 1948 alleged apparition of the Virgin Mary to a Carmelite novice who has since died.

Cabading, who is also an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Manila, a theology instructor at the University of Santo Tomas, and the friar in charge of the Dominican retreat house called Caleruega within Batangas province, has since applied for bail.

"To be issued a warrant of arrest came as an absolute surprise," he told Rappler in an interview Wednesday.

The alleged apparitions happened in 1948 in the town of Lipa in Batangas province, south of Manila, and the Virgin Mary was supposedly given the title "Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace".

Demetriou was a retired judge and lawyer who became famous for the conviction of disgraced Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez for the rape and murder of a University of the Philippines Los Banos student and her partner. She was also the first female chief of the Philippine electoral commission.

She accused Cabading of being a "rabid critic" of the Lipa apparitions.

Demetriou also said her profession as a lawyer and devotee of the alleged apparition prompted her to file a complaint against Cabading.

"As a devotee of Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of all Grace, and a lawyer, I believe that it is the duty of the state to safeguard my religious freedom," she said.

Vatican's decision

The Catholic Church in the Philippines initially declared the Lipa apparitions were not of divine origin in as early as 1951.

The then Diocese of Lipa decided on the non-authenticity of the apparitions. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith then presented the decision to Pope Pius XII, who concurred with the verdict.

In 2022, Demetriou requested the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for ecclesiastical proof that the Lipa apparitions were not of supernatural origin. The CBCP deferred the matter to the papal nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Charles Brown, who then contacted the Congregation in the Vatican about the matter.

As a response, Brown wrote that the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith made a decree attesting to Pius XII's decision on the alleged series of events. However, he noted, "[s]uch decrees [were] part of the normal working of the Congregation and [were] not published."

"It was not a decree issued by the Pope himself, but rather a decision of the Congregation formally approved by him," the nuncio said.

The response was handed to Demetriou by Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, the president of the CBCP.

Additionally, the episcopal body made an earlier inquiry to the Congregation, who decreed in 2015 "with finality" - and under the authority of Pope Francis - that the alleged Lipa apparitions have "no sign of supernatural character or origin."

In 2016, the CBCP issued a pastoral advisory "affirming the authority and finality of the Vatican verdict," which meant the Lipa apparitions were "not worthy of belief."

Local reaction

Not all Catholics in the Philippines support Demetriou.

An anonymous manifesto by a group of Filipino Catholics surfaced on social media decrying Cabading's arrest, saying they condemned the unjust charges filed against him. It denied the allegations of the complainant that the statements made by Cabading in a religious program were considered a "religious ceremony" because of the priest's alleged statement that the apparition might be demonic.

"Article 133 [of the Philippine Revised Penal Code] only punishes acts performed and not statements made, because Fr. Cabading's statements are protected by the [c]onstitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression," the manifesto stated.

Cabading said Catholics who believed the authenticity of the Lipa apparitions "[took] offense" at the Vatican's position, saying the case filed against him was done by people who "do not want to accept the judgment of the Church" regarding the late 1940s event.

He urged Catholics to read the official Vatican documents regarding the non-authenticity of the Lipa apparitions and its judgment that the apparition was not worthy of belief.

"The case is closed," Cabading said.

A new way to investigate apparitions

To prevent the confusion caused by cases such as Lipa and Medjugorje, the Pontifical International Marian Academy in Rome established the International Observatory on Marian Apparitions and Mystical Phenomenon (OISA).

The institute's objective is to research alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary and other phenomena. Some of the cases they would need to investigate include the apparent crying or bleeding of statues and images of the Virgin Mary.

According to Sr. Daniela del Gaudio, a Franciscan religious nun directing the observatory, its task was not "to judge or intervene in alleged apparitions or phenomena" but to study how such events take place and inform and support local bishops who need experts to investigate such events.

Meanwhile, Pontifical International Marian Academy rector Fr. Stefano Cecchin, OFM, stressed the importance of providing clarity to alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary because the alleged messages often "generate confusion, spread anxious apocalyptic scenarios or even accusations against the pope and the Church."

"How could Mary, Mother of the Church, undermine its integrity or sow fears and opposition?" he said.

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The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 men in the drawn-out battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. About half that number were Russian convicts recruited to fight in the 15-month-old war. The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that just over 6,000 troops were killed in the war as of January. It is also higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died in Russias full-scale invasion. Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers.
PHOENIX  Kari Lake said Tuesday she will appeal Mondays ruling confirming the election of Katie Hobbs as governor, brushing aside the fact the judge said her key evidence in seeking to overturn the election result was legally irrelevant.

Rulings from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson up through the Arizona Supreme Court all went against Republican Lake since her 17,117-vote loss to Democrat Hobbs in November.

The judges have basically said anything goes, it doesnt matter, Lake said at a news conference Tuesday. Election laws are just suggestions. So, if anything goes, anything goes.

Despite that, Lake said it was not her plan to violate election laws going forward, as she might make a 2024 bid for office.

Late Monday, Thompson tossed Lakes last remaining claim. The judge said Lake failed to prove Maricopa County did not review the signatures on early ballot envelopes as required by law. In fact, he said, two of her own witnesses testified they personally did such checks.

The judge acknowledged those two witnesses thought the process had been rushed and that there was no way for others  themselves not included  to have adequately compared the signatures on the envelopes with others on file with county election offices.

But Thompson said that falls far short of what Lake needed to prove the county ignored the statutory requirement that signatures be compared.

Nor was the judge impressed by the testimony of Erich Speckin, billed by Lakes attorneys as an expert in signature analysis. Speckin said about 274,000 signatures were compared in less than three seconds, including about 70,000 compared in two seconds or less.

Thompson said that argument was an attempt by Lake to convince him that this is so deficient for signature comparison that it amounts to no process at all.

But he called Speckins numbers legally irrelevant.

There is no statutory or regulatory requirement that a specific amount of time be applied to review any given signature at any level of review, Thompson said.

Not one second, not three seconds and not six seconds: no standard appears in the plain text of the statute, the judge said. No reviewer is required by statute or the Elections Procedures Manual to spend any specific length of time on any particular signature.

Lake on Tuesday said the judge got it wrong. Im not prepared right now to tell you what our path is because we are looking at several paths, she said.

As for a 2024 campaign, I havent made up my mind on that, Lake said, even as she insisted she won the gubernatorial race and we won in massive numbers.

One possibility includes a bid for Senate, a race that has drawn some interest after incumbent Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party and would have to seek another six-year term as an independent. But that would put Lake in a GOP primary against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, with whom she shares many positions.

More immediately, Lake said she wants to do grassroots organizing to help her and other candidates who share her positions, a process she called chasing ballots.

That includes registering voters and tracking what happens with early ballots.

Require only a cursory examination

In his latest ruling, Thompson also rejected a parallel argument that the reviews didnt meet the legal requirement to compare signatures.

He said the statutes simply require those doing verification to make some determination as to whether the signature is consistent or inconsistent with the voters record.

The court finds that looking at signatures that, by and large, have consistent characteristics will require only a cursory examination and thus take very little time, the judge said.

He cited the testimony of Rey Valenzuela, Maricopa Countys elections director, who said a Level 1 signature reviewer  performing the first-line review  can see just by the pictures that pop up on the screen of the ballot signature and the most recent signature on record if they are consistent in broad strokes.

Thompson also pointed out that Arizona law requires only that the signatures be consistent to the satisfaction of the county recorder or other designee.

This, not the satisfaction of the court, the satisfaction of a challenger, or the satisfaction of any other reviewing authority is the determinative quality for whether signature verification occurred, the judge wrote. It would be a violation of the constitutional separation of powers for this court, after the recorder has made a comparison to insert itself into the process and reweigh whether a signature is consistent or inconsistent.

Other safeguards in system

Thompson separately rejected arguments by Lakes attorneys that signature verification was the only safeguard against fraudulent ballots being counted.

He cited Valenzuelas testimony about other security measures built into the system, including having to show identification to register to vote, requiring someone to request an early ballot, requiring the post office to notify his office if the person to whom the ballot was sent no longer lives there, and the fact that each envelope returned is encoded with not just the name of the voter but a unique bar code.

There was no immediate response from Lake. But Mondays ruling is unlikely to be the last word, as she has taken previous rulings against her up to the Arizona Supreme Court.

Lakes allies already argued Thompson was off base in saying she had to prove that no signature verification had been done.

In his ruling, however, the judge noted that was a hurdle Lake created for herself.

Thompson said she had the option of trying to cast doubt on a specific number of ballots, which he acknowledged would have been a Herculean evidentiary endeavor in these circumstances.

Instead, he said, Lake made a purposeful concession to instead try to show that the entire signature review process for Maricopa County was not conducted according to the law.

Still wouldnt win

If Lake had made her case, Thompson said one option would have been to overturn the election results outright. But the other, he said, would have been to proportionately reduce each candidates tally of early ballots. That would have cut more into Hobbs total, as she outpolled Lake among those early ballots.

But, Thompson said, even if he applied a proportionate reduction of 70,000 early ballots  the number Speckin said were reviewed in less than two seconds  that still would have left Lake short of a winning margin.

Clint Hickman, Republican chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, cheered the ruling.

For the past six months, Ms. Lake has uttered false claims, disparaging county staff and elected officials in her attempt to get a judge to discard the valid votes of hundreds of thousands of Arizona voters, Thompson said in a written statement.

He cited Thompsons conclusion the countys signature review process complied with state law.

All voters were provided the opportunity to vote, and all legal votes were counted, Hickman said.
Kari Lake speaks at a campaign event in Scottsdale on Oct. 19, 2022. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror

A day after a judge shot down her challenge to the results of the 2022 governors race, Kari Lake called a press conference to make a big announcement.

But that announcement wasnt that the failed 2022 Arizona gubernatorial candidate was launching a bid for U.S. Senator or that shes appealing the case, although she said she has plans to take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, Lake announced that shes starting a ballot chasing initiative, an effort to keep track of Republicans and independents on Arizonas early voting list and make sure they actually cast their ballots, and to register new voters.

We are going to start chasing ballots like youve never seen, Lake told a gathering of media and supporters outside of her campaign headquarters Tuesday afternoon.

She claimed that it would be the biggest ballot chasing initiative in the history of the nation.

But according to Tony Cani, Democratic consultant and deputy director of the 2020 Biden campaign in Arizona, ballot chasing is standard practice for all political campaigns, and not something Lake just discovered.

It is the most basic and most standard thing in campaigns of all levels to find out who your supporters are and to remind them to vote, Cani told the Arizona Mirror.

Lake bragged that she had millions of dollars committed and thousands of people on board for the ballot chasing initiative, to be led by conservative activist Merissa Hamilton.

Weve got to work in this rigged, corrupt system, Lake said. We cannot allow them to steal another election from we the people.

Even after losing two election challenges in Maricopa County Superior Court and appealing the case up to the Arizona Supreme Court, Lake still claims that the governorship was stolen from her through a corrupt election process. She was also a purveyor of the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Lake lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes.

Cani believes that Lakes Tuesday announcement at least partially resulted from the realization that Republican efforts to persuade members of their party not to vote by mail backfired and might have cost them races in 2022.

Lake said that in the 2022 election, there were 218,000 Republicans and 332,000 independents who were on Arizonas early voting list and received a ballot in the mail but didnt end up voting. She wants to make sure those voters cast their ballots in 2024.

Ahead of the 2022 general election, Republicans in Arizona encouraged voters to cast their ballots in person on Election Day instead of by mail, and theyve now realized that strategy was a mistake, Cani said.

While its still very early to be starting a ballot chasing initiative for 2024, Cani said it does take time to build up a good field operation and to train and recruit staff for it. However, he added that the bulk of the ballot chasing work typically happens in the last month before the election, when campaign staffers usually work overtime to remind supporters to vote.

Although Lake says that judges who ruled against her had proven that election rules no longer matter, she said she wasnt encouraging any illegal election activity on the part of her supporters or followers.

Were going to use every legal way we can, Lake said. The judges have basically said anything goes, election laws are just suggestions.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson dismissed Lakes case Monday evening, ruling that she and her lawyers had failed to prove that no ballot envelope signature verification happened in Maricopa County for the 2022 general election. Two of Lakes witnesses testified that they took part in the countys signature verification operation.

Lake didnt specifically answer a question on Tuesday from a reporter about where the money was coming from to fund her ballot chasing initiative, but said it would be paid for by real people. Lake went on to read a few lines from letters sent to her by supporters.

With so many eyes on Lake Tuesday afternoon, she took the chance to deride members of the liberal media in attendance and to say that the whole court system in which she lost her election challenge case was corrupt.
Kari Lake and her lawyers repeatedly lied to the court and misrepresented evidence during her election challenge trial last week and should be sanctioned for it, attorneys for Maricopa County wrote in a Tuesday filing.

The misstatements of fact from Lake and her counsel are not a series of mere accidents or zealous advocacy; they represent a determined program of misinformation, Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Tom Liddy wrote in the filing.

Lake and her counsel have absolutely no excuse for offering these falsehoods in Court and should face sanctions from this Court, he added.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled against Lake on May 22, saying she failed to prove during a three-day trial last week that Maricopa County ignored state law and performed no signature verification for early ballots during the 2022 general election.

In his ruling, Thompson affirmed that Democrat Katie Hobbs, who beat Lake by 17,000 votes, is the governor of Arizona.

Liddy pointed out in the countys request for sanctions that Lake and her lawyers, D.C. employment attorney Kurt Olsen and Scottsdale divorce lawyer Bryan Blehm, were recently sanctioned by the Arizona Supreme Court for making false statements to that court.

Ethical parties would have been suitably admonished by both the Supreme Courts statement that they made unequivocally false statements to the Court and the monetary sanction that the Supreme Court consequently issued, Liddy wrote. But Lake and her counsel were not deterred. Instead, they were inexplicably emboldened.

Last weeks trial was Lakes second in Thompsons courtroom. She lost the first trial in December and appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court, which sent one of her 10 initial claims back to Thompson for further examination and upheld the dismissal of the other nine.

Lakes claim that Maricopa County conducted no signature verification was entirely frivolous, Liddy wrote, and her attorneys were completely aware of that, especially since two of her witnesses testified that they participated in signature verification for the county.

This testimony  known by Lake and her counsel before trial and offered to substantiate her signature verification claim  conclusively defeated Lakes spurious assertion that signature verification did not occur, Liddy wrote. Lake and her counsel cannot now argue that they thought her claim stood any chance of success when her own fact witnesses would testify that signature verification did, in fact, occur.

During the trial, Olsen and Blehm attempted to prove that, because their expert claimed election workers for the county approved 274,000 ballot signatures in 3 seconds or fewer and 70,000 signatures in 2 seconds or fewer, the required signature verification didnt actually happen. But the judge wasnt buying that argument, saying that Arizona law does not specify an amount of time a worker must spend reviewing a signature.

Liddy also called out Olsen for claiming during closing arguments that the election was rigged against Lake, without providing a shred of evidence for his claim.

Lake not only failed to prove that the election was rigged by a clear and convincing evidence standard, but also she did not bother attempting to prove the election was rigged at trial, Liddy wrote. She did not even ask a single witness any question that could have elicited evidence that the election was rigged.

Since she lost the gubernatorial race six months ago, Lake has repeatedly claimed that she is the true governor and that the election was rigged against her, but so far none of the courts have found her supposed evidence of this assertion compelling.

Lakes counsel engaged in a blatant effort to deceive the Court when he said that the election was rigged, Liddy wrote. Blatantly false statements like this should prompt a strong retributive response from the Court.

Maricopa County asked that the court financially sanction Lake and her attorneys in an amount that the court determined was appropriate. They also are seeking for their attorneys fees to be paid by Lake and her attorneys in addition to the sanctions.

The other defendants in the case, Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, havent yet requested sanctions.

In their response, Lake and her team suggested that all parties in the case pay their own attorneys fees and said that county and other defendants in the case were not owed reimbursement of their fees because they didnt ask for specific amounts by the courts deadline.
MEXICO CITY  Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano rumbled to life again this past week, belching out towering clouds of ash that forced 11 villages to cancel school sessions.

The residents weren't the only ones keeping a close eye on the towering peak. Every time there is a sigh, tic or heave in Popocatepetl, there are dozens of scientists, a network of sensors and cameras, and a roomful of powerful equipment watching its every move.

The 17,797-foot volcano, known affectionately as El Popo, has been spewing toxic fumes, ash and lumps of incandescent rock persistently for almost 30 years, since it awakened from a long slumber in 1994.

The volcano is 45 miles southeast of Mexico City, but looms much closer to the eastern fringes of the metropolitan area of 22 million people. The city also faces threats from earthquakes and sinking soil, but the volcano is the most visible potential danger  and the most closely watched. A severe eruption could cut off air traffic, or smother the city in clouds of choking ash.

Volcanic ashes are especially dangerous for aviation, not only because they reduce visibility but because they can act as an abrasive, damaging an aircraft's wings and fuselage.

Mexico City's two main airports temporarily shut down operations on Saturday due to ash spewing from the volcano. The city's Benito Juarez International airport suspended operations from 4:25 to 10 a.m. local time, resuming operations after removing volcanic ashes, checking the runways and verifying favorable wind conditions, the airport said on Twitter. Felipe Angeles airport, located north of Mexico City and operated by the military, suspended operations for five hours starting about 6 a.m.

Popocatepetl's explosions registered in the early hours of Saturday were more intense than in recent days, but authorities  who keep a close eye on the active volcano  are maintaining the threat at an intermediate level.

Ringed around the volcano's summit are six cameras, a thermal imaging device and 12 seismological monitoring stations that operate 24 hours a day, all reporting back to an equipment-filled command center in Mexico City.

A total of 13 scientists from a multidisciplinary team take turns staffing the command center around the clock. Being able to warn of an impending ash cloud is key, because people can take precautions. Unlike earthquakes, warning times can be longer for the volcano and in general the peak is more predictable.

On a recent day, researcher Paulino Alonso made the rounds, checking the readings at the command center run by Mexicos National Disaster Prevention Center, known by its initials as Cenapred. It is a complex task that involves seismographs that measure the volcano's internal trembling, which could indicate hot rock and gas moving up the vents in the peak.

Monitoring gases in nearby springs and at the peak  and wind patterns that help determine where the ash could be blown  also play a role.

The forces inside are so great that they can temporarily deform the peak, so cameras and sensors must monitor the very shape of the volcano.

How do you explain all of this to 25 million non-experts living within a 62-mile radius who have grown so used to living near the volcano?

Authorities came up with the simple idea of a volcano stoplight with three colors: green for safety, yellow for alert and red for danger.

For most of the years since the stoplight was introduced, it has been stuck at some stage of yellow. The mountain sometimes quiets down, but not for long. It seldom shoots up molten lava: instead it's more the explosive type, showering out hot rocks that tumble down its flanks and emitting bursts of gas and ash.

The center also has monitors in other states; Mexico is a country all too familiar with natural disasters.

For example, Mexicos earthquake early alert system is also based at the command center. Because the citys soil is so soft  it was built on a former lake bed  a quake hundreds of miles away on the Pacific coast can cause huge destruction in the capital, as happened in 1985 and 2017.

A system of seismic monitors along the coast sends messages that race faster than the quakes shock waves. Once the sirens start blaring, it can give Mexico City residents up to half a minute to get to safety, usually on the streets outside.
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HAGATNA, Guam (AP)  Powerful Typhoon Mawar smashed the U.S. territory of Guam and continued lashing the Pacific island with high winds and heavy rain Thursday, knocking down trees, walls and power lines and creating a powerful storm surge that threatened to wash out low-lying areas.

The typhoon, the strongest to hit the territory of roughly 150,000 people since 2002, briefly made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 4 storm at Andersen Air Force Base on the northern tip of the island, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Doll.

The storm strengthened to 150 mph (241 kph) winds the following morning, regaining its status as a super typhoon, according to the weather service. Mawar was forecast to intensify further.

As it churned slowly over the island, the typhoon flipped cars and ripped branches from trees. At what felt like its peak intensity Wednesday night, the winds screeched and howled like jets flying overhead and rainwater rushed into some homes.

Videos posted on social media showed fallen trees, an overturned pickup truck, solar panels flying through the air, parts of a hotels exterior wall crumbling to the ground and exposing rebar, and storm surge and waves crashing through coastal reefs.

The early scope of the damage was difficult to ascertain, with power and internet failures making communication with the far-flung island difficult. The governor and lieutenant governor were making their way after daylight arrived to assess the damage, weather service meteorologist Landon Aydlett.

It looks like toothpicks, Aydlett said. It looks like a scene from the move Twister, with things just thrashed apart. Lots of Guam is dealing with a major mess thats going to take weeks to clean up.

J. Asprer, a police officer in the Dededo precinct in northern Guam, said before dawn that he had not received any reports of injuries but several police cars and personal vehicles had been damaged by debris, and uprooted trees made some roads impassable. Most of the calls overnight came from worried people off-island who were unable to reach family members, Asprer said.

We told them well have to wait until the storm clears up a bit, he said.

Ray Leon Guerrero, an assistant in the mayors office in Barrigada, a village of about 9,000 people in central Guam, stayed at the office overnight fielding calls from residents and heard objects slamming into the roof and outside walls constantly.

Oh man. It was pretty noisy, he said.

The slow-moving storm continued to batter the island early Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph), and it was expected to intensify through Friday, the weather service said.

In a sign of how much help Guam might need, the Navy ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group to head to the island to assist in the recovery effort, according to a U.S. official. The Nimitz, along with the USS Bunker Hill, a cruiser, and the USS Wayne E. Meyer, a destroyer, were south of Japan and expected to arrive in Guam in three or four days, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements not yet made public.

The weather service said the storm made landfall at around 9 p.m. Wednesday in Guam, which is about 3,800 miles (6,115 kilometers) west of Hawaii and 1,600 miles (1,575 kilometers) east of the Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

It was on land for about 30 to 35 minutes before it moved back offshore, Doll said by phone from the weather services office in Tiyan, Guam.

Peak winds at the office reached 105 mph (169 kph), but the office later lost its wind sensors, Aydlett said. The building vibrated with a constant, low rumbling, and its doors and windows shook, he said.

By early Thursday, Mawar was centered 75 miles (121 kilometers) northwest of the island and 85 miles (137 kilometers) west of Rota, Guams neighbor to the north, moving west-northwest at 8 mph (13 kph).

Power was knocked out for the entire island of Rota, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. said late Wednesday. Rota has about 2,500 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In Tumon, on Guam's northeastern shore, winds tore a granite countertop from a hotels outdoor bar and tossed it 4 feet (about a meter) in the air. Guests scrambled to stack chairs to brace the doors, and windows buckled and creaked.

Tinian and Saipan, in the Northern Marianas, were under tropical storm warnings. Some people in those areas have been living in temporary shelters or tents since Category 5 Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018.

Mawar, a Malaysian word that means rose, might threaten Taiwan next week.

Many communities on the 212-square-mile (549-square-kilometer) island had lost power by Wednesday afternoon, and some to the south had lost water service. A flash flood warning was issued for the entire island as forecasters predicted as much as 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain in addition to a life-threatening storm surge of 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 2 meters).

Ahead of the storm, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero ordered those living in coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas to evacuate to higher ground. The highest point on the island is Mount Lamlam in the southwest at 1,334 feet (406 meters). But much of the beachfront tourist district of Tamuning, where many resorts are located, is close to sea level.

Leon Guerrero said an emergency declaration approved by President Joe Biden will support the mobilization of resources into Guam, which is especially crucial given our distance from the continental U.S.

Guam is a crucial hub for U.S. forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island. Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, Joint Region Marianas commander, authorized the evacuation of defense personnel, dependents and employees from areas that were expected to be affected.

The military said it moved its ships out to sea as a standard precaution. It also sent aircraft off the island or placed them in protective hangars.

About 6,800 U.S. service members are assigned to Guam, according to the Pentagon.

Brumfield reported from Washington. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland, and Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Tears flowed as Jan Peterson gazed at the new Kentucky COVID Memorial on Wednesday, recalling a lifetime of memories with her husband, who died from the virus in the fall of 2021.

Wanting to honor her husband and other Kentuckians who died from COVID-19, 72-year-old Peterson attended the dedication ceremony for the memorial on the grounds of Kentucky's Capitol.

Looking back, its hard to believe it ever really happened," she said in an interview. "All the changes that have occurred since then. All I know is I miss him a lot and I know that other people feel the same pain.

Her husband, Larry Peterson, was an Army veteran who had a long career in state government, working in coal mining permits, she said. He was a geologist, a cave explorer, an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan and had a love of learning. Their two adult children were unable to attend the ceremony.

Larry Peterson was 73 when he died  among more than 18,600 Kentuckians to succumb to the virus.

Speaking at the dedication, Gov. Andy Beshear said the memorial stands as a lasting tribute to those who died and to health care workers who displayed courage and selflessness while treating COVID patients.

While we managed to get through so much adversity, pain and loss, this scale is something that were going to be living with and processing for years to come," the governor said.

Thats why we made the decision to build this memorial," he said. "Because I wanted everyone who has lost someone to this virus to know that their loved one is important and they are missed. And that we in Kentucky will not bow to politics. We will recognize the loss that we have been through.

Asked afterward what he meant by his not bow to politics remark, the Democratic governor replied: Just because talking about something is difficult doesn't mean that you don't do the right thing. This was the battle of our lifetime. It was very serious, and we should not diminish it. Beshear is in the midst of a tough reelection campaign this year in Republican-leaning Kentucky.

The memorial  titled United We Stand, Divided We Fall  was designed and sculpted by Kentucky native Amanda Matthews. The final design for the memorial was selected by an advisory panel that included health care workers, family members of those lost and COVID-19 survivors.

The memorial features several figures around a central column that supports a giant reflecting sphere containing the states motto and seal. Matthews said the memorial reflects the ideals, visual symbols and embodiment of the phrase United We Stand, Divided We Fall.'"

The memorial fund was supported by numerous donations, including from health care systems, the governor's office said. No tax dollars were used, it said.

Beshear was only months into his term as governor when he was thrust into leading the state's response to the global pandemic. The governor has said that early projections indicated the death toll from COVID-19 could soar to 80,000 or more in Kentucky. He became a fixture on statewide TV throughout the pandemic, with press conferences that were part pep talk and part sermon on how to limit the spread of the virus. He would read the age, gender and home county of the people who died.

During a ceremony Wednesday that included songs and prayer, Beshear praised the sacrifices of health care workers, hospitals, law enforcement officers and other front-line emergency workers. He talked about the massive logistical challenges in organizing drive-thru COVID testing and distributing vaccines.

I hope that all Kentuckians can come to this memorial and to see what they did to help us to get through this and to get through it together, the governor said Wednesday.

Afterward, the governor comforted Jan Peterson as they chatted near the memorial.

Before the ceremony, Peterson was asked what she thought of the memorial. She replied: It's beautiful. Emotional. I appreciate the state of Kentucky for recognizing what happened here and what's happened all over the world. And I appreciate Gov. Beshear a lot.
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Cullman Times. May 17, 2023.

Editorial: To protect, to serve, to risk death for our community

Many of us noted that flags on government buildings were at half-staff Monday. A recent meeting with Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall explains why.

Marshall spoke before a small group of community leaders in Moody May 11, but the words of our chief law enforcement officer on that day rightly resonated throughout the state and beyond: Next (week) is  a week in which we recognize the role that law enforcement has in our community, Marshall said, just before referencing the death of Moody officer Sgt. Stephen Williams, who was killed in the line of duty in 2020. You have specifically felt the loss here  so you know exactly what that looks like.

Sadly, there is hardly a community in Alabama that doesnt know what that looks like.

Coming just days before the beginning of National Police Week, Marshall highlighted nine more such deaths in Alabama during the last year, including the fatal shooting of a Huntsville police officer in late March. In 2022, 238 officers across the country were killed in the line of duty. As of May 2023, 74 officers have died on their oaths.

Such sacrifice demands attention, and so it has been since the 1960s.

By a joint resolution on Oct. 1, 1962  a year before the motto of the Los Angeles Police Department, to protect and to serve, was published and adopted almost universally  President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 that declared May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the calendar week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. That week is now an annual tribute to law enforcement service and sacrifice.

More than 30 years later, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 amended the law, and Public Law 103-322 was signed by President Bill Clinton, directing that the U.S. flag be displayed at half-staff on all government buildings on May 15 each year.

Were it that there were no need to display our flags at half-staff for such reasons, but this is not the reality in which we live. Alabama measures such as the recently passed Deputy Brad Johnson Act closing loopholes in the parole system and the current charge behind the Alabama Gang Prevention Act (SB 143 and HB 191) are good beginnings toward that end, but men and women will continue to die serving and protecting our communities, our neighborhoods and our homes.

At the end of Marshalls speech in Moody, he had poignant but simple words for those who serve and risk their lives daily.

I cant thank my friends in law enforcement enough for what they do.

Neither can we.

Dothan Eagle. May 20, 2023.

Editorial: Partisan pandemonium

Alabamas rich history in the fields of space exploration and air-centric military forces makes it the heir apparent to the development of the U.S. militarys fledgling space program, and military leaders have rightly recommended that the U.S. Space Command headquarters be located in our state.

Now the Biden administration wants to reverse the decision to leave the headquarters in Colorado Springs, its original location.

The reason  the administration, some lawmakers, and some Pentagon officials have concerns about the states restrictive abortion law.

Thats unfortunate. Regardless what national leaders think about the states abortion politics, its not an outlier concept; restriction on abortion access is a position shared by virtually every conservative state in the nation, and follows the U.S. Supreme Courts reversal of landmark precedent in Roe vs. Wade.

The Biden administration doesnt have a monopoly on partisan retribution. Alabamas conservative lawmakers are entertaining a measure that would disqualify businesses that embrace concepts that run counter to an arbitrary slate of conservative political positions from government contracts or funding.

Both are wrong; the business of government is the business of the American people  a melting pot of race, gender, heritage, and political philosophy  and decisions affecting the business of government should be blind to partisan influence.

State officials should lobby the federal government to set aside irrelevant concerns over conservative lawmaking and catalog the reasons our state is the best site for the nations premier space command headquarters.

END
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Greenwood Commonwealth. May 19, 2023.

Editorial: A Conservative Approach To Crime

A recent column by Wil Ervin of Empower Mississippi included good proposals to address two significant problems: crime in the state and the number of people in prison.

Ervin, the senior vice president of the group best known for its advocacy of school choice, noted that Mississippi has the highest rate of homicides in the nation. FBI data reports a 66% increase in this rate between 2017 and 2020. As for incarceration, he said the number of people behind bars in Mississippi has more than doubled since 1990, and the state locks up people at a higher rate than either Russia or China.

If incarceration was the answer to improving public safety, Mississippi should be the safest place in the world to live, Ervin observed.

Although Mississippi is spending up to $400 million a year on corrections, the costs of locking up people can involve more than money.

Children of imprisoned people are more likely to come from a poverty background and to perform poorly in school. And people who get out of prison often face large barriers to returning to society, often involving simple things like finding a place to live or getting a job.

Ervin makes a number of ambitious proposals that he believes could help Mississippi improve its criminal justice record:

- Properly fund law enforcement in order to pay officers well, and focus on community policing to build trust and deter crime.

- Put a priority on violent crime. Ervin says 41% of Mississippi inmates are behind bars for drug-related or other nonviolent offenses. This suggests that limited resources are being ineffectually prioritized to address drug and nonviolent offenses rather than violent offenses, he wrote.

- Address mental health and drug addiction issues at the local level. Ervin cited state figures that say only 6% of drug violations in 2022 were for selling narcotics. Most of the rest were for possessing, concealing or using them. Said Ervin, Perhaps we should talk more about providing substance-use disorder and mental health services to both prevent crime and reduce recidivism than expanding incarceration and lengthening sentences.

- Expand programs that prepare inmates to return normally to society upon their release. Ervin specifically said work-release programs have reduced repeat offenses and improved public safety.

- Attack overincarceration by applying effective parole policies. Ervin said an average of 74% of inmates who applied for parole in 2019, 2020 and 2021 got it. That number literally got cut in half in 2022, to 37%. There has to be some middle ground on this issue.

Its surprising to see a conservative website organization such as Empower Mississippi take this stand. But one of the groups core values says that every citizen should receive fairness, equity, and a path to redemption from our justice system. Theres no disagreeing with that position.

Neither Ervin nor anyone else is contending that violent criminals should get early parole. There is a place for the incorrigible among us, and that place is behind bars.

But somethings wrong when Mississippi has the highest rate of incarceration in the country. Ervin pointed out our most serious problems and offered some logical solutions.

The biggest challenge will be money. Will property owners support local tax increases to properly fund law enforcement? Will the state put more focus on treating mental health and addiction issues? Would any of these changes improve the publics sense of safety?

All that is difficult to predict, but we do know one thing: We have to try something different.

Columbus Dispatch. May 17, 2023.

Editorial: Salvation Army is more than Red Kettles and Angel Trees

When most people think of The Salvation Army, the images that emerge are the bell-ringers and their red kettles encountered outside retail stores during the Christmas season or the Angel Tree program. They are, by a wide margin, the organizations biggest and most effective marketing efforts. More importantly, they are the Salvation Armys largest fund-raisers.

While Christmas comes but once a year, the needs the Salvation Army meets are year-round. For many, the Salvation Army is out of sight, out of mind. Its been that way for quite a long time.

To call attention to the work performed by the Salvation Army and the need for donations and volunteers beyond the Thanksgiving/Christmas season, President Dwight Eisenhower and Congress established this week as National Salvation Army Week in 1954.

It is easy to appeal to the generosity of spirit that Thanksgiving and Christmas inspire. Its quite another matter when the calendar turns and the work of thousands of Salvation Army chapters goes on quietly, meeting the needs of the poor, certainly, but also other work that one doesnt normally associate with the organization.

Local chapters celebrate Salvation Army Week in their own way. In Columbus, part of the celebration included providing much-needed supplies to the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society. The Columbus chapter has also handed out 120 gift bags of food, blankets and household items to its clients. It also opened the doors of its main office, located at 2219 Main Street, to the public for tours and to learn more about what the group does.

In addition to meeting needs during this special week, Salvation Army chapters hope to raise awareness of all ways the organization serves the community, which they hope will inspire people to volunteer and donate either cash or household items that can be sold at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

The funds raised by Salvation Army chapters stay in their community. Every dollar, every volunteer hour goes to help our neighbors for such things as food, clothing, utility bill assistance and other needs.

It may not be Thanksgiving or Christmas, but the work the Salvation quietly does every day in our community should inspire a spirit of generosity.

So we salute the Columbus Salvation Army and Captain Predeep Ramaji, commanding officer of the Columbus branch, for all they do for the least of these during National Salvation Army Week.

END
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  A group of voters and a coalition of religious leaders asked a federal court on Tuesday to strike down Arkansas' 2021 U.S. House map as unconstitutional, saying it dilutes the influence of Black voters in the Little Rock area.

The lawsuit by three Pulaski County voters and the Christian Ministerial Alliance is the third that's been filed since 2021 challenging the Republican-led Legislature's decision to divide a portion of the Little Rock area among three House districts.

The 2021 redistricting plan is but the latest effort by Arkansas officials to limit Black voters access to representation and otherwise the political process, the lawsuit filed by the Legal Defense Fund said.

The lawsuit challenges the decision to move thousands of predominantly Black voters out of the 2nd District in central Arkansas by splitting up heavily Democratic Pulaski County, where Little Rock is located. The voters were split between the states 1st and 4th congressional districts.

In October, a three-judge federal panel dismissed portions of a similar lawsuit challenging the new U.S. House map but allowed plaintiffs in that case to file an amended lawsuit with remaining claims that the new map violates the Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act

This latest suit simply regurgitates those same failed claims, Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement. "I look forward to defeating these allegations in court for the second time.

Earlier this month, a Pulaski County judge dismissed the other lawsuit challenging the House map, ruling that the complaint should have been filed with the state Supreme Court.

Republicans hold all four of the state's U.S. House seats, and the 2nd District has been GOP-held since 2011. Republicans hold a majority of both chambers of the state Legislature, as well as all of Arkansas' statewide partisan offices.
Montana continues to face challenges as the first state to officially approve of a statewide ban for the short-form video app. In addition to the lawsuit filed by TikTok content creators, TikTok itself decided to sue the state as well.

Montana Has a Long Way to Go

The state still has more than seven months to go before the ban is implemented, and it's not looking easy for Montana that it has already faced lawsuits from both creators and the app itself within the week of announcing it.

Now, it will be facing a bigger problem as TikTok's lawsuit alleges the state of violating the app users' freedom of speech and expression, as well as singling TikTok out, as mentioned in Gizmodo, despite the claims of generally protecting the state's private user data.

The company's spokesperson, Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement that they were challenging the state's "unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana."

TikTok may have actual grounds when it comes to defending users, especially in terms of income. A lot of content creators make a living by creating content on TikTok, and if anything would get in the way of that, it would be a statewide ban.

Spokesperson Oberwetter expressed that they believe their legal challenge will prevail based on "an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts." Although that remains to be seen, there's also the accusation of an illegal bill of attainder.

To clarify, it refers to a law that criminalizes an individual without going through a trial. Since TikTok believes that they are being singled out, it could contradict Montana's claims to be looking out for data security in general.

Read Also: Telegram, WeChat, Temu Banned from Government Devices in Montana

The Legal Matters

TikTok lawsuit states, just as it did with the TikTok content creators, that the statewide ban of the app violates the First Amendment rights of its users, as it prevents them from practicing the freedom of speech and expression.

The short-form video company also pointed out that the speculations about the potential foreign government access to user data and content of speech are unfounded, as well a "flatly inconsistent with the constitution.

Spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, Emily Flower said that they were already expecting TikTok to take legal action to challenge the ban and that they were fully prepared to defend the law.

As for singling out the app, TikTok is not the only app affected by Montana's purging of them when they pose a risk to the data security of its users. Telegram, WeChat, and Temu have also been banned from government devices in the state.

What most of the apps have in common is that all but Telegram are owned by China-based companies, as mentioned in The Verge, so it may not work for TikTok when they aim to reverse the ban on those grounds.

It's expected that TikTok will take legal action against Montana, and it's not only to fight for the freedom of speech or to protect its income. It also sets a precedent for more statewide TikTok bans that may come, as well as the planned nationwide ban in the US.

Related: Content Creators Sue Montana Over Statewide TikTok Ban
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The view from Sean Lathams former office in the Tulsa Arts District afforded him a view of the railroad tracks that in years past had connected Tulsa with the rest of the world, as well as served as a boundary that divided the city between the north and the south.

I started thinking about railroads and about how the railway switchyard was the place trains could be shifted into different directions, going off on new journeys, Latham said. That is what we are hoping this event will be for those who attend, and since we wanted a good, catchy name, it seemed a perfect choice.

Switchyard is a new endeavor of the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma Center for the Humanities that will take place at several venues in downtown Tulsa over the course of six days, May 30-June 4.

The festival will also incorporate the annual World of Bob Dylan symposium, which TU and the OCH have held since 2019, and will overlap with the final days of the Black Wall Street Legacy Festival, taking place in the Greenwood District May 26-June 1.

The theme for this inaugural Switchyard will focus on banned books and freedom of speech and will feature as guests a number of authors whose works have been banned for dealing with issues and ideas some elements of society consider too discomfiting to face.

Among those scheduled to appear at Switchyard are:

Writer and artist Art Spiegelman, who transformed his familys experiences as victims of the Holocaust in the graphic novels Maus and Maus II: A Survivors Tale.

Maia Kobabe, artist and author, whose graphic memoir Gender Queer, about her coming to terms with her own sexuality, has been one of the most challenged and banned books of the past few years.

Novelist and essayist Valeria Luiselli, a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient, whose works include the award-winning essay collection Tell Me How it Ends and the novel Lost Children Archive, both of which examine the travails of people hoping to emigrate from Central America into the United States.

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway, who will debut an original work, Ground Truth, at an event that is being presented as part of the Black Wall Street Legacy Festival.

The World of Bob Dylan event will also feature an array of guests, including legendary rock critic Greil Marcus, who will be discussing the film noir elements within Dylans lyrics, along with a series of performances by local, regional and national artists, headlined by country legend Rodney Crowell and rising star Margo Price.

Most of the activities, including the extensive events that are part of the World of Bob Dylan, will take place at the Hyatt Regency, 100 E. Second St. Other venues include the Cains Ballroom, 423 S. Main St.; the new home to the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, 101 Archer, at 101 E. Archer St.; and the Greenwood Cultural Center, 322 N. Greenwood Ave.

It will give visitors the opportunity to explore Tulsa and discover all the artistic, historic and cultural riches we have here, Latham said.

Latham said the idea for Switchyard rose out of the first World of Bob Dylan event and the universitys surprise at the response it received.

We were thinking, as it was primarily an academic event, that if we got 100 to show up, we would be doing well, he said. But we sold something like 500 tickets two months before the event.

Then, of course, COVID happened, and we had to conduct the next couple of events remotely, Latham said. But now that we were going back to an in-person event, and knowing the degree of interest that was out there, we realized we had a lot more space in which to grow the Bob Dylan event.

That led to the concept of creating an event along the lines of South by Southwest, which would incorporate a live music element as well as scholarly discussions and presentations.

After all, Latham said, laughing, it seems kind of odd to do a Bob Dylan festival that didnt include live music.

When it came to putting together the festival that would surround the World of Bob Dylan, the idea of focusing on the cultural war being waged over attempts to ban, censor or suppress challenging ideas came about a bit by chance.

We knew very early on in the planning process that Art Spiegelman would be in attendance, Latham said. This was also around the time that the issue of what kind of books should be allowed in school, and how history should be written or rewritten, was very much in the national eye. And when we learned that Maia Kolbabe was willing to come to Tulsa, it seemed like the logical theme around which to organize everything.

Its a topic of intense debate, and our state is one of the places where these battles over issues of free speech and diversity are happening, he said. But universities are supposed to be the places where you can be free to explore such topics, exchange ideas and consider new ways of thinking. Were wanting to promote the civil exchange of ideas.

The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.
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Last weeks Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence awards ceremony, at which a Sand Springs educator and a recent graduate were honored, will be broadcast this weekend on OETA.

Limestone Technology Academy STEAM Lab teacher Barbie Jackson and Charles Page High School Class of 2023 graduate Nate Bolte are among the educators and students who will be recognized during the broadcasts of the OFEs 37th Academic Awards Celebration at 3 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday on Channel 11, OETAs Tulsa-area public television channel.

The broadcast also can be viewed at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, June 4, on the OETA World Channel.

The gala celebration, which was recorded May 20 at the Cox Business Convention Center in Tulsa, was sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit organization that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahomas public schools.

Jackson, who has taught at Limestone for 20 years, received the Oklahoma Medal for Excellence for elementary education. She is the only educator from the Tulsa area to receive a Medal for Excellence this year.

Bolte, who split his time that evening between the OFE gala and Charles Pages commencement exercises, was honored as one of Oklahomas 100 Academic All-Staters, nearly 20 of whom are from the Tulsa area.

Described as the Academy Awards of public education in Oklahoma, the awards program was emceed by foundation trustee and banquet chairman Kyden Creekpaum, a Tulsa attorney who was an Academic All-State honoree in 2000.

The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence Academic Awards Program is Oklahomas premiere awards program honoring academic achievement, innovation and leadership among students and educators in our public schools, said Elizabeth Inbody, the foundations executive director.

By working together to give outstanding students and educators the recognition they deserve, we send a message that we value their accomplishments and dedication, and we inspire others to strive for excellence.

The program will also feature a keynote address by Sheryl WuDunn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and business executive.

WuDunn and her husband, journalist Nicholas Kristoff, are the co-authors of such best-selling books as Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope and Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women.

In her keynote address, Empowering Students to Change the World, WuDunn shares ways young people can impact the lives of others in their communities and around the world.

The broadcast will also feature music by the Tulsa Youth Symphony.

A link to the broadcast will be available in June on the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellences website at ofe.org.

For more information, call the foundation office at 405-236-0006.
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Related content Feathers, beads dot Broken Arrow graduation crowd as court hearing awaits

Caleb Jorgensen has been a Sand Springs Sandite for only about three months, but hes pretty happy about the welcome that he and his Native American culture have received here, he said.

At a time when indigenous students are fighting battles across the country to exhibit regalia and other items of honor for their native heritage during graduation ceremonies, Jorgensen walked across the stage Saturday night at the Oral Roberts University Mabee Center in Tulsa as a member of the Charles Page High School Class of 2023 wearing a beaded mortarboard with an eagle feather attached.

Jorgensen said he went to school nearly his entire life in Brookings, South Dakota. The state is home to the Yankton Sioux Tribe, of which he is a member.

Some difficulties in December led him to leave South Dakota for Oklahoma and Sand Springs, where he moved in with his girlfriend, he said. He credits her with his presence at Saturday nights ceremony.

Shes the reason I finished school, he said.

As for his mortarboard, his girlfriend did the beadwork, and her mother presented him with the eagle feather, Jorgensen said.

Im just glad our culture is still alive, he said.
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A Texas company has selected Cushing as the site to build a $5.56 billion next-generation crude oil refinery that will generate and consume hydrogen as a fuel source with a zero-carbon footprint goal, officials announced Wednesday.

Southern Rock Energy Partners LLC, based in El Campo, Texas, said the refinery would process domestically produced light, sweet shale and light, sweet crudes into low carbon transportation fuels at a rate of 250,000 barrels per day.

We would like to thank the Cushing Economic Development Foundation, the Cushing Industrial Authority, the City of Cushing and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce for their willingness to work side-by-side with us during this phase of the refinery project, Steven Ward, Southern Rock Energy Partners managing member, said in a written statement.

The dedication of the professional economic development organizations of Oklahoma has made and will make our efforts to advance the energy independence of the United States, by processing domestically produced crudes into cleaner transportation fuels, a reality.

With Cushing already dubbed the Pipeline Crossroads of the World, the refinery will have plenty of product to process, with about 100 million barrels of crude oil storage available in tank farms surrounding the community, according to local officials.

On behalf of the citizens and commissioners of the city of Cushing, we would like to welcome Mr. Steven Ward and the entire team of Southern Rock Energy Partners to Cushing, said City Commission Chairman Ricky Lofton. Since the discovery of the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field in the early 1900s, Cushing has been at the epicenter of North Americas energy markets.

More than 50 refineries have called Cushing home over our history, and we are looking forward to another successful energy-supplying partnership based upon modern technological advancements.

Bruce Johnson, director of the Cushing Economic Development Foundation, said the company hopes to settle on a site for the refinery within the next six months.

Johnson said the state is offering about $1.5 billion in economic incentives to Southern Rock, while Cushing is offering about $75 million in incentives.

Cushing saw its last refinery shut down in 1982, Johnson said.

There hasnt been a major refinery built in the United States in over 45 years, he added.

The refinery complex will generate and consume hydrogen as a fuel source, with a goal of a zero-carbon footprint, according to information provided by Cushing officials.

It should be good, not only for us but the state of Oklahoma and finally for the country, because as of right now you and I wake up every morning and try to figure out what some Middle Eastern guys are going to do with how much they are going to produce or how much they are going to refine, Johnson said.

The project will produce 423 direct jobs with a payroll of $39.3 million and a total economic impact of $18.2 billion over the next 10 years, Cushing officials project.

Right now, based upon our analysis, the state of Oklahoma will have an $18 billion impact over the next 10 years, so that is pretty substantial, Johnson said.

Construction on the refinery is expected to begin next year, with commercial operations beginning in 2027.

The company said the products it refines will be marketed and distributed both domestically and internationally.



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Oklahomans first elected State Superintendent Ryan Walters in 2022.

He previously served as the state's education secretary; appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in September 2020.

Before then, Walters was CEO of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma and spent eight years as a high school history teacher in his hometown of McAlester. The Oklahoma State Department of Education named Walters as an Oklahoma Teacher of the Year finalist in 2016.

Walters also taught AP U.S. history at Millwood High School and McAlester High School in a pilot course through the Oklahoma Supplemental Online Course Program; and served as the executive director of Oklahoma Achieves, an education initiative of the State Chamber of Oklahoma.
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Related content Sand Springs graduates mortarboard reflects native heritage

Almost 100 students donned beadwork, eagle feathers, stoles, cords and other nods to their cultural or religious backgrounds at Tuesday nights graduation ceremony for Broken Arrow High School.

According to a district spokeswoman, 103 dress code exemption requests were made from among the more than 1,400 Broken Arrow seniors in advance of the ceremony at Tulsa's BOK Center.

Of those 103 requests, 92 were granted. The remaining 11 were duplicate submissions or were for attire that is not subject to review under the current policy.

Tuesdays ceremony took place as the district faces a civil lawsuit over a confrontation at its 2022 commencement over an eagle feather plume.

As published on the districts website, Broken Arrow Public Schools graduation dress code prohibits seniors from decorating their mortarboards without prior approval. It requires students to fill out an application if they want to make any additions to the standard cap and gown beyond cords, tassels and stoles issued by the district or a post-secondary institution, such as Tulsa Technology Center or Tulsa Community College.

Tribal regalia requests are subject to vetting by Broken Arrow Public Schools Indian Education Department, while all other requests have to be reviewed by the students principal.

That process can take anywhere from a few days to a week, depending on a host of factors, including the availability of the administrator responsible for considering the request, a district spokeswoman said.

Claiming a violation of both the First Amendment and the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act, Otoe-Missouria and Osage graduate Lena Black filed the suit on May 15 in Tulsa County District Court, stating that two school district employees attempted to physically remove an eagle feather plume from her mortarboard at Broken Arrow High Schools 2022 graduation ceremony.

Black ultimately left the ceremony due to an anxiety attack brought on by the incident, which damaged the eagle plume.

As of Tuesday night, no court date had been set for Blacks lawsuit.

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Correction: This story originally misidentified the school that is working with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes on a fiber-optics training facility. The story has been corrected.

The Oklahoma Broadband Office hosted an Internet for All workshop Wednesday focusing on the development of high-speed internet in the state.

The office was created in May 2022 as part of Oklahomas mission to make broadband internet available across the state. The office is hosting panels in 18 different communities to gather information for the offices five-year action plan to fill gaps in internet coverage, Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board Vice Chair Jim Meek said.

Wednesdays workshop in Tulsa focused on issues including coordination with tribal nations.

Were giving those communities a chance to tell us what those needs are, Meek said. If you get broadband, are you going to use that broadband? And if you use it, how are you going to use it?

There are potential uses for broadband beyond Netflix, such as connecting to medical services, Meek said.

When COVID was going on, telemedicine got real popular out in rural areas, Meek said. But if you didnt have access to broadband, it did you no good.

Oklahoma ranks 45th among the states in access to wired or fixed broadband internet, according to BroadbandNow, an organization that researches broadband and compares internet service providers.

Meek said he lives in Okmulgee County and used satellite internet during the pandemic, but the service quickly became overloaded when his whole household was using the internet at the same time. He switched to broadband after signing up with an electric co-op and said his internet service improved.

The pandemic pushed the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes to identify problems within their community, such as medical and emergency services, said Charlotte Wetselline, court administrator for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Judicial Branch.

During the pandemic weve seen schools go to online where they werent in schools specifically, Wetselline said. Because were more rural, that created huge barriers, huge negative aspects, for our kids.

The Cheyenne and Arapho tribes have established a fiber-optic training facility with Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology that trains tribal citizens and nontribal members, Wetselline said.

The tribes intend to apply for grants related to broadband connectivity issues, but Wetselline said they did not apply for the first grant.

Tim Allen, director of communications and media relations at the Oklahoma Broadband Office, said he anticipates initial funds to be awarded late this summer.

The office currently has $382 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, Allen said. More money is expected to come from different sources. Internet service providers have submitted 130 proposals on how to spend that money, totaling $4 billion.

So theres obviously a great need and, with this particular bucket of money, not enough to cover all of it, Allen said.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  Lawmakers wheeled out a $12.9 billion appropriations package on Tuesday for the budget year that begins July 1.

The final amount is $300 million less than a preliminary total published Monday. Lawmakers said the difference came from reductions in programs for affordable housing and rural economic development.

The fiscal year budget package nevertheless includes substantial spending increases for education and other priorities while leaving the state with an anticipated reserve of $3,638,331,522, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Roger Thompson, R-Okemah. That figure includes the so-called Rainy Day Fund, the Revenue Stabilization Fund, and other cash balances, Thompson said.

One thing the budget package does not include is a general tax reduction. Some legislative leaders, especially in the House, had pressed for major tax cuts but in the end settled for a few lesser measures such as elimination of the franchise tax and the so-called income tax marriage penalty.

The House was really holding out hope that eventually we would come up with an agreement and give great tax relief to everyday working Oklahomans, said House Majority Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City. While we fought for that very hard, it just didnt materialize.

Separate from the budget package are tax credits of up to $155 million for the families of private and home-schooled students.

All told, Thompson said, education would receive $1,048,588,318 in additional money this year.

This has been a great year for education, Thompson said.

The House and Senate appropriations committees began working separately through the long list of appropriations bills on Tuesday in the hopes of getting them to final passage by Friday.

Friday at 5 p.m. is the constitutionally mandated deadline for final adjournment of the regular session, but the budget is being handled as a concurrent special session in case more time is needed.

Thompson said that with the creation of Service Oklahoma, a new agency to handle vehicle registration, drivers licenses and other related tasks, some money was moved from the Department of Public Safety, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services and the Oklahoma Tax Commission to that agency.

The agreement calls for $10 million in additional money to reduce the waiting list for assistance for those with developmental disabilities, Thompson said.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry got an increase to deal with wildfires and drought relief, as did the Water Resources Board, Thompson said.

Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, questioned why the Oklahoma Ethics Commission wasnt provided an increase.

Thompson said budget writers did not see a need for an increase to that agency. Its budget of $687,957 has remained unchanged for years.

The agency is charged with enacting and enforcing civil laws for state campaigns, state officers and employees and has limited oversight of local campaigns and financial disclosures.

Meanwhile, Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, questioned why one of the states largest agencies, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, only got a 0.1% increase.

Thompson said the agency had $41 million in carry over funds.

House Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, said the spending bills leave the state with more wiggle room than the constitutionally required 5% of authorized projected revenue.

We will never over-appropriate, Wallace said.

A general appropriations bill, House Bill 1004x, would allocate the $12.9 billion to state agencies, while another 50-plus bills give instructions on how the money is to be spent and in some cases set policy.

Among the ancillary bills:

HB 1039x would eliminate the franchise tax at a cost of $55 million.

HB 1040x would eliminate the marriage penalty at a cost of $20.6 million.

HB 1007x would provide $10 million to implement the nations first four-year gunsmithing degree program at Murray State College.

HB 1002x would set up the $600-million Legacy Capital Fund to finance state capital improvements internally instead of by commercial borrowing. Lawmakers said the move could save the state tens of millions of dollars a year or more in debt service costs. The LCF may be an alternative to the $1 billion investment fund suggested by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

HB 1005x and SB 26x would extend tribal motor vehicle registration and tobacco compacts expiring in 2023 to Dec. 31, 2024.



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VietinBank and MUFG Bank, Ltd. (MUFG) commemorate 10 years of their strategic alliance that has enabled both organizations to support the growth of Vietnams banking sector and foster deeper Vietnam-Japan business and knowledge exchanges.

The anniversary was celebrated in a gala ceremony in Hanoi on May 19, with senior executives from Vietnams business community and the senior government officials of Vietnam and Japan in attendance.

The partnership officially began in May 2013, when MUFG, the banking entity of one of the worlds largest financial groups, invested in a 19.73 percent stake in VietinBank, one of Vietnams top banks.

This strategic investment and comprehensive cooperation agreement was regarded then as an unprecedented M&A investment in the history of the Vietnamese banking industry.

Since then, both organizations have leveraged their respective strengths to better serve clients and connect them to opportunities both within Vietnam and across Asia.

10 years of progress together

Over the past 10 years, the synergy of VietinBank and MUFGs combined network and expertise have allowed both banks to not only expand their business franchise but also provide comprehensive solutions targeting the diverse financial needs across the entire customer value chain.

Under this strategic partnership, MUFG cooperated with and supported VietinBank in various areas such as promoting retail banking, corporate banking as well as the sharing of best practices in risk and compliance and strategic planning.

The VietinBank - MUFG Bank partnership has grown continuously over the last 10 years," said Tran Minh Binh, VietinBank chairman.

"It's not just limited to the predefined collaboration areas but it's now expanded to comprehensive coverage of MUFGs strategic partner banks in ASEAN -- Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) in Thailand, Security Bank in the Philippines, and Bank Danamon in Indonesia, as well as the subsidiaries in VietinBank Groups ecosystem."

Yasushi Itagaki, head of MUFGs global commercial banking (GCB) Business Group, said: MUFGs partnership with VietinBank was the first strategic investment that kickstarted the growth of an unrivaled APAC network comprising some of Southeast Asias top financial institutions. As such, it serves as both a cornerstone of our regional franchise and a special reminder of our strategic intent and commitment to Asia.

Our core strategy has been to leverage the capabilities of both banks to contribute to the growth of our customers in Vietnam and the countrys economy.

Over the course of the past 10 years, we have made great progress in furthering not just the partnership, but Japan-Vietnam bilateral ties and the growth of the local banking sector. As Vietnams ascendancy in ASEAN gains momentum and is further integrated into global supply chains, we remain committed to deepening our partnership with VietinBank to further contribute to the next chapter of the countrys success story."

Speaking at the ceremony, Pham Thanh Ha, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, showed his high appreciation of the strategic alliance which has successfully synergized the two banks potentialities and strengths to create remarkable achievements, supporting the business community and promoting the bilateral investment and trade ties between Vietnam and Japan.

The State Bank of Vietnam acknowledged the kick-off of the cooperation between VietinBank and MUFG in the area of Environmental  Social  Governance, and hoped VietinBank would be leveraging MUFGs experience in this area to become a leader in sustainable finance in the country.

Deepening Japans ties with Vietnam

Over the last 10 years, the VietinBank-MUFG alliance has demonstrated the role of supporting and connecting the business community.

Since 2013, VietinBank and MUFG have jointly organized conferences for the prime minister of Vietnam to meet the senior executives of Japans leading corporations during his official visits to the country, and business matching fairs which open up new business opportunities for the corporate clients in both countries.

At the ceremony, Yamada Takio, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam, expressed his hopes for the VietinBank - MUFG Bank strategic alliance to grow further and deeper, serving to connect the business communities of Vietnam and Japan while continuing to contribute to the economic development of the two countries.

In a strong show of support for the community as well as Vietnam-Japan bilateral ties, VietinBank and MUFG have jointly provided financial aid to elementary and nursery schools in Dong Thap and Hung Yen Provinces, a child care center in Hanoi, and helped Vietnamese students in Japan tide through economic difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, in an amount of sponsorship of VND32 billion (US$1.36 million).

These achievements are the results of our two banks efforts to overcome cultural and language barriers, geographic distance, the pandemic, and the challenges of an unpredictable global economy, showing our commitments to a long-term and sustainable partnership," VietinBank chairman Binh said.

"Looking forward, I believe the two organizations will have more good collaboration initiatives, contributing to the promotion of economic and trade ties between Vietnam and Japan, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam  Japan diplomatic relations (1973  2023).

Kojima Masao, MUFG Vietnam country head, said: MUFG Vietnam has worked closely with VietinBank to nurture greater friendship between Japan and Vietnam through business collaboration and contributions to the community.

We remain committed toward empowering a brighter and more sustainable future for Vietnam and look forward to working with VietinBank to achieve this shared vision.

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SINGAPORE - Climate-related disruptions to the crucial Hindu Kush-Himalayan water system are posing risks to economic development and energy security in 16 Asian countries, and concerted action is needed to protect regional water flows, researchers said on Wednesday.

The basins of the 10 major rivers that flow from the Hindu Kush-Himalayan water towers are home to 1.9 trillion people and generate $4.3 trillion in annual GDP, and climate change impacts like glacial melt and extreme weather are already posing "grave threats", the China Water Risk think tank said.

The researchers warned that all rivers would face "escalating and compounding water risks ... if we are unable to rein in emissions," and that the further construction of water-intensive energy infrastructure was aggravating the problems.

The 10 rivers include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra running into India and Bangladesh, China's Yangtze and Yellow rivers as well as transboundary waterways like the Mekong and the Salween.

They support almost three quarters of hydropower and 44% of coal-fired power in the 16 countries, which also include Afghanistan, Nepal and Southeast Asia.

As much as 865 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity along the 10 rivers is considered vulnerable to climate risk, with most of it reliant on water. More than 300 GW - enough to power Japan - is situated in regions facing "high" or "extremely high" water risks, the researchers added.

China's Yangtze river basin, which supports around a third of the country's population and around 15% of its power capacity, experienced a record-long drought last year, with plummeting hydroelectric output disrupting global supply chains.

Since the drought, governments approved dozens of new coal-fired plants to allay future hydropower disruptions. However, coal-fired power also needs water and the surge in capacity in China and India could further aggravate shortages.

As climate risks mount, countries are under pressure to draw up policies that ensure the "dovetailing" of energy and water security, the researchers noted.

"As power choices can impact water and the lack of water can strand power assets, water security should decide energy security," they said.
One of the most annoying things a news or lifestyle article can do is have a clickbait title. Not only is it disappointing, but it also wastes the time of readers for the sake of clicks. Artifact recognizes that flaw and adds a feature that lets you mark an article as clickbait, among others.

Flagging Clickbait Articles

Clickbait articles can pose a threat, especially when people decide to take the title alone as truth and decide not to open the article itself. It's one of the many ways that misinformation can spread across the internet, which is a major issue we have right now.

Even mainstream media uses the tactic in order to get more readers to open their articles. According to Newslab back in 2018, around 33.54% of headlines can be considered clickbait, while unreliable media are higher at 39.26%.

Acknowledging this predicament, Artifact now allows its readers to flag articles by selecting the three-dot menu when reading the article or long-pressing it in the feed. Each feedback will contribute to the ranking of the article, with more reports placing it lower.

This new feature will make sure that upon opening your feed, you will see the most reliable and informative articles first, as opposed to those that may be misleading or may contain false information, which frankly, is a breath of fresh air in news media.

Leaving Reactions

After reading the article, you can now let people know how you feel about it by leaving a reaction. All you have to do is tap the heart icon at the bottom of the article or long-pressing them from the feed.

There are various reactions, just like the ones you would find on Facebook such as the like, heart, laughing, impressed, crying, and angry emojis. This way, you'll also know how most people feel about the topic being discussed in the article.

Read Also: Meta Is Developing a Decentralized Social App To Rival Twitter

More Ways Than One to Share an Article

Usually, sending a link to an article will include the cover photo, the headline, and the subtext. The AI-driven news app will now let you share a visual of an article, which gives an idea of what it is actually about, according to the company's blog post.

You can do so by tapping the "Share as Image" option. Other than that, you can also share it in Instagram Stories the way you would a song from Spotify, which allows you to share important news with a wider audience instead of sending it individually.

If you choose to, you can also include an excerpt when sharing it with others. By selecting the text you want to send and tapping the arrow icon that appears, you can send specific information from the article so the recipient will see it immediately.

This feature, however, is only available for iOS devices. Artifact plans on rolling out the "Share as Image" option for Android later this week. The clickbait and reactions feature appears to already be available for Android devices.

Related: Substack is Adding 'Notes' to the Platform Which Appears like Tweets
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Narendra Modi, his Indian counterpart, in Sydney on Wednesday to discuss regional security and economic ties and signed a migration deal to boost Indian student and business travel to Australia.

The two leaders also discussed the impact of Russia's conflict with Ukraine on developing countries, particularly food and fuel security, Indian officials said.

Modi is visiting Australia for the first time since 2014, and two months after Albanese travelled to India.

India and Australia are members of the Quad group of nations, which also includes Japan and the United States, and Modi had been due to attend a Quad leaders meeting Sydney. But that meeting was held on the sidelines a Group of Seven summit in Tokyo instead, as U.S. President Joe Biden needed to return directly to Washington.

"Quad leaders stand together for an open, stable, secure and prosperous Indo Pacific region ... where all countries large and small benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace," Albanese told reporters after a bilateral meeting with Modi.

Albanese said he and Modi had also discussed trade, migration and renewable energy, and the two nations had established a hydrogen task force to expand cooperation on clean energy.

Australia, whose largest trading partner is China, is seeking to diversify its export markets, including forging closer trade ties with India.

India is Australia's sixth largest trading partner, while around 750,000 people in Australia claim Indian ancestry.

Modi said they had discussed increasing cooperation on mining and critical minerals, and would work toward a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.

"We talked about taking the Australia-India comprehensive strategic partnership to greater heights in the next decade," he told reporters. Indian officials later said the next round of trade negotiations will be in June and July.

A migration agreement "will further strengthen our living bridge" Modi said, referring to the Indian diaspora in Australia, which is the second-largest and fastest growing diaspora group in the country. On Tuesday, thousands of overseas Indians cheered Modi at a rally in one of Sydney's biggest sporting arenas. read more

Modi travelled to Australia after holding a meeting with 14 Pacific island leaders in Papua New Guinea.

India's foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters in Sydney that Modi and Albanese had discussed synergies with Australia's development programs in the Pacific islands. India's Pacific islands agenda was focussed on economic and health partnerships, Kwatra said.
Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen held a reception for newly-appointed Cambodian Consul General Chan Sorykan on Wednesday.

Sorykan took the position in Ho Chi Minh City on April 11.

Speaking at the reception, Sorykan expressed his gratitude to city authorities for creating favorable conditions for Cambodian firms to do business and Cambodian students to study in Vietnam.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia reached VND235 trillion (US$10 billion) in 2022, Sorykan said, adding that the impressive figure has contributed to fostering bilateral ties and backing the partnership between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Vietnam  Cambodia diplomatic relationship has developed for 56 years, said Ho Chi Minh City Party chief Nen.

The two countries will survive ongoing global uncertainties and thrive strongly thanks to the long-term friendship and solidarity, he underscored.

Ho Chi Minh City will step up efforts to boost cooperation between the two sides to fuel their socio-economic growth, he added.

Vietnam is involved in 188 operational projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of VND65.7 trillion ($2.8 billion), making the former the latters largest investor in Southeast Asia.

Between January and September last year, bilateral trade totaled VND199 trillion ($8.45 billion), up 16.7 percent year on year.

As of October 2021, trade between Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia had amounted to over VND5.4 trillion ($230 million), a year-on-year increase of 12.7 percent.

Cambodia had invested in 12 projects in Ho Chi Minh City as of April 2022, with a total pledged capital of VND80 billion ($3.04 million), making the country rank 53rd among 116 nations and territories making investments in the city.

Over the past years, Vietnam has been Cambodias biggest tourist source market.

In the first quarter of 2022, more than 46,000 Vietnamese tourists visited neighboring Cambodia.

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The Slovenian government highly values Vietnams advantages of robust market growth, human resources, and business and investment environment, Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon told a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday.

Many leading Slovenian firms have shown interest in the Vietnamese market and have entered the country to sound out cooperation and investment opportunities, said the Slovenian foreign minister.

She affirmed that Slovenia always expects to deepen the traditional friendship and partnership with Vietnam, which is one of the formers key trade partners.

At the reception for the top Slovenian official, Prime Minister Chinh underscored that Vietnam attaches much significance to the multifaceted cooperation with Slovenia.

The prime minister proposed Slovenia further smooth the path for Vietnamese products such as electronics, apparel, and farm produce to enter the Slovenian and European Union markets.

The Vietnamese cabinet leader also proposed the Southeast European nation speed up the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and urge the European Commission to remove its yellow card warning against Vietnamese seafood.

The yellow card is a kind of warning issued by the European Commission to countries involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (R) shakes hands with his Slovenian counterpart Tanja Fajon on May 23, 2023. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The two leaders reached a consensus on stronger collaboration at regional and international forums and in the fight against global challenges such as climate change, energy, and food.

Discussing some issues related to the East Vietnam Sea, the two top officials stressed the importance of maritime freedom, peace, security, and the settlement of disputes based on peaceful measures and international law.

The Vietnamese prime minister also called on Slovenia to continue creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to live and work in the country.

Speaking at a meeting with her Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son on the same day, Fajon said that the Slovenian government was in the process of ratifying EVIPA and threw its support behind the removal of the yellow card warning against Vietnams seafood.

The two ministers pledged to join hands to organize cultural and exchange programs to mark the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in 2024.

After their talks, the two ministers signed an agreement for cooperation between the two ministries of foreign affairs.

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The administration in Da Nang on Tuesday demanded that all outdoor advertising and decorative lights in the city be turned off after 8:00 pm to save electricity amid the power shortage risk.

The municipal Peoples Committee issued a document on the enhancement of the power saving drive during the dry season and the entire year.

Organizations and individuals managing and operating public lighting systems and outdoor decorative and advertising lights were required to reduce at least 30 percent of the consumed electricity volume.

The city asked all agencies and units to employ power saving solutions, such as switching off electrical devices before leaving and cutting power sources when not using electrical devices, using air conditioners when necessary and setting them at 26 degrees Celsius or above, and minimizing the use of incandescent bulbs.

Leaders of agencies and units will take responsibility for carrying out power saving plans at their headquarters to cut their monthly power consumption by 10 percent.

Schools, hospitals, infirmaries, medical stations, and nursing homes will aim to save five percent of the current consumed electricity.

Restaurants, hotels, service and trade establishments, office buildings, and apartments will have to halve outdoor decorative and advertising lights after 8:00 pm every day.

Nine cities and provinces in the central and Central Highlands regions, including Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Khanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, and Quang Ngai, have issued directives to encourage power saving as of Tuesday, according to the Central Power Corporation.

Leaders of the Peoples Committees of these localities have required deploying urgent solutions to save electricity, contributing to ensuring an adequate power supply in their precincts.

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Some 300 drain covers along a Hanoi Highway section in Ho Chi Minh City were damaged by thieves taking steel for sale as scrap, a representative of the highway operator told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Nguyen Thanh Nam, deputy director of Hanoi Highway Construction and Investment JSC, said that the company sought support from the authorities of Thu Duc City, where the highway section is located, to seek and handle those damaging the infrastructure along the section.

The damaged drain covers are mainly seen at the Cat Lai and Thu Duc intersections and an intersection in front of the main gate of the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City.

A patrol team caught people red-handed demolishing drain covers last Tuesday.

They left their motorbike upon being detected and got away.

The people demolishing the drain covers left their motorbike and fled after being detected. Photo: Hanoi Highway Construction and Investment JSC

Drain covers have been damaged several times. The company has later produced and installed new covers ourselves," Nam said.

However, the number of demolished drain covers these days is large, so the company has to seek local authorities support."

Drain covers and equipment have also been stolen from residential areas and traffic infrastructure projects in the city.

Most recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways, the investor of the metro line No. 1 project, has sought Thu Duc City authorities support to ensure the safety and security of the metro line as several pieces of equipment on elevated sections were stolen.

Moreover, railcars of the metro line at Long Binh Depot were sprayed with graffiti twice.

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Police in Da Nang said on Tuesday that they had caught a group of drug traffickers red-handed transporting nine kilograms of ketamine from Quang Tri Province in north-central Vietnam to the central coastal city.

This was the largest drug trafficking ring in Da Nang, police officers said.

Police started secretly investigating a ring of smuggling narcotics with a huge volume in late March 2023.

The ringleader was identified as Tra Van Cong, a 33-year-old resident of Ngu Hanh Son District.

The traffickers contacted others in Quang Tri to buy illicit drugs for consumption in the city.

On Monday, investigators predicted that Cong would travel to the Lao Bao border gate in Quang Tri to receive the narcotics.

As such, police stopped a car driven by H.T.P., with Cong and another man named Dang Quang Hieu on board, for a check at the Mui Trau Tunnel area in Hoa Vang District on Tuesday afternoon.

After a search, police officers found nine plastic bags on the back seat of the car. These bags contained nine kilograms of ketamine.

Cong and Hieu tested positive for illegal drugs.

Cong confessed that he had bought the drugs from an unknown man in Lao Bao Town in Quang Tri and intended to sell them in Da Nang.

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Four-part documentary series, The First Inventors, celebrating and exploring the worlds longest surviving culture  that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will screen in June.

The co-commission, the first of its kind between NITV and Network 10, is presented and narrated by actor and proud Tiwi Islander man Rob Collins, who leads a team of First Nations investigators, uncovering more than 65,000 years of invention and innovation.

It will screen simultaneously on both networks to maximise the audiences of both NITV and 10.

Host and proud Tiwi Islander, Rob Collins, said: The power of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge is awe-inspiring, its endurance speaks to the strength, resilience and ingenuity of Indigenous knowledge holders around this incredible country. Traditions and practices that have sustained my ancestors for countless generations, are now spurring incredible new discoveries in partnership with the best minds in science today. I cant wait to share this amazing story of knowledge, resilience, and adventure!

Head of Commissions NITV and proud Wiradjuri woman, Marissa McDowell, said: The First Inventors celebrates and illuminates more than 65,000 years of knowledges and cultures. We are proud to bring this series to NITV, the home of First Nations storytelling and were excited to share these stories from across Australia with our communities and all Australians  a collaboration between science and culture, in NITV and Network 10s first co-commissioned series.

Senior Vice President Content and Programming, Paramount Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Daniel Monaghan, said: Its an honour to host stories of the longest enduring civilisation on earth. Not only will The First Inventors give all Australians the chance to learn more about the Country we live on, but it will also help us to better understand the world we live in. Thank you to our friends at NITV, Screen Australia and Ronde Media for helping us to bring these incredible stories to light.

The First Inventors is the story of how entire landscapes were transformed, how prehistoric events were recorded as far back as the last ice age, how people navigated over extraordinary distances, and how whole societies were organised.

From ancient superhighways for trade, long distance communication systems using secret languages engraved into message sticks, and unique social systems built to maintain genetic diversity, The First Inventors not only explores the past, but questions whether this ancient knowledge might hold answers to humanitys most pressing modern challenges.

The First Inventors is a Ronde Pty Ltd production for NITV and Network 10. Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with NITV. Financed with support from the National Indigenous Australians Agency, with Tourism Australia, Screen NSW and Screen Territory.

The series will be available to stream for free on 10 Play and SBS On Demand, where it will be subtitled in Arabic and Simplified Chinese.

8:30pm Thursday 15 June on both NITV and 10.
ABC management faced a four hour grilling at Senate Estimates hearing in Canberra yesterday, mostly around ABCs Coronation coverage and the fallout which led to Stan Grant exiting Q+A.

Since the broadcast ABC has received 169 good faith, actionable complaints (defined as those which are an honest complaint about the content).

Of these, 110 were general in nature. The other 59 raised potential Editorial Policies issues and have been referred to the Ombudsmans Office for investigation.

While there has been around 1800 audience contacts more than 1100 of those were either racist or abusive content or did not raise a substantive issue.

Managing director David Anderson conceded there were opinions about the timing of the broadcasters debate, but not the right to stage it.

Some people thought it wasnt appropriate to have that discussion at that moment in time, he said.

There are other people who would say it is appropriate to have the discussion, it just was not what they were expecting -really reflecting that we hadnt set the audience expectation about this well enough.

But like (News Director Justin Stevens), I stand by that discussion having happened. It was necessary. Ive had people suggest to me, perhaps it should have been another day. Well, I think that its entirely appropriate to have it on that day.

As Mr. Stevens said, it was a long coverage. It was over eight hours. And across those eight hours, diversity of perspectives was reflected that is held across the Australian community.

Stan Grant was asked on as a guest in a panel discussion.

He wasnt there as the host of Q+A. He was there for his own lived experience, and his knowledge and history of our First Nations people, and from his experience, personally and his family. So for me, I think editorially, I think that was justified, I think it was relevant. I think it was appropriate.

News Director Justin Stevens confirmed Grant is currently on 8 weeks leave -it isnt clear if with pay- but he hopes he will return.

Repeating many points made earlier this week on ABC Radio he restated that he regretted not making a statement of support earlier for the profile presenter, amid social media and press criticism.

Were not saying all of that criticism was racist, said Stevens. What were saying was, there was a torrent of criticism. And I think he has very clearly expressed that he felt we ought to have defended his role in it. I accept that we could have in reflection, more publicly done that. And I think that prospers a question as to why didnt we defend him at the time?

Ive done a lot of reflecting on that and I think theres a few reasons. The first is, its not in our nature at the ABC to be the story. Its not in our nature, to agitate on a daily basis to make ourselves the story. However, due to the climate that we function in, our approach will have to change and there are lessons in this in terms of how Stan felt we managed it.

ABC has also denied it was swamped with a record number of complaints -according to Guardian Australia that honour goes to 2009 Make a Realistic Wish by The Chaser at 2,000 legitimate complaints investigated for editorial compliance.
Rewilding facilitator Gina Chick has won the first season of Alone Australia, surviving 67 days in the Western Tasmania / lutruwita wilderness.

After enduring nature, hunger, and loneliness, the 52-year-old outlasted nine other participants to win $250,000.

She outlasted vet and bush regenerator Mike, at 64 days. In the final episode Ginas best friend Lee surprised her on location, for an emotional reunion.

Coming into this experience, I said the Gina who walked in would not be the Gina that walked out. I left more windswept, more grateful, more in love than Ive ever been in my life, said Gina.

For me, it was never about winning the competition. My focus was on solving my needs every day. Im not an expert survivalist, but what Ive found is that I can let my instincts and the land teach me what I needed to know. I really wanted to show that there is a way of being at home in the wild. Theres a way of connecting with an ancestral way of being that isnt about dominating nature, or about having all the bells and whistles and tricks. I want to thank the palawa for the tens of thousands of years theyve lived in harmony with this country, leaving footprints for me to follow.

Even a series about wilderness survival touch upon First Nations connections, dealing with PTSD and reflecting on the loss of a child.

For Gina, who always seemed at one with nature, loneliness was a major factor.

My soft human skin needs other humans to survive, she said.

Mike was medically extracted at Day 64 -his birthday- after constructing camp traps, a rod and net and having a run of bad luck capturing food. But low blood pressure saw him extracted by the medical team.

I feel really disappointed. Winning was very important to me for many reasons. I wanted to bring the money home for our family, he said. But I could not have tried any harder.

I came so close on so many things, he added.

But that is survival. A lot of it is luck.

Michael was third placed, tapping out on Day 30, with a lack of food and time away from his family became too much.

I just want to go home to my family healthy, and know that emotionally, I am done. I need them, he said.

Alone Australia has been a massive hit for SBS, with five episodes now surpassing the one million viewers in VOZ data.

Kathryn Fink SBSs Director of Television said: Well done to Gina on surviving months alone in such a harsh environment, while inspiring so many around the country. We laughed and cried following her incredible journey, as well as those of the other courageous participants. Alone Australia has really captured the public imagination. Its not only SBSs highest rating series to date in 2023, but also our most successful ever original commission, in terms of total consumption. More than half of the episodes have now had a Total TV audience of more than one million viewers, with much of that being driven by SBS On Demand. The hit series demonstrates the strong shift to the multiplatform on-demand world that television is increasingly moving to.

This is such a unique, multi-faceted and compelling show, and in an era where the battle for capturing the attention of audiences with new formats is so fierce, SBS is incredibly proud of how Alone Australia is proving to be a standout new hit series for Australian audiences.

ITV Studios Australia CEO and Managing Director David Mott said: My congratulations to Gina and to all our wonderful cast. ITV Studios is thrilled to have created a series that has redefined what success looks like in this multi-platform world we live in. My thanks to our passionate production team, format owners A&E and the unwavering support of SBS.

Alone Australia: The Reunion hosted by Amanda Keller is now available at SBS On Demand and screens tonight, Thursday 25 May at 7.30pm on SBS.
Former Living Room host Miguel Maestre has undertaken an Ambassadorial role for Bus Stop Films, a disability-led not for profit social enterprise.

Winner of the 2023 SPA Award for Breakthrough Business of the Year, Bus Stop Films uses filmmaking to raise the profile of people with disabilities on both sides of the camera.

Maestre has made an appearance in their film Mise en Place, set in a commercial kitchen. The film directed by Julian Neuhaus also starred up-and-coming actor Ashley Khule, living with Down Syndrome, is a participant of Bus Stops Accessible Film Studies Program at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

Miguel said: Working with Bus Stop Films on Mise en Place was one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences of my media career. Bus Stop are showing the world how we, the media and screen industries, can be more kind and more creative, something that I am very passionate about. I am so honoured to be on board the bus  and cant wait to make more amazing films with them.

I am thrilled that Miguel has agreed to an on-going role with Bus Stop Films as an Ambassador. The experience of working with Bus Stops students had such a profound impact on Miguel that it inspired him to work alongside use to further our ambition for a more inclusive screen industry and greater representation and employment of people with disabilities in film and TV across Australia and around the world. We loved the energy and passion that Miguel brought to our set and cannot wait to continue working with him, changing lives and minds through film, said Bus Stop Films CEO, Tracey Corbin-Matchett.

Mise en Place has been entered into a number of film festivals in Spain and Australia and we look forward to seeing Miguel walk the red carpet with our participants and celebrate film, inclusion and a beautiful connection between culture, community and creativity.
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong speaks during the U.N. Environment Programme Finance Initiative's (UNEP FI) Asia-Pacific roundtable at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group



By Yi Whan-woo



Two banking group chairmen, Jin Ok-dong of Shinhan and Ham Young-joo of Hana, participated in a regional roundtable hosted by the U.N. Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), a coalition body between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and global financial services companies, in Seoul, Wednesday.



This is the first time that the UNEP FI held its roundtable in Korea. Shinhan Financial Group and Hana Financial Group are among more than 450 corporate members of the initiative led by UNEP, the U.N.'s environmental arm, with the goal of bolstering the roles of finance in sustainable development.



The meeting took place at Conrad Seoul Hotel, where participants from the Asia-Pacific region shared their thoughts on ways to better consider environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) practices and other sustainability efforts in making decisions on investment.



The topics discussed included climate change, biodiversity and regulation overhaul that serves the interests of financial firms in the region.



Chairman Jin underlined the importance of "putting ESG principles into action, not just into plan or declaration."



"In that regard, Shinhan Financial Group will make efforts to raise awareness toward sustainable finance in the Asia-Pacific and bolster our action plan," the chairman said.



He said the company accordingly will enhance sponsorship for the UNEP FI and also offer a wide range of support mechanisms for other environmental organizations in the region.





From left, U.N. Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Head Eric Usher and Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo pose together during UNEP FI's Asia-Pacific roundtable at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Hana Financial Group
Filming continues on the third season of La Brea, now based in Queensland as previously reported by TV Tonight.

The 6 part US drama has attracted $9 million through the Location Incentive, creating more than 200 jobs for local cast and crew. 300 local businesses set are set to benefit with $66 million expected to be injected into the national economy.

Federal Minister for the Arts Tony Burke said, International productions like La Brea benefit the Australian economy as well as our local screen industry. Bringing productions like this to our shores means a whole lot of Australian jobs, as well as important opportunities for skills and training in the local screen industry. Its essential we continue to do that. Thats why as part of this years Budget weve doubled the Location Offset rebate to 30 per cent. This means Australia will remain the destination of choice for international productions, and also provide ongoing certainty and opportunity for the industry.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, The opportunity to host a fifth series from Universal Studios Group and Matchbox Productions was testament to the strength of the states thriving screen industry. Through the support of Screen Queensland, our government is delighted that we have added La Brea to this incredibly positive partnership, which has included Young Rock and Joe vs Carole, as well as Apples Never Fall  currently in production at Village Roadshow Studios.

La Brea will contribute an estimated $38 million to the Queensland economy, continue an employment pipeline for our esteemed crews and creatives, and showcase some of the Gold Coast and Scenic Rims stunning locations to a global audience.

Filming is expected to wrap in two weeks time.

La Brea screens in Australia on Nine network.
News Corp has staunchly denied claims levelled by ABC News Director Justin Stevens it contributed to Stan Grants decision to stand down from hosting Q+A.

On Monday Stevens named News (Corp) and The Australian as part of a concerted campaign to chip away at the ABC and peoples sense of trust in it.

He claimed excessive coverage was amplifying and giving agency to the racist trolls on social media.

But News Corp Australasia chief executive Michael Miller said Stevens was making misleading claims and called on him to correct the record.

The ABC needs to stop passing the buck and blaming others for its own internal problems, he said.

ABC director of news Justin Stevens has made a raft of unsubstantiated claims about News Corps reporting of how the ABC covered the coronation, and the ensuing fallout that Stan Grant says contributed to his decision to stand down as host of Q+A.

The Australian vehemently denied a further accusation that the newspaper asked questions about an Indigenous ABC journalist after they had pored over their social media.

The Australian put questions to the ABC on Sunday about a post on one journalists social media account, and an ABC spokesperson responded that the reporter in question had been reminded to adhere to the public broadcasters social media guidelines, the Australian reported.

This masthead chose not to publish a story.

News Corp has also challenged claims by other media outlets of 150 mentions of Coronation coverage and Stan Grant by The Australian and SKY News in the 2 weeks following ABCs broadcast.

On Monday Stan Grant said, Im not walking away for a while because of racism. We get that far too often. Im not walking away because of social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like Im part of the problem and I need to ask myself how or if we can do it better.

Source: Guardian Australia
TCN revisits Madarsa Azizia and its library after it was attacked during Ramadan

Sufi Parween, Twocircles.net

Support TwoCircles



A goldmine of Islamic literature, spread over 4,500 books, including rare manuscripts, is now reduced to a heap of soot and ash. A few burnt pages are the only giveaway that the powdery, flaky heap was once a stack of weighty tomes that belonged to the library of Madarsa Azizia, the 113-year-old Islamic institution in Bihar Sharif, a town in the Nalanda district of Bihar.

The pile of burnt books, including 300 copies of the Quran, and 250 manuscripts on art, medicine, and philosophy written by the madarsa alumni, is now buried in an eight-foot-deep pit. The books may have been put to fire but they are still holy or priceless. We couldnt just throw them away. So, we have buried them near the library, says Mohammad Shahabuddin, an elderly frail man who is the caretaker of library.

On March 31 this year, a week into Ramadan, a mob of Hindu extremists, who were part of a Ram Navami procession, put the library to fire, that spread to the washroom, a few classrooms and the madarsa office.

As the madarsa was closed on account of Ramadan, there were no casualties. But about two months into the violence, signs of that fateful day linger on. The windows and doors of the library, classrooms and office are still covered with a thick layer of soot, and the air filled with the acrid smell of smoke. The library and classroom floors were cracked by the heat of the fire, the four fan blades shrunk down and some fell apart.

The madarsa has 10 teachers, two non-teaching staff and 18 rooms including an office, the library, a kitchen, a bathroom and classrooms, all spread over three acres.

The administration has been slow to help, repairing only the bathroom, installing two water tanks, and restoring pipe connections. To beef up security, barbed wires are being installed around the boundary wall of the madarsa.

Principal Maulana Shakir Qasmi demands that the government should repair whatever can be repaired and rebuild the library. The madarsa has not availed help from private individuals or charities.

Parents too scared to send children back

The attack has shaken the confidence of students, most of whom have not rejoined the madarsa after Ramadan and Eid holidays. Of the 500 students who are enrolled in the madarsa, less than 100 have resumed classes. The 120 students who were residing in the hostel have not returned. The parents of our younger, junior students (from Class I to VIII) are too scared to send them back. Our undergraduate and postgraduate students have returned, says Qasmi. The students, seemingly out of fear, refused to speak to TCN.

Their academic future is at stake, as their marksheets, examination copies and certificates were stored in the library, and are now gone.

We are requesting the Bihar madrasa board to re-issue the marksheets in order to save the future of the children, he says.

They are also planning to source the course books and other study material from the government as well as contemplating upon their digitization in order to safeguard against any possibility of permanent loss of records in the future.

The damaged structures will be rebuilt, but the loss of knowledge is irrecoverable, says Syed Shah Saifuddin Firdausi, president of Soghra Waqf Board, that manages the properties of Bibi Soghra, a 19th century philanthropist who had endowed her estates to the cause of educating the poor. Madarsa Azizia was one of the institutions she built, in 1896. Earlier located in Patna, the campus was shifted to Bihar Sharif in 1910, and got government recognition in 1930. Some of its illustrious alumni include writer Maulana Masood Alam Nadvi, former Darul Uloom Deoband mufti Maulana Nizamuddin, former registrar of Veer Kunwar Singh University Dr. MM Kamal and former principal of Madarsa Aliah, Kolkata, Maulana Abu Salma.

Arrested out on bail

Firdausi says that the madarsa was attacked in 2017, when during Holi, some miscreants had pelted stones and vandalized the building. This year, though, Firdausi alleges, that the attack was part of a big conspiracy.

On April 1, a day after the attack, the madarsa authorities lodged an FIR against the perpetrators. Some 180 people were arrested but many are now out on bail. They were the same set of people named in different FIRs, related to similar communally charged incidents of violence in Bihar during Ram Navami this year. The charge sheet is expected to be filed next month.

A teacher, who requested anonymity, said the incident has caused an unsaid unease between Hindus and Muslims in Bihar Sharif, a town of 4 lakh people, 34 per cent of which are Muslim. Before this incident, our interfaith relations were warm. Our Madrasa and Shahi Masjid are in the east and the temple is in the west. They had no issue with azaan, nor do we have any problem with bhajans. This city is said to be the place of Sufi saints. Whatever happened was hatched by outsiders, he says.

How the composite legacy of this town is affected in the long run by the attack on the iconic Madarsa Azizia remains to be seen.

Sufi Parween is a fellow with the TCN-SEED mentorship programme
By Sadaf Shabir, TwoCircles.net

In todays world, if something goes wrong in our household, women are held responsible, said Mubeena Ramzan, an iconic figure for womens rights and upliftment in Kashmir. Featured in The Worlds 500 Most Influential Muslims of 2019 and born in the apple town of Kashmir, Sopore, she had always been a sensitive child who always looked around for people who were not so privileged. She had a strong desire to help the underprivileged but financial constraints made her helpless. Growing up, she aimed to change this and be instrumental in helping the lesser fortunate women around her.

When I initially started, we were just a few people but the recognition of our Kashmiri people who stood with me and joined our cause made me happier, she shared about being among the most influential Muslims of 2019. Mubeena completed her studies in her native town and joined a private college run by Anjuman Moin-ul-Islam which was the only college for women at Sopore then. Whenever things are wrong at home, a woman is asked to do a job and support the family, she recalled. Speaking about her immediate surroundings, she detailed how women were still suppressed in the garb of religion as interpreted by the village elders and religious leaders. Disturbed by such wrong interpretations of the status of women in Islam, she was motivated to get educated and work towards improvisation concerning women rights.

There is an ayah in the Quran which talks about women to remain inside four walls of their homes but we have forgotten that every ayah had its own context, Mubeena stated while defining her motivation to pursue Islamic Studies. Our so-called maulvis used Islam as a tool to suppress women while Islam is the only religion which empowers women in every aspect of her life, she added. Driven by this zeal, she went to the University of Kashmir for pursuing Masters in Islamic Studies. Her choice of studying the interpretation of Islamic teachings was aimed to look inside the teaching which catered to women.

In Islam, women have been given property rights but whenever a daughter asks for her share she is abandoned and fought off, says Mubeena. Her harrowing experiences of witnessing abandoned women with limited access to clothes, food or water motivated her to enrol for a B.Ed., M.Phil and PhD in Islamic Law. Her vision remained to challenge the deliberately flawed interpretations of Islamic teaching that caused Muslim women untold misery. After her studies, she initially started working as a research associate, looking for opportunities to educate, help and empower women through Islamic teaching. She feels that when people want to truly empower a woman they should give her the share from the property.

In Islam, women dont have any economic liabilities, men were created as the protector and guardian of women so its his responsibility to look after her, Mubeena explained. She completed two theses on Islamic Law and Social Evils as well as on Shah-e-Hamdan and Orientalism. Her education has taught her that there needs to be more resources for womens empowerment and education. To contribute to the cause, she continued working in various educational institutions as a contractual lecturer and research associate and went on to open her own institution for women, Jamia Islamia Mahdul Muslimaat.

The vocational training in activities like cutting, tailoring, and computer skills here empower and helps us to support ourselves financially, says Nahila Wani, a senior student at Jamia Islamia Mahdul Muslimaat. The school provides shelter, food, clothes, and education free of cost to all needy students. Many students who have received an education from this institution have gone on to open their own schools, benefiting our society, shares Nahila who added that the well-balanced curriculum fosters independence and awareness among women, making them conscious of their duties and rights.

There were so-called preachers who said that I cant run this institution as I am a woman, she said while recounting the initial three years of starting the institution. She explained that initially the establishment faced many problems but over time they installed networks with professional teams including top doctors in the valley. The emphasis here lies in educating women in Quranic exegesis, science of Hadith, Jurisprudence, and History, while also training them in languages like Arabic, English, Urdu, and computer skills. Our goal is to equip them with the necessary skills to become self-reliant and competent individuals, said Mubeena.

In 2014, Mubeena also started Ansar-ul-Nisa, a socio-religious organization that provides special support to needy orphans, would-be-brides, and widows. Through the organization, she came across several cases of suicidal cases of women, especially among married women. According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, there was a 15.62% increase in crimes against women in 2021 compared to the year 2020. Over 7,000 arrests were made in cases of women harassment in the union territory in 2021. In the 2011 Census, among 64 lakh women in the valley, the crime rate per lakh population in stood at 61.6% as of 2021. 315 cases of rape, 1,414 incidents of attempt to rape, and 14 dowry deaths were reported in 2021 wherein 91.4% of cases showed that the accused were known to the victims. Around 1,851 cases of physical assault on women with the intention to outrage their modesty was also caused. The figures clashed with the lockdown in COVID-19 when suicidal tendencies among Kashmiri women grew rapidly, the same time around Mubeenas team was expanding women counselling activities.

The counseling cell works 247 hours to help Kashmiri women in such events wherein one of the cases she dealt with was involving a girl who was abandoned by both her parents who had separated and remarried and registered her as an orphan. Her organization fought on the social front against her father ultimately convincing the local elders to rightly grant some portion of the property in her name. The girl was married off soon after and is currently living happily with her husband and a daughter. Two more orphan sisters studying in Jamia Islamia Mahdul Muslimat received legal help to secure property share from their grandfather and are now living with their mother in their own house. Stories like this abound in Mubeenas organizations.

We believe in providing a safe space where newly married women, divorcees, and those suffering from mental health disorders can come to share their stories and find relief, shares Mubeena. Through her institutions counseling team of highly qualified professionals including top doctors and professors, they divert efforts to support them financially and emotionally. As we look to the future, we aim to establish a helpline number to further expand our reach and continue to provide crucial support for those in need, she said. At present, 600 girls are studying in the institutions and about 500 widows also receive financial assistance. Due to lack of funds, her plans of opening a college for skills-oriented courses are delayed.

Speaking about her future plans, she detailed that she aims to build an institution where all modern subjects are taught at par with Islamic education, alongside martial arts and vocational skills like cutting, designing, oratory, etc. Our whole motive is to make women empowered through education, Mubeena iterated her future plans.

Sadaf Shabir is an independent journalist. She tweets @sadafreports
A Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on charges of rape and sexual coercion, finding no evidence against the former Oxford University professor.

The academic was also awarded around 151,000 Swiss francs ($167,000) in compensation from the Swiss canton of Geneva over the case.

After the verdict was read in the Geneva Criminal Court, the 60-year-old Swiss preacher smiled and was hugged by one of his daughters.

Ramadan's 57-year-old accuser, identified under the assumed name of "Brigitte", left the courtroom before the end of the verdict.

Her lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the ruling.

Prosecutors had last week called for a three-year sentence against Ramadan. The case was the first time he has been tried for rape, although he risks facing a trial in France on similar charges.

The Swiss trial presented two diametrically opposed versions of what happened in a Geneva hotel room in October 2008.

The lawyer representing Brigitte, a convert to Islam, said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to "torture and barbarism".

Ramadan, a charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, rejected the charges, insisting there was no sexual activity between him and Brigitte, and saying he was the victim of a "trap".

Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault in 2008. She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed in France.

'Ramadanphobia'

"Forget I'm Tariq Ramadan!" he said.

(AFP)



Read more on FRANCE 24 English



Read also:

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan admits to 'consensual' sex with accusers

Swiss prosecutors open rape case against Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan faces two new rape charges in France
Viktor Orban has said "poor Ukrainians" are unlikely to emerge victorious against Russia, calling for Washington-Moscow negotiations to end the war.

The ultra-nationalist leader, who constantly criticises the EU and its members over their support to Ukraine, reiterated his calls for a ceasefire at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

"It is obvious that the military solution does not work," he said on Tuesday, blaming the Russian invasion on "failed diplomacy".

"If you look at the reality, the numbers, the context, and the fact that NATO is not ready to send troops, it is obvious that there is no victory for the poor Ukrainians on the battlefield. This is my position," Orban said.

Orban has constantly refused to help the neighbouring Ukrainian military and still maintains ties with the Kremlin, remaining as one of the few EU leaders not to have visited Kyiv post-invasion.

EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday Hungary was blocking a new tranche of military aid for Ukraine, though believed it was "certain" the funds would be released.

Hungary made the move after war-torn Ukraine put a Hungarian bank on its list of "international sponsors of war".

Orban said a new European security agreement should be negotiated with Moscow after a ceasefire.

"As a state, Ukraine is of course very important, but in the longer term, from a strategic point of view, what is at stake is the future security of Europe," he added.

The Hungarian Prime Minister criticised EU leaders for being "too intellectual", claiming they were not looking out for obvious solutions.

One of those, Orban pointed out, would be a deal including Washington and Kremlin.

"It is clear that without the United States, there is no security architecture for Europe," he said. "This war can only be stopped.. if the Russians reach an agreement with Washington."

Hungary, which depends on Russia for half of its energy needs, is negotiating an agreement with Qatar for natural gas imports with the first deliveries expected in 2026.
Police from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands need help to identify 22 dead women and girls

Police in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are asking for the public's help to identify 22 women and girls who they believe have been murdered.

The bodies were discovered across the three European countries between October 1976 and August 2019.

"Most of the 22 victims died violently, and some were also abused or starved before they died," said Carina van Leeuwen and Martin de Wit in a statement by the Netherlands police.

They added: "Partly because the women are likely from countries other than where they were found, their identities have not yet been established.

"It is possible that their bodies were left in our countries to impede criminal investigations."

Despite extensive police investigations, the victims have never been identified, and evidence suggests they could be foreign nationals and may have come from other countries.

Who they are, where they are from and why they were in these three countries is unknown.

Details about the cases - some of which have remained unsolved for decades - have been revealed in the hope that someone might recognise a victim.

"We want to stress that we are looking for names," said Carolien Opdecam, of the Belgian police force.

"The victim's identity is often the key to unlocking the mysteries of a case."

With some of the murdered women believed to have come from specific regions in Eastern Europe, detectives hope identifying them may also provide evidence on the perpetrators of these crimes.

Anja Allendorf, of the German police, said: "In similar investigations, establishing the victim's identity ultimately has led to the arrest of a suspect."

The police forces of all three countries have come together to launch Operation Identify Me through Interpol.

The international police group has for the first time made public some details of so-called black notices which are used to seek information and intelligence on unidentified bodies and to determine the circumstances surrounding the death.

Black notices are usually circulated internally among Interpol's global network of police forces.

The cases include a woman with a flower tattoo who was found in the Groot Schijn River in Antwerp, Belgium; the discovery of a body which had been burned in a forest in Altena-Bergfeld in Germany; and the remains of a female believed to be 16-35 years old which were found in a bag in the IJ River in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Details on each case have been made available on the Interpol website showing facial reconstructions of some of the victims, as well as videos and pictures of items such as jewellery and clothing which were discovered at the various sites where their remains were dumped.

It also includes information such as their estimated age, hair and eye colour and other physical characteristics such as tattoos.

Members of the public, particularly those who remember a missing friend or relative, are being invited to contact their national police should they have any information.

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"Black Notices allow law enforcement agencies to collaborate and share information across borders, ultimately helping to bring closure to the families of the deceased and bring offenders to justice," said Susan Hitchin, coordinator of Interpol's DNA Unit.

"Advances in technology across the different fields of forensic human identification have been significant in helping solve cold cases."
Voluntary euthanasia is when a doctor might give life-ending drugs to a patient who has given consent. (Getty Images)

Euthanasia has long prompted a debate over whether it should or shouldn't be legal.

But this depends on the country you're living in, with one Victoria Secret model in Canada even documenting her grandmother's decision to be euthanised after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, sparking a mixed reaction.

In a 2021 YouGov survey on public views of assisted dying in Britain, 73% of the British public supported some form of doctor-assisted death for those with terminal illnesses, while 50% supported similar measures for those suffering from a painful but not terminal illness.

So, here's a look at what exactly euthanasia is, and where it is and isn't allowed.

What is euthanasia?

'Euthanasia' is the act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering, according to the NHS. In countries where this is permitted, a doctor may deliberately give a patient with a terminal illness a drug they don't otherwise need with the aim of ending their life.

It is worth bearing in mind that not everyone agrees on the terminology for the process, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) points out.

For example, it outlines:

Assisted dying Proponents of the Assisted Dying Bill 2015 in England and Wales argue that this term best describes prescribing life-ending drugs for terminally ill, mentally competent adults to administer themselves after meeting strict legal safeguards.

Assisted suicide This term is often intended to describe giving assistance to die to people with long-term progressive conditions and other people who are not dying, in addition to patients with a terminal illness. The drugs are self-administered.

Voluntary euthanasiaThis term describes a doctor directly administering life-ending drugs to a patient who has given consent.

Euthanasia wouldn't be voluntary if a person was unable to give their consent and another person makes the decision their behalf, perhaps because the ill person previously expressed this wish.

Read more: The five stages of grief: How to cope with loss

Where is euthanasia legal?

Some feel empowered to take control of the end part of their life when they are suffering. (Getty Images)

Voluntary euthanasia is permitted in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

In 2016, Canada legalised both voluntary euthanasia and assisted dying for people whose death is "reasonably foreseeable", in what it calls "medical assistance in dying", the BMA states.

Assisted dying, as defined by the above bullet-pointed definition, is legal and regulated in the US states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, and in Washington, DC.

In 2017, a similar legislation was passed in Victoria in Australia.

Assisted suicide, as defined by the above definition, is permitted in Switzerland.

Is euthanasia legal in the UK?

In a nutshell, there answer is no.

As outlined by the British Medical Association (BMA), in England and Wales:

Euthanasia is illegal and could be prosecuted as murder or manslaughter

Assisting or encouraging another persons suicide is prohibited by s.2 of the Suicide Act 1961, as amended by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) examines individual cases to decide whether to prosecute. That decision is determined by offence-specific guidelines published in 2010.

A person judged to have assisted the suicide or attempted suicide of another person could face up to 14 years in prison. For euthanasia, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.

In Northern Ireland:

Euthanasia is illegal and could be prosecuted as murder or manslaughter

Assisting or encouraging another persons suicide is illegal under s.13 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 1966, which extends the Suicide Act 1961 to Northern Ireland.

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) examines individual cases to decide whether to prosecute. That decision is guided by offence-specific guidelines published in 2010.

In Scotland:

Euthanasia is illegal and could be prosecuted as murder or manslaughter.

There is no specific offence of assisting or encouraging suicide in Scotland. Any suspected offence would be dealt with under homicide law. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) makes the decision whether to prosecute.

There are no offence-specific guidelines in Scotland and the decision will be taken on the basis of the general prosecution code. A legal challenge to compel the COPFS to produce offence-specific guidelines failed in 2015.

Read more: The pandemic has changed how we talk about death

The future of euthanasia in the UK

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur signs a board in support of his Members' Bill on assisted dying, September 2022. (Getty Images)

Individuals and members of Parliament have tried to make the case for legalising euthanasia in the UK.

For example, in England and Wales, Baroness Meacher, a former social worker, crossbench peer and the Chair of Dignity in Dying, introduced a Private Members' Bill on assisted dying on 26 May 2021.

It was debated at its second reading in October that year, passing to Committee Stage. However, it ran out of time and was unable to pass all the required stages before the parliamentary session ended.

In Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur first lodged a Bill proposal on assisted dying in September 2021, lodging a final proposal in September 2022.

On the attitude towards legalising euthanasia in the UK, and whether it might happen, the BMJ states:

"Proponents of physician assisted dying, including The BMJ, claim that access to the option gives dying people choice and control over their death and can prevent intolerable and intractable suffering.

"But opponents fear consequences for vulnerable people, for society, and for the medical profession when doctors are permitted actively to induce death. The BMJ thinks it likely to be more a question of when, not if, assisted dying is legalised in the UK, and that all doctors should now engage with the debate.

"The BMJ continues to strive to represent all voices in the debate."
Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho speaks during an event in Seoul to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Bank's office in Korea, in this photo released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, May 24. Yonhap



Korea wishes to expand cooperation with the World Bank by sharing its expertise in the climate and digital sectors, the finance minister said Wednesday.



"Korea's expertise in the climate and digital sectors can help developing countries against the challenges they face," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during an event marking the 10th anniversary of the bank's office in Korea.



"I believe Korea's resources in these areas can help the Korea Office become a symbol of innovation and technology," he added.



The finance minister noted that Korea is an example of a nation that has transformed itself into a donor country from being a recipient of international aid, saying Asia's No. 4 economy is now capable of sharing its unique development experience.



Choo also said that the Korean office of the Washington-based bank should offer a "tailored approach" based on "an in-depth review of Korea's development knowledge."



"Given the many Korean businesses with rich development experience and resources, it is important for the Korea Office to mobilize their active participation in the World Bank's projects," he said. (Yonhap)


HA NOI  Raising or keeping the current ceiling price and floor price for domestic air tickets remained a contentious issue among National Assembly deputies.

Deputy Tran Van Lam from the northern province of Bac Giang told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing 5th session of the 15th National Assembly that deputies had been showing great interest in this particular issue.

Regarding the draft Law on Pricing, which has been put on the floor during this NA meeting, Lam said the law favoured the abolishment of the floor price, based on conditions of the current market.

Deputies stressed the importance of regulating domestic airfares. While ideally, the state should not have to intervene but rather leave it to the market to determine prices based on market principles, the domestic air travel market was not yet mature enough.

Lam said there were still monopolies in the market with a number of routes having just one operator. In addition, the state must still reserve the right to intervene in the market in the event of natural disasters and abnormal weather conditions that may distort the rules of supply and demand.

"We have observed over the years while there are many airlines in the domestic markets monopoly has yet to disappear," he said.

"There are routes with numerous operators with fair pricing and competition, while there are routes with just one operator. This is despite the aviation authority's encouragement for other airlines to jump in due to low demand and operational difficulty," he added.

In addition, demand for air travel tends to be heavily seasonal, with demand shooting through the roof during certain times of the year.

Deputies said even when demand is large it would not be easy for airlines to scale up their operations. Without the complete elimination of monopoly in the market, the state must continue to intervene to ensure the rights and benefits of consumers are protected.

Some argued that the floor price was still required to prevent unhealthy competition among airlines, preventing some bigger players from going below cost to eliminate all competition.

Regarding promotional events in which airlines advertised zero dong tickets, deputies said those were few and far between with very limited seats sold, which should be considered a marketing tactic. VNS
'Monsoon' festival is one of the most anticipated music events in Viet Nam. After a three-year hiatus, it will return in Ha Noi from October 14 to 22.

The festival founder and director, Quoc Trung, discusses the festival's return.

What is the Monsoon Festival's value and meaning to young bands and audiences in Viet Nam?

We allow young bands to perform live in front of many audiences. In addition, the festival has round tables with different themes useful for young artists. The festival is also an opportunity for them to meet and exchange with international artists helping them to develop their careers.

They will learn how to build a project and look for funding. In addition, they will get more experience in tour organisation to introduce themselves.

This year, we will have small-scale shows in small spaces and streets. This will create different performance models helping the young artists to know what model of the show suits them. In addition, it promotes their professional activities.

We want to make it a habit for the audience to listen to new music as a demand. This will support young and contemporary artists.

That's what makes a diverse music market.

Monsoon has lured audiences aged between 18 to 25. They love to go to Monsoon.

Monsoon organisers have invited international bands performing in the last seasons that are unpopular among Vietnamese audiences. Will you continue to ask the bands like that?

Creativity is diverse. Popularity is not the standard of talent.

Jazz or classical musician influence is minimal; they only perform in a small auditorium. But it does not mean they are not as talented as pop and rock artists who sing in stadiums for thousands of people.

We need to create a habit of enjoying various music for the audience. For example, performances seem weird when I attend an experimental electronic music festival in Britain. It isn't easy to enjoy them even though I'm a musician. However, the audience respects the artists not going out during the performance and still clapping.

The audience should have different choices to stimulate experiments and new trends. These experiments may not be successful today or never will, but they contribute to the diversity of the musical scene.

It is essential to inspire the artists. Vietnamese music has not changed during the past years.

What is the most significant difference between international and Vietnamese young artists?

It is high work intensity. I have worked with foreign artists, and I think they work much harder. Their time spent on music is usually double and triple Vietnamese artists.

I usually work over ten hours per day to gain what I want.

The only advantage of Vietnamese artists is unique. We are little known and don't have many exchanges in the world.

However, they are only successful if they are talented in catching up with world music trends.

In the world, music bands grow very fast. There are young bands at Great Escape Festival  Monsoon partner in England, but they are very mature in music and performing thinking. Some became popular in Europe after a few years of festival performances.

What is the most needed to support young artists?

It is chance. We want to bring an opportunity to young artists helping them to know who they are, where they are and what they have and making them confident.

The most important is that the artists know how to work to reach the standards demanded by developed markets and audiences as well.

Is it a reason for you and Monsoon to join a project launched by French Institute in Ha Noi to seek music talents?

Some Vietnamese bands such as Chillies, Ngot, Lon Xon Band and Da Lab have become popular.

We are pleased to join the institute's project to inspire and make them confident. Hopefully, such programmes will be helpful for the Vietnamese music scene and provide more international exchanges.

Will you be ready to give young Vietnamese bands a stage at Monsoon this year?

To perform professionally on a well-prepared and professional stage is a dream for young artists. Our mission is to promote development to remove that limitation.

We want to inspire them and give them favourable conditions to seek opportunities to introduce their music products.

Performing at Monsoon, they will work with a professional team, have exchanges with others, and the most important thing is to be motivated.

What do the young artists need more, in your opinion?

The key point is still to try on their own. Opportunities do not come alone, but we must create or actively look for them.

Veteran artists can create opportunities for them, such as venues and performance models. But young artists have to find their motivation to develop their music.

Presently, many young artists need to be supported. It is necessary to join hands with the relevant bodies. We should have a strategy to develop music.

It is a long time for the audience to listen to your new song. Are you still writing music?

I'm not interested in writing a song. Currently, I focus on electronic music with the singing of ethnic groups in the northwestern region.

I also introduce my new project with musician Nguyen Xinh Xo. With British Council's financial support, British visual artists participate in the project.

I wish I have more time to work and introduce music projects at Monsoon and international festivals. - VNS




Korea's external debt declined in the first quarter of this year amid worries over mounting economic uncertainty, central bank data showed Wednesday.







The country's external liabilities had come to $665 billion as of end-March, compared with $665.2 billion tallied three months earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).







The decline stemmed from a reduction in long-term external borrowing by the government and the central bank, which offset a rise in short-term debt by banks.







Of the total, the country's short-term debt that matures in a year increased by $7.2 billion on-quarter to $173.7 billion, while the long-term debt contracted $7.5 billion over the same period to $491.3 billion, the data showed.







The ratio of short-term debt to foreign reserves rose by 1.4 percentage points to 40.8 percent. A lower ratio means stronger debt-serving capability.







The ratio of short-term debt to total external liabilities also rose 1.1 percentage points on-quarter to 26.1 percent, the data showed. (Yonhap)


GENEVA  Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong affirmed Viet Nam's appreciation of the World Health Organization (WHO)s close technical partnership with its Government, while attending the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA76) in Geneva on Tuesday (local time).

In her remarks, Huong said the WHA76 coincides with many important milestones of the World Health Organization (WHO), including its 75th founding anniversary.

Viet Nam has obtained a number of major healthcare achievements, including the average life expectancy raised to over 75. It has also been pressing on with reforming the health sector to meet medical demand in the future, especially amid fast socio-economic development and after the COVID-19 pandemic, she noted.

Mentioning WHOs recent declaration of the end to the COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, the Deputy Minister said Viet Nam quickly carried out a large-scale vaccination campaign in 2021 and 2022 and has ensured vaccine access nationwide.

She cited statistics as showing that the country has reached an average of 273.7 administered doses of COVID-19 vaccines every 100 people, 1.6 times the global average of 170.1 and also higher than most developed nations. The rate of people fully vaccinated with primary doses is 1.4 times while the rate of those given booster doses doubles the worlds respective averages.

Thanks to these efforts, since the beginning of 2022, Viet Nam has shifted to a period of sustainable management of the pandemic, which means balancing socio-economic development and public health measures to protect vulnerable groups and the healthcare system, Huong went on.

Highlighting WHOs close technical partnership with the Vietnamese Government, the official added the country is proud of all the health achievements obtained with support from WHO during the pandemic and over the past years, and hopes to continue this partnership.  VNS
THUA THIEN-HUE  Households in Xuan Loc Commune in Phu Loc District are frustrated as they have had to use well water and live without electricity and certificates of land use rights for the past seven years at the new resettlement site.

In 2015, eight households in Xuan My Village of the commune gave up their land for an expressway project. They moved to a resettlement area in now Hung An Village.

Four more households then lived in this resettlement area. However, five households who have built houses in this resettlement area have been living in poor conditions, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Le Huu Cuong, a resident in the resettlement area, said people volunteered to dismantle their houses and give up land for the project so it could be completed on schedule, but the authorities failed to guarantee a stable life for people when they moved in.

In order to have electricity for daily life, families here had to use electricity lines from other places and used their own money to drill wells to pump water for common use.

Despite having built settlements for many years, no household in Hung An Village has been granted a land use rights certificate.

They have worked with leaders of the People's Committees of districts and communes, but this issue has not been completely resolved.

Bui Chinh, another resident in the resettlement area, said that in 2016, when o Van Manh, former officer of Phu Loc District Land Fund Development Centre who was in charge of the project at that time, affirmed that if locals did not receive resettlement land, they would receive VN45 million.

If the people received the land, that amount would be used to pay for the procedures to get a certificate of land use rights.

At the same time, locals would be allowed to owe a land use levy for five years and by the end of the five years, they could pay the levy and still receive a certificate of land use rights.

The information that o Van Manh discussed and told local people was not officially documented.

In 2021, he was arrested and prosecuted for violating regulations on compensation, support and resettlement under Article 230 of the 2015 Penal Code.

When Chinh delayed the payment of the levy and went to the tax office to fulfil his obligations after the five-year term, he was informed that he owed late payment interest of VN27 million.

Other residents including Pham Tan Quang also owed VN30 million of late payment interest, which is a huge amount for them.

According to Vice Chairman of Phu Loc District People's Committee Hoang Van e, the authorities have organised meetings and discussed these issues many times with the leaders of Xuan Loc Commune.

To solve electricity and water problems, he said, the commune authorities must submit a medium-term and annual (demand) plan, then the district will review, approve and allocate capital for the area.

Due to a very small number of households, the amount of infrastructure investment (allocated) is very small, he said.

"If its several dozen or a few hundred households, it would be easier to solve the problem," he said.

According to Director of the districts Land Fund Development Centre Tran Viet Tu the resettlement area is planned to cover 5 ha, with investment in infrastructure and essential items such as concrete roads, electric substations, water supply and drainage systems.

However, the electricity agency said that supplying electricity to a 110kV transformer substation to serve the needs of a few households in the resettlement area would result in a relatively large loss of electricity. Therefore, the substation is not supplied with electricity and people have had to pull power lines from other places for use for many years.

Regarding the issuance of the land use rights certificates, Tran Viet Tu has acknowledged that there are regulations for the debt of land use fees within 5 years for those in difficult situations in the resettlement area. It is approved when locals make a request and get confirmation from the district People's Committee.

However, local households did not make a request, and so far, they are not eligible to be considered for a loan for land use.

Currently, the district authorities are reviewing households that are eligible to be granted land use rights certificates.

For cases that have not yet been granted a land use rights certificate but have already built a house, the district would not recover the land and would guide them to carry out the procedures to be granted a certificate.

In May 2023, authorities will give explanations and answers to the people about the above issues.

The La Son-Tuy Loan expressway, stretching more than 77km, has the first point at La Son junction (Loc Son Commune, Phu Loc District, Thua Thien Hue) and the ending point in Tuy Loan (Hoa Vang District, a Nang City), of which more than 11km runs through Bach Ma National Park. The project has a total investment of VN11.5 trillion (US$500 million).

The highway is expected to help connect with the already operating a Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway, creating smooth traffic linkage from Hue to a Nang and key projects of a Nang such as the Hi-Tech Park, the Information Technology Park, the newly-planned Lien Chieu seaport, the Kim Lien railway cargo station, and the East-West Economic Corridor.  VNS
Managed by the Swiss-based firm SUSI Partners, SAETF is a visionary energy transition infrastructure fund centred on Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

BII's foray into this region marks a pivotal moment as the institution strives to re-engage with Southeast Asia and provide vital investment capital to bolster clean and sustainable economic growth while supporting the region's profound shift towards green energy.

BII joins a group of development finance institutions, including AIIB, FMO, Swedfund, Norfund, and OeEB, as well as other private investors, in lending their unwavering support to SAETF.

This investment signifies the initial step in realising BII's ambitious plan to channel up to 500 million (around $620 million) of climate finance into the Southeast Asian region. Furthermore, it aligns seamlessly with BII's overarching objective to direct 30 per cent of its new commitments towards climate finance.

SAETF is purposefully designed to target infrastructure investments across the energy transition spectrum, encompassing renewables, efficiency, and storage projects.

The fund primarily focuses on emerging economies in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

To address this soaring energy demand and curtail dependence on fossil fuel generation, six Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia and Vietnam, have boldly announced their commitment to achieving net-zero emissions and carbon neutrality targets.

Meeting these ambitious sustainability goals necessitates an estimated $200 billion investment in the energy sector by 2030, with over three-quarters of the funding earmarked for clean energy initiatives.

Collaborating with SUSI Partners, SAETF benefits from the expertise of a specialised investment manager renowned for its successful global investments across the full range of energy transition infrastructure projects.

SUSI Partners has already made four strategic investments on behalf of SAETF, including joint ventures dedicated to expanding rooftop solar photovoltaic assets in partnership with Singapore-based Entoria Energy, financing and operating energy efficiency projects across Southeast Asia with Malaysian firm InvestEnergy, and developing utility-scale renewable energy projects with regional developer Pacific Impact in countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

In late April, SUSI Partners announced an investment in Asia Clean Capital Vietnam, a solar developer catering to commercial and industrial customers in Vietnam. These investments seamlessly align with BII's renewed commitment to climate finance in Southeast Asia.

As a leader in the development of clean energy solutions in Asia, Asia Clean Capital helps international and domestic firms decarbonise their energy supply and meet both internal and transnational environmental, social and governance targets.

Srini Nagarajan, managing director and head of Asia at BII said, We have been investing across Asia for over 30 years. SAETF is an excellent re-entry point for BII into Southeast Asia and a clear statement of our ambition to provide climate finance and support innovation to meet the challenges of the climate crisis. We laud the regions climate ambitions and look forward to collaborating with SUSIs local teams to further develop scalable and bankable projects.

Asia Clean Capital Vietnam receives backing from Swiss Investment Manager Asia Clean Capital Vietnam, a leading international clean energy solutions developer in Asia launched by the founders of Asia Clean Capital, has received investment from SUSI Partners Asia Energy Transition Fund.
The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) has recently received notification that the CBSA will revise its deadline in the case of an anti-dumping duty order imposed on corrosion-resistant steel sheets originating from Vietnam.

The CBSA will conclude its information collection on June 15 and the due date for litigants to submit their arguments is June 22. Stakeholders will have until June 29 to submit their comments. The investigation's findings will be released on July 17. the TRAV advocates that stakeholders take prompt action to investigate the latest CBSA updates.

According to World Trade Organisation statistics, Canada had investigated 362 related cases and imposed 230 trade remedies by the end of June 2022. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Canada has initiated investigations into 18 trade remedy cases involving Vietnamese exports as of the end of last year. Canada currently imposes duties on seven Vietnamese imports, including carbon-welded steel pipes, cold-rolled steel, reinforced concrete, copper pipe junctions, anti-corrosion steel plates, oil pipelines, and upholstered seats.

In November 2019, the CBSA began an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into anti-corrosion steel products imported from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

The examining agency gave an order in November the following year to impose taxes on Vietnamese imports with rates varying from 2.3 to 71.1 per cent and not subject to CTC. This tax rate is in effect for five years, beginning on November 17, 2020.

Steel prices decline steadily for almost a week As a result of the recent over dependence on the real estate market, steel prices are anticipated to decline further in 2023 before witnessing a recovery next year.

Steel groups take on EUs carbon rules Steel manufacturers in Vietnam are anxious about the procedures for receiving and reporting data related to carbon emissions for the upcoming application of the EUs Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Starting in 2024, when the South Korean government will impose the global minimum corporate income tax (GMT), Samsung estimates that it will be required to pay an additional $400 million in taxes to South Korea. Taking into account the tax incentive period in Vietnam, the total tax difference this group must pay is estimated to be $6.5 billion, according to data released by Samsung Vietnam last month.

Clock ticks to shape response to global corporate tax policy, photo Thuy Linh

Companies like Samsung are believed to be anxious that the enactment of GMT next year will exacerbate the companys obstacles, as profits are declining and competition for semiconductor technology is intensifying.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Vietnam has approximately 335 projects with registered capital exceeding $100 million, with a focus on the high-tech industry, including Samsung, Intel, LG, Bosch, Sharp, Panasonic, Foxconn, and Pegatron.

The total registered investment for these categories of initiatives accounts for approximately 30 per cent of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam (approximately $131.3 billion).

As per analysts, the implementation of the GMT in 2024 will have an instantaneous impact on Vietnams business climate and system of preferential policies. However, there is the potential to collect at least $512 million annually if this tax is legislated. The average income tax rate on multinational corporations is currently approximately 12.3 per cent.

Le Thi Huyen Trang, director of Research and Consulting at JLL Vietnam, said the GMT policy does not impact the production plans of existing foreign-led projects; it only affects decisions regarding new and expanded investment in Vietnam.

According to Trang, Vietnam still has time to find solutions to this levy. She believes that Vietnams strategic location provides it with certain advantages and that the countrys labour and demographic indicators are still balanced.

She cited research from Fulbright University to assert that there will be only a 3-5 year deficit in education if the government does not increase its efforts.

It will be challenging for Vietnam to draw in new FDI, Trang warned. It is now more important than ever to enhance the quality of infrastructure, investment procedures, and human resources. It could take Vietnam 15-20 years to transform a generation of human resources.

Improving labour capacity is a way for Vietnam to attract FDI without using low-cost labour and tax incentives, Trang explained. According to JLL, Vietnams prices are currently more competitive than Chinas, but investors also consider Vietnams production capacity in addition to labour costs.

Michele Wee, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam), remarked that the government has continuously implemented policies that are transparent and open to criticism, continually fostering FDI in the nation, and this remains unchanged.

Now we must examine the Vietnamese governments intentions in terms of high growth, high income, high technology, and to becoming a regional treasury centre, to be investment grade, to be an emerging market, and to be net-zero, said Wee.

All of these indicate that the authorities are going to promote all FDI that advances these national strategies.

Wee added that government policies must be highly adaptable and strategic in order to accommodate emerging market trends.

Free trade agreements can be strengthened and expanded to attract both FDI and boost domestic growth, she said. The government will come across an appropriate approach and harmony among global tax and local incentives to assist institutions in managing the forthcoming GMT.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development established the global minimum tax which 142 nations, including Vietnam, are expected to implement. With this tax, all multinational corporations with a revenue of at least approximately $815 million will be required to pay a tax rate of 15 per cent.

Vietnam must revisit policies to develop implementation of global minimum tax Countries that have outbound and inbound investment activities have been making drastic moves in considering policies related to the global minimum tax (GMT). If Vietnam does not take immediate action or delays implementing it, it may miss the opportunity to have the right to tax and may be left behind in attracting foreign investment.

Vietnam adjusting policies to adapt to global minimum corporate income tax: Official Vietnam is studying and adjusting its investment policies to adapt to the global minimum corporate income tax which is scheduled to be applied from 2024, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc.
Indonesia and Japan have signed five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and 24 letters of intent (LoIs) on the development of the new Indonesian capital (IKN) of Nusantara (Photo source: antaranews.com)

Jakarta - Indonesia and Japan have signed five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and 24 letters of intent (LoIs) on the development of the new Indonesian capital (IKN) of Nusantara, the Nusantara Capital City Authority (OIKN) has informed.



Bambang Susantono, Head of OIKN, said Nusantara currently has the best investment opportunity that exists in Indonesia. This is reflected by various incentives provided by the government to investors.

He affirmed that the IKN development project will not only be beneficial for Indonesia, but it could also benefit all global partners.



Susantono said the five MoUs have been inked by OIKN with Japanese agencies and companies. Meanwhile, the 24 LoIs have been delivered by Japanese companies to OIKN in front of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.



Nusantara will serve as a living laboratory, which would allow partners to experiment with new ideas and innovations, Susantono noted.



In addition, Nusantara is aiming to play an active role in global efforts to handle climate change, rejuvenate biopersity, and achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs).



The inking of the MoUs marks the beginning of cooperation between Indonesia and Japan on the IKN development project.



The OIKN head said that he expects Japanese delegations to come to IKN once again to further explore existing development as well as cooperation and investment opportunities.

Indonesia, Iran to sign preferential trade agreement Indonesia and Iran will sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) on May 23 to improve trade relations and boost the trade transaction value, Indonesias Trade Ministry announced on May 22.
Indian Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno at the opening of the Indonesian Tourism Industry Associations (GIPIs) national working meeting in Jakarta on May 23, 2023. (Photo source: antaranews.com)

Jakarta - Indonesia is targeting 10 billion USD from the tourism sector in 2023 from the 6 billion USD set earlier this year.

Speaking at the Indonesian Tourism Industry Association's (GIPIs) national working meeting in Jakarta on May 23, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said the revenue will be boosted, including by increasing the number of flights to attract foreign tourists, whose number is targeted to reach 8.5 million in 2023.



Uno said he is confident that the target will be achieved considering that in the first quarter of this year, the number of foreign tourist visits was recorded at 2.25 million.



Besides, he is targeting that the contribution of the creative economy sector will reach 26.46 billion USD this year and the creation of 45 million new jobs in the tourism and creative economy sector.



On the same occasion, GIPI chairperson Haryadi Sukamdani said that the association will push for the opening of direct flights, including with China and India.

Indonesia prioritises modern, sustainable agriculture Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said conducting census every five years is necessary to improve the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural development instead of the previous ten-year census.
Nguyen Thy Nga - President Institute of Policy Administration and Development Strategy

In fact, there is no significant correlation when considering the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) per capita or focusing only on FDI in the green sector. Other important FDI drivers such as market size, labour, stability, and the business environment play a key role in driving decisions, contributing to maintaining competitiveness and sustainable development.

There is also an important distinction to be made when considering the impact of corporate income tax (CIT) on FDI by type of business activity. Lower CIT rates are more likely to impact malls than manufacturing hubs.

The upcoming GMT aims to limit the race to the bottom because havens with lower rates than the GMT will not be more attractive from the perspective of profit-transforming companies than those with the correct rate as specified by the GMT.

This global trend not only sets new requirements for the business community, but also requires quick and timely adaptation from governments. Policies to cope with the impact should be carefully formulated for both the short and long term.

Moreover, if ASEAN really wants to overcome sustainable development challenges such as climate change and high poverty rates, they need to end the current policies through strong political commitments to improve domestic revenue mobilisation.

In recent years, there have been some issues with the way multinational companies pay tax. Countries compete vigorously with each other to attract enterprises and investors to do business by offering a variety of tax incentives.

To lure more FDI, countries open their markets, and relax investment regulations, including tax rates. This has led to an inevitable race to the bottom as countries cut taxes more and more to maintain options for investors. However, in doing business overseas, foreign companies and investors have not paid CIT fairly, thus creating an unfair tax burden on local businesses.

By setting a minimum CIT rate, governments limit a floor for the contribution of businesses to the state budget, ending the race to the bottom through effective tax policy. The GMT is designed to make positive impacts in countries adversely affected by the profit change.

Vietnam needs to prepare in all aspects for the actual presence of GMTs Pillar II from early 2024. In the short term, the adoption of a qualified minimum domestic tax regime to win the right to collect taxes should be considered as soon as possible, in line with the regulations.

In the long term, the tax system and incentives can also be reformed to limit the negative impacts of Pillar II, to ensure the attraction of substantial investment and to limit tax base erosion and profit shifting.

To support multinationals affected by Pillar II, new cost-based forms of investment incentives should be considered compared to other incentives like income-based funding. Vietnam could reform the tax incentive system to be more suitable in the new situation and policies implemented by other countries.

Vietnam could adjust the current policy to provide incentives for multinationals impacted by the GMT to protect the interests of businesses investing in Vietnam to mobilise and expand funding, as well as in harmonising with Vietnams interests.

The government should continue to research and promote the development of investment attraction factors apart from tax incentives, such as improving infrastructure, quality of labour, and the legal system, which will contribute to enhancing the ranking of Vietnams business environment.

Vietnam adjusting policies to adapt to global minimum corporate income tax: Official Vietnam is studying and adjusting its investment policies to adapt to the global minimum corporate income tax which is scheduled to be applied from 2024, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc.

New tax gives Vietnam incentive to adjust Businesses in Vietnam want preparations to be intensified for the upcoming introduction of a global minimum corporate tax rate.
Millionaire Bayer Farmers 2022-2023 contest culminates in a jubilant final night

After an exhilarating series of challenges, the Hanh Anh team from Can Tho city emerged victorious during the Final Night of the Millionaire Bayer Farmers 2022-2023 contest, earning the title of the most knowledgeable group of farmers.

The contest provided a vibrant platform for farmers to unwind, enjoy, and share laughter, all while fostering connections and exchanging updated agricultural knowledge. Through this contest, Bayer reaffirmed its dedication to supporting the advancement of Vietnamese farmers.

Through the exciting preliminary rounds and semi-finals, eight excellent teams were brought together from prominent rice-growing provinces in the Mekong Delta, including Long An, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, An Giang, and Kien Giang. In a gripping finale, they competed in terms of farming knowledge and artistic talent through three challenges.

The first challenge, "Erudite Farmer, involved a multiple-choice test focusing on agricultural knowledge. In "The Versatile Farmer" round, contestants were tasked with creating compelling scenes to depict the realities of farming. Lastly, the "Integrated Farmer" challenge involved a direct interview session with a panel of expert judges.

The questions and scenarios set by the panel revolved around the common challenges facing farmers. These ranged from effective pest and weed management techniques to optimizing resources and cost savings while maintaining high-quality, high-yield crops. The situations were presented through creative animations that brought entertaining moments and showed the unique artistry of southern farmers.

Ultimately, the Hanh Anh team from Co Do, Can Tho, emerged as the champions of the Millionaire Bayer Farmers 2022-2023 contest. Their remarkable and vibrant presentation, combined with their impressive performance during the interview section, impressed the jury. As a reward for their victory, each member of the team will be awarded a 125cc motorcycle.

In addition to the first-place prize, the Organising Committee also awarded the second prize upon the Lam Hoa team from Hon Dat in Kien Giang. Each of whom was rewarded with a 380L refrigerator.

The third-place finishers, the My Xuyen team from Rach Gia, Kien Giang, receives a prize of a 32-inch TV for each member. In addition, participants from the consolation prize winning teams was also granted a premium air fryer as a token of recognition.

The esteemed panel of judges for the final night comprised Chu Van Hach, former head of the Cultivation Department at the Mekong Delta Rice Institute, as along with agricultural solutions experts and managers from Bayer Vietnam. In addition, the competition also drew the participation of an artistic jury, including MC Thanh Bach and renowned artists Thanh Hang and Vu Thanh Vinh.

The programme was broadcast live on the Vinh Long 3 TV channel and rerun on Bayer Crop Science Vietnam's Facebook Fan page and YouTube channel, attracting 20,000 views altogether.

As a member of the artistic jury for the final night, Vu Thanh Vinh expressed deep admirationfor the contestants, The participants demonstrated extensive farming experience and an admirable commitment to tending to their fields. It has been an honor to witness their exceptional talent and gain a deeper appreciation for their unwavering dedication. I wholeheartedly commend and encourage these farmers to persist in their efforts to advance the agricultural sector. Despite the persistent challenges posed by unpredictable weather, pests, diseases, and volatile market prices, I firmly believe that with unwavering determination, steadfast faith, and indomitable spirit, they will triumph, ensuring a sustainable food supply for society and earning the status of millionaires in the hearts of many people."

Chu Viet Ha, head of Crop Science division, Bayer Vietnam stated, "With our commitment to accompanying the development of Vietnamese farmers, Bayer always tries to bring meaningful activities that enhance their knowledge and assist them in achieving abundant harvests. The Millionaire Bayer Farmer contest is a testament to this commitment, as it offers Vietnamese farming community an opportunity to connect, learn, and develop through collaboration and creativity. Bayer will continue to bring more initiatives, working closely with with agents, farmers, and our valued partners across the entire value chain, to foster sustainable agricultural development."

Bayer promoting sustainable Vietnam healthcare and agriculture As a multinational company with roots in Germany, Bayer, with its key businesses in healthcare and agriculture, has not only contributed to economic gains in Vietnam but also significantly helped it step up efforts in sustainable development.

Bayer Vietnam shaping the future of sustainable agriculture Committed to contributing to the sustainable development of Vietnams agricultural sector, in addition to providing advanced, safe, and highly effective agricultural solutions, Bayer is actively implementing initiatives with strategic partners in the industry to realise the vision of Health for All, Hunger for None.

Bayer steps up efforts in health for all, hunger for none vision Bayer has been spearheading various initiatives to promote the sustainable development of Vietnams agriculture sector and safeguard the safety of farmers while enhancing the sustainability of the countrys healthcare sector.

Bayer accelerates innovation in Pharmaceuticals At its annual Pharma Media Day, Bayer presented the recent progress it has made in the ongoing transformation of its pharmaceutical business, focusing on accelerating innovative healthcare solutions and delivering long-term, sustainable growth.
Following the Prime Minister's Directive No.919/QD-TTg dated August 1, 2022, which approves the One Commune, One Product (OCOP) development scheme for the 2021-2025 period, Hung Yens OCOP products are gaining increasing popularity in the market, and have drawn acknowledgement from consumers.

By the end of 2022, Hung Yen had 199 OCOP products, 157 of which gained a 3-star grade and 42 were recognised as 4-star. The province is home to 59 specialised villages, 350 communes, 729 farms, and several large-scale agricultural zones, all of which focus on increasing output and quality.

To encourage production expansion and increase the adoption of advanced technologies, between 2018 and 2022, Hung Yen invested in machinery and technology for 15 development models to support brand building and packaging. The total cost of the project surpassed $119.6 million, with $1.1 million coming from the provincial budget, and the remainder from outside investors.

Longan flower honey products from Hung Yen have become increasingly popular among consumers

For instance, Hung Yens honey products were formerly little known in the market due to their ineffective approach to production and sales. However, since 2020, honey products from Tien Chau Commune have been selected as an OCOP product with a three-star rating based on factors like quality control and material quality, among others.

Now, each honey bottle on the market has an OCOP stamp and a QR code which provides more information related to the product, helping to enhance its popularity. Thanks to this new process, the output of the commune has risen from 500kg to 10 tonnes.

There are 180 OCOP-related production models in Hung Yen currently, all of which have high productivity, create stable jobs for the local workforce, and stimulate the region's economy.

Dai Hung commune in Khoai Chau ward is home to four OCOP products, including turmeric powder, turmeric fine powder, peanut oil, and CORRI honey turmeric powder. This is the result of the commune utilising 4.2 hectares of farmland to plant turmeric trees, and transforming from domestic production into a closed production chain leveraging advanced technologies and quality control process.

Hung Yens OCOP programme has taken advantage of the provinces abundant potential for speciality products thanks to industrialisation and supply chain management, generating growth in the production of goods with high cultural and traditional value.

According to the Hung Yen Department of Agriculture, there are 180 OCOP-related production models in the province, all of which have high productivity, create stable jobs for the local workforce, and stimulate the region's economy.

Typical 4-star OCOP dried longan products

On April 11, the Hung Yen Peoples Committee approved Directive No.843/QD-UBND on the continuation of the OCOP scheme for the 2023-2025 period, with the goal of further exploiting the potential of local agricultural production and sustainably developing the economy.

The provinces target is to develop 70 to 100 more OCOP products by 2025, increasing the total number of at least 3-star OCOP products to 265-280. At least half of these are planned to be sold on a range of e-commerce platforms such as postmart.vn, voso.vn, ketnoiocop.vn, Shopee.vn, Tiki.vn, Lazada.vn, and more.

As the production, quality control, and packaging standards are rigorously set for OCOP products, the province is pushing for all communes to adopt new technologies to contribute to the overall development of the provinces agriculture sector with the goal to be safe, sustainable, and meet VietGap production standards.

The longan products from Hung Yen are favoured by many consumers

Hung Yen has also set targets for production automation, management, and quality control for OCOP products to ensure supply chain transparency and food safety, including linking to the national information portal.

The province supports its local businesses and communes regarding the certification of OCOP products, providing technical support for packaging and ensuring OCOP stamps and certificates are accessible and visible to customers.

As the main driving force behind the province's agricultural development, the OCOP initiative will continue to be it focus in 2023.

Hung Yen creates momentum to improve investment environment The northern province of Hung Yen has taken drastic actions to improve its business and investment environment, and its efforts have paid off.

Agricultural and OCOP Product Festival 2022 launched in Hanoi Until the end of 2022, Hanoi Promotion Agency joins hands with diverse districts across the city to launch agricultural and One Commune, One Product (OCOP) product festivals, combining with Hanois tourism.

Support for deprived residents in Hung Yen province Policy credit sources from VBSPs Hung Yen branch are helping needy households in a northern province escape from poverty.
An advertisement for Bitcoin is displayed on a street in Hong Kong, Feb. 17, 2022. The European Union's beefed-up cryptocurrency rules got the final approval from member states, May 16, giving the bloc an edge in regulating the freewheeling sector. The European Council adopted the package of rules, known as Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, in the final step of the 27-nation bloc's legislative process. AP-Yonhap



This is the last in a two-part series of interviews with global experts in cryptocurrency investigations and cybersecurity as North Korea's illicit cyber activities represent an alarming new threat for Washington and its two most important East Asian allies, Seoul and Tokyo, amid Pyongyang's development of its nuclear weapons program. _ ED.



Intelligence sharing between Seoul and Washington key to tracing funds, halting money laundering



By Kim Yoo-chul



Last year alone, North Korea is said to have stolen at least $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, nearly four times more than the amount the Kim Jong-un regime pilfered in 2021, according to Chainalysis, a U.S.-based blockchain analysis firm.



Officials at the White House and security experts in Washington have said the impoverished regime, facing heavy economic sanctions, is clearly turning to cryptocurrency hacking to fund its nuclear weapons program.



Major controversies involving the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector have already caused financial authorities to increase requests for regulation. The EU's recent moves to introduce Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) law have been hailed as the world's first set of comprehensive rules aimed at bringing the unregulated crypto markets under supervision.



One of the main points of MiCA is that such a broad digital finance package, better known as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), is mainly intended to protect the financial services sector from any fraudulent activities and will become law in July of this year, said officials.



Ongoing efforts to regulate crypto markets and the volatile nature of the sector justify accelerated moves by U.S. authorities to focus more on policy initiatives concerning cryptocurrencies.



Amid the rise of the North Korean-backed hacking group, Lazarus, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) earlier assessed that the North's hacking attacks on major cryptocurrency exchanges were rapidly becoming a valuable source of income for the regime.





FTI Law founder and CEO John Joy

Speaking to The Korea Times, John Joy, founder and chief executive of New York-based FTI Law, said North Korea's growing cybercrimes are becoming a trigger accelerating U.S. moves to bolster its cryptocurrency regulations.



"Putting aside the regulation of cryptocurrency trading for a moment, one of the key issues that the U.S. would want to see regulated, is the use of 'mixers.' The U.S. is likely to crack down on anyone running or using mixers and this is a topic on which I would expect to see a regulation in the not too distant future," Joy, who also has worked in New York and London representing clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice, said in a recent interview.



"A mixer is a tool that allows the hacker to send the illicit proceeds to a wallet address, and get (almost) the same amount deposited back into another wallet from another address. This allows the hackers to exchange stolen crypto for 'clean' crypto, which hackers can sell on exchanges all over the world," Joy, a commentator on Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis, and an expert on the securities law, added.



According to Joy, mixers also make the transactions "untraceable" giving hackers a "critical tool" to turn stolen proceeds into cash. U.S. authorities have already brought charges against individuals and companies which run mixers and this was apparently motivated by the use of mixers by actors such as the Lazarus Group.



Lazarus Group is an extremely sophisticated hacking group and targets private institutions as well as government and military infrastructure. Regarding questions over the group's preferred tactics for crypto hacking, Joy said, "The group uses tactics such as data theft, monetary heists and even malware as the group is likely not in the business of targeting retail investors. It prefers to target institutional cryptocurrency projects."





USB bitcoin miners are seen at a stand during the Bitcoin Conference 2023, in Miami Beach, Florida, U.S., May 19. Reuters-Yonhap



Citing the Ronin Bridge hack, which involved the theft of $600 million, the CEO added that Lazarus Group usually identifies a high value crypto project and then tries to get access to the computer of a core developer who works on the project.



Joy supports a recent assessment by the top U.S. spy chief Avril Haines showing that North Korea uses money stolen from crypto hacking to finance the regime's nuclear weapons program. The North's nuclear program is extremely expensive and provides no financial return whatsoever for the country.





"Many of the resources needed for the program cannot be obtained locally meaning that they must be purchased internationally. In addition, many of the resources can only be used once, meaning they have to be constantly repurchased. This means that to keep the program running, North Korea needs a constant stream of international currency," the top executive at the company elaborated. FTI Law ( www.ftilaw.com/about-us ) is New York's only whistleblower law firm which specializes in reporting on corrupt practices in other countries.

But more importantly, the money obtained through cyber theft apparently needs to be converted into other currencies before it can be used.



Sharing intelligence



The U.S. sanctioned cryptocurrency mixers, such as Blender and Tornado Cash, last year with some experts saying those punitive measures have been quite successful. But such cybercrimes are still rampant.



But the tools available today need to be sharpened and upgraded to address theft and money laundering as increased intrusions have exposed the crypto sector as an appealing target for Lazarus.



Joy suggested close collaboration between exchange operators in South Korea and the U.S. to stop hackers from targeting exchanges. Preventive measures, therefore, are even more important given the repeated use of highly-sophisticated techniques.





gettyimagesbank
Why did AEON decide to invest in Vietnam over a decade ago instead of a more dynamic or developed destination in the region at the time?

Furusawa Yasuyuki, executive officer board member of AEON Co., Ltd. in charge of Vietnam Business, as well as general director of AEON Vietnam

We started to research the Vietnamese market in 2009 before opening our first shopping mall in 2014. Now, we have eight companies in Vietnam covering shopping malls, retail, finance, services, and exports.

We realise that Vietnam is in a period of rapid and outstanding growth, which is similar to the previous development stage of Japan. Therefore, we believe with AEONs experiences and know-how accumulated in Japan, we can apply and contribute to the development of Vietnams market.

How does AEON evaluate the investment environment in Vietnam?

Japanese businesses want to invest in Vietnam because of various attractive factors. Firstly, with fast population growth, especially in the middle class, Vietnam has high economic development potential. Peoples living standards are gradually improving, and Vietnam has a much higher growth rate in comparison to other Asian countries, as well as Japan.

Secondly, Vietnam and Japan have a good diplomatic relationship, with a lot of effort from both sides in promoting strategic cooperation. Besides retail, there are many other fields in which Vietnam and Japan have a long history of cooperation.

The investment environment in Vietnam also keeps changing but, overall, we see more potential than challenges. As a result, Vietnam will continue to attract more foreign investors in the future.

In the next five years, the retail market in Vietnam has a lot of potential for development and, if retail businesses can respond to market changes, they will grow strongly.

What has been the highlight for AEON here over the years, and what role does the retail business in Vietnam play in the groups global supply chain?

AEON Group has invested a lot in foreign markets, but in such a short time, Vietnam has seen a very high growth rate and high potential that we can expand upon.

Our biggest goal, which we are making every effort to realise, is to become a familiar brand to Vietnamese people as a truly local company that contributes to Vietnams development.

Around 90 per cent of products in AEON Vietnams stores are local products. Thus, AEON store expansions not only contribute to Vietnams commercial infrastructure development, but also promote the consumption of Vietnamese products through our store chain.

Moreover, we aim at providing high-quality products at reasonable prices to customers, along with contributing to the development of local talent in the Vietnamese retail sector.

Today, AEON Group in Vietnam boasts about 8,000 staff. Through our business expansion, we offer thousands of job opportunities to local talent. For example, every time a shopping mall opens, an average of 3,000 new jobs are created in the area, including AEON and tenants.

From 2017 to the end of last year, the total export of Vietnamese products through our retail system to Japan and other countries achieved more than $2 billion. Besides food products, AEON also exports apparel, household items, and health and beauty products from Vietnam to Japan and other countries.

While famous for its sustainable business philosophy, how does AEON Vietnam promote sustainable consumption through your business activities?

As a retailer, AEON identifies sustainable production and consumption as one of our key goals. To achieve this, AEON Vietnam has been implementing many initiatives, aimed at supporting customers and employees to raise awareness and create a habit of making sustainable consumption decisions.

Moreover, we have been coordinating with local suppliers to develop quality private brand products that arre environmentally friendly following AEON standards. These activities are to provide quality products at reasonable prices, to stabilise the supply chain, and to enhance product quality to meet export standards.

What are AEONs upcoming goals and development plans in the near future?

From 2025 to 2030, we plan to accelerate the expansion of AEONs network of stores and supermarkets.

In the next 3-5 years, we will still continue to open large-scale shopping malls. However, to meet changing customer behaviours, we will develop multi-formats that are appropriate for the needs of local communities and the actual conditions of local areas with flexible sizes.

AEON will continue to prioritise Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but we will also expand to central areas and neighbouring provinces or cities. We will also continue to introduce Vietnamese products to international markets through our retail system.

In addition, AEON in Vietnam is cooperating with the groups companies in Southeast Asia to produce Vietnamese-branded furniture. If the quality is stable and well received by the market, AEON will increase production and expand the export of these products.

What suggestions does AEON have to regulatory agencies to create a favourable environment for foreign investors and support the company in achieving its goals?

Depending on the business sector, investors will have different expectations. As a retailer, we understand that there will be differences in legislation in each country. Therefore, we also expect related procedures to be simplified so that we can accelerate our investment here.

As for Japanese businesses like AEON, we will actively work closely with local authorities and communities, as rapid decision-making in the region is essential.

Bringing the standards and quality of Japanese retail brands to Vietnam Vietnam remains an enticing business and investment environment for Japanese investors, especially in the retail sector. Furusawa Yasuyuki, general director of AEON Vietnam, explained to VIRs Oanh Do how the company is making further efforts to develop its brand while also bringing the best value to customers.

Mixed fortunes for major retail names in first quarter Some electronics names in Vietnam have taken a hit in early 2023, but companies in other retail segments have crafted the right strategies thus far for the challenges they face.
The anniversary was celebrated at a gala ceremony in Hanoi on May 19, with executives from Vietnams business community and senior government officials from both Vietnam and Japan in attendance.

The partnership officially began in May 2013, when MUFG, the banking entity of one of the worlds largest financial groups, invested in a 19.73 per cent stake in VietinBank, one of Vietnams top banks.

This strategic investment and comprehensive cooperation agreement was regarded as an unprecedented merger and acquisition investment in the history of the Vietnamese banking industry. Since then, both organisations have leveraged their respective strengths to better serve clients and connect them to opportunities both within Vietnam and across Asia.

VietinBank's chairman and MUFG Banks CEO at the ceremony

Ten years of progress together

Over the past 10 years, the synergy of VietinBank and MUFGs combined network and expertise has allowed both banks to not only expand their business franchise but also provide comprehensive solutions targeting diverse financial needs across the entire customer value chain.

Under this strategic partnership, MUFG cooperated with and supported VietinBank in various areas such as promoting retail and corporate banking, as well as sharing best practices in terms of risk, compliance, and strategic planning.

Tran Minh Binh, VietinBank chairman said, The VietinBank-MUFG Bank partnership has grown and developed continuously over the last ten years. It has not been limited to the predefined collaboration areas and has now expanded to cover MUFGs strategic partner banks in ASEAN  Bank of Ayudhya in Thailand, Security Bank in the Philippines, and Bank Danamon in Indonesia, as well as the subsidiaries within VietinBank Groups ecosystem.

Yasushi Itagaki, head of MUFGs Global Commercial Banking Business Group said, "MUFGs partnership with VietinBank was the first strategic investment that kickstarted the growth of an unrivalled Asia-Pacific network comprising some of Southeast Asias top financial institutions. As such, it serves as both a cornerstone of our regional franchise and a special reminder of our strategic intent and commitment to Asia. Our core strategy has been to leverage the capabilities of both banks to contribute to the growth of our customers in Vietnam and the countrys economy."

"Over the course of the past 10 years, we have made great progress in furthering not just the partnership but also fostering Japan-Vietnam bilateral ties and the growth of the local banking sector. As Vietnams ascendancy in ASEAN gains momentum and the nation becomes further integrated into global supply chains, we remain committed to deepening our partnership with VietinBank to further contribute to the next chapter of the countrys success story," he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pham Thanh Ha, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, showed his appreciation for the strategic alliance which has successfully synergised the two banks potential and strengths to create remarkable achievements while supporting the business communities and bilateral investment and trade ties between Vietnam and Japan. The State Bank of Vietnam acknowledges the efforts of both banks in terms of environmental, social, and governance initiatives, and hopes VietinBank will leverage MUFGs experience in this area to become a leader in sustainable finance in the nation.

Pham Thanh Ha, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, appreciates the two banks partnership

Deepening Japans ties with Vietnam

Over the last 10 years, the VietinBank-MUFG alliance has played a role in supporting and connecting business communities. Since 2013, VietinBank and MUFG have jointly organised conferences for the Prime Minister of Vietnam to meet senior executives of Japans leading corporates during his official visits to the country, along with Business Matching fairs, which open up new opportunities for corporate clients in both countries.

At the ceremony, Yamada Takio, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam, expressed his hopes that the VietinBank-MUFG Bank strategic alliance to grow further and deeper, serving to connect the business communities of Vietnam and Japan while continuing to contribute to the economic development of the two countries.

Yamada Takio, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam, speaking at the ceremony

In a strong show of support for the community, as well as Vietnam-Japan bilateral ties, VietinBank and MUFG have jointly provided financial aid to primary and nursery schools in Dong Thap and Hung Yen provinces, a child care centre in Hanoi, and helped Vietnamese students in Japan overcome economic difficulties during the pandemic. The sponsorship totalled VND32 billion ($1.36 million).

Tran Minh Binh, VietinBank's chairman stated, These achievements are the result of our two banks efforts to overcome cultural and language barriers, geographic distance, and the challenges of an unpredictable global economy, showing our commitment to a long-term and sustainable partnership. Looking forward, I believe the two organisations will create more strong collaboration initiatives, contributing to the promotion of economic and trade ties between Vietnam and Japan in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations (1973-2023).

Kojima Masao, MUFG Vietnam country head said, MUFG Vietnam has worked closely with VietinBank to nurture greater friendship between Japan and Vietnam through business collaborations and contributions to the community. We remain committed to empowering a brighter and more sustainable future for Vietnam and look forward to working with VietinBank towards achieving this shared vision.

The VietinBank-MUFG alliance has opened a new chapter of growth and prosperity for the two banks

Vietnam Report announces Top 10 prestigious banks The Vietnam Report JSC has recently published the list of the top 10 prestigious banks in Vietnam in 2022.

The 10th anniversary VietinBank - MUFG strategic alliance The year 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of the VietinBank - MUFG strategic alliance. This is a significant milestone on the collaboration journey of the two banks and triggers so many special memories.
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A Bruceville-Eddy winery operator was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly seven years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol and joining an attack on the House chamber when police shot and killed another rioter.

Christopher Ray Grider, a co-owner of Kissing Tree Vineyards in Bruceville-Eddy, also tried to cut power to the Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot  a terrifying act of political and institutional sabotage, according to prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Grider to six years and 11 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorneys office for the District of Columbia.

Grider, 41, joined the mobs assault on the House chamber and helped another rioter break the Speakers Lobbys glass doors, setting in motion the chain of events that led to an officer fatally shooting fellow rioter Ashli Babbitt, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of seven years and three months for Grider.

Grider trial verdict (PDF download) U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued this 28-page ruling explaining her guilty verdict in the Christopher Grider case.

Grider pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts before going to trial on other charges. He testified at his December 2022 bench trial before Kollar-Kotelly decided the case without a jury and convicted him of seven charges, including civil disorder and obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Bidens electoral victory.

Defense attorney Brent Mayr said Grider truly regrets his actions on January 6 and apologizes to his family, his community, and most importantly, this country. There is no evidence that Grider engaged in any violence at the Capitol, his lawyer noted.

This is a sad day, Mayr wrote in an email after his clients sentencing. We respect the courts consideration of all Chris did to try to make things right after January 6, but we are disappointed that his sentence is significantly longer than others who did so much worse than him.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a week to over 14 years. Only seven rioters have received longer prison sentences than Grider so far, according to an Associated Press review of court records.

Also on Tuesday, a different judge sentenced a Proud Boys extremist group member from Rhode Island to two months of imprisonment for his role in the Jan. 6 riot. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden also sentenced Bernard Joseph Sirr to six months of home confinement and one year of probation, according to court records.

Sirr, 47, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty in January to joining other rioters in a coordinated push against police officers guarding a tunnel entrance on the Capitols Lower West Terrace.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-month term of imprisonment for Sirr, a U.S. Army veteran who has worked as a reactor engineer at the Rhode Island Nuclear Science Center, where the states only nuclear reactor is located.

Grider was a U.S. Air Force military police officer who guarded an air base after serving in the Army National Guard. More recently, he has operated a family-owned winery with his wife south of Waco.

Grider and a friend flew to Washington, D.C., on the morning of Jan. 6. They missed then-President Trumps speech at the Stop the Steal rally, but the two friends arrived in time to join the crowd of Trump supporters marching to the Capitol.

Outside the Capitol, Grider helped other rioters dismantle police barricades and picked up a discarded police helmet.

After entering the building, he approached a utility panel and tried in vain to cut power to the Capitol. He urged other rioters to join him as he marched toward the House chamber, shouting We gotta get into the chamber! This way, this way, this way!

Joining the mobs attack on doors leading to the House, Grider pleaded with police officers to open the doors. Grider handed the helmet to another rioter, Zachary Alam, who used it to smash a pane on the Speakers Lobbys glass doors, prosecutors said. A Capitol police lieutenant on the other side of the doors shot and killed Babbitt, an Air Force veteran from California, as she climbed through the opening.

Despite witnessing the shooting, and instead of obeying the officers directives to leave the area, Grider lingered on for several minutes, interfering with police efforts to provide medical assistance to the wounded rioter and restore order to the area, a prosecutor wrote in a court filing.

Alam was charged separately and has a jury trial scheduled to start on July 31.

Mayr said Grider was not some fanatical, anti-social, antigovernment individual who dwelled upon or obsessed about coming to (Washington) to do harm and violence.

He was a productive, positive member of his community with a host of underlying issues and experiences that made him susceptible to being manipulated by a narcissist and false beliefs that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump, Mayr wrote in a court filing.
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PARROTSVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A woman was fatally shot and a police officer injured after a pursuit ended in a field in eastern Tennessee, officials said.

The Parrottsville officer and a Cocke County deputy attempted to stop Whitney Leanne Fox, 36, as she drove down a highway Tuesday evening because she had outstanding arrest warrants, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Fox did not pull over and a pursuit ensued until she drove into a field in the Bybee community, the statement said.

As officers approached the vehicle, for reasons still under investigation, shots were fired, and Fox was fatally wounded, the TBI said. The Parrottville officer was hospitalized for injuries during the incident. The bureau did not say what type of injuries the officer suffered.

Agents with the TBI were continuing to investigate the circumstances around the shooting, the agency said. No further information was immediately released.
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A Waco man was sentenced in Del Rios federal court Tuesday to 25 years in prison for his role in a scheme to smuggle over 17 pounds of methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Texas.

Jimmie Troy Palmer III, 32, was arrested in August 2020 at a hotel in Del Rio after a co-conspirator, Bibiana Ira Ortiz, was caught at the Del Rio Port of Entry attempting to enter the United States with with 7,864 grams of meth, about 17.3 pounds, hidden in 16 packages in her vehicle, the press release says.

Palmer accompanied Ortiz to Piedras Negras, Mexico, where the meth was loaded into her vehicle, according to the press release. Ortiz was supposed to call Palmer and meet him and two others at a hotel in Del Rio. Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Palmer, Joshua Ruben Olivencia and David Ray Coplin at the hotel.

Investigators searched Palmers truck at the hotel and found drugs, drug paraphernalia and just under $10,000 in cash, the press release says.

Palmer has remained in custody since his arrest and pleaded guilty in July 2021 to the charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Ortiz, Olivencia and Coplin also have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, according to the press release.
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WAHOO  It may have been a drill, but the bullets were real.

John Berlowitz of Valparaiso recalled being in the ocean for a rescue drill when an airman from above began shooting around him. He yelled up at the airman, What are you shooting at?

Sharks! the airman yelled back.

That was one of many memories shared by four veterans from all over the county who were honored for their service during the Veteran of the Month gathering on May 19 in Wahoo.

Berlowitz, of Valparaiso, was in the Marines for just over four years from 1970-1974 After getting out of the Marines, he joined the Nebraska National Guard in 1975 and was also in the Air Force Reserves until retiring in 1994.

As a Guardsman, Berlowitz said you were required to deploy quickly. He remembered being called to help rescue people during ice jams flooding the Ashland area in 1983. At the time he sold Hovercraft vehicles, which are air-cushioned and can go on water, land, mud and ice.

He took his personal Hovercraft out to help rescue families. The vehicle only held about 300 pounds, so two large men in the boat could make things difficult. He was helping large man who insisted on bringing the familys black Labrador retriever.

They made it to safety, but not before running out of gas about 20 yards from shore, Berlowitz said.

It was one hell of a night, he added.

Curtis Hohn of Wahoo joined the Navy in 1987 right after graduating from Cedar Bluffs High School because he didnt want to go to college.

He worked in aviation maintenance administration for the Navy and was assigned to the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier. They deployed to the Philippines, Australia and Hong Kong.

During his time in the Navy Hohn remembered an incident when an Iranian jet liner tried to flyover the aircraft carrier and was shot down, despite being warned by the U.S.

It kind of started the whole Persian Gulf event because thats where we went next, Hohn said.

When Hohn left the Navy, he was ready to go to college and did so through the GI Bill. After working with computers on the aircraft carrier, Hohn chose that subject in college.

It got my first experience with computers and thats what I do today, he said.

Byron Nordstrom wanted to be a diesel mechanic when he enlisted in the Marines in 1978. Then he found out he was allergic to diesel fuel.

They threw me in the wrecker, he said with a laugh.

The Marines took this small guy from Wahoo all over the world.

Ive been in five of the seven seas, he said.

He enjoyed the traditions built into the Marine Corps, and was honored to be able to stand in for a local youths ill grandfather during his recent graduation from boot camp in San Diego.

Standing on the outside looking in was a lot of fun, he said.

Nordstrom was a Scout leader for many years and that is how he knew the young Marine.

Dale Sturzenegger of Ashland father had served in World War II and said the Army would make a man out of you. Ten days after his death, Sturzenegger got his draft papers in the mail in 1970.

He was in Vietnam in the Army for two years as a combat demolition specialist. Like many Vietnam veterans, stories are hard to put into words.

I did some things over there I dont talk about, he said.

He did remember a party on a beach where his buddies thought he should ride a water buffalo because he was from Nebraska. The animals are considered a traditional symbol of Vietnam, and Sturzenegger was hauled off to jail because of his ill-fated ride. He ended up with just a slap on the wrist, but it did affect his future.

I kind of stopped going to rodeos, he said to laughter from the audience.

There were about 40 people in attendance at the Veteran of the Month event, where loved ones read a certificate of appreciation after the veterans spoke.

Every month we have such a good time here, said Bill Bonney, the Saunders County Veterans Service Officer.

The Veteran of the Month program was initiated in 2018 by the late Larry Mach, who was a member of the Saunders County Board of Supervisors. The program originally honored one veteran a month on the second Tuesday of the month. Each veteran received a plaque and recognition during the short ceremony.

In 2021, the Saunders County Veterans Service Committee chose to change the ceremonys location and format, opting to honor more than one veteran at a time and to do it at a time and place other than during the supervisors meeting, saying the program had outgrown the original format.
by Richard Mallory Allnutt

The team at Fagen Fighters Restoration never seems to slow down. With the airworthy resurrection of Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver BuNo.83393 fast approaching its conclusion, another WWII-era U.S. Navy warbird project may soon take its place in their workshop, this being TBM-3S Avenger BuNo.85597. This Avenger is the second example which the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum has acquired. It arrived from Carson City, Nevada on the back of a low-loader this past Saturday, whereupon it was soon unloaded and guided into a hangar to await its turn in the restoration queue. Given the push to get the Helldiver ready for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this coming July, its quite possible that space will free up to allow the Avenger to receive some TLC later this year, although no firm decisions have been posted on this front as of yet.

Rolling off the final assembly line at General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division plant in Trenton, New Jersey during 1945, this TBM arrived too late to see service in WWII. In 1952, following a period of storage, BuNo.85597 made the journey north to join the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), one of 125 Avengers to do so. The aircraft underwent conversion into an AS.3 anti-submarine variant with Fairey Aviation of Canada, and served with both VS 880 and 881 in the RCN, based principally at HCMS Shearwater near Halifax, Nova Scotia but also deployed, at times, aboard the carriers HMCS Magnificent and later, Bonaventure.

Following the end of the Avengers military service, the Canadian government sold on the bulk of their surviving Avenger fleet to the civilian market. A good number of these airframes ended up as aerial sprayers and water bombers, and so it was with 85597, which took up the civil registration CF-IMK with Skyway Air Services Ltd in Langley, British Columbia during January, 1958. Here the Avenger served as fire tanker #602, keeping this number (and registration) following its move to Conair Aviation Ltd in Abbottsford, BC in 1969.

In August 1977, Forest Protection Ltd (FPL) acquired the TBM (along with Conairs remaining Avenger inventory), moving it to their home in Fredericton, New Brunswick (updating the registration to C-FIMK). The aircraft served with FPL for several seasons as both a fire bomber and bug sprayer before moving into inactive storage at Fredericton in 1985. FPL sold the Avenger to Jeff Thomas in Seattle, Washington during 1994, but he soon sold the project on to Byron Neely of Austin, Texas. Neely placed the aircraft on the U.S. register as N704QZ. The Commemorative Air Force acquired the Avenger in 2003, and while it entered restoration with the Florida Wing in DeLand, Florida, the CAF eventually parted with the airframe in 2012, selling it to an undisclosed buyer in Carson City, Nevada. While some additional restoration work did take place, the Avenger clearly will need significant additional work to return it to flying condition. Fagen Fighters acquired the airframe in 2022; their restoration wing has a significant inventory of parts and plenty of experience to return this aircraft to its authentic military configuration in due course. The plan, as published at present, is to restore this airframe to airworthy condition while restoring the other example to static for museum display.
This image shows the cyberattack in North Korea. Gettyimagesbank



The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four North Korean organizations and one North Korean national for engaging in illegal cyber activities that help fund the country's illicit weapons development programs.



The Department of Treasury said those put on the blacklist "obfuscated revenue generation and malicious cyber activities that support the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) government," referring to North Korea by its official name.



"The DPRK conducts malicious cyber activities and deploys information technology (IT) workers who fraudulently obtain employment to generate revenue, including in virtual currency, to support the Kim regime and its priorities, such as its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," it added.



The designated North Korean organizations include the Pyongyang University of Automation, which the department said is responsible for "training malicious cyber actors, many of whom go on to work in cyber units subordinate to the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).



The department also designated the "RGB-controlled Technical Reconnaissance Bureau and its subordinate cyber unit, the 110th Research Center."



"The DPRK-based Technical Reconnaissance Bureau leads the DPRK's development of offensive cyber tactics and tools and operates several departments, including those affiliated with the Lazarus Group," it said in a press release.



Also designated are Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, also known as Jinryong IT Cooperation Company, which "employs delegations of DPRK IT workers that operate in Russia and Laos," and Kim Sang-man, a North Korean national based in Vladivostok who is "presumed to be involved in the payment of salaries to family members of Chinyong's overseas DPRK worker delegations," according to the treasury department.



"One such representative of the Chinyong office located in Vladivostok, Russia, DPRK-national Kim Sang-man is presume to be involved in the payment of salaries to family members of Chinyong's overseas DPRK worker delegations," said the press release.



"Today's action continues to highlight the DPRK's extensive illicit cyber and IT worker operations, which finance the regime's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson was quoted as saying.



"The United States and our partners remain committed to combating the DPRK's illicit revenue generation activities and continued efforts to steal money from financial institutions, virtual currency exchanges, companies, and private individuals around the world," Nelson added, according to the treasury department.



Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was taking steps in coordination with South Korea, which concurrently imposed unilateral sanctions on North Korean organizations and individuals associated with illicit cyber activities.



"Today's Treasury action includes three targets that the ROK recently designated for engaging in cyber operations and illicit revenue generation that support the DPRK's WMD programs. We will not hesitate to continue holding the DPRK regime responsible for its actions," Blinken said in a released statement, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.



Seoul earlier said it was imposing sanctions on three organizations and seven individuals involved in North Korea's illegal cyber activities. (Yonhap)


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WATERLOO  A suspect in a Cedar Falls sexual assault in April has now been charged with a similar attack that happened earlier in Waterloo.

On Tuesday, Waterloo police filed charges of first-degree burglary and second-degree sexual assault against Asante Ajee Walker-Garcia Adams, 24, in a break-in at an apartment complex near Hawkeye Community College.

Also on Tuesday, Cedar Falls police added a second-degree sexual assault charge in the Cedar Falls attack, which happened at an apartment a few blocks from the University of Northern Iowa campus.

His bond is currently listed at $300,000.

Adams has a North Liberty address and has also lived in Iowa City and Coralville, according to court records.

In the Waterloo incident, Adams allegedly entered a Stardust Drive apartment in the early morning hours of March 10 while a female resident was asleep. He sexually assaulted the woman.

Then he allegedly crawled through a window of a College Street apartment in the early morning hours of April 10 and began assaulting a female resident while she was sleeping, records state.

Investigators said they had obtained DNA and fingerprints from the assaults. But criminal database searches didnt yield any results because Adams didnt have any prior felonies that would have resulted in the collection of DNA and fingerprints.

Surveillance images from the College Street area were posted on Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers and last week investigators obtained information pointing to Adams.

On Monday, criminalists with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation were able to link DNA at the crime scenes to Walker, according to police.

Both agencies were assisted in the investigation and arrest by the Iowa City Police Department, Linn County Sheriffs Office, University of Northern Iowa Police Department, Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers, the DCI Major Crime Unit, DCI Sex Offender Registry Unit, and the DCI Criminalistics Laboratory.

Authorities are continuing to investigate Adams.

Those with any information are asked to contact the Waterloo Police Detective Division at (319) 291-4340 #3, Cedar Falls police at (319) 273- 8616, Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at (855) 300-TIPS or the callers local law enforcement agency.
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WATERLOO  Within less than two years, Helenjean Marshall lost both of her parents. But without the amazing people who stepped into her life, it could have been far worse.

First her father, Dean, died in 2018 and then, in 2020, her mother, Angel, also passed away. Marshall was placed in foster care for a little over a year before she was taken in by Cliff and Sonya Tharpe of Reinbeck. The experience not only got her out of a terrible spot, but completely changed her perspective.

I loved it because I had kids that were around my age in the home, Marshall said. They taught me how to get life skills. We had fun, we did a lot of fun things like go on family vacations, hang out  all that type of stuff. They even threw me a graduation party after graduation.

The Tharpes also allowed Marshall to have constant contact and involvement with her older brother, Dean Jr., who wasnt in a position at the time to be able to act as her guardian. They were supportive throughout her time with them and, according to her, the steps they took allowed her to heal.

Now aged out of the foster care system, Marshall says she still considers her foster parents and siblings her family. Theyre still people she can turn to and fall back on as she embarks on going to college and work.

At first when I got into foster care, I really didnt want to be in foster care because I wanted to be with family, Marshall said. But now that I aged out, I see that it actually gave me a new look on life.

On June 1, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., success stories like Marshalls are being honored at the Van G. Miller Adult Learning Center during the 15th annual foster care youth graduation celebration. According to Michelle Cooper, a transition planning specialist for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the event provides practical gifts for graduates that they can use as they prepare for college or moving into their own apartments.

Six foster youth are expected to participate in the open house, which the public is invited to attend. The Adult Learning Center is located at 120 Jefferson St.

Cooper added that only 56% of children in the U.S. who go into foster care end up graduating from high school, while only 3% graduate from college. Older teenagers may move around from school to school and district to district for various reasons, with each school system having different credit requirements.

The stress involved in constant moves and decreased involvement that comes as a result of these changes can also be a factor, so the celebration is recognizing a major achievement for the students.

Its a huge accomplishment for them and we absolutely want to recognize that, support them and make a big deal about it, Cooper said. Definitely.

Marshall added that events like this are a reminder that foster care is not the end of the road and they deserve to celebrate with their peers.

Its a new look on life. People are willing to help you and its nice to go to an event like that because my grandmother showed and she was proud, Marshall said. I know my parents would have been proud of me, as well, for being such a young adult.

Donations are being accepted to procure practical gifts for the students. Checks made payable to Success Link, to help cover the cost of the group gift, can be sent to Ellen Vanderloo, 3608 Inverness Road, Waterloo, IA 50701. Additional information is available by calling Vanderloo at (319) 290-0005.

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CEDAR FALLS  Chris Ledeker zeroed in on the chance to become fire chief in Cedar Falls as an opportunity that had a significant benefit.

Most recently, he spent time as the fire chief of departments in Kansas and Arkansas.

After completing some due diligence on the Cedar Falls operation, he told a tiny gathering of five residents during a public meet-and-greet Monday at the Public Safety Center that he decided it would be the right time for him to return home if selected for the job.

The 24-year fire service veteran has been chief of many departments but has never fought fires in Iowa. He had lived in Iowa until the age 7 and still has family spread across the state. And hes now one of two left in the running to replace retired chief John Bostwick.

Ledeker has skipped around to 13 volunteer and paid departments in four different states over his career.

Iowas always been home, will always be home, and I always wanted to get back here, he said.

He emphasized during questioning from the audience that he gained value over the years, racking up as many credentials and certifications as possible, and learning as much as he could from different departments.

I think if you are going to be in an elevated position, you dont have to know everything  because you wont  but you at least have to be prepared, Ledeker said.

Except for a stint with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Fire Department, he hasnt been a part of a public safety system like the one in Cedar Falls. The department has public safety officers that include police and firefighters cross-trained to assist each other on scene.

He has emergency medical services experience. But he has never been trained as a professional police officer nor has he responded to emergencies in Iowa. But he doesnt see that as an indictment on his candidacy and thinks fire service is essentially fire service no matter the model or state.

I had my concerns. Im used to a traditional fire department but it was something I really wanted to delve into and I did, he said.

Then, when I got over here, you really hear those thoughts put together and you wait a second and realize this is really not much different than what we do now, he said. We just dont call it the same thing. Just because its a specific model, it shouldnt affect and I dont see it affecting the services that we provide.

While in Arkansas, Ledeker said he came across many volunteer firefighters who are also police officers and vice versa.

The reason why youll see that is because in (the) Arkansas pension system, police and fire, you can (double dip)  you can work full-time one place and either part-time or volunteer at another place. It doesnt matter if its fire or police and you can get two years of retirement in one year. Youll actually see that a lot, he said.

And a lot of the times in his experience, fire and police officers will be working on scene together anyway even if not part of a model similar to Cedar Falls, whether that be for a fire or a motor vehicle accident.

This (PSO) system just brings them even closer, Ledeker said.

He didnt come to the meet-and-greet with any outside-the-box ideas or initiatives for change. Instead, he would follow a three- to six-month observation period before proposing anything new.

However, he was peppered with questions on topics ranging from recruitment and the compressed air foam system to community involvement and diversity within the department.

He had been the fire and emergency medical services chief for the similarly-sized Arkansas City Fire Department in Kansas until a few months ago when he was reportedly forced out.

He addressed that situation Monday when asked by Councilmember Gil Schultz, the only elected official present at the session.

Ark City had a great department and we did some great things there, but it just didnt end up working out like I had hoped, Ledeker said. And to be honest with you, I got called in and still dont know. They said they were going in a different direction and thats all I got.

Hes had experience working as a professional full-time firefighter in departments but also addressed Schultzs inquiries about him having jumped around to part-time and volunteer roles.

It was opportunity, experience and to build my pension is why I did that, said Ledeker.

Right now, he isnt working full time in any capacity. Hes currently a reservist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is only deployed for large-scale incidents as an individual assistance cadre.

Prior to meeting the public, Ledeker had interviewed with the citys top officials as well as others outside the city in the public safety and emergency management realms. Additionally, he met with community leaders and retirees along with union members and public safety supervisors.

Ledeker was one of two finalists drawn from 11 applicants. The other finalist is Acting Fire Chief John Zolondek, who met with the public on Tuesday.

Public Safety Director Craig Berte will make a recommendation to City Administrator Ron Gaines and Mayor Rob Green. They will interview the the chosen one along with Mayor Pro Tem Simon Harding and Public Safety Committee chairperson Dustin Ganfield before a final recommendation for the City Council is put up for approval as soon as June 5.

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WATERLOO The Otto Schoitz Foundation has awarded $772,500 to organizations aligned with the mission of advancing the health and wellbeing of the Cedar Valley community and its individual members.

Twenty-five organizations making significant impact are recipients of funding. Otto Schoitz Foundations priority of creating social connectedness and building avenues for increased opportunity, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons, is reflected in the grant awards. Investing in both the community as a whole and efforts to support individual self-sufficiency is highlighted.

I am honored to share Otto Schoitz Foundations investment in organizations that build community and create new possibilities in the Cedar Valley, said Mike Mallaro, foundation board chairperson. By supporting individuals and enhancing public spaces, among other meaningful initiatives, our grant partners are contributing to the wellbeing of our community. The leaders of our foundation are proud to call the Cedar Valley home and congratulate the awardees on their notable efforts to make this community a great place to live, work, play and age.

Highlights from the spring awards include:

The Grout Museum District is offering a sensory-friendly experience so that differently abled individuals and caretakers can enjoy a safe and comfortable visit to the district. Offering dedicated hours, designated quiet spaces and a Social Story guide describing what to expect at exhibits, each visitor can interact with the museum at their individual level of comfort.

Addressing both the immediate needs and long-term goals of single mothers and women aging out of the foster care system, House of Hope makes an outsize impact by creating access points for women to enter systems that have previously excluded them based on income, credit scores, employment histories or long-term instability. These new access points pave the way to entering banking systems, non-predatory car loans, professional and stable employment with a livable wage, safe childcare, healthy community, preventative health care, quality affordable housing, and for some even homeownership.

The Waterloo Public Library and Sunrise Childrens Zoo are investing in public spaces for gathering and learning. The Waterloo Public Library is reimagining the youth department to offer teens a dedicated place to study, meet friends and have some fun without distracting other patrons. The librarys toddler space will be enclosed to increase safety. Engaging youth programming will draw additional visitors to the refreshed spaces. With over 25,000 visitors each summer, the Sunrise Childrens Zoo provides a free and interactive attraction for many in the Cedar Valley. Capital improvements funded will create shade and shelter for the animals and improve the visitor experience.

SuccessLink brings community health services directly to students and families through the Success Street in-school clinics. Offering a convenient and efficient connection to care, SuccessLink reduces disparities that exist in health care access. The Success Street clinics located directly in Cedar Valley schools provide mental health, substance use disorder, pregnancy and sexual health, vaccine, and primary health care.

Providing legal services to low-resourced individuals, Iowa Legal Aid has prioritized housing as a focus. An Eviction Diversion Help Desk has been established at the Black Hawk County Courthouse to help individuals and families avoid eviction and homelessness. Tenants are screened for eviction legal defenses, as well as legal problems that may reduce their income and ability to pay rent. Tenants are educated about their legal rights, given step-by-step instructions to resolve the problem on their own and offered legal representation as needed. Connections are made with other community providers to help tenants with non-legal needs.

Additional organizations funded in the Otto Schoitz Foundation spring 2023 grant cycle include:

Cedar Valley Angels; Center of Attention; EPI  Exceptional Persons Inc.; Four Oaks Family and Childrens Services; Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois; Grin & Grow Ltd.; Iowa Dental Foundation; The Job Foundation; Love INC of the Cedar Valley; Lutheran Services in Iowa; ONE Cedar Valley; One City United; Plentiful Pantry; Royal Legacy Christian Academy; The Salvation Army; Try Pie; UNI Local Food Program Veggie Vouchers; Waterloo Housing Trust Fund; and the Youth Art Team.

Founded in 2016, Otto Schoitz Foundation has awarded nearly $17 million in the Cedar Valley. Visit the Foundations website at www.ottoschoitzfoundation.org for further details on grant awards and how interested parties can apply for the next grant cycle. Foundation staff are available to answer applicant questions and can be reached at (319) 232-2870.
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(CNN)  Typhoon Mawars outer bands were whipping Guam Wednesday ahead of an expected late-afternoon or evening landfall that could devastate the US territory with deadly winds, treacherous storm surge and heavy rainfall.

Mawars core is expected to get very near Guam  and possibly make landfall  around or after 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday (2 a.m. ET), and the typhoon could be the strongest storm to hit the Pacific island in more than 60 years.

By 1 p.m. local time, the storms center was 45 miles from Guam and its maximum sustained winds were 140 mph, the equivalent of a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.

In anticipation of high storm surge and potentially catastrophic coastal flooding, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero issued an executive order on Tuesday mandating the evacuation of low-lying coastal areas.

When sea levels rise, residents will have merely minutes to evacuate and respond. Thus, we must prepare now and anticipate the worst, the governors office said in a release.

Mawar threatens torrential rains that may result in landslides and flash flooding, catastrophic wind, and life-threatening storm surge, the weather service said Wednesday morning.

Mawar could be the strongest storm to directly impact Guam  home to about 150,000 people, as well as several US military installations  since at least 1976, when Typhoon Pamela struck with sustained winds of 140 mph.

If Mawars sustained winds are higher than 140 mph, it would be the strongest since Super Typhoon Karen, widely regarded as the worst storm to ever hit the island, which struck in 1962 with sustained winds of 172 mph.

Though Guam sits in the West Pacific Ocean  an area prone to the worlds strongest tropical cyclones  it is extremely rare for the island to be struck directly by a storm of this strength. Only eight such storms have passed over it in the last 75 years, as hitting the approximately 30 mile-wide island amid the expansive Pacific Ocean is akin to threading a tiny needle.

15 to 20 inches of rain are possible

Mawars slow-moving pace  about 6 mph Wednesday morning  will only exacerbate the impacts of wind and bring greater amounts of rainfall to the island.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 25 feet poses significant risk to vulnerable coastal areas and will likely cause severe coastal erosion. The weather service warned that even large boats could be ripped from their moorings.

Storm surge fatalities are historically the leading cause of hurricane-related deaths within the United States, according to the weather service.

The storm could bring between 15 to 20 inches of rain with even higher local amounts possible, the weather service said. The downpour will likely trigger landslides, overflow rivers and streams and bring flooding to areas that dont normally see such events.

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the island on Tuesday, and FEMA announced it has more than 50 emergency relief personnel and dozens of other federal partners ready to provide emergency assistance on the ground.

The storm is one that will be remembered for decades, said Landon Aydlett, the warning coordination meteorologist from the weather service in Guam.

Officials have warned the storm will bring devastating impacts to the islands residents, infrastructure and landscape.

Extensive roof and structure damage is possible due to pummeling winds, especially for buildings that are not reinforced with concrete.

Electricity and water may be unavailable for days and perhaps weeks after the storm passes and most trees will be snapped or uprooted, the local weather service warned.

Guam Power Authority crews had been responding to power outages and fluctuations across the island overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday, but increasingly dangerous conditions made it unsafe for personnel to be out making repairs, the utility said in a release.

The GPA team is prepared to immediately begin restoration as soon as winds decrease to safe levels, the release reads.

Between 50 to 70 percent of Guams vegetation could experience defoliation  the unnatural removal of much of a plants leaves and foliage, the weather service indicated.

Human-caused climate change is contributing to an upward trend intense storms like Typhoon Mawar. Not only are these systems generating more rainfall and larger storm surge  they are also more likely to be stronger and are intensifying faster, CNN has reported.

Mawar rapidly intensified from Monday into Tuesday, with top wind speeds increasing by 50 mph in just 18 hours. Scientists have warned that the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones  like typhoons and hurricanes  is more likely as ocean temperatures climb and lay the groundwork for cyclones to explode at breakneck pace into deadly storms.

The-CNN-Wire

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The Iowa County Public Health Departments home-health agency has been cited for 37 violations over the past six months  far more violations than any other home-health provider in the state.

As a result of the state inspectors findings, Iowa County Public Health and its registered nurses have been barred from evaluating the skills and competency of the countys home-health aides through November 2024, according to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.

Since mid-November 2022, 13 of Iowas home-health agencies have been cited by DIA for violations, although most of the 13 were cited for three or fewer violations. Five of the 13 agencies that were cited for violations are run by county public health departments.

The Iowa County Public Health Departments home-health agency was cited for 34 violations in November and three additional violations in December. Many of the violations were related to nursing assessments, medication reviews, incomplete care plans, competency evaluations, personnel qualifications, emergency preparedness and numerous organizational issues.

The organizations 37 violations is roughly 10 times the average number of violations cited by state inspectors at other home-health agencies statewide.

According to state inspectors, Iowa Countys new public health administrator and the Iowa County Board of Health met in July 2022 and discussed the need to inform state and federal regulators of a change in management for the home-health agency, but then neglected to provide the regulators with that information.

A month later, in August 2022, the county was working with a consultant on a mock audit to help prepare for the anticipated state inspection. The state inspectors later noted that when they attempted to inform the administrator of the violations that were uncovered, the administrator indicated she didnt expect to be surprised since the violations would likely be the same as those noted by the consultant and which had yet to be corrected.

The inspectors noted that the county had failed to conduct the required competency testing for aides to ensure they were capable of delivering adequate care and that the county had initiated services for one patient a week late without notifying the patients doctor. The inspectors also found the county had failed to conduct the required review of patients medications in three of the seven cases that were reviewed; had failed to identify duplicate drug regimens for patients, and had failed to have in place accurate, timely care plans for patients that included all of their medications.

The county also had failed to update patients care plans with new physician orders; had failed to give one patient the prescribed skin-care treatment on 12 occasions in during a four-week period; and had failed to adequately assess or provide transfer summaries for patients who required hospitalization, according to inspectors.

The county was also cited for failing to give its home-health patients the name and contact information for either the administrator or the clinical manager so that any concerns pertaining to their care could be properly reported and addressed.

The agencys administrator, Lorinda Sheeler, declined to comment on the matter, as did Dr. Steven Rippentrop, the chairman of the Iowa County Board of Health. They referred all questions about the countys home-health operations to the sheriff and to the county attorney, each of whom also declined to comment.

Other home-health agencies cited

Heres a summary of the inspectors findings at the 12 other Iowa home-health agencies cited for violations since mid-November 2022. Along with the inspectors findings is each agencys CMS ratings, which are based on a scale of one to five stars. (Some home-health providers, including Iowa County, have provided insufficient data on which to base a rating.)

For a more detailed look at all of Iowas home-health agencies visit CMS Care Compare website or the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals website.

Angels Care Home Health of Iowa, Des Moines: In March, the agency was inspected as the result of a complaint and was cited for two violations: repeatedly failing to follow patients care plans by neglecting to record the patients weight, and failure to deliver services only as ordered by a physician. Angels Care has a CMS quality rating of three and a half stars, and patient-survey rating of three stars.

Caregivers Home Health, Centerville: In February, the agency was cited for two violations: inadequate care plans for patients and the improper assignment of home-health aides duties. One patients care plan did not include an accurate description of a patients currently prescribed medications, and another patients care plan made no mention of the neck brace theyd been using for 15 years or their emergency-alert bracelet. Caregivers has a CMS quality rating of three and a half stars, and patient-survey rating of three stars.

Community Health of Algona: In February, the agency was cited for three violations: Failure to ensure the competency of home-health aides, the improper assignment of home-health aides duties, and inadequate patient-discharge and transfer records.

One home-health aide who was assigned to provide personal exercise programs for patients had no record of any training in such skills and was documenting the exercises provided with the one-word notation, Done, in the patients files. One home-health aide was documenting that she provided assistance with a patients skin care, ambulation and exercises. The patient, however, indicated the aide had provided no such assistance. Community Health has a CMS quality rating of two stars, and a patient-survey rating of five stars.

Des Moines County Health Department: In January, the agency was cited for six violations, including failure to complete a patient assessment within 48 hours of a patients return home from the hospital, inadequate patient care plans, failure to include in patient care plans all physician orders, and failure to deliver care only as ordered by a physician.

One patients plan of care was at least two months out of date, listing seven medications the patient no longer took; another patients care plan failed to include orders for wound care; a third patients care plan was at least a year out of date and included erroneous references to medications the resident didnt take; and one patient didnt receive her prescribed B-12 injection during the month of September. Des Moines County has no CMS quality ratings.

Floyd County Health Department: In January, the agency was cited for three violations including inadequate patient-care plans and inadequate infection control. One patient did not receive the prescribed physical therapy and the physician was not notified; other patients care plans did not include all of their medications or medical equipment; and a home-health aide was not sanitizing her equipment between visits to different homes. Floyd County has a CMS quality rating of two and a half stars, and a patient-survey rating of four stars.

Heights Home Health, Mapleton: In February, the agency was cited for two violations: incomplete patient-care plans and failure to deliver care only as ordered by a physician. Heights Home Health has a CMS quality rating of two stars, and no patient-survey rating.

Iowa Home Care, Ottumwa: In March, the agency was cited for failing to provide a patient with their requested medical records. The patient had requested the records in early February but didnt receive them until late March after state inspectors intervened. Regulations give home-health providers four days, or until the next home visit, whichever comes first, to provide patients with a free copy of their clinical record. Iowa Home Care of Ottumwa has a CMS quality rating of one and a half stars, and a patient-survey rating of three stars.

Louisa County Public Health Nurses: In January, the agency was cited for three violations: incomplete patient-care plans, patient care plans that failed to include all medical orders, and inadequate patient medication schedules or instructions. One patients care plan included medication the patient had not been taking for a year and a half and failed to include dosage information for other supplements or medications. Also, in four of the seven patient files that were reviewed, the agency failed to update the patients care plans to include all relevant physician orders. Louisa County has no CMS quality ratings.

Orange City Home Health: In February, the agency was cited for two violations: Incomplete patient-care plans and failure to deliver care as ordered by a physician. One patient was administered a different dose of a vitamin than the care plan called for, and another patients wound was not being assessed as the physician ordered. Orange City has a CMS quality rating of two and a half stars, and a patient-survey rating of five stars.

Pella Regional Home Health Agency: In February, the agency was cited for six violations, including inadequate medication reviews and failure to include all orders in patient-care plans. According to inspectors, four of the five patient files reviewed indicated that the patients records were not kept up to date with current physician orders, and one patients wounds were not being assessed as ordered. Pella Regional has a CMS quality rating of three stars, and a patient-survey rating of four stars.

Sanford Home Health & Hospice, Sheldon: In January, the agency was cited for inadequate patient-care plans, incomplete patient-care plans, and failure to include all physician orders in patient-care plans. The agency allegedly failed to notify physicians when home visits were missed by the staff, and in all three patient files that were reviewed, the care plans included inaccurate information as to the medications that were being taken or the equipment that was being used. Sanford has a CMS quality rating of two and a half stars, and a patient-survey rating of four stars.

Webster County Health Department: In February, the agency was cited for four violations, including failure to update patient assessments at the time of discharge; incomplete patient-care plans; and improper assignment of home-health aides duties. In two of the three patient files that were reviewed, the agency failed to include in its patient-care plans several pieces of medical equipment and medications. Webster County has no CMS quality ratings.

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The Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision rejecting a lawsuit against a police detective who pursued charges against a man later acquitted of sexual assault.

Joshua Venckus sued the City of Iowa City and Police Detective Andrew Rich for their role in his criminal prosecution in a rape case. Venckus alleged the case was pursued against him although he had what he described as an airtight alibi.

Ruling that Venckus malicious-prosecution claim could not succeed because the sexual assault charge was supported by probable cause throughout the proceedings, the justices affirmed the district courts decision to grant the city and the detective summary judgment in their favor.

The rape occurred on Feb. 16, 2013, at an Iowa City house rented by Venckus and others. A girl who attended a party there fell asleep on a couch in the main living room, only to be awakened by someone pinning her down and cutting off her breathing. She was eventually able to run out of the house, screaming for help.

Rich, the lead investigator on the case, went to the house where the occupants said Venckus was in Chicago that weekend. Police found evidence that someone had entered the house through a basement apartment window. Nearby, they found the wallet of a man named Ryan Markley.

Initially, the police focused their investigation on Markley. But DNA testing of the samples taken from the victim and her clothing eventually revealed two different male DNA profiles: that of Markley and Venckus.

Venckus told police he had been in Chicago that weekend with family and offered his bank card and cellphone to the detectives to verify his location. Bank records showed food and a movie ticket had been purchased in the Chicago area on February 15, the day before the attack. Venckus was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, though his claim of being in Chicago was supported by his roommates and family, as well as a Chicago-area lawyer who swore under oath that he had met with Venckus in his law office at about 2 p.m. the day before the assault.

At trial, a defense expert opined that DNA from Venckus blanket  which had been used to cover the victim when she went to sleep in the living room  had been transferred from Markley to the victim during the attack, saying the quantity of Venckus DNA on the victim wasnt consistent with him been the attacker.

The victims blood had been found on the inside of Markleys jeans, her skin cells had been found in the fly of his jeans, and Markleys skin cells had been found in the victims cervix, and Detective Rich testified there was no evidence that more than one person committed the crime. Still, Rich testified the evidence leaned more heavily toward Venckus being the perpetrator.

A plea deal was eventually reached with Markley, who entered a guilty plea to second-degree burglary and an Alford plea to a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse without injury, a misdemeanor offense. Rich was present at the meeting where the plea agreement was discussed and supported it, while the lead prosecutor opposed it and was overruled by her superiors.

Venckus case went to trial and a jury returned a verdict of not guilty. After his acquittal, Venckus sued Rich and the city for defamation, abuse of process and malicious prosecution. After the civil case was dismissed by the court, Venckus appealed, and an Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowed part of the case, alleging malicious prosecution, to move forward. But the district court eventually ruled in favor of the city and Rich in approving their request for summary judgment, stating the city and Rich had judicial-process immunity from such claims.

In affirming that decision on Friday, the justices noted the ongoing existence of probable cause in the case against Venckus.

DNA evidence linked Venckus directly to the crime; indeed, his DNA was found in the victims cervix, the court ruled. Also, other than an attorney whose visit with Venckus occurred more than twelve hours before the sexual assault, the individuals supporting Venckus Chicago-area alibi defense were exclusively friends and family. Venckus could not definitively say how he got to Chicago that weekend. No record of a bus ticket was found, and the friend who purportedly drove Venckus failed a polygraph test. Notably, Venckus replaced his cell phone the day after the attack.

The court added that none of this is to question the jury verdict in the case, but said a malicious-prosecution claim required a lack of probable cause. Probable cause existed here, the court stated. This is not a case where Detective Rich knowingly provided false information to the prosecutors or knowingly withheld material information.

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The United States and [some] Western countries are not after democracy, but domination and plundering of other countries wealth, Raisi said during an official visit to Indonesia

and

Let the Yemeni and Afghan people decide for themselves, he concluded, asking: Why are you interfering in their affairs? Raisi said during an official visit to Indonesia

So true, so true and lets hope that the world gets healed from what the west has been doing for so long

WtR
I am confident that together well achieve the formation of a more just, multipolar world, and that the ideology of exclusivity, as well as the neo-colonial system, which made it possible to exploit the resources of the whole world, will inevitably become a thing of the past, said Putin

and

We value historically strong, friendly, truly trusting ties with the states of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and we will strengthen them in every possible way, Putin added.

and

In different regions, old hotspots are expanding and new ones emerge The people in many nations are experiencing dramatic consequences of coups, organized from the outside, Putin said.

Western policy of blackmail and illegal sanctions. said Putin

and

Countries have no choice but to: strengthening stability in the world, the consistent construction of a system of unified indivisible security, solving major tasks of ensuring economic, technological and social development, Putin stressed.

I am sure more is to come from this meeting. It is going on from Tuesday to Thursday of this week

The revolution is underway! Russia to the rescue again!

WtR
A plane of Air Koryo, North Korea's state-run carrier, arrives at an airport, in this May 23, 2018 file photo. Yonhap



Satellite imagery indicated North Korean passenger aircraft undergoing maintenance at an "unusual" level, a U.S. website monitoring the North has said, spurring speculation about the possible resumption of air travel service suspended by COVID-19.



Several aircraft operated by Air Koryo, the North's national carrier, have been cycled through maintenance hangars at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang since the beginning of May, 38 North said Tuesday (local time) in a report, citing commercial satellite imagery.



While remaining cautious on whether these activities are a result of routine maintenance or a possible sign of air passenger service resumption in the near future, the report said that this level of movement is "notable" compared with imagery observed throughout the pandemic period.



"While Air Koryo aircraft have been in and out of the maintenance bay throughout the last twelve months, it is unusual that such a large number have been serviced in such a short period of time," it said.



The report came amid growing speculation that the North, which has suffered economic hardships due to sanctions and self-imposed COVID-19 border restrictions, may reopen its border with China as concerns over the pandemic have faded.



Last month, China's new ambassador arrived in Pyongyang to begin his official duties after his arrival was delayed for years due to the North's border restrictions, in another sign suggesting that the North may be preparing to reopen its border. (Yonhap)


S-350 Vityaz surface-to-air missile (SAM) system shot down several Ukrainian aircraft in the SMO and they were in fully automatic mode. No one had to interfere and stop the AI decisions. The system was on the money and accurate

The S-350 Vityaz (Russian: C-350 ) is called a sibling to the S-400 or the very smart baby brother

These kind if systems are the future. Set it and let it patiently wait for the enemy to destroy them. Russia says that it is superior to the Patriot System. It actually works 

Need one of these in the Tiny Russian Village 

WtR
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Phillip Prokopowicz, the former chief deputy attorney for Dakota County, will serve as a special prosecutor in the investigation of Madeline Kingsburys disappearance.

I can confirm hes been brought on to work in a consulting capacity on the Kingsbury case, said Bonney Bowman, public information officer with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Kingsbury was last seen on the morning of March 31 taking her two children to daycare with Adam Fravel, the childrens biological father.

Winona Police Chief Tom Williams said the disappearance was involuntary and suspicious at an April press conference, and the department carried out mass searches with thousands of volunteers.

Law enforcement has yet to name a suspect or person of interest in the disappearance of Kingsbury.

A custody trial for Kingsburys children is set to begin June 6, with court documents noting the children are without a legal decision-maker.

Kingsbury has sole custody of the children according to court documents and made all legal decisions and provided all primary care according to a letter filed by Kingsburys parents attorney.

Winona County in early April took the children into custody and found the children, then living with Fravel, to be in need of protection and services. The children are currently placed with Kingsburys parents.

Fravels attorney made motions to dismiss the child protection order before a May 15 pre-trial hearing.

Dismissal is not the proper remedy for any of the motions filed, wrote assistant Winona County attorney Rebecca Church in response to the motions.
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COLUMBUS  Embers from a controlled burn are believed to be the cause of a barn fire on Tuesday night that destroyed a barn and resulted in one firefighter being hospitalized briefly.

Columbus Deputy Fire Chief Jerrod Fox said that the firefighter, who had been taken to Prairie Ridge Hospital in Columbus, was released Tuesday night after being checked out and is doing well today.

The Columbus Fire Department was called to W12271 Hwy 16/60 for a barn fire Tuesday at 5:05 p.m. There were no animals at the property and old hay had been left in the barn with some other items.

Thick black smoke could be seen from miles away, Fox said in the press release.

The barn was fully engulfed within minutes of the page, and a box alarm was called in for more departments while Columbus fire crews protected other nearby structures. There was no extension to either of the homes but they did suffer some outside siding damage. More than 40,000 gallons of water was used on the fire.

Crews did a fabulous job at protecting structures nearby and making an aggressive attack on the barn fire, Columbus Fire Chief Scott Hazeltine said in the press release.

The following fire departments assisted: Waterloo, Fall River, CLR, Marshall, Beaver Dam, Reeseville, Doylestown, and Lake Mills. Columbus Police Department, Dodge County Sheriff, Lifestar EMS, Waterloo EMS, and Beaver Dam EMS. Beaver Dam and Sun Prairie had rigs stationed at the Columbus Fire Station in the event of another call.

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Two southcentral and southwest regional butchers and the state senator representing the area are objecting to recalls issued for non-product safety reasons.

Prem Meats in Spring Green and Wisconsin River Meats in rural Mauston both have claimed unnecessary recalls of their products by the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. They say these recalls are unfair; 17th District State Sen. Howard Marklein, a Republican from Spring Green, agrees and issued a release on April 21 critical of DATCP and its handling of butcher shop product recalls.

Any time a meat establishment or inspection personnel identify product with reason to believe that it is adulterated or misbranded and is available to consumers in commerce, it must be recalled, said DATCP Public Information Officer Kevin Hoffman in an email.

Marty Prem, the co-owner of Prem Meats with his brother, Terry, said that the main frustration with the recent bacon-wrapped tenderloin recall was that meat plants have next to no input when it comes to issuing recalls, despite it being labeled as a voluntary recall. He added that voluntary recalls indicate that a processor is directed by the state to release them.

There was no issue with the product, said Prem. There was a misprint on the label. It did show that it was an inspected product, which there was no approved formula or recipe on file for us wrapping a piece of pork with a piece of bacon.

Markleins release cited as an example Prem Meats. The companys bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin was not allowed to be sold as an inspected product because the two meats were not inspected together, but rather separately. Prem confirmed that each meat has its own recipe and is inspected.

That product is completely fine for us to sell within our retail market, to consumers out front, said Prem, adding that the product, due to its recalled status, could not be sold at other stores such as grocery stores or gas stations.

David Mauer, co-owner of Wisconsin River Meats in rural Mauston, said that current DATCP regulations are cumbersome and that inspectors in his and co-owner John Hamms facilities have a difficult time making sense of them.

It makes us as respected producers feel like we are always guilty of something, said Mauer in an email.

Mauer said that inspectors-in-training are told that they are the regulatory authority in a business and that there is not as much working together between inspection services and meat businesses. He said that inspection services could have simply reminded butchers of the errors relating to the bacon-wrapped tenderloin and lard instead of issuing recalls.

In response to the issue at Prem Meats, Mauer added that Wisconsin River Meats submitted official formulations to DATCP that describes combinations such as bacon-wrapped tenderloins. Mauer also discussed a recall of lard at four separate Wisconsin meat businesses last August.

I have received several of these calls from frustrated, small, family-owned businesses who have never had a problem before, said Marklein in the April 21 document. The department seems to have taken an aggressive approach to inspection and recall, rather than inspection and education.

Hoffman said that the departments approach to recalls is to educate while we regulate. Recalls issued are meant to inform the public about adulterated and/or misbranded products in the interest of public health, according to Hoffman.

DATCP has taken several steps to educate state-inspected meat establishments of regulatory requirements related to recalls, including email newsletters, communications through the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors, and DATCPs virtual office hours, which gives industry an opportunity to ask questions and hear updates from Bureau of Meat and Poultry Businesses staff, said Hoffman in an email.

Other educational opportunities for local food business owners include training in hazard analysis and critical control points at the Humane Handling Institute in conjunction with UW-River Falls. HHI, according to Hoffman, is a first of its kind program aimed at hands-on training for pre-slaughter handling and transport for meat providers.

Prem said that after the recall was issued, DATCP was no longer willing to work with us as a plant and said their approach was more investigative. He said the recall informed the public that the bacon-wrapped tenderloin had a product safety issue, which was not the case. DATCP said that the recall issued was part of standard practice, according to Prem.

Markleins letter said that there is a massive difference between inspecting and educating versus inspecting and recalling. He noted that there were 20 recalls issued in 2022 as opposed to 11 total between 2019 and 2021.

When a business is spotlighted for a recall like this, customers become worried that the meat in their freezer is tainted, said Marklein in the letter. A recall casts doubt and creates fear  when it may have nothing to do with quality or safety.

A statement from Marklein indicated that he is not currently exploring policy legislation during current state budget negotiations, but may do so after the budget is passed.

Another area butcher, The Meat Market, which operates stores in Baraboo and Lake Delton, said that it has had no issues with DATCP recalls unrelated to product safety.
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The next Wisconsin Dells library book sale will double as a reopening of the original historic library.

On June 2 and 3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friends of the Kilbourn Public Library will host a book sale at the site of the former Kilbourn Library, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Friends, along with the Dells Country Historical Society, have transformed the old facility, which was moved from Broadway in the early 1980s, into an additional site for books as well as a storage facility for Dells area artifacts.

Kilbourn Public Library Director Cathy Borck said that the sale will be in the old library and two outdoor tents adjacent to it. She added that reopening the historic facility and maintaining inventory will be easier for employees of the current library from a labor standpoint.

Books, VHS tapes, DVDs, CD books, magazines, and reference books will be available at the sale. All proceeds will benefit the current library and its operations. The two tents will have items at 50 cents or three for $1. Borck said the maximum price of items at the sale will be $5.

Borck, a lifelong Dells resident, began working with the library in 1992 while it was in the historic building. The current library was built and opened in 1996.

Its a nice place for it, said Borck. It was really cool to come walking back in here. People should come see the historic library.

The former Kilbourn Library, built in 1912, is a Carnegie library, or one of 2,509 libraries in the United States built with money donated by former businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Library in Baraboo, which is almost finished with a large renovation, is another one of these literature facilities.

Wisconsin has 65 total Carnegie libraries. Other area communities with Carnegies include Reedsburg, Elroy, Columbus, as well as two in Madison.

GALLERY: Baraboo library brings back clown workshop, pie-throwing contest
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When graduate assistant Angela Ablaberdieva was scouting out a chemistry graduate program five years ago, family leave policies were a top concern.

UW-Madisons chemistry department policy publicly touted its graduate assistant paid family leave policy, which caught Ablaberdievas eye  after studying in Turkey and spending a few years traveling, she was planning to have her first child after returning to the United States. When Ablaberdieva showed up to classes the first day pregnant with her son, however, her coordinators response wasnt exactly positive.

I said, Hey, FYI, Im pregnant and due at the start of next semester. Who do I talk to to get my paid leave? she said. And (the coordinator) was like, Oh my gosh, dont tell that to anyone. I would definitely not tell anyone until after you have joined a (faculty members) research group.

University of Wisconsin System graduate assistants and postdoctoral researchers who have a child while in their programs often are taking a risk: Like faculty and staff, they arent offered paid family leave. But unlike faculty and staff, they often arent protected by the federal Family Medical Leave Act, which means they risk losing their teaching, research or project assistant positions if they take a leave, even if its unpaid.

Losing those jobs can jeopardize their income, health insurance or tuition assistance the university gives them for assistant work.

The System requires employees to use sick or vacation days for up to six weeks of paid time off or take an unpaid absence. An employee who wants to take more than six weeks must use unpaid time off.

Since 2019, graduate assistants have been allowed to use any sick or vacation pay to bolster their paychecks while taking an otherwise unpaid leave.

Some graduate assistants said theyve been able to work with faculty to keep getting paid during their leaves by changing the timing of fellowships or grants. One graduate assistant who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation from her department said she was told to drop out because her choice of parenthood was incompatible with the rigors of academia.

The UW-Madison Graduate Worker Union, also known as Teaching Assistants Association, hopes to change the system, drafting a letter to Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to request extending 12 weeks of paid family leave to all employees and protections to graduate students in the next years budget.

Other large Big Ten schools, including Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan State, offer paid leave to employees.

A UW-Madison ad-hoc committee studying parental leave policies found that of universities similar to UW-Madison, 90% offer faculty an average of eight weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child and seven weeks for the parent who didnt give birth or for an adoption. Of those same institutions, 80% offer graduate students an average of five weeks of paid leave.

But that may be hard to achieve in Wisconsin: Democratic Gov. Tony Everss budget proposed a guaranteed 12 weeks of paid leave for eligible public- and private-sector workers, including University of Wisconsin System employees, but that provision was stripped from the states biennial budget proposed by the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee.

Search for help

But students like Ablaberdieva say reality often falls short. In Ablaberdievas case, her research assistant work directly coincided with class credits she needed to take, meaning taking leave could affect her student status.

Between starting her program and her due date in January, Ablaberdieva went to nearly a dozen campus departments to discuss her situation, including human resources, chemistry department administration and campus administrative offices such as the Title IX, the Office of Equity and Inclusion and the McBurney Center, which advocates for students with disabilities.

UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas declined to comment on Ablaberdievas experience with the chemistry department.

Ablaberdievas leave was approved after chemistry professor Judith Burstyn helped her sort out the process for accessing paid leave through the departments program, which hadnt been effectively communicated, Burstyn said. At that point, though, Ablaberdieva was disenchanted with the department and petitioned to end her doctoral program early, earn a masters degree in chemistry and move to population health.

They still view that like you failed the program. For people in chemistry, its embarrassing to master out, Ablaberdieva recalled as she held back tears. That was not how I wanted to feel on graduation, because getting your masters is a big deal. And I feel like it was like a sign of failure.

Falling behind

UW-Madison has been studying the feasibility of expanding paid family leave for years. In 2016, UW-Madison and the System jointly funded a study that would look into wages and benefits for workers for the first time in three decades.

No decisions have been made on expanding benefits at System universities, including UW-Madison, System spokesperson Mark Pitsch said in a statement.

Our universities are always reviewing opportunities to attract and retain employees in a competitive environment, he said.

The universitys ad-hoc committee found numerous gaps in UW-Madisons family and parental leave policies, committee member Adena Rissman said. In its June 2022 report, the committee found multiple areas of inequity, such as employees being allocated different amounts of sick or vacation hours based on their title or appointment or the possibility of supervisors committing Title IX violations if they attempt to shorten or prevent unpaid leave.

Wisconsinites value family and hard work  these values dont conflict, Rissman said. We can support babies and parents and elders when they need it most, knowing that paid family leave improves workforce retention. This makes sense because people dont have to quit their jobs to take care of a child who was just born or adopted, or their aging parent.

Microbiology graduate assistant Erin Conley, who co-founded the Wisconsin Student Parents Organization, said the inconsistencies across campus are a diversity, equity and inclusion issue. Many students lack financial safety nets to take unpaid time off or cant afford to lose their benefits, and the lack of policy disproportionately affects women and other birthing parents, she said.

For me, it seems like it just very obviously creates further barriers to education or career advancement in the case of faculty, for women and these other groups that have been historically marginalized, specifically in academia, she said.

Imperfect solutions

But even when UW-Madison departments want to offer graduate assistants leave, it can conflict with a students program, particularly if when students leverage research fellowships or apply for outside grants as part of their programs.

UW-Madison graduate assistant Lynne Cotter was elated that moving up a fellowship, a grant that relieves graduate students of their assistant responsibilities to conduct research, would allow her a break from teaching to give birth to her son. It wasnt until Cotter was a few weeks out from giving birth that she learned the fellowship required her to still take three classes.

About two weeks after giving birth, Cotter was back in the classroom to ensure she didnt lose her familys health insurance.

If I were able to be paid and keep my health insurance, I would have taken a semester off and I would have been able to spend time with my baby, Cotter said.

Graduate assistant Kelly Jensen had been upfront with her supervising professor about family planning when she started her six-year program. Jensen was 29 when she enrolled; she and her husband didnt want to wait to start a family until she graduated at 35.

Those early conversations led Jensens supervisor to time a research fellowship  a grant that relieves graduate students of their assistant responsibilities to conduct research  so it could serve as maternity leave when her first son was born in January 2021. Jensen completed her research that summer unpaid.

I lost the award that everyone in my program gets to do their research. I sacrificed that so that I could have a maternity leave, Jensen said. And I dont regret that. But that just goes to show theres not a broader system in place to be both a mother and a Ph.D. student.
Weather Alert

...SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES THROUGH MEMORIAL DAY... * Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms will continue each afternoon through Memorial Day. Storms will be capable of producing frequent cloud to ground lightning, gusty outflow winds, small hail, and heavy rainfall. * With an influx of people enjoying the outdoors this weekend, it is important that individuals have a way to quickly seek shelter in the event that a thunderstorm approaches your area. If a sturdy building is not immediately available, a hard-top vehicle with the windows rolled up can offer good protection from lightning. If you plan on doing activities that will leave you vulnerable to the elements such as hiking, consider doing the bulk of those activities in the morning hours before afternoon/evening thunderstorms develop. * With streams and even mainstem rivers already flowing fast and cold, it is still advised to avoid swimming in many areas. Keep in mind that daily showers/thunderstorms will inherently come with the threat of flash flooding. Have a way to receive weather alerts, and get to higher ground immediately if a river or stream you are near begins to rise quickly, if you see debris floating in the water, or the water suddenly becomes muddy.
Korea's homegrown space rocket, Nuri, is transported to a launch pad at Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, southwestern Korea, one day before the country is expected to launch the rocket, also known as the KSLV-II, for the third time, in this photo provided by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, May 23. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk Yeol will watch a live broadcast of the launch of Korea's homegrown space rocket Nuri on Wednesday, his office said.



Yoon will watch the launch from the presidential office together with his aides, officials from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and students interested in space science.






Annette Gordon-Reed, 64, a history professor at Harvard University Law School, won a Pulitzer Prize for History in 2009 for her book about the Hemings family. AARP spoke to Gordon-Reed about her exploration of American history.

You won a Pulitzer Prize for your book The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. How did you become interested in Thomas Jefferson and the Hemingses?



My third grade classroom had a little library with a set of biographies of famous people like George Washington Carver, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison. Jefferson was the most interesting to me, because he loved to read, and I loved to read, and he wrote the Declaration of Independence  but he was a slave owner. This was the first I had read about slavery. It was a childs biography, so it was not very sophisticated, but it sparked an interest.

What do you want people to understand about the Hemingses, beyond that Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings children?



They were not just enslaved people. That was the institution that bound their lives, but they were mothers, fathers, cousins, sisters, aunts, friends. They had different personalities, different ways of going through the world. Its just that their opportunities were severely circumscribed because of slavery. So I want them to be seen as individual human beings.

Do you think history needs to change the view of Thomas Jefferson?



I understand how people would not want to have something named for Jefferson. But I think we have to grapple with him, because he embodies to me the contradictions of this country, the good things and the bad things. Members of the founding generation, of which Jefferson was one, have to be a part of our conversation. If there are statues and things named for them, its an opportunity to talk about the way this country was born  and it wasnt born in just a good and wonderful way. It was born in turmoil and conflict. ... I just dont think we can excise the parts [of history] that are less than favorable, because they helped make us who we are today.

Your latest book, On Juneteenth, is about that holidays history. Can you explain?



It commemorates the day on June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas, and announced that slavery was no longer legal in Texas. Its a holiday that Black Texans have been celebrating since 1865, and when they moved to other places, they took the holiday with them.

What does it mean for your Texas family?



I recall my great-grandmother telling me how important the day was in our family. I got the impression they had celebrated the holiday for as long as she could remember. She was born in the 1880s.

Does anything make you optimistic about race relations right now?



Young people. They are more sensitive to the issues involving race and the history of this country. Their generation has grown up thinking that there has been a problem, and its a problem that we have to deal with. There are some people who [want to] shut down talking about history, but I think young people seem to be resisting that.
Fiction by Big-Name Authors

Scribner / Doubleday / Knopf / Getty

Lady Tans Circle of Women by Lisa See (June 6), the author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, is an absorbing story set in 15th-century China. The novel follows a wealthy woman, Tan Yunxian, from childhood through the decades as she learns and practices medicine in an era when elite women, with their tiny, painfully bound feet and arranged marriages, had few freedoms.

Another wonderful June release is The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende (June 6), the esteemed Chilean American author of 2013s The House of the Spirits, among so many great works. Her latest centers on a little girl, Anita Diaz, whose mother disappears after they escape violence in El Salvador for the United States. A remarkable group of people  including an older man who fled Nazi Germany  step in to give her a home.

Zero-Sum: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates (July 18) is a collection of dark, powerful new tales by the masterful literary icon. Many of the characters are rather unhinged (like the troubled protagonist in her recent novel, 48 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister). Im not usually a big fan of short stories but was drawn in by nearly every one here.

Be Mine by Richard Ford (June 13) has the author revisiting Frank Bascombe, the cranky former sportswriter weve met in previous novels. Here Frank finds himself caregiver to his son, whos been diagnosed with ALS, and forced to confront his own mortality (with plenty of wry humor).

In Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke (July 11) the Edgar Award winner tells the story of an enslaved woman on the run in Louisiana after shes been accused of murder, as the Civil War roils the South.

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (July 18), the two-time Pulitzer Prize winners sequel to 2021s Harlem Shuffle, is another wild romp, with salesman Ray Carney again trying (and failing) to stay legit in crime-ridden 1970s New York.

Somebodys Fool by Richard Russo, the third novel in the authors trilogy that began with Nobodys Fool, returns to the colorful residents of North Bath in upstate New York, who are mystified and vexed by the discovery of a body in an old hotel and the annexation of their town by a neighbor. (July 25)

Another big upcoming novel has a mysterious dead person at its center: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (August 8), the author of 2013s National Book Award winner The Good Lord Bird. McBrides latest is set in the 1970s, in the fictional town of Chicken Hill, Pennsylvania, where Jewish and Black Americans live side by side. When a skeleton is found at the bottom of a well, the investigation that follows reopens local wounds and uncovers a long-held secret.
Photo by: Vera Tammen/Trunk Archive

En espanol | Tina Turner, whose raspy contralto and volcanic stage presence made her a stellar musical icon, died at 83 on May 24 at her home near Zurich.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in tiny Nutbush, Tenn., she was renamed Tina Turner by her bandleader and abusive husband, Ike Turner. She soared as a solo star in her mid-40s, winning three 1985 Grammys for her Private Dancer album. She blazed at an age when most stars dim, and sang with admirers like David Bowie, who compared her to "Bob Hope or Louis Armstrong, as the sort of ambassador of America," and Mick Jagger, who copied a few of her moves and said, "She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.

At 60, she sold a record $100 million-plus in tickets for her 2000 tour, and her spectacular success paved the way for successors like Beyonce, who sang "Proud Mary" at Turner's 2005 Kennedy Center Honors tribute and said, "When I think of inspiration, I think of the two Tinas in my life, my mother Tina, and of course the amazing Tina Turner. I never in my life saw a woman so powerful, so fearless, so fabulous  and those legs!"

Turner spoke to AARP in 2020 about her tough but ultimately triumphant life and work, and her book "Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good." What follows is that interview as told to Alanna Nash.

Healing from within

As a kid, I wanted to get away from working in the cotton fields of Tennessee. I dreamed of going to Hollywood, although I had no idea where that was. Most of all, I dreamed of living a life filled with love and harmony. My mother did not want me. So I focused within for my sense of security. Even in my darkest days, I realized that when I sincerely strove to help myself and kept a peaceful, hopeful outlook, magical things happened. Eventually, I was able to heal my heart and give myself the love I hadn't received when I was young. I like to say that I changed poison into medicine and transformed the difficulties in my life to realize my dreams.

Power in forgiveness 

My mother and I got closer later in life, and I forgave her. I helped her move out to Los Angeles, where she saw my career breakthrough. And I forgave my former husband, Ike Turner, too, for years of domestic violence  black eyes, busted lips, broken bones and psychological torture. At one point I was so despondent, I swallowed 50 sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. But I had to make peace with my past, and forgiveness sets us free. I believe in karma, in cause and effect, so forgiving people for the wrongs they've committed is not the same as excusing their actions. Forgiveness is more about cutting the chains of negativity from whatever has caused us pain.

 and positivity

Spiritually, I believe that all the hard times I went through set up my mission in life: giving hope to others so they can become happy, too. Through everything, my purpose was not only to survive and thrive myself but also to be a positive example and encourage and inspire people to never give up.
The excellent and moving new HBO documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore, about the fascinating life and game-changing work of the TV star who died in 2017 at age 80, was coproduced by her widower, S. Robert Levine, 68, who also appears in it. He tells AARP the inside story of Moores very public life.

Many fans of her shows with Dick Van Dyke and Ed Asner dont realize that Moore had an important parallel career  she was a longtime advocate for diabetics, right?

Mary was international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for over 30 years. She helped raise billions for research and elevated the understanding of the community and Congress. The Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative carries on her legacy, to accelerate the development of new strategies for diabetic retinal disease.

And she had type 1 diabetes herself.

She was nearly blind  diabetes really stole her joy. She trained with treadmills and ballet to push through the pain of peripheral vascular disease. She had severe neuropathy, painful but also with loss of sensation, so she sometimes wouldnt be able to figure out where she was in space.

When did it strike?

From age 50. When she got the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, she was escorted out to the podium in advance of the lights coming up because she was nearly blind and could not walk across the stage safely on her own. She never wanted to stop  that was who she was. Her story is about overcoming challenges and obstacles.

You can turn the world on with your smile, even if fate doesnt always smile on you.

Exactly. You have to learn, to have resilience, that sense of yourself, that purpose. She was always facing the world with a smile, even though she was a tough fighter underneath.
Phil Swinford was cycling with three friends on a single-track trail in Williamsburg, Virginia, when he injured his spinal cord, changing his life irrevocably.

Ever competitive, he took the lead and raced ahead. He misjudged a turn and hit an obstacle at full speed, launching over the handlebars like a javelin and landing face first on hard ground.

It was July 18, 2015, and Swinford, a retired colonel who was about to turn 53, knew instantly he was paralyzed. His first words to the friend who rushed to help him were: Let me die here. I dont want to live like this.

Fast forward six months. The fighting spirit, determination and sheer will to prevail that served Swinford so well in war kicked in. Despite doctors at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, saying his injuries were so severe that 90 percent of people would have died, Swinford attempted the near impossible.

Now a quadriplegic who needed a ventilator to breathe, Swinford exhibited almost superhuman strength and willpower as he used a frame to get up from a seated position to stand on his own two feet without assistance for the first time since the accident.

Watching him from a wheelchair next to Swinfords wife Pam was an elderly Vietnam-era Marine veteran who had lost mobility due to a spinal cord condition and was struggling to learn to walk again.

After witnessing Swinfords sit to stand, the Marine turned to Pam and said, If this guy can do that, then I can do this. With that, the Marine got up and walked falteringly across the room.

Phil has this effect on people, Pam recalled to AARP Veteran Report. I have never known anyone more stubborn and more determined in my life. He inspires people.

Seven years on, Swinfords remarkable recovery has continued  testament not only to his own character and grit but also to the 28-year military career, filled with danger, that prepared him for his greatest challenge. He has movement in his fingers, hands and arms and uses an electric wheelchair to get around.
The port city of Suakin, also known as Sawakin, is located on the western coast of the Red Sea in the northeastern part of Sudan. Once a luxurious hub of the medieval period, the city has a colorful history of both prosperity and destitution. Ultimately, however, it fell into disrepair.

Built by Ramses III

The port city of Suakin is believed to have first been developed by Ramses III, the second pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt, in the 10th century BC. It began as a small Beja settlement, providing an outlet to the Red Sea that had the potential to let exploration and trade flourish throughout the region. During the medieval period, the area began to develop quickly, especially after the nearby port of Badi was abandoned.

Pilgrimages made it even more important

Suakins gradual growth on an economic and explorative scale was bolstered by the increase in Islam in what is now modern-day Saudi Arabia during the medieval period. Its location was and continues to be pivotal, bridging the gap between continental Africa and the Middle East. As such, African followers of Islam were able to utilize the port during their pilgrimage to Mecca.

An increase in wealth

Suakin was ramping up in popularity, and an increase in wealth would come as a byproduct of the Crusades and Mongol invasions. As people migrated away from the violence, large numbers found themselves pushed toward Suakin. This included merchants who set up in the surrounding area, driving trade and bringing wealth to the port city,

A legendary king lived there

Legend says that the city became so prosperous that a king set up operations in Suakin. It is said that he established his extravagant living quarters there, where he and his 360 wives lived together. His vast wealth was likely a result of the flourishing trade economy that had been established there.

Buildings were made from a unique material

An increase in wealth meant an increase in infrastructure in Suakin. The settlement soon became a gated island city, and several of the buildings were constructed from a unique material. Builders sourced out a rock-coral called madrepore from the Red Seas sea bed and used it in the walls of many of their structures. A white plaster finish was smoothed over this, completing the look of the luxurious coastal port.

Suakin was the location of a spiteful attack

In 1264, Suakin became the target of a planned attack. The citys prosperity had stirred up envy among its rivals, and the governor of Qus, a city situated on the Nile in Egypt, launched an assault. As-Asbaani, the ruler of Suakin, was forced to flee. Suakin and Aydhab would remain rival port cities for centuries following this event.

Taken over by the Ottomans

The Ottoman Empire had taken notice of Suakins wealth and set its sights to attain it. By 1517, the Ottomans had successfully added the city to the empire. However, their rule over it was fairly loose, as Suakin was essentially allowed to govern itself. The Ottomans did invest in restoring the citys mosques and fortified walls, but this effort would soon prove to be pointless.

Merchants began to abandon Suakin

As the Portuguese continued to hone their seafaring around Africa, passage through the Red Sea was no longer necessary. Suakin as a port city began to diminish in traffic, and merchants began to feel the squeeze on their businesses. As such, many of them packed their bags and headed elsewhere, abandoning Suakin. This marked the beginning of the citys decline.

A short-lived slave trade was one last breath for the city

By the 18th and 19th centuries, most of Suakins old town had fallen into ruin. The city was struggling to survive, with only one last hope  the slave trade. During the 19th century, Suakin became a core port for the slave trade, with a lot of traffic coming from eastern Africa. This brought new life into the area, but it was ultimately short-lived. As the slave trade dwindled, so too did Suakin.

Britain chose to invest in its neighbor

During the late 19th and early 20th century, members of the British Army took up temporary residency in Suakin as they led a contingency of the Egyptian Army. Following the defeat of the Mahdist State, the British decided to invest in the development of the new neighboring Port Sudan rather than restore the crumbling buildings and expand the overall size of Suakin. By 1922, all British citizens had abandoned the city.

The coral city fell into disrepair

Suakin was left to fall into total disrepair. The white plaster finish that covered the coral walls was never coated in a covering, so they decayed fairly quickly. The brittle madrepore material that was used underneath also crumbled away. Maintaining the buildings in the city was too expensive and extensive. Ultimately, they were left to turn to dust.

It is protected for tourism

Now, the ruins at Suakin are protected as part of the tourism industry in the area. Ferries between Suakin and the Saudi Arabian coast still operate daily, continuing to provide passage to those on pilgrimages, but the majority of the city remains abandoned.

More from us: Kolmanskop Was Once a Thriving Town, But Is Now Drowned By Sand

In 2018, Suakin was part of a deal that could see it returned to its former glory, as Turkey signed a 99-year lease on the city and intends to restore the ruined island port.
Korea's space rocket Nuri is erected at the launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, May 23. Yonhap



Korea decided to postpone the Wednesday's scheduled launch of its space rocket Nuri due to a technical glitch found during final preparations, the science ministry said.



"While controlling a helium valve, officials found out a communications problem between a launch control computer and a launch pad facility control computer," Vice Science Minister Oh Tae-seog said in a briefing held at the Naro Space Center in Goheung. "The valve is OK but the system might matter when it goes into the automatic operation system. So we inevitably cancel the scheduled launch."



Officials detected the problem around 3:30 p.m. just before they start injecting fuel and oxidizer into the rocket.



The launch management committee, which oversees the entire process, held a meeting on the issue and decided to delay the schedule.



The committee will determine whether Korea will go ahead with the launch on Thursday.



The 200-ton Nuri was set to blast off from the Naro Space Center in the country's southern coastal village of Goheung at around 6:24 p.m.



Earlier in the afternoon, the committee confirmed the launch time, considering the rocket's technical status, weather conditions and other possible aerial accidents.



Ten minutes before the launch, the prelaunch operation, or an automatic system that oversees the final preflight checkouts, will begin. If the computer detects any glitch, the launch process is automatically suspended, the ministry added.



In a Tuesday's meeting, the science ministry and KARI concluded Nuri's final technical inspection proceeded without any problems. The weather forecast also satisfied launch conditions.



A successful launch would verify Korea's capability to operate a space vehicle to carry payload satellites into target orbit.



This time, Nuri, also known as KSLV-II, is loaded with eight practical satellites that have their own respective missions in space, while a dummy satellite and a performance verification satellite to test the rocket's capabilities were onboard Nuri in its previous flight.





Officials hold a press conference on the scheduled launch of Korea's space rocket Nuri at a press room of the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, in this photo provided by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, May 24. Yonhap


Beetaloo Operations Deliver Strong Gas Flow Rates

Sydney, May 24, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy Group Ltd ( ASX:EEG ) ( EEGUF:OTCMKTS ) has completed Carpentaria-2H flow testing following continued strong gas rates.



- Carpentaria-2H ("C-2H") has produced a total of 323 Terajoules ("TJ") (281 mmscf) over 127 days



- Gas composition has remained consistent with high calorific value and extremely low CO2



- This equates to a normalized rate of 2.75 TJ (2.4 mmscf) per day per 1,000 metres for the entire test period



- The post-soak 2023 IP30 is now confirmed at 3.5 TJ (3.0 mmscf) per day per 1,000 metres following updated gas composition analysis



- C-2H has been shut-in for availability as a future gas producer



- Carpentaria-3H ("C-3H") will be reopened for flow testing once the soak period concludes



- Development planning for pilot project final investment decision continues. Multiple parties are expressing strong interest in purchasing Empire's Beetaloo gas in both the pilot phase and full development phase



- NSAI updated resources report on track to be released prior to 30 May 2023 AGM



Comments from Managing Director Alex Underwood:



"We are pleased to share the continued strong gas flow rates achieved at C-2H as they provide further confidence that an economic development in EP187 may be achievable.



The cumulative production of 323 TJ over 127 days from C-2H would equate to over 1,000 TJ cumulative production for an equivalent 3km horizontal development well over the same period. This is despite the unoptimized nature of the C-2H well that has tested multiple completion methodologies. If we assumed a gas price of $10 / GJ, which is less than half the spot price at Wallumbilla on 22nd May 2023, on this basis an equivalent 3km development well could generate over $10 million in gross revenue (before royalties) over an equivalent first 127 days of commercial production without any further well optimization (see Appendix B* for further details). Such a level of gross revenue so early in the life of development wells may support field level economics.



Following recent regulatory implementation by the NT Government giving the Beetaloo a 'green light' to move into commercial production, and an extremely tight domestic gas market, line of sight towards commercialisation is getting clearer by the day."



Carpentaria-2H Flow Rates



C-2H has flowed for 76 days following re-opening for ongoing extended production testing ("EPT"). During this period the well produced high calorific gas at an average rate of 2.55 TJ per day (2.2 mmscf per day), with a final rate of 1.85 TJ per day (1.6 mmscf per day). These flows were through 4 1/2" casing and the well has not required production tubing or artificial lift at any time during testing.



Earlier in the testing period, Empire announced a material increase in C-2H average flow rate over 30 days ("IP30") to 2.81 mmscf per day, which was 17% higher than the IP30 achieved during the initial 51-day EPT undertaken during Q3 2022. Prior to re-opening C-2H, the well had been shut-in for 5 months for C-3H drilling and stimulation operations, soaking and pressure build up.



The purposes of re-opening the well for continued EPT were multifold:



- to examine the benefits of "soaking" in the Beetaloo;



- to further refine the production type curves for pilot project planning and final investment decision; and



- to better understand the flow characteristics of the Velkerri B shale for future completion design.



These objectives have been fulfilled with positive results and Empire continues advancing its Beetaloo specific learning curve.



The table* below summarises all of the C-2H results to date in both mmscf and TJ.



Empire intends to commence reporting gas volumes in Terajoules ("TJ") and Petajoules ("PJ") going forward, reflecting the basis on which Australian gas contracts are negotiated. Empire expects the high calorific value of its gas to attract a price premium over dry gas (i.e. methane only).



Carpentaria Gas Composition



C-2H gas composition data has been obtained from gas sampled at the surface gas and water separator. The gas samples taken are from the combined flow from all the 21 hydraulic stimulation stages located within the Velkerri B shale. The gas composition data has remained stable across the testing periods.



Following compositional analysis, a conversion factor of 1.15 TJ per mmscf has been determined reflecting the high calorific value of Empire's EP187 gas.



The conversion factor for dry gas is 1.055 TJ per mmscf.



Water and gas samples have been collected throughout the flow testing period for tracer analysis to determine stage contribution. This data is being modelled with existing stage contribution analysis from both C-2H and C-3H to further optimise Empire's well completion strategy.



Preliminary tracer analysis indicates that some stimulated stages are generating a greater proportion of overall gas production than others, providing an opportunity for future optimization.



C-2H and C-3H are both currently shut-in and front-end engineering and design ("FEED") for the Carpentaria Pilot Project final investment decision is ongoing.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/76P161C5





About Empire Energy Group Ltd





Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.

Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.
Anyone who relies on ABQ rides bus app to see when their Albuquerque transit bus is arriving may have had nothing but malfunction notices Tuesday morning. Thats because, yes, the app was down. The outage continued late into the day Tuesday.

But that app, ABQRIDE, is out of date, according to transit spokesperson Megan Holcomb. Holcomb recommends riders use the Transit App instead. The Transit app, which can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play, has several improvements. For example it shows buses in real time compared to the ABQ ride app, Holcomb said Tuesday. And its what the IT team have been perfecting for use by riders.

ABQ ride did announce early last year that it planned to transition from the ABQRide app to Transit App in April 2022.

The newer app features other improvements, such as an enhanced version of the TXT2RIDE function that allows passengers to access schedule information, and phone numbers that provide predicted arrival information in English and Spanish. It also has more transit lines and trips and custom themes.

The ABQ ride apps collapse today doesnt mean its dead, however, but there was no word on when it will be back up.

Contact: ABQ Journal Business Desk: jleacock@abqjournal.com
Finally, some common sense when it comes to pretrial release. Heres to the Joe Anderson case instilling more of it in Albuquerque courtrooms.

Anderson, 41, was arrested Dec. 4, 2022, on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 6, 2022, killing of Raymond Aviles. Police say Anderson sought out Aviles and fatally shot him while Aviles rode a motorcycle in Southeast Albuquerque. Aviles died in the middle of Eastern Avenue, allegedly gunned down by Anderson, who was already a convicted killer.

The prosecutor rightfully motioned to keep Anderson behind bars pending trial, but Second Judicial District Court Judge Emeterio L. Rudolfo had other ideas and denied the motion.

In his Jan. 13 ruling, Judge Rudolfo got that Anderson posed a danger to the community. But the judge also said Anderson had complied with conditions of release in other pending cases and the danger Anderson posed could be mitigated by zero-tolerance conditions of release.

Wait, say what? Anderson was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison for the 2010 fatal shooting of Vincente Sanchez. He got out of prison in 2019 and in 2022 is suspected in another shooting death. An ankle monitor is supposed to keep him from going for what possibly could be No. 3?

And just how effective was that zero tolerance at keeping Anderson on the straight and narrow?

On Feb. 7, the day after the state Supreme Court overturned Rudolfos pretrial release decision, Andersons ankle monitor was found on the side of a highway. He didnt even bother trying to hide it  just took it off and tossed it out the window.

It wasnt until Feb. 26 that detectives found Anderson at an apartment near Montgomery and Interstate 25 and arrested him again  a lucky break as he could have traveled to just about anywhere by then. Meanwhile, Albuquerque police detectives could have worked other cases if they hadnt had to track down Anderson twice in the same case.

Thankfully, our Supreme Court has tried to emphasize common sense when it comes to pretrial release. The court said Rudolfo erred in releasing Anderson given his extensive criminal history that includes nearly two decades of criminal behavior, including crimes of violence. The court also noted Anderson has a history of failures to appear, bench warrants and probation violations.

Now, Anderson is where he ought to be, behind bars, as he awaits another murder trial.

In addition, the Supreme Court issued guidance Monday that will hopefully help keep more dangerous defendants locked up until trial. In a unanimous opinion, the five justices said prosecutors must only prove that no release conditions can reasonably protect the public from a criminal defendant the judge finds is dangerous. That one word, reasonably, could be a game-changer. Previously, to keep someone behind bars, prosecutors had to prove no release conditions can possibly protect the public, even for violent offenses. It was a bar set far too high.

Justice Briana Zamora wrote for the court that if a defendant has a pattern of disregarding official directives, it is certainly reasonable to infer that the defendant is unlikely to comply with any conditions of release that the district court could impose in the future. Zamora also wrote in considering the release-conditions prong of the detention analysis, like the initial dangerousness analysis, the district court should take a holistic, common-sense approach.

At last.

New Mexicans owe the state Supreme Court a thank you for doing what state lawmakers have been unable to do in recent years  put the brakes on pretrial release as too many judges have relied too heavily on the deeply flawed public safety assessment known as the Arnold Tool for far too long.

Now, its up to judges to follow this pretrial release guidance for dangerous defendants and make our communities safer.

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.
City of Albuquerque leaders announced a new effort Tuesday to discourage people from standing on medians, saying the crackdown is intended to improve public safety, not target panhandlers.

The legal basis for the initiative is Mayor Tim Kellers revision of a 2017 pedestrian safety ordinance, which was struck down by a federal judge in 2019.

The revised measure, approved 7-2 by the City Council in November, prohibits people from standing on narrow medians on busy streets.

When you get smaller than 4 feet, its just dangerous, especially in these busy intersections, Keller said Tuesday following a news conference at Fourth and Montano NW, one of the affected intersections.

The ordinance targets medians less than 4 feet in width, on roadways with a speed limit of 30 mph or greater.

Keller said the new ordinance is more likely to withstand a legal test than the more-restrictive 2017 measure, which was attacked as a violation of public speech.

Its fundamentally about safety, not about speech, Keller said of the new ordinance.

Colorado Springs, Colorado, and other cities have similar measures that have stood up in court, he said.

Albuquerque police kicked off the effort by issuing 14 citations to violators on Monday, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said Tuesday.

Violations are a petty misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $100, according to the legislation.

This is not about panhandlers, Medina said. Its about public safety.

The city has identified 15 intersections for enforcement, including Fourth and Montano NW, three intersections on Menaul NE, three on Coors NW and two each on Gibson SE and Carlisle NE.

The city has placed signs on those medians that warn: Unlawful to occupy median.

A spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico said Tuesday that median enforcement is a coded term for anti-panhandling measures.

It is no secret that the citys goal is to sweep under the rug individuals seeking assistance from their neighbors on Albuquerques streets, said Maria Martinez Sanchez, legal director for the ACLU. The intent is and has always been to drive the most vulnerable and desperate in our community out of public spaces where they are most visible.

The citys efforts to keep people off medians have a complex history.

The pedestrian safety ordinance approved by the City Council in 2017 was immediately challenged in a lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of a woman who routinely used the medians to ask for donations and others who give money to panhandlers.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Brack ruled against the city in 2019, finding the ordinance violated free speech protections. It was not narrowly tailored to meet the Citys interest in reducing pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, Brack wrote.

The City Council tweaked the ordinance in 2019, but the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately upheld Bracks ruling in 2021.

Keller cited Albuquerques grim record for pedestrian deaths in his remarks Tuesday.

We know pedestrian safety is a real challenge in Albuquerque and in New Mexico, Keller said.

City officials had no estimate Tuesday how many panhandlers have been struck and killed by vehicles.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation data shows that 40 pedestrians were struck and killed in Bernalillo County in 2022. Of those, 33 happened within the city limits.

The Governors Highway Safety Association has ranked New Mexico the nations deadliest state for pedestrians since 2016.

Way too many of our pedestrian fatalities have been on super-busy intersections and have been from a person either going to, or coming off, a median, Keller said.

The 15 locations where signs have been placed alerting pedestrians not to stand on medians:

 Montano and 4th Street

 Indian School and Carlisle

 Carlisle and Lomas

 Louisiana and Menaul

 Avenida Cesar Chavez and Broadway

 Copper and Eubank

 Montgomery and Louisiana

 Menaul and San Mateo

 Menaul and San Pedro

 University and Gibson

 Yale and Gibson

 Montano and Coors

 Ellison and Coors

 Coors and Irving

 Alameda and Corrales

Source: City of Albuquerque
The liver transplant team from Costa Rica's Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia Hospital pose at Asan Medical Center in Songpa District, Seoul, during their training at the Korean hospital, in this 2019 photo. Courtesy of Asan Medical Center



By Nam Hyun-woo



A Costa Rican medical team, trained at Asan Medical Center in Korea, succeeded in the country's first living-donor liver transplant, paving the way for the life-saving surgery in the Central American country.



According to Asan Medical Center, Tuesday, a liver transplant team at Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia Hospital in Costa Rica successfully performed the country's first adult living-donor liver transplant on April 11.



Through the procedure, Jeannette Lorio, 60, who was suffering from liver cirrhosis, successfully received a healthy liver from her daughter Bianca Oviedo, 32. After the 18-hour surgery, Lorio was in a stable recovery and left the hospital in a healthy condition just eight days after the surgery.



The Costa Rican team, led by Prof. Vanessa Lopez, used a modified right-lobe graft technique, which was developed by Asan Medical Center Prof. Lee Sung-gyu in 1991.



The technique is aimed at improving the success rate of living-donor liver transplant, by creating a new middle hepatic vein in the transplanted right lobe of the liver to ensure proper blood drainage in the entire right lobe. Since then, the technique has become a standard surgical procedure across the world.





Jeannette Lorio, left, who underwent Costa Rica's first adult living-donor liver transplant, and her daughter Bianca Oviedo, the donor, pose in this photo taken 25 days after the surgery. Courtesy of Asan Medical Center
State regulators greenlighted the first 200 megawatts of community solar generation this week, kicking off development of 45 projects that could include tens of thousands of customers around New Mexico.

Its the first tranche of what may eventually become scores of statewide projects that could allow hundreds of thousands of local consumers who cant install their own rooftop solar systems to instead participate in clean energy generation as members of community installations, potentially lowering their electric bills.

The state Public Regulation Commission announced the first round of project awards to energy developers Monday morning, culminating a six-month selection process that began in November when InClime Inc.  a Maryland-based company that the PRC contracted to manage the community solar program  put out a request for proposals, or RFP, to solicit company interest in building and operating installations.

The RFP generated proposals for more than 408 potential projects around the state, representing more than 1,700 MW of solar generation. Thats nearly nine times more power than is currently permitted in the first stage of program development, during which total community solar output will be limited to a combined cap of 200 MW.

As a result, InClime whittled the first round of projects way down. But once these first installations come online, likely by year-end 2024, the PRC could approve the next group of projects from a waitlist of 47 additional community solar installations that InClime also announced on Monday.

Greenlighting the initial projects, however, marks a major milestone in program development, which began in 2021 when the state Legislature passed the Community Solar Act and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed it into law, said Arthur ODonnell, PRC director of policy administration.

The PRC approved new rules and regulations last year to govern the program, leading to the recent RFP and the first project awards.

New Mexico is part of a nationwide movement for community solar development thats steadily expanding to include almost half the states, ODonnell told the Journal. New Mexico is now one of 22 states and the District of Columbia that have approved enabling community solar legislation. And I just got word that two more states  Missouri and Wisconsin  have introduced legislation.

How it works

Under the program, residential and commercial consumers who want to participate in a community solar installation can sign up as project subscribers, whereby they pay a monthly fee for a percentage of power generated. The electricity produced by each installation will be sent to one of the states three regulated electric utilities  Public Service Co. of New Mexico, El Paso Electric and Southwestern Public Service  depending on whose service territory the project is operating in.

The utility will then credit subscribers for their share of the solar power generated on their monthly bills.

The program allows individuals or businesses who rent homes or buildings, or who cant install rooftop solar systems for financial or other reasons, to participate in solar generation for the first time. And, under PRC rules, energy developers seeking authorization for projects must reserve 30% of project subscriptions for low-income households, or for low-income-serving organizations, to ensure that under-privileged populations have a fair opportunity to join community projects.

In addition, low-income subscribers will be eligible for discounts on the fees they pay to community solar developers, which could increase the solar credit they receive on their monthly utility bills.

Many of the winning bids included promises by developers of a certain level of savings for consumers, ODonnell said. Well monitor that going forward to make sure those promises are met.

One bidder even promised free subscriptions for low-income consumers, potentially offering that developer a competitive edge over other companies seeking PRC approval for projects.

We hope every customer sees some level of savings, ODonnell said. But overall, the goal of the program is to introduce small-scale solar development around the state to provide clean generation as part of the states Energy Transition Act.

RFP winners and losers

The first round of projects announced Monday includes community installations in most regions of the state, with six projects targeted for southern New Mexico in EPE territory, 10 in eastern zones under SPS, and 29 in PNMs territory in Central New Mexico and some rural areas.

About a dozen companies won approval for first-round projects. That includes eight installations proposed by Pluma LLC  a veteran-owned construction and electrical contractor in Albuquerque  and seven by Affordable Solar, the states largest installation firm.

Pluma has previously installed individual solar systems on government buildings. But the new program will allow it to expand into larger projects of up to 5 MW, said Pluma founder and owner Chris Pacheco.

Community solar in New Mexico will mean residents and families can protect themselves against rising utility rates, lowering their electricity bills with locally produced, clean energy, Pacheco told the Journal. Fifty percent of each of our projects power is reserved for New Mexicans who are struggling to pay their utility bills.

At Affordable Solar, the company is excited about expanding into a new, emerging market, said Commercial and Community Solar Development Director Dylan Connelly.

We took a nice slice of the pie in the bidding process, and theres still plenty of opportunities left for many other companies as well, Connelly told the Journal.

Some companies, however, have complained about irregularities in the RFP process that may have disadvantaged them in the bidding.

The winning bidders will likely start marketing project subscriptions to customers this summer. But no company will break ground on any installation until receiving approval from PNM, SPS or EPE to connect the project to a utility grid.
New Mexicos community solar program attracted hundreds of bids from local and out-of-state companies, but some firms say bidding irregularities may have stacked the process against them.

Under the request for proposals, or RFP, that program manager InClime Inc. released in November, companies seeking to win approval for proposed community solar projects were evaluated using a point system that awarded scores on different development categories connected to each bid.

That included things like experience in developing and managing community solar projects, proposed project site viability for grid interconnection and benefits to local communities  with extra points available for serving marginalized or disadvantaged groups.

Some evaluation categories called for a sliding scale of points, rather than a simple all-or-nothing approach to either allot or withhold points based on whether a bidders proposal meets or doesnt meet expectations.

That allowed companies to beef up their bids by proposing additional efforts in some categories  such as community outreach and workforce training programs  to win at least some, if not all, of the points available on the sliding scale.

InClime privately revealed individual RFP scores to each bidder on May 1 using the sliding-scale system. But soon after, some companies complained that that system conflicts with program rules approved last year by the state Public Regulation Commission.

After reviewing those complaints, InClime  in consultation with PRC staff  decided to eliminate the scaling process in those categories where it conflicted with the established rules, said PRC Director of Policy Administration Arthur ODonnell.

In some categories, the rules said points shall be awarded instead of up to a certain number of points can be awarded, ODonnell said. So InClime decided to change it to live by the rules.  We worked closely with InClime to work through those issues to make sure the system was as fair as possible while accurately reflecting the rules.

The change, however, affected about a dozen bids, lowering scores for some while increasing them for others.

One Energy Renewable, for example  a Seattle-based company pursuing community solar development in various states  says its points dropped significantly between the original scoring on May 1 and its subsequent score after the process changed. And in the end, it didnt win on any of its one-dozen project proposals, said One Energy CEO Tobin Booth.

We protested the changes in process but we got no response, and the next thing we know, InClime and the PRC posted the project awards on Monday, Booth told the Journal. It just feels like something unfair is going on here.

The PRC expects to review outstanding complaints next week.

This was a highly competitive process with over 408 original bids, and with the few complaints we got, I think were doing pretty well, ODonnell said.
SANTA FE  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham joined prosecutors Wednesday to revive a 1970s commission targeting organized crime in New Mexico  a move she said would help combat human trafficking and illegal fentanyl sales.

The panel, she said, will produce recommendations to policymakers and strengthen law enforcement coordination across jurisdictions.

If you have a problem, my view is  all hands on deck, Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said Wednesday in a news conference at the Capitol.

The commission, authorities said, will pursue strategies for disrupting the operations of international drug cartels and street gangs in New Mexico, which are particularly active in fentanyl distribution, sex trafficking and illegal gun sales.

New Mexico had the nations second-highest violent crime rate in 2020, though incomplete data has made it difficult to compare in recent years. Albuquerque, the states largest city, broke its own record for homicides in each of the last two years.

District Attorney Sam Bregman, whose jurisdiction covers the Albuquerque area, will lead the new commission. It will hold public and private meetings while developing a comprehensive plan, he said, to suppress organized criminal organizations, which he described as a driving force behind street crime.

Its exactly, I think, what this state needs, Bregman said of the commission. We will focus as a commission on getting a handle on gun violence and the proliferation of gun trafficking in our communities  taking on the cartels, their affiliates and the criminal organizations who are poisoning our people with fentanyl.

Republican lawmakers at the Capitol, by contrast, said reestablishing a commission isnt enough on its own to curtail crime.

House Republicans are committed to using the interim to develop practical solutions that address the root causes of crime and the mental health issues plaguing our communities, House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, said in a written statement. We are concerned about creating yet another commission allowing politicians to take political victory laps but not provide real solutions.

The bipartisan commission, established in 1973, produced its last major report in 1978, Lujan Grisham said, though records indicate it may have been active as recently as then-Gov. Bill Richardsons administration, which ended in 2010.

She acknowledged some governors may not have felt it was necessary given the other ways law enforcement agencies can collaborate across jurisdictions. But reestablishing the commission, she said, will send a message to organized crime organizations and produce reports that can help guide crime-fighting strategies.

The newly appointed members include Judith Nakamura, retired chief justice of the state Supreme Court; U.S. Marshal Sonya Chavez; Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen; and others.

Allen described the commission as a way to coordinate resources across jurisdictional boundaries.

We have to show were a unified front across law enforcement, he said.

State Attorney General Raul Torrez isnt a member but will support the commissions work.

A lot of times people in our community look at isolated crimes or criminal events, and they dont see the connection, he said. But a good deal of what we see each and every day in our community is actually driven by organizations.

Under state law, the Governors Organized Crime Prevention Commission is made up of seven members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. No more than four members can be of the same political party.

It has subpoena power and may initiate investigations. But any proposed changes to the states criminal code would have to be approved by the Legislature.
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The former E! reality TV star talks about her divorce from Kanye and, without naming her former husband, insists you 'cannot help people that don't want the help.'

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kim Kardashian explains you "cannot help people that don't want the help." The 42-year-old reality star - who shares children North, 10, Saint, seven, Chicago, five and four-year-old Psalm with ex-husband Kanye West - has talked about her past relationships and how she has dealt with having very differing views to people previously in her life.

"Something I learned is that you cannot help people that don't want the help. You can't force your beliefs and project that on someone that thinks something totally different...," she said when appearing on the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast.

"It's okay to have those different views. It's why the world goes round. But if you don't align in the same values and morals and things at your core, then it's okay to realise that this life is so short, and you should go and find the people that do align with what you really believe in."

Kim did not name Kanye specifically, but she noted the lessons she was passing onto their children when it comes to them growing up and looking for love. She added, "Those are some of the things that I would teach my kids when they're looking for friends and partners and relationships. You can't really force things upon other people. You can't expect them to be where you're at, at your level."

She admitted, while sometimes differences in a relationship can "coexist really well," sometimes "it really can't." Referencing her time with Kanye, Kim - who started dating the rapper in 2012 and married him two years later before filing for divorce in 2021 - shrugged off the idea their time together was a "failure."

She said, "Sometimes I feel like people think that if a relationship doesn't work out that it's a failure, but I don't really look at it like that. 15 years together, 10 years. That's not a failure. That is so beautiful."

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The 'Vanderpump Rules' star lost her appetite and had trouble sleeping after finding out her then-boyfriend had cheated on her with their mutual friend for months.

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Ariana Madix admits to struggling when filming the "Vanderpump Rules" reunion. The 37-year-old TV star broke up with Tom Sandoval after it was revealed that he had a months-long affair with Raquel Leviss, and Ariana has now confessed she had mixed feelings about the reunion.

"There's never been any reunion in any season, regardless of what was going on, where the cast - all of us - felt united. It was tough, but I almost felt more confident going into that day than I have on any other day filming a reunion," she shared to E! News.

Despite this, Ariana struggled to eat and sleep after she learned about Tom's affair. She said, "It was a very dark period of time for me. I had my friends stay the night with me every single night to make sure that I was at least feeling OK to try to rest."

Ariana recently revealed that she wouldn't film again with Tom or Raquel. The reality star - who started dating Tom in 2014 - told the New York Times newspaper, "I have nothing to say to either of them. Our show is very real and follows a real group of friends, and neither of them are in the group of friends, so, good luck."

Ariana also accused Tom of having "no integrity." Asked why the public has latched onto the cheating scandal, she replied, "I think our relationship was so longstanding that people, including myself, saw it as end game."

"I also think the people involved were so duplicitous and deceitful. [Tom] was also someone who was constantly preaching about integrity when it came to other people taking accountability and I think that shift in him - having no integrity - is something that shocked people. Plus, there are also so many people who can relate to the situation and can put themselves in my shoes."

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When attending the premiere of his new movie 'Asteroid City' in France, the Oscar-winning actor is seen furiously jabbing a finger at the younger man while his wife also speaks to the man.

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were involved in a tense exchange with a man at the Cannes Film Festival. The actor and his wife seemingly scolded an employee as they attended the premiere of his new movie "Asteroid City".

On Tuesday, May 23, the pair walked the red carpet together to support the special screening of Wes Anderson's film. In photos which have circulated online, the Oscar winner was seen furiously pointing his finger at the younger man and making a stern face while his wife was also holding her hand up in front of her as she spoke to the man.

Dressed in a smart tuxedo suit and wearing a bow tie, the worker spoke to the pair in what appeared to be an attempt to calm the situation. It's not clear what they were discussing, but the man was also seen gesturing at Hanks as he posed with his "Asteroid City" co-stars on the red carpet.

Despite the apparent misunderstanding, Hanks and Wilson continued to trek down the red carpet and were all smiles as they posed together on the stairs before heading inside the venue. The two were also seen dancing together as they reunited on the red carpet after posing for the cameras separately.

Hanks cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo and matching bow tie teamed with a smart white shirt for the premiere. He completed his look with shiny black shoes.

As for Wilson, she looked glamorous in a chic black dress with a long black cloak which trailed the ground behind her. The dress was adorned with silver gems which shimmered under the spotlights. Her hair was styled in an elegant up do.

"Asteroid City" is a sci-fi romantic comedy-drama film which is set in the 1950s in a fictional American desert town that has an eerie feel to it. It follows the transformative events that occur at an annual Junior Stargazer convention in 1955.

Anderson penned the script based on a story he developed with Roman Coppola. It has a star-studded cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton and Adrien Brody in addition to Hanks. It will be released in select U.S. theaters on June 16 before expanding to a wide release on June 23.

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The 'Betty (Get Money)' rapper was handing out red roses to his devotees when he tripped down to the ground from stepping on a slightly elevated plywood at the Gulf Shores, Alabama event.

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Yung Gravy has suffered a broken elbow and wrist. While performing at Hangout Music Festival, the "Betty (Get Money)" rapper took a serious tumble and face planted on the ground leading him to sustain the injuries on his left elbow and right wrist.

On Tuesday, May 23, the 27-year-old's health condition post-accident was uncovered. Sources revealed to TMZ that he fractured both his left elbow and his right wrist. He initially did not rush to the hospital, believing that he would only need a couple Advil. Unfortunately, on Monday, May 22, physicians discovered the fractures.

The day before Yung went to hospital, he accidentally fell to the ground while delivering his set at Hangout Music Fest. In a video published by TMZ, the rapper, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall, was documented handing out red roses to his fans at the event taking place in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

While making his way down a walkway to show his appreciation, Yung seemingly was not aware of the slightly elevated plywood in his path. As a result, he fell face down to the ground.

Yung's mishap at the music festival took place a few months after he was sued by Rick Astley for having the English musician's voice imitated on his song "Betty (Get Money)". In a lawsuit filed on January 26 in a Los Angeles court, Rick alleged Yung to have breached his right of publicity since it closely copied the unique tone he employed on his chart-topping 1987 hit.

"In an effort to capitalize off of the immense popularity and goodwill of Mr. Astley, defendants ... conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr. Astley's voice throughout the song. The public could not tell the difference. The imitation of Mr. Astley's voice was so successful the public believed it was actually Mr. Astley singing," Rick's lawyers wrote.

"A license to use the original underlying musical composition does not authorize the stealing of the artist's voice in the original recording. So, instead, they resorted to theft of Mr. Astley's voice without a license and without agreement," the lawyers added.

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The couple puts on an affectionate display as the 'Saturday Night Live' star supports his wife at the premiere of her new movie 'Asteroid City' despite report that they were living 'separate lives.'

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost have made a rare joint public appearance at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival, putting split rumor to rest. The Tony Award-winning actress stepped out for the premiere of her new film "Asteroid City" in the South of France on Tuesday, May 23, with her husband on hand to support her.

The pair put on an affectionate display while posing together in front of photographers on the red carpet. The "Black Widow" star placed her hand on the "Saturday Night Live" star's chest as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

The duo also stared lovingly at each other as the two-time Oscar nominee sweetly touched the cheek of her husband with her manicured fingers. The funnyman, meanwhile, looked excited as he talked to his wife while they were walking down the stairs.

For the event, Scarlett looked chic in a custom Prada gown which featured white sparkly spaghetti straps, a bubblegum pink fitted bodice and a floor length skirt. The back of the dress gave a glimpse of her back tattoos, which include a stem of roses and sleeping lamb.

The 38-year-old completed her look with pointy earrings from David Yurman, chrome pumps, scarlet red lips, rosy cheeks and subtle eyeshadow. Her blonde locks were parted down the middle and worn in loose waves.

The "Weekend Update" co-anchor, meanwhile, looked dashing in navy tuxedo with matching bow tie. He finished the look with a gold watch and ring.

Scarlett and Colin's rare red carpet appearance at Cannes comes nearly two months after it was speculated that there was trouble in paradise in their marriage. Back in March, the "Jojo Rabbit" star appeared to ditch her wedding ring when photographed out and about solo in New York City after Radar Online reported that the pair were living "separate lives" amid their busy work schedules.

"Colin's always had a reputation for being a flirt," an insider additionally told Life & Style in 2022. "Scarlett prides herself on having a modern attitude toward marriage, claiming it doesn't bother her, but she also doesn't want to be embarrassed."

However, her rep already shut down the split rumor at the time, calling it "BS."

The "Asteroid City" premiere was also attended by Scarlett's co-stars, including Adrien Brody, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Maya Hawke, Matt Dillon, Fisher Stevens and Steve Carell. Tom, who came with his wife Rita Wilson, was caught having a heated exchange with an employee at the event.

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Despite being rumored to be in a feud, the Prince of Wales is caught by royal fans having an old pic of him, the Duke of Sussex and their late mother displayed on a piano in his royal home.

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Prince William has been spotted by royal fans to be keeping a framed photo of him with Prince Harry. Despite being rumored to be in a feud, the Prince of Wales still keeps a memento of his younger brother at his royal home.

In a video shared by Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton on their channel on YouTube, royal fans noticed a framed picture which might be a photo of Prince William, Prince Harry and their late mother Princess Diana. The footage uploaded online on May 13 documented Prince William's royal family activities during the coronation weekend.

The clip showed the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales and their two younger children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, getting ready for the coronation at Kensington Palace before going to Westminster Abbey. In the video, the four emerged one by one in what seemed to be their London home's living room.

At one point when Prince William and Kate Middleton's daughter Charlotte could be seen entering the room, royal fans spotted a number of framed images sitting on top of a piano. The devotees further claimed that one of the framed pics was an adorable photograph of William and Harry with their late mother Diana.

The old picture of the three was known to be used for Diana's Christmas card back in 1995. The card was sent a year before she divorced King Charles, who was still Prince of Wales at that time, and two years before she tragically died following a car crash.

Prince William being spotted keeping a framed photo of him and Prince Harry came a few months after his brother talked about his royal family in an ITV interview. "There's a lot that can happen between now and then," Harry spoke to Tom Bradby in January.

"But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court. There's a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it," he added. "I want a family, not an institution.  They've shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile."

"I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother, [Prince William], back. It never needed to be this way. The leaking and the planting  They feel as though it's better to keep us, somehow, as the villains," he continued.

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In a lawsuit filed in April, the clothing company accuses the Yeezy designer of modifying a leased Yeezy storefront in Los Angeles without seeking their permission.

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kanye West faces legal trouble. The rapper and Yeezy designer is slapped with $2 million lawsuit by Gap over their failed collaboration. The clothing company accuses Ye of modifying a leased Yeezy storefront without permission.

Obtained by TMZ, new legal docs see Gap requesting Ye to cover the bill for any "damages" to the property, at 1360 E. 6th St. The lawsuit, which was filed in L.A. court in April, further reads, "By making and not repairing or restoring the foregoing alterations of the premises that [West] made without Gap's participation or approval, [West] breached the strategic agreement and directly and proximately caused Gap to incur expenses to repair and restore the premises."

Among the alleged alterations were erecting an exterior ramp in the east side parking lot, installing a tunnel in the lot and removing ceiling lights. It's also said that Ye breached a contract by building a wall and nixing three bathrooms.

For the huge mess, Gap is being sued for $1.5 million by Art City Center, a company that owns a building in downtown L.A. that was leased to Gap as a storefront for Ye's Yeezy clothing line. As part of their agreement, it was said that Gap wasn't allowed to modify the building without permission.

The clothing brand tried to pass the blame to Ye, insisting that the Chicago star made the changes without their approval. Through its lawsuit, Gap wants the "Donda" artist to be held responsible for any damages. It additionally demands Ye to pay $2 million in compensatory damages as well as attorney's fees.

Gap ended its partnership with Ye last year amid controversy surrounding his anti-Semitic comments. "Anti-Semitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values," Gap said in a statement at the time.

In response to that, Ye claimed during an appearance on CNBC that the venture failed because he is a "king." The embattled rapper said at the time, "Everyone knows that I'm the leader, I'm the king. A king can't live in someone else's castle. A king has to make his own castle."

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President Joe Biden speaks about jobs during a visit to semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed Inc., in Durham, N.C., March 28. AP-Yonhap



Korea has asked the United States to review the latter's proposed limit on the expansion of production by Korean semiconductor manufacturers in China, a U.S. public notice showed Tuesday.



The request comes about two months after the U.S. Department of Commerce said the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act will limit to five percent the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing capacity in China and other "foreign countries of concern" for companies that receive incentives under the U.S. act.



"The ROK believes that the "guardrail provisions" should not be implemented in a manner that imposes an unreasonable burden on companies investing in the United States," Seoul said in comments on the proposed rule of the CHIPS Act funding.



"In this vein, the ROK requests the U.S. Government to review the proposed rule's current definitions of "material expansion", "legacy semiconductor", and other key terms," it added, according to documents released by the Federal Register.



ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, Korea's official name.



The CHIPS act offers up to $52.7 billion in subsidies to semiconductor manufacturers that invest in new production facilities in the U.S., but allows the U.S. government to "claw back" incentives provided to any company that violates the so-called "guardrail provisions."



Seoul asked to ask to "further clarify the scope of restricted activities under the "Technology Clawback."



"The ROK will be submitting more detailed comments to the U.S. Government on how these important points may be addressed," it said.



"The ROK requests the U.S. Government to actively consider the ROK's comments when finalizing the detailed rules on the "guardrail provisions"," it added. (Yonhap)




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The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star was 'cleaned up' and tended to by a team of highly paid professionals in a suite at the JW Marriott hotel before attending the premiere of his new movie 'Jeanne du Barry'.

May 24, 2023

AceShowbiz - Johnny Depp received a special pampering session before making his recent glorious appearance at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival. The notoriously grubby actor was reportedly given a hefty makeover before he attended the premiere of his new movie "Jeanne du Barry".

"He was cleaned up," a festival insider told Page Six, several days after the French movie had its world premiere in Cannes, France. He reportedly was tended by a team of highly paid professionals in a suite at the JW Marriott hotel on La Croisette, where rooms start at $1,000 a night.

Another source spilled that the 59-year-old Hollywood star was especially dressed for the week by his longtime stylist Samantha McMillen. He was also dressed by Dior for the movie's press conference as well as a dinner thrown by the brand and Moet et Chandon champagne. Dior also paid for his grooming.

For the premiere of the period drama at the the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, Depp wore a bespoke tuxedo by Dior designer Kim Jones. His hair was styled in a ponytail as he wore sunglasses and a pair of earrings.

Despite his dashing look at Cannes, fans were turned off by his "rotten" teeth. In photos taken at the Tuesday, May 16 event, the Golden Globe winner's teeth looked discolored and riddled with brown spots.

After seeing the pictures, some Twitter users couldn't help but poke fun at the actor. One person wrote, "Johnny Depp's teeth are literally ROTTING." Another tweeted, "The score is currently as yellow as his teeth. Congratulations!"

A disgusted user reacted, "why do i have to see closeup pics of johnny depp's teeth against my will." Someone else mocked the actor, "johnny depp just looks like someone grabbed his teeth and painted them black."

Despite the criticism over his yellowed teeth, Depp received a seven-minute standing ovation after the premiere of the movie at Cannes. In a clip shared by Variety, he could be seen wiping tears from his eyes before raising his hands in a gesture of thanks and hugging his director and co-star Maiwenn.

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To inspire the spirit of immersive discovery amongst travellers who prioritise transformative well-being, the Hyatt Asia Pacific marketing team selected BBDO Singapore to conceptualise and execute its regional Alila brand campaign.

With 18 properties across seven countries, Alila has been elevating the definition of luxury hospitality since its first hotel opened in Jakarta in 2001, eventually joining Hyatt in 2018. The brand plans to open more properties in Vietnam and China in the coming years. It is galvanising this expansion with a creative communication campaign that goes beyond traditional spiels on luxury but sincerely speaks to the discerning desires of guests as the doors of international travel have reopened.

Guests of Alila hotels and resorts are warmly invited to "Transcend Your Journey"  the name of the campaign. It represents a philosophy transcending four walls, like architecture integrated into nature's surroundings. It transcends physical relaxation, as guests attain emotional states that promote holistic well-being and harmony. And it transcends the present, for these rare encounters spark wonder and become lasting memories. Guests are invited to embrace an all-rounded transcendent experience in whichever destination there is an Alila property.

BBDO Singapore worked with Bali-based production house AVB Media Asia to execute this vision. The "Transcend Your Journey" campaign is anchored by a brand film that adopts a multi-sensorial, transcendent technique to create an immersive sensation that best encapsulates the Alila experience. The film looks to the world of ASMR to achieve this, capturing macro shots of Alila properties that merge a therapeutic trinity of sight, sound and touch.

"You need to experience Alila's properties to believe it. To truly create an experience as though you are there, we created an immersive campaign steeped in ASMR-inspired shots that blend with serene yet majestic shots of Alila's destination experiences that evoke authentic sounds and sights", says Tay Guan Hin, Creative Chairman of BBDO Singapore.

Shot across several locations  featuring Alila Ubud, Alila Villas Uluwatu, and Alila Kothaifaru Maldives  the film features awe-inspiring moments ranging from standing at the foot of roaring waterfalls and being blessed in a sacred cliff-top temple in Bali, to dipping into the mesmerising turquoise waters of Maldives. These picturesque sanctuaries in nature convey a vivid message: Alila properties provide transcendent spaces for all guests to reflect, breathe and restore.

The "Transcend Your Journey" campaign extends its influence beyond the brand film, encompassing various touchpoints across social media, digital advertising, and the cosy confines of guest accommodations. This comprehensive approach crafts a captivating sensory adventure, enticing viewers to transcend their journey from the moment their curiosity is sparked until the hotel's final checkout.

Carina Chorengel, Senior Vice President - Commercial, Asia Pacific of Hyatt added, "More than ever, luxury travellers are seeking authentic and original experiences while embarking on a journey to restore the body, mind and spirit. At Alila, it isn't just about going somewhere but how it touches you through those sublime moments that connect you more deeply to the destination that you're in. With the 'Transcend Your Journey' campaign, we hope to spark wonder and inspire travellers to discover more with Alila hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific."
The three-day Goafest 2023, South Asias biggest advertising festival, got underway at the Grand Hyatt today. The festival kicked off with a performance by Kanika Kapoor, which was followed by the traditional lamp lighting and welcome address by key dignitaries.

Thereafter, the first session of the 16th edition of Goafest 2023 commenced with News18 Network presenting, Future of Creativity, which highlights the theme of this edition of the festival  [The future of creativity is here. The panel discussion was moderated by Rohit Ohri, Chairman & CEO, FCB Ulka, and the panellists included:

Anusha Shetty, Chairperson & Group CEO, Grey Group India

Josy Paul, Chairman & Group CCO, BBDO

T Gangadhar, Co-Founder and Group CEO Quotient Ventures

Dheeraj Sinha, CEO & Chairman, Leo Burnett & BBH.

What emerged from the discussion is that the future of creativity lies in the seamless integration of technology, empowering individuals to explore new horizons and redefine traditional boundaries, ultimately revolutionising the way we express, communicate, and experience.

T Gangadhar made a very interesting note about technology and our place, wherein creativity is involved. Its not man versus machine, but it is man with machine, he emphasised, adding, You need technology to run your data, but you need a human mind to add value to it.

On the other hand, Dheeraj Sinha stated, We believe that this is the best time to be in the business. Today, you have such a huge palette to play around with vis-a-vis images and copy that could be played around with back in the day. Creativity is the power to solve problems, which we have done, but now, imagine adding data and technology to it! The possibility is limitless!

The panellist went on to discuss the importance of hiring capable talent that will only raise the bar of creation. To this end, Dheeraj SInha rightly mentioned, There is no future for business if there is no future for this talent.

More importantly, Anusha Shetty highlighted an opportunity, stating, With every change that we witness, finding talent to embrace new changes is getting more complex. While commenting on talents and searching the right fit for an agency, Josy Paul said, A talent should be a combination of a visionary, missionary, and an artist!

Rohit Ohri also probed questions on the structure that organisations need to put in place to enable creativity. The panellists gave informative insights regarding structure requirements of an organisation and the need to rework the idea of hierarchy.
UK-based premium fashion brand, Urbanic, partners with Earth Angels Welfare Foundation in Mumbai to empower slum kids of Urban India via their digital learning initiative. The school is one of its kind, located at Govandi, in Eastern Mumbai. Govandi houses one of the largest slum dwellings in the city. The digital school aims to educate children from there, training them in the English language, and empowering them digitally.

James Wellwood, the founding partner of Urbanic, made a trip to India to visit and interact with the children, introducing them to the initiative prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony last month. He further elaborated, This initiative aligns with the core values of Urbanic, that makes a difference and creates value. It reflects the brands perspective and via this tech-driven learning centre, we aim to include all youth to help make the future better, brighter.

The children and their parents alike were enthusiastic about the opening of the learning centre, and shared reasons they looked forward to the one-of-a-king undertaking. The children were eager to break through the generational cycle of suffering, and wanted to open doors to a future where they could achieve bigger and better dreams. The Urbanic team highlighted the importance of basic communication skills, especially in a world that is geared toward continual digital evolvement. Rahul Dayama, the Head of Marketing, Urbanic, says, We feel honoured to be a part of this noble cause, giving opportunities to children from unfortunate circumstances a unique path to reach their full potential. We believe community engagement is key with these engagements, and have spent a great amount of time creating awareness, and stressing upon the importance of a digital education to young and old alike.

The aim of this endeavour is to implement the desire to be in-tune with digital learnings and developments, and develop and hone communication in the English language as a life skill, especially amongst the underprivileged. Fostering this learning upon children at an impressionable age helps create a sense of independence and improves self-esteem, all while garnering wider opportunities for them. The physical school will serve as a portal toward amplifying educational and future employment opportunities, as well as enabling better decision making and creating independent youth.
Wunderman Thompson has today announced the appointment of Vaishali Sarkar as President of Wunderman Thompson Canada. Vaishali moves to Canada with her family from Indonesia, where she has served as CEO of Wunderman Thompson Indonesia for the past three years.

Since joining Wunderman Thompson Indonesia in 2020, Vaishali has successfully led the company through the JWT, Wunderman and Mirum merger. Shortly after her start date when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she led the agency remotely for her first two years. During that time, she landed and led Danone Aqua, Indonesia's biggest water brand, followed by a series of New Business Wins including Perfetti Van Melle, Nestles KitKat and Purina. During her 3-year tenure, Vaishali has consolidated the agency business with a strong client portfolio, plus the building and training of the best talent.

Vaishali Sarkar said: I absolutely love the Wunderman Thompson culture, and the power of our network gives me the opportunity to draw on my experience here in Indonesia to another important market  Canada. Wunderman Thompson North Americas creative reputation is strong, and some amazing work is originating in Canada. I look forward to helping our clients and talent in Canada expand and grow to be the best they can be.

Vaishalis appointment as President of Wunderman Thompson Canada will see her lead the Toronto and Montreal offices, with clients including HSBC, Microsoft and automotive brands. The Canada network is best known for its Fast Company World Changing Ideas success and leader in incorporating cutting-edge technology and creative data throughout its work.

Wunderman Thompson Canada has been responsible for work such as the The Immortal Poppy NFT for The Royal Canadian Legion. The Luckiest Red for HSBC, which celebrated Lunar New Year using AI to determine the most prevalent shade of red across countless Asian art pieces, then bottled and shared with Asian artists who created original art for AAPI month. Most recently the agency was responsible for Remastered Memories for True Patriot Love Foundation which used A.I. image generator MidJourney to bring to life war scenes described in serving members' letters home to loved ones.

Audrey Melofchik, CEO, Wunderman ThompsonNorth America added: Vaishali is a proven leader in our network who has been at home at WPP agencies for the majority of her career and is deeply familiar with many of the same brands we share as clients. Shes known to be an open leader with a heart for her team and a mind for setting up agencies and clients for success.

Prior to Wunderman Thompson, Vaishali spent much of her 30+ year career at Ogilvy throughout Asia, growing its offerings and delivering marketing solutions across all disciplines and emerging technologies for brands including American Express, Seagram, Unilever, Nestle, UNICEF, and Johnson & Johnson. Throughout her time at Ogilvy offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and later, Indonesia, she garnered honours including Cannes Lions, Campaign Asia's Agency of the Year, WARC distinctions and ECHO Awards.

During her only pause from WPP, Vaishali served as CEO at BBDO Indonesia for a year, attracting and retaining some of the best talent for the agency to build a strong leadership team across Account Management, Strategic Planning, and Creative.

Vaishali Sarkar will begin the role of President of Wunderman Thompson Canada in June. Her Indonesia successor will be announced shortly.
Wacoal, the celebrated premium lingerie brand from Japan has appointed Mr. Hirokuni Nagamori as Wacoal Indias Chief Executive Officer (CEO). His new role will see him spearheading brand expansion while providing value to more customers by accelerating channels such as Ecommerce and MBO.

Mr. Hirokuni Nagamori's journey with Wacoal began in 2006 when he joined Wacoal Japan. Having worked in various roles like Production Control, and Merchandiser in Thailand, and Indonesia, Hirokuni Nagamori has been involved in the global business department and has gained valuable insights in the apparel industry. Furthermore, with his deep-rooted experience in merchandising and SCM (Supply Chain Management) in Japan, Hirokuni Nagamori plans to utilize his knowledge to strengthen the product range, thus, helping Wacoal to achieve its goals. He intends to introduce best-selling, top-notch products in countries worldwide and use Wacoal's technology and innovation to develop products that Indian women require.

In the short term, Hirokuni Nagamori envisions establishing a foundation as a brand by expanding channels and also endeavors to accelerate the companys growth by expanding Wacoal Indias product portfolio. (to be confirmed with Kimaya). The objective at every stage of the product development will lie solely in helping throughout the country express their beauty.

"We are excited to announce the appointment of Mr. Hirokuni Nagamori as CEO of Wacoal India. With his extensive experience and leadership, we are confident that Wacoal India will continue to expand its brand recognition and product offerings to meet the needs of Indian women. I am thrilled to work alongside Mr. Hirokuni Nagamori and the rest of our team as we strive toward our vision of becoming a leading brand in the Indian lingerie industry. With his guidance, we are confident that Wacoal India will continue to thrive and grow." said Pooja Merani, COO of Wacoal India.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Hirokuni Nagamori, CEO of Wacoal India, stated, "As the CEO of Wacoal India, I am incredibly thrilled for the opportunity to lead this dynamic organization and excited

for what lies ahead. At Wacoal India, we are committed to offering innovative products that not only meet the diverse tastes of Indian women but also provide them with greater comfort and beauty - and this will further help in expanding our brand awareness. I have seen the power of the Wacoal brand in action ever since I joined Wacoal. With our team's dedication, Wacoal India is poised to become a true force in the Indian intimate apparel industry.

Wacoal is all about science, technology and innovation to provide the best and the most comfortable lingerie for women while boosting their confidence. Every Wacoal creation is an example of product uniqueness. With a customer loyalty rate of 70%+ and a presence in online marketplaces, the brand's focus remains to provide the accurate fit to make women feel comfortable inside and confident outside.
Rep. Mark Takano, right, and Korean Veterans Affairs Minister Park Min-shik are seen shaking hands during their meeting in Seoul, in this photo provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, in this Aug. 4, 2022 file photo. Yonhap



The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill on providing healthcare services to former Korean veterans of the Vietnam War who have since become naturalized citizens of the United States, the office of Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) said Tuesday.



The bill, titled the Korean American Vietnam Allies Long Overdue for Relief Act or the Korean American VALOR Act, was unanimously passed by the House on Monday, according to an aide to Rep. Mark Takano.



The bill was introduced in January by Takano, ranking member of the House committee on veterans' affairs (VA).



"Naturalized Korean American Vietnam War veterans fought bravely alongside their U.S brothers and sisters but have never been eligible for VA healthcare services," Takano was quoted as saying.



The proposed act, if enacted, will allow naturalized former Korean veterans of the Vietnam War to receive the same medical services provided to American veterans and former veterans of European nations that were allies of the U.S. during World War I and World War II.



Takano's office earlier said there are some 2,800 former Korean veterans of the Vietnam War who now reside in the U.S.



Former veterans of U.S. allies in Europe have had access to the VA healthcare system in the U.S. since 1958, according to Takano, who earlier stressed that the Korean American VALOR Act is already "long overdue."



The bill needs to pass the Senate before it can be signed into law by the president.



"I am ecstatic that the House passed my bipartisan Korean American VALOR Act, which would rectify this injustice. With this passage, we are one step closer to ensuring that Korean American Vietnam war veterans get the VA medical care that they deserve," he added, according to his office. (Yonhap)


Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey criticized recent pledges by Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and a few other GOP lawmakers to add more lanes to Interstate 65 through Alabama as something aimed at making easy headlines, while saying she operates in the bounds of reality when it comes to road construction planning.

The governor defended the Rebuild Alabama program, created in 2019 through a gradual 10-cent-per-gallon increase in the states fuel tax. The approximately $350 million in new revenues generated each year through the program goes toward a statewide road improvement program, improvements at the State Docks, and to add electric vehicle charging stations.

The law also established a grant program that sets aside $10 million each year for local road and bridge projects. That program has funded road projects in all 67 Alabama counties. The governors office last announced 21 projects receiving grant money in March that includes road widenings, resurfacings, and bridge improvements.

And widening I-65, Ivey said, has received funding through Rebuild Alabama and the state is planning for a $200 million widening of the interstate for more than 7 miles between Calera and Alabaster.

Who doesnt want to widen 65? Ivey said in a statement to AL.com. The truth is, there are transportation infrastructure needs all over this state. Yes, we are addressing them quicker than ever, primarily because I championed the Rebuild Alabama Act, which by the way, has already led to needed 65 and other instate improvements. So, yes, I agree that we should widen 65, but I operate in the bounds of reality, and I recognize needs in all parts of the state, including the county roads and city streets that Alabama citizens use everyday to get to work, to school and to the grocery store.

A spokeswoman for Ainsworth said the lieutenant governor stands by a statement he sent to AL.com in which he said that Alabama for too long has been served by knee-jerk individuals who quickly list reasons why some major initiatives cannot be done. He said that he prefers to seek the counsel of those who are willing to innovate, rise to the challenge and think of ways to make it happen.

Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth presides over the Alabama State Senate on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the State House in Montgomery, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Ainsworths full statement:

As a main artery in the state, I-65 is traveled by tourists, truckers, business people, and everyday Alabamians who simply need to get from Point A to Point B in a timely, hassle-free manner in order to lead their lives. When any of those individuals are at a standstill or crawling at a snails pace on I-65 for hours on end, it hurts our tourism, our economy, our industrial recruitment, and ALDOTs reputation among the taxpayers that each elected official in Alabama swore an oath to serve. Every single person who is reading this statement has experienced the frustration of sitting immobile on I-65 as if it were the worlds longest parking lot. Widening I-65 in order to relieve the congestion and serve taxpayers in the manner that they expect and deserve must be a top priority. For too long, Alabama has been served by knee-jerk individuals who quickly list reasons why some major initiative cannot be done, but I prefer to seek the counsel of those who are willing to innovate, rise to the challenge, and think of ways to make it happen. Alleviating the traffic problems on I-65 is a long-term project that must be approached much like eating an elephant - one bite at a time - but if Alabamas leaders have the courage to start the project and the tenacity to see it through to the end, we can make an already great state even better.

Ainsworths comments in support of I-65 comes after Alabama State Senators recently approved a resolution that urging the Alabama Department of Transportation to study and prioritize improvements and additional capacity for I-65, with the eventual goal of having an appropriate number of lanes in each direction on all sections of the interstate.

I-65 is approximately 366 miles from the Tennessee-Alabama state line to Mobile.

Ainsworth, a 2026 governors hopeful, hasnt shied from criticizing Iveys administration in the past, and the sitting governor has swatted back at times. The two Republicans were elected separately -- 18 states elect lieutenant governors separate from the governor -- while 25 states elect them jointly similar to a president and vice-president.

Ivey is term-limited and cannot run for another term, and the governors race is expected to be a wide-open contest in three years.

Notably, the two butted heads in 2020 over Iveys pandemic response. Ainsworth wrote a blistering letter to Iveys COVID task force during the onset of the pandemic, saying they were not taking a realistic approach to a surge of hospital patients. Ivey shot back and accused the lieutenant governor of being critical without offering solutions.

The rift, during the harrowing early days of the pandemic, prompted some political observers to note the rarity of having the states two top constitutional officers within the same political party at odds since the GOP took over the Statehouse majorities in 2010.

Ainsworth has been critical of ALDOTs handling of road projects. In March, the lieutenant governor said certainly think we can have better leadership that does a better job there when asked about ALDOTs leadership under longtime Director John Cooper during an appearance on FM Talk 106.5 in Mobile. He also voiced his opposition in 2019 to a proposal, backed by Ivey, to assess tolls to help finance a more than $2 billion Interstate 10 improvement project and new bridge in Mobile.

Despite the rifts, Ivey joined Ainsworth for his re-election announcement in 2021, in Lake Guntersville.

She wanted to support me and endorse our campaign, Ainsworth said later of the governor. And when the governor calls, you certainly dont say no. You say yes. Were honored to have her support.
A 22-year-old Alabama man faces charges of shooting several kinds of birds out-of-season in Louisiana.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said the incident happened May 11 in Calcasieu Parish, located in the states southwest corner.

Agents received a tip about a person shooting seagulls at a residence in Lake Charles. Agents responded to the scene the next morning and found several dead birds in an adjoining field, and in a trash can next to the house. Agents also found numerous empty shotgun shells outside the house.

During an inspection, the man pulled into the driveway. The man admitted to shooting the birds with a 12-gauge shotgun the night before during questioning, authorities said.

Agents found 14 seagulls, one ibis and one heron.

The man faces charges of taking non-game birds, taking ibis no season and taking heron no season, as well as potential fines of $400 to $950, and up to 120 days in jail for each offense. There may also be civil restitution totaling $278, according to the department.
A bill that would make it a crime to assist people with an absentee ballot application or absentee ballot, with exceptions for family members and others, won approval in a Senate committee after blind voters and officials with the League of Women Voters of Alabama said it would leave many of elderly and homebound citizens without the help they need to vote.

The bill, HB209 by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R- Russellville, was approved by the State Governmental Affairs Committee on a 5-2 vote, with Republicans voting yes and Democrats voting no. Earlier this month, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives passed the bill over opposition from Democrats.

GOP supporters of the bill called it a safeguard against voter fraud. Democrats and civic organizations say it would criminalize the work of volunteers, churches, and others who help elderly and disabled voters and work to encourage voter participation.

If passed, Alabama would make felons of law-abiding people who are volunteering to help others be prepared to vote, Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, told the committee at a public hearing that drew an audience that filled the room. In their churches, church congregations, residential facilities, senior centers, colleges, festivals, local farmers markets, barbershops, libraries, coffee shops -- voter drives happen everywhere.

Percy Garrett of the National Federation of the Blind, League of Womens Voters, Lions Club International and Blinded Veterans Association, urged Kiel to withdraw his bill.

Seniors, the disabled, and people who are just old and vote for you, we trust you to lead us and to guide us, Garrett told the committee. We pray for you to do the right thing for us. To devise a bill that will criminalize the people who vote for you is satanic.

We want to be able to be free to vote and not be fearful of causing damage to someone who helps us, Garrett said.

Keil said absentee voting is more susceptible to fraud than election day, in-person voting.

The purpose of the bill is very simple, Kiel said. Its to make sure that our balloting process, the election process in Alabama, is as secure as possible. Most of the cases where there is voter fraud across the country are in early voting. The voting day is very secure. Most of the time when there is fraud that happens, it happens early.

Section 1 of the bill would make it a crime for a person to order, request, collect, prefill, obtain, or deliver an absentee ballot application or absentee ballot for another voter. Before today, the bill also said it was a violation to distribute absentee ballot applications, which can be downloaded and printed from the secretary of states website. The committee approved an amendment to remove distribution as a violation and to change the punishment level in Section 1 of the bill from a felony to a misdemeanor. Kiel supported the amendment.

Exceptions to the prohibitions would apply to family members, residents of the same household, employees of the secretary of state and probate judge, a county or city absentee election manager, and a guardian, conservator or another person appointed by the probate court.

A person who provided assistance to a voter who is blind, disabled, or unable to read or write would have an affirmative defense if the voter asked them for that help. Kiel said the bill would leave plenty of options for those who need help with an absentee ballot application or ballot.

It could be a mother, father, son, daughter, cousin, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece, Kiel said. Any of those folks related to them, they could help them. Not only that, but they could have the probate judge in their county, or someone from their probate judges office to help them. The circuit court clerk could help them. If the circuit court clerk is not the election manager, the election manager in the city or county could help them. Theres multiple ways to get assistance in the absentee ballot process.

Section 3 of the bill applies to receiving or giving a payment for help with an absentee ballot or application. Violations would be a felony.

Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said she served on an election reform task force that did not find any problems with widespread voter fraud in Alabama. The secretary of states office has called Alabamas elections fair and accurate.

Robin Buckelew of the League of Women Voters questioned the need for the bill and the consequences that will result.

It affects elderly, homebound citizens and the immunocompromised who are afraid to venture out, Buckelew said. It affects those who have no transportation or computer printers. It affects those who are a little confused about affidavit envelopes and how to fill them out. It affects your mother, or your aunt who lives alone across the state. It makes retirement home residents into felons, or it disenfranchises them. Many people do not have close relatives living nearby. What about the prospective helpers? Who are they? They are neighbors. Theyre home care nurses. Theyre church members visiting homebound. They are meals on wheels delivery volunteers.

Asked the purpose of making certain voter assistance activities a crime, Kiel said the goal is to reduce the likelihood of undue influence on voters.

We want to make sure theres no opportunity for criminal behavior to happen or fraudulent behavior to happen, Kiel said. So what we dont want is someone to be unduly influenced while either filling out their application or when they take the ballot, we dont want the person to be unduly influenced. And the people we listed are people that should be trusted. Theyre family members, or somebody that lives with them. Or its back to the government officials that are elected and are accountable to the people.

Todays committee approval puts the bill in line for a vote by the Senate.
Alabama lawmakers will consider a bill that will divert hundreds of millions of dollars that have previously gone directly to K-12 and higher education into a new savings account and cap future education budget increases to not more than 5% by 2027.

The Senate has already passed the measure. The House Education Budget Committee is expected to vote on the bill as part of the education budget package on Wednesday. The full House could take a vote as early as Thursday.

The bill, along with a record $8.8 billion education budget and a $2.8 billion supplemental appropriation will be up for discussion Wednesday morning in the House Education Budget Committee.

Senate Education Budget Chair Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, who sponsored SB101, said he wants to change the Rolling Reserve Act to create the new savings account, called the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund. The new fund is designed to hold on to Alabamas unprecedented revenue surpluses which can be used to ensure recent education initiatives like the Literacy Act and the Numeracy Act can continue to expand and grow.

Support for the Literacy and Numeracy Acts, which should improve foundational reading and math skills, will eventually cost about $100 million each to keep up and running, he said.

A new savings account - the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund

The new savings account would be there in case the economy stagnates or takes a downturn, Orr said. To have that money to draw down to be able to continue these initiatives that require ever-increasing funding until we get to a point - thats several years out - till were at capacity.

The Senate has already approved a $500 million allocation for the new savings account out of the $2.8 billion supplemental bill.

Another reason to create the new bucket, Orr said, is because the Budget Stabilization Fund - another savings account already in place - can only be accessed if the Governor declares proration, meaning budgets have to be cut because revenue predictions arent holding true. Putting money into the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund is a way to stash excess revenue that can be more easily accessed, he said.

The new savings account sounds good to Alabama Association of School Boards Executive Director Sally Smith, as long as its spent on traditional Education Trust Fund expenditures. We worked with Sen. Orr to help improve the language to ensure that it would go to ETF expenditures, she said.

The bill allows money to be withdrawn from the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund to provide one-time funding under two conditions:

When a 2% reduction in revenue is expected,

To provide funding for existing ETF obligations or for support for initiatives that provide access to enhanced educational opportunities to students in K-12 and higher education.

And while the new fund does divert money from K-12 schools being able to use it immediately, Smith said she is more concerned about how this action combined with other actions lawmakers are considering will impact education funding overall.

Were looking at a number of tax credits. Were looking at a number of tax cuts. Were looking at perhaps some new programs in addition to this policy, Smith said. All impact available revenue, and how they work with each other or against each other in what many anticipate is an economic downturn is concerning.

Lawmakers are still grappling with what type of tax cuts and rebates they might pass before the session ends.

Capping future budget increases

The other big change proposed by SB101 in how education is funded is that it caps budget increases to not more than 6 % for the current budget, and drops the percentage by half a point each year until it stops at not more than a 5% increase by fiscal year 2027.

Budget increases for the past five years have ranged from 1% in 2018 and 2021 to 8% for the current budget year.

There are already two caps to keep lawmakers in check:

A fiscal year appropriation cap that takes into account changes in yearly revenues for the prior 15 years and

An estimate calculated by the Executive Budget Office and the Legislative Fiscal Office.

Currently, the yearly cap is the lesser of those two figures. Caps were put in place after multiple years of the legislature budgeting more money than taxes brought in, triggering proration, meaning education and other state agencies had to cut budgets mid-year. Proration has not occurred since the Rolling Reserve Act became law.

Orr said a third cap - called the secondary spending limit - is needed because the extraordinary increases in revenue in recent years have pushed the 2024 cap to $10.9 billion - a 32% increase over the current years budget. Orr has said previously he isnt comfortable budgeting anywhere near that amount. The Senate has approved an $8.8 billion budget.

Since 2021, lawmakers have budgeted under the calculated cap, which has created another issue that is being addressed in SB101.

Excess revenues - The waterfall

In addition to setting a budget cap, the law prescribes what happens to excess tax revenue that comes in beyond what was budgeted. The excess revenue currently flows into a series of accounts - the Rainy Day Fund, the Budget Stabilization Fund and the Advancement and Technology Fund, in that order - when lawmakers budget to the cap.

But if lawmakers budget below the cap, which they have done for the three most recent budget years, the excess revenue goes into a bucket for lawmakers to spend at will. Thats why lawmakers are currently considering how to spend $2.8 billion in excess revenue.

SB101 removes the exception for budgeting below the cap and sets up a new flow, or waterfall for excess revenue that looks like this:

First, excess revenue fills the Rainy Day Fund until it is fully repaid from the last round of proration, which it is fully repaid,

Next, the Budget Stabilization Fund gets an amount equal to 1% of the current years budget until the balance equals 10% of the current years budget,

After that, heres how the remainder is divided: 50% is put into the Advancement and Technology Fund, 20% is put into the new Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund, and 30% will remain in the Education Trust Fund for lawmakers to decide how to spend.



The big change in that flow from how it works currently is that the Advancement and Technology Fund, which is split between K-12 and higher education, will get only half as much as it currently receives. Schools use that money for non-recurring expenditures such as repairs and maintenance, school security measures and for technology, among other uses.

Smith said she would like more money to flow to the Advancement and Technology Fund, but shes waiting to see what happens in the House.

The good thing, Smith said, is the moneys never lost. And if it misses its mark or if it does not operate as the sponsor intends, we will certainly come back to the legislature and work on changes.

Orr said hes willing to consider tweaks down the road if those percentages need changing.

If it proves to be too much, too little whatever, Orr said, we can always revisit that. But right now, I think it gives us the flexibility to address one-time needs.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is trailing former President Donald Trump badly in most polling as he gears up for a presidential campaign that begins tonight with an official announcement on Twitter.

But for Alabama Republican officials, the 44-year-old DeSantis is very much a serious candidate who has the policy chops to topple the mighty Trump whose victories in past presidential contests were by margins over 25 percentage points, and who steamrolled over the rest of the GOP field during the 2016 primaries.

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They say nothing is etched in stone, including any notion that Trump is sailing to an easy victory during the states March 5, 2024, primaries held on Super Tuesday. Fourteen other states will hold primaries that day during an election that could foretell Democratic President Joe Bidens likely general election opponent.

I hear from people who say they are welcoming DeSantis in the race, and some who have said they will vote for Trump again, said Jackie Gay, chairwoman of the Escambia County Republican Party in South Alabama. Its 50/50 right now.

Michael Hoyt, chairman of the Baldwin County GOP, said he is uncertain about what is being reflected in the recent polling, but suspects DeSantis is trailing largely because he has not yet announced his candidacy.

People in Baldwin County, as you know, are supportive of President Trump, said Hoyt. They voted for him in overwhelming numbers. I think they will continue to support him, however, with Governor DeSantis entering the race, a number of other candidates, its not a shoe-in for Trump. It will be an interesting primary season to see what happens.

Oxygen in the room

President Donald Trump, left, introduces Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a campaign rally at the BB&T Center on Nov. 26, 2019, in Sunrise, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/TNS)

For now, polling shows Trump trouncing DeSantis and all the other candidates in the GOP field.

FiveThirtyEights average of polls has Trump, with 53% support among likely GOP voters, leading by over 33 percentage points ahead of DeSantis, who is firmly in second place with 20.7% support.

RealClearPolitics has Trump with an even wider lead, according to its polling averages. The former president, with 56.3% support among GOP voters, is up by over 36 percentage points against DeSantis, who has slipped below 20%.

Trump also enjoys sizable advantages over DeSantis in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

There has been no recent polling of the March 5 contest in Alabama.

The rest of the field includes former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, Dallas pastor Ryan Binkley, former conservative media personality Larry Elder, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Among the group, Pence is the only one to not officially announce his candidacy.

The majority of Republican primary voters are looking at Donald Trump and other candidates for president, said Brent Buchanan, a Republican Party pollster based in Montgomery. However, Donald Trump is sucking up all the oxygen in the room, which is why youve seen a decrease in Ron DeSantis ballot share but not a decrease in the favorability of his image. People vote for the familiar, and right now Donald Trump is most familiar to voters.

Steady leadership

Indeed, Trump is the tried-and-true candidate among Alabamas GOP.

But some conservatives believe the ex-presidents track record in the state could be an obstacle. He has alienated and bashed popular Alabama politicians before, namely former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. And last year, he frustrated conservative supporters of U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks for rescinding an endorsement and calling the former House Freedom Caucus member woke.

Kevin Spriggs, a Baldwin County businessman and past Trump supporter, said some conservatives remain frustrated over Trumps handling of the endorsements during last years U.S. Senate race that was won by Katie Britt. Trump originally endorsed Brooks in April 2021, only to rescind that endorsement and back Britt as she surged in the polls leading up to last years primary and runoff.

Brooks was among Trumps staunchest allies in Congress following the 2020 presidential election.

CULLMAN, ALABAMA - AUGUST 21: Former U.S. President Donald Trump (R) welcomes candidate for U.S. Senate and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) to the stage during a "Save America" rally at York Family Farms on August 21, 2021 in Cullman, Alabama. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Getty Images

I dont like especially the way Trump acted and treated some conservatives like accusing Mo Brooks of going woke, said Spriggs. Thats an absolutely absurd and untrue statement.

Spriggs said he supports DeSantis, and believes the GOP needs more steady, and I guess, more predictable and well-mannered leadership.

Claire Austin, the GOP party chairwoman in Bullock County  a small county of around 10,000 residents, and of the few reliably Democratic counties in Alabama with over 70% of its population Black  said she believes most Republicans in Alabama are supportive of the Florida governor, while Trump still has supporters, but has had some issues.

Im not sure if the term is volatile, but as Republicans, we have to put the best candidate forward to make sure we defeat Joe Biden at the end of the day, Austin said.

DeSantis, himself, has embraced Trumps policies, but casts himself as a younger and more electable version of the former president.

Trump was criticized for endorsing candidates who lost during last Novembers elections, while DeSantis cruised to re-election victory in Florida.

We look over at Florida and see what he has done there in taking Florida from a blue state and purple state to a solid red state and with overwhelming conservative platform  (GOP voters) appreciate the governance of Governor DeSantis, Hoyt said.

Austin and other GOP officials say they were impressed by DeSantis when the Florida governor visited Alabama and was the featured speaker during the state GOPs winter dinner on March 9 in Hoover.

The media was not allowed to cover the event, but Austin said it was one of the largest crowds weve seen at a state GOP event.

He resonated with so many Alabama voters, she said.

DeSantiss appearance at the event helped the party raise nearly $700,000 and break attendance records with more than 1,700 at the dinner, according to previous media coverage. The previous attendance record was set in 2011.

The Alabama Republican party is not endorsing any candidates before the primary.

Rebekah Cornelison, chairwoman of the Monroe County GOP, said a separate DeSantis speech in Montgomery was also memorable among likely conservative voters, and sparked a lot of great feedback.

President Trump has a huge following in Monroe County and there are people who are loyal to Mr. Trump, she said. But I definitely think (DeSantis) has a chance. There are just so many who dont want to deal with the baggage he brings  I am talking about those (Republicans) outside of Monroe County.

Smart road

Jonathan Gray, a longtime GOP strategist in Mobile, said that he would be surprised to see DeSantis change much in his strategy after announcing his candidacy.

He said that DeSantis is being deliberate in comments in not alienating the conservative base that has long backed Trump.

Gray said he could see DeSantis taking advantage of the very thing that has likely contributed to Trumps surging poll numbers: The ex-presidents mounting legal challenges.

There is a play here for DeSantis to become the ghost candidate if something happens to Trump, said Gray, noting that if Trump is convicted of a felony, he can no longer run for the presidency. I think that is why you are seeing the DeSantis team not go after Trump. They dont want to alienate the base.

Gray said DeSantis, at his age, could also still be a plausible vice president candidate to Trump, creating a powerful general election ticket to go up against the incumbent Democratic president.

Trump and DeSantis were allies once, before DeSantis political profile increased while he loosened coronavirus protocols during the onset of the pandemic.

I think DeSantis is taking the smart road, Gray said. I think hes opening up himself a home Donald Trump (supporters) can come to.

Hoyt, of Baldwin County, said he believes DeSantis standing among Alabama Republicans will grow following his official entrance into the 2024 presidential race.

When he announces and there is further polling on this (race), I think he will do well in Baldwin County and do well in Alabama in general, he said.

2016 callback?

Over 1,000 people turned out to hear Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speak at the Daphne Civic Center as part of his "Take off with Ted Cruz Country Christmas Tour," on Saturday Dec. 19, 2015 in Daphne, Ala. Cruz's visit to Alabama was one of many that occurred in 2015 and 2016 ahead of the March 1, 2016, presidential primary. (file photo)

But will DeSantis candidacy be the 2024 version of 2016s Ted Cruz? The Texas senator was the clear No. 2 behind Trump that year but suffered large losses in states like Alabama.

Trump won all 67 counties during Alabamas March 1, 2016, primary.

A large GOP field was also beneficial to Trump. In Alabama, Trump won with 371,735 voters or 43.4%. Cruz finished with 180,608 votes, or 21.1%. His vote total combined with the rest of the field -- which included Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- was 484,401 votes, or more than enough to have defeated Trump.

Regina Wagner, an associate political science professor at the University of Alabama, suggested that history might be repeating itself with DeSantis in the same position as Cruz was seven years ago.

I personally think it will be hard for anyone -- DeSantis, Haley, Scott, whoever else may enter the race -- to get a serious shot at victory because they are essentially dividing the non-Trump vote among each other and none of them, at least so far, is making a serious argument as to why someone who likes or at least tolerates Trump should pick them over him, she said.
A former Alabama veterinary student pleaded guilty to Tuesday in connection with the disappearance of more than a dozen horses she promised owners she would rehome for them.

Fallon Danielle Blackwood, a 28-year-old Boaz woman, entered her guilty plea just as her trial was set to begin. A jury was seated Monday, and opening statements were set to begin on Tuesday.

Instead, Blackwood pleaded guilty to one count of bring property into the state under false pretenses, which is a Class C felony, and 12 counts of fourth-degree receiving stolen property.

Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said Blackwood was sentenced to 31 months in prison and one year on each misdemeanor charge, but the sentence was suspended, and she was placed on five years of supervised probation.

Blackwood graduated from Tuskegee University Veterinary School but was never granted a license by the state licensing board.

She was a student at the time she took 13 horses from various people, Casey said, and those horses were never seen again.

As part of her probation, Blackwood was ordered to have no contact with equine either personally or professionally, and she was ordered to pay restitution to eight victims.

Blackwood was first arrested on the Alabama charges in 2019 while she was at a Blount County rodeo. She had previously been arrested in another state on similar charges and pleaded guilty to a felony crime.

According to non-profit Stolen Horse International NetPosse, Blackwood pleaded guilty in North Carolina to a felony for obtaining horses under false pretenses before selling them to horse slaughter. A Martin County judge ordered Fallon Blackwood, of Alabama, not to own or be around horses [or other animals] even at rodeos for two years.

Blackwood was sentenced to probation, fines, and fees of just over $1,600.

Casey said she could not say what happened to the horses after Blackwood took possession of them, but Stolen Horse International believes she sold them to kill buyers in the horse auction business and that most of the horses are believed to have been slaughtered in Mexico for meat.

The non-profit said 63 horses from six states were reported to Stolen Horse International, NetPosse. Additionally, the group said in a press release, NetPosse has since learned of a great many other horses taken by Fallon Blackwood.

These are photos of some of the horses that disappeared after Fallon Blackwood took custody of them and promised to rehome. (NetPosse)

One of the victims, Lindsay Rosentrater, then living in Georgia, told her story to AL.com several years ago.

Rosentrater and her husband in January 2018 found they were expecting a child and were not in a solid financial position to care for their aging horse, Willie.

The horse was almost 15 years old and suffered from ailments that prevented him from being ridden.

Additionally, the farm where Willie was being kept was going through a transition and all of the boarded horses had to be out by the end of the month.

I felt like I didnt have the time he truly deserved so I went out in search of a forever and loving retirement home for him, Rosentrater said.

I posted an ad to my personal Facebook page, horse related Facebook groups and Craigslist. My ad was titled: ISO Forever Loving Home For Sweet Retired Appendix Gelding.

Within 24 hours, Rosentrater said, Blackwood contacted her after seeing the ad on Craigslist and said she had a horse farm in Boaz.

She said she was very interested, was a vet student and had a barrel (racing) horse that needed a companion, Rosentrater said. It seemed too good to be true.

The two women spoke by phone and arranged for Blackwood to travel to Georgia to meet Willie. That introduction took place on a cold, rainy Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, at a Cherokee County, Ga. barn.

Blackwood showed up with a truck and horse trailer.

My heart dropped, Rosentrater said.

I was under the impression she was coming to just meet Willie and I but in reality, she did drive about three hours to get to us so I could understand her strategy as we werent a quick drive from her home in Alabama. She decided to bring the trailer in case she really liked him. It seemed logical to me considering how much it would be to fuel her truck.

Blackwood told Rosentrater that she wanted to take Willie with her that day. That caught me off guard, Rosentrater said. I was surprised and explained how I wasnt emotionally, mentally or professionally prepared. I hadnt planned for him to leave that day as I was anticipating a visit only.

Rosentrater, who obtained a college degree in Equestrian Studies and is by all accounts an educated horse owner, quickly drew up an impromptu contract that stated, in part, if Blackwood was unable to keep Willie for any reason, he would be returned to Rosentrater.

The transaction was completed, and Blackwood loaded up Willie.

He started screaming for me down the road. I just sat in the barn and cried, Rosentrater said. But I had to dust myself off. I was going into a new chapter, and I was doing what was best for him. It was the selfless, right thing to do.

Rosentrater and Blackwood texted over the coming days and weeks.

Every couple of days I checked in, Rosentrater said. But I asked her for a photo of Willie, and she wouldnt send me one. I asked her repeatedly.

Rosentrater said her suspicions deepened.

First, she used Google Earth to look up the address of the Boaz barn, but there was no barn at that address. Next, she confided in a friend who worked in horse rescue who immediately recognized Blackwoods name.

She pulls up Facebook and a private rescue group had flagged her name for doing business will kill-buyers, Rosentrater said. I immediately started bawling my eyes out.

Rosentrater reached back out to Blackwood and said she had made a terrible mistake, and though she had given Willie to Blackwood for free, she was willing to buy him back.

She wouldnt respond, she said. She texted Blackwood again and told her, I knew what her gig was. Later that night, Rosentrater launched a Facebook page called Finding Willie.

Overnight, it blew up, Rosentrater said. I was contacted by other horse owners with the same story. It was horrifying to me.

Blackwood saw the Facebook Page and pleaded with Rosentrater to take it down, she said.

There was back-and-forth conversation between the two, with Blackwood claiming she had given Willie to a family for their young children. Eventually, all communication ceased.
UPDATE: Authorities said Leon Michael Jolly is back in custody.

EARLIER: A man serving prison time for murder is on the run after authorities say he escaped custody Wednesday afternoon.

Leon Michael Jolly, 54, is serving a 30-year sentenced for the 2006 death of his girlfriend, Martha Hardy. The woman died of strangulation, according to court records.

Jolly pleaded guilty to murder in Madison County in 2008.

Jolly was currently assigned to the Childersburg Community Based Facility and Community Work Center on Plant Road in Childersburg, according to Central Alabama Crime Stoppers.

At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jolly reportedly walked away from his assigned municipal squad.

Jolly is 5-feet, 8-inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds. He is now facing an escape charge.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP (7867) or 1-833-AL1-STOP (833-251-7867). Tips can also be submitted through the agencys P3-tips app.
Eighteen new recipients of Seoul honorary citizenship pose with Seoul Metropolitan Government's Administrative Deputy Mayor Kim Eui-seung during a ceremony at Seoul City Hall on Dec. 9, 2022 / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government





By Ko Dong-hwan







The Seoul city government has begun its annual search for foreign residents who contribute to the development of the capital in various areas in order to bestow honorary citizenship upon them.







Starting today, the International Cooperation Division under the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Economic Policy Office, will receive recommendations for candidates. The window for Honorary Seoul Citizenship is open until July 6.







Foreign nationals who have lived in the city for three consecutive years or a cumulative total of five years, are eligible to for consideration. In addition, those who contributed to improving the international reputation of the city, raising the quality of life of Seoulites and playing a key role in boosting the city's economy or implementing advanced technologies or science for the improvement of the city are also eligible to enter.







The International Cooperation Division will select the pool of candidates and submit it to a special jury committee for recognition. The jurors include experts in city administration and diplomatic relations. Screened finalists will be shared with the Seoul City Council, where final winners will be decided by the council members. The award celebration will be held this coming November or December.







Aiyanyo Imatitikua from Nigeria, left, is awarded honorary Seoul citizenship by Seoul Metropolitan Government's Administrative Deputy Mayor Kim Eui-seung during the Seoul Honorary Citizenship Ceremony at Seoul City Hall, Dec. 9, 2022. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government





The honored foreign residents are given various perks. They will earn opportunities to become an official member of city committees for special events or administrative decision-making occasions. Invitation to events organized by the city government as a guest is another benefit. They can also save on admission fees for Seoul Grand Park and Seoul Botanic Park as well as benefiting from admission discounts at the Seoul Museum of Art.







"There are many foreign residents in Seoul who consider the city as their second hometown and have been active so as to be a model not just for foreigners but also for local Koreans," said Kim Tae-gyun, head of the Economic Policy Office. "We sincerely hope there will be many recommendations for candidates who uplifted the city's global image higher."







Since 1958, 915 foreigners from 100 countries have been awarded honorary Seoul citizenship. State visitors and international envoys to the city were also awarded the honor by the city government. Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubon, Hungarian Ambassador to Korea Csoma Mozes and Mexican Ambassador to Korea Bruno Figueroa Fischer were among the last year's honored dignitaries.


Two people are under arrest, accused of trying to smuggle contraband into an Alabama prison.

The Alabama Department of Corrections on Wednesday announced charges against Kathryn Kelli Washington, 27, and Jadarius Daniel, 28. Both are from Tuskegee, and are charged with promoting prison contraband.

Early Saturday, prison authorities said, a trespassing vehicle was reported on the property at Elmore Correctional Facility in Elmore County.

Officers with ADOCs Law Enforcement Services Division, along with the departments K-9 Bureau, responded and stopped a vehicle that was leaving the area.

The K-9 indicated something amiss with a large, red cooler bag in the back seat. That led to a search of the bag in which investigators found four packages of illegal contraband.

Prison officials did not identify the contents of the cooler bag.

Washington, the driver, and Daniel, her passenger, were taken into custody.

Daniel remains in the Elmore Count Jail on $15,000 bond. Washington was released from the jail Monday after posting bond.

in Elmore County. Officers responded and witnessed the vehicle leaving the area. They conducted a traffic stop nearby where driver Kathryn Kelli Washington and passenger Jadarius Daniel were apprehended.

The investigation is ongoing and further charges could be added, officials said.
Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and others have been ordered to turn over records and documents related to a bank account which lawyers say the convicted executive was using to hide millions.

In a seven-page order filed Tuesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court, John England Jr., acting as special master in the case, also issued an injunction against any money being transferred out of the account in question.

The ruling came after lawyers representing the plaintiffs in a 2009 civil verdict contended that Scrushy has been hiding money that could be used to pay some of the more than $2.87 billion in damages he still owes as result of the HealthSouth scandal.

Scrushy, however, denies any wrongdoing and said he welcomes any disclosures, since they will find nothing.

Its totally made-up, false information that never should have been put out, he said.

Scrushy, the once powerful executive, was originally acquitted in 2005 of conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud and other charges.

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Prosecutors said Scrushy directed high-level employees to falsify the books for Birminghams HealthSouth when its earnings didnt meet Wall Street expectations. About $2.7 billion was at issue, overstated in financial reports from 1996 through 2002.

Scrushy was again tried in federal court - this time for bribery involving ex-Gov. Don Siegelman. Scrushy was accused of bribing Siegelman with $500,000 in exchange for a seat on the Certificate of Need Review Board, the state agency with oversight over HealthSouth.

In 2007 Scrushy was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison. While serving his sentence in a Texas prison, a civil court found him liable for the HeathSouth fraud.

He was ordered to pay $2.87 billion in damages. After serving about five years of his sentence, Scrushy was released from prison. He currently lives in Texas and is representing himself in the court action.

According to Englands order, Scrushy contends he is unemployed and has no assets other than Social Security. However, lawyers for the plaintiffs owed damages say he is conducting business through other entities owned by friends and family.

Plaintiff lawyers say Scrushy controls a bank account in the name of Eddie Briskett, a man currently serving time in the Alabama Department of Corrections for various convictions, including property theft, burglary, assault and intimidating a witness, according to the ADOC website.

According to the ruling, Scrushy has exchanged thousands of text messages with a number associated with Briskett, and written checks totaling $7.3 million on the account, including two checks to himself totaling $3 million.

However. those checks were never deposited in any account previously disclosed by Scrushy, the order states.

In addition, England mentioned a 2020 letter to the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles by an associate of Scrushy, explaining that Briskett has an investment portfolio of about $7.1 million.

The evidence presented suggests that Mr. Scrushy may have an interest in the account or in some or all of the proceeds of the account, the order reads. At minimum, it appears that Mr. Scrushy or someone acting in concert with him opened the account in Brisketts name and that Mr. Scrushy has control of the account.

Scrushy, speaking today by phone, said he has known Briskett for 20 years through his prison ministry and has exchanged text messages with Brisketts sister, mainly to set up telephone conversations.

The checks, he said, were kind of a joke between the two of them.

Hes one of the gentlemen that Ive helping, being a friend and minister, he said. Ive never signed on any bank account of his. Theres zero truth to any of that. Ive never been involved with Eddie Briskett on any account, period. Ive never taken a dime from Eddie Briskett.

Scrushy said the court filings in the case are a continued harassment to him and his family.

Ive never seen such abuse and waste in my life, he said. I told the judge yesterday to let those attorneys go and discover anything they want. There is nothing to it.
The Alabama Senate has passed a bill that would expand the Alabama Accountability Act, a 10-year-old law that allows parents to use scholarships funded by tax credits to send their children to private schools. .

The vote came after a four-and-a-half hour filibuster that ended when the Senate approved a petition for cloture, or to end the debate. Democratic and Republican senators took part in the filibuster.

The Senate passed the bill on a 26-7 vote. No Republicans voted against the bill and no Democrats voted for it. It moves to the House of Representatives.

The bill, SB263 by Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, would make Accountability Act scholarships available to more students by raising the income level for eligibility. The scholarships are funded by donations to scholarship granting organizations. Donors receive a credit on their state income tax.

The expansion in eligibility also apply to all students with individual education plans, including those with intellectual disabilities and speech, language, vision, hearing, and physical impairments, as well as learning disabilities. The bill would expand eligible spending of scholarship funds beyond tuition and fees to include transportation, uniforms, services for a childs unique needs, and tutoring. The bill would raise the maximum scholarship to $10,000 per student.

I think its very important for students with unique needs to be able to use these scholarships for tutoring or for special services, Chesteen said.

The bill would require students using scholarships to take the states annual standardized test in math and reading.

Chesteens bill would boost the annual cap on total tax credits that fund the scholarships from $30 million to $40 million. It would allow the cap to rise to as much as $60 million over time.

Eligible students can use Accountability Act scholarships to attend one of 157 participating private schools or to pay tuition to a public school other than the school the child is zoned to attend. Around 2,700 students currently use scholarships to attend private schools, most of which are religious schools.

Chesteen said the eligibility changes in his bills are expected to increase the number of students receiving scholarships by about 1,000 to 1,200.

Theres still a lot of work to do, Chesteen said. This is just one bill. But it will provide an opportunity for more students to take advantage of the scholarships. And thats what Im proud of tonight.

The Accountability Act scholarship program has awarded 25,900 scholarships since it was established in 2013, paying about $147.4 million in tuition, mostly to private schools, including religious schools.

The Accountability Act sparked sharp disagreements and litigation when it passed a decade ago, with Republicans saying it was a way to help students who were stuck in underperforming public schools and whose parents could not otherwise afford private school. Democrats and other opponents of the bill said it would hurt education because the tax credits reduce funding to the Education Trust Fund, which supports public schools. Tonights vote on the SB263 shows those positions have not changed.

I just dont think that this is a solution, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said. It may work in some places. It may work for some families. But for the least of these, is it working? This is not for the least of these. This is for the middle to the top.

Singleton said the right approach is to provide struggling public schools more resources to improve, rather than provide a way for students to go elsewhere.

What youre doing is leaving children behind, Singleton said. Children that I care about.

Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Sheffield, participated in the filibuster to draw attention to his bill, the Parental Rights in Childrens Education Act, (PRICE Act) which would provide parents with $6,900 per student in education savings accounts they could use to pay for private school, home school, and other education expenses. Stutts bill has won approval in a Senate committee but has not come to the floor for a vote. Stutts said he considered the PRICE Act an essential part of a three-legged stool to provide school choice, along with the Accountability Act and charter schools. He asked Chesteen to set his bill aside for the night and bring it back as a package with the PRICE Act, but Chesteen did not support that idea.

After his bill passed, Chesteen said he did not disagree with Stutts point that more school choice options are needed.

I think this is one leg as Senator Stutts talked about, Chesteen said. I think there are other components, other school choice bills that will be coming. This was the bill that I happened to be working on.

I do think there are other opportunities for expanding school choice, Chesteen said.

Related: School choice bills move forward in Alabama legislature, but final passage unclear
An Alabaster man is behind bars, accused of using pepper spray on a 79-year-old woman during an altercation.

Carson Roberts, 21, is charged with elder abuse and neglect and unlawful use of pepper spray. The alleged incident happened on May 11, and Roberts was taken into custody by Alabaster police on May 20, court records show.

Details of the altercation have not been made public, but police said they responded to the undisclosed location on a report of an elderly female who had been attacked.

The victim was taken to the hospital. According to investigators, Roberts and the victim know each other.

Under Alabama law, elder abuse and neglect is defined as the intentional or reckless infliction of emotional or mental anguish or the use of a physical or chemical restraint, medication, or isolation as punishment or as a substitute for treatment or care of any person over the age of 60.

A person commits the crime of elder abuse and neglect in the first degree if he or she intentionally abuses or neglects any elderly person, and the abuse or neglect causes serious physical injury to the elderly person, the law reads.

It is a Class A felony punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Unlawful use of pepper spray is defined by law as the use of defense spray including, but not limited to, pepper spray, foam and any other self-defense chemical spray against another person in the commission of a crime or against a law enforcement officer while the law enforcement officer is performing his or her official duties.

That crime is a Class C felony with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

Roberts remains in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $135,000.
The Madison County district attorneys office announced Wednesday it will seek the death penalty for Juan Robert Laws, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Huntsville police officer Garrett Crumby.

District Attorney Rob Broussard confirmed to AL.com that the decision had been made to pursue the highest penalty for Laws, whose case was turned over to a grand jury Wednesday following a preliminary hearing.

Madison County District Judge Linda Coats made that ruling following the hearing, determining there was sufficient evidence for a grand jury to consider an indictment.

If convicted, Laws would face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Crumby was shot and killed March 28 while responding to a call on Governors Way off Interstate 565. Laws was taken into custody less than two hours later at the scene.

Related: Huntsville police officer Garrett Crumby remembered as somebody very, very special

Related: AR-15 rifle used to kill Huntsville police officer

Police officer Albert Morin was also seriously wounded in the shooting but is recovering at home following a lengthy stay in the hospital.

During the hearing, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joshua Colquitt said Crumby sustained 10 wounds in the shooting, WHNT-Channel 19 reported, though it was not clear how many of the wounds were entry or exit wounds or shrapnel wounds.

Morin told investigators that Laws was wearing body armor when police encountered him at the scene. Morin said he shot Laws in the leg to avoid the body armor, WHNT reported. According to a SWAT report, Laws contacted several family members immediately after the shooting, saying he was bleeding and that he had shot two police officers, WHNT reported.

Bruce Gardner, one of Laws court-appointed attorneys, said he expected it would be at least a year before a grand jury heard the case.

There wasnt anything surprising today, Gardner said following the hearing. I just ask anybody who hears this to keep an open mind. I think in the final analysis, youre probably going to see a young man for whom this act was way outside of his character.

Crumby and Morin was responding to a shots fired call when the shooting occurred. After Morin knocked on the door, a woman could be heard screaming inside, Colquitt testified, according to WHNT. Morin then opened the door and shots were fired at the officers, Colquitt said.

The woman at the scene was Arionne Douglas, who was Laws girlfriend. She called 911 and reported that she had been shot, WHNT reported. She was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Larry Marsili, another of Laws court-appointed lawyers, said the objective in the case is a fair trial.

I hope (defending a suspect charged with shooting a police officer) is not interpreted by the community as some sort of endorsement of bad conduct, Marsili said. Thats not the intention. Mr. Laws is a citizen and he is entitled to a fair trial. The law requires that he get a fair trial. And our job is to ensure that the entire process is as fair as it can be for him. I know that not only do we want Mr. Laws to have a fair trial, the state of Alabama wants Mr. Laws to have a fair trial. They they want to have a fair trial.
A bill that would create strict definitions of man and woman in Alabama state law passed out of the House Health Committee Wednesday, and now heads to the House floor for a vote.

HB405, by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, is called the What Is A Woman Act, and defines men and women by their reproductive organs.

The bill, which passed 8-4 with one abstention, defines a female as someone whose reproductive system produces ova, and a male as someone whose reproductive system can fertilize ova. The terms woman and girl apply to females, and man and boy apply to males, according to the legislation.

I dont understand what the obsession is with the trans community, said former Rep. Patricia Todd, who now leads the advocacy group Alabama Equality, adding that the state has a lot of problems and referencing her 12-year tenure in the statehouse. We have a prison crisis. We have a healthcare crisis. And thats what we need to be focusing on. This is not a crisis in Alabama.

Critics of the bill have said it endangers transgender people and could create difficulties for people whose reproductive systems may not fit into the specific definitions in the bill.

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Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, said he worries that the bills definitions are not comprehensive enough to represent the human body.

The bill provides that individuals who have been diagnosed with a disorder or difference in sex development will be afforded protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It does not further address Alabamians whose reproductive systems may differ from those defined in the bill.

Rafferty said he worries someone with a disease that would affect whether or not theyre able to produce ova or fertilize it, regardless of what organs they have, would be negatively affected by the legislation.

He also expressed concern over the variety of disorders of sex development, asking DuBose which ones would be included and whether children would have to undergo tests at birth to diagnose them.

Is this something that were going to be subjecting all children to get tested for when theyre born? Like chromosome analysis, hormone levels and hormone stimulation tests, electrolyte tests, specific molecular testing, endoscopic exams or an ultrasound or MRI to actually verify the sex of the child or person? Rafferty asked.

DuBose said shed communicated with the Alabama Department of Public Health about disorders of sexual development, but added that, if a diagnosis was not made at birth, it would have to be a case-by-case basis.

The bill passed by substitute with amendments from DuBose, though the amended version is not publicly available at the time of publishing.

HB405 received a public hearing on May 17, where lawmakers heard from constituents, many of whom expressed concerns about the bill and its impact. DuBose said she had multiple amendments, and the bill was carried over. Wednesdays vote marked the bills second week in committee.

Its one of several bills that a large group showed up to protest May 16, including a bill that would ban drag performances and another that would extend limits around conversations regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom from fifth to eighth grade. Earlier this year, DuBose also sponsored a bill that would force college athletes to play on teams that align with the gender on their birth certificate. The bill passed both chambers.

Four transgender women spoke against the bill during the first hearing.

Huntsville residents Allison Montgomery (left) and Belle Moyers (right) ask legislators in the House Health Committee to vote against HB405, which would define men and women based on their reproductive systems. Sarah Swetlik/AL.com

Allison Montgomery of Huntsville said shes been living as a woman for a year and has found herself welcomed by the women around her.

I know from living womanhood, that its right for me and that my doing so is absolutely not harmful to those around me. Its also become abundantly apparent that this is what God intended for my life. I actually want to live my life now, unlike before transition, Montgomery said during the hearing.

Montgomery said she hoped lawmakers would vote against the bill.

Unfortunately, HB405 is going to make life in Alabama unsafe and unlivable for me and all trans Alabamians. It would be used to force trans women like myself in the bathrooms with men and trans men into bathrooms with women, she said. Furthermore, it would be used to place trans men in womens prisons and trans women like me in mens prisons, which is an inherently dangerous situation for us.

Rep. Susan DuBose speaks at a hearing in Montgomery, Alabama in support of her bill HB405, which would define men and women based on their reproductive systems. Sarah Swetlik/AL.com

In an interview with AL.com, DuBose said she admires transgender women and is in no way trying to deny their existence, or their rights or their relevance or their importance.

DuBose said the bill is created to prevent violence from occurring in womens spaces.

When asked if she was aware of incidents of violence occurring in such spaces in Alabama that are open to transgender women, DuBose said she was not, but said its going on throughout our nation.

DuBose added that she believes this bill will affect a few women that are in these very specific situations, and will not apply to most people.

Belle Moyers, a biologist from Huntsville, said she worries about how people who dont meet the specific criteria for man or woman would be affected by the bill.

In biology, you have to choose the most appropriate definition for your question. Choosing the wrong definition leads to bad science. In law, choosing the wrong definition leads to injustice. This bill is not about biology. It masquerades as biology. It tries to use a technical definition, but its not the right one, Moyers said during the hearing. This bill uses an arbitrary aspect of a persons biology to regulate social spaces. Its the government sticking its nose into all of our lives to make them more dangerous and frankly, more annoying. This bill is a government examining and classifying your body, your wifes body, your husbands body and your childs body.

Only one person, Becky Gerritson of Eagle Forum, signed up to speak in favor of the bill.

The bill also expands the definition of person to include an individual, corporation, partnership, company, or other business entity.

Next, the bill will have to receive a second reading, then a potential vote before it can repeat the process in the Alabama Senate. There are five legislative days left in the 2023 session.
Leada Gore is filling in for Ike Morgan on todays Down in Alabama.

A little history first. Rankin Fite, a lawyer in Hamilton who served in the Alabama House and Senate, made the first 911 call in the nation at 2 p.m. on Feb. 16, 1968 from the mayors office in Haleyville, Alabama.

Now in more recent news going down in Alabama:

The Down in Alabama podcast is short and free. Listen to it by clicking on the player above or subscribe by looking for Down in Alabama on the device of your choosing. Get this and other AL.com newsletters here.

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A grand jury declined to indict a former Alabama school secretary arrested for allegedly having sex with a student two years ago.

The Coffee County grand jury returned a no bill on April 25 against ex-Elba High School secretary Martha Sasser Pope, according to an order issued Thursday by Coffee County District Court Judge Henry T. Reagan II.

Pope, 45, of Elba, was arrested in October 2021 on a charge of school employee engaging in a sex act with a student.

She was placed on administrative leave with pay following her arrest but later resigned.

The Coffee County District Attorneys Office told WDHN that it would no longer pursue a case against Pope in wake of the grand jurys decision.
A woman convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her accomplice in a botched burglary of an Alabama church has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Samanatha Malasig, 30, of Phenix City, was convicted last month by a Russell County jury in the death of Christopher Roper, whose body was found behind the Uchee Pines Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Seale in January 2021.

At the time, authorities said Roper had been fatally shot and was believed to be an accomplice of Malasigs in an attempted church burglary gone wrong, according to WRBL.

The station also reported Wednesday that Malasig was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum punishment allowed.

Her sentence was not yet in court records as of early Wednesday evening.
Sinister financial institutions in the environmental, social and corporate governance movement are partnering with each other and cutting off access to capital for companies that dont share their values in what is anticompetitive and possibly illegal behavior, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wrote in an op-ed published Monday night in the Wall Street Journal.

Companies are within their rights to participate in ESG investing, Marshall wrote, but they can also face possible consequences from consumers. But they should not be allowed to join forces to blacklist companies and industries that do not agree with their views.

He drew a comparison to the consumer impact on Anheuser-Busch in the wake of the Dylan Mulvaney-Bud Light controversy.

The more sinister ESG acolytes, however, arent merely printing woke messages on six-packs, wrote Marshall, who testified earlier this month before the House Oversight Committee and is investigating whether players in the financial system are illegally colluding

For instance, according to Marshall, financial institutions that wont invest pension or private funds in oil companies or other industries contributing to climate change are effectively imposing those policies in defiance of our free-market economy.

Americas self-proclaimed socially responsible financial institutions, which should be competing in the free market, are instead joining forces with one another and their global counterparts to decide which companiesand, in some cases, which industriesshould be permitted to continue their market participation unimpeded, the attorney general continued.

President Biden, whose term has been an ESG crusade in the crudest form, is attempting to get the government involved in the ESG movement by imposing ESG litmus tests on federal contractors without the approval of Congress, Marshall said.

The president would then have his own blacklist, useful for strong-arming companies to go woke in defiance of market forces and the legislative branch. Republican attorneys general will continue to stand in his way, he said.

Consumer choice and businesses access to funding are central to our free-market system. Because ESG dogma isnt playing well in the open market, Mr. Biden and his administrations favorite big banks and asset managers want to close off certain sectors of the market altogether, he wrote.

If they are successful, Americans will pay the price, Marshall wrote, be it with tax dollars spent to finance green subsidies or simply with unaffordable vehicles and power bills.
President Yoon Suk Yeol poses with prime ministers and foreign ministers of 12 Pacific Island nations and the secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum during a meeting held in Seoul, Oct. 27, 2022. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs



Inaugural Korea-Pacific Islands Summit to take place in Seoul next week



By Lee Hyo-jin



Soft sand, palm trees and turquoise water are the first things to come to mind when most South Koreans think about Pacific Island nations. The Pacific Islands are perfect vacation spots for those who want to enjoy tropical landscapes and vibrant culture.



But the island nations are more than just tourist destinations.



These small-but-diverse nations are rising as key partners for Korea's foreign policy goal of becoming a global pivotal state. In recent years, Korea and the island nations have been exploring ways to build relations in many fronts including climate change, regional development and disaster response.



To boost their cooperation in earnest, the Korean government will host an inaugural summit with the Pacific Island nations in Seoul on May 29 and 30, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.



Korea has invited all 18 Pacific Island Forum (PIF) members, which includes Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Tonga, Palau, Niue, Nauru, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and New Caledonia.



Founded in 1971, the PIF is an intergovernmental body aimed at enhancing cooperation among island countries in the region.



The summit will be held under the theme "Navigating towards Co-prosperity: Strengthening Cooperation with the Blue Pacific." It is the first multilateral summit to be held under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.



Korea's ties with Pacific Island nations date back to the 1970s, beginning with diplomatic relations with Tonga. Korea then became the Post-Forum Dialogue partner of the PIF in 1995 and has since been making efforts to support the regional development and empowerment of Pacific Island nations in various fields, including health care, climate change, trade and tourism.





Helen Aitsi, back right, charge d'affaires at the Embassy of Papua New Guinea in Korea, holds a dice during an event promoting the 2023 Korea-Pacific Islands Summit at Cheonggye Plaza in downtown Seoul, May 10. Yonhap

Korea and the PIF have been holding foreign minister-level talks on a regular basis since 2011. Last October, Korea invited foreign ministers from 14 Pacific Island states to Seoul, where they discussed developmental aid to the region and cooperation on climate change.



The upcoming summit reflects the need for a drastic upgrade in relations, according to the foreign ministry. The inaugural event will reflect broadening and deepening cooperation on key issues such as climate change, response to health crises, maritime security, environmental protection and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific.



"The upcoming summit signals a full-scale implementation of our Indo-Pacific Strategy which was announced last year, and it will also serve as an important momentum in expanding Korea's diplomatic horizons to the Pacific region," said Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Young-sam, who heads the summit planning team.



Korea's Indo-Pacific Strategy, unveiled last December, aims to establish a rules-based international order in the region by encouraging inclusiveness, freedom and reciprocity.



"As mentioned in the Indo-Pacific Strategy, we will support the strategic implementation of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent initiative of the Pacific Island nations, while strengthening partnerships through harmony with our own Indo-Pacific Strategy," Choi said.



"We will also discuss ways to contribute to resolving the most urgent issues faced by the Pacific Island countries such as climate change, disaster response and regional development, with an aim to pursue co-prosperity."



On the first day of the two-day event, the leaders will hold the summit, followed by a dinner hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee. The first lady will also host a separate programs for the leaders' spouses. The next day, the participants will visit the southeastern port city of Busan to participate in various side events.



The Korean government also sees the summit as an opportunity to promote Busan's bid to host the World Expo in 2030. It is said that the Pacific Island nations' collective voices on the global stage have significant influence on major international agendas.





Police officers from a special operations unit conduct a mock terrorism drill to check preparedness at the Busan Asiad Stadium, Tuesday, ahead of the inaugural Korea-Pacific Island summit which will be held May 29 to 30. Yonhap
As discussed elsewhere, historical relations between Islam and the West have been utterly distorted in order to present the aggressors as victims and the victims as aggressors.

In this article, we look at a similar but even more urgent topic: how history in general has been intentionally distorted in a way that makes segments of the nonwhite population hate, despise, and even want to murder whites.

This is no exaggeration. In a speech late last year, Brittney Cooper, a black associate professor at Rutgers University, spewed so much hate against "white people," to the point of concluding, "We got to take these MFers out!" (Needless to say, she still teaches at Rutgers.)

At one point during her racist rant, Cooper said:

I think white people are committed to being villains, in the aggregate. ... What I think that white people viscerally fear, it's not that white people don't know what they've done  they know. They fear that there is no other way to be human but the way in which they are human. So you know, you talk to white people, and whenever you want to have a reckoning by them they say stuff like, you know, "It's just human nature. If y'all had all of this power y'all would have done the same thing," right?

Right, indeed. Some fifteen years ago, I wrote an article making this same point: if Europeans were abusive to nonwhites, that is not because they were intrinsically bad (a racist point, incidentally), but simply because they were able to. And that's the virtual bottom line of all history: capability.

Europeans did not defeat and uproot American Indians, enslave Africans, and colonize the rest because whites lived according to some unprecedented bellicose creed innate to whites and alien to nonwhites. Quite the contrary: they did so because they  as opposed to natives, blacks, etc.  were able to do so. That is the fundamental difference.

Had pre-Columbian Native Americans developed galleys for transoceanic travel, or advanced firearms, or compasses, or organized military structures and stratagems, and had they arrived on the shores of Europe at its weakest point in history  what would they have done? Would they have pillaged and plundered, conquered and subjugated, or would they have looked at the inferior pale savages and "respected" them in the name of "diversity," leaving them wholly unmolested?

What if sub-Saharan blacks were technologically or militarily more advanced than their northern neighbors in Europe during the premodern era, and therefore could easily have subjugated and enslaved them? Would they have done so, or would they have left them in peace in the name of "multiculturalism"?

In her rant, Cooper acknowledges  but rejects  these rhetorical questions:

[I]t's like, no, that's what white humans did, white human beings thought there's a world here and we [whites] own it. Prior to them, black and brown people have been sailing across oceans, interacting with each other for centuries without total subjugation, domination and colonialism, right?

Not only is this "professor's" ignorance profoundly startling; it is the source of her desire to see whites liquidated. After all, in her estimation, white people are intrinsically evil. It's in their blood.

Back in the real world, all peoples  white, black, brown, yellow, red  warred on the "other" and, when capable  key word  went on the offensive in search of conquest and plunder. Depending exclusively on their capabilities  bows and arrows (e.g., Africans) or guns and cannons (e.g., Europeans)  their efforts resulted in tribal or international hegemony. As Michael Graham writes,

[w]hen thinking of pre-Columbian America, forget what you've seen in the Disney movies [reference to the 1995 Pocahontas]. Think "slavery, cannibalism and mass human sacrifice." From the Aztecs to the Iroquois, that was life among the indigenous peoples before Columbus arrived. For all the talk from the angry and indigenous about European slavery, it turns out that pre-Columbian America was virtually one huge slave camp.

It's the same with Africans: they continuously warred on, slaughtered, and enslaved one another for eons before whites ever came to sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, as Michael Omolewa, a Nigerian diplomat, once explained,

the bulk of the supply [of African slaves sold to Europeans] came from the Nigerians. These Nigerian middlemen moved to the interior where they captured other Nigerians who belonged to other communities. The middlemen also purchased many of the slaves from the people in the interior . ... Many Nigerian middlemen began to depend totally on the slave trade and neglected every other business and occupation. The result was that when the trade was abolished [by England in 1807] these Nigerians began to protest. As years went by and the trade collapsed such Nigerians lost their sources of income and became impoverished.

These are not just historical observations. Despite Western efforts to abolish slavery, there are currently more than 50 million slaves  all of them in the non-Western world. To quote from one report,

[a]s the world marks 400 years since the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America, slavery remains a modern-day scourge. ... Africa has the highest prevalence of slavery, with more than seven victims for every 1,000 people.

None of this seems to matter to Ms. Cooper. For this "professor," the scourge of slavery  indeed, any and every social ill  begins and ends with white, and therefore inherently evil, people. Hence the need to "take these MFers out!"

Nor is she alone. Many people in the West, above and beyond the woke crowd, subscribe to this version of history that juxtaposes evil, oppressive, conquering whites with noble, peaceful, and egalitarian nonwhites  a carefully manufactured lie that feeds a deep and abiding hatred for whites, including, and as a testament to its pervasive influence, among whites themselves.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Image: stevepb via Pixabay, Pixabay license.
After the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man, in the custody of Minneapolis Police, many Democrats, including Joe Biden, have said the police are systematically racist. San Francisco Democrat Mayor London Breed, Democrat squad member Rep. Cori Bush and others have called to defund them. Their reasoning, so to speak, is that since some police officers rarely kill an unarmed Black man, the entire institution is systematically racist (the expression of choice by the Democrat party and their stenographers in what remains of our news media), it is necessary to defund the police. Inferring from a few cases to a conclusion about an entire institution used to be called the fallacy of hasty generalization in university critical reasoning courses, but the lack of any good arguments for the Lefts talking point has required their use of this fallacy in recent years.

In fact, many of the stories of police killing unarmed Black men, like the killing of the gentle giant Michael Brown in Ferguson, turn out to be false. Many leftist activists still use the Michael Brown slogan Hands up dont shoot! even though it has been established that 300-pound Michael Brown, who is on videotape robbing and roughing up a diminutive Asian shop owner earlier that evening, did not have his hands up but rather attacked police officer Darren Wilson and tried to take his gun. Multiple Black witnesses told this to the police because, in what is apparently news to the Left, most Black people do not wish to live in neighborhoods in which 300-pound thugs terrorize ordinary law-abiding people . Naturally, given the inverted nature of our current justice system, Officer Wilson, who correctly acted in self-defense and in defense of the community, lost his job over the affair.

Roland Fryer, Black Harvard university economist and rising star (until he did a detailed empirical study of police shooting statistics) concluded that On the most extreme use of forceofficer-involved shootingswe find no racial differences either in the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account.

Unfortunately, facts do not seem to be penetrating the woke brain that has been mesmerized by Marxist scripture, according to which the police are an armed force employed to repress the proletariat and protect the evil rich people, which makes it hard to understand why a substantial majority of poor black people want the same or an even greater police presence in their communities. Of course, our all-knowing woke Democrat elites, happily spend campaign money to fund their own police protection, their own pampered lives being much more important than yours. Naturally, these woke elites have assumed the right to speak for all Black people. It may, therefore, in such circumstances, be useful to discuss a particular case of police action in order to remind oneself what they really have to face in their jobs, should this still be permissible in what remains of our country.

In 1992-1993 a serial rapist/killer was stalking Allentown, PA. Several women, including a young girl, were murdered, but one victim, Denise Sam-Cali, attacked in her own home, managed to get away from the killer and stagger onto her front lawn with the killer in close pursuit. A neighbor heard the commotion and came outside to see what was going on, causing the rapist/killer to flee. Since she had been the only victim to see the killer and survive, the police thought he might return to eliminate the witness, so they stationed a police officer in her home.

Two weeks went by as young Officer Brian Lewis, who, newly married for a few months, would have preferred to be home with his wife, sat quietly and patiently in the dark in Denises home as she slept upstairs, not even able to listen to a radio for fear of alerting the killer, doing his tedious duty. However, on the last night of the stakeout the killer returned, climbing through a window. Officer Lewis identified himself as a police officer. The killer produced a gun and the two began firing at each other at point blank range in the tiny enclosed space, the officer and the killer only visible to each other in cascade of gun flashes that briefly illumined the darkness. As Officer Lewis reloads his weapon the intruder dives through a kitchen window and runs away.

A man with a gunshot wound to the stomach turned himself in at a local hospital later that night and was arrested. Harvey Miguel Robinson was eventually sentenced to death and both Denise and numerous other women were no doubt saved by the astonishing selfless courage of Officer Lewis. Of course, most media accounts of this story do not bother to mention Officer Lewiss name, who they only refer to as a police officer, these, apparently, being easily replaceable like toasters and not nearly so important as the professors who churn out thoughtless anti-police propaganda from the safety of their university offices.

We give the police an impossible job and then we put their every split-second decision under a microscope searching from some mistake (or something that can be represented as a mistake by unscrupulous partisan activists), a standard the elites would never apply to themselves. Needless to say, Officer Lewis, being a police officer, not a professor, never sought out the camera or complained about being ignored. He just did his job.

Unfortunately, the results of the Lefts latest social experiment with peoples lives in the service of their political careers was all too predictable, although none of them predicted it. Crime and homicide rates soared around the country. Minnesota recorded 185 murders  a dramatic increase of 58 per cent from the previous year. FBI Director Wray testified to the House Oversight Committee that 37 police officers were murdered in the first 5 months of 2021, compared with 46 in the whole previous year, almost double the previous year. The linked article explains that this does not count the police officers who were killed in other ways, drowning during attempted rescues, being hit by cars or because  law enforcement, unlike many government school teachers, kept coming to work every day despite the pandemic. The carnage got too high even for the always self-congratulatory Left, so that Mayor London Breed had to reverse herself and call for refunding the police. The Defund movement became so unpopular that the Democrats tried to claim that it was actually the Republicans that had called to defund the police, but this was too comical even for the Left and the ruse had to be abandoned.

Typically, our precious elites miss no opportunity, in stirring words about social justice delivered from their pulpit, to lecture the deplorables how much they care about marginalized people. However, it might be a useful, although humbling, lesson in what courage in the real world is, as opposed to the posturing produced effortlessly in the idle talk of the classroom or newsroom, if liberals were to accompany a police officer armed with a .38 down a dark alley to face a psychotic killer with an AK-47. That would be a real education.

Photo credit: Max Braun CC BY-SA 2.0 license
Until this week, Sam Brinton, formerly hailed as the first non-binary senior federal official as head of nuclear waste management has avoided jail or prison, despite two guilty pleas for luggage theft at airports in Las Vegas and Minneapolis. But with his arrest as a fugitive accused of a third luggage theft at Reagan National Airport in Washington, he is about to experience life as a jailbird. Marjorie Hernandez of the New York Post reports:

Non-binary former nuclear official Sam Brinton is to be placed in a mens jail in Maryland while waiting to be sent to Virginia over suitcase theft charges. A Montgomery County Sheriffs deputy told The Post Tuesday that Brinton is in a pre-placement hold at the county jail and should be housed with the general population of the mens jail sometime next week. Under the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation policy, inmates are processed and housed according to their biological sex. The policy states: Although MCDOCR does not consider anatomical changes brought about by hormonal therapy to be changes that constitute a change of anatomical sex, the classification of an arrestee/inmate will depend on whether the arrestee/inmate has male or female genitalia, whether they present a management or security problem, and whether their health and safety can be ensured. Once an inmate is classified, they will be given a housing assignment based on that classification. Brinton, 35  who uses they/them pronouns  was arrested at their home last week and is facing Grand Larceny charges over the alleged theft of a case belonging to a Tanzanian fashion designer from Ronald Reagan National Airport.

I sincerely hope that Brinton avoids being victimized by rape, which is all too common in American correctional facilities  a national scandal that gets far too little attention. Perhaps his high profile or the good leadership I hope is in place in Maryland and Virginia will help him avoid that fate. But a twin problem of that scandal is the jailhouse rape that takes place when violent biological males are placed in womens detention facilities because they claim to be women.

It may be that the theft at Reagan National will draw actual incarceration because the victim in that case was Asya Khamsin, a Tanzanian clothing designer currently living in Houston, whose one-of-a-kind creations were allegedly stolen and then modeled and photographed in public by Brinton. That hubris of his led to Khamsin reporting the theft to police in Houston, which ultimately led to his arrest in Maryland. Because her lifes work and intellectual property, not just some dresses, were stolen, the crime and extent of victimization was greater than the other two thefts.

In Virginia, grand larceny, VA Law 18.2-95, is defined as a theft of over $1000 in value and carries a potential prison term of up to 20 years.

Brintons former job carried awesome responsibilities considering the lethality of plutonium and other nuclear waste. That someone guilty of the crime of stealing other peoples luggage was so entrusted speaks volumes about the irresponsibility of Bidens appointment.

Hat tip: David Kahn

Photo credit: Twitter
One of the top candidates to take on the role of ambassador to Israel, now that Thomas Nides is on his way out, is Susie Gelman, who is retiring from her tenure as the chair of the Israel Policy Forum. Gelman professes to love Israel, but she considers its founding a catastrophe and is working hard to undermine its current government. In other words, hers is the love of a wifebeater.

When it came to Trump, the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) created a world of defamatory lies. A major lie was that Trump was antisemitic. This was always weird when one considers that his beloved Ivana had married a Jewish man, converted to Judaism herself, and was raising her children to be Jewish. It became even more ludicrous during Trumps administration when Trump moved the American embassy to Israels capital and worked hard to bring peace to the region via the Abraham Accords. Trump made it clear that, the more Palestinians killed Jews, the less they could expect to get from the American government. And, of course, Trump did everything he could to weaken Iran, Israels genocidal arch-nemesis. He was the most pro-Israel president ever.

Image: Susie Gelman. YouTube screen grab.

That changed with Biden. He picked up where Obama left off, starting with giving Iran the green light to go nuclear. Hes rewarded the Palestinians murderous intransigence when it came to Israelis. The regime apparently helped fund the anti-Netanyahu protests that arose when Bibi tried to rein in a completely rogue Supreme Court. And theres the fact that Biden wants to weaponize the same people killing Israelis:

Besides a plan to develop Palestinian Arab communications infrastructure to a 4G level despite protests from Israeli intelligence bodies, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken outlined the Biden administrations intention to provide 5,000 Palestinians with commando training in Jordan and then deploy them to northern Samaria, and perhaps the South Hebron Hills [the region of Israel also known as the West Bank].

Regarding Israels stability and security, the Biden administration has been nothing short of a disaster. With the opportunity to appoint a new ambassador to Israel, Biden is doubling down on the hate:

Outgoing Ambassador Thomas Nides was an odious example of this, but the Biden administration is looking for someone even worse. Possible candidates supposedly include Obamas ex Dan Shapiro, and former Rep. Robert Wexler, an anti-Israel leftist, but theres buzz about selecting a woman. This isnt about selecting a woman, obviously, its about promoting an anti-Israel leftist who happens to be female while painting her selection as historic. Whos the woman in question? Reportedly, Susie Gelman, the chairwoman of the Israel Policy Forum. [snip] The Israel Policy Forum, much like J Street, conducts lobbying and pressure campaigns against Israel, rallying Democrats to oppose Israeli and pro-Israel moves, and aiding some of the worst anti-Israel Dems like Rep. Betty McCollum. Susie Gelman, a Levi Strauss heiress, has spent the past year or so relentlessly attacking the Israeli government: itself normally disqualifying for an ambassador to that government. Gelman attacked the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as the highest level of brazen partisanship in U.S.-Israel relations since Prime Minister Netanyahus speech to a joint session of Congress in 2015 in which he expressed his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal. And Gelman shockingly described Israels Independence Day as Nakba Day, writing that, the decision to open the embassy on the eve of Nakba Day [marking the founding of the State of Israel as a catastrophe to the Palestinians who fled or were displaced from their homes] was a needless provocation. (Emphasis mine.)

You can read more about Gelman here.

One of the things a wifebeater does is profess his love for the woman hes abusing. Indeed, the abuse is central to his love because hes doing it for her own good, to make her a better person.

Thats exactly how the Biden administration acts towards Israel. It professes to view it as an ally and to support its continued existence, even as the beatings continue until Israels behavior and morale improve. With friends like the Biden administration, Israel has one more name to add to the list of those countries seeking her destruction.

I belong to a private Facebook group focused on Israels well-being that includes ardently pro-Israel Democrats. Its been interesting watching the cognitive dissonance as they keep trying to explain away the Biden administrations actions or celebrate as major initiatives the small moments when Biden and his team do something that doesnt actually harm Israel. For these pro-Israel Democrats, it was a glorious moment when the Biden administration joined with themto take down Israels duly elected government.

Watching what Biden has managed to do in 28 months, I sometimes wonder if America will survive. The Israelis must feel the same thing about their nation after suffering 28 months of Bidens friendship with this long-standing ally.

Postscript: The picture I chose shows Gelman advocating for a two-state solution. There is a second state: Jordan. It was created to be the Arab state. We all know how well that worked out.
Perhaps impatient and frustrated that critics point out that California never had slavery and entered the Union as a free state opposed to slavery, and Californians fought and died in the Civil War to end slavery, a prominent member of California's Reparations Task Force has opened the door to history and logic that suggest he and other California African Americans owe reparations to Chinese Americans.

Unfortunately, that evil group called the Ku Klux Klan in California was founded here in San Francisco, so San Francisco's hands are not clean. They have been complicit in this evil system. And all we are saying, Let's just chill and pay your bill, your sin bill of enslavement, of intimidation, of terrorizing black people.

Rev. Brown's vague language could be read as implying that the Klan itself was founded in San Francisco, but that would be untrue. In the postCivil War era that birthed the Klan, San Francisco was the principal city of California, so that is where the California operations of that despicable group began.

But if Rev. Brown assumes that California's Klan was aimed against African Americans, he is sadly mistaken. Kevin Waite, writing in The Atlantic, has the true story:

With help from the journalist Knute Berger, I've uncovered more than a dozen attacks attributed to the Klan in California from 1868 to 1870, as well as a smaller number in Utah and Oregon. That figure is minuscule compared with what the former Confederate states endured in these years. Nonetheless, each of these western attacks left victims and sowed terror. And collectively, they challenge common assumptions about America's long history of white-supremacist violence. The story of the western Klan resembles that of its southern counterpart in the broad outlinevigilantes asserting white supremacy at gunpoint. But whereas southern Klansmen assaulted Black Americans and their white allies, western vigilantes targeted those they deemed a greater threat: Chinese immigrants. By 1870, migrants from China accounted for roughly 10 percent of the state's population and a quarter of the total workforce. By comparison, Black people represented no more than 1 percent of the population.

While it is true that the California Klan saw itself as defending White people, their attacks on Chinese immigrants also would have opened jobs to the few African Americans who lived in California had they succeeded. And his logic is that all Californians (of whom Whites are a minority) must pay for the "sins" of the California Klan. So why wouldn't that mean that California's African Americans should "just chill and pay your bill, your sin bill" for the California Klan's oppression of Chinese immigrants?

Incidentally, Reverend Brown is president of the San Francisco chapter of the discredited NAACP, which has just issued a travel advisory warning Blacks against travel to Florida, the best state for Black-owned businesses.

Hat tip: Richard Baehr.

Photo credit: Fox News screen grab.
Roy Cooper, the Democrat governor of North Carolina, actually declared a "state of emergency in education" after the Republican-controlled Legislature voted to make it easier for families to obtain school vouchers.

Cooper also took exception to Republican plans that would grant a somewhat smaller pay raise to teachers than Democrats wanted.

Ergo, a "state of emergency." But Cooper wasn't done going off the rails. In his May 22 address, he accused Republicans of trying to "starve public education" and of dropping "an atomic bomb on public education."

Incredibly, he added, "It's clear that the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education. I am declaring this state of emergency because you need to know what's happening. Our teachers deserve better pay and more respect, but the legislature wants to give them neither one."

Being for school choice is akin to starving public education? And also like dropping an atomic bomb on it? Oh, and of choking the life out of it?

Hyperbole much? Cooper might as well have said that Republicans want to "wipe public education off the face of the earth." I'm surprised he didn't say  face contorted in agony and with a tear traversing his cheek  "public education can't breathe!" Is North Carolina now, like Florida, about to become a "terrorist state"?

What a pathetic loser.

Unfortunately for the republic and all those that call it home, preposterous prevarication and scare-mongering have become a tried and true tactic of the Democrat party. "The GOP hates your grandmother, the Earth, and clean water! And now Republicans want to decapitate public education!

The truth is that Democrats don't like competition or merit. They don't like to be challenged or even questioned. They simply want to rule.

Nor are they pro-choice  for anything but abortion or gender selection, that is. They hate the concept of school choice. They didn't believe you should have the choice of whether or not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or to cover your mouth with a facial diaper. They don't want you to have the choice to defend yourself and your loved ones with a firearm, or to engage in proper pronoun usage when addressing someone who is in the throes of gender dysphoria. Etc., etc., etc.

In their perfect world, no one would have any choice but to agree with every Democrat proposal and desire. Today's Democrats, with remarkably few exceptions, are essentially saying, "We can't allow choice or dissent if we want to save our democracy! Duh!" Stupefying.

Every sentient, rational, freedom-loving American should tell these elitist, tyrannical-wannabe dogs to go lie by their respective dishes. Permanently.

Image: NCDOcommunications via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Warning: Contains major spoilers.

Film viewing is always a subjective experience. It's not only what the film depicts, but what the beholder brings to it that matters.

I watched Clear and Present Danger (1994), the third installment in the Jack Ryan film series, at the time of its release. I appreciated Harrison Ford's sterling performance as Ryan and the handsomely mounted action sequences. The details of the plot weren't entirely comprehended by my teenage mind.

I recently had a chance to rewatch the picture, almost three decades later, to realize that it was masterful not just because of Ford's presence or its spectacular elements.

The film begins with the U.S. president implicitly authorizing a covert military operation into Colombia after his friend is killed by men connected to a Colombian drug baron.

Ryan is temporarily promoted as deputy director of Intelligence at the CIA when the current office-holder, who is also Ryan's mentor, is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The president's men are Deep State rogues keen to use Ryan's inexperience and the fact that he is overwhelmed by his new role to seek funds to wage their illegal war against the Colombian drug baron.

When the military operation goes awry, the soldiers are abandoned. A cover-up begins, where swamp rats willingly engage with nefarious elements abroad.

When Jack Ryan smells a rat, he makes it his mission to expose the conspiracy and right the wrongs.

It is impossible not to see the stark similarities between the circumstances of Ryan and President Trump.

Both men are well intentioned and are unexpectedly elevated into a position of power.

Both men are unaware of the power and the corruption within the Deep State. They are patriots who cannot fathom that government agencies could be so corrupt and malicious.

Both men were trapped by the Deep State in the hope that they could be silenced.

The movie ends with Ryan rejecting the U.S. president's quid-pro-quo deal to bury the scandal in exchange for possible career advancements. Ryan instead testifies before Congress to expose the villains.

The Tom Clancy novel, which the movie is based on, ends with most of the villains receiving their comeuppance.

In modern D.C., Ryan would have been relentlessly targeted by the agencies and the media. Every aspect of his life would be baselessly probed, with the presumption of guilt being declared. He would be bankrupt due to legal bills, socially boycotted, and probably jailed.

The film flawlessly depicts the Deep State and the D.C. mentality. Beneath their stoic exterior, these are individuals intoxicated by their delusions of self-importance. They are sanctimonious, entitled, corrupt, mendacious, and self-serving. Despite being public servants, they have contempt for democracy and the public servant.

They regard themselves as gods who can do as they please without any scrutiny. They are unhesitant to misuse taxpayers' funds as their personal piggy banks or government agency tools such as advanced weaponry to further their agenda.

The president and his men have no compunction sending innocent soldiers to their death in an illegal war. Their focus is to build perception. There is very little concern about making any actual progress on the ground.

The film also depicts the swamp's disdain and suspicion for well intentioned outsiders with morals such as Ryan or Trump. Their instinct is to trap the unsuspecting outsider, hoping to buy his silence or co-opt him.

The only criticism to be made is that the screenwriters do not go far enough in depicting the malevolence of the swamp. They are not seen running dedicated operations to target political opponents or dissenters. They are not shown colluding with the media to run smear campaigns against political opponents. They are not shown trying to unseat a democratically elected president or rig a presidential election. The film depicts them only as determined to build a perception to enable easy re-election of their president.

The film also reminds us of devolving audiences' tastes over the decades.

The film was a massive summer blockbuster back then. Yet most of the film depicts people talking within office spaces. Key moments are understated to depict the double-speak in D.C. It's not about what is said, but what is hinted at or left unsaid.

There is no pandering or spoon-feeding. Instead, the film expects the viewer to be intelligent and to pay close attention to grasp the finer details of the intricate plot.

The entire duration of action scenes in the entire film is probably what modern blockbusters have in their opening moments.

Sadly, modern audiences expect blockbusters to be less about plot, character, dialogue, and nuance and more about the display of special effects wizardry.

Harrison Ford deserves plaudits, too  not just for his virtuous acting, but also for willingly slipping into the backdrop when required and playing both overawed and gullible. A superstar of his stature and power could have forced script changes to enhance his part, but it would have hampered the film overall. He didn't.

A movie such as this probably wouldn't be made today by Hollywood, also because it is contrary to the narrative.

Back in the '90s, the narrative was that Republicans were the Deep State party due to the likes of George H.W. Bush, who headed the CIA. The keenness of the Bushes for foreign military interventions defined the party.

The Democrats claimed to be the party of peaceniks who were skeptical of government.

Hence, Hollywood depicted the evil within the swamp in the Jason Bourne series, the Jack Ryan series, etc.

But there is a vast difference between the narrative and the reality.

The policies and actions of recent Democrat presidents make it amply obvious that there is little difference between both parties.

Both parties stand with the Deep State, perhaps out of fear or because it enables them power. Both parties support foreign wars because of their ties to the military-industrial complex.

The Trump presidency inadvertently exposed the charade.

Establishment Republicans and Democrats use identical language to attack President Trump. The very group of Democrats who once claimed to despise the Bushes and their proxies such as John Bolton side with them against Trump. George W. Bush allegedly scoffed at Trump's speech during his inauguration, where he pledged to return power back to the people, pushing for America first.

The decision-makers in Hollywood are devout establishment loyalists; hence, Clear and Present Danger would never be made today.

There is a particularly poignant scene, when Ryan, who is struggling to cope with the rogues of D.C., visits his ailing former boss, Admiral Greer, in the hospital for guidance. Greer reminds Ryan that he reports not to the national security adviser or the president, but instead to the people of the United States.

It is fair to assume that few in D.C. actually remember or care about this.

Despite excelling in every department, Clear and Present Danger doesn't receive the respect and affection that it thoroughly deserves. It isn't just the best on-screen adaptation of a Jack Ryan novel, but one of the finest political thrillers ever to be made.

Please watch!

Trump image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
President Andres Lopez-Obrador of Mexico has finally met someone he can't fool anymore. For the last several years, the man nicknamed AMLO has pretended to be the leader of the Third World, the representative of everyone with a grievance, and the one who makes things happen. (A lot of Mexicans would say he is making things a lot worse, but that's for another post.)

A few months ago, President Lopez-Obrador stepped in it big time. He got involved in Peru's politics, a sin by Mexican standards. After all, hasn't Mexico always preached the idea that your business is your business? Non-intervention has been the "mantra" of Mexican presidents until "El Presidente del Mundo" decided that he couldn't resist sticking in his nose.

So Peru has had it with Sr. AMLO. This is the story:

The Foreign Relations Commission of the Peruvian Congress approved on Monday the motion declaring Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador 'persona non grata.' "With 11 votes in favor, the Foreign Relations Commission approved the motion that rejects the statements of the president of Mexico, Andres Lopez Obrador, and declares him persona non grata," the Congress said via Twitter. It added that the motion will now be passed to the Plenary of the Congress for a decision on the matter, in accordance with Article 68 of the Congress' Rules of Procedure. The decision is due to AMLO's criticism of Dina Boluarte's government, the imprisonment of Pedro Castillo, as well as the recent authorization for the US Department of Defense military to enter the country.

"Non grata" is sort of like "hit the road, Jack" with Peruvian sauce.

Add to this that Mr. AMLO won't give up the honorary presidency of the Pacific Club and pass it to Peru. It's an honorary post rotated among the members, but don't tell that to AMLO. In other words, El Presidente is angry with the events in Peru, a democracy, but embraces the dictator of Cuba for all the good things happening on that island.

Cheers to Peru. Maybe Peru can place a call to our president and show him how to deal with this first-class demagogue south of the border.

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Eneas de Troya.
It is quite curious that so many expert economists have such strongly conflicting opinions. That means that a great many of these experts are not only wrong, but considering that they influence vital policies, they are dangerously wrong.

Were economics an exact science, leftist economists would be revealed to be flat-earth proponents. Economics is not always exact, but it is far more scientific than it appears to be on the surface. At least the flat earth proponents, wrong as they are, do not endanger us -- they wont make us fall off the edge. By contrast, leftist economic policy has brought us to unsustainable levels of debt. We are on the precipice of a historic collapse, one that will impoverish millions and destabilize the nation at a time when we are facing military crises from Taiwan to Ukraine and elsewhere.

One need not be a degreed economist to understand the basics, even though many supposedly expert economists obviously do not. A grievous example of this can be seen in the way that the Roosevelt administration handled the Great Depression which began in 1929. Roosevelts policies made the situation worse and made it last longer.

World War Two masked the defects of Roosevelts socialist intervention, and when the war ended, after a brief spending boom which relieved pent-up demand, the economy began once again to decline. The government once again stepped in, and ever since, its role in attempting to repair the damage that it causes has brought us to unprecedented amounts of national debt. Catastrophe looms.

Yet, many economists seem lost in the woods as to the causes and remedies. It does not require the proverbial rocket scientist to understand that living profligately on ones credit card must inevitably end in bankruptcy. If you spend more than you have, if you borrow more than you can repay, if the projected interest will exceed your income, then obviously, you will impoverish yourself. The more money that is printed, the less each dollar will buy. How is it that so many economists seem not to know this?

The basics of economics are, like gravity, a force of nature that cannot long be ignored. Here are some of them:

- People spend their own money more wisely, and more productively, than do the governments which confiscate that money for their own ends.

- People will work to produce things that other people are willing to purchase, thus exchanging value for value, at mutual benefit. Legitimate self-interest is not greed.

- Economies thrive when labor is applied to natural resources. Those natural resources become wealth. They should be used, not worshipped.

Perhaps the leftist economists do indeed understand all this. If so, then that is itself a scary prospect. Perhaps, to use a metaphor, they know they are sinking the ship, but believe they have secured a seat on a lifeboat, however few lifeboats there may be. And lets face it, to stretch the analogy, some of those lifeboats are in reality, luxury yachts, which only a few will be privileged to board.

This may explain a lot. It is why those at the top are suggesting that we should eat insects, while they undoubtedly will be dining on much finer fare. It is why they are saying that we will own nothing and be happy. It is why they intend to do away with fossil fuels while sending small children in Africa to mine lithium for the batteries in their expensive cars.

Maybe their plan will succeed, at least for them. Perhaps the world is, after all, flat.

Graphic credit: Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
In a classic "man bites dog" story, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has roused itself to speak out about the Los Angeles Dodgers' recission of its disinvitation to the Catholic-mocking bigots of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for honors at a Dodgers game. It's way more typical of the Catholic leaders in that city to simply say nothing.

Their statement was timid enough, not exactly naming names, and definitely using wokestery contexts of inclusion, but it did get the message across that this cave-in from the Dodgers to honor of a group that mocks Catholics isn't looked upon too warmly by the archbishop and his own.

The decision to honor a group that clearly mocks the Catholic faith and makes light of the sincere and holy vocations of our women religious who are an integral part of our Church is what has caused disappointment, concern, anger, and dismay from our Catholic community. The ministries and vocations of our religious women should be honored and celebrated through genuine acts of appreciation, reverence, and respect for their sacred vows, and for all the good works of our nuns and sisters in service of the mission of the Catholic Church. From providing a quality education for inner city students, to serving the sick, the homeless, the hungry and so many others in need, to caring for the souls of our faithful through prayer, our women religious have dedicated their lives to the Catholic faith and mission, sharing Gods loving grace with others. The Archdiocese stands against any actions that would disparage and diminish our Christian faith and those who dedicate their lives to Christ. The Archdiocese calls on all Catholics and people of goodwill to stand against bigotry and hate in any form and to stand for respect for one another and for the religious beliefs of our communities of faith.

A far more spirited defense can be heard from Bill Donohue, the feisty, straight-talking president of the Catholic League:

YouTube videos show the group in action, with an amazing array of obscene antics and blasphemies. Depictions of pervy "Jesus" characters pole-dancing on the cross and other sickening mockeries are difficult for any person of faith to look at, so I won't post the videos. They can be seen here, here, and here. In this one, they also mock Judaism, Sikhism, and the World War II Iwo Jima memorial. In this one, they engage in mob censorship of a woman they don't agree with.

They've been at it attempting to insinuate themselves into the berths of Catholicism itself for years. Here is a 1980 article from my old Jesuit University of San Francisco's Foghorn student newspaper archives about their activist protests at the school over the listing of a gay group at the law school. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about that here.

What could have roused the archdiocese to stick up for itself and its Catholic members?

Two things stand out: one, the archdiocese said it had been hearing from people about this matter.

Who might that mean? Very likely the Hispanic community, which populates the majority, by far, of the gargantuan archdiocese in that region. The 1980 Foghorn piece, written by news editor Walter Neary, notes that the group mocks Catholicism by wearing the habits of 17th-century Belgian nuns. The drag group doesn't mock guitar-Mass Catholics, after all; it mocks the archaic versions of Catholicism in the voluminous nun habits that are most frequently valued and practiced in Latino cultures such as Spain, Belgium, France, Portugal, and Italy. The Catholicism the group mocks is Latino Catholicism, and the Latinos and Hispanics know it. Hispanics also are the Los Angeles Dodgers' biggest fans, which makes the issue potent as a cultural flashpoint. It's not for nothing that people of all races and ethnicities in Los Angeles affectionately call the Dodgers "Los Doyers."

The second thing eminent in the message is the archdiocese's strong stance on the group's insults, directly focused on the nuns of the parish, rather than the other people in it.

That's a big one, too. First of all, everything in the archdiocese's statement is true about the nuns and their authentic charity work and self-sacrifice for the community. The nuns I know in Los Angeles take vows of poverty and give their all to serve others, helping the poor, the single mothers, the people getting out of jail or in jail, the homeless, the kids, the migrants, the needy of all kinds. Even the left-leaning nuns in are genuinely good people living for others and fully focused on charity and selflessness. (They don't treat right-wingers badly, either.) Their lives are lives of discipline and attention to God's will.

The drag group mocking them, by contrast, is none of that. Their community service, based on the YouTube videos I had to run through, was stuff like something they call their "condom ministry."

Many of the authentic nuns have been active in the archdiocese attempting to push for changes such as greater visibility and leadership for women in the Church as well as female priests. I don't agree with much of that stuff, but they are within their rights to do it, and I can accept that they are acting in good faith. Bottom line here: they are a major pressure group on the archdiocese, and there's little doubt that the archbishop was hearing from them, too. Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, who leads it, knows he needs to keep them happy, because they do a lot of the heavy lifting in the Church itself.

A third thing that might be going on is a bit cynical but, if so, a positive development: Archbishop Gomez, who is said to be middle-of-the-road, and generally timid, was recently passed over for a cardinal's hat in favor of very liberal San Franciscoborn and bred Bishop Robert McElroy, now of San Diego. The Catholic press has reported that Gomez was disappointed. With no cardinal's cap in sight, could it be that Gomez is finding courage to speak up for the Church, now that he doesn't need to please the lefty church hierarchy that has already passed him over? What does he have to lose now if he does? Maybe it's easier for him now that it doesn't matter what the woke Church hierarchy thinks of such a statement, because it's already shot its bolt. Yes, cynical, but if so, maybe Gomez will find his courage even more as the leftist tide gets ever more outrageous and out of control. There's no need to tolerate anti-Catholic bigots focused on two key constituencies, so yeah, he's saying something, and standing up for what's right, too.

Image: Screen shot from Archbishop JOSE GOMEZ Flickr page, CC BY 2.0.
President Yoon Suk Yeol and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, attend a session at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21. Seoul said Wednesday that the size of its financial commitment to help Ukraine's reconstruction efforts was exaggerated by Kyiv. EPA-Yonhap



Kyiv withdraws claim that fund from Seoul could reach $8 bil. after complaint



By Jung Min-ho



Seoul said Wednesday that the size of its financial commitment to help Ukraine's reconstruction efforts was exaggerated by Kyiv.



Speaking to The Korea Times, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Ukraine's claim that Korea's additional financial support could reach $8 billion by 2024 was simply not true.



"Our ministry is considering providing Ukraine with nonlethal equipment such as portable X-ray devices and mine clearing equipment within the limit of $30 million this year, while an additional $100 million loan from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) is under the review of the finance ministry. No other plans have been announced or considered," an official said.



The official "correction" followed a statement from Ukraine's First Vice Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who claimed that Korea's financial commitment to her country would be far greater than announced.



In the statement following her visit to Seoul with Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska last week, Svyrydenko said, "The possibility of receiving the first tranche of up to $300 million from the EDCF will appear in 2023 within 3-4 months from the signing of the second stage of the agreement, which is expected in a month from today's extraordinarily important event. The next tranche of up to $3 billion will become available in 2024, with the limit gradually increasing to $8 billion as the pipeline of projects is filled."



After the Korean government's complaint, Kyiv removed the latter part that claimed that there would be billions of dollars of support from its official website. Yet there is still a considerable gap between the total of $130 million Korea said it would offer and the $300 million Kyiv apparently expects to receive.



Officials at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said they asked the Ukrainian government to correct the $300 million part. As of Wednesday afternoon, that request was not met.





Ukrainian soldiers pass by residential buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Ukraine, Nov. 10, 2022. AP-Yonhap
The pernicious rhetoric of the left that words are "violence" justifying actual violence may have inspired a radical professor at Hunter College (part of the City University of New York) to destroy a pro-life display on school grounds. That provoked an investigation by the university of the incident, which was captured on video and displayed on Twitter.

Allie Griffin of the New York Post described the incident:

A Manhattan college professor flipped out on a group of students who set up an information table opposing abortion inside the school building  cursing and tossing their pamphlets, video of the interaction shows. Shellyne Rodriguez, an adjunct professor, told the pro-life students they were "triggering" her students by tabling inside Hunter College in Manhattan earlier this month. (snip) "You're not educating s---. This is f------ propaganda," the art professor told the students tabling on May 2. "What are you going to do like anti-trans next?" A male student behind the table calmly told her, "I mean no, we're talking about abortion" and said he was sorry about "triggering" her students.

PROFESSOR GONE WILD: Pro-abortion professor Shellyne Rodriquez curses at pro-life students and vandalizes table at Hunter College. pic.twitter.com/QNspuXB4KK  Students for Life of America (@StudentsforLife) May 17, 2023

But it was only after she threatened to murder a reporter seeking her comment that she was fired by the municipally owned school. Fox News, where the reporter, Reuven Fenton, was interviewed on Hannity Tuesday night, reports:

New York Post reporter Reuven Fenton was threatened with a machete to his neck Tuesday when he knocked on the door of the Bronx apartment belonging to Shellyne Rodriguez, a Hunter College adjunct assistant professor of art. He was requesting an interview with Rodriguez after she was caught destroying a student group's pro-life display in an expletive-filled rant that went viral earlier this month. (snip) In an appearance on "Hannity" Tuesday night, Fenton said he identified himself and requested to speak with Rodriguez when she began to verbally abuse him and his cameraman, threatening to "chop" them up. She then "barged out" of her apartment and put a machete to his neck, he recalled. (snip)

"We just wanted to speak to this woman ... we thought we might have a chance given that she's obviously passionate about her beliefs and maybe if we showed up to her door, she'd be willing to grant us an interview," Fenton told host Sean Hannity. "In my career, I've knocked on 10,000 doors ... but I got a bit of a surprise when she opened the door," he continued. "This was a first for me. She first verbally threatened to chop us up with the machete and then proceeded to come out of her apartment brandishing the blade and pressing it against the side of my neck for about a second, and then I guess she realized she was being recorded and went back inside."

Here is video of the murder threat:

It appears that the threat of violence captured on video was enough for the university to fire her, not just investigate:

Hunter College announced Tuesday evening that Rodriguez had been fired from her position and will not return to teaching at the school. "Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez and has taken immediate action. Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately and will not be returning to teach at the school," a spokesperson for the school told Fox News Digital.

With Rodriguez's name in the media, it turns out that she is suing the NYPD over her arrest during the George Floyd riots. The U.K. Daily Mail reports:

Rodriguez is suing the NYPD after she was arrested in 2020, during the George Floyd protests. Rodriguez claims in her lawsuit that police officers pulled her hair, shoved her face into a gate and repeatedly punched her in the stomach. She was arrested in the Bronx and put in a police van with 14 others. She had her hands restrained with zip ties, which she alleges were so tightly-bound for two hours they caused her lasting nerve damage, impacting her ability to create art. Charges against her were dropped in September 2020: she is due in court in July for the next hearing in her suit.

It strikes me as contradictory (but not surprising) that someone who turns to violence herself objects to and litigates alleged violence from others. But that's the left for you.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.
Instead of calling out climate change purportedly caused by humans and the use of natural resources as the massive fraud it is, many Republicans just try to slow down the radical leftist policies to destroy companies that directly and indirectly employ tens of millions, and which have greatly improved our length and quality of life. Reasonable energy prices are especially beneficial to the poor and middle class.

If Republicans told the truth that there is absolutely no scientific data to show that our use of coal, oil, and other products increases temperatures and that the climate has always changed cyclically and naturally, they appear to be afraid that they would be called names.

They don't want to be called climate change "deniers," "anti-science," or stupid. The actual anti-science people are those pretending to be climate scientists, thought leaders, journalists, and other Democrats. No matter how wrong their previous dire predictions have been, they just repeat the talking point that "the science is settled." Facts have never interfered with the leftist agenda to destroy or remake America. Isn't it stupid to repeat talking points when there are no facts to support them?

Republicans should realize that no matter how much they cave or whatever they do, the media and other Democrats will always call them names to mislead the public and destroy them.

When people disagreed with Fauci, the CDC, and others on taking the vaccine for COVID, they were called anti-vaxxers and anti-science, evil people who wanted others to die. The media silenced people who opposed the dictatorial edicts.

Shouldn't Fauci and the others who repeatedly made things up without scientific data to support their talking points have been called "anti-science"? Anyone who promoted or counted deaths from cancer, heart disease, and strokes as caused by COVID is clearly anti-science and intentionally misleading the public.

When Trump and other Republicans saw that several states violated their election laws in 2020, and Mark Zuckerberg committed fraud when spending over $400 million to interfere in the election, they questioned the election results, and they were called "election deniers" who wanted to destroy democracy. The public was told misleadingly that the election was absolutely clean.

Wasn't it a massive fraud on the American people, and American interference, when the media, the government, and other Democrats intentionally buried the truth about Biden family corruption when they knew about the corruption for years?

Democrats have challenged elections for years, yet the media never call them "election deniers" who want to destroy democracy because they don't care. The reason for calling Trump and Republicans names is to mislead and influence the public.

When Republicans use common sense to say that women and girls should not have to compete or share shower space with males, we are called "transphobes" instead of pro-woman. Isn't it anti-woman to force women and girls to compete with men and lose their privacy?

The media and other Democrats say they are pro-choice and pro-woman because of their position on abortion. But Obamacare took away their freedom of choice on their doctor and health plan. Likewise, Democrats took away their choice about whether to take a vaccine (take it or get fired is not a choice), take away school choice, and are willing to annihilate women's sports. So why aren't they called antiwomen and girls?

Then the media and other Democrats always play the race card: if you enforce immigration laws and are a Republican, you are called a racist.

The NAACP are going after DeSantis as a racist. They don't care how well blacks and other minorities do in Florida. All they care about is that he is a Republican.

The NAACP don't protest or suggest boycotts of high-crime cities like Chicago that have led to generational poverty for blacks because they don't care.

A Democrat governor considers it an emergency if poor and minority kids get a choice to go to better schools.

Yet there are no protests from the media, the NAACP, Al Sharpton, Ben Crump, Biden, Harris, Obama, Clinton, AOC, Schumer, Pelosi, entertainers, educators, and other Democrats because they also don't care if poor and minority kids get a choice to improve their shot at a better life.

They need the leftist ideology indoctrination to continue because all they crave is power.

Rich non-white women can't stomach black Republicans who support conservative principles.

We are constantly told that we should respect all women and minorities, but Democrats repeatedly show that those are just talking points as they trash women and minorities if they dare stray from leftist ideology.

Whoopi, Hostin: Tim Scott Has 'Clarence Thomas Syndrome' on Race in US

Asa Hutchinson, Larry Hogan, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, Bill Barr, Chris Sununu, Chris Christie, and other NeverTrumps say that Trump should not be president because he is too divisive or abrasive. Are they so unintelligent that they don't understand that the only time they are respected is when they trash Trump or other Republican policies? The media will not support them for higher office, no matter how much they kiss up. I do not see NeverTrumps complain about how Biden trashes Republicans and seeks to divide the country, because they don't seem to care.

I would ask the NeverTrumps what Trump should have done in the following situations:

When they had endless witch hunts on Trump based on the Russian collusion lie, should he have just shut up or called them out?

When they lied continuously about what Trump said in Charlottesville to gin up racial hate and division, should he have remained quiet?

When he saw how corrupt and political Comey and other people at the Justice Department were as they targeted and spied on people surrounding him, should he have pretended they were honest and that no one is above the law?

When Trump saw how corrupt Hillary was and that Comey and the Justice Department just let her off, was Trump supposed to remain quiet or call them out?

Should Trump have ignored the corruption of the Biden family in Ukraine, or is it the responsibility of government officials to call out corruption?

Should Trump have remained quiet about all the laws election officials broke in the 2020 election and that Zuckerberg committed fraud to influence voting? If so, why?

Why should we trust most of the media, the Justice Department, FBI, former intelligence officials, and other Democrats to be honest about anything when they colluded to hide the truth about the Biden family corruption in order to interfere with and win the 2020 election? It is an absolute joke when they pretend they care about fair elections.



Regrettable spelling, but spot-on accusation.

Thank goodness Trump won in 2016 to stop the Obama, Hillary, and Biden efforts to remake or destroy America. It is a shame the NeverTrumps don't care and therefore are complicit.

Photo credit: Matt Brown, CC BY 2.0 license.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the venerable civil rights organization that seems to have sneakily changed its name to the National Organization Against the Advancement of Colored People, recently issued a statement decidedly against the advancement of "colored people" in Florida.

WASHINGTON  Today, the NAACP Board of Directors issued a formal travel advisory for the state of Florida. The travel advisory comes in direct response to Governor Ron DeSantis' aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools. The formal travel notice 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." "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 & CEO Derrick Johnson. "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. We're not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation."

Huh? Has the NAACP confused Florida with Democrat-run cities where the prevailing reality is definitely "hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon"? According to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida ranks #1 with "Black-Owned Businesses With Employees" and #2 with "Hispanic-Owned Businesses With Employees."

Black-owned businesses employ 77,136 Floridians and represent an annual payroll of $2.63 billion. Florida has the second-most Black-owned businesses in the country, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce. The Florida Chamber on Wednesday announced that it had started tracking the number of Black-owned businesses in the state and including the ranking on its Florida Scorecard website. According to the Chamber, there are more than 250,000 Black-owned businesses in Florida and they collectively employ 77,136 Floridians and represent an annual payroll of $2.63 billion. "The good news is Florida is currently #2 in the nation, with the #1 spot close in reach," the Chamber said in a news release.

Joining other Americans fleeing crime-ridden, tax-heavy, and colder states, Blacks are moving to Florida, where they now account for 17% of the state's population.

Florida is also a nice place for Blacks to visit if they don't live there, according to the admittedly partisan Visit Florida, as Florida has

Experienced record-breaking tourism numbers year after year, attracting the largest share of the African American vacation market in the country. Enacted the toughest anti-discrimination laws in the country, protecting all people.

NAACP: Listen to your constituents!
The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty recently shared a video about a unique natural phenomenon in a village called Dinosa, located in southeastern Montenegroa small country on the Adriatic coast. There is a mulberry tree standing in the meadow there that turns into a fountain whenever it rains heavy. From a hollow on the tree trunk water can be seen gushing abundantly.

Apparently, the rains had flooded the underground springs and the additional pressure created pushed water up the tree trunk through cracks or hollows on the trunk, until it poured out of a hole a few feet above the ground. As you can see from the video, the ground is quite sloppy indicating the amount of groundwater there is in the soil and below. You can also see water gurgling out of other holes in the meadow. The entire area is flowing like a small stream.

According to a local man interviewed, this has been happening for the last 20-25 years or perhaps even longer. He estimates the tree is over 100 to 150 years old.

While Montenegros tree fountain is indeed unique, it isnt the only example of water gushing out of the ground after rains. In the Estonian village of Tuhala, there is a well that starts spouting water after a heavy downpour. The well happens to be placed just over an underground river. After rain water floods the river, water pressure builds to the point that it shoots up out of the well, sometimes up to half a meter high. This continues for a few days. During this time, more than 100 liters of water can flow out every second.

The local legend is that the witches of Tuhala gather in the sauna underground and beats each other vigorously with birch branches causing water to pour out on the surface. They call it the Witchs Well.

Photo credit: www.visitestonia.com

Photo credit: Greta/Flickr

Photo credit: Tony Bowden/Flickr

The Tuhalas Witch well when its not flowing
The Australian jewel beetle (Julodimorpha bakewelli) is a large golden-colored beetle species that is found all over South Australia in arid and semi-arid areas. Like most insects, the jewel beetles only purpose in life is to breed. Every year during mating season, the males fly around, searching for the shiny brown backs of the females crawling on the ground. When they find a lady they like, they hop on her back and start humpingexcept, many times, the mate of their choice turns out to be something else.

Several Australian jewel beetles trying to mate with a beer bottle. Credit: National Geographic

Back in the spring of 1981, which occurs in August and September in Australia, two entomologists, Darryl Gwynne from the University of Toronto in Canada and David Rentz from the CSIRO, were on a field trip in Western Australia where they made a remarkable discovery. The pair observed several male Australian jewel beetles trying to mate with a 375ml beer bottle, known affectionately as a stubbie. They picked up the bottle and tried to shake off the beetles, but the insects had gripped the bottle fiercely and wouldnt buzz.

Looking around, the researchers found more stubbies, and each one was mounted upon by several males. The males had their genitalia everted as they attempted to mate with the bottle. The behavior perplexed Gwynne and Rentz, and so they conducted a brief experiment at the site. They found four empty stubbies and placed them on the ground. The area was littered with beer bottles tossed from open windows of speeding cars, so they had no trouble finding them. They wanted to see if the bottles would attract beetles. Sure enough, within half an hour, two of the bottles had attracted a total of six males.

What was drawing the beetles to the empty stubbies? Surely, it was not the beer, because the beetles didnt go for the spout end, but rather the bottom. Also the bottles were long dry.

The answer became obvious when they took a closer look at the bottles, which was shiny brown in color with a ring of dimples near the bottom, similar to the tiny bumps on the beetles elytra. Apparently, the males were confusing the beer bottles for females of their species from the way the light reflected off their backs. Biologists call this "an evolutionary trap." It happens when environmental changes caused by human activities lead animals to make poor habitat choices that can lead to rapid population declines and even extinction. For instance, when sea turtle hatchlings emerge from their sandy nests, they instinctively migrate towards the moonlight reflecting on the ocean. However, the presence of bright lights from beach hotels can confuse the hatchlings, causing them to migrate in the wrong direction. As a consequence, they either succumb to exhaustion or become vulnerable to predation.

A male Australian jewel beetle attempts to make love with a beer bottle. Credit: Darryl Gwynne

Likewise, the Australian jewel beetles exhibit a similar effect. Mistaking beer bottles for females can have detrimental consequences for male beetles. Gwynne and Rentz documented how once the males landed on the bottles, they persistently attempted to mate with them until physically displaced. In their natural habitat, this behavior can lead to unintended starvation or exhaustion, ultimately resulting in their demise. The researchers observed instances where some males fell off the bottles due to heat exhaustion, while others became prey for predators such as ants.

Thankfully, Australian beer companies have changed the design on their beer bottles. It no longer has the little bumps that has been confusing the beetles.

Darryl Gwynne and David Rentzs, who wrote a paper on this observation, won the 2011 Ig Nobel prizea parody prize awarded annually by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, putting into spotlight this unusual aspect of the Australian jewel beetle.

References:

# The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name, Of A Beetle For A Beer Bottle, NPR

# Australias beer-loving jewel beetle, Australian Geographic
Are you planning a trip to a warm and sunny destination to soak up some sun and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation? Whether you are heading to the beach or exploring new places, it is important to take some precautions to ensure your safety. One of the best ways to do this is by taking a CPR certification course and enrolling in a first aid program. These courses can be a game-changer when youre away from home. They will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to respond in an emergency. Besides, they will give you the confidence to handle any situation.

American HealthCare Academy CPR and first aid courses are a great option for those who want to learn more about these important skills. Their courses are designed to be both informative and engaging, ensuring that you learn the skills you need while having fun.

So before you hit the beach or embark on your next adventure, consider taking a CPR and first aid course to help you stay safe and confident no matter where your travels take you.

This blog helps you narrow down the six important things to consider while planning a trip to a warm destination.

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1. Take a CPR course

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is a life-saving technique that can help someone who is not breathing or whose heart has stopped beating. In a CPR course, you will learn how to perform chest compressions, rescue breaths, and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). You will also learn about the different types of CPR, which include adult, child, and infant CPR. By taking a CPR certification course, you will be prepared to act quickly in case of an emergency.

2. Enroll in a first aid program

In addition to CPR, it is important to have a basic understanding of first aid. It involves offering immediate care to someone who has been injured or is suddenly ill. In a first aid program, you will learn how to assess the situation, stabilize the person, and provide basic care until help arrives. You will also learn how to treat common injuries such as burns, cuts, and sprains. Enrolling in a first aid program is a great way to prepare yourself for any situation.

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3. Prepare a safety kit

When traveling to a warm destination, it is important to be prepared for any situation. One way to do this is by preparing a safety kit. Your safety kit should include items such as a first aid kit, sunscreen, insect repellent, a flashlight, and extra batteries. You should also include any medications that you or your family members may need. By preparing a safety kit, you will be ready for anything that comes your way.

4. Watch what you eat and drink

When traveling to a warm destination, it is important to watch what you eat and drink. Make sure to only drink bottled water and avoid ice cubes in your drinks. Be careful when eating fruits and vegetables, and make sure they are washed thoroughly. If you are unsure about the safety of the food or water, it is best to avoid it. This can help prevent illness and ensure that you have a safe and enjoyable trip.

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5. Apply sunscreen

When spending time in the sun, it is crucial to protect your skin from harmful UV rays. Apply sunscreen with a high SPF regularly, especially if you are spending time in the water or sweating. Reapply your sunscreen every 34 hours for maximum benefit. To safeguard your face and eyes, its recommended to wear a hat and sunglasses, and to minimize direct exposure to sunlight by seeking shade during the peak heat hours. By taking these precautions, you can prevent sunburns and reduce your risk of skin cancer.

6. Take your vitamins

When traveling to a warm destination, you want to stay healthy. Taking vitamins, especially Vitamin C and Zinc, can help boost your immune system and prevent illness. Make sure to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and get plenty of rest to help your body recover from the heat and any physical activity.

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Key takeaway

In conclusion, taking a CPR certification course and enrolling in a first aid program can help you be prepared for any situation when traveling to a warm destination. By taking these simple precautions, you can have a safe and enjoyable trip. Dont forget to sign up to the American HealthCare Academy CPR and their first aid courses to learn more about these important skills.
Samsungs award-winning mobile security platform Knox is ten years old! The company introduced Knox at Mobile World Congress in February 2013. Over the past decade, it has evolved into one of the most trusted security platforms for mobile devices, safeguarding billions of consumers and businesses on the way. In a recent Newsroom post celebrating the 10th anniversary of Knox, Samsung talked about its vision for the platform in the years ahead, including Knox Matrix.

Samsung Knox Matrix is the future of mobile security

At SDC 2022 in October, Samsung announced Knox Matrix as the security platform of the future. It is a private blockchain-based platform that builds on its existing solution. But instead of safeguarding a single device, it offers the same level of protection to all connected devices in an ecosystem.

According to Samsung, there are already more than 14 billion connected devices on the market. From smartphones, tablets, and TVs to refrigerators, washing machines, and robot vacuum cleaners, people use an array of connected devices in their households. This ecosystem will keep growing, and this poses a massive security risk. Existing security platforms can only protect a single device. If one of the devices in an ecosystem has weaker security, it may allow threat actors to compromise the security of other devices as well.

This is where Samsungs Knox Matrix comes into play. It enables all devices in the ecosystem to protect one another, ensuring strong security for all. The bigger your device ecosystem is, the stronger its overall security. Moreover, should the security of one of them be compromised, the platform will automatically isolate it from the rest of the ecosystem. This allows you to use your connected devices in the same manner as before while also safeguarding them from potential exploitations.

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Samsung says the whole platform relies on three critical technologies. Firstly, Trust Chain enables devices in an ecosystem to monitor each other for threats. Credential Sync secures user information as you move data between devices. Finally, Cross Platform SDK enables consistent Knox Matrix security standards for devices on various operating systems and platforms, including Android, Tizen, Windows, and others. The security platform manages all of this within a private blockchain.

Samsungs next-gen security platform will arrive in 2024

Samsung originally planned to debut Knox Matrix this year. But the company has now delayed its launch to 2024. It is needing more time to ensure that the platform is interoperable across every device type and security system. Knox Matrixs development is going strong, but there are challenges on the way to the next frontier. These include reconciling the many different types of products, with varying operating systems and security standards, into a frictionless system able to work as one, it said in the Newsroom post.

Samsung now plans to launch the first Knox Matrix-compatible models in 2024. It will start with mobile Galaxy products, such as smartphones and tablets. The Galaxy S24 series could be the first to get the new security system. If not, we might be looking at the 2024 foldables. The company will gradually add more device categories such as home appliance devices within the next two to three years. Partner devices will follow next, though the development for partner device compatibility is already underway.
About a week ago, a Korean publication, Chosun, said that Samsung will host its second Unpacked event of the year on July 26, during which it will announce its new foldables. Well, another Korean source now said the same thing, SBS Biz.

Samsung looks set to announce its new foldables on July 26

This source claims that the event will be hosted in Seoul as well, as did the first source. SBS Biz does note that the event will likely be hosted at COEX, Gangnam-gu. It is said that the preparations are already on the way.

Samsung tends to host these events in cities outside of its homeland, at least it did in the past. This time around, the company opted for Seoul, it would seem, although several other cities outside of Korea were considered.

During this event, Samsung will have plenty to say. Not only will it announce its new foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, but the Galaxy Watch 6 is also expected. The same goes for the companys new tablets.

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July 26 is not yet set in stone as the launch date, it wont be until Samsung officially confirms it. That could happen in the near future, as were about a month away from that date.

This event comes earlier than expected

Samsung usually hosts its second Unpacked event of the year in August, but this year the company decided to change things up, it seems. The Pixel Fold launch could be at least one of the reasons why.

We already have plenty of info on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. One of the main changes for the Flip 5 will be its cover display. It will be a lot larger this time around. Both smartphones are expected to include a better hinge, and fold without a gap.

Both devices will be quite powerful, as expected, and both will launch globally, of course. If youd like to know more, check out our Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 previews.
Seen are tanks storing water that was treated to remove most but not all radioactive contamination after it was used to cool down spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Feb. 27, 2021. AP-Yonhap



Tokyo seeks to capitalize on Korean team's inspection in lifting Seoul's seafood ban



By Nam Hyun-woo



Japan is expected to take advantage of a Korean inspection team's visit to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in promoting its planned discharge of irradiated water at the plant as "safe" and, furthermore, pressuring Seoul to resume imports of seafood originating from the vicinity of the damaged nuclear plant.



According to NHK, Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tetsuro Nomura said in a press conference, Tuesday, that Korea bans all seafood imports from eight prefectures including Fukushima, and he wants to ask Seoul to lift those bans.



"I heard that the inspection is focusing on water treated through the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) at the Fukushima plant," Tetsuro said. "Additionally, I want to ask (Korea) about lifting the import ban."



The comment came as the 21-member Korean team has been at the site since Sunday to inspect Japan's plan to dump the contaminated water into the ocean. Critics here believe the comment showed Japan's intention to use the visit as an opportunity to convince Korea of the safety of its wastewater discharge plan, as well as turning around negative sentiment in Korea on the possible contamination of Japanese food products.



Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also held a press conference on Tuesday and said, "We will make efforts to deepen understanding of the safety of releasing the ALPS-treated water from the plant through inspections by the Korean team."



During the site visit, the Korean team inspected the ALPS and wastewater tanks at the plant from Tuesday to Wednesday, and will have a Q&A session with local authorities until Friday.



The team, headed by Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee, was formed to inspect the nuclear plant following President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's agreement during their summit earlier this month.





Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee, head of a Korean inspection team sent to Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, talks to reporters in Fubata, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Tuesday. Yonhap
Hey, Google, we need to have a heart-to-heart. The Google Tablet is a very neat device, and it has the potential to revive the tablet market. Being able to seamlessly convert the tablet into a smart display is like something out of every tech nerds dream. Its just that, in order for this idea to really bring change to the tablet market, itd need to have a Samsung or Apple logo on it.

Now, this isnt to turn people away from this device. In fact, its a really nice device. You can read more about it here. Also, if youre looking into placing an order for the Pixel Tablet, you can click here. If youre looking for our general coverage on tablets, then you can click here.

Samsung or Apple will need to be the ones to revive the tablet market

The tablet market is a bit of a sad sight nowadays. Its been limping along for several years while phones were eating away at its market share. A combination of smartphones getting better (and bigger), OEMs giving tablets less-than-premium specs, and the limitations of tablet software, have done a number on the market.

The only tablets that have been keeping the market afloat are the Galaxy Tabs and the iPads. Each year, they get better specs and new features, but thats it. Even with these titans selling tons of tablets, the market as a whole has been shrinking.

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Enter Google with an idea that could revolutionize the tablet market. In all honesty, companies like Lenovo thought of this idea first. The Pixel Tablet just amassed much more hype. The Pixel Tablet can smoothly transform from a tablet to a smart display by simply docking it on the charging speaker dock.

Its an incredible idea, but

Already, this tablet is more covered and more anticipated than Lenovos solution, and its not even out yet. Also, its Googles hardware running on Googles software. So, whats the problem?

Well, Googles a popular brand, but its not really a trendsetter in the mobile hardware division. Were not expecting to see many cheap knockoff Pixel devices plaguing Wish or comparable platforms. The Pixel devices, for as popular as they are, only make up about 1%-2% of the smartphone market. Other companies arent likely to emulate the Pixel Tablets mentality because it wont make up a significant chunk of the tablet market.

Who are the trendsetters in the mobile market? Samsung and Apple. There are so many devices in the smartphone market that emulate phones from these companies. Would we have had the notched phone without the iPhone X? Would companies have snagged the Note moniker if it wasnt for the success of the Galaxy Note series?

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Lets face it, so much of the smartphone industry is thanks to Samsung and Apple- for better or worse. Samsung or Apple will need to make their own version of the Pixel Tablet and make a big show of it to make the rest of the tablet market take notice.

Leading the pack

Imagine an iPad that connects to a special iDock and enters Siri Mode. Itll be a one-stop shop to control all of your Apple Homekit devices. Knowing Apple, itll seamlessly integrate with your iPhone and Mac computer.

Weeks after that keynote, well see other companies coming out with their own iterations. Theres no doubt this hypothetical iPad will sell in high volume. Itll most likely be more successful under Apples wing than Samsungs, but Sammys iteration will do much the same thing with its ecosystem of Galaxy devices.

Undoubtedly, these devices will make the headlines. Again, itll be a bigger splash if Apple does it because any break from form that Apple does will be big news.

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How will this revive the tablet market?

The tablet is in the wrong place in the mobile tech market. When it was still burgeoning, it was the ostensible middle-ground between smartphones and laptops. That was back when phones were so small and computers were so big.

Nowadays, smartphones are much bigger with near-tablet-sized screens, and powerful laptops are much smaller and sleeker. This puts pressure on the tablet market from both sides. I can watch movies and get work done on my phone and take my compact laptop everywhere I go. Why would I need a THIRD device?

Hey, markets grow and change over time- what can ya do? The best thing for the tablet market to do is move. Instead of trying to occupy the shrinking space between smartphones and computers, it could settle in the vacant space between tablets and smartphones.

That could be a smart move because the trouble with tablets is that they need a functionality that phones and computers dont have. Phones can do pretty much anything your tablet can do, and your computer is most likely much more powerful. But, neither of those devices will make good smart displays; tablets do. This adds a must-have functionality to tablets.

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Maybe Google can revive the market through software

Google doesnt have the hardware to bring the tablet back from the brink of oblivion, but it might have the software. Google holds the reins on Android, and its been making the platform better optimized for tablets.

Its possible that the company could add a native faux-docked mode for tablets to Android. Basically, this mode will emulate the docked mode in the Pixel Tablet and let it act as a smart display. When the mode is activated, the microphone will remain on and youll be able to summon the Google Assistant when you need it.

Maybe Google could push this to older versions of Android so that people can give life to their older tablets that have been sitting on their closet shelves. Adding this functionality to Android could entice more people to buy tablets because of the extra functionality (the same could work if the script was flipped and Apple did this with iPadOS).

Its a nifty idea, but Google would be doing this at the risk of shooting itself in the foot. Doing that will give people less reason to buy the Pixel Tablet. Were not sure that Google wants to do that just yet.

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All in all

Google influences the tech world in its own way. Its software and services have revolutionized the tech industry over the past 25 years. However, Googles just not the popular kid at the lunch table. If other companies are going to hop on this trend and revive the tablet market, then it will just have to be started by Samsung or Apple to make it happen.
The Government has announced 200 Albanian nationals jailed in England and Wales will be sent home for the rest of their sentence  amid concerns that UK prisons are nearing capacity.

Offenders handed terms of four years or more will return to their native country to serve the remainder, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.

The arrangement will also see Britain provide support to Albania to help modernise its own prison system, according to the department.

Secretary of State for Justice Alex Chalk arrives at 10 Downing Street (Victoria Jones/PA)

It comes after justice minister Lord Bellamy KC told Parliament that jails are quite tight and at 99% capacity.

Speaking to peers, he said the Government is concerned about the increasing prison population and how it is nearing its upper limit.

The MoJ said the new deal will free up jail space in England and Wales and double the number of offenders without UK citizenship removed annually.

Between 27 April 2021 and 27 April 2023, the Government repatriated 112 inmates under prisoner transfer agreements.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: I am grateful to my Albanian counterpart, Ulsi Manja, for his efforts to shape our growing partnership on justice issues.

The public expects that foreign criminals should serve their sentences overseas  not in our prisons at the expense of the taxpayer.

This deal will speed up the removal of these offenders and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice and spend the remainder of their sentence behind bars.

Collaboration with our international partners is an essential part of making this possible.

Ulsi Manja, the Albanian justice minister, said: This new arrangement demonstrates the strong partnership between the UK and Albanian governments.

Two years after the agreement for the transfer of prisoners from the United Kingdom to Albania was ratified, we have concluded a technical arrangement that will benefit both countries.

At its core, every Albanian convict in the United Kingdom shall be given the opportunity to serve the remaining sentence in Albania, near their families, while we also increase our efforts to ensure the modernisation of the Albanian penitentiary system.
Doctors could have acted sooner to try to stop the bleeding of a baby boy, murder-accused Lucy Letby has told jurors.

The prosecution says Letby, 33, inflicted an injury to the infant and also injected him with air while he was under her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted babies of 10 others on the neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.

She is said to have targeted her fifth alleged victim, Child E, during a night shift in August 2015.

Letby is also accused of attempting to his murder his twin brother, Child F, by poisoning him with insulin.

Manchester Crown Court has previously heard from a prosecution medical expert that a rigid wire or tube may have been used to cause extraordinary bleeding.

Child E deteriorated from 11.40pm on August 3, the court heard, and later died early the next morning having lost a quarter of his blood volume.

The boys mother had told the court that she heard horrendous crying as she visited her son at 9pm and then saw blood around his mouth.

Letby says no bleeding took place prior to 10pm.

The Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester (Peter Byrne/PA)

Prosecutor Nick Johnson QC asked: Is it your case that medical incompetency contributed to his collapse or death?

Letby replied: Possibly, yes.

Mr Johnson said: Whose medical incompetencies?

Letby said: The medical team who were on that night.

I just think collectively they could have acted sooner to respond to the blood issue.

Mr Johnson said: Their reaction would be dependent on when you told them there was a bleed?

Yes, said Letby.

Mr Johnson said: The prosecution case is that (Child Es mother) is telling the truth and (Child E) was bleeding at 9pm.

But you didnt tell anyone about that until at least an hour later?

Letby said: No I disagree with that.

I think once (Child E ) was profusely bleeding after 10pm maybe a blood transfusion or something could have been given sooner.

I dont know if that would have made a difference.

Letby said it would have been the decision of the duty consultant, registrar and senior house officer that night to have made the decision to prescribe and give a blood transfusion.

Mr Johnson went on: I am suggesting to you that when (Child Es mother) came down at 9pm you had inflicted an injury on (Child E) to cause bleeding?

Letby said: No, I dont accept that. It didnt happen.

Mr Johnson said: Thats why he was screaming, wasnt it?

No, said Letby.

Mr Johnson said: Did you tell (Child Es mother) that the source of the bleed was the insertion of a nasogastric tube?

Letby said: No.

Mr Johnson said: That is what you told (Child Es mother) when she queried why he had blood around his mouth?

Letby said: No, I dont recall that, I dont believe I would have said something like that.

The defendant denied the suggestion that she had falsified records including when failing to record a vomit of fresh blood on an observation chart.

Letby said: It was an error on my part but it was in my nursing note.

Mr Johnson said: Or was it in the excitement of sabotaging (Child E) you overlooked it?

No.

Mr Johnson said: You killed (Child E), didnt you?

No, said Letby.

Mr Johnson said: And you injected him with air.

No, said Letby.

Mr Johnson said: Just as you had done with other babies before?

Letby repeated: No.

Mr Johnson asked: Why in the aftermath of were you so obsessed with (Child Es mother)?

Letby said: I dont believe I was obsessed with (Child Es mother).

Mr Johnson said: Why were you searching for her continually on Facebook?

Letby replied: Because I often thought about (Child E) and (Child F).

The court has heard the defendant searched for Child Es mother on nine occasions, including on the late evening of Christmas Day 2015.

Mr Johnson said: Didnt you have better things to do on Christmas Day?

Letby said: I often thought of (Child E) and (Child F).

Mr Johnson said: Because you had killed one and had tried to kill the other.

Letby said: No I didnt.

I thought that myself and (Child Es mother) had a good relationship.

Letby told the court the unit had problems with raw sewage coming out of some of the sinks.

She said it was a potentially unsafe environment if the unit is dirty and staff are unable to wash their hands properly.

Letby, from Hereford, denies all the allegations.

The trial continues on Thursday.
Alexa Chung has said women are being dismissed, misdiagnosed and left floundering before getting tested for endometriosis.

The fashion designer, presenter and model, 39, said she received treatment for the painful condition while a cyst was being removed.

In a piece for British Vogue, she details her and other womens experiences and also cites medical professionals advice.

Chung, who was on shows such as Popworld and former Channel 4 strand T4, writes: The condition is shrouded in mystery and misinformation, and frequently mishandled by doctors. Theres no cure.

Often sufferers end up going back for surgery after surgery. Shockingly, there are stories of some doctors suggesting that women have a baby to suppress their symptoms.

A research paper at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said in 2019 that women in the city have been recommended pregnancy despite no research evidence for benefit.

Chung also said when she told a gynaecologist she had been unable to leave a bathroom stall due to heavy flow at an airport, the doctor asked if she knew what periods are.

Chung added: This kind of experience is unfortunately not an anomaly. It can take an average of eight years to diagnose endometriosis.

Those who have it often find themselves dismissed, misdiagnosed and left floundering before getting on waiting lists for a laparoscopy: a type of keyhole surgery used to seek out pesky endometrial cells, which is currently the only way to know for sure if someone has the condition.

In March, scientists launched the first clinical trial in four decades to assess a potential new treatment for endometriosis.

Researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Birmingham plan to see whether the drug, dichloroacetate, could be the first ever non-hormonal and non-surgical treatment for endometriosis.

If successful, it could help manage pain among those with the condition.

According to Endometriosis UK, it takes an average of seven-and-a-half years for women to get a diagnosis and affects around 1.5 million women in the UK.

The chronic condition sees tissue similar to the lining of the womb grow elsewhere in the body, such as around the ovaries.

The tissue sheds in the same way that blood does during the menstrual cycle, but has nowhere to escape to, causing inflammation, pain, and a build-up of scar tissue.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, right, speaks with Gen. Micael Byden, the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, during their talks at the JCS headquarters in Seoul, in this photo released by the JCS, May 24. Yonhap



South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum held talks with the visiting top Swedish general Wednesday to discuss regional security and bilateral military cooperation, Kim's office said.



Kim and Gen. Micael Byden, the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, touched on a range of security issues, including North Korea's military provocations and the ongoing war in Ukraine.



They concurred that the North's military provocations in the past were "clear" violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions and pose "grave" threats to not only the Korean Peninsula but also the international security environment, the JCS said in a press release.



Kim asked for Sweden's support for the efforts toward the North's "complete" denuclearization, such as the implementation of sanctions.



The pair also voiced concerns over the continuation of the war in Ukraine, and agreed that South Korea and Sweden should support the efforts to establish peace and stability in the war-torn nation.



South Korea and Sweden have held longtime defense ties, as the latter dispatched a field hospital unit and some 1,100 medical personnel during the 1950-53 Korean War, according to the JCS. (Yonhap)


The director of upcoming horror film The Boogeyman says to have made a movie that scared Stephen King was a pinch me moment.

British director Rob Savage said it had been nerve-wracking to show his film to the renowned horror novelist, but King had apparently had the best time watching it.

The Boogeyman is based on Kings 1973 short story of the same name, but expands on the famous tale.

Stephen King (Joel Ryan/PA)

It follows the story of high school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer, who fall victim to a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.

The film stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair and David Dastmalchian.

The Boogeyman is only Savages third film, following the immense success of his debut feature Host in 2020, which was shot mostly on Zoom during the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at the Los Angeles premiere of The Boogeyman on Tuesday, Savage attributed his success to his first film.

Its crazy and it all came from Host, he told the PA news agency.

We made that movie for nothing, mostly on Zoom during the lockdown, mostly just to stay sane during the pandemic and immediately got all these scripts offered.

I got offered this one and I had read the short story as a kid and it freaked me out.

So I immediately was like ok, if I could make audiences feel like I felt as a kid then were really onto something.

Savage said he had not met King in person, but the pair had corresponded via email and text.

When he doesnt like a movie hes pretty vocal about it  he doesnt like The Shining  so it was pretty nerve-wracking showing him the movie, he told PA.

Hed read the script and loved the script so I knew that if he didnt like the movie it was all my fault.

Ahead of the films official premiere, Savage said they had rented out Kings favourite cinema in Maine, where the author is based, and that he had gone to see it with his nephew.

Director Rob Savage with David Dastmalchian (Mike Bedigan/PA)

He apparently had the best time, it scared the shit out of him, he said.

He sent me this lovely essay (after) about how much hed enjoyed the movie.

Savage said it was not up to him to say whether he had made a better movie than The Shining, but added: To have made a movie that scared Stephen King, thats a pinch me moment.

Dastmalchian said being in the film was a nightmare come true and praised Savages direction on the project.

He did a phenomenal job. He asked a lot of us as actors he didnt settle for anything and thats the kind of director I want to be with.

He had such a strong vision for the film that he knew he needed to make.

He added: I heard that Stephen King liked the movie and messaged with Rob and thats just surreal man, I cant believe its true  but I can because Ive seen the film and I know how good it is.

The Boogeyman is due for release in UK cinemas on June 2.
Suella Braverman will not face an investigation for asking officials whether she could have a private speed awareness course  but Rishi Sunak criticised her handling of the situation.

The Prime Minister, who consulted his ethics adviser over the case, did not order a formal investigation and said his decision is these matters do not amount to a breach of the ministerial code.

But in a letter to Mrs Braverman, the Home Secretary, he said: As you have recognised, a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.

Mrs Braverman has been accused by opponents of breaching the code by asking taxpayer-funded civil servants to help with a private matter.

She later accepted a fine and penalty points on her driving licence for the speeding offence.

Labour criticised the decision, saying a cosy exchange of letters appears to have replaced the recognised process for investigating ministerial conduct.

The whole point of having an independent adviser is so that these matters can be looked at thoroughly and these facts can be put in the public domain in a way that isnt subject to political spin, a party spokesman said.

In her letter to Mr Sunak, the Home Secretary said: I sought to explore whether bespoke arrangements were possible, given my personal circumstances as a security-protected minister.

I recognise how some people have construed this as me seeking to avoid sanction  at no point was that the intention or outcome.

Nonetheless, given the fundamental importance of integrity in public life, I deeply regret that my actions may have given rise to that perception, and I apologise for the distraction this has caused.

The letter from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Home Secretary Suella Braverman (10 Downing Street/PA)

Mrs Braverman was caught speeding in June 2022, while she was attorney general, and given the option of three penalty points or a group speed awareness course.

She said she decided to take the course and had booked a slot, but after being made Home Secretary in September she asked officials whether the group session was appropriate given my new role and the security concerns related to the post.

Mrs Braverman said that in discussions with her principal private secretary (PPS) she was advised that the Cabinet Offices Propriety and Ethics Team (PET) would be the best source of advice on whether it was appropriate to seek to do the course in a way that protected my privacy, security, and was least disruptive to the course participants and provider.

The PET advised it was not an appropriate matter for civil servants to take forward, Mrs Braverman said.

But she said her PPS confirmed she could discuss the matter with her special advisers, who raised concerns about her taking an online course because of the risk of being covertly recorded and the difficulties of the appropriate security arrangements if she attended an in-person session.

Special advisers then contacted the course provider to better understand the range of appropriate options that might be available  and consistent with the course providers rules, policies and practices, she said.

Based on this further information, I concluded that none of these could satisfactorily address the aforementioned security, privacy and political concerns. I therefore opted to take the points and pay the fine, which I did in November.

She added: I regret that my attempt to find a way to participate in the course in a manner that would have satisfied these concerns has enabled some to construe a potential conflict of interest.

With hindsight, I acknowledge that the better course of action would have been to take the points and fine upfront.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Mrs Braverman has expressed regret

In his letter, Mr Sunak told the Home Secretary: I am reassured you take these matters seriously. You have provided a thorough account, apologised and expressed regret.

It is vital that all those in Government maintain the high standards the public rightly expects.

Mr Sunaks decision not to order an investigation by his independent adviser on ministers interests Sir Laurie Magnus was announced just hours before he faced MPs at Prime Ministers Questions.

It means he avoids a clash with one of the leading figures on the right of the party at a time when he is also facing unrest from allies of Boris Johnson after it emerged officials have contacted police over concerns about possible

lockdown-busting events in Chequers and Downing Street.

Mrs Braverman sat beside Mr Sunak at Prime Ministers Questions in a show of unity.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer poked fun at her during questions about immigration and employment policies, claiming she has a problem coping with points-based systems and asking Mr Sunak does he wish he had the strength to give her a career change of her own?

Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said it was a cowardly cop-out adding: Sunak had the chance to do the right thing but instead hes once again chosen to be ruled by his own hardline backbenchers. He may be in office but he is barely in power.
A childrens agency which was involved in the decision to hand Finley Boden back to his parents weeks before they murdered him has said that everyone involved thought the pair had changed.

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) also said that no-one could have predicted Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden would murder their 10-month-old son after he returned to their care.

Finley fatally collapsed on Christmas Day 2020, just over a month after he returned to his parents home in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, after a Family Court ordered his return on October 1 that year.

Court documents, released after an application to the courts by the PA news agency and others, show that Finley was ordered to be returned within eight weeks despite Derbyshire County Council asking for a four-month transition to address some concerns it had over Marsden and Bodens parenting and use of cannabis.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Cafcass said: Our first thoughts are with those who knew Finley and especially those who loved him and are affected terribly by what happened to him.

The details of the trial will have renewed their trauma and distress at his loss.

On the basis of what was known at the time and during the proceedings, including the efforts of the parents to persuade everyone involved that they loved Finley and had made changes so they could care for him, Finleys social worker and guardian agreed that he could be placed in their care.

Everyone involved believed that Finleys parents had made and sustained the changes necessary to care for him safely.

There was nothing to suggest at the time that they would be capable of such cruelty, let alone murder him.

The Cafcass guardian represents the child in Family Court hearings and makes independent assessments as to what is best for them.

A transcript of the Family Court hearing has shown Finleys Cafcass guardian was not satisfied that that [four-month] transition plan is in the interests of [Finley] or necessary to be drawn out for such a long period.

Instead, they advocated the child returning to their parents within eight weeks but asked for the case to return to court after a four-month extension to ensure the council was happy with Finleys rehabilitation.

The court had also seen evidence of Marsden and Boden clearing up their home, and decreasing their use of cannabis in the weeks prior to the hearing, with social workers reporting positive interactions between the pair and their son in supervised contact sessions.

The lay magistrates later ruled that an eight-week transition period was reasonable and proportionate to rehabilitate Finley into his parents care.

Speaking on Tuesday, Cafcass said the guardian felt it was imperative that the court reviewed the arrangements once court proceedings had concluded.

They said: It was her view that as long as everyone was agreed that his parents had made the necessary changes, that unification with his parents was in his long-term best interests and that there was ongoing oversight by the local authority, then prolonging the transition plan where he would pass backwards and forwards was unnecessary and would be unsettling for him.

It is not possible to say whether a longer transition plan would have prevented Finleys death.

What led to his death was the ability of his parents to deceive everyone involved about their love for him and their desire to care for him. This deception included their own extended family.

Shannon Marsden (Derbyshire Police/PA)

No-one could have predicted from what was known at the time that they were capable of such cruelty or that there was a risk that they would intentionally hurt him, let alone murder him.

The Family Court hearing also heard from the council about how the parents had lied about their use of cannabis.

The council said that while the pair were decreasing their usage, they should be made subject to regular drug testing as part of the transition to Finley returning to their care.

The Cafcass guardian remained neutral on the issue.

Magistrates later ruled that drug testing may be beneficial, it is not necessary, instead encouraging Boden and Marsden to engage with local drug recovery services.

Cannabis use later became a key theme of the criminal trial, with the jury hearing details of drug deals being made days before Finleys death before unanimously convicting the pair of murder.

But the Cafcass spokesperson said that the guardian shared the concerns of Derbyshire County Council regarding drug use, but felt Finley could return to his parents if they continued to engage with professional services.

They said: Finleys guardian shared the concerns of the local authority about the parents use of cannabis and had previously advocated for testing.

Her final view was based on the fathers positive engagement with the Probation Service and with the drug service.

The local authority assessment showed that the parents had also made sustained improvements in the condition of their home.

Prior to the hearing on October 1 2020, it was the guardians understanding that the local authority would be undertaking drug testing as part of their unification plan.

At the court hearing, the local authority sought court orders for the testing. While the guardian was neutral on the issue of an order for drug testing at the hearing, she agreed that their use of cannabis should continue to be monitored as part of the transition plan and ongoing engagement with specialist drug services.

Stephen Boden (Derbyshire Police/PA)

Finleys case is now subject to a serious case review, being led by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

A spokesperson for the DDSCP said: We are aware that the courts have approved the release of documents related to a Family Court hearing in the case of Finley Boden.

Key partner agencies are currently involved in completing an independent Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review and these documents will be considered as part of that process.

The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership will publish the findings of the review in the latter part of 2023. This will include a full description of actions taken, along with evidence of the improvements to local safeguarding arrangements.

Boden and Marsden will be sentenced on Friday.
The head of Britains armed forces has defended plans to cut the size of the Army.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, told the London Defence Conference: I think we are slightly stuck in some of the numbers game.

The numbers are important, I dont want to deny that, but the numbers arent quite as totemic and as golden as people say. They can be a bit lazy as the arbiter of describing an armed force.

The Army currently has 76,000 regular soldiers, down from 97,000 in the past decade, and is set to see troop numbers fall further to 73,000.

Labour has called for the Government to halt the planned cuts, with shadow defence secretary John Healey calling them perverse at a time of increasing international threats, but the Prime Minister told the conference on Tuesday that he would not second guess military chiefs.

Speaking at the conference, hosted by Kings College London, on Wednesday, Admiral Radakin said the British Army had benefits beyond simple mass.

Soldiers from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on exercise in Scotland. The Army is set to shrink to 73,000 regulars. (Andrew Milligan/PA)

He said: The way that we describe mass, its only through humans and the UK as an armed forces has rarely been a major contributor in mass.

We provide an operational advantage, whether thats because of fantastic intelligence services, fantastic special forces, nuclear submarines, amazing soldiers that are prepared to fight and lay down their lives.

Thats what our partners look for, but its rarely mass.

He added: In the future our mass will be provided by technology much more than it is now.

But Admiral Radakin suggested that troop numbers were unlikely to fall below 73,000 when Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, publishes updated plans in a defence command paper in June.

He said: I dont think, with the defence command paper, that we anticipate that the Armys going to be smaller.

Reflecting on the lessons of the Ukraine war, Admiral Radakin said the conflict was an affirmation of the Western way of war and underlined the importance of Nato to UK security.

He said: Natos got bigger by the addition of Finland. Nato will get even bigger again by the addition of Sweden. Nato has invested 350 billion additional in terms of all of those countries putting more money into defence.

Those are far bigger impacts than the conversations were having about our domestic armed forces.

And so this fixation, I see sometimes some newspapers, they portray a Russian Orbat (order of battle) against the UK, and yet we tell you as a policy that if we were to go to war with Russia it would be the whole of Nato and suddenly that Orbat is 3 million people in uniform, its a couple of thousand ships and submarines, its 15,000 tanks, its thousands of fast jets.

He added: The affirmation is we keep our nation safe by adopting collective security and being in the worlds largest and most powerful military alliance ever, and the affirmation is further enhanced by being a nuclear power and being part of a nuclear alliance.

Those are the foundations of why the UK is safe.

The UK is set to cut the number of Challenger tanks in its Army by a third (Ben Birchall/PA)

Asked about the importance of tanks, Admiral Radakin said integration into Nato might mean they became less of a focus for the UK.

The last defence command paper, published in 2021, set out plans to cut the number of tanks in the British Army by a third, from 227 to 148.

Boris Johnson defended the policy, claiming that the days of big tank battles were over, but was criticised for these comments following the outbreak of war in Ukraine three months later.

Admiral Radakin, however, said tanks were not a silver bullet and the UK could rely on other Nato nations with stronger tank capabilities.

He said: When you look at the UKs armed forces you have to then put them into where do we fit into Nato, where do we have particular capabilities that strengthen Nato, where do we rely on other countries that might have capabilities that we dont have.

And then are there some things that we might not be super strong in that capability, we want to have a modest element, and well expect others to be stronger.

And the tank is an obvious one. There are other nations within Nato that are stronger tank nations. That doesnt necessarily mean that we dispense with tanks, it just means that in a balanced force, as part of a balanced international force, you then take those decisions as to how much do you need.

He added: This notion that these are cliff-edge decisions and if you havent got them suddenly youre naked and youre no longer safe, its nonsense.
Riders for Deliveroo protested against deteriorating working conditions and low pay as the takeaway delivery giants shareholders met in London.

Outside the companys annual general meeting (AGM) at 100 Bishopsgate in London, riders also raised frustrations with the bumper pay package of founder and chief executive Will Shu.

Demonstrators outside the venue held banners reading Shame on Shu and chanted: Deliveroo, youre no good, pay your riders like you should.

It comes amid long-running concerns from delivery riders over their pay levels and worries related to their independent worker status.

Will Shu, founder and chief executive of Deliveroo (Parsons Media/Deliveroo/PA)

Joe Durbidge, 31, who has worked for Deliveroo for four and a half years, told the PA news agency on Wednesday he has worked 50-hour weeks and been paid around as little as 2.90 per delivery.

Conditions are deteriorating constantly but my fees have never gone up since I started, he said.

Nobodys satisfied with the job. Its crazy.

Its very hard work, it takes a lot out of you and its hard to make a living.

Its very physical, its very mental because youre just constantly trying to work. Everyones pushing themselves 1,000 miles an hour.

Another rider, father-of-two Carlos Gomes, 41, said he works more than 12 hours a day for Deliveroo, Uber and Stuart.

Mr Gomes told the PA news agency: Its hard to make enough money. If you want more than 100, its 14 hours a day.

The salary is bad, we need to claim benefits, with our two boys, who are eight and three. Its no money.

Campaigners at ShareAction and IWGB (Independent Workers Union of Great Britain) also co-ordinated so riders could confront bosses at Deliveroo inside the companys AGM.

Riders are protesting outside @Deliveroos AGM NOW A billion in the bank whilst riders get a minimum of 2.90 a job FAIR PAY NOW #SHAMEONDELIVEROO#SHAMEONSHU pic.twitter.com/mnr5i9uhyL  IWGB (@IWGBunion) May 24, 2023

It comes a month after the IWGB launched a challenge at the Supreme Court in a bid to secure collective bargaining rights for the firms couriers.

Last year, Deliveroo formed a partnership with the GMB union but faced criticism from the IWGB.

Riders also criticised the pay deal for bosses at the company, with founder and chief executive officer Will Shu receiving a 600,000 salary for the past year  and total pay package worth 625,000  despite the company posting a 245.6 million loss for 2022.

Ahead of the AGM, a Deliveroo spokeswoman said: Deliveroo offers riders flexible work, attractive earning opportunities and security while they work. We see thousands of applications from people wanting to be riders each week, high satisfaction rates and very strong retention rates of those who sign up.

We work closely with riders to make sure the work we offer reflects what they tell us they value.
MIAMI (AP)  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, stepping into a crowded Republican primary contest that will test both his national appeal as an outspoken cultural conservative and the GOPs willingness to move on from former President Donald Trump.

The 44-year-old Republican revealed his decision in a Federal Election Commission filing before an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

It marks a new chapter in his extraordinary rise from little-known congressman to two-term governor to a leading figure in the nations bitter fights over race, gender, abortion and other divisive issues. DeSantis is considered to be Trumps strongest Republican rival even as the governor faces questions about his far-right policies, his campaign-trail personality and his lack of relationships across the Republican ecosystem. Still, DeSantis has generated significant interest among GOP primary voters by casting himself as a younger and more electable version of the embattled former president.

DeSantis audio-only announcement was to be streamed on Twitter Spaces beginning at 6 p.m. EDT.

He was expected to meet with donors at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Miami before the evening announcement and before appearances on conservative programs, including Fox News and Mark Levins radio show.

DeSantis entry into the Republican field has been rumored for months and he is considered one of the partys strongest candidates in the quest to retake the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden. The 80-year-old incumbent, Republicans say, has pushed the nation too far left while failing to address inflation, immigration and crime.

The Republican nominee will face Biden on the general election ballot in November 2024.

He joins a field that already includes: Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also considered a likely presidential candidate but has not yet announced a bid.

DeSantis begins his campaign in a top-tier of two alongside Trump based on early public polling, fundraising and campaign infrastructure.

The two GOP powerhouses have much in common.

DeSantis, who likely would not have become the Florida governor without Trumps endorsement, has adopted the former presidents fiery personality, his populist policies and even some of his rhetoric and mannerisms.

Yet DeSantis has one thing Trump does not: a credible claim that he may be more electable in a general election than Trump, who faces multiple legal threats and presided over Republican losses in three consecutive national elections.

On Tuesday, a New York judge tentatively scheduled Trumps criminal trial to begin March 25, which falls in the heart of the presidential primary season. Trump pleaded not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his family company, the Trump Organization.

DeSantis, just six months ago, won his reelection in Florida by a stunning 19 percentage points  even as Republicans in many other states struggled. He also scored several major policy victories during the Republican-controlled Legislatures spring session.

Aware of DeSantis draw, Trump has been almost singularly focused on undermining DeSantis political appeal for months. Trump and his team believe that DeSantis may be Trumps only legitimate threat for the nomination.

Hours before the announcement, Trump argued in a social media post that Ron DeSanctus cannot win the general election or the GOP primary because of his previous votes in Congress on Social Security and Medicare.

He was, and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention, Trump wrote. Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person! RINO stands for Republican In Name Only.

Trump allies also dispatched a truck outside DeSantis's planned donor meeting at the Four Seasons running an attack ad describing him as a swamp creature." The Democratic National Committee sent another truck warning of DeSantiss extreme MAGA agenda.

The kitchen-sink attacks and nicknames wont be DeSantiss only hurdle.

He is a political heavyweight in Florida and a regular on Fox News, but allies acknowledge that most primary voters in other states dont know him well.

A Florida native with family roots in the Midwest, DeSantis studied at Yale University, where he played baseball. He would go on to Harvard Law School and become a Navy Judge Advocate General officer, a position that took him to Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

He ran for Congress in 2012 and won an Orlando-area district, becoming a founding member of the far-right Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill.

Despite his lengthy resume, friends and foes alike note that DeSantis struggles to display the campaign-trail charisma and quick-on-your-feet thinking that often defines successful candidates at the national level. He has gone to great lengths to avoid unscripted public appearances and media scrutiny while governor, which is difficult, if not impossible, as a presidential contender.

Would-be supporters also worry that DeSantis has refused to invest in relationships with party leaders or fellow elected officials, raising questions about his ability to build the coalition he will ultimately need to beat Trump. By contrast, the more personable Trump has already scooped up an army of endorsements in key states, including Florida.

Beyond the primary, DeSantis greatest longer-term challenge may rest with the far-right policies he enacted as governor as an unapologetic leader in what he calls his war on woke.

The Florida governor sent dozens of immigrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He signed and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill  known by critics as the Dont Say Gay law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.

More recently, he signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize theyre pregnant. And he single-handedly removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Floridas new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

DeSantis also signed a law this year allowing Florida residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. He pushed new measures that experts warn would weaken press freedoms. He also took control of a liberal arts college that he believed was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

The governors highest-profile political fight, however, has come against the beloved Florida-based entertainment giant Disney, which publicly opposed his Dont Say Gay law. In retaliation, DeSantis seized control of Disney Worlds governing body and installed loyalists who are threatening to take over park planning, among other extraordinary measures.

DeSantis himself has threatened to build a state prison on park property.

The dispute has drawn condemnation from business leaders and his Republican rivals, who said the moves are at odds with small-government conservatism.

DeSantis delayed his announcement until Floridas legislative session was over. But for much of the year, he has been courting primary voters in key states and using an allied super political action committee to build out a large political organization that is essentially a campaign in waiting and already claims at least $30 million in the bank.

More than any of his opponents, except perhaps Trump, DeSantis is positioned to hit the ground running thanks to the super PACs months-long efforts to install campaign infrastructure across Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, which will host the first four contests on the GOPs primary calendar early next year.

DeSantis gave no hint as to his plans during a meeting of the state clemency board in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning, where he granted several pardons to former prisoners charged mostly with drug-related crimes decades ago.

You are what the country needs, one man said after getting his pardon.

A smiling DeSantis chuckled and thanked him.

___

Peoples reported from New York. Izaguirre reported in Tallahassee, Florida.
Doctors will be required to give patients options including travelling further for healthcare or going to private alternatives as Rishi Sunak tries to fulfil his promise to cut NHS waiting times.

GPs will be compelled to offer up to five healthcare providers when clinically appropriate, allowing patients to select their preference using the NHS app or website.

The options will be filtered by distance, waiting times and the quality of care, in the expansion of the app downloaded by millions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Patients already have a right to choose where they go, but it is hoped doctors being required to give alternatives, in a letter being sent by the NHS on Thursday, will increase usage.

Only one in 10 patients currently exercise this right but research shows the choice can cut three months off waiting times, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

Patients would not have to pay, with the NHS covering any private healthcare provider chosen. Low-income patients could receive help with travel costs under an existing scheme.

Mr Sunak, who has made cutting waiting lists one of his five priorities, has previously backed the private sector playing a greater role in the NHS.

Announcing the new policy, he said empowering patients to have a real choice over where they receive treatment will help cut waiting lists.

Our aim is to create an NHS built around patients, where everyone has more control over the care they receive, wherever they live or whatever their health needs are, he said.

Last month the Prime Ministers battle to reduce waiting lists was dealt a blow by official estimates suggesting 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment  the highest total since records began in 2007.

Rishi Sunak has promised to cut waiting lists (Jordan Petitt/PA)

The changes should also help benefit existing patients. From October, those who have waited more than 40 weeks for an appointment or are awaiting a treatment date will be asked whether they want to switch hospitals.

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said making better use of technology and giving patients more choice are moves worth exploring.

But she added: This concept of giving patients choice as to where they access hospital care is not new.

Similar initiatives have been tried, with mixed success, so its important that lessons are learned from these to ensure new iterations are intuitive for patients and dont end up adding to workload in general practice, at a time when we need bureaucratic burdens to be cut.

We also need to be realistic with our patients, given current NHS backlogs, as to what is possible  particularly in terms of waiting times for treatment  so that this new system does not create false expectations.

Dr Kieran Sharrock, who is chairing BMA Englands GP committee, warned there are no shortcuts and said the long-term undervaluing of NHS staff and poor workforce planning need to be addressed to reduce record waiting lists.

That is the only way to tackle the record-breaking backlog and help patients who are desperate to be treated swiftly and close to home, he said.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the new policies could help wipe months off waiting times.

But his Labour shadow, Wes Streeting, said it was laughable that the Governments big idea to get waiting lists down is to give patients a choice that they already have.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: Despite significant pressure, the NHS reduced 18-month waits for care by more than 90% by April and alongside existing tools like elective hubs, surgical robots and prehab checks, this is another way that we are continuing to embrace the latest innovations and tech for the benefit of patients.

But Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: Rishi Sunak is failing on his pledges to cut NHS waiting lists, recruit the NHS staff we need, and fix crumbling hospitals.

This latest gimmick will do nothing to change the fact that under the Conservatives, far too many patients are waiting far too long for the treatment they need.
Labour is more trusted than the Conservatives on immigration, a new poll has found as official figures are expected to show a large increase in net migration.

After a rise in public confidence in the Tories immigration, asylum and small boats policies in March, a poll carried out by Ipsos between May 16 and 18 found trust had fallen again, with Labour leading on all three issues.

The poll found 38% of people trusted Labour to have the right policies on immigration and asylum seekers, and 37% trusted the party to handle the issue of small boats crossing the Channel.

Just 29% said the same about the Conservatives on immigration, with 28% trusting them on asylum policy and 27% trusting them on small boats.

Public approval of Suella Bravermans performance as Home Secretary remains low, an Ipsos poll has suggested (James Manning/PA)

But there was also widespread pessimism about both parties policies on immigration and asylum, with 50% saying they did not trust Labour and more than 60% saying they did not trust the Conservatives.

Among Conservative voters, trust in Government policy is higher but still does not exceed 50%.

The figures come as the Office for National Statistics prepares to release its latest figures on net migration on Thursday morning, which are expected to show a significant increase thanks in part to high numbers of refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong.

Such an increase is expected to fuel demands from Conservative backbenchers for tougher action on immigration, while Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has previously said she is in favour of getting net migration down below 100,000.

The poll, which surveyed 1,000 British adults, found the public was split on its priorities for immigration policy.

Some 23% of voters said the Government should prioritise getting overall immigration down even if it meant job vacancies going unfilled, but 24% said the focus should be on filling vacancies even if it meant a rise in net migration.

The public is more likely to trust Labour on handling the issue of small boats crossing the Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA)

People who voted Conservative in 2019 were more likely to favour a focus on cutting overall migration numbers, with 40% saying this should be the priority, but there was no clear majority for either position.

The poll also found little change in opinions on Mrs Bravermans performance as Home Secretary, with just 19% saying she was doing a good job and 37% saying she was doing a bad one  around the same figures as in March.

The poll was carried out before the latest row about her handling of a speeding ticket that resulted in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deciding not to order an investigation by his adviser on the Ministerial Code.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos, said: After seeing a boost in confidence in their handling of immigration in March, trust in the Conservatives on this issue has dropped back again.

This is reflected in the views of their own 2019 voters, who are the most likely to think that net migration is rising, although their own supporters are still more positive than earlier this year.

Labour now has a lead on this issue, although public confidence is not high in either party. The lack of consensus around how the country should balance the competing priorities of unfilled job vacancies and migration also suggests that regaining public confidence will not be straightforward.
The most senior judge in England and Wales has told lawyers how the latest Lord Chancellor is the seventh he has worked with during just under six years in office.

Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, who is due to retire in the autumn, said he hoped Alex Chalk would be my last.

He was speaking as Mr Chalk  a barrister and Conservative MP for Cheltenham  was formally sworn in as Lord Chancellor on Wednesday.

The swearing in ceremony took place in Court 4 at The Court of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (Aaron Chown/PA)

Judges and lawyers welcomed Mr Chalk, who was appointed Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary on April 21, to his new role at a traditional ceremony in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

You are my seventh in just under six years, albeit one twice, said Lord Burnett, who became Lord Chief Justice in October 2017.

I hope you are my last.

Since October 2017 Britain has had four Conservative Prime Ministers  Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Members of Mr Chalks family were at the ceremony to see him swear an oath of office.
Published 24 May 2023 at 1:01 am

Love Island winner Ekin-Su Culculoglu has said she has lost almost every friend she had before she went on the show and has found it hard to trust people.

The star, 28, won the ITV2 show alongside partner Davide Sanclimenti in 2022 and the couple were popular in the polls, winning 63.7% of the public vote.

In spite of this, Culculoglu said she does not have a lot of friends, telling Cosmopolitan UK: Ive lost every friend I had.

I dont have any friends. I have one friend and thats it.

Unfortunately, with the fame, you see peoples true colours.

Ekin-Su Culculoglu and David Sanclimenti (Ian West/PA)

People just want to be your friend because of your status, and its a hard industry to trust.

No, I dont actually have friends left.

People Id known for 10 years who were in my life Selling stories is not very nice. I wouldnt do that to someone.

If they were happy, I would support them.

Unfortunately, I had that coming out of the villa, I had to delete people out of my life.

But I am happier this way.

Sometimes keeping your circle small is the best, and you dont always need friends.

So long as you know who you are, thats fine.

Culculoglu also revealed she struggled with her mental health while competing on Dancing On Ice earlier this year, but had to pretend everything was fine.

She said she found work commitments mentally draining and needed to take some time out for herself by going to the Maldives with partner Sanclimenti, where she could forget about the stuff online.

She told the magazine: There have been things in my life that I cant mention now that have affected my mental health for a while.

I had to keep smiling and pretend everything was fine.

Ekin-Su Culculoglu with her Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield (Jonathan Brady/PA)

This was during Dancing On Ice when there were things in the background  not relationship related, by the way  (they were) work related that was very hard.

I couldnt say anything. It was mentally draining. That was one of the tough times.

It took me a while to get back out of it Your mental health is your priority.

After my trip to the Maldives with Davide, we turned off our phones, we didnt check the internet.

He was helping me forget things (and) the stuff online.

Culculoglu was the third celebrity eliminated from Dancing On Ice 2023, and had said she pulled a muscle on her left leg shortly before the week she had to skate for her survival.

You can read the full interview with Culculoglu on the Cosmopolitan website.
Members of the parliamentary labor committee hold a meeting at the National Assembly, May 24. Yonhap



The opposition-controlled parliamentary labor committee presented a contentious pro-labor bill directly to a plenary session Wednesday, despite strong protests from the ruling party and businesses.



The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the minor opposition Justice Party passed a motion to refer the revision of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, which strictly restricts filing damage suits against striking workers, directly to the plenary session for a vote.



The two opposition parties, holding a majority in the labor committee, approved the motion in a 10-0 vote after all six members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) walked out of the meeting en masse in protest.



By law, a parliamentary committee can send a bill directly to a plenary session for final approval with three-fifths support from its members if the judiciary committee takes no action for more than 60 days after taking over the bill.



The new labor bill passed through the labor committee in February, but it has since been pending in the judiciary committee chaired by the ruling party for nearly 90 days.



The revision guarantees the bargaining rights of indirectly employed workers and prohibits litigation for damages and provisional seizures against unionized workers with the aim of suppressing their strikes. This could make it difficult for employers to file complaints against illegal strikes by their workers and exempt laborers from liability for participating in illegal strikes.



The controversial bill dates back to 2009, when unionized workers of carmaker SsangYong Motor staged a high-profile strike to oppose a massive layoff. Five years later, the Supreme Court declared the strike illegal and ordered the workers to pay 4.7 billion won ($3.6 million) in compensation to the company and the state.



A number of civic activists and citizens have since delivered yellow envelopes, each containing 47,000 won in donations, to support the SsangYong workers, raising the need to amend the trade union law in favor of striking workers. The revision has since been nicknamed the "yellow envelope bill."



Even if the bill is finally approved by the plenary session, President Yoon Suk Yeol can exercise his veto power. Yoon previously rejected two opposition-led bills  a nursing act aimed at stipulating the roles and responsibilities of nurses and a revision to the Grain Management Act, which required the government's purchase of surplus rice.



The PPP and business lobbies have opposed the pro-labor bill, saying it gives excessive immunity to unionized workers and will only promote illegal strikes, as well as ruin labor-management relations and the national economy.



"They should learn to wait and let the judiciary committee have sufficient discussions," said Rep. Lim Lee-ja of the PPP, a labor committee member, calling the opposition bloc a "mugger" for railroading the bill with majority power. (Yonhap)


Fresh searches in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have entered a second day as police clear undergrowth near the banks of a remote reservoir in Portugal.

Officers were working with strimmers and heavy machinery at the Barragem do Arade on Wednesday, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing in 2007.

A fire service vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were also on the banks of the reservoir.

Other officers with a sniffer dog were seen entering an area of woodland as the search continued, while colleagues carried spades and rakes.

The searches are taking place in and near a remote reservoir around 30 miles from where Madeleine disappeared in 2007 (Yui Mok/PA)

The fresh searches are being carried out at the request of German investigators who believe their prime suspect, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, kidnapped and murdered the little girl.

He is currently in prison in Germany for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.

German authorities have not revealed what triggered the latest search operation, but prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig Christian Wolters said they were acting on the basis of certain tips.

He told German public broadcaster NDR: We have indications that we could find evidence there. I dont want to say what that is exactly, and I also dont want to say where these indications come from.

Madeleine McCann (Family handout)

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesnt come from the suspect  so we dont have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search.

The Sun reported that investigators previously found photos and video of Brueckner at the reservoir. He has reportedly denied any involvement in Madeleines disappearance.

Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, after they left her and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.

Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia previously claimed that criminal contacts had told him that Madeleines body was in the reservoir, and in 2008 he raised funds for unsuccessful private searches of the water.

Search teams were working in areas of scrub and woodland near the reservoir on Wednesday (Yui Mok/PA)

Four teams of officers from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria are involved in the operation, along with at least 20 of their German counterparts, Portuguese news outlet SIC said.

British officers from the Metropolitan Police are also present while the work is carried out so they can inform Madeleines parents if there are any developments.

On Tuesday, search teams were seen scouring the banks  hammering away at the ground with pickaxes and combing through small rocks with rakes and spades.

Searches at the site, around 30 miles from where Madeleine vanished in 2007, continued on Wednesday (Yui Mok/PA)

Around a dozen officers with sniffer dogs were also at the site, while the fire service boat took officers onto the water.

Portuguese daily Expresso said that the first day ended with no significant results, and that police had collected some objects including fabrics and garments.

Madeleines disappearance has attracted enormous media attention since she vanished, and reporters are being kept at arms length around a mile away from where search activity is taking place.

A no-fly zone has also been imposed over the reservoir.

The new searches come as the Home Office granted an extra 110,000 in funding this financial year for the Metropolitan Police to assist with finding Madeleine, down from just over 300,000 last year.

The total funding given to Operation Grange has been just under 13.1 million since 2011.
The Government will open an investigation into accusations of wrongdoing at the UKs largest freeport.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove confirmed he will establish an independent review into the Teesworks project in the north east of England.

Mr Gove confirmed the probe in a letter to the Conservative mayor for the Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, who shared the correspondence on Twitter on Wednesday.

Mr Houchen had joined calls from shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy for an investigation led by the National Audit Office (NAO) into the freeport.

But Mr Gove opted instead to commission an independent review led by a panel the Government will appoint.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove (PA)

In the letter shared by Mr Houchen, the Cabinet minister wrote: I have considered calls for such an investigation to be led by the National Audit Office.

It is not, however, the NAOs role to audit or examine individual local government bodies and its powers would not normally be used for that purpose.

I do not think it would be appropriate to expand so significantly the role of the NAO by asking them to lead this inquiry.

He added: Given the importance to you and to Teesside of addressing this matter, I have taken the exceptional decision to support the commissioning of an independent review to consider the specific allegations made and the Tees Valley Combined Authoritys oversight of the STDC (South Tees Development Corporation) and Teesworks joint venture.

I welcome the Government agreeing to my request for an independent review into the Teesworks project, including the involvement of the NAO. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/O6i2aPY9Fw  Ben Houchen (@BenHouchen) May 24, 2023

As set out above, this is not because I am advised that there is evidence to recommend such a review, but to answer your request of May 16. I will appoint a panel, in line with established practice, to undertake an independent external assurance review.

Since serious allegations of corruption, wrongdoing and illegality have been made, I will ask the panel to address these accusations directly and to report on the governance arrangements at STDC, including how decisions are made, as well as looking at the value achieved for the investment of public money on the site.

Mr Gove said local MPs will be among those invited to give evidence to the panel once it is established.

Mr Houchen welcomed the investigation, tweeting: I feel that an independent review is necessary to show investors, businesses and local people that there is no corruption, wrongdoing or illegality in what has become and continues to be an incredible project for jobs and investment in our region.

I feel that an independent review is necessary to show investors, businesses and local people that there is no corruption, wrongdoing or illegality in what has become and continues to be an incredible project for jobs and investment in our region. (3/5)  Ben Houchen (@BenHouchen) May 24, 2023

I look forward to the outcome and will be making no further comment until the independent review has been completed, so to allow the independent body to carry out their work without influence or favour.

My officers stand ready to provide any and all information requested by the independent review.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier sparked confusion in the Commons by saying the investigation had been announced.

At the start of Prime Ministers Questions, Sharon Hodgson, Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, asked: Does the Prime Minister agree with his friend the Tees Valley mayor that the National Audit Office must investigate the Teesworks affair?

Labour MP Lisa Nandy was among those calling for an investigation (PA)

Mr Sunak said: The Levelling Up Secretary (Mr Gove) has already announced an investigation into this matter.

But what I would say, it is just the same old Labour.

All we get, after years of neglect, it is the Conservatives that are delivering for Teesside.

Labour MP for Middlesbrough Andy McDonald later called for clarity, suggesting parliamentarians were in the dark about whether the investigation had been launched as he raised a point of order on the matter.

The Teesworks freeport is aimed at regenerating a 4,500-acre site, which once housed the Teesside Steelworks, and creating new jobs for the region.

Ms Nandy and the Labour chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, Darren Jones, had both called for an NAO investigation into the site, as did Mr Houchen, claiming it would restore confidence in the professionalism, integrity and objectives of the Government.

Reacting to the announcement of the investigation, Ms Nandy said: This is bizarre. The Secretary of States letter refers to an organisation that doesnt yet exist to hide the fact that there has been a complete breakdown in accountability on his watch.

The National Audit Office has the experience, capacity and independence to carry out an investigation, and Michael Gove has the power to order that investigation. Why, then, is he setting up a review where the terms and members will be chosen by him?

The Government must not hide from proper scrutiny, and there is no clear justification for not ordering a comprehensive, independent investigation from the NAO.
Security guards at Heathrow Airport will launch a three-day strike on Thursday in a dispute over pay.

Members of Unite have already held 15 days of industrial action, including over the busy Easter period.

Heathrow said it has contingency plans in place to keep the airport open and operating as usual, adding that passengers can expect to have a smooth half-term getaway.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: Passengers should not be concerned about strike action by Unite over the half-term getaway.

The 15 days of strike action over the Easter peak and coronation weekends have had no impact on the smooth running of the airport, and passengers have not noticed any difference from the normal great service they expect at Heathrow.

These strikes are completely unnecessary. When I speak to colleagues the overwhelming message is that they just want to vote on our pay offer, but Unite wont let them.

We made a generous 10% offer early on, to make sure colleagues got a substantial increase when they needed it most. Unites delays mean non-union colleagues, as well as the majority of colleagues who are union members, who voted to accept our previous offer are losing out.

May half-term is always a very busy time for travel, and Heathrow said it may take a little longer than usual to get through security, but added this will be well-managed and kept flowing.

Unite said Heathrow security officers are paid less than workers at other major airports in London and the South East.

Regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: There is absolutely no justification for security officers at Heathrow being paid far less than comparable officers at other London airports.

Heathrow regularly trumpets how successful it is as the UKs premium airport so there is no defence in it paying bargain basement wages.

Heathrow can clearly meet a cost-of-living increase for our members; theyre deliberately choosing not to, pushing our members deeper into financial difficulties.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: While it is positive to see Heathrow has put contingency plans in place to minimise disruption during the forthcoming strike action, those with flights booked over half term will no doubt still have concerns that their trips could be impacted.

Its essential that airlines and airports work together to keep travellers updated during this period of industrial action, and fulfil their legal obligations to passengers in the event of cancellations or delays.

Travellers should also ensure they have travel insurance from the date they book their trip and always check the policy carefully, to ensure it covers all the eventualities you would expect  in particular, not all policies will cover travellers in the event of strikes by airline or airport staff, for example.
Detectives investigating the discovery of human remains in a field have launched a murder inquiry and appealed for information about socks and a shoe found at the site.

Nottinghamshire Police said evidence gathered during a three-week search of the scene, near Sutton-in-Ashfield, suggested the victim was buried there in an attempt to prevent the discovery of his body.

A number of bones were found on April 26 by a member of the public after construction work on farmland in Coxmoor Road, prompting a police operation which saw the exhumation of further remains.

Extensive work and a post-mortem examination have been conducted by a team of scientists, including an anthropologist, suggesting the skeleton is that of a male who was aged 40-60 and between 5ft 4in and 5ft 6in tall.

The socks recovered from the scene (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

DNA testing has ruled out a link with the disappearance and suspected murder of 47-year-old Robin Barrows Spencer, a local man who was reported missing by his mother in June 2004.

Officers are now awaiting the results of radiocarbon dating testing to determine when the individual died.

Appealing for information and confirming that two socks and a shoe were found at the burial site, Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: It is important to remember this is not just a collection of bones in a field.

This is someones loved one whose family will have undoubtedly been waiting many years for answers.

His family are at the forefront of our minds and that is why we have been meticulous in our decision-making by ensuring we were at the scene in Coxmoor Road for three weeks to ensure we can gather as much evidence as possible.

A shoe found at the burial site (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

It is imperative that we can provide his family with all the answers they need and that the work we do now can ensure those responsible for his death are brought to justice.

This will obviously be distressing for the local community to hear, as at this moment in time, we cannot provide identification.

Mr Griffin added: What I can say is that we have a team of detectives working extremely hard alongside a team of scientists to gather as much detail as possible to help us identify the person.

At this stage we believe the man was murdered due to the injuries sustained. This includes trauma to parts of (his) skeleton, which are undergoing further analysis.

We also believe he was buried at this site so no one could find him. It is also possible that the burial site is not the place where his murder occurred.

The murder is not one which happened recently, Mr Griffin said, adding: We know this because it takes a number of years for the body to decompose to bone.

A map issued by police showing the location of the remains (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

The radiocarbon dating would help provide a scientific date range for date of death and could provide a minimum timeframe that the body has been buried.

We have a team of dedicated detectives now working on this case and would really like to hear from members of the public.

Any information you may have about who this person might be, or anything you may have heard, then we would ask you to get in touch. This murder may have happened some time ago, but times have changed and so have loyalties.

Officers have also addressed rumour and speculation about the find, stressing that there is nothing to indicate any other bodies are buried at the site.

Superintendent Claire Rukas said: This is a single grave with a single deceased person in it.

We know the woods around Coxmoor Road are a popular walking spot. We know the discovery of human remains will be alarming, but the public have nothing to be afraid of and they are safe to use.
Neil Coyle has had the Labour whip restored following his suspension after he used abusive language with racial overtones in one of two drunken encounters on the parliamentary estate.

Opposition chief whip Alan Campbell told the MP that drinking does not in any way excuse his behaviour but the party recognises his efforts to address his problematic conduct, Labour sources said.

Mr Campbell told a Parliamentary Labour Party committee meeting on Wednesday that Mr Coyle has undertaken two programmes regarding managing alcohol since his suspension and stopped drinking entirely.

Labour MP Neil Coyle has had the whip restored (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark had the whip removed last year following an incident in a Commons bar during which he was said to have made racist comments towards political journalist Henry Dyer.

Mr Dyer, who is British-Chinese, said the MP had made Sinophobic remarks which made him feel uncomfortable.

The Independent Expert Panel, which reviews complaints of bullying and harassment made against MPs, later recommended he face a five-day suspension.

Its published report found he broke the rules in two drunken encounters  in one with foul-mouthed and drunken abuse of another MPs assistant and in another with abusive language with racial overtones targeted at Mr Dyer.

Both incidents investigated under Parliaments Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) occurred in the Strangers Bar in the Commons.

On February 1 last year, Mr Coyle and a group including the reporter were discussing Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who received donations from a woman later revealed by MI5 to be a Chinese spy.

Mr Coyle suggested his colleague was being paid by Fu Manchu, a fictional Chinese supervillain, before Mr Dyer explained he is half-Chinese.

Mr Coyle told the journalist he could tell from how he looked that he had been giving renminbi, the Chinese currency, to Mr Gardiner.

Later, leaving the bar, Mr Dyer sought to defuse the situation by waving goodbye to Mr Coyle.

Mr Coyle was found to have put two fingers up at the reporter in response.

Mr Coyle, who has spoken about quitting alcohol for a year and has pleaded for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to readmit him to the parliamentary party, accepted he was drunk on both occasions.

In an apology in the Commons, Mr Coyle said he was ashamed of his behaviour and said the intervention had quite possibly saved my life by compelling him to stop drinking.

I wish to specifically apologise to the two complainants who were subject to my drunk and offensive behaviour and attitude, he said.

I cannot apologise enough for the harm and upset caused, and Im ashamed of my conduct frankly. It should not have happened.
The head of an under-fire NHS trust will publicly apologise to victims of a maternity scandal as the chair of a review into the episode said the trust has a lot of learning to do.

Nick Carver, chairman of the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, will apologise on its behalf to parents who were affected by poor maternity care at its annual public meeting on July 10, the trust said on Wednesday.

It comes after families demanded a public apology in a closed meeting held on Tuesday, chaired by Donna Ockenden, who is leading a review into its care.

Families also said that the review should be changed to automatically allow all affected families to be included, rather than asking them to reply to an invitation to share their story.

Sarah and Gary Andrews said their daughter, Wynter, was failed in the most cruel way by the NUH Trust (Joe Giddens/PA)

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms Ockenden said that it was absolutely crucial that families came forward to ensure the trust learns in the way that it should.

Following the meeting, Anthony May, the Trusts chief executive, said: We are absolutely committed to open dialogue with the families and last night we listened very carefully to all they had to say. We will now take time to reflect and make sure we can follow up all the points raised.

I continue to learn a great deal from meeting women and their families and last night was an important opportunity for me to say sorry for any harm and distress caused by failings in our services.

We continue to support Donna Ockendens independent review because we know how important it is for our learning and local people. We are in regular dialogue with Donnas team and we are determined to improve our services. I know this is an unsettling time for women and families using our maternity services.

If anyone has concerns or questions about their care, I encourage them to speak to their midwife or consultant.

Ms Ockenden said that since September 1, 1,266 families have shared care concerns with the review, including Sarah and Gary Andrews, who in January saw the trust fined a record amount in court after the trust admitted criminal charges relating to the death of their daughter, Wynter, 23 minutes after she was born at the citys Queens Medical Centre in September 2019.

A total of 663 staff have also made contact, with many requesting to be seen individually, which Ms Ockenden said speaks volumes about low levels of trust between staff and their employer.

But Ms Ockenden, who previously led a similar review at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, raised concerns that the method that we have used to date to reach out across the communities just doesnt seem to be working, adding that there were stark differences in responses to the review between different ethnic groups.

Ms Ockenden said, under the current system, only about a quarter of white women eligible to take part in the review into the NUH Trust had done so, and only about 10% of black women and about five per cent of Asian women.

The NUH Trust has been responsible for finding and contacting families who could be eligible to take part in the review, meaning families have to contact the trust, which then has to contact the review.

But families want this opt-in method to be changed to opt-out, which would see all affected families automatically eligible to be involved and, when used in the Shrewsbury review, this yielded a 95% response rate.

They will be writing to Ms Ockenden to offer their support for the change, but the final decision will be made by NHS England.

Ms Ockenden said that hearing the views of women from ethnic minorities was vital and that women who had already come forward had shown that it is really, really clear that the Trust have a lot to do to build back trust with so many of their local communities.

She said: I cant stress enough how absolutely vital that the ethnicity and rich diversity we see in Nottingham is represented. Its absolutely crucial.

We cannot have another review where sections of our community here in Nottingham say, here we go again, another review has happened, our voices havent been heard, what we have to say has not been considered important, and the trust is improving but not with our needs in mind.

We cannot allow that to happen.

Anthony May said the trust is absolutely committed to open dialogue with families (Joe Giddens/PA)

She added: Women feel that theyre not listened to, their needs arent met, and interpreting services are very poor.

Ms Ockenden said that as recently as last month, one woman who was in labour had to ring her mother in Pakistan, who then had to contact another relative back in the UK, who then helped translate instructions from caregivers.

Women tell us, because none of the trust information is available in any other language other than English, for processes such as induction of labour or any other processes that might need to happen, theyre not able to make informed consent, she said.

She also acknowledged that while some issues were still active within the trust, changes were being made on a daily basis and feedback was being given to the trust in real time.

The trust also has its own maternity improvement plan, which the reviews concerns are fed into, but she reiterated Mr Mays call for women to speak to health professionals if they have concerns.

Ms Ockenden qualified as a midwife in 1991 (Jacob King/PA)

If local women feel that they have concerns, they must speak out, she said.

I would hope that it would put womens minds at rest that changes are happening as we speak, but ultimately if women want to make a choice to go elsewhere, then that choice is theirs to make.

Clinical reviews began last month, with Ms Ockenden adding that it was very likely the review would need to be extended to ensure it was of the highest standard.

No date has yet been fixed for when the final report will be released.
Rishi Sunak will form no judgment on potential further lockdown breaches by Boris Johnson, Downing Street said, as it rejected claims of a politically motivated stitch-up of the former prime minister.

Mr Johnson, who believes he is the victim of such a plot, has meanwhile ditched the Government-appointed lawyers representing him in the Covid public inquiry after he was referred to police.

No 10 was adamant Mr Sunak and ministers were not involved in the decision to pass to the police concerns over events in Chequers and Downing Street following a review of the former prime ministers official diary.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman told reporters: To be clear, we have not seen the information or material in question. That would not be right. Nor has the Prime Minister.

No 10 and ministers have no involvement in this process and were only made aware after the police had been contacted.

The Cabinet Office also said ministers had played no role in the decision to hand information to the police, with the referral instead made by officials acting within the Civil Service Code.

Mr Johnsons office claimed the handling of the situation was bizarre and unacceptable and the events in question were within the rules.

It appears some within government have decided to make unfounded suggestions both to the police and to the Privileges Committee, a statement said.

Many will conclude that this has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up.

Asked whether he agreed, Mr Sunaks spokesman said: No.

Quizzed on whether the Prime Minister was concerned about the allegations of further lockdown breaches, the official declined to give a view, saying Mr Sunak doesnt have knowledge of the information passed on to the police.

The spokesman also said it was not for the Prime Minister to form a judgment on whether the matter was handled well by the civil service.

There are clear obligations regarding civil servants and how they approach these sorts of issues and the Cabinet Office has followed those rules, he said.

Entries in the former prime ministers official diary revealed visits by friends to Chequers during the pandemic and new allegations about his behaviour in Downing Street, The Times, which broke the story, said.

Cabinet Office officials passed concerns to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police after the new information came to light during a review by taxpayer-funded lawyers ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

The Privileges Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into whether Mr Johnson lied to Parliament about the partygate scandal, has also been informed.

The fallout adds to the problems facing Mr Sunak, who was fined over a gathering in Downing Street during the pandemic along with Mr Johnson in June 2020.

Rishi Sunak during Prime Ministers Questions (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)

Mr Sunak definitely did not go to the Chequers grace-and-favour retreat in contravention of coronavirus rules when he was chancellor during the pandemic, his press secretary said.

The Prime Minister has not discussed the controversy with his predecessor, she suggested, as she declined to answer a hypothetical question on whether Mr Johnson would lose the Tory whip if police were to charge him.

Mr Johnson, in a letter to the chair of the Covid inquiry, indicated he was severing ties with taxpayer-funded lawyers representing him.

It is understood he lost confidence in the Cabinet Office.

I am currently instructing new solicitors to represent me in the inquiry, he wrote, adding it is in the hands of the Cabinet Office to agree funding.

Mr Sunak is facing unrest from allies of Mr Johnson who claim the fresh inquiries are politically motivated.

Former Downing Street director of communication Guto Harri told The News Agents podcast: Some people have just got addicted to partygate and their appetite to express their rage over it and try to, sort of, exact revenge upon Boris Johnson in particular will never be satiated.
Ofgem is expected to announce a 450 drop to its energy price cap on Thursday amid warnings that consumers are likely to feel little benefit to their household finances.

Consultancy firm Cornwall Insight predicts the price cap will fall by 446 to 2,054 a year, based on falling wholesale energy prices.

However, campaigners have warned that the lower cap is unlikely to provide much relief to households that struggled to pay their bills over the winter because the Governments support schemes have come to an end.

The price cap 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 both pushing 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  below Ofgems price cap.

This will change in July when the price cap falls and the threshold for the guarantee rises to 3,000.

The cap does not set the maximum a household will pay for their energy but limits the amount providers can charge them per unit of gas or electricity, so those who use more energy will pay more.

Furthermore, the Governments 400 winter discount to every household, paid in six instalments, ended in March.

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.

The standing charge  the roughly 300 paid each year by households just to access gas and electricity, is unlikely to fall.

Cornwall Insight warned that, while bills were falling, it did not expect them to return to pre-Covid levels before the end of the decade at the earliest.

It added that energy bills were still about 1,000 higher compared to 2021.

Energy is regulated separately in Northern Ireland, where bills will be held at 1,950 per year for an average household.

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) warned that while a cut to the price cap might seem like good news, bills in July would be comparable to last winter because of the end to the Governments support.

NEA chief executive Adam Scorer said: Coming out of winter, most people will welcome any respite from record high prices, but it still leaves prices more than 80% higher than the start of the energy crisis and two million more households trapped in fuel poverty.

More than two and a half million low income and vulnerable households are no longer receiving any Government support for unaffordable bills. For them, the energy crisis is far from over.
One in six students registered at English universities and colleges are taught abroad, figures from the higher education watchdog reveal.

Some overseas partner institutions prioritise student numbers over quality and subcontracting can make it more difficult to oversee all aspects of the teaching, according to an Office for Students (OfS) report.

Research by the higher education regulator in England into the scale of transnational education (TNE) found that students living overseas now account for 16% of all students registered at English institutions.

In 2021-22, 146 English universities and colleges taught 455,000 students in other countries, and China had the highest proportion (14%) of TNE students (61,505 students in total).

More than one in four (27%) students abroad were taught by overseas partner organisations and a quarter (25%) were taught by distance, flexible or distributed learning.

Six per cent studied at English universities overseas branch campuses, with the remaining 42% covered by other arrangements, including collaborative provision, according to the OfS report.

TNE constitutes an increasing proportion of the teaching of many English universities to an increasingly significant income stream, the report says.

The watchdog engaged with seven English universities in July last year to learn more about how they ensure high quality education is delivered overseas.

Challenges identified by these universities included a preference on the part of some overseas partner institutions to prioritise student numbers over quality, as well as subcontracting by overseas partner institutions making it more difficult to oversee all aspects of the teaching.

Open University accounted for the latest population of students (46,300) living and studying overseas in 2021-22  which equates to 10% of the total TNE population.

The University of London was responsible for 37,400 students (8% of the total) in 2021-22, and Coventry University for 21,400 (5%).

Jean Arnold, director of quality at the OfS, said: As transnational education continues to grow, an increasing number of universities and colleges are seeing it as a component of their plans to diversify and grow their income.

Our regulatory remit is not limited to students located in England. It is important that students studying outside the UK are confident that their course is of the same high quality as would be the case if they were studying in England.

She added: Transnational education is a vital and thriving part of our higher education sector. By underlining that it is robustly regulated to ensure quality we intend to maintain and enhance the reputation of English higher education at home and across the world.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) think tank, said: This is fantastic news. Not everyone wants to move to study and not everyone can afford to do so.

Transnational education allows people to get a trusted UK qualification without leaving their home. It also helps UK universities spread their wings without raising carbon emissions through lots of extra flights.
Ten-month-old Finley Boden was placed back in his drug-taking parents care just months before they murdered him after a Family Court was told they did not pose an unmanageable risk, new documents show.

A transcript of a Family Court hearing, held over the phone during the pandemic, has been released following an application to the High Court by the PA news agency and other media.

It shows that despite calls by the local council for a gradual four-month transition back into the care of parents Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden and drug testing for the pair, the court ordered he be returned to them within eight weeks without any tests.

It also reveals that Finley was given back to his parents despite them appearing to lie about their drug use, with multiple drug deals taking place in the days immediately before his murder.

Finley died on Christmas Day 2020 after a campaign of abuse at the hands of Marsden and Boden, which left him with 130 injuries including multiple bone breaks and fractures, bruises and burns.

The 10-month-old died just over a month after being returned to his parents full-time care at their home in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in November 2020, after a court order made at a hearing at Chesterfield Justice Centre on October 1.

The transcript of that hearing shows that the parents were said not to pose such a risk to Finley that it was not manageable or required him to be placed out of their care in the foreseeable future.

Shannon Marsden with Finley prior to his murder (Derbyshire Police/PA)

The documents also show the court ordered Finley to be returned to his parents within eight weeks, despite social services asking for a four-month transition due to having some concerns over Boden and Marsdens cannabis use and parenting abilities.

Finley was placed under a care order a month before he was born due to concerns over the home environment and his parents use of the class B drug.

Other documents released by the court show that the house was found by social workers to smell of urine and cannabis, with litter and flies around the property.

While being looked after by carers, Finley began to see his parents at scheduled meetings, which were also attended by social services.

While Boden and Marsden were found to make improvements while Finley was in care, including cleaning the house and decreasing their drug use, social worker reports from September 2020 said that the pair had not yet had the opportunity to fully demonstrate their ability to meet the needs of Finley or to protect him from harm.

One social worker also warned that Finley would be at risk of suffering from neglect, physical and emotional harm if his parents continued to use drugs or failed to continue making positive changes.

At the Family Court hearing, a representative for Derbyshire County Council said all parties agreed that the plan for Finley should be for him to transition back to the care of his parents, but asked for this to be staged over four months and with the need for additional drug testing.

However, a representative for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass)  who represented Finley himself at the near-two-hour hearing  questioned a four-month transition and said it did not believe additional regular drug testing was necessary.

They said the Cafcass guardian remains fixed on the view that Finleys welfare required rehabilitation into the care of his parents and that should happen within an eight-week period, with continued supervision by the council after that.

They added Derbyshire County Council was not presenting a case to the court that would suggest that these parents pose such a risk to Finley that the risk is not manageable and requires him to be placed out of their care in the foreseeable future.

Cannabis use later became a key theme of the criminal trial, with the jury hearing how one drug deal was witnessed by a social worker and jurors were shown images of cannabis paraphernalia next to baby formula which had gone off in the familys cluttered home.

A Cafcass spokesperson said: It is not possible to say whether a longer transition plan would have prevented Finleys death.

What led to his death was the ability of his parents to deceive everyone involved about their love for him and their desire to care for him.

This deception included their own extended family. No one could have predicted from what was known at the time that they were capable of such cruelty or that there was a risk that they would intentionally hurt him, let alone murder him.

Images of Finleys cluttered family home showed signs of cannabis use (Derbyshire Police/PA)

At the Family Court hearing, a council representative said that drug testing the previous January had revealed that the parents were lying about their drug use, having shown much higher usage than they admitted.

They said that although cannabis use was not a bar to Finley returning to his parents, not enforcing regular drug testing could send the wrong message.

They added: It does appear that there have been times in the past where the parents have done better but then, for whatever reason, there has been a decline in the standard of the parenting that they have provided.

All things are not equal and sadly, in recent weeks, some concerns have arisen which, I would suggest, does need that longer period for the court to (have) complete confidence.

Finleys hearing was presided over by two lay magistrates, also known as Justices of the Peace.

These are volunteers who give up their time to oversee cases in the Magistrates and Family Courts.

They are not legally trained but make decisions with the assistance of a trained legal adviser who advises on matters of law and procedure.

In their judgment, they concluded that four months was too long in order for appropriate rehabilitation to the parents care to take place.

We believe that eight weeks is a reasonable and proportionate length of time for the process to take place, which most importantly protects [Finleys] welfare, which is our paramount consideration.

On drug testing, they added: We conclude that while such information may be beneficial, it is not necessary to ensure the proceedings are concluded appropriately.

The parents should continue, however, to engage with Derbyshire Recovery Partnership regarding their drug use.

Boden and Marsden will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on Friday.




Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for two lawmakers Wednesday on charges of involvement in a cash-for-vote campaign ahead of the 2021 chairman election of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).







The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office filed for arrest warrants for Reps. Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man. Both are now independents as they left the DPK in early May in the wake of the scandal.







The scandal centers on allegations that Song Yong-gil's campaign officials distributed cash totaling 94 million won ($71,379) to party members, including some 10-20 lawmakers, to help him get elected as party leader ahead of the party's national convention in May 2021.







Youn is accused of involvement in the alleged distribution of "cash envelopes" accounting for 60 million won of the total to sitting DPK lawmakers in April that year, while Lee allegedly handed out 10 million won of cash to campaign officials to have it distributed to the heads of the party's regional chapters.







Parliamentary consent is required for their arrests as the National Assembly is in session. (Yonhap)


Fresh searches in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have seen police dig a concentrated area of woodland near the banks of a remote reservoir in Portugal.

Personnel spent a number of hours cutting back the undergrowth of a peninsula next to the water on Wednesday, before using shovels to excavate part of the area.

A large section of the Barragem do Arade has been cordoned off since Tuesday morning, around 30 miles from where the three-year-old went missing in 2007.

Sniffer dogs and rakes have been used by uniformed and plain-clothed officers over the course of two days, before specialist forest workers used strimmers and heavy machinery to cut back the landscape.

It is understood the operation will continue on Thursday.

The fresh searches are being carried out at the request of German investigators who believe their prime suspect, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, kidnapped and murdered the youngster.

He is currently in prison in Germany for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.

German authorities have not revealed what triggered the latest search operation, but prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig Christian Wolters said they were acting on the basis of certain tips.

He told German public broadcaster NDR: We have indications that we could find evidence there. I dont want to say what that is exactly, and I also dont want to say where these indications come from.



Police workers in the undergrowth at Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal around 30 miles from where Madeleine vanished in 2007 (Yui Mok/PA)

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesnt come from the suspect  so we dont have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search.

The Sun reported that investigators previously found photos and video of Brueckner at the reservoir. He has reportedly denied any involvement in Madeleines disappearance.

Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, after they left her and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.

Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia previously claimed that criminal contacts had told him that Madeleines body was in the reservoir, and in 2008 he raised funds for unsuccessful private searches of the water.

Four teams of officers from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria are involved in the operation, along with at least 20 of their German counterparts, Portuguese news outlet SIC said.

Madeleine McCann was three years old when she went missing in 2007 (Family handout/PA)

British officers from the Metropolitan Police are also present while the work is carried out so they can inform Madeleines parents if there are any developments.

On Tuesday, search teams were seen scouring the banks  hammering away at the ground with pickaxes and combing through small rocks with rakes and spades.

Around a dozen officers with sniffer dogs were also at the site, while the fire service boat took officers onto the water.

Portuguese daily Expresso said that the first day ended with no significant results, and that police had collected some objects including fabrics and garments.

Madeleines disappearance has attracted enormous media attention since she vanished, and reporters are being kept at arms length around a mile away from where search activity is taking place.

A no-fly zone has also been imposed over the reservoir.

The new searches come as the Home Office granted an extra 110,000 in funding this financial year for the Metropolitan Police to assist with finding Madeleine, down from just over 300,000 last year.

The total funding given to Operation Grange has been just under 13.1 million since 2011.
A pathologist involved in a recent reinvestigation into the Hillsborough disaster has said haemorrhaging found on Sheku Bayoh following his death in police custody was similar to that suffered by people in crowd crushes.

Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary raised the similarity as he was fielding questions put to him during the ongoing public inquiry into the 31-year-olds death in Fife eight years ago.

The father-of-two died after he was restrained by around six police officers responding to reports of him acting erratically in Kirkcaldy on May 3, 2015.

Dr Cary, who told the inquiry he has previously been involved in several other high-profile cases such as the Soham murders in 2002, was asked about petechial haemorrhaging found on Mr Bayohs face during post-mortem tests.

Senior counsel to the inquiry Angela Grahame KC asked Dr Cary if the haemorrhaging was a sign of positional or mechanical asphyxia, the former being something Mr Bayohs family have previously suggested caused his death.

Dr Cary said: Positional alone  for instance, just being flat on your front  wont give you petechial haemorrhages. It implies a degree of mechanical asphyxia.

In restraint-related death, they are quite uncommon. So when they are present, this case becomes more like a crush asphyxia, where someone has been in a crowd crush.

Asked what caused mechanical asphyxia, Dr Cary continued: The chest being squeezed very hard. In fact, the trunk overall.

Requested to explain the level of force required to bring about a case of mechanical asphyxia, Dr Cary said: I go back to crowd crushing. We know the sorts of level of force developing in a crowd. Its often substantial force.

The public inquiry is examining the circumstances leading to Sheku Bayohs death and whether race was a factor (PA)

I think if you have multiple individuals applying that force  particularly if theyre quite heavy  then you would develop sufficient force to get this degree of mechanical asphyxia.

At this point Ms Grahame reminded the inquiry it had earlier heard evidence of the equivalent of around 25 stone of pressure potentially being applied to Mr Bayoh by police officers in their attempts to restrain him.

Dr Cary confirmed that kind of weight could cause mechanical asphyxia. That is the type of level, he said. That is a lot of force to apply.

The independent public inquiry in Edinburgh is examining the circumstances leading to Mr Bayohs death, the subsequent investigation and whether race was a factor.

The probe has already heard from pathologist Dr Kerryanne Shearer, who examined Mr Bayoh following his death and stated his struggle with police while being restrained ought to be considered a major part of what led to it.

The inquiry, which is being chaired by Lord Bracadale, continues.
Six Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters have been arrested in London after police orders were put in place to force supporters out of the road.

The activists were held in Marylebone Road on Wednesday, after 39 JSO supporters in five groups staged the latest in a series of marches designed to block busy roads.

Protesters walked slowly in the road in Islington, Marylebone and the City of London at around 8am, before police used new powers under the Public Order Act to force them onto the pavement.

 BREAKING: Met Police Arrest Just Stop Oil Supporters Trying to Leave Road  This morning, 39 supporters of Just Stop Oil in 5 groups started marching on roads in Islington, Marylebone and the City. 3 of the marches were mini marches composed of between two and five people. pic.twitter.com/ipX7v1fAP6  Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) May 24, 2023

JSO, which has been staging marches every day since April 24, said that the orders were placed on four of the groups, and the six protesters were arrested before they could leave the road.

The Metropolitan Police said that the campaigners had remained in the road after the orders were issued.

Wednesdays arrests followed heated scenes on Tuesday when one man was handcuffed by police after appearing to push two JSO supporters out of the road on Blackfriars Bridge.

The group said a motorcyclist tried to drive through the demonstrators, and in a separate incident a van crashed into a bus stop as the driver tried to get past the activists.

This is an impossible situation. Do we disrupt other ordinary people, like this man, arrested for lashing out today, or just sit back and watch everything burn? That's where our government has left us. More and more people are realising taking action is the right thing to do. pic.twitter.com/hMm3Wxu0tY  Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) May 23, 2023

Other members of the public were said to have grabbed banners.

Police have urged motorists who get stuck not to try to intervene in the protest action.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday: We completely understand the frustration and anger of Londons communities when protesters walk slowly in the roads.

We urge people not to intervene and to let police deal with the situation who, if not already there, will arrive promptly.
Support for the SNP has fallen by 10% in a new poll which also reveals a negative satisfaction rating for First Minister Humza Yousaf in the wake of Nicola Sturgeons resignation.

Ipsos Scottish Political Monitor, run in partnership with STV News, projects the SNP will remain the dominant party despite its support dropping to 41% compared to the results of a poll in December.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour and the Tories are predicted to increase their support by four percentage points, to 29% and 17% respectively.

The survey of 1,100 adults in Scotland between May 15 and 21 puts the SNP on course to win 44 seats at the next Westminster election, while Labour would take nine and the Tories and Liberal Democrats would each take three seats in the Commons.

The SNP gained 45% of the vote at the 2019 UK election, while the Tories won 25% and Labour 19%.

The latest poll saw Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar become the only political leader to receive a positive net satisfaction rating, with 40% satisfied with his performance and 33% dissatisfied. The other 27% said they do not know enough to rate him.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is the only leader to be given a positive approval rating (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr Yousaf, however, was given a net satisfaction rating of minus 9, as 44% of respondents said they were dissatisfied by his performance as First Minister, compared to 35% who were satisfied.

His predecessor Ms Sturgeon resigned in February and had a +9 positive rating in the December 2022 poll.

The SNP has faced a tumultuous few months following her resignation as police probe party finances, leading to the arrest of her husband and former chief executive Peter Murrell, and former treasurer Colin Beattie. Both were released without charge pending further investigation.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Rosss approval rating now sits at minus 25 in the poll, however it is an improvement from minus 38 in the December poll.

The Ipsos poll also shows a shift in attitude towards independence, with signs emerging that 2014 Yes voters are beginning to consider backing other parties instead of the SNP.

But support for independence sits at 53% compared to 47% against  a slight drop of three percentage points for the Yes campaign.

The Ipsos poll is a slightly more encouraging message for the SNP than a YouGov poll also published on Wednesday which suggested Labour could gain almost two dozen seats from the nationalists at the Westminster election.

The SNP has faced challenges since Humza Yousaf took the helm from Nicola Sturgeon (PA)

It suggested 27 seats for the SNP, compared to the 48 it won in 2019.

Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos in Scotland, said: In the wake of Nicola Sturgeons unexpected resignation, a divisive leadership contest and controversy over the partys funding and finances, support for the SNP has fallen back.

With First Minister Humza Yousafs approval ratings weaker than Nicola Sturgeons were, it may be challenging for the party to regain that support.

Meanwhile, Labour will be hoping that the indication in this poll of a weakening relationship between past independence support and voting for the SNP becomes a trend on which they can capitalise.

SNP Westminster deputy leader Mhairi Black said the poll is encouraging.

She added: The SNP is working hard to tackle the cost of living, improve public services like our NHS and build a fairer economy  but we are absolutely clear that independence is essential for our long-term future.

Thats the positive message of home well be campaigning on relentlessly  in contrast to both Labour and the Tories who both offer a Brexit-based future dragging down living standards and the cash available for public services like the NHS.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Poll after poll shows that the momentum is with Scottish Labour.

The status quo is failing Scotland, but only Labour are offering a fresh start and a chance to boot out this morally bankrupt Tory Government.

Scottish Labour will keep working around the clock to earn voters trust so we can deliver the change Scotland needs.
The Duchess of Edinburgh is deeply saddened by the death of a woman who was hit by a motorcycle that was part of her police escort.

Helen Holland, 81, was struck at the junction of West Cromwell Road and Warwick Road in Earls Court, west London, on the afternoon of May 10.

In comments carried by the BBC, Ms Hollands son Martin said she died after sustaining multiple broken bones and massive internal injuries.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: The Duchess of Edinburgh is deeply saddened to hear that Helen Holland has passed away.

Her Royal Highnesss deepest condolences and sympathies go to all of Ms Hollands family.

It is understood Sophie will be in touch privately with Ms Hollands family.

Ms Holland, from Essex, had reportedly been in London visiting her older sister.

Her son Martin said she fought for her life for nearly two weeks but irreversible damage to her brain finally ended the battle today.

He said she was using the safe route of [a] pedestrian crossing when she was struck by the motorcycle.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been investigating the incident and has taken CCTV from nearby properties for examination.

A spokesman for the watchdog said: We can confirm a woman who was involved in a collision with a Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) motorcycle in Earls Court on May 10 sadly died in hospital yesterday.

Helen Holland, 81, was taken to hospital following the collision with a police motorcycle that was on escort duties on West Cromwell Road around 3.21 pm that afternoon.

Our thoughts are with her family and friends following their loss.

We began an independent investigation after we were informed by the force of the incident that night.

Our investigation is at an early stage.

We also issued a witness appeal last week and would still like to hear from anyone who saw or recorded any part of this incident who is yet to speak to us.

Any witnesses or anyone with information can contact the IOPC on 0300 303 5621 or email westcromwellroad@policeconduct.gov.uk.
A Conservative MP was ordered to leave Prime Ministers Questions after being accused of repeated heckling by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Paul Bristow was made to leave the Commons chamber after fewer than five minutes of the weekly clash between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The Peterborough MPs forced exit came shortly after Sir Lindsay appealed to both sides of the House to show respect and stop being noisy.

Mr Bristow told the PA news agency: I got a little over-excited.

As Sir Keir criticised the Government for allowing uncontrolled migration, Mr Bristow was among those heard shouting in response.

Sir Lindsay intervened to say: Mr Bristow, I think youre going to be leaving. I am asking you to leave now because otherwise Ill name you.

Naming of a member is a term used to describe the disciplining of an MP for breaking the rules of the Commons.

Paul Bristow, right, was told to leave the Commons chamber (PA)

Sir Lindsay did not enact the formal disciplinary procedure but told Mr Bristow: Im not having it and Ive warned you before. Its the same people.

He added to opposition MPs: And the same will happen on this side.

Mr Bristow left the chamber to cheers and shouts of bye from those on the opposition benches.

Sir Lindsays spokeswoman said: Following a noisy start to PMQs, the Speaker asked Paul Bristow to leave the chamber, saying he would name him if not.

Mr Bristow left voluntarily and so no formal powers were exercised by the Speaker.

Mr Bristow can stay on the parliamentary estate for the day and loses no pay, it is understood.
Businesses would be stopped from easing staff shortages by hiring cheaper overseas workers under immigration plans unveiled by Labour.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wants to scrap rules that allow firms to pay 20% below the going rate to hire overseas workers for jobs on the shortage occupation list.

Healthcare, engineering and IT are among the sectors where someone can be paid 80% of the usual going rate to qualify for a skilled worker visa.

Labour leader Sir Keirs pitch to ensure firms hire UK staff came at Prime Ministers Questions ahead of the release of figures expected to show record levels of net migration.

He also mocked Home Secretary Suella Braverman over her handling of a speeding ticket, telling the Commons: The Prime Minister stood on three Tory manifestos, each one promised to reduce immigration. Each promise broken. They (Conservative backbenchers) all stood on those manifestos as well.

Why does he think his Home Secretary seems to have such a problem coping with points-based systems?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak replied: Just this week we announced the biggest-ever single measure to tackle legal migration, removing the right for international students to bring dependents, toughening the rules on post-study work, and reviewing maintenance requirements.

But what is (Sir Keirs) contribution? There are absolutely no ideas absolutely no semblance that there would be any control. Why? Because he believes in an open-door migration policy.

Sir Keir asked Mr Sunak if he thinks his policy is encouraging businesses to train people here or hire from abroad?

Under the Tories, the UK is being left behind in the global race for skilled jobs. Labours Green Prosperity Plan will create quality jobs, grow the economy, cut the cost of living, and make Britain a clean energy superpower. pic.twitter.com/pmYjYcGAhl  The Labour Party (@UKLabour) May 24, 2023

He said: The reason they are issuing so many visas is labour and skill shortages. And the reason there are shortages is the low-wage Tory economy.

Under his Governments rules, businesses in IT, engineering, healthcare, architecture, welding can pay foreign workers 20% less than British workers for years and years on end. Does he think his policy is encouraging businesses to train people here or hire from abroad?

The Prime Minister replied: He talks about immigration but we know his position because it turns out that Labour would actually like to see even more people coming to the UK, increasing the numbers.

Its not just my view, those are the words of his own frontbencher who said having a target is insensible and that the numbers might have to go up.

Sir Keir went on to accuse Mr Sunak of delivering policies which are holding working people back, adding: But fear not because speeding into the void left by the Prime Minister comes the Home Secretary, not with a plan for skills, growth or wages, no, her big idea is for British workers to become fruit pickers just in case  I cant believe she said this  that they forget how to do things.

Does the Prime Minister support this let them pick fruit ambition for Britain or does he wish he had the strength to give her a career change of her own?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the Governments record (House of Commons/UK Parliament)

Mr Sunak defended the Governments record on the economy, education and health, adding: Thats a Conservative Government, delivering for the British people.

Sir Keir countered: The Home Secretary may need a speed awareness course, he needs a reality check.

This mess on immigration reveals a Tory party with no ambition for working people and no ambition for Britain, just the same old failed ideas  low wages and high tax.

Labour would fix the apprenticeship levy, fill the skills gap and stop businesses from recruiting from abroad if they dont pay properly.

Mr Sunak said it was unclear how Sir Keir would do any of these things, adding: Every week we hear a lot of empty rhetoric from (Sir Keir) but in the past week we can measure ourselves by actions.

He highlighted Government action to curb protests, strike action and to respond to small boats crossing the Channel, adding: What has he done? Hes voted against every single one of those and thats the difference between us: whilst hes working on the politics, were working for the British people.

Their exchanges came after former prime minister David Cameron urged ministers to use welfare reforms and training programmes to reduce the need for foreign labour.

Mr Cameron, who never met his own goal of bringing net migration down to the tens of thousands, said he has sympathy with Mr Sunak and Mrs Braverman as they address the challenge.

The Government is seeking to reduce legal migration while under pressure from businesses to ensure there are not labour shortages in key industries.

Figures being published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday are widely expected to show net migration running at a record high.

Analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies forecasts net migration could have hit between 700,000 and 997,000 for the year ending December 2022.
Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Amy Dowden has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Caerphilly-born Dowden, who joined the BBC dance competition show in 2017, shared the news on Instagram, telling fans that she is determined to return to the dance floor as soon as she can.

The 32-year-old wrote: Hey all, Ive got some news which isnt easy to share.

Ive recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but Im determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it.

Dowden added a pink love heart, signing off with Welsh love Amy with a kiss.

She said she found a lump in her breast in April, the day before going to the Maldives on her honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones, and hopes to raise awareness of the disease.

Dowden said after realising the lump had grown after her holiday, she went to the GP before being sent for an emergency referral.

She told Hello magazine: Everything happened so fast within that day. I went on my own and didnt tell anybody, but when I was there, the nurse said to me You need to have somebody here and thats when Ben found out.

Amy Dowden and her partner James Bye during the live show of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One in 2022 (Guy Levy/BBC/PA)

They told me it was looking very suspicious and to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They did the biopsy and then we had a wait.

Last week Dowden was told she had grade three breast cancer.

She said: My doctor explained to me that there are three grades, and three is the most aggressive, but they feel like theyve caught mine early and to not be too alarmed because grade 3 would be expected in somebody of my age.

It comes after she revealed she was suffering from Crohns disease in 2019, in a bid to help other sufferers.

She said: With what Ive done for Crohns, I want to do the same here. If I can try and turn this negative into a positive, its going to help me get through this.

You just dont ever think its going to happen to you. I hadnt thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age.

My mum has had breast cancer, but she had it at a later age, in her 50s.

om Fletcher and Amy Dowden on Strictly Come Dancing (Guy Levy/BC/PA)

The Welsh dancer said her former Strictly dance partner and member of British boyband McFly Tom Fletcher, and his wife Giovanna offered her support after discovering the news.

She said: Tom and Giovanna got straight in the car and came to see me when I told them the news, and we went for a walk.

Giovannas encouragement has been central to my decision to share my story in the hopes of helping others.

Dowden married Jones in a star-studded Welsh ceremony last July, after becoming engaged on New Years Eve in 2017.

The occasion featured a performance by Fletcher and an array of Strictly stars were in attendance, including fellow professional Dianne Buswell, who served as bridesmaid.

Dianne Buswell (Jacob King/PA)

Sharing messages of support on social media, Buswell said on hearing the news: Our Welsh dragon is going to fight this !!!! and I can not wait for the moment you are back on that dance floor with us. We love you so much Amy.

Meanwhile other Strictly stars including Johannes Radebe, Karen Hauer, Gorka Marquez and Nadiya Bychkova also sent their well-wishes.

Strictly judge Shirley Ballas said: My precious girl. Nanny and I are thinking about you at this time. You are a strong example to so many of resilience which Ive witnessed first hand.

A beautiful kind and funny young lady who will face things head on. You are sooo loved. Ill see you soon my darling friend hugs and lots of warm cuddles.

Fellow judge Motsi Mabuse also said: We love you amy, sending all my love and will definitely keep you in my prayers.

While former Strictly professional dancer and two-time winner Oti Mabuse said: Sending you love and power and all the strength  youre such an incredible woman, love you Amy! Take care of yourself.
Nicola Sturgeon has said the probe into the SNPs finances which resulted in the arrest of her husband has been unexpected and unwelcome.

In April, Peter Murrell  the former party chief executive  was taken into custody and the home he shared with his wife Ms Sturgeon was searched in relation to the investigation.

He was later released without charge pending further investigation.

Writing in the Glasgow Times, the former first minister opined on her time in Government, as well as the transition to the backbenches at Holyrood.

Police searched the home Nicola Sturgeon shares with her husband Peter Murrell as part of the probe into the SNPs finances (PA)

She wrote: Sometimes it feels that there is scarcely time to breathe, let alone think. And if that is true in normal times, it was even more so during the long, difficult months of Covid.

To go from 16 years of that to being a backbencher  still an incredibly busy job but without the weight of government responsibility  was always going to be a difficult transition.

And, of course, since I stepped down, there have been unexpected and unwelcome developments that I am not able to expand upon here, but which have made this period even more challenging.

However, in spite of that, I am enjoying the new perspective and different focus that comes with no longer being first minister.

Ms Sturgeon went on to lay out her focus in her Glasgow Southside constituency, saying: Throughout my time in government, I have always worked hard to do the best for my constituents.

However, having even more time now to spend in the Southside is something I relish.

Nicola Sturgeon now sits on the backbenches at Holyrood (PA)

There are many issues facing my constituents  for example, housing, the quality of the environment, transport links, access to health services  that I will raise and, where necessary, campaign on from the backbenches.

I look forward to highlighting the many positive developments happening across the Southside, from the achievements of young people in our schools to new community and housing projects and the redevelopment of the iconic Citizens Theatre, to name just a few.

Of course, my constituents, like people across the country, are affected by national trends and issues too.

Top of that list right now is the cost-of-living crisis.

Ms Sturgeon said she is proud of the work her Government did to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis, including the ongoing extension of free school meals.
Drivers should be charged on a per-mile basis in a major overhaul of the UKs motoring taxation system, according to a new report.

A pay as you drive scheme in the UK should initially apply to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) such as electric cars before being expanded to cover all vehicles, centre-right think tank the Centre for Policy Studies said.

This would replace the outdated and onerous tax system of fuel duty and vehicle excise duty (VED), the document stated.

The Future of Driving report warned that the Treasury faces a 25 billion fiscal black hole as annual receipts from fuel duty dwindle, with motorists switching from petrol and diesel cars to electric models.

Under the plan to charge motorists on a per-mile basis, drivers of ZEVs would pay significantly less than those behind the wheel of petrol and diesel models to avoid denting the take-up of greener vehicles.

All vehicles would receive an annual allocation of tax-free miles, with more for those owned in remote areas with fewer transport alternatives.

The Government could announce that the new system will apply to all ZEVs from a certain year towards the end of the decade, according to the report.

It acknowledged that some drivers are wary of the state tracking their movements constantly, and suggested charges should be paid by a monthly direct debit, with no recording of where and when road users drove.

ZEV drivers who took part in focus groups conducted for the report instinctively understood that the current tax-free status of their driving could not continue indefinitely, the Centre for Policy Studies said.

The report added: Petrol and diesel drivers rightly pointed out that it was unfair that EV drivers today contributed nothing to the upkeep of the roads, despite causing significant damage given their weight.

Petrol and diesel drivers pointed out that it was unfair that EV drivers contribute nothing to the upkeep of the roads, the report said (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Thus, while no-one likes to have their taxes put up, there was a begrudging consensus that the current system would have to adapt to the new future of ZEVs, and that those currently driving an electric car would have to stump up down the road.

Electric vehicles are generally heavier than traditionally-fuelled vehicles due to the added weight of their batteries.

ZEV drivers do not pay fuel duty or VED, but road maintenance is funded by national and local taxes, rather than motoring taxes.

Dillon Smith, Centre for Policy Studies energy and environment researcher and report co-author, said the recommendations can lead to fairer, better and more efficient taxation while tackling congestion and improving air quality in our big cities.

Tom Clougherty, Centre for Policy Studies research director and co-author, added: We shouldnt replicate the old, punitive tax system, but it is still important that all drivers pay a fair amount for the roads they use.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has to walk a tightrope as rushing to replace lost fuel duty income risks stifling the green transition Government is desperate to promote.

He added: Given the imperative to get to net zero carbon, and the political sensitivity surrounding any changes to road taxes, the Chancellor might well conclude that losing a few billion pounds a year is a price worth paying to save the planet.

A Treasury spokesperson said: We are making sure that motoring tax revenues keep pace with the switch to electric vehicles, whilst keeping it affordable for consumers, and have no plans to introduce road pricing.

With the EV transition accelerating, its right that all drivers start to make a fair tax contribution through changes to Vehicle Excise Duty but we continue to support the electric vehicle revolution through over 2.5 billion in incentives.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon checks a child car seat installed in a passenger van, Monday, two days before the city government's new taxi service began providing certified car seats on Wednesday. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government





By Jun Ji-hye







The Seoul Metropolitan Government began to offer taxis equipped with car seats for children under the age of 24 months, starting Wednesday.







The new taxi service uses passenger vans equipped with car seats marked with Korea Certification from the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards. The vans also offer air purifiers, hand sanitizer and protective shielding.







The city government said it took extra care to manage the vehicles in a sanitary way to protect children with weak immune systems.







The taxi service is part of the comprehensive child care assistance project pushed by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.







Parents with children under the age of two can apply for the service using the i.M. mobile application.







Besides parents, those who are directly involved in raising children, including grandparents, can also use the taxi service.







The city government offers vouchers worth 100,000 won ($76) per child to support the use of the taxi service. A 200,000 won voucher is offered for twins.







Those who are unable to digitally access the service can apply for a voucher in person by visiting nearby community service centers, and by calling 1688-7722 for one of the taxis.







The new taxi service will be carried out on a pilot basis in 16 districts this year and expanded to all parts of the capital next year.







The 16 districts are Gangdong, Gangbuk, Gangseo, Gwanak, Gwangjin, Geumcheon, Dobong, Dongdaemun, Mapo, Seocho, Seongdong, Seongbuk, Yangcheon, Yeongdeungpo, Yongsan and Jungnang.







The city government selected the 16 districts after carrying out a demand survey.







Mayor Oh Se-hoon checked preparations for the service on Monday, two days before its launch.







"Going around with babies is exhausting work. I hope our new taxi service will make it more enjoyable," the mayor said. "We will continue to give efforts to create a baby-friendly environment so parents can feel comfortable when traveling with babies."


Labour could gain almost two dozen seats from the SNP in Scotland in the next Westminster election, research which could give Humza Yousafs party serious cause for concern has suggested.

Analysis by pollsters at YouGov projected Mr Yousafs party could capture the seat currently held by Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Tories  but also indicated 23 seats currently held by the SNP could fall to Labour, including that of deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black.

While the SNP won 48 seats in Scotland at the last general election in 2019, YouGovs research showed that could fall to 27, with the party losing 23 seats to Labour, mainly across central Scotland.

Noting Sir Keir Starmers party may well need to make gains in Scotland if he is to become the next prime minister, Patrick English of YouGov said the findings would provide strong encouragement to Labour.

SNP Westminster leader Mhairi Black could lose her Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency at the next election, YouGov suggested (Jane Barlow/PA)

The research, which used MRP (multi-level regression and post-stratification) statistical techniques to forecast the result of the next Westminster election in Scotland, suggested the SNP could to gain Moray  where Mr Ross is stepping down at the next general election  and the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine seat of UK energy minster Andrew Bowie from the Conservatives.

But overall, YouGov projected the SNP to have its worst general election results since 2010.

The findings indicated Mr Yousafs party could lose six of the seven Glasgow constituencies it currently holds  with Glasgow Central, Glasgow East, Glasgow North, Glasgow North East, Glasgow North West and Glasgow South all projected as gains for Labour.

YouGov/PA

Overall, Labours tally of seats in Scotland is projected to increase from just one at present to 24, according to the research which involved more than 3,500 voters north of the border.

With Labour forecast to have its best Scottish election results since 2010, the modelling suggested Anas Sarwars party could also win the Western Isles, ousting the long-serving SNP MP Angus MacNeill, who has held the seat there since 2005.

Meanwhile, Rutherglen and Hamilton West  where a recall petition could force a by-election ahead of the next general election if current MP Margaret Ferrier is suspended from the Commons for the proposed 30 days  could be another Labour capture.

YouGov based its research on fieldwork carried out between April 10 and May 21  after Mr Yousaf took over as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, and after a police investigation into SNP finances resulted in both the partys HQ in Edinburgh and the home of Nicola Sturgeon being searched.

YouGov carried out its research after Humza Yosuaf took over as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister (Andy Buchanan/PA)

The polling firm said the findings suggest that repeated recent bad news stories for the SNP and its new leader, Humza Yousaf, including accusations of party mismanagement and potential criminal cases being brought against senior officials, have taken a serious toll on both the partys popular support.

Meanwhile, it noted that the figures will make welcome reading for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, as well as the partys national leader Keir Starmer, adding that Labour may well need a significant number of victories in Scotland to lift them over the majority line at the next Westminster contest, and the data currently suggests they are on track to do just that.

However YouGov said its projections were less rosy for Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who are both forecast to pick up four seats in Scotland at the next general election.

While the Tories could lose two seats to the SNP in the north east, the Liberal Democrats would stay on four, with the projections suggesting the party will fail in efforts to regain the East Dunbartonshire constituency once held by former leader Jo Swinson from the SNP.

The First Minister spoke to journalists about the poll after a meeting of Holyroods committee conveners on Wednesday.

He said: Im never complacent.

We have had a really, really difficult six to eight weeks. I think everybody objectively realises how challenging that period has been for the party.

But of course the election is still some time away and Im focussed on making sure we are speaking to the priorities of the people of Scotland.

On the possible Rutherglen by-election, he said: Labour may already be declaring victory in Rutherglen.

What were going to do is make sure were chapping the doors, were pounding the pavements, were talking to people and making sure we have a positive message about what we can deliver for the people of Rutherglen.

Commenting on the research, Patrick English, associate director of political and social research at YouGov, said: The results of YouGovs Scottish MRP shows the SNP have some serious cause for concern, but will provide strong encouragement to Labour as they look ahead to the next general election.

Making significant gains in Scotland could be crucial to Starmers chances of heading into Number 10 with a parliamentary majority next year, and these figures suggest his party is now making strong progress north of the border.

That, plus the prospect of losing their own Scottish leaders seat, will no doubt worry the Conservatives.

Labour shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray MP, who is currently the partys only MP north of the border, said: Scotland is ready for change and it falls to Scottish Labour to deliver it.

The people of Scotland are sick and tired of Tory and SNP sleaze and failure.

He insisted: Scotland needs a fresh start with a majority Labour government. Under Anas Sarwars leadership Scottish Labour will continue to earn back the publics trust so we can deliver the change that Scotland needs.

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: Its clear that voters are increasingly turned off by the scandal and civil war engulfing the SNP and their obsession with independence over the real priorities of the Scottish people.

Meanwhile, a Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: In seats like East Dunbartonshire and Ross, Skye and Lochaber, were nipping at the heels of the failed SNP and offering a brighter alternative for communities.

But SNP MP David Linden said: Voting SNP is the only way to get rid of unelected Tory governments in Scotland for good.

The SNP is the only party in Scotland offering a real alternative to the Tories and pro-Brexit Labour Party, handing voters the opportunity to escape the mess of Brexit and rejoin the EU with the full powers of independence.

A strong team of SNP MPs could hold the balance of power and we would use our influence to make sure Westminster takes real action to tackle the cost of living, protect our NHS, and ensure Scotlands democracy is respected.
The rollercoaster debt ceiling talks are back at a stalemate amid a full-throated effort by the most conservative members of Kevin McCarthys caucus to preemptively kill any bipartisan deal.

Influential Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told a right-wing host Tuesday night that my position is to hold the damn line and force a GOP-only plan into law, one of the many similar comments from Republicans in recent hours.

I dont even care about the negotiations going on at the White House, he added.

The GOP's internal dynamics are having a direct effect on the talks. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly shifted his tone Tuesday just hours after optimistic comments in the Oval Office.

Late Tuesday night, a lead negotiator for McCarthy told reporters that his side needed to see fundamental change from the White House.

Then, on Wednesday, Speaker McCarthy announced that talks would resume and said "I think we can make progress today" while also batting away suggestions that a deal is impossible at this point given the conservative Republican criticisms.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks with reporters about the debt ceiling negotiations on Tuesday, May 23. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The conservative rebellion is a mirror of sorts to what President Biden is confronting on his left flank, with many Democratic lawmakers similarly skeptical of concessions.

The unrest on both fringes is raising new questions not just if a deal can be struck  but whether it could then even pass Congress in time to avoid a potential default on June 1.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday underlined how negotiators can ill afford further delays, saying that it seems almost certain the US government will not be able to pay its bills past early June.

"Early June seems almost certain that we will not be able to get past early June and I do intend to provide an update pretty soon, Yellen said in a virtual conversation at the Wall Street Journals CEO Council in London. We no longer see very much likelihood there are resources will enable us to get to the middle or end of June.

Yellen says there are early signs of stress in financial markets already, pointing to much higher yields on Treasury bills coming due in early to mid June.

Yellen added, however, that she thinks a deal is possible.

Theyre working toward an agreement that could command bipartisan support, she said.

For now, many in the business world are still planning for compromise. CFRA Research Chief Investment Strategist Sam Stovall told Yahoo Finance Tuesday most people on Wall Street think that cooler minds will prevail.

But he added a warning: Should the worst happen, history then tells us, watch out because we could enter into a new bear market.

The outsized power of the House Freedom Caucus

The conservative distaste surfacing online and in person reflects the official position of the powerful House Freedom Caucus.

The group said last week that McCarthy should refuse to negotiate and force the Senate to simply pass a sprawling GOP proposal that rolls back large pieces of Bidens accomplishments.

There should be no further discussion until the Senate passes the legislation, the group of over 40 lawmakers said in a statement.

Republicans must #HoldTheLine on the debt ceiling to bring spending back to reality and restore fiscal sanity in DC.



We spend $100+ billion more than federal tax revenues EVERY MONTH.



Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.  House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) May 22, 2023

The proposal is a wish list of Republican priorities on issues like the IRS and energy policy that is seen as having no chance of even being considered in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But the group has an outsized influence on Capitol Hill  and a direct line to McCarthy's office  after its members took their time supporting the California Congressman's bid for Speaker in January.

In his interview with conservative host Jesse Kelly, Rep. Roy said right-wing strength has been a result of the efforts in January. Roy was a key player in that drama which stretched for 15 ballots. Roy eventually supported McCarthy on the 12th ballot but in the process secured a role for himself on the powerful House Rules committee.

In the end, McCarthy agreed to a series of deep concessions in exchange for Freedom Caucus votes, notably a restrictive rules package that allows just one lawmaker to force a full vote on ousting the speaker.

The topic that these Republicans have not broached so far - publicly at least - is whether they would be willing to use their power to try and remove McCarthy from power if it came to that.

Nobodys talking about that, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) told MSNBC recently. "We want him to be successful because the country needs for him to be successful."

Literally nobody except the press is talking about removing McCarthy right now, added Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Twitter.

Neither Gaetz nor Good ever voted for McCarthy in January, but did vote present on the final ballots to help push him over the line.

Also in a memo to House colleagues Wednesday, Roy underlined McCarthy and the House Freedom Caucus remain strong allies, saying the hardline position from the group is intended help McCarthy in negotiations to "give him the strongest hand."

Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on the House Floor during his fight to become Speaker in January as conservative Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Scott Perry (R-PA) conferred. Perry is the chair of the House Freedom Caucus. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Skepticism of the June 1 deadline

Another key way that hard-line House conservatives could shape the debate in the days ahead is over the question of whether a deal actually needs to be done by a deadline of June 1, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated this week in a letter.

Shes using June 1st [but] everybody knows thats false. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told CNN Tuesday, echoing many similar comments on that topic.

The commentary reflects far-right skepticism of anything a Biden official has to say.

But the comments also reflect a point being echoed by more moderate Republicans as well as Wall Street analysts. They argue the economic damage around a default could theoretically be limited for a few days if the Treasury Department is able to pick and choose which payments to make.

For now, negotiations remain focused in on the key issue of spending caps as a linchpin toward a potential bipartisan deal.

Negotiations are at a standoff over whether to roll back an increase of about $130 billion in government spending from FY2022 to FY2023 that was approved by Congress late last year.

Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ought to have a sunny story to sell as he launches his run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Florida is the fastest-growing state in the nation, and since DeSantis took over in 2019, it has outperformed the rest of the country in job and income growth, especially during the COVID pandemic.

Yet DeSantis is no benevolent Reaganite, stepping aside to let capitalism work its magic. Instead, hes one of the most meddlesome governors in America, happily upsetting the status quo as part of his war on liberal culture. DeSantiss smackdown with the Walt Disney Co. (DIS), Floridas biggest taxpayer, is a looming political debacle that DeSantis could lose in the courts just as the 2024 campaign is heating up. DeSantis brags about taking on Disney and its woke culture as if most Americans, if forced to pick sides, would choose a petulant governor over an entertainment colossus. Risky bet.

It's not just Disney. DeSantiss forced revisions of Floridas racial history have prompted the NAACP to issue a travel advisory warning that Florida has become hostile to Black Americans. An LGBTQ advocacy group has issued a similar warning. That threatens Florida tourism, the state's biggest industry. Some Hispanic truckers are urging a boycott of the state in response to a new law DeSantis signed meant to flush out undocumented workers at businesses with 25 employees or more. Then theres DeSantiss push to kill diversity programs at Floridas public schools and universities, some of them funded in part by wealthy donors who are opposed to DeSantiss stampede.

DeSantis won reelection last November by a 19-point margin, creating a wide opening for a presidential run. But controversies since then have slowed his momentum. The overriding reason for DeSantiss electoral success was keeping the economy in Florida relatively open during COVID, said John Mousseau, CEO of investing firm Cumberland Advisors, based in Sarasota. That really resonated with voters. I think all the other stuff that is out there lately, Disney, college curriculums, immigration, transgender laws, all of this has a net effect of giving voters DeSantis fatigue. If last falls gubernatorial election were held now, I think the results would be closer.

[Drop Rick Newman a note, follow him on Twitter, or sign up for his newsletter.]

In his recent book, The Courage to be Free, DeSantis explains how he wants to Make America Florida. That will mean different things to different people. As a sun-belt mecca with no state income tax, Florida has a built-in allure to many businesses and workers. But DeSantis is applying a kind of strong-arm capitalism in which the state issues cultural guidelines it expects businesses to follow as a condition of enjoying Floridas largesse. As a pitch to Republicans in a bid to win the presidential nomination, it could work. General-election voters, however, may not wish to be Floridafied.

Like other successful politicians, DeSantis is a beneficiary of good fortune. He became governor one year after Congress passed a tax law that, among other things, capped the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000, which effectively made it more expensive for high earners to live in high-tax states. Florida is a low-tax state, and it has enjoyed a surge of wealthy Americans moving in since the tax law passed. That gooses the states economy.

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Feb. 24, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

As a warm southern state, Florida also had a natural advantage in weathering the COVID pandemic. DeSantis repeatedly bashes lockdown politicians who ordered businesses to close during the first year of the pandemic while Florida remained largely open. Yet in some epicenters of the virus, such as New York City, officials had no choice but to shut down as hospitals filled to capacity and a surging death toll generated panic. Warmer areas where it was possible to do some business outside, where COVID is harder to transmit, simply didnt face the same scale of difficulty.

In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, Florida had one of the lowest COVID death rates, even though it mostly stayed open. That hints at the benefits of a warm climate. In 2021, however, Floridas COVID death rate doubled, and even went higher than shutdown states such as New York and California. Floridas high concentration of older people is probably part of the reason, but the jump from 2020 to 2021 also suggests stronger protections could have saved lives.

Florida presents a few other liabilities a DeSantis opponent could exploit. Home insurance costs have skyrocketed due to ruinous storms and a fraud epidemic. DeSantis has signed legislation to address the problem but it's not clear it will work. Florida's cost of living is also going up as people flood into the state, with some residents complaining that it's getting too expensive.

Still, every state has its woes, and many governors would trade Florida's problems for their own. DeSantis could easily claim credit for Floridas economic success and run as a traditional laissez-faire Republican favoring low taxes and light regulation. Instead, he has hitched his star to the war on wokeness, including attacks on businesses with diversity and inclusion policies meant to show solidarity with racial and cultural minorities. Instead of a light government touch, DeSantiss war on wokeness can amount to a heavy-handed intrusion into the way businesses operate.

The Disney battle began last year when the company publicly opposed a new Florida law limiting what schools can teach young kids about sex and gender. DeSantis retaliated by attempting to strip the municipal self-governing status Disney had enjoyed near its Orlando theme park for decades. Disney orchestrated a legal maneuver to reclaim that status, which DeSantis tried to nullify. Disney is now suing while also cutting back on investment in Florida. CEO Bob Iger charges DeSantis with creating an anti-business climate in the state.

DeSantis brags about taking on Disney, as if hes a courageous everyman taking on a tyrannical Goliath. If he were president, however, thered be many more corporations he could target for social policies meant to keep up with evolving norms and values. His war on wokeness could even be self-escalating if he backed new laws or regulations on cultural values that forced companies to take a stand in opposition.

How far would DeSantis go to combat wokeness? Would he use the power of federal agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to punish disfavored companies? Would he try to block mergers based on personal grievances, as Donald Trump tried to do as president? Is that what voters really want, anyway?

Probably not. Many Americans dont even know what wokeness is, and among those who do, more consider it a positive thing than a negative. DeSantis is clearly trying to establish himself as a Trumpy culture warrior without Donald Trumps personal baggage, since that seems the best way to win the presidential nomination in a party that has veered sharply right during the last decade. Yet DeSantis has fallen further behind Trump in early polling as the Disney battle has intensified and more people have learned about the Florida governor. Trumps lead over DeSantis has widened from 16 points in March to 33 points in the latest FiveThirtyEight composite.

DeSantiss nascent campaign is already well-funded, and at least one business titan  Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk  has his back. So DeSantis likely has enough support to sustain a long campaign, even if the polls dont break his way.

Now we wait to see if DeSantis can offer peace with prosperity, or only war.

Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @rickjnewman

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Jennifer Garner is no stranger to the red carpet. But this time, instead of stepping out for a movie premiere or awards show, she made an appearance for a very special event.

On May 18, she and her friend Elyse Walker hosted the Rockout Knockout Event Benefitting The St. Helena Hospital Foundation and early cancer detection. Elyse, who owns designer clothing stores in California and New York, has raised more than $13 million for cancer research in honor of her mother.



Jennifer shared photos from the night on Instagram and wrote, "To honor her mothers memory, Elyse has raised over $13M for cancer research and early detection. Our first party together was in 2002, 19 years later Ive hosted five of Elyses twelve fundraisersshe says, No one ever says no to me! . This years ROCKOUT/KNOCKOUT Cancer event will fund a pilot program to provide free early detection cancer screenings for Napa Valley agricultural workers and first responders, as well as bolster cancer care at @shhospitalfoundation."

Kelly Sullivan

For the event, Jennifer wore a white off-the-shoulder poplin midi dress by Alexander McQueen (it has pockets!) paired with "Heloise" platform sandals by Jimmy Choo. For a similar look for under $50, try this dress from Amazon that comes in 10 fun colors or this more formal option.

Jennifer's fans took to the comments section to applaud her philanthropical efforts and praise her gorgeous look with comments like, "Love the dress and shoes; you look stunning," "You're looking radiant ," and "Your dress has pockets! "



We love this summery look on Jennifer, and her generous spirit.

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For nearly all of his 77 years, Henry Winkler says he has been dealing with a learning challenge that he'll never overcome  dyslexia.

"There are times when I am so frustrated by my brain that I hit my head," Winkler tells TODAY.com in a sit-down interview.

The actor has appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years, most recently "Barry," in which he stars as self-absorbed acting coach, Gene Cousineau, opposite Bill Hader.

Currently in its fourth and final season, the dark comedy has not only scored Winkler legions of fans, but also his first Emmy in a career that's spanned more than 50 years.

Winkler, Hader, Barry (Everett Collection)

But it's Winkler's portrayal of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, the tough guy with a heart of gold in "Happy Days," that made the actor a household name, endearing him to a generation of viewers, then leaving him typecast in an acting drought that lasted almost a decade.

Winkler tells TODAY.com that dyslexia has affected his work as an actor over the years, starting with his breakout role on "Happy Days."

"I sat around the table reading "Happy Days" in the '70s. Now, I'm reading it and I'm stumbling. I stumble because I can't read off the page. No matter how hard I try, it is a difficult process for me," Winkler says.

"I'm messing up other people's timing. I'm slowing the process down. I'm making jokes because I'm hiding behind humor in my embarrassment," he explains.

Winkler wishes he had known then that he had dyslexia, a language-based learning disability that can make reading, word recognition and writing difficult among other things.

Henry Winkler (ABC via Getty Images)

Growing up in the '50s and '60s, a time when little was known about dyslexia, Winkler says he was shamed over his lack of comprehension both in school and at home.

"I wasn't trying hard enough. I was stupid. I was lazy. Not living up to my potential," he says of the messaging he received.

Upon being diagnosed at 31, the "Barry" actor says he finally realized that he was dealing with "something with a name."

His initial reaction was anger at his parents. "I was so angry that I was yelled at, humiliated. I was grounded. I was punished. For what? For nothing," he says.

Winkler has since used his diagnosis as an opportunity to help others struggling with the same learning disability.

In 2014, he, along with writing partner Lin Oliver, penned "Here's Hank," the first in a bestselling series of children's books about a lovable second-grader who, like Winkler, struggles with reading and math.

The actor also offers his support to others with dyslexia, most recently to Kelly Clarkson's daughter, River. During a visit to "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Clarkson told Winkler her daughter was "getting bullied at school for not being able to read like all the other kids."

"I said to her what I have said to every child I have ever met on this planet," Winkler tells TODAY.com. "How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are."

Here's Hank

"(Dyslexia) is a passion because it is something that empowers me. Something that embarrasses me. Something that I didnt know I had. Something you dont overcome," Winkler says.

He explains that when it comes to having a learning challenge, it's about receiving acceptance and support, and not being shamed.

How you learn has nothing to do with how great you are, he says. And how difficult it is for you to learn has nothing to do the with destiny youre going to meet.

And while a tremendous amount of progress has been made in understanding the disability since he was growing up, Winkler says there's still a long way to go.

"We make fun of, we judge people who are different," he explains. "A lot of people on this earth, they're not making a choice. It's in their DNA. You cannot help being dyslexic. You don't wake up one morning and say, 'I'm going to be a pain in the a in my teacher's life.'"

As far as his own destiny is concerned, the "Happy Days" actor says it's to continue having "the best time ever."

"I still love what I do. I love what I do in my house with our children and grandchildren. I love what I do in my professional life."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
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I can take it into the water too.

Real Simple / Daisy Rodriguez

Since I moved back to Oahu, Hawaii, I've spent every spare scrap of time outside. When you live in a tropical paradise, you feel major sun guilt when it's a bright and beautiful day--and you're stuck inside doing chores or work. Needless to say, on days I couldn't make it out to the beach or to hike or to adventure, I sought a solution, scouring the web for backyard setups that wouldn't break the bank.

While my roommates and I have a hand-me-down table and chairs that we use for dinner parties and that have lasted us several years, I envisioned something comfy that I could tan in, a chair more plush than the folding versions we lugged to the beach. Still, Adirondacks were pricey, and let's not even touch the zero-gravity loungers that algorithms tried to persuade me to splurge on. When I found the Sun Squad Tropical Chaise Lounge at Target for under $25, I had a gut feeling I'd found my solution. And with the retailers Summer Kickoff Sale lasting through Monday, May 29, its one of many discounted sunny-day-friendly items youll use all season long.

Target

To buy: $23 (was $30); target.com.

While the Sun Squad Tropical Chaise Lounge is actually inflatable rather than wood or metal, it worked for my purposes because the cheery yellow plastic was thick and heavy-duty, making me less worried about a stray scrap in the backyard that might puncture it. Its adorably patterned (and comes in several varieties for shoppers to choose from), has an arched design ideal for sunbathing and relaxing, and even has a one-cup holder I can use for my coffee or sparkling water. It's roughly six pounds, so I'm not restricted to keeping it in my backyard; I can haul this floatie to the beach, in a carry-on suitcase even, or use it (in its intended purpose) on a lake or ocean. Best of all, it's now discounted for 20 percent off for Memorial Day Weekend preparations, kicking off summer in the best way possible.

This inflatable lounger took only a few minutes to inflate with an electric pump, with three sources of air: the main compartment, and two support cylinders underneath. The primary air valve is huge, which made blowing it up even easier. Once finished, I was thrilled to plop it down in my yard with no trouble, simply making sure to clear the grass below it for anything sharp.

Related: The 15 Best Pool Floats of 2023 for Relaxing in the Water

The Sun Squad Tropical Chaise Lounge was easy to sink into, and I soon made a habit of spending my afternoons on it: working on my laptop, suntanning, or reading as my heart desired. Trees shed some leaves or fruit? No trouble! I could rinse off with the hose in a few seconds (and yes, I do leave it outside in the rain.) While I haven't tried to literally float in it yet on a body of water, I have no doubt those days will be just as pleasant, as the lounge feels supportive and hasnt lost its fullness over time.

For anyone on a budget like meor even simply those who relish an aesthetic backyardthe Sun Squad Tropical Chaise Lounge surpassed my expectations as a simple, pleasing, and comfortable outdoor seating option. Already, it's made such a difference for my mental state to get into the sun on afternoons I'm restricted to the house, and my tan gives its thanks too. Before Memorial Day Weekend and those tempting summer afternoon rolls around, score 20 percent off this Target find.

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Read the original article on Real Simple.
Missouris public defender system failed to adequately represent Michael Tisius, who was sentenced to death and is scheduled for execution next month, the head of the state office said.

In the latest bid to halt Tisius June 6 execution, Mary Fox, director of the Missouri State Public Defenders office, urged Gov. Mike Parson to commute Tisius sentence to life in prison.

Tisius was 19 years old when he murdered two Randolph County jail guards during a botched escape attempt in 2000.

During post-conviction proceedings, the court found evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and granted Tisius a new sentencing hearing. The case was handed over to another public defender, who was paid $10,000 up front on a flat-fee basis.

Fox said that attorney failed to investigate relevant mitigating evidence and failed to present expert testimony on Tisius mental health diagnoses and adolescent brain development.

In July 2010, the death penalty was again handed down.

The flat-fee arrangement disincentivizes the attorneys from performing the essential mitigation investigation, trial preparation, and trial presentation work necessary to effectively represent a person charged with a capital offense, Fox wrote in the May 22 letter to Parson.

The payment structure, discouraged by the American Bar Association in capital cases, is no longer used by Missouris public defender system in death penalty cases.

Had the attorney presented mitigating evidence, jurors may have returned a life sentence instead of the death penalty, Fox said.

Five jurors interviewed by Tisius legal team agreed they would be satisfied with a life sentence, according to a clemency application sent to Parsons office last week.

Michael Tisius was abused and neglected as a child, his attorneys said in a clemency application sent to Gov. Mike Parson.

During resentencing, jurors did not hear much about Tisius early childhood traumas, assaults committed by his brother that resulted in concussions or his epilepsy, all of which doctors said affected his brain development. Some jurors noted that his attorney did not present enough information about the role of his co-defendant Roy Vance, who reportedly convinced Tisius to help him escape from the jail.

I remember Mr. Tisius defense attorneys presented very little, one juror said.

Others noted his good behavior in prison and their belief in a second chance.

Last month, lawyers for Tisius said they discovered that one of the jurors was not able to read or write. Under Missouri law, jurors are required to be able to read so they can understand jury instructions, evidence and reports.

Research has also shown that the brain is still developing through a persons mid-twenties. The American Bar Association has asked states to ban executions of anyone 21 years old or younger when the crime was committed.

Clemency is an opportunity to acknowledge the growth that Michael Tisius has experienced in the Department of Corrections, to recognize that as his brain has matured that he has changed, and to admit the dignity and sacredness of not just his life, but of all human life, Fox wrote.

In addition to Fox and the five jurors, the American Bar Association, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, a personal representative of Pope Francis, have called on Parson to grant clemency.

Parson has not commuted a death sentence. In the past six months, three people have died by lethal injection in Missouri. The state is one of four that has carried out executions this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Sergio Calderon is an actor in "Men in Black" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

For Sergio Calderon, success as an actor is about mastering his craft. In his 53-year career, Calderon has played many villains, most recently booking a role as a corrupt police officer in the 2022 Peacock dark comedy and mystery series "The Resort."

I love to play those types of characters, because people really hate me, he said, laughing. They tell me in the streets how much they hate me. But to me, that is my success. Because that means I was able to convince people with what I performed.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Calderon recalls running off the set one day after shooting an intense scene opposite Albert Finney in John Hustons 1984 film Under the Volcano.

They were filming in Yautepec de Zaragoza, Mexico. Finney was playing a former British consul to Mexico in the 1930s, and Calderon was playing the Mexican chief of police.

Calderon was shaken by the violence of the scene. When he stormed off the set, Finney came running after him, Calderon recalled, and asked if he could join Calderon.

We were like little dogs running toward a tree, he said. We just had to get rid of that ugly emotion. Because sometimes as actors, when you really give yourself to the character, you react not like Sergio Calderon, but like the killer youre playing.

He remembers Finney asking him, Sergio, did you feel what I felt?

I said, Yes, I was about to kill you. And he said, Me too. 

Calderon was born in a small tropical village in Mexico. His parents told him that when he was 3 years old, he wandered off and disappeared for several hours. They finally found him outside, watching a movie being projected on a wall.

At 10, he moved to Mexico City, and he caught the performance bug after a teacher encouraged him to participate in a poetry reading.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Calderon likes to joke that people told him he shouldnt be an actor because he wasnt handsome enough.

I thought I was handsome, he said. So I stubbornly decided I wanted to become an actor.

His first acting role was 1970s The Bridge in the Jungle, a Hollywood movie that was being filmed in the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico. It was the first time he worked with Huston, the Hollywood legend who later became his friend. Calderon had been supporting himself by working as an English teacher, so he had the language skills to act in English.

After getting his Screen Actors Guild card for his role the 1979 Hollywood comedy The In-Laws, he moved to Los Angeles and started building his career in the U.S.

He might look familiar to Men in Black fans for his role as the first alien, Head on a Stick. And Pirates of the Caribbean fans might recognize him as the Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva in the third film of the series.

But hes also been stopped on the streets of Brentwood in recent years by a very fancy guy who said, Excuse me, are you the guy from The A-Team? Calderon played a couple characters, including a river boat pirate in the '80s action series starring Mr. T.

Another time he was at the hospital for an X-ray the day after the 90s TV movie, Have You Seen My Son? played on ABC. A fellow patient recognized him as the cab driver whom a mother begs for help finding her missing son.

His character in the movie speaks only Spanish, and the mother speaks only English, so he had to figure out how to perform it so that the audience understands whats going on even though they might not understand the language, he said.

He remembered the woman telling him, I saw you last night on TV, and you made me cry during the whole sequence, even though I couldnt understand one word you were saying.

As an actor, you have to have that magnetism to transfer onto the screen, he said.

Calderon is thrilled whenever anyone recognizes him for any role.

If I can make them cry and I can make them laugh, then maybe Im a good actor, he said.

Photo editing and design by Calvin Alagot.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  Humanitarian agencies are calling for full funding of the U.N.'s $7 billion appeal for the Horn of Africa during a pledging conference this week, citing a growing crisis and the need for urgent lifesaving intervention.

The U.N. says the region is facing the worst drought in 40 years, with more than 43.3 million people in need of assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and more than half of those lacking access to sufficient food, according to the U.N.

The International Rescue Committee said that until now the appeals have received less than a quarter of the donations they need.

Efforts to combat food insecurity need to be urgently scaled up across a wider group of governments, international financial institutions and climate actors," said the IRCs chief executive, David Miliband.

The U.N on Wednesday is convening a high-level pledging event at its headquarters in New York, where member states and partners will be encouraged to commit financial support to the Horn of Africa crisis.

Humanitarian organizations say time is running out as affected communities have gone for months with little or no food.

Its beyond urgent.  We have averted famine before, and we can do it again.  People are already dying and theres no time for declarations, Deepmala Mahla, CARE Internationals vice president for humanitarian affairs. told The Associated Press.

A famine is yet to be declared in Somalia, where more than 6 million people are going hungry, but some humanitarian and climate officials have warned that trends are worse than in the 2011 famine in Somalia in which a quarter-million people died.

Formal famine declarations are rare because data to meet the benchmarks often cannot be obtained because of conflict, poor infrastructure or politics. Governments can be wary of being associated with a term of such grim magnitude.

Local nongovernmental organizations like Somalias Hormuud Salaam Foundation say theres need for sustained funding.

For lasting change, we must equip local organizations and local people with the tools to face the inevitable climate shocks of tomorrow, the foundations CEO, Abdullahi Nur Osman, told the AP.

Persistent conflict in some of the affected areas, combined with climate change effects, have contributed to the growing crisis.

Parts of Somalia and Ethiopia are currently experiencing flooding during the ongoing rainy season and millions of people have been displaced.

The affected areas, mostly occupied by herders, had seen prolonged dry seasons that left livestock, which are a source of livelihoods, dead.

Parts of Somalia are grappling with insecurity due to the al-Shabab extremist group that has carried out numerous large-scale attacks.

Northern Ethiopia experienced conflict for more than two years as regional forces clashed with national forces. Hundreds of thousands of people died and the situation remains fragile, seven months after a peace deal was signed.
Russia on Tuesday said it quelled an attack in Belgorod, just over the Ukrainian border some 50 miles north of Kharkiv, killing dozens of attackers in a roughly 24-hour fight.

Moscow claimed the saboteurs were Ukrainian, though Kyiv has said it had nothing to do with the assault, and two separate anti-Vladimir Putin groups have claimed credit for the attack, according to Reuters.

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion have both said they were responsible for the attack that reportedly saw some 70 attackers killed in a raid that began Monday.

Members of Russian Volunteer Corps pose for a picture atop an armored vehicle at Graivoron border crossing in Kozinka, Belgorod region, Russia, in this handout picture released May 23, 2023.

POLAND SAYS NO TO ANY ARTIFICIAL PEACE PLAN BETWEEN UKRAINE, RUSSIA

Fox News Digital has not verified who was behind the attack or whether Kyiv was involved in any way.

The Freedom of Russia Legion was formed in 2022 following Russias invasion of Ukraine and claims to cooperate with the Ukrainian armed forces and operates under Ukrainian command, similar to groups fighting against Russia from nations like Belarus.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The RVC is a group that was also formed last year and is made up of Russian nationals who have been fighting in and for Ukraine against Moscow. It was reportedly responsible for a March attack in Belgorod.

The groups are apparently not affiliated.

Service members with the Freedom of Russia Legion under the Ukrainian Army prepare to fire a mortar at a Russian military position as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues in Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 21, 2023.

EUROPEAN UNION WELCOMES US DECISION TO GREENLIGHT F-16 TRAINING FOR UKRAINIAN PILOTS

The Russian Belgorod region is a vital hub for Moscows war effort in Ukraine, housing fuel and ammunitions depots. It was listed by Putin last year when he ordered certain areas increase their state of readiness and defenses.

Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed local Russian forces and air strikes worked to repel the attackers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow Jan. 24, 2023.

"The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated," he said.

Russian officials have not said how many Russians were killed in the assault.

A dozen Russian civilians were injured in the attack.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
gettyimagesbank



By Jun Ji-hye



The ongoing controversy over kid-free zones in Korea is now expanding to another age group, with some designating certain areas as senior-free zones in commercial venues such as restaurants and cafes.



The so-called "no-senior zones" are a kind of a variation of the "no-kid zones," banning the entry of children, which have emerged in the country in recent years due to noisy, disruptive children becoming the bane of many restaurants and cafe patrons.



The renewed controversy regarding no-senior zones has sparked debate about whether the designation of such zones is a right that venue owners can exercise for the benefit of their customers, or if, in fact, it is a form of discrimination against older people and a violation of their human rights.



The controversy over no-senior zones began earlier this month when a photo posted on an online community forum showed a cafe door that stated, "No senior zone (no entry for over 60s)."





This captured image shows a cafe door with text that states: "No senior zone (no entry for over 60s)." Korea Times file
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  The head of Iran's nuclear program insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any new activities. His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehran's new underground tunnel system near a nuclear enrichment facility.

The AP outlined this week how deep inside a mountain, the new tunnels near the Natanz facility are likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites.

The report sparked wider conversation across the Middle East about the construction, with Israel's national security adviser saying Tuesday the site would not be immune from attack even if its depth put it out of range of American airstrikes.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to describe the interest in the site as a case of Israel feeling pressured.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly," Eslami said, using an acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA did not respond to questions from the AP about the construction at Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.

Satellite photographs of the piles of dirt from the digging and experts who spoke to the AP suggest the new tunnels will be between between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) deep.

Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the U.S. and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy remains stalled as it has for months over Iran's tattered nuclear deal, sabotage attacks may resume.

Iran says the new construction will replace an above-ground centrifuge manufacturing center at Natanz struck by an explosion and fire in July 2020. Tehran blamed the incident on Israel, long suspected of running sabotage campaigns against its program.

___

Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
As Chair of the Kentucky House Committee on Small Business and Information Technology, I monitor not only state governments use of information technology, but also how it can be used in our daily lives. I am watching closely as advancements in Artificial Intelligence are blurring the lines between reality and a science fiction movie. I am not alone, even those in the industry are concerned that the explosion of use may be outpacing our ability to use it wisely. So, what is Artificial Intelligence? It is defined as the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a double-edged sword. While AI holds the promise of transformative progress, we must confront the inherent dangers it poses to ensure a safe and ethical future. From biased decision-making to job displacement and privacy risks, the potential dangers of AI demand our immediate attention.

AI systems are trained using vast amounts of data, which can unknowingly perpetuate biases present in society. If left unchecked, AI algorithms can amplify these biases, leading to discriminatory outcomes in critical areas such as hiring practices, criminal justice, and financial lending. Such biases can reinforce existing societal inequities and exacerbate discrimination against marginalized communities. Mitigating this danger requires rigorous oversight, diverse perspectives, and ongoing evaluation of algorithms. Transparency, fairness, and accountability must be prioritized to ensure that AI systems are free from inherent biases.

As AI systems automate routine tasks, concerns arise regarding job displacement and the exacerbation of economic inequality. Traditional jobs may become obsolete, particularly impacting low-skilled workers. This can lead to unemployment, economic disruption, and a growing income gap. To address this danger, reskilling and upskilling initiatives are vital. Governments, educational institutions, and businesses must collaborate to provide training programs that equip workers with the skills needed in an AI-driven economy. Additionally, implementing policies like universal basic income may be necessary to alleviate the impacts of job displacement and reduce economic inequality.

The ability of AI to process vast amounts of personal data raises significant concerns about privacy and security. With AI-driven systems collecting and analyzing sensitive information, there is an increased risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, and misuse of personal data. This poses threats to individuals privacy, personal freedom, and even democratic processes. To mitigate these dangers, robust data protection regulations must be established. Transparency, informed consent, and secure data handling practices should be enforced. Organizations must prioritize data privacy and invest in rigorous cybersecurity measures to safeguard individuals information from malicious actors. Balancing innovation with privacy protection is crucial to maintain trust in AI systems.

The development of AI-powered autonomous weapons raises profound ethical concerns. These weapons possess the ability to make decisions and engage in combat without human intervention, risking unpredictable consequences and catastrophic misuse. The absence of human judgment and accountability creates ethical dilemmas, violating principles of proportionality and distinction in armed conflicts. Governments worldwide must engage in responsible governance and establish international agreements to regulate the development and deployment of autonomous weapons. Ethical considerations, human oversight, and adherence to international humanitarian laws should guide the use of AI in military applications.

While AI holds great promise, its dangers cannot be ignored. Addressing bias and discrimination, job displacement, privacy risks, and ethical implications requires collective action. Responsible development, transparent regulation, and thoughtful decision-making are necessary to harness the benefits of AI while safeguarding the well-being of humanity. By confronting these dangers, we can forge a path towards an AI-powered future that prioritizes ethics, fairness, and human values.

If you need evidence of what questions the development of AI poses, consider this - all but the first paragraph of this was written using a popular AI technology called ChatGPT. Could you tell? Was it obvious? Can you see the potential for danger? Quite the challenge, right?

Much like kindling the first flame, learning to master AI will require discipline, oversight, and accountability on the state, national, and international levels.

The discussion on this will continue, and I hope you will feel free to reach out any time through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181 or by email at Phillip.Pratt@lrc.ky.gov.

Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown

Ky Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown, represents the 62nd House District in Scott County.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  An Australian police officer will face charges for shocking a 95-year-old woman with a stun gun and leaving her with critical head injuries as she approached him using a walker and carrying a steak knife in a nursing home, officials said on Wednesday.

Clare Nowland, who has dementia, is receiving palliative care in a hospital in Cooma, New South Wales state. She fractured her skull in a fall on Wednesday last week after Constable Kristian White shot her with a stun gun in her retirement home.

The violence against an elderly and incapacitated woman has sparked national debate about the police use of stun guns in such circumstances and the competence of aged care staff. Police are allowed to use stun guns when lives are in danger.

White was ordered on Wednesday to appear in court on July 5 on charges of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault, a police statement said.

The charges are likely to upgraded when she is expected to die of her brain injuries.

White has been under police internal investigation since the incident and has been suspended from duty with pay since Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) 

President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark at the White House next month for talks on their joint efforts including supporting Ukraine.

The White House announced Frederiksen's June 5 visit on Tuesday, a few days after the White House announced Biden was endorsing an international effort to trainand eventually equipUkraine with the F-16 fighter jets that President Volodymyr Zelesnkky has long sought.

Denmark, a member of NATO, has purchased dozens of American-made F-16s since the 1970s and has indicated it is open to the possibility of providing Ukraine with some.

The two leaders will review our efforts as NATO allies and close partners to strengthen transatlantic security and bolster economic prosperity, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "They will discuss our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russias brutal war of aggression.

White House officials have said providing F-16s is not seen as essential to Ukraine's immediate needs as it prepares for an expected counteroffensive to try to take back territory seized by Russian forces. But the U.S. and allies agree that upgrading Ukraine's Soviet-era jet fleet is critical for the countrys long-term security needs.

Jean-Pierre said the two leaders would also discuss energy security, climate change, and other global issues.
TORONTO (AP)  Canada and Saudi Arabia agreed Wednesday to restore full diplomatic relations and appoint new ambassadors, five years after a dispute over womens rights activists damaged relations and trade between the two countries.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia expelled Canadas ambassador to the kingdom and withdrew its own ambassador after Canadas foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada, tweeted support for womens right activists who had been arrested, but who have since been released. The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and ordered their citizens studying in Canada to leave.

The foreign ministries of the two countries issued statements saying Wednesday's decision stemmed from discussions between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.

Canada's ministry said there is desire for both sides to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interests.

Canada has appointed a new ambassador, Jean-Philippe Linteau.

The dispute centered around tweets by Canadian diplomats calling on the kingdom to immediately release detained womens rights activists. Among those arrested at the time was Samar Badawi, whose writer brother Raif Badawi was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and later was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam while blogging.

His case long has been raised by international human rights groups and Western diplomats, including Canadians, who have called on Saudi Arabia to free him. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Canada and received Canadian citizenship.

The Saudis have been on a diplomatic push in recent months. Saudi Arabia has restored diplomatic ties with Iran, moved to end the kingdoms years-long war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and led the push for Syrias return to the 22-member Arab League.
BEIJING (AP)  The Chinese government on Wednesday defended its ban on products from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. in some computer systems after Washington expressed concern, adding to strains over technology and security.

The security review of Micron products was conducted in accordance with the law," said a foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning.

The Cyberspace Administration of China on Sunday said Micron products have unspecified security risks but gave no details. It banned them from computers that handle sensitive information.

That came after Washington, Japan and the Netherlands blocked Chinese access to technology to make advanced processor chips on security grounds at a time when the ruling Communist Party is threatening to attack Taiwan and is more assertive toward its other Asian neighbors.

Chinas cybersecurity review does not target specific countries or regions, Mao said. We do not exclude technologies and products from any country.

Companies on both sides have been buffeted by supply disruptions and lost sales revenue.

Restrictions by Washington and its allies on access to chips and tools to make them hamper Chinas efforts to develop its own chip industry. U.S. vendors have lost billions of dollars of potential sales to Chinese smartphone makers, chip foundries and other customers.

Mao complained the United States has imposed restrictions on more than 1,200 Chinese companies on security grounds without any factual basis. She accused Washington of misusing national security as an excuse to unreasonably suppress Chinese companies.

This is economic coercion and is unacceptable, Mao said.

The U.S. government is engaging directly with Beijing to make our view clear about the Micron ban, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday.

We have very serious concerns, said Miller. Referring to the Peoples Republic of China, he said, This action appears inconsistent with the PRCs assertions that it is open for business and committed to a transparent regulatory framework.

Micron will cooperate with the Chinese regulator and is evaluating the bans impact, according to its chief financial officer, Mark Murphy.

We remain unclear as to what security concerns exist, Murphy said on a JP Morgan technology industry conference call. Weve had no complaints from customers on the security of our products.

Micron estimates it might lose sales equivalent to a single digit percentage of total revenue, but the final figure depends on what customers and products are affected, Murphy said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Qin Gang pressed his Dutch counterpart for access to chipmaking technology that has been blocked on security grounds.

China needs a machine available only from a single Dutch company, ASML Holding NV, that uses ultraviolet light to etch microscopic circuits on next-generation chips. Without that, the ruling party's efforts to develop chips for smartphones, artificial intelligence and other advanced applications are stalled.

China has serious concerns about this, Qin said. We should work together to jointly protect the normal trade order between us and "keep the global industrial and supply chains stable.

The Dutch minister, Wopke Hoekstra, said he shared our national security concerns and gave no indication his government's position changed.

___

Micron Technology Inc.: www.micron.com
An audience member at a March 7 City Council meeting voices opposition to the proposed donation of a dog-like robot to the LAPD. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Amid lingering concerns about surveillance and safety, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to acceptthe donation of a nearly $280,000 dog-like robot for the Police Department's use.

The 8-4 vote followed more than a dozen public comments urging council members to vote against the controversial device, which would be paid for with a donation from the Los Angeles Police Foundation.

Council members also approved a plan to have the Los Angeles Police Department provide quarterly reports on deployment of the device, including where and why it was deployed, the outcome and any issues.

"This item is being painted as merely an acceptance of a donation, but it really represents an expansion of the current boundaries around policing and surveillance," Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said before voting no. "This is not the vision of the community that I believe Los Angeles should be."

Although the vote was a majority in favor, none of the council members Tuesday explained why they endorsed the move. Councilmember Traci Park, who voted for the device, previously dismissed the suggestion that the robot would put the department on a path towards a dystopian, Orwellian future of state surveillance.

After the vote, members of the public erupted in shouts and called council President Paul Krekorian "disgusting." A group of protesters who became disruptive were ejected, according to LAPD spokeswoman Kelly Muniz.

Minutes later, a man in a puffy black jacket scrawled a series of anti-police messages with permanent marker on the marble walls of the third floor leading into the council chamber. Police chased the man through City Hall, but he got away.

A crime report for vandalism has been taken and will be investigated, according to Muniz.

The drama Tuesday followed a months-long delay on the vote to allow council members "the opportunity to exhaust every opportunity to have responses to the questions that have been raised about existing deployment capabilities and so forth," Krekorian said in March.

Police officials said the device would be deployed only in a limited set of circumstances that require a SWAT team response. The device  nicknamed Spot  can climb stairs, open doors and navigate rugged terrain.

Standing almost 28 inches and weighing 70 pounds, Spot is roughly the size of a full-grown Dalmatian. Equipped with 360-degree cameras, the robots collect and process information about their surroundings, which is transmitted in real time to an officer controlling their movements with a tablet-like device. It can be customized with a mechanical arm to open doors, or sophisticated sensors capable of detecting chemical spills and creating a three-dimensional map of an area.

Its presence, officials argue, would allow authorities to avoid unnecessarily putting officers in harms way and potentially avoid violent encounters.

Critics pushed back on that claim, expressing concern about the potential for the device to be used to harm and spy on Black and brown communities.

Hamid Khan, with the oversight group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said the LAPD in the past has justified new technology and programs by saying they would be used only in narrow circumstances. Then, he said, deployment was expanded.

"This is whats going to happen to the robot dog as well," Khan said. "For us, its also the trauma of police robots walking all over the place. And yes its only one, but its going to expand."

At Tuesday's meeting, several people echoed those concerns throughout public comment. One man told the council he didn't want to "arm AI." Another, in expressing his opposition, asked the council: "Didn't you guys see that movie 'I, Robot' and '[The] Terminator?'"

Others expressed concern about the cost. Although the device will be paid for with a donation, the city would be on the hook for future maintenance and repairs.

"Officers are not trained to use this equipment, so where will the money come from when it's time to start training officers to use the equipment?" Amerald Wheatley-Johnson, with the L.A. Community Action Network, asked. "Where will the money come from when you decide to expand this technology? It's not just a donation, and this will cost us a lot more in the long run."

Ahead of the vote, Soto-Martinez questioned Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and government for Boston Dynamics, the manufacturer of the device, and David Kowalski, deputy chief for the LAPD.

Kowalski pointed to other police departments in California that have added the device to their inventory and have called it, he said, "a game changer" and a "risk mitigator."

Soto-Martinez pointed to the robotic canines disastrous deployment in New York City.

The nations largest police force first acquired the technology in 2020. Its use didnt get widespread attention until the next year, when it sparked public outcry after a viral video showed the robot trotting alongside New York City officers during a hostage situation at a high-rise public housing building.

Critics denounced the decision to use the device in what they said is an over-policed community, and they also raised concerns about privacy and data collection. After several days, the New York City Police Department broke its contract with Boston Dynamics and returned the robot.

"This is a highly disturbing automation of law enforcement that sets a dangerous precedent for our future and our community's safety and for that I'll be voting no," Soto-Martinez said.

Councilmembers Heather Hutt, Curren Price and Nithya Raman also voted against accepting the donation.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who has been opposed to the donation, was not present Tuesday to weigh in. Hernandezs spokesperson said she was attending the Vienna Social Housing Field Study, a weeklong study of social housing in Vienna to learn more about this housing framework and how it might be applied to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Los Angeles."

Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who also missed Tuesday's meeting, is also in Vienna this week.

After the vote, Khan, with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, expressed his frustration.

"The LAPD completely controls the city, they control the finances and the City Council constantly keeps on catering more and more to what their demands are," he said.

The council, he said, turned "a blind eye to what the people are saying. It was an overwhelming rejection from every speaker."

Times staff writers Libor Jany and David Zahniser contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Ruth Lopez's brother Juan Lopez, 39, was shot to death last month as he painted over gang graffiti on the wall of a business. Ruth is sitting on his bed in her living room near a small memorial table with his photo, hat, sunglasses, watch, a Book of Mormon and flowers on Monday in Reseda. Ruth says her brother was humble, quiet, hard-working, a good father and a good friend. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Juan Lopez left Nicaragua for the U.S. last year in hopes of escaping the violence plaguing that Central American nation.

But his life ended tragically on the streets of Los Angeles, felled by a bullet while working to earn money so his daughter back in his home country could celebrate her ninth birthday.

On the day he died, Lopez, 39, was in a good mood because he had been offered a "trabajito," a small job painting an ice cream shop with some other men.

Life had not been easy in Los Angeles. He had struggled to find work as a painter, and was living with his sister in a small apartment in Northridge, sleeping on a cot in her living room. He missed his three children  Brittany, 9; Johan, 12; and Edward, 13  whom he'd left in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

His daughter Brittany's ninth birthday was April 15  the day of the painting job  and he could not wait to send money back to Nicaragua.

"He was so happy because he was going to earn that money to send his girl to buy the cake," said Ruth Lopez Suarez, Juan Lopez's sister.

He woke up at 7 a.m., shaved, showered, made his bed, left and she never saw him again.

Around noon, Lopez was shot to death outside the ice cream shop on Parthenia Street in Northridge as he painted over gang graffiti, police said. The alleged shooter had seen Lopez and other workers covering up graffiti that he and his crew had tagged on the wall earlier that day and was so offended that he shot at the men, killing Lopez, he confessed to police.

Los Angeles police respond to reports of shots fired near a Northridge strip mall on April 15. Juan Lopez was shot to death outside the ice cream shop on Parthenia Street near the mall as he painted over gang graffiti. (KTLA)

Lopez  who had been in the United States for six months, and Los Angeles for just three  had gotten caught in disputed gang territory, unwittingly risking his life for a meager wage and a day's work, according to police and his sister.

Between Jan. 1 and May 13, 98 people have been slain in Los Angeles, a steep drop from last year's rates, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics. In the same period last year, 135 people were killed, the statistics show.

It was not Lopez's first run-in with violence. He was kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico by a smuggler, though he eventually escaped.

He had come to America, looking for safety, his sister said.

The family was involved in local politics in Nicaragua. They worked on elections and participated in marches and protests against President Daniel Ortega's iron rule.

"When one opposes the government in Nicaragua, they are at danger of getting arrested or disappeared. He wanted to avoid that. Thats why he left," his sister said. "Now that we lost my brother, we see the truth that we didnt realize before. In my home country, you don't see those things where someone comes randomly and kills you. ... You have to have a problem with someone for that to happen. ... Here, they kill you because they want to, or because they confuse you with someone, or simply because youre working, and they kill you."

After the shooting, it took Ruth Lopez days to figure out what happened to him.

Ruth Lopez holds a photograph of her brother Juan Lopez. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Lopez did not return home on the morning after he left to paint the ice cream shop, so his sister went looking for him. She went to the places he usually looked for work  like the Mormon church down the street.

Eventually, she found a man who had worked with her brother in the past.

I showed him a picture of my brother and he said, Your brother is dead. ... They killed him yesterday.'

But police mistakenly reported that it was a 60-year-old killed, giving her false hope that her brother might still be alive.

Even after the man told Lopez that her brother was dead, she still could not find his body. He was not at the hospital and police had no information for her. It wasn't until the dead man's fingerprints were matched with Lopez in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement database that she knew for certain he was gone. Her brother had filed for political asylum and was awaiting his first formal court hearing.

Now, Lopez hopes to send her brother's body back to Nicaragua to be buried, which she cannot afford to do. It costs $12,800, she said, and she is raising money on GoFundMe to cover the expenses. She had raised more than $32,000 as of Tuesday night.

My family wants to see him, his kids want to see him. Its the least I can do for him now," she said.

For Ruth Lopez, it's still hard to believe that she will never see her brother again. She left his cot out in the living room of her apartment, his bed made  he made it every morning. It's ready for him if he does come back.

I think that Ill see him again. I feel like its a lie. Ill see him again," she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Federal officials on Wednesday indicted convicted South Carolina killer Alex Murdaugh for a host of financial crimes and, in a separate document, charged an alleged accomplice in a scheme involving the theft of some $4.3 million in insurance proceeds.

A 28-page indictment charged former lawyer Murdaugh, 54, who was once one of the states most prominent lawyers, with 22 counts of financial crimes, including money laundering, conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud.

Alex (Murdaugh) has been cooperating with the U.S. Attorneys Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities, Murdaughs attorneys state Sen. Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, said in a statement. We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial. 

Another federal court document made public Wednesday said Murdaughs accomplice, suspended Beaufort lawyer Cory Fleming, has also agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the $4.3 million insurance theft scheme stemming from the death of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh familys former housekeeper who died in a 2018 fall at their Colleton County estate.

The scheme in which Fleming, Murdaughs former law school classmate, was charged involved the unlawful diverting of insurance proceeds from Satterfields death to Murdaugh and Fleming, and away from the rightful owners.

Murdaugh was named throughout Flemings eight-page charging document, but was not charged in that document.

Fleming, 54, could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison on that charge.

Fleming is expected to plead guilty at 2 p.m. Thursday in Charlestons federal court before Judge Richard Gergel.

The plea agreement signed by Fleming Monday was also signed by his Columbia attorney Debbie Barbier and the U.S. Attorneys Office of South Carolina, as represented by federal prosecutors Emily Limehouse, Katie Stoughton and Winston Holliday.

Under the plea agreement, the federal government has agreed to recommend that Fleming not spend any time in state prison.

Barbier declined comment on her client, who, unlike several other of Murdaughs alleged accomplices, stepped forward and intends to plead guilty.

Murdaugh is scheduled for an initial appearance and arraignment on May 31 in Charleston before Magistrate Judge Molly H Cherry.

Murdaugh, Fleming face new financial crimes

Murdaughs crimes date back to 2005, and many allegations in Wednesdays indictment involve his longtime friend and former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte, the indictment charges.

Murdaugh and Laffitte employed various schemes using Laffittes bank to divert money from Murdaughs personal injury legal clients to themselves, the indictment said.

Laffitte, who was convicted of federal bank fraud in a jury trial in November 2022, was repeatedly named as a co-conspirator in Murdaughs indictment but not charged. Laffitte has not yet been sentenced for his November fraud conviction.

Murdaugh stole more than $6 million while committing his alleged crimes over the years, the indictment charges.

Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers, South Carolinas U.S. Attorney Adair Boroughs said in a statement. South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The federal charges naming Murdaugh, one of South Carolinas most notorious criminals, and his longtime friend Fleming, are the latest events in the sprawling Murdaugh crime saga, which for nearly two years has been marked by dramatic twists and turns.

It was not immediately clear why federal authorities charged Murdaugh and Fleming at this time as participants in a federal fraud scheme. Both have been indicted by state law enforcement officials, though neither has yet been tried.

A lawyer close to the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the federal laws involved have a statute of limitations, and that federal authorities may have wanted to charge Murdaugh and Fleming to act as a backstop in case there are any appellate issues with the state charges down the road.

Suspended Beaufort lawyer Cory Fleming, right, stands with his attorney Debbie Barbier, far right, before Judge Clifton Newman on Friday, April 21, 2023, in Hampton, S.C.

Murdaugh and Fleming have already been indicted for allegedly violating various state financial and anti-fraud laws by a state grand jury under the control of the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office.

Many of the alleged details in the new charges appear to be similar to those details alleged in state grand jury indictments, in civil lawsuits against Murdaugh and in two criminal trials  one in state court where Murdaugh was convicted of two counts of murder, and one in federal court, where Laffitte was convicted of multiple counts of fraud.

On the state charges, the S.C. Attorney Generals Office plans to take Fleming to trial Sept. 11 in Beaufort for his part in the alleged theft scheme involving Satterfields death.

However, Flemings new guilty plea on federal fraud charges on roughly the same underlying facts involving Satterfield may influence whether he stands trial in state court Beaufort County.

The S.C. Attorney Generals Office said Wednesday that any guilty pleas by Murdaugh and Fleming stemming from the new federal charges will have no effect on its prosecutions.

The S.C. Attorney Generals Office and the State Law Enforcement Division have occupied a primary and central role in this investigation from inception, and no action by any other entity will have any effect on our goals to ensure significant accountability in state court for any criminal conduct, attorney general spokesman Robert Kittle said.

The financial allegations in these cases involve alleged abuse of state lawyer licenses dealing with state court legal actions, often before state court judges, with alleged misappropriation of state court-approved settlements, Kittle added.

Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter, who represent Satterfields heirs, said Wednesday, Today has been a great day for justice in South Carolina related to the ongoing criminal investigations into Alex Murdaugh and Cory Fleming. Bottom line, (you) cant run or hide from justice. 

Bland told The State newspaper he is glad that Fleming and Murdaugh are now cooperating with federal authorities, saying this cooperation and the fruit it yields will be interesting.

Alex Murdaugh in SC prison for double-murder

Murdaugh is already serving two consecutive life sentences in state prison for the June 2021 double murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.

Murdaugh, who initially told police he found their bodies at the dog kennels on the familys Colleton County estate, Moselle, on June 7, 2021, and claimed he didnt know who killed them.

Murdaughs trial started in January in Walterboro, stretching six weeks until early March, when a Colleton County jury took three hours to find Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder.

Right before he was sentenced to prison by Judge Clifton Newman, Murdaugh claimed he was innocent, which Newman rejected.

An unusual feature of the murder trial was testimony by approximately 10 state witnesses, who said Murdaugh had committed numerous financial crimes, though Murdaugh had not yet been found guilty of any of those charges.

Normally, evidence in criminal trials is confined to the charges at hand.

But S.C. Attorney Generals lead prosecutor, Creighton Waters, convinced Newman allow financial crimes testimony, arguing that the looming threat that his financial crimes were going to be exposed was the motive that led Murdaugh to kill his wife and son to divert attention from himself to a mysterious murder.

To properly evaluate motive, the jury will need to understand the distinction between who Alex Murdaugh appeared to be to the outside world  a successful lawyer and scion of the most prominent family in the region  and who he was in real life only he fully knew  an allegedly crooked lawyer and drug user who borrowed and stole wherever he could to stay afloat and one step ahead of detection, Waters in a pre-trial filing last December.

The clouds of (Murdaughs) past were gathering into a perfect storm that was going to expose the real Alex Murdaugh to the world  and which would mean facing real accountability for his life, Waters wrote.

Descriptions of those alleged financial crimes had been revealed in numerous indictments over the past two years.

Since November 2021, Murdaugh has been named in 20 state grand jury indictments containing 101 separate charges against him in allegations that he fleeced numerous victims of $8.7 million. The victims included his law partners, his clients, his friends and even his own brother.

Various charges include money laundering, breach of trust (embezzlement) and computer crimes. Indictments said he used two accounts at two banks  Bank of America and Palmetto State Bank  to carry out his schemes.

Other state grand jury indictments charge him with evading state taxes of $619,391 that he was supposed to pay on unreported income of more than $9 million of unreported income from years 2011 to 2021.

In the federal indictment made public Wednesday, Murdaugh is charged with 14 counts of money laundering, five counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, one count of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Gettyimagesbank



By Lee Hae-rin



A plan to bring foreign nannies to Korea to ease the child care burden of working parents, aiming to help solve the nation's record-low fertility rate, is gaining momentum as the president and a lawmaker continue to push for it.



Rep. Cho Jung-hun of the minor opposition party, Transition Korea, who had proposed the amendment to the Act on the Employment Improvement on Domestic Workers earlier in March, stressed, Wednesday that it would be a win-win strategy for both young Korean parents and foreign workers.





Rep. Cho Jung-hun of Transition Korea / Courtesy of Rep. Cho Jung-hun's office

"Child care service has been used only by the higher-income group (in Korea). The amendment aims to make it widely accessible with the help of foreign workers," Cho said during a radio interview.



According to his scheme, foreigners can work in Korea as child care and domestic helpers for a maximum of five years under a direct contract with the host family and be exempted from basic labor law and minimum wage requirements.



Only Korean nationals and ethnic Koreans from China are allowed to work under such terms.



President Yoon Suk Yeol also told the Ministry of Justice during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to examine foreign domestic worker systems currently operated in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong and review their possible introduction to Korea.





President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, Tuesday. Yonhap
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP)  The felling of a healthy century-old oak without permission in downtown Vilnius has caused outrage in Lithuania, with the city's mayor seeking to impose a fine of 141,000 euros on the development company responsible.

The tree was cut down Saturday on an undeveloped plot of land in the capital of the Baltic country, which once considered oaks sacred. New construction is planned for the site.

The developer, an Estonian-owned real estate company, said that the tree was damaging drainage. It said the removal of the oak was envisioned in the detailed plan for the plot and that no permit was necessary, because the tree was growing on utility lines.

On Facebook, Vilnius mayor Valdas Benkunskas insisted that no permit had been issued and that the case would be referred to prosecutors.

The removal of the tree angered the public and also drew reactions from political leaders, including President Gitanas Nauseda who said the barbaric act" spat in the face of the capital's residents.
BERLIN (AP)  German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries.

Members of the group have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change. In recent weeks, they have brought traffic to a halt on an almost daily basis in Berlin, gluing themselves to busy intersections and highways. Over the past year, they have also targeted various artworks and exhibits.

The raids, ordered by Munich prosecutors, come days after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he thought it was completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street." Leading figures with the environmentalist Green party, part of his governing coalition, have also said the group's actions are counterproductive.

A spokesperson for Last Generation said that the police searches had hit the group and its supporters hard, but that it wouldn't let up its activities.

They make us afraid, but we must not be frozen by fear, Aimee van Baalen told reporters in Berlin.

The German government is right now driving us toward climate hell with its eyes wide open. It is even stepping on the gas pedal, she said. We must continue to resist now, because we need to loudly demand that lives be protected.

Hundreds of people joined a protest march in Berlin against the raids and further rallies were planned in other German cities.

One protester, Chaim, who declined to give his last name for fear of legal repercussions, said he felt the crackdown against climate activists was politically motivated. It's wrong and dangerous, he said.

Last Generation has acknowledged in the past that its protests are provocative, but argues that by stirring friction it can encourage debate about climate change and the policies necessary to stop it.

Germanys top court ruled two years ago that the previous government was placing too much of the burden from global warming on young people, prompting then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to sharpen climate targets. Experts say that while Germany now has some of the most ambitious targets for cutting emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gas, the country isn't on track to meet them.

The investigation by Munich prosecutors is focused on seven people, ranging in age from 22 to 38, who are suspected of forming or supporting a criminal organization. The investigation was launched following numerous criminal complaints from the public over the past year, prosecutors said.

The Bavarian inquiry adds to an investigation launched last year by prosecutors in Neuruppin, outside Berlin, over actions against an oil refinery in eastern Germany. That investigation is also considering suspicions that Last Generation activists formed a criminal organization, a label that some conservative-leaning regional officials have backed.

Munich prosecutors said that the people under investigation are accused of organizing and promoting a campaign to finance further criminal offenses by the group, and collecting at least 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million). Two of them also are suspected of trying to sabotage an oil pipeline that connects the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt with the Italian port of Trieste in April 2022.

Wednesday's searches, accompanied by orders to seize two bank accounts and other assets, aimed to secure evidence on the membership structure of Last Generation and on its financing. There were no arrests.

Other environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace criticized the raids and accused the government of trying to criminalize peaceful climate protesters.

Carla Hinrich, a prominent member of Last Generation who has taken part in numerous televised debates with German politicians, said she was woken by police who entered her apartment with guns drawn. Prosecutors confirmed that her flat was raided but declined to comment on police tactics.

Germanys top security official insisted that the raids were necessary.

Legitimate protest always ends where crimes are committed and the rights of others are infringed, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, noting that police registered 1,600 criminal complaints in connection with climate protests in 2022, many of them during road blockades conducted by Last Generation.

Climate activists have received support from various corners, including some Christian groups. A Jesuit priest was fined earlier this month for taking part in road blockades, and Wednesday's news conference by Last Generation was hosted by the Protestant Reformation Church in Berlin.

A representative of the congregation, Steve Rauhut, praised Last Generation for keeping its protests peaceful.

The climate disaster and environmental destruction not only justify civil disobedience, they make it an imperative, he said.

Similar nonviolent climate protests elsewhere in Europe have also met with crackdowns recently.

The U.K. government gave police in England and Wales new powers earlier this month to respond to the disruptive tactics used by climate activists. Protesters who lock themselves together or to buildings or objects can face up to six months in prison. Interfering with railways, airports and refineries could lead to a year behind bars.

Punishments of climate protesters in the U.K. have varied widely to date.

Activists from the group Just Stop Oil who stormed the racetrack at last years British Grand Prix Formula 1 race were spared jail sentences. But two men who scaled a highway bridge over the River Thames east of London and unfurled a huge banner, causing the bridge to close for more than 40 hours, were each sentenced to more than two and a half years in prison.

In Italy, three members of the group Ultima Generazione face up to three years' imprisonment and fines for gluing their hands to the base of a sculpture in the Vatican Museums and ignoring gendarmes' orders to leave last year. This week the group staged other protests, including in front of the Italian Senate where two topless women poured mud over themselves in reference to the devastating recent floods in the country.

The Italian group is part of the international A22 activist network, which includes Last Generation in Germany and Britain's Just Stop Oil, and which receives support from the U.S.-based Climate Emergency Fund.

The fund, which counts oil heiress Aileen Getty and 'Don't Look Up' filmmaker Adam McKay on its board, says on its website that it gave more than $5.1 million to 44 organizations last year that are leading the way, galvanizing progress on climate through disruptive nonviolent activism around the world.

___

Nicole Winfield in Rome, Brian Melley in London and Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin, contributed to this report.
This election season, voters will be required to present a photo identification at the polls following a landmark decision last month from the state Supreme Court.

Now that the dust has had some time to settle from the ruling, the State Board of Elections has issued some guidance on how this requirement will be implemented.

The first elections in which voters will have to show ID will be the 2023 municipal elections, held between September and November.

Weve compiled responses to some potential questions on the ruling here.

Will I be required to show an ID to vote?

All voters will be asked to show an ID before voting. If you do not have an ID, you may fill out an ID exception form and then vote with a provisional ballot. You can also vote with a provisional ballot and return to the county board of elections office the day before county canvass  a post-election process of approving election results  with a valid ID.

What is an ID exception form?

When a voter is unable to provide ID at the ballot, they will be given an ID exception form. A voter using the form would sign their name and attest that they are the registered voter they identified themselves to be when they checked in, and that they qualify for one of the three exceptions to providing ID, Pat Gannon, a spokesperson for the State Board of Elections, said.

The three acceptable exceptions are as follows:

1. The voter has a reasonable impediment to presenting photo ID. This category is wide-ranging and includes lost or stolen IDs, lack of transportation, disability or illness, conflicting work schedules or family responsibilities, lack of documentation such as birth certificates needed to get an ID, or not yet receiving an ID after applying for one.

2. The voter has a religious objection to being photographed.

3. The voter suffered a federal or state-declared natural disaster within 100 days of the election.

Bipartisan county boards of elections are required to count ballots with completed ID exception forms unless the county board has grounds to believe the affidavit is false, according to state law.

What is a provisional ballot?

Voters receive a provisional ballot when there is uncertainty regarding a voters eligibility to participate in an election  such as when a voter is unable to provide a photo ID. Provisional ballots are held aside while county boards determine if a voter is eligible to vote. All eligible provisional ballots must be counted before election results can be finalized. The state board of elections says a provisional ballot, accompanied with an ID exception form, may only be rejected if the bipartisan county board of elections has grounds to believe that the voter provided false information on the form.

What counts as a valid photo ID?

According to the State Board of Elections, the following IDs will be accepted for voting:

North Carolina drivers license

State ID from the NCDMV (also called non-operator ID)

Drivers license or non-driver ID from another state, District of Columbia or U.S. territory (only if voter registered in North Carolina within 90 days of the election)

U.S. passport or passport card

North Carolina voter photo ID card issued by a county board of elections (available soon)

College or university student ID approved by the State Board of Elections (available soon)

State or local government or charter school employee ID approved by the State Board of Elections (available soon)

How do I get an ID?

All county boards of elections will soon have the ability to provide free voter photo IDs to any registered voter. Those interested must provide their name, birthday and the last four digits of their Social Security number, and have their photo taken. The state board has not said exactly when counties will begin offering this service.

All North Carolina residents are also eligible to receive free non-driver ID cards from the DMV.

The state board said it is also working to approve student and public employee IDs for voters. Once new forms of IDs are approved, theyll be added to the boards voter ID webpage.

What if I vote by mail?

If voting by mail, voters will have to include a photocopy of their ID inside a photo ID envelope that comes with the ballot. Absentee voters can also fill out an ID exception form if necessary.

How did we get here?

Voter ID was initially approved by voters as a constitutional amendment in 2018, but a law detailing how it would work was struck down in December by the formerly Democratic-controlled Supreme Court, which ruled that the requirement was racially discriminatory.

The new court, which has a Republican majority, overturned that ruling on April 28.

The people of North Carolina overwhelmingly support voter identification and other efforts to promote greater integrity and confidence in our elections, the court wrote in the Holmes v. Moore decision.

This Court has traditionally stood against the waves of partisan rulings in favor of the fundamental principle of equality under the law, the court wrote. We recommit to that fundamental principle and begin the process of returning the judiciary to its rightful place as the least dangerous branch.

The ruling might not be the final word on voter ID.

A related federal case could proceed toward trial later this year or next year, said Jeff Loperfido, interim chief counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and one of the lawyers who argued the case.

Having seen the elections boards new guidance for voting with an ID, Loperfido said he still has many concerns, specifically around the boards ability to provide free IDs and educate voters without more funding.

We remain concerned about the impact this is going to have  specifically given that we know who lacks the IDs that this law endorses, he said. Thats going to fall on voters of color, student voters, voters with disabilities and its troubling that there is not a more complete plan out there with adequate funding.

The Houses budget proposal includes $3.5 million, but the Senates proposal does not allocate any extra money to the board.

Even if there were more resources and time to implement the photo ID requirement, Loperfido contends the law would still harm voter turnout.

How many people get to the polls, realize they dont have an ID, and leave? he said. Just the existence of the law has the tendency for some voters to prevent them from even attempting to vote.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, warned that Russia could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the conflict in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war.

Russia's most powerful mercenary said his political outlook was dominated by love for the motherland and serving President Vladimir Putin, but cautioned that Russia was in danger of turmoil.

Prigozhin said there was a so-called optimistic view that the West would get tired of war and China would broker a peace deal, but that he did not really believe in that interpretation.

Instead, he said, Ukraine was preparing a counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to its borders before 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine would try to encircle Bakhmut, the focus of intense fighting in the east, and attack Crimea, he added.

"Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war," he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

"We are in such a condition that we could fucking lose Russia - that is the main problem ... We need to impose martial law."

Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin. (Yulia Morozova/Reuters)

Prigozhin said his nickname "Putin's chef" was stupid as he could not cook and had never been a chef, quipping that "Putin's butcher" might be a more apt nickname.

"They could have just given me a nickname right away  Putin's butcher, and everything would have been fine," he said.

If ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in zinc coffins while the children of the elite "shook their arses" in the sun, he said, Russia would face turmoil along the lines of the 1917 revolutions that ushered in a civil war.

"This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution," he said.

"First the soldiers will stand up, and after that - their loved ones will rise up," he said. "There are already tens of thousands of them - relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands - we cannot avoid that."

The defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution. First the soldiers will stand up, and after that - their loved ones will rise up.Yevgeny Prigozhin

Prigozhin criticised Russia's post-Soviet policy towards Ukraine and cast the implementation of what the Kremlin calls the "special military operation" as unclear, contradictory and confused.

Russia's military leadership, he said, had "fucked up" repeatedly during the war. The stated aim of demilitarising Ukraine, he said, had failed.

Prigozhin said Soviet leader Josef Stalin would not have accepted such failure. A cross-border attack into Russia's Belgorod region indicated the failures of the military leadership, he said, warning that Ukraine would seek to strike deeper into Russia.

Russia needed to mobilise more men and to gear the economy exclusively to war, Prigozhin said.

Wagner, he said, had recruited around 50,000 convicts during the war, of whom about 20% had perished. Around the same amount of his contract soldiers - 10,000 - had perished, he said.

In Bakhmut, Prigozhin said, Ukraine had suffered casualties of 50,000-70,000 wounded and 50,000 dead.

Reuters is unable to verify casualty claims from either side, and neither Russia nor Ukraine release figures on their own casualties. Ukraine has said Russian losses are far higher than its losses.

Prigozhin said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu should be replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev while Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov should be replaced by Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon" by the Russian media.

Asked about his political credo: "I love my motherland, I serve Putin, Shoigu should be judged and we will fight on."
GENEVA (AP) 

Switzerland's executive branch on Wednesday threw its weight behind a proposal to decommission 25 out-of-service Leopard 2 battle tanks that Germany's government wants returned to the German manufacturer to help plug gaps in Berlin's arsenal after it shipped tanks of its own to Ukraine.

The Federal Council, the Swiss seven-member executive body, said it backs a proposal from a key parliamentary security-policy committee to decommission the tanks and re-export them to Germany. Defense Minister Viola Amherd is expected to endorse the plan a speech to the lower house of the legislature next month.

Any such re-export would also require the backing of the upper house at its session in September, and a subsequent go-ahead from the Swiss economy minister. The tanks would be sent only on condition that they would be returned to manufacturer Rheinmetall  and not go to Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led Switzerland to grapple with its longtime, constitutionally-mandated adherence to neutrality, which among other things bars the export of Swiss-made or Swiss-owned weaponry or war material to combatants in active conflicts.

Switzerland, however, has lined up with European Union sanctions targeting Russian individuals and businesses in the wake of the invasion.

The Swiss army currently uses 134 renovated Leopard-2 A4 WE tanks, and holds another 96 that have not been renovated and have been mothballed.

Germany's economy and defense ministers in February reached out to Swiss authorities in February seeking the re-sale of the tanks to Rheinmetall, Swiss officials say. The ministers committed to keeping the tanks in Germany or among NATO or EU partners to complement their arsenals.

Germany has delivered 18 of its Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine.
Police detain a protester after they allegedly threw a brick after San Francisco Mayor London Breed delivered remarks during a question-and-answer session with the Board of Supervisors, outside UN Plaza in San Francisco. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle)

An outdoor public hearing on San Francisco's drug crisis came to an abrupt end Tuesday after protesters interrupted the event, with one attendee later arrested on suspicion of assault after a brick was thrown.

The event, held at United Nations Plaza in the city's downtown, was part of a monthly question-and-answer session with Mayor London Breed hosted during the regularly scheduled meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Board President Aaron Peskin organized the hearing to highlight Breed's plans to curb drug sales and overdoses on the city's streets.

Breed was met with boos from the crowd, and hecklers continually yelled over her dialogue with Peskin. As protesters chanted "no more cops," Breed said the outdoor hearing would not be "the right forum" to answer Peskin's questions, and the event was recessed after 10 minutes to the Board of Supervisors' chambers.

As the public officials left the area, someone in the crowd threw a brick  striking a juvenile bystander, according to the San Francisco Police Department. The girl's injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

Aaron Reskin, president of board of Supervisors, left, attempts to quiet the audience as San Francisco Mayor London Breed steps up to the podium to speak during a question-and-answer session with the Board of Supervisors, outside United Nations Plaza. (Yalonda M. James/AP)

Witnesses helped police detain the suspect, whom police identified as 26-year-old San Francisco resident Elysia Katet.

Katet was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment. Online jail records contain an alternate spelling of her first name: Elijsia."

Before the event's sudden cancellation, Breed delivered some remarks about the issue of open drug use and its effects on public safety.

Breed  who could face a challenging reelection battle next year, according to one recent poll  said the issue of open drug use was "nothing new" to the city, having witnessed it herself growing up.

However, she said the problem has persisted despite various interventions and programs, leading her to seek out alternative solutions, including the arrest of drug dealers and users.

"I'm putting everything on the line to change what we need to do," she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about 20% of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The figure was in stark contrast with widely disputed claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasn't said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

Russias invasion goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Prigozhin also said the Kremlins forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesday's interview it was possible that Kyivs anticipated counteroffensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts. He gave no further details.

Ukrainian officials have insisted the battle for Bakhmut isnt over.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid in the area from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post, and another one was shot down Wednesday just outside the local capital, also called Belgorod. He said that no one had been hurt, but unspecified administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Gladkov, the regional governor, said Wednesday he had questions for (Russias) Defense Ministry following the attack that reportedly sowed alarm among locals and embarrassed the Kremlin.

During a Q&A session with residents on social media, Gladkov agreed with a participant who said that the Russian militarys actions in Belgorod raised some questions.

In Moscow, Russias defense chief, Sergey Shoigu, vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks in the future.

Russia said the previous day that it beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defense Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in the Belgorod region that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that local troops, airstrikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region, lying about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spillover from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

At least three civilians died and 18 others were wounded in Ukraine on Tuesday and overnight, the Ukrainian presidential office reported Wednesday, including in the southern Kherson region where two elderly people died in air strikes.

___

Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Target came under intense scrutiny this week after the retail giant announced that it was pulling some LGBTQ-themed merchandise following what a corporate spokesperson described as threats impacting our team members sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.

Target customers posted videos on TikTok showing that Pride merchandise displays had been moved to less visible locations, including the back of the store.

So disappointed in @target right now, one TikTok user wrote in a caption to a video apparently recorded at a Target location in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. You literally hid your LGBTQ support so as to not offend hateful small minded people. Dont seem too concerned about offending your own employees and loyal customers though.

Targets corporate communications department did not immediately respond to an email containing a list of questions, including which Pride items were removed and the nature of the threats against employees.

In a statement Tuesday night, a spokesperson for Target said the company has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month for more than a decade. But since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.

Pride month merchandise at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, N.J. (Seth Wenig / AP)

Given these volatile circumstances, the spokesperson said, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.

The company did not immediately reply to a question about how the corporate decision might be perceived by members of the LGBTQ community.

In some stores in the South, Pride displays appeared to have been moved to less visible areas.

At a Target in Cary, North Carolina, two employees who did not want to provide their names said the Pride collection was featured at the front of the store as recently as last week. The display is now further back, in the women's clothing section, and women's swimwear has been placed near the front. One employee said management told them to "switch things around" but they were not given a reason why.

One TikTok user claimed that Target in Cypress, Texas, moved its Pride collection to the back of the store after a customer complained to upper management.

In a phone interview, the manager of the Cypress, Texas, store referred NBC News to the corporate offices, but said moving the Pride collection to the back was a total company decision that had nothing to do with the store.

The pullback did not seem to affect every store. Brian Sing, a senior merchandise planner at a Target location in Brooklyn, New York said the stores large Pride display went up about two weeks ago and employees have not received any directions to take it down.

Targets large selection of Pride merchandise also comes amid an unprecedented time for LGBTQ rights in America. A historic 480 anti-LGBTQ bills have been filed in state legislatures across the country this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, with lawmakers enacting laws to curtail education on LGBTQ issues in schools, drag performances and transition-related healthcare, among other provisions.

In a tweet Wednesday morning, the right-wing personality Matt Walsh wrote that his goal was to make pride toxic for brands.

If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that theyll pay a price, he wrote. It wont be worth whatever they think theyll gain.

Walsh alluded to the firestorm around Bud Light after the beer brand partnered with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney this spring. Bud Light sales have dropped following an online campaign and calls for boycotts.

First Bud Light and now Target, Walsh tweeted. Our campaign is making progress. Lets keep it going.

Other conservative activists all but declared victory, too. In a tweet, the self-described "anti-woke" activist Rogan O'Handley celebrated Bud Light's drop in company value and Target stock dropping on Wednesday. "THIS IS WHAT WINNING LOOKS LIKE," he tweeted.

Target hired LGBTQ designers for its Pride collection last year, saying it wanted to authentically celebrate the community, according to a company news release. The brand continued its partnership with queer designers for its collection this year.

Conservative activists have taken particular issue with the collections apparel for kids, and a tuck-friendly bathing suit for adults. Clothing items for children include supportive slogans, including just be you and trans people will always exist!

British designer Erik Carnell, one of the Pride collections LGBTQ collaborators had his products pulled from the companys website within the last handful of days. He called the retailers decision to remove his products  which included apparel containing supportive messages, such as cure transphobia, not trans people and we belong everywhere  both wrong and justified.

Its difficult because on one hand Im obviously completely against it. I think that they should stand by their principles. If youre going to have a Pride range centered around and created by LGBTQ people, then  you need to stick that out, he said. However, if I were working as a retail employee at a Target store, in an open carry state, I wouldnt feel safe. So, I do understand their thought process on pulling some of the items. Justified or not, the safety of their employees has to be paramount.

Carnells partnership with Target has been scrutinized by opponents of the companys Pride collection largely for his use of Satanic symbolism in some of his designs. None of Carnells products that were sold at Target contain Satanic imagery. However, that hasnt stopped the hundreds upon hundreds of threatening emails he says hes received in recent days.

Pride month merchandise at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, N.J. (Seth Wenig / AP)

I was overwhelmed by what a big opportunity this could be  the amount of people who would see my work who never otherwise would have been exposed to it, the people who are closeted that needed to see something positive when theyre walking in a retail store, said Carnell. And in the space of a handful of days, all of that has been completely taken away from me and Im just left to deal with the death threats and to deal with the hate mail and to deal with the accusations of grooming with absolutely no support from Target.

In a statement on Wednesday, the LGBTQ rights organization GLAAD said anti-LGBTQ violence and hate would persist until corporate leaders step up as heroes for their LGBTQ employees and consumers and do not cave to fringe activists calling for censorship.

The fact that a small group of extremists are threatening disgusting and harsh violence in response to Target continuing its long-standing tradition of offering products for everyone should be a wake-up call for consumers and is a reminder that LGBTQ people, venues, and events are being attacked with threats and violence like never before, GLAAD president and CEO executive Sarah Kate Ellis said.

David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, said Targets actions reflects a superficial commitment to its allyship with the LGBTQ community by signaling that they care more about harrowing to hate mongers than they do standing with communities who need support, he said.
In this file photo, officials at Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, speak to journalists at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Feb. 2. Yonhap



A Korean team of experts visiting the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant will inspect facilities for dilution and discharge of radioactive water on Wednesday amid concerns over Tokyo's plan to release tons of contaminated water into the sea this summer.



The 21-member team, headed by Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee, is currently on a six-day visit to Japan to assess whether the treated water is safe enough to be discharged into the sea.



On Tuesday, the experts began a two-day inspection of the Fukushima nuclear plant and examined the plant's custom purification system, known as ALPS, and facilities related to the K4 tanks, which are designed to store and conduct measurements of radioactive substances.



The team plans to visit a nuclides analysis facility and examine the seawater dilution system and discharge facilities later in the day.



It will also be briefed by Japanese officials about the "concentration levels (of radiation) before and after ALPS treatment," Yoo told reporters earlier.



In March 2011, a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant's cooling systems, resulting in the release of a large amount of radiation.



The plant currently stores over 1.3 million tons of water treated by ALPS. The water discharge is set to begin this summer and will take decades to complete, in what Japanese officials view as an unavoidable step in the decommissioning process. (Yonhap)


The state of Texas is suing the Biden administration in an attempt to have a newly-introduced asylum rule thrown out, saying a phone app used by migrants to set up appointments at the border to seek entry into the United States is encouraging illegal immigration.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest legal salvo attacking various aspects of the administration's plan to manage migration in the aftermath of the end of a key pandemic-era immigration regulation called Title 42.

In the lawsuit, Texas argues that the asylum rule encourages the use of a cellphone app  called CBP One  for migrants who don't have proper documentation to make an appointments to come to a port of entry and seek entry into the United States.

Texas argues the Biden administration is essentially encouraging people to come to the U.S. even though they don't have legal basis to stay.

The Biden Administration deliberately conceived of this phone app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more foreign aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive, said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a news release.

The complaint was filed in the Western District of Texas.

While the lawsuit focuses on the phone app, it seeks to throw out the entire asylum rule, called the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways. The rule went into effect when Title 42 expired May 11. The rule makes it extremely difficult for migrants who travel to the southern border to get asylum if they don't first seek protection in a country they passed through before reaching the U.S. or if they don't apply online through the app.

Use of the app is a core part of the administration's plans to create a more orderly system at the border where migrants set up appointments ahead of time, but when the app was rolled out in January it was criticized for technological problems and because demand has far outstripped available spaces. Migrants can make appointments for specific ports of entry  five of which are in Texas.

Texas argues that according to federal law, people entering the country illegally  with rare exceptions  should be expelled but that the app doesn't verify whether the migrants seeking appointments would qualify for exceptions. Therefore, the state argues, the Biden administration's use of the app essentially encourages people to come to the U.S. even if they don't qualify. Texas also argues that it has to pay the financial burden of migrants coming to the U.S. through things like health care or education.

The new asylum rule has also been attacked by rights groups who argue the U.S. has an obligation to offer asylum to those in desperate need. They're suing to have the rule thrown out as well. Texas is also part of another lawsuit accusing the administration of overstepping its authority by allowing as many as 360,000 people a year from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the U.S. under its humanitarian parole authority.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States.

The nuclear-powered ship USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed personnel on board. The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometer (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was.

Described as the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the vessel will stay in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday. It is then expected to take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces.

The ship's first foreign call was broadcast live on Norwegian public television. Onlookers, some using binoculars, were seen on land watching as the large aircraft carrier glided deeper and deeper into the fjord and eventually reach the city of Oslo.

Laila Wilhelmsen, who stood along the route in Droebak, said that she grew up in the small town about halfway through the fjord during the Cold War in the 1950s and "there were warships here all the time.

I dont know, but now we have teased (Russian President Vladimir) Putin even more. Its scary, I think, she told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

The Russian Embassy in Oslo said that such demonstrations of power look illogical and harmful.

Ties between Oslo and Moscow have been tense since Russias invasion of Ukraine. Norway and Russia have a 198-kilometer-long (123-mile-long) border in the Arctic.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration said two of its pilots were onboard to navigate through the more than 100-kilometer (62-mile) long fjord, and that the depth of the 76-meter (250-feet) tall vessel was the big challenge.

The aircraft carrier stays marginally within the maximum depth in the sailing regulations for the Oslo fjord, the administration said.

Later Wednesday, the aircraft carrier anchored off the island of Ormoeya in the inner part of Oslofjord, the Norwegian news agency NTB wrote.

In early May, the U.S. Navy said that the ship had departed from Norfolk, Virginia, on its first combat deployment, following a shorter two-month deployment in the autumn of 2022.

The vessel is the first of the U.S. Navys new Ford class of aircraft carriers. Two more Ford-class carriers are under construction.

The vessel houses about 2,600 sailors, 600 fewer than the previous generation of aircraft carriers.
President Biden (right) hosts debt limit talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2023. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

If the United States defaults on its financial obligations, millions of Americans might not be able to pay their bills as well.

With Social Security and other government benefits at risk amid a political stalemate over the government's debt ceiling, experts and older Americans told ABC News that the consequences of the impasse in Washington could be dire, including for older Americans who need the money to pay for basic needs such as food, housing or health care costs.

A quarter of Americans over age 65 rely on Social Security to provide at least 90% of their family income, according to the Social Security Administration.

Fred Gurner, 86, of New York, told ABC News that he uses his Social Security payment for his $800 rent. But now there is real risk that his payment might not come in time in June  when the Treasury Department says the government might not be able to send him the money he counts on.

"It's very stressful, gives me a heart attack," Gurner said about how the issue has become politicized.

How are Social Security payments affected by the debt ceiling?

Since 2001, the United States has spent more money than revenue it has taken in overall.

To cover the difference, the United States Treasury issues debt through securities, according to University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business professor Olivia Mitchell. Backed by the United States, those securities are happily bought by investors who see it as a safe guarantee they'll get paid back with interest.

However, the United States and Denmark are the only two countries to limit the amount of debt the government can issue, known as a debt ceiling, Mitchell noted.

MORE: Ahead of meeting with Biden, McCarthy says debt, spending deal needed 'this week'

Lawmakers can pass new laws that require government spending, but the debt ceiling will remain in place until lawmakers vote to increase it. That has happened 78 separate times in the United States since 1960.

If that debt ceiling does not increase by June 1, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that the country will not be able to satisfy all of its financial obligations.

Beyond not being able to pay interest and principal on government securities  which economists broadly agree would rattle the stock market and possibly damage the U.S. credit rating  the Treasury would be unable to issue new debt to cover expenses like Social Security, according to Mitchell.

The government projects to spend roughly $100 billion on Social Security in the month of June, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

"It's going to be pretty tight for people for a while, unless Congress and the president can get together on this problem," Mitchell said.

When would Social Security payments become delayed?

The Social Security Administration plans to send contributions to beneficiaries on four dates next month  June 2, 14, 21, and 28. Those checks would be the first ones at risk of being delayed, according to Max Richtman, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

"Millions and millions of Social Security beneficiaries are worried about having the income to pay their basic bills," he noted.

Lynda Fisher, 80, told ABC News that her budget relies on her monthly Social Security check and that a delay would complicate her essential spending, frustrating the 80-year-old who has spent her life contributing to the system.

"I paid into Social Security, and I paid into Medicare," she said. "And now they're trying to take it away. It's not their money, it's my money that I paid into."

Richtman is now actively encouraging older residents to save money in anticipation of a delayed Social Security payment, fearing negotiations will not yield a compromise in time to avoid default.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Yellen indicated that certain bills might be prioritized, including interest payments, Social Security and military contractor payments. However, Richtman expressed doubt that such a prioritization would be legally possible.

What does this mean for the future of Social Security?

Some Republican lawmakers have framed the debt ceiling fight as necessary to slow government spending; however, some economists, including Mitchell, see this as a "manufactured crisis" that threatens essential services, retirement savings and the overall economy.

"Every time one of these crises occurs, it's signaling to the rest of the world, and to American investors that U.S. Treasuries are not as safe as we thought," Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff said.

MORE: Debt ceiling breach could cut millions of jobs. Here's who would lose employment first

Kotlikoff expressed further concern that the Social Security system will have over $65.9 trillion in unfunded financial obligations over the indefinite horizon, based on the entity's own report.

However, the debate over the debt ceiling appears unlikely to produce a meaningful solution to the broader Social Security shortfall, though, according to Kotlikoff, Mitchell and Richtman.

When will retirees receive their payments?

Mitchell and Richtman remained optimistic that Social Security recipients would eventually receive their checks once a deal is made, albeit with some delay.

"I'm pretty confident that payments would be fulfilled," Richtman said. "That's not much comfort to those people who will not be able to pay for their groceries, their utilities or their rent while they're waiting to receive a back payment."

'It's not their money': Older Americans worried debt default means no Social Security originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The 16-year-old girl awoke from sleep at 1:20 Friday morning to the sound of her sisters screams.

It came from the familys bathroom, where she could hear the horrific sounds of her mother allegedly trying to drown the 16-year-olds eight-year-old sister. The teen rushed into action, pulling her younger sister away from their mother and calling 911 as both girls retreated to a relatives home across the street, Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner said during a press conference in Beaufort later Friday afternoon.

Police arrived at the home on St. Helenas Sam Doyle Drive eight minutes later, finding the body of Mackaya Bradley-Brun, the youngest of the three sisters. Despite CPR attempts from first-responding deputies and eventually from paramedics, the child was pronounced dead at Beaufort Memorial Hospital at 2:15 Friday morning, autopsy results later revealed.

The girl was six years old.

37-year-old Jamie Bradley-Brun, a St. Helena mother of the three girls, was charged Friday morning with murder and attempted murder. Police say a search of the home and interviews with witnesses revealed the woman most likely drowned her six-year-old before attempting to drown the middle sister, although Tanner would not specify which evidence was used to obtain Bradley-Bruns arrest warrant.

Sheriffs deputies used physical force and a taser to detain Bradley-Brun inside the home, Tanner said, as the woman resisted arrest and attempted to take an officers gun. The sheriff commended responding officers for only using the force necessary to arrest the woman.

The households eldest daughter may have been the mornings most crucial first responder. The 16-year-old girl was completely asleep when her sisters pleas for help burst from the bathroom, Tanner said.

I think she did an unbelievable job, the sheriff said. She defended her family when no one else was available to do so until we got there.

I know what happened, and its pretty horrific, Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner told reporters at a Friday afternoon press conference. Police charged a St. Helena mother with murder and attempted murder, alleging the woman drowned her six-year-old daughter before attempting to drown the girls older sister.

Police are not releasing the names of the two surviving sisters. Tanner did not know whether the eight-year-old girl was hospitalized but said she was in good health as of Friday afternoon.

Beaufort Countys judicial index shows no prior criminal record for Bradley-Brun. Tanner confirmed this at the Friday afternoon press conference, saying law enforcements only prior contact with the family was in February 2021, when a Beaufort County School District employee requested a welfare check due to concern for the oldest daughters mental health.

Because bonds for murder and attempted murder cases can only be set by a circuit judge, Bradley-Bruns bond hearing will not be scheduled until Beaufort County court convenes next, Solicitor Duffie Stone told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. The 14th Circuit Solicitors Office calendar says the countys General Sessions proceedings will resume June 12.

As witness interviews continue, Sheriffs Office detectives will work in tandem 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.

Motive remains a mystery

Tanner stuck to a strict narrative during Friday afternoons press conference, refusing to answer questions about a motivation behind the mornings gruesome outcome.

I know what happened, and its pretty horrific, he told reporters.

He also steered clear of details behind the drowning, although he said the eight-year-olds screams for help came from the bathroom.

Asked if the incident was tied to a psychological issue, Tanner said he is not a mental health expert and would not elaborate on Bradley-Bruns condition.

This is not a typical situation

During another question about Bradley-Bruns potential motive, one reporters remark hung in the air: Mothers dont kill their kids.

The sheriff agreed. Typically, mothers should not kill their children, he said. This is not a typical situation.

Tanners 25-year tenure in office has included a handful of similar killings  but none were more gruesome than Friday mornings, he said.

He recalled the prominent and relatively local case of Susan Smith, convicted of double murder in 1995 for rolling her car into a Union, S.C. lake while her sons were inside. Both boys drowned.

Yearly child fatality statistics from South Carolinas Department of Social Services reveal the relative rarity of cases involving the intentional murder of a minor. Out of 30 statewide child fatalities in 2022  including one accidental drowning in Beaufort County  only 11 were ruled as caregiver-inflicted trauma.

Considering Friday mornings especially grisly circumstances, the calls responding officers deserve recognition, the sheriff said.

Thank them when you get a chance, Tanner added. Were very, very proud of what they do.

A neighborhood grieves

The grief was palpable Friday afternoon on Sam Doyle Drive. Shaded by Spanish moss, the side street snakes through the primarily Black community of southern St. Helena.

Sam Doyle residents are more than just neighbors, said William Smith, a neighbor of Bradley-Brun and a member of the Beaufort County School Board. Many attend the nearby Bethesda Christian Fellowship church, while some are even part of the same family. Beaufort County property records reveal the large swath of family-owned land near the streets midpoint, with nearly 10 adjoining parcels labeled with the last name Bradley or Bradley-Brun. The home of Jamie and her three children, where the drowning took place, sits in the center.

These nearby relatives have taken in Bradley-Bruns two surviving children, Tanner said.

Grieving the childs death will be a long and arduous process for the close-knit street, Smith said. In the meantime, many residents will lean on the neighborhoods especially strong faith life.

Were praying for the family, and the father, even the mother, Smith told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. Thats the mentality of this community: People are praying.
Donald Trump launched into a bizarre rant on Truth Social about the payout to Dominion Voting Systems.

So Dominion gets almost a Billion Dollars and I, after years of Fake News, Hoaxes, Scams, and Investigations, am entitled to NOTHING? Is that really the way its supposed to work? I dont think so! the former president wrote on Tuesday.

Just before a defamation lawsuit from Dominion against Fox was set to go to trial last month, Fox agreed in a settlement to pay the voting machine company $787.5m for broadcasting false statements about the company as Fox hosts and guests falsely claimed and insinuated that their machines had stolen votes from Mr Trump during the 2020 election.

Mr Trump still falsely claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

The most recent revelation from the Dominion lawsuit the network revealed that fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson threatened co-workers who didnt agree with his vision to make the network more supportive of Mr Trump.

On 19 November 2020, Carlson replied to a message from producer Justin Wells about a story thought to be critical of Mr Trump, regarding the growing number of coronavirus cases nationwide and the ongoing upheaval over President Trumps refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

Were not going to succeed if this continues, Carlson is reported to have said in the messages, according to The Daily Beast. The brand will be too damaged. We should jump on a couple of examples just to send a clear message. Lets start with this one. Can we find out who did this?

Im happy to start threatening people individually, he added. Its too much. And again, it will hurt us badly if we let it continue.

Many Fox viewers at the time were outraged that the network correctly called the election for President Joe Biden.

The former presidents numerous false claims of being the subject of lies and conspiracies have landed him in plenty of legal hot water.

Writer and former magazine advice columnist E Jean Carroll was awarded $5m after her civil rape trial against Mr Trump after she claimed that he raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and later defamed her as president when she went public with her story in 2019, prompting Mr Trump to reject her claim in personally insulting terms.

Mr Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not for rape.

Ms Carroll has asked for further damages after the verdict following Mr Trumps further attacks on her during a chaotic and controversial CNN town hall event earlier this month.

Mr Trump is also being investigated for his attempt to overturn the presidential election in Georgia, his actions during the Capitol riot, and additional attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The former president was indicted earlier this year on 34 counts of business fraud in connection to his hush money payments in the lead-up to the 2016 election following allegations that he had affairs with adult actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal.

Mr Trump appeared via video call in the hush money case on Tuesday as the judge in the case tentatively set the trial date for late March next year  in the middle of the GOP presidential primary season.

In January, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6m for tax fraud, and in September of last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250m lawsuit against Mr Trump and three of his children for a number of fraudulent business practices. Mr Trump has called the probe a witch hunt. He also faces several other lawsuits.


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Korea and Germany discussed ways Wednesday to boost technology cooperation on wind power, hydrogen and other renewable energy resources, Seoul's industry ministry said.







The two nations held a working-level energy cooperation committee meeting in Korea's southern port city of Busan to explore ways of joint work on technologies for wind power, smart grids, energy storage systems, hydrogen and other new renewable energy fields, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.







They shared their energy mix and other policy measures regarding energy security and net-zero goals, and discussed ways to strengthen global energy supply chains and to facilitate hydrogen market.







Germany, in particular, shared its experiences and knowledge about how to expand offshore wind power facilities based on public understandings, according to the ministry.







"The two nations agreed to continue to expand exchanges of energy policies and to strengthen cooperation in a wide range of new energy fields," the ministry said in a release. (Yonhap)


YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. The United States put forward a number of proposals to Armenia and Azerbaijan during their foreign ministerial talks in Washington in early May, a senior State Department official has said.

The peace process is moving forward. The secretary hosted the two foreign ministers in early May to work through some of the most contentious issues including, for example, the distancing of forces along the border, dispute resolution mechanism in the treaty that we are trying to facilitate agreement on, the rights and security of the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabagh. These are a lot of the issues that we were working through, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. State Department Dereck Hogan said at a Subcommittee Hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He added that the U.S. has offered proposals to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We put forward a number of proposals that gave the two sides perhaps some bridging language there. So theyve been taking that back and studying it. Since then we have been working very closely with the European Union. Charles Michel hosted the leaders actually in Brussels just a couple of weeks after we hosted the foreign ministers and then they will be meeting again, the two leaders, the Azerbaijani and the Armenian leaders with the Chancellor of Germany, the President of France as well as the President of the EU Charles Michel to again focus on what needs to be done to actually get this across to finish line. We still have a long way to go and I want to come to Lachin corridor. Thats something that the secretary, thats something weve been pushing very hard on, particularly when it comes to the opening up to the commercial, as well as private vehicles, Hogan added.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Orion Worldwide Innovations will collaborate with the Ministry of Economy of Armenia to organize the Orion Summit 2023 investment summit, which will take place in New York City from June 19-22.

The official opening of the summit will be performed by Emma Arakelyan, CEO & Founder of Orion Worldwide Innovations, and Diana Arzumanyan, CEO & Co-Founder of Orion Worldwide Innovations Armenia. Vahan Kerobyan, the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, will deliver the opening speech. The keynote speakers of the summit are Renee Nalbandyan, Director, Global Strategic & Sustainable Investments at Bank of America, and Karl Douglas, Chief Investment Officer & Founding Partner of Covenant Venture Capital.

During Orion Summit 2023, Enterprise Armenia will make a presentation on Armenia's investment attractiveness as well as introduce a number of investment projects.

"We highly appreciate the government's efforts to strengthen Armenia's position as an investment-friendly and promising country, as well as to encourage investments in startups and innovation. For our part, we constantly present proposals to the government and the private sector in order to develop the Armenian investment field in line with advanced regulations," said Emma Arakelyan, CEO & Founder of Orion Worldwide Innovations and Venture Partner of Covenant Venture Capital.

"The participation of the government and leading companies in the summit will significantly increase the interest of venture companies in Armenia and Armenian startups and strengthen our position in the work with international investment companies, venture funds, and angel investors," said Diana Arzumanyan, CEO & Co-Founder of Orion Worldwide Innovations Armenia.

Today, economies that are more flexible and invest in innovative sectors are globally competitive. The Ministry of Economy of Armenia has created a favourable environment for technology firms, constantly improves the legal framework, and promotes business ties. Orion Summit 2023 will be an ideal platform for startups and investors to meet and for creating new business ties, said Vahan Kerobyan, the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia.

Registration to participate at the summit is available through the official website. Orion Summit 2023 will last four days. The summit will include meetings and discussions about innovations and investments, visits to Covenant Venture Capital, One World Trade Center, the Harvard Club, and the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech.

About Orion:

Orion Worldwide Innovations, is a startup growth and ecosystem acceleration hub and offers a full-service package to make companies investable and enter the US market, enhance their customer acquisition strategies, stay competitive, and protect their innovation. Orion is a U.S.-based company that was formed in 2017, with offices in New York City, U.S., and Yerevan, Armenia, though Orion partners with companies and investor networks worldwide.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. A suspect has been arrested by Armenian authorities in the investigation into the thwarted smuggling of over a ton of cocaine from Ecuador.

The National Security Service said in a statement on May 24 that a member of a criminal syndicate has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit drug trafficking and drug smuggling.

The suspect, identified only by initials M. GH., is the Head of Imports and Acquisitions Department of Mrgeni  a fruit importing company.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. The addressee of the 1 ton of cocaine that was seized by Armenian authorities was a well-known banana importing company, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told lawmakers in parliament.

The National Security Service has made the first arrest in this case moments ago, Pashinyan said.

The addressee of that 1 ton of cocaine was a well known banana importing company, owned by a former Member of Parliament, who is now a fugitive, if Im not mistaken from the Republican Party, Pashinyan said, emphasizing that the presumption of innocence shouldnt be violated.

The NSS reported the first arrest on May 24.
YEREVAN, 24 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 24 May, USD exchange rate down by 0.31 drams to 385.94 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.18 drams to 415.04 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 4.83 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.54 drams to 477.83 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 33.29 drams to 24434.34 drams. Silver price down by 8.79 drams to 287.38 drams.
Tokyo must remember Asians' sufferings during WWII



Korea-Japan relations have never been as good as now in the last quarter of a century.



Last Sunday, President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid tribute to Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima for the first time.



It was a brief ceremony that ended with a wreath and 10 seconds of silence. Seoul and Tokyo issued no official statements. However, the joint visit must have touched the hearts of Korean victims of the 1945 nuclear attack and consoled their souls.



Japan had neglected the monument for Korean victims. Initially, Tokyo refused to allow it to enter the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. It was not until 1999 that the cenotaph was moved inside. Former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, famous for his joint declaration with Kim Dae-jung, was the only Japanese leader to pay tribute to the memorial the same year. Korea hadn't done much better, as Yoon was the first president to visit there.



The event was significant enough. However, the government cheapened its meaning with an overstretched comment, describing it as the "beginning of action to solve the past." However, the claim is preposterous, considering that Japan still denies the coerciveness of conscripted workers. The presidential office later added that many of the 50,000 Koreans killed or wounded in Hiroshima were forced laborers who hadn't chosen to be in the city.



Even if it was a first step in the right direction, this moment only clarified that the two countries have a long way to go before reaching their destination.



What Tokyo wanted from the resulting joint visit there by G7 leaders was to imprint its status as a victim. Under the banner of a nuclear-free world, Japan implied that it would no longer remain a victim, which endures nuclear threats from China, Russia and even North Korea by reemerging as a military power, if only in conventional terms, for now.



Rearmament has long been Japan's goal, following its defeat in World War II. The late nationalistic leader Shinzo Abe accelerated the pace of this aim, and even Kishida, his dovish successor, shows no signs of deceleration. As things stand now, the world's third-largest economy will also become the third-strongest military power in just a few years, by spending 3 percent of its GDP on a buildup of arms. Even Japan's pacifist groups can no longer check the process in this new security environment. According to opinion polls, young Japanese people infused with "non-masochistic" historical views support it more strongly.



Japan's neighbors, including its former colonies like Korea, can do little to slow, let alone block, proceedings. The only country that can do so is America. But Washington encourages Tokyo to step on the pedal in order to keep China and Russia in check and play its role in Asia.



Still, Seoul and other Asian governments can ill afford to watch, with arms crossed, the possible repeat of an unhappy history. For instance, their leaders must not say, "Who would say anything about Japan?" like President Yoon did earlier this year. For Tokyo, Pyongyang only provides a convenient pretext because its ambitions go further beyond.



All countries have the right to self-defense. However, as far as Korea is concerned, Japan must do two things beforehand. First, it must win the hearts of the Korean people by admitting its past wrongs and apologizing once and for all. Second, Tokyo should vow not to send its troops to this peninsula without Seoul's consent under any circumstances.



According to surveys, about three-quarters of Koreans think seeking better ties with Japan is possible even before all historical matters are solved. But even a larger share of people believe that genuine bilateral cooperation is only possible by settling old scores. That explains why the government must take a two-track approach.



It is difficult to expect that from the incumbent one-way administration. We hope it will not make too many things irreversible for succeeding governments.



A leader's determination cannot justify everything.


It is ironic, historically speaking, because Mahatma Gandhi was absent in the Parliament on the midnight hour of freedom on August 15, 1947

A collective decision of the majority of the Opposition parties in India, led by the Indian National Congress, and among them, the TMC, DMK, AAP, Shiv Sena (UBT), SP, CPI, CPM, JMM, RLD, JDU, NCP, RJD, IUML and the MDMK, to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament on the premise that ...when the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building... is a bad decision.

Besides the formally united joint Opposition on the issue, some other parties might also reportedly boycott the event, separately, among them the BRS and the MIM.

Politicians may celebrate a moment of national pride when democracy is perfectly working, or at least working reasonably well for them, but ordinary people cherish and celebrate it most of the time, despite the odds and failures of the system to better their lives.

Those who constitute the first phrase of the Indian Constitution, the fountainhead of all power in a democracy, We, the People..., despite all the failures, real or imagined, of the Opposition, will still celebrate a new building being created as a new Parliament for a New India.

The joint Opposition is essentially staying away from the people, distancing themselves from the real masters in a democracy, for a sulk that is essentially political and of little to no relevance to the common folk.

The specific objection of the Opposition is aimed at a rather theoretical question  who should inaugurate the building  the President or the Prime Minister. Both the answers are actually correct. The Opposition is correct when it argues that ...Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response.

But the Prime Minister is actually the leader of the country, its democracy, and therefore, of the Parliament. It would be foolhardy to even respond pointing to the large number of instances when the Prime Minister of the day took decisions to inaugurate new facilities that matter. The PM, as the leader of the country, and the one elected by the people more substantially than anyone else at the national level, is equally entitled to choose to inaugurate the new Parliament.

The Parliament might not be complete without the Opposition but neither Mr Modi nor the people of India will miss them at the exact moment of the formal dedication of democracys symbol to the people. People will not notice, not beyond a point, when they celebrate something all of India, and all Indians, should take pride in  that we have grown as a democracy and an independent nation, against several and severe odds, and here in our 75th year of Independence, are dedicating a great new monument to ourselves.

It is ironic, historically speaking, because Mahatma Gandhi was absent in the Parliament on the midnight hour of freedom on August 15, 1947. But Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru rose to the occasion, and perhaps, Independent India moved on and celebrated it.

Narendra Modi, the most popular leader in India today, and in decades, will also rise to the occasion, and a silent, sulking Opposition, would be regretting its wrong decision.
Love them, hate them ignore them at national peril, is the babu guarantee and Dilips belief. Share significant babu escapades dilipcherian@hotmail.com

Having taken voluntary retirement in Feb, the 1989 batch IAS officer from AP has been given a 3-year term in the rank of a Cabinet minister

The recent appointment of ex-chief secretary Somesh Kumar as the chief adviser to Telanganas CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao has sparked controversy and raised concerns among babu and political circles. Having taken voluntary retirement in February, the 1989 batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh has been given a three-year term in the rank of a Cabinet minister. This has led many to question the potential overshadowing of senior serving babus due to his reported close proximity to the chief minister and his penchant to be in the spotlight.

Sources have informed DKB that the CMO already comprises a substantial number of retired officers from the IAS, IPS and other all India services.

According to the CMOs official website, there are a dozen advisers to the CM, of whom eight are former bureaucrats. It is widely believed that these advisers, during their tenure in service, impressed the chief minister with their work.

Now with the appointment of Somesh Kumar as the chief adviser, political and babu observers remain watchful, waiting to see how Mr Kumars addition to the CMO will impact the functioning of the government and the roles of senior officials.

Ravneet Kaur takes the helm at CCI at a crucial time

The appointment of Ravneet Kaur as the new chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a period of five years comes at a crucial juncture. Amidst months of delay and speculation, Ms Kaurs selection brings hope for the much-needed revitalisation of the regulatory body.

This move by the Centre, occurring ten months before her retirement, is a significant step towards ensuring fair competition in Indias evolving business landscape.

Ms Kaurs extensive experience as a senior Punjab IAS officer, coupled with her notable track record, positions her as a promising leader for CCI. With the regulatory mandate of CCI being intensified through recent amendments to the law, the addition of manpower and infrastructure becomes imperative.

Interestingly, this is the third senior appointment the Centre has announced after the Karnataka election results. Earlier, the government had cleared the appointment of Praveen Sood as CBI director and IRS officer Suman Sharma as UPSC member.

The top post at CCI fell vacant after Ashok Kumar Gupta demitted the chairmans office on 25 October 2022, having completed his four-year term. Later the government gave member Sangeeta Verma the charge of acting chairperson and also invited applications for three more members. CCI has to have a chairperson and not less than two and not more than six other members, as per the Competition Act.

Ms Kaur has held several positions in the government over the last two decades, including as chairperson of the India Tourism Development Corp between 2017 and 2019. With her extensive experience in the government and a proven track record, Ms Kaurs leadership is expected to revitalise the functioning of CCI and reinforce its role in ensuring fair competition, considering that the panel is currently investigating some of the worlds biggest companies including Apple, Amazon and Walmarts Flipkart for alleged anti-competitive practices.

Different strokes for different folks!

Everyone in India knows that the country is run on a simple principle: Show me the man, and Ill show you the rule. In fact, rules change depending on how influential or otherwise the person likely to be affected by the rules is.

The recent appointment of Karnataka IPS officer Praveen Sood as the new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revived talk about this adage. Some keen observers have pointed out that while senior Haryana IAS officer and whistleblower Ashok Khemka was not considered for Central deputation because he did not have any experience of serving at the Centre, the personnel ministry did not apply this condition in Mr Soods case. He, too, apparently has no experience of having served on Central deputation and has not been empanelled, yet he has been named the CBI chief.

Interestingly, theres another interesting trend in the appointment of CBI chiefs. Some observers have noted that the BJP has on two similar occasions, brought in state police chiefs from states in which it lost elections to the Centre as CBI chiefs! They cite the example of IPS Rishi Shukla from Madhya Pradesh and Subodh Jaiswal from Maharashtra. So, Mr Soods appointment is not an anomaly since there is clearly a precedent.

A similar logic was also given when Gen. B.S. Rawat was made Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) over two senior generals since they did not have combat experience.

Not surprisingly, the bureaucratic rulebook seems like a mythical creature, forever elusive and ever-changing, and can only be deciphered by a chosen few!

Love them, hate them ignore them at national peril, is the babu guarantee and Dilips belief. Share significant babu escapades dilipcherian@hotmail.com.
Mr Modi, perhaps mindful of past Opposition criticism of his partisan lectures while abroad, largely focused on India-Australia relations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just concluded a whistlestop tour of three Pacific nations, including Japan where he attended the Group of Seven summit as a guest invitee. He began his tour in Hiroshima, as one of the eight guests the Japanese PM had invited to the G-7 meet, where Ukraines beleaguered President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stole the show with his unexpected appearance.

The Ukraine war continues to dominate the security threat perception of most G-7 members. Hiroshima was also where Mr Modi had his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Zelensky. India so far has used philosophical sophistry to avoid naming Russia as the aggressor or seeking Russian withdrawal from militarily usurped Ukrainian territory. Mr Modis earlier phrase that this is not an era of war has now evolved into: For me, it is an issue of humanity. It is unlikely that either Mr Zelenskyy or the G-7 nations supporting Ukraine militarily would take solace from that. China, which began with similarly evasive statements, has transitioned towards working actively to stop the war. It has even named a special envoy for Ukraine. Chinas President Xi Jinping has been going through the motions of engaging both sides and consulting other major players. Thus, India could not have remained passively concerned, especially when reports surfaced of Indian private sector refiners making a killing exporting refined Russian oil to Europe.

The G-7 summits outcome is spelt in the Leaders Statement on Economic Resilience and Economic Security. They agreed to foster mutually beneficial partnerships to create resilient and sustainable value chains. They identified four vulnerabilities -- natural disasters, pandemics, geopolitical tensions and coercion. The last relates to the Chinese use of economic coercion when any nation is perceived as defying its geopolitical priorities.

The motive behind building resilient supply chains is the disruption seen over the last three years, first due to Covid-19 and then the Ukraine war. Resilient critical infrastructure refers to the digital domain and the fear of China using companies like Huawei to gain intrusive supremacy. The call to counter the undermining of international rules and norms is a direct critique of Chinese conduct in its maritime neighbourhood and the Russian breach of Ukraines territorial integrity.

What then is the takeaway from the Hiroshima G-7 summit? Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his foreign minister travelled extensively abroad to gauge the mood in the developing nations, now dubbed as the Global South. In 2009, then US President Barack Obama, following the financial crisis of 2008, had the G-7 accept a widened consultation mechanism, to include rapidly growing nations like India, China and Brazil. This is how the G-20, which India chairs this year, was born. His successor Donald Trump appeared to agree, and described the G-7 as outdated. While the GDP of the G-7 collectively had a 70 per cent share in global output in the 1980s, it had shrunk to 45 per cent by 2021. Even more interestingly, in PPP terms the share of the five Brics nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- now exceed that of the G-7.

The G-7 members are aware that to really counter China they need to have an outreach strategy to the Global South. China is seen by most of Africa and Latin America as more stable and less questioning about the domestic politics of most nations. According to the Economist magazine, Japan thus evolved the view that the G-7 must use arguments like threat to the rule of law and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations rather than evangelically pursuing human rights and democracy. Most nations can relate to concrete arguments impinging on their own existence, but not so much to nebulous prescriptions of liberal democracy.

The second leg of Prime Minister Narendra Modis tour took him to Papua New Guinea. Its Prime Minister James Marape took everyone by surprise by touching his guests feet. Thereafter, they co-hosted a summit of the 14-nation Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). For some time, China has been making inroads into this sensitive cluster of islands with extensive maritime economic zones. India would have to coordinate with its Quad partners to be able to bring development assistance that matches the Chinese proposals under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The G-7 also realises that they must listen to the Global South and address their financial and economic issues.

The final leg of Mr Modis sojourn was a two-day Australian stopover. The original raison detre was the proposed Quad summit, which got shifted to the sidelines of the G-7 due to US President Joe Bidens political commitments back home.

Normally the PMs visit also would have got postponed as the Australian Prime Minister had been to India earlier this year. Summits, in order to be productive, need some gap to allow decisions to be implemented. But the huge diaspora event that had been organised in Sydney, hosted by the Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation, beckoned. The venue, with a capacity of 20,000, was mostly full.

The Indian diaspora is now 2.5 per cent of Australias population, numbering over 600,000. Mr Modi had last visited Australia in 2014, soon after assuming office. If postponed, he may not have easily found another slot for Australia with the Lok Sabha polls over the horizon.

The inauguration of Little India, a neighbourhood dominated by persons of Indian origin, reflects that the Indian diaspora is finding roots. Similarly named areas exist even in New York. Australian PM Anthony Albanese, overcome by the crowds euphoria, turned hyperbolic in praising his Indian guests star power.

Mr Modi, perhaps mindful of past Opposition criticism of his partisan lectures while abroad, largely focused on India-Australia relations. His penchant for acronyms was on mark when he said the relationship has matured from the 3-Ds --democracy, diaspora and dosti -- to energy, economy and education. Australia is a favoured destination for Indians seeking quality education at a reasonable cost, with the possibility of immigration.

The Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) between India and Australia is operational, enabling almost 85 per cent of Australian exports to enter India tariff-free. Australia is an outstanding source for minerals, metals and gas, including huge reserves of rare earths that the world requires for a transition to carbon neutrality. It is thus a natural strategic and economic partner for India.

However, hugs and slogans aside, Australia is a US ally with deeper security commitments than India favours. But the shared worries over China, the growing Indian diaspora and the natural complementarity of their economies heralds a productive partnership.
Today's Headlines: Delhi and Canberra sign pact on migration; In two years 380 new animal and plant species discovered in the Mekong; In Marawi, compensation for residents involved in 2017 fighting begins; In Afghanistan, a US programme that helped war victims closes down.

KOREA

Seoul will launch the Nuri missile today to put eight satellites into orbit, after Pyongyang announced last month that it had completed its first military reconnaissance satellite, which it requested be launched into orbit to monitor US forces and their allies in Asia. "There is definitely a rivalry between the two Koreas in terms of what they are trying to create in space," explained military historian David Silbey.

INDIA - AUSTRALIA

Delhi and Canberra announced a new agreement on migration after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discussed a number of issues around economic cooperation between the two countries, including mining. According to the latest, out of more than one million people who have moved to Australia since 2016, almost a quarter were from India.

MEKONG

Between 2021 and 2022, 380 new species of animals and plants were discovered in the Great Mekong reservoir, WWF said. The area through which one of Asia's most important rivers flows has always been known for its biodiversity: 3,300 new species have been recorded since 1997, although many are threatened with extinction.

PHILIPPINES

The Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) yesterday signed implementing decrees to pay compensation to residents who were caught up in fighting between the army and Islamist militants in 2017. For five months, the city has been under siege. The payments, which will be tax-free upon approval by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will go to those who have lost their homes or relatives.

AFGHANISTAN

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will close a million programme designed to help war victims in Afghanistan. The project, called COMAC, had started in 2018: over the past five years, more than 40,000 people have been provided with assistance. Although the programme was scheduled to end in 2023, staff reported several cases of interference by the Taliban.

KAZAKHSTAN

As revealed by the CentralAsia website, there are currently three training ranges on Kazakhstan's territory with a total area of 8.6 million hectares, which Astana leases to Russia, where almost 1,000 Russian soldiers are constantly present. At the beginning of May, a Mazilis deputy, Serik Egizbaev, proposed that this land be put to agricultural use.

ARMENIA - AZERBAIJAN

Armenian PM Pasinyan stated that 'Armenia will take the formal decision to leave the Csto (the Eurasian Military Alliance) when it has definitively established that the Csto has abandoned Armenia'. He expects a follow-up visit by the Alliance to monitor the situation of the conflict with Azerbaijan, and 'then we will make the final reckoning'.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

An international conference opens on "Philosophy of Religion in East and West" In Zenis promoted by the Jesuits. Fr Bulowski: "It is a difficult time for dialogue between religions and cultures, but we are not discouraged".

Bishkek (AsiaNews) - An international conference on "Philosophy of Religion in the East and in the West", organised by the Svet Ljubvi Cultural-Charitable Foundation, "The Light of Love", and animated by the Jesuit community in the country, is being held in Zenis, Kyrgyzstan, from 21 to 25 May.

The "John Paul II" Faculty of Philosophy in Cracow, with the Chair of Russian and Byzantine Philosophy, and also the UNESCO Chair for the Study of World Cultures and Religions, of the Russian-Kyrgyz Slavic University "Boris Eltsyn", are contributing to the conference.

It is one of the initiatives of the small but lively Catholic community in Kyrgyzstan, entrusted to the missionaries of the Society of Jesus from various countries around the world. Several sessions of the Theological School have already been held over the past year, beginning in the summer of 2022, with dozens of participants from Kyrgyzstan, but also from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Lectures and meetings are normally held in Russian, with parts in German and Polish, the languages of the Catholic diaspora in these lands, but also open to the use of local languages.

In-depth studies on the history of Christianity in Central Asia are offered, as well as introductions to biblical, moral and dogmatic theology. The lecturers are Russian-speaking Jesuits from the Roman formation of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, such as the young Pole Fr Rafal Bulowski, but also from the mission carried out for several years in Moscow and Siberia, such as the Mexican Fr Tomas Garcia or the American Fr Anthony Corcoran, apostolic administrator for the whole of Kyrgyzstan, the latter formerly directors of the St Thomas Aquinas Moscow Institute of Theology and Philosophy. From Almaty, the American Church historian Kevin Wight, who teaches at the local university, comes regularly.

As Father Bulowski says, 'it is a difficult time for dialogue between religions and cultures, but we are not discouraged'. The main purpose of these schools and conferences is to give local Catholics a voice, offering them an academic, intellectual and confrontational experience on such important topics.

Many 'round tables' are held for exchanging impressions and reflections, also stimulated by meetings with many representatives of the traditions and cultures of Asian peoples, and there are also spaces for common prayer, coexistence and charitable service to young people and children. It is also important to bring together Catholics from different locations and different countries in Central Asia, who live in very different conditions, depending on different structures and events.

The main centre where these initiatives take place is the beautiful area of Issyk-Kul, a salt lake (the name means 'warm lake'), a huge body of water between the mountains, where the Jesuits have opened a 'Rehabilitation Centre' for children in the village of Zenis to help orphans, invalids and children of poor families.

Together with the children and educators, many groups meet here, not only students and conference participants, but also young people and other groups who gather for periods of spirituality and common holidays.

The Centre is 100 metres from the shores of the lake, which appears like a real sea due to its large size and exceptional depth (over 700 metres), even though it is on high ground at 1600 metres above sea level, with large forests and glaciers on the Tyan-Shan mountain. It is therefore a very popular location in both summer and winter, and the almost 100 children living in the centre pay no fees for this privilege.

Last summer, the first Kyrgyzstan 'Catholic Youth Festival' was also held in Zenis, with participants from neighbouring countries and even from Russian Siberia, a long-awaited and repeatedly postponed gathering during the pandemic period.

More than 60 boys and girls reflected together on "Christian identity" and belonging to the Church, in working groups in which many projects to be implemented in their own communities and areas of origin were discussed, both in terms of charitable service and cultural dialogue. New opportunities to meet are expected in the coming hot months, driven by the hope of a new life for Central Asia and the local Catholic Church.
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Iran is building a deep nuclear facility in mountainous terrain near the Natanz nuclear plant, satellite images provided by Planet Labs reveal. According to experts consulted by the Associated Press, the depth of the complex - between 80 and 100 metres - makes it difficult to reach by US air strikes using conventional weapons.

As shown in photos taken by the news agency, the facility covers an area of about 2.7 square kilometres and is protected by anti-aircraft defences, fences and members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian delegation to the UN has stressed to AP that its nuclear activities are "peaceful, transparent and monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)". In fact, Iran has for years limited access to IAEA inspectors and even disconnected surveillance cameras from its power plants, raising concerns about its nuclear developments.

Near a peak of Zagros Mountains in central Iran, workers are building a nuclear facility so deep in the earth that it is likely beyond the range of a last-ditch US weapon designed to destroy such sites, according to experts and satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press. pic.twitter.com/xmWDMJ9Q7Q May 22, 2023

The construction of this facility clashes with Western efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. According to IAEA data, particles of enriched uranium above 80% - a level very close to the level needed to make a nuclear weapon - were detected at Iran's Fordow plant in February. The UN inspectors also calculated that Iran's stockpile was more than 10 times higher than it possessed during its agreement with the Obama administration.

After former President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed new sanctions against the Tehran regime, Iran has made significant progress in its nuclear programme, raising regional and international concerns. For this reason, the West has pushed for talks with the Iranian authorities to try to restore the nuclear deal. However, negotiations have stalled for months due to Tehran's demands and the new Russian-Iranian alliance in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

PHOTO/WANA - View of the nuclear water reactor at Arak, Iran

As Kelsey Davenport, a member of the Arms Control Association, warns to AP, if Tehran terminates this facility it will lead to "a nightmare scenario that risks a new spiral of escalation". Davenport recalls that, because of how close Iran is to obtaining a nuclear bomb, there is "very little room" for Tehran to increase and develop its nuclear programme without overstepping the red lines of its main enemies, the United States and Israel. "At this point, any further escalation increases the risk of conflict," he stresses.

Both Washington and Jerusalem do not rule out "any options" in the face of the growing development of Iran's nuclear programme. "Diplomacy is the best way to achieve goals, but we will not take any options off the table," the White House said. Both countries have been accused by Tehran of launching cyber-attacks against power plants such as Natanz. The Iranian regime has also blamed Israel for the deaths of several nuclear scientists, including Mohsen Fakhrizadeh - considered the father of Iran's nuclear programme - who was killed in 2020 in Tehran province.

PHOTO/FILE - Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, considered to be the father of Iran's nuclear programme

Regarding the actions taken by the Americans and Israelis, Davenport asserts that "sabotage may roll back Iran's nuclear programme in the short term, but it is not a viable long-term strategy to protect against a nuclear-armed Iran".

IDF chief: "We have the capability to strike Iran"

Reports of this new Iranian underground nuclear facility coincide with recent comments by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief Herzi Halevi, who warned that "negative developments" in the nuclear field could lead to "action" by the Israeli military. Halevi said that Israel is following Iran's nuclear development "closely", noting that the Islamic Republic "has made more progress than ever before" on Ukrainian enrichment. However, Halevi said that his country has "the capacity to strike Iran", according to The Jerusalem Post.

Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, at the Herzliya Conference:



Iran has made more progress in the field of uranium enrichment than ever before. We are closely examining additional domains that lead to nuclear capability. pic.twitter.com/IphvXyQkqk  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 23, 2023

Iranian officials have been quick to respond to the Israeli army chief, warning that an attack on their facilities would be the start of "a full-scale war for which Israel will be responsible". A senior Iranian official quoted by Al Jazeera described Halevi's statements as "terrorism", claiming that they reflected "the depth of Israel's internal problems", referring to the massive protests that have been taking place for weeks against the judicial reform promoted by Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which Tehran sees as a symbol of the government's weakness.
kW

kWh

The latest e-motorcycle offer we've come across is the result of a collaboration between two relatively new players in the market. We're talking about Swedish electric motorcycle manufacturer RGNT Motorcycles and German customized bike builders Crooked Motorcycles. These two companies have joined forces to create an all-electric custom motorbike called Crooked E-Type that is set to make its public debut at the Bike Shed London Show during the last weekend in May.The team at Crooked has been considering the idea of building a custom e-motorcycle for a while now, but they needed a suitable donor bike for the brief they had in mind. They found what they were looking for in Swedish brand RGNT's flagship model, the 'No. 1.'"At Crooked, we had been debating a project in the EV-realm for a while, but we wanted to collaborate with a high-quality partner, who shared our vision on custom style and design," declared Dominikus Braun, the CEO and founder of Crooked Motorcycles. "As soon as we ran into RGNT at the Intermot last October, we fell for the classic look and simple design of their bikes."The Crooked E-Type is, therefore, based on an RGNT No. 1 Scrambler SE, which combines a vintage, timeless appearance with current technology. Following the design principles of the German brand's successful XS400-series, it boasts a stylish, minimalist design meant to prove that "simplicity is the key to brilliance."The builders completed the Crooked E-Type in six weeks and said one of the biggest challenges was to fit the large electrical modules in the triangle frame and obtain a seamless, open look. They also had to reduce the size of the large original dashboard for a minimalist aesthetic. However, they decided to keep the donor bike's battery covers and fake tank.They redesigned the bike's subframe on CAD and concealed the converter unit inside the seat. Moreover, they raised the rear by three centimeters (just over one inch) and reinforced it with new YSS springs covered with 3D-printed fork covers.The ultra-sleek e-motorcycle has been given a custom seat, blacked-out rims with Continental TKC 80 tires, a LED taillight from Supernova, and a LED headlight with Motogadget blaze turn signals.In terms of performance, the motorbike is powered by a 21hub motor capable of delivering 21 kW of peak power and propelling the bike to a maximum speed of 75 mph (120 kph). A 9.5battery promises riders a range of 92 miles (148 km).The Crooked E-Type electric motorcycle is ready to start serial production in August in the Crooked workshop near Munich, with first deliveries set for late October 23. Customers will be able to choose from various design options or design their own dream e-motorcycle by customizing the seat and tank coloring, the LED color, and the rims. The custom bike builders have announced they are shipping worldwide.


By Eugene Lee



Even if it has been a year since President Yoon Suk Yeol's inauguration and the media is trying hard to find his "achievements," my rationale for criticism has been replaced by something more significant.



While observing the obvious unease on the face of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the South Korea-Japan summit a week or so ago and expecting to see a much-hoped-for breakthrough by Yoon, which never came, a question rose in my head: would Japan actually ever be able to give a full-hearted apology to South Korea? Inadvertently, these thoughts have led me to do some brief research on the complexity of reconciliation. Strangely enough, it all ended up somewhere else.



A few years ago, while at a conference dedicated to international politics, someone asked why South Korea had no Nobel Prize winners. I argued that for a country to have anything after colonial plunder is already a historic feat, let alone having any Nobel Prize laureates. But then a bell rang in my head with the name of President Kim Dae-jung, who actually did get a Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for trying to heal the rift with the North. Then I looked at the list of Japanese laureates and at the top of it, I saw the name of Hideki Yukawa, a theoretical nuclear physicist from Kyoto Imperial University.



In 1933, at the age of just 26, Yukawa got a job as an assistant professor at Osaka University. Several years later, he would be back at Kyoto Imperial University, where he earned several top government decorations. After Japan's capitulation, he was surprisingly hired as a professor at Columbia University in 1949, where he earned himself the Nobel Prize in Physics.



Though Wikipedia gives hardly anything on the nature of his research, I felt there was something to it. Such an enigmatic figure intrigued me even more as I opened new links on the internet. And then a bombshell: I found a book titled Scientific Research in World War II, edited by Ad Maas and Hans Hooijmaijers, two Dutch academics, published in 2008.



In that book, a professor from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Masakatsu Yamazaki, states the following: "There were two nuclear weapons projects in Japan during World War II: an army program called 'Ni-go Research' and a much smaller 'F-Research' of the navy. 'Ni-go Research' was directed by Yoshio Nishina, a leading nuclear physicist at the Riken, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. The experimental physicist Masa Takeuchi (1911-2001), a member of Nishina's nuclear research group, became one of the key ?gures of the army project. This paper will take Takeuchi's case as an example of Japanese scientists involved in wartime research during World War II. His case illustrates how Nishina's nuclear group adapted for survival to an extraordinary research environment in wartime."



You'd be thinking, "Nuclear weapons projects in Japan during World War II were run by its scientists!" Wow! And not just one, but two! A few articles further, I discovered that Nishina's research was bombed during an American air raid in 1943 and was essentially a cold turkey. But what happened to Yukawa's project at Japan's Imperial Navy?



Further investigation led me to yet another book by investigative reporter and historian Robert K. Wilcox, titled "Japan's Secret War." In it, he brings out yet another location for Yukawa's project. And where do you guess it would be? In colonial Korea! Specifically, on the territory of North Korea today. Robert, in his book, makes yet another very bold claim. He says the foundation for the North Korean nuclear program was laid by Yukawa's research in the so-called "N-Z plant." He even talks about a probable nuclear detonation blast sometime then. We simply do not have any way of knowing all the details as the location is in North Korea, plus all the equipment and supplies were taken away by the Soviets then.



After thinking over and over, and trying to process all I have learned in just a few days about Japan's nuclear weapons program, the horrors of the biological and chemical research of Unit 731 and even the lingering controversy of the repatriation of the Ainu people's human remains unethically collected by Japanese researchers and stored in university institutions throughout the twentieth century, it got me thinking deeply about Japan's academic culture and their Nobel prize research. And then suddenly I saw a connection  as all that research has been deeply flawed ethically, Japan's foreign policy today is very much the same.



Japan will not apologize! In the way it perceives itself, it simply does not see the need for an apology. All this time, we have been lying to ourselves, hoping that Japan will one day become a normal country. And all this time, we have seen over and over again, Japan's top politicians visiting the Yasukuni Shrine and worshipping its ancestors along with the war criminals who committed atrocities.



President Yoon, your job is to stop living a fantasy and instead get down to the country's reality of a dwindling economy and start working on making Korea united again. Even then, when dealing with North Korea, you are dealing with what Japan has started. So, whether you want it or not, Japan will be able to reconcile with South Korea only when it is able to reconcile with its own past.





Eugene Lee (mreulee@gmail.com) is a lecturing professor at the Graduate School of Governance at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. Specializing in international relations and governance, his research and teaching focus on national and regional security, international development, government policies and Northeast and Central Asia.


ICE

EV

Even more importantly, Dodge is abandoning the-powered pony and muscle car premises  just like General Motors will after ceasing the sixth generation Camaro production in January 2024 with a singular Collector's Edition farewell. Meanwhile, Mopar enthusiasts both in America and Europe  have a lot more to look forward to: up to seven 'Last Call' special editions for the 2023 Challenger and Charger nameplates. But, of course, these are all real-world concerns.Meanwhile, nothing is impossible across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. For example, one could care less about the impending GM and Dodge abandonment than spending a dime on a glass of water. Others could even imagine an alternate universe where muscle cars are not only offered in two- or four-door flavors but also for the pride and joy of five-door station wagon fans. Yep, feisty grocery-getters are back in fashion  albeit solely in CGI.Or at least, that is the opinion of Nikita Chuicko, the virtual artist better known as kelsonik on social media, who thinks now is the right CGI time to fuel our muscle wagon dreams even further. Not long ago, the pixel master kicked off the five-door proceeds with a string of Dodge Charger SRT Wagon renderings  and of course, all fans agreed that the Detroit automakers should bring back the wagons  especially the ones which rhyme with Magnum SRT8. Some even threw in a donor car free of charge if there were any DIY tinkerers around the premises; such was the hype around this idea.Possibly enticed by the raving comments, the author soon doubled the virtual station wagon muscle car project idea with something that could rival this hypothetical Magnum successor  the (S650) 2024 Ford Mustang GT Wagon, all set to oppose its 5.0-liter Coyote V8 to the SRT forces. Interestingly, the CGI expert's habits of fiddling with tuned-style vehicles die hard, so he could not help but envision the project with several types of OEM-style wheels.Now, though, it seems like the definitive high-performance American station wagon has arrived, and it could brawl not only with the Mustang GT Wagon but also premium European stuff like the Audi RS 6 Avant. Well, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Wagon sure looks enticing, indeed. But unfortunately, we all know it's merely wishful thinking because Stellantis has already ordained thefuture for these feisty Dodges.
Photo: Russian Federal Archives

But what happens when a Soviet aviation bureau tries to build a flying tank? You get the Ilyushin Il-20, essentially the familiar silhouette that's seemingly been hit with the same radiation beam that created the Incredible Hulk. Without context, that's the only way we could describe what this monstrosity looked like. Only a single example of the Il-20 was ever built. It should be immediately obvious why this is the case. But, for the sake of a certified Soviet classic story, let's take a deep dive and tell more.Let us paint the scene for you. It's 1947, and the Great Patriotic War's been done and won for roughly two and a half years now. Comrade Joseph Stalin is still as a stark-raving-mad lad and as in complete control of the Kremlin as he ever was. Oh, and NATO hasn't quite yet formed and made the walrus-faced psychopath in charge of the USSR have a panic attack. Meanwhile, all over airfields across Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Yugoslavia sit tens of thousands of Illyushin Il-2 Sturmoviks and upgraded Il-10s which spent most of World War II pummeling German tanks and infantry with bombs, rockets, and machine guns. They even shot down plenty of enemy fighters to boot.Between the Il-2 and Il-10, these two attack planes were like the Camry and Corolla of the Red Air Force from Operation Barbarossa to the Capture of Berlin. In key factors of reliability and raw production output, the twin birds really were like Toyotas. But there was a problem. No sooner were the Il-2 and Il-10 finished turning Panzerwagens to paste did the first jet fighters appear on the scene. The prospects of an Il-2, with its lethargic top speed and pedestrian maneuverability duking it out with an American Lockheed Shooting Star or a British Gloster Meteor, didn't bode well anyway the Kremlin sliced it.With this in mind, something was needed, at least in the minds of Illyushin engineers and the Red Air Force, to squeeze just a little bit of life that was still left out of the Sturmovik's lineage before more powerful Soviet attack jets usurped their role. We don't know what the meeting to design the Il-20 may have looked like. But if we had to guess, it went something along the lines of a Politburo pencil pusher daring an Ilyushin engineer to build a tank with wings. To which the engineer must have said, "Hold my kvass."Typically, a military aircraft doesn't want to be flying with an extra few millimeters of hardened steel armor weighing them down. But, because Soviet engineering incentivized the simple and strong over the complex and dainty back in the 1940s, 1,840 kg (4,060 lb) of sloped armor plating was sure to cure whatever was ailing Ilyushin's engineers. Ranging in thickness from six to 15 mm (0.24 to 0.59 in), it was possible, in theory, for this 9,500-kilo (20,944-lb) beast of a machine to shrug off incoming anti-aircraft fire while raining a hail of RS-132 132 mm (5.20 in) rockets and up to 1,190 kg (2,623.5 lbs) of bombs on target. If all else failed, two bespoke cannon configurations were devised consisting of two 23x152 mm autocannons or two 7.62x54 mm machine guns pointing forward and a sizeable 12.7108mm heavy machine gun mounted in the rear cockpit.At the heart of what was dubbed "the Gorbach" (Russian for Hunchback) was an all-new V12 so obscure nowadays that only sketchy Russian copies of old Soviet aviation manuals on the secretprojects.co.uk forum were able to prove its existence, the Mikulin AM-47. A completely different engine compared to the IL-2's AM-38, it's known the AM-47 cranked out at least 3,000 hp at full throttle. This was enough to keep the Il-20's cruising speed of 250 mph and service ceiling of 4,525 m (14,846 ft) in line with that of the Il-2 and Il-10 with the added benefit of all the new armor.With its first flight on December 5th, 1948, out of Ilyushin's company airfield in Russia, the Il-20 was found, predictably, to make about as much sense in real life as the above-mentioned jet-engined biplane crop-duster. The Soviet Hunchback may have had the same cruising speed as an Il-2 , but at 2,800 m (9,200 ft), its top speed of 515 kph (320 mph) was actually slower than the Il-10. We're sure Ilyushin knew full well being aero engineers, how a bulky armored cockpit creates more drag than a quarter-mile strip. But the Kremlin wants what the Kremlin wants. That is until the Kremlin realizes their idea is dumb and tosses it under Babushka's plush carpet.Such was the case with the Il-20. By May 1949, the coming of the jet age was to doom the project, whether it was any better than the Il-2/10 or not. The whereabouts of the single Il-20 prototype appear to be unknown, but it's likely that the airframe was scrapped as the Soviet Union geared up for a conflict with the emerging NATO alliance. A war they'd go on to fight less than a year later in 1950, over the skies of a divided Korea and the 38th parallel. Ironically, the Il-2 and Il-10 both saw considerable service during the Korean War.Meanwhile, the only reason anyone in the West has even heard of the Il-20 is due to its appearance in the wargaming.net flight combat game World of Warplanes. A game that's known most notably for being so mediocre compared to War Thunder's aviation battles that it might as well be an analogy for the Il-20's short, unremarkable, and nowadays little-remembred place in Soviet aviation history.
Ford made a capital markets event on May 22 that wanted to prove the company no longer fits into the valuation box that comprises most other carmakers. The automotive industry is seen as a high-investment, low-margin business, and the Blue Oval brand wants to highlight how its Ford+ strategic plan made it less vulnerable to that. As crucial as that is, what stood out in the presentation was Jim Farley's concern about the dumb range strategy for BEVs.

50 photos Photo: Stellantis/GM/Thiruthonti/Creative Commons/edited by autoevolution
Photo: Lion Caravans

Photo: Lion Caravans

Photo: Lion Caravans

Lion Caravans is a British brand established in 2022, so it's a rather new player in the camper trailer business. However, the company is part of Lancashire-based Red Lion Caravans, one of the oldest and best known caravan retailers in the UK, and they offer a range of unique and exclusive leisure vehicles that allow people to make the most of their time away from home. The Lion Caravans units are made in Turkey and sold exclusively in the UK.Due to its compact design, the 2023 Lion Cub trailer comes with the promise of allowing anyone to become a weekend adventurer. It is light, easy to tow, and easy to store, so you can embark on outdoor explorations at a moment's notice with minimal preparation.Though they are small, teardrops aren't exactly cheap, and this Lion Caravans model is no exception. The pricing for the 2023 Cub teardrop trailer starts at 15,995 (approximately $19,900 at current exchange rates), but if you are willing to make the investment, rest assured that your camping costs will be significantly lower compared to using other recreational vehicles.The Cub easily fits in a standard garage, as it measures 14.1 feet (4.30 meters) in length, 6.5 feet (1.99 meters) in width, and 5.6 feet (1.70 meters) in height, so you can store it at home. It is built on a galvanized steel chassis and features a modern design and a distinctive teardrop body shape. The main bodywork is a combination of graphite and silver with black decals, and it features alloy wheels and a 135W solar panel on the roof.Light in weight, coming with an MTPLM (Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass) of only 750 kg (1,653 pounds), the new Cub teardrop is heavy on features. It offers seating/sleeping space inside and a full-width kitchen at the back.Circular doors with porthole windows, that come complete with blinds and flyscreens, offer access inside the teardrop. The spacious cabin is fitted with a full-length bed featuring an upholstered headboard. Obviously, when going on road trips, you are not supposed to spend too much time inside the caravan, but this comfortable backrest comes in handy when you want to watch the mounted 19-inch flatscreen TV. Going back to the massive bed, it measures 2m x 1.7m (6.6ft x 5.6 ft) and is made up of two mattress sections with memory foam.Storage lockers and a touchscreen for the main controls are also part of the interior. Lighting inside the cabin includes two reading lamps, a central light in the overhead panel, and four spotlights.A panoramic sunroof with tinted glass ensures excellent natural lighting by day and allows for amazing views of the night sky. There is a blackout blind if you want complete darkness, but I suppose sleeping under the stars while still sheltered inside the trailer is a better option.If you open up the tailgate at the rear of the caravan , you will discover the kitchen, which is open to the elements. The top-hinged back door acts as standard protection, but the Cub also comes with a Kampa inflatable awning to provide shelter and shade. You will be able to fit a table and chairs underneath the awning to create a nice hangout and dining space.The kitchen comes equipped with a single-burner hob, a sink, a 47-liter coolbox with a freezer compartment, and a 55-liter fresh water tank. It features good storage capacity thanks to a kitchen cupboard and two overhead storage compartments, so you will be able to take kitchen essentials with you to cook on the go. You can also attach a gas-powered barbecue to the dedicated outdoor socket.The manufacturers also fitted the teardrop trailer with a Webasto diesel heater for the evenings when it gets a little too cold. It comes with its own diesel tank, which is stowed away in one of the front external lockers. These lockers also house an inverter and a 100Ah leisure battery.Small travel trailers like the Lion Caravans Cub are the perfect choice for people who want to enjoy the occasional road trip or weekend getaway but don't have the money or the necessary storage space for a regular-size travel trailer, an RV, or a campervan, which have been typically associated with exploring the great outdoors. Though the initial investment is not negligible, this compact caravan comes with many benefits and allows you to keep your camping costs down in the long run.If you have any questions about the Lion Caravans Cub teardrop trailer, you can contact the company through their website . Meanwhile, you can watch this short video walkthrough of the Cub.
Photo: Herzog brochure

Photo: Herzog brochure

Photo: Herzog brochure

The Herzog Conte, or the Herzog Conte Schwimmwagen by its full name, is an amphibious car that was introduced in 1979, went into production that same year, and went out not with a bang but a whimper just one year later. Its timing coincided with an ever-growing fascination for amphibious vehicles, sadly one that was rather one-directional. Car companies believed amphibians were the future; regular Joes, not so much. Or, if they did too, they couldn't afford them.Today, the 1979 Herzog Conte is a sort of Internet legend. Like that oh-so-very-ugly Christmas sweater you keep on the bottom shelf or a porcelain figurine you have from a dear departed one, which you hated when you got it but have since grown to love, its ugliness turned it into a star. The Conte is an underdog that has been subverting beauty standards from within, quietly and insidiously, by simply existing: a car so proud in its ugliness and so strangely designed that the more you look at it, the more it tends to win you over.Throughout history, we've seen that amphibious cars can only be mildly ugly at their very best. Because they have to integrate dual drives and a waterproof lower part, they look exactly like what they are: half boat and half car. Or, better said, they look like a boat with a car on top, a random stacking of unlike parts that are made to work because they have to. Just like the Conte.Introduced as the family vacation vehicle offering complete freedom on land and on the water , the Conte was based on an Mk I Ford Granada and was offered with two engine variants, both on gas. You could get a 2.3 or a 2.8-liter V6 engine with 114 or 135 hp, respectively, but you could also get it as a hardtop or a soft top model (Model 2-3 and Model 2-8).All parts were original Ford, and Herzog promised servicing and maintenance would be carried out at Ford dealers. The only brochures that have survived online note that, besides the standard spec, you could add some optionals, like an AC system.Weighing 2,340 kg (5,159 lbs), the Conte has a waterproof steel hull and aluminum upper part. It was offered in three color choices: red and white, green and white, and brown and white. To prevent water ingress, the exhaust came out high on the tailgate, right next to the spare tire. For the same reason, cooling of the engine was done through two side vents that added to the impression that the car had been built by stacking at least a couple of two different vehicles.Still, the Conte promised a top speed on land of 140 kph (87 mph), seating for five people, including the two front seats that reclined and featured adjustable headrests for maximum comfort. The interior was "modern," with a sound-absorbing cabin and a new heating and ventilating system with three-stage blower. If you wanted to splurge , you could add an AC system too.Of course, the best part of all was the ability to drive right to the edge of a body of water, be it a lake, river, or even the sea, and then into it. "For the Conte amphibious car, there are no borders at rivers, seas, or coasts," the brochure said, promising that Conte could keep on keepin' on even in strong currents.In water mode, it relied on twin propellers engaged via a power-takeoff shaft, but there's no mention of how fast it could go. If we've learned anything from more successful similar builds that actually lasted more than a couple of years on the market ( Amphicar , here's looking at you), the Conte wasn't particularly fast or impressive on the water. But it didn't sink, so there's always that.Even though recent years have earned the Conte dubiously prestigious monikers like "worlds ugliest car," "oddest vehicle," or the "most dynamically compromised" vehicle to have emerged from Germany, there's really not much of a trace left about it.Some reports claim only one prototype was built, while others say several units rolled off the assembly line. The latter is more probable if only evidenced by the surviving brochure that shows three different colored cars in both hardtop and soft top configuration. Either way, the consensus is that the Conte lived such a short and seemingly uneventful life because demand was too low, which means one of two things: either it was priced too high because of its dual mode of transport, which was common with amphibians, or people saw it as ugly even back then.But this was the late '70s, so we reckon it was pricing that stifled demand, not the odd styling.
More precisely, the one sounding all the bells and whistles is a particular major tuner and ultra-high-performance automobile producer from Sealy, Texas. And the company is keeping itself quite busy, as just the other day, we heard it delivered a 1,817-hp Venom F5 Roadster to none other than Michael Jordan! Anyway, Hennessey Performance Engineering starts the journey on its online portal with the tagline "The American Dream Never Sleeps."Well, that is probably because of the loud exhaust setups, the screeching sound of tortured tires, and the howls of upgraded V6 and V8 engines. Also, a newborn is always around the corner - like the fresh VelociRaptor 500 Ford Ranger Raptor. Just a few days after the Blue Oval company launched the all-new 2024 Ranger bid to capture the lead across the mid-size pickup truck market, everyone thought it would be quickly forgotten as Toyota followed swiftly with an introduction of its own.The 2024 Tacoma will also duke it out with the newly standalone D41 Nissan Frontier, the all-new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins, as well as the mighty Jeep Gladiator. But none of them are as powerful as the 2024 Ranger Raptor, which is motivated by a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 churning 405 hp and 430 lb-ft (583 Nm). And if that is not enough to come out on top of the competition, then you just need to throw another $24,950 at your Ranger Raptor truck for the Hennessey 'VelociRaptor 500' upgrade package.Production will kick off during the final quarter of the year, and the new 'VelociRaptor 500' Ford Ranger Raptor will proudly sit in the tuner's range alongside the 500-hp 'VelociRaptor 500' Bronco Raptor as both are motivated by the same powertrain. As such, the coordinates are the same  500 ponies and a surge of torque from 430 to 550 lb-ft (746 Nm). Not bad, right? Especially since now, we are dealing with "the most powerful warrantied mid-size pickup available today."For the additional $25k, Hennessey fits the OEM Ford Ranger Raptor with better air induction, a high-capacity intercooler with a blow-off valve, plus an updated engine management system. But that's all inside the engine bay. Meanwhile, visual perks include bespoke VelociRaptor bumpers, LED off-road lights, custom 18-inch Hennessey ten-spoke alloy wheels, 35-inch off-road tires, and 'VelociRaptor 500' identification markers. Plus, let us not forget about the traditional three-year (36k-mile/58k km) warranty for additional peace of mind. But you better hurry if you want one, as production is capped at 200 units for 2024MY.
That's an engine developed specifically for the upcoming Dassault Falcon 10X airplane, the first Rolls powerplant to be featured in a business jet made by the French aerospace company. The technology was first announced back in 2021, and now we're told its development is progressing "full steam ahead."The Pearl 10X is described by the company as the most powerful business aviation engine in the whole Rolls-Royce portfolio. Being capable of developing 18,000 lbs of thrust, it should allow the Falcon to fly very close to the speed of sound, at Mach 0.925.The so-called Advance2 engine core that forms its heart is responsible for this, but also for a reduction in fuel consumption by five percent over previous variants. Thanks to this, the plane should be capable of flying distances as long as that between say New York to Shanghai (over 7,000 miles/11,200 km) without the need to refuel.In the years that have passed since the engine's announcement, some 1,500 test hours have been completed, and the results point to the unit being more than able to meet the performance requirements of the airplane it's meant for. A run of the entire powerplant, brand new, ultra-slim nacelle included, was performed earlier in 2023.Tests have been performed on the low-emissions combustor, which can burn 100 percent Sustainable Aviation Fuel ( SAF ), the two-stage shroudless high-pressure turbine and the corresponding four-stage low-pressure turbine, and the accessory gearbox that helps harness the huge power.Up next for the engine is the first true test in the environment it's supposed to operate in. Later this year, Rolls-Royce will begin the flight test campaign, with the powerplant installed under the wings of a Boeing 747. Flights will be performed from Tucson, Arizona.With the engine so close to this major milestone, the company is moving along with the build of a production facility in Le Haillan, France. It's from here that production of the Dassault Falcon 10X will be supported.As for the plane itself, the Falcon 10X will hit the market as one with the largest cabin of any purpose-built business jet, eight inches (20 cm) wider and two inches (five cm) taller than the largest such machine currently in operation.The first flight of a complete airplane of this kind is expected sometime in 2025, joining the fight against products made by Bombardier and Gulfstream. It's expected the Falcon 10X will have a price of around $75 million.
Photo: Covo Tiny House Co.

Photo: Covo Tiny House Co.

Photo: Covo Tiny House Co.

2020 changed the way we work and socialize, but most importantly, it changed how we relate to our surroundings, which is why downsizing is such a hip thing to do today. If you're good at selling this lifestyle on the socials, it can even be a profitable endeavor. A win-win-win!A good three years before we even started thinking about working from home as the norm, at least on such a large scale, Covo Tiny Homes suggested it as a viable option  one that would also allow for endless traveling. And it had the perfect solution for working from home wherever the home might be or how much it'd move around: the Mio.This tiny home builder from Portland, Oregon promises to deliver high-quality hand-crafted homes that foster a sense of complete freedom  be it freedom from stress, debt, and clutter or freedom to move around without thinking about leaving your possessions behind.Their lineup includes three models as of the time of press, with the flagship being Mio. Mio was perhaps one of the first true smart tinies on an emerging market when it was introduced in the summer of 2017  three years before the international health crisis that would fuel soaring demand in tiny houses and other types of mobile homes. Mio is a pioneer in the niche of smart tiny homes, and that's why we're still talking about it today.Mio started from a very simple premise: if you had all the comforts of a luxury residence, would you still mind the more compact footprint? Would you care as much about the lack of space if you could work inside your home as you would in an office and still had some room left to entertain guests  as long as they weren't more than two at a time?The Mio is a very small home, even by 2023 standards when we're already familiar with the extremes of downsizing . It sits on a 26-foot (7.9-meter) double-axle trailer and offers a little under 330 square feet (30.6 square meters) of space, which includes the two lofts  one that doubles as the main bedroom and the other that's for storage. That's a cramped space however you look at it, and even keeping in mind the creative gimmicks meant to create the illusion of an airier one, like the awning window or the breakfast bar overlooking it, the minimalist furniture, or the oversize deck.Then again, with a smaller footprint comes a higher degree of mobility, and that was the gist from the start. Designed to appeal to the millennial working from home, Covo Mio aimed to offer a space that was both home and office in equal measure, in the same elegant and towable package.With the main sleeping area out of sight in the larger loft and the possibility of creating a storage space in the smaller one, the ground floor is taken up by the kitchen with the adjoining living room and the bathroom. The kitchen is almost residential-sized, with a three-burner gas range and oven, a fridge and freezer, and plenty of space for storage and meal prep. The bathroom is standard fare, with a small shower, a composting toilet, and a sink with vanity. A garage for extra storage is at the rear, accessible from the outside only, and it's spacious enough to hold a couple of bicycles.There is nothing truly special about the layout or the way in which it's adapted to the Mio, so Covo aimed to stand out through extra features. In other words, the Covo Mio is a true smart home at a time when few other tinies could boast of that.The Mio can be fitted with Alexa control technology, Lutron Casita smart home lighting, Nest thermostat, Bluetooth-connected Yamaha tuner and speakers, and Schlage connect door. Every function inside the home can be monitored and adjusted according to preferences on the smartphone, from lights to heating and audio.To further enhance the smart experience , Covo added a 55-inch 4K monitor and TV that looks even bigger and more impressive because it's inside a tiny home, an automated sit-stand work desk for those who spend enough time in front of the computer to be concerned about posture and weight gain, and built-in USB charging ports throughout. In short, with the Mio, Covo created the perfect space for work and relaxation, which, as it so happened, could also come along with you on your travels.The Covo Mio is still available today in the exact spec. Pricing starts at $60,000 and can go as high as $100,000 if you opt for all the add-ons, which puts it in the niche of premium tiny homes. One thing that hasn't changed all these years, even with the boom in popularity of tiny homes , is the fact that neither exceptional good looks nor smarts can be had inside one without a hefty budget.
Photo: autoevolution

Google Maps in trucks

Photo: autoevolution

Motorcycle support in Google Maps

Photo: autoevolution

Furthermore, Google Maps comes with all kinds of extras, including business information, store opening hours, reviews, and street-level imagery But despite all these improvements, Google Maps still doesnt ignore the navigation component. After all, this is the feature that drivers use the most in their cars, and, given the high level of accuracy offered by Google Maps, it's also an important catalyst for growing the user base.There's one thing that people seem to ignore way too often, though: Google Maps offers navigation only for certain vehicle categories. And here's precisely why this is a critical thing.Google Maps currently supports several transportation modes, such as passenger cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and public transportation.A truck navigation mode is not available , and this is precisely why Google Maps shouldnt be used in larger vehicles.The routing model bundled with Google Maps does not take into account the vehicle dimensions and the cargo size, so it sends you on any road allowing for a faster trip. In other words, Google Maps only wants to get you to the destination as fast as possible, all without taking into account critical details like the vehicle you drive.Ignoring this simple thing can be horrible in the case of a lorry. Because Google Maps has no idea you're driving a truck, it might send you to narrow roads with sharp curves. This means your vehicle wouldnt fit.Unfortunately, way too many people figure this out the hard way, eventually being forced to call for help after getting stuck in the most awkward places. Needless to say, they also cause major disruption in these regions, as a truck getting stuck on a road typically produces heavy traffic jams.On the other hand, while Google Maps lacks a truck mode, it does come with support for scooters and motorcycles.What you need to know from the very beginning, however, is that these features are very limited compared to the standard navigation system aimed at cars. As such, you won't get the same advanced capabilities, such as eco-friendly routing, but on the other hand, Google Maps can still help you go from where you are to where you want to be faster.As an extra, Google Maps also knows precisely if a two-wheeler is not allowed on a specific road. As a result, the suggested routes shouldnt include such roads, though you should still always pay attention to traffic signs . This advice makes sense no matter what Google Maps says, as following the instructions on the side of the road is mandatory for every driver.Getting back to the motorcycle navigation features, they are only available in limited locations. Google focused mostly on car directions, so the motorcycle support feels half-baked. Most likely, the company will improve it in the long term, but for now, the availability is very limited precisely because it takes time to build an accurate database of roads and motorcycle restrictions.Google explains that when you use this particular mode in Google Maps, the application might tell you to use shortcuts, including narrow side roads. This way, you can avoid roads with motorcycles restrictions in place but otherwise use streets where you're allowed to ride a bike, even if they are narrower.The company recommends motorcycle owners to inspect their turns before leaving on a trip. And it's not hard to figure out why, as looking at the mobile device while you ride a bike is a lot more difficult and pretty dangerous. Google Maps also comes with audio guidance, so if you use a Bluetooth headset, you can just listen to the instructions.As I said earlier, the feature lineup in this mode is very limited, but Google Maps still comes with support for multiple stops . As such, if you plan a journey with more than one stop, Google Maps allows you to do this before leaving on a trip. Needless to say, you can also do the planning part on a computer and then send the entire route to the mobile device.Other than that, Google Maps offers rather basic functionality for motorcycles, so this side of the app should be significantly improved in the long term. Unfortunately, Google rarely talks about its future plans for Google Maps, as the company's main focus right now is the immersive experience that's now expanding across the world.As a closing piece of advice, remember that you must always use Google Maps for the appropriate vehicle category. Following its turn-by-turn navigation in a truck, for instance, can lead to massive blunders that would affect not only you but entire communities as well.
Pashinian insisted that signing a relevant Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty is vital for Armenias own security and territorial integrity.

Do we all realize that we have been living in our beloved homeland for 35 years without a land ownership certificate? he claimed during his governments question-and-answer session in the parliament. Throughout its millennia-long existence Armenia has never had an ownership certificate.

If we manage to do what we want to do, then for the first time in our history we will get an ownership certificate and will be not only a de facto but also a de jure owner [of modern-day Armenian territory]  We want to have a land title called a state with internationally recognized delimited and demarcated borders, he said.

Pashinian publicly confirmed on Monday that the peace deal currently discussed by Baku and Yerevan would uphold Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh. The statement drew strong condemnation from Armenian opposition leaders.

One of them, Armen Ashotian, was quick to decry the premiers latest claims meant to justify his stance on the conflict with Azerbaijan.

Never mind that international bodies and countries of the world had recognized Armenias territorial integrity  Its the ownership certificate signed by [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev that counts, he wrote sarcastically on Facebook.

A death certificate for Armenia is what Pashinian has been striving for, charged Ashotian.

Karabakhs parliament expressed outrage at Pashinians plans in a statement unanimously adopted on Monday night. It said that any document ignoring the Karabakh Armenians self-determination would be null and void for Stepanakert.

The Armenian Apostolic Church added its voice to the uproar on Tuesday. It Supreme Spiritual Council said that restoration of Azerbaijani control over Karabakh would inevitably leave our brothers and sisters in Artsakh facing a new genocide.
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, left, and Ukraine's Deputy Infrastructure Minister Oleksandra Azarkhina, hold a copy of a signed memorandum of understanding in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday (local time).



By Lee Kyung-min



Ukraine has offered to share data on 5,000 post-war reconstruction projects with Korea first, a month earlier than an international release in June, the land ministry said Wednesday, illustrating a desire for Korea's experience in smart city planning and infrastructure building.



The suggestion was made during a meeting between Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong and Ukraine's Deputy Infrastructure Minister Oleksandra Azarkhina, Tuesday (local time). The minister is on a visit this week to Poland to meet with Ukraine's government officials to expedite talks on bilateral cooperation on post-war rebuilding, encompassing roads, buildings, railways and military facilities.



The data will be shared through a database called Dream, where the roles and authority of Ukraine's regions in need of reconstruction are clearly outlined as well as the projects' cost estimates.



This will be a key reference for their Korean counterparts to discuss and resolve issues for a speedy launch and completion of joint state-run projects while managing profitability risks for businesses and circumventing national security issues among other politically sensitive matters. The projects will begin after video conferencing between government officials of the two countries early next month.



The two officials signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and agreed to provide necessary information compiled by the Ukrainian government.



Ukraine's deputy infrastructure minister said the data will be shared at a meeting in London from June 21 to 22, organized to help the post-war reconstruction.



Won said the data will be critical to speeding up the projects. A Consultative body will be launched to begin the rebuilding in the non-military and non-politically sensitive sectors.



"Korea will immediately review data and share it with the government, state-run organizations and private entities," Won said.



Among members of the body will be the land ministry, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corp. (KIND).



Won stressed that the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine has long-term strategic implications since Korea needs to build its partnership with the European peer in order to secure a trusted ally in the European Union (EU).



"Strategic partnership with Ukraine is significant not only from the standpoint of economic interests but also national security issues, a reason why the government approach should be different from one concerning the Middle East or Southeast Asia," Won said.



Won was scheduled to meet with Oleksandr Kubrakov. Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine. Kubrakov was unable to attend the meeting due to Russia's attacks on major Ukrainian cities.


The incident followed a speech delivered by Hayastans Artur Sargsian during a parliament debate on the appointment of new members of Armenias Court of Cassation nominated by a state judicial watchdog. The nominees included Armen Danielian, a lower court judge who approved in 2021 Sargsians arrest declared by the Constitutional Court illegal a few months later.

Speaking from this podium today, you proudly claimed that you made all your decisions within the bounds of the law, Sargsian said, appealing to Danielian. The fact is that you made an illegal decision to arrest me.

After finishing his speech, he walked towards the judge, telling him to look me in the eyes before I leave.

Sargsians behavior angered deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party. One of them, Hovik Aghazarian, apparently shouted an insult at the oppositionist. The latter shouted back in anger, triggering a scuffle with other Civil Contract lawmakers.

Parliament speaker Alen Simonian responded by ordering security officers to forcibly remove Sargsian from the parliament auditorium. Another Hayastan deputy, Gegham Manukian, was also forced out after attempting to stop the guards from dragging away Sargsian.

Hayastan leaders condemned the use of force, saying that the incident was provoked by Aghazarian. The pro-government parliamentarian, who is known for his flamboyant behavior and statements, did not deny insulting Sargsian.

Simonian afterwards reprimanded both Sargsian and Aghazarian. Still, he blamed the opposition for the ugly scenes on the parliament floor.

A group of opposition lawmakers were similarly evicted from the chamber last month after occupying its podium in protest against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
24 May 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

After the rightful confession of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding to Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, some artificially organized protests in Armenia began to take a large scope. With the support and intervention of the separatists and diaspora forces abroad, a chaos began to rage within the country, the purpose of which is not understood.

Currently, the Armenian society is divided into two groups; some of them are a group of people who come to terms with reality and leave the old ideology behind. Others are separatist people who are still living in the dreams of past Armenian fictions and false promises. But there is another group who are not even aware of what is happening inside the country. In other words, they are blindly taking steps under the influence of separatists with no goal and deal a serious blow to the future of Armenia.

Political analyst Farhad Mammadov, in a commented on the issue for Azernews, said that he believes that the events have disturbed the traditional opposition and their followers for two main reasons.

As regards the external forces, Pashinyan's statement destroys the ideological paradigms associated with both Azerbaijan and Turkiye, which have been formed in Armenia for decades. Because he noted that Karabakh is within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and at the same time he made a statement about Aghri Dagh (the so called name in Armenian mount ararat). Literally, the provocations by the traditional opposition, diaspora groups abroad and even by the church occured after Pashinyan's statements on the above matter.

Further to his comments, the political analyst and the head of the South Caucasus Research Center added that in general, prolonging the conflict is more in Russia's interests. Because Russia wants to continue its presence in this region and emerge as managing part of the conflict.

In general, Russia's economic policy in the South Caucasus and political dialogues with two other states, with the exception of Georgia, are at a high level. Although Georgia does not engage in political dialogue with Russia, it is currently implementing its policies in line with Russia's expectations. In other words, the use of conflicts in such conditions to expand its influence in the region is an indicator of Russia's preference for obsolete politics. As regards some external forces that impede the process of peace talks and normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, these are Armenian diaspora abroad and some forces in Russia, Mammadov said.

According to him, last year, after a very soft announcement, thousands of people took to the streets and protested for weeks. However, despite a little time has passed since this statement, we do not see any mass protests. This means that the Armenian society is reconciling with the reality in the region.

"Despite the fact that people have the right to gather and protest, nowadays, almost 95 percent of the Armenian population confess Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan's territory. If there are no protests in the coming weeks, then in the near future we will see how Pashinyan breaks through the internal barrier and makes a clear statement," the political analyst opined.

As for the question of whether Pashinyan will be able to calm the political unrest within his government, the expert answered that Pashinyan is an absolute leader of Armenia that has been elected according to its own constitution.

"If we look at the internal politics of Armenia, Pashinyan is legitimate. Power structures exist in his hands. During these days, he purged the government from former officials (police, army leadership) en masse.

I have no doubt that there will be observed serious provocations during, and after the signing of the peace treaty. However, since Pashinyan is considered a legitimate Prime Minister, I believe that he will overcome this crisis.

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Follow Rena Murshud on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
24 May 2023 12:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Leyla Tarverdiyeva

Tracking the current events in the negotiation process on the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, I involuntarily recalled the famous speech of the famous Azerbaijani writer Mirza Ibrahimov in June 1989 in the Kremlin, at a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian intelligentsia. In the course of discussions on the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh events", the wise man by life experience, said: "When the Almighty Allah decides to punish a person, he deprives him of his mind!" This apt saying, of course, was addressed to the Armenian side, which fought with might and main for the implementation of the pernicious idea of "miatsum". What this led to is well known.

Azerbaijani expert, head of the Iravan Analytical Center Sohbat Mammadov has said this in an interview with day.az. Azernews presents the the article.

Decades have passed since then, he noted, but even after the crushing defeat during the Second Karabakh War, neither in Armenia, nor on a small stub, which is now under the temporary control of the Russian peacekeeping forces, it seems that they have not gained their mind. This is especially felt against the backdrop of the atmosphere that has developed after the meeting in Brussels and Nikol Pashinyan's statements on the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within 86.6 thousand square kilometers. The Prime Minister's statements had the effect of a bombshell in Armenia and the so-called RMK zone.

"The heralds of Pashinyan's accusation of betrayal, as expected, were both the Karabakh clan, which amassed untold wealth on the blood of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples, and the infamous Dashnaktsutyun party. But the most interesting thing is that the Moscow missionary Ruben Vardanyan again climbed to the fore, in Recently, he has almost disappeared from the news feeds. He launched a stormy activity - he gives interviews to various media, participates online in various gatherings of the Armenian diaspora abroad, loitering along country roads and urging his fellow tribesmen to be persistent and not succumb to the reintegration proposed by Baku into Azerbaijani society. To this end, he recently founded the social movement "Security and Development Front" of Karabakh. By attracting the overwhelming majority of young people to the movement, he plays on their fragile feelings in order to achieve either his own or the goal imposed on him. And he has a goal, as they show recent events, win the image of the savior of the nation and move to Armenia through Karabakh in the hope of climbing the Olympus of power. You can finally come to this conclusion by looking at the message Vardanyan wrote down a couple of days ago to Nikol Pashinyan. The Russian billionaire, sent to the territory of Azerbaijan for clearly provocative purposes, declares that "the topic of genocide, nemesis and national identity are not subject to discussion." It was a challenge to Pashinyan and a signal to action to all those who are dissatisfied with the course towards reconciliation in the South Caucasus," Mammadov stressed.

According to the pundit, various experts who monitor the development of the situation in Armenia claim that if Pashinyan signs a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, Nikol Vovaevich will lose his position and even, perhaps, his life. Given this circumstance, according to experts, the West and Moscow set off in search of a successor to Pashinyan. Apparently, this is precisely what can explain the activation of Ruben Vardanyan, who was brought out of his sleeping state by one of the towers of the Kremlin, dissatisfied with the behavior of Pashinyan.

"In this whole story, it is obvious that if Nikol Vovayevich loses and the Karabakh clan comes to power, together with the Dashnaktsutyun party, Armenia itself will have a sad fate. In this situation, we would like to remind the sensible part of the elite of the neighboring country the words of the first Prime Minister of Armenia Hovhannes Kachaznuni, who in the first half of the 20th century, accusing the Dashnaks of the troubles of the Armenian people, warned his relatives that "the Dashnaktsutyun has nothing more to do!". Time will tell whether Armenia will listen to the words of Hovhannes Kachaznuni or not," Sohabt Mammadov added.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
24 May 2023 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

Following Pashinyans rightful decision on recognizing Azerbaijans territory at a meeting in Yerevan, sounded quite shocking in Armenia. Literally Pashinyan is on the right path by going his full forces ahead, however future prospects with respect to relations between Pashinyans authority and Armenian society, including provocations by separatist forces and Armenian diaspora abroad is yet unpredictable. Perhaps the society could be the easiest part for Pashinyan tackle with, but the separatist forces and their external supporters seem to be a real threat for the Prime Ministers future and even his life.

Speaking to Azernews, Irish political analyst, historian and professor Patrick Walsh said that Pashinyan may face a serious pressure, especially by parents of those who died in the Second Karabakh War.

Pashinyan quite rightly points out that he is obliged to recognise the de jure sovereignty of Azerbaijan over its Karabakh region. It is a fact of international law and the United Nations. But, of course, there will be resistance. Within Armenia there is bound to be resistance from those who fought in the recent war along with relatives of the dead. This is why a negotiated settlement was always the best option for Armenia. Abroad the diaspora is in uproar. Recently Eric Hacobian of CivilNet in California predicted a "Second Genocide" and threatened new wars in the future. The Armenian diaspora wants to rebuild the Armenian army and are very annoyed at Russia's understandable reluctance to supply weapons for this rebuild. The painful reality of defeat is coming home to the Armenians at home and abroad, it seems.

Touching on the ongoing deep rifts between Yerevan and Khankendi, the Irish expert noted that Pashinyan is still playing with time to extend the peace agreement, which could turn him into an enemy in front of the people.

Pashinyan will do well to survive a humiliating peace treaty which is why he has been delaying it. While Yerevan has been moving toward the West in the hope that Washington or Paris will assist them, the pseudo state in Karabakh still maintain a degree of faith in Russia as potential saviours. This is opening up divisions between Yerevan and Stepanakert. Ironically Pashinyan would be better off without the intransigent Karabakh Armenians that obstruct his reform and development programme. Armenia has seen some good signs of economic development since they shed most of the occupied territory and for future prosperity of the people of actual Armenia the settling of the Karabakh issue would be a good thing. However the big question is whether Pashinyan can be a Charles DeGaulle as in the Algerian issue or will he be brushed aside? Walsh said.

As for Azerbaijan's intervention in the process between Pashinyan and the separatist forces in Karabakh, Walsh noted that there are still two years ahead of it.

Azerbaijan must wait until 2025 when the agreement can be used to ask the Russians to leave. The Ukraine war has been beneficial in this respect because Russia will be less likely to want another conflict, win or lose in Ukraine. Moscow would be worried over further Western action and I think the Russians are more likely to walk away if some guarantees of future Azerbaijani neutrality are provided with perhaps other sweetners. There is no hurry to rush, the war in Ukraine is unlikely to end before next year and it is probable that the Russians will be more amenable to leave than fight have been feared.

In his comment, Patrick Walsh highly appreciated the initiatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the negotiation process organized by the West and Russia and noted that this can create a successful foundation for both countries to conduct independent policies in the future, independent of the parties.

It would be better if the entire international community plays a useful role in the settlement. This is because the South Caucasus will hopefully not become a geopolitical battleground, as Ukraine has, between the Great Powers. Actually both Azerbaijan and Armenia have been clever. Both sides have operated a parallel peace process, basically replicating their moves between Russian and US/UK twin track processes. In my view this suits Baku which has always operated a balanced foreign policy. However, at some stage Armenia, either through the overthrow of Pashinyan or him coming under extreme pressure, will jump one side or another to gain advantage from either Moscow or Washington. That could be a dangerous moment and will test the statesmanship of the Azerbaijani government. Past events suggest they can meet this challenge though world instability will play a part in the final outcome and we live in unpredictable times for sure, he added.

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews deputy editor-in-chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

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24 May 2023 13:59 (UTC+04:00)

Within the framework of the 76th session of the World Health Assembly, the delegation led by the Minister of Health of Azerbaijan, Teymur Musayev, holds bilateral meetings with the health ministers of the member countries of the organization and other business events, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijans Health Ministry.

Azerbaijans Health Ministry said that in a meeting with the delegation led by the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands, Ernst Kuipers, Minister Teymur Musayev noted the development of bilateral relations in many fields and emphasized that there is great potential for the exchange of experience between national health institutions. He said that the Dutch healthcare system, which includes highly qualified doctors and modern medical institutions, is recognized as an exemplary model in Europe. At the same time, it is one of the world's leading countries in the production and sale of pharmaceutical and medical equipment.

The Dutch Minister noted that there are all necessary means for interaction in the field of medical education in order to increase the efficiency of the health care of the two countries.

At the meeting, a wide range of ideas was exchanged regarding the expansion of cooperation in the field of healthcare and medical science, the application of academic practices in the field of transplantation, the implementation of joint projects, and other issues of interest.

The Azerbaijani delegation also held a meeting with Jan-Willem Scheigrond, Vice President of Global Government and Public Affairs of Royal Philips, a world leader in the production of medical equipment. During the meeting, the application of high-tech equipment produced by the company in Azerbaijan's health care, and the application of the company's know-how achievements during the medical research of Azerbaijan were the subject of extensive discussion.

The representative of Azerbaijan met with Charles Gore, executive director of Medicines Patent Pool, an UN-supported public health organization dedicated to expanding access to life-saving medicines and promoting their development. Within the framework of the meeting, the issues of organizing the production and consumption of a wider range of medicines with international patents and certification in the field of pharmaceuticals and protecting the human health factor in the future were discussed.

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24 May 2023 14:42 (UTC+04:00)

The Chairman of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) Orkhan Mammadov met with the President of the Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists Vidmantas Janulevicius within the framework of the Lithuania-Azerbaijani business forum held in Vilnius, Azernews reports, citing SMBDA.

The meeting discussed the expansion of cooperation between SMEs and the organization of joint events with the participation of SMEs.

KOBIA told that the president of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan Mammad Musayev, the head of the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Agency - AZPROMO Yusif Abdullayev, representatives of the Innovation Agency of Lithuania and "LitFood" also participated in the meeting. The parties exchanged views on joint initiatives in the field of expanding cooperation between SMEs of both countries, organizing events with the participation of SMEs, and other issues of mutual interest.

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24 May 2023 13:15 (UTC+04:00)

Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov met with Mohammad Abunayyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACWA Power during his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry.

At the meeting, the current status of cooperation on projects of Khizi-Absheron Wind Power Plant with a capacity of 240 MW, wind power with a total onshore and offshore capacity of 2.5 GW, as well as energy storage systems were discussed.

The action plan and deadlines for the implementation of Khizi-Absheron WPP were reviewed. The issues arising from the signed contracts were discussed and the intensification of the construction of the station was agreed. It was noted that the Wind Farm will be commissioned in 2025. The station is planned to produce 1 billion kWh of electricity per year, which will save 220 million cubic meters of natural gas and prevent the emission of more than 400,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

At the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on the results of research on the development of renewable energy in Nakhchivan and the assessment of hydrogen production in our country. ACWA Power was invited to participate in green energy projects in Nakhchivan.

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24 May 2023 16:00 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

Sometimes reading books offers a bookish person as much pleasure as anything else. Reading in the library is a particular delight.

Azerbaijan National Library is a great place to enjoy reading in the peaceful and cozy atmosphere.

Established in 1922, the library is a treasure trove of knowledge for bookworms.

With over 5 million books, manuscripts, maps, Azerbaijan National Library is considered one of the largest libraries in the Caucasus region. Since 1939, the library has borne the name of the eminent playwright Mirza Fatali Akhundov.

The library has an extensive collection of literature in Azerbaijani, Russian, English and other languages. It has collected and preserved national editions, works of Azerbaijani and foreign authors about Azerbaijan published abroad. The National Leader Heydar Aliyev visited the National Library four times in 1995-1997 and donated nearly 300 books from his personal library.

In 2004, Mirza Fatali Akhundov Library was granted the status of National Library by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The building of the library is no less impressive. The library's faade is decorated with the the statues of eminent poets and writers like Nizami Ganjavi, Mahsati Ganjavi, Uzeyir Hajibayli, Shota Rustaveli, Alexander Pushkin and many others.

The scope of the library's activities is constantly expanding. In 2005, on the basis of legal copies received from publishing houses and printing companies, the library published the yearbook "Books of Azerbaijan" for 1990, 1991, 2000, 2001.

Over the past years, the National Library has signed a memorandum on bilateral mutual cooperation with about 80 libraries.

The library also became a member of the international organization "The Conference of European national librarians (CENL)".

In 2021, the Culture Ministry and Mirza Fatali Akhundov Library launched a joint campaign "Let's go to Karabakh with a book" to restore libraries in Karabakh region.

A large number of books were donated to the Karabakh book fund by a number of international organizations working in the field of culture, Turkic-speaking countries, famous foreign and local authors, publishers, and print houses.

The Turkish Professional Union of the Authors of Scientific and Literary Works (ILESAM) donated 10,000 books to the fund for libraries to be restored in Karabakh.

Moreover, a campaign "Let's go to Karabakh with a book" operated during the 8th Baku International Book Fair.

Around 500 books were donated by People's Writer Elchin Afandiyev as well.

The Institute of Education also joined the book campaign, presenting some 5,263 copies of 300 books.

The embassy of Kazakhstan handed over books on science, culture, and history as well as anthologies of Kazakh prose and poetry.

Azerbaijan National Library is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Throughout its 100-year history, the library has played a key role in preserving Azerbaijan's cultural heritage and promoting knowledge and education.

To mark this milestone, the Azerbaijan National Library has launched a virtual exhibition "Azerbaijan National Library -100", as well as a traditional book exhibition "100 years at the service of the people".

The exhibitions present photos, books and articles about the library, opinions of eminent persons and other materials.

The National Library will continue to host a series of events and initiatives to showcase its rich history and cultural significance.

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24 May 2023 10:49 (UTC+04:00)

The First Deputy Minister of Defense  Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev, who is on an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, met with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan, Army General Syed Asim Munir, Azernews reports.

An official welcoming ceremony was held before the meeting. After the national anthems of both countries were performed, the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General K. Valiyev passed along the guard of honor.

The sides met first in private and then in an expanded format.

Army General A. Munir welcomed the guests and expressed his satisfaction with seeing them in Pakistan. He congratulated the Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the victory in the Patriotic War and ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Pakistani COAS noted that the friendly relations between the armies of Azerbaijan and Pakistan are in progress and have entered a new stage. He pointed out that Pakistan attaches special importance to military cooperation with Azerbaijan and that there are great opportunities for further development of military relations.

Expressing his gratitude for the invitation, Colonel General K. Valiyev noted that there are historically friendly relations between the two nations, and these relations greatly contributed to the development of bilateral military cooperation along with other fields.

Colonel General K. Valiyev emphasized that the development and expansion of cooperation with Pakistan in the military field as in all fields are always in the spotlight of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Mr. Ilham Aliyev.

Speaking about the provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on the conditional border, the Chief of the General Staff emphasized that this was intentionally done by Armenia with the aim of aggravating the situation, and each time a worthy response was given to them.

At the meeting, the importance of expanding relations between the types of troops of the armies of the two countries, holding joint Azerbaijani-Pakistani-Turkish exercises, as well as further development of trilateral cooperation were emphasized.

The sides discussed cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan in the military, military-technical, and military-educational spheres, continuation of mutual visits, as well as other issues regarding the security and fight against terrorism.

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24 May 2023 11:42 (UTC+04:00)

The delegation of the Lithuanian Standards Council (LST) paid a visit to Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

During the visit, the Lithuanian delegation held meetings with the State Service for Antimonopoly and Control Over Consumer Market, and Azerbaijan Standardization Institute (AZSTAND).

During the meetings, the expansion of the existing cooperation relations between the parties was discussed, as well as the procedures for the adoption of national technical regulations based on the adoption of European directives and reference standards, and the application of reference standards were exchanged.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between AZSTAND and LST within the framework of the visit.

According to the document, the parties will cooperate on the implementation of digital solutions in the field of standardization, the activity of Technical Committees, the practice of subscription in the dissemination of standards, and exchange experience in the field of reference standards.

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Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson speaks about the company's efforts to boost its brand image in Korea during the first Peugeot Brand Day in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Stellantis Korea



By Kim Hyun-bin



Stellantis Korea hosted a "Peugeot Brand Day" on Wednesday, sharing the brand identity and core values that encompass Peugeot's past, present and future. Linda Jackson, CEO of Peugeot Brand, and Matthias Hossann, Peugeot Design Director, attended the event, expressing their strong commitment to bolstering the brand in Korea.



"The direction in Korea can undoubtedly have a halo effect in other global markets, which is why we swiftly introduced this model in Korea," CEO Linda Jackson said. She further explained that Korea is the market to debut the New Peugeot 408 first in the IAP (India, Asia, Pacific) region."



Jackson also exuded confidence in the New Peugeot 408, which will expand Peugeot's foothold in Korea. Stellantis plans to operate a city test drive center, enabling easy access for individuals to experience the vehicle.



"With the launch of the New 408, we will devote our utmost efforts to promoting the brand and reinforcing its identity in the Korean market." Jake Aumman, CEO of Stellantis Korea said.



In addition, Stellantis Korea unveiled the Inception Concept model providing a glimpse into Peugeot's future and introducing new vision and experiences. The Inception Concept first showcased at the 2023 CES event held in the U.S. in January, derives its name from the Latin word "inceptio," meaning beginning.



Its exterior features a new design that will be applied to upcoming production vehicles starting in 2025, while the interior showcases a unique driving experience with innovative seating positions.



It is equipped with a 100-kilowatt-hour battery that allows a maximum range of 800 kilometers on a single charge, with the ability to charge up to 30 kilometers in one minute and up to 150 kilometers in five minutes. Wireless charging is also possible. With a total output of 680 horsepower (500 kilowatt-hours), it can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in less than three seconds.


24 May 2023 11:19 (UTC+04:00)

The US administration presented its proposals to the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan on resolving some of the issues as part of the work on a peace agreement. Derek Hogan, First Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, announced this, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlets.

According to him, "there is progress" in the negotiation process between the two countries. The US official has touched on some issues the Armenian minorities living in Karabakh while speaking at a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress.

To recap, Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan held talks in Washington on May 1 through the mediation of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. According to Hogan, there was "intense diplomatic interaction between the two parties" at this meeting.

"We are now looking into what can be done on the most contentious issues," he added. "We put forward a number of proposals, which may have provided both sides with some language to overcome differences. They took them into consideration," - said the State Department official.

He noted that last week he spoke with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to understand "in what areas we can move forward."

Speaking about the meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, which is expected to take place on June 1 in Chisinau with the participation of the head of the European Council Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Hogan noted that there will be attention "focused on what needs to be done to get things done."

Note that last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that on May 25 he would hold talks in Moscow with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev through the mediation of the President of the Russian Federation. On May 22, Pashinyan stated that Armenia would recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh where Armenian minorities live.

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24 May 2023 15:37 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

First Deputy Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General Kerim Veliyev met with Commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces, General of the Army Asim Munir as part of his visit to Pakistan, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

An official welcoming ceremony was held before the meeting. After the national anthems of both countries were performed, the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General K. Valiyev passed along the guard of honor.

The sides met first in private and then in an expanded format.

During the meeting, Munirot noted that Pakistan attaches special importance to military cooperation with Azerbaijan. He stressed the existence of broad opportunities for the further development of military ties.

The meeting emphasized the importance of expanding ties between the types of troops of the armies of the two countries, holding joint Azerbaijan-Pakistan-Turkiye exercises and further developing trilateral cooperation. The parties discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in the military, military-technical and military-educational fields, as well as other issues related to the fight against terrorism and security," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Colonel General K. Valiyev emphasized that the development and expansion of cooperation with Pakistan in the military field as in all fields are always in the spotlight of the President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev.

Speaking about the provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on the conditional border, the Chief of the General Staff emphasized that this was intentionally done by Armenia with the aim of aggravating the situation, and each time a worthy response was given to them.

The Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Khazar Farhadov also attended the meeting.

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24 May 2023 16:35 (UTC+04:00)

President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on May 28 - Independence Day, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear Mr. President,

On the occasion of Azerbaijans Independence Day, I have much pleasure to extend to Your Excellency and your friendly people my warmest felicitations and best wishes.

Egypt and Azerbaijan are bound by strong ties of amity and friendship that have extended over the years. I hope that, through joint work and close coordination, our bilateral relations will witness huge strides forward in areas of common interest for the benefit of both our countries and people.

Please accept, dear Mr. President, my sincerest wishes for your personal health and continued success and for the peace and prosperity of the friendly people of Azerbaijan.

Highest consideration and appreciation,

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

President of the Arab Republic of Egypt

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24 May 2023 16:39 (UTC+04:00)

President of Croatia Zoran Milanovic has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on May 28 - Independence Day, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear Mr. President,

On the occasion of National Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan  the Independence Day, I am pleased to extend on behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia and on my behalf, warm congratulations, and wishes of progress and prosperity to your citizens.

Croatia and Azerbaijan are tied by a longstanding cooperation and friendship. I believe that in the time ahead we will further work to advance our overall relations.

Please accept, Mr. President, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Sincerely,

Zoran Milanovic

President of the Republic of Croatia

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24 May 2023 16:43 (UTC+04:00)

On May 24, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov received a delegation led by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Margareta Cederfelt, who was on a visit to Azerbaijan to participate in the international conference held in Baku on the theme "The role of national parliaments in promoting security and stability through green economy, transport coordination and sustainable development," Azernews reports, citing MFA.

At the meeting, the prospects of cooperation of relations with Azerbaijan in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the main issues on the agenda, possible contributions of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia were discussed.

Confidence was expressed that the international conference held in Baku, jointly organized by Azerbaijans Parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, will contribute to further deepening of mutual cooperation. The importance of interparliamentary dialogue and mutual visits was emphasized.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov informed the other party about the current situation in the region and the large-scale reconstruction and construction projects carried out by Azerbaijan. Despite Armenia's provocations and efforts to slow down the processes, he informed about the steps taken by Azerbaijan in the direction of ensuring peace and stability in the region, including the signing of the peace agreement, the opening of all communications and other issues.

In addition, attention was paid to issues such as ongoing mine threats, non-fulfillment of obligations by Armenia within the framework of the Tripartite Declaration, violence against Azerbaijani soldiers captured in April and their non-return, and non-reporting of missing persons.

The Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Margareta Cederfelt, pointed out that within the framework of her visit to Azerbaijan, she and her delegation visited the Zangilan district and got acquainted with the reconstruction projects of Azerbaijan. Noting that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly attaches great importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan, Margareta Cederfelt, also spoke about the importance of ensuring peace and security in the region, and emphasized that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly promotes peace, stability, parliamentary diplomacy, and works towards ensuring peace in the region.

At the meeting, opinions were also exchanged on other topics of mutual interest.

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24 May 2023 17:22 (UTC+04:00)

The letter of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, addressed to the UN Secretary General regarding the Azerbaijani soldiers Agshin Babirov Qabil oghlu and Huseyn Akhundov Ahliman oghlu, who were captured by Armenia, was released as documents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, Azernews reports, citing MFA.

In the letter serious concern is expressed about the soldiers of the Azerbaijani Army, who lost their way due to unfavorable weather conditions, were later captured by the Armenian armed forces, were subjected to torture and other inhumane behavior, and were subject to a false court case, were not returned to Azerbaijan by Armenia in violation of international humanitarian law and obligations.

Despite the evidence of torture and other criminal acts committed in social networks and other publicly available sources, the Armenian side, instead of punishing those who committed these acts, tries to use Azerbaijani soldiers as bargaining subjects, it is brought to the attention of the UN Secretary General.

For this purpose, it is protested that a "Court process" was organized in the so-called accusations related to Azerbaijani soldiers and that Agshin Babirov was sentenced to 11 years, 6 months and 15 days of imprisonment.

In the letter, it is noted that Armenian officials have given conflicting statements regarding the captured Azerbaijani soldiers, and Armenia's disregard for international humanitarian law and principles of humanism has once again been demonstrated with such irresponsible behavior.

With this irresponsible step, the Armenian side's failure to respond to confidence-building measures for the unconditional immediate return of Armenian prisoners of our country, especially more than 10 Armenian soldiers who crossed the border astray, shows that Armenia is not interested in reconciliation and confidence-building measures in the region.

It is recalled that all these provocative steps of the Armenian side coincided with the period when the international community increased its efforts regarding the process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The letter states that the so-called "court process" organized by Armenia took place a few days after the 4-day negotiations between the foreign ministers of the two countries in Washington, on the eve of the meeting of the heads of state of the two countries with the mediation of the European Union and other partners.

At the end of the letter, the UN Secretary-General called on Armenia to condemn this provocative activity, which is accompanied by a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and for the immediate cessation of such provocations, and for this country to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages of Azerbaijani soldiers in accordance with its international obligations, based on the principle of dignity and respect for their lives. It is called to put pressure on Armenia.

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24 May 2023 17:31 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolence to Italian President, Sergio Mattarella in connection with the victims and numerous destructions as a result of floods in the Emilia-Romagna region, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. President,

We were deeply saddened by the news of loss of lives and large-scale destruction caused by heavy floods in Emilia-Romagna region.

On the occasion of this tragedy, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I offer my profound condolences to you, families and loved ones of those who were killed, and the entire Italian people, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

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24 May 2023 16:37 (UTC+04:00)

Federal President of the Republic of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen has sent a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

To His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear Mr. President,

I am pleased to extend my sincere congratulations to you on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of Azerbaijan  the Independence Day.

Lasting peace, security and stability are of particular importance for ensuring prosperity of all nations and peoples as well as for developing human and economic potential of the South Caucasus. I am convinced that Azerbaijan can make significant contribution towards that end.

Availing myself of this pleasant opportunity, I wish you personal well-being, coupled with best wishes of happy and peaceful future to the people of Azerbaijan.

With deep respect,

Alexander Van der Bellen,

Federal President of the Republic of Austria

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24 May 2023 19:35 (UTC+04:00)

President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on May 28 - Independence Day, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear Mr. President,

On the occasion of the national day of the Republic of Azerbaijan  the Independence Day, please accept my sincere congratulations and wishes for peace and tranquility of the Azerbaijani people.

Please allow me to express my appreciation with longstanding friendship, intensive development of fruitful cooperation between our countries and peoples.

The national holiday of the Republic of Azerbaijan is a great opportunity to confirm the high appreciation of excellent bilateral relations elevated to the level of strategic partnership and wish the dynamic development of these relations in the future.

Dear Mr. President, I wish you robust health and success in your high state activity, and ask you to accept the assurances of my highest consideration.

Sincerely,

Rumen Radev

President of the Republic of Bulgaria

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24 May 2023 19:22 (UTC+04:00)

President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on May 28 - Independence Day, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Excellency,

May I extend to you and to people of your country my sincere congratulations on the National Day of Republic of Azerbaijan  the Independence Day.

Our countries enjoy friendly relations and I believe that we will be able to further develop these relations in every way through our joint efforts.

I wish you, Excellency, every success, happiness and prosperity to the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Sincerely,

Petr Pavel,

President of the Czech Republic

---

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A group of migrant workers march during a street rally near Yongsan Station in Seoul, April 30, urging the government to protect their human rights. Newsis



By Park Jae-hyuk



Shipbuilders are seeing an increasing number of foreign workers deserting their jobs and escaping from the shipyards, according to industry officials, Wednesday, who also said the aggravated labor shortages are making it harder for the shipbuilders to meet the growing global demand for vessels.



In late April, seven Thai nationals holding E-7 visas disappeared from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' (HHI) shipyard in Ulsan, just a week after they started working as temporary employees for the company. Two other Thai E-7 visa holders, who were hired by a subcontractor of the shipbuilder, also went missing at that time.



Given that E-7 visa holders are restricted from switching jobs without permission from their employers, Ulsan's immigration authorities are trying to trace the whereabouts of the missing foreign workers.



Last August and September, around 30 Vietnamese E-7 visa holders disappeared from HHI's shipyard, and only a few returned to their place of work. Some of them disappeared just a couple of weeks after starting the job. At that time, four other migrant workers also stopped working at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries' shipyard in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, without notice.



The HHI union cited poor working conditions and low wages as the main reasons for the continued desertions.



"Although E-7 visa holders are guaranteed wages equivalent to 80 percent of the previous year's gross national income per capita, migrant workers at shipyards are paid salaries similar to the national minimum wage, as their employers deduct various costs from their paychecks," the union said in a newsletter published last Friday. "Because their work is difficult and wages are low, the desertions are not surprising."



The company claimed that it has offered various welfare benefits for foreign workers, including translation services, dormitory housing and food suitable to their religious faith. HHI even organized teams recently to support foreign workers hired directly by the company, as well as those hired by its subcontractors.



"The recent desertions seem to have resulted from personal matters of some foreign workers, not from labor conditions," an HHI official said.





HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard in Ulsan / Courtesy of HD HHI
24 May 2023 09:27 (UTC+04:00)

The Austrian capital Vienna was subjected to yet another provocation by PKK terror group sympathizers against the Turkish president.

Using a projector, the terror group sympathizers on Monday showed insulting slogans and visuals targeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the facade of the Hofburg Palace, which is used as a convention center by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Slogans such as Overthrow the dictator, and Erdogan, burn in hell, were shown on the front of the palace, along with deliberately distorted and roughly fragmented pictures of the president.

The terrorist group sympathizers also shared images and video footage of their provocation via social media.

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK  listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, the UK and the EU  has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. It also has a branch in northern Syria known as the YPG.

In recent months, insults and provocations against the Turkish president  including hanging him upside down in effigy  have been seen in several European countries, with Turkiye lodging strong diplomatic protests afterward.

On Sunday, the Turkish House in New York City, a building situated opposite the UN which houses Turkish diplomatic missions, was attacked by a person or persons unknown. Erdogan has urged the US to immediately apprehend the "terrorist" responsible for the attack.

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24 May 2023 07:09 (UTC+04:00)

Despite the wave of diplomacy sweeping the region with the rapprochement between Iran and some of its neighboring countries, the dark clouds of a long-running territorial dispute between Tehran and Abu Dhabi over three Persian Gulf islands continue to hover overhead.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani in a strongly-worded statement Saturday, a day after the Arab League summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah, decried the joint communique issued at the summit, referring to "accusations and false claims" in it.

While "welcoming the constructive approach of some countries," Kanaani hit out at the 22-member pan-Arab organization for making "repetitive claims," asserting that Iran's actions "are in line with the exercise of sovereignty over its territory, and any claim in this regard is rejected."

Although he stopped short of mentioning the three strategic islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa located in the Strait of Hormuz, the hint was clear enough.

The three islands have been administered by Iran since 1971, eight years before the Iranian Revolution, but are claimed by the United Arab Emirates as part of its territory.

The territorial dispute has been a key sticking point in Iran-UAE relations over the years, with the two neighbors on numerous occasions engaging in verbal duels at international forums.

While Iran maintains that the islands are an "inseparable part" of its territory, the UAE lays equal claim to them, backed by other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members.

Yaseen Taqizadeh, a Persian Gulf affairs analyst, said the dispute dates back more than five decades and the recent upgradation of ties between Tehran and Abu Dhabi is unlikely to resolve the issue.

"The dispute over the sovereignty of three islands is rooted in history, with both sides making competing claims," he told Anadolu. "It will continue to be a bone of contention between them regardless of recent developments unless they agree to engage in meaningful dialogue."

- Claims and counter-claims

In February, President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Beijing, the first by an Iranian head of state in two decades, was overshadowed by a controversy related to the joint statement issued by China and the GCC during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia in December.

The statement backed the UAE's demand for the "resolution of the dispute" over the three Persian Gulf islands, sparking an outcry in Iran and almost creating a diplomatic row between Tehran and Beijing.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian took to Twitter and asserted that Tehran "will not allow any country to disrespect its territorial integrity." The veiled warning in the Chinese language was directed at Beijing.

Raisi's key aide and deputy chief of staff, Mohammad Jamshidi, was particularly blunt, issuing what he called "a reminder to colleagues in Beijing." His statement came after the Chinese ambassador to Iran was summoned to convey Tehran's "strong dissatisfaction."

"Raisi's visit to Beijing, although planned in advance, was an exercise in controlling the damage from the China-GCC statement, and it eventually did more than many had expected  laying the groundwork for Iran's reconciliation with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states," said Taqizadeh.

Weeks after the Iranian president's China visit, Iran's then-top security official Ali Shamkhani dashed off to Beijing in March to sign an agreement with his Saudi Arabian counterpart to restore diplomatic ties between the two regional rivals. China played the peacemaker.

Shamkhani's next stop, interestingly, was Abu Dhabi, where he held wide-ranging talks with top Emirati officials, including his counterpart Tahnoun bin Zayed. The two sides agreed to "resolve misunderstandings" and "expand relations to the highest level."

It is not known, however, whether the dispute over the three Persian Gulf islands featured in discussions between the two sides.

"It's highly likely that the dispute over the three islands figured in Shamkhani's discussions with Emirati officials," said Milad Hatam, a researcher with a focus on Middle East affairs.

Shamkhani stepped down Monday from his position as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council after 10 years and was replaced by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander.

- Iran-UAE relations

The UAE and Iran restored diplomatic ties in August last year, which the Emirati Foreign Ministry in a statement at the time said was "to achieve the common interests of the two countries and the wider region."

The rapprochement came six years after Abu Dhabi recalled its ambassador to Tehran in solidarity with Riyadh after the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Iranian capital was stormed by an angry mob in January 2016 following the execution of Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

The UAE returned its envoy to Tehran in August last year and Iran appointed its ambassador to Abu Dhabi last month, with both sides expressing a commitment to upgrade ties.

After Iran appointed its ambassador to the Arab country in April, the top diplomats of the two countries spoke over the phone and described bilateral relations as "forward-looking."

"There is no denying that relations between Iran and the UAE have improved since last year with regular communication between the two sides at various levels, but the resolution of the dispute over the three islands holds the key," said Hatam.

The status quo, he said, means they will continue to engage in verbal duels in international forums, like in September 2021, when they traded barbs at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly.

At the time, the Emirati deputy foreign minister staked claim to the islands and called on Iran to end its "occupation," to which the Iranian mission in the UN responded by saying that the islands were an "inseparable" part of Iran's territory.

"I think it's very much possible for the two sides to settle the dispute through meaningful dialogue since the window of communication remains open between them," said Taqizadeh.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
24 May 2023 20:45 (UTC+04:00)

Qatars energy minister warned on Tuesday the worst is yet to come for Europes oil and gas shortages, saying a warm winter had prevented greater difficulties in recent months, Azernews reports, citing Al Arabiya.

Saad al-Kaabi and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said a lack of investment in oil and gas, as the world tries to transition to cleaner fuels to prevent global warming, risked causing an energy crunch.

The only thing that saved humanity and Europe this year was a warm winter, and the slowdown in the economy, Qatari Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi told the Qatar Economic Forum.

If the economy starts churning back up in (2024) and you have just a regular winter, I think the worst is yet to come.

After Russias invasion of Ukraine sparked an energy supply crisis, Europe dodged serious problems this past winter largely because of milder-than-expected temperatures.

But Kaabi and Prince Abdulaziz both told the conference further problems were looming.



If (European leaders have) a proper plan and sit down with producers, and oil and gas companies are not demonized, reality will kick in and well have a sensible solution Kaabi said.



Qatar has announced a series of major gas supply deals and is engaged in developing North Field, which contains the world's biggest natural gas deposits, raising its production to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027.



Demand is so great that all the expanded production for the North Field East and North Field South could be tied up in long-term deals by the end of the year, Kaabi said.



There is a potential that we will run out of all the gas from the NFE and NFS by the end of the year, as far as long-term contracts, he said. That's obviously a very big demand.



Saudi Arabias Prince Abdulaziz also said Europe was rescued by a gift of God last winter, and said global energy security was at risk from kicking the can policies.



Energy security is being shackled. Were running out of capacity, because countries are not investing both in oil and gas, he said.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
24 May 2023 20:15 (UTC+04:00)

Mexico will present a program this week to give Central Americans temporary visas to work on public infrastructure projects, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday, Azernews reports, citing Reuters.

Such projects require more people such as welders, iron-workers and engineers, Lopez Obrador told his regular daily news conference.

"We need a workforce for these projects, especially if it's skilled labor," Lopez Obrador said. "We will guarantee them one year."

He did not provide details on how many visas would be issued, or for which projects.

Lopez Obrador has long pushed for investment in Central America to stem the migration of thousands of people every year fleeing poverty and violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

He has also sought to boost development in the impoverished southern region of Mexico, which sits near the border with Guatemala.

Lopez Obrador's flagship projects underway include a freight rail line meant to create a trade route between Mexico's Pacific and Gulf coasts, and a tourist train linking destinations around the Yucatan Peninsula.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
24 May 2023 10:28 (UTC+04:00)

The Federal Air Transport Agency issued permits to the Irkutsk airline IrAero to operate flights to Azerbaijan and China, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlets.

The carrier was approved for flights to Baku: twice a week from Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don, and four times a week from Sochi. It was also decided to give the Irkutsk airline permission for flights from Vladivostok to Haikou with a frequency of twice a week. Besides, IrAero increased the frequency of flights from Moscow to Tivat (Montenegro).

Also, Ikar Airlines received permission to operate flights from Irkutsk to Sanya twice a week.

Recall that earlier IrAero asked Rosaviatsia for permission to operate flights from Moscow to Georgia. The carrier expects to fly seven times a week to Tbilisi and Batumi.

IrAero Airlines is a Russian airline based at Irkutsk International Airport. The company's fleet includes Airbus A319, Superjet 100, Bombardier CRJ-200LR aircraft, as well as seven Antonov passenger aircraft, according to the carrier's website.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
24 May 2023 14:21 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

With its rich culture and warm hospitality, Azerbaijan has gained recognition as a must-visit destination.

The country significantly invests in developing its tourism infrastructure, including the construction of new hotels, resorts, and other tourism-related facilities.

Azerbaijan is also making significant strides to boost its tourism industry at international level. The country's tourism potential has been promoted at Riyadh Travel Fair held in Saudi Arabia.

The fair is considered as a market for the introduction of tourist products, services and investments provided by the most significant tourist companies in the world.

More than 300 representatives of the tourism industry from 55 countries participated in the event.

Along with Azerbaijan Tourism Board, Azerbaijan Airlines JSC and Shahdagh Mountain Resort, Around 13 Azerbaijani companies provided insight into the country's historical and cultural heritage, historical monuments included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, samples of national cuisine, ecotourism, health, summer and winter tourism opportunities within the Riyadh Travel Fair.

Visitors to the exhibition were given extensive information about Shahdagh Mountain Resort. All necessary conditions have been created in the center for foreign tourists to spend their time more efficiently.

Over the past months, around 3,400 people used the services of the hotels of the resort.

In March, Shahdagh Mountain Resort received a large number of tourists from the Middle East, Europe and the CIS countries.

Speaking about the Riyadh Travel Fair, it should be noted that Azerbaijan is expanding tourism cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

Compared to April 2022, a 3-fold increase in the number of visitors from Saudi Arabia was observed in April, 2023. At the same time, Saudi Arabia ranks among the top five in the statistics of flights to Azerbaijan this year.

Around 185,288 foreign citizens from the Gulf countries visited Azerbaijan last year, of which 52 percent were citizens of Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, Saudi Arabian "Flynas Airlines" operates direct flights between Baku and Riyadh.

The Azerbaijan Tourism Board and Flynas Airlines also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand partnership in the tourism field.

In 2019, the Azerbaijan Tourism Board and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting tourism cooperation between the two countries.

The agreement focused on areas such as cultural exchanges, investment in tourism infrastructure, and joint marketing efforts to encourage travel between the two nations.

Both countries have been working together to increase tourism flows and create more attractive travel offerings for visitors.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Bahrain's Lower Criminal Court sentenced a man to one year of prison and a fine of BD 21,000 for disposing of waste in Bahrain's sea, which was in violation of Bahrain's Environmental Protection Law No. 7/2022.

Read More: Shura Council Vote Against Law That Allows Rapists to Marry Victims

The Supreme Council of Environment informed the Public Prosecution that during their inspection visits to the western border sea, the Council had discovered that the accused had dumped waste into the water body including large quantities of wood, nylon, and construction waste.

Legal action was taken against the accused who was advised to stop dumping waste in the sea. A notice was served, after which the Public Prosecution started an investigation and handed in the suspect to the Lower Criminal Court, where he was tried and penalized accordingly.
New complications hit the Rosedale Highway refinery conversion project as partner Exxon Mobil Corp. said this week it will walk away from its 
Lawn trimmings, chicken bones and banana peels: the scraps, once tossed from the mind the moment they landed in the trash, are now dumped at t
It may have lasted less than five minutes, but Fridays arraignment was not just another court hearing: It kicked off what could be years of p
LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul / Yonhap





LG Display CEO Jeong Ho-young / Courtesy of LG Display
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.
Now that the public is allowed to know the truth regarding the Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal, after more that 2 1/2 years of deception by the corrupt Corporate Media Kabal, propropagandidats all, and the discredited Deep State, we have NOW learned that the infamous laptop is far less about the Biden Boy's fetish for pornography, narcotics and Russian whores, and far more about Hunter's pivotal role in the Biden Crime Syndicate's selling of deep access to our foreign adversaries, and to what extent it has compromised our national security: What is your opinion about this possible coordinated Treason?

It is imperative that we know the truth of what may be the greatest scandal in our Republic's history, and all aforementioned parties prosecuted for their crimes against the People.

Currently, our Two Tiered Justice System is constructed to protect all Democratic Socialists, their corrupt "Journalist" spokes-sheople, and their Deep State enablers ... so why bother.

It is Donald Trump's fault.




Korea will lift regulations to help biotechnology startups utilize the database of hospitals, and foster the industry as a new growth engine, the finance minister said Wednesday.







"The biotechnology sector is emerging as a cutting-edge industry that promotes the growth of new technologies and industries by converging with the digital sector," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during his visit to the production line of Aprogen, a bio firm in Osong, 108 kilometers south of Seoul.







Choo said the government will make efforts to foster the biotechnology sector as the new growth engine of Asia's No. 4 economy, comparable with the semiconductor industry.







To this end, the finance minister said it will seek to utilize a massive database of the state-run health insurance agency and private hospitals.







"In order to foster data-based digital health care startups, the government plans to proactively lift regulations," Choo said.







Korea plans to announce details on ways to foster the biotechnology industry in the near future, he added. (Yonhap)


Here are four cases in which physicians have been sentenced or pleaded guilty to overprescribing controlled substances:

1. Denton, Texas-based family medicine physician Stanley Charles Evans, MD, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for overprescribing opioids. Beginning in 2017, Dr. Evans unlawfully prescribed approximately 370,000 dosage units of hydrocodone without a legitimate medical purpose.

2. Former Modesto, Calif.-based physician Sawtantra Chopra, MD, pleaded guilty to three counts of illegally prescribing opioids. Dr. Chopra, who surrendered his medical license in 2020 as the case was pending, admitted to prescribing hydrocodone, alprazolam and promethazine with codeine syrup without a legitimate medical purpose.

3. Cherry Hill, N.J.-based physician Cheh Lu, MD, pleaded guilty to improperly prescribing oxycodone. From January 2018 and February 2022, Dr. Lu, 86, allegedly offered prescriptions "without interacting with [patients] by any means or in any way," a plea agreement said.

4. Two New Jersey physicians were charged with unlawful distribution after allegedly improperly prescribing painkillers during patient visits. The physicians, Emanuel Lamprou Jr., MD, of Cherry Hill, and Felicia Gonzalez, DO, of Toms River, allegedly prescribed the medication in March while practicing at Cherry Hill Pain Management & Wellness.
Ascend Vision Partners is partnering with Central Florida Eye Care in Winterhaven to provide management services for the practice.

Ascend will provide legal and regulatory compliance, payer contracting, revenue cycle management, human resources, IT, finance, marketing and more, according to a May 23 news release. It will also expand the center's access to the latest advancements in diagnostic tools and technology to improve patient care.

The partnership marks Ascend's advance into the Central Florida region. It hopes to increase its presence throughout the Southeast.

"We are thrilled to welcome Central Florida Eye Care to the Ascend Vision Partners family," Josh Rademacher, CEO of Ascend Vision Partners, said in the release. "This partnership represents a mutually beneficial alliance that will allow us to combine our expertise, leverage our resources, and ultimately enhance the quality of eye care services provided to the Central Florida community."
The Vermont legislature is expected to address stagnant Medicaid reimbursements for dental services in July 2024, VTDigger reported May 23.

Six notes:

1. A state budget approved by the legislature May 12 includes $13 million to raise Medicaid dental payment rates by 50 percent.

2. Some legislators anticipate Gov. Phil Scott will oppose their budget. The $8.5 billion budget was delivered to the governor May 23, but he has indicated he will veto the budget because of concerns about a 13 percent increase in spending and new taxes, CBS affiliate WCAX reported.

3. Despite the governor's concerns, the Medicaid dental rate increase is still expected to be enacted, the VTDigger reported.

4. Medicaid participation has steadily declined among dentists in the state, but advocates hope the increase will encourage dental practices to accept more Medicaid patients. The Department of Vermont Health Access found in the fall of 2022 that most of the 260 dental practices participating in Medicaid were not accepting new patients.

5. The state is also expected to increase the cap on Medicaid dental costs from $1,000 each year to $1,500.

6. The state legislature also approved H.206, which lifts the cap entirely for those who are pregnant or within 60 days after giving birth and those who receive community-based services for developmental disabilities or severe mental illness.
Morris (Ill.) Hospital & Healthcare Centers said an unauthorized third party has gained access to its computer network, which has potentially compromised the protected health information of patients.

When the hospital detected unusual activity on its computer network, it learned that an unauthorized party gained access to it, according to a May 23 breach notification from Morris Hospital. The hospital then launched an investigation into the incident.

As of May 24, Morris Hospital said the investigation is still ongoing and that it is working to identify individual files on the affected servers to determine if any patients' sensitive data was compromised.
Three hospitals have filed for bankruptcy so far in 2023, and all three are located in California.

1. Madera (Calif.) Community Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 10. Madera Community officially closed at midnight Dec. 30, after Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health's plan to buy the hospital fell through. Trinity already owns and operates Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, Calif.

Madera Community leaders had hoped to avoid bankruptcy and explored a number of options, including looking for another organization to take over operations. However, without a potential buyer coming forward, the hospital moved ahead with the bankruptcy filing.

2. Montebello, Calif.-based Beverly Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 19 as it hoped to pursue a buyer and avoid closure.

The hospital had secured $13 million in financing to keep operating as it searched for a buyer. Hospital officials said rising costs outpacing government reimbursement rates were to blame for the situation.

Beverly had unsuccessfully attempted to merge with three systems. Hospital officials blamed the failed mergers on the review process by the California attorney general.

3. San Benito Health Care District, the board overseeing Hollister, Calif.-based Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, voted May 22 to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which it said would pave the way to "tackle the systemic challenges it continues to face."

The hospital will remain open and "fully committed to delivering quality patient care for the greater community while leadership looks for a strategic partner or buyer."

A November fiscal emergency declaration by the board authorized a Chapter 9 filing, but the hospital district decided to focus on short-term financial stabilization and creditor negotiations. In the last six months, it has recorded more than $11 million in cost savings, loans and prepayments to support the district through summer. A hospital spokesperson said the filing will allow it to "deal with larger issues we just can't tackle outside of Chapter 9."
The Jersey City, Hoboken and Bayonne, N.J., city councils have all passed resolutions supporting CarePoint Health Systems' application for state and federal funding through the American Rescue Plan.

CarePoint operates a safety net hospital in each of the three communities. With CarePoint continuing to provide charity care to more than 50,000 uninsured and underinsured Hudson County residents a year  and with its nonprofit conversion receiving state approval  the health system said it needs more financial support from the state and federal levels.

CarePoint would use the funds to upgrade their facilities, expand services and recruit more providers to meet the increased demand for care.

"This critically necessary funding will also enable CarePoint to continue serving a patient mix that is 80 percent African American and Hispanic with a high percentage of underinsured, uninsured and Medicaid patients," CarePoint President and CEO Achintya Moulick, MD, said in a May 24 news release.
West Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health, which is due to combine with Presbyterian Health Services later this year, saw its operating loss total $29 million in the first quarter. That loss followed a $52.2 million loss in the same period last year.

The system, which operates 20 hospitals in its home state as well as Wisconsin and Illinois, and 19 community network hospitals, reported revenue of $1.1 billion in the period, up from the previous year, while expenses rose just 1 percent.

Overall income totaled $69.9 million versus a net loss of $140.4 million last year.

UnityPoint Health said in the filing it aims to complete the merger with Albuquerque, N.M.-based Presbyterian Health, which would add nine hospitals, in "mid-to-late 2023."
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai has named Bryan Croft executive vice president and COO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, effective June 3.

Mr. Croft will also serve as CEO of Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Ray (Calif.) Hospital.

He joined Cedars-Sinai in 2010 as vice president of operations and was promoted to senior vice president in 2017. During his tenure at Cedars-Sinai, Mr. Croft has overseen many operational initiatives, including COVID-19 response efforts, the planning process for Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital's replacement facility and expansion or creation of new clinical programs.

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Mr. Croft held vice president of operations roles at Houston Methodist Hospital and The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu.








HCA Florida Mercy Hospital in Miami has selected Ben Warner, BSN, RN, as its next chief nursing officer, according to a May 23 news release shared with Becker's.

Mr. Warner has worked for HCA Healthcare hospitals across Virginia and Florida for nearly three decades. He will join HCA Florida Mercy Hospital from Henrico Doctors Hospital in Richmond, Va., where he was also leading as a chief nursing officer.

His role is effective immediately.
After four years of medical school  three of which were during a global pandemic  2023 graduates are preparing to enter their residency placements with several things on their minds: mental health, promoting equity, care quality and concerns about the industry at times prioritizing profits over people.

Rather than deter or discourage them, many see the challenges facing the medical profession as room to make a difference and contribute to changes as they go.

Coast to coast, graduates from Harvard University in Cambridge Mass., Howard University in Washington, D.C., the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and the University of California, San Francisco told Becker's what they most want hospitals to know about them.

Here's what they had to say:

What are you most excited about as you fully enter the field of medicine in 2023?





"I'm most excited about the opportunities to provide mentorship. Black women in orthopedics is probably the smallest demographic within that specialty and while it's growing, it still has a long way to go. And so I think I'm most excited about having the opportunity to make a tangible difference in the field."  Jessica Smith, MD, a Howard University graduate entering the field of orthopedic surgery.





"I am most excited about being able to take on a larger responsibility in the clinical setting and being able to care for and advocate for my patients. As an incoming psychiatry resident, I am also excited about engaging in conversations with my patients about their mental health, a topic that has become more relevant and more discussed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."  Amitoj Singh, MD, a UCSF graduate entering the psychiatry field.





"This is an exciting time to be in this career because many of us are asking big and important questions about how to bring more empathy to the field, how to address injustices and inequities in medicine, and how to make the job more sustainable for physicians and other providers. Between this and the constant innovations in technology, I anticipate that the field will transform many times during my career, and Im thrilled and humbled to be a part of that."  Willow Frye, MD, a UCSF graduate entering general surgery.





What are the biggest concerns or anticipated challenges you have about entering the profession?





"Healthcare is rapidly changing; its becoming more corporate and theres greater financial self-interest among organizations within the profession. Take for example, private equity in healthcare. My concern is working within a profession that at times has shown itself to put profits over patients. I hope we see healthcare as a public good and not as a vehicle for excessive financial gain."  Ahmed Mukhtar Ahmed, MD, a Harvard University graduate entering internal medicine.





"I'm really worried about the degradation of quality in terms of the benefit of profits. I see that everywhere. I see it in terms of patients not getting the best quality care at emergency facilities. I've seen it in terms of that some levels of providers are sometimes not disclosing to patients that they are not physicians. I see it in terms of overloading physicians, which compromises the quality of the care that the patients get."  Malik Alqawasmi, MD, a University of New Mexico graduate going into internal medicine.





"One of the things I'm concerned about is being able to identify when I am burned out and what tools I have to deal with that. One thing that a pandemic showed us was just how fragile the healthcare system is and how easily physicians can be pushed to their limits; not just their physical well-being but also their mental well-being. The idea of wellness, being able to take care of ourselves mentally as well as physically outside of the hospital is something that has been emphasized to our class. I feel more prepared than I would have thought, but it's still in the back of my mind as something to look out for and be ready to identify."  Henok Eskinder, MD, a Howard University graduate entering pathology.





What is one thing you want hospitals and health systems to know about med school graduates from the class of 2023?




Children run in front of the business and service convention center in Xiong'an, May 15. GT



Xiong'an the 'city of the future' advancing high-quality development after six years



Standing in the middle of a massive construction site with a strong, gusty wind and constant construction noise in the background, Fu Xing, a mid-aged, bespectacled construction manager with a slight figure can barely be heard. Wearing his typical workman outfit  a white hard hat and a blue vest, Fu tries to explain what is being built and its national significance. But around him, nothing really stands out about the project, except for the sheer size of the site.



"This will be built into a national demonstration project for TOD," Fu says in a firm, proud tone, using the acronym for transit-oriented development, an emerging global trend in urban planning that optimizes the use of land and maximizes access to public transportation. "The large size of the complex construction is rare to see in China and even the world."



The project, an inter-city railway station and an international trade center, is one of the most important projects in Xiong'an New Area, in North China's Hebei Province, about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing.



Xiong'an has been dubbed the "city of the future," the development of which is a national project of millennial significance. President Xi Jinping has been personally involved in making decisions and plans to develop Xiong'an.



On May 10, Xi, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, inspected Xiong'an and presided over a meeting on promoting its development. The transformation of the Xiong'an New Area from ground zero to an emerging sophisticated modern city within a mere six years is miraculous, Xi remarked, according to the Xinhua News Agency.



In April 2017, China announced plans to set up the Xiong'an New Area, which would be on par with the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area. The development of Xiong'an embodies many long-term development goals for?China, including high-quality, innovation-driven, and green development, and ultimate Chinese modernization, experts noted.



Underscoring the significance of Xiong'an, Xi has visited the city three times since 2017. During the latest trip on May 10, Xi visited various places in the city, including the construction sites of an inter-city railway station and an international trade center, where he learned about the development of key infrastructure projects and major projects launched for the purpose of relieving Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the capital.



Intelligent center



Xi said more efforts should be made to develop a multifaceted and integrated transportation network and make full use of underground space so as to build a "city of the future" free of urban maladies.



"President Xi was standing right here at this spot. Right here," highlighted Fu, assistant to the general manager of Xiongshang Development Company under China Xiong'an Group, as he vividly recalls the trip with palpable excitement. "We were very happy to witness this scene."



With an investment of 20.9 billion yuan ($2.99 billion), the site has a total of construction area of 1.6 million square meters, covering different building units, such as rail, office buildings, and hotels.



As an important transportation hub in Xiong'an, the complex is composed of four different rails, including one high-speed railway line, an R1 to terminal, and two sub lines, as well as different buildings, transforming the complex into a region with offices, hotels, apartments, as well as rail transit, and aviation services, Fu told the Global Times.



All the transfer can be realized under the ground upon completion, Fu said, adding that the farthest transfer distance does not exceed 270 meters, and it can realize a transfer to any rail in three-minute at the same-floor.



While the inter-city railway station and an international trade center, among many other major projects are still under construction, many have also been completed and Xiong'an's calling cards of being a smart, green, and innovative are already taking shape.



By the end of 2022, Xiong'an had already seen an inflow of more than 510 billion yuan in investment earmarked for 240 major projects, according to the China Media Group. Another 270 key projects are expected to be launched in 2023, with a total investment of 664 billion yuan. Also, state-owned enterprises have set up more than 140 institutions in the city. Thousands of companies, most of which specialize in science and technology, have been registered in Xiong'an.





Fu Xing, the assistant to the general manager of Xiongshang Development Company, explains the construction plan on a sand table in Xiong'an, May 15. GT
A bill that could transform the legal landscape for healthcare mergers and acquisitions in North Carolina was pulled from committee and will therefore not likely be discussed further in the state legislature's current session.

A source with healthcare operations in the state told Becker's that HB 737 had been withdrawn after a House hearing May 23.

The bill had initially been introduced amid concern hefty health system transactions were being completed in the state with limited regulatory oversight. The attorney general in North Carolina, Josh Stein, had expressed frustration over what he sees as limited transparency with such transactions, especially the relative lack of accountability regarding possible impacts on local communities.

Such recent transactions include the December merger of Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health and Downers Grove, Ill.- and Milwaukee-based Advocate Aurora Health to form a joint entity, Advocate Health.

Atrium Health also wants to build a new hospital in Greensboro, a move opposed by Greensboro-based Cone Health.

Neither Atrium Health nor Cone Health commented on the withdrawal of the bill.

"We're continuing to work with legislators and stakeholders to improve the bill to protect healthcare access and quality of care for North Carolinians," a spokesperson for the attorney general's office told Becker's.

If such a bill were to pass into law, it could be transformational, an April 27 article in The National Law Review said.

"HB 737 represents a major shift in North Carolina health policy," the article said. "The time, costs, and potential penalties are significant and are plainly intended to discourage hospital merger activity."
A bill that could stall the proposed merger between Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health and Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services is headed to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's desk  but the health systems are not letting it deter them.

The bill would extend the attorney general's oversight of mergers, consolidations and transactions involving health systems. Sanford and Fairview already have pushed their closing date back twice as state and health system leaders work toward an agreement.

The state Senate passed the bill May 21. If Mr. Walz signs it  and he is expected to, a spokesperson for his office told the Minnesota Reformer  new measures would become law including increased requirements for timely notifications of transactions and prohibition of transactions that would substantially lower competition.

Notably, the bill would prohibit the Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota's healthcare facilities from being owned or operated by an out-of-state entity unless the attorney general decides it is in the public interest. Fairview currently owns and operates the University of Minnesota Medical Center  along with M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital and West Bank Medical Center, which the University has never owned and previously agreed to sell the flagship hospital back to the university. That "vision" is not set in stone, and may require further refinement into the summer, Mr. Walz said at a May 22 news conference.

Sanford and Fairview believe an ongoing partnership with the University of Minnesota is in the public interest, but the university must "decide its own future," a spokesperson for Fairview told Becker's. The health systems hope to resolve these discussions in "short order."

The university previously pushed back against a sale, believing the public institution's hospital should be transferred back to the state as a charitable asset.

"It centers on public value rather than a commercial question of fair market value," university leaders said in March.

Despite the additional hurdles the bill might impose, the legislation is unlikely to halt the merger. The bill zeroes in on transactions that create a monopoly or substantially lessen competition; the FTC determined the merger was neither, allowing its review period to expire Feb. 13 without further information requests.

"This new law does not change our desire to combine with Sanford Health, and while it creates new regulatory processes, we strongly believe that the merger is in the public interest and that we can comply with the new requirements," the Fairview spokesperson told Becker's.

"As we move forward, we will continue to work closely with the attorney general's office on their review and continue to abide by the commitment to provide 90 days' notice prior to any closing date."
Workers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland, Calif., have authorized their second strike in a matter of months.

The first strike took place on April 19 and lasted one day, rendering most nonemergency services at the hospital and its satellite East Bay clinics unavailable. More than 1,200 hospital employees represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers participated after working without a contract for months.

No date has been set for the second strike, although it will last three days, according to a May 22 news release from the union. Workers  including vocational nurses, medical technicians, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, housekeepers, mental health therapists, clerical staff and nursing assistants  overwhelmingly voted in support of the strike and have submitted a notice to the hospital.

In 2014, UCSF gained control of the Benioff Children's Hospital-Oakland, one of five level 1 pediatric trauma centers in California. Physicians and caregivers have raised concerns about UCSF under-resourcing care and making families travel to the health system's San Francisco hospital, the union alleges.

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital-Oakland and the union have been in negotiations for more than a year. The union alleges that the hospital has rejected proposals that would offer workers comparable positions if UCSF takes full control of the hospital or merges specific departments; provide sufficient notice of further service or job reductions; ensure all workers receive market wages; and stop requiring caregivers to perform high-level work while keeping them in lower-paid classifications.

The hospital told Becker's it extended a "last, best, and final" offer to the union on April 14, representing more than $40 million increases for union-represented employees  including an across-the-board 13 percent wage increase over three years.

Only a few items remain unsolved in the three contracts, according to the hospital. One barrier is that the union has asked the hospital to bind UCSF in a future contract; this cannot be done since UCSF is a public entity, a spokesperson for the hospital told Becker's.

"A strike is never in the best interest of the hospital or our patients," the hospital said in a May 24 statement. "We remain hopeful that we can make meaningful movement in response to our final offer and avoid any future work stoppages."
St. Paul, Minn.-based Gillette Children's is using artificial intelligence technology to automate its scheduling, pre-visit registration, appointment reminders and clinical intake forms.

The health system has partnered with intelligent automation company Notable to implement an AI-based platform that automates and personalizes the patients' registration experience, according to a May 24 press release from Notable. The hospital has implemented the platform at 11 of its multispecialty clinics.

The platform has since allowed Gillette to sunset its tool for appointment reminders and has increased scheduling volume.
Threats made against hospitals in two separate incidents resulted in the arrests of a Pennsylvania man and Missouri woman this month.

In the first case, a 28-year-old employee of Mon General Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., was arrested and charged with felony terroristic threats after staff told security guards he threatened to "shoot up" the hospital if he was terminated, according to a May 23 report from West Virginia Metro News.

Codie Holbert is a resident of Uniontown, Pa., and known to carry firearms, witnesses told police. Witnesses said he entered the hospital on the day of his arrest carrying a backpack, which was seized by police as part of an investigation. He is being held on $50,000 bond.

In another case, a 34-year-old woman was charged with first-degree terrorist threat and institutional vandalism after repeated threats were made against Aurora (Mo.) Mercy Hospital.

The hospital received several threats of gun violence being committed on site and contacted its local police department the week of May 14 to investigate. The Aurora and Marionville Police Department was able to identify the suspect, Alicia Stotts. The context in which the alleged threats were made is not clear. Ms. Stotts has been denied bond.

"Our colleagues at the hospital are busy saving lives," the police department said in a May 22 statement. "This type of behavior and these types of threats will be taken seriously and will result in arrest. The 1st amendment does not protect threatening speech designed to cause fear of a major incident. We will not take any chances by assuming threats are not real."
An Ohio physician was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to healthcare fraud and illegally prescribing controlled substances.

Jeffrey Sutton, 65, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, a $5,200 special assessment, a $20,000 fine and restitution of $148,870, according to a May 23 Justice Department news release.

Between January 2015 and January 2022, Dr. Sutton allegedly prescribed medically unnecessary controlled substances to patients outside the course of practice and without legitimate medical purpose. In doing so, he fraudulently billed healthcare benefit programs for office visits and controlled substances illegally dispensed.

Dr. Sutton also admitted to engaging in sexual acts with patients to whom he prescribed substances, including during office visists; and delivering dozens of oxycodone pills to a patient with whom he was in a relationship without a valid prescription, the release said.
A Black woman who sought medical assistance at Saint Luke's Community Hospital in Leawood, Kan., in May 2021 claims she was forcibly removed from the medical facility by Leawood police before receiving treatment for "excruciating" abdominal pain, according to a May 23 report in The Kansas City Star.

Muriel Martin filed a lawsuit May 19 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against St. Luke's Health System, the city of Leawood, Kan., and two Leawood police officers, alleging racial discrimination, violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and civil rights violations stemming from the May 2021 incident.

To pay for her attorneys fees and for her emotional pain and suffering, Ms. Martin is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages. She is seeking a jury trial.

A Saint Luke's Health System spokesperson told Becker's, "Though we await formal service of the lawsuit, we intend to vigorously defend against the allegations. Saint Luke's Health System is deeply committed to our culture of diversity and inclusion and to providing high quality care to every patient. We are proud of our long-standing commitment to prioritize health equity in order to advance care, and to treating everyone with dignity and respect. We were gratified to be named by Newsweek earlier this year as one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity."

A spokesperson for the Leawood Police Department said neither the city nor the department would comment on the litigation.

According to the lawsuit, Ms. Martin drove herself to Saint Luke's Community Hospital in "excruciating" abdominal pain. She was also suffering from cramping, nausea and vomiting.

She presented with an implanted port, which the emergency room nurses tried to use to provide IV medication. When they realized they did not have the appropriate needles to access the port, according to the report, they called in a physician, who attempted to insert the IV into Ms. Martin's neck. Ms. Martin said she asked the physician to insert the IV in a different way. The lawsuit alleges the physician replied: "It's obvious you don't want to be here. Why don't you leave?"

Two police officers called by hospital personnel arrived at the emergency department and asked Ms. Martin to leave the premises, according to the lawsuit. When she insisted she was too ill to leave the medical facility, she said the officers forcibly removed her.

"Ms. Martin asked if she could wait in her car to be seen by a different doctor or be picked up by a relative. The officer allegedly put his hand on his Taser and told her to 'leave or suffer the consequences.' She left," according to The Kansas City Star.

Alleging Ms. Martin was a "victim of implicit bias against African-Americans," the lawsuit said, "White patients who seek treatment and advocate for their treatment are not forcibly removed from the hospital and the unequal treatment given to African-American patients is attributed to enduring racist cultural beliefs and practices."

The lawsuit also says that Ms. Martin "experiences serious paranoia, distress and shame" and does not travel to Leawood for "fear of experiencing a similar interaction."






Billionaire and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban will soon start selling five Pfizer brand-name drugs through his pharmaceutical company, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.

The Pfizer drugs Cost Plus Drugs said it will sell are Duavee, Estring, Premarin, Premphase and Prempro, which are all menopause drugs, according to a May 24 tweet from the company. A release date was not provided.

Cost Plus Drugs launched as a company focused on selling low-cost drugs with a 15 percent markup, a $3 pharmacy labor fee and a $5 shipping cost. Seventeen months after launching with a few dozen products, Cost Plus Drugs now offers more than 1,000 pharmaceuticals.

A high percentage of those are generics, though, and brand-name drugs account for 80 percent of drug spending in the U.S. despite making up only 10 percent of prescriptions filled, according to a 2020 report from the Association for Accessible Medicines. Cost Plus Drugs broke into the brand-name drug market in March before grabbing three Johnson & Johnson drugs the next month.
The CORE Institute has been named the top spine practice in Arizona for 2023, according to Ranking Arizona, the state's biggest and most comprehensive business opinion poll, published May 23 by AzBigMedia.

Rankings are based on opinion, asking poll voters: "With whom would you recommend doing business?"

1. The CORE Institute (Phoenix)

2. Barrow Neurological Institute (Phoenix)

3. The Center for Advanced Spine Care of Southern Arizona (Tucson)

4. Cervical Spine Centers (Peoria)

5. Center for Neurology & Spine (Phoenix)

6. Desert Institute for Spine Disorders (Scottsdale)

7. DISC - Desert Institute for Spine Care (Phoenix)

8. Arizona Neurosurgery & Spine Specialists (Phoenix)

9. The Joint Chiropractic - Scottsdale Shea

10. Sonoran Spine (Gilbert)
In this file photo taken on April 18, U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his arrest at the Moscow City Court in Moscow. AFP-Yonhap



A Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported.



Gershkovich, a 31-year-old American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the U.S. government have denied the charges.



Tuesday's pre-trial hearing wasn't announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.



Russian authorities haven't detailed what  if any  evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.



Various legal proceedings have been closed to the media. No details immediately emerged about whether Gershkovich or U.S. Embassy representatives attended Tuesday's hearing or what was said. Tass said the session was closed because the reporter was accused of possession of "secret materials."



One Russian news agency, Interfax, quoted a court official as saying Gershkovich's parents  themselves Soviet emigres living in New Jersey  were visiting Moscow and had been admitted to the court building but not into Tuesday's hearing.



Gershkovich is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges. His arrest rattled journalists in the country and drew outrage in the West.



The U.S. government has declared Gershkovich to be "wrongfully detained" and demanded his immediate release. He's being held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison. U.S. Embassy officials were allowed at least one prison visit to Gershkovich since his arrest in Yekaterinburg on March 29, but Russian authorities have denied permission for other visits.



In a statement after Tuesday's hearing, the Wall Street Journal said: "While we expected there would be no change to Evan's wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release." (AP)


Ulster Bank is making 813 staff redundant, including 250 in NI, as it withdraws from the market in the Republic

Ulster Bank is cutting the jobs of 250 staff in Northern Ireland who were employed by its operation in the Republic, a trade union has said.

The lender has been winding down its operations in the Republic. The Ulster Bank business in Northern Ireland, which is closely aligned with parent company NatWest, is unaffected.

According to the Financial Services Union (FSU) in the Republic, it has now announced another 813 redundancies as part of its withdrawal. Of the 813, 250 are based here.

Gareth Murphy, head of industrial relations and campaigns at the FSU, said it was a sad and difficult day for workers and their families who had given up so much during their years of service.

As a union, throughout this difficult process, we have managed to secure improved redundancy terms and protected jobs with staff transferring to other banks, Mr Murphy said.

"We have also managed to secure up to 100 jobs with staff transferring to new roles within NatWest.

He added: There is more that can be done. Remote working has many benefits. It opens up the possibility of staff based in Northern Ireland undertaking work across the entire NatWest network.

"NatWest is a large company employing thousands of people. There is a clear onus on NatWest to fully explore any opportunity to redeploy staff across its network.

These are very skilled, professional staff, who know and understand the financial needs of business and people. It is important their knowledge and skillsets are not lost. The FSU will continue to support our members over the coming days and months.

Ulster Bank, which has been led in the Republic by chief executive Jane Howard, shut its remaining 63 branches over the border last month. It sold 25 other outlets in a deal with lender Permanent TSB, which brought its network to 98 branches.

Ms Howard said the latest redundancies will involve staff leaving the bank as their work ceases or significantly diminishes over the course of 2023 and 2024.

She said no further bank-wide redundancies were expected this year, adding: Each redundancy programme announcement is a significant moment for our bank, with a personal impact for our colleagues and I reiterate my ongoing and sincere gratitude to colleagues for the dedication they have shown and for the important work and support that they continue to provide to our customers and each other.

West Belfast People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll described the redundancies as a shocking attack on workers during a cost-of-living crisis, adding they were unwarranted and unnecessary.

Plans to throw 250 workers on the scrapheap are completely indefensible. If NatWest wants to scale back its Ulster Bank operation, then it must redeploy these staff members across its hugely profitable banking network, Mr Carroll said.

I will be engaging with workers and their trade union in the coming days to formulate an opposition to these redundancies. In the meantime, I would encourage Ulster Bank and the NatWest Group to reconsider these actions.

Ulster Bank announced the closure of nine branches in Northern Ireland at Holywood, Warrenpoint, Dunmurry, Antrim, Ballymoney, Larne, Comber, Maghera and Clogher last year.

Its central Belfast headquarters on Donegall Square East have been refurbished in NatWests purple brand colour.
John Mulgrew sits down with Seamus Leheny, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA) about the key role its members play in tackling the severe lack of social homes being built, the challenges faced with a lack of local government, planning and moving into his new job

The need for more housing  both social and private  is extremely evident when you look at the numbers.

The goal is to build 2,000 social homes each year we have about 44,000 on the waiting list  its a massive waiting list. About 30,000 of those people are in dire need, Seamus Leheny, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA) tells Ulster Business.

Thats an attention-grabbing figure, and one Seamus and associations he represents want to see tackled, albeit with sufficient and additional government funding.

Its an organisation with 20 housing association members, responsible for an industry worth around 420m a year and one at the heart of our built environment and civic society.

But the challenges remain for the industry, Seamus says.

That includes the huge barrier of a lack of an Executive  meaning we are losing out in ring-fencing funding to support improving older housing stock  along the speed in which planning can often take, and much-needed additional funding in order to tackle that huge housing waiting list.

And he says a multi-year budget is also key  something which has been left high and dry since the collapse of the Executive.

Some people will have been waiting for years, Seamus says. You make your way up the waiting list and get points for various criteria  those in most need.

With Covid we didnt hit our target there were 835 new social homes completed in 2022.

Last year we started construction on just over 1,700 homes so we would be hopeful to get close to 2,000 for 2023.

Seamus recently left the world of freight and haulage  formerly policy manager for Northern Ireland with Logistics UK  to take on a new challenge.

The time came for me when I wanted a new challenge  I took my time, he said. I always wanted to go into the third sector for a change and housing is one of those things for me, its something you can really buy into.

Housing associations are responsible for around 57,000 properties, with the Housing Executive managing a further 80,000.

Development happens through roughly matched funding between Stormont and private investment.

[As a sector] the total borrowings invested were 1.5bn, so its a lot of money, he says. For the local construction sector, right through that supply chain theres a lot of money. Theres a steady pipeline of work its one which a lot of businesses rely on. So, were the bread and butter for a lot of people in the local economy.

We have 20 members and are looking after 57,000 social homes. The way we work is social housing, around half the funding comes from government and the other half comes from private sector funding.

The Housing Executive manages the waiting list and the allocations. As a housing association you dont decide who your tenants are, and the Department for Communities funds you.

The Housing Executive might say there is a need for social housing in north Belfast, for example. The onus is on you as a developer, as the housing association, to get land and then go to the proposal to government saying we can build 50 of these types of homes in this area and then government signs off on that.

In terms of the second part of the funding pie, the housing associations will then go to the banks and other financiers in order to seek private investment.

Money is then recirculated, Seamus says. You might have 15,000 homes. The money you receive from rent pays your staff but also means you have money to install new bathrooms, kitchens, paint houses or roofs.

What we always say to government is that the more funding they can give to us, the willingness is always there from private banking and finance the [funding] has to be equitable.

The issue of retrofitting older, less energy efficient homes is one of the biggest issues facing the sector here. While money was freed up for schemes in GB, any money Northern Ireland received was not ring-fenced.

The massive thing is the retrofit of properties, Seamus says. Pretty much all social housing being built is to an A or a B (energy) standard.

The ethos is that its value for money  we are future-proofing them. Typically, our tenants are the people with the least amount of discretionary income. So, its in the interest if youre going to build a house to make it energy efficient for them.

The new houses, we can do that, but the older stock  the retrofit fund. There is funding in GB  800m in the first wave  we didnt see a penny of that in Northern Ireland.

We would be entitled to it through the Barnett consequential, but its not ring-fenced.

Seamus says a lack of local government is continuing to have an impact on the work needing done.

Its massive because we dont have that retrofit [funding]. If we had Stormont up and running today we would have a Communities Minister, Economy Minister and Finance Minister  they are three departments overlapping where we could get a fund to start the work. Its stalling that work and holding back the quality of homes for a lot of people.

Were fairly clear to government. If you reduce the funding for social housing here it will have consequences for health and education because a lot of social housing [involves] social living thats a separate line of funding.

If that was in any way cut at all, and left to the heath trusts, it would probably cost a lot more for government.

And he says there remains frustration, including around a lack of a multi-year budget to allow proper planning.

Theres a frustration. Two things  the pressure government is under, we need a multi-year budget. This single-year budget is not helping, he says.

Every year theres a panic in March with housing associations panicking and buying land because they are only then getting the allocations of money to build. Theres a surge.

Ideally, you would have multi-years, as you cant plan. Thats one thing holding it back.

[Also] streamlining planning is another thing  the planning system can be very slow. The local development plans at local councils are quite restrictive.
The event, sponsored by Ka-Boom, will be at City Hall, Belfast on Thursday, June 1.

Blu is the stage name of 27 year-old Joshua Cargill from Lisburn, who has enjoyed huge success since making her TV debut in 2019 on the brand new RuPauls Drag Race.

After coming fifth in that first series, Blu toured the world as part of the Frock Destroyers pop group with her series one sisters Baga Chipz and Divina De Campo as well as appearing in Frock Destroyers: Frockumentary on Wow Presents Plus in 2022.

Blu was then crowned Ru Pauls Queen of the World last March and also presented her own TV series Stitch Please on BBC Three.

Blu said: Its going to be an amazing night back in Belfast shining a light on the incredible talent we have across Northern Ireland working in the creative industries.

"This has been a wonderful year for our people and productions on the global stage and I look forward to revealing all the winners at the awards in City Hall next week.

Gareth McGreevy, Chair of RTS NI Awards Committee added: What a coup for the RTS NI to secure the dazzling Blu Hydrangea as our host for this years awards, it promises to be our most glamourous awards ceremony ever as we come together in City Hall to celebrate the diverse voices that make up our industry.

"I wish all of our finalists every success on the night and we look forward to highlighting the best of the best next week.

The RTS NI Programme Awards 2023 with headline sponsor Ka-Boom are delivered with support from BBC Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Channel 4.
From anxiety to financial hardship, the following stories are sure to teach your little one about the topic in question.

HEALTH-RELATED

The Pain in the Chest

By Aine Murray

The Pain in my Chest

The Pain in the Chest is an excellent book for explaining what anxiety is in simple terms.

It would be particularly useful for parents suffering from the condition, to explain anxiety to their child in simple terms, or it could be given to a child who is experiencing it.

When she is little, the narrator wants a balloon but worries about it popping. Later, she wants to make friends at a dance camp but is reluctant to approach the other children. As the narrator grows older, she holds herself back from doing things that she really wants to do, all because of a pain in her chest. Eventually, she confides in her mother and together they tackle things head-on.

Written by Irish teacher Aine Murray, the book was originally self-published in 2021 and is set to be republished by The OBrien Press in July 2023. The book is aimed at children aged six and older.

(4, The OBrien Press)

Billys Bravery

By Tom Percival

Billys Bravery by Tom Percival

Tom Percivals new picture book explores themes of individuality and overcoming self-doubt. Bill wants to dress up as his favourite superhero, Nature Girl, for World Book Day. Before long Billy begins to worry about looking silly or being made fun of by his peers for his costume choice. Will he find the inner courage to stand out?

This sweet story provides a springboard for talking to children about self-belief and anxiety. Its aimed at three to seven-year-olds and is part of the Big Bright Feelings series, which consists of seven books that celebrate diversity and embrace what makes you, you. Other books in the series are: Perfectly Norman, Rubys Worry, Ravis Roar, Meesha Makes Friends, Tilda Tries Again, Milos Monster.

(1, Bloomsbury)

Castle Rock Mystery Crew

By Vicky McClure

Castle Rock Mystery Crew

Actress Vicky McClure, who is an ambassador for the Alzheimers Society, has written a childrens book that explores dementia.

Castle Rock Mystery Crew tells the story of a ten-year-old boy called Jase who is on holidays in Castle Rock caravan park with his grandmother who suffers from dementia, and his aunty.

Thefts have been taking place across the site and Jase and his new friends for the campsite team up to try to find the culprit. As the finger of blame starts pointing at the youngsters, they have to work fast to solve the mystery in this warm-hearted page-turner that has a kind depiction of dementia at its heart.

Written in collaboration with Irish author, Kim Curran, the book is aimed at children aged between eight and 12.

(7.99, Scholastic)

Sade And Her Shadow Beasts

By Rachel Faturoti

Sade And Her Shadow Beasts

Sade And Her Shadow Beasts tackles the issue of childhood grief through the central character Sade.

Ever since the 12-year-old lost her mother, she has been escaping into her own imaginary world with a candy-floss lilac sky. Sade goes on adventures with her purple-winged bird, Nix, but discovers the existence of frightening shadow beasts. With the help of a grief counselling group, the pre-teen attempts to banish the shadow beasts for good.

Aimed at nine to 11-year-olds, the story tackles big feelings in an accessible way.

(7.99, Hachette Children's Group)

THE WORLD AROUND US

Taffy and the Tapir Party

By Matthew Cox

Taffy and the Tapir Party

Married couple and conservation advocates, Matthew Cox and Julia Henauer, felt so passionate about empowering children with knowledge of animals, they created a GoFundMe campaign to publish Taffy and the Tapir Party.

Topics tackled in the new release include the importance of protecting the natural world and endangered species. The main character Taffy makes his way to the Elephant Ferry to go on the annual tapir party. Along the way, he makes friends who have all lost something special to them. Penelope Pelican has lost her hat, Cara Capybara has lost her wellies, and Leonard Lemur has lost his glasses.

Through this feel-good story about adventure, friendship and working together, the authors hope to raise awareness about endangered animals and ignite childrens curiosity in the animal kingdom. Its suitable for children aged between three and eight.

(12.99, StrangeFish Books)

Not now, Noor!

By Farhana Islam

Not Now Noor

In this delightful book, Noor seeks answers to lots of questions. Why do the women in her family wear headscarves  is it because they want hide snacks in them or are they avoiding catching nits at school?

Teacher Farhana Islam was inspired to write the book by the many students who have passed through her classroom door. Noors inquisitive mind has led her to her most important question to date: why is the hijab so important?

A celebration of Muslim women and of family love, the author hopes the book acts as a reminder that representation is important. Its aimed at three to six-year-olds.

(9.99, Puffin)

FAMILY LIFE

What Type of a Family Are We?: A Book of Modern Families Told Through the Eyes of a Child

By Lizzy Seaton

What Type of Family Are We?

This colourful book celebrates families in all shapes and sizes. Ella and Oliver and their bright and beautiful animal friends discover all different types of families out there, including those with single mums and dads, two mums or two dads, adopted children, and co-parents.

A mother-of-two, Lizzy Seaton was inspired to write this book to help children understand that families can come in all different shapes and sizes but are all made of love.

(6.99, independently published)

Its a No Money Day

By Kate Milner

It's a No-Money Day

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, parents may find this book useful for explaining issues around financial difficulties to small children.

Aimed at three to six-year-olds, the book tells the story of one family who are going through challenging times. The mum works hard, but still the family doesnt have any money or food in the cupboards. They rely on the kindness of strangers and the foodbank. The little girl who loves reading and drawing, can still find happiness in her day despite the familys troubles.

Author and illustrator Kate Milner has also written My Name is Not Refugee which offers an insight into real journeys being made by families today. Nowhere to Call Home  a book exploring homelessness  will be published later in the year.

(6.99, Barrington Stoke)

My Daddies!

By Gareth Peter

My Daddies!

This rhyming read-out-loud picture book, which is aimed at two to five-year-olds, celebrates same-sex parents and introduces younger readers to another type of family.

At story time, the two fathers and their little one go on fantastical adventures hunting for treasure in a dragons cave dodging deadly dinosaurs on the prowl, and lots more besides.

Gareths own experience as a parent within a same-sex couple inspired this book. He has also written My Mummies Built a Treehouse, and Forever Star which describes an adoption journey.

(6.99, Puffin)
Prosecutors claimed she took 30 steaks in one of a series of colossal thieving incidents this year

A Belfast woman allegedly stole more than 10,000 worth of food and drink in a shoplifting campaign targeted against Marks & Spencer, the High Court heard today.

Beverly McNeilly, 43, is accused of carrying out repeated high-value raids on the retailers stores in the city.

Prosecutors claimed she took 30 steaks in one of a series of colossal thieving incidents this year.

McNeilly, of McAllister Court, is set to be granted bail once measures are in place to treat her drug addiction and mental health issues.

She faces four charges of theft and five burglaries over a period between January 3 and May 15.

Crown lawyer Mark Farrell told the court the offences were committed at Marks & Spencer branches on Boucher Road and Forestside Shopping Centre.

They are targeted towards a certain well-known, respected company, he submitted.

Marks & Spencer have had a look at what is missing, and they think the loss from stolen goods is over 10,000.

The alleged stealing spree involved taking trolley loads of groceries and alcohol worth hundreds or thousands of pounds without any payment.

Referring to one theft earlier this month, Mr Farrell claimed McNeilly was observed by another customer at the Forestside store.

She walked out with 30 steaks, a colossal amount of expensive meat, and Marks & Spencer is not cheap, the barrister said.

By that stage McNeilly had been issued with a trespass notice banning her from the retailer.

Opposing her application for bail, the prosecutor insisted that enough is enough.

He argued: It is not a victimless crime. Marks & Spencer is a company with shareholders and there is a cost to everybody if losses are made because of shoplifters.

The court heard McNeilly is a heroin addict who initially told police she could not remember any of the incidents, but later claimed to have acted under duress.

Defence counsel Luke Curran set a range of health issues for which she requires medication.

The position is dire, he acknowledged.

Adjourning the case to next week, Mr Justice Rooney indicated that bail will be granted if a support package can be put in place.
A judge has said he is doing his best to prevent someone being killed in the ongoing loyalist feud in Ards.
A pensioner suspected of smuggling and selling counterfeit items and diamonds for more than 16 years is to have her case elevated to the Crown Court in July.

During a brief mention of the case against 66-year-old Anne Roseleen Darcy on Wednesday, a prosecuting lawyer told Newry Magistrates Court that papers for a preliminary enquiry were being prepared and the case would be ready to proceed to the Crown Court in the coming weeks.

Darcy, from Windsor Bank in Newry, is on bail facing five charges arising from police seizures at her home on September 1 last year.

She faces charges of fraud by false representation, possessing items in breach of registered trademarks, possessing articles in connection with a fraud or cheat, selling suspect counterfeit goods and possessing criminal property.

The charges allege that Darcy possessed and sold various suspected counterfeit items which bore, or the packaging of which bore a sign identical to make a gain for yourself or another or to cause loss to various fashion houses.

According to a police statement, the charges follow a search where nearly 500 items of suspected counterfeit designer goods and a BMW car were seized.

During a bail variation application last month, a detective outlined that when cops raided Darcys home, they seized 245 fake designer handbags, and with the pensioner admitting she makes 200-250 on each bag, the minimum profit would be 49,000 on that seizure alone.

The detective claimed that in addition to a room filled with allegedly counterfeit handbags, belts, shoes and purses, they also uncovered 80,000 worth of diamonds wrapped in paper, as well as a diamond grading report from a business in Dubai dated January 1, 2011.

When Darcy was questioned, she made full admissions that she had been travelling back and forth to Dubai and also that the items in her house were all fake.

Since Darcy was initially interviewed, the court heard she had been further questioned for further offences including money laundering, tax evasion and VAT fraud.

An officer also outlined that they have restrained a couple of banks accounts.

In court today, the PPS asked for a four-week adjournment as papers are prepared and defence solicitor Gerard Trainor confirmed his office could take delivery of them.

Granting the application, District Judge Eamon King put the case back to June 24.
Tesco has lost its legal battle against rival Asda obtaining planning permission to build a new superstore in Co Antrim.

The Court of Appeal rejected claims that councillors who approved the 17.5m development on the Doagh Road, Newtownabbey, were misdirected about the potential availability of an alternative site.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan ruled today: This is quintessentially a case where a valid planning judgment was made.

In February 2021, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council gave the go-ahead for a new Asda supermarket and petrol station on the former Nortel site at Monkstown Industrial Estate. Car parking and click-and-collect facilities also form part of the project which is expected to generate up to 250 full-time and part-time jobs.

Tesco Stores Ltd issued judicial review proceedings over alleged failures and flaws in how the local authority applied relevant planning policy.

The Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Ireland (SPPS) requires a town centres-first approach to the location of future retail development and a sequential assessment of possible other sites in the decision-making process.

According to Tescos case, the council wrongly concluded that a possible alternative location at Abbey Trading Centre (ATC) on the Longwood Road was unavailable, therefore failing to investigate and consider questions of suitability and viability. Asda maintained that site would not be able to accommodate its new superstore.

It also emerged that the ATC location had been considered for a proposed route in expanding the Glider project as part of the Belfast Rapid Transport (BRT) scheme.

Tescos initial challenge was rejected by the High Court in October last year.

A judge held that the ATC site was plainly unavailable when the Council granted permission to Asda.

Appealing that ruling, lawyers for Tesco argued that the Planning Committee only received a partial account about the alternative availability.

But Dame Siobhan, sitting with Lord Justice Horner and Mr Justice Colton, said that the BRT proposals had been a live issue which councillors were briefed on and debated.

The decision makers were not misled or misinformed, she stated. A planning judgment was made which we do not consider can be impugned.

Dismissing the appeal, the Chief Justice added there could be no real certainty about future availability of the ATC site because of continuing work on the new Glider corridor project.

This means that with the benefit of hindsight there is in fact no injustice wrought by the decision made, she said.

It would be invidious if the planning system went into freeze frame until as complicated a process as approval for the BRT scheme was completed.
The accused denies any connection to either the cannabis or the gun

A man allegedly involved in a large-scale cannabis factory operating in rural Co Tyrone claimed he was only at the scene for a house party, the High Court heard today.

Robertas Sciolokovas, 30, was among five Lithuanian men arrested after police uncovered 100 plants inside a farm property near Cookstown on March 2 this year.

With another of the suspects wounded and claiming to have been trafficked, a pistol and ammunition were also found during follow-up searches.

Sciolokovas, of Knockamell Park in Armagh, faces charges of cultivating cannabis, false imprisonment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possessing a firearm in suspicious circumstances and dishonestly using electricity.

He was granted bail but banned from contacting any of the co-accused.

Prosecution counsel Mark Farrell said police traced a 999 call for help to a rural location on the Tulnacross Road.

At the scene they encountered a foreign national male bleeding from a facial injury who said he had been assaulted and mentioned the word gun.

He pointed to a nearby shed, telling officers he had been brought across the border and held there against his will.

Four other men in the property scattered when they saw police, Mr Farrell submitted.

They were detained following a pursuit which involved deploying a PSNI helicopter.

A search of the farm shed uncovered a cannabis factory with at least 100 plants and growing equipment.

The pistol, a magazine and more than 30 rounds of ammunition were located in a hedgerow the following day

Opposing Sciolokovas application for bail, Mr Farrell contended: This was a criminal gang with access to a firearm, drugs and to have potentially trafficked a victim.

The accused denies any connection to either the cannabis or the gun, telling police that he was just visiting the area.

Defence barrister Conor Coulter said: His instructions are that he was at a house party in a property adjacent to the farm house.

Granting bail to Sciolokovas, Mr Justice Rooney ordered him to abide by a curfew, surrender his passport and lodge a 2,000 cash surety as part of the release conditions.
122,000 people are currently waiting for surgical procedures, with a further 378,400 waiting for consultations

Over half a million people here are currently on a waiting list for medical treatment, the NI Affairs Committee has been told.

That equates to about 25% of the population, with the NI health system being described as beyond crisis.

Breaking down the figures for MPs, Professor Mark Taylor, NI director of the Royal College of Surgeons, revealed 122,000 people are currently waiting for surgical procedures, with a further 378,400 waiting for consultations. Some have been waiting up to eight years.

The reality is that some doctors are seeing patients who will never get the treatment they need, he said.

The difficulty with the current budget, reducing money to address waiting lists, is only going to add to the burden. Children are waiting so long they are being transferred to the adult waiting lists before theyve been seen.

Every day doctors are being forced to make stressful decisions. A vascular surgeon must decide is it the person who needs the life-saving aneurysm operation or is it the person who needs their leg taken off. The moral distress is every single day in Northern Ireland health and social care.

Dolores McCormick from the Royal College of Nursing said she was not over-exaggerating that the health system is now beyond crisis.

Read more Vulnerable NI patient spends seven nights in A&E due to mental health unit bed shortage

We have fallen off the cliff edge, she said. The front, the back, the primary care are all under incredible pressure. Its causing moral distress. Nurses are striving to deliver care. This is not what they want, but they are incapable of meeting the needs of patients. They are stretched and they are broken.

There are currently 3,000 vacancies in nursing in Northern Ireland. On top of that, we now have 300 fewer training places announced last week. The culture of using agency staff and the rates they are paid to fill all the gaps in the workforce is absolutely scandalous.

Reducing the use of agencies is not going to change overnight. The agency bill has ran out of control for 10 years. We need to pay our nurses fairly, work harder to retain them within the system and reduce the use of agencies. We need enough nurses into the system before we can address the agency bill.

Dr Tom Black, NI chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), said the health system simply cannot run effectively on the current level of funding.

In England, a big deal is being made of tackling an 18-month waiting list, thats 96 months here. In Northern Ireland, that is eight years. England has seven million waiting and thats a crisis. In Northern Ireland, the equivalent number would be 20 million people, he said.

Highlighting the crisis in GP surgeries, he added: In June 2022, Northern Ireland had 20 GP surgeries in crisis and facing closure, 16 of them have now closed. Today there are a further 30 in crisis. Where will we be this time next year?

Its the areas of highest deprivation that suffer most. Thats where people are most in need of medical care and thats where the most pressure is being felt.

Dr Black said that the incentives for GPs to stay and work in Northern Ireland are not there.

We lose junior doctors to Australia, where the pay and conditions are far superior. Now we also have competition from the Republic of Ireland, where GPs can find much more attractive offers.

We need to attract more GPs to cope with the number of patients. In my own practice, patients used to come to 3.5 appointments every year. Now thats seven appointments a year.

We work a triage system where if a patient doesnt need to come in, they dont, but the pressure is immense. Its not that GPs dont want to see patients, they want to see the patients they need to.

Asked about whether prescription charges would help bring extra finance into the health system, Dr Black said the BMA had consistently argued against that idea.

When people in Northern Ireland were paying for prescriptions, as GPs we found that 98% of the prescriptions being written were exempt. Only 2% were being paid for. It would likely cost more to administer the system that it would bring in, he said.

It would also mean people choosing what medical assistance they needed. It would create inequalities of care between those who could afford and those who wouldnt.

There is a recognition that if Stormont was in place, we would be able to make decisions. The resurrection of the Assembly would help, absolutely.

Ms McCormick agreed, adding that a lot of strategies beginning to run have just been halted.

We have no one to go to, no one locally making decisions, she said.

Professor Taylor said an increased focus on developing surgical hubs across Northern Ireland was one way of alleviating pressures.

Every winter, when beds are at a premium, elective surgery is always the casualty. It is now winter all year round, he said.

We have an opportunity for hospitals that are so precious to their local communities to stay open under a different identity as surgical hubs, free from the pressure of accident and emergencies. We have seen it in Omagh and Lagan Valley, now in South West Acute and Daisy Hill. They were feeling vulnerable because the word closure was always close by.

Professor Taylor gave a straight answer on the amount of money needed to address waiting lists.

700m, possibly close to 1bn to eradicate waiting lists, he revealed.

There are some shoots of hope, but there is no doubt in order to transform and deal with the fire-fighting we need more resources and we need it to be concurrent. Over three to five years so we can plan to transform rather than fire-fight on a daily basis, but the fires continue to reignite.
Sergiy Korsunsky, center, Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan, is handed over a document from Toshiro Ino, right, state minister of Defense of Japan, during the handover ceremony of defense equipment for Ukraine at Ministry of Defense Wednesday, in Tokyo. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1/2-ton trucks, seen in background, are part of handover defense equipment. AP-Yonhap



Japan held a ceremony on Wednesday marking its planned donation of about 100 military vehicles to Ukraine, as Tokyo seeks to provide equipment that can be of broader military use than its earlier shipments of helmets and hazmat suits.



In a ceremony at the Defense Ministry at which two half-ton trucks were on display, Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation.



"We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return," Ino said. "We will provide as much support as we can."



The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japan's government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, in a major break from its post-World War II self-defense-only principle.



While other countries have provided Ukraine with tanks, missiles and fighter jets, Japan has limited its donations to non-lethal equipment because the transfer policy prohibits the provision of lethal weapons to countries at war.



Japan has provided Ukraine with bulletproof vests, helmets, gas masks, hazmat suits, small drones and food rations since Russia's invasion began last year.



Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged the trucks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they met in Hiroshima on Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit. Japan has also offered to treat injured Ukrainian soldiers at a Japanese military hospital.



The vehicles consist of half-ton trucks, high mobility vehicles and material handling vehicles, the government said. The Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency said the details, including the exact number of vehicles and timing of their shipment, are being finalized.



Tokyo has joined the United States and European nations in sanctioning Russia over its invasion and in providing humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.



Japan was quick to react because of fears of a possible impact from the war on East Asia, where China's military has grown increasingly assertive and has escalated tensions around self-governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.



Japan has contributed more than $7 billion to Ukraine. It has also accepted more than 2,000 displaced Ukrainians and helped them with housing and support for jobs and education, a rare move in a country known for its strict immigration policy. (AP)


A vulnerable patient has spent at least seven nights in the Ulster Hospital emergency department.

The BBC has reported the patient, who has mental health issues, is being cared for in a private cubicle.

A shortage of beds across Northern Ireland's dedicated mental health units meant the individual had to remain at Ulster Hospital.

The South Eastern Health Trust said it is working beyond capacity, including in mental health, to manage admissions to our wards.

The Trust is working closely with our regional colleagues to respond to the demands on inpatient services.

This ensures patients who most need hospital inpatient care are prioritised and admitted first.

Patients are provided with specialist mental health care, if required and offered support and treatment until a suitable bed becomes available, a Trust spokesperson added.

On Tuesday, the NI Audit Office published a report which said the successful implementation of Northern Irelands 10-year Mental Health Strategy is at risk without sustained, additional investment.

It highlighted the prevalence of mental health problems in Northern Ireland, which are approximately 25 per cent higher than in England.

One in five adults here show signs of mental health problems, with an estimated one in eight young people experiencing anxiety and depression. This higher prevalence has been linked with both greater levels of deprivation in Northern Ireland, and with the impact of the Troubles.

In 2022-23, a total of 345 million has been allocated for mental health services, representing 5.7 per cent of the overall health and social care budget.

Despite higher prevalence levels, funding for mental health in Northern Ireland is lower than elsewhere in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The report estimates that bringing funding levels into line with elsewhere in the United Kingdom would require additional funding, which could be as much as 190 million annually.

Professor Siobhan ONeill, Mental Health Champion for NI recently spoke out about the negative impact that cuts across department budgets will have on the most vulnerable people and wider mental health.

Having spoken directly to the Secretary of State for NI, the Rt Honourable Chris Heaton-Harris MP, Head of the NI Civil Service, Dr Jayne Brady and Department of Education as well as writing to Department of Health, Professor ONeill worries that not enough is being done to protect those already struggling with poverty and mental health.

Professor ONeill stressed in the series of meetings the need to ensure that funding for mental health services is protected, and highlighted the harm that the budget cuts which have been announced will have on NIs most vulnerable populations.

Commenting on her recent meetings, Professor ONeil said: I recognise the significant challenges that the departments are faced with given the current budget allocation.

However, cuts across all government departments will have a detrimental impact on the mental health of the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland.

She added: I now ask that decision makers do everything within their gift to ensure that mental health services are protected so that they can meet the additional needs arising from the cuts that have been announced.

Professor ONeill also highlighted at her meetings two areas of the Mental Health Strategy that needed to be prioritised urgent in order to improve mental health.

Firstly, the plan for early intervention and prevention, which is Action One and Two of the Strategy, needs to be fully progressed as the initiatives within this plan will make a real difference in reducing the rates of mental ill health which is costing the NI economy 3.4 billion annually, she said.

Secondly, workforce issues continue to thwart progress on the implementation of new services.

Ms ONeill added that the mental health workforce plan needs to be finalised and there is an urgent need to expand training places particularly in the Psychiatry and Psychology professions, so that people can access specialist mental health services and the Psychological Therapies that they would benefit from.

She concluded by saying a workforce plan for the Community and Voluntary Sector also needs to be delivered so that our most vulnerable can receive the treatment and care that they need.
The Met Office has dismissed reports of a reported African plume bringing a heatwave of 30 degrees to Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Some forecasts had predicted the weather phenomenon, which is a mass of hot air originating from the Sahara desert, would hit the UK and Europe between June and September.

African plumes can bring lengthy periods of hot weather, with potential for temperatures to reach 30 degrees or higher.

However, the Met Office wanted to bat away the outrageous suggestions.

Meteorologist Aidan McGivern said the Met Office is expecting temperatures to rise this week but is not expecting heatwave thresholds to be met, while it wont get anywhere close to temperatures hitting 35 degrees during the rest of May.

Speaking on this weeks Met Office weather forecast, Mr McGivern said: Lets talk about whats not likely to happen.

As usual there have been some colourful headlines in the media with some buzzwords and I just want to bat away some of the most outrageous suggestions.

Heres what we are not expecting to happen this May  an African plume, whatever that is.

A heatwave. Temperatures will rise this week but we are not expecting heatwave thresholds to be met.

Thirty-five Celsius  it wont get anywhere close to that despite some newspaper reports.

Bringing some positive news, Mr McGivern added that it is expected to become more sunny through the rest of the week and into next week.

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Although were not importing heat from Africa or wherever else, temperatures will rise day-by-day simply because its sunny and the sun is strong this time of year so its homegrown warmth rather than imported heat, he explained.

Looking ahead to the weather forecast in Northern Ireland this evening, clearer skies are expected along the north coast, which will lead to clearer skies across the country.

Thursday will se a clear and sunny start to the day but cloud returning from the Atlantic will reach western counties during the late morning and the east in the afternoon.

The maximum temperature is forecast to reach 17 degrees.

Between Friday and Sunday, the Met Office said it will be a mainly dry few days with variable cloud and some bright or sunny spells.
Amnesty International has accused the PSNI of carrying out a disproportionate number of stop and searches on children and people from ethnic minorities.

It comes as figures reveal 23,650 people were stopped and searched in Northern Ireland by police in the 12 months up to the end of March this year.

The organisation said 5.5% of the total number of stops were carried out on people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME), despite them making up just 3.4% of the total population.

Irish Travellers were the ethnic group most disproportionately searched by the PSNI, according to Amnesty International, accounting for 355 stops  2.7% of the overall figure.

This is despite the group making up just 0.1% of Northern Irelands population.

Meanwhile, children aged between 13 and 17 years make up only 6% of the population but accounted for almost 11% of all stop and searches.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International UKs Northern Ireland Director, said: If you are from a minoritised ethnic community, you are almost twice as likely to be stopped and searched by the PSNI than if you are from the white majority community.

The police need to explain why, year after year, this continues to the case.

Black and minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland tell us they feel over-policed, yet under-protected when they themselves are victims of racist hate crime.

The use of stop and search on children is also worrying. There were more than 2,500 stops of children under these powers last year, including children aged 12 years and younger.

Yet fewer than 3% of these searches resulted in arrest, suggesting the vast majority of stops were unnecessary.

Every groundless stop and search can leave a long-lasting negative impact on community relations as well as on the individuals themselves.

According to the PSNI, stop and search is an operational tool used to prevent, detect and investigate crime, as well as to bring offenders to justice.

Police officers have a legal power to stop and search members of the public in certain circumstances, from dealing with incidents of anti-social behaviour, to suspecting an individual is carrying drugs, a weapon or stolen property through to countering terrorism.

There are a range of legislative powers available to an officer to carry out this task, including the Police and Criminal Evidence Order (PACE), the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Terrorism Act and the Justice and Security (NI) Act.

In most circumstances a police officer will need grounds to search an individual.

Some stop and search powers allow individuals to be searched without grounds, for example, to counter terrorism.

In response to the figures Chief Superintendent Melanie Jones said the PSNI is fully committed to ensuring the fair, effective and legitimate use of stop and search powers.

"These are vital in helping us prevent, detect and investigate crime and an important power to help us protect communities throughout Northern Ireland and to keep everyone safe.

We do not target individuals or ethnic groups. These powers are only used when deemed appropriate by the individual officers who are driven by reports from members of the public and by information relating to specific crimes or crime trends. There are clear legal and operational guidelines which officers must comply with for every search.

We are acutely aware that stop and search is a sensitive issue for our communities and I can assure the public we have processes in place to ensure that stop and search is used effectively and proportionately. We also continually review our practices and training and have a number of governance groups to ensure police powers, including stop and search, are being used fairly and effectively. Regular updates are provided in relation to stop and search to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, who hold us to account in terms of the use of these and other powers.

We are continually seeking to improve and recognise the benefits of detailed data to build our understanding of the use of this power. We have recently begun further work with stakeholders including the Northern Ireland Policing Board to improve how we record and monitor the community background of those we stop and search.
Sinn Fein also accuses NI Secretary of having no urgency to restore Stormont

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland has accused the NI Secretary of being out-of-touch" after he allegedly turned down an invitation to attend its conference.

The criticism comes on a day when Mr Heaton-Harris is in Northern Ireland and held a meeting with Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neill and Conor Murphy at Hillsborough Castle.

On Twitter, the Policing Federation said Chris Heaton-Harris turned down requests for meetings and the invitation to attend the conference.

His absence is testament to an out-of-touch UK Government and a Secretary of State who seemingly couldnt care less, or care about our policing service or about you or your colleagues who do what you do daily, a Twitter post added.

Former PSNI detective chief superintendent Roy McComb, who is now an international consultant in organised crime and justice, added: I cant remember a SOSNI ever declining an invitation to attend a Police Federation for Northern Ireland conference. An explanation is surely in order?

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In response, a Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: "The UK Government fully supports the excellent work that the Police Service of Northern Ireland undertakes to keep people in Northern Ireland safe, often in exceptionally challenging circumstances.

"Policing in NI, and police funding, are primarily devolved matters. It is for the devolved administration to determine the allocation of funding to the PSNI from the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) block grant.

"The prioritisation of police resourcing is the responsibility of the Department of Justice, working with the wider NIE."

Meanwhile, during the conference Mr Kelly also touched on DCI Caldwell, the PSNI officer who was shot several times at a sports centre in Co Tyrone in February.

"Your brother & sister officer colleagues will not let up until those who planned & carried out this cowardly ambushare placed before the courts & sent to prison where they belong, Mr Kelly said.

After meeting with the NI Secretary on Wednesday, Sinn Feins Conor Murphy said a potential financial package from the UK Government upon the restoration of the Stormont assembly would not be "one party's wish-list".

"We also made the point to Chris Heaton-Harris that if there has to be a discussion, it's a discussion which involves all of the parties and the civil service," he said

"This isn't one party's wish-list, we have ideas, the other parties have ideas in relation to what is needed to try and offset some of the worst damage that the British Government's budget has made, so he agreed, he accepted that point, that this is a discussion for all parties and senior civil servants as well."

Ms O'Neill also said there is "no urgency" from the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris in relation to restoring the Stormont government.

Michelle O'Neill says Heaton-Harris showing no 'urgency' to get Stormont Assembly back up and running

"This is not acceptable and not tolerable, so what we wanted to impress upon himself (Heaton-Harris) today was what is the plan for the restoration of the executive?," she said.

"It's unfortunate to say I don't believe there's any urgency there on his part. I think that was certainly our reflection of the conversation that we just had.

"We have been calling since the election for a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference, that's basically a summit between both governments, the Irish Government and the British Government, that's now going to happen, I think over the course of a couple of weeks.

"But we need some urgency, there needs to be a real plan and we need to understand when we're going to have a restored executive and assembly, but certainly the emphasis of our conversation today was around, one the restoration, but two, the scale and savagery of the cuts that are being imposed upon the public because the DUP are in a standoff with the British Government."

She said her party would be meeting with Jayne Brady, head of the NI civil service, to discuss budgetary concerns, but also added that all parties needed to be involved in setting the budget.

"It has to be the collective view and will of all the parties working together here to achieve the most efficient budget that allows us to actually deliver good public services," she said.

Ms O'Neill also confirmed a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference will be held to establish a plan for the restoration of the Stormont executive.

"The two governments will come together, we've been calling for this immediately after the election, and it's now time for them both to come together as co-guarantors," she said.

"Let's have a plan on the table, how are we going to restore the executive."
Dr Madge O'Boyle's name appears on election posters around Newry, despite her pulling out race amid bitter SDLP row.

An SDLP council candidate who dramatically quit the race weeks before polling day has accused the party of humiliating her by placing election posters around Newry with her name on them.

Dr Madge OBoyle, who withdrew her candidacy at the eleventh hour amid a bitter row which broke out within the party in April, has submitted a complaint to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (EONI) and the local authority.

After spending weeks out canvassing, the retired school teacher and author was blindsided by the late introduction of Doire Finn as a third candidate despite a two pronged strategy already being agreed in the electoral ward.

However, her name has appeared on election posters erected around the city.

"The SDLP is either short of funds or not the brightest bulbs in the election spotlights, Dr OBoyle said.

They clearly just stuck a strip of plaster over my name with Stand Up For Newry written on it.

"Incidentally that was one of my phrases suggested for first pamphlet published naming me as the number two candidate before Doire Finn was introduced."

However, it appears that the sticking tape fell off the posters of then incumbent  and recently re-elected  Michael Savage.

"It is very embarrassing and completely unacceptable that this should happen, Dr OBoyle said.

"I have notified EONI because there are others in prominent places.

The historian, who has published a book telling the story of the first policeman to die in the Easter Rising, was born in Donegal and has spent much of her life in the Republic before moving to Newry in 1999.

Dr OBoyles great uncle Constable Charles McGee (23) of the Royal Irish Constabulary, (RIC), was among 16 officers shot dead during the 1916 rebellion.

Dr Madge O'Boyle

Last month, a source told this newspaper that all hell has broken loose within the party after the Irish speaker was relegated to third place.

Now she has spoken about her experience after signing up to the SDLP in February.

I thought I was joining a just and well-organised party, but what I found, to my great surprise, was a party in disorder and disarray  incapable of organising a cat's party, not to talk of a serious political party, Dr OBoyle said.

"I am still in a state of shock after the manner in which I have been treated by a group of public representatives whom I expected to demonstrate a basic level of professional responsibility and decency."

A letter of complaint has been also handed in to the offices of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.

It states that Dr OBoyle was informed that Ms Finn was running as the partys second preference recommendation at a meeting which took place in a local restaurant on April 11 and was attended by Justin McNulty MLA.

"I must state that I was in shock and highly embarrassed at the change in plans, it adds.

"My electoral district was to be greatly decreased, leaving me with little hope of being elected.

"I was informed that my vote would be transferred to aid the more likely election of Ms Doire Finn.

"I decided to think about my options and I was told by Mr Michael Savage that the election result would be a humiliating defeat for me due to the low number of votes I would receive in the changed limited area allocated to me by head office.

The letter states that Dr OBoyle had no option but to withdraw from the race in order to avoid further embarrassment.

"I wish to state to you that the level of my embarrassment and stress was increased on April 29 when a friend informed me that a poster of Mr Michael Savage was posted on the main Armagh Road, Newry City, on a pole beside a house opposite St Josephs School, with my name on it, Madge OBoyle, as No 3 candidate clearly to be seen on it, it continues.

"It is still there on public view, and I was further informed that posters with my name on them are, also, on public view in the Patrician Park area of Newry City I must state that it has caused me much embarrassment and loss of sleep, and I am lodging this formal complaint to the election department of the council offices.

The EONI has been contacted for comment.

Michael Savage and Doire Finn were elected onto the council after securing 935 and 961 first preference votes respectively  they exceeded the quota of 1,494 on the sixth count.

An SDLP spokesperson responded to questions relating to Dr OBoyles complaint by praising both representatives as two top class candidates who will now be excellent councillors for people in Newry.

"The SDLP ran an energetic and positive campaign in the area and we are delighted to have defended both seats, they added.

All literature and materials used during the campaign were in strict accordance with Electoral Commission guidance.

"The SDLP will continue delivering for people in Newry, our mission to end division and build a new Ireland is more important than ever."
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has confirmed that more financial support for Northern Ireland is part of talks with the Government to restore Stormont.

The DUP leader said he also expects Westminster to bring forward legislation to address unionist concerns around the Northern Ireland Protocol. The DUP is adamant it wont return to Stormont until its concerns around the post-Brexit reading arrangements are addressed.

However, recently the party has highlighted Northern Irelands funding arrangements under the Barnett formula as a major concern after the Secretary of State made savage cutbacks to the budget.

The DUP has also moved away from outright opposition to the protocol deal to a handful of specific concerns with the Windsor Framework trade arrangements, suggesting legislation to protect Northern Irelands position in the UK could be part of a deal to get them back in government.

Yesterday, Mr Donaldson said the DUP was preparing proposals over Stormont funding, which had to be part of the talks if were to see an Executive restored on a sustainable and stable basis.

He added: Thats not just about resolving the issues around the Windsor Framework and the Northern Ireland Protocol, it is also about ensuring that weve got the resource to make the reforms that we need in Northern Ireland and to deliver healthcare, education and all the other vital public services.

We are developing a range of proposals for the Government, they are aware of the outline of what it is we need.

Its not just for the DUP, its for Northern Ireland, we need to ensure that when Stormont is restored it can deliver, that the foundations are solid and that the Assembly and Executive is sustainable. Thats what Im in the business of delivering.

He also said he expects the Government to bring forward legislation to address unionist concerns around the NI Protocol.

Speaking at the launch of the Trade NI report at Westminster, Mr Donaldson said: Were discussing a range of issues with the Government, not least our budgetary challenges in Northern Ireland as well as the need to address the problems created by the protocol and where we feel the Windsor Framework falls short of providing that solution.

He added: The Government knows what is needed and I believe the Government will bring forward what is required.

However, Chris Heaton-Harris appeared to suggest that more money would follow the formation of an Executive, not the other way round.

The NI Secretary said: I think we want to get the Executive up and running before we go anywhere near any other questions, because there is a desperate need to get the Executive up and running.

Ive asked a lot of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, who are delivering public services in a certain way at this point in time.

I think weve seen that people want their politicians to get into Stormont and start making political choices about how money is spent in Northern Ireland, and thats what we need to see.

He replied simply yeah, when asked whether there was any meaningful engagement ongoing with the DUP.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the people of Northern Ireland sent a clear message that they want power-sharing back up and running in last weeks election.

He pledged to the Dail that he and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would do all they could to help restore Stormont.
Afghan families receive bodies of their relatives who died while being smuggled into Bulgaria,(Afghanistan Foreign Ministry via AP)

The bodies of 18 migrants who died while being smuggled into Bulgaria have been returned to Afghanistans capital Kabul.

Bulgarian authorities discovered the bodies in a secret compartment below a load of lumber in the back of a truck left on a highway not far from the capital, Sofia, in February.

They confirmed all 18 had died of suffocation.

Bulgarian authorities detained seven people in connection to the deaths.

The director of Bulgarias National Investigation Service described the case as the countrys deadliest involving migrants.

Airport workers unload coffins from the Ariana Afghan Airlines plane (Afghanistan Foreign Ministry via AP)

Borislav Sarafov said the migrants were pressed against each other like in a tin can which had caused their slow and painful deaths. He described it as an extraordinary human tragedy.

The ministrys deputy spokesman in Kabul, Zia Ahmad Takal, said his government paid for the repatriation of the bodies.

He blamed the Bulgarian legal process for their delayed return and the cruel banking restrictions imposed on Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US and Nato forces from the country.

Mr Takal said the bodies were handed back to the families and urged Afghans not to risk their lives on illegal smuggling routes.

Another 34 Afghan migrants on the same truck survived the ordeal but they were dehydrated and suffered frostbite. They had entered Bulgaria from Turkey, hoping to reach Western Europe.

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, they have imposed measures in line with their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.

They have barred women from public spaces and banned girls education beyond primary school.

The international community has criticised the Talibans actions, leading to the countrys further isolation as it faces an economic crisis and drought threat.
Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky (left) and Toshiro Ino, second left, state minister of defence of Japan, shake hands during the handover ceremony (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

Japan has held a ceremony marking its planned donation of about 100 military vehicles to Ukraine, as Tokyo seeks to provide equipment that can be of broader military use than its earlier shipments of helmets and hazmat suits.

In a ceremony at the Defence Ministry at which two half-ton trucks were on display, Japanese vice defence minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation.

We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return, Mr Ino said. We will provide as much support as we can.

The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japans government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, in a major break from its post-Second World War self-defence-only principle.

While other countries have provided Ukraine with tanks, missiles and fighter jets, Japan has limited its donations to non-lethal equipment because the transfer policy prohibits the provision of lethal weapons to countries at war.

Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky is handed a document by vice defence minister Toshiro Ino (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

Japan has provided Ukraine with bulletproof vests, helmets, gas masks, hazmat suits, small drones and food rations since Russias invasion began last year.

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida pledged the trucks to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they met in Hiroshima on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit. Japan has also offered to treat injured Ukrainian soldiers at a Japanese military hospital.

The vehicles consist of half-ton trucks, high mobility vehicles and material handling vehicles, the government said.

The Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency said the details, including the exact number of vehicles and timing of their shipment, are being finalised.

Tokyo has joined the United States and European nations in sanctioning Russia over its invasion and in providing humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.

Japan was quick to react because of fears of a possible impact from the war on East Asia, where Chinas military has grown increasingly assertive and has escalated tensions around self-governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

Japan has contributed more than 7 billion dollars (5.65bn) to Ukraine. It has also accepted more than 2,000 displaced Ukrainians and helped them with housing and support for jobs and education, a rare move in a country known for its strict immigration policy.
Pressure from the West is strengthening Russias ties with China, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.

Mr Mishustins visit comes as Russia is increasingly turning to China for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over its invasion of Ukraine.

In opening remarks at his meeting on Wednesday with Chinese premier Li Qiang, Mr Mishustin did not mention the 15-month-old war that China has refused to criticise.

Li Qiang and Mikhail Mishustin met in Beijing(Alexander Astafyev, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)

He focused instead on economic co-operation between the neighbours that have partnered in challenging the US lead in global affairs.

Relations between the two countries are at an unprecedented high level influenced by the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West, Mr Mishustin said.

China says it is a neutral party between Russia and Ukraine and wants to help broker an end to the conflict. However, it has blamed the West for provoking Moscow and has maintained strong diplomatic and trade ties with Russia in opposition to sanctions against it.

Chinas special envoy met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and other government officials during talks in Kyiv this month.

The visit followed a phone call last month between the Ukrainian leader and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Mr Zelensky described as long and meaningful and which marked the first known contact between the two since the Russian invasion began.

Beijing released a peace plan in February but Ukraines allies largely dismissed it, insisting that Russian president Vladimir Putin must withdraw his forces.

Mr Zelenskys own 10-point peace plan includes a tribunal to prosecute war crimes committed by Russia.

While sidestepping the conflict, Mr Mishustin emphasised Russias role as a provider of oil and gas to China and their bonds formed as initial allies among communist nations.

The peoples of Russia and China cherish their history, rich culture and traditions. We support the further development of our culture, exchanges and communication, Mr Mishustin said.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his group has lost 20,000 fighters (Prigozhin Press Service via AP)

Russian private army Wagner lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, according to chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He said about 20% of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the 15-month war died in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it has lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89.

Ukraine has not said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

(PA Graphics)

Russias invasion goal of demilitarising Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Mr Prigozhin said in an interview published late on Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Mr Prigozhin also said the Kremlins forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Mr Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day.

He claimed the Russian Defence Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesdays interview it was possible that Kyivs anticipated counter-offensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counter-attack, he said.

They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

The Ukrainian General Staff said on Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last autumn and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have shot down a large number of drones in the southern Belgorod region, a local official has claimed.

Houses were said to have been damaged in Russias western Belgorod region (Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

He said that no one had been hurt but administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Russia said the previous day that its forces beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defence Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in Belgorod that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that local troops, air strikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

A soldier carries a Russian-controlled Donetsk region flag in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region telegram channel via AP)

Moscow blamed the incursion that began on Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs.

Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spill-over violence from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Bangladesh polling officials count ballots at the end of voting at a polling station in Panam Nagar city, about 12 miles southeast of Dhaka, Dec. 30, 2018.

The United States announced on Wednesday that, starting immediately, it would deny visas to Bangladeshis whom it believes undermine democratic elections in the South Asian nation.

The policy is intended to send a message to the citizens of Bangladesh that Washington is closely watching the run-up to the upcoming national polls, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told a daily press briefing here.

The Biden administration announced the new policy after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern to Dhaka last month about threats and physical attacks against members of the Bangladeshi media, including under a draconian digital law, ahead of the next general election.

In a statement on Wednesday, Blinken said that the new visa policy under the Immigration and Nationality Act aims to support Bangladeshs goal of holding free, fair and peaceful national elections, which are scheduled to be held in December 2023 or January 2024.

Washington informed Dhaka about the new visa policy on May 3, Americas top diplomat said.

Under this policy, the United States will be able to restrict the issuance of visas for any Bangladeshi individual, believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh, Blinken said in a statement.

This includes current and former Bangladeshi officials, members of pro-government and opposition political parties, and members of law enforcement, the judiciary, and security services.

Bilateral relations have been tense since Washington in December 2021 declared sanctions on an elite security force, Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion, over concerns about its alleged involvement in human rights abuses.

Bangladesh has been governed since 2009 by Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party, which secured three consecutive election wins, including one boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies in 2014, and one widely criticized as rigged in 2018.

We have not yet applied the policy to anyone, a State Department spokesperson said in response to follow-up questions emailed by BenarNews, adding that this policy is forward looking.

In Dhaka, BenarNews reached out late Wednesday to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to ask him about the new U.S. visa policy on Bangladesh.

Yes, we heard the news, he said. Our governments position on the U.S. visa policy will be cleared by our Foreign Ministry very soon.

Meanwhile, Donald Lu, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, was interviewed on a Bangladesh television channel about the new policy.

Lu gave the policy a positive spin.

I have to emphasize ... we take this decision in the most constructive and positive way, he said, praising Bangladesh as a country very special to us.

We are paying attention

During the press briefing at the State Department, a reporter asked spokesman Miller whether the new visa policy was to be seen as a criticism of the Hasina government, or a sign that Washington expected the vote to be rigged.

He replied that it was none of those things.

It is a signal on our part that we support free, fair and peaceful elections in Bangladesh and we have the ability to hold anyone accountable who hinders free and fair elections, he replied.

It is a signal to all members of [Bangladesh] society, as I mentioned  the military, security forces, the judiciary  that we have this ability and we are paying attention.

Miller also said that the State Department believed there was importance in sending a signal to the people of Bangladesh that we back free and fair elections.

He was also asked whether the State Department would make public the names of people whose visa would be refused. Miller said that information would stay confidential.

But the point is signaling to anyone who may be considering actions that would interfere with the abilities of Bangladeshi people to make their voices heard that we are watching, and [we] think its an important step, Miller said, referring to the new policy.

Blinkens statement said that the State Department named a variety of actions that it considers as undermining the democratic election process.

They include: vote rigging; voter intimidation; the use of violence to prevent people from exercising their right to freedoms of association and peaceful assembly; and the use of measures designed to prevent political parties, voters, civil society, or the media from disseminating their views.

The holding of free and fair elections is the responsibility of everyone  voters, political parties, the government, the security forces, civil society, and the media, Blinken said.

I am announcing this policy to lend our support to all those seeking to advance democracy in Bangladesh.

The Hasina government has had an uneasy relationship with the U.S. lately.

Last month, Bangladeshs PM railed against Washington in parliament, alleging the U.S. was working to bring an undemocratic party to power in her country through the upcoming polls. She also accused the U.S. of supporting corrupt people in Bangladesh.

Significantly, during a six-day visit to Washington earlier this month, Hasina did not meet with any U.S. government officials  a reflection, one observer said, of tensions between the two nations lately.

Hasinas visit was also marred by several street protests against her regime. Demonstrators brought together by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party accused her government of mismanaging the economy and muzzling criticism.

They also referred to her as an autocrat.

The BNP held a series of well-attended rallies late last year, despite scores of its members being arrested and restrictions on movement and internet blockades.

The BNP has said it will not participate in the next election until its demands are met. Its main demand is for a caretaker government to be installed during election and post-poll period, a past practice seen as having resulted in relatively more free and credible balloting.

Hasinas Awami League government had repealed the provision about caretaker governments from the constitution in 2011.

Ahammad Foyez contributed to this report from Dhaka.
A stock photo of fishing boats in a harbor on Pingtan island, the closest point in China to Taiwan, in southeast Fujian province on April 15, 2023.

A rescue effort to find 39 missing seafarers from a Chinese fishing vessel that capsized in the Indian Ocean is being scaled down, an Indonesian official said Wednesday, with no survivors found after a weeklong search for the crew that included Indonesians and Filipinos.

Seventeen Indonesians, 17 Chinese and five Filipinos were on board the Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028, which overturned early last week in a remote area northwest of Australia.

Chinas Ministry of Transport said Tuesday it had downsized the search effort to a 48-hour small-scale operation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Beijings embassy in Jakarta said that seven bodies had been found, but none had been identified, according to Judha Nugraha, citizen protection director at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We will find out the final outcome of the search tomorrow, he said.

The foreign ministry has coordinated with police to take DNA samples from the families of the missing Indonesian crew, Nugraha added.

The Philippine Coast Guard on Wednesday expressed condolences to the families of crew missing from the vessel, including the five Filipinos.

We are saddened by this development, said spokesman Rear Adm. Armand Balilo in a statement. Since day one, we have been monitoring and coordinating with the Australian Maritime Rescue Center and the Chinese Embassy as to the progress of the search and rescue (SAR) operations.

On Tuesday afternoon, seven ships were still operating at the site of the incident, Xinhua reported.

The international search operation included contributions from Australia, China, India and Sri Lanka.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which received a distress call from the boat after it came into trouble, suspended its search on Saturday after scouring an area of 12,000 square kilometers (4,633 square miles) with multiple aircraft and ships.

Weather conditions were extreme, with the passage of Cyclone Fabian that saw 120 kph winds and 7 meter seas. It is likely that the vessel capsized due to the cyclonic conditions, the maritime authority in a statement.

Our thoughts and sympathy are with the families of the affected crew, and we acknowledge the distress they will be feeling at this time.

Calls for investigation

Netty Prasetiyani Aher, an Indonesian legislator who sits on the health and labor committee, urged the government to work with China to determine if there was any negligence or unlawfulness that contributed to the incident.

If there is any violation that made the boat overturn, the government must take firm action, she said in a media statement on Tuesday, without elaborating.

She said the families of crew members deserved complete information about what happened and the government must ensure they received appropriate entitlements and compensation.

China has been expanding its distant-water fishing fleet in recent years, raising concerns about overfishing and environmental impacts.

More than 9,400 Indonesian crew members were working on foreign ships in 2020, according to the latest data from the foreign ministry, though advocates for seafarers say that could be an underestimate.

Mohamad Abdi Suhufan, national coordinator at Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia, a nongovernmental organization, said many Indonesians work on Chinese fishing vessels without proper documentation or protection.

Even if the government has data, we suspect that it is not valid because according to our information, the number of those who work illegally is more than those who are legal, he told BenarNews.

He estimated there were about 60,000 to 70,000 Indonesian crew members working on Chinese fishing boats.

Some 40 Indonesian crew members died on foreign fishing vessels from November 2019 to March 2022, according to DFW.

About 84% of the deaths occurred on Chinese vessels and 14% on Taiwanese ships, it said. The National Fishers Center, which is run by DFW, received 93 complaints from 283 Indonesian and migrant crew members over the same period.

The top complaint was non-payment of salaries and/or 50% deduction of wages.
Members of Malaysias Ministry of Home Affairs enforcement unit with 25 rainbow-colored watches confiscated from Swatchs Pride Collection at One Utama Shopping Center, Kuala Lumpur, May 13, 2023.

LGBTQ+ rights activists and campaigners have condemned Malaysian authorities for confiscating 172 rainbow-colored watches made by Swatch Group, describing the raids on stores across the Muslim-majority nation as unwarranted and hateful.

Malaysias Ministry of Home Affairs seized the watches from the Swiss company's Pride Collection during raids at 11 stores between May 13-15, Swatchs marketing manager for Malaysia Sarah Kok told BenarNews Wednesday. Another five stores were told to remove the items from shelves.

The ministrys enforcement and control division cited the controversial Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984 as the basis for the raids, according to a seizure notice seen by BenarNews. The law contains provisions to control the sale of products deemed morally harmful.

The LGBTQ+ community has long faced discrimination in Malaysia, where homosexuality is forbidden and sodomy can be punished with imprisonment and corporal punishment. The recent raids have intensified concern.

The unwarranted crackdown on these items of expression, which display the colors of the global symbol for diversity and inclusivity, directly contradicts the fundamental freedoms of expression and the promotion of tolerance and understanding, Dhia Rezki Rohaizad, deputy president of Malaysian gay rights group Jejaka, said in a statement.

Furthermore, the legality of the raids and seizures is questionable. As an international brand, Swatch has the right to sell its collections without fear of government interference as long as these products are not illegal or harmful.

Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of Justice for Sisters, also expressed concern over the raids, saying they signaled increasing homophobia and extremism in Malaysia.

Malaysia has a role to protect everyone, including LGBT people, she told BenarNews. Through our work, research, surveys and such with the community, we see how increasing discrimination and marginalization are resulting in increased stress and mental health burden, isolation, and desire to migrate or seek asylum.

She said continued discrimination also reduced trust in government institutions, which meant people were more reluctant to report cases of abuse or seek health services.

The home affairs ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Anti-LGBT campaign

Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek Jr. defended the Pride Collection, emphasizing its positive message about the joy of life.

We strongly contest that our collection of watches using rainbow colors and having a message of peace and love could be harmful for whomever, he said.

Joachim Bergstrom, the Swedish ambassador to Malaysia, said everyone was equal in dignity and rights.

They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood, Bergstrom told BenarNews.

Discrimination against Malaysias LGBTQ+ community is often led by the countrys politicians.

In February, the government made headlines when it banned two childrens books due to allegations they promoted LGBT lifestyles, as well as a novel deemed harmful to Malaysian morals.

More recently, conservative political parties have called for a concert by chart-topping British band Coldplay to be canceled, due to its support of the pride movement.

Islamic Affairs Minister Mohd Naim Mokhtar said Monday in a written parliamentary reply that Malaysia has formed an inter-agency special committee to tackle issues related to Muslim LGBTQ+ individuals.

Despite this, the government still does not discriminate against any group, including LGBT, the minister said.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia division, labeled the raids as utterly ridiculous and criticized the government's hateful, anti-LGBT campaign.

Malaysian conservatives inside and outside the government seem to be pursuing a strategy to try and demoralize and isolate the LGBT community by attacking their symbols, whether it be rainbow flags, watches, clothes, or their community events, Robertson told BenarNews.

The big question is where Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and government leaders really stand on this issue of fundamental human rights. They cannot continue to fail to protect LGBT persons in Malaysia from these sorts of attacks and then turn around and claim on the international stage that they are a rights-respecting government.
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LENOX  Its back to the future for a former star player on the downtown dining scene.

Nudel, opened in 2009 by proprietor and chef Bjorn Somlo, fell on hard times during the pandemic and closed last September.

Now under new owners and renamed Cello for its proximity to Tanglewood, the 28-seat Church Street establishment is carving out a familiar but updated identity.

Leading the kitchen is Raymond Stalker, Nudels most recent executive chef, trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Stalker is also a Cello co-owner.

The new proprietor-investors, Robert Fried and his wife, Karen Kowgios, have been business partners for 35 years. They were certified public accountants specializing in the theater industry who semi-retired to West Stockbridge recently from the their Manhattan firm, sold five years ago to Withum Smith+Brown, PC.

Although they are newcomers to the restaurant business, they hope that Cello can rekindle the buzz that once had diners lining up before the 5 p.m. opening, eager to score a table at the intimate establishment that took no reservations until the final years of Somlos ownership.

Acknowledging that restaurants are risky ventures, Fried and Kowgios pointed out jointly, having worked in the theater business, we can assure you that was much riskier.

Why dive in?

We were Nudel regulars for a long time and loved it, Kowgios explained, but this kind of changed when Somlo took on The Lantern in Pittsfield, which closed in April 2020, they said, in part because he was exhausted.

At Cello, reservations are available, and there will be outside seating for eight additional diners at two tables.

Other than that, how does Cello play differently from Nudel?

Not much, but with more of my touch, Fried said. As he and Stalker summed up their American Eclectic culinary lodestar: Buying the best, locally and seasonally inspired farm-to-fork ingredients and being creative.

No specials, but the menu changes at least weekly, bowing to the Nudel tradition, as Somlo revised the menu nearly every night from day one.

A typical recent menu listed salads, soups and other starters ($6-$16) and mains (fish, veal, duck, linguini, $28-$38), and a choice of two desserts ($12).

Stalker acknowledged that the search for trained staffers is challenging, but he has his sous-chef, Dashaan Golden, whom he trained at The Lantern.

Stalker stressed that hes not poaching servers from other establishments.

Everyone who works here came to me and asked for a job," he said. "I didnt go to anybody.

Cello is a year-round restaurant aimed at local regulars as well out-of-town visitors, open from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with Sunday to be added. Its liquor license was expedited recently by the town and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission in Boston, with significant help from state Rep. William Smitty Pignatelli.

Fried and Kowgios have a six-year lease with two five-year extensions for the premises at 37 Church St. from building owner Jonathan Molk of Housatonic LLC.

The key to success, as Fried put it: If we get a chance to feed all of Nudels followers who remember their experience there, theyre going to want to be back with us. Were a casual restaurant offering a fine dining experience, highest quality, uniquely prepared.

On a good night, they said, the hope is to serve a total of 70 diners.
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LENOX  Michael Gardino and his wife, Martha, were alerted by their two miniature Dachshunds that someone was outside last Saturday evening, before darkness descended.

The longtime residents peered out of their living room window on Brunell Avenue, near downtown  right into the eyes of a young bull moose who was staring right back.

At first, she thought it was a horse, Gardino said. But sure enough, it was a moose. It was amazing to see; never expected to spot one in the front yard, but there it was, plain as day.

Ive never seen anything like that in my life, said Gardino, who built the house 40 years ago. Ive been all over Vermont, New Hampshire and had never seen a moose. It turns out I didnt have to go far. He was looking right at me for about 10 minutes before he took off into the woods.

Gardino told The Eagle that several of his Facebook friends later spotted the moose on Hubbard Street, on the other side of town.

After he notified local police on Saturday night, Gardino noticed Lenox and state police cruisers driving by, but the moose had departed for the safety of the woodlands.

In his neighborhood, hes used to seeing bears, coyotes and fishers, which arent cats but are members of the weasel family related to mink, otters, badgers and wolverines.

While moose sightings are not uncommon in the Berkshires, seeing one in a residential area near the center of town is far from routine. This wandering bull moose also has been sighted in other parts of town, including the Root Reservoir, where he was slaking his thirst.

Over the past 15 years, occasionally in vehicle collisions, moose have been spotted in Adams, Becket, Cheshire, Lanesborough, downtown North Adams, Pittsfield and Stockbridge, among other locations.

At the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife headquarters in Westborough, state deer and moose biologist Martin Feehan described the Lenox area as well within moose habitat, considering the abundant forests nearby. Hes familiar with the town because of assignments for bear issues and captures.

Moose wanderings near or into downtowns are pretty common, he pointed out, noting that the animals have been seen regularly in urban areas such as Worcester and Framingham. But generally, he said, bears are much more comfortable around people, whereas moose are more elusive and tend to want to stay in the woods.

At this time of year the bull moose are getting pushed around by cows with their calves, Feehan said. Those cows tend to get a bit territorial where theyre raising their calves. So the bulls start moving out of those areas just as those cows are defending their territories. They just go wherever they can find food, so a lot of times they get pushed into sub-par habitats such as the towns.

The Lenox moose could be a yearling, he noted, adding that the wanderers can cover a large area, up to 30 or 40 miles within a week or two, exploring new food sources. The moose menu includes early growth  trees, young leaves as well as some vegetation within marshes and wetlands.

Primary safety threats described by Feehan include moose-vehicle collisions.

In addition, you need to give them good space because if they feel threatened, he cautioned. They might charge to stand their ground, but only if you get very, very close.
NORTH ADAMS  Former Police Chief Jason Wood has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Mayor Jennifer Macksey and the city, asking that he be reinstated as head of the department.

Wood has been on paid administrative leave since March 8, two days after North Adams police were called for a domestic incident involving him and a married couple. Woods contract, which ends in June, was not renewed following an internal investigation into a noncriminal matter involving the chief, Macksey has said.

At the time, the mayor said she lost trust and confidence in his leadership. While she wouldnt say why Wood was dismissed, Macksey said it wasnt connected to the March 6 domestic call.

However, a letter included in a court filing for the lawsuit said the investigation was about Woods misuse of City time and resources.

Woods attorney, Timothy Michael Burke, said his client was not given specific allegations of wrongdoing and protocols in his contract for his removal were not followed.

Its a clear-cut violation of the terms and conditions of his contract, Burke told The Eagle.

Burke emphasized Woods long record with the city. He worked for the police department for more than 20 years and rose through the ranks, becoming chief four years ago.

Hes done a tremendous job, Burke said. What his private life is is a separate matter altogether. Nobody can question the service hes performed over the number of years hes been there. Burke would not elaborate on what he meant by Woods private life.

Macksey declined to comment on Tuesday. Adam Dupere, a Westfield attorney representing her and the city, also declined to comment.

Woods lawsuit was filed May 5 in Berkshire Superior Court. It alleges that the city breached his employment contract by, among other issues, not allowing him a hearing with a lawyer, not providing six months notice of the citys intention to not renew the contract, and failing to do performance evaluations.

Signed in 2019, his current contract says that he can be disciplined or discharged only for just cause, with at least seven days notice and only after a hearing in which he can be represented by a lawyer.

He was never given a hearing, Burke said. He was never provided the opportunity to present his side of the story.

Although also required by the terms of the Contract, the complaint says, no written notice of any specific allegations of misconduct were ever provided to the Plaintiff by the City or Defendant Macksey.

Woods contract also says if he or the city does not give six months notice it intends to not renew his contract, then the contract is automatically extended by a year. The complaint argues under that provision, the city should have notified Wood by Jan. 1.

He asks the court to be reinstated at chief, or alternatively, as lieutenant. The improper and illegal conduct by the mayor and city caused him emotional and financial damage, as well as irreparable damage to his reputation within the law enforcement community, the lawsuit states. His most recent contract lists his pay as $90,145 annually.

Wood asked in April, after he was put on leave, to be reinstated as lieutenant and was denied.

After he was removed as chief, Wood declined an interview request with The Eagle. According to police reports, a North Adams man called police that day and said he believed that Wood was coming to his home. Wood was in a relationship with his wife, Woods wife told police in another police report.

Wood told police he was not going to the home. Chief Wood said he was aware and that the situation was blown out of proportion, however, it doesnt look good, the report states.

State police handled the call to avoid a conflict of interest, and reported that nothing happened.

Through a public information request, The Eagle obtained a long chain of emails between him the woman he was apparently having an affair with. They span from January through March, and in many the two are arguing but its unclear what their disagreement is about.

Some of his emails were sent during normal business hours, but its unclear whether he was using his city email account because the address is redacted. In a March 11 email, the woman wrote Wood: This is a mess an absolute mess. Im sorry that me and you had to end like this.

The woman told Wood she did not want him to lose his job and said [redacted] was in our personal time not at work. We were best friends ... Im not going to screw you over now.

The woman writes in another email that she thinks Wood could be put on the stand as a witness for her divorce.

A response from the defendants on Woods complaint is due to the court in early September, according to the cases online docket.
NORTH ADAMS  There are no new plans on the horizon for the newly sold Steeple City Plaza, a major piece of downtown real estate.

First Hartford Realty Corp. sold the plaza to another Connecticut realty company for $2 million in late April, according to records filed with the Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds.

At this point we dont foresee any change in the shopping center, said David Burns, general counsel for First Hartford Realty Corp., which is managing the property. Efforts to directly reach the new owner, NRT Realty, were not successful over the last week. Paperwork filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth list its principal as N. Robert Trigg.

There are no plans to reopen the shuttered North Adams Movieplex or leads on a new tenant to rent the space, according to Burns.

The plaza sold for less than half of what its worth. The most recent assessment totaled $5.4 million, according to Jessica Lincourt, the city assessor.

Burns declined to comment on why First Hartford sold the property.
A view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Although Ukraine now controls only a small part of the city, Kyiv says its troops played a key role in the strategy of exhausting Russian forces and will carry on with the fighting.
Information from The New York Times, Bloomberg News and CNBC were included in this commentary. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of The Berkshire Eagle. Clarence Fanto can be reached at cfanto@yahoo.com.
Pittsfield YMCA's $12.4 million renovation called a 'complete game changer' as memberships and day care enrollments are up Local, state and federal dignitaries gathered in Pittsfield on Monday to give a rousing welcome to the newly renovated $12.4 million Pittsfield Family YMCA. "It was crazy to think that this could be pulled off," Tricia Farley-Bouvier said. "But it was that doggedness, the strategic thinking, the partnerships that made this happen."

After a year and a half of construction and millions of dollars invested, Berkshire Family YMCAs shiny makeover reflects some much-needed optimism in downtown Pittsfield.

Mondays ribbon-cutting ceremony welcomed officials from across the community and commonwealth, including Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer and state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier as well as U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and Sen. Edward Markey.

It was a fitting occasion to come together, given the team effort to get this project over the finish line. The historic North Street location of Pittsfields YMCA  the main building was built in 1930  was in need of essential renovation.

The weight of the deferred maintenance was going to put us in an untenable spot, Berkshire Family YMCA board member Matthew Scarafoni said at Mondays event. So we either acted or collapsed.

And act they did, with multiple community stakeholders contributing to the possibility of this projects success. Mr. Scarafoni, who is also president and chief financial officer of Scarafoni Financial, chaired the capital campaign to raise funding for the $12.4 million project. Meanwhile, leaders at all levels who know the importance of this institution to the Pittsfield community helped to leverage public investment. The YMCA received $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds as part of Mayor Tyers plan to put $8.8 million of the citys COVID relief funding toward local nonprofits. Rep. Farley-Bouvier on Monday flagged $2.3 million in state funding. The project also qualified for the federal new market tax credit program, which Rep. Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, knew could be an important piece of the funding puzzle for the YMCAs renovation just as it was for the Colonial Theatres in the mid-2000s.

Were glad to see these officials see the importance of investing in this community institution in the heart of Pittsfield. We frequently hear from our readers and neighbors that the city needs more safe, healthy, communal opportunities, particularly for our youth. The Berkshire Family YMCA is a critical conduit for such opportunities, and were happy to see its vitality rebounding from COVID. While the pandemic halved the Ys membership, those numbers are back up to pre-pandemic levels, according to Mr. Scarafoni. He said that all programs have grown in recent years and particularly noted a 40 percent increase in day care enrollment.

We dont always see the necessary collaborative and strategic investment in the community institutions that serve young Berkshire families, but when we do its worth highlighting  especially when it means investing in a sustainable future for the Berkshire Family YMCA. Thats certainly worth celebrating, even if one mornings salutations do not fully capture the critical behind-the-scenes work of fundraising, grant-writing and lobbying for life-giving investment. For those efforts on behalf of the greater Pittsfield community, we are grateful.

We did it, Pittsfield YMCA Executive Director Jessica Rumlow told attendees Monday. And just as many hands helped with the lift, many minds, bodies and souls will be elevated because of it.
Weve all heard of ambassadors. It is normative for each country to have an ambassador (an accredited diplomat) who goes and represents their country to and in other nations. According to Embassy Worldwide, for example, there are about 168 Foreign Embassies and 732 Consulates placed in the territory of the United States. The United States itself in total counts near 163 Embassies and 93 Consulates spread all over the world. What do these ambassadors do? For the most part, the ambassador helps promote peace between his country and that in which he or she is placed.

As Christiansfirst and foremost in relation to what the world seeswe are to be ambassadors for Christ. We are people called by God to represent Him to a lost and dying (secular) world, and as we become more and more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18), the world will see His character in and through us. We will spell out more of who we are to be to the world later in this article.

Where in the Bible Are We Called to Be "Ambassadors for Christ"?

The Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, tells us who we now are in Christ and what we are to do:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling all who call on Jesus Christ to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Lets unpack this treasure chest of a passage.

Flesh - To be in the flesh is to live according to human standards according to our own will and not according to Gods sovereign will in our lives (Mark 3:35; Acts 22:14; Romans 7:5, 25; Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:3a; Hebrews 10:7).

Before, we regarded Jesus Christ from the perspective of people who served self above all else. And now, we do not see Christ from a fleshly perspective. We see Jesus as Lord! We see the world with more clarity as we are sanctified through the power of the Holy Spirit.

New creation - No longer are we governed by what we were before we came to a saving faith in Christ. We, at the moment of conversion, became new in Him! (John 3:3,7; 1 Peter 1:3, 23).

From God - God drew us to Him (John 6:44; John 14:6). We have no part in our salvation but to acknowledge our sin, repent, and in belief and faith say Yes! to Gods kind invitation (Romans 11:22). It is by grace, Gods gift to us, that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8).

Reconciliation - God reconciled our sinful selves to Himself, forgets them (by the mediation of Christ (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24), and has given us a ministry of reconciliation.

Ambassadors for Christ  We have gained the privilege  as Christs own  to represent Him. We are to represent God to the world.

Righteousness - Christs righteousness has been imputed to Christians (Romans 1:17). Christs righteousness is credited to us believers.

What Did This Look Like for the Early Church?

The early church realized they were strangers and aliens here on earth (Ephesians 2:19), and they sought to live for Christ as one unified body of believers within ever-present corrupt societies.

People of the early church were first called Christians in Antioch, and it wasnt good. It meant of the party of Christ. These ambassadors for Christ were looked at with disfavor as they displayed their Christ-like characteristics.

The Apostle Paul was the foremost missionary of the first century, and he founded many churches. As such, when he witnessed or heard of troubling issues within the church, he addressed them via a visit and/or an epistle. Our main passage is addressed to the church in Corinth, and Corinth was in such moral depravity its name was synonymous with gross depravity and drunken immorality. The church must (then and now) stand out as separate from the broken culture (2 Corinthians 6:17).

The early church served as ambassadors for Christ by:

- Enduring tribulation and persecution for His name. (John 16:33; Acts 8:1, 11:19, 13:50)

- Displaying unity in the body. (Acts 2:46)

- Walking with Jesus in obedience and humility. (Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:3)

- Obeying God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)

- Growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ through the Word. (Acts 2:42)

- Corporate prayer. (They still gathered in the synagogue  Acts 2:46-47)

- Building up the body. (By this they will know you are My disciples if you have love one for another John 13:35)

- Living in peace with one another. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

What Does This Look Like for Us Today?

Theres an outdated adage which stated, As goes the church, so goes the nation. What has transpired in addition is, As go the leaders, so goes the church. Many so-called churches are nothing more than a name stamped on the side of a building, bearing little resemblance to what Christ calls His church. Evil seems more pervasive due to the worlds population and the global information highway, both physical and virtual. We have church leaders who are nothing more than nose and nickel compilers, counting money and attendance instead of counting the cost as Christ-followers (Luke 14:25-33). And they corrupt churchgoers and seekers with a feel good about yourself false gospel instead of Scriptural Truth (Matthew 23:15). If Christ addressed these false teachers, His ire would sound as it did in Matthew 23:13-35 when He pronounced the seven woes against the Scribes and the Pharisees.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John wrote what Jesus said to the seven churches of Asia. Some of His words were of rebuke and some of praise. It is reported biblical literacy today is at its lowest point in 500 years. Its no wonder we see the same ills facing the church today as faced by the first-century church in Corinth (or Rome. Or Ephesus, Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Galatia, etc.).

However, todays true church, as defined by Scripture, is that which looks more like it did as recorded in Acts 2 and 3. We follow the same principles yet with greater distractions that modern technology brings. While we cannot give a comprehensive list of these attributes, we will list some highlights which add to the characteristics as shown by and commanded to the early church. As ambassadors for Christ, we model Christ-like behavior as we go out into the world.

We are to:

- Love God first and love our neighbors as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-40)

- Be devoted to reading, studying, meditating upon, and teaching the Scriptures. (Acts 17:10-11)

- Be salt and light. (Matthew 5:13-16)

- Be mission-minded and share the good news. (Matthew 28:18-20)

- Obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)

- Live by and reveal the Fruit of the Spirit to the world. (Galatians 5:22-23)

- Be thankful in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

- Be at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)

The characteristics of an ambassador for Christ can fill a book, and its a worthy study to research Scripture for more features we should exemplify.

A Prayer to Be a Good Ambassador

Father God,

Your Word tells us You have granted to us everything we need to live a life of godliness. Give us a desire to immerse ourselves in the Bible and the ability through the power of Your Spirit to understand and apply Your truths. Help us to reach out to others in the name of Jesus and for His glory. Its only through Your work in us we are able to be Your ambassadors, because without You, we are darkness. Dont allow us to keep the Light of life hidden within the confines of our homes and church buildings. Help us model Christ to the world and be the people You have created us to be.

In the matchless and holy name of Jesus we pray,

Amen.

Just as a diplomatic ambassador is trained for his work, so too we, as ambassadors for Christ, are trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine (1 Timothy 4:6-8).

Are you a new believer? Get in the Word. Are you a more mature believer? Stay in the Word. Are you a seasoned Christian? Persevere in your study of the Word. For believers of all maturity levels, keep sharing your testimony; its irrefutable. Always remember, be in the world but not of it (John 17:15-19).

Photo credit: Getty Images/steve007

Lisa Loraine Baker is the multiple award-winning author of Someplace to be Somebody. She writes fiction and nonfiction. In addition to writing for the Salem Web Network, Lisa serves as a Word Weavers mentor and is part of a critique group. She also is a member of BRRC. Lisa and her husband, Stephen, a pastor, live in a small Ohio village with their crazy cat, Lewis.
On average, the fees for Russian medical colleges range from $4000 to $8000 per year

Mumbai-based Moksh Overseas Educon Limited, a leading study abroad consulting company in India, has released a comprehensive guide on the top 10 universities in Russia for MBBS education.

The guide offers Indian students an overview of the medical education system in Russia, the benefits of studying MBBS in Russia, the top Russian medical universities, the admission process, eligibility criteria, Russian MBBS fees and scholarships, accommodation and living expenses, medical licensing exams, and career prospects after MBBS in Russia.

Russia is one of the most popular destinations for Indian students to study MBBS, with more than 10,000 Indian students studying medicine in 40+ medical colleges in Russia.

MBBS in Russia is divided into two parts: the pre & para-clinical and clinical phase. The pre & para clinical phase is three years long, and it focuses on the theoretical aspects of medicine. The clinical phase is three years long, and it focuses on the practical aspects of medicine. It also matches with the requirement of National Medical Commission (NMC) such as minimum 54 months of theory + 12 months of internship. The total duration of the course is 5.8 years including internship.

Top 10 Medical Universities in Russia include- Orel State University; Bashkir State Medical University; Astrakhan Medical University; Kazan State Medical University; Kabardino Balkarian State University; Saint Petersburg State University; Kursk State Medical University; Pirogov National Research Medical University; First Moscow State Medical University; and Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. A total of $1500 to $2000 is required to be spent per year towards living in Russia as a medical student.
Stock media provider Shutterstock is set to acquire Giphy from Meta in a deal worth $53m.

Source:  Cartoon Brew Cartoon Brew Stock media provider Shutterstock is set to acquire Giphy from Meta in a deal worth $53m

Following the UKs Competition and Markets Authority ruling that Meta has breached competition law, Shutterstock is acquiring the GIF library and search engine.

Meta reportedly paid $400m for New York-based Giphy in 2020. A year later the deal was challenged by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority and its successful campaign was the first time a regulator had forced a USS tech giant to sell an already acquired company reports Reuters.

Meta lost the tribunal on the ruling last October, forcing it to find a new buyer for the platform.

We will work closely with the CMA on divesting Giphy, a Meta spokesperson said in October, upon the ruling.

$53m deal

The deal worth $53m has been reported in various media. The stock media provider CEO Paul Hennessy has stated that this is an exciting next step in Shutterstocks journey as an end-to-end creative platform.

In the statement Hennessay says that Shutterstock is in the business of helping people and brands tell their stories.

Through the Giphy acquisition, we are extending our audience touch points beyond primarily professional marketing and advertising use cases and expanding into casual conversations.

Giphy enables everyday users to express themselves in memorable ways with GIF and sticker content while also enabling brands to be a part of these casual conversations, adds Hennessy.

We plan to leverage Shutterstocks unique capabilities in content and metadata monetisation, generative AI, studio production and creative automation to enable the commercialisation of our GIF library as we roll this offering out to customers.

Shares of Shutterstock, which expects the deal to close next month, rose as much as 4% premarket.

The company says Giphy would add "minimal" revenue this year and it would launch efforts to increase revenue from 2024.

Deal under scrutiny

In 2020 when Meta announced that it had reached a deal worth around $315m to acquire Giphy, the deal immediately came under scrutiny over claims of being anti-competitive to the UK market.

The finding, upheld by The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), ruled that the takeover could limit other social media platforms from accessing GIFs, which might limit their appeal to users.

Giphy claims to have 1.7 billion daily users working alongside platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, Microsoft, TikTok, Samsung, Twitter, Slack and Discord.
, the world's leading international advocacy organisation on a mission to end extreme poverty now, announced its return to the iconicinonwith. A free, ticketed event, 'Power Our Planet: Live in Paris' will feature performances fromand special guests Ben Harper,, andto drive commitments from world leaders and the private sector to confront the climate crisis head on.

Under the high patronage of Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, Power Our Planet: Live in Paris will rally global leaders attending the New Financial Pact Summit, chaired by President Macron. The Power Our Planet campaign, which is co-chaired by Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, is calling for a seismic shift in the way the worlds financial systems work to give the worlds poor and developing nations access to the financing they urgently need to quicken their transition to clean energy, strengthen their resilience against natural disasters, and address their most urgent needs.

Global Citizens Power Our Planet campaign is galvanising millions of people around the world to take action, raise their voices and demand urgent changes from governments, multilateral development Banks, and major corporations, including:

Keep Promises Already Made : Deliver the outstanding $16.7bn of the committed $100bn in climate financing for lower-income countries; transfer $100bn in IMF Special Drawing Rights from wealthy countries to poor countries; increase foreign aid budgets; and enact global carbon emissions taxes.



: Deliver the outstanding $16.7bn of the committed $100bn in climate financing for lower-income countries; transfer $100bn in IMF Special Drawing Rights from wealthy countries to poor countries; increase foreign aid budgets; and enact global carbon emissions taxes. Free Up Funding : Makeup to $1tn in financing available to countries in need through policy reforms at the World Bank and other multilateral development banks; and include natural disaster and pandemic clauses in loans to poorer nations.



: Makeup to $1tn in financing available to countries in need through policy reforms at the World Bank and other multilateral development banks; and include natural disaster and pandemic clauses in loans to poorer nations. Transition to Clean Energy: Corporations should commit to join the United Nations Race-to-Zero by setting science-based targets; publish time-bound action plans for climate transitions; and make transformative investments for a lower-carbon transition in emerging economies.

Increased access to financing would help bolster governments ability to resist climate change by, for example: helping 1.5 million farmers in Zambia withstand climate disasters like droughts and floods; protecting 1.8 million hectares of land in Ghana by 2030; ending deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 2030; and strengthening the resilience of national electric grids in island nations like Antigua and Barbuda to withstand Category 5 hurricanes.

Power Our Planet: Live in Paris will pave the way for this urgent funding to be delivered throughout the year, including at the G20 summit in New Delhi, India in September; the Global Citizen Festival held during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, USA in September; the IMF and World Bank meetings in October; and culminating at COP28 in Dubai, UAE in November.

Our world needs urgent change. Outdated global financial systems are perpetuating the conditions that keep vulnerable countries and their citizens trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty, said Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO, Global Citizen. We congratulate Ajay Banga on his appointment as President of the World Bank, and there is an urgent and immediate opportunity for him to show leadership the world truly needs.

We need a world with more solidarity. Crises are multiplying and the number of those who place their hope in peace and multilateralism will only grow if we, as a global community, demonstrate that we are there to help the most vulnerable, said Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic. Because inequality and poverty are the grounds of today's and tomorrow's wars. Because there will be no climate transition worldwide if we don't fight for more justice and equity. Halfway to the sustainable development objectives, we need a new financial pact between all countries, so that the world of tomorrow is more united.

This year  and this summit  are critical for the restoration of justice and equity within the global financial systems that continue to abandon and overlook poor and climate-vulnerable countries, said Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados. We need the presence and commitments of world leaders at the New Financial Pact Summit in Paris. I call on leaders of the G7, G20 and wealthy nations across the globe to step up, and let us act together in the interest of our planet and humanity. Join us in Paris.

The next generation is inheriting a planet thats being devastated by climate change, said Lenny Kravitz. We have the power to change things with our voices and our actions. Join me on June 22, from wherever you are, and act today to save tomorrow.

An alliance of world leaders representing both Global North and Global South countries has joined the Power Our Planet campaign alongside Global Citizen and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, including supporters Emmanuel Macron, president of France; Julius Maada Bio, president of Sierra Leone; Pedro Sanchez, prime minister of Spain; Jose Ramos-Horta, president of Timor Leste; Biman Prasad, deputy prime minister of Fiji, the government of Ghana, the government of Namibia, the government of Zambia, and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Power Our Planets coalition of supporters also includes leading activists, philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organisations, and private sector leaders, including Dr. Rajiv Shah, president, Rockefeller Foundation; Mark Malloch Brown, president, Open Society Foundations; Benedict Oramah, president of AfreximBank; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation; Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi; Kate Higgins, CEO, Cooperation Canada; Jennifer Jones, president of Rotary International; Ban Ki-Moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations; Eloise Todd, executive director and co-founder, Pandemic Action Network; and Ineza Umuhoza Grace, co-founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition and 2023 Global Citizen Prize winner.

The Power Our Planet campaign is supported by: Aspire Artemis Foundation Inc.; Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens; BASICS International; Beyond Bretton Woods; the Centre for Environmental Peacebuilding; Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean; Common Good Marketplace; Connected Development; Don't Gas Africa; E3G; Education Cannot Wait: Focus 2030; Germanwatch; Glasgow Actions Team; Global Alliance for a Green New Deal; The Global Fund; The UN Global Fund for Education in Emergencies; Green Republic Farms; Hungry for Action; International Climate Change Development Initiative; International Climate Financing WG; International Fund for Agricultural Development; Jane Goodall Institute France; Malala Fund; The ONE Campaign; OWIT Brussels  Organisation of Women in Trade; Oxfam; Plastic Punch; Power to Girls Foundation; Primavera Zur; Project Everyone; Re:Wild, SDG2 Advocacy Hub; Sustainable Development Solutions Network; Shamba Centre for Food and Climate; She Leads Climate Action; Stage For Change; Strategic Youth Network for Development; Sungulo Comm NPC; Support Humanity Cameroon (SUHUCAM); United Nations Foundation.

The Power Our Planet campaign and the Power Our Planet: Live in Paris event is hosted in partnership with the City of Paris, is produced by Live Nation, and supported by Cisco and Citi as well as Afrexim Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Seadream Family Foundation. A series of thought leadership events focused on driving action from the private sector is being supported by Cisco and Citi. The Power Our Planet: Live in Paris broadcast will be produced by Done and Dusted.

Power Our Planet: Live in Paris will be live streamed globally across Global Citizens platforms on Thursday, 22 June. Global Citizen is grateful for the support of leading media companies across the world including: AIM Group, Arena Holdings, Bella Naija, Brut. Media, EIB Network, Vanguard Media, Zikoko, and Amazon Music who will host the live stream on their Twitch channel Amazon Music on Twitch, with more streaming and broadcast platforms to be announced.

For more information visit globalcitizen.org/powerourplanet, download the Global Citizen app and follow Global Citizen on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Africa currently presents a myriad of opportunities for investors via, for example, its recently implemented free trade agreement, rapidly evolving digitalisation, introduction of investor friendly and public interest policies alongside tighter enforcement of regulations, numerous sustainability-focused initiatives, and energy and infrastructure projects supported by the major global players. While geopolitical and economical challenges remain, investors that are successfully able to manage risks are finding that the continent's biggest challenges are also providing its greatest opportunities. To celebrate Africa Day, members of Baker McKenzie's Africa team from multiple jurisdictions have commented on some of the numerous reasons to invest in and celebrate the bright continent of Africa.

Image source: Marcela Ruth Romero  123RF.com

"The impact of global geopolitical and economic turbulence have led investors to carefully assess which sectors are expected to do well in Africa and where they can find high quality assets at the right price. Healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications, energy, infrastructure, and financials have emerged as the most active sectors by value in Africa in the last few years, with investment in general rising substantially despite economic challenges." - Angela Simpson, Partner Co-head of the Corporate/M&A Practice, Johannesburg

"Disputes are becoming increasingly frequent and complex in Africa, as corporates and institutions continue to enter new markets against a backdrop of tighter regulatory scrutiny, increased digitisation and higher accountability. Legal advisors can assist by overseeing incident response plans, performing due diligence assessments, reviewing and managing risk allocations in contracts and advising on comprehensive risk mitigation strategies for businesses expanding or launching operations in Africa." - Darryl Bernstein, Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution, Johannesburg

"The European Union has always had a strong relationship with African countries. In 2022, the European Commission announced investment funding for Africa worth 150bn as part of the EU Global Gateway Investment Scheme. Also part of this Scheme, the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in Africa initiative will bring together new and existing climate change adaptation programmes worth more than 1bn, including 60m for loss and damage due to climate change in Africa." - Kathrin Marchant, Partner, Banking & Finance, Frankfurt

"There has been a general upward trend in competition policy enforcement across the continent over the past few years. African jurisdictions have strengthened their competition and antitrust regimes by way of amendments to existing legislation, the introduction of new laws and regulations, and renewed fervour and political will to enforce existing laws. Jurisdictions where competition laws exist include Morocco, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia and Egypt. On 15 December 2022, various amendments to Morocco's competition have been adopted. These amendments introduced changes around merger notification thresholds, governance and reporting mechanisms, and merger control enforcement." - Keltoum Boudribila, Partner, Nasrollah & Associes, Baker McKenzie, Casablanca

"The World Bank has noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement is expected to increase Africa's income by $450bn by 2035, as well as boosting intra-African trade by more than 81%. However, the development and operation of projects that address the gaps in logistics, transport and utilities infrastructure are urgently needed for businesses in Africa to be able to create and scale up production in a manner that caters for continental and regional trade and export. Addressing this infrastructure gap did start, but we are awaiting further progress as it will, in addition to the ultimate impact on trade volumes, have the added benefit of attracting partners to set up manufacturing and production facilities on the continent, potentially in the form of foreign investments and funding." - Lamyaa Gadelhak, Partner and Co-head of the Banking & Projects Practice Group, Helmy, Hamza & Partners, Baker McKenzie Cairo

"Competition authorities the world over have observably expanded their consideration of transactions from applying a purely competition-focussed lens to one that incorporates the broader needs of society. Many African merger control regimes have developed a competition policy approach that balances traditional competition law considerations with public interest concerns, especially in terms of market concentration, access to competitive markets for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and employment considerations." - Lerisha Naidu, Managing Partner, Head of Antitrust and Competition, Johannesburg

"The PE sector looks optimistic in Africa as we head into the second half of 2023 and investments in the sector are playing a significant role in terms of sustainable growth and investment on the continent. However, current economic challenges have required resilience, adaptability and agility from the PE market, leading to changes in the structure and length of deals, the implementation of new financing methods, effective risk management, and an increasing focus on ESG." - Lydia Shadrach Razzino, Partner, Co-head of the Corporate/M&A Practice, Johannesburg

"Both the United States (US) and Canada have expressed a renewed interest in their relations with African countries. The US is focused on building stronger partnerships with African countries to boost sustainability, empower local communities with a focus on opportunities for women and youth, and provide benefits for both African and US citizens. The US has made numerous announcements to cement its ties with the continent via, for example, increased climate financing, infrastructure development support, food security initiatives, development of new technology, strengthening healthcare systems, and reciprocal trade and investment initiatives. Meanwhile, Canada has reaffirmed its commitment to a strengthened Canada-African Union Commission partnership to advance shared interests and build stronger economic partnerships between Canada and African countries." - Matthew Martin, Foreign Legal Specialist, North America

"Infrastructure projects in Africa now have a heightened focus on improving Africas capacity for green, low-carbon and sustainable development, via, for example, clean energy, community healthcare and support, green transport, sustainable water, wildlife protection and low-carbon development projects. Funding such projects comes with responsibility - projects must not only be bankable and yield attractive returns, but must also be sustainable and provide tangible benefits to local economies and communities. All of Africa's major partners have noted they will prioritise projects that commit to ESG principles, and access to capital for large infrastructure projects is likely to contain sustainability requirements." - Michael Foundethakis, Partner, Global Head of Projects and Trade & Export Finance, Chair of the Global Africa Steering Committee

"Development finance institutions (DFIs) are increasingly anchoring the infrastructure ecosystem in Africa - serving a critical function for project finance as investment facilitator and a check on capital. DFIs can shoulder political risk and access government protections in a way that others cannot, enter markets others cannot and are uniquely capable of facilitating long-term lending. The large amount of capital needed to fill the infrastructure gap, however, means that DFIs cannot bridge it alone. Private equity, local and regional banks, debt finance, export credit agencies and specialist infrastructure funds are primed to enter the market, and multi-finance and blended solutions are growing in popularity as a way to de-risk deals." - Luka Lightfoot, Partner, Banking & Finance, London

"Rich in beauty, diversity, entrepreneurship, expertise, resilience, innovation and accomplishment, Africa's future is bright and overflowing with opportunity." - Lerisha Naidu, Managing Partner, Johannesburg
Members of this generation are often highly conscientised about social and environmental justice. These experiences mean they have a higher focus on wellness, purpose and balanced lives. Employers that want to recruit top talent from this demographic will be challenged to create workplaces.

In a young country like South Africa, we can expect Generation Z (born 1997  2012) to rapidly fill out the ranks in the workplace. As they do so, they will reshape the working environment. Many of them will join work after completing school or university under lockdown and they are all digital natives who grew up with tech.

As the hype about and rapid adoption of the ChatGPT conversational artificial intelligence (AI) shows, AI has moved from science-fiction to real-world application at a rapid pace. AI and machine learning are already pervasive in many tools we use every day, like Siri or the Google Assistant.

Many employees and regulators are understandably anxious about AI and robots replacing human jobs. Employers will thus need to look at how they can reskill people to work efficiently in a more automated workplace. But the good news is that AI and robots will actually help people to get more done and free time for more creative, strategic work.

McKinsey estimates that more than 50% of user touches will be augmented by AI-driven speech, written word, or computer-vision algorithms by 2024. The technology will become an almost invisible presence that takes care of boring and routine tasks, doing it quicker and more accurately than people.
Lifestyle brand Freedom of Movement (FOM) launched its FOM Forward campaign on 18 May 2023, which allows its customers to donate their worn and well-loved FOM vellies or tekkies in brand stores countrywide to be refurbished and redistributed to those in need.

Image supplied

In exchange for their donation, customers will get 15% off their purchase of a new pair FOM tekkies or vellies. Each donated pair of shoes will be refreshed and revived by The Sneaker Shack, packaged in recycled Virobags and donated to communities around South Africa. The first drop will be done at the Mbekweni Youth Centre, a fitting home where FOM led the project to successfully build a rugby field in 2019.

Image supplied

We believe that all businesses have a role to play in uplifting communities and creating possibilities for future stars, whether its on the rugby field or as an entrepreneur, says Marcel Boezaart, director of FOM. Our vision is to inspire freedom to dream, freedom to create and freedom to move. This is the foundation on which our business was originally built and remains true 10 years later. The FOM Forward campaign builds on this vision and also creates an opportunity for our customers to take hands with FOM in a cause aimed at helping those in need. We are excited for this campaign as well as other projects in the pipeline which will ensure we continue using FOM as a force for good.

You must never think your contribution is less than someone elses. Everyone can do something good. No matter how small, says Siya Kolisi, strategic brand partner at FOM.
DM168, the Saturday newspaper by Daily Maverick with a mission to 'Defend Truth' and provide accessible, impact-driven journalism to all South Africans, achieved 11.6% growth in circulation to 9,968 copies. In an industry marked by decline, DM168's remarkable performance stands out as a testament to its unwavering commitment to quality journalism and reader support.

Q1 2023 data from the Audit Bureau of Circulation highlights DM168's exceptional growth, underscoring the newspaper's resilience and ability to thrive in a challenging media landscape. Despite a common trend of decline and even shutdown among other newspapers, DM168 has consistently beaten the odds, capturing the interest and trust of a rapidly expanding readership keen on a quality weekly publication they can hold in their hands.

Published every Saturday, DM168 sits alongside its 12-year-old online platform, www.dailymaverick.co.za, to augment its journalism offering to the public. DM168 delivers a holistic news experience, breaking newly featured stories and allowing readers to digest the week's biggest news.

"DM168's impressive growth is a tribute to the strength of our mission, our skilled team of journalists, sub-editors, and designers, and the steadfast support of our readers," said Heather Robertson, editor of DM168.

"When the Daily Maverick's founders first approached me, I was sceptical. However, the demand for a quality printed title is undeniable, and we are profoundly grateful to our reader community who recognise the importance of independent journalism and demonstrate their support by purchasing our newspaper each Saturday.

Daily Mavericks unique membership model allows readers to contribute on a voluntary monthly basis, enabling the news to remain accessible to all South Africans without imposing a paywall. These passionate supporters, Maverick Insiders, play a vital role in ensuring the availability of unbiased and impactful journalism and are also a big part of the success and support of the newspaper.

Daily Maverick remains committed to its mission, continuously striving to 'Defend Truth', hold power accountable, and shed light on critical issues facing South Africa and the world.

By investing in its newsroom during times when others are downsizing, the editorial team now boasts an unprecedented collection of seasoned journalists and investigative reporters in a South African newsroom. This investment reflects daily online and weekly in DM168 with journalism that matters, providing readers with profound analysis, stimulating features, and insightful commentary.

Even as DM168 celebrates its remarkable growth under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, the newspaper remains committed to engaging with its community and expanding its reach, offering the highest quality long-form journalism in a well-designed printed package to its audience.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact: [Susie White] [publisher] [082 882 9391] [susie@dailymaverick.co.za]

About DM168

A weekly newspaper published by Daily Maverick, an independent news publisher dedicated to "Defend Truth" and providing quality journalism to all people in South Africa. In its 12th year of operation, www.dailymaverick.co.za, and now the newspaper DM168 have defied industry trends by showcasing consistent growth quarter on quarter. Through its voluntary membership model, Daily Maverick ensures the availability of news to all South Africans, relying on the support of its readers to remain accessible to all and pursue its mission
Afda Cape Town Live Performance alumnus Lemogang Tsipa plays the titular role of 'Shaka' in the upcoming drama series Shaka Ilembe.

The date has been set for the launch of the much-anticipated Mzansi Magic (DStv Channel161) series which will premiere on the channel on Sunday, 18 June, at 8pm.

Lemogang stars alongside the The River actor Thembinkosi Mthembu who portrays King Dingiswayo with Isibaya leading lady Nomzamo Mbatha as Queen Nandi and Uzalo star Wiseman Mncube as King Zwide. Newcomer Nthando Zondi plays the younger Shaka.

Playing Shaka is not only a career highlight for Lemogang but also the most detailed process he's ever had to go through in terms of body transformation.

He played both the younger and older version of the character, dropping to 68kg to capture teen Shaka. Then he had a month to gain the weight back and go up to 76kg. To achieve this, his breakfast consisted of six eggs and two sausages, muesli, yoghurt, and fruit. His lunch would include 500g rice and 250g chicken, and he'd have protein shakes all day.

In an interview with the Sowetan, Lemogang explains the difficulty of playing Shaka: "The most difficult thing in playing Shaka has been trying to find a balance between the harsh and tough mythological character that we know, and the vulnerable human being behind that. Trying to play those two worlds and marry them without leaning too much into one [has been difficult]."

Shaka Ilembe is a 12-part series that tells the story of the iconic Zulu king and the events that shaped his life with iterations from his early childhood through adulthood. Before production started, consultations occurred between historians, academics and family descendants, including the late King Goodwill Zwelithini and Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Lemogang graduated from Afda Cape Town in the class of 2012 with a BA in Live Performance. In 2013 he was booked in his first international feature film, Alien Outpost, where he would play an American soldier in this futuristic action film. Shortly after his first shoot, he decided to take the risk of perusing his career full-time, and he has never had to look back.

Lemogang made his film debut in the local film Felix (2013) and his local television debut in Forced love (2012-2016). His first major international supporting role was in the British thriller Eye in the sky (2015) where he played the role of Matt Laver, the Mission Intel Coordinator. In the same year, he also landed another international supporting role alongside Sir Kenneth Branagh in Wallander (2015) in which he delivered a memorable and touching performance.

His body of work consists of Alien outpost' (2014), Homeland (2014), Traffic (2014), The Golden Rule (2014), Cape Town (2015), The Book of Negroes (2015), Lazy Suzan (2015), Jamillah and Aladdin (2015), Black Sails (2016), Jab (2016), Roots (2016), Oasis (2017), Amandla (2017), The Number (2017) and The Dark Tower (2017).

In 2017 Lemogang made his feature film debut lead role in Craig Friemond's, Beyond The River where he plays Duma, a talented young man who feels trapped by his circumstances and finds himself on the wrong side of the law. He attempts to overcome his obstacles through his journey in the sport of canoeing.

Lemogang recently starred in the BBC/Netflix series Troy- Fall of City and is currently a lead in the popular television series, Isithembiso.




Get ready for lights, camera, and a whole lot of action as a group of young aspiring filmmakers from The MultiChoice Talent Factory 2022 gear up to dazzle with an exciting new movie: Areyeng Jozi! The 2022 MTFza cohort are not letting murky weather and other common challenges of movie making deter them from their goal to make their mark in the world of filmmaking.

The cast and crew may be young, but they are full of energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. The aspiring movie makers have over the last few weeks worked their vision to life from making sure that they execute their lines to perfection to collaborating and ensuring that they perfect their camera angles. All of this, coupled with the late-night editing sessions, where the cohort spent hours tweaking and perfecting their craft.

Despite the challenges they've faced along the way, this group of young filmmakers is determined to make their movie a success. They're not afraid to take risks, try new things, and put in the hard work required to make their dreams a reality.

The MTFza intern's passion for filmmaking is infectious, and it's clear that they're having the time of their lives. They're not just making a movie; they're creating an experience, bringing their own unique style and creativity to the project with each scene being met with chants of 'Were getting Safta with this one!'

As the interns put the finishing touches to their movie, they're excited to see their hard work paying off. While they are fully aware that the journey to being prominent filmmakers is not easy, they're determined to keep pushing forward, honing their craft, and telling stories that inspire, entertain, and captivate audiences.

So, if you're a young filmmaker with big dreams, take a page out of their book and go for it! With passion, creativity, and hard work, anything is possible in the world of filmmaking.

Let's see what you can create!




One of the creeping hands of totalitarianism running through the democracy is the Federal Bureau of Investigation Because why does the FBI do all this? To scare the hell out of people They work for the establishment and the corporations and the politicos to keep things as they are. And they want to frighten and chill the people who are trying to change things.Howard Zinn, historian

Power corrupts. We know this.

In fact, we know this from experience learned the hard way at the hands of our own government.

So why is anyone surprised to learn that the FBI, one of the most power-hungry and corrupt agencies within the police states vast complex of power-hungry and corrupt agencies, misused a massive government surveillance database more than 300,000 times in order to target American citizens?

This is how the government operates, after all.

First, they seek out extraordinary powers acquired in the wake of some national crisisin this case, warrantless surveillance powers intended to help the government spy on foreign targets suspected of engaging in terrorismand then they use those powers against the American people.

According to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the FBI repeatedly misused Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in order to spy on the communications of two vastly disparate groups of Americans: those involved in the George Floyd protests and those who may have taken part in the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the Capitol.

This is par for the course for the FBI, whose modus operandi has historically been to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize perceived threats to the governments power.

Indeed, the FBI has a long history of persecuting, prosecuting and generally harassing activists, politicians, and cultural figures.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, the FBIs targets were civil rights activists, those suspected of having Communist ties, and anti-war activists. In more recent decades, the FBI has expanded its reach to target so-called domestic extremists, environmental activists, and those who oppose the police state.

In 2019, President Trump promised to give the FBI whatever they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism, without any apparent thought for the Constitutions prohibitions on such overreach.

That misguided pledge sheds a curious light on the FBIs ongoing spree of SWAT team raids, surveillance, disinformation campaigns, fear-mongering, paranoia, and strong-arm tactics meted out to dissidents on both the right and the left.

Yet while these overreaching, heavy-handed lessons in how to rule by force have become standard operating procedure for a government that communicates with its citizenry primarily through the language of brutality, intimidation and fear, none of this is new.

Indeed, the FBIs love affair with totalitarianism can be traced back to the Nazi police state.

As historian Robert Gellately recounts, the Nazi police state was so admired for its efficiency and order by the world powers of the day that in the decades after World War II, the FBI, along with other government agencies, aggressively recruited at least a thousand Nazis, including some of Hitlers highest henchmen.

Since then, U.S. government agenciesthe FBI, CIA and the militaryhave fully embraced many of the Nazis well-honed policing tactics, and used them repeatedly against American citizens.

With every passing day, the United States government borrows yet another leaf from Nazi Germanys playbook: Secret police. Secret courts. Secret government agencies. Surveillance. Censorship. Intimidation. Harassment. Torture. Brutality. Widespread corruption. Entrapment. Indoctrination. Indefinite detention.

These are not tactics used by constitutional republics, where the rule of law and the rights of the citizenry reign supreme. Rather, they are the hallmarks of authoritarian regimes, where secret police control the populace through intimidation, fear and official lawlessness on the part of government agents.

Consider the extent to which the FBIs far-reaching powers to surveil, detain, interrogate, investigate, prosecute, punish, police and generally act as a law unto themselves resemble those of their Nazi cousins, the Gestapo.

Just like the Gestapo, the FBI has vast resources, vast investigatory powers, and vast discretion to determine who is an enemy of the state.

Much like the Gestapo spied on mail and phone calls, FBI agents have carte blanche access to the citizenrys most personal information.

Much like the Gestapos sophisticated surveillance programs, the FBIs spying capabilities can delve into Americans most intimate details (and allow local police to do so, as well).

Much like the Gestapos ability to profile based on race and religion, and its assumption of guilt by association, the FBIs approach to pre-crime allows it to profile Americans based on a broad range of characteristics including race and religion.

Much like the Gestapos power to render anyone an enemy of the state, the FBI has the power to label anyone a domestic terrorist.

Much like the Gestapo infiltrated communities in order to spy on the German citizenry, the FBI routinely infiltrates political and religious groups, as well as businesses.

Just as the Gestapo united and militarized Germanys police forces into a national police force, Americas police forces have largely been federalized and turned into a national police force.

Just as the Gestapo carried out entrapment operations, the FBI has become a master in the art of entrapment.

Just as the Gestapos secret files on political leaders were used to intimidate and coerce, the FBIs attempts to target and spy on anyone suspected of anti-government sentiment have been similarly abused.

The Gestapo became the terror of the Third Reich by creating a sophisticated surveillance and law enforcement system that relied for its success on the cooperation of the military, the police, the intelligence community, neighborhood watchdogs, government workers for the post office and railroads, ordinary civil servants, and a nation of snitches inclined to report rumors, deviant behavior, or even just loose talk.

Likewise, as countless documents make clear, the FBI has had no qualms about using its extensive powers in order to blackmail politicians, spy on celebrities and high-ranking government officials, and intimidate and attempt to discredit dissidents of all stripes.

In fact, borrowing heavily from the Gestapo, between 1956 and 1971, the FBI conducted an intensive domestic intelligence program, termed COINTELPRO, intended to neutralize domestic political dissidents. As Congressman Steve Cohen explains, COINTELPRO was set up to surveil and disrupt groups and movements that the FBI found threatening many groups, including anti-war, student, and environmental activists, and the New Left were harassed, infiltrated, falsely accused of criminal activity .

Sound familiar? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Those targeted by the FBI under COINTELPRO for its intimidation, surveillance and smear campaigns included: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, the Black Panther Party, Billie Holiday, Emma Goldman, Aretha Franklin, Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, Felix Frankfurter, John Lennon, and hundreds more.

The Church Committee, the Senate task force charged with investigating COINTELPRO abuses in 1975, denounced the governments abuses:

Too many people have been spied upon by too many Government agencies and too much information has been collected. The Government has often undertaken the secret surveillance of citizens on the basis of their political beliefs, even when those beliefs posed no threat of violence or illegal acts on behalf of a hostile foreign power.

The report continued:

Groups and individuals have been harassed and disrupted because of their political views and their lifestyles. Investigations have been based upon vague standards whose breadth made excessive collection inevitable. Unsavory and vicious tactics have been employedincluding anonymous attempts to break up marriages, disrupt meetings, ostracize persons from their professions, and provoke target groups into rivalries that might result in deaths. Intelligence agencies have served the political and personal objectives of presidents and other high officials.

Whether 50 years ago or in the present day, the treatment being doled out by the governments lethal enforcers has remained consistent, no matter the threat.

The FBIs laundry list of crimes against the American people includes surveillance, disinformation, blackmail, entrapment, intimidation tactics, harassment and indoctrination, governmental overreach, abuse, misconduct, trespassing, enabling criminal activity, and damaging private property, and thats just based on what we know.

Whether the FBI is planting undercover agents in churches, synagogues and mosques; issuing fake emergency letters to gain access to Americans phone records; using intimidation tactics to silence Americans who are critical of the government; recruiting high school students to spy on and report fellow students who show signs of being future terrorists; or persuading impressionable individuals to plot acts of terror and then entrapping them, the overall impression of the nations secret police force is that of a well-dressed thug, flexing its muscles and doing the boss dirty work of ensuring compliance, keeping tabs on potential dissidents, and punishing those who dare to challenge the status quo.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, its time to rein in the Federal Bureau of Intimidations war on political freedom.

Source: https://tinyurl.com/bdcu3ypw

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.
In other news: 30-Ton Shipment Of Explosive Chemical Disappears Between California And Wyoming

Via: CBS News:

Amid growing concerns of security risks to members of Congress, more than 50 senators have been issued satellite phones for emergency communication, people familiar with the measures told CBS News. The devices are part of a series of new security measures being offered to senators by the Senate Sergeant at Arms, who took over shortly after the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The satellite phone technology has been offered to all 100 senators. CBS News has learned at least 50 have accepted the phones, which Senate administrative staff recommend senators keep in close proximity during their travels.

In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson said satellite communication is being deployed to ensure a redundant and secure means of communication during a disruptive event.

Gibson said the phones are a security backstop in the case of an emergency that takes out communications in part of America. Federal funding will pay for the satellite airtime needed to utilize the phone devices.

A Department of Homeland Security advisory said satellite phones are a tool for responding to and coordinating government services in the case of a man-made or natural disaster that wipes out communication.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who traveled to Jerusalem last month to dine with top pro-Israel GOP megadonors and sign an oppressive hate crime bill into law to jail critics of Israel in Florida, is reportedly going to announce he is running for president on Wednesday.



From NBC News, "Ron DeSantis will launch his presidential bid with Elon Musk":

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce he is running for president during a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, three sources familiar with the plans told NBC News.



Musk and DeSantis will host an event on Twitter Spaces, the site's platform for audio chats, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET. It will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is a Musk confidant and DeSantis supporter.



That same evening, the campaign will release a launch video, and DeSantis will begin visiting several early states after Memorial Day.



[...] Last year, Musk said he would support the governor if he were to run for president.



[...] During the Wall Street Journals 2023 CEO Summit Council on Tuesday, Musk confirmed his participation in DeSantis' announcement but said he was not going to be formally endorsing DeSantis at that time.



BREAKING: Elon Musk confirms reports that he will be holding a Twitter Space with Ron DeSantis tomorrow with real time questions and answers pic.twitter.com/pd3pSTyobQ  ALX  (@alx) May 23, 2023

"I think it's quite groundbreaking that there be a major announcement of this type on social media," he said, adding that he was "not going to endorse any particular candidate" for president quite yet.

Besides being a total shill, DeSantis' main problem is he has zero charisma and terrible political instincts.





Whats your name?



Im Tim something



Ok



Never say OK when someone introduces himself. Might as well say you dont matter and Im not going to even bother thinking of something to say back. pic.twitter.com/EqQpEb78Cj  Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) May 21, 2023



He wants to attack Trump from the right over his support for covid lockdowns but he did the same in Florida.





DeSantis: The way they weaponized these COVID vaccines was a massive incursion into our freedom They wanted to deny people the right to put food on their table if they didnt bend the knee We can never allow warp speed to trump informed consent.pic.twitter.com/Ppsmu0vCmD  Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) May 21, 2023



That he was slightly slower to act than Trump is merely because he's a fence-sitter. GOP governors in Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming never issued stay-at-home orders and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem didn't lock down at all.



DeSantis is trying to put forward a "Trumpism without Trump" but the problem is he's always been a GOP normiecon.





No way, Ron DeSantis is the bravest of all. See for example: his brave advocacy of bombing Assad, sending lethal weaponry to Ukraine, deploying US missiles to Taiwan, imposing regime change in Venezuela, keeping Guantanamo Bay open, and Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights https://t.co/ZG2fW8oKJq pic.twitter.com/IAyk0vri2N  Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 11, 2022



When he put out a statement to Tucker Carlson vaguely suggesting the US shouldn't be so involved in the "territorial dispute" in Ukraine he immediately walked it back after his donors kvetched. He then slavishly came out and labeled Putin a "war criminal," and echoing an old John McCain talking point, he described the Russian president as "basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons."





DeSantis on Putin: "I think hes got grand ambitions. I think hes hostile to the US, but... hes basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons"



John McCain coined that description of Russia -- "gas station masquerading as a country." Good to know DeSantis's influences pic.twitter.com/qY3Cvpz8n7  Michael Tracey (@mtracey) March 22, 2023



I'm not a big fan of Trump because he packed his cabinet with traitors and didn't follow through on most of his promises but at least he bucked the regime on occasion. There's no reason to believe DeSantis will do anything other than what his donors want him to do.



It bears repeating that DeSantis literally flew to Israel last month to dine with top pro-Israel GOP megadonors like Miriam Adelson (the wife of the late Sheldon Adelson) and Larry Mizel and then, while on foreign soil, immediately went and signed the most oppressive hate crime bill in America to jail Floridians for their First Amendment protected speech.



DeSantis' pledge of allegiance to a foreign power was effectively the start of his presidential campaign.





"The Free State of Florida" is on the cusp of having the most oppressive hate crime laws in America in order to "combat anti-Semitism." https://t.co/wTsSrdYR6B  Chris Menahan  (@infolibnews) April 27, 2023



That one act should disqualify DeSantis from the presidency. If we had a legitimate government, he'd be under investigation right now for foreign influence peddling.



Instead, we have Attorney General Merrick Garland and various Soros-funded prosecutors working to throw DeSantis' main rival -- former President Donald Trump -- in prison for nothing.



[Header image of Ron DeSantis by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0]



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La Russie dit avoir envoye un chasseur a la rencontre de deux bombardiers americains

23 mai (Reuters) - La Russie a dit mardi avoir fait decoller un avion de combat pour empecher deux bombardiers strategiques americains de franchir sa frontiere alors qu'ils survolaient la mer Baltique.

"L'equipage du chasseur russe a identifie les cibles aeriennes comme etant deux bombardiers strategiques B-1B de l'US Air Force", a declare le ministere russe de la Defense.

Les deux bombardiers n'ont pas franchi la frontiere et le chasseur russe a regagne son aerodrome d'origine, a-t-il ajoute. (Reportage Reuters, version francaise Jean-Stephane Brosse)
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Alexa Chung has said women are being dismissed, misdiagnosed and left floundering before getting tested for endometriosis.

The fashion designer, presenter and model (39) said she received treatment for the painful condition while a cyst was being removed.

In a piece for British Vogue, she details her and other womens experiences and also cites medical professionals advice.

Chung, who was on shows such as Popworld and former Channel 4 strand T4, writes: The condition is shrouded in mystery and misinformation, and frequently mishandled by doctors. Theres no cure.

Often sufferers end up going back for surgery after surgery. Shockingly, there are stories of some doctors suggesting that women have a baby to suppress their symptoms.

A research paper at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said in 2019 that women in the city have been recommended pregnancy despite no research evidence for benefit.

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Chung also said when she told a gynaecologist she had been unable to leave a bathroom stall due to heavy flow at an airport, the doctor asked if she knew what periods are.

Chung added: This kind of experience is unfortunately not an anomaly. It can take an average of eight years to diagnose endometriosis.

Those who have it often find themselves dismissed, misdiagnosed and left floundering before getting on waiting lists for a laparoscopy: a type of keyhole surgery used to seek out pesky endometrial cells, which is currently the only way to know for sure if someone has the condition.

In March, scientists launched the first clinical trial in four decades to assess a potential new treatment for endometriosis.

Researchers from the universities across the UK plan to see whether the drug, dichloroacetate, could be the first ever non-hormonal and non-surgical treatment for endometriosis.

If successful, it could help manage pain among those with the condition.

The chronic condition sees tissue similar to the lining of the womb grow elsewhere in the body, such as around the ovaries.

The tissue sheds in the same way that blood does during the menstrual cycle, but has nowhere to escape to, causing inflammation, pain, and a build-up of scar tissue.
The High Court has made an order that will see judgment in default granted against 29 members of the Christian Brothers next month unless they formally appear in the proceedings brought by a man seeking damages from the congregation for historical sex abuse.

Mr Justice Tony OConnor granted the unless order on Wednesday against the 29 Christian Brothers, giving them until June 20th to enter an appearance or attend in court when the case returns on that date to avoid judgment.

The abuser, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty in the criminal courts to sexually assaulting the plaintiff.

However, the civil action against members of the congregation, initiated four years ago, has been complicated by the legal strategy being adopted by the Christian Brothers.

The congregation has declined to put forward a nominee to be sued on its behalf. Most congregations defending such proceedings provide a nominee, although they are not obliged to do so.

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If a congregation does not put forward a nominee, a plaintiff has to sue all of the members of the congregation at the time of the event for which damages are being sought.

In September 2021, the plaintiff got an order that the congregation provide the names and address of all of its members on dates between 1979 and 1984. Earlier this year he got another order, adding 118 new defendants to the case.

Judgment in default

On Wednesday, the judge said his new orders, granting judgment in default of appearance against 29 of the brothers, will take effect on June 20th if they do not enter an appearance by 10.30am on that date.

The plaintiffs senior counsel, John Gordon, instructed by Coleman Legal, said they will move motions on the next date seeking judgment in default against 65 other brothers, some of whom live abroad.

The court was told a solicitor at Frank Buttimer solicitors swore an affidavit on behalf of the head of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, Br David Gibson, who is one of the defendants in the case.

The solicitor said 13 of 14 deceased brothers have a provision in their wills leaving their estates to the order, the court heard.

Mr Gordon said it took a court order, which was resisted on behalf of Br Gibson, to learn that Br Gibson is the beneficiary of the assets of those 13 brothers.

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Im not going to speculate as to why Br Gibson found it so difficult to give us this information, Mr Gordon added.

The plaintiff received an unsworn motion, on behalf of Br Gibson, seeking a court order directing the plaintiff to engage in mediation with Br Gibson, counsel said, adding that such an application would be misconceived as a matter of law.

The plaintiff would be happy to enter talks with the Christian Brothers as a congregation, but he was not prepared to have the discussions with a single man and a man of straw and no more, Mr Gordon said.

Counsel for Br Gibson, Karl Finnegan, said there is a reality to the offer of mediation with Br Gibson. The plaintiff is entitled to object to the application, he added.

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Mr Finnegan noted he and his instructing solicitors are not on record for the 29 defendants against whom the unless order was made.

The case was adjourned to next month.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.

In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
A former Dublin bus driver who sexually assaulted five young girls after persistently grooming them and later harassed a nine-year-old boy and requested naked photographs from him has been jailed for eight years.

Dermot Carr (51), of Royal Canal Park, Dublin 15, went on to harass the nine-year-old boy, giving him alcohol and cannabis and asking him to engage in sexual activity.

Carr initially pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to a charge of harassment of a child and sending sexually explicit images to a child on dates between January 2013 and July 2018.

He elected for trial in relation to the sexual assault allegations against five young girls.

Carr then later pleaded guilty to two charges of sexually assaulting one girl, two charges of sexually assaulting a second girl, one charge of sexually assaulting a third girl, two charges of sexually assaulting a fourth girl and one charge of sexually assaulting a fifth girl, on dates between January 2001 and May 2006.

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The court heard that Carr was in his late 20s and early 30s when he sexually assaulted the five girls, who were as young as 11 at the time.

He met each of the girls through his niece, secured their mobile numbers and engaged in text conversations with them which were both persistent and sexually suggestive.

He also regularly bought the girls phone credit in order to facilitate the text conversations and supplied some of the girls with drugs and alcohol at his apartment.

Most of the sexual assaults occurred in his car when he was alone with the girls and involved forcing them to masturbate him, touching their vagina, both inside and outside of their clothes, touching their breasts and kissing them.

In relation to the fifth girl, Carr tried to have sex with her as she lay on a bed in his apartment because she was tired, the court heard. She was 17 years old at the time and had been out celebrating her graduation after Carr brought her and her friends to a nightclub. She managed to push the man off her to bring the assault to an end.

Grooming

The man got to know the young boy through his former partner and began communicating with the child over text when the boy was nine. The accused was 41 at the time.

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He initially began telling the child the kind of sexual activity he would like to engage in with the boys mother, but later sent the boy photographs of his own genitals and requested the child to do the same.

Carr brought the child to his apartment and allowed him to smoke cannabis and drink alcohol, while repeatedly asking the child to engage in sexual activity with him. The child never engaged in that activity with the man but did send him photographs of his genitals as requested.

Mr Justice David Keane commended the courage and tenacity of each of the victims and acknowledged that it could not have been easy for them to disclose the abuse. He said they had shown impressive resilience and wished each of them well in terms of their recovery.

The judge said this was a pattern of offending over many years while Carr was in his late 20s until his mid 40s. He described it as deliberate and persistent grooming by a mature adult on impressionable and confused teenagers.

Mr Justice Keane said it represented a significant abuse of trust as Carr knew the families of each of the victims.

He took into account his admissions of guilt at a reasonably early stage and the fact that this spared the victims additional trauma of having to give evidence at trial.

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He ordered the defendant pay a sum of 10,000 in compensation over to the first female victim.

The judge noted that Carr has support from his family who, while they do not condone his behaviour, have indicated they are prepared to support him upon his ultimate release from prison. He further noted a report from the Probation Service put Carr at a medium risk of re-offending.

Mr Justice Keane imposed various headline sentences ranging from 16 months to eight years but having taken into account the mitigating factors he reduced these to 12 months to six years.

The judge said he needed to consider consecutive sentencing, given the fact that the mans behaviour directly affected six lives and ordered that the sentences relating to the sexual assault of the five girls be imposed consecutively to the sentence in relation to the nine-year-old boy.

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Carr was then handed consecutive sentences totalling nine years.

Mr Justice Keane suspended the final year of this term on strict conditions including that the man engage with the Probation Service for three years upon his ultimate release from prison and undergo any counselling they deem appropriate.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.

In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
A housing expert has said creating accommodation for asylum seekers in office blocks is the right way to go.

We have to house people in whatever way we can that is fit for human habitation, Professor Tom Phillips told Newstalk radio.

Prof Phillips, from the school of architecture at University College Dublin, was commenting on the announcement that former office blocks in Galway and Santry are to be used to provide accommodation for international protection applicants.

The Government is also planning to tender for floating accommodation to house asylum seekers amid unprecedented pressure on the States integration system, which Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described on Tuesday as a major crisis.

However, if it proceeds, the use of so-called floatels is not expected until later in the year, meaning it will not help the Coalitions push to drive down the current number of unaccommodated asylum seekers.

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Prof Phillips said: We already have a situation where the Government has introduced these policies to allow the repurposing of now defunct pubs a few years ago. We have a system in the planning regulation that allows the repurposing of office blocks of certain sizes for permanent accommodation.

Ireland Michael D Higgins says Ireland has a moral duty to... Read More

We have a housing crisis and we have a large influx of people. They have to be housed somewhere and we already have a housing crisis of the [local] population.

So, we have to look at innovative ways and I think the repurposing of an office block to be used for short-term accommodation for people while they find their feet - or while something else is found for them - is the right way to go.

Office blocks in city centres were unlikely to be suitable because of the depth of the floorspace - how far it is from window to window across the building, he explained. However, smaller, suburban office blocks were likely to be more suitable and boats could also be used.

None of these are being put forward as permanent solutions, but they have to be done as short-term solutions. Its a lot better than having people living in tents as you go up and down Mount Street. So, if we can put people somewhere thats safe, I think thats a good thing.
An Irish university backed programme is hoping to be one of the first in Europe to give children in wheelchairs the experience of walking again in a new paediatric robotic exoskeleton

The exoskeleton programme in Dublin City University (DCU) has already helped over 100 adults and now aims to support children who are using wheelchairs due to neurological disorders.

Those who have donned the adult suit recently include Liverpool fan and Meath resident Sean Cox who was left with life changing injuries after an unprovoked attack outside Anfield.

Now physiotherapist and clinical lead of the exoskeleton programme Ronan Langan is hoping to source donors to fund the operational costs of the suit which itself costs 180,000.

The 12kg Atlas 2030 paediatric exoskeleton is specially designed for children between three and 14 years old and supports the child from the trunk to the feet

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It fits around the child's legs and torso and the joints contain a series of small but powerful motors which then mimic the muscle movements of the child.

"We are just back from Madrid where the first company in the world has started making paediatric suits for children from the age of three years old," he said.

"They have only sold 30 so far worldwide, with a handful in Europe, most of which are in Spain with support from the Spanish Health Service

"The suit helps achieve quickly the rehabilitation goals that would take months to achieve with conventional therapies, such as strengthening muscles and improving patients' digestive and pulmonary systems as well as boosting morale

"The suit may help to keep some kids with worsening mobility on their feet, or help a child rehabilitating after an accident to get back walking better, It will be different for all, including some that just get the chance to walk in the suit."

Ronan believes the suit could help reduce the need for surgery for those with neuromuscular scoliosis

The specialised suit could be used on children with spinal issues before they go through developmental stages and could help stop the curvature of the spine. Neuromuscular scoliosis is the second most common form of the condition

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"It will help children to walk who are suffering from spinal injuries and conditions such as Spina Bifida or spinal muscular atrophy, which cause scoliosis."

The exoskeleton programme in DCU is a physiotherapist led service allowing people with reduced mobility to complete sessions of supported walking in the suit.

The programme is designed to deliver an array of benefits that regular walking in an exoskeleton provides for persons with spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions

In adults, being upright in the 200,000 suit can alleviate additional health problems caused by being in a wheelchair. It can help circulation, bowel and bladder function and ease pressure sores and urinary tract infections

The former senior physiotherapist in spinal cord injury system of care at the National Rehabilitation Hospital has been heading up the DCU research unit since 2019

"The suit costs in the region of 200,000 to fund and run for up to six years, and we have a five to six month waiting list for applicants

"The suit doesn't just help with spinal cord injuries but benefits stroke victims or those with Multiple Sclerosis or brain injuries - anyone who has a mobility impairment.

"After the initial assessment, we try to create ongoing access for people and dozens have made over 25 walks each so far, which is terrific because there has been no research concluded worldwide on people that are this experienced at using this technology.

"After the initial wow factor, a full-time wheelchair user will see massive health benefits.

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"We are trying to train family members as handlers so that they can have more access to the suit if we aren't available.

"Not all people will walk in the suit, it depends on when the injury happened. If it occurred when they were young, before their developmental stages, they may not be able to walk in the suit and that's why we screen all applicants.

"To be in the suit and upright for the first time in a long time can be really challenging on the body. People can feel like vomiting or fainting because their blood pressure drops suddenly.

"But when they get through that and find their balance and take a step, it's very emotional. I'm offered hugs a lot," he laughed.
A man accused of murdering his 25-year-old friend by stabbing him in the neck after a row over a stolen scooter has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by a jury at the Central Criminal Court.

The panel of six men and six women unanimously rejected the prosecution's case that John Titiloye was guilty of murder and that he intentionally stabbed Ademola Giwa in the neck, intending to kill or cause serious injury.

Following Wednesday's verdict, Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury for the close attention and careful consideration they had given to every aspect of the case. He exempted them from jury service for the next five years.

Opening the murder case to the jury last week, prosecution barrister John Byrne SC said in the course of an argument Titiloye produced a knife and stabbed Mr Giwa in the neck.

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The 12 jurors were also told it was the defendant's position that he was in possession of a knife for self-defence and, having initially walked away from the altercation, he returned to protect his father, who sustained a stab type injury to the eye.

It was the defence's contention that the case was "as far away as one could get" from a cold-blooded killing and was a reaction by the defendant, who had acted in defence of his father.

Titiloye told gardai in his interviews that he had been walking away from the scene when he saw Mr Giwa hit his father Anthony several times in the face with a knuckle duster and had run back to the altercation to defend him.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC, with John Griffin BL, asked for an outright acquittal or a verdict of manslaughter on the basis of self-defence, or the partial defence of provocation, which can reduce an intentional killing from murder to manslaughter.

Mr Grehan said in his closing speech that his client had not gone out looking for trouble but that "trouble had arrived at his doorstep", adding Titiloye had been "dragged into something not of his own making".

He said while Titiloye may have acted in a primal fashion when he fatally stabbed Mr Giwa, he did so to protect his father. He added that witnesses had heard Titiloye say "daddy" or "not my daddy" when the fight broke out.

Human frailty

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The barrister explained that, if someone does a provocative act to somebody which causes the person to temporarily lose their self-restraint and complete control that they are not master of their own mind, then in those circumstances the law recognises human frailty. The partial defence can reduce an intentional killing from murder to manslaughter.

In his charge to the jury, Mr Justice McDermott said that when considering provocation they would have to consider whether there was such an overwhelming loss of self-control by Titiloye, which was so sudden and immediate that the accused could not prevent himself from committing the act.

The judge said it was the defence's contention that Titiloye was provoked when he saw his father being attacked by Mr Giwa down the road as the accused was moving away from the area. "Is there credible evidence to give rise to that in your assessment?" the judge asked.

Mr Justice McDermott said there were three pathways to the verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter because of absence of intent, the partial defence of self-defence, or the partial defence of provocation.

The jury had the option of returning three verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Titiloye, namely; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty.

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Eyewitness Samson Fayemi (26) had told the trial that he owed a small sum of money to Titiloye which had become "a source of tension" within their friendship and that Mr Fayemi's scooter was forcibly taken by a number of men including the defendant "to settle the debt" on August 9th, the day prior to the killing, at Marlfield Estate in Tallaght.

Mr Fayemi and Mr Giwa then called to Titiloye's home at Mac Uilliam Crescent at 6.45pm the following day and a physical altercation broke out, in which Anthony Titiloye, the defendant's father, had involved himself.

'I'm the man you want'

A pathologist gave evidence that Mr Giwa died after sustaining a stab wound to the neck which cut his jugular vein and damaged a lung, resulting in "devastating consequences".

Titiloye, who had purchased a knife in an angling and shooting shop in Lucan on the afternoon of August 10th, told the garda who arrested him: "I killed him, I'm the man" and "I'm the man you want".

The 12 jurors rejected the State's case that Titiloye intentionally stabbed Mr Giwa in the neck, intending to kill or cause serious injury to him.

In the State's closing speech, prosecution counsel John Byrne SC asked the jury to consider whether a lesser degree of force from Titiloye might have been a more measured and appropriate response and asked them to find the defendant guilty of murder.

John Titiloye (28), with an address at Mac Uilliam Crescent, Fortunestown, Tallaght, Dublin 24, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ademola 'Dizzy' Giwa (25) in the Mac Uilliam Road area in Tallaght on August 10th, 2021. Mr Giwa was from Mac Uilliam Parade in the same area.

The jury found Titiloye not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by unanimous verdict after four hours and 55 minutes of deliberations.

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Mr Grehan told the judge his client had been in custody since the date of his arrest and had never applied for bail.

The judge asked Mr Byrne about Titiloye's previous convictions and the prosecutor said they were of a "relatively minor nature".

Mr Justice McDermott adjourned sentencing until July 17th and remanded Titiloye in custody until that date, when a victim impact statement will be before the court. The judge also directed a probation report be prepared.

When the jury left the courtroom, the judge said he wanted to express the court's appreciation to both sides for the efficient manner in which the case had been conducted.
A 46-year-old mother accused of attempting to murder her eight-year-old daughter is awaiting a bed at the Central Mental Hospital where she is due to undergo a forensic psychiatric assessment, a court has heard.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, the woman appeared for the fifth time in connection with the charge of attempted murder of her daughter at a temporary accommodation facility in Co Clare where they had been staying. The alleged incident took place on September 27th, 2022.

The accused requires the services of a Russian language interpreter for the court hearings and after the interpreter told her the content of the exchanges between Judge Alec Gabbett and the womans solicitor, Tara Godfrey, the woman broke down and cried.

Ms Godfrey said remand in prison has been very distressing for the woman, who appeared via videolink from the womens wing at Limerick Prison.

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The court heard the accused is awaiting a bed at the Central Mental Hospital under section 15 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act, with Ms Godfrey stating her client is still waiting on the Book of Evidence in the case, adding it is now 71 days since she has been charged.

The judge said the Book of Evidence is required for a proper forensic psychiatric assessment at the time of the commission of the alleged offence to be carried out on her client.

However, Ms Goffrey remarked there is an urgency attached to the case.

Psychiatric report

Ms Godfrey added her client has an application for bail before the High Court, but for the accused to be released on bail it requires a report from the Central Mental Hospital.

Sgt Aiden Lonergan told the court the case is being given the highest priority.

Sgt Lonergan said medical reports have been received but have to be put in a statement format for the Book of Evidence.

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The court previously extended the accused womans legal aid certificate to cover a forensic psychiatric report after Ms Godfrey said her client had been in psychiatric in-patient treatment from September up to the date she was brought to the Garda station, so we have a chain of custody of my client since the alleged event.

The accused was first arrested and brought to Ennis Garda station for questioning on March 14th and was later brought before a special sitting of Ennis District Court the following day when she was charged.

The accused made no reply after charge and caution, the court heard.

Judge Gabbett remanded the woman in custody to appear via videolink at Ennis District Court again on June 14th.
Delays in implementing reforms to the State's abortion laws will trigger the return of major pro-choice campaigning and rallies, a leading activist has warned.

Ailbhe Smyth, who was the co-director of the Together for Yes campaign in the 2018 referendum, called on the Government to show leadership and deliver the changes recommended by an independent review of the current legal framework.

The review undertaken by barrister Marie OShea recommended a series of operational and legislative changes to the system introduced after Ireland voted to liberalise its laws on terminations in the landmark referendum in 2018.

Pro-choice and anti-abortion activists gathered outside the Dail on Wednesday to voice contrasting demands in respect of the review findings, with the latter grouping urging against further liberalisation.

Anti-abortion activists outside the Dail on Tuesday (David Young/PA)

The events came ahead of the fifth anniversary of the referendum that overturned the near blanket ban on abortions enshrined in the constitutions Eighth Amendment.

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Among the recommendations of the review was the removal of a mandatory three-day waiting period between a womans initial medical consultation and her being given access to abortion treatment or medication.

The framework introduced after the referendum provides for unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks in term.

After that point terminations are allowed in certain circumstances, such as in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and when there is a risk to the wellbeing of the expectant mother.

The review has recommended several changes to the system for determining when abortions can be granted post 12 weeks and also recommends that threat of criminal sanction is removed for medics found to have acted outside the provisions of the abortion legislation.

The findings of the review have been referred to the Oireachtas health committee for consideration.

However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he would be reluctant and uncomfortable to make any major changes to the legislation introduced in January 2019.

Pro-choice campaigners outside the Dail on Wednesday called for urgent implementation of the recommendations as they voiced concern that the Government was delaying taking action.

They highlighted that almost 800 women have travelled to the UK to have an abortion since the laws were changed due to an inability to access a termination in the State.

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Ms Smyth said more demonstrations would be organised if action was not taken, and stressed the importance of campaigners putting our feet out there on the ground again.

Its about saying that if you (the Government) do not deliver on these reforms, we will be outside the Dail on a regular basis, making a lot of noise, she said.

And they need not think that thats over in this country, we will get out there and we will do it.

She added: We will pursue this government to do what is right and to give the leadership that women in this country actually need.

Ailbhe Smyth speaking at a People Before Profit event on Wednesday (David Young/PA)

Ms Smyth later attended a People Before Profit event where the party unveiled a proposed private members bill that seeks to deliver recommendations within the OShea review as well as further reforms.

The bill is set to be debated in the Dail on Thursday.

Anti-abortion activists later assembled outside Leinster House to call on the Government to resist further liberalisation of the regime.

Luke Silke, Aontus spokesperson on children and equality, insisted the three-day wait period was an important measure.

Statistics released to us following a parliamentary question showed that close to 4,000 women actually changed their minds, he said.

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They went for the initial consultation appointments but did not return after three days to proceed with the abortion.

I dont think the voices of those women have been heard in this discussion.

Presumably some of them are carrying babies in their arms now.

Its hard to see how any of them could regret their decision to continue with their pregnancy.

And I think that really their voices should have been heard as part of this process.

And from the reading of the report, it seems that that was not the case.
A legal action brought by a director of a North Co Dublin-based branch of the optical retail chain Specsavers aimed at preventing his dismissal from the firm has been resolved, the High Court has been told.

The action had been brought by Matthew Richards, who has worked for many years as a retail director at the company's branch in Swords, against Swords Specsavers Limited and Specsavers Ireland Limited.

He had claimed that a decision to summarily dismiss him from his job, on grounds of alleged gross misconduct, was going to be taken at a meeting that had been scheduled to take place earlier this month.

Mr Richards, who strongly contested the allegations against him, claimed in High Court proceedings that any purported decision to dismiss him at that meeting would not have been made in accordance with law, nor in compliance with his contractual entitlements.

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As a result, he applied to the High Court for an injunction aimed at preventing the meeting from going ahead, and secured permission to serve short notice of his proceedings against the defendant.

The matter had stood adjourned before returning before Ms Justice Siobhan Stack on Wednesday morning, who was informed by Imogen McGrath SC, for the defendants, that the matter had been resolved.

Following an application by counsel, the judge agreed to adjourn the matter for a period of five weeks to allow for the implementation of the settlement agreement. No terms of the agreement, which is understood to be confidential, were given in open court.

Mr Richards, represented by Oisin Quinn SC, instructed by solicitor Andrew Turner, sought to injunct a meeting, which was to discuss whether Mr Richards should be dismissed for alleged gross misconduct.

The court heard Mr Richards was being blamed after it emerged that an optometrist who had moved to work in Swords from abroad had not been properly registered with the Irish Optical Board CORU, as is required, despite having been registered with the relevant regulatory authority in the UK.

Mr Richards did not know that the optometrist had not completed their registration with the Irish authority, and does not accept that he was responsible for what occurred.

The optometrist resigned from the company after the registration issues came to light.

Mr Richard had claimed the meeting would not have proceeded in accordance with the terms and conditions of his contract of employment and the company's own constitution.

Mr Richards, with an address at Stamullen, Co Meath, claimed any decision to dismiss him, which he is entitled to appeal, would have far-reaching consequences for him and his family.
A Dublin teenager who falsely imprisoned his partner and subjected her to a series of nine assaults over two months last summer is to be sentenced later at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Cameron Curtis (19) of Finglas Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to assaulting Alannah Corrigan (20) causing her harm on July 19th, 2022 while the two were staying overnight at The Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire.

He further admitted seven counts of assault causing harm and one count of false imprisonment of Ms Corrigan on August 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th at various locations in Binary Hub, Bonham Street in Dublin 8.

At a hearing on Wednesday, the court heard that Curtis kicked, punched and slapped Ms Corrigan repeatedly during the assaults, also grabbing her by the hair, spitting in her face, squeezing her neck in a chokehold and threatening to kill her and smash a glass bottle over her head.

'Hostile witness'

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Detective Garda Mark Costello agreed with Barry White SC, defending, that Ms Corrigan was a hostile witness and that she and Curtis remain in a relationship.

The court heard that Curtis accused Ms Corrigan of cheating on him and became violent when she would not disclose her Snapchat password to him.

Gda Costello told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that Ms Corrigan had booked them a room in the Royal Marine Hotel for one night when Curtis accused her of cheating, threatening to smash a glass Kopparberg cider bottle over her head if she didn't tell him who she was cheating with.

Ms Corrigan later told gardai that Curtis hit her face 10 or 11 times with his fist and that she was screaming throughout the assault.

Staff members came to the scene and described Curtis as aggressive and rude, the court heard.

Gardai were alerted and took a report but Ms Corrigan did not wish to proceed with the complaint.

She went to hospital and was treated with anti-inflammatories and paracetamol, the court heard.

Some weeks later, the couple were staying in Ms Corrigan's sister's room at student accommodation at Binary Hub on Bonham Street when Curtis again assaulted the victim.

Ms Corrigan later told gardai that Curtis slapped her in the face when she wouldn't disclose her Snapchat password, before calming down and having what she described as periods of normality before he became violent again.

Demanded password

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The couple slept for a while before Ms Corrigan woke to him grabbing her by the neck, demanding her password and dragging her by the hair to the ground.

He kicked her on both arms and legs, punched her head and jaw several times, slapped her and spat in her face before calming down again, the court heard.

Ms Corrigan said he later accused her of cheating again and punched her in the face and then the following morning apologised for the injuries he had caused before becoming violent again.

Ms Corrigan said Curtis pulled her by her hair around the bathroom and then punched her in the face while he was on the phone to his mother, causing her to bleed heavily.

She said a period of normality followed for two hours before Curtis again became violent, knelt on Ms Corrigan's chest and said: I'm going to kill you.

The victim was dragged by her hair and neck into the bathroom, thrown on the wet floor and locked in for 45 minutes.

Knife

After Ms Corrigan was released from the bathroom, Curtis threatened her with a knife, calmed down for half an hour, then grew violent again, throwing a mobile phone at her head.

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He kicked his girlfriend on both legs, slapped her face, stamped on her and wrapped his arms around her neck in what she described as a chokehold during an assault lasting over half an hour, the court heard.

At one point while Ms Corrigan lay crying on the bed saying, Please stop hurting me, Curtis started crying and said: Look at what you made me do. You're making me out to be like my Da and I hated my Da for what he used to do to my Ma.

Ms Corrigan told gardai that she became incredibly scared and believed she was going to die when Curtis locked her in the bathroom a second time and said he was going to get a scissors.

The court heard she managed to get out of the bathroom and locked him out of the bedroom, but he kicked the door down and then left when she started screaming.

Gardai attended the scene and Ms Corrigan was treated for her injuries which were photographed.

Damage to room

Some days later, Ms Corrigan was again attacked by Curtis in the room next door, as the previous room was inhabitable because of the damage done during the previous assaults.

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He kicked and punched her repeatedly, accused her of cheating, demanded her Snapchat password, dragged her by the hair and strangled her by squeezing her throat until she couldn't breathe and felt she was going to get sick.

Ms Corrigan managed to raise the alarm and gardai arrived and arrested Curtis.

He was deemed unfit for interview for a lengthy period and then underwent six garda interviews, making certain admissions to offences on August 16 but none on previous dates.

He has no previous convictions.

Mr White said there was a lot of domestic violence in his client's background from his father towards his mother.

Violence begets violence, regrettably, said Mr White, adding that it's no excuse for this type of behaviour.

Counsel said jealousy played a major role in the offending, although it wasn't an excuse.

He said Curtis is unlikely to come before the court again and is still in a relationship with Ms Corrigan.

The court heard that Curtis has been in custody for these offences since August 19th last, apart from one month when he was released on bail.

Ireland Bench warrant issued for woman who attempted to ca... Read More

Judge Orla Crowe ordered a probation report to be prepared to assess Curtis' suitability for several programmes including anger management.

She adjourned the case until July 13th for finalisation.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.

In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
Boris Johnson is accusing a British government department of making bizarre and unacceptable claims about him after the former UK prime minster was reported to the police over further potential lockdown rule breaches.

Mr Johnson said the UK government was entirely wrong after it emerged he had been reported to two forces over events at both Chequers and Downing Street.

Both the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police are assessing the information, which is understood to have come from official diary entries that were being reviewed ahead of the UK's Covid public inquiry.

Mr Johnson strenuously denied the allegations and insisted all events in questions were lawful, with allies suggesting the move was politically motivated.

According to The Times, which first reported the story, his ministerial diary revealed visits by friends to Chequers  the prime ministers grace and favour residence in Buckinghamshire  during the pandemic.

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Other potential breaches within Downing Street were also reported to the Met.

Senior Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Johnson loyalist, told GB News he had visited Chequers with his family during the pandemic, but that the meeting was entirely within the rules.

He said: I can tell you that during that period I went to Chequers, I was invited there with my children, entirely in accordance with the rules. Another senior government ministers was going to come but the prime minister cancelled him because you were only allowed to have one family present at the time.

The Daily Mail quoted a friend of the former prime minister as saying he was seriously considering legal action against the government over the referrals, of which a spokesman said he had received no notice.

The fallout has piled further pressure on Rishi Sunak, who was fined over a gathering in Downing Street during the pandemic along with his former boss in June 2020.

Mr Sunak faces Prime Ministers Questions later on Wednesday in which the subject of Mr Johnsons past conduct is likely to be raised, along with the outstanding issue of whether he will launch an investigation into Home Secretary Suella Bravermans handling of a speeding ticket.

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Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the revelations showed the Tories were too haunted by their own failure to govern.

The Liberal Democrats demanded Mr Sunaks Government bring an end to the taxpayer-funded legal defence provided to Boris Johnson over the partygate probe.

The British government expects to pay an estimated 222,000 in legal fees to help Mr Johnson defend himself in the privileges committee inquiry into whether he lied to MPs over lockdown rule-breaking in Downing Street.

Lindsay Jackson, spokeswoman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, branded Mr Johnson totally unfit for any form of public service following the revelations and suggested he quietly step back from public life.

A statement from Boris Johnsons office said his lawyers have written to police to explain in detail why the Cabinet Office is entirely wrong in its assertions.

It read: No contact was made with Mr Johnson before these incorrect allegations were made both to the police and to the Privileges Committee. This is both bizarre and unacceptable.

For whatever political purpose, it is plain that a last-ditch attempt is being made to lengthen the Privileges Committee investigation as it was coming to a conclusion and to undermine Mr Johnson.

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World Police urged to probe video of Boris Johnson alleg... Read More

The Cabinet Office said: Information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the Covid inquiry.

It was identified as part of the normal disclosure review of potentially relevant documents being undertaken by the legal team for inquiry witnesses.

In line with obligations in the Civil Service Code, this material has been passed to the relevant authorities and it is now a matter for them.
German authorities have raided 15 properties and seized assets in an investigation into the financing of protests by the Last Generation climate activist group.

Munich prosecutors said they were investigating seven people, ranging in age from 22 to 38, on suspicion of forming or supporting a criminal organisation.

They launched the inquiry following numerous criminal complaints from the public that they have received since mid-2022.

Members of Last Generation have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change.



Chancellor Olaf Scholz has criticised the protests (Markus Schreiber/AP)

In recent weeks, they have brought traffic to a halt on an almost daily basis in Berlin, gluing themselves to busy intersections and highways. Over the past year, they have also targeted various artworks and exhibits.

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Their tactics have drawn sharp criticism.

On Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he thought it was completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street.

Leading figures with the environmentalist Green party, which is part of his governing coalition, have said the groups actions are counterproductive.

The Bavarian inquiry adds to an investigation launched last year by prosecutors in Neuruppin, outside Berlin, over actions against an oil refinery in eastern Germany.

That investigation is considering suspicions that Last Generation activists formed a criminal organisation, a label that some conservative-leaning regional officials are also mulling.

Munich prosecutors said the people under investigation are accused of organising and promoting a campaign to finance further criminal offences by the group and collecting at least 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million).

Two of them are suspected of trying to sabotage an oil pipeline that connects the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt with the Italian port of Trieste in April 2022.

Wednesdays searches  accompanied by orders to seize two bank accounts and other assets  aimed to secure evidence on the membership structure of Last Generation and its financing. There were no arrests.



A police officer enters a house during a raid in Berlin (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

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Last Generation has acknowledged that its protests are provocative but it argues that by stirring friction it can encourage debate within society about climate change.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, the group wrote: Nationwide raid. #completelynutty.

Searches of lobby structures and seizures of governments fossil money  When? it said.

Another climate activist group, Extinction Rebellion, voiced solidarity with Last Generation.

It tweeted that the aim of conducting raids on the grounds that Last Generation is a criminal organisation was to distract attention from the true criminals.
Pressure from the West is strengthening Russias ties with China, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.

Mr Mishustins visit comes as Russia is increasingly turning to China for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over its invasion of Ukraine.

In opening remarks at his meeting on Wednesday with Chinese premier Li Qiang, Mr Mishustin did not mention the 15-month-old war that China has refused to criticise.



Li Qiang and Mikhail Mishustin met in Beijing(Alexander Astafyev, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)

He focused instead on economic co-operation between the neighbours that have partnered in challenging the US lead in global affairs.

Relations between the two countries are at an unprecedented high level influenced by the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West, Mr Mishustin said.

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China says it is a neutral party between Russia and Ukraine and wants to help broker an end to the conflict. However, it has blamed the West for provoking Moscow and has maintained strong diplomatic and trade ties with Russia in opposition to sanctions against it.

Chinas special envoy met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and other government officials during talks in Kyiv this month.

The visit followed a phone call last month between the Ukrainian leader and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Mr Zelensky described as long and meaningful and which marked the first known contact between the two since the Russian invasion began.





Beijing released a peace plan in February but Ukraines allies largely dismissed it, insisting that Russian president Vladimir Putin must withdraw his forces.

Mr Zelenskys own 10-point peace plan includes a tribunal to prosecute war crimes committed by Russia.

While sidestepping the conflict, Mr Mishustin emphasised Russias role as a provider of oil and gas to China and their bonds formed as initial allies among communist nations.

The peoples of Russia and China cherish their history, rich culture and traditions. We support the further development of our culture, exchanges and communication, Mr Mishustin said.
Russian forces have shot down a large number of drones in the southern Belgorod region, a local official has claimed.

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

He said that no one had been hurt but administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Russia said the previous day that its forces beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defence Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in Belgorod that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that local troops, air strikes and artillery routed the attackers.



Houses were said to have been damaged in Russias western Belgorod region (Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)

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Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion that began on Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs.

Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.



A soldier carries a Russian-controlled Donetsk region flag in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region telegram channel via AP)

The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spill-over violence from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

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Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last autumn. The nine-month battle for Bakhmut has killed tens of thousands of people as Ukraine pursues its strategy of grinding down the Kremlins invasion forces.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts.
Russian private army Wagner lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, according to chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He said about 20% of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the 15-month war died in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it has lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89.

Ukraine has not said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

(PA Graphics)

Russias invasion goal of demilitarising Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Mr Prigozhin said in an interview published late on Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

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Mr Prigozhin also said the Kremlins forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Mr Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day.

He claimed the Russian Defence Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesdays interview it was possible that Kyivs anticipated counter-offensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counter-attack, he said.

They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

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The Ukrainian General Staff said on Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last autumn and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have shot down a large number of drones in the southern Belgorod region, a local official has claimed.

Houses were said to have been damaged in Russias western Belgorod region (Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

He said that no one had been hurt but administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Russia said the previous day that its forces beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defence Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in Belgorod that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

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Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that local troops, air strikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

A soldier carries a Russian-controlled Donetsk region flag in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region telegram channel via AP)

Moscow blamed the incursion that began on Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs.

Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spill-over violence from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Australian producers of critical minerals have asked the government to give the industry a fighting chance of denting Chinas dominance by setting up processing hubs to cut costs.

The chief executive of rare earth miner Iluka, Tom OLeary, said many critical minerals exports were smaller in volume, making processing in Australia more feasible, unlike Pilbara iron ore exports.

Pilbara Minerals CEO Dale Henderson is still looking at options for processing his lithium ore in Australia. Credit: Trevor Collens

Well be producing circa 5000 tonnes of rare earth oxide  its not the hundreds of millions of tonnes that you hear about in iron ore, he said.

A critical mineral has two attributes, according to Geoscience Australia: it is essential for modern economies or national security, and it has a risk of supply chain disruption.
Chinas retaliation for efforts by the US  and, increasingly, its allies  to frustrate its technological ambitions underscores how one-sided the escalating contest is.

At the weekend, China announced that Micron Technologys products had failed a cybersecurity review, saying it had found relatively serious cybersecurity risks for its critical information infrastructure supply chain in products the US company sells in China that could affect national security.

China and the US are in a battle for tech supremacy. Credit: AP

While the announcement is a blow to Micron, which generates about 10 per cent of its revenues from sales within China and about 25 per cent of its revenues from China-based production, it is both limited in scope  it only applies to critical infrastructure like data centres and cloud computing, whereas most of Microns memory chips are used in consumer electronics  and irrelevant to the more strategic war over access to advanced chips with more significant industrial and military applications.

Indeed, Microns memory chips, which only passively store data, are essentially a commodity. Chinas own companies, along with South Korea and Japan, are more than capable of producing them.
Netflix has begun sending emails to its Australian customers advising them that the global rollout of its crackdown on password sharing has finally hit our shores.

A Netflix account is for use by one household, the email begins. If you want to share Netflix with someone outside of your household, you can use these features.

Those features include transferring the profile of a hitherto freeloading user of a subscription to a new membership that they pay for, and paying for an extra member, a feature that an account holder can share with someone who doesnt live with you for $7.99 per month.

The changes come as part of a worldwide campaign by Netflix to shift as many people as possible from non-paying users of the service to paying users, as the streamer grapples with the harsh reality that its exponential growth may have peaked.
Jay Roach is one of the most commercially successful and sought-after directors in Hollywood. As well as being responsible for billions of dollars of box-office with two hit comedy franchises  the Austin Powers trilogy and all three Meet the Parents domestic farces  hes also helmed the acclaimed HBO political dramas Recount and Game Change, which dissected contentious recent American presidential elections.

But if you assume that gives Roach the freedom to make whatever he wants, think again. He gets pigeonholed. I mainly get sent comedies and political films, notes the filmmaker with a rueful smile.

Director Jay Roach has been responsible for the hit comedy franchises Austin Powers and Meet The Parents. His latest work is the eight-part comic noir High Desert. Credit: Apple TV+

The 65-year-old filmmaker eventually told his agents that what he wanted to work on were movies with an unpredictable tone, such as thrillers that were quirky instead of menacing. But when they sent him the perfect script, a giddily compelling comic noir update set in the Californian backblocks and titled High Desert, it turned out to be the pilot for a streaming series instead of a feature film. Roach was not fazed.

I read episodes three and four and five and eventually I said, Ill do all eight! My agent thought I was crazy, but I really fell for these scripts, Roach says. This is the first time Ive taken on the scope of a shows entire eight episodes and I hope to do more of these because its been a blast.
The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes coverage of abducted children in Japan has been raised in US Congress before a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

The Committee is investigating the lack of resources for parents and children who are victims of international parental child abduction.

In March, an investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed that Japanese police had ignored Interpol missing persons notices and courts had failed to enforce visitation orders for 82 missing Australian kids.

Michelle Bernier-Toth, the US State Departments special adviser for childrens issues, said she had travelled to meet with foreign governments that had failed to meet their international obligations, enforce return orders or locate children.

We owe it to the children and their families to resolve these abductions and to work to prevent them, she said.

It is a role I take seriously because ultimately is about children, children and families, who as you said have been the victims of and traumatised by international parental child abduction.

Jeffery Morehouse, the executive director of Bring Abducted Children Home, said this mastheads reporting had exposed the impact of Japans system on children.

The impact from this crime on the victims is lifelong, Morehouse told the committee.

In last weeks article by journalist Eryk Bagshaw, whos written multiple times on this issue, Susuma Wataya bravely shared his experience.

He says he was beaten when he asked about his father and his last name was secretly changed, cutting him off from all future contact. I lost my identity, he said.

Morehouse said it was time for the US and other governments to move beyond diplomatic protests.

The pain that this Japanese system causes children is beyond description, he said.

The Japanese government has denied that its sole custody laws facilitate child abduction. It has announced a review of the system.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on May 26, 1983

As the band played Waltzing Matilda and a small group of plain-clothed Federal Police mingled with the crowd, about 600 painters and dockers celebrated their unions centenary in Sydney yesterday.

Painters and Dockers celebrate their centenary at Balmain. Credit: Paul Matthews

Painters and dockers from throughout Sydney held a half-day strike yesterday to allow them to gather on Liberty Hill (the corner of Montague and Llewellyn streets, Balmain), for a re-enactment of the first unfurling of the unions banner in 1889, six years after its formation.

On Tuesday. Mr Frank Costigan, QC, agreed to an adjournment of the Royal Commission hearings into the unions activities to allow some of its Victorian members to fly to Sydney for the celebrations.
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 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the articles this Q&A links to contain the names and images of people who are deceased. Good investigative journalism takes time and a hell of a lot of patience. I usually have very little of the latter, but understand that the best stories sometimes take months or even years to tell. A new investigation by Carrie Fellner, an exceptional journalist at the Herald, typifies this approach. Her series, Poisoned Paradise, is the product of two years worth of sheer persistence and determination. Poisoned Paradise tells the disturbing story of Wreck Bay, an Indigenous village in the NSW South Coast tourist mecca of Jervis Bay. Carries investigation has revealed devastating sickness and death in the village, which happens to be located next to a Department of Defence base that used toxic firefighting foam for decades. The chemicals, called Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances, but more commonly known as PFAS, have been seeping into the communitys waterways, food supply and sacred sites, with catastrophic consequences. Uncle Nick Carter with Herald journalist Carrie Fellner, filming a scene for the upcoming Stan documentary on Wreck Bay. Credit: Rhett Wyman There are two key reasons why this investigation has been two-years in the making. The first is that Carrie has worked incredibly hard to earn the trust of community members to tell their story. As Carrie writes below, progress was painstaking, particularly in the early stages. So-called fly in, fly out journalism - in which we pursue the story whether the community likes it or not - would have been the absolute worst approach to take. I also want to acknowledge the work of Rhett Wyman, a Palawa man and Herald photographer who also worked so sensitively with the community, and my predecessor Lisa Davies. The other factor behind the investigations long lead time is that it will feature in an upcoming documentary by iKandy Films, directed by Katrina McGowan and produced by Janine Hosking, Katrina McGowan and Mat Cornwell. It is supported by Ian Darlings Shark Island Foundation, Screen Australia and Screen NSW. This form of storytelling is new terrain for the Herald and has been fascinating to watch develop.

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Today, I am asking Carrie five questions about the investigation to give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the story. Bevan Shields: What are PFAS? Carrie Fellner: These man-made chemicals were invented by accident in the 1940s when scientists discovered they could create one of the strongest bonds known to humankind by combining carbon and fluorine. The chemicals were coveted by industry because they could repel grease, oil and water. They were first used in Scotchgard fabric protector and Teflon frying pans but today theres not a corner of the earth thats untouched by them. They are in the blood of all Australians, household products like makeup and food packaging to the polar bears in the Arctic and snow on the top of Mount Everest. The chemicals persist for years in the environment and the human body - which is of growing concern as international health authorities sound the alarm about a slew of health effects that may be associated with exposure. PFAS persist for years in the environment and the human body, which is of growing concern, says the Heralds investigative reporter Carrie Fellner. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone/SMH BS: When did you start looking into forever chemicals?

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CF: I started investigating PFAS in 2015 when I was early in my journalism career at a small commercial radio station in Newcastle. I was at the first community meetings where Defence disclosed that its firefighting foam containing PFAS had contaminated homes surrounding the Williamtown RAAF Base. At that time the chemicals were virtually unheard of in Australia so I seized the opportunity to learn as much as I could from international sources and relay the information back to the community, who had been left stunned and bewildered by Defences disclosures. I followed the story, and it followed me from job to job: a posting at The Newcastle Herald allowed me to do my first deep dives on the scandal, including a six-month investigation where I went door to door on the most polluted street in Williamtown and discovered 50 cases of cancer. Most people seem to be unaware of the volume of PFAS they absorb from household products in their day-to-day lives. Carrie Fellner Around the time I joined The Sydney Morning Herald in early 2018, the Minnesota government had just settled the first major lawsuit against manufacturer 3M over contamination from PFAS. I managed to be the first to get my hands on the trove of 3Ms corporate documents unearthed during discovery and discovered astonishing evidence of a global campaign by 3M to deceive the public about the health effects of PFAS. When I travelled to Minnesota to investigate further, I uncovered 21 cases of cancer at a school next door to 3Ms global headquarters where the kids had been drinking contaminated water. Carrie Fellner began investigating PFAS in Wreck Bay (Back Beach above) two years ago. Credit: Rhett Wyman BS: When did you start investigating PFAS contamination at Wreck Bay? CF: In 2021 I began the next leg of my investigations when I was contacted by Katrina McGowan and Janine Hosking, documentary makers who were interested in a class action launched by the Aboriginal community of Wreck Bay against the Commonwealth for cultural loss caused by PFAS contamination.

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We joined forces and set out to do a story focused on how PFAS had put the communitys ancient cultural traditions in jeopardy. As time went on, it became clear there was also a story to be told about the devastating levels of ill health in Wreck Bay. Progress was painstaking, particularly in the early stages. It took two years to forge connections with dozens of community members, sift through hundreds of buried government documents, lodge freedom of information requests with multiple government departments and track down health workers who could offer an outside opinion on the communitys health. Idyllic Hyams Beach, just minutes from Wreck Bay. Credit: Rhett Wyman / SMH But due to the sensitive nature of the material and what was at stake for the community, we couldnt rush any stage of the process. We were cognisant we didnt want to pressure people to go on camera: instead we waited for people to tell their stories in their own time. The project was also a baptism of fire for a print journalist who had never been in front of the camera before. Ive been told theres a very long bloopers reel. BS: Where to from here? CF: The coverage on PFAS in Australia has very much focused on Defences use of firefighting foam, probably by virtue of the fact the organisation was the first to disclose contamination at its sites. However, the magnitude of the problem is so much greater than whats in the public consciousness: firefighting foam has also contaminated dozens of sites belonging to fire brigades and private industry and most people seem to be unaware of the volume of PFAS they absorb from household products in their day-to-day lives.

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Brisbanes burgeoning build-to-rent market shows no sign of slowing down, with developer Brookfield proposing a $400 million riverside project at Hamilton.

The MacArthur Avenue development would add 560 one-, two- and three-bedroom units to Brisbanes rental housing stock across two towers.

Brookfield has lodged a development application for a build-to-rent project at Brisbanes Portside Wharf. Credit: Brookfield

Falling within the Northshore Hamilton Development Scheme, planning approvals lie with the state governments Economic Development Queensland agency, rather than Brisbane City Council.

Architecture firm Fender Katsalidis, which won a design competition to be awarded the contract, has been involved in several major build-to-rent projects, particularly in Melbourne.
Police allege a 15-year-old boy brought two rifles to Atlantis Beach Baptist College on Wednesday morning, sending terrified children and teachers into a frantic lockdown as gunshots rang out in the car park.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said several shots were fired at one of the school buildings, which was occupied at the time, and police found the rifles in a black SUV parked at the school.

Students were reunited with their parents on Wednesday afternoon. Credit: Nine News Perth

The guns  a .243 hunting rifle and a .22 long rifle  were both licensed to the house where the boy lived, Blanch said.

We found three shells, we believe three gunshots were fired and we know at least know one of them did hit a school building, Blanch told media on Wednesday afternoon.
A bid to tighten the safeguards on major road and rail projects has been blocked in federal parliament after Labor and the Coalition joined forces against moves by teal independents to reveal more about the $120 billion cost.

Calling for more scrutiny of the mammoth spending, the independent MPs sought changes to stamp out pork barrelling and force governments to reveal the costs and benefits of new proposals before sinking taxpayer funds into the projects.

Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender proposed the amendment to allow greater transparency. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But their bid was lost when the major parties used their numbers to defeat the moves, which included an amendment copied from a proposal from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when he was in opposition nine years ago.

The debate heightened the tensions between Labor and the crossbench over integrity in government and the priority for vast projects including the rail line to the Western Sydney Airport, the Melbourne Airport Rail, the Inland Rail and competing road-building proposals in every state.
The senior detective who led the team investigating Brittany Higgins rape allegation against her former colleague has revealed to an inquiry into the abandoned case that he is a survivor of sexual assault.

In a disclosure before the high-profile inquiry into authorities handling of the aborted trial of former Coalition staffer Bruce Lehrmann, ACT Policing Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said his experience 45 years ago had been his driving force as a police officer.

ACT Policing Detective Superintendent Scott Moller revealed to an inquiry he is a survivor of sexual assault. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

I am a survivor, Moller said after being asked by his lawyer what motivated him as one of the territorys senior police.

So, 45 years ago I was a victim of sexual assault, and I lived with that for 45 years, and that has driven my desire to work in the police and to work with victims. Thats driven my desire and my want to make sure that sexual assault never happens to anyone else in the community.
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and International Holding Company (IHC), which have shown interest in the groups share sale plans, were anchor investors in Rs 20,000 crore in group flagship Adani Enterprises' share sale in January. The sale was scrapped after Hindenburgs allegations, which the Adani Group has vehemently denied.

Shares of the Adani Group have recovered sharply after a committee appointed by the Supreme Court last week did not make any adverse comments in its interim report about the conglomerate, which was attacked by US short-seller Hindenburg Research in January.
Cement major The India Cements Ltd is on the verge of monetising about 1,000 acres in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli District, said a top company official.

He also said the company will be taking steps to reduce its variable costs and the debt this fiscal.

The company closed FY24 with a net loss of Rs 188.22 crore (FY23 Profit Rs 38.98 crore) on a revenue of Rs 5,380.81 crore (Rs 4,713.11 crore).

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday N.Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director said the company has large land holdings in Tirunelveli District and is on the verge of monetising about 1,000 acres.

He said negotiations are on with a land aggregator.

Last year around this time, Srinivasan had said the company has about 26,000 acres in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the surplus land will be monetised to cut down debt and for capex.

Also Read Tamil Nadu govt launches drive for solid waste management awareness Tamil Nadu Governor returns bill on prohibition of online gambling Ambuja Cements Q4 net profit up 1.61%, declares dividend of Rs 2.5 apiece Grasim, UltraTech: Cement stocks eye up to 10% upside on GST review UltraTech Cement FY23 production grows by 12.4% to 105.7 million tonnes SpiceJet to get partial relief from Sebi after debt recast deal with lessor Nayara Energy exports dip, 0.07 mn tonnes diesel flows to Europe in FY23 Abu Dhabi funds, Hinduja group could invest in Adani firms' share sale Moody's affirms Hero FinCorp's long-term corporate rating at "Ba1" HDFC-HDFC Bank merger: HDFC AMC receives Sebi approval to change control

Srinivasan also said the company is not in a distress sale mode.

On the plans to refurbish the plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,600 crore Srinivasan said the consultant has submitted the report and it is being evaluated.

With a basket of plants of various vintage and technology with varying operating parameters of power and fuel, the cost of production of cement for The India Cements is not at par with that of the competition.

Srinivasan said first the company will reduce its production cost and then bring down the costs further to match that of the competition.

He said the demand for cement is good and the company does not have any unsold stock.

The capacity utilisation of the plants is now at about 80 per cent up from about 73 per cent.

Meanwhile The India Cements' dismal performance in FY23 is due to the record increase in the cost of fuel and power which could not be compensated in the market due to supply overhang.

This was compounded by one off charges on account of impairment of certain investments and advances amounting to about Rs 114 crore.

"This was to some extent compensated by the profit on sale of investments. All these factors led to dismal performance for the quarter and the year ended 31st March'23," the company said.

The company has skipped dividend declaration.

--IANS

vj/dpb
Andy Mukherjee



In the seven years that it has been around, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis signature bankruptcy reform has failed to live up to its billing.

The 2016 insolvency law was crafted when the country was just starting to tackle what would eventually rank among the worst piles of bad loans anywhere in the world: a $200 billion-plus menace. With banks garnering bumper profits in the post-pandemic high interest-rate environment, that baggage is now much lighter, and the urgency to deal with it lower. In the seven years that it has been around, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis signature bankruptcy reform has failed to live up to its billing.



In a country where savings are in short supply, the priority was always to prevent productive capital from going to waste in unviable projects. Some high-profile resolutions of defaulted steel-plant loans raised creditors hopes, but rampant gaming of the legal process by vested interests is dashing them. It shouldnt be. Creditors recovery rates on soured advances have been low for the past couple of years  and theyre falling. Liquidations are the most common result of the bankruptcy tribunals proceedings, which are taking more than twice as long as the 270 days envisaged originally. When the credit cycle turns, state-run lenders may once again run crying back to taxpayers for capital. The court wont give them back much.



But rescuing Go First could be seen as bailing out the billionaire Nusli Wadia by inflicting losses on SMBC Aviation Capital, ACG Aircraft Leasing Ireland Ltd., and other aircraft lessors. SMBC, which claims to have ended its lease before Go Firsts filing, wants to take its jets away. The bankruptcy protection, the lessors have alleged, is a fraudulent exercise. On Monday, the appellate authority rejected their challenge: They need to approach the tribunal to repossess the planes with expired leases, or go to the apex court. Which is why the bankruptcy protection sought by Go Airlines India Ltd., a cash-strapped carrier controlled by the Mumbai-based Wadia Group, is so crucial. The franchise temporarily shut down earlier this month. If the court cant quickly revive Go First, as the brand is now known, the risk is that it will be grounded forever, like Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. in 2012 and Jet Airways India Ltd. in 2019. The domestic aviation market will become even more of a duopoly than it already is.

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But those nuances are irrelevant for Go First creditors: Regardless of whether the airline was incompetent, undercapitalized or unlucky, its shareholders must pay a price before the lenders and lessors are asked to make sacrifices. Its a complicated bankruptcy. About half of Go Firsts Airbus fleet has been incapacitated by failures of Raytheon Technologies Corp.s Pratt & Whitney engines. The airline has claimed 74 billion rupees ($894 million) in compensation. A Singapore-based arbitration panel has asked Pratt & Whitney to immediately begin making reasonable efforts to locate suitable spares. The engine-maker has said that it will honor the award. But since it hasnt supplied the first batch of 10 engines that the tribunal asked it to try to deliver by April 27, Go First filed for bankruptcy. Or thats the Indian companys version of events, according to its May 2 filing.

Thats where India has been a disappointment. In only 6% of instances, debtors trigger bankruptcies. And the recovery rate for creditors in such cases that ultimately do get resolved is just 18%. Lenders are far more comfortable when they themselves drag firms to the insolvency tribunal. Although still low by global standards, the recovery rate in resolutions initiated by financial creditors is almost twice at high at 34%, according to India Ratings & Research, a unit of Fitch Group. Two years ago, this figure was 45%.

What will be the fate of Go First? Air travel has come back as suddenly as it was halted by Covid-19, and Pratt & Whitney has a queue of customers to service. But assuming that the engine-maker would eventually get around to delivering 10 spares a month to Go First until December, as it has been directed to do by the Singapore arbitrator, this airline can fly again.



Go First has so far been current with repayments to banks, and has only recently defaulted to lessors and operational creditors. Had any of its debt been nonperforming for a year before the resolution plan kicked in, the Wadia Group would have been ruled out as a prospective bidder. But it should return as an operation that can sustain its debt, leases, salaries  and delays in fleet repair. One solution may be to leave the corporate structure of Go Airlines behind with a chunk of the 115 billion rupees owed to financial and operations creditors that is now unsustainable, and all of its equity. This is the part that can die. After that, the creditors can invite bids from anyone who wants to inject fresh capital into a new avatar of Go First. If the next owner happens to be Wadia, thats fine. If its not, thats good, too.



Leaving planes with a borrower that isnt selling flight tickets isnt ideal. It will jack up leasing rates even for those that are. Still, the tribunals intervention may be worth it. Consumers will pay a lot more if InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.s Indigo and the three Tata airlines end up as the only viable options for domestic air travel. After all, Go First isnt the only one in trouble. SpiceJet Ltd., a carrier with a similar market share, has seen its stock lose half its value over the past year. The lessor Aircastle (Ireland) Ltd. is trying to push it into insolvency. That case will be heard May 25. That is just faux puritanism. A practical bankruptcy code will be agnostic about promoters, as the controlling shareholders are known in India. Give them back their insolvent firms if they so badly want them, but close out the options for gaming the outcomes, such as by forcing lenders to accept lowball out-of-court settlements: Let them take haircuts, stand in line with everyone else and bid.


In March, GQG invested Rs 15,446 crore in four Adani group companies, and the latest value of its investment has crossed Rs 25,000 crore. After raising its stake in the Adani group by 10 per cent to $3.5 billion on Tuesday, Rajiv Jain's GQG Partners LLC is looking to invest an additional $1 billion in the conglomerate, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Wednesday. The investment is expected to be a part of the Adani group's effort to raise money from stake sales in three companies, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission.



Jain has also justified his contrarian investment by pointing to the value of Adani Group's businesses, including its coal mining and airport assets, which are tethered to India's development goals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing domestic business houses to build critical infrastructure and lure manufacturing away from places like China. According to a report by Bloomberg, after the investment on Tuesday, Jain said that they aim to become one of the "largest investors in the group" within the next five years.



The conglomerate's flagship firm Adani Enterprises, advanced as much as 19 per cent on Tuesday, taking its three-day jump to 46 per cent, while Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone gained 8 per cent to recoup all its losses triggered by Hindenburg. The market also seems to be in favour of the Adani group currently. After an expert panel report submitted to the Supreme Court last week that they have found no conclusive evidence of stock price manipulation by the group, its shares have been in the green.
By Siddhi Nayak and Nikunj Ohri

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indians are stepping up purchases of daily essentials, and even premium branded goods, using the soon-to-be-withdrawn 2,000-rupee ($24.46) notes as they aim to sidestep the need to exchange or deposit them at banks.

The Indian central bank announced on Friday the country's largest denomination note will be withdrawn from circulation by the end of September. While it did not specify the reason for the move, it comes ahead of state and general elections in the country when, analysts said, cash usage typically spikes, often in unaccounted deals.

The currency exchange is expected to be far less disruptive than a 2016 move to demonetise 86% of the country's currency in circulation overnight.

Since the weekend, people have thronged outlets to spend using the 2000-rupee note to avoid the hassle of queuing up at banks to exchange them or invite scrutiny from the tax department by depositing large sums.

Indian shops, for their part, eagerly accepted the note, using it as an opportunity to increase sales, several of them said on Tuesday, the first day the exchange was allowed.

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"A lot of people are using 2,000-rupee notes to pay for mangoes since Saturday," said Mohammad Azhar, 30, a mango seller near the Crawford Market area in India's financial capital of Mumbai.

"On a daily basis, I get 8-10 notes now. I accept it. I have no option, it's my business. I will deposit everything at once before Sept. 30. There is no fear since the note is valid."

Michael Martis, store manager at a Rado store in a mall in central Mumbai, said his store had seen a 60%-70% increase in 2000-rupee notes since the withdrawal was announced.

"That has increased our watch sales to 3-4 pieces per day from 1-2 previously," said Martis.

Food delivery firm Zomato said on its Twitter account on Monday that 72% of the "cash on delivery" orders were paid in 2,000-rupee notes since Friday. However, the company spokesperson clarified in response to a query seeking details that the tweet was in made jest and was not factual. The company refused to provide actual numbers.

Not all shop-owners were keen to accept the notes.

"I don't accept; I won't accept. I don't want to get into the trouble of depositing it with my bank," said a restaurant owner in South Mumbai.

Unlike in 2016, when customers rushed to banks to exchange the scrapped currency notes, bank branches in Mumbai and New Delhi were mostly quiet with a handful of people standing in queues.

Maximum crowds were seen at counters of India's largest lender, State Bank of India, as the bank chose not to ask for any documentation for exchange of up to the maximum allowed 20,000 rupees at one time.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Writing by Swati Bhat; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Ed Osmond)


Responding to a query regarding India's potential for export and import in the region, the official remarked that currently India only trades one- third of its potential with the South Asia region. India's gross domestic product (GDP) could rise up by as much as eight per cent if its northeastern region is fully integrated and the logistical bottlenecks are removed with the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, remarked a senior World Bank official in a virtual event on Wednesday.



Similarly, the northeastern region will see an increase in its GDP by 11 per cent and a significant increase in its exports as well, if the motor vehicles agreement (MVA) between the countries in the region is operationalised, said Auguste Kouame. If India were to trade fully with the South Asia region, India's GDP could be almost eight per cent higher than what it is now. These are huge gains to be made. [eg.] India's exports alone would see an increase of 170 per cent if it were to finalise agreements with Bangladesh. Imports will also grow, but at a slow rate. Overall, it will be a positive net balance for India, said Auguste Tano Kouame, country director for India, World Bank.



As of now, the MVA is being discussed among three countries with the focus on cargo and passenger protocols. Specific test routes have been finalised and they are yielding positive results. There are certain misunderstandings as well regarding the agreement and its necessary to [dispel] them , added Cecile Fruman, Director for Regional Integration, South Asia, World Bank. Earlier, Bhutan opted out of the 2015 quadrilateral agreement last year citing environmental concerns.

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Besides, apart from standardising the rules and regulations, the country director also called upon the need to increase cross border investments by both the public and private sector, in a bid to revive the trading culture in the region among the common people.


The Nagaland Board held Class 12th exams from March 9, 2023, to March 31, 2023. The NBSE 10th exams were held from March 10 to March 22, 2023. Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) on Wednesday declared the results of the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC or Class 10) and Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC or Class 12) final exam results 2023. Students can check their grades and other information about these results at nbsenl.edu.in.

NBSE HSLC, HSSLC Results 2023: Students Overview



With 99% of the marks, Christy Paul Mathew is the top student in Class 10. Nilovito H Shikhu stood second with 95.80 per cent marks and Wonchilo T Khuvung stood third with 95% marks. The final exam in the HSSLC Arts stream is taken by 12431 government, private, and repeat students, and 10271 of them, or 82.62 per cent have passed. The final exam for Class 12 in Commerce was taken by 1214 students, and 1042 of them, or 85.83 per cent have passed. This year, a total of 20833 students were selected for the NBSE HSLC or Class 10 final exam. 17130 of them have passed, bringing the overall pass percentage to 70.32 per cent. This has students of government, private schools and repeaters.



NBSE HSLC, HSSLC Results 2023: Mobile app to check Although the results can be checked through the official website at nbsenl.edu.in but the official Android app for NBSE HSLC and HSSLC Results 2023, "NBSE Results 2023," will also provide access to Nagaland HSLC and HSSLC Result 2023. In the Science stream, 2437 students were selected for the test and 2115 or 86.79 per cent of students have passed. With 97.20 per cent, Moanola Longchar has topped the Arts stream. The Commerce and Science streams' highest scorers are Zahid Ahmed Laskar (99.50%) and Awang P Yimpushu (97%), respectively.

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Step 1: Download and install the NBSE Results 2023 app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store on your Android or iOS smartphone.  Step 2: From the homepage, select either the 'Nagaland 10th Result 2023' option or the 'Nagaland 12th Result 2023' option. : Download and install the NBSE Results 2023 app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store on your Android or iOS smartphone.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma are scheduled to meet here on Wednesday to hold further discussions on resolving border disputes between the two states in six remaining areas.

The chief ministers of both the states are also likely to visit the disputed areas later as a goodwill gesture, officials said.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972 and it had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 areas of the 884.9 km long border between the two states.

Sarma on assuming the Chief Minister's office in May, 2021 had announced that his priority was to resolve long-standing boundary disputes with neighbouring states.

Subsequently, three regional Committees were set up in August 2021 to resolve the issues in a phased manner.

The regional committees submitted their recommendations which were handed over to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi by the two chief ministers, followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 29, 2022 to resolve disputes in six of the 12 areas.

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According to the agreement, 36.79 sq km of disputed area was taken up for settlement in the first phase with Assam getting full control of 18.51 sq km and Meghalaya over 18.28 sq km of land.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced the opening of the new Australian Consulate General in an Indian city, Bengaluru, and said that this will help in connecting the country's businesses to India's booming digital and innovation ecosystem.

Addressing a joint press conference in Sydney, Australia, PM Albanese said, "I'm pleased to announce the establishment of a new Australian Consulate General in Bengaluru, which will help connect Australian businesses to India's booming digital and innovation ecosystem. And I welcome India's plans for a consulate general in Brisbane."

"The Bengaluru establishment will be the fifth diplomatic presence that is there in India from Australia. I want to thank you again, Prime Minister Modi for visiting and receiving such a warm welcome here. And I look forward to returning to India in September for the G 20 leaders summit," he added.

After exchanging the MoUs on mobility, migration, and green hydrogen task force, PM Modi and the Australian PM addressed the press conference in Australia.

The Australian PM also spoke about his meeting with PM Modi in a year. He said that this is the sixth meeting with PM Modi in a year.

He also talked about the Quad Summit, which took place in Japan's Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven or G7 Summit.

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The Australian PM reiterated the Quad Summit statement and said, "Quad leaders stand 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. This is my 6th meeting with prime minister Modi in one year."

"My visit to India in March for the Australia India Annual Leaders' Summit focused on the key pillars of our relationship trade, investment and business cooperation, defence and security cooperation, climate and energy cooperation, and of course, people-to-people links," Albanese added.

He further stated that, in today's bilateral meeting, both the leaders further built on those pillars. They reiterated the shared ambition for an early conclusion of the Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement later this year.

Prime Minister Modi and PM Albanese are pleased to have just witnessed the exchange of the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement.

"This arrangement will promote the exchange of students, graduates, researchers and business people, expand our people-to-people ties, and enhance cooperation in preventing people," he added.

"The Task Force will comprise Australian and Indian experts in renewable hydrogen and report to the Australian Indian Ministerial Energy Dialogue on the opportunities which are there for Australia and India to cooperate in this important area of renewable hydrogen," the Australian PM said.

"Investments like the Task Force will help power our industries in the future and ensure that Australia and India meet our energy targets in the interests of both our respective countries, but also in support of the reduction of global emissions," he added.
By Menaka Doshi



India plans to overhaul rules governing use of the internet, potentially altering business practices for Silicon Valley giants operating in the worlds biggest market.

A first draft of the new law will be published in June, which is expected to carry proposals on a range of topics with the goal of creating an environment where Big Tech can operate while being more accountable to government and protect users. India plans to overhaul rules governing use of the internet, potentially altering business practices for Silicon Valley giants operating in the worlds biggest market.



The changes will impact how Alphabet Inc.s Google to Meta Platforms Inc. to Amazon.com Inc. do business in a market the government estimates will expand to 1.3 billion internet users by 2025, from the current 830 million. India is the largest internet community and the world will follow what we do, Chandrasekhar said in an interview on the sidelines. The existing two-decade-old law is ill equipped to achieve Indias digital economy target of $1 trillion or 20% of GDP over time, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, said at a briefing in Mumbai on Tuesday.



Open Internet

The government, which faces re-election next year, wants to implement the legislation by the end of 2023, Chandrasekhar said. Here are the key areas:

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The nations antitrust regulator had in recent months imposed large fines on Google saying the firm wields too much power over the mobile market. On the potential overlap, Chandrasekhar said the government will decide if enforcement of some of these should rest with competition law or the Digital India Act. The new law will look to define what is fair and non-discriminatory treatment of users. These could include principles on market concentration, so-called platform power and how to allow users more choice.

Safe Harbour

In a move designed to make internet users identifiable and traceable, the new law may do away with so-called safe harbor provisions, the minister said. This means intermediary firms  such as Twitter and Facebook  may face legal liability for content shared by their users if they dont provide user identification or traceability to the government when directed.



Content Monetization

Last year, a draft telecom law contained similar licensing provisions to tackle internet anonymity.



A similar matter pertaining to news publishers is being investigated by the competition regulator. The new law will include a framework on revenue sharing between content generators and platforms, Chandrasekhar said.

Digital India Act - Index Preamble Principles Digital Government Open Internet Online Safety and Trust including User Harm Intermediaries Accountability Regulatory Framework Emerging Technologies - Risks and Guard Rails Miscellaneous Source: Government presentation
A white paper on capturing methane, particularly coal bed methane, would soon be drafted and submitted to the government for it to take policy measures as potential of methane to warm environment is 84 times more than that of carbon dioxide.

The white paper would also incorporate findings of the experts that investing in methane capture mining companies can increase revenues by 30 per cent.

Methane is the second leading cause of climate change after carbon dioxide.

The white paper shall be drafted on the basis of deliberation during day-long workshop Sustainable Mining & Methane Management' jointly organised last week by International Centre for Climate and Sustainability Action Foundation (ICSSA), Society for Clean Environment (SOCLEEN) and the Maharashtra government.

It will be submitted to Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Maharashtra, and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

During the workshop, climate scientists suggested to state governments to incentivise and urge coal mining companies on methane handling, considering that methane's potential to warm environment is 84 times more than that of carbon-di-oxide (CO2).

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Experts also suggested that somebody should be made accountable to capture methane from abandoned coal mines that continue to emit methane in environment, which has not been addressed as yet.

In his special address at the workshop, Vijay S Nahata, Chairman SEIAA suggested using modern tools in mining to reduce environmental and climate impact.

"India is committed to Net-Zero by 2070, and we will continue to cooperate and work with industries and other stakeholders for the betterment of our environment," he added.

Rakesh Kumar from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) suggested that mining companies should also be made aware of the revenue potential that methane capture can have.

By increasing their operational spending by 10 per cent towards methane capturing, the mining industries can create a separate revenue stream that can give them three times the returns on the investment, he said.

While mining companies shall be able to increase their revenues in the short term, allied benefits relating to the environment and health of people residing in areas closer to mining, will take some time to show.

Growth in coal production is directly proportional to the release of methane from mining activities.

Professor A D Sawant, President SOCLEEN suggested that having government policy towards climate change is definitely the first step in the right direction, but the know-how should also be shared with mining officials who are there at the site.

Professor C K Varshney, Professor and Advisor ICCSA said utilisation of coal mine methane has the potential to benefit India by reducing emissions and increasing domestic energy security.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas, which is responsible for Earth's warming. Methane (CH4) concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since pre-industrial times.

India is sitting on a huge opportunity to convert waste into energy. As per a calculation, 15 large states in the country are generating over 1.38 lakh tonne of waste every day, and if globally available advanced technologies can be deployed to generate energy through the trash, then a 5600 MW capacity waste-to-energy plant can be set up, experts said.

Even at 50 per cent utilisation, India will have about 2800 MW of electricity generated through garbage, Professor Bhaskar Kura, founder of i2Care, said during the workshop.

The workshop was attended by experts including Professor C K Varshney, former Dean at Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Sarala Balachandran, Chief Scientist at CSIR; Ajit Kumar Saxena, Chairman cum Managing Director MOIL; R K Vij Professor PDEU, Gandhinagar; Kaushik Chakraborty, former ED at Western Coalfield Ltd, and Priyank Singhvi, co-founder ICCSA.
The G20 Tourism Working Group meeting here was a success, South Korean Ambassador to India Chang Jae-bok said on Wednesday, adding that Kashmir is a wonderful place with kind people.

The Korean ambassador said Seoul strongly supported India's presidency and expressed hope that New Delhi will make the G20 meetings successful.

He told PTI, "The G20 meeting (in Kashmir) was successful."



Jae-bok and other delegates to the working group meeting also visited the refurbished Polo View Market in the Residency Road area here.

He said Kashmir is a wonderful place and the people are very kind.

"It is a wonderful place, the people here are very kind. I hope more people come here to discover the beauty and diversity of India," he added.

The Korean ambassador further said, "India is becoming a global power. Right now, India is the fifth biggest economy and it will become the third biggest economy very soon. We hope that India and Korea will continue to have good relations," he said.

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YN Bruggeman, a delegate from The Netherlands, said the G20 meet put Kashmir back on the tourism map.

"It puts Kashmir back on the map and it has shown us that Kashmir is a beautiful place. It will help tourism in Kashmir but I hope it will also help tourism in The Netherlands," he said.

"It's been three fantastic days, Kashmir is very beautiful. The meetings were very well organised and very insightful. So I am happy to bring this all back to the Netherlands, he added.
Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways on Wednesday said that the Centre was committed to enhancing the tourism sector and strengthening the country's infrastructure which were positively impacting job creation.

He was speaking at the CII Annual Session 2023 here. Under the theme 'Future Frontiers, Competitiveness, Technology, Sustainability, Internationalisation', Gadkari highlighted the significant progress made in these areas and the positive impact it has had on job creation.

Gadkari acknowledged the rapid improvement in the tourism sector and cited the feedback received from the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, who reported a notable increase in tourist numbers compared to the previous year.

Recognising the importance of efficient connectivity, Gadkari revealed plans for the construction of the Dehradun-Delhi Highway, which will significantly reduce travel time between the two destinations, as well as the ongoing projects related to the Char-Dham Yatra and the development of Masoori's tunnel.

To further bolster the tourism industry, the government has embraced 260 proposals, amounting to Rs 1,30,000 crore, focused on ropeway cable cars and funicular railways. These initiatives will be implemented through public-private investments, fostering sustainable and accessible transportation options for tourists across the country.

Emphasizing the government's commitment to improving logistics and reducing costs, Gadkari highlighted the Economic Corridor and Green Express Highways projects. He expressed his belief that these initiatives would decrease logistics costs from 14 to 16 per cent to a remarkable 9 per cent, leading to increased export opportunities and a subsequent rise in employment.

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Gadkari also emphasized the importance of private sector collaboration in the development of 670 wayside amenities across the country, including charging stations, gas stations, and restaurants built to international standards.

Looking toward the future, the Minister emphasized the potential of heliports and drones in futuristic technology. He noted the development of drones capable of carrying up to 200 kg, with future models anticipated to transport four passengers simultaneously. Additionally, he highlighted plans to construct 16 tunnels in Jammu and the proposed Delhi-Katra Highway, which will allow Delhi residents to reach Katra within six hours.

In line with the government's push for sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives, Gadkari disclosed plans to invest around Rs 16 lakh crore in the ethanol vehicle market and explore the use of methanol as a substitute for diesel. The successful testing of 25 buses powered by methanol in Bengaluru was mentioned, with a projected production of 30 lakh tons of methanol in collaboration with farmers in the future. Furthermore, Gadkari underscored the potential of hydrogen-powered vehicles, aiming to transform India from an energy importer to an energy exporter.

Gadkari also addressed the burgeoning electric vehicle sector, revealing that 400 startups have emerged to manufacture electric buses, along with the introduction of e-cars, e-rickshaws, and e-buses. He acknowledged the need to improve the conditions of state transport systems and combat diesel thefts, expressing interest in implementing the London bus model in India and ultimately aiming for a fleet of two lakh buses.

Gadkari further announced plans for the Sky Bus service, connecting Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana, which will alleviate traffic congestion for the commuters.

Concluding his address, Gadkari reiterated the government's commitment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of making India a five trillion-dollar economy. He highlighted the creation of 4.5 crore jobs through the promotion of tourism, the development of top-quality roads, and the provision of opportunities for startups. Additionally, he shared the government's innovative approach to utilizing 25 lakh tons of garbage.

--IANS

atk/dpb
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said the hard work of farmers is establishing the state as an "economic superpower" in the country and highlighted that villages are now moving ahead with technology.

Referring to the nine years of the Narendra Modi dispensation, he also said in these years, the nation has seen farmers and labourers becoming the agenda of a government for the first time in history.

Inaugurating a campaign to link farmers with the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the chief minister said that "a total of 2.63 crore lakh farmers" in the state have joined the central scheme and "Rs 55,800 crore has been transferred to the bank accounts of our farmers in the state under the scheme so far".

"Despite this, we heard from some farmers that the money is not reaching them. In view of this, the process of Aadhaar authentication is being started on a large scale, so that 100 per cent eligible farmers can benefit from this scheme," he said.

Adityanath also launched the logo of the 'Darshan' portal, which will provide information on benefits of agricultural facilities, and started the registration of farmers for various grants and services.

"They (farmers) do not belong to any caste, creed and religion, but are the ones who fulfil the needs of society with their hard work and feed the country and the world. Due to the hard work of the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, today, the state is being established as an economic superpower in the country," he said.

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"From today, this big campaign is starting in all 55,000 gram panchayats of the state," the chief minister said and added that officials of the agriculture and revenue department as well as post offices will join it to connect "the eligible farmers with the scheme in every village".

The initiative will be publicised in every village for the benefit of all farmers, Adityanath said.

This campaign is to pay respect to farmers and all organisations associated with this campaign will complete it on a large scale, he said and this will solve the complaints coming from farmers and "I hope that after June 10, no farmer of UP will complain of being denied the benefits of this scheme".

He said that today, villages are moving forward with technology and land records have been digitised to a large extent, ending disputes.

"Earlier, disputes were a regular affair. Through the PM Swamitva Yojana, property ownership rights have been provided to scores of farmers. So far, 56 lakh houses have been made available in Uttar Pradesh and by the end of this year, houses will be provided to 1.5 crore families for which the survey work has been completed," the chief minister said.

The facility of the BC Sakhi Yojana and Village Secretariat are being provided in rural areas, he said and added that "banking facilities have started in villages and now one does not need to go elsewhere".

Technology is the need of today and work is going on to take it forward in the villages in a better way, Adityanath said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday highlighted the steps taken by the state in upholding the rights of workers and claimed that it has one of the best records in the global south in this regard.

Inaugurating the International Labour Conclave here, Vijayan said Kerala has been exceptional in protecting and advancing workers' rights, which has been waning worldwide.

"In terms of providing decent employment, forming unions, workers' cooperatives, welfare boards and pension schemes, and ensuring inclusivity and the protection of migrant rights, Kerala has evolved as a role model. We comply with the main principles of the ILO (International Labour Organisation), including the tripartite structure, in which the government, employers, and employees meet to resolve disputes," the Chief Minister said.

The three-day International Labour Conclave is being organised by the Labour Department in association with the State Planning Board.

He said that since 1957, when Kerala's first state government came to power, "we have implemented a rights-based strategy" to accommodate the requirements of workers in the formal and informal sectors.

"By passing the Kerala Minimum Wage Rules in 1958, Kerala's first ministry showed the world how workers' rights can be protected by assuring minimum wages," Vijayan said.

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He said a significant turning point in the welfare of the workers, however, was the instituting of the Kerala Welfare Fund Act, which ensured financial contributions by the government as well as employers and employees.

"As a result, a large number of Welfare Boards were set up to serve workers -- including women -- in the informal sectors. The coverage of traditional industries such as coir, handlooms, cashews, and so on is worth citing. In total, there are 24 Welfare Boards in the State which play a crucial role in reducing the livelihood crisis of informal workers," the chief minister said, adding that it was especially evident during the covid-19 pandemic.

He said that in in 1980, the state government brought in a path-breaking initiative with the implementation of the agricultural workers' pension scheme.

"It was the first major social assistance scheme in India," Vijayan said.

The CM said the recognition of the rights of domestic migrant workers is also an integral aspect of the labour policy in Kerala, with a slew of measures in place to support them.

"We honour them as guest workers. Kerala is one of the most migrant-worker-friendly states in the country. They were especially aided during the covid-19 pandemic with free accommodation, food, and medical care," Vijayan said.

He also pointed out that workers in the unorganised sector have access to a number of benefit programmes, including pensions.

"The state has given special attention to women workers, with a focus on their health, nutrition, working conditions, and other rights. Their 'right to sit' in the shops they work in has been legally assured", the CM said.

Speaking about protection of domestic workers' rights, he said that a specific bill in this regard is nearing completion and that it would be the first of its kind in India.

This is apart from the large number of benefits provided to care workers in the state, who are predominantly women. Given the fact that as many as 84 sectors have minimum wages fixed and revised timely, Kerala stands ahead of many other states with respect to wages and benefits, Vijayan said.

"Incidentally, I must point out that as per the RBI report, the highest daily wage rate for male non-agricultural workers in rural India, is in Kerala at Rs 677.6 in 2020-21. It is more than double the all-India average at Rs 315.3," he said.

Noting that the Government of India has introduced four new labour codes and draft rules appropriate for Kerala have already been prepared for discussion in the State Legislature, Chief Minister said workers' rights are part of Kerala's public discourse and "ensuring them is part of our legacy."



"We will continue to uphold them," he said.


Congress leader Siddaramaiah took oath of office on Saturday, with D K Shivakumar as his deputy. Eight MLAs were sworn in as ministers. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs new ministers include members of the Dalit community, one Muslim, a Christian and a Lingayat leader, news agency PTI reported on Wednesday.



Here is more about the ministers: The Congress won the Karnataka elections by securing 135 seats out of 224. The BJP got 66 seats to be voted out of power and the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in results declared on May 13.

G Parameshwara

Parameshwara was the head of Congress' manifesto committee for the elections. He represents the Koratagere constituency in Tumakuru district and belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.

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Parameshwara briefly held the title of deputy chief minister in the Congress-JD (S) coalition government between 2018-19. The six-time MLA (three times from Madhugiri and three times from Koratagere) has a PhD in plant physiology from Waite Agriculture Research Centre in the University of Adelaide. He is currently representing Koratagere.



K H Muniyappa

He is the longest-serving Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief, with eight years in the post. He has been open about his aspirations for being either the chief minister or deputy chief minister.



Muniyappa is the Congress leader of the SC-left and it is the first time he has been elected to the legislative assembly. He represented Kolar from 1991 to 2019 in the Lok Sabha. Muniyappa, a former union minister, represents the Devanahalli assembly segment in Bengaluru rural district.



Priyank Kharge

His daughter, Roopakala M Shashidhar, is also a Congress MLA from Kolar Gold Fields (KGF).



He is a three-time MLA and has served as state minister for IT, tourism and social welfare and is associated with the Youth Congress. Priyank is the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and a member of the Dalit community under SC-Right. He represents the Chittapur segment in Kalaburagi district.



K J George

Kharge is the Karnataka Congress' communications chairman and has been known to make public jabs at the Opposition.



George, a six-time MLA, has been Minister for Home, Bengaluru Development and Town Planning in his political career. George was born in Kerala but moved to Kodagu in Karnataka at a young age. He represents the Sarvagnanagar assembly segment in Bengaluru city and is the only Christian in the 224-member Karnataka assembly.

M B Patil

Patil belongs to the Lingayat community and was Congress campaign committee president for the election. He has represented the Babaleshwar Assembly constituency in Vijayapura district since 2008.



He is president of Bijapur Lingayat Education Association (BLDEA), an education organisation in north Karnataka. The five-time MLA has been a Lok Sabha MP from Bijapur (Vijayapura) and was Minister for Home and Water Resources in a previous state government.

Satish Jarkiholi

Satish Jarkiholi belongs to the Valmiki community, a Scheduled Tribe (ST), and represents the Yamakanmardi Assembly constituency in Belagavi district. Before joining the Congress, he was with the JD (S).



Jarkiholi is the founder-chairman of sugar manufacturing firm, Satish Sugars. His brothers, Ramesh and Balachandra, are BJP MLAs representing Gokak and Arabhavi legislative constituencies. He is a four-time MLA and was twice a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). Jarkiholi has served as Minister for Excise and Textile in the past and he is a KPCC working president.

Ramalinga Reddy

Ramalinga belongs to the Reddy community and represents Bommanahalli, Tavarekere and Madiwala (BTM) Layout in Bengaluru city.



B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan

He is an eight-time MLA and has served as Minister of Home, Transport and Education, among other portfolios. He began his political career with Congress' student wing. Reddy is a KPCC working president, too.





Siddaramaiah and his new cabinet have to fulfill the five guarantees the Congress promised in the elections: Khan, an influential figure Muslim figure, represents the Chamrajpet assembly segment in Bengaluru city. The five-time MLA was with JD (S) before joining the Congress in 2008. Khan has previously served as the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, as well as Minority Welfare.



Gruha Lakshmi will grant Rs 2,000 every month to the woman head of every family Gruha Jyothi will provide monthly 200 units of free electricity to every household.



Yuva Nidhi sanctioned Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders every month for two years (in the 18-25 age group) Anna Bhagya will distribute monthly 10 kg of rice to every member of families below the poverty line.

Shakti provides free travel for women in ordinary public transport buses across Karnataka.
By Menaka Doshi



Global law firm Dentons is the first to enter India by combining with New Delhi-based mid-size firm Link Legal. The deal, which involves no transfer of money, ownership or foreign lawyers, remained unaltered after it was first announced in October  even after India relaxed rules to allow foreign lawyers and firms to practice in the country. Global law firm Dentons is the first to enter India by combining with New Delhi-based mid-size firm Link Legal.



The combination means that Dentons is now in five big Indian cities with access to 150 local lawyers and professionals. Dentons overall is a union of firms in 82 countries. We dont fly in, fly out, we dont export, import people, Dentons global chief executive officer, Elliott Portnoy, said in an interview. The rebranded Dentons Link Legal remains independently owned and managed, said the Indian firms executive chairman, Atul Sharma.



Its too early to say when Baker McKenzie will set up an India office, said Ashok Lalwani, chair of the international firms India practice. Baker McKenzie has 300 lawyers working offshore on India-related matters, using the fly-in, fly-out route to service Indian clients. Other large international firms, some structured like Dentons, are still examining the fine print in the two-month-old India rules. They are also examining a subsequent rules clarification that allows foreign lawyers from reciprocal jurisdictions to register and establish offices in India but practice only foreign law for foreign clients.

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Confusing Rules

US-based Covington & Burling said in a note that Indias new rules prescribe a boil-the-ocean registration process and impose self-defeating limitations.



The Bar Council of India has yet to publish registration forms, its not clear if ongoing protests by Indian lawyers may prompt changes to the rules, and there are concerns around lower fees and taxation in India. Confusion persists on the reciprocity framework, the restriction to advise only foreign clients in India, and the bar on fly-in, fly-out if the law firm has a local office, among other issues.



Read: Top India Lawyer Sees More Fees, Deals From Foreign Firms Entry DLA Piper said in an emailed statement that while recent announcements in India present significant opportunities, the firm is still working through how a presence would develop in the country. It has an offshore India-focused practice.

Staggered Opening Up

Law has always been a locally regulated, protectionist profession, said David Wilkins, professor of law and director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School.



Opposition from local firms results in staggered liberalization, he said. I dont think theres going to be a huge rush, Wilkins said. It wont be like China in the 90s. The pressure to open up is usually brought by large clients who want firms that can serve them in multiple jurisdictions, Wilkins said.



Private sector law firms have been around for only 25 years or so in China, said Portnoy of Dentons, which has offices in 48 Chinese cities. The Chinese legal bars level of sophistication, maturity and experience is much lower than in India, where the profession has long been in existence, he said. India is more like Singapore. Chinas number of foreign law firms rose to a peak of 232 in 2014, up from 12 in 1992, according to a China Justice Observer report. The number declined to 185 by 2020 because of lower cross-border investment activity, continuing restrictions on foreign firms, and a rise in the number of local firms, the report said.
The ministry said NeVA is one of the 44 mission mode projects under the Digital India Programme of the Union government seeking to make the functioning of all state legislatures paperless by transforming them into Digital House.



Till now, 21 state legislatures have signed agreements for the implementation of NeVA and the project has been sanctioned for 17 legislatures and funds have been released to them for its implementation, the ministry added.



Among them, nine legislatures have already become fully digital and are live on the NeVA platform, and are conducting all their business end-to-end in a digital and paperless manner, it said.

The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, on Wednesday, organised a workshop on the NeVA to encourage state legislatures to go paperless and bring transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in the conduct of House business through the use of technology.
India and the US are poised for a "better relationship" under Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to his tremendous sense of the country's national interests and the posture to be taken with Washington since his days as a senior BJP functionary, according to a former senior Indian diplomat.

The remarks by T P Sreenivasan, who was India's Deputy Ambassador to the US from 1997 to 2000 when India conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and the US slapped sanctions on the country, came ahead of Prime Minister Modi's State visit to the US in June.

Prime Minister Modi will embark on his first state visit to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden in June. The US president and the First Lady will also host Modi at a state dinner on June 22.

Referring to the recent interaction between Prime Minister Modi and US President Joe Biden in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit, he said much better days are ahead in the relationship.

From what we have seen in Hiroshima, they had a good equation. And it looks as though they're poised for a better relationship, Sreenivasan said.

He said three factors -China, the Ukraine-Russia situation and the US reports about minorities in India are affecting bilateral ties.

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India has been maintaining that the Ukraine crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

The two nations have a difference of opinion on US reports on minorities in India.

"These three have, I wouldn't say sour the relationship, but they are affecting the relationship and that is where they have to sit down and talk and come to understand, the former Indian diplomat said.

India's internal situation, he asserted, should not be a factor in the Indo-US relationship.

They have to play down the internal situation in India. And secondly, on Russia and Ukraine....there should be a better understanding between the United States and India. So, if that war is ended partly because of the effort of India as G-20 (president), that will make a big difference, he said.

Lavishing praise on Prime Minister Modi, he said since his days as a BJP functionary he had a tremendous sense of what the country's national interests are and what its posture should be with the US.

Modi, then a senior BJP functionary, he recollected, was quietly sent by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for meeting officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, amidst strong speculation that the two institutions were planning to slap sanctions on India after it conducted the nuclear tests.

Even at that time, he had a deep understanding of the India-US relationship, said the former diplomat who was in the city on Monday.

He came, when he was nobody, except a pracharak in 1999, Sreenivasan recalled.

Well, I think the (then) Prime Minister sent him here for a specific mission because there were rumours that the World Bank and the IMF will also impose sanctions against India. That was a scare because for us it is very important. The United States and India have no aid programme or anything like that. But the IMF and the World Bank, getting into it would've been a serious complication with us. That was the mission he had, said Sreenivasan, who then was the Deputy Ambassador to the US here.

So, he (Modi) met me when he came the first day. He called me and I did not know much about him. But when I talked to him, I realised he is a different kind of person. I invited him to dinner that night and we talked about the World Bank, and he said, arrange lunch for me, dinner for me with the World Bank people. And they (World Bank people) came. (It) was a surprise for me, Sreenivasan said, recollecting the events of those days.

Since then, I've been watching him, and I think he has a tremendous sense of what is in India's interest and posture (India) should be with the United States. That is his specialisation," Sreenivasan said.

So he may have played a big role (in India-US relationship) in 2016 when he talked about the new symphony in India-US relationship, close defence partners. These are all things that are really remarkable, Sreenivasan added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat Express from Dehradun to Delhi on Thursday via video conferencing, his office said.

This will be the first Vande Bharat to be introduced in Uttarakhand, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on Wednesday.

With world-class amenities, it will herald a new era of comfortable travel experience, especially for tourists travelling to the state, the PMO said.

Prime Minister Modi will flag off the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat Express from Dehradun to Delhi on May 25 at 11 am, it said.

The train has been indigenously manufactured and is equipped with advanced safety features, including the Kavach technology, the statement said.

Guided by the vision of the prime minister of providing cleaner means of public transport, the Indian Railways is on a quest to completely electrify the rail route in the country, it said.

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Moving ahead in this direction, Prime Minister Modi will dedicate the newly electrified rail line sections in Uttarakhand, the statement said.

With this, the state will have its entire rail route 100 per cent electrified.

Trains run by electric traction on the electrified sections will result in the increase in their speed and enhance haulage capacity, the statement said.
The survival rate of transplanted trees in Delhi drastically comes down after the first year due to multiple reasons, including limitations of the tree transplantation policy, the city government's Forest department found during an in-house audit conducted recently.

The tree survival rate after one year of transplantation is up to 90 per cent. It drastically drops to 38 per cent after three years, a senior Forest department official, requesting anonymity, told PTI.

Data collected after a preliminary audit and submitted to Delhi High Court in May last year showed that only 33.33 per cent of the 16,461 trees transplanted in the national capital over the preceding three years had survived.

The Delhi government's tree transplantation policy states that agencies concerned must transplant a minimum 80 per cent of the trees affected by its development works. The benchmark tree survival rate at the end of one year of transplantation is 80 per cent.

A three-member committee set up to identify the reasons for the poor survival rate conducted a site-specific detailed inspection from October to February, another official said.

"The survey, which included a moderate sample size, found that the tree survival rate comes down from up to 90 percent in the first year to 38 per cent after three years. This is because the maintenance responsibility of the technical agency in charge of transplantation is limited to one year of the completion of tree transplantation. Lack of proper maintenance results in the death of the trees," the official quoted above said.

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"In our report submitted to the government, we have recommended tweaking the tree transplantation policy to make it mandatory for the technical agencies to maintain the trees for at least three years," he said.

The three-member committee also found that some project proponents had transplanted the same trees twice, adversely impacting their survival rate.

"Among the transplanted trees, ficus has the best survival rate (up to 75 percent) and neem has the worst, almost nil. We are looking into the reasons behind this," the official said.
The Uttar Pradesh government has expedited infrastructure works in Ayodhya, including expansion of its airport and railway station, as the city prepares for the opening of the Ram temple in January next year, according to a statement.

Work is also in progress on the Ram Path, a 13-km road from Sahadatganj to Naya Ghat, it said.

The outline for the construction of the Ramjanaki Path and the Bhakti Path is also ready, the statement issued in Lucknow said. The airport and the railway station are also being expanded, it added.

These road corridors are important as these will facilitate the movement of devotees to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and the Hanuman Garhi temple, the statement said.

The width of the Ram Janmabhoomi Path will be 30 metres and the width of the Bhakti Path will be 14 metres, it said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has invited people to come for the Ram temple's opening, it said and added that he is reviewing the progress of different works regularly.

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In Uttarakhand's Haridwar, Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Nyas general secretary Champat Rai said no date has been fixed yet for the inauguration of the Ram temple but its construction is in full swing and it is likely to be inaugurated by January next year with the permission of seers.

"The temple Trust has not yet discussed the dates. However, construction of the temple is going on fast and its inauguration can be done any time from December 31 to January 15," Rai said.

Ram Lalla may be installed in the temple by December and it may be inaugurated by January 2024, he said.

The temple is 380-feet-long from east to west, 250-feet-wide from south to north and 161 feet high. Its platform, made of pure granite, is 16-feet-high and there are 392 pillars or columns on its three floors, said Rai, who is in Haridwar to attend a meeting of the VHP's Margadarshak Mandal on Thursday.

Iron and concrete have not been used anywhere in its construction, he said.

The statement said supporting the Uttar Pradesg government's initiative to develop Ayodhya, shopkeepers, without any resistance, have given the land of their shops for the construction of the "grand" temple and its other facilities.

There has been no complaint of any irregularity in disbursement of compensation under this project, it said.

Those evicted have been allotted shops in newly developed complexes, while many shopkeepers were rehabilitated to their old places with the cooperation of owners, the statement said.
Seven persons including two from Jharkhand were killed and three others critically injured after a vehicle ferrying workers of a power project rolled down a hill in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, Union minister Jitendra Singh, and leaders from almost all political parties expressed their grief over the accident which occurred near Dangduru power project site in remote Dacchan area around 8.35 am.

Since the accident, the officials said, hundreds of workers have been staging a protest at the work site demanding the company to compensate the families of the victims and pay for the treatment of the injured.

Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Devansh Yadav said the accident took place amid heavy rains in the area.

"Seven persons are confirmed dead and three others critically injured in the accident," Senior Superintendent of Police, Kishtwar, Khalil Ahmad Poswal told PTI.

He said the injured were rushed to a hospital by the rescuers who were helped in the operation by locals.

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According to the officials, the driver of the vehicle lost control while negotiating a blind curve and drove down the hill.

The vehicle turned into an iron mangle after falling down several hundred feet before coming to halt, they said, adding six persons were found dead on-the-spot, while one more succumbed while on way to hospital.

Victims were identified as Itwa Singh and Rahul Kumar of Jharkhand, Sudesh Singh of Kastigarh, Akhter Hussain of Dangduru, Abdul Rashid of Banjwar, Mubashir Ahmad of Doda, and Karan Kumar of Karur.

The injured - Ravi Giri of Bihar, Mohd Gareeb of Ramban, and Varun Sharma of Kishtwar were admitted in Kishtwar district hospital, the officials said.

Expressing grief over the loss of lives in the tragic accident, the Lt Governor said, "I convey my heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved families and wish those injured a speedy recovery."



"I have instructed the district administration to provide all necessary assistance to the affected persons," Sinha said.

Earlier, Union Minister Jitendra Singh termed the accident "unfortunate" as he assured all possible help to the affected families.

"Just now spoke to DC #Kishtwar Dr Devansh Yadav about unfortunate road accident at Dangduru Dam siteInjured being shifted to district hospital Kishtwar or GMC #Doda as per requirement. All possible help, as required, will be provided," Singh wrote on twitter.

Former chief ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and Mehbooba Mufti of Peoples Democratic Party, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina, the National Conference and the People's Conference also expressed grief over the accident.

Senior DPAP leader and former minister G M Saroori visited the injured in the hospital and demanded sterner road safety measures.

"I once again expect that authorities will ensure enough safety measures as occurrence of such accidents are witnessed every alternate day. Smooth traffic movement on such hilly terrain needs immediate attention," Saroori said.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the government organises one National Immunisation Day (NID) and two Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNID) every year to maintain population immunity against wild poliovirus and to sustain its polio-free status. During these drives, bio-oral polio vaccines (bOPV) are administered to children aged 5 years and less.



However, ThePrint report said that because of the shortage of vaccines, only the two SNIDs will be conducted and the NID will not be organised this year.

The Union government will not be conducting its nationwide Polio Immunisation drive this year due to a dearth of vaccines, reported ThePrint.


Some of the other important cases heard by the High Court today include: In the Delhi High Court, on Wednesday, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia withdrew his interim bail pleas in cases related to alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, saying the medical condition of his wife was stable.



- It granted author Anand Ranganathan four weeks to file an affidavit in a criminal contempt case over his alleged remarks against a judge of the court. - The court upheld a central government order dismissing former IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma, who assisted the CBI in its probe in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, a month before his scheduled retirement.



-The court sought to know from news channel Aaj Tak why it wanted to telecast the recording of narco analysis conducted on Aaftab Amin Poonawala, the man accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and dismembering her body. - The Delhi High Court sought the stand of the Delhi University (DU) on a petition by an NSUI leader, who was earlier debarred over screening of a controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, alleging that the varsity was not accepting his PhD thesis even after the debarment order was set aside.

Also Read Manish Sisodia to be produced in court today: All you need to know How Manish Sisodia's arrest poses a challenge to AAP's Delhi govt, Kejriwal AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj to be elevated to Delhi cabinet Same-sex marriage case: Some kind of labelling important, SC tells Centre LIVE: Strong earthquake tremors felt in Delhi, other parts of north India Govt raises issue of consumers forced to buy entire strip of tablets EC's climate policy chief on two-day diplomatic mission to India from Thu Test cough syrups for exports on top priority: DCGI amid contamination row Gujarat cabinet nod to prepare new recruitment calendar for next 10 years Ram temple to likely open in January 2024, infra works expedited in Ayodhya



-The High Court upheld the life imprisonment awarded to a man for kidnapping and raping a 6-year-old girl in 2015, saying the convincing evidence tendered by the victim was corroborated by medical evidence. -It deferred till August 23 the hearing of a petition by St Stephen's College against Delhi University's notification insisting on admissions under minority quota solely on the basis of the CUET scores, in view of the pendency of a related matter before the Supreme Court.

-It upheld the validity of a city government order making it mandatory for a person to be a Delhi resident to become a civil defence volunteer.
Post offices barred from exchanging Rs 2,000 notes, can accept deposits

Though banks started accepting Rs 2,000 notes on Tuesday, post offices across the country are not being allowed to exchange such notes, but will only be able to accept deposits as of now, a top banking industry source has said.



Day 1 of Rs 2,000 currency note exchange: Banks wait, customers await The exchange facility is available only at banks. Customers can make deposits since the Rs 2,000 note is legal tender, said a top banking industry source, to a question on whether the notes can be exchanged at post offices. Read more...





Rectified PLI scheme attractive for global IT hardware makers: Experts The rush of 2016 was mostly missing as banks nationwide started exchanging Rs 2,000 notes on Tuesday amid confusion over forms and ID proof. Things were not very different in Mumbai the day banks began the exchange exercise. On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India had announced withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes, asking banks to exchange these notes from May 23 to September 30. Read more...

Also Read Flexi-staffing industry's Q3 growth lowest in past 10 quarters: ISF report Flexi staffing grew 6% in July-Sept, added 78,000 new jobs: Report Flexi-staffing growth slows for second consecutive quarter on trot LIVE: MC, AAP boycott inauguration of new Parliament building on May 28 Top 5 headlines: MSCI drops 2 Adani firms, Twitter to get new CEO and more LIVE: PM Modi raises issue of attacks on temple in Australia with Albanese Sourav Ganguly will be brand ambassador of Tripura Tourism: Manik Saha CJI condemns 'forum shopping'; here's all you need to know about it States need to have formal policies for promotion of film tourism: Reddy India has 172 GW renewable energy capacity, 129 MW under implementation

The Union Cabinet last week approved the modified PLI Scheme for IT Hardware with more than doubling budgetary outlay to Rs 17,000 crore compared to the previous provision of Rs 7,325 crore. Read more... The governments move to revise the IT hardware production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme with more flexible options for manufacturers is likely to increase collaborations and investments in the production of laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers, and edge computing devices, say experts.

Special provisions for safeguarding children likely in Digital India Bill

The draft Digital India Bill, which seeks to replace the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, to address the challenges posed by the Internet and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), will have special provisions for safeguarding children, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT, said on Tuesday. The draft of the Bill will be released by the first week of June for public consultation. Read more...
Artworks associated with tribal art and craft from different regions of India were the gifts chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the leaders of various countries he has met during his three-nation tour.

Official sources said Dokra art was given to the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Cook Islands and Tonga, noting that one of the earliest expressions of this ancient art is the dancing girl artefact found from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappan excavations.

The common themes of Dokra art revolve around figurines of Hindu gods, goddesses and different animals.

Modi chose Gond paintings, one of the most admired tribal art form, for his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau. These paintings, created by dots and lines, have been a part of pictorial art on walls and floors of Gonds and it is done with the construction and re-construction of each and every house, with locally available natural colours and materials like charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung and lime stone powder, they noted.

A Pithora was gifted to the Niue, a Pacific island country, leader. It is a ritualistic tribal folk art by the Rathwa artisans from Chhota Udaipur in Gujarat and is considered a living testament of an ever-changing ethos exemplifying highly enriched folk and tribal art culture of Gujarat, officials said.

They noted that the prime minister has always accorded special focus to promotion of tribal art and culture.

Also Read PM Narendra Modi arrives in Ahmedabad to bid adieu to his mother Thank everyone for their prayers in these tough times: PM Modi's family Govt alone cannot be successful, people's participation needed: PM Modi When will nation have 'China pe Charcha'?: Mallikarjun Kharge asks PM Modi PM Narendra Modi flags off Rajasthan's first Vande Bharat train Zimbabwe ranked world's most miserable country; here's where India stands Kharge to Khan: Siddaramaiah's 8 new ministers are political veterans Excise Policy case: Delhi HC allows Manish Sisodia to withdraw bail plea Western disturbance brings respite from heat, rain likely in Delhi Prez Murmu pays obeisance at Ranchi temple, garlands Birsa Munda statue

The prime minister on Wednesday concluded his three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday said the judiciary is committed to take justice to every home through the use of technology.

Stressing the need for live streaming of judicial proceedings, he said that justice could be taken to villages of the country by translating orders into local languages.

Through technology, we are trying to take justice to every home. Under E courts phase three, Rs 7,000 crore has been provided by the government of India. Through technology, judicial work can be linked with common life, the CJI said



Addressing a gathering during the inauguration of the new building of the Jharkhand High Court, Justice Chandrachud said the judiciary can take justice to 6.4 lakh villages when court work is done in languages mentioned in the Constitution.

He said 6,000 court orders were translated into Hindi.

The CJI said, My journey in the Supreme Court has helped define the image of justice and injustice. For petty crimes, people are lodged in jail due to illiteracy.

Presumption of innocence is the base of the judicial system, Justice Chandrachud said.

Also Read Centre notifies appointment of Chief Justices for four high courts Two HC judges elevated to SC, total strength of apex court reaches 34 SC gets 2 new judges: CJI administers oath of office to Mishra, Viswanathan After Sisodia resignation, AAP to launch door-to-door campaign from March 5 AAP launches door-to-door campaigns against arrests of Sisodia, Jain President Droupadi Murmu inaugurates new Jharkhand High Court building India, Australia aim to conclude comprehensive trade deal by end of 2023 Vehicular movement to be affected on Inner Ring Road due to DJB work Commerce ministry addressing issues of exports through ecommerce: Official G20 tourism track meet in Srinagar successful: Korean ambassador to India

He said the delay in granting bail to the poor undertrial shakes the faith of people.

Stressing the need for proper infrastructure in courts, he said there are numerous courts which do not have toilets for women.

He said even now, tribals do not have proper land-related documents which should be taken into account.


Mansukh Mandaviya delivered a keynote address at a side event session during the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva. The session focused on "Heal in India & Heal by India" and aimed to promote the vision of "One Earth, One Health" to serve the global community. During a keynote address, the Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya proposed a comprehensive medical platform called, Global Medical Countermeasures Platform in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising need for a universal system to tackle health challenges across the world.



Discussing India's healthcare ecosystem, Mandaviya highlighted the pace of Covid-19 vaccination in India, with over 2.20 billion doses administered and millions of vaccines shared through the 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative. Other measures under the Ayushman Bharat Initiative, including the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), has also worked towards providing a comprehensive primary healthcare service and bridging gaps through technology. Mandaviya spoke about India's initiatives in value-based healthcare, health workforce mobility, and patient mobility, aligning with the philosophy of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (translated: The World is One Family) according to a PIB release on Wednesday.



Recognising the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Mandaviya stressed the need for coordinated global responses and India's support in capacity building and leveraging digital technology. The platform proposed will focus on distribution, manufacturing, and research and development through regional networks. While reiterating India's G20 Presidency philosophy of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' and its focus on health emergencies, prevention, preparedness, response, and strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector and among digital health innovations, Mandaviya proposed the Global Medical Countermeasures Platform to ensure equal access to safe, high-quality, and cost-effective medical countermeasures for all countries.

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He added, The aim of Global Initiative on Digital Health is to act as an institutional framework and provide an agile & fit for purpose digital solutions with the use of cutting-edge technologies. He said, The unprecedented circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic have further served to strengthen the agenda for a more connected world that is prepared to tackle future health challenges.



The Union minister brought these to the attention of the World Health Assembly which included the attendance of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation among other world leaders. Under the G-20 Presidency, India has prioritised health emergency preparedness, access to medical countermeasures and digital health to achieve universal health coverage. Being equally committed to taking proactive prevention of disease and also working to eliminate diseases such as Tuberculosis. To do this, India has developed its own unique mathematical model that is more cognizant of factors unique to the country and is guided by local evidence, therefore creating a more realistic framework for disease control, treatment, and prevention.

Mandaviya concluded his address by emphasising India's commitment to 'Healthcare for All' and inclusive growth, guided by the philosophy of 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas & Sabka Prayas'.




The vehicular movement will be affected on Inner Ring Road in the carriageway from Punjabi Bagh towards Prembari for the next six days due to ongoing Delhi Jal Board work, the Delhi Traffic Police said on Wednesday.

Taking to Twitter, the traffic police alerted commuters about the possible congestion on Inner Ring Road, suggesting them to avoid the stretch till the repair work gets completed.

"Traffic will remain affected on Inner Ring Road in the carriageway from Punjabi Bagh towards Prembari due to ongoing Delhi Jal Board work near Britannia Chowk for next 5/6 days. Only two Lanes are left for traffic movement. Kindly avoid the stretch," the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted.

In another tweet, the police also informed that traffic was affected on Aurobindo Marg in the carriageway from Adhchini towards IIT due to a fallen tree.

"Only one lane is functional. Kindly avoid the stretch," it said.

Meanwhile, traffic was also affected on Ring Road in the carriageway from AIIMS towards Lajpat Nagar due to the breakdown of a loaded heavy transport vehicle (HTV) at the Moolchand underpass.

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In a stunning case, cyber frauds have allegedly siphoned off Rs 7.79 crore from the Kangra Co-operative Bank's current account maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according to a police complaint filed by the bank.

The fraud took place in three separate transactions on as many consecutive days, the first being on April 19, 2023.

Since the bank is financially supervised by the RBI and the current account which has been subjected to fraud is also with the regulator itself, the cyber theft has left top officials clueless.

They have not been unable to ascertain the person who has withdrawn the amount through fraudulent transactions, even though Kangra Bank officials said they have been able to identify accounts in which the money has been transferred.

Sahdev Sangwan, Kangra Bank Senior Manager (IT), complained to the Delhi Police based on which an FIR was lodged in the first week of May and a probe is underway.

Sangwan said in his complaint that Kangra Bank holds a current account with the RBI for banking transactions such as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Automated Clearing House (NACH), National Electronic Fund Transfer, Check Truncated System among others for its customers.

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According to the process adopted by the Kangra Bank and the RBI, the bank has issued a standing instruction to the regulator to transfer Rs 4 crore from the current account to a settlement account everyday so that it can offer RTGS and NACH transactions to its customers.

At the end of the day or the early next day, the RBI sends an email to the bank with a statement of all the transactions that take place in the settlement account for the whole day and the Kangra Bank officials tally it. The remaining amount is sent back to the current account from the settlement account.

"On April 20, 2023 when the RBI sent the statement for all the transactions done on April 19 in the settlement account, the Kangra bank officials found something unusual. They realised that over Rs 3.14 crore too few was transferred from the settlement account to current account," a source close to the investigation of the case said.

According to the complaint, the bank officials informed all the concerned authorities but no one could figure out the reason for the mismatch of such a huge amount.

To their surprise, similar thing happened over the next two days as well when the current account received over Rs 2.40 crore and over Rs 2.23 crore too few respectively from the settlement account. The cumulative suspected fraud amount over the three days totalled to about Rs 7.79 crore.

Sangwan has said in the complaint that the Kangra Bank informed concerned departments of the RBI and other authorities engaged into financial security system, and also identified accounts with other banks in which these Rs 7.79 crore has been transferred.

However, the person(s) who withdrew the amount through fraudulent transactions have not been identified.

The Delhi Police suspects cyber hacking or tempering as the accused persons seem to be unknown to the bank.

Started as a small thrift/credit society in March, 1960 by a handful of friends who belonged to Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in order to offer financial help to the people of Himachal residing in Delhi, Kangra Co-operative Bank Ltd was born in 1972 when RBI permitted it to carry on banking activities.

With 12 branches at various locations in Delhi, it is one of the largest urban co-operative banks which administratively come under the Delhi Government through the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
We have received the final report from the testing agency. The defaulting firms will face the action similar to Hero Electric and Okinawa Autotech, senior offic

The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has found Greaves Electric Mobility (formerly Ampere Vehicles), Benling India Energy and Technology, Revolt Intellicorp, and AMO Mobility allegedly violating the localisation norms, government officials told Business Standard. ARAI, a statutory body under the Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI), is handling the probe into the allegations of EV makers flouting the local equipment usage norms.


The price of ten grams of 22-carat gold fell Rs 290 to Rs 56,000. Gold price fell Rs 310 in Wednesday's early trade with 10 grams of the yellow metal (24-carat) trading at Rs 61,100, according to the GoodReturns website. The price of silver, on the other hand, declined Rs 500 to Rs 74,500 per kilogram.



The price of ten grams of 24-carat gold in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai is Rs 61,250, Rs 61,150, and Rs 61,580, respectively. The price of ten grams of 24-carat gold in Mumbai is at par with the price of gold in Kolkata and Hyderabad, at Rs 61,100.



The price of ten grams of 22-carat gold in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai is Rs 56,150, Rs 56,050, and Rs 56,450, respectively.

The price of ten grams of 22-carat gold in Mumbai is at par with the price of gold in Kolkata and Hyderabad, at Rs 56,000.

Also Read Gold declines Rs 490 to Rs 61,420 per 10 gram; silver dips by Rs 500 Gold prices decline in early trade, at Rs 55,040; silver rates unchanged Gold prices rise by Rs 330, selling at Rs 56,290; silver unchanged Gold price up by Rs 210; silver rises by Rs 2,200, trading at Rs 63,600 Gold trading at Rs 55,590 as rates rise in early trade, silver unchanged Gold, silver price remain unchanged; yellow metal trading at Rs 61,410 Petrol, diesel prices remain largely unchanged, check prices in your city Gold price falls Rs 330 to Rs 60,870, silver dips Rs 200 to Rs 74,300 Indian gold dealers trim discounts as price dip reignites some buying Gold price falls Rs 10 to Rs 61,190; silver unchanged at Rs 74,500

Spot gold held steady at $1,975.99 per ounce by 0020 GMT. US gold futures edged 0.1 per cent higher to $1,977.10.

Spot silver rose 0.3 per cent to $23.48 per ounce, platinum added 0.4 per cent to $1,052.45, and palladium advanced 0.7 per cent to $1,455.33.



(WIth inputs from Reuters)

US gold prices were steady on Wednesday as another round of talks to raise the US government's debt ceiling ended with no progress, while investors assessed the possibility of further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.


In an email communication to the designated depository participants (DDPs) who manage these FPIs, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked them to identify the parent institution as the legal entity and not the sub-funds. The markets regulator has asked foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to provide information on certain client identification, know your customer (KYC) and beneficial ownership (BO) requirements.



Sebi has mandated that only a legal entity should become (the) client of a DDP. Thus, a bank and not its branch which may be registered as an FPI with Sebi, or an entity and not its sub-funds investing in India as FPIs, should be the client of the DDPs. However, such legal entities should be able to obtain multiple FPI registrations in the name of their funds / sub-funds, observed Nishith Desai Associates in a note. According to the legal players, DDPs have been asked to complete the KYC at the legal entity level and update BO data by September 30. On failure to comply, the FPIs will not be permitted to make fresh investments and surrender the registration by March 31, 2024.



The recent report by the expert panel constituted by the Supreme Court in the Adani-Hinengroup matter too had highlighted the roadblocks being faced by Sebi in identifying the ultimate chain of ownership in certain FPIs and their contributors. The major challenge has emerged due to the amendment in the definition of opaque structures for FPIs under the Prohibition of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the panel had observed. Though no official circular has been issued by the market watchdog, the efforts are being seen in the light of identifying the actual entity operating these FPIs.
Also Read Stock of this smallcap company has zoomed over 50% in four trading days WPIL soars 10% on securing Rs 1,225 cr order from Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Bank stocks can slide more; stay away for now: Analysts No SVB-like scenario in India; banks are on a strong footing, say analysts YES Bank share price flat as SBI's three-year lock-in period ends this week Strong order book, indigenisation to keep defence stocks steamy: Analysts Deepak Nitrite soars 6% as subsidiary plans Rs 5,000-cr capex in Gujarat Gland Pharma, Siemens: Strategies for 5 stocks defying current market mood Dreamfolks hits record high; rallies 16% in two days on healthy Q4 results Ceat hits new summit; zooms over 46% so far this May on strong Q4 results

Shares of WPIL hit a new high of Rs 3,076, up 5 per cent on the BSE in Wednesdays intra-day trade, extending its past two months' rally which ensued after the company reported a stellar set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2023 (Q4FY23).The stock of the industrial products company surpassed its previous high of Rs 3,000, touched on May 15, 2023. In the past four months, the stock has skyrocketed 171 per cent from a level of Rs 1,178 on January 24. Thus far in the month of May, it has rallied 15 per cent. In the month of February, it had zoomed 66 per cent, followed by a 27-per cent rally in March and 11 per cent in April.WPIL is engaged in manufacturing and sale of different types of pumps, spares & accessories and execution of water supply projects on a turnkey basis for industrial units, power utilities, irrigation departments, etc. WPIL has two operational manufacturing units in Kolkata, one unit in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and two units in Maharashtra.For the January-March quarter (Q4FY23), WPIL reported a strong 30.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 79.4 crore. Revenue from operations grew 35.8 per cent YoY at Rs 574 crore. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) margin, however, was flat at 20.75 per cent.The strong revenue growth was driven by international business and turnkey project business. The standalone business revenues nearly doubled to Rs 1,002 crore from Rs 530 crore. Stabilizing commodity prices supported strong margin performance across businesses, the company said."International business was driven by strong performances in infrastructure development in the MENA region. The continued focus on the Jal Jeevan Mission and AMRUT 2 augurs well for the medium term with new contract wins. The outlook on nuclear business in Europe is extremely encouraging for Rutschi business," the company said in its earnings presentation.As on March 31, 2023, the company said its domestic order book position stood at Rs 3,955 crore and international order book stood at Rs 661 crore.According to CARE Ratings, the domestic and global pumps industry is expected to grow at a steady rate driven by rising government expenditure toward water infrastructure.The growing utilization of different types of pumps across different sectors such as chemical, oil & gas, nuclear, water & wastewater treatment plants, and general industries including power generation, food & beverages, mining, pulp & paper, etc., is expected to drive the market growth, the rating agency said.In March 2023, CARE Ratings had revised the long-term rating and reaffirmation of the short-term rating assigned to the bank facilities/instruments of WPIL. The revision in ratings factors in the improvement in its consolidated total operating income (TOI) and operating profitability margins which is expected to sustain in the medium term considering the healthy revenue visibility from its current order book.The stable outlook reflects that the company is likely to maintain its healthy operating performance given the current order book position which provides revenue visibility over the medium term. The financial risk profile is also expected to be maintained with no major debt led capex plans and healthy debt coverage indicators, CARE Ratings had said in rationale.
Looks like the stocks of Adani group companies are back on the track. After hitting a rough patch, they now seem to be on the onward journey. Well, Delhi metro just completed 20 years of its journey. For millions of people of the national capital and its satellite towns, it has become a lifeline of sorts. But, of late, it has been in the news for a different reason: indecency in public places. Cops in civil clothes will now travel with you to ensure that it doesnt happen. So how will it change your travelling experience?

The Supreme Court has granted Sebi time till August 14th to complete its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group. So how is the Sebi probe likely to proceed and what will be the challenges along the way?


In a joint statement, they said the inauguration of the Parliament building is a momentous occasion but "despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the 'autocratic manner' in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion". Nineteen Opposition parties, including the Indian National Congress (INC) and Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Wednesday, announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming it as an "undignified act" that insults the high office of the President.



"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building," they said. "However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," the opposition parties said in a joint statement.



PM Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla. The INC, TMC, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Janata Dal (United), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M], Communist Party of India (CPI), Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), National Conference (NC), Kerala Congress (M), Revolutionary Socialist Party, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Lok Dal are the signatories of the joint statement.

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"In short, Parliament cannot function without the president. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the parties said. The Opposition parties noted that the President is not only the Head of State in India, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses Parliament.



"We will continue to fight  in letter, in spirit, and in substance  against this 'authoritarian' prime minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the opposition parties said. They added that the new Parliament building has been built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or the MPs, for whom it is being built.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced that it will boycott the inauguration of new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 as not inviting President Droupadi Murmu is an insult to her.

In a tweet, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said: "Not inviting her Excellency President Droupadi Murmu for inauguration of Parliament House is a gross insult to her. This is also an insult to Dalit, tribal and derived class of the society. AAP will boycott the inauguration orogramme in protest of (Prime Minister) Modi not inviting the President".

Earlier in the day, the Trinamool Congress announced a boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

In a tweet, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien said: "Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules - it is the foundation of Indian democracy. PM Modi doesn't get that. For him, Sunday's inauguration of the new building is all about I, me, myself. So count us out".

The Trinamool has already raised objections about the choice of date of the inauguration of the new Parliament building. According to the leadership, the occasion of inauguration of the new building should be on the occasion of the Independence Day on August 15, instead of May 28 which is the occasion of the birth anniversary of RSS patriarch V.D. Savarkar.

According to the Trinamool leadership, the Union government has also kept the opposition in the dark over the fate of the old Parliament building.

Also Read Not constitutionally correct: Cong ahead of Parliament inauguration by PM LIVE: MC, AAP boycott inauguration of new Parliament building on May 28 Rahul Gandhi has insulted entire OBC community, says Smriti Irani BRS, AAP announce boycott of President Murmu's address to Parliament This is how India's new Parliament building will look like: Pics inside Delhi ordinance row: Arvind Kejriwal to meet Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday AAP to launch campaigns in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP with 'maha' rallies Karnataka gameplan: Congress' 5 guarantees to cost Rs 45,000 crore a year Karnataka does not survive on the Centre's largesse: MV Rajeev Gowda Mamata assures Kejriwal of full support over Centre's services bill

Even Congress is likely to boycott the inauguration of the new building.

Party sources said that a decision is likely to be taken on Wednesday or Thursday.

On Tuesday, Congress General secretary communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh also responded to Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and said, "SUV - Self-Usurped Vishwaguru - has already annexe-d the Parliament for self-aggrandisement. But surely, there is a fundamental difference between inaugurating an Annexe where officials work and a library which is hardly used on the one hand, and inaugurating not just the Temple of Democracy but its sanctorum itself."

He was responding to Puri's remarks that in August 1975, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe, and later in 1987 Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library.

A row has erupted on the inauguration of new Parliament building after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi demanded that President Murmu should inaugurate the new Parliament House instead of PM Modi.

A war of words has erupted between Congress and the BJP over the inauguration of New Parliament House by PM Modi on May 28.

--IANS

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Amid the opposition's objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced a boycott of the ceremony slated to take place on May 28.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Dr John Brittas confirmed the news to ANI.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury accused PM Modi of "bypassing" the President.

"Modi bypassed the President when the foundation stone for the new Parliament building was laid. Now too at the inauguration. Unacceptable. Constitution Art 79: "There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses..." CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted.

"Only when the President of India summons the Parliament can it meet. The President begins, annually, Parliamentary functioning by addressing the joint session. The first business Parliament transacts each year is the "Motion of Thanks" to the President's Address," he tweeted.

Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress announced to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building by PM Modi.

Also Read Retail inflation eases marginally to 6.44% in February from 6.52% in Jan After TMC, AAP to boycott Parliament inauguration over President's insult January retail inflation rises to 6.52%, highest since October 2022 This is how India's new Parliament building will look like: Pics inside Not constitutionally correct: Cong ahead of Parliament inauguration by PM After TMC, AAP to boycott Parliament inauguration over President's insult Delhi ordinance row: Arvind Kejriwal to meet Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday AAP to launch campaigns in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP with 'maha' rallies Karnataka gameplan: Congress' 5 guarantees to cost Rs 45,000 crore a year Karnataka does not survive on the Centre's largesse: MV Rajeev Gowda

"Aam Aadmi Party will boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building on 28th May. AAP has taken this decision in view of the questions being raised regarding the matter of not inviting the President to the inauguration ceremony," Aam Aadmi Party said.

TMC MP Derek O'Brien took to Twitter to announce the party's decision.

"Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules - it is the foundation of Indian democracy. PM Modi doesn't get that For him, Sunday's inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Congress sources said, "Congress is likely to boycott the inauguration program of the new Parliament building to be held on 28th May."

Invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament building slated on May 28 have been sent to various leaders across the country including the former Speakers and Chairmen of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, sources said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28.

Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses.

According to sources, all Chief Ministers of all the states and Union Territories have been sent the invitation.

Apart from this, invitations have also been sent to Secretaries of all ministries of the Government of India.

The chief architect of the new Parliament building, Bimal Patel and reputed industrialist Ratan Tata have also been invited to the inauguration of the new building.

President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said.

This is the same chamber which will be used for the joint Parliamentary address during the budget session and other such occasions.

The present building of the Parliament was completed in 1927, which is now going to be almost 100 years old. The lack of space was being experienced in this building as per the present requirements. In both Houses, there was also a lack of convenient arrangements for the sitting of the MPs which was affecting the efficiency of the work of the Members.

Considering the above, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed resolutions urging the government to construct a new building for the Parliament. Consequently, on 10 December 2020, the foundation stone of the new building of Parliament was laid by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The newly constructed Parliament building has been built in record time with quality construction.

Now the newly constructed building of Parliament, which will work to further enrich India's glorious democratic traditions and constitutional values, is also equipped with state-of-the-art facilities which will help the Members to perform their functions in a better way.

The new Parliament building will enable 888 members to sit in the Lok Sabha.

In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha while 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha while 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha Chamber.
Slamming the Centre over the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday made controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference, here on Monday, the Lok Sabha MP said, "Again, all of a sudden, he (PM Modi) announced the scrapping of Rs 2,000 notes. He is not Modi, he is 'Pagla Modi'. People are calling him 'Pagla Modi'. The country's economy is already dwindling and he has further taken this step to worsen the situation. Now, Rs 2000 notes will not run in the market."

"The people are completely frustrated with this government. Now, people are raising their voice, they are saying that everyone (political parties) will have to come together under Congress' leadership to fight against them (BJP)," he added.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes from circulation, but added they will continue to remain as legal tender. RBI had also advised banks to stop issuing Rs 2000 denomination banknotes with immediate effect.

RBI, however, 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.

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As part of his efforts to drum up opposition support for his government's fight against the Centre over an ordinance on the control of administrative services in the national capital, AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday.

Earlier, the meeting between both leaders was scheduled to be held at 4 pm now they will meet at 12:30 pm today.

Meanwhile, the Delhi CM has left for his Maharashtra visit.

During his visit to Mumbai, the Chief Minister will be accompanied by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, AAP MPs Sanjay Singh, and Raghav Chaddha and AAP Minister Atishi.

Notably, Kejriwal met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday.

The Delhi Chief Minister on Tuesday embarked on a nationwide tour to seek support from the Opposition parties against the ordinance brought by the Central Government on the transfers and postings of bureaucrats in the national capital.

Also Read Elections can happen any time, we are prepared, says Uddhav Thackeray BJP running a gang, says Sanjay Raut on CBI summoning Arvind Kejriwal Operation Sheesh Mahal: Why do BJP and Congress want Delhi CM to resign? HC issues summons to Uddhav, Aditya Thackeray, Raut on defamation plea Will fight for democracy: Thackeray after meeting with Congress' Venugopal AAP to launch campaigns in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP with 'maha' rallies Karnataka gameplan: Congress' 5 guarantees to cost Rs 45,000 crore a year Karnataka does not survive on the Centre's largesse: MV Rajeev Gowda Mamata assures Kejriwal of full support over Centre's services bill Rs 2,000 notes withdrawn to divert attention from BJP's defeat: SP's Yadav

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor accused the Centre of "taking away the rights" of the people of Delhi and said that the ordinance "should not" be allowed to pass in Rajya Sabha.

On 25 May, Kejriwal will meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, Sharad Pawar, the party said.

This comes after the Union Government on May 19 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.

Shortly after meeting with Kejriwal, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that the Opposition parties should oppose the ordinance.

"Only Supreme Court can save the country. Even Media has been purchased. They want to control the judiciary and all the agencies. I would appeal to all the Opposition parties to oppose the ordinance. My party has decided to oppose the ordinance. This will be the justice of the Supreme Court," she said.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is also putting in efforts to rally the opposition against the Centre ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday evening, where they are expected to meet the Congress high command and discuss cabinet expansion, and allocation of portfolios to existing Ministers.

As per the Chief Minister's official schedule, Siddaramaiah will be leaving for Delhi by a special flight at 6:30 pm, and will halt in the national capital tonight.

According to Shivakumar's office, the Deputy CM will accompany Siddaramaiah.

Details of the Delhi visit has not been shared with media, but party sources said they are expected to meet Congress leadership to discuss allocation of portfolios to Ministers and cabinet expansion.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively along with eight legislators as Ministers on May 20. Portfolios have not been allocated to the Ministers since then.

According to Congress sources, the party high command approved the first list of eight ministers, against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of legislators into the cabinet, as there were allegedly differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over some names, during the discussions held in New Delhi last week, ahead of swearing-in.

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Allocation of portfolios to the new Ministers and expanding the cabinet with the right combinations that will strike a balance in having representatives from all communities, regions, factions, and also from among the old and new generation of legislators, is the daunting task ahead of Siddaramaiah.

With the sanctioned strength of the Karnataka Cabinet being 34, there are too many aspirants for ministerial berths.
Nineteen Opposition parties, including the Congress, Left and TMC, on Wednesday collectively announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming it as an "undignified act" that insults the high office of the president. However, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), YSR Congress (YSRCP), and Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) will attend the ceremony, becoming the only non-NDA parties to attend. Telangana chief minister Chandrashekar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Sukhbir Singh Badal's Shiromani Akali Dal are yet to decide on the issue. Both parties are opposed to the BJP but neither wants to cast its lot with the opposi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday, but the most of the Opposition will be absent, giving the event a political twist, with the Opposition charging the government with violating propriety.
Joining a series of opposition parties, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Wednesday announced to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

The other opposition parties are the AAP, Trinamool Congress, JD(U) and the CPI-M.

The reason to boycott the even was because the Prime Minister was inaugurating the building and not President Droupadi Murmu, which according to the parties, was an insult to her.

In a video statement, RJD MP Manoj Jha said: "In the last few days when we came to know that the Prime Minister was inaugurating the new Parliament House, we had suggested that as per the Constitutional system, the President should do the inauguration. This would have been as per the tradition of the Parliament system. But the Prime Minister does not listen to anyone.

"Thus all the opposition parties have decided to give a message to the government that even if history is written after 20-25 years, people will still know that opposition parties had boycotted the inauguration keeping in mind that the Constitition is supreme and there should not be anything that demands the post of the President. And we still request the Prime Minister that there is a requirement of course correction."

Speaking to IANS over the phone, JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi said: "The party is propagating the cause of the opposition unity. And majority of the opposition parties wants to boycott the inauguration because the government did not take anyone into confidence. And secondly the inauguration should have been done by the President."

Also Read Bypassing Prez: CPI(M) to boycott inauguration of new Parliament building Not constitutionally correct: Cong ahead of Parliament inauguration by PM This is how India's new Parliament building will look like: Pics inside Parliament inauguration: Cong lacks national spirit and pride, says Puri RJD MLA Sudhakar Singh courts controversy statement against Nitish Kumar Nishad Party, BJP's UP ally, to contest 2024 LS polls on its own symbol Seat-sharing should be on basis of merit: Maharashtra Congress chief K'taka CM, Dy CM to visit Delhi to discuss cabinet expansion with Congress Centre should explain why Rs 2,000 note was introduced: Digvijaya Singh No more drugs, rowdyism will be tolerated in Karnataka, says DK Shivakumar

Tyagi further said that the new and old buildings were immaterial as the government doesn't allow the opposition to discuss and the voice of dissents are not allowed.

"The traditions are being curbed, so to support the opposition's cause we have decided to boycott the inauguration," he told IANS.

When asked if there has been any communication from Congress if it will also boycott the inauguration, the JD(U) leader said: "Hopefully, they (Congress will also boycott."

A row has erupted after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded that President Murmu should inaugurate the new Parliament House instead of Modi, leading to a war of words between the BJP and Congress.

The new Parliament House is a triangular four-storey building, with a built-up area of 64,500 square metres.

The building's construction started on January 15, 2021 and was to be completed by August 2022.

It will house 1,224 MPs and also has a library, multiple committee rooms and dining rooms.

Tata Projects has constructed the building at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crore.

--IANS

aks/ksk/
With the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls due next year, state Congress president Nana Patole has said stress will be laid on the allotment of seats according to the merit of candidates.

The Congress is determined to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the allocation of seats will be decided keeping the same objective in mind, Patole told reporters on Tuesday.

His party is a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which also comprises the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena (UBT).

A detailed discussion was held in an extended executive meeting of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee in view of the forthcoming elections to the Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha. While fighting together as Maha Vikas Aghadi, emphasis will be laid on the allotment of seats according to merit. Each seat will be studied thoroughly before discussing seat-sharing, Patole said.

He said the MVA is determined to bring down the "arbitrary and tyrannical" government of the BJP.

"The situation in 2014, 2019 and now is different. The Congress will review each seat in the first week of June and take a decision," Patole said.

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"Maharashtra is a state of Congress ideology. The Congress has increased its base in Vidarbha too. In the last three years, we have had big wins in all the elections, defeating the BJP. Seats will be allocated considering all these things, he said.

Notably, NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said the Lok Sabha constituencies won by the BJP in Maharashtra would be discussed first in the seat-sharing talks of theMVA partners.

The MVA will "hundred percent" contest the next year's Lok Sabha elections together, he told reporters here.

The BJP won 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in 2019, followed by its then alliance partner Shiv Sena which had bagged 18.

There is no formula for seat-sharing. Uddhav Thackeray had expressed the desire to keep the seats his party had won. But there was no further discussion on it. Leaders of the three parties (for conducting the talks) will be nominated, Pawar said.
In an apparant dig at former CM Basavaraj Bommai's statements supporting saffronisation of police force and moral policing, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday asserted that his government will not allow anyone to take law into their hands.

While interacting with reporters at Vidhana Soudha here, Shivakumar said, "The former Chief Minister had stated why not saffronisation? Why not moral policing? But we will not allow anyone to take law into their hands."

"Be it a Congressman or any other political party worker, no one should take law into their hands. The law should be protected by police. What I mentioned yesterday (in the meeting of police officers) was, at three or four places, the entire staff of the police department had worn clothes representing political agenda instead of uniform and posed for photographs. This is not what the Constitution says and this is not according to the law. Police department has a big image in Karnataka," Shivakumar explained.

He, however, refused to comment on a statement by former Home Minister Araga Janendra that he has started dominating over the police officers. "People have given Araga Janendra and his government a befitting answer in the elections. I don't have time to reply to his statements," he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister recalled that cabinet minister Priyaka Kharge, who holds a big position in the party, was summoned when he raised the issue of corruption. "How many people are summoned? Why not others? Was he targetted because he is a Dalit? Congress MLA? The police have to work as per law, country comes first," Shivakumar stated.

Shivakumar, on Tuesday, rapped Karnataka police officials and questioned them that they are trying to saffronize the state police department. "Are you all set to saffronise the police department? We will not allow it under our government," he asserted.

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"We know how police officers came to the police station wearing saffron shawls in Mangaluru, Bijapur (Vijayapura), Bagalkot and insulted the department," he said. "You should have come to this meeting wearing a saffron shawl," Shivakumar taunted the police officers.

If it was to be patriotism, then they should have come to work wearing the nation flag. "We will not allow saffronisation of the police department," Shivakumar reiterated.

Imagine the level the police department had stooped to if an ADGP ranked officer indulged in fabricating OMR sheets in the PSI recruitment scandal? Shivakumar questioned.

His statements drew sharp reactions from Bommai and Jnanendra.

--IANS

mka/shb/
The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will not join the Opposition parties in boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

Sources in YSRCP confirmed that the party MPs will attend the inaugural event.

YSRCP parliamentary party leader V. Vijayasai Reddy and party MPs will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

Vijayasai Reddy has already welcomed the inauguration. "The new building is a depiction of an India that is modern, self-reliant and proud. We finally have a building that is made to serve as the Parliament of a democratic country," he tweeted.

YSRCP's decision to attend the inauguration is not surprising given the cordial relations the party enjoyed with the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Ever since YSRCP came to power in the state four years ago, it maintained friendly relations with the Modi government. It extended crucial support in passing key bills in Parliament.

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It also supported crucial bills like criminalisation of triple talaq and abrogation of Article 370 which conferred special status on Jammu and Kashmir. Jagan's party also sailed with the NDA government on three controversial farm laws.

The YSRCP extended support to the NDA candidates in the elections for President and Vice-President, both in 2017 and 2022.

YSRCP has never been part of any effort by the Opposition parties to take on the Modi government on key issues.

Political analysts see this as the compulsion of Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party to check main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which is keen to revive its alliance with the BJP.

At a time when Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader Pawan Kalyan, an ally of BJP, is working to cobble together a grand alliance of TDP, BJP and JSP against Jagan government ahead of the next year's elections, the YSRCP would not like to mar its ties with the Modi government by joining ranks with the other opposition parties.

The YSRCP also needs support from the Modi government to bail out the state from financial crunch and also resolve post-bifurcation issues.

Interestingly, only a day ago the Centre released Rs 10,460.87 crore to Andhra Pradesh as compensation towards revenue deficit. This is the biggest grant to the state since bifurcation.

Vijayasai Reddy said on Wednesday that CM Jagan's persistent effort paid off in the form of the Central government releasing Rs 10,460.87 crore as compensation for revenue deficit of 2014-15.

He said that YSRCP will ensure that gradually all promises related to the AP Reorganisation Act are fulfilled.

--IANS

ms/shb/
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By David Stanway

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Climate-related disruptions to the crucial Hindu Kush-Himalayan water system are posing risks to economic development and energy security in 16 Asian countries, and concerted action is needed to protect regional water flows, researchers said on Wednesday.

The basins of the 10 major rivers that flow from the Hindu Kush-Himalayan water towers are home to 1.9 trillion people and generate $4.3 trillion in annual GDP, and climate change impacts like glacial melt and extreme weather are already posing "grave threats", the China Water Risk think tank said.

The researchers warned that all rivers would face "escalating and compounding water risks ... if we are unable to rein in emissions," and that the further construction of water-intensive energy infrastructure was aggravating the problems.

The 10 rivers include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra running into India and Bangladesh, China's Yangtze and Yellow rivers as well as transboundary waterways like the Mekong and the Salween.

They support almost three quarters of hydropower and 44% of coal-fired power in the 16 countries, which also include Afghanistan, Nepal and Southeast Asia.

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As much as 865 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity along the 10 rivers is considered vulnerable to climate risk, with most of it reliant on water. More than 300 GW - enough to power Japan - is situated in regions facing "high" or "extremely high" water risks, the researchers added.

China's Yangtze river basin, which supports around a third of the country's population and around 15% of its power capacity, experienced a record-long drought last year, with plummeting hydroelectric output disrupting global supply chains.

Since the drought, governments approved dozens of new coal-fired plants to allay future hydropower disruptions. However, coal-fired power also needs water and the surge in capacity in China and India could further aggravate shortages.

As climate risks mount, countries are under pressure to draw up policies that ensure the "dovetailing" of energy and water security, the researchers noted.

"As power choices can impact water and the lack of water can strand power assets, water security should decide energy security," they said.

(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Stephen Coates)
President Joe Biden receiving a large number of requests to the state dinner he is hosting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows the excitement level, the White House has said.

I think that is a good thing. That shows the excitement of the prime minister being here on June 22, White House Press Secretary Karine jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Tuesday.

She was responding to a question on President Biden receiving a large number of requests from Indian-Americans across his administration, lawmakers and corporate sector leaders seeking an invitation to the much sought after state dinner he and First Lady Jill Biden are hosting for Modi next month.

I think that is a good thing, to get those requests. I think that is important and show why it is critical to continue growing that partnership that we have with India, Jean-Pierre said.

The president and the first lady looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for the official state visit, which is as we announced, is going to happen on June 22nd, she said.

This will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India, and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and clearly Indians together, the press secretary said.

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That is very important to the president. The visit will also strengthen our two countries' shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to evaluate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space, the official added.
The defence ministers of the EU member states have failed to reach an agreement on new military aid to Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said here.

Borrell said after Tuesday's EU defence ministers' meeting that the overwhelming majority of member states had backed a proposal to increase the European Peace Facility budget by 3.5 billion euros ($3.77 billion), although he stressed that not all of it will be used to assist Ukraine.

"I still don't have unanimity on this, and it's still being discussed," he said, adding that he expected the remaining "hurdles" to be surmounted soon. He recalled that more than 10 billion euros in military support have already been provided to Ukraine.

Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 2,20,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March. These alone were worth 800 million euros and the EU was on track to provide one billion euros worth of ammunition, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Our aim is to provide one million projectiles over the next 12 months," he said, adding that the EU had already trained 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers and was on track to train 30,000 by the end of the year.

He said that as part of a three-pronged strategy, member states are being asked to provide ammunition from their own stocks. There is also an effort for the joint procurement of 155 mm calibre ammunition and to boost the capability of European industry to manufacture the necessary ammunition.

Also Read Robust defence finance system backbone of strong military: Rajnath Singh Canada announces additional military aid including 12 missiles to Ukraine Need to promote innovations useful for defence, civil sectors: Rajnath Defence production crosses Rs 1 trn for first time ever: Defence ministry Canada provides new military aid package for Ukraine amid war with Russia PM Modi accorded Ceremonial Guard of Honour at Admiralty House in Sydney Boris Johnson faces new police probe over Covid-19 lockdown visits Netflix to charge extra for viewers living outside US subscribers' homes Public investment in agri-food systems up 22% in 2022: FAO report LIVE: PM Modi raises issue of attacks on temple in Australia with Albanese

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, attended the meeting and briefed ministers on the latest developments in the conflict in Ukraine.

Borrell welcomed the decision to initiate training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He said the training created a positive momentum that will eventually lead to the deployment of these jets in Ukraine.

"I am glad that pilot training has already started, and I hope that soon we will be able to provide this weapon to Ukraine," he added prior to the start of the meeting in Brussels.

--IANS

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These reviews, which could see the British bank deciding to sell or streamline businesses in 12 countries, follow pressure from Chinese shareholder Ping An Insurance, which wants HSBC to prioritise growth in its money-spinning Asian business which generates 78 per cent of group profit.

HSBC is reviewing a possible exit from as many as 1 in 5 of the countries it operates in to sharpen its focus on Asian expansion, Chief Financial Officer Georges Elhedery told Reuters.



HSBCs ongoing pivot to Asia has already triggered planned sales of all or parts of its businesses in France, Greece, Russia, and Canada.

Some of these will have slower progress than others, and none of them is material enough on its own to change the profile of the overall business, but as we progress through and execute on these assessments, we do expect them to contribute towards that shift to Asia, Elhedery said, declining to disclose which markets were under review or the time frame for the processes.



HSBC does not break out the results of every individual country in which it operates in its overall results, making identifying underperforming markets challenging. But its businesses in Europe and Latin America may be under the microscope. reuters While the markets under review may be relatively small, the move is significant in showing the pressure HSBC faces to shrink its once globe-spanning local banking businesses in order to lift returns and appease its investors.
Sajjad Hussain

Pakistans Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said the government is mulling a possible ban on Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after Khans arrest. On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of Khan by paramilitary Rangers. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander house, Mianwali airbase, and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters in Rawalpindi was also attacked.



Talking to the media, Asif said that Khan was still reluctant to condemn the attacks by his supporters on military and civilian installations.



A decision (to ban PTI) has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway, he told reporters.



He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party.



The minister said that the former premier considered the army as his adversary. His (Khans) entire politics was done in the lap of the army and today he has suddenly decided to stand against it, Asif said.



The minister said that Khans own leaders who had quit the party were saying the same thing. Whatever I am saying is being said by all the people leaving PTI, he said. They have said that everything happened with planning. In fact, they were facilitated. He also criticised Khan for not condemning the attacks. Is there any crime that was not committed on May 9? he claimed.


The influential Congressional India Caucus co chairs on Tuesday urged House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint session of the US Congress during his upcoming state visit here.

We respectfully request your consideration in inviting PM Modi for a joint address to Congress, thus highlighting the significance of the US-India strategic partnership and the shared values upon which it is built.

On June 22, President Biden will host Modi for an official state visit and a state dinner, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna from the Democratic Party and Congressman Michael Waltz from the Republican Party wrote to McCarthy.

The two lawmakers laid out the importance of strengthening the bilateral relationship between the United States and India, and the importance of highlighting the partnership by granting a joint address to the Congress.

As state dinners have come to signify the President's utmost respect for visiting heads of state, granting a joint address to the Congress is a commensurate honour for the leader of the world's largest democracy and perhaps the most critical partner to countering China in the 21st century, the lawmakers wrote.

Earlier this month, Khanna and Waltz had hosted a historic US-India Summit on the Hill featuring panels and remarks from government leaders, experts and Indian-American leaders from across the country.

Also Read US house speaker race: Kevin McCarthy's plea and begging for votes Kevin McCarthy overcomes GOP rebellion to be elected House Speaker Meeting to strengthen US-India relations on April 26 at US Capitol House Speaker Kevin McCarthy expresses commitment to deepen India-US ties Republicans divided, McCarthy fails for 3rd day in GOP House speaker fight Biden getting requests for Modi's state dinner invite shows excitement: WH Bulgarian writer wins Int'l Booker Prize for darkly comic memory novel Australia will establish new Consulate General in Bengaluru, says Albanese New Jersey firm fined for discriminatory job ads seeking only Indians Pakistan's total population attains new mark amid economic slump: Report

Observing that the foundation of India-US partnership lies in the shared commitment to democracy and the upholding of a rules-based international system, they wrote with mutual interests in promoting global security, stability, and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity, the United States and India have forged a deep bond.

The recent in-person bilateral meetings between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have reaffirmed our dedication to a resilient international order that safeguards sovereignty, upholds democratic values, and promotes peace and prosperity for all, they said.

Furthermore, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, involving the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, has provided a platform for our countries to engage in meaningful discussions on shared regional and global security interests. The United States recognises and supports India's emergence as a leading global power and a vital partner in safeguarding the Indo-Pacific region as a place of peace, stability, and growing prosperity, Khanna and Waltz said.

If invited by McCarthy, this would be the second address by Modi to the joint session of the Congress, making him one of the few world leaders who had the opportunity to address American lawmakers twice.


Meta in its second round of layoffs plans to fire 10,000 employees across all platforms. Facebook's parent Meta on Wednesday has begun with the second round of layoffs. The year is proving particularly challenging for the IT industry as the layoffs have reached unprecedented levels.



An ETNow report stated that several IT companies announced the laying off process as part of their cost-cutting measure to survive amidst challenging times. It further said that the layoffs which started over a year ago have now impacted thousands of employees across the world. According to recent data from layoff.fyi, a layoff tracker website, 702 companies have laid off 199,047 employees in 2023 so far worldwide.



From big tech companies to startups, the tech industry is witnessing a rough patch. The report said that several companies like Meta, BT, Vodafone, and many others have announced their plans to lay off more employees in the upcoming months. Reports suggest that BT Group, which is a prominent telecom company in the UK has revealed its plan to reduce its workforce by 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade. Vodafone, on the other hand, has plans to reduce its workforce by 11,000 jobs over the course of the next three years. Earlier in January 2023, close to 100,000 employees were fired by companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce, among others.

Also Read Meesho lays off 251 employees, CEO admits 'judgement errors in over-hiring' Meta India partnership head Manish Chopra resigns; fourth exit in a year Microsoft 365 Copilot: Microsoft is bringing AI to its productivity apps Tesla chief Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft for using data 'illegally' Meesho fires 251 more in 3rd round layoffs; cites judgement error in hiring UK to soon disallow international students to bring dependants along Meta begins final round of layoffs, 6,000 employees to be impacted WHO Chief Tedros warns of next pandemic, urge nations to be prepared China defends ban on Micron, accuses Washington of 'economic coercion' Donald Trump's hush-money payment case trial date set for March 2024



Amazon India has also laid off nearly 400-500 employees from its cloud division AWS as well as its HR support department this month. In 2022, a total of 161,000 employees were laid off by 1,046 companies, the report stated. It further said that from 2022 till May 2023, a total of 360,000 tech employees have been handed over pink slips.

The report also suggests that Apple Inc is the only tech giant that has managed to avoid these mass layoffs so far.
The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary P K Mishra and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo held a meeting in Washington on Tuesday and discussed ways to further strengthen economic ties between the countries.

Mishra, who is in Washington, also held interactions with senior officials from the US administration, representatives from the industry, think tanks and academia.

"Dr P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary @PMOIndia had a productive meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce @GinaRaimondo . They discussed the strengthening of economic and technology partnership," according to a tweet by the Embassy of India in Washington.

He also met with USAID Administrator Samantha Power and both sides had productive discussions on ongoing work under the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), development cooperation, and third country partnerships.

The US has emerged as India's biggest trading partner in 2022-23 on account of increasing economic ties between the two countries.

According to the provisional data of the commerce ministry, the bilateral trade between India and the US has increased by 7.65 per cent to USD 128.55 in 2022-23, as against USD 119.5 billion in 2021-22. It was USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.

Also Read US Commerce secy Gina Raimondo to arrive in India today on 4-day visit US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo had 'fruitful meeting' with PM Modi PM Modi meets US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during her visit US Commerce Secretary Raimondo to visit India in March for trade talks India accords high importance to disaster risk reduction: Principal Secy Pressure from West is strengthening ties with China, says Russian PM UK inflation falls to lowest in over a year but food prices remain elevated Magnolia tree bark compound inhibits Covid-19 reproduction: Study New Zealand's bank hikes key interest rate to 5.5%; cut may follow next Asia water, energy supplies at risk as climate woes mount: Research

India has received about USD 5 billion foreign direct investments from the US in the last fiscal.
Pressure from the West is strengthening Russia's ties with China, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing Wednesday.

Mishustin's visit comes as Russia is increasingly turning to China for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over its invasion of Ukraine.

In opening remarks at his meeting Wednesday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mishustin did not mention the 15-month-old war that China, in deference to Moscow, has refused to criticise, focusing instead on economic cooperation between the neighbours that have partnered in challenging the U.S. lead in global affairs.

Relations between the two countries are at an unprecedented high level, influenced by the increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West, Mishustin said.

China says it is a neutral party between Russia and Ukraine and wants to help broker an end to the conflict. But it has blamed the West for provoking Moscow and has maintained strong diplomatic and trade ties with Russia in opposition to sanctions against it.

China's special envoy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other government officials during talks in Kyiv this month. The visit followed a phone call last month between the Ukrainian leader and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Zelenskyy described as long and meaningful and which marked the first known contact between the two since the Russian invasion began.

Also Read Honduras cuts diplomatic ties with Taiwan, paves way for ties with Beijing Australia to ramp up diplomatic ties with India, Japan in Indo-Pacific India stands for peaceful resolution: PM on 'China's military expansion' China warned US officials not to interfere in its ties with India: Pentagon Multiple factors behind rise of severe Covid cases in Beijing: Experts UK inflation falls to lowest in over a year but food prices remain elevated Magnolia tree bark compound inhibits Covid-19 reproduction: Study New Zealand's bank hikes key interest rate to 5.5%; cut may follow next Asia water, energy supplies at risk as climate woes mount: Research World must prepare for even deadlier diseases than covid 19, says WHO chief

Beijing released a peace plan in February but Ukraine's allies largely dismissed it, insisting that Putin must withdraw his forces. Zelenskyy's own 10-point peace plan includes a tribunal to prosecute war crimes committed by Russia.

While sidestepping the conflict, Mishustin emphasised Russia's role as a provider of oil and gas to China and their bonds formed as initial allies among communist nations.

The peoples of Russia and China cherish their history, rich culture and traditions. We support the further development of our culture, exchanges and communication, Mishustin said.
Virgin Orbit, the bankrupt rocket company founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has shut down operations after selling its business to three aerospace companies for about $36 million in a bankruptcy auction.

Rocket Lab bid $16.1 million for the company's headquarters in Long Beach, California. Stratolaunch was awarded its $17 million "stalking horse" bid for Virgin Orbit's 747 jet.

Launcher, a subsidiary of Vast Space, bought the company's facility in Mojave, California for $2.7 million, reports CNBC.

"As Virgin Orbit embarks on this path, the management and employees would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders," the company said in a statement.

In April, Virgin Orbit laid off nearly 85 per cent of its workforce -- about 675 employees -- after it failed to secure key funding.

Rocket Lab said the Virgin Orbit assets will improve its production, manufacturing, and test capabilities, especially in developing its larger Neutron rocket.

Also Read Richard Branson's rocket company Virgin Orbit lays off 85% of workforce Richard Branson's Cosmic Girl fails to put UK into orbit; Virgin sinks 30% Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit announces to fire 85% of its workforce Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy, to seek buyer Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy, lays off 85% workforce Our ties have entered T20 mode: PM on deepening relations with Australia Alibaba to make significant job cuts, around 7% of workers, amid IPO plans Florida Governor to kick off 2024 US Prez polls bid on Twitter with Musk Brazil builds 'rings of CO2' to simulate climate change in the Amazon PM Modi raises with Albanese concerns over attacks on temples in Australia

Virgin Orbit's six rockets in various stages of manufacturing assembly, and its intellectual property, are yet to be sold.

Founded by Sir Branson in 2017, the company began commercial service in 2021, and delivered commercial, civil, national security, and international satellites into orbit.

Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rockets are designed and manufactured in Long Beach, California, and are air-launched from a modified 747-400 carrier aircraft that allows Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc to operate from locations all over the world.

--IANS

na/dpb
"A Ukrainian nationalist formation" that broke into Russia's Belgorod region has been defeated, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

"During a counter-terrorist operation, the nationalist formation was blocked and destroyed due to air strikes, artillery fire and active action by the units of the Western Military District that covers the state border," the Ministry said on Tuesday in a statement.

The "remaining nationalists" were pushed back into Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until wholly eliminated, the statement added. They lost more than 70 people, four armoured fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Ukrainian side has denied involvement in the incursion. Two anti-government paramilitary groups in Russia were behind the operation in the Belgorod region, which aimed to create a "security strip" to protect Ukrainian civilians, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.

The Belgorod region, located next to Ukraine's Kharkiv region, has recently been a centre of hostilities. On Tuesday, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported several drone attacks that caused damage to local private residential buildings.

--IANS

Also Read 100 Ukrainian captives released in prisoner swap with Russia: Authorities 25 years later, Bangladesh finally gets closer to peace in border region Ukrainian President Zelensky meets Canadian FM on defence cooperation UK announces new tranche of sanctions against Russia over Ukraine war 7 million people internally displaced in Ukraine amid war with Russia Elon Musk signals Twitter's headquarters may not stay in San Francisco Pak PTI V-C Shah Mahmood Qureshi rearrested minutes after being released Biden picks new NSA head, key to support Ukraine, defense of US elections Covid kills one person every four minutes as vaccination rates fall France bans domestic flights to curb emissions; trains to ramp up frequency

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Alexander Shiplyuk, head of Siberias Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, is suspected of handing over classified material at a scientific conference in China in 2017, the sources said.

The director of a top Russian science institute, arrested on suspicion of treason along with two other hypersonic missile technology experts, stands accused of betraying secrets to China, sources told Reuters.



He is convinced of the fact that the information was not secret, and of his own innocence, one of the people said. The 56-year-old maintains his innocence and insists the information in question wasnt classified and was freely available online, according to the people.



20,000 troops killed in Bakhmut, says Wagner boss

The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about 20 per cent of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city.

Also Read Scientists in Japan use new device to detect brain tumor via urine test Union MoS launches capacity building programme for senior scientists Russia pushes India for help to avert its global financial isolation UN summit: Scientists warn nations not to repeat past mistakes on nature Scientists working to increase shelf life of millets-based products HSBC places 12 countries on exit watchlist to focus on expansion in Asia Kevin McCarthy, bracing for defections, eyes fraught path to deal Imran Khan's party to be banned? 'Review surely underway': Defence minister Nearly 200,000 tech employees fired globally in 2023; more layoffs expected UK to soon disallow international students to bring dependants along

The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89.
A US aircraft carrier arrived on Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States.

The nuclear-powered ship USS General Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed people on board.

The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometre (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was.

Described as the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the vessel's first foreign call was broadcast live on Norwegian public television.

Onlooker, some using binoculars, were seen on land watching as the large aircraft carrier glided deeper and deeper into the fjord and eventually reach the city of Oslo.

The vessel will stay in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday.

Also Read US-France competition heats up for fighter jets to deck INS Vikrant Indian Navy's INS Vikramaditya carrying out sea trials post-refit Rajnath Singh says work has begun on second indigenous aircraft carrier In setback to Putin, Finland set to officially become NATO member India has become 5th largest economy in 2022: PM Modi in Mann Ki Baat Zimbabwe ranked world's most miserable country; here's where India stands Suicide bomber attacks checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing 4 PM's principal secy, US comm secy discuss ways to strengthen economic ties Pressure from West is strengthening ties with China, says Russian PM UK inflation falls to lowest in over a year but food prices remain elevated

After that, it will take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces.

In early May, the US Navy said that the ship had departed from Norfolk, Virginia, on its first combat deployment, following a shorter two-month deployment in the autumn of 2022.

The USS Ford is the first of the US Navy's new Ford class of aircraft carriers. Two more Ford-class carriers are under construction.

The vessel houses about 2,600 sailors, 600 fewer than the previous generation of aircraft carriers.

The Russian Embassy in Oslo said that such demonstrations of power look illogical and harmful.

Ties between Oslo and Moscow have been tense since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Norway and Russia have a 198-kilometre-long (123-mile-long) border in the Arctic.
The officials of the Government of Goa and the Government of Uttarakhand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate towards enhancing the tourism landscape of both Goa and Uttarakhand. The signing of the MoU was held in the presence ofthe Honorable Minister for Tourism, IT, E&C, Printing and Stationary, Government of Goa, andHon. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.The MoU is aimed at promoting bilateral cooperation in the travel and tourism sector and facilitating travel between the states to increase the number of tourists visiting Goa and Uttarakhand respectively. The signing of this MoU between the officials of the two states marks a significant step towards promoting tourism in Goa and Uttarakhand and showcasing India's rich cultural diversity to the world, aligned with theinitiative launched by the honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative aims to encourage people to witness and experience the rich heritage and vivid culture of India.Speaking at the occasion,said, "Were excited to sign this MoU with Uttarakhand Tourism and underline our focus on spiritual, wellness, and eco-tourism. Through this partnership, we look forward to showcasing the beautiful, ancient temples of Goa as a part of the circuit connecting Dakshin Kashi with Uttar Kashi. It is our endeavor to strengthen the tourism sector of both states and offer visitors a unique and unforgettable spiritual experience. Sharing his thoughts on the collaboration,, the Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand, said, Were happy to join hands with Goa Tourism and work for the betterment of tourism in both states. This MoU will not only increase direct flight connectivity but also explore opportunities for joint packages, cultural exchanges, and human resource development. We look forward to the growth of tourism in both Goa and Uttarakhand."Under the MoU, both states will benefit from direct flight connectivity between Uttarakhand and Goa, the travel time is reduced from 7 hours to 2.5 hours, making it easier for tourists to travel between the two states. The tourism departments of both states will also work on joint packages to promote various tourism products, including adventure tourism activities, ecotourism, spiritual tourism, and wellness tourism.Both Goa and Uttarakhand have unique cultural identities that will be showcased to offer tourists a glimpse into India's diverse cultural heritage. The MoU will pave the way for cultural exchange between the two states, showcasing local cuisines, folk art, and handicrafts through various cultural exchange programs, roadshows, festivals, and events.Furthermore, the MoU also includes a provision for human resource development. Both states will work in collaboration and ensure the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the field of tourism, including training and capacity building for tourism professionals.Indigo now has 3 direct flights a week from Goa to Dehradun and back. It was a proud moment that the inaugural flight was helmed by our very own Goan girl Captain Sasha Saldanha from the village of Parra in Goa.This MoU is a first of its kind in India, where two states are collaborating to promote the Honorable Prime Ministers vision of Dekho Apna Desh and can be emulated by the rest of the states in India.
, a VC-backed tech start-up on a mission to simplify cloud computing for everyone, specializes in Cloud Financial Management (CFM) solutions. The company enables cloud services partners and other businesses to understand, manage and optimize complicated cloud spend, billings and resource allocation for maximizing ROI on their investments in the cloud. Alphaus provides a suite of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for multi-cloud management supporting AWS, Microsoft Azure

and Google Cloud.

Founded in 2015, Alphaus Inc. is backed by reputed investors like DNX Ventures, NTT DoCoMo Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Archetype Ventures, Accord Ventures, and 500 Global. The companys roster of clients includes NTT Data, Nomura Research Institute (NRI), and ISI-Dentsu. Headquartered in Japan, Alphaus has a rapidly growing Global Delivery Centre and Regional Headquarter in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to support its rapid expansion in the Asia Pacific and Oceania regions.
Hitachi in India has today announced their collaboration with M/s NASH INDUSTRIES, a pioneer, offering solutions with distinctiveness in Design, Precision Sheet Metal Stamping, Fabrication and Assemblies, to offer controllers for Brushless DC motors with the Integrated Single Chip ICs manufactured at Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device, Ltd. Japan.



NASH INDUSTRIES is a reliable engineering partner of Hitachi in India for varied businesses. They have been extensively working with multifarious businesses represented by Hitachi Group Companies including Hitachi Rail, Hitachi Lift, and Hitachi Terminal Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., among others.



Considering the on-going demand of BLDC Motor, Hitachi planned to expand the sales of Integrated Chips (IC), and solutions for their BLDC application in India and NASH Industries with their credible presence in India has the technological superiority offering distinguished engineering, EMS, and sales support.



Aligning with the prominent initiatives of the Government of India  Make in India, Hitachi and NASH Industries with a unified vision of achieving a Net Zero Carbon Emission by 2070 by taking a step towards upgrading the controller to IOT, sensor positioning, and support in cost optimization and localized components. In addition to cost reductions, BLDC Motor Fans provide environmental benefits. They help in creating a Sustainable Environment by consuming less electricity, which lowers carbon emissions. This is crucial in a nation like India where the government has set high goals to reduce carbon emissions. This will also help in the reduction of air pollution.



By assisting the burgeoning Indian Brushless DC motor producers for air conditioners and other appliances through this new partnership, Hitachi will support to contribute to the nations challenges through offering its cutting-edge worldwide design and technology. Through minimizing carbon footprints, the inverter drive systems in appliances will significantly reduce energy consumption by appliances by 30% to 50%.



With climate change and rapid economic development, Hitachi envisions becoming a sustainable organization by 2030. Hitachi aspires to foster this as a collaborative effort that is an integral part towards achieving this goal.



Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bharat Kaushal, Managing Director, Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd., said It gives us an immense pleasure of nurturing our partnership with NASH INDUSTRIES and further enduring a step towards a unified vision of helping India achieve its Carbon Neutrality goals. Hitachi has been helping in the transformation of the Technological Hub of India, Bengaluru through offering solutions across varied business proficiencies including Railways, R&D, and Financial Inclusivity. The collaboration with NASH INDUSTRIES will further support in cementing our century old legacy Globally and more than nine decades of presence in India.

2023.

Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device, Ltd. website

https://www.hitachi-power-semiconductor-device.co.jp/en/
Tata CLiQ, India's leading e-commerce platform, is excited to announce the highly anticipated CLiQ CLiQ Sale, which will take place from May 24 to May 31, 2023. This year's sale marks the celebration of the 7th anniversary of the Tata CLiQ, offering customers an unparalleled shopping experience and unbeatable discounts. The platform will showcase an extensive range of products, including apparel, footwear, and gadgets, with over 4,000 international and domestic brands participating in the sale."We are thrilled to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the CLiQ CLiQ Sale. Since it is also our flagship event, our primary focus is to provide exceptional user experience, irresistible discounts, and an extensive selection of products. In the last seven years, Tata CLiQ has experienced remarkable growth and has become a trusted destination for online shopping. As we embark on another exciting year, we remain committed to delivering an unparalleled online shopping experience for our esteemed customers.The unbelievable deals and offers during the CLiQ CLiQ Sale will be a fashion enthusiasts delight. The sale will feature a selection of international brands like Adidas Tommy Hilfiger and Vero Moda . Shoppers can avail of up to 85% off on most fashion items. They can also save big with discounts of up to 70% on a wide range of men's and women's shoes . Additionally, exclusive offers of up to 75% on womenswear and 80% on menswear will be available.As part of the sale, Tata CLiQ has partnered with ICICI Bank from 24to 28May to offer an additional 10% discount to customers using ICICI Bank Credit Cards and Credit, Debit Card EMI. It has also partnered with Axis Bank from 29to 31May to offer an additional 10% discount* to customers using Axis Bank Credit, Debit Cards & EMI only. Shoppers can also earn a cashback of up to 80% off on min. order of Rs.1,499 in the form of a Free Times Prime Annual membership worth Rs.1,199. Whats more, on using the code CLIQANNIVERSARY10 customers can avail flat 10% off* min purchase of Rs. 2,000, further enhancing their savings during the CLiQ CliQ Sale. Apart from this, shoppers will also get up to 5%* back as NeuCoins on Tata Neu HDFC Bank Credit Cards. *T&C Apply.Shop here: https://www.tatacliq.com/
The Gujarat Secondary Education Board (GSEB) is set to announce the results of the GSEB Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam 2023 tomorrow, May 25, 2023, at 8 AM. Students who appeared for the GSEB 10th exams held between March 14 and March 28, 2023, can check their results on the official website of the Gujarat Board, gseb.org.

How to Download the GSEB 2023 Result

To access the GSEB SSC Result 2023, students can follow these simple steps:
Subaru and Mazda have topped the list when it comes to recommended carsnew or usedfor teen drivers. This is according to the U.S.-based In...
Continental Cement orders FLSmidth FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer

24 May 2023

Having been impressed with the first pre-commercial installation of the FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer at the Mannok cement plant in Ireland, Continental Cement (Summit Materials Inc) has awarded FLSmidth a contract for the first commercial installation of this new technology at its Davenport cement plant in Buffalo, Iowa, USA.

The FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer, a significant lever in FLSmidths Green26 strategy, enables cement plants to replace fossil fuels with waste-derived fuels in the calciner. This technology, which has been successfully in operation at Mannok since July 2022, offers a lower capex solution than competing technologies, claims FLSmidth, with the added benefit that it controls NO x emissions without the need for ammonia water. Furthermore, installation of the FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer does not require a lengthy shutdown, as much of the work can be carried out while the plant is operating, says FLSmidth.

Were very excited about what the FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer will do for our process, says David Loomes, president of Continental Cement. Were planning to achieve 55 per cent fossil fuel replacement across the plant, utilising non-hazardous waste that would otherwise go to landfill or incinerators. The economic and environmental benefits of this technology are very significant and a key element of executing our carbon reduction commitment .

The project at Continental Cement is expected to go into operation in 2024, while full commercial launch of the FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer is scheduled for 2024-25.

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University of Tennessee at Chattanooga rising junior Emma Roy, a Brock Scholar in the Honors College majoring in secondary education: political science, has been selected for the U.S. Department of States 2023 Critical Language Scholarship Chinese Programan immersive summer opportunity for U.S. college and university students to learn languages essential to Americas engagement with the world.A native of Murfreesboro, Ms. Roy is slated to study Chinese at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, from June 20 through Aug.16.The CLS Program is an intensive overseas immersion program, so it is the perfect opportunity to learn Chinese againor refresh everything that Ive learned through middle school and high school, said Ms. Roy, a 2021 graduate of The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. I am hoping Ill just better my understanding of the language through this program. I want to bring back whatever I learn overseasthe language, the culture, the life lessons that Im going to learn over there. I want to bring that back here.An initiative of the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, students accepted into the CLS Program spend eight to 10 weeks abroad studying one of 14 critical languages, with intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains.According to its website, the scholarship program is part of a broader U.S. government effort to significantly boost the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages crucial to national security and economic prosperity. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students nationwide applied for the scholarship this year, with approximately 500 students from 245 institutions selected as finalists.This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Ms. Roy said. I feel like this is the beginning of my future.Ms. Roy is the second UTC student selected for the award, joining Hannah Horton, who spent the summer of 2019 studying in Busan, South Korea.
Stephen Richard Orth was born on September 2, 1949, passed away on Monday, May 22, 2023, surrounded by his loved ones after a well fought battle with gastric and bone cancer.

After serving in the United States Army, he became a fire fighter with the Chattanooga Fire Department and served 25 years until his retirement. He liked spending time bass fishing was an avid reader and loved trips to the Beach.



He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Nelda Fitch Orth, the Walker Family, Tim, Melissa, Lawton, Kate and Maggie; his two sisters, Jeanette Johansen of Durango Colorado, Diane Orth(Alfred) of Beltsville Maryland, two nephews and four great-nephews.



He was preceded in death by his parents, Richard and Doris Orth of Norman, Ok.



The family would like to thank the Oncology Department at Memorial Hospital, Blood Assurance and the Hospice Care Center Staff for their efforts and support.



Services to celebrate Steves life will be planned at a later date, allowing family and friends to come together and honor his memory.



Please visit www.chattanoogavalleyviewchapel.com to share your thoughts and memories of Stephen.



Arrangements are by the Valley View Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, 7414 Old Lee Highway, Chattanooga, Tn. 37421.


LIFT Youth Center Inc, working in conjunction with the Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce, will hold a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at 61 Tennessee St. Ringgold. The Ceremony will be held immediately following the 1890 Days Parade in Downtown Ringgold.The HOPE Mural was a community-wide project coordinated by LIFT Youth Center Inc. and Strength for Catoosa. December through January, Strength for Catoosa held a mural contest for middle and high school students in Catoosa County.The contest gave young artists the chance to have their artwork turned into a mural, work alongside the well-known muralist SEVEN and have the experience of helping paint a mural in their own community."The HOPE mural complements and supports the Strength for Catoosa movement, which seeks to change the way people engage with issues of mental health, wellness and connection in their own lives, and to enact that change on a cultural and community level," officials said.The HOPE Mural contest winner, Chloe Lyles, was selected through a voting process that began with public votes and was finalized by a Submission Approval Team and the Ringgold City Council. Ms. Lyles collaborated with the artist SEVEN to finalize her design. The artist SEVEN is a muralist, illustrator and designer who has artwork throughout the southeastern United States."LIFT was thrilled to have such a talented artist on board who has a heart for working with young creative minds, involved in this project," officials said.The artist SEVEN said, I am excited to have been to be involved with such an uplifting project.The finalized design was painted in April by SEVEN, with a little help from the top four student artists. This public mural is located on the side of Jessie Thorntons United Karate Studio in Ringgold.LIFT Youth Center Inc, Strength For Catoosa, The Catoosa County Family Collaborative and The NW GA Hope Over Suicide Coalition will have a tent set up by the mural during 1890 Days on Saturday."We will begin our celebration with the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and continue the day with information on Strength for Catoosa and other mental health resources in our area," officials said. "The Strength for Catoosa student peer leaders will be rounding out the HOPE Mural project by capturing footage for a video where we ask the public what HOPE means to them. They are asking the public to please stop by their tent to share your thoughts on hope for their video."Chrissie Brown, LIFTs Marketing and Development director, said, Art has the power to inspire others in a deeply emotional way. I cant wait to see the impact Chloes and SEVEN's work has and how it will radiate HOPE out from Ringgold, across Catoosa County and beyond.The mural is supported in part by Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Council for the Arts also receives support from its partner agency  the National Endowment for the Arts.The HOPE Mural Ribbon Cutting is sponsored by Builtwell Bank and the Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce.
A woman on E. Brainerd Road told police she made an agreement with another woman about door dashing together. After some time, the other woman started getting angry that the woman was not sending her money on time. Then the other woman showed up at the place she was staying and took her phone from her. The woman doesnt care about the phone, she only cared that she was followed. The woman does have another place to stay for the next few nights.

* * *

During normal patrol, police saw a blue Chrysler 300 with no tag was parked in the wrong direction on Judson Lane for several months. The car appears to be abandoned or non-operational. Police placed a 48-hour warning sticker on the vehicle to notify the owner that it needed to be moved. Police will follow up at a later time and tow the vehicle if necessary.

* * *

A woman at Parkridge Hospital at 2333 McCallie Ave. told police there was a man who was making her nervous. She said the man would make eye contact with her as he walked down the sidewalk. Later on, the man came back up the sidewalk and made eye contact again. The woman said she saw the man walk across McCallie Avenue, go inside a business, and come back out wearing different clothes. She said the man's actions scared her. He was last seen wearing plaid style pants and had thick dreads to his shoulders. An officer told the woman he would keep an eye out for the man.

* * *

A man on Airpark Drive told police his caregiver stole his cigarettes from his room. He didnt remember the time it occurred and wouldnt give police much information on it. The man didnt know where his caregiver was at the time. He was unable to give police a date of birth or roughly how old the caregiver was. Due to lack of information on the suspect and incident, no charges can be pressed.

* * *

A man on Reece Street told police a woman had been staying with his mother for a few nights and caused issues. She has been repeatedly asked to leave the property, but continues to come back. He said that night she returned to the house and said she had been beat up. She left prior to police arrival.

* * *

Police were called to Wilson Street on a disorder call between a man and a woman. The man was asked to leave the premises.

* * *

While on patrol on Station Street, an officer saw a man standing on the patio area with a clear cup with what appeared to be beer. It was the officers understanding the bar at 43 Station St. was serving a 3-day suspension of their beer permit which restricts the selling of beer that weekend. The officer asked the man what he was drinking and he confirmed Michelob Ultra was what was inside his container.

* * *

An officer spoke with a woman after waking her up at the bus stop at 200 Broad St. She told the officer she was fine, just sleepy. The officer told her she was not allowed to sleep there all wrapped up in her blanket. The officer explained that people were attempting to catch a bus and they didnt want to wake her up. She cooperated, rolled up her thick blanket, gathered her things and left the area.

* * *

A man told police his vehicle was being used by his daughter and was stolen from her apartment on Shallowford Road. The vehicle was parked in the early afternoon and was discovered stolen the following morning. There is Ring video of seven young men in ski masks walking through the parking lot at 2:30 a.m. The video was from an angle that didnt show the vehicle and it is unknown if they are the ones who stole it or not.

* * *

A man told police his vehicle was damaged by a pothole on Jersey Pike. He was traveling northbound on Jersey Pike at about 30-35mph when he hit a pothole and it popped his front and rear passenger tires. The man called his own tow and no injuries were reported.
The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce announced the promotion of Yolonda Hayslett, MBA, SHRM-CP, to vice president, Finance and Operations. She will continue to be responsible for leading and managing a team that handles member-investor services initiatives, accounting, finance, human resources, information management, legal and risk management, compliance and facilities operations.



We are proud to announce Yolonda Haysletts promotion to Vice President of Finance and Operations, said Charles Wood, president and CEO, Chattanooga Chamber.

Ms. Hayslett, who began her Chattanooga Chamber career in 2005, has been working as interim for several months."Yolondas promotion is a testament to her exceptional skills, dedication and contributions to the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. Her finance and operations expertise, combined with her commitment to community betterment, make her an invaluable asset to the organization and the community.Ms. Hayslett is deeply involved in the Chattanooga community and passionate about making a positive impact. She volunteers with United Way of Greater Chattanooga, Future Business Leaders of America, the Howard Schools Service-Learning program and TN Achieves. Ms. Hayslett also serves as Treasurer for the Ch*sing Waterfalls board of directors, a Lawrenceville, Ga., non-profit organization.Prior to joining the Chattanooga Chamber team, Ms. Hayslett worked in accounting at the Chattanooga Group, Olan Mills and Hawker PowerSource.
Donald Edward Baker, Jr., 79, passed away peacefully at his home in Titusville, Florida, on May 21, 2023.

He was born July 30, 1943 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. In 1951, the family moved to Tennessee, where he was raised in White Oak and attended Red Bank High School, class of 1961. He cherished his relationships formed during those years, which lasted throughout his life.



Mr. Baker attended the University of Tennessee, where he received a B.S. in Business Administration (Accounting), Bachelor of Laws and Doctorate of Jurisprudence. He served as an officer in multiple social and academic fraternities and clubs during college, and he remained active in those societies throughout his entire life. He was, indeed, a true Vol For Life.



Following law school, Mr. Baker served in the United States Air Force from 1967 to 1971, where he was a Missile Control Officer and later Judge Advocate General. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. In his professional life, Mr. Baker was an attorney. In the 1980s, he joined TVA and worked for several years as a contracts negotiator until his retirement.



Mr. Baker was preceded in death in March 2019 by his beloved wife of 51 years, Betty Grace (B.G.) Johnson Baker. Survivors include two sons, Jon Baker, Austin, TX and Scott Baker, Chattanooga, TN; brother, Greg Baker, Franklin, TN; three grandchildren, Sarah Catherine Baker, Ty Baker and Maggie Baker, all of Austin, TX; and several nieces and nephews.



Gathering of Family and Friends will be held on Tuesday, May 30, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Lane Funeral Home, 601 Ashland Terrace, Chattanooga, TN 37415. Graveside services will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m., at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.



In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to the Alzheimers Association at www.act.alz.org because Mr. Baker would have wanted it that way, as he loved his wife B.G. and had a great passion for this cause.



Visit the online obituary at www.lanefh.com to post tributes and share memories.



Arrangements are entrusted to Lane Funeral Home Ashland Terrace, 423 877-3524.






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The Chattanooga Area Veterans Council invites all citizens to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Memorial Day Commemoration at the Chattanooga National Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Monday. All parking is at the Tennessee National Guard Armory on S. Holtzclaw Avenue; shuttles will provide transportation to the cemetery. No public parking will be available at the cemetery as former parking area are being utilized for burial expansion.

Rick Williams, American Legion Post 107, Soddy-Daisy, Commander will preside and Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter # 203 will serve as the official Honor Guard. A Massing of the Colors will be coordinated by Alan Syler, Commander of the USS Carbonero Base Submarine Veterans and the acclaimed Choo-Choo Chorus will provide the music, including a closing rendition of God Bless America, a crowd favorite from previous years.



Memorial Day honors the members of our armed forces who have died in the nations wars or as a result of their service. It is appropriate that the Chattanooga National Cemetery is the site of the commemoration as its hallowed hills are the final resting place for patriots who gave their last full measure of devotion in every major conflict since the United States Civil War.



The 2023 Memorial Day Ceremony honors all fallen patriots with a special recognition of the Korean Conflict as our community prepares to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1953 armistice ending that war. Maranda Wilkinson, Director of Education and Public Programming at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, is the featured speaker and will rely on her extensive background with the Korean War Legacy Foundation as she focuses on the United States oft-forgotten war.



The public is also invited to help place United States flags on all graves, beginning on Friday morning, at 7 a.m.. Flags will be removed on Tuesday, May 30 and volunteers are requested to assist on that morning also.



For additional information, contact Linda Moss Mines, Secretary, CAVC at localhistorycounts@gmail.com.


We have just returned from our spring vacation and looking ahead to our fall one. With the NAACP being such an influential group I am sure the beaches and hotels of Florida will be empty this fall so good deals should be abundant. We may even go to Tampa and visit the president of the group who actually lives in the state he encourages people not to come to. Hey, who cares about the thousands of hard working black people in the hospitality industry.

Here is my annual list of places to avoid this year. Don't even think about going to Memphis, St Louis, Oakland, Albuquerque and Baltimore. Coincidentally I am sure they have two things in common. They are the five most dangerous cities in the country and they are all run 100 percent by Democrats.

Safe travels to all.

Douglas Jones

* * *

I must agree with Mr. Douglas Jones recount of the top five deadliest cities in the U.S. And number six is now Chattanooga.

Hopefully though, people that are able to critically think and understand will see that he is expressing his (fill in the blank : i.e., distaste, repugnance, aversion, or even hate) for Democrats.

Mr. Jones is comparing apples to oranges, and using what would appear to be a reasonable argument regarding black workers in Florida to imply the overall benefits of the NAACP recommendation are more important to Floridas black workers (already there) than to the remainder of any black population intending to visit Florida. Yes, unfortunately, there is collateral damage for the greater good.

The NAACP recommendation to not visit Florida is a statewide assessment. It is not an assessment of dangerous cities. Thats the apples to oranges comparison.

The recommendation reads: "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."

Using Mr. Jones reasoning regarding cities, and elevating hostility to danger as he does, since Chattanooga and Memphis are in Tennessee, African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals should not visit Tennessee.

What now is especially ironic is that while Memphis is a Democratically controlled city, Chattanooga is a Republican controlled city, and Tennessee is a Republican controlled State.

Does Tennessee need a warning from the NAACP similar to Florida?

Joe Warren






Eviction filings are rising throughout Hamilton County, intensifying the need for more support to keep vulnerable families in their homes, according to representatives from the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.

Maeghan Jones, president and CEO of CFGC, presented to the Chattanooga City Councils Affordable Housing Committee about the Eviction Prevention Initiative, a program which provides access to legal counsel and social workers for local families facing eviction. EPI was launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 in response to the rising wave of evictions, but has sustained through ongoing investment by the City Council, other funding partners, and CFGC itself.

Today, EPI is supported by local attorney Emily ODonnell, its co-founder and strategic advisor, as well as host of partner organizations including Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Habitat for Humanity, and the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition.

"In 2021, the area median home sales price was $265,000  more than double the 2010 price of $130,000, Ms. Jones told the Council members. Despite rising home prices, many working families have not seen an increase in wages.

As a result of this wage stagnation and the end of federal eviction moratoria and rent relief programs, Hamilton Countys eviction filings in 2022 increased by 34 percent over 2021. CFGC anticipates that eviction filings will return to their pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year.

Sixty-five percent of EPI clients are severely burdened by housing costs, which means that they spend more than 50 percent of their monthly income on expenses like rent and utilities. While affordability is an issue throughout the greater Chattanooga region, the crisis of eviction is not felt equally in all parts of the community: court data from 2016-2022 indicates that more eviction cases are filed in neighborhoods composed of majority-Black census tracts, as well as tracts with higher rates of poverty, said officials.

While eviction may be occurring more acutely in some neighborhoods of Chattanooga than others, their negative impact is felt citywide, said officials.

For instance, evidence suggests that eviction is not merely a symptom of poverty but a cause of it. People who experience eviction are at greater risk of homelessness, job loss, and adverse health conditions including depression. Once an eviction judgment is on their record, they will have a more difficult time securing safe and affordable housing.

Eviction is also particularly harmful to children whose lives are upended when they lose their home and whose education may be interrupted if they are forced to change schools.

Landlords will also lose rental income in the event of an eviction, and must incur additional costs to relist the property. Abandoned properties may become attractive nuisances degrading property values and rents in neighborhoods where eviction proceedings are prevalent.

This is a poverty crisis masquerading as a housing crisis, says Ms. ODonnell. We have a moral and economic imperative to address both, but helping people obtain safe, secure housing is the foundation on which we have to build everything else.

Still, EPI offers hope to those who are struggling and potentially facing eviction.

"Since inception, we have helped more than 400 households prevent eviction, says Ms. ODonnell. In addition to preventing evictions, our lawyers and case workers have helped landlords secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent relief to help them mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and the current economic environment.

Access to legal representation appears to be a significant determinant of success for tenants who are facing eviction. For the period of Oct. 21, 2021 through Sept. 22, 2022, for example, EPI clients received a dismissal in 67 percent of the cases, as opposed to 27 percent for people who did not have access to an attorney. EPI clients were also 50 percent less likely to receive a money judgment against them compared to tenants who were not represented. In addition, regardless of whether they were evicted, 42 households that received case management remained housed..

EPI was cited by Mayor Tim Kelly as a significant contributor to the city of Chattanoogas recent announcement that unsheltered homelessness in the city had decreased 40 percent in the past year  a reversal from the 200 percent increase from the previous two years.

Quantifying EPIs material benefit to taxpayers is the next major step for this work. With the support of the Maclellan Foundation, CFGC has contracted with Stout Analytics and Southern Adventist University to conduct a rigorous cost-benefit analysis that will define the programs impact with respect to the amount of public resources it saves. Initial findings from this analysis are expected to be available in early 2024.

In the meantime, EPIs work helping vulnerable families and landlords reach resolutions will continue. In the words of Ms. Jones: While EPI started as a crisis response, its results show that in many ways, it is even more relevant today.
A royal commentator believes Princess Diana found a red flag in her relationship with King Charles before they married. Dianas discovery of a gift intended for Charles longtime friend, Camilla Parker Bowles, made her realize their union was headed for trouble before it began.

King Charles in a photo taken shortly after his coronation | Toby Melville/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

One particular moment was a red flag in Charles and Dianas early relationship

From the moment they began courting their relationship, King Charles and Princess Diana met in person 13 times. The couple dated for six months before Charles proposed marriage to Diana in Buckingham Palaces nursery under pressure from the monarchy to settle down with a suitable young woman.

Charles proposal was in February 1981. By July of that same year, he and Diana married in a lavish ceremony watched worldwide. The Archbishop of Canterbury called the wedding the stuff of which fairy tales were made.

However, Charles longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles was never far from his heart, even after he met and proposed to then-Lady Diana Spencer. Royal commentator Chandrika Kaul, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, discussed when Diana found a bracelet intended for Camilla, it threatened the couples tender union, reported The Mirror.

Kaul brought up the incident to shed light on how Charles hopes his grandchildren dont make the same mistakes he made when it comes to staying true to ones heart. Because of royal protocol, Charles felt he had to marry Diana when he was emotionally tied to Camilla.

Professor Paul noted that just weeks before the couples 1981 nuptials, Diana found a package containing a bracelet with the letters G and F. These initials were short for Gladys and Fred, nicknames Charles and Camilla used for each other. Paul believed this set a negative tone to the start of Diana and Charles relationship during a broadcast of The Fab Five: The Kings Grandchildren.

Princess Diana elaborated on the incident when secretly opening up to a reporter years later. She told her story in a book published as her unofficial biography.

Diana shared her version of the bracelet incident with Andrew Morton for a tell-all book

Princess Diana and Prince Charles at their 1981 wedding ceremony | Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images

Before it began, Princess Dianas discovery of a gift meant for Camilla Parker Bowles greatly affected her relationship with King Charles. In the Andrew Morton book Diana: Her True Story, the Princess of Wales visited the office of Michael Colborne, who was then Charles secretary.

She said: I was still too immature to understand all the messages coming my way. And then someone in his office told me my husband had a bracelet made for her.

Diana continued, I walked into this mans office one day and said, Ooh, whats in that parcel? And he said, Oh, you shouldnt look at that.

So I opened it, and there was the bracelet. Diana told Morton: I was devastated, and I said, Well, hes going to give it to her tonight. So rage, rage, rage. You know, Why cant you be honest with me? But no, absolutely cut me dead. It was as if hed made his decision, and if it wasnt going to work, it wasnt going to work.

King Charles wants his grandchildren to learn from his mistakes

Before marrying Princess Diana, King Charles spent most of his 20s and 30s dating many beautiful women. He appeared to be searching for companionship and the woman who would eventually become the United Kingdoms queen.

He found that woman early on in Camilla Parker Bowles. However, because she had several serious relationships, she was not considered wife material for a future king. They parted ways, and Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles.

Kaul believes the king is hoping for a better outcome for the children of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

What I think he wants to do is try and help these young grandchildren grow up in as normal a way as possible. 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, they continued.

From the beginning of their relationship and marriage until its end, Charles love for Camilla overshadowed his marriage to Diana. Two years after Dianas untimely death in 1997, Charles and Camilla made their public debut as a couple. In 2005 Charles and Camilla wed. In 2023, they were crowned king and queen consort of the United Kingdom.
Senior Director of Public Health Lisa Pivec, Secretary of State Tina Glory Jordan, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Executive Director of Commerce Anna Knight are surrounded by Cherokee Nation Public Health employees, cabinet officials, WIC participants and Tahlequah Farmers Market representatives during a WIC announcement Friday in Tahlequah.
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Grace A. Noppert, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



As the COVID-19 epidemic continues to ravage the American public, an unsurprising story emerges: Poor communities are hot spots for COVID transmission. The death rate from COVID-19 appears to be staggeringly high among African Americans compared to whites. The Washington Post reports, for example, that while 14% of the Michigan population is black, 40% of COVID-19 deaths are among blacks.



This is a familiar pattern to a social and infectious disease epidemiologist like myself. It is evidence of centuries of segregation and discrimination that have disproportionately placed people of color in communities without access to health care, with degraded and crowded living conditions and a lack of basic opportunities for health and wellness.



In the context of the current pandemic, blacks are more likely to have low-paying jobs that do not allow remote work options or offer health insurance or paid medical leave. The result of centuries of sidelining by American society plays out most obviously in worse health.



No wealth, poor health

The poor and marginalized already unfairly bear the burden of other diseases such as asthma, certain kinds of cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease. This ongoing pandemic looks to be no different. And poverty in the U.S. is very much tied to race and ethnicity. In 2018, 11% of whites had a household income below the federal poverty level compared to 23% of blacks and 19% of Hispanics. People of color are also more likely to live in low-income communities with a lack of access to basic resources for health and wellness.



The link between poverty and infectious disease is well-documented. Influenza-related hospitalizations in low-income neighborhoods are nearly twice that of high-income neighborhoods. Pediatric hospitalizations from bacterial pneumonia are significantly higher in low-income neighborhoods compared to high-income neighborhoods.

The same is largely true of tuberculosis in the U.S. where active transmission of TB is ongoing in poor neighborhoods - patterns that are not simply due to more people living in these areas.



TB, in particular, has long been tied to socioeconomic status. Even in the face of a widespread TB epidemic in the U.S. in the early 1900s, there was a noticeable pattern in which people of color, immigrants and those living in poor environments were more likely to be infected with TB and less likely to receive care.



Those of us who study the burden of disease on the poor have seen the same basic pattern play out in the U.S. today. People with TB often experience extreme socioeconomic disadvantage. Poor neighborhoods and people of color continue to disproportionately bear the burden of TB among U.S.-born individuals.



TB: A striking case in point

The case of TB offers a unique vantage point to understand how these inequities emerge. Processes that operate at a societal level, such as residential segregation, have been at work since the early 20th century. Such processes have systematically placed racial and ethnic minority populations in low-income communities with fewer resources and more exposure to environmental hazards.



Urban renewal and development efforts of the 1900s systematically benefited whites, further displacing communities of color. This resulted in minority communities with greater proportions of dilapidated low-quality housing and poverty with direct implications for the subsequent risk of infectious diseases. Thus, non-white populations are unduly placed in settings that both increase exposure to infectious pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis(the pathogen causing TB), and limit individuals' ability to access health care to mitigate the effects of the subsequent disease.



The lack of resources also means that low-income communities have a higher prevalence of chronic conditions. For example, low-income neighborhoods with reduced access to healthy food and fewer opportunities for physical activity have higher rates of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Such chronic conditions often result in compromised immunity, making individuals more vulnerable to infectious diseases.



One of the most insidious effects of living in a low-income community is the chronic toll of stress on the body, particularly the immune system. Socioeconomic disadvantage, via discrimination, job and housing instability, and food insecurity result in increased stress. This stress exposure is biological costly to the body.



Infectious diseases, like TB or COVID-19, can then thrive among populations that are living in low-income communities both because of increased exposure to infectious pathogens and a reduced ability of individuals to fight infections.



Now is the time for action

COVID-19 seems to be following a similar, albeit amplified, trajectory as TB. If we take no action, the inequities we see will only increase in the coming months and years.



People of color continue to face discrimination in housing and labor markets. For example, redlining practices still exist, though in subtler ways, as evidenced by increased predatory lending practices and diminished access to goods and services in minority neighborhoods. Disinvestment in these communities has created spaces and places where everyone's life does not count equally, where it is allowable for some people to not have access to the resources to live healthy lives.



While infectious disease epidemics like TB, or now COVID-19, can undoubtedly create health disparities, they will almost certainly exacerbate existing ones, pulling back the curtain on the consequences of the inequality to which we have all become accustomed.



COVID-19 offers us a moment in time to pay attention to these inequities. Pockets of COVID-19 transmission in any community keep the risk of an enduring epidemic alive for every community.



I believe it should be a high priority for policymakers to partner with local health care practitioners and community organizations to provide low-income communities with resources to deal with this epidemic. These interventions should reduce or eliminate the cost of testing and treatment, and offer social and economic support for families that may need time from work for medical treatment, or have lost jobs because of COVID-19. Finally, as the possibility of treatments and vaccines develop, plans need be put in place that deliver the interventions to low-income communities first, not last.



Grace A. Noppert, Postdoctoral Scholar in Epidemiology, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.



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TagsBlack And Poor Communities, Coronavirus
Did you ever want to be an astronaut as a kid?

If you love learning about space and missions for NASA, then you should know who Mae Jemison is.

Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to travel into space, and she put in years of hard and tremendous work to make history.

Mae was born in Decatur, Alabama, in 1956. Her family moved when she was little, and she grew up in Chicago, Illinois, with her parents and two siblings. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was a maintenance supervisor.

Growing up, Mae had an interest in science early on. Shed read books about science and school and did well in her science classes. She graduated high school as an honor student in 1973 and attended Stanford University on a scholarship.

As one of few Black students in her classes, Mae often faced racial discrimination on campus. But she continued to work hard and did extracurriculars like serving as head of the Black Student Union. She also participated in theatrical and dance productions on campus.

Mae graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering in 1977 and then enrolled in the Cornell University Medical College. She received her Doctorate in Medicine from the school in 1981 and began practicing medicine.

Mae had learned how to speak multiple languages and therefore decided to join the Peace Corps in 1983. For two years, she served as a medical officer in Africa.

When Mae returned to the United States in 1985, she decided to make a sudden career change and follow a dream she had since she was little. She wanted to become an astronaut. That year, she applied to NASAs astronaut training program.

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Adopting a trauma-informed approach within a church is an ongoing process of compassionately loving our neighbors. Here are 9 ways to begin your trauma-informed journey.

Adopting a trauma-informed approach within a church is an ongoing journey of compassionately loving our neighbors, rather than a fixed state to be attained. This process necessitates a steadfast dedication to educating and equipping church staff, volunteers, and congregation members with the knowledge and skills to comprehend trauma's origins and consequences. It also means we must be prepared to adapt and modify our approaches to trauma-informed care.

Create Trauma-Sensitive Spaces

Trauma-informed churches prioritize creating safe environments where individuals feel supported and empowered in their healing journey. Some church goers may need trauma-sensitive spaces for worship and gatheringsa quiet place they can collect themselves if triggered by a sermon topic, overly loud or unexpected noises, and drastic lighting changes during worship.

Other options include experiences like lighting candles, sharing memories and stories, and offering prayers and reflections. Churches might set up prayer stations or create quiet spaces for meditation and contemplation. These examples highlight how trauma-informed care can be integrated into ongoing ministry actions and serve multiple purposes.

Approaching trauma-informed care in this way also helps to reduce mental health stigma. For example, a church could designate a smaller contemplative worship space in addition to the main worship area on Sundays. This expands worship options while simultaneously creating a trauma-sensitive space.

Foster a Sense of Connection

Use spiritual practices to help build a sense of connection, belonging, and cohesion. Scripture reminds us about this in Matthew 18:20, when Jesus says where two or three are gathered, He is with them. There is something powerful and comforting about coming together in person (many of us learned this after living virtually in the pandemic). Its true of people in general, and the church specifically, especially when we gather to share one anothers burdens.

Our research also shows spiritual support helps buffer against common psychological trauma-related challenges. When we love our neighbor, treat others as we would want to be treated, and come together as Christ required, the Church can bring restoration and renewal to those who are hurting.

Trauma-informed churches recognize that significant support and care can come through non-therapeutic group experiences, such as engaging in fellowship, worship, and community with one another (from small group studies to special church services like holiday gatherings).

Foster Church and Community Opportunities for Remembrance, Reflection, and Lament

No church or community is immune to tragedy. When crises strike, people turn to local churches for meaning, hope, and comfort. Churches can offer, organize, or contribute to public gatherings for churchgoers or community members.

For example, public displays of faith in times of trauma include memorial services, prayer vigils, memorial services, and gatherings. Each can be an essential part of the healing process for people impacted by trauma.

Comfort can also be brought through creative expressions, such as art installations, murals, music, poetry, dance and movement, video, and photography.

Develop Sermon and Teaching Series that Incorporate Coping Practices

Churches can offer trauma-informed sermon series that address themes of hope and meaning. Explore scriptural passages providing comfort and guidance, and share personal stories of resilience and overcoming or honoring loss and grief. Another approach would be to teach how Christ or other biblical figures drew upon their faith in times of hardship.

Sermons can also be developed around Spiritual First Aid's ten trauma-informed best practices or the BLESS CPR spiritual and emotional care framework. Here are some ideas for how a sermon or series could be created: teach on the five BLESS needs, develop sermon teaching points corresponding with each helping step, or choose one or more components of the framework to use as a springboard for discussing biblical issues related to trauma.

Similarly, a sermon series could be developed by going more in-depth about key concepts from the model (one at a time). Lastly, teachers and pastors could authentically share their challenges and how they approach self-care, or discuss issues like burnout while introducing and modeling the importance of healthy coping practices. Unexpected tragedies and traumatic events can leave our church and community members feeling heartbroken and helpless, and providing coping techniques can help.

Prioritize Staff Self-Care

Recent studies show that many church staff struggle to manage stress and burnout. When church staff members are not equipped with the tools for managing emotional challenges, they may be more prone to poor judgment, inappropriate boundaries, emotional exhaustion, and even unethical behavior.

When a team prioritizes self-care, they are more likely to deal well with stress. They can then be better equipped to support church members and model the importance of coping practices to churchgoers. Therefore, encouraging staff care is essential to becoming a trauma-informed church.

Some of the ways staff care can be implemented: offer training and workshops on stress management, provide resources for self-care, encourage staff to take breaks and prioritize their well-being, include mental health benefits as part of your staff benefits, and encourage staff to take time away from work for vacations and sabbaticals.



Offer Specialized Spiritual and Emotional Education and Care

Trauma-informed churches can offer group support for individuals impacted by trauma, by providing opportunities for people to connect with others who share similar experiences and find strength and resilience through relationships.

Examples include hosting support groups, workshops, and other events promoting spiritual and emotional education and care. Churches can offer educational programs on emotional and spiritual wellness topicssuch as coping with stress and anxiety, parenting, relationship issues, and financial strugglesto introduce practical tools and strategies.

Moreover, churches are encouraged to consider offering support groups for individuals struggling with specific challenges like stress, grief, and loneliness. These groups can provide a space for individuals to share their experiences, receive support from others, and engage in healthy spiritual coping practices.

Refer and Resource Internally to Existing Ministries and Programming

Churches can refer and resource spiritual and emotional challenges and trauma internally (within their congregation) to support groups, pastoral counseling, care ministries, and other forms of emotional and spiritual support.

As a church, you are part of one body with different gifts and roles, and often those impacted by trauma will need many different sorts of assistance. This means steps must be taken to strengthen existing ministries, pivoting toward trauma best practices.

In addition, churches can create a peer support network through small group ministries and prayer groups. This can help church members build connections with others who share similar experiences and provide a safe space to connect, learn, and grow. Finally, consider offering care ministry programs such as Spiritual First Aid, Caregiver Toolbox, GriefShare, Celebrate Recovery, Trauma Healing, and The Sanctuary Course.

Address Basic Needs Through Outreach Efforts

Churches can engage in outreach efforts to connect with individuals and families impacted by trauma in the broader community by providing practical assistance for unmet basic needs, such as food, housing, and transportation.

Similarly, weve seen trauma-informed churches provide support by organizing initiatives like community meals, volunteerism, giving campaigns, and acts of service. Another way churches can become more trauma-informed is to advocate for the poor and marginalized in their church and community. Churches can call for improvements to local, state, and national policies that may limit economic opportunities, affordable housing options, and access to quality healthcare.

Trauma-informed churches also prioritize wellness and mental health initiatives to reduce mental health stigma by creating greater awareness about spiritual and emotional struggles.

Refer and Resource Externally to Trusted Community Resources

Churches can help church and community members address unmet BLESS needs and promote holistic wellness by connecting those in need with various community resources. In addition, partnerships can help churches build a network of support for their members and encourage greater awareness and understanding of mental health issues within the community.

By collaborating with other organizations and utilizing various resources, churches can ensure their members can access any needed ongoing support in healthcare, employment, financial aid, and education. Likewise, they may partner with local organizations and businesses to offer job training programs, financial literacy classes, and health clinics.

Churches can also promote social connections by providing fellowship and community service opportunities. Finally, churches can also utilize resources like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) faith-based initiative, which offers a wide range of mental health resources and makes it easy to find helpful resources from other organizations.

Trauma-informed churches know the limit and scope of the spiritual and emotional care services they can provide, especially when someone needs specialized, professional trauma clinical care. They see resourcing and referring as one of the most helpful ways they can support others, not as a last resort. Part of being a trauma-informed church also involves referring others who may be in immediate danger (from suicide, threat from others or threat to others, or child neglect and abuse). Don't wait to act; immediately call 911, 988, or local authorities.

We pray that as you continue your journey to becoming a trauma-informed church, you will hold onto God's promise to draw near the brokenheartedand those whom He calls to help.

For more ideas and practical help becoming a trauma-informed church, download our FREE trauma-informed church action tool.

The Better Samaritan blog is produced by the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, which offers a M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership and a Trauma Certificate. To learn more and apply, visit our website

Jamie Aten, Ph.D., and Kent Annan, M.Div. co-direct the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College and are also the co-founders of Spiritual First Aid.
About a decade ago, I attended the funeral of a woman of faith that my family and I had known for decades. This longtime friend had passed away after battling cancer, and the farewell was painful. She was the kind of person whose departure meant the world had lost some of its tenderness.

At her funeral in our midwestern Brazil hometown, I heard people remark that she got sick because of her sorrow and that now she would finally rest, and I finally put together what I was too young to comprehend before: She had endured an abusive relationship until the day she died.

What made our friend stay in such a cold relationship and toxic situation? Her faith that her husband would one day change and her conviction that divorce could cause her to lose her salvation.

Devastatingly, she believed that it was Gods wish that she remain faithfully married, regardless of her husbands abuse, and this stance was only reinforced by her pastors. They advised her to keep fasting, praying, and putting her all into her marriagepractices she kept until the day she passed away.

Requiring someone to submit to a violent marital burden is a slow, sadistic death sentence whose origins can be traced back to years of sinful abuse of power. Surely, our calling to die to ourselves every day extends into our personal relationships, because all of them entail a measure of self-sacrifice. But its a completely different thing to distort Scripture to the point of equating spiritual sacrifice with enduring spousal violence. Theres a crucial difference between these types of death: one is rooted in perfect love, while the other is rooted in destructive sin.

The marital burden

When justifying maintaining such a violent and deadly marital burden, Ive heard many pastors and Christian leaders quote 1 Peter 3:12: Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

In these verses, Peter is addressing women who believe in God but are married to men who do not and explaining that they have an opportunity to be a witness of faith to their unbelieving husbands. At no point whatsoever is Peter telling women to submit to violent husbands, often Christian, so that they are won over without words by their wives behavioran argument I have often heard.

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On the contrary, the Bible condemns this violence, as Malachi 2:16 shows: For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of armies (NASB). It is worth noting that in the same verse in which God says I hate divorce, the Lord also clearly says that he hates violence.

Therefore, a marriage grounded in submission to abusive behavior has nothing to do with godliness, nor is it based on the Word of God. It is not a bond of love but more like an arrow fastening a slain animal to a wall. When the predator fakes love through emotional appeals for forgiveness and promises of change, these gestures amount to little besides spraying perfume to conceal the putrefaction of his sins on the decomposing prey.

But how do you differentiate suffering in an abusive relationship from acting self-sacrificially in a godly marriage? In the latter, both spouses follow Jesus words to deny themselves and pick up their crosses. Each of them is denying his or her own urges and desires out of love for the other. Through this dying of their own separate flesh comes a new life, a resurrection embodied through this marriage.

Whose responsibility?

Despite Scriptures message to the contrary, rarely have I seen church leaders hold perpetrators responsible for the state of the marriage. Some pastors hold that divorce is a tragedy to be avoided at all costs, as it is too great of a sin.

Church leaders may praise a woman who stays in an abusive marriage for acting as a good wife and persevering in a trying situation. Since Christians believe that God changes people, some think that the wife is responsible to change her husband and that her persistence will be attested later when he finally changeswhich to them seems way more virtuous than simply divorcing.

Too often, Christians believe that the wife needs to view this situation as an opportunity to be full of virtue and that shes being ungodly if she files for divorce. Blaming the woman for a divorce in cases of domestic violence shifts the guilt and implies that she is ultimately responsible for her husbands actions. Giving wives the spiritual responsibility of masculine redemption is asking them to transform mens worst into their bestin other words, to perform the work of Jesus. Whats more, this work often means that women bear the wounds of change.

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The idea that a woman should bear this marital burden while enduring a violent household, as if this is an intrinsically feminine role, is not only immoral but also unbiblical. It collides with the ideal of marriage according to Paul in Ephesians 5:2528, which places the man as a Christlike redeemer who gives his life for his bride. In this sense, many have inverted the biblical standards, where sacrificial love is primarily and specifically required of the man. The biblical marital covenant is a covenant not of predatory death but of resurrection, where the loving sacrifice is inspired by the sacrifice of Christ.

God can restore everyone, even a violent or adulterous man. But he should bear the consequences of his actions, and this restoration should not take place where he still has access to those he has harmed. Jesus already carried our wounds, and inner transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit. Thus no woman needs to compulsorily risk her life for the love of any human beings soul, not even that of her own husband.

A welcome change

Earlier this year, CT reported on an American church whose leaders had advised domestic violence victims to stay in a marriage. The story was wrenching, but the reception to it revealed that many Christians now see these leaders actions as inappropriate and understand that even if this behavior was considered normal or acceptable in the past, it is wrong. Perhaps the question to ask now isnt just How did we get to this point? but rather How did we stay that way for so long? or How can we change this situation for good?



In 2019, amid an explosive discussion among evangelicals regarding confrontation of violence against women, the complementarian theologian Wayne Grudem shared with CT his reinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:15. After almost 40 years of ministry, Grudem shared a hermeneutical shift that allowed him to recognize violence and abuse as causes for divorce (in addition to adultery and desertion). As someone who has counseled domestic violence victims for years, I welcomed such significant change.

Advising women to stay married when they dont know whether they will stay alive tomorrow will certainly not work to preserve the institution of marriage. Advising desperate women that there are biblical arguments for this kind of submission is perverting the Word to maintain a false and superficial marital image when the marriage covenant itself is already broken.

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As CTs editor in chief Russell Moore wrote last year, If one spouse abandons the home, the Bible reveals, it is not the fault of the innocent party. And if a spouse makes the home a dangerous place for the other spouse (or their children), that is not the fault of the innocent party either. In those cases, divorce is not a sin but is, first of all, a recognition of what is already the casethat the one-flesh union covenant is dissolvedand the abused spouse should feel no condemnation at all in divorcing.

My most fervent prayer is that women suffering spousal abuse may find comfort and support from their pastors and, whenever people fail them, that they may witness the Fathers protection. There is a God who sees them (Gen. 16), and he is not demanding that they continue in covenants of death. Rather, he came that they might have life and that they might have it to the full (John 10:10). God does not need a woman to die or be beaten as a sacrifice for a mans life. Christ has already made the supreme and ultimate offering (Heb. 10:1214).

Bruna Santini has worked in family law and advised domestic violence victims in Brazil and the United States, where she lives today with her family. She is currently pursuing her masters in theological studies at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta.

[ This article is also available in Portugues. ]
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were all listening to them (Acts 16:25). This happened in a jail cell in Macedonia about 2,000 years ago.

Many years later in a jail cell in northern China, two Christian friends, Yang Xiaohui and Chen Shang (both are pseudonyms for security reasons) sang their own worship songs from prison. In a place of despair, their words to heaven rang out in the darkness.

We started singing. Then everyone was singing, said Xiaohui. They said, Such a good song with such beautiful music and lyrics. Sing for us again!

Xiaohui first learned about Jesus by singing. At home, her husband taught her Christian songs. At church, she sang with the kids.

Late in the summer of 2022, police seized Xiaohui from her home. Only eight months after her husband went to jail for his faith, authorities apprehended Xiaohui while she cooked dinner for her family in the kitchen. She was accused of illegal gathering for religious activities.

Several hours after she was first detained, the police threw Xiaohui into a cell with eight or nine others in the middle of the night. Xiaohui was nervous. But she believed God put her in this place to share his light.

I forced myself to preach the gospel and to exalt God, she said.

Xiaohui and the others in her cell swapped stories of how they ended up in jail. People from all walks of life end up in Chinese prison. Xiaohui met women in jail for fighting, prostitution, theft, gambling, protesting a broken contract, and violating immigration laws.

Xiaohui tried to explain to these women that she had been put in jail for gathering with other Christians. Though the government had banned her church, the congregation had continued to gather.

But her cellmates could not make sense of her story. To them, Xiaohui looked like a law-abiding citizen, yet the police claimed she was a danger to society because she joins others to worship Godwhich is against some government regulations of religion. Even the police officers sent to interrogate her seemed a little baffled. Knowing little about Christian faith and persecution of Christians in China, Xiaohuis cellmates made fun of her for being jailed for a silly reason.

Xiaohui did not take offense to their mocking. When guards told the prisoners they had to clean their cell each day, the other cellmates refused. Xiaohui wiped the bathrooms, scrubbed the floors, meticulously folded all the blankets, and cleaned.

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I could sense that although they were laughing at my arrest, in fact, they secretly respected me. I took the task as a grace from God, she said.

At night, the women took turns standing two-hour shifts while the others slept, a form of discipline tactic mimicking military practice. The rules were strict: no looking sideways, no moving, just standing motionless and silently staring at their cellmates. Guards watched them closely on the video monitor. If they moved slightly, the guards would screech through the monitors and wake the whole cell: Stop moving. Stand straight!

Early on in her time in jail, Xiaohui fainted during one of her night shifts. When she woke, the officer said Xiaohui could get someone else to finish in her place. But to spare the other prisoners from the deprivation of rest, she finished on her own. The next day, the other women couldnt understand why she had sacrificed herself to allow them to rest. Xiaohui realized something had shifted in the atmosphere, and her cellmates began to look at her differently.

Jail began to take a toll on Xiaohui. Her body ached from consecutive poor nights of sleep. Though it was the summer, by night, the air grew cold and the building had little heat or insulation. Guards had cut the side of her dress, and her only outer layer was a vest, which didnt keep her warm. She struggled to stay awake during her overnight shifts. Then guards began to transfer her from cell to cell for reasons she did not know.

The daylight hours were tedious. The prisoners sat for hours on stools, not allowed to chat or walk around.

We were all terribly bored, she said. When people are bored, they love stories.  They would come to me and say, Tell us some stories. So I told them stories about Jesus.

As Xiaohui moved from cell to cell, she told her new roommates about Jesus and his sacrificial love. She told so many prisoners about Jesus that a police officer reprimanded her. After he interrogated her about gathering to worship with her house church, he said, You cant gather here in the detention center either.

I was a bit startled hearing that. Xiaohui said. Did he see me sharing the gospel through the security camera? But I thought, You were the ones who put me in here. You were the ones who locked 12 people up in a 20-square-meter space, not me.

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Xiaohui didnt just share stories about Jesus. Each night, as she stood guard, she prayed for her cellmates and their families, asking God to meet the needs she had heard about in conversations with the other women.

After about a week, Xiaohui was transferred to Cell Number One, where the jail held its best-behaved prisoners. There she found a familiar face: her friend Shang.

Shang had been seized the day after Xiaohui while eating lunch. Her husband had also been imprisoned for his faith. Just as with Xiaohui, police were trying to keep Chen Shang from attending the court debate during her husbands trial. Shangs health had remained strong during her time in the detention center, and she nursed her now gravely sick friend back to health.

Although Cell Number One was ostensibly the best place for those being held to be, officers still cursed and screamed at the prisoners most of the day.

It was as if the officers could not say anything beyond curse words, said Xiahui. The prisoners in the jail were like that, too. They were scared of the officers, but they screamed at each other.

Despite her own traumatic experience, Xiaohui also began to worry about the officers. She fretted over their personal lives. Perhaps, out of habit, they returned home and yelled at their children? Maybe their anger would make them physically ill?

I was moved to think about the officers in my heart all the time, so I also prayed for them, she said.

And just like it had been with her mocking cellmates, something changed.

I didnt know if it was because I prayed, but I saw the harshest officer actually smile while talking to me, she said.

Later, he gave her water and offered to let her sit instead of stand during her guard shift while she was sick. Other officers gave her medicine.

During her time in the detention center, Xiaohui realized in a fresh way that God was real and was with her.

The Bible tells believers to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). and that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). While in jail, these verses became more than words on a page. Although it seemed Xiaohui was helpless, in reality, the others in the detention center did not have the power of light that she possessed.

Having been Christians for years, we may forget about the kind of hopelessness and despair one can experience without God, she said.

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But for Xiaohui, there was no shame in that shameful place. Her spirit was unshackled: I learned to deal with hardship one day at a time. I was not overwhelmed by the circumstances or physical illnesses. Even when I was locked up in a jail cell, my soul was still free.

Unlike in the other cells, in Cell Number One, the officers encouraged the women to chat with one another. In this cell, Shang and Xiaohui sang Sing a Heavenly Song, a Chinese hymn loved by many house churches. In English, the song translates:

River of life, river of joy

Slowly flows into my heart

I want to sing the song

Sing the heavenly song

The darkened clouds over my head

The saddened tears of my heart will all be gone.

At first, just the two Christians sang. But before long, everyone joined in. In the darkness of prison, a river of life and joy flowed in and through Xiaohuis heart.

There were times when your bottom hurt from sitting, when your legs swelled from standing, when you had no energy to work but had to anyways, when you felt tired after you finished praying for people, when you tried to avoid the mosquitos and couldnt, when it was too hot because there was no air conditioner or fan, and when you had a hard time listening to all the cussingand yet, I really experienced the miracle that with the Lord, a thousand years is as one day, said Xiaohui. Indeed, 15 days was but just a blink of an eye.

This is an excerpt from The House Church in China, a new podcast telling true stories of todays persecuted churches in China.

E. F. Gregory is the editor for China Partnerships blog and the writer for The House Church in China podcast. She and her family live in the San Gabriel Valley outside of Los Angeles.

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The modern church in the West has a suspicious relationship with power. When it serves our interests or protects our privilege, we justify evil in many formsfrom denying racism to protecting sexual predators.

The problem is not new, nor is it distinctly Western, but modern projects like investigative journalism and social media have increasingly exposed it as our problem nonetheless. No denomination is blameless. No theological tribe or form of church governance is immune to corruption. Our track record of protecting the powerful makes us look like any other institution.

Along with hurting our witness in the world, the churchs perverse relationship with power has created a crisis among believers. In recent years, young Christians in particular have felt betrayed and disillusioned by their leaders loyalties to the status quo.

When it comes to faith, [Gen Z Christians] are open to Jesus and his teachings but skeptical about institutions and leaders putting on a facade, writes Liz Lykins, reporting on recent data from the Barna Group. Their desire for authentic relationships stems from struggles with skepticism and hypocrisy in leadership.

Even younger church leaders like me feel jaded and ambivalent. To us, power feels like an enemy to avoidor at least to distrust.

The story of Pentecost is an antidote to our pessimism. It reminds us that the churchs original relationship to power was not for evil but for good. It was the reception of Gods gift for the sake of his mission. In his last promise to his disciples, Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Pentecost reframes power for a fearful church by recalling Gods purpose for those who receive his gift. We get a sense of that intent from who was in the upper room when the Spirit first fell and who benefited from the multilingual praise that came after. It must have been a diverse enough group to remind Peter of Joels prophecy, which he quotes in his sermon:

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. (Acts 2:1718)

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At Pentecost, the same power was given to both young and old, male and female, rich and poor. The Spirits outpouring was not a singular or merely sentimental experience. It revolutionized the churchs understanding of leadership. Immediately following Pentecost, early Christians embraced models of shared authority that were ethnically and socioeconomically diverse (Acts 6:35; 13:1; Romans 16:112).

The Spirits descent on all believers doesnt eliminate hierarchy, of course, but it does disrupt homogeneity.

It also empowers a greater number of people. Christian leaders often operate with a scarcity mentality, fearful that othersespecially those who are differentwill take away limited resources and opportunities. But Gods generosity at Pentecost suggests they have nothing to fear.

Another striking aspect of the Spirits power is what it produces in people.

On Pentecost, those who experienced the Spirits indwelling spoke in other tongues (Acts 2:4). These early believers presumably didnt understand the words they were speaking and didnt appear normal to the mocking crowd (2:13). They went on to act in other strange, seemingly foolish ways, like selling their possessions to live in common with others (2:4445), following the Spirit into the desert (8:26), getting thrown in jail (12:45), and being martyred (7:5460).

In other words, the Spirit made them less powerful in the worlds eyes, not more. Their efforts to witness brought them persecution and death, not political and social prominence. They followed the example of Christ, who charged his disciples to seek greatness by becoming servants, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:2628).

When we take on the mindset of Christ, writes Dominique Dubois Gilliard, we do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit and refrain from exploiting our status and positions for selfish gain. We also, in humility, empty ourselves for the sake of the kingdom and our neighbors.

True power is subversive because its self-effacing and God-glorifying. The earliest believers preached Christ, whether that elevated them in the public eye or landed them in prison. The same goes for the church today. God resources us for the advancement of his kingdom, not our own kingdoms. If we can learn to embrace that vision, we dont need to fear or resent power. Instead, we can rediscover it as a gift offered in service of love.

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Some of us are called to glorify God from positions of worldly privilege, while others minister from positions of perceived weakness and insignificance. But all of us are called to walk in step with the Spirit, who was given so that our lives might bear witness to Christ.

How easy it is for us to forget that all power is derivative, writes Diane Langberg in In Our Lives First: Meditations for Counselors. Any of us who exercise power in positions of leadership exercise delegated authority.  Any power we have is to be used on God's behalf, never our own, for the fulfillment of His purposes in the service of others. Any power exercised outside of obedience to God is not neutral or harmless but utterly destructive.

In a world concerned with protecting endowments, Twitter followings, and political campaigns, Pentecost remains prophetic. Our birthright is to steward a power we were never meant to use for our own advancement. We have the privilege of renouncing what Paul calls disgraceful, underhanded ways in our ministrywhatever the costknowing that the all-surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Cor. 4:2, 7, ESV).

The church was born for this witness.

Hannah King is a priest and writer serving at Village Church Anglican in Greenville, South Carolina.
Michigan State students sue professor for forcing hundreds to pay $99 to join her leftwing group

A former marketing professor at Michigan State University has been sued for forcing hundreds of her students to each donate $99 to a radical leftwing organization that she belongs to.

MSU students Nathan Barbieri and Nolan Radomski filed suit last week against former professor Amy Wisner in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division.

The students also named Thomas Jeitschko, interim provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at MSU and Judith Whipple, interim dean of the MSU Broad College of Business as defendants.

Using her authority under University policies to select course materials, Defendant Wisner compelled each of her six hundred students to pay a $99 membership fee to join an outside organization called The Rebellion Community, read the complaint.

Defendant Wisner controlled The Rebellion Community and used the membership fees to finance her own political advocacy and to support external groups  including Planned Parenthood  that engage in political speech that is antithetical to the Plaintiffs deeply held beliefs.

According to the complaint, Wisner set up an online fundraiser last August aimed at paying for a trip across the United States to help organize leftwing activism at the local level.

During the fall 2022 semester, Wisner required students of her MKT 250 course to pay $99 for a subscription to her website The Rebellion Community, which would fund her activism efforts.

Barbieri and Radomski enrolled in the MKT 250 class in the spring semester of this year, as they both needed to take the course to complete their respective college degrees.

The two students took issue with the requirements of the course, in part because Wisner could have put the materials on a free website and because they objected to many of her beliefs.

Barbieri and Radomski are being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal nonprofit specializing in religious freedom cases that has successfully argued cases before the United States Supreme Court.

ADF Legal Counsel Logan Spena said in a statement released Monday that professors cant force students to finance and support political advocacy groups that express messages they disagree with.

Nathan and Nolan simply want to get a business degree without being compelled to pay membership fees that will be donated to Planned Parenthood or support speech that directly contradicts their religious beliefs, stated Spena.

Michigan State officials have violated the First Amendment and federal civil rights laws by authorizing professors to force students to support speech antithetical to their deepest values and faith.

MSU spokesman Dan Olsen told Mlive.com that the University dismissed Wisner and gave refunds to students through their Broad College of Business funds, totaling around $60,000.

For her part, Wisner posted comments on social media in April claiming that MSU fired me because they did not want me and my guest lecturers to teach diversity, equity, and inclusion to students in the core business communication class.

The battle over this issue started in October 2022 and ended about a month ago when they fired me for insubordination, she added, as quoted by Mlive.com.

Wisner also encouraged people to visit her website if you are worried about the hateful rhetoric and divisiveness in America, state of our education system, daily threat of gun violence, overt racism, sexism, antisemitism, xenophobia, ableism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bullying.
'Protecting our kids': Nebraska enacts ban on trans surgeries for minors, 12-week abortion limit

Nebraska has become the latest state to ban chemical castration and body-mutilating sex-change surgeries for minors and establish limits on abortion by enacting legislation to protect children.

Nebraskas Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed LB574 into law Monday, following its approval by the states unicameral legislature in a 33-15 vote last week.

The law includes the Let Them Grow Act, which prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones to kids or performing genital mutilation surgeries on children and teenagers. It's scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1. Whereas the Preborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortions after 12 weeks gestation, will go into effect immediately.

Today is a historic day in the state of Nebraska. It is a day when we are standing up and protecting our kids so that they can have a brighter and better future, Pillen said in a statement on Monday.

LB574 is the most significant win for social conservatives in a generation, and it is part of what has been a historic legislative session with senators voting for policies that protect our kids, cut taxes, grow agriculture, and defend our Nebraska values.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement that LB574 was a significant step forward for life" and predicted that about 300 human lives "will be protected each year through the [legislation].

SBA Pro-Life America has estimated that state laws put in since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court decision has prevented over 177,000 abortions.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion. In response, more than a dozen states have passed laws that ban most or nearly all abortions.

In addition to Nebraskas Preborn Child Protection Act, the most recent pro-life laws enacted at the state level include a 12-week abortion ban in North Carolina and a six-week abortion ban in Florida.

The Let Them Grow Act, which bans the prescription of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones and the performance of gender-altering surgery on youth suffering confusion about their sex, will make Nebraska the 19th state to ban some or all forms of gender transition procedures for minors with gender dysphoria. Others states with similar laws include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

The push to ban practices referred to by supporters as gender-affirming care comes as a result of concerns about the long-term impacts of the procedures. The American College of Pediatricians has warned that puberty-blocking drugs can lead to osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.

Potential side effects of cross-sex hormones identified by the American College of Pediatricians include an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.

The practices described as gender-altering surgeries in the Let Them Grow Act have received particular condemnation due to the gruesome deformities left behind from the removal of forearm and thigh tissue in order to create a flaccid, fake penis that doesn't work for girls who seek to look more like a man, as well as the scars left following the removal of healthy breasts.

In February of last year, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the American Osteopathic Association and the American Psychiatric Association issued a joint statement denouncing state-level efforts to criminalize gender-affirming care for young people.

However, a feature story published by The New York Times last November showed that a growing number of medical professionals and formerly trans-identified people, also called detransitioners, are concerned about the harmful effects of puberty blockers that these medical institutions are defending to rake in financial profits.

In addition to the physiological consequences associated with sex change operations, detransitioners have come forward to share the psychological implications of the life-altering surgeries.

Detransitioner Chloe Cole filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and others over their involvement in her gender transition, which involved prescribing her puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and a double mastectomy as a minor that left her with deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system.

Cole had previously elaborated on the harm she suffered as a result of the treatment she received in a notice of intent to sue filed last year. The earlier legal filing noted that although the young woman was advised that the distress she experienced because of her gender dysphoria would resolve as she transitioned, her distress always came back worse following a feeling of initial relief that materialized after each phase of transition.
Texas House passes bill to ban diversity offices at state-funded colleges, universities

Public colleges and universities in the state of Texas would be prohibited from establishing or maintaining programs and offices that promote hiring or employment practices on the basis of race, sex, or other protected characteristics under a bill passed Monday by state lawmakers.

In addition to banning so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices, Senate Bill 17 would also prohibit taxpayer-funded schools from mandatory DEI training.

The legislation identifies a DEI office as any office which provides different treatment to people based on race, sex, color or ethnicity and can involve anything from policies to programs or activities.

After the Texas House passed SB17 by a vote of 83-62, the bill will now go back to the Senate, and, pending approval by the upper chamber, will head to Gov. Greg Abbotts desk for signature.

If the Senate rejects the Houses version, both the House and the Senate will convene a committee to reach a compromise on the bill.

During debate Friday in the House, Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, blamed Republicans fear of diversity for killing SB17.

Diversity is not a threat. Equitable access to education is not a threat. Inclusion is not a threat," said Criado. "We turn our cheek away from the real threats that our communities face  the threats of gun violence, threats of poverty, housing insecurity, the threat of illiteracy."

In April, SB17 author Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, told the Senate the debate on DEI in Texas was already leading to national implications, even in deep blue state Democratic strongholds like Michigan, where MIT and other institutions have taken a second look at such policies.

Texas is leading the way on this issue, as it should, said Creighton.

In February, Abbott instructed state agencies to end any usage of DEI initiatives in their hiring practices and warned that such practices could violate federal and state employment laws.

The innocuous-sounding notion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been manipulated to push policies that expressly favor some demographic groups to the detriment of others, Abbott wrote.

Republican-led legislatures in 19 states have introduced 34 bills that would eliminate or significantly limit DEI programs, including North Dakota and Florida, where earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a college reform bill into law that effectively bans state colleges and universities from spending funds on most DEI programs.

DeSantis  who is rumored to be nearing an announcement Wednesday night on a potential 2024 presidential campaign  said the bill would work to eliminate DEI-infused curriculum from taxpayer-funded schools.

Florida has ranked number one in higher education for seven years in a row, and by signing this legislation we are ensuring that Floridas institutions encourage diversity of thought, civil discourse, and the pursuit of truth for generations to come, DeSantis said at the bills signing ceremony.

SB17 is among several bills being pushed through by lawmakers before the session concludes on May 29.
Founder of Christian Coalition Family Church charged with child abuse, sexual battery

A day after the Alachua County Sheriffs Office in Gainesville, Florida, announced they had arrested and charged Lorenzo L. Crawford, founder of Christian Coalition Family Church, with child abuse, investigators slapped him Wednesday with an additional 11 counts of alleged sexual battery and one count of aggravated battery.

Do you remember us telling you that our Detectives were continuing to investigate some very serious allegations against Crawford? Sheriff Watson is pleased to announce that through the very diligent efforts of our entire Criminal Investigations Team, as well as the hard work of our community partners that assisted with forensic interviews, Crawford has been additionally charged with 11 counts of Sexual Battery and 1 count of Aggravated Battery, the Alachua County Sheriffs Office announced in a statement on Facebook.

Alachua County Sheriff Clovis Watson Jr., who has been in law enforcement for more than 20 years, called Crawford one of the most heinous and vile human beings he has ever seen, as the acts he committed not only created physical and emotional scars for the victims, but it also created a spiritual void and an immense amount of doubt in people who believed in the church according to the statement.

The sheriffs office announced on Tuesday that Crawford, 54, who calls himself "apostle," was charged after an investigation into a report of sexual abuse at Crawfords church.

The initial investigation into Crawford was related to a juvenile victim who notified a family member that another juvenile church member confided in them that they had been sexually abused by a member of the church. The juvenile victims family member advised Crawford of the information provided, which caused Crawford to summon the juvenile victim to his office. The juvenile victims family member was made to wait outside the office, while Crawford scolded the juvenile about minding their own business, police said.

During the encounter, Crawford instructed the victim to go to their knees and take down their pants, before Crawford utilized the entire length of a belt to beat the bottom half of the victim. This act caused significant bleeding and four months later, has still left significant markings on the juvenile victim, investigators added warning that this investigation is not over!!!

Sheriff Watson wants to assure you that if you are victimizing our children and even worse, hide behind the guise of being a religious leader to do so, WE WILL DELIVER YOU TO THE JUSTICE SYSTEM! Watsons office warned.

Alachua County Sheriffs Office public information officer, Art Forgey, told WCJB that police believe more victims will come forward.

Its sickening, Forgey said. I wouldnt say that you could call this person a church leader when hes doing the things that he is doing. That is nowhere to be found in the Bible or any other religion. I think to run under the guise of this being a religion is the first strike in this puzzle.
Decline of religion in America is a national health concern': researchers

Should religion, including Christianity, continue to decline as shown in a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center, leading to an increase in the population with no religion, Americans may not just lose their faith but their health, too, according to a father-daughter research team.

Brian Grim, who is president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, and his daughter, Melissa Grim, who is a senior research fellow and project director at the foundation, published a study in 2016 showing how religion contributes some $1.2 trillion annually to the socio-economic value of the American economy.

They followed up that study with another in 2019 published in the Journal of Religion and Health that valued the work of nearly 130,000 congregation-based substance abuse recovery support programs in the U.S. at up to $316.6 billion.

We find that these faith-based volunteer support groups contribute up to $316.6 billion in savings to the U.S. economy every year at no cost to taxpayers, the researchers recalled in a brief published by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation on Saturday.

While negative experiences with religion (e.g., clergy sex abuse and other horrendous examples) have been a contributory factor to substance abuse among some victims, given that more than 84% of scientific studies show that faith is a positive factor in addiction prevention or recovery and a risk in less than 2% of the studies reviewed, we conclude that the value of faith-oriented approaches to substance abuse prevention and recovery is indisputable, they noted. And, by extension, we also conclude that the decline in religious affiliation in the USA is not only a concern for religious organizations but constitutes a national health concern.

The recent Pew analysis projected religious composition in the U.S. under multiple switching scenarios for the first time, as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world.

In the study, Pew highlights four hypothetical scenarios out of several possibilities to demonstrate how the U.S. religious landscape might change over the next half century. The impact of younger Christian adults abandoning their faith without limitation was modeled in one of those scenarios.

While the other three scenarios reflect varying degrees of religious disaffiliation, they all show Christians continuing to shrink as a share of the U.S. population, even under the counterfactual assumption that all switching came to a complete stop in 2020. The ranks of the unaffiliated, however, are projected to grow under all four scenarios.

Of course, it is possible that events outside the studys model  such as war, economic depression, climate crisis, changing immigration patterns or religious innovations  could reverse current religious switching trends, leading to a revival of Christianity in the United States, the researchers noted. But there are no current switching patterns in the U.S. that can be factored into the mathematical models to project such a result.
Ex-psychics warn parents about 'dangerous' starseeds occult belief

Jenn Nizza, a former psychic medium who became a Christian, is warning parents about an occult belief called "starseeds" that is luring some children into demonic practices.

On the May 12 episode of her podcast, Ex-Psychic Saved: Exposing Divination, New Age, and the Occult, Nizza hosted another reformed psychic medium-turned-Christian, popular TikTok user @MustuardSeedHannah, for a discussion about starseeds. Nizza defined a starseed as a person who believes there are advanced spiritual beings from other planets and realms. She noted that those who believe the starseeds ideology typically think they came from stardust and have been infused with a divine light.

Nizza explained that the hashtag for starseeds on TikTok has over 953.9 million views, a factor that loomed large in her decision to warn listeners to be aware of and avoid anything that is affiliated with the practice.

Hannah condemned the starseeds ideology as dangerous in light of its tendency to captivate those who already feel alone in life: They tell you, you have this spark, and its part of the universe and you can change the universe through this spark. And ... it really fuels people  who have good intentions, but are literally doing wickedness.

The starseed ideology is so dangerous because it pulls in people who already feel lost and it gives them a place to think they can flourish and  walk into their identity, ascend [and] grow, she maintained. Hannah insisted that people who fall into the trap of believing in starseeds fail to realize that what they are truly looking for in the ideology is sanctification, which can only come from Jesus. Instead, she added, they found the counterfeit, which is ascension.

Hannah likened starseeds ideology to Scientology, noting that they share doctrinal similarities. She stressed that in both ideologies, you have to depend on all these other entities and frequencies.

And in Scientology, they have weird terms to describe people who are not doing what they want, and thats in the New Age. And in starseed thinking, they do the same thing. They will literally say, you have a dark entity on you, or your chakras are blocked, or this or that. And it literally leads to madness.

Nizza noted that 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, which states that the devil masquerades himself as an angel of light, sums up the way in which the devil presents himself through starseeds ideology: Of course, we know an angel is a messenger. An angel of light. And its no wonder that his servants would masquerade as servants of righteousness. That hits me so hard because, I mean, of course, I was one, you were one.

Additionally, Nizza elaborated on how starseeds ideology comes off as something good and comes off as something nice; even as something godly. She summarized the messages at the center of advocacy on behalf of starseeds as, I just want to help you and Hey, youre just so special. Nizza referred to those suggestions as well as the idea that starseeds came to Earth to help heal human souls as so attractive, except its just a big fat hairy lie.

Its just the devil masquerading. So he comes and he attacks through your vulnerability, my friends, through the crack in the window, right? He slips in. The Bible tells us that the devil is roaming around, actually that hes prowling around seeking to whom he will devour.

Both women drew upon their personal experiences when discussing the dangers of starseeds. As a child, Nizza said she was oppressed after being led into occult practices from a young age. The 45-year-old recalled that because she was oppressed as a child and has embraced a new identity as a saved and redeemed Christian, she has become super passionate about these issues, [and] how they target children in a mighty way.

All divination is condemned by God.  The devils agenda is the same. His tactics are the same. Hes current. Hes active and he keeps up with the times. So though his agenda is the same, he keeps pushing out his tricks just to get people ensnared and afraid and away from God and away from the Gospel, Nizza warned.

Hannah, who was taught how to do palm readings as a child by her stepmother, described how this topic is severely important to me because it dictated the direction of ... both of our lives from the point that we were children, forward, until Christ intervened and saved us.

When you introduce this kind of thing to a child, their heart is so pure that theyre going to take it and think that they can fall back on it when theyre an adult because its what they know. Its what they were taught. Its familiar, she asserted.

Hannah pointed listeners to Proverbs 22:6, which states: Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

We should raise children up in the way that they should go. Does that mean theyre going to go that way? No. But, we raised them up in the way that they should go.  When you raise a child up in the way that they shouldnt go at all ... thats what they know, Hannah said.

Hannah added, We as human beings are born sinners. Were born under the curse of Adam [and Eve] because, you know, they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And ... people need to have that revelation of sin in order to realize that they need to be delivered from it. But when youre a child, and youre taught this ideology from your parent or a guardian ... it literally becomes your [life].

The same way that God speaks, and like He spoke us into creation and He spoke the world around us into creation, parents are able to speak the life of a child into its being as youre raising it, she added.

Nizza outlined the supernatural experiences that can happen to children when they're introduced to the occult: Things are really happening to children. Children are really hearing from demons. Theyre really seeing demons. Theyre really receiving information.

Examples of demonic possession cited by Nizza include situations where the parent sees the child reporting information that sounds like from a past life or sounds like ... mediumship information ... giving an account of great grandpas life although the child was [too young to know]. Emphasizing that these things are really happening, she explained that the devil uses this whole thing, adding: He targets the kid [and] gets to the parents.

Nizza delivered a message to those who have family or friends that are wrapped up in this, that are really paying attention to it and youre feeling hopeless, encouraging them to pray for them without cease.

Somebody was praying for me. God can save anybody, Nizza concluded. Dont give up hope. Youre listening to two women that were wrapped up in this and saved by the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So dont give up hope.
Kentucky church ministry builds 1,000th ramp for those in need

A Kentucky church's ministry founded in the 1990s to build handicap-accessible ramps has just completed the construction of its 1,000th ramp.

The Reidland United Methodist Men Ramp Ministry, based in Paducah, built the 1,000th ramp on Wednesday, having built ramps for people in need in the western Kentucky area since they launched in 1995.

Joe Burkhead, the head of the ramp-building ministry who has been a volunteer with them since its inception, told The Christian Post that the group started out as an extension of Reidland UMCs Helping Hands ministry work.

Our UMM group did a lot of help projects for our older church members, Burkhead explained. Our then-President Bill Thistlewood fielded a request from a community asking if we could build a handicap ramp for a person in need. Billy came to me and asked if I would take charge of that request, which I gladly did.

Although they did not originally intend to have the ramps be a ministry unto itself, soon after finishing the first one, the UMM chapter began receiving requests from others who needed ramps.

The first year they completed five ramps, the following year they built 10, and by the eighth or so years after, they were averaging as many as 50 ramps built annually.

We completed 60 this past year  more than Id prefer asking our guys to do, but weve been swamped with requests the past year-plus, and until recently have been running three to four months behind, Burkhead said.

Burkhead told CP that while there has been a lot of turnover with volunteers over the past 27 years and he is the last original member, he felt that right now, we have perhaps the best core group of builders weve ever had.

We had an extended period of low numbers about three or four years ago, and I was personally really struggling to keep the ministry going. God answered some prayers, and suddenly we were up to a very solid crew again, he said, noting that people from outside Reidland UMC are now part of the ministry.

Our core group now includes a Roman Catholic, two Baptists, and an Independent, and we have at least three other part-timers who are not members of our church.

Nearly all of the ramps have been built within 25 miles of the church property, although on one occasion, Burkhead recalled, they built one in Mississippi that stretched for over 100 feet and, at one point, was nearly 7 feet off the ground.

We always hope that recipients and their relatives take away the realization that God has hands and feet at work here on Earth, and that they are the beneficiary of His love and grace, not our carpentry, said Burkhead.

I often tell my fellow building brothers that they deserve the privilege of heading up the ministry for a few months, just so they can experience the joy and satisfaction of recipients appreciation and initial reaction.
Professor who vandalized 'violent' pro-life display fired after holding machete to reporter's neck

A New York college professor has been fired after vandalizing a pro-life student groups display and subsequently threatening a reporter with a machete.

Shellyne Rodriquez, formerly an adjunct professor at CUNY Hunter College, was captured on video earlier this month berating members of Students for Life of America (SFLA) who were hosting an informational display on chemical abortion.

In the May 2 video, Rodriguez, 45, is seen aggressively approaching the table and cursing at the students who were standing at the display, which she called violent and triggering.

"You're not educating s---, this is f----- propaganda, Rodriguez is heard saying in the video. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next? Is that what you're gonna do next? ... this is b-------, this is violent. You're triggering my students."

When a male student replied, "I'm sorry about that," Rodriguez responded, "No you're not, because you can't even have a f------ baby, so you don't even know what that is."

Rodriguez then vandalized the pro-life students' table, throwing fetal models and other items across the table, according to SFLA.

This is clearly unacceptable behavior for a professional in any field, but particularly stunning for someone who is meant to educate students in a professional and unbiased manner, SFLA Northeast Regional Coordinator Taylor McGee said in a statement.

According to the group, Rodriguez returned to the table a second time but was stopped from throwing more display items off the table.

Students from the group reported the video to campus security following the incident.

After video of the incident went viral, Rodriguez reportedly threatened to chop up a New York Post reporter who went to her apartment.

According to the Post, veteran reporter Reuven Fenton and a photographer arrived outside Rodriguezs home in the Bronx and Fenton identified himself as a journalist.

Rodriguez then opened the door and held a machete blade up to Fentons neck, according to the Post. She then demanded they leave and slammed the door shut.

Photos released by the Post appeared to show Rodriguez  still wielding a machete  chasing the crew outside near her home.

On Wednesday, Hunter College announced Rodriguez had been fired, according to the BBC.

The incident involving Rodriguez wasnt the only act of aggression directed towards SFLA at Hunger College: the group says during that same visit, a student stole one of the fetal models from their table, chewed on it, and returned after turning it into a project designed to look like an aborted infant.

Such events are among the epidemic of attacks against pro-life students, said SFLA President Kristan Hawkins, who pointed to what the group says are more than 100 free speech violations on campuses for the 2022-2023 school year, ranging from personal property violations to censorship by school administrators.

At an event at Georgetown University in April, students chalked pro-choice slogans while others showed off their bare feet as a form of protest at the historically Jesuit-affiliated research university.

During the outreach, one pro-choice student began writing slogans in chalk like "Pro-life is a lie, you don't care if people die" in front of the group's display. The student also wrote sayings such as "I have a heartbeat, too," and "Healthcare is a human right."

A member of SFLA also wrote in chalk in front of the display, writing "Women Don't Need Abortion to Succeed." Pro-choice students walking by the table stomped on the pro-life chalk writing with their feet or poured the contents of their water bottles over it.

Later in the afternoon, pro-choice students placed Planned Parenthood yard signs that read "Bans off our bodies" and "Abortion is healthcare" in the grassy areas near the pro-life display. Pro-choice students continued to write slogans on the ground throughout the day, chalking "Loserz were here" after the Students for Life display was taken down.

Hawkins said prior to the event, Georgetown instructed SFLA to pay for its own security, a challenge that made planning the event difficult.

"You can have free speech, but only if you can afford to pay for it," Hawkins told CP.
Tim Kellers unwavering, unapologetic faith bore fruit

New York magazine once described Tim Kellers founding of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City as close to a theological suicide mission for having the audacity to create a strictly conservative Christian church in the heart of Sodom.

Only Tim Keller wasnt eager for the assignment. In fact, he turned down the invitation and attempted to recruit two other pastors for the church plant, which was born out of a wildly successful dinner ministry hosted by Nancy DeMoss, widow of Art DeMoss, a mail-order insurance mogul.

Keller previously had pastored a small congregation in Hopewell, Virginia. But he was no stranger to urban ministry, having served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Boston and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he received his doctorate in ministry in 1981.

Compelled by the Holy Spirit, Keller eventually accepted the invitation, moved his wife, Kathy, and three young boys to New York City in 1989, and poured himself into the new ministry.

The conventional wisdom held that conservative Christian theology and teaching wouldnt find any takers in the big and hostile city. After all, thats left for bellicose street-corner evangelists with bullhorns.

As often is the case, the conventional wisdom was wrong.

Pastor Timothy J. Keller, who died Friday of pancreatic cancer at 72, was bold but not brash. He was courageous but not caustic.

Balding and bespectacled, he found a way to connect with his young and growing audience at Redeemer Presbyterian Church by speaking their language and referencing everything from The Village Voice, NPR, and The New York Times to C.S. Lewis, David, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and the ancient hymns of the faith.

The Pennsylvania native found there was a hunger for the honest, clear, and countercultural teaching of the Bible. His congregation was full of aspiring artists, actors, and business professionals who had come to New York in search of fame and fortune. Kellers preaching filled the empty void that he knew the bright lights and applause would never satiate, eventually building a megachurch with multiple campuses and pastors.

Although I interviewed Tim Keller many times for Focus on the Familys radio program, I most enjoyed the visits when the microphones and cameras were off.

I had the privilege of joining Tim and other ministry and cultural leaders on numerous occasions for off-the-record, behind-the-scenes conversations. Theres the old saying that politics makes for strange bedfellows, but the same can be said for interfaith, cross-cultural dialogue. In fact, those exchanges were probably far more insightful and intriguing than any Washington hoo-ha.

A bestselling author who stepped down as Redeemers senior pastor in 2017, Tim always had something interesting, wry, witty, or wise to say. He had an uncanny ability to disagree without being disagreeable  an increasingly lost art today.

Despite pressure from numerous camps and causes, I also appreciated Tims unbending commitment to orthodox Christianity. Whether it was holding fast to a biblical understanding of human sexuality or his support for the sanctity of life, he was unwavering and unapologetic.

This courage and boldness should strengthen fellow Christians own resolve as we wade into the culture with our convictions and invite conversation and debate.

I might also add that I appreciated Tims pastoral heart. From time to time, he would informally and casually counsel me on ministerial matters. I remember once sharing a particular burden with him. He listened patiently. He then smiled and reminded me that the passage of time would solve the problem. He was right.

Tim Kellers voice and wisdom will be missed, but he leaves behind a legacy that will live on like the many other giants of the faith on whose shoulders we now stand.

The psalmist wrote: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalms 116:15).

Our friends passing grieves those of us who knew, loved, and benefited from his ministry  but it brings this beloved husband, father, scholar, and theologian face to face with the God he so loyally and effectively served and worshipped.

Originally published at The Daily Signal.
Bishops will continue to speak out on government's immigration policy, says Welby

The Archbishop of Canterbury has defended his outspoken criticism of the government's Illegal Migration Bill.

Archbishop Justin Welby and bishops sitting in the House of Lords have strongly criticised the Bill, which proposes sending failed asylum seekers to countries like Rwanda.

Writing in The Times, the Archbishop said that bishops would continue to speak up.

"Those who sit on the bishops' bench will not abandon our duty to point out when governments propose legislation that is impractical or immoral," he said.

"We will not abandon the most vulnerable people that Jesus Christ specifically calls us to love. And we will not abandon our hopes and efforts for a nation and a world that helps those in trouble and supports those in need."

The Archbishop agreed that "we must stop the boats" that are making illegal crossings across the English Channel and said that there should be "limits" on the number of migrants accepted into the country.

However, he argued that the Bill in its current form "will do little to resolve the existing problems, and will exacerbate others, all while causing serious suffering to the most vulnerable".

Welby said that anyone attempting to cast opponents of the Bill as "indifferent" to the reality of the challenges "is not engaging with this debate in good faith".

The Archbishop called on the government to speed up processing of asylum seeker applications, and provide more safe routes for people to come to the UK as a means to "undercut" the people smugglers.

He has tabled two amendments to the Bill which he describes as "helpful, not destructive".

"The crisis is global, vast and long term. No nation can offer simple, quick fixes on its own," the Archbishop wrote.

"Successive governments have implemented deterrence policies to prevent asylum seekers arriving. They face indefinite detention in grim conditions, at constant risk of severe destitution, and now face the prospect of being sent to Rwanda. And yet Channel crossings are set to see record numbers this year."

He continued, "No solution can stop Channel crossings entirely. But these alternatives are more likely to alleviate the situation without compromising the UK's approach to international law or neglecting the victims of slavery, and while maintaining the commitment to dignity and hospitality that defines our country at its best."
Tim Keller: a tribute

Tim Keller died on 19 May 2023 and, although assured by our Christian hope of the resurrection, it was saddening. At 72, Tim was still a significant preacher, writer and elder statesman in the Christian world. I have a fond memory of being with him in New York and both of us passionately talking about reaching those outside of the church with the good news of Jesus.

I have been greatly helped by his penetrating and powerful books, such as The Reason for God and the Prodigal God.

Tim had many roles  pastor, theologian, writer  but perhaps the most important was that of evangelist. So here, as an evangelist, I want to comment on a few notable aspects of Tim's remarkable life and ministry in proclaiming the gospel.

First, Tim's preaching had confidence. Intellectually, Tim had deep theological roots: he knew what he was talking about. Although committed to a Reformed Christianity, he nevertheless had a sense of proportion and priority and never let secondary theological elements obscure or distract from the great focus of his preaching: Jesus Christ.

Tim readily acknowledged that he had learned from British Christians such as C.S. Lewis, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Stott the importance of a 'mere' Christianity that never strayed far from the beating heart of the gospel: sin, forgiveness, Jesus and the cross.

Significantly, although he always sought to reach out to those outside the church, his efforts never involved any compromise of his beliefs. Yet the strength of Tim's preaching was that it was supported by more than intellectual conviction: he had met with Jesus and knew that only Jesus could change lives.

Second, Tim's preaching had grace. There was a warmth and gentleness in his preaching and writing that warmed people to him and to Christ. One of his endearing characteristics was the way that, whether you read him or heard him, you felt that he stood alongside you as a friend and guide. Tim cared and understood, and he offered invitations to a faith in Christ that were hard to refuse.

Third, Tim's preaching had richness. If he saw the fundamentals of the gospel message as fixed and unchanging, he also saw the significance of the gospel as extraordinarily broad. For him, coming to faith in Christ was not any sort of final destination but a beginning; the opening of a door to a new world, full of every sort of implication for how to live and think. It seemed that Tim could never talk or write on a subject without casting some fresh light on it from the gospel.

That he could do this reflected not just his sharp intelligence, but his labours of reading and thinking extensively and deeply on a vast range of subjects. Tim was a firm believer in Abraham Kuyper's famous phrase, 'There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, "Mine!"' Tim believed the key to effectively reaching out to those outside the faith was not to offer an insipid, watered-down gospel, but rather the very opposite; to present a richer, deeper message that captivated and won minds and hearts.

Fourth, Tim's preaching had courage. He had an unshakeable faith that the message of Christ was for everybody; it was what, at depth, all men and women ultimately needed and longed for. That conviction gave him the vision and the courage to take risks. At a time when many people said that the inner cities, with their liberal secular masses, were no-go areas for evangelicals, Tim rejected any idea of retreating and took the gospel to the troubled and turbulent heart of New York. There, to the surprise of many  but not I think to him  his preaching found a receptive hearing.

Tim's courage showed elsewhere. His growing ministry and his many books made him not only a public figure but, inevitably, an obvious target and he found himself under verbal attack, often from within Christianity, for what he said  or didn't say  on theological or political issues. Undeterred, determined and ever peaceable, Tim simply pressed on with sharing Jesus.
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Long ago, Walgreens created a prescription for success. And the main ingredient was and has continued to be its innovative business practices and services for the betterment of its customers, suppliers (or vendors), and operation. This story is about one innovation adopted by Walgreens, scan-based trading (SBT), and how SAP helped improve its use.

When pharmacist Charles R. Walgreen Sr. became the owner of his first drugstore in 1901, there were about 1,500 drugstores in and around Chicago where he livedall doing business in a similar manner. Charles decided it was time to stand out. And thats when the innovations began.

Medicine, milkshakes, and more

Walgreen Sr. manufactured his own line of medicines to ensure high quality and low prices. He increased the number of household products on his shelves to make his drugstore more of a one-stop shop. As time passed and his operation expanded with more drugstores (now about 9,000 throughout the country as Walgreens Boot Alliance), the innovations continuedin various areas.

Walgreens invented the milkshake as we know it today. The chain was one of the first stores to introduce self-service, becoming Americas largest self-service retailer by 1953. It was the first drug chain to put prescriptions in child-resistant containers in 1968 and was an early adopter of in-store health clinics, continuing the practice of the one-stop shop.

Formulating a solution

Sometimes, innovations need to be improved. And that was the case with scan-based trading. Walgreens was an early adopter of that technology. Simply put, SBT is a practice in which vendors own and are responsible for their products on a retailers shelves until the products are sold. The vendor gets paid and relinquishes ownership when the product is scanned at checkout.

SBT has advantages for retailers and vendors. The retailer doesnt have to incur the cost of purchasing and stocking vendor inventory. In theory, the vendor gains inventory and sales information and gets paid faster. But the Walgreens legacy SBT mainframe solution slowed down payments, caused errors, and restricted visibility.

The Invoice Challenge

Point-of-sale (POS) information used to generate invoices for SBT vendors was getting hung up in the mainframe environment. The process involved multiple steps, from an SAP-based solution to the chains legacy solution and back to SAP. This transfer led to the slowdown and data inaccuracies, with an invoice error rate as high as 11%, causing incorrect payments of $117 million chain-wide in just around three months. Fixing the results required extra steps every day by Walgreens and vendor employees, adding to the delays.

Walgreens is a world-class organization; we needed a world-class scan-based trading program, says Bradley J. Trychta, senior director of Enterprise Financial Services at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Our vendors require daily information to run their business and keep Walgreens shelves stocked.

Putting SAP mortar to the pestle for faster, better processing

A joint team of experts from SAP, Walgreens, and TCS designed an end-to-end solution to implement a new invoice creation process, eliminating the use of the mainframe. The new process has cut the error rate down to, at most, one-half of 1% of all SBT invoices.

Walgreens can now handle 1.2 million SBT transactions on peak days, representing 2.3 million items sold. And processing only requires two to three hours on those daysa dramatic reduction over the previous solution.

Walgreens has improved its efficiency, cut costs, and created a better work environment for its employees, eliminating the time and effort required for fixes. The solution has also helped with vendor relationships.

And everyone benefits

In addition, to receiving on-time, accurate payments, SBT vendors have boosted their visibility into whats selling in each store. The SAP based solution has helped them:

Improve daily operational analysis of UPC Sold

Plan the next deliveries at the store level

Perform accurate forecasting of product production

Eliminate in-store scouting of inventory before delivery

See store inventory turn and use shelf space more efficiently

The solution benefits not only Walgreens and its vendors but also its customers. Vendors now have a better idea of what to stock and where to stock it on the shelves, so customers can get the products they need at their favorite drugstore that was built on innovation.

For its commitment to innovation, Walgreens has been named a Business Innovator WINNER in the Health Care category of the 2023 SAP Innovation Awards, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. To learn more, see the Walgreens Innovation Awards pitch deck.
Choice Hotels, the Maryland-based multinational hotel chain, is a $10 billion, 80-year-old hospitality company with about 7,500 hotels in 46 countries. And with such a presence of history and reputation in the market, it had the foresight and resources to make early investment and commitment to dovetailing its digital transformation with sustainability. A lot of this was, in recent years, borne out of a strong partnership with Amazon Web Services, so Choice became able to benefit from cost savings and energy efficiencies, while utilizing many related services AWS offerssuch as analytics and AIto advance its digital offerings.

Sustainability is one of our main drivers, says Kirkland. Usually when a company looks to go to the cloud, it wants to take advantage of the tech, get the ability to scale on demand, and manage cost differently. But a big benefit you get is a step up on sustainability, to be more efficient with workloads, and to use technology that uses less compute power, which, in turn, drives down carbon emissions. You use the tech and the capabilities of the cloud in real time on demand for what you need to do. And if youre smart about it, you can really drive down costs, as well as have a good impact on the environment.

As one of the cofounders of sustainableIT.org, a collection of about 25 senior executive CIOs across many verticals who believe in a collective responsibility and ability to help drive positive environmental impact through technology and IT, Kirkland is committed to the big picture and what business will look like for generations to come.

This group of leaders came together to say it matters what we do as an industry, he says. And as technology leaders, we can have a big impact on the world and the environment around us. Its time for us to step forward and do something about it, as opposed to expect somebody else to do the work. So we formed it last year and weve been working on getting it off the ground with partnerships and memberships, and we just launched the first ever standards specifically around IT on how to drive sustainability.

CIO senior writer Paula Rooney recently spoke with Kirkland about how Choice Hotels Internationals big bet on the cloud has allowed it to glean the many benefits of its digital transformation, while following through on a strategic commitment to sustainability. Here are some edited excerpts of that conversation. Watch the full video below for more insights.

On the cloud journey: Choice Hotels has a big footprint as a technology firm. We see ourselves as a mix of technology, hospitality and franchising. For the technology piece, its something thats been part of our DNA for a long time. We started our cloud journey back in 2003 with the first-ever cloud-based property management system. Heavy investment for us in cloud, though, really started in 2017 when we launched our redesigned, cloud-based, cloud-native central reservation system called ChoiceEdge. We then made a commitment to AWS in 2019 and started this five-year journey to move entirely into the cloud. So far, were on track and will be completed with that migration next year, and well be all in with the cloud. But as everybody thats working in cloud knows, thats step one of a million. Theres a lot of things you can do, a lot to take advantage of in the cloud that were working on at the same time.
Over the years, hundreds of techniques have been introduced to optimize website speed. And for good reason  a mere one-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% loss in conversions. Theres no room for complacency, but unless web performance is your day job, its probably not obvious which recommendations are going to have the largest impact on your site.

The reality is that not any one person or team has the time and resources to follow all recommendations, so lets dive into the tips that will have the largest real-world impact and can be implemented today at no cost.

Use proper cache-control headers

Edgio

Cache-Control: max-age=86400

The Cache-Control HTTP Response Header is used to specify browser caching policies. Policies include how a resource is cached, where its cached, and its maximum age before expiring(i.e., time-to-live). Implementing proper cache-control headers on static assets such as images, fonts, CSS, and JavaScript files can reduce the number of requests made to your server and improve page load times. Heres what to do:

Ensure that cache control is set to public, allowing browsers to cache the assets more efficiently.

Set a Time to Live (TTL) of at least one hour for browser caching to ensure that users dont need to download the same assets repeatedly during their browsing session.

Assign unique URLs with a fingerprint or hash to your static assets, especially for CSS and JS files, to ensure new versions of these files are downloaded when they are modified.

2. Optimize images for the target device

Edgio

<img src= loading=lazy height=Apx width=Bpx />

Image optimization is the most overlooked technique due to concerns over image quality  especially when converting to formats like WebP. However, optimizing images doesnt have to impact the overall image quality and can lead to substantial improvements in page load times. Consider the following:

Defer loading high-quality images until the page is fully loaded.

Optimize images by serving them in the correct format and size for the target device (phone, tablet, or computer) and viewport.

Where possible, scale down the quality of images without sacrificing visual appeal to reduce their file size and improve load times.

Utilize the srcset attribute in your image tags to allow browsers to choose the best image size and format based on the users device and connection.

3. Preload and pre-connect headers in HTML documents

Edgio

<link rel=preload href=/lcp-img.png as=image />

Preload is a new web standard that offers more control over how particular resources are prioritized and fetched to optimize their delivery. As a best practice, preload above-the-fold images using the rel=preload attribute images in the users viewport are loaded first, before content below the fold.

Edgio

<link rel=preconnect href=https://image.edg.io />

Pre-connect is another important optimization tool for any sites hosting third-party content like scripts and plugins. It establishes early connections to the necessary origins for things like DNS lookups, TLS negotiations, and TCP handshakes, reducing the time it takes to fetch those resources. This could shave off latency by hundreds and even thousands of milliseconds.

4. Defer non-essential scripts and be intentional with your MarTech stack

Load your non-essential JavaScript files last by deferring them. Depending on the number of scripts your site uses, this simple tweak can dramatically improve your page load times. To do this:

Place marketing scripts at the end of the body tag or make them asynchronous, reducing the initial load time.

Be intentional about which scripts you load on each page, as you might not need 100% of your MarTech stack on every page. Avoid loading checkout scripts or media player scripts before they are needed.

Consider tree shaking to eliminate unused code and reduce the size of your JavaScript bundles, leading to faster load times.

5. ABC: always be caching

If youre using a content delivery network (CDN), your resources are distributed to global edge servers, close to the end user. Todays modern CDNs, such as Edgios, give you fine-grained edge cache controls for HTML documents  even those that are dynamically generated. These can be customized and optimized to significantly improve page load times.

Follow the mantra always be caching. Any time you can serve content directly from the edge, avoiding a trip to your origin server, its a performance win.

If caching is not possible, make page templates cacheable and load dynamic data client-side. This will help with Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metrics, an important factor in how Google measures the performance of your website.

Monitoring and testing techniques

To ensure your hard days work of improving site speed is maintained, its essential to stay proactive and continuously monitor your website. Consider the following monitoring tools.

Chrome user Experience report (CrUX): CrUX is a 28-day trailing average of site speed measurements from Chrome browsers. The results impact the ranking of your website in organic search results.

Real-time user monitoring (RUM): RUM tools provide immediate feedback based on real user interactions, accounting for real-world bottlenecks (ie. device, network conditions, settings, etc.). Focus on relative RUM numbers as leading indicators for what your CrUX data will look like in the future. Look for a solution that provides real-time RUM rather than a solution like Googles, which refreshes data every 28 days.

Synthetic testing: Synthetic tests are measured with a controlled test under ideal conditions. It does not represent actual users but can help you identify performance issues before features are released to any users. Run synthetic tests in a staging environment before every release.

Conclusion

It can be overwhelming to improve page performance when there is an abundance of advice on the internet. By focusing on these specific recommendations, you can tackle the issue with direction and intention, and make a positive impact on your websites user experience.

If youd like to get specific advice for your sites performance, request a performance assessment from Edgio, a web application platform that accelerates pages to sub-second speeds on a massive global edge network.
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Home secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of failing to formally disclose links to a charity that trained lawyers in Rwanda.

Braverman co-founded the Africa Justice Foundation (AJF) in 2010 and used to chair the charity, which trained lawyers in sub-Saharan African countries.

The Independent reported this week that Braverman did not formally disclose her links to the charity when she was appointed home secretary last year.

According to the Independent, several people the charity worked with are now key members of president Paul Kagames government and are involved in the UKs 140m deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The newspaper reported that one former minister told it that the home secretary never mentioned her work with the charity.

According to the ministerial code , ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their public duties and their private interests.

History of Africa Justice Foundation

Braverman co-founded the charity with fellow barristers Cherie Blair and Philip Riches.

She was director of AJF until she resigned on 17 March 2015, according to Companies House records .

Braverman became an MP a few weeks afterwards on 7 May 2015.

Shortly after Bravermans departure, the charity was removed from the Charity Commissions register. It was dissolved as a company in 2018.

AJFs final financial accounts ending June 2015 show an income of 11,000 and expenditure of 29,000.

The Home Office declined to comment on the allegation that Braverman failed to formally disclose links to the charity.

Instead, a spokesperson for the department told Civil Society: Our thorough assessment of Rwanda found that it is a safe and secure country with a track record of supporting asylum seekers, and the court recently upheld this and found that our policy is lawful.

Several charities have written to the government opposing the Rwanda immigration policy.
The Vagina Museum will press ahead with plans to reopen at a new site in east London after raising more than 85,000 through a crowdfunding campaign ahead of its early June deadline.

It announced last week that it had found its third physical setting but needed to raise 85,000, partially for the deposit.

Today, the charitys crowdfunder exceeded the 85,000 total and the charity confirmed its intentions to reopen. At the time of writing, it has raised 85,805 of the 85,000 goal, from 2,400 donations.

A spokesperson for the charity told Civil Society that they did not expect to hit their target so soon.

Were absolutely blown away by the kindness, love and generosity that the world has shown the Vagina Museum in the past week, they said.

Its truly the sense of a community coming together to protect and assist a project that means so much to so many. Were thrilled to have reached our target, and very excited to bring our exhibitions back into the physical world.

Money to fund fit-out costs

The charity previously said that the crowdfunded money would also cover legal and admin fees, fit out costs and overheads such as staff salaries and day-to-day running costs during the move-in period.

A statement on the crowdfunder website says that money raised above the 85,000 target will go even further in helping us fit out our new home and exist whilst we do that.

This fundraising campaign prevents it from going any further into its reserves, and covers the initial expenses associated with moving premises.

The charity has faced a number of hurdles in trying to get a permanent museum location.

It was first in Camden Market before closing for the duration of the pandemic and in 2022, the museum relaunched at a site in Bethnal Green as part of a property guardianship scheme, which it was then evicted from in March .

sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
Davies Appoints COO for US Division

Davies, a global claims administrator that opened a US headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee in 2020, has appointed Jen Morrissey to the newly created position of group chief operations officer.

Davies said Morrissey will assist in its ambitious international growth plans. She has been instrumental in leading companies through periods of expansion and has experience in mergers and acquisition integration and information technology transformation, the London-based company said in a press release.

Morrissey was previously chief information officer with Unison Risk Advisors. Before then she held technology roles with Willis Towers Watson,Davies said.

Morrissey will be based in the United States and report directly to group Chief Executive Officer Dan Saulter.

Davies announced a new organizational structure in February. The company has three business units: Global Solutions, United Kingdom and Ireland and Davies US.

Resilience Appoints Global Claims Chief

Resilience, a San Francisco-based cyber insurance and risk management provider, promoted Tom Egglestone to global head of claims.

Egglestone joined the company in July 2022 as international claims leader for the United Kingdom and Europe. For the past seven years, he had handled a number of the London markets largest claims across a side range of jurisdictions and industries, the company said in a press release.

Egglestone previously held positions with Tokio Marine Kiln, CFC Underwriting and Hiscox, Resilience said. He has more than a decade of experience with complex specialty claims.

Clyde & Co. Appoints 2 Partners in Miami

Clyde & Co., a global law firm, has appointed Laura Besvinick and Julie Nevins as partners at its Miami office, expanding its offering of services to US insurers.

Both attorneys join the Clyde law firm from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. They have experience litigation unique coverage and bad faith issues, the company said in a press release.

Besvinick has 40 years experience with complex commercial insurance cases in Florida state and federal courts across the United States, Clyde said. She works closely with insurers to provide claims-handling advice in real time to avoid disputes, the company said.

Nevins has litigated a wide range of complex insurance and commercial disputes in federal and state trial and appellate courts, Clyde said. Her practice spans numerous substantive areas including unfair competition, misrepresentation, fraud, real property, intellectual property, and breach of contract.
Residents and US military bases across Guam braced against the potentially devastating impact from Typhoon Mawar as the Category 4-strength storm clipped the northern tip of the Pacific island.

Mawar, which was earlier downgraded from super-typhoon status, has made its closest point of approach to Guam just north of Andersen Air Force Base but will continue to batter the island for hours, the National Weather Service said on its Facebook page at 8:30 p.m. local time. An extreme wind warning remains in effect for northern Guam until 10:45 p.m.

This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation, said Landon Aydlett, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Guam. There will be a swath of tornado-like damage.

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency and ordered the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts. The US military holds almost a third of the islands land, including the Andersen Air Force Base, and has about 6,000 US military personnel stationed on Guam.

Winds were so fierce the weather services office building was vibrating, Aydlett said. The eyewall is moving northwest at 8 miles per hour and conditions will start to improve over the next five hours or so.

This is going to be a long night. It is going to be scary,said Aydletts brother Brandon, also with the weather service in Guam.

The storm, with sustained winds of about 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour, is expected to cause considerable damage to buildings, overturn vehicles and destroy as much as 60% of vegetation.

By Friday or Saturday, theres a risk Mawar will enter Philippine waters, though the storm is not likely to make landfall in the country, according to its national weather bureau. Taiwan is also on alert, with authorities saying the storms impact is dependent on its path early next week.

Guams population of about 169,000 was warned by Governor Lou Leon Guerrero to seek shelter no later than 9 a.m. local time. Guerrero had ordered the evacuation of some low-lying areas on Tuesday.

Officials at the Pentagon didnt respond to a request for comment on US military preparations for the storm. The US Marine Corps this year opened their first new military base in 70 years on Guam. B-1B bombers are regularly based at Andersen Air Force Base.

With assistance from Bill Faries, Manolo Serapio Jr., Kevin Varley and James Herron.

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.
DENVER (AP)  The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man killed by a sheriffs deputy while suffering a mental health crisis will get $19 million from government state and local agencies and changes to how officers are trained, under a settlement announced Tuesday.

The shooting of Christian Glass after his SUV became stuck in the mountain town of Silver Plume last year drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people with mental health problems.

As part of the settlement, Sally and Simon Glass also negotiated for changes they hope will prevent another family from suffering a loss like theirs. Clear Creek County will establish a crisis response team and its sheriffs office will train and certify all deputies in crisis intervention, according to documents released by their attorneys.

The state of Colorado, which had three officers on the scene of Glass June 11, 2022 killing, in addition to those from local agencies, will create a virtual reality training scenario for the Colorado State Patrol based on the shooting that will focus on de-escalation in stressful situations involving officers from different agencies.

A video message from Simon and Sally Glass will also be shown to state troopers and Division of Gaming officers at the beginning of their active bystander training. The program focuses on encouraging officers to intervene if they think a fellow officer is going too far or needs to step away from an incident.

There was no indication from body camera footage that officers from other agencies attempted to stop the breach of the vehicle before Christian Glass was shot.

An attorney for the Glasses, Siddhartha H. Rathod, said they hope hearing their story will help officers have the strength to intervene if necessary.

Any of the seven officers there could have stopped this simply by saying something. They want to empower law enforcement to have this courage, he said of the shooting.

The settlement, which the communities of Georgetown and Idaho Springs also joined, is the largest for a police killing in Colorado, topping the $15 million settlement reached in 2021 for the death of Elijah McClain, and also ranks among the top in the United States, Rathod said. His law firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, also represented the mother of McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after police in the Denver suburb of Aurora forcibly restrained him and a paramedic injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine.

Former Clear Creek County sheriffs deputy Andrew Buen, who shot Glass, and his supervisor, former Sgt. Kyle Gould, are both being prosecuted in Glass death. A grand jury found they needlessly escalated the standoff after he called 911 for help. Gould was not at the scene but was watching events unfold on body camera footage and authorized officers to remove Glass from his vehicle, according to court documents.

Lawyers for both officers unsuccessfully tried to get the charges against them thrown out. While Buens lawyer objected to how information was presented to the grand jury, Goulds lawyer argued that Glass needed to be evaluated for drugs, alcohol and mental health problems and could not just be allowed to leave.

In response to police killings of people in mental distress, reformers have pushed for crisis intervention and de-escalation training for police and even alternative policing programs where mental health responders are sent to some emergency calls instead of law-enforcement.

Some cities, including Denver, have programs where EMTs and mental health clinicians can be dispatched instead of police. But the area where Glass was killed, about an hours drive away from Denver, did not have that option at the time.

Glass, whose car became stuck on a dirt road, initially told the dispatcher that he was being followed and made other statements which the indictment said showed he was paranoid, hallucinating or delusional and experiencing a mental health crisis.

Officers body camera footage showed Glass refusing to get out of his car, making heart shapes with his hands to officers and praying: Dear Lord, please, dont let them break the window.

After roughly an hour of negotiations, officers decided to breach the car even though there was no indication that Glass posed a danger or was suspected of a crime, according to the grand jury.

Once the window was smashed, body camera footage shows officers peppering Glass with bean bag rounds, then tasing him. Glass brandished a knife in a state of complete panic and self-defense before twisting in his seat to thrust a knife in an officers direction, according to the grand jury. Buen then fired his gun five times into Glass.

The grand jury found that at no point was the other officer in imminent danger of being stabbed by Mr. Glass.

But for the decision by Gould to remove Mr. Glass from the vehicle there is no reason to believe that Mr. Glass would have been a danger to any law enforcement personnel, to himself, or to any member of the public, the indictment said.

Body camera footage doesnt show officers from other agencies  including the Colorado State Patrol, gaming division, and police from the nearby towns of Idaho Springs and Georgetown  attempting to stop the breach of the vehicle.

When Glass parents first publicly called for accountability for their sons death last year, Sally Glass said Christian was petrified the night he was killed and the officers had no empathy for him. She asked for people to pray for their son and for structural change in policing.

They should be protecting us, not attacking us, she said.

Top photo: Simon and Sally Glass comfort each other during an emotional news conference in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. They are calling for accountability after police shot and killed their 22-year-old son, Christian Glass, after he called 911 for roadside assistance in the Colorado mountain town of Silver Plume in June. The Glasses say their son was having a mental health episode and police needlessly escalated the situation. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert, File)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Los Angeles man to nearly three years in prison for helping his brothers swindle the government out of $7 million in coronavirus relief money by creating more than 70 fake businesses, all with the same Euclid address.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Barker sentenced Aydin Kalantarov to two years and nine months in prison for receiving $2.1 million in loans and grants the government distributed to help small businesses survive the pandemic, when many businesses closed.

Barker noted Kalantarov and his two younger brothers carried out the scheme from May to October 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

Many others could have used the funds to survive the pandemic, Barker said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Beeson objected to the sentencing, saying Barker went below the agreed upon sentencing range of about four to six years in prison he and Kalantarovs attorney hashed out in a plea agreement.

Kalantarov, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and identity theft. He has already served 28 months in custody since the FBI arrested him at Los Angeles International Airport in January 2021.

Kalantarov must pay back $2.1 million to the government. Authorities seized 18 properties that Kalantarov and his brothers bought with the stolen money. U.S. marshals sold the properties  nearly all from suburbs of Clevelands East Side  for $1.3 million, according to court records.

Authorities also seized some $3 million from bank accounts associated with Kalantarov and his brothers.

Because of the conviction, Kalantarov could face deportation to his native Azerbaijan. The United States granted him asylum in 2010, and he lived in Los Angeles since. Barker, reading from a report, said Kalantarov escaped Azerbaijan because of its human rights abuses and harsh views on artists like Kalantarov.

Kalantarov in the U.S. worked as a graphic designer and for a short time opened his own tee-shirt design business.

Looking back, this was a big mistake, Kalantarov said. I have true remorse to my family and to America, which gave me and my family a chance.

Defense attorney Todd Spodek said Kalantarov was roped into the scheme by his two younger brothers  Zaur and Ali Kalantarli. Spodek said his client had a complicated relationship with his brothers and struggled denying them anything they asked for.

This is really an aberration of how he usually conducts himself, Spodek said.

Prosecutors accused the three brothers of creating 74 fake agricultural businesses with similar sounding names  like Ohio Almonds & Peanuts LLC and Ohio Organic Carrots LLC  between May 17, 2020, and October 9, 2020, according to court records. None of the businesses were real.

They submitted fraudulent applications for loans and grants for each fake business through the governments Small Business Associations Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, enacted to help businesses struggling during the pandemic. The program was part of the CARES Act, which injected $2.2 trillion in economic relief to the economy.

The three brothers got a total of $6.9 million through the program. Kalantarov submitted 14 of those applications, including six with his wifes name on it, the basis for the identity-theft charge. Kalantarov used some of that money to buy a $600,000 home in Irvine, California.

His two brothers face similar charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud. Neither has been arrested on the charges and remain at-large.

Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.
TOLEDO, Ohio  Federal and state authorities are searching for two men, one convicted of murder, who escaped from a prison in Northwest Ohio.

Bradley Gillespie, 50, and James Lee, 47, were last seen inside the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima on Monday, according to the Allen County Sheriffs Office. Officials in the prison realized Lee was missing at about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday and Gillespie was missing at about 12:45 p.m.

According to the State Highway Patrol, Lee had been held in the prison since March 2021 after being convicted of burglary, breaking and entering and safe cracking. Gillespie had been in the prison since November 2016 on a murder conviction.

Authorities have not said how the men escaped from the prison, which holds ,1,480 inmates. An official with the Highway Patrol said its unknown if the men still are in Ohio, but said investigators have received tips on their possible location both in Ohio and from surrounding states.

The U.S. Marshals Service says both men should be considered dangerous and that people should not try to make contact with them. A reward of up to $20,000 is being offered by the U.S. Marshals and the Highway Patrol for information leading to their arrests.

Lee has brown hair, blue eyes and weighs about 300 pounds. Gillespie is bald, with has blue eyes and weighs about 200 pounds.

Anyone with information can contact the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4WANTED (1-866-492-6833) or you can submit a web tip. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
GENEVA, Ohio  Black Door Tavern is hosting a five-course dinner paired with Hendricks gin/gin cocktail at 6 p.m., Friday, May 26. A representative from Hendricks will be present to discuss the flavor profiles. Tickets are $90 per person plus tax and gratuity. Tickets are limited and reservations required. Call (440) 466-6604 to reserve a seat.

Chef Chris Di Lisi has paired the following dishes with Hendricks gin and gin cocktails ...

1st course: Hendricks original paired with juniper-smoked ricotta salad and nduja vinaigrette.

2nd course: Hendricks original cucumber basil gin and tonic paired with beef carpaccio, blood orange, basil, arugula, potato sticks and aged pecorino.

3rd course: Hendricks Flora Adora paired with salmon crudo, grapefruit, avocado and jalapeno lime fresco.

4th course: Hendricks Lunar old fashioned paired with beef tenderloin tournedos, summer vegetable ratatouille and a five-spice demi glace.

5th course: Hendricks original gin rhubarb rickey paired with chamomile ice cream and a coriander blondie.

Black Door Taver is at 6202 South River Road West, Geneva.
WAPAKONETA, Ohio  Two alligators were spotted swimming in a river in a county in western Ohio, with one being killed by local law-enforcement, reports say.

That means one alligator remains loose in the St. Marys River in Auglaize County, WHIO Channel 7 reports. The Ohio Department of Agriculture tells WHIO the alligators were first seen in the river on May 7.

An official with the department tells the Dayton Daily News that several attempts to capture the gators were unsuccessful.

At this time, one of the alligators has been killed by local law enforcement, the spokesperson tells WHIO. One remaining alligator has not been seen since the initial incident. The Daily News reports the remaining alligator is about 2 feet long.

A person who releases an alligator into the wild could face criminal charges, the Daily News reports.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- An elderly multimillionaire hatched an elaborate scheme to escape from a Florida jail, flee to France on his private plane and live out his life in his castle.

But following up on a tip from outside the jail, the local sheriffs department foiled the plan. John Manchec, 78, remains in jail in Indian River County, Florida.

The plan called for people working for Manchec to pepper-spray prison guards, the Associated Press reported. They then would take him to his private plane in nearby Fort Pierce, so he could fly to France.

Essentially, the plan comes down to this, Sheriff Eric Flowers said at a news conference Monday. These folks that are on the outside are going to wait until Manchec has a doctors visit, and they are going to take out our corrections staff while hes out at the medical facility.

Manchec, a wealthy businessman, was arrested in 2014 on 49 child pornography charges, according to CBS News.

He fled the country to avoid prosecution after posting a nearly $500,000 bond, and moved to his medieval estate in southern France, the Chateau Pechrigal, according to Flowers.

France denied U.S. attempts to extradite him, but he was eventually arrested in the Dominican Republic in 2020, and returned to Florida, according to the sheriff.

Manchec suffered from chronic medical conditions, and because he broke his hip and wrist late last year, the sheriff said.

The escape plot centered on an April 12 medical appointment, Flowers said. But at least one of the people involved tipped off law enforcement, allowing investigators to unravel the plot.

Manchec remains in the Indian River County Jail, facing additional charges related to the escape. Two inmates and two employees were also arrested and charged with conspiracy in the escape plot.

Jail phone records showed that Manchec used the code words paint job while talking with his employees about the plot.

His accomplices were to prepare his plane, his 140-foot yacht, a black utility van and other vehicles purchased just for the escape attempt, Flowers said.

Manchec even paid the bail for a cellmate, the sheriff said, and then allowed them to live in his home while helping to prepare for the escape, packing a suitcase and his favorite liquor.

Flowers said the plan was to go back to his castle in France and never have to face the charges.
MEDINA, Ohio - After more than a decade of sitting empty, the nations first Super Kmart is slated to be demolished and replaced with a new kind of super store  a Meijer.

The Michigan-based big box retailer has submitted plans to Medinas Planning Commission and is looking to build a new store at the site of the old Kmart, which closed in 2012. The Kmart at 1105 North Court St., opened to much fanfare in 1991 as the first Super Kmart.

It would be Meijers eighth large store in Greater Cleveland after first entering the market in 2019.

Andrew Dutton, Medinas community development director, said Meijer plans to build a 160,000-square-foot store, a little larger than the building thats already there. Meijer would also redo the parking lot in front of the store, he said.

Benderson Development owns the former Kmart. The building is flanked by two strips of retail stores owned by a different property owner.

The chain has stores in Avon, Brimfield Township, Brunswick, Lorain, Mentor, Seven Hills and Stow  and is building a smaller, 40,000 square-foot store near East 105th Street and Cedar Avenue in Cleveland.

Cleveland.com has reached out to Meijer for comment.

Dutton said Meijer submitted the plans on Thursday but had been in discussions with the city for about six months. The Medina Planning Commission will see the plans at a meeting on June 8.

He said the city has discussed incentives with Meijer, but nothing has been agreed upon.

The old Kmart has had its share of issues over the years and has fallen into disrepair, though good things have been happening around it. These include a widening project on North Court Street and several new businesses.

Dutton said having a plan to redevelop the store is fantastic news.

It really has the opportunity to revitalize that entire shopping center, Dutton said.

The North Court Street Kmart opened amid a fierce completion with Walmart, which Kmart eventually lost. At its peak Kmart had about 2,300 stores across the U.S.

Kmart closed some of its last remaining stores in 2022, leaving just three that are still open - none in Ohio.

Former Kmart sites having a resurgence

Joseph Antonini, former CEO of Kmart, in the produce department of Kmart Super Center in Medina in 1991.

Vacant big box stores present a problem for redevelopment. But old Kmart stores have had good luck in the last year.

Cleveland Clinic announced in September that it would turn the vacant Kmart in Middleburg Heights into a new health center. Construction at the site of a vacant Kmart in Clevelands West Park neighborhood is ongoing, and an Aldi and Starbucks are slated to open at the site.

According to a list compiled by Ben Schultz, a historian who took on the task of cataloging all the former Kmart stores, Greater Cleveland had at least 40 different Kmarts at one point or another. And earlier, the site of a former Super Kmart on the west side of Lorain became home to a Meijer.

Sean McDonnell covers business and consumer topics for cleveland.com. You can reach him at smcdonnell@cleveland.com You can read more Cleveland business stories at cleveland.com/business/.
COLUMBUS, OhioGov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday he intends to vote for State Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment that would make it harder for Ohio voters to pass future constitutional amendments, starting with a planned abortion-rights amendment this fall.

The concern is people can come in  outside forces, outside the state of Ohio  and spend a ton of money to try to impact (the Ohio Constitution), DeWine said at a news conference in downtown Columbus. The better process is, frankly, the legislative process. This just creates a higher burden in regard to changing the constitution.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  A campaign opposing the proposal to make it harder to change the Ohio constitution has sued over the ballot language Republican state officials approved for the measure last week.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday with the Ohio Supreme Court is the second from One Person One Vote, which already has sued the state over the scheduling of an Aug. 8 election to decide the issue.

One Person One Vote accuses the Ohio Ballot Board of intentionally misinforming the public about what the proposal would do as a ploy to get voters to approve it. The group wrote in its lawsuit that the language is rife with material omissions and misleading statements.

The group asked the court, on which Republicans hold a 4-3 majority, to order the ballot board to write new language that meets specific standards.

Republicans advanced State Issue 1 to voters, setting an unprecedented August special election, in a vote earlier this month. The measure would require future state constitutional amendments to get a 60% supermajority in a statewide vote, compared to the current 50% simple-majority standard.

State officials long have debated changing the process for constitutional amendments, which the public can use to directly put proposed new laws up for a vote without the involvement of the legislature. But Republicans fast-tracked the measure this year specifically to try to foil a potential November ballot issue that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

The Ohio Ballot Boards language describes the effects of State Issue 1  setting the higher 60% approval threshold, increasing the number of counties from which amendment campaigns must collect voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, and ending a cure period during which campaigns can collect more signatures if their first submitted batch falls short  without noting how they would be a change from the status quo.

The lawsuit says that, based on the language, voters might think the proposal is newly granting voters the right to change the constitution, rather than restricting the current system thats been in place for more than a century.

An elector reading that language might reasonably assume that the Constitution does not presently require that constitutional amendments receive the approval of Ohios voters at all, the lawsuit says. Such a voter would likely understand the Amendment itself to create the peoples right to participate in the process of ratifying amendments. Other electors might mistakenly think that a percentage higher than sixty percent is currently required and therefore wrongly conclude that the Amendment makes it easier to amend the Constitution.

The lawsuit makes similar arguments about how the ballot language describes how State Issue 1 would change the signature gathering process. The language says a minimum number of voter signatures must be collected from all 88 counties, without specifying how thats twice as many counties as the law currently requires.

The lawsuit also says the ballot language inaccurately describes the minimum number of signatures that amendment campaigns would have to collect. The language says the petitions must be signed by at least five percent of eligible voters in the county. The actual law would require the number of signatures to equal at least 5% of the vote from that county in the most recent election for governor.

In addition, the lawsuit takes issue with the title that will appear on the ballot language, describing the change as elevating the standards for changing the state constitution. The suit says elevate has a positive connotation, when its legally required to be neutral.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who chairs the ballot board, said after the meeting that the board chose the language for brevity. He also said the term elevate is a neutral one.

The new lawsuit cites a standard the Ohio Supreme Court set in 2012, when in a 6-1 decision it struck down ballot-board approved language in response to a lawsuit from a group backing a redistricting-reform amendment that year.

In that case, the court found state officials failed to adequately explain what the amendment would do. The effect was, the court said in the 2012 ruling, was that an average voter wouldnt understand what they were being asked to approve.

The new lawsuit is the second from One Person One Vote. The group sued earlier this month over the Aug. 8 election itself, saying that Republicans, when scheduling the election, failed to properly undo a previous law they passed in December that largely outlawed special elections in August.

That case is ongoing.

Both lawsuits challenging State Issue 1 were filed by Don McTigue, a prominent Democratic Ohio elections lawyer, and lawyers with the Elias Law Group, a prominent national Democratic elections firm.

Andrew Tobias covers state politics and government for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND -- COVID-19 forced Northeast Ohioans to focus on health priorities, with many finding relief in our marvelous parks and outdoor areas. Green spaces are great for restoring not only physical health, but emotional and mental health as well, and are a vital to reaching our clean air and climate change goals. Raising money to strengthen our award-winning parks, trails and networks deserves to be an important priority.

While COVID relief rained down federal money, it cant continue, and local governments will need to be resourceful and find other ways to fund the need for a greener community. Northeast Ohio should follow the lead of the California cities of Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, as well as Boulder, Colorado; Philadelphia; and Seattle, and adopt a small surcharge for sugary beverages, soda and the like, to generate local money for parks.
A roundup of conversations we're having daily on the site. Subscribe to the Reckon Daily for stories centering marginalized communities and speaking to the under-covered issues of the moment.

Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead. 17 others were shot or wounded.

Within that time frame, advocates say little has been done to reduce the number of gun violence incidents.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 674 mass shootings since May 2022 and 50 mass murders. Of those, 50 mass shootings occurred in Texas. The Gun Violence Archive defines mass shootings as four or more victims shot or killed, not including the shooter. Mass murders involve four or more victims killed, not including the shooter.

We get truckloads of thoughts and prayers and they all go to a warehouse somewhere, said Mark Bryant, the organizations executive director. Nothing has changed.

In a press release, Everytown for Gun Safety praised President Joe Biden for signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a piece of legislation that makes it harder for people under 21 to acquire guns. The bill became law in June.

The pain and perseverance shown by survivors of the shooting at Robb Elementary helped push Congress to pass the first major gun safety bill in 30 years and they continue inspiring our work to forge a safer future, John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said.

The act also increases funding for school safety measures and mental health initiatives. Earlier this month, Biden described the bills enactment as a success while pressing Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

I have already taken more meaningful executive action to reduce gun violence than any other president, Biden wrote in a USA Today op-ed. But my power is not absolute.

In Texas, legislation has stalled. Just days before the one-year anniversary of the Robb Elementary School shooting, lawmakers rejected House Bill 2744, legislation that wouldve raised the age to purchase certain semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.

The man who committed the attack was 18 years old.

Even in the wild, wild west they had rules, Bryant said. Now we dont have rules.

In fact, some states have tried to make it easier to obtain firearms or carry them on school grounds. In Tennessee, lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow teachers to carry guns on school grounds months before the Covenant School Shooting.

The legislation still hasnt made it out of committee. Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would allow anyone to carry concealed weapons in most spaces without a permit. The law takes effect July 1.

Bryant wonders if efforts to reduce gun violence can be accomplished through legislation.

With the polarization that we have now? he said. I dont think so.
A single piece of advice from an investor helped Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky grow his company from a struggling startup to an industry giant worth roughly $70 billion.

That's according to Chesky himself, who told attendees at a recent Stanford Graduate School of Business event that it was "the best piece of advice I ever got."

The advice: "Focus on 100 people that love you, rather than getting a million people to kind of like you," Chesky said.

It came courtesy of Paul Graham, the co-founder of tech startup accelerator Y Combinator, who advised Airbnb's co-founders  Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk  to focus on a tiny audience of potential customers as they built their company.

Such a recommendation "actually runs counterintuitive to almost everything everyone says," Chesky said.

For early Airbnb, that meant creating experiences for guests that stood out from staying at a hotel or crashing on a couch. The trio took their research seriously, even hiring a Pixar storyboard artist to help them map out what five-star stays would look like from check-in to check-out, Chesky said.

It also meant simultaneously figuring out what would make hosts happy and comfortable. Shortly after launching the company, the trio of co-founders visited a group of Airbnb rentals in New York to personally photograph the listings and get a better understanding of hosts' perspectives, Chesky told LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman's "Masters of Scale" podcast in 2017.

The small number of people who deeply appreciated the Airbnb experience, guests and hosts alike, became the company's "marketing department," Chesky said at the Stanford event.

By his estimation, the strategy worked. In its first decade, Airbnb became larger than Hilton, which started in 1919 and currently has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion. Much of that early growth was from word-of-mouth marketing, Chesky said.

Unfortunately, Graham also gave Airbnb's co-founders "the worst piece of advice" they ever received, Chesky added  that they'd need to move to Mountain View, California, where Y Combinator is located, to succeed.

"You don't need to move [to Silicon Valley]," Chesky said. "You can be anywhere."

Airbnb is still based in San Francisco today, but Silicon Valley has seen an exodus of tech companies in recent years, with high-profile companies like Oracle and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise relocating their headquarters out of California in 2020.

That year, San Francisco was only the fifth-best city in the U.S. for starting a business, due largely to its high living expenses, according to data compiled by Inc. magazine. Austin, Texas, topped the ranking, followed by Salt Lake City and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Chesky has also more broadly championed the idea of working from home  or, as one might expect from Airbnb's CEO, working from someone else's home  since at least the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I guarantee you that many of these CEOs who are calling people back to the office in New York City are going away to the Hamptons for the summer, or going to Europe in August," Chesky told The Verge's "Decoder" podcast earlier this month.

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Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai committed to an "AI Pact" and discussed disinformation around elections and the Russian war in Ukraine in meetings with top European Union officials on Wednesday.

In a meeting with Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for internal market, Pichai said Alphabet-owned Google would collaborate with other companies on self-regulation to ensure that AI products and services are developed responsibly.

"Agreed with Google CEO @SundarPichai to work together with all major European and non-European #AI actors to already develop an "AI Pact" on a voluntary basis ahead of the legal deadline of the AI regulation," Breton said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.

"We expect technology in Europe to respect all of our rules, on data protection, online safety, and artificial intelligence. In Europe, it's not pick and choose. I am pleased that @SundarPichai recognises this, and that he is committed to complying with all EU rules."

The development hints at how top technology bosses are seeking to assuage politicians and get ahead of looming regulations. The European Parliament earlier this month greenlighted a groundbreaking package of rules for AI, including provisions to ensure the training data for tools like ChatGPT doesn't violate copyright laws.

The rules seek to take a risk-based approach to regulating AI, placing applications of the technology deemed "high risk," such as facial recognition, under a ban and enforcing tough transparency restrictions for applications that pose limited risk.

Regulators are growing increasingly concerned by some of the risks surrounding AI, with tech industry leaders, politicians and academics having raised alarm about the recent advances in new forms of the technology such as generative AI and the large language models that power them.

These tools allow users to generate new content  such as a poem in the style of William Wordsworth or an essay in a refined form  by simply giving them prompts on what to do.

They have raised concern not least due to the potential for disruption in the labor market and their ability to produce disinformation.

ChatGPT, the most popular generative AI tool, has amassed more than 100 million users since it was launched in November. Google released Google Bard, its alternative to ChatGPT, in March, and unveiled an advanced new language model known as PaLM 2 earlier this month.

During a separate meeting with Vera Jourova, a vice president of the European Commission, Pichai committed to ensuring its AI products are developed with safety in mind.

Both Pichai and Jourova "agreed AI could have an impact on disinformation tools, and that everyone should be prepared for a new wave of AI generated threats," according to a readout of the meeting that was shared with CNBC.

"Part of the efforts could go into marking or making transparent AI generated content. Mr. Pichai stressed that Google's AI models already include safeguards, and that the company continues investing in this space to ensure a safe rollout of the new products."
The Arcturus satellite is seen en route to geosynchronous orbit. Astranis

Astranis, a San Francisco-based company with an alternative approach to providing internet access from satellites, has its first spacecraft in orbit, and the company on Wednesday said it's working "perfectly." "We have a new way of connecting people in some of the most remote and underserved parts of the world," Astranis CEO John Gedmark told CNBC. related investing news Bank of America hits spacecraft builder Terran Orbital with rare double downgrade The company's small satellite, built largely in-house and named "Arcturus," was deployed May 1 after launching on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket and recently arrived in its orbit. Astranis has already completed tests with the satellite, including connecting to user equipment in its service target of Alaska for the first time. "This test validates everything that we've been working on and working towards and it's a huge, huge deal," Gedmark said.

The Arcturus satellite is seen deploying its solar arrays in the background from onboard the upper stage of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. SpaceX

Astranis' is one of a number of next-generation broadband satellite systems in development, as companies race to meet a growing global demand for data  including SpaceX's Starlink, British-owned OneWeb, Amazon's Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile and others. But the company's approach is the "third way" to providing broadband service from space, Gedmark said. The company's dishwasher-sized satellite combines the small form factor of satellites such as SpaceX's Starlink in low Earth orbit with the distant, geosynchronous orbit of traditional players such as Viasat . Geosynchronous orbit, or GEO, is about 22,000 miles away from the planet's surface  a position that allows the spacecraft to stay above a fixed location, matching the Earth's rotation. Arcturus is a fraction of the size and cost of traditional GEO satellites. "We can build these satellites very quickly compared to what has come before," Gedmark said. Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter. Astranis highlighted 13 completed major milestones for Arcturus in a press release. Gedmark emphasized that the company is "incredibly proud" of the satellite's performance thus far, fending off both the "super harsh radiation environment" and "extreme temperature range" that GEO spacecraft experience. Gedmark said Arcturus is operating about 10% to 15% above specification, which translates to about 8.5 gigabits per second of total capacity. For users, Astranis expects its satellites will deliver download speeds of about 25 megabits per second.

Alaskan service soon

A "gateway" ground station in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Astranis

Arcturus is positioned above Alaska, where Astranis' first customer  telecommunications provider Pacific Dataport  will use it to triple the data speeds available to users across the state. Gedmark said about 40% of Alaskans don't have access to reliable broadband internet, which "is a shocking number" that demonstrates how "starved of satellite capacity" the state has been. "We cover about the entire state, including many of the most remote islands on the Aleutian chain," Gedmark said, adding that Arcturus "will allow hundreds of thousands of people to get true broadband internet." Much of Astranis' target users are enterprises  such as industrial companies, schools and hospitals  rather than individual or residential customers. The company expects Arcturus to begin service in mid-June after it completes further verification steps.

Astranis employees cheering while watching the launch at the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California. Astranis

Demand pipeline
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Wednesday's key moments. Stocks fall on debt-ceiling worries Palo Alto's beat and raise China-exposed stocks face Covid hurdle 1. Stocks fall on debt-ceiling worries Equities came under pressure Wednesday, with investors increasingly concerned over Washington's failure to reach a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. The government could default on its debt obligations as early as June 1 if President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy don't reach an agreement by the end of the month. "The market is going down because of the debt talks. ... We're now in 2011 mode ," Jim said Wednesday. He also urged investors to sit tight until the current market volatility subsides: "Chin up and don't put a lot of money to work." 2. Palo Alto's beat and raise Club holding Palo Alto Networks (PANW) on Tuesday evening delivered stronger-than-expected revenue and profit for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023, while raising its earnings-per-share outlook for the full year. Jim said Wednesday the company has a "winning model" for delivering a full suite of cybersecurity offerings to enterprise customers. Palo Alto stock soared more than 8% in Wednesday trading. Meanwhile, Club name Nvidia (NVDA), which has proven instrumental to the development of artificial intelligence, is set to report quarterly results after the closing bell Wednesday. 3. China-exposed stocks face Covid hurdle All three Club stocks with significant exposure to China  Starbucks (SBUX), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Estee Lauder (EL)  tumbled Wednesday as a new Covid variant spread throughout the country. China, which only emerged from three years of lockdowns months ago, expects to see the latest wave peak in late June, at around 65 million infections per week. But we're "not backing away from any of these three stocks," Jim said Wednesday, suggesting a pullback could provide a buying opportunity. Stay tuned for a deeper dive on the implications of China's newest Covid dilemma later in the afternoon. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long PANW, NVDA, SBUX, EL, WYNN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
A surge in Covid-19 cases in China has weighed on the Club's three China-exposed stocks this week  but the temporary setback doesn't shake our confidence in the ability of these holdings to soar higher in the long term. The latest wave of Covid in China, driven by a new variant known as XBB, is expected to peak at 65 million infections a week by the end of June, according to a senior Chinese health advisor cited in a local media report Monday. The news pressured Chinese markets, with the country's benchmark stock index, the Shanghai Composite, down 1.3% Wednesday, erasing all of its gains this year. The resurgence of Covid cases comes just months after Beijing abandoned its zero-Covid polic y, which was defined by three years of draconian lockdowns and other restrictions. Investor concern has been spilling over into the Club holdings doing the most business in China: Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Estee Lauder (EL), and Starbucks (SBUX). The latter two have seen their share prices fall more than 5% over the last five trading sessions, while Wynn has come down nearly 8% during the same period. China is a growth market for each and we have long predicted that the country's eagerly-awaited economic reopening would allow their businesses  and stock prices  to thrive. And we still do. "I'm not backing away from any of those three," Jim Cramer said Wednesday. "We have to just wait it out," he added. Jim also noted that any further pullback could provide a buying opportunity. China has already seen solid economic growth since the start of the year. The country's gross domestic product grew by 4.5% in the first quarter year-over-year, ahead of market expectations. That ultimately bodes well for Estee Lauder, Starbucks and Wynn, even if increasing consumer demand appeared somewhat uneven in the latest round of quarterly results. Starbucks earlier this month delivered impressive fiscal second-quarter results, boosted by positive growth in China for the first time in almost two years, despite the coffee maker declining to raise its full-year guidance. CEO Laxman Narasimhan described the quarter as a "significant turning point" for Starbucks' operations in China. Casino operator Wynn also reported a better-than-expected March quarter in early May, driven by the recovery in the Chinese gaming hub of Macao that allowed management to reinstate a 25-cent-per-share quarterly dividend. The special administrative region finally flipped to positive territory on the basis of adjusted property earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR) after many consecutive quarters of losses caused by Beijing's Covid restrictions. Estee Lauder reported a more mixed quarter , hurt by slower-than-expected recovery in the prestige beauty company's Asia travel-retail business. Management said the post-Covid recovery for travel retail in the region had proved "far more volatile" and "more gradual" than it anticipated, but said this should only be a temporary headwind. The Club's take China's new Covid-19 wave begs more questions around how much longer the country's economic reopening will take and when our Club holdings doing business there will see sustained growth. There hasn't been a lot of coverage yet about China's latest surge of infections, but negative headlines in the days ahead could bring on more sellers. While we acknowledge this group's next move may be down and not up, we think upcoming weakness could allow us to add to our positions. There have been no structural changes regarding how our companies see business in the region over the long term. We like Starbucks for its worldwide growth and its expansion plans to open stores every nine hours in China. Wynn is a great operator in Macao, which should see even more activity as group travel normalizes. The company would not have reinstituted a dividend two weeks ago if it was not confident in its future. And we're expecting Estee Lauder's China business to recover as travel continues to accelerate. We continue to hold Estee Lauder, Wynn and Starbucks because of the presence each has in China. We remain optimistic about the growth trajectory in the country, and see this latest Covid wave as a temporary speedbump. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long WYNN, EL, SBUX. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

European nations are looking at new travel requirements from China after Beijing lifted Covid restrictions. China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images
Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the U.S., addresses the media as he arrives at JFK airport in New York City, May 23, 2023.

China's new ambassador to the U.S. arrived in New York Tuesday with a call to "safeguard the interests of China," according to a release from the country's embassy in the U.S.

Xie Feng assumes office after a period of about six months in which China has had no ambassador to the U.S. He was most recently a vice foreign minister.

Xie said Tuesday the bilateral relationship faces "serious difficulties and challenges," and his mission is to "enhance China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation," the release said in English.

The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

The prior ambassador, Qin Gang, was promoted in December to become China's new foreign minister. Earlier this month, Qin met U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in Beijing for the first time since assuming his new role.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a "new level."

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a "new level."

Pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia has shown a "good" development trend, and the scale of investment between the two is also continuously seeing an upgrade, Li told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during a meeting in Beijing.

Mishustin was the highest ranking Russian official to visit the Chinese capital since Moscow sent thousands of its troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
WASHINGTON  House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that negotiations over raising the U.S. debt limit were progressing toward a deal despite disagreements over spending, with only eight days before the government could face an unprecedented default.

That urgency became more apparent later Wednesday. Fitch Ratings, one of the big three ratings agencies, placed the United States' triple-A status on "rating watch negative."

Fitch said it still thinks there will be a resolution to the situation, but added, "The brinkmanship over the debt ceiling, failure of the U.S. authorities to meaningfully tackle medium-term fiscal challenges that will lead to rising budget deficits and a growing debt burden signal downside risks to U.S. creditworthiness."

The warning came after McCarthy projected hope that negotiators would reach a deal in time to avoid default.

"I wouldn't scare the markets in any shape or form," McCarthy said on Fox Business after negotiations at the White House ended for the day.

"We will come to an agreement worthy of the American public and there should not be any fear," he added. "Money's coming in [to the Treasury] every day."

But McCarthy's optimism stood in contrast to guidance given to members of the House an hour later, as representatives were informed they would not be required to remain in Washington over the weekend to vote on a debt ceiling deal.

Instead, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., announced on the House floor that the chamber's weeklong Memorial Day recess would begin Thursday, as planned.

"If some new agreement is reached between President [Joe] Biden and Speaker McCarthy, members will receive 24 hours notice in the event we need to return to Washington for any additional votes, either over the weekend or next week," said Scalise.

The decision to let members fly home for the week is a tacit acknowledgment by House leadership that a deal to raise the debt ceiling does not appear to be imminent.

The parties face a June 1 deadline at which point the country will face significant risk that it won't to be able to pay its bills, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Yellen said Wednesday that she was already seeing "some stress in financial markets," driven by fears that the U.S. could stumble into a first-ever debt default.

Debt ceiling-related stress was affecting Treasury markets in particular, Yellen said at a Wall Street Journal event. These signs of stress "should be a reminder of the importance of reaching a timely agreement."

Republican negotiators traveled up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House on Wednesday, where they joined their Democratic counterparts and talked for more than five hours.

As the U.S. inched closer to default and possible economic chaos, McCarthy blamed Democrats for the holdup.

"And the off-ramp here is to solve the problem to spend less than we spent last year," he said during a news conference at the Capitol.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives remarks at the Heritage Foundation's 50th Anniversary Leadership Summit at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on April 21, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially launched his presidential campaign Wednesday, putting his blend of pro-business conservativism and culture-war populism to the test at the national level. DeSantis, 44, filed campaign paperwork and is set to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Twitter, during a live conversation with Elon Musk that is set for 6 p.m. ET. The announcement will cement DeSantis as the top Republican rival to former President Donald Trump, who has held a consistent polling lead over the primary field. DeSantis worked to establish himself as a champion of economic growth even before he pushed to quickly lift Covid lockdown policies in the name of revitalizing Florida's ailing businesses. He has since taken credit for the state's low unemployment rate, its population growth and its economy outpacing the national average. At the same time, he has plunged into political battle with some of his state's top employers  most notably Disney  and signed legislation targeting private business practices, some of which has since been blocked in the courts.

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DeSantis apparently sees no contradiction between his pro-business posture and his heavy-handed governance. "Corporatism is not the same as free enterprise," he said in a speech last September, "and I think too many Republicans have viewed limited government to basically mean whatever is best for corporate America is how we want to do the economy." But some experts expressed skepticism about the governor's tightrope walk. "The Disney case sort of exemplifies this tension in DeSantis as a candidate," said David Primo, a professor of political science and business administration at the University of Rochester. "There's this hydra-like element to what he's trying to do." A spokesman for DeSantis' campaign-in-waiting did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

DeSantis' rise

DeSantis himself has little business experience. A Yale- and Harvard-educated lawyer, he joined the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps and served at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq. He worked as an attorney after his active-duty service ended in 2010, and in 2012 was elected to Congress. Once there, he quickly established himself as a member of the far-right Tea Party movement. DeSantis was the lead sponsor of 52 bills in Congress, none of which became law, Spectrum News reported. One of them was the "Drain the Swamp Act," aimed to realize Trump's campaign slogan by strengthening lobbying bans on officials after they leave government service. A founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, DeSantis also introduced legislation that would axe the payroll tax for retirement-age Americans, and he backed another bill to replace most federal taxes with a national sales tax. Critics say such proposals, which popped up again in Congress this year, would burden low- and middle-income Americans. DeSantis resigned from Congress to run for governor in 2018 and, buoyed by an endorsement from Trump, narrowly defeated his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum. DeSantis' aspirations for higher office were apparent among his loyalists that same year, Politico reported. "He seemed to be like a mainstream Republican  pro-business, very conservative on social and economic issues," said J. Edwin Benton, a professor of political science at the University of South Florida. "And all of a sudden he had the ambition to become president. And to do so he knew he had to carve out a niche for himself."

Covid breakthrough

DeSantis seized the national spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic in September 2020, when he lifted all of Florida's social distancing restrictions on restaurants, bars and other businesses.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives an update on the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic during a press conference at Florida's Turnpike Turkey Lake Service Plaza, in Orlando, Friday, July 10, 2020. Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Images

He also acquired more power for himself. By the following May, DeSantis had lifted all local Covid restrictions. Six months later, the governor banned private employers from imposing vaccine mandates. Along the way, DeSantis held that his actions were aimed at protecting Florida businesses' freedoms. "Nobody should lose their job due to heavy-handed COVID mandates and we had a responsibility to protect the livelihoods of the people of Florida," he said in a November 2021 press release. DeSantis' stance clashed with public health experts' views at the time and drew heavy criticism, especially after Florida weathered record-breaking waves of Covid cases and deaths in 2021. But while the state suffered the third-highest number of Covid deaths in the country, its death rate per 100,000 people was lower than in states with much stricter lockdown rules, such as New York and New Jersey, per New York Times data. DeSantis has claimed victory, making his Covid response a key piece of what he now calls the "Florida Blueprint" for economic success.

Business culture

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Even in the midst of the pandemic, DeSantis and his allies had trained their sights on other polarizing social issues that roped in Florida businesses. In 2020, he quietly signed controversial legislation that required some private companies to use the E-Verify system to check employees' immigration status. He strengthened those rules earlier this month, signing a bill that makes E-Verify mandatory for any employer with 25 or more employees. In 2021, DeSantis signed a law that allowed Florida to punish large social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, that banned political candidates. The legislation came months after those and other companies kicked Trump off their platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. A federal appeals court has since ruled that the social media law is unconstitutional. In the most recent legislative session, DeSantis signed a bill that stopped union dues from being automatically deducted from public employees' paychecks. The Florida Education Association accused DeSantis of punishing them for opposing his policies, and critics have been quick to point out that the bill does not apply to unions representing first responders. Police and firefighters' unions had endorsed DeSantis' reelection bid.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a critic of environmentally sensitive investing, didn't succeed in protecting his constituents from the ravages of Hurricane Ian, which may have been intensified by global warming. Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Images

DeSantis has also waged war against socially conscious ESG investing strategies, decrying the trend in his latest book as "an attempt to impose ruling class ideology on society through publicly traded companies and asset management." ESG, a broad concept that generally refers to investing strategies that prioritize environmental, social and governance factors, has become a prime target for conservatives seeking to root out progressive influence in corporate culture. DeSantis signed a bill in early May barring state and local officials from making ESG-based investment decisions. It was only his latest action against ESG. The ESG moves played into the governor's argument against corporate influence and favoritism  themes he would employ again in his ongoing fight against Disney.

The Disney saga

Apparel promoting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sit on a table before a book tour event at the North Charleston Coliseum on April 19, 2023 in North Charleston, South Carolina. Sean Rayford | Getty Images
In this photo illustration, the Meta Platforms logo is seen displayed on a smartphone and the words "Monthly subscription" and logos Facebook and Instagram.

Europe's second-top court on Wednesday rejected Meta Platforms' challenge against EU antitrust regulators.

The European Commission had sought the information related to its investigation into Facebook's data and online marketplace, prompting the company to compare the competition enforcer to a fishing super trawler hoovering up data.

"The General Court finds that Meta Platforms Ireland has not successfully demonstrated that the request to provide documents to be identified by search terms went beyond what was necessary or that establishing a virtual data room failed to ensure that sensitive personal data was sufficiently protected," the Luxembourg-based General Court said.

The cases are T-451/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission & T-452/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission.
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The average time taken for a startup to hit unicorn status in Europe is now just seven years, according to Accel.

Europe and Israel mint an average of five tech startups for every venture-backed company with a valuation of $1 billion or more, according to a new report from the venture capital firm Accel.

Of the 353 "unicorn" companies in the region, 221 have spun out 1,171 new tech-enabled startup companies as employees at these firms left to start up their own ventures, Accel said, citing Dealroom data.

A similar report from the firm last year showed that, out of 344 VC-backed unicorns, 201 led to 1,018 new startups being created.

The biggest examples of companies whose former talent went on to establish new companies include Spotify, which spawned 32 new companies, Delivery Hero, which generated 32, and Criteo, from which 31 new startups were born.

Such companies are referred to in the startup world as "mafias"  and no, they're not like the mobs of the Italian-American gangster films. Startup mafias have existed for decades. These "mafias," which are firms started by employees of other tech firms, have historically led to the creation of some of the largest tech companies known today.

From U.S. fintech giant PayPal, Elon Musk went on to start electric-car maker Tesla and space exploration firm SpaceX, for example, while Peter Thiel co-founded the big data company Palantir and is now a renowned investor with his Valar Ventures and Founders Fund VC firms.

VC investors say that those entrepreneurs came from a culture of risk-taking in Silicon Valley that, for many years, hasn't existed in the same way in Europe. It began to take shape with the advent of maturing internet platforms like Skype, from which Niklas Zennstrom started VC fund Atomico and Taavet Hinrikus co-founded fintech giant Wise .

"When I got started like 30 years ago back in the Valley, I did it in the West Coast, Palo Alto. Then I'd go back to the Netherlands and my friends and my parents would say, why would you do that? Why wouldn't you go work for Shell or Unilever? That has held Europe back," Harry Nelis, partner at Accel, told CNBC.

"Now, unless you came out of university and studied in exactly the same way that I did, and you go straight into a startup  not like a raw startup but an established one where you can learn a trade and then you have your career already  it's that kind of new philosophy that will, I think, help Europe over time, and has been helping the ecosystem."

Today, the likes of Spotify, Delivery Hero, Klarna and Wise have become founder factories in their own right.

The largest cohort of newly established startup mafias comes from fintech, with almost 20% of European startups spun out of unicorns operating in the sector.

Startup employees in Europe and Israel tend to favor their own cities for setting up their new businesses, with over half of new firms founded in the same city as the unicorn they exited, according to Accel.
A federal judge Wednesday denied a bid by former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley to dismiss a complaint by the bank that seeks to hold him legally liable for sex trafficking by former JPMorgan customer Jeffrey Epstein.

The ruling in U.S. District Court in Manhattan came two days before JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is scheduled to be deposed in lawsuits by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and an Epstein accuser against the bank over its relationship with the late predator.

The Virgin Islands alleges in its suit filed in December that JPMorgan facilitated and financially benefited from the trafficking of young women by Epstein to his private island in the American territory to be sexually abused by him and others there.

Epstein was a client of the bank from 1998 until 2013.

In March, as part of its legal response to the Virgin Islands' lawsuit and the similar one by the Jane Doe accuser, JPMorgan filed a so-called third-party complaint against Staley.

That action argues if the Virgin Islands proves its allegations, "Staley is solely liable to the USVI, or liable to JPMC for all sums awarded to the USVI and against JPMC, if any, at trial." The suit also seeks to claw back more than $80 million in compensation Staley received from the bank, where he worked for three decades.

Staley, who had been a main point of contact at the bank for Epstein, last month asked Judge Jed Rakoff to toss out the complaint against him by JPMorgan.

Rakoff in a brief order denied Staley's motion in full.

"An opinion explaining the reasoning behind this ruling will follow in due course," the judge wrote.

Staley's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Staley has denied knowing about Epstein's sex trafficking.

He served as CEO of Barclays from 2015 until late 2021, when he quit after British financial regulators investigated his ties to Epstein.

Epstein died from suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
An airplane in the skies over France. The government there wants to cut short-haul flights in the country to reduce emissions.

A French ban on domestic short-haul flights when alternative train journeys exist came into force this week, with one lawmaker hailing it as "an essential step" in the country's efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The law, which was published via decree, essentially prohibits public internal flights between French destinations when a train journey of under 2 hours and 30 minutes is available.

France is home to an extensive high-speed rail network. According to a CNBC translation, the flight substitution applies only when train travel "provides a satisfactory alternative service."

It means public passenger flights between Paris-Orly and cities like Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon, are affected by the law. Connecting flights are not impacted.

In a statement translated by CNBC, Clement Beaune, transport minister, described the move as "an essential step and a strong symbol in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Beaune also said the ban was a "global first that is fully in line with the Government's policy of encouraging the use of modes of transportation that emit fewer greenhouse gases."
There's an opportunity for investors in pharmaceuticals that's been "underrepresented for a very long time," according to fund manager Philip Ripman of Storebrand Asset Management. The area is women's healthcare, according to Ripman, who manages the $1 billion Storebrand Global Solutions fund. "Within the portfolio, the aspect that we've really focused in on is female health care. It's one of the areas that has been both under-researched and underrepresented for a very long time," he told Pro Talks last week. According to a Mckinsey report last year , beyond breast cancer, female health conditions attracted just 1% of pharmaceutical research funding in 2020. In medical tech funding, only 2% was focused on non-cancer-related women's health conditions. Many studies had been done "from a man's perspective," said Ripman, adding that this is now changing. "I think a lot of the new business models coming through in this sense are interesting," he said. "What we want to see is more focus on the female healthcare side within the portfolio." The area of femtech  or software and tech products relating to women's health  is certainly growing. In 2021, venture capital investment in femtech surpassed $2 billion for the first time, according to Pitchbook, which expects it to reach $3 billion by 2030. Stocks to consider Within Ripman's fund, which has a focus on sustainability, there are a number of stocks that play into this theme. They include Hologic , a U.S.-based medtech company with a focus on women's health, American medtech firm Becton Dickinson , and Europe-based pharmaceutical firm Gedeon Richter, which has women's healthcare as one of its areas of expertise. According to FactSet data, analysts give Hologic average potential upside of 14%, although only 35% of those covering it have a buy rating on the stock. Becton Dickinson also received around 14% potential upside from analysts, and 65% of them give it a buy rating. The Storebrand Global Solutions fund invests across four themes : smart cities, circular economy, equal opportunities and renewable energy. The fund's principle is to avoid companies that make over 5% of their revenues from fossil fuels, tobacco, alcohol, war and other vice-related activities. The strategy appears to have paid off over the long term: it ranks top for 10-year annualized returns (15%) on Morningstar's list of global mega-cap equity funds.
Hiroshi Nakajima, president of Go Inc. The Japanese ride-hailing firm raised money from Goldman Sachs which values it at $1 billion.

Goldman Sachs invested in Go Inc., Japan's biggest ride-hailing app in a funding round which values the start-up at $1 billion, the company announced on Wednesday.

The U.S. investment bank invested 10 billion Japanese yen ($72.1 million) into Go.

Goldman's investment comes as technology startups still face a difficult environment in which to raise funding, as macroeconomic headwinds prevail and the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank this year  a key pillar of the industry  continues to ripple across the world.

"We believe this round of fundraising is highly significant, indicating that we have gained high social credibility," Hiroshi Nakajima, President of Go Inc., said in a press release.

The company said it plans to use the funds to improve its app and "to develop next-generation businesses stemming from the mobility industry for the resolution of various societal issues."

Go Inc. operates an Uber-style of ride-hailing service in Japan, but is trying to focus the company on other areas of mobility. For example, it has a business where it sells a camera and software to monitor drivers and ensure they are not driving dangerously.

The company said this year that it is shutting down its food delivery business, as people return to restaurants following the pandemic.

Goldman Sachs has built up its private investments in tech firms. One of its most notable investments was is ride-hailing firm Uber , although the bank has now dumped its entire stake in the company.

But Goldman Sachs remains bullish on ride-hailing.

"Mobility is an integral part of our everyday life, and Go Inc. is well-positioned to lead digitalization and innovation of Japan's taxi market," Stephanie Hui, global co-head of growth equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a press release.
Goldman Sachs has named Amazon , Uber , and Meta as three tech stocks that offer the "most compelling risk/reward" looking ahead to the rest of the year. The Wall Street bank said the Big Tech firms were well placed to "weather a volatile environment" if one were to occur later in 2023, given their established market positions and ability to improve margins. In a note to clients on May 19, Goldman also ranked the three companies in order of preference. 1. Amazon Amazon came out on top for Goldman due to its multiple years of stock underperformance following Covid-19 and amid macroeconomic headwinds. The online retailer's shares are down by 38% since reaching an all-time high in July 2021. Goldman said consumers who subscribe to Amazon's Prime service at $139 a year have increased their spending, offering downside protection at the company's largest division by revenue. The bank added that Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing division, continues to offer multi-year growth opportunities despite near-term challenges. "With a nod to that market debate, we would focus investor's attention to what increasingly looks to be a multiple year margin improvement story for AMZN as much a much more material driver of the stock price compounding," the analysts led by Eric Sheridan wrote in a note to clients. Goldman Sachs expects shares of Amazon to rise by 43% to $165 a share over the next 12 months. Amazon's stock closed at $115 on Monday. AMZN 1Y line 2. Uber Uber, which focuses on transportation services like ride-hailing and food delivery worldwide, comes second on Goldman's list of "top picks" heading into the year's second half. The bank said that Uber is continuing its expansion into delivery services as it recovers from pandemic-related setbacks in its mobility business. According to Goldman, Uber will also be able to gradually raise profit margins by finding "synergies" in its existing services. Shares of Uber has risen by 58% this year, and analysts' consensus price target point toward another potential 23% rise over the next 12 months, similar to Goldman's price target. 3. Meta Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is third on Goldman Sachs' list of top picks. The Wall Street bank is bullish on the stock despite concerns about its long-term growth within an increasingly competitive social media landscape. Facebook still has unmonetized elements like messaging and short-form video that could drive revenue growth once monetized adequately, Goldman said. Meta is reportedly launching a new text-based service on Instagram that will compete with Twitter, potentially opening up a new profit stream. The social media network has previously taken a hit to revenues after changes to Apple's privacy settings curbed tracking users online. Shares of Meta are expected to rise by 21% over the next 12 months to $300 a share, according to Goldman.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev arrive for a working breakfast of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow, Russia May 9, 2023. Vladimir Smirnov | Sputnik | Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed countries that he said were trying to "impose their dominance" and rules on others, saying Wednesday that those that do were "completely ignoring the sovereignty" of other states. Speaking at a conference on security issues Wednesday, Putin said the world was becoming increasingly unstable and that "new centers of tension are emerging." He laid the blame for this new era of turbulence at the door of unspecified "individual countries and associations"  widely understood to refer to Russia's rivals in the West and NATO  that he said were trying "to preserve, retain their dominance, impose their own rules, completely ignoring the sovereignty, national interests, traditions of other states." "All this is accompanied by a build-up of military potential, unceremonious interference in the internal affairs of other countries," Putin said, "as well as attempts to extract unilateral advantages from the energy and food crises provoked by a number of Western states."

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There was not a whiff of irony from Putin, a leader who over his 23 years in power in Russia has overseen a systematic program of interference in other countries' internal affairs and sovereignty, most recently, in Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on a screen at Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert marking the annexation of four regions of Ukraine  Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia  in central Moscow on Sept. 30, 2022. Alexander Nemenov | Afp | Getty Images

Military personnel wearing protective suits remove a police car and other vehicles from a public car park as they continue investigations into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal on March 11, 2018 in Salisbury, England. Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Again, Russia denied any involvement in the poisoning but, with much evidence supporting the allegation, Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia for the incident which Britain saw was "an assault on U.K. sovereignty."

Ignoring Ukraine's sovereignty

It is Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year that's widely seen as one of most egregious instances of "ignoring the sovereignty" of another country in the 21st century, however. When Russian launched its invasion, Putin tried to justify the move to a domestic audience, saying Russia wanted to "de-Nazify" and "demilitarize" Ukraine, a country that has a Jewish president and is not in NATO. Still, most onlookers understood that the stated aims hid Moscow's real intention which was (and is) to overthrow the pro-Western government in Kyiv and regain its influence over the former Soviet republic. Ukraine has been steadily trending toward its European neighbors for years, despite Russia's attempts to maintain a pro-Kremlin leadership in the country. A pro-European uprising in Ukraine in 2014 resulted in the overthrow of the then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia's preferred man in Kyiv. Yanukovych fled to Russia in the ensuing political crisis, an event that Russia still slams as a "coup" that was orchestrated by the U.S., without presenting evidence. The uprising, or Maidan Revolution as Ukrainians know it, led to the start of armed hostilities between Russia and Ukraine with Russia invading Crimea in March 2014 and fomenting pro-Russian unrest  and an armed separatist movement  in the east of the country.

A giant wall mural showing a map of the Crimean peninsula filled with the flag of the Russian Federation, in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, March 28, 2014. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Russia's perception of Ukraine and other former Soviet states' slide toward the West, and its sphere of influence, has troubled Moscow and it has tried to maintain influence over its neighbors by hook or by crook. As with eastern Ukraine and the two pro-Russian separatist "republics" there that were supported by Moscow, the same playbook was used in Georgia. Russia recognized the "independence" of pro-Russian separatist parts of the country, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in 2008 in a move that led to war, albeit on a much shorter scale than we've seen in Ukraine. Georgia still views Russia as occupying 20% of its country. In Moldova, the restive, pro-Russian territory of Transnistria is also seen as a potential target for Russian annexation. With Ukraine mounting far more resistance than Russia expected, there are fears the conflict could last for years, with immense human and economic cost. Putin said Tuesday that Russia was going through "difficult times" as it continued its military campaign in Ukraine, but said national pride was growing.

Russia blames NATO for insecurity

Russia has seen sanction after sanction imposed on it for its geopolitical meddling and misdemeanors but its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the latest outbreak of war on European territory pushed NATO to act decisively, with Western countries rallying round Kyiv to provide it with military and financial aid to help it defend itself against its neighbor. Western leaders have repeatedly warned that there are wider securities at stake and that Russia must not be allowed to win in its invasion, fearing that other former Soviet states could be next as Putin is seen to be trying to rebuild a Soviet empire; Putin has publicly lamented the loss of the USSR, calling it one of the greatest geopolitical catastrophes Russia experienced last century.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov looks on, next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they wait for the US-Russia summit at the Villa La Grange, in Geneva on June 16, 2021. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference before he signs five state house bills into law at Cambridge Christian School in Tampa, Florida, U.S. May 17, 2023. Octavio Jones | Reuters

Many Republicans have split on the battle between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and amid a broader "demonization" of corporations, some conservatives are worried about a shift away from a key pro-business plank in recent GOP history. Count former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr among top Republicans who don't like the idea of using sovereign power to punish a company, but in the ongoing battle between DeSantis and Disney CEO Bob Iger, Barr is firmly on the side of the governor. "On this one, though, I actually support DeSantis," Barr told CNBC's David Faber at the CNBC CEO Council Summit this week in Santa Barbara, California. "For me, what is important here is that Disney was getting special privileges," Barr said, adding that Disney should be "treated like every one else." Disney has sued the state in federal court, accusing DeSantis of a political retribution campaign against the company after the governor signed legislation voiding Disney's development deals in Orlando. "Disney's intervention here was very unfair, and pandered to and played to a narrative by his political opponents," Barr said. On the underlying issue  which began after Disney publicly criticized the GOP-backed Florida bill limiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms  Barr says DeSantis was supporting "reasonable policy" about the appropriate age for discussion of these issues. "Obviously, the motivation ran deeper than that, but it doesn't bother me," he added.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks to the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Joe Cavaretta | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Some business interests won't take sides in the fight; some top donors are pouring more money into the Florida governor's coffers. Barr  who is now aligned with a conservative lobby planning to attack many of the Biden administration's regulatory policies  said he isn't worried about any friction in the relationship between DeSantis and the business world from the Disney issue. "If business people prefer the Biden administration over DeSantis, I don't think they will be moved by this issue one way or another," he said. The two-time attorney general  who also has served in the corporate sector as a general counsel in the telecom space  said his views on DeSantis and Disney do not change his belief that business leaders are more important to the future success of the U.S. than many politicians. "Big business has to clean up its own act, but as far as the GOP is concerned, the message I deliver all the time is that regardless of what we feel about politics, at the end of the day, central to the GOP vision is strong economic growth and tech supremacy of the U.S., and who is going to deliver that?" Barr said. "It's not people sitting in Congress, not bureaucrats. American companies will beat China, not the committee chairman in Congress."

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Separately, Nike CEO John Donahoe expressed his support for Disney's position and corporate embrace of "core values" at the CNBC CEO Council Summit. "I think Bob's doing a great job at this," Donahoe said of Disney CEO Bob Iger. Barr, who expressed support for DeSantis as far back as a year ago when the governor got off to a quick start in early polling that has since faded, said he is ready to support "any Republican capable of beating Trump, and I think we have a good group announcing." DeSantis is expected to formally announce his campaign in a Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk on Wednesday, while South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott entered the race with backing from Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison on Tuesday (Musk also has expressed words of support for Scott, though he will not endorse a candidate). Barr said he remains confident that Trump will be beaten in the primary, "and if not in the primary, he will be beaten" in the general election, he added. Of recent polling showing Trump back in the lead, Barr said the polls do not reflect where many GOP voters are trending. "Many Republicans understand the great opportunity for 2024 and Trump is most likely to lose. And even if he won he wouldn't have strength to accomplish much. ... Once the other candidates are out there, the polls will shift," he said. Barr added that there has been a "softening" among GOP voters, even in the MAGA base, on the issue of a "stolen" election. "More and more say it wasn't fraud, but it was rigged rules. ... fewer people believe fraud," he said. Barr lashed out at progressive politics during the interview, calling it a "cutesy name for a Marxist view of history and the world, and the meaning of life." "It essentially involves elevating the collective above the individual ... the perfecting of the collective," Barr said. "This is an ideology that says people will be judged by whichever side is advancing or retarding their cause," and he expressed his concern that it could evolve into a form of "soft despotism" in the U.S.
A top European Union data privacy regulator on Wednesday defended a decision to hit Meta with a record-setting 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) fine, saying that she had to enforce the law based on existing regulations.

Helen Dixon, the Data Protection Commissioner for Ireland  the main regulator for Meta and several other big U.S. tech companies  said that the watchdog took the decision to account for the existing EU-U.S. data transfers framework that was in place.

"I have to enforce the law as it is at the time," Dixon said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange."

Meta on Monday was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by the Irish Data Protection Commission for breaching the EU's tough rules on data privacy, known as the General Data Protection Regulation.

GDPR is a landmark data protection regulation that governs firms in the bloc. It came into effect in May 2018. Since then, EU privacy regulators have hit major U.S. tech companies with some eye-watering fines, including an $887 million on Amazon in Luxembourg and a $267 million fine on WhatsApp in Ireland. Meta's fine of Monday is the largest to date.

Several mechanisms to legally transfer personal data between the U.S. and the EU have been contested. The latest such iteration, Privacy Shield, was struck down by the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court, in 2020.

The Irish Data Protection Commission that oversees Meta operations in the EU alleged the company infringed the bloc's GDPR when it continued to send the personal data of European citizens to the U.S despite the 2020 European court ruling.

Ireland's regulator also pronounced that Meta was not allowed to continue sharing data on Europeans with the U.S., in a potentially business-crippling decision that could force the firm to move all of its storage and processing of Europeans' data locally in the EU.

EU and U.S. officials have been attempting to agree a framework to replace Privacy Shield, and there are reports that a substitute for the mechanism could be greenlit by the summer. According to Meta, this would have allowed the company to continue sharing data on EU citizens with its facilities in the U.S. as normal.

Asked why the regulator chose to take its decision now, when there is more regulation to come down the line, Dixon said, "The point is, it still hasn't come into effect."

She added, "This new agreement, called the European Data Privacy Framework, it's still pending. And at the time I concluded my investigation last summer, it still wasn't really on the horizon. So I had to enforce the law as it is at the time."

Before Monday, Meta was most recently struck with a $414 million fine for separate GDPR breaches on its WhatsApp and Instagram apps in January. The Monday Meta fine is the largest to date since the EU's GDPR came into force. Meta says it plans to appeal the decision and the fine.

- CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report
It's time to buy shares of Sherwin-Williams , according to Jefferies. Analyst Laurence Alexander upgraded the paint stock to buy from hold and upped his price target by $35 to $275. His new price target implies shares could rally 21.1% over the next year from Tuesday's close. Alexander said the company can be seen as a "bellwether proxy" for investor sentiment on the housing cycle, adding current performance shows Sherwin-Williams outpacing demand about 10% to 15%. "The housing cycle is turning: policy shocks that derail a recovery will likely have a much sharper impact on industrial and consumer goods companies," he said in a note to clients Wednesday. "Top-line benefits from share gains, margin benefits from raw material relief, and disciplined capital allocation should lead to above-trend EPS growth in 2025-2027." SHW YTD mountain SHW YTD The analyst also noted Sherwin-Williams' five-year earnings per share compound annual growth rate over the past two decades has outpaced the S & P 500 about 80% of the time with an average overperformance of 8.3% per year. But he said the company hasn't outperformed the broad index on the metric in the first half of 2023 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, a winter storm and supply chain dislocations. Alexander said those one-time shocks that weighed on performance are now fading. He said the company should outpace the S & P 500 between 4% and 5% on earrings over the next five years. The upgrade comes as investors worry about a potential economic recession coming later this year. But Sherwin-Williams should perform relatively better than other names during a broader economic slowdown, he said. That's because large caps such as Sherwin-Williams typically outperform smaller names in the cycle. Estimates can compress less than others due to how coatings and other industrial glasses fare in a time of economic contraction. Sherwin-Williams shares have struggled this year, losing more than 4%.  CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
A sign for Microsoft Corp. at the company's office in the central business district of Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022.

Microsoft warned Wednesday that Chinese state-sponsored hackers had compromised "critical" U.S. cyber infrastructure across numerous industries with a focus on gathering intelligence.

The Chinese hacking group, code-named "Volt Typhoon," has operated since mid-2021, Microsoft said in an advisory. The organization is apparently working to disrupt "critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia," Microsoft said, to stymie efforts during "future crises."

The National Security Agency put out a bulletin Wednesday, detailing how the hack works and how cybersecurity teams should respond.

The attack is apparently ongoing. In the advisory, Microsoft urged impacted customers to "close or change credentials for all compromised accounts."

U.S. intelligence agencies became aware of the incursion in February, around the same time that a Chinese spy balloon was downed, The New York Times reported.

In a briefing Thursday in Beijing, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the report and advisories as "filled with disinformation," and asserted that the U.S. "is the champion of hacking." The spokesperson also claimed that the report was part of a coordinated campaign from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which is made up of agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.

The infiltration was focused on communications infrastructure in Guam and other parts of the U.S., the Times reported, and was particularly alarming to U.S. intelligence because Guam sits at the heart of an American military response in case of an invasion of Taiwan.

Volt Typhoon is able to infiltrate organizations using a unnamed vulnerability in a popular cybersecurity suite called FortiGuard, Microsoft said. Once the hacking group has gained access to a corporate system, it steals user credentials from the security suite and uses them to try to gain access to other corporate systems.

The state-sponsored hackers aren't looking to create disruption yet, Microsoft said. Rather, "the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible."

Infrastructure in nearly every critical sector has been impacted, Microsoft said, including the communications, transport and maritime industries. Government organizations were also targeted.

Chinese government-backed hackers have targeted critical and sensitive information from U.S. companies before. Covington & Burling, a prominent law firm, was breached by suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers in 2020.

In a Thursday editorial, the Chinese state-backed paper China Daily dismissed Microsoft's analysis and the intelligence community warnings as "political propaganda."

In a joint statement with international and domestic intelligence services, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that Chinese attacks pose a continued risk to American intellectual property.

"For years, China has conducted aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations around the globe," CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement.
Republican gubernatorial candidate for Florida Ron DeSantis with his wife Casey DeSantis speaks to supporters during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on November 8, 2022.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday, setting the Republican contender on a collision course with former President Donald Trump in the race for the GOP nomination.

DeSantis was set to personally announce his run during a Twitter Spaces conversation with Elon Musk on Wednesday evening, but the plan was derailed after the site crashed repeatedly and suffered numerous other massive glitches. Investor David Sacks, who was on the call with DeSantis and Musk, blamed server issues stemming from the 500,000 or so users who signed on to listen. Musk then started a new Twitter Spaces where DeSantis announced his presidential bid.

That second stream hosted more than 300,000 listeners at its peak  far below the average primetime viewership for most cable news networks, even those that have recently suffered a ratings drop.

DeSantis' press secretary, Bryan Griffin, asserted in a tweet after the stream ended that the glitch-filled rollout merely proved there was high enthusiasm for the candidate. He added that the campaign had raised $1 million online in one hour.

DeSantis was slated to appear on Fox News on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET.

In a video posted Wednesday before the Twitter event started, DeSantis criticized Democratic policy on immigration, crime and education in rhetoric similar to that deployed by Trump and his other GOP rivals.

"I'm running for President to lead our great American comeback," he said.

Meanwhile, DeSantis, who officially filed paperwork to kick off his campaign Wednesday, also signed a bill that makes it easier to run for president, changing Florida's so-called resign-to-run law.

The long-anticipated announcement marks the culmination of years of buzz around DeSantis, 44, whose resistance to Covid-era lockdown rules and willingness to engage in polarizing cultural fights have quickly made him a Republican darling.

It also makes official DeSantis' simmering rivalry with Trump, burying their once-close relationship as some in the GOP look to replace the former president as their party's standard bearer.

Trump has already pummeled the governor with relentless attacks for months. Trump and his allies have assailed DeSantis' record, his political abilities and even his personality, while amplifying negative news about the governor. One pro-Trump PAC even cut an ad depicting an anecdote about DeSantis eating pudding with his fingers, which the governor has denied.

Read more: DeSantis brings history of business battles to presidential campaign

Trump's aggression may have paid off. Polls of the potential primary field have showed DeSantis, once Trump's close competitor, consistently losing ground for months, even as the governor toured key battlegrounds and racked up policy wins with his state's GOP-held Legislature.

A Quinnipiac University poll released earlier Wednesday underscored the governor's slide: Republican and GOP-leaning voters chose Trump over DeSantis by more than a two-to-one margin, 56% to 25%, in a matchup of the hypothetical primary field. That result showed Trump extending his gains and DeSantis losing ground from a previous Quinnipiac survey in late March.
As President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., continue to negotiate ahead of a June debt ceiling deadline, experts are warning that Social Security checks could be at risk if there is a default.

Based on the payment schedule for those monthly payments, the oldest and poorest beneficiaries could be the first who may have their payments affected, according to Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

"That would be devastating for those people, because they rely on their benefits so much," Romig said.

If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement, U.S. could default on its debt as soon as June 1, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. That, in turn, would interfere with the Social Security benefits slated to go out the first week of June, Romig said.

More from Personal Finance:

House Democrats move to renew Social Security reform proposal

U.S. households are hitting their own debt ceiling

What the debt ceiling standoff means for money market funds

Beneficiaries scheduled to receive payments that week include those who started receiving Social Security before May 1997 who are age 88 or older, noted Romig.

In addition, Supplemental Security Income benefits are paid that week for those who receive benefits either exclusively through that program or in combination with Social Security. Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, provides monthly checks to adults and children with disabilities or blindness, as well as people age 65 and up with limited financial resources. To qualify for SSI, beneficiaries generally must have income and resources below certain thresholds.

Because SSI beneficiaries face a $2,000 asset limit including all their financial resources, they do not have a cushion to fall back on if they do not receive their checks, Romig noted.

"They are the most immediately at risk in a default scenario," Romig said. "They really don't have a fallback."
China has so far not acted in an aggressive manner toward shipping in the South China Sea, but the very potential of action creates a clear threat to the economies of Japan and South Korea.

The following commentary is from Kevin Klowden, chief global strategist of Milken Institute.

News coverage of the weekend's Group of Seven meetings focused on Ukraine, but China's rising global presence was the other big topic on the G7 agenda. For two of East Asia's biggest economies, in particular, the implications of that rise are critically important.

China wants to be the great military and political power of East Asia. Nowhere is that more evident than in President Xi Jinping's "nine-dash" declaration, through which Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all the South China Sea. And of all the countries with cause to be concerned about that claim, perhaps none have more on the line than Japan and South Korea.

Most of the world is focused on the resource and military implications of Chinese claims to the islands in the region, and Beijing's development of what is becoming the world's largest navy. For Japan and South Korea, the threat to their supply chains and energy imports is a far more real and present issue.

In particular, Japan and South Korea are concerned about Chinese declarations which invoke not only the right to inspect cargo, but also the ability to restrict traffic. Neither Japan nor South Korea has any political interest in the ownership of the Spratly Islands, or in China replacing the United States as a dominant naval power. However, they have a strong economic stake in moving their energy imports and manufacturing components without fear of restriction. Even in a non-wartime situation, China has taken the position that the South China Sea is a controlled territory rather than open international waters under Chinese guardianship.

China has so far not acted in an aggressive manner toward shipping in the sea, but the very potential of action creates a clear threat to the economies of Japan and South Korea. China wouldn't even have to directly stop vessels  it could merely electronically track specific cargo, or carry out inspections or diversions. Such actions would raise the specter of unpredictability and significantly rising costs.

For Japan and South Korea, the role taken by the United States in the post-World War II period was far less disruptive, not only because of their alliance but, more importantly, because the United States acted as a guarantor of free trade and protected movement through the corridor.
U.S. President Joe Biden hosts debt limit talks with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis Leah Millis | Reuters

A standoff between the White House and Congressional Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling has pushed the world's largest economy to the brink of defaulting on its bills. This is not the first time the formerly procedural mechanism has caused turmoil in Washington. Yet in Denmark  the only other democracy with a similar type of nominal debt ceiling  barely anybody knows it exists. related investing news This one chart shows the stock market risk of going down to the wire on a debt ceiling deal President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held what the latter called a "productive" meeting at the White House on Monday, but a deal remains elusive. The Republican-led House wants sweeping cuts to federal discretionary spending, new work requirements for welfare recipients and an expansion of mining and fossil fuel production. The White House has so far resisted. The U.S. will default on its bills for the first time ever, if Democrats and Republicans are unable to break the impasse by June 1. This would likely have serious economic ramifications, including a recession, mass federal job losses and a global stock market collapse. The debt ceiling has been in effect since 1917 and enables Congress to limit the amount of money the federal government is able to borrow to cover its bills, making up the deficit between what it collects in taxes and spends on government activities already approved by Congress. It has been lifted 78 times since 1960, last rising by $2.5 trillion in December 2021 to $31.381 trillion.

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Once routine, discussions over raising the debt ceiling have increasingly become a platform for political brinkmanship  particularly since 2011, when Republicans also threatened a default if the Obama administration did not grant spending cuts. The episode prompted S&P Global to issue a first-ever downgrade to the U.S. credit rating, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time that the debt ceiling  and by implication the U.S. economy  was a "hostage worth ransoming." The limit was raised unconditionally by the Democratic-led House three times under former Republican President Donald Trump's administration, but history is now repeating itself. Separation of church and state While the U.S. debt ceiling restricts government borrowing to a particular figure, most other economies set debt limits as a percentage of GDP. For instance, countries that are part of the European Union, under rules set out in the Maastricht Treaty, pledge to keep their public debt below 60% of GDP and to maintain an annual budget deficit of less than 3%. Denmark is the only other democratic nation in the world with a debt limit set at a fixed nominal figure, yet it never produces the same political and economic turmoil. In fact, it is scarcely even talked about.

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This is largely because the Danish debt ceiling was designed to be a synthetic constitutional provision and was set so high that it would never become the "political bargaining chip" it has in the U.S., as government borrowing needs repeatedly run up against it, according to Laura Sunder-Plassmann, associate professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen. Sunder-Plassmann also explained that Danish politics is less politically polarized than the U.S., with two large and a dozen or more smaller but not insignificant parties represented in parliament. "While there are definitely arguments to be made for fiscal rules, most advanced countries have opted for non-binding limits on debt to GDP ratios (and deficits) instead of nominal amounts, which while perhaps not perfect at least avoids the kind of debates we now see in the U.S.," she said via email. The Danish debt ceiling, or "gldsloft," was implemented as a constitutional requirement in 1993 after a restructure of the country's government, and set at 950 billion Danish kroner ($137.5 billion). Danish politicians consider it more of a formality, largely in place to reassure parliament and the public that the government of the day cannot go rogue.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Feb. 28, 2023: Members of the Danish Parliament attend a session before a vote. Denmark is the only other country in the world with a debt ceiling comparable to that of the U.S., but it never causes the same political crises that Washington frequently faces. LISELOTTE SABROE/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Denmark has historically retained a strong fiscal position, but suffered a significant deficit in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, prompting the debt ceiling to be increased in 2010 to 2 trillion Danish kroner. This is a hefty limit for a small country of around 6 million people with a national debt of just 323 billion kroner at the end of 2022, according to the Danish National Bank. Carl-Johan Dalgaard, professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen, told CNBC on Wednesday that most people in Denmark tend to forget about the fixed figure ceiling, with the EU's 60% debt-to-GDP limit garnering more attention. Raising the debt ceiling in 2010 was uncontroversial, Dalgaard suggested, in part because of the less polarized nature of the Danish political landscape, including "broad support in the Danish electorate in favor of the welfare state" and the fact that raising the ceiling only became necessary in the context of a global crisis. The low level of government debt also means it has "no substantive importance" during periods of economic stability, he added. Denmark is running a budget surplus and has seen its debt fall substantially over the past decade. National debt to GDP declined steadily up until a spike in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and fell again to just over 30% of GDP by late 2022. Jesper Rangvid, professor of finance at the Copenhagen Business School, told CNBC on Tuesday that the Danish system is structured so that political decisions about fiscal policy are confined to the public budget for tax and spending of each year, with the debt ceiling an entirely separate formality.

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a conference titled Celebrate the Faces of Israel, Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, April 27, 2023.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement plans were derailed Wednesday evening by massive technical glitches on Twitter that temporarily kept him from declaring his candidacy.

"Servers are straining somewhat," Elon Musk, Twitter's owner, was heard saying on the app's live audio stream where he and DeSantis were supposed to have a conversation that included the governor's first verbal announcement of his White House bid.

Musk's comment came in between crashes, feedback glitches and audio failures that prevented the conversation on Twitter's Spaces feature from beginning for around 25 minutes past its scheduled 6 p.m. ET start time.

Musk and investor David Sacks, an ally of both men, started a new Twitter Spaces webcast after the original one failed. But technical issues popped in that stream, too, including in the middle of DeSantis' remarks.

DeSantis had filed federal paperwork earlier in the day, putting him officially in the running for the Republican presidential nomination. His campaign had also released a video in which DeSantis says, "I'm running for president to lead our great American comeback."

But DeSantis' unorthodox decision to make a major announcement on an audio-only Twitter tool had drawn the most attention.

The aborted first Spaces event listed more than half a million listeners before it was abandoned completely.

When he was eventually able to speak without interruption, DeSantis began by echoing some of the remarks he made in the pre-recorded video his campaign had released shortly beforehand.

"Well I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback," DeSantis said on Twitter. He touched on issues including crime and economic anxiety and slammed President Joe Biden for lacking "vigor" and taking "cues from the woke mob."

The botched event came as Musk pushes to boost Twitter's revenue. Earlier this month, he hired NBCUniversal's former ad chief Linda Yaccarino to replace him as the social media platform's CEO. Musk bought Twitter in October for $44 billion. He has since cut about 80% of the company's staff.

After the event, Musk tweeted: "All Presidential candidates are most welcome on this platform."

A DeSantis campaign official tried to spin the sputtering event into a positive, telling NBC News, "Governor DeSantis broke the internet  that should tell you everything you need to know about the strength of his candidacy.!"

But DeSantis' critics and his top political opponents pounced on the glitch fest.

"His collar is too big!" Trump wrote on Truth Social, his own Twitter-like social platform.

Biden's official Twitter account, meanwhile, used the opportunity to ask for contributions to his reelection campaign.

"This link works," Biden tweeted with a URL linking to his ActBlue donation page.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told an audience Tuesday that Russia was going through "difficult times" as its invasion of Ukraine continues, but said national pride was growing.

"Yes, Russia is going through difficult times now; things have never been easy, but, still, today we are seeing a moment of our common consolidation, with our national pride being sharpened," Putin told an awards ceremony, according to comments reported by state news agency Tass.

Elsewhere, the Kremlin said Wednesday that it's premature to talk about a peaceful settlement, with Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov saying the preconditions for an end to the conflict did not yet exist.

When asked by reporters which peace proposals were closest to Russia's position, Peskov said:

"It is premature to talk about this as long as there are no prerequisites for a peaceful settlement. The special military operation continues," as Russia calls its unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.
Here are Wednesday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Barclays upgrades Urban Outfitters to overweight from equal weight Barclays said sales growth is "accelerating" at Urban Outfitters. "On the back of URBN's across-the-board solid 1Q23, we upgrade shares to Overweight based on positive inflections in our sales-to-inventory risk and inventory productivity metrics combined with positive sales growth." Jefferies upgrades Sherwin-Williams to buy from hold Jefferies said it sees an attractive risk/reward for the painting company. " SHW' s risk/reward appears more balanced, particularly on a relative basis." Read more about this call here. Bank of America adds Arista Networks to the US1 list Bank of America added the networking equipment company to its top picks list. "We are adding Arista Networks (ANET) and Fortinet (FTNT) to the US 1 list." BMO upgrades Camping World Holdings to outperform from market perform BMO said RV sales growth accelerating. "Following our most recent round of channel checks we think lower manufacturer production levels will benefit both CWH' s New RV margins as well its Used RV retail given the greater likelihood of lean channel inventory levels during the peak summer selling months." Bank of America reiterates Alphabet as buy Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating on the search giant. "Bing integration in ChatGPT may close Google's data advantage, but we still see three important advantages for Google (data, distribution, and AI-based ad technology). Bank of America upgrades Accolade to buy from neutral Bank of America said the health benefits assistance company has a "steady growth engine." " ACCD is a vital digital front door to employer benefits, with its core navigation/advocacy business well-supported by its ancillary virtual care (primary care / mental health) and expert second opinion businesses." Barclays reiterates SolarEdge as overweight Barclays said the solar company is quickly gaining market share. "We believe SEDG is set to take market share in the US while ENPH is positioned to gain share in Europe on the residential side." Evercore ISI reiterates Procter & Gamble as outperform Evercore said the company's detergent brands are at inflection point. "However, we see evidence of strengthening and increased chances for strong performance by Procter's U.S. detergents if the economy further weakens, as a positive for PG shares. Oppenheimer reiterates Netflix as outperform Oppenheimer raised its price target on the stock to $450 per share from $415 and said it's bullish on the company's password sharing crack down. "With Netflix now launching Paid Sharing at $7.99 per additional household stream, we are raising our target to $450 (was $415) and reiterating Outperform." Read more about this call here. Jefferies upgrades First Horizon to buy from hold Jefferies said in its upgrade of the regional bank that it sees several positive catalysts ahead. "We upgrade FHN to Buy from Hold and preview the upcoming Investor Day. Though investor days rarely deliver as meaningful catalysts, we view FHN as unique as this will be the first time mgmt. provides guidance in 17 months post TD deal break." Read more about this call here. Deutsche Bank reiterates ABM Industries a top pick Deutsche said the facility management company is a "best small cap value idea." "ABM remains our top value pick in the space; the company operates on a flexible labor model allowing it to manage effectively in a potentially weaker environment." Mizuho reiterates Amazon as buy Mizuho raised its price target on the stock to $160 from $145 and said it sees multiple expansion. "Concurrently, we expect a multiple expansion as concerns on AMZN's AI-market-position diminish. We are placing AMZN as a top pick for 2H23, and raising our PT from $145 to $160." Barclays upgrades Owens Corning to overweight from equal weight Barclays said shares of the building products company are "compelling." "Our upgrade of OC is not entirely based on its new construction exposure, as it has diversified away in recent years though it remains an outsized driver of earnings growth, and reflects its improved business with less volatile margins, while valuation is historically compelling." Bank of America reiterates Apple as neutral Bank of America said investors should not be so quick to dismiss a mixed reality headset and that it could be "transformative" for Apple. "Largely anticipated is also the unveil of a Mixed Reality (MR) headset, which could be transformative over time." Bank of America reiterates Eli Lilly as buy Bank of America raised its price target on Eli Lilly to $500 per share from $450 and says it sees "increased revenue forecasts for tirzepatide," the company's obesity drug. "While we acknowledge there's still a lot of wood to chop for broader obesity reimbursement, based on our discussions with prescribers / patients' interest, we think reimbursement is a 'when, not if.'" Evercore ISI initiates Stem as outperform Evercore said it sees "rapid growth" for the energy storage company. " Stem , a leading player in the energy storage market, is poised for rapid growth and expansion into new clean energy verticals such as EV charging, wind power, and hydrogen." Citi reiterates Peloton as buy Citi said it's staying bullish on exercise company for the long term. "Yesterday, Peloton announced a reimagined brand and launched new tiered digital subscriptions that revolve around making its content accessible to anyone, anywhere which we believe can lead to greater adoption of its products and services overall." Citi reiterates Nvidia as buy Citi said it's standing by its buy rating on the stock when it reports earnings on Wednesday after the bell. "We expect modest 'beat and raise' from NVIDIA driven by accelerating Y/Y data center growth on new H100 product ramp and a shift of cloud capex spend towards generative AI." Guggenheim reiterates Tesla as sell Guggenheim said the automaker continues to convert interested buyers buy negative pricing still makes 2023 a challenging year. "EV Buyer TAM analysis suggests TSLA converting an extremely high percentage of interested buyers." Truist upgrades Berry Global to buy from hold Truist said in its upgrade of the plastics company that it has numerous ways to unlock value. "We upgrade BERY to Buy from Hold as we believe the board and management have an increased sense of urgency regarding near-term cost savings initiatives, portfolio right-sizing, and various options to potentially unlock greater value." Barclays initiates RXO as overweight Barclays said in its initiation of the transportation company that it has "large ambitions and a solid track record." " RXO has demonstrated an ability to outgrow peers in a competitive brokerage landscape, leading to meaningful equity upside if management even partially achieves its aggressive earnings ambitions." Bernstein initiates Ambev as outperform Bernstein initiated the Brazilian brewing beverage company and said it's "brewing up better margins." "We launch coverage of Ambev with an Outperform rating based on solid volume growth from its majority EM exposure, margin expansion from input cost tailwinds and attractive valuation. Goldman Sachs initiates Ideaya Biosciences as buy Goldman said the biotech company "offers multiple opportunities for value inection." "With additional agents in preclinical development, IDYA is poised to become a lead player within synthetic lethality."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give the Philippines up to US$4 billion in support of the countrys socioeconomic development plans and infrastructure programs for 2023, Malacanang said Tuesday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. learned of the grant from ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa during their meeting at the banks headquarters on Monday, Palace said.

"This 2023 alone, we expect to provide up to US$4 billion to support the government's socioeconomic agenda and the Build Better More infrastructure development program," Asakawa said as quoted by the Palace.

"This includes preparation of several transformative projects such as the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project, the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project, and the Integrated Floor Resilience and Adaptation Project," he added.

Asakawa also said ADB's financing to the Philippines rose by fourfold and hit a total of US $12.7 billion between 2018 and 2022.

Due to the country's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change which heightens exposure to severe weather events, Asakawa said the ADB is fully committed to helping the Philippines address climate change, saying "it will be a core priority of our assistance going forward."

Asakawa said during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, he had the privilege of distributing food packages procured under the Bayanihan project to over 260,000 vulnerable families in Metro Manila.

He also expressed gratitude to the Philippines for being a good host to the ADB's annual meeting in September 2022, where the ADB revealed its US$14-billion assistance package for developing member countries to help them address food security issues from 2022 to 2025.

The Palace said the ADB was the Philippines' top source of active Official Development Assistance (ODA) among 20 development partners in 2022, accounting for 34% (US$10.74 billion for 31 loans and 28 grants) of the US$31.95-billion of the total active ODA.

From 2010 to 2022, the ADB's annual loan financing for the Philippines averaged at US$1.4 billion.

Malacanang said three loans amounting to US$1.10 billion were signed with the bank within the first nine months of the Marcos administration.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  Five Cebu City police personnel including their "civilian asset" are facing kidnapping with rape charges while on an "unauthorized" anti-illegal drugs operation in September last year.

On May 9, the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) filed the cases at the Visayas Ombudsman after a 19-year-old woman sought help from the agency.

An NBI-7 report said the supposed police raid happened on September 19 in a house in Barangay San Nicolas in Cebu City.

The law enforcers allegedly barged inside the house owned by complainant's friend, saying it was a police raid. Some of the people managed to escape except for the victim.

The woman claimed she was not brought to the police station but to a two-story apartment in the same barangay, where she was interrogated and tortured to identify those who sell drugs in the area.

She said she was detained at the apartment from September 19 until her captors released her on September 22.

The victim also reported that she was hit on her palms with a broomstick and a handle of a dustpan several times.

"She was also threatened to be stripped naked and drowned," the NBI-7 report revealed.

During her detention, a police asset identified as Luis allegedly forced her to take shabu after every meal. At dawn of September 22, the victim said "Luis" raped her, according to NBI-7's report

It added that while only "Luis" raped the victim, all of those involved will face the same charges because the entire incident could be considered as an act of conspiracy.

NBI-7 said the laws violated include Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code or Kidnapping/Serious Illegal Detention with Rape in relation to Article 8 or conspiracy; violation of section 5 of Republic Act 9165; and, conduct prejudicial to the Best Interest of Service.

Aside from "Luis," the following were recommended for prosecution: Police Corporal (PCpl) Johnrober Ortega Rebusa, PCpl Jeffrey Patoc Alabata, PCpl Keven Zosa Gilbuena, Police Staff Sergeant (PSSg) Donald Aboy Balansag, and PSSg Joy Marie Alad-ad.

The bureau said all of the police officers are members of the drug enforcement unit of Cebu City Police Office station 11 based in Barangay Mambaling.

Relieve from duty

Meanwhile, the Central Visayas Police Regional Office on Wednesday ordered the relief of the five police personnel identified in the NBI-7 case.

Police Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of Police Regional Office 7, said those involved in the incident are currently at the holding unit of the Cebu City Police Office. He said they will also conduct a parallel investigation into the incident.

Pelare said that they will cooperate with the NBI-7 and the Ombudsman on this incident, and will be transparent in their own investigation.

"We will not condone any misdeed within the ranks of Police Regional Office 7, and as we are very fast in recognizing our personnel, we are also very swift and very determined to penalize those involved in any illegal activities," Pelare said in a separate interview at the Camp Sergio Osmena Sr. in Cebu City.

Pelare said the September 2022 operation conducted was not authorized and the incident could be isolated. He urged the public to continue to trust the PNP despite the incident.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved the release of 5 billion to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) for the rehabilitation of conflict-affected communities, including those in Marawi City.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DBM said the release of the fund is in accordance with Republic Act 11054 which states that the national government must provide the special development fund with 5 billion every year for a period of 10 years.

The budget is intended for the rebuilding, rehabilitation, and development of communities in the region.

We hope that BARMM takes advantage of this funding by fully utilizing it to help those in need, and to improve areas that need further development, DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

The DBM said the most recent conflict recorded was the five-month siege of Marawi City in 2017.

It noted that the war resulted in 17 billion in property damage and lost opportunities.

The Task Force Bangon Marawi, which is leading the rehabilitation efforts, previously said the city needed at least 49.8 billion to fund its restoration.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics on Wednesday said possible sanctions against embattled Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves may be released after its hearing on the matter on May 29.

We will be meeting on Monday for us to deliberate on the possible actions and recommendations of the committee, the panel's vice chairman Raul Angelo Bongalon told CNN Philippines' The Source. The committee is set to submit the committee report after we have the committee meeting on Monday.

The ethics panel met on Tuesday following the end of Teves 60-day suspension on May 22.

House lawmakers, on the recommendation of the same committee, earlier suspended Teves due to his continued absence from work after he flew to the United States late-February for medical purposes.

Citing threats to his life, the lawmaker has been refusing to return to the country after he was tagged in the murder of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo. He has denied involvement in Degamo's killing.

Teves camp has previously requested the House to let him attend the proceedings through videoconference, which was rejected by the lower chamber.

Bongalon said the only options left for the committee are another period of suspension, slapping of penalties, or expulsion.

READ: Lagman says Rep. Teves expulsion unlikely
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  Six years after the city came under siege, the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) signed the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law that provides compensation to owners of properties destroyed during the five-month-long Battle of Marawi and the heirs of those who died.

On May 23, the anniversary of the 2017 siege, the board released a video showing the IRR signing for the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act which then President Rodrigo Duterte approved last year.

The IRR details the claims process to receive the payout. It shall be effective 15 days after its publication in at least two newspapers of general circulation.

MCB Chairperson Maisara Dandamun-Latiph earlier said 1 billion was set aside fo the initial payouts to victims.

She said they expect around 17,800 households from 32 barangays to file a monetary claim, which will be evaluated by the nine-member board.

The MCB has yet to announce the period of application for the claim.

Under the law, any owner of a residential, cultural, or commercial structure, or other properties in affected areas, is entitled to a tax-free payment from the government.

Compensation will also be given to the heirs of those killed in the war, which broke out between government forces and Islamic State-linked militants, as well as of those legally presumed dead.

According to Amnesty International, 920 IS-linked militants, 165 soldiers and 47 civilians were killed in the Marawi crisis. The conflict also displaced some 360,000 people in the city and surrounding areas.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday drew the ire of senators after it admitted that a huge chunk of its net income in the recent years only went to paying dividends to its shareholders.

In 2019, the power grid operator earned a net income of 20.3 billion of which 15 billion went to dividends.

Two years prior, the NGCP had a net income of P20.6 billion, of which P19 billion went to dividends.

In 2014, the firm paid out 24 billion in dividends  more than its 22 billion declared net income for the year.

"Ito yung sinasabi ko noon pa na mas malaki ang napupunta sa dibidendo kaysa sa napupunta sa development. Only in the Philippines na for profit ang transmission," said Senator Raffy Tulfo.

[Translation: This is what I'm talking about before that a huge amount goes to dividends instead of for development. It's only in the Philippines where the transmission is being profited.]

The NGCP is 40% owned by the Chinese state-owned State Grid Corporation, while 60% is held by investment group Synergy Grid and Development Philippines of Henry Sy Jr. and Roberto Coyiuto Jr.

But the power grid operator explained that the dividends are not just sourced from the net income of the current year, but also from the retained earnings.

"Our profits or dividends are taken from retained earnings, which have accumulated over the years. So, it's not one is to one. Kung ano ang dineclare for this year (So what's declared for the year), does not necessarily come solely from the profits earned for that particular year," said NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza.

The NGCP added that its capital outlay, which was P39 billion in 2019, came from different sources such as loans.

However, Tulfo was not convinced with NGCP's response.

"Imbes na napunta sa mga shareholders, kahit sabihin natin na mataas yung capital outlay ninyo, sana binuhos niyo na lang sa development, pagbili ng kagamitan para sa connectivity," he said.

[Translation: Instead of giving it to shareholders, although you have a huge capital outlay, you should have used it for the development and purchasing of equipment for connectivity.]

Delayed projects

The Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) also noted that the NGCP has 72 delayed projects across the country, which includes six backbone projects.

But Senator Sherwin Gatchalian flagged that despite these projects being delayed, they are already part of the transmission charge being collected by the power grid operator pursuant to its approved interim maximum annual revenue in 2020.

"Right now, we are not seeing anything. But they are deducting from consumers like us," he said.

The Department of Energy (DOE) noted that such a scheme is allowed, but the NGCP never consulted them or the ERC whenever there is a delay.

"ERC will tell them na okay na itong project niyo and you can proceed already, that's when the charging will start.... Unfortunately, mino-move yung project," said Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin.

[Translation: ERC will tell them that this project is already okay, and you can proceed already, that's when the charging will start... Unfortunately, the projects are being moved.]

"That's without the approval of ERC or DOE on the moving of the schedule of the project...So minsan, kapag nade-delay, we are just informed and not consulted," she added.

[Translation: There's no approval of ERC or DOE with regards to the moving of the schedule of the project...So sometimes, when there is a delay, we are just informed and not consulted.]

Garin also said the ERC can only impose a maximum of 50 million penalties on the NGCP per violation.

"And yet bilyon ang kinikita nila sa kanilang pagchacharge at pinaghati-hatian na ang dibidendo na wala pa yung proyekto at hindi pa napapakinabangan ng taong bayan, at ang multa lang diyan ay 50 milyon? Dapat kulong kung tutuusin," Tulfo exclaimed.

[Translation: And yet they are earning billions through charging and the dividends are being rolled out even though the projects are yet to materialize, and the fine is only 50 million? They should be jailed.]

On the other hand, the NGCP apologized for the delays in its projects.

"If delayed po 'yan, it's not because ayaw naming tapusin. Marami po talaga kaming hurdles na na-encounter," said Albanza.

[Translation: If there were any delays, it's not because we don't want to finish it. We just encountered many hurdles.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  A 77-year-old woman died in a fire that hit several houses under a flyover in Barangay Balon Bato in Quezon City early Wednesday, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said.

Authorities declared the fire out at 8:08 a.m.

The BFP-Quezon City received the alarm around 4 a.m. An hour later, it raised the alarm to fourth level, meaning up to 16 firetrucks were tapped to respond.

Authorities raised concerns on the structural integrity of the flyover as the metals and concrete were under direct heat.

The BFP has yet to disclose the cause of the fire.

During an interview with CNN Philippines Balitaan, a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official said the overpass is currently limited to light vehicles and up to six-wheeler closed vans pending a detailed engineering investigation.

Safe pa naman siyang gamitin (It remains safe for usage), DPWH-NCR Planning and Design Division chief Brian Briones said.

Briones said the bridge remains structurally sound, but the existing retrofittingthe DPWHs previous work to strengthen the infrastructurewas damaged.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  Super Typhoon Mawar was downgraded into typhoon category after it slightly weakened on Wednesday morning, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.

PAGASA weather specialist Ana Clauren-Jorda said in an 8 a.m. briefing that this was due to eyewall replacement, or a new eye developing around the old one.

Jorda said there is still a possibility that Mawar, which will be locally called Betty, will be a super typhoon once it is inside the countrys weather monitoring area by Friday night or early Saturday morning.

The state weather bureau said Mawar was last located 2,170 kilometers east of the Visayas. It packs maximum sustained winds of up to 175 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 215 kph, PAGASA added.

It is still less likely to make landfall in the country, but storm signals may be raised in parts of the country, specifically northern Luzon, Jorda noted.

While landfall is not expected, Mawar is seen to enhance the southwest monsoon or habagat, which will bring rains over the western section of the country, specifically in the Palawan area and the Visayas during the weekend.

Agencies are already gearing up for the expected entry of Mawar.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government said it has instructed all its regional directors to coordinate with their respective local disaster management officials and to remind local government units to prepare for Mawar.

The Office of the Civil Defense said it has alerted local government units that will be possibly affected by the rains caused by the enhanced southwest monsoon. Rescue teams were also told to be on standby, it added.

Meanwhile, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said 690,000 relief goods were already distributed as his department also works on doubling the stockpile of food packs in the Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley, which is currently at 30,000.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said it is also implementing precautionary measures in anticipation of the impact of Mawar.

Airports located within the possible path of Mawar, such as Ilocos region and Cagayan Valley airports, have already conducted pre-typhoon coordination meetings and assessments to gear up for possible weather disturbance, it said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  A panel of state prosecutors is set to launch its formal investigation into the March 4 murder of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and nine others, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday.

We already finished the evaluation. The records have already been and will be forwarded by this morning to the panel that will conduct the investigation on the new cases filed by the National Bureau of Investigation, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon told CNN Philippines The Source.

He said this will include the latest murder complaints filed by the NBI against embattled Congressman Arnolfo Teves.

Teves was tagged as one of the masterminds of Degamo's assassination  an accusation he denies. He has yet to return to the country since getting medical treatment in the United States in February.

Eleven other suspects in the Degamo murder case are under the custody of authorities.

Initially, their statements pointed to Teves as the mastermind along with his former bodyguard Marvin Miranda.

Suspect Osmundo Jhudiel Rivero, however, recanted his statement on Monday.

In his counter-affidavit, Rivero claimed he was kicked and hit while at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Headquarters in Camp Crame. He said he was made to say that Negros Oriental Representative Arnie Teves gave the order to kill Degamo, adding that his family was threatened.

Riveros counsel, Danny Villanueva, told CNN Philippines on Tuesday that his clients affidavit of recantation was not yet accepted since the prosecutors required their camp to submit the sworn statements by the PNP of Negros Oriental and those executed by Rivero before the NBI.

The lawyer questioned this, noting that it is the prosecutors responsibility to provide the documents.

Fadullon said they already received Riveros affidavit of recantation, but it is the latters duty to prove his torture allegations, hence the need to submit supporting documents.

These are allegations which are brought forward by accused Rivero and therefore it is incumbent upon Rivero to now present proof of the facts that he is now alleging in his affidavit of recantation, Fadullon pointed out.

Villanueva has said his three other clients, Dahniel Lora, Romel Pattaguan, and Rogelio Antipolo Jr., have also recanted their statements.

Authorities have yet to receive a copy of their affidavits of recantation, but Fadullon said he expects these to be the same as to what Rivero submitted.

Fadullon maintained the case against the suspects is still strong since there are still other pieces of evidence that point to them.

READ: DOJ: More than enough evidence to pin down Degamo slay suspects
NEW MEXICO

US regulators OK spent nuclear fuel storage facility

ALBUQUERQUE  U.S. nuclear regulators licensed a multibillion-dollar complex to temporarily store tons of spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico from commercial power plants around the nation, a decision likely to be challenged in court.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its decision on May 9, saying it will allow the energy company Holtec International to build and operate the facility in southeastern New Mexico. New Jersey-based Holtec may still need to acquire permits from the state, and top New Mexico officials have vowed to fight the project.

The New Mexico project would have capacity to temporarily store up to 8,680 metric tons of used uranium fuel. Future expansion could make room for as many as 10,000 canisters over six decades. The material would be transported to New Mexico via rail.

Critics say most would be brought from East Coast sites, prompting concern after recent railway accidents involving other chemicals and cargo.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state's congressional delegation say they fear New Mexico will become the nation's dumping ground for spent nuclear fuel because the federal government has no permanent solution for the waste piling up at commercial reactors around the country.

New Mexico approved legislation in March aimed at stopping the project.

Holtec has argued that the New Mexico measure is pre-empted by federal law and that a court fight would only delay the economic boon that would come from building the complex. The company has spent an estimated $80 million pursuing the 40-year license to build and operate the facility.

State proposal would extend free child care, boost pay

SANTA FE  New Mexico would extend indefinitely no-pay child care for most children up to age 5 with increased payment rates to private and public child care providers under proposed regulations announced May 8.

New Mexico's current child care subsidies  among the most expansive in the nation  were initiated with federal coronavirus relief money. Education officials are now grappling with financial strategies to sustain efforts to expand the reach and quality of child care services in a state with low rates of workforce participation and high rates of childhood poverty.

New Mexico in April 2022 expanded eligibility and waived co-payments for child care assistance to families earning as much as four times the federal poverty rate  equal to about $120,000 for a family of four. But the provisions are set to expire in August.

The proposed regulatory change from the Early Childhood Education and Care Department would extend those guidelines and ensure that service taxes on child care assistance are not paid by parents.

Enrollment in the assistance program has increased over the past year by nearly one-third to roughly 19,340 children under age 6, according to the department. Children ages 6 and over receive financial assistance for before-school and after-school programs.

About 72,000 children in 43,000 families are eligible for child care assistance under current rules.

Surging state spending on early childhood education is underwritten in part by a roughly $2 billion trust sustained by taxes on oil and natural gas production and investment income.

Additionally, voters in 2022 approved increased annual withdrawals from the state's land grant permanent fund to pay for early childhood education initiatives.

NORTH DAKOTA

Governor signs law protecting tribal adoptions

North Dakota's Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law to protect tribal cultures by codifying the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law, Burgum's office announced May 8.

The federal Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted in 1978, gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children.

Also known by the acronym ICWA, it was created in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaska Native children were taken from their homes by public and private agencies.

Several other states  including Montana, Wyoming and Utah  have considered codifying the act this year, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the federal law.

A handful of white families have claimed the law is based on race and is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause. They also said it puts the interests of tribes ahead of children. Lower courts have been split on the case.

Supporters of the law include Native American leaders who have long championed it as a way to preserve Native families and culture.

Mike Nowatzki, a spokesperson for the governor, said the new state law ensures "that these important protections for Native American children and families will remain in place in North Dakota regardless of what happens with the ICWA in the federal court system."

NEBRASKA

Ponca tribe Chief Standing Bear honored with stamp

A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law was honored on May 12 with the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait.

The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the Army forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return. This prompted him to file a lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a Native American is a person with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Postal Service, which released the stamp at a ceremony in Lincoln, Nebraska, has printed 18 million stamps. The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II, based on a black and white photograph taken in 1877, the Postal Service said.

More than 100 members of the Ponca tribe died during or soon after the forced journey to Oklahoma, including Chief Standing Bear's only son. It was a desire to have his son buried in their homeland in Nebraska's Niobrara River Valley that resulted in the return of Chief Standing Bear and 29 others and their subsequent arrest.

A congressional investigation later determined the government wrongly gave away the Ponca homeland and removed the tribe, leading to congressional legislation in 1881 that gave some compensation to members of the tribe. In 1924, an issue that arose in the 1879 trial was resolved when Congress approved a law that conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.

OKLAHOMA

Police rush to respond to cries for help ... from a goat

ENID  Sometimes a wrong call can really get your goat.

Police in Enid, Oklahoma at first walked slowly and cautiously through the grassy, wooded area of a farm seeking the source of faint cries in the distance.

"That's a person," one of the officers said to the other on a video that has been widely shared from a Facebook post by the police department in the city about 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. The distressing noise that sounded like human cries for help escalated as officers David Sneed and Neal Storey began running to help who they thought was perhaps a person trapped under farm equipment.

Instead, it was a goat.

"The farmer said he had two male goats in the barn, and he took one out and he wasn't happy," according to police spokesperson Cass Rains.

Now the town and the police department are enjoying the tale of the rescue that wasn't.

All in all, as the department wrote: "You really can't say it was that baaad of a call."
Manufacturers ordered to give option for consumers to switch off commercials Smart television manufacturers and sellers must provide consumers with an option to turn off advertisements inserted in the devices to protect their rights and interests, China's top court said. The Supreme People's Court made the remark on Monday in the country's first release of a public interest case concerning smart TVs, clarifying that consumers have the right to choose or reject products or services. In the case, the Jiangsu Consumer Council filed a lawsuit against an electronics company, claiming that a 15-second advertisement, which was automatically played when smart TVs sold by the company were turned on, infringed upon consumers' rights. The council asked the company to offer consumers an option to disable the ad, saying that they should not be forced to watch it every time they turned on their TVs. After the enterprises failed to correct the problem, the council sued it. In November 2020, the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu found in favor of the council, ordering the company to provide an option for consumers to disable the ad, stressing in the verdict that consumers have the right to choose or reject the service. In March 2021, the Jiangsu High People's Court upheld the original ruling after the company appealed. "Even though the ad was just 15 seconds, it violated the legitimate rights of consumers and also affected the healthy development of the smart TV industry," Qi Su, deputy chief judge of the top court's Third Circuit Court, said while briefing about the case on Monday. "The dispute resolution has shown the principle of upholding a people-centered approach in our judicial affairs, and how we responded to public concerns with efficient case handling," she added. On Monday, the top court also disclosed 15 other cases resolved by courts in the Yangtze River Delta, noting that the move aims to unify trial standards and serve its high-quality development by the rule of law. The cases cover various aspects  including those involving internet platforms, environmental protection, intellectual property and finance  reflecting the major developing sectors in the delta. Lauding the judicial fight against illegal fishing and the purchase of fry in the river by effectively solving relevant public interest litigation, Qi called for judges to continue to make stronger efforts to protect the environment by strictly implementing the Yangtze River Protection Law. She highlighted the importance of dealing with commercial disputes across the delta, adding that better handling of such cases can prevent financial risks and maintain stability in this regard. Qi said it is necessary to regularly disclose influential cases, as that will help judges in Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui unify trial standards, as well as contribute to meeting the public's legal demands.
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The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's daily comedy Superstation. For more ComedyNerd content, and ongoing coverage of the Iran/Contra Affair, please sign up for the ComedyNerd newsletter below.

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With Ivy League writers like Conan OBrien, theres no question that some jokes made us go, Wait what? And its not just the brainiacs like Martin Prince or Lisa, plenty of Springfielders get in on the smart jokes.

Whether we were a bit too young to get them at the time, or they were just downright confusing, these 13 jokes from The Simpsons sailed so very high over our heads.

13 Brevity is Wit. Gracie Films & 20th Television Levels Too many levels. In season 3, episode 2, Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington, the Welcome Finalists sign is sponsored by Reading Digest, and it reads, Brevity is wit. Its a jab at how Readers Digest edits articles in a way that removes their nuance, and fundamentally changes their meaning. To get this one, youd need a rough working knowledge of Shakespeare to know that its a contraction of the aphorism, brevity is the soul of wit, which Polonius uses in Hamlet. By shortening it, theyve literally ripped the soul out of it.
Heres a fun fact  a Bottlenose Dolphin can hold its breath for up to twenty minutes, which is the same amount of time Sebastian Maniscalco can go without reminding someone that hes Italian.

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Maniscalcos screenwriting debut, the culture-clash comedy About My Father co-starring Robert De Niro, is slated to premiere this Friday. The semi-autobiographical script tells the story of Maniscalco meeting his soon-to-be-wifes WASP-y, wealthy family while stressfully introducing his Italian immigrant father (De Niro) to his in-laws unusual dynamic. Drenched in green, white and red, the trailer promises an unending stream of hand gestures, vaguely ethnic slang and pasta jokes loosely based on Maniscalcos own experience marrying a wife who had come from a better cut of cloth and managing his fathers Italian-American idiosyncrasies.

Speaking to the Crew Call podcast, Maniscalco explained how it was necessary for the creative team of About My Father, including co-writer Austen Earl and director Laura Terruso, to understand the nuances of his family life on a personal level. Maniscalco said that Terruso won the job, in part, because they are both Italian-Americans. Maniscalco said of his and Terrusos connection, Were like dolphins, we have a secret language Italians speak. I knew I would have a shorthand with her. This may be baseless speculation since I dont know Maniscalcos secrets, but I think that language might be Italian.

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Also on the podcast, Terruso explained her approach in bringing Maniscalcos stage presence to the big screen, saying, This is one of the greatest physical comedians in the world, so wide (shots) are really important because you want to capture that physicality. Much like dolphins, Maniscalcos constant, fluid motion is an integral part of his allure, beyond the usual emotive gestures of an Italian-American.

When asked if his time working with De Niro on The Irishman helped Maniscalco land the movies biggest name, the comic denied it, saying, Yeah, I did The Irishman with him, its not like we bonded over cannolis on set. Maniscalco says that the script was what sold the two-time Oscar winner  besides, if he really wanted to win his Italian co-star over with food, he would have brought a bucket of fish to set.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Like most CSOs, Joe Sullivan was drawn to the role to help prevent cybercrimes. His role as CSO of Uber was something of a shift from his previous job prosecuting cybercriminals as an assistant US attorney, but closer to the tip of the cybersecurity spear. As a top-level professional in the business of defending against the bad guys, it was unexpected and not a little ironic that he would find himself on the other side of the justice system.

On May 4, 2023, Sullivan was sentenced to three years of probation for felony obstruction and misprision for not reporting a 2016 breach at rideshare and delivery company Uber that threatened to expose the data of 600,000 drivers and the personal information associated with 57 million riders. In an interview with CSO, Sullivan said hes less concerned with his personal fate than the possibility that the entire episode will cause CISOs to become more concerned about protecting themselves from aggressive prosecution than protecting their organizations.

It would be a tragedy if the outcome of this case was the opposite of what prosecutors intended, and security leaders grow more concerned about the risk to themselves than managing risk for the victims, Sullivan tells CSO. Our goal as a community should be for security leaders to become more empowered, more resourced, and more championed under the leadership of their companies.

Sullivan verdict caused anxiety for cybersecurity professionals

Sullivans case has caused much anxiety among cybersecurity professionals, spurring fears that they themselves could face legal penalties for simply doing their jobs. But it has also galvanized the community. Sullivan stresses his gratitude for the hundreds of letters of support he received, which he says helped him through the most difficult times. His lawyers forwarded 186 of those letters to sentencing judge William Orrick, which he feels is the key reason he didnt go to prison (although the sheer volume of letters annoyed the judge, who said at sentencing that he never received so many letters of support in past cases).

The letters cited Sullivans exemplary record as a steadfast cybersecurity champion with a reputation for stepping into growing e-commerce companies, including eBay and Facebook, and building out their security and privacy programs. There were letters stating that Sullivans work at those companies had put numerous fraudsters and child predators behind bars. And they also pointed to his community service and outreach (for example, currently he is CEO of the nonprofit Ukraine Friends).

Fear and confusion about liability for CSOs

The letters also reveal an underlying sense of fear and confusion around the shifting issue of who is liable for the handling of breaches. Some state that, if the point of this case is deterrence (motivation to err on the side of caution in breach reporting), then, message received. Many explain how difficult the role is, how dynamic breach response can be, and the lack of clear federal guidelines for breach reporting.

The excerpts below are from a single letter, Exhibit 19, originally dated February 27, 2023, and signed by nearly 50 cybersecurity executives:

A prison sentence would negatively impact our industry, as well as the security of companies and consumers worldwide, by making it too personally risky to make the difficult judgment calls in unique situations, which this line of work requires.

This case suggests that we could face both criminal and civil liability if we, for example, defer to general counsels, CEOs, or other officers decision-making authority about disclosure obligations or other difficult decisions, which turn out to be improper in retrospect.

(Sullivans) case has had a huge impact on the cybersecurity community. It has been the subject of frequent executive team conversations and panel discussions at industry seminars, and a significant driver of efforts to change policies and practices to err on the side of disclosure, even when the legal requirement to do so remains unsettled.

Frightened security executives a bad outcome

One of the signatories to that letter was Chenxi Wang, an experienced cybersecurity executive and managing partner at Rain Capital, which invests in cybersecurity startups. This case is a wake-up call to all CISOs. And as a result, CISOs are already looking at better processes and controls for response and reporting, which is what you want to do anyway, she says. But you dont want security executives fearing their jobs and responsibilities. That is a bad outcome to have happen.

In his statements at the sentencing hearing, prosecuting attorney Andrew Dawson was unsympathetic to the CISOs who wrote on Sullivans behalf. Pointing out the above letter, he said: The impression is no crime occurred here. This is a tough industry, tough decisions are made, maybe this was a good-faith mistake but thats all it was. Unless there is some rampant industrywide interest in obstruction of justice, the lessons of this case are  follow the law, follow the rules, dont withhold information from an active, ongoing investigation.

A key point of confusion arises over when not reporting a breach becomes obstruction and misprision, especially when there is pressure on CISOs to avoid disclosing information about breaches and breach response that could create even more vulnerabilities for attackers to exploit.

In a letter to the sentencing judge, Samuel Levine, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the US Federal Trade Commission put it this way: As a consequence of defendant Sullivans actions, FTC staff were forced in 2017 to reopen their completed investigation of Ubers data security practices and renegotiate a then-pending proposed consent agreement related to a similar data breach of Uber in 2014.

Should the CSO ultimately be liable in such cases?

Another point of confusion: why was the CSO held liable and accused of a coverup when paper trails show that Sullivan had set up an incident tracker for the response team and had informed and deferred to Ubers CEO at the time, Travis Kalanick, and Uber attorney Craig Clark, who led Ubers legal response to the 2016 incident? Orrick, who called this case unprecedented, pointed this out in court, based on the sentencing transcript. I remain perplexed that Mr. Kalanick wrote a letter on Mr. Sullivans behalf, and he [Kalanick] was not present in this case. I am left with the impression that he was at least as culpable as Mr. Sullivan, and nobody brought him to court.

This question was also raised in a Law360 legal review, published May 17, which focused on how unusual it was that neither Kalanick nor Sullivans in-house counsel Craig Clark appeared in court, noting that Clark received government immunity in exchange for testifying.

Ive thought about this a lot. If youre a person whos never sat in the seat of the CSO, the natural conclusion is the person to blame is the person in that title, Sullivan says. CSOs are not holding the scale though, the CEO is. CSOs can make recommendations, but they are not the ultimate decider of that  unless we pull the parachute rope and eject ourselves from the plane as a whistleblower, which is not the option that most people are taking. Their hope is they can continue to make a difference where theyre at.

It was Clark who had recommended not reporting the breach because Sullivans team was able to retrieve the data before it leaked on the dark web. And that begs another question: is reporting required if the hackers were caught and their systems expunged of the sensitive data before it leaked to the dark web?

Breach reporting guidelines still not clear

The judge acknowledged Sullivans efforts in containing the breach and retrieving the stolen records by tricking the two hackers to sign an NDA and using that to track their IP addresses, providing evidence that was later used to convict the hackers of conspiracy to commit extortion. (They are now awaiting sentencing in the same district court of Northern California in which Sullivan was tried.) But the judge also said that because of the failure to report in 2016, their arrests were delayed until 2017 when the breach was reported by Ubers new leadership.

Everyone following this case has an opinion about whether Sullivan was right or wrong in the decisions he made. But as details of the case reveal, the answer is not so black and white. Sullivans background as a former assistant D.A., that Uber had been vilified at the time for past scandals, and the glaring lack of federal guidance for breach reporting all had some bearing on the case and its outcome.

In fairness to CISOs, theres not a lot of guidance about what to disclose to whom and when, and every state has a different law. These can be tough judgment calls  youre in a bind, and it isnt easy to figure out what to disclose to whom, especially at a company like Uber, says Rob Chesnut, formerly chief ethics officer at Airbnb and author of the book, "Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead an Ethical Revolution.

Chesnut, who spent a year on Ubers safety advisory board from 2015 to 2016, says he firmly believes that the general counsel is the one who should be responsible for making the legal decision about whether to report a breach, and its strange that Ubers general counsel claimed to know nothing even though an Uber lawyer was deeply involved, the CEO was well informed, and so much of the companys engineering team was working on the fix to the breach.

Hard lessons learned in the Uber breach case

Chesnut advises CISOs to maintain a close relationship with general counsel, and ensure that there is a group effort, including outside counsel, to make such decisions. Sullivan said as much during the sentencing hearing when he told Orrick that he should have informed general counsel, even though he, the CEO, and general counsel were all traveling on other Uber business at the time of the breach. Sullivan also admitted that he should have sought outside counsel beyond Ubers own lawyers. Chesnut advocates having outside counsel lined up for cases like these, along with setting up a documented chain of command and then practicing reportable breach scenarios in tabletop exercises.

In the early 2000s, when he was senior vice president of safety at eBay, Chesnut recruited Sullivan from the Department of Justice into a senior director role in his group. He recalls how Sullivan was personally involved in the capture and prosecution of cybercriminals trying to victimize eBay users, and how he was frequently on planes to places like Romania. Later, at Facebook, Sullivan gained a reputation for his work in child protection, catching and testifying against numerous pedophiles who ended up serving jail time.

Ubers culture could have played a role in the outcome

What changed? Chesnut hypothesizes that the secretive culture at Uber may have overridden Sullivans inclinations. However, he adds, The idea that Joe should be solely responsible for this is wrong. He was responsible for allowing the CEOs decision to stand. But he was clearly scapegoated as the new incoming Uber CEO was trying to clean up Ubers reputation in the public eye.

Uber is based in San Francisco, California, home to the consumer privacy act. California law requires a business or state agency to notify any California resident whose unencrypted personal information, as defined, was acquired, or reasonably believed to have been acquired, by an unauthorized person. The law does not say that organizations dont have to report if the company manages to retrieve that data before it is spread on the dark web  which was the argument Clark used and Sullivan accepted for not reporting the breach to regulators.

Easier to be a whistleblower?

Based on California law, Uber should have reported; if not, then Sullivan should have reported. As things turned out, it would have been much easier to be branded a whistleblower against Uber than trying to pick up the pieces of his life after a felony charge and conviction.

The moment the charges were filed, his banks and insurance companies dropped him. He had to maneuver to protect his three kids who were reading about him on social media. And now, returning to the work he loves as CISO will be forever in question. Ive been under this anxiety for such a long time. I had underestimated the outcome at every stage. Finally, I prepared myself mentally to go to prison. And now its time to figure out the reality of what I can and cant do under the terms of my probation.

Sullivan wants to use his case to rally security leaders to work together and with lawmakers to clarify reporting rules and liability and to finally draft a national data breach and reporting law. He would also like to advocate for more support and nurturing for CISOs at the board level, and in turn, promote transparency between security and leadership.

As this Uber case shows, dont expect leaders to play fair when their own reputations or their freedom is on the line. Because, as Orrick noted in the sentencing hearing: If I have a similar case tomorrow, even if the defendant had the character of Pope Francis, they would be going to prison.
The US Department of Treasury has imposed sanctions on four entities and one individual involved in illicit revenue generation and malicious online activities to generate revenue for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea).

The entities and individuals sanctioned are the Pyongyang University of Automation, the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau, the 110th Research Center cybersecurity unit, Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, and North Korean national Kim Sang Man, the US Department of State said in a press statement.

Sanctioned entities and individual

The Pyongyang University of Automation, Chinyong, Technical Reconnaissance Bureau, and the 110th Research Center are being designated for being agencies, instrumentalities, or controlled entities of the government of North Korea or the Workers Party of Korea.

Pyongyang University of Automation is one of North Koreas premier cybersecurity instruction institutions, which is responsible for training malicious cybersecurity actors, many of whom go on to work in cybersecurity units subordinate to the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

RGB is North Koreas primary intelligence bureau and the main entity responsible for the countrys malicious cybersecurity activities. The RGB was designated on January 2, 2015, for being a controlled entity of the government of North Korea, according to a press release by the US Department of Treasury.

The RGB-controlled Technical Reconnaissance Bureau and its subordinate cybersecurity unit, the 110th Research Center have also been sanctioned. The DPRK-based Technical Reconnaissance Bureau leads the DPRKs development of offensive cybersecurity tactics and tools and operates several departments, including those affiliated with the Lazarus Group, the Treasury Department said in the release.

The Lazarus Group was designated by OFAC on September 13, 2019, as an agency, instrumentality, or controlled entity of the Government of North Korea, the Department of Treasury said.

The 110th Research Center has conducted cyberattacks against networks worldwide, including in the US and the Republic of Korea (ROK). In 2013, the 110th Research Center conducted a campaign known as DarkSeoul, which destroyed thousands of financial sector systems and resulted in outages at the top three media companies in the ROK. Additionally, the 110th Research Center has stolen sensitive government information from the ROK related to its military defense and response planning, the Department of Treasury said.

North Korea-based Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company (Chinyong), also known as Jinyong IT Cooperation Company, is associated with the UN and US-sanctioned Ministry of Peoples Armed Forces. Chinyong, by way of companies under its control and their representatives, employs delegations of DPRK IT workers that operate in Russia and Laos, the Department of Treasury said.

One such representative of the Chinyong office located in Vladivostok, Russia, DPRK-national Kim Sang Man, is presumed to be involved in the payment of salaries to family members of Chinyongs overseas DPRK worker delegations, the Department of Treasury said.

Kim is said to have been involved in the sale and transfer of IT equipment for the DPRK and, as recently as 2021, received cryptocurrency funds transfers from IT teams located in China and Russia that were valued at more than $2 million.

Kim has been affiliated with the US-designated Korea Computer Center and worked as an IT developer in the DPRK prior to being selected as an agent of the UN and US-designated RGB, in order to earn foreign currency.

Kim is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13810 for being a North Korean person, including a North Korean person that has engaged in commercial activity that generates revenue for the Government of North Korea or the Workers Party of Korea, the Department of Treasury said.

North Koreas malicious activities

Sanctions have been made against the entities illicit activities to fund the North Korean government.

The DPRK conducts malicious cyber activities and deploys information technology (IT) workers abroad who fraudulently obtain employment to generate revenue that supports the Kim regime, the Department of Treasury said.

The DPRKs extensive illicit cybersecurity and IT worker operations threaten international security by financing the DPRK regime and its dangerous activities, including its unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missile programs, the Department of Treasury said.

The action has been taken in coordination with the ROK, which is concurrently imposing sanctions against one entity and one individual associated with overseas DPRK IT workers. The other three entities were previously sanctioned by the ROK on February 10, for engaging in cyberattack operations and illicit revenue generation that support the DPRKs WMD programs.

Todays Treasury action includes three targets that the ROK recently designated for engaging in cyber operations and illicit revenue generation that support the DPRKs WMD programs. We will not hesitate to continue holding the DPRK regime responsible for its actions, the Department of Treasury said.

DPRK cyberattack actors stole more virtual currency in 2022 than in any previous year, with estimates ranging from $630 million to over $1 billion  reportedly doubling Pyongyangs total cybertheft proceeds in 2021, according to a March 2023 UN Panel of Experts report.

The DPRK also maintains a workforce of thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world, primarily located in the Peoples Republic of China and Russia, to generate revenue that contributes to its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs. In some cases, DPRK IT workers can earn more than $300,000 per year.

The United States is steadfast in our commitment to combat the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas (DPRK) illicit activities to generate revenue by stealing funds from global financial institutions and other entities, the Department of Treasury said.
Advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks were once mainly a concern for large corporations in industries that presented cyberespionage interest. That's no longer the case and over the past year in particular, the number of such state-sponsored attacks against small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) has increased significantly.

Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint analyzed its telemetry data more than 200,000 SMB customers over the past year and saw a rise in phishing campaigns originating from APT groups, particularly those serving Russian, Iranian, and North Korean interests. The end goal of the attacks varied from espionage and intellectual property theft to destructive actions, financial theft, and disinformation campaigns. SMBs are compromised so that attackers can impersonate them in other attacks and abuse their infrastructure.

"Many organizations attempting to secure their network often focus on business email compromise (BEC), cybercriminal actors, ransomware, and commodity malware families that are commonly encountered in the emails received daily by millions of users worldwide," the Proofpoint researchers said in their report. "Less common, however, is a widespread understanding of advanced persistent threat actors and the targeted phishing campaigns they conduct. These skilled threat actors are well-funded entities associated with a particular strategic mission."

Infrastructure hijacking by APT groups

APT groups are known for their highly targeted and well-crafted phishing emails that are the result of deep research into their intended targets. These groups have the time and resources to scour LinkedIn for employee profiles, understand roles and departments inside organizations, identify external contractors and business partners, understand the topics, websites, and events that would be of interest to their targets and more.

This type of information is vital to crafting credible email lures, but what's even more effective is the targets receiving such emails from companies they know or links to websites they have no reason to be suspicious of. Proofpoint has seen a growing number of cases where APT groups compromise email accounts associated with SMBs or their web servers. The techniques used include credential harvesting or exploits for unpatched vulnerabilities.

"Once [a] compromise was achieved, the email address was then used to send a malicious email to subsequent targets," the researchers said. "If an actor compromised a web server hosting a domain, the threat actor then abused that legitimate infrastructure to host or deliver malicious malware to a third-party target."

One prominent group that uses such tactics is known in the security industry as Winter Vivern, TA473 or UAC-0114, and is believed to serve Russia's interests based on its target selection and location government agencies from Europe and the US with a strong focus on countries that offered assistance to Ukraine in the ongoing conflict. According to Proofpoint's data this group sent phishing emails to its targets from compromised WordPress websites and used compromised domains belonging to SMBs to host malware payloads.

"Notably, this actor has compromised the domains of a Nepal-based artisanal clothing manufacturer and an orthopedist based in the US tri-state area to deliver malware via phishing campaigns," the researchers said.

Another Russian APT group that impersonated SMBs in its phishing campaigns is APT28, which is believed to be the hacking arm of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. In one campaign targeting Ukrainian entities as well as other targets in Europe and the US, the group impersonated a medium-sized business from the auto manufacturing sector based in Saudi Arabia.

A group tracked as TA499, Vovan, and Lexus, that's believed to be sponsored by the Russian government targeted a medium-sized business that represents major celebrity talent in the United States. The campaign's goal was to convince an American celebrity to have a politically themed conference call about the Ukrainian conflict with supposedly Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

APTs need money, too

APT groups have historically engaged in attacks whose goals have been either the theft of sensitive information or sabotage. Stealing money has never been high on their agenda with few exceptions: groups from countries that are under severe economic sanctions such as North Korea. "APT actors aligned with North Korea have in past years targeted financial services institutions, decentralized finance, and block chain technology with the goal of stealing funds and cryptocurrency," the Proofpoint researchers said. "These funds are largely utilized to finance different aspects of North Koreas governmental operations."

In December, a North Korean APT group launched an email-based attack against a medium-sized digital banking institution from the United States with the goal of distributing a malware payload called CageyChameleon. The rogue emails impersonated ABF Capital and included a malicious URL that initiated the infection chain.

Reaching SMBs via the service supply chain

SMBs are also targeted by APT groups indirected, through the managed services providers (MSPs) that maintain their infrastructure. Proofpoint has seen an increase in attacks against regional MSPs because their cybersecurity defenses could be weaker than larger MSPs yet they still serve hundreds of SMBs in local geographies.

In January, MuddyWater, an APT group attributed to Irans Ministry of Intelligence and Security, targeted two Israeli MSPs and IT support businesses via emails that contained URLs to a ZIP archive that had an installer for a remote administration tool. The emails were sent from a compromised email account of a medium-sized financial services business based in Israel. In other words, this is the case of an SMB compromise being leveraged to target MSPs with the likely goal of gaining access to even more SMB networks.

"Proofpoint data over the past year indicates that several nations and well-known APT threat actors are focusing on small and medium businesses alongside governments, militaries, and major corporate entities," the researchers concluded. "Through the compromise of small and medium business infrastructure for use against secondary targets, state-aligned financial theft, and regional MSP supply chain attacks, APT actors pose a tangible risk to SMBs operating today."
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WTI, BRENT PRICE, CHARTS AND ANALYSIS:

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Most Read: Dollar Index (DXY) Surprisingly Lower as US PMIs Point to a Strong Private Sector, Gold Bounces Toward $1970/oz

WTI, BRENT FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Crude Oil has enjoyed a strong bounce to start the week with back-to-back days of gains despite broad based US dollar strength. We have heard a host of comments and a report from the International Energy Administration (IEA) which have certainly aided the recent bounce in oil prices.

The IEA warned that a shortage in oil could materialize in the second half of 2023 as they expect demand to outstrip supply by some 2 million barrels a day. These comments were met with skepticism from the Saudi Oil Minister in particular who stated that the IEA have a talent for consistently getting it wrong.

The Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman issued a warning to speculators and short sellers as well ahead of the upcoming OPEC+ meeting in Vienna on June 4. Is the Saudi Oil Ministers warning a sign of further production cuts?

Another variable to consider in the oil price rise of late should be the recent wildfires which have engulfed Canada over the past week. Officials in Alberta were hoping for some respite as heavy rains are forecast over the coming days as they grapple with the worst start to a fire season on record. This could raise concerns from market participants regarding production and supply from Canada in the short-term providing a further boost to WTI and Brent prices.

Recommended by Zain Vawda Understanding the Core Fundamentals of Oil Trading Get My Guide

DOWNSIDE RISKS FOR WTI AND BRENT

Of course, one doesnt have to look far for the most pressing downside risk to oil prices at present. The ongoing US Debt Ceiling negotiations have thus far failed to reach any form of agreement as the June 1 deadline nears. The US dollar has been the biggest beneficiary thus far and the longer this drags on the likelihood of a stronger dollar grows which could hamper further upside in oil prices.

There is very limited high impact data on the docket today with Fed policymaker Waller speaking ahead of the FOMC minutes release. On the oil front we have data from the EIA for the week ended May 19 as well.

For all market-moving economic releases and events, see the DailyFX Calendar

TECHNICAL OUTLOOK AND FINAL THOUGHTS

From a technical perspective both WTI and Brent have staircased their way higher, printing higher highs and higher lows since the recent low on May 4. At the moment however we are running into some significant technical hurdles with the swing low from April 27 and the 50 and 100-day MA all resting just above current price. We could be in for some form of retracement in the short-term with a daily close below the 71.75 a barrel mark invalidating the bullish structure and opening up a retest of the 70.00 a barrel mark.

WTI Crude Oil Daily Chart  May 24, 2023

Source: TradingView

Recommended by Zain Vawda How to Trade Oil Get My Guide

Written by: Zain Vawda, Market Writer for DailyFX.com

Contact and follow Zain on Twitter: @zvawda
What is OPEC?

OPEC + is a group of oil-producing countries that controls a significant portion of the worlds oil supply. OPEC, or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was founded in 1960 and initially consisted of just five countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Since then, the group has expanded to include 14 member countries, including Qatar, Nigeria, and Angola. In 2016, OPEC formed an alliance with 10 non-OPEC oil-producing countries, including Russia, Mexico, and Kazakhstan, to form what is now known as OPEC +. The alliance aims to manage global oil supplies to support oil prices and maintain a stable oil market.

OPEC+ and Why it Was Formed?

OPEC + was formed in response to the dramatic drop in oil prices in 2014. At the time, oil prices had fallen from over $100 per barrel to below $30 per barrel. The drop in prices was due to a combination of factors, including oversupply, weak demand, and the rise of shale oil production in the United States. OPEC + was formed as a way to address the oversupply problem and stabilize prices.

The alliance has been successful in managing global oil supplies and supporting prices. Since its formation, OPEC + has implemented production cuts to reduce global oil supplies and increase prices. For example, in 2016, OPEC + agreed to cut production by 1.8 million barrels per day. The production cuts have helped to rebalance the global oil market and support prices.

Recommended by Zain Vawda How to Trade Oil Get My Guide

The Impact of OPEC and OPEC+ on the Global Oil Market

The impact of OPEC + on global oil markets is significant. The group controls a large portion of the worlds oil supply and has the ability to influence oil prices through its production decisions. When OPEC + reduces production, oil prices tend to increase. When the group increases production, oil prices tend to decrease.

In addition to its production decisions, OPEC + also influences oil prices through its market sentiment. The group has a strong influence on how the market perceives the state of the oil industry. When OPEC + members express confidence in the oil market, prices tend to increase. When members express concern about oversupply or weak demand, prices tend to decrease.

Source: Refinitiv, OPEC and CNBC

*NOTE: The 2.1million bpd reduction in December 2019 includes voluntary reductions.

The influence of OPEC + on global oil markets has not been without controversy. Some critics argue that the groups production decisions are aimed at benefiting its member countries at the expense of other countries. For example, when OPEC + reduces production, it can lead to higher oil prices, which can benefit member countries but hurt oil-importing countries.

There have also been concerns about the impact of OPEC + on the global transition to renewable energy. Some critics argue that the groups efforts to support oil prices could delay the transition to renewable energy by making it more difficult for alternative energy sources to compete with oil.

Despite these concerns, OPEC + remains a significant player in the global oil industry. The groups ability to manage global oil supplies and influence oil prices is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. However, the group may need to adapt to the changing energy landscape, including the growing demand for renewable energy, in order to maintain its relevance in the long term.

Trade Smarter - Sign up for the DailyFX Newsletter Receive timely and compelling market commentary from the DailyFX team Subscribe to Newsletter

The Effects of Production Cuts and Increases by OPEC+

To gauge the effect OPEC + has on the oil market I have a chart below showing WTI oil on a daily chart. OPEC + announced a production cut over the weekend of March 31 to April 2, 2023. The impact saw oil prices gap higher following a Friday close around $75.60 a barrel and open around the $81.38 a barrel mark, a gain of around 7.6%.

Source: TradingView, Created by Zain Vawda

Summary

In conclusion, OPEC + is a group of oil-producing countries that has a significant impact on global oil markets. The groups production decisions and market sentiment can influence oil prices, and its efforts to manage global oil supplies have helped to support prices and maintain a stable oil market. While there have been concerns about the groups influence on the global transition to renewable energy, OPEC + remains a significant player in the global oil industry. As the energy landscape continues to evolve, the group will need to adapt to maintain its relevance in the long term.

Written by: Zain Vawda, Market Writer for DailyFX.com

Contact and follow Zain on Twitter: @zvawda
Who is the only politician that can win the next election for the Conservative party?Not Fishy Rishi Sunak.

Not High Tax Jeremy Hunt.

Certainly not disgraced cow anus munching know it all Matt Hancock.

Nope, everyone in Westminster knows theres just one: A certain Boris Johnson.

The former Prime Minister wants to return, Churchillian-style, for a second act as PM, multiple close friends and political allies assure me.

Indeed, hes more determined than ever to save the country from a Labour/Lib Dem/SNP/Green socialist coalition of chaos that would fundamentally change Great Britain as we know it.

He believes the current occupant of Number 10  his apprentice turned arch nemesis Rishi Sunak  intends to lose gracefully, quit as leader, and likely book a private jet to his California mansion to live a life amongst his globalist elite pals while never looking back.

And thats why BoJo remains so dangerous to the people who are really running the country at the moment.

Who is the only politician that can win the next election for the Conservative party? Dan Wootton claims everyone in Westminster knows theres just one: A certain Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson is pictured yesterday in Austin, Texas

Im referring, of course, to the snivel service woke blob which now consistently conspires with the mainstream media to frustrate the Tory government  elected in a landslide, we must never forget  to enact its manifesto pledges to the British public.

There is now a clear strategy to target the key Brexiteer politicians prepared to challenge the civil service orthodoxy on so-called controversial issues like bringing down legal migration and protecting our southern border to stop the illegal flood of criminals into the country via the Channel.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab  one of Sunaks closest allies professionally and personally  was forced out in a spurious bullying witch hunt, where the blob conspired with their friends, relatives and partners at The Guardian, British Bashing Corporation and Sly News.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is being consistently targeted, most recently over a paid speeding fine and unpaid charity work before she was an MP.

But their most impressive scalp is, without any doubt, Boris himself  a unique political giant, whose electoral prowess is unmatched in the UK since Tony Blair.

Having forced him from office over the Partygate storm in a teacup, after convincing the Tory parliamentary party only his defenestration would allow the news agenda to move on, these dark forces want to finish off his political career altogether.

It doesnt matter that the Sue Gray report is now entirely discredited, given shes off to work for her political soulmate Keir Starmer.

These nefarious actors dont give a damn that the Privileges Committee is nothing more than a kangaroo court led by Harriet Harman, a woman who had already publicly declared Boriss guilt before starting her phoney investigation.

The blob and the MSM simply wont stop until Boris is booted from parliament.

Which brings us to the Cabinet Office, who claim they were obliged to hand over Boriss lockdown diaries about meetings that took place at the PMs country retreat Chequers in Buckinghamshire to the cops, prompting two fresh investigations by the Met and Thames Valley Police.

It doesnt seem to matter that participants at the gatherings, including his sister Rachel Johnson and then Cabinet colleague Jacob Rees Mogg, have insisted all the meetings followed the ludicrous rules in place at the time.

Johnson is so mad hes threatened to sue the Cabinet Office for handing over his diaries without permission and has today sacked his state-funded lawyers.

His spokesperson encapsulated his fury by saying: It appears some within the government have decided to make unfounded suggestions both to the police and to the privileges committee. Many will conclude that this has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up.

I have no doubt that is true.

Boris supporting MPs say nothing is off the table if Rishi Sunak (pictured today) allows the witch hunt against Boris to continue unabated. That includes Boris withdrawing his tacit support from the government, prompting the prospect of a no confidence vote in Sunak, which could be set off by just 54 letters from Tory MPs by the end of October, one year after he became PM

It is particularly galling too that significant police resources will now be channelled back into Partygate, distracting forces from solving real crimes.

Unless Sunak acts, he might find his own precarious position under threat.

After all, this is a Prime Minister who has never been democratically endorsed, either by his own party or the public at large.

Boris supporting MPs say nothing is off the table if Sunak allows the witch hunt against Boris to continue unabated.

That includes Boris withdrawing his tacit support from the government, prompting the prospect of a no confidence vote in Sunak, which could be set off by just 54 letters from Tory MPs by the end of October, one year after he became PM.

The mainstream media like to present Boris as a busted flush because they hate the bloke, especially given that, without him, they know Brexit would never have been delivered.

But when you get outside the tofu-eating, champagne guzzling Westminster metropolitan bubble, he remains a force of nature, who defies political gravity.

I was in Bournemouth earlier this month for the first Conservative Democratic Organisation conference, where support for the so-called BBB (Bring Back Boris) campaign was at fever pitch.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel conceded to me: In my view, Boris would have won us the next election. In parts of my constituency, Bring Back Boris, people were saying that to me quite actively.

She said his presence supporting the party leadership on the campaign trail would be essential, explaining: He is an electoral asset. We will need him to come back to galvanise and re-energise the grassroots.

But, in my view, thats not enough.The local election results prove that Sunak is sleepwalking to a catastrophic defeat that could take the Tories a decade to recover from.

And by that point, Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP will have introduced the vote for 16-year-olds and EU nationals, potentially trying to keep the right from power forever.

Thats why the Boris-hating civil service are on this mission.

Theyre hiding in plain sight, too.

Exactly three years ago today the official @UKCivilService Twitter account posted of Boris and his then embattled adviser Dominic Cummings: Arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?

The tweet was deleted within eight minutes, but theres no doubt that was the blob declaring open warfare on our democratically elected government.

Sunak has so far been incredibly weak in stamping out this anti-democratic takeover, but today he showed the first sign of manning up by refusing to grant the baying mob a biased investigation into Suellas speeding fine.

Now he must end the Boris stitch up, too.

Sure, he remains Sunaks biggest political threat, but theres so much more at stake here than the big blonde political beast.

The out of control woke blob is simply now attacking British democracy.
They're trying to get rid of juries again. This time the pretext is the low conviction rate in rape cases. Now no male person, and only approved women, can even discuss the topic of rape any more.

In the dogma which is rapidly taking over this country, all men are considered to be potential if not actual rapists.

Whatever I say on the subject, I will be accused of promoting 'rape culture'. So I shall not do so.

But look carefully at this passage from the Law Commission's new document on 'Evidence In Sexual Offence Prosecutions'.

It speaks of a project which 'sits within a wider context of decades of work by campaigners, governments, parliaments, courts, police and many others that has . . . sought to improve justice outcomes for complainants of rape and serious sexual offences'.

PETER HITCHENS: They're trying to get rid of juries again. This time the pretext is the low conviction rate in rape cases. Now no male person, and only approved women, can even discuss the topic of rape any more (file image)

PETER HITCHENS: Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (pictured) has been among the loudest voices complaining about the current state of affairs, declaring as long ago as 2012 that 'only 6 per cent of rape cases ever reach conviction'

Amid this verbal bindweed, the alert citizen will spot a great stinking blob of blatant prejudice.

When it says it wants to 'improve justice outcomes for complainants of rape and serious sexual offences', it means more convictions of people accused of these offences, not fewer of them.

But how does the Law Commission know that the conviction rate is not in fact correct? How does it know that the courts are acquitting guilty people? It doesn't.

What if juries are finding people not guilty because there is not enough evidence to convict them beyond reasonable doubt?

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has been among the loudest voices complaining about the current state of affairs, declaring as long ago as 2012 that 'only 6 per cent of rape cases ever reach conviction'.

Actually, once a rape case reaches court, juries in England and Wales are more likely to convict than acquit a defendant, and this has been so for at least 15 years.

A study by Professor Cheryl Thomas of University College London recently found that about 75 per cent of the rape cases that actually reach court result in a conviction.

As the organisation Full Fact pointed out long ago 'the 6 per cent of cases cited by Yvette Cooper describes the percentage of all the cases recorded by the police as a rape that end up with someone being convicted of rape'.

Many of these cases are dropped before they get to court, for many reasons.

Also there are more 'not guilty' pleas in rape cases than in trials of any other offence. Professor Thomas says: 'It's clear that there are serious problems with how rape complaints are handled by police and how long cases take to reach court.

'But juries are not responsible for this. They can only decide the cases put to them, and this research shows that if rape complainants can put their evidence to a jury, they have a good likelihood of securing a conviction.'

So the supposed problem with getting rape convictions, whether you agree with Yvette Cooper or not, really has very little to do with juries being misled by so-called 'myths' and so providing a very low conviction rate. Because they aren't, and they don't.

So you have to wonder what all the fuss is in fact about. Scotland's government also recently sought an 'experiment' in non-jury trials for rape, but lawyers torpedoed it by refusing to take part.

One objector, lawyer Murray Macara, observed: 'There is clearly a political dimension to this, to secure higher conviction rates.

One way to do that is the use of single-judge trials.' So what is all this really about?

Another Scottish lawyer, Ross Yuill, got it right, saying: 'Either the jury system works for all offences or it doesn't. There should be no distinction based on the types of cases being prosecuted.'

You may be sure that if we allow rape cases to be heard without juries, the cry will soon go up to get rid of juries in all kinds of other matters, until  in reality  the jury is dead.

There is something deep in all ruling elites which does not like jury trial, and that includes Britain, where the Home Office and the 'Ministry of Justice' must grind their teeth in private, wondering how on earth the Government ever gave away so much power.

Without juries, any trial is just a committee of state employees deciding how guilty the accused is, and how heavily he must be punished.

The role of defence lawyers is basically to plead for a softer sentence, rather than fight the charge. In most civil law systems, the defendant has to co-operate with the prosecution.

That is why a country with proper juries is thousands of times more free than a country without them. That is why it really is better that some guilty people go free, than that one innocent person is locked up in prison for years for a crime he did not do.

In countries without juries, the state can just put you in prison because it feels like it. It does not have to prove its case to any independent person. The whole nature of a country changes when it gets rid of juries.

True jury trial  an independent jury sitting alone, required in all contested criminal cases and whose verdict cannot be overturned by a higher court  is incredibly rare elsewhere in the world.

In my experience, most British people are amazed by how rare it is, when told. Democrats are complacent on the subject, and poor at defending this precious possession.

Totalitarians and despots, by contrast, immediately recognise juries as their enemy and get rid of them.

The Russian Bolsheviks abolished them as soon as they came to power in 1917.

The last true juries in France were shut down by the Nazi occupation authorities in 1940. Even where juries survive, mostly in Anglosphere countries, the option of juryless trial is often available.

In the U.S., plea-bargaining has usurped juries in huge numbers of cases, where defendants choose a short sentence rather than risk a far heavier one if the jury convicts them.

Only the very rich, able to afford a full-scale defence costing millions, can avoid this unpleasant dilemma.

Here, juries have already been badly undermined. On the excuse of being 'tough on crime', there have been repeated attempts to weaken them and other protections, and various 'reports' suggesting they are a nuisance and an obstacle.

The majority verdict, brought in by Roy Jenkins in 1967, makes it quite impossible for the scene portrayed in that fine film 12 Angry Men to take place in this country.

If one brave, obstinate juror holds out for the innocence of the accused, he can simply be overruled by the judge accepting a majority verdict.

The pretext for this change, supposed 'jury-nobbling', was never adequate. If such nobbling was taking place, then it should have been prosecuted and punished.

But the worrying truth is that jury trial has fewer and fewer defenders, and more and more enemies.

Without fierce resistance, it will simply be whittled away and we shall have, as so many other countries do, a strong state which can do what it likes with us.

And the chances are that it will be a Left-wing strong state, more likely to use its powers to enforce its dogmas and limit speech than it is to be hard on actual crime. Defend the jury while you can.
McDonald's has revealed a new menu shake-up as it brings back a series of popular menu items.

Available from today for a limited time only, the extended McSpicy range includes: Spicy Chicken McNuggets, the Double McSpicy and the Cheese and Bacon McSpicy, alongside the McSpicy which is a permanent fixture on the Macca's menu.

Spicy Chicken McNuggets feature tender, all-white meat breaded with a sizzling tempura coating made of cayenne and chili peppers.

Lancy Huynh, Group Brand Manager for McDonald's Australia, said: 'Made with 100% Aussie RSPCA Approved chicken in a crispy, mouth-wateringly spicy coating, the McSpicy range features bold, unique flavour experiences with a delicious kick that will be sure to spice up your life.

'Perfect for lunch or dinner, these bold, unique flavours will no doubt get customers' tastebuds tingling.'

McDonald's has revealed a new menu shake-up as it brings back a series of popular menu items (pictured, the Cheese and Bacon McSpicy)

Spicy Chicken McNuggets feature tender, all-white meat breaded with a sizzling tempura coating made of cayenne and chili peppers (pictured)

Available from today for a limited time only, the extended McSpicy range includes: Spicy Chicken McNuggets, the Double McSpicy and the Cheese and Bacon McSpicy, alongside the McSpicy which is a permanent fixture on the Macca's menu

The secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know: Ex-crew trainer reveals how to get hot fries, half-price burgers, free soft drink - and the meal you should NEVER order late at night

A former McDonald's crew trainer has lifted the lid on some of the fast food giant's best-kept secrets.

The Sydney man, who asked to remain anonymous, worked at McDonald's for close to a decade while at school and university.

Six years later, the 26-year-old has shared the ordering tips every customer should know  including how to make sure your burger is fresh and chips are hot.

FRESH BURGERS

While McDonald's boasts about making burgers 'fresh to order'  what they don't let customers know is that the meat is pre-cooked and kept in a heated cabinet.

Workers are supposed to throw away meat after its timer goes off.

Customers who request their meat is made without salt and pepper are guaranteed a fresh burger, as kitchen staff will have to lay a new run of beef down on the grill.

If you're after a fresh burger, ask for your meat to come without salt and pepper

FRESH FRIES

Like burger patties, fries can often be left to go cold if workers aren't keeping track of how long each batch has been sitting there.

If you order your fries without salt, you are guaranteed hot and crispy chips.

Simply ask for some salt on the side - a free condiment at McDonald's - and add it to your fresh fries (but be warned, you'll infuriate the staff).

To guarantee fresh fries, ask for no salt. You'll have to wait three and a half minutes while staff put a new batch into the deep fryer

ALLERGIES = FRESH FOOD

While staff are meant to change their gloves regularly, keep the burger-assembling bench clean and waste old meat  things can get out of hand during peak-hour.

If you're wanting an immaculate burger made properly  I suggest saying you're allergic to an ingredient or gluten free.

Kitchen staff take allergy requests very seriously - there's a huge liability if a customer gets sick - so they will wear clean gloves, wipe down the bench and take extra precaution with your order.

Meat, fish, chicken and bacon are all placed in trays that are kept in heating cabinets (pictured above) with timers. Once those timers run out staff are told to waste the product

NO ICE = FREE SOFT DRINK

An old trick but a classic, if you're extra thirsty but don't have enough money to upsize your coke  ask for a soft drink with no ice.

Staff are trained to fill close to a third of the cup with ice in a bid to save money on soft drink.

But be warned, a 'no-ice' soft drink isn't for everyone - it won't be as cold as you're used to and will be missing that refreshing icy kick.

NEVER ORDER A FILET-O-FISH LATE AT NIGHT

The Filet-o-Fish is an acquired taste, and as such the demand for it is significantly lower than other burgers like the Big Mac or Quarter Pounder.

As a result, the fish portion can often be left sitting in a heated shelf for hours - despite policy clearly stating it should be removed after its timer runs out.

If your heart is set on a late-night Filet-o-Fish, I suggest politely asking the manager if you can have a fresh burger.

PICKLES, TOMATO SAUCE, WATER, SALT AND PEPPER ARE FREE

Customers are technically entitled to order pickles, tomato sauce and salt and pepper for free - among other things.

Try your luck ordering a bulk amount of any of the above - I've seen a customer walk out with an entire bag of pickles for free.

Treating McDonald's employees (stock image) with respect and kindness goes a long way

BE POLITE

If you want quality customer service and fresh food, you'd be surprised how big of a difference it makes treating the staff decently.

Employees working at the counter will almost always go out of their way to ensure customers get fresh burgers if they're asked nicely.

Conversely, customers who treat staff like they are their slaves will more than likely end up with that old Cheeseburger or flat soft drink.
A woman has claimed she's 'so pretty' she never had to pay for a trip overseas, because she's always flown out by rich men.

OnlyFans star Sam Parks, who often travels to glamourous destinations including to Dubai, Bali, LA and Thailand, said that pretty privilege was 'very real'.

Sam appeared on the Shadow Banned podcast alongside her friend and fellow influencer Anita Cassin, where the pair said they get big advantages due to their looks.

Anita claimed that she's been 'given jobs' she isn't qualified for because she's pretty.

Gold Coast-based Sam said that trips to Las Vegas, Utah and New York have been free of charge.

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OnlyFans star Sam Parks, who often travels to glamourous destinations including to Dubai, Bali, LA and Thailand, said that pretty privilege was 'very real'

Gold Coast-based Sam said that her trip to the likes of Las Vegas, Utah and New York have been free of charge

'I never had to pay for a trip overseas,' she said.

Anita then said you get 'flown out quite a bit'.

Sam's comments come months after a model and business owner who's been told she's 'beautiful' her entire life has opened up about the 'disadvantages of being pretty'.

Emily Adonna, who lives in California, unintentionally caused a stir online after discussing a serious experience.

In a series of TikTok videos Emily claims she was sexually assaulted by a stranger and says people haven't taken her seriously in the past.

Sam appeared on the Shadow Banned podcast alongside her friend and fellow influencer Anita Cassin, where the pair said they get big advantages from their looks

'Pretty privilege is a thing, I'm not here to deny that, but it comes with disadvantages,' she said.

'I've never once been in a job where I haven't been harassed. I've rarely been in social situations where I haven't been harassed,' Emily claims.

'People don't usually take "no" as an answer with me, because they think I'm something to be possessed.

'I never had to pay for a trip overseas,' Sam, pictured on holiday in Dubai, said

WHAT IS PRETTY PRIVILEGE? New York-based psychologist Kristen Roman told DailyMail.com: 'Pretty privilege refers to the idea that people who are more physically attractive are automatically perceived positively in other ways, referred to as a "halo effect." This means that physically attractive people might be assumed to be smarter, more competent, and more likeable, and this can be associated with being treated better. 'There is evidence that this affects advancement in the workplace, including being more likely to get promoted or make more money. Given that our physical appearance is one of the first things people experience when we meet them, it makes sense that it has a strong impact on others' perception of us, especially early on. 'There is evidence that a bias towards beauty exists in cultures around the world, not just ours, although each culture's definition of beauty is different. 'While research demonstrates that being attractive can be associated with positive outcomes, this doesn't mean it also doesn't come with negatives. 'When we have limited information about someone, it is human nature to make snap judgments about them in order to try to best navigate the situation. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads us to wrongly assume things. It is also a common phenomenon for people to dislike or tear down those who have something they want.' Advertisement

'People do not ask before touching me in public, I am grabbed regularly, I've been assaulted by a stranger.'

Emily claims she once passed up a business opportunity because others believed she was 'too young and beautiful', and thought she would 'be distracting for other people in the industry'.

Emily said she has also noticed a difference in how others treat her when she's all dressed up compared to when she's wearing casual clothes.

'I am treated differently, and it is night and day, from when I go in public with a mask and raggedy old oversized clothes, and looking how I am right now,' she said.

Anita (right) claimed that she's been 'given jobs' she isn't qualified for because she's pretty

'When I look raggedy, people don't touch me, they don't feel entitled to me.'

In a follow-up video Emily claims often when she opens up about negative experiences she's asked questions such as 'what were you wearing?', 'were you being too nice?' and 'why were you alone?'

Poll Do you think good looking people are treated better? Yes No Do you think good looking people are treated better? Yes 522 votes

No 59 votes Now share your opinion





'It's the idea that because I'm present and I'm pretty, there is a sense of entitlement to that space, or that I'm automatically associated with something sexual - that's the part I don't like,' she said.

'People say 'Well you're a model, so you should be used to the attention or you should want this attention. That's what you do it for right?', no.'

It comes after a woman has sparked an online debate about 'pretty privilege' after asking whether attractive women know their 'ugly' counterparts are treated differently.

The anonymous woman took to UK-based parenting forum Mumsnet to garner different opinions on the topic after her conventionally beautiful friend insisted any woman could go into a bar and be chatted up by a man.

Elsewhere, attractive women have revealed how they have been given cash, free concert tickets and even better healthcare thanks to 'pretty privilege'.

Women from around the world have taken to TikTok in recent months to swap stories of the perks they've enjoyed simply because they are conventionally good looking, from free drinks to kinder treatment from strangers.

Emily Adonna, who lives in California, (pictured) says she's 'sick of being pretty' because of the 'disadvantages' of pretty privilege. In a series of TikTok videos Emily claims she was sexually assaulted by a stranger and says people haven't taken her seriously in the past
As royal insiders express concern that the Princess of Wales risks overshadowing King Charles with her glossy solo appearances in recent weeks and months, a familiar pattern may be resurfacing.

During his life in the public eye, Charles has been the victim of upstaging on several occasions, most notably during his marriage to Princess Diana.

Early on in their 15-year marriage, it became clear that the young Diana was the rising star in the royal family, with royal fans queueing for hours to see her over the heir to the throne, Charles, on their joint engagements.

So popular was Diana that, during the couple's first joint royal tour of Wales after becoming the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles even admitted to crowds of adoring fans that his wife was the person they had come to see.

Throughout their marriage, Diana continued to steal the limelight from Charles as she shone in the public eye with her keen eye for fashion, striking beauty and her deep compassion for others.

As reports emerge that royal insiders have expressed concern that the Princess of Wales risks overshadowing the King with her glossy solo appearances (pictured at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday), FEMAIL looks back on Charles and Diana's marriage as the late Diana stole the limelight from her husband

After millions around the world tuned in to watch the wedding of Charles and Diana, the couple took their first trip to Wales as a married couple in October 1981.

While many people around the world were mesmerised by the young Lady Diana on her wedding day, this trip is widely recognised as the first time the then-Princess of Wales won over the British public as she shone while her husband stood in her shadow.

Throughout the visit, royal fans were keen to meet the newlyweds - but had a particular fondness for Diana. As the couple visited people in communities with high unemployment and new mothers on maternity units, members of the public were struck by Diana.

Archive footage of the visit shows the couple being greeted by crowds, who can be heard chanting: 'We want Princess Di!'

The Princess's popularity was so stark, it even prompted Charles to tell some royal fans: 'There's the person you've come to see,' ITV reports.

Princess Diana's notorious revenge dress, designed by Christina Stambolian, was debuted at the Vanity Fair party at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1994, the same night King Charles appeared on national television and admitted he had had an affair

Princess Diana's star first began to shine brighter than her husband's on their first joint trip to Wales after their marriage, in October 1981, where royal fans were much more keen to meet the Princess of Wales than her husband

At the time, the royal couple were still blissfully happy and, while Charles acknowledged his new wife's outstanding popularity, he seemed unthreatened by it.

The royal tour concluded at Cardiff City Hall where Diana delivered a speech to the people of Wales as she received the Freedom of the City (which Charles had received himself 11 years earlier).

Addressing the attendees first in English, Diana spoke of her gratitude at receiving the Freedom Scroll.

She continued: 'I'd like to try to express my thanks to you in Welsh, also.'

After repeating her thanks in Welsh, Diana received a standing ovation from the Lord Mayor, her new husband and all those in attendance at City Hall.

As Diana concluded her speech, she paid tribute to the Welsh people, who were 'very special' to her.

At the time, Diana's engagement was hailed a 'triumph' by the press, as she cemented herself as a hugely popular figure in the public eye.

Two years later, the royal couple travelled across the world to visit Australia and New Zealand for the first time in a joint engagement.

Once again, Diana's star shone brighter than her husband's, as royal fans were desperate to catch a glimpse of the Princess over Charles.

In fact, the contrast in popularity was so stark, it was dramatised in an episode in series four of The Crown, where Josh O'Connor's Charles shouts: This was supposed to be my tour!' at Emma Corrin's Diana.

As a fictional depiction of real-life events, it is a scene that exaggerates the tensions between the pair. However the angry exchange is derived from an obvious wedge that had been driven between the couple during the 1983 visit, which may have been down to Diana's soaring popularity.

The 40-day tour of Australia and New Zealand took place against an already tense background, as the royal visit clashed with a growing republican movement across Australia and serious calls were being voiced for the nation to leave the Commonwealth. There were also concerns about new mother Diana taking Prince William with her, as she did not want to be separated.

Despite a few early setbacks on the couple's royal tour of Australia in 1983, two years after they married, the Princess of Wales was lauded by local press for her professionality and popularity amid a wave of republicanism sweeping the nation

Despite no longer being married into the royal family, Diana's star continued to shine as she won the hearts of the British public (pictured in 1995 meeting royal fans)

However, aside from a few awkward moments upon arrival, Princess Diana was once again lauded by the local press during the tour, which saw the couple span 30,000 miles.

The Sydney Morning Herald said of Diana: 'Despite the predictions, Diana, apart from some strain and tiredness, has fared well. She might be made of tougher stuff than many think.'

And as the tour continued it became clear that Princess Diana was the star of the show, with Charles walking in her shadow.

A news report from ABC at the time noted how communities in the Riverland had 'come to see' Diana - while also noting her professionality.

The broadcaster said: 'The Princess seemed more anxious to meet the people than did her husband. She dispensed tidbits concerning Prince Williams health, the weather, and jokingly inquired of an elderly citizen if she had any whiskey in her picnic baske,' as reported by Vogue.

Clips from the trip showed adoring fans holding up signs for Princess Diana, calling her 'beautiful'.

Cracks soon began to appear in Charles and Diana's marriage, with the Prime Minister John Major announcing their divorce in the House of Commons in December 1992.

For several years the marriage had been blighted by rumours of an affair between King Charles and now-Queen Camilla. While the rumours had swirled for years, King Charles did not admit the affair until after he and Diana had separated. He admitted his infidelity on national television on June 24, 1994, in an interview with Jonathan Dimbleby.

But even then, the eyes of the nation were on Princess Diana, who stole the limelight with her now-notorious revenge dress.

Stepping out at the Serpentine Gallery in London to attend a Vanity Fair party, Diana donned a figure hugging, off-shoulder black frock designed by Christina Stambolian in a last-minute deviation from the Valentino dress she had planned to wear.

Her look was so breathtaking it cemented her place in newspapers the following day, stealing headlines that Charles had hoped to dominate with his tell-all interview in which he shared his side of the story over the breakdown of his marriage.

Following the couple's separation, Princess Diana's popularity remained high among members of the public, who still gathered in swathes to meet her during appearances where she carried out charity work following her divorce.

Up until Diana's tragic death in 1997 in a car crash, she remained popular, with her death itself prompting an outpouring of grief from an adoring British public, who lined the streets to pay their respects during her funeral procession.
Celebrity chef Melissa Hemsley has opened up about her emotional IVF experience after suffering multiple miscarriages.

The mother-to-be - who is expecting her first baby with long-term partner Henry Relph - appeared on ITV's Lorraine this morning where she discussed her previous fertility difficulties.

The star, 37, said she was 'thankful' to have fallen pregnant on her first round of IVF towards the end of last year.

Melissa - who co-founded co-founded Hemsley + Hemsley with her sister Jasmine - said: 'I feel like I'm dreaming, it's lovely to be with you and talk about the process of making a baby.'

Before trying to conceive her first child, the mother-to-be said: 'They say it can take a village to raise a baby, but I didn't realise it can also take a village to make one.'

Speaking on Lorraine's morning show today, the chef Melissa Hemsley, who is expecting her first baby with her long-term partner Henry Relph, said she was 'thankful' she got pregnant on her first round of IVF following a struggle with fertility

In 2021, the chef had two miscarriages within a few months of one another - and said in a candid Instagram post that they had left her feeling 'broken apart' .

As her extended family continued to grow, Melissa said she has spent every Christmas and birthday wondering: 'Will it be our turn next year?'

Last week, Melissa's older sister Jasmine welcomed her second child - having given birth to daughter Mahi in March 2021.

However, the chef said she could count on the support of her family and loved ones throughout her journey.

She said: 'I've had so much support, shoulders to cry on, medical support and emotional support.'

Following their heartbreaking miscarriages, Melissa and Henry went through their first round of IVF last year.

She continued: ' I understand from reading other journeys [ours] hasn't been that long a process.

'First round worked for us, which I'm so thankful for. I wasn't expecting it.'

Melissa, 37, who specialises in healthy, cost-friendly recipes, told Lorraine she tried to remain hopeful after struggling to get pregnant and going through miscarriages. Pictured in May 2023 at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2023

Melissa pictured with her long-term partner Henry Relph in November 2015. The couple are now expecting their first child together

Looking back on her emotional mindset going into IVF, Melissa said: 'It's this bizarre thing where you're asked to be so hopeful and positive, but also asked to prepare for the worst. So where do you go with that?'

She continued: 'I'm very interested in supporting my mental health as well as my physical health.'

As such, Melissa also shared details of how she looks after her health through food.

The mother-to-be added: 'Food can make such a difference to a pregnancy, whether it is IVF or not it can really help. Hormones are a roller-coaster because we are made of them.

'We don't need to fear them - they can be something that makes us feel really good.'

Lorraine had a sit down chat with Melissa about her experience with IVF and how she used food to keep healthy during her pregnancy

Melissa, who opened up about going through miscarriages in the past, said it felt like she 'dreaming'

What's more, Melissa credited her own mother for teaching her about cooking and motherhood.

She added: 'My mum is from the Philippines, but she's been living here longer. She didn't teach me how to bake or make a specific recipe, but she did teach me not to waste.'

'So I do a lot of work with food redistribution charities. She taught me how to see a meal from nothing, and how to show love through food and how to eat not just for the way you feel but also the brain part.

Melissa and Jasmine co-founded Hemsley + Hemsley in 2010 to help people with digestion and their relationship with food. The venture started as a blog, which turned into a best-selling cookbook.

Melissa Hemsley (right) and her older sister Jasmine (left) pictured together on This Morning in 2016

Melissa announced her pregnancy back in January with a heartfelt posed where she addressed her struggles with fertility.

She said at the time: 'Id like to send my best to all couples, all individuals and families who are on their fertility journey and to anyone this post might affect.

'Ive been there, I am there with you still, Im still grieving my miscarriages. Ive seen many a joyful pregnancy announcement post and felt all sorts of emotions and I wont pretend to know exactly how you feel but I send my love for what its worth,' she said.

'There have been many horrendous times and so far this pregnancy has not been without its mini roller coasters but Im feeling great today and excited to share this positive update with you.'
Masterchef viewers slammed 'passive aggressive' John Torode and Gregg Wallace for their attitude towards the contestants last night.

The BBC cooks were split into two teams and were tasked to prepare a main course and dessert for 120 emergency service responders at a firefighter college.

The eight hopefuls, who were split into a blue team, who cooked a roasted cod in a Thai coconut broth, and the red team, who created a venison wellington.

The teams had a number of stressful moments throughout the episode but worked together to complete the task and serve up the dishes.

But many of those watching said they were unimpressed by comments from the judges, with one writing: 'Oh shut up you eggg head with your faux 'ooh this is getting tense' bulls***.'

Masterchef viewers slammed 'passive aggressive' John Torode and Gregg Wallace for their attitude towards the contestants last night

Meanwhile another commented: ' Passive aggressive Gregg and John on these mass catering tasks is pretty tiresome.'

A third added: 'Not enjoying Gregg aggressively shouting at stressed contestants 'how are you feeling right now?' There in a f***ing timed competition, you muppet.'

During the show, the judges continued to ask the contestants how they were doing - despite everyone confessing they were feeling the pressure in the kitchen.

Elsewhere in the show, contestant Chariya pulled her coffee cake out of the oven for her layered dessert and realised she had forgot to add the eggs into the batter.

She joked: 'It's tasty, I've got all the eggs here. I don't have time to bake another cake. We're going to have biscuit instead'.

The rest on the blue team gushed that she is great with desserts and that they trust her to come up with something.

Thinking quick on her feet she decided to whip up mascarpone, gonache and Italian meringue to go on top of the biscuits as well as adding walnuts across the top.

One firefighter gushed over the creation: 'It was absolutely gorgeous, can't really fault it 10 out of 10, are there any seconds?'

Many of those watching said they were unimpressed by comments from the judges, with some saying they were being 'aggressive'

The over all winners of the semi final was the blue team who went straight through into next weeks round.

The red team were left to return to the MasterChef kitchen and battle it out creating dishes with only tinned goods.

Last night's episode comes after MasterChef hosts Gregg and John spoke out on the true nature of their friendship, admitting they're not best pals in real life.

The television presenters, who host MasterChef together, keep viewers of the BBC One show entertained with their amusing banter and appear to have a close bond on screen.

However, they insist they do not regularly mix outside of work, something they claim leaves their fans astounded.

Former greengrocer Gregg, 58, told the Radio Times: 'As far as I know, nobody's written a bestselling pamphlet on how to be a successful TV couple, which is what we are.

During the show, the judges continued to ask the contestants how they were doing - despite everyone confessing they were feeling the pressure in the kitchen

Elsewhere in the show, contestant Chariya pulled her coffee cake out of the oven for her layered dessert and realised she had forgot to add the eggs into the batter

'People are amazed we can be close and not be round at each other's houses. We've found a way for it to work for us.'

While they may not be in each other's pockets away from the show, they insist they do have fun while filming.

On who's funnier, John, 57, said: 'I mean, his jokes are s**t, but every now and then he does come out with something very funny. It makes work joyous.'

Gregg added: 'I just constantly crack jokes. When John does it can be hilarious, because he's normally in serious chef and judge mode. But I'm funnier.'

Meanwhile, one television presenting duo who do get on well off camera is John and his wife Lisa.

It was recently announced the couple are getting an eighth season of their cookery show  which will tackle whipping up food amid the cost of living crisis.

John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen will be on ITV1 for 10 new episodes starting in this month.
A traveller has taken to TikTok to reveal things about her culture that non-travellers find 'strange'.

Charlotte Ann Maguire, 29, from Peterborough, made a video on her TikTok account where she discussed aspects of her culture that may seem strange to non-travellers.

She often speaks about the travelling culture on her account (@charlotteann71) and has more than 55,000 followers.

Charlotte started off by saying: 'Things that travellers and gypsies do that country people, aka non-travellers, don't understand.

'We'll start with the first one. Disclaimer, I can only talk from my own experiences my own life and obviously the family and everyone I've been brought up by, I can't talk for every traveller.

'Number one is grabbing. Irish travellers grab.

Charlotte Ann Maguire, from Peterborough, has taken to TikTok to discuss aspects of her culture that may seem strange to non-travellers

'Let me tell you this, the media made grabbing out to be something completely different to what it is.

'They made it out like it was some sort of assault, an attack and this really bad thing because gypsy wedding, I don't know what they're all screaming at the top of their lungs for.

'Don't know what that's all about, it's literally just a harmless kiss, a harmless grab, most of the girls that are getting a grab, nine times out of ten know the boy is going to grab them.

'And they're waiting to get grabbed by them but then they start screaming and playing hard to get. It's just so stupid but it's mainly children that are doing this.

'Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, I don't even know if they still do it anymore but this is just stupid teenagers.

'There's nothing in it that the media says it is, it's nothing like that whatsoever.'

Putting plastic on furniture

Charlotte then goes on to discuss the second thing, which is coating furniture in plastic.

She says: 'We plastic our furniture. It's to stop it from getting dirty and it's to stop the leather breaking and getting destroyed.

'It's not plastic you get packages in, it's a different kind plastic that you buy off a market.

'It's completely different. It's to keep everything protected and to keep everything fresh.

'Sometimes people plastic their kitchen as well but I don't.'

Charlotte spoke about how travellers put plastic on their furniture so that it lasts longer and stays fresh. Picture from another video

The man usually pays for everything

Charlotte then said: 'Paying for things. Did you know when country men and women are dating or married, they pay for things for each other.

'And they go fifty-fifty on bills and paying for things. We don't do that in our culture, men pay for everything, even if the woman works.

'Regardless if the woman works, whether that be their girlfriend. It's very rare a wife would work, but some do.

'She still wouldn't be paying the majority of things, the man would do that.

'Because in our culture that's just how it is, men pay for things.

'Even me I work full time and things like that, but if I was married or anything like that I wouldn't be paying the bills.

'Nay nay, that's his job, he's a man. That's our culture, that's what we believe so that's the way we've been brought up.'

Girls don't leave home unless they are married

Charlotte said: 'Girls don't leave home unless they're married.

'You will not leave your mammy or daddy until you're married. Don't care how old you are, I'm 29 and I'm still at home with my mammy.

'Girls do not leave home until they're married.'

Washing up

In a part two video, Charlotte spoke about the difference of washing up. She said that she washes vessels, what some would call pans, in a tub rather than the sink.

She said: 'We wash our vessels, aka washing up, in a vessel dish, we don't use a sink, we don't wash them straight out of a sink, we use what you would call a washing up bowl and we put bleach in it.

'We put bleach in a tub for vessels and boiling water out of a kettle, that's what we do.'

Charlotte spoke about the difference of washing up. She said that she washes vessels, what some would call pans, in a dish rather than the sink

Washing the floor with a cloth instead of mop

She said: 'We wash the floor with a cloth, like a floor cloth, that's what we wash the floor with.

'Some use mops but it's very rare you'll see us use a mop because we like to around the corners .

'If you use a mop, I don't care. Whoever cleans cleans whatever they want to clean. We're not gonna start the mop war over again.

'If you want to use a mop, use a mop, there's no right or wrong way to clean.'

She adds that this is just her personal preference and what her family do.

Charlotte then added that the bucket you use to clean the floor, you would not use for anything else.

She added that you would have a different bucket for each area of the house, each bucket is separate from each other and there is no cross-contamination.

Charlotte also said that many travellers use sunbeds and drink Red Bull frequently.

Girls usually leave school early

Charlotte said: 'Someone mentioned in the comments that girls leave school early.

'They do usually. Obviously they don't need a further education because usually they're going to be staying at home.

'And if they do choose to go on and have a career and work, you can still do that without going to school, I did that.

'Whatever qualifications I needed, I got whilst doing my job. It is possible.

'School doesn't make you clever, school doesn't make you intelligent. I'm not saying quit school kids, but I'm saying academic stuff doesn't always make you successful in life. '

TikToker users took to the comments to write things that Charlotte did not mention in her videos

People took to the comments to add things Charlotte did not mention in her videos.

One user said: 'That we dont wash our hands in our kitchen sink I remember seeing other people washing their hands in their kitchen sink, I was shocked to death.'

Another wrote: 'Dont forget the detol baths.'

A third penned: 'If the man expected the women to pay would it be frowned upon.'

A fourth commented: 'My husbands culture is very similar, and he also pays for everything. Im seriously thinking about plastic on my sofa though, great idea with kids.'
A bride who works as a pastry chef has sparked bitter controversy after baking her own wedding cake which critics slammed as 'messy.'

Lilly Kinman and Dennis Mendoza tied the knot at a ceremony in Altamonte Springs, Florida, earlier this month.

In a behind-the-scenes video, shared by hairstylist Adrianna Thomas on TikTok, the bride was filmed building her own cake prior to saying her vows.

But social media users were left divided after the results were revealed.

Lilly Kinman built her own cake prior to saying her vows with her wedding hair and makeup already fully set

But social media users were left divided after the results were revealed as critics slammed the creation as 'messy'

Poll Do YOU think the bride was right to make her own cake? Yes No Do YOU think the bride was right to make her own cake? Yes 1112 votes

No 393 votes Now share your opinion





In the clip, which has so far been viewed more than 5.3 million times, Lilly can be seen in a white robe with her wedding hair and makeup already fully set.

With the help of her bridesmaids, she begins by building up the layers of sponge which has already been iced in blue and white hues.

She secures each tier by using a piping bag to add extra icing before finishing her creation with a flourish of decorative flowers.

Adrianna uploaded the clip alongside a caption that read: 'I have the most unique and talented brides!

'Lilly stacked her own wedding cake the day of, full face, hair done and white robe! Not one crumb on her robe.'

But despite the bride's talents, viewers were left bitterly divided in the comments.

In one camp, there were those who praised Lilly's skill and dedication.

Many also noted how much money she would have saved, with the average price of a wedding cake in the US being $500.

Lilly and Dennis Mendoza tied the knot at a ceremony in in Altamonte Springs, Florida, earlier this month

Many commenters were quick to criticize the finished results - slamming the cake as 'messy' and 'ugly', and insisting she should have 'got somebody else to do it'

One wrote: 'It's a great idea she's the only one who can realize the cake she wanted perfectly.'

Another added: 'I love that she will be able to look back and say she did her own wedding cake.

'Weddings are supposed to be sentimental, not just for show.'

And a third said: 'I love it and it's got to be so special to her spouse because she made it with love.'

However on the flip side, there were those who praised Lilly's skill and dedication - and many also noted how much money she would have saved

Lilly, who now works as a pastry chef, first met Dennis in 2019 when they were both on military deployment

But, on the other hand, there were those who were far less complimentary and criticized the aesthetic of the finished product.

Someone said: 'Sis I am very frugal but some things you should pay people to do and this is one of those things.'

One commenter added: 'Wait that's finished? Get somebody else to do it.'

And another simply wrote: 'She should have hired a professional.'
Sasha Obama has stepped out in Los Angeles sporting baggy denim overalls while showing off her long chrome manicure and holding a lit cigarette.

The former First Daughter, 21, graduated earlier this month from the University of Southern California and her parents, 44th president Barack and Michelle, were there to cheer her on.

Sasha started college at the University of Michigan and later transferred to USC, where she majored in sociology.

Less than two weeks later, the 21-year-old graduate was seen on Tuesday during a Starbucks run in LA.

Sasha Obama, 21, was on a Starbucks run while holding a lit cigarette of out the window

She sported long chrome nails and wore three rings on her left hand - a mix of gold and silver

The former First Daughter walked out of the coffee chain with an iced grande vanilla latte with caramel

Sasha picked up a grande iced vanilla latte with caramel, using her birth name Natasha, and was seen holding a cigarette out of the window of her car.

She wore three statement rings on a left hand that appeared to be a mix of gold and silver.

Her father, Barack, has previously spoken out about his own smoking habit and his struggle to quit.

In his 2020 memoir, A Promised Land, the former President admits that he would sometimes smoke eight, nine or 10 cigarettes a day, and look for a 'discreet location to grab an evening smoke.'

And he credits his eldest daughter, Malia, with getting him to quit, writing she 'frowned' at him after 'smelling a cigarette on my breath.'

He said he 'ceaselessly' chewed nicotine gum to stop.

During his presidency there was endless speculation on whether or not Barack had kicked the habit.

Barack began smoking as a teenager and he famously promised his wife, Michelle, he would quit before he campaigned for president.

She appeared to use her birth name, Natasha, to order her Starbucks beverage

She kept it casual with some denim overalls, Nike sneakers and layered a long-sleeve ribbed shirt over a yellow number

Sasha's father Barack has previously spoken out about his own smoking habit and his struggle to quit

In his 2020 memoir, A Promised Land, the former President admits that he would sometimes smoke eight, nine or 10 cigarettes a day

'As a former smoker I constantly struggle with it,' the then-president admitted during a press conference in 2009.

'Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I daily smoker, a constant smoker? No. I don't do it in front of my kids. I don't do it in front of my family. And, you know, I would say that I am 95 per cent cured, but there are times where there are times where I mess up.'

In 2011, Michelle said during a White House interview that her husband had quit smoking, adding that she was very proud.

At that point, he had stopped the habit for almost a year.

Sasha's older sister Malia, 24, has also been seen puffing a cigarette.

Back in April 2022, she was pictured smoking with Sasha's 26-year-old boyfriend Clifton Powell Jr., son of Ray actor Clifton Powell.

The Obamas' youngest daughter had followed in her big sister's footsteps when she relocated to the West Coast to attend USC after the pandemic.

The USC graduate leaves the Starbucks where she picked up her drink. She moved to LA, following in the footsteps of her sister, Malia, transferring from the University of Michigan

Sasha clutches some food in a Starbucks paper bag as she steps into the carpark with her drink

Malia moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a screenwriter after graduating from Harvard University in 2021.

She scored a lucrative position working on Donald Glover's upcoming Amazon show, Swarm, which is about a 'Beyonce-type character.'

The Ivy League grad previously worked as an intern on Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls in 2015 and at The Weinstein Company in 2017.

She also served as a production assistant on Halle Berry's CBS sci-fi drama series, Extant, before making it into the writer's room.

Donald, who is also known by his stage name Childish Gambino, confirmed in March 2022 that he gave the former first daughter her first job writing for the series.

'She's just like, an amazingly talented person,' he told Vanity Fair of Malia. 'She's really focused, and she's working really hard.'

Meanwhile Sasha recently completed her studies at USC - with her parents traveling to California to watch their daughter graduate from the prestigious school, where she studied sociology.

Sasha graduated from USC earlier this month, with her parents Barack and Michelle flying in to watch their daughter's special moment

The proud parents beamed happily as they were joined by their older daughter Malia, 24, at the USC ceremony

The former first couple was joined by their daughter Malia and their Secret Service agents as as they cheered on their youngest child from their seats.

A few months ago, Michelle opened up about how her role as a parent has changed now that she is in her 50s and her daughters are building a life for themselves in California.

'I'm moving from mom-in-chief to advisor-in-chief,' she told Today co-anchor Hoda Kotb on the first episode of her podcast, The Light, which was recorded during her latest book tour.

'That's a lovely thing  to be able to watch my girls fly and have the relief that "Okay, I think I didn't mess them up."'

The mother of two added that she is also focused on not greeting her daughters with a 'critical eye' now that they are adults.

'What Toni Morrison says is that our kids just want our gladness. They don't need us to fix them,' she explained. 'They don't need us to point out the thing that's wrong, first.'
A piano expert has weighed in on what could have happened with Taylor Swift's keyboard when it became 'possessed' during a recent concert on her Eras tour.

The pop superstar, 33, looked visibly shocked when her piano started playing on its own while she was about to begin Red (Taylor's Version) on Sunday as she shouted to the crowd: 'I didn't play that!'

As the piano continued to make sounds, horrified Taylor covered her face and questioned if it was just her who was hearing it, asking fans: 'Oh my god, do you hear that? Is that happening for you guys too?'

Now piano technician Joe Wieneck, who works with the New York Piano Academy, has shared some theories about what went wrong with Taylor's piano at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

A piano technician has weighed in after a recent gig on Taylor Swift's Eras tour took a spooky turn this week when her 'possessed' piano began playing by itself

He said while it was hard to tell what kind of instrument it was exactly, it appeared to be a hybrid piano or keyboard that had playback functionality.

'It's possible it had like a case that makes it look like a piano, but it's a hybrid piano or a keyboard that has some sort of playback unit,' Joe told DailyMail.com.

'My best guess is there was some misfiring or malfunction of that playback on that keyboard.'

As for how that playback system worked, the expert said: 'Like those old player pianos from early 20th century, it can play off a recording or like a roll.

'But modern pianos obviously have electronics and computerized ways to control the piano or keyboard to play itself without somebody pressing the keys.'

'Inside... there's another way to activate... the whole mechanism that creates a string to sound, to vibrate.'

During the creepy moment, Taylor explained that the piano would have malfunctioned due to water damage from the rain when she played an entire three-and-a-half-hour show at Gillette Stadium in the wet earlier this week.

'[The water] has clearly broken my keyboard because [the keyboard] was literally underwater, so this is broken.' she told fans.

What's going on? The pop superstar, 33, was visibly shocked when her keyboard began playing during Red (Taylor's Version) as she shouted to the crowd: 'I didn't play that!

'I didn't know how any of the instruments were working last night. So this is broken, I'm just gonna get the guitar. It's gonna be fine.'

And Joe said water damage was definitely a possibility if it was some type of hybrid piano and the drenching would have interfered with its electronics.

However, a source close to Taylor's tour insisted to DailyMail.com that the keyboard is not equipped with a playback feature, saying that the piano malfunctioned as a result of rain - and nothing more.

'There was water that built up under the key(s), due to the rain the night before, that made the contact sensor malfunction,' the insider shared. 'The keyboard used is not programmable for playback.'

Still, the malfunction sent fans into a frenzy, with trolls accusing her of 'fake' playing the piano, sparking fans to hit back.

The show must go on! Taylor played an entire three-and-a-half hour show at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts in the pouring rain earlier this week

Piano technician Joe Wieneck said water damage was definitely a possibility if it was some type of hybrid piano and the drenching would have interfered with its electronics

Fans were forced to defend Taylor after trolls accused her of 'fake' playing the piano despite her explanation about the technical difficulty

One defender said: 'If you think of all people Taylor Swift doesn't play piano on her own then you need therapy.'

'Why are people hating on Taylor Swift over a piano? You're that bored?' another wrote.

One comment read: 'People will say that the piano was lip syncing but I say mother.'

'Not y'all hating Taylor Swift over a broken piano,' someone else wrote.

Meanwhile others were convinced it was one of Taylor's famous Easter eggs.

'Guys we're getting a haunted music video for haunted tv,' one person wrote.

'HAUNTED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) IS COMING YOU GUYSSS (sic),' another added.

'It's an EASTER EGG,' a third TikTok user simply said.
Most said they invested in global and local ETFs

Successful young men and women have revealed what's in their investment portfolios - and it ranges from ETFs to crypto, cars and real estate.

Queenie Tan, a Sydney-based marketing director who specialises in money and budgeting videos, took to the streets to find out what young people are investing in.

The first woman she spoke to admitted she is often cagey when people ask her about investments.

'This is a fickle question I have avoided answering for a very long time,' she said.

She then explained she has 'about 50 per cent in blue chip direct shares', then 20 per cent in an Australian ETF (exchange traded funds) and another 20 per cent in a global ETF.

She said she likes to 'play with' her final 10 per cent - but didn't mention any dollar figures.

Queenie Tan has asked young Australians where they are investing their money

What is an ETF? Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are a low-cost way to earn a return similar to an index or a commodity. They can also help to diversify your investments. You can buy and sell units in ETFs through a stockbroker, the same way you buy and sell shares. An ETF is a managed fund that you can buy or sell on an exchange, like the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) or Cboe Australia (CXA). When you invest in an ETF, you don't own the underlying investments. You own units in the ETF and the ETF provider owns the shares or assets. ETF units can be created or redeemed to match investor demand. This helps the price of the units to stay close to the net asset value (NAV) of the ETF. This differs from shares in a company or units in a Listed Investment Trust, where the price fluctuates based on investor demand. The ASX ETF investor course can help you learn more about how ETFs work. In Australia, most ETFs are passive investments that don't try to outperform the market. The role of the fund manager of a passive investment is to track the value of: The value of the ETF goes up or down with the index or asset they're tracking. Exchange traded managed funds (also known as Active ETFs) and exchange traded hedge funds are actively managed investments. For these funds, investment managers may use high risk trading strategies to try to outperform an index. ETFs can be either physically-backed or synthetic. ETFs are available for a range of asset classes and individual assets. These include: Visit the ASX or CXA websites for the ETFs you can invest in. Source: Money Smart Advertisement

Another woman said she also has 'a very small amount' of ETFs, some individual shares and 'a couple of tried and true ones'. But failed to mention any names.

One man sparked concern when he revealed most of his money is in Netflix, with many people in the comments warning him to 'get out quick'.

One man pointed to his Tesla car, which he considers an investment, and said he is interested in global index funds. He also has stocks in Nike and some money in bitcoin, crypto and ethereum.

The next man said he has a few investment properties. He also 'has businesses', direct equities and ETFs.

The last woman said she has some ETFs as well as stock in Adore Beauty.

'You have to support the TimTam which comes with the orders,' she laughed.

The video seemed popular with Queenie's fans, however some revealed they have a few less investments of their own.

The young people were more than happy to answer Queenie - with most claiming to have money in ETFs

'I have a wallet,' said one man.

'I have some magic beans and a bottle cap,' offered another.

'Is it just me or are they all speaking another language,' said another.
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An luxurious stone-and-glass home with a spectacular infinity pool built into the side of a cliff along a rugged coastline has been named the best in Australia.

The singe-level mansion looks over the River Derwent in Tinderbox, a small beach-side town 19km south of Hobart, and has taken out the gong for Australian Home of the Year at this year's HIA-CSR Australian Housing Awards.

Judges described the home as a 'once and a life time build for Tasmania' for its expertly crafted stone walls that used 700 tonnes of handpicked mudstone and the 'indulgent' indoor/outdoor infinity pool that floats above the bushland below.

It was no surprise that the property was given the HIA's top gong after it cleaned up at the state awards earning Tasmanian Home of the Year as well as five other categories.

The Tinderbox home's standout feature is the stunning pool which project manager Michael Lane of Lane Group builders told Archipro had 'a fair bit of engineering involved' amid concerns it wouldn't hold up when filled with water.

Hidden behind stone walls and black gates lies the HIA's Australian Home of the Year, a spectacular one-of-a-kind mansion with an unique infinity pool, underground wine cellar and jaw-dropping views

HIA judges described the home as a 'once and a life time build for Tasmania' for its expertly crafted stone walls that used 700 tonnes of handpick mudstone and the 'indulgent' indoor/outdoor infinity pool that floats above the bushland below

The singe-level home looks over the River Derwent in Tinderbox, a small beach side town just 19km south of Hobart. It won the national award after cleaning up at the state ceremony earning Tasmanian Home of the Year on top of five other categories

But hold up it did and it's now the perfect place for guests to take in the picturesque views of the river and landscape.

The rock walls in each room which were built after stonemasons handpicked through piles of blasted boulders from a nearby quarry are another standout.

'The stonemasons meticulously worked their way through it  we had to chip away at some stones just to make them fit,' Michael said.

Lead architect Kate Symons of Studio Ilk said the pool sitting outside the fabric of the home: 'allows you to feel like you are completely immersed in the landscape when you are using the pool, but also affords the flexibility of year-round use'

A unique feature of the building are the rock walls in each room built using hundreds of tonnes of mudstone which stonemasons handpicked through piles of blasted stone from a nearby quarry

Hard materials like the stone, glass dividers, and concrete floors and made cosy and intimate by the low ceilings and dark timber walls to create a 'sense of calm and peace'

There is also a games room with a full-sized billiards table, a library with a hidden lift down to the wine cellar and a sleek kitchen featuring a white marbled island bench with an integrated wooden breakfast table.

Hard materials like the stone, glass dividers, and concrete floors are made cosy and intimate by the low ceilings and dark timber walls used to create a 'sense of calm and peace'.

Lane Group and Studio Ilk collaborated to design a home that showcased Tinderbox's rugged natural beauty in every room as per the client's brief.

Each space has glass window walls to make the most of the view and can be closed off to the rest of the house for added privacy.

Kate Symons, the lead architect of Studio Ilk, described the project as 'commercial in scale'.

There is also a games rooms with a full-sized billiards table, library with a hidden lift down to the wine cellar and a sleek kitchen featuring a white marbled island bench with an integrated wooden breakfast table

While Kate described the project as 'commercial in scale', the first was familiar with the land having designed a home for the property's previous owners that never went ahead

The final result was an architectural masterpiece that works with the surrounding landscape rather than against it using an 'understated materials palette' that is bush fire resistant

The former owners had started excavation on an underground wine cellar and subterranean tunnel to the foreshore but left it on the block unfinished for Kate and her team to design around.

'Although the existence of the cellar was not critical for our clients in purchasing the property, it was only logical that the tunnel access should be located under the main roof of the new house, so we worked the layout around this,' she explained.

Michael said the existing structures influenced how the construction began: 'When we first arrived there was only the enclosure around the stairwell that goes down to the cellar, that goes out towards the foreshore.

'So our first job was to demolish the enclosure, pull out a stairwell, install the lift shaft, and we started building from that point and worked around it.'

HIA Managing Director Graham Wolfe applauded the Tinderbox family retreat for its 'exceptional workmanship' and 'boundary-pushing design and innovation'

Judges said the residence is a 'spectacular single-level, sprawling property anchored to its windswept, bush land location by a series of heavyset stone pavilions'

The final result is an architectural masterpiece that works with the surrounding landscape rather than against it using an 'understated materials palette' that is sustainable and bush fire resistant.

HIA Managing Director Graham Wolfe applauded the Tinderbox family retreat for its 'exceptional workmanship' and 'boundary-pushing design and innovation'.

Judges said the residence is a 'spectacular single-level, sprawling property anchored to its windswept, bush land location by a series of heavyset stone pavilions'.

'An abundance of floor-length glass windows create a serene atmosphere for the owners and their guests to enjoy, connecting them to the magnificent, rugged coastline of the Derwent River from all public and private living areas,' they added.
The town is best known for its blowhole, scenic views and coastal walks

Beachside town Kiama in New South Wales named best in Australia

The best Australian town to live in has been revealed with a beachside destination topping the list.

Kiama, located about two hours south of Sydney on the New South Wales coast, won the top spot for its scenic ocean views, sense of community and famous blowhole.

But what makes the small town worth visiting is perhaps the relaxing coastal vibe, the stunning beachside walks, local cafes and surrounding picturesque landscapes.

The popular tourist destination sees many road tripping from Sydney on weekends to see the 'whoosh' of the blowhole, which is one of the biggest in the world.

Kiama in New South Wales has been named the best town in Australia

What makes the small town worth visiting is perhaps the relaxing coastal vibe, the stunning beachside walks, local cafes and surrounding picturesque landscapes

A total of 752 towns that had between 1,000 and 50,000 residents were analysed based on data collected from four million Australians in the 2021 Census

A total of 752 towns that had between 1,000 and 50,000 residents were analysed based on data collected from four million Australians in the 2021 Census.

The extensive criteria used to judge the best town in each state and territory include measuring up the area's prosperity, skills, diversity and wellness.

Specifically, residents needed to have more than $1,282 in their household weekly income and the town required an unemployment rate less than 5.1 per cent.

The results, collated by The Australian's columnist Bernard Salt, also included towns that had at least 14 per cent of residents born overseas and more than half living without long-term illnesses.

Second best was Tamborine Mountain in Queensland followed by Bright in Victoria and Mount Barker in South Australia.

According to the official Kiama website, the town's name originates from Wodi Wodi Indigenous name Kiaram-a meaning 'where the sea makes a noise'

Visitors can also stop into local cafes for a tasty feed after a scenic walk

Visitors can start a tour of the town at Blowhole Point offering 360 degree views, then walk up to the Kiama Lighthouse and Cathedral Rocks.

Saddleback Mountain Lookout is also an ideal spot to take photos for Instagram and is said to be a 'photographer's dream' on a clear day.

According to the official Kiama website, the town's name originates from Wodi Wodi Indigenous name Kiaram-a meaning 'where the sea makes a noise'.
The mother-of-one paid 7,000 to travel to Istanbul for a facelift, nose job, accommodation and flights

A mother claims she was left with a hole under her ear after travelling to Turkey for cosmetic surgery.

Sharon Maxwell, from Ayrshire, Scotland, visited a clinic in Istanbul last October to undergo a facelift and a nose job.

However, the 39-year-old says the clinic instead performed a skin lift  a procedure that involves pulling back the skin to tighten the face  and failed to give her a nose job.

The hairdresser and Airbnb host, who now campaigns for increased awareness over the dangers of going under the knife abroad, claimed medics failed to stitch up her wound correctly afterwards.

Miss Maxwell also shared with MailOnline the horrors she saw at the unnamed clinic during her trip.

These included patients suffering recurrent infections for weeks and being unable to leave the clinic, as well as patients with breast implants poking through their skin.

Miss Maxwell went to Turkey last year after her regular surgeon in Lithuania, where she has undergone nine separate procedures since 2015, refused to give her a nose job and told her she did not need one.

She forked out 7,000 to travel to Istanbul for a facelift and nose job. The sum also covered her accommodation and flights.

Such procedures can be much cheaper abroad than done privately in Britain.

Sharon Maxwell, 39, from Ayrshire, Scotland, has told MailOnline of how she went to Turkey to get a facelift and a nose job but instead witnessed a mass amount of horrifically botched jobs which led to some people nearly dying on the table and going home with implants gaping out their boobs

Despite the horrific bruising and painful swelling Miss Maxwell says they never gave her a nose job and she left looking the same as she went in

Miss Maxwell said: 'I got there [the hotel[ about three in the morning and was picked up at half past five to go and get it [the procedure] done. I was there for two-and-a-half hours in total.'

She added: 'I had my anaesthetic in the hallway. I didn't know they were giving me an anaesthetic. They never told me.'

Miss Maxwell claims the surgeons didn't actually perform the requested nose job because she looked the same as she did before the op.

And, she says the surgeons gave her a 'skin lift' rather than a facelift  a treatment that involves pulling back the skin but also redistributing fat and tissue in the face and neck.

Miss Maxwell says the procedure left her with a 'hole' under her ear, where medics failed to stich her up properly.

She told MailOnline: 'They did nothing, they cut me open and did a skin lift at the side of my face and left me with a hole at the back of my ear.

'They didn't take up any muscle or anything. I didn't feel any pain when I woke up and the nose job definitely didn't get done.

'I could breathe absolutely fine and they wouldn't take the cast off or show me my nose at all until I got home.

'It looked the exact same as it was, there is no change.'

The mother-of-one said she arrived around three in the morning and was on her way to recover in the villa two and a half hours later

Cosmetic procedures in Turkey often go at bargain basement prices compared to their British counterparts. Turkey and UK prices have been sourced from multiple websites (model is a stock image)

Miss Maxwell's transformation in 12 years after spending thousands of pounds in multiple European countries

Here, MailOnline details some of the most striking differences in some cosmetic procedures in UK and Turkey

Miss Maxwell claims the luxury experience on social media is not reality and the chef's cooking was 'disgusting'

Miss Maxwell was also horrified with her accommodation, which she shared with five girls and likened to a 'jail cell' that served 'disgusting' food.

She claims that influencers, who advertise the clinic in their social media posts, get put up in 'amazing' villas with private chefs.

And, during her time at the clinic, she says she witnessed other woman undergo similarly sub-par care.

Miss Maxwell said: 'One girl was just 21 but her parents didn't know she was over there.

'She needed at least five blood transfusions and she said she felt as though she was about to die and she asked them to phone her mum and they didn't do it.

'They didn't have her blood type, they left her for hours and she thought she was going to die. She had a rare blood type and they never had it.

'I met her in the taxi [which was taking them to their villas]. She has been there for weeks.'

One patient became so unwell that she was not allowed to fly back home during Miss Maxwell's time at the clinic, she claims.

Miss Maxwell said: 'There was a girl from Germany and she fell really ill. She didn't get to go home.

'She had liposuction, tummy tuck, BBL [Brazilian Butt Lift] and her boobs. She kept getting infections and she also needed blood transfusions.

She explained she only went to Turkey because her regular surgeon in Lithuania did not want to operate on her nose. Miss Maxwell, pictured here with bruises from a different operation, said recovery from having plastic surgery can be a painful process

The hairdresser and Airbnb host now campaigns for increased awareness around the risks of going abroad

'There was another girl and she was from London and was very ill and we tried to see her in her room, but we never saw her again.'

Another woman was left with a breast implant that began to peak out between her breasts after she returned home to the UK.

Miss Maxwell said: 'They [the clinic] told her she could fly back with it but then it got worse and worse and it [the implant] started to hang out.

'She went back and got it fixed. I think it is alright now, but she still is not happy with them.'

Miss Maxwell claims the clinic informed her that her surgeon was subsequently fired.

She said: 'I think they overbooked him with lots of surgeries. He did to me what he did to everyone else which was half the work or none at all.

'Every girl there had paid for what they wanted and were talked out of it to get something cheaper.'

She said the care provided was 'absolutely shocking' and the women are in and out of surgery 'like a revolving door'.

Miss Maxwell now campaigns online to spread awareness of the dangers of going abroad for surgery and urges anyone considering it to do thorough research. As a result, many women reach out to her for help and guidance.
Scientists were astounded when they learned Jo Cameron could not feel any pain, marveling at how the 74-year-old had never suffered a headache and miraculously made it through childbirth without so much as a whimper.

But now  after forensically studying the grandmother's superpower for close to a decade  they think they've have finally cracked her secrets.

And the experts believe their discovery may even hold the key to developing better painkillers.

Mrs Cameron, from Whitebridge, a village 25 miles south of Inverness, is one of just two people worldwide known to carry a genetic mutation which has allowed her to lead a virtually pain-free life.

It's also thought to explain why Mrs Cameron experiences faster wound-healing and remarkably low anxiety or fear.

Jo Cameron, from Whitebridge, near Inverness, has experienced broken limbs, surgery and childbirth  with no need for drugs. And she only realises that she has burnt her skin when she smells singed flesh

Jo Cameron (left) has led a virtually pain-free life due to a rare genetic mutation that affects just one in several million. Mrs Cameron - pictured right with her children and husband Jim on her daughter's Graduation Day - did not realise her case was unusual until she was 65

Yet academics at University College London, who uncovered her DNA quirk four years ago, had no idea how it enabled the ex-teacher to defy basic biology.

Tests have now discovered the mutation, housed in the FAAH-OUT gene, effectively 'turns down' a gene that regulates her pain, mood and memory.

Senior author Professor James Cox said: 'The initial discovery of the genetic root of Jo Cameron's unique phenotype was a eureka moment and hugely exciting.

'But these current findings are where things really start to get interesting.

'By understanding precisely what is happening at a molecular level, we can start to understand the biology involved.

'That opens up possibilities for drug discovery that could one day have far-reaching positive impacts for patients.'

Mrs Cameron only realised she was almost unique aged 65, when she sought help after her hip kept giving way.

She said: 'I knew I was happy-go-lucky, but it didn't dawn on me that I was different.

'I thought it was just me. I didn't know anything strange was going on until I was 65.

'It's called the happy gene or forgetful gene. I have been annoying people by being happy and forgetful all my life  I've got an excuse now.'

After being sent home three times due to her lack of pain, an X-ray revealed her hip had 'almost disintegrated'. It eventually transpired that she had severe osteoarthritis, which lists stiff, painful joints as its main symptom.

Scars on Mrs Cameron's hands after operations healed very quickly and left her with very little scar tissue

Why can't the Scottish grandmother feel any pain? Jo Cameron, from near Inverness, is one of just two people on the planet known to have a genetic mutation that has allowed her to lead a virtually pain-free life. It's also thought to explain why Mrs Cameron experiences faster wound-healing and remarkably low anxiety or fear. She made headlines in 2019 when UCL scientists announced that mutations in the FAAH-OUT gene were to blame for her bizarre lack of sensation. The area of the genome containing FAAH-OUT had previously been assumed to be 'junk' DNA that had no function. Researchers at University College London, who uncovered her DNA quirk, had no idea how it enabled the ex-teacher to defy basic biology. Tests have since discovered that the mutation, housed in the FAAH-OUT gene, effectively 'turns down' a gene that regulates her pain, mood and memory called FAAH. FAAH itself forms part of the endocannabinoid system  which regulates and controls learning, memory and emotional processing. Expert said the discovery, published in the journal Brain, amounts to the 'molecular basis for painlessness'. Advertisement

A year later, Mrs Cameron underwent surgery on her right thumb to remove a small bone in the wrist at the base. She complained of 'deformity and deterioration' in the digit but no pain.

After being treated with just paracetamol, she ranked her discomfort as zero out of ten the day after going under the knife.

As well as that, Mrs Cameron once went days without realising her arm was broken and has claimed she only notices she is burning herself when she smells scorching flesh.

Mrs Cameron's strange condition, known medically as congenital analgesia, can be dangerous.

She said: 'Pain is there for a reason, it warns you  you hear alarm bells.

'It would be nice to have warning when something's wrong  I didn't know my hip was gone until it was really gone, I physically couldn't walk with my arthritis.'

Mrs Cameron was later diagnosed with pain insensitivity by Dr Devjit Srivastava, a consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine at Raigmore Hospital.

Years of in-depth research followed.

She made headlines in 2019 when UCL scientists announced that mutations in the previously unknown FAAH-OUT gene made her feel no pain, stress or fear.

The area of the genome containing FAAH-OUT had previously been assumed to be 'junk' DNA that had no function.

The same UCL experts sought to understand how FAAH-OUT works at a molecular level, in the hopes of harnessing the findings to develop new drugs.

Professor Cox and team carried out a series of experiments using gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to mimic the effect of the mutation on other genes.

They then monitored which genes were activated in response to pain, mood and healing.

They also looked at fibroblast cells  which are needed to form connective tissue  taken from patients who feel chronic pain.

The findings, published today in the journal Brain, show FAAH-OUT regulates the expression of FAAH, part of the endocannabinoid system  which regulates and controls learning, memory and emotional processing.

Mrs Cameron's mother (pictured centre with Jim) noticed her daughter had broken her arm as a child when she saw it hanging strangely. Mrs Cameron had been in a roller-skating accident three days earlier. She also only realises she is burning herself when she smells scorched flesh

FAAH is well-known for its involvement in pain, mood and memory.

In Mrs Cameron's case, FAAH-OUT 'significantly turned down' FAAH.

The researchers said they have now identified the 'molecular basis for painlessness', as well as the molecular pathways that affect wound health and mood.

They also identified a further 797 of Mrs Cameron's genes that were turned up and 348 that were turned down.

This included alterations to another genetic pathway associated with wound healing.

Two other key genes that were altered were BDNF, which has previously been linked to mood regulation and ACKR3, which helps to regulate opioid levels.

Senior study author Dr Andrei Okorokov, a pain researcher at UCL, said: 'As scientists it is our duty to explore and I think these findings will have important implications for areas of research such as wound healing, depression and more.'

Mrs Cameron's mother and daughter claim to feel pain as normal, while her son reports some insensitivity.

Her father Joseph, who has died, allegedly had 'little requirement for painkillers'.
The number of nurses working in the UK has risen to the highest level on record, new figures show today, as their union starts balloting for more strikes.

There are now 788,638 nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered to work in the UK, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

The regulator welcomed the rise of more than 30,000 in a year but issued a stark warning about the number leaving the profession early.

Furthermore, data show more than half of the new registrants trained overseas, leading the Royal College of Nursing to warn the NHS has become over-reliant on unsustainable foreign recruitment.

The NMC pointed to worrying findings from its leavers survey which indicate that many decided to leave the profession due to burnout or exhaustion, concerns about the quality of peoples care, workload or staffing levels.

Analysis of the Nursing and Midwifery Council figures by the Nuffield Trust found international recruits account for two-thirds of all new nursing and midwifery staff in the three years since September 2019. Despite falls in the number of staff from the EU, some 43,736 recruits were non-UK staff, while just 22,226 had been trained in the UK

While the headcount of full-time-equivalent adult nurses, who account for most nurses in the NHS in England, has gone up the number of total nursing vacancies has remained stubbornly high, official figures show. This has left the NHS essential treading water in terms of addressing staffing shortages

Just over half of leavers (52 per cent) told the NMC they stopped work earlier than planned in 2022.

One nurse, who left the register in her thirties, told the NMC: Instead of leaving work feeling I had helped someone, I was leaving work worried that someone was left gravely ill as the department was severely overcrowded.

Another in her early sixties added: 'I retired earlier than I might have done due to the pressures of the job.

Lack of staff, high caseloads, increasing demands on staff without improved resources all leading to high stress levels.

An estimated 1.2 per cent of the population are now registered to work as a nurse or midwife, the NMC said.

Of these, 731,058 are registered nurses, 41,716 are midwives and 9,339 are nursing associates who can practise in England.

There were a record 52,148 new joiners last year, according to the NMCs latest report, and almost half of these have trained overseas.

The NMC said that professionals educated around the world now account for one in five nurses, midwives and nursing associates who can practise in the UK.

The number of nurses aged 56 and above, which includes professionals at NHS retirement age, increased to 167,002 last year.

There were almost 87,000 men on the register, representing almost 11 per cent of all nurses, midwives and nursing associates.

And 6,734 of people on the register said their gender is not the same as it was at the time of birth, up from 5,907 in March 2022.

Andrea Sutcliffe, chief executive and registrar at the NMC, said: At a time of rising demand for health and care services, its welcome news that our register has grown to a record level, due to an increase in domestically educated joiners together with the ongoing surge in international recruitment.

While recruitment remains strong, there are clear warnings about the workplace pressures driving people away from the professions  many are leaving the register earlier than planned because of burnout or exhaustion, lack of support from colleagues, concerns about the quality of peoples care, workload and staffing levels.

'Our insight can support nursing and midwifery leaders across health and social care to focus on the right issues in their retention strategies.

Addressing those issues must be a collaborative effort aimed at improving staff wellbeing and retention, for the benefit of everyone using services.

The number of internationally trained nurses joining the NHS has skyrocketed over recent years. Numbers have increased year-on-year, minus a blip of the Covid pandemic which hampered immigration, data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council shows. The number of international nurse recruits is now almost equal to the number of British nurses joining the profession for the first time

The RCN yesterday began balloting almost 300,000 of its members on new strike action as it pursues a new double-digit pay deal from government.

Pat Cullen, the unions chief executive and general secretary, had urged her members to accept a 5 per cent rise and a one-off bonus but they rejected it in a ballot.

Commenting on the new NMC figures, she said: With half of all new starters coming from overseas, it is clear the governments failure to deliver a domestic workforce plan is hitting home.

While internationally educated nursing staff are a vital and valued part of the NHS, the overreliance on staff from overseas, including those countries with shortages of their own, is not sustainable.

Read more: School leavers will be able to start working as doctors WITHOUT going to university under drastic NHS plans to fix staffing crisis Advertisement

Wes Streeting MP, Labours Shadow Health Secretary, accused the government of poaching staff from countries with their own shortages.

He said: The government is bringing in record number of foreign recruits, including from countries on the World Health Organisation red list, while turning away young British students from training to be doctors and nurses.

The NHS will always be an international workforce, and that is part of its strength.

But the Conservatives' approach is unfair to countries they poach from and to the British students denied a great career in the NHS.

Labour will foster the homegrown talent the NHS needs, doubling medical school and training 10,000 more nurses and midwives, paid for by abolishing non-doms.

Health secretary Steve Barclay said: It is extremely promising to see record numbers of nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered to practice in the UK, with numbers of homegrown UK-educated staff increasing, alongside talent from overseas.

Were on track to deliver 50,000 more nurses by next year, with almost 43,000 more working in the NHS compared to September 2019.

Cutting waiting lists is one of the Governments key five priorities and we are committed to ensuring we have the workforce in place to achieve that.

We will shortly publish a long-term workforce plan to go even further, including projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals we will need in five, 10 and 15 years time.

Other health workers are to stage fresh strikes in the continuing dispute over pay, they announced yesterday.

Members of Unite at Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in London and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust will walk out next month.

The union said the strikes form part of its targeted approach to industrial action amid plans to escalate the dispute to try to pressure the Government to reopen pay negotiations.

Unite members from across the Guys and St Thomas workforce, including nurses and other frontline workers, will stage a 24-hour strike on June 1.

This will be followed by a strike by Unite members employed at the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, including paramedics and call handlers.

They will be striking on June 2 for up to seven hours from 2pm.

The hospital doctors union HCSA also announced its junior doctors would be joining the 72-hour walkout planned by the British Medical Association in June.

Junior doctors in England will walk out from 7am on June 14.
You've heard of eating smaller meals, cutting out sugar and taking regular walks to help shave off the extra pounds.

But now scientists say that just staring at pictures of the food you crave could help suppress appetite and stimulate weight loss.

Researchers in Denmark found that people who looked at 30 pictures of an M&M for at least two seconds per image and 'vividly' imagined eating the candy felt more full and wanted to eat less of the food afterward.

They were compared to an equal group of people who were shown pictures of the same food only three times.

The scientists suggested that the action stimulated an area of the brain linked to appetite and made someone feel like they had already consumed the food, boosting feelings of fullness and potentially helping to lose weight with minimal effort.

The above images are from the first experiment. The first image is a picture of the orange M&M that participants were shown. They had to view this image for at least two seconds each for three or 30 times. After the experiment, participants were then shown pictures of bowls with one to ten M&Ms in them (The second and third images show the bowls containing one or ten M&Ms) and asked to pick one to represent how many M&Ms they wanted. Results showed that participants felt more satisfied and wanted fewer M&Ms if they viewed the pictures 30 times

To vary the experiment, participants were then shown pictures of different colored M&Ms (top left picture) and, to elicit a sweeter taste response, different colored Skittles (Bottom left). After seeing these images either three or 30 times, they were again shown the bowls of M&Ms or, in line three, Skittles, and asked to choose how many they wanted from one to ten. Results from these experiments matched those in the first experiment

PhD student Tjark Anderson, a food scientist at the university who led the research, said: 'In our experiment, we showed that when the participants saw the same food picture 30 times, they felt more satiated than before they had seen the picture.'

He added: 'You will receive a physiological response to something you have only thought about.

'That's why we can feel fully satisfied without eating anything.'

In the study, published in the journal Appetite, researchers recruited more than 1,000 people who were split into three groups for separate experiments.

In the first experiment, participants were shown a picture of an orange M&M either three or 30 times.

They had to look at each image for at least two seconds while they 'vividly imagined' eating the food.

Afterward, participants were questioned on how full they felt and how many M&Ms they would like to consume.

Results showed those who saw the pictures just three times were significantly more likely to say they wanted to eat an M&M than those who saw them 30 times.

They also asked for more M&Ms, at an average of 6.2 out of the possible ten, compared to an average of 5.7 in the group who saw the image more.

In the second arm of the study, scientists again showed the images of M&Ms three or 30 times  but this time varied the color of the sweet.

This was to test whether seeing separate colors changed the response of the brain to the food stimulus.

But the scientists found no difference to the first, with results showing people who only saw the images three times felt less satiated and wanted more M&Ms.

In the third arm, the M&Ms were replaced with multicolored Skittles because these taste different based on color and have a sweet taste.

But the results were still the same as in the previous experiment.

Discussing the results, Mr Andersen said: 'If color didn't play a role, it must be imagined taste [we thought]. but we found no major effect here either.'

Experts suggested that looking at pictures of food stimulated areas of the brain linked to satiety or feeling full sparking a decrease in appetite. This is called the grounded cognition theory.

Previous research has also suggested that repeatedly viewing an image of something can lead to habituation, or a weakened response to it, prompting lower interest in the item.

It has also suggested that viewing images of food could be seen as a form of gratification, or temporarily fulfilling someone's desire for food.

The researchers suggested that people looking to lose weight could be shown photos of food repeatedly to help suppress their appetite.

Mr Andersen said an app could be developed to help suppress cravings.

'Think if you developed an app based on a Google search,' he said.

'Let's say you wanted pizza. You open the app. Choose pizza, and it shows a lot of photos of pizza while you imagine eating it.

'In this way, you could get a sense of satiety and maybe just stop wanting pizza.'

The average person saw about 6.1 food-related posts every 12 hours while using social media, a 2016 study found.
One man has been killed by one of the world's deadliest diseases in an outbreak in Namibia.

He was struck down with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), nicknamed the 'eye-bleeding fever' for its horrifying symptoms.

Officials in the African country are now scrambling to contain the tick-borne virus, which can spread between humans.

Dozens of contacts of the infected man have already been tracked down.

CCHF kills up to 40 per cent of everyone who gets infected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

One man has been killed in Namibia by Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), nicknamed the 'eye-bleeding fever' for its horrifying symptoms. The patient was suspected of having the virus when he was first treated at a clinic in the eastern city of Gobabis on May 16. He was later transferred to Windhoek Central Hospital, in the country's capital, where he died on May 18, the Health Ministry said in a statement

The tick-borne virus has a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent according to the World Health Organization and causes symptoms similar to Ebola. It marks the seventh time in seven years that the pathogen has been seen in the nation

WHAT IS CRIMEAN-CONGO HAEMORRHAGIC FEVER (CCHF)? Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne viral disease. It triggers symptoms including high fever, muscle pain, dizziness, abnormal sensitivity to light, abdominal pain and vomiting. Later on, sharp mood swings may occur, and the patient may become confused and aggressive. CCHF virus is widespread and the virus has been found among ticks in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe and South Western Europe. In Europe cases of human infections have been reported from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. In June 2008, a first case was diagnosed in Greece and Spain reported the first locally acquired case in August 2016. Two cases were previously confirmed in the UK  one in 2012 and one in 2014  which were imported from Afghanistan and Bulgaria. A third case was detected in March 2022 in a woman who had recently travelled to central Asia. Source: ECDC Advertisement

The disease  similar to that of Ebola and Marburg  is listed by the UN agency as being one of nine pathogens deemed most likely to trigger a pandemic.

It marks the seventh time in seven years that CCHF has been seen in Namibia.

The government of the country, which borders South Africa, has deployed an emergency health committee to try to contain any further spread.

Twenty-seven of the man's contacts have already been identified, most of whom are health workers.

The patient was suspected of having the virus when he was first treated at a clinic in the eastern city of Gobabis on May 16.

He was later transferred to Windhoek Central Hospital, in the country's capital, where he died on May 18, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Laboratory results later confirmed he had contracted the tick-borne virus.

Initial symptoms include a fever, muscle aches, abdominal pain, a sore throat and vomiting.

CCHF can also cause mood swings and confusion, as well as sleepiness.

It can also trigger bleeds, usually from the nose or from broken capillaries on the eyes and skin.

Although transmitted through tick bites, it can spread between humans through bodily fluids including blood or among hospital patients if medical equipment is not properly sterilised.

The WHO warns CCHP outbreaks are a 'threat to public health services' and 'potentially results in hospital and health facility outbreaks'.

On Tuesday, the WHO identified CCHF among its nine 'priority' diseases that pose the biggest risk to public health.

They were deemed to be most risky due to a lack of treatments or their ability to cause a pandemic.

Covid is also on the list, along with Marburg, which has a case-fatality ratio of 88 per cent and Lassa fever, which kills around 1 to 3 per cent of those it infects.

Hyalomma ticks are the main carrier of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. This type of tick is not established in the UK.

UK officials advise anyone visiting areas where the disease is endemic  including Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia  to use tick repellents and check their clothing and skin carefully for the insects.

On Tuesday the WHO identified CCHF among its nine 'priority' diseases that pose the biggest risk to public health. They were deemed to be most risky due to a lack of treatments or their ability to cause a pandemic

The disease was first detected in Crimea in 1944 and given the name Crimean haemorrhagic fever.

But in 1969, medics realised the pathogen that triggered this disease was also responsible for an illness identified in the Congo in 1956.

This led to the virus being named Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, to encompass both locations.

Recent outbreaks in Africa have been limited in scope, with Senegal confirming one case of the fever in April.

Two cases have previously been confirmed in the UK  one in 2012 and one in 2014  which were imported from Afghanistan and Bulgaria.

A third case was detected in March 2022 in a woman who had recently travelled to central Asia.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, between 10,000 and 15,000 cases of CCHF occur annually, while an estimated three billion people are at risk of infection.
The number of Brits paying for private medical treatment has risen by more than a third since Covid began, figures show.

Roughly 199,000 people forked out for ops such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery in 2019.

But last year the figure stood at 272,000, a rise of 36.7 per cent.

Record waits for routine NHS procedures have been blamed for the spiralling trend, with 7.33million now in the queue.

The 150billion-a-year service is creaking at the seams, with it battered by a staffing exodus, Covid-induced backlogs and a series of devastating strikes over the winter.

Around 272,000 Brits forked out the cash for ops such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery, up 36.7 per cent since 2019

Sommer Tebenham, from Hove, is just one who turned to private healthcare, taking out a 5,500 loan to fund a gallbladder op after being told she faced a wait of up to 12 months.

In a bid to combat the ever-growing waiting list, the NHS is expected to pay private companies to perform cancer checks.

Rishi Sunak will unveil the policy next month, it was claimed today.

Patients will also be able to book NHS-funded procedures in private facilities using the app under separate plans set to be confirmed tomorrow.

Data on the number of Brits deserting the ailing NHS is from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), which shares information about performance and fees of private consultants and hospitals.

Sommer Tebenham, from Hove, is just one who turned to private healthcare, taking out a 5,500 loan to fund an op after being told she could face a wait of one year

READ MORE: Britain has more nurses than EVER after jump of 30,000 in a year - but regulator warns thousands are still quitting due to NHS burn-out Analysis of the Nursing and Midwifery Council figures by the Nuffield Trust found international recruits account for two-thirds of all new nursing and midwifery staff in the three years since September 2019. Despite falls in the number of staff from the EU, some 43,736 recruits were non-UK staff, while just 22,226 had been trained in the UK Advertisement

It shows that just 199,000 procedures were private in 2019.

This dropped to around 145,000 in 2020, as the pandemic saw both the NHS and paid-for ops ground to a near halt as resources were redirected to treating those most unwell with the virus.

Private treatment numbers bounced back to approximately 262,000 in 2021 before spiking at 272,000 in 2022.

Cataract surgery was the most popular private procedure, followed by therapeutics, such as chemo. Hip and knee replacements and hernia repair surgery were other in-demand options.

This is despite some treatments costing more than 15,000. Some providers offer pay monthly deals.

Separate figures show 550,000 paid for private insurance in 2022  30,000 fewer than 2019, which experts say is driven by the cost of living crisis.

Providers say patients are increasingly desperate for treatment due to record NHS waits, according to the PHIN.

Latest NHS England data shows that the backlog is at the highest level since record began in August 2007, with one in eight people in the country waiting for treatment.

Ms Tebenham is one patient who has turned to private care.

She was diagnosed with gallstones in November 2022 and told that an operation to remove them should have been in April 2023  but it could six to 12 months later.

The 28-year-old then borrowed 5,500, which she will be paying off for the next two years, to fund the procedure at a clinic in Luton.

She told the BBC: 'It's the best thing I've ever done because I'm no longer in pain.'

But Ms Tebenham is angry that she had to pay for the op herself, as she has been paying National Insurance  which, in part, funds the NHS  since she was 18.

'If this was any other industry, if you pay for a service and you don't receive it, you should get a refund,' she told the broadcaster.

Dr Ian Gargan, chief executive of PHIN, said: 'There is a whole combination of factors influencing this growth, with the long NHS waiting lists, and uncertainty around how long you'll be waiting, certainly key among them.

'We know that everyone loves and respects the NHS and its hard-working staff, but people are increasingly investigating healthcare alternatives.'

It comes as private companies are set to be paid to treat NHS patients.

This will see around 12 cancer diagnostic centres open in the South West, which has some of the longest waits. They will be operated by a single providers.

If the pilot is a success, similar schemes will be rolled out in other areas with the biggest backlogs, which are expected to be the East of England and South East.

The NHS already has dozens of diagnostic hubs across the country, which offer blood tests and scans.

Experts warned that cancer patients are dying while waiting for treatment, after NHS England data showed that two in five patients are not receiving within 62 days. They condemned 'avoidable delays' and warned that 'live will be lost unnecessarily'.

Rishi Sunak is expected to announce the move next month as part of his plan to use the sector to speed up the NHS recovery, according to The Telegraph.

And on Thursday, the Prime Minister will set out how patients will be able to use the NHS app to choose where they are treated, including private hospitals.

Those in England will be able to select their preferred hospital when first referred, or later in the process if their is a shorter wait at another location.

Official figures showed 7.33million were left waiting for operations such as hip and knee replacements at the end of March. The backlog is up from 7.22million in February and marks the highest total since NHS records began in August 2007. Almost 360,000 patients have been forced to endure year-long waits for their routine treatment, often while in serious pain

NHS data on cancer waiting times however showed the 62-day cancer backlog has fallen for the first time since before the pandemic. But almost 6,000 patients did not start treatment within two months of an urgent referral from their GP. It means only 63 per cent of cancer patients in total were seen within the two month target. NHS guidelines state 85 per cent of cancer patients should be seen within this timeframe but this figure has not been met since December 2015

GPs will be monitored under the rules to ensure that they are informing patients of their ability to choose where they are treated.

One source told the newspaper: 'This is about giving more power to the patient. Partly its about using the app for that, so patients aren't reliant on their GP to tell them they don't just have to go to the local hospital.

'But it's also about an expansion in the role of the private sector, starting with independent sector-led hubs.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer this week unveiled his plans to reform the NHS, which includes similar plans to offer patients more choice on where they are treated.

It comes as official figures show the number of nurses working in the UK has reached its highest level on record.

There are now 788,638 nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered to work, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

The regulator welcomed the rise of more than 30,000 in a year but issued a stark warning about the number leaving the profession early.

And data shows more than half of the new registrants trained overseas, leading the Royal College of Nursing to warn the NHS has become 'over-reliant' on unsustainable foreign recruitment.

The NMC pointed to 'worrying findings' from its leavers' survey which indicate that many decided to leave the profession due to burnout or exhaustion, concerns about the quality of people's care, workload or staffing levels.
Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden today revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 32-year-old found a lump in her breast the day before going to the Maldives on her honeymoon with husband Ben Jones in April.

She admitted it wasn't easy to share the shock news which she received last week  but vowed to 'get back on the dancefloor'.

Amy was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer, a term used to describe when cancer cells look abnormal and doctors fear they may spread more aggressively.

Around 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, says Breast Cancer Now. Meanwhile, roughly 300,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed in women every year in the US.

But not everyone knows how to spot tell-tale symptoms of the disease, which can be vital in boosting survival chances.

Here, MailOnline shares the six tell-tale warning signs of breast cancer to look out for.

Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden (pictured in October 2022) has revealed she has grade 3 breast cancer at the age of just 32. The professional dancer and fan favourite on the BBC show, received the shock diagnosis last week

The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 32, took to her Instagram Stories to share her health update, saying she is 'determined' to get back on the dance floor

Lump in the breast

Finding a lump in your breast can be terrifying, especially knowing it's one of the most common signs of cancer.

But most masses are merely benign and nothing to worry about, Cancer Research UK notes.

Some lumps are simply cysts buried underneath the skin. Others can be triggered through injuries and infections.

Doctors urge women to be particularly aware of lumps that are painless, hard and irregularly-shaped. Such lumps might not even be visible on the skin itself, yet they can be typically be felt by checking the breasts.

Symptoms of breast cancer to look out for include lumps and swellings, dimpling of the skin, changes in colour, discharge and a rash or crusting around the nipple

Swelling or lump in the armpit

You cant usually feel your lymph glands  pea-sized lumps of tissue that contain white blood cells. They can be found under your chin and in the neck, as well as in your armpits and groin.

When you get infected, they can become swollen.

Yet lymph glands in the armpits which feel hard or are swollen may also be a signal that the cancer has spread, Cancer Research UK says. This is one of the first places that the disease spreads to.

You should arrange to see a doctor if the lump doesnt disappear on its own within a couple of weeks, or if it appears to be getting worse.

Change in size or shape of breasts

As well as lumps and swelling, breast cancer can cause changes in the appearance of your bosoms.

For example, the disease might make one of your breasts look bigger. Or, according to Cancer Research UK, it may morph its shape slightly.

But cancer is not the sole cause of such changes. It can happen during pregnancy, too.

Sometimes a lump or another breast cancer symptom could be confused with this, Macmillan Cancer Support advises.

'If you are pregnant and have any of these symptoms, it is important to see your doctor,' it adds. 'Your symptoms should be checked in the same way as in women who are not pregnant.'

Discharge of fluid from the nipple

Discharge of fluid from one or both nipples could also be a key indicator of the disease.

'Lots of women have nipple discharge from time to time. It may just be normal for you,' the NHS advises.

However, 'nipple discharge in men is not normal', it adds.

The colour of your discharge is not a good way of telling if it's anything serious, as normal discharge can be lots of colours.

If discharge occurs either regularly, it only comes from one breast, it's bloodstained or smelly, you're not breastfeeding and it leaks out without any pressure on your breast or you're over the of 50, it is always best to get it checked, experts say.

Dimpling, a rash or redness on skin

A breast rash can happen for many reasons.

But if a rash occurs with swelling or a thickening of the skin, it may be a sign of breast cancer.

A change in the colour of the breast is also a warning sign to get checked out, says Breast Cancer Now.

Dimpling skin is often compared to orange peel and can be associated with inflammatory breast cancer, which is a rare but aggressive form of cancer.

But it is important to note these skin changes can also be caused by other breast conditions.

Crusting, scaly or itchy skin on the nipple

Crusting of the skin, scaly or itchy skin could look like eczema, according to the NHS.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare type of breast cancer that can cause skin changes in your breast.

With this type of cancer, the breast or part of the breast can become red, inflamed, painful and swollen. It can also cause itching of the breast.

Sometimes pain or discomfort in the breast that does not go away is also experienced by those with breast cancer.

But this is rare, Macmillan Cancer Support notes.

Checking your breasts should be part of your monthly routine so you notice any unusual changes. Simply, rub and feel from top to bottom, feel in semi-circles and in a circular motion around your breast tissue to feel for any abnormalities

The ultimate DIY guide to checking your breasts

Checking your breasts for lumps could save your life.

But, despite years of pleas from cancer charities, more than a third of women in the UK still do not regularly assess theirs.

Thousands of women say they simply don't know how. Others forget.

So, with that in mind, here MailOnline shares a DIY guide to help you spot any changes to your breasts.

When should you check?

It should be part of your monthly routine so you notice any unusual changes, charity CoppaFeel says.

You can check in the shower, when you are lying down in bed or in the mirror before you get dressed.

Because breast tissue isn't just found in your boobs, it's also important that men and women check the tissue all the way up to their collarbone and underneath their armpit.

How do you check?

There is no right or wrong way to check your breasts, as long as you know how your breasts usually look and feel, says the NHS.

But one of the most popular methods online involves using the pads of your fingers.

Examining your entire breast and armpit area, simply, rub and feel from top to bottom of the breast.

You should also feel in semi-circles and in a circular motion around your breast tissue to feel for any abnormalities, according to a guide shared in a blog post by the University of Nottingham.

Then look in the mirror for any visual lumps, skin texture and changes and changes in nipple shape or abnormal discharge.

If you spot any changes you should get it checked out by your GP.

Women aged between 50 and 70 should also be attending routine breast cancer screening.
By SA Commercial Prop News

Mauritian Board of Investments senior director Nitin Pandea says South Africans had bought a third of all Mauritian integrated resort scheme (IRS) properties and smaller-scale real estate scheme properties sold to date.



South African investors are flowing back into the property market in Mauritius, according to Nitin Pandea, who heads the Mauritian Board of Investments.

Mr Pandea said in Sandton yesterday South Africans had bought a third of all Mauritian integrated resort scheme (IRS) properties and smaller-scale real estate scheme properties sold to date. Two large IRS schemes have been completed while six are under construction.



The schemes are an initiative of the Mauritian government and are designed to encourage resort and residential property investments by noncitizens.



Mr Pandea said foreign direct investment from SA had ballooned in recent years to about 100m a year. Meanwhile, about 1,500 applications for residency permits had been granted to South Africans, most of whom were professionals.



Mauritius, which was once heavily dependent on sugar production and later tourism, has looked to increasingly diversify its economy. Manufacturing now makes up 17% of the economy.



Mr Pandea said Mauritius was looking to attract manufacturing investment from SA. He added that the board of investment, which facilitates investment into the country, had seen strong interest from South African manufacturers and seafood producers.



While manufacturing is now the biggest contributor to gross domestic product, other sectors including logistics, information and communication technology, finance and real estate are playing a greater role in the islands economy.



South African developer Atterbury Property built Bagatelle-Mall of Mauritius, the islands first regional shopping centre, which opened in 2011. Tenants include Mr Price, Truworths, Woolworths, Spur and anchor Pick n Pay.



Other South African companies with a presence in Mauritius include Aspen Pharmacare, Investec and real estate company Seeff.



The Mauritian stock exchange plays an important role in giving South African investors access to offshore investments. A number of JSElisted companies have primary listings in Mauritius, including offshorefocused property funds, which are required to have primary listings elsewhere in order to be allowed a listing in Johannesburg.



Mr Pandea said the board was working closely with its South African counterparts to facilitate a win-win situation for both countries in expanding into the rest of Africa, where Mauritius is positioned well as a logistics hub for exports.
Covid may no longer be considered a public health emergency, with the darkest days of the crisis consigned to history.

But concerned scientists fear the next pandemic is lurking just around the corner.

World Health Organization (WHO) chiefs are keeping close tabs on nine pathogens that pose the most 'urgent' threat to humanity. Urgent research is being done on all of them to find tests, treatments and vaccines.

But officials have excluded one key threat  bird flu.

This is despite the biggest ever outbreak of avian influenza currently sweeping the world, sparking fears it could soon jump to humans.

In 2018, the WHO identified nine priority diseases (listed) that pose the biggest risk to public health. They were deemed to be most risky due to a lack of treatments or their ability to cause a pandemic

While it is not known to transmit easily between humans currently, mutations to the virus that makes mammal-to-mammal transmission easier could change that, some experts fear.

British scientists have also modelled worst-case scenarios under which the virus kills up to one in 20 people it infects, if it ever manages to take off in humans.

Officials said the figure was for 'planning purposes' and not a prediction.

The list of 'priority diseases' on the WHO's website states: 'This is not an exhaustive list, nor does it indicate the most likely causes of the next epidemic.

'WHO reviews and updates this list as needs arise, and methodologies change.'

Professor Francois Balloux, an infectious disease expert based at University College London, told MailOnline: 'I don't know why they chose to exclude flu and bird flu from the list.

'However we look at it, the chance that the next pandemic will be caused by a lineage of influenza is high.'

He added: 'One possibility may be that they wanted to draw attention to some less well-known zoonotic threats, for which preparedness should be stepped up, whereas for flu contingency plans are in place.

'The problem with that explanation is that it doesn't fit with SARS-CoV-2 being on the list.'

Dr Simon Clarke, an infectious disease expert at Reading University, told MailOnline: 'WHO don't explain why their list of potential pandemic pathogens contains what it does.

'But the list only contains things we know already exist. We don't yet have a derivative of avian flu which can pass from person to person.

'Unless and until we do, it's probably unwise to list it as an impending threat.

'It's entirely possible that we'll get such a mutant virus at some point, but not guaranteed and if we do neither is there any guarantee that it will be especially lethal.'

Covid

Covid brought the world to a standstill in 2020.

Known for its respiratory symptoms, key signs of the infection include a dry cough, breathlessness, fever and loss of taste or smell.

During the first wave of the virus, when society was forced to shelter, real-world data suggested it killed as many as one in 100 people infected.

The virus attacks the lungs and as the body fights back to kill the infection, experts say it can destroy lung tissue and cause inflammation.

This can result in pneumonia  where the lungs fill with fluid, making it harder to breathe.

But these symptoms can also limit oxygen supply to the blood, which causes a variety of other issues that can lead to death.

An analysis of official data by Oxford University shows the 'infection fatality rate' has dropped about 30-fold since the pandemic began due to a combination of vaccines and naturally-acquired protection from previous infection.

Earlier this month the WHO declared Covid was no longer a public health emergency of international concern.

Instead, the virus is now considered an 'established and ongoing health issue'.

However, experts have repeatedly warned a more infectious or lethal variant could emerge.

And when downgrading the Covid threat level this month, the WHO's director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the emergency status could be reimposed if the situation changed.

MVD has a mortality rate of up to 88 percent. There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved to treat the virus

CCHF, a tick-borne virus, has a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent according to the World Health Organization and causes symptoms similar to Ebola. Yesterday, Namibia's health ministry revealed one man had been killed by the disease , placing the country on high alert

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne virus which can prove fatal in up to 40 per cent of cases.

People can also become infected after contact with blood or tissue of infected livestock.

It can spread between humans through bodily fluids or among hospital patients if medical equipment is not properly sterilised.

The disease shares similar symptoms to Ebola at the start of infection including muscle aches, abdominal pain, a sore throat and vomiting.

It can also trigger bleeds, usually from the nose or from broken capillaries on the eyes and skin.

Other symptoms of the virus, which come on suddenly, include fever, dizziness, neck pain and stiffness, backache, headache, sore eyes and sensitivity to light.

The WHO warns that CCHP outbreaks are a 'threat to public health services' and 'potentially results in hospital and health facility outbreaks'.

Read more: Prepare for a disease even deadlier than Covid, WHO chief warns Advertisement

Yesterday, Namibia's health ministry revealed one man had been killed by the disease, placing the country on high alert.

Officials have deployed an emergency health committee, while 27 known contacts have been identified so far.

It marks the seventh time in seven years that the pathogen has been seen in Namibia.

Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease

Ebola, which kills around half of those it infects, also made the list, alongside Marburg.

Both are haemorrhagic fevers  where organs and blood vessels are damaged, causing bleeding internally or from the eyes, mouth and ears.

These viruses can be spread by touching or handling body fluids of an infected person, contaminated objects or infected wild animals.

Ebola causes vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash, yellowing of the skin and eyes and bleeding from multiple orifices.

Marburg, one of the deadliest pathogens ever discovered, with a case-fatality ratio of 88 per cent, also causes similar symptoms to Ebola.

Infected patients become 'ghost-like', often developing deep-set eyes and expressionless faces. This is usually accompanied by bleeding from orifices.

Earlier this year, Equatorial Guinea and the United Republic of Tanzania were both hit by surges of the untreatable virus.

The outbreak saw 17 laboratory confirmed cases and 12 deaths in Equatorial Guinea as of May 1, with neighbouring countries Cameroon and Gabon restricting movement along their borders over concerns about contagion.

Nine cases and six deaths were recorded in Tanzania, as of April 30.

Lassa fever

The rodent-borne disease is thought to cause no symptoms in 80 per cent of patients and kill just one per cent of those it infects.

People usually become infected with Lassa fever after exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or faeces of infected rats.

But the virus, which can make women bleed from their vagina and trigger seizures, can also be transmitted via bodily fluids.

Lassa fever is endemic in Nigeria and several other countries on the west coast of Africa, including Liberia and Guinea.

Last year, a person in Bedfordshire died after catching the disease.

The unidentified individual was the third member of a family who recently returned to the UK from West Africa to become infected with the virus.

A total of 11 cases of Lassa fever have ever been detected in the UK. The three infections identified in the East of England last year were the first spotted since 2009.

Earlier this year, Equatorial Guinea and the United Republic of Tanzania were both hit by surges of Marburg virus. The outbreak saw 17 laboratory confirmed cases and 12 deaths in Equatorial Guinea as of May 1, with neighbouring countries Cameroon and Gabon restrict movement along their borders over concerns about contagion

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), also known as camel flu, is a rare but severe respiratory illness.

Britain has only ever recorded five cases of MERS, most recently in a traveller from the Middle East in August 2018.

Camels are thought to be the natural host of the virus, which is from the same family as the virus behind the Covid pandemic.

Its symptoms include a fever, cough, breathing difficulties, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Meanwhile, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a SARS-associated coronavirus.

It is the earlier, more deadly cousin of SARS-CoV-2, commonly known now as Covid, which first originated in China in 2002.

Nipah and henipaviral diseases

The incurable virus can be caught from pigs or by people eating fruit or drinking palm wine contaminated by infected bats. It can also be transmitted between people.

Nipah has killed more than 260 people in Malaysia, Bangladesh and India in the past 20 years, according to the World Health Organization.

The first known outbreak, in Malaysia in 1998, killed more than 100 people after they contracted the disease from infected pigs.

Nipah symptoms  which can include fever, headache, drowsiness and confusion  usually appear between five and 14 days after contracting the virus and may last for two weeks.

However, in serious cases people can progress into a coma within 24 hours of symptoms starting, and some people have breathing problems.

There is no treatment for the virus so people receive supportive care to try to relieve their symptoms.

Rift Valley Fever

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral disease most commonly seen in domesticated animals in sub-Saharan Africa, including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and camels.

People can get RVF through contact with blood, body fluids, or tissues of infected animals, or through bites from infected mosquitoes.

Most who contract RVF either experience no symptoms or a mild cold-like illness with fever, weakness, back pain and dizziness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, up to one in ten who contract RVF can develop severe symptoms which may include eye disease, excessive bleeding or even encephalitis  swelling of the brain.

It does not knowingly transmit between humans.

Zika virus is a flavivirus - a type of RNA virus - transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes

Zika

Zika virus is a flavivirus  a type of RNA virus  transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes.

Very rarely, it can be transmitted via sex with someone who has it, the NHS says.

For most people, the infection is mild and not harmful. However, it can cause problems for pregnant women.

The first recorded outbreak of Zika virus disease was reported from the Island of Yap  Federated States of Micronesia  in 2007.

But outbreaks of Zika virus disease have since been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

The mosquito-borne virus sparked global panic in 2016, after millions were infected, causing scores of babies to be born with birth defects such as microcephaly.

Yet since 2016 more than 80 countries have faced Zika outbreaks.

Common symptoms include a high temperature, headaches, sore, red eyes, swollen joints and joint and muscle pain.

'Disease X'

Disease X, which first appeared on the WHO's list in 2018, represents a hypothetical, currently unknown pathogen.

The UN agency adopted the placeholder name to ensure that their planning was sufficiently flexible to adapt to a disease.

The WHO said: 'Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.

'And so the R&D Blueprint explicitly seeks to enable cross-cutting R&D preparedness that is also relevant for an unknown "Disease X" as far as possible.'
Crew Clothing has been left rudderless by the exit of its boss and the sudden departure of senior colleagues, This is Money understands.

Crew Clothing's chief executive David Butler was ousted by the retailer's owner, Brigadier Acquisition Company, earlier this month, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Since Butler's ousting, which is understood to have been driven by Brigadier's boss, Menoshi 'Michael' Shina, other senior figures at Crew Clothing have also quit the group.

A Crew Clothing spokesperson told This is Money: 'The directors of Crew Clothing Co Limited announce that David Butler has resigned as chief executive of the business by mutual agreement.'

Trouble at the top? This is Money understands that the chief executive of Crew Clothing, David Butler, has been ousted

Cathy Carrington Birch, the retailer's head of trade, is understood to have quit on Tuesday, while head of technical Kerry Beckwith left Crew Clothing on Wednesday.

Brigadier is majority owned by Regiment, which is itself controlled by Shina.

In December 2017, Crew Clothing was acquired for an undisclosed sum. Louise Barns, who joined Crew Clothing as its chief executive in 2014, left the group after the retailer was sold.

The sale also led to the departure of Stuart Owens, the retailer's then chief financial officer.

Alistair Parker-Swift, the founder and major shareholder of the UK-based apparel company sold his stake to the new owner.

In April 2020, Brigadier, which also owns Moss Bros and Saltrock, tried to pull out of its agreed 22.6million deal to take over Moss Bros by seeking a ruling from the City Takeover Panel to invoke a condition of its offer to scrap the deal. This attempt was unsuccessful and the deal went ahead.

In March this year, Crew Clothing, which has over 100 stores, became the latest fashion retailer to join Marks & Spencer's 'Brands at M&S' platform.

With Crew Clothing looking to boost its omnichannel sales, many of its ranges are now available via the M&S website.

Crew Clothings other online third-party partnerships include Next, John Lewis and Very.

Earlier this year, Butler said the group planned to open 40 new UK stores by 2025, honing in on market towns and coastal destinations.

Speaking in February, Butler said the UK high street was 'by no means dead', dubbing the company 'middle England's Ralph Lauren'.

Before becoming Crew Clothing's chief executive, Butler worked for Ecco Europe, where he was the managing director of its European business for six years until 2016.

In the seven weeks to the end of January, Crew Clothing reported a 15 per cent increase in sales, with total store sales growing by 9 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
At the time of her death in 1901, Queen Victoria had reigned for longer than any other British monarch.

Her 63 years on the throne - she was born 204 years ago today - saw immense industrial, technological and social change. She has given her name to an era.

But things may have been very different if any of the seven men who launched attempts on the Queen's life had been successful.

Instead, each failed attack - in a century that saw several successful high-profile assassinations - helped to further cement Victoria's position.

Her would-be killers ranged from a fantasist looking for notoriety to a mentally disturbed man obsessed with the number four and the colour blue. Regardless of their backgrounds and motives, however, all were quickly caught and punished.

At the time of her death in 1901, Queen Victoria had reigned for longer than any other British monarch

A teenager looking for infamy

The first attempt on Queen Victoria's life came on June 10, 1840, when she was aged 21, just three years into her reign.

While enjoying a carriage ride through Hyde Park with her beloved husband Albert, the Queen was targeted by 18-year-old potboy - a tavern waiter - called Edward Oxford.

Drawing a duelling pistol from his pocket, he stepped from the mass of cheering crowds on Constitution Hill and fired at the Queen as her carriage drove past.

When it stopped so the noise could be investigated, he took another gun out and discharged that too.

Remarkably, even though Oxford was only a few feet away, Victoria was still unhurt and her carriage was quickly ordered to drive on.

The crowd surrounding the would-be assassin quickly confronted him and Oxford was arrested.

Subsequent investigations appeared to reveal his involvement in a secret society, called Young England.

But it later emerged that the letters found by detectives at Oxford's lodgings were all part of the fantasy of a teenager looking for notoriety.

The first attempt on Queen Victoria's life came on June 10, 1840, when she was just 21 and three years into her reign. Enjoying a carriage ride through Hyde Park with husband Albert, the Queen was targeted by 18-year-old potboy Edward Oxford. Above: An illustration of the attack

After a trial at the Old Bailey, Oxford was found not guilty by reason of insanity and instead sent to Bethlem Royal Hospital, where he thrived and learnt to paint. Above: Oxford in court and in 1858 with a paint brush during his confinement

Oxford was tried for high treason at the Old Bailey and, when convicted, would ordinarily have faced death by hanging.

But the police could not find any bullets at the scene, indicating that the guns that were used were only loaded with gunpowder.

After witnesses had testified to Oxford's history of erratic behaviour, he was found not guilty 'on grounds of insanity'.

The Queen was furious at his acquittal, describing it in her journal as 'very stupid'. She added that she did not believe that Oxford was mad.

Another illustration shows the 1840 on attempt on Victoria's life as her carriage drove along Constitution Hill

Prince Albert also deplored the leniency shown to Oxford

After being imprisoned in the notorious Bethlem Royal Hospital, which was famously dubbed 'Bedlam', Oxford's supposed insanity appeared to become much less acute.

He learnt to play the violin, paint houses and speak languages including French and German.

A photograph taken in 1858 during his confinement shows him leaning against a ladder with a paintbrush in his hand.

Oxford spent 21 years at Bedlam and was transferred to Broadmoor in 1864. He spent three years there and was then deported to Australia.

Amazingly, Oxford flourished once again.

He renamed himself John Freeman, married a widow with two children, became a church warden and got a job as a journalist.

An attacker who tried to strike twice

Carpenter John Francis (depicted above), also tried to take Queen Victoria's life

The second attempt on Victoria's life came two years later, at the end of May in 1842.

The Queen's carriage was returning to Buckingham Palace from its evening drive when Prince Albert saw a man who he later described as a 'little, swarthy, ill-looking radical' point a pistol in their direction before disappearing.

Although the Queen was urged to remain in her home until the gunman had been caught, the brave monarch insisted on going back out the next day.

With Albert on the lookout, the assassin appeared again as the royal carriage neared Constitution Hill - the same spot where Oxford had struck.

Carpenter John Francis, aged just 19, stepped out and fired a pistol at the Queen.

Francis had launched his attack after seeing his tobacco shop business fail and being caught stealing money from his landlord.

But Her Majesty was again uninjured and Francis was caught, before being convicted of high treason.

Francis struck on Constitution Hill, the same spot where Edward Oxford had launched his attack

Francis had launched his attack after seeing his tobacco shop business fail and being caught stealing money from his landlord

Condemned to death, he was awaiting execution when his father secured a last-minute reprieve from the Queen after writing to her.

Instead, Francis was transported to Van Diemen's Land - now Tasmania - where he was put to work in a convict settlement.

Francis later described it as 'an abyss of wretchedness and misery'.

He received a conditional pardon after 14 years and ended up marrying and fathering at least nine children, before dying from tuberculosis in 1885.

'Humpback' who was tired of life

Less than two months after Francis's attack, when the carpenter was awaiting execution before his reprieve, Queen Victoria was targeted again.

This time, the culprit was 17-year-old 'humpback' John Bean, who suffered from such severe curvature of the spine that he was allegedly less than 5ft tall.

Bean had been living rough on the streets after running away from cruel treatment suffered at the hands of his four brothers.

He made his attempt on the Queen's life on July 3, 1842, as her carriage passed by Buckingham Palace.

This time, the culprit was 17-year-old 'humpback' John Bean, who suffered from such severe curvature of the spine that he was said to be less than 5ft tall. Bean made his attempt on the Queen's life on July 3, 1842, as her carriage passed by Buckingham Palace. Above: An 1842 illustration of the Queen passing Carlton House

Standing among the crowd of cheering subjects, he raised a rusty pistol and pulled the trigger.

Although there was a distinctive click, no shot rang out. Bean was dragged to two separate policemen by a bystander, but both refused to arrest him, believing there was not enough evidence that a crime had been committed.

The bystander, Charles Edward Dassett, then took Bean's gun to a police station at The Mall and had a statement taken.

Police then launched a hunt for Bean and ended up rounding up every boy they could find who had a curved spine.

The youngster was found at his parents' house and arrested.

Insisting that he had not aimed at the Queen's carriage and had instead pointed at the ground, he implied he had wanted to be apprehended because he was 'tired of life'.

The judge at his trial concluded that Bean had wanted to 'obtain ignominious notoriety', or be sent to an asylum.

He was sentenced to just 18 months in prison. After being released, Bean worked as a jeweller and married twice.

But, beset by ongoing physical and mental struggles, he took his own life by swallowing an overdose of opium in 1882.

Historian Dr Bob Nicholson, whose BBC podcast about the attempts on Queen Victoria's life was released in March, told MailOnline that the early attacks on the Queen came because she was 'very publicly accessible'.

'The thing that really surprised me is how often she would go out for carriage rides,' he said.

Less than two months after Francis's attack, when the carpenter was awaiting execution, Queen Victoria was targeted again. Above: The monarch in a portrait from 1845

'There was none of the security that we now expect, the carriage was winding through crowds, people could reach up and touch it.

'It was just a stone's throw away. There would be some guards riding on ahead, but nothing like the level of security we might now expect.

'Even in the wake of these attacks she continued to drive out like that. It says a lot about her, but it also meant she was easy to find.

'People knew where to find her because her movements were published in the Court Circular.'

Dr Nicholson continued: 'There's something about her too. In the early years of her reign, it was important to her to have that connection with the public.

'The public had kind of fallen out of love with the monarchy before her, so it was important to her to get out there.

'Even when she knew she was under threat, she still rode out in the knowledge that her attacker was waiting.'

He also highlighted how the Queen lived through the assassinations of two US Presidents, Russia's tsar, the king of Italy and dozens of other politicians.

An Irishman who hoped to be transported

After Bean's attack, Queen Victoria would reign for seven more years before she was targeted again.

In May 1849, Irishman William Hamilton followed in the footsteps of the Queen's first two attackers by waiting on Constitution Hill for her carriage to appear.

Hamilton had emigrated to London in the 1840s but had struggled to find work in the city.

As Victoria passed by him, he pulled a pistol from his pocket and fired at her. Once again, luck was on the monarch's side and the bullet missed.

After Hamilton was apprehended, the authorities struggled to pin down why he had carried out his attack.

Whilst there were allegations that he was part of a group of Irish revolutionaries, the police could find no evidence of it.

There were also suggestions that Hamilton had wanted to be transported to Australia.

After Bean's attack, Queen Victoria would reign for seven years before she was targeted again. In May 1849, Irishman William Hamilton followed the Queen's first two attackers by waiting on Constitution Hill for her carriage to appear. Above: An illustration of Hamilton's arrest

Attempted assassination along Constitution Hill by John William Hamilton, an out of work Irishman, in May 1849

The next attempt on Queen Victoria's life, on June 27, 1850, came terrifyingly close to being a success. As she was leaving her uncle's mansion on Piccadilly, gentleman and former soldier Robert Pate struck the Queen over the head with a metal-tipped cane, drawing blood. Above: A depiction of the assault

Queen Victoria being attacked by Robert Pate, former lieutenant of the 10th Royal Hussars at Cambridge Park, Piccadilly

If true, the Irishman got his wish. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years behind bars.

The first five were spent on a prison ship near Gibraltar, before he was sent to Freemantle in Western Australia.

It is not clear when Hamilton died or how or where he met his end.

The wealthy gentleman who struck the Queen with a cane

The next attempt on Queen Victoria's life, on June 27, 1850, came terrifyingly close to being a success.

As she was leaving her uncle's mansion on Piccadilly, gentleman and former soldier Robert Pate struck the Queen over the head with a metal-tipped cane, drawing blood.

Describing the attack in her journal, the Queen said a man who she had 'often seen in the park' stepped forward and she felt herself 'violently thrown by a blow to the left of the carriage...

'My bonnet was crushed, & on putting my hand up to my forehead, I felt an immense bruise in the right side, fortunately well above the temple & eye!'

She went on to describe seeing Pate being 'violently pulled about by people'.

It emerged that Pate had earlier been allowed to resign his commission from the 10th Hussars after developing mental health problems.

He lived in an apartment above Fortnum & Mason department store and was often seen waving his cane around as if it was a sword.

Despite his wealth and status, Pate was sentenced to seven years' transportation to Tasmania.

He later married an Australian heiress and came back to London.

Radical teenager hoping to put a gun to the Queen's head

After Pate's conviction, Queen Victoria reigned for 22 years without being attacked again.

In that time, she had suffered the enormous tragedy of the death of her husband.

Consumed by grief after his passing in 1861, she had largely withdrawn from public life.

However, in 1872, she did attend a grand procession through London that was set to culminate with a service at St Paul's Cathedral.

Among the crowds joyously welcoming her back to the capital was 17-year-old Arthur O'Connor.

The teenager's great-uncle was Feargus O'Connor, who was one of the key figures in the radical working class Chartist movement that had swept Britain in the 1840s before being suppressed.

Imbued with a similar radical spirit, O'Connor had planned to put a gun to the Queen's head in front of a crowd of thousands and force her to sign a document that would have secured the release of a group of Irish republican prisoners.

Two days after an initial attempt to ambush Victoria inside St Paul's had failed, O'Connor headed to Buckingham Palace and managed to climb over the fence undetected.

When the Queen was returning home, he ran to her carriage to put his plan into action but was seized by Her Majesty's manservant, John Brown.

Arthur O'Connor, aged just 17, tried to attack Queen Victoria in 1872, but was tackled by her loyal manservant John Brown. Above: A depiction of the incident outside Buckingham Palace

The Queen is seen above in her carriage on her way to St Paul's Cathedral later

O'Connor was mocked by the press, denounced by the Irish republican movement and was sentenced to a year's hard labour after pleading guilty.

After Victoria complained to the Prime Minister of the leniency of O'Connor's sentence, the government persuaded the teenager to leave the country.

He headed to Australia, where he was meant to remain in exile.

But instead, he returned to England less than a year later and went back to Buckingham Palace.

After explaining that he had hoped to be killed by police, O'Connor spent much of the rest of his life locked up in asylums.

The middle-class son who suffered a blow to the head

The final attempt on the Queen's life came in 1882, when Her Majesty was 63 and had been on the throne for 45 years.

Roderick Maclean, the middle-class son of the owner of the popular Fun magazine, fired a revolver at Victoria as she was leaving Windsor railway station.

At the time, the Queen was returning to the castle after a short trip to the capital.

Maclean's family had earlier lost its fortune and the young man had undergone a personality change after suffering a blow to the head.

Seeing enemies everywhere, Maclean was unable to secure a job. He was also obsessed with the number 4 and the colour blue.

The final attempt on the Queen's life came in 1882, when Her Majesty was 63 and had been on the throne for 45 years. Roderick Maclean, the middle-class son of the owner of the popular Fun magazine, fired a revolver at Victoria as she was leaving Windsor railway station. Above: A depiction of the attempt on the Queen's life

Maclean's family had earlier lost its fortune and the young man had undergone a personality change after suffering a blow to the head. Above: Maclean at his trial

The arrest of Roderick Maclean following his attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor Railway Station

Attempted to assassination of Queen Victoria at Windsor, England, the would be assassin Roderick Maclean, top, engraving from L'IIllustrazione Italiana, no 12, March 19, 1882

His sisters had sent him money to support him but he wanted more from them.

After becoming fixated with the Queen, he bought a pistol in Portsmouth and then walked to Windsor.

As he waited for the Queen's train to arrive, he wrote to his sister and told her: 'I should not have done this crime had you, as you should have done, paid the 10s per week instead of offering me the insulting sum of 6s [shillings] per week and expecting me to live on it.'

He added that 'a little money' would have done 'great good' but instead he had been treated 'as a fool'.

Maclean told his sister he had been set against 'these bloated aristocrats, led by that old lady Mrs. Vic, who is an accursed robber in all senses'.

Having fired his revolver, Maclean was captured and imprisoned in Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where he remained for the rest of his life.
In a presidential field where Nikki Haley has taken repeated shots at Joe Biden's age, it is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who is seeking to be the youngest person to hold the presidency in half a century.

Age has already become an issue in the presidential campaign, and Biden has called on voters to 'just watch me' and judge for themselves whether he is fit for another term.

DeSantis, who is not yet 45, is planning a campaign rollout where his youthful looks might obviate some of the need to issue calls to open a 'new chapter' in leadership.

His September 14 birthday comes after the first GOP presidential debate, and if he manages to make it through the gauntlet and defeat President Biden, he would be 46 when he takes the Oath of Office in 2024.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would be 46 when he is inaugurated if he is elected president in 2024

Ron DeSantis would be 46 when he takes office if he wins the White House, older than John F. Kennedy when he took office but decades younger than Biden, who would be 82 at the start of his second term

That would put him behind just two past president's when it comes to youth: Teddy Roosevelt, who was elevated at the age of 42 after the assassination of William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy, who set the standard for a modern youth-oriented campaign and took office at 43.

That comes in a campaign where Biden's age has been a recurring issue. Biden stumbled on stairs last week while visiting a shrine in Japan, rival Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked his mental acuity, and he has sometimes been done in by his own reminiscences about working with segregationists in the Senate.

Trump, 76, took office in 2017 at an age higher than Ronald Reagan's when he took office. If he wins a second term, he will swear to uphold the Constitution at 77  the same age at which Reagan left the White House after his second term.

President John F. Kenned, pictured in 1963, ran a campaign that stressed youth and energy, although he was only four years younger than Richard Nixon

President Joe Biden, 80, has addressed the age question by encouraging voters to watch how he handles the job. He took a slew of questions from reporters in Japan, but also stumbled on stairs while visiting a shrine

Donald Trump will be 77 when he takes the oath to uphold the Constitution if he wins reelection

It would also make him just a year shy of Biden's age when he first took office, following a campaign where Trump repeatedly questioned his stamina and mocked him for campaigning from his basement during the COVID-impacted campaign.

With Haley already injecting the freighted age issue into the race  she told Fox News last month he was not likely to 'make it until 86 years old'  DeSantis can use other methods to remind voters of his relative youth. (Haley is 51 and has an Inauguration Day birthday, and has already outlasted former CNN host Don Lemon, who said she was past 'her prime.')

His campaign is expected to feature 42-year-old Florida first lady Casey DeSantis.

His website already has a 'meet the family' page, which features, Madison, Mason, and Mamie, who were each born in election years: 2016, 2018, and 2020.
A Starbucks manager filmed screaming at a customer for being transphobic has claimed she was the victim of a hate crime after being abused about her gender and called a tranny.

Luna Spain, 28, was caught on camera berating Vanessa Thomas, clapping in her face, calling her a Karen, and then throwing her out of a Starbucks in Southampton after the two became embroiled in a trans row.

A video of the incident went viral, but Ms Spain has broken her silence, claiming that the footage does not tell the whole story.

She insisted: Im the victim of a transphobic hate crime, but Im being treated like a criminal. The viral video doesnt show the customer calling us trannies and going on a rant about gender.

'It doesnt show how it started with her screaming about why we dont accept cash and demanding that we do. The internets been filled with lies.

Luna Spain had been working in the Starbucks, which is partially owned by a licensor, for the past six months combining the job with studying for a degree in Environmental Science at the Open University

Since the incident, she has lost her job at the Starbucks with the company claiming that they did not 'tolerate such behaviour'

But Ms Thomas has categorically denied the allegations, insisting she was not abusive or threatening and that she is not transphobic.

In an interview with Vice News, Ms Spain alleged Ms Thomas was rude and abusive as she tried to serve her and said she reacted with fury when she was told she couldnt pay using cash.

Ms Spain said the customer started losing her mind after she deliberately misgendered a colleague standing next to her and that she corrected her pronouns'.

Ms Thomas claimed the whole row stemmed from her using the word 'lady' to describe a member of staff serving her without realising that they did not identify as a woman.

They were discussing why Starbucks did not accept cash and as Ms Spain, who was standing nearby intervened, Ms Thomas claims that she told her: Im not talking to you, Im talking to the lady behind the counter.'

This prompted Ms Spain, who was standing close by, to confront her for using the wrong gender to describe her colleague.

Ms Spain insisted that Ms Thomass use of the word lady was deliberate and spiteful.

She said: [Ms Thomas] said, What is it with you trannies and all this gender stuff and, With you trannies its always all about gender." I cut her off and told her shes not getting served. I asked her to come to the till and get a refund.

'But instead, she started getting louder and louder. She was calling me a man as much as she could, and calling my colleague who is a trans man a woman in front of a full store of customers and colleagues.

Ms Spain, 28, was caught on camera berating Vanessa Thomas (pictured), clapping in her face, calling her a 'Karen' and then throwing her out of a Starbucks in Southampton after the two became embroiled in a furious trans row

The incident took place at this Starbucks branch near the ferry terminal in Southampton

Ms Spain claimed that she had reported Ms Thomas to police and demanded a letter of apology from her former employers for not investigating the matter

Ms Thomas, pictured with partner Mark Andrews, previously said she feared for her life after being thrown out of the cafe for using the word 'lady' to describe a member of staff without realising that they did not identify as a woman

Ms Spain claimed it was at this point she lost her temper and insisted Ms Thomas leave the store and that this is the only part that was filmed. She said it was the customer who was a massive problem  not her.

The incident was filmed by Ms Thomass partner Mark Andrews. Ms Spain is also caught on camera attacking him while trying to seize his mobile phone.

Explaining her actions, she said she only wanted the video to be deleted because she did not want to be shamed online like other trans people have been in the past.

Ms Thomas claimed that when she didnt get the video she escorted Ms Thomas from the store, claiming it was unfortunate when the glass door cracked when she closed it.

Following the incident, Ms Spain revealed she was dismissed from her job without a formal disciplinary process taking place and that she did not even have a chance to explain to her bosses what took place.

She said: I'm angry, I'm upset, and I'm experiencing the worst mental health of my life, all while the customer laughs about it on Facebook. What do they want me to do? De-transition?'

Ms Spain continued: I definitely expected disciplinary action, thats what they said would happen, but I didnt expect to lose my job. Its like they were trying to do damage control.

HR suddenly called me and pushed me to hand in my notice, and when I didnt, I received an email terminating my employment one hour later. There was no investigation, no meeting, just a cold email.

Ms Spain claimed she had reported Ms Thomas to police and also demanded a letter of apology from her former employers for not investigating the matter.

Ms Thomas hit back at the allegations and insisted: None of what shes said is true. Im totally innocent and not transphobic. At all times I behaved properly and did not start this argument. Its complete nonsense whats being said about me.

A spokesman for Starbucks said: We pride ourselves on offering a welcoming and inclusive environment, and expect everyone, including our green apron partners, employees and customers, to treat one another with dignity and respect.

'Following an investigation, it was determined by the licensee that this partner be separated from the company.
RAND and RUSI defence researchers analysed the implications of the attacks

The daring attacks of native Russian anti-Kremlin fighters on the western Russian region of Belgorod could 'rattle' Moscow and disrupt Russian troops ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counterattack, experts have claimed.

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion, armed with armoured vehicles, small arms and a pair of tanks, surged over the border from Ukraine's Kharkiv region late Sunday and took a string of urban settlements to occupy roughly 3-5 miles of Russian soil.

They later launched a pair of drone attacks on FSB and Interior Ministry buildings in Belgorod city overnight into Tuesday, prompting regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov to order the evacuation of nine Russian towns and the Kremlin to admit 'serious cause for concern'.

By Tuesday afternoon, Russia's defence ministry claimed it had 'wiped out' the rebels, whom they refused to acknowledge as Russian and instead described them as Ukrainian nationalists.

But there was no immediate independent confirmation the fighting had ended, with the groups declaring they were still occupying some territory and had not been pushed back.

Ukrainian officials meanwhile retorted they were not involved in the orchestration of the incursion, claiming the attack was carried out by Russian citizens and casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife.

Experts believe the attacks on Russian soil could prove useful in disrupting Putin's troop deployments and force his military commanders to question the positioning of their border fortifications further south, stretching their defences.

A group of anti-Kremlin Russian soldiers speak to camera, saying they are operating inside Russia

An anti-Kremlin volunteer fighter is pictured alongside a captured Russian armoured personnel carrier

Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) are seen riding on armoured personnel carriers in Russia's Belgorod region

Russian President Vladimir Putin is renowned for his hatred of dissent

'The Ukrainians are trying to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps. The Russians are forced to send reinforcements,' said Neil Melvin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Who are the anti-Kremlin rebel groups responsible for attacks in Belgorod? RUSSIAN VOLUNTEER CORPS The Russian Volunteer Corps was founded by a far-right Russian national last August and comprises Russians who have been fighting in and for Ukraine against their own country. The group has also been active over the border in Russian territory, and claimed responsibility for a raid there in March as well as the incursion into Belgorod. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency says the RVC is an independent underground group inside Russia that also has a unit in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. The Foreign Legion says it has nothing to do with the RVC. A video posted by the RVC on Monday showed two men claiming to have captured a Russian armoured personnel carrier. One of the men was identified as Ilya Bogdanov, a Russian national who received Ukrainian citizenship in 2015 after fighting for Kyiv against Russian-backed forces in Ukraine's east. FREEDOM OF RUSSIA LEGION The Freedom of Russia Legion says it was formed in spring 2022 'out of the wish of Russians to fight in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Putin's armed gang'. It says it cooperates with the Ukrainian armed forces and operates under Ukrainian command. It has claimed responsibility for the attack in Belgorod and says it has been fighting in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency's spokesperson said on Monday that the attacks in Belgorod only involved Russian citizens and that they were creating a 'security zone' to protect Ukrainian civilians. He did not confirm or deny that the forces operating there are a Ukrainian unit. Mark Galeotti, author of several books on the Russian military, said the two groups comprised anti-Kremlin Russians ranging from liberals and anarchists to neo-Nazis. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak repeated Kyiv's position that it had nothing to do with the operation. Advertisement

'They'll have to respond to this and put troops there and then have lots of troops all along the border area, even though that may not be the way the Ukrainians are coming,' Melvin said.

John Kennedy, a defence and security research leader at RAND Europe, told MailOnline: '[The attacks on Russian soil] represent an important new dimension of the conflict  and specifically the prospect of a capable anti-Kremlin rebellion operating inside Russia.

'They will not alone determine the course of the war in Ukraine, but it stands to reason that if such attacks continue, the Russian military will have to continue to respond.'

And Mark Galeotti, head of the London-based Mayak intelligence consultancy, agreed the incursion would force Russia to react, but added the attacks could act as a Ukrainian battlefield 'shaping' operation ahead of Kyiv's hotly anticipated counteroffensive.

'This is really a chance to do two things. One is to rattle the Russians, make them worried about the possibility of risings amongst their own people.

'But secondly, force the Russians to disperse their troops,' he said.

However, the analysts warned that armed attacks on Russian soil offer the Kremlin's spin doctors more ammunition to twist the narrative of the conflict in their favour and gain an advantage in the information war.

The Kremlin described the insurgents as 'Ukrainian nationalists' - and Putin stated on the first day of the war in Ukraine that his 'special military operation' aimed to 'de-militarise and de-Nazify' Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a string of his defence chiefs, government officials and state-controlled media personalities have parroted Putin's claims that Ukraine is merely a puppet of the West.

John Kennedy told MailOnline that any fighting on Russian soil plays into Putin's narrative justifying his war in Ukraine.

'We should expect that Russia will use these incursions to argue that its territory is under threat,' he said.

'This is not new: Russia justified its invasion  and repeated threats to NATO over the course of the war  by falsely claiming that it is under attack by the West.'

The Kremlin has been swift to crack down on the sign of dissent within its borders.

It assigned Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, 59, as the commander of Russian troops in Belgorod to remove the rebel threat.

Lapin posed for videos in Belgorod region yesterday, standing alongside armoured vehicles and barking out orders. But his capability as a commander has been called into question and he was blamed for Russia's retreat from the Ukrainian city of Lyman earlier in the war.

On Tuesday Russia's defence ministry declared the 'Ukrainian nationalists' had been liquidated and released a string of images purporting to show the bodies of some of the rebels, as well as damaged armoured vehicles.

But both the Freedom of Russia Legion and Russian Volunteer Corps disputed the claims they had been eliminated.

'This is the first operation of the Legion on the territory of Russia, and the scope of our actions will only increase in the future,' a representative of Freedom of Russia posted on social media.

Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, 59, has assumed command of Russian troops in Belgorod to remove the rebel threat

Russia's defence ministry released photos which they claimed showed the bodies and the abandoned armoured vehicles of rebel forces in Belgorod, but their claims have been disputed

Alexei Baranovsky, a spokesperson for the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion, denied there had been heavy losses and dismissed Russian reports of large casualties as disinformation.

He said the unit was part of Ukraine's International Legion and therefore part of its armed forces, but denied the incursion was coordinated with Ukrainian authorities.

'These are the first steps in the main objective of overthrowing Putin's regime through armed force. There are no other alternatives,' he said.

Kennedy concluded that the Kremlin's insistence they had wiped out the rebel onslaught - and its refusal to recognise the participants as Russian - was part of an overarching plan to sew disinformation and mistrust, describing the attacks as 'politically significant'.

'Russia has claimed that the participants are Ukrainian nationalists, whereas Ukraine  and the participants themselves  have claimed they are Russian rebels.

'In this respect the very facts are already contested within the information war.

'We can expect Russia to muddy the waters further - as we have seen during Putin's tenure, the Kremlin's objective is to give the impression that there is no single truth about any event.'

Melvin added that the Russian rebels' operation also served to boost morale in Ukraine, with Kyiv's officials seizing the opportunity to mimic the rhetoric used by the Kremlin when Russian annexed Crimea in 2014.

Podolyak blamed the Belgorod incursion on 'underground guerrilla groups' comprising Russian citizens and said: 'As you know, tanks are sold at any Russian military store' - a nod to a Putin quote from 2014 when asked about the presence of men wearing Russian military uniforms without insignia in Crimea.

'You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform,' the Russian president said at the time.

Ukrainian citizens meanwhile took to social media to mock the Russian defence ministry and declared the Russian rebels leaders of the 'Belgorod People's Republic' - a nod to events in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russia-backed militias declared 'people's republics' in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The 70-year old also starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in the 1983 film Rocky III in which he coined his famous catchphrase, 'I pity the fool'

The rare sighting of the star comes just a few months after NBC's The A-Team  Mr. T's breakout role  marked the 40th anniversary of its debut episode

Masked up Mr. T went virtually unnoticed during trip to the drug store near his home in LA's San Fernando Valley, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show

The A-Team tough guy Mr. T was nearly unrecognizable during a stealthy trip to the drug store in Los Angeles last week  the first public sighting of the actor since the 40th anniversary of the hit 80s action series earlier this year.

The TV icon, 70, was seen last Monday shopping near his home in LA's San Fernando Valley where he virtually went undetected by the public, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show.

While he's known for his distinctive mohawk, heavy gold chains, and burly physique, the reclusive actor and former wrestler, real name Lawrence Tureaud, appeared nothing like his famous on-screen persona.

TV star and pop culture icon Mr. T went incognito during a trip to his local drug store in LA last week

The reclusive actor and former wrestler, real name Lawrence Tureaud, removed his mask, revealing his distinctive beard during his drive home

The 70-year-old actor went undetected by fans and other members of the public after covering up with a face mask, mirrored sunglasses, and an orange beanie

The A-Team alum further disguised himself in a low-key getup, wearing a blue Skechers hoodie, gray track pants, and sneakers

The TV star went instead went incognito, covering up with a white N95 face mask, full eye coverage mirrored sunglasses, and an orange beanie.

Mr. T is known for his distinctive mohawk, heavy gold chains, burly physique, and his iconic catchphrase 'I pity the fool!'

He further disguised himself in a low-key getup, wearing a blue Skechers hoodie, gray track pants, and sneakers.

The rare sighting of the star comes just a few months after NBC's The A-Team marked the 40th anniversary of its debut episode.

Mr. T also starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky III where he uttered his famous catchphrase, 'I pity the fool.'

The A-Team ran from January 23, 1983, to December 30, 1986, with Tureaud starring alongside the late George Peppard (aka John 'Hannibal' Smith), Dirk Benedict (aka Templeton Peck) and Dwight Schultz (aka Captain 'Howling Mad' Murdoch).

Tureaud's role as fugitive exUnited States Army Special Forces soldier Bosco Albert 'B.A' Baracus on the show became his most memorable and enduring.

He appeared as part of the main cast until the series' cancellation in 1987.

He ended up becoming the show's breakout character, cementing his place as a pop culture icon and a quintessential figure to fans in the 80s.

The rare sighting of the star comes just a few months after NBC's The A-Team marked the 40th anniversary of its debut episode. He starred as fugitive exUnited States Army Special Forces soldier B.A Baracus alongside Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz and the late George Peppard

Mr. T also appeared in Rocky III opposite Sylvester Stallone. He played boxer Clubber Lang who took the heavyweight crown from Rocky Balboa only t lose it in a rematch

Mr. T also appeared on Dancing with the Stars in 2017 with Kym Herjavec. 'We didnt get booted off. We gradually eased off. Aint nobody going to boot Mr. T off,' he said after they were voted out

Besides his role on The A-Team, Mr. T starred in films like DC Cab and most notably as the villain Clubber Lang opposite Sylvester Stallone in the 1983 film Rocky III.

It was this role that lead to his famous catchphrase, 'I pity the fool.' When his character is asked if he hates Rocky, Lang replies, 'No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool.'

Later in his career, the father-of-three, who married childhood sweetheart Phyllis Clark in 1971, was diagnosed with a rare cancer known as T-Cell Lymphoma in 1995.

He made a point to fight the disease head on and wrote an as-yet unpublished book called Cancer Saved My Life (Cancer Ain't For No Wimps) detailing his experience with the illness.

Tureaud has retreated from the spotlight in recent years, with his last on-screen role in 2014 when he appeared in a TV special of WrestleMania XXX.
Canadian cops said on Tuesday they have solved one of the highest-profile cold cases in Quebec history, linking the 1975 rape and murder of 16-year-old Sharron Prior to a West Virginia man who died more than 40 years ago.

The rape and killing of Prior had gone unsolved since she disappeared on March 29, 1975, after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlor near her home in Montreal's Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood.

Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore.

Franklin Maywood Romine, who had a long criminal history and matched a witness' description at the time, has now been officially named as her killer by police in Longueuil.

Romine's body was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing and he proved a match for a sample found at Prior's murder scene.

Pictured: Sharron Prior, who disappeared on March 29, 1975, after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlor near her home in Montreal's Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood

Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said that DNA evidence allows them to be 100 per cent certain that Franklin Maywood Romine (pictured) murdered the teenager in the Montreal suburb

The killer was born in 1946 in West Virginia's second largest city of Huntington and died in 1982 at the age of 36 in Verdun, Montreal under mysterious circumstances.

Law enforcement investigated more than 100 suspects over the years, but never made any arrests. Yvonne Prior, the teenager's mother, is now in her 80s, still lives in Canada, and has spent her life searching for her daughter's killer.

Romine's name didn't come up in investigation until last year, according to WCHS-TV of Charleston, West Virginia.

When Longueuil police said started looking through criminal records, they found an extensive history of violence and attempts by Romine to evade law enforcement by moving between West Virginia and Canada.

Romine first attempted escape from the West Virginia Penitentiary in 1964 and later escaped in 1967, according to records obtained by WCHS. Two years later, he already had a Canadian rap sheet.

In 1974, he was arrested for breaking into a house and raping a woman in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He was released on a $2,500 bond two months later and fled to Canada, according to an Associated Press story from the time.

Just months after Prior's murder in 1975, Romine was captured by Canadian border officials and extradited back to West Virginia, where he was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for sexual assault in the Parkersburg case.

He died in Canada in 1982, shortly after his release, although officials say they haven't been able to find a death certificate detailing the circumstances that lead to his death.

His body was returned to his mother in West Virginia, where his family buried him in the Putnam County, West Virginia Pine Grove Cemetery.

When Romine was exhumed last month, local prosecutor Mark Sorsaia called the crime against Prior 'the most evil element in the human race'.

'It's a combination of the most evil element in the human race, contacting the most innocent element in the human race - a child,' he told WCHS.

'Some things are worse than death - losing a child like that, for a family, for a mom. To know that your child died that way.'
Calls are growing for Qantas to pay back the taxpayer after the airline predicted record profits.

The Australian flag-carrier said on Tuesday it expects to make a 2022/23 profit of almost $2.5 billion, massively outstripping previous records.

But the Transport Worker's Union (TWU) has demanded Qantas pay back the $2.7 billion bailout it received in JobKeeper payments from the Morrison government in 2020 during the pandemic.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce will step down in November. The company said on Tuesday it expected to post record profits of almost $2.5billion

But unions are calling for the airline to pay back the $2.7 billion it received from the Morrison government during the pandemic

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said: 'This obscene profit forecast is the result of Qantas management bleeding dry workers, passengers and the taxpaying public.

Mr Kaine accused Qantas of trashing 'every essential section of the airline to prop up executives and shareholders'.

The airline sacked 1,700 ground staff at the height of the pandemic, a move that the Federal Court has twice found to have been illegally motivated to avoid them accessing their industrial rights.

Earlier this month, Qantas lodged its final appeal against the ruling in the High Court.

The airline attributes its skyrocketing profits to surging demand for travel, lower fuel prices and the smoothing of supply chain issues.

It is understood Qantas claims the bulk of the JobKeeper payments they received were passed on to their employees, some of whom were sacked, and the rest used for free-for-service freight and repeat flying.

But the Australian Council of Trade Unions claimed the airline had been 'gaming the system' and that their profits were due to outsourcing jobs,

'Qantas customers know that standards have fallen dramatically, with constant flight delays and lost luggage, all because good, secure jobs were outsourced to drive down wages and conditions, hurting both workers and customers,' said ACTU President Michele ONeil.

Radio host Chris O'Keefe (pictured) said he wanted Qantas to make money but thought their 'crowing' about record profit forecasts was 'a bit off'

She added: 'When a company can record a $2.48 billion profit during a cost-of-living crisis, we know corporate greed has reached unacceptable levels, particularly when it depends upon undercutting secure jobs and not paying workers properly.'

2GB broadcaster Chris O'Keefe weighed in on the matter on his drive time show yesterday, telling listeners he thought Qantas's profit forecast was 'a bit off'.

'Qantas can make money, I hope it makes money - I want it to make money,' he said.

'We all want a powerful Australian airline. But just remember, Qantas got $2.7 billion of our money - government handouts during the pandemic and now they're raking in the profits.

'When you consider how expensive the flights are, how unreliable their service has been and the lack of - I think - bit of a breach of trust between Qantas and customer over the past year or so. Am I the only one who reckons that the $2.48 billion profit, crowing about it is a a bit rich - a bit off?'

O'Keefe claimed federal politicians would not want to rock the boat because they get access to the airline's invite-only chairman's lounge.

'Do you really think our politicians will want to start biting the hand that feeds them? Probably not,' he said.

TWU secretary Mr Kaine told O'Keefe that he was 'happy to see the back of' outgoing Qantas CEO Alan Joyce who will step down in November after 15 years in the role.

'Alan Joyce has presided over a company which now has low standards, fares through the roof and a company that hasn't invested in planes,' said Mr Kaine.

'I'd say that's a sign of a CEO who's not the best CEO in the country but the worst and one of the most well paid.'

Mr Joyce's successor will be Vanessa Hudson, the airline's current Chief Financial Officer.

The TWU has also slammed a $100 million increase in the airline's share buyback scheme for investors.

Qantas claims it is 'sharing the benefits of the recovery' with its staff' by making non-executive employees eligible for a $5,000 recovery boost.

A further 20,000 employees are expected to be eligible for a recovery bonus of up to $6,500.

Qantas declined to provide an on the-record statement.
Law does not require a sexual element to a performance for it to be banned

Montana has become the first state to specifically ban people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries.

Republican governor Greg Gianforte signed the bill on Monday because he 'believes it's wildly inappropriate for little kids, especially preschoolers and kids in elementary school, to be exposed to sexualized content,' spokesperson Kaitlin Price said.

But the law is unique among efforts by states to block drag performances as it does not require a sexual element to a performance for it to be banned.

Bills in Florida and Tennessee also appear to try to ban drag reading events, but both require the performances to be sexual in nature, which could be up for interpretation. Both bills also face legal challenges.

House Bill 359 was co-sponsored by more than half of the Republican-controlled legislature and took effect immediately after it was signed.

Scenes from a drag show at the state capitol held in protest to a slate of bills aimed at how trans Montanans live on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Helena, Montana

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signs a suite of bills aimed at restricting access to abortion during a bill signing ceremony on the steps of the state Capitol in Helena, Mont., May 3, 2023

The bill initially sought to ban minors from attending drag performances, which were defined as shows that tended to 'excite lustful thoughts.'

The legislation was later amended to ban minors from attending sexually oriented or obscene performances on public property.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Braxton Mitchell, said he sponsored the bill 'because drag shows in recent years have been specifically aimed at children,' and spoke of online videos that show children at drag shows.

'In my humble opinion, there's no such thing as a family-friendly drag show,' Mitchell said in April.

He suggested that drag story hours and other family-oriented drag performances were part of a 'sick agenda' damaging to a child's 'psychology and general welfare'.

The law received intense public testimony at an earlier committee hearing in February.

Drag performers and allies urged lawmakers to desexualize their perception of drag.

It is not clear how often such events have been held at public schools or libraries in Montana.

Drag reading events were held in 2022 at ZooMontana in Billings and at a bookstore in downtown Helena.

Both events drew protests, but neither would be banned under the new law. Another event held at a Bozeman bookstore last weekend also drew protesters.

In Tennessee, bids to restrict drag performances in public spaces or in the presence of children were temporarily blocked in March by a federal judge who sided with a group that filed a lawsuit claiming the statute violates their First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker said the state failed to make a compelling argument as to why Tennessee needed the law, and agreed that it was likely vague and overly broad.

A drag show restaurant has also filed a challenge against Florida's ban, saying the law deprives the restaurant of its First Amendment rights to free expression.

The restaurant had held 'family friendly' drag shows on Sundays, but the law required them to ban children from the shows.

Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed bills this week to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors and restrict the discussion of personal pronouns in school.

In Montana, Gianforte has drawn the ire of human rights groups for a string of perceived 'anti-LGBTQ+ laws'.

The governor signed a bill this year to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors in Montana during a legislative session in which transgender lawmaker Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr was expelled from the House floor following a protest against Republican lawmakers who had silenced her over her opposition to the care bill.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) called on Gianforte to veto 'five aggressively anti-LGBTQ+ bill' earlier this month following the expulsion.

These included HB 359, criminalizing drag performances - in their words.

It also included bill SB 518 that would 'allow schools to misgender and forcibly out trans and non-binary students', and HB 676, which 'allows parents to withdraws students from public school if they disagree with the lesson plan that day'.

Scenes from a drag show at the state capitol held in protest to a slate of bills aimed at how trans Montanans live on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Helena, Montana

Critics have argued the law banning drag reading events limits free speech and seeks to block efforts to help young people know they are not alone.

'It's just constitutionally suspect on all levels,' Sasha Buchert said Tuesday.

Buchert is an attorney with Lambda Legal, a national organization that seeks to protect the civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community and those diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.
Contact Energy (Contact) and Microsoft signed a 10-year renewable attribute purchase agreement in September 2022 that is supporting the development of new renewable energy capacity in Aotearoa New Zealand, in line with Microsofts sustainability commitments.

The arrangement will see Contact provide Microsoft with all the renewable energy attributes generated by Contacts new 51.4MW Te Huka Unit 3 geothermal power station.

Ownership of renewable energy attributes is the global standard for electricity customers to show they are using a renewable source. This is important for encouraging renewable electricity, since electricity consumed on a shared grid cannot be traced back to a specific power station. This contract supported Contacts investment decision to begin construction of the new renewable electricity generation facility at Te Huka.

Contact CEO, Mike Fuge, sees long-term commitments to the purchase of renewable energy attributes as a way to bring a new generation of renewables online faster while directly connecting a companys environmental aspirations with physical solutions.

Further development at Te Huka has always been on the cards. By entering this arrangement with Microsoft, Te Huka Unit 3 got the backing it needed, providing further confidence to develop this project. Microsoft's commitment shows what companies with energy intensive facilities can achieve to support new renewable energy sources," Mr Fuge said.

This type of agreement is a first for Contact and New Zealand. It reflects our commitment to enter contracts for renewable energy certificates that are directly linked to the addition of new renewable power generation. This is all part of delivering on our Contact26 strategy to build a better Aotearoa New Zealand by leading the countrys decarbonisation.

Geothermal is unique in that it provides 24/7 non-weather dependent, reliable, and renewable base load generation to the grid. This deal demonstrates the actions of two leading organisations aligning to create better outcomes both here in Aotearoa and globally.

Speaking about the agreement, Vanessa Sorenson, Managing Director Microsoft New Zealand, said the organisation was proud of the agreement and the sustainability alignment it enabled.

Microsoft has big plans in New Zealand. With the construction of the data center region, this agreement aligns our New Zealand activities with Contact Energys presence and capabilities around geothermal in New Zealand and will further strengthen our transition to 100% renewable energy by 2025. It will also support Microsofts 100/100/0 commitment, she said.

About Contact

Contact Energy is one of New Zealands largest energy retailer and generators. We generated 87% of our electricity from renewable sources in the last financial year and have over 550,000 customers with energy and broadband connections. Our vision is to help build a better Aotearoa New Zealand by leading New Zealands decarbonisation.

CEN signs 10-year renewable energy agreement with Microsoft

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An Australian make-up artist who was molested by Rolf Harris at the beginning of her career has recalled the harrowing ordeal following his death.

Harris, 93, died in the UK from neck cancer on May 10, less than a decade after he was found guilty of abusing four girls and young women.

Suzi Dent was one of the women who was targeted by the disgraced Australian entertainer and has opened up about the terrifying abuse.

Ms Dent also shared a powerful message for the other victims targeted by Harris, saying she hoped his death would bring some sort of closure to them.

Suzi Dent was a young make-up artist working for Channel Seven when she met Rolf Harris in 1986

Ms Dent, then 23, was over the moon when she was offered a job to work with one of her childhood idols as a make-up artist at a Channel Seven studio in 1986.

But it turned out to be the job from hell when she was forced to hide in a cupboard after being molested by Harris multiple times on set.

Ms Dent was an anonymous character witness in Harris' trial in the UK a decade ago and helped put him behind bars after he was charged with 12 counts of indecent assault of girls and a young woman between 1968 and 1986.

Despite her horrific encounter, her first thought was for Harris' wife Alwen and daughter Bindi when news broke of his death on Tuesday night.

'My heart went out to them to be honest,' Ms Dent told Sunrise on Wednesday.

'We have to think about the people who are nearest and dearest to him, even though we know he's a disgraced paedophile. There are still family who love him.'

Ms Dent said her thoughts also went to Harris' other victims.

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris (pictured in the early days of his career) has died aged 93

'It brings closure to me and I hope that it brings closure to the other victims,' she said.

'But because he's dead doesn't mean that his other survivors have actually found closure themselves, so I'm hoping and praying that they will and his may be the beginning of their healing journey, if they haven't started already.

'Because forgiveness is the gift that we give ourselves.'

She still has vivid memories of the harrowing ordeal at the hands of Harris almost four decades on.

'I was assaulted by him multiple times on set in front of everybody, when he would just run his hands up my legs and up my shorts and he didn't stop touching me for the whole day,' Ms Dent said.

'At the end of the day, I knew full well that I wasn't going to go into the little make-up room back with him again to take his make-up off, which was really thick back then because it was video.'

Ms Dent hid in a big cupboard opposite the studio which allowed her to peer down the hallway.

Suzi Dent (pictured) feels for Rolf Harris' family and his victims following his death

'When he was leaving, he was standing outside my make-up room to come and have his make-up done and I just hid in the cupboard and then he was escorted outside,' she said.

'I stayed in the cupboard until because he was gone, having been molested by him all day, and I didn't have any back-up from any of the men in the crew is working with, that I needed to look after myself and protect myself.

'So I stayed in the cupboard for about 10 minutes and when I knew he was absolutely gone, I came out and went back into my room and packed up my kit and that's when I actually complained about what had been done.'

In 2019, Ms Dent waived her anonymity to publicly tell her harrowing story for the first time.

Suzi Dent was working for Channel Seven at the time when she worked as Rolf Harris' make-up artists for the day

Suzie Dent (pictured as a younger woman) first broke her silence about her traumatic experience with Rolf Harris in 2019

'Rolf Harris was the biggest star I'd ever been asked to work with, so I was very excited. I'd watched him on television when I was a little girl,' she told ABC's 7.30 at the time.

She froze as Harris repeatedly touched her.

'I didn't jump or move or anything like that, because it's my job as a make-up artist to not upset the talent,' she recalled.

'So if I had said something to him or, you know, slapped his hand away - which I might add is not what we did in 1986 - it was not acceptable behaviour for women to stand up for themselves like that, they had to cop it on the chin and grin and bear it and be polite.'

Ms Dent also wrote a book about her experience, titled Staring Down Rolf Harris, which she hopes will help others.

'It's a story about telling your truth and being honest and being brave. I want to encourage other Australian women to tell their story,' she said.
A developer has revealed Aussies are being rejected for a home loan because they are splashing out on cars - and shared some simple tips to help you get approved.

Andrew Campbell, a house and land specialist based for first home buyers, warned wannabe homeowners to think twice before spending up on a new car.

Mr Campbell said taking out a $15,000 car or personal loan can reduce an applicant's home loan borrowing capacity by an eye-watering $100,000.

He said a man in his 20s was left bitterly disappointed after he applied for a home loan soon after borrowing money to purchase a new Ford Ranger ute.

Mr Campbell said the man's borrowing capacity plummeted from $600k to $200k because he will be required to make high-interest, monthly repayments on his new Ford Ranger, a depreciating asset.

The specialist told Daily Mail Australia that in the eyes of the bank, the monthly repayments of $1,200 to $1,300 suggests the applicant doesn't have enough surplus cash to repay the home loan comfortably - as interest rates continue to rise.

'I spoke to a young bloke the other day earning $112,000 a year. Single guy, no other commitments,' Mr Campbell explained in a TikTok video earlier this week.

'And I'm thinking, no problem, this guy could borrow about $600,000 for his first home. 'And then he proceeded to tell me that he had just taken out a brand new car loan of $80,000 for a Ford Ranger.

Andrew Campbell, a house and land specialist based in Perth, warned wannabe homeowners to think twice before splashing any money on a new car

'So his borrowing capacity went from about $600,000 to about $200,000 or probably less.

'If you're thinking of buying a new car, look at getting into your own home first, because it's very easy to go and get a new car loan later, once you've established your home loan repayment and you're comfortable with them.

'Then you can work out what you can repay on a car loan.'

Mr Campbell said if first-time buyers bought a car before they secured a home loan, it could 'drastically' decrease their borrowing capacity.

He said banks would consider all debts before approving a home loan, which could, in turn reduce the number of homes available to the applicant.

'You can have some debts, but it's going to hinder your borrowing capacity,' he said.

Mr Campbell said people looking to enter the property market should ensure they don't have any unpaid bills and good credit.

'It's also good to remember, when buying your first home, it's not your forever home. Make sure it's something you can afford and don't go overboard by adding flashy add-ons like floor-to-ceiling tiling or high ceilings,' he said.

Mr Campbell (pictured with a client in April) said if first time buyers bought a car before they secured a home loan, it would 'drastically' decrease their borrowing capacity

A developer has urged first time buyers to secure a home loan before purchasing a new car (pictured is a Ford Ranger, one of Australia's top selling 4WDs)

DO'S AND DON'TS FOR APPLYING FOR A HOME LOAN: Do ensure you have good credit Do ensure you don't have any outstanding bills Do keep a secure, steady income Don't take out a car or personal loan Don't over-capitalise on a property Don't splash money on flashy additions to your new home Advertisement

He encouraged first time buyers to keep a 'clean plate' by not going into overdrafts on any of their bank accounts and keeping a stable income.

Mr Campbell said the majority of his clients were young Australians in their 20s and 30s who were keen to leave renting behind.

'They're paying a high rent, so they might as well pay a mortgage,' he said.

'It's a better financial decision to buy a house than a car.'

If you're interested in buying your first home, Mr Campbell recommends speaking with your local finance broker.
Council will lobby the government to change the date

A local council has voted not to recognise Australia Day due to the 'traumatic historical impact' on the region's traditional owners and First Nations people.

Geelong City Council voted to permanently cease January 26 celebrations after six months of community consultations.

Geelong councillors voted unanimously to make the controversial change which will include the rescheduling of citizenship ceremonies.

The council also stated their intent to lobby the government to consider changing the date of Australia Day.

Moving forward, citizenship ceremonies in Geelong Council will move to a different day, and the city will have a formalised 'First Nations peoples acknowledgement', and cultural events and activities will be held across the region each year on January 26.

Geelong Council has announced the controversial plan to scrap Australia Day celebrations moving forward and will lobby the Australian government to change the date

Councillors voted unanimously to make the controversial change which will include the rescheduling of citizenship ceremonies (pictured: Geelong Council chambers)

This will include a truth-telling ceremony at Johnstone Park - an event that details Australia's history of colonial conflict and dispossession and acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures.

The change followed a six-month community consultation period which garnered 957 responses, with about 68 per cent of respondents saying change was needed.

The city's engagement report noted 447 contributions from First Nations people reiterated their negative feelings and wish for change around the date.

'All First Nations respondents wanted a change to the way the day is commemorated.'

Moving forward citizenship ceremonies in Geelong Council will move to a different day and the city will have a formalised 'First Nations peoples acknowledgement' and cultural events and activities will be held across the region each year on January 26 (Australia Day fireworks)

However, the announcement on the council's Twitter account was met with outrage.

'Australia Day, Jan 26th keep your hands off you woke bunch of socialists,' one person wrote.

'I think you have all lost the plot. Keep your hands off Australia Day. I served under that flag and will always celebrate Australia Day on that date. How far do you want to go with this, where do you draw the line,' another said.

'Council's primary role is to fix roads, and collect rubbish. Who gave you the right to make such weird and un-Australian changes?' a third commented.

'Roads, rates and rubbish. That's your council agenda. Not getting into the political sphere. Ratepayers don't pay your rates and tell this woke council to get stuffed,' a fourth added.

The latest vote came after Merri-bek Council in Melbourne's north decided to recognise January 26 as a day of mourning.

Yarra and Darebin councils in 2017 voted to stop holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, while Melbourne City Council said it would urge the federal government to change the date.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vocalised support for Australia Day but he last year scrapped a controversial rule forcing councils to run citizenship ceremonies on January 26.

The former Liberal government introduced the change, meaning councils would be stripped of their right to host citizenship ceremonies if they didn't hold the event on January 26.
An Aussie fitness influencer has opened up on the 'worst flight ever' after vomiting for almost the entire five hour plane ride back from Bali.

Ashy Bines, her husband Steve and two children were waiting in the terminal to head back to Brisbane when she began to feel nauseous on Sunday.

Bines, who has five million followers across various social media platforms, detailed her horrifying ordeal on Instagram.

Trainer Ashy Bines and her family members were so sick on Brisbane-bound JQ58 on Sunday night that other passengers complained she should not have been allowed to board

She revealed she had vomited before the flight, collapsed before boarding and then was constantly sick throughout the plane ride with her son Taj also vomiting.

'The whole flight Taj and I were just spewing on and off  probably like every 20 minutes,' Ms Bines said.

'At one point I was spewing in my spew bag and holding Taj's spew bag and he was like, bawling his eyes out.'

'I was like, 'Oh my gosh, we're all going down.' It was horrific, it was so, so tough, it was the toughest flight I've ever had.'

Ms Bines said the ordeal began in the terminal while she was waiting to board her flight.

'I spewed a couple of times in the toilets at the airport and I think it must've been something we all ate at breakfast,' she said.

'But I spewed a couple of times and I was like, "No, it's not enough to knock me out, I'll be okay".'

'And then as I stepped onto the plane and I handed the tickets over, I literally fainted. I fully collapsed.'

In a separate post, Ms Bines blamed 'Bali belly' for ending her 'amazing holiday'.

Ms Bines was among several passengers who were unwell on the flight, according to fellow traveller and Queenslander James Foley.

Mr Foley told Yahoo he was unable to sleep or eat because of the 'disgusting' smell.

He said the flight 'was absolutely horrible' and 'the worst flight I have ever been present on.'

Ms Bines recounted enthusiastically in an Instagram video that she had been physically sick every 20 minutes on a flight between Bali and Brisbane

Ms Bines was among several passengers who were unwell on the flight, according to fellow traveller and Queenslander James Foley (stock image)

A Jetstar spokesman told Daily Mail Australia it was 'reaching out' to Ms Bines and Mr Foley to 'better understand what happened'.

'We're sorry to hear these customers were unwell and acknowledge it would have been an unpleasant experience for others sitting near them,' he said.

'Customers who are too sick to fly should contact us before travelling or speak to our crew so we can help with their booking and consider alternative travel arrangements.'

Daily Mail Australia approached Ms Bines for comment.
Britain has precious few weapons left to give Ukraine because our armed forces are under-funded, a defence expert has warned.

Strategic analyst Howard Wheeldon offered the concerning assessment as Rishi Sunak promised to stand by the country in the face of Russian aggression.

The UK has just sent Ukraine its most potent non-nuclear missile, the Storm Shadow, which can strike targets from a range of 150 miles.

But the quantity of Storm Shadows gifted to President Zelensky was not disclosed. Most of the UK's stocks must be held back in case of a conflict directly involving our forces.

He suggested the missiles transported to the warzone might already be past their use-by date.

The UK has just sent Ukraine its most potent non-nuclear missile, the Storm Shadow, which can strike targets from a range of 150 miles

Britain also cannot afford to offer fighter jets because its existing fleet is too small to defend these shores, Mr Wheeldon indicated.

He told the Mail: 'All credit to the UK government for its fast response and actions, but the sad fact is that after providing an unquantified number of probably time-expired Storm Shadow missiles, the UK has little else it can give.

'The notion that we might also have been able to provide fast jet capability left much to be desired, for the simple reason we haven't got enough to defend the UK and continue our international commitments.

'When it comes to equipment capability and overall available capacity, we are a nation that, when it comes to defence, is already drained of available resource.'

Addressing the London Defence Conference yesterday, Mr Sunak insisted Britain was committed to supporting Ukraine in the long-term.

He also warned Vladimir Putin that any suggestion the UK and other allies would 'get bored' of the conflict and 'move on', was wrong.

The Prime Minister said: 'We were the first country to provide [Ukraine] with main battle tanks and longer-range weapons, we've also helped with air defence and trained Ukrainian forces.

'We've led the charge on making sure they've had the resources and we are going to be steadfast in our support of Ukraine. Our support is not going to go away.

'Ukraine can count on its allies, particularly the UK, to continue supporting them. We are united.'

Mr Sunak added that Britain was 'leading the conversation' with its allies on what long-term agreements can be made with Ukraine to ensure the country's security.

The Prime Minister also reiterated his ambition to increase UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP  but did not set a date for doing so.

He also challenged the suggestion that the UK is declining as a global power.

Mr Sunak pointed to the AUKUS submarine partnership with Australia and the United States and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP)  a partnership with Japan and Italy to produce a next generation fighter jet.

He said: 'Britain is doing great stuff that's making an enormous difference in the world.'
Emails show what Brittany Higgins' fiance David Sharaz said to police and a victims advocate, ahead of warning detectives she could go public over her concerns about their investigation into Bruce Lehrmann.

The emails between Mr Sharaz, Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman and ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates were this week tabled at a Board of Inquiry, which is probing the criminal investigation into Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann was accused of raping Ms Higgins at Parliament House in March 2019. He has continually denied the allegations.

The messages emerged as Detective Superintendent Scott Moller revealed to the inquiry that he gave Ms Higgins a stern warning against speaking to the media and said she was 'extremely frustrating' to deal with before Ms Yates stepped in.

Ms Yates became Ms Higgins' support person and accompanied her to court every day during the rape trial in October. She also handled all correspondence between Ms Higgins and police for the remainder of the investigation and trial.

Detectives decided to charge Bruce Lehrmann with raping Brittany Higgins within an hour of her boyfriend David Sharaz (pictured above with Ms Higgins) sending emails

The first email that Sharaz sent - this time to ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates

The first email from Mr Sharaz, sent on July 29, 2021, had the subject line 'News Story'. It was sent five months after Ms Higgins first went public with her rape allegations.

The email began with details about how Ms Higgins had 'put her life on hold' during the investigation and warned that the investigation and political back-and-forth had an 'impact' on Ms Higgins.

'We have both remained silent, as per the direction of the police, and have asked them to keep us in the loop on any media commentary they plan to make,' Mr Sharaz wrote.

'l was hoping we could once again seek guidance on whether we can expect an outcome, as indicated, by the end of the month?

'We will continue to abide by the no public commentary direction in place.'

The following day, Mr Sharaz called Detective Boorman and asked when Mr Lehrmann would be charged.

He followed the phone call up with an email to Detective Boorman and Supt Scott Moller, which said: 'I trust you're both well. Thank you for your time on the phone this morning Marcus.'

'Just confirming the desire of Brittany to have this process resolved sooner rather than later, and her expectation for a direction to be given as to what the next step is.

'She expects that direction by the end of the day as indicated by you both when you flew up to Brisbane. As always, happy to discuss over the phone.'

Within an hour of Detective Boorman receiving the phone call from Mr Sharaz, Supt Moller was given instructions to charge Mr Lehrmann, the inquiry heard on Tuesday.

One of the emails David Sharaz sent to an investigator examining Ms Higgins' allegations

The emails were sent after News Corp published an article on July 29 about the moment former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews' claimed prosecutors were responsible for a delay in deciding whether or not to charge Mr Lehrmann.

Shane Drumgold, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, rejected the claim.

That same day, Mr Sharaz emailed Ms Yates about the news article: 'What's going on? We're reading this news about it. Is a decision going to be made as was forecast in the July 12 meeting?'

Ms Yates then forwarded the email to Inspector Boorman.

The inquiry heard that Mr Sharaz phoned Inspector Boorman and said Ms Higgins wanted to release a media statement about the amount of time police were taking to charge Mr Lehrmann.

Supt Moller's diary records also noted he had a briefing with Inspector Boorman about the case, which included a 'discussion re Higgins contemplating media release'.

Supt Moller agreed that at the time the decision was made by his boss, Commander Michael Chew, investigators were faced with 'the potential threat of Ms Higgins going public about the delay'.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Supt Moller was questioned by Ms Yates' barrister Peggy Dwyer who asked him about Ms Higgins' second police interview in May, 2021.

During that interview, Ms Higgins was shown CCTV of her and Mr Lehrmann entering Parliament House on the evening she alleged she was raped.

Supt Moller agreed that he said to Ms Higgins, during that interview: 'There should be no further contact with the media, stop talking to the media, if you're going to speak to the media and it can't go ahead, it will all have been for nothing.'

Brittany Higgins is pictured, left, outside ACT Supreme Court in October last year with Heidi Yates, right

'I was honest about the issues that were being generated by the media coverage,' he told the inquiry.

Dr Dwyer told the inquiry that Ms Higgins was in a room with five police offices when he warned her about media.

She added that Ms Higgins had watched footage of the night she was allegedly assaulted, had her truthfulness questioned by officers, and was 'visibly shaken and crying'.

Dr Dwyer said: 'There are now five officers in the room when you're giving her that advice and she might have thought you were scolding her.'

Supt Moller said: 'She could have, yes.'

He explained that he was referring to the potential prosecution of Mr Lehrmann when he made those comments, rather than Ms Higgins' ability to campaign against sexual assault.

'We were fixated on prosecution ... and moving this matter to a prosecution and doing everything we could,' he said.

'The media had the potential to undermine everything we were trying to do - to get a prosecution.'

The inquiry was shown notes from Supt Moller's diary in his diary stating that he warned Ms Higgins not to speak with media.

Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Scott Moller (pictured) revealed the 'exceptional' pressure police had been placed under to bring charges against Bruce Lehrmann

Earlier on Wednesday, Supt Moller said Ms Higgins was 'extremely frustrating' to work with before Ms Yates became her support person.

Dr Dwyer said to Supt Moller: 'A significant aspect was that Ms Higgins was not willing to provide a formal statement at that time [during the initial investigation]'.

'Your view was the strategy adopted by Ms Higgins ended the investigation.'

Supt Moller said: 'Ms Higgins had already done media interviews and it appeared to me that from what I was told, Ms Higgins wanted the matter reported and wanted it to be a live investigation - she wanted it to be a live investigation to give reliability to the story that was being aired.'

The inquiry heard Ms Higgins then sent an email to Ms Yates and said 'Can you help me?' because she wanted help communicating with police. Supt Moller agreed that Ms Higgins was within her rights to request Ms Yates' assistance.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Supt Moller said officers were under a 'significant amount of pressure' over the politically-charged case.

'There was a real desire to expedite this process and get Mr Lehrmann before the court,' he said.

Supt Moller later reiterated the 'exceptional amount of pressure on us to get this done'.

This pressure led to police skipping usual processes, even though Supt Moller said he did not think there was enough evidence to charge Mr Lehrmann.

'I swore the summons because I did not want to put any of my staff in the position where they had to do something they didn't want to do, didn't believe in, so I did it,' he said.

'I didn't think there was enough evidence and then I received the director's advice and certainly from his advice, I decided to go ahead.'

Supt Moller said the stress of the investigation impacted many police officers, some of whom had to take leave from work.

He also said police were wrong to provide Ms Higgins' sensitive counselling notes to prosecutors and defence lawyers.

'That's the bottom line, we shouldn't have handed them over and it's a mistake that we made,' he told the inquiry on Monday.

Mr Lehrmann faced a trial in the ACT Supreme Court in October, 2022 but juror misconduct meant a verdict was not reached.

The charge was later dropped due to concerns about the impact a second trial would have on the mental health of Ms Higgins.
A prominent Ohio farmer whose image was used in a social media meme touting the value of 'hard work' has died after he was injured in a vehicle crash in Illinois.

David Brandt, 76, was a nationally known proponent of no-till farming who traveled around the country talking about sustainable agriculture techniques and soil health, but he became well-known for comments he made in 2012 at a Natural Resources Conservation Service event held on his farm.

Brandt was hurt Thursday in a crash in Urbana, Illinois, and died from his injuries Sunday.

While discussing his occupation, Brandt said 'It ain't much but its honest work,' a statement that became a symbol of traditional values and work ethic after it was turned into a meme a few years later.

David Brandt, 76, a respected farmer from Ohio who became part of a popular meme passed away following a crash in Illinois on Thursday. Here is the meme in its basic form

Brandt gained widespread recognition after his remark, 'It ain't much but it's honest work,' which was transformed into a meme in 2012

Relatives have said Brandt enjoyed the meme, which showed him clad in overalls and standing in a field, even though he didn't know what a meme was until he learned he was one from a bank teller who showed him the image on her phone.

'(Brandt) got a lot of joy after seeing (the meme), and seeing how it exploded all over! He didn't object to it at all,' said Randall Reeder to the Columbus Dispatch.

'He was determined to educate farmers about the value of conservation agriculture, and how it would improve soil health,' Reeder said.

Brandt grew up on a farm, but when his father was killed in a tractor accident, the farm had to be sold to pay estate taxes.

A Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, Brandt and his wife, Kendra, began no-till farming in 1971 as a way to cut costs.

The meme featuring Brandt appears to have a wide appeal but many adaptions are related to hard work

Brandt didn't know what a meme was until he learned he was one from a bank teller who showed him the image on her phone.

Brandt, left, was well known in the farming community for his soil treatments

Relatives have said Brandt enjoyed the meme, which showed him clad in overalls and standing in a field, even though he didn't know what a meme was

The family farm in Illinois is pictured where Brandt became a proponent of no-till farming

He eventually became a notable proponent of no-till techniques, where crops are grown without disturbing the soil through tillage, which greatly reduces soil erosion and creates many environmental and climate benefits.

Brandt was the recipient of several awards for his conservation practices, including Ohio Agriculture's Man of the Year and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award.

Brandt grew corn, soybeans and wheat while also raising pigs and cows.

He touted cover crops and other sustainable farming practices, and ran a cover crop seed company and a seed-cleaning business on his 736-acre farm in Carroll, Ohio.
Rishi Sunak yesterday thanked Dominic Raab for being 'a dedicated and loyal public servant' after the former deputy prime minister announced he would stand down at the general election.

After 13 years in Parliament, father-of-two Mr Raab said he would not seek re-election because he had become 'increasingly concerned over the last few years about the pressure the job has placed on my young family'.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said that Mr Sunak 'thanks him for being a dedicated and loyal public servant, for his services to this government and to his constituents, and wishes him the best for the future'.

More than 30 Tory MPs have now announced that they will stand down at the next general election - including several senior figures such as former chancellor Sajid Javid and ex-environment secretary George Eustice.

Mr Raab has represented the marginal seat of Esher and Walton in Surrey since 2010. It is a key target for the Liberal Democrats at the next general election.

Rishi Sunak (pictured) yesterday thanked Dominic Raab for being 'a dedicated and loyal public servant'

After 13 years in Parliament, father-of-two Mr Raab (pictured) said he would not seek re-election

Yesterday the Lib Dems called on Mr Raab to quit immediately and trigger a by-election.

In May's local elections the party became the largest party on Elmbridge Borough Council, the area covered by the constituency.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey told LBC: 'He knew he was going to lose. We have been working really well there. We'll be working every day to earn the trust of people in Esher and Walton.'

Mr Raab has served as Brexit secretary, foreign secretary and justice secretary, as well as deputy prime minister, during his time in Parliament.

He quit Mr Sunak's Cabinet last month after an independent investigation by Adam Tolley KC found he had acted in an intimidating and aggressive way with officials in behaviour that could have amounted to bullying.

But Mr Raab said the inquiry was 'flawed' and warned it set a 'dangerous precedent'.

In a letter to Peter Szanto, chairman of Esher and Walton Conservative Association, dated May 19, Mr Raab said: 'I am writing to let you know of my decision to step down at the next General Election.

'It has been a huge honour to represent the Conservatives, since 2010, in this wonderful constituency.

'Thank you for your steadfast support and tireless efforts, alongside all the teamwork and hard graft put in by our superb officers, councillors and members.'
She locked Chase out but he got back in

A brave Centrelink worker stabbed during a brutal attack in Melbourne tried to lock the alleged knifeman out in a desperate attempt to save her colleagues from harm.

Joeanne Cassar, 55, remains in a stable condition after allegedly being stabbed in the back by Elijah Chase, 34, on Tuesday.

A source told Daily Mail Australia Ms Cassar had asked Chase to leave the welfare agency on Louis Street in Airport West in Melbourne's north-west that morning before he returned about 1.30pm.

Chase had previously been banned from the Centrelink office after another alleged attack on a female staff member.

'She was so concerned she locked the door after him to protect the staff, because that's the way Joeanne is, she always puts other people first,' the source said.

Joeanne Cassar, 55, had tried to lock her attacker out of the Centrelink building

Police swarmed on the Centrelink in Airport West, Melbourne on Tuesday

The source, who asked not to be identified, claimed Ms Cassar was allegedly stabbed immediately after Chase returned.

'When he came back in Jo turned around to ask for help and (he allegedly) attacked her.'

It can further be revealed Ms Cassar had been struggling with her own personal health issues having recently gone into remission for breast cancer.

Daily Mail Australia has been told staff at the Airport West Centrelink remain terrified.

'Everyone is just so scared and really don't know what to do about it,' a source within Centrelink told Daily Mail Australia.

The incident has reignited calls for Centrelink staff to be better protected.

Protective screens, similar to those used in banks, were removed years ago in an effort to make staff seem 'more approachable'.

Joeanne Cassar, 55, has been praised for her bravery in trying to lock her alleged attacker out

A former Centrelink worker, who asked not to be named, said staff were now protected by a 'panic button'.

'I saw someone get a computer ripped off their desk and thrown at their head once,' the ex-worker said.

'And the amount of angry people we'd have leaning over us and shouting in our faces because we wouldn't give them an emergency payment was ridiculous and dangerous. But they wanted us to look more friendly.'

The ex-worker claimed Centrelink staff were reluctant to even hit the panic buttons when threatened.

'No-one uses them because the abuse is so rife they'd be clicking the button everyday if they did it for every incident,' the ex-worker said.

'I worked next to a colleague one day who was so terrified of an abusive customer she couldn't even find the button she was shaking so badly.'

Dramatic photos captured the scene on Tuesday, with Victoria Police officers decked out in bulletproof vests swarming on the area.

A 34-year-old man from Essendon was arrested and is assisting police with their investigation into the horrific stabbing on Tuesday

Victorian police rushed to Centrelink Airport West after Ms Cassar was stabbed inside on Tuesday

Chase, from Essendon, has been charged with intentionally cause serious injury, recklessly cause serious injury, reckless conduct endangering life, common law assault, and use and possession of controlled weapon.

He is due to appear before a Melbourne court on Wednesday on multiple unrelated charges, including breaching a community corrections order.

Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen described the attack as a 'sad day' for the agency and staff.

'They should be free to do their job without concern for their personal safety.'

Mr Jongen said Services Australia, which oversees Centrelink, 'is supporting staff and customers' after the alleged attack.

'Our hearts are with the injured service officer and their loved ones. Thankfully, they are in a stable condition and receiving the best possible care.'

Services Australia did not respond to the latest claims.

The agency has arranged social worker support for staff and customers who witnessed the incident.

'Our immediate priority is to support all our staff who were impacted by today's incident, as well as our broader agency staff who serve Australians in every corner of the country,' Mr Jongen said.
Two of America's best-known billionaires are at loggerheads over a new Nantucket clam shack.

San Francisco Giants owner Charles Johnson, 90, is trying to block the Straight Wharf Fish Market from opening this summer over fears it will bring noise and congestion to the area where he lives.

Johnson, who is worth an estimated $5 billion, has a simple shack which sits next to the dining spot on the famed tycoons' enclave.

But another billionaire who also has a property nearby - investment guru Charles Schwab - has come out in support of the new food venture, to the delight of its owners.

Johnson filed suit on May 12 in Nantucket Superior Court seeking to invalidate licenses the Straight Wharf Fish Market had received from relevant authorities.

Johnson's attorney says his property would be just 18 inches from the clam shack. Though the cabin is modestly sized at just 1,200 square feet, it is valued at nearly $6.5million

Former mutual fund executive and current majority owner of the San Francisco Giants Charles Johnson and his wife Ann are firmly opposed to the opening of the new restaurant

Another billionaire who also has a property nearby - investment guru Charles Schwab - has come out in support of the new food venture

He and a group of his neighbors who have residences on the historic Old North Wharf have come out against the 62-seat eatery, arguing it will generate too much noise and congestion.

Local community boards, however, have backed the development.

Gabriel Frasca, one of the restauranteurs behind the project, said the lawsuit may delay their expected opening in July, and that the suit brought by the wealthy cohort of the resistance party had been financially draining.

'Opening any restaurant is a very challenging process,' Frasca told DailyMail.com on Wednesday. 'And then you have opposition... it certainly adds a wrinkle, to say the least.'

Frasca and his partner Kevin Burleson plan on reviving the space that used to be known as the Straight Wharf Fish Store and Stars Ice Cream, which shut down in 2021.

'The notion that this building continue to lay shallow, as it has for three years, is not really reasonable. And I think the notion that it remained a restaurant that was too sleepy to continue to pay the rent That doesn't make sense either,' Franca said.

Johnson has asked the court to overturn the state's April 11 approval of the restaurant's liquor license, which was granted by the Select Board in March.

Danielle deBenedictis, Johnson's attorney, called the decision to approve the liquor license improper due to its perceived ignorance of the 'traffic, noise, congestion, and parking problems,' that the restaurant may create.

Johnson's attorney says his property would be just 18 inches from the clam shack. Though the cabin is modestly sized at just 1,200 square feet, it is valued at nearly $6.5million.

One voice who has come out as pro-clam shack is billionaire businessman Charles Schwab, 85, whose support the owners said is a pleasant surprise.

DeBenedictis had initially told the Select Board that in addition to Johnson, she represented Schwab and a number of other high profile residents of the wharf.

However, last month, Schwab declared in a statement through his attorney that he did not oppose the opening of the restaurant and was never represented by deBenedictis - who is also the owner of a Nantucket restaurant and bar The Summer House, as reported by the Nantucket Current.

Billionaire Charles Schwab was initially opposed to the opening of the new restaurant, but is now in favor and supportive of the eatery's developers

Schwab paid $10million in 2021 for neighboring cottages in the Old North Wharf named Nautilus and Zenas Coffin. He is pictured with his wife Helen

An attorney for Schwab said his client had initially been concerned when notified about the project, but 'quickly adjusted' his position when presented with a fuller picture of the plans for the restaurant.

Schwab's attorney wrote in an April letter to the town and state alcoholic beverages commission that 'the Schwabs and many neighbors at Old North Wharf were originally concerned when told that the Straight Wharf Fish Market would be a nightclub with a bar, dancing, and live music.

'However, when a review of the permits showed this was not the case, the Schwabs decided to not oppose' the restaurant.

'We all look forward to enjoying a fresh clam roll and cold soft-serve twist cone on the harbor,' the lawyer, Steve Cohen, wrote.

Schwab paid $10million in 2021 for neighboring cottages in the Old North Wharf named Nautilus and Zenas Coffin. The cottages have several boat slips between them, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Frasca said that the Schwabs contacted him because they were upset they had been portrayed as being against the restaurant.

The owners have years of experience opening and operating restaurants on the New England island. Plans for this restaurant include a 14-seat dock and menu that will offer classics like lobster and clam rolls, as well as more modern fare.

Frasca told DailyMail.com that while he and his partner currently have all the licenses they need to open in July, they expect legal objections to emerge.

'As of this moment we can open in July. there's nothing that would stop us right now,' he said. 'That being said, we're waiting for the decisions and proceedings on both fronts. So, at any moment the answer can change.'

Gabriel Frasca, one of the restauranteurs behind the project, said the lawsuit may delay their expected opening in July

Frasca and his partner Kevin Burleson plan on reviving the space that used to be known as the Straight Wharf Fish Store and Stars Ice Cream, which shut down in 2021

A model of the plan for the 62-seat eatery is pictured above

The Old North Wharf is home to a number of very expensive waterfront properties, several of which are owned by billionaires

And Franca, who said the process has been an emotional and economic burden, expressed concern about whether the people behind the restaurant will be able to withstand more legal opposition.

'I've never been involved with a project before that wasn't sort of eagerly anticipated or welcomed,' he explained.

'We aren't well-heeled enough that if we're told we have to stop until we do something, that we can just withstand that blow. We're already putting a ton of money into this, and to go in deeper, probably would not make sense.'

Sarah Alger, an attorney representing the Old North Wharf Cooperative said she believes members of the group are generally in agreement with Johnson's sentiments.

'I know theres been kind of an effort to make this into kind of a David and Goliath story. I dont really see that as being all that accurate,' she told the Boston Globe. 'You know, this whole folksy clam shack thing. It isnt a clam shack. Its a restaurant.'
South Africa: Health Ministry congratulates Cuba for 60 years of medical support

The Health Ministry has congratulated Cubans on their 60th anniversary of international medical support and cooperation to save lives through dedicated medical brigades around the world.

South Africa is amongst over 100 nations that benefitted from social solidarity, excellent internationalism and medical cooperation with Cuba through medical doctors and specialists, which immensely contributed to the countrys health system strengthening and pandemic response.

According to the statement released on Wednesday, South Africa benefitted from this impactful support since 1997 through both medical specialists who have been seconded to the country and the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Medical Training Programme.

The programme produced over 3 000 medical doctors who graduated from various Cuban universities and were largely employed in underserved communities.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, described South Africa as one of the lucky nations to benefit from this global health cooperation, which complements the countrys medical schools to produce the much-needed medical specialists in a quest for government to address the shortage of doctors, especially in the historically underserved areas.

South Africa would not have benefitted from this fruitful cooperation if it were not for the efforts by the globally admired revolutionary freedom fighters of the two countries, Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, who believed that health is the biggest wealth anybody can have.

Having an educated and trained workforce is not sufficient, but physical and mental well-being is necessary for productivity, said Dhlomo.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-05-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
May 22nd marked the first International Day for Biological Diversity after the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. During a provincial press conference on biodiversity conservation in Anhui, it was announced that the population of the 'living fossil' Chinese alligator (also known as the Yangtze alligator) in the wild had exceeded 1,000. In 2022, a historical record was set with 26 nests containing 602 Chinese alligator eggs monitored in the wild, resulting in the hatching of 372 young alligators. Historic High: 372 Young Chinese Alligators Hatched in the Wild In recent years, Anhui has conducted a series of large-scale activities for reintroducing Chinese alligators into the wild, which has had a significant social impact. To comprehensively monitor the dynamic changes in the population of Chinese alligators in the wild, a field population survey for the year 2023 was officially launched on May 8th, jointly conducted by the administration of Anhui Chinese Alligator National Nature Reserve and the College of Life Sciences of Anhui Normal University. "May and June are the mating season for Chinese alligators, making it easier to spot them during this period," said Professor Yan Peng from the College of Life Sciences at Anhui Normal University. He mentioned that ten population resource surveys on Chinese alligators have been conducted since the 1980s. "This survey follows the comprehensive wild population resource surveys carried out in 2021 and 2022." "In 2022, 26 nests containing 602 Chinese alligator eggs were monitored in the wild, resulting in the hatching of 372 young alligators, setting a new historical record. This demonstrates the positive development trend of the wild population," said Zhang Lingfeng, Deputy Director of the Anhui Provincial Forestry Bureau. He pointed out that to improve the living environment for wild Chinese alligators, Anhui had restored 263 hectares of their core habitat. According to Zhang Lingfeng, the stable population of wild Chinese alligators has now exceeded 1,000 individuals. Alongside efforts to protect and recover the wild Chinese alligator population, Anhui continues to strengthen research on artificial breeding techniques and the construction of breeding facilities. The Chinese Alligator Breeding Center in the province currently has 73 feeding pools and 12 breeding ponds, with an annual breeding capacity of around 1,000 individuals. Zhang also mentioned that in 2021, Anhui invested over 16 million yuan in exploring on-site overwintering and feeding methods for Chinese alligators, and built approximately 2.39 hectares of basic infrastructure capable of accommodating over 2,000 adult alligators. Based on a comprehensive summary of artificial breeding techniques for Chinese alligators, the province also released the "General Technical Standards for Chinese Alligator Feeding and Breeding". This document is the first local standard on this issue in China, addressing a gap in Chinese alligator breeding technology. Building a Spatial Protection System and Expanding Wetland Conservation Network In March 2022, Anhui took the lead nationwide in issuing the "Implementation Opinions on Further Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation," which has achieved positive results in promoting biodiversity conservation in the province. Currently, Anhui's registration list for forest germplasm resources includes over 1,300 species, and the collection of germplasm resources for crops has reached 5,481 samples. The population of the Yangtze finless porpoise, an ecological indicator of the Yangtze River, has shown a significant increase in the river's Anhui section. The presence of numerous bird species, including the Oriental white stork and the black-faced spoonbill, has transitioned from "initial sightings" to "frequent sightings" in Anhui, which serves as a strong endorsement of the province's environmental protection efforts. Regarding spatial ecological protection system building, Anhui has two national priority areas for biodiversity conservation: the Dabie Mountains and the Huangshan-Huaiyushan region. The province is home to 109 nature reserves, providing refuge for endangered wildlife such as the Chinese giant salamander and the Katsura tree as well as the typical forest ecosystem in subtropical and temperate transition zones. The Qingliang Peak National Nature Reserve, renowned as the "species gene bank in the East China region," is one of the most concentrated areas for plant species distribution in Anhui Province. Wetlands are often referred to as the "kidneys of the Earth" as they possess multiple ecological functions and harbor abundant natural resources. According to Anhui Provincial Forestry Bureau, Anhui's wetland conservation network enlarged in 2022 after the province established three provincial-level wetland nature parks in Wuhu City, Anqing City, and Guoyang County, and jointly released its second Wetlands of Provincial Importance list containing 7 wetlands across the province. Furthermore, the province plans to enact The Implementation Measures for the Wetlands Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China of Anhui Province and publish a Wetland Conservation Plan of Anhui (2022-2030).
Employment solutions fintech PaySauce (NXZ:PYS) has bucked the trend of SaaS companies to rely on continued capital injections for growth with success demonstrated by them smashing through the rule of 40. Full analysis is shown in the FY2023 Annual Report released today.

PaySauce CEO Asantha Wijeyeratne said hes proud of the continued improvement in the business. Continued strong revenue growth combined with the careful and deliberate management of resources has resulted in a strong year for PaySauce ensuring sustainable growth in an increasingly turbulent tech sector and economy,

The rule of 40 takes into account both revenue and profitability. Its become somewhat of a benchmark to investors and SaaS companies alike, so to deliver a score of 67 on that metric is very humbling. It's the result of our unrelenting focus on reinvesting for long-term growth in the business while managing costs and Im incredibly proud of this financial result.

In a climate where investor sentiment has changed, our priority to grow sustainably, rather than grow at all costs has proven to be a winning strategy.

HIGHLIGHTS

- Improved profitability by $800k to a loss of $80k

- Increased revenue 66% YoY, while expense growth curbed at 33% YoY

- Recurring revenue growth of 68% YoY to $5.7M

- Rule of 40 score of 67

- Total customer LTV of $53.7M

- LTV:CAC ratio of 16:1

- $2.8M of earned wages accessed through the BNZ PayNow feature

Wijeyeratne reflects on the year, and whats to come:

Weve outperformed on the high standard we set for ourselves. Were self-sufficient from a cash perspective and we remain committed to reinvesting for growth going forward. That reinvestment has already started for the FY24 year with some exceptional talent added to the PayForce.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Recurring revenue grew 68% YoY to $5.7m for the year ended 31 March 2023 as a result of:

- Increased customer numbers;

- Additional revenue from existing customers; and

- Increased interest earned on funds held on behalf of customers.

Additional charts and tables are included in the attached PDF.

OUTLOOK

Wijeyeratne on the year to come:

The focus for this coming year is twofold. Domestically, well build on selling our product to micro-businesses in adjacent markets. At the same time, were focusing on adapting our core product to suit the Australian micro-businesses. This is already well underway and were excited about refining that to suit their specific needs. Were enjoying learning more about that market.

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 - NZX Template for Results Announcement to the Market

Appendix 2 - FY23 Annual Report

Appendix 3 - Investor Presentation

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial information does not have a standardised meaning prescribed by GAAP and therefore may not be comparable to similar financial information presented by other entities. Non-GAAP information has not been audited, and is not prepared in accordance with NZ IFRS.

The measures reported by PaySauce are used by management to monitor the performance of the company and are useful to investors to assess performance.

Non-GAAP measures are defined and explained in the Annual Report.

ENDS

PaySauce is a SaaS fintech platform providing solutions for people at work in 14 jurisdictions across the Asia-Pacific region. We give employers the technology to digitally onboard, pay and manage employees from any device. Our platform includes rosters, mobile timesheets, payroll calculations, banking integration, automated payments, PAYE ling, labour costing, automated general ledger entries and digital employment contracts.

www.paysauce.com

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France has formally banned domestic flights on short routes that can be covered by train in less than two-and-a-half hours.

The move is aimed at reducing airline emissions but has also irked the industry as it will mostly rule out air trips between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, with connecting flights unaffected.

Critics have noted that the cut-off point for comparable train journeys is shy of the roughly three hours it takes to travel from Paris to Mediterranean port city Marseille by high-speed rail.

The change was included in a 2021 climate law and already applied in practice, but some airlines had asked the European Commission to investigate whether it was legal.

The law does specify that train services on the same route must be frequent, timely and well-connected enough to meet the needs of passengers who would otherwise travel by air - and able to absorb the increase in passenger numbers.

Trips between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux will be banned. Travel from Paris to Mediterranean port city Marseille will still be allowed

France has formally banned domestic flights on short routes that can be covered by train in less than two-and-a-half hours

People making such trips should be able to make outbound and return train journeys on the same day, having spent eight hours at their destination.

The government had already secured Air France's compliance with the plan in exchange for a 2020 coronavirus financial support package.

Competitors were banned from simply filling the gap.

Laurent Donceel, interim head of industry group Airlines for Europe, told AFP governments should support 'real and significant solutions' to airline emissions, rather than 'symbolic bans'.

Brussels had found that 'banning these trips will only have minimal effects' on CO2 output, he added.

Airlines for Europe highlighted its own net zero by 2050 strategy, which includes switching to jet fuel from non-fossil sources and deploying battery- or hydrogen-powered aircraft.

French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 19, 2023

The step comes as French politicians have also been debating how to reduce emissions from private jets.

While Green MPs have called for banning small private flights altogether, Transport Minister Clement Beaune last month trailed a higher climate charge for users from next year.
The crisis engulfing the SNP has deepened as a new poll shows it is on course to lose 21 seats at the next general election.

Several high-profile MPs could be voted out as recent troubles within the party damage its electoral hopes.

Among them are SNP deputy leader at Westminster Mhairi Black, former leadership contender Alison Thewliss and long-serving MP Angus MacNeil.

YouGov  which conducted the poll after Humza Yousaf became SNP leader and police searched the home of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as part of a probe into party finances  said its findings suggest recent events have 'taken a serious toll'.

Its forecasts for every constituency are based on a survey of 3,500 voters across Scotland.

The crisis engulfing the SNP has deepened as a new poll shows it is on course to lose 21 seats at the next general election

YouGov  which conducted the poll after Humza Yousaf (pictured) became SNP leader and police searched the home of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as part of a probe into party finances  said its findings suggest recent events have 'taken a serious toll'

YouGov predicts that the SNP would lose 23 seats to Labour, but could snatch back two from the Tories, including the Moray constituency of Scottish leader Douglas Ross. Labour, meanwhile, would take the constituency of Margaret Ferrier, the nationalist MP who is facing a 30-day suspension from the Commons for breaking Covid rules, which could trigger a by-election.

Patrick Grady, who was found by a Commons standards probe to have sexually harassed a staff member, is also at risk of losing his seat.

Patrick English, associate director of political and social research at YouGov, said: 'The results show the SNP have some serious cause for concern, but will provide strong encouragement to Labour as they look ahead to the next general election.

'Making significant gains in Scotland could be crucial to [Labour leader] Keir Starmer's chances of heading into No 10 with a parliamentary majority next year, and these figures suggest his party is now making strong progress north of the Border.

'That, plus the prospect of losing their own Scottish leader's seat, will no doubt worry the Conservatives.'

The YouGov research, carried out between April 10 and May 21, suggests the SNP would fall from 48 seats to 27, with most of the losses to Labour in the Central Belt.

Labour would soar from one seat in Scotland to 24, while the Tories would fall from six seats to four and the Liberal Democrats would retain their four seats.

YouGov said its findings suggest that recent bad news stories for the SNP, 'including accusations of party mismanagement and potential criminal cases being brought against senior officials, have taken a serious toll'.

A Tory spokesman said: 'It's clear voters are increasingly turned off by the scandal and civil war engulfing the SNP and their obsession with independence over the real priorities of the Scottish people.'

Labour's shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said: 'Scotland is ready for change and it falls to Scottish Labour to deliver it.

'The people of Scotland are sick and tired of Tory and SNP sleaze and failure. Scotland needs a fresh start with a majority Labour government.

'Under Anas Sarwar's leadership Scottish Labour will continue to earn back the public's trust so we can deliver the change Scotland needs.'

In Ms Ferrier's Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency, the YouGov poll puts Labour on 42 per cent and the SNP on 36 per cent.

A recall petition is likely to be triggered once MPs vote on her suspension, with a by-election likely to take place as early as August.

YouGov also predicts that Labour would win six of the seven Glasgow seats back from the SNP.

The research, which does not take into account boundary changes likely to come into force at the next election, indicates that as well as Moray, the Tories could lose West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.

However, the Conservatives are the nearest challenger to the SNP in several seats outside the Central Belt, including Angus, Argyll and Bute, Gordon, Ochil and South Perthshire, and Perth and North Perthshire.

Scottish Tory insiders insist they expect to make at least a couple of gains on their current six seats, and that double figures is 'not out of the realms of possibility'.

The Lib Dems are also confident of gaining further ground in key targets.

A party spokesman said: 'In seats like East Dunbartonshire and Ross, Skye and Lochaber, we're nipping at the heels of the failed SNP and offering a brighter alternative for communities.'

Nationalist MP David Linden said: 'Voting SNP is the only way to get rid of unelected Conservative governments in Scotland for good.

'The SNP is the only party in Scotland offering a real alternative to the Conservatives and pro-Brexit Labour Party, handing voters the opportunity to escape the mess of Brexit and rejoin the EU with the full powers of independence.'
The Kremlin has claimed that Russia had routed and killed 'Ukrainian nationalists' after two days of combat - despite the partisan force posting a video of themselves moving unopposed through the countryside.

The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants - who attacked a Russian border region with armoured vehicles the previous day - and killed 70 of them, with the rest pushed back into Ukraine. There was no independent confirmation of the deaths.

In what appeared to be one of the biggest incursions from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago, two purported anti-Kremlin armed groups employing Russians based abroad said they were responsible for the attack in Russia's Belgorod region.

The Russian defence ministry, which blamed the Ukrainian authorities, said its forces had surrounded the enemy fighters and defeated them with 'air strikes, artillery fire and active action by border units'.

A ministry statement said more than 70 'Ukrainian nationalists' had been killed and four armoured vehicles and five pick-up trucks destroyed.

The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants - who attacked a Russian border region with armoured vehicles the previous day - and killed more than 70 of them (picture shared by Russian state media of the fighters who entered Belgorod region)

Troops of both the fighting groups said they had spent the night in the now 'liberated' territories and planned to liberate more areas

'The remnants of the nationalists were pushed back to Ukrainian territory, where they continued to be hit by gunfire until they were completely eliminated,' the ministry added.

The Belgorod regional governor said one civilian had been killed 'at the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces'.

There was no immediate independent confirmation that the fighting had ended, but the governor of Russia's Belgorod region said the anti-terrorism measures he introduced after Monday's attack had been lifted.

One of the two fighting groups - the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) - said on social media: 'One day we'll come to stay.'

In a later statement, the group denied its forces had been routed. 'The Russian Volunteer Corps has incurred no losses,' it said.

In a statement on Telegram, Governor Gladkov (pictured) said the Russian army and security forces were taking measures to repel the incursion as he started a 'counter terrorism operation'

A second group, the Freedom of Russia Legion, said it had 'demilitarised' a Russian motorised rifle company and destroyed armoured vehicles. It said Russian statements about thwarting the incursion described 'imaginary losses'.

'...Putin's forces have not distinguished themselves with any successes in the past day,' it said in a social media post.

'...While they cowardly hide in the bushes, we will move forward to our goal -- the complete liberation of Russia!'

Troops of both the fighting groups said they had spent the night in the now 'liberated' territories and planned to liberate more areas.

The two-day fighting forced Russia to evacuate towns along the border with northeast Ukraine. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack, which Kyiv has denied. The two groups that claimed responsibility describe themselves as Russian armed dissidents.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said Kyiv's denial was 'lies' and that the attackers deserved to be exterminated 'like rats'.

Tuesday morning Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the army and other security forces were still mopping up, and had urged residents who had been evacuated not to return yet despite lifting the 'counter terrorism operation'.

He said an elderly woman had died while being evacuated and three people were being treated for injuries. Later he added, without providing detail, that a civilian had been killed.

The Russian defence ministry, which blamed the Ukrainian authorities, said its forces had surrounded the enemy fighters and defeated them with 'air strikes, artillery fire and active action by border units'

A ministry statement said more than 70 'Ukrainian nationalists' had been killed and four armoured vehicles and five pick-up trucks destroyed (picture shared by Russian state media of the fighters who entered Belgorod region)

In a video released online (pictured), fighters from the Russian Volunteer Corps said they were in Russia in the early hours of Monday morning

'The remnants of the nationalists were pushed back to Ukrainian territory, where they continued to be hit by gunfire until they were completely eliminated,' the ministry added. The Belgorod regional governor said one civilian had been killed 'at the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces'

The Freedom of Russia Legion is a Ukraine-based Russian militia led by Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomaryov that says it is working inside Russia to overthrow President Vladimir Putin.

Ponomaryov is wanted in Russia, where the authorities have accused him of spreading false information about the army and designated him a terrorist.

The RVC was founded in August by Ukraine-based Russian nationalist Denis Kapustin, and announced on May 17 that it was joining forces with the Legion.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was conducting its 'special military operation' in Ukraine in part to ensure that such incidents could not be repeated.

'This once again confirms that Ukrainian militants are continuing their activities against our country. This requires a great deal of effort from us, and these efforts are continuing.'

Asked about reports that the attackers were ethnic Russians rather than ethnic Ukrainians, Peskov said: 'They are Ukrainian fighters from Ukraine. There are many ethnic Russians living in Ukraine. But they are still Ukrainian militants.'
A proposed $1.6-billion renewable energy wind farm has been given the nod of approval but only if it shuts down for five months of every year.

The extraordinary condition has been imposed by Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority to protect orange-bellied parrots on Robbins Island, which sits in the Bass Strait off the state's north-west coast.

Fast-spinning wind turbines are a major risk to bird life and the five-month hiatus would cover the migration period of the critically endangered parrot, whose cause has been championed by Greens party founder Bob Brown.

Under the approval the 122 wind turbines would have to shut down from 1 March to 31 May and also from 15 September to 15 November each year to protect the parrot and other bird species from being chopped up.

However, the compromise, which saw the project also approved by the local Circular Head Council in March, has not made the project owner or the local community and environmentalists happy.

A massive new wind farm in Tasmania will only be allowed to operate for seven months of the year to save orange-bellied parrots from being chopped up by the fast-spinning turbines (pictured, wind farm in Tasmania's Granville Harbour)

Those groups lodged three separate appeals against the agency's decision in early March.

Chief operations officer for the farm's owner ACEN, David Pollington, said the proposed 122 wind turbines could operate for just seven months of the year but that would make the 900MW of power they produce too expensive.

'We came to the conclusion that the five-month shutdown  just simply meant the project could not proceed,' he told the Renew Economy website.

'I've been in the industry more than 30 years now and I've never seen anything like that.

'It certainly had not been communicated [or] discussed with us in any shape or form during the six years of work that we did with the various government departments.'

Mr Pollington also questioned whether the restrictions on when the wind farm operates would even spare the orange-bellied parrots.

'It's not known whether they actually go across the island,' he said.

'There are no records of it  the last time a bird was seen to the west of the island was in 2003.'

The fight to save the parrot has been led by Bob Brown, who lives in southern Tasmania, through the Bob Brown Foundation.

'This approval is half baked,' a Foundation spokesperson said.

The orange-bellied parrot is an endangered species that environmentalists claim is being put at risk by a wind farm on Tasmania's Robbins Island

'They have approved the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere, in Australia's most significant migratory bird flyways, without knowing how many turbines, the size of the turbines, the colour, the lighting or even where they will be sited.

'What exactly have they approved?'

The Tasmanian Greens also oppose the project at its proposed site.

Greens MP Dr Rosalie Woodruff said Robbins Island is 'simply the wrong place' for a wind farm, arguing it will have 'significant impacts on the many other species that inhabit this internationally-significant island ecosystem'.

'Robbins Island is also an incredibly significant area for the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, with dozens of cultural heritage sites already identified in preliminary field surveys,' she said.

The Bob Brown Foundation claimed at least 30 other bird species, many of them endangered, are also threatened by the wind turbines.

'This is a bad project made worse by a system that has rushed an approval out the door without even basic information needed to assess its impacts,' the spokesperson said.

These concerns are also echoed by local conservation groups such as the Circular Head Coastal Awareness Network and BirdLife Tasmania.

The network is also protesting the 'deplorable' visual impact of the turbines on the natural environment.

'The wind turbines fail to minimise the visual impact on the broader landscape,' Circular Head councillor Steve Pilkington, who is a member of the network, said.

'The turbines that have been approved are up to 270 metres high.

'It is the wrong location for a large-scale industrial wind farm such as has been approved by council and we have high community support to challenge this appalling approval.'

The council voted to approve the project by five votes to one, although three councillors recused themselves because of conflict of interests.

Circular Head Councillor Tony Hine described the Robbins Island wind farm as a 'critical thing for Tasmania'.

'Somewhere along the line, we have got to try and generate the electricity that allows you to cook your toast in the morning, and all those sorts of things,' he said.

'We've got to keep moving forward. This project is shovel-ready.'

The Environment Protection Authority said 383 representations were received about the project.

These covered potential impacts to threatened birds and animals, the threat to native vegetation and noise emissions.

Greens party founder Bob Brown has been an outspoken opponent of the Robbins Island wind farm

However, the Authority concluded the broader benefits of the wind farm 'outweigh the low level of mitigated risk' to the parrot.

'Benefits include making a significant contribution to the economy of Tasmania, as well as making a major contribution to the renewable energy available to both Tasmania and mainland Australia, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels,' the EPA report says.

ACEN, which is owned by Philippines-based Ayala Group and is pursuing the wind farm in partnership with Hong Kong-headquartered clean energy group UPC Renewables, welcomed the decision.

Mr Pollington called it 'an exciting next step in the project's journey that will help lower electricity prices for all Tasmanians'.

Under the approved proposal 122 wind turbines will be scattered over the western two-thirds of the island with accompanying battery storage.

The new wind farm would sit beside Jim's Plain Renewable Energy Park, also owned by ACEN, which will include up to 31 wind turbines and solar PV up to 240MW.

Three substations would also have to built on Robbins Island along with underground electrical infrastructure, a bridge to the mainland as well as a wharf for delivery of project components.

A new transmission line from Robbins Island Road to Sheffield will also be needed to send the generated electricity but this is a separate project subject to its own environmental impact assessments.
A teenager was rushed to hospital after a shooting took place in broad daylight outside a London Underground station yesterday afternoon.

The boy was found near Burnt Oak station in north-west London with suspected gunshot injuries.

He was taken to a central London hospital for treatment but at this stage it is not yet known what his condition is.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that a person has been arrested on suspicion of GBH and a crime scene is in place.

Forensic officers were pictured investigating the crime scene yesterday afternoon.

A teenager was rushed to hospital after a shooting took place in broad daylight outside a London Underground station yesterday afternoon. Pictured: Forensic police at the scene

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that a person has been arrested on suspicion of GBH and a crime scene (pictured) is in place

Met Police officers were called to reports of a shooting outside the station at around 3pm.

The station was closed following the incident, as were roads between Watling Avenue and the junction with Orange Hill.

Furious residents claimed on social media that people had been recording the injured victim on the floor, but this is yet to be confirmed.

One user said: 'I have been told people were filming it after. So wrong. Would they have wanted it filmed if it was their relative!!'

Another replied: 'There were ppl recording him lying on the floor how can ppl do that [sic].'

And a third added: 'Unfortunately there was ppl [sic] videoing him it's shocking.'

A Met Police spokesperson told MyLondon: 'Officers were called at 15:21hrs on Tuesday, 23 May to Watling Avenue at the junction with Orange Hill, Burnt Oak.

'Members of the public reported a shooting at the location. Officers and London Ambulance Service attended the scene.

'A male, who is believed to be in his mid-teens, was found at the location with suspected gunshot injuries.

'He has been taken to a central London hospital where his condition is being assessed.

Met Police officers were called to reports of a shooting outside the station at around 3pm. Pictured: Officers investigate the scene

The victim of the shooting was taken to a central London hospital for treatment. Pictured: Debris at the scene of the incident including a scooter lying on the floor

'A crime scene is in place. One person has been arrested on suspicion of GBH.

'Local road closures are in place while officers deal.'

According to TFL's website, Burnt Oak is still closed 'due to a police investigation outside the station'.

Burnt Oak is on the Northern Line on the branch which travels from Euston to Edgware.

MailOnline has contacted the Met for comment.
A terrifying new 'zombie' drug that has ravaged cities across the United States has been found in the UK and taken the life of a British factory worker.

Karl Warburton, 43, died last May from the effects of xylazine combined with other drugs including heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, The Times reported.

The coroner determined the West Midlands man died because of acute aspiration pneumonitis, a condition often caused by inhaling toxins. But xylazine was listed on Mr Warburton's death certificate as contributing to his death.

This marks the first time the drug, often known as 'tranq dope', has been found outside North America. It is often cut with fentanyl and other drugs and reduces the number of times an addict needs to get a shot.

Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilliser approved in the US for animals, has flooded the illicit US drug market. It leaves users in a zombie-like state and rots their skin from the inside, causing gaping sores.

Karl Warburton, 43, (pictured) died last May from the effects of xylazine combined with other drugs including heroin, fentanyl and cocaine

Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilliser approved in the US for animals, has flooded the illicit US drug market. It leaves users in a zombie-like state and rots their skin from the inside, causing gaping sores

Mr Warburton was found dead at his home in Smith's Wood, Birmingham last May surrounded by drug paraphanelia.

The father-of-two, who is understood to have suffered an unfortunate childhood, had battled drug abuse for most of his life and struggled to engage with addiction services.

An inquest into his death last August heard that the coroner recorded a verdict of drug-related death.

His official cause of death was acute aspiration pneumonitis, but xylazine was a reported contributing factor.

The drug's arrival in Britain was first discovered by toxicologists at the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (NPSAD). The Birmingham toxicology lab has noticed a 'strange peak' on test results that was later identified as xylazine.

NPSAD director Caroline Copeland told the newspaper that xylazine is not tested in standard drug screens and warned 'there could be many more going undetected'.

'How big is the UK's xylazine problem?,' she questioned. 'This could be the tiniest tip of a growing iceberg.'

Xylazine is an animal tranquilliser developed in the 1960s to help veterinarians working to treat cows, horses and sheep among other animals.

The drug works by stimulating animals' muscles to relax, and also as an analgesic  relieving pain. It does this by prompting less norepinephrine and dopamine to be released into the central nervous system.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved xylazine for use in animals. There have been few studies on its effect on humans.

In the drug supply, xylazine is often cut with fentanyl and other drugs and reduces the number of times an addict needs to get a shot. Pictured: The drug seized by officers in California

Pictured: A massive skin lesion caused by xylazine. Users often exacerbate the problem by injecting the painkiller into their festering wounds. This image was published in a journal in 2021 and shows the lesion stretching from the hand up the forearm

In the drug supply, it is often cut with fentanyl and other drugs and reduces the number of times an addict needs to get a shot.

The drug is not an opioid but is often mixed with opioids  such as fentanyl  when it is used to augment it. Because of this, people who take it are more difficult to treat with overdose-reversing drugs.

America's Drug Enforcement Administration says xylazine takes a few minutes to kick in with effects lasting for up to four hours in animals. It is not clear how long these would last in humans.

In many cases, it leaves users 'knocked out' on street corners and at bus stops for hours. When these people come to, they discover the high from heroin has subsided and start looking for their next hit.

Menacingly, the drug is also causing open wounds to appear on the body  often away from the injection site.

Nurses have described the wounds as appearing as though something is 'eating away your flesh from the inside out'.

Medics are still unsure what triggers the lesions in those taking the drug. One theory gaining ground is that the drug triggers a high level of inflammation in the body, which makes it harder for wounds to heal.

It can also damage blood vessels and weaken the immune system, leaving people more open to infections.

Other effects from the drug include blurred vision, disorientation, drowsiness and staggering. It can also lead to a coma, problems breathing and high blood pressure.

Many patients are left disfigured by the drug.

In cases where the wound becomes infected and spreads to the bone, doctors may have no choice but to amputate a limb.

The drug can also cause the 'progressive and extensive' appearance of skin ulcers full of dead tissue.

The drug has spread to Los Angeles of late, with news crews capturing people hunched over and on the ground, strung out on the drug

Los Angeles officials are trying to stop the spread of the flesh-eating drug xylazine - also known as 'the zombie drug' - that has taken over the city

Xylazine is ravaging cities across the US after having first been abused by people in Puerto Rico.

It arrived to the American mainland in Philadelphia, which is currently at the epicenter of the naiton's xylazine crisis.

The drug has spread to Los Angeles of late, with news crews capturing people hunched over and on the ground, strung out on the drug.

The problem, Los Angeles County Sheriff's officials say, is that the drug is technically a legal substance.

The DEA and the county's health department have both issued urgent warnings against the use of the drug.
There's concerns landlords will pass it on to renters

There are growing concerns the Victorian government's new land tax will be passed onto renters, with the changes called out by the opposition and renter advocacy groups.

Property investors will be slugged with extra land tax charges from the start of next year, including a $975 fee on landholdings worth more than $300,000 and an additional 0.1 per cent for every dollar above that.

Those with landholdings worth $50,000 to $100,000 will be charged $500 each year. Those who only own a family home are exempt.

The threshold for Victoria's land tax will also be lowered from $300,000 to $50,000.

It's part of a push to reap back money after the government accumulated massive debt from the Covid pandemic.

But there are fears that landlords will immediately pass the annual expense onto renters - who are already doing it tough due to a shortage of properties on the market.

There's growing concerns renters in Victoria will face additional costs due to the state government's new land tax

Shadow Treasurer Brad Roswell said the changes would make renting even more expensive.

'This is going to make it harder for people who can least afford it to enter the rental market,' he said.

'Measures introduced today are going to make it much more difficult for young people, for vulnerable people who are simply asking for a roof over their head.'

Victorian executive director of the Property Council of Australia, Cath Evans, claimed the tax would lead to increased rents, owners selling up or buying interstate.

'Lowering the tax threshold will, of course, causes increased stress and pressure for those landholders to maintain those properties,' she said, according to the ABC.

'And it does become a risk that those costs get passed onto renters, and of course, adding to what is already a significant challenge in our rental market here.'

Treasurer Tim Pallas (pictured), who delivered the Victorian budget on Tuesday, blamed a 'lack of supply of appropriate housing in the market' for increased rents

The state budget has been centred around repaying the debt accumulated during the Covid pandemic (pictured, Victorian premier Dan Andrews)

Ms Evans said that owners already have 'significant outgoings in the form of insurances, council rates, repairs and maintenance to a property'.

She explained that lowering the tax threshold adds further pressure that may convince owners to sell during a housing shortage.

'For those who are able to hang on to their property, they will have to pass that on to their tenant, which is a further increase in the cost of rent,' she added.

Victorian Council of Social Service CEO, Emma King, also expressed serious concerns for renters.

'In terms of any tax increase for landlords, under no circumstances should that be passed on to tenants, and to be candid if that happens, people should be screaming it out hard and loud because we'd want to know about it, and pretty much we should be naming and shaming,' she said.

The tax-free threshold for land tax will be lowered from $300,000 to $50,000. It's expected to affect about 380,000 home owners who have not previously paid tax (stock image)

However Victoria's Treasurer Tim Pallas has rubbished speculation that renters will bear the brunt of increased costs.

'What I believe is playing a substantial role is both the increase in the ... charge for interest in a rental property.

'But more importantly, the fact that there is the law of supply and demand operating to the advantage of landlords who are effectively pumping up the price.'

Premier Dan Andrews echoed his sentiment.

'Supply is the issue (causing higher rents), and anybody who's applying for a rental and finds that they're one of 25 different applications  50 even  and you've got estate agents and some landlords essentially running an auction for a rental,' he said.

'They can tell you there's not enough supply, and that's why we need to make better decisions and make them faster.'
The top cop investigating Brittany Higgins' allegation that Bruce Lehrmann raped her has admitted he should never have 'liked' a LinkedIn comment about him being 'innocent until proven otherwise'.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller was questioned by Mark Tedeschi, the barrister representing ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, during a Board of Inquiry into the police and prosecution treatment of the Lehrmann case.

On Wednesday, Supt Moller was grilled about a LinkedIn comment he 'liked' in December last year - the same month the case against Lehrmann fell over.

The comment he liked read: 'Mr Lehrmann is innocent until proven otherwise. I was deeply shocked by some of the prosecutor's reported words.

'This young man deserves the justice of our court and reporting system. He should not be negatively labelled for the rest of his life.'

The comment was in response to a news article titled 'Push for DPP to resign over Lehrmann trial'.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller liked a comment on LinkedIn about Bruce Lehrmann's innocence

Mr Tedeschi asked Supt Moller: 'Do you recall reacting to a LinkedIn post by someone ... who wrote a comment in relation to a post by another person about the Higgins case and Mr Lehrmann?'

Supt Moller replied: 'I don't remember doing it, no.'

Mr Tedeschi then directed Supt Moller to look at the post.

'Have a look at this - the original post contains a picture of Mr Lehrmann and says 'Push for DPP to resign over Lehrmann trial',' he said.

Supt Moller was shown the post, and replied: 'I can see that.'

Supt Moller said in hindsight he 'probably shouldn't have liked the comment'

Mr Tedeschi then read the comment aloud, and asked Supt Moller if he liked that comment using his professional LinkedIn account.

Supt Moller said he only had one LinkedIn account, which he used in a professional capacity.

'I want to suggest to you that it was entirely inappropriate for you to like a message in relation to this matter,' Mr Tedeschi said.

Supt Moller read the first line of the comment aloud: 'He should not be negatively labelled for the rest of this life.'

He then said, 'In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have liked the comment.'

Mr Tedeschi then asked: 'Do you agree that this shows a bias by you in favour of Mr Lehrmann?'

Ms Higgins had alleged she was raped by Mr Lehrmann

'No I don't agree - it shows I liked the comment. I agreed with the comment,' Supt Moller replied.

Mr Tedeschi then suggested it was 'inappropriate' for him as a superintendent and someone who was involved in the investigation against Mr Lehrmann to like the comment.

'In hindsight and on reflection, I shouldn't have liked the comment,' Supt Moller responded.

When contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Mr Lehrmann said he found it 'odd' that Mr Tedeschi 'picked on a comment that was largely reinforcing the right to the presumption of innocence.'

'I refer you to my complaint to the Bar Association regarding inappropriate behaviour on the part of the DPP, of which a list as long as my arm exists.'

The inquiry continues.

Read the emails Brittany Higgins' boyfriend David Sharaz sent to police threatening to go public over concerns about the speed of the police investigation

David Sharaz threatened to go public with complaints about the speed of the investigation into his fiancee Brittany Higgins' rape allegations, according to a series of emails released by an inquiry.

The emails between Mr Sharaz, Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman and Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates were referred to by a Board of Inquiry on Tuesday, which is probing the criminal investigation into Bruce Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann was accused of raping Ms Higgins in Parliament House in 2019. He has continually denied the allegations.

The first email had the subject line 'News Story', and was sent by Mr Sharaz on July 29, 2021 - five months after Ms Higgins first went public with her rape allegations.

It began with details about how Ms Higgins had 'put her life on hold' during the investigation.

'We have both remained silent, as per the direction of the police, and have asked them to keep us in the loop on any media commentary they plan to make,' Mr Sharaz wrote.

Detectives decided to charge Bruce Lehrmann with raping Brittany Higgins within an hour of her boyfriend David Sharaz (pictured above with Ms Higgins) calling a top cop and threatening a media blitz condemning the delay, a police chief has claimed

One of the emails David Sharaz sent to an investigator examining Ms Higgins' allegation

'l was hoping we could once again seek guidance on whether we can expect an outcome, as indicated, by the end of the month?

'We will continue to abide by the no public commentary direction in place.'

The following day, Mr Sharaz called Detective Boorman and asked when Mr Lehrmann would be charged.

He followed the phone call up with an email to Detective Boorman and Superintendent Scott Moller, which said: 'I trust you're both well. Thank you for your time on the phone this morning Marcus.'

'Just confirming the desire of Brittany to have this process resolved sooner rather than later, and her expectation for a direction to be given as to what the next step is.

'She expects that direction by the end of the day as indicated by you both when you flew up to Brisbane. As always, happy to discuss over the phone.'

Within an hour of Detective Boorman receiving the phone call from Mr Sharaz, Supt Moller was given instructions to charge Mr Lehrmann, the inquiry heard on Tuesday.

On July 29, News Corp published an article about the moment former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews' claimed prosecutors were responsible for a delay in deciding whether or not to charge Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Drumgold, the ACT DPP, rejected the claim.

That same day, Mr Sharaz emailed Ms Yates, the Victims of Crime Commissioner, about the news article: 'What's going on? We're reading this news about it. Is a decision going to be made as was forecast in the July 12 meeting?'

Ms Yates then forwarded the email to Inspector Boorman.

The inquiry heard that Mr Sharaz phoned Inspector Boorman and said Ms Higgins wanted to release a media statement about the amount of time police were taking to charge Mr Lehrmann.

Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Scott Moller (pictured) revealed the 'exceptional' pressure police had been placed under to bring charges against Bruce Lehrmann

Supt Moller's diary records also noted he had a briefing with Inspector Boorman about the case, which included a 'discussion re Higgins contemplating media release'.

Supt Moller agreed that at the time the decision was made by his boss, Commander Michael Chew, investigators were faced with 'the potential threat of Ms Higgins going public about the delay'.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Supt Moller said officers were under a 'significant amount of pressure' over the politically-charged case. 'There was a real desire to expedite this process and get Mr Lehrmann before the court.'

Supt Moller later reiterated the 'exceptional amount of pressure on us to get this done'.

A second email that Sharaz sent - this time to ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates

This pressure led to police skipping usual processes, even though Supt Moller said he did not think there was enough evidence to charge Mr Lehrmann.

'I swore the summons because I did not want to put any of my staff in the position where they had to do something they didn't want to do, didn't believe in, so I did it,' he said.

'I didn't think there was enough evidence and then I received the director's advice and certainly from his advice, I decided to go ahead.'

Supt Moller said the stress of the investigation impacted many police officers, some of whom had to take leave from work.

He also said police were wrong to provide Ms Higgins' sensitive counselling notes to prosecutors and defence lawyers.

'That's the bottom line, we shouldn't have handed them over and it's a mistake that we made,' he told the inquiry on Monday.

After Ms Higgins' counselling notes were mistakenly provided to the prosecution and defence teams, Supt Moller said he was concerned ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold was trying to 'collect evidence' to criticise police.

'It caused me quite a lot of concern for myself and my investigation team, so much so that we continually second-guessed ourselves about what we were doing and how we were doing it,' he said.

'I wanted to absolutely make certain that we were doing everything perfectly, I didn't want to miss anything because I was continually concerned about (Drumgold) and what I thought was collecting information about us not doing the right thing.'

Mr Drumgold believed police had a 'passion' for the prosecution to fail and criticised their decision to conduct a second interview with Ms Higgins, something which is unusual in sexual assault cases.

But Supt Moller stood by this part of the investigation and said police had an obligation to look at inconsistencies in a complainant's account.

He said officers were concerned by some of the evidence given to them by Ms Higgins and wanted to clarify this through a second interview.

Supt Moller also revealed Ms Higgins was allowed to watch CCTV footage of herself and Mr Lehrmann at Parliament House because she was 'so keen to see it'.

This was despite concerns it may have corrupted her evidence, as police felt obliged under their 'victim-centric' approach to show it to her.

Supt Moller said Ms Higgins 'continually asked' to see the footage, which showed the pair exiting and entering Parliament House on the night Ms Higgins claims Mr Lehrmann raped her on a sofa in senator Linda Reynolds's office.

'In a normal investigation, we would never show somebody evidence like that because it might influence their evidence later in court,' he said.

Mr Lehrmann faced a trial in the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022 but juror misconduct meant a verdict was not reached.

The charge was later dropped due to concerns about the impact a second trial would have on the mental health of Ms Higgins.
Former nuclear official Sam Brinton, who identifies as non-binary and faces charges of suitcase theft, is set to be placed in a men's jail in Maryland while awaiting a transfer to Virginia.

The Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation has a policy of placing processed inmates in jails based on their biological sex.

Sam Brinton, 35, was arrested at their home last week on grand larceny charges related to the alleged theft of a suitcase belonging to Tanzanian fashion designer Asya Khamsin from Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

Khamsin reported the loss of her luggage, including the one-of-a-kind designs, in March 2018.

Briton was arrested as a fugitive of justice and is now being held in Maryland without bond awaiting transfer in the case.

Sam Brinton, a former nuclear official who identifies as non-binary, will be put in men's jail in Maryland before transfer to Virginia to face charges of suitcase theft

Brinton was arrested on Wednesday at their home in Maryland. Their husband Kevin (left in February) was kept in the house while Brinton was led out in cuffs

Brinton is seen earlier this year heading to the airport

Brinton is being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Maryland, where inmates are housed based on biological sex

Pictures then surfaced online showing Khamsin wearing the dresses and later Brinton wearing what appeared to be the exact same designs.

This led to Brinton's arrest who previously served as deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Biden administration.

Brinton was subsequently fired after similar incidents involving the theft of women's luggage that were reported in Minnesota and Las Vegas.

Despite avoiding jail time in those instances, Brinton now faces new charges and remains in custody without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Brinton (seen in 2019 in an alleged stolen outfit) was arrested at home in Maryland on Wednesday in connection with the alleged theft of property from Reagan National Airport

Tanzanian-American fashion designer Asya Khamsin (above) says that she filed a police report after seeing former Department of Energy official Sam Brinton wearing her stolen clothes

They are currently in a 'pre-placement' hold at the county jail, but they are likely to be housed with the general population of the men's jail next week before appearing in front of a judge, in a hearing scheduled for June 14.

The Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation policy dictates inmates be placed according to their biological sex at birth, regardless of any anatomical changes that might have been made.

The fashion designer involved, Khamsin, has given authorities with relevant information about the clothes as part of the ongoing police investigation.

Khamsin initially expressed confusion after seeing pictures of Brinton wearing her designs at events - especially after the prominent media attention surrounding the earlier luggage thefts.

Brinton is seen left at an event on June 11, 2018 in an outfit that Khamsin said resembled one of the outfits that went missing with her luggage in March 2018, similar to the design seen right

Sam Brinton (pictured left at a Starbucks in West Hollywood in October 2019) appeared to be wearing Khamsin's one-of-a-kind designs

Attorney Peter C. Hansen told DailyMail.com Friday that his client 'provided to the MWAA images of Mr. Brinton wearing her bespoke designs and lost jewelry, along with comparison photos showing them on models and Asya Khamsin herself.'

Hansen said during a search of Brinton's home in Rockville on Wednesday, police 'recovered a number of items matching the descriptions and images provided by Asya Khamsin.'

The attorney noted his client's luggage, stolen on March 9, 2018, contained 'more than a dozen bespoke articles of clothing that she had designed, along with a number of other valuable items for her business.'

'Asya Khamsins business was seriously damaged by this loss, which remained a mystery until she was recently alerted to photos of Sam Brinton wearing articles from her lost luggage,' said Hansen.

The attorney said Khamsin is 'leaving her options open' for a civil suit against Brinton, but has not yet filed any lawsuit.

'Certain public images of Mr. Brinton in Asya Khamsins designs were widely published, including on Vanity Fairs Italian website,' said Hansen, noting that his client's designs were 'displayed without attribution in many other publications' while being worn by Brinton.

'Asya Khamsin is a black, female, Muslim immigrant entrepreneur, and she has built a distinguished career over forty years,' he added. 'She deserves credit for her works.'

Sam Brinton was tapped as deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy by the Biden Administration. They were fired in December 2022

In February, a shocked Khamsin went public with her allegations, saying that her suitcase went missing from Reagan National in 2018, and that she had since seen photos of Brinton wearing her custom designs.

The fashion guru, based in Houston, shared side-by-side photos of herself wearing one of her outfits next to a photo that surfaced of Brinton in what she believed is the same garment.

Khamsin's luggage containing the outfits she has accused Brinton of being photographed wearing went missing at the airport when she flew to Washington, D.C., in 2018 for a fashion event.

The outfits were meant to be on display, but the designer said at the time she was unable to participate in the event as she'd hoped after her luggage went missing.
The brother of a schoolboy allegedly stabbed to death has choked back tears revealing he didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his sibling.

Pasawm Lyhym, 16, was allegedly stabbed to death near a bus station at Sunshine, in Melbourne's west, at about 3.45pm on Thursday.

The incident came following an altercation between boys from different schools.

Mawn Lyhym, 24, has opened up on the terrifying incident holding back his emotion as he demanded justice for those responsible for the alleged attack.

His comment comes as Victoria's homicide squad detectives released an image of a teenager they believe can assist them with their inquiries, warning the public not to approach him.

Pasawm Lyhym, 16, was allegedly knifed near Sunshine bus station, in Melbourne's west, at about 3.45pm on Thursday after an altercation between boys from different schools

Mawn Lyhym, the grieving brother of Pasa Lyhym has choked back tears describing his brother's loss

Mr Lyhym said he was supposed to take his sibling Pasawm to the cinema to see 'Fast X' last Thursday night but their plans never happened.

Mawn has learned that Pasawm unsuccessfully used a shopping trolley to try and defend when he was allegedly set upon and knifed.

'He used a trolley for self protection because the guy was with a knife. He pushed the trolley really well and he then he ran,' he told 9news.

Mawn became emotional describing the aftermath of the alleged stabbing.

'I wanted to see his face at least. But they won't even let me go to where he was laying down.'

Mawn spent hours with his brother's lifeless body on Thursday evening and was later struggling to deal with the family's huge loss.

'I can't believe it, 'cause he didn't even say goodbye to us properly,' he told 9news.

'Everyone loves him, he makes everyone smile.'

'[He was] only 16. No-one deserves to die like that. No-one.'

Another heartbreaking video showed Pasawm's five-year-old nephew, Stephen, smiling as he tells the camera, 'I miss you... Pasawm.'

Victoria Police made a quick arrest the day after the attack, but released the boy they had taken into custody without charge.

Terrifying video released by police showed chaotic scenes at Sunshine, with some boys shown sprinting to flee while pursued by others wielding machetes

On Tuesday Victorian police released images of another boy wanted for questioning, Mayik Atem

Officers released images on Tuesday saying they wanted to question another boy Mayik Atem.

Police said Atem was now 'part of a significant search' following the incident.

Atem is described as being between 185-190cm tall with a slim build and black hair in a short dreadlocks style.

'Homicide Squad detectives are appealing for public assistance as part of a significant search for Mayik Atem following the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy in Sunshine last week,' a Victoria Police spokesperson said.

'Atem is known to frequent the Sunshine, Hillside, Braybrook and Sydenham areas.

Police said it is not known if Atem is armed but they warned members of the public not to approach him and instead call 000.

'Detectives are also urging Atem to make contact with police or hand himself in at any police station as soon as possible,' the spokesperson said.

Last Friday it was announced that a 17-year-old was arrested in relation to Lyhym's death, but he was released without charge the following morning.

A second teenager turned himself in on Friday evening after police held a press conference saying two other males had been identified as suspects.

The second teenager, 18, was released after an interview.
Since the withdrawal announcement, it sparked extensive yet superficial media coverage. Social media overflowed with speculations about the government's strained relations with Western countries or its frustration over a foreign envoy's perceived interference in internal affairs.

by Kamal Uddin Mazumder

Recently, Bangladesh Government decided to withdraw additional police escort services provided to the foreign envoys in Dhaka from four countries- the UK, the US, India, and Saudi Arabia. Under this extra escort facility, policemen equipped with riot gear used to escort in their vans the envoys from those countries during their movement in the city.

Since the very announcement of the withdrawal, it received an expansive but shallow media coverage, with social media flooded with speculations over whether the withdrawal has resulted from the governments apparently frayed relations with specific Western countries or its frustration over the recent activities of a foreign envoy that the government reasonably deems interference into the countrys internal affairs. Moreover, the way the decision has been trumpeted in national and some international media seems as if, from the very moment of the decision enacted, those envoys movements would be entirely unescorted and their chancery complexes or residences be unprotected.

A Look Down Aerial view Of Hatirjheel Lake Bridge at Dusk; Dhaka, Bangladesh [Photo Credit: Salman Preeom/ Unsplash]

The decision, however, is to pull out additional escort facilities once added to the existing usual arrangements out of internal security expediency and rendered so far to the envoys from selected countries. Responding to the unnecessary fanfare and panic, the foreign ministry has already clarified that the police gunmen will continue to accompany the envoys while their movements and the security personnel from the designated policy unit will remain assigned as usual to guard the chancery buildings and residences of the senior diplomats.

For all the curious and appetizing speculations, to a large extent misperception, about the governments sudden decision to withdraw additional security escort, the current internal and external political dynamics with respect to the countrys upcoming national election have incentivized the way the decision has received that much level of avid speculation. Western countries increasingly express attention on, and, in some cases, assertive articulation about how the election will have to be held, has recently been seen causing heated debate in domestic political and diplomatic ambit.

However, the governments decision- devised upon well-explained and logical foundations- is in no way out of its resentment toward certain countries plainly unsolicited activities around the countrys internal political developments, notably its imminent national election. To discern the merits behind the decision, one needs to look back to what sort of security circumstance had previously prompted the government to introduce such additional escort facilities to specific countries.

Bangladesh government introduced this facility in 2016 out of heightened security exigency in the wake of the Holey Artisan terror attack. In the aftermath of the terror attack, the overall security atmosphere concerning the Islamist terror threat both within and beyond the country has substantially improved. For instance, Bangladesh ranks 43rd among 163 countries in the 2023 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) with a score of 3,827 out of 10, whereas it stood at 22nd in 2016. With a span of 7 years. It has been elevated by 23 notches, thanks to the countrys comprehensive, whole-society anti-terror measures.

Apart from this security standpoint, two more potent factors offer merits to the withdrawal decision. Firstly, the ongoing economic hardship emanating from the global economic downturn due to the years-long pandemic and the current war in Ukraine has been forcing Bangladesh, like many in the Global South, to adopt fiscal austerity across a number of economic aspects. The cost of providing additional escort facilities to several countries is, given the countrys current economic extremity and the governments struggle to maintain rigorous fiscal hedging, by no means meager as it may seem to affluent others.

Secondly, providing specially designed security facilities to specific countries stands in contrast to the egalitarian principle of treating all foreign envoys equally. Such a facility, in the naked eye, may seem discriminatory, leaving other envoys out of this special facilitys purview being treated lightly and undermining their enthusiasm for diplomatic engagements. Moreover, from this sort of egalitarian outlook, as the foreign minister said earlier that more countries were demanding such additional facilities, if Bangladesh would have gone for providing every country with similar escort services, it had put further strain on the already ailing economy, and scarce security resources as well.

So, the withdrawal decision is nothing but a realignment of security resources in response to the improved security environment in the country and the nations prevailing economic priorities without compromising due diligence to ensure optimum security for the foreign envoys hosted in the country. Bangladeshs long diplomatic history has had no evidence of taking any implicit or explicit diplomatic retaliatory measures out of resentment.

Kamal Uddin Mazumder, Security and strategic affairs analyst, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Australians living in the country's southeast are set to shiver through the rest of the week as a 'frigid air mass' bringing freezing temperatures, heavy winds, hail and a dumping of snow is set to hit.

A cold front will make its way across the Great Australian Bight on Wednesday before hitting parts of Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and the ACT on Thursday and Friday.

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said temperatures are expected to be up to 6C lower than average for parts of those states on Friday.

Aussies are in for a chilly week with lower than average temperatures forecast for the country's south-east (pictured are residents in Sydney)

Australians living in the country's south-east are set to shiver through the rest of the week as a 'frigid air mass' bringing freezing temperatures, heavy winds, hail and a dumping of snow is set to lash down

'This cold snap will be exacerbated by wind chill, making it feel more like 10C below average in some places,' he said.

Damaging wind gusts are also set to lash parts of Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and the ACT from Wednesday night into Thursday.

The chilly weather will bring some good news to skiers with snow forecast to fall at around 600m above sea level in Tasmania, 800m in Victoria and 1000m in southern and central NSW and the ACT.

Friday morning will bring the best chance of snow for NSW's northern highlands.

Melburnians suffered through a cold snap last week with the temperature failing to soar above 15C between Tuesday and Sunday - something that hasn't occurred since May, 1981.

'To have a run of cold days lasting almost a week is definitely unusual and can be attributed to a series of Southern Ocean cold fronts which have swept over Victoria,' Weatherzone's Anthony Sharwood said.

Melbourne will see a sunny Wednesday with tops of 17C.

Those in the Victorian capital can however expect a wet end to the week with rain forecast for Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

In Sydney, residents can look forward to a clear and sunny week ahead.

A cold front will make its way across Australia's Bight on Wednesday before hitting parts of Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and the ACT on Thursday and Friday

Snow is also expected to fall on the alps in NSW and Victoria this week

Temperatures will hit a maximum of 20C on Wednesday and 22C on Thursday.

Those further north in Brisbane will be lucky enough to escape the cold with a maximum of 24C forecast on Wednesday and Thursday, with the mercury soaring to 25C on Friday.

In Adelaide, Wednesday will bring a dry and relatively warm day but the weather will take a turn on Thursday bringing heavy rain and a high of just 17C.

Hobart will also see some rain on Thursday, while temperatures will linger around the mid-teens.

Residents in the nation's capital are in for a chilly week with temperatures reaching as low as -3C in Canberra on Saturday.

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, Perth residents can expect a dry and sunny week with temperatures to hit a top of 19C on Wednesday and Thursday.

Darwin is in the dry season with the forecast looking hot and sunny with a top of 31C on Wednesday.
In at first place was John Wayne Airport, with 65% of tweets deemed 'angry

The site used a machine learning tool to 'analyze the sentiment of each tweet'

Forbes Advisor analyzed over 37K tweets directed at the 60 busiest US airports

John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, has been revealed as the most anger-inducing airport in America, according to a new survey.

Forbes Advisor analyzed over 37,000 tweets directed at the 60 busiest airports in the U.S. from March 2022 to March 2023.

The financial advice website then used a machine learning tool to 'analyze the sentiment of each tweet and determine where travelers are most annoyed.'

Landing in at first place was John Wayne Airport, with 65 per cent of the tweets characterized as 'angry.'

The John Wayne International Airport in Orange County, California ranked first among airports that anger the most customers in the US, according to a Forbes Twitter study

Passengers line up following delays at the John Wayne airport

Forbes Advisor analyzed over 37,000 tweets directed at the 60 busiest airports in the U.S. from March 2022 to March 2023

The words that appeared most frequently in tweets from unhappy John Wayne Airport travelers were 'noise,' 'staff, 'TSA,' 'complaints' and 'delayed.'

Over on the other side of the country, Jacksonville International Airport in Florida scored second place in the survey, with 60 per cent of tweets associated with the transport hub deemed damning.

The most common words tweeted by disgruntled passengers were 'line,' 'TSA,' 'garage,' 'delays,' and 'employees.'

In at third place was Eppley Airfield in Nebraska (59 per cent angry tweets) with the main complaints being 'cold,' and 'weather,' while Tampa International Airport in Florida ranked fourth (57 per cent angry tweets) with travelers fuming over luggage issues.

Touching down in San Antonio International Airport in Texas - outed as the fifth angriest airport in America with 57 per cent of tweets critiquing it - the common grudges among Twitter users concerned 'TSA,' 'weapons,' and 'firearms.'

Other airports rounding out the top ten comprised Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, San Diego International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport in California.

All five of these airports received more negative tweets than positive, with a percentage score of 56.

Overall, analysts found the three most commonly used words in angry airport tweets were 'delays,' 'security' and 'hours.'

The angriest airports in America AIRPORT 1. John Wayne Airport, California 2. Jacksonville International Airport, Florida 3. Eppley Airfield, Nebraska 4. Tampa International Airport Tampa, Florida 5. San Antonio International Airport, Texas 6. HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport, Georgia 7. San Diego International Airport, California 56 8. Nashville International Airport Nashville, Tennessee 9. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona 10. Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, California % OF ANGRY TWEETS 65 60 59 57 57 56 56 56 56 56 TOP WORDS Noise, Staff, TSA, Complaints, Delayed Line, TSA, Garage, Delays, Employees Delays, Weather, Cold, Police, Issues Bags, Delayed, Luggage, Security, Canceled TSA, Weapon, Officers, Firearm, Broken Delays, Traffic, Line, Security, Parking Waiting, Security, Line, Rental, Canceled Traffic, Police, Waiting, Passengers, Security Rental, Line, Waiting, Bags, Delayed Help, Security, International, Waiting, Parking Advertisement

Over on the other side of the country, Jacksonville International Airport in Florida scored second place in the survey

The Kansas City airport rounded out the top three calmest airports to pass through in the US

Travelers praised the Indianapolis Airport's easy navigability and efficiency - it was ranked as the calmest airport in the nation

The Seattle-Tacoma airport was also ranked among the nation's calmest airports to pass through

Jeremy Hyatt, who works for a PR firm close to John Wayne Airport and frequently uses it for business travel, told Forbes that he can understand why it is often slammed on Twitter.

He explained: 'Traveling to SNA for vacation or spring break can be challenging for many visitors due to long rental car and TSA lines, unexpected California taxes and fees, limited take-off and landing times, and extended luggage wait times.

'These frustrating experiences can make a trip less enjoyable.'

At the other end of the scale, Indianapolis International Airport was revealed as being the least anger-inducing transportation hub based on Twitter activity.

Airports serving Seattle-Tacoma and Kansas City were also shown to be calmer spots to visit judging by the language used.

Forbes noted of the 60 busiest airports included in the survey, seven were excluded from the analysis for either not having an official Twitter handle or not being tweeted at more than 50 times over the past year.
Police did not publicly admit a 95-year-old woman had been Tasered until almost 54 hours after she was struck down with a bolt of electricity in her nursing home.

Clare Nowland was 'slowly' approaching an officer in her walking frame when she was Tasered at Yallambee Lodge in southern NSW about 4.15am last Wednesday.

Ms Nowland, who suffers from dementia, had reportedly taken a knife from the Cooma facility's kitchen which police and paramedics were unable to make her put down.

After being blasted with the Taser the St Vincent de Paul volunteer and lifelong churchgoer fell back and fractured her skull when her head struck the floor.

Clare Nowland is now receiving end of life care in Cooma District Hospital, in southern NSW, after the 95-year-old was Tasered by a cop last Wednesday. Police did not publicly admit she had been Tasered until almost 54 hours she was struck down

Police issued their first press release about the incident more than 12 hours later at 4.41pm, stating an 'elderly woman sustained injuries during an interaction with police at an aged care facility'.

Noticeably absent was any mention of the word 'Taser'.

Media began reporting Ms Nowland had been Tasered on Thursday afternoon but it was not until 9.57am on Friday that police first mentioned that fact in an official statement.

Clare Nowland is a lifelong churchgoer and was a St Vincent de Paul volunteer

Ms Nowland, who weighs just 43kg and is 157cm (5'2") tall, remains in Cooma District Hospital where she has been receiving end-of-life care.

Senior Constable Kristian White, the 188cm (6'2") officer who fired the Taser at the great-grandmother, is suspended on full pay.

A week after Mrs Nowland was Tasered, radio host Ben Fordham ripped into the NSW Police Force over how it released information about the incident which has made headlines around the world.

'There are questions to be answered about how police handled this and not just the officer who used the Taser in the nursing home but the spin doctors in the senior ranks of NSW Police,' Fordham said on Wednesday morning.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb has since said there was no mention of a Taser in the initial press release due to concerns for Mrs Nowland's family.

'It was necessary for us to make sure that the family were aware of what the circumstances were,' Commissioner Webb told Fordham on Monday.

'We didn't want the family to hear on radio and TV what had happened to their mum, so we had to be a bit sensitive to that and when we were able to talk about it, we did.'

Ms Nowland weighs just 43kg and is 157cm (5'2") tall. Senior Constable Kristian White, the 188cm (6'2") officer who fired the Taser at the great-grandmother, is suspended on full pay. He is pictured on parade

Referring to the first police statement, Fordham rejected Commissioner Webb's assertion on Wednesday morning.

'They had 12 hours to prepare it and warn Clare's family members that the news was about to be made public,' he told his 2GB audience.

The first police statement said a critical incident team was investigating the matter but made no reference to the Taser and claimed 'no further details are available at this time'.

'Well I'm sorry but further details were available at the time,' Fordham said. 'The hidden detail was the Taser.

'There was no reasonable excuse for hiding the Taser in the police statement.

'The Commissioner, Karen Webb, says she didn't want Clare's family finding out about it over the radio. But by now 12 hours had passed.

'Police would have known that including the word "Taser" in the media release would have sparked more interest.

'After all it's likely that Clare is the oldest person in the world ever to be Tasered. But in the press release Wednesday afternoon no mention of the Taser.'

Police Commissioner Karen Webb (above) has said there was no mention of a Taser being used against Ms Nowland in the initial press release due to concerns for her family. Broadcaster Ben Fordham said on Wednesday that claim was 'absurd'

Police had still not mentioned Ms Nowland had been Tasered by Thursday afternoon when almost 36 hours after the incident media outlets began reporting that fact.

'But as we went to bed on Thursday night we still had nothing official from the police,' Fordham said. 'So we then tick over to Friday morning.'

The police media unit issued another statement at 9.57am that day which said when Ms Nowland was confronted at the nursing home she was 'still armed with a knife'.

'Police attempted to speak to the woman,' they said. 'During this interaction, a senior constable discharged his taser, causing the woman to fall and strike her head.'

Later that morning Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter, the Southern Region Commander, provided more details at a press conference at police headquarters.

Fordham noted the first official reference to a Taser came more than two days after Ms Nowland had been taken to hospital - almost 54 hours had passed.

'I'm sorry but that's not good enough,' Fordham said.

'Police know when there's a critical incident transparency is vital. And there was a lack of honesty from the start.'

Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter, the Southern Region Commander, provided more details about what happened to Ms Nowland at a press conference last Friday (above)

Fordham said Commissioner Webb's contention that police had not referred to the Taser out of concern for Ms Nowland's family was 'absurd'.

'Hiding the Taser had nothing to do with protecting Clare or her loved ones,' he said.

'The Police Commissioner should admit that this is not good enough. Next time, tell the truth and tell it straight away.'

Commissioner Webb has been criticised for not having watched body-worn camera footage which shows Ms Nowland being Tasered.

'I'm actually not the investigator and the important thing here is that the detectives do their job and allow them to do their job without me interfering,' she told Sunrise on Tuesday morning.

'Whether I watch the video or not is not going to make this investigation go any quicker.'

Commissioner Webb did not see any value in viewing the footage without knowing what had happened before and after the weapon was used.

The NSW Police Force has been contacted for comment.
Black Lives Matter's national organization is at risk of going bankrupt after its finances plunged $8.5 million into the red last year - while simultaneously handing multiple staff seven-figure salaries.

Financial disclosures obtained by The Washington Free Beacon show the perilous state of BLM's Global Network Foundation, which officially emerged in November 2020, as a more formal way of structuring the civil rights movement.

Yet despite the financial controversy and scrutiny, BLM GNF continued to hire relatives of the founder, Patrisse Cullors, and several board members.

Cullors' brother, Paul Cullors, set up two companies which were paid $1.6 million providing 'professional security services' for Black Lives Matter in 2022.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors' (left) employed her brother, Paul Cullors (right) for security at BLM's properties

Paul Cullors was employed as the head of the security team at the $6 million Los Angeles mansion (pictured) bought with charity donations

Paul Cullors was also one of BLM's only two paid employees during the year, collecting a $126,000 salary as 'head of security' on top of his consulting fees. He is best known as a graffiti artist, with no background in security.

Patrisse Cullors defended hiring him, saying registered security firms which hired former police officers could not be trusted, given the movement's opposition to police brutality.

For the previous year, 2021, tax filings revealed that BLM paid a company owned by Damon Turner, the father of Cullors' child, nearly $970,000 to help 'produce live events' and provide other 'creative services.'

Cullors resigned in May 2021.

'While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM's funds for her personal use, it looks like she's still keeping it all in the family,' said Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group.

Shalomyah Bowers, who took over from Cullors when she resigned, also benefitted handsomely from the group: in 2022, his consultancy firm was paid $1.7 million for management and consulting services, the Free Beacon reported.

And the sister of former Black Lives Matter board member Raymond Howard was also employed in a lucrative role as a consultant.

Danielle Edwards, who runs a consultancy firm, New Impact, was hired by BLM GNF. Her brother Raymond Howard was a member of BLM's board

Danielle Edwards's firm, New Impact Partners, was paid $1.1 million for consulting services in 2022, the Free Beacon said.

BLM GNF also agreed to pay an additional $600,000 to an unidentified former board member's consulting firm 'in connection with a contract dispute'.

The non-profit group ran an $8.5 million deficit, and its investment accounts fell in value by nearly $10 million in the most recent tax year, financial disclosures show.

The group logged a $961,000 loss on a securities sale of $172,000, suggesting the group sustained an 85 percent loss on the transaction. Further details of that security have not been shared.

And the cash flowing into BLM's coffers has dropped dramatically.

Donations plunged by 88 percent between 2021 and 2022, from $77 million to just $9.3 million for the most recent financial year.

Patrisse Cullors, who had been at the helm of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation for nearly six years, stepped down in May 2021, amid anger at the group's financial decisions and perceived lack of transparency.

A year later, in May 2022, it was revealed Black Lives Matter spent more than $12 million on luxury properties in Los Angeles and in Toronto - including a $6.3 million 10,000-square-foot property in Canada that was purchased as part of a $8M 'out of country grant.'

The Toronto property was bought with grant money that was meant for 'activities to educate and support black communities, and to purchase and renovate property for charitable use.'

The group had said it was planning to use the property as main headquarters in Canada, and it has now been named the Wilseed Center for Arts and Activism.

It emerged that Cullors transferred millions from the organization to a charity run by her wife, Janaya Khan, to purchase the property.

Donations to the national organization for Black Lives Matter saw a shocking drop-off of nearly 90 percent from 2021 to 2022, as the group's use of funds continued to cause controversy

Patrisse Cullors stepped down as head of BLM Global Network Foundation in May 2021

D'Zhane Parker, left, Cicley Gay, center, and Shalomyah Bowers pose for a portrait in May 2022. A consulting firm run by Shalomyah Bowers, who is BLM's board secretary and has previously served as deputy executive director, was paid more than $1.7 million

Cullors admitted to AP that her group was ill-equipped to handle the finances of a charity which received $90 million the year after George Floyd was killed - but denied any wrongdoing.

Cullors issued a statement denying she used the $6 million LA property for personal purposes, but then had to backtrack and admit she had used the compound for purposes that were not strictly business.

The activist also amassed a $3 million property portfolio of her own, including homes in LA and Georgia, although there is no suggestion of any financial impropriety.

It is not known if the group paid out lucrative contracting fees to Cullors' friends and family past June 2022, when a new board of directors was brought in.

The board is now led by nonprofit adviser Cicley Gay, who has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy three times since 2005.

Gay was ordered by a court to attend financial management lessons, and at the time of her appointment in April 2022 had more than $120,000 in unpaid debt.

She was one of three people appointed to the board, the organization said in a tweet. She subsequently was described as being chair of the board.

She told The New York Times she had been appointed to straighten out the organization's finances, after BLMGFN faced intense scrutiny over its spending of donor cash.

'No one expected the foundation to grow at this pace and to this scale,' said Gay.

'Now, we are taking time to build efficient infrastructure to run the largest Black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.'

It later emerged that Gay has been declared bankrupt three times, according to federal reports obtained by The New York Post.

Gay, a mother of three, filed for bankruptcy in 2005, 2013 and 2016.

Cicely Gay, 44, was appointed to the board of directors of Black Lives Matter's Global Network Foundation in April 2022

BLMGFN has faced intense questions about its handling of donations, which surged in particular during the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020.

The organization in February 2021 said it had taken in more than $90 million in 2020 and still had $60 million on hand.

Last year, it was down to $42 million, while the Free Beacon reports BLM has now spent two thirds of the $90 million cash it had to hand.

Cullors, the co-founder of the organization, resigned in May 2021 as director of BLMGNF, amid scrutiny of her own property empire. She has written best-selling books, and has a contract with Warner Brothers to produce content.

Then in April 2022 it emerged that BLMGFN had bought a mansion in Los Angeles for $5.8 million, which they said was to be used as a 'safe space' for activists and for events.

The organization responded to the reports in a lengthy Twitter feed, with the group noting that more 'transparency' was required going forward.

Black Lives Matter has apologized following an expose that detailed how the organization had used donations to purchase a $6 million home in Los Angeles

In a lengthy Twitter thread on Monday morning, the group vowed to be more transparent in the future

'There have been a lot of questions surrounding recent reports about the purchase of Creator's House in California. Despite past efforts, BLMGNF recognizes that there is more work to do to increase transparency and ensure transitions in leadership are clear,' it stated.

BLM then proceeded to blame the media for the furore and the 'inflammatory and speculative' reports that saw journalists probing the group's financials saying that it 'caused harm'

The reports 'do not reflect the totality of the movement,' the organization claimed.

'We know narratives like this cause harm to organizers doing brilliant work across the country and these reports do not reflect the totality of the movement,' one of the tweets reads. 'We apologize for the distress this has caused to our supporters and those who work in service of Black liberation daily.'

'We are redoubling our efforts to provide clarity about BLMGNF's work,' noting an 'internal audit' was underway together with 'tightening compliance operations and creating a new board to help steer to the organization to its next evolution.'

The organization also criticized the original New Yorker article, pictured above, describing it as 'inflammatory and speculative'

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors (above) came under fire last year for a slew of high-profile property purchases. She resigned in May 2021 and has called reports investigation the $6 million mansion 'despicable' and claimed that criticisms against her are 'sexist and racist'

The home features six bedrooms and a pool in the back. BLM claimed the home was bought to provide a safe house for 'black creativity' but had allegedly tried to hide the home's existence

The mansion comes complete with a sound stage (pictured) and mini filming studio which the group had used in one of its video campaigns

BLM attempted to justify the purchase of the mansion by saying it was made to encourage 'Black creativity' with the property 'a space for Black folks to share their gifts with the world and hone their crafts as we see it.'

The organization also went on to defend how the funds the group raised were spent including the $3 million used for 'COVID relief' and a further $25 million dollars to black-led organizations.

'We are embracing this moment as an opportunity for accountability, healing, truth-telling, and transparency. We understand the necessity of working intentionally to rebuild trust so we can continue forging a new path that sustains Black people for generations,' the group wrote.

The barrage of tweets, which notably had their comments turned off, ended with the group announcing they were 'embracing this moment as an opportunity for accountability, healing, truth-telling, and transparency' and 'working intentionally to rebuild trust.'

Internal memos from BLM revealed the group wanted to keep the purchase secret, despite filming a video on the home's patio in May

The Studio City home - which sits on a three-quarter-acre lot - boasts more than half-dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, a 'butler's pantry' in the kitchen (pictured)

Concerns over the groups finances have swirled for years with BLM coming under intense scrutiny in the past.

In February 2022 the group stopped online fundraising following a demand by the California attorney general tho show where millions of dollars in donations received in 2020 went.

The group said the 'shutdown' was simply short term while any 'issues related to state fundraising compliance' were addressed.
The South Carolina Senate voted on Tuesday to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, despite an attempt to block the bill by its five female lawmakers.

The bill will now head to the state governor, who intends to sign it into law. South Carolina would become the latest in a line of states to limit abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to the procedure last year.

An informal coalition known as the 'Sister Senators', made up of three Republicans, a Democrat and an Independent, pushed for lighter rules as a compromise.

Sandy Senn, Katrina Shealy, Mia McLeod, Penry Gustafson and Margie Bright Matthews led a filibuster in an attempt to block the bill after months of fighting.

But the state Senate finally garnered enough votes to override the women, after the House passed the measure.

Democratic state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews speaks during debate on a measure to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy at the Statehouse on May 23, 2023 in Columbia, South Carolina

South Carolina Sens. Penry Gustafson, R-Camden, left, Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, center, and Sandy Senn, R-Charleston, right, wait for the Senate to adjourn after a stricter abortion ban they all voted against passed on Tuesday, May, 23, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina

At six weeks, many women don't know they are pregnant. Even if they did, many abortion clinics have weeks-long waiting lists, making the bill a de facto near-total ban, critics say.

During debates around an earlier attempt to pass the bill, Republican state Senator Sandy Senn said 'the men in the chamber' were metaphorically 'slapping women by raising abortion again and again and again.'

Twenty-four states have passed or attempted to pass restrictions on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.

Nebraska's governor Jim Pillen signed a bill Monday that bans abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy and restricts gender-affirming medical care for people younger than 19.

The abortion ban takes effect immediately, while the ban on gender-affirming care takes effect on Oct. 1. The hybrid measure ties together restrictions that Republicans have pursued across the U.S.

Pillen called the law 'the most significant win for social conservative agenda in over a generation of Nebraska' before he signed the law while holding the 5-day-old daughter of some friends as his two oldest granddaughters stood next to him.

'It's about protecting our kids and saving babies. Pure and simple,' Pillen said.

Opponents have promised to sue to try and block the law. The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, Mindy Rush Chipman, said in a statement that 'every option is on the table to undo these regressive measures.'

In South Carolina, a previous six-week ban had been overturned by the state Supreme Court.

In the absence of that ban, conservative South Carolina, surrounded by several states that have restricted abortion, had become an unexpected refuge for women in the US South seeking abortions.

'South Carolina has become the abortion capital of the southeast,' said state Senator Shane Massey.

South Carolina Republican state senator Sandy Senn debates a six week abortion ban at the state legislature in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. May 23, 2023

Anti-abortion advocates in the South Carolina Senate, May 23, 2023

Meanwhile, pro-abortion advocates mourned the impending loss of South Carolina's outlier status.

'This is a devastating blow to South Carolinians and to an entire region where patients' options for accessing abortion continue to dwindle,' said Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

McGill Johnson added that the family planning organization is prepared to challenge the law in court.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said on Twitter he 'looked forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible.'
Donald Trump and his lawyers demanded a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents shows signs of indicting him.

Trump posted the letter to his Truth Social platform Tuesday, in which his lawyers claimed that he is 'being treated unfairly.'

Attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty asked for the meeting to discuss 'the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.'

It was not immediately clear what specifically prompted the letter, but is comes just after the Wall Street Journal reported that the yearlong documents probe appears to be nearing an end, with a possible indictment on the horizon.

Trump has not yet been charged in connection to the classified document handling and raid on his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, although he faces an ongoing case over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Lawyers for Trump demanded a meeting with AG Merrick Garland as an investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents appears to be winding down

It was not immediately clear what specifically prompted the letter, but is comes just after the Wall Street Journal reported the yearlong documents probe appears to be nearing an end

The language of the letter echoed some of Trump's own complaints in recent months about the investigations being led by special counsel Jack Smith

'Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter, and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly,' the lawyers wrote in the letter.

'We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.'

The language of the letter echoed some of Trump's own complaints in recent months about the investigations being led by special counsel Jack Smith.

Smith has finished collecting evidence into how confidential presidential files ended up at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, said Trump allies expect an indictment to be served.

Smith has finished collecting evidence into how confidential presidential files ended up at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort

The investigation is seeking to determine whether Trump illegally retained classified documents taken with him from the White House to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago

It is not uncommon for defense lawyers to seek meetings with senior Justice Department officials to argue against potential indictments of their clients, though it is unusual for such meetings to include the attorney general, the Associated Press reported.

Special counsels enjoy broad autonomy within the Justice Department, and officials have repeatedly signaled that the recommendation on whether to pursue charges against Trump or anyone else in the investigation belongs with Smith and his team.

The investigation is seeking to determine whether Trump illegally retained classified documents taken with him from the White House to his Florida home after the end of his term and whether he sought to obstruct government efforts to get the records back.

Smith's work examines whether anyone tried to scupper the criminal inquiry, or whether Trump illegally held on to documents that he should have turned over to authorities.

Trump insists he did nothing wrong, and says his power as president meant documents were automatically declassified if he chose to remove them from his official offices.

But it is unclear whether the top attorney has gathered enough proof for Garland to charge the ex-commander-in-chief with a crime.

Trump's former attorney general Bill Barr previously said he believes the classified documents probe poses the greatest legal threat to the ex-president of all three investigations he is facing.

Smith is also investigating the bid by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.

The FBI seized 11,000 documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in a court-approved August 8 search, including about 100 marked as classified

The FBI seized 11,000 documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in a court-approved August 8 search, including about 100 marked as classified.

Some were designated top secret, the highest level of classified information.

The department began its investigation after the National Archives, the U.S. agency responsible for preserving government records, tried to get Trump to return missing government property and received 15 boxes with classified documents mixed in.

Trump has accused the Justice Department of engaging in a partisan witch hunt and claims the documents he took were part of his personal records and were declassified when he left office.

Trump appeared virtually in a Manhattan court Tuesday for a hearing in another case. He faces more than 30 charges in connection to alleged hush money payments to help keep an affair with Stormy Daniels secret.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges and said the case is a political witch hunt.

He was reminded by a judge not to share evidence in the case publicly.
Police believe the intruders targeted the wrong house

Two youths have been charged over a violent home invasion that left a man with a fractured skill and broken arm in a case of mistaken identity.

Victoria Police have arrested a 21-year-old man from Box Hill and another man, 18, from Kilsyth over the incident and slapped them with home invasion charges.

Three masked intruders dressed in black broke into the Ringwood East home via a rear door on June 15, last year.

One of the assailants was armed with a single-barrel gun.

A man at the property, Robert, 50, who did not want his full name used, was woken up by the sound of the men breaking in.

Home invasion victim Robert (pictured) was assaulted by three men and left with a fractured skull and broken arm

The trio assaulted Robert and demanded to know the location of a safe.

They stomped on Robert's head during the vicious assault before ransacking the house.

The men stole a mobile phone, wallet and personal safe before fleeing the scene in a sedan.

Robert suffered a fractured skill and ribs, a broken arm, loss of vision in his left eye as well as bruising and swelling to his face and body.

He hasn't been back home since the attack and has put his property up for sale.

Detectives revealed in March that they believe the intruders had actually targeted the wrong house.

They arrested the two youths and are currently on the lookout for more suspects.

Victoria Police have arrested and charged a 21-year-old man from Box Hill and another man, 18, from Kilsyth over the incident (stock image)

The Box Hill man was charged with aggravated home invasion with a firearm, home invasion, causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence and theft.

He was remanded in custody and will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 14.

The Kilsyth man is charged with trafficking a drug of dependence and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

He will appear Ringwood Magistrates Court on August 16.
The former PM says it presents 'constitutional risk'

Scott Morrison has spoken out against the Voice

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has used a rare speech in parliament to oppose the upcoming Indigenous voice referendum.

Mr Morrison said the proposal was 'ill-defined' and would create constitutional risk in enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament and executive government.

'It is not necessary to enshrine the voice in the constitution to deliver constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians. That enjoys broad support,' he told parliament on Wednesday.

Scott Morrison (pictured) slammed the Albanese government's Voice proposal in a rare contribution to public debate on Wednesday

'It is wrong to conflate the issues of the voice with constitutional recognition and treat them as inseparable.

'The impact of the voice on the operations of executive government and the parliament are also not known, presenting significant and unknown risks that cannot be easily remedied.'

It was just the third time Mr Morrison has spoken in parliament since losing last year's federal election, the other occasions being after the death of the Queen, as well as defending himself from being censured following his multiple ministries scandal.

The former prime minister also slammed the Albanese government for not being open to amendments to the proposal, which he deemed to be 'poorly constructed'.

He said that all Australians wished to support and do everything they could to recognise and improve the lives of indigenous Australians, but that was not what the government was proposing to do.

'Permanently changing the Constitution in the way the government proposes will sadly not change the desperate circumstances being experienced in so many Indigenous communities across Australia,' Mr Morrison said.

'I understand that is the hope of this proposal, and hope is a good thing, but hope disappointed will be crushing to the soul, and such disappointment can be reasonably foreseen by proceeding with the government's proposal.'

The former prime minister expressed his view that the Voice proposal was divide Australians and present a 'significant risk' to the constitution

Mr Morrison is one of more than 100 MPs who will speak this week either for or against the Voice proposal. Opposition leader Peter Dutton (pictured) was the first to speak on Tuesday

Mr Morrison also took aim at sporting codes and business groups that have come out in publicly supporting the referendum.

'While keenly interested in the NRL's opinion on hip-drop tackles and the six-again rule, I don't think I'll be referring to them for constitutional advice in making my decisions on this matter,' he said.

While he was prime minister, Mr Morrison rejected calls to establish a voice to parliament in the constitution, but backed work to set up local and regional voice mechanisms.

A proposal to have the body legislated did not proceed.

Indigenous Labor MP Marion Scrymgour said the voice was not a political campaign, but an extension of advocacy from Aboriginal leaders, and represented a significant step forward.

'This constitution, this birth certificate, which we now seek to amend in such a modest way, was predicated on allowing the participating colonies to complete the project of cancelling out Aboriginal people, which they had already embarked upon,' she said.

'Giving our people a real voice now is the least that this country can do to make good the wrong that has existed at the heart of our founding document.'

Ms Scrymgour decried opponents of the voice who said the constitutional change would divide the country in race.

'It is disgraceful that people use that as a means to create doubt and division in the hearts and minds of people,' she said.

MPs will face another long night of talks on the voice, ahead of a vote next month on the final form the referendum will take.

Parliament is set to vote on the final wording of the referendum question along with the changes to the constitution should the proposal succeed.

The lower house isn't expected to vote on the voice bill until next week when the debate will shift to the Senate.

The bill is expected to be finalised in June ahead of the referendum, which will be held between October and December.
Another of Australia's Big Four banks has ordered staff to return to the office in a decision that shows the Covid era is of workplace flexibility is fast drawing to a close.

The Commonwealth Bank's chief executive Matt Comyn advised its 49,000-strong workforce in an email on Monday they will be required to physically come into the office at least 50 per cent of the time from July.

The decision follows fast on the heels of one made by NAB chief executive Ross McEwan's order that all senior staff must return five days a week.

Mr McEwan's decision was partly due to what he say as the bank's duty to reinvigorate cities and regional centres which have struggled with a lack of office workers.

Commonwealth Bank is the latest financial giant advising staff to return to the office

In a statement, the Commonwealth Bank told Daily Mail Australia it was providing a 'framework' for staff to get back to the office

In a statement on Wednesday, the Commonwealth Bank confirmed to Daily Mail Australia they were providing a 'framework' for staff to get back to the office.

'Our approach to hybrid working has always been about finding the right balance between our longstanding commitment to flexible working and ensuring we deliver the best outcomes for our customers,' the spokeswoman said.

'Over the past couple of years we've spent time testing different working models based on our own insights, regular feedback from our people, and the lessons of other organisations.

'Based on these experiences, we have recently set the expectation that from mid-July, our office-based people will be required to come into the office for at least 50 per cent of their work time over the month.

'This provides individual flexibility for where work is done for half the working month, as well recognises the important role the workplace plays in collaboration, innovation, wellbeing and career development.'

The bank said the move back to the office was to continue to drive innovation, increase staff collaborations and improve face-to-face interactions.

CBA group executive of human resources Sian Lewis has previously told the Australian Financial Review that workers in the office connect with an additional 11 more colleagues each day and spend between 20 to 30 minutes more time collaborating with each other.

'Our people also spend 40 per cent or more time connecting with their leader and peers when in the office,' she said. 'We have seen that innovation is an outcome of our people physically working together.'

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn issued a staff memo this week

After announcing senior staff must return to the office, NAB's chief executive Ross McEwan said other workers would be expected to increase their time in the office from one or two days to two or three days.

Poll What will you say if your boss demands you return to the office? No way, I'm out of here About time, I need a push I'm already back What will you say if your boss demands you return to the office? No way, I'm out of here 377 votes

About time, I need a push 164 votes

I'm already back 318 votes Now share your opinion





'I've said to the team, it's time to come back five days in the office,' he told 9News.

'I'm one for flexibility, I always have been, but we have also got to make sure our people are trained and developed well.'

CR Commercial Real Estate Group chief executive Nicole Duncan backed the decision by NAB.

'I think there's a real need for CEOs to take a lead on this,' she said.

'The younger generation, the older generation - otherwise we are going to end up with no leaders.'

However, businesses have a fight on their hands if they want employees to return to the office full-time, with surveys consistently showing Australians prefer a flexible approach to working.

And with unemployment continuing at near record lows, many businesses understand that employees will continue to dictate how often they come into the office.
A Miami elementary school has banned students from reading a poem famously read at Biden's inauguration - even though the parent who complained mistook its young black author for Oprah Winfrey.

The Miami Herald reported that a parent at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes took issue with Amanda Gorman's The Hill We Climb.

Explaining their complaint in a form shared by Gorman, who is 25, they said the work is 'not educational and have indirectly hate messages'. (sic)

The complainant further added that the widely-praised work could 'cause confusion and indoctrinate students.'

They also wrongly identified 69-year-old Oprah Winfrey as the author of the poem, which was famously read by Gorman during Biden's January 2021 inauguration. Winfrey did write a foreword for the work, which may have confused the complainant.

It's unclear what exactly offended the parent. The Hill We Climb has no cursing. It references Gorman's slave ancestors, and also takes aim at Donald Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election to Biden.

A review committee comprised of staff members at the school ultimately concluded that four of the five titles were better suited for middle school children, and will now be placed in the middle school section of the library.

Amanda Gorman, then 22, reads her poem The Hill We Climb at the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris

The parent wrote that the book is not appropriate for any school and that its purpose is to 'cause confusion and indoctrinate students'

The parent who complained about Gorman's poem misidentified the author of the work as Oprah Winfrey

The ban exclusively impacts the one school where a parent of two students complained that the reading materials contained 'indirect hate messages' and were part of an effort to indoctrinate children.

In response to news of her book being yanked from elementary school shelves, Gorman posted a statement to her Instagram:

'I'm gutted. Because of one parent's complaint, my inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County, Florida.'

She went on to say that book bans have been on the rise in the US and that 'all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection. And let's be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.'

She wrote that banning her poem is a way of 'robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature,' which in turn is 'a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.'

She added that her publisher, Penguin Random House, has joined in on a lawsuit in Florida that challenges book restrictions like the one at the Bob Graham Education Center.

Gorman responded to news that her book had been removed from an elementary school library and announced that her publisher has joined a suit in Florida that opposes the rights of parents to dictate whether or not something is inappropriate for their child to encounter in school

Elementary students at Bob Graham Education Center have been banned from reading Amanda Gorman's poem

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has sought to prevent children from reading material he deems unsuitable, but has denied he's banned books.

The lawmaker - who's launching his 2024 presidential bid on Wednesday evening - sought to target books about gender and sexuality, but other tomes have been received complaints too.

It is not clear precisely which part of Gorman's poem the parent took issue with. The work contains lines that make reference to an 'unfinished' nation, as well as a 'force' that could 'shatter' democracy.

'Somehow we've weathered and witnessed / a nation that isn't broken, / but simply unfinished. / We the successors of a country and a time / where a skinny Black girl / descended from slaves and raised by a single mother / can dream of becoming president / only to find herself reciting for one,' reads one stanza of Gorman's poem.

It continues: 'We've seen a force that would shatter our nation / rather than share it. / Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. / And this effort very nearly succeeded. / But while democracy can be periodically delayed, / it can never be permanently defeated.'

Harvard-educated Gorman's reading at the inauguration was widely-praised, and launched her career as a writer and model.
The Russian air force has ordered that most of its SU-25 ground attack aircraft be upgraded to the Su-25SM3 standard that was developed in 2012 in an effort to match the capabilities of the American A-10C. a recent (2005) upgrade to the 1970s A-10 design that added the ability to use guided bombs and missiles. The Americans went ahead and upgraded most of their A-10s while Russia dropped plans to upgrade all the Su-25s because the money was not available. The few aircraft upgraded to Su-25SM3a were tested and found quite effective and popular with pilots. Su-25s have been heavily used in Ukraine by Russia and the Ukrainians, who inherited many Su-25s when the Cold War ended and kept them in service.

The A-10 ground attack aircraft was designed to destroy Russian tanks in Europe for a war that never happened. The 20-ton A-10 entered service in 1977. Four years later the 19-ton Russian Su-25 entered service. Both aircraft were designed to provide close air support for ground combat forces and survive fire from ground troops. Both aircraft were equipped with armor around the cockpit and key components. The A-10 had a distinctive design with its two jet engines mounted above the rear fuselage, to make it less vulnerable to ground fire. The competing A-9 had a design similar to the Su-25. Both the Su-25 and A-9 used what was considered a conventional design and both aircraft added similar special features like lightweight armor for the engines and pilot.

The Su-25, which began development a little before the A-10 did not enter service until 1981. While the A-10 was upgraded to handle guided weapons in 2005, the Su-25 did not get similar upgrades until 2012 and these upgrades were not ordered for all Su-25s until 2023. Over a thousand Su-25s have been built and most are used by the Russian Air Force.

While Ukraine has its own Si-25s it has asked for American A-10s because the A-10 has the upgrades to handle guided missiles and smart bombs. A-10s also come with a 30mm autocannon firing armor piercing shells designed to penetrate the top armor on Russian tanks. The 30mm rotary cannon and supporting equipment weigh nearly two tons and fire thee armor piercing rounds at the rate of up to 65 a second. When tanks are not present the A-10 carries explosive rounds that are more effective against ground troops.

The Soviet Union self-destructed in 1991, but that was the year the A-10 first saw combat, destroying Russian made tanks in Kuwait and Iraq. There were 132 A-10s in that war, they were available 95 percent of the time and flew 8,100 sorties. Four A-10s were shot down by SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles) and eleven were hit by anti-aircraft artillery. The A-10 proved to be as rugged as it was designed to be with those hit by ground fire making it back to base. Several were so badly damaged they never flew again. In that operation A-10s scored their first air-to-air victories, downing two Iraqi helicopters. A-10s used 90 percent of the Maverick guided missiles expended in that conflict and when it was all over the air force decided it needed the A-10 and gave up plans to replace it with a ground attack version of the F-16. This was a remarkable comeback for an aircraft that first flew in 1972 and entered service in 1977. Only 716 were produced between 1972 and 1984, but 39 percent (282) are still in service as the much-upgraded A-10C. The air force kept trying to set a retirement date for the A-10 but new uses were constantly found and, even before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the air force had decided to indefinitely put off retiring the A-10. This was partially because there was no viable replacement and the A-10 had a remarkable ability to keep reinventing itself to remain useful. For example, the A-10 had become a key component of CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) for pilots down in hostile territory. Some designs, like the B-52 heavy bomber, are irreplaceable and the A-10 has become another one of them.

Spare parts from AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance and Recovery Center) have kept the ancient A-10 ground attack aircraft flying. The A-10 was not able to demonstrate its effectiveness until the 1990s and ever since the army and marines have been able to block air force efforts to retire all A-10s. Instead, the A-10 was upgraded and received new wings to replace the ones weakened by decades of flying, often in combat. The most useful A-10 weapon is its built-in 30mm autocannon. Originally designed to use armor piercing shells, these were replaced with high-explosive shells for ground support. Just the sound of the low-flying A-10 firing its 30mm autocannon was considered a useful weapon by the ground troops as it would demoralize the enemy troops who survived the firepower.

Recent upgrades included the ability to use smart bombs. The latest upgrade involved new bomb racks that enable each A-10C to carry sixteen GBU-39 smart bombs that are laser guided and the most popular weapon used to support ground troops. The A-10 can carry seven tons of bombs and the sixteen GBU-39 SDBs (Small Diameter Bombs), with their new bomb racks, weigh less than five tons.

The Su-25SM3 carries upgraded, encrypted communications as well as missile and enemy aircraft detection systems and countermeasures. There are systems to handle GPS (GLONASS) guided bombs or laser guided missiles. Two air-to-air missiles can be carried for use against enemy jets or helicopters. The upgraded Su-25 still carries the single barrel 30mm cannon and 250 rounds of armor piercing or high-explosive shells. The Ukrainians have not upgraded any of their Su-25s but are considering it, using Ukrainian and NATO nation accessories.
Three flight attendants who mocked non-English speaking passengers and told one to sleep on the floor have been fired by Cathay Pacific Airways.

The Hong Kong airline said Tuesday it fired the flight attendants after a passenger accused them of discrimination on a flight to mainland China, prompting anger from the country's state media.

The airline stewards were accused of complaining amongst themselves and making fun of the passengers in both English and Cantonese.

One attendant reportedly made fun of a passenger for confusing a carpet for a blanket when using English and told them to sleep on the floor if they were unable to say the word.

Cathay said the experience of passengers travelling on its CX987 flight from the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu to Hong Kong on Sunday caused 'widespread concern' and said it sincerely apologised. This prompted Hong Kong's leader to vow it wouldn't happen again on behalf of the airline.

Three flight attendants have been fired by Cathay Pacific Airways (file image of their aircraft)

The airline fired three flight attendants involved after an internal investigation, CEO Ronald Lam said.

'I would like to reiterate that Cathay Pacific takes a 'zero tolerance' approach to serious violations of company rules and ethics by individual employees and will not tolerate them,' Lam said.

He added that he would lead a cross-departmental working group to conduct a comprehensive review of service processes, staff training and related systems to enhance its service quality.

'Most importantly, we must ensure that all Cathay Pacific staff respect passengers from different backgrounds and cultures and provide professional and consistent service in all areas served,' Lam said.

A passenger on the flight from Chengdu wrote in an online post that flight attendants complained amongst themselves about passengers in English and Cantonese.

The passenger said the flight attendants made fun of others for asking for a carpet instead of a blanket in English. 'If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it. ... Carpet is on the floor. Feel free if you want to lie on it,' a flight attendant said, according to a recording that was circulated widely online.

Hong Kong's flagship carrier has been trying to rebuild itself as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was badly hit by COVID-related flight cancellations, border closings and strict quarantine measures for crew, resulting in drastic headcount reductions since 2020.

Hong Kong's chief executive, John Lee, said on Wednesday that the discrimination incident was serious and could not be repeated.

'The words and deeds of the flight attendants hurt the feelings of compatriots in Hong Kong and the mainland and destroyed Hong Kong's traditional culture and values of respect and courtesy,' he said, according to a post on his Facebook.

The airline stewards were accused of complaining amongst themselves and making fun of the passengers (file image of plane landing in Hong Kong)

Cathay's Flight Attendants Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China's state-owned People's Daily in an online commentary said it was shocked by the incident against Mandarin-speaking passengers and criticised Cathay's corporate culture for 'worshipping foreigners and respecting Hong Kong people' but looking down on Mainlanders.

'Cathay Pacific can't just apologise every time, but should rectify heavily, establish rules and regulations, and stop the unhealthy trend from the root,' it said.

The newspaper went on to say that the level of Mandarin in Hong Kong is improving by 'leaps and bounds.'

'In Hong Kong the reverse trend of worshipping English and looking down on Mandarin is bound to disappear.' the newspaper said.
A rising number of Australian 'working homeless' are being forced to live on the street and in makeshift tent villages as rents soar around the country.

Kerry, in her 30s, was renting a $1,200 a month two-bedroom apartment in Sydney's Waterloo just 12 months ago but now lives in a tent in Enmore Park where she was recently attacked by strangers.

'I'm in a bad situation, I was literally beaten up,' the well spoken former administration worker told 7News.

She had to move out after falling ill, having to pay for medical bills and medicine, and has brought her cat and dog to the park with her.

'My best option right now is to take care of myself until I am able to afford rent again,' she said.

Kerry (pictured) is a former admin worker and is still working as a jeweler but has been forced to live in a tent amid soaring rental prices and medical bills

She explained she always considered a homeless person as somebody with 'a little cardboard placard' until she was forced to sleep rough despite still working as jeweler.

'A lot of us don't want to be put on government benefits as it's a slippery slope there are people out there working or hoping to start work but just can't afford to rent,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

Her simple green tent pitched under a tree in the park is one of a growing number of tents, cars and vans appearing not only here, in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's electorate of Grayndler, but in parks in other capital cities.

Real estate research firm Proptrack confirmed rentals in Sydney for under $400 a week have hit record lows - plunging from 21 per cent of all rentals to just 9 per cent between 2020 and 2023.

The Albanese government is attempting to get a $10billion housing package through parliament but community support organisations are calling for more urgent action.

Trina Jones from Homelessness NSW said there are more than 57,000 households on the waiting list for temporary short term accommodation, especially concerning considering the chilly winter temperatures in Sydney this week.

'Homelessness is just one bad situation away from everybody,' Kerry said.

Kerry was 'beaten up' while living in her tent, where she also cares for her cat and pet poodle

The Inner West Council, which incorporates Enmore Park, told the newspaper they were concerned about the situation.

'Several agencies have been involved in visiting Enmore Park and engaging with those people who are sleeping rough. We are aware of it and it's distressing,' a council spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Mr Albanese said the previous government had 'failed' by allowing this to happen over the decade it was running the country.

'The Budget included an extra $67.5million boost to homelessness funding to states and territories on top of approximately $1.6billion provided annually to states and territories for housing and homelessness through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement,' the spokesperson said.
Claudia Conway, the teenage daughter of Kellyanne Conway, said she's offering adult content for $5-a-month on a new Playboy site to reclaim her womanhood and femininity.

The 18 year-old tweeted Tuesday about her new gig, saying she was exploited by the media and 'forced into portraying myself as something I wasn't.'

'My body was taken from me. Now, as a young adult, I am aiming to reclaim my womanhood and femininity in a way that is truly mine,' she continued. 'I am putting myself out there in a way that is MY OWN and no one else's.'

She claimed it was the only comment she would make about the page.

Conway has been operating a subscription page on Playboy.com since the end of April  with most images revealing her in a selection of bikinis. Raunchier photos, such as cleavage close-ups, are available for as little as $5, while the most expensive one goes for $99.

Kellyanne Conway's teenage daughter Claudia, 18, said she's offering adult content for $5-a-month on a new Playboy site to reclaim her womanhood and femininity

Claudia tweeted Tuesday about her new gig, saying she was exploited by the media and 'forced into portraying myself as something I wasn't'

She launched her subscription-only page on Playboy.com in late April offering racy content and images, with some footage starting at $5

Playboy launched the channel in March as part of its pivot to digital content following the closure of its loss-making print magazine in 2020.

Unlike competitor Only Fans, the site does not allow pornography or X-rated posts but does allow what it describes as 'artistic nudity'.

As a result, most bunny pages show women in swimwear, among them Claudia who appears in three different swimsuits  one green, one lilac and one a blue floral print.

In Claudia's tweet on Tuesday, she also wrote: 'I have full control of my body and my voice. I believe in writing your own narrative, like I've said in the past, and taking back what was once unjustly taken from you.'

'Autonomy and freedom are two things everyone should have. dont let someone capitalize off of your vulnerabilities reclaim them. Sending you all light and love on this Tuesday.'

Users can subscribe to Claudia's page for free, but can have access to more exclusive content for a price. Footage starts as little as $5 while the most expensive photo on offer costs $99

On Instagram, she is known to share racy, but milder pics, in revealing dresses and swimsuits

Claudia is the eldest daughter of Trump administration official Kellyanne Conway, 56, who famously coined the phrase 'alternative facts' during a Meet the Press interview in January 2017.

Her father is George Conway, an activist and outspoken Trump critic. George and Kellyanne announced plans to divorce earlier this year.

Kellyanne is now a Fox News contributor and remains the only woman to have masterminded a successful US presidential election campaign  steering former President Trump to victory in the 2016 contest.

But her tenure as senior counselor to former President Trump led to a brief public estrangement from Claudia who stunned commentators in July 2020 when she announced to the world that her parents' marriage had 'failed'.

A month later, the then 15-year-old said she was 'pushing for emancipation' from her parents  adding in a Twitter post: 'Buckle up because this is probably going to be public one way or another, unfortunately. Welcome to my life.'

The Twitter outburst also included a broadside at her mother, with Claudia calling Conway 'selfish' for pursuing her political career and begging ultra-liberal congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to adopt her.

Kellyanne Conway and Claudia have had a publicly documented rocky relationship for years, but Claudia has so far been supportive of her mother in the wake of her divorce announcement

Claudia has previously claimed that her mom working for Trump has ruined her life

Showing her liberal credentials, Claudia carried a 'F*** SCOTUS' placard during a march to protest the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade last year

In 2020, Conway announced she was resigning from her White House role 'to spend more time with my family' but Claudia unleashed another social media barrage in 2021 when she posted a TikTok video of her mom yelling at her and claimed she had been 'mentally, physically and emotionally abused'.

By July 2021, the mother-daughter duo's relationship was on the mend, with Claudia posting a heartfelt string of messages to Twitter that read: 'I can finally and fortunately tell you, with all the elation in my heart, that I am happy and safe. Forgiveness has taught me a lot.

'I love my mother and she will always inspire me, despite our public conflicts. I am proud that we are living proof of breaking the cycle.'

When she was 16 years old, Claudia briefly appeared on American Idol where judge Katy Perry grilled her about her parents  an experience she later described in an interview with Bustle as 'really, really uncomfortable'.

Claudia has since told how she came out as gay to her family in 2020 and now defines herself as both gay and pansexual. She uses her online presence to champion issues such as gun control, abortion rights and LGBTQ issues.
A teenage boy has allegedly fired a gun at a private school, sending students and a nearby day care centre into lockdown - as details emerge of how children hid in a cupboard out of fear of an American-style massacre.

Emergency services were called to a 'firearm incident' Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Two Rocks, in Perth's north, shortly before midday on Wednesday.

A boy, 15, was taken into custody by police after he allegedly opened fire three times in the school carpark, one of the bullets penetrating a school building.

The teenager, who police believe is a former student, has since been arrested. No one was injured.

Teachers and students, some of which 'very young', took action and immediately called police to report the gunfire.

Visibly distressed students, including young children, were seen rushing into the arms of waiting parents after several frightening hours hiding in storerooms and under desks in their classrooms.

Frantic parents raced to the school to console their distraught children on Wednesday

There were emotional scenes as traumatised students ran into their parents' arms

West Australia's Commissioner of Police, Col Branch, confirmed the teenager was in possession of two rifles, a .243 calibre and a .22 calibre, believed to be owned by his father.

They were found in a car that police believe he arrived in and not on his person.

Police found three bullet shells at the scene, however the trajectory of only one of the bullets has been confirmed.

'When I heard the reports of what had happened today, it really shocked me it really shocked me that this has occurred in Western Australia,' Commissioner Branch told the media on Wednesday afternoon.

'But what I am very pleased about is the response of the community, the teachers, the students and the police.

'We responded quickly and thankfully, no one has been taught that.'

A young pupil was reunited with his mum after the scary ordeal

Frightened students were told to hide underneath desks, jackets or anything that could conceal them.

'We heard police sirens, then we heard shouting,' one girl told Nine News.

'Then we heard footsteps on the deck, which really scared me because I thought it was the guy coming.

'Then we heard the police knock on the door saying 'police' and we were all relieved. We were making prayers as it's a Christian school.

'We were hugging each other and I was comforting my friend next to me.'

Another added: 'We were playing on our laptops doing some work and I heard, like a big bang. Then my teacher said, 'Get under your desks'.

One dad got a glimpse of the student being arrested as he arrived at the school.

'They blocked off the road and we saw the young guy get arrested and be put in the back of the paddy wagon. He was calm and didn't seem to be unfazed,' he said.

Dozens of police remain at Atlantis Beach Baptist College, where a student allegedly opened fire in the carpark

One distraught boy Riley, 14, told The West Australian newspaper that his teacher locked the students in the cooking cupboard as the incident unfolded.

'I was shaking, I wasnt really crying though. It was scary.'

His mum raced to the school after getting a text from his teacher.

'She (the teacher) said they heard shots out in the carpark and the kids ran in and at first they were quite calm because they thought it was as joke,' she said.

'But when they realised it was more serious they barricaded themselves in the cooking cupboard.

'I said: 'What's going on?' and she said there's a shooter here. Then I just came straight up here.'

The mother added her traumatised son won't be attending school on Thursday.

The area remains cordoned off to the public.

Teachers and students, one as young as 12-years-old, were quick to call 000.

'They rang triple zero, they provided excellent, credible information that allowed our officers to respond appropriately,' Commissioner Branch said.

'And I really do want to thank the teachers and the students who enacted those protocols, and help police make a safe arrest.'

WA Police Inspector Geoff Desanges had earlier reassured concerned parents and the community a significant number of police remain onsite.

'We do not have any reports ... of anyone being injured,' he said.

'We ask that parents and members of the public give us some distance to complete or duties. We will come back to you with further updates as soon as we have information.'

He added all staff and students accounted for.

Dozens of frantic parents raced to the Perth school after hearing their children were in lockdown inside the college

Insp DeSanges said police needed distance from parents and the community to 'complete our duties'.

Police continue to liaise with the school in relation to the incident.

A WA Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia there are currently no reports of injuries.

It's understood nearby businesses, including a daycare centre and a medical facility also went into lockdown following the incident.

Atlantis Beach Baptist College is a co-educational private Baptist school which provides 'quality education' to students from Kindergarten to Year 10.

Commissioner Branch claimed the investigation, lead by the state's Major Crime Squad, into the 15-year-old will be 'thorough'.

'That means (investigating) all electronic devices, associates, parents,' he said.

'How does a 15 year old get hold of two lethal weapons and fire them in a school?'
An Australian tourist has been found dead in Kazakhstan after disappearing for three days.

Jake Michael Herd, 27, was found dead near Big Almaty Lake, in the Tian Shan mountains, at an altitude of around 2,500 metres, according to local authorities.

Mr Herd had been missing for three days after disappearing on Sunday and is believed to have succumbed to a fall in bad weather.

Jake Michael Herd, 27, was found dead near Big Almaty Lake, in the Tian Shan mountains, at an altitude of around 2500 metres, according to local authorities

Mr Herd is not believed to have died violently because all his possessions were found with his body

He was last seen leaving his hostel to hike around the mountainous region.

Searchers found his body along with all his personal belongings - indicating he did not die violently.

His body was recovered near the Ayusai River Gorge, and is believed to have fallen down before he died.

Local news sources said he disappeared near the first waterfall in the Ayusay gorge.

The attempted rescue operation was carried out in torrid conditions, including wind, rain and snow.

Mr Herd is understood to have arrived at Kazakhstan last weekend and had been planning to leave on Monday.
An alleged birdnapper, who said he tied an ibis up by its feet and tried to shove it in a trolley because 'birds annoy' him, has been released on bail subject to a very specific set of rules.

Tom Quach, 60, was granted bail at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday, charged with animal cruelty and harming or attempting to harm a protected animal.

The Vietnamese national allegedly stuffed the bird in his bag before riding a stolen bike to his Maroubra home, in Sydney's east, and decapitating it.

He then allegedly hung the bird up in his shower in preparation to eat it.

His lawyer told the court that his client was confused about the ibis' protective status in NSW, as he had caught and eaten the animal while living in Queensland.

Several members of the public intervened and managed to take the bird from the man, who left the area before police arrived (pictured)

Quach was arrested earlier this year after a video of him trying to put the distressed bird in his wheeled shopping bag went viral online.

Police received calls regarding a man who had allegedly captured an ibis outside Eastwood train station.

Officers were told the man allegedly tied a rope around the bird's feet and neck, and was trying to place the bird into a wheeled red trolley bag.

Several members of the public intervened and managed to take the bird from the man, who left the area before police arrived.

Witnesses told police the bird appeared to have an injured beak and was bleeding, but it flew away before police and WIRES arrived.

Quach (pictured) was arrested earlier this year after a video of him trying to put the distressed bird in his wheeled shopping bag went viral online

The court previously heard Quach had 'lashed out' at the ibis because other birds had been 'chasing and attacking' him

On Wednesday, Quach was granted conditional bail to return to his Maroubra home, but will be barred from approaching or possessing any birds.

No more than three times per week, Quach's home will also be subject to a police search looking for any birds - dead or alive.

The court previously heard Quach had 'lashed out' at the ibis because other birds had been 'chasing and attacking' him.

'In his mind he was under attack,' his legal aid solicitor told the court.

'The birds were following him and annoying him and he lashed out and took his frustrations out on the bird.'

Quach also faces a single charge each of having a prohibited drug and possessing goods suspected of being stolen.

Quach (pictured) also faces a single charge each of having a prohibited drug and possessing goods suspected of being stolen

The white Australian ibis (pictured), colloquially known as a bin chicken, is a protected species under the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act and cannot be harmed or interfered with

The court heard that Quach suffers from PTSD and bipolar disorder and had spent weeks at a mental health institute only to reoffend just days after being released.

Under the bail conditions imposed on Wednesday, Quach will be required to report to Maroubra police daily and is subject to a strict curfew from 8pm to 6am.

He was also ordered to undertake treatment at Prince of Wales hospital and will be barred from consuming any drugs or alcohol.

The white Australian ibis, colloquially referred to as a bin chicken, is a protected species under the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. As such, it cannot be harmed or interfered with.
A top cop who led the police investigation into Brittany Higgins' rape allegation against Bruce Lehrmann has told an inquiry he was inspired to become a detective because he is a victim of sexual assault.

Superintendent Scott Moller made the powerful admission to a Board of Inquiry on Wednesday afternoon, while being questioned by his own lawyer on why he felt motivated to become a cop.

The inquiry is investigating the way Mr Lehrmann's rape trial was handled by police and prosecutors before, during and after the criminal trial. He was accused of raping Ms Higgins in 2019. He has always maintained his innocence.

Supt Moller's lawyer asked: 'You were asked questions about your attitude when looking at the credibility of complainants in sex offence matters - is there any particular life experience that informs your approach?'

Mark Tedeschi - the lawyer for the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold - tried to object to the question, but it was overruled by retired judge Walter Sofronoff, who is overseeing the inquiry.

Supt Moller replied: 'I'm a survivor.'

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said he became a police officer because he is a sexual assault victim

'I've lived with that for 45 years and that has driven my desire to work in the police and work with victims.

'That has driven my desire and my want to make sure that never happens to anyone else in the community.'

Supt Moller then referred to lines of questioning during the inquiry earlier this month, when Mr Drumgold accused police of assigning stereotypes to Ms Higgins, based on what they believe an alleged rape victim would or would not do.

Mr Sofronoff described the stereotypes as 'rape myths'.

On Wednesday, Supt Moller said: 'It's offensive when I hear allegations about rape myths because it is difficult and I've lived with that.

'There are other police officers who draw on other life experiences, but that is my drive and that has been my ongoing commitment until I retire.'

Supt Moller was questioned for three days about his conduct during the trial.

The final question before he was excused from the inquiry came from Mr Sofronoff, who asked whether he believed the police officers who conducted the investigation into Mr Lehrmann had lost objectivity.

Supt Moller explained his colleagues had their own 'deep-seated views' in relation to the fact that they did not think there was enough evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann, but he said they pushed through with the charge regardless.

'Members of the investigation team felt sick when they found our we were going to move forward to charge, but they still did it and they still processed the charge because that's what we do.

'Yes, opinions were highly held but I'm proud of them for having those opinions, I'm proud that they expressed their opinions, but I'm more proud that they moved forward - they followed the process and moved forward with prosecution.'

Brittany Higgins is pictured outside the ACT Supreme Court in October last year

Supt Moller was questioned due to his key role in the investigation, and in relation to a report sent to his bosses that was not disclosed to defence during the trial - which became known as the Moller Report.

The report described Ms Higgins as 'evasive, uncooperative and manipulative,' and said there was 'limited' evidence to corroborate her rape allegations.

During the inquiry this week, Supt Moller said: 'These were the pertinent things at the time that I thought my commander needed to be aware of.'

He was challenged by Mark Tedeschi, representing Mr Drumgold, over the omissions from the report.

Mr Tedeschi said Supt Moller had ignored any analysis of the four different reasons Mr Lehrmann had given to different people about why he went to Parliament House.

'I hadn't mentioned that, no,' Supt Moller admitted.

Earlier on Wednesday, Supt Moller was questioned by Peggy Dwyer, who is representing the Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates. She asked him about Ms Higgins' second police interview in May, 2021.

During that interview, Ms Higgins was shown CCTV of her and Mr Lehrmann entering Parliament House on the evening she alleged she was raped.

Bruce Lehrmann and his lawyer Steven Whybrow leave the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra in October

Supt Moller agreed that he said to Ms Higgins, during that interview: 'There should be no further contact with the media, stop talking to the media, if you're going to speak to the media and it can't go ahead, it will all have been for nothing.'

'I was honest about the issues that were being generated by the media coverage,' he told the inquiry.

Dr Dwyer told the inquiry that Ms Higgins was in a room with five police officers when he warned her about media.

She added that Ms Higgins had watched footage of the night she was allegedly assaulted, had her truthfulness questioned by officers, and was 'visibly shaken and crying'.

Dr Dwyer said: 'There are now five officers in the room when you're giving her that advice and she might have thought you were scolding her.'

Supt Moller said: 'She could have, yes.'

He explained that he was referring to the potential prosecution of Mr Lehrmann when he made those comments, rather than Ms Higgins' ability to campaign against sexual assault.

'We were fixated on prosecution ... and moving this matter to a prosecution and doing everything we could,' he said.

'The media had the potential to undermine everything we were trying to do - to get a prosecution.'

The inquiry will resume on Thursday.
Shah had been trying to get her child into a top London school

She was convicted of eight counts of fraud during the seven-month scam

Fraudster Bhakti Shah even visited the home to collect her post

EXCLUSIVE: An 'unscrupulous' mother said she lived in an elderly couple's house

An elderly couple told of their horror after a shameless parent pretended she was living in their home in an elaborate scam to get her son into a top secondary school.

Angela and Christopher Cole, both 82, hit out at 'unscrupulous' trainee conveyancer Bhakti Shah after she ruthlessly targeted them in a bid to cheat the system.

The pensioners were left out of pocket after they discovered they were building up council tax arrears despite always promptly paying their bills in full.

It emerged Shah, 38, had created fake bills and forged contracts and tenancy agreements to convince the authorities she was a resident at the couple's 1million semi-detached home in Edgware, north London.

The barefaced fraudster even visited the house to collect post from the elderly pair, explaining to them that it had been delivered by mistake.

Fraudster Bhakti Shah is seen arriving at Willesden Magistrates Court

The home of Chris and Angela Cole in Mill Hill, North London

Chris and Angela Cole eventually helped convict Shah of eight counts of scamming

Shah, a paralegal who worked for a London borough council, used her property expertise in a bid to secure a place for her son at Mill Hill County High School.

But she learned a painful lesson after being convicted of eight counts of using a false instrument with intent during the seven month scam.

The outraged Coles, who did not know Shah, insisted they had no plans to leave their home of nearly 20 years or to share it with anyone else.

Shah was brought to justice after Mrs Cole contacted Barnet Council whose fraud team launched an investigation.

Standing on her driveway with husband Christopher at her side, Angela told MailOnline: 'She is totally unscrupulous. This woman was training to become a lawyer, I understand - but I'd never trust a woman like that to sell my house.

This should not be allowed to happen. It was me who raised the alarm.

'I heard this kind of thing goes on everywhere but you can't have people cheating the system like this. This has been turned into a sensation.'

The couple spoke out after Willesden Magistrates' Court heard Shah targeted the pensioners' property as it fell within the catchment area of the oversubscribed school.

The court heard the Coles' home is 1.1 miles from Mill Hill school which allocates just 158 places to families who live within 1.3 miles.

Shah attempted to claim she lived 1.1 miles from the school in Edgware as opposed to where she actually lived

Shah had claimed she had purchased a spot of land close to the couple's Mill Hill home

Shah's rented home is 3.4 miles away in Hendon, the court heard.

The fraud began after she first applied for a place at the school claiming she was going to build property on a patch of land which sits behind the elderly couple's home and had been purchased by her ex-partner.

Shah complained to Barnet Council after their schools admissions team rejected her bid, saying it could only base applications on current addresses.

She then changed her story, claiming she lived in the property in front of the piece of land which was in fact the Coles' home.

After registering a water and council tax account at the property, Shah edited an email from EDF energy to contain the new postcode and create a fake water bill.

Prosecutor Parina Patel told the court last week that Shah used her skills as a conveyancer to create a false contract of sale and land registry form.

She initially put the wrong house number on the fake contract of sale and had to submit another one, leading to a further offence.

When the council did not believe she had moved house, she created a false tenancy agreement showing she was renting out her property in Hendon.

Shah admitted eight counts of using a copy of a false instrument between October 2021 and May 2022

Describing the impact of the fraud on the Coles, Ms Patel told the court: 'The council tax account resulted in costs mounting up for the real occupiers and them having to pay more each month.

'Unnecessary distress was caused to them. They were visited by Shah for her to collect postage addressed to herself.'

Outlining the case, Ms Patel said: 'Barnet Council coordinates the admissions for all the schools in Barnet and receives 15,000 applications a year.

'Ms Shah's application was for her son to attend Mill Hill County school, one of the most popular schools in the borough. In 2022/23 they received 1,303 applications for 273 places.

'Had the council accepted she had moved in and had not discovered discrepancies her son would have secured a place at Mill Hill County School.

'This was not a one-off error of judgment - there was premeditation and planning to submit a variety of documents over a seven-month period.'

Shah's lawyer Daniel Cavaglieri told the court that her son - who is now in a fee-paying school - had failed the entrance exam to get into a different institution.

The lawyer added his client 'wholeheartedly accepts what she did was wrong', and said her career prospects were now in tatters.

He added: 'Both of her jobs are going to come to an end - she will lose her job with Bromley Council and she will not be able to apply for a conveyancer license with this conviction.

'The biggest punishment is going to be to lose her two potential careers, [which] she'd worked for for quite a long time, all going to go to waste.

'The genesis of this was her desire to see her son at the best possible school he could get to - something we all can relate to.

'You can be sure she has very much learnt her lesson and there is no reason she would be before court again.'

District Judge Lorraine McDonagh told Shah: 'This offending took place over a significant period of time, it's not just one document, there has been significant effort and planning incorporating various different documents.

'I also take into account that she would have been very familiar with these types of documents given the work she does and that in my view is very clearly an aggravating factor.'

The judge ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared and placed Shah on unconditional bail.

She told Shah: 'I would advise you I'm keeping all sentencing options open, including committal to the crown court, I'm not ruling out any option.'

Shah admitted eight counts of using a copy of a false instrument between October 2021 and May 2022. She will be sentenced next month.

The prosecution was brought by Barnet Council who are applying for 5,064.29 costs to be awarded.

Shah declined to comment when she opened the door at her modest flat just off the A1 trunk road.
The ABC's Coronation coverage that led to Stan Grant stepping away as host of the Q&A program sparked about 1,800 complaints from the public, its managing director said.

Giving evidence at Senate estimates in Canberra, David Anderson said the complaints included about 60 lodged through the ABC's official editorial complaints channel.

'Some of it was in good faith, quite a lot of it was not in good faith,' he said.

Hundreds of comments sent to the ABC consisted of racists attacks, while others said the Coronation discussion was worthwhile but poorly timed, Mr Anderson said.

Grant made the decision to leave Q&A last week after racism against him intensified, following his involvement in a panel discussion about the Coronation.

The ABC's Coronation coverage that led to Stan Grant (pictured) stepping away as host of the Q&A program sparked about 1,800 complaints from the public, its managing director said

Hundreds of comments sent to the ABC consisted of racists attacks, while others said the Coronation discussion was worthwhile but poorly timed. King Charles and Queen Camilla are pictured

During the show, the veteran correspondent, who is Indigenous, pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land.

In the hearing on Wednesday Mr Anderson again apologised for letting Grant down by not publicly supporting him sooner.

He said he was worried about the ABC's public facing staff and flagged a review of whether the organisation was doing enough to support its employees.

'There is absolutely zero tolerance for racism of any kind and we want to be able to protect them,' he said.

Mr Anderson said he was especially worried about first nations staff as the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum approaches.

ABC's David Anderson (pictured centre) said he was especially worried about first nations staff

News Director Justin Stevens read out several headlines attacking the ABC's Coronation coverage that had been published in commercial media.

He said Grant had been subjected to relentless racism for a long period of time for doing his job and the Coronation coverage saw a spike in racial vitriol on social media.

'We're talking about a really large volume and torrent of racial abuse and threats to Stan and his family over the course of a number of days,' he said.

He flagged that the national broadcaster would change how it supported staff who were subjected to vitriolic abuse.
Former Victoria Police commissioner Graham Ashton will lead an urgent review of service centre security following a brutal stabbing at a Melbourne Centrelink.

on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Chase fronted the Melbourne Magistrates' Court where it was revealed he had been wanted on multiple warrants and for breaching a community corrections order.

Joeanne Cassar, 55, had tried to lock her attacker out of the Centrelink building

Police swarmed on the Centrelink in Airport West, Melbourne on Tuesday

Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten said Mr Ashton and his team would examine what could be done better to prevent and deter future incidents.

'This review will be carried out as a priority. The impact of this terrible incident on staff is obvious. Some were too distressed to return to frontline work today,' Mr Shorten told Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

'I think it is important, and I briefly mentioned this to the Shadow Minister, that this Parliament expresses its support for all of our public servants, in particular the person who was assaulted yesterday.'

A source told Daily Mail Australia Ms Cassar had asked Chase to leave the welfare agency on Louis Street in Airport West in Melbourne's north-west that morning before he returned about 1.30pm with a knife.

Chase had previously been banned from the Centrelink office after another alleged attack on a female staff member.

Charge sheets reveal Chase had been let loose in the community after another alleged rampage at a JobFind Centre in Geelong, south of Melbourne.

Police charged Chase with multiple counts of assault over the December 17, 2020 incident, including recklessly causing injury.

The documents reveal Chase was charged over alleged assaults against two men, one of whom is believed to be an employee.

It is understood that employee sustained a broken collarbone in the alleged attack.

Joeanne Cassar was brutally stabbed while at work

Joeanne Cassar, 55, was stabbed while working at Centrelink in Airport West

Victorian police rushed to Centrelink Airport West after Ms Cassar was stabbed inside on Tuesday

Chase, from Essendon, has been charged over the latest incident with intentionally cause serious injury, recklessly cause serious injury, reckless conduct endangering life, common law assault, and use and possession of controlled weapon.

The court heard Chase required full psychiatric review upon being taken to prison.

A lawyer acting as a 'friend of the court' said Chase had refused to speak with Victorian Legal Aid lawyers and was 'delusional'.

'I was not keen to talk at the time,' Chase said from the prison dock within the courtroom.

Chase had expressed an interest in making an 'in person' bail application himself, but changed his mind after speaking to the lawyer.

He will return to court next week over multiple offences.

Mr Shorten said he travelled to Melbourne to visit the Airport West service centre on Wednesday morning.

'I met many amazing but traumatised co-workers who were present yesterday and others who were there today to support their colleagues,' he said.

'I know the House joins me in expressing shock at this incident. We send our thoughts to the staff member who was injured, her family and the staff and customers who witnessed this assault.'

Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton will head the review

A 34-year-old man from Essendon was arrested and is assisting police with their investigation into the horrific stabbing on Tuesday

His visit came as Daily Mail Australia reported staff at the Airport West Centrelink remained terrified.

'Everyone is just so scared and really don't know what to do about it,' a source within Centrelink told Daily Mail Australia.

The incident reignited calls for Centrelink staff to be better protected.

Protective screens, similar to those used in banks, were removed years ago in an effort to make staff seem 'more approachable'.

A former Centrelink worker, who asked not to be named, said staff were now protected by a 'panic button'.

'I saw someone get a computer ripped off their desk and thrown at their head once,' the ex-worker said.

'And the amount of angry people we'd have leaning over us and shouting in our faces because we wouldn't give them an emergency payment was ridiculous and dangerous. But they wanted us to look more friendly.'

The ex-worker claimed Centrelink staff were reluctant to even hit the panic buttons when threatened.

'No-one uses them because the abuse is so rife they'd be clicking the button everyday if they did it for every incident,' the ex-worker said.

'I worked next to a colleague one day who was so terrified of an abusive customer she couldn't even find the button she was shaking so badly.'
The Niger River Delta is where most of the Nigerian oil is found and extracted. Most of the rest comes from a growing number of off-shore wells. For over half a century all that oil has brought a lot of economic activity to the Delta and that was followed by lots of criminal activity, largely by locals. Dealing with crime in the Delta was a major problem and beyond what the state government could handle. The federal government sent in the armed forces and now the army and navy have substantial forces based in the Delta where they often coordinate campaigns against criminal activity. The criminal activity usually involves stolen oil, either from taps in pipelines or bulk thefts from trucks or barges transporting oil. The stolen oil is then either moved to a neighboring country for re-sale or turned into commercial fuels (usually kerosene) via crude rural refineries that produce cut-rate fuels for rural customers. These illegal refineries are easy to spot from the air and when they are located the army moved in via road or the navy via boat to shut down the refinery, The illegal refining business is so lucrative that losing several refineries every month or so is an affordable cost for a full time refining operation. The refinery personnel usually escape when the army gets the refinery equipment and builds another refinery. The outlaws are armed, although they rarely fight back against the military raids. Rival gangsters or troublesome civilians are another matter. The military raids in the Delta collect lots of stolen weapons and munitions. A lot of this weaponry originally belonged to the military but was either captured during fighting or sold by military personnel. Occasionally the serial numbers of recovered weapons are traceable to police or military units that reported them lost or stolen. Other weapons and explosives are obviously of foreign origin and imported by arms smugglers and traders who see Nigeria as an active and lucrative market. Gangsters, tribal militias and Islamic terrorist groups from the north or central Nigeria often go to the Delta to buy weapons. When the army captures Boko Haram or ISWAP Islamic terrorists in the north they are often armed with weapons from the Delta dealers.

Neighboring countries, especially nearby Cameroon, complain of fighting local rebels and separatists armed with weapons from the infamous Delta arms dealers. In remote areas of northern Cameroon, where Boko Haram groups cross the border to raid in Cameroon or establish camps safe from the Nigerian military, the Nigerian outlaws are often using weapons obtained from the Delta dealers. Cameroon soldiers and police often find themselves facing superior firepower used by the Nigerian outlaws.

May 22, 2023: In the separatist southeast, some locals are celebrating Biafra Day which does not celebrate the failed Biafran civil war in the 1960s but rather the 23rd anniversary of the establishment of a new Biafra independence movement. The major pro-Biafra organization IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) was responsible for local efforts to prevent people from voting in the 2023 national elections. The army and the federal government sought to block these IPOB efforts. In Imo and surrounding states there is an increased army presence because of renewed demands for an independent state of Biafra, dominated by Igbos and consisting of the southeastern states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia. Local politicians advised the federal government to keep the army out of this and that the best, and most possible, solution to the Biafra/Igbo separatist movement threat was to offer some autonomy instead. The Biafra (separatist) movement was revived in 2015 and at first the government ordered police to crack down. By 2016 nearly 200 Igbo had been killed by police attacks on demonstrators and anyone suspected of separatist activity. The violent response was obviously making it worse and after 2018 a gentler approach was tried.

The pro-Biafran separatists have been around and increasingly active since the 1990s. Back in the 1960s the Igbo (or Ibo) people of southeastern Nigeria attempted to establish a separate Igbo state called Biafra. A brutal civil war followed before that rebellion was crushed. Separatist attitudes were silenced but not extinguished. Pro-Biafra groups began to appear again in the late 1990s, trying to revive the separatist movement. Since then, over a thousand separatists have been killed, and many more imprisoned, while the government continues to insist that Biafra is gone forever. But as details of the extent of government corruption during the last few decades came out, Biafra again seemed like something worth fighting for. Senior government officials, including outgoing president Buhari, paid attention, and sought to work out a compromise with the Igbos. The Fulani living in the southeast are less amenable to any compromise, especially since the Fulani are Moslem and consider themselves defenders of Islam against non-believers like the Christian Igbo.

In response to the threats of violence, IPOB took the lead in protecting Igbo from anti-Biafra violence. In areas where peaceful defense measures did not work, IPOB formed an armed security component, the ESN (Eastern Security Network), to defend Igbos in Imo State from Fulani and government violence. The government has responded by sending a battalion of infantry to an area thought to be a base for ESN members. This was unpopular with the locals as Nigerian soldiers are notorious for their violent behavior. These troops had been ordered to behave but that proved difficult for them to do so in the face of Igbo contempt and hostility.

Many Igbo politicians urge IPOB to become more political than militant to achieve their goals. The Igbo, because of their higher education levels and entrepreneurial skills are a growing presence in the national economy and senior civil service. Many prominent Igbo saw the possibility of an Igbo president of Nigeria because there was an Igbo politician running in the next presidential election in February 2023. That did not happen even though many Igbo backed this because they believed it would do more for the Igbo than another war for an independent Biafra. Not all Biafrans agree with that assessment, but most see a Biafran president of Nigeria as a good thing. The 2023 election has a religious aspect to it because one of the leading candidates is Moslem and selected another Moslem to run for vice-president. For decades the Nigerians custom was to always have a Moslem president elected with a Christian vice president and vice versa.

May 21, 2023: In central Nigeria (Benue State) about fifty Fulani tribesmen raided a rural village, killed over 40 villagers, looted the place and set fire to most of the buildings. Four soldiers responded to a call from a villager for help. The soldiers didnt know how many Fulani were involved. The soldiers were killed soon after they arrived. The Benue State Emergency Management Agency reported that over 5,200 Benue residents have been killed by armed Fulani men from nomadic herding tribes since 2015. This violence also created over two million internal refugees. The Federal government was accused of ignoring the situation and not taking action after repeated requests.

May 19, 2023: The two American Consulate officials kidnapped in the southeast (Anambra state) on the 16th were located and rescued by police less than three days later. Thousands of Nigerians are kidnapped each year, most for ransom while some are taken to be exchanged for something other than cash. Nearly a hundred Nigerians a week are taken by criminal gangs, terrorists or personal enemies. The police are not called in unless the victim gets a lot of media attention.

May 17, 2023: In central Nigeria (Plateau state) during the last two days, over a hundred people, most of them women and children, have been killed by raiders attacking rural towns and villages seeking loot. Such violence has been going on for over a decade. In the beginning the attacks were carried out by tribal militias (Moslem Fulani herders and local non-Fulani Moslem and Christian farmers) because of disputes over land use (access to water and grazing territory). This eventually evolved into raiding by criminal gangs. Similar raids in the last few months have left over 200 dead. Local and federal security forces have been unable to track down and identify the attackers. Similar attacks have taken place in nearby Nasarawa State, where the attackers were identified as armed (with rifles) Fulani tribesmen who regularly attacked Moslem Hausa or Christian villages.

May 16, 2023: In the southeast (Anambra state) members of ESN, an Igbo (Biafra) separatist militia, ambushed a convoy carrying members of the American Lagos consulate who were evaluating recent erosion damage to local communities. They were traveling vehicles marked as belonging to the United Nations (UNICEF), which has been active in providing help to victims of local violence or natural disasters. Three of the consulate officials were killed along with four members of their police escort. Two of the consulate officials were missing and presumed kidnapped. Nigerian police, soldiers and naval personnel began checking known or suspected locations of ESN camps seeking the kidnapped men or information on who carried out the attack and where the missing officials were.

May 14, 2023: In the northeast (Borno State) soldiers found a hidden arms cache belonging to ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) Islamic terrorists. The cache contained several rifles, RPG launchers, ammunition and various explosive devices used to make roadside bombs. One Islamic terrorist was spotted and killed as the troops were removing the weapons and explosives.

May 8, 2023: Six merchant sailors kidnapped from a tanker in March were found and rescued by Nigerian security forces today from a kidnapper hideout somewhere in the Niger River Delta. This is a popular place for pirates to hold crew members that have been kidnapped from tankers and freighters anchored offshore in the Gulf of Guinea wanting for a berth to open in a nearby port. Sometimes a ship is taken to another location to be looted, but most of the time the pirates just kidnap members of the crew and hold them for ransom. There is now an international coalition providing safe passage routes and safe anchorage zones for ships to use. This is often inconvenient for some ships so there is always fresh prey for pirates.

April 24, 2023: In the northeast (Borno State) soldiers, assisted by local CJTF (Civilian JTF, or Joint Task Force, after the military organization of the same name) as guides located and raided a dozen Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa Forest over the last few days. The troops killed or captured at least 35 Boko Haram members, including a commander. The Sambisa Forest is a large (60,000 square kilometers), hilly, sparsely populated area where the borders of Borno, Yobe and Adamwa states meet. It has long been a hideout for Boko Haram and outlaws of all sorts. There is no cell phone service in most of the forest and only in a few villages on the edges of the Sambisa. Some Boko Haram bases in the forest have one or two satellite phones of captured army radios, which can at least provide some warning of an army attack if the troops are sloppy about how they use their radios.
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This was MailOnline's live blog following the second day of searches being carried out by Portuguese and German police in the Algarve for signs of Madeleine McCann. The hunt underway at the Barragem do Arade reservoir - around 30 miles from Praia da Luz where the three-year-old went missing in 2007.
A teenager will appear in court after a TikTok 'prank' video showed people entering a private home without permission.

Bacari-Bronze O'Garro, 18, will appear in custody at Thames Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being charged with failing to comply with a community protection notice.

O'Garro, of Hackney, east London, was arrested after an investigation into social media footage.

The Metropolitan Police said Bacari-Bronze O'Garro was charged on Tuesday evening with failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice

Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway from the Metropolitan Police's Central East Command Unit said: 'Understandably there has been extensive comment on this case in the media and on social media.

'Now that an individual has been charged, I would ask that the judicial process be respected and allowed to take its proper course.'
A couple claim they have been given lifetime bans by Ryanair after they became embroiled in an extraordinary row with a stewardess who bumped into them before refusing to apologise.

Carl Davey and fiancee Anna-Leena Nordman say they have been left 'humiliated, upset and angry' at being kicked off the Stansted airport to Helsinki flight on May 9.

The couple were travelling to Finland for Ms Nordman to undergo a cancer scan but as they walked through the airport to board the plane they say a stewardess in uniform bumped into her, causing her to cry out in pain, then refused to apologise.

Mr Davey, 49, followed and asked the stewardess for her name so he could complain but claims she covered the badge and walked off, refusing to identify herself.

He admits he then followed and swore at the flight attendant but assumed things were at an end when she walked off.

But when they boarded the plane they discovered the stewardess was on the same flight and the couple were ordered out of their seats and off the plane by the captain.

Carl Davey and fiancee Anna-Leena Nordman say they have been left 'humiliated, upset and angry' at being kicked off the Stansted airport to Helsinki flight on May 9

Ryanair refutes the couple's claims and say they were removed from the flight due to their aggressive behaviour towards the crew on board

The couple have been in a long distance relationship for 18 months during which time they have taken 20 Ryanair flights between them at a cost of around 2,000.

Mr Davey said: 'We were treated like criminals. It left us humiliated, upset and angry that they treat their customers this way.

'The stupid thing is all we wanted was an apology, British people are renowned for apologising even if they don't think they're in the wrong  but she was so dismissive she just said she hadn't meant to and walked off.

'I know swearing was the wrong thing to do but we spoke to the stewardess when we boarded and she said she was fine for us to fly.

'When they told us we were getting kicked off I went to the front of the plane and tried to speak to the captain but they just said they would call the police if we didn't get off now.'

To make matters worse, the pair claim they were hit with lifetime bans but Ryanair denies this.

Mr Davey's ban allegedly relates to swearing while Ms Nordman, 52, claims she was told she was banned for making sexually inappropriate remarks to a member of airport staff, something the couple strongly deny.

Mr Davey added: 'We were stressed already because my partner needed this cancer scan the next day but I know swearing was wrong so if they want to ban me fine, I wouldn't want to fly with Ryanair again anyway.

'But my partner did nothing other than be upset about the whole incident - the allegation she made sexual comments to staff is such a blatant lie, it's just so insulting.

'I have complained about bad service from Ryanair before so it feels like they are using that against me.'

To ensure they made the appointment the couple spent another 600 on flights with another airline  on top of the 200 they already spent  and flew out from Heathrow later that day.

Footage emerged in September of a separate incident which led to the removal of a 'rude' and 'intoxicated' man being removed from a Ryanair flight from Girona to Bournemouth

Mr Davey runs an online record shop from his home in Exmouth, Devon, while his wife-to-be, lives in Helsinki but plans to move to the UK when they marry next year.

They have been in a long distance relationship for 18 months during which time they have taken 20 Ryanair flights between them at a cost of around 2,000.

The couple claim that they attempted to book another flight with the budget airline before being told by officials they would not be allowed to board it, leading them to believe they had been banned for life.

However, Ryanair refutes the couple's claims, saying in a statement: 'Mr Davey and Ms Nordman are not "banned for life from Ryanair". These passengers were offloaded from this flight from Stansted to Helsinki (9 May) due to their aggressive behaviour towards the crew on board.'

In September footage emerged of separate incident of a 'rude' and 'intoxicated' man being removed from a Ryanair flight from Girona to Bournemouth by police after insulting the cabin crew.

The passenger apparently repeatedly told a female flight attendant to 'f*** off' after she refused to serve him more alcohol.
Suella Braverman is staying on as Home Secretary after Rishi Sunak stopped short of punishing her for asking civil servants to help her dodge a speeding fine.

The PM is keeping Ms Braverman in post after deciding her behaviour did not amount to a breach of ministerial rules - although he acknowledged she could have handled the situation 'better'.

Mr Sunak revealed his conclusion in a letter after mulling the situation since Saturday, when the Cabinet minister was accused of requesting aides organise a speed awareness course last year.

The suggestion was rebuffed, and many in Westminster believe that even if Ms Braverman was found to have breached the code it would only mean a slap on the wrists.

The outcome avoids inflaming the Tory civil war, with Ms Braverman strongly backed by a group of MPs on the right of the party. But it was branded a 'cowardly cop-out' by Opposition politicians.

In her letter to the premier, Ms Braverman apologised for the 'distraction' she had caused.

'As I say, in hindsight, or if faced with a similar situation again, I would have chosen a different course of action,' she wrote.

'I sought to explore whether bespoke arrangements were possible, given my personal circumstances as a security-protected Minister.

'I recognise how some people have construed this as me seeking to avoid sanction  at no point was that the intention or outcome.

'Nonetheless, given the fundamental importance of integrity in public life, I deeply regret that my actions may have given rise to that perception, and I apologise for the distraction this has caused.'

Suella Braverman (pictured at Cabinet yesterday) is staying on after Rishi Sunak stopped short of taking action over claims she asked civil servants to help her dodge a speeding fine

Mr Sunak revealed his conclusion in a letter after mulling the situation since Saturday, when the Cabinet minister was accused of requesting aides organise a speed awareness course last year

Ms Braverman said quizzing officials about the speed awareness course reflected a lack of familiarity with her new status as a 'protected person' when she became Home Secretary last September.

'My actions were always directed toward finding an appropriate way to participate in the speed awareness course, taking into account my new role as Home Secretary and the necessary security and privacy issues that this raised,' she said.

'My interactions with officials intended to provide appropriate clarification of the options available to me in my role as Home Secretary.

'Whenever I was informed that a possible option was not available, I accepted that.

'At no point did I instruct officials to behave contrary to the advice that was provided.'

She also said: 'I also understand that, despite being aware of events at the time, at no point did the Permanent Secretary or Cabinet Office suggest that my actions resulted in a conflict of interest or merited any investigation.'

Mr Sunak responded that a 'better course of action could have been taken, but his ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus had agreed that the matter did not need to be pursued.

'I have consulted with my independent adviser. He has advised that on this occasion further investigation is not necessary and I have accepted that advice. On the basis of your letter and our discussion, my decision is that these matters do not amount to a breach of the ministerial code,' he wrote.

'As you have recognised, a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.'

The row is complicated by looming immigration figures tomorrow, set to show net inflows rising to between 700,000 and a million.

Ms Braverman has been pushing for tougher controls to bring down numbers, but other Cabinet ministers have been resisting warning that the economy needs foreign students and workers.

The Mail on Sunday revealed at the weekend that Mrs Braverman was caught speeding last summer when she was attorney general. She was given the option of taking three penalty points or doing a speed awareness course.

After becoming Home Secretary she allegedly asked officials whether they could arrange a one-to-one course to avoid publicity. Officials refused, warning it would breach the civil service code.

Mrs Braverman admitted speeding, paying a fine and taking penalty points on her driving licence, but insists she has done 'nothing untoward'.

MPs were told the Home Secretary had been asked by No10 to provide 'further information' about the incident.

Some Downing Street figures are said to be frustrated by the Home Office's failure to quickly produce a comprehensive version of events.

Labour has called for Sir Laurie to investigate, with deputy leader Angela Rayner yesterday accusing the PM of 'dither and delay'.

But Tory MPs lined up in the Commons yesterday to defend the Home Secretary  and even some Labour figures acknowledged the row was a storm in a teacup.

Tory grandee Sir Edward Leigh said: 'What is wrong with this country? We used to have proper scandals about sex or money, or about prime ministers invading Iraq on dodgy evidence where hundreds of thousands of people died.

'All this moral outrage about a minister who asked her private office about something and took their advice is ludicrous. We all know what this is all about: the opposition are attacking a good Home Secretary, who is trying to attack the real scandal of mass immigration to this country.'

The PM is expected to decide this morning whether to order an investigation into the allegations by ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus

Jacob Rees-Mogg described the row as a 'non-story'. The former business secretary added: 'It would be extremely unfortunate for the Prime Minister to do anything other than to move on.'

Former Tory leader Lord Hague suggested Ms Braverman should be given a 'rap over the knuckles', but should not lose her job.

Former minister Jonathan Gullis said the Home Secretary faced a 'witch-hunt from the Labour Party'.

Meanwhile, ex-Labour minister Chris Mullin said: 'I am, to put it mildly, no fan of Suella Braverman, but for the life of me I cannot get excited about this latest piece of nonsense. It is certainly not a resigning matter.'
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned that net migration must be controlled or it could lead to 'unmanageable pressures on housing, schools and hospitals in many of our communities'.

The Prime Minister spoke out ahead of new figures due to be released tomorrow that are expected to show a massive increase in the overall number of people settling in the UK.

After more than 500,000 people arrived in 2021, the net numbers for 2022 could soar closer to one million, according to estimates.

Mr Sunak and Suella Braverman launched a crackdown on foreign postgraduate students bringing families to the UK with them yesterday, as part of a plan to bring numbers back down.

But in a statement to MPs, Ms Braverman said ministers only expect the figures to drop in the 'medium term', which is usually deemed to mean around five years.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Sunak said: 'We can't have uncontrolled legal migration... when it is too high and too fast, it can make it difficult for communities to integrate new arrivals.

'We cannot allow people to come here illegally at the whim of criminal gangs. It's not fair on those who have played by the rules.

'It's not fair on those who desperately need our help but can't get it because our asylum system is overwhelmed by people travelling here through safe countries.'

The Prime Minister spoke out ahead of new figures due to be released tomorrow that are expected to show a massive increase in the overall number of people settling in the UK.

In a statement to MPs, Ms Braverman said ministers only expect the figures to drop in the 'medium term', which is usually deemed to mean around five years.

After more than 500,000 people arrived in 2021, the net numbers for 2022 could soar closer to one million, according to estimates.

Cameron's 'sympathy' for ministers over immigration numbers David Cameron has urged ministers to use welfare reforms and training programmes to reduce the need for foreign labour, ahead of the release of figures expected to show record levels of net migration. The former prime minister, who never met his own goal of bringing net migration down to the 'tens of thousands', said he has sympathy with Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as they address the challenge. He also refused to criticise the Government over its plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, saying there is 'no point' complaining 'if you don't have a better answer' to the problem of small boat crossings. Mr Cameron told LBC Radio that reducing the figure will require measures to get Britons to fill jobs, through a combination of welfare changes and skills training. He said: 'I think the way to think about immigration is to recognise it's a three-sided problem. 'There's what immigration controls you can put in place. 'There's what welfare reforms you have, to try and make sure that people who can work, do work. 'Then there's what training and apprenticeship and other schemes you have, to make sure that we are training people for the jobs that our country is delivering.' Advertisement

Mr Sunak said he is not 'anti-immigrant', rather, he is doing what he believes is 'fair and right'.

It comes after the Government announced on Tuesday that international students will no longer be able to bring dependents.

Mr Sunak told his Cabinet that around 136,000 visas were granted to dependants in 2022, an eightfold increase from 16,000 in 2019.

In the Telegraph, Mr Sunak said: 'That's why we set a target to host 600,000 international students here and we've met it almost a decade early.

'But this cannot come at the expense of our commitment to lower net migration.

'We will remove the right to bring dependents on the student visa route unless you are on a postgraduate research programme. The numbers suggest this might be being used by some as a loophole so we will close it.'

Mr Sunak said he will explore alternative options for eligibility for students, like a system that could differentiate between the quality of institutions.

He said: 'In time we could still allow our very best and brightest students to bring some dependents when studying at our universities while preventing institutions from selling immigration rather than education.'

As part of this crackdown on net immigration, Mr Sunak added the Government will remove the ability to switch from a study visa into a work visa until studies are completed.

Ms Braverman told MPs on Tuesday : 'This package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK.

'Now is the time for us to make these changes to ensure an impact on net migration as soon as possible. We expect this package to have a tangible impact on net migration.

'Taken together with the easing of temporary factors, we expect net migration to fall to pre-pandemic levels in the medium term.'
A chef and his elderly mother are locked in a 6million court fight over who owns their family-run restaurant once voted Britain's top takeaway.

Thai Metro, near the British Museum in central London, is at the centre of a bitter row between Ekkachi Somboonsam, 50, and his 76-year-old mother Vanida Walker.

The pair are also arguing about a 1million flat in Bloomsbury Mansions, the Charlotte Street property where Thai Metro operates, and two premises in Rotherhithe and Canning Town.

Mr Somboonsam moved to the UK aged five and, after working as a kitchen porter and cook, says he founded the restaurant in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, which opened its doors in 2000 and beat 12,000 restaurants in the UK to win the title 'Britain's Most-Loved Takeaway' in 2017.

The success of the business allowed the family to open a second restaurant and build a multi-million-pound property portfolio.

But now the chef is being sued at the High Court by his mother, who claims the 6million business and properties are hers and that, rather than being the boss, he was always just an 'employee'.

Ekkachi Somboonsam, 50, pictured outside the High Court. He is in a dispute with his mother

Vanida Walker outside the High Court following the hearing. She claims the business is hers

The court heard Mrs Walker moved to London from Thailand in 1973, working as a cleaner and then setting up her own janitorial business.

She then moved into catering, providing Thai food at outdoor music festivals including Glastonbury and running a restaurant in Lewisham, Judge Malcolm Davis-White KC was told.

The Thai Metro restaurant was set up 23 years ago and went on to become a major success, scooping the 'Britain's Most-Loved Takeaway' award due to its five-star ratings and 'unprecedented return rate'.

Among its most popular dishes are its 10.80 pineapple fried rice and 10.20 drunken fried rice, which Mr Somboonsam has previously called a 'great hangover cure'.

But now, the mother and son are 'diametrically opposed' on who owns the businesses through which the restaurant has been run, the premises where it is based and a string of other properties.

Mr Somboonsam claims the restaurant business was his from the start and that his mother only 'occasionally helped out'. But she claims the opposite - that it is hers and he has only ever been an 'employee'.

'Mrs Walker's case is that she invested the money and took the lease in her own name because this was her business,' said her barrister Timothy Cowen.

'Mr Somboonsam was employed in the business with front of house duties and to assist with paperwork.'

He added: 'She claims that the businesses are hers and that Mr Somboonsam worked for her.'

The Thai Metro restaurant was set up 23 years ago and went on to become a major success, scooping the 'Britain's Most-Loved Takeaway' award due to its five-star ratings and 'unprecedented return rate'

But for Mr Somboonsam, barrister Robert Strang insisted that his client was 'the founder and the owner of the business'.

Although the shares in the business were put into his mother's name, that had only been because Mr Somboonsam was separated from his first wife and wanted to prevent her making a claim, he said.

'He says that Mrs Walker agreed to hold the shares on his behalf and that this was consistent with their common understanding that he was the owner of the Thai Metro restaurant business,' said the barrister.

'Mr Somboonsam says that he is and always was the beneficial owner and that this was agreed and understood by Mrs Walker when he incorporated the business.

'With her agreement, he made Mrs Walker the legal owner... so that his wife, from whom he was separated, would not seek to claim a share in his business.

'Mrs Walker agreed to hold the shares on trust, with the common understanding that the restaurant business belonged to Mr Somboonsam.'

'Mr Somboonsam will point to objective facts and circumstances which support his account. He was the founder and the owner of the business,' he added.

The pair are also arguing about a 1million-plus flat in Bloomsbury Mansions, the Charlotte Street property where Thai Metro operates, and two premises in Rotherhithe and Canning Town.

The properties were mostly bought in Mr Somboonsam's name, but his mother claims they are hers, that she paid the money and they only went in her son's name because he convinced her she was 'too old' to get a mortgage.

But Mr Somboonsam's barrister Mr Strang said: 'He bought those properties in his name for his benefit.

'Mrs Walker knew and understood this. Where she made the down payment, it was on his behalf and with money that she owed to him.

'Otherwise, he made the down payment.'

Speaking after receiving the 2017 award, following a competition organised by online delivery company Hungryhouse, Mr Somboonsam said: 'Before I started the business, I thought Thai food was unnecessarily overpriced.

'So we have tried to keep our prices as low as possible. We rely on repeat customers and if we can keep our prices down, people will keep coming back.

'It's the food that I've grown up with and it's lovely to be acknowledged. It means a lot that people are giving us great feedback and to know that we are doing something right.

'We are a family-owned business, so to receive both this recognition and exposure is an unbelievable honour. We pride ourselves on serving up delicious Thai cuisine at good value, all made with high quality ingredients.'

Following an eight-day trial this week and last, the judge will give his ruling on the case at a later date.
A couple who awoke one morning to find Banksy had adorned the side of their property-let with a 6m-tall seagull say it led to a 'living nightmare'.

Homeowners Garry and Gokean Coutts were stunned when their tenants told them about the artist's handiwork outside their house in Lowestoft, Suffolk, in August 2021.

Banksy - Britain's most famous street artist - is renowned for choosing homes at random to lay down his artwork, often shooting up their value by millions.

But Mr and Mrs Coutts said they needed to hire a night watchmen to ward off thieves and were told by council officials they'd need to spend 40,000 a year to maintain it, The Times reports.

In the end, they found the upkeep of the mural so troublesome, they hired a 40ft crane last month to remove it.

Mr Coutts, a retired roofing contractor, said: 'At first it was obviously incredible but as things have gone on it has become extremely stressful. I'm not sure Banksy realises the unintended consequences on homeowners. If we could turn back the clock, we would.

The mural by the anonymous street artist featured a spray-painted seagull tucking into a refuse skip full of polystyrene chips on the side of a residential terraced building

'We had the council get in touch to tell us that they could put a preservation order on the piece and we would be responsible for maintaining it at a cost of 40,000 a year.

'I have had to hire a night watchman to look after it after someone stole part of it and tried to sell it on Facebook. Another time vandals were caught with a dozen pots of white paint and were apparently going to paint over it.'

The couple, who live in Enfield, north London, were renting the Suffolk property out when tenants called them one day to say scaffolding had suddenly appeared.

Mr Coutts and his wife said they thought it was the council fixing a chimney, only for the rigging to disappear the next day - with the piece of artwork, later verified to be a Banksy, in its place.

Within a short space of time, their renters were faced with queues built up around the house and one man even stole the property's scaffolding from a skip, and attempted to sell it on Facebook for 1,600.

The 22-tonne artwork was finally removed overnight in April after the couple hired a building firm and council officials approved closing the road.

The construction company reinforced the wall with 12 layers of resin, fibreglass and five tonnes of steel before using a 40ft crane to remove it in one piece.

But Mr and Mrs Coutts described the removal as a 'huge feat' which has cost them 50,000 in fees and with other payments yet to be finalised.

The couple now hope to sell the artwork, while promising to replace it with a replica.

Footage from Tuesday evening shows the wall - which had been cut off the side of the house - strapped up with chains. It is unknown where the piece is now because the building was under private ownership

Onlookers watched in dismay as the art piece came down, with one shouting it was 'being stolen from the town' whilst another said they were 'sad to see it go'.

John Brandler, a Lowestoft art dealer, was 'dismayed' by the loss to the town.

He said: 'Banksy gave the town the most amazing gift and basically that has been lost.

'It has to be worth seven figures - between 1 million to 3 million.'

The art piece had been wrapped in scaffolding weeks before and in January panic brewed as the skip prop was taken away.

But town mayor Alan Green had reassured residents in February that the piece was not being removed and that the scaffolding was there for work to stabilise the wall.

Drone footage later showed police presence as the roads on Denmark Road and Katwijk Way were temporarily closed for the removal operation.

The mural was painted by the artist in August 2021 as part of his 'Great British Spraycation'.

The art piece had been wrapped in scaffolding weeks before and in January panic brewed as the skip prop was taken away

The project boosted the economies of coastal towns which had suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Brandler had previously approached East Suffolk Council in an attempt to create an art trail or museum for Banksy's local pieces in the hope of preserving the tourist income the art had brought in.

But the idea had been met with deaf ears, according to him.

He said this was 'a missed golden opportunity for the town.'

A spokesman for Lowestoft Town Council said the authority had 'discovered that the Banksy Seagull mural has been removed overnight'.

They added: 'The artwork has been a draw to tourists and a talking point for Lowestoft on the national stage.

'However, the building is privately owned so Lowestoft Town Council has no jurisdiction on the building or any further information of the intentions of the owner.'

An East Suffolk Council spokesman said: 'While we are naturally disappointed by the reported removal of the Banksy seagull from the side of a building in Lowestoft, it is ultimately the right of the owner to make decisions about their own property.

'We acknowledge that Banksy's works, by their nature, may not always be permanent features.

'We remain grateful for the attention that Banksy has brought to Lowestoft - a town with a burgeoning arts and cultural scene that will continue to go from strength to strength.'
A father trying to take his autistic child to school clashed with police this morning as they refused to clear eco-zealots from the road, while other enraged commuters told the protesters to 'go and do some work'.

Members of Just Stop Oil slow marched once again through London this morning, at one point blocking both sides of the busy Marylebone Road with six demonstrators being arrested for refusing to move to the pavement.

In exclusive footage obtained by MailOnline the frustrated father is seen shouting at two police officers: 'They are in the way by walking in the road. I've got an autistic kid in the back that I have got to get to school.'

When he was told by a police officer he 'could overtake' the climate warriors and that they 'have the right to protest', he responded incredulously: 'I will get fined if I go through there. They are moving at two miles an hour.'

Just Stop Oil said this morning 39 members will be marching on five major routes across the capital today, including in Islington, Marylebone and the City of London.

A father of an autistic child was seen arguing with police officers this morning after they refuse to move Just Stop Oil protesters out of the road

A photo showed one of the protesters sprawled across the man's bonnet with arms flailing as he appears to clutch onto his placard

The furious father was surrounded by two protesters holding signs that read 'Life or Suffering' and 'For My Children'

The motorist was surrounded by two protesters holding signs that read 'Life or Suffering?' and 'For My Children'.

A photo showed one activist sprawled across the man's bonnet with arms flailing as he appears to clutch on to his placard.

The father continued to argue with the two officers before eventually manoeuvring his vehicle around the activists blocking the road.

In separate video, a man driving a transit van past the protesters screams at them to 'go and do some work' while another swearing tradesman shouted: 'Will you let these people go about their f*****g lives and pay their mortgages.'

Another tradesman who had jumped out of his vehicle as the protesters marched down Edgeware Road in west London shouted 'we have mortgages to pay'.

The commuter was then seen herding the activists on to the payment while shouting at them to 'grow up' and taking away their banners.

A pedestrian passing by shouted 'we've got to get to f*****g work' as the group held hands in orange vests outside Westminster Magistrates Court.

Other infuriated motorists, growing increasingly frustrated, were honking their horns while motorbikes and cyclists swerved around the group of around 13 protesters.

As the protest marched its way to Baker Street, more commuters became enraged with one man seen arguing with a Metropolitan Police officer at the scene, while other members of the force were seen handing back banners to the commuters.

Other footage showed tradesmen angrily shouting at the protesters on Marylebone 'will you let these people go about their f*****g lives and pay their mortgages'

Another man was seen trying to herd the protesters on to the pavement before taking away their banners

The father was told by police officers that he 'could overtake' the Just Stop Oil activists blocking his path

The father continued to argue with the two police officers before eventually manoeuvring his vehicle around the activists blocking the road

Another video showed the group of activists going on to block traffic on both sides of Marylebone Road on the A501, a main route getting in and out of the capital.

Met Police officers arrested eight protesters in total today after demonstrators refused to move out of the road when cops had issued Public Order Act (Section 12) notices.

New powers under the Public Order Act allows police to demand demonstrators to move on to the pavement and off busy roads.

Another male protester was arrested in Upper Street in Islington, north London, later this morning after he did not comply with the condition imposed.

In a video posted by the climate action group, one man said while being arrested: 'We have tried all the usual methods - petitions, writing to MPs, writing to newspapers, going on legal marches agreed with the police it doesn't work.

This technique has worked over and over again with the suffragettes causing civil disruption, the human rights movement, apartheid in South Africa, the Indians with Gandhi getting the oppressive British rule out and it's worked over and over again.

'It's the only thing the Government will listen to.'

Just Stop Oil said orders were placed on four of the groups this morning, adding that members had been arrested 'before they could even leave the road'.

The Metropolitan Police said the campaigners had remained in the road after the orders were issued.

One woman who was handcuffed today claimed she had been walking to get off the road when she was arrested.

She told them: 'Let me tell you, we were on our way, I'd spoken to your inspector, he knew we were coming off the road, I was walking towards the pavement.'

The eco-zealots have been holding a series of disruptive slow marches across the capital since April 24. The group is urging the Government to cease all new projects involving oil, gas and coal.

This morning three groups of slow marching protesters headed across London, including Shaftsbury Avenue and Islington.

Yesterday, police officers were seen handcuffing a furious motorist who had pushed two Just Stop Oil protesters on Blackfriars Bridge as they stopped him and his colleague from getting to work in their van.

The workman got out of his vehicle during rush hour after around 45 protesters walked slowly along the bridge blocking traffic in the process, with simultaneous demonstrations at London Bridge and Tower Bridge.

He had been caught on video ripping banners from the activists' hands before pushing them to the ground.

Officers from the Met are then seen intervening and putting him in handcuffs.

The man's actions drew support from fellow commuters stuck in traffic because of the demonstrators, with some shouting 'give the guy a break' as he wrestled with the two officers.

The Met, however, defended the actions of the cops involved saying that the man - who was not arrested - was handcuffed to 'prevent further breach of the peace'.

The workman's furious reaction comes just days after another motorist was seen pushing a Just Stop Oil protester to the ground when another demonstration took place.

An angry commuter tries to throw a Just Stop Oil activist off the road as they cross Blackfriars Bridge

Just Stop Oil said 'tensions have been high' as one man tried to throw a supporter on to the ground and was later arrested

The protest descended into chaos when an angry commuter took matters into his own hands - and police swooped in and detained him

Video captured the moment on Tuesday morning when a man got out of a waste management van to confront the protesters as they continued their daily demonstrations in London.

The vans horn could be heard beeping in the background while the man tore banners away from the eco-zealots, before he pushed two of them to the ground.

At this point two police officers, who are escorting the group, then intervene and grapple with the member of the public, who is handcuffed against the side of the van. During the struggle, the officer says: 'You are f*****g assaulting people'.

The van's driver shouts at the officers to 'get off my truck' while a passing taxi driver shouts out of his window that it is 'absolutely disgusting'.

Just Stop Oil said in a statement following the incident: 'Tensions have been high this morning as the marches cause major delays for commuters.

Just Stop Oil activists slow marching in London Bridge on Tuesday morning

'One man threw a supporter on to the ground and was subsequently arrested on Blackfriars Bridge.

'A motorcyclist attempted to drive through the same procession, before police intervened.

'Elsewhere there were a number of altercations as members of the public snatched banners and confronted Just Stop Oil supporters.'

In a statement yesterday afternoon, a senior officer from the Met defended the actions of the cops involved.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: 'I completely understand the frustration and anger of London's communities when protesters walk slowly in the roads and must wonder why we do not just arrest them.

'Police have legal obligations connected with our response to protest and we must police peaceful protest in a proportionate manner.

'Any interventions must be necessary and in discharge of a policing power and balance the rights of the protesters against the rights of the wider public.'

On the workman who was arrested he added: 'This morning's incident on Blackfriars Bridge, in which a member of the public assaulted two protesters, was unacceptable and we will deal with anyone who behaves in this way.

'Officers on scene responded proportionately. They detained the man in handcuffs to prevent further breach of the peace. They took his details, will review evidence and interview the male - who was not arrested - with a view to further police action as necessary.'

The Home Secretary Suella Braverman has vowed to stop 'selfish, disruptive protesters' from 'wreaking havoc in people's everyday lives'.

Earlier this month, police were handed new powers to intervene against 'highly disruptive' slow marching tactics used by groups such as Just Stop Oil.

This means officers have the power to force protesters out of the road and on to the pavement. The legislation addition is part of the controversial Public Order Act, which gives police powers to break up disruptive protests.

Protesters who 'lock on', or obstruct infrastructure such as airports and railways have been criminalised by the new law, which came into effect just days before the King's Coronation.

The Metropolitan Police have urged members of the public not to take matters into their own hands when dealing with protesters.

It comes amid growing frustration and anger at the climate activists' tactics, with slow marches causing gridlock in the capital.

MailOnline has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment on today's protests.
Vladimir Putin has led Russia to abject failure with his invasion of Ukraine, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group has said in an astonishing outburst.

Far from demilitarising Ukraine  Russia's key war aim  Putin's botched strategy has seen Kyiv amass 'one of the world's strongest armies' through massive Western supplies, Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

The Wagner chief was once considered a close ally and confidant of Russia's tyrant and had been nicknamed Putin's 'chef'. But in the latest of his increasingly frequent outbursts, Prigozhin has given a devastating critique of his war strategy.

He then warned of impending 'revolution' in Russia unless changes were made by the Kremlin leadership.

In an astonishing attack on military leaders, he said Russia would restore the death penalty and the guilty  he named defence ministry Sergei Shoigu and chief of the defence staff Valery Gerasimov as responsible for the war crisis  would be 'hanged on Red Square'.

Prigozhin blamed both Shoigu and Gerasimov for losing more men in Bakhmut than in the entire ten-year Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979-89, which eventually led to the collapse of the USSR.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin warned of impending 'revolution' unless changes are made by the Kremlin leadership

Prigozhin was once considered a close ally and confidant of Vladimir Putin (pictured in the Kremlin yesterday) but has given a devastating critique of war strategy in his latest outburst

'So the de-nazification of Ukraine, which we announced  we made Ukraine a nation, known to everyone around the globe,' he said, mocking Putin's warped purpose for going to war.

READ MORE: How Wagner has sacrificed thousands of men to take Bakhmut but are now trapped and unable to press on Advertisement

'They are like Greeks at their peak, or Romans.'

He told interviewer Konstantin Dolgov - a prominent pro-war blogger: 'We legitimised Ukraine, it became a country which is known to everyone.

'As for de-militarisation [this is] a painful issue indeed.

'So if they had at the start of it 500 tanks  now they have 5,000. If there were 20,000 men who were able to fight  now there are 400,000. So how exactly did we demilitarise it?

'Quite the opposite! We militarised it up to the brim.

'I think Ukrainians today are one of the world's strongest armies. They have high levels of organisation, training, military intelligence.

'They have various ammunition and moreover, they are able to switch between any system - Soviet, Nato, anything at all - with the same success. They take their losses philosophically.

'All they do is to achieve the supreme goal, just like us during the Great Patriotic War [Second World War].'

Prigozhin's armed force of convicts and volunteers  named Wagner private military company  has claimed to have taken Bakhmut but at a devastating toll.

Ukrainian tankers ride along the road towards their positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 23

Prigozhin said Russia would restore the death penalty and hang the guilty, which he named as defence ministry Sergei Shoigu (right) and chief of the defence staff Valery Gerasimov (left)

He admitted that in Bakhmut his force had lost 10,000 prisoners freed to fight for Putin, and the same number of volunteers. Many experts estimate the Wagner losses to be higher.

Prigozhin then claimed Ukraine had lost 50,000 with 70,000 wounded.

'During the [special military operation] I pulled out 50,000 inmates from jails,' he said. Twenty per cent of them died.'

Adding to the latest of his outbursts, Prigozhin said he saw Shoigu and Gerasimov as guilty, not least for failing to supply Wagner with ammunition and weapons.

'Without a doubt the death penalty will be brought back, because we are in a state of war,' he said.

And the guilty people will receive their punishment  as a minimum, they'll be hanged on the Red Square.'

He lambasted the comfortable elites in Russia who continued to live normally while cannon fodder troops at the front lost their lives in huge numbers.

Their sons must be forced to the war, he said.

He singled out the defence minister Sergei Shoigu, whose daughter and son -in-law flaunt their wealth on social media.

While last year it emerged the foreign minister Sergey Lavrovs stepdaughter owns a 4 million luxury apartment in Kensington, London.

Mr Prigozhin said: Everything might end as in 1917, with a revolution, when first the soldiers rise up and then their loved ones.

The children of the elite smear themselves with creams and show off on the internet, while ordinary peoples children come home in zinc [coffins] torn to pieces.

I recommend the elite of the Russian Federation gathers up its youth and sends them to war. They live fat, carefree lives, their villas should be stormed by ordinary people armed with pitchforks.

How can Shoigus son-in-law go to the United Arab Emirates and shake his bum around?

Prigozhin warned of the real threat of Russia losing the war.

Prigozhin's armed force of convicts and volunteers - named Wagner private military company - has claimed to have taken Bakhmut but at a devastating toll. Pictured: Members of Wagner group waving a Russian national flag on the rooftop of a damaged building in Bakhmut

Prigozhin said he saw Putin's top commanders Shoigu (left) and Gerasimov (right) as guilty, not least for failing to supply Wagner with ammunition and weapons

The warlord said he now 'hardly believes' it possible that Russia can see through one of the most optimistic scenarios of holding on to the territory it now has.

The 'pessimistic scenario', he said, is that Ukraine can 'restore the 2014 borders, they will try to attack Crimea, destroy the Crimean Bridge, and cut off routes of supply.

'And most likely the scenario won't be good for us,' he said.

Russia 'must prepare for a heavy war. What must we do  not to lose Russia? Because today we are in a state when we can lose Russia.

'We must introduce martial law. We must call new waves of mobilisation. We must switch everyone to production of weapons.

'Stop building skyscrapers, new roads, new infrastructure  and work only for the war. We must live like in North Korea for several years, and shut the borders.'

Analysts are also suggesting the head of Russias private army could be the man to topple Putin, by standing against him in next years presidential elections.

The Kremlin is understood to be growing increasingly concerned by Prigozhins criticisms and his popularity.

At the May 9th Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin pointedly excluded the Wagner group from his speech praising the efforts of Russian soldiers.

But without the paramilitary groups soldiers, Russias campaign in Ukraine would collapse.
A Texas city has lost its Guinness World Record bid for bringing together the biggest group of people with the same first name after hundreds of Kyles flocked to the Lone Star State for the count.

The current record was set when 2,325 Ivans gathered in the Bosnian town of Kupreski Kosci in 2017.

The City of Kyle lost out on beating the world record on Sunday at the Gathering of the Kyles.

After a count and recount of all registrants, the city said it had 1,490 Kyles in attendance.

'We are so grateful to the hundreds of Kyles that attended the Kyle Fair A Tex-Travaganza to participate in this world record attempt,' a city spokesperson said.

The City of Kyle fell lost out on beating the world record on Sunday at the Gathering of the Kyles (pictured). After a count and recount of all registrants, the city said it had 1,490 Kyles in attendance

Pictured: Kyle Texas Water Tower. A spokesperson for the City of Kyle said: 'Kyles from all over the country answered the call, with Kyles from 49 of the 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, attending the Gathering of the Kyles  the majority of which came from all reaches of Texas'

'Kyles from all over the country answered the call, with Kyles from 49 of the 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, attending the Gathering of the Kyles  the majority of which came from all reaches of Texas.'

The event had global representation, featuring attendees from Ontario, Calgary, Vancouver, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, Canada.

'We thank the many Kyles that turned out for this event and were blown away by their enthusiasm and camaraderie in the City of Kyle's fourth and most successful attempt at this record,' the spokesperson said.

The City of Kyle plans to try to break the record for the largest same-name gathering next year at its second Kyle Fair A Tex-Travaganza.

Issuing 'The Call of the Kyles' on the city's Facebook page, a spokesperson wrote earlier this month: 'In order to have a chance at breaking this record we need Kyles from near and far to take part.

'We need tall Kyles, short Kyles, young Kyles and old Kyles.'

The current record was set when 2,325 Ivans gathered in the Bosnian town of Kupreski Kosci in 2017 (pictured)

However, there are strict rules in place as to who is eligible to be a Kyle in the record attempt.

The organizers wrote: 'We cannot accept middle names or last names. All participants must have the name "Kyle" - spelt that way.

'Various iterations of 'Kyle' such as Kyler, Kiel, or Kylee, are not accepted.

'Kyles of all ages are able to participate.'

The gathering took place at the end of the city's annual Kyle Fair, which spans three days and includes live music, rides and a rib cooking contest.

'All Kyles that participate in the Gathering of the Kyles will receive a free t-shirt, some other goodies, and be serenaded by one of their own, Kyle Daniel,' a spokesperson for the event wrote.

'Entry to the Kyle Fair is free as well as attendance to all live music performances.'
An F-16C Fighting Falcon assigned to the 120th Fighter Squadron, Colorado Air National Guard, painted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the unit, flies with an F-35A Lightning II, assigned to the 134th Fighter Squadron, Vermont Air National Guard, over Leadville, Colo., May 8, 2023. Today the 120th FS is a dual-purpose fighter squadron with pilots qualified to perform air-to-air and air-to-ground missions including Offensive Counter-Air, Defensive Counter-Air, OCA Interdiction, Close Air Support and Combat Search and Rescue missions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Matthew Plew)

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A West End theatre producer has been ordered to knock down his modern seaside home after being accused of building it up to 5ft too high.

Villagers had complained that the timber-clad house built for Adam Spiegel, 54, and his wife Charlotte, 52, looked like a 'fortress' or even a Travelodge hotel.

They complained that the house - said now to be worth around 2million - called Arcady which means 'rustic paradise' in Greek, was completely out of place among the historic flint cottages in Cley-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk.

Mr Spiegel who has produced the London West End shows The Mousetrap, Hairspray and Motown The Musical had battled for nearly four years to be able to keep the house.

But a Government planning inspector turned down his and his wife's appeal against North Norfolk District Council's decision to refuse changes in planning consent conditions to allow their home to stay.

Villagers in Cley-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk, complained that the timber-clad house built for Adam and Charlotte Spiegel looked like a 'fortress' or even a 'Travelodge hotel'

Adam Spiegel - who has produced the London West End shows The Mousetrap, Hairspray and Motown The Musical - and his wife Charlotte (pictured together) had battled for nearly four years to be able to keep the house

The couple have now been told that they must demolish it by October 18, 2024, although they are allowed to keep an annexe and their swimming pool.

The decision has been welcomed by villagers who described the new house as an 'eyesore' in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty opposite 14th century St Margaret's church.

Retired office manager Trish Chapman, 76, said: 'The house looks just awful. I don't know how it got through the planning process and building regulations.

'You would have thought that it should have been built to the plans which were approved - but it was built far too big.

'I just feel sorry for the family who own it because they have settled in and it is their home. The council have not handled it very well at all.'

Local artist Godfrey Sayers, 81, who is chairman of the Friends of North Norfolk, said: 'They had permission for a certain size building and they went beyond that.

'The council should have served an enforcement notice when it was being built and it was clear that it was going to be higher than it was supposed to be.

'There are a lot of old buildings in the area - but this house looks like an annexe to a hospital or a university building.

'There seems to be a growing trend for the modern ugly houses. They tend to be built by people who can afford to try and take on the planning system.'

Locals complained that the house called Arcady which means 'rustic paradise' in Greek was completely out of place among the historic flint cottages in Cley-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk

Cley next the Sea is among the many quaint and picture postcard villages on the north Norfolk coast

Another villager who asked not to be named said: 'The building is just so ugly and over the top. It is far too big and looks like a Travelodge hotel. It towers over the village.'

The site where the box-like home stands had a bungalow on it with planning consent for a new house before the plot was bought by Mr and Mrs Spiegel in 2016 for 725,000.

The previous owners had originally been denied permission to demolish the bungalow and replace it with a four bedroom modern home in 2013.

But they won an appeal allowing the development to go ahead in 2014 after a planning inspector ruled it would 'sit comfortably in what is a generous sized plot'.

The inspector ruled that it would have only a 'limited' effect on local surroundings because it would be 'only marginally taller' than the existing bungalow and lower than the adjacent house.

Mr and Mrs Spiegel started building work in January 2017, but North Norfolk District Council found 'inconsistencies' between the design and what was being built.

The council told Mr Spiegel to halt construction until a fresh planning application could be looked at, but work continued and the council served an enforcement notice.

The couple appealed the decision to demolish their property (pictured above) but this hjas now been rejected by the Planning Inspectorate

According to online house register Zoopla, Arcady, described as having three bedrooms, last changed hands in December 2016 for 725,000

The three bedroom house called Arcady was described as a contemporary and modern building with light panelling, varying rooflines and timber clad elevations (development plan showed above)

The couple tried to get planning conditions amended in 2022 to allow their home to be approved retrospectively, but they were turned down.

They appealed against the decision, describing their home as a 'high quality piece of architecture' with 'balanced and integrated cubic forms'.

The couple also claimed that their 'contemporary and honest dwelling' fitted in with the setting of the village and did not 'intrude' on views of the church.

They admitted that 'roof changes through the construction phase' increased the height of the middle section of the house by 1.05m

But planning inspector Diane Lewis said that the original plans showed the new house had been built in an elevated position which was 1.66m (just over 5ft) higher than the ground level of the old bungalow.

She ruled that the original planning drawings for the house were inaccurate and 'did not correctly show the proposed dwelling in its proper context'.

The inspector criticised the blocks of the building for showing 'little articulation and subtlety'.

She added that the house was 'radically different and understandably was regarded by many as being visually intrusive within its surroundings'.

The striking property called Arcady stands behind security gates in Holt Road (pictured above). North Norfolk District Council served an enforcement notice on the couple to take all the buildings on the site down following a 'breach of planning control'

The original notice from North Norfolk District Council stated: 'The development that has been undertaken is materially different to that approved by planning permission'

The shingle beach at Cley-Next-The-Sea is a popular visitor attraction, as are its historic flint cottages

A resident who has lived beside Cley village green for more than 20 years said in a letter to the council that there was a 'massive' difference between the height of the old bungalow and the new house.

The resident whose name was redacted added that planning drawings comparing the old bungalow to the new house were 'a gross misrepresentation'. They went on: 'What a farce. There are no measurements. No accuracy.'

The council's conservation and design officer described Arcady as 'harmful' to the village's Conservation Area and 'visually discordant' compared to the scale of other houses and cottages.

The officer's report concluded: 'Indeed, by virtue of long street frontage and positioning on a bank, it presents a fortress-like appearance to Newgate Green.'

It added: 'The rectangular bulk of the dwelling also rises above the road and is highly visible and intrusive in the street scene.'

A North Norfolk District Council spokesperson said the council welcomed the decision to refuse consent for the house to stay 'in what has been an important and complex case for the local community, the appellant and the council.'

The spokesperson added: 'The council will endeavour to work with the appellants to deliver the required outcomes from these decisions.'

Mr Spiegel did not respond to a request for comment.
The search for Madeleine McCann at a remote reservoir in Portugal is expected to enter a third day, local police sources have said, after investigators cut down tree branches and brought in sniffer dogs to scour a secluded woodland spot.

It was claimed today that the search for evidence connecting the toddler's 2007 disappearance to chief suspect Christian Brueckner was launched following a tip from a 'very credible' German police informer.

Respected Portuguese media outlet Expresso said the informant gave detectives 'details' they took 'very seriously.' The flagship weekly publication named Rainer Grimm as the man leading the probe for Germany's central criminal investigation agency the BKA, saying he was among the officers at the site.

This came after reports said officials are seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance - particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing the night she vanished.

It is now understood that the search will continue into a third day, Portuguese media have reported. Police sources suggested the same, with several outlets saying the thunderstorm that hit the area on Tuesday night had delayed activity.

Investigators hunting for signs of Madeleine McCann cut down tree branches and brought in sniffier dogs today (pictured) as they investigated a secluded woodland spot next to a remote Algarve reservoir said to be linked to chief suspect Christian Brueckner

Pictured: Personnel at Barragem do Arade reservoir, in the Algave, Portugal, as searches continue as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The area is around 50km from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing in 2007

This morning police appeared to be focusing on a valley (pictured) slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near to where three tents were put up on Monday

Pictured: A boat is seen ready to launch on to the reservoir in Portugal today as searches continue of the area for evidence linking Brueckner to Madeleine McCann's disappearance

Madeleine (left) was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. German prosecutors believe Christian Brueckner (right) is behind her disappearance

A no-fly zone over the area is due to end at 10pm local time on Wednesday but by mid-afternoon this has not been extended.

It is not yet clear if they will continue on Friday, although the current operation was initially earmarked as a two to three day search.

The hunt is focusing on the foreshore as the water level in the reservoir is considerably lower due to low rainfall last few months. This may explain why no divers have been seen operating in the area although they are on standby.

Photos and footage of the search operation today showed a group of Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR) being led by sniffer dogs to a small grove close to the water's edge. Officers were seen clearing branches shortly after.

According to Expresso, the operation was launched because of a 'very credible tip'.

'Expresso knows that these searches have their origin in a tip from a BKA informant who that police force considers very credible,' it reported on its website. 'This informant told investigators details that the German police took very seriously.'

It added: 'The searches were requested by the German police after receiving this information.' The media outlet said it had obtained its information from a 'source close to the investigation.'

Emergency services with brush cutters to clear the search area arrived at the temporary camp set up on the shores of the Arade reservoir early on Wednesday.

Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts, had focused their search on Tuesday on the reservoir's shoreline.

This morning police appeared to be focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near to where three tents were put up on Monday.

The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access it properly.

Meanwhile, a fire service vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were again on the banks of the reservoir, and appeared ready to launch on to the water.

Later in the day, emergency services brought in a remote-controlled tractor-mounted tree cutter to clear what appeared to be a new search area, a few hundred yards away from a temporary camp set up on Tuesday on the shores of the Arade reservoir by Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts.

Madeleine was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. The reservoir is about 31 miles inland from the resort.

The first major search for the toddler in nine years comes after German police discovered photos of Brueckner at his self-described 'little paradise' in the Portuguese region, it is understood.

German prosecutors last year named convicted child abuser and drug dealer Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann's disappearance.

He is currently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing.

The case, unsolved for the past 16 years, remains a mystery as no body has ever been found. It sparked a media frenzy in Britain, with developments also followed by outlets around the world and celebrities joining appeals to help find Madeleine.

Pictured: Investigators are seen with hedge trimmers as they search the reservoir today

Pictured: An investigator is seen with a large strimmer near the reservoir today

Pictured: Investigators carry tools up a slope near to the water's edge today

Reports have said officers, who are acting on 'credible information', are seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance - particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing the night she vanished. Pictured: investigators load up a car ahead of the second day of searching for signs of missing toddler Madeleine McCann

Pictured: White police tents are seen near the bank of the reservoir in the Algarve region in southern Portugal. They are part of a temporary base camp set up by investigators

On Wednesday, the German prosecutor leading the country's investigation into Brueckner's suspected link to Madeleine's disappearance said they do not have a confession from the convict.

READ MORE: Who is Christian Brueckner? The German Madeleine Mccann suspect and sex offender Advertisement

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters said that while investigators have 'indications' that evidence could be found at the reservoir, this has not come from Brueckner himself.

'We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don't want to say what that is exactly, and I also don't want to say where these indications come from,' Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR today.

'The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn't come from the suspect - so we don't have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search, ' Wolters said, adding that 'it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.'

However, Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, 'We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.'

Tuesday saw about 20 officers with rakes and hoe-like tools spread out in a line, poking and raking the soil close to the Arade dam. Police also used a drone to scan the area from above and searched with sniffer dogs on both sides of the water.

Footage from the site showed officers taking bags away from the reservoir yesterday afternoon but it was not clear what was inside them. One video showed an officer being handed a bag by a colleague as they drove by in a black Ford SUV.

Last night a Portuguese source close to the investigation told The Sun: 'The search is being taken very seriously and is being controlled totally by the Germans.

'They asked Portuguese officers assisting them to look for any evidence - but especially rags.'

The Times reported that Madeleine's pyjamas, which were pink and decorated with images of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, were a focus of the hunt.

A similar pair of pyjamas was held up by Kate and Gerry McCann during a press conference in June 2007, the month after their daughter vanished, in the hope of prompting witnesses who may have seen her that night to come forward.

Also last night the McCann's former spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Mirror the couple were being kept updated.

'Until a body is found and proved to be Madeleine's, Kate and Gerry are not giving up hope. They will be kept informed every step of the way of any development. It leaves Kate and Gerry on tenterhooks. It is another incredibly difficult time for them.'

Pictured: Investigators in Portugal bring in grass strimmers to cut back the undergrowth to aid in their search today for Madeleine McCann

Pictured: A police search team walk on the shore of the Arade dam near Silves, Portugal, Wednesday May 24. A police truck is seen parked on a peninsula that jets out into the lake

Pictured: A group of investigators are seen today walking down the bank of the reservoir

Pictured: A blue police tent is seen today set up near the reservoir

Pictured: Kate (right) and Gerry McCann, parents of missing 4-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann hold pyjamas similar to those of their daughter during a press conference in Berlin on June 6, 2007. Police are believed to be searching for signs of her pyjamas

Police are aiming to build up a picture of sole suspect Christian Brueckner's life on the Algarve and the places he frequented as they search the Barragem reservoir in Silves, Portugal

According to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha, excavations were carried out at two different spots around the water's edge on Tuesday.

The reservoir is currently less than half full owing to a drought affecting Portugal and neighboring Spain. Much of the area being searched would be below water level in years of normal rainfall.

In the afternoon police appeared to be concentrating their efforts on a peninsula of land jutting into the reservoir.

Officers using sticks were beating back undergrowth as they inched their way through the woods before fanning down onto the beach to carry on the search.

However, just before 5.30pm, a violent thunderstorm and driving rain struck the search area and the operation was abandoned after it became clear the weather would not improve. The search was meant to continue until 9pm.

A no fly zone has been set up around the area extending for six miles.

This is due to expire at 10pm on Wednesday night fuelling suggestions the search will only be short.

The Portuguese police are expected to give an update on the operation once it has been completed later this week.

A picture taken on 24 May, 2023 shows a general view of the Arade dam, in Silves, on the second day of a new search operation amid the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) criminal investigation unit members work in the Arade dam area, in Silves, on 24 May

Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) criminal investigation unit members work in the Arade dam area, in Silves, on 24 May

Two sides of the area have gently sloping banks towards the water, while the third is a sheer cliff, where three white police tents could be seen set back from the edge.

The reservoir is popular with tourists, particularly campervan users, and has BBQ stands and sun loungers scattered around.

Brueckner is known to have driven there frequently in his VW campervan, and is understood to have described it as his 'little paradise'.

Sources close to the investigation have said they had evidence the clearing in the trees - where the white tents have been set up - was the spot Brueckner used to spend time at after parking up his campervan nearby.

A local who asked not to be named, but knows the area well, said: 'It's pretty well-hidden by the trees and you don't realise it's there until you're almost upon it.

'People wild camp there overnight from time to time which is why you'll find the remains of fires inside small walls of stone.

'It's got old sun loungers in it and makeshift benches that visitors use to rest on. It's very out-of-the-way and very peaceful but at the same time it's got a slightly eerie feel about it,' they said.

Local Portuguese reports, partly confirmed by police sources, claimed the searches were requested and authorised after German police obtained videos and photos of Brueckner by the planned dig site.

They are thought to have been found buried in the paedophile's 'secret lair' in a dilapidated factory site in the German village of Neuwegersleben 65 miles south-east of Hanover.

Police raided the site in February 2016 in search of the body of missing five-year-old Inga Gehricke, who vanished while on a family outing in Saxony-Anhalt in May 2015 and has been dubbed the 'German Maddie.'

Reports at the time said German detectives had discovered more than 8,000 images and videos on USB sticks and hard drives filled with child abuse images.

They were said to have been buried under the body of Brueckner's dead dog.

Pictured: Journalists are seen as Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) criminal investigation unit members work in the Arade dam area, in Silves, May 24

Officials have been tight-lipped about the search.

In a statement on Tuesday, German prosecutor Wolters said: 'Criminal proceedings are currently taking place in Portugal as part of the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case. Wolters said German officers are investigating in Portugal 'on the basis of certain tips.'

He said he was unable at this stage to give more detail on what prompted the search, and what officials were hoping to find, but said that such details would be released 'if we... think the results are publishable'.

'Yes, the measures in Portugal are connected with the Madeleine McCann proceedings, which means that we are investigating there in Portugal on the basis of certain tips (tip-offs),' Wolters said on Tuesday.

'There is a major search operation taking place that is being implemented by the Portuguese authorities. But there are also German officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office on site who are supporting the whole thing.'

He added: 'I can't disclose the background at the moment, i.e. why we are searching there and what we hope to find there. That shall remain our secret for the moment.'

'If we find something and we think the results are publishable, then we will certainly inform you about it. But give us a little bit of time. The action itself will also take a bit of time. It will not be completed within two hours or so. And whether we then find something and what we find, of course, we have to see that first.'

The Metropolitan Police has said officers are present in Portugal so they can inform Madeleine's family if there are any developments.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell said: 'The Met continues to work with and support colleagues in Portugal and Germany, with their investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

'Met officers will be in Portugal and I am grateful to the Policia Judiciaria and Bundeskriminalamt for allowing us to be present whilst their work is ongoing, so that we can inform Madeleine's family of any developments.'

Pictured: Officials are seen on the peninsula that jets out into the reservoir today

The reservoir was searched by divers hired by a Portuguese lawyer in February and March 2008. Back then, the diving team leader described the 'long process' his team faced navigating the 'black' waters.

Marcos Aragao Correia organised the privately-funded operation after claiming he had been tipped off by underworld contacts that Madeleine had been murdered and her body thrown into the reservoir within 48 hours of her disappearance.

Two bags containing small bones were found during the second search after divers had earlier recovered several lengths of cord, some plastic tape and a single white cotton sock.

Portuguese police were alerted following the discovery but subsequently ruled out the possibility the bones were human because of their size.

Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann had previously dismissed Mr Correia as a self-publicist and said there was no evidence suggesting any link between their daughter and the reservoir.

The dam, near the town of Silves where a lorry driver says he saw a woman handing a child like Madeleine over to a man two days after she went missing from her Praia da Luz holiday apartment on May 3 2007, is not thought to have been searched since March 2008 as part of the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.

The search is the first major operation of its kind since June 2014 when British police were given permission to do digs in Praia da Luz that involved sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar.

The Scotland Yard digs nearly nine years ago in Praia da Luz were linked to the leading UK police theory at the time Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars dumped her body nearby.

The searches failed to find any trace of the missing youngster.

In a smaller operation in July 2020 Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine's body but failed to find any trace of her.

The abandoned wells are a 15 minute drive from a cottage Brueckner rented on the outskirts of Praia de Luz, on a narrow road leading down to a beach where the paedophile used to park his VW camper van.

German prosecutor Wolters has consistently said he is convinced Madeleine is dead and caged paedophile Brueckner has been named as the sole suspect.

The deviant, currently serving time for the September 2005 rape of an American OPA in the resort where Madeleine vanished, has yet to face any formal accusation over the youngster's disappearance.

Last April he was made an official suspect or arguido in Portugal over Madeleine's disappearance, although his defence lawyer Friedrich Fulscher labelled it a 'procedural trick' linked to statute of limitations legislation at the time.

Last autumn Bruecker was charged in Germany with several sex crimes on the Algarve against women and children including the rape of an Irish holiday rep in 2004 and the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl on a beach near Praia da Luz in 2007.

Brueckner's lawyer revealed in April those charges had been dropped against him in a bombshell development after successfully arguing prosecutors had no jurisdiction over him in Braunschweig where the Madeleine case was being brought.

Portuguese media outlets reported yesterday that excavations at the reservoir had begun, with video appearing to show police officers digging at the site

The case could end up with prosecutors in Saxony-Anhalt instead but an appeal lodged by the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office has yet to be decided.

Braunschweig prosecutor Mr Wolters has insisted they are still in control of the Madeleine McCann investigation and Brueckner, who denies any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance, remains in custody.

The Arade Dam, the Barragem do Arade in Portuguese, is fed by the watercourse of the Arade River whose source lies to the southwest of the Serrra do Caldeirao mountain range and runs through the municipalities of Silves, Lagoa and Portimao before reaching the ocean.

Construction was completed in 1955 and it began operating the following year.
Defence Secretary meets with Oleksii Reznikov in an unannounced visit to Kyiv

Ben Wallace arrived in Kyiv for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart this morning as they discussed Britain's supply of long-range missiles to the country.

The Defence Secretary met Oleksii Reznikov in an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital.

According to local media, the pair discussed Ukraine's ongoing bid to join Nato, as well as Western supplies of arms to Kyiv.

It came as the Ministry of Defence revealed more than 1,000 Russian troops have already gone AWOL this year.

They added Russian president Vladimir Putin's struggles to enforce discipline among his ranks have likely worsened since he ordered the forced mobilisation of reservists.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov shake hands in Kyiv today

Smoke rises from a building in Bakhmut, the site of Ukraine's heaviest battles with Russian troops in the eastern Donetsk region

Vladimir Putin's struggles to enforce discipline among his ranks have likely worsened since he ordered the forced mobilisation of reservists, the Ministry of Defence said

In their latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence revealed more than 1,000 Russian troops have already gone AWOL this year

Putin called up 300,000 reservists last autumn after his hopes of a swift invasion of Ukraine crumbled. He has also allowed Russian prisoners to be conscripted into the paramilitary Wagner Group in order to fight in Ukraine.

In its latest intelligence update, the MoD wrote: 'Russia's military has struggled to enforce discipline in its ranks throughout its operations in Ukraine, but its issues have highly likely worsened following the forced mobilisation of reservists since October 2022.

'Court data suggests that most of those found guilty of going AWOL are now punished with suspended sentences, meaning they can be redeployed to the "special military operation".

'Russia's efforts to improve discipline have focused on making examples of defaulters, and promoting patriotic zeal, rather than addressing the root causes of soldiers' disillusionment.'

Mr Wallace's visit to Kyiv today comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak talked up the Defence Secretary in his effort to become Nato's next secretary general.

The PM hailed Mr Wallace  who has said being Nato chief is 'a job I'd like'  as 'widely respected' among international allies for his actions over Ukraine.

Nato's current secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is due to stand down in October after nine years in charge of the military alliance.

As well as Mr Wallace, Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Estonian PM Kaja Kallas are also among those to have been linked to the role.

Yesterday, Mr Sunak stressed Ukraine will receive Western support for 'years to come' as he warned Mr Putin that his strategy of waiting it out is 'not going to work'.

The PM said it was one of Putin's 'great miscalculations' to assume his invasion of Ukraine would fragment allies.

Mr Wallace last week revealed Ukrainian forces have used UK-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles - the latest British kit sent to Kyiv - against Russian targets.
Stormy Daniels has said she regrets revealing details of her alleged affair with Donald Trump after she and her family have faced massive backlash - including someone attacking her horse.

Appearing on UK TV morning show Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid asked her: 'As you sat down you said "I now regret speaking out", why?' to which she replied 'because nobody cares what the truth is anymore.'

Daniels, 44, said she came forward 'to set an example for my daughter and other young women so that she grows up and says, "my mom wasn't bullied and the people in power can't bully you or control you"'.

But she also admitted that the threats made against her had increased, alleging Trump supporters climbed her fence and attacked her horse, Redemption, two weeks ago.

Having spoken out on death threats before, she said she would still give evidence against Trump. She said that she was not personally frightened of the president but his 'sycophants and his followers'.

She told the show's presenters she does not 'feel defeated' because she 'did not lose' and 'spoke her truth' but admitted it 'was just for nothing', adding 'if people don't want to face facts and see the truth... I'd rather have had the time back with my family.'

The interview comes after a court decision on Tuesday which determined the criminal trial would go ahead on March 25 2024 - in the middle of the GOP primaries.

Since the Daniels scandal broke in 2016, she has sat down for interviews with multiple TV networks and publications.

Daniels appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday 24 May, speaking on the case

Donald Trump, 76, appeared virtually in a Manhattan court on Tuesday as a judge scheduled the Stormy Daniels 'hush money' criminal trial for March 25, 2024.

The decision means Trump will be in a Manhattan courtroom for weeks in the middle of the Republican primaries and just months before the presidential election.

Meanwhile, his main rival in the GOP race Ron DeSantis is set to announce his run for president on Wednesday night in a conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter.

Trump previously urged DeSantis not to run against him in 2024 because he's not doing well in the polls, will divide the Republican party and 'lose the cherished and massive' MAGA vote.

The ex-president also has called DeSantis 'young' and suggested that he might have a more bright political future if he remains governor of Florida to the end of his second term in 2026.

Former President Trump remains the favorite to become the Republican nominee despite allegations brought against him in recent months.

Betfair Exchange give Trump 5/8 odds to be the Republican nominee, with DeSantis trailing at 14/5.

They give Joe Biden 9/5 odds of being the 2024 US election winner, with Trump behind at 14/5 and DeSantis following with 5/1 odds.

Kennedy Jr, the second most likely Democrat nominee, is given 18/1 odds to become president.

Stormy Daniels accused Donald Trump, 76, of paying her $130,000 to keep quiet after an affair together before his 2016 election win.

Trump had allegedly recorded the transaction as a business expense.

Falsifying records is illegal in New York.

In 2018, she claimed she had sex with the former President and later felt pressured to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Daniels said the NDA she had signed in reference to the alleged affair was invalid because Trump never personally signed it.

Trump has shot back at Daniels, in March saying he was the victim of a 'Stormy "Horse Face" Daniels extortion plot'.

He claimed he was being targeted by a series of 'horrible radical left Democrat investigations'.

On March 30 2023, a Manhattan grand jury finally indicted Trump for his alleged role in the scandal.

Stormy Daniels told Piers Morgan she was riding her horse called Redemption at the time.

'I'm straddling a horse named Redemption when he got indicted. Redemption is his name. I can't make this up,' she said in an interview shared in April.

She said she received the horse as a birthday present in March.

Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan district court on April 4.

Donald Trump (L) and Stormy Daniels (R) are pictured together in a 2006 photo. Daniels alleged that Trump paid her $130,000 in hush money after an affair together

Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his legal team in a Manhattan court, April 4, 2023

Stormy Daniels shared a picture of her horse, Redemption, on Instagram. She wrote in March: 'Thank you barrettblade777 for the best bday present ever. Starship Redemption arrived to our house today and I'm totally smitten already.'

Separately, writer E. Jean Carroll sued the former president for sexual abuse and defamation.

Earlier this month, a jury rendered its verdict and found Trump liable for both abuse and defamation, ordering Trump to pay $5mn in damages.

During the GMB interview, Daniels also denied Trump had sued her: 'He released this sudden new statement of mine from 2018, that he put up as a sworn affidavit of mine, that I said under oath that the affair never happened and that he won the lawsuit against me.

'Trump has never sued me. I've never faced him in court. I sued him. That was a total invention. That was not a sworn affidavit.'

She added: 'It's got typos in it and is signed by a fake name.

Good Morning Britain airs in the UK weekdays from 6am on ITV1 & ITVX
A Christian teacher who was banned from the profession for 'misgendering' a transgender pupil today said he would 'rather die' than 'call her a him'.

Joshua Sutcliffe, a 33-year-old who taught maths at The Cherwell School in Oxford, was found to have failed to treat the pupil 'with dignity and respect' by addressing them by a female pronoun when they identified as male.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK, the married father of one has been prohibited from teaching indefinitely by the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA).

Recalling the incident today, he told the Telegraph: 'The TRA has said, you don't feel enough remorse for not going on with the pronouns.

'Well, I'm sorry, but that's the Christian position. I wasn't going to say: ''I'm going along with this'. I'd rather die to be honest. Obviously that's quite extreme but that's how I feel.'

Joshua Sutcliffe was found to have failed to treat the pupil 'with dignity and respect' by addressing them by a female pronoun when they identified as male

In 2017, Mr Sutcliffe was suspended and subsequently left The Cherwell School after he praised a group of pupils by saying 'well done girls'  claiming later this was not deliberate and that he apologised straight away.

He took legal action against the school for constructive dismissal and discrimination.

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The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) concluded it was 'more probable than not' that he addressed the transgender pupil with female pronouns in other instances during his time at the school between 2015 and 2018  which he denies.

Mr Sutcliffe said he is 'devastated' by the ruling and plans to appeal.

He also called for teachers to receive more training about their interactions with trans pupils.

'Teachers are under enough stress as it is. It's a high pressure role, a lot is expected of you and you're not paid an awful lot. And then they've got this to contend with, and a lot of teachers will just capitulate out of fear,' he said.

'But a lot of teachers, Christian and non-Christian, will no doubt have convictions that sex is immutable. That's why the guidance is really needed.'

As well as being struck off for misgendering, the preacher's son was also found to have expressed his opposition to gay marriage when quizzed by a pupil.

Mr Sutcliffe was also found to have failed to 'consider the potential impact' on his pupils, particularly those who are LGBT, of a statement that being gay was wrong.

The married father of one insisted he was 'not sorry' for adopting a 'Christian position'

The 33-year-old taught maths at The Cherwell School in Oxford (pictured)

From September 2018, he went to work at boy's school St Aloysius' College in Islington, north London, where he showed pupils a YouTube video entitled 'Make Men Masculine Again', according to complaint submitted to the disciplinary panel.

He admitted to referring to the footage but denied showing it to pupils. However, the complaint was upheld.

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Another complaint over comments he made about masculinity, including that there is a 'growing problem in today's society that men are not masculine enough' was also upheld.

The TRA ruling stated: 'The panel was satisfied that the conduct of Mr Sutcliffe fell significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher.'

After being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct, a decision to ban him from teaching was made on behalf of Education Secretary Gillian Keegan by the TRA's decision-maker Alan Meyrick.

'In my view, it is necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession,' Mr Meyrick said.

The landmark ruling comes amid schools waiting for the first detailed Government guidance on how to respond to transgender pupils.

Transgender people and their supporters protest outside Downing Street in 2021

It is expected to say that teachers can refuse to use alternative pronouns demanded by students.

Mr Sutcliffe came under fire for his appearance on This Morning in 2017 as it was ruled that he did not safeguard the pupil's wellbeing when he used a female pronoun to describe them on the show.

Although he did show remorse over the pupil's fear of being identified, as well as their suicidal thoughts, the TRA found it 'fell significantly short of the level expected by the panel'.

Mr Meyrick added: 'A published decision, in light of the circumstances in this case, that is not backed up by full remorse or insight, does not in my view satisfy the public interest requirement concerning public confidence in the profession.'

Mr Sutcliffe has been banned from teaching indefinitely, preventing him from getting a job in the profession at any school, sixth form college or children's home in England. He can apply to have the ban revoked from 2025.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: 'We do not comment on specific cases or individuals.

'More broadly, the Education Secretary is working closely with the minister for women and equalities to support schools in relation to children who are questioning their gender, following calls from schools, teachers, and parents.

'This guidance will clarify schools' legal position and the importance of involving parents when making any decisions relating to their child.'
A senior doctor with a key role in reforming the controversial NHS Tavistock transgender clinic has been recorded questioning the need for change.

Professor Gary Butler, clinical lead for the only NHS children's gender clinic in England and Wales, also publicly challenged the author of the Cass review into the clinic, and accused her of 'nepotism' at a conference in Ireland.

In audio obtained by BBC Newsnight, Prof Butler can be heard saying he feels like the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), based at London's Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, has been the subject of 'lies' in the media.

However, when approached by Newsnight, Prof Butler said he 'fully supported' the recommendations for a new service.

The Gids was set to close in July 2022 after inspectors who visited in late 2020 rated it as 'inadequate', but it will now remain open until at least March 2024.

Senior doctor Professor Gary Butler in charge of reforming the controversial Tavistock clinic has been recorded questioning the need for change

An independent review, led by Dr Hilary Cass, called for a 'fundamentally different' model of care for children with gender dysphoria and in July last year NHS England announced plans to replace Gids with two new regional hubs.

Prof Butler, a consultant paediatric endocrinologist at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), told transgender healthcare professionals that the Cass Review had highlighted the need to provide 'developmentally appropriate healthcare for children and young people.'

But he said: 'What on earth are we doing now? It's exactly what we're doing at the present time, and what the Gids is doing.'

Prof Butler was awarded a key role in designing the new service, as one of several clinicians tasked with implementing a new training programme.

Professor Gary Butler was heard on an audio recording publicly questioning the need for change at the Tavistock clinic

An independent review, led by Dr Hilary Cass (pictured), called for a 'fundamentally different' model of care for children with gender dysphoria.

In the recording, Prof Butler is heard also questioning the personal integrity of Dr Cass.

He implied there had been what he referred to as 'nepotism' around the choice of two hospitals in the south of England as the sites for new clinics, suggesting Dr Cass's previous involvement in them both had been a factor.

NHS England says the two new regional hubs, which are set to replace Gids, are taking longer than anticipated to set up.

Referring to the hospitals, which will form these new hubs, Prof Butler voiced concerns about the new workforce, claiming that none of the staff had 'any experience of management of gender incongruence in young people'.

He continued: 'It's shocking.'

Meanwhile, there are more than 8,000 young people currently waiting for care.

In a statement, Prof Butler told BBC Newsnight the reported comments were 'highly selective' and part of a presentation on gender identity services in the UK.

'I wish to make clear that I fully support Dr Hilary Cass's recommendations to develop new services for young people experiencing gender dysphoria,' he added.

The Cass Review told BBC Newsnight, that while it accepts people hold different views on how services should develop, there was 'general consensus that the current model of care, within a single specialist gender service, cannot provide timely, holistic care for the mix of children and young people seeking support'.

It said Dr Cass did not select which hospitals would form the new regional centres, saying accusations to the contrary were 'baseless'.

While Gids has helped some young people, critics - including young trans people seen by the clinic  told the BBC that it was sometimes too quick to refer young people for medical interventions and it could overlook mental health difficulties.

Em, a 19-year-old trans man, who has identified as male since early childhood, told Newsnight, 'they push the drugs on you so early on.' He was first prescribed puberty blockers by Prof Butler when he was 12.

Em rejects any suggestion that there's no need for change. He told the programme: 'The new system needs to be a mental health service.

'For them, you weren't transgender unless you're willing to go the full way [in medically transitioning]. I was a child. I did not know what I was doing.'

The NHS says little is known about the long-term side effects of puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria. Dr Cass has insisted there needs to be more research.

A UCLH spokesperson told Newsnight that it would be inappropriate to comment on an individual patient's care, but added that Gids clinicians 'discuss non-medical interventions with patients before and after referral to our endocrinology clinic'.

'Patients only begin medical treatment if they are assessed as having full competence to consent and there is parental support,' UCLH said, adding that the clinic follows the service specification set out by NHS England.

In a statement, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said it had reviewed Newsnight's claims, saying they 'do not align with the evidence we have', though it declined to give specifics about that evidence.

BBC Newsnight 10.30pm BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, Wednesday 24th May
A six-year-old girl has been killed on a Philippines beach in a tragic speedboat racing accident after the driver lost control and blasted onto the sand.

Sciamira Ziah Banquil was playing along the shore while local villagers were holding a speedboat drag race at Paliton Beach on Siquijor Island on Sunday, May 21.

As the speedboats circled back towards the beach, the race winner lost control and shot onto land, running over the youngster and hitting spectator Alixa Buhian, 24, who suffered a head injury.

The surrounding water was tinged red with blood following the accident. Horrific footage showed the aftermath as locals tended to the victims.

Sciamira and Alixa were rushed to a hospital. However, the child was declared dead on arrival due to her grave wounds.

Sciamira Ziah Banquil, 6, was playing along the shore when the driver lost control and blasted onto the sand

Locals stand around the damage in shock after the boat shot onto land, running over the youngster and hitting another spectator who suffered a head injury

San Juan police officers have now detained the boat driver James Sumalpong, who has declined to give a statement.

Sciamira's devastated father Joe Pro Banquil said: 'The driver suddenly accelerated when he was approaching the shore.

'It happened so fast I couldn't run to my daughter in time.'

The six-year-old's cousin Jerby Factularin said: 'The family are all heartbroken. Everyone loved Sciamira so much. Now we want justice for her.'

San Juan Police investigator Police Master Sergeant Carry Grencio said: 'Based on our investigation, the driver struck the victims while they were on the shore after his engine malfunctioned.

'They were rushed to the Siquijor Provincial Hospital, but the girl was declared dead on arrival. The organisers had a permit to hold the boat race.'

San Juan police officers have now detained the boat driver James Sumalpong after the boat rocketed onto land and killed the six-year-old

The boat damage is shown following the incident where the race winner lost control and shot onto land

People on the beach huddle together on Paliton Beach following the devastating incident that left the six-year-old dead

Sciamira's (pictured) devastated father Joe Pro Banquil said: 'It happened so fast I couldn't run to my daughter in time'

The six-year-old's cousin Jerby Factularin said: 'The family are all heartbroken. Everyone loved Sciamira so much. Now we want justice for her.' Pictured: Sciamira (centre) with relatives

In a statement, boat race organiser Bancarera Philippines said: 'Bancarera Philippines wishes to extend its deepest sympathies to the families of the victims of the unfortunate accident during the race held at Paliton Beach, San Juan, Siquijor on May 21, 2023. We wholeheartedly join in your sorrows.

'In the same token, we implore race organizers, team managers, crews and most especially riders, to learn from this tragic incident and revisit, review, and implement all safety protocols to prevent reoccurence in the future and ensure everybody's safety.'

Philippines authorities said Sumalpong is facing charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide. He was remanded in custody at the San Juan police station.
Lidia Thorpe has stormed out of a Senate estimates hearing after a fiery clash with Indigenous Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy, where she was labelled 'a disgrace to her people'.

The shouting match broke out during a heated discussion over commonwealth funding for Northern Territory safety initiatives.

The independent Indigenous senator and Senator McCarthy, a Yanyuwa woman from the Gulf country in the NT, sparred over some of the funding being spent on police.

The Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee was holding budget estimates hearings involving the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).

Lidia Thorpe (pictured) has stormed out of a Senate estimates hearing where she was labelled 'a disgrace to her people'

Senator Thorpe asked a question about money from the NIAA, intended for Indigenous Australia, going to NT police.

'Is black money being used for NT police?' Senator Thorpe said.

Public servants replied that $14.2million from the NIAA was being given to the NT police for community safety.

'I am so violated from that answer, I am so disgusted when the Northern Territory police get $14million when our youth services are struggling,' Senator Thorpe said.

She then turned on Senator McCarthy, the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians, asking 'How can you let this happen.'

Senator Thorpe shouted out 'disgusting' and 'shame on you' and took aim at police, including Indigenous officers, as Senator McCarthy tried to explain.

'You're the one who brings disgrace to the Senate, to your people ... How dare you,' Senator McCarthy shot back, during the loud and heated exchange.

Lidia Thorpe is pictured storming out of a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Wednesday

Controversial senator Lidia Thorpe got into a shouting match with Indigenous Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy (pictured)

Senator Thorpe called on Senator McCarthy to withdraw the statement that she 'was a disgrace to my people', saying she 'I was personally attacked by the Senator'.

'I'm sure there's lots we'd like to clear from the last few minutes of Hansard (the record of proceedings in parliament),' she said.

Senator McCarthy asked that Senator Thorpe withdraw the 'how dare you' remark .

Both senators withdrew their remarks, before Senator Thorpe picked up her papers and walked out before the end of the session, saying 'an absolute disgrace'.
Moscow declared it suffered several drone attacks but did not report casualties

The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship was in international waters in the Black Sea

One of Vladimir Putin's most modern spy warships narrowly avoided being blown up by a trio of marine drones in the Black Sea, shocking new footage shows.

The intense clip, released by the Russian defence ministry on state television, showed how one high-speed unmanned boat came zipping across the water's surface towards Moscow's Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship.

The spy vessel immediately launched into evasive manoeuvres and began firing at the oncoming drones.

Initial volleys from the Russian warship missed the drone - but just as the craft crested a wave it suffered a direct hit, immediately erupting into a massive fireball just metres from its target.

The Yury Ivanov-class Russian ship, launched in 2017, was in international waters in the Black Sea some 40 nautical miles north of the Bosphorus Strait at the time of the attack.

Russian sources said Ukraine's armed forces were responsible for the attack after initial reports suggested the drones were instead launched from civilian ships.

Kyiv is yet to comment on the attack.

The attempt to strike the Ivan Khurs came as smoke was seen pouring from the giant 3billion Russian-controlled Crimean bridge, prompting suspicions it had also suffered an attack.

A suspected Ukrainian marine surface drone is seen avoiding oncoming fire from its target moments before it is hit

The drone exploded instantly when it was hit

The boat erupted into a huge fireball after being hit on the nose by the warship's guns

The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship was in international waters in the Black Sea

The Yury Ivanov-class ship, launched in 2017, was some 40 nautical miles north of the Bosphorus Strait at the time of the attack

A local radio station posted footage of the Kerch bridge smoking on social media

This video circulating on social media shows the huge smoke cloud billowing from the Crimean bridge

The Kerch bridge, which links the Crimean peninsula to the Russian region of Krasnodar, was reopened on Wednesday after being closed for several hours for 'exercises', an official from Crimea's Russian-backed administration said.

'The Crimean Bridge is closed due to an exercise being held in the area,' said the Putin-appointed head of annexed Crimea Sergei Aksyonov.

'Traffic will be restored in a few hours. I'm urging everyone to trust only trusted sources of information.'

It was not clear what was meant by exercises.

Video footage posted to Telegram showed white smoke billowing from the main central span of the bridge, and more smoke rising from one of the approaches to the crossing point.

In recent days Russia banned all trucks from the bridge, with Putin's deputy premier citing 'security concerns' when announcing the decision.

On May 3, a drone strike triggered a huge explosion at an oil storage depot close to the bridge, prompting suspicions Ukrainian armed forces could attempt to conduct another strike.

The bridge was sensationally attacked last October, causing significant structural damage

This file aerial picture taken on November 08, 2022, and released by the Russian federal road agency Rosavtodor shows restoring works on damaged parts of the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia, which was hit by a blast on October 8, 2022

Smoke on the Crimean Bridge is described by Russian media as the result of 'military drills'

Car and railway traffic stopped after an October 2022 explosion at the Crimean Bridge damaged both lines

In light of the suspected attacks on Russia's spy ship and the Crimean bridge, Moscow spymaster Sergey Naryshkin blasted Britain and the US at a security conference near Moscow

The 12-mile road and rail bridge was damaged by an explosion last October, in an attack that the Kremlin said had been orchestrated by Ukrainian security forces, though Ukraine did not claim responsibility.

Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, but is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

In light of the suspected attacks on Russia's spy ship and the Crimean bridge, Moscow spymaster Sergey Naryshkin blasted Britain and the US at a security conference near Moscow.

Part of the Kremlin's narrative surrounding the war in Ukraine is that Kyiv's forces are mere puppets being controlled by their Western masters.

'The Anglo-Saxons should be advised to deal with their own internal civil conflicts,' the head of Putin's SVR foreign intelligence agency said.

'Or even better go to their long-term friend, the devil.'

In February, a Russian drone boat packed with explosives smashed into a key Ukrainian bridge connecting the country to Moldova.

In a dramatic video trhe unmanned object is seen in the water approaching at-speed in the dark. A huge explosion then suddenly erupts.

Some reports say it was an underwater drone, while others believe the footage visibility shows it to be a USV - an Uncrewed Surface Vessel.

The bridge has previously been attacked by the Russians but without destroying it

Some reports say it was an underwater drone, while others believe the footage visibility shows it to be a USV - an Uncrewed Surface Vessel

Russia is not known to have such drones but it is understood their creation was proposed at a meeting with Vladimir Putin last year. Pictured: Mystery Ukrainian Drone Boat Washes Up Near Home Of Russia's Black Sea Fleet last year

It is the first time Russia has used this type of attack in the war, analysts say

The unmanned object is seen in the water approaching at-speed in the dark. A huge explosion then suddenly erupts

Russia has previously attacked the road-rail Zatoka Bridge across the Dniester estuary in the Odessa region, a strategic link between Ukraine and its troubled neighbour Moldova, where the pro-EU government fell a day before the attack.

It is the first time Russia has used this type of attack in the war, analysts say.

The bridge has previously been attacked by the Russians but without destroying it.

It was used to deliver supplies to Ukraine's southern armed forces through Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova.

Russia is not known to have such drones but it is understood the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, proposed creating them at a meeting with Vladimir Putin in November last year.

He said enterprises in the city, in annexed Crimea, had the capability to design and manufacture such drones.

Ukraine has been previously successful in attacking a Russian warship as the managed to shoot Russia's flaship Moskva, which then caught fire and sank in April.

Pictures that emerged after the ship sank seem to have been taken from a rescue vessel alongside the stricken Russian warship, show damage its left side along with flames burning below deck and a thick pall of black smoke rising into the sky.

Moskva is shown sitting low in the water, leaning to the port side, and appears to have deployed its lifeboats with no crew visible on board. Its rear helicopter door is also open, suggesting the aircraft has taken off. There also seems to be a firefighting ship behind the vessel which is spraying jets of water into the air.

Images have emerged which appear to show the Russian warship Moskva heavily damaged and on fire in the Black Sea shortly before it sank last week

The images show what appears to be damage to the left-hand side of the vessel close to the water line, smoke and fire damage along its left-hand side, missing lifeboats and open helicopter bay doors - suggesting the aircraft has taken off. A rescue ship also appears to be behind the stricken ship, spraying water jets

Moskva (pictured last leaving port on April 10) got into trouble on April 14 while sailing around 60 miles off the coast of Odesa - Ukraine's largest port - before Moscow confirmed she had sunk on April 15

Multiple black marks scar the port-side of the ship, including several near deck-level where smoke appears to have streamed out of portholes and left marks on the paint.

But there are also dark marks close to the waterline that don't match the position of portholes and suggest the ship has sustained external damage.

The images are largely consistent with Ukrainian descriptions of the sinking - that the Moskva was hit by two missiles on its port side which sparked a fire and caused it to roll - and contradict Russia's account which was that the ship suffered a fire and internal explosion in rough seas.

Video has also since emerged which appears to show two rescue vessels approaching the burning ship - one to the left side and one to the right - in which a Russian voice can be heard speaking. One man says 'what the f*** are you doing?' before the short clip ends.

Analysts and experts who reviewed the images say they do appear genuine. It is unlikely that Russia will confirm the authenticity of the pictures, amid a near-total information blackout around the sinking which is a huge embarrassment to Vladimir Putin's beleaguered armed forces.
The BBC's Chris Packham is facing a backlash after the outspoken eco-warrior was appointed as the RSPCA's new chief.

The Springwatch star, 62, said he was 'thrilled' to be appointed president of the animal welfare charity after the announcement was made during this year's Chelsea Flower Show.

Packham and the RSPCA have now come under fire for the move, branded 'strange' and 'controversial'.

The BBC star has sparked a string of controversies over the years, mostly recently taking part in an Extinction Rebellion protest in London and urging his Twitter followers to join the eco-zealots.

He previously also branded government officials 'brutalist thugs, liars and frauds' in 2013 on the eve of a cull to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis, and branded game shooters 'psychopaths' in an interview with the Badger Trust website.

Countryside Alliance chief executive Tim Bonner told MailOnline: 'This is a strange decision from an organisation which has done so much to rebuild its reputation over recent years.'

Calling Packham 'a controversial figure', he added: 'By linking itself to Mr Packham the RSPCA will be alienating many people who have an important role in protecting the welfare of both domestic and wild animals.

BBC star Chris Packham, 62, has been appointed as the new president of the RSPCA. But the move has triggered a backlash from the head Countryside Alliance who branded the presenter a 'controversial figure' and criticised the RSPCA for appointing him to the prestigious role

Chris Packham is pictured on the fourth day of The Big One climate change protest outside parliament, staged by Extinction Rebellion in April 2023

'It is disappointing to see the RSPCA slipping backwards after travelling a long road back to reason and respectability in recent years'.

A spokesperson for the RSPCA told MailOnline: 'We work with a huge range of individuals and organisations to improve animal welfare. We are really excited to welcome Chris Packham as President of the RSPCA.

'Chris is much loved and a well respected voice for all animals who speaks to a wide range of society.

'Like us, Chris is ambitious for animals and we have a huge amount we want to achieve by 2030 and beyond, and his passion and expertise will help us get there. He has been a Vice President at the RSPCA for almost 15 years now and during his time in this official role he has supported the RSPCA with countless projects spanning across all our work.

'Stepping up into the Presidential role is a natural next step and we are looking forward to working with him closer to create a better world for animals.'

Packham's representatives have been contacted for comment.

Packham previously triggered controversy after branding government officials 'brutalist thugs, liars and frauds' in a series of tweets.

BBC bosses launched an investigation into the posts following a complaint by the Countryside Alliance which claimed they went against the corporation's impartiality rules.

It found Packham breached a BBC voluntary code of conduct as the tweets were not politically neutral.

Packham last month faced calls to be sacked after he urged his followers to join XR eco-zealots in a four-day protest outside Parliament . The nature lover asked his Twitter followers to attend the eco rally from April 21-24, in London, sparking furious backlash online.

After his tweet, the BBC stressed that 'social media guidance for freelancers is ongoing'. But followers of Packham said the BBC Springwatch co-presenter should be 'sacked' and accused him of 'using your celebrity platform to cause mayhem and disruption'.

Packham urged other environmentalists to come together as Extinction Rebellion demands ministers to enter negotiations for a citizens' assembly and an end to the 'fossil fuel era'.

Packham said: 'It's the Big One. Yes it's the Big One that we've all been waiting for. A family-friendly affair, lots of fantastic events, fantastic speakers and most important of all some fantastic ideas. How we can change the world to make it a better place for people and wildlife and we can secure its future too.

'I'm going to be there on the 22nd, it's Biodiversity Earth Day, chipping in on that account. I hope to see you.

Chris faced calls to be sacked after urging his followers on social media to support the XR event, amid accusations he had breached BBC impartiality guidelines

The RSPCA is preparing to mark its 200th anniversary in 2024. Mr Packham had previously been the charity's vice-president for 15 years.

In a statement released today about taking on the top job, the 62-year-old presenter warned the world was at a 'pivotal moment' in animal welfare.

Chris said: 'I am immensely proud to take on the role of president of the RSPCA - the world's oldest and largest animal charity.

'This honour comes at a historic moment as the charity counts down to its 200th birthday next year in 2024. I see this time as one of the most critical times for animals in the last 200 years.

'We are at a pivotal moment for animal welfare, and the decisions we make will have huge repercussions for animals all over the world.

'Everywhere we look there are human issues that are affecting animals and it's imperative that we make change, for the better.

'Every decision we make, on every scale, affects the world around us. Letting sewage pour into our rivers, where we decide to build our houses, decisions we make on how we power the country - all of these things threaten our wildlife.'

RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said he was 'really excited' to welcome Mr Packham as the charity's new president.

'Chris is much-loved and a well-respected voice for all animals who speaks to a wide range of society.

'Like us, Chris is ambitious for animals and we have a huge amount we want to achieve by 2030 and beyond, and his passion and expertise will help us get there.'
A man has been sent to prison after his dog savaged an 11-year-old girl in east London, leaving her with broken bones.

Siddique Ali, 43, of Mile End, was jailed for 14 months for being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury to a person at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, May 12.

He was also banned from owning a dog for 10 years.

The young girl was walking in Limehouse on her way to school on September 28 last year, when she passed Ali with his two dogs.

One of the dogs lunged at her and bit her several times on the hand and arm. A nearby taxi driver intervened to free the child from the dog's grip and she was taken to hospital where her treatment lasted for several days.

Siddique Ali, 43, of Mile End, was jailed for 14 months for being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury to a person at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, May 12

The young girl was walking in Limehouse on her way to school on September 28 last year, when she passed Ali with his two dogs (pictured on CCTV) - one of which lunged at her

Dog owner Ali fled the scene of the incident before police arrived.

Commenting at the time, Detective Inspector Luke Hampton said: 'This was a shocking and sustained attack on a young girl as she walked to school.

'The incident not only left her with serious injuries - including broken bones - but has also left her traumatised.'

After exhausting all other lines of enquiry, in December 2022, detectives released CCTV images of the man with the dogs, appealing for the public to identify him.

Ali was named by a caller and he was arrested at his home three days before Christmas. He was charged with being in control of a dangerously out of control dog.

Detective Inspector Luke Hampton of the Met's Central East Command said: 'Ali had no control over the animal that attacked the child and even left the scene knowing that she had been seriously injured. I hope that [the] sentence brings the child and her family a measure of comfort following what has been a deeply traumatic incident.'
The final two parts of a four-part documentary on Stephen Paddock will air on BBC Two tonight at 9pm.

The documentary, titled '11 Minutes: America's Deadliest Mass Shooting' goes behind the scenes of of the 2017 incident, which occurred in Las Vegas on October 1 that year.

So, who exactly was Stephen Paddock? Who was his girlfriend? How can you watch the entire documentary series?

Here is everything you need to know about Stephen Paddock ahead of the last two episodes of the BBC documentary.

Stephen Paddock, 64, burned through more than $1.5million gambling in the months leading up to the massacre

Who was Stephen Paddock?

Paddock, 64, was a retired postal service worker, accountant and real estate investor who owned rental properties and homes in Reno and in a retirement community more than an hour's drive from Las Vegas, held a private pilot's license and liked to gamble tens of thousands of dollars at a time playing high-stakes video poker.

His father, Benjamin Paddock, was a bank robber who was on the FBI's most-wanted list for eight years between 1969 and 1977.



On October 1 2017, Paddock opened fire on the crowd which had gathered for the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the famous Las Vegas strip in Nevada.

Tragically, almost 900 people injured during the attack.

The 64-year-old then fatally shot himself as police closed in and left no suicide note detailing why he did what he did.

After a thorough investigation, the FBI concluded Paddock, a high-stakes gambler who spent most of his time in casinos on the main strip in Las Vegas, had no known motive to kill.

'It wasn't about MGM, Mandalay Bay or a specific casino or venue,' Aaron Rouse, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas office, said.

'It was all about doing the maximum amount of damage and him obtaining some form of infamy.'

The finding was contained in a long-awaited report compiled by the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit, a group of experts who spent months examining several factors that might have led to the rampage.

In April 2023, FBI files revealed that Paddock lost a whopping $1.5million whilst gambling weeks before the massacre.

Who was Stephen Paddock's girlfriend?

Dual-Australian citizen Marilou Danley dated Stephen Paddock for four years before he opened fire on more than 20,000 country music fans from a hotel suite in Las Vegas.

Ms Danley was initially named as a person of interest in the case but was cleared a short time later. She recounted how Mr Paddock repeatedly cased Las Vegas Village from different windows in their room when they stayed at Mandalay Bay a month before the shooting.

Dual-Australian citizen Marilou Danley (left) dated Stephen Paddock (right) for four years

The 10-minute massacre unfolded on the final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Music Festival across the street from the Mandalay Bay resort, where Paddock was staying on the 32nd floor

Ms Danley moved from the Gold Coast to Nevada after the death of her first husband, and was visiting family in the Philippines when Paddock opened fire.

He had allegedly purchased a plane ticket and given her $150,000 as a gift in the weeks prior to the shooting.

She previously told investigators she believed her relationship had all but run its course when she went away, claiming Paddock had distanced himself from her.

Ms Danley, a former casino worker in Reno, returned to the US after the shooting and told authorities that Paddock had complained that he was sick and that doctors told him he had a 'chemical imbalance' and could not cure him.

His weapons were seen laying in the bathroom and around the hotel room. A dozen of Paddock's weapons were modified with rapid-fire 'bump stocks,' attachments that effectively convert semi-automatic rifles into fully automated weapons

Guns were seen strewn across the beds in the hotel room from which Paddock opened fire

How can you watch the Stephen Paddock documentary?

The final two episodes of the documentary exploring the largest mass murder by an individual in US history will air on Wednesday 24 May at 9pm.

The first two episodes analysed what happened prior to the shooting, as well as the immediate response of the emergency services following the attack.

The final two episodes, which will be broadcast back-to-back on BBC Two, take a look at the efforts of doctors to treat people injured in the attack, as well as the reactions of those who survived the shooting.

Anyone who has missed the first two episodes of the series can catch up on BBC iPlayer.
The boss of a luxury airline firm has claimed that pets can cause as much pollution as private jets, according to reports.

Patrick Hansen, chief executive of Luxaviation based in Luxemberg, told the Financial Times that one of his company's customers produces around 2.1 tonnes of CO2 a year, or about the same amount as three cats - before a spokesperson corrected the statement by saying he meant three dogs.

Speaking at the FT's Business of Luxury summit in Monaco he said private flights were 'not going away, because they provide a service of time' to the wealthy.

He reportedly said he was aware of the urgent need to limit the industry's carbon footprint, but said the data should be put into perspective.

Mr Hansen said he was referring to data in a book by Mike Berners-Lee - 'How Bad are Bananas' - which said a cat kept as a household pet produces 310kg of carbon emissions per year, and a dog about 700kg, though the British author was reportedly 'surprised and disappointed to hear data from my book being used to defend the bogus eco claims made by Luxaviation.'

Mr Hansen told MailOnline his comments were made 'to put into perspective the actions of each and every one of us when it comes to CO2 emissions.'

'Of course, if no-one flew privately, these private jet CO2 emissions would not be emitted. And if no-one had a pet, there would be no pet food production emitting CO2,' he added.

Patrick Hansen runs a Luxembourg-based private jet company called Luxaviation

Greenpeace is calling for the EU and national governments to ban private jets as part of a plan to tackle the climate crisis in a more equitable way (stock image)

The boss of a luxury airline firm has claimed pets can produce as much pollution as private flights (stock image)

Aviation expert Justin Albertynas told MailOnline: 'The executive's statement about the emissions of three dogs should be taken with caution.'

The CEO of RatePunk said: 'It's crucial to acknowledge that private jets are often associated with luxury and convenience, catering to a small segment of the population.

'The private jet industry, as a whole, is responsible for substantial carbon emissions due to the high fuel consumption and inefficient engines of these aircraft. Private jets are known to emit significantly larger amounts of greenhouse gasses per passenger mile compared to commercial airlines.

'According to a study by Transport & Environment, private jets are five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes (counting per passenger).

'While pets do contribute to environmental impact, their individual carbon footprint is relatively small in comparison.'

Travel expert Hans Mast, from Golden Rule Travel, also compared the impact of private jets and pets on the environment was an 'oversimplification'.

'Yes, pets do have a carbon footprint, (but so do humans), mostly tied to the production of their food, but it's crucial to consider that private jets emit CO2 at a significantly higher rate per passenger than commercial flights,' he said.

'This disparity widens even further when we consider that a private jet typically carries far fewer passengers than a commercial plane.

'That said, it's important to recognize that the aviation industry as a whole, not just the private jet sector, plays a substantial role in global greenhouse gas emissions. It's also worth noting that some private jet companies are making strides towards reducing their environmental impact, through measures like carbon offset programs and exploring more sustainable fuel options.'

Mr Hansen added: 'Sustainability is one of the main challenges for private aviation today and we are committed to our responsibility for the emissions we produce.

Mr Hansen said he was referring to data in a book by Mike Berners-Lee - 'How Bad are Bananas' - which said a cat kept as a household pet is responsible for 310kg of carbon emissions per year, and a dog for about 700kg (stock image)

'Business aviation is of significant economic value globally. Decarbonisation is essential to our future and as part of that there will be challenging conversations to be had which will lead to progress. More importantly, all industries need to carry that responsibility and drive this conversation forward.

'As Luxaviation Group, we know that in 2022 our total fleet of business jets  including all sizes of aircraft and all global routes  emitted 150,000 tons of CO2 per year whilst in flight. We flew 67,000 passengers globally, so that is approximately 2.1 tons of CO2 per passenger.

'This number refers to the direct impact of flying and does not include the CO2 emissions of servers, or maintenance and other related service. It also does not include any offsetting certificates.'

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has suggested the solution to private jet emissions in the short-term is sustainable aviation fuel.

SNP MP Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) said: 'Private jets have been in the headlines, described as incredibly carbon intensive.

'The recent Department for Transport commissioned report suggests the carbon footprint of private jets in the UK is on par with 200,000 people taking a return flight to Hong Kong, and calls for the number of private jet flights to be halved.'

Mr Shapps said: 'Private jets almost in the headlines as much as motor homes.

'The reality is that to solve this problem we need sustainable aviation fuel in the shorter-term. And that's why the UK has one of the world-leading targets of 10% of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) in our energy mix for jets in just six-and-a-half years time.'

This comes after research commissioned by Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe revealed in March that the number of private jet flights in Europe increased by 64 per cent last year, and carbon-dioxide emissions from private flights more than doubled.

Greenpeace is calling for the EU and national governments to ban private jets as part of a plan to tackle the climate crisis in a more equitable way.

The research, conducted by Dutch environmental consultancy CE Delft, found that European private jet traffic soared over the last three years. The tally rose from 118,756 private flights in 2020, to 350,078 in 2021 and 572,806 in 2022, emitting over 5.3 million tonnes of CO2 in total.

The countries with the most private jet flights in Europe in 2022 were France, the UK and Germany.

The three most popular destinations of private jets in Europe were Nice (Cote d'Azur), Paris, and Geneva.

The busiest private jet route in Europe last year was Paris-London, with an average of nine private flights between those cities each day.

Greenpeace EU transport campaigner Thomas Gelin said as the findings were published: 'Vulnerable people are on the front lines of climate destruction, and are the ones pushed into poverty by spiking fuel prices, but have done the least to cause these crises. It's hugely unfair that rich people can wreck the climate this way, in just one flight polluting more than driving a car 23,000 kilometres. Pollution for wasteful luxury has to be the first to go, we need a ban on private jets.'

A hundred climate activists supporting Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and other climate movement groups from 17 countries disrupted Europe's biggest private jet sales fair yesterday, the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, demanding a ban on private jets.

The action followed a series of protests against private jets, including at the Amsterdam Schiphol airport and actions as part of the Make Them Pay campaign, in the past months.

Protestors stuck giant tobacco-style health warning labels on the jets marking them as toxic objects and warning that 'private jets burn our future', 'kill our planet', and 'fuel inequality'.
The Government has announced 200 Albanian nationals jailed in England and Wales will be sent home for the rest of their sentence - amid concerns that UK prisons are nearing capacity.

According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), offenders who have been handed terms of four years or more will return to their native country for the remainder of their sentence.

The department confirmed that Britain will help support Albania to help modernise its own prison system, as part of the arrangement.

It comes after justice minister Lord Bellamy KC told Parliament that jails are 'quite tight' and at 99% capacity.

Speaking to peers, he said the Government is concerned about the increasing prison population and how it is nearing its upper limit.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk said that 'the public expects that foreign criminals should serve their sentences overseas - not in our prisons at the expense of the taxpayer'

'Collaboration with our international partners is an essential part of making this possible,' Chalk added

The MoJ said the new deal will 'free up' jail space in England and Wales and double the number of offenders without UK citizenship removed annually.

Between 27 April 2021 and 27 April 2023, the Government repatriated 112 inmates under prisoner transfer agreements.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: 'I am grateful to my Albanian counterpart, Ulsi Manja, for his efforts to shape our growing partnership on justice issues.

'The public expects that foreign criminals should serve their sentences overseas - not in our prisons at the expense of the taxpayer.

'This deal will speed up the removal of these offenders and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice and spend the remainder of their sentence behind bars.

'Collaboration with our international partners is an essential part of making this possible.'

Ulsi Manja, the Albanian justice minister, said: 'This new arrangement demonstrates the strong partnership between the UK and Albanian governments.

'Two years after the agreement for the transfer of prisoners from the United Kingdom to Albania was ratified, we have concluded a technical arrangement that will benefit both countries.

'At its core, every Albanian convict in the United Kingdom shall be given the opportunity to serve the remaining sentence in Albania, near their families, while we also increase our efforts to ensure the modernisation of the Albanian penitentiary system.'
David Cameron today defended the Government's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as he suggested critics had yet come to forward with a 'better answer'.

The ex-prime minister said he had 'huge sympathy' with ministers as they attempt to break people-smuggling gangs behind the Channel migrant crisis.

He also claimed those opposed to Home Secretary Suella Braverman's approach to illegal migration should keep quiet until they offer solutions themselves.

But the former premier's defence of the Government's approach to the small boats crisis came as the Archbishop of Canterbury renewed his attack on ministers.

Justin Welby blasted 'immoral' new asylum laws in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Illegal Migration Bill.

He also vowed that bishops would 'not abandon' their fight against the legislation in the House of Lords.

David Cameron defended the Government's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as he suggested critics had yet come to forward with a 'better answer'.

The ex-prime minister said he had 'huge sympathy' with ministers as they attempt to break people-smuggling gangs behind the Channel migrant crisis

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, renewed his attack on ministers by blasting 'immoral' new asylum laws in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Illegal Migration Bill

Mr Cameron gave his backing to the Government's efforts to stop the Channel migrant crisis as peers prepared to continue their consideration of the Bill today.

Asked about the proposed scheme to send asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Rwanda to have their claims processed, the ex-PM told LBC: 'If you don't have a better answer to the things that the Government is doing to try and stop this illegal trade, then I think there's no point criticising.

'I mean, we know that there are ways of shutting down people smuggling businesses.

'I mean, there was that deal many years ago, when I was prime minister, when lots of people were moving from Turkey to Greece.

'When the deal was done  much criticised  but when the deal was done, that everyone who arrived in Greece from Turkey was sent back to Turkey, the people smuggling operation collapsed, because suddenly the people smugglers couldn't sell what they were selling.

'So I have huge sympathy with the Government when they say we've got to collapse the model of the people smugglers.

'And that means people who arrive through that manner shouldn't be able to stay.

'So until you've got a better answer, you won't find me in radio and television studios telling Suella Braverman what to do.'

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been one of the leading critics of the Illegal Migration Bill, which seeks to toughen the UK's asylum system and has now reached its committee stage in the House of Lords.

In a renewed attack on the proposed legislation, Mr Welby claimed the Bill would 'do little to resolve the existing problems, and will exacerbate others, all while causing serious suffering to the most vulnerable'.

The Archbishop said he had tabled 'helpful, not destructive' amendments to the Government legislation, which would require ministers 'to produce long-term strategies to tackle human trafficking and the refugee crisis'.

Mr Welby called for a speeding up of efforts to clear the backlog of asylum claims, the creation of an 'alternative safe route' for asylum seekers to come to the UK, and for Britain to lead a review of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

He wrote in The Times: 'Those who sit on the bishops' bench will not abandon our duty to point out when governments propose legislation that is impractical or immoral.

'We will not abandon the most vulnerable people that Jesus Christ specifically calls us to love.

'And we will not abandon our hopes and efforts for a nation and a world that helps those in trouble and supports those in need.'

The Archbishop insisted those opposed to the Bill were not 'indifferent to the challenges we face, or in favour of open-door immigration, or on the side of people smugglers, or even content to see desperate people drown'.
A Centrelink employee who was stabbed by a customer is planning to take legal action against the welfare agency for failing to protect her.

Joeanne Cassar, 55, was on duty at the Airport West's Centrelink in Melbourne on Tuesday when a man allegedly knifed her in the lower back - narrowly missing her kidneys.

The alleged attacker Elijah Chase, 34, had previously been banned from the Centrelink office after another alleged attack on a female staff member.

Ms Cassar's husband Andrew Giusti said the welfare agency needs to tighten its security measures across its Australian branches.

Joeanne Cassar (pictured), 55, was on duty at the Airport West's Centrelink in Melbourne on Tuesday when a man allegedly knifed her in the lower back - narrowly missing her kidneys

Her husband Andrew Giusti said his wife allegedly saw the knife in Chase's hand before the man allegedly attacked her (pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday)

'Centrelink workers are at risk everyday. If we don't do anything to change the current process, a worker could get killed,' Mr Giusti told the Herald Sun.

'If entry was controlled, he would not have been able to enter the building and she may not have been stabbed.

'We will be looking to pursue a legal claim and to find out what options and compensation are available.'

The pair's lawyer Allanah Goodwin from Arnold Thomas and Becker said the incident reveals the vulnerabilities and risks frontline workers have to face daily.

She added the policy failure of Services Australia which delivers social services like Centrelink resulted in Ms Cassar's horror attack.

Mr Giusti said his wife allegedly saw the knife in Chase's hand before the man allegedly attacked her.

She had tried to bar him from entering but other staff members had let him in, he claimed.

Victoria Police commissioner Graham Ashton (pictured) said he will lead an urgent review of service centre security following the brutal stabbing

Mr Giusti said the welfare agency needs to tighten its security measures across its Australian branches (pictured, the Centrelink in Airport West in Melbourne)

A source told Daily Mail Australia Ms Cassar had asked Chase to leave the welfare agency on Tuesday morning before he returned at about 1.30pm.

The person, who asked not to be identified, claimed Ms Cassar was allegedly stabbed immediately after Chase returned.

Ms Cassar was rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a critical condition but by Wednesday she was stable - although feeling 'tired' and 'fatigued'.

Mr Giusti said his wife was speaking, on pain meds and had been up on her feet since the alleged incident.

It comes after former Victoria Police commissioner Graham Ashton said he will lead an urgent review of service centre security following the brutal stabbing.

Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten said Mr Ashton and his team would examine what could be done better to prevent and deter future incidents.

'This review will be carried out as a priority. The impact of this terrible incident on staff is obvious. Some were too distressed to return to frontline work today,' Mr Shorten told Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

'I think it is important, and I briefly mentioned this to the Shadow Minister, that this Parliament expresses its support for all of our public servants, in particular the person who was assaulted yesterday.'

Meanwhile, charge sheets reveal Chase had been let loose in the community after another alleged rampage at a JobFind Centre in Geelong, south of Melbourne.

Police charged Chase with multiple counts of assault over the December 17, 2020 incident, including recklessly causing injury.

The documents reveal Chase was charged over alleged assaults against two men, one of whom is believed to be an employee.

It is understood that employee sustained a broken collarbone in the alleged attack.

Chase, from Essendon, has been charged in the latest incident with intentionally cause serious injury, recklessly cause serious injury, reckless conduct endangering life, common law assault, and use and possession of controlled weapon.

The court heard Chase required full psychiatric review upon being taken to prison.

A lawyer acting as a 'friend of the court' said Chase had refused to speak with Victorian Legal Aid lawyers and was 'delusional'.

'I was not keen to talk at the time,' Chase said from the prison dock within the courtroom.

Chase had expressed an interest in making an 'in person' bail application himself, but changed his mind after speaking to the lawyer.

He will return to court next week over multiple offences.

A Services Australia staff member said there was no added security at the Centrelink branch which reopened on Wednesday - despite the recent breach.

Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen said employees should be free to do their jobs without threats against personal safety.

He added Tuesday was a very sad day for the organisation and said its immediate priority is to support all staff impacted by the incident.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The holiday of a man who was on bail was unceremoniously ruined today after police apprehended him trying to board a flight at Manchester airport and promptly returned him to custody.

The unnamed man had been trying to board a flight to 'a sunny all-inclusive holiday' before he was detained, police claim.

Officers went on to joke that due to the man breaching the conditions of his bail arrangements he would instead be spending his 'week in Costa-Del-Custody'.

Luckily for him they said, this cell would also be 'all-inclusive.'

Pictures released on social media show the officers leading the handcuffed man into the cells after they returned him from the airport.

In true airport attire, the man dressed in a pair of jeans and a jumper.

The unnamed man had been trying to board a flight to 'a sunny all-inclusive holiday' before he was detained, police claim

Police were quick to joke about the incident on their social media account

A spokesman for Longsight & Moss Side Police said: 'Officers from Longsights Tasking Team travelled to Manchester Airport to arrest a male for breaching his bail. Transpires he was on his way to a sunny all-inclusive holiday!

'He will instead be spending the week in Costa-Del-Custody but, lucky for him, its still all-inclusive! '
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle kicked a Tory MP out of PMQs today in his latest furious outburst.

Sir Lindsay ordered Paul Bristow to leave the chamber after seemingly becoming incensed by his barracking of Keir Starmer.

He stopped Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Labour leader trading blows over immigration to say: 'Mr Bristow, I think you are going to be leaving. I'm asking you to leave now because otherwise I will name you.'

Under Commons procedures, 'naming' is the process by which the Speaker formally ejects an MP. Sir Lindsay went on: 'I'm not having it and I've warned you before... it's the same people.'

Amid cheers of 'bye' from Opposition MPs and protests from Tories as the Peterborough MP made his way out, Sir Lindsay indicated at the Labour benches and said: 'The same will happen on this side.'

Mr Bristow conceded outside of the Commons: 'I got a little over-excited.'

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle ordered Paul Bristow to leave the chamber after seemingly becoming incensed by his barracking of Keir Starmer

A clearly enraged Speaker stopped the party leaders trading blows over immigration to say: 'Mr Bristow, I think you are going to be leaving.' (file picture)

The Speaker often threatens MPs who he views as disrupting proceedings with being sent to have an 'early cup of tea'. But it is relatively rare for him to follow through on the warnings.

Sir Lindsay's spokesman said: 'Following a noisy start to PMQs, the Speaker asked Paul Bristow to leave the chamber, saying he would name him if not. Mr Bristow left voluntarily and so no formal powers were exercised by the Speaker.'

Mr Bristow can stay on the parliamentary estate for the day and loses no pay, it is understood.

Earlier this month Sir Lindsay took Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch to task for not announcing a Government's U-turn on scrapping EU laws in the Commons first.

During the exchanges, he told Ms Badenoch her demeanour was 'totally not acceptable' and demanded she 'use the correct manners'.

In a statement before Ms Badenoch answered an urgent question in the Commons, the Speaker said: 'Given the importance of this announcement, on such matters full engagement with Parliament and its committees is essential.

'I will remind Government, we are elected to hear it first, not to read it in the Telegraph and certainly not a WMS (written ministerial statement) is satisfactory on such an important matter.'

The Commons Speaker told Kemi Badenoch her demeanour was 'totally not acceptable' and demanded she 'use the correct manners' during a clash earlier this month

Ms Badenoch said: 'I'm very sorry that the sequencing that we chose was not to your satisfaction.'

But a furious Sir Lindsay took issue with her response and said: 'That is totally not acceptable. Who do you think you're speaking to, Secretary of State?

'I think we need to understand each other. I am the defender of this House and these benches on both sides. I am not going to be spoken to by a Secretary of State who is absolutely not accepting my ruling.'
This is the shocking moment an influencer spewed racial abuse at an Asian driver after a minor fender bender in Los Angeles - before shoving him into oncoming traffic and assaulting others on the scene.

Oceanside native Ashley Barkis, 25, has been identified as the person in the footage - and is seen hurling insults at the unnamed man and what appears to be his family before assaulting them, alleging they hit her car.

In it, Barkis is seen striking the driver and the other witnesses after flying into a racist rage after presumably being rear-ended.

The clip went viral, prompting Barkis to issue a groveling apology in which she claimed she does not 'condone violence or racism'. Protesting her innocence, she she added that she is also an Asian because she is half-Filipino.

The since-deleted apology was posted by Barkis to a profile where she regularly posts fitness-related content. Days before, in a clip stitched together by a TikTok user, Barkis is seen berating and assaulting the driver and other members in his group - all while questioning his status as a citizen.

Scroll down for video:

Video shows the moment a well-known social media influencer spewed racial abuse at an Asian driver after a minor fender bender in Los Angeles - before shoving him into oncoming traffic and allegedly assaulting others on the scene.

Oceanside native Ashley Barkis, 25, has been identified as the person in the clip - and is seen hurling insults at the unnamed man and his family before assaulting him. Barkis, an influencer with thousands of followers, has since apologized in a since-deleted post to Instagram

In the since-deleted statement to an Instagram where she regularly posts fitness content, Barkis told her 3,600 followers she wished she handled the situation different, citing her half-Filipino and half-Hispanic heritage

@sam.anthabong please help spread the word so we can find this woman! no one deserves to be treated like this :/  original sound - 

'Where is your insurance? You hit my car!' Barkis is seen barking in the clip, which was shared by user @sam.anthabong who at the time was unaware of Barkis's identity.

The woman is seen yelling at the driver at the side of a highway, alongside a gray SUV and white minivan - with the latter seemingly belonging to Barkis, and parked in the front.

'You hit my car!' Barkis continues to yell, growing increasingly confrontational. 'Where is your insurance? Where is your insurance?'

The woman then begins to aggressively approaching the driver with her phone out, before hurling the racist remarks - all while appearing increasingly unstable.

'Do you have a driver's license?' she shouts. 'Are you from America? Do you even have papers? Are you legal to be here?'

An accompanying text overlay in the clip, posted by a woman claiming to be a friend of a friend of the driver, remarked how he faced blows from Barkis following the racist remarks - which was also captured on film.

It shows the Asian man appearing to pull out his ID to appease Barkis - who responds by ripping it out of his hand and slapping it to the pavement.

A scuffle then ensues - though the Asian driver is seen attempting to evade what appears to be an instigating Barkis, who throws several punches.

'Get off, dumbass!' the influencer - who may be a sales manager at a San Diego 24 Hour Fitness, per her LinkedIn - can be heard shouting in the clip.

As she yells, the unidentified driver bends down to pick up his identification - spurring Barkis to strike him several times and eventually shove him into oncoming traffic.

The clip, reordered from one of several people watching from the sideling, then cuts to one filmed father away from a slightly elevated vantage - one that also shows Barkis physically attacking the man as he points his camera at her.

It shows the driver being pushed to the pavement while narrowly missing a passing car, as several others presumably filming the other clip look on.

At one point in the footage, the group appears to protest Barkis's actions - causing the woman to attack them as well.

Images posted subsequently to social media show what is said to be bruises on the victims' bodies - though those shots' legitimacy have yet to be confirmed.

In the clip stitched together by a TikTok user Thursday - which shows two different vantages of the assault - Barkis is seen berating and physically attacking the driver and other Asian witnesses who were part of his group

The woman is seen yelling at the driver at the side of a highway, alongside a gray SUV and white minivan - with the latter seemingly belonging to Barkis, and parked in the front.

'You hit my car!' Barkis continues to yell, growing increasingly confrontational. 'Where is your insurance? Where is your insurance?'

The woman then begins to aggressively approaching the driver with her phone out, before hurling the racist remarks - all while appearing increasingly unstable.

'Do you have a driver's license?' she shouts in one part of the clip. 'Are you from America? Do you even have papers? Are you legal to be here?'

An accompanying text overlay in the clip, posted by a woman claiming to be a friend of a friend of the driver, remarked how he faced blows from Barkis following the racist remarks - which was also captured on film

A scuffle then ensues - though the Asian driver is seen attempting to evade what appears to be an instigating Barkis, who throws several punches

It shows the Asian man appearing to pull out his ID to appease Barkis - who responds by ripping it out of his hand and slapping it to the pavement

'Get off, dumbass!' the influencer - who may be a sales manager at a San Diego 24 Hour Fitness, per her LinkedIn - can be heard shouting in the clip.

The Asian driver has yet to be identified, and appeared nonconfrontational throughout the clip

Images posted subsequently to social media show what is said to be bruises on the driver and his families' bodies - though those shots' legitimacy have yet to be confirmed

When asked, TikToker who posted the viral footage declined to provide additional information - after asking those on social media to help identify the woman in the clip.

They quickly obliged, unmasking the offender seen in the footage as Barkis, a young woman in San Diego who regularly posts content to both Instagram and TikTok - though the latter has since been made private.

In a post to Instagram after being identified, Barkis confirmed to be the person in the clip - while profusely apologizing and leaning on what she claimed was an interracial background.

In it, she appeared to insinuate that the group seen in the footage were the driver's family.

Id like to apologize to the family for any pain or grief that this encounter has brought,' she says in her video, which is no longer available but has been archived and recirculated.

'I would also like to apologize for any offense to the Asian community, as I am half Filipino. And I definitely don't condone any violence or racism against anyone in this world.

She continued: 'If I could go back and do things differently, I would. I know I look extremely aggressive and agitated in the video that's been circling around. However, I can only take a step forward and publicly show that's not my true character.'

Barkis went on to insist she only flew off the handle after she was unable to get a clear image of the mans license - despite being filmed slapping it out of his hands.

'It was extremely difficult to take any reasonable pictures of the other drivers license, as he wasnt necessarily holding it even reasonably still for me to take any pictures of it,' she explained.

When asked, TikToker who posted the viral footage declined to provide additional information - after asking those on social media to help identify the woman in the clip. They quickly obliged, unmasking the offender seen in the footage as Barkis

A young woman in San Diego who regularly posts content to both Instagram and TikTok - though the latter has been made private in the aftermath of the altercation earlier this month

In a post to Instagram after being identified, Barkis confirmed to be the person in the clip - while profusely apologizing and leaning on what she claimed was an interracial background. In it, she also appeared to insinuate that the group seen in the footage were the driver's family

Speaking to the Daily Beast, Barkis's uncle added that 'Ashley is brown', claiaiming she is both 'Hispanic and Filipino. He conceded his niece may have handled the situation poorly - but insisted she is not a racist

Police have yet to make a statement in relation to the assault or arrest Barkis. DailyMail.com has reached out to California Highway Patrol for comment

'I hope you guys understand now that I am not at all racist. Im just a human being who needs a little bit more practice.'

Speaking to the Daily Beast, Barkis's uncle added that 'Ashley is brown', claiaiming she is both 'Hispanic and Filipino. He conceded his niece may have handled the situation poorly - but insisted she is not a racist.

'The frustration out of the event may have caused all that, but I know that shes not racist,' he said. DailyMail.com attempted to reach out to Barkis Wednesday for comment.

The Asian driver, meanwhile has yet to be identified. He appeared nonconfrontational throughout the clip.

Those who were watching from the side of the road also were of Asian descent, though it has yet to be confirmed they were the driver's family.

Police have yet to make a statement in relation to the assault. DailyMail.com has reached out to California Highway Patrol for comment.
Target has pulled some of the most controversial items from its Pride collection in the face of a 'Bud Light' style boycott, but is doubling down on its commitment to LGBTQ causes and blaming 'volatile' complaints for its decision.

Over the last few weeks, the retail giant has been reviled by families - particularly mothers - for pushing transgender clothes, books and greeting cards in its stores.

Yesterday, amid outrage and confusion over a range of 'tuck friendly' female swimsuits, the company released a statement to insist the suits were only available in adult sizes.

Amid growing anger over the displays and concern about some of the designers featured, the company started having 'emergency calls' to avoid a backlash as voracious as that which Bud Light faced for partnering with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney.

Target announced last night that it was pulling some of the most inflammatory merchandise from its Pride collection

One of the most controversial items was this adult swim bottom, in the women's section, that had 'tuck friendly' tags in stores. It is still being sold online

Other items include kids' swim skirts that are made for 'all gender expressions' and other swim tops

Finally in a statement last night, Target said it had pulled some of the items that have 'been at the center of the most confrontational behavior.'

'Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,' Target said in a statement.

'Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,' crisis communications manager Kayla Castaneda said.

The company did not specify which items had been taken off-shelves. Many of the swimsuits, onesies and t-shirts that sparked outrage remain available online.

There is also growing outrage over its partnership with Eric Cullen, a British transgender man, whose brand Abprallen encourages Satanism.

Target is selling two of the brand's items - a $25 slogan sweater with the words 'cure transphobia not trans people' wrapped around a sword, an $18 'too queer for here' tote bag, and a 'we belong everywhere' fanny pack that now appears to be sold out.

Eric - a transgender man - proudly shared photos of the collaboration on Instagram.

'These have already got the transphobes infuriated with me and I feel like quite the celebrity to think that they believe this is all some big conspiracy and I have any power to brainwash anyone when Im just some guy drawing pictures!' he said.

A closer look at his other work reveals some more sinister material.

Eric Carnell is the British designer behind Abprallen, an LGBTQ brand that sells t-shirts, sweaters, bags and badges

Target is selling two of the brand's items - a $25 slogan sweater with the words 'cure transphobia not trans people' wrapped around a sword

An $18 'too queer for here' tote bag is also for sale via Target's website and in stores

Other items that are for sale on the Abpralle Etsy store are more sinister. Stickers and badges which denigrate 'cis feelings' - the feelings of non transgender people - and Fox News are among them

Badges for sale on Abprallen's site include one with the slogan 'young, bisexual and willing'

A description on Abprallen's Etsy store details the designer's interpretation of Satan

Badges with slogans like 'Satan Respects Pronouns', 'Young, Queer and Willing' and a lighter pin with the words 'burn down the cis-tem' are among other products.

He also models the 'Satan respects pronouns' t-shirt on an Instagram page while wearing BDSM-style horns and no pants.

In a bio on the brand's website, he says he has always been fascinated with the 'frightening and mystical'.

'I juxtapose it with imagery of skulls and spooky things  an interest of mine since I was a child. Theres something magical about the unknown, the frightening, and the mystical which is why I so frequently feature these themes in my art,' he says.

In a description on his Etsy store, he goes on: 'Satan loves you and respects who you are. Youre important and valuable in this world and you deserve to treat yourself with love and respect.

The brand has now caught the attention of Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. 'Even by the standards of woke corporations, Target's partnership with a Satanist to push the trans agenda on children is remarkable. 'The next time Target comes begging for help, Republicans should respond, "best of luck,"' he tweeted

'Ive been thinking a lot lately about The Satanic Temple, and to a lesser extent, The Church of Satan, how theyre so frequently misunderstood and demonised (pun not intended) and how LGBT+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against Gods will.

Books like 'Bye, Bye, Binary - nobody puts baby in a pink or blue corner!' are also being sold

'Satanists dont actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean.

'So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love.'

The brand has now caught the attention of Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

'Even by the standards of woke corporations, Target's partnership with a Satanist to push the trans agenda on children is remarkable.

'The next time Target comes begging for help, Republicans should respond, "best of luck,"' he tweeted.

Cullen is yet to respond to the criticism

Last night, Fox's Tomi Lahren warned Target was headed for a major boycott.

'I think that Target really soon is about to find out what happens when conservatives shop or rather dont shop, because they are about to get Bud Light-ed.

'They have moved it because they well know, because we set the precedent with Bud Light, that consumers are conservative, especially in places like the south, and we buy things and we have the power not to buy things. So, Target beware.

'I know that you allow a small minority of the population to run roughshod, but not here in Tennessee, and hopefully not in a city or state near you guys.'
Republican senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are pressing Special Counsel John Durham to provide answers about why top FBI officials - including former Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - refused to cooperate with his investigation into the agency's opening of the Trump-Russia collusion probe.

Durham released a scathing report last week finding the Department of Justice and the FBI had no basis to launch the Trump-Russia probe, known as Crossfire Hurricane, and 'failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.'

Durham - who was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to look into misconduct related to Crossfire Hurricane - concluded four years later that the FBI opened the flawed probe 'based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence.'

He issued 2,800 subpoenas, executed 500 search warrants and conducted hundreds of interviews with key officials including Hillary Clinton and her campaign associates, Trump campaign officials and hundreds of involved FBI officials - but notably a few of the FBI's top brass at the time refused to cooperate with Durham's probe.

Durham - who was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to look into misconduct related to Crossfire Hurricane - concluded that the FBI opened the probe 'based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence.'

Durham did not interview James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strozk, Bill Preistap, Kevin Clinesmith - who was convicted by Durham for illegally altering an email - and Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, which the Republican senators call 'odd.'

'As we continue to review the report, we noticed that several high-level former government officials directly involved in Crossfire Hurricane either declined or partially declined to cooperate with your investigation,' Johnson, R-Wis., and Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Durham in a letter Tuesday.

The senators point to a footnote in the report that stated 'some personnel' in the FBI's Counterintelligence Division 'refused to cooperate' with the investigation.

FBI leadership intervened to 'urge those individuals to agree to be interviewed,' the report also notes.

'It seems odd that individuals would be allowed to avoid fully cooperating with your office, particularly given your authority to compel testimony and records,' they write.

The Republicans are pressing Durham to provide information on whether Durham issued subpoenas to those specific individuals and whether DOJ 'impeded' any of his office's investigative practices.

They also demand to know if there are additional FBI personnel who refused to cooperate.

The information requested is being sought by May 30.

Durham is set to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on June 20.

Durham is set to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on June 20

Sen. Ron Johnson points to a footnote in the report that stated 'some personnel' in the FBI's Counterintelligence Division 'refused to cooperate' with the investigation

Although Durham's report does not recommend any 'wholesale changes' in guidelines or policies of the Department of Justice, it says there is a 'continuing need' for the agencies to recognize the lack of 'analytical rigor' and apparent 'confirmation bias.'

The FBI responded to the report in a statement to DailyMail.com saying that there are 'corrective actions' in place now that would have prevented 'missteps in 2016.'

'The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time,' the FBI told DailyMail.com.

'Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.'
A Florida man armed with an AK-47 was arrested at a Virginia preschool by Fairfax County police on Tuesday.

Eric Sandow, 32, was trespassing at Dolley Madison Preschool in McLean, Virginia, and allegedly told police he was on his way to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to Fairfax County police.

Officers detained Sandow and searched his car, where they found two firearms, including an AK-47. Police seized the weapons and arrested Sandow.

He was charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property.

A photo released by police shows a long gun and a handgun, plus bullets and other firearm accessories.

Officers detained Sandow and searched his car, where they found two firearms, including an AK-47

The CIA headquarters is 1.4 miles away from Dolley Madison Preschool in McLean, Virginia

Eric Sandow was trespassing at Dolley Madison Preschool in McLean, Virginia, armed with an AK-47

The agencys headquarters is located on 1000 Colonial Farm Rd, McLean, Virgina, about a mile away from the Preschool.

Officers were called to the Dolly Madison Preschool on Tuesday at around 11am after a community member saw a strange man on the property.

While speaking with the man, police said he made statements about having weapons inside his car, which was located on school property.

Officers searched the car and found two weapons, an AK-47 and a pistol, along with magazines and ammunition.

The man, Eric Sandow, was placed under arrest and charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property.

He is currently being held at the Adult Detention Center without bond.

Sandow was not armed when officers found him, police said. He did not make any threats and the weapons never left the vehicle.

It does not appear he was acting in conjunction with anyone else, police said.

A photo released by police shows an AK-47 and a pistol, along with magazines and ammunition

'Were grateful to the community member who did the right thing and called us,' a Fairfax County Sergeant said.

'Wed like to remind our community to report suspicious activity as you never know what you may prevent by making that call.'

This is not Sandow's first run-in with the law.

Sandow was placed under arrest for domestics battery back in 2014, when he attacked his father, who decided not to prosecute.
Retail workers are bragging in TikTok videos how they're cashing in on customers' discarded receipts by personally redeeming rewards points.

The method makes use of the app Fetch, which allows customers to accrue points based on how much they spend at certain retail stores.

The key to redeeming those points lies in the receipt - if customers choose not to take their receipts then anybody who gets their hands on them can claim the rewards points.

One Florida-based Publix employee, who goes by the TikTok handle @thatgirl.sonti, recently uploaded a video suggesting she scans receipts that are left behind by customers.

It's not clear how much individual TikTokers are making but it would require something in the region of $3,000-worth of customer receipts to get a $25 voucher.

Retail workers have said over TikTok that there are ways they can personally redeem rewards points from receipts left behind by customers. Pictured is a McDonald's employee with a bundle of receipts

A collection of receipts that a McDonald's employee in Florida suggested she would use to redeem points in the Fetch app

TikToker and Publix employee @thatgirl.sonti flashes a receipt suggesting it can be used to redeem points

In the video, which has since been deleted, the TikToker and Publix employee flashes a receipt with text overlaid, reading: 'Me when y'all say y'all don't want y'all receipts back.'

Her video is not the only one, indicating that the trend may be widespread.

In another video a McDonald's employee in St Cloud, Florida, poses with yet more receipts and implies she takes photos of them for submission to Fetch.

In her video she overlays similar writing: 'Me when y'all say you don't want y'all receipt back.'

Another video shows a worker at a smoothie store in Orlando posing with a pile of customer receipts and taking photos of them.

Lots of viewers noted that the payout through Fetch is not especially high, and questioned whether it was worth taking the time to even submit receipts.

'It take 7 years to win a $25 gift card,' wrote one person in the comments section of the deleted video, Daily Dot reported.

Another person wrote, 'takes 500 years just to get a $10 gift card.'

The number of points yielded for a purchase varies, but very generally spending around $10 at some retailers will earn just over 100 points.

Those points can be exchanged for gift cards. For example, a $25 Amazon gift card would require around 28,000 points, or around $2,800 in spending.

In one video a McDonald's employee in St Cloud, Florida, poses with receipts and implies she takes photos of them for submission to Fetch

One TikToker working in a smoothie store in Orlando posted a video in which she appeared to snap photos of receipts for redemption

Videos of retail workers joking that they can use left over customer receipts to claim discounts are going viral on TikTok

Fetch is partnered with hundreds of brands that allow customers to redeem reward points, including multibillion-dollar companies like Pepsi and L'Oreal, according to the company's website.

It has been suggested though that to claim points for purchases made by somebody else is a contravention of its policy.

'We love seeing our users on the hunt for points, but we do have a few rules in place to maintain the integrity of our platform,' a Fetch spokesperson wrote to FOX Business in an emailed statement.

'Per our Terms of Service, Fetch users are only permitted to snap receipts from purchases that they have made personally, and those who violate the TOS are subject to removal from the app,' the statement continued.

'This policy ensures a level playing field and allows us to continue delivering value to millions of consumers.'
Downing Street frantically denied 'stitching up' Boris Johnson by referring possible Covid breaches to the police today.

No 10 said there was not any government attempt to sabotage the ex-PM and insisted ministers were not involved in the decision to send material to detectives.

Rishi Sunak is only said to have been notified after the referral was made.

Mr Johnson believes he is the victim of a 'politically motivated stitch up' after Whitehall officials flagged fresh concerns about events at the PM's official country house Chequers and Downing Street during lockdown.

The information apparently emerged following a review of his official diary carried out by lawyers ahead of the public inquiry into the pandemic response.

Mr Johnson's office has flatly dismissed claims rules were broken, saying the developments are 'bizarre and unacceptable'. 'It appears some within government have decided to make unfounded suggestions both to the police and to the Privileges Committee,' a statement said.

Downing Street today frantically denied 'stitching up' Boris Johnson (pictured) by referring possible Covid breaches to the police

'Many will conclude that this has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch up.'

Friends of Mr Johnson have warned he is 'seriously considering' legal action against the Government over the referrals.

It emerged this afternoon that the ex-premier is ditching government-appointed lawyers representing him in the Covid inquiry.

Cabinet Office battles Covid inquiry call to hand over Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApps The Cabinet Office is facing a legal battle with the Covid inquiry over demands to hand over unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries belonging to Boris Johnson. The row has erupted after a legal request sent by the inquiry on April 28 for evidence from between January 2020 and February 2022. The Cabinet Office sought to resist that request, which was made under section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005 and also applies to messages from former adviser Henry Cook. It argued that the messages were personal in nature and should be redacted to remove sensitive parts. But in an eight-page ruling issued today inquiry chair Lady Hallett rejected the arguments. She insisted the requested documentation was of 'potential relevance' to the inquiry's 'lines of investigation'. Mr Johnson himself had written to Lady Hallett urging her to delay the decision because he had dispensed with the services of government lawyers, seemingly due to the referral of evidence about his Chequers meetings to the police. However, the chair turned down his request for time to get new representation, with his letter being published to make clear his objections. Advertisement

In a letter to the inquiry chair, he wrote: 'You may be aware that I am currently instructing new solicitors to represent me in the Inquiry.

'That process is well underway but is in the hands of the Cabinet Office to agree funding and other practical arrangements. I have no control over the timing of that process.

'As at today, I am unrepresented and my counsel team have been instructed not to provide me with any advice.'

A letter from the inquiry solicitor suggested that Mr Johnson only dropped his government lawyers last week.

Asked whether civil servants or ministers are involved in a stitch up, the PM's spokesman told reporters: 'No. I think you have seen details set out by the Cabinet Office on this.

'To be clear, we have not seen the information or material in question. That would not be right. Nor has the Prime Minister.

'No 10 and ministers have no involvement in this process and were only made aware after the police had been contacted.'

He added: 'To be crystal clear, ministers were not involved in the decision at all to refer the information to the police.'

Government sources suggested the information had been unearthed in the 'normal disclosure processes being conducted by lawyers acting on behalf of the Government Legal Department'.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: 'The Cabinet Office has not made any assessment or conducted any investigation of the material that has been passed to the police. Ministers played no role in deciding whether the information should be handed over to the police.

'The police were first contacted on 16 May prior to any minister being made aware. The decision to contact the police and the subsequent decision to share the information was not made by ministers but by officials acting in line with the Civil Service Code.'

The Privileges Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into whether Mr Johnson lied to Parliament about the Partygate scandal, has also been informed. That notification was seemingly signed off by ministers.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said earlier that the proper process had been followed and there was 'no ministerial intervention'.

Mr Chalk told LBC: 'There is a Covid inquiry taking place. In the course of that, documentation has to be scrubbed or reviewed by lawyers to ensure it can be disclosed in the normal way.

'Material came to light which was passed to the civil service. The civil service considered that in accordance with their code, and with no ministerial intervention, I want to make that absolutely clear, that was then passed to the police.

'From the civil service's point of view, if they sat on it and suppressed it, people would have criticised them. If they passed it on, that will raise questions as well.

'Ultimately, whether it was the right judgment to do it turns on what's in those documents.'

Mr Johnson's office said the ex-premier's lawyers have written to police to 'explain in detail why the Cabinet Office is entirely wrong in its assertions'.

It read: 'No contact was made with Mr Johnson before these incorrect allegations were made both to the police and to the Privileges Committee. This is both bizarre and unacceptable.

'For whatever political purpose, it is plain that a last-ditch attempt is being made to lengthen the Privileges Committee investigation as it was coming to a conclusion and to undermine Mr Johnson.'

Senior Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Johnson loyalist, told GB News he visited Chequers with his family during the pandemic but the meeting was 'entirely within the rules'.

He said: 'I can tell you that during that period I went to Chequers. I was invited there with my children, entirely in accordance with the rules. Another senior government minister was going to come but the prime minister cancelled him because you were only allowed to have one family present at the time.'

Rishi Sunak is only said to have been notified after the referral was made

The fallout adds to problems facing Mr Sunak, who was fined over a gathering in Downing Street during the pandemic along with Mr Johnson in June 2020.

The PM's press secretary said he had 'definitely not' gone to Chequers in breach of coronavirus rules while serving as Chancellor.

Asked whether Mr Sunak believes the matter has been handled well by the civil service, the No 10 spokesman said: 'It's not for the Prime Minister to form a judgment. This has been a process the Prime Minister has not been involved in.

'There are clear obligations regarding civil servants and how they approach these sorts of issues and the Cabinet Office has followed those rules.'

Mr Sunak found out about the matter 'after all the information had been passed to the police' and 'was informed before it was put in the public domain', the official said.
Former President Donald Trump isn't waiting for Ron DeSantis to officially launch his campaign tonight to ridicule his rival  mocking his personality and repeatedly calling the Florida governor 'disloyal.'

The Trump attacks, which were a hallmark of his successful 2016 campaign and his failed one in 2020, came on his own Truth Social platform  as DeSantis prepares to launch his campaign in an online conversation with Twitter head Elon Musk.

Beneath the insults were political attacks that were more standard fare from campaigns of the past  calling DeSantis a risk to older Americans on Social Security and Medicare and casting him as out of touch with the Republican base.

'Ron DeSanctus can't win the General Election (or get the Nomination) because he VOTED TO OBLITERATE SOCIAL SECURITY, EVEN WANTING TO RAISE THE MINIMUM AGE TO 70 (or more!), VOTED TO BADLY WOUND MEDICARE, AND FOUGHT HARD AND VOTED FOR A 23% 'TAX ON EVERYTHING' SALES TAX. He was, and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention. Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!'

Former President Donald Trump called his rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 'disloyal' and said he can't prevail in the GOP primary or the November 2024 election due to his past positions on Social Security and Medicare

Trump was referencing DeSantis' backing when he was a Republican House member for legislation to raise the 'normal retirement' age, for those who would get the full benefit, to 70 from 66 or 67 now.

It was the subject of a seething ad by the pro-Trump super PAC 'Make American Great Again' that kicked off with an actor playing DeSantis sticking his fingers into a cup of pudding.

He referenced DeSantis' past support for a budget plan by former Speaker Ryan and votes for House GOP budgets.

More recently, DeSantis has said Republicans are 'not going to mess with Social Security.'

Trump has long pegged DeSantis as disloyal for accepting his backing in his run for Florida governor and then deciding to seek the White House while he was attempting his own comeback.

Trump referenced DeSantis' support while a member of Congress for a proposal to raise the normal retirement age, with its full benefits, to 70

Trump laced his policy slam with personal attacks, which he used to much effect in 2016

Trump looked back at DeSantis' 2022 governor's race in another post, this time calling him 'Rob DeSanctimonious.'

'Look, Rob DeSanctimonious came to me asking for help. He was losing badly, by 31 points, to popular Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. He was getting ready to drop out of the race - Ran a terrible campaign! Ron told me he had one last chance, my Support & Endorsement, which Putnam, and everyone else, wanted also. I gave it to Ron, and the race was over. In one day, he went from losing badly, to winning by a lot. With 3 LARGE TRUMP RALLIES, he WON THE GENERAL ELECTION in an upset. DISLOYAL!!!'

The pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down has hit back at Trump with some of his own comments in a 2020 CNBC interview when he was asked if entitlements will 'ever be on your plate.'

'At some point, they will be, we will take a look at that,' Trump responded, although his words weren't specific and he also spoke about harnessing U.S. economic growth.

The same group said it is planning a $200 million effort to back DeSantis, with plans for multiple door knocks on potential supporters in key states, plus an expected TV air war.

The hits from Trump come after the White House tore into DeSantis' record in Florida amid an NAACP 'travel advisory' for his state.

Trump has his own baggage to carry. A judge in New York on Tuesday set a March, 2024 date for the Stormy Daniels 'hush' payments case, which would require Trump to jump off the campaign trail days after the Florida primary.
A San Francisco public safety meeting descended into chaos on Tuesday after a woman threw a brick at Mayor London Breed and other city lawmakers.

The Mayor was hosting a rare open-air hearing at United Nations Plaza to discuss the city's drug crisis before it had to be cut short following shouting and heckling from residents.

But when city officials were preparing to leave, a woman threw a brick towards Breed's podium and it struck a high school student who was presenting flags for the meeting.

San Francisco police arrested the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Elysia Katet, and she was booked at San Francisco County Jail for child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon.

It comes as Mayor Breed vowed to crack down on the city's open-air drug market and police will now be able to arrest people shooting up in broad daylight.

More than 70,000 residents have fled San Francisco since the start of the pandemic and moved to other cities within the US, according to Census data. The city's high cost of living combined with a declining quality of life with a drugs crisis, high crime rates and soaring homelessness, is driving many residents to consider a move.

A San Francisco public safety meeting descended into chaos on Tuesday after a woman threw a brick at Mayor London Breed

San Francisco police arrested the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Elysia Katet, and she was charged with child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon

The Mayor was hosting a rare open-air hearing at United Nations Plaza to discuss the city's drug crisis before it had to be cut short following shouting and heckling from residents

Heres video of the woman throwing a brick at UN Plaza in San Francisco following the postponement of a special session of the Board of Supervisors and a Q&A with Mayor London Breed. pic.twitter.com/hlAzWHJvpx  Sergio Quintana (@svqjournalist) May 24, 2023

On Tuesday, dozens of people gathered for the public safety meeting and some chanted 'no more cops' as they called on the city to tackle fentanyl supply in San Francisco instead of arresting drug users.

Katet allegedly threw the brick at Mayor Breed's podium after her speech. It struck a Galileo High School student, who was with a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps class, on the foot.

She was reportedly with a man in trench coat during the incident and was quickly tackled to the ground by someone before she was detained by officers.

Shortly before the incident, Mayor Breed was booed as she stood at the podium and called for a new approach to the drug crisis with harsher consequences for those involved in the drug trade.

'I run into people day in and day out in the Tenderloin, and they say, "London, we would have never been allowed to get away with this stuff back in the day".' she said. 'And the fact is, it's time for a change.

'The people who live here, the folks who work here and the people who experience these challenges every single day, they deserve better.'

She added: 'Why should someone else's rights be put before their needs and their safety and what they deserve, too, in a place like San Francisco that claims to be so compassionate and liberal. What about them?'

Drug use in San Francisco has spiraled out of control with the equivalent of one overdose death every 10 hours in a city that has seen its reputation as a coastal gem ravaged by worsening crime, drugs, and, homelessness rates.

There was a staggering 41 percent surge in the number of drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time last year, as fentanyl devastated the city's homeless population.

Numerous brands have pulled out of the area as it continues to decline with Whole Foods temporarily shutting a flagship store that opened just last year, citing worker safety.

And Nordstrom is closing both of its stores in downtown San Francisco due to changing 'dynamics' in the area which has been a spotlight for crime.

Board President Aaron Peskin asked Breed whether she would support his request for better coordination among local and regional agencies to put an end to drug-dealing.

But she said the chaotic hearing was not the right place to hold the discussion and the meting was abruptly ended.

Officials agreed to reconvene at City Hall to complete the rest of the meeting where Mayor Breed welcomed 'the opportunity to work with the board on shutting open-air drug dealing down'.

Mayor Breed vowed to crack down on the city's open-air drug market and police will now be able to arrest people shooting up in broad daylight

San Francisco saw a staggering 41 percent surge in the number of drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023

The majority of drug overdose deaths in San Francisco involved males in the Tenderloin district, where open-air drug use is rampant among its soaring homeless population

She urged supervisors to pass her public safety budget without any reductions and is expected to reveal her proposed citywide budget on June 1.

San Francisco's Department of Emergency Management confirmed a pilot program was being developed that would 'address situations when someone is so far under the influence of drugs that they may pose a danger to themselves or others.'

Supervisors said it would allow police to arrest people using drugs in public but it has been met with criticism by some board members who denounced it as 'reactionary, cruel and counterproductive'.

San Francisco Police Department will be able to enforce two city codes to arrest people under the influence and take them to the county jail, according to Melissa Hernandez, a legislative aide for Supervisor Dean Preston.

She said those arrested will then be released hours later.

Mayor Breed alluded to the pilot program during Tuesday's board meeting and said she was 'proposing changes to our state law, and we will be enacting local programs to try to end this disruptive behavior.

'What do we do about those who are struggling with addiction on our streets and they refuse services?' she added.

'Because as much as shutting down drug markets, its also about making it clear that problematic behavior will not be tolerated on our streets.'

Mayor Breed was booed as she stood at the podium and called for a new approach to the drug crisis with harsher consequences for those involved in the drug trade

Dozens of people gathered for the public safety meeting and some chanted 'no more cops' as they called on the city to tackle fentanyl supply in San Francisco instead of arresting users

San Francisco Police Department will be able to enforce two city codes to arrest people under the influence and take them to the county jail

Peskin released a statement on Tuesday evening and said the city has the 'resources right now to close down the open-air drug supermarkets'.

He also pointed to the violent woman who threw a brick at the open hearing as a demonstration of the city's disorganization.

'If we cant guarantee everyone's safety when the mayor and her security team are presentwe have lost control of our public realm,' Peskin said.

'And that is our shared mission: to regain control of all of our public spaces, so that they are safe and clean for everyone always.

'We simply cant defend this status quo and we must continue to demand change.'
German authorities on Wednesday provided a stark contrast to British policing after they carried out raids on properties in connection with a group of climate activists known for glueing themselves to roads and blocking rush-hour traffic.

Police deployed 170 officers across seven of Germany's federal states to search 15 properties as part of an investigation into protests by climate activist group the Letzte Generation (Last Generation).

The raids were carried out following public outcry and complaints received by police following the havoc created by the protesters, the Munich public prosecutor's office said.

Prosecutors said they are investigating seven of the climate activist suspects - aged between 22 and 38 - on suspicion of forming or supporting a criminal organisation, police said in a statement.

The German force's toughened stance against the activists comes as British police earlier refused to clear Just Stop Oil eco-zealots from the road where they blocked a busy highway.

Police officers leave with materials gathered during the search of a building in Berlin's Kreuzberg distrct in connection with The Letzte Generation earlier today

Police officers carry a cardboard box to a vehicle following a raid in Berlin on properties connected to the eco group The Last Generation today

From glueing themselves onto the asphalt to flinging mashed potatoes on paintings in museums or blocking airport runways, the activists have in recent months enraged the public with their protests to push the government to do more to tackle climate change.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has blasted the climate activists as 'completely nuts'.

Wednesday's raids were ordered over suspicions that the activists were 'forming or supporting a criminal organisation', said a joint statement by Bavaria's police and prosecutors.

Fifteen properties were searched, two accounts seized and an asset freeze ordered.

The suspects are accused of 'organising a donations campaign to finance further criminal acts' for the group via its website.

At least 1.4 million euros (1.2 million) had been collected in the campaign, said the authorities, adding that 'these funds were according to current information mostly used for the committing of further criminal action of the association'.

The authorities did not specify the 'criminal action' they were referring to but said two of the suspects are alleged to have tried to sabotage an oil pipeline between Trieste, Italy, and Ingolstadt, Germany, deemed 'critical infrastructure' in Bavaria.

London: Protesters from Just Stop oil slowly march on Monday as they block traffic in the City of London. The eco group said they will continue their campaign until the government stop issuing new oil and gas licenses

London: Eco protesters are allowed to block a busy road in Notting Hill as they continue their slow march

Police officers work to free a Letzte Generation (Last Generation) climate activist after he glued himself to the asphalt during a climate protest in Berlin on Monday

A Last Generation protester is carried away amid a demonstration in Berlin on Monday

Multiple German police officers work together to carry away a climate action group protester who was blocking a busy road in Berlin on Tuesday

Activists of the Last Generation climate action group, their hands glued together, block Puschkinallee avenue in Berlin yesterday

Police surround activists of the Last Generation yesterday after they glued their hands on asphalt to block the central highway A100

Two Last Generation activists glue their hands together as they block the central A100 highway in Berlin

At a press conference following the raids, the activists said they would not be cowed.

Spokeswoman Aimee van Baalen admitted that she was terrified when she learnt about the raids targeting her friends.

'They frighten us, but we must not persist in this fear. The government is steering us into a climate hell with our eyes wide open,' she said.

'We must continue our resistance,' she said, calling a demonstration next Wednesday.

Dozens of climate activists from the group have found themselves before the courts in recent weeks over their traffic blockade actions.

Most have received fines for disrupting traffic or obstructing police work but some courts have begun toughening their sentences to also hand down jail time.

Scholz and his coalition partners including the Greens have also expressed frustration at the activists.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens has said the street blockades were 'not a helpful contribution to climate protection' because they don't win consensus but they 'irritate people'.

Scenes of angry motorists shouting at the glued activists or dragging them off the streets have accompanied many of the street blockades.

Members of 'Letzte Generation' (Last Generation) gather in Berlin today for a press conference amid the police raids. From right: Steve Rauhut, Aimee van Baalen, Marion Fabian and Joel Schmitt

Aimee van Baalen (right) and Marion Fabian, spokespersons of the Letzte Generation climate activist group, address a news conference in Berlin today following raids by police on activists

Climate activist Aimee von Baden (right) speaks to a journalist during a news conference following police raids against the group in Berlin today

Police officers leave with boxes of materials gathered during the search of a building in Berlin's Kreuzberg distrct in connection with the Letzte Generation

German police today carried out raids across seven states targeting climate activists of the Letzte Generation

The activists argue, however, that their protests are vital in the face of inadequate action taken by the government and society in general to protect the environment and prevent catastrophic global warming.

'We, who are alive today, are the last who can still hinder the irreversible collapse of the climate,' the group said.

Berlin has relatively ambitious climate targets, including plans for carbon neutrality by 2045. It is also aiming to produce 80 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

But Letzte Generation believes that that would be too late to stop Earth from tipping into irreversible warming.

Besides Letzte Generation, Germany has seen a host of other climate activist groups carrying out audacious protests in the last years.

Another group, Scientist Rebellion, hurled cake at Volkswagen bosses at the German carmaker's annual shareholders' meeting earlier this month.

Across Europe, dramatic action has also become more frequent.

On Tuesday, protesters briefly disrupted air traffic at Geneva airport while dozens of activists blocked a business jet convention taking place nearby.

On Sunday, Letzte Generation activists turned Rome's famous Trevi Fountain black, saying that floods that have killed 14 people in the country's northeast were 'a warning'.
Newly released video footage shows the Colombian military intercepting a speedboat that was carrying massive shipment of cocaine.

The movie-like footage captured the moment an Air Force helicopter provided aerial support for a Navy vessel in the Caribbean Sea.

The narco speedboat was reportedly headed to towards the Dominican Republic when the Navy detected it 78 nautical miles off the coast of the northeastern province of La Guajira, which borders with Venezuela.

The watercraft can be seen making evasive maneuvers at a high-speed to avoid being stopped before the military vessel prevented its escape. It is not yet clear when exactly the incident occurred.

A camera aboard a Colombian Air Force helicopter recorded a Navy vessel approaching a narco speedboat that was heading to the Dominican Republic

Five male suspects - one from Venezuela and four from the Dominican Republic - were taken into custody by the Colombian military after they were stopped in a speedboat smuggling $21 million worth of cocaine to the Dominican Republic

The servicemen confiscated a total of 628 kilos of cocaine with a street value of $21 million, the National Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.

The drugs were split into 624 packages from which about 1.5 million doses could have been created and sold across the world.

The suspected smugglers, a Venezuelan male and four Dominican Republic men, were taken into custody.

'The Colombian Navy will continue with the development of operations that make it possible to counteract the transnational crime of illicit drug trafficking, affecting all the links in its financial chain and closing maritime, air, and land spaces for this purpose,' the National Defense Ministry said.

The bust comes about two weeks after the Colombian Navy intercepted a 98-foot semi-submarine  the largest ever to date  transporting three tons of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean.

The shipment, valued at $103 million, was headed towards Central America.

A speedboat loaded with a massive shipment of 268 kilos of cocaine attempts to evade capture during a high-speed chase in the Caribbean Sea in Colombia

The Colombian Defense Ministry said that the shipment was split into 624 packages from which about 1.5 million doses could have been created and sold across the world

A Colombian law enforcement agent takes a sample from a package containing about a kilo of cocaine to confirm its purity

Defense Ministry data shows that a record 671 tons of cocaine was seized in 2022 - more that in any previous year - and surpassed the 2021 totals by almost 1.7 tons.

Security forces confiscated 505 tons in 2020 and 428 tons in 2019.

The majority of the seizures took place in the provinces of Narino, Bolivar and Valle del Cauca.

Cocaine production and trafficking are considered the main driver of an almost six-decade armed conflict in Colombia that has left more than 450,000 dead and millions displaced.
The SNP demanded Scotland be allowed to set its own immigration policy today as the party attacked Tory attempts to bring down the number of people coming to the UK.

SNP education spokesperson Carol Monaghan made the astonishing demand as the Government was forced to explain its new policy on foreign students to MPs.

Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman launched a crackdown on foreign postgraduate students bringing families to the UK with them yesterday.

It includes a ban on families of almost all non-UK nationals students joining them in Britain.

After being allowed an Urgent Question in the Commons over the plan, Ms Monaghan said foreign students 'enrich our society and they have skills which are proving ever more vital in this post-Brexit climate, which has seen the UK deprived of workers across key sectors'.

She went on: 'If this Government is insistent and pursuing their hostile environment, will they now accept that Scotland's needs and Scotland's wants are different to theirs?

'Finally, will the Government now devolve immigration powers to the Scottish Parliament to allow us to choose a way that benefits our communities and our society?'

But she was quickly shut down by Immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who replied: 'No. We won't devolve immigration policy to the Scottish Government'.

SNP education spokesperson Carol Monaghan made the astonishing demand as the Government was forced to explain its new policy on foreign students to MPs.

Analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies forecasts net migration could have hit between 700,000 and 997,000 for the year ending December 2022.

She was quickly shut down by Immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who replied: 'No. We won't devolve immigration policy to the Scottish Government'.

He earlier told MPs: 'Net migration is too high, and the Government is committed to bring it down to sustainable levels.'

The Government is seeking to reduce legal migration while under pressure from businesses to ensure there are not labour shortages in key industries.

Figures being published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday are widely expected to show net migration running at a record high.

Analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies forecasts net migration could have hit between 700,000 and 997,000 for the year ending December 2022.

Mr Sunak has warned that net migration must be controlled or it could lead to 'unmanageable pressures on housing, schools and hospitals in many of our communities'.

In a statement to MPs, Ms Braverman said ministers only expect the figures to drop in the 'medium term', which is usually deemed to mean around five years.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Sunak said: 'We can't have uncontrolled legal migration... when it is too high and too fast, it can make it difficult for communities to integrate new arrivals.

'We cannot allow people to come here illegally at the whim of criminal gangs. It's not fair on those who have played by the rules.

'It's not fair on those who desperately need our help but can't get it because our asylum system is overwhelmed by people travelling here through safe countries.'
He is calling for reparations of $2.8 million for black descendants of slaves

A Congressional candidate whose ancestors were enslaved is calling on President Joe Biden to issue reparations of $2.8 million to qualified black Americans.

Gregg Marcel Dixon is running a longshot primary challenge to unseat US Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat, in South Carolina's 6th Congressional District.

'This country owes reparations to black Americans, and if this country had done to you what it had done to black Americans, I would be right there fighting for you to get what you're owed as well,' he told Fox News Digital in an interview published on Wednesday.

Dixon proposes that federal reparations in the form of $2.8 million in cash bonds should be paid to Americans who both identify as black, and can trace their ancestry to people who were enslaved in the US prior to the Civil War.

He said that he believes Biden could issue reparations with an executive order reinstating the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal agency that was tasked with assisting formerly enslaved people after the Civil War.

Gregg Marcel Dixon is running a longshot primary challenge to unseat US Rep. James Clyburn, and has called on Biden to issue reparations of $2.8 million to qualified black Americans

Dixon grew up in the home of his great-grandmother Justine Brown (with him above), who was herself raised by formerly enslaved ancestors

'That bureau has an unfinished job of repairing the great inequities that we see here in America, where Black Americans have been in this country longer than nearly all other ethnic groups,' he told Fox News. 'We're at the bottom in terms of land and wealth and that's because the job of reconstruction never finished.'

Dixon identifies as Gullah-Geechee, a black American ethnic group native to the southern sea islands, and says his family has resided in South Carolina's Lowcountry since at least the mid 1700s.

He grew up in the home of his great-grandmother, who was herself raised by formerly enslaved ancestors, according to a campaign ad he posted on Twitter.

His great-grandmother Justine Brown, who died at 101 years old in 2015, grew up in the home of her grandfather, who was born enslaved in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1838, and died in 1930.

'We like to say slavery was a long time ago, but you are looking at a man who was raised in the same house with a woman who was raised by someone who was enslaved by America,' he said.

Dixon, who garnered just 4.5 percent of the vote in the 2022 Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional Seat, said that reparations are a matter of paying a debt that is owed.

'It is not to fight against racism, it is not to punish white people, it is not race based,' he said, comparing the issue to payments made to Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II.

Dixon was critical of the Biden administration for failing to do more to tangibly help black Americans.

Dixon identifies as Gullah-Geechee, a black American ethnic group native to the southern sea islands, and says his family has resided in South Carolina's Lowcountry since the mid 1700s

Dixon garnered just 4.5 percent of the vote in the 2022 Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional Seat, but is running again to challenge longtime incumbent Clyburn

In March, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to reveal Biden's stance on federal reparations for black descendants of slaves

'He has no incentive to do for us because he knows no matter how awful he is, he is going to still get the majority of the black vote,' he said.

'Black Americans don't get any of that besides fish fries and feel-good dances and wearing Converse and listening to rap music that's all we get, and we allow that to the bottom, and we just give away our vote,' added Dixon.

In March, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to reveal Biden's stance on federal reparations for black descendants of slaves, saying the administration feels the issue is best left to Congress.

At a press briefing, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre where the Biden administration stands 'on reparations for slavery, and segregation, and similar historic wrongs' specifically affecting black people in the US.

'We think Congress is the appropriate venue for consideration on such action, and so we're going to leave it there for Congress to decide,' she responded, referring to a recently re-introduced federal bill to study the reparations issue.
MANZINI  Some liquor traders want trading hours for bottle stores to be extended from 7pm to 10pm.

The businesspeople have decried that the current stipulated trading hours restricted them from generating profits, especially those operating on Eswatini Nation Land (ENL). They made the recommendation during an executive members meeting of the Swaziland National Liquor Association at the Manzini Club yesterday. The members said customers general knock-off time was 5pm, at which they left their places of employment and went home to relax for a few hours. You find that they will relax for about two hours before they go out to buy drinks. By the time they decide to go out for drinks, we are expected to close. It doesnt make sense, the liquor operators said.

They then suggested that the trading hours for bottle stores should be extended to 10pm, so that they could be in a position to generate profits just like bar owners. They also submitted that practically speaking, they only operated once a week, which was Saturday, and they were hardly making any money. They suggested that government should grant them licences to operate wine malts, so that they could operate until late. On another note, the executive members submitted that it was not easy to get licences to operate on ENL, especially because they were required to get approval from the King. In principle, if you look at the law, it is the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade that should be responsible for issuing these licences, said the members.

Customers

Responding to the recommendation, Mandla Hlatshwayo, who is the secretary general of the association, explained that the operations of a bottle store were in such a way that customers bought and returned home to enjoy their drinks. So how do you justify wanting the hours to be extended when customers only buy and leave? he queried. He said the most important thing was to request for consent from chiefs to build structures of bars so that they could operate until the 10pm.
Sarah Horn admitted she did not want her fiance to have to change his lifestyle

A woman has revealed she is hiding $30,000 credit card debt from her fiance - even after the couple had to delay their wedding due to financial issues.

Sarah Horn, 36, divulged the shocking information during a conversation with YouTube star Caleb Hammer on his popular show Financial Audit.

The customer relationship manager from Louisville, Kentucky, told the personal finance expert she was laid off twice in 2022, leading her to 'not make great financial decisions.'

She added that she didn't want to tell her partner - who had until recently been out of work - about the spiraling debts as she didn't want him to feel he had to 'change his lifestyle.'

In the video, Horn explained she has taken out credit cards and loans, leading Hammer to ask what her fiance thought about the situation, adding 'I'd be freaking out personally.'

Sarah Horn, 36, divulged the shocking information during a conversation with Caleb Hammer

But in response, Horn admits: 'I don't think he knows.'

'You guys are about to get married. Do you not talk about money?' Hammer asked in shock. 'What does he know versus what does he not know?'

'Maybe a few credit cards,' said Horn.

'Does he know they're maxed out?' he continued. 'No,' Horn replied.

Hammer asked if her fiance watches the show, and Horn admitted they had watched it together.

'You're in trouble,' he said. 'We're going to talk about it when I get home,' she replied.

The host revealed in the video that Horn is in $30,000 of 'bad debt' due to her credit card and loan bills - including one credit card where she pays $150 every two weeks.

He calculated that she has minimum monthly payments of $1,308, and is paying $450 a month in interest.

In the video Horn explained how she is the 'breadwinner' in the household and that she pays 'almost all the bills' despite her precarious financial situation - including $1,600 in rent.

Horn, who takes home a little less than $5,000 a month in income, said she did not tell her partner as she did not want him to 'have to change his lifestyle' because she can't keep up with her payments.

The couple have already blown through their savings, which totaled around $5,000 and were forced to delay their wedding as a result in February.

'We lost deposits on a couple of different things but it was less than a few hundred dollars,' she said.

'We're probably going to have to delay the wedding again. There's nothing,' she admitted.

She said her fiance has a small student loan and $1,000 on a credit card - but has been out of work due to an injury.

Horn admitted that she had made 'poor decisions' and did not have 'an excuse' for the debt.

'It's not great. I'm not in a good place. I thought I could rely on the credit cards and I wasn't making lifestyle changes,' she said.

'You're the credit company's best friend,' said Hammer. 'I'm sorry for you.'

'You guys are about to get married. Do you not talk about money?' Hammer asked during the frank conversation on his YouTube series

Horn admitted that she had made 'poor decisions' and she didn't have 'an excuse' for the debt

Sarah Horn took out credit cards and loans after being laid off from two jobs last year

Now that he has started working again, Horn said that her fiance brings home $3,000 a month in income.

Hammer said that he needs to start contributing to rent and groceries in order to help Horn.

'He can start contributing $500 to rent from next month,' she agreed.

'Some things have to change. You might have to work on weekends and he might have to contribute to this,' Hammer said.

He also suggested that the couple could get married at the courthouse and then have a more costly ceremony later.

'Either way this situation is going to take multiple years, so you need more income, or you need to get a cheaper rent, or he covers half rent, half utilities. You just need more,' he added.

According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans have $986 billion in credit and debit card debt.

The figures are from the final quarter of 2022 and marked a 15.2 percent increase on the same period the previous year.

It means the average American household carries an average of $7,951 in credit card debt.

Horn is not the only person to open up about her shocking debt on the show.

Last month, Hammer said he was still haunted by the story of a woman forced to work four jobs to pay off her $250,000 student debt.

He spoke to Teryca Brooks-Long for his YouTube series, and was horrified when she revealed the interest on her student loan had rocketed, and her income fell far short despite working multiple jobs.

At the time, Brooks-Long said was losing $1,694 in monthly payments, across three loans.

Hammer said the episode stuck out to him out of the 90 he has filmed.

'It's going to be a million dollars before she knows it,' he told Insider in an interview last month.

'She's not making progress on it. She got into credit-card debt and car debt as well. So I mean, that is just dire.'

'That's where it gets to the point where it feels like it's impossible to get out of.'
The Attorney General's decision not to order a review of a drunken thug's sentence for killing an international banker has been branded 'morally wrong' by the victim's family.

Steven Allan attacked Paul Mason, a boss at Qatar National Bank, in the street outside The Ivy Club in London's West End in December 2020.

The 35-year-old electrician punched Mr Mason, 52, three times in the mistaken belief he had stolen a mobile phone belonging to his friend.

The incident, captured on CCTV, took just 12 seconds but left Mr Mason with serious head injuries from which he died six months later.

Allan, from Hook in Hampshire, was sentenced last month to three years and nine months in jail after admitting manslaughter but being cleared of murder after a trial.

More than 50,000 people had signed an online petition, set up by Mr Mason's sister Rachel, when it was revealed Allan might only serve just over a year in prison due to deductions.

They demanded a review of Allan's 'unduly lenient' sentence and an overhaul of the UK's sentencing guidelines.

But Attorney General Victoria Prentis's office has decided not to refer Allan's sentence to the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.

Rachel branded the decision 'morally wrong' and claimed it 'sets a deeply concerning precedent for future sentences for those that kill people'.

Labour's Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, expressed her 'disappointment and disbelief' at the decision and demanded Government action for bereaved families.

Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson, one of the Government's law officers, acknowledged there were 'strong feelings' over the 'unprovoked and violent attack' on Mr Mason.

But he stressed the threshold for a sentencing review was not met in Allan's case.

Paul Mason, a boss at Qatar National Bank, pictured with his sister Rachel. He was attacked in the street outside The Ivy Club in London's West End in December 2020

Steven Allan punched Mr Mason, 52, three times in the mistaken belief he had stolen a mobile phone belonging to his friend

More than 50,000 people had signed an online petition, set up by Mr Mason's sister Rachel, after it was revealed Allan might only serve just over a year in prison due to deductions

Labour's Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, expressed her 'disappointment and disbelief' at the decision not to refer the sentence for review

During a trial at the Old Bailey, a jury heard that Mr Mason did not react with any violence or aggression and had attempted to 'turn the other cheek' and walk away when approached by Allan.

When Allan delivered an upper cut, Mr Mason was 'poleaxed', flew back and landed on his back with his head hitting the pavement.

The Mason family was struck by another tragedy when Paul's older brother Simon, a vulnerable adult, took an overdose three months after Paul's death.

Rachel said Simon 'could not cope with the killing of his little brother' and was 'consumed by trauma and grief'.

Tens of thousands of supporters signed a Change.org petition set up by Rachel following Allan's sentencing last month.

In an update on the website, Rachel confirmed the Attorney General was not referring Allan's sentencing for a review.

She posted today: 'Thank you so much for all your comments of support and disgust at this sentence and of course for signing the petition.

'We have heard from the Attorney Generals office and they DO NOT consider this sentence unduly lenient and will not be referring to the court of appeal.

'I've struggled to find the words to describe how morally wrong this is and how alarming this is as it sets a deeply concerning precedent for future sentences for those that kill people.

'What kind of society are we living in that values human life so little?

'We are awaiting the CPS to comment and working out our next steps with this update.'

The ULS scheme allows victims of crime, their families, prosecutors or members of the public to ask for sentences to be reviewed if they believe them to be too low.

The Attorney General can ask the Court of Appeal to review a sentence under the scheme if she considers the sentence might be unduly lenient.

Ms Thornberry said: 'The Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme represented the last hope of true justice for Paul Mason's friends and family.

'I share the disappointment and disbelief that they will no doubt feel today that the Government has denied them a review of his killer's sentence.

'But this is not an isolated case. Last year, of all the manslaughter cases submitted to ministers under the scheme, only one in ten was referred by them to the Court of Appeal.

'It is appalling that so many bereaved families who have been let down once by the courts are being let down for a second time by the Government, when all they want and deserve is justice for their loved ones.'

In a statement provided to MailOnline, Mr Tomlinson said: 'Paul Mason was the innocent victim of an unprovoked and violent attack.

'His life was tragically taken away by Steven Allan  simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

'I am aware of the strong feelings surrounding this case and it was no surprise that I received several requests under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to consider Steven Allan's sentence.

'My duty as a Law Officer in considering whether sentences may be unduly lenient is to act independently of government, even when it is not easy or popular.

'Having received detailed legal advice and considered the issues raised very carefully, I have concluded Steven Allan's sentence cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal.

'Such a referral can only be made if the legal test is met, irrespective of the seriousness of the crime or the emotions the offending may evoke. The threshold for referral is a high one, and that was not met in this case.

'The test is only met if the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range reasonably available in the circumstances of the offending.

'As a Law Officer, I only have the authority to review the sentence result and determine whether it should be referred to the Court of Appeal. It is not in my jurisdiction to amend the sentencing guidelines.

'I was deeply saddened by this case, and I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to Paul Mason's family and friends.'
A BACKLASH against vegan food was sparked yesterday by a council which vowed to ensure meat would be served at council events.

Cornwall Council voted in favour of the landmark motion, which flies in the face of decisions by Edinburgh and Oxfordshire councils to stop serving meat at council events.

In what is thought to be the first motion of its kind, the council said it would ensure meat and dairy.

The motion will ensure the councils commitment to local farmers by proactively sourcing local, seasonal produce - explicitly including meat and dairy - at council events, while encouraging residents to shop locally and urging them to take advantage of home-grown, affordable, nutritious food, both plant and meat based.

The move comes in the face of several motions passed at other councils across the country, which encourage residents to buy plant-based produce in a move away from meat and dairy, while also committing to only source vegan options for councillors at events.

Cornwall Council triggered a backlash against the plant-based menu offered by other local authorities to schoolchildren after it vowed to keep meat and dairy on the table. Pictured is an example of some of the vegan-style food offered to children elsewhere

In what is thought to be the first motion of its kind, Cornwall Council said it would ensure meat and dairy. Pictured is the council offices

Cornwall Council voted in favour of the landmark motion, which flies in the face of decisions by Edinburgh and Oxfordshire councils to stop serving meat at council events. Pictured is Oxfordshire County Council's base

Pictured is an example of some of the 'plant-based' foods that schoolchildren have been given following decisions by councils in the UK

The motion submitted by Conservative councillor Nick Craker, almost unanimously, recognises the huge contribution made by [our] local farmers to the Cornish economy and its rural communities.

In 2021, Oxfordshire County Council triggered outrage among farmers, including Jeremy Clarkson, when it passed a motion to ban meat and dairy at its events.

At the time, the council justified the policy saying it was in the interest of the health of our planet and the health of our people.

Mr Craker said: Livestock production, especially dairy, is the largest proportion of the production sector, but we also have a large - and growing - commercial horticulture sector as well.

A small minority of councils around the country, like Oxfordshire, have voted to abolish meat and dairy [at council events]. I cant begin to imagine the damage that would do to Cornwall. Supporting all our farmers and growers is essential for our economy here in Cornwall.'

He added: Lets ensure our residents know how to source local dairy, how to cook good local meat. I ask members to back Cornwalls farmers and food producers today. Its good for the economy, its essential for the environment and its critical to keep putting food on all of our tables  meat, dairy and plant-based.'

Three councils, Edinburgh City Council, Norwich City Council and Haywards Heath Town Council in Sussex, have also signed up to the Plant-Based Treaty, which calls for an end to the construction of any future livestock farm and pushes plant-based food in schools and hospitals. It also includes a pledge to promote vegan food over animal products.

Pictured is an example of some of the plant-based food schoolchildren have been given after councils vowed to ditch meat and dairy from their menus

Edinburgh City Council signed up to the Plant-Based Treaty, which calls for an end to the construction of any future livestock farm and pushes plant-based food in schools and hospitals. Pictured is the council's offices

Norwich City Council is another one of the authorities backing the vegan menu (the council's HQ is pictured)

The move comes in the face of several motions passed at other councils across the country, which encourage residents to buy plant-based produce in a move away from meat and dairy, Pictured is Haywards Heath Town Council in Sussex, another plant-based menu council

The Climate Change Committee, which advises the Government, does not support the UK going vegan, but does recommend everyone in the UK reduces their meat and dairy consumption by 20 per cent and 35 per cent by 2050.

Enfield Borough Council also removed meat from the menu of its catering service in 2020, while Cambridge City Council will transition to a fully plant-based catering for council meetings by 2026 and promotes vegan food options at civic and external events.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, a spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, said: This is a big victory for our farmers, the countryside and common sense. Buying and sourcing local, seasonal produce to cut down on mileage is the way forward, not imposing draconian and divisive bans on meat and dairy. This vote represents the start of a much-needed fightback against those who, through their anti-livestock farming agendas, risk turning our countryside into a moribund wasteland.

Welsh hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, a social media star, said: Its wonderful [today] from Cornwall. The council have been voting and supporting farmers. British farmers. Seasonal, regional food. And do you know what, I think that every single council in the UK should follow track. Not try and be like these "super cool" plant-based, were going to save to planet, types.
A nurse accused of murdering premature babies 'cooked' medical notes to try and shift blame and cover her tracks, a court heard today.

Lucy Letby, 33, allegedly faked the time a baby girl collapsed to link it to a milk feed given by a colleague.

She also deliberately altered the tot's temperature on her observation chart to make it look like she was becoming poorly before she stopped breathing, it is claimed.

Letby, of Hereford, denies the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of ten others in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Chester, between June 2015 and June 2016.

Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, questioned Letby for a fourth day at Manchester Crown Court about two allegations of attempted murder against the very premature infant, known as Baby G.

Lucy Letby, 33, who is accused of murdering premature babies, alledgedly 'cooked' medical notes to try and shift blame and cover her tracks. She's seen being cross examined in a court sketch last week

The child had been born weighing just over a 1lb at just 23 weeks gestation, in May 2015.

Letby is charged with attacking her three times on two significant milestones in her life - her 100th day and her due date a fortnight later.

The court heard the child survived but suffered serious brain damage and will need round the clock care for life.

The first attack allegedly took place in the early hours of September 7, 2015 while the nurse who was looking after Baby G - Letby's best friend who cannot be named for legal reasons - was on a break.

The nurse fed Baby G 45ml of milk around 2am before, the prosecution say, Letby forced more milk and air down her nasal feeding tube, causing her to collapse sometime later.

According to a note made by Letby, she and another nurse, Ailsa Simpson, went to help Baby G after hearing a loud retching noise and finding her vomiting violently from her mouth and nose at around 2.15am.

But Mr Johnson said other notes made by Dr Alison Ventress, who was crash called to help, indicate the collapse actually took place 'closer to 2.30am'.

'You have deliberately put the time of the event forward to 2.15am,' Mr Johnson said.

'No, I disagree,' Letby replied.

'The reason you've done this is so there is a more obvious link to your best friend feeding the child and the event, because you wanted to create the impression that the two events were linked, whereas in fact the reason Baby G collapsed is that you deliberately overfed her.'

Letby said: 'That's not true.'

'You did it by putting milk into a syringe and by using a plunger to force air and milk into her,' the barrister said.

'No that's not true,' she repeated.

Letby denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of ten others in the neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016

Instead Letby claimed air later drawn out of the baby's tummy was there because she had received oxygen via a mask to help her recover.

Letby said it was 'possible' that her friend had mistakenly overfed Baby G, but later conceded it was 'not a realistic possibility'.

Later that evening, after she had finished her shift, Letby returned to the hospital. She claimed she went back to 'sign some documentation.' But Mr Johnson said: 'You went to visit Baby G, didn't you? Were you looking for an opportunity to finish her off?

'No,' Letby replied.

A fortnight later, on September 21 - the date Baby G should have been born if she hadn't come early - Letby allegedly attacked her twice again.

She is accused of injecting her with air and overfeeding her at 9.15am and sabotaging her care at around 3.30pm, on the same shift.

Mr Johnson suggested that, after Baby G vomited and collapsed at around 10.20am, Letby went back and altered her observation chart to make it appear like her temperature was falling in the hours before.

'Did you go back after the event and cook the chart to make it look like Baby G was declining before she vomited?' he asked Letby.

She replied: 'No...I've not mis-documented anything.'

Today Letby also claimed 'raw sewage' was often spilling out of sinks onto the floor in the neo-natal unit's intensive care room and they frequently had 'plumbing issues.'

She claimed that plumbing issues meant the intensive care unit for babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital 'was not a safe working environment'.

She said effluent would sometimes come out of the sinks and spill on to the floor in one of the nurseries, she told Manchester Crown Court.

She is said to have targeted another alleged victim, Child E, during a night shift in August 2015.

Letby is also accused of attempting to murder his twin brother, Child F, by poisoning him with insulin.

She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her.

The nurse told prosecutor Nick Johnson KC that the plumbing issue was 'an important thing to know' when understanding the conditions in which her unit operated.

She has previously told the jury at Manchester Crown Court that there were issues with understaffing and on occasion the 'wrong' mix of skills among the nurses.

Later in today's cross-examination, Letby - originally from Hereford - denied feeling 'a cut above' some of the other nurses on the unit.

However, she agreed with Mr Johnson that she was 'always prepared to call out other people's mistakes' and 'not afraid to confront the medical staff if you thought they'd got it wrong'.

She told him: 'I was very confident in my clinical competencies.'

Letby denied having lied about the time the mother of Baby E and his twin, Baby F, came down to the unit with expressed milk on August 3, 2015.

She claims it was 10pm, while the mother said in evidence that it was 9pm  a timing that coincided with a scheduled feed for one of the boys.

The neonatal nurse said it was 'an error' on her part that she had failed to record in a medical chart that Baby E had vomited fresh blood at 10pm.

She denied an allegation that on other occasions she had persuaded other nurses to write entries into charts 'to cover up what you were doing'.

Letby agreed that the twins' mother had seen blood around Baby E's mouth, but disagreed with her evidence about the timing.

Mr Johnson put it to her: 'You're not telling the truth about that, are you?'

'Yes,' said Letby.

Mr Johnson said: 'I suggest that when she came down at 10pm you'd inflicted an injury, and that he was screaming.'

Letby replied: 'No, I don't accept that.'

The barrister pressed her, saying: 'You killed [Baby] E, didn't you? You injected him with air.'

Letby denied the allegation.

Mr Johnson added: 'Just as you had done with other babies?'

The defendant replied: 'No.'

Letby agreed that in the months after Baby E's death she had carried out a number of Facebook searches on his mother  including one at 11.26pm on Christmas Day.

But she denied being obsessed with her. She had simply wanted to 'see how [Baby] F was doing' since he had become well enough to go home.

The searches had not been carried out, she told Mr Johnson, so she could 'see what reaction you'd get from this grieving family'.

The trial continues.
Their remains were found in shallow graves at the home of her husband, cult leader Chad Dayebll in Rexburg, Idaho, in September 2019

Vallow was found guilty earlier this month of killing JJ, seven, and Tylee, 16

Larry and Kay Woodcock on Tuesday said they are 'hoping the court will, in the near future, allow them to bring the children home to have a proper burial'

The weary-eyed grandparents for Joshua 'JJ' and Tylee Ryan, the murdered children of doomsday cult mom Lori Vallow, said the 'hardest part' is not being able to bring their grandchildren home to their final resting place.

Larry and Kay Woodcock on Tuesday said they are 'hoping the court will, in the near future, allow them to bring the children home to have a proper burial.'

Vallow was found guilty earlier this month of killing seven-year-old JJ and 16-year-old Tylee and burying their remains in shallow graves at the home of her husband, cult leader Chad Dayebll in Rexburg, Idaho, in September 2019. Daybell is yet to stand trial for the murders.

Larry said a bad hurricane wiped out their home three years ago and although they are no longer living there they still plan to honor JJ under the southern oak trees that still remain, a special place he often visits that his late grandson loved.

'There is not a day that goes by that I don't sit there under those oak trees. I can feel JJ and even hear him almost,' Larry told NewsNation. 'We are going to do something under those oak trees.'

Tylee Ryan, 16, and seven-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow were murdered by their mother, Lori Vallow in a heinous crime that made global headlines

Larry and Kay Woodcock appeared on NewsNation on Tuesday told the host that they were relieved with the verdict and plan to attend Chad Daybell's trial once it starts

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud earlier this month in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died

Doomsday Cult Mom, Lori Vallow sits at a March 6, 2020 hearing, with her defense attorney Edwina Elcox. She was found guilty on six counts of murder earlier this month

Larry recalled his grandson sitting out there near the oak trees singing the Queen song, 'We will rock you,' to his stuffed animals as he played with a makeshift drum he created using a five gallon bucket, pots and pans and wooden spoons.

The father of six, grandfather of 16 and great-grandfather of 8, spoke about how much JJ meant to him, describing him as his 'only special needs child' that he was around.

'I didn't know what to do initially but then the moment I wrapped him in my housecoat the night we got him he was so restless... I let him lay on my chest and he started relaxing and breathing and I just wrapped him tight and just fell in love with him.'

He added, 'it was a different type of love....he was amazing.'

Kay said that the last time she saw her grandson was in May 2019 when her son Charles was alive.

'Charles brought him for the weekend. We gave him an early birthday party at pizza place in town and invited his cousn and friends. He had a blast,' she said.

'The next day Charles left and brought him back to Houston. I never thought we'd never see him again.'

Kay is the sister of Charles Vallow, Lori's fourth husband, who was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in July, 2019. Vallow is set to be extradited to Arizona to face trial over his killing following her conviction in Idaho.

A sentencing date has not yet been set for the murders of her kids and conspiring in the killing of Daybell's wife Tammy who died a month after the children.

Vallow and Daybell first met at a conference in 2018. A year later, Daybell's wife Tammy died mysteriously, and Vallow's kids vanished.

The last time they were seen alive was on a family outing to Yellowstone National Park.

Following Tammy's death, cops started investigating the whereabouts of the children.

As public interest in the case grew, the couple fled Idaho for Hawaii, marrying on the beach in a romantic ceremony that they gleefully documented in photos.

Investigators searched for human remains at Chad Daybell's residence in Salem, Idaho. Lori Vallow's second husband was charged with destroying evidence after police said the bodies of two missing kids were found on his property

A banner with photos of Tylee Ryan and her brother J.J. Vallow is seen on a fence set up as a memorial near where her body was found on May 10, 2023

They refused to answer questions about the kids' whereabouts or safety.

The children were found nine months after they vanished, buried in shallow graves in Daybell's yard. Tylee's remains were so badly burned that the coroner was unable to determine exactly how she was killed.

JJ had been suffocated with a plastic bag which was found duct-taped around his head when detectives pulled him from the ground.

Vallow was found mentally competent to stand trial but the death penalty was taken off the table before her trial began.

She gave no testimony, and her defense did not call a single witness.

The bodies of her children JJ and Tylee were found in shallow graves in Chad Daybell's backyard in June 2020.

Larry and Kay said that they plan to spend each day at Chad's upcoming trial in the same seats they sat in during Lori's trial.

'We are going to be there... there is no hesitation ... it is going to happen, he said, in part. 'As a grandparent who wouldn't do this.

He added: 'I can't imagine having grandchildren and going through what we have gone through not being angry not caring and not wanting to be there for your grandchildren.'
A Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on charges of rape and sexual coercion, finding no evidence against the former Oxford University professor.

The academic was also awarded around 151,000 Swiss francs (135,000) in compensation from the Swiss canton of Geneva over the case.

After the verdict was read in the Geneva Criminal Court, the 60-year-old Swiss preacher smiled and was hugged by one of his daughters.

Ramadan's 57-year-old accuser, identified under the assumed name of 'Brigitte', left the courtroom before the end of the verdict.

Her lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the ruling.

Tariq Ramadan leaves Geneva's courthouse on May 24, 2023, after he was acquitted at the end of his trial for 'rape and sexual coercion' in a case dating back 15 years

Tariq Ramadan (C) walks out and speaks to the press after he was acquitted on charges of sexual assault, in Geneva, Switzerland, 24 May 2023

Swiss leading Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan (L) and lawyers Yael Hayat (C) and Theo Badan leave the Geneva courthouse after the verdict by the prosecutor on a sexual assault investigation, in Geneva, Switzerland, 24 May 2023

The plaintiff who goes under the name of 'Brigitte' arrives at Geneva courthouse on May 24, 2023

Prosecutors had last week called for a three-year sentence against Ramadan.

The case was the first time he has been tried for rape, although he risks facing a trial in France on similar charges.

The Swiss trial presented two diametrically opposed versions of what happened in a Geneva hotel room in October 2008.

The lawyer representing Brigitte, a convert to Islam, said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to 'torture and barbarism'.

Ramadan, a charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, rejected the charges, insisting there was no sexual activity between him and Brigitte, and saying he was the victim of a 'trap'.

Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault in 2008. She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed in France.

Both parties agreed that Ramadan and Brigitte spent the night together in the hotel room, which she left early the following morning.

Ramadan insisted that Brigitte invited herself up to his room, then let herself be kissed, before quickly ending the encounter.

The indictment accused Ramadan of sexual coercion and of committing rape three times during the night.

Swiss leading Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan (C) looks on as he leaves Geneva courthouse flankd by his lawyers Theo Badan (L) and Yael Hayat (R) in Geneva

Swiss leading Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan leaves court after he was acquitted on charges of sexual assault

During the trial, the defence insisted on Ramadan's innocence and stressed there was no scientific evidence in the case.

His lawyers also accused Brigitte and the women who have brought charges against him in France of forging links to bring down the Islamic scholar, citing 'Ramadanphobia'.

During his final statements in court last week, Ramadan asked not to be tried on his 'real or supposed ideology' and urged the judges not to be 'influenced by the media and political noise'.

'Forget I'm Tariq Ramadan!' he said.

Controversial among secularists who see him as a supporter of political Islam, Ramadan obtained a doctorate from the University of Geneva, with a thesis focused on his grandfather, who founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford until November 2017 and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take a leave of absence when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the 'Me Too' movement, over suspected attacks between 2009 and 2016.
The Neo-Nazi who allegedly plowed a U-Haul truck into the White House gates during a failed attempt to kill President Joe Biden told a Secret Service agent: 'My message was received.'

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, also told agents who quizzed him after the attack that Adolf Hitler was a 'strong leader', an affidavit reveals.

Kandula, from Chesterfield, Missouri, smashed the rental truck into security barriers at the White House at around 10pm on Monday while Joe Biden was inside. He then got out of the vehicle carrying a large Nazi flag which was later seen unfurled on the sidewalk.

The academically gifted teenager, who is charged with an attempt to kill, kidnap or harm the president, appeared in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday for a brief hearing before Magistrate Judge Judith Pipe.

He was shackled and cuffed, and Judge Pipe rejected a defense request that Kandula be released on bail ahead of a hearing at a federal court today.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, pictured in a yearbook photo from 2022, crashed a rented truck into the White House gates then jumped out with a Nazi flag. He told authorities he thought Hitler was a 'strong leader' and that his 'message was received'

Kandula, who was carrying a Nazi flag (pictured), is charged with an attempt to kill, kidnap or harm the president

The truck slammed into gates about 800 feet from the White House and Kandula was detained

Court records say Kandula said he wanted to 'get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation'. He praised the Nazis' 'strong history' and their 'authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one-world order'.

Kandula also went on the praise Hitler and said he'd planned the attack for six months and would 'kill the president if that's what I have to do and hurt anyone that would stand in my way'.

He crashed the truck about 800 feet from the White House building before he was detained and police officers recovered evidence including the flag.

Nobody was harmed in the attack but Kandula allegedly told investigators he still considered it a success.

'Either way, whether I got into the White House or not, my message was received,' he said.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was 'relieved that no one was injured last night and grateful to the agents and law enforcement officers who responded so quickly'.

FBI investigators searched the suspect's family home in a leafy suburb of Missouri on Tuesday. Several agents were spotted at the home carrying briefcases and equipment used to recover evidence.

Kandula graduated Marquette High School in January 2022. Officials at Rockwood School District told DailyMail.com he was part of a small subset of his class who graduated early after meeting 'all of their academic requirements'.

Kandula has been charged with 18 U.S. Code  879 - threats against persons protected by the Secret Service. It is punishable by up to five years in prison.

FBI investigators searched the suspect's family home in a leafy suburb of Missouri on Tuesday. Several agents were spotted at the home carrying briefcases and equipment used to recover evidence

Kandula crashed the truck about 800 feet from the White House building before he was detained and police officers recovered evidence including the flag

Kandula, from Chesterfield, Missouri, smashed the rental truck into security barriers at the White House at around 10pm on Monday while Joe Biden was inside

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was 'relieved that no one was injured last night and grateful to the agents and law enforcement officers who responded so quickly'

Law enforcement sources said he flew from St Louis, Missouri, to Dulles, then rented the U-Haul truck.

Some roads and walkways around Lafayette Square were temporarily closed as the scene was inspected and The Hay Adams Hotel was evacuated.

US Park Police said: 'On May 22 at approximately 9:40 p.m., United States Park Police and United States Secret Service Uniform Division officers responded to the 1600 block of H Street NW for a truck that the preliminary investigation indicates intentionally crashed into the bollards on the outside of Lafayette Park.

'The driver of the vehicle was identified as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri.

'Kandula was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, threatening to kill / kidnap / inflict harm on a president, vice president, or family member, destruction of federal property, and trespassing.

'No further information is available at this time.'
Dozens of migrants have been seen crossing the English Channel by small boat today despite hazy conditions at sea after four days of no confirmed crossings.

Around 50 people - including at least two women - were seen being brought into the harbour in Dover, Kent on Border Force cutter Defender this morning.

And Border Force catamaran Volunteer was seen returning to the port with more migrants on board shortly after 10am edging the yearly tally closer to 7,500 - after it surpassed 7,000 last week.

While visibility in the Channel is relatively low today due to haze, people smugglers appear to be taking advantage of the dry and calm conditions at sea - with temperatures of 13C and low winds of around 8mph.

But wind speed is set to pick up as the day progresses - potentially putting a halt to further crossings.

Around 50 asylum seekers - including at least two women - were seen being brought into Dover today

A total of 1,351 asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in May alone

The Government is yet to confirm the number of crossings for Wednesday (May 24), but according to official Home Office figures, 7,297 people have made the treacherous journey in 172 boats so far in 2023 - an average of 42 migrants per vessel.

A total of 1,351 of these asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in May alone.

The busiest day so far this year came on April 22 when 497 people crossed the 21-mile Dover Straits in inflatable dinghies or other small craft over a 24-hour period.

At this point in 2022, 9,296 migrants had already crossed the Channel - almost 2,000 more than the rolling total for 2023.

Last year saw a record total of 45,755 migrants detected arriving by small boats - 60 per cent higher than the previous year when 28,526 migrants arrived in the UK.

More than half (51 per cent) of those people reached Britain in the three months of August, September and October.

In fact, August saw 8,631 asylum seekers arrive on the Kent coast - the highest number of any month since data has been collected.

Males represented 87 per cent of small boat arrivals in 2022 and almost half of the migrants who crossed the Channel were either Albanian (28 per cent) or Afghan (20 per cent).

Officials have warned that as many as 80,000 migrants could cross the Channel by small boat this year.
More than 3.5 million of taxpayer cash has been spent on policing Just Stop Oil slow marches across the capital over the past four weeks, new figures released by the Metropolitan police force have revealed.

The ongoing demonstrations, which have caused chaos in rush hour since they began on April 24, resulted in 11,000 Met officer shifts being lost to police the eco-zealots events.

In total 45 people - including the eight who were arrested today - have so far been arrested for breaching conditions set under Section 12 of the Public Order Act, where officers order protesters onto the pavement from the road.

As of Monday, 78 marches have taken place across the capital with the majority, 60, causing 'serious disruption' resulting in officers having to impose the new conditions that were introduced by the Home Secretary this month.

On average it has taken officers between 13 and 19 minutes to remove protesters.

More than 3.5 million of taxpayer cash has been spent on policing Just Stop Oil slow marches across the capital over the past four weeks, new figures released by the Metropolitan police force reveal. Pictured: Met Police officers arresting to members of Just Stop Oil

Since the action began on April 24, 78 marches have taken place in the capital. Pictured: Met officers during the a Just Stop Oil protest

The 3.5 million is on top of the 7.5 million spent by the force dealing with JSO action between October and December last year.

Just Stop Oil is staging what it calls "an indefinite campaign of civil resistance" to end all new oil, gas and coal projects in the UK.

Today the climate warriors continued their action throughout the capital, holding five separate marches in Islington, the City of London and Marylebone.

This morning furious drivers were seen herding the protesters off busy roads during rush hours, with some becoming enraged.

One man driving a transit van drove past the group shouting 'go and do some work' while another swearing tradesman shouted: 'Will you let these people go about their f*****g lives and pay their mortgages.'

The commuter was then seen herding the activists on to the payment while shouting at them to 'grow up' and taking away their banners.

A pedestrian passing by shouted 'we've got to get to f*****g work' as the group held hands in orange vests outside Westminster Magistrates Court.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Met police officers have been filmed not only arresting members of Just Stop Oil but members of the public who have confronted the slow marchers.

Yesterday, police officers were seen handcuffing a furious motorist who had pushed two Just Stop Oil protesters on Blackfriars Bridge as they stopped him and his colleague from getting to work in their van.

The workman got out of his vehicle during rush hour after around 45 protesters walked slowly along the bridge blocking traffic in the process, with simultaneous demonstrations at London Bridge and Tower Bridge.

The new figures show 11,000 Met officer shifts have been lost in the last month to policing the demonstrations

He had been caught on video ripping banners from the activists' hands before pushing them to the ground.

Officers from the Met are then seen intervening and putting him in handcuffs.

The man's actions drew support from fellow commuters stuck in traffic because of the demonstrators, with some shouting 'give the guy a break' as he wrestled with the two officers.

The Met, however, defended the actions of the cops involved saying that the man - who was not arrested - was handcuffed to 'prevent further breach of the peace'.

The workman's furious reaction comes just days after another motorist was seen pushing a Just Stop Oil protester to the ground when another demonstration took place.

Speaking in light of the costly figures Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: 'I understand that many Londoners are concerned and frustrated by the deliberate disruption caused by Just Stop Oil.

'For the past four weeks we have deployed significant numbers of officers in central London specifically to respond to these protests  so far the amount of time lost to other policing priorities and to communities across the city stands at 10,677 shifts.

'Officers will respond as soon as we are aware of actions causing serious disruption. The time from disruption starting to officers imposing conditions and removing protestors has typically been between 13 and 19 minutes.'

Just Stop Oil said in a statement following the incident: 'Tensions have been high this morning as the marches cause major delays for commuters.

'One man threw a supporter on to the ground and was subsequently arrested on Blackfriars Bridge.

An angry commuter tries to throw a Just Stop Oil activist off the road as they cross Blackfriars Bridge

Just Stop Oil said 'tensions have been high' as one man tried to throw a supporter on to the ground and was later arrested

The protest descended into chaos when an angry commuter took matters into his own hands - and police swooped in and detained him

'A motorcyclist attempted to drive through the same procession, before police intervened.

'Elsewhere there were a number of altercations as members of the public snatched banners and confronted Just Stop Oil supporters.'

Mr Twist added today: 'We absolutely understand why those who are caught up in traffic delays will be frustrated. I would urge the public not to intervene or take matters into their own hands, but to call the police, let us know where the incident is and we will get there quickly.

'I know that a widely shared video of a member of the public confronting protestors on 23 May has reignited the strongly held public feelings about this protest tactic and how we are responding to it.

'But we must recognise that short clips of individual incidents don't tell the whole story of a much larger policing operation which, as we have shown, is ensuring that our response times are effective and that our interventions are seeing roads cleared with minimal delays.'
A British man who was stabbed to death with a sickle in a grisly murder over the volume of music in Thailand, died from brain stem and spinal cord contusion, an inquest has heard.

Marcus Evans, 49, died from a knife wound in the back of his neck after getting into an altercation with his Thai neighbour over noise, in January 2022 in the Tha Makham district of Mueang Kanchanburi.

One of Mr Evans' friends, Shaun Dagnan, 55, from Nuneaton in Warwickshire was also involved in the attacked, sustaining serious injuries.

Dagnan had flown out to the south east Asian country to spend time with his partner.

Neighbours had said the two Brits had been eating and drinking with friends, meanwhile playing music from a Bluetooth speaker.

Marcus Evans, 49, had reportedly been living in Thailand for five years with his partner Wassana Muanchit, 33

Prasut Thipthep, 23, murdered the engineer from Somerset with a sickle often used for harvesting

Thipthep (pictured) was reportedly found hiding in a nearby house, covered in blood

Shaun Dagnan, 55, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire was also involved in the attacked, sustaining serious injuries but surviving

But 23-year-old neighbour Prasut Thipthep, 23, became angry and attacked the men with the metal sickle, which is commonly used for harvesting.

Thai Police later confirmed he was later charged with intentional manslaughter after being found hiding in a nearby house. He is said to have been 'trembling and covered in blood'.

Speaking at a press conference in January, Thanayut said: 'From the investigation, the accused confessed that the cause of the death came from a disagreement with the deceased.

'The injured victim and the deceased were drinking alcohol and playing loud music during the night until it caused dissatisfaction with the perpetrator and leading him to attack the men.'

An inquest at Somerset Coroners Court heard Mr Evans died from brain stem and spinal cord contusion.

The assistant coroner Stephen Covell recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing for the engineer from Berrow, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset.

The attack took place outside a rented room in Kanchanaburi, in central Thailand

Mother-of-one Muanchit returned to her home in Kanchanaburi, 90 miles from Bangkok, when a neighbour told her 'to check up on her husband' in the early hours of Saturday

Police said the suspect was resident of Kanchanaburi (pictured)

He said Mr Evans was pronounced dead at 02.51am on January 22 2022, on Mae Nam Khwae Road as a result of a knife wound to the back of the neck, inflicted by a male neighbour who had become angered by noise being created by the deceased and a friend during a late evening.

The victim's girlfriend, Wassana Muanchit, 33, who refers to herself as the wife of Marcus Evans, 49, revealed that Thai police allowed her to speak to her partner's killer.

She told the Sun: 'I looked in his eyes. I was still so angry at him. I asked him ''why did you kill my husband?''

'I said I was very angry at him. I said ''why couldn't you talk or ask nicely? You could have told me or told the police, but you shouldn't have killed him''.'

Mr Evans is believed to have lived in Thailand for five years with Ms Muanchit.
SITEKI  A mob of about 60 residents of Lomahasha assaulted and killed a 51-year-old man on suspicion that he was a cattle rustler, while his accomplices fled to Mozambique.

The incident happened at Ebhandini under Lomahasha Umphakatsi on Monday morning. December Maliba, a family member, narrated how the deceased, David Maliba, reported that he was receiving threats on the day of his death, at the Lomahasha Police Station. December said they were still reeling from shock over the gruesome attack. He said the deceased got wind that he was implicated in cattle rustling but told his close friends that he was not involved in such a crime. December stated that on Monday, upon his return from a personal errand, a mob broke down the door to the deceaseds house and heavily assaulted him. He was my uncle and what hurts the most is that after being linked to cattle rustling, he confronted the people and told them that he was not involved. He further went on to report the threats to the police, but did not get help. It is unfortunate that the residents resorted to killing an innocent soul, he said.

According to a source close to the matter, other community members called police officers from Lomahasha Police Station, alerting them about their suspicions in the cattle theft cases. The source confided that the farmers were angry as they lost over 30 cattle to the rustlers. He said some of the suspects fled to Mozambique after being alerted that the farmers were swooping on them. The source stated that the police arrived and took the deceased to the Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital (GSCH), where he was certified dead on arrival. He shared that the police took some of the farmers for interrogation but later released them. He was assaulted by about 60 farmers and the police released some of the implicated farmers in the mob attack. The farmers are fed up now as they have been losing their cattle since the past five years, said the source.

Lomahasha Umphakatsi Bucopho Lucky Mahlalela said they would convene a meeting whereby the issue would be deliberated at length. I have heard about the incident even though I am yet to get the finer details. A meeting will be called to address the matter of stock theft and the fact that people should desist from taking the law into their own hands, he said. The Indvuna Yekhundla, Nkosingiphile Mphaphu shared the same sentiments, mentioning that he was yet to get a full report on the matter. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said police were still investigating the circumstances that led to the death of the 51-year-old man.

Worth noting is that mob attacks emanating from stock theft allegations are on the rise in the country. In February this year, a 55-year-old man of Mphaphati community, under Siphofaneni Inkhundla, was allegedly attacked and killed by a group of 15 community members, who had implicated him in stock theft. At least eight people have been arrested in connection with the mob justice that took place at Nkonka in Matsanjeni recently, where four men were killed. Also, in January at Luhlokohla area near Ngculwini, one was killed by a mob in connection with stock theft.
An Australian cattle dog was pictured attacking a New Forest pony as wardens of the celebrated national park today urged walkers to keep their pets on a lead.

Photographs emerged of the dog, which was allowed off its lead, attacking a mare at Wilverley Plain, which is popular with dog walkers.

The dog can be seen baring its teeth as it chases after the horse - which had to kick out at the animal.

The New Forest Commoners Defence Association, which seeks to protect the historic rights to graze animals in the area, said there is a growing problem of dogs terrorising livestock and scaring away nesting birds at the national park.

It has been home to the world-famous New Forest ponies since the end of the last Ice Age and the animals roam free in the area.

An Australian cattle dog was pictured attacking a New Forest pony

It can be seen baring its teeth as it chases after the horse

The horse was forced to kick out at the animal as it chased after it

Around 3,000 cattle and 5,000 ponies roam free in Hampshire's New Forest during the summer months, with dog owners asked to keep their pets on a lead and give livestock a wide berth.

The livestock are released onto the open heathland by the forest 'commoners,' local residents who hold the right to graze their animals on the land.

The incident comes after an NFU Mutual survey of over 1,100 dog owners found two thirds of owners admit they let their dog roam off-lead in the countryside.

The New Forest Commoners Defence Association said the number of dog attacks on livestock was growing.

Andrew Norton, a local farmer and chairman of the group, said: 'It's certainly becoming more of a problem nationally, and indeed here in The Forest.

'The majority are very good, it's just a small minority that causes the problems.

'It doesn't matter how cute and fluffy your dog is, it will chase if livestock run away from it, I think it's an in-bred pack instinct, and people need to be aware of it.

'If you come across livestock while out walking, please put your dog on a lead and give them a wide berth.

The photographer who captured the incident was walking in the forest with three friends when he saw a dog run out from the woods towards a grazing pony

The dog approached the pony and started barking at it

The photographer, who didn't want to be named, said the whole incident lasted five minutes

'There can be lots of foals around at this time a year which will be running around having fun, and there is also a danger of dogs scaring off nesting birds at this time of year, people need to be sensible.

'The New Forest is huge, there's plenty of space here for all of us.

'Luckily the mare involved is okay and she didn't need any vet treatment, New Forest ponies are tough.'

The photographer who captured the incident was walking in the forest with three friends when he saw a dog run out from the woods towards a grazing pony.

The photographer, who didn't want to be named, said: 'The dog approached the pony and really started barking at it.

'We think it might have been an Australian cattle dog, a breed which bites at the ankles of livestock to make them move.

'The pony moving got the dog more excited and it started barking and barking at it.

'Eventually the owners came over very nonchalantly and after a while, managed to get the dog away.

'The whole incident lasted five minutes, it must have been five minutes of terror for the pony.'

Earlier this year, New Forest District Council approved an order criminalising feeding the wild ponies, horses, mules and donkeys roaming the forest after advice to not feed the animals was being ignored 'on a daily basis'.
Support for the SNP has slumped 10 points over the past six months as the party has been engulfed in turmoil, a new poll has shown.

The Ipsos survey revealed the SNP are backed by 41 per cent of Scottish voters when asked who they would support at a general election.

This is down 10 percentage points from the pollster's last survey in December.

By contrast, over the same period, support for Scottish Labour has grown from 25 per cent to 29 per cent.

The Scottish Conservatives have seen their support rise from 13 per cent in December 2022 to 17 per cent this month.

The poll also found SNP leader Humza Yousaf has a negative net satisfaction rating (-9 per cent) among Scottish voters, with 35 per cent satisfied with his performance as First Minister and 44 per cent dissatisfied.

And it showed more than half of Scots (51 per cent) thought Mr Yousaf should not be going to court to challenge Rishi Sunak's block on controversial gender identity reforms.

The Ipsos survey revealed the SNP are backed by 41% of Scottish voters when asked who they would support at a general election. This is down 10 points from the pollster's last survey

The poll also found SNP leader Humza Yousaf has a negative net satisfaction rating (-9 per cent) among Scottish voters

This compared to less than two-fifths (39 per cent) who thought the Scottish Government should be pursuing legal action against the Prime Minister's use of a Section 35 order to stop the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from passing into law.

The SNP-backed Bill sparked controversy when it was passed by the Scottish Parliament in December.

It seeks to make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) - a legal recognition of their acquired gender - by introducing a system of self-declaration.

The Bill was blocked by Scotland Secretary Alister Jack in January, who used Section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop it becoming law, amid concerns about UK-wide legislative chaos.

Since the row over the gender identity reforms, the SNP have seen Nicola Sturgeon resign as their party leader and first minister, as well as a chaotic leadership contest to elect Mr Yousaf as her successor.

They have also been dogged by a continuing police probe into their finances, which saw a dramatic police search of the Glasgow home Ms Sturgeon shares with her husband Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive.

More than half of Scots (51 per cent) thought Mr Yousaf should not be going to court to challenge Rishi Sunak's block on controversial gender identity reforms

When asked how they would vote if another referendum on Scottish independence was held tomorrow, 53 per cent said they would vote Yes and 47 per cent said they would vote No

The Ipsos results came as separate YouGov research showed the SNP is on course to lose 21 seats at the next general election

The Ipsos survey revealed the SNP are now polling below the 45 per cent of Scottish voters who backed them at the 2019 general election.

It also showed signs that those who supported Scottish independence at the 2014 referendum may be increasingly willing to consider voting for other parties rather than the SNP at the next general election.

Although 69 per cent of 2014 'Yes' voters said they would vote for the SNP at an immediate general election, this was a fall of 12 percentage points compared with a year ago.

Labour's support among 2014 'Yes' voters was 15 per cent - an increase of 9 percentage points compared with a year ago.

When asked how they would vote if another referendum on Scottish independence was held tomorrow, 53 per cent said they would vote Yes and 47 per cent said they would vote No.

The support for Yes was down 3 percentage points from the previous Ipsos poll in December 2022.

Mr Yousaf's negative net satisfaction rating shows he is less well-liked as SNP leader than Ms Sturgeon, who had a +9 positive rating in the December 2022 poll.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was the only political leader to receive a positive net satisfaction rating (+6), while Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross received a negative net satisfaction rating of -25.

Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos in Scotland, said: 'In the wake of Nicola Sturgeon's unexpected resignation, a divisive leadership contest and controversy over the party's funding and finances, support for the SNP has fallen back.

'With First Minister Humza Yousaf's approval ratings weaker than Nicola Sturgeon's were, it may be challenging for the party to regain that support.

'Meanwhile, Labour will be hoping that the indication in this poll of a weakening relationship between past independence support and voting for the SNP becomes a trend on which they can capitalise.'

The Ipsos results came as separate research showed the SNP is on course to lose 21 seats at the next general election.

The YouGov study, carried out between April 10 and May 21, suggested the SNP would fall from 48 seats to 27, with most of the losses to Labour in Scotland's Central Belt.

Labour would soar from one seat in Scotland to 24, while the Tories would fall from six seats to four and the Liberal Democrats would retain their four seats.
Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has been charged in a sweeping federal indictment alleging that he siphoned $3.4 million from his dead housekeeper's insurance settlement and defrauded his partners and other clients for 16 years.

The 22-count indictment unsealed on Wednesday outlines three separate schemes the disgraced South Carolina attorney allegedly used to steal money and property from his personal injury clients.

If convicted on all counts in the new indictment, which includes charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, Murdaugh would face a total of up to 480 years in prison and fines of up to nearly $13 million.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Murdaugh's attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said their client 'has been cooperating with the United States Attorneys' Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities.'

'We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial,' the lawyers added, suggesting a plea deal in the case is imminent.

Murdaugh, 54, was convicted in March of murdering his own wife and son, and handed two life sentences to serve in South Carolina state prison.

Prosecutors said he stole millions of dollars from clients and partners, and found himself teetering on financial disaster, which led him to fatally shoot his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie, at their Colleton County hunting lodge.

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has been charged in a sweeping federal indictment outlineing three separate schemes the disgraced South Carolina attorney allegedly used to steal money and property from his personal injury clients

The family's longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield died in February 2018 after appearing to suffer a fall on the stairs of the Murdaugh family home

'Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers,' said US Attorney Adair F. Boroughs in a statement.

'South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the public's trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,' he added.

The new indictment describes three financial fraud schemes, including one to siphon an insurance settlement in the aftermath of the death of Murdaugh's longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.

Satterfield died in February 2018 after appearing to suffer a fall on the stairs of the Murdaugh family home.

The indictment, echoing allegations from prior civil suits, says that Murdaugh conspired with Cory Fleming, a personal injury attorney in Beaufort, and encouraged Satterfield's family to sue him for an insurance payout using Fleming as their attorney.

Murdaugh's insurance companies settled the estate's claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000, but the indictment alleges that Murdaugh and Fleming conspired to siphon settlement funds for their own personal enrichment.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh directed the Beaufort attorney to draft checks totaling $3,483,431.95 made payable to a phony account he set up under the name of 'Forge.'

Fleming, Murdaugh's former law school classmate, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to court records filed Wednesday.

Prosecutors named banker Russell Laffitte (left), and Murdaugh's college buddy and suspended lawyer Cory Fleming (right) as co-conspirators in the alleged fraud schemes

Murdaugh, 54, was convicted in March of murdering his own wife and son, and handed two life sentences to serve in South Carolina state prison

Murdaugh's lawyers are also fighting a lawsuit against him filed by Nautilus Insurance Co, which paid out the settlement in Satterfield's death, which her family says they never received.

Questions about the nature Satterfield's death have also swirled following the murder charges against Murdaugh, though no evidence has emerged to show that it was not accidental.

Another scheme outlined in the indictment describes how Murdaugh used his relationship with banker Russell Laffitte to siphon settlement funds from his personal injury clients from July 2011 until at least October 2021.

Prosecutors say that Murdaugh directed law firm employees to make settlement checks payable to 'Palmetto State Bank' and delivered them to Laffite, who diverted the funds for Murdaugh's benefit.

Murdaugh used the siphoned client funds to pay off personal loans and make cash withdrawals, while Laffitte collected over $350,000 in fees in the scheme, according to the indictment.

In November 2022, Laffitte was convicted on six federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud for his role in this scheme. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

The third scheme described in the indictment is a wide-ranging plot to defraud clients and partners over 16 years, from September 2005 until September 2021.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh personally enriched himself using a variety of tricks, including concocting fraudulent 'expenses', intercepting insurance proceeds intended for clients, and collecting attorney's fees on fake or nonexistent annuities.

From 2011 to 2021, Murdaugh made about $16 million as a lawyer, while stealing about $9 million from his law firm, clients and other sources, according to prior indictments.

Murdaugh killed his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie (together center), at their Colleton County hunting lodge. Surviving son Buster is seen left

Murdaugh was convicted of murder in March following a month-long trial, during which he took the stand and tearfully protested his innocence.

A jury of peers took only three hours to find him guilty of two murder counts, after prosecutors presented video evidence placing Murdaugh at the crime scene minutes before the shootings, and he admitted to lying about his alibi.

Murdaugh was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and is currently incarcerated at the at McCormick Correctional Institution near South Carolina's border with Georgia.

If convicted on the federal charges, it is possible that he could be transferred to a federal prison to serve out his sentence.

Murdaugh faces the following charges in the new federal indictment:
Entering the 2024 Republican primary election, Gov. Ron DeSantis has far fewer endorsements under his belt than Donald Trump.

Now that the Florida governor is officially in the running for the Republican nomination for president, more lawmakers and key players could come out in support of DeSantis.

Just a month before launching his highly anticipated White House bid, DeSantis made a trip to Washington, D.C., for meetings on Capitol Hill where he hoped to gather more support ahead of filing paperwork to run for president.

It's unclear whether the trip last month was fruitful.

So far, DeSantis has been able to accumulate just five endorsements from lawmakers in the House  where he once served before becoming Florida's governor in 2018.

Seven of the 20 House lawmakers in Florida's Republican delegation are already supporting Trump in his bid for a second, non-consecutive term. Only one, so far, has endorsed DeSantis.

There are 56 lawmakers in Congress endorsing Donald Trump, and only five backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis so far

DeSantis has officially entered the 2024 Republican primary race despite Trump's warnings and claims it would be 'disloyal.' Pictured: DeSantis and Trump shake hands at a rally in Florida on October 31, 2018 with Florida first lady Casey DeSantis standing by

Florida had a previous law in place that prevents the states' lawmakers from running for another office without resigning from their current post.

The Republican supermajority in the Florida legislature passed a law last month that nixed the precedent, paving the way for DeSantis to launch his presidential bid without being required to step down as governor of Florida.

Before announcing his candidacy on Wednesday evening, DeSantis earned public backing from Reps. Chip Roy of Texas; Thomas Massie of Kentucky; Laurel Lee of Florida; Bob Good of Virginia; and, most recently on Tuesday, Rich McCormick of Georgia.

Clinching endorsements from lawmakers is important in primary elections because the leanings of individuals elected in their respective jurisdictions could highly influence the way their constituents cast their ballots next year.

In the Senate, former President Trump has nine Republicans backing his 2024 bid, while DeSantis has yet to earn any support in the upper chamber of Congress.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was the first to support Trump's candidacy.

Other senators who followed Graham's endorsement of Trump are Sens. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma; Eric Schmitt of Missouri; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; J.D. Vance of Ohio; Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty both of Tennessee; Ted Budd of North Carolina; and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi.

In the House, Trump has amassed 47 endorsements since he launched his bid for president in mid-November.

Trump's endorsement of DeSantis in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial primary helped him clinch a win

Rep. Gooden of Texas is one of the most recent lawmakers to endorse Trump  doing so just moments after meeting with DeSantis in Wsshington, D.C., last month.

Trump hosted Gooden and his family at Mar-a-Lago after his endorsement.

Gooden told DailyMail.com earlier this month regarding his decision to back Trump after his meeting with the Florida governor that while 'DeSantis's day may come, it is not today.'

The Texas lawmaker brought his wife Alexa and their two children Liam, five, and Milla, three, to meet with Trump at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate on May 9.

A person familiar with Gooden's plans says that the congressman intends to serve as a strong voice in D.C. pushing for the reelection of Trump.

Other than Trump and DeSantis, there are a few other more long-shot Republicans vying for the nomination for president next year.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and current South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott are both running in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is also in the race.

Conservative media personality Larry Elder and biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy are even further on the outskirts of the race.

Haley, who served as Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations, has one backer  Rep. Ralph Norman of her home state of South Carolina.

More Republican lawmakers, politicians and personalities are expected to enter the running in coming weeks and months and the primary race gets into full swing.

Most candidates outside of Trump and DeSantis, however, are struggling to earn double digit support in national and regional polling.

Rep. Lance Gooden brought his wife and two children to meet Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Monday after the Texas Republican endorsed the former president after meeting with Ron DeSantis last month. Pictured L-R: Liam Gooden, 5; Rep. Lance Gooden; Trump, Milla Gooden, 3; Alexa Gooden

Outside of lawmakers, endorsements from other politicians and key players could affect the 2024 primary outcome.

Billionaire Republican donor Peter Thiel said he would support DeSantis if he makes it to the general election in 2024  but has not yet weighed in on the primary election, and might not do so at all.

Thiel warned DeSantis not to lean too much into the fight against leftist 'woke-ism,' despite that being a cornerstone of DeSantis' pre announcement strategy.

The Florida governor has been on a cross-national book tour over the last few months in the lead up to his announcement where he shared his Blueprint for America by promoting initiatives in his state.

People close to Thiel told Reuters last month that he was not planning to wade into the waters of the 2024 primary election.
Runaway canoe man John Darwin is being used in an unlikely new role - as an assistant in his second wife's bid to become a social media influencer.

The notorious fraudster, who faked his own death to cash in on his life insurance policy, makes a number of appearances on Mercy Darwin's social media pages.

His new wife describes herself as a 'digital creator' in her profile and the videos in which she increasingly uses Darwin as a co-star are receiving dozens of likes.

One vlog shows denim hotpants-clad Mercy, 49, serenading father-of-two John, 72, and dancing around him in what appears to be the living room of their home in the Philippines.

Dressed in a tiny pair of shorts and a white t-shirt  and with a bandage covering his ear - John looks besotted as his wife sings to him and rubs his chest.

Runaway canoe man John Darwin is being used in an unlikely new role - as an assistant in his second wife's bid to become a social media influencer

When father-of-two John Darwin (pictured left in Panama with his wife Anne in 2006) went missing in his canoe in the sea outside his home in County Durham in 2002, his own sons believed he was dead. Right: How Darwin looked after faking his death

Another video shows the couple with a hot water bottle pressed between their heads as they laugh and smile while a jolly tune plays in the background. The videos are the first to emerge of John since his story was dramatized in the acclaimed ITV series 'The Thief, His Wife And The Canoe' last year.

Actor Eddie Marsan played the fraudster while actress Monica Dolan starred as his ex-wife Anne Darwin in the four-part drama.

A source said: 'They pair of them are obviously still keen for attention despite everything that happened.

'John's two sons, who have already suffered so much, will be cringing when they see these videos.'

John originally hit the headlines in December 2007 when he turned up at West End Central police station in London claiming to be suffering from amnesia.

Suspicions were raised when it emerged he was 700,000 (AUD$1.3million) in debt when he went missing five years earlier.

And an estate agent photo later proved that John and his wife Anne had been secretly living in Panama in central America since 2006.

They had bought a 200,000 (AUD$370,000) property in the tropical country in 2007 using John's life insurance money.

His new wife describes herself as a 'digital creator' in her profile and the videos in which she increasingly uses Darwin as a co-star are receiving dozens of likes

Another video shows the couple with a hot water bottle pressed between their heads as they laugh and smile while a jolly tune plays in the background

Actor Eddie Marsan played the fraudster while actress Monica Dolan starred as his ex-wife Anne Darwin in the four-part ITV drama 'The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe' last year

But the couple hit a hitch when it turned out he would need to pass strict identity checks to obtain a visa in Panama.

Once he returned to England, the scam began to unravel. Police discovered that John had faked his own death by paddling out into the North Sea in his canoe and then disappearing.

He was declared missing when he failed to turn up at his prison job and  as his body was never found but the wreckage of his canoe did turn up  he was presumed dead.

The truth was that for years John had been hiding out in a rented property next door to the family home in Seaton Carew, County Durham.

Callously, Anne told their two grown-up sons Mark and Anthony he was dead, a cruel lie they have apparently never forgiven him for.

After the truth was exposed, John was arrested for obtaining life insurance money by deception and making untrue statements.

Anne returned from Panama and was charged with a count of fraud. Both were convicted of fraud on July 23, 2008. John received six years and three months, Anne was given six years and six months.

John was released in January 2011 (pictured in 2014) and struck up an online romance online with Mercy in 2015

John was released in January 2011 and Anne two months later and they eventually divorced with John citing 'unreasonable behaviour'.

He struck up an online romance online with Mercy in 2015 and they now live together in the Philippines, where she sublets a property and a clothes stall, according to reports.

Anne wrote a book called 'Out Of My Depth' about what happened and has always insisted her ex was the so-called brains behind the fraud.

Speaking in 2016, she explained: 'John could also be persuasive. He told me, "I'll only need to vanish for a couple of weeks and we'll have the money." It got out of control.

'The deeper you get into these situations, the harder it is to get out. If I had any inkling it would have lasted more than few a weeks, there's no way I could have gone along with it and put myself through years of torture.

'But once it was done, and he got me to lie that he'd disappeared, I couldn't get out of it.'
Family members plan to keep their kids home from school on June 2 in protest

'The Big Book of Families,' which addresses LGBTQ+ topics, will be read to kids

Parents are pushing back on a Pride event at an elementary school in Hollywood

Outraged parents are urging a boycott of a North Hollywood elementary school after it scheduled a Pride event.

They are now planning to keep their children home from Saticoy Elementary on June 2 when the district plans to hold a 'Rainbow Day', during which students and children will read 'The Great Big Book of Families'.

The book highlights families of different backgrounds including same-sex parents and other LGBTQ+ relationships, interracial couples and adoptive families, among others.

Parents have now started an Instagram page and have circulated flyers for the protest, reading: 'Keep your kids home and innocent.'

'We respect everyone, but some things are appropriate for children (of) that age, and some things are not,' said George Dzhabroyan, a parent unhappy with the school.

In a statement, the Los Angeles Unified School District said parents can opt to have their child skip the assembly where the book will be read.

Outraged parents are urging a boycott of a North Hollywood elementary school after it scheduled a Pride event. 'We respect everyone, but some things are appropriate for children (of) that age, and some things are not,' said George Dzhabroyan, a parent unhappy with the school

'The Great Big Book of Families' will be read during the Pride event and highlights families of different backgrounds including same-sex parents and other LGBTQ+ relationships, interracial couples, adoptive families, and more

According to the parents' Instagram page, along with the reading of the book, materials that mention LGBTQ+ topics will be discussed during the event.

'Videos will be shown to the students including one where it says, "some kids have 2 mommies, some have 2 daddies,"' the page alleges.

A recent post states that the Saticoy student body includes a major population of Armenian and Hispanic families who consider themselves Christian.

The parents say they 'don't feel this material is appropriate to teach to children and believe it's a parent's right to choose.'

Saticoy, the angry parents say, has a population of roughly 500 students and the group protesting allegedly received 400 signatures on a petition against the event.

In addition to having their children stay home on June 2, the families plan to stand outside of the elementary school and protest the Pride-related festivities.

'Hopefully the message gets across and people understand that parents should be the primary contact of what their children should be exposed to and shouldn't be exposed to,' Dzhabroyan told KTLA.

The group claims that all LGBTQ+ topics are sexually explicit in nature and that their children should not be forced to learn about such things this early.

'Our children are innocent and have no idea what is out there,' an Instagram post reads. 'We as parent have the right to introduce these topics at our discretion.'

A flyer handed out by parents protesting the 'Rainbow Day' at Saticoy Elementary School

The 'Rainbow Day' is set to take place at Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood

An Instagram page has been launched by some angry Saticoy parents who are protesting the LGBTQ+ events and rallying for the upcoming protest

'Our children are innocent and have no idea what is out there,' an Instagram post reads. 'We as parent have the right to introduce these topics at our discretion'

On top of their calls to boycott the 'Rainbow Day' and their planned protest, the parents have been active on social media calling for Saticoy officials to be fired.

In one post, the Instagram page shared a photo of Saticoy Principal Maria Awakian along with her phone number, urging parents to call her about the event.

'Get her out!!! Its not up to you to teach our children about LGBT,' one person wrote.

'Shame on you, Avakian. You have no morals nor respect for our school,' another wrote.

The group has shared phone numbers and emails of several other officials at Saticoy and within the Los Angeles Unified School District, calling on parents to take action.

Support has been bolstered on social media where others have weighed in, applauding the parents for standing up to the school district's 'agenda.'

'I dont think the parents are trying to incite hatred. I just think that parents are trying to protect their kids. I think that elementary school is too young to be talking about sexual relationships of any kind,' one person wrote in a YouTube comment.

'Its a moral issue for many good people who dont hate anybody,' another added.

'I can see this being for high school juniors and seniors but anything under that is just too young, in my opinion,' one commenter remarked.

'It was bone-chilling when I first read it,' said Roberto Salcedo. If you really read it for what it is, it's to incite hatred against people who are different'

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District told DailyMail.com LGBTQ+ conversations are regularly held within the district.

'Los Angeles Unified is committed to creating a safe and inclusive learning environment that embraces the diversity of the communities we serve.

'The District encourages everyone in our school communities to treat each other with respect, kindness and compassion so that our students can be empowered to achieve their greatest potential.

'As part of our engagement with school communities, our schools regularly discuss the diversity of the families that we serve and the importance of inclusion.

'This remains an active discussion with our school communities and we remain committed to continuing to engage with families about this important topic,' the statement read.

Some on the opposite side of the argument say the flyers passed around by angry parents shocked them and that the parents are just trying to 'incite hatred.'

'It was bone-chilling when I first read it,' said Roberto Salcedo. If you really read it for what it is, it's to incite hatred against people who are different.

'The message I want parents to realize is that we are all different and we all need to respect our differences,' Salcedo continued.
Passengers were left stranded at an airport this morning as planes took off without them after a power outage.

One passenger said he saw his flight 'fly over' his head after the power cut sparked chaos at Manchester Airport's Terminal 3 just before 8am on Wednesday.

It caused issues with check-in and boarding and left passengers stuck in long queues, according to holidaymakers.

Passenger Tom McKenna said it was 'absolute chaos' and the airport should be 'ashamed of themselves'.

In a tweet, he said: 'Absolute chaos at @manairport. Just seen my Ryanair flight fly over my head as I'm queuing outside Terminal 3. Utter disgrace. Should be ashamed of themselves.'

It caused issues with check-in and boarding and left passengers stuck in long queues, according to holidaymakers

Passenger Tom McKenna said it was 'absolute chaos' and the airport should be 'ashamed of themselves'

Manchester Airport apologised for any 'inconvenience' and said the power outage had been resolved at around 11am.

Megan, another passenger, said she arrived at the airport for 7am for her 10am Ryanair flight to Tenerife.

But she became stuck in long queues trying to check luggage in and her flight took after without her.

She said in a Tweet: '@askryanair @Ryanair @manairport @MENnewsdesk supposed to fly to Tenerife at 10am. Got here at 7am & waited for desk to open.

'Power cut at airport so stuck trying to check luggage in. Plane has gone. What are we supposed to do? Nobody has come to advise us. It's my birthday today!'

Passenger Laura Marie said there was 'no-one in charge' and her airline told her to 'come back tomorrow' meaning she had to pay for new flights and a hotel.

In a Tweet, she said: 'Stood at T3 bag check in since 7:30am, hundreds of people stranded, no-one in charge letting us know what is going on, flight has already left @Ryanair can someone actually help please?'

'@Ryanair have told us no more flights today and we have to come back tomorrow. We have had to book new flights and a hotel which comes at additional expense we should not have to pay.

'I fully appreciate this is not anyone's fault but some communication would help.'

And Kate Vaudrey, a different passenger, said: 'Absolute shambles this morning. None of the ground staff were prioritising check in based on flight times.

'Only 2 members of staff available for baggage drop off. 80 passengers missed our Ryanair flight this morning.'

A Ryanair spokesman said: 'Due to a power outage at Manchester Airport, which was entirely beyond Ryanair's control, some passengers missed their flights from Manchester Airport this morning.

'Where possible, we have reaccommodated affected passengers on alternative Ryanair flights departing later today and where alternative flights are not available today, we advise passengers to contact our Customer Service Team.

'We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this power outage at Manchester Airport, which was entirely beyond Ryanair's control.'
After suffering months of social media tirades from ex-president Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis has finally announced he is running for the White House.

His decision, unveiled in a live Twitter interview with Elon Musk Wednesday, means he joins an increasingly crowded field of seven people looking to seal the GOP nomination.

The overwhelming frontrunner, at least based on current opinion polls, is the former commander-in-chief.

Nikki Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, is also running as is the Palmetto State Senator Tim Scott, a fellow Republican.

DailyMail.com looks at those GOP rivals are already in the race, and whether any of those rumored to be eyeing a tilt at the top job could cause an upset.

Donald Trump remains the runaway favorite for the GOP nomination, according to opinion polls

Donald Trump: the GOP favorite and frontrunner - but can he pull off another 2016 upset?

The former president has soared ahead in the primary opinion polls after his controversial CNN Town Hall appearance in New Hampshire.

STRENGTHS: A canny political operator, Trump has shown the ability to ride out any controversy that would normally end other bids for the White House. He remains the shrewdest media player from the GOP field with every move dominating the headlines. He can also point to having done the job before.

CHALLENGES: Trump faces a series of legal woes, including a possible lawsuit over his alleged mishandling of classified documents. His defamation fight with a former journalist over an alleged rape could also turn off women voters in key swing states.

TRUMP-O-METER: The original

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: The man to beat

Ron DeSantis: The Republicans' rising star after his emphatic Florida win who is locked in a bitter war of words with Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cruised to a commanding reelection victory in the November midterms, beating the state's former governor and Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist by about 20 points.

Overall, his state of Florida saw Republicans over-perform compared to the rest of the country - and some pundits are crediting DeSantis' influence.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who won re-election in a landslide, is widely seen as a potential 2024 frontrunner

DeSantis has embraced Trump's 'America First,' combative style of politics that's seen him, and his deputies, create headlines for 'anti-woke' clashes with the Biden administration, LGBTQ activists and the press.

But he has since fallen behind Trump in the polls, tailing the real estate mogul by 44 percentage points.

STRENGTHS: DeSantis will appeal to some moderate Republicans and Independents simply by not being Donald Trump. But, as we will see, his current electoral strategy is fraught with risks.

The Florida governor is trying to court older voters away from Trump, an important constituency in the GOP's coalition.

He has focused especially on his efforts to lower prescription drug costs in Florida, including pushing the federal government for permission to import cheaper drugs from Canada.

DeSantis has also pushed a number of conservative cause to rally the GOP base as part of his 'war on woke.'

He has defunded diversity programs at state schools, banned gender-transition care for minors and cracked down on undocumented immigrants' ability to find work and gain access to social services.

CHALLENGES: The Florida governor's 'woke-bashing' may turn off Independent and Democratic voters, as well as moderate Republicans.

He is currently locked a legal battle with Disney over the theme park and animation giant's opposition to his so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law that could hand the 44-year-old a defeat in the courts.

Critics have also noticed that the governor seems to struggle to connect with ordinary voters out on the campaign trail, rarely taking questions from the press.

Trump has also attacked DeSantis for calling for the privatization of Social Security and Medicare, a sacred issue for older voters in the U.S.

TRUMP-O-METER: The Florida Governor is politically astute enough to thread the needle so as not to repel moderates and independents while still appealing to MAGA base.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: DeSantis was an early favorite but appears to have a mountain to climb to beat Trump



Tim Scott: The black South Carolina Republican who has made himself a key figure in Congress

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential race in North Charleston, South Carolina, alongside his mother Frances.

The only black Republican in Congress' upper chamber, Scott is known for reaching across the aisle on racially-charged issues such as police reform.

South Carolina GOP Senator Tim Scott is the only black Republican in the Senate, but said this next six-year term will be his last

He had already said before his May 22 announcement that this would be his last term in the Senate.

STRENGTHS: Remarking on how his grandfather had voted for President Barack Obama in 2012, the senator said: 'I wish he had lived long enough to see perhaps another man of color elected president of the United States.

'But this time let it be a Republican,' he said, according to USA Today.

He's known on Capitol Hill as a strong negotiator and was a leading force in promoting the law-and-order agenda in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles.

CHALLENGES: Name recognition and feasibility. Political consultants told New York Magazine that Scott could be 'engaging in a sort of starter presidential campaign in order to build contacts and positive name ID for a future run  a respectable start, a signature moment or two, and a graceful exit from the 2024 contest may be the real goal.'

TRUMP-O-METER: Scott is highly religious and considered reasonable by Republicans and Democrats.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but a possible contender for a Cabinet position.

Nikki Haley: the one-time Trump ambassador who has been muted in her criticism of her former boss

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was one of the first Republicans to declare she would run against Trump back in February.

Her pitch is one of executive and foreign policy experience, and she also enjoy home field advantage in an early voting state.

Nikki Haley remains a possible dark horse who could emerge to challenge Trump and DeSantis

STRENGTHS: Haley is the most politically accomplished woman to enter a Republican presidential primary field after being twice elected governor and serving as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations. She would score well with women voters, who make up nearly half of the GOP primary electorate.

CHALLENGES: She has been tepid in her criticism of the January 6 riots that could cost her support with moderate GOP voters. Her pro-life stance may also harm her in pro-choice states such as New Hampshire.

TRUMP-O-METER: Could Haley's ties to the former president harm her in some GOP primaries?

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Remains one to watch despite being way behind in the polls against Trump and DeSantis.

Vivek Ramaswamy: A 37-year-old entrepreneur and author who's made a name for himself by being anti-'woke'

Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, has made a name of himself by being a crusader against so called 'woke' causes. He says he wants to end affirmative action for ethnic minorities.

Ramaswamy is a successful entrepreneur and reportedly worth around $500million - giving him a leg up as he won't need to rely on early fundraising.

His latest book, Woke, Inc., argues that politics don't belong in business - and has made him a rising star on the political right.

Ramaswamy told Politico that his anti-wokeness activism was inspired by hearing his fellow business elites say one thing in public - towing the progressive line - while in private saying they were sick of social activism.

37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy is laying the groundwork to launch a presidential bid by making treks to Iowa, which holds the first caucus

STRENGTHS: Ramaswamy is running on a platform of defeating China, firing the 'managerial class' of federal workers and shrinking the number of federal agencies, reforming the national security apparatus and doing away with affirmative action.

CHALLENGES: Lacks national name recognition and any political experience. Allies told DailyMail.com that Ramaswamy will not serve in a Trump administration and will return to business if he fails to win the nomination.

TRUMP-O-METER: Similar to Trump regarding nationalism and reducing the size of government.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Slim to none for this first-time political candidate.

Mike Pence: Former VP who has distanced himself from Trump and said there were 'better choices' for 2024

Mike Pence said during an interview on ABC News on Monday night that he was giving a 2024 bid 'prayerful consideration'

Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, told ABC News on the eve of Trump's announcement that there were 'better choices' for president and he was giving his own White House bid 'prayer consideration.'

But he demurred when asked about his odds of beating Trump in a primary, emphasizing that it would be up to the voters.

Still, Pence has dropped numerous hints that he's surveying the 2024 field.

Pence blasted Trump for his conduct on January 6, calling the angry tweets he published while his supporters were storming the US Capitol 'reckless.'

Asked whether he'd support Trump in 2024, Pence said: 'There might be somebody else I'd prefer more.'

STRENGTHS: Exceptional name recognition - although for a variety of reasons. Latest AP polls show that GOP voters know who Pence is but not everyone is a fan after he stood up to Trump on January 6, 2021. The former vice president defied Trump by certifying the Electoral College vote and calling the insurrection 'un-American'.

However, like Scott, Pence is also religious and a strong supporter of pro-life legislation and policies.

CHALLENGES: The biggest challenges for the former Vice President are the legal ones including a subpoena issued by the January 6 special counsel about Trump's involvement in the Capitol riot.

Like President Biden, classified documents were found in his Indiana home.

TRUMP-O-METER: Pence is the yang to Trump's yin, meaning he's subdued and thoughtful.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Long shot but could court some of the Evangelical vote

Chris Sununu: The popular New Hampshire governor from a GOP political dynasty who called Trump 'crazy' but now says it was a joke

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is testing the presidential waters but it's unclear how far he'll wade in.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has launched a political committee that will allow him to raise unlimited fund should he decide to run

Earlier this month, Sununu launched the 'Live Free or Die' committee, a 501(c)4 that allows him to raise unlimited funds, usually an early sign a politician is readying a bid.

He also said he'd support Trump if he were the nominee, though said he didn't believe the ex-president would win the nomination again.

STRENGTHS: Sununu brands himself as more sensible than the anti-'woke' DeSantis and didn't skip President Joe Biden's invitation to appear with him at the White House last week as part of the National Governors Association meeting.

CHALLENGES: He tried to make peace with the MAGA wing of his party, saying on CNN last week that it was merely a 'funny joke' when he called Trump 'f***ing crazy' at Washington's white-tie Gridiron dinner last year.

'I don't think he's so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution, but I think if he were in one, he ain't getting out,' Sununu also told the crowd about the ex-president.

TRUMP-O-METER: Sununu is the opposite of Trump: levelheaded, moderate and has a sense of humor.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but potential Cabinet member

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu seems to be positioning himself for something. He's made amends with the MAGA side of the party, while keeping moderates in the fold by not snubbing President Joe Biden and taking on Gov. Ron DeSantis' anti-'woke' campaign

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Asa Hutchinson: The former Arkansas governor struggles to keep up in the polls

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson 72, has tried to characterize himself as a thought leader of the party, hosting a mix of Republicans to Arkansas in October for 'America Leads: An Ideas Summit.'

But his campaign has struggled to muster much media coverage, and he is polling on average at one percent, according to experts FiveThreeEight.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has has been making trips to early primary state Iowa

Asked if he was worried that a crowded GOP presidential field could help Trump win the nomination again, Hutchinson said no.

'I think it will be much more methodical this cycle than what we've seen in previous years,' he replied. 'And I think that competition is good and healthy.'

STRENGTHS: Asa Hutchinson, who served eight years as the governor of Arkansas, is known for being fair and reasonable on both sides of the aisle. Earlier this month, he told CBS News that he plans to decide on his presidential bid by April.

CHALLENGES: At 72 years of age, the GOP will need to decide if they want a generational change or institutional knowledge. But his campaign has struggled to muster much attention.

TRUMP-O-METER: As a vocal critic of Trump, he hasn't been shy about criticizing the former president. 'I do believe that he disqualified himself and should not serve our country again as a result of what happened.'

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Very slim indeed, based on current polling

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he wasn't worried that a crowded field would lead to another nomination of former President Donald Trump

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Brookside actor Louis Emerick Grant has pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury to two 12-year-old girls by careless or inconsiderate driving after hitting them with a car late last year.

Grant, 64, of Liscard in Wirral, who starred in the Liverpool-based soap opera as a taxi driver, caused serious injury to the two girls when they were hit by the car he was driving on Poulton Road in Wallasey on 2 October 2022.

He was driving his Honda in the direction of Wallasey Village as the two friends, who were heading to a local shop, started to cross Poulton Road at around 5.15pm.

The girls had reached the centre hatched markings in the middle of the road when Grant's car is seen to cut the corner of the right-hand bend, enter the centre hatched markings and collide with them.

Both girls were seriously injured. One suffered a fractured leg and the other, a fractured leg and ankle, a broken nose, broken jaw and broken teeth.

Grant, 64, of Liscard in Wirral, who starred in the Liverpool-based soap opera as a taxi driver, caused serious injury to the two girls

Grant starred in long-running soap Brookside as Mick Johnson, a local taxi driver

Both were unable to return to school for several months after spending time in Alder Hey hospital and will also require further surgery.

The CPS said Grant was not seen to slow down or brake on the approach to the girls. The weather was dry and clear and there was good visibility, and his speed was described as 'not excessive'.

He was breathalysed at the scene but there was no evidence that he had taken drink or drugs or that he had been using his mobile phone at the time of the collision.

He told officers that he had looked to his nearside but did not see the girls crossing ahead.

Mr Grant blamed the sun, but accepted that, if his vision was impaired, he should have reduced his speed.

He was wearing prescription glasses at the time which react to the sun. He apologised for this incident and has been fully cooperative throughout the investigation.

He was arrested and charged with two offences of causing serious injury by careless or inconsiderate driving and yesterday pleaded guilty at Wirral Magistrates' Court.

He will be sentenced on June 21 at the same court.

District Crown Prosecutor Linda Melia, of CPS Mersey Cheshire, said: 'This was an extremely distressing incident and the two girls suffered serious injuries as a result of what happened on that day.

'Louis Emerick Grant was not speeding but admitted that he couldn't see clearly because of the sun so he should have slowed down. The sun visor of the car was not down.

'He has been fully cooperative and remorseful throughout the investigation and has apologised on numerous occasions. He has been in contact with both families and has apologised to them too. He tested negatively at the roadside for drink and drugs.

'When we drive a car we are in control of something powerful that, if we lose concentration or clear vision for a minute, can cause serious injury, even death.

Tiffany Chapman, Louis Emerick and Diane Burke, who all appeared in Brookside, pictured in 1997

Grant also appeared on Casualty (pictured), Coronation Street and Last of the Summer Wine

'It's clear Mr Grant did not mean to injure these girls, but the events of that day are a lesson that, when we are at the wheel of a car, care and attention are needed at all times.

'When we don't drive carefully or considerately we are breaking the law and this case is an example of how serious the results of that can be.

'The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank the girls and their families for their help in bringing this prosecution.'

Grant played Mick Johnson, a taxi driver, in Brookside from 1989 to 2001.

After Brookside, he appeared in multiple popular soaps including Casualty from 2013-2016, Last of the Summer wine and Coronation Street, where he played Mike Thornberry in 2018.

Most recently he appeared in Netflix's mini-series Cleopatra, released this year.

He also starred as the Vice-President in Kung Fury 2, which is set to hit screens later this year, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Fassbender.

Earlier this year Grant appeared on Lorraine, where he and fellow Brookside castmate said the soap had often predicted the future.
Rangers in Yellowstone National Park were forced to euthanize a bison calf after it was handled by a man who thought he was rescuing it from drowning.

Park staff said they tried to reintroduce the animal to its herd but due to human contact the bison was rejected and abandoned, forcing them to kill it hours later.

Now the park officials are trying to identify the man, who was pictured moving the calf up from the river bank and to the road, as part of their investigation.

The incident happened on May 20 when the calf's herd was in the process of crossing the Lamar River in Wyoming, in the northeast section of the park.

After the calf was split from its mother, the man went down to the water and helped it up from the bank, where it started walking up to people and cars.

A man was pictured moving a bison calf up from the bank of the Lamar River on May 20. It was later put down after its herd rejected it. Yellowstone National Park staff are now trying to identify the man

The calf's herd was in the process of crossing the Lamar River (pictured) in Wyoming, in the northeast section of Yellowstone National Park

Linda Veress, a spokesperson for Yellowstone National Park, told DailyMail.com the animal was put down on Saturday night - just hours after it was handled by the unidentified man.

'After multiple attempts by park rangers to reunite the calf with the herd, the bison calf was euthanized Saturday night, May 20,' she wrote.

Veress also suggested that if identified, the charge he may face would be a Class B misdemeanor with a penalty of up to six months in jail and $5,000 fine.

In 2015 Yellowstone National Park officials issued a graphic pamphlet drawing of a man being gored by bison in a bid for tourists to avoid the creatures

'An unidentified white male in his 40-50's, wearing a blue shirt and black pants, approached a newborn bison calf,' wrote park staff in the statement on Tuesday.

'The calf had been separated from its mother when the herd crossed the Lamar River,' it read.

'As the calf struggled, the man pushed the calf up from the river and onto the roadway. Visitors later observed the calf walk up to and follow cars and people.'

After sharing the initial release, a number of people took to Twitter to suggest the animal should not have been put down but instead transferred to a sanctuary.

'Federal and state regulations prohibit the transport of bison out of Yellowstone unless those bison are going to meat processing or scientific research facilities,' it said in another statement.

'Unfortunately, the calf's behavior on the roads and around people was hazardous, so rangers had to intervene: but the calf's body was left on the landscape.'

The rangers warned against making any contact with wild animals in the park. This is not the first time visitors of the park have made contact with bison to similar effect.

In 2016, a father and son turned in a baby bison to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch, which is just two miles to the northwest of where this weekend's incident happened near the meeting of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek.

At the time Karen Richardson of Victor, Idaho, was at the ranch when the father and son showed up with the bison in the back of their SUV.

'They were demanding to speak with a ranger,' she told EastIdahoNews.com in 2016. 'They were seriously worried that the calf was freezing and dying.'

Rob Heusevelet, who was also present, told the men to remove the bison from the car and told them they could be in trouble for having the animal.

'They didn't care,' Heusevelet says. 'They sincerely thought they were doing a service and helping that calf by trying to save it from the cold.'

Pictured is an unrelated herd of bison stopping traffic in the Hayden Valley in September 2022

In 2016 a father and son put a different bison calf (pictured) in their car in Yellowstone National Park. It was also later put down

Park staff warned after Saturday's incident that disregarding park regulations requiring guests to stay at least 25 yards away from bison, elk and deer and at least 100 yards from bears and wolves can result in fines.

On its website, the National Parks Service warns of the dangers posed by large wildlife. 'Bison can run three times faster than humans can sprint and are unpredictable and dangerous,' it reads.

'Visitors must give the animals enough space and alter their own behavior to avoid interacting with an animal in close proximity. Do not approach wildlife, no matter how tame or calm they appear. Always obey instructions from park staff on scene.'
MBABANE  The proprietors of Big Tree Filling Station (Pty) Ltd say they reserve the right to pursue criminal charges against the chief justice (CJ) for allegedly obstructing the course of justice.

The Director of Big Tree Filling Station, Nurane Calu, said the right extended to all those implicated in the alleged interference with the course of justice in their matter with Galp Eswatini (Pty) Ltd. This is contained in Big Trees application for the recusal of High Court Judge Zonke Magagula and Judge President of the Industrial Court of Appeal, Judge Sifiso Nsibande from their review in the Supreme Court. The two judges are appearing in the matter between the filling station and Galp Eswatini as acting judges of the Supreme Court.

The judges refused to recuse themselves when Big Trees attorney, Mangaliso Magagula of Magagula and Hlophe Attorneys applied in chambers that they recuse themselves from the matter. Calu told the court that the judges stated that they saw no reason to remove themselves from the matter. Big Tree proceeded to file a formal application, in which the CJ was accused of interfering in the matter.

Interference

According to Calu, Big Tree had lodged a complaint against the CJ emanating from his alleged interference in this matter. He alleged that the CJs purported interference in this matter was also the subject of a judicial conduct complaint in terms of Section 158 of the Constitution. As a result, Calu informed the court that Big Tree reserved its right to pursue criminal charges for obstructing the course of justice against the CJ Maphalala and anyone who was implicated in said interference. The chief justice is a conflicted party in this matter. The chief justice has overtly demonstrated an interest in this matter and its outcome, Calu alleged. He stated that the CJ allegedly interfered in the matter, and in so doing prevented it from being allocated to another judge to hear it on an urgent basis, as directed by Judge Ticheme Dlamini. It is quite clear that the chief justice interfered with the matter to ensure that the applicant did not obtain the contempt order. He was doing this to protect the respondent. The chief justice was not supposed to be involved in the matter and had nothing to do with it.

As it is, the respondent is in violation of a High Court order directing it to supply the applicant with fuel. As a result of the respondents wilful defiance of the court order, the applicants business remains closed as it is not being supplied with fuel by the respondent. The chief justice used his powers to prevent the enforcement of a court order, alleged Calu. He pointed out that the CJ was the chief custodian of law in the country and the head of the Judiciary, who oversaw the administration of justice. Contempt of court on the other hand strikes at the very heart of the administration of justice which the chief justice has a constitutional mandate to oversee. He acts contrary to the Constitution and his oath of office when he goes against his constitutional mandate to oversee the administration of justice and does the complete opposite by interfering with the administration of justice.

The applicant does not enjoy the equal protection of the law. The chief justice used his power to deny the applicant its legal right to enforce a judgement in its favour through the legal process of contempt of court. In so doing, the applicant was denied the right to equal protection of the law. Calu submitted that the appointment of the acting judges was tainted by the CJs alleged conflict and interest in the matter. He argued that the CJs alleged conflict in this matter precluded him from appointing and empanelling judges to hear the matter, where he was conflicted and had an interest. Appointing and empanelling judges to a matter in which the CJ is conflicted, according to Calu, denied a litigant in the position of Big Tree a fair hearing, as enshrined in Section 21 of the Constitution. The right to a fair hearing is non-derogable and entails a hearing before an independent and impartial court. Impartial in the sense that the court is and is seen to be impartial.

Independent

An independent and impartial court as required by the Constitution can only be achieved where the person appointing and empanelling the court is free from conflict. Where he is conflicted, he taints the process and nothing arising from the tainted process will be lawful. The Chief Justice exercised a power conferred by the Constitution. A condition for the exercise of power is that he must not be conflicted. Where he is conflicted, the exercise of power would be invalid and would taint the process, narrated Calu. The Big Tree director added that: Their Lordships should have recused themselves on the grounds that a reasonable litigant in the position of the applicant with knowledge of how the Chief Justice interfered with the matter and has also interfered with a judge of the High Court in the course of the Judges performance of his judicial functions, would apprehend that the Chief Justice may continue to interfere with the judges in this matter, more so, those who were appointed and empanelled by him.

Detailing the alleged extent of the interference by the CJ, Calu submitted that in the High Court, Judge Ticheme Dlamini issued an order directing Galp to supply Big Tree with fuel pending the finalisation of the the review application in terms of Section 148 of the Constitution (the main review on the merits). He submitted that Galp refused to comply with the court order, to date. He said Galps refusal to comply with the court order prompted Big Tree to institute contempt proceedings against the former. The contempt proceedings, according to Calu, were brought before Judge Dlamini, who had issued the order the applicant sought to enforce. The purpose of the contempt application was to enforce compliance with the court order, which the respondent had not complied with, said Calu.

Allocation

Before the contempt of court application could be heard on October 8, 2021, the respondent brought an application for Justice T. Dlamini to recuse himself from the matter. Justice T. Dlamini recused himself from the matter and referred the matter to the registrar for allocation to another judge. The chief justice issued a directive that the respondent must bring a formal application for Justice T. Dlaminis recusal and directed Justice T. Dlamini to reconsider and determine the recusal application. The chief justice issued these directives even though Justice T. Dlamini had already recused himself from the matter and referred it to the registrar, Calu submitted. The Big Tree director informed the court that the CJs directives were highly irregular and unlawful. He said the directives were issued in violation of Section 141 (2) of the Constitution.

The Chief Justice had no right to interfere in the matter. He was not involved in it. His interference prevented the course of justice. He directed Justice T. Dlamini to hear the formal recusal application, which at the time was not pending and had not been instituted. As to how he knew that a formal application would be instituted is everyones guess. The judge had already recused himself and the file had been taken to the registrar for allocation to another judge. Justice T. Dlamini was made to change his order and call the parties where he revealed the directive of the chief justice. At the time of the chief justices directive to Justice T. Dlamini, the latter was already functus officio. Calu informed the court that the CJs involvement in the matter was clear. The matter is pending in court.
An investment banker has been cleared of raping a woman he met on the dating website Bumble after two juries failed to reach a verdict.

Varun Venaik, 31, was said to have assaulted his date after taking her back to his 1million apartment in Upper Montagu Street, Marylebone, on July 31, 2021.

Australian Venaik was accused of raping the woman after she told him: I dont have sex with people on a first date.

But giving evidence he told jurors of the really good chemistry and insisted she consented to sex.

Following his first trial last October at Southwark Crown Court a jury failed to reach a verdict after deliberating for 11 hours and 19 minutes.

Varun Venaik, 31, denies raping the woman at his basement flat in Upper Montagu Street, Marylebone

Venaik (pictured) is accused of forcing himself on the woman after she told him she doesn't have sex with people on the first date

The second jury also failed to reach a verdict on the charge of rape, which Venaik denied, and Judge Gregory Perrins discharged them after just over six hours of deliberations.

Judge Perrins told them: You mustnt think you have failed. In fact it shows that the system is working.

These are extremely difficult cases for juries to wrestle with.

I can tell you now that this case is a retrial. That jury was also unable to agree on a verdict.

When prosecutor James Dick discussed the possibility of a third trial, Judge Perrins said: There are very few cases in which it is appropriate for there to be a third retrial.

The prosecution offered no evidence against Venaik today and he was formally cleared of rape.

The woman had told the court how they went for drinks at the Kitchen At Holmes bar before heading to Venaiks flat nearby.

She agreed there was chemistry between them as they kissed and cuddled on a beanbag chair before Venaik said he had to go to meet a friend.

Venaik had explained that he was actually going on another date but did not want to hurt her feelings.

But he caught up with the woman at Baker Street station and they returned to his apartment with a bottle of gin and ordered a pizza delivery.

The woman said he pushed her head down in his bedroom.

Him pushing my head down that night was forceful, she said.

I remember saying that I dont have sex on a first date.

I remember making it clear before that I did not want to have sex.

Describing the alleged attack she said: I was pushing his bodyweight off me.

Asked if she had touched him intimately she said: I am sure I did not touch his penis.

I remember feeling very anxious and scared. I didnt want to visibly show that I was scared and anxious.

She later messaged her friends to tell them what had happened.

I told them that something had happened and that I feel really uncomfortable.

She told a friend in a text: I didnt think rape looked like that. She added: What if I am just being dramatic?

Giving evidence Venaik had told the court that they had mutual chemistry and accepted she mentioned she did not have sex on a first date'.

Venaik described how things became intimate in his bedroom as he guided the womans hand to his private parts, getting her to pleasure him as they then had sex.

He said there was never any doubt she was happy about what was happening and she seemed to really enjoy what he was doing as they had sex.

The woman had messaged him the next day saying: We ended up having sex when I didnt want to.

But Venaik said he did not think at this point that she was accusing him of rape.

The alleged rape took place at Venaik's 1million home, Southwark Crown Court, pictured, has heard

I remembered the events clearly. I knew what had happened. I thought she was upset. I thought she was upset about me being forward but thats it.

None of those messages sent alarm bells ringing. Not at all.

The woman texted him again and said: I tried to make it clear that no meant no... in future please respect when someone says no.'

Venaik messaged her back saying: I do push the boundaries.

He said: I was trying to side with her as much as possible.

I was trying to empathise with her, trying to accept her version so that we could move on.

My only thoughts were for her. We had an amazing time together.

We gelled, we had amazing chemistry. I found out so much about her.

Orla Daly, defending, had said in her closing speech to the jury during the first trial: It is possible to say, I dont have sex on a first date and then change your mind.

This is one persons word against another.

Ms Daly said the woman told one of her friends: I dont want to do the whole going to court and him getting arrested thing... I dont want to get him into trouble.

Was she reluctant to get him into trouble because shes unbelievably kind, or because she had her own doubts?

Venaik denied the charges and was cleared of rape.
The number of visas awarded to foreign workers and students has surged by hundreds of thousands, figures are expected to show tomorrow, in a sign that immigration levels are yet to peak.

Home Office data is thought to show nearly a million migrants were granted permission to come to Britain for work or study in the year to March.

Figures published by the Home Office just three months ago showed 267,670 work visas were granted in the year to December, up 95 per cent on 2019 levels. In the same period, 485,758 student visas were granted, up 81 per cent on 2019.

Tomorrow's Home Office data means that high levels of net migration  the difference between migrants arriving and those emigrating  have continued into 2023.

Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics, also coming out tomorrow, are expected to show net migration spiralled in the year to December, to between 700,000 and a million.

Immigration figures from November showing the number of people coming to the UK soared to a 'breathtaking' record high of 504,000 in the year to June 2022

Home Secretary Suella Braverman speaking during the National Conservatism Conference at The Emmanuel Centre on May 15 in London

The Home Office figures give a more up-to-date picture of immigration levels, however.

They are likely to present ministers with a further headache as they attempt to pacify concerned voters and MPs on the right of the Conservative party who are demanding sustainable levels of migration.

Tomorrow's updated figures are likely to show huge rises across both visa categories, bringing the total to almost one million.

It came as the Government's official immigration adviser warned that restrictions on student visas  announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week  will have only limited impact on overall numbers.

From January, most students will be barred from bringing their families to Britain and will no longer be able to switch to work visas unless they have completed their courses.

The PM sanctioned the restrictions after Home Secretary Suella Braverman highlighted a 750 per cent jump in the number of foreign students bringing dependants to Britain, up from just 16,000 in 2019 to 136,000 last year.

Professor Brian Bell, chairman of the Home Office's Migration Advisory Committee, told Times Radio: 'It'll make some difference, but not enormous.

'If you want to get net migration down to the tens of thousands, this won't get you there.'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right) this week announced that most students will be barred from bringing their families to Britain and will no longer be able to switch to work visas unless they have completed their courses

Professor Bell noted that high levels of immigration were being caused by 'deliberate government policy' after ministers created generous humanitarian schemes for Ukrainians fleeing Putin's war and Hong Kong citizens threatened by Beijing's anti-democracy crackdown.

At Prime Minister's Questions today Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer announced that his party would stop businesses from easing staff shortages by hiring cheaper overseas workers.

Labour wants to scrap rules that allow firms to pay 20 per cent below the going rate to hire overseas workers for jobs on the Home Office's 'shortage occupation list', Sir Keir said.

But Mr Sunak accused Labour of adopting an 'open-door migration policy'.

'Just this week we announced the biggest-ever single measure to tackle legal migration, removing the right for international students to bring dependants, toughening the rules on post-study work, and reviewing maintenance requirements,' Mr Sunak said.

'But what is (Sir Keir's) contribution? There are absolutely no ideas... absolutely no semblance that there would be any control.

'Why? Because he believes in an open-door migration policy.'

The Conservatives previously promised to bring net migration below 100,000 a year, but ditched the target ahead of the 2019 election after repeatedly failing to meet it.

Downing Street said this week that net migration was expected to fall to pre-pandemic levels in the 'medium term'.

In the year to March 2020  the beginning of the Covid emergency  the net migration figure was 313,000.
An avid alpinist got up close and personal with an increasingly explosive volcano spewing ash and dust - as millions of residents in central Mexico were ordered to prepare evacuate.

Gerardo Matamoros defied local authority warnings when he trekked almost seven miles in five hours to get within around half a mile of the Popocatepetl volcano on Saturday.

Matamoros filmed himself standing in an area known as Los Arenales during the minor eruption before posting the footage to his TikTok account, @oraleguerry, and sharing it with his followers on Instagram.

'I went up to try to record how the tremor of Don Goyo is heard, today May 21,' Matamoros says in Spanish. 'Here were are close in Los Arenales.'

Gerardo Matamoros defied local authorities Saturday when he visited the grounds of the Popocatepetl volcano and got within 1,968 feet of the peak that has erupted hundreds of times since last week

Since last week, activity of the Popocatepetl volcano has forced delays and cancellations of flights at two airports in the central Mexico state of Puebla and Mexico City, the nation's capital. Despite the volcano's constant eruptions, avid hiker Gerardo Matamoros skipped a police barrier and trekked about five hours until he got within half a mile of the mountain on Saturday

Moments later, a voice instructs his social media followers to 'increase your cellphone's volume.'

Matamoros then holds the camera steady for about 40 seconds as the Popocatepetl volcano discharged ash, gas and water in the air.

He initially thought it would be a quick trip to the volcano after he sneaked past a police barrier that was set up to keep away curious residents and other hikers.

Matamoros revealed he was about 1,968 feet from the volcano's crater, where he joined residents from the nearby municipality of Santiago Xalitzintla who were holding ceremonies and leaving offerings.

'It's the first time I've come and the energy feels very badass and very grateful that they let me go up ,' he said.

Still image from a video filmed by Mexican hiker Gerardo Matamoros shows the moment the Popocatepetl volcano erupted on Saturday

Still image from Gerardo Matamoros video of the Popocatepetl volcano which has been viewed more than 1.7 million times on TikTok

The viral footage, which has been viewed more than 1.7 million times on his TikTok account, was recorded a day before the Mexican government raised the alert level to 'yellow phase 3.'

The National Center for Disaster Prevention has detected hundreds of tremors at the Popocatepetl, which at 17,797 feet is the second highest peak in Mexico after the 18,490-foot tall Citlaltepetl.

The snow-tipped mountain has coated towns in the area with ash and disrupted flights in and out of Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City and Hermanos Serdan International Airport in Puebla.

Close to 25 million people live within 60 miles of the Popocatepetl volcano.

Residents from the Santiago Xalitzintla municipality in the central Mexico state of Puebla use face masks as protection from the ash that has been falling from the Popocatepetl volcano

A view of the Popocatepetl volcano in Santiago Xalitzintla, Puebla

Volcanologists have said that while a massive eruption doesn't appear imminent, eruptions are likely to continue, as they have for three decades.

Scientists and Mexican authorities say there is no sign that the current waves of small eruptions will turn into anything more destructive, said Servando de la Cruz Reyna, a senior geophysics researcher at the UNAM in Mexico City, adding that is there 'nothing new or surprising' about recent movements.

'The probability that this continues as it has previously is far higher than the probability that this grows to much higher levels,' he said.

Popocatepetl volcano, which surrounds the states of Puebla and Morelos and Mexico City, the nation's capital, has been active for a half-million years. Its last major eruption happened more than a thousand years ago.
Rapper Fetty Wap has been sentenced to six years in prison for drug dealing at the height of his fame.

The rapper, whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, has been in custody since last August when his bail was revoked after 'threatening to kill a man over Facetime and brandishing a gun at him'.

Fetty was accused of conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms or 220 pounds of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020, across Long Island and New Jersey.

Fetty was one of five charged in the case, and is reported to have personally dealt 25 kilograms of drugs across the Garden State, according to federal prosecutors.

'I hurt my community, people who look up to me. My family and myself,' he said to the courtroom during sentencing. 'I am truly sorry for any pain I caused.'

Fetty Wap was today sentenced to six years in prison for dealing cocaine and heroin across New Jersey and Long Island

Some of the drugs that were seized as part of the investigation

The $1.5 million in cash and haul of drugs seized by the FBI

The rapper's bail was revoked after threatening to kill a man over Facetime and brandishing a gun at him

The rapper appeared before Judge Joanna Seybert at the federal court in Central Islip, New York, on Wednesday, where he received a sentence of six years - one year longer than the minimum.

The judge sentenced Fetty to five years of post-release supervision, in addition to his six year sentence.

While announcing his sentence, Judge Seybert said: 'Despite your background and all you overcame, you threw it all away.'

The rapper, best known for his 2015 hit 'Trap Queen,' apologized in the court room: 'Me being selfish in my pride put me in this position today.'

'I hurt my community, people who look up to me. My family and myself,' he said. 'I am truly sorry for any pain I caused.'

Fetty, who is originally from Paterson, New Jersey, was initially arrested in October 2021 and charged with participating in a drug smuggling conspiracy involving heroin, fentanyl and other drugs.

The scheme involved using the U.S. Postal Service and cars with hidden compartments to transport drugs from the West Coast to Long Island, according to prosecutors, where they were stored for distribution to dealers on Long Island and in New Jersey.

As part of the investigation, police seized $1.5million in cash and multiple weapons from a series of homes.

He pleaded guilty in August to a top charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances pertaining to cocaine. The charge carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.

Defense attorney Elizabeth Macedonio asked the judge to recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that he serve his sentence at a prison in the Northeast, but did not specify a particular prison.

'This is a sad day,' his defense attorney said. 'This is a kid from Paterson, New Jersey who made it out.'

The judge sentenced Fetty to five years of post-release supervision, in addition to his six year sentence in federal prison

Fetty Wap's Daughter Lauren Died from Heart Defect at four years old in 2021

Fetty Wap onstage during the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on August 26, 2019 in Newark, NJ

Prosecutors had argued for a longer term for the rapper in a letter to the judge last week, claiming that he used his celebrity status and his song 'Trap Queen' to push and glamorize selling drugs to young people.

The prosecutors claimed 'Trap Queen,' used children as extras in the song's music video.

'Young people who admire the defendant and are considering selling drugs need to be sent a message that selling drugs is not a glamorous lifestyle and, if they participate in that trade, they will receive lengthy prison sentences,' Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, asking for sentence between seven and nine years, according to the New York Times.

The rapper was arrested at the Rolling Loud music festival at Citi Field in October 2021 moments before he was due to go on stage.

In court, he admitted to conspiring to distribute cocaine, telling the judge: 'I agreed with other people to distribute cocaine. 'I knew the conduct was illegal.'

He pleaded guilty August 2022 and had been facing up to 40 years in prison.

Fetty's lawyer blamed the pandemic for the rapper's 'bicoastal drug distribution organization' that led to his arrest, in a memorandum sent last week on behalf of the New Jersey rapper.

Macedonio filed the memorandum in federal court arguing for Wap to receive the mandatory minimum of five years rather than the 87 to 108 months that the prosecutor is pushing for, according to XXL.

The rapper's attorney claimed the pandemic is what jumpstarted Fetty's life of crime, the letter.

'In or about 2020, with the coming of the worldwide pandemic, things began to change for Mr. Maxwell. There were no opportunities to perform, thus his income was severely limited,' Macedonio's letter to the sentencing judge wrote, according to XXL.

'He was sued personally, was going through a divorce, and was involved with a tour manager who was stealing from him. While the bills kept coming in, the money to pay them was running out. At or about the same time, Mr. Maxwell lost his grandparents and several other people who were close to him.'

Fetty Wap also struggled with the loss of his 4-year-old daughter Lauren Maxwell, who died of complications from a heart defect she had since birth, on June 24, 2021.

Fetty Wap in a police booking photo after his arrest on three counts of battery September 1, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Fetty Wap was arrested on August 8, 2022 for allegedly threatening to kill a man while on FaceTime

Fetty Wap shared an emotional Instagram post after the loss of his daughter

Fetty Wap shares a photo of him and his daughter on Instagram

Fetty Wap struggled with the loss of his 4-year-old daughter Lauren Maxwell, who died on June 24, 2021

The 'Trap Queen' rapper, who is blind in one eye due to glaucoma, hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014 with his ballad to strippers, money and dealing crack on the gritty streets of Paterson. The song had over 130million plays on SoundCloud and become a platinum record.

In September 2015, Fetty released his debut album called Fetty Wap which made it to the top spot on the Billboard 200 that year. That same year he became the first rapper to have three top 20 songs on Billboard since Eminem in 2013. Throughout his career, he has earned five awards and two Grammy nomination.

Fetty has said he owned 37 cars, 10 houses, 14 apartments and had $2.5 million in jewelry in 2021, according to NJ.com. His net worth is reportedly between $1 and $10million.

But his lawyer said he struggled to keep up his lifestyle and became depressed.

'His judgment became impaired. Desperate to keep up with his financial obligations, Mr. Maxwell became involved in the instant offense for a few months in the spring of 2020,' Macedonio said.

Yet Fetty's recent arrest is not his first run-in with the law.

The New Jersey rapper has been sued many times for copyright infringement, defamation and assault.

And he was arrested in 2017 for drunk driving, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and reckless endangerment after being caught drag racing on a Brooklyn highway.

Fetty Wap released on bail from federal court on November 5, 2021

Fetty is released on bail from Federal Court in Central Islip, New York, wearing a GPS ankle bracelet on his left leg

Fetty Wap was released on a $500,000 secured bond as per U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in 2021

Rapper Fetty Wap pleads guilty to drug charges

Fetty Wap performs during the 2019 Rolling Loud music festival at Citi Field on October 12, 2019 in NYC

His first federal drug charges came as part of the coast-to-coast operation. The feds claim that the group would buy cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in California and mail or drive it in vehicles with hidden compartment across the country.

Fetty was then arrested on Monday, August 8, 2022, after being accused of breaking his $500,000 bail conditions.

He allegedly 'threatened to kill a man over Facetime and brandished a gun at him' after accusing him of being a rat, according to the US Attorney's office.

Fetty said 'Imma kill you and everybody you with,' federal prosecutors said.

The feds also showed photos of the rapper flashing his gun over the phone call, which happened in December 2021.
Former President Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding lead among Republicans even as rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares to jump into the presidential race.

Trump holds an outright majority, leading the field with support from 53 per cent of Republicans in the latest CNN / SSRS poll.

That puts his support at double that of DeSantis, who plans to announce his campaign in a Twitter chat with Elon Musk tongiht, and who is already absorbing attacks from Trump, who called him 'disloyal' and in need of a 'personality transplant' on his big day. DeSantis gets 26 per cent support in the poll.

That is in keeping with other surveys that show DeSantis far behind Trump, with a spread that has only grown during the string as Trump faced a raft of legal challenges. The survey comes after DeSantis filed paperwork to formally launch his campaign with plans to discuss it on Twitter, on a day when the death of singer Tina Turner was dominating the news.

Trump's formidable lead is revealed in a new poll hours before Ron DeSantis is set to launch his presidential campaign

Former President Donald Trump doubles up Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' support in a new CNN poll

His lead over DeSantis tops 30 per cent in the RealClearPolitics average, up from about 15 per cent earlier this spring.

It is a steep drop to the next group of challengers. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke to a grand jury about January 6 after a court fight about and who has weighed in on DeSantis' spat with Disney, is at 6 per cent in the poll.

That is the same percentage as former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, whose campaign issued a memo Tuesday calling DeSantis a mere echo of Trump.

Republican voters surveyed say they have an open mind to others in the field. A total of 84 per cent say they are open to Trump, 85 per cent are open to DeSantis, 61 per cent are open to Haley, and 60 per cent are open to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Scott, who announced his campaign this week with an appeal to faith and persuasion, is at 2 per cent, while former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who advised Trump only to break with him, is at 2 per cent. (Christie has not yet announced whether he will run).

DeSantis has seen Trump's lead grow even as the former president faced the Stormy Daniels indictment and a civil jury in New York found him liable for sexual abuse

A group of potential candidates or challengers is stuck at 1 per cent: businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Trump potentially has room to grow: he gets support of 15 per cent when voters were asked to name their second choice. DeSantis tops all comers in the category at 34 per cent, in a race where a Trump allied PAC is already blasting DeSantis on past votes on entitlements and a national sales tax.
Boris Johnson was on the brink of war with the Government today after it secretly told MPs he might have broken lockdown rules during stays at Chequers.

Allies of the former prime minister said that MPs loyal to him could adopt a policy of 'non-co-operation' with the Government over its attempt to 'stitch him up'.

Mr Johnson today sacked his government lawyers after discovering they passed information without his knowledge to the police and MPs investigating the Partygate row.

Diary entries relating to his stays at Chequers during the pandemic supposedly raised concerns that events at the grace-and-favour mansion might have broken Covid rules in place at the time  a claim strongly denied by Mr Johnson.

Downing Street today denied that ministers had been involved in a 'stitch up' designed to hobble the former PM.

Boris Johnson today sacked his government lawyers after discovering they passed information without his knowledge to the police and MPs

Diary entries relating to his stays at Chequers (stock image) during the pandemic supposedly raised concerns that events at the grace-and-favour mansion might have broken Covid rules in place at the time  a claim strongly denied by Mr Johnson.

In a statement, the Cabinet Office said it had 'not made any assessment or conducted any investigation of the material that has been passed to the police. Ministers played no role in deciding whether the information should be handed over to the police.'

But the Daily Mail can reveal that government lawyers did assess the material, telling MPs on the Commons privileges committee  which is investigating Mr Johnson over allegations he misled MPs about Partygate  that it suggested rules may have been broken.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, seen by the Mail, the committee said: 'The Government has told us that: As part of their work preparing Boris Johnson's witness statement for the Covid Inquiry, the counsel team supporting Mr Johnson identified a number of diary entries as potentially problematic.

'These entries [] are based on an assessment by Government Legal Department as to events/activities which could reasonably be considered to constitute breaches of Covid Regulations.'

A friend of Mr Johnson said the letter showed the Cabinet Office had 'lied on the record'  a claim denied by the department, which said it was the Government Legal Department which carried out the assessment.

It also emerged that Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin signed off the handover of material to the privileges committee without informing Mr Johnson.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson told him it was 'totally untrue' that events at Chequers had broken Covid rules. The spokesman said legal advice had found that all events were within the laws in place at the time.

Mr Johnson today cut ties with the government lawyers who handed over material to the police. They were meant to be assisting him to prepare for the Covid inquiry. But, to his fury, they handed over material to the police without discussing it with him.

Allies suggested that MPs loyal to him could now go on strike and refuse to co-operate with the Government.

One said: 'Boris has been supportive of the Government, he has not been causing trouble. But this is an attempt to whack him  it is definitely political, and it is very hard to believe that ministers did not know what was going on.

'Some of his supporters are telling him that if the Government isn't going to stop this then it is time to go to war.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson told him it was 'totally untrue' that events at Chequers had broken Covid rules

'We are putting the Government on notice that if it continues to treat Boris this way then we will have no option but to campaign against the Government.'

One former minister loyal to Mr Johnson said that opponents within government were determined to mire him in Partygate allegations to ensure he could never make a political comeback.

'Colleagues are furious at this witch hunt,' the source said. 'These people won't be happy until he's dead and buried six feet under in concrete  and even then they will probably keep coming back to check.'

But government sources vehemently denied involvement in the decision to reignite the Partygate row.

Downing Street said civil servants had acted independently after deciding that failure to inform the police of potential law-breaking would leave them in breach of the civil service code.

One ally of Rishi Sunak said that a fresh war with Mr Johnson was 'the last thing we want', adding: 'The PM's focus is on delivering his five priorities  everything else is a distraction.'

The Cabinet Office flatly denied claims that Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden was involved in the decision to hand over material. A spokesman said ministers were not told until after material had been passed to the police.
Three Brits who were captured in Ukraine and held as POWs before being released in a prisoner swap will be put on trial in absentia in Russia.

John Harding, Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy and military volunteer Andrew Hill were captured in Mariupol last year.

Prosecutors in the self-proclaimed DPR allege they were members of the Azoc battalion, which battled Russian forces during the siege of the southern port city of Mariupol and has been designated a terrorist organisation by Russia.

The trial will begin on May 31 on terror-linked and other charges. Mr Harding, Mr Healy and Mr Hill are believed to face trial in absentia.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said the three British men, a Swedish national and a Croatian man have been accused of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces including the Azov regiment.

Home at last: John Harding with his sister Denise in September last year. While imprisoned, his legs 'wasted away' as his weight plummeted to just eight stone. He also suffered neurological damage to his spine and hands

In addition to John Harding, Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy and military volunteer Andrew Hill will be tried in the Moscow-backed Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)

The Swedish national has been named as Mathias Gustafsson and the Croatian as Vjekoslav Prebeg.

They face several charges including undergoing training to carry out 'terrorist activities'. All five men are believed to have been released as part of a prisoner swap in 2022.

Russian state news agency Tass said last year that Mr Harding had fought in Syria on the Kurdish side but had denied killing anyone.

Mr Harding spoke to the Daily Mail about his imprisonment and said how he and four other hostages were taped together in the back of an old truck as they were taken from Ukraine to Russia.

He said he imagined being executed and buried never to be uncovered in the four months he was detained on the orders of Russia's president Vladimir Putin, during which time he had been tortured and beaten while interrogated.

During his captivity in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Mr Harding shared a cramped prison cell, measuring 13ft by 6ft, with other inmates who were locked up for 23 hours a day

During his captivity in Russian-occupied Donetsk, he shared a cramped prison cell, measuring 13ft by 6ft, with other inmates who were locked up for 23 hours a day.

Inevitably his health suffered, his legs 'wasted away' as his weight plummeted to just eight stone. He also suffered neurological damage to his spine and hands. Worst of all, he had seen a fellow British hostage die in captivity.

The Russians had failed to meet the daily medication requirements of diabetic aid worker Paul Urey, 45, from Warrington, Cheshire, who died in July 2022 while Mr Harding was out in an exercise area. He came back to find the body.

Mr Harding had been serving as a combat medic in the Ukrainian armed forces when he was captured by the Russians.

He was facing the death penalty and his guards made him record a video to say goodbye to his daughter because he was due to be executed by firing squad, but then he was brought to an airstrip to be flown out of Russia as part of a prisoner exchange between Russian and Ukraine.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has slammed Target for 'selling out LGBTQ communities' after it walked back some of the products from its Pride collection amid growing backlash.

Facing a 'Bud Light' style boycott, the retail giant announced last night it was pulling some of its products from stores.

It wasn't a full walk-back: The crisis communications director, who released the statement, said the decision was down to 'volatile' behavior from customers that forced the store to protect staff safety.

The statement did nothing to halt the tumble of Target's share price, which is down 13 percent since this time last month.

Newsom, however, sees the company's retreat as a total U-Turn.

In a tweet, Newsom fumed and claimed 'black, Asian, Jewish' people and women would be 'next.'

California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused Target of 'selling out LGBTQ communities' by walking back some of the products from its Pride collection

'There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country. Wake up America. This doesnt stop here. Youre black? Youre Asian? Youre Jewish? Youre a woman? Youre next,' he said in a tweet

'CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage. This isnt just a couple stores in the South.

'There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country. Wake up America.

'This doesnt stop here. Youre black? Youre Asian? Youre Jewish? Youre a woman? Youre next,' he said.

California has more Target stores than anywhere else in the country with 317 - around 16 percent of all stores in the country.

Target announced last night that some products would be removed.

It was after a series of angry mothers took to Twitter and TikTok to complain. Over the last few weeks, the retail giant has been reviled by families - particularly mothers - for pushing transgender clothes, books and greeting cards in its stores.

Yesterday, amid outrage and confusion over a range of 'tuck friendly' female swimsuits, the company released a statement to insist the suits were only available in adult sizes.

Facing a 'Bud Light' style boycott , the retail giant announced last night it was pulling some of its products from stores. It was after a series of angry mothers took to Twitter and TikTok to complain. Over the last few weeks, the retail giant has been reviled by families - particularly mothers - for pushing transgender clothes, books and greeting cards in its stores

Amid outrage and confusion over a range of 'tuck friendly' female swimsuits, the company released a statement to insist the suits were only available in adult sizes.

Amid growing anger over the displays and concern about some of the designers featured, the company started having 'emergency calls' to avoid a backlash as voracious as that which Bud Light faced for partnering with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney.

In a statement last night, Target said it had pulled some of the items that have 'been at the center of the most confrontational behavior.'

'Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,' Target said in a statement.

'Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,' crisis communications manager Kayla Castaneda said.

The company did not specify which items had been taken off-shelves. Many of the swimsuits, onesies and t-shirts that sparked outrage remain available online.

The statement did nothing to halt the tumble of Target's share price, which is down 13 percent since this time last month

There is also growing outrage over its partnership with Eric Cullen, a British transgender man, whose brand Abprallen encourages Satanism.

Target is selling two of the brand's items - a $25 slogan sweater with the words 'cure transphobia not trans people' wrapped around a sword, an $18 'too queer for here' tote bag, and a 'we belong everywhere' fanny pack that now appears to be sold out.

Eric - a transgender man - proudly shared photos of the collaboration on Instagram.

'These have already got the transphobes infuriated with me and I feel like quite the celebrity to think that they believe this is all some big conspiracy and I have any power to brainwash anyone when Im just some guy drawing pictures!' he said.

A closer look at his other work reveals some more sinister material.

Badges with slogans like 'Satan Respects Pronouns', 'Young, Queer and Willing' and a lighter pin with the words 'burn down the cis-tem' are among other products.

He also models the 'Satan respects pronouns' t-shirt on an Instagram page while wearing BDSM-style horns and no pants.
The Mail's Stephen Wright has spent eight years campaigning for accountability over the Met's botched inquiry into wild claims of abuse - and even murder - by VIPs. Here, we look back at his battle for justice:

SEPTEMBER 5, 2015: Landmark front page reveals for first time that detectives have 'grave doubts' about the mysterious key witness known as Nick, whose allegations of VIP sex abuse and murder had been described by the Met as 'credible and true'

SEPTEMEBER 19, 2015: Two-page investigation casts enormous doubts on Nick's claims of rape, torture and murder by a VIP gang, revealing there is no evidence. We also reveal a provincial force had dismissed his claims of abuse

OCTOBER 1, 2015: Another bombshell Mail exclusive as we reveal that a woman known as Jane who accused former Tory home secretary Leon Brittan of raping her in 1967 is a mentally ill Labour activist with a history of making false abuse claims. It raises serious questions about the judgment of her chief supporter, campaigning Labour MP Tom Watson, who had close links to a rogue website peddling lies and conspiracy theories

OCTOBER 8, 2015: As pressure builds on the Met, a Yard chief apologises to Lord Brittan's widow Diana for the delay in clearing her husband of false rape claims. The Brittan rape inquiry ran parallel to Operation Midland, both under the command of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse

OCTOBER 10, 2015: Mail investigation exposes Labour plot involving Tom Watson to smear Tories as child abusers. Amid claims of political interference in the Met, we reveal more questions about Nick's allegations and ask whether there has been a wider conspiracy to smear innocent men

OCTOBER 17, 2015: Scotland Yard chiefs make a shocking admission that they refused to drop an inquiry into Jane's rape claim against former home secretary Lord Brittan because they feared public and media criticism. The admission raises the stakes in the scandal, with politicians blasting the running of the rape inquiry, Operation Vincente, and its sister investigation, Operation Midland

OCTOBER 22, 2015: Amid a barrage of criticism for leading a baseless witch-hunt, Tom Watson says sorry to Lord Brittan's widow for repeating a claim that her husband was as 'close to evil as any human being could get'. His 'wicked' remarks came in a newspaper column days after the Tory grandee died. But some commentators claimed Watson did not go far enough in his apology

JANUARY 18, 2016: In another explosive Mail front page, Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe faces calls to make a personal apology to Lord Bramall after he was belatedly cleared of paedophile allegations. But he digs his heels in, refusing to say sorry  prompting widespread fury

JANUARY 23, 2016: The Mail reveals that the Queen showed 'extraordinary' support for Lord Bramall during his abuse case hell when they attended an official function. Her public endorsement of the hugely respected war hero piles further pressure on the Met

FEBRUARY 6, 2016: Three-page Mail investigation into Met chief Sir Bernard raises questions about his running of Britain's biggest force and the bungled Operation Midland inquiry. Our probe also exposed his force's pursuit of innocent journalists in the wake of the hacking scandal and dealt a major blow to his chances of staying in post long-term

MARCH 22, 2016: Six months after the Mail exposed Nick's lies and the shambolic investigation into his claims, Operation Midland is finally closed  raising the prospect of compensation payouts to those falsely accused, such as former Tory MP Harvey Proctor

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016: Days before he is handed a final report by retired High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques into the disastrous VIP sex ring inquiry, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe unexpectedly quits as head of Scotland Yard. He insists his departure is unconnected to Operation Midland but sources later tell the Mail that it is inconceivable he could have survived it

NOVEMBER 9, 2016: As an official report lambasts the Met over the bungled inquiry, it emerges that Nick is under investigation for perverting the course of justice. The probe  ordered by Sir Richard Henriques  is a huge embarrassment to the force

MARCH 18, 2017: After 18 months of campaigning journalism, the Mail exclusively reveals that the Met Police reached a secret out-of-court settlement to pay 100,000 compensation to Lord Bramall

FEBRUARY 7, 2018: Following a legal challenge by the Mail, we reveal that Nick is a suspected paedophile who has been charged with child sex crimes  but still can't be identified for legal reasons

JULY 4, 2018: After considering a police file for nearly ten months, prosecutors charge Nick with 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud. The charge sheet spelt out in shocking detail how he had repeatedly lied to police

DECEMBER 4, 2018: More than four years after making his bogus allegations, 'Nick' is unmasked as former NHS manager Carl Beech, meaning the world can finally know the identity of the man at the centre of the scandalous Yard investigation

MAY 15, 2019: At the opening of Beech's trial, the jury is told he made the 'most heinous' false claims, including child murders, rapes and sexual abuse, against well-known public figures including ex-PM Sir Edward Heath and Lord Brittan

JULY 23, 2019: A jury takes just a few hours to convict Beech of perverting the course of justice and fraud, crimes for which he is later jailed for 18 years. Lord Bramall, 95, rails at Scotland Yard's incompetence, saying it was ridiculous that officers escaped disciplinary action. Tom Watson is widely criticised for his role in the scandal

JULY 30, 2019: Scotland Yard chiefs are stunned as former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, who delivered a damning report on Operation Midland, tells the Mail that police broke the law during the investigation. In a scathing article, he said officers used false evidence to obtain search warrants to raid the homes of Lord Bramall, Lord Brittan's widow and Mr Proctor

AUGUST 6, 2019: The Mail reveals a file showing that police should never have raided Lord Bramall's home. An investigation by this newspaper showed that officers were aware of at least eight factors which cast serious doubt on Nick's outlandish allegations

AUGUST 10, 2019: A devastating Mail investigation exposes the scandal of how five Operation Midland officers, including Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, escaped disciplinary action following a bungled watchdog investigation led by a novice investigator just a few years out of university

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019: After a tip-off, the Mail reveals new Met chief Cressida Dick played a crucial role in the setting up of Operation Midland in 2014  including appointing Steve Rodhouse as 'gold commander' of the investigation

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019: Following an investigation lasting months, the Mail reports on the last cancer-blighted days of Lord Brittan, whose good name was trashed by detectives and a mentally ill Labour supporter who told police she hated the former home secretary

OCTOBER 5, 2019: Four years after the Mail launched its campaign to expose the truth about Operation Midland, the appalling failures of the investigation were revealed in full after the Met published an un-redacted version of Sir Richard Henriques' damning report. In a hard-hitting commentary days later, Sir Richard blasted police watchdogs for a 'whitewash' inquiry

NOVEMBER 13, 2019: Months after Beech was jailed, Lord Bramall  who yearned for police to be held to account for the fiasco  dies without one officer being held responsible. A powerful Mail front page laid bare the pain of the D-Day hero whose final years were ruined by incompetent detectives

NOVEMBER 29, 2019: We reveal how in an astonishing climb-down, Scotland Yard had agreed to pay Mr Proctor 500,000 in compensation and nearly 400,000 towards his legal costs over its disastrous VIP abuse inquiry

FEBRUARY 20, 2020: In a major victory for the Mail, we reveal that police who wanted to raid a suspect's home must now clear significant hurdles to avoid a repeat of the Met's VIP child sex abuse scandal. It emerged that rules would be tightened up to avoid a repeat of the search warrant system that led to Lord Bramall, Mr Proctor and Lady Brittan having their homes turned upside down

FEBRUARY 10, 2021: Scotland Yard is rocked again as Leon Brittan's widow spoke out in a bombshell Mail interview to attack a 'culture of cover-up' at Scotland Yard

FEBRUARY 24, 2021: Another sensational Mail front page sees former senior district judge Howard Riddle demand a criminal inquiry into detectives who asked him to sign search warrants during Operation Midland

FEBRUARY 27, 2021: A forensic Mail investigation asks how the officer who led Operation Midland, Steve Rodhouse, has kept his job after a string of scandals. These included the bungled Jimmy Savile probe, the Leon Brittan rape case and the 'Nick' VIP abuse case

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021: Brought together by the Mail, a landmark panel of victims of police corruption, incompetence and malpractice call for the head of Met chief Cressida Dick, who set up Operation Midland

JANUARY 22, 2022: Aided by a leaked confidential Yard document written by Steve Rodhouse at the conclusion of Operation Midland, the Mail exposes how former Tory Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was the subject of false abuse allegations

JANUARY 27, 2022: In part two of our major investigation into Operation Midland, the Mail discloses how the Met scandalously failed to investigate Witness A and another liar known as Witness B, over wild allegations of abuse and murder. Both men had extensive criminal records, and a track record of telling lies
The Archbishop of Canterbury has vowed to carry on challenging the Government's immigration reforms.

Justin Welby warned that he and other bishops in the House of Lords 'will not abandon' their opposition to Suella Braverman's Illegal Migration Bill.

The legislation, which is currently before the Lords, sets out a series of measures to 'detain and swiftly remove' migrants who arrive in Britain by 'irregular' routes such as across the Channel by small boat.

The archbishop's renewed attack on the proposals came as former prime minister David Cameron urged critics to stop voicing opposition unless they have a 'better answer'.

In his latest highly political intervention on the issue, Mr Welby wrote in the Times: 'This Bill will do little to resolve the existing problems, and will exacerbate others, all while causing serious suffering to the most vulnerable.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has vowed to keep fighting the Government's Illegal Migration Bill. Pictured: Justin Welby during a debate on the bill in the House of Lords on May 10

He has warned he and other bishops will not drop their opposition to the bill being spearheaded by Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Pictured: Ms Braverman with (left to right) Welsh Secretary David TC Davies, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons today

'Those who sit on the bishops' bench will not abandon our duty to point out when governments propose legislation that is impractical or immoral.

'We will not abandon the most vulnerable people that Jesus Christ specifically calls us to love.'

The archbishop said he had tabled amendments to the Bill which were designed to be 'helpful' rather than 'destructive', which would require ministers to 'produce long-term strategies to tackle human trafficking and the refugee crisis'.

The Anglican leader has previously described the Bill as 'morally unacceptable'.

And in his Easter sermon last year he said the Home Office's 140million deal to send migrants to Rwanda would not 'stand up to the judgment of God'.

Meanwhile, ex-PM Mr Cameron said he had 'huge sympathy' with the government's attempts to dismantle people smugglers' trade.

He told radio station LBC: 'I think if you don't have a better answer to the things that the government is doing to try and stop this illegal trade, then I think there's no point criticising.'

At least 50 migrants crossed the Channel by small boat today, although overall numbers so far this year are down on 2022's figures.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron has said people shouldn't criticise the Rwanda scheme unless they have 'a better answer' to stop people smugglers. Pictured: Mr Cameron recording an interview with LBC's Nick Ferrari on Tuesday

Official Home Office data - not including yesterday's unconfirmed number of arrivals - shows 7,297 people have made the treacherous journey so far this year.

At the same point in 2022, the figure stood at 9,296.

Last year saw a record total of 45,755 migrants detected arriving by small boats - 60 per cent higher than the previous year's 28,526.

Mr Welby's amendments to the Bill are expected to be voted on in July.
MBABANE  A 21-year-old liSwati woman was stabbed and thrown into a ditch in Diepkloof, South Africa (SA), after an alleged misunderstanding with a male companion over money.

The woman has been identified as Vuyiswa Vilakati from Ntondozi. According to her uncle, Doctor Hlatshwako, Vuyiswa was killed on Sunday evening and discovered on Monday morning. Hlatshwako said his niece left the country last year. He said the family learnt about Vuyiswas passing through social media on Monday. I noticed my niece on Facebook, whereby she was posted and there was a request for her relatives to respond, he said. Hlatshwako said following the post, he called some women who were reportedly staying with Vuyiswa and they confirmed that she had passed away.

Wounds

He said the women told him that his niece was found dead with stab wounds in her body. When asked what Vuyiswa was doing in SA, Hlatshwako said when she left the country, she told them that she was going to work. He said most of the time, she was living with her mother at KaKhoza. Meanwhile, he said they had the desire to fetch Vuyiswas remains but were limited by financial resources. Hlatshwako appealed from members of the public to help them financially. Those willing to assist the family of the deceased can call Hlatshwako on 76057295.

Vuyiswa is not the first liSwati to be killed in SA. In most recent incidents, two other emaSwati were killed on Good Friday. Nathi Malindzisa, who was job-hunting, was shot dead after an argument over a table at a shisanyama place in Durban, South Africa. Malindzisa was shot behind the ear and his assailants were not arrested. Another liSwati, Mandla Shongwe, was also found dead at Ngodwane, Nelspruit.
The group used baby oil to grease hallway floors and door handles and stacked desks and chairs on top of each other to create chaos

Teachers' personal belongings were taken from their desks and scattered

Students at Burns High in North Carolina trashed their school after their principal gave them the keys to pull off the 'senior prank'

A North Carolina principal is under fire after handing over keys to the school to let students pull off a 'senior prank' that created mass chaos and left teachers 'in tears.'

Burns High Principal Jennifer Aberly thought a few students were going to put up streamers and balloons on Thursday last week - but arrived the next morning to find significant damage in the hallways and classrooms.

Students greased floors and door handles, put potted plants in toilets, stacked desks, and scattered teachers' personal belongings while inside unsupervised.

'When I first saw that, I was very upset,' school board member Danny Blanton told the Charlotte Observer. 'That should not have happened, especially a principal giving kids authorization and then not being there supervising that.'

The incident is the latest in a series of so-called 'senior pranks' across the country where major destruction is carried out with little regard for school property.

Students were given entry into a North Carolina high school for a 'senior prank' in which major destruction was done over a period of several hours

One photo shows a plant placed directly inside a toilet bowl in one of the school's bathrooms

Burns High Principal Jennifer Aberly thought a few students were going to put up streamers and balloons Thursday only to come in and find significant damage throughout the school

Parents, teachers, and board members at the Lawndale, North Carolina school are now expressing their outrage over Aberly's actions.

Photos of the destruction inside the school shows the extent of the damage done by the group of teenagers.

Students used 'globs of vaseline' to cover door handles and slathered baby oil on hallway floors to make the surfaces slippery when walking, Blanton said.

One photo shows a potted plant placed directly inside a toilet bowl in one of the school's bathrooms.

The board member also said a microwave was dropped into the water.

Another picture is of chairs and desks that were pulled out of classrooms and stacked on top of each other in the corridors.

In arguably the most concerning image shared by the board member, ceiling tiles appear to have been pulled down while items are littered around one room.

Board member Ronnie Grigg said teachers also came into their classrooms to find their own personal items removed from private locations and scattered.

'She should have been there to stop that,' Blanton said.

Videos were shared with the Charlotte Observer by Grigg and Blanton and reportedly show a horde of students roaming the hallways.

'The security was breached,' Grigg said. 'Kids were in offices they never should have been in. I have been fighting hard for safety, and then this happens.'

Photos show the destruction inside classrooms at Burns High School in Lawndale, NC

'The security was breached,' school board member Ronnie Grigg said. 'Kids were in offices they never should have been in. I have been fighting hard for safety, and then this happens'

Burns High School in Cleveland County where the 'senior prank' took place last week

'That should not have happened, especially a principal giving kids authorization and then not being there supervising that,' said board member Danny Blanton

In total, the board members said students were inside the school for several hours.

Blanton said he was only informed that Aberly had given the students the keys in an email sent out by Cleveland County Superintendent Stephen Fisher.

The email also stated that Aberly spent most of the night cleaning up after the kids.

'But there was still a lot to be done when the custodians and teachers got to work,' Blanton said of the damage inside the school.

'And teachers were crying,' Grigg added.

DailyMail.com reached out to Aberly for a comment on the destruction done by the students. The principal did not respond to inquiries.

The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office is not investigating this incident as it has not been reported, Capt. Jody Seagle told The Observer.

In mid-May, DailyMail.com reported on a senior prank that left one disabled student so traumatized he did not want to go back to school.

Kimberly Mitchell of Louisiana shared her outrage on social media after students who were let into a school for a prank mocked her son who has cerebral palsy.

In videos from that incident, students at Abbeville High School were seen riding around in her son Tay'Shawn Landry's wheelchair.

In videos from another 'senior prank' in Louisiana students at Abbeville High School were seen riding around in her son Tay'Shawn Landry's wheelchair

Tay'Shawn Landry (pictured) who has cerebral palsy and requires a motorized wheelchair

One video taken at Abbeville High School was captioned: 'POV. You got the master key to the school' and shows two students riding on the motorized wheelchair in a hallway

The video shows one student sitting in the chair and appearing to slur his speech and make squealing noises while another person recording laughs.

'Sr. Pranks are fun and all but when you make fun of my disabled kid and his belongings then IT BECOMES MY PROBLEM,' Mitchell wrote on Facebook.

The students had purportedly been let into the school to pull off the prank but gained access to a locked room where Landry's wheelchair was housed.

In other clips, a group of teens are seen wreaking havoc by covering a hallway in toilet paper and stacking desks and chairs on top of each other.
The uncle of Jordan Neely, whose chokehold death on the subway sparked outcry, has appeared in court charged with carrying a switchblade and handling stolen credit cards.

Christopher Neely, 44, was escorted in handcuffs for his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday after he was busted Monday while trying to flee the NYPD's pickpocket team.

The career crook, who has a lengthy rap sheet like his late nephew, was hit with four felonies including possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, bail jumping, and unlawful possession of a weapon. He was also charged with eight misdemeanors.

His arraignment comes days after he demanded officials not give a plea deal to Daniel Penny, the ex-marine who choked out his 30-year-old nephew, whose death has sparked fierce debate about self-defense and homelessness in the Big Apple.

'He needs to be prosecuted or he will do it again,' Neely told the New York Post on Sunday. 'It's a smack in the face for Jordan's family and the people of New York.'

Christopher Neely, 44, was escorted in handcuffs for his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday after he was busted Monday while trying to flee the NYPD's pickpocket team

Penny, 24, turned himself after the District Attorney's office announced he would be charged with second degree manslaughter. He recently said that 'it's tragic what happened to [Neely]' but would act the same in a similar situation

On Monday, Neely was nabbed near the Port Authority Bus Terminal close to Manhattan's Garment District. He was spotted by cops who recognized him as a known robber, sources told The New York Daily News.

He jumped the turnstile before he was chased and caught by an officer around 11.35pm.

Neely was allegedly armed with a gravity knife and was carrying several bank cards in the names of other people.

He has two dozen previous convictions, including rape, robbery and burglary. He was also wanted for an outstanding grand larceny charge - which had violated his probation from a prior case.

His nephew Jordan's funeral was held in Harlem last Friday where the Rev. Al Sharpton eulogized the homeless schizophrenic.

It was attended by liberal politicians including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has claimed that Jordan Neely was 'murdered.'

Neely, who has previous convictions for vicious assaults on subway passengers, was restrained by Penny after he allegedly threatened people on the train car.

Penny put Neely in a chokehold on the F train at the Broadway-Lafayette Street and Bleecker Street station on May 1.

The former Marine has since been charged with second-degree manslaughter and released on $100,000 bond following furious protests and accusations of racism.

Penny broke his silence on Saturday to say that Neely's death had nothing to do with race, claiming he did what he believed was right and would behave the same way if he were put in the same situation again.

'I mean, it's, it's a little bit comical. Everybody who's ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures,' Penny told the Post.

'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.

'I'm a normal guy,' added Penny, insisting that he is not a vigilante.

Neely leaves after being arraigned at the Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday

Neely walks into court with his hands cuffed behind his back Wednesday

Christopher Neely in handcuffs is escorted by an officer inside the Manhattan Criminal Court

Neely with a face mask around his chin is escorted into the Manhattan Criminal Court

Penny, who is from Long Island, faces 15 years in prison in a case that has been highly polarizing, with conservative politicians jumping to defend him, and prominent liberals calling for him to be convicted of murder and jailed.

A fund to pay for his legal defense had reached around $3million.

Penny said he does not watch the news and that while he was aware of negative opinions about him, he tried not to let them affect him.

'If you're faced with all these challenges, you have to remain calm,' he said.

'What's the point of worrying about something, worrying is not going to make your problems disappear.

'I attribute this to my father and grandfather. They are very very stoic.'

Penny also said he had quit social media years ago.

'I don't follow anyone, and I don't have social media because I really don't like the attention and I just think there are better ways to spend your time. I don't like the limelight,' he said.

On May 1, Penny put Neely in a fatal chokehold on a NYC subway. Neely had been threatening passengers

Pallbearers carry the casket of Jordan Neely days before his uncle said Penny should not get a plea deal in the case

Neely had an extensive rap sheet for crimes on the subway, including vicious assaults of other passengers.

In 2021, Neely attacked an elderly woman as she left the Bowery station in the East Village. She suffered a broken nose, a fractured orbital bone, and 'bruising, swelling and substantial pain to the back of her head' in the November 12 attack, according to a criminal complaint.

He admitted felony assault on February 9 in exchange for a 15-month alternative-to-incarceration program, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

He was supposed to stay in a treatment facility and stay sober.

Between January 2020 and August 2021, he was arrested for public lewdness after pulling down his pants and exposing himself to a woman, misdemeanor assault for hitting a woman in the face, and criminal contempt for violating a restraining order.

All three cases were dismissed as part of his February 9 plea deal, according to Fox News.

In June 2019, Neely assaulted 68-year-old Filemon Castillo Baltazar on the platform of the W. 4th St. Station in Greenwich Village, court records show.

'Out of nowhere, he punched me in the face,' the victim told the New York Daily News. He said he saw Neely before the attack rummaging in trash cans for food.

One month earlier, Neely punched a man in the face, breaking his nose on the platform of Broadway-Lafayette  the same subway station where he died.

For both 2019 cases, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Rep. Mike Gallagher says China may be the only issue lawmakers can agree on currently as Congress remains gridlocked on a way out of defaulting on $31trillion in debt.

Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, shepherded through policy recommendations to combat the greatest threat to the U.S., which is Chinese aggression - on physical, technological and intellectual levels.

On Wednesday, his bipartisan select committee passed two reports on a voice vote - one dealing with how to bolster Taiwan's security in the direct face of a growing Chinese threat, and another on the CCP's ongoing genocide of Uighur Muslims.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., was the only lawmaker to vote 'no' on the committee.

'Amid broader congressional gridlock, the select committee was able to pass two reports with two sets of recommendations that are bipartisan but very strong,' Gallagher said during a press call.

The recommendations were put together following a 'war games' scenario the committee conducted in April

He referenced the ongoing talks between the Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who are still far from striking a deal to stave off default.

Negotiations continued at the White House on Wednesday, but the two sides are hung up on a top line number on spending cuts.

McCarthy told reporters 'I don't think there will be a default' and both sides made some 'progress' today.

Gallagher said the '10 for Taiwan' plan is not a 'comprehensive list of everything we need to do,' but it outlines the major areas that the 118th Congress can accomplish.

The recommendations were put together following a 'war games' scenario the committee conducted in April that concluded the U.S. stockpile of precision-guided missiles would be wiped out within two weeks if China invades Taiwan.

As a result, the 10-point proposal was created in order to 'meaningfully enhance' deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, including by establishing a weapons stockpile to protect the island.

Also as part of the 10 recommendations, the U.S. would expand communications channels with the Taiwanese military and disperse U.S. troops in the Indo-Pacific region.

The plan was constructed in a way where the recommendations are 'teed up' for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), he added.

'So I'm cautiously optimistic we'll be able to get a lot of it into the NDAA,' Gallagher said, noting that several members of the select committee also sit on the Armed Services Committee.

On the genocide set of recommendations, Gallagher called them 'achievable' this Congress.

The committee voted to sanction CCP officials responsible for genocide and ensure American companies are not complicit by exploiting loopholes.

The chairman told reporters that it's important that the U.S. or American companies don't 'inadvertently fund' genocide.

It will also 'change the behavior' of large players in the private sector who 'too often turn a blind eye' to the atrocity, he added.

Both passed recommendations are a blueprint for legislative action, Gallagher said. He does not intend them to 'sit up on a shelf somewhere and collect dust.'

'I am here to get stuff done.'

Beijing's war games were launched amid Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's delicate mission to shore up her nation's dwindling diplomatic alliances in Central America and boost its U.S. support

Chinese Navy missile frigate Yulin (R) and the minesweeper hunter Chibi (C) are seen docked at Changi Naval Base during the IMDEX Asia warships display in Singapore on May 4, 2023

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers led by Gallagher traveled to London last week to meet with top UK leaders to find ways for both nations to work together in order to effectively counter China's growing aggression on multiple fronts.

A select committee aide said the lawmakers and the leaders in the UK recognize that the trip was designed to figure out the best ways to work together to counter China's aggression since they are 'all in the same boat.'

'The CCP aggression is global,' a committee aide told DailyMail.com. 'It extends to all facets including economic, military and cyber coercion.'

During the meetings abroad, AUKUS - a trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the U.S. - came up in nearly every discussion.

The lawmakers debated over how to get AUKUS implementation right, and that means International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) reform, according to a source familiar with the meetings.

Additionally, the leaders were hopeful that AUKUS can be a springboard for increased military and technological cooperation.

The source added that one key idea that emerged from the weekend was that the U.S.-UK 'special relationship' - now expanded with the AUKUS platform - could be a new model type of 'flexible diplomacy.'
A woman filmed having a row with a trans Starbucks manager has denied calling her a tranny or a man during the spat.

Vanessa Thomas was seen on camera being screamed at by Luna Spain, 28, who claps in her face, calls her a Karen and throws her out of a Starbucks in Southampton.

A war of words ensued after Ms Spain claimed she is the victim of a hate crime as Ms Thomas, 55, abused her because she is trans.

But Ms Thomas hit back, telling MailOnline: This is all a pack of vile lies. I didnt abuse anyone. I never called her a tranny or a man and if I had, I would have deserved to have been thrown out of the Starbucks.

I did nothing to start this row and its disgusting what Ms Spain is saying about me. She was the only one name-calling, she was the only one being abusive and Im sickened that she would say such things. Its utter nonsense.

Vanessa Thomas (left) was caught on camera being screamed at by Luna Spain, 28, (right) who claps in her face calling her a Karen, and then throws her out of a Starbucks in Southampton after they became embroiled in a trans row

Vanessa Thomas (pictured) told MailOnline: This is all a pack of vile lies. I didnt abuse anyone. I never called her a tranny or a man and if I had, I would have deserved to have been thrown out of the Starbucks'

Luna Spain (pictured) has claimed she is the victim of a hate crime after Ms Thomas, 55, abused her because she is trans

She added: Im not the sort of person who would be abusive towards trans people or anybody else for that matter because thats just not me. Im fed up with being made out to be a liar.

In an interview with Vice News, Ms Spain alleged Ms Thomas was rude and abusive when she was told she could not pay using cash. She insisted that video of the incident did not tell the whole story as it did not capture the abuse she faced.

Ms Spain said Ms Thomas started losing her mind after she deliberately misgendered a colleague standing next to her and that she corrected her pronouns'.

Ms Thomas repeated her earlier claim that the row stemmed from her using the word 'lady' to describe a member of staff serving her without realising that they did not identify as a woman.

She said: Its as Ive already said because thats the truth. The trans manager interrupted me and all I said was, Im not talking to you, Im talking to the lady behind the counter".

Thats when it all kicked off. How was I supposed to know that that person didnt identify as a female? It was an innocent mistake, and I was not abusive at all. I am the one who was the victim of a crime.

The incident took place on April 30 after Ms Thomas, who lives on the Isle of Wight, had been on a shopping trip to Southampton.

As the row escalated, Ms Thomas claimed her belongings were thrown up in the air by Ms Spain, who then physically threw her out of the Starbucks, closing the glass front door with such ferocity that it smashed.

Ms Thomas claimed that her belongings were thrown up in the air by Ms Spain, who then physically threw her out of the Starbucks, closing the glass front door with such ferocity that it smashed

Ms Thomas, pictured with partner Mark Andrews, previously said she feared for her life after being thrown out of the cafe for using the word 'lady' to describe a member of staff without realising that they did not identify as a woman

The incident was filmed by Ms Thomas partner Mark Andrews. In the footage, Ms Spain can be seen lunging at him as she attempts to seize his mobile phone.

Ms Thomas insisted: I am the one who was the victim of a crime because I was verbally and physically abused. And so was my partner, Mark. We both had a terrible experience that left us very shocked.

Im confident that the full truth will come out once the police have investigated this matter properly.'

Ms Thomas said that she has already contacted Hampshire Police to ask if they had recovered CCTV from the Starbucks, which would prove her innocence.

She added: Its all there on the CCTV, it will show that I wasnt abusive at all. There was only one person who behaved appallingly and that was Ms Spain. But its quite frustrating because the police seem to be moving very slowly in this matter.

Ms Spain insisted that Ms Thomass use of the word lady was deliberate and spiteful'.

She said: She (Ms Thomas) said, what is it with you trannies and all this gender stuff and with you trannies its always all about gender  I cut her off and told her shes not getting served. I asked her to come to the till and get a refund.

'But instead, she started getting louder and louder. She was calling me a man as much as she could and calling my colleague who is a trans man a woman in front of a full store of customers and colleagues.

Explaining her actions in confronting Mr Andrews, Ms Spain said she only wanted the video to be deleted because she did not want to be shamed online like other trans people have been in the past.

Since the incident, Ms Spain has lost her job at the Starbucks with the company claiming that they did not 'tolerate such behaviour'

Ms Spain revealed she was dismissed from her job without a formal disciplinary process taking place and that she did not even have a chance to explain to her bosses what took place.

She cried: I'm angry, I'm upset, and I'm experiencing the worst mental health of my life, all while the customer laughs about it on Facebook. What do they want me to do? De-transition?'

Ms Spain added: I definitely expected disciplinary action, thats what they said would happen, but I didnt expect to lose my job. Its like they were trying to do damage control.

HR suddenly called me and pushed me to hand in my notice, and when I didnt, I received an email terminating my employment one hour later. There was no investigation, no meeting, just a cold email.

Ms Spain claimed she had reported Ms Thomas to police and also demanded a letter of apology from her former employers for not investigating the matter.

A spokesperson for Starbucks said: We pride ourselves on offering a welcoming and inclusive environment, and expect everyone, including our green apron partners (employees) and customers, to treat one another with dignity and respect.

'Following an investigation, it was determined by the licensee that this partner be separated from the company.

Hampshire Police has been contacted for comment.
A Brazilian soap opera actor who disappeared in January has been found dead in a trunk in Rio de Janeiro.

Jefferson Machado's body was tied up and stuffed inside a wooden trunk that was buried six feet beneath the concrete floor of an outhouse in the western Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Campo Grande on Monday, police said.

Authorities were able to confirm the 44-year-old's body through fingerprints Wednesday.

The property belongs to a woman who told police she had rented the outhouse to a man who police have identified as a suspect but not named, Brazilian news outlet G1 reported.

Machado, who lived in Rio de Janeiro, is believed to have known the person who rented out the property where his body was found and was seen entering it a month ago, according to R7 news.

Brazilian soap opera actor Jefferson Machado was found dead Monday inside a trunk that was buried under the floor of an outhouse in Rio de Janeiro. The 44-year-old had disappeared from his home in January and officially declared missing in February

The trunk was removed from under the floor by Civil Police agents in Rio de Janeiro on Monday

The trunk was found buried six feet under the floor of the outhouse that was rented by the property owner to a man who has been identified by Rio de Janeiro authorities but not yet arrested

It took nine individuals, including seven Civil Police agents, to remove the trunk from the hole.

A family lawyer told local news outlets that the trunk belonged to Machado and had been previously taken out of his home.

'Jefferson was coldly and brutally murdered by envious, evil and, of course, unscrupulous people,' Cintia Hilsendeger, a friend of the family, wrote on the actor's Instagram account.

Machado's last acting job was in the Record TV soap opera 'Reis,' in 2022.

He had not been seen since January 27 and was officially declared missing on February 9.

Cops in Rio de Janeiro searched an outhouse Monday and discovered the body of missing actor Jefferson Machado tied up inside a wooden trunk that was buried under the floor of the property. The person who was living in the outhouse was still missing as of Wednesday

Jefferson Machado's most recent acting role was in the soap opera 'Reis,' which aired on Record TV

Brazilian actor Jefferson Machado was an avid animal lover and owned eight dogs

Machado's family learned he had disappeared after a non-governmental agency reached out to them to tell them that his eight dogs had been left abandoned at his home in Rio de Janeiro.

Each of the dogs had their own tracking device  two of them died and six are being treated at a veterinarian center.

His 73-year-old mother, Maria das Dores told Brazilian outlet Noticias do Dia that she last spoke to Machado on January 29 and said he had traveled to Sao Paulo to interview for a job and staying at a friend's home.

Rio de Janeiro Civil Police agents remove a trunk from a six-foot hole that was dug under the floor of an outhouse

She became worried when she stopped getting calls from him and only received text messages that were misspelled.

'He also said that he dropped his cellphone in the toilet, therefore, he was unable to make a video call,' das Dores said.

The family became increasingly worried when his cloud's password was changed, and his location was deactivated in February.

As recently as last week, das Dores was still holding on to hope that Machado was still alive and said his disappearance had taken a toll on the family, including another son and a grandson.
However, not enough evidence to prove she jumped

A coroner has determined missing fraudster Melissa Caddick is dead following a lengthy inquest into her disappearance, decisively shutting down a widespread conspiracy theory she chopped off her own foot and fled overseas.

However, while the Coroner has solved one of the major mysteries of Caddick's disappearance - resolving it was unlikely she had her foot removed, by herself or others - more questions remain, such as how and when exactly she died.

Caddick, 49, was last seen near her Dover Heights home in Sydney's eastern suburbs in November, 2020, after Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) investigators raided the property.

Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan on Thursday handed down her final findings into the sudden disappearance of Caddick, who had defrauded investors, many of whom were immediate family and close friends, of $23million.

'I believe it is appropriate for me to say at the outset, I have concluded that Melissa Caddick is deceased. However, a more problematic issue is whether there is enough evidence as to how she died,' Magistrate Ryan said.

Following the findings, Caddick's husband Anthony Koletti was seen shoving reporters as he tried to make his way into a car with his wife's parents and brother already inside.

Melissa Caddick's husband Anthony Koletti is seen clashing with reporters after the final findings into her whereabouts were handed down on Thursday

The findings covered several aspects of Caddick's disappearance, including theories as to how she died, the police investigation and her own husband's response.

Caddick's foot was found washed up on Bournda Beach, 400km south of Sydney, in an ASICs shoe, in February 2021.

Magistrate Ryan shut down the long-running theory that Caddick could still be alive without her foot, and had potentially escaped overseas after somehow removing her leg.

She said it was most unlikely Caddick's foot had been removed deliberately either by herself or another person.

However, the cause of her death is still unclear. The coroner found there is not enough evidence to prove that Caddick took her own life by jumping off the cliffs down the road from her home.

Magistrate Ryan said the inquest heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr Kerri Eagle who established Ms Caddick may have had narcissistic personality disorder.

She noted sufferers of this condition may be at risk of taking their own life if they suffered something that brought deep shame onto them. But that was not enough to prove suicide - a leading police theory.

Police had suspected Ms Caddick took her own life by jumping off the cliff at Rodney Reserve, approximately 500m from her home, on the morning of November 12, 2020.

The coroner could also not make a finding with any certainty about whether she died with assistance from another person, or from misadventure.

The Magistrate also took aim at Mr Koletti and found he purposely withheld information about his wife's movements from investigators at the time she disappeared.

He reported her missing to police on November 13, a full 30 hours after she was last seen and their family home was raided.

NSW Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan concluded that Melissa Caddick had died, but it is unclear how or when she lost her life

Ms Caddick's husband Anthony Koletti (pictured together) did not report his wife missing until he contacted Rose Bay Police Station at 11.45am on November 13 - a full 30 hours after she was last seen

The coroner was damning of Mr Koletti's actions, saying he lied and had 'awareness of Ms Caddick's movements' after she disappeared, but refused to share those with police and the courts.

'Mr Koletti's evidence at inquest was riddled with inconsistencies,' the Magistrate said.

'It's fair to say when he was not creating further inconsistencies, he was attempting to account for them with opaque and at times unintelligible explanations.'

Magistrate Ryan said Mr Kolleti was described during the investigation as the 'most unimpressive and unreliable witness', whose lack of candour was one of the reasons it was not possible to conclude why, how or when Caddick died.

The Magistrate said Mr Koletti, a hairdresser, gave multiple different accounts of what happened in the time between November 11 and November 13.

'Mr Koletti has not managed to explain the manifold contradictions within and between these accounts in any comprehensible way,' Magistrate Ryan said.

'Put simply the discrepancies are too numerous, and too persistent in nature, to be attributable to stress and (his) lack of intellectual sophistication.

'The inescapable conclusion is that throughout the investigation and the inquest, Mr Koletti has chosen at times to make statements that are simply untrue.'

A foot - which was later identified as belonging to Ms Caddick - was found washed up on Bournda Beach on the NSW south coast in February, 2021 - three months after she vanished

Shoe mystery

The court has previously heard that Ms Caddick's shoe was covered in 250g of goose barnacles when it washed ashore.

According to an expert's report, the barnacle growth suggested the shoe would have been free floating on the surface of the water for three to seven days before washing up.

The court heard that it's possible the shoe drifted on the ocean floor for several months before floating to the surface and onto the beach on the NSW south coast.

Oceanographer Dr David Griffin said that according to calculations using ocean currents, it's plausible the shoe went into the water at Dover Heights in November and was found 400km south three months later.

Pathologist Jennifer Pokorny told the inquest in a statement that it was not possible to determine the full extent of Ms Caddick's injuries, given all that was recovered was a decomposed foot inside a right running shoe.

Nor was it possible to determine a cause of death, she said.
Chinese hackers have targeted 'critical' US infrastructure, Microsoft revealed today, saying the campaign targeted Guam, sparking fears that Beijing is preparing to black out communications on the strategic US territory for an assault on Taiwan.

Microsoft said that state-backed Chinese hackers, dubbed 'Volt Typhoon', had been active since at least mid-2021 and are waging an ongoing breach of 'critical infrastructure organizations in Guam and elsewhere in the United States.'

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed that China was behind the breach across multiple government and private sector organizations.

Although the government did not name Guam, Microsoft stated that it had uncovered the breach 'while investigating intrusion activity impacting a US port.'

Tom Burt, the executive who oversees Microsoft's threat intelligence unit, told The New York Times that as they traced its impact they found numerous networks that were hit including some in the telecommunications sector in Guam.

The group's apparent focus on Guam is of particular concern, as the US territory is a key military base in the Pacific, and would be a major staging ground for any American response in the event of a conflict in Taiwan or the South China Sea.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 19

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)as it is moored pier side at Naval Base Guam on May 15, 2020. The group's apparent focus on Guam is of particular concern, as the US territory is a key military base in the Pacific, and would be a major staging ground for any American response in the event of a conflict in Taiwan or the South China Sea.

The group's apparent focus on Guam is of particular concern, as the US territory is a key military base in the Pacific

Telecommunications networks pose a valuable target for state-backed hackers as military communications often piggyback on commercial networks.Microsoft said it assessed with 'moderate confidence' that the Volt Typhoon campaign 'is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises.'

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington DC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Wednesday afternoon.

Microsoft said it had notified targeted or compromised customers and provided them with information to identify and remedy any breaches.

The organizations targeted by Volt Typhoon spanned sectors including communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education, Microsoft said.

The company said that Volt Typhoon did not appear to have used the breaches to carry out offensive attacks, but rather that the group seemed to be focused on maintaining stealthy access to critical systems.

'Observed behavior suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible,' said Microsoft.

CISA director Jen Easterly said: 'For years, China has conducted aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations around the globe.

Chinese soldiers browse online news on desktop computers at a garrison of the PLA (People's Liberation Army) in Chongqing, China, 14 November 2013

'Today's advisory highlights China's continued use of sophisticated means to target our nation's critical infrastructure, and it gives network defenders important insights into how to detect and mitigate this malicious activity.

'As our nation's cyber defense agency, CISA stands ready to support our partners in protecting the critical services our citizens rely on every day from the threat of disruption.

'We encourage all organizations to review the advisory, take action to mitigate risk, and report any evidence of anomalous activity. We must work together to ensure the security and resilience of our critical infrastructure.'

The hacker gang's apparent focus on Guam raises alarm bells that its primary intent may have been to disrupt and sever US communications with Asia in the event of a military conflict.

Guam is home to major US military facilities, including the Andersen Air Force Base, which would be key to responding to any conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recently, China has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to force self-governed Taiwan to accept Beijing's claim of sovereignty. Taiwan rejects China's claims.

While the United States has long followed a policy of 'strategic ambiguity' on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, President Joe Biden has said he would be willing to use force to defend the island.

In recent years, China's navy has also grown increasingly aggressive in the South China Sea, one of the world's most important trade routes.

China has claimed nearly the entire South China Sea as its territory. Parts of the vast waterway are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Its other-worldly storyline of monsters living on a make-believe tropical island has made for beguiling bedtime reading for 60 years.

Now Where The Wild Things Are has topped a list of the 100 greatest children's books of all time.

US author Maurice Sendak's semi-autobiographical picturebook, published in 1963, is about Max, a naughty boy who causes havoc dressed in his wolf costume and is then sent to bed without any dinner.

In a celebration of the power of children's emotions and imaginations, Max is so cross about his punishment that his bedroom transforms into an island where he becomes king of the 'Wild Things'.

In the end, though, he finds he misses home and returns to his room  where a hot meal is waiting for him.

Maurice Sendak's semi-autobiographical picturebook 'Where The Wild Things Are' (pictured) has topped a list of the 100 greatest children's books of all time

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (pictured) and Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking came second and third, respectively

The BBC compiled a panel of children's authors, illustrators, publishers, academics and readers from 56 countries to compile the top 100 list.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is dominated by classics that have stood the test of time.

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1865) and Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking (1945) came second and third, respectively.

Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman, is the most modern book in the top 10, having been published in 1995.

Pullman, 76, who is also the only living author in the top ten, said he was 'delighted', adding: 'Children's books are important because we still think about them when we're grown up.'

There are only two other relatively recent stories in the top 20  Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (1997) by JK Rowling at 13 and The Arrival (2006), by Shaun Tan at 16.

The most modern book on the list is Julian Is A Mermaid (2018) by Jessica Love  a story inspired by a trans friend  and the oldest is Panchatantra, a collection of ancient Indian fables.

Roald Dahl  the focus of a recent publishing scandal in which some of his writing was changed to appease modern tastes  is the most celebrated author, appearing six times.

He is followed by Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, whose Moomins stories feature on five occasions.
He gave evidence to help Prince Harry's case against the Mirror's publisher

Daniel Portley-Hanks, 77, posted grinning selfies of himself with the actors in UK

Hanging out with Hugh Grant and John Cleese, there was excitement aplenty for one American visitor to London.

Daniel Portley-Hanks, 77, posted grinning selfies of himself with the actors on his Facebook page, along with other tourist snaps of his trip to the UK.

But the Californian was no average tourist, and his photogenic encounters with not one but two British celebrities were not just a matter of luck. Mr Portley-Hanks is an American private detective who came to London to give evidence to help Prince Harry's hacking case against the Mirror's publisher.

Or, as he himself put it on another public Facebook update, after giving testimony at the Royal Courts of Justice: 'I kicked ass in court today.'

Following his evidence to Mr Justice Fancourt, last Thursday, he spent a few days in London and wrote on Facebook he dined with Grant, 62, who is a founding member of the anti-Press group Hacked Off, and Cleese, a vocal opponent of British tabloid newspapers.

Daniel Portley-Hanks, 77, left, spent a few days in London and wrote on Facebook he dined with Grant, 62, who is a founding member of the anti-Press group Hacked Off, right

An American private detective who came to London to give evidence to help Prince Harry's hacking case against the Mirror's publisher, he also dined with John Cleese - a vocal opponent of British tabloid newspapers

He wrote on Monday: 'Just had a lovely lunch with my buddy John and dinner with Hugh Grant.'

And he replied to a Facebook friend: 'Hanging out with British celebrities.'

He was also lucky enough to spend time with Fawlty Towers star Cleese, 83  who constantly tweets about his dislike of tabloids  the day before taking the oath in the High Court witness box, according to another of his Facebook snaps.

It shows the pair shaking hands in the historic Banqueting Hall of Hedingham Castle in Essex, complete with a suit of armour standing behind them. Mr Portley-Hanks wrote: 'I am being interviewed on his talkshow at the very castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed.'

The starstruck American also posted a screengrab of Cleese dressed as his barrister character from 1988 comedy classic, A Fish Called Wanda.

During his courtroom appearance, Mr Portley-Hanks told the judge how he had lost count of the occasions he had been convicted of criminal offences.

The private investigator said he had been arrested around 50 times, convicted 'probably more [times] than I can remember', and had served around eight years in US federal prisons.

Mr Portley-Hanks posed at a hotel terrace bar near to the High Court with Grant (far right) and former journalist Graham Johnson, a convicted phone hacker who is also helping Prince Harry's case against British newspapers (far left)

He was also lucky enough to spend time with Fawlty Towers star Cleese, 83  who constantly tweets about his dislike of tabloids  the day before taking the oath in the High Court witness box, according to another of his Facebook snaps

It shows the pair shaking hands in the historic Banqueting Hall of Hedingham Castle in Essex, complete with a suit of armour standing behind them

The private investigator said he had been arrested around 50 times, convicted 'probably more [times] than I can remember', and had served around eight years in US federal prisons

His most recent conviction was for 'making threats on behalf of a criminal gang', which the US Attorney's Office said was to extort money from a victim who was sent beheading videos and a mocked up photo taken by Portley-Hanks of the victim's family tombstone daubed with fake blood and a 'very soon' date of death.

In London, in another Facebook snap, Mr Portley-Hanks posed at a hotel terrace bar near to the High Court with Grant and former journalist Graham Johnson, a convicted phone hacker who is also helping Prince Harry's case against British newspapers.

Mr Portley-Hanks told the High Court during his afternoon in the witness box that he had supplied phone numbers, addresses and other information about celebrities to British newspapers over many years.

The Mirror denies all the claims and the case continues.
The popular American clothing brand, Levi Strauss & Co. fashion brand, is the latest company to face a boycott by conservative consumers concerned by woke messaging.

Levi Strauss, the nation's oldest jean company, has come under fire with calls to avoid the brand amid fury over a resurfaced campaign ad showcasing its gender neutral clothing line.

The CEO of Levi Strauss & Co said earlier this month there is 'definitely consumer appetite' for a gender neutral clothing line - which the company is currently trying to build out.

It follows in the wake of widespread outrage over Bud Light's disastrous marketing campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney and a major backlash against Target's new Pride line of clothing that includes 'tuck-friendly' women's swimwear.

Levi's 2019 campaign ad features a model called Jesus, sporting long hair and a beard, and another called Matia, who has a mullet hairstyle

The minute-long video, originally shared on YouTube has resurfaced and is going viral this week

CEO Chip Bergh, 65, spoke about earlier this month about how 170-year-old San Francisco-based Levi's had been developing gender fluid garments under his leadership.

Speaking in the context of Bud Light's disastrous marketing campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Bergh said that there is an assured appetite for gender neutral clothing - based on data collected from the iconic denim company.

His remarks saw an ad from 2019 resurface on social media, with many users criticizing the brand for focusing too heavily on the LGBTQ community.

The minute-long video, originally shared on YouTube in September 2019, features a model called Jesus, sporting long hair and a beard, and another called Matia, who has a mullet hairstyle.

The two pose together and discuss the 'freedom' they feel with their fashion choices while clasping onto each other.

In the ad, Jesus, who is described as a designer and vintage curator, is wearing a denim dress and turtleneck sweater with a button down shirt on top.

'I was always obsessed with the women in my life. The way that what they did was for themselves,' they said.

Matia, labeled 'fashion lover' in the ad, responds: 'I feel a lot more freedom when I include more masculine elements into my style.'

'Whatever feels the most natural is what anyone should be doing,' Jesus responded. 'It's an amazing time to be able to express yourself in a very personal style. It's a time where we're all really free to express ourselves how we want to.'

The CEO of Levi Strauss & Co has said there is 'definitely consumer appetite' for a gender neutral clothing line

CEO Chip Bergh said Levi's has been developing gender fluid garments under his leadership

But many social media users reposting the ad this week called for a boycott.

One user said: 'Levi's Follows BudLight And Adidas In Woke Propaganda Campaigns. BOYCOTT'

Another wrote: 'Levi's Go woke, go broke.'

One shared the clip and wrote: 'Levi's Follows Bud Light And Adidas In Woke Propaganda Campaigns. 'Make jeansignore genes.'

This is not the first time the brand has faced a backlash and calls for a boycott.

In 2021 it emerged Levi Strauss was offering employees counselling with a 'racial trauma specialist' after Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty.

Rittenhouse, 18, was cleared of all charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, on November 19 after he shot dead two white men and wounded a third during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.

After the ruling, Levi's chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Elizabeth Morrison, sent a letter to staff offering 24-hour mental health care for those suffering the 'pain and trauma of race, identity and belief-based tragedies.'

However, people took social media to threaten to boycott their stores over it's 'woke' response and cancel orders.

CEO Chip Bergh and his wife Juliet

Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh poses for photos outside the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, March 21

Many people have already vowed to step away from a range of brands including Bud Light, Starbucks, Target, Nike and Adidas for campaigns and collaborations focusing on LGBTQ people.

Anheuser-Busch has lost a massive $15.7Billion in value since Bud Light teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

And Calvin Klein had a 'Bud light moment' recently with an ad featuring trans man who's not had top surgery modelling a bra which sparked backlash.

Target also faced widespread backlash after introducing 'tuck friendly' swimwear this week.

But after the Bud Light fiasco, the company took 'emergency' action to avoid a similar situation and pulled many of the products from display in Southern stores on Wednesday.
MBABANE  Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) says the arm of the law will catch up with those misusing the commissions logo on posters de-campaigning current politicians.

This was said by EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe when reacting to circulating posters on social media, some of which have the logo of the commission. We are already taking action on this matter and we believe the IT (Information Technology) experts will track down the people behind this and they will face the law, said Bhembe.

Posters

There have been several posters being circulated on social media platforms, designed with some Cabinet ministers pictures, EBC logo and an inscription portraying the politicians in bad light and that they should not be voted back into Parliament. The posters were first shared on a particular Facebook page named SWALIMO Family. They had some inscriptions which also included a slogan by the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) of its elections campaign. The slogan is; Ungakhetsi njengayitolo. The affected ministers included Minister of Tinkhundla Administration and Development David Cruiser Ngcamphalala, Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi. In both the posters, the logo of EBC was used.

In response to this, Bhembe said it was very shocking and disturbing to learn that the de-campaigning strategy had escalated to the point where the commissions logo was misused. He said it was very disturbing that there were people investing in evil acts to such extremes where they were not only insulting people but also used the commissions logo. Bhembe said it was illegal to use the commissions protected intellectual property, further condemning the act in the strongest terms. He said using the logo of the commission on such posters which were insulting others was portraying the organisation in a wrong way. He explained that if such was seen by people outside the country, they would now view the commission as having endorsed such, yet it was supposed to uphold legal standards and remain impartial.

Bhembe noted that such acts were illegal. He said as a commission, they would spring into action and deal with this. He said they would liaise with the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) to find the person or people behind this, also noting that the individual(s) perpetuating this were contravening the Computer Crime and Cybercrime Act, 2022. He said they would also look at other crimes that the perpetrators may be charged with. Bhembe explained that there was the Computer Crime and Cybercrime Act, 2022, which was meant to criminalise offences committed against and through the usage of computer systems and electronic communications network; to provide for investigation and collection of evidence for computer and network-related crimes and provide for the admission of electronic evidence for such offences.

He said the above law was there to deal with people who were committing crimes through the electronic communications networks like Facebook to defame others. Besides the posters with Cabinet ministers, there were other posts on the same Facebook page against some Members of Parliament (MP). When sought for comment, the Cabinet ministers simply said they had no time to entertain such. Minister Buthelezi said there were many posts on Facebook of this nature, hence he had no comment on such at all. Minister Ngcamphalala also said he had no time to respond to such posts as they did not bother him at all. Ngcamphalala said he was aware where such talks that were written on the posters were coming from but he would not bother himself about this. The minister said the words on the poster were said by a former MP but either way he was not bothered by this. The minister, who is also Sigwe MP, also expressed bewilderment that former MP Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane spoke about him in his family meeting because as far as he remembered, he never wronged Simelane.

Confused

Ngcamphalala said he was confused on why Simelane even bothered to talk about Sigwe people and their inkhundla. When sought for comment, Simelane said he chose to confine himself to what he said about Ngcamphalala. I spoke about him because he is the one who said the regime does not need the reforms that the people were demanding. When we told them in Parliament (about the reforms), he said we are sell-outs, and your paper captured this, he said. Simelane, who is also the president of SWALIMO, said Ngcamphalala once likened all those who were calling for change as animals on social media. The former MP said in his Facebook address, he was teaching the people to vote-out all MPs whose hands were dripping with the blood of the people who were shot during the unrest. He said the minister was on record saying any MP calling for political reforms was a sell-out.
Rishi Sunak dodged a row with the Tory Right today after ruling Suella Braverman should not be investigated over her handling of a speeding offence.

After days of deliberation, the Prime Minister said the Home Secretary did not break the ministerial code by asking civil servants for advice on whether she could attend a speed awareness course rather than take points on her licence.

Labour accused her of breaking the code by asking officials for advice on a personal issue.

But, in an exchange of letters the Prime Minister said his ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus had ruled that 'on this occasion, further investigation is not necessary'.

He said that, on the basis of the Home Secretary's explanation, 'these matters do not amount to a breach of the ministerial code'.

Rishi Sunak (left) dodged a row with the Tory Right today after ruling Suella Braverman (right) should not be investigated over her handling of a speeding offence

Labour accused her of breaking the code by asking officials for advice on a personal issue

A letter sent to Suella Braverman by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying that his ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus had ruled that 'on this occasion, further investigation is not necessary'

The decision calmed a backlash by allies of Mrs Braverman, who warned that she faced a 'witch hunt' by opponents of her plans to curb immigration.

In her letter to the PM, the Home Secretary apologised that the row had caused a 'distraction' to Government.

She said that, with hindsight, she would have been better to simply accept the penalty points at the outset. But she insisted she had done nothing wrong.

In his response, Mr Sunak noted: 'As you have recognised, a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.'

In the Commons, Sir Keir Starmer mocked the Home Secretary, saying she appeared to have 'a problem coping with points-based systems'  a reference to the Government's adoption of an Australian-style points-based immigration system.

The row came after Mrs Braverman was caught speeding in a 50mph zone last summer, when she was Attorney General.

In her letter she said she booked a speed awareness course rather than take the penalty points.

But she said the situation became more complicated shortly afterwards when she was appointed as Home Secretary.

The Home Secretary's letter to the PM in which she apologised that the row had caused a 'distraction' to Government

Mrs Braverman said that, with hindsight, she would have been better to simply accept the penalty points at the outset

She added that at the time her new role as Home Secretary raised additional security concerns about attending the course in person

Mrs Braverman said that her new role raised additional security concerns about attending the course. The Cabinet Office advised her it was 'not appropriate' to ask civil servants to help.

But her special advisers did investigate whether there was a way to do the course which would 'maintain my security and privacy'.

Her letter stated that advisers were concerned she could be recorded during an online course.

She said her preference was to attend in person, but this was ruled out on security grounds.

Allies of Mrs Braverman had warned the Prime Minister against an investigation under the ministerial code, which could have led to her removal from office.

But opposition figures today condemned Mr Sunak's decision. Labour said a 'cosy exchange of letters' had replaced the 'recognised process' for investigating ministerial conduct.

'The whole point of having an independent adviser is so that these matters can be looked at thoroughly and these facts can be put in the public domain in a way that isn't subject to political spin,' a party spokesman said.

Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain called the decision 'a cowardly cop-out'.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is threatening to hold FBI Director Chris Wray in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over an internal document that Republicans claim shows President Joe Biden was involved in a 'criminal' scheme with a foreign national.

The internal unclassified FD-1023 form apparently details an 'arrangement' for an exchange of money for policy decisions, the Republicans have said.

If Wray fails to produce the record by May 30, the committee said it will initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.

In a letter to Wray Wednesday, Comer wrote that he is also narrowing the breadth of the subpoena for the document by providing two additional terms that may be referenced in the record: 'June 30, 2020' and 'five million.'

The House Oversight Committee released a new memo specifically outlining the Biden family's ties to Romanian 'influence peddling' and a web of LLCs created while Biden was vice president

'The FBI's refusal to produce this single document is obstructionist,' he writes.

'The FBI's mission is to protect the American people. Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk,' the FBI told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress's oversight requests on this matter and others as we always have.'

Staff for Comer, who is leading the investigation into 'influence-peddling' by the first family, met with bureau officials on Monday who who refused to hand over the file.

The meeting Monday came after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said over the weekend that the FBI was poised to hand over the potentially damning document.

McCarthy said he spoke with with Wray last week and believed that after their conversation, Republicans would 'get this document.'

'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,' McCarthy said.

However, Wray has yet to hand over the document - missing an initial deadline to comply with a subpoena on May 10.

A spokesperson for committee Democrats told DailyMail.com Wednesday that Comer is basing claims off an 'unsubstantiated tip' and accused the chairman of using 'political theater' to prop up former President Donald Trump's primary poll numbers.

The bureau's latest stonewalling also comes after a second IRS whistleblower came forward, claiming he was sidelined from the Hunter Biden probe when he spoke up about the president's son getting preferential treatment.

The case agent, who has not been identified, says he was fired last week without any explanation after working on the Hunter Biden investigation since 2018, according to documents sent to congressional leaders obtained by DailyMail.com Monday.

This is the second whistleblower to come forward in recent days on the matter. According to documents, he informed Congress last week about backlash he suffered for acting as a whistleblower and alleged unfair retaliatory treatment.

He sent an email last Thursday to senior IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and several other officials alleging that he was ousted for raising concerns that the Department of Justice was 'acting inappropriately' in its handling of the investigation into the president's son.

His complaint comes days after the Department of Justice removed the entire team probing Hunter Biden's tax returns, according to attorneys representing an initial supervisory whistleblower.

The House Oversight Committee has accused 10 members of the Biden family - including Hunter and Hallie - of being involved in 'shady' business deals where they profited off of the family name

'The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national,' Comer said

Grassley, R-Iowa, and Comer, R-Ky., revealed on May 3 that a whistleblower had come forward with stunning claims about the document, which they alleged outlined the scheme involving Biden, when he was vice president, and an unnamed foreign national.

Grassley said that although the FBI failed to provide the document, they offered an 'accommodation process' that indicates that the 'document is real.'

Iam Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations has called the GOP subpoena for the document 'unfounded' and 'politically motivated.'

'For going on 5 years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded politically-motivated attacks against [President Biden] without offering evidence for their claims. Or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests,' he claimed.

The House Oversight Committee has accused 10 members of the Biden family - including Hunter and Hallie - of being involved in 'shady' business deals where they profited off of the family name.
House Republicans passed a resolution that would overturn President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan on Wednesday.

The resolution, brought forth by Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., passed 218 to 203 - with two Democrats joining Republicans: Rep. Jared Golden, Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Wash.

The Biden proposal was expected to bring relief for up to 40 million borrowers who could have qualified for as much as $20,000 in forgiveness. The plan has been mired in legal troubles and is now before the Supreme Court.

The measure was brought under the Congressional Review Act, which means it will now have to be taken up by the Senate despite Democratic control in that chamber. It could pass by a simple majority, but the White House has threatened to veto the measure.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-Va., has railed against the forgiveness plan - and moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., could also vote for the resolution.

House Republicans passed a resolution that would overturn President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan on Wednesday

Republicans also tried to repeal Biden's program in their party-line debt ceiling bill the Limit Save Grow Act, which was the starting point of their negotiations with the White House over increasing the nation's $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.

A report by the Congressional Budget Office found Biden's plan would add $426 billion to the deficit.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., acted as speaker pro tempore, leading the House through the vote. As both sides descended into shouting over the debt limit, Greene reminded them to have 'decorum' - drawing raucous laughs from the Democrat side.

Biden's plan, announced in August, would forgive $10,000 in student loans for those making less than $125,000 and married couples making less than $250,000 jointly. That forgiveness would go up to $20,000 if the borrower received a Pell grant, which aids students from low-income families.

A ruling from the Supreme Court puts more on the line than student loans. If the nation's highest court decides that Biden's executive action is unconstitutional, it could give more power to states' legal challenges against federal policymaking.
Sai Varshith Kandula was arrested after 'intentionally' crashing a U-Haul box truck into barriers outside Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. at around 9.40pm on May 22, 2023 according to US Park Police and US Secret Service.

He was attempting to 'get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,' and he said he would 'kill the president, if that's what I have to do,' charges state.

Sai Varshith Kandula was arrested after 'intentionally' crashing a U-Haul box truck into barriers outside Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. at roughly 9.40pm on May 22, 2023 according to US Park Police and US Secret Service

Who is Sai Varshith Kandula?

Sai Varshith Kandula, from the St Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri, graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 2022, according to the Rockwood School District.

A LinkedIn profile that appears to fit that description shows that he was interested in a career in data analytics, with experience and certification in coding languages and programming.

Kandula rented the U-Haul truck in Herndon, Virginia, and had a valid contract in his own name, the company said.

People can rent a truck from U-Haul at the age of 18 and there were no red flags on his rental record that would have prevented the contract, according to U-Haul.

The incident was part of a six-month plan to 'seize power' from the government, authorities said.

The US Secret Service monitors hundreds of people who have made threats to the president, but it is unclear whether Kandula was on their radar at all or if he had threatened the president before, which would lead to the Secret Service's involvement.

What did Sai Varshith Kandula do near the White House?

Sai Varshith Kandula, who was 19 at the time of the incident, was arrested after 'intentionally' smashing a U-Haul box truck into barriers outside Lafayette Park in Washington D.C.

The crash occurred at roughly 9.40pm on 22 May, 2023 according to US Park Police and US Secret Service.

The incident took place across the street from the Hay-Adams hotel and St. John's Episcopal Church, two of Washington's historic sites.

A Nazi flag was pictured on the ground next to the U-Haul.

Kandula removed a flag from a backpack shortly after crashing the box truck, according to charging documents.

He was quickly arrested by a US Park Police officer who hurried over to the scene of the crash and witnessed him take out the flag.

Sai Varshith Kandula, from the St Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri, graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 2022, according to the Rockwood School District

Kandula later told Secret Service agents that he had flown from St. Louis on a one-way ticket that night after months of planning.

He wanted to 'get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,' and he said he would 'kill the president, if that's what I have to do,' charges state.

Kandula said he bought the flag online because he is an admirer of the Nazis' 'great history' as well as their 'authoritarian nature, eugenics, and their one world order'.

No one was hurt in the crash and no weapons or explosives were discovered in the truck or on Kandula.

President Joe Biden's exact location at the time of the crash was unclear.

He had met with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy at the White House earlier on Monday evening.

Biden was briefed on the incident the next morning by the Secret Service and Park Police, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

'He's relieved that no one was injured last night,' she said.

Some roads and walkways around Lafayette Square were temporarily closed as the scene was inspected, and The Hay Adams Hotel was evacuated.

In a statement, US Park Police told DailyMail.com: 'United States Park Police and United States Secret Service Uniform Division officers responded to the 1600 block of H Street NW for a truck that the preliminary investigation indicates intentionally crashed into the bollards on the outside of Lafayette Park.

'The driver of the vehicle was identified as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri. Kandula was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, threatening to kill / kidnap / inflict harm on a president, vice president, or family member, destruction of federal property, and trespassing.'

Pictured: The rented box truck that crashed into security barriers at Lafayette Park across from the White House on May 22, 2023

What has Sai Varshith Kandula been charged with?

Kandula was arrested on multiple charges and prosecutors charged him with damaging US property.

He was charged with threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on the president, vice president or their family members after allegedly smashing a truck into bollards outside a park near the White House.

He has also been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.

What happens to Sai Varshith Kandula now?

Kandula was charged with 18 U.S. Code  879 - threats against former Presidents and certain other persons protected by the Secret Service.

It is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Netflix's crackdown on password sharing finally arrived in the UK and US yesterday, amid efforts to put a stop to freeloaders.

Millions are now barred from lending streaming accounts to anyone outside their household as the TV giant toughened its rules in more than 100 countries.

While it's currently unclear how identities will be verified, many face extra charges if they want to continue sharing their account.

The California-based firm said: 'A Netflix account is for use by one household. Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are  at home, on the go, on holiday  and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices.'

But what does this mean for you? MailOnline explains everything you need to know about Netflix's big changes.

Millions are now barred from lending Netflix logins to people outside their household

What are the rules and do I have to pay?

Netflix is clamping down on password sharing between those who do not live in the same household.

Whether you've dished out account details to a friend down the road or a distant relative in Spain, this rule will affect you.

While password sharing was disallowed prior to yesterday's announcement, stricter measures are being enforced to make sure people stick to the rules.

Account holders will be charged 4.99 per month for each extra member they add on

Account holders can still watch Netflix while on the move or abroad, but the extra prices can ramp up when someone else jumps onboard.

This can happen in two different ways, with the freeloader first offered to 'transfer a profile' to an entirely new membership which they pay for.

Otherwise, the initial account holder can pay 4.99 per month in the UK and $8 per month in the US for each extra member they allow to use Netflix.

Are extra member accounts any different?

Netflix account owners can buy extra member slots for friends and relatives who don't live with them.

But the TV giant warns that anyone living in a different country or using a VPN, proxy or 'unblocker' service may be prevented from adding an extra slot.

Prospective members will be sent an email or text invitation to set up the slot which will have its own profile, account and password.

These users will continue to have access to all movies and shows through any internet-connected device that offers the app.

Videos will also have the same quality as the account holder who is paying for the extra member slot.

But the service warns there are some key differences between extra member accounts and an average Netflix account.

Added members can only watch or download content on one device at a time, using a single profile.

These accounts must also be activated in the same country linked to their account owner's.

Netflix's toughened new rules now apply in more than 100 countries across the world

How will the rules be enforced?

Netflix has not yet officially confirmed how the rules will be enforced.

But a cybersecurity expert believes data such as IP addresses - unique codes dedicated to every device - may be used to detect unauthorised users.

Global Security Advisor at ESET, Jake Moore, told MailOnline: 'Without knowing how Netflix will enforce this new measure, it will be difficult to know how bulletproof it will be.

'However, it is likely to be based on unique device identifiers (so Netflix knows if it's a TV or which mobile device it needs to play on) and IP addresses.

'IP addresses can easily be changed with a VPN which may be the thorn in Netflix's side.

'Netflix will potentially attribute a certain number of devices to a home IP address and then a small number of roaming IP address for when using mobile data such as on a train.

'This IP address will always be changing so it will possibly look at removing any secondary static IP addresses.

'The reason it has taken so long for this new measure to be released is because it would be extremely difficult to make this process fool proof.'

The firm has also previously suggested that accounts must be linked up to the home WiFi at least once a month to be considered a 'trusted device'.

This would present some complications if users plan to go travelling or move away for more than 31 days.

When asked, Netflix told MailOnline that it is not disclosing any details of its enforcement.

Netflix has certainly changed its tune since tweeting 'Love is sharing a password' in 2017

Why is Netflix doing this?

Last year, Netflix announced that it would clamp down on account sharing, with tests taking place in some markets.

It's a drastic turnaround for the company, which tweeted that 'love is sharing a password' just six years ago.

But insiders claim that plans have finally kicked off as Netflix grapples with disappointing subscriber counts in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The program has already been rolled out in Latin America, Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.

The US and UK are among more than 100 countries now also on the list following the announcement of plans yesterday.

But the scheme has not been met with overwhelming success, with Netflix losing more than a million Spanish subscribers in the first three months of 2023, according to Kantar.

In January, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters also acknowledged that the crackdown might risk more subscriber cancellations.

'It's worth noting that this will not be a universally popular move,' Peters advised investors.

The company had estimated that more than 100million households had supplied their log-in credentials to friends and family outside their homes.

As of the end of March, Netflix's paying customers totaled 232.5million globally.
While Uranus undeniably has the funniest name of all the planets in our solar system, it remains the most unexplored, with just one spacecraft flying past the planet back in the 1980s.

But advances in ground-based telescopes mean that we can now get unprecedented views of the ice giant, while comfortably still on Earth.

Using the Very Large Array, NASA scientists have spotted what they believe is a polar cyclone at Uranus' north pole for the very first time.

'These observations tell us a lot more about the story of Uranus. It's a much more dynamic world than you might think,' said Alex Akins, lead author of the study.

'It isn't just a plain blue ball of gas. There's a lot happening under the hood.'

Using the Very Large Array, NASA scientists have spotted what they believe is a polar cyclone at Uranus' north pole for the very first time

NASA urged to launch mission to URANUS to examine the giant ice planet - READ MORE NASA has been urged to launch the first mission to giant Uranus, in a report by the National Academy of Sciences, outlining space priorities for the next decade Advertisement

Scientists have long known that there is a swirling feature at Uranus' south pole.

During its flyby of the icy giant in 1986, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft took images of the south pole, showing winds at the polar centre spinning faster than over the rest of the pole.

However, until now, it's been unclear whether or not cyclones also exist at Uranus' north pole.

Using the Very Large Array, which is in New Mexico, the team was able to examine radio waves emitted from Uranus.

These revealed that beneath the planet's clouds, the circulating air at the north pole seems to be warmer and drier.

According to NASA, this is a hallmark of a strong cyclone.

Uranus takes 84 years to complete a full lap of the sun, and for the last few decades its poles haven't been pointed towards Earth.

However, since 2015 we've had a much better view, allowing scientists to look deeper into the polar atmosphere.

Uranus' cyclone is compactly shaped, with warm and dry air at its core  much like the storms on Saturn, according to NASA.

Overall, the discovery suggests that whether planets are composed mainly of rock or gas, their atmospheres show signs of a swirling vortex at the poles.

During its flyby of the icy giant in 1986, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft took images of the south pole, showing winds at the polar centre spinning faster than over the rest of the pole

Here on Earth, hurricanes form over water and drift, while on Uranus and Saturn, cyclones are locked in place at the poles.

NASA now hopes to monitor the cyclone to see how it evolves through the years.

'Does the warm core we observed represent the same high-speed circulation seen by Voyager?' Akins asked.

'Or are there stacked cyclones in Uranus' atmosphere?

'The fact that we're still finding out such simple things about how Uranus' atmosphere works really gets me excited to find out more about this mysterious planet.'

The study comes shortly after scientists from the National Academy of Scientists penned a report, urging NASA to launch the first mission to Uranus.

The report calls Uranus 'one of the most intriguing bodies in the solar system', and says studying it will improve our understanding of ice giants generally.

The group says the spacecraft should operate in the system over a number of years, orbiting the ice giant and sending a probe into its atmosphere.
Spies can now buy them to look like items in a home, like a humidifier

Not all items in a hotel, VRBO or hotel are as they seem - some might be hidden cameras set to capture your every move.

Hidden camera experts have shared how spies can use canned food, lamps and garage door openers to access people's lives.

A company even offers what looks like a traditional plastic water bottle fitted with a tiny camera that is wildly popular among private investigators.

These days, cameras are small and light enough to hide in almost anything, from wall outlets to teddy bears.

That's just the tip of the iceberg: There are all sorts of strange hidden recording devices, like cameras disguised as a humidifier r even functional streaming devices.

Check out these shocking cameras that actually exist.

They come from SpyAssociates.com, which calls itself the '#1 Trusted Spy Store Since 1999.' Don't blame us if you're a little more paranoid after seeing these.

A clever way in

You would not think a garage door opener could be transformed into a hidden camera, but it is

What's something mundane you'd find in just about any car? A garage door opener.

The spy cam version includes a 2K camera that captures 1080p video or 14.2-megapixel photos.

It lasts up to 30 hours, can be remote-controlled, and displays time and date stamps to boot. (For the record, no, it can't open a garage door.)

Drink up

Spy Associates calls this its 'most popular portable spy cam with private investigators and undercover police.'

This reusable bottle (left) has an HD cam built in that records at 720p quality for up to 20 hours. It sends instant motion alerts to email and the free app. And who would suspect this water bottle (right) can record video in 4K?

No wonder! Who would suspect this water bottle can record video in 4K?

The rechargeable battery lasts 12 hours and stores up to 128 GB of data.

It's not just disposable plastic water bottles.

This reusable bottle has an HD cam built in that records at 720p quality for up to 20 hours. It sends instant motion alerts to email and the free app.

Oh, and it even holds some liquid to make it look as realistic as possible.

At home in any home

Some of the trickiest hidden cameras are the ones that function as something else entirely, like this Holmes Humidifier.

While it freshens the air, it also records 1080p HD video and saves to the built-in 128 GB memory.

You can also watch recorded footage live over Wi-Fi and connect up to 32 cameras.

This is a fully functional humidifier that includes a hidden camera

Like a spy movie

About Kim Komando Kim Komando hosts a weekly call-in show where she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps and internet security. Listen on 425+ radio stations or get the podcast. And join over 400,000 people who get her free 5-minute daily email newsletter. Advertisement

This pinhole camera looks like just a regular black button. It records HD video directly to an SD card and stays powered on for up to 30 hours.

Four styles of buttons are included, and there's even a remote control.

Most homes or offices have one of these

Outlet extenders are tremendously handy, and this one doubles as a 4K camera with a whopping 256 hours of recording.

The power outlets and UBS ports are totally functional, a tricky touch that makes it much harder to spot. It can record for weeks in motion-detection mode and has a 90-degree wide-angle lens.

Hungry? Not anymore

This might be the funniest on the list since it's so unexpected: A can of spaghetti and meatballs with a hidden camera tucked inside.

It's enabled with Wi-Fi remote viewing, motion-activated recording, 20 hours of battery life and low-light capturing. It even includes time and date stamps, along with e-mail alerts.

Think twice about the next canned food you see. This one is fitted with a hidden camera

Let there be light

Table lamp? Check. Working AC outlets and USB ports? Check. High-definition video recording with a built-in DVR? Check.

This lamp captures unlimited video and records continuously.

Tune in any time to see what's happening with 24/7 live viewing. It comes with time and date stamps, email alerts, and motion detection.

This lamp captures unlimited video and records continuously, all while shining light in your home

So basic you'd never expect it

This functional Roku Ultra player hides, you guessed it, a camera.

It records in 1080p and streams in 4K. You can remotely view it over Wi-Fi, record to a PC or the built-in SD card, and capture unlimited video.

There is a camera hidden in this fully functional Roku

Even a normal button can be hiding a spy camera

Who would suspect it's streaming a lot more than your favorite shows?

So sneaky

This one isn't a camera, but it's worth including because it's so tricky to spot.

This hair tie can record up to 250 hours of audio. It's triggered to record based on sound and can remain on standby for up to 25 days.

What time is it?

This wall clock looks about as low-tech as it gets, and it records in 1080p for up to 32 hours.

Watch remotely from anywhere with the free app and get mobile alerts when something happens. Oh, and the clock works.

Who buys this stuff?

SpyAssociates.com calls itself the leading security and surveillance supplier for consumers and businesses.

The Boca Raton, Florida, company supplies GPS tracking and surveillance equipment to

local and national government agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, NSA, NYPD, LAPD, MDPD and sheriff's departments across the United States.

There's even a special page for bulk government orders.

It's not just police and government agencies. Spy Associates says it provides 'global security and consulting services' to Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies.
Democratic elections are not safe from AI interference, a former Google boss has warned.

Eric Schmidt, who ran the tech giant for a decade, said fake images and videos of every politician would likely flood the internet during campaigning.

This spread of AI-generated misinformation would drive the public 'crazy' as they wouldn't be able to work out what was true, he predicted.

Speaking to Andrew Marr on LBC, Mr Schmidt said the UK and US were 'clearly' ahead in the AI race - and it was vital they decided what was 'acceptable in democracy' when it came to regulation.

His comments come as ministers are preparing to protect the next general election from manipulation by AI over fears it could be hijacked by deepfakes spread by hostile forces.

Eric Schmidt, who ran Google for a decade, said fake images and videos of every politician would likely flood the internet during campaigning

British Godfather of AI, 75, QUITS Google over fears the 'scary' tech he pioneered 'may soon be more intelligent than us' - READ MORE Geoffrey Hinton, 75, who is credited as the 'Godfather of Artificial Technology', said that a part of him now regrets helping to make the systems

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Mr Schmidt is the second former executive from the tech giant - which has been accused of an AI arms race against its rival Microsoft - to warn of the dangers of the technology.

Earlier this month, British scientist Dr Geoffrey Hinton - known as the 'Godfather of AI' - quit his job at Google to warn the public about the dangers machines could soon pose humanity.

The 75-year-old said his biggest worry for the immediate future is how 'bad actors', such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, might use the tools to win wars and elections.

Mr Schmidt was Google chief executive between 2001 and 2011, before taking over as executive chairman and remaining in high level positions until he left in 2020.

Warning of the dangers of AI, he said he did not believe democratic elections were safe from interference from it and branded the potential it had to trick people as 'horrific'.

He said: 'The spread of generative AI to create false images, not just pictures, but also videos will drive the population crazy.

'Every political character will both be the victim of all this but will also have some affiliated group that uses it. And we don't today have a perfect way of knowing whether this was an authentic photo or not. That has to get fixed.

As cops in New York City and Washington DC prepared for possible unrest in the event of Donald Trump being indicted over allegations he paid hush money to a porn star, images emerged appearing to show the former president being arrested

'You know, one of the problems is that as a baby, when you were born, you were taught to believe what you saw, and what you heard. And with generative AI, the majority of the images could be fake. And furthermore, the things you hear could be fake as well.'

He said the UK and US were leading the world in AI, which made it 'important that we decide what is acceptable in a democracy.'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised the UK would be at the forefront of international attempts to put 'guardrails' on AI to stop it getting out of control.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Japan over the weekend, he said the UK was in a 'natural position', adding that it would need co-ordinated action to prevent dangerous risks from emerging.
A glorious sunspot four times the size of Earth is visible on the sun's surface that can be seen with the naked eye - but the comic show could be disastrous.

The black spot faces our planet, and scientists said there is a 20 percent chance it will release a powerful X-class flare that could trigger worldwide blackouts.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is now monitoring the sunspot and will share updates if necessary.

Until then, astronomers encourage the public to look at the distinguishable spot, but only with solar glasses to protect your eyes from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Those in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Nebraska have been safe to witness it without protection due to Canadian wildfires 'creating a type of natural solar filter for observers in parts of North America.'

The black spot faces our planet, and scientists said there is a 20 percent chance it will release a powerful X-class flare that could trigger worldwide blackouts

Sunspots are dark regions of the Sun where it is cooler than other parts of the surface. This is what a sunspot looks like up close, but it is not the spot currently visible

Sunspots are dark regions of the sun where it is cooler than other parts of the surface.

The sunspot, labeled AR3310, faces directly at our planet and recently released an M-1 solar flare, a massive explosion made of photons - particles of electromagnetic radiation.

M-1 is classified as the second-highest type of solar flare, but it could release one much more powerful soon.

Solar flares are large explosions in the sun's atmosphere, comprising photons that travel out directly from the flare site.

X-1 class flares can be up to 10 times the size of Earth, making them the largest kind of flares.

'The biggest X-class flares are by far the largest explosions in the solar system and are awesome to watch,' according to NASA.

'Loops tens of times the size of Earth leap up off the sun's surface when the sun's magnetic fields cross over each other and reconnect.

'In the biggest events, this reconnection process can produce as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs.'

But they can only impact Earth when they occur on the side of the sun facing Earth.

Several images have surfaced from a photographer who captured the blazing sun with its dark sunspot over Fire Island, New York.

The sunspot, labeled AR3310, faces directly at our planet and recently released an M-1 solar flare, a massive explosion made of photons - particles of electromagnetic radiation

Astronomers encourage the public to look at the distinguishable spot, but only with solar glasses to protect your eyes from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays

Several images have surfaced from a photographer who captured the blazing sun with its dark sunspot over Fire Island, New York

The stunning red color in the photos was due to 84 wildfires burning through parts of Canada, specifically in Alberta, and will persist for at least a few more days.

The color occurs as smoke filters out shorter wavelengths of light, allowing just red and orange wavelengths to shine.

And the sun is also dimmer because of the thick smoke blowing in from Canada.

The wildfires have caused nearly a million acres to burn in Western Canada, mainly in Northwest Alberta Province. And more than 30,000 people have already evacuated the area to avoid the fires.
The company had a failed launch in January and filed for bankruptcy

Billionaire Richard Branson's satellite launch startup Virgin Orbit announced it is shutting down and selling off all assets worth $36 million.

Branson has had several missteps with his satellite launching venture, particularly the disastrous failed orbital mission in the UK, which had received more than $20 million in funding from British taxpayers.

The company had paused operations in March, then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in early April, but now is completely closing shop.

The sold assets, including its jet Cosmic Girl and most of its California headquarters, have been auctioned off to four winning bidders, three of which are aerospace companies.

Virgin Orbit was founded in 2017 by Branson in hopes of targeting the market for launching small satellites into space - an industry widely owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Virgin Orbit is Richard Branson's satellite launching company which has struggled to raise money to fund missions

Branson's company paused all operations in March due to slow finance raising and the disastrous failed launch attempt from Cornwall.

However, more than $20 million of British taxpayer money funded the scrubbed launch.

Just 24 hours after January's failed launch, MailOnline revealed how Virgin Orbit was fighting for survival.

At the time, shares in the firm plummeted by as much as 30 percent.

This over $200 million loss came just months after Virgin Orbit raised 'substantial doubt' about its future amid dwindling cash supplies.

The failed orbital mission was found to be caused by a dislodged fuel filter.

Virgin Orbit had been working to establish the cause of the problem since its 70-foot-long LauncherOne booster disintegrated over the Atlantic shortly after being fired from a jumbo jet that took off from Cornwall.

Engineers say the dislodged filter caused an engine to overheat, leading to the malfunction of components and the premature shutdown of the rocket's thrust.

This meant LauncherOne never reached the required altitude to deliver its payload of nine satellites into orbit.

Instead, the booster fell back to Earth within the approved safety corridor in the Atlantic Ocean. It was caught on camera by an observer in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

Richard Branson started Virgin Orbit in 2017

'Virgin Orbit's legacy in the space industry will forever be remembered,' Virgin Orbit said in a Tuesday statement.

'Its groundbreaking technologies, relentless pursuit of excellence, and unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of air launch have left an indelible mark on the industry.'

As previously announced, on April 4, 2023, the Company and its US-based subsidiaries filed a voluntary proceeding under Chapter 11 to effectuate a sale of the business.

The combined total proceeds were determined by a rigorous and competitive auction which maximizes the value of the estate and minimizes the remaining duration of the Companys restructuring.

Rocket Lab, Stratolaunch and Vast Space subsidiary Launcher - with combined bids totaling almost $36 million - are the three aerospace companies that scooped up Virgin Orbit's assets.

Rocket Lab spent $16,118,684 for 'Conant Machinery & Equipment and Lease,' according to court documents.

READ MORE: British billionaire Richard Branson is ordered to face lawsuit by shareholders who claim he hid problems with Virgin Galactic spaceship program British billionaire Richard Branson has to face shareholder claims he hid issues with Virgin Galactic's space program and sold millions of stock at inflated prices. Advertisement

Approximately $17 million was dished out by Stratolaunch, which purchased an aircraft, likely Cosmic Girl and 'Related Assets.'

And Launcher's $2.7 million bid went to the 'Mojave Facility Lease, Machinery & Equipment, and Inventory.'

Virgin Orbit is a spinoff of Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture, which has only taken him and his entourage into space, which is also shrouded in controversy.

Branson conducted the first private space flight on July 11, 2021, but two months later, Virgin Galactic was barred from flying its SpaceShip Two again until it worked out why the rocket veered off course during the mission.

And in November 2021, Branson was faced with a lawsuit by shareholders who claimed he hid issues with Virgin Galactic's space program and sold millions of stock at inflated prices.

A US judge ordered Branson, 71, to answer allegations he concealed problems in the program after being sued for 'deliberately sending faulty rockets to space.'

While dismissing most claims in the proposed class action, US District Judge Allyne Ross in Brooklyn said shareholders could try to prove Virgin and Branson defrauded them into overpaying for shares, which now trade over 90 percent below their February 2021 peak.

Shareholders can sue over July 2019 statements Virgin had made 'great progress' overcoming 'hurdles' to commercial spaceflight, despite a near-disastrous test flight five months earlier when its rocket plane Unity suffered critical damage.

Branson must also defend his July 2021 statement his own just-completed flight on Unity, where he soared 50 miles above the earth, had been 'flawless' though Unity had strayed from its assigned airspace.

However, Virgin Galactic has set May 25 for its next crewed spaceflight, which will include eight people.
PIGGS PEAK  Police have seized mining tools and contraptions used by illegal miners to extract gold from the deposits of Lomati Mine, during an early morning raid at Hhelehhele Umphakatsi recently.

The police were acting on a tip-off that some people residing at the umphakatsi were allegedly illegally mining gold at the mine. Four alleged illegal miners, popularly known as zama zamas , managed to evade arrest when the police swooped on them in their flats within the umphakatsi. During the raid by the law enforcers, they found and confiscated equipment including gas cylinders, chains, a compressor, buckets and other tools. It is believed all these tools were used by the suspects when committing their illegal act.

Deposits

Allegations were that the zama zamas were skilled in refining the gold deposits and were supplying a black market outside the country, mostly in neighbouring South Africa. According to sources close to the matter, a man and three women who reside at the umphakatsi are suspected to be behind the criminal activity. Sources informed this publication that following the tip-off that illegal miners residing within the umphakatsi had acquired mining machinery, and carried their work there, the police acted swiftly. It was said that the police had visited the Hhelehhele Umphakatsi on two occasions last month, to confiscate the machinery.

Apart from the mining equipment discovered by the police, an electric extension cable connected from one of the umphakatsis houses to the illegal mining site is said to have also been found by the law enforcers. The Hhelehhele Umphakatsi is situated about five kilometres away from the Lomati Mine, which is located at the foot of Lufafa Mountain, along the Mlumati River. It is under Chief Ndlaludzaka, who is among the chiefs who were recently blessed by Their Majesties. Hhelehhele Indvuna Prophet Sibandze confirmed that machinery used by illegal miners residing within the umphakatsi was found and confiscated by the police within the royal kraal premises. Sibandze said three women resided at the umphakatsi, on a temporary agreement.

The man on the run is suspected to be the mastermind behind the illegal mining and is allegedly now on the police wanted list. When we learnt of this kind of criminal activity, the police were alerted and they swiftly responded. They intended to gain entry into the umphakatsi without spooking the suspects, since the structures of the umphakatsi are on top of a cliff, said Sibandze. The indvuna highlighted that the police confiscated the mining equipment, while the suspected illegal miners fled and their whereabouts remain unknown. He said he was not sure of recent developments as he was currently away, busy with the national elections duties. Kuyagangeka lapha endlunkhulu, kunalabagcoba leligolide, he said in vernacular, loosely translated to mean; There are criminal activities carried out at the umphakatsi, as illegal gold miners are processing the gold here.

Sibandze further highlighted that, as community leaders, they had a meeting with the mine officials to deliberate further on how illegal mining could be prevented in the area, because such activities were carried out in hidden sites. We inspected the forests with the lead criminal investigating officer in the Hhohho Region, where we also discovered an electric extension cable. When he investigated where it was connected to, it led to the discovery of the tools and some makeshift machinery, which were all confiscated by the police, he said. Further, the indvuna said they deliberated during their meeting with the mine officials on how they planned to assist the local residents in terms of job opportunities and community development initiatives, which could play a vital role in minimising crime in the community. On Tuesday, before fully concentrating on national elections duties, I had also sent a strong warning to the people of Hhelehhele, that it was against the law for them to engage in illegal mining of gold deposits in the area, since they did not hold the required licence to do so. I told them that they would be arrested if found, he said.

Confirmed

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, confirmed that the police confiscated mining tools and machinery used for illegal mining of gold at Hhelehhele Umphakatsi. She said their investigations unearthed that the prime suspects were renting one of the houses at the umphakatsi and had now abandoned it. An aunt to the chief was left to oversee the umphakatsi. This is because the chief does not reside there but occasionally visits. Meanwhile, community members at Hhelehhele said illegal miners who flocked the mining site in search for gold deposits, mainly came from South Africa. They are said to be well behaved in social circles, as their sole purpose is to do the illegal mining without drawing attention to themselves.

Last month, at least 14 people were arrested for allegedly trying to steal gold deposits at the mine. The suspects were caught by security personnel at the mine, while mining the gold. The security personnel first caught 11 people then a few days later, caught three more. They were charged for contravening Section 141(1) and (2) of the Mines and Mineral Act No. 4/2011 and trespassing. Zama Zamas are infamous for agitating gang wars and using illegal firearms in their trade. Wherever they operate, violent crimes have been reported, such as rape, robberies and murder.
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The social media influencers are out in force at Cloud 22. One is raising her body out of the infinity pool, overlooking the Dubai skyline, just enough so that her bronzed derriere is on show and her partner can snap it on his phone.

A DJ stands inside a gigantic head-shaped structure made from silver shards and pumps out heavy disco tunes, his head bouncing up and down to the music whenever he notices someone is filming.

Thats no surprise. Look-at-me hedonism is what makes Dubai, well, Dubai.

And here is its latest effort. Perched more than 300ft in the sky among the clouds (although we dont see a single one during our stay), Cloud 22 is Atlantis The Royals crowning glory: a rooftop infinity pool and lounge with sweeping views over the Palm  Dubais famous artificial tree-shaped archipelago and the citys forest of sparkling skyscrapers.

It is big, bold and brash. The numbers speak volumes: there are 795 rooms and suites; 17 restaurants and bars; 17 high-end boutiques; 7,000 fish in three giant tanks in the lobby; a wellness space spanning 36,000 sq ft and a team of 2,100 staff from 100 different countries. And the pools? I lose count at 26 (but there are 92).

Infinity and beyond: Harriet Sime checks into Dubai's Atlantis The Royal for a 'lavish' weekend. Above is Cloud 22, the resort's rooftop venue

The hotel is spread over six towers and arranged in Tetris-style blocks, Harriet reveals

The hotel gained attention long before it began welcoming guests, when in January it put on a Grand Reveal, inviting big names and anyone whos anyone to a celebration in which 4,200 bottles of Moet & Chandon were consumed.

More than 100 million (with Beyonce paid a reported 20 million to perform) was spent on the occasion.

Until this year, the most famous hotel launch in history was in 2008, when the Atlantiss big sister The Palm, opened just next door. In 2008, Kylie Minogue performed and the worlds biggest fireworks display could apparently be seen from space.

Above is Harriet's Palmscape room type, which is furnished in blue and white and comes with 'drippings of gold'

Harriet reveals that her toothbrush and nail clippers at the hotel are 'caked' in gold

The Cloud 22 rooftop infinity pool and lounge is 'perched more than 300ft in the sky among the clouds'

Spread over six towers and arranged in Tetris-style blocks, the suites at Atlantis The Royal are already at 75 per cent occupancy.

Guests come from everywhere, but most fly in from North America, Russia and Britain. Celebrities are flocking here, too, including Idris Elba, who stayed with his wife.

Im here with a friend for a lavish weekend. Were staying in a Palmscape room 20 levels up which is furnished in blue and white and comes with two giant beds, dark wood sliding doors, a balcony overlooking the Dubai skyline and drippings of gold. Even our toothbrushes and nail clippers are caked in the colour.

Harriet dines on spicy kebabs and smoky five-herb stews in Ariana's Persian Kitchen, pictured

Yum's the word: Above is the hotel's Dinner by Heston Blumenthal restaurant

Harriet observes the 'immaculately-dressed' pool butlers delivering plates of oysters on ice

ATLANTIS THE ROYAL BY NUMBERS 795 rooms

17 restaurants

7,000 fish

92 swimming pools

24,000 a night for Panoramic Penthouse

1.2 billion cost of construction

2,100 members of staff Advertisement

People-watching is a pastime of mine. And theres no better place to do this than the Atlantis. Here, men with partners young enough to be their daughters canoodle by the pool. There are sweaty, stressed out nannies pushing prams around the pristine grounds. I even see one man dressed in an Erling Harlaand-style pyjama suit carrying a paint pot.

On closer inspection, its a Louis Vuitton handbag. And a quick Google search reveals it cost 2,385. Back at the infinity pool, we spend the afternoon sipping on Aperol spritz while helicopters whirr endlessly above in the white Arabian sky, dropping off the hotels latest VIP guests. The immaculately-dressed pool butlers deliver plates of oysters and fruit platters on ice, stopping to adjust umbrellas as the sun moves across the sky.

In an attempt to find a more authentic Dubai, we drag ourselves away from the beefed-up bodies and big lips the next morning. A short taxi ride takes us to Madinat Jumeirah where we dive into the souks and barter over handwoven cushion covers, medjool dates the size of kiwis, and, of course, gold.

Authentic Dubai fix complete, we head back to the hotel with plastic bags overflowing with goods, cool down with a dip in the sea and dry off on the sun loungers which line the hotels mile-long stretch of imported golden sand.

But despite the bling and mind-boggling scale of the hotel (with rooms starting at 464) the service is intimate and impeccable (every member of staff is adamant on pronouncing my surname correctly) and the food is superb.

At the infinity pool, Harriet spends the afternoon sipping on Aperol spritz while helicopters whirr endlessly above in the white Arabian sky, dropping off the hotels latest VIP guests

The hotel's Horizon Penthouse. In total, there are 795 rooms and suites at the resort

Guests of the hotel come from everywhere, but most fly in from North America, Russia and Britain. Above is the terrace of a Sky Pool Villa

Harriet writes: 'So, did Atlantis live up to the hype? Absolutely. Would I come again? Definitely (if my lotto ticket comes up)'

Beyonce sings at the hotels 'Grand Reveal' in January

We dine on spicy kebabs and smoky five-herb stews in the Persian restaurant.

At beachside Milos, we devour stuffed calamari, fried aubergine with creamy Greek cheese and the tastiest, zingiest tomato salad.

And, at our striped sun loungers at Nobu by the Beach, were delivered oysters on ice and buttered black cod on gem lettuce.

Evenings, meanwhile, are spent nibbling on tiny vegan tacos stuffed with deceivingly meaty pineapple thats been cooked for 20 hours at Heston Blumenthals Resonance bar.

The drinks are a treat, too. Theres every cocktail imaginable, including several tequila versions designed by American supermodel Kendall Jenner.

But Im most impressed by the non-alcoholic cocktails. There are various versions of zero per cent gin and negroni mocktails that make me want to pretend Im teetotal for the weekend.

So, did Atlantis live up to the hype? Absolutely. Would I come again? Definitely (if my lotto ticket comes up). I just need to remember to pack my fancy pyjama set  and buy that designer paint pot.
Five-star hotels today offer everything from personal butlers and private pool villas to chauffeur-driven Bentleys and sprawling marble suites.

But few luxury resorts offer their well-heeled guests use of their very own fully customised 85million private jet.

The popular Five Hotel and Resorts in the lavish city of Dubai has just launched its private plane service with a fully personalised on-brand ACJ TwoTwenty.

And guests can charter the 16-seater jet dubbed Fly Five for as little as 10,500 - or 656 per person - an hour. However, a minimum spend is likely to apply.

It features a master suite with a king-sized bed and deluxe shower, a dining table for eight, a fully-equipped kitchen as well as free-flowing champagne and caviar.

The popular Five Hotel and Resorts in the lavish city of Dubai has just launched its private plane service with a fully personalised on brand ACJ TwoTwenty

And guests can charter the 16 seater jet dubbed Fly Five for as little as 10,500 - or 656 per person - an hour. However a minimum spend is likely to apply

It features a master suite with a king-sized bed and deluxe shower, a dining table for eight, a fully-equipped kitchen as well as free-flowing champagne and caviar

Designed to bring the famed party hotel's lively vibe to the sky, the plane is called Nine Hotel Five and features ambient lighting, sleek interiors and a state-of-the-art sound system.

Passengers are provided with an iPad each, Nine Hotel Five branded pyjamas, silk sleeping masks and Molton Brown toiletries.

It also features high-speed WiFi, two ultra large 55 inch TV screens, a printer scanner and the aircraft's seats and sofas can be turned into seven further bed spaces.

A seven hour flight from London to Dubai will cost as much as 73,500  but passengers can also expect to pay a fee for the ferry journey from its base in the UAE to the UK.

'Flying FIVE will be an unmatched, flawless, curated experience for customers seeking the unique 'Vibe at FIVE' in the sky,' the hotel said of the service which was launched over the weekend.

The group's chairman and founder Kabir Mulchandani said there had already been plenty of interest from potential customers looking to charter the jet.

He said the versatile aircraft had a lot to offer and could cater for everything from business travel and meetings to private parties and marriage proposals.

The aircraft has a 12-hour flight radius covering most of the world's major cities and all of Europe.

The aircraft has a 12-hour flight radius covering most of the world's major cities and all of Europe

Designed to bring the famed party hotel's lively vibe to the sky, the plane is called Nine Hotel Five and features ambient lighting, sleek interiors and a state of the art sound system

Passengers are provided with an iPad each, Nine Hotel Five branded pyjamas, silk sleeping masks and Molton Brown toiletries. It also features high-speed WiFi, two ultra large 55 inch TV screens, a printer scanner and the aircraft's seats and sofas can be turned into seven further bed spaces

Technology engineers at Swiss Aviation firm Comlux developed the one of a kind jet equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines.

The hotel group said it was committed to 'completely offsetting Fly Five's annual emissions' by supporting forest conservation projects by aligning itself with Nature-Based Carbon Credits.

Hotels in Dubai  a city famed for its glitz and glamour - have consistently been hitting high occupancy levels with demands for the most lavish resorts running at above industry average.

Travel experts have said that established hotels in the UAE are being forced to step up their game to retain their customer base as newer and shinier resorts continue to pop up.

As a result, travellers are likely to see many more luxury experiences on offer such as Five's new private jet services as well as yacht rentals and partnerships with designer brands.
Here Lufthansa and private jet firm VistaJet reveal the science of their menus

Also, the reheating of food onboard can dry dishes up

Airline meals are a hot topic  and no wonder. When they hit the mark they're a stress-busting treat  especially for those crammed into economy - and when they don't they can leave travellers with bitter memories of their getaway.

Some flyers may reasonably wonder why they can't hit the mark every time. A lack of attention paid to the science of airline meals by the catering company may be one reason.

Of course, there's an element of science in cooking at ground level, but more so mid-flight, because the strange things that happen to passengers' senses of taste and smell aboard aircraft at altitude must be taken into account.

Here we reveal all, including the meals that work well during flights  and those that are doomed to fail.

HOW OUR SENSE OF TASTE AND SMELL CHANGE DRAMATICALLY MID-FLIGHT

Airline meals are a hot topic  and no wonder. When they hit the mark they're a stress-busting treat  especially for those crammed into economy - and when they don't they can leave travellers with bitter memories of their getaway

Lufthansa (above) has conducted extensive research into the science of plane food

According to research for Lufthansa by the Fraunhofer Institute, Artemis Aerospace noted in a recent blog post, salt is perceived to be between 20 and 30 per cent less intense and sugar 15 to 20 per cent less intense at high altitude, and overall almost 70 per cent of passengers' sense of taste is lost.

This is due to a combination of factors, including the decibel level from the engine noise, and the less than 12 per cent humidity, which rivals a desert atmosphere.

Artemis added: 'As if this weren't enough, low cabin pressure also decreases blood oxygen levels, which means that your olfactory receptors, which play a critical role in perceiving odours, become less sensitive.'

Underscoring how critical our sense of smell is, Artemis Aerospace explains that around 85 per cent of what we think of as 'taste' is actually due to our sense of smell. It adds: 'So when people accuse airline food of being bland, this may not be an entirely fair assumption.'

TYPES OF FOOD AND DRINK THAT WORK ON PLANES

Lufthansa said: 'Usually stews and curries work well under low-pressure conditions, because the spices remain "flavour stable" under low pressure when being reheated'

Professor Charles Spence from the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford has worked closely with the airline industry on dishes that do and don't work at altitude.

He told MailOnline Travel that 'umami-forward foods' are ideal  'so tomato, anchovy, mushroom, aged cheese and so on, all rich sources of umami, are likely to work well in the air'.

And as the onboard ovens dry the food out, meals generally need to be accompanied by plenty of sauce, says Professor Spence.

German carrier Lufthansa said: 'Usually all stews and curries work well under low-pressure conditions, because the spices - for example ginger, cumin, cinnamon, chilli, paprika, cardamon, and so on - remain "flavour stable" under low pressure when being reheated. There's no need to increase the amount of spices in the regular recipe.'

Professor Charles Spence told MailOnline Travel that 'umami-forward foods' are ideal airline offerings  'so tomato, anchovy, mushroom, aged cheese and so on, all rich sources of umami, are likely to work well in the air'

Private aviation firm VistaJet agrees.

It said: 'Generally, all curries travel well. As they are sauce-based they are very easy to reheat in both the microwave or oven onboard the aircraft and the flavour, rich in spices, stays unchanged.'

VistaJet serves pasta, too.

Usually all stews and curries work well under low-pressure conditions, because the spices remain 'flavour stable' under low pressure when being reheated Lufthansa

It continued: 'Spaghetti, or pasta in general, travels well, especially if reheated properly. At VistaJet, for example, we heat the pasta in the oven at 300 degrees in tin foil to a point where we're meticulous about "just reheating", not overcooking. The best pasta to enjoy? A nice tomato sauce, pure umami, mixed with the fattiness of mozzarella in the pasta creates a warm and delightful dish to enjoy on any flight.'

Lufthansa concurs, further revealing that the pasta must be good quality and that care must be taken with the sprinkling of herbs.

It said: 'First of all, robust, high-quality pasta needs to be used. Penne is probably the most durable one. If using creamy sauces, it's important to only use fresh herbs as dry herbs develop a "hay taste". Here the amount of herbs of the "regular" recipe needs to be increased  doubled even - to reach the same taste profile as on ground level.'

Drinks-wise, Professor Spence reveals that the Bloody Mary works because it gives you 'an umami hit'.

And high-altitude wines come with an expert recommendation, too.

Professor Spence said: 'Interestingly, you are probably better going for a fruitier New World number, even better if it comes from a vineyard at altitude, as you find with many Chilean wines. One suggestion here is that wines will have been created at similar atmospheric pressure, equivalent to 5-6,000ft above sea level, as found in a typical airline cabin.'

Professor Spence also recommends 'fruit-forward' craft beers.

FOOD AND DRINKS THAT DON'T WORK ON PLANES

Lufthansa serves Brussels sprouts sparingly due to 'strong smell development'

Professor Spence has some advice for airline sommeliers.

He said: 'Old World wines that are tannic don't necessarily taste so great at altitude.'

And Parmesan cheese is potentially perilous as it has a sweaty sock aroma.

Professor Spence said: 'One might want to avoid Parmesan cheese  though it is a great source of umami - given that one of the key volatile chemicals is shared with sweaty socks.'

Lufthansa pinpointed rice-based risottos as poor performers, citing the fact that 'they get dry and sticky when being reheated'. It added: 'However, replacing the rice with alternatives such as barley makes the dish suitable for airline catering.'

Cauliflower dishes are unlikely to be served by airlines - as they have a pungent smell

An example of a VistaJet menu that was offered on a Paris to Los Angeles flight

Lufthansa also explained why it is cautious around certain vegetables, adding that 'Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and sauerkraut should only be used sparingly' due to 'strong smell development'. Plus, it said, 'they are also harder to digest than other vegetables'.

VistaJet, meanwhile, added oysters and duck breast to the hazardous materials list.

It said: 'Oysters are a true taste of the sea, but for health and safety reasons we do not serve them on board as the correct temperature cannot be guaranteed from kitchen to serving. Instead, consider a light, healthy sushi or sashimi selection. The earthy and punchy condiments will work beautifully at altitude.

'And duck breast with plum sauce is a classic, but in the air it struggles to deliver on mouthfeel and flavour. At altitude, the breast becomes dry, skin loses elasticity and can taste stale.'
Ekin-Su Culculoglu has revealed that she has 'no friends left' after being thrown into the public eye.

The former Love Island star, 28, who rose to fame on season eight of the ITV reality show, spoke candidly to Cosmopolitan about her struggles with personal relationships.

She admitted that since finding fame, people don't 'want' to be her friend because of her 'status'.

The star even revealed that close friends, such as one she has known for over 10 years, even went on to sell stories about her.

Despite reflecting that she has 'no friends left', Ekin-Su insisted that she is 'much 'happier this way, particularly with the support of her boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti.

Difficult: Ekin-Su Culculoglu has revealed that she has 'no friends left' after being thrown into the public eye

She told the publication: 'I've lost every friend I had. I don't have any friends. I have one friend and that's it.

'Unfortunately, with the fame, you see people's true colours. People just want to be your friend because of your status, and it's a hard industry to trust.

'No, I don't actually have friends left. People I'd known for 10 years who were in my lifeSelling stories is not very nice. I wouldn't do that to someone. If they were happy, I would support them.

'Unfortunately, I had that coming out of the villa, I had to delete people out of my life.

'But I am happier this way. Sometimes keeping your circle small is the best, and you don't always need friends. So long as you know who you are, that's fine.'

The star also opened up about her mental health and times where, despite struggling, she was forced to 'keep smiling' and 'pretend everything was fine'.

Ekin-Su referenced to this time as being when she appeared on ITV's Dancing On Ice.

The brunette beauty broke down in tears after becoming the third star to be eliminated from the competition earlier this year.

Tough: The star even revealed that close friends, such as one she has known for over 10 years, even went on to sell stories about her

Support: Despite reflecting that she has 'no friends left', Ekin-Su insisted that she is 'much 'happier this way, particularly with the support of her boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti

The star couldn't stop the tears from falling after facing Patsy Palmer in the skate-off - which host Phillip Schofield dubbed at the time 'the most emotional vote we've ever had'.

And reflecting on what she was going through at the time, Ekin-Su said: 'There have been things in my life that I can't mention now that have affected my mental health for a while.

'I had to keep smiling and pretend everything was fine. This was during Dancing On Ice when there were things in the background  not relationship related, by the way  [they were] work related that was very hard.

'I couldn't say anything. It was mentally draining. That was one of the tough times.

'It took me a while to get back out of itYour mental health is your priority.

'After my trip to the Maldives with Davide, we turned off our phones, we didn't check the internet. He was helping me forget things [and] the stuff online.'

It comes after Ekin-Su revealed that she 'loves' reading hateful comments online.

The former Love Island star 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.

Hard times: The star also opened up about her mental health and times where, despite struggling, she was forced to 'keep smiling' and 'pretend everything was fine'. Ekin-Su referenced to this time as being when she appeared on ITV's Dancing On Ice

She said: 'After my trip to the Maldives with Davide, we turned off our phones, we didn't check the internet. He was helping me forget things [and] the stuff online'

'The more I see them, the more I want to be more confident. It is a reverse psychology game.'

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.
Masterchef judge Melissa Leong has shared an urgent warning after her friend fell victim to a terrifying scam.

The 41-year-old food critic took to her Instagram Story on Tuesday to spread awareness about scams sent via text and emails and how easy it can is to be targeted.

Melissa explained how her friend received a text message that had been 'made to look like' a company she'd been dealing with.

She said her friend 'filled out a form and has now had her entire saving account cleared out.'

'She's a single mother living on a knife edge. She 's also smart and wary,' Melissa added. 'If she can be taken by this, anyone can.

Masterchef judge Melissa Leong (pictured) has shared an urgent warning after her friend fell victim of a terrifying scam

'Please be careful out there. There are a lot of horrific people doing reprehensible things.'

The television host implied that her friend may never get her money back.

'Scammers can use accumulated information to trick you into giving up your info with less resistance, which is truly creepy and underhanded,' she continued.

'Because she volunteered her info, banks see this as a scam and not fraud, which means you may not get your money back.'

Melissa explained how her friend received a text message that had been 'made to look like' a company she'd been dealing with and said her friend 'has now had her entire saving account cleared out'

The television host implied that her friend may never get her money back

Melissa's PSA comes a week after news that her relationship with cosmetics entrepreneur Rob Mason appeared to be on rocky ground, with the MasterChef judge recently unfollowing him on Instagram.

She also appears to have deleted all photos of her former beau from her page.

Mason however still follows Leong on social media.

'Please be careful out there. There are a lot of horrific people doing reprehensible things,' Melissa said

Daily Mail Australia reached out to Leong and her representatives for comment last week.

The cookbook author debuted her romance with Mason in October 2021, just 10 months after her split with ex-husband Joe Jones.

She first appeared on Rob's Instagram page in August 2021, before finally making things official two months later.

Melissa Leong's relationship with cosmetics entrepreneur Rob Mason appears to be on rocky ground, with the MasterChef judge recently unfollowing Mason on Instagram. Both pictured in 2022

Leong recently unfollowing Mason on Instagram. She also appears to have deleted all photos of her former beau from her page

The apparent split comes just days after Leong was seen getting emotional at a private funeral for her late MasterChef co-star Jock Zonfrillo.

Family and friends of the late Jock Zonfrillo made an emotional exit from a Sydney chapel on Saturday, May 13, as they farewelled the celebrity chef.

The Masterchef judge, who died on April 30 aged 46, was laid to rest in a private funeral surrounded by a small group of family and friends.
Kim Kardashian has sparked the ire of many fans after recently voicing her challenges with being a single mom.

The reality TV star, 42, said that parenting is 'really f*****g hard' while appearing on Monday's 'On Purpose With Jay Shetty' podcast, where she also admitted she sometimes 'cries herself to sleep' due to the stress.

However, many took issue with her 'complaints' and pointed out that the SKIMS founder  who shares North, nine; Saint, seven; Chicago, five; and Psalm, four with ex Kanye West, 45  has a lot more help than the average mom.

'She has Nannie's [sic] and a lot of support in comparison to the average woman, and yet she still complains,' one commentator pointed out.

'Kim has 4 nannies, one assigned to each kid. Motherhood is not hard. Nannies are raising her kids. She needs stop trying to act like she's middle class,' another wrote.

Hard: Kim Kardashian sparked the ire of many fans after she said being a single mom-of-four is 'really f*****g hard' as she spoke about her parenting challenges on the Jay Shetty podcast

Not your average mom: Many took issue with her 'complaints' and pointed out that the SKIMS founder, 42  who shares North, nine; Saint, seven; Chicago, five; and Psalm, four with ex Kanye West, 45  has a lot more help than the average mom

'She also talks as if she doesnt have A FULL STAFF OF PEOPLE HELPING HER WTF,' someone else added.

'I HATE the way they never acknowledge their help, like they dont have nannies, maids, personal chefs, personal trainers, plastic surgeons on speed dial. get REAL kim,' another person chimed in.

'So much fakeness and contrived drama in their lives. Has so much background help from nannies. You would swear she does it all alone,' another quipped.

Other comments praised Kim for her work ethic but complained that she didn't acknowledge the help she receives.

'I just wish w the parenting stuff shed acknowledge and go into detail about Nannies and help,' one wrote.

'Kim has Nannys to help her, and I dont doubt she works hard & appreciate her grind - but she is not doing everything by herself..'

However, the Hulu star also received many positive comments with others who related to her situation.

'As a mother of 4 myself, and a single mom at that, she is speaking from legit experience! She may be extremely successful, and nannysbut what she speaks about with 4 kids and one mama.is SPOT ON! No one understands that if you dont have multiple kids.' one woman wrote.

More help than most: 'She has Nannie's [sic] and a lot of support in comparison to the average woman, and yet she still complains,' one commentator pointed out

Middle class cosplay: 'Kim has 4 nannies, one assigned to each kid. Motherhood is not hard. Nannies are raising her kids. She needs stop trying to act like she's middle class'

Acknowledgment: 'I just wish w the parenting stuff shed acknowledge and go into detail about Nannies and help,' another wrote

Not the right messenger: 'Kim Kardashian with her nannies, wealth, nad literally having every resource possible is NOT the person to interview about the challenges of parenting'

Not relatable: 'Your [sic] a single mother with millions and a rich baby father you got driver nanny chef and assistants so don't try to be relatable'

Trade places? 'We can trade places. I'll take the $$$, nanny's butlers, maids etc!! And you can take my place & be a real single mom sis,' another wrote

She has help: 'Kim has Nannys to help her, and I dont doubt she works hard & appreciate her grind - but she is not doing everything by herself..'

Makes it easier: 'I HATE the way they never acknowledge their help, like they dont have nannies, maids, personal chefs, personal trainers, plastic surgeons on speed dial'

'Being a single mom is hard. I cannot imagine also being in the public eye, constantly being judged and criticized for every aspect of living life,' another added.

'I cant imagine being a single mom of 4 with millions watching and ready to criticize every move! Made me respect so much more!  ' yet another fan commented.

When the TV personality was asked by the host what her 'vision' of parenting was like in the past before kids versus 'what is actually is' she expressed, 'Everyone says the days are long and the years are short, and that couldn't be like a more true statement.'

She continued, 'So, like, when you're in it, I mean, especially when they're babies and you're feeding and there's madness going on. It's like full madness. It's the best chaos though.'

'Like, my mornings, you have no idea what is going on,' Kim explained. 'It's like I always have to do one of my daughter's hair, and it has to be perfect and it has to be a certain way.'

'And then this one needs me to put his shoes on and they all need you. It's like full crazy madness, cooking, running around. Like, it's wild. That's why I need my workout in the morning, just to like, prepare for the two hours of craziness.'

The media personality then reflected on parenthood and told Jay, 'I'd say parenting is the thing that has taught me the most about myself.'

'It has been the most challenging thing. There are nights I cry myself to sleep. Like, holy shit, this f*****g tornado in my house. Like, what just happened?'

Mom life: Kim discussed her struggles on the podcast saying parenthood 'has been the most challenging thing. There are nights I cry myself to sleep'; Seen with Kanye and kids in 2019

Good cop, bad cop: 'It's [just] me to play good police officer and bad cop,' she admitted, adding that she was 'working on being a little bit firmer'; Pictured with daughter North

Co-parenting: Kim's marriage to Kanye came to an end in February of 2021, before their divorce was finalized in November of 2022

'You know, with all the moods and the personalities and sometimes they're fighting, and you know, there's no one there. Like, it's [just] me to play good police officer and bad cop,' she admitted, adding that she was 'working on being a little bit firmer.'

Kim continued to open up candidly and admitted to Jay that, 'There's nothing that can prepare you. Anyone, any person that says, "Oh, we're waiting to have 'x' amount of money in the bank" or "Oh, we're waiting to have a home before we have kids"...you are never prepared.'

However, despite the challenges when it comes to parenting, the star positively stated, 'You will figure it out. And it will make you so proud of yourself-that you figured it out and that you got through the day.'

While the mother of four admitted to the hardships that raising a family could bring, she also revealed how rewarding it can be. 'It teaches you so much more about yourself than I think anyone, any parent, could have ever anticipated.'

Kim's marriage to Kanye came to an end in February of 2021, before their divorce was finalized in November of 2022.
Laura Whitmore looked the epitome of chic as she attended the 7 For All Mankind launch party in London on Tuesday.

Putting her DJ skills to the test, the television presenter, 38, appeared in good spirits as she stood behind the booth in a double denim ensemble.

She wore a denim shirt with a sequinned detail and blue denim jeans to party the night away.

Co-ordinating her look, she lifted her enviable figure with a pair of white heeled boots and toted a yellow bag in hand.

The beauty styled her blonde tresses in a loose ponytail with strands falling either side of her face, before letting her locks down to party.

Double trouble! Laura Whitmore looked the epitome of chic as she attended the 7 For All Mankind launch party in London on Tuesday

She sported a stunning palette of make up for the evening, including a swipe of red lipstick.

Laura looked incredible as she posed up a storm, where she was joined by supermodel Leomi Anderson.

Leomi, 30, looked equally as sensational for the evening, where she flaunted her enviable frame in a figure-hugging cut-out denim dress.

The racy number featured circle cut-outs up her chest as well as two either side of her waist, showcasing her toned stomach.

The beauty paired her look with white cowboy boots and wore her raven locks in a slicked back bun.

Adding a touch of flair to her outfit, she arrived in a white fur coat.

Also in attendance was Tigerlily Taylor, who stunned in a denim crop top and matching blue jeans.

The British model, 28, showed off her chic sense of style in the daring outfit, which featured racy cut-outs down her leg and across her cleavage.

Making noise: Putting her DJ skills to the test, the television presenter, 38, appeared in good spirits as she stood behind the booth in a double denim ensemble

Chic: She wore a denim shirt with a sequinned detail and blue denim jeans to party the night away

Party time! Co-ordinating her look, she lifted her enviable figure with a pair of white heeled boots and toted a yellow bag in hand

Letting loose: The beauty styled her blonde tresses in a loose ponytail with strands falling either side of her face, before letting her locks down to party

She teamed the look with a black leather jacket and toted a black bag across her shoulder.

Laura's appearance comes after she recently DJed at the 2023 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises after party at The Royal Festival Hall in London.

The television presenter was in good spirits as she stood behind the DJ booth, wearing a glitzy gold see-through top which left little to the imagination.

Former Love Island host Laura's top was covered in gold sequins, with a V-shaped sheer section down the front.

She looked glamorous having opted for a make-up palette of gold hues while her blonde hair was styled into loose curls.

The broadcaster posed with her arm in the air as she played music for the guests at the bash.

Laura was the epitome of elegance as she attended the BAFTA Television Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London earlier in the day.

She looked stunning in a black figure-hugging dress with a sheer scalloped waist in the middle from Galvan London.

Fun! Laura looked incredible as she posed up a storm, where she was joined by supermodel Leomi Anderson

Wow! Leomi, 30, looked equally as sensational for the evening, where she flaunted her enviable frame in a figure-hugging cut-out denim dress

Toned: The racy number featured circle cut-outs up her chest as well as two either side of her waist, showcasing her toned stomach

Beauty: Also in attendance was Tigerlily Taylor, who stunned in a denim crop top and matching blue jeans

The stunning garment featured a racy thigh-high split - flaunting her very slender silhouette.

She gave some extra inches to her height as she donned a pair of black strappy heels.

The Irish beauty completed the chic ensemble with a matching Bulgari squared handbag, featuring a golden handle.

Laura didn't spare a touch of bling as she donned dainty rings and a pair of heart-shaped pendant earrings by Yves Saint Laurent.

The TV personality styled her stunning blonde tresses in loose waves, framing her beautiful features - as they gently covered her shoulders and back.

She donned a delicate lightning make up palette, with a peachy pink lipgloss and rosy blush on her cheeks.

The former This Morning host donned a shimmery eyeshadow, long lashes and full eyebrows.

Laura looked glowing as she was all smiles posing up a storm on the red carpet.

The TV star was hard to miss as she posed for photos outside London's Royal Festival Hall.

Stepping out: Laura's appearance comes after she recently DJed at the 2023 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises after party at The Royal Festival Hall in London
Lila Moss looked sensational in a lilac mini dress as she walked the runway for Versace with a glamorous Irina Shayk in Cannes on Tuesday.

The model, 20, who is the daughter of Kate Moss and her then-boyfriend Jefferson Hack, strutted her stuff on the high-fashion catwalk for Dua Lipa X Versace La Vacanza.

The tiny garment was adorned with bejewelled denim straps with buckles, with cut-outs across her chest and midriff, showing off her enviable figure.

She put on a very leggy display with the short length of the dress, adding inches to her height with a pair of metallic baby pink heels.

She added chunky jewelled bracelets and swept her blonde tresses back into a huge high ponytail to show off her voluminous locks.

Strutting her stuff: Lila Moss, 30, looked sensational in a lilac minidress as she walked the runway for Versace with a glamorous Irina Shayk in Cannes on Tuesday

Fashionable company: Meanwhile Russian supermodel Irina, 37, also rocked the runway with a very different look

Meanwhile Russian supermodel Irina, 37, also rocked the runway with a very different look.

She looked stunning in an off-the-shoulder black midi dress, which hugged her slender figure.

Irina added contrasting white heels and kept her brunette hair loose and simple while she worked the catwalk.

It comes after Lila stunned in a quirky fluffy frock that featured a sheer panel to showcase her tiny waist as she posed on the red carpet at the Met Gala with famous mum Kate, 49.

The ensemble featured a voluminous skirt and plunging top, the blonde beauty wore her locks slicked back and accessorised with statement earrings.

Lila was joined by her mother at the event held at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1.

The supermodel oozed sophistication in a pink lingerie inspired gown, which hugged every inch of her svelte figure.

The satin frock boasted a plunging neckline and lace trim which the catwalk queen teamed with a flowing sheer cape.

Kate accentuated her features with a radiant palette of make-up and lashings of mascara by Charlotte Tilbury while opting to wear her blonde hair loose.

She completed the look with a diamond necklace and matching bracelet, while adding height to her frame with heels.

Detailing: The tiny garment was adorned with bejewelled denim straps with buckles, with cut-outs across her chest and midriff

Spell-binding: Irina looked stunning in an off-the-shoulder black midi dress, which hugged her slender figure

Stunning: It comes after Lila stunned in a quirky fluffy frock that featured a sheer panel to showcase her tiny waist as she posed on the Met Gala red carpet on May 1
Lucy Benjamin is set to return to EastEnders as Lisa Fowler more than 20 years after her character shot Phil Mitchell.

The actress, 52, will make a Walford comeback with her granddaughter Peggy in tow.

Lisa's return is set to cause trouble for Peggy's father Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) when he is shocked by their presence.

Soap star Lisa was last on the BBC soap for a short time four years ago when she fell pregnant by Keanu, with Lisa's ex Phil (Steve McFadden) discovering Keanu was also having an affair with his wife Sharon (Letitia Dean) at the time.

Lucy told the Mirror: 'I cant wait to return as Lisa after leaving for Portugal with Louise and Peggy in 2019.

Back with a bang! Lucy Benjamin, 52, is set to return to EastEnders as Lisa Fowler more than 20 years after her character shot Phil Mitchell

Woes: Lisa was on EastEnders in 2019 when she fell pregnant by Keanu (Danny Walters), with Lisa's ex Phil (Steve McFadden, centre) learning Keanu was having an affair with wife Sharon (Letitia Dean, left)

'No doubt, in true Lisa fashion, she will bring plenty of drama for many of the characters, which is why playing her is such a delight.'

In 2019, during Lisa's brief return, her character Lisa helped her daughter flee Albert Square for Portugal after she became convinced she was responsible for Keanu's murder.

However, while Keanu did not die, it was actually Phil to tried to see him off after Keanu got both his wife and daughter pregnant.

Lisa and Louise have since been living with Phil's granddaughter Peggy in the Portuguese sun and Louise has remained unaware Keanu is actually alive.

It comes after it emerged Michelle Collins is returning to EastEnders 25 years after her character was killed off.

The 60-year-old actress starred as Cindy Beale on the BBC soap opera from 1988 until 1998 and is reportedly due to make a return to screens along with her on-screen husband Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), who is also heading back to the soap after a two-year break.

Cindy's return will come as a surprise for most as the character was said to have died in childbirth off-screen whilst serving time in prison for attempted murder.

A source told The Sun: 'This has been done so secretively but its going to be an absolute bombshell  an unbelievable twist.

Back with a bang: Michelle Collins, 60, is returning to EastEnders 25 years after her character was killed off (Michelle pictured in 1989 as her character Cindy Beale alongside Adam Woodyatt, who played Ian Beale)

Comeback: The actress starred as Cindy Beale on the BBC soap opera from 1988 until 1998 and is reportedly due to make a return to screens (pictured this month)

Big return: Michelle is reportedly due to make a return to screens along with her on-screen husband Ian Beale, played by Adam Woodyatt (pictured last month)

'Ian and Cindy are one of the most memorable couples in soap history.

'But Cindy has been dead for 25 years  and nobody will see this coming.

'The biggest surprise is that Michelle has so often said theres no chance shed come back.'

Since her time on Albert Square, Michelle has carved out a successful career on both stage and screen, having enjoyed a stint as Rovers Return landlady Stella Price in rival soap opera Coronation Street and has appeared in stage productions of musicals such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Manu Feildel has become the latest celebrity chef to fall victim to cryptocurrency scammers.

The My Kitchen Rules judge's Instagram page was hijacked by scammers in a bid to dupe his fans into sending them money.

They posted screenshots of fake bank statements to claim Manu made just over $10,000 from 'safe and legit' investments.

The scammers even went out of their way to Photoshop the chef's name onto the fake statements.

Manu is yet to address the scam posts and Daily Mail Australia has reached out for comment.

Manu Feildel (pictured) has become the latest celebrity chef to fall victim to his Instagram being hijacked by cryptocurrency scammers

It comes less than 24 hours after Masterchef judge Melissa Leong shared an urgent warning on Tuesday after her friend had her life savings 'cleaned out' by a text scammer.

The 41-year-old food critic took to her Instagram Story to spread awareness about scams sent via text and emails and how easy it can is to be targeted.

Melissa explained how her friend received a text message that had been 'made to look like' a company she'd been dealing with.

The My Kitchen Rules judge, 49, appears to have been hacked on Wednesday after a series of posts on his account and Instagram Story were shared by scammers in a bid to dupe his fans into sending them money

The scammers have even gone out of their way to Photoshop the chef's name into the fake statements

She said her friend 'filled out a form and has now had her entire saving account cleared out.'

'If she can be taken by this, anyone can,' she said.

Meanwhile, restaurateur Maggie Beer fell victim to online scams in March after a series of bizarre posts surfaced on her Instagram feed.

Concerns grew after her official account shared several posts asking followers to donate money to a GoFundMe campaign.

The posts, which have since been deleted, also provided bank details for fans to transfer their donations.

Screenshots of bank statements were posted, promising 'safe and legit' investments

Her team later clarified the situation in a post, announcing that Maggie's account had been 'compromised' and experts were addressing the situation.

'We are currently working with our experts to secure the account as a priority and remove fraudulent content as quickly as possible', the announcement read.

Maggie's team also warned her followers not to engage with any fundraiser that has been promoted on her page in the past 24 hours.

Maggie Beer (pictured) was a victim on online scams in March after a series of bizarre posts surfaced on her Instagram feed

Maggie's representatives shared a post announcing that her account had been 'compromised'

In the past, her identity has been fraudulently used to promote products like cannabis oil, weight loss products and 'keto' gummy bears.

Speaking to A Current Affair in 2021, Maggie said she felt 'violated' by these false celebrity endorsements.

'People trust me and therefore they see the name and  it takes something away from me every time,' she lamented.

If you have been impacted by a scam, contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission at or Scamwatch.
Jeddah Islamic Port has notched a 25.07% hike in total container volumes during April this year, handling around 465,348 TEUs compared to last years 372,064 TEUs, according to monthly data published by the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani).

In other container statistics, the kingdoms busiest port recorded a 21.83% rise in transshipments and restows from 214,686 TEUs last year to 261,543 TEUs this year.

The ports cargo column saw an addition of 19.33% to the 2022 volume of 4,409,557 tonnes to achieve about 5,261,883 tonnes in the previous month. Key figures across major cargo categories include 128,714 tonnes of general cargo, 305,038 tonnes of dry bulk cargo, and 34,109 tonnes of liquid bulk cargo.

324 vessels

In addition, Jeddahs trade hub played host to 324 vessels over the course of April, a 13.29% surge over last years count of 286 vessels. The same month also saw a triple- figure leap in passenger traffic, with numbers totalling 40,947 pax at a 334.77% year-on-year jump from 9,418 pax during the same period in 2022.

Similarly, the port witnessed increased trade activity on the livestock front, this led to 458,280 cattle heads being imported, beating the previous years tally of 446,539 cattle heads by 2.63%. On the other hand, automotive trade grew 72.08% to 54,511 units from 31,677 units a year earlier.

A major regional hub serving critical global shipping lanes, Jeddah Islamic Ports world-class operations and infrastructure not only enable it to facilitate global supply chains but propel the kingdom to the forefront of major international indicators such as the World Banks Container Port Performance Index and Logistics Performance Index in line with the goals of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS).-- TradeArabia News Service
Gap is seeking over $2million from Kanye West in order to cover costs they may incur in a lawsuit accusing them of modifying a leased Yeezy storefront without permission.

The retail giant is being sued by the commercial real estate company, Art City Center, who owns the building located in Downtown Los Angeles, for allegedly making 'numerous, significant, unapproved' changes.

Gap leased the property from April 2021 to September 2022  which is when West abruptly terminated his partnership with the brand  and paid over $104,000 in rent per month, as per RadarOnline.

As part of their agreement, Gap was not allowed to modify the building without seeking approval from the company.

In a suit filed in October 2022, Art City Center demanded that Gap hand over $1.5million to restore the venue.

But the clothing brand insists all changes were made by West without their approval and filed a separate lawsuit in April against the rapper to cover any potential damages as well as attorneys' fees.

Gap is seeking over $2million from Kanye West in order to cover costs they may incur in a lawsuit accusing them of modifying a leased Yeezy storefront without permission; seen in 2019

The retail giant is being sued by the commercial real estate company, Art City Center, who owns the building located in Downtown Los Angeles, for allegedly making 'numerous, significant, unapproved' changes

Gap alleges that their contract with West states they are not to be held liable for 'any claims brought due to Yeezy's acts or omissions.'

'The performance of the work not only breached the Strategic Agreement, but the manner of preparing for and performing the work caused the need for the repairs and restoration alleged in the complaint,' the court filing reads.

They further suggest that West was in breach of contract by 'making and not repairing or restoring the foregoing alterations' which then 'directly and proximately caused Gap to incur expenses to repair and restore the premises.'

West signed a 10-year contract with Gap in 2020 but pulled the plug on their partnership late last year, alleging that the brand breached their agreement by not releasing apparel as planned, or opening stores.

Soon after, Yeezy Gap merchandise was pulled from shelves and online.

A letter issued by the artist's lawyers to the company was shared by West to his Instagram on September 15.

It claimed that Gap company was required to sell 40% of the Yeezy Gap merch in stores during the latter part of 2021.

But the clothing brand insists all changes were made by West without their approval and filed a separate lawsuit in April against the rapper to cover any potential damages as well as attorneys' fees; seen in 2022

The drama: West signed a 10-year contract with Gap in 2020 but pulled the plug on their partnership late last year, alleging that the brand breached their agreement by not releasing apparel as planned, or opening stores

Interesting: A letter issued by the artist's lawyers to the company was shared by West to his Instagram on September 15

Only one item from the collection went on sale last fall, and it was only available online and not in a store.

No Yeezy Gap stores have opened yet; the company was required to open five retail shops by July 31, 2023.

The Yeezy Gap by Balenciaga merch debuted in stores in July 2022 and it was suggested in the letter that merchandise made in collaboration with Balenciaga for Gap would not be affected.

Kanye has claimed that Gap cut him out of meetings as well as the creative process and does not promote the collection.

Three months after he signed the deal, Kanye threatened to withhold his line unless he got a board seat.

Last August, Kanye criticized Gap and spoke to its executives directly: 'You have to really give me the position to be Ye and let me do what I'm thinking, or I have to do the thinking somewhere else.'

That same month, Kanye came under fire after he made the decision to display his new Yeezy line in garbage bags at GAP stores after critics complained that he was mocking homeless people.

The rapper told FOX News' Eric Shawn at the time that he was just trying to challenge conventional traditions in the way we dress and make clothing that's more egalitarian and not pretentious.

'I'm an innovator and I'm not here to sit up and apologize for my ideas,' Kanye said.

He also pointed out that the bags are not 'garbage' bags but actually construction bags and the reason for the bags is so people can informally reach in and grab what they want to buy - adding that the goal is to make life easier and informal so we can all, basically, dress in the dark.

The father-of-four also sparked controversy for saying on his Instagram account that inspiration behind his fashion label, Yeezy, was 'the homeless.'

In January 2022, a Yeezy GAP spokesperson told The Post: 'Ye has a deep and solution-oriented commitment to addressing issues surrounding homelessness.'

Gap's suit against West comes just one month after the company revealed that it planned to cut hundreds of staff from its global workforce to slash costs and streamline the company amid plans to cull 350 stores across the US by the end of the year.

Striking: Some of the most sought-after items are hoodies and T-Shirts which have the iconic Gap block lettering on the front and and image of a dove printed on the back

Fashion: Designs made by the star had a bit of a shadowy undertone

Wow: West was previously roasted on social media after fans complained that his new Yeezy line for GAP has been displayed in trash bags, at the rapper's own request, last year

The latest round of cuts are part of a restructuring to make the iconic American fashion brand 'more nimble and less bureaucratic'.

Gap laid off around 500 corporate employees mainly in its San Francisco and New York offices in September as part of efforts to save $250million a year.

The retailer saw net sales fall by six per cent to $15.6billion for the fiscal year that ended on January 28 and swung to a loss of $202million from a profit of $256million the year before.

Gap was previously among the biggest operators of mall stores in country but the brand has been decimated since the pandemic and it has closed 299 stores across the North America since October 2020.
Ben Fogle And The Buried City

Rating: ****

Inside Kabul: Storyville

Rating: ****

The folk of Montserrat are so peaceable and law-abiding that they don't just leave their doors unlocked day and night. Every parked car has the keys in its ignition.

This crime-free little Caribbean island, population around 5,000, is almost literally heaven on Earth. One of its nearest neighbours is Guadeloupe, where Death In Paradise is filmed.

But despite the idyllic atmosphere, life on Montserrat is constantly on the brink of obliteration. This joyful community could be wiped out at any moment. How's that as a grim metaphor for humanity . . .

Ben Fogle And The Buried City (Ch5) explored the remains of Montserrat's capital, Plymouth, known as the Pompeii of the Caribbean after a series of volcanic eruptions in the 1990s smothered it in ash.

Lava filled the bay, creating a burned-out plateau of new land scattered with vast boulders that were carried like seeds on waves of boiling gas, known as pyroclastic flow.

Ben Fogle meets JumBlack - the only person living in exclusion zone

Ben was happier chatting to Jumblack, a lone farmer who was defying officialdom by living in a house in the shadow of the volcano

The southern half of the island is now an exclusion zone. Visiting with a guide, Ben looked ill at ease. He's no adrenaline junkie  comfortable chatting to hermits and nomads on the fringes of society, but not drawn to disaster for its own sake.

A flight in a helicopter over the barely dormant Soufriere Hills volcano left him sweating. And in the monitoring station with a laidback seismologist, he almost jumped out of his skin when a tremor alarm went off.

The scientist looked unconcerned. There was no need to panic, he said, unless all the klaxons started blaring at once. A single alarm was probably triggered by a stray cow.

Ben was happier chatting to Jumblack, a lone farmer who was defying officialdom by living in a house in the shadow of the volcano. A grey-bearded Rastafarian, he grew veg in the rich soil, trapping and eating the rat-like agoutis that came to steal his crops.

Jumblack was monosyllabic at first, but Ben's expert and sympathetic questioning persuaded him to open up. He described the terror of the eruption and the refugee camps that followed, and how he fled to Antigua with a $10,000 government relocation grant  money that confused and frightened him, because he hadn't earned it.

When the 65-year-old returned to Montserrat, he was hauled up in court for breaching the exclusion zone and fined $900. His response was defiance: he walked straight from the courtroom, back to his home. The authorities haven't bothered him since then, apart from occasional raids looking for marijuana. 'I'm a Rastaman,' he grinned.

I'd love to see a longer interview with Jumblack, perhaps as part of Ben's New Lives In The Wild series. Whether our intrepid presenter fancies spending a week under the volcano is a different question. Every time a heavy-hoofed cow set off an alarm, he'd be in bits.

Two young Afghan women, Raha and Marwa, described life in the shadow of a different kind of volcano, the Taliban regime, on Inside Kabul: Storyville (BBC4).

Two young Afghan women, Raha and Marwa, described life in the shadow of a different kind of volcano, the Taliban regime, on Inside Kabul: Storyville (BBC4)

Oppression under the fundamentalist junta is so extreme that all music is prohibited except for the religious dirges they blast from speakers on the back of pick-up trucks. Raha had to remove the strings from her guitar: 'It is a very dead guitar in a very dead country,' she said.

Marwa managed to flee with her husband but spent years in an Abu Dhabi hostel for refugees. They took just a backpack: 'I could only carry my body without my soul,' was how Marwa put it.

The women's voices were recorded in secret, with the audio replayed over simple animations that gave the half-hour film an oddly childlike quality  like a nightmarish Watch With Mother story. A brave and valuable testimony.
After a brief jaunt to the Cannes Film Festival, Katie Holmes was spotted dashing around New York City this Tuesday.

Although the string of glittering events is still underway in the South Of France, Katie, 44, has wrapped up her engagements and returned home to America.

For her latest outing she slipped into a summery denim blouse with an intricate lattice print, tucking it in to play up her trim waistline.

Katie, who has a 17-year-old daughter called Suri by her ex-husband Tom Cruise, went matchy-matchy in a pair of jeans.

Sweeping her silky dark locks back into a ponytail, she warded off the rays in a pair of bronze-tinted sunglasses and popped on a casual pair of sneakers.

Legs for days: After a brief jaunt to the Cannes Film Festival, Katie Holmes was spotted dashing around New York City this Tuesday

City girl: Although the string of glittering events is still underway in the South Of France, Katie, 44, has wrapped up her engagements and returned home to America

While doing the rounds at the Cannes Film Festival, she took the stage for a talk at an event called Women In Motion thrown by the French luxury goods firm Kering.

Chaired by Salma Hayek's husband Francois-Henri Pinault, Kering boasts a glamorous list of subsidiaries including Balenciaga, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.

During her Women In Motion interview, Katie talked about how her experience as an actress influenced her work as a director.

To date, she has directed three feature films - All We Had, Alone Together and the new release Rare Objects starring her alongside Alan Cumming.

She theorized onstage at Cannes that 'working with actors, having, you know, being an actor, there's also, I know what they're feeling. I think I know what they're feeling and I hope that they feel more comfortable because they know I'm them.'

As for her acting career, the Batman Begins actor shared that she 'would love to do a comedy actually. I think that people need to laugh right now. Also, I love musicals. I can't really sing that well, though,' she confessed with a giggle.

Katie's Cannes trip also included the Women's Stories Gala held by Vanity Fair in conjunction with Saudi Arabia's controversial Red Sea International Film Festival.

The Red Sea International Film Festival, which has an emphasis on highlighting Third World talent, was thrown for the second time in Jeddah this past October.

Canadian tuxedo: Katie, who has a 17-year-old daughter called Suri by her ex-husband Tom Cruise , went matchy-matchy in a pair of jeans

Stylish: Sweeping her silky dark locks back into a ponytail, she warded off the rays in a pair of bronze-tinted sunglasses and popped on a casual pair of sneakers

Chatting away: Holmes walked around with her phone pressed to her ear as she spoke with a loved one or business partner

Making it happen: While doing the rounds at the Cannes Film Festival, she took the stage for a talk at an event called Women In Motion thrown by the French luxury goods firm Kering (seen earlier this month)

In 2021 the inaugural festival opened with Cyrano starring Peter Dinklage and the best film prize went to a Georgian picture called Brighton 4th.

From the off, the film festival was slammed abroad by those who regarded it as an propaganda drive to sanitize the public image of the Saudi state.

At the opening ceremony of the latest edition, JFK director Oliver Stone strikingly gave a speech defending the local regime.

'You see the changes that are coming here, the reforms,' he said according to a report in Deadline. 'I think people who judge too harshly should come and visit this place and see for themselves.'
Robert De Niro and his baby mama Tiffany Chen were spotted partying at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday after welcoming their first child together.

The Academy Award-winner, 79  whose latest film Killers Of The Flower Moon debuted at the festival this week  and the martial arts instructor attended the Air Mail soiree.

He kept it low-key in a dark green polo shirt and a black jacket while Chen looked effortlessly elegant in a cream longline cardigan.

The Raging Bull star shocked fans earlier this month when he confirmed that he'd fathered a seventh child and that it was planned.

Chen  who is believed be 45-years-old  gave birth to the couple's baby daughter, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro, on Thursday, April 6.

Robert De Niro and his baby mama Tiffany Chen were spotted partying at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday after welcoming their first child together

The Academy Award-winner, 79  whose latest film Killers Of The Flower Moon debuted at the festival this week  and the martial arts instructor attended the Air Mail soiree

Style: He kept it low-key in a dark green polo shirt and a black jacket while Chen looked effortlessly elegant in a cream longline cardigan

During Tuesday's party, De Niro and his girlfriend briefly parted to mingle with other guests.

He was photographed chatting with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and photographer Jean Pigozzi.

De Niro and Chen made their first formal appearance together since the baby news on Saturday, May 20, at the Vanity Fair x Prada Party in Cap d'Antibes, France.

The Cape Fear actor dished more details about baby Gia, including her name and gender reveal, while speaking on the phone with CBS Mornings host Gayle King last week.

He revealed that Gia was born weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces and that the couple were 'over the moon.'

'She was brought here by love,' Gayle said De Niro told her in their phone call.

The outlet also shared a photo of his adorable baby girl.

The iconic actor shocked the world when he revealed he had 'just had a baby' in an interview with ET Canada - after Tiffany was seen with a baby bump in March.

The ET Canada reporter asked De Niro about his six children - to which he corrected them and said 'seven.'

De Niro later explained to Gayle: 'In that moment, I didn't want to deny this baby.'

And though the news of the actor expanding his brood may have surprised fans, De Niro told Page Six he was not surprised, saying, 'How you could not plan that kind of thing?'

De Niro shared his feelings about becoming a father again, saying, 'I'm ok with it,' when Extra asked if he was excited. 'I'm good with it,' he added.

When asked if becoming a parent ever gets easier, the Taxi Driver quipped, 'Never gets easier.'

The happy couple were photographed holding hands in July 2021, and in March of this year, she appeared pregnant when leaving Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California.

The Godfather actor has six other children; Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, with his ex-wife Diahnne Abbott, Elliot, 25, and Helen, 11, with ex-wife Grace Hightower, and twins Aaron and Julian, 27, with former girlfriend, Toukie Smith.

Tiffany and Robert are thought to have first met in 2015 when they worked on the film The Intern together. The film also starred Anne Hathaway as a workaholic CEO, with Robert working at her company as a senior intern.

Tiffany had a small role as a Tai Chi instructor who helped out Robert's character.

The pair walked arm-in-arm through the venue

They mingled with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, David Zaslav

De Niro also snapped a solo photo with David Zaslav

He laughed it up with former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter

Discussion: He also enjoyed conversation with photographer Jean Pigozzi (left)

New addition: Chen  who is believed be 45-years-old  gave birth to the couple's baby daughter, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro, on Thursday, April 6

Parents' night out! De Niro and Chen made their first formal appearance together since the baby news on Saturday, May 20, at the Vanity Fair x Prada Party in Cap d'Antibes, France

Robert was spotted with Tiffany in August 2021 as they enjoyed a vacation in the South of France together.

The pair's romance was evident as they were seen holding hands while strolling through the sunshine and were later seen kissing on a yacht.

They were also pictured together in New York in June and attended the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa on July 31, in pictures that appeared on social media but were later deleted.

At the time, the Raging Bull actor was locked in a bitter divorce battle with his now ex-wife Grace Hightower.

In April 2022, a judge ruled that his ex-wife, 66, should receive $1 million annually and that the couple would split the proceeds after selling their $20 million home.
Melissa Hoyer has spoken about her terrifying experience of meeting late paedophile entertainer Rolf Harris after his death was announced on Tuesday.

The TV host revealed she was interviewing the disgraced Australian star in the 1990s when he asked her to go back to his hotel room.

'There will be many #RolfHarris stories: remember interviewing him early 90s and he asked me to his room at Sydney's Intercon hotel,' she wrote on Twitter.

'Fortunately, his publicist grabbed me and said "no need for that". Said he wanted to show me his 'extra leg' & wobble board. And no, that is not a joke.'

MailOnline revealed on Tuesday that disgraced Australian star Rolf had died aged 93, after a battle with neck cancer.

TV host Melissa Hoyer (pictured) has revealed her experience with late paedophile entertainer Rolf Harris following his death at 93

The sex offender has already been 'laid to rest' following a secret funeral.

A private ambulance was photographed outside his riverside home in the UK on May 11. Two sources close to the family told MailOnline that he died up to a fortnight ago but his death was only registered with Windsor and Maidenhead Council on Tuesday.

'Many of us today are conflicted the way we go about reporting this. Because the world is not a sadder place that he's gone but at the same time, we can't deny the success he did have,' Peter said on Sunrise.

'The first story is what he was, a great entertainer and TV star. He was a huge star, recording star, he was considered one of our great ambassadors internationally. None of that can be denied. What he became of course was disgraced,' he added.

The disgraced TV star had been 'very sick' with neck cancer since leaving prison six years ago, living as a near-recluse with his wife in their 5million riverside mansion in Bray.

The TV star revealed she was interviewing the disgraced Australian star in the 1990s when he asked her to go back to his hotel room

In a statement released by his solicitor, his family said: 'Rolf Harris recently died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest. They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be made'.

Harris had been struggling to talk after cancerous tumours grew in his neck after he was freed from jail in 2017 for a string of sex offences including children as young as eight. He was fed through a tube before his death.

He is survived by his grandson Marlon, 25, daughter Bindi, 59, and wife Alwen, 91, a jeweller and sculptor. She is in a wheelchair because of Alzheimers disease but the couple, who married in 1958, lived together with the help of around the clock care.

Private investigator, author and former police officer William Merritt, author of the book Rolf Harris: The Truth behind the Trials, told MailOnline that he last met with him in late 2022, and he was gravely ill. He said: 'Rolf has been very sick. When I saw him he was able to speak to me. He was with it, but he was obviously unwell'.

The Australian-born TV presenter was a family favourite for decades before being convicted of a string of indecent assaults in June 2014.

MailOnline revealed on Tuesday that disgraced Australian star Rolf had died aged 93, after a battle with neck cancer

These included one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two on girls in their early teens and a catalogue of abuse against his daughter's friend over 16 years. He was jailed for five years and nine months after being convicted of 12 assaults which took place between 1968 and 1986.

He was released on parole in May 2017 after serving three years behind bars.

Of the 12 convictions, one was overturned on appeal in November 2017, and a jury chose not to convict him in two additional cases in the same year.

Best known for hits Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and Jake The Peg, as well as a string of children's TV hits, Harris also famously painted the 80th birthday portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Harris hadn't spoken publicly since his release from jail in 2017 but released a statement in Mr Merritt's recently released book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team's Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials.

The sex offender has already been 'laid to rest' following a secret funeral

'I understand we live in the post truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced  it's easier to condemn me and liken me to people like Saville and Glitter,' Harris said.

'I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal.

'I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William (Merritt) would find it and he did.

'The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.

'I'd be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William's investigation.

'It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel.'
They have their hands full with their daughter Royce after welcoming their little one via surrogate last year.

And Rebel Wilson, 43, and her fiancee Ramona Agruma enjoyed a well-deserved night off parental duties as they attended a Cannes Film Festival party on Tuesday evening.

The couple let their hair down at the Air Mail bash, held at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.

Rebel - who has impressively transformed her figure by losing 35kg (77 pounds) over the past two years - looked sensational in a sparkly green V-neck dress for the occasion.

Her flawless skin was glowing in a minimal makeup palette, and she wore her blonde locks out in beachy waves.

Rebel Wilson showed off her incredible weight loss in a tight sparkly green dress as she partied at the Cannes Film Festival Air Mail Party at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on Tuesday evening

She flaunted her most precious accessory - her Tiffany & Co. engagement ring - along with a large cocktail ring on her other hand.

Meanwhile, Ramona, 42, showed off her abs in a cropped Prada shirt with matching trousers.

She pulled her own blonde locks back into a chic chignon and added a pop of colour by slicking on a coat of red lipstick.

She was joined at the bash by her fiancee Ramona Agruma, far right, and supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio and Matheus Mazzafera, far left and middle left

Rebel flaunted her most precious accessory - her Tiffany & Co. engagement ring - along with a large cocktail ring on her other hand.

The two ladies have been at the festival for several days now, and attended the Kerin Women in Motion Award on Sunday.

The actress wowed in an elegant navy blue dress that featured intricate detailing around the waist and on the shoulders.

Ramona looked equally as glamorous in a lilac one shouldered gown teamed with silver heels.

The two ladies have been at the festival for several days now, and attended the Kerin Women in Motion Award on Sunday

Rebel has lost 35kg (77 pounds) over the past two years and showed it off in the navy blue figure hugging dress

In some of the images Rebel was spotted looking fondly at her partner as the two women held hands and beamed for the cameras.

Rebel announced in June last year that she had started a romance with Ramona, who is the owner of sustainable clothing brand Lemon Ve Limon.

The lovebirds were initially introduced to one another by a mutual friend in late 2021.

Rebel previously spoke to People and recalled how the couple had made an effort to establish a genuine connection prior to their first date.

The pair had already been dating for several months before the Australian actress announced the relationship and came out of the closet.

'I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince... but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,' Rebel wrote on social media at the time.

She announced the couple's engagement in February, posting photos to Instagram of the precious moment she proposed at Disneyland.

The sweet snaps showed her getting down on one knee with a Tiffany & Co. ring for her future wife.

The lovebirds were introduced to one another by a mutual friend in late 2021

Both women accessorised their fancy frocks with small bags and glowing makeup palettes

The couple announced their engagement in February posting photos of the proposal at Disneyland

Rebel who celebrated her first Mother's Day this year surprised fans when she announced the birth of her daughter Royce Lillian, born via a surrogate

Months later, Rebel surprised fans when she announced the birth of her daughter Royce Lillian, born via a surrogate.

The outing comes after Rebel and Ramona celebrated their first Mothers Day sharing never before seen photos of their baby daughter.

Despite being one of Hollywoods most recognised actresses, the Aussie star let her followers know she is just like everybody else and captioned the sweet pic of Royce in pink:

'Happy Mothers Day! (Just woke up at 5:30am and changed a big (poo emoji how about you?)'
Sylvester Stallone writes the text messages his daughters send to their boyfriends when it's time to part ways.

The 76-year-old Rocky star's daughters Sophia, 26, and Sistine, 24, appeared Monday on the Giggly Squad podcast with Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo, where they opened up about how their famed father assists them when it's time to part ways.

'My dad is a savant when it comes to our dating lives - in so many areas,' Sistine said. 'In one area, he writes most of our breakup texts.'

Sophia advised girls seek insights from their fathers for the uncomfortable task, citing life experience: 'I highly suggest girls should go up to their dad and have their dad write a breakup text because men know men - 'm telling you.'

Sistine added, 'And they never get mad for being honest.'

The Tulsa King star is also father to daughter Scarlet, 20, with wife Jennifer Flavin, 54. He has two sons with first wife Sasha Czack - Seargeoh, 44, and Sage, who died of coronary artery disease in 2012 at age 36.

The latest: Sylvester Stallone, 76, writes the text messages his daughters send to their boyfriends when it's time to part ways, his daughters Sophia, 26, and Sistine, 24, said Monday

Sistine said that her father can be aloof upon meeting their boyfriends.

'We're like, "Oh, this [guy] is a good egg, we're gonna bring him home,"' she said, adding that the Rambo star 'is always standoffish' when meeting them.

She added that he 'stands in the corner' and 'doesn't say anything  just to intimidate.'

Sophia noted that her father 'always  has a cigar' upon meeting their boyfriends to set the tone, with both saying he is 'right every time' when it comes to their romances.

Sistine said: 'I asked him, I go, "Why do you do that?" And he goes, "I can tell within the first four minutes of meeting if he's going to last or not, and so I'm not going to waste my time."'

The film star's daughters Scarlet, Sistine and Sophia Stallone were pictured May 11 at the debut of the family's new TV series The Family Stallone in NYC

The Hollywood veteran and wife Jennifer Flavin, 54, were pictured at the premiere

Sophia said that the The Expendables star tends to be nicest to Scarlet Stallone and her love interests.

'He only likes my sister's boyfriends, Scarlet,' she said of her younger sibling, who is romantically linked to Louis Masquelier-Page, a college student at the University of Miami.

The family can be seen on the Paramount+ reality show The Family Stallone.
Leonardo DiCaprio and renowned filmmaker, Martin Scorsese, dressed to impress as they attended the glitzy Air Mail Party during the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday.

The Apple TV+ film, Killers Of The Flower Moon, which starred the Oscar winner, 48, and directed by Scorsese, 80, notably received a nine-minute standing ovation after its premiere on Saturday.

The Inception actor sported teal blue slacks along with a matching blazer for the event, and added a black button up that he chose to leave untucked for a casual flare.

He slipped into a pair of black sneakers and easily carried a black cap in his left hand while strolling through the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc where the festivities were held.

Martin also dressed for the occasion wearing a dark navy blazer along with a matching waistcoat and a crisp, white dress shirt.

Ready for the party: Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, and renowned filmmaker, Martin Scorsese, 80, dressed to impress as they attended the glitzy Air Mail Party at 76th Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday

Dressed to impress: The Inception actor sported teal blue slacks along with a matching blazer for the event, and added a black button up that he chose to leave untucked for a casual flare

The filmmaker added a light blue tie to the look and slipped into a pair of sleek, black dress shoes to complete his overall ensemble for the star-studded party.

The two stars, who have worked together on a number of projects throughout the years, were seen holding a conversation as they stopped by the event amid the annual festival, which comes to an end on May 27.

Their latest Apple TV+ film, Killers Of The Flower Moon, has received a high amount of praise and critical acclaim since its premiere at the festival on Saturday.

The project is based on a 2017 nonfiction book titled, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, written by David Grann.

Some of the star-studded cast includes Leonardo, Robert De Niro, Brendan Fraser, Lily Gladstone, and also Jesse Plemons.

The premise follows, 'Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover,' according to an IMDB synopsis.

After the screening of the film at Cannes, the project garnered a whopping nine-minute standing ovation, per Variety.

Scorsese addressed the applauding crowd to express his gratitude and stated, 'Thank you to the Osages. 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.'

Dapper: Scorsese also dressed for the occasion wearing a dark navy blazer along with a matching waistcoat and a crisp, white dress shirt

Success: Their latest Apple TV+ film, Killers Of The Flower Moon, has received a high amount of praise and critical acclaim since its premiere at the festival on Saturday

Positive reception: After the screening of the film at Cannes, the project garnered a whopping nine-minute standing ovation, per Variety

Adaptation: The project is based on a 2017 nonfiction book titled, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, written by David Grann

He continued, 'There was lots of grass. I'm a New Yorker. I was very surprised. This was an amazing experience. We lived in that world.'

The three and a half hour movie had a budget of $200 million, and notably premiered 45 minutes late at the festival on Saturday. The movie was also Martin's first film to screen at Cannes since his 1985 project, After Hours.

The tardiness of the movie's start did not deter the slew of positive raves, and already has a current score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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'.

A number of projects: Leonardo and Martin have worked together on a total of six feature films thus far which also include The Aviator (2004) and The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)

A 'masterpiece': Words like 'searing and 'masterpiece' were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket to the first screening

Anticipated: After the premiere of Killers Of The Flower Moon at Cannes, the film is slated to release in theaters later this year on October 20

The red carpet itself for the film's premiere drew a number of celebrities, such as Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek and Paul Dano.

Leonardo and Martin have worked together on a total of six feature films thus far which also include The Aviator (2004) and The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013).

Robert De Niro, who recently welcomed his seventh child, has also collaborated with Scorsese on a number of projects, such as Goodfellas (1990), Taxi Driver (1976) and also The Irishman (2019).

After the premiere of Killers Of The Flower Moon at Cannes, the film is slated to release in theaters later this year on October 20.
'I don't think so,' Madix replied. 'I've talked to our show runners. I think I know what the deal is, but I'm not entirely sure'

During the interview, Cooper asked if Laviss might reveal she's pregnant at tomorrow's reunion, after speculation that something 'wild' will happen

Ariana Madix made a slew of shocking revelations about her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval's affair with Raquel Leviss while appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday.

The scorned Vanderpump Rules star, 37, sat down with Alex Cooper and dished about her nine-year-long relationship with the bar owner, 39, which ended after his affair with co-star Leviss, 28, came to light in March.

Speaking of the affair she said: 'They had sex in my guest room while I was sleeping in my own bed, that he and I went to bed together, and then he left the bed and went to the guest room and f****d her.'

Wearing a white hoodie with the slogan that read 'Born f*****g cool,' Madix addressed a number of other hot topics, including rumors about Leviss being pregnant and Sandoval cheating with other women.

'Apparently there is something so wild that's going to be revealed at the reunion, that could potentially have you guys not wanting to sign back up to be on the show,' host Cooper said, sharing that fans have speculated it could be a pregnancy announcement from Leviss.

Bombshell interview: Ariana Madix, 37, made plenty of shocking revelations about her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval while appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday

Affair: Speaking of 39-year-old Sandoval's affair with co-star Raquel Leviss (seen together), 28, she said, 'They had sex in my guest room while I was sleeping in my own bed'

'I don't think so,' Ariana replied. 'I've talked to our show runners. I think I know what the deal is, but I'm not entirely sure.'

At one point Cooper inquired about what the former couple's sex life was like, after Sandoval recently chalked up the affair to losing his mojo, and Madix revealed that it 'waxed and waned at different points.'

'In the beginning I was definitely struggling. I was very excited that someone was really into me. Because the relationship I was in previously... I was being criticized very heavily about my body, my personality, just everything.'

'Our sex life waxed and waned at different points. I definitely think it got to the point sometimes where I just wanted that quality time so bad,' she revealed, adding that at one point she felt 'he's not into me.'

She also shared that Sandoval would 'complain about [the] frequency of sex.'

'It felt like he wanted to have sex, but I was like, "But do you want to have sex with me? Is it about me, or is it just about the act?"'

Cooper asked whether Madix knew if there was a night when Sandoval slept with both Leviss and her, to which she said she did not know.

Cooper also touched on the fact that the affair took place following the death of Ariana's grandmother.

'When you were grieving your grandmother, isn't that when Tom and Raquel apparently were like at your house, or something, having sex, potentially?'

'Potentially. He has maintained that that's not the case, but I don't trust what he says,' she replied.

Her side: Wearing a white hoodie with the slogan that read 'Born f*****g cool,' Ariana addressed a number of other hot topics, including rumors about Raquel being pregnant

Not pregnant: 'I don't think so,' Ariana replied to the rumors of Raquel potentially announcing a pregnancy on the show's reunion

Sex life: At one point Cooper inquired about what the former couple's sex life was like, and Madix revealed that it 'waxed and waned at different points'

Open relationship: When Cooper asked about rumors that Madix and Sandoval were in an open relationship - and where those claims came from - the reality star said, 'I think they came from him'

Madix also revealed some things she's learned after filming the reunion, including a text message that Raquel sent to Tom.

The message reportedly read along the lines, 'I just talked to a mutual friend [I won't name them] and they said that you should be honest with Ariana, maybe not so much about all the details like sleeping in the house together, but that she deserves to know about this. I love you, you got this.'

Madix  who described the last couple of months as a 'rollercoaster'  began the conversation by retelling the story of how she discovered Sandoval's infidelity.

Ariana was at Tom's concert and holding on to his phone while he performed, when she decided to go to the bathroom and check his messages. She revealed that there was nothing weird in his texts, however his camera roll was a different story.

Though Ariana did not share what the video was that she found on his camera roll, it gave her the confirmation that Sandoval was cheating with Raquel, whose behavior Ariana said 'seemed sociopathic' at times.

Alex then asked what happened when the duo got home that night. 'Is it just like a screaming war until you're asleep?'

'Essentially, yeah,' Madix replied, sharing that the two did not sleep in the same room that night.

Cooper addressed the long standing rumor that Ariana and Tom were in an open relationship. 'You and Tom were not in an open relationship. Why do you think that rumor started?'

'Honestly I think it came from him,' Madix replied, explaining that she heard Tom told Raquel that they were in an open relationship.

She also shared that the duo got into couple's therapy while he was in the middle of his affair, which she did not know, and that she isn't really sure how many other women Tom cheated with.

'Pathological liar': When asked if Tom is a 'pathological liar' Madix stated that clearly in the last nine months he has been

Unsure: She shared the duo got into couple's therapy while he was in the middle of his affair, which she did not know, and that she isn't sure how many other women Tom cheated with

Cover up: Ariana said Sandoval brought Raquel to his home town in St. Louis 'more than once' and claimed he was using other people's credit cards to cover up the affair

Not true: Despite recent rumors Ariana said that she did not think Sandoval cheated with former transgender co-star Billie Lee: 'I do not think that anything happened there. I trust that Billie Lee would not do that' (L-R) Sandoval, Madix and Billie, 39, seen in 2019

She also said Sandoval brought Raquel to his home town in St. Louis 'more than once.'

'So his family knew?' Cooper asked.

'It's hard to say what exactly they knew, or when they knew. I think at one point they knew but they were definitely not condoning. And he was putting her up in a hotel,' she replied. She also claimed that Sandoval was using other people's credit cards to cover up the affair.

However, Ariana revealed that she did not think Sandoval cheated with former transgender co-star Billie Lee, following recent romance rumors. 'I do not think that anything happened there. I trust that Billie Lee would not do that.'

In another part of the conversation Ariana also touched on Tom's claim that she would be suicidal if he broke up with her.

'I said if we break up I'm probably going to quit the show, I will probably leave Los Angeles, I will probably deactivate my Instagram. And he found that to be very offensive.'

'I was never saying that I was going to kill myself. I was saying that this life would be over for me, because I will go do something else.'

Despite her partner's affair, Madix is keeping in high spirits, and had a very confident answer when Alex said that people might be thinking '"You lose him how you got him."

'I didn't lose him, he lost me,' Ariana replied with a smile on her face.

Sizzling: Following the release of the interview the star also took to Instagram with a photo dump, including a snap of her in a sizzling red dress

With the boss: In another shot she posed with Vanderpump owner and boss Lisa Vanderpump

Having fun: Madix took some shots with friends during a night out

Drinking the pain away: She also shared an image of herself drinking straight from the bottle

Fun with friends: Another photo saw her posing with a group of pals

Birthday celebrations: She was also pictured attending a birthday celebration

Moving on: Ariana appeared to be keeping herself busy with friends

'Do you think Tom misses you?' Cooper asked in the second half of the podcast. 'Yeah, I do,' Ariana replied.

When asked if Tom is a 'pathological liar' Madix said that clearly in the last nine months he has been.

Following the release of the interview the star also took to Instagram with a photo dump. In one snap she rocked a sizzling plunging red dress, while in another she posed with Vanderpump owner and boss Lisa Vanderpump.

Last week Ariana sat down with Andy Cohen and revealed this wasnt the first time that Sandoval had cheated on her.

The musician was accused of cheating with a woman dubbed 'Miami girl' back in 2014  a claim he denied.

However, Madix confirmed that he did indeed have sex with her but that she kept his secret in order to protect him.

In the series 10 finale of Vanderpump Rules which aired last Wednesday, Madix and Sandoval had an epic confrontation over his infidelity.

'Do you want anything?' Sandoval asked Madix, to which she replied: 'For you to die.'

'I regret every moment that I stood up for you, defended you, supported you. You're worth nothing and I want you to feel that deep in your soul,' she told him during the brutal conversation.

'I want you to hear those words coming from the mouth of the woman that f*****g stood by you and loved you and was ready to build the rest of my life around you.'

Heartbreak: Leviss and Sandoval caused ructions among the reality show cast when their infidelity was revealed in March, ending his nine-year union with Ariana

Back for more: Following the finale, the Vanderpump Rules cast will be back together again for the reunion. The first part of the reunion will air Wednesday, May 24

'Hear my words and know that's how I feel about you. I regret ever loving you.'

After the finale aired, fans of the series took to social media to express their opinions with many praising Ariana for being 'strong' and 'elegant.' While another fan wrote: 'The most epic break-up moment in reality TV history.'

Following the finale, the Vanderpump Rules cast will be back together again for the reunion. The first part of the reunion will air Wednesday, May 24, then part two on Wednesday, May 31, and part three on Wednesday, June 7.

It was revealed last Wednesday that contract negotiations for the cast of Vanderpump Rules have been paused amid the aftermath of Scandoval.
Channel Nine has denied rumours of 'tension' between Today show's Karl Stefanovic and his co-host Sarah Abo over their reported '$700,000 pay gap'.

Last week, it was reported that Stefanovic is earning $1.5million a year for his hosting duties while Abo brings home $800,000 a year.

The rumoured pay gap has allegedly caused 'tension' between Stefanovic and Abo.

Nine's director of morning television Steven Burling told News.com.au on Wednesday, the rumours are 'not even remotely correct'.

'The salary figures for our network talent published last week in various outlets were not even remotely correct. Anyone who watches Today can confirm there's absolutely no tension on set,' Mr Burling said.

Channel Nine has denied rumours of 'tension' between Today show's Karl Stefanovic and his co-host Sarah Abo over reported '$700,000 pay gap'

'We couldn't be happier with our talented line-up of Karl, Sarah, Brooke, Alex and Tim who are working well and having a great time - end of story.'

On Monday, New Idea claimed tensions are rising between Today show co-hosts Karl and Sarah.

'The news of Karl's big pay cheque is anxiety inducing to say the least... Some are wondering why she isn't being more equally matched with Karl,' a source allegedly said.

'If you were Sarah would you stay and put on a smile every day knowing full well you're being paid so much less than your male counterpart for doing the same job? I can imagine she's likely disappointed.'

Last week, it was reported that Stefanovic is earning $1.5million a year for his hosting duties while Abo brings home $800,000 a year

It comes after Channel Nine's highest paid stars were revealed - and Lego Masters host Hamish Blake topped the list with his eye-watering seven figure salary.

The comedian, 41, is said to be earning a whopping $2million for hosting the reality show.

Closely trailing Hamish is Today show host Karl, 48, and his former co-host Allison Langdon, 43, who moved to A Current Affair early this year.

The pair are said to be bringing home a cool $1.5million a year for their hosting duties.

Scott Cam, 60, is also said to be earning the same salary for being the face of hit renovation show, The Block.

Other high-earning presenters include The Hundred host Andy Lee and Under Investigation presenter Liz Hayes.

Both are said to be taking home between $1m to $1.2million for their presenting duties.

The rumoured pay gap has caused 'tension' between Stefanovic and Abo, New Idea reported

Meanwhile, Sydney newsreader Peter Overton, 57, also made the list with a salary between $900,000 to $1million.

And Sophie Monk, 43, is said to be earning that same amount for her work on the hit dating reality series, Love Island.

However, one veteran Channel Nine presenter's salary remains a secret.

It is unknown what Hot Seat host Eddie McGuire, 60, earns as the veteran presenter also works behind the scenes on several shows as a producer.
Bahrain has been ranked 7th on the Speedtest Global Index for April 2023 showcasing its commitment to providing exceptional mobile and fixed broadband speeds to its community, report said.

As a leading telecommunications provider in Bahrain, stc Bahrain has played a significant role in contributing to this accomplishment. stcs continuous efforts to enhance network infrastructure, optimise performance, and invest in cutting-edge technologies have contributed to the overall success of Bahrain's digital connectivity landscape, an stc release said.

stc has launched the latest 5G routers and 5G MiFis, empowering our customers to achieve incredibly high speeds and enjoy the full potential of our advanced network infrastructure.

Mega expansion

stc Bahrain has also played an important role in elevating the speed rankings with its mega expansion efforts that have increased the network capacity by over four times, contributing significantly to our impressive speed performance.

With the deployment of cutting-edge technologies, its network now reaches speeds exceeding 3 Gbps, providing stcs customers with an unparalleled browsing experience. Furthermore, stc has established the first 5.5G network foundation in Bahrain, further solidifying our commitment to pushing the boundaries of connectivity.

Moving forward, stc Bahrain will continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies, expand network coverage, and introduce innovative services to further elevate the digital experience for its customers. It remains committed to supporting Bahrain's vision of becoming a leading hub for technology, innovation, and connectivity in the region.-- TradeArabia News Service
Janet Jackson's one-time Aston Martin car, and a costume she wore in the 1995 video for Scream, her collaboration with her late brother Michael, were among the highest-bid items in a charity auction the entertainer held Sunday.

Janet, 56, parted ways with a massive amount of classic memorabilia while donating part of the proceeds to charity in an auction in which she sold more than 800 items, including her outfits and costumes from music videos and tours.

The auction was held live at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York and online at Julien's Live over the weekend.

A 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish sold for $92,075 based on 17 bids, eclipsing the expected bidding price of $50,000 - $70,000.

It features a black leather interior with charcoal inserts, and its DOHC 48-valve 6.0 liter 12-cylinder engine can produce 460 horsepower and can reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, while it can hit 60 miles per hour in just 4.9 seconds.

Going, going, gone! Janet Jackson's one-time Aston Martin car, and a costume she wore in the 1995 video for Scream were among the highest-bid items in a charity auction the entertainer held Sunday. She was pictured in NYC earlier this month

Luxury: A 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish sold for $92,075 based on 17 bids, eclipsing the expected bidding price of $50,000 - $70,000

Collaboration: Another standout of the collection - a white long-sleeve puckered shirt that Janet wore in her classic Scream music video - sold for $31,750

Details: The song was the lead single from Michael's 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I

Legacy: The stylish black-and-white music video featuring the late King of Pop was among the most-expensive music videos ever due to its $7 million price tag

Another standout of the collection - a white long-sleeve puckered shirt that Janet wore in her classic Scream music video - sold for $31,750.

The song was the lead single from Michael's 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, and it's stylish black-and-white music video was among the most-expensive music videos ever due to its $7 million price tag.

Janet wore the white textured shirt, along with an off-white faux leather bikini top which was also part of the auction.

The songstress went all in on padded shoulders with a striking black Richard Tyler coat featuring velvet lapels, which sold for $5,850.

She wore the eye-catching look on her 1990 Rhythm Nation tour when she sang her iconic songs Control and Nasty.

The auction included a black pinstripe suit that Janet rocked in her 1989 Alright video, before reviving it for her Velvet Rope tour, which sold for $25,400 over 27 bids.

Other items included in the auction included some of Janet's microphones.

One of them, a Swarovski crystal-encrusted Sennheiser microphone she used onstage, sold for $19,500.

Looking cool: The auction included a black pinstripe suit that Janet rocked in her 1989 Alright video, before reviving it for her Velvet Rope tour, which sold for $25,400 over 27 bids

Skimpy: Among the looks being made available to fans is a black suede vest with silver buttons, which she famous wore in her That's The Way Love Goes music video

Clearing out her closet: Janet Jackson auctioned off over 800 outfits and bits of memorabilia. The items will be sold in person at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York and online at Julien's Live on May 21

Revealing: In the original video, she paired the top with a white Native Americaninspired collar while baring her toned tummy

Back in black: The songstress went all in on padded shoulders with a striking black Richard Tyler coat featuring velvet lapels. She wore the eye-catching look on her 1990 Rhythm Nation tour when she sang her iconic songs Control and Nasty

Mix and match: A tattered black mesh dress with a single leather sleeve made a splash during her performance at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards sold for $5,200

Woman in white: A white button-down vest featuring a cummerbund and matching pants from a 2006 performance of So Excited on the Today Show sold for $3,600

Woman in red: Among her more colorful items is a red jumpsuit from her 2008 Rock Witchu tour, which featured chainmail epaulets and long black wigs attached at the waist, which sold for $6,350

Among the looks being made available to fans is a black suede vest with silver buttons, which was a as a duplicate backup outfit for the one she famously wore in her That's The Way Love Goes music video in 1993, which sold for $5,850.

In the original video, she paired the top with a white Native Americaninspired collar while baring her toned tummy.

Joining the cropped vests is a matching pair of black suede bellbottoms that Janet wore with the outfit.

Another item that sold on the auction block for $5,850 was a two-piece yellow suit with prominent shoulder pads and a red-and-yellow polka dotted scarf in the left pocket.

She had on the outfit while singing Alright on her janet. tour and on her television special The Jackson Family Honors, which aired in 1994.

A black-and-white off-the-shoulder dress with a pinstripe skirt, an attached black tie and detached white cuffs sold for $2,600. She caused a stir in the dress when arriving at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards in it.

A tattered black mesh dress with a single leather sleeve made a splash during her performance at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards sold for $5,200.

A white button-down vest featuring a cummerbund and matching pants from a 2006 performance of So Excited on the Today Show sold for $3,600.

Elegant: In addition to her outfits, Janet auctioned off several accessories, including a Louis Vuitton Alzer 80 suitcase for $6,500

Stunning: The songstress went all out on glamour at the 2005 Vanity Fair Oscars party, where she wore an ivory off-the-shoulder Badgley Mischka gown with furry shoulders, which sold for $1,950

Lovely: She is parting ways with some furniture from Ralph Lauren, including a Modern Icons collection bar cabinet that sold for $6,500

Solid: The designer was also responsible for her Metropolis collection bed frame made of rosewood and leather, which sold for $1,300

Classics: Fans could also own a piece of Janet's success with some of her platinum albums, including a commemorative CD display for her 1993 album Janet which sold for $1,625

Sporty: One black item features number-like designs on the chest and a colorful skirt. She wore it at the 2004 BET Awards, which sold for $3,575

Among her more colorful items is a red jumpsuit from her 2008 Rock Witchu tour, which featured chainmail epaulets and long black wigs attached at the waist, which sold for $6,350.

The songstress went all out on glamour at the 2005 Vanity Fair Oscars party, where she wore an ivory off-the-shoulder Badgley Mischka gown with furry shoulders, which is also being auctioned, which sold for $1,950.

In addition to her outfits, Janet is auctioning off several accessories, including a Louis Vuitton Alzer 80 suitcase that sold for $6,500.

She is parting ways with some furniture from Ralph Lauren, including a Modern Icons collection bar cabinet and a Metropolis collection bed frame made of rosewood and leather that sold for $6,500.

The designer was also responsible for her Metropolis collection bed frame made of rosewood and leather, which sold for $1,300.

Fans could also own a piece of Janet's success with some of her platinum albums, including a commemorative CD display for her 1993 album Janet which sold for $1,625.

One black item features number-like designs on the chest and a colorful skirt. The item, which she wore at the 2004 BET Awards, sold for $3,575
Melissa McCarthy and Halle Bailey enjoyed a whirlwind trip to Australia this week for the premiere of their new film, The Little Mermaid.

And on Wednesday, the pair were seen at Sydney Airport preparing to catch a flight back to America after fulfilling their promotional duties for the Disney film.

Halle, 23, showed off her flawless complexion going makeup free while Melissa, 52, also kept things low key as they prepared for the long-haul flight.

Halle bundled up in a cream teddy bear coat while Melissa wore a black outfit with what appeared to be a beige Alexander McQueen scarf.

The Gilmore Girls star happily carted a carry on suitcase in one hand and held a Starbucks coffee in the other.

Makeup free Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy were spotted jetting out of Sydney and heading back to the U.S. on Wednesday

They both appeared relaxed and in high spirits as they made their way through the terminal.

On Monday, the pair thrilled fans as they attended the star-studded Australian premiere of The Little Mermaid at Sydney's State Theatre.

Earlier that day, they were mobbed by fans outside of the Channel Seven Studios in Sydney's Martin Place after making an appearance on Sunrise.

Halle, 23, showed off her flawless complexion going makeup free

Melissa, 52, also kept things low key as they prepared for the long-haul flight

Melissa wore a black outfit with what appeared to be a beige Alexander McQueen scarf

They both appeared relaxed and in high spirits as they made their way through the terminal

Halle, 23, and Melissa, 52, appeared in high spirits as they greeted their eager fans, happily signing autographs and taking selfies with the crowd who had gathered outside.

The pair appeared on Sunrise on Monday alongside director Rob Marshall to speak about the film and Halle said when she was first cast, she was 'ecstatic'.

'I just remember being ecstatic, this is my favorite Disney movie, my favourite Disney princess and I always wanted to be a mermaid and now I get to be one, it's just wild,' Halle said.

On Monday, the pair thrilled fans as they attended the star-studded Australian premiere of The Little Mermaid at Sydney's State Theatre

Halle rugged up for the flight wearing a beige teddy bear jacket and grey tracksuit pants with Nike kicks

Halle appeared relaxed as she made her way through security after a huge week of promotional duties for The Little Mermaid

Melissa added about Halle: 'Watching her be such a strong woman... I was very pleased as the mother of two young women, that they have someone like Halle to look up to.'

Directed by Rob Marshall, whose previous films include Chicago and Memoirs Of A Geisha, the new remake of The Little Mermaid boasts a glittering cast.

In the film, Halle plays Ariel, while Melissa plays villain Ursula.

'I just remember being ecstatic, this is my favorite Disney movie, my favourite Disney princess and I always wanted to be a mermaid and now I get to be one, it's just wild,' Halle said about her role

In the film, Halle plays Ariel, while Melissa plays villain Ursula

Melissa added about Halle: 'Watching her be such a strong woman... I was very pleased as the mother of two young women, that they have someone like Halle to look up to'

Melissa looked chic accessorising her look with black chunky boots and gold-framed sunglasses

The Little Mermaid is the beloved fairytale of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure, based on the classic story by Hans Christen Anderson

Hamilton alum Daveed Diggs, former child star Jacob Tremblay, Crazy Rich Asians actress Awkwafina and comedy icon Melissa are all part of the project.

The Little Mermaid is the beloved fairytale of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure, based on the classic story by Hans Christen Anderson.

The youngest of King Tritons daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric.

The youngest of King Tritons daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric

While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately places her life  and her fathers crown  in jeopardy.

Iconic songs from The Little Mermaid soundtrack have had their lyrics changed to reflect consent in the upcoming live action remake of the 1989 Disney film.
Real Housewives of New Jersey OG Teresa Giudice is under siege in the new trailer for season 13's dumpster fire of a reunion.

The 51-year-old mainstay  who could very well be leaving the show that made her famous after 14 years  waged war on all fronts as she ruled her prime spot on the couch in a golden beaded gown.

In the lengthy sneak peek, Giudice gets called a 'criminal' by Margaret Josephs and screamed at by Housewives ringmaster Andy Cohen.

The two explosive moments were only a taste of the nastiness that New Jersey has in store for Bravo fans on May 30th, as the trailer served up a veritable buffet of jaw-dropping exchanges.

After Margaret labeled Teresa a criminal, Giudice called Jospehs 'the devil' and told her to 'sleep with one eye open.'

Praying for protection: Real Housewives of New Jersey OG Teresa Giudice is under siege in the new trailer for season 13's dumpster fire of a reunion. The mainstay waged war on all fronts as she ruled her prime spot on the couch in a golden beaded gown

Nasty in New Jersey: In the lengthy sneak peek, Giudice gets called a 'criminal' by Margaret Josephs and screamed at by Housewives ringmaster Andy Cohen

The rest of the Housewives were also in attendance, as the annual Bravo bloodletting brought together Giudice and Josephs, along with Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Jennifer Aydin, Rachel Fuda, Danielle Cabral, Jackie Goldschneider, and Jennifer Fessler.

Another nutty spectacle came when Teresa appeared to accuse her brother Joe Gorga and sister-in-law Melissa of sending her to prison in 2015 before seemingly alleging a mysterious crime.

'I spoke to the FBI because of what you've done,' said Teresa, blasting her little brother Joe.

'Oh, oh, what are you threatenin' me?' he asked. 'I'm speaking the truth,' said Teresa.

The years-long feud between Teresa and Melissa seems like it finally reached a breaking point at the reunion, since both predicted that the other would be fired from the show.

'I can't wait to never f***in look at your face again after today,' declared Teresa.

'Oh, why? Where ya goin'?' sassed Melissa, to which her estranged sister-in-law responded: 'You're leaving.'

But it was Giudice's polarizing new husband Louie Ruelas who came out swinging, battling the other men on the show and denying accusations that he hired a private investigator to stage a 'smear campaign' against the cast.

Ready to rumble: The rest of the Housewives were also in attendance, as the annual Bravo bloodletting brought together Giudice and Josephs, along with Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Jennifer Aydin, Rachel Fuda, Danielle Cabral, Jackie Goldschneider, and Jennifer Fessler

Yikes: Another nutty spectacle came when Teresa appeared to accuse her brother Joe Gorga and sister-in-law Melissa of sending her to prison in 2015 before seemingly alleging a mysterious crime

Whoops! One captivating highlight came when Dolores let it slip that her boyfriend Paul Connell is still married

Charmer: Giudice's polarizing new husband Louie Ruelas came out swinging  battling the other men on the show and denying accusations that he hired a private investigator to stage a 'smear campaign' against the cast

Retreat! There was also a dramatic walk-off from Teresa at the end

Rachel and Margaret both had maternal bones to pick with Louie, as Fuda accused him of stirring up trouble with her son's birth mother before Josephs alleged that he 'threatened' her son at work.

Other captivating highlights came when Dolores let it slip that her boyfriend Paul Connell is still married, and then there was a dramatic walk-off from Teresa.

And it wouldn't be a Housewives reunion without receipts, which Melissa appears to whip out during one of her rounds with her sister-in-law.

But the scream heard round the world came from Cohen as he lost his cool with Teresa, demanding that she let her brother get a word in edgewise.

Real Housewives of New Jersey is available to stream exclusively on Hayu in the UK.
Amy Dowden has revealed she has breast cancer at the age of 32.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional shared her diagnosis on Instagram and discussed whether she can rejoin the BBC show for its new series later this year.

She revealed she found a lump in her breast the day before going on her honeymoon with husband Ben Jones in April.

Amy wrote: 'Hey all, I've got some news which isn't easy to share. I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I'm determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it. Welsh love Amy.'

The dancer has battled gut condition Crohn's disease since she was a child and said she has already been through 'quite a lot' in her life with health struggles.

Sad news: Amy Dowden has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer aged 32 (pictured before her diagnosis)

Health: The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 32, took to her Instagram Stories to share her health update, saying she is 'determined' to get back on the dance floor

She told Hello! Magazine: 'You just don't ever think it's going to happen to you. I hadn't thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age. My mum has had breast cancer, but she had it at a later age, in her 50s.'

Amy said it was taking part in the CoppaTrek! walk last June in support of breast health awareness charity CoppaFeel! that led her to discover her own cancer.

She realised that she doesn't 'check her breasts' and then made a conscious effort to check herself, saying CoppaFeel! has 'potentially saved her life'.

'I don't know how long this lump could have been there before I would have noticed and done something about it,' she added.

Amy said she found a lump in her right breast in April, a day before she and her husband flew to the Maldives for a belated honeymoon after their wedding last July.

The dancer said she was 'in shock' and decided to keep an eye on the lump, before going to the doctor when the lump grew on her return home.

She was immediately sent for an emergency referral, where she was told the lump looked 'suspicious' and to 'prepare for the worst'.

Dancing: She admitted it wasn't easy to share the news as she discussed whether she will be able to rejoin the BBC dance show for its new series later this year (pictured with James Bye)

Lump: Amy explained how she found a lump in her breast before going on her honeymoon with her husband Ben Jones in April

What is breast cancer, how many people does it strike and what are the symptoms? Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. What is breast cancer? Breast cancer develops from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts. When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding breast tissue it is called an 'invasive' breast cancer. Some people are diagnosed with 'carcinoma in situ', where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule. Most cases develop in women over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare. Staging means how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body. The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated. What causes breast cancer? A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply. There are some risk factors that can increase the chance of developing breast cancer, such as genetics. What are the symptoms of breast cancer? The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most breast lumps are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign. The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit. For more information visit breastcancernow.org or call its free helpline on 0808 800 6000 Advertisement

After a biopsy, Amy was told she had grade three breast cancer, saying her first question was when she could get back on the dance floor.

Grade three cancer is when the cells look very different to normal breast cells and tend to spread more quickly. The grade describes how a cancer cell looks under a microscope.

It is different to a cancer stage, which describes the size of the cancer and how far it has spread. Amy is yet to find out what stage of cancer she has.

Amy said her cancer has been caught 'early' and she is now waiting for more information before she is given a full treatment plan, which will include surgery.

She is waiting for an MRI scan and a biopsy after medics found a second lump in her right breast, and she will be given a full prognosis after that step.

After sharing her diagnosis on Instagram, Amy was flooded with comments of support from her fellow Strictly pros and stars who appeared on the show.

Dianne Buswell said: 'Our Welsh dragon is going to fight this !!!! and I can not wait for the moment you are back on that dance floor with us. We love you so much Amy.'

Oti Mabuse commented: 'Sending you love and power and all the strength - you're such an incredible woman love you Amy! Take care of yourself.'

Ellie Taylor, who competed on the show last year, said: 'Oh beautiful Amy. Sending heaps of love. Xxx.'

Giovanna Fletcher added: 'Love love love you. Xxxx.'

Karen Hauer posted: 'We love you and we are here with you in every little step . You are strong and you will beat this .

Neil Jones wrote: 'Amy, I know you will beat this 1 million percent.

'Sending you all my love and positive energy. I can't wait to dance with you again on the dance floor.'

Former contestant Alex Jones wrote: 'Oh Amy! Thinking of you and sending you so much love. Cariad mawr.'

Former pro Kevin Clifton wrote: 'We love you sis. Ur the best. U got this,' while Katya Jones added: 'We're with you all the way! The strongest woman I know! Can't wait to have you in the dance floor real soon!!'

Strictly's 2018 winner Stacey Dooley commented: 'all the love sis x.'

Former pro and It Takes Two host Janette Manrara commented: 'If anyone one has the strength, it's you. We are all by your side all the way. Love you to the moon and back'.

2016 winner Ore Oduba said: 'Oh Amy. All our love, there is nothing YOU cannot fight. And what an almighty dance it'll be when you're back. So much love.'

Dr Ranj Singh, who previously competed on the show, said: 'Sending you HUGE love and strength darling! Always here if you need anything at all.'

Joanne Clifton wrote: 'Amy, sending you all the strength and power... we are all with you,' while Gemma Atkinson added: 'We're all Fighting behind you all the way Amy!!!!! Sending so much love to you.'

Strictly's head judge Shirley Ballas shared a lengthy message of support, writing: '@amy_dowden my precious girl. Nanny and I are thinking about you at this time. You are a strong example to so many of resilience which I've witnessed first hand.

'A beautiful kind and funny young lady who will face things head on. You are sooo loved. I'll see you soon my darling friend hugs and lots of warm cuddles.'

Amy said she received heartfelt support from friends Giovanna and Tom Fletcher when she told them the news, saying they were 'central' in her decision to tell her story in a bid to help others.

Tyler West, who appeared on Strictly last year with Dianne Buswell, spoke about Amy's diagnosis on Wednesday's Lorraine.

He said: 'She's all right, Aims she's the Welsh dragon, she's a fighter, so strong, so inspirational, it was a massive shock the system for everyone to everyone this morning.

'She is incredible, Amy, and I have no doubt she will be powering through it.'

Amy has dealt with an array of health struggles over the years after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 11.

Crohn's disease is described by the NHS as a 'lifelong condition', which sees parts of the digestive system inflamed.

Among other symptoms, suffers can experience extreme abdominal pain, vomiting, exhaustion and diarrhoea.

In 2019, she revealed her secret battle with Crohn's disease, with the star speaking out so she could help others suffering with the illness.

Speaking to Hello! magazine at the time, the dancer insisted that she doesn't 'want any sympathy', emphasising that her condition doesn't 'define' her.

Opening up on why she chose to keep her condition from the Strictly crew, she said: 'When I got my job on Strictly Come Dancing, I didn't want to be known as 'Amy with Crohn's'.

'I wanted to establish myself as 'Amy the dancer' first. But I've done two seasons on the show now, and I think it's important to speak out.'

She continued: 'It will be a relief that people will finally know, but I don't want any sympathy. It doesn't define me, it's just part of me, and I want this to be a positive story.'

Amy rose to fame on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, joining the host of professional dancers on the popular show.

She tied the knot with her husband last July, exchanging vows in front of their family and friends at a five-star wedding venue in the Gower Peninsula, South Wales.

We're with you! After sharing her diagnosis on Instagram, Amy was flooded with comments of support from her fellow Strictly pros and stars who appeared on the show

Wedding: She tied the knot with her husband Ben Jones last July, exchanging vows during a romantic ceremony at a five-star wedding venue in Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Career: Amy rose to fame on Strictly Come Dancing (pictured with James Bye on the show) back in 2017, joining the host of professional dancers on the popular show

Amy told Hello! magazine at the time: 'It was a stunning venue. I always knew I wanted to get married in Wales. The day was a celebration of Ben and me.'

The pair were initially due to wed two years ago on July 25, 2020 - but the marriage was postponed due to Covid.

The two dancers met in 2011, but kept their romance secret for six years - previously admitting they were scared of what their teachers would say.
Isla Fisher stepped out wearing a semi-sheer floral maxi dress on Tuesday afternoon.

The Hollywood actress, 47. who first began her career on Aussie soap Home And Away, blended into the crowds as she clutched her coffee during a stroll in London.

Her black and blue floral maxi dress boasted waist cut-outs and sheer panels from mid-thigh to hem, with a chic biker jacket slung over the top.

Her long flame-haired tresses cascaded behind her, while she opted for a handbag in a shade that perfectly complemented them.

Isla was engrossed in her phone, according to onlookers who spotted her during her rare outing.

Summer florals! Isla Fisher stepped out wearing a partially sheer flesh-flashing dress on Tuesday afternoon in London

Caffeine Fix: Isla clutched a coffee as she enjoyed her stroll through Hampstead in chunky sandals

She and husband Sacha Baron Cohen relocated from their home in Los Angeles to her native Australia in 2021, after expressing a desire to escape 'Trump's America'.

The star has also attempted to keep her family life beneath the radar and spoke about the three children she shares with Sacha - Olive, Elula and Montgomery.

Speaking on ITV's Lorraine last month, she opened up on her need for privacy, insisting that 'kids deserve a normal childhood'.

She said; 'I want them to be outdoors and play and run around - not feel self-conscious,' she exclaimed, adding that immersing them in a showbiz lifestyle would be 'unfair' to them.

During her chat with Lorraine, Isla wowed in a bright and bold patterned dress by Aussie fashion label Rebecca Vallance, costing 650.

She also elaborated on the parenting issue in an interview with Marie Claire Australia during the pandemic.

'I think all parents are trying to protect their kids, especially in the social media age,' the Back to the Outback star mused.

Candid: Isla opened up to TV host Lorraine Kelly last month about her decision not to post pictures of her children

'I want our children to have a normal childhood  being able to play outside without pressure or scrutiny.

'All kids have the right to just be kids, and I would never sell a film or magazine by speaking about [mine],' she concluded.

Isla will next be starring in upcoming movie Strays, which debuts in August and sees her take on the voice of an abandoned Australian Shepherd dog.
Rita Wilson and the PR manager who was 'scolded' by Tom Hanks have broken their silence on what really happened on the red carpet in Cannes on Tuesday.

Tom, 66, and his wife were at the premiere for his new film Asteroid City during the Film Festival, where he was seen looking uncharacteristically frustrated, as he jabbed a finger at a man who has since been identified as Vincent Chapalain.

Actress and producer Rita, who also stars in the film, could be seen holding her hand up in front of her as she and Tom spoke to Vincent on the red carpet.

Questions had been raised over the seemingly heated exchange, however Rita and Vincent have now set the record straight on what really happened, with Rita taking Instagram hours later to clear the air about the 'altercation'.

Sharing a picture of the moment, Rita wrote: 'This is called "I can't hear you. People are screaming. What did you say? Where are we supposed to go?"'

Explanation: Rita Wilson has broken her silence on what really happened on the red carpet when her husband Tom Hanks appeared to 'scold' a worker at Cannes Film Festival

Irritated? The actor could be seen jabbing his finger out in front of him while his brow was very furrowed as he stood alongside his wife Rita Wilson, also 66

She then added: 'We had a great time. Go see Asteroid City!'

Vincent also cleared up the moment on his own Twitter page, responding to someone who had asked what was going on.

The person had questioned: 'Did Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson get confuse with security? An explanation?'

Vincent himself replied, writing: 'They just asked me if they should go back to the start of the mat with the rest of the film crew (I'm not security) wink.'

The moment caused a stir online with many speculating about what had happened to cause the reaction from the 'one of the nicest guys in Hollywood'.

However it appears that it was nothing more than a misunderstanding according to Rita and Vincent's accounts of the exchange.

The moment came up on Wednesday's episode of Lorraine, as the host Lorraine Kelly asked her show business correspondent Tyler West his thoughts.

When asked if Tom was having a 'rant', Tyler said: 'Did he though? Look at his smile. I don't think so! He was walking the red carpet, and that picture there, he just needs a wee! He wants to know where the toilet is.

The person had questioned: 'Did Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson get confuse with security? An explanation?'

Vincent himself replied, writing: 'They just asked me if they should go back to the start of the mat with the rest of the film crew (I'm not security) wink'

Cooling off: Actress and producer Rita, who also stars in the film, could be seen holding her hand up in front of her as she spoke to the unnamed man

Lorraine said: 'He's just asking, what way do I go? He's not shaking his fists.'

Tyler confirmed: 'You can't believe everything you see in these pictures.'

While Lorraine added: 'Sometimes the camera does lie.'

During the evening, Tom wore a black tuxedo and matching bow tie which he paired with a smart white shirt for the premiere.

His partner Rita looked glamorous in a chic black dress with a long black cloak which trailed the ground behind her.

The garment was adorned with silver jewels which shimmered under the spotlights on the red carpet.

Both Tom and Rita appeared in good spirits as they posed for pictures before heading inside to watch the film.

The movie, which is a coming-of-age movie about stargazing in the desert, is directed by Wes Anderson.

Asteroid City is set in the 1950s in a fictional American desert town that has an eerie feel to it.

At a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention, which is designed to unite students and parents in scholarly competition, things go haywire when a world event takes place.

This way! At one point, the man appeared to be gesturing to Tom as he posed for pictures with his co-stars on the carpet

All good here! However Rita has now set the record straight on what really happened, taking to Instagram hours later to clear the air about the 'altercation'

Looking good: Tom cut a dapper figure as he wore a black tuxedo and matching bow tie which he teamed with a smart white shirt for the premiere

Glitterati: His partner Rita looked glamorous in a chic black dress with a a long black cloak which trailed the ground behind her

Hanks time: Asteroid City is set in the 1950s in a fictional American desert town that has an eerie feel to it (Tom, right, is pictured with Jason Schwartzman in the film)

The story centres on a widower played by Jason Schwartzman who takes his four children to see their grandfather, played by Hanks.

'In my loneliness, I've learned to give complete and unquestioning faith to the people I love,' Hanks' character tells Schwartzman's. 'I don't know if that includes you, but it included my daughter and your four children.'

Their car breaks down so they take it to Asteroid City to get repaired.

His son, played by Jake Ryan, is fascinated by the city's annual junior stargazer competition.

Soon the family becomes drawn in by the strange city where there are fears about aliens.

Also in the movie is Tom's wife Rita Wilson as well as Tilda Swinton, Matt Dillon, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody and Liev Schreiber help round out the cast.

Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend make appearances as well.

And Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke's daughter Maya Hawke has a role in the offbeat movie.

Steve Carell, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Lee and Jeff Goldblum are included as well.
Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor stepped out wearing a pretty strappy mini dress as she enjoyed a sunny stroll in Italy on Tuesday afternoon.

Phoebe, who plays the fourth Bridgerton child, Daphne, in Netflix's famous regency romance drama, was taking some time out in the idyllic lake town of Stresa.

The 28-year-old was able to enjoy spectacular views of Lake Maggiore from the resort town, which is studded with Art Nouveau hotels and palatial villas.

She was dressed for the mild weather, pairing ger black strappy dress with white driving shoes and a cream-coloured cardigan, which she slung over her arm.

Although she originally hails from Trafford, Greater Manchester, Phoebe and her Coronation Street star mum Sally, 58, seem to have taken a shine to Italy.

Sun-soaked: Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor stepped out wearing a pretty strappy mini dress and driving shoes for a sunny stroll in Italy on Tuesday

Italian idyll: She completed her look with a pair of oversized sunglasses and draped her cardigan on her arm

In fact, it's far from their first trip to the country this year as only last month, the pair were spotted soaking up the spring sunshine in Rome.

The pair were accompanied by Sally's rarely sighted husband Tim, 60, plus Phoebe's sister Harriet, 19.

The latter had recently announced her plans to follow her mum and elder sister into the world of acting.

The sisters were spotted at the Trevi Fountain making a wish before tossing coins into the pool, according to the popular tradition.

They also made a visit to the Colosseum, sharing snaps on Instagram Stories afterwards.

It's not clear exactly why Phoebe returned to Italy this time around - whether it be business or pleasure.

The star has also enjoyed plenty of work trips, documenting her adventures everywhere from India to South Korea last year.

'Cairo to Delhi to Seoul. What a beautiful ride. Excited for you to see what weve made,' she teased at the time.

Relaxed: Phoebe's understated outfit was perfect for a day out as she enjoyed the lakeside town of Stresa

Family affair: Phoebe previously hit Rome with Corrie star mum Sally, scriptwriter dad Tim and little sister Harriet, who aspires to be an actress, (pictured in the UK)

Phoebe shared a carousel of photos of the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Giza and a quadbike session in the sand.

Meanwhile, according to reports in the Sun, her baby sister Harriet's star is also rising, as it was reported that she will take up a role in BBC One's Waterloo Road.

An insider shared: 'Not many fledgling stars would get a part on such a big drama so early in their career.

'But theyre confident she has the skills to do the job  after all, the ability to perform runs in the family.'
Tom Hanks was absent from this morning's Asteroid City photo-call in Cannes after clearing up the red carpet run-in he and his wife had with a staffer at the movie's premiere last night.

Hanks, one of the world's biggest stars, and his wife Rita Wilson were photographed in the face of Vincent Chapalain at the Wes Anderson film premiere last night.

Rita was last night quick to clear up the confusion, insisting she and Tom simply couldn't hear what the man was saying.

Shortly afterwards, Chapalain - who has worked at the festival for ten years - came forward to corroborate her story.

'Nothing happened at all, the photo is totally misleading,' Chapalain told DailyMail.com on Wednesday morning, adding that the couple asked him if they should go back to the start of the red carpet with the other stars.

Hanks was absent from the well-attended photo-call where co-stars Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston and others lapped up applause today.

Where's Tom? Hanks was notably absent from the Asteroid City photo-call and press conference

Hanks did not take part in the press conference after the photo-call, where his co-stars answered questions about the film

C'est une misunderstanding! Vincent Chapalain, the Cannes staffer who was photographed in a tense moment with Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, says the couple were merely asking if they should return to the start of the carpet

Sources close to the actor however tell DailyMail.com that he was never slated to appear, and is due back in the US for a different event today.

The movie, in which Hanks plays a supporting actor role as Schwartzman's character's father-in-law, is in the running for the Palm D'or.

It has already received rave reviews.

Chapalain has worked as a 'red carpet manager' at Cannes for ten years

'Is that Anderson giving the finger to those who sneer at the stylized dysfunction of his characters?

"You cant wake up if you dont fall asleep," goes a mantra repeated by the cast in another scene.

'Is the director referring to the importance of forgetting your cynicism and surrendering to the whimsy? If so, where do I sign?'

The film has received rave reviews.

In his four-star write-up, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote: 'Asteroid Citys eccentricity, its elegance, its gaiety, and its sheer profusion of detail within the tableau frame make it such a pleasure. So, too, does its dapper styling of classic American pop culture.

Chapalain is shown at the 2018 premiere of Burning in Cannes

Chapalain explained Hanks and Wilson were asking if they should return to where the rest of the film's crew were

Hanks and Wilson were struggling to hear him, he said, because of the loud cries of photographers

'With every new shot, your eyes dart around the screen, grabbing at all the painterly little jokes and embellishments, each getting a micro-laugh.

'The movie rattles cleverly and exhilaratingly along, adroitly absorbing the implications of pathos and loneliness without allowing itself to slow down. It is tempting to consider this savant blankness as some kind of symptom, but I really dont think so: it is the expression of style. And what style it is.'

The Time's Ed Pottom gave a four-star review which read: 'Some lines feel like pops at Andersons detractors. Johanssons femme-fatale actress, recovering from an abusive marriage, says she and Augie are two catastrophically wounded people who dont express the depths of their passion . . . because they dont want to.

'Is that Anderson giving the finger to those who sneer at the stylized dysfunction of his characters? "You cant wake up if you dont fall asleep," goes a mantra repeated by the cast in another scene.

'Is the director referring to the importance of forgetting your cynicism and surrendering to the whimsy? If so, where do I sign?'

Last year, Hanks was seen screaming at photographers to 'back the f*** off!' after a tense interaction in Midtown

Impressive: The film was showered with rapturous reviews after its premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday

Reviews: The first reviews for Wes Anderson's Asteroid City have lauded the 1950s sci-fi as an 'exhilarating triumph of pure style'

In his impressive five-star review, The Independent's Geoffrey Macnab said: 'In its own offbeat way, Asteroid City is an Anderson patchwork of Cold War paranoia and American family values in all their often hypocritical glory.

'It is every bit as arch as his best work, while still managing to tug hard on the heartstrings.'

Deadline's Todd McCarthy branded the film 'fresh, original and disarming creation unlike anything else you might have seen'.

He said: 'Scene after scene has a snap and urgency to it that matches the speed of the dialogue delivery and gives the film a sort of stylized urgency that is both distinctive and funny.

'Sometimes its hard to keep up, and yet somehow it doesnt matter at all, as one feels welcomed into a weird world.

'On the other hand, the show-within-a-film conceit doesnt really pay off; arguably, it complicates the work with little to show for it, and general audiences, as opposed to art film aficionados, will be baffled as to whats going on.

'There is even one more layer to the proceedings that, arguably, is more of a bother than a plus.

'But otherwise, this is a fresh, original and disarming creation unlike anything else you might have seen with a degree of stylized storytelling that is notable and often exciting.'
She's taking on the leading role in the hotly-anticipated Barbie movie.

And Margot Robbie embraced the plastic fantastic look as she covered Vogue magazine's 2023 summer issue.

The Australian actress, 32, was a vision of beauty as she posed for an array of striking snaps for the fashion bible, with many looks in the doll's signature pink.

During the interview, Margot's co-star Ryan Gosling spoke about working with the actress on set and reveals she was fundamental in helping his inner Ken Doll.

The role was unexpected for the studious twice-Oscar nominated actor, 42, but thankfully Margot was on hand to bring out his cheeky side.

Come on Barbie, let's go do a photoshoot: Margot Robbie embraced the plastic fantastic look as she covered Vogue magazine 's 2023 summer issue

Looking good: The Australian actress, 32, was a vision of beauty as she posed for an array of striking snaps for the fashion bible

Ryan explained: 'She left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming. They were all beach-related.

'Like puka shells, or a sign that says "Pray for surf." Because Ken's job is just beach. I've never quite figured out what that means. But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving.'

As for how Margot took on the Barbie role, she revealed her goal was to change the perception of the controversial doll to those who 'actively hate' the brand.

She explained: 'We of course would want to honor the 60-year legacy that this brand has, but we have to acknowledge that there are a lot of people who aren't fans of Barbie.

'And in fact, aren't just indifferent to Barbie. They actively hate Barbie. And have a real issue with Barbie. We need to find a way to acknowledge that.'

Addressing the 'sexualization' of Barbie, she reasoned: 'I'm like, "Okay, she's a doll. She's a plastic doll. She doesn't have organs. If she doesn't have organs, she doesn't have reproductive organs. If she doesn't have reproductive organs, would she even feel sexual desire? No, I don't think she could."

'She is sexualized. But she should never be sexy. People can project sex onto her. Yes, she can wear a short skirt, but because it's fun and pink. Not because she wanted you to see her butt.'

The Barbie movie was first imagined in 2016, with Amy Schumer originally tapped to play the titular role and co-writing the screenplay with her sister Kim Caramele.

A year later, Amy exited the project citing 'creative differences', leaving way for Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach to pen the screenplay and for Margot to take on the role.

Recalling her initial reaction to the script, Margot confessed that she and husband Tom Ackerley had their doubts the movie would ever be made.

She explained: 'We just looked at each other, pure panic on our faces. We were like, Holy fucking s**t.

'I think the first thing I said to Tom was, "This is so genius. It is such a shame that we're never going to be able to make this movie."'

Making a change: As for how Margot took on the Barbie role, she revealed her goal was to change the perception of the controversial doll to those who 'actively hate' the brand

Making it work: Recalling her initial reaction to the script, Margot confessed that she and husband Tom Ackerley had their doubts the movie would ever be made

Cosy co-stars: During the interview, Margot's co-star Ryan Gosling spoke about working with the actress on set and reveals she was fundamental in helping his inner Ken Doll

Margot also revealed the advice director and writer Greta gave her to get into character, by listening to an episode of This American Life

She explained: 'I was like, Greta, I need to go on this whole character journey.

'And Greta was like, "Oh, I have a really good podcast for you. You know how you have a voice in your head all the time? This woman, she doesn't have that voice in her head."'

The cast is a who's who of Hollywood powerhouses, with Will Ferrell playing the CEO of Mattel, and Helen Mirren as the narrator.

Marvel star Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, and Kate McKinnon star as inhabitants of Barbieland, while Rhea Perlman, America Ferrera, and Alexandra Shipp are also attached to the film.

Dua Lipa, who also plays one of the Barbies, will be releasing a hit written especially for the movie, MailOnline revealed.

Photos from the set of the film have been whetting the appetites of fans for over a year, and viewers got another official glimpse of what to expect in a new trailer.

Following an initial first teaser that paid homage to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, fans have now been given a proper look at the dazzling world of 'Barbieland'.

In what appears to be a fish-out-of-water comedy, Margot's Barbie is seen having fun with Ryan's Ken in a hyper-real Barbie-inspired world - dubbed 'Barbieland' - where there are many iterations of the iconic dolls in existence.

Playing on the quirky premise of what the Mattel dolls would get up to if left to their own devices, the teaser features a comical scene between Ryan and Margot about spending the night together.

'I thought I might stay over tonight,' Ryan's Ken asks Margot's Barbie. 'To do what?' she replies innocently.

After a brief awkward pause he responds: 'I'm not actually sure.'

However, their plastic-fantastic lives are turned upside down (quite literally) when they are seen traveling to the 'real world' in a car that spins up into the air.

Will Ferrell is also seen playing the CEO of the toy company as he somehow brings his figures to life, welcoming them into civilization.

The film is based on the fashion doll line by Mattel, where the CEO Mattell Ynon Kreiz said the company expected the Barbie product to continue growing, adding: 'We couldn't be more excited about Barbie's long-term prospects.'

One to watch: Margot stars alongside Ryan as Ken Doll while Emma Mackey, Simi Lui and Kingsley Ben-Adir also featured in the film as various Barbies and Kens

The Barbie brand generated over 1 billion in gross sales last year and the doll turned 64 this week, first debuting the original on March 9, 1959.

Previously speaking of turning the iconic Barbie doll into a film, she told British Vogue in 2021: 'It comes with a lot of baggage!'

'And a lot of nostalgic connections. But with that come a lot of exciting ways to attack it.'

'People generally hear "Barbie" and think, "I know what that movie is going to be," and then they hear that Greta Gerwig is writing and directing it, and theyre like, "Oh, well, maybe I dont..."'

For the full cover story, go to Vogue.com. The Barbie movie will be released in Australia on July 20 and the following day in the UK and US.
Bec Judd turned up the heat on Wednesday evening when she graced a star-studded event at Chadstone in Melbourne.

The glamorous WAG, 40, allowed her endless trims pins to take centre stage in a hot pink tuxedo dress.

Bec kept her accessories to a minimum on the night, opting to don a lowkey pair of her tan pumps matched with her blinding wedding ring.

The Brighton A-lister wore her caramel tresses loose for the event, with her standard centre part, along with a refined makeup palette.

Also attending the event was Kate Waterhouse, who happily sidled up to Bec for a photo opportunity.

Bec Judd turned up the heat on Wednesday evening when she graced a star-studded event at Chadstone in Melbourne. Pictured

The glamorous WAG, 40, allowed her endless trims pins to take centre stage in a hot pink tuxedo dress

The stylish Sydneysider looked chic in a floral dress with an asymmetric hem.

Kate completed the look with a longline tan coat draped over her shoulders.

The stylish It girls were joined by Erin Holland, 34, who turned heads in a plunging gun-metal minidress which showcased her stunning figure and flawless skin.

The brunette beauty's hair flowed past her shoulders and a light layer of makeup accentuated her stunning facial features.

Also attending the event was Kate Waterhouse, who happily sidled up to Bec for a photo opportunity. Both pictured

The stylish Sydneysider looked chic in a floral dress with an asymmetric hem. Kate completed the look with a longline tan coat draped over her shoulders

Nadia Fairfax, 34, made a bold fashion statement with her captivating business-inspired outfit.

Rocking an unbuttoned black blazer and matching skirt, she exuded confidence and style.

She completed the look with a crisp white shirt, red loafers, and a sleek black designer handbag, turning heads as she showcased her impeccable fashion sense.

The stylish It girls were joined by Erin Holland, 34, who turned heads in a plunging gun-metal minidress which showcased her stunning figure and flawless skin
New Delhi/Sydney, May 24 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held talks with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Sydney.

In a tweet, EAM said that the two nations are increasingly demonstrating their ability to go beyond the bilateral and collaborate at the regional and global level.

An excellent meeting this afternoon with FM @SenatorWong

of Australia. The follow-up to the Prime Ministers Summit has commenced.

India and Australia are increasingly demonstrating their ability to go beyond the bilateral and collaborate at the regional and global level.

The Australian FM, in a tweet said:

Australia and India share an interest in a peaceful, stable, prosperous region.

It's a reminder of why our partnership is so important.

It was great to speak with my good friend @DrSJaishankar

about how we can expand our cooperation to achieve the region we want.

UNI RN
Danielle Harold's first job since leaving her role on EastEnders following her terminal cancer diagnosis has now been revealed, according to The Sun.

The actresses final scenes are set to air this week where her family and friends will say a tough goodbye to her character Lola Pearce-Brown.

Danielle, 30, has appeared on the soap since 2011 and her character has been suffering from terminal cancer over the past few months.

She has undergone a rapid deterioration in recent weeks and has just returned to her home on Albert Square to die surrounded by her loved ones.

Danielle had remained tight lipped about her next move after leaving the show, however her future after EastEnders has now apparently been revealed.

New job: Danielle Harold's first job since leaving her role on EastEnders following her terminal cancer diagnosis has now been revealed, according to The Sun

Tragic: The actresses final scenes are set to air this week where her family and friends will say a tough goodbye to her character Lola Pearce-Brown

It has been claimed that Danielle will next appear on Celebrity Hunted, where she will try to keep hidden from the hunters who are trying to discover her location.

An insider said: 'After filming Lola's storyline, Danielle is keen to do whatever she can to help raise money for the fight against cancer.

'She will throw herself into the show and hopefully stay hidden long enough to beat the Hunters.'

It has been claimed that she will be joined by former Coronation Street star, Kimberly Hart-Simpson on the celebrity edition of the Channel 4 programme.

Earlier this week, EastEnders viewers were left heartbroken as Lola battled with the consequences of afterlife and not being with her daughter, deciding she wanted to get baptised during Tuesday's episode.

The character has a terminal brain tumour and was recently given only months to live, with her final scenes expected to air soon.

And as her condition worsened, Lola found herself questioning the afterlife.

Determined to stay with her daughter 'wherever' she goes, she decided she wanted to undergo the religious ritual to 'be with her', for 'wherever' she 'ends up'.

In heartbreaking scenes, Lola was visited by a reverend, who comforted her on what to expect.

Tough: Earlier this week, EastEnders viewers were left heartbroken as Lola battled with the consequences of afterlife and not being with her daughter, deciding she wanted to get baptised during Tuesday's episode

The reverend said: 'You know when I was with my partner Magda, it was a terrible shock. Didn't much feel like god had my back that day.

'It was a terrible thing about how unfair it all was. Questioning how any real God could let it happen.

'When she died, she was full of life. She knew she was loved. She was surrounded by it everyday. You know, everyone always says that loss is hardest for the ones left behind. But I think, with something like this, it must be unimaginably difficult.'

Processing, Lola said: 'I'd like to think that there's something. Something like...'

'Heaven?' The reverend interrupted.

Lola continued: 'Lexie, my daughter, she's christened. So at least there will be someone there.'

The reverend concluded: 'You know, I like to think of death as just the end of a chapter. I don't think you have anything to fear.'

Later in the evening, Lola's daughter Lexie then came into the room to discuss her meeting with the reverend.

Emotional: The character, played by Danielle Harold , has a terminal brain tumour and was recently given only months to live, with her final scenes expected to air soon. And as her condition worsened, Lola found herself questioning the afterlife with a reverend

Sad: Determined to stay with her daughter 'wherever' she goes, she decided she wanted to undergo the religious ritual to 'be with her', for 'wherever' she 'ends up

Lexi asked: 'If you don't believe in God, why was that lady here?'

Lola replied: 'It doesn't really matter. Makes you feel better.'

Worried, Lexie continued: 'But if you don't believe in God, he won't let you into heaven. And then how am I supposed to find you?'

Reassuring her, Lola said: 'Listen, wherever we end up, I will always find you, ok? Promise.'

As Lexie left the room, Lola then turned to Jay.

She asked: 'Jay, have you still got that reference somewhere?

'I think I want to be baptized. Lexie is, so wherever I end up, I want to end up with her.'

Taking to Twitter as the episode aired, viewers were left heartbroken by the gut-wrenching scenes.

One wrote: 'Every episode has me sobbing. Lola is breaking my heart.'

A second added: 'Crying my eyes out at this scene between Reverend Mills and Lola. Such a beautiful scene.'

'What a beautiful scene. This is where the storyline's strengths lie. Not all the random and unnecessary drama just for the sake of it. Danielle Harold is breaking my heart', a third said.

'The best love story': Eastenders scenes this week have been particularly tough for viewers to watch, with Monday's episode no exception. EastEnders viewers were left heartbroken as Lola returned home from hospital and was carried into her home by partner Jay

Terminally ill: As she nears the end of her life, Jay brought Lola back home for her final days as he carried her in from the ambulance

A fourth praised the scene's authenticity, saying: 'I can't get over how realistic Eastenders has made Lola's story. I lost my sister in law to cancer in 2020 and the end was exactly how they are showing. Seeing Lola in bed at home is bringing back memories. So much that I can't watch. Props to the actors'.

Eastenders scenes this week have been particularly tough for viewers to watch, with Monday's episode no exception.

EastEnders viewers were left heartbroken as Lola returned home from hospital and was carried into her home by partner Jay.

As she nears the end of her life, Jay brought Lola back home for her final days as he carried her in from the ambulance.

He said: 'I'm carrying my wife over the threshold'.

The couple were seen cuddling on the sofa spending quality time together in heartbreaking scenes as Lola becomes more and more ill.

Later in the episode Lola's daughter Lexi, who she shares with Ben Mitchell, was seen getting upset while her dad told her that Lola doesn't have long left going against her wishes.

Lexi couldn't hold back her anger and devastation as her mum had 'promised to be there for her first day of school and she lied'.

Lola previously asked Billy to help her die on her own terms - which is illegal in the UK - to protect Lexi from seeing her mum's decline.

Jay was initially furious by Lola's plans, but did eventually start to see it from her point of view.

Jay promised his wife he'd support her however she wanted to pass away, but vowed to be the one involved and not Billy.

However, once the pair returned to hospital, Lola realised she couldn't risk Jay going to prison for helping her die.

Instead, Lola told Jay she felt brave enough to let herself naturally pass away with her loved ones around her.

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

For information, help and support on matters associated with Lola's storyline, head to Macmillan Cancer Support or Brain Tumour Research.
Love Island's Montana Brown turned up the heat in Marbella on Wednesday as she shared a behind the scenes sneak peek of her latest swimwear shoot.

The heavily pregnant star, who is 27, wasn't about to let her baby bump prevent her showing off the forthcoming launch from Swim Society.

She invited fans to 'get ready with me' in a new Instagram post which saw her striking in a pose in a skimpy neon pink bikini, before adding a loose-fitting cover-up.

Donning a comfy-looking trouser and shirt set over the top, she then added sunglasses and a sparkly necklace and earrings to complete the look.

Noticing the exotic leafy backdrop, fans begged to know where in Marbella she was staying, although so far the reality star has remained tight-lipped about her location.

Montana Brown sizzled in a pink bikini after heading to Marbella to promote the launch of Swim Society's new beach-wear line

Oh baby: Montana proudly presented her baby bump in the colourful bikini while awaiting the arrival of her baby boy with partner Mark O'Connor

She teased the swimwear launch to her 1.2 million followers, revealing she was 'wearing [the] brand new collection, launching 08.06.23'.

Proving that she wasn't shy about flaunting bright rainbow colours, she added a lime green strapless dress to her style repertoire yesterday too.

Her latest posts come just days after fans spotted her at the London premiere of new Disney film The Little Mermaid.

She shared the spotlight with an array of fellow celebrities, from fellow Love Island star Tasha Ghouri to the show's former presenter Laura Whitmore.

'What a dreamy premiere, with the best casting of all time. Was absolutely blown away by the production and of course @halleybailey,' she praised.

Montana attended with her boyfriend Mark O' Connor, whom she started dating during the second coronavirus lockdown.

The pair are now inseparable, having got engaged on a sun-soaked trip to Bermuda last year, and are now expecting a baby boy.

They posed on Instagram baring broad smiles as a shower of confetti swept over them in celebration of discovering the gender back in March.

The Love Island star invited fans to get ready with her as she shared her transformation in an Instagram video while on location in Marbella

Holiday envy: Fans were keen to know where in Marbella the expectant mother-to-be was staying, but so far she hasn't shared

Paradise: Montana looked delighted to be spending time in the vibrant Spanish city, well known for its lively nightlife, with great restaurants and bars

She shared her emotions on the baby shower by exclaiming: "Feeling so lucky we have the most supportive and kind women around us to celebrate baby boys arrival.

'My beautiful friends organised this surprise shower for me - thank you to all my wonderful friends for being a part of the special day.'

Montana is considered a legend among many Love Island fans for lasting an entire 50 days in the villa when she joined the show back in 2017.

Finishing touches: Montana added a pair of sunglasses to shield her eyes from the afternoon glare
Taylor Lautner is calling out the haters and trolls who commented on a recent photo of him with criticism over his looks and how he is aging.

The Twilight actor, 31, got real about how those types of comments would have driven him into a black hole of self-loathing in the past.

On Monday, Lautner posted a video on Instagram saying: 'I just got back from a run. I was feeling really good about myself, trying to stay healthy both physically and mentally. And I felt compelled to share something with you because when I got back from that run I hopped on Instagram.

The Home Team star went on to explain that he and his wife, Tay Lautner, had been in New York City appearing on SiriusXM to promote their podcast The Squeeze.

'If this was 10 years ago, five years ago, maybe even two, three years ago, that really would have got under my skin. It would have caused me to want to just go in a hole and not go outside,' he continued.

Mental health: Taylor Lautner, pictured here in 2009, is calling out the haters and trolls who commented on a recent photo of him with criticism over his looks and how he's aging

Putting things in perspective: The Twilight actor, 31, pictured her in 2023, got real about how those types of comments would have driven him into a black hole of self-loathing in the past

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl actor went on to explain that he is now 'in a different place' and is no longer in an 'unhealthy position' where he focuses on the 'wrong things.'

'You find value where you put it,' Taylor explained. 'And if you put your value in what other people think of you, that's how you're going to feel. But if you put your value in you knowing who you are, what's important to you, what you love, that kind of stuff won't get to you.'

Lautner shared some of the comments with his viewers. 'Brooo where is his hair line running off to??? Looks like Ratatouille putting the years on him,' one comment read.

Other hurtful comments said: 'looks like old broccoli' and 'aged like a raisin.'

Meanwhole, another comment read, 'He did not age well goodness.'

'Damn looks like s---,' one read, while another went, 'Wait he looks so old wtf happened.'

He shared the post for Mental Health Awareness month, hoping to shed light on the problem of trolls and negative comments and the toll they can take on a person.

Lautner said in the past these kinds of comments would have put him in a position where he wouldn't do any press or interviews or even leave the house to go anywhere were the might be photographed.

He called his old way of thinking 'really unhealthy,' and believes the reason was due to his values being 'in the wrong things.'

'You find value where you put it,' he said. 'And if you put your value in what other people think of you, that's how you're going to feel. But if you put your value in you knowing who you are, what's important to you, what you love, that kind of stuff won't get to you.'

Doing better: On Monday, Lautner, pictured here in 2005, posted a video on Instagram saying: 'I just got back from a run. I was feeling really good about myself, trying to stay healthy both physically and mentally. And I felt compelled to share something with you because when I got back from that run I hopped on Instagram

Honesty: 'If this was 10 years ago, five years ago, maybe even two, three years ago, that really would have got under my skin. It would have caused me to want to just go in a hole and not go outside,' he continued, pictured here in 2016

Happy: The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl actor went on to explain that he is now 'in a different place' and is no longer in an 'unhealthy position' where he focuses on the 'wrong things,' pictured here in 2009

He also added that he still has work to do on himself, admitting he 'wouldn't be on here posting this video if it didn't bother me at all. But it doesn't make me question who I am and it doesn't take anything away from me.'

'So I think my biggest point is just think about and remember where you put your value in life, and also just be nice,' Lautner concluded.

'It's not that difficult. Let's be nice to each other. Let's spread love and positivity. It's that simple.'

Lautner's wife Tay replied to the post twice, writing 'God I love you' and 'It doesn't make me question who I am'.
Amy Dowden has been flooded with messages of support from her Strictly Come Dancing co-stars after revealing she's been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The dancer, 32, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share her shocking health news after finding a lump in her breast the day before her honeymoon in April.

In her post, Amy said she is determined to return to Strictly as soon as possible, but is waiting for further information about treating her cancer.

Amy wrote: 'Hey all, I've got some news which isn't easy to share. I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I'm determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it. Welsh love Amy.'

After sharing her diagnosis on Instagram, Amy was flooded with comments of support from her fellow Strictly professionals, and other celebrities who have competed on the show.

Kind: Amy Dowden has been flooded with messages of support from her Strictly Come Dancing co-stars after revealing her breast cancer diagnosis (pictured with Oti Mabuse)

Dianne Buswell said: 'Our Welsh dragon is going to fight this !!!! and I can not wait for the moment you are back on that dance floor with us. We love you so much Amy.'

Oti Mabuse commented: 'Sending you love and power and all the strength - you're such an incredible woman love you Amy! Take care of yourself.'

Ellie Taylor, who competed on the show last year, said: 'Oh beautiful Amy. Sending heaps of love. Xxx.'

Giovanna Fletcher added: 'Love love love you. Xxxx.'

Karen Hauer posted: 'We love you and we are here with you in every little step . You are strong and you will beat this .

Neil Jones wrote: 'Amy, I know you will beat this 1 million percent.

'Sending you all my love and positive energy. I can't wait to dance with you again on the dance floor.'

Former contestant Alex Jones wrote: 'Oh Amy! Thinking of you and sending you so much love. Cariad mawr.'

Sweet: The dancer was flooded with comments of support from her co-stars (Dianne Buswell pictured)

We're with you! After sharing her diagnosis on Instagram, Amy was flooded with comments of support from her fellow Strictly pros and stars who appeared on the show

Former pro Kevin Clifton wrote: 'We love you sis. Ur the best. U got this,' while Katya Jones added: 'We're with you all the way! The strongest woman I know! Can't wait to have you in the dance floor real soon!!'

Strictly's 2018 winner Stacey Dooley commented: 'all the love sis x.'

Former pro and It Takes Two host Janette Manrara commented: 'If anyone one has the strength, it's you. We are all by your side all the way. Love you to the moon and back'.

2016 winner Ore Oduba said: 'Oh Amy. All our love, there is nothing YOU cannot fight. And what an almighty dance it'll be when you're back. So much love.'

Dr Ranj Singh, who previously competed on the show, said: 'Sending you HUGE love and strength darling! Always here if you need anything at all.'

Joanne Clifton wrote: 'Amy, sending you all the strength and power... we are all with you,' while Gemma Atkinson added: 'We're all Fighting behind you all the way Amy!!!!! Sending so much love to you.'

Strictly's head judge Shirley Ballas shared a lengthy message of support, writing: '@amy_dowden my precious girl. Nanny and I are thinking about you at this time. You are a strong example to so many of resilience which I've witnessed first hand.

'A beautiful kind and funny young lady who will face things head on. You are sooo loved. I'll see you soon my darling friend hugs and lots of warm cuddles.'

Tyler West, who appeared on Strictly last year with Dianne Buswell, spoke about Amy's diagnosis on Wednesday's Lorraine.

He said: 'She's all right, Aims she's the Welsh dragon, she's a fighter, so strong, so inspirational, it was a massive shock the system for everyone to everyone this morning.

'She is incredible, Amy, and I have no doubt she will be powering through it.'

Strictly Come Dancing also released a statement sharing their support for Amy, with executive producer Sarah James saying: 'Amy is an exceptional person, both on and off the dance floor, and is adored by her entire Strictly Come Dancing family.

'Everyone on the show is sending Amy all our love and she knows that we are all here to support her, whenever she needs us.'

Amy told Hello! Magazine she found a lump in her right breast in April, a day before she and her husband flew to the Maldives for a belated honeymoon after their wedding last July.

The dancer said she was 'in shock' and decided to keep an eye on the lump, before going to the doctor when the lump grew on her return home.

She was immediately sent for an emergency referral, where she was told the lump looked 'suspicious' and to 'prepare for the worst'.

Health: Amy took to Instagram to share her shock health news with her fans, after discovering a lump in her breast while on her honeymoon in April

After a biopsy, Amy was told she had grade three breast cancer, saying her first question was when she could get back on the dance floor.

Amy said her cancer has been caught 'early' and she is now waiting for more information before she is given a full treatment plan, which will include surgery.

She is waiting for an MRI scan and a biopsy after medics found a second lump in her right breast, and she will be given a full prognosis after that step.

Amy has dealt with an array of health struggles over the years after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 11.

She rose to fame on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, joining the host of professional dancers on the popular show.

She tied the knot with her husband last July, exchanging vows in front of their family and friends at a five-star wedding venue in the Gower Peninsula, South Wales.
Rock star Travis Barker's teenage daughter Alabama Barker has defended her rapping skills after being lambasted for her vocal stylings in mid May.

She took to social media this week to argue her point.

'I'm tired of people saying I don't know anything about rap music, I wasn't raised around rap music, I wasn't anything,' she said, according to People.

'So, let's take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well,' added the star whose mother is Playboy model Shanna Moakler and whose stepmother is Kourtney Kardashian.

The model then shared images with rap stars such as Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and A$AP Ferg.

I count: Rock star Travis Barker 's teenage daughter Alabama Barker has defended her rapping skills after being lambasted for her vocal stylings in mid May

Good stance: She took to social media this week to argue her point. 'I'm tired of people saying I don't know anything about rap music, I wasn't raised around rap music, I wasn't anything,' she said, according to People

'Since I could walk, I was in the music industry,' she said.

'I was watching my dad perform in punk bands, rock bands, in rap concerts, everything. So, for the people that say, "Oh, she doesn't know anything about rap music."'

The star, who later deleted the clip, said, 'She didn't grow up around rap music. Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that? I've been influenced by rap my entire upbringing and punk rock.'

She then noted that she knows she is privileged.

'I'm beyond grateful for that and blessed. It's not okay for people to make fun of or disrespect any culture at all,' she added.

Listen up: 'So, let's take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well,' added the star whose mother is Playboy model Shanna Moakler and whose stepmother is Kourtney Kardashian. The model then shared images with rap stars such as Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and A$AP Ferg

'So, if me being a rapper bugs you, then you can just keep moving and stop commenting.'

In mid May she came under fire from social media users after sharing a new TikTok video of herself rapping along to her new single.

She was raised in Calabasas, California.

She could be seen mouthing along to lyrics such as 'We ain't together, when I'm wit' him he know I'm the realest / I ain't no opposition, all these b***hes in their feelings' in the clip.

She appeared with a full face of makeup and showcased a vibrant orange wig, which featured a blonde streak.

Fans were quick to note that the aspiring musician's vocals and accent appeared to have changed when she began to rap.

One bemused viewer commented on Twitter: 'I don't understand how white girls be rich and decide to do this? the way I would be at a pool spending money somewhere like what.'

New sound: Alabama in a TikTok video in which she raps along to her new single in mid May

Daddy-daughter bond: The 17-year-old (seen with her father in 2018) faced accusations of 'blackfishing' after posting the rap video

Her stepmother is reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian who runs POOSH

Mommy: Her mother is Playboy model Shanna Moakler

Barker has an older brother, Landon, who is 19. And she's also younger sister to Atiana De La Hoya, 24, who her mom Shanna shares with ex Oscar De La Hoya.

The young woman regularly entertains 1.7 million followers on Instagram and she boasts 3.6 million fans on TikTok.

In March 2021 Alabama showed off her makeup prowess as she applied foundation to her dad's face using KVD Beauty's Good Apple Skin-Perfecting Foundation Balm.
Katie Holmes revealed that a possible revival of her iconic WB series Dawson's Creek has been discussed 'many' times in recent years during her recent visit to the Cannes Film Festival.

The 44-year-old actress revealed that continue interest in brining back the show while sitting down for a chat with Variety last week.

Although she seemed intrigued by the concept of bringing Dawson's Creek back, she also worried that the culture might have changed too much from the late 1990s and early 2000s, when it initially aired, which could sap some of the original's sweetness.

The series helped make Katie a star, and it also cemented the careers of her costars, including Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, James Van Der Beek and Busy Philipps.

'There have been many discussions over the years. We all loved the experience,' Holmes said when quizzed about bringing back the six-season series.

Watch the iconic series, Dawson's Creek available now only on Stan.

Bringing it back? Katie Holmes, 44, revealed 'there have been many discussions' about a Dawson's Creek revival while chatting with Variety at the Cannes Film Festival last week

Out of time: However, she worried that the show might not hold up in 2023, especially with the change to a more aggressive internet culture. ''To put it into today's world might tarnish it a little bit,' she said; seen with James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson

But she also worried that Dawson's Creek might have been too delicate for today's particularly online culture.

'There's a protection that comes along with the discussion. The show was a time capsule,' she continued. 'To put it into today's world might tarnish it a little bit.

'It was right before everyone had a phone and social media and all of that, so there was an innocence that was there between the characters that was one of the things I think people liked about the show. To put it into the setting of todays world, Im not sure,' Holmes mused.

Ultimately, it seemed to be a lack of a strong enough argument for getting the gang back together that stopped the original cast from moving forward with a revival.

'Weve often talked about it,' the Batman Begins actress added. 'For now, we kind of just keeping saying that until there is a real reason to do it, it hasnt been something where people have said, "This is the take on it."'

As Katie's acting output has slowed in recent years, she has taken on more directing projects, which she also spoke about with the publication.

She noted that being behind the camera felt like a 'second home,' as she was already so familiar with working on a set.

'I feel comfortable there. Knowing that when you go in, you know this department and the dynamics,' she said.

She added that her acting training was an asset when it came to coaxing a performance out of her stars.

'Working with actors while being an actor, I think I know what theyre feeling and I hope that they feel more comfortable because I know Im them,' she explained. 'Im one of you. Were all together. Theres a comfort zone there.'

Awkard timing: 'It was right before everyone had a phone and social media ... so there was an innocence that was there between the characters that was one of the things I think people liked about the show. To put it into the setting of todays world, Im not sure,' Holmes mused

Changing places: After establishing herself as a director, she noted that being behind the camera felt like a 'second home,' as she was already so familiar with working on a set; seen May 18 in Cap d'Antibes, France

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic inspired Holmes 2022 directorial feature Alone Together, which she costarred in with Jim Sturgess, Melissa Leo and Zosia Mamet.

They played two people who were were forced to stay together in cramped quarters at the same bed and breakfast during a surprise lockdown at the start of the pandemic.

Holmes was back behind and in front of the camera with this year's Rare Objects, which was released in April.

Julia Mayorga starred as Benita, a woman getting her life back in order after being released from a mental hospital, while Holmes played a wealthy woman who befriended her while also staying at the hospital.

Holmes also starred in her 2016 feature directorial debut All We Had.

But she told Variety she was already at work planning her fourth directorial feature, though this would be a significant departure for her, as she didn't plan to act in it.

'Im going to direct a film that Im just going to direct. And that will be really fun, and I think probably will feel, in some ways, easier,' she shared.

She was coy with details, though, adding that she was 'still figuring it out,' and pre-production was also paused at the moment due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike against film and television studios and streamers over chronic low pay.

Although most of her recent films  as actor or director  have been dramas or romances, Holmes expressed a desire to star in a comedy again.

'People need to laugh right now,' she declared.

It's time: Although most of her recent films  as actor or director  have been dramas or romances, Holmes expressed a desire to star in a comedy again. 'People need to laugh right now,' she declared; seen in April in NYC

The film and television star also opened up about her hesitancy to return to big-budget Hollywood projects after mostly eschewing them in the wake of 2005's critical and commercial success Batman Begins.

Her role in the Christopher Nolandirected film  which starred Christian Bale as the eponymous superhero  was taken over by Maggie Gyllenhaal in the sequel, The Dark Knight.

She called working with the Interstellar director a 'wonderful experience.'

'That was such a huge learning experience, just the scope of it and the sets. The cinematography, everything was just amazing,' she gushed.
Coleen Rooney showed off her signature style as she attended Beyonce's latest show in Sunderland amid her hotly-anticipated Renaissance tour.

The wife of Wayne Rooney, 37, took to her Instagram on Wednesday to give an insight into her incredible evening at the concert the day before.

She posed with her two pals as they sat in the stands at the Stadium of Light as the lit-up stage and huge crowds could be seen behind them.

Coleen looked effortlessly chic in blue jeans and a faux leather jacket, which she styled with large silver hoop earrings.

She styled her brunette locks in a straight fashion across her shoulders and bolstered her features with lashings of mascara.

Girls night! Coleen Rooney showed off her signature style as she attended Beyonce's latest show in Sunderland amid her hotly-anticipated Renaissance tour

Tour: Beyonce took to the stage at Sunderland's Stadium of Light on Tuesday as she continued with her UK tour dates (she is pictured in Stockholm on May 10)

Alongside the snap, the TV personality simply penned: 'She's back. Beyonce.'

Beyonce started her UK dates with a bang last week when she stormed the city's Principality Stadium with several iconic hits and a collection of incredible ensembles for her energetic audience of 74,000 fans.

Her full list included a host of her smash hits, like Formation, Run The World (Girls) and Love on Top, opening with a mash-up of Dangerously In Love, Flaws And All, and 1+1.

Her statement stage outfits have included glittering catsuits and gorgeous metallic corsets and mini dresses by a slew of designers like Alexander McQueen, Loewe and David Koma.

Her tour comes as Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z just put down $200million to buy California's most expensive home.

The 30K-square-foot compound marked the second most expensive real estate deal in the country  after a $238million apartment in Central Park South in Midtown Manhattan was bought by hedge fund giant Ken Griffin in 2019.

Beyonce and Jay-Z's seaside estate is located on an eight-acre bluff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean in the Paradise Cove area nicknamed Billionaires' Row.

Impressive: Beyonce started her UK dates with a bang last week when she stormed the city's Principality Stadium with several iconic hits

Stunning: Her statement stage outfits have included glittering catsuits and gorgeous metallic corsets and mini dresses by a slew of designers like Alexander McQueen and Loewe

Lavish: Her tour comes as Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z just put down $200million to buy California's most expensive home

Despite paying the jaw-dropping price, the A-listers actually got a deal on the home, which was first listed for a hefty $295million.

Beyonce and Jay-Z's L-shaped compound features vast concrete hallways as well as floor-to-ceiling glass panels as shown in photos taken by Morley Construction.

The expansive backyard boasts a pool and ends with a cliff that overlooks the beach.

The home, built with high concrete walls and offering plenty of space, was designed by Japanese master architect Tadao Ando, who is also working on disgraced rapper Kanye West's Malibu home.
Victoria Silvstedt showed off her incredible figure as she soaked up the sun at the Eden Roc hotel in France on Wednesday amid Cannes Film Festival.

The Swedish model, 48, put her enviable physique on full display in a black two piece with a plunging top as she relaxed by the pool at the hotel in Antibes.

Her relaxing break comes after she made a glamorous appearance at the premiere for Johnny Depp's new French film Jeanne du Barry at Cannes Film Festival.

She swept her golden locks back into a loose up-do and let strands fall loosely to frame her stunning features.

The TV personality shielded her eyes with round sunglasses and dried herself off with a white towel after cooling off with a dip in the pool.

Wow! Victoria Silvstedt showed off her incredible figure as she soaked up the sun at the Eden Roc hotel in France on Wednesday amid Cannes Film Festival

Stunning: The Swedish model, 48, put her enviable physique on full display in a black two piece with a plunging top as she relaxed by the pool at the hotel in Antibes

She wrapped the towel around her waist as she strolled from the pool back to the lavish Eden Roc Hotel, which is a celebrity hotspot.

She made a red carpet appearance during the first premiere of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, Jeanne du Barry, last week.

She cut an elegant figure in a yellow ruffled gown with a dramatic tulle skirt as she stormed the red carpet.

Victoria accessorised her statement ensemble with a glitzy silver necklace and kept her essentials in a small handbag.

She styled her golden tresses in voluminous waves across her shoulders and added to her stunning features with a high-glamour make-up palette.

The actress joined the star-studded line-up at the premiere of Jeanne du Barry, which is a Louis XV period drama starring actor Johnny.

The film marks Johnny's return to cinema for the first time following his highly publicised libel trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

All smiles: She swept her golden locks back into a loose up-do and let strands fall loosely to frame her stunning features

Gorgeous: The TV personality shielded her eyes with round sunglasses and dried herself off with a white towel after cooling off with a dip in the pool

Quick dip: Victoria enjoyed a swim in the picturesque hotel pool as she cooled off amid the balmy weather

Sunbathing: She soaked up the sun in her skimpy two-piece, which she teamed with a silver watch

Sun-soaked trip: She wrapped the towel around her waist as she strolled from the pool back to the lavish Eden Roc Hotel, which is a celebrity hotspot

Beachwear: Victoria showed off her incredible figure in her skimpy two-piece, which featured thong bottoms

Good spirits: Victoria appeared to be having the time of her life as she relaxed by the pool

Celeb hotspot: Victoria relaxed at the luxury hotel, which is nearby the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, which is set to end on Saturday

Elegant: Her relaxing break comes after she made a glamorous appearance at the premiere for Johnny Depp's new French film Jeanne du Barry at Cannes Film Festival

Victoria's relaxing break in France comes after she opened up about her favourite destinations to travel to, including Miami.

Speaking to Relentless Magazine last year, she said: 'I also have an apartment in New York and in Miami so the winter I spend lots of time in the US or in St Bart's, my favorite island in the world.

'Summertime, I also visit family in Sweden,' she stated.

She also discussed her career and what she has planned for the future, adding: 'I never imagined I would have this journey. I'm writing a biography now and it's fun to go through my life and career.'
Love Island star Mike Boateng has revealed he had to wait an agonising two hours for an ambulance after dislocating his arm.

The television personality, 28, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share with his followers he had a health scare.

He said the wait felt 'endless' after injuring himself and it was a stark reminder for him about the strain the NHS is under.

Mike, who starred on series six of the show, wrote: 'Endured a tough ordeal today, a reminder of the strain on our NHS.

'Having dislocated my arm, I found myself in excruciating pain for two seemingly endless hours whilst waiting for an ambulance.

Ouch: Love Island star Mike Boateng has revealed he had to wait an agonising two hours for an ambulance after dislocating his arm

Excruciating pain: The television personality, 28, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share with his followers he had a health scare

Tough: He said the wait felt 'endless' after injuring himself and said it was a stark reminder about the strain the NHS is under

'Can't help but think about those dealing with even more critical conditions, caught up in these long waiting times - a crisis brought on by the government's unwillingness to reward healthcare heroes what they truly deserve.'

Mike went on to praise the paramedics who treated him, whilst he was in such pain.

He added: 'I'm overly grateful for Cathy and Jourdan, the amazing paramedics who came to my aid.

'Each delay, each life at stake, brings us back to the question - when will the government realise the invaluable services of individuals like Cathy and Jourdan?'

Mike split from Priscilla Anyabu, whom he met on the show back in 2020, after 15 months of dating.

The couple met on the winter series of Love Island in 2020, and lost out on winning the show to Paige Turley, and Finn Tapp who scooped the 50,000 prize.

But interrupted by the spread of Covid-19, they were plunged into life in lockdown upon leaving the villa - spending time in Paige's home county of West Lothian.

Paige and Finn split last month after three years of dating.

Exes: Mike split from Priscilla Anyabu, whom he met on the show back in 2020 , after 15 months of dating

Is it over? Winter Love Island 2020 winners Paige Turley and Finley Tapp have reportedly SPLIT after three years together

Reality star: Mike starred on series six of Love Island and then went on to star on Celebrity Ex On The Beach (pictured)

'Paige and Finn had a really good run, but they are still super young and decided it wasnt forever in the end,' an insider told The Sun.

Both have reportedly already moved out of their shared Manchester home, with Paige heading back to Scotland while Finn spends time travelling.
Reality TV queen Kim Kardashian certainly has a lot of close friends.

The 42-year-old SKIMS founder - who talked her ex Kanye West earlier this week - reminded her Instagram followers of that on Wednesday morning.

The reality TV siren shared images with her closest group of pals, her pre-school chums that she attended high school with in Bel Air, in several flashback images from when she was a teenager.

And the mother-of-four also posted snapshots of her with the ladies in more recent years, proving she has stayed close to the girl gang of six.

The women are: Allison, Simone, Zoe, Lindsay, Sarah, Ashley.

Super BFFs: Kim Kardashian shared images with her closest group of pals, her Bel Air high school chums, in several flashback images from when she was a teenager. The women are: Allison, Simone, Zoe, Lindsay, Sarah, Ashley

More recent: And the mother-of-four also posted snapshots of her with the ladies in more recent years, proving she has stayed close to the girl gang of six

'Lifers Appreciation Post. Life is better when you have your lifers!. Allison, Simone, Zoe, Lindsay, Sarah, Ashley ,' wrote Kim in her caption.

She did not add the name of her older sister Kourtney Kardashian, even though she is seen in one of the images. Kim and Kourtney have not been getting along in recent years.

Kim and the women all attended Marymount High School in Bel Air, California. At the time Kim and her family resided in Beverly Hills, then later Calabasas.

Allison is Allison Azoff, who is the daughter of music executive Irving Azoff - who has worked with Christina Aguilera - and his wife Shelli, who is close friends with Kim's mother Kris Jenner.

She now goes by Allison Statter after getting married to Rich Statter.

Allison worked with Kim on one of her KKW beauty collections and even appeared in the packaging and promotional images.

She works as the CEO and founder of Blended Strategy Group in LA. And she manages Cardi B.

Simone is Simone Harouche.

She is a fashion stylist who studied at Parsons School Of Design in New York City and went on to work with Miley Cyrus, Nicole Richie and Ashley Tisdale.

From left: Simone Harouche and Allison Statter with Kim far right

From left: Allison, Kim and Zoe Winkler Reinis

Harouche also helped shaped Christina Aguilera's rock star image.

The fashion expert was in Paris in the same hotel as Kim when the star was robbed of $10M of jewelry. After Kim got loose, she called on Simone to help her.

Simone is married to real estate executive Marc Bretter, and they have son Dashiel and their daughter, Azlan

Zoe is Zoe Winkler Reinis, the daughter of actor Henry Winkler of Happy Days fame who more recently has worked on the show Barry.

She was a pre-school teacher and is the co-founder of @thisisabouthumanity, www.thisisabouthumanity.com.

Lindsay is Lindsay May, who co-founded Mayflower Entertainment and does deals for brands like Gucci.

Sarah is Sarah Meyer Michaelson who is married to Aaron Michelson.

She is the founder and CEO of Roe Caviar.

And her Sarah's sister is Jennifer Meyer, the jewelry designer whose necklaces and earrings have been worn by Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. Jen was also wed to Tobey Maguire.

Her caption read: 'Lifers Appreciation Post Life is better when you have your lifers! Allison, Simone, Zoe, Lindsay, Sarah, Ashley.' Sarah is Sarah Meyer Michaelson who is married to Aaron Michelson. She is the founder and CEO of Roe Caviar

Style maven: Harouche. She is a fashion stylist who studied at Parsons School Of Design in New York City and went on to work with Miley Cyrus, Nicole Richie and Ashley Tisdale

And Sarah is the founder and editor of @beautybanter.

Ashley is Ashley Kraines, a yoga teacher. She is also the sister of Todd Kraines, who was on an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Kim has another gang of girlfriends whom she often poses with on social media.

Last week the Keeping Up With The Kardashians veteran was with the ladies as they enjoyed Usher's show in Las Vegas.

She was at the center of her girl gang who clearly are her VIPs these days.

The mother of four was with Khloe Kardashian, Olivia Pierson, Natalie Halcro, Tracy Romulus, Stephanie Shepherd and Kimora Lee Simmons.

There was no sign of sister Kourtney Kardashian, whom she has been feuding with for the past year. Their drama unfolds on season three of Hulu's The Kardashians.

Kourtney is lucky she made the group! Kim's older sister Kourtney is seen far left; the two have not been getting along well in recent years

After flying to Vegas in her private jet, which she calls Kim Air, the party was treated to VIP treatment at the Usher concert, where the Kim was personally serenaded.

They then met the man himself backstage, where they posed for pictures.

Kim stood out from the crowd in her ensemble which featured a crop top and skirt, which perfectly showcased her gorgeous curves.

Khloe is her 38-year-old sister whose brand is Good American. She has daughter True and son Tatum with ex Tristan Thompson.

Tracy Romulus, 43, is the chief marketing officer of Kim's beauty, fragrance and SKIMS lines.

In the past she has worked with Pamela Anderson and Nick Cannon. And Tracy has appeared on KUWTK many times.

Stephanie Shepherd, 42, is Kim's former executive assistant. Her full name is Stephanie Suganami Shepherd.

VIPS: Kim shared a photo with her inner circle to Instagram last week. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians veteran showed off her abs as she wore a black crop top and skirt. She was at the center of her girl gang who clearly are her VIPs these days

She worked as Kim's assistant from 2013 until 2017, they had a brief break, and are now fast friends.

Kimora Lee Simmons is a 48-year-old former model turned fashion designer who used to be married to 65-year-old Russell Simmons.

She started modeling at age 13 for Chanel and became close friends with Karl Lagerfeld.

In 1999 she launched Baby Phat which debuted at NYFW. She also had Phat Farm, Baby Phat Girlz and Phat Farm Boys.

Simmons has built a diverse portfolio of investments in new and innovative businesses in such fields as fashion, skin care, consumer goods and technology.

Khloe is her 38-year-old sister whose brand is Good American. She has daughter True and son Tatum with ex Tristan Thompson

Natalie June Halcro, 35, is a swimwear and jewelry designer. Her friend Olivia Pierson, 33, who hails from Canada, is also a designer. Both were on the show WAGS LA and both have been on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

In March 2022 Kim posed with many of the same ladies.

'Girls nights are good for the soul!' wrote the ex-girlfriend of SNL star Pete Davidson in her caption.

And the star, who was at her SKIMS SWIM launch in Miami, tagged each person in the group photo so her nearly 300M Instagram followers knew exactly who she trusts these days.

Tracy Romulus, 43, is the chief marketing officer of Kim's beauty, fragrance and SKIMS lines. In the past she has worked with Pamela Anderson and Nick Cannon. And Tracy has appeared on KUWTK many times

Steph Shep is Kim's former assistant; the worked together from 2013 until 2017

Kimora Lee Simmons is a 48-year-old former model turned fashion designer who used to be married to 65-year-old Russell Simmons. She started modeling at age 13 for Chanel and became close friends with Larl Lagerfeld. In 1999 she launched Baby Phat

Natalie Halcro, 35, is a swimwear and jewelry designer; she was on WAGS LA

Olivia Pierson, 33, hails from Canada and was on WAGS LA

One pal who was not there was sister Kourtney Kardashian.

The Kardashians dropped a dramatic teaser on Monday that gave fans a glimpse of the major feud between Kim and Kourtney that will serve as a focal point for season three.

Premiering on May 25th, Hulu's tentpole reality series looks like it will revolve around Kim and Kourtney's battle royale as they duke it out over a very Kardashian problem  Dolce & Gabbana.

Kicking off the trailer, big sister Kim says: 'Even through all of the craziness, I don't want to fight with family  bottom line.'

But Kourtney seems ready to rumble as she proclaims: 'There's no boundaries, there's no respect.'

The sisterly brawl threatens to drag in makeup mogul Kylie and supermodel Kendall, but both Jenners seem to be staying out of the fray.

'I don't think anyone's in the wrong,' says Kylie, playing the part of Switzerland. 'I see both sides.'

'As sisters, we have to uplift each other,' preaches Kendall as she primps in a mirror.
New Delhi/Sydney, May 24 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney during which he highlighted the economic reforms undertaken in India and invited them to invest in the country.

The PMO in a tweet said:

Boosting business ties with Australia!

PM @narendramodi interacted with Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney. The PM highlighted the economic reforms and policy measures undertaken to enhance 'Ease of Doing Business' in the country.

The MEA spokesperson said in a tweet:

Expanding India-Australia business ties!

PM @narendramodi addressed top Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney.

Highlighted numerous economic reforms undertaken by the government. Encouraged the CEOs to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts.

Invited them to take advantage of investment opportunities offered by India in domains of infrastructure including digital infrastructure, IT, fintech, telecom, semiconductors, space, renewable energy including green hydrogen, education, pharma, healthcare including medical devices manufacturing, mining including critical minerals, textile, agriculture & food processing.

The business roundtable is among the PMs final engagements in Australia, before he heads back home after a three-nation tour tonight.

UNI RN
A first look at the highly-anticipated season two of Heartstopper has revealed exciting new storylines - as well as the return of beloved characters.

The first season of the heart-warming LGBTQ+ coming-of-age show was released in April 2022 to much critical acclaim, launching stars Kit Connor (Nick Nelson) and Joe Locke (Charlie Spring) into the limelight.

And on Wednesday, Netflix released six new images for the second season of the show, which will see eight episodes available to stream from August 3.

The sneak peak shows lovebirds Nick and Charlie getting romantic on a school trip to Paris, while Tao and Elle appear to be on a date to the cinema, suggesting that romance is due to blossom between them this season.

Meanwhile Tara and Darcy are also snapped getting cosy - but although Tara gazes lovingly at her partner, Darcy seems to be looking away into the distance, suggesting that tension may arise in the relationship.

First look: Nick and Charlie get romantic on a school trip to Paris in season two of Heartstopper, which will air on Netflix on August 3

Budding romance: Meanwhile Tao and Elle appear to take strides in their relationship as they go on an outing to the cinema

Isaac, who had a small role in the first season despite being in the main friendship group, is pictured in the library, suggesting that the new season may focus on his storyline more.

Alongside the news Netflix tweeted: 'Here's your first look at Heartstopper S2!!!', alongside the signature leaf emojis for the show.

The official synopsis for the jam-packed new season reads: 'Nick and Charlie navigate their new relationship; Tara and Darcy face unforeseen challenges and Tao and Elle work out if they can ever be more than just friends.

'With exams on the horizon, a school trip to Paris and a prom to plan, the gang has a lot to juggle as they journey through the next stages of life, love and friendship.'

Season one saw Charlie develop a crush on his popular classmate Nick at Truham Grammar School for boys.

Although they are just friends at first, their chemistry is undeniable and they grow closer as Nick tries to figure things out.

Author Alice Oseman spoke to Radio Times about season two, revealing: 'This season, Nick wants to come out to the world, but faced with his nasty brother, his mostly absent father, and his laddy mates, soon finds that it's not as easy as he initially thought.'

'Unforeseen challenges': Tara and Darcy, who went from strength to strength in season one, may face new tensions in their relationship

Heartthrob: Kit Connor returns as Nick Nelson, a popular but kind character at Truham Grammar

Fresh start: Season one saw Charlie develop a crush on his popular classmate Nick

News: Netflix released six exclusive new images on Wednesday, hinting at new storylines

Previously, Alice revealed that the show would focus on asexuality in season two.

She told Attitude magazine: 'I am both Ace and Aro. Those words mean little-to-no sexual attraction or little-to-no romantic attraction.

'Netflix will hate me for spilling but, yes, asexuality will be discussed in a really big way. I'm excited. I hope it will change the world. It's a complicated thing to understand about yourself. People are asking the wrong questions.'

Joining the cast for the second series are TikTok's Bel Priestley as Naomi, Ash Self as Felix, as well as Thibault de Montalembert as Stephane.

Success: The global Netflix hit is based on the comic series by Alice Oseman

In addition Leila Khan will join as student Sahar Zahid, Jack Barton as Nick's older brother David, Bradley Riches as student James McEwan, and Nima Taleghani as teacher Mr Farouk.

All the leading cast from the first series are also returning, including appearances by Olivia Coleman and Stephen Fry, who featured in a voiceover as the headmaster of Truham Grammar.

The eight-part show has already been renewed for two more seasons and the upcoming second series is also expected to focus heavily on Charlie's eating disorder.

Executive producer Patrick Walkers said: 'Continuing the story of Nick, Charlie and the rest of the Heartstopper gang for Season 2 has been an absolute privilege.

'Alice Oseman and I have been able to watch the actors evolve their performances in every way, and this season is so emotional because of their amazing work. Get ready!'

Fans were ecstatic at the preview, with one tweeting: 'Omg! My comfort people are coming back!' while another added: 'Thank you Netflix. Thank you thank you thank you. You have no idea how much I needed this.'

Season two of Heartstopper premieres on Netflix on August 3.
Stella Maxwell wore an extreme plunging black gown at the screening of French film La Passion De Dodin Bouffant during the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

The stunning former Victoria's Secret model, 33, showcased her enviable frame in the figure-hugging black silk gown, clinging to every inch of her incredible body.

The racy number boasted two cut-outs on either side of her waist and a diamante detail that ran from her ample assets down to her tummy.

Stella looked incredible for the evening, as she paired her look with subtle black heels.

The star accessorised with statement purple diamond drop earrings and a collection of silver rings.

Beauty: Stella Maxwell wore an extreme plunging black gown when she attended the screening of French film La Passion De Dodin Bouffant at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday

Wow! The stunning former Victoria's Secret model, 33, showcased her enviable frame in a figure-hugging black silk gown, clinging to every inch of her incredible body

She accentuated her natural beauty with a flawless palette of make up, including a burnt orange smokey eye and brown tinted lipstick.

Stella wore her blonde tresses in an elegant slicked-back bun with a side parting.

It comes after Stella wowed the crowds at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday when she stepped out in a sensational dress held together by just a few safety pins.

The stunning model looked confident in the number as she attended the afterparty for controversial new HBO series The Idol.

The event was held at the swish Hotel Martinez on the sunny French Riviera and was hosted by Vogue and the high-end jewellery brand Chopard.

The model, who was previously in a relationship with actress Kristen Stewart, modelled the dress which had a dramatic slash revealing her perfect pins.

She followed in the footsteps of starlets like Elizabeth Hurley, whose own safety pin dress by Versace caused a huge stir at a 1994 film premiere.

Racy: The racy number featured a bold low neckline, stretching to her tummy

Gorgeous: Stella looked incredible for the evening, as she paired her look with subtle black heels

Sensational: The star accessorised with statement purple diamond drop earrings and a collection of silver rings

Stunner: She accentuated her natural beauty with a flawless palette of make up, including a burnt orange smokey eye and brown tinted lipstick

However, Stella's outfit, which featured cross-over straps at the front, proved to be considerably more revealing.

The metallic dress featured a dramatic feathered train that cascaded behind her as she posed for pictures at the event.

Meanwhile, she swept her long blonde tresses back from her face to reveal a sparkling pair of silver diamond earrings.

She also accessorised with a pair of black patent peep-toe heels, while adding lashings of smoky eyeliner to the corners of her eyes.

The Belgian model attended the event alongside a host of famous names from the notoriously outrageous Julia Fox to Kylie Jenner's ex Travis Scott.

However, her outfit wasn't the only aspect of the event that attracted attention.

The star-studded guestlist of celebs were gathered together to celebrate controversial new drama The Idol, which has been described by critics as 'torture porn'.

Stylish: Stella wore her blonde tresses in an elegant slicked-back bun with a side parting

Unbelievable: Stella turned heads in the jaw-dropping ensemble

Revealing: The beauty flashed her cleavage in the daring gown

Pretty: She showed off her toned back as she posed up a storm on the red carpet

The claims were made in an article for Rolling Stone magazine by 'insiders' who complained of graphic sex scenes, although The Weeknd was nonplussed, hitting back on social media: "@RollingStone did we upset you?"

Directed by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and starring Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose, it's currently one of the mostly hotly tipped HBO dramas around.

In a clip posted by The Wkend, Lily-Rose dismissed Rolling Stone's comments, describing the magazine as 'maybe past its prime'.

She stars as a rising pop performer, Jocelyn, who enters into a complex relationship with co-star Tedros, played by The Weeknd.
Carrie actress Samantha Weinstein has died aged 28 following a two-and-a-half year battle with ovarian cancer.

Her death on May 14 was confirmed to Global News Canada by the star's father David Weinstein who paid an emotional tribute to the Canadian star.

He said: 'Sam was actually a living embodiment of a sunbeam.

'She was so full of positive energy, anyone who ever met her would say that she just lit up every room she walked into.'

Her mother, Jojo Tindall-Weinstein said Samantha 'changed everyone's lives.'

RIP: Carrie actress Samantha Weinstein has died aged 28 following a two and a half year battle with ovarian cancer

Tragic loss: Samantha's family posted a heartbreaking snap announcing her passing

'And I know that sounds really dramatic, but people are really serious when they say that. Her infectious, positive attitude actually changed the way other people live.'

Samantha's loved ones also posted two beautiful photos of the star posing against a celestial background - as they announced her passing.

The post read: 'Hello from the other side. Sam died on May 14th at 11:25am surrounded by her loved ones at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.

'After two and a half years of cancer treatment, and a lifetime of jet setting around the world, voicing a plethora of cartoon animals, making music, and knowing more about life than most people ever will, she is off on her next adventure.

Samantha was known for playing high school student Heather in the Carrie remake in 2013 - alongside stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore.

She also had roles in children's cartoons Gerald McBoing Boing and Babar and the Adventures of Badou and was doing voiceover work for cartoons in the weeks leading up to her death,

She broke through into acting aged just 10 years old in 2005's Big Girl where she played Josephine - a role which made her the youngest-ever winner of an ACTRA Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female in 2006.

Samantha's final Instagram post came on May 1 - which showed the actress enjoying her honeymoon with new husband Michael Knutson.

Brave: The star - who bravely documented her battle against the disease - shared her final Instagram post on May 1 - when she honeymooned in Tokyo

On-screen: Samantha was known for playing high school student Heather in the Carrie remake in 2013 - alongside stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore

Husband: She wed Michael Knutson in a romantic ceremony in October 2022

She wed Michael in a romantic ceremony in October 2022.

Samantha bravely documented her cancer and treatment journey on social media, detailing how she was first diagnosed aged 25 - after realizing she looked 'strangely bloated' while walking home from a friend's house.

She wrote in a first person piece for Love What Matters: 'It happened almost overnight. I was walking home from a friends house after drinking entirely too much red wine, when I noticed I looked strangely bloated.

'I knew I wasnt pregnant because I was single and celibate, having just left an emotionally abusive relationship four months previously. My roommate assured me her girlfriends got like this all the time and it was just ovulation or something.

'Spoiler alert  it was not ovulation or something.

'I was 25 and in the best shape of my life. There was no history of cancer in my family. I had just finished filming a music video with my punk rock band, Killer Virgins, and we were a week away from releasing our first major single.

'I was working as a full-time voice actor and living with a cool, hippie-earth-mama roommate and her two kittens. I was at the peak of what I assumed would be the rest of my life as a young creative in Toronto. Then, I started blowing up like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital under the disco-ball surgical light in the operating room, counting down from ten.

'I spent four excruciating days in the hospital healing from a massive abdominal incision, most of which was spent hallucinating like Hypnotoad at Burning Man.

Battle: Samantha previously detailed how she was first diagnosed with cancer aged 25 - after realizing she looked 'strangely bloated' while walking home from a friend's house

Rise to fame: Samantha began acting aged nine and quickly won acclaim (pictured 2008 aged 13)

'When the nurses made me walk on the third day, I dissociated for the first time, looking down at my body from the ceiling. I only knew what was going on because of YouTube (all that binge watching finally paid off!). After the surgery, my dad drove me back to my parents house to recover.

'Many weeks later, my mom told me I had looked like a ghost when I first walked into their living room; I was so pale and rail thin. It took me weeks to sit up on my own and walk without a cane. Id never dealt with chronic pain before, or needed to rely on hardcore pain meds.

' Every day was a struggle to keep my spirits up and not collapse into the blackhole that was my mind  What would happen to my health? My career? My life?'

She would later reconnect with her childhood friend Michael while in 'crippling pain' on Valentine's Day - with her future husband sending her a Facebook message.

She wrote: 'First dates were nerve wracking enough, but I had just received some devastating news the week before- it was cancer. Talk about scaring a guy off! There was something about him, though, that put me at ease.

'Eyes fixed on the dirt ground of the dog park, I told him Id been diagnosed with a rare ovarian germ-cell yolk sac tumor, and Id be starting chemotherapy in just a few months.

'I held my breath, squeezed my eyes shut, and waited for the inevitable rejection but it never came. Michael smiled and squeezed my hand. His mother had fought cancer for eight years and had passed away two years ago. He was ready for this.

'When my hormones were raging from IVF injections, we screamed at each other as we built an IKEA vanity and collapsed on the floor laughing. When my hair started falling out, we shaved our heads together.

'When my fingers were turning black from nerve damage, he took me out for ice cream and held the cone. He taught me love is selfless and reminded me to let others take care of me too.'
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Heidi Klum, Kate Beckinsale, Helena Christensen and Winnie Harlow led the stars attending the premiere of La Passion De Dodin Bouffant at the Palais des Festivals conventon centre for the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

The French film, known as The Pot-au-Feu in English, is a romantic drama set in 1885 that depicts a romance between a cook (Juliette Binoche) and the gourmet chef she works for (Benoit Magimel).

Heidi, 49, put on a busty display in a daring yellow gown which featured a cut out detail along the chest.

The garment also featured a thigh-high leg split and a flowing cape which Heidi showed off as she walked the red carpet.

Adding height to her frame with a pair of clear heels, Heidi drew further attention to her look with a silver bejewelled detail along the shoulders.

Style: (L-R) Heidi Klum, Kate Beckinsale, Helena Christensen and Winnie Harlow led the stars attending the premiere of La Passion De Dodin Bouffant at the Palais des Festivals conventon centre for the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday

Stunning: Heidi, 49, put on a busty display in a daring yellow gown which featured a cut out detail along the chest

Sultry: The garment also featured a thigh-high leg split and a flowing cape which Heidi showed off as she walked the red carpet

Pose: Adding height to her frame with a pair of clear heels, Heidi drew further attention to her look with a silver bejewelled detail along the shoulders

Slip: The America's Got Talent judge suffered a wardrobe malfunction as the figure-hugging garment slipped up on her chest while she was posing

The America's Got Talent judge suffered a wardrobe malfunction as the figure-hugging garment slipped up on her chest while she was posing.

Meanwhile, Kate, 49, turned heads in a daring green bejewelled bodysuit with a high collar and numerous cut outs that highlighted her figure.

The garment also featured several ruby embellisments while Kate paired it with a flowing green skirt tied around her waist in a bow.

Boosting her frame with a pair of heels, the Underworld star styled her brunette locks into a ponytail for the event.

Kate's outfit also featured a striking backless detail while the star accessorised with a pair of emerald earrings.

Helena, 54, looked radiant as ever in a navy dress with long sleeves and a shimmering embellishment.

The Danish model drew further attention to her look with an eye-catching silver necklace and wore her brunette locks in a loose bob.

Radiant: Kate, 49, turned heads in a daring green bejewelled bodysuit with a high collar and numerous cut outs that highlighted her figure

Looking good: The garment also featured several ruby embellisments while Kate paired it with a flowing green skirt tied around her waist in a bow

Glamour: Kate's garment also featured a striking backless detail while the star accessorised with a pair of emerald earrings

Pose: Winnie, 28, commanded attention in a figure-hugging black dress which featured a flowing dark greent rain that wrapped around her neck

Elegant: Helena, 54, looked radiant as ever in a navy dress with long sleeves and a shimmering embellishment

Winnie, 28, commanded attention in a figure-hugging black dress which featured a flowing dark greent rain that wrapped around her neck.

The model added height to her frame with a pair of black heels and styled her locks into a sleek updo for the star-studded premiere.

Also in attendance at the event was fellow model Stella Maxwell who looked incredible in a black dress with a plunging neckline.

The dress, which also featured a cut out detail along the waist, highlighted the Victoria Secret Angel's sensational figure.

Stella, who previously dated actress Kristen Stewart, wore her blonde tresses in an updo and boosted her frame with a pair of black strappy heels.

Quirky: Elsa Hosk was another famous face at the event where she caught the eye in blue and peach two-toned gown

Fashion: Also in attendance at the event was fellow model Stella Maxwell who looked incredible in a black dress with a plunging neckline

Sensational: Lady Victoria Hervey put on a typically glamorous display in a blue jumpsuit with a detailed shimmering embellishment

Elsa Hosk was another famous face at the event where she caught the eye in blue and peach two-toned gown.

The quirky garment had an extended sweetheart neckline which hung off the rest of the dress along with a pleated detail and light blue waist straps.

Lady Victoria Hervey put on a typically glamorous display in a blue jumpsuit with a detailed shimmering embellishment.

Her outfit featured matching sheer sleeves and cut out detailing along the waist and shoulders while the socialite also wore a sheer cape.

Also sporting a pair of towering open-toed heels, Victoria complimented her outfit with a silver clutch bag.

Styling her blonde locks into loose waves, Victoria completed her look for the event with a pair of silver earrings.

Shanina Shaik posed in a plunging royal blue floor-length Nicolas Jebran SS23 Couture dress with lace and tasseled detail, and a thigh-high split.

Golden goddess: Jasmine Tookes looked incredible in a gold shimmering dress

Glitterati: Shanina Shaik posed in a plunging royal blue floor-length Nicolas Jebran SS23 Couture dress with lace and tasseled detail, and a thigh-high split

All stars: Jourdan Dunn looked stunning in a pale blue gown with an off the shoulder detail

Posing up: The British model looked elegant in the gown which featured a unique plunging neckline

Shimmering: The American model and former Victoria's Secret Angel cut a statuesque figure as she arrived at the venue

The Australian model, 35, was in good company in the form of fellow Victoria's Secret models Lais Ribeiro, Jasmine Tookes and Jourdan Dunn were also in attendance.

Shanina looked stunning as she arrived at the event, putting on a sultry display as she posed up a storm on the red carpet.

The fashionista showed off her long slender legs through the splits in her dress, with long tasseled length of materials hanging down fro m the midsection, trailing the floor with the train of the garment behind her.

The frock featured a plunging neckline and she opted for a pair of open-toed heels to add a few inches to her stature for the evening.

Shanina wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty features and accessorised with some dazzling jewellery in the form of a diamond encrusted bracelet and necklace.

She was joined by Lais Ribeiro who looked sensational in a pale blue off-the-shoulder satin Nicolas Jebran SS23 Couture gown for the evening.

The Brazilian model, 32, confidently posed with her hands on her hips, with the fashion star showing off her long legs through the thigh-high split in her gown.

Her dress featured some gathered detail to the front while the long train spread out across the red carpet behind her as she posed for awaiting photographers.

Stunning: Frida Aasen looked sensational as she walked the red carpet in a black ruffled gown with an extensive train

Star quality: The Norwegian model, 28, showed off her slender legs as she posed, while the off-the-shoulder number featured a semi sheer top section

Flawless: Hana Cross opted for a daring white dress with a sweetheart neckline and cut out along the midriff

Striking: Hana's garment featured a flowing train and a matching cape

She wore a pair of silver strappy heels for the evening and accessorised with some luxe jewellery on her wrist and around her neck.

Elsewhere, Jasmine Tookes ensured she caught the eye in a metallic gold gown for the evening.

The American model and former Victoria's Secret Angel, 32, cut a statuesque figure as she arrived at the venue.

Jasmine was joined by fellow model Jourdan Dunn who looked stunning in a pale blue gown.

The British model, 32, looked elegant in the gown which featured a unique plunging neckline, with one dropped shoulder.

Her garment featured ruffled detail to the top and was cinched in at the waist.

The expansive skirt section lay out on the ground around her as she posed on the red carpet.

Premiere: Coco Rocha sported a figure-hugging black dress and a dramatic feathered headpiece

She wore some glamorous jewellery for the evening, including some statement drop earrings.

Frida Aasen looked sensational as she walked the red carpet in a black ruffled gown with an extensive train.

The Norwegian model, 28, showed off her slender legs as she posed, while the off-the-shoulder number featured a semi sheer top section.

She wore a pair of black heels and opted for an expensive diamond necklace for the evening.

The fashion star wore lashings of make-up, including a bold red lip, and wore her blonde hair tied back behind her head.

Film: La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, also known as The Pot-au-Feu, is a French historical romantic drama directed by Tran Anh Hung

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, also known as The Pot-au-Feu, is a French historical romantic drama directed by Tran Anh Hung.

The film stars Juliette Binoche in the role of Eugenie and Benoit Magimel as Dodin Bouffant.

Set in 1885, the film follows the story of a cook and the gourmet she works for.

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant is released in cinemas this month.
George Clooney looked dapper in a grey suit as he attended a charity gala for the German Postcode Lottery at The Frame in Dusseldorf on Wednesday.

The iconic actor, 62, is the international ambassador for the lottery group, which raises money for charities through a monthly subscription.

He looked typically handsome in a suit as he greeted UNHCR ambassador Yusra Mardini as well as CEOs of the Postcode Lottery Friederike Behrends and Robert Engel.

He paired the look with a crisp white shirt, looking very smart as his pepper-coloured locks were neatly gelled.

George's wife since 2014, Amal, 45, who is a human rights barrister, did not seem to be present at the event.

Silver fox: George Clooney, 62, looked as dapper as ever at the German Postcode Lottery Gala on Wednesday

Company: Yusra Mardini (ambassador UNHCR), George Clooney and Professor Muhammad Yunus

The German Postcode Lottery was founded in 2016 and the annual gala celebrates the work of non-profit organisations, equal opportunities, social cohesion and protecting nature and the environment.

In the UK the subscription lottery costs 12 to enter each month and it has generated over 12.6billion (10.9billion) for charities and good causes.

It comes after George and Amal put on a loved-up display as they led the stars attending The Prince's Trust Awards at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London last Tuesday.

Amal cut a glamorous figure for the event as she arrived on the red carpet in a beige sleeveless jumpsuit with a pleated detail.

The garment also featured a black waist strap while the barrister added to her look with a matching handbag.

Letting her brunette locks fall loosely down her shoulders, Amal added height to her frame with a pair of heels.

The human rights lawyer looked in good spirits as she held hands with her husband as they arrived at the event.

George looked as dapper as ever, sporting a grey blazer and matching trousers with a dark shirt.

Power couple George and Amal are regulars at the awards and have attended events for The Prince's Trust for years.

Handsome: He paired the look with a crisp white shirt, looking very smart as his pepper-coloured locks were neatly gelled

Ambassador: He also posed with Friederike Behrends and Robert Engels, the CEOs of the German Postcode Lottery

Smiling: The actor and human rights activist greeted Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, economist, Nobel laureate and civil society leader Muhammad Yunus

Red carpet: The iconic actor, 62, is the international ambassador for the lottery group, which raises money for charities through a monthly subscription
Emmerdale viewers had very mixed opinions on the Dales' couple of the moment, Dr Liam Cavanagh and nurse Wendy Posner, as their romance continued to blossom during Wednesday's episode.

In an attempt to woo Dr Liam for a third night in a row, Wendy sat down with the GP and whipped out some of her erotic fiction.

On Monday, the heat was turned up in the village as Dr Liam (Jonny McPherson) and Wendy (Susan Cookson) shared a passionate kiss at the surgery, while across the village Bernice Blackstock (Samantha Giles) attempted to lock lips with Wendy's long-term partner Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw) over a bottle of wine.

During Tuesday's episode fans were astounded as they spotted a very visible love bite on Liam's neck after his night of passion with Wendy.

And, while Bob put the brakes on his romance with Bernice on Wednesday, Liam was unable to resist Wendy again as she read him her erotic fiction, with the medic clearly finding her talent for writing very attractive.

Lovers: Emmerdale fans had mixed opinions on the Dales' couple of the moment, Dr Liam Cavanagh and nurse Wendy Posner, as their romance continued to blossom on Wednesday

Heating up: In an attempt to woo Dr Liam for a third night in a row, Wendy sat down with the GP and whipped out some of her erotic fiction

However, the scenes left viewers divided, with some taking to Twitter to express their disgust, while others thought the pair could be in it for the long run.

One person wrote: 'Hearing Wendy reading her ideas for the book to Liam makes me feel slightly sick.'

While someone else shared: 'I just imagined Liam & Wendy writing erotic fiction using Latin medical terms to describe "down below" details.'

Another person posted: 'Writing raunchy novels together isn't going to help Liam and Wendy with their feelings, is it?'

'Liam and fake nurse Wendy are so cringey,' wrote another audience member at home, while someone else remarked: 'I just cant get behind and support Wendy and Liam Im not even sorry.'

Someone else wrote: 'This Liam & Wendy with Bob Bernice love triangle is ridiculous. Please drop this now.'

However, one other soap fan tweeted: 'Aww Wendy and Liam are cute.'

It comes after Emmerdale viewers were stunned during Tuesday's episode after spotting Dr Liam had a love bite after a night of passion with nurse Wendy.

Opinions: However, the scenes left viewers divided, with some taking to Twitter to express their disgust, while others thought the pair could be in it for the long run

Returning to work at the surgery after their rendezvous, Wendy panicked as she realised news of her dalliance could get out amongst her neighbours, and back to Bob.

During a fraught discussion with Dr Liam outside the surgery, his love bite was clearly visible on his neck, prompting viewers to take to Twitter to express their shock.

One person wrote: 'Hahahahaha ...A love bite! Is that still a thing?....or is it just me.'

Romance: Emmerdale viewers were stunned during Tuesday's episode after spotting Dr Liam Cavanagh had a love bite after a night of passion with nurse Wendy Posner

Excuses: Despite the mark being very visible on Liam's neck, he tried to pass off the love bite as being caused by his razor

On Liam's attempt to cover his tracks, another person posted: 'Well that is some excuse - "Liam you've got a love bite on yer neck" "Nah it's me new razor - it's a killer."'

'Oooh Liam's got a love bite what a pair of mucky b*****ds,' remarked another soap fan.

'Omg Liam has a love bite,' exclaimed another viewers, while someone else laughed: 'Liam love bite on his neck.'

Someone else posted: 'Never too old for a love bite.'

it comes after Emmerdale fans were left shocked during Monday night's episode as two couples enjoyed steamy rendezvous.

One half of the double dose of passion came about after Dr Liam was nominated for an award for his work of fiction in the magazine Murder Most Murky.

When Wendy, who has kindly tweaked his masterpieces, prepares a Champagne celebration at the surgery, they're caught up in the moment when Anna Le Monde, Liam's pseudonym, wins Murder Most Murky New Crime Writer Of The Year.

Unable to contain their excitement, the costumed pair turn to each other with Liam embracing Wendy, as the medic launches his lips, and fake moustache, at her as they kiss, with Wendy welcoming the romantic gesture.

Affair: The heat was turned up in the Dales as Dr Liam (Jonny McPherson) and Wendy (Susan Cookson) shared a passionate kiss at the surgery

Elsewhere, Bob opened up to Bernice about his stresses at work, with the conversation soon turning to how they feel about one another as the wine flows.

With Bob telling Bernice he thought she was beautiful, Bernice moved in to kiss him.

However, Bob jumped back, seemingly scared to kiss his friend.

Taking to Twitter, one viewer compared it to a famous ITV2 dating show, writing: 'Tonights @emmerdale has turned into an episode of love island #Emmerdale.'

While someone else posted: 'I'm surprised that Wendy didn't start laughing, Liam tickling her with that fake moustache.'

'It's the fake tash that did it, Liam old boy. Full-on Monday night randy episode,' posted another viewer.

And someone else shared: 'I'm rooting for Liam and Wendy they have better chemistry.

One other person wrote: '#emmerdale as turned into the over 50s swingers club.'

However, an unimpressed viewer remarked: 'Oh here we go again....another flamin affair....give them a rest already.'

Passion: Emmerdale fans were shocked on Monday as two couples enjoyed steamy rendezvous, with Dr Liam Cavanagh, and nurse Wendy Posner kissing

Flirtatious: Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, Bernice Blackstock (Samantha Giles) attempted to lock lips with Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw) as the pair shared a bottle of wine

'Off to wash my eyes out,' declared someone else. While one other person posted: 'I wish I could unsee all of that.'

'Please excuse me whilst I puke up my dinner,' exclaimed another audience member.

Someone else joked: 'This time next week Bob and Liam will have swapped partners.'

Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV.
Sharon Stone took to Instagram on Wednesday to give followers what they all want: a glamorous bikini pinup photo.

The 65-year-old Casino actress was seen in a green D&G two piece that made the most of her very slender and toned figure.

The mother-of-three - who was seen in an ivory suit last week - was posing in the living room of her Beverly Hills mansion as she wore black Ray-Ban sunglasses.

The Basic Instinct icon pulled off a difficult move: she was showing off both her toned tummy and her pert bottom in the same frame while taking a mirror selfie.

Behind the red carpet goddess was a framed color photo of one of her favorite actresses, Marilyn Monroe, nude in bed as she is wrapped in white sheets.

And in the snapshot was her dog Bandit, can you see him?

Still hot: Sharon Stone took to Instagram on Wednesday to give followers what they all want: a glamorous bikini pinup photo. The 65-year-old Casino actress was seen in a green D&G two piece that made the most of her very slender and toned figure

And there was a sofa with a leaf print, a statue, her dog Bandit, a coffee table several books, and an arm chair with a pillow.

Stone adopted Bandit, a French bulldog, in 2018.

'Ready for summer,' wrote the professional painter in her caption as she added a sunglasses emoji and another for red lips.

She had a tiny waistline, a small backside, toned legs, and a generous bust.

The swimsuit was green with a black leopard print and was clearly stamped DG for Dolce & Gabbana.

The Hollywood looker turned to take the selfie in a mirror as she wore her blonde hair short, adding red lipstick.

Stone has kept in top Hollywood pinup shape even at the age of 65.

In 2021 the Flight Attendant actress told WSJ Magazine how she manages to look great even though she has a thriving career and three sons.

Stone said some of her tricks include a fruit breakfast, swimming laps in her pool, sleeping eight hours a nights, doing lunges, and taking baths filled with arnica and Dead Sea salts.

Her idol: Behind the red carpet goddess was a framed color photo of one of her favorite actresses, Marilyn Monroe, nude in bed as she is wrapped in white sheets; she had on Ray-Ban sunglasses

Can you see him now? Her black and white dog Bandit, age five, was sitting on the sofa as he gave side eye to the camera

Out and about: Later that day she enjoyed a night out at E Baldi Restaurant in Beverly Hills

Casual: She was joined by Gianluca Galtrucco

And she got very specific about her routines.

'My favorite breakfast is watermelon with feta cheese and mint, with olive oil and salt and pepper,' said the Sliver star. 'And then I usually have a piece of gluten-free sourdough toast with that and an herbal tea.'

And the cover girl still works out plenty.

'During Covid I started devising different things that I just did for myself. I think squats are really important. If you do squats every day, that really does get your whole body together,' added the Ratched star.

'I was a martial artist when I was young. I haven't practiced in decades, but I still like to do my punches.'

Often she just heads to her swimming pool in the back yard of the Beverly Hills mansion she purchased decades ago.

She sure knows how to turn it on: The looker seen in a yellow bikini this summer in 2021; Bandit again made the photo, seen far left

'I really like to swim, and I find that [the] butterfly is a really great overall workout for me, and a stroke that really works for my body overall. I like to plank, and I have [young sons] so we do planking contests to see who can plank the longest. They can plank for half an hour.'

And baths help her heal.

'Last night I was getting a really bad muscle ache, body ache, headache, and I took a bath in Dead Sea salts and arnica. And that was really, really, really helpful. So I sort of use herbs and teas as medicine. If my stomach's upset, I drink lemon and ginger teas and peppermint teas and these kinds of gentle herb things. I'm very gentle with myself and the things that I use.'

And the Total Recall actress sleeps plenty.

'Now I need eight,' said the ex wife of Phil Bronstein.

Her big hit: As author Catherine Trammel in the 1992 movie Basic Instinct

'Many years ago, I did a film about lucid dreaming [2007's When A Man Falls], which was really intriguing and wonderful. I started really studying and practicing the art of lucid dreaming and lucid dreaming as a form of meditation. So I super love sleeping, and I love this opportunity to work on lucid dreaming.

As far as dressing, the author of The Beauty Of Living Twice chooses her clothes carefully.

'I also think we're not all built the same, so we have to figure out what works for our body type or proportionand what works with our personality.

'I don't really like to be uncomfortable, so I'm not one of those people that you're often going to see in a bustier, uncomfortable shoesgear that's really hard to wear.

'I like clothes that are simple and clean and structurally, architecturally interesting. I like hippie kind of clothes.'
A vengeful Liam Gallagher has slammed his brother Noel after he called him a 'coward'.

The rock star, 50, showed that the rift between the brothers is still very much alive on Wednesday with a series of scathing tweets.

Noel, 55, called Liam a 'coward' in a recent interview with talkSPORT, where he blamed him for the lack of an Oasis reunion.

He said: 'I put [a reunion] out there ... I mean, he should call me. He's forever going on about it, you'd have thought by now he'd have some kind of plan.

'And if he's got a plan he should he should speak to me. He won't speak to me because he's a coward.

Furious: Liam Gallagher hit back at his brother Noel in a series of scathing tweets on Wednesday after he branded him a 'coward'

Back then: Noel and Liam at the 1995 Brit Awards at Alexandra Palace

'But he should get some of his people, his agent, to call my people and say, 'look, this is what we're thinking' and then we'll have a conversation about it. Until then, he's a little bit disingenuous.'

A furious Liam took to Twitter to respond to his claims, saying: 'I dont wish AIDS on people I turn up and play the MUSIC for the people of MANCHESTER who have just had a terror attack while you sit on your dingy sipping champagne and you got the audacity to call me a COWARD sit down you b***end.'

Liam was referring to a 1995 interview where Noel said he hoped charts rival Damian Albarn from Blur would 'catch Aids and die'.

He also accused Noel of neglecting to play at a tribute concert for the 2017 Manchester arena bombings.

One fan maintained hope that Liam could get in contact with his brother, saying: 'I take it you won't be phoning him then,' to which he responded: 'R u taking the p***.'

But all hope was not lost as another asked: 'Reunion is off I take it?' with Liam replying: 'Why say that'

English rock band Oasis initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs, Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll - with Liam's older brother Noel later joining as a fifth member.

Oasis split in 2009 and the Gallagher brothers have subsequently traded insults in public.

Scathing: Liam hit back at Noel in a series of very angry tweets on Wednesday, showing that their rift is very much still alive

Reunion? Noel Gallagher has encouraged Liam Gallagher to give him a call about an Oasis reunion

Line-up: Gem Archer, Noel, Andy Bell and Liam in 2006 before their split in 2009

Liam previously took to Twitter to discuss the possibility of an Oasis reunion.

The chart-topping star - who has also enjoyed success as a solo artist - wrote on the micro-blogging platform: 'Here's how I see it the little fella aka potato has done a lot of damage to Oasis as a band / brand he's got a lot of making up to do not just to me but to you the fans the people that put us where we are tday as you were LG x'

And Manchester City player Erling Haaland thinks he could be the one to reunite the band.

The brothers are massive City fans and the star striker has taken pictures with Noel in the dressing room, while Liam has said he would have him on stage.

The 23-year-old told Viaplay: 'Yeah maybe they need a Norwegian guy, a peacemaker to get them back together.'

It comes as speculation surrounding an Oasis reunion is ramping up, with Liam and Noel 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.

Could it happen? Manchester City player Erling Haaland thinks he could be the one to reunite the band

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.

'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 previously contacted representatives for Liam and Noel for comment.
A Gold Coast waitress has opened up on the real reason behind Margot Robbie's recent visit to the area.

Claire Lyons was working at Bumbles Cafe in Surfers Paradise when the Hollywood superstar, 32, dropped in for brunch with a friend.

Lyons said she spoke to Robbie about the motivations behind her trip while she was serving her.

'She is not buying a house here like the media is saying,' Ms Lyons told the Daily Telegraph.

'She has family here and that is why she is visiting.'

A Gold Coast waitress has opened up on the real reason behind Margot Robbie's recent visit to the area. Claire Lyons pictured with Robbie

Born in Dalby, Queensland, the Barbie star grew up on the Gold Coast before she broke into acting via Neighbours.

Earlier this month, the Babylon star stunned patrons at a local Gold Coast watering hole when she jumped behind the bar to serve customers her new gin range.

The blonde beauty poured shots of her Papa Salt gin as she mingled with the locals.

The appearance sparked rumours that Margot was looking to buy a home in the area with husband Tom Ackerley.

Born in Dalby, Queensland, the Barbie star grew up on the Gold Coast before she broke into acting via Neighbours. Here: LA, November 2022

Last week, the Today show's Instagram page posted a video of the Queensland native effortlessly nailing bartending duties.

'Is there anything she can't do?,' they asked next to the clip.

Fans were quick to gush over the Suicide Squad star's top-notch serving skills.

Lyons said she spoke to Robbie about the motivations behind her trip: 'She is not buying a house here like the media is saying'. Robbie seen here with Gold Coast bar staff

Margot surprised patrons at a local Gold Coast watering hole earlier this month when she jumped behind the bar to serve shots

'Such a magic lady,' one fan wrote and another added: 'I Just love her'.

Margot's new Australian liquor brand was created by the actress and her husband Tom.

The famous married couple worked on the label with their friends Charlie Maas, Josey McNamara and Regan Riskas.

The Today show's Instagram page posted a video of the Queensland native effortlessly nailing bartending duties. 'Is there anything she can't do?,' they asked next to the clip

The Hollywood star and her British film producer spouse, 33, recently enjoyed a fun day in Byron Bay before inspecting a stunning property.

After enjoying a meal, they were seen visiting the renowned Lord Byron Distillery.

The pair then inspected the luxurious Cedar Hill home dubbed by real estate agents as 'Australia's most beautiful property'.

It's situated in the Newrybar area which actors Chris and Liam Hemsworth also call home.
Lily-Rose Depp is thrilled her dad Johnny has made a career comeback.

The veteran star got a lengthy standing ovation on May 16 at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Jeanne Du Barry that was so emotional is brought him to tears.

And the 59-year-old actor's daughter - who defended her show The Idol this week - is pleased he has made a return to the A list.

'I'm super happy for him. I'm super excited,' Lily-Rose, 23, told ET. 'And it's so awesome that we get to do projects that we're super proud of.'

A source told People, 'He really enjoys working and touring again. He has managed to turn his life around. He is prioritizing his health and work.'

The joy: Lily-Rose Depp is thrilled her dad Johnny has made a career comeback

Good times: And the 59-year-old actor's daughter is pleased he has made a return to the A list. 'I'm super happy for him. I'm super excited,' Lily-Rose, 23, told ET . 'And it's so awesome that we get to do projects that we're super proud of'

The source added, 'He was living a destructive life and people close to him were concerned. Everyone is excited about how he turned things around. He is much happier too.'

This comes after Depp said he doesn't 'feel much further need for Hollywood'.

'Comeback is almost like I'm going to come out and do a tap dance  dance my best and hope you approve. That's the notion. It's a bizarre mystery,' he said.

This comes after Johnny said he does not 'feel much further need for Hollywood'.

The actor - who has returned to the spotlight for the first time since his defamation court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard last year - is back on screen as King of France Louis XV in new film Jeanne Du Barry, and he has addressed past comments in 2021 when he claimed he felt 'boycotted' by the industry.

Speaking in a press conference at Cannes Film Festival a week ago he said: 'Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? Well, you'd have to not have a pulse to feel at that point like this was all just a weird joke.

Touched: The veteran star got a lengthy standing ovation on May 16 at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Jeanne Du Barry that was so emotional is brought him to tear

His next film: Depp stars as King Louis XV in the film Jeanne du Barry

'Of course, when you're asked to resign from a film you're doing because of something that's merely a bunch of vowels and consonants floating in the air Do I feel boycotted now? No, not at all,' he added.

'But I don't feel boycotted, because I don't think about Hollywood. I don't feel much further need for Hollywood  I don't know about you.'

Depp - who admitted it had been tough for him to move on as a public figure due to the legal battle - also suggested he was disillusioned with Hollywood as a whole.

He explained: 'It's a very strange, funny time when everyone would love to be themselves, but they can't because they must fall in line with the person in front of them. If you want to follow that line, be my guest. I'll be on the other side.'

On the carpet: Director Maiwenn and Johnny pose for photographers at the photo call for the film Jeanne du Barry at the 76th international film festival, Cannes on May 17

Johnny, who successfully sued Amber for defamation in a lawsuit relating to an op-ed she had written about being a victim of domestic abuse, received a seven-minute standing ovation as he arrived at a screening of the new movie.

He has shrugged off the idea that his new role - which sees him speak entirely in French - is a 'comeback'.

He added: 'I keep wondering about the word 'comeback,' because I didn't go anywhere. I live about 45 minutes away from here, in fact.

'Maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time, but I didn't go nowhere. I've been sitting around.'
PM inaugurates new Parl building, installs scared 'Sengol' in LS 28 May 2023 | 10:09 AM New Delhi, May 28 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the new Parliament building which is equipped with state of art technology. see more..

PM inaugurates new Parl building, installs scared 'Sengol' in LS 28 May 2023 | 9:36 AM New Delhi, May 28 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the new Parliament building which is equipped with state of art technology. see more..

Indian, Saudi Arabian navies hold sea phase of Al Mohed Al Hind exercise 27 May 2023 | 11:00 PM New Delhi, May 27 (UNI) The sea phase of the second edition of the bilateral exercise 'Al Mohed Al Hindi 23', between the Indian Navy and the Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF) was held from May 23-25 off Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. see more..
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson have reacted to a report about a man being released on bail after allegedly killing an ibis and preparing to eat it.

Tom Quach is alleged to have stuffed the bird in his bag before riding a stolen bike to his Maroubra home, in Sydney's east, and decapitating it.

The Vietnamese national is then said to have hung the native bird up in his shower in preparation to eat it.

'This poor Vietnamese man just trying to make ends meet,' Kyle joked on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O show on Thursday.

Jackie O then revealed: 'I think the ibis is actually really smart because in Kings Cross there is this pedestrian crossing and they know when they walk across the road on the pedestrian crossing we stop for them.'

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson (pictured) have reacted to an alleged ibis thief who tied rope around bird and prepared to eat it

'I can't tell you how many times an ibis has walked across in this straight line on the pedestrian crossing. I have seen it several times.'

Kyle then laughed at his co-host, arguing that if the bird were truly smart it would simply fly over the road.

Quach, 60, was granted bail at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday, charged with animal cruelty and harming or attempting to harm a protected animal.

His lawyer told the court that his client was confused about the ibis' protective status in NSW, as he had caught and eaten the animal while living in Queensland.

Quach was arrested earlier this year after a video of him trying to put the distressed bird in his wheeled shopping bag went viral online.

Police received calls regarding a man who had allegedly captured an ibis outside Eastwood train station.

Officers were told the man allegedly tied a rope around the bird's feet and neck, and was trying to place the bird into a wheeled red trolley bag.

Tom Quach allegedly stuffed the bird in his bag before riding a stolen bike to his Maroubra home, in Sydney's east, and decapitating it

Several members of the public intervened and managed to take the bird from the man, who left the area before police arrived.

Witnesses told police the bird appeared to have an injured beak and was bleeding, but it flew away before police and WIRES arrived.

Quach was granted conditional bail to return to his Maroubra home, but will be barred from approaching or possessing any birds.

No more than three times per week, Quach's home will also be subject to a police search looking for any birds - dead or alive.

The court previously heard Quach had 'lashed out' at the ibis because other birds had been 'chasing and attacking' him.

'This poor Vietnamese man just trying to make ends meet,' Kyle joked on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O show

Quach also faces a single charge each of having a prohibited drug and possessing goods suspected of being stolen.

The court heard that Quach suffers from PTSD and bipolar disorder and had spent weeks at a mental health institute only to reoffend just days after being released.

Under the bail conditions imposed on Wednesday, Quach will be required to report to Maroubra police daily and is subject to a strict curfew from 8pm to 6am.

He was also ordered to undertake treatment at Prince of Wales hospital and will be barred from consuming any drugs or alcohol.

The white Australian ibis, colloquially referred to as a bin chicken, is a protected species under the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. As such, it cannot be harmed or interfered with.
Margot Robbie revealed she was not the first choice for the role of Barbie.

The Australian star, 32, shared that it was actually Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot, 38, who was considered the top pick to play the iconic doll in the upcoming Greta Gerwig live-action film, before the role eventually went to her.

Robbie  who is also producer of the film  said that she and Gerwig, 39, were looking for someone with 'Barbie energy' and thought Gadot had what it took.

'Gal Gadot is Barbie energy,' the blonde beauty shared in a new interview with Vogue.

'Because Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don't hate her for being that beautiful, because she's so genuinely sincere, and she's so enthusiastically kind, that its almost dorky. It's like right before being a dork.'

What could have been: Margot Robbie revealed she was not the first choice for the role of Barbie in the new film, and that the top pick was Gal Gadot; (L) Margot in 2023, (R) Gal in 2022

But because Gadot could not commit to the role at the time, Robbie decided to take the lead role.

The Barbie movie was first imagined in 2016, with Amy Schumer originally tapped to play the titular role and co-writing the screenplay with her sister Kim Caramele.

A year later, Amy exited the project citing 'creative differences', leaving way for Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach to pen the screenplay and for Margot to take on the role.

Elsewhere in the interview Margot's co-star Ryan Gosling spoke about working with the actress on set and revealed she was fundamental in helping his inner Ken Doll.

The role was unexpected for the studious twice-Oscar nominated actor, 42, but thankfully Margot was on hand to bring out his cheeky side.

Ryan explained: 'She left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming. They were all beach-related.

'Like puka shells, or a sign that says "Pray for surf." Because Ken's job is just beach. I've never quite figured out what that means. But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving.'

As for how Margot took on the Barbie role, she revealed her goal was to change the perception of the controversial doll to those who 'actively hate' the brand.

Barbie: Robbie, 32  who is also producer of the film  said that she and director Greta Gerwig, 39, were looking for someone with 'Barbie energy' and thought Gadot had what it took

The right energy: 'Gal Gadot is Barbie energy,' the blonde beauty shared in a new interview with Vogue; Gal seen in 2023

How she got it: But because Gadot could not commit to the role at the time, Robbie decided to take the lead role; Robbie pictured 2023

Another option: The Barbie movie was first imagined in 2016, with Amy Schumer originally tapped to play the titular role. However she later exited the project citing 'creative differences'; Pictured in 2022

She explained: 'We of course would want to honor the 60-year legacy that this brand has, but we have to acknowledge that there are a lot of people who aren't fans of Barbie.

'And in fact, aren't just indifferent to Barbie. They actively hate Barbie. And have a real issue with Barbie. We need to find a way to acknowledge that.'

Addressing the 'sexualization' of Barbie, she reasoned: 'I'm like, "Okay, she's a doll. She's a plastic doll. She doesn't have organs. If she doesn't have organs, she doesn't have reproductive organs. If she doesn't have reproductive organs, would she even feel sexual desire? No, I don't think she could."'

'She is sexualized. But she should never be sexy. People can project sex onto her. Yes, she can wear a short skirt, but because it's fun and pink. Not because she wanted you to see her butt.'

Recalling her initial reaction to the script, Margot confessed that she and husband Tom Ackerley had their doubts the movie would ever be made.

She explained: 'We just looked at each other, pure panic on our faces. We were like, Holy fucking s**t.

'I think the first thing I said to Tom was, "This is so genius. It is such a shame that we're never going to be able to make this movie."'

Cosy co-stars: During the interview, Margot's co-star Ryan Gosling spoke about working with the actress on set and reveals she was fundamental in helping his inner Ken Doll

Coming to play: The Barbie movie  which also stars Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, and Kate McKinnon  will be released in theaters on July 21

The cast is a who's who of Hollywood powerhouses, with Will Ferrell playing the CEO of Mattel, and Helen Mirren as the narrator.

Marvel star Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, and Kate McKinnon star as inhabitants of Barbieland, while Rhea Perlman, America Ferrera, and Alexandra Shipp are also attached to the film.

Dua Lipa, who also plays one of the Barbies, will be releasing a hit written especially for the movie, MailOnline revealed.

The Barbie live-action movie will be released in theaters on July 21.
Helena Christensen showcased her stunning figure as she arrived at the Hotel Martinez for the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel, 54, exuded glam as she slipped into a red figure-hugging gown - featuring a busty corset with laces.

The semi-sheer dress enhanced her very toned figure, as the model stopped to pose up for the camera inside the hotel.

Helena sported a matching red clutch bag and decided to opt for no jewellery at all, flaunting her ample cleavage.

The fashion icon rocked a bold red lipstick that perfectly matched her striking sense of style.

There she is: Helena Christensen showcased her stunning figure as she arrived at the Hotel Martinez for the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday

Busty: The former Victoria's Secret Angel, 54, exuded glam as she slipped into a red figure-hugging gown - featuring a busty corset with laces

The Danish beauty donned a bronze make up palette with thick eyeliner and a lightning touch of white eyeshadow.

Helena wore her brown tresses in a sizzling wet-hair effect as she posed up a storm.

It comes after the former model gave an insight into her jam-packed trip on Monday.

Helena took to her Instagram Stories to share an array of glamorous pictures as she showed off her stunning outfits.

She posted a whole host of snaps documenting her elegant dress fittings and also shared snaps from her night at the star-studded British Vogue and Chopard party.

In one shot, Helena looked dazzling in an eye-catching silver mirrored disc maxi dress with a daring split up the back to show off her toned pins.

She added some extra inches to her look with a pair of heels and added a splash of colour with a small pink handbag.

Helena swept her brunette tresses into a messy high-bun as she strutted her stuff in the ensemble during a dress fitting in her lavish hotel room.

Jaw-dropping: Helena sported a matching red clutch bag and decided to opt for no jewellery at all, flaunting her ample cleavage

She also slipped into a stunning blush pink dress with a bow bodice and keyhole cutouts, which she styled with a matching cape.

The bombshell showed off the stunning seaside views from her luxury hotel room and shared she was trying on her Cannes gowns in a caption, writing: 'Fittings.'

Helena went on to show off her outfit for Monday's British Vogue and Chopard party as she snapped a gorgeous mirror selfie at the event.

She looked incredible in a black strapped gown with lace detailing across the bodice and skirt, which she styled with a pair of sandals.

She added a pop of colour with a purple flower fastened in her hair, which was slicked back into a tight up-do.

Helena showed off her youthful looks with a smokey-eye make-up palette and a vibrant slick of pink lipstick.

She socialised with Poppy Delevingne at the event and shared a snap of her model friend looking as glamorous as ever.

Poppy, 37, cut an elegant figure in a black gown with a split all the way up the side, fastened together with an array of white bows.

Stunning: She posted a whole host of snaps documenting her elegant dress fittings and also shared snaps from her night at the star-studded British Vogue and Chopard party

Sophisticated: She looked incredible in a black strapped gown with lace detailing across the bodice and skirt, which she styled with a pair of sandals

Reunited: Her visit to Cannes comes after she reunited with her ex Norman Reedus to celebrate their son Mingus' graduation from New York University

She flashed a smile as she posed in front of the picturesque resort town at the star-studded party, which was also attended by Ashley Graham and Emma Weymouth.

Taking to her Stories, Helena also gave a glimpse at the very impressive dinner table at the party, complete with gorgeous white flowers and settings for each guest.

In a final shot, Helena also shared a black-and-white snap of herself gazing out of her hotel room balcony as she enjoyed the Film Festival.

Her visit to Cannes comes after she reunited with her ex Norman Reedus to celebrate their son Mingus' graduation from New York University.

Helena shared an insight into the moment as she took to Instagram to share a picture with her son, 23, and The Walking Dead actor, 54.

The former couple notably dated from 1998 until their split in 2003, and welcomed Mingus in October 1999.

She could be seen wearing a short-sleeved, black and blue-striped sweater for the sweet family photo.

Norman sported a long-sleeved, black dress shirt while Mingus was seen wearing a white, button up shirt for the occasion.

The trio flashed cheerful smiles towards the camera with the supermodel penning in the caption to her son: 'You did it!'

Mingus is following in his mother's footsteps, and has walked the runway for brands as well as appearing in campaigns. He recently appeared at 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.
Izabel Goulart showed off her sculpted legs as she was captured stepping out amid the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

The Brazilian supermodel, 38, stunned in an embroidered strapless mini dress.

The former Victoria's Secret angel oozed class as she donned a racy but elegant ensemble - adding an oversized white blazer.

Izabel kept it comfortable while out and about with a pair of strappy sandals.

The runaway veteran matched a white bag and cat-eye black shades to protect herself from the sun.

Leggy: Izabel Goulart showed off her sculpted legs as she was captured stepping out amid the 76th Cannes Film Festival

Elegant: The Brazilian supermodel, 38, stunned in an embroidered strapless mini dress

The fashion icon appeared to have left all the jewellery at home, except for chunky golden hoop earrings.

She wore her short brown tresses loose with a centre parting - as the model looked relaxed.

Izabel showed off her impeccable sense of style as she stepped onto the red carpet at the Club Zero premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Monday.

The Brazilian model looked nothing short of sensational in the sexy figure hugging number as she posed for photos at the star studded evening

Her glamorous David Koma dress boasted a huge racy cut out down the front and a chunky silver dazzling neckline choker.

The former Victoria Secret Angel showcased her incredible slim frame in the long sleeved ensemble which she teamed with a pair of eye catching drop earrings.

Izabel turned up the heat as she styled her long brunette tresses pulled back in a neat low bun from a centre parting.

She flashed her gorgeous smile for the cameras wearing a flawless palette of makeup as she made her way up the red carpet steps.

Oozing class: The former Victoria's Secret angel oozed class as she donned a racy but elegant ensemble - adding an oversized white blazer

Cosy: Izabel kept it comfortable while out and about with a pair of strappy sandals

Fashionista: The runaway veteran matched a white bag and cat-eye black shades to protect herself from the sun

Accessorising: The fashion icon appeared to have left all the jewellery at home, except for chunky golden hoop earrings

Looking great: She wore her short brown tresses loose with a centre parting - as the model looked relaxed

Phenomenal: Izabel s howed off her impeccable sense of style as she stepped onto the red carpet at the Club Zero premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Monday

Club Zero tells the story of a teacher who stars a job at an elite school and forms a particularly strong bond with five of its students.

However, their relationship eventually takes a dangerous turn.

It comes after Izabel commanded attention on Saturday night in a sexy sheer red dress with cheeky cut-out detailing while once again attending the film festival.

She turned heads as she left little to the imagination at the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon as she dressed in the elegant red gown.

The impressive garment also had a double tiered skirt, the second of which draped regally behind her.

Izabel wore her luscious brunette locks in a neat ponytail and opted with striking make-up, with lip gloss and dramatic brows.

She accessorised her look with cascading silver earrings and statement silver necklace.

Izabel appeared in a playful spirit while posing for pictures, as she seductively showed of the back of her dress for the cameras.
Jodie Turner-Smith looked effortlessly stylish as she was captured out and about in New York City with her rarely seen brother Brandon on Wednesday.

The Anne Boleyn actress, 36, showed off her toned legs as she slipped into a light-blue mini dress featuring long sleeves and a buttoned skirt.

The British star kept it comfortable with a pair of very colourful Nike AirForce, and carried the essentials in a green bag.

She toted the trendy look with a navy bucket hat, and rocked a pair of glamorous heart-shaped sunglasses with red tinted lenses.

The beauty accessorised with a silver chain choker, small cross-shaped earrings and few golden rings.

Strolling: Jodie Turner-Smith looked effortlessly stylish as she was captured out and about in New York City with her rarely seen brother Brandon on Wednesday

Leggy: The Anne Boleyn actress, 36, showed off her toned legs as she slipped into a light-blue mini dress featuring long sleeves and a buttoned skirt

Jodie appeared in high spirits as she was captured strolling with her very rarely seen brother Brandon Antonio Giovanni.

The Neon Demon actress looked glowing as she carried a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

Meanwhile Brandon nailed a stylish streetwear with an Alyx t-shirt and a white sleeveless jacket.

It comes after her husband and actor Joshua Jackson has admitted Jodie 'enjoys' watching his sex scenes and is 'like a voyeur' - earlier last month.

The 44-year-old actor - who shares some steamy moments with Lizzy Caplan in Paramount+ series 'Fatal Attraction' - has revealed how his wife reacts to seeing him in intimate scenes on screen.

He told Variety: 'Jodie is not fussed about my sex scenes. The sex scenes themselves, Jodie kind of enjoys them, actually.

'It's a weird thing where she's like a voyeur. So that works! If that's your thing  excellent.'

Joshua also weighed in on making sure there was some authenticity to the scenes with Lizzy, 40, continuing: 'The sex scenes are of great importance because they're furthering the narrative. You have to believe that these people want to f*** each other.'

Joshua, who rose to fame playing Pacey in Dawson's Creek in the 90s, and British actress Jodie began their relationship in 2018 and married in 2019. They share one daughter together.

Colourful choice: The British star kept it comfortable with a pair of very colourful Nike AirForce, and carried the essentials in a green bag

Glam: She toted the trendy look with a navy bucket hat, and rocked a pair of glamorous heart-shaped sunglasses with red tinted lenses

Treat: The Neon Demon actress looked glowing as she carried a bouquet of flowers in her hand

Happy couple: It comes after her husband and actor Joshua Jackson has admitted Jodie 'enjoys' watching his sex scenes and is 'like a voyeur' - earlier last month

Remake: Fatal Attraction is based on the iconic 80s film of the same name, starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer, focusing on a married man who has a brief affair with someone who becomes obsessed with him

Fatal Attraction is based on the iconic 80s film of the same name, starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer, focusing on a married man who has a brief affair with someone who becomes obsessed with him.

The new series is more up-to-date, showing the perspective of both characters.

For the show, Joshua and Lizzy had creator Alexandra Cunningham, director Silver Tree and intimacy coordinator Nicole Randall to guide them through the racy scenes, although the actors were both 'very much on the same page'.

Meanwhile, Joshua - who explored infidelity in both Fatal Attraction and The Affair - recently suggested extra-marital affairs can be 'forgiven'.

He told Sunday Times Style magazine: 'I think an affair can be forgiven.

'We're all grown-ups. No one wants to be cheated on and there is massive repair to be done.

'Affairs aren't about the partner, they're about the person who has transgressed. It's not purely about the sex. There's a deeper violation.'

It comes after Lizzy told GMA that she was 'way too young' when she saw Fatal Attraction in theaters in 1987. The film included nudity and violence.

The eight-part series takes a deeper look into the character of Alex Forrest, including her backstory, which Lizzy discussed with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week on Monday.

'...I think its really promising how far weve come as a culture where now audiences want to know, Well, wait a minute, lets talk more about her, her possible mental illnesses, her upbringing,' the actress explained.

'And lets maybe have him suffer some repercussions in his own personal life. Its one of the few examples of something that made sense to me to go back.'
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley joined her fiance Jason Statham at the Cannes Film Festival Air Mail Party at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France on Tuesday.

The Victoria's Secret veteran, 36, put on a busty display in a plunging black sheer midi dress which showed off her incredible figure.

She completed the look with a long coat and boosted her height in a pair of strappy heels.

The runaway queen opted for light bronze tones for her make up, with a nude ombre eyeshadow, bronze blush and a swipe of pink lipstick.

Her blonde locks were styled in loose curls as she arrived at the star-studded event arm-in-arm with Jason.

Looking good: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley joined her fiance Jason Statham at the Cannes Film Festival Air Mail Party at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France on Tuesday

The actor, 55, cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo which consisted of a blazer, a crips white shirt and bow tie.

The couple were joined at the lavish bash by stars such as Lily-Rose Depp, Eva Longoria and Robert De Niro.

Rosie has showcased some of the most glamorous looks of the 76th Cannes Film Festival so far last week.

She showed off her impeccable sense of style once again as she attended the Asteroid City premiere on Tuesday evening.

The model led the glamour as she stunned in a sweeping white evening gown that enhanced her slender physique.

She turned heads on the red carpet as she showcased her very toned pins as she waved and greeted onlookers at the annual ceremony.

The figure-hugging dress featured a very racy thigh-high split as well as a dramatic sparkly carabiner clip clinching material together at the waist.

The garment also displayed a sheer sparkly hem line along her chest and co-ordinating straps, adding to the dazzling quality of her look.

The Plymouth born model teamed the classy ensemble with strappy silver heels, adding inches to her enviable figure.

Glam: The Victoria's Secret veteran, 36, put on a busty display in a plunging black sheer midi dress which showed off her incredible figure

Couple: The actor, 55, cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo while walking arm-in-arm with Rosie

Rosie dazzled with quirky hoop diamond earrings which clung to the cartiliage of her ear, along with a matching ring.

Her blonde locks were immaculately pulled to the side, with the tresses falling down over one shoulder, revealing a face accentuated by deft touches of make-up.

Palais des Festivals provided the glamorous backdrop for the premiere, as stars from around the world converged.

While she had good company in the form of actresses Brie Larson and Julia Garner , it was Rosie who claimed the lion's share of the spotlight on another busy night across the Cannes Croisette.

The movie which is directed by Wes Anderson follows the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer convention which is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

The futuristic caper is playing in competition for the coveted Palm d'Or at this year's ceremony, and once again an array of A-list talent was on had to ensure it was given a grand reception on the resort town's iconic Croisette.

Asteroid City stars the likes of Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks.

Incredible: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley showcased her impeccable sense of style in a sweeping white evening gown as she attended the Asteroid City premiere on Tuesday evening

She's the moment: The supermodel turned heads on the red carpet as she showcased her very toned pins as she waved and greeted onlookers at the annual ceremony

Anderson is a regular in Cannes and appeared two years ago with The French Dispatch and in 2012 with Moonrise Kingdom.

The plot is set in 1955 and focuses on a group of students and parents from across the country who gather in a tiny (fictitious) desert town in the American Southwest.

They arrive for the annual Junior Stargazers convention held in the basin of a huge meteorite crater, but little do they know, they are about to witness a world-changing event.

The official Cannes synopsis reads: 'The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organised to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.'
Pregnant Roxy Horner looked every inch of the glowing mum-to-be as she shared a stunning snap on Instagram on Wednesday.

The model, 31, - who is expecting her first child with comedian Jack Whitehall - looked stunning as she posed up cradling her growing baby bump.

'Mother Nature,' she captioned.

The beauty looked ethereal in a pink embroidered dress while enjoying some time off in the nature.

The gorgeous garment featured a large embroidered ribbon right above her bust - kindly covering her cleavage.

Mum-to-be: Pregnant Roxy Horner looked every inch of the glowing mum-to-be as she shared a stunning snap on Instagram on Wednesday

Baby boy! The model, 31, - who is expecting her first child with comedian Jack Whitehall - looked stunning as she posed up cradling her growing baby bump

The model kept it comfortable for her day out as she sported white trainers.

Roxy showcased her flawless natural beauty - as she appeared to go make up free, flaunting her stunning features.

She kept her blonde tresses styled into a high ponytail and wore black shades on her head.

The songwriter accessorised with simple but dainty jewellery, including a thin golden bracelet, medium hoop earrings and elegant necklace.

Jack, 34, shared the happy news on his Instagram page earlier this month, alongside a couple of adorable shots of the couple with a baby scan.

In the snaps, a delighted looking Jack held up a role of photographs showing a scan of their unborn child, while his girlfriend beaming beside him.

Roxy later revealed to HELLO she was relieved to 'finally fall pregnant' after the couple tragically suffered a miscarriage last year.

In the social media post the model, who was wearing a pretty white summer dress, kept a protective hand on her stomach as she looked over at her beau.

Ever the funnyman, he captioned the shots: 'And I thought I wasn't getting enough attention when the dog arrived'

Parents to be: Jack, 34, shared the happy news on his Instagram page on Sunday evening, alongside a couple of adorable shots of the couple with a baby scan

Tragedy: Following the announcement she said: 'We had a miscarriage last year and so there was a part of me that was worried to open up too soon about this baby because I was so worried something would happen again (pictured together in 2022)

Big news: She went on to reveal the couple discovered they were expecting a baby during a trip with her family to sunny Australia

Roxy also posted the same images on her own page alongside the words: 'The best news to share [white heart emoji]'.

Following the announcement she told the magazine: 'We had a miscarriage last year and so there was a part of me that was worried to open up too soon about this baby because I was so worried something would happen again and I didn't want to have to kind of tell the world'.

She went on to reveal the couple discovered they were expecting a baby during a trip with her family to sunny Australia.

Saying: 'It was really lovely because I got to tell my mum pretty much straight away and I don't get to see my parents too often, so it was a really perfect moment before he went off on tour'.

Before adding: 'We found out the same week my nan passed away. There's a part of me that feels like my nan knew we were trying for a baby and maybe this was her gift to us.

Messages of congratulations flooded in to the couple, with pals including Helen Flanagan, Frida Redknapp and Charli Howard sending their well wishes.

Former Corrie actress Helen wrote: 'OMG so happy for you guys'.

While Frida Redknapp agreed commenting: 'So so happy for you both'.

Unsure: It comes soon after Jack admitted he was unsure about his path in life after losing some friends to 'rehab' while his other pals have had children

Health: Roxy revealed that she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes back in 2021

Jack has been dating Roxy for more than two years and they reside in a 17.5million, five-bedroom home in Notting Hill with their pooch Coco.

It comes soon after Jack admitted he was unsure about his path in life after losing some friends to 'rehab' while his other pals have had children.

He spoke about his relationship with his girlfriend Roxy as he shared that they have bought a house together.

He explained that although he has now 'settled down' with Roxy, he is still unsure about his future plans as he hinted he has not yet decided if he wants children.

Appearing on Wednesday's Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp, Jack said he has lost friends to 'rehab' and to having 'babies' as he spoke about his own path in life.

Speaking to stand-in host Will Manning, he explained: 'I've settled down, I've got a long-term partner, I've bought a house with her, we've got a dog and doing all of that stuff.

'I don't want to say [my tour] is me raging against the dying of the light [laughs] but it's giving me a sense of this man-child getting through this moment in my life, losing half my friends to rehab, half of my friends to babies and trying to find out which path I'm going to take.'

Jack's new stand-up comedy tour is titled Settle Down and sees him talk about the recent big changes in his life and his struggles to settle down as an adult.

A description of the show explains: 'This is my most personal show yet, with plenty of material about the big changes that have happened in my life.

'It's about my struggle to settle down gracefully. I've got a long-term partner, a ridiculous dog and am now hurtling towards middle aged without a clue. It's about a foppish man-child's crack handed attempt at adulting!'

His comments come after Jack revealed Roxy collapsed at the Brit Awards in 2021 while he was hosting the ceremony.

Roxy revealed that she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes back in 2021.

But before she was diagnosed, Roxy had a health scare and had to be resuscitated by paramedics.

Jack told The Sun: 'We found out she had diabetes the night I was hosting the Brits. She had something called a diabetic hypo and she fainted.

'Paramedics were trying to resuscitate her and her sugar levels were spiking dangerously.

'We ended up in A&E on the night of the Brits, which definitely made for a slightly different vibe of an after-party.

A hypo, also called hypoglycaemia, is a low blood sugar level, and happens when the level of sugar (glucose) in blood drops too low.

People who struggle with diabetes need daily injections of insulin to keep your blood glucose levels under control.

A low blood sugar level can be dangerous and cause brain death if it's not treated quickly.

Roxy now wears an electronic device which monitors her blood glucose level and sends a message and alarm to her and others phones when it is dangerously low.

She previously admitted to having a 'rough time' with the condition as she struggled to handle her glucose levels.

Opening up to her 199k Instagram followers, she explained: 'I've been having a really rough time managing my glucose levels the past few weeks, they are yo-yoing for absolutely no reason.

'I throw up when I go too high and I've had a few too many hypos for my liking lately.
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday revised the methodology for clearing corporations with regard to computation of core Settlement Guarantee Fund corpus in commodity derivatives segment. A core Settlement Guarantee Fund (SGF) is a corpus used for settlement of trades during defaults and all intermediaries  stock exchanges, clearing corporations and brokers  contribute towards it.

Sebi received representations from clearing corporations that in light of the turnover and the open interest observed at the stock exchanges in the recent times
SDG 6 is not just about infrastructure and resources. It is about a cross-sectional solution for a equitable future for all by ensuring basic necessity, water

In a world increasingly oriented towards inclusive development, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a roadmap to ensure that no one is left behind. Particularly critical in this global blueprint is SDG 6, which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. This goal forms the cornerstone of health, well-being, education, and gender equality for communities worldwide.

A WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme report finds that 2.2 billion people globally lack safely managed drinking water, while 4.2 billion lack safely managed sanitation services. With 18% of the worlds population but only 4% of its water resources, India faces major challenges in meeting its water and sanitation needs. The lack of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) has severe implications for disadvantaged communities, leading to health crises and decreased economic opportunities.

Inadequate water and sanitation disproportionately affect women and girls. A 2015 study by Dasra finds about 23% of girls in India drop out of school due to a lack of safe menstrual hygiene facilities. Women and girls lose out on income generation and educational opportunities due to the time spent fetching water. Inaccessible or non-functional toilets further expose women to physical and sexual assault and health issues. In children under 5 years of age, diarrhoeal diseases resulting from inadequate WASH are a leading cause of death. These issues are symptomatic of larger systemic concerns that result in inequitable delivery of these essential services.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to clean water and sanitation, affirming their essence to the realization of all human rights. Programs such as Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) and Jal Jeevan Mission, (also known as Har Ghar Nal Yojana) have significantly contributed to improving access to sanitation and water. Recently, under SBM 50% of villages in India achieved ODF (open defecation free) Plus status. When Jal Jeevan Mission was launched, only 21.64 lakhs (7.84%) of households had access to tap water in the 112 aspirational districts of the country. The number has now increased to 1.67 crore (60.51%) households.

Philanthropic and CSR initiatives have also made considerable progress in ensuring WASH coverage from multiple aspects. Ambuja Cement, for instance, enhanced water storage by 166 million litres and rejuvenated 550 tube wells in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. HUL's Suvidha initiative provides sanitation services in Mumbai, reducing diarrhoea cases by 44% and conserving 35 million litres of water annually. The Su Swasthya initiative by Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) includes infrastructure development and awareness campaigns in WASH impacting 19 lakh community members in 2989 villages across 6 districts of Odisha.

Despite significant strides in the right direction, much remains to be achieved. The Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) to water and sanitation underscores the importance of the availability, accessibility, and affordability of sanitation infrastructure.

Advancements in water and sanitation necessitate a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approach. Women, being at the heart of grassroots development, should be integral to this process, ensuring the initiatives are diverse and effective.

Infrastructure development is a fundamental part of improving water and sanitation services. It entails constructing or upgrading physical facilities such as systems for water supply and waste disposal, and toilets. The involvement of community members in decision-making is essential to realise a shared vision for sustainable water and sanitation practices. Once the infrastructure is in place, it is crucial to raise awareness about the importance of using sanitation facilities and maintaining hygiene. Moreover, community education should extend to water conservation. Collective efforts to prevent the pollution of surface water and contamination of groundwater sources must also be emphasised. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for water and sanitation issues and the initiatives may vary depending on geographical, climatic, and cultural considerations. In areas where water salinity is high, procedures for desalination and water filtration must take precedence. Similarly, established procedures for water conservation such as water harvesting, drip irrigation, waste management treatment and storage reservoirs must also be used as required.

The complexity and pervasiveness of the water and sanitation crisis necessitate a collective approach. When government, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and communities collaborate, outcomes are inclusive, sustainable, and appropriate to local contexts.

(The writer is the trustee and Founder and CEO of Bansidhar and Ila Panda Foundation)
Gram Pradhan Sadak Yojana has improved rural connectivity. However, it is equally crucial to maintain, renovate and rebuild these roads over time

During 2017-2018, Uttarakhand ranked as the best state under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for constructing the highest number of roads. The state successfully built 1839 km of roads, surpassing the target of 1500 km set for that year. This scheme was initiated in India in 2000 to enhance connectivity in rural areas as a part of poverty reduction. It has effectively reached remote and inaccessible regions, including the village of Pothing in Kapkot block, Bageshwar, Uttarakhand. However, it has been over 15 years since the road was constructed in 2007, and it is now deteriorating, causing difficulties for the locals.

Pothing is located 10 km from the sub-district headquarters Kapkot and it takes over an hour to enter the boundary of the village traversing the narrow-broken road which was once built under PMGSY. The road is flanked by a dense jungle on one side and a gorge leading to a stream, locally known as Belang on the other. During Monsoon, which is quite extreme in this Himalayan state, waterfalls in the jungle become active, cascading into the stream, causing slippery routes, intermittent breakages and an increase in the water level of the stream. As it is the only route to reach the village, the villagers find themselves bereft of alternatives. Pooja Gadiya, a teenager from the village, faces a challenging daily journey of 17 km from her house to school as there are very few vehicles on her route to school. During the rainy season, there are no vehicles available, making her commute even more difficult. To navigate the unsafe road, we have no choice but to carry our school bags on our heads and hold our slippers in our hands. The unpaved path becomes extremely slippery when it rains, posing a constant risk of falling into the gorge. The situation is so severe that the school often declares holidays during the rainy season to prioritize students safety, Pooja expressed.

Many families in this village have migrated to cities for better education and facilities, leaving those who cannot afford it with no choice but to accept the harsh reality. While students face daily challenges getting to school, villagers struggle to access services and livelihood opportunities.

Dhyat Singh, a driver by profession, on the other hand, expressed his challenges to carry out his job due to this poorly maintained road. I became a driver as there is no source of employment here in this village. But this terrible road condition makes driving difficult and impacts my earnings, as the cost of car servicing exceeds my income, Dhyat pointed out. According to him, rainy days pose the greatest danger, with the road becoming slippery. A small mistake could result in vehicles sliding into the adjacent gorge. Dhyat believes that improving the road to Pothing would solve the villagers' major problem and lead to development. Acknowledging the issue, Pushpa Devi, the Pradhan of the village has also gone to the tehsil several times to raise the concerns but to no avail. We have gone to Tehsil several times and raised our concerns but no officer has taken it seriously, she lamented.

The implementation of Gram Pradhan Sadak Yojana has certainly improved rural accessibility and connectivity. However, it is equally crucial to maintain, renovate and rebuild these roads over time, especially in such tough geographies with extreme weather conditions. Regular assessments should be conducted by the concerned officials and identify areas that need immediate attention, followed by allocating funds and resources for maintenance and repairs. These roads reached our hill communities after decades of wait, now that we have them, they should be functional and not just a tokenism of development!

(Writer is a studying in Pothing village in Kapkot block of Bageshwar, Uttarakhand)

Charkha Features
'The Untold Story' of Hyderabads resource mgt 28 May 2023 | 11:44 AM By Shadab Khan

Hyderabad, May 28 (UNI) Ab sab achcha hai sir, city saaf rehta hai (Things are better now sir, the city is clean). see more..

After public outcry, Siddaramaiah govt reappoints Nettaru's wife 28 May 2023 | 9:57 AM Bengaluru, May 28 (UNI) After a huge public outcry, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka has clarified that the wife of Praveen Nettaru, Nutan Kumari, will be reappointed. see more..

Shashi Tharoor launches Kamal Shah's new book "Silver Lining" 27 May 2023 | 11:06 PM Hyderabad, May 27 (UNI) Dr Shashi Tharoor. MP, launched a new book titled "Silver Lining " written by NephroPlus co-founder and author Kamal Shah, here on Saturday. see more..

Telangana: We will fight to strengthen federal system : Punjab CM 27 May 2023 | 10:56 PM Hyderabad, May 27 (UNI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Saturday said that "we will fight to strengthen the federal system." see more..
With PM Modi in the lead, India is now a partner for the countries seeking solutions to challenges faced by them

India is the land of Lord Buddha. It was here that Lord Buddha shared his teachings with the commoners. In the course of a few centuries, the teachings of Lord Buddha reached Japan. The cultural connection between India and Japan runs deep, and this became more apparent when Prime Minister Narendra Modi argued the path of diplomacy to resolve conflicts during his interactions with the leaders of G7, the group of seven most industrialized nations.

Enmity does not calm enmity. Enmity is pacified by affinity. It is in this spirit, we should move forward together with everyone, PM Modi, referring to the teaching of Lord Buddha while speaking at the ninth working session of the G7 Summit. The backdrop was set by the meeting of PM Modi with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the meeting, PM Modi had very rightly stated that the current situation concerned humanity and not just the economy or politics. This was truly spoken as a statesman, who felt the pulse of the issue.

PM Modi last year in his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin had very unequivocally said that today is not the era of war and conflicts must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. Such clarity of expression has rarely been seen among world leaders. But its not the case with PM Modi, who speaks for humanity. Truly, India has become the first responder to any kind of humanitarian crisis in any part of the world. This shows PM Modi speaking always in the interest of humanity.

The Indian voice is heard with gravity in the big league of the nations, as PM Modi brings much weight in his interactions with the global leaders in which he speaks for humanity as a whole and his concerns express the yearnings of all the countries, particularly the developing and the poor countries.

It was in this backdrop that G7 this year listed in its agenda the need to build partnerships with the Global South, a term made popular by India to describe the developing nations, which are facing distinct challenges.

Global peace, stability, and prosperity is our common objective. In today's inter-connected 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, said PM Modi in another working group meeting of G7.

This again demonstrated PM Modis firm articulation of the challenges faced by the Global South on issues such as sovereign debt, climate change, food shortage, fertilizer crisis, etc. Yet, PM Modi told the leaders of G7 that the world continues to remain stuck in challenges because multilateral agencies such as the United Nations (UN) are not able to prevent conflicts. PM Modi reminded that the UN was established with the very purpose of establishing peace.

Dissecting the weaknesses of the UN, which badly needs reforms to represent the 21st century, PM Modi very forcefully stressed that even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN. His call for introspection and forceful argument for reforms in big institutions like the UN was received well by the G7 leaders.

India for years has been calling for reforms in the UN, and PM Modi reiterated that the multilateral body must also give space to the voice of the Global South. India being a true functional democracy with deep roots has always raised the democratic aspirations of the people. That the UN permanent members owe their positions to the wars of the last century and countries such as India despite being projected to have the largest population in the world not in the coveted club is truly undemocratic.

India has always raised its voice for an international order based on respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, underlining the significance of the UN Charter and international law, which was asserted by PM Modi in his speech at the working group meeting of G7.

PM Modi has been regularly attending G7 summits. This acknowledges Indias growing image on the world stage. India is now the worlds fifth-largest economy. Indian economy is bigger than even four members of G7. Also, India has emerged as the voice of the Global South with the G20 presidency. India will also host the Quad Summit next year. With PM Modi in the lead, India is now a partner for the countries seeking solutions to challenges faced by them.

Its to the credit of India that the growing debt challenges of the developing and poor countries have been brought to the centre stage of the global discourse. Also, climate change requires the advanced countries to share resources for the mitigation efforts, including the transfer of technology for clean energy, which was again reiterated forcefully by PM Modi before the G7 leaders.

(Author is the national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party)
Reduction and eradication of stigma attached to schizophrenia requires a concerted effort at the individual, societal and institutional levels

World Schizophrenia Day is observed every year on 24th May 1984 to educate the public about Schizophrenia and challenge the misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding the disease. In 1911, Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, coined the term schizophrenia for patients with severe mental disorders having lost their contact with reality. The illness is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, cognitive and motivational impairment, poor social functioning and social isolation. The illness generally begins during adolescence and takes a chronic and often deteriorating course if not treated adequately on time.

Today, more than 21 million people across the globe live with this label and more than half of them remain untreated because of various reasons including the stigma attached to the illness. Before Bleuler, people with schizophrenia were variously named and treated with varying degrees of discrimination and prejudice.

The stigma attached to schizophrenia is a disgraceful attribute that makes the patient an acceptable target for prejudice, deprivation and discrimination. Stigma could be subtle or obvious  but no matter the magnitude, it can lead to a damaging effect on the prognosis of the disease. Stigma often comes from a lack of understanding or fear, and inaccurate or misleading media representations that make society to under-evaluate persons with schizophrenia. Self-stigma occurs when the patient internalizes negative attitudes about ones condition and views himself as flawed and deficient compared to others. This leads to the subjective feeling of emotional embarrassment, erosion of self-esteem and social status and alienation.

These conditions contribute to unemployment, isolation, poor need for treatment or delayed treatment, prolonged illness course and avoidable hospitalization. Public stigma involves negative or discriminatory attitudes that others have about the patients which result in social rejection and isolation due to emotions of anger, anxiety, pity, or fear elicited in other people. Institutional stigma involves policies of the government and private organizations that intentionally or unintentionally limit opportunities for people with schizophrenia. It becomes evident when institutional practices result in discrimination in employment opportunities and other benefits. Institutional attitude contributes to the worsening of the disease and reduces the likelihood of seeking help. The combination of internalized, interpersonal, and institutional stigma has a synergistically corrosive effect on mental and physical health that extends far beyond clinical symptoms.

The most common consequences of stigma are anger, depression, fear, anxiety, feelings of isolation, guilt, embarrassment, and prevention from recovery or avoidance of help-seeking. Stigmatized individuals often deplete adaptive coping mechanisms while managing a devalued identity and thus engage in maladaptive emotional regulation strategies such as rumination, and daydreaming, increasing their risk for other adverse health outcomes. Also, the fear that making the illness public will decrease job opportunities and social status, makes the patient more anxious. 1 in 3 patients with schizophrenia has a social anxiety disorder, and stigma is closely related to social anxiety in these patients. Prejudice and discrimination related to schizophrenia result in an increased probability of misuse of alcohol and drugs.

Stigmatization has detrimental consequences for both objective and subjective quality of life. Reduced subjective quality of life in schizophrenia is mediated by perceived stigma and lower self-esteem. Anxiety disorders impose an additional burden, resulting in a further decline in their subjective quality of life. There are several barriers in the way of removing stigma. Some of these stem from the biased attitudes and practices of mental health professionals themselves. Mental health workers may develop negative attitudes toward the patients they treat. Even physicians affected by mental illness suffer from interpersonal stigma due to a deep-rooted view in the medical profession that disclosing mental health issues means admitting constitutional weakness which may erode their reputation as physicians.

There are multiple pathways for overcoming negative attitudes and practices. These include improved training in evidence-based interventions, engaging in a collaborative and empathic relationship focused on patient empowerment, and the provision of psychological support for mental health professionals in response to daily stresses. A significant barrier to removing interpersonal stigma is the paucity of social contact with stigmatized individuals. If people contact stigmatized individuals in conditions of relatively equal power and status, the interaction is far more likely to generate positive attitudes and chip away at stigma. Regular, informal contact is most likely to eradicate negative perceptions of stigmatized individuals. Shared goals and cooperative work toward common ends between people with and without mental illness promote an environment where attitudes are more likely to be positive and contact is likely to continue.

At the institutional level, in India, several measures have been instituted to remove or at least minimise the stigma against mental disorders. National Mental Health Program 1982, National Mental Health Policy 2014 and Mental Healthcare Act 2017 - all recognise stigma as a significant barrier to achieving mental health and provide strategies to reduce stigma such as integration of mental health with general health services, community participation and empowering mentally ill with their rights. These strategies have been implemented, focusing principally on improving knowledge about mental health as well as attitudes toward individuals with schizophrenia.

The integration of mental health into primary care identifies positive effects on healthcare professionals attitudes as well as in connecting patients with health services and self-help groups. Advocacy to reduce public stigma is most effective if promoted with the possibility that individuals with schizophrenia can attain the role expectations with proper support.

Stigma is a form of social injustice that contributes to the onset of psychosis in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, delays treatment attainment, promotes social isolation, stress, and maladaptive coping behaviours such as alcoholism and drug addiction, and places individuals with schizophrenia at higher risk for a more severe illness course resulting in a vegetative state. Reduction and eradication of stigma requires a concerted effort at the individual, societal and institutional levels. Patients with schizophrenia require access to high-quality and affordable care. Effectively integrating these factors can decrease symptom burden, reduce discrimination, and promote helpful social contact.

(The Writer is a former professor of Psychiatry University of Delhi and Jamia Hamdard)
The Varanasi district court on Tuesday ordered that seven cases of the same nature related to the Gyanvapi dispute will be heard together to prevent the possibility of contradictory orders.

District Judge AK Vishwesh, while exercising his special power, consolidated the cases, despite objections from the opposition, special advocate for Gyanvapi and Adi Vishweshwar cases Rajesh Mishra said.

The district judge, in his order, said if all these cases remain pending in different courts, there is a possibility that contradictory orders may be passed. Whereas if all these cases remain in one court, there will be no possibility of any contradictory judgment or order in all these cases, Mishra said.

Citing Order 4A of the CPC, the judge said it has been provided that when two or more cases are pending in the same court and the court is of the opinion that it is in the interest of justice, their joint hearing may be ordered, Mishra said.

The judge said in his order that it would be in the interest of justice that all these cases be heard together, he said.

Advocate Mohammad Tohid Khan, who appeared for the Muslim side, opposed the hearing of all the seven cases together stressing that the issues related to Gyanvapi had not yet reached the stage that a decision should be taken to hear them together.

As of now, the court should have seen the evidence of all the cases. Had the evidence been the same, then it would have been just to give such a verdict, Khan said.

Litigants in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case  Lakshmi Devi, Rekha Pathak, Sita Sahu and Manju Vyas  had urged the court to hear the seven cases together.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured all support to her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in his fight against alleged Central bid to control the appointments and transfer of bureaucrats through an ordinance that overrules the Supreme Court verdict to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats.

Asserting that the BJP Governments bid to get the relevant Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha would be semi-final before the 2024 elections the Bengal Chief Minister said, We support AAP in its fight against the Central ordinance and request all the parties not vote for the BJPs Law (read Ordinance).

Kejriwal came to Kolkata, along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, as part of his nationwide tour to garner support for his fight also launched an attack against the BJP. Launching a scathing attack against the Centre Government he said, the BJP purchased MLAs, used Central agencies like the CBI, ED to break Opposition Governments, adding the Centre also used Governors to disturb non-BJP Governments such as Bengal and Punjab.

Discounting the Tuesdays meeting Congress Lok Sabha Leader Adhir Chowdhury said such meetings were meant for spoiling chances of genuine anti-BJP alliance in the country.

These two parties are out to destroy anti-BJP alliances being led by the Congress They have done it in Goa, Tripura and other placesIn Karnataka AAP contested 200 seats spoiling Congress chances in many places But they should know that the Congress victory in Karnataka has proved that no anti-BJP alliance is possible without the Congress which play the leading role in 2024, he said.
Chennai Super Kings tamed a tenacious Gujarat Titans by 15 runs on a sticky surface to enter their 10th IPL final here on Tuesday and extend their remarkable consistency in the tournament.

CSK did well to reach 172 for 7 on a slow pitch in Qualifier 1 after Hardik Pandya opted to bowl.

Considering the conditions, it turned out to be much more than a competitive total as Gujarat Titans had a rare off day to end with 157 all out in 20 overs. Rashid Khan made the CSK fans nervous with a 16-ball 30 towards the end but it was not enough for the Titans.

However, the defending champions will got another shot to make a second successive final in Qualifier 2 on Friday.

CSK's master tactician M S Dhoni made the best use of home advantage to take the four time champions to a 10th final in 14 editions. CSK did not take part in 2016 and 2017 editions.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (4-0-18-2) did the star turn for the Super Kings with a brilliant spell during which he strangled the opposition batters to avenge the defeat suffered in the tournament opener. Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana and Deepal Chahar also finished with two wickets each.

Chasing 173, GT lost Wriddhiman Saha (12) in the third over.

Skipper Hardik Pandya (8) could not make much impact at number three, miscuing a cut off Theekshana for Jadeja to pouch a catch at point.

Sri Lanka's limited overs teams' captain Dasun Shanaka (17) could not get going as well and his reverse sweep off Jadeja landed in the hands of Theekshana.

Jadeja made things tougher for GT by castling the dangerous David Miller (4) to leave the opposition at 88 for 4 in the 13th over. The Titans slipped further when Rahul Tewatia was bowled by Theekshana for 3.

Earlier, the Super Kings batters had a tough time on a slow pitch as they were not able to force the pace.

Dhoni lasted only 2 balls for his 1 run, much to the disappointment of an adoring Chepauk crowd.

For the home team, Ruturaj Gaikwad was the best batter, scoring a superb 60 off 44 while the others could not make a substantial contribution.

Pacer Mohammed Shami (2 for 28 in 4 overs) was the best bowler while Mohit Sharma (2/31) also picked up two wickets. Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed scalped a wicket each and put pressure on the batters in the middle overs.

Gaikwad had a stroke of luck when he was caught by Shubman Gill off Darshan Nalkande only for the delivery to be declared a no-ball. He capitalised on the let-off and played some superb shots. The very next ball after he got a reprieve, he smacked a six and hit a four from the next delivery.

The in-form Gaikwad did not get bogged down against the spin of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed, the key bowlers for GT. He scored freely against all the bowlers and got CSK off to a brisk start with 49 being scored in the powerplay.

Gaikwad appeared to slow down after having outscored his opening partner Devon Conway with whom he shared yet another half-century stand. He fell trying to force the pace, to a catch by David Miller off Mohit Sharma.

Ajinkya Rahane (17 off 10) hit one six before being Nalkande's only scalp as the scoring slowed down.

Conway was not his usual fluent self and struggled with his timing all though his innings.

Ambati Rayudu (17 off 9) crossed the 6,000 IPL-run mark during the course of his cameo.

The home team did well to collect 35 runs off the last three overs.
Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said the next drive for payment of 14th installment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana for the benefit of the farmers would be launched on Wednesday (May 24).

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will launch the drive under which farmers left out earlier will be covered. The chief minister will address the farmers across the state and 5,000 LED screens will be set up in 5,000 villages.

The minister said that the drive aims to cover all the farmers under the scheme and along with e-KYC, revenue records and bank accounts of the farmers would be linked with Aadhaar numbers.

Shahi said that the drive to conclude on June 10 would benefit 2.63 crore farmers across the state.

He said that the PM Kisan Samman Yojana commenced in December 2018 and farmers are paid Rs 6,000 each year in three installments of Rs 2,000. He pointed out that from December 2018 to April 2023, as much as Rs 55,882 crore have been credited in the savings accounts of farmers through direct benefit transfer.

The agriculture minister said 2.63 crore farmers are benefiting from the scheme and all the farmers have so far got at least one installment. So far, the verified land records of 2.20 crore farmers have been uploaded on the PM Kisan portal. The e-KYC of 1.84 crore farmers has so far been completed and bank accounts of 2.19 crore farmers have been linked with Aadhaar, Shahi said.

He said that for the payment of 14th installment, the Central government has made e-KYC, verification of land records and linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar mandatory. He said that for achieving the target, special camps are being organised in 5,000 village panchayats from May 22, and will conclude on June 10. He added that for e-KYC, the Union Agriculture Ministry has developed a mobile app with the help of which farmers can complete the e-KYC.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Tuesday demanded action against a policeman who was seen holding and dragging party leader and former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by his neck in a video at Delhis Rouse Avenue Court premises.

The Delhi Police has dismissed the charge as propaganda. Sisodia was produced before the court in a money-laundering case related to the alleged excise scam on Tuesday. The court extended his judicial custody till June 1. The judge also directed the jail authorities to consider providing the politician a chair and a table along with books inside the prison.

Earlier, AAP leader and Delhi Education Minister Atishi posted a video of the alleged incident on Twitter and wrote: Shocking misbehaviour by this policeman with Manish in Rouse Avenue Court. Delhi Police should suspend him immediately. Sharing the video, Kejriwal wrote , Do the police have the right to misbehave with Manish Sisodia like this? Have the police been instructed to do this? The Delhi Police dismissed the charge as propaganda and said it is against the law for an accused in judicial custody to issue statements to the media. The matter of policeman misbehaving with Manish Sisodia in the Rouse Avenue court is propaganda. The policemans reaction as seen in the video was natural from the security point of view. It is against the law for an accused to issue statements to the media, the police said in a tweet.

Earlier, talking to reporters on the court premises, Sisodia lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi ji has become so arrogant he neither follows democracy...looking at Kejriwal jis work...he has become arrogant..., Sisodia told media while he was being produced before the court after the expiry of judicial custody in an alleged money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy case.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh alleged that the police misbehaved with Sisodia in order to please their boss. He further said the court should take cognisance of the incident. Police hooliganism at its peak. This police officer was pulling Manish Sisodia by his neck in order to please his boss. Honble court should take cognisance of this incident. Modiji, the entire country is watching your dictatorship, he said in a tweet in Hindi.

AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj stated that PM Modi conspired to have Sisodia manhandled in court, aiming to humiliate and mentally weaken him. Bharadwaj said the country will never forget such misbehaviour with the former education minister of Delhi. Addressing a press conference , Bharadwaj alleged that the policemen accompanying Sisodia to the Rouse Avenue court were instructed to humiliate him.

We always doubted that officials had been misbehaving with Manish Sisodia in the jail but unfortunately, we do not have any evidence to prove it. The policemen have been instructed to humiliate Sisodia in the court, he said.
The TMC, the CPI and the AAP on Tuesday announced they will skip the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building on May 28 and more opposition parties including the Congress are likely to join them.

Amid demands from the opposition that the president should inaugurate the new building, leaders of like-minded opposition parties deliberated on the issue and a joint statement by the floor leaders on a united boycott of the event may be issued soon, sources said.

Announcing the party's decision, TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien wrote on Twitter, "Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules  it is the foundation of Indian democracy. Prime Minister Modi doesn't get that. For him, Sunday's inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out." CPI general secretary D Raja also said his party will not attend the ceremony.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh tweeted, "Not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new Parliament building is a great insult to her. This is also an insult to the tribals. The Aam Aadmi party will boycott the inauguration function in protest of Modi ji not inviting the President."

The CPI-M also accused Modi of "bypassing" the President for not just laying the foundation stone for the new parliament building but also by inaugurating it himself

"Modi bypassed the President when the foundation stone for the new Parliament building was laid. Now too at the inauguration. Unacceptable. Constitution Art 79: 'There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses "Only when the President of India summons the Parliament can it meet. The President begins, annually, Parliamentary functioning by addressing the joint session. The first business Parliament transacts each year is the 'Motion of Thanks' to President's Address," party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed the ministers before the Cabinet meeting that work has been done to legalize irregular and illegal colonies in the state. Today, more than 6,000 colonies have been legalized and license certificates have been given in the programme. Resident associations of various urban bodies of the state were also associated with this programme. After the colonies become legal, all the regular works like road, water, electricity, purchase and sale, loan from the bank etc. will be done. The decision of the state government has brought great relief to the general public.

Chief Minister Chouhan said that unauthorized colonies built up to December 31, 2016 have been legalized in the programme held today. Now the colonies built till December 31, 2022 will also be legalised. All the resident associations have been called upon to play an active role in making the colonies clean and beautiful.

Chouhan also informed the ministers about the unveiling of the statue of Rani Padmavati in the capital on May 22, the successful programmes of Maharana Pratap and Chhatrasal Jayanti. The meeting of the Cabinet began with the recitation of Vande Mataram.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday congratulated the newly-elected mayors and urged them to work towards making municipal corporations self-reliant on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision of a self-reliant India.

Seven newly-elected mayors called on the chief minister at his residence on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Yogi directed the mayors to address the problems of their areas effectively with the support of public representatives and also take measures to enhance the income of their respective municipal corporations. He also motivated the mayors to perform better and to try and do something new.

Development is the only means of success. So, bring change through development. There is no dearth of money for development. Prioritise development works in every ward and ensure standard and quality of work. Use the CSR money to improve public works, he said.

The chief minister directed the mayors to give priority to underground cabling work, waste management and installation of street lights. He also instructed them to address the issue of stray dogs in urban areas and prioritise the well-being of cattle.

The chief minister also called for making all the 17 municipal corporations safe and smart. He told the mayors to pay special attention to cleaning and maintenance of toilets in urban areas. The chief minister also directed the mayors to build a convention centre for the common man.

Besides, the chief minister directed them to clean the drains before the onset of monsoon and curb the use of plastic. Emphasising on the need for increasing the income of municipal corporations and making them self-reliant, Yogi mooted the idea of bringing tax reforms and facilitating deposit of taxes for the common man with the help of technology.

People should be made aware to pay tax. Online facilities should be provided. Multi-level parking lots can also help increase municipal corporations income in addition to providing convenience to people, he remarked.

The chief minister also directed the mayors to stay in touch with public representatives and work in coordination with them.

Furthermore, CM Yogi stressed the need for addressing common problems faced by municipal corporations, such as water-logging, clogging of drains and maintaining cleanliness, effectively.

The chief minister also gave instructions regarding installation of Integrated Traffic Management System at all major intersections.

The mayors who met the chief minister included Bihari Lal of Jhansi, Prashant Singhal of Aligarh, Harikant Ahluwalia of Meerut, Archana Verma of Shahjahanpur, Vinod Agarwal of Mathura, Sunita Dayal of Ghaziabad, and Hemlata Diwakar of Agra.
Typhoon Mawar flips cars, cuts power on Guam as scope of damage emerges in US Pacific territory

Powerful Typhoon Mawar has smashed the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, lashing the island with wind and rain, tearing down trees, walls and power lines, flipping cars and pushing a dangerous storm surge ashore
The national Capital on Tuesday witnessed chaos and long queues on the first day of exchange of the Rs 2,000 currency notes. Those, accompanied by confusion, were reported from several parts of Delhi on the first day of exchange of Rs 2,000 currency notes on Tuesday with people complaining that banks were instead asking to deposit them and also demanding identity proofs.

The first day of the process saw long queues, disgruntled customers and growing concerns among elderly citizens. Though the exchange or deposit facility will be available till September 30, people rushed to the banks in significant numbers on the first day itself.

While the notes will still be considered legal tender, people have been instructed to either deposit existing Rs 2,000 notes in their bank accounts or exchange them at the banks.

Some banks exchanged notes by making an electronic entry, few others asked customers to pen down their name and mobile number in a registrar without giving any identity proof.

At some places, however, customers said they were asked to present their PAN or Aadhaar cards.

A small number of customers claimed the bank they visited did not exchange the notes and instead asked them to deposit those in their accounts.

The punishing heatwave sweeping through Delhi exacerbated the situation, making it particularly challenging for the elderly, who complained of having to wait for hours. Tempers flared, and heated arguments erupted between the people and staff members at Punjab National Banks Lajpat Nagar branch.

The authorities should have anticipated the immense inconvenience this would cause. Standing in this scorching heat is taking a toll on us, especially the elderly, Shivani Gupta said while standing in a queue at the branch.

People faced hurdles even when attempting to use Rs 2,000 notes at petrol pumps. Many people complained that while ATMs continue to dispense Rs 2,000 notes, fuel stations were refusing to accept them and seeking payment through online transactions.

I tried to refuel my car at the nearby petrol pump, but they refused to accept my Rs 2,000 notes.

They insisted on digital transactions through mobile apps. This is a hassle for those of us who rely on cash for our daily transactions, a motorist alleged.

Several banks reportedly refused to exchange Rs 2,000 notes, directing customers to deposit them instead due to lower cash retention limits.
Dell Technologies advances software-driven innovation across its industry-leading3 storage portfolio, driving increased cyber resiliency, energy efficiency and automation to power customers multicloud journeys.

Dells commitment to software development has resulted in more than 2,000 storage portfolio advancements in the past twelve months across every category of the external storage industry. These advances are available at no additional cost to existing customers and are consumable through on-premises software or as-a-Service via Dell APEX. Exponential growth of data coupled with mutlicloud environments and a constant fear of cyberthreats is creating a need for a future ready storage portfolio like never before. Software driven storage innovations are key to accelerate Zero Trust adoption, scale up productivity and enable businesses to make the most of their existing IT investments. Catering to the needs of todays businesses, Dells PowerStore Plus portfolio is well positioned to support critical processes through automation, security, and multicloud capabilities while meeting their sustainability goals," said Manish Gupta, Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies, India.
The Delhi University plans to introduce two five-year integrated LLB programmes in the next academic year to provide a more affordable and high-standard legal education. According to officials, these are the Bachelor of Arts-LLB and the Bachelor Business Administration/Bachelor of Commerce-LLB, the official said, adding that initially, 102 students will be admitted in the two sections.

The university is planning to file an application with the Bar Council of India, seeking permission to initiate the five-year integrated LLB programmes after approval from statutory bodies  Academic Council and Executive Council.

The University of Delhi started legal education in 1924 with the establishment of the Department of Law under the Faculty of Law.

Until now, the law department used to offer a three-year LLB, LLM (full-time as well as part-time) and a PhD in Law.

Giving details about the two new programmes, the official said: The Bachelor of Arts-LLB (BA-LLB) programme will offer at least three disciplines of arts such as political science, sociology and economics along with the courses of law, while the Bachelor Business Administration/Bachelor of Commerce-LLB (BBA/BCom-LLB) will offer various courses (papers) of commerce, management, and economics disciplines.
Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore organized Farewell Party- Alvida' 23' at Hotel Park to bid adieu to the final year students of the undergraduate campus. The theme of the party was Red Carpet.

Students of the final year across different programs like BBA, BCA, BBA(FT), BCOM, and BAJMC attended in huge numbers and with full enthusiasm and zeal.

Institute Director, Col. (Dr) Subramanian Raman Iyer motivated the students to give their best and achieve new heights in life.

During Alvida 23, both students and faculties indulged in a large number of fun activities and gave dance poetry and music performances that enabled final-year students to cherish memories of the time spent at the Institute. A ramp walk was also organized wherein students walked on the ramp and mesmerized everyone with their grace, confidence, poise, and class.

It was a Star-studded night. Students of PIMR were looking no less than superstars. Various titles were awarded to the final year students like Ms/Mr. Evening, Ms/ Mr. Popular, Best Attire Male/Female, Best Smile Male/Female, Best Performer Male/Female, Mr. Handsome, Ms. Beautiful, etc. across different programs.

There was fun, excitement, emotions, blessings, and dreams and everyone was in that moment.

The Farewell Party was coordinated by Dr. Nidhi Sharma, Sumit Jain, and Sanjeet Srivastava and hosted by student volunteers Ananya Pahwa and Vinayak Soni. Final-year students made beautiful memories with these friends, faculty members and student volunteers of first and second year.
Finance Minister Dr. Rameshwar Oraon said that the system itself is such that quality education is not being done in government schools due to certain reasons, even the poorest parents send their children to private schools. I do not blame the teachers for this. On the occasion of the inauguration of the state office of PASWA, Dr. Rameshwar Oraon said Chief Minister Hemant Soren has made a good start by opening 80 upgraded schools but still a lot more needs to be done, all schools studying in government schools will be good when all schools are improved. Wherever I go in villages I see private schools everywhere. Answering questions from media persons, he said that PASWA is doing good work in the direction of removing the problems of private schools, I have also joined with PASWA.
Sikhs from all walks of life gathered in the city to commemorate the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Guru of Sikhism. The occasion was marked by prayers, hymns, and a heartfelt call for peace and unity, reflecting the teachings of Guru Arjan Dev Ji.



Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who lived from 1563 to 1606, was a spiritual leader and a visionary. He played a crucial role in shaping the Sikh community and promoting the values of compassion, equality, and peace. However, his unwavering commitment to his faith led to his martyrdom on this fateful day.



The programme at all the 33 gurudwaras in the city began with devotees paying their respects, where the atmosphere was filled with devotion and reverence. The sound of prayers echoed through the halls, as Sikhs recited verses from the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhism. The serenity of the gathering was a testament to the enduring impact of Guru Arjan Dev Ji's teachings on the Sikh community.



Prominent Sikh leaders and scholars delivered speeches, highlighting the importance of Guru Arjan Dev Ji's sacrifice and the lessons that can be learned from his life. They emphasized the need to embrace peace, harmony, and understanding in a world often plagued by conflicts and divisions.



Speaking at the event, Gurpratap Sing, a respected Sikh scholar, said, "Guru Arjan Dev Ji's martyrdom was a profound act of sacrifice, driven by a commitment to upholding truth and justice. It is our duty as Sikhs to carry forward his message of peace and to work towards building a society where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity."



The event also provided an opportunity for interfaith dialogue, with representatives from various religious communities in attendance. They expressed solidarity with the Sikh community and praised the efforts of Guru Arjan Dev Ji in promoting interfaith harmony during his lifetime.



The commemoration concluded with a langar, a community meal, where volunteers served free meals to all attendees, irrespective of their background. This tradition symbolizes the Sikh principle of seva (selfless service) and reflects Guru Arjan Dev Ji's emphasis on equality and inclusivity.



Guru Arjan Dev Ji's martyrdom day provided an opportunity for reflection and introspection, urging Sikhs and people of all faiths to unite in their shared pursuit of peace and justice. As the congregation dispersed, they carried with them the resolve to spread Guru Arjan Dev Ji's timeless message of peace and to strive for a better world for future generations, noted Singh.


Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday charged the BJP with politicizing the Jheeram massacre and said it was an emotional issue for the Congress, which will not tolerate anyone taking it lightly.

Baghel, commenting on statements of BJP leaders, told reporters here that the massacre wiped out frontline leaders of the Congress but the BJP was not serious over the issue.

Several questions are yet to be answered which include why a road opening party was not engaged to clear the roads and why Maoists killed Congress leaders after asking their names and confirming their identity.

It was a pre-planned mass assassination in which the Maoists were searching the leaders and killed them after realizing that Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel were in the convoy.

It was also objectionable that a judge of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court was transferred when he called for statements of surrendered Maoists in Telangana.

As per media reports, the judge was threatened after the order and bombs were hurled at his residence.

On May 25, 2013, Maoists attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in the Jheeram valley ahead of assembly elections, killing 32 people including then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former Union minister Vidyacharan Shukla.
The Jharkhand Academic Council has declared 10th, 12th board exam results today. Department of School Education Secretary, K Ravi Kumar and Board Chairman, Anil Kumar Mahto announced the results at JAC office.

This year girls have once again outlined boys in both matriculation and intermediate results. In matriculation results Shreya Songiri from Purna Pani Adivasi High School (Jamshedpur) has topped the matriculation examination securing 490 out of 500 marks. Her percentage is 98%. Followed by Songiri, Dumka boy Saurabh Kumar Pal is second securing 489 (97.8% ). Deeksha Bharti from Hazaribag Chas Indra Gandhi Girls High School is third getting 488 (97.6%).

Similarly, in intermediate science too this year's topper is a girl student. Divya Kumari from GM + High School (Ramgarh) is intermediate science topper scoring 479 out of 500 marks. Her percentage is 95.87 %. Followed by Divya Kumari, the second and third topper are both girls. Khushi Kumari from Ursuline Convent Ranchi is second topper getting 476- 95.2 %, while Priyanka Ghosh from Ursuline Convent Ranchi 95% is third getting 475 marks. Pawan Kumar Rana (Hazaribagh) too has secured 475- 95% marks.

The fair sex outperforming boys in JAC results has come on the day when the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) too has declared mains final results and women have topped the results.

This year too, women dominated the top positions with Ishita Kishore securing AIR 1 followed by Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi N and Smriti Mishra. There are six women in the top ten. Last year, Shruti Sharma had secured All India Rank 1 in the UPSC CSE 2021 exam. All the top three positions were secured by womenAnkita Agarwal had secured AIR 2 and Gamini Singla from Chandigarh got rank 3.

In JAC 10th board exam, 68.32 per cent students have passed with first division, whereas 39.25 per cent of students have passed with the second division and 2.72 per cent with third division. On the other hand, 90.60 per cent of students have secured first division in the Inter Science board examination. At the same time, 7.63 per cent of students passed from second division and 0.02 per cent students from third division.

President of Jharkhand Academic Council, Dr. Anil Kumar Mahato while addressing said that inter science and tenth result were released, today it is an important day for students. He said that this time the intermediate and matriculation exams were taken in two formats. It was OMR and pen paper based people are giving results in less than stipulated time. The cooperation of the entire district administration and education department was commendable in organizing a peaceful examination. It was not easy to take the examination in OMR sheet and answer sheet together, even a slight disturbance will affect the future of the children.


All beneficiaries of the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) of the State Government will receive the money at disbursement centres on 15th of every month in form of cash from June 2023.

The government has written a letter in this regard to all district Collectors and Commissioners of Municipal Corporations.

The decision was taken as many elderly and physically-challenged persons were finding it difficult to withdraw money from their bank accounts. This apart, some beneficiaries have not received pension due to technical glitches in the portal.

You are aware that pension was disbursed to about half the beneficiaries under MBPY in DBT mode in the month of May-2023. However, many old and disabled beneficiaries are facing difficulties in withdrawing/ collecting cash from their bank accounts. Some beneficiaries have also not received pension in time due to technical glitch in the portal, the letter read.

Keeping the above in view, the State Government has decided that all MBPY beneficiaries will receive pension in cash from June 2023 onwards. Accordingly, all beneficiaries under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana will be receiving cash on 15th of every month (Jana Seva Diwas) at disbursement places as before, the letter said.

Older and disabled pensioners, who cant move to disbursement places, will receive pension at their doorsteps, the letter added.


The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the director-general of police (DGP), Uttar Pradesh, and the chief secretary over the death of a 45-year-old Dalit farmer by suicide after the police allegedly forced him to strike a compromise with the perpetrators of kidnapping and rape of his minor daughter.

The commission has sought a report in the matter from the DGP and the chief secretary within four weeks. It said it has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports, according to which the man committed suicide after the police allegedly forced a compromise with the perpetrators of the kidnapping and rape of his minor daughter in Pilibhit district. The victim, a student of Class VIII, reportedly belongs to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community.

The commission has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, amount to a violation of human rights. Accordingly, it has issued notices to the UP chief secretary and DGP, calling for a detailed report within four weeks, the NHRC said in a statement.

The report should also include the present status of the matter and disbursement of monetary relief to the victim under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995. The commission also seeks to know about the action taken against the delinquent officer responsible for the tragedy, the NHRC said.

According to the media reports, the 14-year-old girl hailing from Amriya hamlet of Pilibhit, was kidnapped by three accused  Harendra, Rohit and Shekhar  when she was going to hand over the lunch box to her father at his farm on May 9 last.

She was taken to a secluded place and handed over to one Rahul, who later raped her. When the family found the girl missing, they started searching for her, and her father also informed police the next morning. However, the cops refused to take cognisance of the complaint.

After learning that the local villagers were searching for the girl, Rahuls relative, after finding the girl, handed her over to the police. The girl revealed her ordeal and said that she was raped by Rahul after three of his friends kidnapped her.

The police, instead of registering an FIR and arresting the accused, allegedly forced a compromise between the survivor and the accused.

The police allegedly did not inform the victims parents and closed the matter. Upset over this, the victims father allegedly committed suicide on May 17. Even then, the police did not register a case in this regard.
St. Croix born filmmaker Johanna Bermudez-Ruiz, second from left, with actors Natalia Villarejo, Vanessa Ayala and Michael Baiamonte, who all starred in Bermudez-Ruizs award-winning film Solene.
In a step towards creating a future-ready talent workforce, the Government of Odisha on Tuesday signed an MoU with the Nasscom to skill eight lakh students through FutureSkills Prime. The MoU aims to skill the students and existing faculty in key technologies essential in todays digital ecosystem and making India a digital talent nation.



The collaboration aims to build technology capacity in all streams with digital fluency and industry-curated content. This offers a wholesome career building programme to students to be industry-recognised Nasscom certified professionals. The focus of the partnership is to integrate emerging technology programmes through NSQF and NOS aligned curriculum to build a future talent pool for the State and this is in alignment with the National Education Policy 2020 implementation.



The students will have open access to various levels of aligned courses; they would also be able to learn and engage with industry experts and be part of exclusive career development opportunities like job fairs, internships, hiring hackathons and skill challenges etc.



The MOU was signed with an objective of making Odisha a digital talent hub.


Cabinet minister Ganesh Joshi has directed the officers concerned to ensure that the work on Sainya Dham (war memorial) in Guniyalgaon gets completed by the month of November this year. The minister gave the order during his inspection of the under construction Sainnya Dham on Tuesday. The minister was informed that 50 per cent construction work of the war memorial is complete. Joshi directed the officers to expedite the work while ensuring the quality of the construction work. He said that the pace of the work should be increased and the memorial should be ready till the month of November. Joshi said that Sainya Dham is being constructed as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Along with the State government this is also my dream project. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also has a special interest in this project, he said.

The minister informed that the budget for construction of Sainya Dham has now increased to Rs 98 crore from Rs 58 crore. He added that the Sainya Dham is getting constructed after studying different war memorials of the country. The minister informed that temples of Baba Harbhajan Singh and Baba Jaswant Singh will be constructed in the Sainya Dham and the main gate of the Dham would be dedicated to the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) late General Bipin Rawat. Secretary Deependra Chaudhary, Veteran Welfare director brigadier (retd) Amrit Lal, UPNL managing director brigadier (retd) JNS Bisht and others were present on the occasion.
Taking measures to stop use of ganja in religious places, the Odisha Government has issued a ban order at all Shaivite temples across the State.

In a letter dated May 10, 2023, the Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department directed the district Collectors to take necessary steps for prohibition of ganja use at the Shiva temples.

Like the practice of animal sacrifice was banned at Bhagabati Temple in Banpur and it was banned in most of the temples subsequently, restriction will be imposed on use of ganja in all Shaivite temples in Odisha, informed departmental Minister Ashwini Patra on Tuesday.

The order followed a letter written by religious preacher Balia Baba, the head of Ananta Balia Trust in Jagatsinghpur district, on April 13 urging the Excise Department for a ban on use of ganja at the famous Baba Akhandalmani Shiva temple in Bhadrak district.

Hundreds of devotees from across the State visit the Shiva shrine every day. However, an excessive use of ganja in the name of Lord Shiva is polluting the religious spirit of the place, the Baba leader wrote in the letter.

Lord Shiva never uses ganja. In the course of time, many misconceptions about Hindu religion and its gods have entered our society. Instead of ganja, many good things can be offered to the Lord, the letter read and urged the Government to restrict people from using ganja in all Shaivite temples.

On the other hand, chief servitor of Akhandalamani shrine Bijay Kumar Das, said, Ganja or bhang is used during the Gharsana ritual of Lord Shiva and this is a century-old tradition. The Gharsana bhog is offered to the devotees. If the Government bans the use of ganja at the Shiva temples, we will hold discussions with the concerned authorities. But if the ban is aimed at the devotees, I welcome the move.


The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday arrested the 45th accused Rahul alias Krishna Singh from Kanpur, Uttar Prades in the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC) graduate level recruitment examination leak case 2020-21.

This is the 57th arrest in UKSSC cheating cases being investigated by STF, said the senior superintendent of police of STF Ayush Agrawal. He said that the STF was searching for accused Rahul after his name came to light during the probe as one of the accused who leaked the paper and a bounty of RS 25,000 was also announced on his head last month. He said that a team left for Kanpur after getting information about his presence there.

He has revealed in the preliminary investigation that he got the leaked paper from a man named Parvez who belongs to Lucknow. He has confessed to selling the leaked paper to three to four candidates he knew for around Rs eight to Rs 10 lakh, said the SSP. He said that the STF will thoroughly interrogate the accused to gather more information about the case. The teams have already started searching for other men allegedly involved with him, added Agrawal. He said that UKSSSC has registered four separate cases regarding scams in the graduate level recruitment examination 2021, secretariat guard recruitment examination, online recruitment examination of forest inspector and gram panchayat development officer selection examination 2016 which are presently being investigated by STF. He said that the STF working quite cautiously and diligently in all these cases to ensure all culprits involved in these scams face legal consequences.
Several parts of the State are likely to get relief from the ongoing heat wave with the weather office predicting thunderstorms at these places in the next 24 hours.

The Regional Office of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here on Tuesday issued a Yellow warning to several districts on Wednesdays weather condition.

Thunderstorms with lightning as very likely to occur at one or two places in the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangapur, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Baleswar, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj," said the IMD.

The weather office further predicted no large changes in the maximum temperature (day temperature) at many places in the districts during the next five days.

It is likely to be 42 degree Celsius or more at a few places during the next five days in the districts of Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Angul, Boudh, Subarnapur, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Bargarh, the IMD said.


All political parties are invited to the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 and they will take a "call as per their wisdom", Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday amidst a boycott call against the event by as many as 19 opposition parties.

Addressing a press conference, Shah said during the inauguration, 'Sengol', a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu that was received by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to represent the transfer of power from the British to Indians will be installed in the new Parliament building and asserted that the event should not be linked with politics.

"The government of India has invited everyone to be present at the inauguration. Everyone will act as per their wisdom," Shah, who was flanked by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy, said when asked about the opposition parties' decision to boycott the inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

Some opposition parties announced the boycott of the function as they said it should have been done by President Droupadi Murmu.

"Sengol can't be associated with politics. 'Sengol' conveys the message that the government should run with justice and fairness and it should be rule-based. This message will go to the people and people's representatives when it is installed in the new Parliament building.

"This is the real purpose. Don't mix this with politics. This is an old tradition that is going to be connected with the new India. Politics has its own place. Everyone works as per their wisdom," he said.

The Home Minister said that the new Parliament building is an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's far-sightedness.

The 'Sengol' will be installed near the chair of the Speaker in the new Parliament building.

He said the Prime Minister will also honour 60,000 workers (shram yogis) at the inauguration.

The home minister said the new Parliament building is a testament of the Prime Minister's vision of creating a new India, which combines modernity with the country's heritage and traditions.

Shah said the purpose of the installation was clear then and even now and the transfer of power is not merely a handshake or signing a document and that it must remain connected with local traditions keeping in mind modern needs.

The 'Sengol' to be installed in the new Parliament building is the original one received by Nehru.

On August 14, 1947, 'Sengol' was used to transfer the power from British to Indian hands and it was accepted by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the presence of Rajendra Prasad, who later became India's first President and many others.

The 'Sengol' is special and the word is derived from the Tamil word 'Semmai', meaning 'righteousness'

The historical sceptre was made of silver with gold coated and the sacred Nandi, with its unyielding gaze. The Nandi on top of the 'Sengol' is symbolic of 'Nyaya' (Justice).

"Sengol represents the same feeling that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday claimed the ordinance issued for control of services in Delhi means the Narendra Modi government does not believe in the Supreme Court.

After meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai, Kejriwal said state governments were being toppled by using the CBI and the ED.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Thackeray said they have come together to defeat forces that are against democracy.

Kejriwal met Thackeray to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi.

Addressing a joint press conference with Thackeray, Kejriwal accused the Centre of using central agencies to topple state governments, and referred to the collapse of the Thackeray government in Maharashtra last year.

The ordinance on control of services in Delhi means the Modi government doesn't believe in the Supreme Court, he said.

Thackeray said, We have come together to defeat those against democracy."

Kejriwal said Thackeray has agreed to vote against the bill (on control of services in Delhi) when it comes before the Rajya Sabha.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance.

The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.
Brixton Metals Co. (CVE:BBB  Get Rating)s stock price was up 6.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$0.18 and last traded at C$0.17. Approximately 485,303 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 121% from the average daily volume of 219,139 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.16.

Brixton Metals Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of C$64.74 million, a PE ratio of -2.83 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 3.58, a current ratio of 16.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$0.17 and a 200-day moving average of C$0.21.

Brixton Metals Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Brixton Metals Corporation, an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and evaluation of mineral properties in Canada and the United States. The company primarily explores for gold, silver, copper, and cobalt deposits. It holds a 100% interest in the Thorn Gold-Copper-Silver Project covering approximately 2,863 square kilometers located in Northwest British Columbia; the Hog Heaven Silver-Gold-Copper Project consists of approximately 6400 acres and is located in Northwest Montana; Langis-Hudson Bay Silver-Cobalt Project located in Northeast Ontario; and holds a 100% interest in Atlin Goldfields Project consisting of 142 mineral claims covering an area of approximately 950 square kilometers located in Northwest British Columbia.

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Shares of China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:CMAKY  Get Rating) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $4.25 and last traded at $4.25, with a volume of 17 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $4.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded China Minsheng Banking from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th.

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China Minsheng Banking Stock Performance

The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $3.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.43.

About China Minsheng Banking

China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. provides various financial products and services to individuals, small and micro-enterprises, corporate customers, government agencies, and financial institutions in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, and Others segments.

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Shares of Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF (NYSEARCA:FLBR  Get Rating) fell 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $18.31 and last traded at $18.31. 41,754 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 136,952 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.40.

Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market cap of $292.96 million, a PE ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.22 and a 200-day moving average of $17.57.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF by 144.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,056 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF by 289.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,617 shares of the companys stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF by 1,942.6% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,349 shares of the companys stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $185,000. Finally, Seed Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,000.

About Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF

The Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF (FLBR) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the FTSE Brazil RIC Capped index. The fund tracks a market cap-weighted index of Brazilian large- and mid-cap stocks. FLBR was launched on Nov 3, 2017 and is managed by Franklin Templeton.

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Enhabit, Inc. (NYSE:EHAB  Get Rating) Director L Edward Shaw, Jr. acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.98 per share, for a total transaction of $119,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 38,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $467,088.22. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Enhabit Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of EHAB stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $12.45. 517,656 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 552,989. The firm has a market cap of $623.75 million and a PE ratio of 15.60. Enhabit, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.50 and a 1 year high of $25.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $13.02 and a 200 day moving average of $13.65.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Enhabit during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Enhabit by 99.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Enhabit during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Enhabit during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Enhabit during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 95.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

About Enhabit

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on EHAB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Enhabit in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a neutral rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Enhabit from $18.00 to $15.00 in a report on Friday, May 12th. Credit Suisse Group restated a neutral rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Enhabit in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Enhabit from $17.00 to $18.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Enhabit has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $16.13.

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Enhabit, Inc provides home health and hospice services in the United States. Its home health services include patient education, pain management, wound care and dressing changes, cardiac rehabilitation, infusion therapy, pharmaceutical administration, and skilled observation and assessment services; practices to treat chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, low vision, spinal stenosis, Parkinson's disease, osteoporosis, complex wound care and chronic pain, along with disease-specific plans for patients with diabetes, congestive heart failure, post-orthopedic surgery, or injury and respiratory diseases; and physical, occupational and speech therapists provide therapy services.

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Old Mutual Limited (LON:OMU  Get Rating)s share price fell 0.8% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 46.15 ($0.57) and last traded at GBX 46.15 ($0.57). 302,886 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 317,082 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 46.50 ($0.58).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Old Mutual from GBX 62 ($0.77) to GBX 60 ($0.75) and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 7th.

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Old Mutual Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of 2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 659.29 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 96.32. The firms 50 day simple moving average is GBX 49.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 51.93.

Old Mutual Increases Dividend

About Old Mutual

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th were paid a GBX 2.27 ($0.03) dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a yield of 4.58%. This is a boost from Old Mutuals previous dividend of $1.25. Old Mutuals payout ratio is presently 5,714.29%.

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Old Mutual Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides financial services primarily in South Africa and rest of Africa. The company operates through Mass and Foundation Cluster, Personal Finance and Wealth Management, Old Mutual Investments, Old Mutual Corporate, Old Mutual Insure, and Rest of Africa segments.

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Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:NXR  Get Rating)  Research analysts at Raymond James lowered their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trust in a report released on Friday, May 19th. Raymond James analyst B. Sturges now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $0.19 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.20. Raymond James also issued estimates for Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trusts Q3 2023 earnings at $0.19 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $0.75 EPS and Q1 2024 earnings at $0.19 EPS.

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Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:NXR  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 14th. The company reported C($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.21 by C($0.42). The firm had revenue of C$36.86 million during the quarter.

Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trust Stock Performance

Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trust Announces Dividend

About Edgefront Real Estate Investment Trust

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.053 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of . The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th.

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Nuveen Select Tax-Free Income Portfolio 3 Funds primary objective is current income exempt from regular federal income tax, consistent with preservation of capital.

The Fund invests in municipal securities that are exempt from federal income taxes. The Fund invests at least 80% of its managed assets in municipal securities rated investment grade at the time of investment, or, if they are unrated, are judged by the manager to be of comparable quality.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Phoenix New Media (NYSE:FENG  Get Rating) in a research note published on Saturday. The firm issued a hold rating on the information services providers stock.

Phoenix New Media Stock Performance

Shares of FENG opened at $2.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Phoenix New Media has a one year low of $2.11 and a one year high of $5.88. The business has a fifty day moving average of $2.38 and a 200 day moving average of $2.61.

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Phoenix New Media (NYSE:FENG  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 13th. The information services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $32.47 million for the quarter. Phoenix New Media had a negative net margin of 12.10% and a negative return on equity of 7.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Phoenix New Media

Phoenix New Media Company Profile

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Phoenix New Media stock. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Phoenix New Media Limited ( NYSE:FENG Get Rating ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 21,805 shares of the information services providers stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

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Phoenix New Media Ltd. is engaged in the provision of media and advertising services through internet, mobile, and television channels. It also provides mobile internet and value-add, and video value-added services. It operates under the Net Advertising Services and Paid Services. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

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StockNews.com lowered shares of NewMarket (NYSE:NEU  Get Rating) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

NewMarket Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE NEU opened at $396.06 on Friday. NewMarket has a 1 year low of $280.28 and a 1 year high of $404.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The businesss 50-day moving average is $374.46 and its 200 day moving average is $345.20.

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NewMarket Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. This is a boost from NewMarkets previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. NewMarkets payout ratio is 26.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NewMarket

NewMarket Company Profile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in NewMarket by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 199,240 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $73,143,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of NewMarket by 62.4% during the first quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,176 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NewMarket by 1.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 90,435 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $33,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares in the last quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NewMarket in the 1st quarter worth approximately $401,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its position in NewMarket by 61.8% in the 1st quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 16,819 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $6,139,000 after acquiring an additional 6,421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.48% of the companys stock.

(Get Rating)

NewMarket Corp. operates as a holding company. The firms segment include petroleum additives. Petroleum additives are used in lubricating oils and fuels to enhance their performance in machinery, vehicles, and other equipment. It manages properties owned in Virginia and provides various administrative services.

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Day 2 of the trial of Parmod Achary, General Manager (GM) of Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF), revealed that mothers allegedly refrained from reporting him to the institution's disciplinary body or the police due to fear of losing their jobs.

Cynthia Kammy Ala, the first witness on the stand, expressed her concerns about reporting Mr. Achary in court, stating her fear of termination. I am a mother and I have kids. I know who the GM is, I fear of losing my job, she testified.

When questioned by GM Achary's lawyer, Mark Hurley, on why she didn't report the Defendant during the Ombudsmans search warrant in 2019 and the subsequent Civil Case against VNPF on September 21 the same year, Mrs. Ala clarified that those cases were unrelated to the incident that occurred at the VNPF building and was currently being heard in court. She alleged that Mr. Achary had inappropriately touched her near the printing machine at the VNPF office.

Mr. Hurley argued that the incident occurred due to the narrow space between the printing machine and the door of the GM's office, but Mrs. Ala countered, stating that the space was not significantly narrow and allowed for a walkway. She firmly asserted, "he did" when asked if Mr. Achary had a problem with his eyes and had touched her.

In the afternoon, Nathalie Merick, the second prosecution witness, testified that Mr. Achary shook her hand one morning and allegedly forced her to touch him inappropriately. Recounting the incident from 2021, she revealed that she had informed a staff member about the incident but refrained from telling her husband due to her fear of job loss.

Mr. Hurley presented a sketch of the incident's location in court and contested Mrs. Merick's testimony, claiming that such an event had never occurred. Both witnesses who testified yesterday are no longer employed by VNPF, as they submitted their resignation letters.

With four prosecution witnesses heard thus far, the trial will resume at 9am today.
PM Narendra Modi at new Parliament building (ANI file image)

New Delhi: In a show of unity, 19 Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Left and the TMC, on Wednesday announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they find no value in a new building when "the soul of democracy has been sucked out". Miffed over the "sidelining" of President Droupadi Murmu on the occasion, the Opposition said the inauguration by the PM is an "insult to the President" and a "direct attack on democracy".

The government termed the Opposition move "unfortunate" and urged them to reconsider their stand while asserting that the Lok Sabha Speaker is the custodian of Parliament and the Speaker has invited the Prime Minister.

Union home minister Amit Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament building have been sent to all political parties, which are free to act according to their wisdom.

Notwithstanding the Opposition boycott call, the non-NDA parties, including the YSRC, AIADMK, TD and the BJD, are likely to attend the ceremony. The NDA ally Shiv Sena (Shinde camp) and the former ally Akali Dal will be joining the ceremony.

Noting that the inauguration of the new Parliament building is a momentous occasion, the Opposition parties in a joint statement said, "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion".

The Opposition parties argued the President is not only the head of state in India but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues and addresses it.

The joint statement reads: "In short, Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion, which saw the nation celebrate its first woman adivasi President."

The Congress, Trinamul Congress, DMK, JD (U), AAP, CPM, CPI, SP, NCP, SS (UBT), RJD, IUML, JMM, NC, KC (M), RSP, VCK, MDMK and the RLD are the signatories of the joint statement.

When asked about the Opposition's planned boycott, Shah said, "The government of India has invited everyone to be present at the inauguration. Everyone will act as per their wisdom."

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi also urged the Opposition parties to attend the ceremony, saying, "Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function."

Meanwhile, amid the boycott call by 19 parties of the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building, the NCP urged the Prime Minister to make a personal request to the President to do the honours.

Reacting to the issue, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Neither getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor inviting her to the ceremony is an insult to the country's highest constitutional post. Parliament is not constructed by bricks of ego but through constitutional values."

Slamming the Prime Minister, the Opposition parties in their joint statement said, "Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out Parliament. The Opposition MPs have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. The MPs from the Treasury Benches have disrupted Parliament."

"Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct," the parties alleged.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with his deputy DK Shivakumar (PTI)

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday evening, where they are expected to meet the Congress high command and discuss cabinet expansion, and allocation of portfolios to existing Ministers.

As per the Chief Minister's official schedule, Siddaramaiah will be leaving for Delhi by a special flight at 6:30 pm, and will halt in the national capital tonight.

According to Shivakumar's office, the Deputy CM will accompany Siddaramaiah.

Details of the Delhi visit has not been shared with media, but party sources said they are expected to meet Congress leadership to discuss allocation of portfolios to Ministers and cabinet expansion.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively along with eight legislators as Ministers on May 20. Portfolios have not been allocated to the Ministers since then.

According to Congress sources, the party high command approved the first list of eight ministers, against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of legislators into the cabinet, as there were allegedly differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over some names, during the discussions held in New Delhi last week, ahead of swearing-in.

Allocation of portfolios to the new Ministers and expanding the cabinet with the right combinations that will strike a balance in having representatives from all communities, regions, factions, and also from among the old and new generation of legislators, is the daunting task ahead of Siddaramaiah.

With the sanctioned strength of the Karnataka Cabinet being 34, there are too many aspirants for ministerial berths.
Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy releases funds during the 'Jagananna Vidya Deevena programme in Kovvur of East Godavari district on Wednesday. (Photo by arrangement)

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has called upon the beneficiaries of his welfare schemes as well as the critics to see the perceptible change in the implementation of these schemes and their impact on the people. "If you feel the change helped you, vote for the YSRC," he said.

He said his government implemented the schemes in a transparent and corruption-free manner, unlike the time of the Telugu Desam government.

The CM was addressing a large gathering after depositing Rs 703 crore by the click of a button for 9.95 lakh students under the Vidya Deevena Scheme at Kovvur in East Godavari district on Wednesday.

He said, "We are implementing several welfare schemes with the sole aim of eradicating poverty. Many families are poor and backward in several aspects. Education is the best way to break the chain of poverty," he stressed.

"We are bringing in revolutionary changes in the field of education through the Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Jagananna Vasathi Deevena etc to help the students pursue education. We are extending financial help at the end of every quarter in a year," he said.

The CM said, "We have so far extended a financial help of Rs 10,636 crore for nearly 26.98 lakh students under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Rs 4,275 crore for 25.17 lakh students under the Jagananna Vasathi Deevena. A total of Rs 14,912 crore was distributed under both the schemes in the last four years."

"When we compare this with the previous TD term, it paid only Rs 35,000 per student as fee-reimbursement and did not include all the eligible students in the scheme. It also failed to pay the sums promptly and left a due of Rs 15,511 crore as arrears since 2017. We have cleared them to avoid trouble for students," he said.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said, "The TD governments imposition of a ceiling on the amount under fee reimbursement scheme at Rs 35,000 forced several students to drop out. Our government extends any amount with no limit to help the student pursue higher education."

"I want my critics and the Opposition parties to note that we are investing huge amounts in human capital. If our students study well and acquire skills, AP may become a hub for skill development. The state can thus become a role model in skill development," he said.

The Chief Minister said, "We are initiating revolutionary changes in education from nursery to colleges to provide quality education and have introduced CBSE syllabus, English medium, providing bilingual textbooks and Vidya Kanuka kits. We are even launching digital classrooms for the benefit of students."

"We have already started witnessing the impact of a series of reforms. The number of students pursuing education has gone up to 40 lakh against 37 lakh during 2015-19. The drop-out of students after Class XII has come down to just 22,387 from 81,813 in 2018-19. The number of students pursuing engineering courses has also gone up to 1.20 lakh in 2022-23 from 87,000 in 2018-19 in the state," he noted.

The CM said, "I want every family to produce a Satya Nadella (Microsoft, CEO) and I also want every student to pursue education. I assure you the government would extend financial support to them. We have extended such help under DBT and non-DBT modes to the extent of Rs 3 lakh crore in the last four years to students under various schemes."
File photo of BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao speaking at Telagana Bhavan. (Photo: Twitter/@BRSparty)

HYDERABAD: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is switching gears fast to consolidate its vote banks by disbursing and implementing welfare schemes over the next few months, linking party outreach programmes with state government activities, in the run-up to the Assembly polls.

Over the next two months, the state government will distribute podu land pattas to tribal communities, extend Rs. 3 lakh financial aid to poor families under the Gruha Laxmi scheme for constructing houses, give Rs. 10 lakh to each Dalit family across the state under the second phase of Dalit Bandhu, distribute housing sites to the poor and give away sheep under the second phase of its scheme.

These schemes will be extended to beneficiaries in the presence of BRS leaders and workers in respective Assembly constituencies, who will seek the support of beneficiaries for BRS in Assembly polls.

BRS supremo and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will lead the charge by taking part in podu lands patta distributions to beneficiaries in several districts from June 24 to 30.

The ruling party will also utilise the 21-day celebrations, from June 2 to 22, of the 10th Formation Day of Telangana to reach out to the people in all 119 Assembly constituencies and highlight the achievements of the BRS government in the past nine years.

BRS leaders and workers will participate in all the events that are scheduled to be held as part of the celebrations. Rallies, with beneficiaries of various welfare schemes of the BRS government, such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Aasara pensions, free power to agriculture, Kalyana Laxmi, Shaadi Mubarak, ration rice, residential schools, colleges etc., are also planned to be held.

Sources said that the BRS leadership feels that the party already enjoys strong support among the vote banks of beneficiaries of welfare schemes, such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, free power to agriculture and Aasara Pension, among others.

They said that the new schemes being implemented in the next two months will create a new vote bank for the party ahead of the Assembly polls.
Sporadic artillery fire still echoed in Sudan's capital Tuesday but residents said fighting had calmed following a US and Saudi-brokered ceasefire, raising faint hopes in the embattled city.

In the sixth week of war, witnesses reported a relative calm had taken hold, both in greater Khartoum and in the Darfur region's cities of Nyala and El Geneina, which have been among the other main battlegrounds.

"We have not heard shelling in our neighbourhood since last night," said a witness in southern Khartoum.

Also Read: More than 1 million people displaced by Sudan crisis: UNHCR

Residents had reported combat and air strikes in different districts of the capital minutes after the ceasefire formally started at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday.

The battles since April 15 have killed an estimated 1,000 people, sparked mass evacuations of foreigners and forced more than a million people to flee their homes internally and across borders, fuelling concerns for regional stability.

The week-long truce aims to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid for civilians, and restoration of essential services.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington that a monitoring committee, set up under the truce agreement, is "looking into those reports" of ceasefire violations.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier in a video message that violators will be held accountable.

Fighting pits the army, led by Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Those unable to flee have run low on water, food and basic supplies, and more than half the population, 25 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.

"Seven days is not a long time if you look at the massive scale of humanitarian emergency in Sudan," Patrick Youssef, International Committee of the Red Cross regional director for Africa, told AFP on Tuesday.

"But we are also in a situation where every minute counts and can provide a much needed respite," he said.

The text of the truce deal says warring parties agreed to secure "unimpeded road access along designated corridors or routes for humanitarian assistance delivery".

Aid workers are waiting impatiently for those promised corridors to materialise. No permits had been authorised as of Tuesday, one international humanitarian worker told AFP on condition of anonymity, due to safety concerns.

"The whole country is taken hostage," and both parties have "singularly failed" to respect international humanitarian law, said the UN's expert on human rights in Sudan, Radhouane Nouicer.

"People feel alone and abandoned amid a chronic shortage of food, drinking water, homes destroyed, indiscriminate attacks in residential areas and widespread looting."

The pause in fighting longed for by Khartoum residents would also enable more of them to flee the city. The United Nations said nearly 650,000 had already done so during the war, in which numerous ceasefires previously announced were quickly violated.

Before it began, there had been an absence of signals on the ground that the latest truce would be honoured.

Volker Perthes, the UN envoy to Sudan, told the Security Council on Monday that "fighting and troop movements have continued even today, despite a commitment by both sides not to pursue military advantage before the ceasefire takes effect".

The US and Saudi Arabia said this agreement was different because the seven-page document was "signed by the parties" and would be supported by the monitoring mechanism, a committee with three members each from the US, Saudi, the army and RSF.

Neither side has directly blamed the other for breaking this truce -- as they did within minutes after previous ceasefires collapsed.

But the health ministry released a statement on Tuesday accusing the RSF of violating hospitals.

The ministry, loyal to Burhan, said RSF troops "stationed themselves" inside two hospitals in greater Khartoum Tuesday, "assaulting medical staff and ejecting patients".

The RSF called the accusations "lies".

Major fighting has devastated the Darfur region near Chad, where the UN has reported hundreds of civilians killed in the West Darfur capital El Geneina.

Perthes in his Security Council address warned that "the conflict risks to expand and prolong... with implications for the region."

In some areas fighting "has sharpened into communal tensions, or triggered conflict between communities", he said, after reports of civilians being armed in Darfur.

Sudan has a long history of military coups. The army in 2019 overthrew the veteran Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir after mass protests against his rule.

Sudanese were promised a gradual transition toward civilian rule, but Burhan and Daglo staged another coup in October 2021 before simmering tensions between the two men flared into the current war.
The Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested an alleged member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang after a brief encounter here, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Yogesh alias Himanshu, was absconding for three years after jumping interim bail in a murder attempt case in Delhi, they said.

A trap was laid based on a tip-off about Yogesh meeting his associate near the Britannia Chowk flyover here on Monday around 3 pm, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar said.

Read | 4 shooters of Lawrence Bishnoi gang arrested by Punjab Police

When the police surrounded the accused and asked him to surrender, he opened fire at the personnel but the police retaliated and overpowered him, Kumar added.

One semi-automatic pistol and two live cartridges were recovered from the accused, the police said.

During interrogation, Yogesh revealed that he was an active member of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Jitender Gogi gang and provided logistical and financial aid to the members of this syndicate, Kumar said.

Yogesh was involved in 16 criminal cases, including robbery and attempt to murder, in Delhi-NCR, the DCP said.

The accused was also convicted in a case of attempt to murder lodged at Narela Police Station in 2019. He was granted an interim bail for 45 days in June 2020 but did not surrender and was absconding since then, he added.
Police in Maharashtras Nagpur district have arrested a 35-year-old woman for plotting her fathers murder as she and her mother were allegedly being subjected to domestic violence by him, an official said on Wednesday.

According to the official, the 60-year-old man from Nagpur city was allegedly in an illicit relationship with another woman and was pressuring his wife to transfer their properties  a petrol pump, a farm and a house  in his name. He would also allegedly resort to domestic violence, said the official.

Also Read | Labourer killed, dumped in sugarcane field in UP's Muzaffarnagar for demanding wages

On May 2, the man apparently brutally assaulted his wife and daughter over the properties. The daughter then hired a local resident for Rs 5 lakh to eliminate her father. The contract killer and his accomplices stabbed her father to death at the familys petrol pump at Bhiwapur, some 60 km from Nagpur, on May 17.

Police first tracked down the contract killer and he led them to the victims daughter, he added.
There is no urgency from the Secretary of State in attempts to restore the Stormont government, Michelle ONeill has said.

Sinn Fein vice-president Ms ONeill and Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy met with the secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris at Hillsborough castle on Wednesday.

In the absence of a Stormont executive, the secretary of state was obliged to set the budget for Northern Ireland, with many departments facing significant shortfalls.

The DUP have been boycotting Stormont for over a year in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Ms ONeill said the level of cuts proposed in the budget set by Mr Heaton-Harris were not tolerable and that a real plan was needed to restore Stormont.

This is not acceptable and not tolerable, so what we wanted to impress upon himself (Heaton-Harris) today was: what is the plan for the restoration of the executive? she said.

Its unfortunate to say I dont believe theres any urgency there on his part. I think that was certainly our reflection of the conversation that we just had.

She added: But we need some urgency, there needs to be a real plan and we need to understand when were going to have a restored executive and assembly, but certainly the emphasis of our conversation today was around, one the restoration, but two, the scale and savagery of the cuts that are being imposed upon the public because the DUP are in a stand-off with the British government.

The Department of Health said it is facing a shortfall of 470 million while the Department of Infrastructure said its budget pressures may result in streetlights being turned off and roads not being gritted in winter.

The Department for Communities said it is facing a 111.2 million resource funding gap, and the Education Authority are looking at a shortfall in the region of 200 million.

On Tuesday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson confirmed that more financial support for Northern Ireland is part of discussions with the Government.

Mr Murphy has said a potential financial package from the UK Government upon the restoration of the Stormont assembly would not be one partys wishlist.

We also made the point to Chris Heaton-Harris that if there has to be a discussion, its a discussion which involves all of the parties and the civil service, he said

This isnt one partys wishlist  we have ideas, the other parties have ideas, in relation to what is needed to try and offset some of the worst damage that the British Governments budget has made, so he agreed, he accepted that point, that this is a discussion for all parties and senior civil servants as well.

Ms ONeill said her party would be meeting with Jayne Brady, head of the Northern Ireland civil service, to discuss budgetary concerns, but also added that all parties needed to be involved in setting the budget.

It has to be the collective view and will of all the parties working together here to achieve the most efficient budget that allows us to actually deliver good public services, she said.

Following Wednesdays meeting with the secretary of state, Ms ONeill also confirmed a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference will be held to establish a plan for the restoration of the Stormont executive.

The two governments will come together, weve been calling for this immediately after the election, and its now time for them both to come together as co-guarantors, she said.

Lets have a plan on the table, how are we going to restore the executive.

Ms ONeill has previously said she wanted the meeting to be at Taoiseach and Prime Minister level.
Marvell to set up semiconductor design center in Vietnam

Marvell Technology has announced plans to establish a world-class design center in Ho Chi Minh City. The facility will house advanced semiconductor engineering and will be a top technology workplace for those looking to upgrade their skills and careers, according to the US chip vendor.

Marvell intends to invest in the development of critical technical skills in Vietnam through a newly formed scholarship program in order to meet the talent requirements of its new design center in Vietnam, said the company. The program will support talented students pursuing degrees in engineering and computer science at selected universities in Vietnam.

The Marvell Scholarship program aims to strengthen critical engineering skills in Vietnam, expand female workforce representation at all levels and responsibilities, and improve diversity by recruiting from low-income regions.

"One of the major challenges of the global semiconductor industry is research and engineering shortage and this presents a huge opportunity for aspiring Vietnamese tech talents," said Loi Nguyen, executive VP of Marvell's optical and copper connectivity group and a native of Ho Chi Minh City. "The establishment of Marvell's Design Center in Vietnam is a significant step towards bridging this talent gap and fostering the semiconductor industry in Vietnam."
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South Korea will inject KRW14 trillion into auto parts industry to boost EV production

South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry announced on May 23 that the government and local automakers will invest KRW14.3 trillion (US$10.9 billion) in the automotive component industry, helping EV production grow fivefold by 2030.

According to South Korea-based Yonhap and KBS, the ministry unveiled a series of measures to support the industry during a meeting with car makers and parts companies.

The agency and several automakers will offer financial support of more than KRW14.3 trillion to the automotive component industry. The goal is to support the companies' investment and secure necessary liquidity.

Domestic carmakers such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen ties with their parts suppliers.

Yonhap reported that the South Korean government plans to push for a special law facilitating advanced technology development in future cars. In addition, the government will work with the industry and major colleges to nurture over 30,000 future car experts.

South Korea has enjoyed rising global demand for its vehicles and car components. According to the industry ministry, the country's car and component exports are expected to surpass US$80 billion in 2023 for the first time.

According to KBS, South Korea aims to expand domestic EV production fivefold by 2030 and increase automotive parts exports with the support of KRW14.3 trillion. It is targeting the US, the European Union, China and emerging markets like the Middle East and ASEAN countries.

Moreover, the ministry expects supportive measures for the parts industry to advance development in other sectors like system semiconductors, large-sized displays, carbon composites, bio-health and software.

On the other hand, South Korea and Indonesia launched an E-Mobility Cooperation Center in Indonesia last week. According to South Korea's industry ministry, the country will provide Indonesia with 65 electric four-wheelers, 90 electric two-wheelers, and 71 chargers. It will also establish an EV aftersales service center in Indonesia and help train maintenance, production and R&D personnel.

South Korea also proposed that the two countries sign an e-mobility cooperation MoU.
Government agreement has been reached on a scheme to assist businesses which have been impacted by significant increases in the cost of kerosene heating oil following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Kerosene prices have risen significantly in the past year. Prices were, on average, 0.50 per litre higher in the 2022 reference period, a 64% increase compared to 2021.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, today welcomed Government agreement for the development and implementation of the new support.

As we know, businesses have experienced unprecedented increases in energy costs over the past year. This Scheme will now ensure that businesses, who use kerosene for heating, can claim for the increased costs of this fuel. The scheme will complement supports for increases in gas and electricity costs that are already available under the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS).

Welcoming the decision, Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD, said: I welcome the Government decision to develop a scheme to support businesses dependent on kerosene as an energy source. In addition to this new scheme, I informed Government today of my intention to extend the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme, which supports businesses that use mains gas and electricity, to 31 July 2023. This extension will help businesses, over the coming months, that have not yet seen the benefit of decreasing wholesale energy prices, and I strongly encourage businesses who have not already registered and made a claim for TBESS to do so.

Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary said the Scheme will be welcomed by small businesses: The businesses which are particularly impacted by kerosene increases are those not connected to the natural gas network and who use the fuel for heating purposes. I know that this Scheme will be welcomed in particular by many regionally based small and micro enterprises which arent connected to the network.

Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Neale Richmond also reminded businesses that they can still apply for the TBESS Scheme: Any assistance that we can give businesses to deal with rising costs is to be welcomed. This Scheme will help to support those businesses who cannot avail of natural gas, and I think it is also a timely reminder for businesses which are eligible for TBESS that there is still time to apply for that scheme and receive help with high energy costs.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will consult with other Government Departments in the design of the Kerosene Scheme. The Scheme will utilise unspent Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) funds subject to sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. The Scheme will also require State Aid approval from the EU Commission. It is intended that the Scheme will be launched in Q3 this year.
Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, surrounded by House members of the Legislative Black Caucus and most House Democrats, addresses colleagues before the end of the special redistricting session June 18, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

The lawmaker who last year suggested a change to the Louisiana Constitution to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude  and then asked voters to reject it  has revised his proposal this session.

House Bill 221, from Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, cleared a major legislative hurdle Monday when it cleared the House of Representatives with a 98-0 vote. His proposal specifies the prohibition of involuntary servitude shall not prohibit an inmate from being required to work when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime.

There was an attempt to make a similar change last year when the bill was debated on the House floor. The word except was added to its ballot language regarding the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice. Proponents had a problem with except being put in the same sentence as slavery is prohibited.

The House Democratic Caucus, which had originally backed the proposal, pulled its support, as did groups that advocate for the incarcerated and the ACLU of Louisiana. More than 60% of voters statewide rejected the constitutional amendment last November.

If the Senate approves Jordans measure this session, it would be put before voters Oct. 14.

The post Slavery ban could go before Louisiana voters again appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
A 41-year-old drink-driver who was caught over the legal limit for a second time, was last week sentenced at Dundalk District Court to 220 hours community service, instead of a four month sentence.

Vidmantas Lingis, Cherrywood Close, Termon Abbey, Drogheda previously had his case adjourned so his suitability to perform community service could be assessed.

That sitting had heard details of nine previous convictions, including for drunk driving.

Judge Eirinn McKiernan said the defendant had got every chance before and the only thing going for him (in respect of this case) was his guilty plea.

The offence occurred at Coes Road, Dundalk on January 19th last year.

The Defence solicitor said his client had no reasonable excuse.

He had been drinking earlier in the day and the van he was driving was provided by his then employer.

He had since been involved in a road traffic accident and was no longer working.

Last Wednesday, the solicitor told Judge John Brennan that the Probation report found his client suitable for community service.

In addition to making the community service order, Judge Brennan disqualified Mr. Lingis from driving for three years and marked the two remaining charges of driving without insurance or a driving licence taken into consideration.
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has said he will be as firm as he needs to be during budget negotiations.

Budget 2024 will be the Fianna Fail TDs first as finance minister, having served as public expenditure minister for the past three fiscal packages, alongside Fine Gaels Paschal Donohoe.

This week, three Fine Gael junior ministers  including a junior finance minister  called for a full-time worker on a wage of 52,000 euro to get 1,000 euro back in tax relief in the next budget.

Ministers of state Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Martin Heydon and Peter Burke argued that this cohort deserve a break.

When asked whether he would be bullied over the budget by his coalition colleagues, Mr McGrath replied certainly not.

Anybody who knows me well enough will know that I can be as tough as anybody else when it comes to negotiations, he said on Wednesday.

I will always be conciliatory and polite, but I can be as firm as I need to be and will be.

I will be designing the tax package and it will be done following close consultation with all of our colleagues across government, and that work will be finalised in the coming months.

He added: I think its inevitable in a three-party coalition government that there will be times when parties want to assert, as they see it, their identity, and will seek to carve out space on a particular issue.

Im long enough around to recognise that and understand the reality of it, there will always be a certain amount of jockeying for position.

He also said that he has a lot of ideas in relation to tax measures that could be taken, but has to consider them over the next four months alongside other measures.

The government is being questioned over what exactly it plans to do with the record eight billion euro surplus it collected last year  with a further 10 billion euro forecast for this year, both largely due to windfall corporation tax.

Ministers have warned it will not be used to make permanent spending commitments or permanent tax cuts, as it is volatile and could be pulled unexpectedly.

Mr McGrath has indicated previously that it could be used to reduce the national debt as Ireland is currently paying four billion euro a year in repayments. He said this was especially important where government bonds are maturing and have to be refinanced at more expensive rates.

He said on Wednesday that windfall corporation surpluses offered an incredible opportunity to make our public finances safer and more sustainable into the future.

Mr McGrath was speaking at a new housing development in Ashtown, Dublin, funded by Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI), made up of 92 units that are a mix of three- and four-bedroom homes aimed at first-time buyers.

He also noted the outcome of the second review of the HBFI which found that the body should continue its work until at least 2025, when another review will be carried out.

The HBFI was launched in January 2019 as part of the Governments response to Irelands housing supply shortage.

It was given an initial loan fund of up to 730 million euro to provide funding to help the delivery of up to 7,500 new homes over five years.

As of April 2023, HBFI has been given funding of 1.353 billion euro to support the potential delivery of up to 6,161 homes across 22 counties.
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A NATIVE American studying in UCC is strengthening Cork links with her tribe through opportunities both communities feared might never be possible.

Skylee Glass from Verden in Oklahoma is preparing to head back to the US after completing an MA in Applied Psychology in UCC with the help of a Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship. The initiative was introduced to acknowledge the generosity and humanitarianism displayed by the Choctaw nation of Oklahoma who gifted funds to the Irish during famine times. The donation arrived shortly after that infamous period of history known as the Trail of Tears which saw ethnic cleansing result in the forced displacement of around 60,000 native Americans in the Southeastern US in the 1800s.

A monument in Bailick Park, Midleton, the Kindred Spirits sculpture pays testament to the incredible gesture. Plans by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma are underway to construct an equivalent called the Eternal Heart on the Choctaw Capitol grounds in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, taking the form of a Celtic trinity symbol intertwined with a heart.

Skylee made reference to that dark time in her ancestors history that resulted in many people dying from disease either en route, or shortly after reaching their destinations.

An Irish chaplain had sent a letter about the struggles of the Irish people at the time and it got around through word of mouth. When we heard about it there was an instant connection because it hadnt been long after the Trail of Tears and there were a lot of similarities between the two stories.

The 23-year-old was raised singlehandedly by her father who is a member of the Choctaw community.

I was raised by my father who was a single parent. We learned a lot about the different Choctaw beliefs. When you compare ours to other cultures I would say our culture is very strong. Racism was very much a thing for my dad as a child. He experienced a lot of it growing up. It was still very different to be native American back then. He had been adopted by a white man which made the differences even more obvious.

Skylee spoke of how grateful she is to have been spared the same difficulties.

Ive never experienced anything near as bad as what he went through. The only racism I really had to deal with was from other teams when I was involved in competitive sports. Dad made me feel like I didnt have any obstacles and even if I did he would take care of them for me.

She said he has been an incredible father to her and her older siblings.

My dad is the most caring person I have ever known. No matter what the situation was, he never made it feel like a bad situation. I always had food on the table, clothes on my back and a roof over my head. He prepared me for a lot of things.

"When we were making arts and crafts on Mothers Day at school, I would bring mine home for my dad. I never felt any different to the others. We still do Mothers Day together in America and I actually phoned him last Sunday when they were celebrating the holiday back home.

Skylee and her family are extremely proud of their culture.

People still practise these traditions to this day. Its not something we have swept under the rug. We still do our Powwows and prayers. I also love spending time in nature which is a big part of our culture.

The UCC student said she was delighted to receive such a warm welcome in Cork.

When I came over here everything was so different. They were all so excited to meet me. Its going to be so hard to leave Cork. UCC has been an amazing experience. They are so invested in their students and go out of their way to make sure they succeed. I dont think Ill ever get an experience like this again.

She recalled the months leading up to her journey to Cork.

I didnt tell my dad for a week, she confessed.

I managed to organise a Facetime so my sisters could be there to hear the news too. My dad started crying because he was so happy. It was a really special moment.

Skylee said she is happy to see the connection between the Irish and native Americans only growing stronger.

That connection between the natives and the Irish people has been there for a while but I dont think we ever realised how special it really was.

Skylee also remarked on a sizeable donation made by the Irish to assist the Navajo and Hopi tribes in 2020 amid devastation resulting from the covid-19 pandemic.

It was such a full circle moment and so beautiful.

The college student is looking forward to the future and hopes to tackle stereotypes and misconceptions around native American tribes.

I think the biggest misconception is that our mindsets havent changed, she said. While we have held on to traditions, we have progressed and grown and become stronger as a tribe. We are warriors who have always been resilient. Knowing that was what got me through the masters. I knew it was where I was meant to be.

Skylee is also excited about her graduation from UCC in March.

My grandmothers best friend is making my dress for me. We always dress traditionally for these kind of occasions. I cant wait to bring my dad back to show him Cork and where I went to school. It has become like my second home.

She also has major plans for the future and added:

Ill be studying another masters to become a marriage and family therapist. With both degrees I hope to set up a centre for underprivileged children in the native community. I would love to give back to the native communities and give them the resources they are entitled to.
CORK ETB Youthreach students gathered at Cork College of FET Tramore Road Campus on Thursday, May 18, for a Youthreachs Got Talent Showcase.

Cork ETB is responsible for 12 Youthreach Centres throughout Cork City and County offering education and training to young people who are not in the mainstream school system.

Denis Leamy, Chief Executive of Cork ETB, commended the quality of entries to the competition ranging from the performing arts to pyrography, photography, poetry and piano playing.

Pictured are, Niall Brophy, Martin Cizevskis, Jennifer Kouassi, Eden Kelly and Clodagh Fitzharris, all Dean Street Youthreach, at the Youthreach's Got Talent Showcase 2023. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

John Fitzgibbons, Director of Further Education and Training, presented the prizes and praised the staff in Youthreach Centres who supported their students to enter the competition and particularly praised Sophie from Knocknaheeny Youthreach, who did a record 16 minute and 20 second wall sit.

Cork College of FET Ballincollig Youthreach Centre won first prize for their feel-good performance of Maroon 5s Moves Like Jagger which was choreographed by Emma.

Kaya from Cork City Learning Support Services won second prize for a detailed portrait which captured a young person after a fight, displaying vulnerability and strength at the same time.

The third-place prize winner was a film by Daniel from Cork College of FET Fermoy Youthreach who showed originality and told a whole story in just three minutes, about how challenging life can be for young people and that we shouldnt judge people unless we know their story. Daniel devised, scripted and acted in this short film, supported by his fellow students and teachers.

Pictured singing Hallelujah is Chloe O'Mahoney, Ballincollig Youthreach, at the Youthreach's Got Talent Showcase 2023, staged at the Cork College of FET, Tramore Road Campus, Tramore Road, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Robert and Harry from Cork College of FET Youghal Youthreach played a guitar duet and three students from Cork College of FET Ballincollig Youthreach performed live in in front of a packed house, with Youthreach students attending from all over the county. Anouk played guitar and sang a beautiful rendition of Fly Me to the Moon, Maciej performed a drag act, and Chloe sang Hallelujah.

The students from Cork College of FET Macroom Youthreach Centre devised a Creative Treasure Hunt based on the Kung Fu Panda movie.

Pictured is John Fitzgibbons, Director of Further Education Cork ETB presenting the 2nd prize to Kaya Holbrook, Cork City Learning Services, for her portrait, at the Youthreach's Got Talent Showcase 2023, staged at the Cork College of FET, Tramore Road Campus, Tramore Road, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Judge Keith Murphy commended an Equality Collage from a student in Cork College of FET Youghal Youthreach and a beautiful drawing by Lisa Marie from Mallow. Fiona Quinn, Cork Local Creative Youth Partnership Coordinator commended a descriptive poem called Clouded by Haley from Mahon Youthreach. Judge Nuala Glanton praised the detail in Rebes art portfolio showing how his work had progressed over time and the work of a very talented photographer, Roman from Cork College of FET Dean Street Youthreach Centre.

Youthreach is funded by SOLAS and is the principal national response in Ireland to the difficulties faced by young people who have left school early.

For further information, visit www.corketb.ie
Over 1.2m has been spent on the public consultations for BusConnects Cork, new figures from the National Transport Authority (NTA) show.

BusConnects Cork is the NTAs plan to improve bus services throughout the city and suburbs.

It comprises nine measures, chief among them a new design for the Cork Metropolitan bus network - the final plan for which was launched last June following public consultation  and proposals to deliver new bus corridors and cycle lanes.

This proposal, to develop 11 sustainable transport corridors (STCs), is currently at public consultation stage.

The current round of public consultation centres on the preferred routes and follows an initial public consultation last year.

CEO of the NTA, Anne Graham, was joined by Ann Doherty, Chief Executive of Cork City

Figures obtained by the Labour Party show that from 2021 to April 2023, 1,244,034 has been spent on BusConnects Cork public consultations.

The party had requested a breakdown of costs incurred to date, by vendor and staff costs.

Among the most substantial costs include 360,198 to an advertising services company headquartered in Dublin; 139,166 to a promotional and event management company with an address in Meath and 124,638 to a PR agency based in Dublin.

Other costs included 160,173 to a separate advertising services company also headquartered in Dublin; 107,002 to a leaflet distribution and flyer delivery services company and 100,088 to a Dublin headquartered print logistics company.

The NTA said that not all personnel costs were captured in the figures.

Speaking after the party received the figures, Labour local rep for the citys South East ward, Peter Horgan, said he believes public consultation on the STC proposals needs to be extended until traffic data is published.

Extending the consultation period wouldnt have a material cost to them at this point, Mr Horgan said.

We do need to see the traffic data. Without the traffic data and traffic modelling, its impossible to make a judgment call on what the impact would be for a corridor and the circulating area around the corridor. Mr Horgan said people need to be aware of the potential knock-on impacts restrictions to general traffic because of bus gates and other proposed measures could have on traffic in other areas.

The city council has passed a resolution calling for a third round of consultation, which Im in favour of.

Or what they could do is finish this round but when traffic data is ready and published, allow people who have made submissions to make a re-submission on foot of the traffic data.

This is a 600m project. Its a once in a generation project.

Im in favour, generally, of BusConnects.

We do need more people using public transport, but we need people to have the full facts in front of them and know what impacts its going to have.

Consultation on the revised STC proposals closes on Thursday, May 25.
Gardai are appealing for help in finding a Cork teenager who has been missing for almost two weeks.

KIllian Atkins, who is 17 years old, was last seen in the Wilton area of Cork on the evening of Friday 12 May 2023, at approximately 6.30pm.

Killian is described as being 5 foot 11 inches in height with a normal build. He has brown hair and blue eyes.

When last seen, Killian was wearing a black hoodie, a red t-shirt, grey tracksuit pants and black runners.

Anyone with information on Killian's whereabouts is asked to contact Togher Garda Station on 021 4947120, or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or they can call to any garda station.
THE failure of the Cork GAA County Board to respond to Cork County Council  after a motion was unanimously passed last February asking that one cash entrance be maintained at all games  has been criticised as unbelievably insulting.

Several councillors voiced their disappointment with the lack of communication at last Mondays full council meeting and it was subsequently agreed that another letter would be sent to the board.

Fianna Fail councillor Bernard Moynihan said the lack of a reply from the County Board was insulting to the council chamber.

We wrote to Cork GAA to allow elderly people to use cash at the gates. That issue was fully supported by 55 members of Cork County Council and Cork GAA have not responded to us yet.

"It is unbelievably insulting to this chamber and to the people elected that Cork GAA have not even responded to us, he said.

Mr Moynihan said the GAAs decision to go cashless is a huge issue in his constituency.

It is a huge issue in Duhallow where I am from, where they cant go into Pairc Ui Rinn or Pairc Ui Chaoimh or local games. Age Action Ireland have also raised this issue. They could at least respond to Cork County Council.

The mayor of Co of Cork, Independent councillor Danny Collins, said the letter was sent and he totally agreed with Mr Moynihan.

It is the courtesy to answer something which they havent done, said Fianna Fail councillor Michael Looney.

We should write to them again and get some answers. We are very dissatisfied with no answer.

Labour Party councillor James Kennedy said people are going to matches all their lives, adding: A lot of them are not tech savvy. It is not beyond the means whatsoever of Cork County Board to allow money to be taken.
Minister for Education Norma Foley TD has today confirmed that the date the State Examinations Commission (SEC) intends to issue the Leaving Certificate 2023 results on Friday, August 25.

The SEC has confirmed to me that it intends to issue Leaving Certificate results this year on August 25," she said.

This is a significant and very welcome step towards pre-pandemic norms in relation to the timing for issue of results.

The SEC will provide a deferred examinations sitting for candidates unable to sit their exams due to bereavement, illness or major injury.

Minister Foley also confirmed that, as for 2023, adjustments will be made to the assessment arrangements for students due to sit State examinations in 2024.

These will be the same as the assessment adjustments that have applied for students sitting the 2023 examinations.

Thankfully, we are continuing to progress towards normality following the disruption to teaching and learning resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic," Minster Foley said.

Nevertheless, the impact of the pandemic is not yet in the past.

It will have disrupted teaching and learning for the cohort of students sitting State examinations in 2023 and indeed the majority of those sitting Leaving Certificate examinations in 2024 will not have sat Junior Cycle examinations.

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Minister Foley is confident that the adjustments announced today acknowledge the disruption faced by these students because of the COVID-19 pandemic in a proportional manner, as well as ensuring fairness and equity for students.

Confirmation of the date that it is intended the Leaving Certificate results will issue this year will be welcomed by students with special educational needs and their families across Ireland who are busy preparing to sit the examinations next month," Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Josepha Madigan said.

It both gives clarity and signals a return towards the timeline everyone was familiar with prior to the significant disruption brought about in our education system by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The level of adjustment will be the same as that applied to State examinations in 2022 and 2023 but updated as relevant.

Detail on the adjusted assessment arrangements for every subject/ module descriptor in the Leaving Certificate Established, Leaving Certificate Applied, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and Junior Cycle programmes will be issued to schools in due course, and schools will be asked to ensure that all students are made aware of these changes.
THE newly crowned Cork Rose, Kate Shaughnessy, from Ballincollig, was always a budding Rose.

My family had a mobile home outside Tralee, says Kate, 25.

I was always there with my parents, and I had a rose book to collect the autographs of the Roses when they came to town. I was fascinated by them.

Kate bloomed to become a Rose herself.

When my name as the Cork Rose was announced on Saturday night, it was one of those wow! moments, she says. Im still overwhelmed; its like a dream come true!

Leading up to the Rose selection, Kate got into the mood in her workplace, Norwood Grange Care Home, where she works as care co-ordinator.

We had afternoon tea and all 30 residents dressed up, wearing their own sash saying where they were from, says Kate.

After tea, all the families joined us; it was a very special afternoon.

The residents of Norwood Grange stayed up late on Saturday night to hear the wonderful news that Kate was selected as the Cork Rose 2023.

Norwood Grange was my first stop on Sunday morning after the Cork Rose selection, there were lots of tears and hugs, says Kate.

It brought a lot of joy to Norwood, and I was still on a complete high.

Kate, who has two brothers and one sister, always wanted to work in the caring profession.

I didnt get enough points for nursing in my Leaving Cert, she says.

So, I did a pre-nursing course for one year in the College of Commerce. That was in 2016. After that I got into UCC, studying social science for three years. I loved college life, and I made great friends there.

During my final year, the end of Covid, I worked part-time in Ballincollig Community Nursing Unit. I became full-time and spent five years working there. I loved it.

Kate, Activity Coordinator, made sure the residents enjoyed interaction with others during Covid and won a special recognition award from Mowlam Healthcare for her outstanding efforts keeping residents engaged.

I did a lot of social and activity care during Covid, making videos, organising window visits, and organising family visits when visits were restricted. There were 100 residents, so it was a lot of work.

The Cork Roses contestants with Jenny Byrne, Cork Rose 2022. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

The residents appreciated Kates caring.

I was nominated for the award by the residents and their families, she says.

I love my work and Ballincollig Community Nursing Unit was a great place to work. I moved to Norwood Grange last June and they sponsored me to go into the Cork selection for the Rose of Tralee.

The care home is small with a family feel to it, the same staff are there for years. My main job is ensuring the residents wellbeing.

"I run activity programmes and do some of the activities myself. We like playing bingo and clients participate in imagination gym training, which is guided meditation for dementia, and it is very beneficial for dementia patients.

The residents of Norwood Grange Care Home bunched together to cheer Kate on.

There was a huge build-up to the selection night, she says.

There were lots of events leading up to it. The Cork Rose Tour was really fun, we went to the greyhound track and the Anglers Rest. Meeting the other girls was great and we were very well looked after.

Kate looked a million dollars for the special once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

My dress was second hand! she says. I had my hair done in Salon 28 in Killumney, and my make-up in Bijox, Ballincollig.

Kate hasanother huge supporter by her side, boyfriend Michael.

Michael and I have been together for eight years, she says. We met when I was 17 and Michael was 18, and weve been together ever since. We live together in Ovens. Michael is a gentleman.

Cork Rose Kate Shaughnessy from Ballincollig , with her parents Niamh and John at the Metropole hotel. They met at the Rose of Tralee. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Kates parents, Niamh and John, were also teenage sweethearts.

They met at the Rose of Tralee when they were 15, says Kate.

I lived in Ballincollig all my life until my parents sold their house and moved back to Tralee in November, 2021.

They wont have far to go to support their daughter when she represents Cork in the Rose of Tralee.

The host on Saturday night, Ollie, said it was very presumptuous of my parents to move to Tralee!

Kate reacting to the announcement that she is the new Cork Rose. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

How did Kate feel being named the Cork Rose?

I was completely stunned, she admits.

There were tears in my eyes straight away. Mum and Dad came up on the stage. They were completely shocked but very proud. Orla and Harry, the owners of Norwood Grange, were there and other people from the home too, as well as my family who were all delighted. My sister, Ellen, 15, was very excited.

What does it take to be a Rose?

I think you have to be confident and be able to speak in public, and the most important thing is to represent your county well. There are numerous events leading up to the Rose of Tralee in August, the Rose Tour is probably the highlight, when all the girls from the counties of Ireland and countries abroad take to the road. Im looking forward to re-visiting my secondary school, Colaiste Choilm, and my primary school, Scoil Barra.

Kate is proud to represent the Rebel County.

I hope to do Cork proud, as well as Norwood Grange Care Home and my family. Ive made great friends with the girls in the Cork Rose selection, and well stay in touch.

Granny Shaughnessy is well in touch with her granddaughter who is blooming for Cork.

My granny, Bernie, was the first person to ring me Sunday morning, says Kate.

She was blown away and said her phone hadnt stopped ringing!

No doubt carer Kate will do her county proud.

I was the Belle of Ballincollig in 2018, says Kate.

Shes used to the limelight?

Im used to the sash!

Cork held the Rose of Tralee title on three occasions during the history of the festival: Josie Ruane 1961, Denise Murphy OSullivan, 1991, Geraldine OGrady Finn, 1999. Will 2023 be our year again?

The Cork Roses contestants from left, Jenny Byrne, Cork Rose 2022 ; Lydia Creedon, Ava Barry and Sorcha Keniry. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

OUTGOING CORK ROSE

Jenny Byrne ended her stint as Cork Rose last Saturday when she handed over the sash to Kate Shaugnessy.

The whole year was a bit of a whirlwind, says the Douglas native.

It was an incredible year all round. I was so lucky to be part of it. The Rose tour travelled all around Ireland, coming home here to Cork and showing all the Roses my beautiful county stands out as one of the high-lights.

It was a great opportunity to showcase what Cork had to offer; We had a gala dinner with family and friends in the Carrigaline Court Hotel, finishing the next day, Friday, on a high in Tralee.

Jenny was popular.

All of the support in Cork was genuinely unbelievable, says Jenny.

I really didnt know the gravity of being the Cork Rose. Cork businesses were unrivalled during the lead-up to the festival.

All my outfits were sponsored, and it was great to go around all the Cork shops and talk to the owners and the people who worked there.

Jenny spent three months in Cambodia after the Rose of Tralee festival, conducting research for her PhD. She is a field researcher specialising in employment opportunities for women with disabilities.

I heard the most incredible stories, says Jenny.

Judges for the Cork Rose Selena O'Regan, Eoghan Hedderman, events manager Metropole Hotel and Deborah Barrett at the Metropole hotel. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Some of the women in Cambodia were not only working to improve their own lives, but the lives of their entire communities. It was great to talk to Irish NGOs and in my capacity as Cork rose; it was great to connect with the Irish diaspora who were really interested in my role as Cork rose.

2022 was a memorable year for Jenny.

Feeling the support of everyone was really special, she says.

From family, friends, to the local community, there are no words to describe it. I am so proud to be from Cork and I was so lucky to be on the international stage.

I made so many friends with the other Roses, thats one of the reasons I did it. Being the Cork rose was the best experience of my life.

Im looking forward to taking Kate through the motions and seeing how the experience evolves - no doubt she will make friends from people all over the world.

The Rose of Tralee International Festival 2023 returns to Tralee Co. Kerry from August 18 to 22.

* Next week as part of our interviews with 20 women to mark the 20th anniversary of WoW!, we interview Deputy Holly Cairns, leader of the Social Democrats.

Read More Cork blogger and businesswoman Lisa Jordan: Ive found my place of happiness






DR Brenda Long, a recent recipient of a SPRINT award, wants to change how we travel. More specifically, her work will change the type of vehicle we sit ourselves into.

I meet Brenda in an office in UCC to discuss her latest achievement. Outside the modern, generously windowed room, trees sway over a lazily flowing river. It seems apt. Our conversation is all about the preservation of nature, and how the smallest things can make the biggest difference.

Dr Longs research goes beyond currently available electric vehicles (EV) that run on batteries. The carbon footprint for the fabrication of batteries for EV largely negates their environmental benefits. Her technology will allow vehicles to run on fuel cells -hydrogen to be specific.

The smallest atom in the world, Dr Benda Long explains, could end up having the biggest impact.

Female Collaboration

Our conversation also centres around the role of women in creating such change, a subject about which she is extremely passionate.

Brenda starts our conversation by shining the spotlight on the head of the SPRINT programme, Myriam Cronin.

Myriam is phenomenally talented. She has great magnetism and charisma and brings people together. She makes you feel comfortable.

Its poignant that all four people receiving the SPRINT awards are women. This is an externally judged competition in STEM. The government is always pushing women in STEM so it is wonderful that the driving force behind us all is a woman. She is just brilliant at her job and deserves to be celebrated.

The job of the SPRINT accelerator programme is to mentor and support people with innovative research and business ideas. SPRINT facilitates the commercialisation of academic research. It aims to create entrepreneurs at the top of their game in various fields.

Dr Longs success is particularly significant considering its still a highly gendered area.

The vast majority of women in STEM work in Food Science and Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Chemistry, Engineering and Physics are still dominated by men.

Winner of the One To Watch Award , Dr Julie O Sullivan, APC Microbiome Ireland, winner of the Critical Impact Award, Dr Siobhain OMahony, APC Microbiome Ireland, winner of the Disruptive technology Award Dr Brenda Long , School of Chemistry ,UCC ERI and winner of the Sustainability Award Dr Shivani Pathania, Teagasc at the 7th GatewayUCC SPRINT Awards.

Checking the UCC website, I discover that roles in the School of Chemistry are indeed predominantly filled by men, with only five women on the team of 24.

Its interesting, then, that women researchers were awarded the top accolades in all categories at the annual SPRINT awards. Interesting, too, that in 2022-2023, 50% of participants are women founders, which represents the largest cohort of women founders in the programme to date.

And SPRINT is not to be under-estimated. Since the inception of GatewayUCC in 2011, supported companies have raised in excess of 50 million of public and private investment and supported over 75 start-up and pre-start-up companies based on IP from the university. These IP based companies have contributed more than 25 million a year in salaries to the local economy.

Brendas Story

Brenda traces her journey in Chemistry back to her science teacher in secondary school.

She was brilliant. I attended Scoil Carmel in Limerick. Her name was Claire Madigan. Sadly, she died young but in her time she inspired a great number of girls. She was incredibly passionate in how she taught. About one third of my class went on to do something in the field of science.

Dr Long started off in general science and imagined shed focus on biology. During her time at third level, she found herself gravitating towards chemistry and ended up majoring in it in her final two years.

She was similarly inspired by her Ph.D supervisor in UCD, Professor Donald Fitzmaurice. Like Mrs Madigan, he was passionate and had the largest number of students in his group. Dr Long was eventually accepted into his group in the area of nano technology and went on to complete a Ph.D along with three other male students.

Dr Long spent time working and researching in Ferrara in Italy and later in MIT in Boston as a post-doctoral researcher under another inspiring mentor, Francesco Stellacci.

Following a stint in Birmingham, she made her way back to Ireland where she was privileged to work under Professor Justin Holmes, a world leader in his field, as a Research Fellow and Principal Investigator.

Youll notice that my mentors at third level were all men, she smiles.

There are very few female lecturers in Chemistry still, which is a great shame.

Battery Alternatives by Women

A few years ago, Dr Long was awarded a small seed fund from Lam Research and began working with two female scientists, Dr Gillian Collins and a very talented Ph.D student, Louise Colfer. This was unusual, she says, as she was used to working in a room of men.

They were melting platinum nanoparticles onto copper films and were surprised to end up with platinum at the core with a copper shell.

We handed the platinum core with the copper shell on to Dr Lorraine Nagle at the Tyndall, who measured its catalytic activity and found a 32% enhancement over what is currently available.

The exciting discovery came by chance, but this is very common in the field, she explains.

A lot of big breakthroughs happen by chance. Post-it notes were invented by accident. The scientist was trying to create a really strong adhesive when he discovered this very weak but multi-functional one.

Dr Long says she knew there was something special about what theyd discovered together.

They just looked so beautiful. They were stunning. We were really eager to do something with them. Gillian said straight away that they could be useful for fuel cells or glucose detection and we were just delighted with the result.

Cost Effective

Dr Longs discovery, alongside her team of women, means we can get a 32% greater conversion of methanol to electricity.

You get more energy out of the material per milligram of platinum. This is a very expensive material but it is the best metal for fuel cells. This means we can reduce the amount of platinum by 32% which will make electric transport more affordable.

Our carbon footprint is still huge when it comes to electric vehicles, Dr Long continues.

About one in 400 electric vehicles are run on fuel cells, including a number of buses in Dublin. What we want is to develop a better technology to make the production of fuel cells cheaper and more affordable. We are talking to companies, including De Nora in Italy about potentially using our technology.

Dr Long shares her healthy concern over the climate crisis.

We must change how we travel.

It is inevitable that we will leave oil behind and actively address our climate chaos. When the world ground to a halt during Covid, we managed to come up with a vaccine in a matter of months. That technology transformed how we will deal with future pandemics. Sadly, until the developed world is severely impacted we wont feel the same impetus. This is why the government must support research like ours.

But she comes back to the point again  such vehicles need to be affordable.

The only emission from hydrogen powered fuel cells is water. There is no battery to manufacture or dispose of. But it must be affordable. A new small battery operated electric vehicle is about 27,000. Thats unaffordable for most people.

Before leaving UCC, I look outside the window again at the trees outside. The rain is coming in and they are moving more vigorously than before. Dr Longs words come back to me.

Sometimes, the smallest things make the biggest impact.

Having met this one woman, I feel like my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of possibility. I feel hopeful.

Next week: We continue our interviews with the SPRINT winners.
Eliyahu Freedman in Aljazeera:

Jaffa will be a Jewish city  Allowing Arabs to return to Jaffa would not be righteousness but stupidity, David Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary in June 1948.

Israels first prime minister, who arrived in Palestine at Jaffa port in 1910, was writing after right-wing Irgun forces razed Jaffa in April and expelled nearly 70,000 Palestinian residents.

After the bombs stopped, looting began: Ben-Gurion was one of the strongest supporters of the expropriation of Palestinian property. Months later, thousands of Arabic books lay on the streets, badly damaged during the war  wind, rain and sun, according to Adam Raz, historian and author of The Looting of Arab Property in the 1948 War.

More here.
Platform tracks fashion regulation

NEW YORK  The Eileen Fisher Foundation has set up a web-based resource to track proposed and existing environmental legislation in Europe and the USA that will impact the fashion sector.



Integrated within the US retailers Hey Fashion online platform, which is dedicated to raising awareness around textile waste in fashion, users can find a tracker that documents proposed, adopted, and potential upcoming mandatory rules on textiles.



The web tool is currently following around 25 pieces of current and evolving regulations and includes brief descriptions of these with further links to the relevant websites.



The resource, which was last updated on 13th April, includes the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, which features proposals for textile labelling regulation planned for Q4 2023, as well as adopted regulations such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which was passed earlier this year.



Eighteen pieces of EU regulations are mentioned ranging from waste, chemicals, packaging, and even proposals on microplastics.



Details of US rules include the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which was signed into law on December 23, 2021, and the proposed Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act or Fashion Act, along with the Garment Worker Protection Act  signed into law by California in January 2022.



The fashion industry is in crisis, says designer Eileen Fisher in a short film on the website. Ive seen first-hand the waste, the pollution, the problems, but Ive also seen the possibilities and recently Ive tried to use my foundation to make things different in the industry.



The Hey Fashion platform came out of a 135-page research report by the Eileen Fisher Foundation and offers a range of tips, tools, and advice for the industry on how to reduce its impact on the planet.



With a bewildering amount of regulation either already adopted or on the horizon, its well worth a visit and aims to do the same job to a similar platform and print publication that we publish at Textile Standards & Legislation.



The Eileen Fisher Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organisation led by sustainable clothing designer Eileen Fisher, which has over 50 retail outlets in the USA and has long championed sustainability in the fashion industry.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

People walk on the Dune du Pilat near La Teste-de-Buch, southwestern France, during a destructive heatwave that caused wildfires and mass evacuations, on July 16, 2022. GAIZKA IROZ / AFP via Getty Images

For hundreds, possibly thousands, of years humans have lived inside a relatively comfortable climate niche wherein a large portion of the worlds population have mostly enjoyed liveable temperatures and infrequent extreme weather events. Conditions that have not only been within a healthy temperature range for humans, but for the plants, animals and ecosystems of our planet.

A new study estimates that billions of people will be driven out of this climate niche by global heating, where they will be vulnerable to more severe and frequent extreme weather and unparalleled high temperatures.

Today, nine percent of the worlds population  600 million people  have already been pushed outside of the niche by climate change.

By end-of-century (20802100), current policies leading to around 2.7 C global warming could leave one-third (2239%) of people outside the niche, the studys authors wrote.

The researchers added that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit  a level many scientists believe is now unattainable because of the trajectory we are on due to human activities  would result in approximately five times fewer people exposed to the more extreme temperatures.

The study, Quantifying the human cost of global warming, was published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

The authors said that, by the close of this century, the lifetime carbon emissions of about 3.5 average people across the world  or approximately 1.2 average U.S. citizens  will result in the exposure of one future human being to temperatures never before seen. And not just any person, but someone living in a part of the world where current emissions are at about 50 percent of the average for the rest of the planet. This demonstrates the necessity for policy changes to mitigate the consequences of climate change disparities for humanity as a whole, the authors wrote.

The costs of global warming are often expressed in financial terms but our study highlights the phenomenal human cost of failing to tackle the climate emergency, said professor Tim Lenton, director of the Global Systems Institute and chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science at the UKs University of Exeter, who was also the lead author of the study, as The Guardian reported. Economic estimates almost always value the rich more than the poor, because they have more assets to lose, and they tend to value those alive now over those living in the future. Were considering all people as equal in this study.

The research team said as many as one billion people could migrate to areas still within the climate niche, but those places would also experience droughts and heat waves more frequently.

If humans were able to limit global heating to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, 80 percent fewer people  thats 400 million  would be forced outside the climate niche, reported The Guardian.

For every 0.1C of warming above present levels, about 140 million more people will be exposed to dangerous heat. This reveals both the scale of the problem and the importance of decisive action to reduce carbon emissions. Limiting global warming to 1.5C rather than 2.7C would mean five times fewer people in 2100 being exposed to dangerous heat, Lenton said, according to Earth.com.

In countries that are already experiencing extreme temperatures and have large amounts of people, most of the population will be forced outside of the climate niche. Nigeria and India will be the most affected countries, with Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia also suffering serious impacts.

Such high temperatures [outside the niche] have been linked to issues including increased mortality, decreased labour productivity, decreased cognitive performance, impaired learning, adverse pregnancy outcomes, decreased crop yield, increased conflict and infectious disease spread, said professor Chi Xu of the School of Life Sciences at Chinas Nanjing University, who was also part of the research team, as The Guardian reported.

The study found that most humans live in parts of the globe with average yearly temperatures from about 55.4 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Conditions hotter or colder than that are too extreme.

Most of these people lived near the cooler 13C peak of the niche and are now in the middle ground between the two peaks. While not dangerously hot, these conditions tend to be much drier and have not historically supported dense human populations, Xu said, as reported by Earth.com.

If the planet continues to heat up, population increases combined with rising temperatures would lead to 3.7 billion people living outside the climate niche by the year 2090.

The climate niche describes where people flourish and have flourished for centuries, if not millennia in the past. When people are outside [the niche], they dont flourish, said Lenton, as The Guardian reported.

In the extreme scenario in which the climate were to rise by 6.48 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly half of Earths population would be pushed outside the life-sustaining niche.

Lenton said the quickest and most realistic way for humans to adapt to more extreme temperatures is to ramp up the number of urban green spaces.

This can shave 5C off extreme temperatures and provide shade  thats huge, Lenton said, according to The Guardian.
Another two universities in Australia have banned the admission of students from a few states in India as a response to a spike in visa applications that are fraudulent in nature, stated a media report.



Which are these two institutes? Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales. Last week, these two universities wrote to education agents that they will no longer be taking on students from the following states:

1) Punjab

2) Haryana

3) Uttarakhand

4) Uttar Pradesh

5) Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir



This was reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and stated in an IANS copy.



This happened despite the Prime Minister of India, who is currently visiting Australia, spoke, "Australian and Indian students living and studying in each other's countries, and bringing those experiences home".



Today, May 24, Australia and India signed the migration and mobility partnership arrangement. This agreement encourages the exchange of students, graduates, researchers as well as business professionals.



What did the letter say?

"The university has observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications being refused from some Indian regions by the Department of Home Affairs," the letter addressed to education agents from the Federation University stated.



"We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue (but) it is now clear there is a trend emerging," the letter, published in The Herald, read.



Just last month...

Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, Torrens University and Southern Cross University had banned/restricted students from a few Indian states after a spike in fraudulent applications were received that sought work, not educational opportunities, in Australia.



"A large number of Indian students who commenced study in 2022 intakes have not remained enrolled, resulting in a significantly high attrition rate," the Western Sydney University told agents in a message sent on May 8.



Which states did the university identify as having the highest attrition risk?

1) Punjab

2) Gujarat

3) Haryana



"Due to the urgency of this matter, the university has decided to pause recruitment from these regions in India, effective immediately," the university message said, adding that recruitment from all other regions in India will continue as usual.



The ban imposed by Western Sydney University, as mentioned by it, would last two months from May to June 2023.



It further said that additional measures would be taken "to address the issue of non-genuine students enrolling with the university from these regions, including changes to application screening, stricter admissions conditions and increases to commencement fees".



What are the numbers saying?

One out of every four applications from India is being termed as "fraudulent" or "non-genuine" by the Department of Home Affairs, the report said.



In 2019, Australia enrolled over 75,000 students, this year, it is expected to surpass the number. Also, it may be noted that just last week, the Department of Home Affairs informed a federal parliamentary inquiry that the rejection rate when it comes to Indian applications is 24.3%, the highest since the year 2012.




US reports case of mad cow disease, negative trade implications unlikely

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed the detection of an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, in a five-year-old cow from South Carolina, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.



This marks the nation's seventh detection of BSE, with previous cases being classified as atypical (H or L-type) rather than classical BSE.

According to the USDA, the affected animal never entered the slaughter channels and posed no risk to the food supply or human health. Atypical BSE typically occurs in older cattle and is known to arise spontaneously in cattle populations, although it is relatively rare.

Mad cow disease is a degenerative and fatal disease that affects the central nervous system of adult cattle. While this case of BSE has been identified, experts believe that the United States is unlikely to face any trade implications, unlike recent outbreaks in Brazil.

Global Agritrends analyst Simon Quilty said that there have been no trade implications thus far, but attention is focused on China due to previous precedents set with Brazil.

The trade agreement between the US and China explicitly states that no ban can be imposed on any atypical BSE case, which differs from the situation between Brazil and China.

Quilty highlighted that the last atypical BSE case in the United States, which occurred in 2018, did not result in any trade implications.

- Australian Broadcasting Corporation




Indonesia's Deputy Trade Minister dismisses concerns over rising egg prices

Jerry Sambuaga, Indonesia's Deputy Trade Minister, has addressed the issue of increasing egg prices in the country, stating that the prices are indeed fluctuating but still reasonable, Tempo reported.

The minister visited various markets in different regions and found that while there is some price variation, prices remain relatively stable overall.

During his market review in Subang, Solo, and Lampung, the minister acknowledged that egg prices had reached IDR 40,000 (~US$2.68; IDR 1000 = US$0.064) per kg. But he also noted that many regions experienced price drops of up to IDR 25,000 (~US$1.68) per kg. He emphasised the importance of maintaining a balance in prices across the country.

The minister said that the availability of egg supply is more crucial than price hikes. He assured that commodity stocks in all parts of Indonesia are sufficient, and the Trade Ministry will continue to closely monitor egg price developments through direct observations and reports from local governments.

Reynaldi Sarijowan, Secretary General of the Indonesian Market Traders Association (Ikappi), said that the price of chicken eggs has been increasing in Indonesia in recent weeks. He attributed this trend to the rising cost of feed and an abnormal distribution process that affects the country's supply and demand.

- Tempo




US Grains Council's aquaculture conference held in Morocco

Aquaculture industry professionals from around the world came together for the US Grains Council's (USGC's) International Aquaculture Conference in Morocco this month.

The conference covered topics including the nutrition of various aquaculture species, raw material procurement, aquafeed ingredient properties, biosecurity, pellet quality and extrusion technologies.

The workshop not only served as an educational opportunity for aqua professionals, but also allowed the council to strengthen its ties with Moroccan aquafeed industry professionals, specifically, as the organisation connected them to international industry professionals. The council sees the aquaculture industry as a catalyst to leverage and raise demand for US corn co-products, especially corn-fermented protein.

"The Council has been promoting the use of US DDGS in aquafeed rations recently to expand the number of commercial feed manufacturers using the product," said Ramy Taieb, USGC regional director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "These types of events enable the Council's EMEA regional office to join forces with Council staff from offices in Southeast Asia, Latin America, China and Mexico, and work to achieve common goals in support of US producers.

"Aquaculture is a growing industry in the world, and it's extremely important for stakeholders to understand the quality and availability of US feed grains as they expand their operations and increase output."

In addition to the two-day conference, USGC's EMEA staff led the group on a tour of a local fish farm and organised a visit to the National Institute for Fisheries Research.

Moving forward, the council plans to continue promoting and highlighting the benefits of US corn co-products, especially corn-fermented protein products, in aquafeed ration.

- USGC


May 24, 2023

Indonesia gets over 500,000 doses of LSD vaccines from Australia

Australia has delivered over 500,000 doses of lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccines to Indonesia as part of the Australian government's work to fight exotic animal diseases before they reach Australian shores.

The vaccines are part of one million doses Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is providing to assist Indonesia to control LSD. The vaccines were given to the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture in Jakarta and supplement 435,000 LSD vaccines Australia delivered to Indonesia from March 2022.

Acting Australian Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Beth Cookson said LSD and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) presented the most significant threats to Australia's biosecurity in decades.

"Australia has been providing support to our nearest neighbours and close trading partners like Indonesia  as they work to curb spread of these diseases," Dr. Cookson said. "The work happening in Indonesia now is essential to reducing the impact of diseases throughout the region, including the risk of LSD or FMD entering Australia.

"Australia is free of both diseases. These vaccines not only assist Indonesia to manage the outbreak, but they also help reduce the risk of LSD entering Australia.

"We have a very close working relationship with Indonesia to provide support for their emergency animal disease control efforts and we will continue to have ongoing engagement with technical support and a range of other programmes scheduled for the year."

Dr. Nuryani Zainuddin, director of animal health from Indonesias Directorate General of Livestock and Animal Health Services, said LSD had been confirmed in 15 provinces such as Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta and Central Kalimantan Province.

"The central government together with the local government worked together hand in hand to control the disease," Dr. Zainuddin added. "Lumpy skin disease has wreaked havoc on our livestock industry, causing economic losses for our farmers. It is a highly contagious viral disease that spreads rapidly and its impact on productivity of our cattle cannot be underestimated. Therefore, the donation of LSD vaccines from the Australian government will play a vital role in our efforts to control and eventually eradicate lumpy skin disease in Indonesia.

"I extend my gratitude to the Australian government for their proactive approach and their recognition of the importance of animal health in promoting sustainable agriculture and food security. Their support will go a long way in strengthening our capacity to control and prevent the further spread of lumpy skin disease.

Australia has never experienced an outbreak of LSD. LSD causes milk production losses and skin sores in cattle and water buffalo, and can be spread by mosquitoes, biting flies and ticks.

- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australian Government)




South Korea resumes German pork imports following two-year suspension due to ASF

South Korea has decided to lift its ban on German pork imports, allowing them to resume after a suspension of over two years caused by the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Germany, Channel News Asia reported.

The South Korean government has now accepted the rationalisation concept, which restricts pork imports only from the affected region. As a result, the first three German slaughterhouses and meatpackers have been granted authorisation to immediately resume exports to South Korea.

Cem Oezdemir, Germany's Agriculture Minister, expressed satisfaction with the successful efforts to lift the restrictions, adding that Germany has been able to create functioning protection measures against ASF.

The German government has been working diligently to contain ASF within eastern Germany, where it has been consistently observed among wild boars. Although farm cases remain rare, industry analysts anticipate that China's pork market will remain closed to German pork for years. Other European Union producer countries, such as Spain, have been able to secure new business opportunities as a result of the Asian bans on German pork.

Oezdemir said that the government is working on lifting restrictions on German pork in other countries, with a particular focus on China.

In 2019, before the ASF outbreak, Germany exported approximately 106,000 tonnes of pork to South Korea, valued at around 298 million euros (~US$328 million; EUR 1 = US$1.08).

- Channel News Asia
LA Johnson in NPR:

A group of small children sits cross-legged with their teacher, Steve Mejia-Menendez, on a round carpet. Hes a pre-K teacher at Lee Montessori Public Charter Schools campus in Southeast Washington, D.C., and although Im here to meet him, I almost dont spot him because hes eye level with his students.

Mr. Steve, as hes known here, is talking a few students through a geometry lesson when another student approaches to ask an unrelated question. This kind of distraction happens all the time in classrooms around the United States. Mr. Steve doesnt lose focus. He uses American Sign Language to say wait  palms facing up, fingers wiggling  and the child waits quietly. When the lesson arrives at a natural stopping point, the student is invited to ask his question, and Mr. Steve silently responds by nodding his head along with his fist, which is sign language for yes.

Blink, and you could miss the whole interaction.

This isnt a school for students with hearing disabilities, but Mr. Steve uses ASL as part of a broader approach to minimize noise in the classroom. And its noticeably quiet. No one is talking louder than whats often referred to in Montessori schools as the hum.

More here.
Maaza Mengiste in The Guardian:

Spanning from 1900 to 1977 in Kerala, The Covenant of Water reveals some of the contradictions of living in a colonised, segregated society. Dr Digby Kilgour, the lonely son of an impoverished alcoholic mother, flees Scotland for colonised India, only to discover that he is oppressed in Glasgow; oppressor here. The thought depresses him. Yet the complicated questions that might develop as he negotiates with those increasingly fraught realities are set aside while he contends with his new hospital job and begins an affair with a woman who is married to a colleague. Tensions rise as that colleague makes a fatal medical error and places the blame on Digby. Any confrontation that would have occurred, however, is derailed by an accident that conveniently pushes Digbys storyline in another direction.

More here.
The worlds governments have taken note of generative AIs potential for massive disruption and are acting accordingly. European Commission (EC) industry chief Thierry Breton said Wednesday that it would work with Alphabet on a voluntary pact to establish artificial intelligence ground rules, according to Reuters. Breton met with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in Brussels to discuss the arrangement, which will include input from companies based in Europe and other regions. The EU has a history of enacting strict technology rules, and the alliance gives Google a chance to provide input while steering clear of trouble down the road.

The compact aims to set up guidelines ahead of official legislation like the EUs proposed AI Act, which will take much longer to develop and enact. Sundar and I agreed that we cannot afford to wait until AI regulation actually becomes applicable, and to work together with all AI developers to already develop an AI pact on a voluntary basis ahead of the legal deadline, Breton said in a statement. He encouraged EU nations and lawmakers to settle on specifics by the end of the year.

In a similar move, EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager said Tuesday that the federation would work with the United States on establishing minimum standards for AI. She hopes EU governments and lawmakers will agree to a common text for regulation by the end of 2023. That would still leave one if not two years then to come into effect, which means that we need something to bridge that period of time, she said. Topics of concern for the EU include copyright, disinformation, transparency and governance.

OpenAIs ChatGPT, the service most associated with AI fears, exploded in popularity after its November launch, on its way to becoming the fastest-growing application ever (despite not having an official mobile app until this month). Unfortunately, its viral popularity is paired with legitimate fears about its capacity to upend society. In addition, image generators can produce AI-generated photos that are increasingly difficult to discern from reality, and speech cloners can mimic the voices of famous artists and public figures. Soon, video generators will evolve, making deepfakes even more of a concern.

Despite its undeniable potential for creativity and productivity, generative AI can threaten the livelihoods of countless content creators while posing new security and privacy risks and proliferating misinformation / disinformation. Left unregulated, corporations tend to maximize profits no matter the human cost, and generative AI is a tool that, paired with bad actors, could wreak immeasurable global havoc. There is a shared sense of urgency. In order to make the most of this technology, guard rails are needed, Vestager said. Can we discuss what we can expect companies to do as a minimum before legislation kicks in?
It's not unusual to hear of countries using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to surveil the public, but there are now concerns one government is spying on itself. Sources for The New York Times and The Washington Post claim Pegasus has been found on the phone of Mexico undersecretary for human rights Alejandro Encinas, a longtime ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, as well as at least two members of Encinas' office. While there's no firm evidence pointing to a culprit, this comes as Encinas has been investigating alleged military abuses of power since 2018, including the notorious disappearance of 43 students in Iguala in 2014.

The University of Toronto-based Citizen Lab research team detected Pegasus in a 2022 audit, according to a source speaking to The Post. Encinas' phone has been compromised more than once, The Times says, including last year as he was heading the commission covering the Iguala disappearances. He blamed the tragedy on the police, military, certain officials and drug traffickers. Encinas apparently briefed Obrador about the spying this March, but has remained silent since.

Encinas, Citizen Lab and the Mexican Defense Ministry have already declined to comment. NSO Group tells The Times in a statement that it looks into "all credible allegations" of misuse, and ends contracts when it finds problems.

In a press conference, Obrador has minimized the alleged snooping and doesn't believe the military is to blame. However, anti-corruption critics Angela Buitrago and Eduardo Bohorquez are worried the Mexican army may be using Pegasus to retaliate against Encinas, revealing a lack of effective government oversight in the process.

NSO Group itself has faced widespread criticism. The US banned trade with the company in 2021 for allegedly selling spyware to authoritarian governments that used the tools to eliminate dissent by surveilling activists and journalists. NSO has denied enabling abuses and even hired a libel attorney who accused some journalists of misrepresenting its business.

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Lets be real: Most women dont look forward to menopause. For about four in five of us, the menopause transition comes with unwelcome symptoms, such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood swings, thinning hair, and sleep disturbances, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. And as if that werent enough, midlife changes can also do a number on self-esteem and how we feel about ourselves as women.

Theres been this idea that menopause is the death of womanhood or femininity, says Leah Millheiser, MD, a clinical professor, an ob-gyn, and a North American Menopause Society (NAMS) certified menopause practitioner at Stanford Health Care in Palo Alto, California. For many years, the message has been, Once you hit menopause, youre no longer useful as a woman, she says.

Happily, the tide is finally turning as far as how we perceive menopausal women, says Dr. Millheiser. For example, we now see celebrities coming out and talking openly about their menopause experiences. In the past, celebrities didnt want to associate their name with anything to do with menopause or midlife change because it would negatively affect their brand, she says.

The increased awareness about midlife ups and downs is a good thing, especially if that encourages women to get help for bothersome menopause symptoms. Working with a menopause expert to manage symptoms can make a huge difference and make this stage of life much more enjoyable, says Millheiser.

The hormonal changes that happen during menopause can be a positive for some women, especially those with certain health conditions, such as menorrhagia (heavy periods) or menstrual migraines, she says. Many women also experience a midlife mental shift and are better able to embrace challenges and navigate setbacks with more confidence.

Ready to focus on the positives? Keep reading to learn six things that change once youre on the other side of menopause, and how your life might actually improve.

1. No More Periods

Menopause marks the end of the menstrual cycle, and for many women, that's a cause for celebration in itself. It means no more fussing with tampons or pads, no more worry about leakage, and no more menstrual cramping.

This is often cited as one of the main things my patients like about menopause, especially for women who are struggling with heavy bleeding. For them having no more periods can be life-changing in many ways, says Millheiser.

These women may find they gain energy, because heavy periods can cause anemia, which can make women feel tired and weak, she says. After periods stop, they can exercise better and do more things physically.

No periods can also be a welcome relief after perimenopause, the stage before menopause, says Millheiser. For many women, their monthly periods get heavier and more irregular. It often comes sooner than every 28 days during this time. When they finally go through menopause, it puts an end to the guessing game of when their period is going to start or stop.

2. Stress Less About PMS

About 9 out of 10 women of reproductive age say they have premenstrual symptoms, according to the Office on Womens Health. That can include irritability, fatigue, changes in appetite, depression, anxiety, bloating, and breast tenderness.

Even if youre a woman with a clockwork cycle and your symptoms are predictable, PMS can still make life pretty unpleasant for a few days each month. For a small number of women, the symptoms are disabling, a form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

PMS can temporarily worsen during perimenopause, per the Cleveland Clinic, because estrogen levels often begin to go up and down like a roller coaster  and not in a good way. Once the menopause transition is over, PMS generally resolves as hormones level out and the body adjusts, says Millheiser.

3. The End of Menstrual Headaches

Migraine and headache can also be part of the constellation of premenstrual symptoms that can go away after menopause, says Millheiser. Menstrual migraine has similar symptoms to other types of migraine, which can include headache pain, sensitivity to light, sweating or chills, and nausea and vomiting.

According to the American Migraine Foundation, at least 60 percent of the millions of women who have migraine have observed a connection between their menstrual cycle and migraine.

In a normal menstrual cycle, fluctuating levels of estrogen and progesterone can trigger menstrual migraine. But after menopause, levels of estrogen and progesterone fall, and often the number of hormonal headaches declines, too.

Unfortunately, if you have migraine for other reasons, menopause wont fix that, says Millheiser.

4. Sex Without Pregnancy Worries

Women in menopause can enjoy sex without having to think about a possible pregnancy. This makes a big difference, according to the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a multisite, longitudinal study of the physical and psychosocial changes women experience in midlife, including menopause.

"Among American women of different ethnic groups, sex without thinking about pregnancy was frequently cited as one of the benefits of menopause," says Nanette Santoro, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and a menopause researcher at the University of Colorado in Anschutz.

For many women, not worrying about contraception can be very freeing, agrees Millheiser. This is something women often appreciate about going through menopause.

There are a few caveats to this good news. First, make sure that you have actually gone through menopause  thats defined as 12 consecutive months without a period  before you stop using birth control, says Millheiser.

I tell patients, while you are in perimenopause, you still require birth control. Even though theres a low risk of pregnancy at this stage, its still possible.

Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the North American Menopause Society recommend that women continue contraceptive use until menopause or age 5055, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

And keep in mind, birth control is not the same thing as safe sex. Even if you cant get pregnant, you can still get a sexually transmitted infection (STI). CDC data shows that rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis have risen dramatically among adults 55 and older over the past decade. Get checked for STIs regularly and use condoms to reduce the risk.

5. Uterine Fibroids Shrink

By age 50, as many as 80 percent of women will develop uterine fibroids, per the Office on Womens Health. These noncancerous growths can range in size from very tiny (undetectable to the human eye) to the size of a grapefruit or even larger. If fibroid symptoms, including pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, and pressure on the bladder are severe, doctors may recommend surgery.

Although its not clear what causes uterine fibroids, female hormones play a role in their formation. Estrogen and progesterone increase the risk of fibroids, according to the Cleveland Clinic. For that reason, uterine fibroids often shrink and become less noticeable during and after the menopause transition.

"For women who have been charting fibroid growth hoping to avoid surgery, or for those who have heavy periods due to fibroids, menopause is welcome," says Marcie Richardson, MD, an ob-gyn and menopause expert at Atrius Health in Boston. "For women who have fibroids sitting on their bladder, menopause gives them a break!"

Other uterine fibroid symptoms, such as pelvic pressure or pain, backache, or leg pains, can also improve after menopause.

6. Increased Confidence and Inner Strength

After 50-plus years of life experience, including the ups and downs of relationships, child-rearing, and careers, women are more likely to go after what they want with a greater sense of confidence that they can handle whatever comes their way.

There are women who have gone through menopause who say, I feel like I know myself more, and Im more confident in who I am as a woman and a person. I dont put up with nonsense the way I used to, says Millheiser.

I dont think thats menopause related. I think thats something that comes as we age. We gain that confidence and wisdom, but some women will attribute it to menopause, she says.

What to Do if Menopause Symptoms Are Keeping You From Enjoying the Positives

Even if youve been hit hard with menopause symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, and brain fog, it doesnt have to equal gloom and doom, says Millheiser. If you have symptoms that are bothering you, getting the care that you need can help you keep living your best life.

Millheiser suggests seeking out a NAMS-certified practitioner for any menopause-related issues. These health professionals have gone through special training and testing to ensure that they can deliver high-quality care at menopause and beyond, she says.

On average, women today will live about 40 years after they go through menopause, says Millheiser. The right care can help them keep living their life while maximizing their physical health, mental health, and sexual health, she says.
Reuters | The raging wildfires in western Canada have wiped out more than two million acres of land in Alberta. Officials said Australia and New Zealand are set to send assistance to help tame the blaze.
Japanese brand Uniqlo has decided to leave Russia after suspending its operation there last year, paving the way for a sale of the business, a newspaper cited Russia's deputy trade minister as saying.
Los Angeles, CAWhen writing and researching a historical biography about Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, who killed 22 boys in ten months from August 4, 1979 to June 2, 1980, the authors were struck by how many times the California criminal justice system failed. Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice carefully chronicles the nature and manner of those failings, systemic and bureaucratic.

With over 40 boxes of investigative documents, co-authors Vonda Pelto, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist who had sessions with Bonin and two of his accomplices, and Michael B. Butler were able show how a clever high school dropout manipulated lawyers, judges, psychiatrists, social workers, parole and probation officers and many others.

Nine years in mental hospitals and prisons, due to multiple arrests for violent sexual assaults, honed Bonin's inherently brilliant manipulative skills. With his homicidal psychotic tendencies still under wraps, new laws and the system's inability to hold him longer unleashed William Bonin on an unsuspecting Southern California.

Then, during the murder spree, he was in custody three times and should have been held on probation violations alone. Bureaucratic muddle, sloppy work and sheer luck allowed him to get out and kill again, again and again.

All of those small little events, which served up wholesale disaster, are revealed in Without Redemption, one of the most detailed serial killer historical biographies ever written.

Below is the book trailer, a number of reviews and eight Kindle E-Gift Links ready for immediate redemption.

Without Redemption Book Trailer





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My LA Sheriff Homicide Detective Husband Would've Loved This Book

My husband was a homicide detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's for decades, starting up with the force shortly before Bonin started killing. He knew many of the detectives in this book and would have really liked reading it, so right up his alley I wish he could be here to check it out. Not only that we lived in Downey, a few short miles away from Bill Bonin, when all these murders happened.

He used to tell me about the bureaucratic fights between LA Sheriff and LAPD, and that comes through loud and clear in 'Without Redemption.' And all those scenes at LA Men's Central Jail would have been so familiar because he served in that madhouse for years, pretty wild stuff. Actually, it gave me a small window into the world he existed in for so long, something he always tried to shield me from.

K.G.

Paints the Whole Picture

Not much of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin's life, leading up to his first and most important conviction, is left out of this book.

An interesting section is the one after his arrest, where Bonin's jailhouse diaries are used to tell the inside story. It is fascinating because everyone, I mean everyone, is deceiving and lying to everyone elsehomicide detectives from different agencies, prosecutors, witnesses, defense attorneys, press, politicians, district attorneys and, of course, the six Freeway Killer defendants. There are also humorous jailhouse stories that serve to break up the story.

Leading up to the disaster is like descending a slow staircase, and then there is the ten-month murder spree that is chronicled from many different perspectives.

Without Redemption' definitely deserves the moniker 'detailed historical biography.'

C.S.

Co-Author Vonda Pelto is Actually a Player in This Serial Killer Bio

My surprise in this book was how the co-author, Clinical Psychologist Vonda Pelto, Ph.D., actually participated in the story told about the life of Freeway Killer Bill Boninshe dealt with Bonin and two of his accomplices while working at Los Angeles Central Jail. Pelto had numerous sessions with all three, and other horrible serial killers, and had to listen to their ghastly stories, told in some ways to see her reactions and in other ways to relive their crimes. Her disgust is evident, but she hides it during discussions with Bonin, Miley and Munro, where they all talked about murders in detail.

Aside from that 'Without Redemption' is interesting because it is the story of one person's slow march to becoming an unfeeling monster. It was scary how the killing took over his life, kind of like Gollum in 'Lord of the Rings,' it simply swallowed him up.

The authors really packed in the factual stories of Bonin's life, from birth all the way through months and months of day-to-day events after his arrest, when the system was gearing up and he was trying to make a deal to avoid the death penalty. This part of the book is when very public events are analyzed from inside and outside, and where big surprises pop up.

A thoroughly fascinating and engaging read.

D.R.

They really tell the full story of a serial killer, from beginning to the end!

Serial killer biographers often lack access to many important documents, but that can't be said of Without Redemption, which reveals for the first time how and why someone got away with double murder! In fact, the Freeway Killer Bill Bonin is the one who covered for his accomplice. One also learns that Bonin was in police custody on numerous occasions during the murder rampage.

It's obvious the authors must have had boxes and boxes of material to write fromBonin's childhood, adult years spent in mental hospitals and prisons, well before Bill Bonin started killing, are ably reconstructed in amazing detail. You can sense the disaster to come as story slowly unfolds.

Then the killing starts and Bonin's own written words and many different interviews, with homicide detectives and the co-author Vonda Pelto, Ph.D., give the reader a front row seat in the mind of the man who murdered 22 teenage boys, with five accomplices, in a short period of time. Taking place in 1979-80 in Los Angeles, the book paints of picture of how Bonin's actions created a firestorm among police, the public and the media.

Part three is a fascinating look at what happened after Bonin's arrest and how detectives rolled up the other killers and built their case against Bonin and his friends. It was a complicated ten-months, but the authors recreate it in fascinating detail, which includes using Bonin's jailhouse diaries and see how he was manipulating events while also being unable to control his fate.

A historical biography worthy of that term.

B.B.

Thoroughly Impressive

Facts, depth and chronologically accurate is a good way to describe this serial killer book, written in a way that moves quickly but always reminds the reader about key events and stays in a constant now with the infamous Freeway Killer Bill Bonin. 'Without Redemption' has many side story lines within the overall story of Bonin's life, which are all carefully placed in their proper historical context. For example, when describing Bonin sentence and time at Atascadero State Hospital, a mental institution, all the laws and treatment norms of 1969 are carefully explained and explored.

His crimes of murdering so many young boys are heinous, but there were many times when the ultimate tragedy might have been averted, which are pointed out by the authors. All through the book the question of nature versus nurture is ever present, quite fairly leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions. Bonin's diaries add layers of complexity to his personality and are full of fantastic info in the months after his arrest, when his five accomplices, in 11 of the 22 murders, were arrested and offered various deals for testimony. That is a great section of the book.

Solid biography that is definitely worth the price.

E.B.

Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Escaped Justice, Paperback ISBN: 979-8841931249, Hard Cover ISBN: 979-8844477775. For more info go to www.WithoutRedemption.com and purchase copies at Amazon.

Media Contact: For interviews or to request review copies contact Flotsam PR at 319-504-3788 or flotsampr@pm.me.


May 24, 2023 By S.A. McCarthy , RealClearInvestigationsMay 24, 2023

LIMERICK, Ireland -- Ireland is on the verge of passing the most aggressive hate crime law in the European Union, which includes the first legal protections in the EU for transgender individuals. Government officials say the bill offers necessary protections at a time when immigration is on the rise and traditional ideas about sex and gender are being challenged.

Critics counter that the bills vague language could be used to enforce the increasingly progressive Irish governments increasingly woke agenda and forcibly muzzle critics of unpopular government policies.

The legislation, the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Act, underscores a divide between Irelands leaders and many of its people. The bill is making its way through Parliament, winning approval last month in the Dail Eireann, Irelands lower chamber, by a vote of 110-14.

But Irish citizens, in a 2019 consultation phase, overwhelmingly expressed a worry that the proposal was an unnecessary expansion of the countrys existing hate crimes law. Seventy-three percent of respondents took issue with the bills potential for encroachment on free speech and questioned what qualifies as hate speech, particularly asking who crafts that definition. Less than 25% of those polled approved of the legislation.

Underscoring this divide, critics of the bill note that fewer than 50 cases have been brought since the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act was signed into law in 1989. A supporter of the proposed law, former Justice Minister Helen McEntee, has cited that same statistic as evidence of the existing laws ineffective nature.

The ongoing controversy opens a window into how quickly Ireland, which only legalized abortion in 2018, is moving from its long religious traditions at a time when leaders in other European countries and the United States are seeking to create laws that punish not just deeds but thoughts.

Over the past 30 years or so, the Irish nation has become increasingly progressive. In 2015, the Emerald Isle legalized gay marriage, just two years after the progressive vanguard of France did the same. That same year, Ireland was ranked among the top 10 most LGBT-friendly nations in the world, and the present taoiseach (Irelands word for prime minister) Leo Varadkar is openly gay. The proposed law would expand the 1989 laws purview by adding gender, sex, descent and disability to the list of protected categories, which already includes race, color, nationality, religion (including the absence of a religious conviction or belief), national or ethnic origin, descent, gender, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, or disability.

The bill treats not just public presentation or dissemination of material deemed hateful, but also private preparation or even storing of material deemed hateful, such as memes on your phone or books on your shelf. Individuals convicted on such charges face fines of up to 5,000 (about $5,400) and anywhere from six months to two years in prison. Furthermore, as McEntee noted, a conviction will allow for the hate criminal label to follow an offender in court, in garda [police] vetting, and so on 

Paul Murphy, a member of the left-wing People Before Profit-Solidarity coalition, even warned the bill will legislate the creation of a thought crime. Conservative chairman of the Irish Freedom Party Michael Leahy told RealClearInvestigations that the bill represents the most far-reaching and invasive attack against civil and religious liberty enacted in any Western democracy since the Second World War.



In order to obtain a search warrant, all thats needed is a police officers oath sworn before a judge that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that evidence of, or relating to hate speech may be in any given place. Police are empowered to confiscate any phone or laptop and demand passwords and encryption keys. Failure to hand over a phone, laptop, password, or encryption key will result in a 5,000 fine and up to one year in jail.

The bill further features a section to include stiffer penalties for crimes found to be aggravated by hatred. Standard crimes will then carry increased penalties if a judge or jury determines the accused was harboring hatred for the alleged victim on account of a protected characteristic, even if that hatred was not the motivating factor behind the crime. In cases where a crime is aggravated by hatred, the court is commanded to impose a sentence that is greater than that which would have been imposed in the absence of such a factor.

What Is Hate?

When the Irish people were allowed to submit letters in response to the bill the bill in 2019, nearly three quarters of respondents argued that hate speech should only include credible threats or incitement to violence, according to an analysis published by Gript Media.

Some respondents claimed further hate speech laws were an Orwellian response only fitting in totalitarian regimes. One respondent wrote, Why can politicians not leave well enough alone? George Orwells 1984 is not an instruction manual. It was a warning.  It seems to me that this proposed legislation is being written to give free reign to certain minority groups at the expense of the majority.

Despite the overwhelming majority of negative responses during the public consultation, and the low number of hate speech prosecutions needed, Irelands Justice Department cited the sheer volume of responses themselves as reason enough to proceed with the legislation.

One of the fundamental questions surrounding the new legislation is what actually classifies as hate speech. Prominent legal scholar Gerard Casey, professor emeritus at University College Dublin, has sharply criticized the bills circular definition of hate, saying that it manifestly fails, for no coherent attempt to define a term X can include X in the proposed definition. Citing the text of the bill itself, he continued:

We are told,  hatred means hatred against a person or a group of persons in the State or elsewhere on account of their protected characteristics or any one of those characteristics. If this is meant as a definition, it fails utterly. But if not, where is a definition of hatred to be found in the Bill?

Although the proposed law is pending, Irelands national police force introduced a diversity and integration strategy in 2019 that embraced its vague definition of hate. The programs foundational document explains a hate incident as any incident which is perceived by any person to  be motivated by hostility or prejudice. That is to say, hate incidents are any incidents in which an individual feels that he or she is hated, according to the new police definition.

Under this definition, reports to police of hate crimes and hate incidents skyrocketed over the past two years, going from 24 reports in 2021 to 97 in 2022. Irelands isnt the only law enforcement agency to craft its own pejorative definitions and labels independently of the legislature. In the U.K., for example, the government counter-terrorism program Prevent labelled classic British works of fiction (including J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings and John Miltons Paradise Lost) as right-wing extremist material. Prevent was originally tasked with assessing threats posed by Islamic extremist terrorist organizations and was criticized for only 22% of its focus remaining on Islamic threats.

In the United States, the FBI has relied on the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, which classifies Christian identity and Radical Traditional Catholicism as threats on a par with the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. That list resulted in the FBIs Richmond field office implementing a plan to spy on American Catholics who attend the pre-Vatican II form of the Mass  a plan which, according to both Mass-going Catholics and the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, was actually put into action. On the advice of the partisan SPLC, the FBI branded an entire swath of American Catholics Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists.

What Is Gender?

In light of the rise of transgenderism, the question of gender in hate speech legislation has become especially controversial.

The text of the proposed bill defines gender as the gender of a person or the gender which a person expresses as the persons preferred gender or with which the person identifies and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.

Once again, Professor Casey questioned the bills terminology: We are not told what gender is; what transgender is; what a gender other than male or female might be or how many of them there might be; and how any of the three listed gender items differ from or relate to one another.

Irish Sen. Michael McDowell also expressed worries over the bills definition of gender and wrote to the justice minister asking for clarification on some of the bills ambiguous or nebulous terminology. He asked, Is transgender a gender for the purposes of Irish law? He also noted that Irelands 2015 Gender Recognition Act, which allows for individuals to legally change their genders, follows a binary male/female structure, seemingly contradicting the new legislations inclusion of a gender other than those of male and female.

Casey warns that the legislations vague terminology will be used to silence dissent, noting, Transphobia, as a hate speech crime, pre-empts criticism of transgenderist ideology.

The government, in tandem with much of the national media, has promoted transgenderist ideology. Earlier this year, Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman promoted lessons on transgenderism in elementary school classrooms. Varadkar backed OGormans proposal, as did President Michael Higgins. In 2020, OGorman also led an effort to permit minors to undergo transgender surgeries without parental consent.

Beyond that, Christians who oppose the principles of the transgender movement on religious grounds have also fallen victim to claims of hatred and bigotry. Last year, Catholic priest Fr. Sean Sheehy delivered a homily reminding his parishioners of the Catholic Churchs long-held teachings on homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion. Although preaching Catholic theology in a Catholic church, Sheehy was labeled a hateful bigot by national media. National LGBT Federation board Director Adam Long said Sheehys homily was repugnant, adding, Shrouding those deeply offensive comments in any kind of guise, be it religious or otherwise, doesnt make it any more acceptable. Even then-Deputy Prime Minister Varadkar commented on the homily, saying he felt singled out by Sheehys comments on homosexuality.

Government-managed broadcaster RTE publicly demanded Sheehy apologize for his preaching. The priest responded, My answer basically is that I'm giving the teaching of the scriptures and the Church regarding homosexual sexual relationships: that they're sinful and that's it.  Why would I apologize for the truth?

Also last year, schoolteacher Enoch Burke was jailed after refusing to call a student by they/them pronouns, citing his Christian faith. He was held in contempt of court and was placed in solitary confinement in Dublins Mountjoy Prison, where he was held for almost four months. Just days ago, Irelands High Court ruled that Burkes employer was right to suspend him for upholding his Christian beliefs. Brussels, 'Where Free Nations Go to Die'

Thus far, none of the major religious institutions in Ireland have made an official public statement on the legislation, though both Irelands Catholic Conference of Bishops and Irelands Presbyterian Church told RealClear they are keeping the situation under review and watching this particular piece of legislation carefully.

The text of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill clarifies explicitly that it is derived from a 2008 European Union directive to implement more stringent hate speech laws. That directive states, It is necessary to define a common criminal-law approach in the European Union to this phenomenon [hate speech] in order to ensure that the same behavior constitutes an offence in all Member States.
(The Center Square)  A measure in the U.S. Senate to target wasteful federal programs won't save money for taxpayers, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office.

Senate bill 666, the Identifying and Eliminating Wasteful Programs Act, would require the Office of Management and Budget to give guidance to federal agencies on identifying programs and activities that could be cut or consolidated and to make a list of those programs after the President submits the budget each year.

Specifically, each agency would have to list programs "that are unnecessary, defunct, or unnecessarily duplicative federal programs" or that another agency could administer more effectively, or could be consolidated with other programs.

A report from the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan federal agency that produces cost estimates for proposed legislation, said the measure won't save money on its own.

"The federal government currently reviews different ways to reduce, eliminate, or manage the overlap and duplication within its agencies. Because of that ongoing activity, CBO expects that implementing the bill would not significantly affect federal spending over the 2023-2028 period," according to the report. "The budgetary effects of eliminating or consolidating programs will be estimated when the Congress considers legislation specifically related to the programs identified by each agency."

Over that same time period, the administrative costs of the measure would be less than $500,000, according to the report.

U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, and Mike Braun, R-Ind., reintroduced the bill in March as a way to reduce wasteful spending in Washington.

"Cutting down on wasteful government spending is commonsense," Hassan said in a news release when she re-introduced the bill.

Braun said, "Americas sky-high national debt is our Achilles heel, and stopping wasteful spending is the first step to resolving this issue."
The Montana State Capitol in Helena on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (Photo by Mike Clark for the Daily Montanan)

Gov. Greg Gianforte recently signed into law a bill outlawing drag performances on public property, a bill defining sex as either male or female and a bill placing language from the federal Indian Child Welfare Act in state statute.

Drag Ban

House Bill 359, sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, bans drag performances on publicly owned property; it prohibits drag story hour events  where drag performers read story books to children  from libraries and schools with a $5,000 fine and ability to suspend a teacher for one year; and it allows minors or their parents to sue for $5,000 in statutory damages against a performer up to 10 years after the performance.

The bill, according to the legislatures website, was signed into law on Tuesday with an immediate effective date.

HB 359 went through several changes through the legislative process. At one point, it was gutted in the Senate by an amendment brought by Sen. Chris Friedel, R-Billings, but the changes were rejected by the House, which sent the bill to a free conference committee.

Mitchell put back the original intent of the bill during the smaller committee, adding definitions for drag queen, drag king and drag story hour.

In an interview with the Daily Montanan after the free conference committee, Mitchell spoke about street drag performances in Florida where signs were put up saying minors could not cross a certain point after a similar law was put in place there and what he characterized was a public outcry in opposition to the Drag Story Hour event at ZooMontana in Billings last summer.

Its clear that it is sexual in nature and that they are specifically targeting a certain demographic, and thats our kids, Michell said, adding the queens at the event had exotic names.

Mitchell said he didnt see a First Amendment issue with the bill.

A similar bill signed into law in Tennessee was halted by a federal court judge on First Amendment violations, as reported by the Associated Press.

The bill received staunch opposition from drag performers in the state, theater companies who receive state funds, and organizations like the ACLU of Montana and the Montana Human Rights Network, among others.

In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Bob Brown, R-Trout Creek, asked opponent SK Rossi with the Human Rights Campaign where the line should be between family friendly and adult drag shows.

I think what youre hearing from parents in the audience is they want to decide where the line is. They want their rights as parents to be respected. And they should get to decide what the line is for their kids, Rossi said. And if they cross it, as you heard from opponents, we have systems in place to deal with crossing a line that moves into harming a child.

Sex definition

A bill to define sex strictly as male and female in Montana code was signed into law on Friday. Opponents to the bill said in committee it would strip transgender nonbinary Montanans from legal code, one of whom includes Missoula Democrat Rep. SJ Howell.

The bill would impact legal documentation for nonbinary and intersex Montanans from their birth certificate to their death certificate. A legislative fiscal division analysis found the bill could risk half the states budget, $7.5 billion dollars, due to its conflict with federal protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

The bill has been opposed by medical professionals as not being medically accurate. The ACLU of Montana and the Human Rights Campaign have said it is the most discriminatory bill against the LGBTQ+ community in the country.

Bill sponsor Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, and a majority of Republicans have largely said that sex is binary, but its gender that has a spectrum and said Democrats should define gender in legal code. The origin for this bill came after Glimms bill from the 2021 session targeting the ability to amend gender markers on birth certificates temporarily stopped in Yellowstone County District Court. The state could be held in contempt next week for not following court orders.

Minority Leaders Sen. Pat Flowers of Belgrade and Kim Abbott of Helena released a joint statement on the passage of the drag ban bill and the sex definition bill saying Montanans want freedom to live without government intrusion.

Governor Gianfortes decision to sign SB 458 and HB 359 into law betrays that freedom in favor of a direct, government attack on the fundamental human rights of LGBTQ+ Montanans, said Flowers and Abbott. Montana Democrats stood against these bills in the Legislature, and we will continue to stand against any efforts to take away basic freedoms from Montanans, including our friends, family and neighbors who are transgender, nonbinary, intersex and Two Spirit.

MICWA and ICWA for All

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court case that challenges aspects of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, bill sponsor Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy D-Box Elder, introduced legislation to incorporate what is seen as the gold standard of child protective services into state statute.

The bill was amended in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety committee, where Sen. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, had his own ICWA proposal known as ICWA for All, which would apply concepts of ICWA to all child welfare cases.

Both bills were signed into law by Gianforte last week.

In conference committee the Friday before the session ended, a delegation from the House and Senate came together to discuss an amendment from Windy Boy that struck out the termination date in 2025 that was added in the Senate and added language that said in a case where it isnt clear if the child is Native American or not, the case be considered ICWA until determined otherwise.

We do need to leave this into the arms of the tribes as far as making that determination, Windy Boy said. I sure would hate to have somebody in HHS (state Department of Public Health and Human Services) in Helena making a determination of whos a child in Rocky Boy.

Both of those changes failed, but other aspects of Windy Boys amendment stayed, including a qualified expert witness for ICWA cases and the striking of the clause that would have voided the act if the U.S. Supreme Court found ICWA to be invalid in its entirety.

Windy Boy told press the day after the legislature ended that he wanted to go to court over the Indian definition aspect of the bill.

Another Windy Boy bill putting in place more reporting requirements for schools that accept state funds to teach Indian Education for All, $3.5 million a year, was signed into law on Monday.

The bill also makes the curriculum required, rather than encouraged, in the state of Montana.

The post Drag ban, sex definition and MICWA bills signed into law appeared first on Daily Montanan.
An ultrasound image of Jennifer Adkins 12-week-old fetus that was diagnosed with Turner syndrome and hydrops fetalis, two defects that are often fatal to the fetus and dangerous for the pregnant person to carry. Adkins had to seek an abortion in Oregon because, like 13 other states across the country, Idaho has a near-total ban on abortions without exceptions provided to preserve the health of the pregnant person. (Courtesy of Jennifer Adkins)

Jennifer Adkins first pregnancy was near-perfect.

She sailed through her appointments and screenings with no complications, ticking every box and making lists of all the right questions to ask her medical professionals. By the time her unmedicated labor was over and the nurses placed her newborn son on her chest, Adkins felt like a superhero.

So when she discovered she was pregnant again the day after Valentines Day, she was ready for another home run. The baby would be due on Halloween, and she and her husband affectionately referred to it as Baby Spooky. Maybe theyd find out the sex beforehand, maybe it would be a surprise. They hadnt decided yet.

On April 21, Adkins saw her doctor for a routine screening by ultrasound to measure the collection of fluid behind the fetus neck. And even without a medical degree, she could tell by the picture on the ultrasound that something was wrong. Sitting in the genetic counselors office that afternoon, Adkins learned her 12-week-old developing fetus likely had Turner syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality that ends in miscarriage in 99% of cases.

Turners occurs when one of two X-chromosomes for a female is deleted, often from all cells. The few babies that do survive still have deletions in some cells that cause significant heart defects, fertility issues, kidney abnormalities and a range of other disabilities.

The normal measurement is less than 3 millimeters, according to Dr. Maria Palmquist, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. Palmquist said Adkins fluid measured at 11.7 millimeters, with additional fluid accumulating under the skin and around the body of the fetus, known as edema. The combination of increased fluid and skin edema is a condition known as hydrops fetalis, a severe form of swelling that is often fatal.

The doctor said basically, lightning struck this pregnancy, theres nothing you can do, Adkins said. This just happens in 1% of all pregnancies.

Following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in June 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to regulate abortion access, 14 states have enacted near-total or total abortion bans, while others continue to pass abortion ban laws that become tied up in state and federal court. The patchwork laws create reproductive health care deserts, sometimes as much as an eight-hour drive or a flight across the country, forcing pregnant people to travel at great financial and often emotional costs, even if the termination of the pregnancy would prevent devastating health effects.

There are no abortion bans yet that criminalize the pregnant person. Instead, criminal penalties are focused on medical providers or others who help someone obtain an abortion. The charges in most states are felonies, with punishment ranging between two years and life in prison, and physicians face suspension or revocation of their medical licenses.

Because Adkins lives in a state with an abortion ban, she faced one of two options: Either continue carrying the pregnancy knowing it would almost certainly end in miscarriage or stillbirth and jeopardize her own health in the process  or make a trip out of state for termination.

Do we try? But for what purpose?

Idaho has a near-total ban on abortions that applies to any stage of pregnancy, with exceptions for cases of rape and incest with an accompanying police report during the first trimester or to save a patients life. Health care providers who violate the statute put their medical licenses at risk and face between two and five years in prison, along with civil penalties of $20,000 against individual providers if family members decide to sue.

Since Roe fell, residents in states with bans like Texas have to travel much farther to obtain an abortion. The Texas Observer reported the average number of miles a resident must travel increased from 44 miles to 497 miles. Texans often go to New Mexico, where some abortion providers fled and opened new clinics. Washington abortion providers have reported seeing patients from seven states around the country within one day.

In the Southeast, where nearly every state has a highly restrictive ban, states such as Louisiana and Mississippi are hours away from the nearest abortion clinic. For many, the closest state is Florida, and the outcome of a Florida Supreme Court case over a law banning abortion at 15 weeks could determine whether a six-week ban signed in April by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will go into effect. If it does, the distance to access abortion for many residents in that region of the country will become much greater.

A study released in April conducted by international reproductive health care journal Contraception found that women who were forced to travel for abortion care described it as emotionally burdensome, saying it caused distress, anxiety and shame.

Because they had to travel, they were compelled to disclose their abortion to others and obtain care in an unfamiliar place and away from usual networks of support, which engendered emotional costs, the study said. Additionally, travel induced feelings of shame and exclusion because it stemmed from a law-based denial of in-state abortion care, which some experienced as marking them as deviant or abnormal.

Adkins said seeking care in another state made her feel like a criminal and a medical refugee of sorts, and she worried about what others would think of her for terminating. Another physician she saw for a separate issue wanted to keep the pregnancy out of her record entirely as a precaution.

They make this out to be like people that seek abortions are horrible, horrible people, and murderers, and all this stuff, and Im like, that could not be further from the truth. This is a baby that we love with all of our heart and soul. And because we are loving parents, we are choosing this route, not only to be loving parents to that baby, but also to our living son, because I have to think about whats in my best interest so that I can still be here and be healthy enough to take care of my son who needs me, Adkins said.

Idaho physicians have also stopped making referrals for patients in situations similar to Adkins in the wake of a legal opinion sent by Attorney General Raul Labrador at the end of March. Until there is a decision in a lawsuit over the opinion, physicians and Planned Parenthood facilities in Idaho have said they will not make any referrals for abortion-related care outside of the state.

Adkins said if she wasnt as informed about the states laws, she wouldnt have understood what doctors were saying about her options.

They said that I was welcome to leave the state on my own accord and seek health care outside of the state, Adkins said. It was a very odd experience because we were talking basically in code.  I understood the nuance, and I understood what they were implying, but it was a very surreal experience.

A brief filed in the lawsuit on behalf of a health system in Idaho detailed a scenario nearly identical to Adkins on the same day she was diagnosed at a different facility. Like the case outlined in the brief, Adkins would be at risk for developing a condition called mirror syndrome, which causes the pregnant person to experience similar symptoms to that of the fetus. Dr. Palmquist told States Newsroom that it can lead to preeclampsia, a life-threatening state of high blood pressure in pregnant people that can cause seizures and organ damage.

Knowing all of this, Adkins decided it was in the best interests of her family, including the nearly 2-year-old son she already had and the daughter she would never get to hold, to terminate the pregnancy.

She hoped to miscarry within the following week so they wouldnt have to make the emotional three-day trip. So she scheduled another ultrasound, but there was still a heartbeat. She was desperate to fix it  desperate to stop being a walking coffin for a dying dream.

Its hard knowing that my body and the fetus are trying so hard to hang on, Adkins said. And we had to make a really hard decision. Do we try? But for what purpose? Theres no sense in bringing a child into this world thats not going to survive anyway or have severe complications. And its not fair to any of us.

Idaho state rep: Screening for fetal defects takes away some of the gift of birth

Idaho legislators made minor changes to the states abortion law toward the end of the legislative session in March with House Bill 374, working in conjunction with the Idaho Medical Association to craft language that would clarify certain instances where the fetus has already died or ectopic or molar pregnancies would not fall under Idahos abortion ban.

An earlier iteration of the bill also included a clause exempting medical professionals from criminal liability if they deemed an abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to treat a physical condition of the woman that, if left untreated, would be life-threatening.

That bill was scheduled for a hearing in the House State Affairs Committee on March 22, but in the same meeting, the committee chairman announced the bill wouldnt be heard after all, on that day or any other. The decision came the morning after Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon sent out a call to action to party members telling them to call representatives on the committee and ask them to vote the bill down.

As Democratic legislators angrily protested the removal of the health language from the bill on the House floor, Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, said doctors and patients face challenging decisions at times in pregnancy, including members of her family who work in medical professions. But before Roe v. Wade, she said, many of the health conditions doctors referenced wouldnt have been known until the baby was born.

There was no question about delivering a baby with birth defects; you just had a baby, and then you did the best you could to take care of it, Young said in her debate. In some ways, having the technology we have takes away some of the gift of being able to wait and deal with whatever comes.

Maternal-fetal medicine doctors continue fleeing to other states

Idaho legislators made minor changes to the states abortion law toward the end of the legislative session in March to clarify that certain instances where the fetus has already died or ectopic or molar pregnancies would not fall under Idahos abortion ban, declining to proceed with an earlier iteration of the bill that included a clause exempting medical professionals from criminal liability. In that version, providers had to determine if an abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to treat a physical condition of the woman that, if left untreated, would be life-threatening.

Dr. John Werdel, an obstetrician-gynecologist at St. Lukes in Boise, said he wasnt sure if Adkins situation would have qualified under the health language in the original bill. She likely would have had to wait until the health effects were more severe, he said.

Many reproductive care physicians in states where abortions are banned have left to practice in other states in recent months, including one maternal-fetal medicine doctor in Tennessee who moved to Colorado in January after starting what she described as a dream job in Tennessee in August.

Idahos abortion laws caused Palmquist, one of three maternal-fetal medicine physicians at Saint Alphonsus, to take a job at Desert Perinatal in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is one of several specialists in the state to leave over the new laws since January. She was packing her belongings on Thursday, hoping the laws change soon and allow her to return.

Since June, its just become so complicated to take care of pregnancy complications. Things before that were so straightforward now make us take an extra four to six hours and multiple meetings, Palmquist said. Making sure were protected by EMTALA, making sure this is an emergency medical condition. Does the hospital administration agree, does legal counsel agree? All of that.

A recent study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found from a survey of more than 2,000 current and future physicians on social media that 82% preferred to work or train in states with preserved abortion access. More than 76% of respondents said they wouldnt even apply to states with legal consequences for providing abortion care.

At least monthly, we are faced with caring for moms with significant complications, and theres no chance of a viable outcome. But with Idahos restrictions, theres a lot of anxiety about essentially practicing the standard of care, Palmquist said. A year ago, it wouldve been just so straightforward, and now theres all this caution and hesitancy.

The mounting costs of abortion care

Adkins and her husband left their son with grandparents to make the trip to Oregon on a Thursday for her appointment the following morning. The Northwest Abortion Access Fund and Cascade Abortion Support Collective helped pay for a hotel room, a rental car and the surgical procedure, which was $850 by itself without insurance. Friends and family sent her Venmo donations for other expenses.

I just started calling organizations because I was like, I dont know what to do. And they said, Were here to help you. And it was so relieving but also absolutely heartbreaking to hear multiple times from multiple people, You are not the only one. We get stories like yours all the time, every day, Adkins said. Every day.

The Planned Parenthood clinic was supportive and professional, she said, and they honored her request to be deeply sedated for the procedure. When she told them why she needed to terminate the pregnancy, they offered to take ultrasound photos beforehand.

Everybody was like, Oh my god, Im so sorry you had to come all this way for this, Adkins said. And theyre right. I shouldnt have had to leave my son and travel hundreds of miles to do this.

Since the procedure was performed in another state and at a Planned Parenthood clinic, Adkins had to ask the doctor to collect the remains of the fetus, the pregnancy tissue and the placenta and package them properly to be sent to a genetic testing clinic. She was also faced with rushing the package of remains to FedEx herself that same day.

While she doesnt regret the decision, Adkins said it was a painful experience that could have been much easier if she had been able to access care in her own state.

I deserve better, and so does everybody else, she said. We cant stop things from happening in pregnancy. Thats why we have modern medicine, to help guide us and protect the things we do have control over. So if we cant stop those horrible things from happening  why make it even worse by making the worst experience someone has to go through  learning that they will not give birth to a happy, healthy baby  why do we make that even worse by saying, We dont value your life enough to try to save it or prevent something bad from happening to you in the meantime?

This piece was originally produced by the Idaho Capital Sun which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus, including the Daily Montanan, supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

The post Her fetus had 1% chance of survival. Idahos ban forced her to travel for an abortion. appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Tap house manager Patrick May serves customers at Glacier Brewing in Polson. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

POLSON  When Glacier Brewing Company came out with its Snowpack Limoncello Seltzer, more than a few craft beer drinkers took a liking to it.

A lot of the regulars switched to this because its easy to drink but still drinks like a beer, said local Michael Wetherington a recent day at the tap house. You sip on it, and its not as light as White Claw.

Montana drinkers have pushed the state to high per capita beer consumption  most recently No. 3 per capita after North Dakota and New Hampshire, according to USA Today citing data from beerinfo.com.

Two years ago, Food & Wine reported seltzers were taking the world by storm, and brewery staff in Montana report newer seltzers are creating another small but tasty corner of the market here, too.

I think this beyond beer category is gathering a lot of traction, said Eric White, head brewer at Mountains Walking in Bozeman. If it helps people get in the taproom, and after they have a seltzer, try something else, I think thats really cool.

Patrick May, tap house manager at Glacier Brewing, said seltzers make up for as much as 30% of the brewerys production, a high number to which he attributes a killer product. He typically runs 10 to 12 beers, three to four seltzers, and four to five sodas at the brewery.

Generally, brewers make beer after yeast reacts with sugars in grain; they make seltzer by adding fruit to a base made after yeast reacts with sugar.

The limoncello is a flagship at Glacier Brewing, although its popularity is also due in part to Mays understanding of how to market a product. At first, the brewery set out to create a lemonade  which he said should be tart or sweet.

The beverage flopped, he said, at least as a lemonade.

I couldnt sell it, May said. It didnt taste like lemonade. It wasnt sweet. It wasnt tart. And peoples heads couldnt get around it.

But hes been in the restaurant, bar and grocery store industries a while, and hed sold high-end limoncello in the past. The taste of the seltzer reminded him of the sweet lemon liqueur.

I rebranded it, and within, like, a week, it moved up to be one of the three fastest-(selling) items, and it hasnt slowed down, he said. It outsells other seltzers five to one.

This year, it took home the Peoples Choice award from the Bigfork Brewfest.

(Although some regulars made the switch from beer to seltzer in 2020 after the limoncello came out, some beer lovers also resist the fruity, lighter beverage. At the bar, Wetherington took a little guff from fellow regular Jason Wind for admitting he could drink a White Claw in maybe two gulps. Wind sticks with actual beer: Im a person who is anti-fruit in beer.)

In Bozeman, White said Mountains Walking has spent a lot of time dialing in the base of the seltzers to make sure its clean and clear.

Now, compared to when the brewery first started creating seltzers, its dropped the alcohol content from 8% or more to around 5% or 5.5%, which White said is more approachable.

Seltzer accounts for less than 5% of the brewerys production in a year, but it can spike as much as 10% a quarter depending on the period, he said. The brewery typically counts 20 to 25 beers on tap.

Mountains Walking has been making seltzers for more than two years, and he said the product is more stable than beer  maltose in beer reacts with oxygen, unlike sucrose in seltzer  so seltzer can have a longer shelf life if necessary.

White said he doesnt expect seltzer to ever rival beer when it comes to production, but the newer drink allows people who dont like beer  or cant drink it  to enjoy a brewery experience too.

Right now, for us, it seems like seltzer is really taking off, White said.

In addition to the beverages, the brewery typically offers a beer and a seltzer slushy.

Mountains Walking created a New Hokkaido brand of seltzers featuring four flavors, pineapple, mango, lychee raspberry, and yuzu ginger, and White said customers have reacted well to the lineup of tropical, Asian-inspired offerings.

The beers have taken home several medals the last couple of months, but the seltzers are holding their own with customers.

Our seltzer is very flavorful, interesting, and super crushable as well, White said.

Its difficult to track how much of the alcohol craft market is accounted for by seltzers. May said Montana was the top seltzer consumer per capita when White Claw first came on the market, and Money also reported the Treasure State being No. 1 in 2019.

However, White noted when the brewery reports to the Department of Revenue, it provides overall numbers, and it is not required to delineate seltzer production from beer. The Department of Revenue did not respond Tuesday to an inquiry about seltzer in time for this story.

In Polson, May is expecting a busy tourist season this year, and visitors may help push up consumption of both beer and seltzer: Im expecting to get our asses kicked every day.

The post Montana seltzers small, popular part of brewery market in state appeared first on Daily Montanan.
In 2023, the State of Illinois spent $195 million on Immigrant Welcoming Centers to welcome immigrants and refugees to Illinois, with plans to spend another $105 million on them in 2024.

An Immigrant Welcome Center is a comprehensive service center for the integration of immigrants and refugees in Illinois, according to the State of Illinois, and it eliminates systemic barriers that immigrants may have in approaching state services.

These centers help inform immigrants and refugees of state services and welfare benefits like Medicaid and SNAP. The state website lists 36 such centers throughout the state.

In FY23, the $195 million was funded with $115 million from the general fund and $80 million from other funding sources.

In FY24, Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants to spend $105 million on these centers, with $25 million coming from the general fund and $80 million from other funding sources.

Activist and former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives exposed the $115 million in funding from the state general fund in FY2023 in a tweet.

These centers and resources will presumably be open to all immigration statuses, including illegal immigrants, as Illinois and Chicago are both sanctuaries for illegal immigrants that have announced they will not cooperate with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws. Governor Pritzker hopes to make Illinois the most welcoming state in the nation.

Welcoming immigrants is a laudable goal, but theres no shortages of churches, community groups, and volunteer organizations that can support these immigrants more personally and meaningfully, and at a far smaller cost.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
In the early 2000s the United States enjoyed comparative racial optimism. Majorities of both black and white citizens felt race relations were improving. Even left-leaning NPR highlighted colorblindness as an ideal. A generation later, race relations have nosedived. We hear regularly about systemic racism and white supremacy. Colorblindness now is considered racist. This whiplash may leave many people wondering what happened.

The 2014 Collapse in Race Relations

The collapse in race relations began in 2014. Exactly why this year was pivotal is unknown, though it coincides with the debunked "hands up, don't shoot" framing of the Michael Brown killing and a larger great awokening wherein extreme identitarian views became more influential on the political left. Since 2014, little data suggests race disparities have gotten worse. Racist attitudes in the United States are at historic lows. However, news media coverage worrying over racism soared.

I studied this issue empirically in 2021. I wanted to see whether actual police shootings of unarmed black men correlated with race relations or whether news media coverage highlighting police shootings of black men was a better predictor. It turns out race relations are unrelated to actual police shootings, but correlate with news media coverage, which tends to obsess over shootings of black Americans while ignoring shootings of other individuals.

The Moral Panic Over Race and Policing

After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, the United States experienced a racial reckoning. News media claimed police were systemically targeting black Americans for fatal violence. Defunding or even literally abolishing policing became serious policy proposals. The United States, we were told, was systemically racist.

Data on policing and race is complex and nuanced. Police killings of unarmed suspects are rare, according to the Washington Post, and theyve been declining. Numbers peak at 95 for all races in 2015, declining to 32 for all races in 2021.

When it comes to police shootings of unarmed individuals, white suspects are shot more often than black suspects (by contrast, Asians are rarely shot by police compared to either group). Though more unarmed whites than blacks are killed by police, black suspects are indeed proportionally overrepresented. We can see the proportional differences in the following chart:

However, commission of violent crime is also ethnically disproportional. Black and Hispanic men commit violent crimes disproportionally more often than do white or Asian men. That police shootings and commission of violent crime so neatly track one another is not a coincidence. One might conclude that, perhaps, overrepresentation of black Americans as perpetrators of violent crime might be due to overpolicing of black communities. However, when we look at victims of homicide, most of which are the same race as the killers, we see the same pattern of black victims being overrepresented. This means the overpolicing hypothesis does not fit the data.

It is also worth noting that most young men of any ethnicity do not commit violent crimes. Race itself is not a determinant of violent crime. In one recent study, although racial composition of neighborhoods predicted violent crime, race no longer predicted violent crime once other community factors such as insufficient food, housing issues, air pollution and proportion of single-parent homes are controlled..

Studies largely find the same thing when it comes to excessive use of police force. In another recent study, we found that class issues, particularly communities experiencing higher levels of mental health issues among residents -- not race -- predicted reports of excessive police force (except for Latinos, who reported less police force). To be fair, studies on this do vary in conclusion. However, in my view the weight of evidence suggests that class, not race, predicts excessive police force.

We found that higher levels of mental health problems among community residents predicted reports of excessive police force. This is probably because police are likely coming into contact with mentally ill residents who may escalate an encounter that began over something trivial. Other studies also suggest the chronically mentally ill more often experience physical force during police encounters. The mentally ill may struggle to respond to aggressive police commands. Thus, relatively minor encounters initially may intensify into dangerous situations. Better police training with mental illness may help.

Progressive Fixes Have Often Made Things Worse

Though often ostensibly speaking on behalf of minority groups, progressive theories on race have often made practical situations worse. The most obvious cost to low-income neighborhoods has been in delegitimizing or even defunding police and the predictable surge in crime that created. Evidence does suggests that the George Floyd protests and riots were associated with increased resignations of police officers as well as decreased policing in high-crime neighborhoods. These in turn, were associated with increased violent crime.

There are more subtle, harmful impacts as well. Informing people that they are at ever-present danger from police can be traumatizing. Research has long demonstrated that convincing people they are victims causes them to perceive injustice where it may not actually occur.

It doesnt help the Black Lives Matter organization has undermined confidence in its mission through a lack of transparency on financial matters and spending millions on mansions for its leaders, with comparatively little to show for how they have helped ordinary Black poor or working-class people.

There is a wide space between thinking the United States is a racial utopia and that its an early 20th century apartheid state. But if we promote pessimistic narratives that are not well-grounded in data and focus on solutions that emphasize our differences and conflicts, we may actually risk the exact bad outcomes we hoped to alleviate.

Christopher J. Ferguson is a professor of psychology at Stetson University in Florida and author of "Catastrophe! The Psychology of Why Good People Make Bad Situations Worse."
We all believe that promises made should correlate to promises kept, especially when those promises are made by government leaders.

When it comes to Pennsylvanias energy policy and our newest governor, however, promises made have not been kept  at least, not yet.

One hundred-some days ago, I joined the bipartisan applause for Gov. Josh Shapiros inaugural pledge that Pennsylvania would now be open for business, pursuing new investment opportunities and working to be competitive with other states.

Instead of delivering on these promises, however, the first four months of Gov. Shapiros tenure have seen the closure of the Homer City Power Plant and the cancellation of Bechtels Renovo- Project in Clinton County. Both communities and many Pennsylvania workers would have benefitted from these projects. They are understandably asking, Why?

Why is our state closing critical power generation and losing hundreds of thousands in man-hours of work while Ohio is building new power plants and announcing billions in new investment? The answer is RGGI, the Regional Green House Gas Initiative, an executive order that would levy a carbon tax on two-thirds of Pennsylvanias energy generators. Former Gov. Tom Wolf mandated this job-killing, energy-price-increasing policy without approval of the legislature; Gov. Shapiro needs to confront this issue.

Zero power plants have been built in the Keystone State since Gov. Wolf unilaterally entered Pennsylvania into RGGI, despite all sides acknowledging that Pennsylvania has continued to reduce carbon emissions, even as free market competition grew our state into one of the countrys largest producers and exporters of energy.

In contrast, neighboring Ohio  which has not entered RGGI  has built or announced a number of new power plants during the same period, each bringing around $1 billion of private investment, huge property tax revenue increases for local schools, and jobs for residents.

As a candidate for the highest office in Pennsylvania, Gov. Shapiro campaigned with equivocation and even skepticism on the issue of RGGI  but now his proposed budget relies on $600 million from new RGGI taxes. At best, many energy workers are calling this dual move riding the fence, while families who have lost jobs grumble about the old bait and switch.

What Gov. Shapiro has thus far not done effectively is balance pressure from wealthy environmentalist supporters with his responsibility to ensure reliable, affordable power for employers and citizens. Februarys written warning about PJMs grid reliability from premature closings of thermal generators underscores the larger consequence of this policy.

Indeed, the May 17 national announcement by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. echoes the same concerns. NERCs report states that the region could face energy shortfalls during periods of extreme heat this summer.

Also, with global energy supplies and prices continuing to be affected by the ongoing Russian conflict in Ukraine, it is imperative that we do what we can here to help stabilize the energy market and keep energy prices low.

So, why does Gov. Shapiro remain silent on RGGI?

One could argue that he is waiting for the Commonwealth Court to do the heavy lifting. That he is waiting for the court to determine, as part of ongoing litigation, if RGGI by executive order is unconstitutional.

But this political avoidance has costs. While Gov. Shapiro waits, more than 600 local boilermakers are forced to work out of state, and their leadership has received a call for 350 more members to cover an extended project in West Virginia. Some will never return.

As a farmer, even I know that the wind blows in from the west to the east. We are losing livelihoods to Ohios energy industry. The court decision will soon be announced; when those judges confirm that RGGI is unconstitutional, Gov. Shapiro can wait no more. He will have 30 days to accept or appeal the decision and decide once and for all where he stands regarding RGGI, affordable home-grown energy, and Pennsylvania workers.

I still support Gov. Shapiros commitment to a bipartisan effort to attract new businesses and believe that we can achieve this shared goal. But doing so will require that the governor take action to keep his promises and help deliver a competitive and prosperous Pennsylvania.
The problem with trying to pick a bottom to the market, as I have been doing the last two weeks, is that it is easy to underestimate just how low things can go.

Like one big global game of Limbo, the pole goes lower and someone manages to go under it without falling.

When markets opened up the morning of May 22 after the biscuit break, we were sharply higher in corn and soybeans, and once again I heard the idea that we might finally be rebounding. In fact, the early gains of corn up six to seven cents and beans up seven to 11 cents did not hold, at least for soybeans.

By the end of the day session, July corn futures had in fact gained 16 1/2 cents to $5.71, December corn futures had gained nine and a quarter cents to $5.09, but July soybeans had gained a penny to $6.36 1/2, and November beans had gained one and a quarter cents to $6.06 1/4.

In other words, we had a good bounce in corn, but the soybeans lost the early gains and closed barely positively. The ugly news was that, as the evening session started May 22, all the four contracts lost value.

By 10 p.m., as this was being written, July corn futures were off two and a quarter cents, the December corn was unchanged at $5.09, July soybeans were down four and a quarter cents at $13.37, and the November beans were off two cents at $11.95.

So, we cant say the bottom is in, with prices weak after just one day of gains.

Corn

The corn looks better than the soybeans. The reason given by many analysts was the U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Progress report, out in the middle of the day. This showed planting well ahead of normal in the country, and even showed Ohio as having more than caught up after being the one major state that was behind.

There were also bearish items in the WASDE report out last week, primarily as USDA still thinks the corn will reach 181.5 bpa.

Lets look at the planting numbers. Ohio is reported to have planted the most acres in one week in my memory. I did not look up the history, and I am old and have suspect memory, but Ohio farmers were reported to have gone from 26% planted to 66% in one week. Not a lot of sleep implied in those numbers.

The weather was open all week, and the lights ran in the fields all night on a lot of farms. Sixty-six percent is well ahead of the average 52%, so we have gone from being behind with corn to being ahead. The U.S. at the same time went from 65% to 81%, against the average of 75%.

Each week, I have reminded you that the crop needs to be 75% planted by May 15 to expect no yield decrease from late planting. This report would indicate that we were just a couple or three days late getting to 75%.

Soybeans

The soybean planting is even better. Ohio was actually already ahead last week, and this week we had big gains. We went from 28% to 63%, with an average for five years of 39%.

The U.S. was reported to be 66% planted, well ahead of the 52% average. So, planting progress is not an issue.

Midwest

Now, we can go on to the big topic of our morning Midwest conference call May 22, which is dry conditions. Ohio is dry. Some areas have had less than an inch of rain in May. Southern Illinois is dry.

The best corn areas of central Nebraska normally see irrigation turned on in June, but the center pivots are already running, and the dryland corners that the pivots miss have corn that is curled up from lack of moisture.

Most of the rest of the prime area is well along with planting, and in good condition, but wanting a little rain. The exception would be southern Minnesota which had been too wet, but had a good week and is up to 80% planted, just 2% ahead of normal. A few small areas have had excessive rain, as much as seven inches!

So, the crops are getting planted and sooner or later farmers will catch up on sleep, and then start worrying about prices. We saw some new lows last week. July corn futures touched $5.47 May 18. December futures got below $5 to $4.90 3/4 the same day.

July soybeans almost broke the $13 level, with $13.04 3/4 May 19. November futures touched $11.72 May 22.

There is a strong seasonal trend for corn and bean prices to improve in the end of May and June. We can only hope that the worst is over, and better prices are ahead.

In fact, some advisory services are already recommending some re-ownership of corn that was already sold or hedged, or the use of some option strategies to buy almost at-the-money options and sell options a dollar higher to capture some money out of this break. That is fine if this is just a break, not a revision.

Wheat

I have not mentioned wheat. There is nothing good to talk about. Chicago wheat futures were down 30 cents last week. The Kansas City bread wheat was down 53 cents, even though the crop tour in Kansas says the crop is the worst in decades. Remember, it was planted in the dust, and came out of dormancy in the dust.

Feeders used to renting pastures to put cheap weight on beef are finding no pastures with any growth.

The one negative for wheat was the good news, if you are a Ukrainian producer or an African user, that the Russians agreed to a 60-day extension to the Black Sea shipping agreement. It was thought that this might not happen, unless the Chinese put pressure on the Russians.
A group of intrepid British farmers looking to provide more support to their Ukrainian counterparts have delivered their 100th vehicle to the country's Eastern front.

The mainly 4x4 vehicles, including two ambulances and a campervan, have now been successfully delivered across four convoys, driven to Ukraine by 160 volunteers from all around the UK.

The Pick-ups for Peace initiative marked the milestone at a dinner in the Ukrainian city of Lviv for the most recent convoys drivers.

The group were joined by the country's military and humanitarian strategists who confirmed how crucial the vehicles are for communities in and around the frontlines.

Pick-ups for Peace have now set their sights on the next 100 vehicles, and are scaling up their operations as they commit to the long haul.

To achieve this target, they are scoping sources of 4x4 vehicles from all sectors and all corners of the country.

Pick-ups for Peace co-founder, Vince Gillingham has just completed his fourth mission to Ukraine in as many months.

He said: Our original aim of sending 100 4x4s to Ukraine by June has been achieved ahead of schedule. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all those who have donated vehicles and funds, and our drivers.

Each convoy is getting bigger  there were 66 volunteers in the most recent one  and the momentum behind the charity is awe-inspiring.

"A dozen of the participants were under the age of 25 and had raised thousands of pounds each to donate and transport a vehicle. Others have given vehicles even though they will struggle to replace them.

Our military contacts echo this gratitude, and the impact donated vehicles is having on Ukrainian communities and troops capacity at the front is clearly defined."

Mr Gillingham added: "Their message is sobering... they need our support for the long haul, until Russia has gone and Ukraine is back on its feet.

Mark Laird, another co-founder newly back from his fourth convoy to Ukraine, said the UKs farming and rural community were "fundamental to this cause".

Now that we have charity status, we have a stronger platform on which to build, and we are looking to throw the net wide open to all sources of 4x4s.

"We are deeply grateful to all those who have funded us so far, as well as the 160 volunteers who have driven vehicles.

"We wont give up. Russia wants us to get bored and back off, but we are doubling down.

Donations are also being accepted at the Pick-Ups for Peace online crowdfunding page.
Only one-fifth of British farmers have reliable mobile signals across their whole farm, a new survey by the NFU has found.

Farmers' ability to meet the challenges of the future are being held back by poor broadband and mobile connectivity, the union said.

Its latest digital technology survey has revealed that just 21% of farmers overall have reliable mobile signals across the farm.

Fewer than half of farmers reported broadband speeds which they say are adequate for their business.

And one in 20 farmers reported to the NFU that they have no reliable outdoor mobile signal on their farm at all.

Submitting VAT returns, GPS on tractors, talking to customers and more all rely on strong digital connectivity.

Consistent access to the internet is also needed for farmers so they can comply with UK regulations and operate their businesses efficiently.

But the NFU said current broadband and mobile connectivity across the UK's rural areas was 'unacceptable'.

To achieve better connectivity, the union is calling for the Shared Rural Network to remain a government priority and be finished by 2025.

Broadband schemes must also apply to all types of broadband access, not just fibre, the NFU said, and farmers need more support to access agricultural-specific digital skills training.

NFU vice president David Exwood said: We need to produce more of what we do well here, this means being as efficient and productive as possible, and access to the internet is vital for businesses to do this.

Even with the positive increase in access to superfast broadband for over a third of respondents, it is unacceptable that 4 out of 5 of farmers do not have reliable mobile signals throughout their farm.

"Not only does this impact the day-to-day running of rural businesses, but it is dangerous to leave a farmer with no way of communicating in a time of crisis."

Mr Exwood said the lack of internet access was preventing UK farmers and growers "from doing what they do best  producing homegrown, climate-friendly, and affordable food."

"This years survey shows that connectivity is only increasingly slowly, and the farming industry is still lagging significantly behind the rest of the country," he added.

We will continue to campaign for investment in the countrys digital technology infrastructure - which is key to productive farming businesses."

The NFU's digital technology survey summarised a snapshot of rural connectivity from 814 farmers and growers, surveyed between between December to February.
A key ally of Vladimir Putin has warned that "nuclear apocalypse" is more likely if the West continues to supply Ukraine with powerful weapons.

Dmitry Medvedev has warned of 'nuclear apocalypse' if the West continues to meddle in the Ukraine war

The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made the chilling threat after US president Joe Biden said he will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets.

Russia, which has the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet, has repeatedly threatened the West with an escalation of the conflict if they back Kyiv.

In his latest rant against Moscow's enemies, Medvedev said: "The more weapons are supplied, the more dangerous the world will be.

"And the more destructive these weapons are, the more likely the scenario becomes of what is commonly called a nuclear apocalypse."

The West is determined to help Ukraine beat Russia but is wary of triggering a direct confrontation between the NATO military alliance and Moscow but Medvedev suggested that NATO did not appear to be taking the threat of nuclear war seriously.

The deputy chair of Russia's Security Council said: "They are wrong. And at some point, events can move in a completely unpredictable scenario. And the responsibility will lie entirely with the North Atlantic Alliance."
Failures in the Ukraine war haven't left "cracks" in Vladimir Putin's hold on power.

Vladimir Putin's grip on power hasn't been weakened by the war in Ukraine

German Intelligence Agency (BND) chief Bruno Kahl revealed that he does not see any signs that the despot's iron grip over Russia is weakening despite the humiliations on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Kahl said at the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS): "We see no cracks in the Putin system."

He suggested that criticism of the management of the war are simply routine disputes within Russian society and do not pose any threat to the tyrant.

It has been reported that Putin's troops are running low on both morale and ammunition but Kahl is confident that Moscow can dig in and fight.

He said: "Russia is still capable of waging a long-range war."

Kahl did stress that there are certain vulnerabilities within Russia's armed forces but is concerned that Putin could prevail if the West does not provide the appropriate support for Ukraine.

The spy chief revealed that the BND knew that Russia was going to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two weeks before the war started in February 2022.

He said: "Around 14 days before the start of the war we detected phenomena that could not be interpreted any other way."
George Clooney is "good at making fun of himself".

Simone Ashley loved working with George Clooney

The 62-year-old actor stars in a new Nespresso commercial alongside Simone Ashley, and the 28-year-old actress has revealed that she relished the experience of working with him.

Simone - who also appears alongside Julia Garner in the commercial - told PEOPLE: "I mean, George is just so wonderful. Everyone around him feels relaxed, comfortable, and he's good at making fun of himself."

The 'Bridgerton' star found George to be very easy to work with, despite his fame and success.

She said: "He makes people laugh, smile."

Simone also revealed that George is very supportive of the "next generation" of stars.

She shared: "He's just really very enthusiastic about supporting the next generation of actors, so Julia and myself. So any questions we had he was always willing to answer, and shared some advice. So, a very cool guy, George."

Meanwhile, Simone previously claimed that she had to work "twice as hard" as her white male counterparts in order to achieve success.

The actress - who is of Indian Tamil heritage - told the 'Reign With Josh Smith' podcast: "I have had to work twice as hard and maybe I haven't really said that enough to myself and given myself a pat on the back for that.

"For me it has just always been like, 'I'm just like any other actress, I can do this. I can have a script put in front of me and bring a character to life and I'm smart and got creative ideas and I can do this'.

"But I think, yeah, as a woman and a woman of colour, you do have to work harder  We are working twice as hard, but you know what, I would do it again."
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is "deeply saddened" by the death of a woman who was hit by her police motorcycle escort.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh has paid tribute to a crash victim

Helen Holland had been critically ill in hospital after being "flung 40ft across the road" during the accident in west London on 10 May, and following the news the 81-year-old grandmother-of-10's has now passed away, the 58-year-old royal - who is married to Prince Edward - has paid tribute.

A royal spokesperson said: "The Duchess of Edinburgh is deeply saddened to hear that Helen Holland has passed away.

Her Royal Highnesss deepest condolences and sympathies go to all of Ms Hollands family.

According to the Independent, Sophie is expected to get in touch with Helen's family privately.

Helen's family had earlier told the BBC she fought "for her life for nearly two weeks... but irreversible damage to her brain finally ended the battle today".

And Helen's son Martin said his mother - who lived in Birchanger, Essex, but had been in London visiting her sister - had died after suffering multiple broken bones and massive internal injuries while using the safe route of [a] pedestrian crossing.

Following the crash, Sophie said her "thoughts and prayers" were with the victim.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement which read: "The duchess heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the injured lady and her family.

She is grateful for the swift response by the emergency services and will keep abreast of developments.

Further comment at this time would not be appropriate while the incident is being investigated.

It is understood the duchess was being escorted with a rolling police escort manned by motorcycle outriders when the collision happened.

Onlooker Martin Hennessy previously said he wasn't surprised by the crash.

He told MailOnline: This was an accident waiting to happen. The screens had been put up for the Coronation, but it meant that you had to step out a bit into the road to see any traffic...

I was there soon after it happened and it was carnage. The poor lady was flung about 40ft along the road and paramedics were attending to her. She stepped out a bit to peer around the screens and was hit.

The incident is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Stevie Nicks has revealed how Taylor Swift's song 'You're On Your Own, Kid' helped her grieve Christine McVie after her death.

Stevie Nicks has found comfort in music

The Fleetwood Mac legend's former bandmate died last year aged 79, and the 74-year-old musician admitted she turned to a track from Taylor's 'Midnights' album to help during such a heartbreaking time.

During her concert at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this week, she told fans: "Thank you to Taylor Swift for doing a favor for me, and that is, writing a song called 'You're on Your Own, Kid'.

"That is the sadness of how I feel."

In a video shared on social media, she opened up about her friendship with Christine.

She said: "Even on the other side of the world, we didn't have to talk on the phone. We really weren't, you know, phone buddies.

"We'd go back to Fleetwood Mac, and we'd walk in and just be like, 'Little sister, how are you?'

"It was like never a minute had passed. Never an argument in our entire 47 years  never."

Referencing Taylor's song, she again thanked the pop star for helping her "learn to be on [her] own".

She added: "When it was the two of us, the two of us were on our own, kids. We always were, and now, I'm having learn to be on my own, kid, by myself. You helped me do that. Thank you."

The track's reference the idea of looking for love before realising you end up on your own.

Taylor sings: "Everything you lose is a step you take, so, make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.

"You've got no reason to be afraid. You're on your own, kid."

Christine died in November 2022 from a stroke, with her death certificate listing cancer as a secondary cause of death.

After the sad news, Stevie shared the lyrics to Haim's song 'Hallelujah', which is about mourning a "best friend".

Alongside handwritten lyrics to the song and a photo of the two friends, Stevie wrote: "A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975, had passed away.

"I wanted to be in London; I wanted to get to London  but we were told to wait. So, since Saturday, one song has been swirling around in my head, over and over and over.

"I thought I might possibly get to sing it to her, and so, I'm singing it to her now. I always knew I would need these words one day."
Naomi Campbell will remember Tina Turner as a "legend" and an "icon".

Tina Turner died at her home in Switzerland

The Grammy-winning star passed away on Wednesday (24.05.23), aged 83, and Naomi has already taken to social media to pay a heartfelt tribute to her.

The 53-year-old model wrote on Instagram: "REST in Peace and Power THE QUEEN , LEGEND, ICON. There will never be another. Cherish my times with you. (sic)"

Elsewhere, Bryan Adams has described the music star as a "powerhouse woman".

Bryan, 63, wrote on Twitter: "RIP @tinaturner The world just lost one hell of a powerhouse woman. Ill be forever grateful for the time we spent together on tour, in the studio and as friends. Thank you for being the inspiration to millions of people around the world for speaking your truth and giving us the gift of your incredible voice. (sic)"

Meanwhile, Angela Bassett has also paid a glowing tribute to the late star.

The 64-year-old actress - who played Turner in 'Whats Love Got to Do With It', the 1993 biographical film - described her as an "iconic voice and presence".

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, she said: "I am honoured to have known Tina Turner. I am humbled to have helped show her to the world. So on today, while we mourn the loss of this iconic voice and presence, she gave us more than we could have ever asked. She gave us her whole self. And Tina Turner is a gift that will always be simply the best. Angels, sing thee to thy rest  Queen."

The music icon passed away peacefully at her home in Switzerland after battling "a long illness".

Her spokesperson announced her passing and described Turner as "a music legend and a role model".
Exports of jute and jute goods (Chapter 53, 630510) fell by 20.25 per cent to $770.82 million in the first ten months of the current fiscal 2022-23 (July-June), as per provisional data released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). The decline is attributed to global economic challenges affecting international trade across various sectors. Exports were down by 26.18 per cent in comparison to the strategic export target set for the same period.

The strategic export target for jute and jute goods was set at $1,044.17 million for July-April 2022-23. Actual shipments amounted to $966.51 million in July-April 2021-22. Bangladesh set a strategic target of $1,280 million for the full year 2022-23. Actual exports amounted to $1,127.63 million in 2021-22, according to the latest EPB trade data.

The exports of raw jute (5303) were $169.05 million in July-April of the current year, compared to $177.50 million during the same period last year, falling short of the strategic target of $195.78 million. The previous year's exports stood at $216.18 million. The shipment of jute yarn and twine was valued at $420.35 million in July-April this year, significantly less than the target of $652.61 million and the previous year's shipment of $601.59 million. Exports were down 35.59 per cent against the target and 30.13 per cent against the corresponding period of last year.

In the first ten months of fiscal 2022-23, exports of jute and jute goods from Bangladesh declined by 20.25 per cent to $770.82 million due to global economic challenges impacting international trade. Exports were also 26.18 per cent lower than the strategic target. Key products like raw jute and jute yarn and twine missed their export targets as well.

The shipment of jute sacks and bags fell 4.96 per cent to $100.37 million during the period under review. The previous year's shipment was valued at $105.61 million during the same period. The strategic target for the first ten months was set at $106.05 million and $130 million for the full year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Japans manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) increased to 50.8 in May 2023, compared to 49.5 in April 2023, according to a report by Au Jibun Bank. The rise in PMI signalled the first improvement in operating conditions since October 2022.

There were renewed increases in both output and new orders, with both variables rising at the strongest rate for 13 months. Moreover, manufacturers signalled that supply chain issues that had plagued the sector for the past three years had shown signs of improvement, as suppliers delivery times shortened for the first time since January 2020, albeit only fractionally.

Japan's manufacturing PMI rose to 50.8 in May 2023, the first growth since October 2022, as per Au Jibun Bank. Both output and new orders increased at a 13-month high. The country's supply chain issues improved as suppliers' delivery times shortened for the first time since January 2020, while cost burdens and output charges rose at slower paces.

There was also reduced, but still strong pressure on the price front during May. Average cost burdens rose at a strong pace, that was nonetheless the softest since February 2021 while output charges increased at the slowest pace for four months, as per the Au Jibun Bank Flash Japan Composite PMI report.

The Japanese private sector economy continued on an upward trajectory, as signalled by a further expansion in May. The rate of growth quickened from April to reach the strongest since October 2013 and the second strongest in the survey history (since September 2007). Manufacturers indicated an improvement in operating conditions for the first time in seven months, with output and new orders returning to expansion territory for the first time since last June, said Usamah Bhatt, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)
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Cannes Dairy Day 8: As the new day begins in the French Riviera, it's time for more celebs to shine bright on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival 2023. The past week has been a star-studded affair as the celebs exuded panache on the red carpet.

On May 23, Tuesday, the festival hosted the world premiere of HBO's The Idol. Directed by Sam Levinson, the drama series stars Lily-Rose Depp and co-creator Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye.

The celebs upped the glam quotient on the prestigious red carpet of Cannes as they attended the premiere. The crowd went gaga as K-Pop's BLACKPINK member Jennie Kim walked the red carpet with the Weeknd.

Bollywood diva Mouni Roy made her much-anticipated debut on the red carpet of Cannes. She dazzled in a custom ivory Atelier Zuhra feathered gown.

Sunny Leone too made her second appearance in French Riviera slaying with her casual style. So, without further ado, let's take a glance at all the major highlights from Day 8 of Cannes 2023.

MOUNI ROY DAZZLES IN ATELIER ZUHRA

After creating a buzz with her ultra-glamourous avatar in the French city, Mouni Roy graced the red carpet of the event, and boy she slayed it! The Brahmastra actress dazzled in a custom ivory gown from Atelier Zuhra. She styled the off-shoulder feathered statement gown with sunnies and a dainty diamond choker. Check out the pictures.

SUNNY LEONE SERVES GLAMOUR IN A MONOCHROMATIC LOOK

Sunny Leone is attending the film festival for the premiere of her upcoming film, Kennedy. She opted for a bottle green satin gown featuring a thigh-high slit for her first appearance. For her second appearance, she opted for a black crop top that she paired with white pants.

THE IDOL TEAM MADE A STARRY APPEARANCE ON THE RED CARPET

HBO original drama series, The Idol's cast including The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp, Blackpink member Jennie, and maker Sam Levinson made a starry appearance on the red carpet.

Others who graced the red carpet includes Scarlett Johansson, Lori Harvey, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Brie Larson, Julia Garner, Maya Hawke, Marianne Fonseca, Olivia Culpo, Tina Kunakey among others.
In one of the most heartbreaking news from the industry, a renowned television and Bollywood actor Nitesh Pandey passed away at 51. According to media reports, the actor died of cardiac arrest while shooting in Igatpuri near Nashik.

The news of Nitesh Pandey's unfortunate demise has left everyone in a state of shock and the social media is abuzz with condolence messages for the late actor. To note, Nitesh is known for his impressive acting prowess and has been a part of several movies like Om Shanti Om, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Badhaai Do etc. and shows like Anupamaa, Indiawaali Maa and many more.

But did you know Nitesh Pandey was earlier married to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 actress Ashwini Kalsekar who is also known for her role in movies like Golmaal Again, Singham Returns, Laxmii etc. Reportedly, Ashwini and Nitesh tied the knot in 1998. However, their marriage was shortlived as they parted ways after four years in 2002.

Later, Nitesh tied the knot with Kora Kagaz actress Arpita Pandey in 2003 and they have a son together.

To note, the news of Nitesh's demise was confirmed by his brother in law Siddharth Nagar. "We have gone absolutely numb, I have not been able to even talk to Arpita after the tragedy. Nitesh was a very lively person and I don't think he had a history of any heart ailment," he told ETimes.

The telly world is currently facing a tough time as three actors have passed away in three days so far. We are talking about Aditya Singh Rajput who was found dead in his residence in Mumbai on Sunday (May 22). Later, the news of Vaibhai Upadhyaya's sudden demise also shook everyone. The 32 year old, who became a household name with her stint as Jasmine in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai Take 2, died in a road accident after her car fell into a valley in Himachal Pradesh.
Fashion speaks much louder than words. Be it an airport look, or a red carpet look everyone goes gaga over what their favorite celebrity is wearing. And these celebs never fail their audience, by impressing them with their quirky style.

We have often seen female actors experimenting with their looks, but the latest trend has seen Male actors also stepping out of the box and opting for some bold fashion statements.

Proving the same, here are 5 actors who have set the internet on fire with their great fashion sense:

Vijay Varma

Over time, we have seen him experimenting with his looks. He just gets better when it comes to a casual look or a red carpet-look. Vijay Varma balances his boy next door and the suave man looks really well. He seems very confident in his skin when it comes to fashion.

Bhuvan Arora

The new name on everyone's mind nowadays is Bhuvan Aroara! With his quirky and cool fashion, he has been grabbing headlines recently. His wardrobe is a mixture of classic and Contemporary looks. His personality is like water fitting in any style so easily and effortlessly.

Aashim Gulati

Aashim has always surprised us with his impeccable sense of style. He fearlessly showcases his personality through his fashion choices. Not only clothes, he also gives attention to the details of his choices of accessories, making it an overall hit.

Tusharr Khanna

In recent times, his fashion game has been top-notch. His urbane looks in casuals or dapper red-carpet ensembles are no less than thirst traps, impressing the fashion police with his poised demeanor. He has been creatively experimenting with his looks which showcases his ability to make a great impact on the audience.

Ritwik Bhowmik

His Subtleness and elegance get clearly portrayed in his dressing sense. He wears his style on his sleeves. Keeping the confidence intact he makes each fashion look on him look stunning.
ON Rathnam's Wife Suicide: According to confirmed reports, serial director ON Ratnam's wife Priya committed suicide in Chennai today. It is said that Rathnam and Priya have been married for about ten years and the couple has two sons.

Love Marriage

ON Rathnam directed many hit serials like Azhagu, Vani Rani, Sevvanthi, Priyamana Thozhi, Pandavar Illam. His hometown is Pollachi and his wife is also from the same place of Tamil Nadu. They both fell in love with each other and got married.

When Did Priya Committed Suicide ?

In this situation, they have sent both the children to their grandfather's house in Pollachi as it is now school vacation. ON Rathnam and his wife were there in their Chennai house and it seems that there was a small argument between the husband and wife last night.

ON Ratnam's sons returned to Chennai from Pollachi early this morning. Rathnam went to the bus stand to pick up the boys when Priya committed suicide at home. Priya's body has then been taken to Royapet Government Hospital.

Friends Couldn't Accept Priya's Death

While speaking to some of ON Rathnam's circle of friends, "When both of them were in love, there was so much opposition to the marriage. In such a situation Priya said to their parents, 'I will commit suicide if I cannot marry him.'

So at one stage marriage took place with the permission of their parents. No one expected such an incident to happen in the life of those who got married like that," they say sadly.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu is one of the top stars of South India, who has acted in almost all South Indian languages predominantly Tamil and Telugu. She made her debut as the leading star in the Tollywood movie, Ye Maaya Chesave, which had Naga Chaitanya as the male lead.

The duo fell in love on the sets of the movie, and after being in relationship for years, they took it to the next level by marrying each other in an elaborate wedding ceremony. However, after a few years, the former couple announced their divorce and parted ways.

Ever since they divorced, news reports about their next relation have been making the rounds on social media. Accordingly, a wedding invitation containing the name of popular Tollywood producer's son VV Dhanjaya's son Kalyan made the rounds on social media, as it contained Samantha as the name of bride.

It was speculated that actress Samantha was the bride, while it was a different Samantha who tied the knot with Kalyan. Their wedding happened on May 20 in a grand manner when several biggies from the industry taking part.

Meanwhile, it is also reported that Naga Chaitanya was dating actress Sobhita Dhulipala. However, she denied the rumors saying that she doesn't have to address things that are baseless and have no truth.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu tied the knot with Naga Chaitanya in October 2017. The actors were married for almost four years before they ended their marriage. The two announced the separation in October 2021. They had issued statements on their respective social media accounts at the time. They wrote, "After much deliberation and thought, Chay and I have decided to part ways as husband and wife to pursue our own paths. We are fortunate to have a friendship of over a decade that was the very core of our relationship which we believe will always hold a special bond between us. We request our fans, well-wishers and the media to support us during this difficult time and give us the privacy we need to move on. Thanking you for your support."
Chris Caldwell of United Renewables and Tom Gosling Meet to discuss ESG

Chris Caldwell of United Renewables and Tom Gosling Meet to discuss ESG

DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, May 24, 2023of the Conversations on Climate Podcast, Gosling argues that ESG targets can lead to greenwashing and create a false sense of security.



ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. ESG targets are used by investors to measure how companies are performing in these areas. However, Gosling argues that ESG targets can be gamed by companies that are simply looking to improve their image rather than actually making a difference.

"We need to be careful about using ESG targets as a proxy for sustainability," Gosling says. "We need to look at the underlying data and make sure that companies are actually making progress."

Gosling also argues that ESG targets can create a false sense of security. Companies that meet ESG targets may believe that they are doing enough to address climate change, when in reality they may still be making a significant contribution to environmental problems.

"We need to think about sustainability in a more holistic way," Gosling says. "We need to look at the entire value chain, from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal of waste. We also need to consider the social and governance aspects of sustainability."

Gosling's concerns about ESG targets have sparked a debate among sustainability experts. Some agree with Gosling that ESG targets can be harmful, whilst others believe that they are a necessary step in the fight against climate change.

The debate is likely to continue as ESG becomes increasingly important in the world of finance. It is important to have a clear understanding of the potential benefits and risks of ESG targets before making any investment decisions.

Join us for Season 2 of Conversations on Climate, the podcast that brings together brilliant minds from academia and business to share their expertise on the urgent issue of climate change. In this new season, we delve deeper into the world of sustainable business practices and offer practical tips and insights on how companies can thrive in a changing world. From seasoned veterans to up-and-coming entrepreneurs, our guests share diverse perspectives and innovative solutions to global environmental challenges. Don't miss out on this valuable resource is for anyone committed to a greener future.

Listeners can subscribe to the podcast's YouTube channel or follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on the latest episodes. The podcast aims to create a community of thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders who discuss the challenges ahead and offer solutions to global climate and environmental issues.

Watch this interesting episode of the Conversations on Climate podcast now to find out how your ESG targetsmay be doing more harm than good.

For more information about Conversations on Climate please visit the United Renewables website.

Tom Gosling is an Executive Fellow in the Department of Finance at LBS where he contributes to the evidence-based practice of responsible business by connecting academic research, public policy, and corporate action. He also works with the Leadership Institute at LBS.

Chris Caldwell is an entrepreneur and founder of United Renewables, a green energy company working across wind, solar, tidal and anaerobic technologies with a special interest in serving island communities. He is also a growing authority in the digital climate debate, as host of the podcast Conversations on Climate.

Conversations on Climateis a joint production of United Renewables and the London Business School Alumni Energy Club.

Episode 1 of Season 2 of the Conversations on Climate Podcast, featuring Francois Ortalo-Magne Dean of the of London Business School, is available here.

Conversations on Climatebrings world-leading thinkers from business and academia together to share their expertise on the subject of climate change. Previous guests include Sir Andrew Likierman, Julio Dal Poz, Professor Jean-Pierre Benoit, and Professor Ioannou. Tara Schmidt, Professor Dan Cable, Professor Zoe Chance, Professor Lynda Gratton.

All previous episodes can be found here. Related articles can be found here.

CONTACT Isabella Hawke - Sales and Marketing Consultant

COMPANY United Renewables

PHONE +447624457139

EMAILIIhawke@unitedrenewables.co.uk

WEB unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources

A photo and a video accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9ad2de1a-ef1b-41dd-abde-512a9c9452c6

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analysis

Joining the global forum presents political, cultural and technical challenges for the AU, which has been relatively inward-looking.

In recent months, several non-African actors have expressed their wish to see the African Union (AU) represented in the Group of 20 (G20), a forum for international economic cooperation among industrialised countries. This is a laudable recognition of the strategic importance of Africa and the AU in particular.

At the AU's February summit, African leaders decided that the body would represent the continent in the G20 alongside South Africa, which is a member in its own right.

The momentum for Africa's representation in formal and informal global governance forums has never been higher. Most United Nations (UN) Security Council permanent members also claim to favour permanent African representation on the council.

But are the AU and its member states ready to meaningfully participate in the G20, where collective solutions to the world's economic and development challenges, and not just Africa's problems, are discussed?

The momentum for Africa's representation in global governance forums has never been higher

African countries have often justified their quest for representation in global governance bodies from the perspective of equity, inclusivity and alleged historical injustice. Rightly so, but with a collective GDP comparable to France's, hard power in Africa is in short supply. Meaningful participation would require substantial changes in how the AU operates, particularly the division of labour between the AU Commission and member states.

Being part of a global forum like the G20 would require the AU to have clear positions on world issues it hasn't focused on before because they don't directly relate to Africa. For example, what is the AU's stance on North Korea's nuclear programme? Where does it stand on problems emanating from the dislocation of the Soviet empire? And how will it mediate an African position on issues that its 54 members disagree on, such as Israel's accreditation to the AU?

Becoming a G20 member would be a political, cultural and technical challenge for an organisation that has been relatively inward-looking. The AU would need to put in place working methods that allow - or force - its members to acknowledge the positions they agree on at summits. This hasn't always happened. For example, the AU includes a state (Western Sahara) that is recognised by only a third of its membership.

Many political challenges face the AU's G20 membership. It would be the first time an inter-governmental organisation was invited to join a global forum like the G20. The privilege has never been extended to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Arab League or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. So far, only the European Union (EU) has been approached, and unlike the others, it is a supra-national organisation.

The AU would have to break with the principle of consensus that bans voting from decision making

Because EU member states have agreed to transfer some of their sovereign rights to the union, it has developed what is often referred to as acquis communautaire - an aggregated body of laws and obligations. This outlines the modes of collective decision making, which sometimes require a vote.

As an inter-governmental organisation whose member states are sometimes suspicious of the Commission chair, the AU would need to develop procedures enabling the Commission to take initiatives on global matters. This would eventually contribute to changing the political culture of the AU and allow the Commission and its chair more room to manoeuvre.

The AU would also have to break with the non-written, but deeply entrenched principle of consensus that bans voting from decision making. Polls are a valuable way to create majorities while taking on board the views of minorities. The process forces actors to negotiate, build alliances and compromise on workable consensus. Resorting to qualified majority votes often protects smaller and medium-sized countries, and regional powers, who fear being outvoted.

To fully participate in the G20, the AU chairperson's office would probably need a team of experts - led by a sherpa - to study and develop African positions on global economic and development issues. The sherpa track is one of the key operating modes within the G20 and would be the most important for the AU.

AU preparations for joining the G20 call for reflection about the type of international actor it wants to be

Meaningful African participation in global governance bodies depends on the resources African countries are ready to channel towards those forums. But beyond the perennial question of AU funding, the AU Commission needs the human resources capacity for strategic planning.

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To support the AU chairperson at the G20, the Commission's recruitment practices would have to be guided less by geographic representation and more by a strategic view of what the AU aims to achieve. As the chairperson's G20 team would operate on the global stage, filling those unelected high-level positions should reflect the highest standards of professionalism.

The AU's current preparations for joining the G20 call for deep reflection about the type of international actor it wants to be. African states need to define their shared interests and the principles and values they wish to project.

The war in Ukraine has tested the continent's consistency on key principles enshrined in the AU Constitutive Act and the UN Charter. There is a risk that opportunities for more responsibility at the global level wouldn't benefit Africa.

Paul-Simon Handy, ISS Regional Director East Africa and Representative to the AU and Felicite Djilo, Independent Analyst
HIGHLIGHTS

Updated Independent Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) in accordance with NI 43-101 guidelines defined on Eastmain Project at a 2.5 g/t Au cut-off

Classification Tonnes (M) Au (g/t) Au (koz) Indicated 1.3 9.0 384 Inferred 3.8 5.1 621

Note: rounding errors apply

Indicated and Inferred Resources at Eastmain have increased by 61% and 345% respectively from the previous MRE released in 2019

The Updated MRE is primarily based on 34,443 m of drilling (63 DDH out of 92 drilled) completed in 2021 and new discoveries at Zone D, Zone E and Zone NW

Robust MRE verified by two independent experts using realistic mining assumptions (2 m minimum mining width and 1.5 g/t Au cut off for wireframes)

Large high-grade Indicated MRE of 9.0 g/t gold highlights potential with further infill drilling

High-grade mineralization starts at surface with a historical exploration decline in place

Numerous lower confidence areas were targeted in 2023 drill programs with potential to increase size and scale of the deposit, especially in Zones D and E

Toronto, Ontario and Perth, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 23, 2023) - Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (ASX: BNZ) (the Company or Benz) is pleased to announce a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) update on the Eastmain Project in Quebec, Canada.

The Updated MRE has been possible following an extensive 2021 drilling campaign on the Eastmain Mine Shear Zone within the Eastmain Project in James Bay, Quebec.

Executive Chairman, Evan Cranston, commented: "I am extremely proud to be able to deliver shareholders our updated gold MRE today. When management took over at the onset of the Covid pandemic, we started exploration with a theory that we could target Eastmain's high-grade gold using electromagnetic surveys, both down-hole and on the ground. Since the start of drilling, we were set back by Covid and six months plus assay turnaround times which meant for the majority of the time, we were drilling blind with only visual results to tell us if we were on the right track.

"Fast forward to now and we have delivered 384 koz Indicated and 621 koz Inferred gold at a very healthy 9.0 and 5.1 g/t respective gold grades using realistic mining parameters. This result is a testament to our team and highlights the enormous potential at the high-grade Eastmain Gold Project with all zones remaining open in all directions."

Eastmain Gold Project Introduction

The Eastmain Gold Project is situated on the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada. The historical Eastmain Mine Gold Deposit consisted of three high-grade mineralized zones which from east to west are the A, B and C Zones. The spatial distribution of gold grades in the Zones suggests the presence of several mineralized shoots, showing steep plunges on the Mine Series deformation plane. Gold mineralization occurs in a strongly altered and deformed horizon (1 to 10 m thick) affecting different rock types, however, always in spatial association with an ultramafic intrusion. The mineralization consists of quartz veins with massive to semi-massive sulphide veins and veinlets in a mylonite zone. The sulphides are also in disseminations and patches. Gold occurs as free grains of various sizes (1 to 8 mm) commonly in the borders of pyrrhotite, pyrite or sphalerite or in quartz veins.

The presence of these sulphide veins makes it amenable to detection using electromagnetic techniques.

The high strain deformation zone associated with the mineralization has a northwest trend and dips 40o to 50o to the northeast as mineralized shoots likely separated by northeast trending late faults.

Zones D and E were discovered using ground TDEM surveys and DHEM of almost all the completed drill holes. The percentage of sulphides is variable, and gold occurs mostly in the sulphide rich shear zones and in quartz veins in a variety of rock types and environments, including veins with albite-carbonate-tourmaline in an older deformed tonalite at Zone E and a younger granodiorite to the northeast of all the Zones.

Mineralization starts at surface with an exploration decline running through A and B Zones, from which approximately 118,000 tonnes of mineralized material were extracted grading 10.5 g/t gold and subsequently processed with a 95% recovery. The deepest drill hole has intersected visible gold at approximately 900 m vertical from surface, which indicated the prospective depth of the deposits. The identified high-grade mineralized shoots remain open along strike and at depth.





Figure 1: 3D image of the Eastmain Mine Horizon with current Benz Indicated (red) and Inferred (yellow) Resources.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/167241_47d16d09e4e83b10_001full.jpg

Exploration Completed by Benz Mining

The Company completed 51,652 m consisting of 92 diamond drillholes on the Eastmain Project in 2021 to focus on updating the previous MRE. In 2020, 12 diamond drill holes for 7,104 m were completed to test the electromagnetic anomalies, including eight holes for 4,404 m used in this MRE. Nine holes from 2022 were drilled in Zone E and Zone NW for 4,809 m. Overall, a total of 652 diamond drill holes for 174,108 m of drilling were completed on the Eastmain Mine trend, including 383 holes for 103,444 m being incorporated into the current MRE.

Mineral Resource Estimate

The May 2023 Eastmain Gold Project MRE has been estimated at 621 koz Inferred and 384 koz Indicated gold at respective grades of 5.1 and 9.0 g/t Au. This MRE is an update from the previously reported NI 43-101 compliant MRE (2019) of 236.5 koz indicated and 139.3 koz of inferred at respective grades of 8.19 g/t Au and 7.48 g/t Au on the Project.

The MRE is being reported in accordance with NI 43-101 and JORC 2012 and is effective as of 24 May 2023. Benz engaged International Resource Solutions of Australia and P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of Canada to prepare an MRE for the Eastmain Gold Project. The details of the 2023 MRE are in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Mineral Resource Estimate Sensitivity Table (Cut off 2.5 g/t Au)1-10

Cut off

Au g/t Indicated Inferred Tonnes (M) Au

(g/t) Au

(koz) Tonnes (M) Au

(g/t) Au

(koz) 4.5 1.0 10.5 351 1.6 7.4 370 4.0 1.1 10.0 362 2.1 6.6 444 3.5 1.2 9.6 371 2.6 6.0 510 3.0 1.3 9.3 380 3.3 5.5 576 2.5 1.3 9.0 384 3.8 5.1 621 2.0 1.4 8.6 392 4.7 4.6 685 1.5 1.5 8.4 393 5.5 4.1 733 1.0 1.5 8.3 394 6.0 3.9 755

Note: rounding errors apply

Notes:

The Mineral Resources described above have been prepared in accordance with the CIM Standards (Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum, 2014) and follow Best Practices outlined by CIM (2019). Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Mineral Resources as an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource classification. The underground Mineral Resources in this estimate have been reported using a 2.5 g/t lower cut-off based on US$1,800/oz Au, 0.77 US$ FX, 95% process recovery and costs of C$125/t mining, C$40/t processing and $15/t G&A. Up-dip cut and fill mining is envisioned for extracting mineralization at Eastmain. The Eastmain Zones have been classified as Indicated and Inferred according to drill spacing and two grade estimation passes. Underground Mineral Resources have been classified manually within a constraining volume to remove isolated areas not satisfying reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction ("RPEEE") and have been reported using an approximate 2 m minimum down hole intercept. Historical workings were depleted from the Mineral Resource model. The bulk density of 2.95 t/m3 has been applied based on measurements taken on the drill core with Au values equal or greater than 2.0 g/t. This value was assigned to the block model. The MRE is based on a block model with a parent block size of 10 m x 10 m x 10 m with sub cells as small as 0.5 m. Tonnage has been expressed in the metric system, and gold metal content has been expressed in troy ounces. The tonnages have been rounded to the nearest 100 k tonnes and the metal content has been rounded to the nearest 1 k ounces. Gold grades have been reported to one decimal place.

Mineral Resource Estimation Summary

Geological Interpretation

There is sufficient confidence in the geological modelling of the deposit geometry to enable Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource classification. The current MRE update represents an updated estimate to the August 2019 MRE.

Geological and mineralization constraints were generated based on gold grade assays and geological observations such as the presence of quartz veining and sulphide mineralization. Structural and geological observations were used to determine the overall attitude of the individual lodes.

Infill drilling at the Project, targets a drill hole spacing of 40 m strike by 40 m down dip or better, which enables a higher degree of confidence in the geological interpretation.

The Global Exploration Target area for the Project has overall dimensions of 7 km (strike) by up to 1 km (down-dip) and has been interpreted to extend to a maximum (tested to date) depth of 800 m below surface. Individual vein intercepts, vary from approximately 1.0 m to >10 m in thickness.

Drilling Techniques, Sampling and Assaying

The Eastmain Mine drillholes were drilled using predominantly NQ sized diamond drill core calibre (47.6 mm core diameter and 3m rods) and included downhole orientation surveys. A few 2022 heliborne drillholes used BTW-sized core (42 mm core diameter and 3 m rods). The drill contractor performed the down hole surveys and results were transferred to Benz Mining geologists digitally or on paper after each work shift.

Deviation surveys from 2020 to 2023 used the REFLEX EZ-TRAC and the AXIS North seeking Champ gyro tools to record deviation measurements every 3 to 10 m for all surface drill holes.

A portable XRF analyzer (Olympus Vanta-M) for rapid characterization of rock units is available at the site. Magnetometer and conductivity readings are taken at regular intervals with a KT-10 on core to better characterize magnetic susceptibility of the various rock units and mineralized intervals.

Recovery is recorded as a percentage calculated from measured core versus drilled intervals. Drilling on the Eastmain Mine Property achieved >99% recovery on average.

Sample lengths typically range from 0.5 to 1.5 m. Once logged and labelled, samples are sawn in half using a Vancon rock saw. One half of the core is placed in a plastic bag along with a detached portion of the unique bar-coded sample tag for shipment to the laboratory, and the other half of the core is returned to the core box, and the remaining tag portion is stapled in place. The witness drill core is stored onsite in outside core racks.

Samples were prepared at different analytical laboratories from 2020 to 2023 and include Actlab, ALS Global and MSALABS.

At Actlabs and ALS Global, gold was assayed by a conventional 50 g fire assay method with an atomic absorption or gravimetric finish. A metallic screen fire assay method was used when visible gold was observed. Multi-elements are determined by ICP methods using 4-acid digestion. MSALABS uses gamma ray analysis for gold by PhotonAssay instrument on a 500 g sample that was crushed through a 2 mm screen.

Sample weights varied from 0.6 to 5 kg, averaging 3.15 kg. This size of the samples and the sample preparation procedures are broadly used by gold mining companies in Canada and elsewhere. They are appropriate for use in the Mineral Resource Estimate.

Quality control procedures include the insertion of prepared certified reference materials and sourced blank material. Approximately 5% of Eastmain's samples are Quality Control Samples. Standards are deemed to have passed if they fall between plus or minus three standard deviations from the certified mean value or the sample mean value. QA/QC duplicates have been routinely assayed. Protocols used include using a second laboratory, ALS Global and MSALABS were used for this purpose. QA/QC results for exploration diamond drilling were acceptable for Mineral Resource estimation.

Estimation Methodology

Geological and mineralization constraints were generated by Benz geological staff in Leapfrog. The constraints thus developed were subsequently used in geostatistics, variography, block model domain coding and grade interpolation. Ordinary kriging was used for estimating Au block model grades. The constraints were coded to the drill hole database and samples were composited to 1.0 m downhole length. A parent block size of 10 m E by 10 m N by 10 m elevation was selected as an appropriate block size for grade estimation given the variability of the drill spacing and the likely potential future underground mining methods. Variography was generated for the various veins to enable estimation via ordinary kriging. Hard boundaries were used throughout for the estimation.

Input composite counts for the grade estimates were variable and set at a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 8 and this was dependent on domain sample numbers and geometry. Top cuts on the grade data were set at between 10 g/t Au and 100 g/t Au. Where appropriate, an additional distance restriction set on the estimates whereby, for example, any composite grades greater than a certain predetermined grade could not be used for block estimates more than a specific distance from that high-grade composite. The distance restriction was utilized in a small minority of domains to prevent the spread of high-grade block estimates into low-grade sample areas. Any blocks not estimated in the first grade estimation pass were estimated in a second pass with an expanded search neighbourhood with relaxed conditions to allow the domains to be fully estimated. Extrapolation of the estimated gold grades is commonly approximately 80 m beyond the edges of the drill hole data, however, may be considered appropriate given the overall classification of those extended grade estimates as Inferred.

Bulk Density

Bulk densities were collected by Benz geological staff on a total of 426 representative samples. A total of 125 suitable mineralized samples had an average measured bulk density of 2.97 t/m and a value of 2.95 t/m based on samples with grade equal or higher to 2.0 g/t Au was assigned to mineralized zones. The higher bulk densities are representative of mineralization containing significant proportions of sulphide minerals. Typically, the dry bulk densities were measured on 10 cm segments of competent drill core via the Archimedes principle (weight in air/weight in water method).

Classification

The Mineral Resource has been classified as a combination of Indicated and Inferred. The classification is based on the relative confidence within the mineralized domain and is tempered by the drill spacing which approaches 40 m by 40 m in the more densely drilled portions of the deposit. In areas where the drill spacing is better than 40 m on strike by 40 m down dip, relative confidence in the geological and mineralization interpretations allow for classification of the grade estimates as Indicated. In other areas where the drilling has a greater spacing than 40 m on strike by 40 m down-dip where the confidence in the geological and mineralization interpretation can only be considered low to moderate, the grade estimates have been classified as Inferred.

Reporting Cut-off Grade

A 2.5 g/t Au cut-off grade was used to report the Mineral Resources. This cut-off grade is estimated to be an appropriate grade required for economic extraction at current metal prices.

NI 43-101 Technical Report

A technical report, which is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), will be available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under the Company's issuer profile within 45 days of this news release.

This announcement has been authorized for release by the Board of Benz Mining Corp.

The independent qualified person as defined by NI-43-101 is Mr. Antoine Yassa, P.Geo., OGQ, of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and has reviewed and approved its technical content.

The scientific and technical information was verified by Dr. Danielle Giovenazzo, P.Geo, OGQ, the Benz Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

For more information please contact:

Evan Cranston

Chairman

Benz Mining Corp.

Email: info@benzmining.com

Telephone: +61 8 6143 6702

Dannika Warburton

Principal

Investability Partners

Email: benzmining@investability.com.au

Telephone: +61 401 094 261

About Benz Mining Corp.

Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (ASX: BNZ) brings together an experienced team of geoscientists and finance professionals with a focused strategy to unlock the immense mineral potential of the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Northern Quebec, which is prospective for gold, lithium, nickel, copper and other high-value minerals. Benz is earning a 100% interest in the former producing high grade Eastmain gold mine, Ruby Hill West and Ruby Hill East projects in Quebec and owns 100% of the Windy Mountain project.

At the Eastmain Gold Project, Benz has identified a combination of over 380 modelled in-hole and off-hole DHEM conductors over a strike length of 7 km which is open in all directions (final interpretation of some of the conductors still pending).

In 2021, Benz confirmed the presence of visible spodumene in a pegmatite at the Ruby Hill West Project, indicating lithium mineralization which Benz intends to further explore in 2023.





Benz tenure over Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt simplified geology.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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About Eastmain Gold Project

The Eastmain Gold Project, situated on the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada, hosts a NI 43-101 and JORC (2012) compliant MRE of Indicated: 384 koz Au at 9.0 g/t gold, Inferred: 621 koz Au at 5.1 g/t gold. The gold mineralization is associated with 15-20% semi-massive to massive pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite in highly deformed and altered rocks making it amenable to detection using electromagnetic techniques. Multiple gold occurrences have been identified by previous explorers over a >7 km long zone along strike from the Eastmain Mine with limited but highly encouraging testing outside the MRE area.

About Ruby Hill West Lithium Project

The Ruby Hill West Lithium project is a surface occurrence of spodumene bearing pegmatite within the Ruby Hill West project, located 50 km due west of the Eastmain exploration camp. The occurrence was first sampled in 2016 by Eastmain Resources and then by Quebec government geologists in 2018. Only limited sampling was conducted by both groups.

In March 2022 Benz conducted a drilling program at the Ruby Hill West lithium pegmatite prospect and reported a 31.2m at 0.9% Li2O interval of visible spodumene rich pegmatite in the drilling (ASX & TSX-V releases dated 29 April 2022 "Multiple spodumene pegmatites intersected at Ruby Hill West").

Competent Person's Statement under JORC 2012: Information in this announcement that relates to mineral resources is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Brian Wolfe, a consultant specialising in mineral resource estimation, evaluation, and exploration. Mr Wolfe is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Wolfe has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person (or "CP") as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr Wolfe has reviewed the contents of this announcement and consents to the inclusion in this announcement of all technical statements based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that the Company obtains regulatory approval. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, that occurrences such as those referred to above are realized and result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, and delays in regulatory approval, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

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BEIJING, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and ESCP Business School are proud to announce the launch of a unique Dual MBA Program that will offer students an unparalleled opportunity to study in a truly global program with key strategic differentiations. The Dual MBA, taught in English and delivered primarily in Asia and Europe, will combine the expertise of both institutions to provide students with a global perspective, introduce the latest trends in business, technology, digitalization, and to propel them to foster social innovation.

Students of the Dual MBA Program will be able to study in several locations, leveraging CKGSB' s China campuses and partner institutions in Dubai, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo, and ESCP's six campuses across Europe. The Dual MBA Program will provide participants CKGSB's deep knowledge of Asia and ESCP's long-standing reputation as the world's oldest business school and leader for international experience.

"CKGSB is one of the few schools globally that can cover digital transformation from the US, Chinese and RCEP perspectives by drawing on its world-class faculty who have deep industry experience," said CKGSB Founding Dean Xiang Bing. Students will learn about the technology and strategies that drive successful digital transformation of enterprises and economies, and how organizations can leverage mobile and internet-of-things. "The program will also offer insights for start-ups seeking to scale up and become unicorn companies. Last but not least, the program emphasizes the social purpose of business with a particular emphasis on social innovation."

ESCP Business School's Interim Dean Leon Laulusa says, "By partnering with CKGSB, we combine the best of Europe and Asia in terms of innovative management, entrepreneurial growth and business acumen. Partnering with a globally-leading business school, that is particularly strong in China and Asia, allows us to grow ESCP's presence in this key region. This is an important step in preparing our students to be global business leaders, equipped with the skills and competencies of today's and tomorrow's world."

The program is for students who want to deepen their understanding and pursue careers in global business. The curriculum covers courses, like finance, marketing and strategy, as well as a special emphasis on RCEP economies, technology and business model innovation, unicorns and social innovation. Graduates of the program will receive two MBAs and join the powerful alumni networks of both schools. Applications begin on 1 September, 2023, and the program commences in September 2024.

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Leading global nonprofit unlocks women's financial power and announces the winners of the 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge

MUMBAI, India, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Women's World Banking, a global leader in advancing financial inclusion for low-income women across the world, is bringing the Making Finance Work for Women Summit to Mumbai, India on 24-25 May 2023. Convening for the first time in person since 2019, the Making Finance Work for Women Summit will provide a space for over 300 leaders in the financial services, investor, philanthropy, policy, and technology communities to come together and discuss innovative ways to economically empower all women through financial inclusion.





"From climate change to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to face an unprecedented number of events negatively impacting the global economy - often with particularly damaging consequences for women," said Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women's World Banking. "Nearly one billion women across the world still lack access to the formal financial services that would allow them to be resilient in the face of these challenges. The Making Finance Work for Women Summit is one of the ways Women's World Banking is trying to close the gender gap in financial services. We will showcase proven solutions that can be adapted by financial services providers and policymakers around the globe."

At this year's Making Finance Work for Women Summit, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from leaders such as Stephanie Copus Campbell, Australia's Ambassador for Gender Equality; Soraya Hakuziyaremye, Deputy Governor, National Bank of Rwanda; and Rajesh Bansal, CEO, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. Panel discussions will touch on everything from finance for displaced women, to gender lens investing, to the role of the 'S' in ESG, providing attendees with a space to both better understand why financial power is vital to economic resilience and see what they can do to unshackle women's financial power.

"We are lucky to have so many thought leaders gathered with us in India, which is where Women's World Banking's story began more than 40 years ago and where we continue to do some of our most impactful work," continued Iskenderian. "With India holding the Presidency for the G20 this year, we could think of no better location for creating innovative pathways to women's financial inclusion."

Women's World Banking is excited to bring back the Fintech Innovation Challenge as a part of this year's Making Finance Work for Women Summit programming. The Fintech Innovation Challenge is a global competition to showcase solutions that tackle the persistent challenges in serving low-income women. The Challenge will culminate on the final day of the Summit where the four finalists - GajiGesa, IndiaP2P, MeraBills, and Paycode, selected from a field of 98 applications from 34 countries - will deliver their pitches to a judging panel comprised of experts from financial services, technology, innovation, and regulatory bodies. The winner will receive a priority pitch slot at the Inclusive FinTech Forum in Rwanda, powered by Elevandi. The Challenge is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ernst & Young LLP (EY US).

"Fintechs have a unique advantage in addressing the digital financial services inclusion gap for women. This year's applicant pool was full of innovative companies with exciting business models for addressing the biggest obstacles to women's financial inclusion," said Iskenderian. "All four of our finalists, three of which are led by female founders, hold enormous potential to promote women's economic security and prosperity."

Women's World Banking is committed to promoting financial inclusion and bolstering economic empowerment for women. To date, the global organization has increased access and/or usage of financial products and services to more than thirteen million women in emerging markets. In the last year alone, Women's World Banking invested eighty-eight million dollars in inclusive finance institutions, reaching over six million women.

The Making Finance Work for Women Summit is presented by Women's World Banking with support from Leading Sponsor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scaling Sponsor Ernst & Young (EY US). The event is made possible with additional sponsorship from MetLife Foundation, European Investment Bank, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and The United Nations Capital Development Fund. Women's World Banking is grateful for the ongoing support of its core funders: Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and Visa Foundation.

For more information, follow @womensworldbnkg at MFWW2023.

A full list of speakers can be found here and the agenda for the Summit can be found here.



For media inquiries, or to arrange interview opportunities with any of the Summit speakers or Fintech Innovation Challenge finalists, contact: Elizabeth McDermott at elizabeth.mcdermott@porternovelli.com

About Women's World Banking

Women's World Banking designs and invests in financial solutions, institutions, and policy environments in emerging markets to create greater economic stability and prosperity for women, their families, and their communities. With a Global Network reach of 61 financial services providers in 34 countries serving more than 136 million women clients, Women's World Banking drives impact through its scalable, market-driven solutions; gender lens private equity fund; and leadership and diversity programs.





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DevvStream has made stable progress on multiple projects and developments in the first four months since public listing

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - DevvStream Holdings Inc. (NEO: DESG) (OTCQB: DSTRF) (FSE: CQ0) ("DevvStream" or the "Company") is pleased to update shareholders on major developments within the Company's portfolio and address several aspects that have matured during the first four months of its public listing on the Cboe Canada Exchange (formerly the 'NEO Exchange').

"During the last 4 months, DevvStream has accomplished multiple milestones which have set the Company in a leadership position amongst our peers and is on pace to generate our first set of credits by the end of 2023," said Sunny Trinh, CEO of DevvStream. "As the carbon credit market continues to evolve and demonstrate its key role in the world's transition towards decarbonization, so has the offering that DevvStream provides to its current and prospective partners. DevvStream provides its partner ecosystem with the ability to develop carbon credit streams backed by various technology-enabled efficiency mandates, such as the electrification of municipal transportation. We are able to deliver this offering through the interpretation of data and the application of methodologies that exist all over the world. We are excited in our pursuit of being a part of the global decarbonization solution and we look forward to further updating shareholders on milestones that will substantiate DevvStream's leadership position in the carbon credit space."





Figure 1



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DevvStream Oil Well Plugging Carbon Offset Program (OWPCOP)

DevvStream is in the final stages of completing the development of a comprehensive offset program known as the "Oil Well Plugging Carbon Offset Program (OWPCOP)." This program aims to facilitate the generation of carbon credits in a fast and efficient manner for any organization involved in plugging oil wells in the United States and Canada. It is based on the "Abandoned and Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells methodology" by the American Carbon Registry (ACR), which is currently undergoing its final phase of public release.

This ground breaking program will be the first of its kind worldwide, allowing industry organizations to earn additional revenue through carbon credits when they plug abandoned and/or orphaned oil wells. The program is designed to accommodate an unlimited number of wells and participants, with the flexibility to incorporate new additions over time.

In one Canadian province, DevvStream is developing an equivalent offset program specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the regulated TIER program. Once approved, this program will enable the marketing of credits generated as compliance units, making them eligible under Canadian regulations and initiatives such as OBPS-regulated entities (Output-Based Pricing System).

Furthermore, DevvStream is actively collaborating with a recognized international Program Authority to establish an equivalent quantification methodology for overseas markets. This publication will pave the way for oil well plugging activities across the globe to generate carbon credits.

Concurrently, we are working alongside our partner, TS Nano, in their mission to combat methane gas emissions from leaky, abandoned, and orphaned oil and gas wellbores. TS Nano has developed a patented sealant technology specifically designed for this purpose. DevvStream has entered into a contract with TS Nano to serve as their principal carbon streaming partner, responsible for managing the carbon credits generated through the application of TS Nano's ground breaking technology. As of now, TS Nano has successfully plugged seven wells using a testing rig in compliance with ACR's methodology.

Carbon Offset Program for Canadian Municipalities and Provincial Governments via Joint Venture with Marmota

Marmota, a DevvStream joint venture and privately-owned company, is dedicated to establishing carbon credit streams in collaboration with Canadian municipalities and Provincial organizations. Marmota has been actively involved in discussions with various Canadian municipalities to assist them in achieving their climate objectives through the development of carbon credit projects.

Currently, Marmota is in the final stage of the Request for Proposals ("RFP") process with two municipalities located in Eastern Canada. The company anticipates making formal announcements regarding these programs in the near future. If the combined initiatives of these initial two municipalities align with the previously established emission reduction goals, both have the potential to generate up to two million carbon credits annually for a period of 10 years or more.

In addition to these two municipalities, Marmota has also submitted a proposal to a provincial government in Canada, which has been positively received. The proposal outlines two potential programs. The first program focuses on a fuel switching project that could generate up to 500,000 credits per year over a 10-year period.

DevvStream's Buildings and Facilities Carbon Offset Program (BFCOP)

DevvStream is set to launch an innovative offset program known as the Building and Facilities Carbon Offset Program (BFCOP). This program is the first of its kind and aims to remove barriers for organizations looking to generate carbon credit revenue in three specific categories: energy demand activities such as energy and fuel efficiency activities, onsite renewable energy generation, and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Initially, the BFCOP will be introduced in the United States and Canada, with plans to expand into the European Union at a later stage. The program is expected to become operational in the summer of 2023.

Residential, commercial, and institutional buildings, whether they are newly constructed or undergoing retrofitting, are eligible to participate in the BFCOP. Notably, there is no cost associated with joining the program, making it an accessible opportunity for a wide range of entities.

Following the announcement of the BFCOP, DevvStream has already begun negotiations with various commercial real estate developers and owners.

DevvStream continues to be encouraged by the pipeline of opportunity that is available to it within the carbon credit space. Further, it expects that its project pipeline will continue to increase in quality as the Company demonstrates its unique ability to generate credits from new projects rather than purchasing existing streams where quality and transparency is not always present.

All dollar figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

About DevvStream

DevvStream is a technology-based carbon credit company that advances the development and monetization of environmental assets, with an initial focus on carbon markets. Devvstream works with governments and corporations worldwide to achieve their sustainability goals through the implementation of curated green technology projects that generate renewable energy, improve energy efficiencies, eliminate or reduce emissions, and sequester carbon directly from the air-creating carbon credits in the process.

For more information, please visit www.devvstream.com.

Disclaimer

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that are not historical facts. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include reference to the commercial projections and viability of any of the Company's carbon credit programs and partnerships. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, and which are described in the Company's public filings available under its profile at www.sedar.com. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not intend to update any of the included forward-looking statements except as required by Canadian securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167169
EPIC Suisse AG / Key word(s): Quarter Results

EPIC Suisse AG: EPIC Suisse releases high level Q1 2023 numbers in line with majority shareholder's reporting obligations



24-May-2023 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Media release - Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR Zurich, 24 May 2023 EPIC Suisse releases high level Q1 2023 numbers in line with majority shareholder's reporting obligations EPIC Suisse AG (the "Company" and "EPIC", the consolidated group; SIX: EPIC), publishes today high-level figures 1 for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2023 in parallel with its majority shareholder, Alrov Properties & Lodgings Ltd (the "Alrov Group"): Fair value of the portfolio as at 31 March 2023 totals CHF 1.52 billion split into Investment properties in operation at CHF 1'450 million (31 Dec 2022: CHF 1'448 million) and Investment properties under development / construction at CHF 66 million (31 Dec 2022: CHF 54 million)

Total income (defined as rental income and other income) for Investment properties in operation for the 3-month period 2023 amounts to CHF 16.8 million (Q1 2022: CHF 15.6 million)

Total bank debt as at 31 March 2023 is CHF 595 million (31 Dec 2022: CHF 596 million)

The IFRS NAV stands at CHF 827 million as at 31 March 2023 (31 Dec 2022: CHF 818 million) Financial calendar Half-Year Report 2023: 21 August 2023 Selected high level numbers YTD 30 September 2023: 23 November 2023 Annual Report 2023: 25 March 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders 2024: 25 April 2024



1 In line with the Q1 / 3-month 2023 report published today by EPIC co-founder and majority shareholder Alrov Group on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange.

Contact information Valerie Scholtes, CFO, EPIC Suisse AG, Phone: +41 44 388 81 00, E-mail: investors@epic.ch

About EPIC Suisse AG EPIC Suisse AG is a Swiss real estate company with a high-quality property portfolio of about CHF 1.5 billion in market value. It has a sizeable development pipeline and a strong track record in sourcing, acquiring, (re)developing and actively managing commercial properties in Switzerland. EPIC's investment properties are mainly located in Switzerland's major economic hubs, specifically the Lake Geneva Region and the Zurich Economic Area. Listed on SIX Swiss Exchange since May 2022 (SIX ticker symbol EPIC; Swiss Security Number (Valorennummer) 51613168; ISIN number CH0516131684). More information: www.epic.ch

Disclaimer This publication may contain specific forward-looking statements, e.g. statements including terms like "believe", "assume", "expect", "forecast", "project", "may", "could", "might", "will" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may result in a substantial divergence between the actual results, financial situation, development or performance of EPIC Suisse AG and those explicitly or implicitly presumed in these statements. Against the background of these uncertainties, readers should not rely on forward-looking statements. EPIC Suisse AG assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements or to adapt them to future events or developments.

Additional features:





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End of Inside Information
abrdn Property Income Trust Limited

(an authorised closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 41352)

LEI Number: 549300HHFBWZRKC7RW84

(The "Company")

24 MAY 2023

TRIO OF OFFICE LETTINGS

abrdn Property Income Trust (API) has completed a trio of lettings within its office portfolio, securing 321,200 p.a. in rent. A lease to The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry and an agreement for lease to FCN Group Ltd have completed at 54 Hagley Road in Birmingham, whilst a letting to OneStream Software Ltd has completed at 15 Basinghall Street in London.

Mark Blyth, Deputy Fund Manager of API commented: "The lettings at 54 Hagley Road follow the 21,500 sq.ft deal we exchanged in April, and account for a further 8,200 sq.ft of space and secured 178,386 p.a. in rent. These recent lettings show significant progress with our business plan at the property, with the building now over 90% let. The letting at 15 Basinghall Street in London was for the 2,892 sq.ft 2nd floor, and now means the building is fully-let following a successful refurbishment and letting campaign.

The recent activity has been despite a challenging letting environment and is testament to the quality of the space API has to offer. It also points to the positive work API's asset management team have undertaken ensuring that our buildings meet current tenant expectations. In addition to other contracted lettings, the overall fund occupancy rate will exceed 95%, demonstrating strong letting momentum."

All Enquiries:

Jason Baggaley - Real Estate Fund Manager, abrdn

Tel: 07801039463 or jason.baggaley@abrdn.com

Mark Blyth - Real Estate Deputy Fund Manager, abrdn

Tel: 07703695490 or mark.blyth@abrdn.com

END
International business leaders to share cyber risk quantification innovations showcasing how they are minimizing fiscal impact of escalating cybersecurity attacks in London June 1

RESTON, Va., May 24, 2023, a non-profit professional organization dedicated to advancing the discipline of measuring and managing cybersecurity and operational risk, will host a new conference in Europe: FAIR Institute Summit Europein London June 1. In March, FAIR Institute Middle East and Africa was held in Jordan. In the upcoming conference, businesses in the U.K. will address how they are recognizing a cultural shift in the financial effects of cyber threats and taking measurable steps to halt their progression.



Speakers will provide insights into how they are leveraging the industry's international standard Factor Analysis of Information Risk, the leading model, to build or improve their risk management programs. FAIR is the only resource that uses a financial approach to measure cyber risk quantification in dollars and cents across all industries to help make better business investment decisions.

The London Summit will be held at IET Savoy Place, Maxwell Library, 2 Savoy Place, London, Thursday, June 1. Speakers at the all-day summit, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., will be featured in keynote addresses, panel conversations, and use case presentations. They include:

Jack Jones, 3x CISO, award-winning author of the FAIR Model, Chairman of the FAIR Institute

Nick Sanna, President of the FAIR Institute; CEO of RiskLens; Board Member of the Internet Security Alliance

Phil Huggins, CISO, National Health Service, England

Julian Meyrick, Managing Partner & Vice President, Security Strategy Risk & Compliance, IBM Security

Pooya Alai and Rebekka Kerland, Cyber Security Managers, Maersk

Pierre Olodo, Cyber Risk Specialists, Richemont

Keyun Ruan, Risk Economics and Quantification Lead, Google Cloud

Laura Voicu, Manager Security Assurance and Risk Management, InfoSec, Elastic

Hardip Bharj, Head of Security Risk Management, SAP

Paul de Luca, Head of Cyber Risk, HPE

Jo Armstrong, Head of UK Card Technology Risk Management, Capital One

David Steng, Director, Cyber Risk & Economics, Group Cybersecurity Office, Fresenius Group

Ferhat Yazgili, Senior Cyber Risk Manager, Fresenius Group



Register for the 2023 Europe Summit here. Sponsors for this event are FAIR Institute Technical Advisor RiskLens, Institute Sponsor IBM Security, and Europe Chapter Community Sponsor C-Risk.

"We are proud to invite business leaders to our inaugural FAIR Institute Summit Europe and previously our FAIR Institute Summit Jordan. They have asked us to bring sessions such as we offer at the FAIR Conference in the U.S.," said Nick Sanna, president, FAIR Institute. "Cyber threats are growing worldwide and becoming a significant financial drain for businesses and organizations. Our sessions will provide members inspiring, thought-provoking and educational sessions relevant for the needs in their regions and beyond."

Membership to FAIR Institute is free. If organizations are not yet members, visit here to learn how to become involved: https://bit.ly/3XHDLzR. The popular annual U.S. FAIRCON event will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 17 and 18, 2023, at the Fairmont Hotel, Washington, D.C. Additional details to be announced.

About the FAIR Institute

The FAIR Instituteis an expert, non-profit organization led by information risk officers, CISOs and business executives, created to develop and share standard risk management practices based on FAIR. Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) is the only international standard analytics model for information security and operational risk. FAIR helps organizations quantify and manage risk from the business perspective and enables cost-effective decision-making. FAIR has more than 14,000 members worldwide in over 100 countries representing over half of Global 2000 companies. To learn more and get involved visit: www.fairinstitute.org.

FAIR Institute education partners include Arizona State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Center for Applied Cyber Education, Ferris State University, George Mason University, Harvard University, Macquarie University, Pepperdine, San Jose State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Tampa, University of Toronto, Virginia Tech, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Media Registration: News media members interested in covering the Summit can register and receive an access pass by contacting Luke Bader, lbader@fairinstitute.org.

Contact:

Cathy Morley Foster

Eskenzi PR

cathy@eskenzipr.com

925.708.7893




NEW DELHI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Doctors at Manipal Hospital, Delhi recently performed a groundbreaking robotic-assisted Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery on a 44-year-old male patient from Iraq. The patient came to the hospital with a complaint of chest pain and upon further diagnosis, it was found that the patient was suffering from triple vessel blockage, requiring revascularization.





As the patient was already undergoing cancer treatment, looking at his condition Dr. Yugal Kishore Mishra, Chief of Clinical Services, Head of Cardiac Sciences, and Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon at Manipal Hospital, Delhi and his team decided to proceed with robotic-assisted CABG surgery. In this case, this innovative approach played a major role considering the condition of the patient and the risk factors. The procedure is aimed at ensuring a quicker recovery, smaller surgical wounds, and reduced chances of healing complications for the patient.

Unlike traditional CABG surgery, robotic-assisted CABG enables patients to experience a faster recovery time, minimal scarring, and potentially improved graft placement, thanks to its minimally invasive technique. The procedure also incorporates continuous one-lung ventilation (OLV), an advanced technique that significantly lowers the risk of complications during surgery, including bleeding, infection, and lung collapse.

Commenting on the successful surgery of this patient, Dr. Mishra said, "This was a complicated case as the patient was undergoing treatment for cancer. We opted for a robotic CABG as an open-heart surgery would have taken longer recovery time and would have created complications in treatment of his cancer. Robotic-assisted CABG offers several advantages over traditional CABG surgery, including smaller incisions, greater precision, reduced blood loss, shorter hospital stays, and faster return to daily activities. This advanced approach provides patients with a quicker recovery time and improved overall comfort. His surgery was successful and he was discharged from the hospital after five days."

Manipal Hospital, Delhi, continues to uphold its commitment to providing state-of-the-art healthcare services, offering the latest medical advancements and personalized treatment options to patients from across the globe.

About Manipal Hospitals

As a pioneer in healthcare, Manipal Hospitals is among the top healthcare providers in India serving over 4.5 million patients annually. Its focus is to develop an affordable, high quality healthcare framework through its multispecialty and tertiary care delivery spectrum and further extend it to out of hospital care. With the completion of acquisition of 100% shareholding in Columbia Asia Hospitals Private Limited and Vikram Hospital (Bengaluru) Private Limited, the integrated network today has a pan-India footprint of 29 hospitals across 16 cities with 8,300+ beds, and a talented pool of 4,000 doctors and an employee strength of over 12,000.

Manipal Hospitals provides comprehensive curative and preventive care for a multitude of patients from around the globe. Manipal Hospitals is NABH, AAHRPP accredited and most of the hospitals in its network are NABL, ER, Blood Bank accredited and recognized for Nursing Excellence. Manipal Hospitals has also been recognised the most respected and patient recommended hospital in India through various consumer surveys.

Media Contact:

Call us: +91-8376965812, +91-7303881483

Email us: manipal.international@manipalhospitals.com

Visit us at: https://www.manipalhospitals.com/internationalpatientcare/doctors/search/location-delhi?page=1

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Nantes (France) - 23 May 2023 - 06.00 pm. - Lhyfe (Euronext Paris - FR0014009YQ1 - LHYFE), one of the world's pioneers in the production of green and renewable hydrogen to decarbonize industry and mobility, held its Combined Annual General Meeting this Tuesday 23 May 2023. This meeting was chaired by Matthieu Guesne, Chairman of the Board, in the presence of the Company's Statutory Auditors.

During this Annual General Meeting - the first since the company's IPO on the Euronext market in Paris, Lhyfe's shareholders approved the annual and consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2022. All thirty resolutions put to the vote were approved.

The voting results for each resolution proposed for approval will be made available under the Investors, Annual general meetings section , of Lhyfe's website, within the statutory time frame.

The documents (in French) required by the law Code were made available to shareholders at the company's headquarters (1 ter mail Pablo Picasso, 44000 Nantes, France) and under the Investors, Annual general meetings section , of Lhyfe's website.

About Lhyfe

Lhyfe is a European group dedicated to the energy transition, and a producer and supplier of green and renewable hydrogen. Its production sites and portfolio of projects aim to provide access to green and renewable hydrogen in industrial quantities, and to enter into a virtuous energy model allowing the decarbonization of entire sectors of industry and mobility.

In 2021, Lhyfe inaugurated the world's first industrial green hydrogen production site in direct connection with a wind farm. In 2022, Lhyfe inaugurated the world's first pilot platform for green hydrogen production at sea.

Lhyfe is present in 11 European countries and has 149 employees at the end of 2022. The company is listed on the Euronext market in Paris (ISIN: FR0014009YQ1 - mnemonic: LHYFE).

For more information go to Lhyfe.com

Contacts

Investor relations

LHYFE

Yoann Nguyen

investors@lhyfe.com Financial press relations

ACTUS

Manon Clairet

+33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr Business press relations

Nouvelles Graines

Clemence Rebours

+33 (0)6 60 57 76 43

c.rebours@nouvelles-graines.com

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+39,93% Rendite seit Januar  so lautet die Erfolgsbilanz der Aktie der Woche. Damit wurden sowohl der DAX als auch der S&P 500 deutlich outperformt. Wie das genau funktioniert, erklart Chefradakteur Lars Wiler in seiner Zwischenbilanz.

PERTH (SCOTLAND) (dpa-AFX) - SSE Plc (SSE.L), a Scottish energy firm, reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2023 loss before tax was 205.6 million pounds, compared to prior year's profit of 3.48 billion pounds. Loss per share was 14.7 pence, compared to profit of 241.2 pence last year. The latest result was hurt mainly by a net 2.3 billion pounds adverse fair value movement on derivatives. Adjusted profit before tax was 2.18 billion pounds, compared to 1.16 billion pounds a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 166.0 pence, compared to 94.8 pence a year ago. Adjusted operating profit climbed 65 percent from last year to 2.53 billion pounds. Further, the company announced intention to recommend a final dividend of 67.7p for payment on September 21. This maks a full year dividend of 96.7p per share. The company said full- year dividend rebased to 60p for 2023/24, with increases of 5 - 10 percent p.a. to 2026/27. Looking ahead for fiscal 2024, the company projects adjusted earnings per share of more than 150 pence. For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Nigerian author Arinze Ifeakandu has often dreamed of a society where gay people do not have to hide their love or live in fear of homophobic hate.

But LGBTQ+ people are pushing back against repression through creativity and community, said Ifeakandu, whose debut book "God's Children are Little

Broken Things" won the prestigious Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for literature this month.

"I always believe in the agency of people," said Ifeakandu, 28, whose book follows nine stories of LGBTQ+ men in Nigeria.

"And when you push people, (they will say), 'Look, I don't have a choice about who I am. So I (need to) find a way to survive in this society.'"

There is limited gay representation in arts and media across Africa, where more than half of nations ban gay sex, but Ifeakandu is among a growing number of writers and creatives telling LGBTQ+ stories across the continent.

Nigeria is a deeply religious country, where many reject homosexuality as a corrupting Western import.

In 2014, the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act was signed into law, which bars not only gay relationships but also any public sign of same-sex affection or membership of LGBTQ+ groups, with punishments of up to 14 years in prison.

States in the mainly Muslim north also operate a parallel sharia legal system that can impose the death penalty for gay sex.

"For the longest time, I would imagine what the ideal looked like - how would life look like if I did not share a country with a bunch of ignorant people?" said Ifeakandu, who now splits his time between Nigeria, Britain and the United States.

His book does not explicitly attempt to answer those questions, but they are implicit in his stories of LGBTQ+ life in contemporary Nigeria.

Though they revolve around love and loss, politics - particularly the situation for LGBTQ+ people in the country - backgrounds the collection.

'RAGE AND ANGER'

Ifeakandu's literary prize came shortly after Uganda's parliament passed some of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation last month, which would criminalise the "promotion" of homosexuality and impose the death penalty for some crimes involving gay sex.

The move by the East African nation has sparked anxiety among many LGBTQ+ Africans who fear other countries could also move to repress gay rights.

Kenya has recently seen an uptick in homophobic rhetoric, while senior politicians in Tanzania and Burundi have called for crackdowns on homosexuality.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Human Rights By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Ifeakandu said he could not comment on the situation in Uganda, more than 3,000km away from his home in Nigeria, but recalled how his own country's 2014 crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights sparked an upswelling of anger and resistance.

From those emotions came creativity - many people took to writing blogs, Ifeakandu said, and new relationships and friendships were formed.

This is a central point of his work, he added, how adversity - either from the government or the public - can create bonds grown previously disparate people.

"The idea (at the time) was to sort of cage us," he said of the Nigerian anti-gay law.

"It had the opposite effect because there was a lot of rage and anger."

(Reporting by Hugo Greenhalgh @hugo_greenhalgh; editing by Sonia Elks. Please credit Openly, the LGBTQ+ news website from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit https://www.openlynews.com)
Reyna Law Firm announced that it now offers personal injury and workers' compensation case representation to oilfield and oil well professionals in and around Odessa, Texas.

San Antonio, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - With its latest announcement, Reyna Law Firm is reaching out to oilfield workers in Odessa and other areas in Western Texas who have been injured in a workplace accident. The law firm recognizes that such occupations are associated with a high risk of injury, with a number of hazards constantly present on oilfields, and offers legal assistance to help victims pursue compensation.

For more information see https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/odessa.

Odessa, TX Oilfield Accident Injury Legal Services Announced By Reyna Law Firm

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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As heavy machinery, vehicles, and pressure lines potentially endanger oil workers on a continuous basis, Reyna Law Firm now offers the aid of its enhanced personal injury case representation in Odessa. The lead attorney, Juan Reyna, explains that employers have a duty to protect their workforce from toxic exposure and keep the equipment safe to use, and where negligence has occurred, workers could be owed compensation.

"The parties who caused your accident should be held liable for the pain they have caused," explains Juan Reyna, the firm's leading attorney. "By calling a Texas oilfield accident attorney today, you are protecting yourself, your assets, and your loved ones."

Following the announcement, the Texas-wide firm hopes to help its Odessa clients collect damages by going through official channels, with a team of attorneys well-versed in state law regarding workers' compensation. Reyna Law Firm is equipped to lessen the workload of its already-embattled clients as much as possible, moving to gather evidence, file reports, and communicate with insurance companies.

In support of the updated services, the firm commits to working passionately and being available across each stage of the personal injury and workers' compensation claim process. Reyna Law Firm advises clients that, once hired, its lawyers are ready and able to take over all necessary steps relating to lawsuits, hearings, negotiations, and courtroom proceedings.

Odessa clients can now schedule consultations at Reyna Law Firm's office, allowing the attorneys to assess the circumstances surrounding each case while informing potential clients of their most appropriate legal strategies. The firm's official website offers case review scheduling options alongside details of over-the-phone and text message contact listings.

Interested parties in Odessa and nearby can find additional details about Reyna Law Firm and its wider range of personal injury law services at https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/.

Contact Info:

Name: Juan Reyna

Email: Jr@jreynalawfirm.com

Phone: +1-432-232-5183

Organization: Reyna Law Firm

Address: 8000 Interstate 10, San Antonio, TX 78229, United States

Website: https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167253
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Defence Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: DTC) (FSE: DTC) (OTC Pink: DTCFF) ("Defence" or the "Company"), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of immune-oncology vaccines and drug delivery technologies is pleased to announce the successful completion of a pre-clinical study evaluating the therapeutic potency of a second-generation ARM vaccine targeting solid tumors.

The AccumTM technology holds a promising future with its versatile application in the development of various products. AccumTM is acting as an endosomal-damaging agent capable of enhancing bio-drug accumulation in target cells. The AccumTM molecule can be modulated to generate a series of variants exhibiting novel, and sometimes, unexpected pharmacological properties. For instance, the Accum variant A1, when admixed with antigens, can cause protein aggregation and "turn on" various stress responses in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) converting them to potent antigen presenting cells.

The Defence team recently engineered a new dimer form of A1, named the A1-2 variant, which when used to stimulate MSCs, cures all treated mice with pre-established lymphoma. These amazing results were obtained with the use of a dose equivalent to only 40% of the initial A1 dose used to generate the ARM vaccine.

"This is a major achievement in our ARM vaccine program as we reached three major milestones: i) easiness of A1-2 manufacturing, ii) improved stability, and iii) an optimization with a 60% decrease in the dose needed to produce the second-generation ARM vaccine," says Mr. Plouffe, CEO and president of Defence.

Defence has recently initiated the dry runs (establishing the manufacturing protocol) required by Health Canada to validate its GMP manufacturing steps required prior to launch its Phase I trial. With these runs expected to be completed this summer, Defence intends to submit its CTA application in Q3 of 2023.

"These dry runs along with all required quality control steps are central to obtain approval for our Phase I trial targeting solid tumors. This exciting therapeutic against pre-established lymphoma is cost effective and easy to manufacture. Defence's A1-2 dimer establishes and retains astonishing therapeutic potency," adds Dr. Rafei, the VP research and development of Defence Therapeutics.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global vaccines market is projected to grow from $61.04 billion in 2021 to $125.49 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 10.8% in forecast period, 2021-2028.

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/vaccines-market-101769

About Defence:

Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded biotechnology company working on engineering the next generation vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUMTM technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs in their intact form to target cells. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.

For further information:

Sebastien Plouffe, President, CEO and Director

P: (514) 947-2272

Splouffe@defencetherapeutics.com

www.defencetherapeutics.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Neither the CSE nor its market regulator, as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167176
YINCHUAN, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ningxia, China's leading wine-producing region, will host a wine-themed international conference and an expo in its capital city of Yinchuan next month, the event's organizers said Tuesday.

The International Conference on Grape and Wine Industries, as well as the third China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo, will be held from June 9 to 10, according to the Administrative Committee of Grape Industry Zone of Helan Mountain's East Foothill Wine Region in Ningxia.

The conference, themed "Nature, Innovation, Culture and Ecology", will invite experts and enterprises in the wine-making industry at home and abroad, and officials from 47 wine-producing countries and representatives of nine international organizations.

A total of 2,000 wine products of over 100 enterprises from 12 wine-producing regions across China will be displayed.

The event features forums on climate, technologies, trade and investment, as well as wine culture and tourism.

Ni Hongxing, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the global wine industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic downturn.

"We want to make contributions to sustainable global economic and social development by joining hands with other wine-producing countries, building economic cooperation platforms, tapping the potential of industrial recovery, and promoting integrated and innovative development," said the official.

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China has emerged as the country's largest wine-producing region after more than 40 years of development. It now has 228 wineries that produced 138 million bottles of wine in 2022, generating brand value of over 30 billion yuan (about 4.27 billion U.S. dollars).

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Regulatory News:

On May 9, 2023, Philippe Knoche, Orano's CEO, signed a 2023-2027 agreement with all five trades unions represented in the group. This agreement will accelerate professional equality between women and men. It is the fourth agreement since 2012 and the second within Orano's scope.

This represents an extension of the employer-employee dialogue the group set up over ten years ago to promote diversity, inclusion, gender equality, and professional development for each employee.

This agreement accelerating professional equality will result in concrete actions to improve life at work for men and women in the Orano group. It is centered on the following eight fundamentals:

Achieving our gender diversity objectives in recruitment: for equal skills, the candidate who is under-represented in terms of gender will be given preference, with a hiring objective of 39% executives and 25% non-executives by the end of this agreement's term;

Reaching salary equality to bridge the residual salary gaps between men and women by financially compensating unjustified pay differences for a given responsibility level using a dedicated budget;

Promoting access to management and expert positions by increasing the proportion of women on management committees, in executive positions and expert or specialized disciplines, in addition to a bonus amounting to 50% of the co-opting bonus for recruiting a woman in a technical discipline;

Guaranteeing equal opportunity and safeguarding against effects of parenthood on career development, meaning that being a parent shall in no way hinder recruitment, access to training, promotion or salary progression, through such measures as maintaining bonuses in case of a change in position related to pregnancy;

Accelerating equal opportunity and fostering work-life balance through inclusion of new social factors such as assisted human reproduction, endometriosis, support for people during gender transitioning, and the fight against domestic abuse;

Guaranteeing equal access to training;

Continuing to fight against moral and sexual harassment as well as sexist behavior through improving ethics-related alerts;

Fostering gender diversity in union representation with the introduction of a metric.

This agreement is concluded for a four-year period and will be subject to action plans in the entities and annual monitoring both nationally and within the group's facilities, where it will be deployed.

Helene Derrien, People Communications Senior Executive Vice President at Orano, stated, "I am proud of this commitment which calls on us to be a model company in an industry where gender equality is a necessity. I am particularly pleased that we have set up measures to provide support in social and societal areas such as assisted human reproduction, endometriosis, domestic abuse, and gender transitioning."

About Orano

As a recognized international operator in the field of nuclear materials, Orano delivers solutions to address present and future global energy and health challenges. Its expertise and mastery of cutting-edge technologies enable Orano to offer its customers high value-added products and services throughout the entire fuel cycle. Every day, the Orano group's 17,000 employees draw on their skills, unwavering dedication to safety and constant quest for innovation, with the commitment to develop know-how in the transformation and control of nuclear materials, for the climate and for a healthy and resource-efficient world, now and tomorrow.

Orano, giving nuclear energy its full value.

www.orano.group

Twitter: Oranogroup

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005396/en/

Contacts:

Press Office

+33 (0)1 34 96 12 15

press@orano.group

Investor relations

Marc Quesnoy

investors@orano.group
New report highlights how world-leading academic publishers and ScienceDirect are collaborating to help researchers find and access research more easily

Amsterdam, Netherlands--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - ScienceDirect, the Elsevier platform that is a leading source of scientific, technical, and medical research, has today published its 'Expanded reach on a trusted platform' report. The report is free to download and explores the initial results of ScienceDirect's pilot initiative that enables researchers to search and discover articles from five publishing partners alongside content from Elsevier journals.

Since January 2022, American Chemical Society (ACS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Taylor & Francis, and Wiley have made selected Organic Chemistry and Transportation research articles discoverable on ScienceDirect alongside Elsevier content. IUCr Journals, published by the International Union of Crystallography, joined the initiative in August 2022.

The report includes data on how research included in the pilot has been discovered and consumed, and insights from authors, readers, and librarians on how they perceive the collaboration. Key highlights include:

90% of ScienceDirect users think the pilot is a good idea.

73% of authors are either positive or very positive about their articles being shared in this way (20% are neutral).

Individual journals included in the pilot saw increases of up to 18.8% in total reach for their research included in the initiative.

Content in the pilot was more discoverable across a broader and more diverse geographic distribution: Pilot content saw 5% more visits from countries outside of North America and Europe (72%) in comparison to Elsevier organic chemistry content (67%).

The pilot will continue and be expanded beyond its initial scope of Organic Chemistry and Transportation content to cover additional research topics. American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and Brill will join the pilot and their research will be included on ScienceDirect in Spring/ Summer 2023, content from 36 journals will be added from both publishers.

Rose L'Huillier, SVP for Researcher Products at Elsevier, said: "While the pilot is still very new, we have produced this report as part of our commitment to keeping the research community updated on our progress. There is a lot more to do and understand, but we are pleased with the initial results. I'm delighted that ASM and Brill have chosen to take part, and we look forward to collaborating with them and our existing partners on how we can further improve global research discoverability and visibility for authors and help save readers' time."

During the pilot, researchers have been able to discover more than 100,000 articles from 38 industry-leading journals from the participating publishers, through search, recommendations and by browsing content. If an article is Open Access, the full text is available immediately in HTML. For all Open Access content and subscription content to which the user is entitled, researchers see a PDF button on ScienceDirect that indicates they have full text access, which takes them to the PDF hosted on the publisher website. Entitled access is determined using GetFTR, a free-to-use solution for platforms like ScienceDirect that enables real-time entitlement checks for any article. More detail is available about the pilot here.

---

About Elsevier

As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across the global research and health ecosystems.

In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions, and funders.

Elsevier employs 8,700 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,700+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 43,000+ eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world.

Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com.

David Tucker

Elsevier

d.tucker@elsevier.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167104


From left to right: Representatives from CITIC Telecom CPC, Jacky Kwok (Chief Commercial Officer) & Taylor Lam (Chief Strategy Officer); together with representatives from Versa Networks, Martin Mackay (Chief Revenue Officer) & Rachel Ler (Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan)

HONG KONG, May 24, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883) is pleased to announce it has become Versa Networks's first Greater China Secure Access Service Edge ( https://versa-networks.com/sase/ ) (SASE) & SD-WAN Managed Services Partner. Versa Networks is the recognized leader of single-vendor Unified SASE.This partnership leverages Versa Networks's market-leading technologies to enhance and expand CITIC Telecom CPC's integrated network-security portfolio, offering a new managed secure networking solution combining SASE, SD-WAN and 24x7 monitoring services to help accelerate the digital transformation of enterprise customers across the globe, especially in Greater China.A Powerful PartnershipThis powerful partnership between CITIC Telecom CPC and Versa Networks allows for mutually beneficial collaboration. As the market leader in SASE and SD-WAN, Versa Networks contributes its technological innovations, while benefiting from CITIC Telecom CPC's strengths in Greater China market acumen and reach, including navigating local regulations, compliance policies and years of customer experience. In turn, by joining resources and expertise with Versa Networks, CITICTelecom CPC can enhance the features and functionality of its own portfolio and bring to market a new integrated offering encompassing connectivity, security, and 24x7 monitoring to expedite the digital transformation journeys of CITIC Telecom CPC's customers across the region."This collaboration amplifies the core competencies of both companies," said Taylor Lam, Chief Strategy Officer of CITIC Telecom CPC. "Versa Networks has a strong reputation for innovation and delivering industry-leading networking and security solutions. We are proud to be Versa Networks's first Greater China SASE & SD-WAN Managed Services Partner, and can now further support the success of our customers with the power of Versa Networks's impressive technology. This partnership underscores our ongoing commitment to delivering the best possible solutions to our customers, and to collaborating with top technology vendors in their respective segments.""CITIC Telecom CPC has a proven track record of delivering high-quality managed services to customers across regions and in Greater China," said Martin Mackay, Chief Revenue Officer, Versa Networks. "CITIC Telecom CPC's technical and business expertise, commitment to innovation and service excellence, and localized capabilities make them an ideal partner for us as we continue to expand our global footprint. Our combined strengths in managed services, networking, security, and cloud solutions will provide mutual customers with more comprehensive and powerful ways to address and resolve even their most complex secure network and access challenges."Through this partnership, now with the latest Secured SD-WAN solution, customers can enjoy comprehensive managed network-security service from both top-notch players, coupled with CITIC Telecom CPC's Global-Local one-stop managed ICT services; and Versa Networks's world-class SASE and SD-WAN technologies, including key capabilities such as multi-tenancy, multi-service, zero-touch provisioning and a broad set of networking and security functions to increase IT and security agility.Continuously Elevating Infrastructure and Capabilities for Superior Managed Service ExcellenceCollaborating with Versa Networks further empowers CITIC Telecom CPC's steadfast momentum of systematically refining its already world-class infrastructure and capabilities. This headway is demonstrated by the recent launch of the company's third 24x7 Security Operations Center (SOC) in Shanghai, further elevating superior cloud and network security capabilities to actively support mainland and international enterprises with Greater China business operations. With proficiencies in cloud computing, cybersecurity, network management, and decades of business and market knowledge, CITIC Telecom CPC offers managed ICT solutions worldwide, with a particular focus on Greater China. Its Fully Managed Services provide total visibility, optimization, automation and hands-on management of IT systems and resources across the globe, to meet enterprise customers' networking, security, data, applications and multi-cloud demands.CITIC Telecom CPC is a global-local data-driven information, communication, and technology (DICT) service provider that empowers enterprises with intelligent capabilities and vital innovations. Via partnering with Versa Networks, CITIC Telecom CPC maintains its position at the forefront of the industry and underscores its commitment to delivering the most modern secured ICT solutions and the highest level of service quality to its customers, anytime, anywhere.About CITIC Telecom CPCWe are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT private network solutions, TrustCSI information security solutions, DataHOUSE cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD cloud computing solutions.With the motto "Innovation Never Stops," we leverage innovative technologies, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into business value for our customers. As an enterprise digital transformation partner, we strive to help our customers achieve industry-leading positions, high agility, and cost-efficiency through digitalization.With our Global-Local capabilities, we are committed to providing our customers with one-stop-shop ICT solutions with superior quality. Having a worldwide footprint across nearly 160 countries, including Asia, Europe and America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, our global network resources connect over 160 points of presence (POPs), 60 SDWAN gateways, 21 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and three dedicated 24x7 Security Operations Centers (SOCs). We are certified with a series of international certifications, including SD-WAN Ready, ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017, to ensure our services compliance with international standards and resources for enterprises. We offer local professional services, superior delivery capabilities as well as exceptional customer experience and best practices through our global presence and extensive industry know-how, becoming a leading integrated intelligent ICT service provider to enterprise customers.For more information, please visit www.citictel-cpc.comAbout Versa NetworksVersa Networks, the leader in single-vendor Unified SASE platforms, delivers AI/ML-powered SSE and SD-WAN solutions. The platform provides networking and security with true multitenancy, and sophisticated analytics via the cloud, on-premises, or as a blended combination of both to meet SASE requirements for small to extremely large enterprises and Service Providers. Thousands of customers globally with hundreds of thousands of sites and millions of users trust Versa with their mission critical networks and security. Versa Networks is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, Artis Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Comcast Ventures, BlackRock Inc., Liberty Global Ventures, Princeville Capital, RPS Ventures and Triangle Peak Partners. For more information, visit https://www.versa-networks.com or follow Versa Networks on Twitter @versanetworks.Media Contact:Catherine YuenCITIC Telecom CPC(852) 2170 7536Email: catherine.yuen@citictel-cpc.comSource: CITIC Telecom CPCCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
According to research run by Dataiku, the platform for Everyday AI, the power of data and AI is becoming increasingly available to non-technical employees at companies across EMEA.

The survey, which was run across the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates, polled over 700 senior decision makers of companies actively using data science platforms and AI models across the enterprise.

It identified a growing trend of empowered non-technical users working with data and AI to make pivotal business decisions. Forty seven percent of EMEA leaders indicated that their non-technical business users have full access to data and AI to attain business goals, and a further 49% stated that business users have at least some access. Eighty four percent of these companies across EMEA said that they are using low- and no-code platforms to achieve these AI goals.

Dataiku Senior Vice President and General Manager, Gregory Herbert, commented: "We've seen a great shift in accessibility via the use of low- and no-code platforms, but for many companies, there's still extensive untapped potential when it comes to making data and AI available to non-technical business users. What we really want to see is AI that is so ingrained and intertwined with the workings of the day-to-day that it's just part of the business not only being used or developed by data scientists. If enterprises want to see a deeper transformation and truly data-driven business results, Everyday AI must become a reality for non-data-focused roles."

AI Drives Momentum Despite Economic Volatility

The majority of companies (79%) surveyed across EMEA indicated they are leveraging AI to its full capacity, and more than 80% of firms indicated that they are able to measure the ROI of their AI investments.

The survey also indicated continued momentum with AI across EMEA. While leaders indicated that business acceleration (50%) and staying ahead of the competition (36%) were the initial top reasons for investing in AI, 2023 has seen a marked shift in AI business goals. When asked what the top three business goals companies were looking to achieve with AI over the next five years, innovation won out (59%), followed by cost reduction (49%) and increased revenue (48%.)

How Will the European Union's New AI Regulation Impact Business?

The upcoming EU AI regulation requires that any business that commercialises an AI system as a service or a product on the European market conduct a risk assessment to identify risks for all AI systems across the enterprise. This includes any risk surrounding data quality, transparency, human oversight, and accountability.

While there have been criticisms of the EU AI Act's potential impact on AI innovation, the survey revealed that nearly 80% of respondents did not feel it would hinder innovation and, rather, would introduce new opportunities.

-ENDS-

About Dataiku

Dataiku is the platform for Everyday AI that allows companies to leverage one central solution to design, deploy, govern, and manage AI and analytics applications. Since its founding in 2013, the company has been the leader in democratizing data and empowering organization-wide collaboration. Today, more than 500 companies worldwide use Dataiku to integrate and streamline their use of data, analytics, and AI, driving diverse use cases from fraud detection and customer churn prevention, to predictive maintenance and supply chain optimization. Stay connected with us on our blog, Twitter (@dataiku) and on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005027/en/

Contacts:

Media

Leah Jones, ljones@thecommsco.com
CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Market was valued at USD 2.4 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 5.1 billion by 2030; registering a CAGR of 11.5 % during the forecast period according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Increasing aging satellite constellations, need for satellite refuelling are driving the growth of the on-orbit satellite servicing market.





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On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Market Report Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $2.4 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $5.1 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 11.5% Market Size Available for 2019-2030 Forecast Period 2023-2030 Forecast Units Value (USD Million/Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Service, Orbit, Type, end-user and Region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of World Key Market Challenge Rapid advancement in satellite technology to lead to obsolescence of on-orbit satellite services Key Market Opportunities More cost-effective than new satellite launches Key Market Drivers Aging satellite population

Based on Service, the Active Debris Removal (ADR) and Orbit Adjustment segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Active debris removal (ADR) technologies can be used to capture and remove space debris from orbit, either by deorbiting it back to Earth or by moving it to a graveyard orbit where it will not pose a risk to another spacecraft. There are several different approaches to ADR, including using robotic arms, nets, tethers, and harpoons to capture and remove debris.

The benefits of active debris removal include reducing the risk of collisions between spacecraft and debris, reducing the amount of space debris in orbit, and improving the overall safety and sustainability of space operations. However, ADR is a complex and challenging undertaking, requiring advanced technologies and significant resources. It also raises legal and ethical questions, such as who is responsible for cleaning up space debris and how to prevent the creation of new debris in the future.

Based on Orbit, the Geostationary Orbit (GEO) segment is projected to lead the market during the forecast period.

On-orbit servicing allows for repairs and maintenance to be performed on satellites in the GEO, which can help address unexpected failures or problems. This can provide greater flexibility and resilience to the satellite operator's network. On-orbit servicing can contribute to the long-term sustainability of space operations by reducing the amount of space debris that is generated from the launch and disposal of new satellites.

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Based on region, the North America segment is lead the market during the forecast period.

The North America region is expected to lead the On-Orbit Satellite Servicing industry in 2023. Canada is an emerging market, with companies such as MDA Space Ltd. and Canadensis Aerospace developing advanced robotic servicing technologies. In November 2020, MDA was awarded a contract by the Canadian Space Agency to develop a robotic servicing vehicle for the International Space Station (ISS).

Furthermore, the increasing use of small satellites and constellations in North America is expected to drive the demand for on-orbit satellite servicing, as these satellites require more frequent maintenance and upgrades to ensure optimal performance.

Overall, the on-orbit satellite servicing market in North America is expected to continue to grow as the demand for satellite communication and data services increases and as new technologies make it easier and more cost-effective to service satellites in orbit.

Major players operating in the On-orbit satellite servicing market include Maxar Technologies (US), Astroscale Holdings Inc. (Japan), SpaceLogistics LLC (US), Airbus SE (Netherlands), and Thales Alenia Space (France) among others. These companies have well-equipped manufacturing facilities and strong distribution networks across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

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Browse Adjacent Market: Aerospace and Defence Market Research Reports Research Reports &Consulting

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The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing.

Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry.

To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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+39,93% Rendite seit Januar  so lautet die Erfolgsbilanz der Aktie der Woche. Damit wurden sowohl der DAX als auch der S&P 500 deutlich outperformt. Wie das genau funktioniert, erklart Chefradakteur Lars Wiler in seiner Zwischenbilanz.

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks tumbled on Wednesday after another round of U.S. debt ceiling talks ended without an agreement. If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. government will be unable to pay its bills and will default on its debt. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously warned lawmakers that a default in early June is 'highly likely.' Following recent hawkish talk from several Federal Reserve officials, investors also waited for the minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting earlier in May for additional clues on the Fed's rate hike path. The benchmark DAX dropped 216 points, or 1.3 percent, to 15,936 after losing 0.4 percent in the previous session. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BANGKOK, May 24, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - InfoComm Asia 2023 opens its doors at the newly-built Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) on Wednesday morning, to a louder buzz than before. The unmistakable excitement in the air is understandable with the Show's 38% expansion in size. This and the presence of heavyweights among all stakeholder categories attest to InfoComm Asia's success in bringing together Professional AudioVisual (AV) solution providers, solution-seekers and key industry experts, and in helping organizations achieve their digital transformation goals.AROUND THE SHOW FLOORTechnological Innovations and Business Opportunities AboundSpanning the exhibition halls, AV and IT channel professionals, as well as vertical market buyers are being greeted by 160 exhibiting companies from 13 countries, some 60 of whom are new at the Show. Major brands visitors can look out for include AVCIT, Audio Technica, Arthur Holm, Biamp, BOE, Bose, Christie, Crestron, Dahua, Danacoid, Harman, Hikvision, Horion, Jabra, Kramer, Lenovo, Lumens, Leyard, Philips, Planar, MaxHub, Sennheiser, Shure, Unilumin, Vertex and many more. First-time exhibitors include Atlona, BARCO, Bluejeans By Verizon, Dahua, Danacoid, Datapath, Harman, HDFocus, Hikvision, Infiled, Leyard, Lumi, Pixelhue, RDL, ScreenBeam, Sennheiser, Televic, Unilumin and Yeastar.FOR ASIA'S TOP-LEVEL DECISION-MAKERS AND BUYERSGuided Show Floor Tours that Enhance Visitor ExperienceThrough the Invited Guest Program, nearly 600 key senior decision-makers - 65% more than last year - from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines, as well as Thais from outside Bangkok, are being welcomed at InfoComm Asia 2023. They represent government agencies involved in education, healthcare, defense and security, smart cities, urban planning, transportation and citizen services, as well as industry and business leaders in retail, media and advertising, and real estate development.With much ground to cover, the 600 vertical market solution-seekers will participate in a specially planned Guided Show Floor Tour for a personal introduction to leading solution providers and their latest technology and product offerings. Post-tour, they will have the opportunity to further connect with the exhibitors and learn more about their solutions up-close.LEARNING SPACE FOR ALLInsights into Current, Evolving and Future Technologies and Market TrendsInfoComm Asia continues to inspire and invigorate visionary leaders and organizational decision-makers at its signature learning platforms - InfoComm Asia Summit and NIXT Summit. Over the three show days, visitors can look forward to more than 40 free-to-attend sessions across five different tracks that are either co- organized with or supported by local Thai government agencies, trade associations and institutes of higher learning. These sessions address current and foreseeable challenges facing vertical market decision-makers and AV industry stakeholders, and deliver key learning points for overcoming these challenges inspired by real- life use cases.Summit highlights on 24 May (Day 1) include the following:- At Asia AV Leaders Connect, specially-invited Professional AV Industry's C-suite and Directorate-level Leaders will have the opportunity to network and share knowledge on industry trends and emerging technology disruptions, and to identify future growth opportunities and potential collaborations. This segment is anchored by a talk on "Global Pro-AV Market Trends in the Next 3 - 5 Years" - highly apt in light of the current incredible pace of evolution of communication, collaboration and user experience technologies.- NIXT Summit highlights emerging tech-driven integrated solutions. This year's focus is on the Education and Retail industries. The program for each of these industries will culminate in a by invitation-only networking reception for top professionals from the respective industries.- The ever-popular AV Technical Tour was quickly booked out the moment registration opened. Tour participants will be treated to a close-up live presentation of Hikvision's customizable, high-performing yet easy-to-maintain LED screen, in addition to its application in meeting rooms as well as along high-traffic routes at the newly-built Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC).As InfoComm Asia Summit and NIXT Summit continue over the next two days, delegates from AV and IT channel as well as vertical markets can look forward to more learning sessions across dedicated tracks - namely, Industry Forums, DSS InfoComm Asia 2023, AV Training sessions and a second round of the AV Technical Tour.SHOW RUNS UNTIL FRIDAY, 26 MAYAdmission is freeInfoComm Asia 2023 runs for another two days at Halls 3 and 4 of the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC). Opening times (in Thailand standard time) are 25 May (Thursday): 10am - 6pm and 26 May (Friday): 10am - 4pm. Visitors may register their visit to the Show at www.infocomm-asia.com.About InfoCommAsiaInfoCommAsia Pte. Ltd. is the region's preeminent organizer of tradeshows for the Professional AudioVisual (Pro-AV) and Transformative Solutions industries. Through industry-leading shows in China, India and Asia, InfoCommAsia connects global and regional solution providers, vertical market end-users and the supply chain with the most important markets of Asia Pacific.Additional information is available at:infocomm-china.com | nixt-china.com | infocomm-india.com | infocomm-asia.comFor more information, please contact:Rest of the WorldAngie EngMarketing DirectorInfoCommAsia Pte Ltdangieeng@infocommasia.comThailandKanokwan SukchaisriManaging DirectorExpo Inter Co., Ltdkanokwan.infocommasia@expointer.netSource: InfoCommAsiaCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
opinion

New York  In 2021 alone, almost 24,000 grave violations of children's rights in war were documented by the United Nations - these included killing and maiming, sexual violence, use and recruitment, and abductions. Schools and hospitals were destroyed, and humanitarian relief was denied on arbitrary grounds, depriving children of vital services. More children now live in conflict zones than in the past two decades.

One critical tool created to address violations against children in war is the UN Secretary-General's Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, in which he includes States and armed groups responsible for such violations in his "list of shame." Myanmar government forces, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN) in Colombia, and Al-Shabaab in Somalia, to name a few, are currently included in this list.

Some parties responsible for harming children are not included in the list, while others are listed for only some of the violations they have committed. Some have even been removed from the list before they have fully complied with children's safeguards

The list helps protect children and ensures accountability by identifying warring parties and securing commitments to prevent violations through the adoption of UN action plans. It creates tangible, positive changes for children affected by war. Importantly, the listing is based on verified data collected by a global monitoring mechanism.

Despite the fact that the listing mechanism has improved the protection of children in various conflicts, civil society organizations and UN Member States have raised concerns about the process for determining which perpetrators are included by the Secretary-General in his Annual Report.

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They have noted that any politicization of the decision-making process to list parties threatens to undermine its credibility, weakening the mechanism's legitimacy as a tool for ensuring accountability, promoting compliance, and preventing future harm to children. These concerns are due to inconsistencies between the data on violations included in the Report's narrative section and the parties listed in its annexes.

Specifically, some parties responsible for harming children are not included in the list, while others are listed for only some of the violations they have committed. Some have even been removed from the list before they have fully complied with children's safeguards. In a 2021 report, an eminent group of international experts on children's rights identified "dozens of cases where multiple and egregious violations did not lead to listing or where listing decisions reflected unexplained inconsistences."

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict emphasizes the salience of evidence-based and consistent listing decisions. Protecting children from being harmed in war should never be subject to political considerations. It is crucial to address the abovementioned concerns and ensure that the listing mechanism remains an effective tool for protecting children.

The UN Secretary-General must publish a complete list of perpetrators that accurately reflects verified data on violations. It is time to uphold existing protection frameworks and promote accountability for violations against children's rights irrespective of who the perpetrators are.

Dr. Ezequiel Heffes is Director, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
The Business Research Company's global market reports are now updated with the latest market sizing information for the year 2023 and forecasted to 2032

LONDON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As per The Business Research Company's Aircraft Gearbox Global Market Report 2023, the global aircraft gearbox market size will grow from $2.9 billion in 2022 to $3.2 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 8%. The aircraft gearbox market size is then expected to grow to $4.2 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of more than 7%.





The increase in demand for military helicopter is expected to positively impact the growth of the aircraft engine gearbox market during the forecast period. Due to the aging of helicopter components and systems of military helicopters, the market is expected to see a growing demand for aircraft gearboxes from the increasing number of new military helicopters. For example, in June 2022, the United States government and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, a US-based aircraft manufacturer, signed a five-year contract for a baseline of 120 H-60M Black Hawk helicopters, with options to reach a total of 255 aircraft to be delivered to the US Army and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Therefore, the increase in demand for military helicopters is expected to contribute to the growth of the aircraft gearbox market.

Learn More On The Aircraft Gearbox Market Report - https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/aircraft-gearbox-global-market-report

The global aircraft gearbox market is segmented -

1) By Component: Gear, Housing, Bearings, Other Components

2) By Aircraft Type: Civil Aviation, Military Aviation

3) By Fit: Retrofit, Linefit

4) By Gearbox Type: Accessory, Actuation, Reduction, Tail Rotor, Auxiliary Power Unit, Other Gearbox Types

5) By Application: Engine, Airframe

The top opportunities in the aircraft gearbox market segmented by aircraft type will arise in the civil aviation segment, which will gain $1.1 billion of global annual sales by 2027.

North America was the largest region in the aircraft gearbox market, accounting for 48.2% of the total in 2022. The aircraft gearbox market size will gain the most in the USA at $580.9 million. It was followed by Asia-Pacific, and then the other regions.

Request A Free Sample Of The Aircraft Gearbox Market Report - https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/sample.aspx?id=7718&type=smp

Companies operating in the aircraft gearbox market are focusing on technology advancement and developing technologically advanced products to grow in the market. For instance, in 2023, Airbus Helicopters, a France-based company that provides the most efficient helicopter solutions, launched an upgraded main gearbox for the H225 as the airframer continues to invest in the heavy twin in order to raise safety standards and reduce the maintenance workload for customers. The new gearbox, known as the eMGB, will increase the component's time before overhaul (TBO) from 1,000 hours to 2,000 hours. This enhanced MGB will provide increased robustness and alleviate the maintenance plan of the H225.

The Business Research Company recommends players adopt other market-trend-based strategies such as focusing on launching new power gearboxes, seeking partnerships and collaborations to expand their product portfolio and geographic presence, and investing in the market to develop new product solutions.

View More Similar Market Reports:

Precision Gearbox Machinery Global Market Report 2023

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Aircraft Engines Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/aircraft-engines-global-market-report

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(From left to right) Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth, Ms Low

Yen Ling; EVP, Mitsubishi Power; Mr Takao Tsukui; CEO, Singapore & Southeast Asia, Sembcorp

Industries, Mr Koh Chiap Khiong; Managing Director & CEO, JEL, Mr Koichi Watanabe; and Chief

Executive, Energy Market Authority, Mr Ngiam Shih Chun at the agreement presentation ceremony.

TOKYO, May 24, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - A consortium comprising Mitsubishi Power, a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), and Jurong Engineering Limited (JEL) has been awarded an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to develop a new 600MW hydrogen-ready combined cycle power plant (CCPP) for Sembcorp Industries' (Sembcorp) fully owned subsidiary Sembcorp Cogen Pte Ltd. The plant is expected to be operational by 2026.Located at Sembcorp's upcoming multi-utilities centre on Jurong Island, the new CCPP will contribute toward generating electricity for the grid and steam for industrial companies on Jurong Island. Under the contract, Mitsubishi Power will supply a M701JAC gas turbine, which is an air-cooled version of Mitsubishi Power's leading J Series gas turbine, as well as the steam turbine and other main accessory equipment. A long-term service agreement (LTSA) for the maintenance of the plant's major equipment was also awarded to Mitsubishi Power. JEL will provide the construction and BOP (Balance of Plant).The agreement was presented at a ceremony graced by Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth, Ms Low Yen Ling.Commenting on the contract, Koh Chiap Khiong, CEO, Singapore & Southeast Asia at Sembcorp Industries, said: "Sembcorp is committed to delivering stable and reliable power supply to our customers in Singapore. The development of the new power plant will improve the performance of our power generation assets on Jurong Island and pave the way for reduction of carbon emissions through hydrogen fuel blending. We look forward to working closely with partners such as Mitsubishi Power to leverage hydrogen as a major decarbonisation pathway and progress towards a sustainable future."Takao Tsukui, Executive Vice President, Mitsubishi Power, Ltd., said: "Mitsubishi Power is proud to partner with Sembcorp as we work toward our common goal of building a sustainable energy future for Singapore. As the energy industry evolves, it is essential that we prioritize low-carbon alternatives such as hydrogen for power generation. We commend Sembcorp for their leadership in driving this change, and are committed to further supporting the region's transition from natural gas to hydrogen with our hydrogen-ready gas turbines."Mitsubishi Power remains committed to working closely with public and private power providers in Singapore to advance the country's hydrogen ready infrastructure.About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries GroupMitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world's leading industrial groups, spanning energy, smart infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world.For more information, please visit www.mhi.com or follow our insights and stories on spectra.mhi.com.About Mitsubishi PowerMitsubishi Power is a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI). Across more than 30 countries worldwide, Mitsubishi Power designs, manufactures and maintains equipment and systems that drive decarbonization and ensure delivery of reliable power around the world. Among its solutions are a wide range of gas turbines including hydrogen-fueled gas turbines, solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and air quality control systems (AQCS). Committed to providing exemplary service and working with customers to imagine the future of energy, Mitsubishi Power is also spearheading the development of the digital power plant through its suite of AI-enabled TOMONI solutions.For more information, please visit https://power.mhi.com.Press Contact:For Mitsubishi PowerCorporate Communication DepartmentMitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Email:mediacontact_global@mhi.comSophia WeeAPAC CommunicationsMitsubishi Power Asia PacificEmail:sophia.wee.3z@mhi.comSource: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Copyright 2023 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Tryp Therapeutics , Inc. (CSE:TRYP)(OTCQB:TRYPF) ("Tryp" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing intravenous-infused psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) for diseases with high unmet medical needs, today announced it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its planned Phase 2a clinical trial investigating the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients aged 21+ suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

The planned open label study in collaboration with Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital will evaluate the effect of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in patients with treatment-resistant IBS who experience chronic abdominal pain and other debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms. Many of these patients also suffer from fibromyalgia, anxiety and fatigue. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study will be improvement in abdominal pain. The proposed study will also explore changes in brain connectivity and responses to pain at baseline and at four weeks, six months and twelve months post the psychedelic drug sessions, along with numerous other secondary endpoints.

In recognition of this important development, Jim Gilligan, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Tryp Therapeutics, said, "Tryp and our collaborators at Harvard/MGH believe there is tremendous potential for the treatment of debilitating IBS symptoms by utilizing the combined administration of psilocybin and psychotherapy. The clinical study will examine how psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may alter brain networks involved in chronic abdominal pain and gastrointestinal-specific anxiety in patients with IBS to improve their symptoms. Submission of IND 163994 is an important step in advancing our program."

About Tryp Therapeutics

Tryp Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing proprietary, novel formulations for the administration of psilocin in combination with psychotherapy to treat diseases with unmet medical needs. Tryp's lead program, TRP-8803, is a proprietary formulation of IV-infused psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) that alleviates numerous shortcomings of oral psilocybin including: significantly reducing the time to onset of the psychedelic state, controlling the depth and duration of the psychedelic experience, and reducing the overall duration of the intervention to a commercially feasible timeframe. The Company has an ongoing Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of Binge Eating Disorder at the University of Florida, an upcoming Phase 2a clinical trial with the University of Michigan for the treatment of fibromyalgia and a planned Phase 2a trial for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome at Mass General Hospital, all of which are utilizing TRP-8802 (synthetic, oral psilocybin) to demonstrate efficacy in these indications. Where a preliminary clinical benefit has been demonstrated, subsequent studies are expected to utilize TRP-8803 (IV-infused psilocin) which has the potential to further improve efficacy, safety and patient experience. For more information, please visit www.tryptherapeutics.com.

Investor & Media Contact

Peter Molloy

Chief Business Officer

Tryp Therapeutics

pmolloy@tryptherapeutics.com

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans," "targets," "expects" or "does not expect," "is expected," "an opportunity exists," "is positioned," "estimates," "intends," "assumes," "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes," or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," "will" or "will be taken," "occur" or "be achieved." In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Tryp as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors' section of Tryp's final prospectus available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Tryp; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and Tryp expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPTED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Tryp Therapeutics

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756926/Tryp-Therapeutics-Submits-Investigational-New-Drug-IND-Application-to-US-FDA-for-Planned-Phase-2a-Clinical-Trial-in-Patients-With-IBS-at-Massachusetts-General-Hospital
BRUSSELS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Belgium unveiled its new international branding campaign titled "Embracing Openness". Primarily targeted at economic decision makers and the broader research community, the initiative has been launched by the FPS Chancellery of the Prime Minister to strengthen Belgium's openness for innovation, as supported by partnerships and diversity. The campaign will run until April 2026.

Belgium is open to innovation, partnerships, and diversity

A strategic survey conducted by the FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in 2022 revealed that Belgium is generally held in high regard by the international community. Opinion leaders from around the world expressed their positive perception of Belgium as a country, highlighting its open-mindedness, innovative spirit, willingness to collaborate, and commitment to the rule of law and human rights.

The survey further indicated that Belgium has a favourable reputation among researchers, opinion leaders, investors, and NGOs. However, it was found that the country lacks sufficient visibility and often displays excessive modesty.

These survey findings have served as the basis for Belgium's new country branding strategy, along with an accompanying campaign that emphasizes Belgium's commitment to innovation, partnership, and diversity, encapsulated in the theme "Embracing openness".

Belgium's commitment to openness for innovation in difficult times

"Whether it is the production of COVID vaccines, pioneering biotech and semiconductor research, or our leading role in offshore energy, Belgium has consistently shown that openness for innovation is vital for a successful society. Embracing partnerships and diversity is an integral part of this. By collaborating across different perspectives, building bridges, and forging alliances, we can make substantial progress both economically and socially. This approach is an essential part of Belgium's DNA. While others might choose to isolate themselves, Belgium radically choses for openness as the way forward." - Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, announcing the launch of the "Embracing Openness" campaign.

Embracing innovation - to tackle tomorrow's challenges

To meet challenges such as climate change, European strategic autonomy and security of energy supplies, the campaign will showcase Belgium's innovative side.

With a proven track record in technological and scientific excellence, Belgium is a bustling hub of innovation. Notable Belgian achievements include leading the charge in biopharma R&D, nanoelectronics, and offshore energy combined with world-class research institutions and universities.

Belgium is driving the high-tech chip revolution through collaboration between its IMEC laboratories and KU Leuven, named the seventh most innovative university in the world by Reuters. In addition, thanks to research from Ghent University, ULB & VUB, Belgium is leading the way on medical discoveries on life-altering conditions including cancer, Alzheimer's, and AIDS.

As for the energy transition, Belgium has co-founded the North Sea Coalition to create the largest source of renewable energy in Europe, aiming to quadruple combined offshore wind capacity to 65 gigawatts by 2030 and to at least 150 gigawatts by 2050.

Driving progress and innovation with the support of partnerships

The campaign will also show how innovation and sustainable solutions for the public good are made possible through partnerships. Because no single entity can tackle complex problems and fully capitalize on opportunities alone.

This sense of cooperation is ingrained in Belgium's DNA. It is no coincidence that Belgium, a founding member of both the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, hosts key European and international organisations. Belgium will place a special emphasis on promoting partnerships for innovation during its upcoming 2024 Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Fostering prosperous innovation with diversity at heart

More than ever, Belgium fosters its belief in the virtues of an open, tolerant, and inclusive society to boost innovation and ensure progress and prosperity for all.

"Embracing openness" will show that Belgium is a shared home of many communities and cultures with diversity at its heart - as evidenced by its ranking in second place in the Rainbow Index, its third place in the KOF Globalisation Index, as well as its participation in the global SheDecides movement and its co-supervisory role in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

A multi-channel campaign telling Belgium's story

As a nation, Belgium is not known for heavily promoting its achievements. As the campaign helps to address this, it has invited people from other countries to share their feelings on why Belgium is great; perspectives captured in the new campaign baseline: "We don't say Belgium is great, others do".

The campaign is based on people from other countries who will talk about their experiences with Belgium and Belgians in their own language. With stories that focus on the three pillars of the campaign: innovation, partnerships, and diversity. This mix is precisely what makes Belgium unique.

Through digital channels and stakeholder activation events, the new campaign aims to enhance Belgium's global presence, attract investors and researchers, and showcase its prominent industries, all while upholding fundamental Belgian values.

The "Embracing Openness" campaign's goal is to contribute positively to the reputation of Belgium on the international stage. The campaign will also be promoted through Belgian embassies and diplomatic posts across the world.

Starting from June and running for three years, the new Belgian country branding will be visible at Brussels Airport, extending a warm welcome to international travellers, professionals, and innovation partners. The twentieth anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Belgium in June will be one of the campaign's first milestones.

In the coming years, additional campaign moments will align with trade missions, international conferences, and stakeholder events. With a global perspective, the campaign will initially concentrate on Europe, preparing for Belgium's upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union, starting in 2024.

For more info, please visit www.embracingopenness.be

Follow us on:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/belgium

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belgium/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Belgium

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Belgium

About Belgium

Located in the heart of Europe, Belgium is a highly developed nation of over 11.5 million people with a reputation for innovation, hard work, partnership, and multilingualism. Strategically located between Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg, and only a stone's throw from the UK, it lies at the centre of the richest and most densely populated area in Europe. A member of the European Union, Belgium enjoys full access to the world's most advanced single market and customs zone which ensures extensive frictionless trade.

Belgium boasts a highly developed transport infrastructure, including the second largest seaport in Europe (Antwerp). Belgium is home to world-leading research and innovation facilities, multi-national corporations, and artisanal businesses supported by the investor-centric approach of public services.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/belgium-unveils-its-new-international-branding-campaign-highlighting-its-openness-for-innovation-301832660.html
The global patient simulator market is driven by factors such as rising focus on patient safety, technological advancement, and increase in awareness regarding simulation based education.

PORTLAND, Ore., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Patient Simulator Market by Product Type (Adult Patient Simulator, Infant Simulator, and Childbirth Simulator), Technology (High-fidelity Simulators, Medium-fidelity Simulators and Low-fidelity Simulators), and End User (Hospitals and Academic Institutions): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032 " According to the report, the global patient simulator industry generated $ 0.53 billion in 2022, and is anticipated to generate $1.2 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 8.7% from 2023 to 2032.





Download Sample Copy of the Report- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/12032

Prime determinants of growth

Growing focus on patient safety, increase in awareness regarding simulation based training and technological advancement drive the growth of the global patient simulator market. However, inflated cost of simulators, need of upgrading and maintaining the simulators are hampering the patient simulator market growth. On the contrary, the growing healthcare infrastructure and rise in adoption of simulation-based training by multiple healthcare facilities are expected to offer remunerative opportunities for expansion of the patient simulator market during the forecast period.

Report coverage & details:

Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $0.53 billion Market Size in 2032 $1.2 billion CAGR 8.7 % No. of Pages in Report 250 Segments covered Product, Technology, End Users, and Region. Drivers Rise in focus on patient safety Technological advancements and adoption infield of healthcare Growth in adoption of minimally invasive surgeries. Opportunities Scope of expansion in emerging markets Restraints High cost of patient simulators

Impact of Covid-19 on Patient Simulator Market

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the high acceptance of technologically advanced patient simulators had a moderately positive impact on the growth of the market.

Moreover, as the global situation started ameliorating, the demand for simulation based training is rising, owing to rise in focus towards patient safety. This, in turn, presented various growth opportunities for companies operating in the patient simulator market.

Procure Complete Report (250 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures)

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout-final/patient-simulator-market

The adult patient simulator segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on product, the adult patient simulator segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global patient simulator market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. The same segment is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 9.9% from 2023 to 2032, owing to rise in number of adult population suffering from chronic diseases, which demands advanced simulators that allow immersive and realistic simulation experience. Furthermore, there is a rise in number of key players offering such advanced adult patient simulator system.

The low-fidelity Simulators segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on technology, the low-fidelity simulators segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly three-fifths of the global patient simulator market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, owing to the affordable cost of the systems, increase in awareness of simulation-based training programs and rise in number of healthcare institutes. However, the medium-fidelity simulators segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 10.9% from 2022 to 2032, owing to its advantages such as flexible and versatile training tools that can provide a realistic and customizable training experience.

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The hospital segment to maintain its lead position during the forecast period

Based on end user, the hospital segment held the largest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the global patient simulator market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, owing to increase in demand of skilled healthcare professionals and increase in awareness regarding patient safety However, the academic institutions segment is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 9.5% from 2023 to 2032, owing to rise in funding & grants for simulation labs and training programs, surge in availability of wide range of simulators depending upon the diseased condition.

North America to maintain its dominance by 2032

Based on region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global patient simulator market revenue and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period, owing to rise in focus on patient safety, growth in demand for minimally invasive surgeries that require skilled professionals, technological advancement, and strong presence of key players with established distribution channels. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 10.4% from 2022 to 2032, owing to rise in government initiatives to improve healthcare infrastructure, increase in demand for skilled healthcare professionals, and upsurge in chronic diseased conditions that require surgeries.

Key Market Players:

Laerdal Medical CAE Inc. Gaumard Scientific Kyoto Kagaku Co., Ltd. Medical-X Medvision Simulab Corporation Limbs And Things Ltd Surgical Science Sweden AB Mentice AB

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players of the global patient simulator market. These players have adopted different strategies such as acquisition, development, joint venture, and collaboration to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario.

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TOKYO, May 24, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today the presentation of research across various types of cancer from its oncology portfolio and pipeline during the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (ASCO23), which is taking place virtually and in-person in Chicago, Illinois from June 2 to 6.Notable research includes an oral presentation of results from the final pre-specified overall survival analysis of the pivotal Phase 3 CLEAR (Study 307)/KEYNOTE-581 trial, which evaluated lenvatinib (LENVIMA) plus pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA) versus sunitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (Abstract #4502). A post hoc analysis from the REFLECT trial evaluating lenvatinib monotherapy versus sorafenib in the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) will also be shared in a poster presentation (Abstract #4078)."The outlook for advanced renal cell carcinoma has evolved in recent years, and the final analysis from the pivotal CLEAR trial to be presented at ASCO represents another step forward for patients and an opportunity to provide their physicians with long-term data," said Dr. Takashi Owa, Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President, Eisai Co., Ltd. "New data for lenvatinib and from our oncology pipeline showcase Eisai's continued commitment to driving innovation and exploring novel therapeutic modalities in our ambition to live out our human health care concept, our corporate mission to meet the needs of more people who face a cancer diagnosis."Additional data from Eisai's pipeline include a poster presentation of findings from a phase 1b study of E7386, a CREB-binding protein (CBP) / -catenin interaction inhibitor, in combination with lenvatinib in patients with advanced HCC (Abstract #4075), and the small cell lung cancer cohort of a phase 1b/2 trial evaluating E7389-LF, a new liposomal formulation of eribulin, in combination with nivolumab (Abstract #8593). Insights from preclinical testing of farletuzumab ecteribulin (FZEC), formerly known as MORAb-202, and MORAb-109, antibody drug conjugates (ADC), in rare gynecologic cancers will also be published online (Abstract # e17634).Furthermore, Bliss Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (BlissBio) will present a poster at the conference with results from the first-in-human study of BB-1701, a HER2-targeting ADC (Abstract #3029). Eisai entered into a joint development agreement with BlissBio for BB-1701 with option rights for a strategic collaboration in April 2023. A Phase 1/2 clinical study of BB-1701 in the U.S. and China for HER2-expressing solid tumors is currently underway.This release discusses investigational compounds and investigational uses for FDA-approved products. It is not intended to convey conclusions about efficacy and safety. There is no guarantee that any investigational compounds or investigational uses of FDA-approved products will successfully complete clinical development or gain FDA approval.For more information, visit www.eisai.com/news/2023/news202337.html.In March 2018, Eisai and Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada), through an affiliate, entered into a strategic collaboration for the worldwide co-development and co-commercialization of lenvatinib, both as monotherapy and in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab. Eisai and Merck are studying the LENVIMA plus KEYTRUDA combination through the LEAP (LEnvatinib And Pembrolizumab) clinical program in various tumor types across more than multiple clinical trials.In June 2021, Eisai and Bristol Myers Squibb entered into an exclusive global strategic collaboration agreement for the co-development and co-commercialization of farletuzumab ecteribulin (FZEC, formerly known as MORAb-202), a folate receptor alpha (FRa)-targeting ADC. Eisai and Bristol Myers Squibb are currently investigating FZEC in multiple studies including: a Phase 1/2 clinical study in the United States and Europe for solid tumors including endometrial cancer, a Phase 2 clinical study in the United States and Europe for non-small cell lung cancer, and a Phase 2 clinical study in Japan, the United States and Europe for ovarian cancer, peritoneal cancer and fallopian tube cancer.Media Inquiries:Public Relations Department,Eisai Co., Ltd.+81-(0)3-3817-5120Source: EisaiCopyright 2023 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - First Lithium Minerals Corp. (CSE: FLM) (OTC Pink: PGPXF) (FSE: X28) ("First Lithium Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce priority drill targets and commencement of the next phase of its exploration program at its 100% owned OCA project ("OCA Project") in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile.

Following completion of a priority drill targets assessment the Company is planning to proceed to its inaugural brine resource exploration program in the northeastern property areas at the salar de Ascotan (approx. 1,775 ha), which display promising geophysical characteristics based on the Transient Electromagnetic ("TEM") and Magneto-Telluric (MT) geophysical surveys conducted in Q4/22 and Q1/23.

The initial exploration program will consider up to five boreholes to depths of up to 500 meters. Depending on lithology and hydrogeological conditions encountered, it is envisaged that the holes will be drilled with a combination of PQ and HQ core sizes using plastic liners to facilitate core recovery for geological assessment and drainable porosity analysis. Brine sampling is planned at 12m intervals using bailer, packer, or other suitable methodology depending on lithology and hydrogeological conditions.

Figure 1. OCA lithium project. Salar de Ascotan northeastern exploration concessions prospect area. Planned exploration drill targets sectors.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Rob Saltsman, CEO and Director of First Lithium Minerals commented: "We are very pleased to have completed the assessment work for priority drill targets which we believe show the hallmarks of hydrogeological conditions typical of brine deposits in northern Chile. The drilling contractor has been contacted with the objective to commence a drilling program in the second half of the year. We also welcome the Chilean government's recent announcements to develop a plan for the development of lithium projects in a partnership format, where environmental sustainability and social licencing play key roles. We believe our project fits the criteria and have engaged with related parties to explore opportunities of forming a potential partnership that can expedite the development of our project."

The Company is expecting to commence a drilling program in H2/23, conditional upon obtaining required government permits, licences, and agreements.

About First Lithium Minerals

First Lithium Minerals is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company. The Company is currently focusing on exploring for alkali metals at its 100% owned OCA project comprised of approximately 9,000 ha of mineral exploration concessions located in the salars of Ollague, Carcote, and Ascotan in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. In Q4/22 and Q1/23 the Company conducted two property-wide geophysical surveys, identified two priority exploration targets for potential brine mineralization, and is currently planning an inaugural drilling program at the Salar de Ascotan pending obtaining required drilling permits and licences.

Additional information about the Company is available on the Company's website: www.firstlithium.ca.

Qualified Person

Frits Reidel, Consulting Hydrogeologist, CPG, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

For further information please contact:

First Lithium Minerals Corp.

77 King St. W Suite 3000

Toronto, ON M5K 1G8

Tel: 416-402-2428 Email: rob@firstlithium.ca

Rob Saltsman, CEO and Director

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "contemplates", "believes", "projects", "plans", and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: exploration activities, geophysical and geochemical surveys, its results and interpretation, drill target definition, permitting, licences, environmental laws and regulations, changes in government regulations and laws, obtaining social licence to explore and operate, community engagements, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, general business, economic, competitive, reliance on third parties, the actual results of operations, and other risks of the resources industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167148
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - HighGold Mining Inc. (TSXV: HIGH) (OTCQX: HGGOF) ("HighGold" or the "Company") announces that, further to the Company's news releases dated February 22, 2023 and March 17, 2023, HighGold has filed an Information Circular with respect to the proposed Plan of Arrangement (the "Arrangement") involving HighGold and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Onyx Gold Corp. ("Onyx Gold"). The Annual General and Special Meeting (the "Meeting") of the shareholders of HighGold will be held Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at 10:30am Pacific Time during which, among other items, shareholders will vote on a special resolution approving the Arrangement. The Information Circular can be found on SEDAR and at the following link on the Company's website https://highgoldmining.com/corporate/annual-meeting/.

Background on the Plan of Arrangement

In early 2023, the Company initiated plans to spin-out (the "Spin-out") its Canadian assets - Ontario and Yukon exploration properties - into a new Canadian-focused exploration company, Onyx Gold. The Spin-out is being completed by way of a Plan of Arrangement. HighGold shareholders as of the effective date (the "Effective Date") will receive one (1) common share in the capital of Onyx Gold (an "Onyx Share") for every four (4) common shares held in the capital of HighGold (a "HighGold Share"). Inclusive of the 5 million Onyx Shares issuable to HighGold, Onyx Gold is anticipated to issue approximately 26,920,207 Onyx Shares upon completion of the Arrangement. The Effective Date will be set after the Meeting.

Upon completion of the Spin-Out, Onyx Gold intends to list its common shares for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Concurrent with the proposed listing, Onyx Gold intends to complete a non-brokered private placement (the "Concurrent Financing") to fund work programs and for general working capital. The aforementioned transactions will be subject to receipt of approvals from HighGold shareholders, the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the Exchange. The Company currently anticipates Onyx's listing and the closing of the Concurrent Financing to occur within a few weeks following the May 30th Meeting approving the Spin-Out.

Onyx Gold Concurrent Financing Details

Under the Concurrent Financing, Onyx Gold intends to raise minimum gross proceeds of approximately C$5.0 million, consisting of approximately $2.0 million raised through the issuance of 4,000,000 units (the "HD Units") at a price of $0.50 per HD Unit, and approximately $3.0 million raised through the issuance of 4,347,826 flow-through units (the "FT Units") at a price of $0.69 per FT Unit.

Each HD Unit and FT Unit will be comprised of one Onyx Share and one-half of one Onyx Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one additional Onyx Share at a price of $0.75 per Onyx Share for a period of 24 months following the closing.

The Onyx Shares comprising the FT Units will qualify as "flow-through shares" within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Filing of Technical Report on Munro-Croesus Property

The Company also reports on the filing of an independent technical report (the "Technical Report") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") on the Munro-Croesus Gold Project, Ontario. The Technical Report, titled "Technical Report on the Munro-Croesus Gold Project, Ontario, Canada" dated March 28, 2023 (effective date of March 1, 2023) has been prepared by David Swanton, MSc, P.Geo of Equity Exploration Consultants Ltd, and is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under HighGold's issuer profile. The Munro-Croesus Project is the Qualifying Property (as defined in Exchange Policy 1.1) for the Onyx Gold listing application with the Exchange.

The securities to be issued under the Arrangement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from registration requirements. It is anticipated that any securities to be issued under the Arrangement will be offered and issued in reliance upon the exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 provided by Section 3(a)(10) thereof. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

About HighGold

HighGold is a mineral exploration company focused on high-grade gold projects located in North America. HighGold's flagship asset is the high-grade Johnson Tract Gold-Zinc-Copper Project located in an accessible area of Southcentral Alaska, USA. The Company also controls one of the largest junior gold miner land positions in the Timmins, Ontario gold camp. This includes the Munro-Croesus Gold property, which is renowned for its high-grade mineralization, and the large Golden Mile and Timmins South properties. HighGold also has 100% ownership of a group of properties in Yukon's emerging new Selwyn Basin Reduced Intrusive Related Gold district. HighGold's experienced Board and senior management team, are committed to creating shareholder value through the discovery process, careful allocation of capital, and environmentally/socially responsible mineral exploration.

On Behalf of HighGold Mining Inc.

"Darwin Green"

President & CEO

For further information, please visit the HighGold Mining Inc. website at www.highgoldmining.com, or contact:

Darwin Green, President & CEO or Naomi Nemeth, VP Investor Relations

Phone: 1-604-629-1165 or North American toll-free 1-855-629-1165

Email: information@highgoldmining.com.

Website: www.highgoldmining.com

Twitter: @HighgoldMining

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward looking statements: This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively "forward looking statements"). Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "potential", "project", "target", "schedule", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's plans to complete the Spin-Out, the anticipated listing of Onyx Gold on the Exchange, the completion by Onyx Gold of the Concurrent Financing, the timing of the completion of the Spin-Out, the timing of the listing of Onyx Gold on the Exchange and the closing of the Concurrent Financing, the Company successfully applying to the Exchange for a resumption of trading as a mineral exploration issuer following the completion of the Arrangement and any future results at the Company's projects are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Company's expectations include actual exploration results, the ability of the Company to obtain requisite approvals for the Arrangement, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167249
NuScale's decision to join ROMATOM reflects its dedication to promoting and implementing clean, nuclear energy initiatives in Romania

NuScale Power (NuScale) announced today that it joined the Romanian Atomic Forum (ROMATOM) as a supporting member to champion the association's nuclear energy goals and further the next generation of advanced nuclear technology experts, technologists, and operators in Romania. This move embodies NuScale's commitment toward the development of clean nuclear energy with small modular reactor (SMR) technology in Romania and the broader European region.

Established in 2001, ROMATOM supports the safe and peaceful use of nuclear power and promotes the development of a Romanian national nuclear program, launched in the early 1970s. Romania, the first country in Europe to deploy a NuScale VOYGRTM SMR power plant, has more than 26 years of safe nuclear power plant operations experience. Romania also has over 50 years of nuclear industry supply chain experience, with most companies being ROMATOM members, as well as a highly respected and rigorous Nuclear Industry Regulator (CNCAN), and a robust engineering education system.

"NuScale is honored to join ROMATOM and continue the strong relationship between the United States and Romania in the nuclear industry," said John Hopkins, NuScale President and Chief Executive Officer. "At NuScale, we are committed to advancing the secure deployment of SMRs globally. We look forward to working with ROMATOM's community of industry leaders to increase Romania's nuclear capacity and to support the country's goal of becoming a leader in zero-carbon advanced nuclear energy across the region."

"Joining of NuScale to ROMATOM is an important moment in our life and activity, contributing to a better knowledge of our capabilities by the American partner, ensuring the Romanian nuclear community a well-deserved place in the realization of the first NuScale VOYGR small modular reactor project in Romania," said Dr. Teodor Chirica, President Emeritus ROMATOM. "The project from Doicesti, Dambovita County, will pave the way for more flexibility and safety in the Romanian Power Grid, but also an alternative in the development of the national nuclear program."

This announcement builds upon the existing nuclear power collaboration between NuScale Power and Romania's state nuclear power corporation, S.N. Nuclearelectrica S.A. (SNN) and RoPower Nuclear S.A. (RoPower), a project development company established and jointly owned by SNN and Nova Power Gas, S.R.L., a Romanian energy company. In 2021, NuScale and SNN signed a teaming agreement to deploy the first NuScale six-module VOYGR-6, 462 MWe power plant in Romania by the end of this decade and earlier this year, NuScale and RoPower commenced Front-End Engineering and Design work for a potential SMR deployment in Doicesti. Late last week at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, the Biden Administration announced a global public-private commitment of up to $275 million to advance the deployment of a NuScale's VOYGR SMR power plant in Romania. Following NuScale's first planned VOYGR plant deployment in the U.S., Romania has the potential to accommodate the first deployment of SMRs in Europe and to become a catalyst for SMRs in the region, as well as a base for supporting operations of this new technology in other countries.

About NuScale Power

NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) is the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor nuclear technology, with a mission to help power the global energy transition by delivering safe, scalable, and reliable carbon-free energy. The company's groundbreaking VOYGR SMR plants are powered by the NuScale Power Module, a small, safe, pressurized water reactor that can each generate 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe) or 250 megawatts thermal (gross), and can be scaled to meet customer needs through an array of flexible configurations up to 924 MWe (12 modules) of output.

As the first and only SMR to have its design certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NuScale is well-positioned to serve diverse customers across the world by supplying nuclear energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination, commercial-scale hydrogen production, and other process heat applications.

Founded in 2007, NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Ore. To learn more, visit NuScale Power's website or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram

About ROMATOM

The Romanian Atomic Forum ROMATOM is a Romanian legal entity under private law, an independent representative union at the national level, without patrimonial or profit-making purpose, non-governmental, non-profit, apolitical, made up of associated members or supporters. Its members are Romanian and/or foreign legal entities whose object of activity is the production of electrical and thermal energy through nuclear processes or are suppliers of goods and service providers in the Romanian nuclear industry, as well as other legal entities that carry out activities in the field of power. ROMATOM supports the safe and peaceful use of nuclear power, promotes the development of a Romanian national nuclear program, and represents members' interests in their partnership with the European Atomic Forum.

Founded in 2001, ROMATOM is headquartered in Bucharest, Sector 2, B-dul. Lacul Tei, nr. 1-3, etajul VIII, camera 813, cod postal 020371.

Forward Looking Statements

This release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target" or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical facts. These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially as a result of a number of factors. Caution must be exercised in relying on these and other forward-looking statements. Due to known and unknown risks, NuScale's results may differ materially from its expectations and projections. NuScale specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing NuScale's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005103/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Diane Hughes, Vice President, Marketing Communications, NuScale Power

dhughes@nuscalepower.com

(503) 270-9329

Investor Contact

Scott Kozak, Director, Investor Relations, NuScale Power

skozak@nuscalepower.com

(541) 452-7583
Free cyber training programme to meet the growing demand for cyber security professionals launches its second phase.

New research conducted by SANS on the UK workforce reveals that 25% of career switchers rank a lack of knowledge as a significant deterrent in considering a career in the cyber security sector

12.5% of the UK workforce identified the need for sector-specific qualifications as the main factor preventing them from pursuing a career in cyber security.

More UK residents will soon be able to secure fulfilling, highly skilled jobs in the cyber security industry, as a scheme to address the shortage of cyber security experts launches its next iteration.

HM Government and SANS have partnered to launch the Upksill in Cyber training programme to help UK professionals make a career change into cyber security. The programme, lasting 14 weeks, offers training, career advice and interview training to help UK workers change careers into cyber security roles.

So far, it has trained over 200 students with non-cyber backgrounds. Many have gone on to secure guaranteed job interviews upon successful completion of the training programme.

Andrea Csuri, a recent graduate of the Upskill in Cyber programme has successfully switched from the retail industry to a cyber security analyst role. She said, "The programme was incredibly comprehensive, covering a vast array of topics related to cyber security. I was able to connect with mentors who work in the cyber security field, which was of great interest to me. Additionally, the live sessions with a recruiter were a fantastic resource, providing me with insights and advice on how to navigate the job market in this field. I now work as an Analyst for a company that helps organisations manage their IT and cyber security risks".

Recent research by SANS Institute found that 44% of the UK workforce have considered a career change in the last year. However, only 6% have taken an interest in pursuing a career in cyber security despite ranking better pay, career advancement opportunities, and flexible working as the top three benefits of pursuing a career in cyber security. This is due to a lack of understanding about the industry, roles available or the skills needed to even consider pursuing a career in cyber security

To tackle this, SANS and HM Government are now launching the second iteration of the programme, to power stronger growth and better jobs by upskilling more individuals into cyber security.

Minister for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Viscount Camrose, said, "The UK is rapidly establishing itself as a world leader in cyber security, and ensuring people have the skills they need to access jobs in the industry is key to cementing and expanding that reputation".

"The Upskill in Cyber programme lets us do exactly that removing knowledge and skills barriers for aspiring cyber security professionals, and supporting them into the exciting new careers which fuel innovation, drive growth and protect our economy".

Stephen Jones, Managing Director of SANS Institute added, "We have found that certain businesses lack the incident response and governance cyber security skills needed to face up to the realities of a challenging threat landscape. Our training programme helps to eradicate these skills gaps, breaking down barriers to facilitate the transition into a career in cyber. Individualised training equips candidates with both a solid theoretical foundation and hands-on practical skills, enabling them to tackle the most pressing security threats that organisations face today."

"The Upskill in Cyber programme opens up the dynamic world of cyber security to people from all walks of life," said Ciaran Martin, Director of CISO (Chief Information Security Officers) Network at the SANS Institute. "Our training approach will equip and empower candidates with the skills and experiences they need to make them deployable in the cyber security workforce in just a matter of weeks. Throughout the programme, candidates will receive world-class training and support, gaining first-hand access to key industry representatives to better understand rising threats, roles, and responsibilities. In our 2022 programme, 100% of the candidates were provided with multiple opportunities to interact with hiring organisations. We are excited to witness the programme's continued growth and success this year, as it unlocks new career opportunities in a diverse, dynamic, and forward-thinking industry brimming with potential."

Jumpstart your cyber security career by learning more about the Upskill in Cyber programme and applying at https://www.sans.org/mlp/upskillcyber/

About the Research

The SANS Institute commissioned a piece of research in April 2023 to coincide with the launch of its government-backed Upskill in Cyber programme. A survey conducted by 3Gem, targeted 2,000 workers across the UK to examine employees' attitudes towards cyber security and the factors which might encourage them or prevent them from considering career switching to the profession.

About SANS Institute

The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organisation. Today, SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals in government and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach more than 60 courses at in-person and virtual cyber security events and OnDemand. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates practitioner skills through more than 35 hands-on, technical certifications in cyber security. www.sans.org

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Contacts:

chris.hall@teamlewis.com

+44 7739571634
opinion

CHAPEL HILL, NC, U.S.  By Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi and Aaron Salzburg

At the UN Water Conference in March 2023, the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina (UNC) along with several key partners, including UNICEF, Water Aid, the World Health Organization, and the governments of Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa, among others, organized a session centered around the elimination of lead in drinking water across the globe.

During the session, the various institutional partners articulated a vision of eliminating lead from all drinking water supplies by 2040. This vision, dubbed the "Global Pledge to Protect Drinking Water from Lead" (Lead-Free Water Pledge, for short), begins by outlining concrete steps for phasing out lead-leaching materials for new drinking water systems by 2030.

As long as lead is present in drinking water, we as a society are condemning millions (if not billions) of people to futures of health issues and reduced earning potentials in the decades to come. The vision articulated by the Lead-Free Water Pledge is one of many necessary steps that we as a global society must take to ensure access to safe drinking water to people around the world

The pledge's two-pronged approach recognizes the complexity of eliminating lead from drinking water systems. On the one hand, lead is a problem in existing systems. On the other hand, many new drinking water systems are being constructed as much of the Global South develops and urbanizes; these new systems are being constructed with parts or components that contain and leach lead into the water.

As evidenced by efforts to address lead in drinking water in the United States, the first step of identifying areas affected by lead contamination is both financially and technically onerous. Because mitigation is more expensive than prevention, ensuring that new water systems are constructed in accordance to standards the prevent the leaching of lead is low-hanging fruit in the broader effort to eliminate lead from drinking water.

Lead in Drinking Water is a Global Concern

Globally, exposure to lead is responsible for a significant burden of disease, accounting for an estimated 0.9 million deaths per year and 30% of developmental disability from unknown origins. Young children and infants are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects of lead. Current statistics suggest that approximately one in three children worldwide have elevated blood lead levels.

Lead is seldom, if ever, found to be naturally occurring in bodies of water, such as rivers or lakes. Lead is also rarely present in water leaving water treatment plants. Yet, lead in drinking water is a global concern.

Lead in drinking water constitutes a significant portion of a person's exposure to lead in countries around the world. In the US, lead in drinking water is a significant issue that affects households in almost every state. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that drinking water can account for at least 20% of a person's total exposure to lead; this estimate can increase up to 60% for infants who mostly consume mixed formula. A 2021 study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examining water supplies in sub-Saharan found that nearly 80% of drinking water systems were contaminated with lead. Of these systems, approximately 9% of drinking water samples across several countries had lead concentrations that exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value of 10 parts per billion (ppb).

Lead contamination of drinking water supplies is entirely preventable: lead finds its way into drinking water from lead-containing plumbing materials used throughout drinking water systems. Notably, lead can leach into water from lead-based solder used to join pipes, lead-containing brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures, and the wearing-away of old lead service lines.

Regulations around Lead in Drinking Water are Insufficient

There is no safe level of exposure to lead. Even low levels of exposure can be harmful to human health and can cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, cognitive impairments, stunt growth, and impair the formation and function of blood cells, among other harmful effects.

Many countries around the world have regulations in place to reduce or limit the amount of lead in drinking water. The European Union, China, and Japan, for instance, all have statutory limits of 10 ppb; Canada and Australia have published guidelines recommending limits of 5 and 10 ppb, respectively. In the US, the EPA set the maximum contaminant level for lead at 15 ppb.

Except for the US, however, none of the existing national-level regulations have goals place to eliminate lead from drinking water. In 2022, the EPA issued the Revised Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) setting the maximum contaminant level goal for lead in drinking water at zero. As part of the revised LCR, water systems have to create lead service line inventories to better identify areas where they may possible lead in drinking water. Creating this inventory, however, is proving to be financial and technologically onerous for many water systems because it requires both a significant financial investment and having access to staff with technical expertise in GIS or data modeling.

Delivering on the Pledge

The Lead-Free Water Pledge is not the first global initiative to reduce exposure to lead. Notably, one of the most successful public health initiatives over the previous century has been to remove the use of lead in gasoline. For context, lead was commonly used as an additive in gasoline since the 1920s when it was discovered that the addition of lead reduced engine knock allowing engines to run more smoothly.

Though the harmful health effects of lead were almost immediately apparent, it took close to a century for global action to gather any meaningful momentum to eliminate its use. As of 2021, all but one country has banned the use of lead as an additive in fuels because of concerted efforts by the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles and other like-minded organizations.

As illustrated by the effort to remove lead from gasoline, delivering on the pledge to remove lead from drinking water by 2040 will require non-trivial amounts of effort. First, countries must sign on to the pledge and take it on as a priority. So far, three African countries--Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa--have made firm commitments to eliminating lead from drinking water by 2040. Though the United States' policies are fully consistent with the Lead-Free Water Pledge, it has yet to commit.

Second, there must also be a commitment mechanism in place to ensure countries that sign on to the pledge take meaningful actions towards eliminating lead in drinking water. National governments will have to set up systems to ensure new treatment plants follow international standards, support the training and certification of professionals to oversee the construction of safe drinking water systems, ensure affordable access to fittings and other plumbing materials that meet standards for lead in drinking water, among other commitments.

The dual problem of both gathering momentum and implementing a commitment mechanism to ensure progress is not unique to the Lead-Free Water Pledge: the UN Water Conference in 2023 culminated in over 200 similar sorts of commitments, pledges, or agreements.

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Given that the next UN Water Conference of the sort that took place in March 2023 wouldn't take place until 2030 (at the earliest), the need for spaces that decision-makers and researchers from different parts of the world working on particular issues, such as the elimination of lead from drinking water, can use to come together to flesh out details, report on progress, and hold each other accountable is paramount.

A logical step in the right direction would be to take advantage of all the current meetings to create the space for meaningful discussions and actions around lead. To that end, the UNC Water & Health conference is ideally suited to serve as a space to follow-up on the Lead-Free Water Pledge and other commitments made at the UN Water Conference. The yearly conference hosted by the Water Institute each fall is already a gathering place for experts on water sanitation & hygiene in both developing and developed countries.

As long as lead is present in drinking water, we as a society are condemning millions (if not billions) of people to futures of health issues and reduced earning potentials in the decades to come. The vision articulated by the Lead-Free Water Pledge is one of many necessary steps that we as a global society must take to ensure access to safe drinking water to people around the world. We are grateful for the commitments made by Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa and are proud that Africa is taking the lead in tackling such a fundamental issue to ensure a more water secure future.

Dr. El-Khattabi is the Associate Director for Research and Data at the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Salzberg serves as the Director of the Water Institute and the Don and Jennifer Holzworth Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering in the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Novisto triples revenue, customers, and employee headcount year-over-year, emerging as the global leader in ESG data management and raising the bar for the industry

MONTREAL, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Novisto , a Montreal-based ESG data management software company, has successfully raised USD$20 million in a Series B funding round, led by Inovia Capital . The round includes new investments from Portage Ventures and SCOR Ventures , and participation from existing investors White Star Capital and Diagram Ventures . Novisto will use these funds to accelerate its product development and market expansion.





As the demand for standardized, audited, and digitized corporate sustainability reporting grows, ESG reporting has become a critical requirement for companies worldwide. With governments such as the European Commission and regulators such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) heeding the call for regulated sustainability-related disclosures, organizations need a structured and organized approach to accurately define and address complex ESG issues, opportunities, and challenges. Novisto's comprehensive data management platform provides a solution that enables companies to future-proof their ESG data and reporting against more stringent disclosure requirements.

The sustainability reports companies release today lack standardization and are failing to provide actionable information to enable investors and other stakeholders to make ESG-related decisions. A structured ESG strategy is essential for companies to align their values with their actions, manage risk, and drive long-term value creation. Novisto has quickly emerged as a leader in ESG data management, supporting major global companies - including Asana, Manulife, and Sanofi, among others - to improve their ESG data collection and reporting, in order to better manage key sustainability risks and opportunities and drive long-term value creation.

"We are thrilled to have the support of such a strong group of investors as we continue to grow and expand our platform," said Charles Assaf, CEO and co-founder of Novisto. "This funding round will allow us to further develop our product offering and continue to provide our customers with the best possible solutions for ESG data management, so that they can make better decisions that contribute to the sustainability of the economy, environment, and society."

The funding will enable Novisto to scale its product development and continue to provide best-in-class ESG data management solutions to its new and existing customers across a wide range of companies, industries, and geographies. The funds will also be used to grow Novisto's existing customer base as well as expand the team across the globe to support the exponential increase in demand for ESG data management.

'Consistent with our mission of supporting global enduring tech companies, we're honored to work with Novisto, as they progress in their objective of creating a more sustainable future" said Magaly Charbonneau, Partner at Inovia. "It's a critical time for sustainability initiatives to be taken seriously, and Novisto's platform helps companies produce quality, audit-ready ESG data that enables them to make quantifiable, meaningful change.'

"As a publicly-traded company, data is foundational to how we earn the trust of our stakeholders and we have a longstanding commitment to industry-leading ESG disclosure," said Helene V. Gagnon, Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement at CAE. "Novisto is supporting us on enhancing the accuracy and robustness of our ESG data while strengthening data accountability across the organization. We've been with Novisto since its launch and we're proud to continue our work to develop transparent reporting that reflects the progress of our ESG program."

Launched in 2019, Novisto has over 100 employees located in North America and Europe and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. To learn more, please visit www.novisto.com .

About Novisto

Novisto contributes to the sustainability of the economy, environment, and society by empowering companies to make better decisions and disclosures through our ESG data management software. Founded in Montreal in 2019, Novisto is building the ERP for ESG, enabling companies to leverage a data-centric approach to better report on and manage their sustainability-related issues. Novisto is a private company backed by Inovia, White Star Capital, Diagram Ventures, Portag3 Ventures and SCOR Ventures. For more information, please visit: www.novisto.com.

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A 120+ strong team of virtual, offshore bookkeepers help complete the search of 'bookkeeping near me' for a lot of US-based small businesses, in a highly cost-effective manner, being served by the finance and accounting department of IBN Technologies.

PUNE, India, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- US businesses are frantically looking to outsource bookkeeping services near them, daily. Average monthly searches (United States) for 'bookkeeping near me' is in the range of 10K to 100K as of this writing! The finance and accounting department of IBN Technologies takes care of bookkeeping services in the US for small and medium sized businesses as well as helps accounting firms and CPAs with an extended offshore team, based on their requirements.





According to a 2023 report, the global market for finance and accounting outsourcing is estimated to reach USD 68.8 billion by 2030. Within the accounting world, outsourcing services are becoming the fastest growing sector as organizations focus on their core strengths. Various studies show that in the post-Covid era, addition of offshore staff that can be deployed under remote working settings is helping US businesses save big and grow fast.

As a leading outsourcing services company, IBN works with clients in a range of industries serving them not only with finance and accounting services but also with BPO and back-office services. Across industries, here are few common challenges that US small businesses face in finance and accounting functions:

Overall lack of accounting knowledge and compliances

Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable

Incorrect entries of transactions in books

Reconciliations of financial statements

Payroll processing

Data security

Complexity of the accounting processes involving raw materials, inventory, cost of goods, finished goods, cost of goods sold, etc.

Planning for Raw Materials vis-a-vis Inventory Management

Budgeting, Forecasting and Statements of Cash Flows

Commission and Brokerage reconciliations

Revenue Recognition & Reconciliation and Sales Reconciliation with POS system

Reconciling Discount Coupon Sales

Reconciling Merchant accounts

Tips Reconciliation

Petty Cash Reconciliation

Management of Multiple Locations, where applicable

etc.

"We pride ourselves in partnering with USA small businesses to help them save up to 50% on their operational costs when it comes to finance and accounting functions," says Mr. Ajay Mehta, CEO and Founder of IBN Technologies. "With CERT certification for data security, access to 120+ certified bookkeepers on US accounting processes and software along with a 99.99% accuracy in delivered work - US SMBs and CPAs trust the finance and accounting department of IBN Technologies with their businesses."

Whether you are looking for bookkeeping near me in California or remote New York bookkeepers, IBN Technologies offers the best offshore virtual bookkeeping services options with models of hourly, part-time and full-time resources that offer the required expertise, experience, knowledge and exposure to US GAAP's & IFRS processes. These human resources work as an extended offshore team reporting directly to you or the in-house manager, ensuring round-the-clock active work, when required.

Whether it is a business' need to cover data and information on procure to pay, quote to cash, record to report or an industry specific requirement, the team of bookkeepers at IBN Tech are ready to help the small business owner face any challenge when it comes to the bookkeeping processes. With a clear understanding that a 'one size fits all' approach in bookkeeping for small business does not apply, the IBN team emphasizes on a very focused approach to bookkeeping for each of its clients, based on the clients' industry of business.

Small Businesses looking for 'bookkeeping near me' should consider the following benefits of outsourcing bookkeeping offshore to IBN Tech:

Save Up to 50% Operational Costs while bettering operational efficiency

Reports and Financial Analysis specific to a small business and industry it belongs to

Peace of Mind in terms of Accuracy and Accounting Standards

Dedicated Resources and Access to Experts

Quick Turnaround - An offshore team or team member can be available at any required time

Easily Expand virtual team without overhead costs

Fill up the form on https://www.ibntech.com/finance-and-accounting-services/ and get in touch for any finance and accounting services related requirements.

About IBN Technologies

IBN Technologies LLC is an outsourcing specialist company with clients in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and India. The quality of IBN Tech procedures is guaranteed by ISO 9001:2015, 27001:2013 as well as a CMMI-5 certification. In its more than 24 years of existence, IBN has become a leading IT, KPO and BPO outsourcing specialized company in the Finance & Accounting, CPAs, Hedge Fund & Other Alternative Investment business, Banking, Travel, Human Resource & Retail Industry sectors.

Contact Details:

Pradip Gore

sales@ibntech.com

+1 - 844 - 644 - 8440

USA:

IBN Technologies LLC

66 West Flagler Street Suite 900 Miami, FL 33130

India: Global Delivery Center

IBN Technologies Limited

42, Electronic Co-Operative

Estate Limited Satara Road, Parvati, Pune, Maharashtra 411009

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+39,93% Rendite seit Januar  so lautet die Erfolgsbilanz der Aktie der Woche. Damit wurden sowohl der DAX als auch der S&P 500 deutlich outperformt. Wie das genau funktioniert, erklart Chefradakteur Lars Wiler in seiner Zwischenbilanz.

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Tsodilo Resources Limited ("Tsodilo" or the "Company") (TSX-V:TSD)(OTCQB:TSDRF)(FSE:TZO) is pleased to announce that it has been accepted for membership in the ResponsibleSteel organization.

About ResponsibleSteel

ResponsibleSteel is a global not-for-profit multistakeholder standard and certification initiative whose mission is to be a driving force in the socially and environmentally responsible production of net-zero steel, globally. Building a sustainable steel industry requires cooperation and mutual commitment from companies at all levels of the steel supply chain, representatives of civil society, and other stakeholders and ResponsibleSteel provides the forum for this multi-stakeholder approach. Their members include some of the leading players in the industry working together to minimize the impact of steel manufacturing on people and the planet. Additional information can be found at www.responsiblesteel.org.

The ResponsibleSteel International Standard is designed to support the responsible sourcing and production of steel. It covers a range of sustainability issues including emissions, pollution, responsible sourcing, human rights, labour standards, and more. Their global standard and certification program will ensure businesses and consumers can be confident that the steel they use has been sourced and produced responsibly at every stage. Additionally, ResponsibleSteel is working with the mining sector, to recognize various sustainability programs and to create a common platform for engaging with stakeholders.

James M. Bruchs, Tsodilo's Chairman and CEO commented, "Tsodilo adopted the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines for Mining when IFC became a shareholder more than a decade ago and we have worked diligently to advance the XIF project within those guidelines. Becoming a member of ResponsibleSteel furthers our goal of becoming the supplier of an ultra-high grade +67% Fe product to the industry and doing what we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by becoming part of the "green steel" movement".

Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel said, "We are delighted to welcome Tsodilo Resources as a ResponsibleSteel member. As the decarbonisation challenge for steel tilts the focus towards the best sustainability opportunities the upstream value chain has to offer, innovative mining companies like Tsodilo are positioned to play a vital role in the journey towards net zero. By joining ResponsibleSteel, our mining members make a commitment to the highest social and environmental goals. Tsodilo is laying down an important foundation stone today, to be a force for good in the steel value chain, and we look forward to working with them closely."

XAUDUM IRON FORMATION (XIF)

About the XIF Project

The project is located in the North-West District of Botswana and is proximate to the Namibian border and lies twenty-two (22) miles from the town of Divundu in Namibia. The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor (previously known as the Trans-Caprivi) line linking Zambia and Namibia is planned to pass through Divundu, providing access to Walvis Bay, Namibia's deep-sea port. The project is also located within forty-three (43) miles of the proposed Mucusso line to Angola's Namibe Port.

Preliminary work on the Xaudum Iron project has defined a CIM compliant Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 441 million tonnes (Mt) with an average grade of 29.4% Fe, 41.0% SiO2, 6.1% Al2O3 and 0.3% P for the Block 1 magnetite XIF.

Block 1 is a fraction of the potential XIF magnetite resource. An extrapolated exploration target has defined the XIF to be in the order of 5 to 7 billion tonnes at 15 - 40% Fe. This exploration target was generated by inversion modelling of ground magnetic geophysical data which was compared and moderated to volumes from drilling data within Block 1 and its potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature. To date, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource other than in Block 1 and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. See, Press Release of 6/02/2014 on the Company's website for further details.

on the Company's website for further details. Metallurgical magnetic separation results (Davis Tube Recovery) show that an average concentrate of 67.2% Fe, 4.2% SiO2, 0.5% Al2O3, 0.07% P is obtained at P80 grind size of 80 microns, although higher grades are possible at finer P80's. See, Press Release of 12/17/2013 on the Company's website.

on the Company's website. Further exploration will be focused on Block 2a where the Company expects an increase in the resource.

Additional informational of the project can be found on the Company's website at https://tsodiloresources.com/s/Metals.asp.html and further technical information can be found in a report prepared by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. for Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Ltd. titled "Mineral Resource Estimate for the Xaudum Iron Project (Block 1), Republic of Botswana" with an effective date of August 29, 2014, and filed on SEDAR under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

About Tsodilo Resources Limited

Tsodilo Resources Limited is an international resource exploration company engaged in the search for economic metal and diamond deposits at its Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Limited ("Gcwihaba") and Bosoto (Pty) Ltd. ("Bosoto) projects in Botswana. The Company has a 100% stake in its Gcwihaba project area consisting of five metal (base, precious, platinum group, and rare earth) prospecting licenses all located in the North-West district of Botswana. The Company has a 100% stake in Bosoto (Pty) Ltd. which holds the BK16 kimberlite project in the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF) in Botswana. Tsodilo manages the exploration of the Gcwihaba and Bosoto projects. Overall supervision of the Company's exploration program is the responsibility of McDonald Kahari (Pr. Sci. Nat.) a "qualified person" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements pertaining to the use of proceeds, the impact of strategic partnerships and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward- looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, changes in equity markets, changes in general economic conditions, market volatility, political developments in Botswana and surrounding countries, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, exploration and development risks, the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration results and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, uncertainties relating to availability and cost of funds, timing and content of work programs, results of exploration activities, interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, risks relating to variations in the diamond grade and kimberlite lithologies; variations in rates of recovery and breakage; estimates of grade and quality of diamonds, variations in diamond valuations and future diamond prices; the state of world diamond markets, reliability of mineral property titles, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required project approvals, operational and infrastructure risk and other risks involved in the diamond exploration and development business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain assumptions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are subject to factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

James M. Bruchs Chairman and Chief Executive Officer JBruchs@TsodiloResources.com Head Office Telephone +1 416 800 4214 Facsimile + 1 416 987 4369 Website http://www.TsodiloResources.com

SOURCE: Tsodilo Resources Limited

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Nextech3D.ai shareholders of record set to receive a 4,000,000 share stock dividend

The company will trade under the ticker symbol: TGGL

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Nextech3D.AI (formally "Nextech AR Solutions Corp' or the "Company") (OTCQX:NEXCF) (CSE:NTAR) (FSE:EP2), a Generative AI-Powered 3D model supplier for Amazon, P&G, Kohls and other major e-commerce retailers to thrilled to announce the eagerly anticipated spin-off of Toggle3D.ai. The expected trade date for Toggle3D.ai (CSE:TGGL) is June 13, 2023 (subject to approvals) of the Canadian Securities Exchange. Nextech shareholders of record will be issued an exclusive dividend of 4,000,000 newly issued shares in the revolutionary Toggle3D.ai, on a pro-rata basis.

Toggle3D.ai is a groundbreaking SaaS solution that utilizes generative AI to convert CAD files, apply stunning 4K texturing, and enable seamless publishing of superior 4K 3D models, serving various industries within the $160 billion CGI market. With its Augmented Reality-based rapid prototyping web app, Toggle3D.ai empowers designers, artists, marketers, and eCommerce owners to effortlessly convert, texture, customize, and publish high-quality 3D models and experiences, regardless of technical or 3D design expertise.

After the IPO spin-out Nextech3D.ai is going to retain 13 million shares or about a 50% ownership stake in Toggle3D.ai. The Company is selling about 8,400,000 shares at $0.25 per unit (including a $0.50 warrant). The Company has raised $2.1mill dollars giving Toggle3D.ai a $7.1 million post money valuation.

The spin-out of Toggle3D.ai follows Nextech's successful spin-out on 10/26/2022 of ARway.ai, currently trading on the CSE as ARWY and on the OTCQB as ARWYF.

Toggle3D.ai is emerging as a standalone public company, initially trading on the CSE as TGGL, with plans to expand its presence to the Frankfurt and OTC markets in the near future. This strategic move not only drives innovation but also unlocks substantial shareholder value, reflecting Nextech's commitment to driving the industry forward.

Timeline to IPO:

Annual General and Special Meeting (AGSM) is scheduled to take place on June 5, 2023

The final court hearing to approve the plan of arrangement is scheduled for June 9, 2023

The expected trade date for Toggle3D.ai (CSE:TGGL) is June 13, 2023 on the Canadian Securities Exchange

Toggle3D.ai Platform Improvements and Updates

As of May 17, 2023, the Toggle3D.ai platform had a total of 2,204 sign-ups representing a 1533% increase. Since the Beta launch, Toggle3D.ai3Dai has attracted a variety of users such as designers, developers, 3D artists, entrepreneurs and creators, reaching thousands of users on the platform within a few months

As of May 17, 2023, the Toggle3D.ai platform had a total of 3334 active projects representing a 1664% increase since Beta launch

Toggle3D.ai is expected to launch out of Beta in June 2023

Sign-ups from major enterprise brands including LG, Honeywell, VIZIO and more

Toggle3D.ai recently launched breakthrough generative AI technology that facilitates the generation of 3D materials from text prompts. In the text-to-3D Material Pipeline, users can input a text prompt into the AI generator, and the system creates multiple image variations of that prompt. The generated images are then layered with texture maps to create a 3D material.

Example of "Red Crocodile Leather Fabric" Text Prompt to 3D Material Generation Using AI-Generator:

Toggle3D.ai has recently increased the converting power of its CAD to POLY importer by over 10X , and is now able to convert manufacturing files over 1000mb. These new features will allow the company to close new revenue opportunities for enterprise-level manufacturers looking to unleash their CAD files for usage on the web.

, and is now able to convert manufacturing files over 1000mb. These new features will allow the company to close new revenue opportunities for enterprise-level manufacturers looking to unleash their CAD files for usage on the web. In March, Toggle3D.ai launched new machine learning (ML) and computer vision technology for the Toggle3D.ai platform. These powerful ML and computer vision tools simplify and speed up production pipelines for web and XR developers who need high-fidelity 3D models, but who often have limited resources available due to large file sizes or hardware limitations.

for the Toggle3D.ai platform. These powerful ML and computer vision tools simplify and speed up production pipelines for web and XR developers who need high-fidelity 3D models, but who often have limited resources available due to large file sizes or hardware limitations. The rapid adoption of this technology is continuing and positions Toggle3D.ai to become an industry leader in the estimated $160 Billion Global GGI Application Software market.

Toggle3D.ai, introduced in September 2022, is a cutting-edge standalone web application that combines augmented reality (AR) technology with user-friendly features, allowing product designers, 3D artists, marketing professionals, and eCommerce site owners to effortlessly create, customize, and publish top-tier 3D models and immersive experiences, even without prior technical or 3D design expertise. The Company strongly believes that Toggle3D.ai represents a groundbreaking solution, being the first platform of its kind, with the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing and design industry. It offers an affordable and scalable approach to converting large CAD files into lightweight 3D models, making it a game changer for businesses in this sector.

Toggle3D.ai Benefits Over 3D Legacy Software

NO Learning Curve

Toggle3D.ai stands out from legacy 3D design software by eliminating the learning curve and making 3D design accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical background. Unlike traditional systems that require months of learning, Toggle3D.ai simplifies the process by humanizing design terminology, providing guided templates, and using machine learning to make the tools user-friendly.

Web-based Collaboration

Being web-based, users can access Toggle3D.ai instantly on their browsers without the need for downloads, updates, or system compatibility concerns. Additionally, the platform offers advanced in-app collaboration features, enabling multiple users to work together on the same project in real-time, facilitating quick feedback, decision-making, and cross-department collaboration.

These collaborative tools empower businesses to adopt 3D design organization-wide, enhancing workflow efficiency and unleashing the potential of group iteration.

Recent Toggle3D.ai News

Nextech3D.ai Achieves Major Generative AI Breakthrough In Text to 3D Material Generation

Livestream: Toggle3D.ai Generative AI Technology Demo & Presentation

Nextech3D.ai Announces Conditional Listing Approval & Updates on Generative-AI IPO Spin-Off SaaS Platform Toggle3D.ai

Nextech3D.ai AI-Powered CAD Design Studio Toggle3D.ai Achieves 10X File Reduction Opening Up The platform to New Large Enterprise Customers

Nextech3D.ai Announces Its AI-Powered SaaS Platform Toggle3D.ai Experiences A +963% Jump in Users in 60-Days Crossing Over 1000 Users

Further Details of the Arrangement

The Directors and Officers of Toggle3D.ai on closing of the Arrangement are anticipated to be as follows:

Evan Gappelberg - Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Gappelberg, the dynamic Director and CEO of Nextech, is a seasoned entrepreneur renowned for his ability to launch and lead successful start-ups. With expertise in funding, operations, and public markets, he brings a wealth of experience to the table. As the visionary behind over 500 popular apps on Apple's iTunes and Google Play stores, Gappelberg's entrepreneurial journey began even before his impressive Wall Street career as a hedge fund manager and Senior VP of Finance. With a remarkable track record and deep knowledge of capital markets, he is a driving force in managing Nextech's growth as a public company.

Belinda Tyldesley - Director and Corporate Secretary.

Mrs. Tyldesley is the President of Closing Bell Services, a consulting company that provides corporate secretarial services. Mrs. Tyldesley has extensive experience across all sectors of the economy with regulatory compliance in all Canadian jurisdictions and reporting issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and the NEO Exchange (NEO), as well as providing legal assistance and secretarial services. Mrs. Tyldesley holds an Associate Diploma in Business Legal Practice from Holmesglen College in Melbourne, Australia. She currently serves as the Corporate Secretary and a director of Nextech and Arway.

Andrew Chan - Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Chan has over 20 years of experience across finance, accounting, business analytics, and strategy, focusing on the technology and financial services sectors with half of his career serving high-growth, public technology companies. After over a decade in public accounting (including 9 years at Ernst & Young), Andrew moved into senior finance positions with Real Matters Inc. (TSX: REAL) and goeasy ltd. (TSX: GSY) - both offering technology solutions for the financial services industry - where he was involved in several financings, transactions and acquisitions with an aggregate value of well over a billion dollars. Mr. Chan has successfully integrated and led finance-related functional groups including treasury and banking, corporate reporting and budgeting and was instrumental in forging strong relationships with business unit leaders to enable successful revenue forecasting and delivery. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Nextech and Arway. Mr.Chan is a Chartered Public Accountant (CPA, CA) and also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree specializing in accounting and finance from the University of Toronto.

Jeff Dawley - Director.

Mr. Dawley is President and Co-Founder of Cybersecurity Compliance Corp., a cybersecurity company, and previously served as the Principal and Chief Financial Officer of BridgePoint Financial Group, a litigation finance group of companies. Mr. Dawley currently serves as a director of Nextech and Arway.

The Arrangement is subject to court and shareholder approval of the Arrangement, and standard closing conditions. The Arrangement cannot close until the required shareholder and court approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Arrangement will be completed as proposed, or at all. Further details about the proposed Arrangement will be provided in a disclosure document to be prepared and filed in connection therewith. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the disclosure document to be prepared in connection with the Arrangement, any information released or received with respect to the foregoing matters may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon.

About Nextech3D.ai

Nextech AR Solutions Corp (OTCQX: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE: EP2) is an augmented reality and AI technology company that harnesses cutting-edge proprietary AI to create engaging 3D experiences for ecommerce brands. With a focus on developing disruptive technologies, Nextech spins them out as independent public companies, rewarding shareholders with stock dividends while retaining a substantial ownership stake in each spin-out.

In October 2022, Nextech3D.ai successfully spun out its spatial computing platform, ARway, as a standalone public company. Nextech AR maintained control with 13 million shares (50% stake) and distributed 4 million shares to its shareholders. ARway Corp. is revolutionizing the augmented reality wayfinding market with its no-code, no-beacon spatial computing platform driven by visual marker tracking. The company is listed on the CSE (ARWY), OTCQB (ARWYF), and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (E65).

In another groundbreaking move, Nextech announced on December 14, 2022, the upcoming spin-out of Toggle3D.ai, an AI-powered 3D design studio set to rival Adobe. Anticipated to go public in the first half of 2023, Toggle3D.ai promises to reshape the industry and captivate investors with its innovative approach to AI-powered design.

To learn more, please follow Nextech3D.ai on Twitter , YouTube , Instagram , LinkedIn , and Facebook , or visit our website: https://www.Nextechar.com .

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact:

Lindsay Betts

investor.relations@Nextechar.com

866-ARITIZE (274-8493) Ext 7201

Nextech3D.ai

Evan Gappelberg

CEO and Director

866-ARITIZE (274-8493)

Forward-looking Statements

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the completion of the transaction are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Nextech will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Nextech3D.ai

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756910/Nextech3Dai-Game-Changing-Generative-AI-CAD-3D-Design-Studio-Toggle3Dai-Primed-For-7-Million-June-IPO
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Intrepid Metals Corp. (TSXV:INTR)(OTCQB:IMTCF) ("Intrepid" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been approved to upgrade from the OTC Pink to the OTCQB Venture Market, with its common shares trading on the exchange beginning yesterday, May 23, 2023 under the symbol, "IMTCF". The shares will continue to be listed, trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "INTR."

"We are excited to join the OTCQB exchange as this will provide us with an opportunity to expand our shareholder base, enhance our visibility and increase trading liquidity in the US," said Ken Brophy, CEO of Intrepid Metals. "We have three exciting projects in the State of Arizona, a tier one mining jurisdiction, and wanted to ensure our American followers have the ability to easily participate in our growth. This step also demonstrates our financial strength and our commitment to transparency in terms of compliance, disclosure, and corporate governance. We look forward to strengthening our relationships with US investors and highlighting the Company's growth opportunities."

The OTCQB, operated by the OTC Markets Group in New York, is the premier marketplace for early stage and developing US and international companies. It is recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as an established market, providing public information for analysis and valuation of securities. Investors can find real-time quotes and market information at www.otcmarkets.com.

About Intrepid Metals Corp.

Intrepid Metals Corp. is a Canadian company focused on exploring for high-grade essential metals such as copper, silver, and zinc in proximity to established mining camps in south-eastern Arizona, USA. The Company has acquired several drill ready projects, including the Corral Copper Project (a district scale advanced exploration and development opportunity), and the Tombstone South Project (within the historical Tombstone mining district and shares geological similarities to South 32's Taylor Deposit) both of which are located in Cochise County, Arizona and the Mesa Well Project located in the Laramide Copper Porphyry Belt in Arizona. Intrepid has assembled an exceptional team with considerable experience with exploration, developing, and permitting new projects within North America. Intrepid is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol "INTR" and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol "IMTCF". For more information, visit www.intrepidmetals.com.

INTREPID METALS CORP.

On behalf of the Company

"Ken Brophy"

CEO

For further information regarding this news release, please contact:

Ken Brophy

CEO

604-681-8030

info@intrepidmetals.com

Caroline Sawamoto

Investor Relations

invest@intrepidmetals.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking statements relate to: (i) future exploration plans; (ii) details about potential mineralization; (iii) the exploration potential of the company's mineral properties; and (iv) potential future production.

In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the results of exploration activities, expectations and anticipated impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, commodity prices, the timing and amount of future exploration and development expenditures, the availability of labour and materials, receipt of and compliance with necessary regulatory approvals and permits, the estimation of insurance coverage, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to the ability to access infrastructure, risks relating to changes in commodity prices, risks related to current global financial conditions, risks related to current global financial conditions and the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business, reliance on key personnel, operational risks inherent in the conduct of exploration and development activities, including the risk of accidents, labour disputes and cave-ins, regulatory risks including the risk that permits may not be obtained in a timely fashion or at all, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks, risks related to disputes concerning property titles and interests, environmental risks and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's reports and filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Intrepid Metals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756846/Intrepid-Metals-Commences-Trading-on-OTCQB-Venture-Market
Positive EBITDA of $0.68 million in Q1 FY2023, compared with ($2.36 million) in Q1 FY20221

Achieved positive operational cash flow in Q1 FY2023 for the second consecutive quarter, and on track to generate positive operational cash flow in Q2 FY20231,2

Adjusted gross profit of $5.68 million (52% adjusted gross margin) in Q1 2023, compared with $3.64 million (43% adjusted gross margin) in Q1 2022, a 56% increase year-over-year1

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - SLANG Worldwide Inc. (CSE: SLNG) (OTCQB: SLGWF) ("SLANG" or the "Company"), a leading global cannabis consumer packaged goods (CPG) company with a diversified portfolio of popular brands, today released financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2023. All figures in this press release are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

"SLANG's results from Q1 FY2023 again demonstrated the strength of the SLANG business model and our ability to thrive in the country's most competitive cannabis markets, and create a differentiated financial profile. By operating in a flexible and scalable manner to effectively compete in each specific cannabis market where we operate, we have now produced positive Adjusted EBITDA, our first quarter of positive EBITDA, our second consecutive quarter of positive operational cash flow, and our highest quarterly adjusted margins to date, of 52%. We anticipate this positive momentum to continue through fiscal 2023 as we further elevate our market position and continue to drive top and bottom-line results," commented John Moynan, Chief Executive Officer of SLANG.

"Our core markets of Vermont and Colorado continue to outperform expectations, with our portfolio of leading brands fueling solid sales growth. In fact, we achieved our strongest sales growth in Colorado in the first quarter with sales increasing 12% year-over-year. Our ability to continue driving high-margin revenue from our Core Markets positions these operations as the financial backbone of our Company, allowing us to be aggressive in driving brand performance nationally through our Emerging Markets," Mr. Moynan concluded.

First Quarter 2023 Operational Highlights and Growth Drivers:

Generated positive operational cash flow in Q4 FY2022 and Q1 FY2023, achieving two consecutive quarters of positive operational cash flow 1 .

. In the first two O.pen promotions of Q1 2023, the Company saw its top 5 highest volume accounts deliver a 30-66% year-over-year sales lift. This was driven by a new strategic marketing approach in 2023, concentrated on structured, brand-driven promotions during key sales periods throughout the year.

Launched O.pen and Alchemy Naturals into the Vermont wholesale market, a significant near-term growth opportunity.

In April 2023, expanded into the new market of West Virginia, launching operations through strategic partnerships with leading, high-quality premium cannabis brands and operators.

First Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights

Revenue from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2023, was $10.82 million, compared with $8.37 million in the three months ended March 31, 2022, representing a 29% increase year-over-year. The primary drivers of the increase were due to an increase in our Core Market sales of $2.05 million in Vermont and $0.78 million in Colorado, offset by a reduction in Emerging Market sales. The increase in Vermont was driven by the opening of the Company's CERES Collaborative dispensary on October 1, 2022, Vermont's first recreational cannabis store.

Gross profit of $5.72 million (53% gross margin) in Q1 2023, compared with $3.66 million (44% gross margin) in Q1 2022, representing a 56% increase year-over-year. Adjusted gross profit 1 was $5.68 million (52% adjusted gross margin) in Q1 2023, compared with $3.64 million (43% adjusted gross margin) in Q1 2022, representing a 56% increase year-over-year.

was $5.68 million (52% adjusted gross margin) in Q1 2023, compared with $3.64 million (43% adjusted gross margin) in Q1 2022, representing a 56% increase year-over-year. EBITDA 1 of $0.68 million in Q1 2023, compared with ($2.36 million) in Q1 2022. The improvement in EBITDA is primarily attributable to a $2.06 million increase in gross profit and a $0.55 million decrease in share-based payments. Further reductions in operating expenditures such as consulting and subcontractors also contributed to the improvement in EBITDA.

of $0.68 million in Q1 2023, compared with ($2.36 million) in Q1 2022. The improvement in EBITDA is primarily attributable to a $2.06 million increase in gross profit and a $0.55 million decrease in share-based payments. Further reductions in operating expenditures such as consulting and subcontractors also contributed to the improvement in EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $0.74 million in Q1 2023, compared with ($1.64 million) in Q1 2022. The improvement in Adjusted EBITDA is primarily attributable to a $2.04 million increase in gross profit before fair value adjustments of biological assets. Further reductions in operating expenditures such as consulting and subcontractors also contributed to the improvement in Adjusted EBITDA.

of $0.74 million in Q1 2023, compared with ($1.64 million) in Q1 2022. The improvement in Adjusted EBITDA is primarily attributable to a $2.04 million increase in gross profit before fair value adjustments of biological assets. Further reductions in operating expenditures such as consulting and subcontractors also contributed to the improvement in Adjusted EBITDA. $11.67 million in cash and restricted cash on March 31, 2023, compared to $11.92 million on December 31, 2022. Excluding deferred cash consideration of $0.33 million paid in connection with the Company's acquisition of High Fidelity Inc. ("HiFi"), the Company was operational cash flow positive in the three months ending March 31, 20231.

First Quarter 2023 Financial Review

The consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with IFRS. The following is a selected presentation of the Income Statement for the three months ended March 31, 2023.



3 months ended 3 months ended 31-Mar-23 31-Mar-22 (In thousands except per share data and percentages) CDN CDN Net Operating Revenue From Continuing Operations $ 10,823 $ 8,374 Cost of Goods Sold 5,141 4,735 Gross Profit Before Fair Value Adjustment of Biological Assets 5,682 3,639 Realized fair value amounts included in inventory sold (423 ) (514 ) Unrealized gain on fair value of biological assets 456 530 Gross Profit 5,715 3,655 Gross Profit Margin 53% 44% Operating expenses 5,778 7,486 Operating Loss (63 ) (3,831 ) Other items (Impairment, FV adjustment, FX, gains/losses, taxes, etc.) 2,267 682 Total Comprehensive Loss (2,330 ) (4,513 ) Earnings Per Share From Continuing Operations Basic $ (0.02 ) $ (0.04 ) Diluted $ (0.02 ) $ (0.04 )

3 months ended 3 months ended 31-Mar-23 31-Mar-22 (In thousands except per share data and percentages) CDN CDN Net Operating Revenue From Continuing Operations $ 10,823 $ 8,374 Cost of Goods Sold 5,141 4,735 Realized fair value amounts included in inventory sold (423 ) (514 ) Unrealized gain on fair value of biological assets 456 530 Cost of Goods Sold 5,108 4,719 Gross Profit 5,715 3,655 Gross Profit Margin 53% 44% Gross Profit before FV adjustment 5,682 3,639 Gross Profit Margin before FV adjustment 52% 43%

3 months ended 3 months ended 31-Mar-23 31-Mar-22 (In thousands except per share data and percentages) CDN CDN Total Comprehensive Loss $ (2,330 ) $ (4,513 ) EBITDA (Non-IFRS) 679 (2,359 ) Adjusted EBITDA (Non-IFRS) 742 (1,644 )

See the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2023 (the "Q1 2023 MD&A") for a detailed reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to Operating Income / (Loss). SLANG's financial statements and the Q1 2023 MD&A are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the Company's Investor Relations website at www.slangww.com.

Non-IFRS Measures

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross margin and operational cash flow are non-IFRS financial measures that the Company uses to assess its operating performance. EBITDA is defined as net earnings (loss) before net finance costs, income tax expense (benefit) and depreciation and amortization expense. Management defines Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA adjusted for other non-cash items such as the impact of unrealized fair values, share based compensation expense, impairments, one-time gains and losses, and one-time revenues and expenses. Management defines adjusted gross profit as gross profit before fair value adjustment of biological assets. Management defines adjusted gross margin as gross margin before fair value adjustment of biological assets. Management defines operational cash flow as cash flow of the business, excluding milestone payments made in connection with the Company's acquisition of HiFi, pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated June 25, 2021, as amended. This data is furnished to provide additional information and are non-IFRS measures and do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. The Company uses these non-IFRS measures to provide shareholders and others with supplemental measures of its operating performance. The Company also believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties, frequently use these non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of companies, many of which present similar metrics when reporting their results. As other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently than the Company, these metrics may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. We caution readers that Adjusted EBITDA should not be substituted for determining net loss as an indicator of operating results, or as a substitute for cash flows from operating and investing activities. During 2022 the Company updated its definition of Adjusted EBITDA to include the impact of fair value amounts included in inventory sold and unrealized gain on changes in fair value of biological assets. The comparative 2021 figures have been updated to conform to this current period presentation.

Conference Call Details

Management plans to host an investor conference call today, May 24, at 10:00 am ET to discuss the results.

Timing: Wednesday, May 24th, 2023 at 10:00 am ET

Dial In: 1(888) 440-5983 (US toll-free) or 1(646) 960-0202 (international)

Conference ID: 6291438

Webcast: A live webcast can be accessed via the Company's website at www.slangww.com or https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/413638362

About SLANG Worldwide

SLANG Worldwide Inc. is the industry leader in branded cannabis consumer packaged goods, with a diversified portfolio of five distinct brands and products distributed across the U.S. Operating in 13 legal cannabis markets nationwide, SLANG specializes in acquiring and developing market-proven regional brands, as well as launching innovative new brands to seize global market opportunities and match evolving consumer tastes. The Company has over a decade of experience operating in the nascent and highly regulated cannabis sector, and its partners enjoy the benefits of that experience, with access to the SLANG playbook for successful operations, sales and marketing. Its strong product pipeline from uniquely positioned and scalable brands like O.pen, Alchemy Naturals, Ceres, Firefly, and partnerships with brands like Greenhouse Seed Company have a proven track record of success with the brands consistently ranking among the top performers in the states where SLANG operates. Learn more at slangww.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management of SLANG at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to regulatory risks, risks related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, changes in laws, resolutions and guidelines, market risks, concentration risks, operating history, competition, the risks associated with international and foreign operations and the other risks identified under the headings "Risk Factors" in the Q1 2023 MD&A and other disclosure documents available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SLANG is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Financial Outlook

This news release contains a financial outlook within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. The financial outlook has been prepared by management of the Company to provide an outlook for the Company's operational cash flow for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and may not be appropriate for any other purpose. The financial outlook has been prepared based on a number of assumptions including the assumptions discussed under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements". The actual results of the Company's operations for any period will likely vary from the amounts set forth in these projections and such variations may be material. The Company and its management believe that the financial outlook has been prepared on a reasonable basis. However, because this information is highly subjective and subject to numerous risks, including the risks discussed under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements", it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results.

Third Party Information

This press release includes market and industry data that has been obtained from third party sources, including industry publications. The Company believes that the industry data is accurate and that its estimates and assumptions are reasonable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of this data. Third party sources generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of included information. Although the data is believed to be reliable, the Company has not independently verified any of the data from third party sources referred to in this press release or ascertained the underlying economic assumptions relied upon by such sources.

Company Contact

Mikel Rutherford, CFO

833-752-6499

Media and Investor Inquiries

Investors@SLANGww.com

KCSA Strategic Communications

Phil Carlson

SLANG@kcsa.com

1 See "Non IFRS measures".

2 Preliminary and unaudited financial results are subject to customary financial statement procedures by the Company and its auditors. Actual results could be affected by subsequent events or determinations. While the Company believes there is a reasonable basis for these preliminary financial results, the results involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These preliminary fiscal results represent forward-looking information. See "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Financial Outlook".

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167168
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Tincorp Metals Inc. (TSXV: TIN) (OTCQX: TINFF) ("Tincorp" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of exploration drilling at its Porvenir tin-zinc-silver-lead polymetallic project (the "Porvenir Project" or the "Project") in Bolivia.

As previously reported (see news release dated August 31, 2022), the Company signed an agreement to acquire up to a 100% interest of the Porvenir Project. The Porvenir Project is situated in the centre of the Bolivian Tin belt, 65 km southeast of the city of Oruro, in the Oruro department, and it is only 15 km south of the Huanuni Mine, Bolivia's largest producing tin mine. The 11.25 km2 property encompasses a historical near-surface open pit and underground workings; the deposit was exploited on a limited scale. Further to a strategic review of historical exploration programs and a recent relogging program (see news releases dated March 2, 2023, and April 3, 2023), high priority targets are defined in the central area of the Project, which highlighted a structurally-controlled mineralization zone trending NW comprising of massive sulfides and a series of mineralized sulfide veins.

The first phase of this drilling program is the mobilization of a diamond drill rig to commence a 3,000 meters program, which may be extended at a later date, pending results. The exploration drilling will include targeted drilling, aimed at expanding the mineralization discovered by historical exploration programs and to further test the extension of mineralization along strike.

All required exploration permits are in place and a local drilling contractor has begun to mobilize crews and equipment.

"It is our aim for 2023 to unlock the exploration potential of the Porvenir Project by advancing our drilling and prospecting activities," Mr. Gordon Neal, CEO of the Company stated: "There have only been a handful of new tin deposits discovered in the past 40 years. We are excited and confident that our 3,000 m diamond drill program at Porvenir will be a success. We expect to see assays from this program by the end of June to early July."

About Tincorp

Tincorp Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focusing on tin projects in Bolivia and a gold project near Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Company has signed agreements to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Porvenir Project and SF Tin Project, which are 70 km southeast of Oruro, Bolivia. The Company's 100% owned Skukum Gold Project is approximately 84 km south of Whitehorse by road. An independent mineral resource estimate update in respect of the Skukum Gold Project was completed in October 2022.

On Behalf of Tincorp Metals Inc.

signed "Gordon Neal"

Gordon Neal, CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations, Tincorp Metals Inc.

Phone: +1 (604)-336-5919

Email: info@tincorp.com

www.tincorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collective, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the terms of the Agreement and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange are forward-looking statements. Estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources are also forward-looking information because they incorporate estimates of future developments including future mineral prices, costs and expenses and the amount of minerals that will be encountered if a property is developed. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. The opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: whether the Company will acquire up to a 100% interest of the Porvenir Project; market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices; that there are no significant disruptions affecting operations, including labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, security disruptions, damage to or loss of equipment, whether due to flooding, political changes, title issues, intervention by local landowners, environmental concerns, pandemics (including COVID-19) or otherwise; that the Company will be able to obtain and maintain governmental approvals, permits and licenses in connection with its current and planned operations, development and exploration activities, including at the Skukum Gold Project, SF Tin Project and Porvenir Project; that the Company will be able to meet its current and future obligations; that the Company will be able to comply with environmental, health and safety laws; and the assumptions underlying mineral resource estimates and the realization of such estimates.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others: the risk that the Company will not acquire up to a 100% interest of the Porvenir Project; social and economic impacts of COVID-19; actual exploration results; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; results of future Mineral Resource estimates; future metal prices; availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms; general economic, market or business conditions; uninsured risks; regulatory changes; defects in title; availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis; accidents or equipment breakdowns; delays in receiving government approvals; unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same; and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

Additional information in relation to the Company, including the Company's most recent annual information form, can be obtained under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.tincorp.com.

CAUTIONARY NOTE TO US INVESTORS

The technical and scientific information contained herein has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, which differs from the standards adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Accordingly, the technical and scientific information contained herein, including any estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources, may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies subject to the disclosure requirements of the SEC.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167212
Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Enduro Metals Corporation (TSXV: ENDR) (OTCQB: ENDMF) (FSE: SOG) ("Enduro Metals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a significant milestone in the Company's understanding of the Burgundy copper-gold porphyry discovery at the Newmont Lake Project thanks to the successful completion of the inaugural geological model.

Burgundy is interpreted to sit in a 20km NE-SW structural corridor comprising a complex series of trans-arc geological structures believed to be the controlling feature for the copper-gold mineralization found in multiple locations along the trend. The structural setting closely resembles that seen at Galore Creek and KSM, located to the northwest and southeast of the Newmont Lake Project respectively.

The new understanding has highlighted two additional areas of interest along the Copper Line. The first was identified by review of historical Assessment Reports which reported up to 21.5% Cu and 880.37g/t Ag on surface, approximately 5km southwest of Burgundy along the Copper Line. The second area of interest, the "Orange" prospect, is a gossanous prospect to the northeast of Burgundy, as shown in Figure 1 below.











Figure 1: The 20km NE-SW Structural Corridor, containing Burgundy, the 72 Zone, and North Toe prospects, referred to as the "Copper Line".



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Key Information from Geological Model:

Identified intrusive rocks closely associated with copper-gold mineralization at Burgundy Ridge.

Detailed structural interpretations suggest strong NE-SW structural control to copper-gold mineralization.

New structural and lithological understanding provides critical vectoring information at Burgundy Ridge, and to other copper-gold centres along the Copper Line.





Figure 2: Cross-section of select 2019, 2021 and 2022 drill holes with grade histograms and the lithology layer from recent geological modelling efforts.

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Cole Evans, CEO of Enduro Metals commented, "Our completion of the inaugural geological model is a significant milestone for our team, as it provides crucial insights into the factors driving mineralization at Burgundy, and the underlying geological processes that have led to the formation of this system. With this knowledge in hand, we are now equipped to target similar mineralization patterns and identify additional prospective areas along the Copper Line, such as 72' Zone, North Toe, and other areas of interest. Our commitment to scientific rigor and our focus on understanding the geological drivers of mineralization are key to our success. We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead as we continue to unlock the full mineral potential of the Newmont Lake Project."

Geological Discussion

Methodology

The geological model was undertaken with a methodical and systematic approach to classify the paragenesis and relationships between lithology, alteration, mineralization, and structural events over an area approximately 1500m long x 500m wide. A total of 12,783 meters of drill core was relogged in detail over the past four months to complete this model. The process involved visually relogging core guided by reference to the Company's robust multi-element geochemistry suite and geochemical data analysis software to delineate the unique lithologies, alteration types, and structures present at Burgundy. Hyperspectral point data was taken simultaneously to complete the data collection effort. Following this, a series of hand drawn cross-sections and level plans were completed which were scanned, georeferenced, and digitized for use in geological modeling software.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Lithological

The Burgundy system's intrusive complex is interpreted as a series of igneous intrusions, ranging from syenitic to monzonitic in composition, that intrude a calcareous volcano-sedimentary sequence with adjacent 150m - 200m thick limestone horizons thought to be associated with either upper Stikine to lower Stuhini volcanic assemblages. Using specific immobile trace element ratios (ex. Al/Ti, Zr/Ti, V/Sc, Sc/Zr, Nb/Zr, Nb/Y) the lithological units were classified and defined into over 30 unique units. Cross-cutting relationships were analyzed in detail and an interpretive timeline of lithological events was created (see Fig. 3). The earliest intrusions include visually striking megacrystic dykes with variable internal textures ranging from sparsely porphyritic to crowded trachytic. These intrusions appear to pre-date the hydrothermal alteration and mineralization at Burgundy. Following the emplacement of the pre-mineral intrusions, a mafic event occurred which may have contributed to a recharge of the system; a common event, seen in many world-class porphyry systems around the world. In the more distal parts of the system, a grade-destructive, matrix rich breccia obliterates much of the original protoliths. Several fine-grained intrusions emplace shortly after the mafic event. These intrusions are interpreted to be part of a syn-mineral intrusive package which occurred at the same time as the calcic to calc-potassic hydrothermal alteration events. An intrusive breccia also occurs within this time frame with a compositionally syenite magmatic cement that can host a chalcopyrite-only sulphide assemblage. At the end of the timeline, a late megacrystic intrusion is documented that hosts very little alteration and may mark the end of the hydrothermal porphyry sequence.





Figure 3: Timeline of the lithological and hydrothermal paragenesis of the Burgundy Ridge system.

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Alteration

As part of the core relogging program, hyperspectral measurements were collected at every meter using a TerraSpec Halo device. Metadata was collected from each measurement documenting what feature was selected, allowing for the separation of vein, breccia, and pervasively hosted mineralization. Seven alteration assemblages were defined according to the equilibrium assemblages of hydrothermal silicates and carbonate minerals observed in the drill core. Zoning from proximal to distal they include calc-potassic, calcic, calc-sodic, silicification, propylitic, illite-white mica, and iron-carbonate (Wilson, 2019). Sulphide assemblages were classified independently of the alteration phases to establish sulphide zonation. Interpretation suggests that there is an overlap in the sulphide zonation and prospectivity of alteration phases encountered at different areas of Burgundy. The strongest alteration and mineralization intersected thus far at Burgundy occurs towards the southwest. Calc-potassic breccias and generally chalcopyrite-dominant sulphide assemblages are traceable for over 250m down-dip. The vertical extent is unknown at this time. To the northeast, more distal assemblages are noted as calcic breccias and skarns with pyrite dominant sulphide assemblages. Chalcopyrite>pyrite occurs sporadically through skarn zones, veins, and within some calcic breccias.

Mineralization

Copper sulphide mineralization is predominantly observed in the form of chalcopyrite and can range from breccia fill to semi-massive replacement zones. At surface and within structures, copper oxides and chalcocite are common. Pyrite is widely distributed through the system and can range from mm-scale fracture fillings to semi-massive replacement zones.





Figure 4: Sample B0024679 from 144.69m to 145.5m of BR19-16 assaying 1.88% Cu, 1.02 g/t Au, 37.24 g/t Ag, and 0.67% Zn. This sample represents a calc-potassic hydrothermal breccia of cpy>py at the Ridge Zone.

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Figure 5: Sample B0024254 from 171.85m to 172.42m of BR19-13 assaying 8.98% Cu, 0.62 g/t Au, 35.97 g/t Ag, and 2.36% Zn. This sample represents semi-massive, chalcopyrite-dominant mineralization at the Ridge Zone.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6406/167260_78caf2f49487b987_008full.jpg

Structure

A key aspect of the data collection phase focused on the comprehensive analysis Burgundy's structural features, particularly highlighting their impact on mineralization. Significantly, a prominent thrust fault exhibiting large-scale displacement was identified in BR22-17, 19, and 21. Immediately after the fault, volcanic packages with propylitic alteration assemblages were intersected, a notable distinction from the calcic to calc-potassic assemblages observed above the fault. When traced to surface the structure is interpreted to run NE-SW, providing valuable insights for further exploration efforts along the Copper Line and improving our understanding of Newmont Lake's porphyry potential.









Figure 6: Image of Cross-Section interpretation from winter geological modeling project with drill traces.s



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The Copper Line - Exploration Update

Enduro Metals continues to generate high priority exploration targets along the Copper Line. The Copper Line represents a complex series of trans-arc geological structures observed over a 20km NE-SW corridor, believed to have substantial control and implications on mineralization within the entire western portion of the Newmont Lake Project. The structural setting closely resembles that seen at Galore Creek and KSM, located to the northwest and southeast of the Newmont Lake Project respectively. Of particular interest are two targets located at either end of the Copper Line.

The first area of interest was identified from review of an assessment report filed by Ticker Tape Resources Ltd in October 1988 (https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/pub/aris/Detail/18129). The report was primarily concerned with Ticker Tape's work on the North Zone, the South Zone, and the King Vein prospects located to the south of the Newmont Lake Property. However, under Ticker Tape's prospecting activities it was noted that "in the northwest corner of the Ice 10 claim, north-south trending quartz and carbonate veins 2 to 10cm wide carry 28.39 oz/t silver, 21.5% copper and 4.72 oz/t silver, 1.73% copper (sample numbers 24869, 24875). The narrow veins are closely spaced and a sample of the alteration zone around these indicated 3.6 oz/t silver and 2% copper." The Ice 10 claim lies within the current Newmont Lake property boundary, at the southern end of the Copper Line. Sample 24869 represents the highest-grade Copper sample reported to date on the Newmont Lake property, and is described as a quartz vein containing malachite, azurite, and bornite.

Review of satellite imagery at the location from where these samples were taken shows an approximate 2,000m x 850m gossanous zone to the west of a substantial structural feature, previously covered by ice and permanent snow. Mineralization in this area is concentrated immediately east of the Copper Line. This pattern is also noted at Burgundy and the 72' Zone, located 5km and 7km to the northeast respectively.

The second target of interest lies to the northeast of the recently discovered North Toe prospect (see announcement dated 11 April 2023) and is referred to as the Orange Prospect. Orange is a 500m x 500m gossanous area. Early observations suggest that Orange may be at a structural convergent point between the Copper Line and the Chachi Corridor. Early geochemical and mineralogical evidence at Orange is consistent with a potential intermediate-sulphidation epithermal system. Copper/Silver mineralization is typified by tennantite - tetrahedrite, enargite, and chalcocite, along with associated secondary minerals such as malachite, azurite, and chrysocolla. Locally, semi-massive sphalerite, galena, pyrite, and chalcopyrite are hosted in outcropping in a series of quartz veins ranging from 15cm to 50cm thick on the southern margins of Orange. The target has excellent accessibility as it is located 12km along a flat valley from the Galore Creek Mine Road. Recent glacial retreat (see Figure 7) has exposed this area which has never seen historic sampling. Mineralization has been sampled right to the edge of the moraine and rock flour left behind by the receding glacier, leaving the likelihood that the anomalous area is larger than 500m x 500m.





Figure 7: Plan view map of Orange - an approx. 500m x 500m area of gossanous material proximal to the northeast end of the Copper Line. Mineralogical and geochemical interpretations of initial prospecting samples collected by Enduro Metals are suggestive of a potential intermediate-sulphidation epithermal-like system at an apparent double junction between the Copper Line fault system and the Chachi Corridor. Follow-up work is required to confirm this hypothesis.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Citations:

Wilson, A.J., 2019, Ridge Zone, Newmont Lake Project, British Columbia, Canada: Drill core review and exploration recommendations for Burgundy Ridge and 72 Zone. Internal Report, Enduro Metals Corporation, Kelowna, British Columbia.

Wilson, A.J., 2022, Assessment of the porphyry Cu-Au exploration potential of the Newmont Lake property, NW British Columbia, Canada, with special emphasis on the Burgundy Ridge alkalic porphyry prospect. Internal Report, Enduro Metals Corporation, Kelowna, British Columbia.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Maurizio Napoli, P. Geo., Director for Enduro Metals, a Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical information contained herein under National Instrument 43-101 standards.

About Enduro Metals

Enduro Metals is an exploration company focused on it's flagship Newmont Lake Project; a total 688km2 property located between Eskay Creek, Snip, and Galore Creek within the heart of northwestern British Columbia's Golden Triangle. Building on prior results, the Company's geological team have outlined 4 deposit environments of interest across the Newmont Lake Project including high-grade epithermal/skarn gold along the McLymont Fault, copper-gold alkalic porphyry mineralization at Burgundy & 72 Zones, encouraging porphyry-style alteration typical of alkalic copper-gold porphyry systems at North Toe, and a large 9km x 4km geochemical anomaly hosting various gold, silver, copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, and lead mineralization along the newly discovered Chachi Corridor.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

ENDURO METALS CORPORATION

"Cole Evans"

Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact:

Ali Wasiliew - Manager of Communications

Tel: + (236) 420-4050

Email: wasiliew@endurometals.com

Sean Kingsley - Director of Communications

Tel: +1 (604) 440-8474

Email: info@endurometals.com

https://www.endurometals.com

As a continued effort to keep investors, interested parties and stakeholders updated, we have several communication initiatives. If you have any questions online (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram) feel free to send direct messages or a post and include the hashtag askENDR.

To book a one-on-one 30-minute Zoom video call directly click here: https://endurometals.youcanbook.me

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Enduro's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Although Enduro believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by their nature forward-looking statements involve assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167260
+39,93% Rendite seit Januar  so lautet die Erfolgsbilanz der Aktie der Woche. Damit wurden sowohl der DAX als auch der S&P 500 deutlich outperformt. Wie das genau funktioniert, erklart Chefradakteur Lars Wiler in seiner Zwischenbilanz.

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Specialty chemicals company PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) on Wednesday said it expects organic sales to grow 2% to 4% for the full year. Further, the company sees it adjusted EPS to increase 8% to 12% through 2026. PPG also shared its 2030 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals including 50% of sales from sustainably advantaged products, 50% reduction in scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions, and 30% reduction in scope 3 GHG emissions as compared to 2019. 'Going forward, we will intentionally invest in focused growth opportunities that enhance our customers' productivity and sustainability, elevate our customer relationships and expand PPG's technology leadership positions in the coatings industry. We will continue our heritage of cost management, consistent cash generation and focus on returning cash to shareholders, including through increased annual dividends,' said PPG president and chief executive officer, Tim Knavish. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
press release

United Nations, New York  According to an African proverb, "the sun should not rise or set twice on a labouring woman".

Unfortunately for an estimated half a million women and girls across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab States region and Latin America and the Caribbean, childbirth lasted much longer than this proverb warns against - with devastating consequences.

Prolonged, obstructed labour can lead to maternal death, stillbirth, and a severe injury called obstetric fistula. The condition causes incontinence and leaves women susceptible to both physical ailments like infection and infertility, as well as mental health issues driven by social stigma and ostracization.

For twenty years, UNFPA has led the global Campaign to End Fistula, which aims to eliminate fistula by 2030 through prevention, treatment, social reintegration of survivors and advocacy programming. On the International Day to End Fistula 2023, see how UNFPA puts these strategies into action.

Prevention in Cote d'Ivoire

Averting serious childbirth injury can very much depend on who is in the delivery room. The UN has singled midwives out for their crucial role in "saving maternal and newborn lives and preventing morbidity, including obstetric fistula".

But prevention efforts often occur well before the first pangs of labour. In Cote d'Ivoire, Pastor Kouakou Adou Kouame - a member of the Ivorian Association for Family Welfare's fistula support committee - works to spread information about the condition among and beyond his flock at the Bondoukou Baptist Church.

"We raise awareness in the communities, the villages," he said. "It is not only our faithful that we reach."

Pastor Adou uses his position at the pulpit to help people understand and avert the dangers of fistula. Particularly at weddings, he warns newlyweds against home births, which can heighten the risk of childbirth injury.

"Soon a child will come," he tells them. "When a woman is in labour, she should be close to the health centre."

Treatment in Madagascar

Reconstructive surgery serves as the main method for repairing obstetric fistula. Since 2003, UNFPA has directly supported more than 138,000 fistula surgeries.

Marie Jaqueline Raharimanana of Antananarivo, Madagascar underwent fistula surgery in 2020. She had sustained the childbirth injury following two full days of labour attended by a retired midwife, who refused to let Ms. Raharimanana go to a hospital.

"[The midwife] told my mother that there was no choice: Either we save the baby or we save the mother," Ms. Raharimanana said. Her baby was stillborn, and Ms. Raharimanana was left with a devastating disability.

"As soon as the baby came out, I couldn't hold my urine anymore."

For six months, Ms. Raharimanana was bedridden. She struggled with the loss of her baby and with shame over her condition, which she did not fully understand. Awareness of fistula around the world can be low, leading women and girls affected to miss out on treatment opportunities.

Cost and access can also be barriers to treatment in some countries. For instance, in Zambia, there are just eight doctors who perform fistula surgeries.

In September 2020, a relative of Ms. Raharimanana recommended she visit a doctor, who suggested going to a maternity ward in Antananarivo where doctors were performing fistula surgeries. Her first procedure took place six months after she went into labour.

Ms. Raharimanana said she has noticed an improvement in her condition since getting treatment, and continues to receive follow-up care. Today, she awaits her doctors' sign-off on her dream of marriage and children. "The doctors reassured me I am not late and I fully trust them. Until I recover, I am not taking that road," she said.

Social reintegration in Burkina Faso

A major component of treating fistula has more to do with society than surgery. Sadly, due to the incontinence brought on by the injury, survivors are often relegated to the periphery of their communities and abandoned by partners and family members.

Unfortunately, this was the experience of 48-year-old mother-of-five Noelie Nikiema. Ms. Nikiema sustained obstetric fistula during the birth of her last child ten years ago; afterwards, her husband left her and remarried.

Ms. Nikiema took refuge at her uncle's home in Ouagadougou. "For eight years, I couldn't leave the yard or receive visitors because of the uncontrolled leakage," she told UNFPA.

Two UNFPA-supported interventions helped break her out of isolation and rejoin society: Free fistula surgery at the Schiphra hospital, which she obtained in November 2022, and a skills training course in weaving and dying fabric.

She has been running a weaving business out of her uncle's backyard for four months now. "With this income, I manage to provide for the needs of my children and help the members of my new family," she said.

Ivorian fistula survivor Odile Siekoua has been working as a community health agent since 2016.  UNFPA Cote d'Ivoire

Advocacy in Cote d'Ivoire

Ivorian fistula survivor Odile Siekoua has been working as a community health agent since 2016.  UNFPA Cote d'Ivoire

The UN highlights the central role fistula survivors can play as champions towards eliminating the injury's occurrence.

Ivorian mother-of-two Odile Siekoua lived with obstetric fistula for 23 years before she was able to obtain UNFPA-supported treatment in 2012 to repair her condition.

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Ms. Siekoua knows well the harm fistula can cause both to the body and mind. Her partner ostracized her due to her condition, as did her family. In 2010, after Ms. Siekoua was forced to flee her village amid Cote d'Ivoire's post-electoral crisis, her sisters in Grand-Bassam only allowed her to stay with them temporarily, as they were upset by her incontinence.

Ms. Siekoua eventually found refuge in a landfill. "When it rained, I had to lie on top of my child to prevent him getting wet," she said. "It wasn't until two years later that my first son helped me with transport back to Man."

After obtaining treatment for her condition in Man, Ms. Siekoua became a community health worker in 2016. Her aim is to sensitize her community to obstetric fistula in the hopes other women will not have to endure what she went through.

One of the women she has supported is 48-year-old Chantal Gonti. The fistula survivor was called a witch by her husband due to her condition, which she endured for 15 years before being referred by Ms. Siekoua for treatment.

Today, Ms. Gonti is a weaver and trader. "Before, I couldn't approach people," she said. "My life has changed. I earn money to send my children to school and support myself."
SHANGHAI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative brought together businesses from Africa and China at the SNEC 16th International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference as part of its mission to deliver a green industrial revolution in Africa.





In a new show of South-South cooperation, the roundtable united leadership from 9 African and 14 Chinese energy businesses, as well as financiers and energy sector experts, to identify opportunities and strategies for increasing Africa's renewable energy manufacturing and export capabilities. There was a specific focus on the potential for investment, and knowledge and technology transfer between Africa and China.

This opportunity for African businesses to directly express their needs for scaling up operations to Chinese counterparts was organized by Sustainable Energy for All and the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association. Both are partners in the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative, along with the African Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and ClimateWorks Foundation.

"African countries can benefit greatly from local renewable energy manufacturing in terms of economic development, climate change mitigation and energy security," said Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. "But they need support to grow these industries and make them competitive, which calls for international collaboration with global leaders in renewables development."

A report published earlier this year by the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative identified opportunities for solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery materials refining and assembly across a series of African countries. The report found that South-South collaboration, such as strategic partnerships with China, India and ASEAN countries, will be key to realizing this potential.

These international partners require a range of pull factors, such as local market potential, availability of necessary infrastructure, favourable enabling environment, and a strong local supply chain to be in place before they will consider investment opportunities in Africa. The roundtable today sought to address some of these key barriers.

Xiaohua Zhang, China Country Director of ClimateWorks Foundation, said: "Strengthening international cooperation on renewable power is key to advancing the global clean energy transition, addressing the climate crisis, supporting economic development, and benefiting people in their daily lives. As a global leader in renewables, China can play a pivotal role in promoting clean power worldwide. ClimateWorks Foundation is proud to support this South-South cooperation, and we hope to foster greater dialogue and partnerships among institutions and experts to help scale global green recovery and sustainable development."

Okenwa Anayo, CEO and Technical Director of Nayo Tropical Technology Limited, was one of the African representatives who attended the session in Shanghai. "We at Nayo Tropical Technology see the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative partnership as a great platform to leverage in our new drive for growth, particularly through integration and scaled-up production in partnership with more advanced manufacturers from Asia and other parts of the world," he said.

With a sharp focus on facilitating South-South cooperation, the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative is planning additional roundtables to be held throughout the coming year as it continues to drive investment and mobilize action for Africa's green industrial development.

About Sustainable Energy for All

Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is an international organization that works in partnership with the United Nations and leaders in government, the private sector, financial institutions, civil society, and philanthropies to drive faster action towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7)-access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030-in line with the Paris Agreement on climate. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

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+39,93% Rendite seit Januar  so lautet die Erfolgsbilanz der Aktie der Woche. Damit wurden sowohl der DAX als auch der S&P 500 deutlich outperformt. Wie das genau funktioniert, erklart Chefradakteur Lars Wiler in seiner Zwischenbilanz.

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will launch his 2024 Presidential primary campaign in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday. Musk is scheduled to host a virtual conversation with DeSantis at 6 PM ET on Twitter's audio platform, Twitter Spaces, where the 44 year-old Republican politician will announce his presidential bid. 'I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he has quite an announcement to make. And it will be the first time that something like this is happening on social media and with real-time questions and answers, unscripted,' CNN quoted Musk as saying. He added that he doesn't intend to endorse a candidate for the time being. The event will be moderated by tech entrepreneur and Musk ally David Sacks. The DeSantis campaign is expected to release an official launch video later in the day. DeSantis is seen as a tough contender to challenge former President Donald Trump, who has already entered the fray for the GOP nomination. But in national opinion polls of likely GOP primary presidential aspirants held earlier this month, Trump leads by more than 30 points over DeSantis. Republican primaries will begin in February next year to determine the party's candidate to fight Democrat President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Thought leadership and architectural reliability confirmed through detailed review of hardware, analysis of failure mode effects, reliability block diagrams, Markov models and board-level failure rates.

BOSTON, May 24, 2023(Reliant) in Sunnyvale, CA. The comprehensive elective evaluation of the TeraStor architecture demonstrates the company's commitment to delivering large-scale energy storage solutions that outpace the industry in value.



"Reliability is the most critical factor in the total cost of ownership and lifetime value of energy storage," said General Manager of ABS ESS and 35-year industry veteran Bud Collins, "and we are absolutely dedicated to transparently upholding the highest standards in this regard." To ensure balanced and accurate estimates for lifelong system downtime and availability, Collins explains, ABS ESS "chose Reliant because they are renowned for their expertise and unbiased approach to analysis."

The study was performed in accordance with the Telcordia SR-322 and SR-1171 reliability prediction methods and procedures and included a range of calculations, failure modes and performance evaluations. "A system reliability analysis (SRA) evaluates and quantifies the fault-tolerant architecture, redundancy for critical system components, efficient fault detection and recovery mechanisms," said Reliant President Chase Wurz. "The SRA was a commitment by American Battery Solutions that the system will meet reliability and availability objectives, identifying any potential areas for improvement."

With a predicted reliability of 99.999% (5-nines) the TeraStor architecture is shown to be the most reliable energy storage system on the market today. "We are thrilled to announce the remarkable results from this study," stated Collins. "The outcomes are a testament to the tireless efforts of our deeply experienced and dedicated team who are revolutionizing the industry with cutting-edge energy storage solutions that exceed customers' expectations and enable a sustainable energy future."

For more information on American Battery Solutions' Energy Storage Division and the 7.2 MWh (600MWh/acre) TeraStor, please visit https://www.americanbatterysolutions.com/ess/ess-home.

About American Battery Solutions' Energy Storage Solutions Division

American Battery Solutions, Inc.'s Energy Storage Solutions division is a pioneering provider of advanced energy storage solutions. The company designs, develops and manufactures cutting-edge systems, empowering customers to harness the full potential of renewable energy and optimize energy management. With a steadfast commitment to value, reliability, sustainability and innovation, the ABS ESS team of industry veterans aims to revolutionize the energy storage landscape.

Contact

ESS Media Relations

American Battery Solutions

ess_media@americanbatterysolutions.com
BURLINGTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Murchison Minerals Ltd. ("Murchison" or the "Company") (TSXV:MUR)(OTCQB:MURMF) is pleased to announce it has completed a detailed review of data collected during the 2022 exploration program on the 100% - owned HPM (Haut-Plateau de la Manicouagan) Project, located in Quebec. The review culminated in the identification of the BDF Magmatic Ni-Cu-Co Trend (BDF Trend). The BDF Trend extends along a 5 km strike length to the northwest of the Barre de Fer Deposit (BDF Deposit) and contains numerous showings of nickel-bearing sulphide mineralization, and 7 high-priority target areas.

Figure 1: Location map of BDF Trend with highlight assay samples displayed. Nickel Equivalent (NiEq) values were calculated using the following USD metal prices from Jan 12, 2023: $12.17/lb Nickel, $4.17/lb Copper, and $22.23/lb Cobalt. NiEq.% was calculated using Ni%+((Cu Price/Ni Price)*Cu%)+((Co Price/Ni Price)*Co%). 100% percent recovery is assumed for equivalent calculations, however, it should be noted that 100% recovery is not to be expected for final recovery, and true recovery may differ significantly from element to element.

Additionally, Dr. Peter Lightfoot - Technical Advisor for Murchison Minerals - has reviewed whole rock geochemistry from samples taken during the 2022 exploration program and has identified the geochemical signature of the intrusive rocks that host high-grade Ni-Cu-Co mineralization at the BDF Deposit. Based on his findings, the Company has identified a significant number of high-priority targets that have a similar signature to BDF. Furthermore, the identification of the intrusive host rock has led the Company to stake an additional 313.7 km2 of mineral tenements. The newly expanded claim block covers a large area of prospective mafic-ultramafic rocks identified to the east of the previous HPM claim area.

Highlights

All 7 identified high priority targets correspond with nickel sulphide mineralization identified on surface (Figure 1)

Detailed interpretation of whole rock geochemistry has identified the key host rocks (norite & peridotite) and expanded the prospectivity of discovering new zones of nickel-bearing sulphide mineralization beyond the BDF Trend

Company has expanded the HPM claim block to cover an additional 313.7 km2 of prospective geology. The HPM Project area now totals 971.8 km2 (Figure 2)

Figure 2: HPM Project with newly staked claims

Murchison Minerals President and CEO Troy Boisjoli comments:

"HPM is an exceptional project anchored by access to mature infrastructure, including heavy rail with direct access to ports, road access and hydroelectricity all proximal to the project. High-grade near surface nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization remains completely unconstrained and open at BDF which is located at the start of a 5km trend containing multiple analogous targets. The growth potential at BDF coupled with the discovery potential along the trend has Murchison positioned to define the next North American nickel district".

Qualifying Statement

The foregoing scientific and technical disclosures on the HPM Project have been reviewed by John Shmyr, P.Geo., VP Exploration, a registered member of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan and current holder of a special authorization with the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec. Mr. Shmyr is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Qualified Person has verified the data disclosed in this release, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information contained in this release. Mr. Shmyr consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Some data disclosed in this News Release relating to sampling and drilling results is historical in nature. Neither the Company nor a qualified person has yet verified this data and therefore investors should not place undue reliance on such data. In some cases, the data may be unverifiable due to lack of drill core. Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby and/or geologically similar properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's properties.

About Murchison Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: MUR, OTCQB: MURMF)

Murchison is a Canadian-based exploration Company focused on nickel-copper-cobalt exploration at the 100% - owned HPM Project in Quebec and the exploration and development of the 100% - owned Brabant Lake zinc-copper-silver project in north-central Saskatchewan. Murchison currently has 218.2 million shares issued and outstanding.

Additional information about Murchison and its exploration projects can be found on the Company's website at www.murchisonminerals.ca. For further information, please contact:

Troy Boisjoli, President and CEO,

Erik H Martin, CFO, or

Justin LaFosse, Director Corporate Development

Tel: (416) 350-3776

info@murchisonminerals.com

Forward-Looking Information

The content and grades of any mineral deposits at the Company's properties are conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource on the property and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in any target being delineated as a mineral resource.

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. This forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, and dependence upon regulatory approvals. FLI herein includes, but is not limited to: future drill results; stakeholder engagement and relationships; parameters and methods used with respect to the assay results; the prospects, if any, of the deposits; future prospects at the deposits; and the significance of exploration activities and results. FLI is designed to help you understand management's current views of its near- and longer-term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes. FLI by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such FLI. Although the FLI contained in this press release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Company that actual results will be consistent with such FLI, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such FLI. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such FLI contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Unless otherwise noted, this press release has been prepared based on information available as of the date of this press release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the FLI or information contained herein. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in FLI. Assumptions upon which FLI is based, without limitation, include: the ability of exploration activities to accurately predict mineralization; the accuracy of geological modelling; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; the legitimacy of title and property interests in the deposits; the accuracy of key assumptions, parameters or methods used to obtain the assay results; the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals; the results of exploration activities; the evolution of the global economic climate; metal prices; environmental expectations; community and nongovernmental actions; and any impacts of COVID-19 on the deposits, the Company's financial position, the Company's ability to secure required funding, or operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available at www.sedar.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Murchison Minerals Ltd.

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CTS Engines (CTS) announces they have been selected to provide MRO services for Engine Alliance (EA) on the GP7200 turbofan jet engine. EA is a 50-50 joint venture between Pratt Whitney and General Electric for the development, production, and service of the GP7200. The GP7200 is the premier engine for the A380 aircraft as it combines the reliability and ingenuity of the PW4000 and GE90 engines while providing the most fuel-efficient and quietest powerplant for the A380.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005295/en/

Engine Alliance selects CTS Engines to provide MRO Engine Services for the GP7200 (Graphic: Business Wire)

"In 2019, Engine Alliance changed its operational focus to aftermarket services and customer support. The partnership with CTS will help us meet our customers' high expectations," said Amy Johnston, President of EA. "CTS leadership team provides a unique perspective that comes from years of experience at airlines, MRO shops, and the OEMs, and we are confident CTS will deliver the results our airline customers require," stated Johnston.

"We are excited to partner with EA to provide MRO services for the GP7200. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to learn the best practices from the world's greatest engine companies while also delivering world-class quality, reliability, and turnaround time," said Vesa Paukkeri, Chief Executive Officer of CTS.

About CTS Engines

CTS Engines is a global leader in mature engine maintenance, rethinking business as usual. Based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, CTS Engines is an independent MRO providing complete maintenance, repair, overhaul, and testing services to owners and operators of mature wide-body aircraft engines. We proudly support a wide range of both commercial and military customers. Since 2002, CTS Engines has built its reputation on the ability to provide its customers with high-quality, cost-effective solutions for engine maintenance. Our mission is to keep our customers' mature engines flying longer and more reliably than any other MRO in the world.

About Engine Alliance

Engine Alliance (EA) is a 50-50 joint venture of GE (NYSE:GE) and Pratt Whitney (P&W), a Raytheon Technologies business (NYSE:RTX). Revenue-sharing partners include MTU Aero Engines of Germany, SAFRAN Aero Boosters of Belgium and SAFRAN Aircraft Engines of France. EA manufactures and services the quietest, most reliable and most fuel-efficient powerplant for the A380, the GP7200.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005295/en/

Contacts:

For more information, press only:

CTS Engines

Alejandra Meza

AMeza@ctsengines.com

For more information on CTS Engines please visit our website:

www.CTSEngines.com
SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Experlogix, whose revenue acceleration solutions simplify the most complex business processes, has brought Aphix Software, the premier digital commerce platform for frictionless customer ordering into the Experlogix suite of solutions.





Aphix and its products will join the Experlogix suite as Experlogix Digital Commerce, alongside best-in-class Experlogix CPQ and Experlogix Document Automation.

"Aphix and Experlogix have the same goal - to provide solutions to our clients that make it easier for their customers to buy from them," said Bill Fox, CEO at Experlogix. "With Experlogix Digital Commerce, clients now have the opportunity to bring their business completely online for real-time ordering, no matter how complex their product is, all within the systems they already use."

As the newest addition to Experlogix's suite of revenue acceleration solutions, Experlogix Digital Commerce will soon integrate to Microsoft Dynamics and natively integrates with ERP systems including SAP, Sage, Intacct and others, creating the fastest, simplest digital commerce experience for businesses and their customers. The new offering uniquely leverages real-time product information, pricing, stock availability, customer account information and more to seamlessly power multi-channel sales, through automated web stores and streamlined procurement processes.

Graham O'Rouke, CEO at Aphix Software, said, "Businesses are scrambling to meet customer expectations for intuitive and easy digital buying experiences - a challenge that usually requires stringing together multiple solutions, which leaves gaps in data and creates risk for business continuity."

"For businesses to move faster than ever before, companies need a digital commerce solution that is purpose-built to seamlessly integrate with and simplify even the most complex ordering needs," O'Rouke said. "Experlogix Digital Commerce, combined with Experlogix CPQ and Experlogix Document Automation, brings businesses the technology and expertise to exceed customer expectations, completely out of the box."

About Experlogix

The Experlogix suite of business applications offers purpose-built digital solutions that make it easier for your clients to buy from you. No matter how complex your business or its products, our seamless integrations and low-code/no-code configurability create outstanding digital experiences for your buyers, clients, distributors, and dealers.

Headquartered in the United States and the Netherlands, we've worked with thousands of customers across a wide range of industries over the past two decades to engage clients and achieve business growth with Configure Price Quote (CPQ), Document Automation, and Digital Commerce solutions.

Experlogix - simplifying the complex.

Matthew Lee, matt.lee@thestarrconspiracy.com

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ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Georgia-Pacific employees volunteer their time and efforts all year to support communities in need. Recently, our Quilted Northern teams joined Trees Atlanta and the Arbor Day Foundation for an urban area tree planting event in the city.

Our dedicated teams planted 20, 15-gallon trees at the intersection of three neighborhoods with low tree canopy coverage.

Long-term benefits of this tree planting will improve the health and lives of residents by providing increased shade and effective stormwater runoff. These neighborhoods will also be a safe and welcoming environment for families.

The Quilted Northern Ultra Soft & Strong brand team partners with the Arbor Day Foundation to restore national forests and rehabilitate habitats around the U.S. For every tree that is used to make Quilted Northern Ultra Soft & Strong toilet paper, we plant two trees. Additionally, one tree is planted by our suppliers.

Since our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation began, more than five million trees have been planted, with more plantings to come in future years.

View original content here

Quilted Northern teams joined Trees Atlanta and the Arbor Day Foundation for an urban area tree-planting event.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Georgia-Pacific on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Georgia-Pacific

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/georgia-pacific

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Georgia-Pacific

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756970/Georgia-Pacific-Employees-Partner-With-Trees-Atlanta-and-the-Arbor-Day-FoundationR
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Mink Ventures Corporation (TSXV: MINK) ("Mink" or the "Company") announced the appointment of Mr. Joel Ahrens to the position of Chief Financial Officer, effective June 1, 2023, and the retirement of Mr. Paul Rokeby and his resignation from the role.

"The board and management team express our sincere thanks to Paul for his service and significant contribution to MINK from the Company's inception in March 2021, through its IPO in September 2021, and then the completion of its Qualifying Transaction in late December 2022. We appreciate him both personally and professionally and wish him well in his next chapter," said Natasha Dixon, President and CEO and "We welcome Joel Ahrens to our team," she added.

Mr. Ahrens has been a partner of MNP LLP (Timmins) since 2021. He is a member of CPA Ontario (2010) and CPA Canada and a graduate from Nipissing University (2007) with an Honours, Bachelor of Business Administration. He has significant experience working with junior exploration companies though his MNP practice.

About Mink Ventures Corporation:

Mink Ventures Corporation (TSXV: MINK) is a Canadian mineral exploration company exploring for battery metals (nickel, copper, cobalt) at its Montcalm project, which covers approximately 40 km2 adjacent to Glencore's former Montcalm Mine which had historical production of 3.93 million tonnes of ore grading 1.25% Ni, 0.67% Cu and 0.051% Co. (Ontario Geological Survey, Atkinson, 2010). The project has excellent access and infrastructure with an all-weather access road and power as well as its proximity to the Timmins Mining Camp. The Company has 14,972,319 shares outstanding.

Qualified Person:

Mr. Kevin Filo, P.Geo. (Ontario), is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Filo approved the technical data disclosed in this release.

For further information about Mink Ventures Corporation please contact: Natasha Dixon, President & CEO, T: 250-882-5620 E: ndixon@minkventures.com or Kevin Filo, Director, T: 705-266-6818 or visit www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the common shares beginning trading on the TSXV. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and Mink disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167116
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Wedgemount Resources Corp. (CSE: WDGY) (OTCQB: WDGRF) ("Wedgemount" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that since of beginning of calendar 2023, the Company has received $886,000 in proceeds through the exercise of 8,886,000 warrants. The warrants were scheduled to expire in September 2023.

Proceeds from the warrant exercises will be used to fund field activities and further acquisitions in the Company's core central Texas operating area.

About Wedgemount Resources Corp.

Wedgemount Resources is a junior natural resources company focused on maximizing shareholder value through the acquisition, development and exploitation of natural resource projects in North America.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

WEDGEMOUNT RESOURCES CORP.

Mark Vanry, President and CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Telephone: (604) 343-4743

info@wedgemountresources.com

www.wedgemountresources.com

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company and the Transaction. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Project, the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements made in this news release include the Company's plans for a next phase of field work at the projects and anticipated results therefrom. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, availability of funds, personnel and other resources necessary to conduct exploration programs, successes of the Company's exploration programs, availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167134
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Silver Dollar Resources Inc. (CSE: SLV) (OTCQX: SLVDF) (FSE: 4YW) ("Silver Dollar" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a progress report on the ongoing data compilation and review of all historical exploration data from the high-grade Nora silver-gold property.





Figure 1: Canasil map showing the location of Nora property and other mines and deposits in the region.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://silverdollarresources.com/images/Nora/CLZ-MX-Projects_SLV-Nora.jpg

Silver Dollar can acquire a 100% interest in the Nora property (the "Property") as part of its option and exclusivity agreements with Canasil Resources Inc. ("Canasil") (see news release of April 20, 2023 for further details).

Located in the Eastern Sierra Madre sub-province in the transition to the high plateau of Mexico, the Property lies centrally within the "Silver Trend" that runs from the northwest to the southeast through Durango State. Significant deposits in the region include Endeavour Silver's Guanacevi mine and Fresnillo's San Julian mine on-trend to the northwest, with Endeavour Silver's Pitarrilla Project approximately 50 kilometres (km) to the east. Pitarrilla is one of the largest undeveloped silver deposits in the world and was discovered by Perry Durning and Frank (Bud) Hillemeyer, Silver Dollar's technical advisors.





Figure 2: Looking west into the Nora property with the Candy mine dump centre frame.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://silverdollarresources.com/images/Nora/Nora-Tour_050323.jpg

"It's hard not to get excited about the future of the Nora project. Drilling in 2020 and 2021 was the first on the project and tested less than 20% of the potential 3-kilometre strike of the Candy vein structure, and only to a depth of 250 metres," said Mike Romanik, president of Silver Dollar. "All 13 holes drilled to date hit the mineralized Candy structure returning high-grade gold-silver intercepts, and the grade and thickness appear to be increasing at depth."

Silver Dollar has received all historical technical information on the Property from Canasil and is organizing it into a database to analyze, interpret, and then plan the next phase of exploration. The Company also completed its initial Property visit earlier this month for a field inspection and to establish connections with the local communities for logistics, permitting, etc. The trip included Mark Malfair, Silver Dollar's consulting geologist and Mexico country manager, and Erme Enriquez (MSc., CPG), who directed Canasil's exploration work on the Property and has agreed to assist Silver Dollar with its exploration programs.

The Property is located approximately 200 km north-northwest of the city of Durango, with excellent year-round access via Federal highway, paved road, and local dirt roads. Local infrastructure is available in the towns of Tepehuanes and Santa Maria del Oro and the city of Santiago Papasquiaro, all within 50km of the Property.

The geological setting is a Tertiary-aged volcanic flow-dome complex. Gold-silver mineralization is hosted within two structurally-controlled epithermal veins. Mineralization is typical of that found at many mines and deposits in the region, with gold and silver associated with galena, sulfosalt minerals, and lesser pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite.

There are two principal veins outcropping at the Nora project:

The Candy vein , which shows evidence of small-scale historical mining activity, is 0.50 metres (m) to 2.00 m wide and is exposed in discontinuous outcrops for over 900 m with the fault structure hosting the vein traced over 3 km.

The Nora vein is located 600 m northeast of the Candy vein with a parallel north-south strike and can be traced for 230 m along strike with widths of over 9.0 m.

Drilling by Canasil in 2020 and 2021 was the first on the Property, with a total of 3,296 m drilled over 13 holes to test the Candy vein structure over a strike distance of 500 m and to a vertical depth of 250 m below surface. All 13 drill holes cut the mineralized vein structure, returning particularly wide high-grade gold (Au) and silver (Ag) intercepts within the central 200-metre zone tested. Selected highlights of drill results are listed below (click on the table to enlarge).





Table 1: Selected drill results from Canasil's 2020-2021 drilling of the Candy vein.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://silverdollarresources.com/images/Nora/Nora-Table-3.jpg

Only 500 m of the potential 3-km strike of the Candy vein structure has been drill tested, and only to a depth of 250 m below surface. The consistently high gold and silver grades, together with the relatively low base metal values, confirm the upper levels of a robust gold-silver mineralized system within the Candy structure, which is open for significant expansion along strike and to depth where grade and thickness appear to be increasing.

In addition to the Candy vein structure, historical systematic grid soil sampling over a 2 km east-west and 3 km north-south area covering the central zone of the project returned widespread silver, gold, copper, zinc, and lead geochemical anomalies coincident with pathfinder mineral anomalies. The gold and silver anomalies are particularly strong over the 3 km strike extent of the Candy vein structure on the western side of the project area, as well as to the southwest and east of the Candy vein structure. A strong silver and gold anomaly also extends for 1.5 km southwest from the location of the high-grade drill intercepts on the Candy vein, and a breccia target has been identified to the south with potential for hosting bulk tonnage disseminated silver-gold mineralization.

Mike Kilbourne, P.Geo., an independent Qualified Person (QP) as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company. The QP and the Company have not completed sufficient work to verify the information on the Nora Property, particularly regarding historical exploration, neighbouring companies, and government geological work.

About Silver Dollar Resources Inc.

Silver Dollar is a mineral exploration company that completed its initial public offering in May 2020 and is fully funded for its 2023 exploration plans with approximately $5 million in the treasury. The Company's primary projects lie within the prolific Durango-Zacatecas silver-gold belt and include the advanced exploration stage La Joya Silver Property and the recently discovered Nora Silver-Gold Property, both located in the state of Durango, Mexico. The Company has an aggressive growth strategy and is actively reviewing potential acquisitions with a focus on drill-ready projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions.

For additional information, you can download our latest presentation by clicking here and you can follow us on Twitter by clicking here.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Michael Romanik"

Michael Romanik,

President, CEO & Director

Silver Dollar Resources Inc.

Direct line: (204) 724-0613

Email: mike@silverdollarresources.com

179 - 2945 Jacklin Road, Suite 416

Victoria, BC, V9B 6J9

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167210
analysis

South Africans have expressed outrage at the deaths of at least 15 residents of Hammanskraal, in the city of Tshwane. The deaths were caused by cholera - a diarrhoeal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The disease can be fatal if left untreated. The bacteria produces a toxin in the small intestine. This causes the secretion of enormous amounts of water, leading to diarrhoea and a rapid loss of fluids and salts (electrolytes).

The bacteria are shed in the stools of people who are infected. People get infected when they come into contact with or consume water that has been contaminated with the bacteria. Cholera is closely linked to inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities. Preventing it requires more than practising individual hygiene. Areas typically at risk include peri-urban slums and rural areas where the minimum requirements of clean water and sanitation have not been met.

The cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal is not limited to that area: the reported cases are part of a wider outbreak in South Africa as well as the wider southern African region. Prof Anja du Plessis, a research specialist in water resource management, believes that the crisis could have been averted. She explains to The Conversation Africa's Ina Skosana.

What is behind this crisis?

The current cholera outbreak is not necessarily an issue of potable water. It's the result of a combination of factors. These include dysfunctional and non-compliant wastewater treatment works, mismanagement, under-investment and misappropriation of funds. Along with the lack of political will and action over the past two decades, these factors have formed a perfect storm. It is a legacy issue which has been emphasised by myself and other researchers since as far back as 2002.

The health crisis we are seeing can be attributed to the legacy of sewage pollution across the country because wastewater treatment works are in poor or critical condition due to under-investment and mismanagement.

More than 80% (105 of 115) of wastewater treatment systems have been identified to be in a critical state. These water treatment plants require urgent intervention and rehabilitation. The partial or the complete lack of functioning wastewater treatment works is accompanied by significant negative implications for public health, the environment as well as socio-economic development and growth. It should be managed in a proactive way to ensure that people receive potable water in line with the South African National Standard 241 for drinking water.

Read more: River of bacteria: a South African study pinpoints what's polluting the water

South Africa has made progress in expanding access to water infrastructure on a national level. However, access to water has declined in five of its nine provinces between 2002 and 2019. Only 64% of households are estimated to have a reliable and safe water supply service.

And having access to water supply infrastructure does not guarantee reliable and safely managed water supply. The water might not be of suitable quality for drinking and/or cooking.

What is needed for water to be potable?

Drinking water is considered to be potable when it has been filtered and treated in various processes. The water must be free from contaminants and harmful bacteria or pathogens. Water is suitable when it is safe for both drinking and cooking.

Non-potable water can taste normal (like potable water) but can cause serious health problems - in this case, cholera.

What other issues are at play?

The country's continued sewage crisis, which has now led to a cholera outbreak, is largely due to non-functional municipal sewage systems. More than 90% of the total 824 treatment plants across the country release raw or partially treated sewage directly into the country's already scarce water resources.

The Vaal River is a good example. It has been reported to be "polluted beyond acceptable levels" by the South African Human Rights Commission, significantly affecting the environment, socio-economic growth and endangering people's health.

Additionally, a total of 151 municipalities are close to collapse. And 43 municipalities have already collapsed and require immediate intervention. Major issues include weak governance, alleged corruption, and poor management of assets, operations and maintenance. There aren't enough experienced individuals with suitable qualifications. There has also been a lack of accountability and political will over the past two decades. These issues within municipalities have led to the failure of wastewater treatment works. Some have reached crisis levels.

The combination of dysfunctional or non-functional municipalities and dilapidated wastewater treatment works has significantly affected the most vulnerable populations. Most of these people live in informal settlements and urban slums, and are defenceless against water-related illnesses.

The main factors behind the country's sewage crisis and cholera outbreak are:

lack of maintenance of basic infrastructure at local government level

lack of capacity and suitable skills

lack of implementation and enforcement of existing legislation and policy

lack of accountability.

What must be done now?

South Africa's water quality scores as "tolerable" in terms of microbiology standards and "unacceptable" by operational standards. This shows poor wastewater treatment works performance.

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The microbiological score indicates the possibility and presence of immediate unacceptable health risks. On a national scale the bacterial and/or pathogen concentration values exceed the numerical limits specified in SANS 241. In other words the total Coliforms count per 100ml is above the set standard of 10 counts per 100ml.

The unacceptable level for operations indicates that the operation of treatment systems and risk to infrastructure is of concern and not efficient. The data emphasises the non-functioning and overall neglect of wastewater treatment works.

To improve prevention and response to health crises, such as the current cholera outbreak, the government needs to test supplied drinking water, from all sources, on a frequent basis to establish compliance and be clear about the results as well as the amount and extent of cholera cases across the country.

The current state of drinking water supplied across the country also needs a critical evaluation. The country can simply not afford the continued dysfunction of municipalities and wastewater treatment works.

Reactive management, lack of political will, transparency and unaccountability over the past two decades have contributed to the current state of affairs. The cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal could have been avoided and prevented if necessary actions had been taken.

Anja du Plessis, Associate Professor and Research Specialist in Water Resource Management, University of South Africa
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Anacortes Mining Corp. (TSXV: XYZ) (OTCQB: XYZFF) (the "Company" or "Anacortes") is pleased to announce that it has filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities the management information circular dated May 17, 2023 and related meeting materials of the Company (the "Meeting Materials") for use at the special meeting (the "Meeting") of Anacortes shareholders (the "Shareholders") to be held in connection with the proposed plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) involving, among others, the Company and Steppe Gold Ltd. ("Steppe"), as previously announced on March 6, 2023, April 18, 2023 and May 8, 2023 (the "Arrangement"). The Company has also mailed copies of the Meeting Materials to Shareholders entitled to vote on the Arrangement at the Meeting.

At the Meeting, Shareholders will be asked to consider and, if thought fit, to approve the Arrangement pursuant to which Steppe will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company (each, an "Anacortes Share"). Each Shareholder will receive 0.4532 of a common share of Steppe (each, a "Steppe Share") for each Anacortes Share held.

THE ANACORTES BOARD OF DIRECTORS HAS UNANIMOUSLY DETERMINED THAT THE ARRANGEMENT IS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE COMPANY AND UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS THAT SHAREHOLDERS VOTE IN FAVOUR OF THE ARRANGEMENT.

Benefits of the Arrangement

In evaluating the Arrangement, the board of directors of the Company (the "Anacortes Board") and the special committee of the Anacortes Board (the "Special Committee") consulted with the Company's management and advisors and, in reaching their respective conclusions and making their unanimous recommendations in support of the Arrangement, carefully considered the key benefits and advantages resulting from the Arrangement, which include, but are not limited to:

Shareholders will receive 0.4532 of a Steppe Share for each Anacortes Share, which represents consideration of approximately $0.48 per Anacortes Share and a premium of 36% based on the closing prices of the Anacortes Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Steppe Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, each as of the close of trading on March 3, 2023.

Shareholders will maintain exposure to the Tres Cruces project (the " Tres Cruces Project "), and will gain exposure to Steppe's properties, including the Altan Tsagaan Ovoo gold mine (the " ATO Gold Mine ") and the Uudam Khundii project.

"), and will gain exposure to Steppe's properties, including the Altan Tsagaan Ovoo gold mine (the " ") and the Uudam Khundii project. Steppe offers experience and expertise from constructing and operating the ATO Gold Mine, an open pit, heap leach operation with similar characteristics to the Tres Cruces Project.

The Arrangement provides for meaningful retained ownership in the combined company and ongoing exposure to near-term value catalysts, including the Phase 2 expansion at the ATO Gold Mine and the future advancement and construction of the Tres Cruces Project. The Special Committee and Anacortes Board believe it is an opportune time to transact given the impending Phase 2 expansion at the ATO Gold Mine.

The combined company will be better positioned to pursue a growth and value maximizing strategy as compared with the Company on a standalone basis, as a result of the combined company's larger market capitalization, increased technical expertise, asset diversification and elimination of single asset risk, increased financial capacity and enhanced access to capital over the long term and the likelihood of increased investor interest and access to business development opportunities due to the combined company's larger market presence.

Upon completion of the Arrangement, the combined company will have a broader shareholder base, expected increased trading liquidity and a larger public float than the Company presently holds. The expected increased market capitalization and trading liquidity upon completion of the Arrangement is anticipated to broaden the combined company's investor appeal.

The impact of the Arrangement on all stakeholders in the Company, including Shareholders, employees, and local communities and governments, as well as the environment and the long-term interests of the Company.

The Meeting and Voting

The Meeting is scheduled to be held at the offices of Clark Wilson LLP located at Suite 900 - 885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3H1 at 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) on June 19, 2023. Shareholders may vote in person at the Meeting or by proxy. Shareholders that are unable to attend the Meeting or any adjourned or postponed Meeting in person are requested to date, sign and return the form of proxy for use at the Meeting. The deadline for receipt of proxies for the Meeting is 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) on June 15, 2023.

Shareholders are advised to carefully read the Meeting Materials and then vote in person at the Meeting or by proxy. The Meeting Materials are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Only Shareholders of record as at the close of business on May 10, 2023 are eligible to vote at the Meeting.

About Anacortes

The Company is a growth-oriented gold company in the Americas, which owns a 100% interest in the Tres Cruces Project in Peru.

On Behalf of the Board,

James A. Currie

President & CEO

Investor Relations Inquiries:

Kin Communications

Phone: 604 684 6730

Email: XYZ@kincommunications.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, but not limited to: expectations regarding timing of the Meeting, expectations regarding whether the proposed Arrangement will be consummated and the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, including assumptions regarding completion of the Arrangement, including receipt of required shareholder, regulatory, court and stock exchange approvals. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management of the Company at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others: the failure to obtain shareholder, regulatory, court or stock exchange approvals in connection with the Arrangement, failure to complete the Arrangement and failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167246
This Notice is sent to you as Shareholder of the Fund. It is important and requires your immediate attention. If you are in any doubt as to the action to be taken, you are advised to consult your stockbroker, solicitor or attorney, accountant or other independent financial adviser. If you have sold or otherwise transferred your holding in the Fund, please send at once this document to the stockbroker or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected for transmission to the purchaser or transferee. Where appropriate, please pass the contents of this communication on to the beneficial investors of the Fund.

This Notice has not been reviewed by the Central Bank of Ireland (the "Central Bank"), and it is possible that changes thereto may be necessary to meet the Central Bank's requirements. The Directors are of the opinion that there is nothing contained in this Notice or in the proposals detailed herein that conflicts with the CBI UCITS Regulations, the guidance issued by, and the regulations of, the Central Bank. The Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in this Notice.

Capitalised terms used in this notice shall have the same meaning ascribed to them in the latest version of the Prospectus unless the context otherwise requires.

LETTER FROM THE BOARD TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF VANECK JUNIOR GOLD MINERS UCITS ETF (THE "FUND")

VanEck UCITS ETFs plc

REGISTERED OFFICE

33 Sir John Rogerson's Quay

Dublin 2

D02 XK09

Ireland



(A company incorporated with limited liability as an open-ended investment company with variable capital under the laws of Ireland with registered number 548554)

Directors: Jonathan R. Simon, Bruce J. Smith, Adam Phillips, Mary Canning, Jon Lukomnik, Adrian Waters, Gijsbert Koning,

24 May 2023

Dear Shareholder,

This letter is to inform you on behalf of the board of directors of the Company (the "Directors") about recent developments in respect of the Fund.

Fund and issued share class details

Share Class Name ISIN VanEck Junior Gold Miners UCITS ETF (USD) Class A IE00BQQP9G91



Changes to the Index Methodology

The methodology of the index which the Fund tracks, the MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners Index (the "Index"), will change as follows;

The Index review and rebalance will take place in March and September. The Index will rebalance in June and December.

Following weighting strategy will apply: The top 5 Index components by float market capitalization will get 7%, 6.5%, 6%, 5.5%, and 5% and all of the Index components below the top 5 will be capped at 4.5% based on their float market capitalization.

At each review and rebalance of the Index (i.e. in March and September), the top 5 index components will be recorded. At each rebalance of the Index (i.e. in June and December), the top 5 companies from the previous review of the Index will receive the same weights (namely, 7%, 6.5%, 6%, 5.5%, and 5%), and all the rest of the Index components will be capped at 4.5% based on their float market capitalization.

At an rebalance of the Index, in case a component from the top 5 does not exist anymore, the biggest Index component by float market capitalization which is not in the top 5 will be moved up in rank. For example, if the biggest Index component is acquired, the second biggest Index component will be the biggest and the rest will also move up by one rank where 6 biggest in rank will be the 5 biggest. The biggest Index component which is not in the top 5 will be determined based on market data on Wednesday before the second Friday of June and December.

The changes will take effect on 16 June 2023 .

The Supplement of the Fund will be amended accordingly in due course and will be available to Shareholders free of charge.

Full details of the methodology can be found at https://marketvector.com/index-guides .

Should you wish to redeem your shareholding as a result of the changes, you may do so in accordance with the dealing provisions outlined in the Prospectus.

If you have any queries, concerning the matters outlined in this Notice, please contact your local agent, or (if none) VanEck at the registered address provided above or at international@vaneck.com.

Yours faithfully,

The Directors

VanEck UCITS ETFs plc
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Ynvisible Interactive Inc. (TSXV: YNV) (FSE: 1XNA) (OTCQB: YNVYF) (the "Company" or "Ynvisible"), a leading provider of printed low-power e-paper display products, is proud to announce a significant milestone in its expansion into the Signage market. In line with its market expansion strategy, the Company has received its first Purchase Order ("PO") for commercial launch of its sustainable Sign products in 2023.

In collaboration with a prominent European customer specializing in smart solutions for the fuel distribution business, Ynvisible has developed a large outdoor information Sign designed to be regularly updated and withstand various weather conditions. Following rigorous stages of prototyping and testing, the Company is on track to fulfill the customer's order within the next six months. This year alone, Ynvisible expects to deliver a minimum of 40,000 units.

Additionally, Ynvisible is working on another promising opportunity in the Signage space by partnering with one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies. The collaboration is focused on the development of an outdoor large city information panel. Having successfully completed the prototyping and testing phase, the customer has committed to a product development project aiming for a market launch within the next 12 months. The projected annual volume for this product could exceed 200,000 units, highlighting the significant growth potential within this collaboration.

"The commercial launch of our Sustainable Signs validates our market expansion strategy by offering standard e-paper products. I am proud of the focus and diligence of our team in the past year to get us to this important milestone. These customer commitments confirm we are on the right track," says Ramin Heydarpour, CEO of Ynvisible.

The global Digital Signage market is projected to reach US$29 billion by 2027, with an anticipated growth rate of 8% (source: The Business Research Company - Digital Signage Global Market Report 2023). The rising demand for effective, sustainable, low-power, and user-friendly Digital Signage solutions drives market expansion.

Ynvisible primarily focuses on two high-value applications within the Signage space: Public Information Displays and Electronic Shelf Labels, where it can offer valuable and unique solutions. Public Information Displays represent a target market due to their large dimensions and the limited availability of cost-effective, sustainable options. Ynvisible's competitive advantages lie in providing low-power solutions that enable energy harvesting, all at a more accessible price point than other reflective technologies. For Electronic Shelf Labels, a rapidly growing market valued at over US$1 billion, Ynvisible's e-paper displays offer unparalleled ease of customization, cost-effectiveness, and low-power consumption compared to alternative technologies in the field.

"We are confident that our product offers the ultimate solution for companies seeking energy-efficient, cost-effective, reliable, and customizable Sign applications. Over the past nine months, we have successfully engaged with diverse industries and delivered prototypes and initial pilot volumes of Signage products to at least six customers, primarily for outdoor information and Point-of-Purchase applications. This highlights our unwavering efforts and commitment to becoming a reference in this market," says Carlos Pinheiro, CTO of Ynvisible.

About Ynvisible

Ynvisible is disrupting the low-cost and low-power display industry thanks to the latest advantages in sustainable electronics and roll-to-roll printing production. Ynvisible's printed e-paper displays are ideal for low-power and cost-sensitive applications, such as digital signage, smart monitoring labels, authenticity and security, and retail labels and signage. Ynvisible has the experience, know-how, and intellectual property in electrochromic materials, inks, and systems and offers a mix of services, materials, and technology to brand owners developing smart objects and IoT products. Additional information on Ynvisible is available at www.ynvisible.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ramin Heydarpour

CEO and Executive Chairman

Ynvisible Interactive Inc.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

+1 778-683-4324

ir@ynvisible.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Ynvisible Interactive Inc. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Ynvisible Interactive Inc. management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Ynvisible Interactive Inc. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167280
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Velocity Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: VLC) ("Velocity" or the "Company") has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Financing") by the issuance of 9,200,000 units of the Company (the "Units") priced at $0.15 per Unit for total gross proceeds of $1.38 million. Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Share at a price of $0.25 per Share for a period of 18 months.

The proceeds of the Financing are intended to fund ongoing work at the Company's gold and copper exploration projects and for general working capital.

In connection with the Financing, the Company paid finder's fees consisting of $70,314.28 in cash and issued 468,761 non-transferable finder's warrants (each, a "Finder's Warrant") to Leede Jones Gable Inc. Each Finder's Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Share at a price of $0.15 per Share for a period of 12 months.

All securities issued in connection with the Financing are subject to a hold period ending on September 20, 2023. The Financing is subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").

An insider of the Company subscribed for 1,385,960 Units. Such participation is considered to be a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the fair market value of the participation in the Financing by the insider does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company, as determined in accordance with MI 61-101.

This news release does not constitute an offer of sale of any of the foregoing securities in the United States. None of the foregoing securities have been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Velocity Minerals Ltd.

Velocity is a precious metals and copper explorer focused in Eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, Velocity has a 70% interest in the Tintyava property, which includes the Prefeasibility-stage Rozino deposit. Velocity also has a 70% interest in the Momchil property (which includes the Obichnik project), a 70% interest in the Nadezhda property (which includes the Makedontsi project), a 70% interest in the Dangovo property (which is contiguous with the Makedontsi project), and a 100% interest in the Iglika copper-gold exploration property. The Company recently entered into a binding Letter Agreement to acquire a 75% interest in the Zlatusha copper-gold exploration property.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Keith Henderson"

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Keith Henderson

Phone: +1-604-484-1233

E-mail: info@velocityminerals.com

Web: www.velocityminerals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release includes certain forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the intended use of the proceeds from the Financing, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by words such as "will", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that market fundamentals will result in sustained gold demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future development of the Company's Bulgarian gold projects in a timely manner, the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of the Company's Bulgarian gold projects, and the Company's ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities for the Company's Bulgarian copper and gold projects, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital to fund the Company's business plan, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, the inability to or delay in obtaining governmental and regulatory approvals (including of the TSXV for the Financing), permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading. "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual management's discussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167243
A vibrant, wide-ranging exhibition celebrating the variety within Japanese graphic arts.

The show is curated by artists Hiro Sugiyama and Takahashi Kintaro, the team behind the Tokyo exhibition WAVE, held annually since 2018.

and Takahashi Kintaro, the team behind the exhibition held annually since 2018. Presenting the work of more than 60 contemporary Japanese artists, the London edition includes five emerging artists whose work appears for the first time in this touring exhibition.

edition includes five emerging artists whose work appears for the first time in this touring exhibition. WAVE is the amalgamation of a diversity of voices representing a variety of styles and artistic backgrounds. Artists range in age from their early twenties to their late eighties.

is the amalgamation of a diversity of voices representing a variety of styles and artistic backgrounds. Artists range in age from their early twenties to their late eighties. Press preview: Wednesday 5 July (09:00-12:00). Book your place by emailing press.office@japanhouselondon.uk

Exhibition runs 6 July to 22 October 2023 .

. Press images together with a full list of the exhibiting artists are available here.

LONDON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Discover the vibrancy and variety of Japanese graphic arts at WAVE: Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts. Curated by artists Hiro Sugiyama and Takahashi Kintaro, the exhibition presents the work of 60 of Japan's most significant graphic artists today, introducing many of them to the UK for the first time. An anthology of styles and stories, bridging the worlds of fine art, commercial illustration and counterculture, WAVE offers UK audiences a rare opportunity to fully experience the diversity of expression within Japanese graphic arts.

The exhibition at Japan House London is inspired by WAVE, an annual exhibition that started in 2018 in Tokyo. Also curated by Hiro Sugiyama and Takahashi Kintaro, the WAVE exhibition in Tokyo showcases 100 of Japan's leading illustrators, graphic and contemporary artists. Of the 60 artists featured in the Japan House London iteration, five emerging artists are being presented as part of the WAVE touring exhibition for the first time: Utsunomiya Nao, Kakuda Mayu, Kato Takaaki, Nakajima Yuta and Yano Keiji.

Presenting an eclectic assembly of artists

WAVE: Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts presents the work of artists who have emerged during multiple waves in the history of Japanese print culture since the late 20th century - their ages ranging from early twenties to late eighties. Tanaami Keiichi (b.1936) is known for his colourful images inspired by war, dreams and pop culture and has been active since the 1960s. The bold, humorous work of Yumura Teruhiko (b.1942) is associated with indie manga magazine GARO, first popular in the 1970s and '80s. Works by younger artists include the photorealist stylings of Yukishita Mayu (b.1995), and the hyperrealist art of Tomozawa Kotao (b.1999).

Art beyond category

Many works in the exhibition have qualities representative of popular genres of Japanese graphic art such as pop art, photorealism and heta-uma - the combination of two Japanese words meaning 'bad, unskilled' and 'good', - where something that appears bad, is actually, on closer inspection, good. However, WAVE moves beyond categories, instead responding to multiple positions and perspectives, in cheerful defiance of arbitrary distinctions. The work of actor-cum-artist Asano Tadanobu (of Marvel Studios fame) appears alongside that of tupera tupera, a husband-and-wife team who have illustrated some of Japan's most popular children's books.

WAVE invites guests to delight in the chaos, colour and creativity of Japanese graphic arts and print culture. This exhibition is a rare opportunity for UK audiences to experience the variety of Japanese illustration and graphic arts, through the works of leading artists from diverse disciplines and generations.

Simon Wright, Director of Programming at Japan House London, commented:

'This exhibition of new works explores the perhaps surprising variety and anarchy of the world of illustration and graphic art in Japan. Of particular interest is the underground concept of heta-uma -literally 'bad-good' - whose first proponents in the 1970s and 1980s challenged contemporary notions of what was 'ugly' or 'beautiful', the definition of art itself and the hierarchy of the art world.'

Co-curator Takahashi Kintaro commented:

'The present and the future of the creative essence of Japanese media art, unbound by genre or generation - welcome to the WAVE exhibition.'

Co-curator Hiro Sugiyama commented:

'The most significant movement in the world of Japanese illustration from the 1970s to the 1980s was that of heta-uma. What is 'heta-uma'? It was one concept proposed by one illustrator. The concept has influenced many creators. It has also had a tremendous impact on Japanese graphic art today. We hope that through the WAVE exhibition you will be able to enjoy a look at the true state of Japanese graphic arts.'

Notes to Editors

Japan House London is a cultural destination offering guests the opportunity to experience the best and latest from Japan. Located on London'sKensington High Street, the experience is an authentic encounter with Japan, engaging and surprising even the most knowledgeable guests. Presenting the very best of Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation, and technology, it deepens the visitor's appreciation of all that Japan has to offer. Part of a global initiative, there are two other Japan Houses, one in Los Angeles and the other in Sao Paulo.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wave-currents-in-japanese-graphic-arts--vibrancy-and-variety-in-2d-301833451.html
Linde Public Limited Company registered in Dublin, Ireland with its principal office at Forge, 43 Church Street West, Woking,

Surrey GU21 6HT, United Kingdom ISIN IE000S9YS762 Notice of 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

Dear Shareholder: The Annual General Meeting ("AGM") of Shareholders of Linde plc ("Linde" or the "Company") will be held at 1:00 PM United Kingdom time (8:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S.) on Monday, July 24, 2023, at the Corinthia Hotel, Whitehall Place, Westminster, London, SW1A 2BD, U.K., for the following purposes: 1. By separate resolutions, to appoint the ten director nominees described in the proxy statement.

Nominees: 1a. Stephen F. Angel 1b. Sanjiv Lamba 1c. Prof. DDr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner 1d. Dr. Thomas Enders 1e. Hugh Grant 1f. Joe Kaeser 1g. Dr. Victoria Ossadnik 1h. Prof. Dr. Martin H. Richenhagen 1i. Alberto Weisser 1j. Robert L. Wood 2. To (a) ratify, on an advisory and non-binding basis, the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC") as independent auditor of the Company and (b) to authorize the Board, acting through the Audit Committee, to determine PwC's remuneration. 3. To approve, on an advisory and non-binding basis, the compensation of the Company's named executive officers, as required under applicable U.S. law and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules. 4. To consider and vote on proposed amendments to Linde's Memorandum and Articles of Association to reduce certain supermajority shareholder voting requirements. 5. To conduct such other business as may properly come before the meeting.

Shareholders may, by technological means, participate in the 2023 Annual General Meeting in Ireland in accordance with the section 176 of the Irish Companies Act 2014 by attending the offices of Arthur Cox LLP, Ten Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, DO2 T380, Ireland at the time of the meeting. The proxy statement and a form of proxy are being distributed to shareholders on or about April 28, 2023. Only holders of record of Linde ordinary shares at the close of business on April 27, 2023, will be entitled to receive notice of, and to attend and vote at, the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof. It is important that your shares be represented and voted at the meeting. Any shareholder entitled to attend, speak, ask questions and vote at the meeting, may exercise his or her right to vote by appointing a proxy or proxies to attend and vote on his or her behalf. A shareholder may appoint the persons named in the proxy card provided or another person, who need not be a shareholder of the Company, as a proxy, by electronic means or in writing, to vote some or all of their shares. Appointment of a proxy does not preclude members from attending, speaking and asking questions at the meeting should they subsequently wish to do so. Please note that proxies may be required to provide identification to attend the meeting. Whether or not you expect to attend the AGM in person, please promptly provide your proxy either online, as further explained in the proxy statement, or by filling in, signing, dating and promptly mailing a proxy card. We recommend that you review the further information on the process for, and deadlines applicable to, voting, attending the meeting and appointing a proxy under "Information About the Annual General Meeting and Voting" of the proxy statement. Please be aware that, if you own shares in a brokerage account, you must instruct your broker on how to vote your shares. Without your instructions, New York Stock Exchange rules do not allow your broker to vote your shares on any of the proposals except those identified in the proxy statement. Please exercise your right as a shareholder to vote on all proposals, including the re-appointment of the director nominees, by instructing your broker by proxy. April 28, 2023 By Order of The Board of Directors Stephen F. Angel

Chairman of the Board General Information Questions/Fragen Bei Fragen kontaktieren Sie unsere Hotline bei der ADEUS Aktienregister-Service-GmbH: Contact our Hotline at ADEUS Aktienregister-Service-GmbH for questions: +49(0)89 20 190 352

hv-service.linde@adeus.de

Availability of Proxy Materials The 2023 Notice of Annual General Meeting and Proxy Statement, the 2022 Form 10-K and Annual Report, the Irish financial statements together with copies of any other documentation relating to the 2023 Annual General Meeting, including forms of proxy, are available on the Linde website, www.linde.com as set forth below: 2023 Notice of Annual General Meeting and Proxy Statement:

https://investors.linde.com/proxystatement 2022 Form 10-K and Annual Report to Shareholders:

https://investors.linde.com/annualreport 2022 Irish Financial Statements:

https://investors.linde.com/irishfinancials

If you want to receive a paper copy of these documents, you must request one. There is no charge for requesting a copy. Please choose one of the following methods to make your request: BY TELEPHONE: +49(0)89 20190 352 BY E-MAIL: hv-service.linde@adeus.de

Requests, instructions and other inquiries sent to this e-mail address will not be forwarded to your investment advisor. Please make the request as instructed above on or before July 10, 2023 to facilitate timely delivery. How to Vote Please request a proxy card. Vote in Person: Many shareholder meetings have attendance requirements including, but not limited to, the possession of an attendance ticket issued by the entity holding the meeting. Please check the meeting materials for any special requirements for meeting attendance and see the proxy statement for information on attending in person in London, U.K. You can attend the meeting by requesting a proxy card, which will include an attendance ticket. Contact our ADEUS Hotline (above) or your bank or broker to request a proxy card. Vote by Internet: You can vote by Internet by requesting a proxy card, which will include an Internet access code. Contact your bank or broker or our ADEUS Hotline (see above) to request a proxy card. Vote by Mail: You can vote by mail by requesting a proxy card. Contact your bank or broker or our ADEUS Hotline (see above) to request a proxy card.
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EB5 Capital is delighted to announce the election of Lulu Gordon to the Board of Directors of Invest in the USA (IIUSA). Ms. Gordon will serve in this position for a three-year term.



IIUSA is the industry trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program, a US government program that encourages new investment in job-creating projects. Foreign investors can qualify for the EB-5 program by making eligible investments in EB-5 projects sponsored by Regional Centers, provided the project creates a minimum of ten new US jobs per investor.

"I feel very honored to take on this role at such a transformative time for the EB-5 industry," said Ms. Gordon. "We are starting a new chapter with the passing of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, and our program is finally back in business after some significant disruptions over the last few years."

Ms. Gordon brings over 25 years of experience in law and finance and has been with EB5 Capital since 2015. She participates in IIUSA's Leadership Circle and serves as Co-chair of IIUSA's Public Policy Committee. As part of Ms. Gordon's Leadership Circle activities, she participates on a quarterly basis in meetings with members of the President's administration, Congressional members, and their staff, to educate them about the economic benefits of the EB-5 program and to discuss ongoing issues with the program. In addition to IIUSA, Ms. Gordon is a member of the EB-5 Securities Roundtable, an independent group of securities attorneys in the EB-5 space.

About EB5 Capital

EB5 Capital provides qualified foreign investors with opportunities to invest in job-creating commercial real estate projects under the United States Immigrant Investor Program for more information.

Contact:

Katherine Willis

Director, Marketing & Communications

media@eb5capital.com
Draslovka a.s. ("Draslovka" or the "Company"), a global leader in specialty chemicals and agricultural chemicals including next generation fumigants and biocides, is pleased to announce the formation of its Advisory Board, composed of senior leaders who combine a distinguished track record in their chosen professional field along with a strong commitment to the highest standards in corporate governance and business conduct.

Draslovka has undergone a period of transformation over the past two years following a significant expansion at an international level, including the acquisitions of Chemours' Mining Solutions Business and the exclusive rights to Glycine Leaching Technology, which offers a new and environmentally sustainable hydrometallurgical process to leach base and precious metal oxide, mixed oxide and sulphide ores.

The creation of an Advisory Board will support the Company as it enters a new phase of global growth and deepens its product reach. Drawn from across the industry spectrum, including natural resources, public service and manufacturing, the members of the Advisory Board will offer their collective expertise and deep reserves of experience to help the Executive Board as it navigates the challenges and seeks to fully exploit the strategic opportunities present in full commercialisation of Draslovka's proprietary suite of sustainable alternatives. Chaired by Kathy Sipos, the former Chief of Staff at Barrick Gold, The Board's role will be to consult across Draslovka's business lines and on a wide set of corporate matters.

Petr Pudil, Chairman of Draslovka's Board of Directors, commented: "I am truly excited to welcome the distinguished members of our new Advisory Board to the Draslovka family. Draslovka is at a critical juncture in its growth trajectory as we pursue our ambition to not only be the global leader in our markets in terms of size and technology but also lead the industry in sustainable business practices and the highest standards of corporate governance. Draslovka's sustainable solutions have the potential to fundamentally transform industrial processes, particularly in the mining and agricultural solutions. The combined expertise of the Advisory Board will help us ensure we fully capitalise on the global opportunity that this market presents and achieve our purpose."

Advisory Board Members

Kathy Sipos, Advisory Board Chair, former Chief of Staff at Barrick Gold

Kathy joins Draslovka as Chair of the Advisory Board. Kathy served as Chief of Staff at Barrick Gold and spent the majority of her 27-year career in the gold mining industry at publicly listed corporations, including Teranga Gold and Gabriel Resources. Most recently, Kathy was part of Barrick Gold's transformational merger with Randgold Resources, helping further establish Barrick Gold's leading position in the gold industry.



Bob Miller, Former Nevada Governor and ex-Board Member of Newmont Mining

Bob is a notable statesman with a distinguished career dedicated to public service and ethical business development. He spent a large portion of his career working in the public sector and was the longest-serving Governor for the State of Nevada to date, in addition to holding a number of other official state-level government positions. He has significant Board experience with past seats, including Newmont Mining Company, America West Airlines and Zenith Insurance. He is also the past Chairman of the National Governors Association as well as past President of the National District Attorneys Association and past Chairman of the International Association of Gaming Advisors.



Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Sustainable business leader, Former Minister of the Government of India

Suresh has dedicated himself to developing and executing sustainable business strategies in the public sphere, having held ministerial positions across infrastructure, industry and commerce in the Indian government for more than two decades. He is an internationally recognised authority on sustainable development, leading a number of international social impact initiatives, including as the Chairman of the Global Foundation of Farmers, South Asia Chair of Global Water Partnership and President of the World Forum for Global Governance. Suresh also currently holds several academic positions, including Founding Chancellor of Rishihood University and Visiting Professor at The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics.



John Rutherford Allen, United States Marine Corps four-star general (Rtd) and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan

John Rutherford Allen is a retired US Marine Corps four-star general and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. John has served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defence on Middle East Security and, at the request of President Obama, served as Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. John is the recipient of multiple US military and civilian agency personal and campaign awards.



Radek Spicar, Vice President of Business Europe and Vice President of the Czech Confederation of Industry

Currently, he serves as Vice President of Business Europe, the largest representative of European entrepreneurs and as Vice President of the Czech Confederation of Industry, a leading interest group for Czech business. Previously, he served as Deputy Vice Prime Minister for the Economy of the Czech Republic and later as Director for External Relations at Auto Skoda and Director of the Aspen Institute Central Europe think-tank. Radek is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, Trinity College. His academic work focuses on corporate social responsibility, economic diplomacy and creative industries.

About Draslovka

Draslovka Holdings a.s. (Draslovka) is a leading supplier of speciality chemicals for the mining and agricultural sectors. Draslovka's product portfolio includes innovative alternative solutions to legacy products.

Draslovka's portfolio includes its proprietary Glycine Leaching Technology (GLT), a technology that enables the most environmentally sustainable and cost-effective production of precious and critical metals, including gold, copper, nickel and cobalt. GLT is revolutionary as it makes uneconomic assets viable, increases mine life, reduces the amount of toxic chemicals required and decreases opex. Barrick Gold is rolling out Draslovka's GLT across several of its mines around the world.

Draslovka produces EDNTM, BLUEFUMETM and eFUMETM, ozone-friendly and environmentally sustainable alternatives to methyl bromide and sulfuryl fluoride, used for fumigation and pest control. Draslovka is also the world's largest producer of sodium cyanide, a necessary component in critical mineral processing.

Based in the Czech Republic, Draslovka is a family-owned business that has been dedicated to CN chemistry innovation, sustainability and customer service for more than 110 years. Recently, it has grown due to inorganic growth such as the acquisition of Chemours' mining business unit in the US, the purchase of Mining Process Solutions in Australia and the agreement to purchase Sasol's sodium cyanide business in South Africa. Oaktree Capital Management has invested US$150 million to fund Draslovka's next growth stage to become the leading global supplier of speciality chemicals to mining companies and the agricultural sector.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005487/en/

Contacts:

FTI Consulting

Viktor Pomichal Ariadna D. Peretz

Tel: +44 (0) 7890 417764

Email: draslovka@fticonsulting.com
WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Each day, more than 300 million girls and women around the world have their periods, yet many face significant barriers to managing their periods safely and easily. That's why three years ago, Plan International USA embarked on a partnership with Kimberly-Clark, its foundation and the company's Kotex brand to help people comfortably manage their periods.

"No girl should ever feel ashamed about being on her period," Plan International USA President & CEO Shanna Marzilli said. "It's a healthy, normal part of everyday life. We at Plan are incredibly proud to work with young leaders around the world, including here in the U.S., who are challenging stereotypes and breaking the silence around periods. They are leading the way to a better future for us all."

Through the Kimberly-Clark partnership, we have reached more than 3.5 million individuals to date as part of menstrual health management and education programs in Brazil, China, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Nigeria, Peru and Vietnam. These programs take a comprehensive approach - meeting girls' and women's immediate needs for supplies, ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to understand menstruation and creating a supportive environment that is free of period myths and stigmas.

"Millions of women and girls are stigmatized, excluded and discriminated against simply because they menstruate. In many countries, even the term 'period' is cast in a negative light and associated with judgement, fear, anxiety and embarrassment," said Juanita Pelaez, Vice President of Kimberly-Clark's global adult and feminine care brands "Our Kotex brand exists to ensure that a period never stands in the way of any woman's progress, and I am particularly passionate about our partnership with Plan International as we continue to champion and uplift women and girls by fighting period stigmas and the barriers they create."

Since 2020, Plan has trained 8,466 young people in menstrual health education, in partnership with Kimberly-Clark, to act as advocates and lead trainings with their peers in the community.

"Before, boys would tease us and be awkward around the topic of menstruation," Liset, a 14-year-old Plan advocate from Peru, said. "They would make jokes about how we would stain our bedsheets while sleeping. But thanks to the program, boys understand more about menstruation. We can talk about it without fear and we're breaking down myths. Before they were confused, but now they are more tolerant and understanding."

To join us in uplifting girls on Menstrual Hygiene Day, allies can take action by:

Learning more about the difference between menstrual health and menstrual hygiene. Read more.

Following Plan on social media to hear more stories from girls like Liset on the importance of breaking down stigmas.

Testing your knowledge on menstruation by leveraging the Kotex filter on social media.

For more information or interviews, please contact:

Maria Holsopple

Director, Corporate Communications

Email: maria.holsopple@planusa.org; Mobile: 401.829.2796

Brenna Clairr Moore, Kimberly-Clark, media.relations@kcc.com

About Plan International USA

Powered by supporters, Plan International USA partners with adolescent girls, young women and children around the world to overcome oppression and gender inequality, providing the support and resources that are unique to their needs and the needs of their communities, ensuring they achieve their full potential with dignity, opportunity and safety. Founded in 1937, Plan is an independent development and humanitarian organization that is active in more than 80 countries.

For more information, and to learn about our commitment to safeguarding, please visit www.PlanUSA.org.

About Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) and its trusted brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Fueled by ingenuity, creativity, and an understanding of people's most essential needs, we create products that help individuals experience more of what's important to them. Our portfolio of brands, including Huggies, Kleenex, Scott, Kotex, Cottonelle, Poise, Depend, Andrex, Pull-Ups, GoodNites, Intimus, Neve, Plenitud, Sweety, Softex, Viva and WypAll, hold No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in approximately 80 countries. We use sustainable practices that support a healthy planet, build strong communities, and ensure our business thrives for decades to come. We are proud to be recognized as one of the world's most ethical companies by Ethisphere for the fifth year in a row. To keep up with the latest news and to learn more about the company's 150-year history of innovation, visit kimberly-clark.com.

Liset, a 14-year old Plan advocate from Peru.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Plan International USA on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Plan International USA

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/plan-international-usa

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Plan International USA

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756987/Plan-International-and-Kotex-Uplift-Girls-Globally-To-Break-Period-Stigmas
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Fremont Gold Ltd. (TSXV: FRE) (OTCQB: FRERF) (FSE: FR20) ("Fremont" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has staked 600 lode claims for lithium-bearing clays and an additional 105 brine claims over two hydrologically enclosed caldera basins in central Nevada: the northern Diamond Valley and Tub project in the Crescent Valley.

As described in the Company's news release of May 9, 2023, Fremont's exploration team headed by VP Exploration Dr. Clay Newton, has identified and staked enclosed, Li-prospective, basins in central Nevada, using the Thacker Pass deposit as a model. These two basin environments are previously unrecognized Eocene-age calderas; one in the northern end of Diamond Valley, which straddles the borders of Eureka and Elko Counties, hereafter referred to as the 'Diamond Caldera' and the Tub Project in Crescent Valley in Lander County.





Figure 1. Diamond Caldera showing geology, caldera ring fractures, claim blocks

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3169/167271_7da09cfad495da72_002full.jpg

Fremont's VP Exploration Dr. Clay Newton explains, "The two types of lithium deposits found in Nevada are lithium brines and lithium-bearing clays. Lithium brines are found in closed evaporative basins in which there is ample water inflow into the basin but no outflow. Lithium, boron, and alkali elements are residually enriched as the playa lake water evaporates.

Lithium-bearing sediments, also common in arid evaporative basins, may also contain clays or salts which are enriched in lithium and boron and are frequently found as caldera lake sediments. The lithium is thought to be sourced from the leaching of adjacent or underlying caldera-fill rhyolitic tuffs. The best environments in the western US for forming both lithium brines and lithium-bearing clay deposits are enclosed calderas hosting rhyolitic volcanics.

At the Diamond Caldera, the geology is remarkably similar to that reported for the Miocene-age McDermitt Caldera in Humboldt County, Nevada, which hosts the world-class Thacker Pass lithium deposit. It is an enclosed basin with no out-flowing stream. An arc of rhyolitic lavas thought to be resurgent magmas, which fueled hydrothermal fluids moving though caldera-fill felsic tuffs, occur on the northeast rim. As mentioned above, the ultimate source for the lithium in the Nevada-style deposits are rhyolitic intra-caldera tuffs. Indeed, these tuffs show similar lithium concentrations as the tuffs in the vicinity of the Thacker Pass deposit. In this model, it is waning hydrothermal activity within the McDermitt caldera that altered original smectite clays to illite, the ore host. Illite clay is able to host several times the concentration of lithium compared to smectite and is key for the formation of world-class economic deposits.

Since the caldera is Eocene in age, most of the original rhyolitic tuffs have been eroded away, probably washed into Diamond Valley. The enclosed basin, Diamond Valley, also hosts abundant artesian springs, some of them thermal, a very encouraging trait for mineralization that indicates active fluid movement and residual hydrothermal activity within the basin sediments and underlying felsic volcanics."

During the past months Fremont has filed 133 claims for lithium brines within the Diamond Caldera as well as staked 600 lode claims for lithium-bearing clays on the northern margin of the caldera as shown in the figures above and below, which are currently being recorded.

Soil geochemical results

Recent soil sampling within the Diamond Caldera has revealed a boron and lithium anomalous zone on the northern edge of the playa lake between the outer and inner caldera ring fractures, as presented in the image below.





Figure 2. Diamond Valley gravity map (violet is low) with superimposed boron soil geochemistry within the lode claim area

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3169/167271_7da09cfad495da72_003full.jpg

Tub Project, Caetano Caldera claim block

The Tub Project, in Crescent Valley, is another previously unrecognized Eocene-age enclosed caldera basin that hosts felsic tuffs and volcanics. The Caetano Caldera is a Late Eocene caldera that was dismembered and offset along a left-lateral fault. A portion of the caldera remains intact on the east side of the fault and hosts a resurgent dome that may have driven hydrothermal fluid flow across the fault into the block offset to the southwest. The offset portion is a fault-bounded basin with a central gravity low that is a lithium brine target.

Fremont Gold has 105 placer claims staked at Tub and is in the process of recording these.





Figure 3. Tub Project gravity map showing suggested resurgent dome and claim block

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3169/167271_7da09cfad495da72_004full.jpg

President and CEO Dennis Moore comments, "These new lithium assets are extremely exciting additions to the Fremont portfolio, providing Fremont shareholders with an additional important commodity play. The compelling geological model behind these exploration plays is supported by our recent geochemical results which display elevated lithium and boron values where we would expect to see them. We plan to drill test the Diamond Project later this year or early next year depending on permitting."

Qualified person

The content of this news release was reviewed by Dennis Moore, Fremont's President and CEO, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Fremont

Fremont's mine-finding management team has assembled a portfolio of high-quality Nevada gold and lithium projects with the goal of making a new discovery. The Company has also been seeking world-class mineral opportunities within the central Tethyan belt of Armenia and Georgia. Besides Cobb Creek, Griffon, and Hurricane in Nevada, Fremont has entered into a letter of intent regarding the Vardenis property and applied for an exploration license over the Urasar area, which are located in central and northern Armenia respectively.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Dennis Moore"

Dennis Moore

President and CEO, interim Chairman

Fremont Gold Ltd.

For further information, contact:

Corporate Information

Fremont Gold Ltd.

Dennis Moore, President and CEO, interim Chairman

Telephone: +351 9250 62196

www.fremontgold.net

https://twitter.com/GoldFremont

https://www.linkedin.com/company/fremont-gold/

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward looking statements

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are based on several material factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the completion of the Private Placement or the actual use of proceeds to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Fremont undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this press release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167271
Despite some fighting, Khartoum residents say the situation in the capital is relatively calm after a new truce took effect. Meanwhile, the US announced a new humanitarian aid package as the conflict lingers on.

The Sudanese capital of Khartoum saw warplanes fly over the city and some artillery fire, but remained relatively calm Tuesday morning on the first full day of a weeklong cease-fire.

Blinken urges rival parties to abide by truce

The truce went into effect Monday evening, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning Sudan's rival generals Tuesday to abide by the truce or face possible sanctions.

The northeastern African nation has been torn by violence for over a month now, after the leaders of the two powerful groups - the army led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo - began fighting for control of the country.

All previous cease-fires have been violated and more than 1 million Sudanese have been forced from their homes by the fighting. Thousands have been killed.

The US and Saudi Arabia have been mediating in talks between the warring sides over the last week. The latest truce is meant to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid as civilians caught in the fighting bear the brunt of violence.

US announces aid as Red Cross warns of refugee crisis

On Tuesday, the US announced $245 million (227 million) in humanitarian aid to Sudan.

"With this funding, our humanitarian partners can respond to the new needs arising from the current conflict, which has displaced approximately 840,000 people within the country and forced another 250,000 to flee since April 15," a press statement from US Secretary of State Blinken said.

At the same time, the Red Cross warned of a looming risk of a humanitarian disaster in neighboring Chad.

About 60,000 to 90,000 people have crossed into Chad, the UN Refugee Agency said earlier this week, with tens of thousands converging in camps in a border village called Borota.

People were residing there without food or water until emergency aid workers were able to bring basic supplies to them.

With the monsoon season around the corner, officials warn that relocating that many people would be a tall order since the village is set to be cut off from supplies once the rain begins.

(Reuters, AFP, AP)
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Webster Bank

Originally published in Webster Bank's 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

What were some of the biggest achievements in 2022?

There is so much to be proud of as I think about our work this year. At the highest level, one of our most important accomplishments has been creating and supporting a culture where our mission and values guide our actions. That's critical, because when your strategy and tactics are consistent with who you are as a company it's much easier to embed that work into every area of your business.

The centerpiece this year was the launch of Webster's $6.5 billion Community Investment Strategy. Our three-year strategy addresses affordable housing and community development lending, support for minority- and women-owned small business, and philanthropy. This is a major commitment for our company, and it's been wholeheartedly embraced and championed by Webster's leadership. We're deeply invested in this strategy, enabling loans, investments, technical assistance and financial services to individuals and small businesses across our footprint.

"This is a major commitment for our company, and it's been wholeheartedly embraced and championed by Webster leadership."

How is Webster supporting communities?

Webster believes strongly in empowering people and strengthening communities by expanding access to capital. As part of our Community Investment Strategy, we've made several investments in programs that foster youth leadership and help build our future workforce. We are very proud of our Finance Lab collaborations in the Bronx, Yonkers, New York and most recently Bridgeport, Connecticut - furthering our commitment to provide students with a unique opportunity to learn about finance.

It's important to take time and understand the varied needs of our communities. We talked with more than 100 community organizations in developing our $6.5 billion Community Investment Strategy. We've also established Community Advisory Councils in our New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island/Massachusetts markets. These collaborations with local nonprofit organizations help us to strengthen meaningful community connections, and to set impactful short- and long-term goals.

How does Webster approach corporate sustainability?

Our corporate sustainability approach at Webster is closely tied to our mission and values: a strategic program clearly focused on positive social and environmental impact within an effective governance framework based on ethics and risk management. Responsible governance is the cornerstone of everything we do at Webster. Our Board continues to oversee our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts, with the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee having primary responsibility for coordination of that oversight. Our ESG Council is comprised of senior management across Webster, who meet quarterly.

The Office of Corporate Responsibility (OCR) manages all community-facing activities across the company, including Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Fair and Responsible Banking; Community Investment, Engagement and Philanthropy; Government Relations and Public Affairs; Supplier Diversity; and, of course, all environmental, social and governance efforts. Bringing all these together in one business unit allows us to plan more strategically, support the business goals more effectively and use our resources more efficiently.

Investors are also asking businesses for more consistent and relevant ESG information. This year, we have responded to stakeholder requests for expanded data-driven disclosures by performing a materiality assessment to inform our corporate responsibility reporting and strategy. The results of this assessment form the basis of our 2022 Report, including the decision to fully align with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards.

What are some new corporate responsibility initiatives for 2023?

As we continue to execute on our Community Investment Strategy, we'll launch additional Finance Labs across the footprint and expand our Supplier Diversity program. We're also planning to introduce a new signature initiative. These and other projects will help to strengthen the systems and organizations that drive shared prosperity and help reshape local economic and social structures.

Internally, we'll continue working to ensure we live our culture, mission and values. In the coming months, we'll be onboarding software tools to help us track and manage our community service programs, diverse suppliers and energy usage more effectively.

I'm also really excited about the time we've been spending developing our new, company-wide environmental, social and governance strategies focused on the intersection of our four pillars: Economic Vitality, Valuing our People, Our Environment and Responsible Governance. We look forward to sharing more soon.

To learn more about Webster Bank's commitment to corporate responsibility, visit our CR webpage.

For details about Webster Bank's 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report, visit here.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Webster Bank on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Webster Bank

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/webster-bank

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Webster Bank

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ST. PAUL, MN and CHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / 3M (@3M) and Discovery Education (@DiscoveryEd) today announced the 10 recipients of the inaugural 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network Alumni Grants Program. Launched in 2023, the program supports past participants and future scientists as part of the 3M Young Scientist Challenge ( YoungScientist).

As the nation's premier middle school science competition, the annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge invites students in grades 5-8 to compete for a mentorship with a 3M scientist, a $25,000 grand prize, and the chance to earn the title of "America's Top Young Scientist." The new Alumni Network and Alumni Grants Program offers previous participants networking opportunities, resources, events, and funding for existing science projects. Former finalists must be registered members of the 3M Young Scientist Alumni Network to apply.

The Alumni Grants Program awarded a total of $25,000 in funding to ten 3M Young Scientist Challenge alumni. The 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Grants Program recipients across three funding areas are as follows:

Braeden Benedict is a 26-year-old from Missouri and a 2011 finalist. Braeden received $1,000 for the project The Health Career Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis that provides mentorship, engaging health curriculum, and exposure to health careers to high school students from low-income, underrepresented minority communities.

is a 26-year-old from Missouri and a 2011 finalist. Braeden received $1,000 for the project The Health Career Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis that provides mentorship, engaging health curriculum, and exposure to health careers to high school students from low-income, underrepresented minority communities. Leanne Fan is a 15-year-old from California and 2022 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Leanne received $1,000 for the project Teaching Science to Kids Through Expos! that introduces young students to science.

is a 15-year-old from California and 2022 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Leanne received $1,000 for the project Teaching Science to Kids Through Expos! that introduces young students to science. Reshma Kosaraju is a 17-year-old from California and a 2019 finalist & Improving Lives Award Winner. Reshma received $1,000 for the project Eco Quest: An environmental conservation board game that teaches students about climate change.

is a 17-year-old from California and a 2019 finalist & Improving Lives Award Winner. Reshma received $1,000 for the project Eco Quest: An environmental conservation board game that teaches students about climate change. Kathryn Lampo is a 20-year-old from Colorado and a 2017 finalist. Kathryn received $1,000 for the project NYC Model Rocketry Initiative that makes space science and engineering accessible to underserved middle schoolers across New York City through engaging STEM resources.

is a 20-year-old from Colorado and a 2017 finalist. Kathryn received $1,000 for the project NYC Model Rocketry Initiative that makes space science and engineering accessible to underserved middle schoolers across New York City through engaging STEM resources. Viraj Pandey is a 14-year-old from California and a 2021 finalist. Viraj received $2,500 for the project Enhancing Crop Yields and Minimizing Crop Diseases Using Graphene Quantum Dots to Combat Overpopulation and Adverse Climate Changes that will help sustainably increase crop yield.

is a 14-year-old from California and a 2021 finalist. Viraj received $2,500 for the project Enhancing Crop Yields and Minimizing Crop Diseases Using Graphene Quantum Dots to Combat Overpopulation and Adverse Climate Changes that will help sustainably increase crop yield. Sarah Park is a 15-year-old from Florida and a 2021 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Sarah received $5,000 for the project Spark Care+: Personalized Music Therapy App using a Mobile and AI that provides accessible and affordable music therapy for emotional wellbeing.

is a 15-year-old from Florida and a 2021 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Sarah received $5,000 for the project Spark Care+: Personalized Music Therapy App using a Mobile and AI that provides accessible and affordable music therapy for emotional wellbeing. Samvrit Rao is a 15-year-old from Virginia and a 2020 finalist. Samvrit received $1,000 for the project STEMForU Innovation Bootcamps that inspires underrepresented minorities to pursue STEM by providing innovative learning experiences and resources to help develop STEM critical thinking skills.

is a 15-year-old from Virginia and a 2020 finalist. Samvrit received $1,000 for the project STEMForU Innovation Bootcamps that inspires underrepresented minorities to pursue STEM by providing innovative learning experiences and resources to help develop STEM critical thinking skills. Moitri Santra is a 13-year-old from Florida and a 2021 finalist. Harini received $2,500 for the project Novel Phyto-Nano Drug Delivery System that investigates the potential of medicinal phytochemicals at the nano-scale for reducing adverse drug reactions.

is a 13-year-old from Florida and a 2021 finalist. Harini received $2,500 for the project Novel Phyto-Nano Drug Delivery System that investigates the potential of medicinal phytochemicals at the nano-scale for reducing adverse drug reactions. Daniel Thomas is a 15-year-old from Texas and a 2022 finalist. Daniel received $5,000 for the project ClearWTR Portable: A Novel Water Disinfection and Purification Device that creates safe and clean drinking water.

is a 15-year-old from Texas and a 2022 finalist. Daniel received $5,000 for the project ClearWTR Portable: A Novel Water Disinfection and Purification Device that creates safe and clean drinking water. Harini Venkatesh is a 15-year-old from New Hampshire and a 2022 Improving Lives Award Winner & finalist. Harini received $5,000 for the project The Comptometrist: A Novel Method to Efficiently and Effectively Calculate Optical Power Current that calculates eye prescriptions.

Learn more about the 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network Alumni Grants Program recipients here.

"It's incredibly inspiring to see how the 3M Young Scientist Challenge alumni have continued their scientific innovations," said John P. Banovetz, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Environmental Responsibility at 3M. "Congratulations to each of the recipients of the inaugural alumni grants program! 3M is proud to support these inspiring students as they apply their passion for science to make the world a better place."

The 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network brings together a growing community of former Challenge finalists and mentors to connect over shared experiences, celebrate, and promote innovations and STEM as a whole. America's Top Young Scientists have gone on to give TED Talks, file patents, found nonprofits, make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and exhibit at the White House Science Fair. These young innovators have also been named Time Magazine's first Kid of the Year, featured in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, and Business Insider, and have appeared on national television programs such as Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and more.

"The new Alumni program is designed to nurture growth and support ongoing science opportunities for prior participants as they tap into a network of innovators. These are innovative ideas that will change the world and we could not be prouder," said Amy Nakamoto, General Manager of Social Impact at Discovery Education.

The award-winning 3M Young Scientist Challenge supplements the 3M and Discovery Education program - Young Scientist Lab - which provides no-cost dynamic digital resources for students, teachers, and families to explore, transform, and innovate the world around them. All the resources are also available through the Young Scientist Lab Channel and in the Social Impact Partnerships channel on Discovery Education's recently enhanced K-12 learning platform.

###

About 3M

3M (NYSE: MMM) believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas and science to reimagine what's possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet. Learn how we're working to improve lives and make what's next at 3M.com/news or on Twitter at @3M or @3MNews.

About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

Contacts

Robert Brittain | 3M | rbrittain@mmm.com

Grace Maliska | Discovery Education | gmaliska@discoveryed.com





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Discovery Education on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Discovery Education

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/discovery-education

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Discovery Education

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756997/3M-and-Discovery-Education-Name-10-Grant-Recipients-Supporting-Nations-Young-Scientists
BANGALORE, India, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Mobile Mapping Market is Segmented by Offering (Solution, Service), By Deployment Model (On-premise, Cloud), By Enterprise Size (Large Enterprises, SMEs), By Application (Topographic Mapping, Road Surveys, 3D Modeling, Asset Management, Others), By Industry Vertical (Construction & Real Estate, Energy & Utilities, Transportation & Logistics, Retail, Government & Public Sector, Manufacturing, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031. It is published in Valuates Reports under the GPS & Navigation Category.





The global Mobile Mapping Market was valued at USD 24.2 Billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 127.3 Billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 18.2% from 2022 to 2031.

Major factors driving the growth of the Mobile Mapping Market:

Global expansion of the mobile mapping market is influenced by factors including rising investments in smart city initiatives and the rising need for reliable land-based maps. Additionally, the development of autonomous driving technologies affects market expansion.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF MOBILE MAPPING MARKET:

Mobile Mapping Market Growth is being driven by the quick uptake of satellite mapping technology and its easy integration into smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT) linked devices. The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is increasingly being used in 3D mapping, environmental monitoring, machinery control, accident investigation, and disaster response, which has increased the need for mobile mapping services. Additionally, the market for mobile mapping is encouraging the creation of innovative methods for quick and automatic data collecting with the aid of the most recent 5G internet. Additionally, throughout the anticipated period, the integration of mobile mapping with wearable smart devices and the expansion of mapping analytics is projected to present attractive development prospects for the mobile mapping market.

The foundation of smart cities is the digitalization of urban infrastructure, planning, and resource optimization, and digital initiatives are the secret to a successful transition. There are several smart city initiatives in the works, which are changing the urban development environment through urban digitalization and information and communication technology. Spatial data is the foundation for urban development planning in smart city initiatives. Mixed reality 3D maps and models that depict the terrain in great detail are included. Organizations require a trustworthy and accurate spatial database in order to build and operate smart cities and serve as a source of revenue for city administrators.

Rising customer expectations and other technology breakthroughs are to blame for the construction of the infrastructure for autonomous linked vehicles. The mobile mapping system aids in vehicle planning and offers a safety net of sensors to make autonomous driving safer in low visibility and weather situations. By taking into account the challenges of driving, automation may significantly increase the comfort of the driver. High-end mobile mapping technologies are required for autonomous driving. Therefore, the development of autonomous driving technology is opening up a wide range of Mobile Mapping market expansion potential.

A GPS-enabled Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a laser scanner, and two cameras are used in road mapping for usage on cars. The cost-effective mobile mapping system for road mapping collects and processes data fast and correctly. Road markings, bridges, and overhead wires are just a few examples of highway infrastructure that is frequently planned and maintained using spatial data from road mapping. This factor is expected to drive the growth of the Mobile Mapping market.

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MOBILE MAPPING MARKET SHARE

Due to the large number of small- and medium-sized businesses and mobile device makers in the area, Asia-Pacific is predicted to have considerable growth throughout the Mobile Mapping Market Forecast period.

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Key Companies:

Microsoft Corporation

Qualcomm Inc

Trimble

GOOGLE INC

Black & Veatch

Apple

Pasco Corporation

GeoSLAM

Leica Geosystems

Hexagon

Foursquare Labs

Novatel

Javad GNSS Inc.,

Teledyne Optech LLC,

EveryScape, Inc.

MapJack.

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SIMILAR REPORTS

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- Geographic Information Systems Market estimated at USD 2979.7 million in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of USD 4106.2 million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period 2022-2028.

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- The global geophysical services market size was valued at USD 14.4 billion in 2021, and projected to reach USD 21.4 billion by 2031, with a CAGR of 4.1% from 2022 to 2031.

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LONDON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Whenever injured or during surgery, it is natural for living beings to bleed. But the bleeding needs to be stopped at some point to prevent excessive loss of blood. Hemostasis is a natural protective mechanism utilized by our body to prevent excessive bleeding in case of an injury. During this process, the liquid blood is converted into a gelatinous form, leading to blood coagulation. If the hemostasis process stops, even a minor injury may result in excessive blood loss and prove fatal for the individuals. Therefore, it is crucial to determine if the body is actually facilitating this mechanism properly. A wide array of tests and procedures are being adopted to assess and evaluate the body's ability to control bleeding and maintain hemostasis. Some of the most common diagnostic tests include Complete blood count (CBC), Prothrombin time (PT) and international normalized ratio (INR), Activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), Platelet function tests, and D-dimer test, among others.





The Hemostasis Diagnostics Market research report curated by Brandessence Market Research contains a deep-down assessment of the pivotal aspects related to this industry. The growth drivers, trends, opportunities, and restraints are thoroughly evaluated in this report. It also contains the historical records, present statistics, and projected revenue of this business space. The top segments, geographies, and companies are examined based on various parameters. All the data present in the report are obtained using proven research methodologies. The industry participants can enhance their revenue streams with the help of the actionable insights provided in this report.

Key takeaways

Hemostasis Diagnostics Market is expected to amplify with a CAGR of 8.1% over 2022-2029.

Increasing occurrences of blood clotting disorders, growing awareness about such disorders, and rising healthcare spending are aiding market outlook.

MEA is projected to capture a substantial revenue share due to the growing awareness on hemostatic disorders, surge in the geriatric population base, and increasing number of surgeries.

The Hemostasis Diagnostics Market was worth USD 2228.8 million in 2018 and is anticipated to accrue a valuation of USD 3948.6 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 8.1% over 2022-2029.

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Elaborating the key trends and dynamics of Hemostasis Diagnostics Market

Increasing occurrences of blood clotting disorders, growing awareness about such disorders, and rising healthcare spending are primary aiding the expansion of this business sphere. Furthermore, rising efforts by government bodies and healthcare organizations to revolutionize treatment and diagnostic prospects of rare diseases is augmenting market outlook. Besides, technological innovations in the healthcare sector, increased number of surgeries, along with rise in R&D investments are creating lucrative opportunities for this industry vertical to prosper.

Major growth drivers

Rise in surgical procedures- In case of invasive surgeries, it is quite crucial to prevent excessive bleeding. Since a part of the body is cut open during surgical procedures, the surgeons need to ensure that the bleeding stops at a certain point. If the body is not facilitating the hemostasis, even artificial medical processes cannot prevent bleeding or heal the wounds. Hence, before undergoing any surgery, hemostasis diagnostics tests need to be conducted to ensure that the patient's hemostatic status is positive. Accurate assessment of hemostasis is essential to ensure optimal outcomes and minimize complications such as excessive bleeding or clotting. This is creating an upward trend in this marketplace.

Technological advances- There is an influx of advanced technologies into the hemostasis diagnostics vertical. These technologies have significantly improved the accuracy, speed, and convenience of testing. Advent of innovative techniques, such as point-of-care testing (POCT), automation, and molecular diagnostics, have enhanced the efficiency and reliability of hemostasis tests. This in turn is stimulating the overall dynamics of this business vertical.

Challenges

High complexity- Hemostasis is a complicated process since it involves multiple pathways, molecular interactions, and cellular components. Thus, it gets difficult to accurately diagnose hemostatic disorders. Differentiating between bleeding disorders and clotting disorders, identifying specific deficiencies or abnormalities, and determining the appropriate course of treatment can be quite complex. This is hindering the remuneration scope of this marketplace.

Competitive Landscape of Hemostasis Diagnostics Market

The prominent players defining the competitive terrain of this business vertical are Abbott Laboratories, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Nihon Kohden Corporation, Thermo fisher Scientific Inc., Danaher Corporation, Sysmex Corporation, Siemens Healthineers, Instrumentation Laboratory, Grifols S.A, HORIBA Europe Holding, Medtronic, Technidyne Corporation, BD, Haemonetics Corporation, Beckman Coulter Inc., and Labmedics.

Segmental Assessment

By product type, the point-of-care testing systems segment is reckoned to amass notable gains over 2022-2029. This is attributable to the high degree of convenience, affordability, and accessibility offered by POC testing systems.

Based on test type, the D Dimer segment is likely to garner significant returns over the stipulated timeline. This is due to the high efficacy of this test along with its affordability and non-invasive nature.

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Geographical analysis and landscape

Middle East & Africa Hemostasis Diagnostics Market

The market in MEA is projected to capture a substantial revenue share over the estimated timeframe of 2022-2029. This is ascribed to the growing awareness about hemostatic disorders, surge in the geriatric population base, and increasing number of surgeries. Alongside, rapidly evolving healthcare infrastructure, rise in healthcare spending, and technological advancements are adding traction to the overall industry progression in this region.

Europe

Europe is reckoned to witness the fastest growth over the forecast duration. This is attributable to the increased healthcare spending, rising pervasiveness of blood clotting disorders, along with surging R&D investments in this sector. Besides, rising popularity of personalized medicines, increased awareness on rare disorders, and presence of noteworthy players are spurring the growth of this regional industry.

Opportunities in this industry

Escalating demand for personalized medicine- There is an elevating demand for personalized medicine across the globe. In hemostasis diagnostics, personalized medicine plays a crucial role in identifying specific genetic mutations and variations that contribute to bleeding disorders or abnormal clotting. As personalized medicine gains traction, there is a greater emphasis on genetic testing and molecular diagnostics in the field of hemostasis diagnostics.

Major developments in Hemostasis Diagnostics Market

Acquisitions

In 2020, Siemens Healthineers announced the acquisition of Varian Medical Systems with an aim to solidified its presence in this market.

In 2021, Werfen completed the acquisition of Accriva Diagnostics with an intention to amplify its product pipeline in the hemostasis diagnostics market and strengthen its position in point-of-care testing.

Porter's Five Forces Analysis

Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants is relatively low in this market because of the high requirement for significant investments in research and development, regulatory compliance, manufacturing infrastructure, and distribution networks. Established companies already hold a considerable market share and possess extensive knowledge and expertise in hemostasis diagnostics. Additionally, stringent regulations and quality standards serve as barriers to entry, making it challenging for new players to enter the market.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Suppliers in the hemostasis diagnostics market, such as manufacturers of reagents and instruments, generally have a moderate bargaining power. While there are multiple suppliers available, some may have unique proprietary technologies or specialized products. However, the presence of multiple suppliers gives buyers options and the ability to switch between suppliers, reducing the overall supplier power. Additionally, established manufacturers often have long-term contracts and partnerships with suppliers, giving them an advantage in negotiations.

Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of buyers in the hemostasis diagnostics market can vary. Healthcare providers, hospitals, and laboratories are the primary buyers of hemostasis diagnostic products. They have some bargaining power due to their ability to choose from various suppliers and negotiate pricing and terms. However, the criticality of accurate and reliable diagnostics in patient care limits the buyers' power to some extent. Switching costs and the importance of standardized and validated testing methods can reduce buyer power as well.

Threat of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes in the hemostasis diagnostics market is relatively low. Hemostasis diagnostics play a crucial role in diagnosing bleeding disorders, monitoring patients on anticoagulant therapy, and assessing coagulation status in surgical procedures. Currently, there are no widely accepted substitutes that can provide the same level of accuracy and comprehensive assessment.

Competitive Rivalry: The hemostasis diagnostics market is characterized by high competitive rivalry. Several key players, including multinational companies and specialized diagnostic manufacturers, compete for market share. These companies continuously invest in research and development to enhance their product offerings, improve accuracy, and introduce innovative technologies. Pricing competition can be intense, particularly in regions with multiple competitors. Differentiation based on product performance, ease of use, reliability, and customer support is crucial for companies to maintain a competitive edge.

On Special Requirement Acute Repetitive Seizures Market Report is also available for below region:

North America

U.S, Canada

Europe

Germany , France , U.K., Italy , Spain , Sweden , Netherland, Turkey , Switzerland , Belgium , Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

South Korea , Japan , China , India , Australia , Philippines , Singapore , Malaysia , Thailand , Indonesia , Rest Of APAC

Latin America

Mexico , Colombia , Brazil , Argentina , Peru , Rest of Latin America

Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest Of MEA

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? How to Measure Your TAM, SAM, and SOM Top Self Driving Car Companies Revolutionizing the Mobility Vertical

Revolutionizing the Mobility Vertical The Future is Here: Location Intelligence Companies Leading the Charge

Leading the Charge The Rise of Nutraceutical Companies : A New Era in Health and Wellness

: A New Era in Health and Wellness Innovative Materials for a Better World: The Top Advanced Materials Companies You Need to Know About

You Need to Know About The Future of Medicine: How Biochip Companies are Revolutionizing Healthcare

are Revolutionizing Healthcare Bio-Innovations: Meet the Bioreactor Manufacturers Pioneering the Future of Manufacturing

Pioneering the Future of Manufacturing Top Microalgae Companies You Need to Know About in 2023

You Need to Know About in 2023 From Bedside Tables to Waiting Room Chairs: The Best Hospital Furniture Manufacturers in the Business

in the Business Unleashing the Power of Neuromodulation: A Close Look at Spinal Cord Stimulation Companies

Top Business Process Management Companies to watch out for in 2023

to watch out for in 2023 Top 10 Frozen Potato Companies in 2023

in 2023 Top 5 Natural Food Colors Companies in Global Market 2023 | Here's Everything need to know About

in Global Market 2023 | Here's Everything need to know About Everything You Need to Know About the Top 5 Companies Operating in Global mRNA Vaccines and Therapeutics Market

The Rise of DIY Medicine: Exploring the Home Diagnostics Market

Top Activated Carbon Manufacturers in the Global Market 2023

in the Global Market 2023 Top 5 Skateboard Companies in Global Market 2023

in Global Market 2023 Top 10 Healthcare Staffing Companies in Global Market 2023

in Global Market 2023 TOP 5 Distributed Antenna System (DAS) COMPANIES 2023

2023 Top 10 Plant-based Meat Companies : growing sustainable, plant-based food industry

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BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / This week, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) is bringing together 200+ senior social impact and corporate responsibility professionals from the world's leading global companies for the 20th annual CECP Summit: The Age of Agility: A Defining Moment for Business.

The CECP Summit will feature leaders engaging and learning together about powerful insights on trends, partnerships, and the impact of creating a better world through business. The variety of session topics reflect the many issues companies are currently facing to create long-term value for all stakeholders, such as: communicating ESG goals, addressing sustainability challenges, advancing health equity, creating long-term business value, innovating through corporate foundations, and more.

"Today's corporate purpose leaders, who gather at the CECP Summit, play a unique role by bridging all business units, people, products, and services with their companies' purpose, which can help make the business work," said Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas, managing director of corporate insights and advisory at CECP. "CECP strengthens these leaders for the constant pressure to deliver positive impacts for the business and society."

The Summit includes the presentation of the Charles H. Moore Award for Leadership in Corporate Community Engagement. The 2023 "Charlie Award" is awarded to John Damonti, President of the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and Vice President of Corporate Philanthropy and Patient Assistance at Bristol Myers Squibb Company. The award is named in honor of CECP's founding Executive Director and is presented to senior leaders who exemplify perseverance in the pursuit of societal advancement, the trait for which Charlie Moore was best known.

"I'm truly honored to be receiving the Charles H. Moore Award. Charlie was a close friend for so many years and was the catalyst who would always strive to demonstrate the true impact and positive change that industry can have on society," said John Damonti, President of the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and Vice President of Corporate Philanthropy and Patient Assistance at Bristol Myers Squibb Company. "Which is why I am humbled to receive this award from CECP, a purpose-driven organization, built on Charlie's vision, that sets the standard for corporate philanthropy."

For over 25 years, the mission of the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation has been to improve health outcomes of populations disproportionately affected by serious diseases. And as its president, John has done just that in 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, Brazil, as well as across the U.S. He has more than 35 years of experience working in the areas of health policy, government affairs and social responsibility. John unites partners-such as governments, NGOs, and local communities-to promote health equity and improve the health of vulnerable communities in disease areas that are aligned with the therapeutic strategy of the Bristol Myers Squibb company.

CECP will also share with attendees' the first look at data from the 2023 Giving in NumbersTM Survey. Giving in Numbers is the unrivaled leader in benchmarking on corporate social investments, in partnership with companies. As the premier industry survey and research, Giving in Numbers provides standard-setting criteria in a go-to guide that has defined the field and advanced the movement. Over 20 years, CECP has created the largest and most historical data set on trends in the industry, shared by more than 617 multi-billion-dollar companies, representing more than $388 billion in corporate social investments over that time span. See the new 2023 infographic. CECP thanks its Giving in Numbers sponsors, PwC and Newman's Own Foundation.

The CECP Summit offers an unparalleled line up of speakers including:

Tanya Jeong, Director, Employee Engagement Global Philanthropy, AbbVie

Caitlin Bell, Senior Vice President, Bank of America

Danielle Fritz, Senior Communications Specialist, Communications & Community Engagement, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics

Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity

Jennifer Chavez Rubio, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Andrew J. Troup, Director, Giving & Engagement, Blackbaud, Inc.

Shannon Trilli Kempner, former Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Diversity & Inclusion, Catalent

Jeff Erlich, Senior Social Investment Advisor, Chevron

Charu V. Adesnik, Executive Director, Cisco Foundation Director, Social Innovation Investments, Cisco Systems Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc.

Major Joe Womack, President/Executive Director, Clean, Healthy, Educated, Safe & Sustainable Community

Anne Black, President of Goldman Sachs Gives, Goldman Sachs

Henri G. Moore, VP/Head of Responsible Business, Haleon

Adi Ignatius, Editor in Chief, Harvard Business Review

Sharon Vidal, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability, Illumina

Jenny Lewis, Vice President, Foundation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Sabrina Spitaletta Johar, Sr. Director, Center for Public Health, Milken Institute

Kate Isaacs, Senior Lecturer, MIT

Joanna Breitstein, Lead, Leadership & ESG Communications, Organon

Delvon Worthy, Director, Partnerships, Participant

C.D. Glin, President of Pepsico Foundation and Global Head of Philanthropy, PepsiCo Foundation

Kathleen Ryan Mufson, VP, Global Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy, President, Pitney Bowes Foundation, Pitney Bowes

Jessica Bigazzi Foster, Ph.D., President, RHR International

Jeff Senne, CEO, Sandbar Solutions

David Etzwiler, CEO, Siemens Foundation

CEO, Burt Fealing, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer and Corporate Secretary, Southwire

Marilyn Sherman, Founder/Owner, UpFront Presentations

Chelsea Clinton, DPhil, MPH, Vice Chair, The Clinton Foundation and Clinton Health Access Initiative

and Nish Acharya, Senior Fellow, Inclusive Economic Recovery and Growth, Clinton Global Initiative

Gwyneth Gaul, Strategic Partnerships & Philanthropy, Comcast NBCUniversal

Heidi Spahn, Global Community Investment Leader, Corteva Agriscience

Amy Nakamoto, EVP, Social Impact, Discovery Education

Kris Taylor, VP Global Community Impact & President of the Ecolab Foundation , Ecolab

Lex Suvanto, CEO, Edelman Smithfield

CEO, Jenny Holaday, President of Encore Boston Harbor, Encore Boston Harbor

Maeve Miccio, Head of Philanthropic Consulting, Fidelity Investments

Jennifer Edwards, Director, GE Foundation, General Electric

Sam Di Scipio, Senior Director, Social Impact, Macy's

Anu Gupta, Leader, Global Social Responsibility, McKinsey & Company

Annette Jennings, Director Global Community Engagement and Charitable Giving, Mars, Incorporated

Joan Steinberg, Head of Global Philanthropy & President, Morgan Stanley Foundation, CEO, Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children's Mental Health, Morgan Stanley

Hasting Stewart, Senior Communications, External and Public Affairs Leader, NRG Energy

Karen Price-Ward, Director, Social Impact, Stanley Black & Decker

Suresh Muthuswami, Chairman - North America, Tata Consultancy Services

Veda Robbins, Community Organizer, The BIG We

Katrina Briddell, Senior Manager, Social Impact & ESG , The Hershey Company

Bree Fram, Lieutenant Colonel, US Space Force

Otis Rolley, Head, Philanthropy & Community Impact, Wells Fargo Bank President, Wells Fargo Foundation, Wells Fargo

Monica Moradkhan, VP Community Relations, Wynn Resorts, Limited

James Nguyen, Head of Procurement, Zoetis

Breakout sessions include:

Choice, Customization, and Communications: A Winning Strategy for Engaging Employees

Social Impact with Global Reach

Long-Term Business Value Creation: How Social Impact Goals Align

Embracing Change through the Lens of Agility, Engagement, and Integration

Community-Driven Solutions through Local Partnerships

Building a Workplace Dialogue around ESG: Communications Tools + Tips

Stronger Together: Collaborative Community Engagement

Corporate Foundations: Designing for Impact

Integrating Climate Action with Social Impact Efforts

CECP thanks its sponsors for their generous support of the 2023 CECP Summit: Bank of America, BNY Mellon, State Farm Insurance Company, and Wynn Resorts.

CECP also congratulates the 2022-2023 Company Spotlight honorees: Applied Materials, Travelers, Illumina , Macy's, Merck & Co (Merck Foundation), Moody's, Philip Morris International (PMI), Sanofi, Intel, Logitech, Organon, Campbell Soup Company, Fidelity Charitable?, and Wells Fargo. On a quarterly basis, CECP selects companies for the sought-after Company Spotlight, through a thoughtful information-sharing and communications-support process. Company Spotlights are shared with CECP's nearly 2,000 affiliated corporate contacts, posted on the CECP website as case studies, and recognized at the CECP Summit.

Following the conclusion of the 2023 CECP Summit, CECP will be posting on its website photos, videos, guest blogs, and an Executive Summary.

The application process for the 2024 Charlie Award is open. Nominate a peer senior leader in corporate responsibility today. The deadline is August 30, 2023. The application can be accessed on CECP homepage or by emailing CECP.

####

About Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)

Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) is a trusted advisor to companies on their corporate purpose journeys. Working with CEOs and leaders in corporate responsibility, sustainability, foundations, investor relations, finance, legal, and communications, CECP shares actionable insights with its CEO-led coalition to address stakeholder needs.

Founded in 1999 by actor and philanthropist Paul Newman and other business leaders, CECP is a movement of more than 225 of the world's largest companies that represent $7.7 trillion in revenues, $37.4 billion in total community investment, 14 million employees, 22.5 million hours of employee engagement, and $21 trillion in assets under management. CECP helps companies transform their strategy by providing research, benchmarking, strategy, communications, and convening in the areas of societal/community investment, employee engagement, environmental social governance/sustainable business, diversity equity inclusion, and telling the story.

For more information, visit http://cecp.co.

CECP Media Contact

Katie Leasor

kleasor@cecp.co





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from CECP: Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: CECP: Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cecp-chief-executives-corporate-purpose

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: CECP: Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/757010/CECP-Summit--The-Age-of-Agility-A-Defining-Moment-for-Business
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Illumina:

Originally published on Illumina News Center

Alejandro Pliego is attending Princeton, class of 2027. He is smart and poised, but Princeton was hardly a foregone conclusion. The child of immigrants from Cuernavaca, Mexico, he is the first member of his family to go to college. Pliego plans to focus his studies on molecular biology and public policy. As he puts it: He wants to fix things.

Recently, Pliego visited Illumina's San Diego headquarters to meet Princeton alums and learn more about genomics. He's one of the first fellows of the yearlong mentorship program San Diego Squared (SD2) and a recipient of the Illumina SD2 STEM Scholar Award. This visit was a chance for him to celebrate his accomplishments and make academic and professional connections.

"I'm really interested in genomics and understanding different genes in the body to diagnose and treat disease," Pliego says. "This visit, I got to meet a lot of people who do that work and see how Illumina is such a vibrant community. I really enjoyed it."

SD2 is looking for stars

SD2, a grant recipient of the Illumina Corporate Foundation, connects high school students from underrepresented communities to hands-on STEM education, mentorship, and other resources.

"We are hyper-local, going into high schools and colleges to identify diverse, incredibly talented students who have shown excellence in STEM," says H. Puentes, co-founder, president, and CEO of SD2. "We give them front-row access to STEM opportunities and help them develop a network who can be their allies, their support, and their advocates."

The organization adopts a comprehensive strategy to support the whole student, providing whatever they need to succeed-from books to transportation to food stipends. SD2 wants to build their confidence, teach them about STEM industries, and show them they belong here.

"We believe talent lives in all communities," Puentes says, "but historically, STEM fields haven't been looking in diverse areas. Imagine the incredible talent we will find when we go places we've never looked before. Alejandro embodies that, but he's not alone. We've got a ton more Alejandros out there."

A day at Illumina

During his visit, Pliego toured Illumina headquarters, met with several Princeton alums-including Chief Public Affairs Officer John Frank-and chatted with Chief People Officer and SD2 Board Member Aimee Hoyt.

"I was really impressed with how Alejandro approached these meetings," Puentes says. "He's not intimidated at all. I don't think I could have done it at that age. Illumina has been a great partner with SD2. They've been at the table, sleeves rolled up, since day one."

Pliego was impressed by how welcoming the people at Illumina were. "Being able to have these conversations, that was big," he says. "It helps me grow my confidence and see what this world is really like."

He applied to Princeton through QuestBridge, a nonprofit that connects students from low-income families to elite universities, and was awarded a full scholarship. He even wrote about Illumina in one of his college essays, recounting an earlier meeting with an employee who had a similar background. Eventually, he'd like to start his own company.

"I want to be able to help people, specifically underrepresented minorities and underprivileged kids, get the necessities they need in life," Pliego says. "Listening to employees from different companies in this industry and understanding why they chose their career paths gives me perspective into the different missions companies have and how I might fit."

Illumina is committed to inspiring the next generation of genomic leaders, and we are working to nurture a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce for the future. To do this, we collaborate with community partners like San Diego Squared that are empowering learners like Alejandro Pliego and engage our employees to reach and inspire students of all backgrounds.

Learn more about Illumina's commitment to STEM education and our goal of reaching 5 million learners by 2030.

Photo: SD2's H. Puentes and student Alejandro Pliego visit with Illumina Chief Public Affairs Officer John Frank at the company's San Diego HQ.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Illumina on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Illumina

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/illumina

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Illumina

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/757011/Alejandro-Pliegos-Journey-Into-STEM
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / FedEx Corporation



On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, FedEx and Operation Warm received one of North America's highest honors for corporate social impact initiatives. The Engage for Good Conference recognized our collaborative efforts with Operation Warm with a Golden Halo Award for the 2023 Best Employee Engagement Initiative. This prestigious award celebrates programs that blend brand purpose and social impact to build a better world and the bottom line.

Through our work with Operation Warm, we were able to deliver warm coats and shoes to children in need around the U.S., Canada and even into LAC. Operation Warm and FedEx teamed up to provide an impactful volunteer experience for team members, while leveraging shipping and logistics expertise to ensure a seamless delivery.

The FedEx Cares teams greatly appreciates all the wonderful volunteers who have participated in the over 193 coat or shoe events that have occurred since 2016. These special deliveries provided the gift of warmth, confidence and hope to students. In return team members were gifted with joy, high-fives, smiles, and hugs.

This campaign was also a key part of FedEx Cares' successful 50 by 50 initiative, in which the company aimed to positively impact 50 million lives by its 50th anniversary in April 2023.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from FedEx Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: FedEx Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/fedex-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: FedEx Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/757013/FedEx-and-Operation-Warm-Receive-2023-Golden-Halo-Award


MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The Pentagon has said the United States will be involved in providing training to Ukrainian fighter pilots on the F-16 aircraft.



At a Pentagon news conference, Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said training on the F-16 might begin in the next few weeks or months, though he couldn't yet say exactly who would be doing the training.



Last week in Japan during a meeting of G7 leaders, including those from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, President Joe Biden said the U.S. will support an effort with partners and allies to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on how to use the aircraft.



Tuesday, Gen. Ryder explained in further detail that the training, and any eventual transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine is meant to support mid- and long-term defense needs, rather than defense in the short term for an expected counter-offensive against Russian forces.



Currently, no number of F-16s, any indication of where those aircraft will come from, or when they will be delivered, has been revealed.



'The training will take place outside of Ukraine at sites in Europe. But in terms of ... when that training will begin, how those jets will be provided, who will provide them, we're continuing to work with our international partners on that front,' Ryder told reporters.



For some time, F-16s were not on the table for Ukraine. But recently, the U.S. agreed that partner nations can train Ukrainians on use of the aircraft. At the last Ukraine Defense Contact Group in April, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin received several requests from countries who wanted U.S. permission to train Ukrainians on the F-16.



'He subsequently introduced that matter to the U.S. National Security Council policy process, and there was unanimous agreement that this was something that we should and need to support,' Ryder said.



The F-16 aircraft is an American weapon system, and nations who want them must work with the U.S. to acquire it. Foreign military sales agreements also mean that those who own the F-16 must seek permission from the U.S. before they transfer those aircraft to other nations.



Since the very first meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in April 2022, the DOD has said the focus is not just on Ukraine's immediate defense needs - but its long-term defense needs. Ryder made it clear that the F-16 training and any eventual transfer of aircraft to Ukraine will be part of that long-term support plan.



The F-16 is a single-engine, supersonic, multirole tactical fighter jet plane that can outmaneuver most other warplanes, while also carrying almost any bomb or missile in the U.S. Air Force's arsenal.



President Volodymyr Zelensky has been saying that Ukraine is badly in need of F-16 fighters to counter increasing pressure from Russian attacks.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Report: +40% Gewinn nur mit Aktien! +39,93% Rendite seit Januar  so lautet die Erfolgsbilanz der Aktie der Woche. Damit wurden sowohl der DAX als auch der S&P 500 deutlich outperformt. Wie das genau funktioniert, erklart Chefradakteur Lars Wiler in seiner Zwischenbilanz. Hier klicken
The EMC West subsea and terrestrial data cables project will see Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Cyprus unite to expand the global digital connectivity infrastructure.

The project will see Saudi Arabia become a regional digital hub connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.

center3, owned by stc group, on behalf of the consortium partners of EMC Subsea Cable Company Ltd (EMC Company) and Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), the leader in the manufacturing and installation of submarine optical systems, announced the signing of the Supplier's Contract for the construction of two subsea and terrestrial data cables (EMC West) that will connect Saudi Arabia with Europe. The second phase of the EMC System (EMC Global) that will connect Saudi Arabia with Asia is being finalised and announced soon.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005643/en/

The EMC project enables KSA, Greece, and Cyprus to leverage their geographic position. It delivers a much-needed new data corridor, positioning the three countries at the epicentre of a digital connectivity infrastructure, which will become a cornerstone of the digital transformation era.

The EMC cable is designed, from its inception, to realise KSA's Vision 2030 and Greece 2.0 by transforming the KSA into a "Digital Hub" that connects Asia with Europe and Africa and positioning Greece and Cyprus as "European Union's East Data Gateway".

ASN will begin to construct EMC West, linking Haql (Saudi Arabia) with Genova (Italy) and Marseille (France), via Cyprus and Greece. The two cables consisting of multiple Fiber Pairs will have branches in Cyprus, Crete, and Athens. The EMC system is expected to operate in Q1 2026 (RFS date).

The EMC consortium partners expressed their gratitude and appreciation to all stakeholders. They congratulated their teams and the related Ministries for facilitating the implementation of this ground-breaking and high-profile project.

For more information about center3's data centres, please visit the company's website at www.center3.com or contact the sales team at sales@center3.com.

About center3

center3 is a leading integrated data center data provider in the MENA region, serving hyperscalers, content providers, cloud providers, global international carriers enterprises. The company offers unparalleled services scalability through its integrated platforms strategic international connectivity solutions, enabling its customers to better serve regional customers.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005643/en/

Contacts:

Weber Shandwick

Alaa Rajeh

arajeh@webershandwick.com
DelveInsight's analysts estimate that relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market is poised to show significant growth, mainly attributed to recent drug approvals, increasing incidence, and anticipated launch of novel therapies during the forecast period (2023-2032).

LAS VEGAS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DelveInsight's Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Insights report includes a comprehensive understanding of current treatment practices, relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia emerging drugs, market share of individual therapies, and current and forecasted market size from 2019 to 2032, segmented into 7MM [the United States, the EU-4 (Italy, Spain, France, and Germany), the United Kingdom, and Japan].





Key Takeaways from the Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Report

As per DelveInsight analysis, the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market is expected to grow positively at a significant CAGR during the study period (2019-2032).

In 2020, 19,940 new cases and 11,180 deaths were estimated in the US according to Cancer Stat Facts. Despite advances in therapy, prognosis remains poor, with 28% alive at 5 years after diagnosis.

new cases and deaths were estimated in the US according to Cancer Stat Facts. Despite advances in therapy, prognosis remains poor, with alive at 5 years after diagnosis. Leading relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia companies such as AROG Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Moleculin Biotech, Chordia Therapeutics, Inc., Theradex, CicloMed LLC, Amgen, Meryx, Inc., Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Cellectis S.A., Cullinan Oncology, LLC, Kite, Astellas Pharma Inc, Novartis, Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., PureTech, AB Science, Cleave Therapeutics, Inc., Aptose Biosciences Inc., Kartos Therapeutics, Inc., Janssen Research & Development, LLC, Lava Therapeutics, and others are developing novel relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia drugs that can be available in the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market in the coming years.

and others are developing novel relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia drugs that can be available in the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market in the coming years. Some key therapies for relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia treatment include Crenolanib, Annamycin liposomal, CTX-712, Fosciclopirox + Cytarabine, AMG 553, MRX-2843, Pembrolizumab, MK-0482, UCART123v1.2, CLN-049, KITE-222, ASP7517, VOB560 + MIK665, CYC065, LYT-200, AB8939, CB-5339, CG-806, KRT-232, JNJ-75276617, LAVA-051 , and others.

and others. The emerging relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia therapies are in their clinical trials' mid and late phases and are awaiting a launch to make the pipeline robust.

Discover which therapies are expected to grab the major relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market share @ Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Report

Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Overview

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of hematologic cancer that is distinguished by the clonal growth of myeloid blasts in the peripheral blood, bone marrow, and/or other organs. AML can affect tissues other than bone marrow and blood, such as lymph nodes, the brain, skin, and other organs. The majority of elderly people relapse or become refractory to early therapy. They are referred to as relapse/refractory AML patients. AML is the most frequent kind of acute leukemia in adults, primarily affecting the elderly, with a median age of diagnosis of 67 years. Each patient has a unique set of chromosomal abnormalities. A higher frequency of anomalies is connected with increasing age. AML and its subtypes are diagnosed via blood and bone marrow tests. The presence of a change in the number and appearance of blood cells aids in the R/R AML diagnosis.

Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Epidemiology Segmentation

According to DelveInsight's analysis, R/R acute myeloid leukemia is more prominent in males in comparison to females.

The R/R AML market report proffers epidemiological analysis for the study period 2019-2032 in the 7MM segmented into:

Total R/R AML Incident Cases

R/R AML Gender-specific Cases

R/R AML Age-specific Cases

R/R AML Mutation-specific Cases

Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Market

Most AML patients are treated with two chemotherapy phases: remission induction (also known as induction) and consolidation (postremission therapy). Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the sole curative therapy option for the vast majority of R/R patients. Only patients who are physically fit enough to undertake the surgery are considered for HSCT. However, the majority of patients diagnosed with relapsed/refractory are elderly people with low performance scores, which limits therapy options. However, recent new medicine introductions aimed at R/R AML are attempting to meet this urgent need.

IDHIFA (enasidenib) was licensed by the US FDA in August 2017 to treat adult patients with relapsed or refractory AML who had the genetic mutation IDH2. The medicine is approved for use in conjunction with the RealTime IDH2 Assay, which detects particular mutations in the IDH2 gene in AML patients. IDHIFA is an orphan medication with priority review. The FDA approved TIBSOVO (ivosidenib) tablets in July 2018 for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory AML who carry the genetic mutation IDH1. This is the first medicine in its class (IDH1 inhibitors) to be licensed for use in conjunction with an FDA-approved companion test for detecting particular mutations in the IDH1 gene in AML patients. This drug has received fast-track and orphan classification for AML.

Moreover, the FDA approved XOSPATA (gilteritinib) tablets in November 2018 to treat adult patients with relapsed or refractory AML who have an FLT3 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. The FDA also approved an expanded indication for a companion diagnostic, allowing it to be used in conjunction with XOSPATA. Invivoscribe Technologies, Inc.'s LeukoStrat CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay is used to detect the FLT3 mutation in AML patients.

To know more about relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia treatment, visit @ Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Drugs

Key Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Therapies and Companies

Crenolanib: AROG Pharmaceuticals/Pfizer

Annamycin liposomal: Moleculin Biotech

CTX-712: Chordia Therapeutics, Inc./Theradex

Fosciclopirox + Cytarabine: CicloMed LLC

AMG 553: Amgen

MRX-2843: Meryx, Inc.

Pembrolizumab: Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC

MK-0482: Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC

UCART123v1.2: Cellectis S.A.

CLN-049: Cullinan Oncology, LLC

KITE-222: Kite

ASP7517: Astellas Pharma Inc

VOB560 + MIK665: Novartis

CYC065: Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

LYT-200: PureTech

AB8939: AB Science

CB-5339: Cleave Therapeutics, Inc.

CG-806: Aptose Biosciences Inc.

KRT-232: Kartos Therapeutics, Inc.

JNJ-75276617: Janssen Research & Development, LLC

LAVA-051: Lava Therapeutics

Learn more about the FDA-approved drugs for R/R AML @ Drugs for R/R AML Treatment

Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Dynamics

The dynamics of the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market are expected to change in the next years. The expected introduction of emerging therapies with improved efficacy, more awareness initiatives programs, and a further improvement in the diagnosis rate are likely to boost the growth of the R/R AML market in the 7MM. Moreover, the pipeline for R/R AML is quite robust; many prospective therapies are being researched for relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia treatment, and it is safe to expect that the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia treatment space will have a substantial impact on the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market throughout the forecast period.

However, several factors are impeding the growth of the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market. Despite the new therapies, there are a number of constraints connected with the present medication environment. The older population's overall survival rate remains relatively low. The presence of numerous chromosomal and genetic abnormalities makes treating R/R AML a difficult proposition, as the disease's heterogeneity renders targeted therapies vulnerable. Many older people are unable to sustain the severe side effects of the aggressive chemotherapy therapies used to treat AML. These concerns necessitate the development of new treatments.

Moreover, the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market growth may be offset by failures and discontinuation of emerging therapies, unaffordable pricing, market access and reimbursement issues, and a shortage of healthcare specialists. In addition, the undiagnosed, unreported cases and the unawareness about the disease may also impact the relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia market growth.

Report Metrics Details Study Period 2019-2032 Coverage 7MM [The United States, the EU-4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), the United Kingdom, and Japan] Base Year 2019 Key Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Companies AROG Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Moleculin Biotech, Chordia Therapeutics, Inc., Theradex, CicloMed LLC, Amgen, Meryx, Inc., Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Cellectis S.A., Cullinan Oncology, LLC, Kite, Astellas Pharma Inc, Novartis, Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., PureTech, AB Science, Cleave Therapeutics, Inc., Aptose Biosciences Inc., Kartos Therapeutics, Inc., Janssen Research & Development, LLC, Lava Therapeutics, and others Key Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid LeukemiaTherapies Crenolanib, Annamycin liposomal, CTX-712, Fosciclopirox + Cytarabine, AMG 553, MRX-2843, Pembrolizumab, MK-0482, UCART123v1.2, CLN-049, KITE-222, ASP7517, VOB560 + MIK665, CYC065, LYT-200, AB8939, CB-5339, CG-806, KRT-232, JNJ-75276617, LAVA-051, and others

Scope of the Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Report

Therapeutic Assessment: Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia current marketed and emerging therapies

Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia current marketed and emerging therapies Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Dynamics: Attribute Analysis of Emerging Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Drugs

Attribute Analysis of Emerging Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Drugs Competitive Intelligence Analysis: SWOT analysis and Market entry strategies

SWOT analysis and Market entry strategies Unmet Needs, KOL's views, Analyst's views, Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Access and Reimbursement

Discover more about relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia drugs in development @ Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Clinical Trials

Table of Contents

1. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Key Insights 2. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Report Introduction 3. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Overview at a Glance 4. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Executive Summary 5. Disease Background and Overview 6. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment and Management 7. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Epidemiology and Patient Population 8. Patient Journey 9. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Marketed Drugs 10. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Emerging Drugs 11. Seven Major Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Analysis 12. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Outlook 13. Potential of Current and Emerging Therapies 14. KOL Views 15. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Drivers 16. Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia Market Barriers 17. Unmet Needs 18. SWOT Analysis 19. Appendix 20. DelveInsight Capabilities 21. Disclaimer 22. About DelveInsight

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A map showing the location of Babanki (red pin) in Cameroon.

The government says insurgents abducted the women for protesting against violence and illegal taxes in the restive anglophone region of the country.

Separatist rebels kidnapped 30 women in northwestern Cameroon, the government said on Tuesday.

According to officials, the abductions came over protests against illegal taxes imposed on them by the insurgents.

What do we know about the women who were taken?

The women were taken from Babanki, a village near the border with Nigeria, a top official in the area said.

"We have reliable information that 10 of the women, who are basically

farmers and merchants, were tortured with guns and machetes," Simon Emil Mooh said.

Mooh said the separatists were collecting monthly payments from children, women and men. They were imposing taxes on couples before they got married, and forcing families to pay $1,000 to bury their relatives.

Separatist leader Capo Daniel told The Associated Press that the women were abducted in the middle of May. He said they were being punished for allowing themselves to be manipulated by Cameroon's government.

Cameroon's restive anglophone region

Cameroon has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017.

The dissidents have the stated goal of separating from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority and creating an independent, English-speaking state.

The conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

In its most recent report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the government for its clampdown on the separatists, as well as rights abuses committed by the rebels.

(AFP, AP)
HERSHEY, PA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) shared its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, outlining progress toward its key sustainability priorities and goals. Our Shared Goodness Promise, Hershey's global sustainability strategy, guides how the company incorporates responsible and sustainable practices into every aspect of its business to drive long-term business resilience and growth. In 2022, Hershey reaffirmed its most material issues through its inaugural double materiality assessment and an update to the company's most salient human rights issues. The company remains focused on improving cocoa farming communities, ensuring human rights for people across its value chain, reducing its impact on the planet and creating a stronger and more resilient workforce.

On its journey to become a Leading Snacking Powerhouse, Hershey is embedding responsible and sustainable practices into its business transformation strategy to deliver its iconic brands for consumers to enjoy.

"As we continue to act on the most important areas of focus for our business, including responsible sourcing, reducing our carbon footprint, and promoting inclusivity, we are continually reminded that our progress and achievements are made possible by our employees, farmers, partners and other stakeholders who share our commitment to creating a more sustainable and equitable future," said Michele Buck, CEO, The Hershey Company. "We are grateful for their input and support and look forward to continuing this journey together."

Supporting Cocoa Communities and Farmer Livelihoods

By 2030, Hershey's Cocoa For Good strategy seeks to invest $500 million to positively impact cocoa farming communities. Hershey recently launched a new Income Accelerator in Cote d'Ivoire, a five-year program based on proven poverty reduction strategies that provides cash transfers and investment in Village Savings and Loan Associations to supplement farmer income and combat poverty. Additional cocoa highlights from 2022 include:

Increasing sourcing visibility : In 2022, Hershey achieved 77% cocoa sourcing visibility by volume in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and is on track to reach 100% sourcing visibility by 2025. As part of Hershey's commitment to prevent and eliminate child labor, participating farms are covered by Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS). In 2022, 72% of farmers in Cote d Ivoire and Ghana were covered by CLMRS, on track to reach 100% by 2025.

: In 2022, Hershey achieved 77% cocoa sourcing visibility by volume in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and is on track to reach 100% sourcing visibility by 2025. As part of Hershey's commitment to prevent and eliminate child labor, participating farms are covered by Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS). In 2022, 72% of farmers in Cote d Ivoire and Ghana were covered by CLMRS, on track to reach 100% by 2025. Supporting farmer development: Hershey's commitment to improving farmer livelihoods is grounded in empowering and investing in cocoa communities to foster a more equitable and sustainable cocoa supply chain. This includes supporting initiatives that provide financial literacy and agricultural training to farmers. Additionally, farmers in Ghana can contribute to emissions reductions through programs like the World Bank Carbon Fund and the Nsuoekyir Apimanim's Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) and earn income as a result.

Acting on Climate Change

Across its global operations and with the dedication of employees - including its passionate group of Energy Champions - the company is reducing its environmental impact with a goal to achieve a 50% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 against a 2018 baseline. In 2022, the company's Scope 1 and 2 emissions data received limited assurance by EY. Additional environment highlights from 2022 include:

Using real-time data to monitor utility usage: Hershey's $3 million investment in reporting systems provides real-time utility usage data for electricity, natural gas and water at each of its facilities globally, aiming to reduce energy intensity by approximately 10% over the next five years. These systems were installed in U.S. facilities in 2022, with the remainder to be installed in international facilities during 2023.

Hershey's $3 million investment in reporting systems provides real-time utility usage data for electricity, natural gas and water at each of its facilities globally, aiming to reduce energy intensity by approximately 10% over the next five years. These systems were installed in U.S. facilities in 2022, with the remainder to be installed in international facilities during 2023. Leveraging biofuel to reduce carbon intensity: Hershey is taking action to limit and, when possible, remove carbon-intensive fuels from its facilities. Most recently, Hershey's India plant transitioned from using coal to rice husks as biofuel to power production.

Hershey is taking action to limit and, when possible, remove carbon-intensive fuels from its facilities. Most recently, Hershey's India plant transitioned from using coal to rice husks as biofuel to power production. Improving energy and water conservation: Enabled by Hershey's participation in the U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry and the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings, Better Plants program, the company has improved the energy intensity of its manufacturing sites by 6.1% compared to a 2018 baseline. With support from Hershey's Energy and Water Management Steering Committee, the company improved global water intensity by 6% in 2022 with a 14% improvement in water intensity at international facilities (compared to 2021). The company also invested nearly $1.5 million in high-efficiency equipment to reduce well water usage at our company headquarters in Hershey, PA.

Investing in a Resilient Supply Chain and Workforce

Hershey employees help the company realize its purpose to Make More Moments of Goodness each and every day. Guided by The Pathways Project - Hershey's five-year diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) framework - the company continues to develop and invest in a pipeline that provides opportunities for all. Most recently, Hershey was named to DiversityInc's 2023 'Top Companies for Diversity' list - underscoring the company's ongoing work to create an inclusive environment that fosters innovation and growth. Additional highlights from 2022 include:

Launching 'Say Hola' : A strategic initiative at the company's Hazleton, Pennsylvania plant, 'Say Hola' seamlessly integrated both Spanish and English-speaking employees under one roof, equipped with bilingual trainings, managers and workplace materials. The program improved hiring and retention and reduced recruitment costs. Today, more than 90% of applicants have the desired manufacturing experience, compared to 50% before the program launch.

: A strategic initiative at the company's Hazleton, Pennsylvania plant, seamlessly integrated both Spanish and English-speaking employees under one roof, equipped with bilingual trainings, managers and workplace materials. The program improved hiring and retention and reduced recruitment costs. Today, more than 90% of applicants have the desired manufacturing experience, compared to 50% before the program launch. Supporting and hiring veterans: As part of Hershey's commitment to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, veterans are an important part of the company's workforce, bringing specialized perspectives, experiences and skill sets to the business. In 2023, the company will expand its partnership with three military hiring organizations and aims to increase veteran hiring by 4%. Under the guidance of its Veteran Business Resource Group (employee resource group), Hershey joined the National Veterans Business Development Council and donated to Veterans Outreach of PA, a nonprofit that supports homeless veterans.

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is an industry-leading snacks company known for making more moments of goodness through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring commitment to doing the right thing for its people, planet and communities. Hershey has nearly 20,000 employees in the U.S. and around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, high-quality products. The company has more than 100 brand names in approximately 80 countries worldwide that drive more than $10.4 billion in annual revenues, including Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers, and fast-growing salty snacks including SkinnyPop, Pirate's Booty and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels.

For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. The candy and snack maker's founder, Milton Hershey, created Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on helping children succeed through equitable access to education.





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from The Hershey Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: The Hershey Company

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THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT AN OFFER OF SECURITIES FOR SALE IN ANY JURISDICTION, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES (INCLUDING ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA), CANADA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN. NEITHER THIS ANNOUNCEMENT NOR ANYTHING CONTAINED HEREIN SHALL FORM THE BASIS OF, OR BE RELIED UPON IN CONNECTION WITH, ANY OFFER OR COMMITMENT WHATSOEVER IN ANY JURISDICTION

KAISERAUGST, Switzerland and HEERLEN, Netherlands, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DSM-Firmenich AG (the "Company" or DSM-Firmenich) announces the launch of the sale of up to 6,696,477 existing DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares, representing approximately 2.5% of DSM-Firmenich's share capital, through an accelerated bookbuild offering, which will start immediately following the publication of this announcement (the "Share Placement").





Background to the Share Placement

As announced by DSM and Firmenich on November 22, 2022, following the announcement of their merger of equals on May 31, 2022, the Company launched a voluntary public exchange offer for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in DSM's share capital (the "DSM Ordinary Shares") (the "Exchange Offer"). Final results of the Exchange Offer were announced on May 1, 2023, with 96.1% of the DSM Ordinary Shares having been tendered in the Exchange Offer, and the merger of equals successfully completed on May 8, 2023.

As a result, and as announced on May 1, 2023, the Company has commenced the buy-out procedure in accordance with Dutch law in order to acquire the DSM Ordinary shares that have not been tendered in the Exchange Offer (the "Buy-Out"), and will terminate the listing and trading of the DSM Ordinary Shares on Euronext Amsterdam, effective from May 31, 2023. Under the envisaged Buy-Out, any remaining holders of DSM Ordinary Shares (other than the Company) will receive a cash consideration.

To fund the cash consideration payable by the Company in relation to the Buy-Out, DSM, Firmenich and the Company have agreed to sell a certain number of DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares prior to the end of 2023. This sale will be done through the Share Placement.

The Share Placement

The bookbuilding procedure for up to 6,696,477 DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares (the "Placement Shares") will commence with immediate effect following the publication of this announcement.

The Share Placement will be executed by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering. The Share Placement is being conducted by way of (i) a placement to professional clients in Switzerland or in any other circumstances relying on an exemption to publish a prospectus under the Swiss Financial Services Act of 15 June 2018, (ii) private placements in certain jurisdictions outside of Switzerland and the United States, in accordance with applicable securities laws and on the basis of various exemptions, including those provided by Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market (the "Prospectus Regulation") and Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (as amended and supplemented from time to time, the "UK Prospectus Regulation") and (iii) private placements within the United States only to qualified institutional buyers ("QIBs") as defined in, and in reliance upon, the exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") provided by Rule 144A under the Securities Act.

No prospectus is required in respect of the Share Placement, therefore no prospectus will be published in connection with the Share Placement.

The final offer price and the final number of Placement Shares to be offered will be determined by the Company in consultation with the Joint Global Coordinators (as defined below), taking into account amongst others the bookbuilding dynamics of the Share Placement.

Details of the offer price and the final number of Placement Shares will be announced as soon as practicable after the books are closed, in a subsequent press release, which is expected to be published before markets open on Euronext Amsterdam on May 25, 2023, subject to acceleration or extension. The timing of the closing of the books, pricing and allocations are at the absolute discretion of the Company and the Joint Global Coordinators.

The Placement Shares are ordinary shares that represent DSM-Firmenich's share capital, in the same form as the existing DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares, fully paid up, with voting rights and with a nominal value of EUR 0.01 each. They confer the same rights as the existing DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares.

Lock-up

In relation to the Share Placement, the Company is subject to a market customary lock-up period of 90 calendar days (subject to customary exceptions and waivers by the Joint Global Coordinators) after the closing date of the Share Placement.

Each holder of Firmenich ordinary shares (the "Firmenich Shareholders") prior to the date of completion of the Firmenich contribution, which was on May 8, 2023 (the "Contribution Completion Date"), has committed not to sell or acquire any DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares or related instruments for a period of six months following the Contribution Completion Date. In addition, each Firmenich Shareholder has committed, for a period of five years following the Contribution Completion Date, to only sell down DSM-Firmenich ordinary shares (i) via an on exchange sell down which does not exceed 20% of the three-month average daily trading volume on Euronext Amsterdam or (ii) if it has notified a central contact person, designated by the Firmenich Shareholders in advance of a sell down, and has hired a reputable investment bank for the contemplated sell down. Each Firmenich Shareholder has committed, for a period of five years following the Contribution Completion Date, to not knowingly sell, in aggregate, any stake of 3% or more of the Company's total outstanding share capital to identified strategic parties.

Joint Global Coordinators

Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (in cooperation with ODDO BHF SCA), and J.P. Morgan Securities plc are acting as joint global coordinators in connection with the Share Placement (the "Joint Global Coordinators").

For more information, please contact:

Media: Investors: media@dsm-firmenich.com investors@dsm-firmenich.com

About DSM-Firmenich

As innovators in nutrition, health, and beauty, DSM-Firmenich reinvents, manufactures, and combines vital nutrients, flavors, and fragrances for the world's growing population to thrive. With our comprehensive range of solutions, with natural and renewable ingredients and renowned science and technology capabilities, we work to create what is essential for life, desirable for consumers, and more sustainable for the planet. DSM-Firmenich is a Swiss-Dutch company, listed on the Euronext Amsterdam, with operations in almost 60 countries and revenues of more than 12 billion. With a diverse, worldwide team of nearly 30,000 employees, we bring progress to life every day, everywhere, for billions of people. For further information, please see http://www.dsm-firmenich.com/

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation 596/2014).

Important Information

"These written materials, and any copy thereof, may not be distributed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or to persons resident in the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Canada, Australia, Japan, the Republic of South Africa or any other jurisdiction where such distribution could constitute a breach of the applicable laws of such jurisdiction.

These written materials are for information purposes only and are not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or subscribe for, or the announcement of a forthcoming offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for, or the announcement of a forthcoming solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for, existing or new shares of the Company in the European Economic Area (the "EEA") (except in the context of a private placement with Qualified Investors, as defined below), the United States, Australia (except in the context of a private placement to sophisticated or professional investors who are wholesale clients pursuant to Australian laws), Canada (except in the context of a private placement with investors qualifying as "accredited investors" and "permitted clients", as defined below), Japan, the Republic of South Africa (except in the context of a private placement to institutional investors pursuant to South African laws), Switzerland (except in the context of a private placement with Professional Clients, as defined below) or the United Kingdom (except in the context of a private placement with Relevant Persons, as defined below). No offer to sell or subscribe for shares, or announcement of a forthcoming offer to sell or subscribe for shares, will be made in the EEA (except in the context of a private placement with Qualified Investors, as defined below), the United States, Australia (except in the context of a private placement to sophisticated or professional investors who are wholesale clients pursuant to Australian laws), Canada (except in the context of a private placement with investors qualifying as "accredited investors" and "permitted clients", as defined below), Japan, the Republic of South Africa (except in the context of a private placement to institutional investors pursuant to South African laws), Switzerland (except in the context of a private placement with Professional Clients, as defined below), the United Kingdom (except in the context of a private placement with Relevant Persons, as defined below) or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction, and the distribution of this communication in such jurisdictions may be similarly restricted. Persons into whose possession this communication comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the security laws of any such jurisdiction.

This announcement contains statements which are "forward-looking statements" or could be considered as such. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words 'believe', 'estimate', 'anticipate', 'expect', 'intend', 'may', 'will', 'plan', 'continue', 'ongoing', 'possible', 'predict', 'plans', 'target', 'seek', 'would' or 'should', and contain statements made by the Company regarding the intended results of its strategy. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are warned that none of these forward-looking statements offers any guarantee of future performance. The company's actual results may differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements. The Company makes no undertaking whatsoever to publish updates or adjustments to these forward-looking statements, unless required to do so by law.

This communication does not constitute or form part of an offer of securities in the United States, or a solicitation to purchase securities in the United States. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"), or under the securities law of any state or jurisdiction in the United States and may not be offered, sold, resold, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly within the United States except pursuant to an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or jurisdiction of the United States. The issuer of the securities has not registered, and does not intend to register, any portion of the transaction in the United States. There will be no public offer of securities in the United States.

In relation to each Member State of the EEA (each a "Relevant Member State") an offer of securities to which this communication relates is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Relevant Member State within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market (the "Prospectus Regulation") in accordance with the prospectus exemption provided for in article 1(4)(a)and article 1(5)(a) of the Prospectus Regulation ("Qualified Investors").

In the United Kingdom, this announcement is only addressed to and directed at, and any investment or investment activity to which this announcement relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, "qualified investors", as defined in article 2 (e) of the Prospectus Regulation as amended and transposed into the laws of the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (the "UK Prospectus Regulation"), who are also (i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within the definition of "investment professionals" in article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order"), (ii) "high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc." in the sense of article 49(2) (a) to (d) of the Order, or (iii) persons to whom such information may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). Persons who are not Relevant Persons should not take any action on the basis of this announcement and should not act or rely on it.

In Canada, this announcement is only addressed to and directed at investors qualifying as (i) "accredited investors" (as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario)) and (ii) "permitted clients" (as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations).

In Switzerland, an offer of securities to which this communication relates is only addressed to and is only directed at "professional clients" within the meaning of Article 4 para. 3 of the Swiss Financial Services Act ("Finanzdienstleistungsgesetz") of 15 June 2018 ("FINSA") (such persons being referred to as "Professional Clients"). The offer is therefore exempted from the obligation to prepare and publish a prospectus under FINSA and the securities will not be admitted to trading on any Swiss trading platform. This communication does not constitute a prospectus in accordance with FINSA and the Company will not prepare such prospectus in light of the offer of securities are referred to herein.

Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE ("GSBE"), which is authorised and supervised by the European Central Bank and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Die Bundesanstalt fur Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) in Germany, is acting as a Joint Global Coordinator for the Company and no-one else in connection with the Share Placement. Neither GSBE nor its affiliates, nor their respective partners, directors, officers, employees or agents are responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of GSBE or for providing advice in connection with the Share Placement or for any other matters referred to herein."

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Partners Group / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Partners Group announces amendments to the composition of its Executive Team



24-May-2023 / 17:45 CET/CEST

Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Baar-Zug, Switzerland; 24 May 2023 | Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 Listing Rules (LR)

Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, today announces two rotations out of its Executive Team, effective as of 30 June.

Hans Ploos van Amstel will transition from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role into an Advisory Partner function. Mr. Ploos van Amstel joined Partners Group in 2020 with the mandate to modernize the firm's finance function after a period of significant growth. Having successfully achieved this, the search for his successor is at an advanced stage. Until the new appointment is made, Manuel Ottinger, Head of Group Finance, and Philip Sauer, Head of Corporate Development, will share the CFO responsibilities, reporting directly to Partners Group's CEO, David Layton. In his Advisory Partner role, Mr. Ploos van Amstel will provide consultancy services to Partners Group and select portfolio companies.

Marlis Morin, currently Head of Client Services, will transition out of the Executive Team and the day-to-day management of Client Services, but will remain a Partner of the firm. Ms. Morin has spent a total of 20 years to-date with Partners Group in several leadership roles. Since 2014, she has been responsible for a period of growth and successful transformation for Client Services. Ms. Morin also launched Partners Group's Manila office in 2016, creating a services and operations hub to complement its Singapore office. Going forward, she will scale back her role, while maintaining the responsibility for developing strategic relationships with key business partners to the firm's services functions.

David Layton, CEO, comments: "Marlis and Hans have been instrumental in shaping key functions at Partners Group through their substantial contributions to their areas of focus and the Executive Team. I am delighted that the firm will continue to benefit from their experience and expertise in their new roles."

About Partners Group

Partners Group is a leading global private markets firm. Since 1996, the firm has invested over USD 195 billion in private equity, private real estate, private debt and private infrastructure on behalf of its clients globally. Partners Group seeks to generate superior returns through capitalizing on thematic growth trends and transforming attractive businesses and assets into market leaders. The firm is a committed, responsible investor and aims to create sustainable returns with lasting, positive impact for all its stakeholders. With over USD 135 billion in assets under management as of 31 December 2022, Partners Group provides an innovative range of bespoke client solutions to institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and private individuals globally. The firm employs more than 1,800 diverse professionals across 20 offices worldwide and has regional headquarters in Baar-Zug, Switzerland; Denver, USA; and Singapore. It has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2006 (symbol: PGHN). For more information, please visit www.partnersgroup.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter .

Shareholder relations contact

Philip Sauer

Phone: +41 41 784 66 60

Email: philip.sauer@partnersgroup.com
DERBY, VT / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Community Bancorp. held its 2023 Annual Shareholders meeting through a virtual platform on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The webcast replay can be accessed through the company's website communitybancorpvt.com, and will be available until May 16, 2024.

A quorum of shareholders cast ballots and voted affirmatively on two proposals: re-electing Thomas E. Adams, Jacques R. Couture, Emma L. Marvin and James G. Wheeler, Jr. to three-year terms expiring in 2026, and ratifying BerryDunn as the Company's external auditors for 2023.

During the business portion of the meeting, President and CEO Kathy Austin shared that the bank passed the $1.0 billion threshold in 2021, initially reflecting pandemic relief programs, and more recently reflecting solid organic growth in the bank's loan portfolio and deposit base. The bank reported $1.03 billion in consolidated assets as of March 31, 2023, up 2% year-over-year.

Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer Christopher Caldwell discussed continued lending growth and success stories created by the relationships CNB's experienced lending team has built with customers. He noted that CNB lenders bring deep knowledge of their markets and flexible, responsive and creative approaches to seize opportunities.

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating & Innovation Officer Leslie Delhaie covered three areas of strategic transformation initiatives for the bank, including enhancing the customer experience, driving efficiencies and improving customer retention.

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Louise Bonvechio provided a deeper review of the bank's strong recent financial results, including overall trends and metrics.

CEO Austin concluded the meeting by commenting, "First quarter 2023 results demonstrate the bank is performing well, and we remain well-positioned to sustain profitable growth while serving our communities. We appreciate the privilege it is to be the current stewards of this company and bank."

For more information about Community National Bank visit communitynationalbank.com.

To learn more about Community Bancorp. visit communitybancorpvt.com.

For more information, contact:

Investor Relations

ir@communitynationalbank.com

SOURCE: Community Bancorp. Inc Vermont

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/757032/Community-Bancorp-Re-Elects-Directors-and-Discusses-Strong-2022-and-First-Quarter-2023-Results-at-Virtual-Annual-Shareholders-Meeting
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / The figurehead of knowledge sharing: that's the essence of open-source. For technology in particular, that's much the same, especially for the recent CodeBEAM Stockholm conference event. It brought a community of Nordic developers together into the home of Erlang, inspired by what many have been doing with BEAM languages in the areas of IoT, fintech, ML, blockchain, security and so much more.

One of the highlights was EMQ's very own senior engineer Dmitrii Fedoseev, exploring the potential of a well-known open-source database management system called Mnesia.

An embedded database localizing information and therefore offering substantial read throughput, Mnesia has been a driving force for EMQX-powered horizontal scalability in low-latency MQTT message brokering.

EMQX is leveraging Mnesia's capabilities to maintain blazing IoT message speed locally and remotely. The result is Mria, an open-source extension to Mnesia that adds eventual consistency to the cluster.

Dmitrii was so proud to share with his community the findings of what could easily be the starting point for a new model of advanced coding and testing techniques. He also went into detail on beneficial overviews of lock-free programming in Erlang and model checking with Concuerror.

More importantly - the fellowship, togetherness, enthusiasm, that fire of collaboration we often don't get to see in the developer community was very much front and center, as EMQX CTO Zaiming Shi stated:

"The EMQX project itself is an open-source project. Very much engaged in the programming community."

A true understatement coming from Zaiming, no doubt.

It was, simply put: a quiet, introspective, and truly intellectual celebration of what the future may hold.

Left to right: EMQ CTO Zaiming Shi, EMQ senior engineer Kjell Winblad, EMQ principal engineer Dmitrii Fedoseev, engineering manager Ivan Dyachkov

About EMQ

EMQ is the world's leading software provider of open-source IoT data infrastructure. Its core product EMQX, the world's most scalable and reliable open-source MQTT messaging platform, supports 100M concurrent IoT device connections per cluster while maintaining 1M message per second throughput and sub-millisecond latency. It boasts more than 20K+ enterprise users, connecting 100M+ IoT devices, and is trusted by over 400 customers in mission-critical IoT scenarios, including well-known brands like HPE, VMware, Verifone, SAIC Volkswagen and Ericsson.

EMQ's global R&D center is located in Stockholm, Sweden. It has 10+ offices throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

305 Vineyard Town Center, Morgan Hill, CA, USA 95037

www.emqx.com | media@emqx.io

SOURCE: EMQ Technologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756603/EMQX-Reveals-The-Potential-With-Mnesia-at-The-Live-CodeBEAM-Conference-in-Stockholm-Sweden-2023
A total of 136 patients were recruited in the Phase 2 trial sponsored and conducted by the French GERCOR Oncology Clinician Group, with the PRODIGE Intergroup and the supply of Tedopi by OSE Immunotherapeutics.

A futility analysis will be performed in Q3 2023, and the Phase 2 final results will be available Q3 2024.

Pancreatic cancer is an indication with significant unmet medical need and represents an important opportunity for Tedopi's clinical development.

Regulatory News:

OSE Immunotherapeutics SA (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE) today announced completion of patient enrollment in the Phase 2 clinical trial TEDOPaM sponsored and conducted by the GERCOR Group and evaluating Tedopi in advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

This randomized, non-comparative Phase 2 trial is designed to evaluate Tedopi plus FOLFIRI* chemotherapy versus FOLFIRI as maintenance treatment in patients (HLA-A2 genotype) with advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) with no progression after 8 cycles of FOLFIRINOX induction chemotherapy**. The primary endpoint of the trial is the one-year overall survival (OS) rate (Fleming- futility analysis; null hypothesis =25%; alternative hypothesis 50%), and the key secondary endpoint is the progression-free survival [TEDOPaM GERCOR D17-01 PRODIGE 63 study: Maintenance With OSE2101 Plus FOLFIRI, or FOLFIRI After FOLFIRINOX-based Induction Therapy in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma NCT03806309

Prof. Cindy Neuzillet, MD PhD (Curie cancer research Institute, Paris), Principal Investigator of the TEDOPaM study, comments: "Completing enrollment of this Phase 2 trial represents a major milestone in evaluating an innovative activating immunotherapy-based maintenance strategy for patients with pancreatic cancer. Tumor-associated antigens selected for Tedopi are found overexpressed in pancreatic tumor, thus giving a rationale for testing this cancer vaccine in a very hard to treat patient population. We now look forward to advancing on the patients' follow-up period and to reporting the research main findings, including survival and predictive biomarkers. We are very grateful to the patients involved and their families, and to the clinical investigators and centers for their trust and participation in this important development program."

Nicolas Poirier, Chief Executive Officer of OSE Immunotherapeutics, concludes: "We are very pleased with the progress of the TEDOPaM clinical study and are now expecting the final results in Q3 next year as additional source of clinical value of Tedopi beyond non-small lung cancer, further to the first encouraging interim results shared at the 2022 ASCO meeting. We warmly thank the GERCOR academic group, sponsor of the trial, and the PRODIGE Intergroup, for this important milestone in Tedopi's development program in pancreatic cancer. This step brings us closer to delivering potential evidence to assess the use of Tedopi as a potentially maintenance treatment in an aggressive disease with a generally poor prognosis, demanding for novel therapeutic approaches and representing significant unmet medical need."

The interim results from the TEDOPaM Phase 2 trial presented at the 2022 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) meeting referred to the first 29 randomized HLA-A2 positive patients with no progression after 8 cycles of FOLFIRINOX: 9 patients included in standard arm A (FOLFIRI) with a 1-year OS rate of 44% and one partial response (11%); 10 patients in experimental arm B (Tedopi monotherapy) with a similar 1-year OS rate of 40% and one partial response (10%); and 10 patients in experimental arm C (nivolumab Tedopi) with a 1-year OS rate of 30% and no partial response.

Tedopi as maintenance monotherapy showed a favorable safety profile and encouraging time to strategy failure warranting further evaluation. Nivolumab Tedopi was associated with poorer outcomes leading to the closing of this arm. Following an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) recommendation, the study continued with an amended protocol comparing a maintenance treatment Tedopi in combination with FOLFIRI versus FOLFIRI chemotherapy after treatment with FOLFIRINOX. A total of 107 patients were enrolled in this second part.

* FOLFIRI: A combination chemotherapy with folinic acid, fluorouracil and irinotecan

**FOLFIRINOX: A combination chemotherapy with folinic acid, fluorouracil, irinotecan and oxaliplatin

PDAC is the most common type of pancreatic cancer with approximately 60,000 patients diagnosed in the U.S. each year and nearly 500,000 new cases per year globally1,2. Due to lack of initial symptoms at early stage and high invasive potential, PDAC diagnosis is made at an advanced stage in 80% of cases, when patients already have metastases (50%) or locoregional extension (30%) precluding surgical treatment3, 4, 5.Advanced PDAC remains a challenging, non-curable disease6,7. Currently, fewer than half of patients diagnosed with metastatic PDAC and treated with FOLFIRINOX8 survive longer than one year and overall, pancreatic cancer has the lowest 5-year OS rate of all cancer types globally and in the U.S, not exceeding 10%1,2. The global pancreatic cancer treatment market size was estimated at USD 2.527 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 6.859 billion by 20309

1. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/pancreas.html

2. https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/pancreatic-cancer/statistics

3. Ryan DP, Hong TS, Bardeesy N. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The New England journal of medicine. 2014;371(22):2140-2141.

4. Neuzillet C, Tijeras-Raballand A, Bourget P, et al. State of the art and future directions of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma therapy. Pharmacol Ther. 2015;155:80-104.

5.Pancreatic cancer, Mizrahi et al., Lancet 2020

6. Rhim AD, Mirek ET, Aiello NM, et al. EMT and dissemination precede pancreatic tumor formation. Cell. 2012;148(1-2):349-361.

7. Pancreatic cancer: French clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up (SNFGE, FFCD, GERCOR, UNICANCER, SFCD, SFED, SFRO, ACHBT, AFC)

8. FOLFIRINOX versus gemcitabine for metastatic pancreatic cancer, CONROY T. et al., N Engl J Med, 2011

9. Businesswire, January 27, 2023

ABOUT OSE Immunotherapeutics

OSE Immunotherapeutics is a biotech company dedicated to developing first-in-class assets in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation.

The Company's current well-balanced first-in-class clinical pipeline includes:

Tedopi (immunotherapy activating tumor specific T-cells, off-the-shelf, neoepitope-based): this cancer vaccine is the Company's most advanced product; positive results from the Phase 3 trial (Atalante 1) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients in secondary resistance after checkpoint inhibitor failure. Other Phase 2 trials, sponsored by clinical oncology groups, of Tedopi in combination are ongoing in solid tumors.

(immunotherapy activating tumor specific T-cells, off-the-shelf, neoepitope-based): this cancer vaccine is the Company's most advanced product; positive results from the Phase 3 trial (Atalante 1) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients in secondary resistance after checkpoint inhibitor failure. Other Phase 2 trials, sponsored by clinical oncology groups, of Tedopi in combination are ongoing in solid tumors. OSE-279 (anti-PD1): ongoing Phase 1/2 in solid tumors or lymphomas (first patient included). OSE-279 is the backbone therapy of the BiCKI platform.

OSE-127 lusvertikimab (humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of IL-7 receptor); ongoing Phase 2 in Ulcerative Colitis (sponsor OSE Immunotherapeutics); ongoing preclinical research in leukemia (OSE Immunotherapeutics).

(humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of IL-7 receptor); ongoing Phase 2 in Ulcerative Colitis (sponsor OSE Immunotherapeutics); ongoing preclinical research in leukemia (OSE Immunotherapeutics). FR-104/VEL-101 (anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody): developed in partnership with Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in transplantation; ongoing Phase 1/2 in renal transplant (sponsor Nantes University Hospital); Phase 1 ongoing in the US (sponsor Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.).

OSE-172/BI 765063 (anti-SIRPa monoclonal antibody on CD47/SIRPa pathway) developed in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim in advanced solid tumors; positive Phase 1 dose escalation results in monotherapy and in combination, in particular with anti-PD-1 antibody ezabenlimab; international Phase 1b ongoing clinical trial in combination with ezabenlimab alone or with other drugs in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

OSE Immunotherapeutics expects to generate further significant value from its two proprietary drug discovery platforms, which are central to its ambitious goal to deliver next-generation first-in-class immunotherapeutics:

BiCKI platform focused on immuno-oncology (IO) is a bispecific fusion protein platform built on the key backbone component of anti-PD1 combined with a new immunotherapy target to increase anti-tumor efficacy. BiCKI-IL-7 is the most advanced BiCKI candidate targeting anti-PD1xIL-7.

focused on immuno-oncology (IO) is a bispecific fusion protein platform built on the key backbone component of anti-PD1 combined with a new immunotherapy target to increase anti-tumor efficacy. BiCKI-IL-7 is the most advanced BiCKI candidate targeting anti-PD1xIL-7. Myeloid platform focused on optimizing the therapeutic potential of myeloid cells in IO and immuno-inflammation (I&I). OSE-230 (ChemR23 agonist mAb) is the most advanced candidate generated by the platform, with the potential to resolve chronic inflammation by driving affected tissues to tissue integrity.

Additional information about OSE Immunotherapeutics assets is available on the Company's website: www.ose-immuno.com

Click and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE Immunotherapeutics. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE Immunotherapeutics' management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate.

These forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "target", "plan", or "estimate", their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import. Although the OSE Immunotherapeutics management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE Immunotherapeutics' shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE Immunotherapeutics. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE Immunotherapeutics with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE Immunotherapeutics Universal Registration Document filed with the AMF on May 2, 2023, including the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2022, available on the OSE Immunotherapeutics' website. Other than as required by applicable law, OSE Immunotherapeutics issues this press release at the date hereof and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information or statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005678/en/

Contacts:

OSE Immunotherapeutics

Sylvie Detry

sylvie.detry@ose-immuno.com

+33 1 53 198 757

Investor Relations

Thomas Guillot

thomas.guillot@ose-immuno.com

+33 6 07 380 431

French Media: FP2COM

Florence Portejoie

fportejoie@fp2com.fr

+33 6 07 768 283
24 May, 2023

Manchester and London Investment Trust PLC

(The Company)

Result of AGM Update

The Company notes that more than 20% of votes were cast against the resolution to re-elect Daniel Wright, as a Director the Company at the last AGM, the results of which were released on 21 November 2022. The UK Corporate Governance Code requires companies to provide an update within six months of an AGM where more than 20% of votes were cast against a resolution.

To better understand shareholders concerns with a view to identifying how such concerns can be addressed, the Board of the Company via the Manager reached out to shareholders to gain an understanding of their concerns. Communication was sent to a number of shareholders including (but not exclusively) Nortrust Nominees Ltd, Vidacos Nominees Ltd, L&G Asset Management and Fidelity Investment Services Limited. Excluding State Street Nominees Ltd (who indicated they may consider altering their voting next year) as with last year, no conclusive response were received from the remaining shareholders of the Company as no engagement was forthcoming from the shareholders contacted.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Companies aim to be role models in the fight against carbon emissions by making public commitments to reduce emissions. Today, more than 400 companies worldwide have signed the Climate Pledge, committing to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Mitigating Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol's Scope 1 - direct emissions by an organization - and Scope 2 emissions - indirect emissions due to energy produced or used - is indeed a challenge, but not an insurmountable task. It is straightforward: we must either reduce consumption, increase energy efficiency, switch to renewable alternatives, or purchase clean energy or carbon offsets.

Tackling Scope 3 emissions not produced by the company or from the energy used is another matter.

Scope 3 emissions are challenging to manage because they fall outside an organization's control. Collecting accurate data makes measuring and assessing these emissions difficult. And with different suppliers involved in the supply chain, there is no clarity on who exactly is accountable for reducing Scope 3 emissions. Half the problem is solved when sustainability data is standardized and shared securely.

Companies will soon be required to comply with regulations emphasizing the need to record and share sustainability data. For example, the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) requires companies to share their suppliers' carbon dioxide emission data when they import products to Europe. CBAM will enter its transitional phase as of October 2023 and will apply to importing carbon-intensive goods such as aluminum, iron, steel, cement, fertilizers, and electricity. In 2026, importers must submit information regarding the number of goods imported to the EU and the corresponding GHG emissions.

These regulations, investor, and stakeholder scrutiny, along with supply chain partner requirements, demand a uniform standard to share sustainability data. In 2021, automotive industry leaders and partners formed the Catena-X Automotive Network to create a consistent information and data-sharing standard throughout the automotive value chain. Sustainability is one of the five major application areas defined by Catena-X. The aim is to standardize emission measurements along the value chain, document accurate carbon data, and make it comparable within the automotive industry.

The emphasis on sharing carbon footprint data along the value chain and SAP's experience as a founding member of Catena-X led to the launch of SAP Sustainability Data Exchange, a new solution specifically designed to securely exchange standardized sustainability data, including product footprints, along the value chain. The solution allows companies to effectively share emissions and other data with their customers to help companies decarbonize their value chains.

Part of SAP Business Network, SAP Sustainability Data Exchange uses the carbon data interoperability standards established by the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The solution also draws on SAP's experience as a founding member of Catena-X and Confinity-X. The program set the first technical specifications for the standardized exchange of carbon emissions data, allowing different emissions and accounting technology solutions to connect to and effectively share sustainability information.

Built using the technical framework of GreenToken by SAP, SAP Sustainability Data Exchange allows sustainability data sharing within organizations on this platform and interoperability with other equivalent networks using WBCSD PACT standards. Companies can use SAP Sustainability Data Exchange along with SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, a single solution to calculate and manage the full range of corporate, value chain, and product greenhouse gas emissions. Alternatively, if businesses already have a solution that calculates carbon footprints effectively, they can use SAP Sustainability Data Exchange to share this data securely. The beta version is planned for availability in the third quarter of 2023.

"As a champion of a sustainable future, we at SAP are constantly seeking new ways to drive innovation and deliver value to our customers," said Nitin Jain, general manager of GreenToken by SAP and SAP Sustainability Data Exchange. "Our launch of SAP Sustainability Data Exchange is a testament to this commitment. By leveraging our expertise and resources, we have developed a cutting-edge platform application that lets organizations share product carbon information with their customers and vendors, empowering our customers to measure and reduce their carbon footprint while promoting transparency throughout the supply chain. With this new offering, we are setting a new standard in sustainability and paving the way for a more sustainable future."

SAP Sustainability Data Exchange represents another key milestone in the company's mission to establish the green ledger alongside the top and bottom lines as crucial performance dimensions. Customers can report carbon emissions metrics and comply with global standards. Having a standardized format to record and share data helps companies move from estimated sustainability values to actual and accurate product-level data. This accelerates their journey toward net zero by providing them with standardized audit-ready sustainable values.

Fifty years ago, SAP revolutionized financial accounting with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Today, SAP is reinventing the "R" in ERP by extending the definition of resources beyond financial and goods flows and offering a precision approach to sustainability by enabling transactional carbon accounting through a green ledger. This enables combined financial and environmental decision-making at different points across the business process. The green ledger offers deep insights by being embedded into RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud and the GROW with SAP solution, with additional capabilities added with every release.

Learn more at sap.com/sustainability/climate-action.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from SAP on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: SAP

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/sap

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: SAP

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/757058/Decarbonization-Through-Emission-Transparency-Introducing-SAP-Sustainability-Data-Exchange
RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM:HZM)(TSX:HZM) ("Horizonte" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that at the Company's Annual General Meeting held today at Rex House, 4-12 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4RG, all resolutions were voted on by way of a poll and were duly passed.

For further information, visit www.horizonteminerals.com or contact:

Horizonte Minerals plc

Jeremy Martin (CEO)

Simon Retter (CFO)

Patrick Chambers (Head of IR)

info@horizonteminerals.com

+44 (0) 203 356 2901 Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)

Ross Allister

David McKeown +44 (0)20 7418 8900 BMO (Joint Broker)

Thomas Rider

Pascal Lussier Duquette

Andrew Cameron +44 (0) 20 7236 1010 Tavistock (Financial PR)

Emily Moss

Cath Drummond +44 (0) 20 7920 3150

ABOUT HORIZONTE MINERALS

Horizonte Minerals plc (AIM & TSX: HZM) is developing two 100%-owned, Tier 1 projects in Para state, Brazil, the Araguaia Nickel Project and the Vermelho Nickel-Cobalt Project. Both projects are large scale, high-grade, low-cost, low-carbon and scalable. Araguaia is under construction with first metal scheduled for early 2024, when fully ramped up with Line 1 and Line 2, is forecast to produce 29,000 tonnes of nickel per year. Vermelho is at feasibility study stage and is expected to produce 24,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,250 tonnes of cobalt to supply the EV battery market. Horizonte's combined production profile of over 60,000 tonnes of nickel per year positions the Company as a globally significant nickel producer. Horizonte's top three shareholders are La Mancha Investments S.a r.l., Glencore plc and Orion Resource Partners LLP.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, the ability of the Company to complete any planned acquisition of equipment, statements with respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the second RKEF line at Araguaia on time, or at all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the Vermelho Project on time, or at all, the success of exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration, production and development; the costs and timing for delivery of the equipment to be purchased, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; the realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates and achieving production in accordance with the Company's potential production profile or at all. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to risks related to: the inability of the Company to complete any planned acquisition of equipment on time or at all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the implementation of a second RKEF line at Araguaia on the timeline contemplated or at all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the Vermelho Project on the timeline contemplated or at all, exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates, together with the risks identified and disclosed in the Company's disclosure record available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, including without limitation, the annual information form of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the Araguaia and Vermelho Technical Reports available on the Company's website https://horizonteminerals.com/. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Horizonte Minerals PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/757059/Horizonte-Minerals-PLC-Announces-Result-of-AGM
Partners Group / Key word(s): AGMEGM

Partners Group announces results of Annual General Meeting of Shareholders



24.05.2023 / 20:00 CET/CEST





Baar-Zug, Switzerland; 24 May 2023 Partners Group Holding AG's shareholders approved all proposals put forward by the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) that was held today in Baar-Zug, Switzerland. Approval of the 2022 Annual Report together with the management report, the consolidated financial statements, and the individual financial statements; acknowledgement of the auditors' reports The shareholders approved the 2022 Annual Report together with the management report, the consolidated financial statements, and the individual financial statements; and acknowledged the auditors' reports. Motion for the appropriation of available earnings The shareholders approved the payment of a cash dividend of CHF 37.00 per share. The disbursement of the dividend is scheduled for 31 May 2023. The shares will trade ex-dividend from 26 May 2023 onwards and the dividend record date is 30 May 2022. Discharge of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Team The shareholders granted the members of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Team discharge from liability with regards to their activities in the 2022 fiscal year. Amendments of the articles of association The shareholders approved all proposed amendments of the articles of association of Partners Group Holding AG, including the possibility to hold a virtual shareholders' meeting. Consultative vote on the 2022 Compensation Report The shareholders approved the 2022 Compensation Report (consultative vote). Approval of compensation



6.1 Approval of the maximum fixed compensation/fee budget for the Board of Directors for the period until the next ordinary AGM in 2024



The shareholders approved the total fixed compensation/fee budget for the Board of Directors for the period until the next ordinary AGM in 2024.



6.2 Approval of the variable long-term compensation for the executive members of the Board of Directors for the preceding term of office (ordinary AGM 2022 to ordinary AGM 2023)



The shareholders approved retrospectively the variable long-term compensation for the executive members of the Board of Directors for the period from the ordinary AGM in 2022 until the ordinary AGM in 2023.



6.3 Approval of the technical non-financial income for the Board of Directors for the preceding term of office (ordinary AGM 2022 to ordinary AGM 2023)



The shareholders approved retrospectively the technical non-financial income for the Board of Directors stemming from preferential terms under the firm's global Employee Commitment Plan for the period from the ordinary AGM in 2022 until the ordinary AGM in 2023.



6.4 Approval of the maximum total base compensation budget for the Executive Team for the fiscal year 2024



The shareholders approved the total base compensation for the Executive Team for the fiscal year 2024.



6.5 Approval of the variable long-term compensation for the Executive Team for the fiscal year 2022



The shareholders approved retrospectively the variable long-term compensation for the Executive Team for the 2022 fiscal year.



6.6 Approval of the technical non-financial income for the Executive Team for the fiscal year 2022



The shareholders approved retrospectively the technical non-financial income for the Executive Team stemming from preferential terms under the firm's global Employee Commitment Plan for the fiscal year 2022.



Elections The shareholders elected Steffen Meister as Chairman of the Board of Directors for a term of office that ends at the conclusion of the next shareholders' AGM. Furthermore, the shareholders elected Dr. Marcel Erni, Alfred Gantner, Anne Lester, Gaelle Olivier, Dr. Martin Strobel, Urs Wietlisbach, and Flora Zhao as members of the Board of Directors for a term of office that ends at the conclusion of the next shareholders' AGM. The shareholders also elected Flora Zhao as Chairwoman, as well as Anne Lester and Dr. Martin Strobel as members of the Nomination & Compensation Committee for a term of office that ends at the conclusion of the next shareholders' AGM. The shareholders furthermore elected Hotz & Goldmann in Baar, Switzerland, as Independent Proxy for a term of office that ends at the conclusion of the next shareholders' AGM and re-elected KPMG AG, Zurich, Switzerland, for another term of office of one year as the Auditors. Commenting on the results of the AGM 2023, Steffen Meister, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, says: "On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Partners Group's shareholders for their continued trust in our firm, which is reflected in the unanimous approval of all proposals. We believe that private markets are overtaking public markets in financing the real economy and that this role reversal is set to fundamentally reshape the industry. In this context, truly active private markets firms like Partners Group, which combine scale of resources with an industrial-style transformational investing approach to creating value, will be best-positioned to deliver sustainable outperformance to their stakeholders." About Partners Group

Partners Group is a leading global private markets firm. Since 1996, the firm has invested over USD 195 billion in private equity, private real estate, private debt, and private infrastructure on behalf of its clients globally. Partners Group seeks to generate superior returns through capitalizing on thematic growth trends and transforming attractive businesses and assets into market leaders. The firm is a committed, responsible investor and aims to create sustainable returns with lasting, positive impact for all its stakeholders. With over USD 135 billion in assets under management as of 31 December 2022, Partners Group provides an innovative range of bespoke client solutions to institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and private individuals globally. The firm employs more than 1,800 diverse professionals across 20 offices worldwide and has regional headquarters in Baar-Zug, Switzerland; Denver, USA; and Singapore. It has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2006 (symbol: PGHN). For more information, please visit www.partnersgroup.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter . Shareholder relations contact

Philip Sauer

Phone: +41 41 784 66 60

Email: philip.sauer@partnersgroup.com Media relations contact

Jenny Blinch

Phone: +44 207 575 2571

Email: jenny.blinch@partnersgroup.com



End of Media Release


The presidential election court has 180 days from mid-March when Atiku, Peter Obi, and the APM filed their petitions against Tinubu's victory to conclude the hearing and deliver its judgement.

The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja has ordered the merger of the cases filed by Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) to challenge Bola Tinubu's victory as Nigeria's president-elect.

The five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani cited time constraint as the basis for its decision, in a ruling on Tuesday.

The court has 180 days from the time the three petitions were filed in mid-March to conclude the hearing and deliver its judgement.

In a ruling detailing a report of its pre-hearing session on Mr Obi's petition, on Tuesday, the court ordered a consolidation of the three pending petitions.

The panel's chair, Mr Tsammani, citing Paragraph 50 of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2022, said the interest of justice would be served by a merger of the petitions.

"The justice of these petitions demands that this petition be consolidated," Mr Tsammani said.

After harmonising the suits, the court ordered Mr Obi and his party to prove their case within three weeks instead of the six weeks they requested for during the pre-hearing sessions.

The court gave Mr Obi 30 May for the commencement of hearing of his substantive petition and he is expected to conclude his case on 23 June.

The court added that it would conduct proceedings on a day-to-day basis from Mondays to Saturdays.

For the respondents in the petition - INEC, APC, Mr Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, the vice-president-elect - they have five days each to present their defence.

On allotment of time, the petitioners have 30 minutes each to lead or cross-examine their or adverse parties' star witnesses. The other witnesses have 20 minutes each to testify and the legal team of the adverse parties will have five minutes each for re-examining them.

Mr Obi had through his lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed his petition challenging Tinubu's victory on 20 March - 20 days after Mr Tinubu was declared winner of the polls by INEC.

At the time of filing this report, the court had yet to give its report on Atiku and APM's pre-hearing sessions of their petitions.

But all petitioners and respondents must abide by the court's decision consolidating the petitions.

Background

The petitioners - Atiku, Mr Obi and APM - are urging the court to nullify Mr Tinubu's victory owing to alleged rampant malpractices during the conduct of the 25 February presidential election.

They accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the electronic process in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr Tinubu.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second in the race, while Labour Party's Mr Obi came third.

Worried by time constraint, the chair of the panel, Mr Tsammani, reminded lawyers to parties of the need to consolidate the three pending petitions.

Specifically, Mr Tsammani at Monday's sitting said it was bound to conclude proceedings and give judgment on all pending suits by 16 September.

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Responding to the court's concerns, Mr Obi's lawyer, Awa Kalu, reduced the seven weeks to six for his client to present 50 witnesses in aid of their case against Mr Tinubu.

Subsequently, Mr Kalu, a law professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), left the proposed consolidation of the petitions to the court's discretion.

Similarly, INEC's lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro, a SAN, urged the court to use its discretion to determine the harmonisation of the petitions.

Atiku's lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, a SAN, did not oppose the merger of the suits as his client assembled 100 witnesses to testify for the court.

But Mr Tinubu's lawyer, Akin Olujinmi, a SAN, disagreed with the consolidation of the petitions.

Mr Olujinmi and the APC argued that the interest of justice would not be served as the proceedings would be "unwieldy."
WINDHOEK, Namibia, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cabinet of the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) has approved entry into an agreement with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) to govern the development, implementation and operation of sub-Saharan Africa's largest, and its only fully vertically integrated, green hydrogen project.

The transformative impact of this project on Namibia and its economy is considerable. The total project capital investment of US$10 billion is roughly equivalent to the country's annual GDP. At full scale development, anticipated before the end of the decade, the project will produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually.

The pioneering Feasibility and Implementation Agreement (FIA) governs the process under which Namibia's first green hydrogen project will be realised, as a first step in the implementation of GRN's broader green hydrogen strategy.

His Excellency, Hage Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, said: "The Harambee Prosperity Plan II noted that the Namibian Government would investigate the feasibility of incubating a synthetic fuels industry in Namibia, as a key transforming agent of our economy. On Friday the 26th of May 2023, we earnestly embark on that journey, as we kick start a process that has the potential to transform the lives of many in our country, the region and indeed the world."

Her Excellency, Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: "Namibia has the potential to become one of the main renewable energy hubs on the African continent and even world-wide. Today's agreement is a major step for the production of green hydrogen in the country. I am proud that Global Gateway allows the EU and Namibia to invest in a shared future fighting climate change together, making Namibia energy-independent and creating jobs and prosperity."

Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, said: "We are delighted to have concluded the FIA and look forward to delivering on the next phase of development of this ground-breaking project.

On behalf of Hyphen, I would like to thank the Government for its unwavering support and relentless commitment to unlocking Namibia's green hydrogen potential. We are confident in our ability to work hand in hand with the people of Namibian to drive lasting change through economic development and job creation, whilst paving the way for a greener and brighter future."

For media enquiries Contact FTI Consulting: HyphenAfrica@fticonsulting.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/government-of-the-republic-of-namibia-approves-entry-into-pioneering-us10bn-agreement-to-develop-sub-saharan-africas-largest-green-hydrogen-project-with-hyphen-hydrogen-energy-301833964.html
SHENZHEN, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EVE Energy Co., Ltd. (EVE Energy), a leading lithium-ion battery manufacturer and energy storage solutions provider, was well represented at the 4th International New Energy Vehicles and Power Battery Expo (CIBF2023), held at the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center on May 16. Company Chairman Dr. Liu Jincheng attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech, sharing the enterprise's journey toward internationalization in the battery space.

Dr. Liu Jincheng stated his pleasure at returning to the event in his capacity as not only EVE Energy Chairman but also as Vice Chairman of the China Chemical and Physical Power Sources Association. He accompanied leaders from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the chairman of the association in visiting the exhibition halls.

The development of China's lithium batteries has achieved a high global position, he said. Dr. Liu largely attributed this to progress made by Chinese equipment and material companies. "We visited several equipment and material exhibition halls and saw that the stacking speed can be shortened to 0.12 seconds per piece. Compared to previous production lines and stackers purchased from South Korea in the early days, the efficiency has doubled, which is very exciting to us all," he said.





"Technological progress in equipment will undoubtedly further drive the development of the lithium battery industry," Dr Liu said. "Battery companies integrate creative innovations covering equipment and material enterprises while products are sold worldwide, demonstrating the country's remarkable results."

EVE Energy has grown from a company with revenue of 200 million yuan when it listed on the Shenzhen GEM to get where it is today, achieving double growth in the two most recent years. Despite continuous changes in the market, Dr Liu still hopes to double revenue this year.

Indeed, Dr Liu was buoyed by the healthy visitor numbers at the event. "The bustling crowds at today's exhibition demonstrate the enthusiasm for the rapid growth of lithium batteries in this country, though we must remain realistic," he said. "EVE Energy participates in this year's exhibition under the theme, 'Focus on Life, Focus on Health.' Our core area of expertise is showcased with a variety of medical devices, demonstrating the company's technological progress in medical batteries."

"'New energy' and 'long life' are two major themes in the domestic market," he said. With the aging population in our country and people's pursuit of a higher quality of life, EVE Energy will pay more attention to people's health and the future. Because the essence of technological progress is to focus on a better life and support people as they strive for it."

The power battery sector exhibits different characteristics to traditional industries, such as longer order cycles of up to five or eight years, he said during the speech. Dr Liu emphasized that industry project profitability relies on process quality performance and efficiency improvement. At the beginning of this year, the domestic market became more rational amid events like changes to national standards for fuel vehicles and fluctuations in the price of lithium carbonate. Risk prediction and mitigation capabilities across the entire lithium battery industry have further deepened.

In response to this, EVE Energy has started focusing on medical batteries and health, accelerating research and development efforts for medical batteries and improving product quality. From the perspective of internationalization, EVE Energy is willing to cooperate with domestic and foreign companies, Dr Liu said.

Speaking of internationalization, the company officially announced the construction of green battery plants in Hungary and Malaysia on May 9 and May 12, respectively. "We have confidence in the construction of overseas projects, but we also face challenges. For example, some place may lack the sufficient conditions for component processing and maintenance," he emphasized.

"We have officially announced construction of green battery factories in Hungary and Malaysia," he said, adding that the team is overwhelmingly happy to get started on these projects and holds utmost confidence in the success of such overseas developments. The company aims to deepen ties with local communities and serves as their good neighbors and partners to help develop their areas. In addition, supporting local education and contributing to the local community on a cultural level is a crucial part of the internationalization process.









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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/eve-energy-chairman-delivers-keynote-at-4th-international-new-energy-vehicles-and-power-battery-expo-301833354.html
New solution, Equidox AI, makes PDFs ADA compliant

LAKEWOOD, OH / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Equidox Software Company, the creator of premier PDF accessibility solutions, has developed Equidox AI, a new solution to fully automate PDF accessibility for high-volume documents. This ground-breaking technology is designed for a variety of system-generated and templated PDFs and is game-changing for making large quantities of PDFs digitally accessible.

"Whether you have thousands or millions of pages, Equidox AI makes them accessible with no human intervention," says David Freelan, lead data scientist for Equidox. "We train our AI models to accurately tag PDFs for fully compliant documents so that they will pass not only automated checkers like PAC 2021 and the Adobe checker but also a manual review with screen readers."

Remediate PDFs without outsourcing

Many industries are mandated by law to make their documents accessible. That includes high-volume, system-generated PDF documents such as customer and policy statements, healthcare directories, invoices, reports, and many more. Making an enormous volume of documents accessible can be a massive time and staff investment or an extremely costly outsourcing project. Equidox AI is a simple, easy-to-use automated process that eliminates the need to outsource or overburden internal resources.

"Equidox AI is the perfect fit for organizations with large quantities of mass-produced PDFs such as banks, insurance, and healthcare companies," says Tim Needles, CEO. "All those statements, ID cards, and policy documents can be made accessible at a fraction of the time and cost while meeting ADA requirements."

Comply with legal requirements and defend against lawsuits

Courts have long held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires websites and digital documents, including PDFs, to be accessible for people with disabilities. Last year, the Department of Justice published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking starting in 2023 for digital accessibility regulations under the ADA. This means organizations will face increased legal pressure to make their content accessible.

Existing laws, such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, clearly mandate digital accessibility for any organizations that receive money from or do business with the federal government.

With the number of digital accessibility lawsuits continuing to rise, organizations need to prepare to meet those accessibility requirements. For those producing thousands or millions of PDFs, manual or outsourced PDF remediation is impractical. Equidox AI solves the problem with its cutting-edge PDF accessibility technology.

About Equidox

Equidox Software Company enables PDF accessibility through intelligent, automated solutions. Equidox AI is an automated solution for remediating high volumes of system-generated or templated PDFs. Equidox also offers best-in-class, AI-powered PDF remediation software that simplifies accessibility for individual documents.

Equidox is based in Lakewood, Ohio.

For more information, visit www.equidox.co .

Contact: Pat Needles

Executive Vice President of Sales

Equidox PDF Accessibility Solutions

Email: pat@equidox.co

Phone: 216-529-3030

SOURCE: Equidox Software Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756861/Equidox-Automates-PDF-Accessibility-for-High-Volume-Documents
Travel App Visited Compiles Over 1.7 Million Users' Data to Determine the 10 Most Popular Pyramids. Luxor Las Vegas make it to the 3rd most visited pyramid in the world.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / The travel app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 most popular pyramids in the world. The data is based on user's selection on what pyramids they visited. Other popular travel lists, include: art museums, capitals of the world, ancient sites, kid's attractions, snorkelling and diving destinations and many others.





Most Visited Pyramids in the World





Visited, available on iOS or Android, allows users to plan their dream getaways, mark off where they've been, discover bucket list destinations, and get a personalized travel map and stats.

The top 10 most visited pyramids in the world, feature ancient pyramids such as Pyramids of Giza in Egypt as well as modern world pyramids such as Luxor in Las Vegas. "While we were not surprised that Louvre made it to the top of the list after all it is the most visited art museum in the world. We were surprised that Luxor in Las Vegas, made it to top 3," said Anna Kayfitz.

These are the most visited pyramids in the world according to Visited users:

The Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, is an iconic glass and metal structure outside the Louvre Museum that draws the most tourists of all the pyramids. Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are the second most visited pyramids. Luxor Las Vegas in the U.S. is a top tourist attraction at the Luxor Hotel and Casino that is inspired by the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Pyramid of Khufu in Giza, also known as the Great Pyramid, is the largest Egyptian pyramid and was built in the 26th century BC. El Castillo known as the Temple of Kukulcan is an ancient Mayan temple and step pyramid in Chichen Itza, Mexico. Pyramid of the Sun was built by the Aztecs around 200 AD in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Pyramid of the Moon is an Aztec pyramid in the same complex as the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Pyramid of Djoser is a 6-tier, 4-sided step pyramid in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt. Dahshur Pyramids were early pyramids including Senefru's Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. Prang Temple is a 30-meter high step pyramid with seven levels in Koh Ker, Cambodia.

To browse more top travel lists, see the most popular destinations, and create a personalized travel map, users can download Visited on iOS or Android.

Get the full Visited 2022 travel report for more travel stats with the most visited destinations based on U.S. and international travelers. To learn more about the Visited Map App, visit https://visitedapp.com.

About Arriving In High Heels Corporation

Arriving In High Heels Corporation is a mobile app company with apps including Pay Off Debt, X-Walk, and Visited, their most popular app.



Contact Information

Anna Kayfitz

CEO

anna@arrivinginhighheels.com

SOURCE: Arriving In High Heels Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/756238/Visited-Publishes-Most-Visited-Pyramids-and-Great-Pyramids-of-Giza-Did-Not-Make-It-to-First-Place
Maskwacis, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Tansi, The Ermineskin Cree Nation of Treaty 6 Territory, in collaboration with the Western Treaty Nations, is thrilled to announce we are hosting the next National Summit on the Natural Resource Transfer Agreements (NRTA) of 1930. This important event is scheduled to take place from May 29th - June 1, 2023, at the Ermineskin Cree Nation's Maskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada.

The NRTA's of 1930 (one each for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) were created to shift federal administrative duties of natural resources to the Prairie Provinces. The governments assumed control over lands and resources created a conflict with the inherent rights and jurisdiction of the First Nations treaty rights holders that are located within these provinces. Consequently, the lack of consultation and exclusion of First Nations as inherent and Treaty rights holders has long hindered the self-determination of First Nation's and their ability to benefit and develop sustainable, community-led economies from the lands and resources. Through this event, we hope to contribute in raising awareness, strengthening Treaty relations and establishing a clear mandate moving forward in the spirit of reconciliation.

The Western Treaty Nations is a non-incorporated First Nations Organization delegated by FN's Chiefs.

Rene McCarthy-Summit Coordinator

ERMINESKIN CREE NATION

Cc. Ermineskin Council

For more information please contact: Ermineskin External Affairs (780) 585-3741

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167391
Chelsea Avondale, a Canadian home insurance group, raised a Series C funding of undisclosed amount.

The round was led by MSD Partners, L.P. and also included American Family Ventures, among others. In conjunction with the completion of the investment round, Dan Bitar, Managing Director and co-head of MSD Growth, has joined the Chelsea Avondale board of directors.

The new funding will be used to support the continued growth of the companys Canadian homeowners insurance portfolio, which is underwritten through its wholly owned subsidiary, Max Insurance, and distributed through Maxs network of independent brokers. It will also be used to support Chelsea Avondales strategic international expansion.

Led by Nilesh Vasani, CEO, Chelsea develops and deploys scientific risk models to underwrite personal property risk with precision and speed. By applying its granular and scientific approach to underwriting, the company is able to provide a efficient quote, bind, and policy administration process for brokers and policyholders.

Max Insurance offers homeowners, tenants, landlords and condo insurance in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario through its network of independent brokers.

FinSMEs

24/05/2023
GITAI USA Inc. (Los Angeles), GITAI Japan, Inc. (Tokyo), a space robotics company, completed a Series B Extension round of funding totaling 4 billion yen (approximately US$30m).

Backers included GITAI raised funds through a third-party allotment from the following companies and funds, mainly from existing investors:

Global Brain CVC Funds EP-GB L.P. (SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION / Epson X Investment Corporation / Global Brain Corporation) JGC MIRAI Innovation Fund L.P. (JGC JAPAN CORPORATION / JGC HOLDINGS CORPORATION / Global Brain Corporation) KURONEKO Innovation Fund L.P. (YAMATO HOLDINGS CO., LTD. / Global Brain Corporation) KDDI Open Innovation Fund III L.P. (KDDI CORPORATION / Global Brain Corporation)

DCI Venture Growth Fund (Daiwa Corporate Investment Co., Ltd.)

The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited

ANRI III Investment Limited Partnership

ANRI I-II-III Annex Investment Limited Partnership

NVC No.1 Limited Liability Partnership (NVenture Capital / NEC Capital Solutions Limited)

JIC Venture Growth Fund 2 Investment Limited Partnership (JIC Venture Growth Investments Co., Ltd.)

Electric Power Development Co.,Ltd.J-POWER

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital , Limited Partnership (Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.)

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate and expand their business and technology development in the US. The funds will be primarily used to achieve the following objectives:

Enhancing the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of GITAIs Lunar Robotic Rover and Lunar Inchworm Type Robotic Arm.

Expanding the Engineering Model/Flight Model Manufacturing Facilities in the US.

Further expansion of employment in the US.

Led by Sho Nakanose, Founder & CEO, GITAI is a space robotics startup, developing robots to help build and maintain satellites, space stations, lunar bases, and cities on Mars.

FinSMEs

24/05/2023
Kustomer, a NYC-based Conversational CRM platform provider, raised $60m in funding.

The round was co-led by previous investors Battery and Redpoint with participation from Boldstart as it spins out of parent company Meta.

Meta closed its acquisition with Kustomer in February 2022. The company then joined the Meta Business Messaging Group to help enhance the way people and businesses communicate through modern messaging channels. While at Meta, Kustomer made enormous progress in new areas of the business including expanding Its international offerings, broadening its capabilities with artificial intelligence and deepening its integration with Metas modern communication channels (Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger).

The company intends to use the funds to expand its team, focus on combining new AI technology with its customer data platform, offering more accurate automated support, and help agents work more efficiently within the ever-evolving AI landscape.

Co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Brad Birnbaum and Jeremy Suriel, Kustomer is a conversational CRM platform that, built with intelligent tools such as AI and Automation, no-code configuration and a connected data platform unifying data from multiple sources through a single timeline, empowers businesses to deliver more personalized service to customers across any channel. Companies like Ring, Glovo, Glossier and Sweetgreen, currently use Kustomer to power their customer service teams.

FinSMEs

23/05/2023
Looks like Harry and Meghans marriage is going through a rough phase. According to GeoTv report, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to be heading in different directions five years after their marriage, according to an article published on the fifth wedding anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. In fact, according to sources, Prince Harry has a separate room to get away from Meghan Markle.

As per reports a royal commentators believe all is not well in the Sussexs marriage. Eagle-eyed observers say the couple did not release a family photograph on Christmas and Harry was seen promoting his book Spare without Meghan by his side earlier this year.

They think no acknowledgment of their five-year wedding anniversary, Harrys solo appearance at the coronation of King Charles and Meghans solo brand relaunch with WME are enough of evidence to corroborate their claims that the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is on the rocks.

Although the leading UK daily praised the couple for proving their doubters wrong by keeping their marriage intact in the widely circulated article, it added that The Sussexes are frazzled, fraught and lacking romance  like any couple with young kids.

It said, Five years after their wedding, the omens are bad as Harry and Meghan seem to be heading in different directions.

The newspaper wrote, Such is their independence from each other that the owner of a leading hotel chain in Montecito recently said they have a room set aside for Harry where he occasionally stays on his own.

What experts have to say?

When we take a look at the changes in Harry and Meghans lives since the beginning of their relationship, Meghan has become a global figure and one of the most recognisable people in the world. While this may have caused issues for other couples, Harry and Meghan appear to be stronger than ever. The fact they have managed to overcome certain challenges and show genuine emotion proves they are clearly meant to be. I definitely believe they are in it for the long haul. I do think they will last the course of time, Darren Stanton said.

Harry and Meghan have had to overcome a number of hurdles and Meghan was very much like Princess Diana as she was new on the scene and had to get to know the Royal Family, the expert said.

In terms of their development over the years, the couple have been through a lot in order to get where they are today. Their relationship started off being seemingly smooth sailing and there were no challenges. Meghan was very much like Princess Diana as she was new on the scene and had to get to know the Royal family. However, despite having challenges since then, the couple have only got stronger over the years. In terms of confidence, I would say that Meghan is very much the stronger personality, Darren Stanton said.

But, having said that, shes the one who has had the normal upbringing. She obviously had to work hard to become a professional actor, facing lots of rejection and hardships, especially in her professional life, the expert explained.

Harry & Meghan leading separate lives

Looks like this was bound to happen; the breakup of Harry and Meghan. Harry was just too much under the spell of Meghan Markle who was kind of ruling her life and every decision he too, Meghan was the mastermind. Celia Walden told GB News that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are pursuing different agendas. She added that the couples public duties are resulting in them leading slightly separate lives.

Relationships is about sharing and caring, but here Meghan is completely overpowering Harry and kind of poisoning him against his family. Meghan Markle was the mastermind behind Harrys controversial memoir, Spare. It was she who encouraged him to write the book.

According to marca.com report experts had mentioned that Meghan would be tired of her husband and could be looking for an exit plan in the not too distant future. The rumors, according to royal expert Tom Bower, are coming out of London. There are many now in London who say Meghan is getting tired of Harry. There is speculation that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, will at any moment say This is enough and negotiate with King Charles III some deal to break off the marriage.

Harry has a separate room to get away from Meghan

a new report has surfaced that could be shocking for their fans and critics alike. The report goes like this- Prince Harry has an escape place, a room in a hotel that he uses to get away from his wife Meghan Markle and kids, from time to time. But Harrys representative has dismissed all such claims by saying all these reports doing the reports are not true. The story according to a British newspaper, says, He occasionally stays there without Meghan Markle. The hotel in question is allegedly San Vicente Bungalows, a club that is extremely big on maintaining the privacy of its members.

Meghans half sister confirms that the couple is heading for a divorce

According to the Daily Mail report, Meghan Markles estranged half-sister has launched another blistering attack on the Duchess of Sussex by claiming that her marriage to Prince Harry will end in divorce unless they get extensive counselling. Samantha Markle suggested the Duke may already be questioning the marriage and predicted it could get nasty until he starts dissenting or pulling back from her. The 56-year-old American also called on the Sussexes to go on an apology tour after the couple made accusations of racism within the Royal Family during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

A royal commentator had earlier mentioned that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are breaking apart and leading separate lives. The rumors, according to royal expert Tom Bower, are coming out of London. There are many now in London who say Meghan is getting tired of Harry. There is speculation that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, will at any moment say This is enough and negotiate with King Charles III some deal to break off the marriage.

(With added inputs from agencies)

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Nobody gets depressed in the village, everybody is happy. I learnt about anxiety, depression, bipolar after coming to the city  all this happens in the city. Everyone here glorifies their emotions. When it rains, a labourer or pavement dweller dances  they dont know anything about depression. As you earn more money, you get these sort of illnesses as well.

With this comment, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has sparked off a Twitterstorm with some hailing him to be right, while others calling him ill-informed. Speaking first to Mashable India and then to NDTV, the Sacred Games actor termed depression as an urban issue and said that he could be wrong but it was his experience.

Actor Gulshan Devaiah took to Twitter to express his disappointment with his senior colleague. Dritharashtra & Gandhari syndrome. I immensely respect the man for his craft but Id not take him seriously on this issue. If you even just look at alcoholism or addictions, they exist in rural communities and thats mental illness. No addict indulges in addiction because they love it. The addiction is a symptom, the real problem is the trauma they cant heal, he wrote.

But is there any truth to what Nawazuddin Siddiqui said? Does living in a city contribute to poor mental health? Can urban living increase the chances of depression? Heres what we found out.

Urban life and mental health

In 2019, it was said that over half of the worlds population  4.2 billion people  live in cities. This number has only been rising since then and by 2050, it is estimated that 68 per cent of the population will live in urban areas.

Several studies carried out in the past have highlighted that residents of cities suffer from detrimental effects such as cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. The risk of having cancer is also higher in cities; living under stressful conditions damages your health. When unhealthy fast food is cheap and healthy food is nowhere to be found, obesity rates rise. And obesity is linked to an increased risk of cancer.

But studies have also shown that urban living can have adverse effects on mental health. The risk of developing depression  the most prevalent mental disorder in the world, characterised by low mood and feeling helpless  is 20 per cent higher in urban dwellers than those who live outside the city.

Also read: Love French fries, think again. How they could leave you feeling anxious and depressed

The risk of developing psychosis, a severe psychiatric disorder associated with hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and disorganised thought, is 77 per cent higher in urban than rural dwellers. The risk of developing generalised anxiety disorder, a state of mind characterised by feeling anxious and a sense of impending danger or panic, is also 21 per cent higher in urban than rural dwellers.

A 2017 analysis also revealed that the rate of those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anger management was higher among those living in urban areas.

Depression-driving factors in cities

But what is it about cities or urban living that could increase the risk of depression. Mental health experts state theres a variety of reasons why people in urban setups suffer more from depression than those in the village or in the countryside.

According to psychiatrists, urban living gives the brain a workout, which alters how we cope with stress. They note that the constant stimulation  large crowds, small spaces  can push the body into a state known as fight-or-flight response. This form makes us more vulnerable to mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety and even substance abuse.

Experts state that constant stimulation can also chip away at a persons psychological system, which can be dangerous for those who have a predisposition to depression.

Living in the city can also get lonely, which can accelerate depression. Venkatesh Babu GM, consultant psychiatrist, department of mental health and neurosciences, Fortis Hospitals told Hindu Business Line, Loneliness can be seen as both a cause for and consequence of various mental disorders, especially depression. Social isolation is a potent but little understood risk factor for morbidity and mortality.

He explains that in rural areas people nurture their social networks with the people around them. However, the fast-paced life in the city keeps people from forging meaningful social relationships. The pressures of work and the need to succeed also leave people with no time or inclination for nurturing social relationships.

Experts also state that diminished access to nature and reduced leisure time add to the woes of the urban dweller, making him or her more prone to depression. The large crowds and overpopulation in cities can also lead to noise pollution, keeping people up at night. This can also spell trouble for a persons mental health.

Also read: Couples that sleep apart stay together? Sleep divorce, the new social media trend, explained

All is not well in villages either

But this is not to say that Nawazuddin Siddiqui is right about rural dwellers not having mental health issues. A 2023 study by the University of Houston indicated that Americans who live in more rural areas tend to be more anxious and depressed, as well as less open-minded and more neurotic.

In India, the National Mental Health Survey (NHMS) 2015-16 states that 4.48 per cent of people in rural India had experienced depressive disorders in their lifetime.

Psychiatrists state that owing to the lack of educational facilities, people find it difficult to understand or even have awareness about mental health issues. They often equate mental illness as some form of karmic punishment or black magic. This often leads to stigmatisation of the disease, and people are often shunned from society.

Further isolation is not just a phenomenon in urban areas. Limited internet access and phone service heightens isolation in rural areas. Living in a rural area can mean constantly fearing an emergency and being unable to get help. Like their city-dwelling counterparts, rural residents can be at risk for depression.

In fact, another study by the University of Chicago found that people who live in big cities like Chicago and New York City are less likely to experience depression than those living in rural areas.

As experts state urban living is complex and contradictory. It offers great mental health benefits through increased opportunities in education and employment. Its the first step towards realising a persons full potential.

While Nawazuddin has romanticised rustic life, his comments oversimplify a grave problem in not only the country, but also the world. After all, depression, as per data from the World Health Organization in 2022, affects about 280 million people worldwide, including about five per cent of all adults.

With inputs from agencies

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Abuja  The wife of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo has called on women to use their talents, resources, education and exposure to create impact that will stand the test of time.

Similarly, Nigerian women have called on the incoming government to be led by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to revisit pending legislation that cover women and give nothing less that 35 per cent to women in appointive positions.

Osinbajo, who stated this in her keynote address in Abuja at the maiden edition of Women of Divine Destiny Initiative (WODDI) Inspiring Women Summit, which was organised by Dr. Nneoma Rochas Okorocha, said the total woman has so many parts playing different roles and the challenge is to be successful in every part.

With the theme of the summit as "Inspired to be the complete woman" Osinbajo added that every woman must identify her personal goal post and determine to be focused, intentional and to choose to score and win.

"Use your hands, talents, intellect to raise a generation and leave your footprints in the sands of time by imbibing positive attributes in the lives of fellow women, young girls and in generations yet unborn.

"This conference will help you to identify your goal post and when you do, then you can determine in your mind that you're going to make it to the goal. This means you must be focused, and intentional. You need to choose to score and succeed. Choose to win."

In the same, President of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Lami Lau said the 35 per cent affirmative action for women should not just be symbolic, but functional in the representation of women.

In her contribution at the event during a panel session, Lau urged women in urban, and rural areas not to be silent, adding that concerted voices are needed to open up discussions on the pending bills in women.

She said while in the waiting game, women must see the need to self develop, adding that with more knowledge, collective argument will be stronger.

"From your areas of engagement, we need to advocate for they, a minimum if 35 percent across board, bit just symbolic representation of women.

" We have legislation that are pending that cover women in the urban, ore- urban and rural areas. We are asking all women not to be silent. We need concerted voices to have these legislations passed.

"The political parties are the only vehicles through which we can get elective positions, yet, these parties do not have structures that adequately include women. We need to work in the parties and this is a call for when in the political parties.

"Self development is a necessity for all women. Please, if we need to go back to school, let's do so, so that our arguments can be stronger" she said.

Dolapo Osinbajo Tells Women to Live Lives of Impact

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The wife of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo has called on women to use their talents, resources, education and exposure to create impact that will stand the test of time.

Similarly, Nigerian women have called on the incoming government to be led by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to revisit pending legislation that cover women and give nothing less that 35 per cent to women in appointive positions.

Osinbajo, who stated this in her keynote address in Abuja at the maiden edition of Women of Divine Destiny Initiative (WODDI) Inspiring Women Summit, which was organised by Dr. Nneoma Rochas Okorocha, said the total woman has so many parts playing different roles and the challenge is to be successful in every part.

With the theme of the summit as "Inspired to be the complete woman" Osinbajo added that every woman must identify her personal goal post and determine to be focused, intentional and to choose to score and win.

"Use your hands, talents, intellect to raise a generation and leave your footprints in the sands of time by imbibing positive attributes in the lives of fellow women, young girls and in generations yet unborn.

"This conference will help you to identify your goal post and when you do, then you can determine in your mind that you're going to make it to the goal. This means you must be focused, and intentional. You need to choose to score and succeed. Choose to win."

In the same, President of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Lami Lau said the 35 per cent affirmative action for women should not just be symbolic, but functional in the representation of women.

In her contribution at the event during a panel session, Lau urged women in urban, and rural areas not to be silent, adding that concerted voices are needed to open up discussions on the pending bills in women.

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She said while in the waiting game, women must see the need to self develop, adding that with more knowledge, collective argument will be stronger.

"From your areas of engagement, we need to advocate for they, a minimum if 35 percent across board, bit just symbolic representation of women.

" We have legislation that are pending that cover women in the urban, ore- urban and rural areas. We are asking all women not to be silent. We need concerted voices to have these legislations passed.

"The political parties are the only vehicles through which we can get elective positions, yet, these parties do not have structures that adequately include women. We need to work in the parties and this is a call for when in the political parties.

"Self development is a necessity for all women. Please, if we need to go back to school, let's do so, so that our arguments can be stronger" she said.
Eighteen till I die. That seems to be eccentric tech billionaire Bryan Johnsons life goal. He has spent millions of dollars on medical treatment and diagnostics to slow down (and maybe) reverse the ageing process. The 45-year-old hasnt given up yet. He is now swapping blood with his teenage son and his septuagenarian father.

In his quest to look like an 18-year-old, Bryan swapped blood plasma with his 17-year-old son Talmage and 70-year-old father Richard at a health clinic in Dallas, Texas in early April.

Talmages blood is removed and converted into a batch of liquid plasma, the liquid element of blood, and another one of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets using a machine, according to a Bloomberg report. Bryan undergoes a similar procedure followed by another process where he receives his sons plasma. And Bryans plasma is injected into his father Richards veins.

Bryan has been undergoing the plasma exchange procedure for a while. He has reportedly visited the clinic several times and received plasma from a young anonymous donor, who is not a member of his family. Before he went ahead with the procedure, the tech innovator checked if the person had an ideal body mass index, was healthy and free of diseases, the report says.

The aim is to rejuvenate and repair cellular damages, which are part of the ageing process, by replacing old blood in an old body with new blood from a young donor.

The procedure costs around $5500 and donors get about $100.

But does this really work?

It worked on mice

Experiments in mice showed that older rodents when given younger blood produced incredible results. A study conducted by the University of California in 2005 showed that creating conjoined twins of young and old mice (and therefore sharing blood and organs) can reverse the signs of ageing in the old mice. This was done by reviving a 1950s procedure called parabiosis  where the insides of the two mice were stitched together.

Younger mice briefly experienced signs of old age when scientists infused them with the blood of older animals, according to an experiment conducted last year. When older mice were given young blood, their fatigue declined and their endurance increased.

Also read: Will humans be able to grow young again after study makes reverse ageing possible in mice?

Since the 2005 study, there has been much speculation if young blood might have the power to fight the effects of ageing. However, there has been no great success.

Experiments to tackle ageing

Several start-ups are trying to dive deep and see if parabiosis has the answers to tackle age-related diseases.

In 2016, a US-based started Ambrosia started offering infusions of young plasma for $8000 for a litre. The plasma from donors aged 16 to 25 was given through IVs with the dream that it might rejuvenate the sluggish cells of old clients. The procedure came under fire from the US Food and Drug Administration for lack of proven clinical benefit and possible safety issues.

Alkahest, a company founded by Tony Wyss-Coray, a neurologist at Stanford University, reported the results from a six-month trial in August 2019 that saw 40 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimers disease infused with a proprietary human plasma fraction. It appeared to arrest their expected mental decline, according to a report in The Guardian. The firm also has results that show that a drug that deactivates a protein in old blood could help with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

While research continues with plasma, some are cautious. We have not learned enough to suggest this is a viable human treatment for anything, Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles told Bloomberg. To me, its gross, evidence-free and relatively dangerous.

An elitist endeavour

However, Bryans team of doctors, have okayed the swapping plasma procedure. They are looking at it as a way to keep Parkinsons disease or Alzheimers at bay.

The entrepreneur is constantly under the scrutiny of his medical team and hopes he will be able to document any changes in his body as a result of transfusions. He looks at the experiment as a contribution to longevity technology.

Reversing or stopping ageing seems almost dystopian. Advances in science might get us a step closer. Yet, it is more of an elitist endeavour. Only a handful like Bryan can shell out thousands of dollars of a bottle.

With inputs from agencies

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A day after the Freedom of Russia legion launched an attack on Russias Belgorod, Moscow claims to have killed 70 attackers in a pitched battle.

Belgorod, on the Ukraine-Russia border, is around 80 kilometres north of Kharkiv and a military hub that has fuel and ammunition depots.

The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed only sporadic spill over from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Far from the 1,500-kilometer front line in southern and eastern Ukraine, Russian border towns and villages regularly come under shelling and drone attacks, but this weeks attack is the second in recent months that also appears to have involved an incursion by ground forces.

Lets take a closer look at whats happening in Belgorod and what it could mean for the Ukraine war:

Whats happening in Belgorod?

Moscow claimed the assailants fired on residential and administrative buildings and civilian infrastructure, as per CNN.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the raid targeted the rural area around Graivoron, a town about five kilometres from the border.

Gladkov said twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, he said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Two homes were set ablaze after unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) hit the region overnight and 100 people were evacuated from the region, he added.

The Russian news portal RBK, quoting unidentified sources in the regional interior ministry and territorial police, said Graivoron came under heavy shelling that lasted about five hours early Monday.

After that, tanks fired at the Graivoron border checkpoint while the adjacent village of Kozinka came under mortar and rocket fire, RBK said, citing the same sources. Gladkov later reported that a Koznika villager had been killed.

The attacking force was made up of 10 armored vehicles and an unspecified number of troops, RBK said.

Gladkov also said fire from the Ukrainian side of the border on Tuesday hit the Borisovka area, about 20 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of Graivoron. No casualties were reported, he said without elaborating on the incident.

Russia claimed the attackers were driven from its territory through a combination of air strikes, artillery fire and military units, as per CNN.

Al Jazeera quoted Russias defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying the incursion force was routed and the remnants pushed back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated.

He did not mention any Russian casualties.

In total, more than 70 militants, four armoured vehicles and five pickups were destroyed. Today, the operation has been cancelled in the Belgorod region, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian Volunteer Corps, which also participated in the attack, implied on Telegram that the attack was over, adding: One day, well come to stay.

The post went up at around the same time as the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have quashed the assault.

But Aleksey Baranovsky of the Russian Armed Opposition Political Centre  the Freedom of Russias political wing  told CNN the operation was ongoing.

Baranovsky added that the legion wanted to liberate our motherland from the tyranny of Putin.

Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said the attackers were Russian dissidents unhappy about Putins policies.

These are Russian patriots, as we understand it. People who actually rebelled against the Putin regime, she said.

What could it mean for the war?

Another difference from earlier cross-border attacks is that Russias effort to repel it continued into a second day for the first time.

According to CNN, while this is unlikely to have an impact on the war itself, it could change the narrative surrounding the conflict.

Moscow has always been eager to paint a picture of Russian victimhood as a pretext for ramping up attacks on Ukraine, given its public pretence that the invasion is an act of self-defence and is necessary to keep Russia safe. Putin will no doubt look to use these attacks to bolster that narrative, despite Kyivs denials that it had any official involvement, the piece stated.

However, others argue it could see the war escalate.

The Institute for the Study of War said Russias response was highly disproportionate compared to the attack.

Russian forces should not have required significant reinforcements  or the involvement of a colonel general  to repulse a raid conducted by reportedly 13 armoured vehicles, the Washington DC-based think-tank said on Wednesday.

Experts say the battle was a fresh reminder of how Russia itself remains vulnerable to attack, along with Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

Newsnation quoted Kearney as saying the incident dramatically increases Russias task of defending its border.

Up until the fall of the Soviet Union, there really wasnt a border, so Ukrainians are as comfortable in Russia as the Russians are  in Ukraine, Kearney, who served as chief of staff for Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, said on Tuesday.

The region was included in Russian president Vladimir Putins order last year to increase the state of readiness for attacks and improve defences.

A piece in The Conversation noted that though Ukraine says it is not involved in the incident, the attackers being equipped with the latest weapons indicates that these have been given by Ukraine and its allies.

The debate then is not really about the state of the attack or the advance. The question is rather whether has Kyiv launched an assault onto Russian soil and, if so, what are the consequences of that action? the piece enquired.

With inputs from agencies

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The death of a 95-year-old woman who was allegedly tasered by police at an Australian nursing home has sparked a controversy in the country.

Police in New South Wales posted a statement on Facebook that read, Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7 pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time.

The incident has led to demands for both the release of the police bodycam footage of the brawl and a state parliamentary investigation.

Lets take a closer look at the matter.

Also read: Australian man dies just after reaching summit of Mount Everest, in what climbers call the death zone

An elderly woman with dementia tasered

The great-grandmother, Clare Nowland, allegedly had a steak knife in her possession when she was discovered by officers at the Yallambee Lodge elderly care centre in Cooma.

Police were called to Nowlands care home in the New South Wales town of Cooma at around 4:15 a.m. due to complaints of a resident carrying a knife, according to NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter, who spoke to reporters last week.

At the time she was tasered, she was approaching police. It is fair to say at a slow pace. She had a walking frame. But she had a knife, he said.

The incident resulted in serious injuries for the dementia patient, including a skull fracture, according to BBC.

Two police officers body cameras recorded the event on video, but the footage hasnt been made available to the public.

The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb said at a hastily scheduled press conference on Wednesday night that she would wait until the investigation was complete before viewing the bodycam footage of the incident, despite pleas for its release.

The community of New South Wales have trust in their police force  this is one incident out of over two million calls for assistance we get every year.

On Wednesday night, NSW police minister Yasmin Catley sent her condolences to the Nowland family. On behalf of the NSW Government, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the Nowland family for the loss of their dearly loved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Clare Nowland, Catley said, according to CNN.

Our sympathies and thoughts are also extended to the community of Cooma, Mrs Nowlands friends, as well as the residents and carers at Cooma Yallambee Lodge. We will continue to offer support to the Nowland family as they mourn this loss and we urge people to respect their privacy at this time.

Family friend Andrew Thaler said before the incident Nowland was frail and unable to stand unaided. She weighed just 43 kilograms and was five-foot-two (1.58 meters) tall and was suffering from dementia, reported the outlet. After charges were laid, he questioned why it had taken police so long to act.

Why has it taken so long? Anyone else would have been charged straight away, Thaler said, as per the news outlet.

The police officer charged

According to The Guardian, senior policeman Kristian White, 33, who reportedly tasered Nowland, has been charged with assault causing real bodily harm, common assault, and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, all of which carry a possible 10-year jail sentence.

He is scheduled to appear in a local court in Cooma on 5 July.

Depending on Nowlands condition, according to Webb, the charges might be increased.

She defended removing White from duty unpaid and added that everyone is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Hes afforded the same opportunity as any other resident and his employment will continue to be reviewed, but at the moment hes still suspended from the workplace, she said.

Also read: Threat or Prank: Why did 65 women in Australia receive used condoms in mail?

The debate

The use of stun guns by the New South Wales state police, which are conducted energy devices under the Taser brand, has also come under scrutiny as a result of the Nowland case.

Despite the fact that they are a less lethal choice than employing weapons, they have occasionally proven to be more harmful than conventional policing measures.

According to NSW police policies, tasers should only be used on elderly or disabled people in exceptional circumstances.

It was a shocking incident, according to People with Disability Australias president Nicole Lee.

Shes either one hell of an agile, fit, fast and intimidating 95-year-old woman, or theres a very poor lack of judgement on those police officers and there really needs to be some accountability on their side, Lee said, according to ABC News.

She told the outlet, the 95-year-old woman needed someone to defuse the situation, talk to her, and manage her with patience and compassion rather than using a Taser. She further claimed that police frequently use force against people with disabilities.

De-escalation techniques for people suffering from psychosis, Alzheimers, dementia, psychosocial disabilities, autism, schizophrenia, or anything similar are clearly not sufficiently taught to police, according to Lee.

She believes the aged-care industry needs to do more to prevent events involving persons with dementia without resorting to force.

With inputs from agencies

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The worlds richest man is $11 billion poorer.

Bernand Arnault, who owns the conglomerate LVMH, saw a considerable drop in his fortune on Wednesday.

Lets take a closer look at what happened:

What happened?

According to Bloomberg, shares of LVMH  which includes luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon, and Christian Dior  dropped five per cent in Paris.

Edouard Aubin, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said this came as attendees at a luxury conference in Paris noted a relatively more subdued performance in the US.

The performance reflects weakness in the aspirational consumer in particular.

Luxury stocks across Europe declined on Wednesday with Bloomberg reporting that $30 billion was wiped out of the segment.

Deutsche Bank AG analysts added that the slowdown in the US is a growing concern.

Though the rebound in Chinese demand has been among the key drivers of strong sales, investors are likely to be picky from now, they said.

The luxury sector remains a crowded long for many investors, with the sectors premium to the market at historically high levels, Deutsche Bank analyst Matt Garland was quoted as saying.

What about Arnault?

Dont cry for the French tycoon  the 74-year-old remains the worlds richest man.

His net worth is currently at $192 billion, $29.5 billion of which hes added this year alone.

Arnault, the first European to ascend to the top of the worlds richest list, in April saw his net worth cross the $200 billion mark.

Arnault is only the third person in history to do so  after Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

The French businessman was consistently in top 10 of the worlds richest over the past couple of years but remained under Bezos and Metas Mark Zuckerberg.

Meanwhile, the fortune of Musk  whom he overtook in December as the worlds wealthiest man  is estimated at $180 billion.

LMVHs shares, which began the day at 825, are currently at 819.

According to Barrons, LMVH last month became the biggest company in Europe when measured by market cap  crossing the $500 billion mark.

LMVHs share price remains up by 23 per cent for the entire year, while the MSCI Europe Textiles Apparel & Luxury Goods Index this year is up 27 per cent  which shows the strength of the European luxury sector.

Who is Arnault?

Born in Roubaix, France, Arnault graduated from the elite engineering school Polytechnique.

Before moving to the US in 1981, he worked at his family business called Ferret Savinel.

In 1985, Arnault invested $15 million to buy the textile brand Christian Dior. The 73-year-old businessman used his expertise in European craftsmanship to turn LVMH into the worlds biggest luxury styling brand.

Expanding his business to new horizons, Arnault turned LVMH into a luxury behemoth selling champagne, wine, spirits, fashion, leather goods and much more through 5,500 stores worldwide.

Arnault last year removed the age limit for chief executive officers  which allows him to stay at the position until 80.

According to Bloomberg, unlike his fellow billionaires, Arnault likes to stay under the radar and rarely makes public appearances.

He has five children from two marriages  all of whom lend a hand in the family business.

With inputs from agencies

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Australia is embroiled in a dispute over the choice to skip lighting up the performing arts centre during King Charles IIIs coronation in favour of lighting up the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour in the colours of the Indian flag on Wednesday evening during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit.

Notably, the architectural wonders sails are coloured and illuminated for significant events like WorldPride, the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, and the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

The iconic, 50-year-old buildings sweeping curves, however, remained black for King Charles, who serves as Australias head of state.

Heres why it happened.

Also read: Namaste Australia: PM Modi gets rockstar welcome at Sydneys Qudos Bank Arena

The 1.4 billion reasons

The sails were lit, according to the Australian news agency, as PM Modi finished his three-day visit to the nation after nearly ten years. He last travelled there in 2014.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese was quoted as saying by news outlet 2GB, There are 1.4 billion reasons why we want the Indian flag on the opera house because it is the largest population in the world. One of the things about lighting up the Opera House is it projects our image to the world.

The Australian PM further added.Two thirds of those 1.4 billion people are under the age of 35, we want a relationship with them, we want them to come to Australia and bring their dollars.

#WATCH | The Sydney Harbour and Opera House light up in the colours of Indias national flag ahead of PM @narendramodis visit. @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/SeWKS3c6qU  DD News (@DDNewslive) May 24, 2023

The tricolour was last displayed on the Opera Houses sails in August of last year to mark the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence.

It should be noted here that PM Modi is the only leader of the so-called Quad nations to continue with his scheduled visit to Australia after US president Joe Biden pulled out of a planned meeting of the group in Sydney to return to Washington to focus on debt limit talks.

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, who hosted a Group of Seven summit last week, later cancelled his Australia trip as well.

Also read: The row over Sydney Opera Houses decision to not light up for coronation

Cost saving measure

According to AFP, the Australian state of New South Waless premier Chris Minns received criticism earlier this month for choosing not to set sail for the kings coronation. He made the choice based on the cost to the taxpayer.

New South Wales state premier Chris Minns said he had cancelled his predecessors plans to light up the building for King Charles.

I would like to keep it for Australia and Australians and moments of sacrifice and heroism for the country, or when theres an important international event in Sydney, Minns told a radio interviewer on Monday.

The premier said the buildings sails had been illuminated 70 times last year  compared with 23 times a decade earlier  at an estimated cost of AUS $80,000-100,000 ($54,000-67,000 or Rs 44-54 lakh) for each occasion.

People had many places to mark the coronation including on television, he told Sydneys 2GB radio.

The event was not taking place in Sydney, it was taking place in London, Minns said, adding, Of course, I respect the new king but I am mindful of where and when we spend taxpayer money.

The New South Wales premier said he would not apologise to those disappointed by the decision.

I have got no interest in antagonising people that believe in the monarchy, people who are royalists  of course not  but obviously I have got to be careful about where I spend their money, he said.

Earlier this month, during his conversation with Chris OKeefe of 2GB.

It wasnt our decision about the Kings Coronation, state governments took various decisions around the country. I was in the UK so I wasnt a party to any of those decisions, Albanese was quoted as saying by 2GB.

The crowning of the king, according to the prime minister, was honoured in Canberra with other suitable demonstrations. According to the article, Wednesday nights sail illumination will be paid for by the Australian federal government.

Also read: Why Narendra Modi uses his PR genius in India and abroad: Four good reasons

PM Modis rockstar treatment in Australia

Indian PM Modi was welcomed by around 20,000 cheering fans, many chanting Modi, at a Sydney stadium on Tuesday during his second visit to Australia as his countrys leader, according to Associated Press.

Modi shared the stage with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who compared the reception by the primarily Indian crowd at Qudos Bank Arena to a concert by U.S. rock star Bruce Springsteen at the same venue.

The last time I saw someone on the stage here was Bruce Springsteen and he didnt get the welcome that Prime Minister Modi has got, Albanese told the capacity crowd.

Prime Minister Modi is the Boss, Albanese added, using Springsteens nickname.

This morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Albanese met separately to discuss ways to advance relations between India and Australia. They discussed enhancing cooperation in the areas of commerce and investment, defence and security, renewable energy, green hydrogen, vital minerals, education, migration and mobility, and interpersonal ties as they signed multiple memoranda of understanding.

India is Australias sixth largest trading partner, with the two-way exchange of goods and services valued at 46.5 billion Australian dollars ($31 billion) last year.

Australia is eager to increase trade with India as a means of diversifying from China, Australias biggest trading partner. Australian efforts to improve trade relations with India have gained urgency in recent years as Beijing has imposed restrictions on certain Australian products.

India is a key strategic partner, Albanese told Parliament. We are both part of a growing and dynamic region and Prime Minister Modi is a very welcome visitor to our shores.

With inputs from agencies

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After receiving a rock-star reception at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney where Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese called his Indian counterpart the boss, the two leaders held wide-ranging talks aimed at boosting the ties in areas of renewable energy, trade and defence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also raised the issue of the vandalism of temples in Australia as well as the closure of the Indian consulate in Brisbane owing to growing Khalistan sentiments.

PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also, PM Modi said. He added that the Australian PM had assured him of strict action against those indulging in such vandalism.

Prime Minister Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also. It is not acceptable to us that anyone hurt the friendly and cordial ties between India and Australia by their actions or ideology, added Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In recent times, Australia has seen a rise in anti-India sentiment, courtesy Khalistani elements. Temples have been vandalised, people of Indian origin have been attacked and even the consulate has been defaced.

Heres a look at the growing Khalistan menace in Australia and how little has been done until now.

Attack on the Indian consulate in Brisbane

On 15 March, Khalistani supporters attacked the Indian consulate in Brisbane, forcing it to shut down.

The honorary consulate, located on Swann Road in the Taringa suburb of Brisbane in Australias Queensland was first targeted on the night of 21 February. Honorary Consul of India in Brisbane Archana Singh found a Khalistan flag attached to the office when she arrived on 22 February. She immediately notified the Queensland Police, which confiscated the flag and ensured that the consul was not under any immediate threat, reports news agency ANI.

The consulate was shut down on 15 March after Khalistani extremists blocked the entrance. Slogans were raised against Hindus calling them supremacists with Khalistan Zindabad, according to a report in The Australia Today.

The Queensland police said it was an unauthorised gathering.

Indian consulate was forced to close due to safety concerns after Sikhs for Justice targeted them with their propaganda, Sarah L Gates, director of Hindu Human Rights, told The Australia Today.

Sikhs for Justice is a United States-based group seeking a separate homeland for Sikhs, a Khalistan in Punjab. Its presence has been growing in countries like Australia and Canada with attacks on Hindus and temples growing.

Indians and Indian-Australian lives are getting affected because of increasing Khalistani activities.

Parvinder Singh, a resident of Queensland took leave from work for an appointment at the Indian consulate. His work was stalled. These thugs should not be allowed to dictate how we live our life in Australia, Singh told Australia Today. They are threatening us when we visit the Gururghar (gurdwara) and now Khalistani supporters are entering into our daily life for worse.

Till now, there have been attacks on Indian Australians. But now, the target is institutions belonging to the Indian government. This is a direct attack on the Government of India when the Indian Consulate in Brisbane is attacked (by Khalistani elements), J Bhardwaj, editor of the publication said while speaking to ANI.

The police have reportedly stepped up surveillance in the area. However, the increased activities of Khalistani supporters in the country cannot be ignored.

Terrorising Australian Hindu community

The last few months have seen several attacks on Hindu temples in Australia.

Since January, at least four Hindu temples were attacked by Khalistani elements.

On 8 March, as Albanese left for India, Shree Swaminarayan Mandir in Perth, Western Australia received a threatening call from Khalistan supporters. The man warned the temple president that Hindus should support Khalistan or face dire consequences, The Australia Today reports.

On 4 March, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Brisbane was vandalised, as anti-Hindu graffiti was scribbled on its wall. Khalistan supporters are terrorising the Australian Hindu community and making it a very traumatising experience to practice our religion and visit temples, a long-time resident of the suburb said.

Now, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple defaced in Brisbane, Australia. A week ago, Consulate of India in Brisbane was targeted by Khalistan supporters. pic.twitter.com/aHP0a8w4yn  Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) March 4, 2023



On 16 February, a priest of a Kali Mata temple in Melbourne received a threat for organising a bhajan (devotional songs) programme.

In January, two people were injured and two Sikh men were detained when two separate brawls broke out between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators in Melbourne during the so-called Punjab independence referendum.

In January, there were three attacks on Hindu temples in the city: The walls of Hare Krishna Temple located at Albert Park were defaced with Khalistan Zindabad and Hindustan Murdabad. The miscreants reportedly hailed slain Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as a martyr. Then the Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in the Carrum Downs suburb was vandalised during the Thai Pongal festival.

Among the first attacks, this year was at the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Melbourne. It was defaced with anti-India graffiti, demeaning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by local Khalistani supporters on 12 January.

Indias concern

The Hindu population in Australia is growing fast. The 2021 census found there were about 210,000 Sikhs in Australia  up from 130,000 in 2016  with almost half this cohort living in Victoria. The number of Hindus in Australia grew from 440,300 in 2016 to 684,000 in 2021. Immigration has made it the fast-growing religion in the country.

The Indian government is concerned and has brought up the matter time and again.

When Albanese was in India in early March, the attacks by Khalistan supporters on Hindu religious sites was discussed. It is a matter of regret that reports of attacks on temples have come regularly from Australia over the past few weeks. It is natural that such news worries everyone in India, disturbs our mind, Prime Minister Modi in a joint press conference with Albanese had said.

Foreign ministers  Penny Wong of Australia and S Jaishankar of India  had discussed the matter in their bilateral talks as well in February. During his visit to Sydney, the Indian diplomat emphasised the need for vigilance against radical activities.

In January, when the attacks began, the Indian High Commission in Canberra issued a strongly worded condemnation, blaming pro-Khalistan groups like Sikhs for Justice. The frequency and impunity with which the vandals appear to be operating are alarming, as are the graffiti which include glorification of anti-Indian terrorists. These incidents are clear attempts to sow hatred and division among the peaceful multi-faith and multi-cultural Indian-Australian community," said the High Commission.

Signals that pro-Khalistan elements are stepping up their activities in Australia, actively aided and abetted by members of proscribed terrorist organisations such as the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and other inimical agencies from outside Australia, have been evident for some time, it added.

Assurances from Australia

Albanese has reportedly assured PM Modi that the Australian authorities will deal with the matter to assure social stability.

The Australian leader said that such attacks have no place in his country, we will take every action, through our police and security agencies, to make sure anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law.

The time is now for Canberra to act on its promise.

With inputs from agencies

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The new Parliament building  four storeys high and spread across 65,000 square metres  is in the middle of a political slugfest. The inauguration of the building on 28 May has devolved into a war of words between the Opposition, namely the Congress, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Their grouse: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the building on Sunday rather than President Droupadi Murmu. The parties have pointed out that according to the Constitution, the President of the country is an integral part of the Parliament and in accordance with the same, President Murmu should be inaugurating the new building.

The issue has escalated to a point where the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced that they will be skipping the ceremony, with even the Congress likely to join them.

TMCs leader in Rajya Sabha Derek OBrien wrote on Twitter, Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules  it is the foundation of Indian democracy. Prime Minister Modi doesnt get that. For him, Sundays inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh too tweeted, Not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new Parliament building is a great insult to her. This is also an insult to the tribals. The Aam Aadmi party will boycott the inauguration function in protest of Modi ji not inviting the President.

While the government hasnt issued a statement on the same, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri reacting to the row, criticised the Congress saying that it was Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi who inaugurated the Parliament annexe and library respectively in the past.

#WATCH | In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why cant our head of government do the same?: Union Minister Hardeep pic.twitter.com/syv8SXGwIS  ANI (@ANI) May 23, 2023

Congress leader Manish Tewari hit back at Puris statement, alleging that the minister is trying to obfuscate and dissimulate.

Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, I am afraid, is trying to obfuscate and dissimulate. There is a difference between an annexe to the Parliament, library and a new Parliament building, he said in a tweet.

We take a look back at what are these buildings that were inaugurated and who had inaugurated them?

Parliament House Annexe

After Independence as activities at Parliament increased, a need for more space was felt by the leaders of India. According to Parliament House Estate, a document published by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Parliament House Annexe was built for this reason  to accommodate Parliament Parties/Groups, Meeting Halls for Parties/Groups, Committee Rooms and Offices for the Chairpersons of Parliamentary Committees and for the Secretariats for the two Houses.

The building was designed by J M Benjamin, chief architect of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and on 3 August 1970, President VV Giri laid the foundation stone for the structure. Five years later, on 24 October, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated the building.

The building had three wings as well as a covered plaza for car parking. The front and rear blocks of the building were three-storeys high while the central block had six floors along with a terrace.

Also read: How new Parliament building is at the centre of naming row

Parliament Library

The Parliament Library is one of the finest and richest repositories in the country. On 15 August 1987, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation stone for the new structure called Sansadiya Gyanpeeth and it was inaugurated on 7 May 2002, by then President K R Narayanan.

Spread over four floors with covered area of 60,460 square metres, the library is a centrally air conditioned building equipped with state of the art technology.

Parliament Annexe Extension Building

In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Parliament House Annexe Extension Building which has committee rooms, an auditorium, a banquet hall and chambers for chairpersons of Standing Committees in the presence of then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.

The foundation stone of the extension building was laid in May 2009 by Vice-President M Hamid Ansari and then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The construction work started in May 2011 and was completed in December 2016.

The building had two blocks spread across 39,495 square metres. The first block titled A was three storeys high and four committee rooms, an auditorium, a banquet hall, call-on rooms and a few office rooms. The second, Block B, was six floors high and had 41 chambers for chairpersons of Standing Committees and branches of the committees.

Constitution Speaks

As the slugfest between the two continues, heres what the Constitution says about the role of the President.

According to the Constitution, the powers of President entail executive, legislative, judiciary, emergency, and military powers. The legislative powers included both Houses of the Parliament, that is Lok Sabha (Lower House) and Rajya Sabha (Upper House).

In Article 79 it is further stated that, There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and the two Houses  Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of People (Lok Sabha).

Article 74 (1) of the Indian Constitution specifies: There shall be a Council of Ministers with the prime minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice: Provided that the President may require the council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, either generally or otherwise, and the President shall act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration.

Article 87 also states that the President must address both the Houses before every Parliament session. The bills passed by both the Houses cant become an act without greenlight given by the President.

Thus, the Constitution gives the President a very significant role in the functioning of the Parliament.

With inputs from agencies

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The Rs 2000 note has got many Indians fretting. Since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of the high-value currency, confusion and panic have prevailed. Several reassurances from the central bank have not helped. Few want to stand in long bank queues to exchange or deposit notes and are finding ways to offload them. They are buying everything from gold to mangoes.

The withdrawal of the Rs 2000 note has brought back memories of November 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a sudden demonetisation announcement. While the Rs 2000 notes will continue to be legal tender even after the 30 September deadline to deposit them, Indians seem to be in a rush to spend the money.

People are thronging shops and petrol pumps, using the Rs 2000 notes to buy luxury goods and more. Much of this could be unaccounted money and those who have a huge stash dont want to go to the banks, fearing the tax department.

Also read: Are Rs 2000 notes being withdrawn because of black money? What happens after 30 September?

Mangoes and luxury watches

Many are desperate and going on a shopping spree, getting their hands on everything and anything they can. It is mango season and some have decided to splurge on the expensive fruit.

A lot of people are using 2,000-rupee notes to pay for mangoes since Saturday, Mohammad Azhar, 30, a mango seller near Mumbais Crawford Market area told Reuters.

He said that he has been getting at least eight to 10 notes every day. I accept it. I have no option, its my business. I will deposit everything at once before 30 September. There is no fear since the note is valid.

The number of cash payments has gone up in the last couple of days. Food delivery firm Zomato said on its Twitter account on Monday that 72 per cent of the cash on delivery orders were paid in 2,000-rupee notes since Friday.

Even shopkeepers are making the most of the rush. A meat shop in Delhi put up a poster with a tempting offer: Give Rs 2000 and get goods worth Rs 2100.

If you think RBI is smart, think again cos Delhites are much smarter. What an innovative way to increase your sales! #2000Note pic.twitter.com/ALb2FNDJi0  Sumit Agarwal  (@sumitagarwal_IN) May 22, 2023

But there are that many mangoes and that much food you can buy. For those who have lakhs and lakhs in the Rs 2000 denomination, spending on luxury goods seems like a viable choice.

I dont want to stand in the bank queue and I have many notes to get rid of. Buying a Rolex seems like a good investment, said a businesswoman from Mumbai, who didnt want to be named.

An outlet of luxury watch Rado in a mall in central Mumbai has seen a 60 to 70 per cent increase in 2000-rupee notes since Fridays announcement. Michael Martis, store manager at the store, told Reuters, That has increased our watch sales to 3-4 pieces per day from three to four pieces a day.

Temple donations

Not knowing how and where to spend, some have turned to god. Temple donations have seen a jump in several cities and towns as people are hurrying to disburden the Rs 2000 notes.

The temple administration of Maa Jwala Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district found 400 notes of the Rs 2000 denomination deposited in the donation box installed on its premises. The money, which amounts to Rs 8 lakh, will be used for developing temple facilities, according to reports.

Suresh Kumar, the temples junior engineer, told India Today that several devotees visit the temple and often make such offerings.

Gold rush

Gold is the obvious choice for those with more unaccounted money. Some are reportedly panic buying.

In Mumbais Zaveri Bazaar, the gold market, some jewellers were reportedly charging a premium for the purchase of the precious metal for accepting the Rs 2000 notes. A day after the RBI announcement, on Saturday, gold was sold in the unofficial market for around Rs 67,000 (per 10 grammes) when paid for with 2,000 notes, compared with the official rate of 63,800 (including GST). In the Ahmedabad grey market, the gold when bought with Rs 2,000 notes hit 70,000 (per 10 grammes), according to a report in The Economic Times.

Also read: India scraps the Rs 2000 note: Will this affect the economy?

However, this practice only exists in the unorganised sector. There have been a lot of inquiries about purchasing gold or silver with Rs 2,000 notes, hence the higher footfalls on Saturday. However, due to strict KYC norms actual purchase has been less, Saiyam Mehra, the chairman of All India Gem And Jewellery Domestic Council told news agency PTI.

Jewellers in Delhis Chandni Chowk said that their demand for a premium from customers was rejected.

Surendra Mehta, national secretary of the India Bullion & Jewellers Association, told moneycontrol, If somebody is buying gold using these notes, there should not be any issue. There are no jewellers who are charging a premium while accepting Rs 2,000 notes. It is business as usual. All premium-related news are rumours  there is no truth to it.

Buying gold in cash for an amount exceeding Rs 2 lakh in a single day is a violation of the income tax law. The receiver of the cash in such a transaction would become liable to pay a penalty of the amount transacted in cash as per Section 271D of the Income Tax Act, reports ET.

Property

Those trying to offload a large number of notes could consider purchasing land on the outskirts of small towns or buying residential stock from the secondary real estate market.

One may witness a spurt in land deals going forward in upcoming locations and even in ready-to-move-in inventory held by builders. Also, the impact would be more in the secondary market rather than the primary market, said a real estate expert told moneycontrol.



Petrol

Petrol pumps across India are seeing a surge in customers, lining up with Rs 2000 notes. Many are buying fuel worth Rs 100 to Rs 200 and paying with high-value notes.

According to the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, from just 10 per cent before the RBIs Friday announcement, the share of Rs 2,000 notes in cash transactions at petrol pumps has gone up to 90 per cent. Digital payments, which made up 40 per cent of fuel pumps total sales, have reduced to 10 per cent, reports The Indian Express.

The majority of the customers are trying to use Rs 2,000 notes even for small purchases of Rs 100-200 and are expecting change from the petrol pumps and hence the petrol outlets are extremely short of change across the country, the association said in a statement.

With inputs from agencies

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Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, will perform the physical spud-in

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday flag off an oil drilling campaign at the Lake Chad Basin (Wadi-B Well) in Tuba community, Jere Local Government Area, Borno State.

The event, which will be attended by oil experts and government officials in Borno, is in continuation of the efforts by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to drill oil in the frontier basins.

In November 2022, the NNPC announced that it discovered oil in the Kolmani River (upper Benue trough) between Gombe and Bauchi states after months of drilling.

In March, the company did a spud-in at the Ebenyi A well in Obi LGA of Nasarawa State.

For the spud-in of the Wadi-B Well on Tuesday, Mr Buhari is expected to join in virtually while the Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, will perform the physical spud-in.

Wadi-B

The Wadi-B wells are located in Jere LGA of Borno state, about 50 kilometre away from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

The wells are estimated to have a total depth of 14 thousand feet.

Officials noted that seismic acquisition started in 1995 but in recent years, it was stalled midway due to insurgency.
Taiwan on Tuesday announced that its last comfort woman has passed away.

The survivor, known only as grandma, died on 10 May at age 92.

The comfort woman issue is a wound in human history and the government has attached great importance to the dignity and welfare of former Taiwanese (survivors), Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Jeff Liu said on Tuesday.

But what are comfort women?

Lets take a closer look:

Origins of term

According to BBC, the term comfort women has been given to people that were forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese Army during World War II.

The term comes from the Japanese word ianfu  which combines the Chinese characters comfort or solace (i-an) and woman (fu)

Imperial Japan, which occupied among other places Korea, China, the Philippines and Taiwan, forced around 200,000 women into sex slavery between in 1932 and 1945.

Of these, an estimated 2,000 were from Taiwan.

A United Nations report said such brothels seem to have been found wherever the Japanese army was based.

According to History.com, while Japan had brothels for its military since 1932, they became widespread after its troops destroyed the Chinese city of Nanking and raped between 20,000 and 80,000 Chinese women.  also known as the Rape of Nanking.

It was Emperor Hirohito, keeping in mind Japans reputation in the aftermath of the Rape of Nanking, who ordered an increase in such military brothels.

The aim behind it was to avoid a repeat of such incidents, prevent the outbreak of disease among troops and satiate the appetite of Japanese soldiers.

The military, which set up hundreds of such brothels, set the tariffs, service hours and hygiene standards.

Initially, some were adult prostitutes or women from poor Japanese families, historians say.

But according to NPR, Japans troops kidnapped or tricked many of the women and girls into working in the brothels.

Recruiters resorted to deception  violence and outright coercion, according to the United Nations report.

Brutal stories come to light after decades

The comfort women faced brutal conditions, as per History.com.

It was not a place for humans, one survivor told Deutsche Welle in 2013.

There was no rest,  another recalled.

They had sex with me every minute.

The Diplomat, quoting from a Japanese military regulation on comfort women said one woman was assigned to 100 soldiers.

On holidays or prior to a battle, each woman would sexually service 70 to 80 troops.

Around 90 per cent of comfort women did not survive World War II.

The few that survived did not give voice to their trauma for decades.

Such stories only became widespread in the early 1990s after lawsuits were filed against Japan seeking accountability and financial compensation, as per NPR.

A South Korean woman was the first to step forward and was later joined by some others.

Of the 239 South Korean women who officially registered themselves as comfort women, to obtain subsidies and benefits, few remain alive.

Experts believe many others have never come forward.

Critics say Japan reticent to take full responsibility

Japan itself only acknowledged the plight of the survivors in 1993, as per Smithsonian Magazine.

The government in 1995 established the Asian Womens Fund to compensate the survivors  each victim would get two million yen (Rs 12 lakh) and a letter of apology from the then prime minister Tomiichi Murayama.

Some take issue with the term itself.

Manila-based attorney Romel Bagares, who has these survivors for over a decade and a half, told NPR it hides the untold abuse the victims suffered under the Japanese Imperial Army and denies the victims the dignity they deserve.

Womens rights advocates want the term to be renamed survivors of the wartime female slavery system.

Japans wartime enslavement of women is a politically charged issue across Asia.

In August 2018, Taiwan erected its first public statue paying tribute to comfort women.

The statue  showing a girl with her arms raised in defiance  caused tension between the two countries, as per Smithsonian Magazine.

Taiwan earlier opened a museum dedicated to survivors.

While the Japanese government has acknowledged past atrocities, critics say officials throughout the decades have refused to take full responsibility for the enslavement of women.

The Japanese government has insisted the victims were recruited by civilians to military brothels that were commercially operated.

In 2015, Japan and South Korea reached an agreement to resolve differences between the term.

While the two foreign ministers at the time read a statement together and the countries agreed to solve the issue finally and irreversibly, Abe took another tack to the National Assembly, as per To procure enough women to meet the demands of the army, recruiters resorted to deception  violence and outright coercion, according to the report.

There was no document found that the comfort women were forcibly taken away, Abe was quoted as saying.

Nine months later, South Korea asked Abe for a letter of apology  to which he replied, I have no intention of apologising again.

The issue has sparked protests in Taiwan, with womens groups lobbying for compensation for its survivors  something only South Korea has formally received.

Japan paid survivors in South Korea a billion yen, as per The Diplomat.

In Taiwan, which Japan ruled from 1895-1945, nearly 60 women had come forward over the years as survivors, according to Taipeis Womens Rescue Foundation.

The foundation said even after the death of the last grandma they will continue to demand that Japan compensate victims.

Although all the grandmas have passed away, we believe that their spirit will remain in our hearts forever, the group said, vowing to advocate for the history of Taiwanese survivors to be included in school books.

This piece of history will not disappear due to the death of the grandmas.

(The government) has continued to express concerns to the Japanese government and urge the Japanese side to face our demand to apologise and compensate Taiwanese comfort women and their families, Liu added.

Comfort women after WWII

In fact, the practice of comfort women didnt end with just World War II.

The country after surrender set up a similar system for American troops.

This, with tacit approval from the US occupation authorities.

A 2007 review of historical documents and records, some never before translated into English, found that American authorities at the time permitted the official brothel system to operate despite internal reports that women were being coerced into prostitution.

The Americans by then also had full knowledge by then of Japans atrocious treatment of women in countries across Asia that it conquered during the war.

Tens of thousands of women were employed to provide cheap sex to US troops until the spring of 1946, when Gen. Douglas MacArthur shut the brothels down.

With inputs from agencies

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For foreign students in the United Kingdom, theres some bad news. Those feeling homesick and who wish to bring their family over wont be able to do so anymore as the British authorities announced a new immigration crackdown.

The UK government on Tuesday announced a new immigration crackdown targeted at overseas students, including Indians, and their visa right to bring dependant family members to the country while enrolled at a British institution.

The new changes to the student visa route will apply to overseas masters students at British universities. However, the norms will not cover international students on post-graduate research routes such as PhDs, whose training often lasts between three to five years. According to the Home Office, the regulations will go into effect in January of next year.

Lets take a closer look.

Crackdown on bringing dependants

Home Secretary Suella Braverman in a written statement to the House of Commons said that only international students on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes will be allowed to bring in their family members, including children and elderly parents, as their dependants.

As per the current graduate visa rules, masters students can bring their partners and children to the country with them. They can stay for 24 months after the students courses finish.

This package includes: removing the right for international students to bring dependants unless they are on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes, Bravermans statement notes.

Removing the ability for international students to switch out of the student route into work routes before their studies have been completed and reviewing the maintenance requirements for students and dependants are listed among the other new measures.

We have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of student dependants being brought into the country with visas. It is time for us to tighten up this route to ensure we can cut migration numbers and meet the governments pledge to the British people to cut net migration, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said.

This is the fair thing to do to allow us to better protect our public services, while supporting the economy by allowing the students who contribute the most to keep coming here, she added.

The minister also pledged steps to clamp down on unscrupulous education agents who may be supporting inappropriate applications to sell immigration not education.

Improved and more targeted enforcement activity is also listed within the new package.

The terms of the graduate route remain unchanged We are committed to attracting the brightest and the best to the UK. Therefore, our intention is to work with universities over the course of the next year to design an alternative approach that ensures that the best and the brightest students can bring dependants to our world-leading universities while continuing to reduce net migration, she said.

The move comes as the Rishi Sunak government battles record-high migration to the UK despite the Conservatives election promise to bring the overall numbers down. The new curbs are expected to be enforced as soon as possible, after consultation with the educational sector and key stakeholders.

UK sees sharp rise in dependants

The Indian-origin minister said the new package of measures was necessary after it emerged that around 136,000 visas were granted to dependants of sponsored students in the year ending December 2022 a more than eight-fold increase from 16,000 in 2019.

The crackdown was widely expected as reports indicated that the UKs latest net migration figures to be released later this week will show a massive rise from 504,000 between June 2021 and 2022 despite a Conservative Party-led government pledge to bring down immigration in the wake of Brexit.

While the vast majority of students will be unaffected by proposals that limit the ability to be accompanied by dependants, more information is needed on the programmes that are in scope before a proper assessment of the impact can be made, said Jamie Arrowsmith, Director of Universities UK International (UUKI) the representative body for 140 UK universities.

Yet we do know that any changes are likely to have a disproportionate impact on women and students from certain countries. We, therefore, urge the government to work with the sector to limit and monitor the impact on particular groups of students and on universities, which are already under serious financial pressures, he said.

Also Read: UKs asylum plan to stop Channel crossings and why it is so controversial

The UUKI welcomed confirmation that the new Graduate route visa, which allows students to stay on and seek work experience for up to three years at the end of their degree, will remain open and competitive.

Indian students in UK



International students, including Indians, contribute nearly 10 times more to the UK economy than they take out, according to a report by UK higher education institutions.

Indians, who recently overtook Chinese as the leading nationality granted study visas to the UK, are the highest cohort to access this visa launched in July 2021. As per official data for 2020-21, there were 87,045 Indian first-year enrollments behind Chinas 99,965 and ahead of Nigerias 32,945.

Data reveals students have caused the sudden spurt in migration post COVID with a rise of 81 per cent since 2019. According to Financial Times, students, especially those from Nigeria and India, have become more likely to bring family with them, with 135,788 visas granted to dependants in 2022, up from 16,047 in 2019.

In terms of the number of dependants accompanying these students, Nigerians rank the highest followed by Indians.

The Home Office added that the changes to the student visa route do not detract from the success of the governments International Education Strategy, including meeting the target to host 600,000 international higher education students studying in the UK each year by 2030.

Attracting the top students from around the world isnt just good for our universities  its essential for our economy and building vital global relationships, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said. However, she added that the number of family members being brought to the UK by students has risen significantly.

With inputs from PTI

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YSRCP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday confirmed that his party will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building scheduled on 28 May while Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is yet to decide.

Terming this event a historic one, the CM said YSRCP will attend it in the true spirit of democracy.

In the true spirit of democracy, my party will attend this historic event, tweeted Reddy, congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dedicating a grand, majestic and spacious Parliament building to the nation.

Meanwhile, Odishas ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday also said it will take part in the inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28 May, even as 19 Opposition parties including the Congress have decided to boycott the upcoming event.

The BJD believes that Constitutional institutions should be above any issue which may affect their sanctity and honour, the regional party said in a statement.

The BJD shall be a part of this momentous occasion, it said.

The party claims to be following a policy of maintaining equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress.

Stating that the President is the Head of the Indian State, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said that the Parliament represents the 1.4 billion people of the country.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the principal Opposition party in Andhra Pradesh is yet to declare its stance on the event, even as spokesperson Pattabhiram Kommareddy told PTI that a formal announcement may emerge in a day or two from the top leadership.

As many as 19 opposition political parties, including Congress, have issued a joint statement stating that they would boycott the inauguration, with the primary reason being the inauguration of the building by PM Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself and allegedly completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu.

With inputs from PTI

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The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday launched a sharp counterattack on Opposition parties over their decision to boycott the new Parliament buildings inauguration, slamming their stand as a blatant affront to democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation.

Noting that Parliament is a hallowed institution, the beating heart of Indias democracy and the epicentre of decision-making that shapes and influences the lives of citizens, they said the Oppositions flagrant disrespect towards this institution betrays not only intellectual bankruptcy but a disturbing contempt for the very essence of democracy.

In a statement, leaders of 14 parties of the ruling alliance also implored the Opposition parties to reconsider their decision and said the people of India will not forget their egregious insult to our democracy and to their elected representatives if they stick to their stand.

Their actions today will echo through the annals of history, casting a long shadow over their legacy. We urge them to think about the nation and not individual political gains, they said in the statement.

The staunch opposition to her candidature is not just an insult to her but a direct affront to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes of our nation, the Opposition parties said in the statement.

With the Congress and several other parties claiming that the 28 May inauguration of the building by prime minister Narendra Modi and not by president Droupadi Murmu is an insult to the highest constitutional office, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hit back.

It recalled their opposition to her presidential bid as the NDA candidate and said their disrespect shown towards her was a new low in political discourse.

This act (boycott) is not merely disrespectful; it is a blatant affront to the democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation, the NDA added.

The signatories to the letter included BJP president J P Nadda, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, NPP leader and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Nagaland Chief Minister Nefu Rio (NDPP), Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (SKM), Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga (Mizo National Front) and Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala (Jananayak Janata Party).

RLJP leader and Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, Republican Party leader and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, Apna Dal (S) leader and Union Minister Anupriya Patel are among the other signatories to the letter.

Regrettably, these leaders said, this is not the first instance of such disdain of Opposition parties towards Parliament.

Over the past nine years, they have repeatedly shown scant regard for parliamentary procedures, disrupted sessions, staged walkouts during crucial legislations and demonstrated an alarming lackadaisical attitude towards their parliamentary duties, the NDA leaders said.

This recent boycott is just another feather in their cap of disregard for democratic processes. The audacity of these Opposition parties to preach about parliamentary decency and constitutional values is, in the light of their actions, nothing short of laughable, they said in the statement.

The Oppositions hypocrisy knows no bounds, the NDA said, noting that it had boycotted the special GST session presided over by former president Pranab Mukherjee, skipped the ceremony when Mukherjee was awarded the Bharat Ratna and even extended a late courtesy call to Ramnath Kovind upon his election as president.

The ruling alliance said the Oppositions conduct is rooted in history.

The same parties imposed the Emergency, a horrifying period in Indias history, suspending civil liberties and democratic processes. Their habitual misuse of Article 356 further exposes their blatant disregard for constitutional principles, it said, in a swipe at the Congress.

The NDA said it is painfully apparent that the Opposition shuns Parliament because it represents the will of the people, a will that has repeatedly rejected their antiquated and self-serving politics.

Their preference for semi-monarchic governments and family-run parties shows an aversion to vibrant democracy, an ideology incongruent with the ethos of our nation. Their unity is marked not by a shared vision for national development, but by a shared practice of vote bank politics and a propensity for corruption, it said.

These parties can never hope to fulfil the aspirations of the people, the NDA added.

What these parties are perpetrating is a disgrace to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar Patel and the legacy of countless others who served this nation faithfully, it alleged.

Their actions tarnish the values these leaders upheld and worked tirelessly to instil in the countrys democracy, the ruling alliance said.

As we celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, it is not divisiveness we need, but unity and a shared commitment to the welfare of our people, the NDA leaders said in the statement, urging for a reconsideration of the Oppositions boycott decision.

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK leader E Palaniswami, MP G K Vasan of the Tamil Maanila Congress, AJSUs Sudesh Mahto and Devanathan of IMKMK are also part of the NDA statement.

As many as 19 Opposition parties, including Congress, TMC, SP and AAP had earlier announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building, saying they find no value in a new building when the soul of democracy has been sucked out.

They said Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response.

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The new Parliament building of India will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 28 May, but 19 opposition parties led by the Congress will boycott the event, saying the decision of the PM to inaugurate it himself and completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu insults the high office of President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

The President is not only the Head of State in India, but also an integral part of the Parliament. The Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her, the joint statement of like-minded opposition parties read.

The 19 opposition parties said Article 79 of the Constitution of India states, There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.

Which 19 opposition parties are boycotting Parliament building inauguration?

1- Indian National Congress (INC)

2- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

3- Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

4- Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray)

5- Samajwadi Party (SP)

6- Communist Party of India (CPI)

7- Jharkhand Mukhti Morcha (JMM)

8- Kerala Congress (Mani)

9- Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi

10- Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)

11- Trinamool Congress (TMC)

12- Janata Dal (United) (JD(U))

13- Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)

14- Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M)

15- Rashtriya Janata Dal (RLD)

16- Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)

17- National Conference (NC)

18- Revolutionary Socialist Party

19- Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Also Read: Hands of Gold: PM Modi to honour 60,000 workers who built new Parliament building

Undemocratic acts not new

The parties further alleged that undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament.

Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct, the joint-statement read.

The new Parliament building has been built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built, it read.

When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight  in letter, in spirit, and in substance  against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India, the statement concluded.

In December 2000, the Congress and a number of Opposition parties skipped the foundation-laying ceremony of the new Parliament building.

Who called for the boycott?

The boycott call this time gathered pace from Tuesday after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP announced their decision to skip the event following a meeting between chiefs of both the parties. Kejriwal met Mamata to seek her support against the Centres ordinance on control of administrative services in the capital.

The CPI and the CPI(M) also announced on Tuesday their decision to boycott the event.

Who will attend new Parliament building inauguration?

The BJP and members of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be attending the inauguration.

Odishas Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is expected to attend as it has not signed the opposition statement or announced its stand on this issue.

Telanganas ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is also likely to attend. It is expected to a final call on Thursday.

The YSRCP of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy will attend the ceremony, party MP Vijaysai Reddy confirmed on Wednesday.

With inputs from agencies

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Sealing the deal for those looking at disposing currency, a Delhi meat shop has put out a smart offer to lure customers as well as to boost sales. The RBIs decision to withdraw the Rs 2,000 currency note has triggered a frenzy among those hoarding cash at home. They do not know what to do with Rs 2000 denomination notes stashed away as savings. People are scrambling to get their hands on cash, and petrol pumps have become cash transaction hotspots. And, in most cases, customers are doling out Rs 2,000 notes.

Amid the ensuing chaos, a smart Delhi shopkeeper decided to make the most of it. The internet is buzzing with viral pictures that feature a poster displayed by a meat shop in Delhis GTB Nagar. The image shows the pink notes  the Rs. 2,000 currency notes, cleverly stuck on the poster alongside a catchy message that says, Give us Rs 2000 and take goods of Rs 2100 from Sardar, a pure meat shop, G.T.B Nagar.

The smart marketing move has not gone unnoticed by netizens who reacted with admiration. One user commented, Business sense is all about grabbing the opportunity. Another user commented, Mahatma Gandhi will not even be able to see that his value is lost in a Delhi meat shop.

Netizens also pointed out similar tactics used by shops in various cities. One user remarked, Its not limited to Delhi or any specific place; every business is jumping in to earn as much as they can.

Another user shared a witty anecdote, saying, Bengalureans are even smarter. We order food online for Cash on Delivery and pay with a Rs 2000 note.

Mahatma Gandhi ne socha bhi nahi hoga ki meat shop me unki value badh jaayegi pic.twitter.com/0j8K86jzdj  Sagar (@sagarcasm) May 23, 2023

Earlier, last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it was withdrawing Rs 2,000 denomination notes from circulation. Beginning May 23, the RBIs 19 regional offices and other banks began accepting Rs 2,000 notes in exchange for lower denomination currency.

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The Gyanvapi Mosque committee on Wednesday opposed Hindu worshippers plea for ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) survey of the mosque premises and said, Neither Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was cruel, nor did he demolish any Lord Adi Vishweshwar Temple in Varanasi.

The Masjid Committee (Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee) denied the claim made by Hindu Worshippers that Lord Adi Vishweshwar temple was attacked and destroyed by a Muslim invader and Raja Tondal Mal restored the temple at the same place in 1580 AD.

The application by the committee added that the said averment was made with the aim of creating hatred among Hindu Muslims.

The structure or building which is present on the spot, Masjid Alamgiri / Gyanvapi Masjid, has been there for thousands of years, it was a mosque yesterday and is still a mosque, and the Muslims of Varanasi and neighbouring districts, as a matter of right, without any restrictions, have been offering Namaz Panjgana and Namaz Zuma and Namaz Idaan, the application stated.

No Shiva Linga inside Gyanvapi Mosque premises

The Masjid Committee also mentioned that contrary to the claims of the Hindu worshippers, no Shiva Linga was found last year inside the Gyanvapi Mosque premises during the court monitored videography survey. It further alleged that the object that was being claimed to be a Shiva Linga, is actually a Fauvara (Fountain).

It further said that there was no concept of two Kashi Vishwanath temples (old and new) in Varanasi.

Stating these points in its application, the Masjid Committee prayed for the rejection of plea by the Hindu Worshipers and stated that the ASI cant be ordered to survey the premises as seeing at the pictures, it can be ascertained that the disputed site is a mosque.

The Muslim Committee further alleged that it is not permissible under the Law that evidence is made to be collected by a commission or by way of a scientific probe.

The application also stated that in relation to the disputed property, a suit is pending in the court of Civil Judge (C.D.) FT C, Varanasi, in which in April 2021 AD Order was passed to the ASI to conduct a survey, against which, a writ plea was moved before the Allahabad High Court, which is under consideration and on which both the above writs have been reserved for orders after the completion of arguments by the parties. In such a situation, the question of getting the survey done by the ASI points again in respect of the same property does not arise, it added.

Meanwhile, a Varanasi Court on Wednesday allowed an application moved before it seeking to consolidate eight Gyanvapi-related suits pending before various courts. All the matters will now be heard together by the district judges court.

With inputs from LiveLaw

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will honour and felicitate 60,000 workers who built the new Parliament building which will be dedicated to India on 28 May Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said.

Around 60,000 Shram Yogis have contributed in record-time construction of this Parliament building. PM Modi will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on 28 May. This new Parliament building is a testimony to PMs foresightedness, Shah said.

This is going to be a foundational event, and it will mark Amrit Kaal in India, the Union Home Minister added.

Shah emphasised that the new Parliament building has been constructed in record time.

Date & Time of Indias new Parliament building inauguration

Date and day: 28 May, 2023 (Sunday)

Time : Around noon

Tamil Nadus Sengol to be placed in Indias new Parliament building

Shah announced reintroduction of Sengol (scepter) a historical symbol of Indias Independence as it signifies the transfer of power from the British to Indians.

Sengol was gifted by a group of priests from Tamil Nadu on the eve of Indias independence.

Sengol holds a great significance in Indias history. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru accepted Sengol around 10:45 PM of 14 August, 1947 through the Adhinam of Tamil Nadu. It was a sign of shift of power from British to the people of our country, Shah said.

The minister went on to say that Sengol holds huge significance in Indian, especially Tamil culture.

Sengol has been important from the time of the Chola dynasty This Sengol will be kept in New Parliament PM Modi will accept this Sengol and it will be placed near the Speakers chair, he said.

PM Modi will dedicate the newly constructed building of Parliament to the nation on 28th May. A historical event is being revived on this occasion. The historic sceptre, Sengol, will be placed in new Parliament building. It was used on August 14, 1947, by PM Nehru when the pic.twitter.com/NJnsdjNfrN  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023

Where is Sengol now?

As per the minister, Sengol was kept at a museum in Allahabad. "It is inappropriate to keep this sacred Sengol in a museum," Shah said.

"There cannot be a more suitable, holy and appropriate place than the Parliament Building for housing the Sengol. That is why on the day of dedication to the nation of the Parliament Building, our Prime Minister, with great humility, will accept Sengol through Tamil Nadu Adhinam," he added.

"The one accorded the Sengol is expected to furnish the just and impartial rule. The incident of getting this pious Sengol at the time of India's independence was widely covered by media the world over, Shah said.

History of Sengol

Sengol derives its name from the Tamil world "semmai" which means "righteousness".

Ahead of 15 August, 1947, there were several times when the last Viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten, asked Nehru what would mark the transfer of power when India attains Independence.

Nehru, the first prime minister of Independent India, sought advice from country's last Governor General C Rajagopalachari who told him about the Tamil tradition of the high priest handing over a Sengol to a new king when he comes to power.

As per reports, Rajagopalachari said the tradition was followed during the reign of the Cholas and suggested it could mark India's freedom from British Raj.

Rajagopalachari was then asked to arrange a Sengol for the historic moment of India's independence. He contacted Thiruvaduthurai Atheenam, a prominent mutt in present-day Tamil Nadu.

The then seer of the mutt accepted the responsibility and a Sengol was made by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a jeweller in then Madras which was five feet long and has a 'nandi' bull on top, symbolising justice.

As per reports, a senior priest of the mutt had first handed over the Sengol to Mountbatten and then took it back. It was then sprinkled with gangajal and was taken in a procession to the then PM Nehru and handed over to him, approximately 15 minutes before midnight, when India attained Independence in 1947.

With inputs from agencies

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The Special Investigation Unit of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday raided houses of eight Pakistan-based terrorists at multiple locations in Kishtwar and Ramban districts, officials said.

Raids were carried out in Padder, Keshwan and Thakrai in Kishtwar and Khari and Banihal in Ramban to scuttle attempts by these terrorists to revive militancy in the Chenab valley region, they said.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Kishtwar, Khalil Ahmad Poswal said the searches at the houses of Azad Hussain, Gazi-ud-Din, Bashir Ahmed Mughal and Sattar Din, alias Rajab, were conducted after search warrants were obtained from a special NIA court in Jammu in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The searches are aimed at eliminating the militant ecosystem in the district by identifying various over-ground workers and supporters of militancy, the officer said.

Earlier on May 18, teams of the SIU raided houses of five terrorists, who are currently operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, besides three suspected individuals in the district.

The evidence collected shall be investigated so as to subject the accused persons to judicial determination for their involvement in anti-national activities and perpetuation of terrorism, Poswal said.

The SSP said the terrorist associates whose involvement surfaces during the investigations would also be prosecuted.

The special NIA court in Jammu had on April 26 issued non-bailable warrants against 23 terrorists from Kishtwar operating from across the border. Earlier, non-bailable warrants were issued against 13 terrorists in the district.

The 36 individuals from Kishtwar went to Pakistan after joining the terror ranks over a period of time. Two FIRs were registered against them after their involvement in terror activities surfaced during investigations, the SSP said.

Superintendent of Police, Ramban, Mohita Sharma said the SIU teams carried out raids on the houses of Qari Abdul Latief, Reyaz Ahmad Bohru, Fayaz Ahmad and Mushtaq Ahmad.

The (four) militants settled in PoK are continuously trying to revive militancy in the Chenab Valley, she said, adding that during the course of the searches, a lot of incriminating digital and non-digital evidence were collected for detailed analyses.

The support system which is assisting the inimical elements in reviving militancy would be destroyed at any cost, the SP said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled Jugalbandi, a multilingual chatbot powered by generative AI, which can be accessed through the popular messaging platform WhatsApp. The chatbot has been specifically designed to serve rural areas in India that have limited media access and lack information about government welfare activities.

During his keynote address, Satya Nadella mentioned that he tested the chatbot during a recent visit to India and realized its potential to make a positive impact on billions of people in a short span of time. He emphasized the importance of protecting fundamental rights while enabling widespread diffusion of beneficial technology.

Developed in collaboration with AI4Bharat and IIT Madras, Jugalbandi aims to provide personalized assistance by understanding user queries in multiple languages, whether spoken or typed. The chatbot retrieves information from relevant programs, which are often available only in English, and presents it back to users in their local language.

Jugalbandi combines AI models from AI4Bharat and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, enabling seamless conversations between users and the chatbot. These generative AI tools can synthesize vast amounts of data to generate text and other content. Microsoft ensures data security through Azure OpenAI Service while leveraging the Indian governments databases to offer a reliable and responsible platform for users.

The chatbot was launched in April and has undergone testing in Biwan, a village near New Delhi, Indias capital city.

In a blog post, Microsoft explains:

A villager sends a text or audio message to a WhatsApp number, which initiates the Jugalbandi bot. That is transcribed to text using the AI4Bharat speech recognition model. That, in turn, is translated to English by the Bhashini translation model trained by AI4Bharat. Based on the prompt, Azure OpenAI Services model retrieves information on the relevant government scheme. The answer is translated to Hindi. That is then synthesized with the AI4Bharat text-to-speech model and sent back to WhatsApp  and the villagers ear.

AI4Bharat, an open-source language AI centre developed at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, has collaborated with Microsoft to develop Jugalbandi. The aim of the collaboration is to break language barriers and provide technology-driven solutions through a government initiative called Bhashini.

Microsoft acknowledges that AI-powered chatbots like Jugalbandi may have some imperfections initially and highlights the importance of user participation in training the model. Partnerships with local entities are also crucial to ensure reliable responses in local languages.

Once the chatbot is refined, users will be able to easily understand and enroll in basic government schemes without any hassle. Microsoft has chosen WhatsApp as the messaging platform due to its widespread popularity in India.

In India, numerous government schemes and welfare programs exist, each with its own criteria and requirements. Official websites can be difficult to navigate, especially for those who are unable to read, write, or understand English. By providing precise answers early on, Jugalbandi aims to reduce the need for multiple visits to government service centres and minimize the inconvenience of retrieving missing documents.

Since its introduction in early April 2022 in the village of Biwan, Jugalbandi has expanded its coverage to ten of Indias 22 official languages and approximately 171 out of a total of around 20,000 government programs. In addition to AI4Bharat, AI startup OpenNyAI, which focuses on helping users understand the legal jargon, is also involved in the development of the chatbot.

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Senator Sani Musa says he is committed to the resolution of North-central APC leaders endorsing him for deputy Senate President.

A senator, Sani Musa, has denied reports of his involvement in an alliance to return Ahmad Lawan as the Senate President with a senator-elect, Osita Izunaso, as his deputy.

Mr Musa, who has been reelected from the Niger East District, said the reports were false and an attempt to cause confusion in the All Progressives Congress.

The senator initially announced his ambition to run for the Senate President seat but has been endorsed by the North-central leaders of the APC for election as deputy Senate President.

The national leadership of the APC has nominated a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio,for the top seat and the senator representing Kano North District, Barau Jibrin, as his deputy.

However, some of the other aspirants have accused their party of being unfair with the zoning arrangement adopted for the nominations.

Mr Musa, in a statement Monday night, said he did not have any agreement with any group to return Mr Lawan as the presiding officer for the 10th Assembly.

He stated that he is committed to the resolution of his colleagues from the North-central.

He urged senators-elect to disregard the rumor that he is working to help Mr Lawan retain the seat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with Australian business heads in Sydney and invited them to invest in the country.

The Prime Minister said that he interacted with top CEOs during the business roundtable and elaborated on the business opportunities in India and the reform trajectory of our government.

Interacted with top CEOs during the business roundtable in Sydney. Elaborated on the business opportunities in India and the reform trajectory of our Government. Invited Australian businesses to invest in India, Prime Minister said in a tweet.

The PMO said in a tweet Boosting business ties with Australia! PM @narendramodi interacted with Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney. The PM highlighted the economic reforms and policy measures undertaken to enhance the Ease of Doing Business in the country.

The MEA spokesperson said in a tweet: Expanding India-Australia business ties! PM @narendramodi addressed top Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney. Highlighted numerous economic reforms undertaken by the government. Encouraged the CEOs to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts.

Expanding - business ties! PM @narendramodi addressed top Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney. Highlighted numerous economic reforms undertaken by the government. Encouraged the CEOs to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts. pic.twitter.com/pLVF0C27Pb  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 24, 2023

Invited them to take advantage of investment opportunities offered by India in domains of infrastructure including digital infrastructure, IT, fintech, telecom, semiconductors, space, renewable energy including green hydrogen, education, pharma, healthcare including medical devices manufacturing, mining including critical minerals, textile, agriculture & food processing, he said in another tweet.

#WATCH | Sydney | After the business leaders roundtable with PM Modi, CEO-founder of WiseTech Global Richard White says, It was fantastic. Actually, I think there is an enormous future between Australia and India. The PM was very gracious and incredibly able to understand what pic.twitter.com/K2UOlMVnWV  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023

With inputs from agencies

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Some people do get irritated when a shopkeeper asks them to provide their mobile number after a purchase. Some even feel that their number will be leaked and after that they will get loads of spam calls. Well, now the Indian government has come up with a solution for this.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry has issued an advisory directing the shopkeepers not to insist on the personal contact details of customers for delivering certain services, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh told PTI.

The advisory has been issued following several consumer complaints, where various customers have complained about many retailers not providing them services if they refuse to share their contact number.

Sellers say they cannot generate the bill until personal contact details are provided. This is an unfair and restrictive trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act and there is no rationality behind collecting the information, said Singh, according to PTI.

Consumers were also concerned that their mobile numbers will be leaked, which will ultimately lead to them getting spam calls. Therefore, an advisory was issued to the retail industry and industry chambers Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to address this issue in the interest of consumers.

It is not mandatory in India for customers to furnish their mobile numbers to a retailer to generate a bill. However, customers are put in an awkward situation by retailers insisting on a number to conclude transactions. Most of the time, customers are not given an option to opt out in many of these situations.

With inputs from agencies

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The Hindenburg vs Adani saga has proved to be a blessing in disguise as it tested the overall resilience of the Indian markets and the results couldnt have been better. The expert panel set up by the Supreme Court has significantly highlighted the strength in terms of both the breadth and depth of the Indian market. The way Indian stock markets came out unscathed amidst such tumultuous events that had sent shockwaves across the globe has increased the confidence of global investors manifold. Indian markets, investors, traders and most importantly the authorities handled this episode with great maturity as well as transparency in a time-bound manner.

In this context, it is important to have a detailed look at this expert committees report as it shows why the Indian stock market continues to be one of the most attractive destinations for not only domestic investors but also the rest of the world. But before we go ahead, lets have a look at the chain of events from the beginning.

On 24 January, 2023, Hindenburg Research published a sensational report titled: Adani Group: How The Worlds 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History. This led to a major fall in the share prices of Adani Groups companies and the Indian stock market indices dipped sharply indicating a potential crash. The report was used by the main Opposition Congress Party to mount an attack on the ruling party at the Centre. Congress has been targeting the Adani group for quite some time. A few writ petitions were also filed as public interest litigation in the Supreme Court of India.

In the course of dealing with the petitions, the Supreme Court issued an order on 2 March, 2023. The apex court directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) to investigate the following aspects and to file a status report within two months:-

Whether there has been a violation of Rule 19A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules 1957 (SCRR); Whether there has been a failure to disclose transactions with related parties and other relevant information which concerns related parties, to SEBI, in accordance with law; and Whether there was any manipulation of stock prices in contravention of existing laws

The Supreme Court also constituted an Expert Committee and SEBI was directed to keep this committee apprised about its investigations.

The committee was headed by retired justice Abhay Manohar Sapre. The other members were: Justice JP Devadhar (retd.), KV Kamath, OP Bhatt, Nandan Nilekani, Somasekhar Sundaresan. The Supreme Court of India constituted the committee vide order dated March 2, 2023 the report was submitted on 6 May, 2023.

The Expert Committee interacted with several government agencies and private individuals and entities in addition to SEBI and submitted its report on 6 May, 2023. The report said that the Committee has not found any price manipulation by the Adani Group and there is no pattern of any artificial trading. According to the report, SEBI has found out some entities had taken short positions prior to the Hindenburg Report and profited after the price crashed upon the publication of the Report on 24 January. These entities are under now investigation.

Indian Markets: Most attractive destinations for investment

The Expert Committee report has dived deep to check the overall strength and robustness of the Indian stock markets. And the results of this assessment tell you why Indian markets have become the most attractive destinations for domestic as well as foreign investors. In this context, here are some key takeaways from this report:

 SEBI submitted that the events related to Adani group companies had no significant impact at the systemic level. While the shares of the group have seen a significant decline in prices on account of selling pressure and may have dominated media attention, the markets remained largely stable and resilient.

 According to SEBI, Indian markets have seen far higher turbulent times in the past, especially during the Covid pandemic period, where Nifty-50 fell by around 26 per cent during the period of 2 March, 2020 to 19 March, 2020 (13 trading days). Even, during such turbulent times, the markets continued to function in a robust manner, recovering far faster than global markets.

 Investor wealth (market capitalisation of all listed companies) which was around Rs 145 lakh crore in February 2020 has almost doubled to about Rs 270 lakh crore now. Further, overall market volatility in India is on par with or lower than that in major developed markets.

 The overall finding is that the Hindenburg report had a negative impact on Nifty 50 only for a short period of two weeks immediately following the publication of the report and the maximum extent of this impact was 4 per cent. After two weeks Nifty-50 bounced back relative to MSCI EM index and continued to outperform it.

 Empirical data shows that the retail investors exposure to the Adani stocks has increased would point to the fact that investors and the market do make their own informed decision and a fall in the price led to more capital including from retail investors coming into ownership of these stocks at re-priced levels.

 According to a SEBIS report titled, Analysis of Profit and Loss of Individual Traders Dealing in Equity F & O segments, the total number of unique individual traders who traded through the top ten brokers in the Equity F and O segment has increased by over 500 per cent in FY22 as compared to FY19 and approximately 88 per cent of the individual traders were active traders.

The Committees conclusion was, The Indian market in general was not unduly volatile as is seen in the comparison of the Indian Volatility index (VIX) with the CBOE Volatility index (CBOE VIX).

The Committee has made an interesting recommendation to further strengthen the Indian financial system. The report says, The Committee believes that financial literacy must be introduced as a matter of pedagogy right from school curriculum. Financial security of a society is as vital as national security for a society to be robust. School and university curricula must be attuned to bring in a culture of financial awareness and literary. Earning, saving, investing, earning returns, and giving back to society, are part of a virtuous cycle. The era of treating money with an unstated element of stigma must end.

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed are personal.

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At one place in his 2022 book, The Commissioner For Lost Causes, Arun Shourie reminisces about one of his interactions with Ramnath Goenka, the founder of The Indian Express, soon after his meeting with RSS leader Bhaurao Deoras at Delhis Jhandewalan complex. When I returned, I went to see RNG (Goenka). I told him how impressed I was by Bhauraoji: Such austere living, a sharp mind, clear thinking Arey chhodo, Ramnathji cut me short: Yeh sab naa milee ke sadhu hain  chokree naheen milee to sadhu baney phirtey hain. Sattaa milegee, tab dekhnaa  kaisey us ke peechey bhaagengey, kyaa uskaa prayog karengey, ke kaheen voh panjey sey nikal naa jaaye uskey liye kyaa kyaa karengey Satta mili to tumhein pataa lagegaa ki yeh kitney sadhu hain.

In short, Goenka questioned the notion of austerity among the RSS people, saying they were austere largely because they didnt have power. Their real test would come when they found themselves in power, he added. Shourie didnt contest Goenkas assessment because Ramnathji was an early supporter of the Gita Press, and from this one could infer his attitude towards Hinduism in general, to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in particular as the aspiring standard-bearer of Hinduism.

Decades after Goenkas death in 1991, Shourie still seemed to be under his influence when he invoked a bhikhari (beggar) allegory, in an interview with this writer in 2017, on the question of a controversial appointment of the then ICSSR chairperson. To paraphrase his statement, Shourie had said that the RSS made such appointments to give its bhikhari karyakartas cars, drivers, and accommodations in Delhi. How close his assessment was to that of Ramachandra Guha, who had publicly called the then ICSSR chief a half-literate Sanghi! Interestingly, the person had nothing to do with RSS all his life. He had authored/edited more than 100 books, was awarded by the Vice-President of India in 1991 (when the Congress was in power) in recognition of his work for the promotion of Hindi, and was recommended for a Padma award by the state of Nagaland in the early 1980s. Guha, to his credit, apologised personally to his son. Shourie couldnt. For, he didnt know the journalist interviewing him was the son of the ICSSR chief  and it wasnt reported!

At Lutyens, Shourie and Guha can think alike, though ideologically they are so far apart (Guha will surely protest, saying he belongs to Bengaluru, but then here one is talking about the Lutyens mindscape, and not landscape!) And from the high of the Raisina Hill, the rest of India looks dirty, dingy and poverty-stricken. Marx wasnt entirely wrong, after all.

Coming back to the RSS, this writers traditional home in Bihar has the opportunity to host several Sangh leaders. Their simplicity, rootedness, commitment for cause, selfless love towards the nation, and admiration for Sanatana ethos were readily discernible. They would come, meet, talk, sometimes eat, but what impressed the most was their simplicity and a profound sense of purpose.

Last time, however, maybe six-eight months back, when a Sangh leader, a regional one at best, visited the home, he seemed different: He had the air of being an important person, who should be treated differently. He wanted some of the respectable locals to be invited to listen to him, to kind of celebrate his presence among the lesser beings. But when nothing of the sort happened and the courtesies remained confined to providing him with an airy guestroom and a homely lunch, he became restless. He left the place in a hurry. This was the last that was heard from him.

To, however, treat the entire RSS leadership with Goenka-like reproach would be unfair. The Sangh has succeeded despite extreme politico-ideological hostilities, especially from the ruling-intellectual classes, for most parts of independent India. It was, in fact, banned at the very dawn of Independence  on 4 February 1948, to be precise  after fabricating its links with Mahatma Gandhis assassination. As Ratan Sharda writes in his book, RSS: Evolution From An Organisation To A Movement, this was done without a shred of evidence and enforced with mala fide urgency because Nehru saw RSS and Hindu Sabha men as traitors and publicly vowed to crush them.

Still, the RSS has thrived. This not just shows the innate strength of its organisation and ideas, but also brings out the dedication and commitment of its cadres that work in most adverse circumstances with bare minimum resources and facilities. Though some of the Sangh leaders may be getting used to good life, given that the BJP is in power at the Centre and in several states, the cadre remain the same old committed lot. However, given the nature of the Sangh Parivar where hierarchy and discipline are of paramount importance, the rot, if not identified in time and surgically removed from the body system, can spread dangerously fast and wide.

One RSS leader told this writer, during the Karnataka Assembly poll campaigning, that the ground level karyakartas in the state were utterly dissatisfied and angry with their leaders. He confided that the Sangh, which had been the real strength of the BJP, thanks to its dedicated and selfless cadre, was full of people who were only interested in power and money. Currently, there are several videos in circulation where the RSS-BJP volunteers of Karnataka can be seen to be accusing their leaders of being corrupt and unmindful of peoples welfare. The RSS and the BJP can ill-afford to ignore such sentiments, even if some videos are fake and mischievously distributed by their politico-ideological opponents and disgruntled elements.

The above problem is largely physical/external in nature. But more perilous can be the psychological/internal dilemma facing the Sangh and the BJP: To cast itself in the image of its opponents by obsessively trying to look and act secular, and fixatedly seek sabka saath and sabka vishwas. The irony is that not long ago, the RSS and the BJP would accuse their politico-ideological opponents of doing exactly the same by pursuing crass minorityism in the name of secularism. They would target the previous Congress governments of indulging in Haj politics, but today BJP spokespersons proudly inform how the Modi government has hiked the Haj subsidy. Even the Central ministers can be seen queuing up at airports to see these pilgrims off for Mecca and Medina.

Its understandable for the BJP to look for ways to extend its electoral base. After all, the primary object of a political party is to win elections. But can the same be said about the RSS? What will be left of the Sangh if it is not what it was originally formed to work for? The RSS was established by Dr KB Hedgewar in 1925 with the express objective of Hindu revitalisation. In this endeavour to strengthen Hindu society, it has done several milestone works through hundreds of its associated wings working with tribals, Dalits, among others, bringing them to Hindu mainstream. All this has strengthened Hindu society  an avowed objective of the RSS.

But how does the Sangh involving itself in giving pension to divorced Muslim women forwarding its cause? Its a noble work, no doubt, but why just confine to Muslim women? Let all poor women be the beneficiaries of Sangh welfarism.

Even more confusing is the endeavour of one of its subsidiaries, Muslim Rashtriya Manch  formed in 2002 with the blessings of then RSS chief KS Sudarshan and is currently guided by senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar. One of its pet projects is Imam-e-Hind Ram. The Manch leadership thinks that by merely calling Bhagwan Ram Imam-e-Hind, Indias communal problem can be resolved, little realising that Allama Iqbal  the ideological father of Pakistan  too saw Ram as Imam-e-Hind (spiritual leader of India). In Islam, it doesnt matter where the story began. What matters is where it ends  and the finality rests with Prophet Mohammed. Nothing changes or can be changed after Him. How skewed is the Manchs understanding of Islam and Islamism can be gauged from the fact that its leaders in 2020 had taken to streets to protest against the Emmanuel Macron government on the issue of Islamophobia in France.

Then, there was a Sangh-inspired organisation that took pride in placing a rare 16th century copy of the Quran, written in gold ink, at the 108th Indian Science Congress (ISC) in Nagpur. Nothing can be a greater scientific validation for the Islamic holy book than having its copy put at a science meet. Despite the overwhelming temptation, the RSS should avoid leaving the Hindu shore to placate other religions. The BJP, being a political party, may have its compulsions to look secular in the Nehruvian mould, but the RSS has no such obligations. Its ideological purity is paramount. For, the muddied waters of a downstream tributary can be ignored, but the source has to remain sparkling clean at all cost.

The minority-first secularism in India is the worst form of Nehruvian perversion of what has actually been a Christian notion, based as it is on the specific theological framework that was conceptually conceived of during the Protestant Reformation, as J Sai Deepak explains in his book, India That Is Bharat. In India, the term secularism is thus an oxymoron. No wonder, the Constituent Assembly after a detailed discussion had refused to accommodate the word in the Constitution of India.

In this backdrop, it was heartening to see RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat strongly tying the Sangh to its Hindu core in January this year. While assuring Muslims that there was nothing to fear in India, he urged them to abandon their boisterous rhetoric of supremacy. But more needs to be done on that front. Being the ideological fountainhead of its Parivar, the RSS has no option but to speak truth even if it sounds unpleasant, especially in todays politically-correct world. If its ideology gets muddied, then it would have cascading impact on its fringe outfits. In that scenario, a section of Sanghis standing up with Islamists wont be a one-off phenomenon. Then, taking a stern action against PFI-like jihadi forces, even when they target, maim and kill Hindutva karyakartas, would become difficult, as was the case in BJP-ruled Karnataka. And, the traditional hostility towards corrupt people and practices would get tampered with.

The crux of the problem in BJP-ruled Karnataka was in the ideological fluidity of those in power. This not just made the government susceptible to corruption and stemmed any efforts to provide good governance, but also innately enfeebled the state to take on anti-India jihadi forces operating within its boundaries. Ramnath Goenka wasnt right on RSS in the 1980s. He may be partially right now. But this can be checked. All that the RSS and the BJP need to do is to rediscover their ideological moorings. This would be good for the nation. And it would be an electoral masterstroke too.

This is the second part of a two-part series. Click here for Part 1.

The author is Opinion Editor, Firstpost and News18. He tweets from @Utpal_Kumar1. Views expressed are personal.

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One of the least known aspects of World War II is a letter sent by the then Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D Eisenhower in 1943 to his forces in Italy ordering them to tell Italians to remove all movable works of art from cities and localities subject to damage by military operations and telling them to avoid destruction of immovable works of art. An area-wise list of historic monuments whose destruction was to be avoided was also distributed in 1944.

This helped the Monuments Men  about whom a movie was made in 2014  to step in to document local treasures as Allied troops surged into countries occupied by or helping Nazi forces. The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) programme of the Allies  known as the Monuments Men but women were in the team too  were primarily tasked with helping to restore treasures looted by Nazis to original owners, but they also minimised any second looting.

Not only could Allied soldiers not commandeer war booty from antiquity and art-rich Italy, that order helped Monuments Men to identify and flag the return of the objects looted by Nazis. This marked a watershed in the history of a genre of collateral damage in wars  the destruction of heritage and looting by victors. But a new twist in the tangled case of the return of Nigerias Benin Bronzes indicates doublespeak prevails in the concerned West on the count.

A surprise ordinance by the outgoing Nigerian president has decreed that the Oba  the descendant of the last ruler of the Benin Kingdom, now a part of Nigerias Edo state  is the actual owner of the artefacts looted by the British after destroying Benin City in 1897 which eventually found their way into museums and collections in the west. This has now created uncertainty over where the treasures would be kept and displayed  and thus halted repatriation.

Notably, the 1943 Eisenhower order not only led to the repatriation of an impressive number of treasures looted by the Nazis, there were no demands to know what the recipients would do with the objects afterwards. Clearly it was thought that the Monuments Men  and later, the government departments of nations involved in the repatriation, like the US State Department  had no locus to put caveats or conditions on the return of those stolen artefacts.

Yet several institutions in the west have decided to halt the repatriation of their cache of Benin Bronzesdespite many acknowledging the artefacts were looted and therefore illegal acquisitionsbecause they are unsure of which Nigerian entity would be in charge of them. There are indeed three claimants: Nigerias National Commission for Museums and Monuments (that has led the repatriation talks), the Edo provinces government, and now, the Oba of Benin.

And the history of their rival claims has echoes of something that Indians called Britains divide and rule policy. The NCMM led the talks to bring back the bronzes but the foreign museums were collaborating with the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT) backed by the Edo State Governor to set up an Edo Museum of Western African Art to house the bronzes, which was opposed by the present Oba who has mooted a Benin Royal Museum within his palace grounds.

For quite a while it seemed the LRT was the designated recipient and hence several western museums signed deals with it for projects in Benin City. But the Nigerian presidents surprise move in favour of the Oba has put a spanner in the works. No wonder the German authorities decision to go ahead with the return of their stash of Benin Bronzes  regardless of which Nigerian entity was the final owner of the artefacts  has elicited criticism from other nations.

This halt indicates the possible future hurdles that India  and other looted nations  will face as they build pressure for the return of treasures. Doubts will be cast on the preservation and protection of the objects, and the discovery of alternate owners cannot also be discounted. In Indias case, counter claims of ownership by Pakistan are very possible, especially for items that once belonged to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, as the capital of his kingdom was Lahore.

Thus India has to set (and keep) its house in order to pre-empt any such arguments in the coming years. That includes upgrading the facilities in its major museums and repositories to world standards, if not better. The National Museum in New Delhi will definitely be improved drastically in terms of space, display and ambience when it eventually moves from its old building to North and South Blocks on Raisina Hill, but others elsewhere need to follow suit.

The grand Indian Museum in Kolkata  the oldest in India, built in 1814  as well as the equally imposing Government Museum in Chennais Egmorethe second oldest, having opened in 1851  need comprehensive overhauls, particularly when it comes to displays. Both have priceless antiquities, including parts of the Bharhut and Amaravati friezes whose other remnants are in museums abroad and should be displayed together once the latter are returned to India.

Of course, the delays in the talks for the return of the Elgin Marbles (parts of the Athens Parthenon) and Egypts Rosetta Stone  both of which now repose in the British Museum that categorically refuses to return anything but is now willing to loan some things!  are proof that just upgrading facilities will not guarantee repatriation will be smooth. That several other steles are already safely preserved and displayed by Egypt has not helped the return of the Rosetta!

Although the Amaravati friezes have a dedicated display area at the Egmore Museum, it is not a patch on how the rest of the ancient stupas segments are preserved and exhibited at the British Museum. So, if Britain decides to use the imminent precedent of the Benin Bronzes, unless Egmores facilities improve, any negotiations for the repatriation of the Amaravati remnants may become as difficult  and perhaps as fruitless  as getting back the Kohinoor.

Nigeria is one of nine nations invited as guest countries for the G20 under Indias presidency. As with many multilateral bodies, Indias G20 intention is to strike a balance between the western countries agenda and that of the Global South. Culture is one issue on which it is hoped that the Global South will rally round  at Indias behest  and the return of antiquities is crucial for that. Perhaps the Benin Bronzes case could (should?) be the first  test  issue.

Among Eisenhowers pre-presidential papers is a once-restricted document dated September 1945 that outlined how the objects looted by the Nazis and housed in Germany would be returned. It categorically stated that the objects would be returned to the governments of the countries they had been looted from, and then individual owners  if any  would have to take up their cases with the state authorities. That is an eminently sensible precedent for today too.

With that in mind, the bottom line is that all three claimants of the Benin Bronzes are Nigerian, and regardless of the wests opinion of the Global Souths integrity or intention, they have no right to set caveats on repatriation, unless the countries are warzones prone to looting. It should be left to Nigerian authorities to decide, and the west has to be compelled to ditch its double standards. India should also gear up for divide-and-dont-repatriate gambits from the West.

The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed are personal.

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Pakistan has appointed Asif Ali Khan Durrani as its special representative on Afghanistan amid strained relations between the two neighbouring nations.

Durrani was appointed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif two months after the post fell vacant in March when his predecessor Mohammad Sadiq resigned after serving for almost three years, Geo News reported.

The former special representatives exit came following the unsuccessful peace talks with the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Kabul, which were originally initiated by the Pakistani government.

According to Geo News, this comes amid discussion over expansion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into Afghanistan, which is aimed to connect the landlocked Central Asian region with the world via Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, Pakistans Islamabad witnessed a dialogue between the foreign ministers of China and Afghanistan.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced the opening of the new Australian Consulate General in Bengaluru.

Albanese said that this will help in connecting the countrys businesses to Indias booming digital and innovation ecosystem.

Addressing a joint press conference in Sydney, Australia, PM Albanese said, Im pleased to announce the establishment of a new Australian Consulate General in Bengaluru, which will help connect Australian businesses to Indias booming digital and innovation ecosystem. And I welcome Indias plans for a consulate general in Brisbane.

The Bengaluru establishment will be the fifth diplomatic presence that is there in India from Australia. I want to thank you again, Prime Minister Modi for visiting and receiving such a warm welcome here. And I look forward to returning to India in September for the G 20 leaders summit, he added.

After exchanging the MoUs on mobility, migration, and green hydrogen task force, PM Modi and the Australian PM addressed the press conference in Australia.

The Australian PM also spoke about his meeting with PM Modi in a year. He said that this is the sixth meeting with PM Modi in a year. He also talked about the Quad Summit, which took place in Japans Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven or G7 Summit.

The Australian PM reiterated the Quad Summit statement and said, Quad leaders stand 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. This is my 6th meeting with prime minister Modi in one year.

My visit to India in March for the Australia India Annual Leaders Summit focused on the key pillars of our relationship trade, investment and business cooperation, defence and security cooperation, climate and energy cooperation, and of course, people-to-people links, Albanese added.

He further stated that, in todays bilateral meeting, both the leaders further built on those pillars. They reiterated the shared ambition for an early conclusion of the Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement later this year. Prime Minister Modi and PM Albanese are pleased to have just witnessed the exchange of the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement.

This arrangement will promote the exchange of students, graduates, researchers and business people, expand our people-to-people ties, and enhance cooperation in preventing people, he added.

The Task Force will comprise Australian and Indian experts in renewable hydrogen and report to the Australian Indian Ministerial Energy Dialogue on the opportunities which are there for Australia and India to cooperate in this important area of renewable hydrogen, the Australian PM said.

Investments like the Task Force will help power our industries in the future and ensure that Australia and India meet our energy targets in the interests of both our respective countries, but also in support of the reduction of global emissions, he added.

With inputs from agencies

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Hong Kongs Cathay Pacific Airways has terminated the services of three cabin crew members after a passenger accused them of discriminating against non-English speakers. The case also garnered sharp criticism from the Chinese state media.

Cathay Pacific CEO Ronald Lam expressed his apologies on Tuesday to the passenger and the community over the incident, which happened on a flight from Chengdu in southwest China to Hong Kong on Sunday.

There is no compromise for such violations, he said in a statement reiterating his companys zero tolerance of any serious breach of its policies and code of conduct.

The dismissal came after the passenger complained in an online post that some crew members were disrespectful to passengers who did not speak English or Cantonese, the language widely spoken and recognised in Hong Kong. The person, who sat near the crews resting area, overheard them complaining about customers.

During the whole flight, not a moment went by when I was not distressed or angry, the passenger wrote in an online post, which later circulated widely.

The crew members particularly made fun of other passengers who mixed up the terms blanket and carpet in English and appeared to be impatient even when someone tried to seek help in English, the post alleged.

If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it, a person said in an audio clip posted on social media. The comment was followed by laughter. Carpet is on the floor, the recording continued.

The airline issued an apology on Monday on the Chinese social media platform Weibo for the unpleasant experience suffered by passengers on the flight, but failed to pacify the anger triggered by the passengers post.

On Tuesday, a Weibo account belonging to the overseas edition of the official Chinese Peoples Daily newspaper criticized Cathay Pacific over the incident. It seems that its company culture still maintains a sense of superiority that worships foreigners and respects people from Hong Kong but looks down on mainlanders, it wrote.

It said the airline should rectify itself and establish rules to halt the unhealthy trend.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said he was disappointed to learn about the disrespectful acts that had damaged the relationship between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese residents. He said he had told Lam that it was a serious incident and must not happen again.

Cathay Pacific is working to rebuild its business after years of strict pandemic travel restrictions forced the airline into steep losses.

In March, it reported a loss of 6.55 billion Hong Kong dollars ($834.4 million) in 2022  an 18.5% increase from 2021 amid strict entry restrictions for the city during the first half of last year.

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With the Chinese economy still not out of the woods and experts already having started punching holes in Xi Jinpings resurgence narrative after the country abandoned its draconian Zero Covid policy, the pandemic seems poised to hit it hard once more. Covid19 cases are expected to peak at 65 million per week by June end.

This alarming prediction was made by respiratory diseases specialist Zhong Nanshan at a conference in Chinas Guangzhou. The latest wave is fueled by the newest XBB Omicron variant that has led to spike in cases starting late April.

According to reports, Covid19 cases will reach nearly 40 million per week in May before peaking at 65 million a week by the end of May.

China is already adding to its vaccine arsenal, adding new ones to target XBB specifically. Zhong Nanshan case prediction model also lends useful insights into how the new Covid wave would play out in the light of China scrapping its Zero Covid policy some six months ago. The immunity of Chinese people is on the wane.

According to some reports, Chinas CDC weekly pandemic report has said that currently Covid19 cases have surpassed the number of influenza cases for two straight weeks. Covid has come back to take the top spot in the list of prevailing diseases in China. Reports also added that hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and Giuangzhou have already started witnessing long queues and overcrowding in a redux of the last wave that started late last year and continued well into January this year.

According to Beijing CDCs Weekly Pandemic Report, the number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed that of influenza for two consecutive weeks and returned to the number one disease with the most infections. Many hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou also witness long patient queues.

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In a rather dark tragedy, Chinese seem not to mind even disturbing the dead in their graves. A Chinese salvage ship was caught red-handed looting the war graves of 840 men who went down with battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser HMS repulse off the coast of Malyasia for scrap steel.

The two were sunk by Japanese bombers in 1941. The two sunken vessels lie w few miles from each other. The shipwrecks have officially been designated as war graves.

The Chinese salvage vessel, Chuan 68, was found hovering above the shipwreck to dredge up the high quality steel that made up the battleships armour plates. According to reports, HMS Prince of Wales was Royal Navys most modern warship at the time. It was a 35,000-tonne warship, lined with 14.7-inch-thick armour.

When they went down, HMS Prince of Wales lost 327 of its 1612 crew, while HMS Repulse lost 513 of its 1309-strong crew.

The dredging ship has been spotted swirling over the wreckage site since early this year and is owned by Chinese firm Fujian Ya Rui Marine, reports added.

The Chuan and its crew and not new to scavenging World War II era sunken ships for precious scrap. According to a Daily Mail report, the ship and its crew were temporarily detained in 2017 as they were trying to rob three Japanese World War II shipwrecks near Uskan, Malaysia.

According to the report, Chuan is has tried its hands on World War 2 shipwrecks in Singaporean, Cambodian and Vietnamese waters.

Once Indonesian Navy chased them off into international waters asthey were attempting to dredge a shipwreck near the Anambas Islands.

Other reports also cited that Chuan had earlier targeted wrecks of Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth and US heavy cruiser USS Houston that were lost in the weeks following the decimation of Pearl Harbour.

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President Buhari wants the Senate to approve payment of refunds to Borno and Plateau states

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to approve the reimbursement of over N16 billion to Borno State Government for the construction of the Dabua-Chibok federal road.

The president also seeks the approval of N6 billion for Plateau State Government as refund for the construction of a federal road in the state.

Mr Buhari's request was contained in a letter read by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the plenary session on Tuesday.

In the letter to the Senate, Mr Buhari said the requests were based on the recommendations and directives of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

He said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had also approved the reimbursement of the funds at its meeting in March through the issuance of provisory laws.

"For the reimbursement of sum of sixteen billion, seven hundred and seventy two million, four hundred and eighty six thousand, two naira and two kobo to Borno State Government through the issuance of provisory laws in respect of federal roads projects executed by the state," the letter reads.

"The distinguished Senate president may wished to be informed that the Federal Executive Council, FEC at its meeting conveyed in March 2023 approved the reimbursement of the sum of sixteen billion, seven hundred and seventy two million, four hundred and ninety six thousand, two naira and two kobo to the Borno State Government through the issuance of provisory laws in respect of federal road projects executed by the state in respect of the conclusion of the meeting of FEC referenced EC/14/2023/6 as the committee's report FEC is tagged as appendix one," it added.

"Distinguished Senate President may wish to know that the FEC had earlier approved the reimbursement of the sum of three billion, eighty four million, seven hundred and sixty nine thousand, three hundred and ninety three naira, zero kobo as it is written on February request 2023, along with the approval of six billion, six hundred and one million, seven hundred and sixty nine thousand, four hundred and seventy naira and ninety nine kobo for the reimbursement to Plateau State Government," it noted.

The president stated that a cabinet committee had inspected the roads constructed by the state governments and reviewed all necessary documents relating to the constructions.

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"My request for the resolution of the National Assembly for the issuance of provisory laws in the two states has already been forwarded to the National Assembly," the letter further reads.

"The distinguished Senate President may wish to note that this approval by FEC for the reimbursement of the additional sum of sixteen billion, seven hundred and seventy two million, four hundred and eighty six thousand, two naira and two kobo to Borno state government was based on an appeal by the state and by the directives of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to ensure that execution funds are provided for the completion of Dabua-Chibok road," it added.

"The FEC approval was also subsequent to the recommendation of the cabinet committee which reviewed documents submitted by the state and carried out physical inspections and the budgets executed by the state government," it noted

"In review of the foregoing, I wished to request the Senate kindly consider and approve through its resolution for the reimbursement of sum of sixteen billion, seven hundred and seventy two million, four hundred and eighty six thousand, two naira and two kobo for the road issuance of provisory laws to Borno State government in respect of the road projects executed by the state and order ministry of works and housing to provide any additional information that may be required by the national assembly for the consideration of this request."
According to the governor of the border area that was the site of a deadly terrorist raid the day before, a civilian vehicle was destroyed in yet another alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian city of Belgorod on Tuesday evening.

In Belgorod, an explosive device was dropped from a UAV onto the roadway Bomb experts and emergency services are working at the scene, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram shortly after midnight.

The night was not entirely calm. There were a large number of drone attacks. Air defence systems handled most of them, Gladkov said.

He also added that there were no casualties.

Also read  Belgorod Conundrum: Pro-Ukraine anti-Putin saboteurs sting Russia, strike behind enemy lines

The United Nations has expressed alarm over a recent cross-border strike on Russias Belgorod Region but has not confirmed who carried out the operation. Russian authorities have labelled the incursion a terrorist act orchestrated by Kyiv in order to shift attention away from its war failures.

During a news conference on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the agency was aware of the border raid and urged all sides to avoid further escalation.

Were obviously following with concern the reports of incident in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. Weve seen the statements made by officials both in Ukraine and the Russian Federation, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding As far as the UN is concerned, were not in a position to confirm the reports or any information concerning the groups allegedly involved in what we are seeing in the media.

According to early information, there were no injuries in the attack, but at least one civilian automobile was damaged in the explosion, the official stated, sharing a photo of the aftermath. Other footage uploaded by Telegram news channels appeared to show the remains of an improvised explosive device.

Gladkov stated 30 minutes later that the air defences were activated and shot down a drone above the city. It was unclear whether he was referring to the same device that dropped the bomb, although he had previously stated on Tuesday that six other drones had been caught in the region.

Members of two anti-Kremlin organisations, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, claimed responsibility, but the Ukrainian government denied any participation.

The incident follows a deadly cross-border raid by Ukrainian militants, which forced the governor to briefly impose anti-terrorism operation regulations in the region.

Gladkov stated on Tuesday that a resident of the hamlet of Kozinka was slain by Ukrainian terrorists during Mondays invasion of Russias Belgorod Region. According to initial accounts, a dozen bystanders were injured, but no one was killed.

Gladkov did not name the villager but claimed his wife was injured in the raid and is being treated at a nearby hospital.

Due to the raid, around 100 individuals, including children and the elderly, were evacuated from Kozinka and adjacent Glotovo. According to the governor, all of the villages have been totally retaken, and local officials are trying to restore utilities.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the intrusion a matter of deep concern, adding that the special military operation in Ukraine will continue to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Ukrainian officials said they had nothing to do with the raid, which they described as an autonomous action of the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK). The latter organisation, made up of neo-Nazi militants fighting for Ukraine, claimed responsibility for the March foray into Russias Bryansk Region, which resulted in the deaths of two people.

When asked to explain why he referred to them as Ukrainian militants, Peskov replied he had been quite specific. There are a lot of ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, but they are still Ukrainian militants, he said.

At least 70 Ukrainian insurgents were killed, and several armoured vehicles and pickup trucks were also destroyed, according to the Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday, which claimed that the assault had been repelled. It went on to say that the groups remnants retreated to the Ukrainian land, where they continued to be hit until they were completely eliminated.

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Most defence attorneys would cringe when Donald Trump speaks about his legal problems.

A recent example: The former Republican president refused to claim he hadnt looked at the data since leaving office in a March interview on Fox News Channel, asserting that he had the right to take sensitive materials with him to his Florida property. During a CNN town hall earlier this month, he claimed to have informed a Georgia elections official that you owe me votes in the 2020 race.

On 10 May, he called a female writer a wack job during the same town hall, only a day after the same woman, E. Jean Carroll, won a $5 million judgement against him in a civil complaint for defamation and sexual assault. Carroll revised a lawsuit on Monday to hold him accountable for the town hall statements.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, has never shied away from voicing his viewpoint or engaging in debate with his opponents. The difficulty, according to legal experts, is that the former president is under increased scrutiny from state and federal prosecutors, who can use the former presidents words against him in a variety of ways.

Any utterances by a defendant, whether they are confessions, denials, observations, nonsensical gibberish, or just plain goofy are nothing but pure gold for prosecutors, said Julieanne Himelstein, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington.

Trump is being investigated by prosecutors in states ranging from New York to Georgia.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted him in March on allegations relating to hush-money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. A New York court scheduled the trial to begin on March 25, in the thick of the primary elections. Trump, who appeared via video conference, threw up his hands in irritation over the trials schedule and scowled at the camera.

A local prosecutor in Georgia is investigating whether the former president and his allies broke the law in seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis suggested last week that indictments could come in August. Meanwhile, a Justice Department special counsel is probing the former presidents role in the 6 January 2021, insurrection and the discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Largo, Trumps Florida home and resort.

In recent media appearances and during rallies, Trump has made comments that could be seen as incriminating or, at the very least, complicate his legal teams ability to beat back charges. He seemed to get into particular trouble during a 10 May town hall hosted by CNN.

The former president spent nearly an hour discussing a range of issues while also commenting on the investigations in ways that run counter to generally accepted legal advice. Not only did he re-insult Carroll and provide Fulton Countys prosecutor more fodder for her probe but he also gave the Justice Department an opening by claiming he couldnt recall whether he had shown classified documents to anyone.

Joyce Vance, a law professor who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama under President Barack Obama, opined on Twitter: There were prosecutors and agents taking notes tonight.

Trump also suggested that he was personally involved in taking records to Mar-a-Lago  I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified, he said. That statement is at odds with arguments made by his own lawyers, who as recently as last month suggested in a letter to Congress that the document removal was the result of haphazard records-keeping and packing rather than an intentional decision by Trump.

The statements are being made as the investigation of the documents shows signs of winding down and as Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith zeroes in on the question of potential obstruction, drilling into the failure by Trump and his representatives to return the classified records in his possession despite being issued a subpoena to do so.

Trumps penchant for public statements was on display in the last special counsel investigation he faced. He famously told an interviewer in 2017 that he was thinking of this Russia thing when he fired former FBI director James Comey. His lawyers sought to explain away that statement by noting that he had also said that he knew that firing Comey would prolong, rather than shorten, the Russia probe.

Legal scholars said that prosecutors might not be able to use some of Trumps comments if they are not relevant to the charges or might be deemed prejudicial by a judge.

They also may not need to play them to jurors because other evidence is much stronger. While Trump said on CNN that he told Brad Raffensperger you owe me votes, he was also tape-recorded asking the Georgia elections official to find him more votes. The call came in January 2021 as Trump was desperately trying to overturn Georgias election result.

Its not inculpatory any more than the fact that we already have a recorded phone call, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University. It might be more damning had we not had the actual recording of the phone call.

Former prosecutors and defence attorneys say a clients public comments can hamstring how they present their cases to a jury. It can reveal their strategy and lock them into certain lines of attacking the prosecutions case. Such comments might also encourage them to do everything they can to keep their client from taking the witness stand.

For example, they said, Trump may have admitted to taking classified documents from the White House but his lawyers wrote, The purpose of this letter is not to opine about whether these documents are actually classified or have been declassified.

If Trump were to ever testify, prosecutors could use such contradictory statements to poke holes in his story, making it harder for his defence team to tell the jury a coherent narrative.

It could well be that what Trump is doing is making it impossible for him to testify because hed be so damaged were he to testify, said Richard Klein, a criminal law professor at Touro University in New York.

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A computer scientist, formerly employed by Google, who was terminated for exposing the biases in Googles artificial intelligence programmes has claimed that the current AI industrys fervour for advancement may lead companies to neglect self-regulation unless external pressure is exerted for government organisations and digital literacy groups.

Timnit Gebru, the AI researcher that Google fired for voicing her criticisms of Googles AI claimed that the company had to take a new and much more careless approach to AIs development and had to rush the launch of Bard AI because of ChatGPT and BingAIs growing popularity.

Why an AI expert had to part ways with Google

Gebru, who specializes in AI, served as co-lead for Googles ethical AI team. However, due to a dispute with the company, she was removed from her position in 2020. Gebru shared her experiences in an interview with The Guardian.

Also read: Ethics and AI not compatible: Microsoft lays off team responsible for developing AI ethically

Gebru, aged 40, had previously worked at Apple and Microsoft. She highlighted that the excessive enthusiasm surrounding AI is resulting in the disregard of necessary precautions and safeguards.

According to her interview with The Guardian, Gebru emphasized that without external pressure, companies will not take the initiative to self-regulate. She argued that relying solely on profit motives is insufficient and called for regulations that go beyond mere financial incentives.

The modern-day Gold Rush

Gebru compared the current state of the AI industry to a gold rush, where many individuals are profiting without being directly involved in the field. However, she stressed that the decision to pursue AI development rests in human hands, and it is crucial to recognize our agency in determining the course of action.

Also read: Time to choose ethical intelligence over artificial intelligence

The controversy leading to Gebrus departure from Google occurred after she co-authored a research paper that exposed the inherent biases present in AI tools. Googles senior management reportedly objected to the paper and demanded that she either retract it or remove her and her colleagues names from it, as reported by Insider. Gebru clarified that she refused to retract the paper and would only remove the authors names if Google explicitly outlined their criticisms.

Gebru claims that she was fired by Google, while the company asserts that she resigned.

Can Big Tech be trusted to self-regulate AIs ethical development?

In response to the situation, Google released a statement, expressing their commitment to developing AI in a manner that balances bold innovation with social benefits and addresses associated challenges, guided by their AI Principles.

Also read: AI bots like ChatGPT can now influence people in taking decisions related to life and death

At the time of the incident, an employee who reviewed the research paper stated to Insider that the paper did not contain any surprising information for those familiar with language models. According to the former Google employee, the paper primarily highlighted flaws in Googles practices, which could be perceived negatively.

The launch of OpenAIs chatbot, ChatGPT, in November 2022 gained significant popularity and quickly became the fastest-growing consumer app in internet history. In response, Google released its own chatbot called Bard in March.

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London: Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel won the International Booker Prize on Tuesday for Time Shelter, a darkly comic novel about the dangerous appeal of nostalgia.

The book beat five other finalists to the prize, which recognizes fiction from around the world that has been translated into English. The 50,000 pounds ($62,000) in prize money is divided between author and translator.

Time Shelter imagines a clinic that recreates the past, with each floor reproducing a different decade. Intended as a way to help people with dementia unlock their memories, it soon becomes a magnet for people eager to escape the modern world.

Gospodinov, 55, said he began writing his book about the weaponization of nostalgia in 2016, the year of the election of Donald Trump and the U.K.s Brexit referendum. He said it was a time when anxiety was in the air.

I wanted to write a novel about the monster of the past, he said. Because you can see in this time  that populist politics, actually, they paid us with the empty check of the past.

French novelist Leila Slimani, who chaired the judging panel, said it was a brilliant novel full of irony and melancholy.

Its a very profound work that deals with a contemporary question and also a philosophical question: What happens to us when our memories disappear? she said.

But it is also a great novel about Europe, a continent in need of a future, where the past is reinvented and where nostalgia can be a poison.

Gospodinov is one of Bulgarias most-translated authors. Time Shelter has also won Italys Strega European Prize for literature in Italian translation.

The International Booker Prize is awarded every year to a translated work of fiction published in the U.K. or Ireland. It is run alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction, which will be handed out in the autumn.

The prize was set up to boost the profile of fiction in other languages  which accounts for only a small share of books published in Britain  and to salute the underappreciated work of literary translators.

Last years winners were Indian writer Geetanjali Shree and American translator Daisy Rockwell for Tomb of Sand.

Rodel said she was grateful to the prize for rejecting the belief that that if youre a good translator, maybe you shouldnt even be noticed.

This is a creative process, she said. This is a definite collaborative work of art that were creating with our authors. Im just endlessly grateful to the Booker for putting that out in front in this award.

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There is no doubt that human-animal bonds are mutually beneficial and they usually foster dynamic relationships which last over time, but there are times when a particular situation can go awry and then there might be fatal consequences, especially where wild animals are concerned.

In a naturally adapted process, when animals meet the needs of humans, they receive reciprocated love and attention from them. But when norms are broken and wild animals are domesticated, there might be repercussions which are usually dangerous.

Joseph B, popularly known as Joe Exotic of Europe, was killed at his own zoo by animals he owned in one such tragic incident.

The bones discovered on his premises confirmed the gruesome event. Joseph, a resident of Oskerda in Slovakia, had built a private zoo and his own pets are believed to have killed him. According to media reports, Joseph was repeatedly attacked and ultimately eaten by wild animals living in the vicinity of his neighbourhood.

Joseph B passed away on May 16.

When he couldnt be seen for a long time, people started suspecting that something was not quite right. Upon investigation, some bones were found at his zoo. Two to four leftover bones helped identify his body. At the time when the incident took place, Joe had presumably walked to the lions enclosure to feed them meat. He was attacked by the lions suddenly. Besides some of Josephs bones, the rest were devoured by the wild animals.

The Sun reported that Joseph was granted a licence to breed animals. However, the licence expired in 2019. It was strange that Joseph didnt renew it. In addition to not talking to anyone, he neglected to feed his animals and kept them in a horrible condition for days.

It is a well-known fact that his animals have attacked humans before. In 2019, a woman who loved his animals and regularly visited them was also attacked by the animals.

Currently, the wild animals are under the care of animal welfare workers in the district.

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Japan had no plans to become a NATO member but the security alliances plan to open a liaison office in the country is given a go-ahead, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday.

Kishidas comments came after the Japanese ambassador to the United States earlier this month said that the U.S.-led military pact was planning a Tokyo office, the first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region.

I am not aware of any decision made at NATO regarding the establishment of the office, Kishida told a Wednesday parliament session, adding his country was not planning to join NATO as a member or semi-member state.

Earlier this month, China said high vigilance was needed in the face of NATOs eastward expansion following a media report the alliance is planning to set up an office in Japan to facilitate consultations with allies in the region.

NATO is planning to open its first liaison office in Asia, in Japan, to facilitate talks with security partners such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, with geopolitical challenges from China and Russia in mind, the Nikkei Asia reported on Wednesday, citing Japanese and NATO officials.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Asia was a promising land for cooperation and development and should not be a battle arena for geopolitics.

NATOs continual eastward expansion in the Asia-Pacific, interference in regional affairs, attempts to destroy regional peace and stability, and push for bloc confrontation calls for high vigilance from countries in the region, Mao told a regular press conference.

With inputs from agencies

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As Pakistans political crisis deepens amid crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Lahore police have sent names of over 700 leaders of the Imran Khan-led party to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to impose a restriction on their foreign travel for one month.

This comes as the Punjab government has decided to expedite legal proceedings against those involved in the May 9 violence, Dawn reported.

A total of 746 PTI leaders and activists are on the radar of authorities over their alleged involvement in the riots following the arrest of former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan.

A request has been sent to the FIA to place names of these leaders on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL)  which temporarily bars them from travelling abroad.

Among the names mentioned in the list are fashion designer Khadija Shah, PTI leader Shafqat Mahmood, Imran Khans nephew Hassaan Niazi, PTIs supporter Sanam Javed Khan, who got famous after her protests outside Zaman Park, among others, Dawn reported.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif informed on Wednesday that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government is mulling a possible ban on PTI. A decision has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway, Asif told media persons in Islamabad.

However, Asif said the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban PTI.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The US Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the countrys largest wholesale drug distributors to continue shipping highly addictive painkillers nearly four years after a judge recommended that its licence be revoked for cavalier disregard of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis.

The DEA did not reply to repeated queries from The Associated Press about its treatment of the Morris & Dickson Co. case or the participation of a high-profile consultant hired by the corporation to avoid punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgrams senior deputy.

However, the delay has sparked questions about how the DEAs goal to oversee drug corporations accused of tens of thousands of American overdose fatalities may be impacted by the revolving door between government and business.

If the DEA had issued its order in a timely manner, one could then credibly believe that its second-in-command was not involved despite an obvious conflict of interest, said Craig Holman, an ethics expert at the watchdog group Public Citizen in Washington. The mere fact that its action has been delayed four years just raises red flags. It casts the entire process under grave suspicion.

Last week, after the AP reached out to the DEA for comment, the agency broke its silence on the issue and abruptly notified Morris & Dickson that it has decided to revoke its registration to distribute controlled substances, according to two people familiar with the development who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the exchange. However, no final order has yet been published. The company has described revocation as a virtual death sentence and is almost certain to challenge the decision in federal court.

Louis Milione, who was named DEAs principal deputy administrator in 2021, did not respond to requests for comment. He retired from the DEA in 2017 after a storied 21-year career that included two years leading the division that controls the sale of highly addictive narcotics. Like dozens of colleagues in the DEAs powerful-but-little-known Office of Diversion Control, he quickly went to work as a consultant for some of the same companies he had been tasked with regulating, including Morris & Dickson.

Milione was brought in by Morris & Dickson as part of a $3 million contract to save its registration to supply painkillers after the DEA accused the company in 2018 of failing to flag thousands of suspicious, high-volume orders.

Testifying in 2019 before federal Administrative Law Judge Charles W. Dorman, Milione argued that Morris & Dickson spared no expense to overhaul its compliance systems, cancel suspicious orders and send daily emails to the DEA spelling out its actions.

But those efforts were too little, too late, the judge wrote in a 159-page recommendation which has not been previously reported and was recently obtained by the AP. Anything less than the most severe punishment, he said, would communicate to DEA registrants that despite their transgressions, no matter how egregious, they will get a mere slap on the wrist and a second chance so long as they acknowledge their sins and vow to sin no more.

Acceptance of responsibility and evidence of remediation are not get-out-of-jail-free cards that erase the harm caused by years of cavalier disregard, Dorman wrote. Allowing the respondent to keep its registration would tell distributors that it is acceptable to take a relaxed approach to DEA regulations until they are caught, at which point they only need to throw millions of dollars at the problem to make the DEA go away.

Shreveport, Louisiana-based Morris & Dickson, the nations fourth-largest wholesale drug distributor with $4 billion a year in revenue and nearly 600 employees, did not respond to requests for comment. But the company repeatedly said in court filings that losing its license would effectively shut it down and have a catastrophic effect on patients in 29 states.

Neither Milgram nor two DEA administrators who preceded her have taken any enforcement action since Dormans 2019 recommendation, allowing Morris & Dickson to continue operating even as it pursued a potential settlement. Former DEA officials told AP a nearly four-year wait in such a case is highly unusual, noting it rarely takes the agency more than two years to issue a final order.

Milgrams management of DEA has been called into question on another front. AP reported last month that a federal watchdog is investigating whether the agency improperly awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to hire Milgrams past associates.

As for Milione, federal ethics rules bar government employees from taking part in decisions that could benefit companies where they previously worked, but DEA did not respond to questions about whether Milione recused himself from the matter. He would have also faced restrictions on his interactions with the DEA when he left government as a senior official  an issue the agencys own lawyers raised in an attempt to disqualify his testimony in support of Morris & Dickson.

Milione, a lawyer and former bit Hollywood actor, impressed fellow DEA agents for his risk taking and toughness. Among his achievements was running the overseas sting that in 2008 nabbed Russias notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout, aka The Merchant of Death.

But after taking over as the head of Diversion Control in 2015, he ended his predecessors refusal to meet with drug manufacturers and distributors and opened the DEAs doors to the industry it was charged with regulating.

Among those Milione met with on at least two occasions was Paul Dickson Sr.  then-president of Morris & Dickson. That included a 2016 visit to the Louisiana headquarters with DEA investigators to discuss the companys compliance program.

John Gray, the head of the Healthcare Distributors Alliance, a lobbying group that includes Morris & Dickson, recounted in a 2015 email how Milione, under orders from then-incoming DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, wanted to reset relations with the drug industry. And Milione even delivered the keynote speech at the groups annual meeting.

Overall, he was engaging, exceedingly pleasant and seemed genuinely concerned that we had lost touch with each other, Gray wrote. It is a very different tone and approach than we have all seen in the past 8-10 years.

Morris & Dickson had been punished for its mishandling of addictive drugs before. In 2019, before Dorman issued his recommendation, the company agreed to pay $22 million in civil penalties to resolve federal prosecutors claims that it violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to report suspicious orders of hydrocodone and oxycodone. The company also agreed to multimillion-dollar upgrades of its compliance program to ensure it reports suspicious orders moving forward.

The case drew far less attention than the enforcement actions DEA took in recent years against Morris & Dicksons larger competitors, a trio of pharmaceutical distributors who have agreed to pay the federal government more than $1 billion in fines and penalties for similar violations. Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson also agreed to pay $21 billion over 18 years to resolve claims as part of a nationwide settlement.

Among the more than 12,000 suspicious orders that Dorman said Morris & Dickson should have reported to the DEA were 51 unusually large orders of opioids made by Wilkinson Family Pharmacy in suburban New Orleans.

Wilkinson purchased more than 4.5 million pills of oxycodone and hydrocodone from Morris & Dickson between 2014 and 2017, and federal prosecutors say during that time owner Keith Wilkinson laundered more than $345,000 from illegal sales made with forged prescriptions or written by pill mill doctors.

In one month, as many as 42 per cent of all prescriptions filled by Wilkinson were for painkillers and 38 per cent of those were paid for in cash. The DEA considers a pharmacys sales of controlled substances suspicious whenever they surpass 15 per cent or cash transactions exceed 9 per cent.

Yet Morris & Dickson never suspended any shipments to the pharmacy. Over three years, it filed just three suspicious order reports to the DEA  none of which resulted in shipments being suspended.

Anybody with half a brain couldve seen something wasnt right, said Dan Schneider, a retired pharmacist near New Orleans whose fight to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic was featured in a Netflix documentary series. They were way out of line.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, met Australias Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda Hurley in Sydney and held a meeting with them. PM Modi and Hurley discussed ways to further the bilateral ties between both countries.

PM @narendramodi met Governor General David Hurley of Australia in Sydney. They discussed ways to further the bilateral ties between both countries, PMO India tweeted.

PM @narendramodi met Governor General David Hurley of Australia in Sydney. They discussed ways to further the bilateral ties between both countries. pic.twitter.com/UvwxTmlPwn  PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 24, 2023

A warm conversation between PM @narendramodi and Governor General @HurleyGeneral of Australia in Sydney. Discussed people-to-people connect between India and Australia and strengthening of long-standing bilateral partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted.

On Tuesday, Modi addressed a well-attended diaspora event at the Qudos Bank Arena along with his Australian counterpart.

Both Modi and Albanese lauded the contributions of Australias Indian diaspora communities in cementing bilateral ties. In recognition of the important contributions of the Indian diaspora to Australias rich multicultural society, the leaders unveiled a plaque for the foundation stone of a Little India gateway for Harris Park.

The leaders also welcomed the City of Perth and the Western Australian Governments decision to rename a road along Perths Swan River in recognition of Private Nain Singh Sailani.

Australian PM Anthony Albanese was also present. After holding the joint press conference, PM Modi and his Australian counterpart held a candid conversation on Wednesday. Earlier today, PM Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese addressed a joint press conference.

At the conference, PM Modi raised the issue of attacks on temples in the country and said that Albanese had assured to take strict actions against such elements in the future.

PM Modi said, PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their action or thoughts. PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also.

Notably, several cases of Khalistani extremism and brawls between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators have recently come to the fore in several parts of Australia. Indian flags were burnt and even a Hindu temple was vandalised recently in Australia.

Responding to a media query about the assurances that the Australian PM gave to his Indian counterpart, Albanese said, I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects peoples faith. That we dont tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we have seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia.

And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. Were a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity, the statement quoted him saying.

Meanwhile, the Australian PM spoke about his meeting with PM Modi in a year. He said that this is the sixth meeting with PM Modi in a year. He also talked about the Quad Summit, which took place in Japans Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven or G7 Summit.

The Australian PM reiterated the Quad Summit statement and said, Quad leaders stand 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. This is my 6th meeting with prime minister Modi in one year.

My visit to India in March for the Australia India Annual Leaders Summit focused on the key pillars of our relationship trade, investment and business cooperation, defence and security cooperation, climate and energy cooperation, and of course, people-to-people links, Albanese added.

With inputs from agencies

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P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo held a meeting in Washington on Tuesday and discussed ways to further strengthen economic ties between the countries.

Mishra, who is in Washington, also held interactions with senior officials from the US administration, representatives from the industry, think tanks and academia.

Dr P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary @PMOIndia had a productive meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce @GinaRaimondo . They discussed the strengthening of  economic and technology partnership. pic.twitter.com/AwiXUZy0pP  India in USA (@IndianEmbassyUS) May 23, 2023

Dr P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary @PMOIndia had a productive meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce @GinaRaimondo. They discussed the strengthening of economic and technology partnership, according to a tweet by the Embassy of India in Washington.

He also met with USAID Administrator Samantha Power and both sides had productive discussions on ongoing work under the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), development cooperation, and third-country partnerships.

Delighted to join Principal Secretary @PMOIndia Dr. P.K. Mishras meeting with Secretary Commerce Gina Raimondo @SecRaimondo. Discussed multiple threads of widening   cooperation. pic.twitter.com/eCHnaIu9bk  Taranjit Singh Sandhu (@SandhuTaranjitS) May 23, 2023

The US has emerged as Indias biggest trading partner in 2022-23 on account of increasing economic ties between the two countries. According to the provisional data of the commerce ministry, the bilateral trade between India and the US has increased by 7.65 per cent to USD 128.55 in 2022-23, as against USD 119.5 billion in 2021-22. It was USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.

India received about USD 5 billion in foreign direct investments from the US in the last fiscal.

With inputs from agencies

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interview

Geoffrey Onyeama says Nigerians should be looking at themselves and their educational system and how to improve it so that Nigerian students are worth the certificates that they have.

As the curtains are drawn on the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, PREMIUM TIMES's Chiamaka Okafor had an exclusive interview with Nigeria's longest-serving Minister of Foreign Affairs since 1975. Geoffrey Onyeama talks about his time as minister, his achievements and handover notes. He also talks about the ongoing crisis in Sudan, coups in West Africa and the controversial English proficiency tests Nigerians take despite English being their country's official language, amongst other issues.

Mr Onyeama was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Mr Buhari in 2015 and reappointed in 2019. Before the appointment, he worked at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) from 1985 to 2014, serving as the Deputy Director General of the organisation from 2009 to 2014.

Excerpt:

PT: Is Nigeria concerned about the fallouts of the crisis in Sudan?

Mr Onyeama: Yes. We have to be absolutely very concerned because we saw that the crisis in Libya led to the insecurity we have in this country, and clearly, what is going on in Sudan can exacerbate that. So we have to be vigilant, on our toes, and yes, absolutely take whatever preemptive measures we can take to ensure that we do not have a crisis worsened by what is happening in Sudan.

PT: There have been not-so-quiet comments around the Wagner Group's involvement in the crisis and how it is another proxy war between Russia and the West in Africa. What is Nigeria's position?

Mr Onyeama: You say we know that Wagner is involved in Sudan? We do not know that officially. We have not been presented with any concrete evidence or hard facts that they are there. I am not saying they are not, but we do not have any proof.

But, yes, they are operating in countries nearby, and you are right that one of the concerns that we all have is that Africa should not be, again, a battleground for another Cold War. So, this is something we are very concerned about to ensure that it does not happen. And how are we doing that? Obviously, through the ECOWAS. Wagner started getting involved in Mali, and it seems in Guinea Bissau, so ECOWAS is very concerned about that and trying as a collective to address that. But clearly, our position is that we do not want the Cold War repeated on African territory again. So we would certainly act.

You talked about Nigeria as a big brother, but we also are very reticent about acting unilaterally on African conflicts. We believe in using the existing multilateral structures - ECOWAS for West Africa, the African Union for the rest of Africa, and even the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), which groups the East African and North Horn of Africa.

There is an IGAD Plus, and Nigeria is that plus. Although we are not part of IGAD, we are part of the IGAD+ because of our, maybe, Big Brother role, so we will use all those fora, all those multilateral frameworks to hopefully be able to stop the move towards Africa becoming another battleground for East-West conflict.

PT: There is the question about BRICS and the non-alignment movement in Africa. How BRICS is disrupting or affecting the global political landscape. What does this mean for the continent in terms of non-alignment?

Mr Onyeama: I do not think BRICS is in any way really disrupting global politics, as it were, you know. Because they are disparate countries, if you look at the countries of BRICS, you will not see any East-West alignment possibilities.

I am not sure that any other country, even the Western countries, necessarily sees it as representing anything more than an economic grouping. These naval manoeuvres were recently between the Russian and South African Navy. But again, we do not believe that really is a cause for alarm or concern. We see BRICS... there are different groupings globally around the world. You will see that all over, some of them are with countries within the same region or sub-region, and some are with countries that have similar interests, so I think BRICS is just another one.

PT: Is Nigeria interested in becoming a member of BRICS?

Mr Onyeama: At the moment, it is not apparent what added value being a member of BRICS would bring. But clearly, if we saw that it would benefit Nigeria, then yes, maybe. But as things stand, it is not obvious what the value addition would be, and I think joining alliances or groupings just for the sake of joining alliances and groups really does not make sense.

PT: West Africa has seen many coups in recent years. Are we (Nigeria) worried that this is happening here?

Mr Onyeama: No. We have gone over 24 years changing governments democratically. One does not see a coup coming in Nigeria. I think we have gone beyond that; well, touch wood. I believe, and I would like to think, that we have gone beyond the stage of coups. As a country, we have evolved beyond that. The institutions are stronger, the democratic institutions are stronger, and the country is vast and a bit more complicated, so it would not be easy to have a coup in today's Nigeria.

PT: Today's Nigeria is witnessing a lot of pressure from the past election, and people are angry for several reasons. Do you think we are strong enough to go through this phase?

Mr Onyeama: Well, we will have to wait and see. But I still think that there is a certain resilience that we have developed in the country that will equip us to come through this. We have had all kinds of challenges in the recent past as well, the militancy, the IPOB, the Boko Haram, the bandits, and the herders. The country is resilient, and I think it can weather all that storms and will be able to respond and reshape those stresses to its unity and peace.

PT: In the last eight years, not until the President's Chief of Staff Ibrahim Gambari made clear what the country's foreign policy direction is, a lot of us were in the dark. How would you accept that Nigeria's foreign policy has been defined by stasis?

Mr Onyeama: I do not think that (Gambari's definition of Nigeria's foreign policy) is correct. I think our foreign policy is clear; we have been saying all the time from day one that a foreign policy is an extension of the interests of a country, your national interests. So you leverage your relations with foreign countries to promote those national interests. There is no magic word- citizens diplomacy, economic development- that defines your foreign policy because your foreign policy can evolve. We are developing policies about Sudan, as you asked, so foreign policies are always evolving. You cannot just say our foreign policy is this, and that is the end of it or that our foreign policy starts with our near neighbours. Our trade with Europe is 100 times more than our trade with Cameroon, Benin or Niger, so we cannot talk about that our foreign policy is with our near neighbours you know as such.

But when the president came on as president, he identified the country's core interests, so our foreign policy will be leveraging, promoting or trying to achieve those core interests through leveraging our relations with other countries. He made it clear - good governance, anti-corruption, security and the economy. So yes, economic diplomacy we have been promoting with countries around the world. On security, with our near neighbours, we have been fighting the Boko Haram war, but also we have been in alliance and cooperation with countries afar to support us in our security challenges on terrorism and even anti-corruption; we have been going around trying to have loot returned to the country and promoting good governance in Africa through the African Union with Mr President as the African Union champion you know, our anti-corruption champion. So your foreign policy is a lot more, I would not say complicated but nuanced, depending on the circumstances involved.

So what this government has probably done most is to seek to have good relations with all countries. I would call that a positive engagement with countries, and if you have that positive engagement with countries, you can leverage those good relations to get support in your fight against terrorism, anti-corruption... and trade with you. I do not think we can talk of capturing Nigeria's foreign policy in two words.

PT: How would you rate this administration's security performance?

Onyeama: Regarding Boko Haram, they are giving up in droves. Life is returning to normal in the Northeast, Maiduguri and many places. You can see that we are winning, and I would say almost have won as far as Boko Haram is concerned. I think we have made progress and gains in the fight against Boko Haram. I think that is clear for everybody to see and that eight years ago, when Mr President came in, Boko Haram was a hot topic, and the talk was that it was the most, in terms of killings, a destructive terrorist organisation in the world. But today, it is no longer about Boko Haram. There are other security challenges, too, but as far as Boko Haram is concerned, I think the government has done very well in really diminishing that threat.

PT: If Nigeria's foreign policy direction is to promote Nigeria's interests, I would imagine it also includes the interests of its citizens. This is to ask about the English proficiency test Nigerians are made to take. What is your office doing to see that Nigerians are excluded from taking this test?

Mr Onyeama: I am not sure that there is anything we can do in that regard. I suspect that possibly the reason certain countries or maybe educational institutions might have put that as a requirement might be because of experience from past students who have been coming into those educational institutions. One thing we have to remember and be clear about, if we are honest with ourselves, is that we have an uneven standard and quality of education in the country and that we still need to invest a lot more in terms of quality education. I think that this could be a reflection of that, that maybe we are getting a lot of students who, on the face of it, are at a certain level, but when put to the test, we find that they are really below that level.

I think that we should be looking at ourselves and our educational system and how we can improve them so that Nigerian students are worth the certificates that they have. I would say 30 to 40 years ago, there would not be any question about that, but I think if we are honest with ourselves, our standard of education probably is not where we would all like it to be.

PT: What is the strength of Nigeria's diplomatic service, and how would you rate the gender balance in the representation of active missions abroad?

Mr Onyeama: We have representation in 104 countries across the world, and for female representation, I cannot give you exact figures, but I think that there is pretty high representation. I would say that maybe 30 to 35 per cent female representation.

PT: Looking back on the last eight years as Nigeria's foreign minister, what are your key achievements?

Mr Onyeama: I would say the strengthening of bilateral relations with countries. So 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.

PT: Just one?

Mr Onyeama: Yea, because then you have a lot of benefits from that. But I think the first thing is to elevate the level and the nature of the relationship with other countries to facilitate, to gain respect for Nigeria. We have seen Nigerians being elected into various positions, we have been able to get countries to support our candidates and so forth. Also, administratively within the ministry and the one or two big initiatives that we hope to launch very soon, a help desk so that Nigerians everywhere in the world, citizens diplomacy, can call in wherever they are if they have any problems. And there is an all week 24 hours help desk to respond and assist Nigerians. This is something that was clearly missing that we have been able also to bring and deliver. And also a platform that we have also developed to make it easier for Nigerian businesses to access foreign markets. A business matching platform that opens up the world for Nigerian businesses to access the global market and also to promote foreign direct investment into Nigeria. I think that is another concrete deliverable we have been able to deliver in the time we have been here.

PT: I am concerned about how soon you can deliver that, given your little time in the office.

Mr Onyeama: On the help desk, it will be launched or inaugurated before we leave. It is ready and running, so it is just a formal inauguration before we leave.

PT: Why does NiDCOM appear to be playing the foreign ministry role?

Mr Onyeama: Well, on NiDCOM, it is an agency within the foreign affairs ministry, so it is not an entity separate as such from the orbit of the foreign ministry. For us, it is not about competition; it is about what is beneficial for Nigerians, so if there is something of benefit to Nigerians, whether it is done by NiDCOM or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the important thing is that it benefits Nigeria.

PT: Categorically, you say NiDCOM is not taking away your job?

Mr Onyeama: But we are doing our job. I do not know in what way they would be taking over our job. They do not have contact with governments or foreign ministries of other countries; they do not have that connection with them. They are not supervising our embassies around the world. And as I said, foreign affairs is the primary interlocutor and speaker with other countries. NiDCOM cannot do that because they do not have that access to the Ministry of foreign affairs of other countries.

PT: What would be in your handover notes to your successor on areas where we need to improve?

Mr Onyeama: I would say mainly administrative. It will have to be us being able to resolve the funding issue of the ministry; I think that is really cardinal. And probably the automation of work procedures of the ministry, the computerisation of work procedures, and contact with our embassies.

PT: Speak to me more about funding.

Mr Onyeama: We are grossly underfunded, so you have a perpetual crisis due to the underfunding. And we need a mechanism. It is not just the ministry, but of course, I think the parliament and what is appropriated to the ministry and the government at large (budget), we have to give more to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if we are going to maintain 104 missions around the world and also if we are going to reorganise the headquarters by giving it modern means of communication.

PT: What climate concerns have formed a major part of Nigeria's foreign policy under your leadership?

Mr Onyeama: We are fully engaged in the various Conferences of the Parties (COP) on climate issues. We have the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that we will make as part of our climate action. But of course, I think the big challenge for us as a fossil fuel-producing country, oil and gas, is the move to net zero emission. We are putting it at 2060 at the moment. But clearly, that is one thing we have to really think about; the transition to clean energy as an energy-producing country. How we manage that because we need the resources from those fossil fuels, and so those are going to be, for a long time, the mainstay of our economy. But as we are plugged into climate action and reduction of fossil fuel consumption, we have to tread carefully going forward.

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PT: Do you think that 2060 is feasible for Nigeria?

Mr Onyeama: We will have to see; because that is the issue, that Western countries have developed on the back of carbon emissions, coal, oil and so forth, and it is almost like you climb up a ladder, and you get to the top, and others want to climb up the same ladder, and you now want to put the ladder away because of one reason or the other. That is something we have to see.

We saw with the issue of gas that, for a time, there was a concerted effort on the part of Western financial institutions and several Western countries not to fund any more gas projects, for instance. You know our gas is coming more and more on stream, and we were arguing that gas should be seen as a transition fuel over this time as we transition away from oil to give us time to transition. Suddenly we saw with the Ukraine crisis how dependent the same Western world is on gas and not talking so much any longer about defunding gas. These are some of those issues where we talk about double standards. So we have to look at our own interests, and that has to be preeminent and what we have to go by. The fact of the matter remains that, as I pointed out to John Kerry, the US climate envoy, as things are now, we are at net zero, more or less, in terms of emissions that we are contributing to the global carbon emissions. But their argument is that it will get more and more if you keep investing in it. But still, we are not the ones that have caused the climate crisis and the carbon emissions. However, we are committed as a government to net zero emissions and will try to get there.

PT: If I hear you clearly, you do not know how feasible 2060 is?

Mr Onyeama: It is feasible, of course, if you have the political will and you are prepared to make all the investments that are required and tighten your belt where you need to. So it is a question of the commitments of future governments. I am not in a position to say what the incoming administration's commitment and others will continue to be.

PT: Last October, there was a security alert about an impending terrorist attack in Nigeria. We have seen several occasions where foreign missions issued travel advisories to their citizens - correct me if I am wrong - but Nigeria does not have such practice. The principle of reciprocity, you know, allows us to do the same. Why has Nigeria not tapped into that?

Mr Onyeama: It is not a question of reciprocity. This is just advice that you give to your citizens; so if the Americans give such advice to their citizens, it is not an act of reciprocity as such for us to now give it to Nigerian citizens in the US because the US did that in Nigeria. I think that would be the wrong approach.

I think where there is a real issue - because do not forget that these are alerts given by embassies in a particular country - it is not foreign affairs or the foreign ministry; it is a local issue. For instance, in the situation in Khartoum, Sudan and also Ukraine, we gave an alert to Nigerians there. We will do that in any other country where there is a real issue in terms of avoiding certain places, but it is for each embassy to decide because they are living in that country and they know best, and the decision is completely up to them.

PT: The National Assembly a few weeks back proposed a bill to stop medical professionals from leaving the country. Are there any diplomatic responses to these issues?

It is a Nigerian domestic affair, not a foreign affairs issue. But I do not think it can be done regarding human rights, everybody has a right to free movement, to leave the country as they wish. If you have a bond agreement like the government pays for your medical education, they could put into that conditions for the scholarship that you will work for the government for five years or something like that, in which case they can insist on that.
Typhoon Mawar slammed on the tiny US territory of Guam on Wednesday, with people with nowhere to flee bracing for the destructive winds and heavy rains of what was believed to be the biggest storm to batter the Pacific island in decades.

The United States military dispatched ships, residents stocked up on supplies, and anyone not living in a concrete house was urged to seek shelter elsewhere ahead of the typhoon, which was expected to arrive as a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) but could strengthen to a Category 5, the most powerful. Guam was last directly impacted by a Category 5 hurricane in 1962.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Guam said they were seeing almost whiteout conditions at their office and hearing low rumblings and shaking shutters and doors as the storm intensified Wednesday afternoon.

Stay inside. Trees are coming down; power lines are coming down, said Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the service. Everything is changing  it is too dangerous to be outside.

Many communities on the 212-square-mile (549-square-kilometre) island had lost power by the afternoon and some to the south had lost water service. A flash flood warning was issued for the entire island as forecasters predicted as much as 25 inches (64 centimetres) of rain in addition to a life-threatening storm surge of 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 2 meters).

Ahead of the storm, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations. The highest point on the island is Mt. Lamlam in the southwest at 1,334 feet (406 meters). But much of the beachfront tourist district of Tamuning, where many resort hotels are located, is close to sea level.

In low-lying Agat along the southern coast, resident Reuel Drilon began preparing Friday and spent the weekend tying down patio furniture and trash containers. Nearly every home in the village, he said, has a mango tree  which officials warned could be ripped from the ground and become roadblocks and deadly flying projectiles.

A lot of folks are keeping their eyes on trees, he told The Associated Press before the storm hit. Down south, we have a lot of coconut trees and mango trees.

Guam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island. Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, Joint Region Marianas commander, authorized the evacuation of defense personnel, dependents and employees in areas expected to be affected.

The military said it moved its ships out to sea as a standard precaution. It sent its aircraft off the island or placed them in protective hangars. Any personnel remaining on the island were sheltering in place. About 6,800 US service members are assigned to Guam, according to the Pentagon.

With rain from the storms outer bands already falling over the island as of late Wednesday morning, the typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) with gusts peaking at 170 mph (274 kph), said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Guam. Its centre was about 75 miles (120 kilometres) southeast of the island and was moving to the north-northwest.

The weather service warned of considerable damage from a triple threat of winds, torrential rains and a life-threatening storm surge of 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 2 meters), with dangerous surf of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters). It said the storm could hit Wednesday afternoon in the southern part of Guam, which lies west of the International Date Line and is a day ahead of the US mainland and Hawaii.

If Guam doesnt take a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, the lead weather service meteorologist in Guam. Mawar is a Malaysian word that means rose, he noted.

School buses picked up residents at island community centres and transported them to 11 elementary schools outfitted as shelters. Civic workers in various villages warned residents to secure loose objects in their yards and seek shelter immediately. Some spread the word by megaphone, while others turned to social media. The power flickered off and on as the rain and wind intensified, and officials said nearly 900 people were in shelters.

Leon Guerrero urged residents in a YouTube message to remain calm and ordered the National Guard to help those in low-lying areas evacuate, saying, We are at the crosshairs of Typhoon Mawar. Take action now.

Guerrero said an emergency declaration approved by President Joe Biden will support the mobilization of resources into Guam, which is especially crucial given our distance from the continental US

The storm was moving at 6 mph (10 kph) but had an eye 17 miles (27 kilometres) wide, meaning people at the typhoons centre could see calm conditions for over three hours and conclude, far too soon, that the worst is over, Doll said. As the eye leaves, the winds could rise to 150 mph (241 kph) in minutes, so people should remain sheltered until the government gives the all-clear.

Folks may say, Hey its over, we could go outside and start cleaning up,' Doll said. That is totally wrong.

Joshua Paulino, a client manager at Xerox Guam, was sheltering at home in the central village of Chalan Pago with his wife, two sons and mother after the family closed the shutters and secured outdoor objects. He worried that the storm could dump rain on the island for a long time since it was forecast to pass by gradually.

This storm is moving very slowly so that is making me really uneasy, Paulino said by text message.

And an ocean away in Los Angeles, Marichelle Tanag was fretting from afar after her parents, who are in their 70s and have survived many typhoons in their decades on the island. They boarded up windows, stocked up on a couple of weeks of food, prepared the generator and filled bathtubs with water. Their home in Tamuning, also in central Guam, is made of concrete, but she worried about it nevertheless.

Will the house stand?  If not, will they be able to go to another place of safety if needed, as fast as possible, and not get in the way of any of the flying debris? Tanag said by phone.

Rota, an island in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, was also under a typhoon warning, Doll said. Tinian and Saipan, in the Northern Marianas, were under tropical storm warnings. Some people in those areas are still in temporary shelters or tents after Category 5 Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018, Doll noted.

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On Wednesday, Ron DeSantis will launch his candidature for the Republican presidential nomination in a live-streamed Twitter discussion with the platforms billionaire owner Elon Musk, presenting his ultra-conservative record as governor of Florida as a model for the country.

DeSantis will be counting on some of the tech moguls star power to outshine obvious favourite Donald Trump, who has swept all before him in the early stages of the race and is polling higher than all of the other candidates combined.

I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis and he has quite an announcement to make, Musk confirmed on Tuesday, promising the 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) event would be unscripted, with real time questions and answers.

Its going to be live. Let it rip, Musk told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference.

The announcement will come with a campaign launch video and the start of a three-day retreat in Miami for some of DeSantiss wealthiest donors, who will be briefed on the campaign before the governor makes a swing through several early-voting states next week.

Long viewed as the most viable challenger to twice-impeached former president Trump, DeSantis is better known than most of the hopefuls in the chasing pack for the Republican nomination  but still lacks the frontrunners national profile.

The format offers him a dual advantage  giving him precious access to Musks 140 million followers, many of whom are in Trumps base, and, if he wins the nomination, the attention of a chunk of younger, less conservative voters that he will likely need for a shot at the White House.

Ratings in decline

DeSantis has used his platform as Floridas chief executive to burnish his conservative credentials, signing off on some 80 new state laws this spring, many targeting woke indoctrination in schools and other public institutions.

They include a ban on the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, a block on funding for efforts to promote diversity at public universities and one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

But the 44-year-olds official launch comes with his ratings in decline despite a slate of right-wing legislative wins in his state.

A number of policy missteps have prompted disquiet about his readiness to take on Trump, with donors worried he may have peaked too soon.

He faces the daunting task of closing an enormous polling gap, with Trump posting leads close to 40 percentage points, despite being indicted on felony financial charges and being found liable for sexual abuse in a New York civil trial.

But DeSantis goes into the campaign with a large cash advantage over his rivals in the pack chasing Trump  a war chest of potentially more than $100 million  and buoyed by a strong turnout at a series of recent campaign events.

Never Back Down, a super PAC that has acted as the governors de facto campaign arm before he announced, has a ground operation in most of the early nominating states and is making plans to expand.

Behind the scenes, the Trump and DeSantis camps have been jostling to secure political endorsements from state lawmakers while, at the national level, Floridas congressional delegation has broken heavily for Trump.

Personal touch

Musk is a well-known DeSantis admirer, although he was clear that Twitter would remain neutral on the nomination and that his hosting of the campaign launch should not be taken as an endorsement.

Ive said publicly that my preference, and I think the preference of most Americans, is to have someone fairly normal in office, he said, without making any explicit criticism of Trump.

The former president was banned from Twitter after the 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters and has not returned since being reinstated in November.

He has been attacking DeSantis almost daily on his record, character and fitness for office but responded to Wednesdays announcement with relative restraint  simply posting favourable polling on his own online platform, Truth Social.

Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. This way he doesnt have to interact with people and the media cant ask him any questions, a Trump aide said.

The governor has also been criticized for lacking the personal touch that Trumps supporters say is one of the former presidents biggest assets.

But the former naval officer and congressman have been redoubling his efforts more recently to stay behind after speaking engagements to press the flesh, sign autographs and have his picture taken with supporters.

If we make 2024 a referendum on Joe Biden and his failures and we provide a positive alternative for the future of this country, Republicans will win across the board, DeSantis said during a visit this month to Sioux Center, Iowa.

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Even as the Western countries remain critical of Russia and China ties amid the Ukraine war, a series of bilateral pacts are expected to be signed between Moscow and Beijing on Wednesday during the Russian prime ministers trip to Beijing as the two giant neighbours pledge closer cooperation.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin  the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in February 2022  was holding talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, according to the Russian government.

As a result of the talks, a number of bilateral agreements is planned to be signed, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, without elaborating.

Xi visited Russia in March and held talks with dear friend President Vladimir Putin, after committing to a no limits partnership just before the 2022 Russian attack on Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation.

Beijing has rejected Western attempts to link its partnership with Moscow to Ukraine, insisting that their relationship does not violate international norms, China has the right to collaborate with who it chooses, and their cooperation is not targeted at any third countries.

As a show of support, the Chinese premier on Tuesday sent a congratulatory letter to the China-Russia business forum in Shanghai, attended by Mishustin and a large group of Russian tycoons, saying China is willing to expand bilateral economic and trade exchanges.

In April, Chinas exports to Russia saw continued momentum, climbing 153.1% from a year earlier, after more than doubling in March, according to data from Chinese customs.

Russias energy shipments to China are projected to rise by 40% this year, and the two countries are discussing technological equipment supplies to Russia, the Interfax news agency reported.

Deepening of ties with China is a strategic course for Moscow, said the secretary of Russias Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, who held talks on Monday with Chen Wenqing, a member of the Chinese Communist Partys Politburo who oversees the police, legal affairs and intelligence.

Mishustins visit comes at a time when Ukraine is readying a counteroffensive in a bid to retake occupied territory by Russian forces.

Beijing has refrained from openly denouncing Russias invasion. But since February, Xi has promoted a 12-point peace plan, which has been met with scepticism from the West and cautiously welcomed by Kyiv.

Last week, Chinas special representative for Eurasian affairs Li Hui visited Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, kicking off a European tour that Beijing billed as its effort to promote peace talks and a political settlement of the crisis.

Li Hui is scheduled to visit Russia on Friday, Russian news agency TASS reported.

With inputs from agencies

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Russia announced on Tuesday that it had launched a Su-27 fighter jet to prevent violations of the state border by two US Air Force strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea.

After removing the foreign military aircraft from the Russian state border, the Russian fighter went back to its air base, the Russian defence ministry stated.

According to the statement, the army stopped the border from being crossed, and the flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace.

Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, acknowledged that US planes were intercepted by Russia, explaining that the B-1 bombers were participating in a long-planned exercise in Europe.

It is the latest in a series of similar incidents.

Just over a week ago, Russia said two aircraft, one German and one French, were intercepted attempting to violate its airspace.

Mid-April, Russia dispatched a fighter jet to escort a German naval aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

In March, an American drone crashed after colliding with a Russian jet over the Black Sea.

Russias defence ministry said it had scrambled jets after detecting a US drone over the Black Sea, but denied causing the crash, saying the aircraft had lost control.

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A senior officer of the US forces ordered that his command should make an announcement on Twitter that a senior al Qaeda leader had been targeted by an American drone strike in Syria earlier this month. However, the senior general in charge of US forces in the Middle East did not confirm who was actually killed in the strike.

According to CNN, the US Central Command  even after nearly three weeks  still does not know whether a civilian died instead.

CENTCOM did not open a review of the incident, officially known as a civilian-casualty credibility assessment report, until May 15  twelve days after the strike. That review is ongoing, CNN reported.

A defense official has said that some of CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurillas subordinates have urged him to hold off on the tweet until there was more clarity on who was actually killed.

At 11:42 am local Syrian time on 3 May, US Central Command Forces conducted a unilateral strike in Northwest Syria targeting a senior Al Qaeda leader. We will provide more information as operational details become available, read the post.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Amid the ongoing political crisis in Pakistan, the Shehbaz Sharif-led government is mulling a possible ban on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday.

A decision has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway, Asif told media persons in Islamabad, Dawn reported.

This comes in light of the May 9 nationwide protests against the arrest of former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan in the 190 million settlement case.

However, Asif said the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban PTI.

(With inputs from agencies)

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A teenaged Taiwanese man who recently inherited millions was found dead barely two hours after allegedly marrying a man he met just twice, the Independent reported. Lai, he inherited a property portfolio worth NT$500m (Rs 1,34,96,95,476) from his father shortly before his death.

The 18-year-old student was found dead on the ground floor of a 10-story residential building on May 4. It was discovered that it was the same building where his real estate agent assistant, surnamed Hsia, also lived. Lai and Hsia, 26, had legally registered their married just two hours before his death. Hsia and his father were real estate agents who helped Lais father manage his estates and were also working on the inheritance.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Taiwan. Under Taiwans Civil Code, partners in same-sex marriages have the same legal rights as other marriages, including inheritance rights.

The death was brought to light by Taiwanese media on May 19 when the teenagers mother, surnamed Chen, accompanied by her lawyer, held a press conference in Taichung City in central Taiwan. Alleging foul play, she questioned the circumstances of the death considering that her son stands to acquire a large amount of wealth left by his father who died in late April.

She alleged that her son was murdered for his money and that the incident was arranged to look like suicide. Chen also claimed her son was not gay and only met Hsia twice before his death, the first time at his fathers funeral.

The distraught mother told reporters she would never accept that her son had committed suicide, adding he had no reason to, describing him as an obedient boy set to read philosophy at a local university, according to a report- by The Strait Times.

After examining Lais body, forensic medical expert Kao Ta-cheng claimed that the injuries he suffered showed he was unlikely to have fallen from the 10th floor, noting that there were no haemorrhages in his head or abdominal cavities. He suspected that Lai might have been poisoned before his fall.

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In a significant development, Tesla CEO and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed his strong interest in establishing a prominent presence in Indias dynamic market. Recent reports indicate that Tesla is actively seeking a suitable location for its upcoming factory and aims to finalize the decision within this year.

Also read: Is Tesla looking to set up a factory in India? Execs meet Indian officials seeking incentives and tax breaks

Musks ambitious plans to expand Teslas operations to the Indian subcontinent have generated widespread excitement among industry experts and enthusiasts of electric vehicles. With a proven track record of revolutionizing the global automotive industry through its advanced electric cars, Tesla aims to tap into Indias growing market potential to further elevate its brand.

Musk all but declares Teslas entry into India

Recognizing the undeniable importance of India, Musk took to social media to express his enthusiasm. In a tweet, he confidently declared, As promised, hinting at Teslas long-awaited entry into the Indian market.

Analysts in the industry perceive this statement as a clear indication of the companys intention to make substantial investments and establish a manufacturing facility in the country.

Also read: Tesla Model 3 to get a facelift? Images of refreshed Project Highland Model 3 EV leaks online

While the exact location of the Tesla factory in India has not been revealed, it is expected that the decision will be made by the end of this year. Several Indian states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, are competing to be chosen as the site for Teslas entry into the Indian market.

EV revolution in India

The establishment of a Tesla factory in India holds great potential for the countrys automotive and clean energy sectors. It is anticipated to bring about a new era of technological advancement and generate numerous job opportunities across various skill levels.

Also read: Explained: Why discovery of lithium deposits in J&K is a big deal for India

The Indian government has long been advocating for sustainable transportation, and Teslas entry into the market is a significant step toward achieving this goal. With Teslas innovative electric vehicle offerings, India can make significant progress in reducing its carbon footprint and transitioning to a greener and cleaner future.

A supercharged India

Moreover, Teslas presence in India is expected to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, addressing concerns about range anxiety, charging infrastructure, and affordability.

The companys reputation for producing high-performance electric cars with impressive mileage capabilities has already captured the imagination of Indian consumers, who eagerly await the opportunity to experience Teslas groundbreaking technology firsthand.

While challenges related to import duties and infrastructure development need to be addressed, Teslas interest in India sends a strong message to the global business community that India is a land of opportunities and ripe for investment.

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In response to concerns about data privacy and Chinese influence, TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media platform, has pledged to grant Oracle Corp., its US partner, complete access to its source code, algorithms, and content moderation data.

This move aims to fulfil the companys promise of segregating American user data within the US. The plan, known as Project Texas, involves compartmentalizing TikToks US operations under US control to alleviate worries of Chinese surveillance on its American user base.

Oracle to go through TikToks source codes and algorithms to spot anomalies

According to a statement seen by Bloomberg, Oracle will soon assume the responsibility of monitoring access to the secure environment established on its servers for hosting TikToks US data. TikTok assured that significant components of Project Texas are already operational and that further implementation will occur in the upcoming weeks and months.

Also read: TikTok keen on getting out of trouble, updates content rulebook, asserts never shared data with CCP

The company emphasized collaboration with Oracle to ensure uninterrupted user experiences while subjecting TikTok software to ongoing inspection and monitoring by Oracle. Additionally, both entities maintain regular communication with the US government.

Starting in January, Oracle has been conducting inspections of certain parts of TikToks source code at a dedicated transparency centre located within TikToks Transparency and Accountability Center in Los Angeles.

Project Texas  What is it and what happens to TikTok?

However, Bloomberg reported last week that the US tech giant had not yet obtained the promised unprecedented access to the related algorithms and data models, as declared by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a congressional hearing in March. The report claimed that Project Texas was largely stagnant, with only preliminary code reviews taking place and no extensive or continuous monitoring of TikToks operations.

Also read: Surprise, surprise: TikTok lying about Chinese spying, former employee tells US Congress

As originally proposed, Project Texas involves storing all of TikToks US user data on Oracle servers and granting Oracle access to review the source code and audit app updates. The recent statement from TikTok coincided with the companys lawsuit against the state of Montana.

TikToks take on the Montana ban

This legal action followed Governor Greg Gianfortes enactment of a law prohibiting TikTok from operating within the states jurisdiction, potentially leading to app store restrictions on downloading TikTok in Montana.

Also read: TikTok US Ban: Video sharing app fights back, sues Montanas unconstitutional ban

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter criticized Montanas ban as unconstitutional, asserting that only the federal government has the authority to impose such restrictions on national security grounds.

This lawsuit marks the second legal challenge against Montana, with a group of TikTok creators previously filing a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.

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The US Commerce Department should impose trade restrictions on Chinese memory chip producer Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) after Beijing barred the sale of certain chips by US-based Micron Technology Inc earlier this week, according to the head of the House Committee on China on Tuesday.

The limits imposed on Micron by Chinas cyberspace regulator are the latest in a growing trade war between the worlds two largest economies. Chinas decision prompted harsh comments from senior legislators and the White House.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Chinas claim on Micron was not based in fact.

The White House said the Commerce Department was engaged directly with China over Micron, a maker of memory chips that are essential for products from cell phones to data centre servers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, also said Tuesday he is talking to the broader business community and allies about the issue.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for CXMT could not be immediately reached for comment.

A Commerce Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Representative Mike Gallagher, an influential lawmaker whose select committee on China has pressed the Biden administration to take tougher stances on China, is the only lawmaker so far to call for retaliatory action.

The US must make clear to the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) that it will not tolerate economic coercion against its companies or its allies, Gallagher said in a statement. The Commerce Department should immediately add ChangXin Memory Technologies to the entity list and ensure no US technology, regardless of specifications, goes to CXMT, YMTC, or other PRC firms operating in this industry.

CXMT is Chinas leading maker of DRAM memory chips and the domestic competitor most likely to benefit if Micron is barred from Chinas massive chip market.

YMTC, or Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp, is a Chinese chipmaker put on the entity list December 2022.

Gallagher also said the Commerce Department must ensure no US-export licenses granted to foreign semiconductor memory firms operating in (China) are used to backfill Micron, and our South Korean allies, who have experienced exactly this kind of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) economic coercion firsthand in recent years, should likewise act to prevent backfilling, Gallagher said.

Koreas Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix, which both operate memory chip factories in China, and other non-Chinese firms were spared the brunt of US export controls on chip manufacturing gear imposed in October, but they are operating under exemptions from the US rules that can expire or be revoked.

Samsung and SK Hynix did not immediately return requests for comment.

Analysts believe CXMTs chips are two to three generations behind industry leaders Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix.

Gallaghers call comes weeks after US makers of chip manufacturing equipment say they received a clarification from US export control authorities that will allow them to ship more tools to China than initially anticipated.

Lam Research Corp, the leading maker of tools for manufacturing memory chips, told investors the clarification could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional sales from China.

The clarification from the Commerce Department concerned how memory chip features are measured for the purposes of applying export control rules.

How such chips are measured can vary with what tools and materials are used to make them and how they are designed, said Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights Inc, which produces research reports on the semiconductor industry.

Even among the makers and buyers of memory chips, it tends to be this big debate, Hutcheson said.

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Manawashi / Nyala  Two Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) soldiers were reportedly killed In North Darfur, when their military camp came under fire at the weekend. Two civilians died and others were injured in South Darfur when shells hit a camp for displaced people.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that a SAF camp in North Darfur was attacked by 'militants', forcing the army to withdraw to the headquarters of the 63rd Brigade in the Manawashi area of Mershing locality.

In separate attacks on Thursday and Friday, two displaced people were killed and others seriously injured when shells hit Centre 12 in Otash camp, near to the South Darfur capital Nyala.

Community leader Adam Banat told Radio Dabanga that the shells destroyed some of the houses, and appealed to organisations to help the displaced in terms of food and health, and called on both sides to stop the war immediately.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, addressed and interacted with a large gathering of the Indian community members at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

During his address, PM Modi urged the Indian diaspora to bring their Australian friends and their families to India whenever they plan to visit the country.

Whenever you visit India, bring along your Australian friends and their families as well. This will provide them with better opportunities to acquaint themselves with India, PM Modi said.

The Indian diaspora, consisting of students, researchers, professionals and business persons, participated in the event with great enthusiasm. A number of Ministers, Members of Parliament and other dignitaries from Australia also participated in the event, read a statement.

Both Prime Ministers jointly unveiled the foundation stone for a Little India Gateway to be built in Harris Park in Parramatta, Western Sydney, which is home to a large Indian community.

In his address, Prime Minister Modi also highlighted Mutual Trust and Mutual Respect as the foundation of the close historical ties between India and Australia, and underscored the numerous elements that bind the two countries. He lauded the contribution and success of the Indian community in Australia, calling them cultural and brand Ambassadors of India.

Prime Minister outlined Indias growing achievements on a global scale, and noted that the world was increasingly interested in Indias success stories. He highlighted the deepening engagement between India and Australia, and announced that an Indian Consulate would be opened in Brisbane.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Uber has announced the launch of Uber Green in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru beginning in June 2023, allowing riders to request a ride in an all-electric, zero-emission vehicle. The company began pilot testing Uber Electric last year.

In addition, the company has announced a series of partnerships to electrify its services in India, collaborating with major industry players to expedite the transition to sustainable transportation.

With this recent declaration, Uber reaffirms its goal to being a worldwide zero-emissions mobility platform by 2040. Uber Green is the most widely used sustainable mobility option, with locations in over 100 cities across 15 countries.

New partnerships by Uber for EV transition

Uber Green is a step in the right direction for environmentally friendly transportation, and the company has announced various agreements to promote the use of electric vehicles.

Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet Private Limited, and Moove are just a few of the fleet service providers theyre working with to roll out 25,000 electric vehicles across seven cities.

In addition, they have partnered with Zypp Electric to roll out 10,000 electric motorcycles. Together with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Uber is offering loans of up to Rs 1000 crores to encourage the use of electric and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles.

Finally, in association with bp pulse, Jio-bp, and GMR Green Energy, Uber is working to increase access to electric vehicle charging stations.

Introducing Uber Green  an all-electric, zero tailpipe emission vehicle thats bringing the on-demand EV experience to India, in just a few taps!#UberGreen pic.twitter.com/PzqJ8wGcPK  Uber India (@Uber_India) May 24, 2023

Commenting on the announcement, Andrew Macdonald, Senior VP, Mobility and Business Operations at Uber, said,

Indias huge scale and electrification momentum makes the country a priority for Uber as we seek to meet our commitment to electrify every ride on our platform by 2040. Today, we are taking a major step toward that goal with the launch of Uber Green. We know that our impact goes beyond technology. We are determined to become allies of cities and governments as they seek to combat climate change and pollution through sustainable mobility.

Speaking at the launch, Prabhjeet Singh, President, Uber India and South Asia said,
Abyei  Five people have been killed and six, including women and children injured, in an attack by gunmen on a nomadic group in the Hafir El Silik area of the disputed Abyei region on the border between Sudan and South Sudan on Saturday.

Belbek Kuol Deng, Sultan of the Ngok Dinka, confirmed the incident to Radio Dabanga, but denied it had the link to the clan disputes following a spate of cattle thefts since April. "There is no interest in the Misseriya to attack," he says.

Reliable other sources say that the attack was carried out by the armed movement 'Titabai', which is affiliated with South Sudan, and engaged in cattle rustling.

The sources pointed out that the attack resulted in the death of five civilians, while six other were injured, including women and children under the age of two years. The injured were transferred by ambulance to the health centre in Bilal.

Residents of northern Abyei called on the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to intervene urgently to maintain security in light of the crisis in the country.

Tensions

Relations between the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka have been fraught in the past. Relationships between the two tribes improved when they started holding regular peace conferences on conflict drivers, such as cattle raids, grazing areas, protection of crops, and access to water, and signed a peace deal five years ago.

The Ngok Dinka are indigenous inhabitants of Abyei and reside there all year long whilst the Misseriya, a nomadic Arab herding tribe with members in Kordofan, Darfur, and Chad, rely on long-held agreements to move their cattle through Abyei and South Sudan in the dry season to find water and pastures for grazing.

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During the civil war and disputes between Sudan and South Sudan, the Dinka Ngok sided with South Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) whilst the Misseriya were mobilised as a proxy militia by Sudan's Al Bashir regime, which supported 'Arab' herders whilst looking down on 'African' farmers.

Such ethnic discrimination and tensions over grazing were also at the roots of the Darfur Genocide and similar hostilities over land also exist between the Misseriya and the Nuba clans in Kordofan.

Protection

Abyei, an area at the Sudan-South Sudan border, is the traditional homeland of the Ngok Dinka, who have with strong ties with the South Sudanese Dinka tribe. Herders of the Misseriya, an 'Arab' tribe, traverse Abyei and other Sudan-South Sudan border areas with their cattle in search of water and pasture in the dry season and to trade goods. The region witnesses many cases of cattle rustling, hijacks, and other robberies.

Since the secession of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011, both countries claim the oil-rich region of Abyei. In the same year, the UN Security Council decided on the establishment of UNISFA, to monitor and verify the redeployment of armed forces from Abyei. UNISFA also has a mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, to protect the area from incursions by unauthorised elements, and ensure security.
Khartoum  Skirmishes and air raids have been reported in and around Khartoum despite the start of a seven-day ceasefire yesterday evening. This is the seventh ceasefire since the start of the clashes.

Not long after the ceasefire officially started at 21.45 local time, air strikes were reported west of Khartoum. Witnesses have already reported further clashes and hostilities this morning.

Heavy fighting also took place right before the truce was supposed to start. Civilians reported SAF airstrikes only hours before the armistice would enter into force.

Khartoum and Khartoum North witnessed heavy bombardments yesterday. People living in East Nile in Khartoum North told Radio Dabanga that air strikes were launched on parts of the locality.

In Omdurman, several people were injured during battles between the army and the RSF in El Mohandesin, Hamed El Nil, and El Rashideen on Sunday, medic Salah Hashim told Radio Dabanga.

He said that the exchange of artillery fire between the army and the RSF lasted for hours.

"The areas did not witness any fighting on Monday morning, perhaps because of the truce."

'Sporadic' clashes

The SAF reported yesterday at about 21:00, 45 minutes before the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect, that "the entire country is witnessing stability in the operational situation, except for sporadic clashes with the rebel militia in parts of the national capital".

In a statement posted on social media, the SAF said that their forces "launched strikes against the rebels in several locations" in Khartoum, Khartoum North (Bahri) and Omdurman, which resulted in the destruction of a large number of vehicles, weapons and equipment, and dozens of dead and wounded.

"Our forces clashed with a group of rebel militia on El Ghaba Street [in western Khartoum], inflicting heavy losses on them, and destroying and seizing a number of armed vehicles."

The RSF claimed on social media that their "forces repelled an attack by the coup forces [SAF] in the Arab Market area, Khartoum Stadium, and El Hurriya Street, inflicting heavy losses on them and seizing 7 vehicles with all their equipment, destroying 2 armored vehicles, killing a number of coup plotters, and chasing the fugitives to El Ghaba Street".

The SAF and RSF both accused the other of continued looting in the capital and claimed to have inflicted losses on the opposing side.

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Looting

Hashim reported that it was difficult for people and humanitarian workers to move around, prices are high, food in the markets is scarce, and hospitals are closed. The security situation is further deteriorating as street gangs are spreading and robberies, burglaries, and thefts have increased.

"Markets in the capital witnessed widespread looting. This is still ongoing as people search for what is left inside stores and warehouses, which prompted many merchants to transport their goods to their homes."

He said that the ceasefire is "desperately is needed to meet the affected people's need for relief, treatment, and the necessities of life". The cities are also in urgent need of field hospitals.

The Sudanese Doctors Union recorded 863 civilian deaths and 3,531 injuries up until May 20. Fighters are not included in the statistics and real numbers are likely to be much higher as many bodies are left on the streets or buried anonymously.

More than a million Sudanese were forced to flee their homes.
Washington  US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, has encouraged the warring Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to abide by the seven-day humanitarian ceasefire that took effect last night. In a video message to the people of Sudan, he highlights that Sudan's civilian population must define the way forward.

The USA is a co-broker with Saudi Arabia of the Jeddah talks that led to the short-term ceasefire agreement on Saturday. In light of frequent violations of previous truces by both sides, Blinken reminds parties that the agreement includes monitoring by a remote US-Saudi-international monitoring mechanism. "If the ceasefire is violated, we'll know. And we will hold violators accountable through our sanctions and other tools at our disposal," Blinken warns.

In his video message, Sectretary Blinken notes that "the violence committed by the SAF and RSF over the past month has been tragic, senseless, and devastating. The whole world has been united in calling for an end to this conflict and insisting on a negotiated solution.

'If the ceasefire is violated, we'll know. And we will hold violators accountable...'

He explains that the seven-day ceasefire is designed to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and repair of essential services and infrastructure. Blinken highlights that the agreement by the SAF and the RSF to this short-term ceasefire was the result of intensive diplomacy and the close partnership of USA and Saudi Arabia.

"We facilitated this ceasefire but it's the responsibility of the SAF and RSF to implement it," he says. "The Jeddah talks have had a narrow focus - ending violence and bringing assistance to the Sudanese people. A permanent resolution of this conflict will require much more."

'Sudan's civilians must be the ones to define Sudan's path going forward...'

Addressing the Sudanese public directly, Blinken emphasises: "I want to be clear that Sudan's civilians must be the ones to define Sudan's path going forward. You should lead a political process to restore Sudan's democratic transition and form a civilian government.

'Your military should withdraw from governance and focus on defending the nation from external threats...'

"Sudan's political future belongs to you, the people of your great nation. Your military should withdraw from governance and focus on defending the nation from external threats. The USA supports a democratic government that represents the full diversity of the Sudanese people, including populations from the periphery who have long been marginalised and women whose voices have long been ignored.

"Only a civilian government can succeed in delivering stability and security, and fulfilling your aspirations for freedom, for peace, for justice. We have always been a partner to the people of Sudan as you bravely resisted military dictatorship and demanded civilian rule and you can count on us to remain by your side until you achieve this goal," Blinken's message concludes.

$245 million US aid

In a separate statement from Washington today, the US Dept of State says that last week, the USA announced $245 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan and neighbouring countries countries experiencing the impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. These funds include nearly $143 million from the Department of State's Bureau for Population, Refugee and Migration and $103 million in additional humanitarian assistance from the US Agency for International Development's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

"With this funding, our humanitarian partners can respond to the new needs arising from the current conflict, which has displaced approximately 840,000 people within the country and forced another 250,000 to flee since April 15," the US State Dept says.

According to the statement, this announcement brings total US humanitarian assistance for Sudan and neighbours Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic to nearly $880 million in the 2023 financial year.

Sanctions

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On May 2, US President Joe Biden called the violence in Sudan a 'tragedy', and signed an executive order paving the way for the USA to impose sanctions on "certain persons destabilising Sudan and undermining the goal of democratic transition". The order extends existing sanctions but does not impose any specific additional sanctions at this time.

In a statement following the signing, Biden called the current conflict in Sudan "a betrayal of the Sudanese people's clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy."

Biden's order expands the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13067 of November 3, 1997 (blocking Sudanese government property and prohibiting transactions with Sudan), and expanded by Executive Order 13400 of April 26, 2006 (blocking property of persons in connection with the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region), finding that "the situation in Sudan, including the military's seizure of power in October 2021 and the outbreak of inter-service fighting in April 2023, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the USA."
The court shortened the request by Atiku's lawyer for the statutory seven weeks to present his 100 witnesses.

The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja has ordered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to prove his case against Bola Tinubu's victory within three weeks.

Mr Tinubu, who won the election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is fighting to keep his mandate at the court.

Atiku is alleging widespread electoral practices in the conduct of the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He accused the electoral commission of manipulating the election in favour of Mr Tinubu.

Following INEC's declaration of Mr Tinubu as the winner of the election on 1 March, Atiku lodged his complaint over the outcome of the polls on 21 March.

Presenting its pre-hearing session report on Atiku's joint petition with the PDP against Mr Tinubu, a five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani, on Tuesday, said "there shall be no oral examination of witnesses."

Setting the timeliness for the adjudication of the substantive petition, the court said star witnesses would have 30 minutes to testify before it.

Stephen Adah, a member of the five-man panel who reeled out the trial schedule, said cross-examination of star witnesses would take 20 minutes each, while re-examination is limited to five minutes.

Atiku had through his team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, a SAN, requested the statutory seven weeks to present his 100 witnesses, but the court reduced the period to three weeks.

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Hearing in Atiku's petition commences on 30 May while proceedings will end on 8 Agust before the 16 September date which the petition will lapse.

For the respondents, Mr Tinubu and the APC have a week to prove their case, while INEC has five days to defend its case.

Meanwhile, the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has only a day to prove its petition against INEC, Mr Tinubu and the APC.

The APM had indicated during the pre-hearing session that it would call one witness to aid its case.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the court ordered the merger of three pending petitions against Mr Tinubu's victory.
The House of Representatives at plenary Tuesday passed a bill seeking to provide for independent candidacy in presidential, governorship, national and state assembly, as well as local government elections.

The lawmakers subsequently asked the Clerk to the National Assembly to transmit the bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent in line with the provisions of the Authentication Act.

The proposed legislation was the constitution alteration bill No. 58.

The green chamber also urged the Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Plateau, and Taraba State Houses of Assembly that are yet to forward their resolution on the Bills to do so in fulfilment of their constitutionally imposed legislative obligation to the constitution amendment process.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Idris Wase; Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu; Hon. Babajimi Benson and 76 other lawmakers.

In the motion, the sponsors said: "Recall that on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, the Clerk to the National Assembly was directed to transmit the Constitution, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 47 that has met the requirement of Section 9(2) of the Constitution to the President for assent. Also recall that the Houses of Assembly of Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Plateau and Taraba States that were yet to forward their resolutions were urged to do so in compliance with constitutional obligation.

"Aware that the Gombe State House of Assembly has accordingly forwarded its resolution. Convinced that with the approval of Gombe State House of Assembly, the Constitution, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) Bill Nos. 46 (Membership of the National Security Council to include Presiding Officers of the National Assembly), 2023 and 58 (Independent Candidacy), 2023 have met the provisions of Section 9(2) of the Constitution, for passage."
New York  The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Volker Perthes, has told the UN Security Council (UNSC) in New York that the commanders (referring if not by name to Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and Lt Gen Mohamed 'Hemedti' Dagalo, leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whose clashes plunged Sudan into conflict six weeks ago, are both responsible for the escalation of the war.

Briefing the UNSC in New York on Monday, Volker Perthes noted: "The responsibility for the fighting rests with those who are waging it daily: the leadership of the two sides who have chosen to settle their unresolved conflict on the battlefield rather than at the table. It is their decision that is ravaging Sudan. And they can end it."

Perthes pointed out: "Fighting and troop movements have continued even today despite the commitment of both sides not to pursue military advantage before the ceasefire takes effect.

"Both parties have been calling on me to condemn the respective other side's actions. I call on both to end the fighting and to return to dialogue in the interest of Sudan and its people."

He pointed out that the short-term ceasefire [referred to as the Jeddah Declaration] signed by both sides of the conflict, which came into force at 21:45 (Khartoum time GMT+2) last night "should allow civilians to move and humanitarian access to get to the people."

'The warring parties have fought their war with little regard for the laws and norms of war...' - Volker Perthes

On the human cost of the conflict thus far, Perthes says: "More than 860 civilians have been killed, including more than 190 children, with another 3,500 civilians injured. Many are missing. Over a million have been displaced: more than 840,000 have sought shelter in safer parts of the country, while another 250,000 or so have crossed Sudanese borders."

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He continued, "I am grateful to those countries who are receiving refugees and returnees fleeing Sudan. It is vital that borders remain open to those who seek safety."

Perthes laments: "In Khartoum, in Darfur, and elsewhere, the warring parties have fought their war with little regard for the laws and norms of war."

'A short-term ceasefire is not the goal; it is an instrument to go forward' - Volker Perthes

Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations, El Harith Idriss Mohamed, told the UNSC session said that the government of his country "will commit to the principles of the Jeddah Declaration with this agreement, while respecting international humanitarian law and human rights, and will provide the conditions to provide urgent assistance and access to humanitarian workers without impediments."

Talking to reporters after the session, the UNITAMS chief explained: "A short-term ceasefire is not the goal; it is an instrument to go forward. We will need talks about a permanent cessation of hostilities, and we will need to consider and, of course, support a new political process."

He added, "We have heard from both sides of the conflict for this to happen."
kacylee at 24-05-2023 07:20 PM (3 days ago) (f)

Nigerian Youtuber, Emdee Tiamiyu, has apologised over his comment about Nigerian students studying in the United Kingdom in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Nigerian Youtuber, Emdee Tiamiyu, has apologised over his comment about Nigerian students studying in the United Kingdom in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Tiamiyu made the apology in a video he shared on his YouTube account on Wednesday, May 23, 2023, following the backlash he faced after the interview.



Tiamiyu, who is known for advising Nigerians on studying in the United Kingdom, claimed that many of them were not looking for new qualifications, but to start a new life abroad.



He said he granted the interview to highlight the frustrations the Black community share.



He said, I am doing this from the reflections and the truthfulness of my heart that you have seen in the interview/ news feature. Please, I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.



If what you have seen being circulated has made you uncomfortable in any way at all, I am sorry, deeply and sincerely sorry.



And why do I say sorry, because for whatever pain that you feel, I feel even more, because if I meet you in person, if we were able to sit in the same space, probably engage, there is nothing in my heart for you other than love, progress and positive support. People who know me in the world know that this is what I have got.



There is no other motivation than to grant an interview to speak on the challenges that we genuinely face as a black community back at home and also in the UK.



BBC Interview: Youtuber Tiamiyu Apologises Over Controversial Comment pic.twitter.com/O3gQZ4WxaG  Intel Region (@IntelRegion) May 24, 2023 Tiamiyu made the apology in a video he shared on his YouTube account on Wednesday, May 23, 2023, following the backlash he faced after the interview.Tiamiyu, who is known for advising Nigerians on studying in the United Kingdom, claimed that many of them were not looking for new qualifications, but to start a new life abroad.He said he granted the interview to highlight the frustrations the Black community share.He said,

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 24-05-2023 07:20 PM (3 days ago) | Addicted Hero
Microsoft Updates ChatGPT-Powered Bing AI Chatbot With History, Charts, Visualizations, And More Features Features oi -Alap Naik Desai

Microsoft recently infused Bing Search with the power of OpenAI ChatGPT Generative AI. The Windows OS maker has been adding features to make the AI chatbot to make it even more useful and versatile.

Microsoft announced quite a few upgrades for its Generative AI tool earlier this month and has now confirmed that these features are rolling out to users. They will be gradually released, and will eventually be available in all regions where Bing search is accessible.

New Features Added To AI-Powered Bing Chat

Microsoft recently revealed that it has begun rolling out the much-awaited chat history feature for Bing chat. Users of the ChatGPT-powered chatbot can now see all their previous chat threads in the main chat window. Needless to say, users can easily return to and continue an older conversation.

Moving forward, users will be able to rename, delete, export, or even share a chat thread with other users. Incidentally, OpenAI recently released its official ChatGPT app for iOS. This app also features support for conversation history across synced devices.

Users will also be able to exclude records of conversations related to files on their PC. Users can choose not to allow Microsoft access to content that is not part of Microsoft's search index. This should prevent Microsoft and OpenAI from using any personal data to train Generative AI tools. Needless to say, this is a big step towards boosting user privacy.

Bing Chat Can Respond With Data Visualizations And Allows Exporting of Data

Google recently demonstrated how its Bard AI can be used to transfer chat results to Google Docs, Gmail, and other services. Microsoft has rolled out an identical export feature that will allow users to export chat results to a Microsoft Word document, Excel file, as plain text, or even a PDF document.

Bing chat has a new overlay feature for results that include a video response. This will allow users to watch full-screen videos, and even navigate videos in the response with timestamps located on the right side of the display.

Moving forward, Bing Chat users will automatically get word suggestions when typing prompts. This should significantly improve typing speed.

Responses containing numbers or statistics will have charts and visualizations, claimed Microsoft. For example, if a user asks for the stock price of a listed company, or asks the Bing chatbot to rank cities in a country by population, will see colorful graphs alongside the text results. Microsoft has also heavily optimized visual elements that are shown at the bottom of text-based answers for recipe-related queries.

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TArkiye busts Mossad cell spying on people linked to Iran

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 23, 2023

Tehran, IRNA -- TArkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has busted an Israeli Mossad cell and arrested 11 agents found to be gathering intelligence on individuals with trade ties to Iran.

MIT officers, in coordination with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, led an investigation into the Israeli spying network for a year and a half, Turkish media reported on Tuesday.

Turkish authorities found out that the Mossad cell had targeted one company and 23 individuals having commerce relations with Iran.

The group of 15 operated a countrywide network and was led by SelAuk KAAAkkaya, an operative trained in Europe, the MIT said in a statement.

Two of those arrested were Turkish nationals, it added.

KAAAkkaya had met in person with Mossad executives in several European countries, where he received spy training and was taught on how to use the Israeli agency's secret communications system.

KAAAkkaya and his agents were arrested when he mailed a threatening package to one of his targets, who then filed a complaint with police.

The last time the MIT dismantled a Mossad cell in TArkiye was in December when seven agents were arrested for spying on Palestinians.

**2050**4261

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A billet of highly enriched uranium that was recovered from scrap.

Access to rare earth minerals and Russia's war against Ukraine topped the agenda on French President Emmanuel Macron's historic visit to Mongolia. But the joint declaration signed during the meeting also underlines France's attempts to find an alternative uranium source for its nuclear reactors.

As it stands, France depends to a large extent on uranium sourced in West Africa. That supply chain, however, is under threat because of social and political unrest in the region.

The 18-article joint declaration, which trumpets "strengthening political, economic, commercial and defence cooperation", also notes that both countries will also cooperate in the energy sector.

Dig down into the declarion, however, and in Article 12 notes that as part of this cooperation, negotiations over investment in the "joint Zuuvch-Ovoo project" will be "accelerated" with an aim to concluding them in the autumn.

It cites, in particular, the uranium mining project run by Badrakh Energy, a company jointly run by France's Orano Group (formerly Areva) and Mongolia's Monatom.

Hasty negotiations

The relatively low position of the article addressing nuclear cooperation within the French-Mongolian joint-statement belies its importance.

France has 18 nuclear power plants with 56 reactors at the moment. That number is set to expand substantially in nthe coming years as will the need for uranium,

In response to the need to slash fossil fuel emissions and cut its reliance on foreign energy, Macron announced, in February 2022, that France would spend 51,7 billion to build another 14 new nuclear reactors over a 28 year period.

The need for new reactors was underlined by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the energy suppy problems that arose from it.

France's and uranium

According to figures published by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition in France, 40 percent of energy consumption comes from nuclear, 28,1 percent from petrol, 15,8 percent from natural gas, and 12,9 percent from alternative sources such as wind and hydropower.

French electricity company EDF's figures show that nuclear's part in electricity market is even higher: 70,6 percent, against hydropower's 11.2 percent, windpower 6.3 and solar 2.2 percent.

The result is that France's dependency on uranium will grow substantially in the coming years.

To satisfy its current nuclear fuel demands, France needs between 8.000 and 9.000 tons of uranium per year, according to the portal Connaissance des Energies.

The 563 page report "Uranium 2022 Resources, Production and Demand" jointly published by the IAEA and the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) adds that about two thirds of the world production of uranium comes from Kazakhstan (39.4 percent), Canada (22 percent) and Australia (10 percent.) Other producers include Niger, Namibia, Russia and Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

As France does not have its own uranium deposits, it has to rely on imports.

On 23 April, French Daily Le Monde wrote that in Niger Orano's giant uranium mine faces multiple threats' including the threat of jihadist attacks.

In fact, Uranium deposits have become "a key component of France's energy independence strategy," according to the paper, but the tide is turning.

Of the two mines that were operated since 1971 in Niger, only the one in Somair remains. The Akouta Mining Company (Cominak) closed in March 2021 after reserves were depleted.

But the largest problem is the volatility of the region. France was forced to leave neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali (which also provides uranium).

French troops

Orano still wants to maintain a foothold in Niger. On 4 May, the company signed a general partnership agreement with the government of Niger, which, according to Nicolas Maes, CEO of Orano Mining, confirms the major role of Niger in the global uranium industry. But the unrest on its doorstep is starting to take its toll.

For now, French troops are still present in Niger, co-patrolling the border region with the Nigerian army under "operation Almahaou" to monitor activities in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso as the French forces there were wound down.

Meanwhile, in Niger itself, the Imouraren mine, presented as the "mine of the century" by Orano and snatched from the Chinese in 2009, is still "on hold pending feasibility studies of new mining techniques".

However, the real reason is more likely to be the human and investment risk, which may be too high.

According to an infograph by Orano published in 2021, France has been gradually moving away from Niger for its uranium: Most of the "yellow cake" now comes from Kazakhstan (2,840 ton), with Niger's Somair (1,996 ton) still a solid second. The Cigar lake mine at McLean Lake Mill in Canada also produces 1,788 tons.

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However, with the increasing instability in the region, alternatives are indispensable.

The role of Mongolia

French-Mongolian cooperation on uranium is not new. Areva Mines has been involved in exploring the Dornogovi province since 1997. The World Nuclear Association says that the Zoovch Ovoo deposit has resources of over 54,000 tons of Uranium.

In 2015, nuclear cooperation between France and Mongolia took a step forward with the creation of Badrakh Energy, a joint venture that is controlled by Orano's subsidiary Areva Mongol (66 percent) while Erdenes Mongol, through its subsidiary Monatom, holds 34 percent.

Erdenes Mongol, states that total investment is to be 1 billion over 22 years with expected income of 5.5 billion. A flyer by Orano says that a two year pilot deal with new mining processes that was launched in 2021 will generate 20 tons of uranium.

Macron now hopes to speed up the paperwork on this so full production could start in the autumn, easing the pressure on France's increasingly hungry nuclear reactors.
Iran busts spying network collaborating with foreign intel agency

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 11:33 AM

Iran's Intelligence Ministry has arrested members of a spying network who were engaged in a project run by a foreign spy agency to extract information about the Iranians travelling abroad.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry said that the spy agency had been monitoring the Iranians with responsibility in different positions or special expertise in various fields as well as those who have access to important information in the country's sensitive institutions.

The ministry noted that its measures led to the identification of the network's "liaisons and executive agents" in several Iranian organizations and institutions.

The foreign spy agency told one of its spies the names of its targets among the Iranians traveling abroad, the statement read. The spy gave the names to its liaisons until they reached the operators of administrative systems in several organizations.

The operators used their database and extracted the information of the targets and delivered them to the liaisons, it added.

The liaisons transferred the information to the network's ringleader who delivered them to the spying agency.

On Sunday, the Intelligence Ministry announced that its forces busted a terror team affiliated with the Israeli Mossad spy agency in the western part of the country.

Moreover, earlier this week, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) intelligence forces disbanded a terror network affiliated with Daesh Khorasan (Daesh-K) in Iran's southern province of Fars.

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Massachusetts Guard Delivers Firefighting Equipment to Paraguay

By National Guard Bureau May 22, 2023

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- A delegation led by Maj. Gen. Gary Keefe, Massachusetts adjutant general, delivered critical firefighting gear to Paraguay, the Massachusetts National Guard's partner in the State Partnership Program, on May 16.

Massachusetts fire departments contributed 1,000 sets of firefighter personal protective equipment and two fully equipped fire trucks to aid Paraguay's military firefighters. They made the first delivery of about 500 sets of PPE after Massachusetts' 26th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade collected, organized and packaged the donations before shipping them to Paraguay aboard a Maine Air National Guard KC-135R Stratotanker from the 101st Air Refueling Wing. The rest of the equipment, to include two fully equipped fire trucks, is scheduled for delivery later this year.

"This equipment will not only enhance the capabilities of the Paraguayan military forces but will also provide them with the necessary tools to protect the lives and property of their citizens. It is a gesture of friendship that embodies the true essence of our partnership," said Keefe. "This donation came from the lasting relationships formed between our state partnership team and fire departments across Massachusetts with the support of our citizens."

Personal protective equipment can mean the difference between life and death for firefighters and military members. So, when U.S. Army Capt. Christopher McCrobie of the Massachusetts National Guard discovered Paraguayan firefighters were sustaining heavy injuries from heat exposure due to a lack of PPE, leading them to fight fires in shorts and sandals at times, the Massachusetts firefighting community responded.

Over the past year McCrobie, the Massachusetts National Guard State Partnership program manager, and the MANG partnered to contact local fire departments to collect fire-retardant helmets, jackets, pants, vests and gloves. After collecting the equipment, McCrobie and the Massachusetts SPP staff worked directly with Paraguay's National Emergency Secretariat and fire brigades to strengthen Paraguay's fire prevention and firefighting capacity.

"They don't have the resources that we have. Our gear falls out of National Fire Protection Agency standards every 10 years, even if it was never or lightly used," said McCrobie. "This was an easy way for fire departments who may have a lot of excess gear they can't use anymore due to regulatory standards to donate to our Military Division, so they can, in turn, give it to Paraguay."

MANG's 179th and 180th Engineer Detachments (Firefighting) are scheduled to conduct training missions with their Paraguayan military and civilian counterparts after they receive all the donated equipment.

"It's a great gesture from the Massachusetts National Guard, and will be a huge help for us, and will help us to be prepared for firefighting," said Paraguayan air force Lt. Col. Daniel Antunez, the liaison officer to the U.S. Embassy for the Paraguayan air force. "From this, I can see that the people from Massachusetts really have the intention to tighten this partnership and reinforce this relationship."

The training and donations are just the latest milestone in the MANG-Paraguay partnership, established in 2001 under Keefe's father, Maj. Gen. George Keefe, who was the 39th adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard. Paraguayan leaders lauded the multigenerational trust and capabilities forged through the program.

"The SPP brings many, many programs for military engineers, aviation and peacekeeping missions," said retired Paraguayan army Master Sgt. Ruben Paniagua, who has witnessed the partnership mature since the first SPP exchange in 2001.

At a Paraguayan state ceremony on May 19, Keefe addressed the program's history and future, crediting the mutually beneficial partnership as an enduring strength of the Massachusetts National Guard and America. The ceremony, also dedicated to Keefe's late father, commemorated the official reception of the firefighting equipment by each branch of the Paraguayan armed forces.

"This partnership has paved the way for both of our nations to learn and grow together, ensuring that we remain prepared to face any challenges that come our way. Moreover, this partnership serves as a symbol of the enduring presence of the United States in Paraguay," Keefe said at the ceremony. "As we continue to strengthen our bonds, we reinforce our commitment to ensuring the safety and security of both our nations."

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U.S.-Led Multinational Partnership Launches New Task Force for Maritime Security Training in Middle East

U.S. Central Command

May 22, 2023

By U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain -- The U.S.-led multinational partnership, Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), established a new task force May 22 that will train partner navies and improve operational capabilities to enhance maritime security in the Middle East.

During a ceremony at U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, leaders commissioned Combined Task Force (CTF) 154. The new staff is CMF's fifth task force after standing up CTF 153 in April 2022 for maritime security in the Red Sea.

CTF 154 will lead multinational maritime training at locations across the Middle East, enabling more CMF partner-nations to participate in training opportunities without ships or aircraft, particularly during courses that are facilitated ashore.

"Our navies are at their very best when we train, operate and work together," said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and CMF. "Establishing CTF 154 demonstrates our deep commitment to strengthening and expanding partnerships through new training opportunities that will enhance regional maritime security."

The new task force is commanded by a U.S. Navy captain who will build and lead a multinational staff. Another nation will assume command as early as this fall.

CTF 154's core staff will be augmented by CMF partners during key training opportunities such as the task force's inaugural event, Compass Rose. This week, CTF 154 is hosting Compass Rose in the Kingdom of Bahrain. More than 50 participants from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and United States began arriving Sunday to attend courses on first aid and vessel boarding procedures.

"I am excited to lead an international team in this important work," said Capt. Oliver Herion, CTF 154's first commander. "Collectively, CMF has tremendous experience and expertise with critical skills, tools and relationships."

CTF 154 will frequently organize training events around five core areas: maritime awareness, maritime law, maritime interdiction, maritime rescue and assistance, and leadership development. Each training opportunity will be tailored to meet partner requests ranging from basic to advanced levels.

"Focusing our efforts to facilitate training for the multinational partnership will refine our skillsets and reinforce our ability to operate together," said Herion. "We are 'Stronger Together' and 'Ready Together.' That is what CMF is all about."

CMF is the largest multinational naval partnership in the world, with 38 nations committed to upholding the international rules-based order at sea.

CMF's other task forces include CTF 150 that focuses on maritime security in the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean; CTF 151, which leads regional counter-piracy efforts; CTF 152, dedicated to maritime security in the Arabian Gulf; and CTF 153 in the Red Sea.

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Northern Group defense ministers on strengthening security in the region

Republic of Poland - Ministry of National Defence

22.05.2023

"I wish to say for the first time publicly that we are very advanced when it comes to acquiring early warning aircraft from Sweden. We are already conducting detailed negotiations. I hope that they will be successful in a short time. This way we strengthen the resilience of Poland, but also of the entire NATO's eastern flank." - informed Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blaszczak after the conclusion of the talks between the defense ministers of the Northern Group countries.

On May 22 in Legionowo, Mariusz Blaszczak, Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of National Defense, chaired the talks of defense ministers in the format of the so-called Northern Group. The Northern Group is an important forum for exchanging opinions on current issues related to the state of the security environment in Europe and the development of political-military initiatives in NATO and the EU.

The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the threats posed by aggressive Russian policies and the attempt to rebuild the Russian empire by attacking Ukraine, by triggering a war in Europe. We also discussed our cooperation in ensuring the security of the Northern Group countries. (...) Today, Finland acted as a NATO member state for the first time. We look forward to Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.

- said Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blaszczak during a press conference in Legionowo.

The Northern Group Forum was established on the initiative of the United Kingdom, which organized the first meeting of defense ministers in this format in November 2010.

I appreciate the British involvement, as well as Polish-British cooperation. (...) Thanks to this cooperation, we are building short-range air and missile defense. In Poland it is the Narew program, in the UK it is Sky Sabre - the Sky Sabre battery is in Poland and protects the Polish sky. We talked about further cooperation in this area, expanding these capabilities and strengthening the resilience of Poland, but also of the entire eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance.

- emphasized the head of the Ministry of Defense.

During the meeting, the ministers discussed aspects of the security of NATO's eastern flank by strengthening deterrence mechanisms and defense capabilities in relation to Russia's actual offensive potential.

Speaking of security, the head of the Polish Defense Ministry also stressed the ever-increasing importance of the Cyber Defense Forces Component Command in this area.

The place where the meeting was held has also a symbolic meaning. (...) Everyone remarked that the Cyber Defense Forces Command, here in Legionowo, is one of the most modern, that it has its tangible and measurable achievements.(...) I must proudly admit that the commitment of our Cyber Defense Forces Component is being recognized.

- said Deputy Prime Minister.

The Forum (of Northern Group) is formed by 12 Northern European countries that are members of NATO or the EU: UK, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

These have been quality talks in the format of defense ministers of 12 countries. Very substantial talks on preparations for the NATO summit in Vilnius. We have good prospects for strengthening Poland and strengthening the entire North Atlantic Alliance.

- summarized Deputy Prime Minister Blaszczak.

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Transcript: ACOET media roundtable with 21st TSC, May 19, 2023

By U.S. Army Public Affairs May 23, 2023

Moderator: Jason Waggoner, OCPA Media Relations Division

MG Smith: --Sustainment Command, in dialed in--or at least sitting around the table with me here is a host of leaders who round out the organization. And collectively, what we do is provide the overarching sustainment to the European continent, and at times in Africa as well. We are the Sustainment Arm of US Army, Europe, and Africa, to a variety of missions in that regard. Currently, we're supporting operations with respect to materiel that's headed to Ukraine. We also support our rotational forces that are--come in and out of theater. That is part of our enduring mission as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. And then we're also integrally involved in the defender exercise series that's ongoing right now. And then--and then just lastly, you know, we make continued efforts to what we call, set the theater, and ensure that we've got the right sustainment capability, you know, there in Europe. And so, I will pause there. Again, thanks. This is a tremendous opportunity for us. And we'd be happy to take your questions.

Moderator: Okay. Thank you for that, sir. We'll go ahead and just really quick--Meredith did you get back on?

Meredith Roaten: Yes, I'm back on.

Moderator: Okay, terrific. We can hear you loud and clear. So, we'll go ahead and start with Meredith. And then from there, we'll go over to Sean Carberry after that. So go ahead, Meredith.

MR: Can you hear me okay?

Moderator: We've got you loud and clear. Go ahead.

MR: Okay. Thank you. I was wondering if you can just give a general overview of the challenges with getting so much rocket artillery to Ukraine, and how--how production--the production ramp-up is going, and the sustainment theater command role in that production ramp-up. Thank you.

MG James Smith: Thanks, Meredith. I appreciate the question. And where I'd have to start off in the equation, I'll talk about the movement of artillery. And really, for us, our job is to get it, once it's approved, our job is to get it from, you know, the port of demarcation to wherever we're gonna--we're gonna transit through Europe and then onward to Ukraine. And so, for us, we don't really look at it as a challenge, we look at it as an opportunity. An opportunity to--to work alongside our host nation, partners, and allies. Because believe it or not, sometimes it's us material, but it's US soldiers, but it's also host nation support that's helping us move munitions in that direction of Ukraine. With respect to the armament and what's going on, really, that's beyond our purview, because our focus is really on intra-theater movement as a part of the Ukraine crisis. Hopefully, that's helpful for you.

MR: Yeah. Could I just follow up with--there's been some discussion about doing more production in theater and working with allies and partners. Could you talk about if that eventually becomes something that the Army is doing? More of--how would that help you as part of sustainment in your work in that?

MGJS: Yeah, so I can't speak specifically about what--what NATO's doing, you know, writ large about increasing production. Really, our focus is on working together as an alliance to move what has already been approved for--for movement. I will say that, you know, in a broader capacity, you know, the more we're able to leverage the capacity of, you know, our capacity and our NATO allies' capacity together, I think that's, you know, that's a step in the right direction. It also creates, you know, what I would consider redundancy, you know, in our ability to sustain forces in the theater.

Moderator: Okay, sir. Thank you for that. We're gonna move on to Sean Carberry and then to Sam Skove.

Sean Carberry: Thank you. Can you just give some sense of what--what is the, I guess, the most limiting resource that you're dealing with in terms of whether it's certain availability of certain airframes to move things, of crew, of vehicles? What--what is the--the biggest impediment or what slows you down the most? And what can or is being done to address anything like that?

MGJS: Sure, no, great question. I think for us, you know, over the last 15 months, it's really allowed us to seize an opportunity. I look at it as an opportunity to see ourselves. And we have been, even before the Ukraine--Ukraine crisis, now so more than evermore, we've been able to galvanize the relationships across our NATO partners and leverage the additional transportation capacity that we have both organically, you know, in the US military, but also what our host nation partners can bring to bear as well. And so, I wouldn't say limiting per se, what I would say is an opportunity to expand on the solid relationships that we had before. And now, how do we work together as a team as a coalition to move the equipment that we--that we need to move? And I'll pause there to see if Colonel Lacroix our support operations officer may want to chime in?

COL Bud Lacroix: Yeah. Thank you for that question. I really appreciate it. And although I can't speak specifically to the--to the air mission that you referenced, but the ground movement, we've been able to leverage our military assets, our NATO partners, and our commercial partners in a massive way. And without that combined effort of everybody chipping in to make this a reality, we just couldn't do without all of our civilian and commercial partner. So, it's a great testament to the collective commitment.

SC: And just to follow then, are there at this point, any sort of lessons learned out of this, you know, having to do movement on this scale with this level of urgency that's feeding into any, you know, force design, equipment design, procurement, things like that going forward based on this experience?

CBL: So I can't speak to the force design and equipment modernization specifically, but what I can speak to is the partnerships and leveraging the human capital, you know, personally and the team of teams just building and reinforcing those individual relationships with our soldiers, our Department of Army civilians, our German local nationals, and their NATO counterparts, and the many, many countries that we are partnered with to--to move, not only the Presidential draw-down authority equipment, but the exercises, the numerous exercises that we have going on all the time.

Moderator: Okay, thank you for that. We'll move on to Tony next, and then followed--I'm sorry, we're gonna move on to Sam Skove, and then to Tony after that. So go ahead, Sam.

Sam Skove: Sure. Thanks. So, you talked a little bit about the commercial partners, and there was a great DoD IG report a while ago talking about how fast you guys were able to actually get all this equipment. Is relying on commercial partners something new for you guys? And do you anticipate making us a regular part of Army operations related to Ukraine?

CBL: This is Colonel Lacroix again. No, relying on commercial partners is not a new concept. And in fact, the United States TRANSCOM refers to the commercial industry as their fourth component. And that's not just in the States, but that's--that's everywhere we are, we leverage those relationships and leverage those assets for--for the missions that--that we all have.

SS: And then to follow up on that real quick, I mean, Russia has shown itself certainly willing in other countries to sabotage or interdict supplies, you know, munitions, explosions, things like that. Are you guys worried about Russia interdicting stocks, either through sabotage, or just using intelligence to try things off the Ukrainian border? And what sort of [crosstalk]

MGJS: Yeah, this is--this is General Smith. What I would tell you is, you know, with--with any occasional portfolio, we always have to keep the context of contested logistics in mind. And so, for all of our moves, we move with the sense that there's a possibility that, you know, the supply lines would be contested, and we look out for that and--and we absolutely take all facets of contestant logistics into consideration.

SS: Thanks.

Moderator: Okay, thank you, Tony. We'll move on to Steve Beynon next, followed by Kris Osborn.

Steve Beynon: Hey, appreciate you guys doing this. So, I was just curious how you look at sustainment with, you know, the European theater right now, which is a kind of a conventional modern war and how it's changed from supporting the GWA Era. What--what are those differences in consideration and SOPs and stuff like that?

MGJS: Yeah, Steve, that's a great question. And really what we're seeing right now, and it's not, again, this is not just about Ukraine. It--it started before Ukraine, but Ukraine has allowed us to, you know, see ourselves and help capitalize on some of the lessons learned. But really, this is a portion of our pivot from what you refer to as the--the coin fight that we had been in over the past 20 years to really sustaining large scale combat operations. And so what that means is, you know, we got to be able to see ourselves in terms of time and space and distance factors that we didn't necessarily have to deal with, you know, back when we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, because we were FOB centric type of organization, or that's--that was the construct. So, we definitely got to take that into consideration. There's long distances that we have to travel. And with that, we got to even be more anticipatory in getting ahead of requirements that our warfighters may need. And hopefully that was helpful for you.

SB: Thank you. I didn't have a follow-up. I'm good.

Moderator: Okay. Thanks, Steve. Next is Kris Osborn. And then we will move to Ashley Roque.

Kris Osborn: Oh, yes. Hello. Thank you. Thanks for doing this. Two quick things. One, in a general sense, it's maybe kind of obvious, but what are the activities? What's the scope of involvement? How many soldiers and personnel? And what kinds of activities are there? Convoys, equipment preparation, delivery? What else beyond that? Is there any training of Ukrainians on how to work with equipment? That kind of thing?

MGJS: Yeah. So, great question. And I'll do my best. And I'll pass it around to others that may have additional insights. And so, you spoke at--or your question gets right at the core of really why we exist, and who's doing it. And it's the people that's most important. So behind every mission, you know, that you may see, you know, there's a--there's a human, and there's an operator that's making it happen, whether it's a US military, whether it's one of our local national employees, whether it's one of our Department of Army civilians, or our host nation folks that are supporting us that each one of our different modes. There are a bunch of people there that are making the mission happen. So, to describe it, there's thousands and thousands. I don't want to put a number on it, but thousands and thousands of people that are working together to--to receive equipment at a certain port, to load the equipment on a certain conveyance, and then to move the equipment to its--to its final destination. And all of that takes a lot of synchronization. And it comes together and the TSC for the US Army is the headquarters that is synchronizing and integrating all that movement that I just--that I just described. And it's really not just about--not just about movement. So, you can talk, you can talk supplies, you could talk maintenance, fill feeding. We pretty much cover all of the logistics functions underneath the 21st TSC.

KO: Excellent, excellent. Quick follow-up. That makes me think of sustainment and spare parts. But my question is about tanks. Last I heard there were something like 30 coming there reasonably quick. And then a production line. [crosstalk] Are you working on the timeframe for when export variants will arrive? And what the process is to get them there? And what kind of what--what kind of delivery schedule could we be looking at? It's a matter of years, right?

MGJS: So, if you're--if you're talking about the tanks that are--that are, you know, been authorized to go to Ukraine, that's really beyond our purview. And I think, you know, I'm not in those conversations to really, you know, codify a timeline. What we work through is, you know, what, you know, once we've been given, you know, a date, then we'll work the intra-theater, onward movement of that--of that equipment.

Moderator: Okay, thank you, sir. We'll move on to Ashley and then to Matt Beinart. Go ahead, Ashley.

Ashley Roque: Hi. I wanted to ask about Army preposition stocks. And just sort of maybe some of the observations you've been making as you've been dealing with the ongoing operations in Ukraine, and potentially global implications of some of these observations.

CBL: Oh, that's great. And so, if you recall the vignette last year where we drew our reposition--preposition stocks for the First Brigade Third Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. That was just a remarkable feat at the time and, you know, how fast we were able to move, draw move, and some of that combat power to its follow-on training destination was, I'd say it was unprecedented. And so, I'm a staunch supporter of Army preposition stocks in theater. It's absolutely value added. And it shortens our time distance factors. And it really brings us to where we can match personnel and materiel at the point of being faster than we could bringing it from [inaudible]. And I've got Colonel Crystal Hills from the Army Field Support Brigade here, who's responsible for managing the APS stocks in theater. She may have more to add.

COL Crystal Hills: I would just add--we talked about positional advantage when it comes to the location of the APS stocks. That was key in our ability to support the current conflict. And the six sites that we currently have, not only help strengthen the force flow and the tempo in which we can support--support operations, but it also helps strengthen our alliances. That was talked about a bit earlier. So being--having sites across five countries in Europe, the workforce is a diverse workforce coming from four of those countries, that in and of itself, all those civilians help strengthen the relationships we have. These are families that we're impacting, and they daily see the impacts that they're having across their nations to support the efforts. So, it's a combined NATO effort.

AR: Thanks. And are there--have there been any recommendations or changes that you guys have put forward? And then any, I guess, feedback or thoughts on the floating APS? I don't know to what extent you been looking at that or using it. But I have heard there's been some challenges getting the equipment in the country. So, I didn't know if you had anything on that.

MGJS: Yeah, so for us in theater, the most recent development is our new Army preposition site in [inaudible] Poland that was just commissioned and so that'll give us again, a different--a different location to operate from. For the floating APS, that's a little bit beyond our purview. And out of our theater right now, so I can't comment directly on that.

Moderator: All right, sir. Thank you for that. We'll move over to Matthew Beinart, and then to Gina Cavallaro. So go ahead, Matthew.

Matthew Beinart: Great, thank you. And I just had a quick follow up question on the Abrams tanks if you can get into it. But the Pentagon has confirmed that the 30 or so tanks for training are now in place in Germany that will--that will be used to train the Ukrainian tank crews. So, you know, any details you can provide about the effort to get those there and how that kind of prepared for when the actual tanks that will go into Ukraine are expected to be delivered around this fall. So, any more details you can kind of provide on that. Thank you.

MGJS: Yeah, so for the--for the training tanks, you're absolutely right. So 21st TSC was integrally involved in the movement of those tanks to the--to the training area. And as you know, you know, those tanks will be used to train the Ukrainians. The other set that you're talking about, really that's--that's beyond our scope. And again, you know, you know, once we get word of a timeline, we will absolutely be prepared and make good coordination with our folks and our host nation partners for the onward movement of that equipment.

MB: Okay, thank you.

Moderator: Okay, we'll turn it over to Gina next, followed by Jen Judson. Go ahead, Gina.

Gina Cavallaro: Thank you, Jason. Hi, everybody. This is Gina Cavallaro from Army Magazine. I kind of want to go back to Kris Osborn's question about what you all are doing over there. I mean, the conflict in Ukraine has probably meant an uptick for you. Does that take the place of training? Is there more training happening with--with all that stuff? And General Smith, you said there were thousands and thousands of soldiers? I think that it would be great if you could even ballpark what you mean by thousands and thousands of soldiers, and how many of those are Guard and Reserve?

CBL: This is Colonel Lacroix. I can take the first part. I would say that despite the efforts of--the mass efforts to support operations in Ukraine, it does not stop us from training. In fact, right now we're supporting defender Europe 23, where we have over 7000 US soldiers and over 17,000 multinational partner soldiers involved in three intricate exercises throughout the continent. All while supporting Ukraine with no impact to mission whatsoever. So that's just a testament to the sheer willpower and the might of our--our Army, our Non-Commissioned Officers, and the spirit of our soldiers at large.

MGJS: And then, you know, what I'd also add is, you know, because some of these missions are operational, it is still an opportunity to train, you know, in the context of an operational mission. And then getting back to, you know, the number of soldiers or whatever, you know, there's thousands and thousands of soldiers within the 21st Theater Sustainment Command. And it's not just the soldiers, it's the soldiers, the Department of Army civilians, and our local nationals. And what I was really referring to is--is not just the folks that are in our command, but it's--it's a lot of other entities and agencies that are--that are helping us as an organization, complete the mission. I'd be hesitant to put a nice ballpark number on it, because I don't think, you know, I know the full extent of everybody that's contributing to this mission in, you know, in a certain fashion, but I could just, you know, you know, leave it at, you know, with that context, that there's a lot of nations that are providing a lot of what I call workforce to make it happen. Hopefully, that's helpful.

GC: Yeah. I just kind of wanted to get an idea of within the 21st TFC, what is the size of your force? Also, do you support the multi-domain Task Force? And how do you do that?

MGJS: Yeah, sure. So, the multidomain Task Force is underneath US Army, Europe, and Africa. And just like any other organization under US Army, Europe, and Africa, we provide sustainment support to them.

Moderator: Okay, sir, thank you for that. We'll go to Jen Judson. Then I'll check to see if there's anybody else I missed. So go ahead, Jen.

Jen Judson: Thank you so much for doing this. I wanted to ask a little bit more on the defender exercise. And if you could dive into any specifics on what you're demonstrating this time? Are, you know, are you evaluating certain things related to contested logistics or upping the ante or pushing the envelope on anything in that exercise now?

CBL: Yeah, thanks, Jen. This is Bud Lacroix again. Great question. I appreciate that. With our part of Defender 23, it's our presence. It's our presence in several locations in Europe. It's the ability for the United States TRANSCOM to project and sustain a credible combat force to support General Cavoli's desires to continue to train and continue to have that presence everywhere.

JJ: Yeah, but can you provide any specifics on what you're demonstrating? Like, you know, you're--it's taking place across this many countries, and you have to move equipment this far, over certain type of terrain, or, you know, [crosstalk]

CBL: Yeah. So, we are moving equipment across several countries to demonstrate that we can. To demonstrate our ability to go to several different seaports, to drive thousands of miles. Twenty allied countries are part of this exercise--allied countries and partners are part of this exercise. We're leveraging several seaports, several airports. We're drawing APS equipment to support this exercise. We're exercising and practicing our interoperability with our NATO partners and allies. So, in all, it's that diversity and being able to come together as a--as a coalition.

JJ: Okay, and just unrelated follow-up. On virtual maintaining effort that the Sustainment Command Theater has been engaged in during the operations in Ukraine so far, can you talk about whether that was used for repairs for the Patriot that was damaged? And also, how the virtual maintenance effort has expanded over time, especially since you're bringing in more complex equipment into Ukraine, like tanks?

MGJS: Yeah. Great--great question. And what I would say is, you know, with a lot of equipment, you know, that we've--we've provided, you know, we provide a complement of remote diagnostic and maintenance capability. So, I can't speak specifically to the Patriot piece. But, you know, we look across the variety of equipment, you know, that's in country right now. And then, you know, backstop in some instances with our ability to help, you know, repair, diagnose and repair remotely. And we've got--we've got Chief Kim here, who was personally on the ground as part of the early parts of that remote maintenance capability.

CW-2 Kim: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Chief Kim Sun from 87 DSSP. Third ID, Fort Stewart, Georgia. So, I can talk about little bit of a tele-maintenance that will be called that we initiated with the Ukraine maintainers [inaudible] By using the tele-maintenance that we assist them and advise the maintenance pieces of the equipment that was donated from the US Force. It started from the US donated the equipment only, to now it grow into the seven different platforms throughout the different countries. It allows us to change the system without having our ground force on foot in the actual action to assist them with the maintenance of pieces forward and assist the maintenance forward as well. So, hope that answered the questions of the concept of maintenance.

Moderator: Okay. Thank you for that. Is there anybody else on the line here that I have not called on?

Joseph Clark: Hey, this is Joe Clark from Defense Media Activity.

Moderator: Yeah, go ahead, Joe.

JC: Appreciate it. Hey, real quick, I just wanted to--you talked about kind of how this is a use case and the transition away from the GWA into kind of a more force-on-force conflict. Can you talk about how you're integrating those lessons learned wit-- with other theaters, if at all? I can't--I can't think of you know, maybe the Pacific? You know, that's mentioned quite a bit. I know, it's kind of, you know, each theater is gonna have its different challenges. But are there lessons learned that you see applying to--to these other potential conflicts?

MGJS: Yeah, Joe, thanks--thanks for that question. And I can tell you amongst all of at least by peers, across the Combatant Commands, we definitely share lessons learned. And--and again, some of this is not just lessons out of Ukraine, some of this is really validating our doctrine and understanding that we may have to operate--we will, not may--we will operate in a contested environment. And so how do we provide, you know, that sustainment in a contested environment? And so, whether you're in the European theater in the Indo-Pacific, or whether you're operating in the CENTCOM area of operations, we all know that--we all know that, you know, we are going to be challenged in some regard. And to that point, you know, earlier this week, down at--down in--in Virginia, we just finished up what we call sustainment week, and you'll probably see some--some remnants of that, you know, here shortly. But what I would say is, you know, that week was--was really a [clearing throat] excuse me. But what it was, was really a gathering of professional sustainers in a forum to share lessons, not just from Ukraine, but from the Indo-Pacific that we can apply in the European theater. And so, it wasn't--it's not unidirectional. It's really how leaders come together to inform the Army on how we're going to sustain the Army globally.

JC: Amazing, thanks.

Moderator: Okay. Is there anybody else on the line that I've not called on?

Tony Bertuca: Tony Bertuca from Inside Defense.

Moderator: Okay. Sorry, Tony. Go ahead.

TB: Thank you very much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Two questions. My first is, the Pentagon says that it is undergoing the review right now, the value of all the equipment it has sent to Ukraine through presidential drawdown because there was a $3 billion accounting error. Is your team involved in that review? And what kind of communication have you received about that?

MGJS: Yeah, Tony, I appreciate the question. But the first, you know, my first response is we are not--absolutely not. No, what we're involved in is whatever comes our way, in our ability to--to execute the movement of it. [crosstalk]

TB: I'll try another one.

MGJS: Okay.

TB: I'll try another one. The President said today that Ukraine is going to get F-16s. How does that complicate your mission then to sustain aircraft and move things like that?

MGJS: No. So, right now, I'm not tracking you know, what--what you just said. I've been, you know, been tied up in office calls. But right now, we're focused on the mission at hand and what we've been tasked to support and so I'd have to defer, you know, either back to--to the Army or to--to the Department of Defense for that answer.

TB: All right. Well, thank you very much.

Moderator: Okay, anybody else I've missed? Okay, not hearing things. That times things right up to our 30 minute timeline here. If there are any other questions that we didn't get you a response to, go ahead and email those to me. I'll work with the 21st TSC Public Affairs and we'll get responses to you as quickly as we can. Thank you to our panel members and thank you for everybody joining us today. Have a great rest of your day.

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America's Contingency Corps leverages data to advance joint force readiness

By Christopher Hurd, Army News Service and Spc. Osvaldo Fuentes May 23, 2023

WASHINGTON -- For the joint force to win battles in a rapidly changing landscape, they need to leverage technology and do it fast, said XVIII Airborne Corps' commanding general.

"Every time I've ever deployed, any rank, every 60 to 90 days, [conflict is] going to change," Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue said during a defense symposium last week. "If you cannot adapt, understand and integrate something very quickly, your adversary will do it faster than you."

The XVIII Airborne Corps is America's strategic response force, capable of deploying on short notice anywhere in the world by air, land, or sea to conduct unified land operations.

The need to quickly adapt has spurred the command, also known as America's Contingency Corps, to use artificial intelligence and data-driven predictive models to help solve combatant command problems.

They've been doing this as part of exercise Scarlet Dragon, an ongoing series of training operations started by U.S. Central Command to increase the joint force's warfighting skills. Here, they rapidly use data to inform the command and execute operations.

During the sixth iteration earlier this year, called Scarlet Dragon Oasis, service members from across the Department of Defense participated in a live-fire target identification and execution exercise. The event showcased each service's ability to apply this thinking in a multi-domain environment.

"We are using artificial intelligence to pull all actionable data from a scan, instead of having an extra delay from having a team measure it out," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Joseph Hamilton, a tactical air control party officer. "We're significantly cutting the time it takes from detection until the point of the strike."

Scarlet Dragon Oasis was held across multiple states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Florida. The teams used numerous platforms across all services to effectively hit specific targets.

The information gathered from the exercise, combined with information from current operations and new technologies, will be used to advance the next iteration in the coming months.

The corps not only uses data for warfighting but for improving its people. They collect data and track progress for everyone at the command.

Then they apply that data to a variety of situations, including the Army Combat Fitness Test. Variations in performance help show how Soldiers adapt and change.

They also use data to further quality of life projects. During the command's annual innovation series, a Soldier suggested placing mold sensors in Army barracks. The corps brought that idea to scale and now will be able to use the data from the sensors to help predict future problems.

In warfighting, the amount of data available continues to grow as artificial intelligence advances. This technology revolution has created a complex landscape the corps must maneuver to stay ahead of competition.

"The range, the speed and the ability to see everything has completely changed," Donahue said. "What's good for 30 days might not be for 35. Your ability to adapt and integrate is really important."

The corps stays flexible, leveraging their data-driven models to provide the joint force with the information needed to make a difference.

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May 23, 2023

Transcript

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Remarks Welcoming Czech Republic Defense Minister Jana Cernochova to the Pentagon

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Well, Minister Cernochova, welcome back to the Pentagon. I had a great trip to Prague last September, and so it's a pleasure to host you here today, and to continue our important work together.

Our strategic partnership has never been stronger, and that's especially true after Russia's cruel and unprovoked assault on its peaceful neighbor, Ukraine, and I know that your citizens hear the echoes of Moscow's invasion in 1968. So we are very glad that the Czech Republic has committed itself to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, and I look forward to continuing our work to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty today and at the next Ukraine Defense Contact Group later this week.

Madam Minister, we also are very grateful for your contributions to enhancing NATO's deterrence -- enhancing deterrence on NATO's eastern flank. The Czech Republic is leading the way as a framework nation in the new NATO battlegroup in Slovakia. So thank you, Madam Minister, for your contributions to the alliance, and for being a strong, clear voice for NATO unity. I look forward to talking about our priorities ahead of the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July. I'm also eager to discuss ways to strengthen our bilateral defense relationship even more, and I'm proud that we'll sign the Defense Cooperation Agreement today. It will deepen our defense ties even further, enhance our interoperability, strengthen NATO and increase stability in Europe.

I'm also excited about the pending delivery of the first Viper attack helicopters next month. And finally, I'm proud to note that July marks the 30th anniversary of the Czech Republic's unique state partnership with both the Texas and the Nebraska National Guard.

Madam Minister, thanks for being here, and I look forward to a great discussion today.

DEFENSE MINISTER JANA CERNOCHOVA: Thank you, too, dear Secretary. Thank you again for the invitation. I'm glad to be in (the) Pentagon again.

In the past, central Europe was strongly affected by the expansion on non-democratic powers; because of that we were often unable to decide on our fate freely. Given this history, signing the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Czech Republic and United States has a deep meaning for us as this other instrument to deepen the practical defense cooperation between our countries.

The United States was at the birth of our modern state group. Without its support, Czechoslovakia would not have been established. Without American determination, the Axis powers would not have been defeated in World War II, and the democratic-led (inaudible) not had prevailed in the Cold War. I'm glad that today, the United States is still deeply engaged in Europe's security, and is our most important ally.

The Defense Cooperation Agreement will make our cooperation even stronger, even though it's a bilateral agreement, (it) will become a part of the network of defense cooperation among allies in NATO as a whole. The Russian effort to usurp control over a sovereign country is linked to our own historical memory, which is why the Czech Republic has been one of the top supporters of Ukraine globally. It is clear that the Czech Republic's military support to Ukraine would not be as large without the U.S. support.

Secretary Austin, I would again like to thank you, the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress for your decision last year to donate eight Bell helicopters to the Czech Republic. Thank you. Thank you. These helicopters that are now operating by the Czech Air Force can be delivered to Ukraine once the U.S. aircraft arrive.

I'm proud that today, the relations between the Czech Republic and the USA are in their best shape ever since Vaclav Havel was our president. I intend to further develop his legacy in building a robust partnership with the United States in all areas of defense. Thank you.

SEC. AUSTIN: Madam Minister, again, welcome. It's a real delight to have you here, and I look forward to a great conversation.

Thanks, everybody.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3405073/

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May 23, 2023

Release

Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Meeting With the Czech Republic Minister of Defence Jana Cernochova

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout:

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with the Czech Republic Minister of Defence Jana Cernochova today at the Pentagon. The two leaders discussed the bilateral relationship and signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) to further strengthen our defense ties, enhance NATO operations, advance Transatlantic security, and protect shared interests and values. Secretary Austin and Minister Cernochova also discussed a broad range of bilateral and regional issues, to include Ukraine security assistance, and condemned Russia's brutal war of choice in Ukraine. They also saluted the 30-year anniversary of the Czech Republic's State Partnership Program with both Texas and Nebraska National Guards.

Secretary Austin commended Minister Cernochova for the Czech Republic's significant and sustained support to Ukraine. He applauded the Czech Republic for its commitment to strengthening deterrence and defense on NATO's Eastern Flank, including through its leadership as the Framework Nation in the NATO battlegroup in Slovakia. Secretary Austin and Minister Cernochova shared key priorities in advance of the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July. Secretary Austin recognized the Czech Republic's commitment to defense spending and its ongoing investments in modern, NATO interoperable military equipment.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3404904/

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Foreign Affairs Council (Defence): Press remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell upon arrival

European External Action Service (EEAS)

23.05.2023

Brussels

Check against delivery!

Good morning,

We will continue discussing about [Russia's] war in Ukraine with the Ministers of Defence.

There are important issues. First, we have the [Steering] Board of the European Defence Agency (EDA), and we will welcome Denmark [as a] new member.

We will have a look at the new PESCO projects - 11 new PESCO projects - which is an important way of increasing the cooperation between our armies.

And then, after the [Steering] Board of the European Defence Agency, we will go to the Defence Ministers Council.

We will look at the ammunitions' deliveries. I will give you, after the meeting, concrete data about the two tracks which are under my responsibility. I think I will be able to provide good news. Things are on track, and we are delivering, but let me give you the data after.

Then, we will have a look at the European Peace Facility (EPF). Altogether, at the moment thanks to the European Peace Facility, we have incentivised 10 billion of military support to Ukraine. The Member States have presented us bills [worth] 10 billion, which is much more than expected.

With 3.6 billion from the European Peace Facility, we have triggered 10 billion of military support.

And this military support has to continue. I am happy that finally the training of the pilots for the F16 [fighter jets] has started in several countries. It will take time, but the sooner the better.

And they opened the door for the provision of [fighter] jets. You know, it is always the same thing. We discuss, [and] at the beginning, everybody is reluctant, and at the end - with the Leopards, with the F16 - the decision comes to provide this military support because it is absolutely needed in order for the Ukrainians to continue defending [themselves].

So, it is going to be a profitable meeting. I [will] give you concrete data after.

Q&A

Q. There are so many issues right now, the second round in Turkish elections. Can you give me your opinion, your perspective?

No, we are not going to talk about the Turkish elections today.

Q. Do you have a message to Hungary, because they are apparently blocking?

Yes, "apparently" not. Unhappily, this is not an appearance, it is a reality, but we will solve it. We cannot block the support to Ukraine. I am sure it will be deblocked.

Q. About the joint purchase of ammunitions, can you tell us a bit more?

We are on track, and I will provide concrete figures after [the meeting].

Q. Is 1 million still a realistic target? Can you do 1 million shells for 12 months?

We are on track.

Q. On the F16 [fighter jets], you said that the training has already started in several countries. Which countries are you talking about?

For example, Poland's [position on this issue is known for months].

Q. On the sanctions package against Iran that you have decided. Can you tell more details, please?

Today, we have this agenda.

Q. About the peace initiative from Denmark [inaudible]

I do not have information about that.

Q. Are you discussing the shortage of nitrocellulose for ammunition production? Do you have solutions for this?

We will take action.

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Civilian CSDP Compact Q&A

European External Action Service (EEAS)

23.05.2023

What is civilian CSDP?

The EU's civilian missions of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) are a vital component of the European Union's (EU) strategy for addressing civilian crises worldwide. Under the EU flag, over 2,000 dedicated individuals work together to promote global security by preventing and managing conflicts and crises.

The civilian missions can address and react to a variety of situations. They can strengthen partner countries' capacities, monitor borders or boundaries in conflict zone, provide advice to national institutions like police, judiciary, or civilian administration and, if required, can take on an executive role. They can be deployed at any stage of the conflict cycle and are designed to be flexible, agile, and effective in achieving sustainable results.

Currently, the EU deploys 13 civilian missions in various locations. These missions exemplify the EU and its Member States' political commitment and provide tangible operational support to partners on the ground.

What is the Civilian CSDP Compact?

First adopted in November 2018, the EU's civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Compact united Member States, EEAS and Commission services in their commitment to strengthen civilian CSDP missions.

In this document, Member States agreed to step up their contribution to civilian CSDP including through increased deployments of experts to civilian missions, by increasing the number of women at all levels, and improving their national systems for secondment.

The Civilian CSDP Compact was the first comprehensive document that aimed to strengthen civilian CSDP. It aimed to ensure that the EU's civilian missions are more capable, effective and joined-up.

What results have been achieved since 2018 under the implementation of the first Civilian CSDP Compact?

Since the adoption of the first Civilian CSDP Compact in 2018, significant progress has been made in various areas:

Increased visibility: The Compact has raised the profile of civilian CSDP at the political level, enhancing its presence in discussions within the EU and Member States. New missions: Swift decision-making led to the launch of three new missions in the Central African Republic, Armenia, and Moldova, incorporating key elements enshrined in the Compact such as modular and scalable approaches and a focus on resilience, cyber, and hybrid threats. Policy and procedural advancements: The Compact has introduced new policies, mechanisms, and procedures, providing better capabilities for civilian CSDP. Member States have adopted National Implementation Plans and established informal Member State-led clusters supported by the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management (CoE) in Berlin. Gender balance progress: The percentage of women in overall staff numbers increased from 24% in December 2018 to almost 28% in February 2023. Improved deployment and capabilities: Initiatives have been implemented to enable more rapid and effective staff deployment, including specialised teams, a revised recruitment and selection process system, the Strategic Warehouse, and the Mission Support Platform (MSP). Enhanced cooperation: Civilian CSDP has become more integrated with JHA actors, including policy developments and working arrangements between Frontex and EUCAP Sahel Niger.

This process led by the European External Action Service has contributed to the ongoing progress in implementing the Compact. However, more work is needed to enhance the effectiveness of civilian CSDP and address the existing capabilities gap. The new Civilian CSDP Compact aims to tackle these challenges and build upon the successes achieved thus far.

How will the new Civilian CSDP Compact increase missions' effectiveness?

The newly adopted Civilian CSDP Compact (22 May 2023) aims to further enhance the effectiveness and capabilities of civilian CSDP missions. EU Member States, the EEAS, and relevant Commission services have committed to:

step further up their contributions to civilian CSDP,

reach at least 40% women's participation

develop capabilities required for civilian CSDP missions,

improve national systems and speed up decision-making process.

be able to deploy 200 civilian experts to a crisis area within 30 days.

In line with the Strategic Compass, the new Civilian CSDP Compact builds on the achievements of the first Compact. The commitments enshrined in the new Civilian CSDP Compact are divided into four main areas.

Increase the capacity to ACT rapidly and robustly

SECURE host countries and civilian CSDP missions against fast-changing threats

INVEST in more and better capabilities

PARTNER with host countries as well as Third States and international organisations

By concentrating on these strategic areas, the new Civilian CSDP Compact aims to increase the effectiveness of current civilian missions and better address emerging security challenges.

What is new in the Civilian CSDP Compact adopted on 22 May?

The new Civilian CSDP Compact, adopted on 22 May 2023, aims to make civilian CSDP more effective, robust, and capable in response to the deteriorating security environment.

The New Civilian CSDP Compact provides several opportunities: 1) to build upon the achievements of the first Compact; 2) to increase the effectiveness of EU civilian missions; 3) to ensure that EU missions are fit for purpose, in light of changing security challenges, and are used to the best of their potential.

The Compact includes a civilian capability development process to be set-up by 2024 to assess the capability needs, develop requirements, conduct a gap analysis and review periodically the progress made in line with the new Civilian CSDP Compact.

The new Civilian CSDP Compact is an actionable document that provides concrete deliverables and timelines.

Key features of the new Civilian CSDP Compact include

The independent evaluation of the missions

A modular and scalable approach to missions ensuring their ability to adapt to partners' needs

Increased responsiveness and level of readiness by being able to deploy 200 experts within 30 days

A strengthened Headquarters for civilian missions

Enhanced resilience to hybrid and cyber threats, as well as foreign information manipulation and interference

The mainstreaming of climate change and environmental degradation and working towards climate neutral missions

A structured and regular civilian capability development process

Enhanced partnerships with the UN, OSCE, the AU, etc.

The new Compact was negotiated by Member States in the spring of 2023 and represents a major step forward in strengthening civilian CSDP.

How can the proper resourcing of the civilian CSDP missions be ensured?

Ensuring the proper resourcing of civilian CSDP missions relies on continued political commitment from EU Member States, as these missions depend on their staff contributions.

To transform political will into concrete actions, the European Union and its Member States must invest more in the necessary capabilities to meet their ambitions. This investment is particularly crucial if the EU aims to strengthen civilian actions and act in accordance with the ambition set out in the Strategic Compass.

By maintaining political commitment, demonstrating the effectiveness of CSDP as a tool, and investing in essential capabilities, the EU can ensure proper resourcing for civilian CSDP missions and achieve its strategic goals.

What will happen now?

The new Civilian CSDP Compact is set to be fully delivered by mid-2027. To achieve this, the European External Action Service (EEAS), relevant Commission services, and Member States will work together to implement the new Compact. As part of the process, all Member States will need to update their National Implementation Plans.

The first Annual Review Conference will be held in November 2023. This will allow Member States to evaluate the progress made and plan their work for the upcoming year. Moreover, by 2024, the EEAS and Member States will establish a regular and structured capability development process. This process will involve assessing capability needs, developing requirements, conducting gap analyses, and periodically reviewing the progress made to ensure the effective implementation of the Civilian CSDP Compact.

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El Fasher  The army and the RSF exchanged heavy gunfire and shelling in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, from Sunday evening until yesterday morning. The healthcare situation is worrying and local residents lament the "outrageous high prices of food".

Etemad Hasan told Radio Dabanga that shells landed in a number of houses in the eastern neighbourhoods of the town, where the RSF have taken up base, without causing any casualties.

She said that all roads leading to the El Fasher Grand Market are closed.

El Fasher witnessed a relative calm as a civilian-brokered truce held for roughly three weeks. Intense fighting, however, erupted two weeks ago and journalists in the town spoke of a "disturbing increase in crime, looting, and systematic killing".

Governor of the Darfur region Minni Minawi brought his troops back to El Fasher from Khartoum not long before the clashes erupted. The Sudan Liberation Movement faction led by Minawi was among the five rebel movements, all signatories of the Juba Peace Agreement, who formed a joint force in El Fasher at the end of April to improve the security situation.

Health services

The lack of medicine, electricity, and water impedes the provision of health services. Health cadres called on the governor of the region to intervene and provide medical aid.

The director of the dialysis centre in the city said that the centre is threatened with closure due to the lack of medicine and appealed to the governor to speed up deliveries and provide treatment.

Civilians complained about the "outrageous high prices of food". The prices of fuel are soaring on the black market as well as the petrol stations are closed.
Minister of Defence Pevkur at Northern Group meeting: Ukraine's victory will strengthen security for us all

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Defence

23. May 2023

At the Northern Group defence ministers' meeting yesterday in Legionowo, Poland, Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur stressed that Russia is capable of restoring its pre-war status in our region within a matter of years, so it is important to support Ukraine consistently and vigorously, because Ukraine's victory strengthens security for us all.

"The Russian Federation openly calls into question the legitimacy and territorial integrity of the Baltic States and consistently tries to divide our societies by means of hybrid warfare," said Minister of Defence Pevkur.

"Russia continues to occupy 18% of Ukraine's territory, 110,000 square kilometres. Western military assistance to Ukraine must continue, and we are capable of providing that assistance. The European Union has spent 44 times more on post-pandemic recovery measures and 34 times more to alleviate the energy crisis than it has on providing the means to win the war," Pevkur continued.

The meeting of the Northern Group focused on the security threats in north-eastern Europe and positions for the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius. Member States shared the view that further military assistance to Ukraine in the fight against Russia's illegal and brutal aggression is crucial. The defence ministers also agreed that the main objective of the Vilnius Summit is to increase the security of the region through further strengthening deterrence and defence.

"Increased defence spending and wise defence investments will help ensure that we possess the capabilities and stocks we need. In the near future, total expenditure of 2% of GDP on defence could become obligatory for NATO Member States, but we must set the goal for defence spending by NATO Member States to at least 2.5% by 2030," said Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.

The Northern Group is a defence cooperation format that brings together 12 Baltic and North Sea countries - Estonia, the Netherlands, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The focus of the Northern Group is on the regional security situation in Northern Europe and the Arctic. The format was established in 2010, under the leadership of the United Kingdom. Poland will serve as the chair of the group for the first half of this year, with Sweden leading the cooperation format in the second half of the year.

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Pevkur in Brussels: We have to considerably speed up defence procurements

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Defence

23. May 2023

Pevkur in Brussels: We have to considerably speed up defence procurements

Today in Brussels at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting, EU defence ministers discussed the continuing military aid to Ukraine during Russia's war of aggression, as well as progress in sending artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

At the meeting, minister Pevkur emphasised that "Military aid to Ukraine - arms, ammunition and training - must continue intensively, and we must continue seeking out new opportunities, which also means considerably speeding up defence procurements. For Ukraine to be able to push Russia out of its territory, the military aid must be sustainable. In the context of the European Union, this means adopting the 8th military aid package to Ukraine and directing an additional 3,5 billion euros to the European Peace Facility."

On the topic of the million rounds of ammunition initiative, Minister of Defence Pevkur said that with this initiative the EU has now taken the first steps towards long-term military support to Ukraine. Additionally, it boosts European strategic defence capability through increasing ammunition manufacturing on European soil. "In just five weeks, we in the EU agreed on sending a million rounds to Ukraine in one year. Now the necessary mechanisms have been activated, but the pace needs to be picked up. Estonia has done its share of the first pillar, which deals with sending existing stocks, and we believe that other Member States are also making great efforts. We can evaluate the results of the first pillar in mid-July, however, the final picture will come together from all three pillars generating results," explained Minister of Defence Pevkur.

The second pillar of the EU ammunition initiative sets out Member States' joint procurement for sending aid to Ukraine, and the recently published third pillar proposition from the European Commission foresees the allocation of 500 million euros from the EU budget towards increasing the supply of ammunition and missiles in Europe through ramping up the manufacturing capacity of the defence industry, opening new manufacturing lines, improving supply chains and the availability of raw materials.

In addition to efforts aimed at invigorating the defence industry to speed up aid to Ukraine and increase the defence capabilities of Member States, the EU has also contributed to training Ukrainian defence forces through the training mission EUMAM. "EUMAM has fulfilled its objective effectively - over half of EU Member States contribute, and altogether the goal is to train 30 000 Ukrainian troops by the end of 2023. Estonia will also continue contributing to training efforts, as well as looking for additional opportunities to support Ukraine," said Pevkur.

The European Union defence ministers also met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss defence cooperation between the EU and NATO.

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JOINT DECLARATION FOLLOWING THE FIRST TRILATERAL MEETING BETWEEN THE MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND, ROMANIA, AND THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN

Republic of Poland - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

23.05.2023

We, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Zbigniew Rau, Romania, Bogdan Aurescu, and the Kingdom of Spain, Jose Manuel Albares met today in Valencia for the first trilateral ministerial meeting between Poland, Romania and Spain, hereinafter the "Valencia Trio".

Representing Poland, Romania and Spain, who together account for almost a quarter of the population of the European Union, as well as the fourth, fifth and sixth most populous Nations of the Union,

Welcoming the upcoming Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union,

Reaffirming our joint commitment to work for a united and resilient European Union acting in a coordinated manner, based on the principles of solidarity, cohesion, democracy, and commitment to fundamental rights,

Underlining our commitment to the EU, NATO and the transatlantic bond, and to the strategic partnership between the EU and NATO,

Reiterating our joint commitment to further deepening transatlantic relations, which are inextricably linked to peace and stability on the European continent,

Highlighting our longstanding work in decisive geographic areas such as the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, all three key cardinal points for European security,

Reaffirming, 15 months into the full-scale war of aggression unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, our strong and lasting commitment to Ukraine and its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders,

Recognising our commitment to continue all efforts to provide Ukraine with military assistance needed to defend its sovereignty against Russia's aggression,

Acknowledging the leadership shown by our peoples and governments in providing humanitarian aid and assistance to the Ukrainian people,

Noting that more than 8 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homeland and seek refuge in neighbouring countries across Europe,

Aware that Russia's war of aggression has seriously undermined the rules-based international order, and has had profound implications across the Globe,

Mindful of the long-term challenges that the war has raised for the security and stability of the European and Euro-Atlantic communities, and of the complex threats and challenges posed by Russia's actions, in particular against countries in the Eastern Neighbourhood,

We have agreed to:

Political consultations under the Trilateral Ministerial Meeting format, the "Valencia Trio"

1. Hold these trilateral meetings periodically, under the ministerial format of the "Valencia Trio", as a forum for consultation between our countries.

2. Include the preparation and regular follow-up of these Valencia Trio meetings in the framework of consultations between our respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs.

3. Strengthen cooperation between our three countries, in all areas, as a way to create a robust synergy of interests and capabilities between Poland, Romania, and Spain.

Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

4. Support the members of the Trio in the preparation and development of their rotating presidencies of the Council of the European Union and continue the cooperation with the upcoming Trio.

5. Explore the active support of Poland and Romania to the Spanish Presidency of the Council in priority areas such as EU resilience, common actions to strengthen the external borders of the Union, justice, competitiveness, ecological and digital transition.

6. Cooperate in an active and solidary manner to ensure that the principles of a united, strong and resilient European Union are reflected also in the adoption without further delay of a positive decision on Romania's accession into the Schengen area, thus recognising Romania's significant contribution to the internal security of the EU.

7. Continue actions towards the renewed transatlantic partnership, guided by the European Union and the United States Summit Declaration of 15 June 2021.

8. Actively engage with partners and allies around the world, especially under the frameworks held under the Spanish Presidency of the Council: EU-CELAC Summit, a potential EU-Southern Neighbourhood Summit, and the third meeting of the European Political Community.

9. Renew the European-Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) relationship. Strategic partnership with LAC will result in greater security and contribute to strategic resilience for Europe. Europe and LAC share similar values and interests, history and culture. The Spanish Presidency of the Council can act as a bridge for dialogue between the two regions. We look forward to the EU-CELAC Summit and to a successful outcome in terms of participation and deliverables. Instruments like Global Gateway, an actualised roadmap, a permanent coordination mechanism to follow up the commitments of the Summit and especially EU Trade policy should play a prominent role to achieve these 4 aims. Advancing negotiations on the pending agreements with Chile, Mexico and Mercosur should be a priority.

10. Play an active role in strengthening our ties with our Eastern and Southern partners. Poland, Romania, and Spain have valuable experience and expertise in reaching out to these countries, as Member States at the external borders of the European Union.

11. Poland, Romania, and Spain will cooperate to ensure an enhanced and deeper engagement of the European Union towards the Eastern Neighbourhood, with a view to developing connectivity, deepening economic integration, expanding trade and investment links, and strengthening regional resilience and energy security.

12. Poland, Romania, and Spain agree to make the most of the new dynamic on the Southern Neighbourhood to consolidate this format, with a view to holding periodical high level meetings and boost sectoral interaction across the board to face common threats in a proactive way. Envisage the first summit as a turning point in the relationship.

13. Support the Spanish Presidency of the Council in building consensus at the European level in supporting Ukraine, also in the context of the accession process. The Spanish Presidency has the potential to strengthen the EU's unity and determination to assist Ukraine in all fields in the medium and long term, as well as in post-conflict reconstruction and EU membership perspective.

14. Support the Republic of Moldova and its ambition to become a member of the EU all throughout its accession process.

15. The Valencia Trio will support the Western Balkan countries accession process and will encourage the efforts made for their progressive integration in the EU.

European Agenda

16. Continue the strong multidimensional support to Ukraine in responding to Russia's war of aggression, for as long as it is necessary.

17. Reaffirm our steadfast support to the enlargement of the European Union through an own-merit based process, and to our engagement to improving alignment with the Common Foreign and Security Policy by candidate and future candidate countries. Our neighbours in the Western Balkans, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as well as other candidate countries, should be given the necessary support to join the EU as soon as possible. Georgia should be offered the candidate status once all conditions set out by the European Commission are duly fulfilled. In parallel, the Eastern Partnership, which provides a useful framework for the EU's Eastern policy, needs to be strongly supported.

18. Strengthen Europe's resilience. Key areas such as energy, food security, digitalisation, health and supply chains security must be prioritised. This entails consolidating our energy independence, especially from Russia, ensuring proper access to raw materials and strengthening the capabilities of European industry in the different technologies, particularly taking into account the objectives linked to the decarbonisation of the economy. A greater interconnection throughout EU, including of the Iberian Peninsula, may contribute to the reinforcement of the EU's energy security and resilience in the interest of all European citizens

19. Reform the European energy market and electricity sector towards a full Energy Union serving the dual objective of European energy independence and climate neutrality. High electricity prices threaten the competitiveness of our businesses and the wellbeing of our fellow citizens.

20. Bringing energy independence to the centre of discussions with our Eastern partners. Priority should be given to strengthening connectivity, ensuring access to reliable and 6 all affordable energy sources, encouraging renewable and energy efficiency and the renewables, promoting diversification of sources and transport routes, including by establishing new supply routes, interalia, through Central Asia, the South Caucasus and across the Black Sea, thus undermining Russian blackmail and guaranteeing our Eastern partners' energy needs.

21. Develop tools capable of countering new hybrid and high-tech threats. Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) strategies represent one of the greatest risks to the stability and future of the EU. We stand by the Foreign Affairs Council conclusions of 21st of June 2022, championed by Spain, on FIMI and call for a coordinated EU response.

22. Support progress in the negotiations of reform of the EU economic governance in order to finalise legislative work by the end of the year. 23. Work on the basis of the Commission proposal, towards the completion of the Banking Union that ensures financial stability, and protect depositors and taxpayers.

24. Emphasise our belief in a strong, united and prosperous Schengen area as an area of free movement without controls at internal borders. We reiterate our firm support for the enlargement of Schengen.

Security and defence

25. Underline NATO's central role in ensuring peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area. NATO remains the foundation of our collective defence and the essential forum for joint action, security consultations and decisions among Allies. The NATO-EU strategic partnership should be further strengthened in a spirit of mutual openness, transparency and complementarity. Effective cooperation between NATO and the EU avoids duplication and preserves interoperability. NATO's complementarity and cooperation with the EU adds value to Europe's security.

26. Express our commitment to make the EU a stronger and more capable security provider and to reinforce the EU's civilian and military CSDP (Common Defence and Security Policy) missions and operations, as set out in the Strategic Compass. A stronger and more capable EU in security and defence will contribute positively to global and transatlantic security and is complementary to NATO.

27. Support NATO's efforts to strengthen and secure the Alliance's Eastern flank. The joint participation of Poland, Romania, and Spain in NATO's Deterrence and Defence Posture demonstrates our continued commitment to ensuring Allied security. Deterrence and defence play a key role in the protection of our citizens.

28. Support NATO's efforts Southern flank especially with regard to new and fast-emerging threats, such as terrorism, in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Sahel region.

29. Exchange lessons learned and explore opportunities for cooperation and mutually reinforcing actions with a view to enhancing security in the Baltic, Black Sea and Mediterranean regions.

30. Support NATO's Open Door policy and step up security and capacity-building assistance to partners in our neighbourhoods, including Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, and Georgia.

31. Support Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations and thus work on enhancing political and practical cooperation between NATO and Ukraine.

32. Explore possible coordination in strengthening NATO and our Allies' Resilience, seeking the most appropriate formats to combine national and EU competencies with NATO requirements.

33. Coordinate positions on Military Mobility. Our three countries participate in the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and have welcomed US participation in this mechanism.

34. Explore possible synergies and cooperation on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies in the fields of defence and security, especially given the participation of Poland, Romania, and Spain in the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator.

35. Identify initiatives where the joint expertise and interests of our three countries can converge, so that Polish, Romanian, and Spanish companies can develop capacitybuilding objectives under trilateral partnerships, including within the framework of the new European defence initiatives.

36. Coordinate, when feasible, on defence and security matters, at both EU and NATO level, and the various international fora in which we participate.

Signed at Valencia on 23rd of May 2023 in triplicate.

For the Republic of Poland For Romania For the Kingdom of Spain

Zbigniew RAU Bogdan AURESCU Jose Manuel ALBARES

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Russia poses a direct threat to the security, stability and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic space, says Minister A. Anusauskas

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2023-05-23

International cooperation

"Russia poses a direct threat to the security, stability and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic space. Countries of the Northern Group uphold a unanimous view that it is absolutely important to ensure continued military assistance to Ukraine in its fight against the unlawful and brutal Russian aggression," says Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anusauskas.

On May 22 Minister A. Anusauskas took part in a Northern Group Defence Ministers' meeting in the capital of Poland, Warsaw. Minister discussed the current status of the regional security situation, perception of threats and challenges to the Northeastern European security, and distance to Ukraine.

The meeting officials underscored the importance of the Vilnius NATO Summit and shared their national stances and expectations. According to A. Anusauskas, all the Nordic Group members hoped the Vilnius Summit to result in decisions that enhance regional security by means of improved Allied deterrence and defence posture.

Northern Group meetings are attended by heads of defence of Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, United Kingdom, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Finland and Sweden. Such meetings are held to address mutual interests. The Northern Group complements the set of bilateral and multilateral defence formats Lithuania takes part in.

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Yemeni PM warns of US-Israeli plot seeking breakup of Arab country

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 8:01 AM

The prime minister of Yemen's National Salvation Government has warned of a fiendish project developed by certain Western countries and the occupying Israeli regime targeting the unity and territorial integrity of the war-wracked Arab country.

Abdulaziz bin Habtour made the remarks on Monday, as Yemen was marking the 33rd anniversary of the national day for Yemeni unity.

He said that the scenario has garnered the support of the majority of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, who led the devastating war on Yemen.

"The Western-Israeli project seeks to disintegrate the fabric of the Yemeni society, and split the country into two parts as it was the case before Yemeni unification [which took place on May 22, 1990]," Bin Habtour told Lebanon's Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network, noting that "The scenario could be traced back to 1994 and is a regeneration of old plots."

"The Sana'a-based National Salvation Government nipped the US-engineered plot in the bud, and continues to fight off other hostile moves against Yemen," the senior Yemeni official said.

He also voiced concerns over the possible looting of natural resources and crude oil reserves in Yemen's eastern Hadhramaut province.

"Hadhramout province is among fairly strategic regions in Yemen, particularly because of the large expanse of land it covers, its geographical location, historical heritage, and economic significance," the Yemeni prime minister pointed out.

Earlier, Mahdi al-Mashat, head of Yemen's Supreme Political Council, had made similar comments, emphasizing that "Yemen's unity should not be a matter of contention among various political factions in the country, and must be preserved by all individuals and groups."

"Our country is exposed to various hostile plots and suspicious projects seeking its disintegration," Mashat highlighted.

Saudi Arabia launched the war against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states to reinstall the ousted president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Hadi resigned from the presidency in late 2014 and later fled to Riyadh amid a political conflict with the popular Ansarullah movement.

The war objective was to crush the Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen, but it has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning the entire country into the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

However, in the wake of the Chinese-brokered Iran-Saudi detente in March, the kingdom took a step to end the crisis in Yemen.

In April, a Saudi delegation reportedly met with a number of high-ranking officials from the Yemeni Ansarullah resistance movement in Sana'a as part of preparations for talks to reach a final ceasefire agreement to end the eight-year Saudi war.

Ali al-Qahoum, a member of Ansarullah's political bureau, praised Oman for efforts to close the gaps between the Yemeni resistance movement and Saudi Arabia, saying Sana'a is "optimistic" about the prospects of Muscat's role to broker peace between the two sides to the conflict.

Prior to the visit, reports said Saudi officials had held a closed-door meeting with the chairman and members of the so-called Yemeni presidential leadership council, which was established last April after the resignation of Hadi, to inform them about a peace plan for Yemen.

Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman briefed the council on Riyadh's solution to end the crisis in Yemen by pledging to pay the salaries of public servants, open Hudaydah port, and help settle the currency crisis in Yemen in exchange for Sana'a's acceptance of the truce.

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China makes getting a tourist visa to Tibet tougher for foreign visitors in Nepal

New rules require in-person interviews and fingerprinting.

By RFA Tibetan 2023.05.23 -- China has put in place stricter visa rules and conditions for foreign tourists who want to visit Tibet via neighboring Nepal, according to two travel agencies operating in the Nepalese capital.

The Chinese government routinely blocks access to Tibet for foreign journalists, NGO workers, diplomats and foreign citizens of Tibetan heritage. International tourists must obtain a Tibet Entry Permit to enter Tibet, though obtaining one is not usually a complex process.

Many foreign visitors obtain travel permits in Nepal, a common starting point for those planning to visit Tibet.

Those who want to enter Tibet from Nepal must form a group before obtaining a Chinese Group Visa issued by the Chinese Embassy in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. When they have the group visa, they can then obtain the Tibet Travel Permit issued by the Tibet Tourism Bureau for travel according to the preset itinerary.

Under the new procedures, foreign tourists who plan to enter Tibet from Nepal must arrive in Nepal one week prior to completing a visa application, and visas will be issued only to groups with a minimum of four people, the travel agencies said. Another report on the new procedures by the Tibetan Review, an independent monthly publication, said a minimum of five people was necessary.

Visa applicants must go in-person to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal in Kathmandu for interviews and provide fingerprints, they said. Chinese Group Visas for approved tourists are issued after five days after background checks.

Foreigners who already have a visa to travel to different cities in China now must apply for a special visa to enter Tibet, they said.

Individual tourists must provide more detailed personal information, such as schools they attended, and specify the places they intend to visit in Tibet, according to Thamel Tours and Travels, a tour agency based in Kathmandu.

Another travel agency in Kathmandu told Radio Free Asia that only one foreign applicant who applied for a visa through the agency has been turned down under the new procedures.

Previously, foreign tourists did not have to appear in-person at the Chinese Embassy in Nepal to obtain a visa to enter Tibet, and travel agencies arranged for group visas which were issued within two days of application. Visas issued could cover as few as one foreign traveler going to Tibet, because applicants on the list were not individually verified, the Tibetan Review said.

Chinese authorities reopened the Tibet Autonomous Region to foreign visitors this April, after the region was closed for three years amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Jan. 8, officials lifted border restrictions imposed during the outbreak in early 2020.

On March 31, China's Cultural and Tourism Ministry issued an announcement to urge Chinese tour operators to abide by the new rules and strictly oversee the tourist activities through group supervision to boost the country's tourism industry following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Translated by RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Vietnamese prisoner of conscience accuses jailers of giving him contaminated water

Nguyen Van Duc Do experienced abdominal pain and had diarrhea.

By RFA Vietnamese 2023.05.23 -- A political prisoner serving an 11-year sentence at a jail in southern Vietnam's Dong Nai province has accused staffers of contaminating the drinking water in the prison canteen after he fell ill with abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Nguyen Van Duc Do, 47, said he got sick after drinking water he purchased at the canteen at the Xuan Loc Z30A Prison, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Ho Chi Minh City, his younger brother, Nguyen Duc Hai, told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.

Do is serving the seventh year of his jail term for "carrying out activities to overthrow the government."

Do said he and his prison roommate, Vuong Thanh Thuan, recently bought 17 20-liter jugs of drinking water for drinking and cooking, and that he started having stomach aches and diarrhea while using the fourth jug.

In Vietnamese prisons, inmates can buy water and ready-made foods, such as instant noodles, to cook for themselves.

"After leaving the water there for a few days, it smelled like pesticide," Hai said. "When he drank the water again, he got an unbearable stomach flu and then diarrhea."

Do suspected guards tried to poison him because he and his cellmate fell ill after using the water, while other inmates bought similar water jugs but did not have any problems, his brother said.

As a result, he now must buy more expensive bottled water to drink, though he will not be able to afford it for long, Hai said.

Do, a former member of the Coalition for National Self-Determination of the Vietnamese People and vice president of the Vietnam Labor Movement, asked a guard to let him see the prison warden to complain about the drinking water issue, but the prison guard did not respond to his request, his brother said.

The health and well-being of political prisoners has been a long-standing concern of human rights groups and inmates' families whose relatives have become seriously ill or even died while in jail due to lack of safe food and water and access to outside medical care when needed.

RFA could not reach officials at Xuan Loc Prison to verify the information.

A former political prisoner who was released from Xuan Loc Prison last year but wanted to remain anonymous for safety reasons, told RFA that the detention center provided inmates with water from drilled wells for drinking and washing.

Do was arrested in November 2016 along with four other members of the Coalition for National Self-Determination of the Vietnamese People. They all were charged with "carrying out activities to overthrow the government" and given sentences ranging from eight to 15 years imprisonment at a 2018 trial.

Do, who has constantly maintained his innocence, told his family that he refused a guard's offer for a reduced sentence if he admitted guilt.

He has been held in solitary confinement at times without access to fresh air and exercise, causing his health to decline, and was threatened by guards with a dog when he banged on his cell door for help while experiencing chest pain and difficulty breathing, according to the 88 Project, a human rights group that advocates for persecuted Vietnamese political activists.

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Chairman of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Meets with Saudi Defense Minister

Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, May 23, 2023, SPA -- Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council of the Republic of Yemen Dr. Rashad Muhammad Al-Alimi, on a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has received at his residence Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Minister of Defense.

The minister conveyed the greetings of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister, to the president and members of the council, as well as their wishes of security and stability for the Republic of Yemen.

The minister also congratulated the president and members of the council on their country's Unity Day.

Al-Alimi and members of the council conveyed greetings to the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They also commended the Kingdom's economic and relief support, and its efforts to alleviate the suffering of the people in all Yemeni governorates, praising the Kingdom's important role in encouraging reaching a ceasefire, reviving the political process and reaching a comprehensive and sustainable political solution to the crisis in Yemen, based on the decisions agreed upon nationally and internationally, under the supervision of the United Nations.

The minister reaffirmed the Kingdom's unremitting support for the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council in all fields, to help the Yemenis achieve their aspirations, and for the UN envoy's efforts to reach a comprehensive and sustainable political solution to the Yemeni crisis and help Yemenis achieve peace and development.

Attending the meeting were Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber and several officials from both sides.

--SPA

11:43 LOCAL TIME 08:43 GMT

0008

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Hungary Signs Gas Purchase Agreement With Qatar

Sputnik News

20230523

BUDAPEST (Sputnik) - Hungary has signed an agreement with Qatar on the purchase of natural gas, the countries plan to develop economic cooperation, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

"Over the past year, we have learned that Qatar is a country of key importance for Europe. The European economy has made up for a significant part of the missing Russian gas with LNG coming from here... We agreed on energy cooperation, we will also buy gas from here - it is always better to stand on several legs than on one," Orban said in a video message from Doha posted on Facebook*.

He also said that after talks, the leaders of Hungary and Qatar also agreed to develop infrastructure and air traffic, cooperate in communications and agriculture, thus opening up a good prospect for Qatari-Hungarian economic cooperation.

The Hungarian prime minister also said Qatar, like Hungary, is ready to mediate in a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said Hungary is working on diversifying gas supplies to the country, but in the short term it will not be possible to replace Russian energy. In addition to increasing the import of Azerbaijani gas, Hungary is interested in increasing LNG supplies to the country through the terminal in Croatia's Krk and developing a gas field in Romania.

Additionally, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, Budapest, as part of the diversification of supplies, is considering the possibility to import oil from Ecuador in case the overland transit of Russian oil through Ukraine becomes impossible.

Earlier, Szijjarto said that during his visit to Qatari capital Doha, an agreement was signed, under which the energy companies of Hungary and Qatar may begin talks on the supply of liquefied natural gas to Hungary in about three years.

According to him, talks are also ongoing between Hungarian and Omani partners at the level of specialists and enterprises on the possible start of oil and natural gas imports from Oman. Szijjarto stressed that agreements with the Gulf countries on oil and gas supply to Hungary do not mean the abandonment of contracts with Russia, but are aimed at diversification.

*banned in Russia for extremism

 Sputnik

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Pashinyan: Yerevan Willing to Concede Nagorno-Karabakh if Armenian Population Respected

Sputnik News

20230523

Wyatt Reed

After two years of armed hostilities, leaders on both sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are expressing hope that a peace treaty will soon be signed.

The government of Armenia has announced that it's willing to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory if its neighbors in Baku issue guarantees that the ethnic Armenian population in the disputed enclave have their rights and safety respected.

At a Monday conference, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan seemed to agree that the territory of Azerbaijan consists of 86,600 square kilometers  a total which includes the region in question.

"If we and Azerbaijan understand each other correctly, Armenia will recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the named limits, while Baku will recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia within the area of 29,800 sq km," he added.

But the prime minister insisted that "at the same time, we say that the issue of the rights and safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be discussed" in future negotiations between the countries.

Absent international safety guarantees, Pashinyan suggested Azerbaijani forces or non-state forces could carry out "ethnic cleansing" of the Armenians living in the region, thousands of whom have been effectively cut off from regular access to essentials by an Azerbaijani blockade now in its fifth month.

Nonetheless, the prime minister insisted Azerbaijan and Armenia are engaged in active peace talks, and expressed a desire to resolve outstanding issues.

The sentiment was echoed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who claimed the disputed territory had been suffering from what he called "Armenian occupation" for decades but said he hopes talks between the two sides will "bring about solid peace in the South Caucasus."

Aliyev and Pashinyan are slated to hold talks on Thursday in Moscow, with Russian President Vladimir Putin set to serve as mediator. Pashinyan has expressed hope for a peace treaty but said it was unlikely to be signed at the discussion planned for May 25.

Amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in 1988 before declaring itself an independent republic three years later. The resulting war claimed the lives of thousands before being brought to an end by international mediators in 1994.

But intermittent fighting Armenia and Azerbaijan has persisted over the years since, most recently in 2020. A clash in 2020 was papered over with the help of a Russian meditation but sporadic fighting has claimed hundreds of lives since hostilities flared back up again in 2021.

 Sputnik

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Bipartisan talks aimed at resolving a political stand-off between President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga have been suspended for consultations.

The talks were suspended for seven days Tuesday after MPs from the ruling Kenya Kwanza and Azimio coalitions failed to agree on contentious issues.

The talks spearheaded by Parliament bring together legislators from Odinga's Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition and Ruto's ruling coalition Kenya Kwanza.

They were initiated by the president in April to cool off political temperatures in the country after weeks of street demonstrations called by Odinga to protest the high cost of living and his alleged stolen presidential victory.

"Our colleagues have refused to concede to any of the interim measures we raised which has led us to the conclusion that they are not negotiating in good faith," said Otiende Amollo, the bipartisan co-chair, adding that the talks "will not get anywhere should the status quo remain the same."

And while Kenya Kwanza MPs accuse their counterparts of being dishonest in the talks, the Opposition feels the same.

According to Kenya Kwanza, the main issue of contention is the formation of a new electoral commission that will manage the 2027 elections.

"The Kenya Kwanza has singled out the issue on IEBC, indicating that to them that is the most critical bit of the issues brought by Azimio. We have agreed that the issue on IEBC is what must take precedence from today," said Kenya Kwanza committee co-chair George Murugara adding that they expect the talks to resume to their logical conclusion.

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Other sources in the talks told Capital FM News that the talks were suspended over the Kenya Kwanza's meddling in Jubilee party affairs.

Jubilee is part of the Azimio coalition and has lately accused President William Ruto of raiding it and taking away members who were not elected in Kenya Kwanza.

This has culminated in the party leadership wrangles pitting Jeremiah Kioni on one hand and Kanini Kega on the other-both claiming control of the party.

Kega says he is the party Secretary General with Sabina Chege as the party leader taking over from Jeremiah Kioni and former President Uhuru Kenyatta respectively.

On Monday, Kenyatta led the party's National Delegate's Conference (NDC) that ousted Kioni and Chege.

The two have however, dismised the NDC as having no consequence, instead continuing to cosy up with the Kenya Kwanza coalition whose Parliamentary Group meeting they attended at State House on Tuesday.
The United States Announces $245 Million in Humanitarian Assistance to Sudan and Neighboring Countries

US Department of State

Press Statement

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

May 23, 2023

Last week the United States announced $245 million in additional support to the people of Sudan and neighboring countries experiencing the impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. These funds include nearly $143 million from the Department of State's Bureau for Population, Refugee and Migration and $103 million in additional humanitarian assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

With this funding, our humanitarian partners can respond to the new needs arising from the current conflict, which has displaced approximately 840,000 people within the country and forced another 250,000 to flee since April 15.

This announcement brings total U.S. humanitarian assistance for Sudan and neighbors Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic to nearly $880 million in FY 2023. The United States is by far the largest single donor to humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa, and we will continue to work with international and local partners to provide food, water, medical care, and other lifesaving assistance for internally displaced persons, refugees, and others in dire need due to conflict.



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Department Press Briefing - May 23, 2023

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

May 23, 2023

Article Index

1:18 p.m. EDT

MR MILLER: Good afternoon, everyone.

QUESTION: Welcome.

MR MILLER: I was informed I'm apparently expected to do this every day. (Laughter.) Let the record reflect I'm on time today, which I say not to pat myself - ah, well, Matt.

QUESTION: No, no, no. Hold on. You're actually 10 minutes late. (Laughter.)

MR MILLER: We - let me - and if you want exact detail what happened, we gave the two-minute warning, I sat in the room and noticed that not everyone was in here, so I waited for the august representative from the Associated Press to make an appearance before I walked in. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. You might not, but I'll see. (Laughter.)

MR MILLER: I don't have any opening comments, so Matt, do you want to kick us off?

QUESTION: Can I ask you about what your understanding is of the hearing that Evan Gershkovich had in Russia today?

MR MILLER: Sure. So we understand the hearing took place and that Russia extended the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich by an additional three months. We once again call on Russia to comply with their obligation to provide consular access to him. As we said - as I discussed yesterday, on Friday they rejected our second request for consular access to them. The claims against Evan are baseless, and we continue to call for his immediate release as well as for the immediate release of Paul Whelan.

QUESTION: Okay. But you have gotten consular access to him once, right? Or no?

MR MILLER: No. No. They have rejected 

QUESTION: Oh.

MR MILLER: They have rejected consular access.

QUESTION: So you haven't gotten any?

MR MILLER: Correct.

QUESTION: But there were people in the court today? 

MR MILLER: We did have representatives from the embassy in the court today.

QUESTION: But they weren't able to speak to him privately or 

MR MILLER: I don't know. I haven't - I don't have an update on whether - I know they were there. I haven't - I don't have an update on whether they were able to speak with him.

QUESTION: Okay. And per - but per the people who were in there, you don't have any better understanding of the charges against him?

MR MILLER: I think that - my understanding of the hearing today was that it was a hearing on whether to continue to detain him, and they extended that detention by three months. I believe the embassy in Moscow will have a statement coming out. I thought it would be out before the briefing, but if it's not out, it'll be out in the next few minutes with any more details. But I don't have any more details from what happened inside the court.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: May I follow up?

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Evan's parents were also in attendance at the court. Did the U.S. help arrange their visit to Moscow? Do you approve of this visit? Anything, any comment?

MR MILLER: We were aware that they visited Moscow. As I think we've said before, we have been in close contact with Evan's parents since immediately after his detention. We did not help arrange their travel.

I will just say personally I can only imagine how difficult it must be to see your child detained overseas, especially to be detained wrongfully. And so I'm certainly not going to criticize any parent for wanting to see their child. But that being said, we do have a Level Four Travel Advisory for Russia, and just speaking generally, we don't - we do not advise that U.S. citizens travel to Russia.

QUESTION: A follow-up on that?

MR MILLER: Yeah. Go ahead, Alex.

QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Just to clarify, just so we have clear understanding of how your pressing on - still pressing for consular access, at what level? Have you invited the Russian ambassador to the State Department to express your concern about the latest development?

MR MILLER: So I'm not going to get into the details of back-and-forth conversations. But we have expressed our concern from the minister level. Secretary Blinken had a conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov about Evan Gershkovich's detention already this year. We've engaged with him at a number of levels. Our embassy in Moscow has engaged with them. We've engaged with them here. And I'm not going to get into the specifics of those conversations.

As I said yesterday, we've found that oftentimes when it comes to wrongful detentions it's unproductive to the release that we seek to talk about all of the conversations we have publicly. But we have consistently pressed the case that, number one, they need to - Russia needs to fulfill its consular obligations; and number two, they need to immediately release him as well as Paul Whelan.

QUESTION: Have you exhausted your leverages at this point?

MR MILLER: I'm not going to speak to any of the details of how we are trying to secure his release, other than to say that it is an ongoing priority for the Secretary, it is an ongoing priority for the President. And I will say that even speaking more broadly than the case of Evan Gershkovich or Paul Whelan, the wrongful detention of Americans is one of the top priorities for this department. As you are aware, we have secured the return of more than two dozen wrongfully detained Americans since the beginning of this administration. It continues to be our top priority, and we'll continue to work on it with all the tools available to us.

QUESTION: And a final follow-up on this. The administration earlier this month sanctioned FSB for its action particularly in going after American citizens, but it stopped short. You guys did not sanction the Russian foreign minister which is refusing the consular access. Is it on the table as an option?

MR MILLER: So I don't want to preview any specific sanction action. I will say that, as always, we look at all the tools that are available to us and we use them when we think they are most effective. But if you look at our record not just with respect with wrongful detentions but our record with respect with Moscow and Russian Government officials and other Russian elites going back to more than a year now, we have not hesitated to use our sanctions authorities to go after any number of officials in that government, including the most senior officials.

Shaun.

QUESTION: Thanks. I know lots of us are concerned about Evan. But let me move to another topic, Sudan.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: The ceasefire that is supposed to have taken place, that did come into force. What's your assessment of whether it's holding and where things stand right now?

MR MILLER: So today in Jeddah, representatives of the Ceasefire Monitoring Coordination Committee that we announced over the weekend engaged in discussions on humanitarian assistance deliveries. And they also had discussions with their respective chain of command, so that would be the Saudi officials on that group discussing it with the officials in the Saudi Government, Ambassador Godfrey, who leads our representation on the Monitoring Committee having conversations with officials in our government.

Regarding allegations of ceasefire violations, we've obviously seen the reports. The officials on the Monitoring Mechanism are looking into those reports and continuing to monitor, and we have the ability to, when we see violations of the ceasefire, make those known publicly as well as engaged with direct - directly with both sides to the conflict.

QUESTION: Can I just pursue that?

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: You said the Monitoring Mechanism, and of course the Secretary spoke to that as well. How do you see that coming - how do you see that working? I mean, do you think that's going to have a shaping effect, if you will, to reduce the violations? Is this just more of a reporting mechanism? How do you see that going?

MR MILLER: So what I'd say is the Monitoring Mechanism is made up of 12 individuals: three officials from the U.S. Government - Ambassador Godfrey is our lead and there will be two other officials as well; three officials from the Saudi Government; as well as three officials each from the SAF and the RSF.

The way we see the Monitoring Mechanism is - and what it can achieve is a couple of different things: one, to identify violations of the ceasefire; two, to publicly hold accountable the parties for the violations of the ceasefire; and then three, so we have evidence that we can use to privately press the parties. We have had conversations at a number of levels inside this department, both with the top generals and other officials in the SAF and the RSF from the beginning of this conflict, and we'll continue to do that to press them to stop the violence when we see violations of the ceasefire, and also to have conversations with our partners in the region.

And then the last thing I will add is that we do have additional tools available to us and we will not hesitate to use those tools if and when it's appropriate to do so.

QUESTION: So how 

QUESTION: Go ahead, go ahead.

QUESTION: How do you hold the violators accountable? How will you do that? I know you said you have some tools and so on.

MR MILLER: I don't want to preview any specific action. Obviously, this is a - continues to be a very delicate situation, where we are involved in intense diplomatic conversations both directly with the two parties and with partners in the region. But we have a number of tools available to us. We - and we will not hesitate to use those tools if and when it's appropriate to do so.

Anything else on Sudan before I - Sudan? Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: You announced the 245 million towards humanitarian aid for civilians today. But since there's not a civilian government in place, how exactly is that going to be distributed?

MR MILLER: So let me note, first of all, that the United States remains the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance in Sudan and we will continue our support for the vulnerable population in Sudan.

The assistance that we announced today is not just for people in Sudan but for neighboring countries that are experiencing the impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Specifically with respect to how that will be distributed, it will be distributed through the State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration, as well as additional humanitarian assistance from USAID.

So we have the ability to directly provide humanitarian assistance and then also engage with multilateral organizations in the region.

Yeah, Said. Michel.

QUESTION: Are you aware on phone conversations between Israeli prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince on the normalization between the two countries, and did the U.S. play any role in this regard?

MR MILLER: So we are aware of the reports. I would refer you to the two countries to speak to them, any detail. And of course, those are two countries with which we engage regularly, but I'm not going to speak to any private diplomatic conversations.

I will say as a broader measure we, of course, fully support Israel's integration into the Middle East region, including normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.

QUESTION: Can I just follow up on this real quick?

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you. It is said that Prime Minister Netanyahu is either speaking or spoke with Saudi Crown Prince MBS on - about flights for the pilgrimage for Hajj, a direct flight for Israel. But it is - also that was reported in the Times of Israel and - but it is alleged that the Saudis are insisting on allowing PA security officers on the compound of Haram Sharif. Are you aware of such talks and would you support the presence of Palestinian PA security in al-Aqsa/ Haram Sharif?

MR MILLER: Again, I think it's more appropriate for those two governments that were involved in the reported talks to speak to any details about them. I would say as a general matter the United States continues to strongly support the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.

QUESTION: Right. But it's the United States that really trained Palestinian security, supports them, finances them and all these things, so you wield a lot of power of the Palestinian security. Does that factor in in any way?

MR MILLER: I will say, as I just said, we continue to support the longstanding historic status quo. That's been our policy for some time, and I don't have any further comment.

QUESTION: A question about Lebanon. Germany issues arrest warrant for Lebanon Central Bank Riad Salameh. This is like the second arrest warrant within one week. The first one came from France and this from Germany. What's your take on that, since it's a very kind of sensitive matter for Lebanese economy? It's crashing right now and this will add more insecurity for the economy that is already clashed.

MR MILLER: So I would say with respect to the specific reports, we would leave that to our German partners to comment on them, just as last week we left it to the Government of France.

I will say in general it is for the Lebanese Government to determine who continues to serve in that position. We work with the designated governor in his or her official capacity. And I will say more broadly, as we've said before, it is important that the Lebanese Government respect the established process for appointing a new governor and focus on the task of stabilizing Lebanon's economy and effecting meaningful change.

QUESTION: Okay. My question about the displaced Syrians - I'm stressing on the word "displaced," not refugees, because a big number - as reports indicated, big numbers, they go back to Syria and then go back to Lebanon and get paid a salary through UNHCR. So they don't really have a security problem going back home. Why this administration is not kind of pushing these displaced Syrians to go back home, safe, for good?

MR MILLER: So I will say that we continue to engage with our partners in the region about that issue, about the return of refugees to Syria. But I don't have anything to add in - specifically.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Yes, my question is about Mexico, and the illegal use of surveillance there. Today The New York Times is publishing a front-page story showing how the Mexican army has been widely using commercial spyware to target a wide array of persons in Mexico. Does the State Department condemn this type of use of commercial spyware? And given the administration has spoken so forcefully against the misuse of surveillance, what does it say that one of your closest allies is encouraging this practice?

MR MILLER: So I have seen those reports. I haven't even had a chance to read the full story; I don't have any comment on them in detail, other than to say that the U.S.-Mexico relationship is one of the most important and dynamic in the world. But I don't have any specific comment on that report in The New York Times.

QUESTION: So the U.S. doesn't condemn the use of - the misuse of 

MR MILLER: I said I haven't had a chance to look at that report in detail, and I don't think it'd be appropriate for me to comment on it in detail until I have done so.

QUESTION: Not even in general, around the world?

MR MILLER: I - I understand what you would like me to say. However, I think with respect to the report in the Times, until I've had a chance to read it in detail and talk with my colleagues about it, I don't think it'd be appropriate for me to make any comment.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Could you provide an update, please, on the State Department's facilitating access to the Afghanistan dissent cable to the leadership of the House Foreign Affairs Committee?

MR MILLER: Sure. So as we made public last week, we made an offer to the committee that Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Meeks could come here to the State Department to view both the dissent cable - dissent channel cable itself and Secretary Blinken's response. They accepted that offer, and it's our understanding that they will visit the department today to review the cable and the response.

QUESTION: Has consideration been made for their - or for the chairman's sort of counter that access be broadened to other membership of the committee?

MR MILLER: I would say as a general principle we continue to believe it's important to protect the confidentiality of the dissent channel. We understand the need to give Congress the information it needs to do its job, but we want to protect the ability of State Department employees to do their job. We've seen the comments that Chairman McCaul has made about this issue publicly, of extending access to the other members of the committee. We will continue to engage with him on this question. And as we've said for some time, we hope to reach some kind of final resolution.

QUESTION: Follow-up on Afghanistan?

QUESTION: Should we - should the 

MR MILLER: Let me just - let me - one 

QUESTION:  the prospect of the enforcement of that subpoena be resuscitated? You think that you might consider facilitating broader access?

MR MILLER: I think for this point we'll continue to keep the conversations confidential with the chairman. But we're - we understand that he and Ranking Member Meeks will view the cable today. And as I said, we hope to achieve some resolution to the matter.

QUESTION: Thank you. On one quick separate topic, if I may.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Does the State Department have a view on the impetus behind the apparent pardoning of Roman Protasevich in Belarus by Lukashenka? Was that - do you have clarity onto the circumstances of that pardon?

MR MILLER: Not clarity into the circumstances. As I think you're aware, we don't have a lot of direct conversations with the Lukashenka regime. I will say generally the release of even one political prisoner in Belarus is a positive sign, particularly when the total number of political prisoners continues to grow and now has reached more than 1,500. But that does not excuse the Lukashenka regime's blatant violation of international civil aviation regulations when it diverted the Ryanair flight two years ago for the sole purpose of arresting - excuse me - Mr. Protasevich. After his arrest, he was unconscionably used as a tool of Belarusian state media. He was paraded in front of TV cameras, coerced into confessing. And while he was pardoned, Ms. Sapega, who was sentenced with him, continues to serve her six-year detention and - today. And we reiterate our call for the regime to unconditionally release all political prisoners unjustly detained in Belarus.

All right, Guita.

QUESTION: Thank you. On Iran, Matt. After months of detention of the two journalists who broke the news on how Mahsa Amini was actually killed, or died, the judiciary has set a date for their trial, which is next week. They have been - one of the charges is collaboration with the United States. Do you have any comments on that? And also anything - any thoughts on the escalation of executions in that country.

MR MILLER: So I will say with respect to that specific question, we reject those charges. They are obviously not true. And I will note that over the course of the protests, Iranian authorities have repeatedly violated Iranians' human rights, punished them for executing their essential freedoms. This includes not just members of the Iranian public who have - who came forward to protest, but also journalists in the country. Sham trials and executions have been key components of the regime's attempt to suppress any form of dissent. And we once again, as we have on a number of occasions, call on Iranian authorities to stop their arbitrary detentions, stop their sham trials, and stop denying the Iranian people the fundamental freedoms that they deserve.

QUESTION: And how about on the escalation of executions?

MR MILLER: I will say that we have been concerned about the way the Iranian regime has used executions after, as I said a minute ago, what we believe are sham trials.

QUESTION: Can I ask one more on Iran?

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Just President Raisi is in Jakarta. He signed some agreements on trade with the Indonesians. Does the United States have any stance on that? You have - the United States has good relations with Indonesia. Do you have any - any position?

MR MILLER: So I don't have any specific comment on their visit. I will say that in general, we do continue to vigorously enforce our sanctions on Iran. We don't hesitate to take action against sanctions invaders. We've taken those actions numerous times in the world, and we regularly engage with countries and strongly discouraging - discourage them from taking steps with respect to Iran that contravene U.S. sanctions.

Alex, you've already had, like, four questions. Go ahead. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: And do - all right. Yeah.

QUESTION: A couple of different things. Just in a response a minute ago on Syria, you sort of talked about engaging partners in the region about return of refugees. Just to clarify, is that - is the U.S. sort of discussing the possible return of Syrian refugees?

MR MILLER: I don't think I want to detail - to comment in detail about our conversations with partners in the region.

QUESTION: Right, but there are conversations rather than about the issue of refugees, these are conversations about 

MR MILLER: I probably should - I probably should have said about the issue of refugees, to be - to be more precise.

QUESTION: Sure, okay. And just on the Afghan cable, are you saying it's possible that as well as the visit today to see the - to view the cable, there will be - this will be extended to all members of the committee? Can you clarify that?

MR MILLER: What I would say is we believe, as we said in the letter that we sent to Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Meeks, that making - making the cable available to the chairman and the ranking member to view in private was an extraordinary accommodation on behalf of the State Department. We believe that ought to satisfy the - our obligation to provide them with the information that they need, but we will continue to engage with them about the overall question.

QUESTION: And just one more separate issue. Sorry to range around. On the sort of cross-border offensive in Russian territory, I know you sort of touched on this briefly yesterday, but - and I know that the policy is that U.S. - American-supplied weapons shouldn't be used in attacks on Russian soil. But is there - is there any U.S. position on whether you support or would denounce an attack, whether using U.S. weapons or not, but an attack into another country by - I guess the Russians would say this is terrorism. So does the U.S. have, like, a position in any way sort of to the people who did this? And we don't know yet who it was.

MR MILLER: Let me say a few things about it. Number one, we've seen some of the reports circulating on social media and elsewhere making claims that U.S.-supplied weapons were used in these attacks. I will say that we're skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports. As a more general principle, as we've said and I believe I said yesterday, we do not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia, and we've made that clear. But as we've also said, it is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war.

QUESTION: I'm sorry, what does 

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: What does that mean, you're skeptical of these reports? Either you know or you don't.

MR MILLER: I will say we've seen a lot of reports on social media, and fuzzy pictures on social media, and a lot of kind of armchair intelligence analysts making 

QUESTION: But are they wrong?

MR MILLER:  making claims. We're skeptical that they are - that they are accurate.

QUESTION: But why are you only skeptical? Why can't you say they're - why can't you just flat-out 

MR MILLER: Because we don't have perfect clarity on the information. We see - we're looking at the same pictures that you see, the same fuzzy images, and at this time we are skeptical of their veracity.

QUESTION: Could I ask an Iran question?

MR MILLER: Let me - let me 

QUESTION: Iran?

MR MILLER: Let me work the - you've had a 

QUESTION: Oh, sure. Yeah.

MR MILLER: Alex, come on. You've had a couple already.

QUESTION: I have a 

MR MILLER: Let me - go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you so much, sir. Jahanzaib Ali from ARY News TV, Pakistan. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan are targeting innocent Pakistanis (inaudible), and after the strong support from the Afghan Taliban we have seen a rise in their activities. Recently they've attacked an oil and gas facility in Pakistan. There were more than 50 terrorists. After the attack, they fled to Afghanistan. So my question is that are you concerned on the regrouping of terrorist networks in Afghanistan? Because it is not only TTP; there is Daesh, there is al-Qaida, and many more.

MR MILLER: Let me say a few things. Number one, we are saddened by the devastating reports concerning the deadly militant attack at the Pakistan oil and gas facility, which killed four security troops and two private guards. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of those who were killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured. We continue to closely follow the developments, but we understand that responsibility for the attack has not yet been claimed or attributed.

QUESTION: So there is a political chaos in Pakistan. In recent days we have seen a crackdown against political workers and journalists. The Pakistani Government and military leadership decided to try these arrested civilians under military laws. The national and international human rights organizations criticized this decision. What are your thoughts?

MR MILLER: I will say, as we've said before, we continue to monitor the situation in Pakistan very closely. We don't have a position on one political candidate or another inside Pakistan. We call for the respect and equal application of democratic principles, freedom of expression around - and rule of law around the world, and of course in Pakistan we urge that these principles be respected for all people.

QUESTION: But would you call for the - to respect the human rights during this political chaos?

MR MILLER: Of course we do. As I just said, we always call for the respect of democratic principles, freedom of expression, and rule of law around the world - in Pakistan, in every other country around the world.

QUESTION: Africa?

MR MILLER: Who was that? Who - yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Okay. Thank you so much, Matt. First, let me just say that it's wonderful to see you at the podium.

MR MILLER: Thank you.

QUESTION: And I look forward to engaging you on the entire continent 

MR MILLER: Thank you.

QUESTION:  of Africa. Pearl with Premium Times Nigeria. Matt, I have three questions to pose to you. My first question is the White House did announce the presidential delegation that will be going to President-elect Tinubu's inauguration over the - from May 29. What do you say to the population of Nigeria who might view now the U.S. sort of embrace of Tinubu, whereas at the same time you have kind of indicated that the elections may not have been free, fair, and credible - yet there seems to be this embrace of Tinubu. So if you could share something on that, that would be great.

The second question I have for you is Africa Day is in two days, May 25, and in the U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa and its keenness to engage and deepen relationships and partnerships there - what message do you have as we head into Africa Day when millions are still facing instability, conflict, and other things?

Third, I saw the humanitarian assistance that you announced today for Sudan and neighboring countries - Chad and others. Do you have a breakdown there on those countries? And is it going to be limited to those - why - I mean, I may understand Egypt, but Egypt already received a - receives a disproportionally huge amount of assistance from the United States. Could you share the motivation and thinking behind that? Thanks.

MR MILLER: So let me say, first of all, thank you for the question, and likewise I look forward to taking your questions, especially when you ask me difficult three partners that - three part-ers that challenge my ability to even remember all the questions, let alone answer them.

To take them in order or attempt to take them order, let me say first, with respect to Nigeria, we did take steps last week in support of the democratic process in Nigeria to impose visa restrictions on individuals believed to be responsible for or complicit in undermining the democratic process in the country. That said, those steps that were specific to certain individuals and certain individuals alone and were not directed to the Nigerian people or the Government of Nigeria as a whole. As we made clear - as I think we read out last week, the Secretary just had a call with his counterpart in the Nigerian Government, and we look forward to continuing to cooperate with them on issues of shared concern.

With respect to your question about our Sub-Saharan strategy, I will say that Africa continues to be a priority for the Biden-Harris administration. Our U.S. Africa strategy is rooted in the recognition that Sub-Saharan Africa is a major geopolitical force, and we look at Sub-Saharan Africa as partners and the country in that part of the - the countries in that part of the world as partners. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa play - have some of the most rapidly expanding economies, a growing and young population, large free trade areas, one of the world's diverse ecosystems, and one of the largest regional voting groups in the United Nations. So I will say we continue - we look forward to continuing to work with not just the governments, but of course engaging directly with the people of the entire African continent.

And then I - finally I will say with respect to your third question, I'm not aware of the exact breakdown of aid and which countries it might be - which countries, which particular tranches of aid might be going to, but we'd be happy to follow up after the briefing.

QUESTION: Thanks.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Thank you. The former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss (inaudible) in a speech in Taipei, she called for development of economic NATO to coordinate pushback against Beijing. Did the U.S. welcome Liz Truss's visit to Taiwan, and do you share that vision for economic NATO? Is this on the table vis-a-vis U.S.-UK relations at all, and what's your overall stance on economic NATO, this idea?

MR MILLER: Our overall stance on?

QUESTION: Economic NATO.

MR MILLER: I will say with respect to Liz Truss's visit: I don't have any specific comment on it. And with respect to the rest of your question, let me take that one back.

QUESTION: May I?

MR MILLER: I'm going to - I'll come back to both of you, but after I've - go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir. Senator Menendez said the other day that the approvals for the sales - for the sale of F-35 jets that Greece is asking have been given, he said. And he said, quote, "So they are coming," end quote, to Greece. Can you tell us if the State Department sent already this request by Athens to buy the F-35?

MR MILLER: I don't have any update with respect to that issue.

QUESTION: Can you take the questions?

MR MILLER: I will, but I don't believe we have any update with respect to the sale of F-35s.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. There was a report that Chinese new ambassador, Xie Feng, would arrive in Washington as early as yesterday. Has he arrived, already come to D.C.? Do you expect any meeting between him and a highprofile official of the Biden administration in coming days? And would you think his assignment could have a positive effect on the bilateral relationship between United States and PRC?

MR MILLER: So I don't know the exact status of where he is at any given point. That's probably a question better directed to the embassy here. I will say that the United States welcomes the arrival of Ambassador-Designate Xie Feng from the People's Republic of China. We look forward to working with the ambassador-designate and his team. We remain committed, as we've said on a number of occasions, to maintaining channels of communication with the PRC to responsibly manage competition. And our understanding is that, in terms of when officials here will meet with him, the Office of the Chief of Protocol here at the State Department will work with the PRC embassy on the presentation of credentials in accordance with standard State Department practices and diplomatic norms.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. So you've reiterated today that you don't encourage or enable attacks outside - Ukraine's attacks outside its borders. But in the context of U.S.-provided air defense and soon maybe F-16s, does that also apply to Russian planes being in Russian airspace? Because they haven't performed their strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure from within its borders. So I'm wondering what the 

MR MILLER: Did you just say that Russians have not executed strikes on 

QUESTION: No, no, they do - they - I mean, the Russian air force conducts their strikes usually - I mean, a lot of the times from within their territory, airspace. So does your guidance on not encouraging attacks on outside of Ukraine's borders also cover the Russian planes in Russian airspace.

MR MILLER: So I'm just going to say that, again, that we do not encourage or enable attacks outside Ukraine's borders. But I do think it is important to step back and always remember that it is Russia who is the aggressor here. It is Russia, as you alluded to, that is launching attacks on civilian infrastructure. Russia, that is bombing civilian targets, is taking out schools and hospitals, and killing civilians by the thousands. So we will leave it to our Ukrainian partners to decide how to conduct this war. But as I've said on a number of occasions, and as the President, the Secretary, and the National Security Advisor have made clear, we don't encourage or enable strikes beyond Ukraine's borders.

QUESTION: And on the attack in the Belgorod region, do you know - do you have a position on who was behind it?

MR MILLER: We don't. We are aware of the reports, but I don't have any - any more specific information about it.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir. Tensions rise between Afghanistan and Iran over the Helmand River dam as the Taliban continue to build the dam. What is the U.S. reaction to any possible escalation between Afghanistan and Iran? And second question: In the past few weeks, Afghan women activists took to the street and they demanded the right to work and education. Does the U.S. have any new pressure strategy to pressure the Taliban?

MR MILLER: So I will say with respect to tensions between Iran and Afghanistan, I don't have any specific comment other than that, obviously, we would be concerned about any increased tensions in the region. With respect to the Taliban, I will just reiterate what we have said for some time and that we encourage the Taliban to stop its crackdown on human rights, to stop its repression of women. We understand that the Taliban continues to seek international recognition, but to get international recognition they have to earn legitimacy. And that is very difficult to achieve as long as they continue to suppress their own people, and especially as they continue these horrific attacks on women inside the country.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Good to see you in the podium.

MR MILLER: Thank you.

QUESTION: This is Mushfiqul Fazal representing South Asia Perspectives. On Myanmar, in the United Nations-linked body found Myanmar's military regime has procured more than 1 billion worth of arms and raw materials, weapons, from - mostly from Russia, China and India, since it ousted the democratically elected government in February 2021. And this, weapons using against the pro-democratic protesters. So what is your comment that?

MR MILLER: I am not aware of that specific report. I'll have to take it back and get you a comment on it.

Yeah, go ahead, Shaun.

QUESTION: This is just - I realize you may not have anything, and this might be more for the Pentagon. But since we're here, Russia 

MR MILLER: You've already given me an answer. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR MILLER: You shouldn't make it easy - too easy for me.

QUESTION: (Laughter.) A serious matter, though - the Russian Defense Ministry said they've intercepted two U.S. jets just now over the Baltic Seas. Is there any - is that something you're familiar with?

MR MILLER: I'm not aware of it. And I - as I said at some point yesterday, I'm going to make it a practice not to comment on things that break while I'm at - up here at the podium that I've not yet had a chance to confirm or discuss with my colleagues.

QUESTION: Thought I'd try.

QUESTION: Stay on Russia? Does the department have any position on the controversial meeting took place in Moscow between high-level UN special representative on children and the Russian ombudsman on children, AKA wanted war criminal?

MR MILLER: I don't think I have any specific comment on that meeting, other than I will say we continue to be concerned about Russia's actions in Ukraine. We have expressed our concern and our shock and our outrage about those actions on a number of occasions. We've made clear in calling Russia's actions war crimes and we continue to seek accountability for those actions.

QUESTION: Can you take that question for me, so get back to me on 

MR MILLER: Sure. Sure.

QUESTION: And you might have some reports about Russia preventing Black Sea grain deal. Today Ukraine had to actually halt operations because of that reason.

MR MILLER: Yeah. I saw that, and I'll say once again Russia continues to obstruct the normal operations of this lifesaving initiative. Really since the - almost since the ink was first dry on the first Black Sea Grain Initiative agreement, Russia began to complain about the agreement publicly, began to obstruct it - to obstruct it.

The - we should be very clear about what happened here. The parties agreed to enable unimpeded exports of Ukrainian food from three ports. Now Russia is refusing to allow ships to one of those three. It is a clear violation of their commitments under the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Their obstruction of this initiative - their continued obstruction of this initiative and threats to withdraw threaten to push up global food prices, threaten to reduce food accessibility for vulnerable populations around the world, and we once again call on Russia to stop holding global food supplies hostage.

You had your hand up, and this will be the last one. I've got to go.

QUESTION: Very quickly, Iran-related question. Yesterday 

MR MILLER: What'd you say? Iran-related?

QUESTION: Iran, yes. Yes, sir, if I may.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: The Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant accused Iran of converting merchant ships into military vessels and rocket launching platforms and so on, for the airplanes and so on. Are you aware of these - this accusation?

MR MILLER: I don't have any specific comment on that, but I don't think you'll be surprised to say that - to hear me say that we have long been concerned about Iran's activities in the region.

QUESTION: Right, but would that be a great deal of concern for you, like a threat to the United States and its interests in the region?

MR MILLER: I don't want to comment on that specific report. Thank you all.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:56 p.m.)

# # #

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Extension of UK commitment to NATO's Kosovo Force announced during ministerial visit to Western Balkans

The UK will continue its commitment to NATO's Kosovo Force until at least 2026, bolstering security in the region

23 May 2023

The UK's contribution to the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) Mission in Kosovo will continue until at least 2026, the Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, has announced during a visit to the region.

During today's visit to Pristina, he held conversations with Kosovo's President, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, and Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, as well as discussions with Defence Minister Armend Mehaj, and Commander of the KFOR Mission.

Kosovo is an important partner, with the UK having been the first country to recognise its independence in 2008, and UK forces have been undertaking a key role in peacekeeping and bolstering security in the region for more than two decades.

Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, said:

It was a pleasure to meet with the Kosovan President and Prime Minister today and to announce the UK's further commitment to NATO's Kosovo Force.

The extension of our commitment to KFOR underlines our unwavering commitment to supporting security in the Western Balkans region

The UK has been a key contributor to the UN-mandated NATO force since it first entered Kosovo in 1999 as a peacekeeping force to bring peace and stability following the conflict of the 1990s.

UK forces have worked to enhance KFOR's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capability, significantly increasing the mission commanders' situational awareness - ensuring the operation can provide a safe and secure environment for the entire population.

KFOR acts as one of the main security providers in Kosovo, with troops contributed by some 30 nations including Italy, Turkey, Poland and the US, as well as the UK. The UK's contribution includes a battalion-sized high readiness Strategic Reserved Force based in the UK, ready to deploy at short notice.

The Minister also visited Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Monday, where he met the Minister of Defence, Zukan Helez; the Chief of Armed Forces General Senad Masovic; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josip Brkic; as well as the Commanders of EUFOR and NATO HQ Sarajevo.

Discussions focussed on BiH's progress towards Euro-Atlantic alignment and on the United Kingdom's enduring support for the country's security and sovereignty, including through joint training, the provision of equipment and the exchange of expertise.

The Minister gave the keynote speech at the Institute for Geopolitics, Economy and Security conference in Sarajevo focusing on the UK's partnership with BiH on defence and security matters.

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Gaza: Over a quarter of UNRWA centre patients needing mental health support

23 May 2023 - More than one in four patients screened in violence-afflicted Gaza at UN-run health centres, require mental health and psychosocial support, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday, publishing its annual overview.

This is the highest rate of mental health need ever recorded, across UNRWA's medical system.

UNRWA's health programmes support some two million Palestine refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory composed of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as in Syria.

Immensely challenging year

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Dr. Akihiro Seita, UNRWA's Director of Health, highlighted the "immense challenges" faced by the agency's health programmes in the past year: in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, he listed the devastating cholera outbreak in Syria and Lebanon, regional turbulence and UNRWA's ongoing funding crisis.

He stressed that UNRWA health centres in Gaza and the occupied West Bank continue to provide vital healthcare amid hostilities.

Eight million seen

Last year, the UN agency managed to provide around eight million medical consultations.

That includes around 300,000 people living with diabetes and hypertension or non-communicable diseases and also 90,000 pregnant mothers", said Dr. Seita.

Out of the 5.9 million registered Palestine refugees, it is estimated that 3.2 million are registered at UNRWA centres, and receive health services free of charge. The number of consultations increased by 12.4 percent compared to 2021.

In 2022, UNRWA's health programmes successfully combated a resurgence of cholera in the refugee camps in Lebanon, in addition to the highly infectious Omicron strain of COVID-19.

Furthermore, UNRWA health centres in Gaza and the occupied West Bank provided vital health care amid the on-going hostilities.

Airstrikes, violence continues

"Last week, we had armed conflict in Gaza but still all 22 health centres stayed open and provided critical primary healthcare service and fifty percent of the staff continued to attend," emphasized Dr. Seita.

Currently, it is estimated that 3.2 million or 53.9 per cent of Palestinian refugees still heavily rely on UNRWA services due to economic hardship, high unemployment rates, and worsening poverty levels, especially in conflict areas.

Around a third of registered Palestinian refugees reside in 58 official refugee camps, living side-by-side among host countries' communities.

Gender-based violence increasing

UNRWA manages 240 health centers with more than 3,000 staff that provide a comprehensive range of primary healthcare.

"Gender-based violence is also on the rise. That is our main concern and worry", said Dr. Seita. "At the same time, children are suffering not only mentally, but also physically."

Mental health is another of UNRWA's health priorities. According to Dr. Seita, patients in Gaza have the highest detection rate at 26.4 per cent. In 2021, around 15,000 people needed psychosocial support.

Over the span of seven decades of displacement, the number of Palestine refugees has increased from 750,000 in 1950, to 5.9 million in 2022.

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Pacific Air Forces Airmen test Next Generation Aircrew Protection equipment

Published May 23, 2023

By Tech. Sgt. Hailey Haux, Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs, and Col. Paul Hendrickson Air Force CBRN Defense System Branch

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFNS) -- If you've spent time in the Indo-Pacific region, you've likely heard the term "Fight Tonight" more than once and for good reason. Pacific Air Forces Airmen are on the forefront of operations in ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific, and these operations come with a need to be ready, diverse, innovative and lethal.

We have been charged with challenging the status quo, operationalizing resourcefulness and adopting concepts and technologies that drive the readiness, resilience and lethality of the force.

One of the most recent advances added to the PACAF portfolio involves the U.S. Air Force Next Generation Aircrew Protection, or NGAP, effort.

Airmen with the 15th Wing and 154th Fighter Squadron on Hickam Air Force Base tested and trained on the F-22 Raptor using the innovative Step-Launch and Recover, or SLR, concept of operation and the critical data provided by the NGAP effort. SLR allows for the aircrew to safely generate sorties in a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear, or CBRN, contaminated environment.

"The ability to confidently operate in less-than-optimal conditions is vital for our aircrew," said Gen. Ken Wilsbach, PACAF commander. "SLR and NGAP capabilities ensure our ability to fight tonight with an enhanced level of protection for our Airmen who may be operating in a CBRN-threatened environment."

The current solution for pilots is to use the Aircrew Eye and Respiratory Protection System, which was initially developed during the Gulf War and is not agile enough to allow for scaled protections against current CBRN threats. The legacy mask ensemble risks degradation to aircrew performance and combat effectiveness due to its bulk and impact on dexterity. While this is the current solution for most ejection seat airframes, the F-22 doesn't have an effective CBRN maskmaking it even more essential to innovate to find an adaptive solution for our warfighters.

This new process uses the modified M-50 ground crew maskthe same one that's used with Mission Oriented Protective Posture, or MOPP, gearand two-layer nitrile gloves worn under the standard flight glove and allows aircrew to safely execute take-off and landing procedures in a chemically contested environment without the thermal burden and loss of dexterity.

"This method of CBRN protection provided me not only the dexterity but also the visibility I needed while in the cockpit," said Capt. Alex Moss, 19th Fighter Squadron F-22 pilot.

The concept of SLR was originally generated by a series of events set in motion during the North Korea pressure campaign in 2018.

"The ability to use an innovative science-informed concept like SLR immediately restored combat capability options in a CBRN contested environment to our Indo-Pacific Command commanders," said Senior Master Sgt. Ryan Rios, PACAF Command Aircrew Flight Equipment lead. "This is the type of flexibility that provides game-changing combat power and removes options from our near-peer adversaries to degrade our capabilities."

Based on a need to unencumber the pilot, a team of cross functional experts from Headquarters Air Force A10, PACAF, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Combat Command, the Air Force CBRN Defense Systems Branch, the Joint Program Executive Office for CBRN Defense, and numerous other organizations began looking at the ability of the on-aircraft environmental control systemor air conditionerto remove and purge chemical vapor contamination from the cockpit.

"The assumption was that if a chemical vapor threat could be purged and mitigated, the pilot could fly with a decreased level of protection," said Col. Paul Hendrickson, Air Force CBRN Defense Systems Branch Materiel leader. "The initial findings were positive, and the NGAP effort was launched to characterize the environments our pilots and aircrew could face in order to allow for the creation of risk-informed operational techniques and new materiel solutions."

To date, the joint team has tested F-15, F-16, F-22, A-10 and C-130 aircraft and provided the data to commanders to allow them to make risk-based decisions based on the threat, ultimately transitioning the aircrew to the aircraft without additional contamination.

The team at Hickam AFB tested this process for the F-22. The pilot donned protective gear and the M-50 mask, went to the aircraft, purged the simulated contaminants before removing the mask, and simulated conducting a mission before reversing the process and going through an expedited decontamination line.

"Using science and technology to ensure we are developing the right materiel solutions for the future fight is a game-changing mentality," said Steve Singleton, Air Force CBRN Defense Systems Branch NGAP program manager. "It gives us huge flexibility as materiel developers to develop pertinent solutions at the speed of relevance to protect the warfighter and support mission effectiveness."

Throughout the F-22 SLR testing procedure, all involved were notating any shortfalls or limiting factors for further examination.

"The ability to work directly with the warfighter to provide relevant and mission enhancing information that allows them to conduct their operations safely while maximizing protection in a chemical environment is a huge win for the work the team has done over the last five years," said 1st Lt. Gunnar Kral, Air Force CBRN Defense Systems Branch, CBRN aircrew protection lead engineer.

The events at Hickam AFB were capped off with the opportunity to showcase the successful efforts of all involved to the commander of PACAF, highlighting how these practical, risk-based decisions are allowing his wing commanders to Fight Tonight.

"These operationally relevant capabilities give commanders decision superiority to generate combat sorties safely in a chemical environment while maximizing aircrew performance," Hendrickson said. "This is something that can truly help shape how the warfighter fights over the next decade. The work we're doing here will save an Airman's life."

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US Says Al-Shabab Leader Injured in Airstrike in Somalia

By Harun Maruf May 23, 2023

Al-Shabab's head of external operations was the target of the latest U.S. airstrike against the militant group, two sources, including an al-Shabab defector, told VOA Somali.

Former al-Shabab official Omar Mohamed Abu Ayan told VOA that veteran military commander Osman Mohamed Abdi, known as Moallim Osman, was the target.

The name of the target and his position was also confirmed by Somalia's Ministry of Information in a statement issued Tuesday. The ministry said Moallim Osman oversees bringing foreign fighters into Somalia to help al-Shabab.

He appears to have survived the airstrike, a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command said.

"Following a comprehensive battle damage assessment, U.S.-AFRICOM has determined that one al-Shabab leader was injured as a result of the operation," Lieutenant Commander Timothy S. Pietrack, an AFRICOM spokesman, told VOA on Tuesday.

The strike took place Saturday in Jilib, an al-Shabab stronghold about 385 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu.

"The command's initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed," an AFRICOM statement said.

Moallim Osman is a veteran commander who has held several positions within al-Shabab, including defense chief, according to a Somali official who requested anonymity because he does not have authorization to speak to the media.

Somali officials also say he was involved in planning the group's January 2016 attack against an African Union military base manned by Kenyan forces in El Adde. It remains the deadliest militant attack on peacekeepers in Somalia and is the hometown of Moallim Osman, according to Somali security sources.

Media reports put the death toll of the attack at more than 140 Kenyan troops, a number the Kenyan government did not contest. Kenya forces abandoned the base after the attack.

Somali officials say Moallim Osman's current role includes supervising al-Shabab attacks in Kenya, where for years the group has carried out strikes against security forces, and he directed al-Shabab's opportunistic incursion into eastern Ethiopia last July.

Saturday's strike came as Mahad Salad, director of Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency, was in Washington and New York to meet with U.S. officials from the Pentagon, CIA and FBI, according to a source familiar with the visit who did not want to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The talks focused on security and counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries, the source noted.

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Saudi Arabia and US Reaffirm Importance of Agreement on Short-Term Ceasefire and Humanitarian Arrangements in Sudan

Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, May 24, 2023, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America reaffirm the importance of the Agreement on a Short-Term Ceasefire and Humanitarian Arrangements in Sudan signed in Jeddah on May 20, 2023 by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. After five weeks of continued conflict, the Sudanese people badly need the humanitarian assistance and restored essential services that the short-term ceasefire is intended to enable.

The Saudi and U.S. facilitators note with concern that neither side observed its commitment not to seek military advantage during the 48-hour period after the agreement was signed and before it went into effect. While fighting in Khartoum appeared to be less intense than in recent days, the facilitators conveyed to the parties reports indicating that both sides violated the Agreement. Those included reported offensive operations in Khartoum and El-Obeid, airstrikes and use of artillery.

Today in Jeddah, representatives to the Ceasefire Monitoring and Coordination Committee engaged constructively on humanitarian assistance deliveries and undertook to engage their respective chains of command allegations of ceasefire violations as the Committee seeks to verify the reports. Preparations for humanitarian assistance movements to deliver lifesaving assistance are underway.

The Sudanese people continue to suffer as a result of this devastating conflict. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States reiterate their commitment to the Sudanese people and demand that the parties fully abide by their commitments under this Agreement for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire to provide urgently needed humanitarian relief.

-- SPA

00:08 LOCAL TIME 21:08 GMT

0001

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Russo-Ukraine War - 23 May 2023 - Day 454

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 between 19 and 22 May 2023, Russian security forces highly likely clashed with partisans in at least three locations within Russia's Belgorod Oblast, near the Ukrainian border. The identity of the partisans remains unconfirmed, but Russian anti-regime groups claimed responsibility.

The most serious incident took place near the town of Grayvoran. As well as small-arms fire fights, there was an uptick in drone or indirect fire attacks near the incidents. Russia has evacuated several villages and has deployed extra security forces to the area.

Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action. Russia will almost certainly use these incidents to support the official narrative that it is the victim in the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that no missile strikes during the day of May 23. However, Russian forces launched 25x air strikes and more than 20x MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Unfortunately, the attacks have killed and wounded civilians, damaged private residential buildings and administrative infrastructure.

The likelihood of missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.

Russia continues to focus its main efforts on Kup'yans'k, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mar'inka axes. These areas of the frontline saw a total of 16x combat engagements during the day of May 23, with Bakhmut and Mar'inka remaining at the epicenter of the fighting.

Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: Russia continues to maintain military presence in the areas of Russia bordering Ukraine. During the day of May 23, the Russian invaders fired mortars and artillery at the settlements of Khrinivka, Yeline (Chernihiv oblast), Hudove, Vovkivka, Novomykolaivka, Velyka Pysarivka (Sumy oblast), Stohnii, Udy, Strilecha, Hlyboke, Morokhovets', Lyptsi, Neskuchne, Ohirtseve, Hatyshche, Pletenivka, Vovchans'k, Varvarivka, Nesterne, Budarky, and Zemlyanky (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations during the day of May 23. The Russian adversary fired artillery and mortars at Kam'yanka, Topoli, Krasne Pershe, Novomlyns'k, Dvorichna, Masyutivka, Mala Shapkivka, Kindrashivka, Kup'yans'k, Tabaivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast), and Stel'makhivka (Luhansk oblast).

Lyman axis: during the day of May 23, Russian forces conducted an unsuccessful offensive operations towards Bilohorivka, and launched an air strike. Nevs'ke, Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Tors'ke, and Spirne (Donetsk oblast) were shelled with artillery.

Bakhmut axis: during the day of May 23, the Russian adversary conducted unsuccessful offensives towards the settlement of Khromove. The Russian invaders launched air strikes in the vicinities of settlements of Bila Hora, Ozarianivka, and Toretsk. Kramatorsk, Vasyukivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Stupochky, Kostyantynivka, Bila Hora, Toretsk, Pivnichne, Pivdenne, and New York (Donetsk oblast) suffered from Russian shelling.

Avdiivka axis: the Russian adversary did not conduct any offensive operations during the day of May 23. The Russian occupiers launched air strikes in the vicinities of Novokalynove and Avdiivka. The invaders fired artillery at the vicinities of settlements of Keramik, Ocheretyne, Lastochkyne, Avdiivka, Sjeverne, Vodyane, Pervomais'ke, Netaylove, Karlivka, and Nevel's'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Mar'inka axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled numerous Russian attacks in the vicinity of the city of Mar'inka. At the same time, Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, Maksymil'yanivka, Kurakhove, and Pobjeda (Donetsk oblast) were shelled by Russian forces.

Shakhtars'ke axis: Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Prechystivka, shelled the settlements of Paraskoviivka, Novomykhailivka, Vuhledar, Bohoyavlenka, Zolota Nyva, and Velyka Novosilka.

Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: the Russian adversary stays on the defensive. The Russian invaders do not cease its tactics of destruction of the infrastructure of settlements near the line of active combat. During the day of May 23, the Russian occupiers launched air strikes on Hulyaipole, Mala Tokmachka, Stepove (Zaporizhzhia oblast), fired artillery at Vremivka, Burlats'ke, Novosilka, Zelene Pole (Donetsk oblast), Ol'hivs'ke, Hulyaipole, Zaliznychne, Bilohir'ya, Mala Tokmachka, Mali Shcherbaky, Kam'yans'ke (Zaporizhzhia oblast), Zolota Balka, Vesele, Kozats'ke, L'vove, Antonivka, Kizomys, Stanislav (Kherson oblast), and the city of Kherson.

The Russian adversary continues to use civilian medical facilities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for its own purposes. Thus, the Russian occupants turned Bilovods'k central district hospital into a military hospital. The medical facility is currently overcrowded with Russian occupants with injuries of varying severity.

During the day of May 23, the Ukrainian Air Force launched 14x air strikes on the concentrations of Russian troops and military equipment, including 3x air strikes on the anti-aircraft missile systems.

During the day of May 23, 4x Shahed combat UAVs of the Russian forces were intercepted. The Ukrainian missile and artillery troops hit 3x command posts, 4x concentrations of weapons and military equipment, 1x ammunition depot, 2x artillery units at their firing positions, and 3x other important targets of the Russian forces.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the Kiev regime, defeated in Artyomovsk, started to carry out terrorist actions against civilians.

On 22 May this year, after the intense shelling of Kozinka international checkpoint, as well as a number of other civilian facilities in Grayvoron district of Belgorod region, a unit of a Ukrainian nationalist formation entered the territory of the Russian Federation.

In the course of the counter-terrorist operation, as a result of air strikes, artillery fire and active action by the units of the Western Military District that covered the state border, the nationalist formations have been blocked and destroyed.

The remaining nationalists were pushed back into Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until they have been completely eliminated.

The enemy losses were over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armoured fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

In Kupyansk direction, the attacks, launched by aviation and artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces, as well as the active actions of the Group, have resulted in the neutralisation of the AFU units close to Masyutovka, Timkovka, Tabayevka (Kharkov region), and Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic).

In addition, the actions of two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups have been disrupted close to Timkovka.

The enemy losses were up to 110 Ukrainian personnel, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles have been eliminated.

In Krasny Liman direction, the attacks, launched by Operational-Tactical aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems of the Tsentr Group of Forces, have resulted in the neutralisation of the AFU units close to Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic) and Serebryanka (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy losses were over 65 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, as well as Msta-B, D-20 and D-30 howitzers.

In Donetsk direction, the attacks, launched by aviation and artillery of the Yug Group of Forces, as well as the active actions of the Group, have resulted in the neutralisation of up to 375 Ukrainian servicemen, two tanks, five armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, one D-30 howitzer, and one U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station.

Two AFU ammunition depots of 60th and 64th mechanised brigades have been destroyed close to Verkhnekamenskoye and Stupochki (Donetsk People's Republic).

In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the attacks, launched by aviation and artillery of the Vostok Group of Forces have resulted in the neutralisation of the enemy units close to Velikaya Novosyolka (Donetsk People's Republic), Marphopol, Malaya Tokmachka, Novodanilovka and Kamenskoye (Zaporozhye region).

The actions of one Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group have been disrupted close to Olgovskoye (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were over 150 Ukrainian servicemen, three pickup trucks and one Msta-B howitzer.

In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were over 20 Ukrainian servicemen, three motor vehicles, and one Msta-B howitzer.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 96 artillery units of the AFU at their firing positions, manpower and military hardware at 112 areas.

The command post of the 24rd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU has been neutralised near Toretsk (Donetsk People's Republic).

Two fuel depot for AFU hardware has been destroyed near Avdeevka (Donetsk People's Republic).

Air defence facilities have intercepted 13 HIMARS and Uragan rocket-propelled projectiles.

Air defence facilities have shot down 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles close to Kremennaya (Lugansk People's Republic), Ivanovka, Kirillovka, Novoandreevka and Petrovskoye (Donetsk People's Republic), and Tokarevka (Kharkov region).

In total, 428 airplanes, 235 helicopters, 4,273 unmanned aerial vehicles, 424 air defence missile systems, 9,275 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,100 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,887 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 10,395 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.





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Nairobi  President William Ruto has nominated Mary Wanyonyi, the spouse of former Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Wafula Chebukati for appointment as the Chairperson of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA).

The Public Service Commission (PSC) shortlisted three individuals, and President Ruto selected Wanyonyi from the list.

If approved by Parliament, Wanyonyi will subsequently fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Jane Kiringai, who had served a full 6-year term at the helm of the CRA.

Prior to the nomination, she was the Senior Deputy Accountant General and Head of the Accounting Unit at the Lands Ministry where she has served since January 2019.

She holds a Master's degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Commerce with a bias in Accounting.

Observers will see the nomination as a reward to Chebukati for the role he played in the August 2022 presidential election in which the former regime was keen on denying President Ruto victory.

Chebukati publicly announced that he had been under pressure to declare Opposition leader Raila Odinga the winner despite having been defeated by Ruto.

He said he stood his ground and declared Ruto the winner of the election, effectively succeeding his boss Uhuru Kenyatta.

Four electoral commissioners disowned the election results leading to their dismissal from the commission.

A petition filed by Odinga at the Supreme Court upheld Chebukati's verdict leaving an egg on the face of the four commissioners and several top government officials who had gone all-out to try to stop Ruto's presidency.

"I laud the courage in Chebukati who stood his ground to ensure the will of the people carried the day despite threats to his life and intimidation," Ruto said soon after the polls.
Serious COVID-19 cases up 30% as Taiwan enters 4th Omicron wave: CDC

ROC Central News Agency

05/23/2023 04:32 PM

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) The number of serious COVID-19 infections in Taiwan increased by about 30 percent last week, in the latest sign the country is entering a fourth wave of cases fueled by lineages of the Omicron variant, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

Taiwan reported a daily average of 204 moderate to severe COVID-19 cases from May 17-23, representing an increase of around 32 percent over the previous week's daily average of 154, the CDC reported at a press conference.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 fatalities averaged around 18 per day from May 14-20, up slightly from 15 per day in the previous seven-day period, the CDC said.

Of those who died of COVID-19 complications between May 14 and 20, 92 percent had a history of chronic illness, 67 percent had not received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 94 percent were aged 60 or older, CDC data showed.

CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-huai () said the rising case numbers showed that Taiwan was entering its fourth wave of infections from Omicron subvariants, which is expected to peak sometime between mid and late June.

Given the heightened risk, the CDC is urging parents to monitor their children for potentially serious symptoms of the disease, such as high fever, lethargy, or respiratory difficulties.

From May 24, local governments across Taiwan will also be offering NT$500 (US$16.26) vouchers for hygiene products for seniors aged 65 and above who receive a COVID-19 vaccine shot, the CDC said.

The CDC also confirmed Tuesday that from May 31, masks will no longer be required in ambulances or long-term care facilities, though for the time being, they will still be mandatory in medical facilities, such as hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

(By Chen Chieh-ling and Matthew Mazzetta)

Enditem/ASG

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New Jersey Man Sentenced To 12 Years in Prison for Receiving Military-Type Training From Hezbollah, Marriage Fraud and Making False Statements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, May 23, 2023



The Justice Department today announced that Alexei Saab, aka Ali Hassan Saab, aka Alex Saab, aka Rachid, 46, was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for receiving military-type training from Hezbollah, marriage fraud, and making false statements.

According to court documents, Saab was convicted by a jury in May 2022 after a two-week trial. The sentence was imposed by the Honorable Paul G. Gardephe, who also presided over the trial.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social and terrorist components. Hezbollah was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and its mission includes establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon. Since Hezbollah's formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel. In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hezbollah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today. In 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Hezbollah a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. In 2010, State Department officials described Hezbollah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States.

The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which is also known as the External Security Organization and "910," is a component of Hezbollah responsible for the planning and coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hezbollah outside of Lebanon. In July 2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria. The detonation killed six people and injured 32 others. Law enforcement authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around the world, including the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand in 2012, and a seizure of similar chemicals in May 2015 in connection with the arrest of another IJO operative. In June 2017, two IJO operatives were arrested in the U.S and charged with terrorism-related offenses in the Southern District of New York. In May 2019, a jury convicted one of those two IJO operatives on all counts, and in December 2019, he was sentenced principally to 40 years in prison.

Saab joined Hezbollah in 1996. Saab's first Hezbollah operations occurred in Lebanon, where he was tasked with observing and reporting on the movements of Israeli and Southern Lebanese Army soldiers in Yaroun, Lebanon. Among other things, Saab reported on patrol schedules and formations, procedures at security checkpoints, and the vehicles used by soldiers. Saab also, alongside his brother, planted an improvised explosive device that detonated and hit Israeli soldiers, seriously injuring at least one.

In approximately 1999, Saab attended his first Hezbollah training. The training was focused on the use of firearms, and Saab handled and fired an AK-47, an M16 rifle, and a pistol, and threw grenades. In 2000, Saab transitioned to membership in Hezbollah's unit responsible for external operations, the IJO, and he then received extensive training in IJO tradecraft, weapons, and military tactics, including how to construct and detonate bombs and other explosive devices and how to best use these devices in attacks. Specifically, Saab received detailed instruction in, among other things, triggering mechanisms, explosive substances, detonators, and the assembly of circuits. In pre-arrest interviews with the FBI, Saab was able to diagram multiple improvised explosive devices that would have been viable if constructed as diagrammed.

In 2000, Saab entered the United States. While living in the United States, Saab remained an IJO operative, continued to receive military training in Lebanon, and conducted numerous operations for the IJO. For example, Saab surveilled dozens of locations in New York City a including the United Nations headquarters, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges a and provided detailed information on these locations, including photographs, to the IJO. In particular, Saab focused on the structural weaknesses of locations he surveilled in order to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction. Saab's reporting to the IJO included the materials used to construct a particular target, how close in proximity one could get to a target, and site weaknesses or "soft spots" that the IJO could exploit if it attacked a target in the future. Saab conducted similar intelligence gathering in a variety of large American cities, including Boston and Washington, D.C., Saab admitted that his surveillance was designed to best position the IJO to attack the U.S. in the future. Saab also was tasked by Hezbollah with opening a front company that he could use to obtain fertilizer in the United States for use as an explosives precursor.

In addition to his attack-planning activities in the United States, Saab conducted operations abroad. For example, in or about 2003, Saab attempted to murder a man he later understood to be a suspected Israeli spy. Saab pointed a firearm at the individual at close range and pulled the trigger twice, but the firearm did not fire. Saab also conducted surveillance in Istanbul, Turkey, and elsewhere.

Finally, in or about 2012, Saab entered into a fraudulent marriage in exchange for $20,000. The purpose of the marriage was for Saab's purported wife to apply for her citizenship. Saab later falsely affirmed, under penalty of perjury, and in connection with his purported wife's efforts to obtain status in the U.S., that the marriage was not for any immigration-related purposes.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, and Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI Counterterrorism Division made the announcement.

The FBI and its New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department, investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg and Jason A. Richman for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Jessica Fender and Alexandra Hughes of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section.

Topic(s): Counterterrorism

Component(s): Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

National Security Division (NSD)

USAO - New York, Southern

Press Release Number: 23-595

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Shanghai community hospitals introduce new COVID-19 vaccines covering Omicron variants

Global Times

By Global Times Published: May 23, 2023 08:40 PM Updated: May 23, 2023 08:36 PM

Some community hospitals in Shanghai have introduced new COVID-19 vaccines covering the Omicron variants, including the protein subunit vaccine and the mRNA vaccine, which are available for people aged above 18.

The protein subunit vaccine called SCTV01E vaccine developed by Beijing-based Sinocelltech has been available in some community hospitals in Shanghai and residents meeting the required conditions can go to the clinics for vaccination, according to the local health authorities. The mRNA vaccine developed by Shijiazhuang-based drug maker CSPC Pharmaceutical Group will arrive soon in some community service centers.

More Chinese netizens are saying that they were infected with COVID-19 for a second time in recent days. Since December 9, 2022, the positive rate of COVID-19 nucleic acid tests in the country increased at the beginning and then decreased, according to the latest report released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on April 29. The number of COVID-19 cases decreased to 2,661 on April 20, and increased in the week from April 21 to April 27, to 6,752 on April 27, said China CDC.

An employee from a Xuhui district community hospital told the Global Times on Tuesday that currently residents meeting the required conditions can receive SCTV01E vaccine there.

Sinocelltech has announced the final results of the phase III clinical trial of SCTV01E, saying that it has shown good protective efficacy against Omicron and its sub-strains. CSPC's mRNA vaccine has a good cross-protection effect against the Omicron variants, according to media reports.

Uninfected adults above 18 years old can receive the first booster shots three months after being fully vaccinated, according to the health authorities.

People who have previously been infected with COVID-19 but have yet to be fully vaccinated can receive a vaccine shot three months after the infection, said the authorities.

Based on the data from our hospital, 60 percent of COVID-19 patients treated in the past two weeks were infected for the first time, and 40 percent were reinfected, with symptoms mostly like fever, sore throat and other respiratory symptoms, Lu Hongzhou, head of the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, told the Global Times on Tuesday. But the symptoms for reinfected people are relatively mild, and the period of developing symptoms is relatively shorter.

"The immunodeficient population is the key group that needs to be vaccinated. The recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine, adenovirus vector vaccine or mRNA vaccine should be given priority, and the nasal spray vaccine can provide better protection as well," said Lu. People's cellular immune response plays an important role, Lu explained.

China's National Health Commission in April unveiled the latest plan for COVID-19 vaccination, aiming to increase the immunity levels of certain groups and reduce the risks of severe infection and death caused by the viruses.

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Taking Joint Action with the Republic of Korea to Combat the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Illicit Revenue Generation

US Department of State

Press Statement

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

May 23, 2023

The United States is steadfast in our commitment to combat the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) illicit activities to generate revenue by stealing funds from global financial institutions and other entities.

Today, the Department of the Treasury is imposing sanctions on four entities and one individual involved in illicit revenue generation and malicious cyber activities. The DPRK conducts malicious cyber activities and deploys information technology (IT) workers abroad who fraudulently obtain employment to generate revenue that supports the Kim regime.

The DPRK's extensive illicit cyber and IT worker operations threaten international security by financing the DPRK regime and its dangerous activities, including its unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs.

We are taking this action in coordination with the Republic of Korea (ROK), which is concurrently imposing sanctions against one entity and one individual associated with overseas DPRK IT workers. Today's Treasury action includes three targets that the ROK recently designated for engaging in cyber operations and illicit revenue generation that support the DPRK's WMD programs. We will not hesitate to continue holding the DPRK regime responsible for its actions.

Today's actions are being taken pursuant to Executive Order 13687 and Executive Order 13810. For more information about this designation, please see the Department of the Treasury's press release.



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Washington's sincerity 'in question' for improving China ties amid report about new Chinese envoy

Global Times

Resumption of high-level engagement indicates China's responsible attitude in contrast to US' misjudgment: experts

By Chen Qingqing Published: May 23, 2023 10:04 PM

After US President Joe Biden hinted at a "thaw" in the frosty US-China relations, US-based media outlet Politico reported that China's new ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, will arrive in Washington as early as Tuesday to take up his post, although it has not been confirmed by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of press time on Tuesday.

Some US media and analysts who closely follow US-China relations consider that Xie's arrival is a positive sign amid a tense bilateral relationship, as it was also the longest vacancy of Chinese ambassador to the US in four decades. But Chinese experts are more guarded. Any improvement in relations depends on whether Washington is sincere in wanting to correct its wrong deeds and stop provoking Beijing on its core interests, some experts said.

Xie Feng, the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, will arrive in Washington "as early as Tuesday." He succeeds former ambassador Qin Gang who left Washington in January to become China's foreign minister. Politico noted on Monday that Xie's arrival comes as US-China relations have sunk to a 50-year low over tensions linked to trade, Taiwan and the Chinese balloon incident in February.

Asked whether the Chinese Foreign Ministry could confirm Xie's arrival and whether it signals an improvement in US-China relations, Mao Ning, the ministry's spokesperson, said at a press conference on Tuesday that China values China-US relations. Concerning the new Chinese ambassador, she suggested reporters should follow updates on the ministry's website.

"If the information about Xie is true, it would show that China has always dealt with China-US relations in a responsible way, and hopes to manage differences and stabilize bilateral ties," Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Known as a specialist on China-US relations, Xie has vast experience in handling US-related affairs. From 1993 to 2014, Xie has been engaged in diplomatic work concerning the US, switching positions between the Department of North America and Oceanian Affairs of the ministry and the Chinese Embassy in the US.

In recent weeks, Xie has met a number of US business representatives including Steven Croley, chief policy officer of Ford Motor Company, Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO of Blackstone, and Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR), exchanging views on China-US relations and other issues of mutual interest and concern, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In February, Xie, representing the Chinese government, lodged a solemn representation to the US Embassy in China over the US attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by force

There has been a resumption of high-level engagement between China and the US lately. The meeting between China's top diplomat Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Vienna in early May is believed to have opened a window for the two countries to remove obstacles and ease tensions amid a diplomatic stalemate after the balloon incident. Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao is also scheduled to travel to the US and meet his US counterpart this week.

Some US media reported recently that the Pentagon is seeking a meeting between the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Singapore in June.

Although more frequent high-level re-engagement between the two countries will help prevent bilateral relations from further spiraling downward, some Chinese experts said they are not optimistic on any significant progress in the China-US relations given that the Biden administration's basic strategic judgment about China remains unchanged.

If Washington really wants to see a "thaw" in US-China relations, it should stop provoking China on the Taiwan question, remove unilateral tariffs on Chinese products, lift sanctions on Chinese institutions, and reduce obstacles for people-to-people exchanges, Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"If the US only comes up with empty words, seeking to gain benefits from trade relations with China while continuing to contain us, it would be pointless for improving ties," Wu said.

On Monday, the US State Department walked back Biden's latest remarks about US-China relations that hinted at lifting sanctions on the Chinese defense minister. Matthew Miller, spokesperson of the State Department, said during a press briefing that the US government is not considering lifting sanctions on the Chinese official Li Shangfu.

If the US has enough sincerity to improve China relations, it should first establish a correct understanding about China, stop forming small cliques and stop hyping "China threat," Diao noted. "Washington should not say one thing and do another, and we need carefully observe its deeds while listening to its words," the expert said.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning's Regular Press Conference on May 23, 2023

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

At the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen Hassen will pay an official visit to China from May 24 to 28.

CCTV: It was reported that the joint commissioning and testing of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR) started on May 22 local time, which marks important progress in the railway's construction and lays a solid ground for the inauguration of the whole line. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: The Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway is the first overseas Chinese high-speed railway project with its entire system, production factors and industrial chain supplied by China. It is a flagship project in China-Indonesia high-quality BRI cooperation and a stellar example of China and regional countries undertaking win-win cooperation by following the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. It will become the first high-speed railway in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia. The project has now entered the final stage of construction. We are confident that, with the joint effort of the two countries, the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway will be up and running as scheduled, bring a better life for the local people and speed up the development of Indonesia and the wider region.

Yonhap News Agency: It was reported that the ROK search portal NAVER is not accessible in China now. This website is similar to China's Baidu and is popular among the ROK people in China. Why is this website not accessible?

Mao Ning: I haven't seen the report you mentioned and do not have any information to offer.

Nikkei: I'd like to learn more about Russian Prime Minister Mishustin's recent visit to China. What are the specific schedule of the visit and what is China's expectation for the visit?

Mao Ning: China and Russia are each other's biggest neighbors. Our cooperation has strong resilience, ample potential and vast space. We welcome Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to China and look forward to a successful visit and the impetus it will provide to the cooperation and exchanges between our two countries.

Thank you for your interest in the visit. We will release timely information about the visit. Please check back for updates.

Reuters: The US Energy Department told lithium battery company Microvast Holdings that it will not award it a $200 million grant, Reuters has reported citing a source that lawmakers attribute concerns over the company's alleged links to China's government. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: What the US government decides to do to US companies is a matter of the US. I have no comment to make on that. I do wish to say, however, that China is firmly opposed to making an issue of China by some people in the US.

The Paper: According to information released by the Japanese Embassy in China, when Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi for a dAmarche on May 21, Japan made refutations, saying that China is hindering cultural and people-to-people exchange between the two countries. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: On May 21, Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi and made a serious dAmarche on the G7 Hiroshima Summit hyping up China-related issues. We have released a readout which you may refer to.

As for Japan's self-justifying arguments, the Chinese side refuted them on the spot, noting that the US and Japan came out identifying China as "the biggest strategic challenge", pointed fingers at China and interfered in China's internal affairs at various fora and went all out to counter and contain China. It is them who need to change course and mend their ways.

On the people-to-people exchange between China and Japan, I would like to stress that China supports friendly exchanges between the two countries in all areas. This has been our consistent position. What is important is to treat each other with sincerity and credibility, and work together to create an atmosphere conducive to improving and growing bilateral relations. Japan needs to earnestly draw lessons, stop its wrongdoing, and work with China, rather than calling China the one to blame.

TASS: Russian Prime Minister Mishustin attended the China-Russia business forum in Shanghai earlier today. He noted that closer cooperation between China and Russia will benefit the two countries' economy. Some Western countries may express concern or disapproval over closer China-Russia cooperation, and even consider imposing sanctions due to Russia-related factors. Do you have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: China has normal economic and trade cooperation with Russia and other countries in the world. Our cooperation is based on equality and mutual benefit. We oppose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law or mandate from the UN Security Council. China-Russia cooperation does not target any third party and is not subject to disruption or coercion by any third party. China will take all measures necessary to protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies.

CCTV: The G7 Hiroshima Leaders' CommuniquA issued on May 20 underlines that the highest standards of nuclear safety and security are important, and notes that the leaders support the IAEA's independent review to ensure that the discharge of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treated water will be conducted consistent with IAEA safety standards and international law and that it will not cause any harm to humans and the environment. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: There is no precedent in the world for discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. Without fully assessing all potential options and finding the safest one, Japan decided on the ocean discharge plan simply for saving cost, which will spill risks to the rest of the world. Over the past two years, Japan has been pushing through the ocean discharge plan in disregard of the legitimate concerns and opposition from various quarters, and even attempted to rope other countries into supporting the plan and downplay or cover up the harm it will cause. The world needs to stand together against such an irresponsible, beggar-thy-neighbor approach.

The international community also needs to guard against Japan's attempt to use the IAEA's evaluation and review process to get a greenlight for the discharge and give the impression that the discharge may be safe and harmless. The fact is, the IAEA Task Force was invited by the Japanese government and has a strictly limited mandate. It only evaluates whether the discharge plan accords with the IAEA's safety standards. It does not have the mandate to evaluate other treatment plans for the nuclear-contaminated water.

Japan's discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water will last as long as 30 years or even longer. Many experts have pointed out that the water had direct contact with the reactors' cores melted during the Fukushima nuclear accident. It contains dozens of radionuclides, many of which cannot be treated effectively with existing technologies. Some long-lived radionuclides may spread with ocean currents and form a bioconcentration effect, which will multiply the total amount of radionuclides in the environment, causing unpredictable hazards to the marine environment and human health.

What Japan needs to do now is to face up to the legitimate concern of the international community, have thorough and meaningful consultations with stakeholders including its neighbors, fully explore and assess the alternatives to ocean discharge to ensure that the nuclear-contaminated water is handled in a scientific, open, transparent and safe manner, and minimize the likelihood of imposing unpredictable risks on the international community.

NBC: The US Politico media company reported that the next Chinese Ambassador is arriving in the US today, or Tuesday. Do you have a confirmation and details of this? Is this a sign of improving relations between the two countries?

Mao Ning: China attaches importance to its relations with the US. You may follow the foreign ministry's website for updates on the new Chinese Ambassador to the US.

AFP: TikTok has filed a legal challenge in the US, which aims to stop the state of Montana from banning the app. Does China have any comment on this lawsuit and on the possibility of similar bans against TikTok in other parts of the US?

Mao Ning: I won't comment on the specific actions taken by any company. The US has yet to produce any evidence to prove that TikTok is a threat to US national security, but it has been suppressing the company based on presumption of guilt. This is a hegemonic and bullying act of overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to keep foreign companies down. This is an unpopular move which is not what the American people want and hurts US reputation. We call on the US to earnestly respect the principles of market economy and fair competition, stop going after foreign companies, and instead provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for foreign businesses in the US.

Dragon TV: According to reports, Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Liu Jinsong held diplomatic consultations in Seoul with Choi Yong-jun, Director-General of the Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK), and met with Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the ROK Foreign Ministry Choi Youngsam yesterday. Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office of the ROK said that "China also admits that it needs to talk with South Korea and Japan." He also said, "If bilateral pending issues are actively discussed, wouldn't it be possible to talk about the Korea-China-Japan summit at an appropriate time?" He added that they are in "the process of sending people to each other and communicating on pending issues". Analysts say that China is actively communicating with the ROK on resolving issues between both sides and working to improve the bilateral relations. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: On May 22, Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Liu Jinsong held diplomatic consultations in Seoul with Choi Yong-jun, Director-General of the Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK). He made clear China's serious position on its core concerns and exchanged views with the ROK side on other issues. During the consultations, Director-General Liu Jinsong met with Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the ROK Foreign Ministry Choi Youngsam and had a conversation with ROK scholars.

I noted relevant reports and comments from the media. I need to stress that the ROK needs to have an in-depth understanding of where the problems lie in China-ROK relations and treat them seriously.a

NBC: Do you have any update on the activities of special envoy Li Hui in Europe? Where is he now? When is he going to Germany, France and Russia?

Mao Ning: We will release timely information on Special Representative Li Hui's trip. Please check back for updates.

TASS: In a letter to the US congressional leadership, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted that it is highly likely that Treasury will no longer be able to satisfy all of the government's obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by June 1. China is said to be the second largest holder of US credit. Do you have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: The debt ceiling issue is the US's domestic affair. However, as the world's No.1 economy, the situation in the US and its policy choices have significant spillover effects on the world economy. We hope that the US will choose responsible fiscal and monetary policies and not spill its risks to the rest of the world, still less ripping the world off to protect its selfish interests.

Reuters: Denmark has offered to host Ukraine peace talks sometime in July, and as the foreign minister has said, such a meeting would require engagement from countries like India, China and Brazil. What is the ministry's comment on this?

Mao Ning: We do not know exactly yet how this meeting is being planned. Let me say that on the Ukraine issue, China is committed to promoting talks for peace and facilitating a political settlement of the crisis. We stand ready to work with the international community and continue to play a constructive role in facilitating a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

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Thousands of Hong Kongers cancel organ donation, prompting order for police probe

Move appears driven by concern about plan to integrate the system with mainland China

By Cheryl Tung for RFA Cantonese 2023.05.23 -- Hong Kong's leader John Lee ordered a police probe into a large number of withdrawals from the city's organ donor register following government plans to share organs with facilities in mainland China.

"I have noticed that there has been an unusual number of cancellations of organ donor status," Lee told journalists on Tuesday. "More than half of those who cancel are no longer registered as donors for any organs at all."

Authorities in Hong Kong are currently discussing setting up a common computer matching system for organs and donors in mainland China, integrating Hong Kong's existing system with the China Organ Transplant Response System.

That's prompted concerns that organs harvested from executed prisoners could wind up in Hong Kong, or that donors in Hong Kong might not want their organs to leave the city.

Lee said there had also been large numbers of repeat cancellations, which he termed "highly suspicious" and disruptive to the entire organ donation system.

"I strongly condemn any attempt to sabotage [our] organ donation system, which is there to save lives," Lee said. "I have asked the police to investigate whether there has been any violation of the rules, and whether any illegal actions have taken place."

Lee's comments came after the department of health counted 5,785 applications for withdrawal from the donor register between December 2022 and the end of April, out of a total of more than 357,000 registered donors, adding that 2,905 were invalid because they came from people who hadn't been previously registered.

"The 2,880 valid applications for deregistration during the same period was also a far higher number than previously," the government said in a statement on Monday.

The statement came after users shared links to the city's donor register on LIHKG, a Reddit-like forum that was highly active during the 2019 pro-democracy movement, Reuters reported.

Trust of system

The biggest reason behind the cancellations is concern over plans to integrate organ donations with mainland China, said Johnny Lam of the advocacy group Hong Kong Patients' Voices.

"They don't know what the mechanism will be, and some people are reluctant to donate organs to mainland China, because it wasn't what they originally intended, so they have withdrawn," Lam told Radio Free Asia. "It's a shame, because those people who withdraw ... could have helped Hong Kongers or other people."

He said the matching plan meant that organs with no recipients in Hong Kong could be sent to mainland China rather than going to waste.

"But how does the government get the people of Hong Kong to trust that this system won't be abused or used unfairly, depriving donors of their right to decide?" Lam said.

'Thicker than water'

The government on Monday hit out at "a small number of people on the internet" who have called on others to cancel their registrations as organ donors now that their organs could be sent to recipients in mainland China.

"They actually despise the fact that the blood of compatriots ... is thicker than water," a government spokesman said in a statement.

"The government appeals to the public to continue to support the life-saving act of organ donation, and not to be provoked by a few people with ulterior motives to destroy the hard-won positive climate for organ donation atmosphere that has been established for many years now in Hong Kong," the statement said.

Hong Kong's Hospital Authority chief Paul Ko led a delegation to neighboring Guangdong province on May 20 to continue talks on the organ exchange mechanism, the government said in a statement.

Ko said the trip had "laid a good foundation" for future cooperation.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at the U.S. House of Representatives heard in May 2022 that while China claims to only source organs from voluntary donors, there are doubts as to the veracity of the claim.

Chinese hospitals have performed many times more transplants than the highest estimates of ethically available donors can account for, according to data collected by the commission.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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China Has Nothing to Offer on Possible High-Level Contacts With US - Embassy

Sputnik News

20230523

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - China has nothing to share at present about possible contacts between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden amid statements from Washington about ongoing preparations for a top-level meeting, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"China and the United States maintain necessary communication," Liu said. "As to the details of high-level interactions between China and the United States, I do not have anything to offer at the moment."

Liu emphasized that China is open to communication at all levels and cooperation in various areas with the United States but only on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

"China views and grows its relations with the United States under the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation - as proposed by President Xi Jinping," Liu said.

"We urge the United States to adopt a correct perception of China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and harming China's sovereignty, security and development interests. It needs to take concrete actions to work with China to bring this relationship back on the right track."

Biden announced on Wednesday he would meet with Xi regardless of whether the meeting takes place soon or not. Biden also said arrangements for talks between him and Xi was in the works and expressed hope they would come to fruition.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said earlier they had no information regarding a possible meeting between Xi and Biden, despite the statements made by the US president.

Liu expressed hope for a more stable US-China relationship to benefit both countries, instead of being one of mutual estrangement, stand-off and shift toward a "new Cold War."

"The China-US relationship will have its own share of new problems, no matter how many old ones are resolved. But the point is: this relationship moves forward in the very process of solving problems and overcoming difficulties," Liu said.

Liu also said China opposes unilateral sanctions as well as the unfair prohibition or restriction on normal economic and trade activities between Chinese and foreign companies.

The new Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, will arrive in Washington on Tuesday to take up his new post, US media reported. Xie's arrival likely reflects Beijing's intention to ease tensions in the bilateral relations and follows Biden's remarks about the coming "thaw" between the two countries, the report said.

A Sputnik

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Beijing's Latest Strike in US-China Chip War May Hurt China, Experts Say

By Joyce Huang May 23, 2023

Just after the G7 Hiroshima Summit ended, China's Cyberspace Administration of China, or CAC, issued a statement requesting that "operators of critical information infrastructures in China should stop purchasing products made by Micron Technology" due to "national security risks."

The U.S. Department of Commerce dismissed the ban issued Sunday as "unsubstantiated," while Micron, the biggest U.S. memory chipmaker, said in a written statement, "We have received CAC's notice. ... We are evaluating the conclusion and assessing our next steps. We look forward to continuing to engage in discussions with Chinese authorities."

VOA Mandarin's email requesting Micron's comments on whether it will appeal China's decision or consult with the U.S. government went unanswered as of the press time.

The news of China's decision to block Micron after nearly two months of investigation came as a shock to the foreign business community in China. The company is the first U.S. chipmaker to be targeted by Beijing after Washington in October placed export controls on some American-made components and tools for chipmaking to prevent them from being used to expand China's military capabilities.

Michael Hart, president of the Beijing-based American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), said in a written response to VOA Mandarin on Monday that U.S. businesses are worried about being the next target of China's security review.

Hart said in his emailed reply, "Our members are asking us two things: will they be targeted because they are American, and how can they ensure they remain compliant in a business environment that appears to be increasingly influenced by national security concerns?"

Representatives of AmCham China expressed concerns about the Micron case in late April. When asked about the case at a video news conference on April 26, Lester Ross, chairman of the Chamber's policy committee, said that China's "taking action against particular foreign individuals or companies...It is a major concern because China lacks transparency in many dimensions in law and policies. In the absence of data and real evidence showing that Micron's products are understood as an example is of particular vulnerability to China."

He said "it is a concern on the part of other companies, in other industries as well that they could suddenly be singled out without any clear evidence being presented on the basis of unclear suspicions [and] that their ability to do business...will be jeopardized and their investment will go away."

Hart said at the same news conference that China was traditionally known for its "predictable investment environment, whether that be predictable rules and places to invest." But recent Chamber polls show that U.S. businesses are less comfortable with the predictability. The uncertainty comes from both last year's COVID controls and China's increasing security probes.

European businesses also worry

European companies in China are also worried, especially about the possible impact on the semiconductor supply chain.

JArg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said in a Monday email response to VOA Mandarin that the chamber issued a report in January 2021 outlining the impact that decoupling will have on company operations. In this regard, he wrote, "geopolitical and COVID 19-releated factors have shone a spotlight on the fragility of global supply chains, including their susceptibility to chip shortages."

As a result, Wuttke said, the Micron case "could potentially add to these [supply chain] pressures."

He said, "European companies operating in China need to closely monitor the situation, evaluate the risk that the U.S.-China technology competition poses to their supply chains, and make contingency plans accordingly."

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Idaho, Micron is the leading memory chip company in the U.S. and the third-largest memory chipmaker in the world, behind Samsung and SK Hynix in South Korea. Micron's main products are DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and NAND Flash (flash memory). According to the company's 2022 financial report, DRAM accounts for about 73% of total revenue and flash memory accounts for 25%, for 98% of total revenue.

Micron's products are used in cell phones, personal computers and servers. Their components can be found in the automotive, industrial and consumer markets as well. China, the world's biggest semiconductor buyer, has gradually reduced its reliance on foreign-made chips as part of a years-long push to develop self-sufficiency.

Micron has offices in Shanghai, Xi'an and Shenzhen, China, and a test and assembly facility in Xi'an. Because of the U.S.-China trade war, China is no longer Micron's largest market. China revenue has reportedly plummeted from 57% of its global revenue in 2018, or about $17 billion, to 10.8% last year, or about $3.26 billion, according to its 2022 financial report and other reports.

Escalated sanctions

In an interview with VOA Mandarin, Lin Tsung-Nan, a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University in Taipei, said that in the face of the G-7 joint statement on China, Chinese President Xi Jinping must show toughness with nationalistic sentiment to the Chinese people. Externally, based on a confrontational strategy, Xi must also show the democratic and free world that he is capable of imposing sanctions, Lin said.

He said blocking Micron is a geopolitical retaliation, one that hurts China and others. "This is a bit like the 'Seven Wounded Fist' in martial arts novels, which will hurt Micron and of course itself [China]," Lin said. "However, China should have calculated, that is, when it hurt itself, it's not fatal."

According to the Wuxia Fandom Wiki the skill Lin refers to "allows the user to inflict severe internal injuries on his opponent while suffering grave internal injuries at the same time."

He said that even if the ban on Micron hurts the domestic market, the Chinese Communist Party would not hesitate to do this to defend its authority.

In addition, after the Micron ban takes effect, South Korea will likely play an "important but awkward" role, Lin said, explaining that with Micron's exit, South Korea's Samsung and Hynix may take over Micron's market share. This is especially true for Samsung, which has made extensive DRAM production investment in China. Samsung's recent poor sales in China will motivate it to grab the share, Lin said.

Even if Seoul is constrained by Washington's request for South Korean factories not to export supplies to China, the Chinese Communist Party may exert pressure on Samsung's Chinese factories for "secret deals," according to Lin, who added,

"This is Xi's plan to kill two birds with one stone: to show China's assertiveness, and to rope in South Korea, or to divide South Korea and the U.S. on their China stance."

Micron Once An Espionage Victim

In an ironic twist, Micron was once the alleged victim of Chinese theft of trade secrets.

In 2018, a federal grand jury in San Francisco charged a Chinese state firm, a Taiwanese chipmaker, and three employees with economic espionage related to a conspiracy to steal Micron's trade secrets.

The case centered on Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp.'s role in illegally transferring Micron's DRAM technology to China's Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co Ltd.

The UMC employees once worked for Micron's Taiwan subsidiary.

Before leaving Micron, J.T. Ho and Kenny Wang allegedly stole and brought to UMC several Micron trade secrets related to the design and manufacture of DRAM, proscutors said. .

Stephen Chen allegedly brokered a deal to transfer DRAM technology from UMC to Jinhua for mass production. He later became Jinhua's president and was put in charge of its DRAM production facility.

UMC pleaded guilty in 2020 to one count of receiving and possessing a trade secret. It agreed to pay a fine of $60 million and cooperate with U.S. prosecutors. In a statement, UMC denied any knowledge of the theft of Micron's trade secrets or their unauthorized transfer to Jinhua.

VOA reached out to Jack DiCanio, a lawyer for Jinhua, but did not immediately receive a response.

Jinhua has pleaded not guilty and has been fighting the charges in federal court in San Francisco.

In court documents, U.S. prosecutors said China lacked DRAM technology before the alleged theft of Mircon's trade secrets and had identified it as a "national economic priority."

Jinhua was created in 2016 with $5.65 billion in funding from the Chinese government for the "sole purpose" of designing, developing, and manufacturing DRAM technology, according to U.S. prosecutors.

Bo Gu and Masood Farivar also contributed to this report.

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PLA Navy in second rescue operation in a month, reflecting rapid response capability

Global Times

By Guo Yuandan Published: May 24, 2023 01:24 AM

China's Ministry of Transport announced that starting from 3 am on Tuesday, the rescue operation for the capsized vessel Lupeng Yuanyu 028 has been scaled down to a 48-hour small-scale investigation following a large-scale maritime search and rescue. Three Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels participated in this sea rescue operation, marking another non-war military action following the emergency evacuation of Chinese personnel from Sudan by PLA naval vessels on April 26.

A military expert told the Global Times on Tuesday that the PLA Navy's involvement in these critical and emergency missions not only demonstrated its rapid response capability, but also verified that China's building of a "blue-water navy" is intended for the safeguarding of sovereignty, security, and developmental interests.

The fishing vessel Lupeng Yuanyu 028, owned by Shandong-based Penglai Jinglu Fishery, capsized in the central Indian Ocean about 5,000 kilometers west of Perth, Australia, early on May 16, with 39 crew members on board missing, including 17 Chinese, 17 Indonesians, and five Filipinos. A total of seven bodies have been recovered from the site of the rescue operation.

Since the Lupeng Yuanyu 028 capsized, a large-scale maritime rescue has been launched, covering a total of nearly 18,700 square nautical miles, officials said.

No signs of survivors have been found so far. Judging from the analysis of the time of the capsize, the hull structure and the early diving operation, rescuers found that there is very limited space for people to survive inside the ship, and it is preliminarily believed that there are no survivors inside.

After the Lupeng Yuanyu 028 capsized, three PLA Navy vessels arrived at the scene, overcoming the high risks of nighttime operations and poor sea conditions. In the afternoon of May 18, the PLA Navy vessels discovered and salvaged two bodies of victims.

According to reports from PLA media outlets, the 43rd PLA Navy escort task force conducted ship-borne helicopter training day and night in the western waters of the Gulf of Aden on May 17. Operating in an unfamiliar battlefield environment in the open sea, they enhanced their capability to perform tasks under various weather conditions.

Based on the sailing route, the three PLA Navy vessels participating in the sea rescue were likely the 44th escort task force that set sail from Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang Province on April 28, which consisted of the Type 052D guided missile destroyer Zibo, the Type 054A guided missile frigate Jingzhou, and the Type 903 comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu.

This marked another non-war military operation by the PLA Navy following the evacuation operation in Sudan on April 26. On April 26, the Type 052D guided missile destroyer Nanning and the Type 903 comprehensive supply ship Weishanhu went to Sudan for the evacuation operation. As of April 29, the PLA Navy evacuated 940 Chinese citizens from Sudan and also evacuated 231 foreign nationals at the request of various countries.

"China's military capabilities cover both traditional security and non-traditional security, with evacuation, maritime rescue, anti-terrorism, and anti-piracy all falling into the category of non-traditional security. For example, if a Chinese fishing boat capsizes off the coast, it requires timely rescue by China's maritime forces," Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator told the Global Times.

Song said that the PLA Navy's missions in these critical and difficult moments not only reflect its rapid response capability, but also confirm the necessity and purpose of China's construction of a "blue-water navy" to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, rather than for hegemony or expansion of power.

Public reports show that the rescue operation for Lupeng Yuanyu 028 was a multinational maritime rescue operation.

A larger-scale multinational maritime rescue operation previously took place after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March 2014. At that time, the PLA Navy dispatched vessels including the Haikou, the Qiandaohu, the Kunlunshan, and ships in the 17th escort task force to carry out search operations in multiple sea areas including the eastern Indian Ocean.

Maritime emergency rescue involves extensive international cooperation. When vessels encounter problems in other countries' waters, as long as the information is received, the corresponding foreign institutions will provide timely rescue. "Within their capabilities, vessels near the emergency site and coastal countries can assist in the long-range rescue. This is the international practice of maritime rescue. The more forces involved in the rescue, the higher the chance of successful rescue," Song noted.

As a major maritime country in the world, China always advocates international cooperation in maritime search and rescue, experts said. In the past, the PLA Navy and other countries always had maritime search and rescue as a subject in joint exercises, which proved practical. In the future, the PLA Navy and other maritime search and rescue forces can also conduct joint search and rescue exercises with more countries, which will greatly improve the efficiency of search and rescue, Song said.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to lead the Africa Day celebrations to be held on Thursday at the Cradle of Humankind in Krugersdorp.

Africa Day is celebrated throughout the continent and parts of the world in commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity - now known as the African Union - in 1963.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) said this year's celebrations will be held under the theme "Deepening the AU Vision for Unity for Africa through Prosperity, Peace and Modernity for a Better Africa and a Better World".

"The Africa Day celebration seeks to promote the African Agenda and strengthen the African Union institutions and policies; implement and bring to life the AU Agenda 2063 and the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance; further promote regional integration by strengthening people to people contact and harmonize policies and share skills and expertise; as well as to promote Cultural Diplomacy for a broader socio-economic agenda.

"Prior to the formal Africa Day programme, the day will commence with a carnival and colourful parade dance troops from across various African countries, showcasing Africa's creativeness through floats, large 3D costumes, acrobats, and an eclectic mix of melodies at 7am," the department said.

A day before the main day's celebrations, DSAC Minister Zizi Kodwa and Deputy Minister Nocawe Mafu, are expected lead a colloquium on this year's theme and other topics.

"As part of the 2023 Africa Month calendar, Minister Kodwa together with the Deputy Minister Mafu will also host the Africa month colloquium to unpack the theme and also engage on various issues affecting the country and the continent.

"Panellists include Professor Joseph Diescho (Visiting Professor in the Centre for Advanced Security and integration Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany); and Dr Dikeledi Mokoena, (Nelson Mandela University) among others," the department said.

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The colloquium is expected to be held at the National Library of South Africa in Pretoria.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Africa Day bears substantial meaning for President Ramaphosa.

"Africa Day is a day that focuses our consciousness on the development of our continent, regional integration, the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and the human, cultural and natural treasures of Africa.

"For the President, the day will have personal significance as it will mark four years since his Inauguration as the fifth democratically elected President of a free and democratic South Africa," Magwenya said.
Joint U.S.-ROK Symposium on Countering DPRK Sanctions Evasion Involving DPRK IT Workers

US Department of State

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

May 23, 2023

The U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK) will co-host a U.S.- ROK Joint Symposium: Stopping DPRK Sanctions Evasion in the Remote IT Work Industry in San Francisco, CA, on May 24, 2023, as part of our ongoing efforts to both curb the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) attempts to earn revenue for its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) and to raise awareness of DPRK workers' rights.

DPRK IT workers take advantage of the demand for specific IT skills, such as software mobile app and decentralized finance platform development, to obtain freelance employment contracts from clients around the world, including in North America, Europe, and East Asia. DPRK remote IT workers have also used the privileged access gained through these positions to enable malicious cyber operations.

Like other DPRK workers employed in third countries, DPRK remote IT workers may be subjected to forced labor and constant and close surveillance by government security agents. IT workers have also been forced to work 12-16 hours per day, which may be an indicator of forced labor and an abuse of their human rights.

Government officials and private sector experts from freelance work platforms, payment processors, IT staffing firms, social media companies, and other industry stakeholders, representing more than a dozen countries, are expected to attend this symposium.

During the symposium, industry leaders and experts from the U.S. and ROK governments will provide insights into the threat posed by DPRK IT worker activities, real world case studies of DPRK workers fraudulently accessing IT staffing platforms, and guidance to protect business and national security interests from this ongoing tactic of DPRK sanctions evasion.

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French Parliament Begins Considering Bill on Record Military Budget Increase

Sputnik News

20230523

PARIS (Sputnik) - French National Assembly lawmakers on Monday began consideration of a draft law on military planning for 2024-2030, which implies a record increase in the military budget to 413 billion euros ($446 billion).

The government demanded that the bill be considered under an accelerated procedure: only one reading will be organized in the lower and upper houses of parliament. The authorities expect to pass the law before July 14.

The draft law focuses on the modernization of the army, especially in terms of nuclear deterrence, improvements in the conditions for the military, for which 10 billion euros will be allocated, equipment upgrades, investment in the protection of cyberspace, space and the navy.

At the same time, the new budget implies a reduction in heavy weapons, such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. According to Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, by 2030 the French army will receive 2,300 Scorpion armored vehicles, 30 percent fewer than previously planned.

The French Air Force will receive 137 Rafale fighter jets instead of 185 and a total of 35 A400M transport aircraft instead of 50. The French Navy will also not receive two of the five defensive frigates.

Spending on equipment, the shortage of which was revealed by arms supplies to Ukraine, will be increased: ammunition stocks (16 billion euros, an increase of 45 percent), investment in air defense systems (5 billion euros).

Opposition parties have put forward about 1,700 amendments to the text. They are to be considered within two weeks, after which the bill will go to the Senate for consideration.

According to the draft law, in 2024-2030, the French Armed Forces will be given an "unprecedented" budget, according to the defense minister. It will grow to 400 billion euros, compared to 295 billion euros allocated in 2019-2025. With account for off-budget spending on infrastructure and other items, the total budget of the Armed Forces should be 413 billion euros.

In 2023, the French military budget is to total 43.9 billion euros, plus an additional 1.5 billion requested by the defense minister. In 2024, the budget will increase by 3.1 billion, and then will increase by 3 billion euros each year until 2027. From 2028, the ministry is to receive another 4.3 billion euros annually.

A Sputnik

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'Dena destroyer, symbol of Iran's scientific capability'

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 23, 2023

Shiraz, IRNA -- An Iranian deputy minister of defense has described the home-grown Dena destroyer as a symbol of the technical and scientific capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking with reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, Manouchehr Alipour said the Dena destroyer made history last week after completing a historic mission in international waters.

Alipour said Dena is a fully home-made destroyer that has been built in six years.

Today, Iran is self-sufficient in producing different types of marine grade stainless steel, the official said.

Iranian Army's 86th flotilla comprising Dena, a warship equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, and naval cannons, and Makran, a major base ship, returned home a few days ago after successfully completing a circumnavigation mission which was a first in the country's history.

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Iran appoints ambassador to Saudi Arabia amid warming ties

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 6:36 AM

Iran has appointed a senior diplomat as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia in line with the China-brokered March agreement between the two countries to revive relations after years of estrangement.

Reports said on Monday that Alireza Enayati was named as the Iranian envoy to Riyadh.

He had previously served as Iran's ambassador to Kuwait, assistant to the foreign minister and director-general of Persian Gulf affairs at the Foreign Ministry.

Following several days of intensive negotiations in Beijing, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on March 10 to resume their diplomatic ties and reopen their embassies within two months.

In a joint statement after signing the agreement, Tehran and Riyadh highlighted the need to respect each others' national sovereignty and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of one another.

They also agreed to implement a security cooperation agreement signed in April 2001 and another accord reached in May 1998 to boost economic, commercial, investment, technical, scientific, cultural, sports, and youth affairs cooperation.

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers met for the first time in seven years on April 6, stressing the need to implement the rapprochement deal.

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Iran President Raeisi in Indonesia on key visit to boost ties with Asia

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 5:34 AM

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has arrived in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on an official two-day visit that aims to enhance the Islamic Republic's relations with the Asian countries in political and economic arenas.

Heading a high-ranking political-economic delegation, Raeisi was officially welcomed by his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo shortly after his arrival on Tuesday.

The two presidents planted saplings as a sign of peace and friendship between Tehran and Jakarta after receiving a 21-gun salute.

After the ceremony, Raeisi and Widodo held talks at the Merdeka Palace while senior delegations of the two countries also held negotiations.

The two sides are expected to sign preferential trade agreement (PTA) and other important cooperation documents in various fields.

Raeisi's state visit to Jakarta marks a turning point in bilateral relations, set to commence a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

Iran, Indonesia sign cooperation documents, agreements

Senior officials of Iran and Indonesia signed 11 documents and agreements to strengthen cooperation.

According to the agreements, Tehran and Jakarta would improve cooperation in preferential trade, cancellation of visas, cultural exchanges, supervision over the pharmaceutical products, science and technology as well as oil and gas.

The agreements were signed by Iranian ministers of foreign affairs, information and communications technology, oil and vice president for scientific and technological affairs and deputy minister of industry, mine and trade with their Indonesian counterparts.

The agreements were inked in the presence of the Iranian and Indonesian presidents.

Negotiations between the two countries encompass a wide range of bilateral, regional, and international topics and they seek to deepen cooperation in various areas, including political, economic, trade, energy, scientific and technological, cultural, parliamentary, and security fields.

Both Iran and Indonesia have had tense relations with the United States and seek to strengthen political and economic ties amid heightened global geopolitical tensions.

According to Indonesia's Trade Ministry, Raeisi's trip to the Muslim-majority nation is expected to improve mutual relations as Tehran seeks alternatives to the US-led Western domination of international affairs and further cooperation after the two states concluded negotiations on the Indonesia-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement this month.

The ministry's data showed that trade between Indonesia and Iran amounted to $54.1 million between January and March, while the bilateral trade value last year increased by more than 23% to $257.2 million.

Referring to Iran as a nontraditional trade partner for Indonesia, Johni Martha, director of bilateral negotiations at Indonesia's Trade Ministry said, "With this PTA, we hope to widen our market reach and export opportunities in the Middle East and Persia."

Speaking in a news briefing in Tehran before his departure on Monday, President Raeisi said Iran and Indonesia are united against unilateralism and that the two Muslim countries support lasting peace and security in the region.

"Indonesia is an important country in Southeast Asia and has an important position in regional and international developments," Raeisi told reporters.

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2 Iranian Journalists Who Reported on Mahsa Amini's Death to Go on Trial

By VOA Persian Service May 23, 2023

Two jailed Iranian journalists, who helped break the story of the case of a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody last September, will go on trial later this month, according to Iranian authorities.

A judiciary spokesman said Elaheh Mohammadi will go on trial on May 29 and Niloufar Hamedi will be tried on May 30.

Hamedi, with the Sharq newspaper, was the first to report on the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police. The death of Amini, who was accused of wearing her headscarf too loosely, sparked nationwide anti-government protests.

A few days after Amini's death, Hamedi was arrested by Iranian security forces.

Elaheh Mohammadi, with the Ham Mihan newspaper, published a story about Amini's funeral. The reporter has been in police custody since September 2022.

Iranian officials said the two journalists had been indicted on charges of collaborating with the United States, acting against national security, and creating "propaganda against the system." Their cases were referred to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

On May 3, the two reporters and the imprisoned Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi were awarded the 2023 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize by the United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO.

Hamedi and Mohammadi were also joint winners of the 2023 International Press Freedom Award by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and Harvard University's 2023 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism. They were named two of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

According to the World Press Freedom Index 2023 issued by Reporters Without Borders on May 3 to coincide with World Press Freedom Day, Iran is considered one of the world's worst countries for press freedom. It has been listed at No. 177 out of 180 nations ranked in worldwide assessments of press freedoms followed by Vietnam, China, and North Korea.

The Iranian Writers' Association also issued a statement on the occasion of "International Press Freedom Day" on May 4, calling for the unconditional release of all imprisoned journalists and announcing that it will continue to fight to create a society in which the government refrains from attacking the free press and independent media.

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence agency of the Revolutionary Guards issued a joint statement accusing Hamedi and Mohammadi of "spreading biased news."

Maryam Dehkordi, a journalist, previously told VOA that Hamedi and Mohammadi had fulfilled their professional mission and were always sensitive about social issues.

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1000s protest Israeli PM's plan to 'loot' public money

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 24 May 2023 1:15 AM

Thousands of Israeli settlers rally in the occupied holy city of al-Quds in protest at the Israeli prime minister's plan to use public funds to buy the support of his extremist political allies.

The demonstration saw the participants rally towards the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) on Tuesday.

The demonstrators lambasted the regime's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for seeking to allocate huge amounts of money in the annual budget to ultra-Orthodox Israelis' welfare.

The protesters amassed in front of the Knesset as the legislature was about to vote on the budget.

A day earlier, Netanyahu had announced that the regime would grant married ultra-Orthodox Israelis, who are engaged in religious study rather than work, a total of 250 million shekels ($67.5 million) in the annual budget.

The grant was part of a last-minute deal with one of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the regime's coalition of hard-right and ultra-Orthodox political parties to ensure the party's support for the budget.

Chanting slogans, beating drums, and blowing horns, the protesters said the prime minister was seeking to "loot" public money to curry favor with his coalition allies.

The demonstration was organized by the same group of activists, who have been protesting since January at the cabinet's similarly controversial plan to "overhaul" the regime's judicial system.

Under that scheme, Netanyahu seeks to give the regime's extremist cabinet more say in the process of selecting the Supreme Court's judges, while seeking to empower the politicians and the Knesset to override the court's rulings.

Hundreds of thousands have been protesting the so-called "reforms" on a weekly basis since January when Netanyahu announced them.

Faced with overwhelming public pressure, including the biggest protests ever seen across the occupied territories as well as several strikes, Netanyahu announced a pause in the scheme on March 27 to supposedly enable talks on the reforms.

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Nearly 1,000 NLD-affiliated properties seized by Myanmar's junta since coup

When the junta can't arrest someone 'it seizes the properties of family members.'

By RFA Burmese 2023.05.23 -- It was December 2022 when junta troops under the leadership of Major Aye Chan Aung raided the homes of deposed National League for Democracy lawmaker Hla Hla Win and her son, making off with valuables and the deed to her son's property.

Four months later, she told RFA Burmese, she learned that her son's home in Bago region's Shwe Kyin township had been sold, leaving the family with little recourse to recover it.

"The junta forces raided my house and took away furniture, including my wardrobe," she said. "Since my important documents were in that wardrobe, they took [the deed to] my son's house and pawned it and then, when they could not afford to get it back, they sold it for 12 million kyats (US$ 5,700)."

Hla Hla Win said that following the April 3 sale, she contacted the seller over the phone, but received no response.

The seizure is just one of nearly 1,000 carried out by the junta on homes and private buildings in the slightly more than two years since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, the NLD said Tuesday, in what observers call a coordinated attack on the party.

Based on the NLD's findings, the junta has confiscated at least 971 buildings belonging to 849 party members, including NLD representatives and democracy activists, since the takeover. Most have been accused of "spreading fake news" and "incitement against a junta employee" under Article 505 (a) and (b), as well as violating anti-terrorism laws.

The buildings include places of business, restaurants, religious buildings, hospitals and clinics, schools, guesthouses and hotels, the NLD said.

The party said its list was compiled based on interviews with victims of the seizures, as well as area residents and civil society organizations, and suggested that the actual number of confiscated properties may be much higher.

Nay Zin Latt, a lawmaker for Sagaing region's Kanbalu township under the democratically elected NLD government who is wanted by the junta for alleged acts of terrorism and violating Article 505 (a) and (b), told RFA that the junta seized the homes of both his parents and in-laws in late 2021.

"The junta sealed off my parents house and compound in Kanbalu's Htan Kone village," he said, speaking from an undisclosed location to avoid arrest. "But since they are such brutes who commit the most inhumane crimes against the people, the act of confiscating civilian properties is nothing to them."

Targeting the party-affiliated

While more than half of the properties seized are owned by NLD lawmakers and supporters, the rest belong to people who are affiliated with the party but are not politically active, said an official with Thailand's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) who declined to be named, citing security concerns.

"When the junta can't arrest someone, it seizes the properties of his or her family members," said the official. "That's how the junta tries to punish not only anti-junta activists, but his or her relatives, too."

Such seizures are unlawful, a lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFA.

"The military seals off people's properties whenever it wants ... [but] there are limitations that law enforcement must follow in taking such actions," the lawyer said. "The court has to issue warrants to seal off private properties under certain laws."

Properties sealed by court order may not be used by other citizens or foreign nationals for their personal interests, he said.

"Such properties must be kept under the custody of the court as evidence in the case against the owner" and can neither be repurposed or sold, the lawyer noted.

Confiscated properties can only be transferred to state ownership once a defendant receives a final court order, he said, at which point they may be sold through the country's Investment Commission.

Bid to dissolve NLD

Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD's central working committee, said the seizures are part of a bid by the junta to dissolve the NLD and harass its members.

"Although the junta seized power on the pretext of voter fraud, it aims to dissolve the party chosen by the people to lead the country - in effect, ignoring the will of the people," he said. "There are many people who have lost their houses and properties, just as NLD party members have ... We are working to secure a victory so that we can make the best of their sacrifices."

According to Kyaw Htwe, the junta has sealed off at least 115 NLD party offices across the country since the coup.

Junta security forces have arrested hundreds of NLD members over the same period, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Matt Reed.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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New weapons law leads to roundup of activists and fighters in Myanmar cities

More than 20 people were accused of being People's Defense Force members or funding guerilla groups.

By RFA Burmese 2023.05.23 -- A new weapons law introduced by Myanmar's military has led to a junta roundup of people accused of belonging to, or financing, anti-junta People's Defense Forces, according to Saya Kyaung, an official of Yangon Underground Association People's Defense Force.

His comments come after junta-controlled newspapers reported Monday on the arrests of eight alleged members of the Royal Phoenix Guerrilla Force in Mandalay, along with five people accused of funding them.

The arrested include the leader of the guerrilla force, Pyae Nyein Chan, and his second-in-command, Chan Myae Oo, the papers said.

Chan Myae Oo was arrested in Mandalay on April 6 and the rest were arrested over several days from May 18, reports said.

A member of the Royal Phoenix Guerrilla Force, who did not want to be named for security reasons, confirmed to RFA Tuesday that some members had been arrested but said civilians unconnected to the group had also been picked up by junta authorities.

"Khing Khing Aung, who was among the arrested, was a civilian. She had already been arrested under Section 505 (a) and recently released from prison," he said, referring to a section of the Penal Code that was amended after the February 2021 coup to criminalize the spreading of fake news and incitement against a junta employee.

"Now she has been accused of giving financial support [to the guerrilla force] and arrested on the night of May 18."

He said the military closely watches people freed after allegedly committing political crimes and often rearrests them when something happens in their neighborhoods.

Newspapers reported that the three women and two men arrested along with guerrilla members had been charged with financing People's Defense Forces and keeping hand-made mines.

They said the eight alleged guerrilla force members had detonated nine mines in Mandalay and Sagaing regions, killing a policeman and two civilians.

New weapons law

The junta-controlled newspapers also reported Sunday on the May 12 arrests of 10 people, including four alleged members of the Yangon Revolution Force.

Five people were accused of giving information to the People's Defense Force and one of funding it.

They were all charged in connection with the murders of Sai Kyaw Thu, the deputy director general of the junta-appointed Union Election Commission, and his wife.

The weapons law enacted on May 11 allows junta courts to impose the death penalty on members of any armed opposition group.

It states that anyone armed with intent to rebel against the state, or stealing and selling state-owned arms and ammunition belonging to a person authorized to bear arms, faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of life in prison or the death penalty.

Saya Kyaung, an official of Yangon Underground Association, which fights junta forces in Myanmar's commercial capital, told RFA the law is intended to weaken any attempts at an armed people's revolution and to instill fear in the population.

More than 3,500 civilians have been killed and over 22,600 pro-democracy campaigners have been arrested since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks during talks with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov, Moscow,May 22, 2023

22 May 2023 13:55

982-22-05-2023



Mr Saidov,

Friends,

We are glad to welcome you in Moscow.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude once again for the hospitable organisation of our stay in Samarkand, where we held a meeting of the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and organised a series of bilateral meetings. It was a pleasure to meet you personally as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

We began to exchange views in the first approximation on what tasks are facing us at this stage. Today we have a good opportunity to hold full-fledged talks on the development of our strategic partnership and alliance. This is particularly relevant given the current challenges on the world stage. I will not go into detail. Everyone is well aware of this.

As for our bilateral relations, we are pleased to state, as our presidents have done, that ties are developing intensively in all directions, despite the sanctions restrictions. In 2022, trade grew by 26 percent, approaching $9 billion. We see a positive trend in trade this year: in January-February, we had an increase of more than 4 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

Among the priorities is cooperation in education and science. Today, about 12,000 citizens of Uzbekistan study in Russian universities free of charge at the expense of federal and regional budgets. For the next academic year, 800 quota places are allocated for Uzbek students. We appreciate the attention paid to the Russian language and education in Uzbekistan. You have 14 branches of Russian institutions of higher education.

Cultural cooperation is also important. On an annual basis, we organise events in your country, just as you do in the Russian Federation. This includes concerts and tours, cinematographic and library events, as well as comprehensive exchanges and days of culture. Yesterday Tashkent hosted the opening ceremony of a unique international project, Russian Seasons, at the Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre, attended by our large delegation.

Speaking of regional issues, we closely cooperate in the CIS and SCO, and develop ties with the Eurasian Economic Union, where Uzbekistan participates as an observer.

I cannot conclude my opening remarks without congratulating you on the successful constitutional reform. The results of the referendum showed support for Shavkat Mirziyoyev's political course. We paid attention to the provisions of the new basic law aimed at strengthening state sovereignty and limiting outside interference in the country's internal affairs. This also fully corresponds to our vision of the principles that are now objectively forming a new just, democratic and multipolar international order.

We know that, in accordance with the new Constitution, President Mirziyoyev has issued an executive order on early presidential elections on July 9. We are convinced that the preparation and conduct of the election campaign will be well organised. For our part, we will create all the conditions to ensure that Uzbek citizens living in the Russian Federation, migrant workers and other compatriots have every opportunity to freely express their will. We work closely with your embassy and other diplomatic institutions of Uzbekistan in the Russian Federation in this regard. We will do our best to make this event a success as well.



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President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, left, and Lesotho's King Letsie III arrive at Polihali Dam for the detonation ceremony to mark the launch of Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, May 23, 2023.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) as a project that has not only made history, but has brought hope to the citizens of both Lesotho and South Africa.

The President was speaking at the launch of Phase 2 of the LHWP at Polihali Dam in the mountain kingdom.

"I would like to emphasise that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project is more than just a water project.

"It is a beacon of hope, a symbol of progress, a symbol of international cooperation, and a testament to the strength of bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa. Together, we have achieved a lot, and I have no doubt that we will continue to work together to ensure that this project is completed successfully," President Ramaphosa said.

President Ramaphosa noted that once Phase 2 is complete, "more than 400 million cubic meters of water will flow every year from the upper reaches of the Senqu River in Lesotho through the existing conveyance infrastructure to the Vaal Dam in South Africa".

He emphasised, however, that the benefits of the project are not only one sided.

"We are determined that this massive trans-border project should equally benefit the peoples of Lesotho and South Africa. In addition to the royalties Lesotho receives from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, local jobs have been created and new roads have been built in the Kingdom.

"Both Phase I and II include the construction of hydropower facilities to provide electricity for Lesotho. It has been critical for us as both Lesotho and South Africa that all communities affected by the construction of the Polihali Dam were consulted, that there should be fair compensation and relocation to alternative housing nearby," he said.

The President highlighted that the LHW project is one of biggest infrastructure investment that government has embarked on outside its borders.

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"This project is a good example of public-private collaboration to build key public infrastructure. Most of the approximately R40 billion in capital required for Phase Two will be raised in South Africa's financial markets by the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority. The private sector is playing a similar role in many of our other major water resource infrastructure projects in South Africa," he said.

Turning to South Africa's own plans, the President said South Africa and Namibia's governments are also working together to add further water infrastructure.

"As African countries all our water resources are interconnected. South Africa shares 60 per cent of its freshwater resources with its neighbours. We are therefore committed to multilateral trans-border collaboration to ensure that shared water resources are used for the benefit of all.

"As South Africa, we are also working with Namibia on the joint planning of additional dam infrastructure on the Lower Orange River. This is to ensure that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project does not negatively impact the Lower Orange River system," he said.
Russia PM visits China to deepen Moscow-Beijing economic ties

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 6:43 PM

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has started a two-day visit to China, in an effort to deepen trade and business ties between Moscow and Beijing amid intensifying US economic warfare against the two nations.

Mishustin arrived on Monday night in Shanghai, where he will participate in a Russian-Chinese Business Forum, the Kremlin said.

The Russian prime minister will also hold talks with "representatives of Russian business circles."

In addition, Mishustin is scheduled to hold talks with former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, head of the China-led BRICS New Development Bank.

He will then head to Beijing, more than 1,200 kilometers away from Shanghai, to meet President Xi Jinping and his Chinese counterpart, Prime Minister Li Qiang.

After their talks, Moscow and Beijing are expected to sign bilateral agreements.

"The areas of our cooperation may include not only organizing industrial production and enterprises for deep processing of raw materials, but also providing mutual access to advanced technologies, promoting promising innovative solutions, and, of course, harmonizing national standards and technical requirements," Mishustin said.

"Our country is the leading supplier of oil to China. Exports of natural and liquefied gas, as well as coal, are steadily increasing," he stated.

Mishustin added that both sides "are ready to collaborate on the implementation of other major projects, including those involving renewable energy."

China became the top energy customer for Russia last year after Moscow was hit by massive Western sanctions over its military operation in Ukraine.

Ever since the beginning of the war, the United States and its allies have been providing Ukraine with advanced weapons and imposing sanctions on Russia.

The Russian prime minister and other members of the delegation have also been on the US Treasury Department's sanctions list of Russian people and entities since last year.

The United States has imposed a raft of sanctions on China as well.

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Russia's top banker in Tehran to boost mutual trade

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 6:40 PM

Governor of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina has held a key meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Reza Farzin to discuss ways to improve trade payment and settlement services between the two countries.

Nabiullina arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to hold talks with Iranian officials and to attend a meeting of chief bankers of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).

That comes amid efforts by Iran and Russia, and other countries facing pressure from the United States, to increase the use of local and regional currencies in their trade ties.

The process, generally known as de-dollarization, has gained momentum over the past year with an increase in Western sanctions against Russia.

Iranian officials said earlier this week that a main focus of the ACU meeting in Tehran on May 23-25 will be to encourage the use of alternative currencies in trade between major economies in Asia.

In her meeting with Farzin in the CBI headquarters on Tuesday, Nabiullina reiterated the need for increased cooperation between banking and monetary sectors of Iran and Russia, according to a report on the website of the CBI.

She said technical and expert delegations from central banks of Iran and Russia should frequently visit the two countries to expand and deepen bilateral banking ties.

Iran and Russia have sought to expand their trade and economic relations since February 2022 when Russia came under American and European sanctions because of the war in Ukraine.

Iran has been facing a raft of American sanctions since 2018 when a former government in Washington pulled out of an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

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Russia's energy exports to China will rise 40% this year amid sanctions: Deputy PM

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 11:28 AM

Russia's energy exports to China will climb by 40 percent this year, Russian deputy prime minister has said as the two countries seek to further expand ties and avert impacts of persisting US-led sanctions.

Alexander Novak, who handles energy issues for Moscow, made the remarks at a Russian-Chinese Business Forum in Shanghai on Tuesday while pointing out that energy was a key pillar of cooperation with China.

China became the top energy customer for Russia last year after Moscow was hit by massive Western sanctions over its military operation in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 in response to persisting eastern expansion of the US-led NATO military alliance aimed at bringing their forces even closer to Russian borders.

Ever since the beginning of the war, Kiev's Western allies, led by the United States, have been providing Ukraine with advanced weapons and imposing Russia with a slew of sanctions, steps that Moscow says would only prolong the war.

Interfax news agency also quoted Novak on Tuesday as saying that Moscow and Beijing are discussing technological equipment supplies to Russia.

Novak is part of a delegation accompanying Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin for his visit to China.

The premier arrived in Shanghai late Monday for a visit in which he will meet President Xi Jinping and sign a number of deals on infrastructure and trade, according to Russia's foreign ministry.

Also on Tuesday, Mishustin stressed that strengthening ties between Beijing and Moscow will positively impact their economies, noting that bilateral trade turnover may reach $200 billion this year.

Mishustin further emphasized that Moscow will continue exporting hydrocarbons to China on a "long-term basis" and expressed his country's readiness to significantly increase agricultural exports to the East Asian country.

China and Russia have agreed to expand trade, energy and political relations amid the West's increasingly hostile approach over the war in Ukraine.

The US has become more vigilant about closer ties between Beijing and Moscow ever since President Xi and Vladimir Putin struck a "no limits" partnership in February 2022.

China has blamed the United States and NATO for "provoking" Moscow over the Ukraine war and has condemned Western sanctions against Russia.

Russia has also strongly backed China amid the recent tensions between Beijing and Washington over the US political and military interference in Taiwan.

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Who's Who Among Russia's Mercenary Companies

By Mark Krutov, Sergei Dobrynin, RFE/RL's Idel.Realities May 23, 2023

Never one to mince words, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the brash founder of the notorious Russian mercenary company Wagner Group, offered the latest in a series of often profane criticism of Russian military commanders in a video published on May 9.

Prigzohin complained about supplies of ammunition to his fighters, who have played a key role in the 10-month assault on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. And then he lit into another target, a private security company funded by the state-owned gas giant Gazprom, complaining that its fighters were refusing to take up positions in the fight near Bakhmut.

"Why are you spending public money, gathering people, and sending them to the meat grinder?" he said in the video. "Their mothers are going to come and give you a good [expletive]. Stop doing this nonsense, this is war!"

Wagner, with its yearslong rise to prominence in places like Mali, Sudan, and the Central African Republic, has become a household name for followers of Russian military tactics. But Prigozhin's company is far from the only one of its sort.

Here's a quick look at some of the other, lesser-known players in Russia's growing private security complex: some have fielded soldiers to fight in Ukraine, others have gained notoriety in their own unique ways.

Redut

Soldiers from a company known as Redut were among the first to enter Ukraine, according to the news site Meduza, when Russia launched its large-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Redut is the Russian word for "redoubt," a defensive military fortification or stronghold.

But its origins go back several years: to Syria, according to the Russian-language newspaper Novaya gazeta, where its soldiers were reportedly involved in guarding facilities set up there by Stroitransgaz, an engineering and construction company originally established by Gazprom but later acquired by Kremlin-connected billionaire Gennady Timchenko.

According to Novaya gazeta, Redut's headquarters are located in Kubinka, a Moscow region town that is close to the home base of the 45th Special Forces Brigade of Russia's Airborne Forces.

The company has actively recruited soldiers on Russian social networks, stipulating that interested candidates must be at least 25 and must have some sort of military specialty or experience in law enforcement agencies.

A copy of a Redut contract recently obtained by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities shows no mention of Ukraine or any ongoing military operations, and states that the company is a construction company registered in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, not far from the Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas in Ukraine. Russian corporate registries, however, show no details for any such corporations.

The contract also identifies itself by the abbreviation "RLSPI" or Regional Laboratory of Social and Psychological Research. The laboratory in fact is a unit of Russia's military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, and is officially called military unit 35555.

One man who joined Redut told Idel.Realities that prior to the invasion, contractors were being sent to Ukraine -- Russia has backed local forces in the Donbas since 2014 -- and they were being paid in cash, in U.S. dollars. Since the invasion, however, wages have been paid in rubles.

Expectations and responsibilities for contractors include "execution of any special tasks at any time in any place at the employer's discretion," the contract says.

Another former contractor told Idel.Realities that the soldiers do some of their training at a military-intelligence training facility near the southwestern Russian city of Tambov.

Torch, Flow, And Flame

In addition to Wagner, which, despite its notoriety and fame, remains technically illegal under Russian law as a private military company, there are other armed security companies that are also present on the Ukraine battlefield, that are not illegal.

The existence of one or more private military companies backed by Gazprom was widely suspected prior to Prigozhin's comments. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin earlier this year authorized the Gazprom oil subsidiary Gazpromneft to create such an entity under the classification "private security company," which is legal under Russian law.

According to the BBC's Russian service, Gazprom's private entity was initially established in the Siberian city of Omsk under the title Gazpromneft Okhrana -- or Gazpromneft Security -- and was headed by Stanislav Bauman, the acting head of the Arkhangelsk regional Interior Ministry.

Based on Prigozhin's remarks and other reporting, there are multiple private security entities that exist under Gazprom's umbrella.

One, known as Potok, or "flow," came to public attention in April, when a group of its contractors released a video complaining about battlefield supplies. They also complained that they had been told they would receive formal contracts via the Defense Ministry but instead were deployed under the authority of the Redut company.

Don And The Union Of Donbas Volunteers

The Don Brigade, which has links to Redut, is made up of volunteers, many of whom are Cossacks. The brigade is listed in the national ready-reserve system known as BARS and is formally connected with the Defense Ministry.

A top official in a Cossack social organization called the Union of Cossack Warriors of Russia and Abroad has recruited volunteers on social media. Another top official with the group is Aleksandr Borodai, a Russian who was formerly a leader of separatists in the Donbas. He is now a member of Russia's parliament.

One Don soldier, who gave his name only as Maksim, told RFE/RL that he joined because of the age requirement imposed by Redut. But he said wages for contractors with Don and the Union of Donbas Volunteers were paid by Redut.

The soldier said that some of the contractors are sent to join Redut, where special Don units are created. But they are still formally considered members the Union of Donbas Volunteers.

And, like other fighters with Redut, Don mercenaries are not included in the formal BARS registry system.

According to the Union's page on the social network formerly known as VKontake, the group has three battalions who train at the Kadamovsky training ground in the Rostov region.

Moran Security Group, Slavonic Corps, E.N.O.T. Corps

Other Russian military and security companies are better known for earlier endeavors, or their activities off the Ukrainian battlefields, or espousing extremist ideologies.

There are conflicting dates as to when Moran Security first emerged. Corporate documents detailed in a 2019 report by the New America Foundation say the company was incorporated in Belize in 2011, followed by Moscow that same year. Its marketing materials say its work providing security from pirates for Russian ships dates back to the 1990s. Among Moran's biggest clients were state-owned Sovcomflot, Russia's largest shipping company.

According to the St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka, PMC Wagner took root from the Slavonic Corps, a private military company that recruited fighters back in 2013.

Another company, the Slavonic Corps, first appeared in corporate records in Hong Kong in 2013; its two principals were former employees of Moran, Vadim Gusev and Yevgeny Sidorov. That same year, in 2013, Slavonic Corps fighters appeared in Syria at the request of the Syrian government, which was already facing a growing threat from groups including Islamic State that had captured several oil facilities.

After a battle in which several Slavonic Corps fighters were wounded, Gusev and Sidorov returned to Russia, and they were detained by the Federal Security Service. A year later, they were found guilty of running an illegal mercenary company and sentenced to prison by a Moscow court.

One of the Wagner Group's first heads, meanwhile, was Dmitry Utkin, a Russian military intelligence veteran who worked for Moran Security and later the Slavonic Corps.

Another private company that Ukrainian researchers have identified as taking part in Russia's 2014 occupation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula was E.N.O.T. Corp, founded by a nationalist activist named Igor Mangushev.

E.N.O.T. soldiers have also been spotted in Syria, according to a 2018 report by the Polish Institute for International Affairs, as well as engaging in paramilitary operations in Tajikistan and Nagorno-Karabakh. The group also ran "patriotic" summer camps for young people, in countries including Serbia, Montenegro, Belarus, and others.

In 2018, the group was targeted by Russian law enforcement in the Krasnodar region, and several of its members, some who were federal security or intelligence officers, were accused of robbery and extortion. Last year, Roman Telenkevich, who had headed the group since 2016, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for extortion, criminal threatening, and other charges.

Written by Mike Eckel based on reporting by Mark Krutov and Sergei Dobrynin of RFE/RL's Russian Service and by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-other-mercenary- companies-ukraine/32424520.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Moscow Court Extends Pretrial Detention For U.S. Journalist Held On Spying Charges

By RFE/RL May 23, 2023

A court in Moscow has extended the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. reporter for The Wall Street Journal, arrested in Russia in March on spying charges that he, his newspaper, and the U.S. government have strongly denied.

The Lefortovo district court in Moscow ruled on May 23 that Gershkovich must remain in custody until at least August 30. The hearing was held behind closed doors. Gershkovich's current pretrial detention term expires on May 29.

Washington has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release.

The reporter's detention comes at a time when relation between Moscow and Washington are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War over the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Gershkovich was arrested in Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg in late March. Since then, Moscow has allowed only one consular visit from a U.S. official, Ambassador Lynne Tracy. It has twice denied Gershkovich consular access, including a request for a meeting on May 25.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said at the time of the arrest that it had opened an espionage case against Gershkovich for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex.

He was then placed in pretrial detention at Moscow's Lefortovo prison, a notorious institution dating back to tsarist times. Seen as a symbol of Soviet repression, Lefortovo is where Russia holds most suspects in espionage cases.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN on May 23 while the court was looking into the FSB request to extend Gershkovich's pretrial detention that the reporter "shouldn't be detained at all."

"Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately.... We're still going to work very, very hard to see if we can get him home with his family where he belongs," Kirby said, adding that U.S. officials are still pressing for consular access to Gershkovich directly with the Russians.

"There are no grounds for denying consular access.... We really want to get that consular access going," he said.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement on May 23 that "we are deeply concerned by today's Russian court decision.."

"This follows last week's denial of the embassy's request for a consular visit to Evan Gershkovich, marking the second time Russian authorities have unjustifiably denied consular access in this case," it said.

"We reiterate that the claims against him are baseless and call for Mr. Gershkovich's immediate release," the statement added.

U.S. President Joe Biden also has called on Russia to release him, as have several international journalist organizations.

Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War.

The Kremlin has said Gershkovich was carrying out espionage "under the cover" of journalism. Lavrov has told the United States that Gershkovich was caught red-handed while trying to obtain secrets.

Hired by the Wall Street Journal shortly before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year, Gershkovich had been reporting on Russia for more than five years at the time of his arrest.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/moscow-court-extends- detention-us-journalist-gershkovich/32424527.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a media question in connection with remarks by Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria Alexander Schallenberg

23 May 2023 09:56

988-23-05-2023

Question: On May 22, German newspaper Die Welt published an interview with the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria, Alexander Schallenberg, in which he made a series of remarks, in particular to the effect that Vienna maintained unofficial communication channels with Russia, and that he as head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry would be reluctant to shake hands with Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov were they to meet in person. What can you say about these remarks by the Austrian diplomat?

Maria Zakharova: We were surprised to learn that Vienna maintains informal communication channels with the Russian authorities. We are not aware of that.

In addition, there would be nothing to discuss with Vienna if such a dialogue ever took place. Austria has sided with the West in its hostile policy towards Russia and lost its independent role in international affairs as it shed the principles of neutrality.

Clearly, what stands behind these remarks by Minister Schallenberg is the desire to justify his actions and leave room for another manoeuvre amid a volatile international situation.

With regard to his inner turmoil concerning his ever having to shake hands with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a hypothetic personal meeting, we are here to reassure Minister Schallenberg that no one is looking to shake his hand.





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Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov pays official visit to Iran

23.05.2023

Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov of the Russian Navy, paid an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the course of the visit, Nikolai Yevmenov met with the Commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, as well as several other senior military officials.

During the meeting, the naval cooperation and the exchange of experience between the two countries' navies were discussed.

The visit of the Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief included a number of protocol events and ceremonies, visits to naval training institutes, naval bases of the Iranian Navy and enterprises of the military-industrial complex.

According to the both sides, the visit by the Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov demonstrates the high level of naval interaction and cooperation achieved between Russia and Iran.

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NATO Gunning to Destroy Russia Through Proxy War in Ukraine - Medvedev

Sputnik News

20230523

Svertlana Ekimenko

There is nobody in the so-called collective West that Russia could negotiate with to defuse the dangerously escalating conflagration in Ukraine, as Washington and its NATO allies don't want peace, they don't want cooperation, they want confrontation, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev told RT.

NATO still stubbornly refuses to accept the fact that the current scenario, where it is fueling a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, is teeming with the risk of a nuclear apocalypse, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev told RT in an interview.

"Otherwise, Washington and its NATO allies would not funnel such dangerous weapons to the Ukrainian regime. So, apparently, they believe that a nuclear conflict, or a nuclear apocalypse, is impossible, because it is never possible. They are wrong. And at some point, events can follow a completely unpredictable scenario. And the responsibility will lie entirely with the North Atlantic Alliance."

'Point of No Return'

Weighing in on the amount of arms shipments already sent to prop up the regime in Kiev, including the latest decision by London to transfer its long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, Medvedev noted that it was hard to determine if the point of no return had already been passed.

"Nobody knows... And therein lies the main danger. Because, as soon as something is delivered, the response is, we need more... long-range missiles, or now - fighter jets... Then all will be good... Only it won't... Nothing good will happen... We'll deal with that too. But more and more lethal weapons will be used."

West Wants to Destroy Russia

There is no one in the West that Russia could talk to, seek common ground with, at least "not yet," Medvedev stated. Those waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine with such zeal "don't want peace, they don't want cooperation, they want confrontation. They are trying in every possible way to infringe on our country," he stressed.

As it fans the flames of the Ukraine conflict, Washington seeks its ultimate goal of destroying the Russian Federation, the country's former president and prime minister emphasized.

"At minimum, restriction, containment of the Russian Federation. They are doing the same in relation to China. But the ultimate goal is the destruction of Russia as a country. But it won't work... We will not let them," he said.

Looking back on the sabotage and terrorism that NATO's proxy war in Ukraine has been replete with, Medvedev noted that the US should compensate Russia for all the damage and destruction it sowed, like the bombing of Nord Stream.

Last September, three of the four lines of the Nord Stream pipeline network running from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea were damaged in a large-scale sabotage attack, with the long-term economic impact on Europe estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh later revealed direct US culpability in this act of sabotage and terrorism. But it went far beyond the Nord Stream attack, of course, added Medvedev.

"Let them return the funds, or at least allocate funds, for the restoration of Artemovsk, Mariupol, and a host of other places that were destroyed with their help and support. With their money," he said, in a reference to the Donbass cities pummeled with billions of dollars-worth of NATO-supplied weaponry.

A Sputnik

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Russian Court Extends Pre-Trial Detention for US Journalist Evan Gershkovich

By Liam Scott May 23, 2023

The United States has called for Russia to immediately release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after Moscow sought to extend his pre-trial detention by three months.

Gershkovich's original pre-trial detention was set to expire on May 29. But a Russian court on Tuesday lengthened that period until August 30 after Russia's intelligence agency, the FSB, requested an extension.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday that the U.S. is working hard to bring the U.S. journalist home.

"He shouldn't be detained at all. Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately," Kirby told CNN.

Gershkovich was arrested on March 29 while on assignment in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

Russian authorities accused the Moscow-based reporter of espionage, which carries a possible 20-year sentence. Gershkovich, the Journal, and the U.S. government deny the charges.

A CNN reporter tweeted that Gershkovich's parents, who both fled the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, were present at the hearing at Moscow's Lefortovo court.

Before Tuesday's ruling, the U.S. State Department had sought a meeting for Thursday with Gershkovich, but Moscow denied the request, the Journal reported.

Kirby on Tuesday said there were "no grounds for denying consular access."

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to VOA's email requesting comment.

Clayton Weimers of the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, said, "Russia's pretense for detaining Evan is already flimsy."

Denying consular access "just betrays that Evan has become collateral damage in the Kremlin's war on media freedom and its ongoing arguments with Washington," Weimers said in an email to VOA on Monday.

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No progress in Saudi-Israel dAtente as MBS rejects Netanyahu's request to meet

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 11:08 AM

A foreign diplomatic source says there has been no progress in the normalization of diplomatic ties between the Tel Aviv regime and Saudi Arabia, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has rejected a request from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet.

Netanyahu and bin Salman spoke on the phone twice in recent weeks. Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani facilitated the calls.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, the 73-year-old Israeli leader and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler held talks before and after last week's Arab League meeting in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah to discuss the possibility of rapprochement.

The leaders also did not discuss the possibility of direct flights from the Israeli-occupied territories to Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage Hajj to the holy city of Mecca this year.

According to the N12 news site, Saudi authorities presented a list of demands for Israeli concessions vis-A -vis the Palestinians.

Those demands include allowing the Palestinian security apparatus to be strengthened at the expense of Israeli military forces in the occupied West Bank, the report said.

MBS also requested Palestinian security control over al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.

Last week, Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen told The Jerusalem Post newspaper normalization with Saudi Arabia was "not a matter of if, but of when. We and Saudi Arabia have the same interests."

He said White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein had spoken to the Saudi crown prince about dAtente with Israel during their visit to Jeddah earlier this month.

Normalization with Saudi Arabia could come within the next six months to a year, though senior Saudi officials have always said publicly that headway must be made between Israel and the Palestinians for Riyadh to take that step, Cohen told N12 Saturday night.

"The Palestinian issue was and remains the central issue for Arab countries, and it is at the top of the kingdom's priorities," MBS said at the Arab League summit in Jeddah.

"We will not delay in providing assistance to the Palestinian people in recovering their lands, restoring their legitimate rights and establishing an independent state on the 1967 borders with East al-Quds as its capital," he noted.

Saudi Arabia did not show any opposition when the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in 2020 became the first Arab countries in decades to normalize relations with Israel in a deal brokered by former US President Donald Trump.

The oil-rich kingdom is yet to jump on the bandwagon, but the two sides have seen growing contacts and de-facto rapprochement in recent years, despite claims that it is committed to the 2002 so-called Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions normalizing ties with Israel on the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

The Riyadh regime in November 2020 granted permission for Israeli airlines to use its airspace, hours before the first Israeli flight to the UAE was set to take off.

Palestinian leaders, activists and ordinary people have repeatedly rejected Arab-Israeli normalization deals as "a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people."

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Experts are advising healthcare workers to treat all diarrhoea cases as suspected Cholera until proven otherwise.

This is while government is working tirelessly to contain the spread of the disease that has already claimed 15 lives in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.

Head of the Centre for Enteric Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Dr Juno Thomas, said the hallmark of cholera is acute watery diarrhoea.

"This is defined as diarrhoea lasting less than seven days, which is typically watery, non-bloody liquid stools that may contain a bit of mucous," she explained, adding that diarrhoea is three or more stools within 24 hours.

Speaking during a webinar on Tuesday, she said 20% of those infected with cholera - caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae - develop acute watery diarrhoea and most patients may vomit, while fever is mostly absent.

"The classical appearance of stool in severe cases is described as rice water."

However, according to Thomas, in many cases with mild to moderate cholera, stool is watery but coloured.

"Therefore, any acute watery stool, regardless of colour, must be regarded as suspected cholera."

According to the latest data, Gauteng and Free State are the hardest hit, while another case of cholera has been detected in another province yet to be confirmed.

South Africa reported its first cholera death in February after the virus arrived in the country from Malawi.

"Locally acquired cases are of great concern because it often means there are many infections that have not been identified."

Ideally, Thomas said, clinicians should alert the lab before submitting a specimen from a suspected cholera case.

"Patient management must never wait for a laboratory diagnosis. The laboratory diagnosis is for public health action and not to guide individual patient management," she stressed.

Meanwhile, Wits University's infectious diseases specialist, Dr Jeremy Nel, said it was uncommon for adults to have severe dehydration from diarrhoea.

"So, always think of cholera," Nel stressed.

"If you get the fluids right in cholera, you're almost fine ... Remember that fluid hydration is 90% of the management of cholera. If you get this right, even if you don't have antibiotics and forget about other components, you're almost certain you'll be saving their lives."

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Therefore, he said it was important for clinicians not to delay rehydrating the patient.

"The oral volume of fluid for moderate cases can be excessive, so intravenous administration of some or all of the fluid is often necessary."

Meanwhile, the Department of Health's Aneliswa Cele, said as of 21 May 2023, cholera has been reported in at least 24 countries, of which 15 are in Africa.

"Given the ongoing cholera outbreaks in the South African region, there is a high possibility of continued importation of cases to South Africa."

Cele urged clinicians to maintain a "high index" of suspension for cholera in patients who present acute watery diarrhoea.

"Surveillance measures should be strengthened to enable early detection of cases. That is why in Free State, for instance, we have a national team on the ground to support the provincial team."

In the meantime, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has sent technical teams to work with the City of Tshwane and the Department of Health in response to the cholera outbreak.

He has since directed the City of Tshwane to stop supplying water from the Temba Water Treatment plant after the tests found that the drinking water quality does not meet the minimum drinking water quality.
Vice President Lai pledges to uphold cross-strait status quo

ROC Central News Agency

05/23/2023 05:45 PM

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) Vice President and presidential hopeful Lai Ching-te (ea) said Tuesday there were "no winners in war," as he underlined his continued support for the Taiwan Strait "status quo."

At a meeting with visiting Saint Lucia Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire at the Presidential Office, Lai said he would strive to "uphold the peaceful and stable status quo of the Taiwan Strait in the future."

"Peace is precious, and there are no winners in war," said Lai, who has been selected as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate.

"Peace and stability are in the interest of all nations in the world," he added.

Lai also called on democracies in the world "not to be restricted by the 'One China' principle," without elaborating.

The "One China" principle, adhered to by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and some of its closest allies, supports the notion that "there is only one China in the world" of which Taiwan is a sovereign part.

The U.S.' "One China" policy, meanwhile, is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Six Assurances, as well as the three U.S.-China Joint Communiques, which state that Washington "acknowledges" Beijing's position.

Lai went on to say that as a member of the international community, Taiwan should not be excluded from participating in global affairs, a clear reference to Taiwan's exclusion from the ongoing World Health Assembly (WHA), the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual decision-making forum.

Echoing Lai's comments, Hilaire said Taiwan "must be accepted as a full partner in all international institutions," something that would "enrich global civilization" and "strengthen the world."

Saint Lucia will continue championing Taiwan as it endeavors to take part in international organizations, said Hilaire, who arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a five-day visit.

Taiwan was not invited to this year's WHA, currently being held in Geneva, Switzerland, despite support from the U.S. and its democratic allies.

Taiwan's foreign ministry has blamed Beijing for "outrageous and unreasonable" attempts to block Taiwan's participation in the WHA, saying in a press release on Monday that the country had been excluded from the assembly "because of political pressure from China."

The Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, left the WHO in 1972 following a decision by the United Nations to recognize the PRC as the only "legitimate representative of China."

Taiwan was allowed to attend the WHA as an observer under the designation "Chinese Taipei" from 2009-2016, when cross-Taiwan Strait relations were warmer under the then Kuomintang government.

However, the country has been blocked from attending the WHA since 2017, a year after the independence-leaning DPP took power.

(By Teng Pei-ju)

Enditem/ASG

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7 countries use WHA addresses to speak up for Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

05/23/2023 04:08 PM

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) A total of seven countries spoke on behalf of Taiwan's inclusion in the World Health Organization (WHO) during the second day of the U.N. agency's annual decision-making meeting in Geneva Monday.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), government representatives from the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Czech Republic, France and Canada referenced support for Taiwan in their addresses to the World Health Assembly (WHA).

Despite not maintaining diplomatic relations with Taipei, all seven have publicly recognized Taiwan as a model for global public health that deserves to be included in WHO meetings and mechanisms and be invited to the WHA as an observer, according to MOFA.

For instance, Akiko Honda, Japan's Vice Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, said that in addressing global health issues, "it is important to refer to good examples that have achieved public health success such as Taiwan, and avoid creating a geographical vacuum [with regards to pandemic prevention] by leaving a specific region behind."

Carolyn Bennett, Canada's minister of mental health and addictions and associate minister of health, said that Ottawa supported "efforts to update the International Health Regulations and develop an international pandemic instrument."

"This also means it's crucial to build a global health community where everyone is included and meaningfully participates -- this is why Canada calls for Taiwan's inclusion as an observer at the World Health Assembly," she added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said the world faced common health problems that required shared solutions.

"The United States continues to strongly support Taiwan's meaningful participation at the World Health Assembly and in the WHO's work more broadly," he added.

Their words of support were issued a day after WHA members rejected a proposal from Taiwan's diplomatic allies, including Belize, Nauru, Eswatini and the Marshall Islands, to put Taiwan's observer status on the WHA's agenda.

That proposal, however, was ultimately rejected by the WHA following objections from the People's Republic of China (PRC), which views Taiwan as part of its territory.

In its press release, MOFA thanked like-minded countries and allied nations for their support at the WHA.

Taiwan will continue to uphold the principles of professionalism and pragmatism to contribute to the global community and safeguard world health.

It also called on the WHO to uphold professionalism and political neutrality and allow Taiwanese participation, which it said would benefit global epidemic prevention and public health.

The Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, left the WHO in 1972 following a decision by the U.N. to expel the ROC and recognize the PRC as the only "legitimate representative of China."

Since then, Taiwan has been unable to attend the WHA even as an observer, except from 2009 to 2016, when cross-Taiwan Strait relations were warmer under Taiwan's then-Kuomintang government.

(By Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/ASG

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NSB warns of threat posed by China's overseas police stations

ROC Central News Agency

05/23/2023 09:48 PM

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) The National Security Bureau (NSB) has warned Taiwanese citizens to remain alert to the threat of covert surveillance by illegal Chinese overseas police stations.

According to a recent NSB report submitted to the Legislative Yuan, China has been operating more than 100 "police-qiao (diaspora) service stations" overseas since 2016 to track dissidents and alleged criminals.

The NSB said the police stations, which often operate out of convenience stores, diners and private homes, are used to surveil overseas Chinese and persuade those accused of committing a crime back in China to return, the NSB said.

A majority of the service stations are supervised by Chinese public security authorities based in Wenzhou, Lishui, and Qingtian cities in Zhejiang Province, Nantong City in Jiangsu Province, as well as Fujian Province, according to the NSB.

The NSB said it would continue working with other countries to monitor any Chinese movement that threatens the Taiwanese people, adding that the personnel manning China's secret police stations had kept a lower profile after the United States began criminal proceedings against one such operation earlier this year.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), two New Yorkers were charged on April 17 with opening and operating an illegal overseas police station, located in lower Manhattan for a provincial branch of China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

U.S. authorities allege that Beijing used the overseas police station to harass U.S. residents, including through the use of "repeated unsolicited telephone calls ... and threats of violence against family members" of those who refused to return to China.

"The People's Republic of China's (PRC's) actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression," the DOJ said.

Last year, civic groups in Taiwan, including Spain-headquartered nongovernmental organization Safeguard Defenders, called on the government to step up efforts to counter China's campaign of transnational repression.

(By Matt Yu and Lee Hsin-Yin)

Enditem/ASG

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China warns US over trade ties with Taiwan after agreement reached

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 4:28 PM

China has warned the United States over "economic and trade relations with Taiwan," after Washington reached an agreement with Taipei to boost trade ties despite Bejiing's strong objections.

The United States and Taiwan reached an agreement last week on the first stage of a bilateral trade initiative, titled the US-Taiwan Initiative of 21st Century Trade, less than a year after negotiations began.

It will be the first official trade agreement between Taipei and Washington since US President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021.

The pact is not expected to alter goods tariffs, but proponents say it will strengthen economic bonds between the US and Taiwan. It will also open the self-ruled island to more US exports.

"This accomplishment represents an important step forward in strengthening the US-Taiwan economic relationship," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement on Friday.

"It demonstrates how we can work together and advance mutual trade priorities on behalf of our people. We look forward to continuing these negotiations and finalizing a robust and high-standard trade agreement that tackles pressing 21st-century economic challenges," she added.

In a reaction to the announcement, China's Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday called on Washington to "carefully handle economic and trade relations with Taiwan."

China views the island as an inseparable part of the mainland, repeatedly warming Washington against unwise provocations in this regard.

It has repeatedly opposed Taiwan's contacts with the US, warning that the Taiwan issue is "the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations."

The United States does not recognize Taiwan as a country and officially supports the "One China" policy but regularly oversteps its own principles.

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China's commerce ministry slams US 'trade initiative' talks with island of Taiwan

Global Times

By Global Times Published: May 24, 2023 02:08 AM

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) strongly criticized the United States for engaging in so-called "trade initiative" talks with Taiwan, asserting that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the one-China principle is the prerequisite for China's Taiwan region to participate in external economic cooperation.

China strongly opposes official interaction of any form between China's Taiwan region and countries that have diplomatic relations with China. That includes negotiating or signing any agreement that implies sovereignty and has an official nature, a spokesperson for MOFCOM said in a statement.

The US needs to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiquAs with concrete actions, and earnestly deliver on its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence" and prudently handle its economic and trade relations with Taiwan, the spokesperson said.

The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced on Thursday (US time) that the US and China's Taiwan region had concluded negotiations on a so-called "21st Century Trade Initiative."

Later on Friday, China's Foreign Ministry slammed the US move, stating that it gravely violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiquAs, and contravenes the US' own commitment of maintaining only unofficial relations with Taiwan. China deplores and strongly opposes this move.

During a press conference, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, called on the US to stop sending any wrong messages to separatist forces seeking "Taiwan independence" in the name of economy and trade.

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UK special forces operated secretly in 19 countries since 2011: Report

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 4:57 PM

Britain's special forces have carried out secret operations in 19 countries over the past 12 years, according to a report.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that 11 out of the 19 countries where UK special forces operated secretly were Muslim nations.

An investigation by a research group, Action on Armed Violence, revealed that the UK's elite military units carried out covert operations in Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Kenya, the Philippines, as well as Muslim countries of Iraq, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Oman, Somalia and Yemen.

They were most recently involved in Sudan after the outbreak of violence in the African country.

UK special forces units were also sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to the report.

The authors of the investigative report said UK special forces carried out secret operations in France, Mali, Cyprus and Estonia, as well.

Particularly in Syria, UK special forces have had continuous military activity since 2012 in a joint effort with opposition forces aimed at toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

In Ukraine, the Pentagon documents leaked earlier this year showed that fifty members of UK special forces were in the former Soviet republic alongside Kiev forces fighting against Russia.

The exact mission of the UK special forces was not stated in the Pentagon's leaked papers.

Britain's operations in the past included extracting, evacuation and transporting UK nationals from conflict zones, hostage rescues, exfiltration, training courses and protection.

During his tenure, Britain's former Prime Minister David Cameron had even reportedly granted a "carte blanche," otherwise a license to kill, to the members of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) of the country.

High-risk operations across the globe -- which are largely carried out by members of the SAS, Special Boat Service and Special Reconnaissance Regiment, among other secretive military units such as the 18 (UKSF) Signals Regiment and the Future Commando Force (FCF), are directly ordered by the prime minister or defense secretary and are kept highly secret.

Major military acts of war conducted by UK special forces must be approved by the British parliament; however, small-scale special forces operations can be carried out without MPs' permission and are not subject to committee investigations.

In this regard, UK special forces were the subject of scrutiny after a public inquiry found that units had carried out more than 50 summary executions of alleged Taliban members in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011.

Meantime, the UK policy, detailed in the Command Paper, Defense in a Competitive Age, mandates the military to increase its secret operations in other countries to protect Britain's interests across the globe.

The doctrine requires a shift in focus for the future in order to counter Russia and China.

In related news, UK Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace warned last week about the growing threat of Russia and China, saying "conflict is coming."

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War in Ukraine - Military support for Ukraine

Germany - Federal Government

Tuesday, 23 May 2023

Germany provides support for Ukraine by supplying equipment and weapons, these come from supplies of the Federal Arms Forces and from deliveries from industry financed from the Federal Government's funds for security capacity building. An overview.

This list provides an overview of military assistance provided by the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine. It includes deliveries from the Federal Armed Forces, from industry and assistance measures together with partners, which have, inter alia, been financed from Federal Government funds for security capacity building.

Funding for the security capacity building initiative amounts to 5.4 billion Euros for 2023 (after 2 billion Euros for 2022) and additional authorisations to enter commitments in the following years amounting to 10.5 billion Euros. These funds are to be used primarily for military assistance to Ukraine. At the same time, they will be used for re-filling Federal Armed Forces stocks for items delivered to Ukraine as well as for Germany's contributions to the European Peace Facility (EPF), from which costs incurred from providing military assistance to Ukraine can be re-imbursed to EU member states.

Delivered military support to Ukraine:

(Changes compared to the previous update in bold)

Armoured fighting vehicles

18 LEOPARD 2 A 6 main battle tanks with ammunition (German share in joint project with further LEOPARD 2 operators)

40 infantry fighting vehicles MARDER with ammunition (from Bundeswehr and industry stocks*)

50 MRAP vehicles DINGO

54 M113 armoured personnel carriers each with 2 MG* (systems of Denmark, upgrades financed by Germany)

118 MG3 for LEOPARD 2, MARDER and DACHS

Spare parts for LEOPARD 2 and MARDER

Air defence

1 air surveillance radar TRML-4D*

2 air defence system Iris-T SLM*

Iris-T SLM missiles*

air defence system PATRIOT with missiles

34 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns GEPARD including circa 6.000 rounds of ammunition*

53,000 rounds ammunitions for self-propelled anti-aircraft guns

4,000 rounds practice ammunitions for self-propelled anti-aircraft guns

500 Man Portable Air Defense Systems STINGER

2,700 Man Portable Air Defense Systems STRELA

Artillery

5 multiple rocket launchers MARS II with ammunition (German share in joint project with USA and Great Britain)

ammunition for multiple rocket launchers MARS II

14 self-propelled howitzers Panzerhaubitze 2000 (German share in joint project with the Netherlands)

23,500 projectiles 155mm

155mm precision guided ammunition*

20 rocket launchers 70mm on pick-up trucks with rockets*

counter battery radar system COBRA*

Military Engineering Capabilities

8 bridge-laying tanks BEAVER* (before: 6)

11 mobile and protected mine clearing systems* (before: 8)

15 armoured recovery vehicles Bergepanzer 2*

4 armoured engineer vehicles DACHS*

2 armoured recovery vehicles Bergepanzer 3

2 mine clearing tanks WISENT 1*

3 mobile, remote controlled and protected mine clearing systems*

17 heavy and medium bridge systems*

6 palettes material for explosive ordnance disposal

Protective and Special Equipment

54 reconnaissance drones VECTOR*

40 frequency range extensions for anti-drone devices* (before: 32)

130 border protection vehicles* (before: 124)

1 communications electronic scanner/jammer systems*

32 reconnaissance drones*

42 mobile antenna mast systems*

90 drone detection systems*

40 laser target designators*

55 anti-drone sensors and jammers*

10 unmanned surface vessels*

10 anti-drone guns*

28,000 combat helmets

125 binoculars

600 safety glasses

1 radio frequency system

3,000 field telephones with 5.000 cable reels and carrying straps

353 night vision goggles*

12 electronic anti-drone devices*

165 field glasses*

38 laser range finders*

6 mobile decontamination vehicles HEP 70 including decontamination material

10 HMMWV (8x ground radar capability, 2x jamming/anti drone capability)*

7 radio jammers*

8 mobile ground surveillance radars and thermal imaging cameras*

1 high frequency unit with equipment*

Logistics

4 load-handling trucks 8x6 with 20 roll of containers* (before: 2)

17 truck tractor trains 8x8 HX81 and 12 semi-trailers* (before: 12)

288 vehicles (trucks, minibuses, all-terrain vehicles) (before: 280)

179 Pick-ups* (before: 145)

92 trucks Zetros* (before: 84)

12 tank transporter tractor M1070 Oshkosh*

26 load-handling trucks 15t*

12 heavy duty trailer trucks and 4 semi-trailers*

35 load-handling trucks 8x8

30 protected vehicles*

10 roll off containers

7 tracked and remote controlled infantry vehicles for support tasks*

Combat Readiness and Survivability

83,520 rounds ammunition 40mm*

160,000 first aid kits*

103.000 tourniquets

500 pistols SFP9*

2 hangar tents*

8 lift trucks*

295 generators

10 winter camouflage nets

168 mobile heating systems*

36 ambulances*

36.400 wool blankets

14,000 sleeping bags

Mi-24 spare parts*

spare parts for heavy machine gun M2

200 tents

116.000 winter jackets

80.000 winter trousers

240.000 winter hats

405,000 pre-packaged military Meals Ready

67 fridges for medical material*

3,000 anti-tank weapons Panzerfaust 3 with 900 firing devices

14,900 anti-tank mines (9,300* from industry stocks)

22 million rounds of ammunition for fire arms

50 Bunkerfaust with 15 firing devices

100 machine gun MG3 with 500 spare barrels and breechblocks

100,000 hand grenades

5,300 explosive charges

100,000 m detonating cord and 100.000 detonators

350,000 detonators

100 auto-injector devices

15 palettes military clothing

1,200 hospital beds

18 palettes medical material, 60 surgical lights

protective clothing, surgical masks

1 field hospital (project jointly financed with Estonia)*

medical material (inter alia back packs, compression bandages)

Diesel and gasoline*

10 tons AdBlue*

500 medical gauzes*

MiG-29 spare parts*

7,944 man-portable anti-tank weapons RGW 90 Matador*

Military support to Ukraine in planning/in execution

(due to security concerns, the Federal Government abstains from providing details on transportation modalities and dates until after handover)

Armoured fighting vehicles

110 LEOPARD 1 main battle tanks* (project jointly financed with Denmark)

20 infantry fighting vehicles MARDER*

ammunition for LEOPARD 1*

ammunition for MARDER*

Air defence

6 air defence system IRIS-T SLM* (before: 2)

Iris-T SLM missiles*

12 launchers Iris-T SLS*

Iris-T SLS missiles (from Bundeswehr and industry stocks*)

7 air surveillance radars TRML-4D* (before: 2)

18 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns GEPARD* (before: 3)

300.000 rounds of GEPARD ammunition

Artillery

26,350 projectiles 155mm* (before: 6,350)

18 wheeled self-propelled howitzers RCH 155*

16 self-propelled howitzer Zuzana 2* (project jointly financed with Denmark and Norway)

Military Engineering Capabilities

5 bridges for bridge-laying tanks BEAVER*

18 bridge-laying tanks BEAVER*

3 mobile and protected mine clearing systems*

40 mine clearing tanks WISENT 1*

1 armoured engineer vehicles DACHS*

3 heavy and medium bridge systems*

Protective and Special Equipment

71 reconnaissance drones VECTOR*

121 reconnaissance drones* (before: 108)

10 unmanned surface vessels*

40 ground surveillance radars*

3 drone sensors*

1 Satcom surveillance system*

2000 portable light systems*

8 mobile antenna mast systems*

5 mobile reconnaissance systems (on vehicles) *

370 border protection vehicles*

vehicle decontamination system

11 communications electronic scanner/jammer systems*

Logistics

12 tank transporter tractor M1070 Oshkosh* (before: 1)

30 tank trucks (water/fuel)*

78 truck tractor trains and 86 semi-trailers*

3 load-handling trucks 8x6 with 8 roll of containers*

7 tracked and remote controlled infantry vehicles for support tasks*

73 heavy duty trailer trucks 8x8 HX81 and 78 semi-trailers*

2 tractors and 4 trailers*

10 protected vehicles*

108 trucks Zetros*

Combat Readiness and Survivability

13 ambulances*

continuing deliveries of medical material*

100 machine guns MG5*

100 grenade launchers GMG*

11,000 group module rations

40,000 first aid kits*

17 mobile heating systems*

132,480 rounds ammunition 40mm for grenade launchers*

field hospital (role 2)*

5,032 man-portable anti-tank weapons*

* Deliveries from industry stocks financed by German funds for security capacity building. Some of the deliveries require upgrades or productions is ongoing; also training measures take place.

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EU Defence Ministers discussed acceleration of military support to Ukraine and supply of necessary ammunition

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2023-05-23

International cooperation

May 23, Vice Minister of National Defence Ailvinas Tomkus attended a EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on defence in Brussels. The meeting addressed possibilities to accelerate the military support to Ukraine and ensure manufacturing and supply of the ammunition required.

EU Defence Ministers agreed this March at an informal meeting in Stockholm on a large-scale action plan for delivering ammunition to Ukraine and for joint acquisition of weaponry through EU institutions and mechanisms. EU member states agreed to an ambitious political commitment to ensure delivery of 1 million ammunition rounds to Ukraine over the period of 12 months.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell briedfed the Ministers today that member states already had supplied Ukraine with a significant amount of ammunition which is critical to its readiness to reoccupy its territories. Eurocommisioner Thierry Breton reported his visits to 29 industry companies in 15 member states and his commitment to make every effort to ramp up industrial manufacturing which is necessary to ensure additional ammunition to Ukraine and replenishment of member states' stocks.

"Ukraine has entered a critical phase of war, therefore the European Union and member states must fulfil their commitment to Ukraine and provide the million rounds of ammunition as soon as possible. Ukraine's victory in this war will be the foundation of a lasting peace in Europe," underscored Vice Minister A. Tomkus.

A. Tomkus confirmed Lithuania's readiness to take part in the joint acquisition of ammunition to be initiated by EU institutions and other countries. According to Vice Minister, the most important task now is to ensure the fastest possible ammunition delivery to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, that is why Lithuania expects concrete contracts with terms of conditions to be public within months.

Lithuania also actively supports the need to maintain flexibility in EU formats by acquiring ammunition not only from EU member states but also third party partners. It is critical given the risk the European defence industry may face challenges in meeting the ammunition supply to Ukraine targets in a timely manner.

Vice Minister also attended the EDA Steering Board meeting today where the first lessons learned from the war in Ukraine were discussed, as well as which capabilities ought to be developed by the EU in cooperation with NATO to maintain readiness for crises.

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NATO Secretary General addresses support to Ukraine with EU Defence Ministers

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

23 May. 2023

On Tuesday (23/05/2023), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in a meeting of the European Union defence ministers in Brussels.

The Secretary General stated NATO Allies and partners are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine. He welcomed the announcement by the US, the UK and other European NATO Allies that they are going to start training Ukrainian pilots in fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s. He stressed that this is part of our long-term commitment to Ukraine's ability to defend itself.

Mr. Stoltenberg called for even closer cooperation between NATO and the European Union to ramp up production of ammunition and defensive equipment, both to support Ukraine and to replenish our own stocks. He outlined NATO's unique role in setting standards for all NATO Allies, providing a clear demand signal through the NATO defence capability targets, and engaging regularly with industry to identify bottlenecks. The Secretary General said that NATO is revising capability targets, especially for battle-decisive ammunition, giving industry the long-term demand signal it needs to invest. He also stressed the need to ensure that ammunition is interoperable and interchangeable, and that there are no new barriers between European and North American NATO Allies.

The Secretary General announced that NATO will hold an informal event with transatlantic industry leaders on the margins of the next meeting of defence ministers in Brussels on June 15-16, to which he has also invited EU High Representative Borrell, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, and Ukrainian representatives.

The Secretary General also stressed the importance of NATO-EU cooperation on resilience and critical infrastructure, including through the joint taskforce.

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The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has assured the public that it is working on an integrated model to respond to the current cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.

Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, says the department has extended the scope of its existing technical team of experts in water services and regulations to work on this integrated model aimed at addressing the outbreak in Hammanskraal.

Mchunu said the technical team from the department will work directly with the national and provincial Departments of Health and the City of Tshwane to assist with matters, including water quality investigations from source, taps, stationary tanks in some households, and identifying the causes of the disease outbreak.

"The technical team will further extend the intensive assessment of the various water supply systems from Magalies and Rand Water Boards to confirm the current drinking quality standards.

"The department has recently confirmed that the dual water systems supplied by Magalies and Rand Water meet the drinking water quality standards, as per the South African National Standards (SANS) 241," Mchunu said.

Mchunu said the department has also directed the City of Tshwane to stop supplying water from the Temba Water Treatment plant to residents of Hammanskraal for human consumption.

"The city is currently providing potable water to affected communities that were initially supplied by the Temba Water Treatment Plant, through the deployment of water tankers," Mchunu said.

According to the Department of Health report, 15 people in Hammanskraal, including two children and 13 adults, have passed away due to the cholera outbreak.

"Forty-six people have been admitted at Jubilee District Hospital [with] 29 confirmed cases of Cholera. Eighteen patients were transferred to Dr George Mukhari and Steve Biko Academic Hospitals," the Department reported.

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Stakeholders called to collaborate to curb the spread

Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, has called on all stakeholders to cooperate with each other to curb the spread of the Cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal.

"The committee appreciates the collaborative effort from all spheres of government that will ensure that the country, as always, overcomes this problem. I also want to encourage the communities to follow instructions given on the treatment of water to endure safety," Committee Chairperson, Robert Mashego said.

Mashego also called on all stakeholders to leave no stone unturned in finding the source of the contamination and ensure thorough disinfections and cleaning.

"The committee reiterates its call made during its previous visit to the area that there must be a long term solution to the poor quality drinking water in the area. Also, various interventions were suggested that would have been implemented to ensure that the people of the area receive quality water.

"The investigation to be undertaken must provide a framework to be followed to ensure that this eventuality does not happen again. The people of Hammanskraal deserve much better service as guaranteed by the Constitution," Mashego said.

Mashego has extended his condolences to the families of 15 people who have passed due to the outbreak.

He also encouraged the communities to follow instructions given on the treatment of water.
Facts about Ukraine crisis: Ukrainian "sabotage" group breaks into Russia

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 10:55, May 23, 2023

MOSCOW/KIEV, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to the Ukraine crisis:

A Ukrainian Armed Forces "sabotage and reconnaissance group" has entered Russia's Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Monday.

The Russian military, together with the border service, the National Guard and the Federal Security Service (FSB), are taking the necessary measures to eliminate the enemy, Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Defense Ministry, the FSB and the border service have reported the incursion of the Ukrainian unit to President Vladimir Putin.

"Efforts are underway to push the saboteurs out of the Russian territory and destroy this group. There are enough forces and resources on the spot," Peskov said.

- - - -

Two Russian paramilitary groups are behind an operation in Russia's Belgorod region, which aims to create a "security strip" to protect Ukrainian civilians, Ukraine's broadcaster Suspilne reported Monday, citing a military spokesperson.

Andriy Yusov, the spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said that the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion groups are conducting the operation.

"The task and the result (of the operation) should be increased security and protection of the Ukrainian civilian population from terrorist attacks and shelling by terrorist groups," Yusov said.

Only Russian citizens are participating in the operation, he stressed.

Separately, Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was not involved in the situation in the Belgorod region.

"Ukraine is watching the events in the Belgorod region of Russia with interest and studying the situation, but it has nothing to do with it," Podolyak tweeted.

- - - -

Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Monday that the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut continues.

"Since yesterday, the situation in the Bakhmut direction has not changed significantly. The fighting continues," Malyar wrote in a Telegram post.

The Ukrainian forces control certain facilities in the "Litak" area of Bakhmut, while Russian troops are sweeping the areas of the city under their control, Malyar noted.

- - - -

"Re-enacting the Cold War would be foolish," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Sunday, calling for settling the Ukraine crisis under the auspices of the United Nations.

Lula made the remarks at the just-concluded Group of Seven (G7) summit working session as an invited state leader.

The Ukraine crisis should be discussed under a UN framework rather than the G7, he said at a press conference on Monday, criticizing the U.S. government for inciting tensions.

The Brazilian president told the press that the U.S. aid to Ukraine and unbridled attacks on Russia are not helping to solve the Ukraine crisis peacefully.

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West's weaponry for Ukraine pushing the world closer to 'nuclear apocalypse': Medvedev

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 7:48 PM

Russia has warned that supplying more destructive and advanced weapons by the US and its allies to Ukraine increases the probability of a "nuclear apocalypse."

Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently serving as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said on Tuesday that "the more weapons are supplied, the more dangerous the world will be," according to Russian news agencies.

"And the more destructive these weapons are, the more likely the scenario becomes of what is commonly called a nuclear apocalypse," he warned during a trip to Vietnam.

Russia began what it described as a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 as part of a national security measure against the persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance as well as protecting eastern Ukraine's Russian-speaking population against hostile attacks by Kiev.

Since then, the US and most European Union member countries have supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems.

The US has so far committed $48 billion in military aid and other assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Washington is the biggest supplier of weaponry to the Ukrainian military.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that the Western military assistance to Kiev will only prolong the war and that the West is engaged in a proxy war with Russia over Ukraine that could escalate into a much bigger conflict. The Kremlin also insists that it does not want to trigger a direct military confrontation between the US-backed NATO and Russia.

Medvedev's warning on Tuesday came four days after American President Joe Biden told fellow G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, that he supported a joint effort with allies to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom announced during a summit of European leaders in Reykjavik, Iceland, that it was working with the Netherlands to build a so-called international "jet coalition" to help Ukraine obtain F-16 fighter jets from its mostly Western allies.

France and Belgium have also offered to help train Ukrainian pilots on the modern fighter aircraft. This is while Britain, Germany and the US have so far refused to supply Kiev with their own combat aircraft.

On Wednesday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius admitted that his country has neither the training capacity nor the right military equipment to be part of the so-called Western effort to secure advanced warplanes for Ukraine.

Separately on Tuesday, the Kremlin also said that further pledges of military aid to Ukraine by Western countries would not alter the situation on the front, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warning that supplying Ukraine with modern F-16 fighter jets would come with "obvious risks."

A day earlier, Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov also stressed that any transfer of the US jets to Ukraine would be "absolutely pointless and stupid."

In another development on Tuesday, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said that the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets has begun in Poland.

"I am happy that finally, the training of the pilots for the F-16 has started in several countries. It will take time, but the sooner the better," he said at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels.

Poland, a neighbor to Ukraine and one of its biggest supporters has said for months it is ready to train Ukrainian pilots on the warplanes.

Ukraine, which largely operates aged Soviet-era warplanes, has placed the US-made warplane at the top of its wish list in an attempt to gain access to advanced jet fighters.

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Ukraine losing 10,000 drones per month to Russia: UK think tank

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 10:03 AM

Ukraine has suffered a massive loss of 10,000 drones per month in its war against Russia, which has effectively utilized electronic warfare to down the UAVs provided by the Western countries, a British think tank reports.

Russia's use of technology-based defense systems has contributed to the staggering loss of Ukrainian drones amid the persisting use of navigational interference by the Russian military in the battle area as a form of electronic protection, the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) unveiled in a new report.

The report appears to entirely dismiss earlier media campaigns by Western news outlets, blaming Russian use of a large number of "Iranian drones" for major losses inflicted on Ukrainian side. Both Tehran and Moscow had totally rejected such reports.

RUSI further insisted, Russia has demonstrated that it is "highly capable" of intercepting and decrypting Ukrainian military communications.

"Russian EW is also apparently achieving real-time interception and decryption of Ukrainian [US-made] Motorola 256-bit encrypted tactical communications systems, which are widely employed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the report added.

It also pointed out that Russian troops have adjusted their sending of electronic warfare systems, setting one around each 10 kilometer along the front lines, which run through Ukraine's eastern and southern districts.

According to the report, Ukraine's monumental losses of drones include both military and commercial UAVs that have been heavily utilized for its war with Russia.

It then noted that Gyrocopter, a commercial drone, has been used for "reconnaissance" while other types have been used in direct assaults as well as targeting tools to coordinate artillery barrages.

Despite its incredibly high losses of UAVs, the report further underlines that Kiev is capable of making, purchasing and acquiring the required number of drones, without elaborating on the funding amid the country's broken economy and the widely reported fact that it obtains nearly all of its weaponry through military grants from the US and the European Union.

Other changes have been identified in Russian military operations during the second year of the war, the RUSI report adds. It found that Russian forces are flexible and make changes to redress their deficiencies.

Although the Ukraine conflict has witnessed "high-tech tactics stalled or countered by rough terrain, electronic jammers and older tactics such as trench warfare, the use of drones has been a major part of both side's doctrine," the report emphasizes.

"In addition to reconnaissance purposes, they've been used in direct assaults as well as targeting tools to coordinate artillery barrages, the latter of which has been a dominant element in the conflict."

The West has supplied Kiev with tens of billions of dollars worth of various weaponry since the onset of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine last year.

Moscow insists it launched the operation as a security measure against persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance and the protection of the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine from abusive treatment by Kiev forces.

Western countries, led by the US, have been providing massive amounts of arms and munitions to Ukraine with a declared objective of prolonging the war against Russia and keeping Moscow engaged in a protracted conflict with neighboring Ukraine.



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Counter-terrorism op. in Russia's Belgorod after deadly raid by Ukraine-based militants

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 8:50 AM

Ukraine-based militants have staged a "sabotage" raid on Russia's border city of Belgorod, killing a woman and injuring eight other civilians while prompting a counter-terrorism operation, its governor declared.

"On the situation in the Graivoron district: the cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defense together with law enforcement agencies continues," said Belgorod's Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in a Telegram post on Tuesday with the Kremlin's spokesman insisting that the raid was aimed at diverting attention from the victory of Russian forces in capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut a day earlier after a fierce six-month battle.

"I now appeal to the residents of the Graivoron district, who ... temporarily left their homes, it is not possible to return yet," Gladkov added.

The armed intrusion has been confirmed by Kiev, with a spokesman for Ukraine's Directorate of Intelligence, Andrey Yusov, claiming that it was "exclusively" waged by Russian collaborationist units fighting for Kiev, namely the so-called legion 'Freedom of Russia' and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK).

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared on Monday that the Russian Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Border Service reported to President Vladimir Putin about the attempt to break into the Belgorod region by Ukrainian saboteurs.

"Work is underway to push them out of the Russian territory and destroy this sabotage group," Peskov added, noting that "there are enough forces and resources on the spot."

The purpose of the sabotage acts, like the one in the Belgorod region, is to divert attention from what is going on in the city of Bakhmut and to minimize the political effect of Ukraine's loss of city, he underlined.

Belgorod's governor said on the Telegram messaging app. that, "I now appeal to the residents of the Graivoron district, who ... temporarily left their homes, it is not possible to return yet."

Gladkov further stated that several people were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds and a kindergarten caught fire after shelling in the Grayvoronsky district of the city.

The raid was reportedly similar to an earlier incursion into Russia's Bryansk Region in early March that left two Russian civilians dead, with the RDK claiming responsibility for it.

Western news outlets also cited militant groups called "the Freedom of Russia Legion" and "the Russian Volunteer Corps" as claiming on Monday that they "liberated" the town of Kozinka in Belgorod and were now entering the town of Grayvoron.

Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February 2022 as a national security measure against persisting eastern expansion of the US-led NATO military alliance.

Russia views the alliance's efforts to make Ukraine a member and to deploy missiles close to its borders as a direct threat to Russian territory.

The West has supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of advance weaponry since the onset of the conflict with the stated objective of prolonging the war and keeping Russian engaged in a protracted conflict.





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Fighting Appears to End In Russia's Belgorod After Cross-Border Incursion

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, RFE/RL's Russian Service May 23, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops on the front line in the eastern Donetsk region as fighting appeared to cease around Russia's Belgorod region a day after armed fighters from inside Ukraine launched one of the largest cross-border incursions since the start of the war.

The Russian Defense Ministry on May 23 claimed that its troops had surrounded enemy fighters and used "air strikes, artillery fire, and active action by border units" to push back the forces, killing many of them.

It was not possible to independently confirm the claims, but the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said so-called anti-terrorism measures introduced earlier had been called off.

And one of two groups claiming to be behind the raid -- the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) -- said on social media that "one day we will return to stay."

The RVC and the Freedom of Russia Legion claimed responsibility for the incursion that shocked local residents and Russian authorities. They said they were anti-Kremlin Russian fighters seeking to overthrow President Vladimir Putin.

It was not immediately clear if the fighters had crossed back into Ukraine after battling in several border-area villages.

The incursion into Russian territory may be the biggest since the Kremlin launched its war against Ukraine 15 months ago and underscores Moscow's overall lack of manpower.

The Ukrainian government has denied any role in the events.

Upon return from an extended trip abroad, Zelenskiy traveled to the front on May 23 and congratulated the military on Ukrainian Marine Corps Day. He posted pictures of himself handing out medals to fighters at a site near the southern Ukrainian city of Vuhledar.

"Every day on the battlefield, Ukrainian marines prove they are a powerful force that destroys the enemy, liberates Ukrainian land, and performs the most difficult tasks in most difficult conditions," Zelenskiy said.

"From today," he added, "we are significantly increasing the potential of the marines and creating a Marine Corps."

Both sides claim successes in the eastern city of Bakhmut, with Russia saying it now had the city under its control after a monthslong battle that is estimated to have caused thousands of casualties.

The Ukrainian military says fighting continues in and around Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces repelling 30 Russian assaults over the past day in the city.

Ukrainian forces made some progress on the northern and southern flanks of Bakhmut, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said on May 23.

"The battle continues. Our defense forces are making progress on the flanks," Syrskiy wrote on Telegram.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote separately on Telegram that fighting in the city has decreased overall, though it continues in the suburbs.

Malyar said Ukrainian progress in Bakhmut is "insignificant," but Russia is sustaining "great losses."

Ukraine's military general staff said on May 23 there had been no missile attacks in Ukraine over the past 24 hours, but it said Russian forces launched some two dozen air strikes and artillery fire to blast several towns and villages.

"There are, unfortunately, dead and wounded civilians and private homes, and administrative infrastructure have been damaged," it said.

On the diplomatic front, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg rejected claims by the Kremlin that the training of Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-produced F-16 fighter jets made NATO a participant in the war.

"We help Ukraine to uphold that right [to defend itself]. That doesn't make NATO and NATO allies a party to the conflict," he told reporters in Brussels.

Valeriy Zaluzhniy, commander-in-chief of Ukrainian forces, said he had a telephone conversation with the U.S. supreme allied commander in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli.

Zaluzhniy said in a Facebook post that the two discussed the need to strengthen Ukraine's air defense, in particular with the help of F-16 fighters, and increase the supply of ammunition.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russian- missile-strikes-regions-bakhmut/32423683.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Orban: Ukraine Has 'No Chance' of Beating Russia

Sputnik News

20230523

Wyatt Reed

Mainstream media is vilifying Hungary's popular president once again after he explained why he declined to authorize another half billion in weapons for the Kiev regime.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is facing more pushback from Western media after pointing out that Ukraine has "no chance" of beating Russia while rejecting the latest attempt by Brussels to send more weapons to Ukraine.

In an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, Orban told a US business journal "it's obvious that the battlefield solution does not work," before explaining why the Zelensky regime has proven unable to achieve military victory over Russian forces.

"Looking at the reality, looking at the figures, looking at the surroundings, looking at the fact that NATO is not ready to send troops, it's obvious that there is no victory for poor Ukrainians on the battlefield," he said, adding, "that's my position."

Last week, Hungary blocked the European Union from allocating the eighth a500 million package from the so-called "European Peace Fund" to pay for the weapons that EU member states have been sending to the conflict zone.

Orban expressed sympathy for Ukrainians but insisted that if the goal is to "save lives," Western governments are going about things backwards.

"Emotionally it's tragic, all of our hearts are with the Ukrainians," but "talking as a politician who should save lives... there's no chance to win this war," he noted.

The veteran Hungarian leader pointed out the ongoing hostilities stem from a "failure of diplomacy."

Rather than pursuing a strategy of ramping up tensions, Orban urged an immediate ceasefire instead.

"Escalation should be stopped and we should argue in favor of peace and negotiations," Orban told the outlet. "As a state, Ukraine is of course very important but in the longer term, strategically thinking, what is at stake is the future security of Europe."

But, like it or not, security in Europe can only be assured with Moscow's buy-in, he explained.

"It is obvious that without the United States there is no security architecture for Europe. And this war cannot be stopped... unless the Russians can make an agreement with the United States," Orban noted. "As a European, I am not happy with that, but it is the only way out."

Orban has previously offered especially harsh criticisms of the European Union's aggressively anti-Russian policies, but this may be his starkest warning yet, and it's already being greeted with alarm in Kiev.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry denounced the comments as an attempt to absolve Russia of what it labeled Moscow's "responsibility for its aggression."

The US government's junior partners in Berlin weren't far behind, either. "I'm disappointed, or rather irritated, by the behavior of our Hungarian friends," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters in Brussels.

Orban has defended his strategy of neutrality by pointing out that, with 85% of Hungarian exports destined for other EU member states, the country can't simply leave the bloc. Likewise, with Budapest getting half of its energy needs met by Moscow, it can't simply abandon its economic ties to Russia, he says.

A Sputnik

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Medvedev: Kiev's Words About Non-Involvement in Sabotage Attacks in Russia Absolute Lie

Sputnik News

20230523

The deputy chairman of the Security Council and leader of the United Russia party, Dmitry Medvedev, has called the Ukrainian government's claims that it was not involved in sabotage attacks on Russian territory 'an absolute lie'.

"No matter how much chatter there is in Kiev that they have nothing to do with this - with this kind of sabotage, it is all a lie, of course, an absolute lie," Medvedev said when asked by journalists about the situation in the Belgorod region.

"The Kiev regime, and ultimately its sponsors across the ocean, are responsible for this. That is, Washington and the EU countries, together with countries like Britain and others who have joined them. This is their direct and immediate responsibility," he added.

Speaking about Kiev's subversive groups, Dmitriy Medvedev said:

"As for these scumbags - I can't call them anything else - there are different ways of characterizing them. The only question is what to do with them. They should be destroyed like rats, not even captured," Medvedev said in response to journalists' questions.

The more destructive weapons supplied to Kiev, the more likely the scenario of a nuclear apocalypse, Medvedev said.

"The more weapons are supplied, the more dangerous the world becomes, and the more destructive these weapons are, the more likely the scenario of what is commonly called a nuclear apocalypse becomes," he stressed.

Some of the alliances in the Asia-Pacific region are neutral in nature, while others are almost unfriendly: NATO is involved in global projects, Medvedev said.

Medvedev noted that some of the alliances and partnerships in the Pacific are neutral in relation to Russia and that Russia participates in some of them as an invited participant, such as ASEAN or ASEAN Plus. He stressed that military-technical cooperation with friendly countries did not stop amid a special military operation.

A Sputnik

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Ukrainian Radicals in Russia's Belgorod Region Blocked, Eliminated

Sputnik News

20230523

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukrainian nationalist formations that infiltrated Russia's Belgorod region have been blocked and defeated, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The Kiev regime, having suffered a defeat in the city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), proceeded to carry out terrorist actions against the civilian population. On May 22, after intensive artillery shelling of ... a number of civilian facilities in ... the Belgorod region, a unit of the Ukrainian nationalist formation invaded Russia's territory. In the course of the counter-terrorist operation, the nationalist formations were blocked and defeated by air strikes, artillery fire and the active actions of the units covering the state border of the Western Military District," the ministry said in a statement.

More than 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored fighting vehicles and five pickups were destroyed as a result of the counter-terrorist operation, the ministry said, adding that the rest were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated.

The governor of Belgorod Region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has denied that a sabotage and reconnaissance group from Ukraine re-entered the region.

"Reports are coming in from the Borisov district: Bogun-Gorodok village, Lozovaya Rudka farm and Tsapovka village. According to our information, there was shelling from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But no civilians were injured and there were no injuries. Some Telegram channels are beginning to interpret this information as an incursion by a sabotage group in the attempt to cause panic. No such approach has taken place. The FSB, Emergencies Ministry and Defense Ministry have not confirmed the information. The military is working it out," Gladkov wrote.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the incident with the Ukrainian sabotage group in Russia's Belgorod region causes deep concern and requires great efforts.

A Sputnik

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Hungary and Germany Quarrel Over Blocked Ukraine Military Aid - Reports

Sputnik News

20230523

Svertlana Ekimenko

Budapest has vehemently opposed Europe's arms supplies to Kiev, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban cautioning the European Union in February that it could sleepwalk into an armed conflict with Russia by sending increasingly deadly weapons to Ukraine.

Germany and Hungary exchanged some verbal broadsides during a closed-door foreign ministers' gathering in Brussels, a US media report stated.

Specifically, the exchange was triggered by the role of the OTP Bank (the National Savings and Commercial Bank of Hungary) in the Ukraine conflict, according to cited unnamed diplomats. Hungary, which has been opposing Europe's arms supplies to the Kiev regime for prolonging the conflict, has refused to approve more EU military aid for Ukraine.

As Peter Szijjarto reiterated Budapest's stance on the issue, his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, is described as referencing a spate of unspecified reports. These accused OTP of "recognizing" the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics.

On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, after referendums were held that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia.

The Hungarian bank was also accused of extending credit lines to Russian soldiers.

Peter Szijjarto is said to have rejected the accusations targeting the OTP bank, citing a statement released by the company which claimed the reports were "not correct."

According to those attending the gathering, the exchange was "civilized and in a normal framework of the discussion." However, this is said to have followed attempts by Sweden and Estonia at the same meeting to pressure Hungary to stop "stalling" over more sanctions against Russia.

Sanctions 'Contrary to Common Sense'

Earlier, Budapest blocked the release of the eighth tranche of EU military aid to Ukraine worth 500 million euros ($543 million) via the European Peace Facility (EPF), Brussels sources were cited as saying. Hungary allegedly demanded guarantees that the EPF maintain its "global" vision in the future and not be used exclusively for arming Kiev.

The EPF, set up in March 2021 under the Common Foreign and Security Policy to bolster the EU's role as a global security provider, declares its goals as maintenance of peace and the prevention of conflicts. However, last year, EU member states agreed to use the EPF to fund some of the military supplies to Ukraine.

Furthermore, one of the issues currently brought up by some European states is Ukraine's list of private companies it has branded "war sponsors." Among these is Hungary's OTP Bank. The Hungarian government will not grant its approval to the next tranche of the European Peace Facility to Ukraine unless Hungary's OTP Bank is removed from this list, Peter Szijjarto stated after a meeting with Alexander Schallenberg, his Austrian counterpart, on Monday.

"Further, serious proposals have been tabled in Brussels, expecting European people to take further sacrifices while they would not bring peace a centimeter closer", he said, according to a cited Foreign Ministry statement.

Peter Szijjarto was also quoted as denouncing the EU's planned 11th package of sanctions as "fully contrary to common sense." Underscoring that the previous 10 had failed, he reportedly also voiced concern about mulled EU measures targeting eight Chinese companies which could "certainly aggravate or even thwart" ties with China.

Last month, at an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg Peter Szijjarto yet again warned that delivery of military aid to Kiev only draws out the conflagration. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly lambasted arms manufacturers, raking in massive profits, and Western economic circles who hope to lay their hands on Russia's rich natural resources as the ones interested in seeing the Ukraine conflict rage on.

European countries have rustled up 10 sanctions packages against Russia since Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine. They have also threatened to impose secondary sanctions on countries allegedly helping Moscow evade restrictions. Earlier in May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled an 11th package of sanctions cobbled together by the European Commission. Besides aiming to add more products to the EU transit ban, it was proposed to combat sanctions circumvention, targeting "shadow" entities.

However, not only have these restrictions become self-harming, backfiring on those who introduced them, they have failed to "cripple" Russia's economy, as the Western supporters of the proxy war against Moscow in Ukraine had hoped.

As for weapons deliveries to Kiev, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.

A Sputnik

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Kiev Claims Netherlands May Become First Country to Supply F-16 Fighters to Ukraine

Sputnik News

20230523

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Netherlands may become the first country to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Kiev, Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said.

"The Netherlands are in a position to be [the] first [country delivering fighters]," he was quoted by media as saying.

Sak told media on Saturday that Kiev hopes to receive the first F-16s from foreign donors in late September or early October. In his previous interview, he said Ukraine hoped to receive up to 50 jet fighters from its allies.

On Monday, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said that countries should not make individual decisions about supplying fighter jets and that the issue must be negotiated within a larger coalition.

NATO allies recently pledged to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, the latest addition to the list of lethal weapons the West has provided to Ukraine as it gears up for a large-scale offensive against Russian forces.

A Sputnik

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Department of basic education needs to take responsibility for "devastating" literacy rates, say opposition and civil society

Briefing Parliament on Tuesday, the Department of Basic Education blamed poor literacy rates on the Covid pandemic.

Last week the Progress on International Reading Literacy Study found that 81% of South African grade 4 children cannot read for meaning.

Equal Education said government had failed to respond to the many challenges facing the education sector.

In Parliament on Tuesday, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) blamed poor literacy rates and the failure of its National Reading Plan (implemented in 2019) on the Covid pandemic.

Last week, the Progress on International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) results revealed that 81% of South African grade 4 children cannot read for meaning. In 2016 it was 78%.

The department is currently reviewing a national reading sector plan in an attempt to tackle the literacy crisis in learners' foundation phase.

The department's chief director for foundations for learning Kulula Manona told MPs that due to the Covid pandemic about 54% of contact time was lost in 2020, and 22% in 2021.

But DA MP Baxolile Nodada (the party's shadow minister for education) said the department had not taken responsibility for the "devastating" literacy rate.

Nodada said that "wholly blaming Covid-19 on the outcomes of the PIRLS results is quite meek", and that it was disappointing that the DBE was not taking some accountability for the literacy results.

Nodada also questioned the current National Reading Plan, which he said was not budgeted and lacked coordination in provincial departments. He also questioned whether there was an intention for the reading plan to be budgeted for going forward.

GroundUp and Viewfinder recently revealed how the National Reading Plan and "massive reading campaign" never got off the ground, despite the DBE claiming it had been implemented in all nine provinces.

Manona said a revised plan will address the gaps and challenges. The new reading sector strategy will focus on four strands, as opposed to the previous plan that focused on ten. The focus areas include: culturally relevant learning and teaching resources, skilled and versatile teachers, involved communities and parents, and an explicit policy framework.

Manona said the DBE is aware there are "systemic challenges" facing schools and teachers, such as class sizes in the foundation phase. Shortage of teachers is another issue.

Last week, GroundUp and Viewfinder reported on teachers in no-fee schools in Makhanda facing challenges with overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages making it difficult for learners to receive one-on-one support.

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Minister Angie Motshekga also spoke in Parliament on Tuesday. She said the literacy crisis is a "multi-layered" issue that included overcrowded classrooms, poverty, and lack of supportive parents. She said it would take joint responsibility to fix the literacy crisis and "it takes a village to raise a child". Motshekga also said "it's not money" but rather "many other things".

Motshekga said the PIRLS was not a competition and it gave the DBE an opportunity to learn from developed countries.

Equal Education (EE) released a statement on Tuesday criticising the department's failure to "address the deep cracks in the [education] system".

EE said the DBE cannot blame the literacy crisis on the pandemic alone.

"The ongoing reading crisis ... shows how poorly the government and education departments have recognised the multiple challenges in the sector and have failed to muster the necessary political will to address them," said EE.
Latest in Ukraine: Russia Contends It Has Repelled Incursion in Belgorod Region

By VOA News May 23, 2023

New developments:

Britain's defense ministry said Russian security forces "highly likely clashed with partisans" in Russia's Belgorod province, and that Russia is "facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions."

Two Ukrainian war veteran amputees covered a total of 120 kilometers walking toward each other to raise funds for medical equipment for Ukraine's main military hospital. "This is how we can help our brothers and sisters in arms, and in some way our country. Because our country is really fighting right now. We are all fighting in the ways we can."

A senior Russian official claimed Tuesday that Moscow's troops have repelled a cross-border raid from Ukraine in the Belgorod region, and that Russia killed more than 70 of the attackers in a battle that lasted about 24 hours.

In the fog of war, it was impossible to independently verify claims about the armed incursion that began Monday, or even who was behind it. Moscow blamed the raid on Ukrainian military saboteurs, while Kyiv contended that it was an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.

Russian dissidents unhappy about Russian President Vladimir Putin's policies instigated the assault, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday.

"These are Russian patriots, as we understand it. People who actually rebelled against the Putin regime," she said.

"There are no Ukrainian soldiers on Russian soil. They are not supervising their operation," said Ilya Ponomarev, an exiled Russian politician who resides in Ukraine and says that he is a political representative for the group involved in the operation. He told VOA's Ukrainian service "This operation is done by Russians on the Russian territory."

The fight took place about 80 kilometers north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the armed attackers were killed by local troop units, air strikes and artillery fire.

"The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated," Konashenkov said, without providing evidence. He did not mention any Russian casualties.

Konashenkov said four armored combat vehicles and five pickup trucks used by the attackers were destroyed. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the raid targeted the rural area around the town of Graivoron, about five kilometers from the border. Twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, he said, and an older woman died during the evacuation.

Russia's Investigative Committee, its top law enforcement agency, announced an investigation into alleged terrorism and attempted murder in connection with the incident. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the raid "elicits deep concerns," and a "bigger effort" was required to prevent such attacks in the future.

Zelenskyy visits front line troops

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday he visited troops on the front lines.

Without giving a specific location, Zelenskyy posted on Telegram a series of photos alongside members of the military.

"Our defenders. Frontline. Today I am here to congratulate our warriors on the Day of the Ukrainian Marines," Zelenskyy said.

"On his return from a foreign visit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the front line positions of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Vugledar-Maryinka defense line in Donetsk region," the presidency said in a statement.

The Ukrainian leader has made several trips to the front lines since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year. In recent weeks, his travels have been to European capitals to secure new pledges of military aid and make the case for allies sending advanced warplanes to aid Ukrainian forces.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said "it will take several months at best" to decide on supplying F-16s to Ukraine.

Speaking with reporters with the Defense Writers Group in Washington on Monday, Kendall said the F-16s "will give the Ukrainians an interim capability they don't have right now, but it's not going to be a dramatic game changer." He said, "airpower has not been a decisive factor so far," citing the effectiveness of ground-based air defense systems. "The F-16s are going to help the Ukrainians, but it's not going to fundamentally change that equation," he remarked.

War crimes tribunal

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly on Monday unanimously recognized Russia's crimes against Ukraine as genocide, striking "a diplomatic victory [for Ukraine with] far-reaching political consequences," said Yehor Cherniev, the head of Ukraine's delegation at the assembly in Luxembourg.

"This is our diplomatic victory. All of our key wishes regarding the final text of the declaration have been taken into account," Cherniev said.

The declaration includes support for an international tribunal for Russian war crimes, a pledge to help Ukraine achieve victory, a commitment to restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity, the implementation of further sanctions, and an aid program similar to the Marshall Plan to help restore the country's economy.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy hailed the declaration from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

"Things are called what they are: a clear recognition of Russia's crimes against our country as genocide, a clear condemnation of ruscist ideology," he said. "This is the right basis for other international organizations as well."

National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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VOA Exclusive: Ukrainians' Abrams Tanks Training Expected to Start in Days

By Carla Babb May 23, 2023

U.S. forces are expected to start training Ukrainians on M1A1 Abrams tanks "in the next week or so," Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told VOA on Tuesday.

About 250 Ukrainians are arriving in Germany this week for the training, a senior military official familiar with the training told VOA on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.

The Ukrainians will train on 31 Abrams tanks that arrived in Germany earlier this month. U.S. officials have said that a different set of 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks are being refurbished in the United States and will be delivered to Ukraine by the fall.

Training in Germany is expected to last about 10 weeks and will focus on how to operate the tanks, how to maneuver the tanks in a combined arms fight and tank maintenance, the official said.

The course structure will be similar to previous U.S.-led training on armored Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker vehicles, which were provided to Ukraine earlier this year, according to the official.

Abrams tanks, in particular, have been a long-awaited addition to the fight. The tank's thick armor and 1,500-horsepower turbine engine make it much more advanced than the Soviet-era tanks Ukraine has been using since the war's beginning.

The Biden administration announced in January that it would send a newer version of the Abrams tanks, known as M1A2, to Ukraine after they were procured and built, a process that could potentially take years.

In March, the administration pivoted to provide M1A1 Abrams tanks instead, to get the tanks "into the hands of the Ukrainians sooner rather than later," Ryder said at the time.

F-16s on agenda

The news of the Abrams tank training comes as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is set to host another virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Thursday.

Military and defense leaders from more than 50 nations are expected to focus on ground-based air defense, ammunition needs and F-16 training, Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon earlier Tuesday.

Ryder said F-16 training would be conducted outside of Ukraine at European sites, but it could be weeks or months before the training begins.

"F-16s for Ukraine are about the long term. These F-16s will not be relevant to the upcoming counteroffensive," he added.

After months of Ukraine pleading for Western fighter jets, U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said the U.S. would support a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter aircrafts, including F-16s.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko responded to the news on Saturday with a warning that Western countries would run "colossal risks" if they supplied Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, according to the TASS news agency.

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Russian Foreign Ministry: US Manipulates Data Published Under New Start Treaty

Sputnik News

20230523

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States is manipulating data it published under the under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), and the information shared by the US State Department does not comply with the treaty's rules for counting, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

"As for the attempts of Western countries to earn political points on information about the size of their nuclear potentials, then all this is frankly hypocritical," Ryabkov said in a statement, published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"Firstly, the declared figures are often fictitious or conditional. In particular, the US data on New START recently published by the US State Department continues to be misleading due to its inconsistency with the New START counting rules, which Washington is stubbornly trying to circumvent by unscrupulous manipulations."

Russia is transparent in nuclear matters and acts in a responsible manner, Ryabkov said, when asked about the G7 statement that claimed that only the Western nations are transparent when it comes to nuclear weapons.

"The data on the size of the arsenals of the United Kingdom and France are not verifiable at all and are purely declarative," the diplomat added.

He later emphasized that the West is trying to undermine China and Russia with their rhetoric on nuclear weapons.

A Sputnik

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Belgorod-22 / Military unit 25624

50.558061, 35.754448

In the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, fighting continued between the fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the security forces controlled by the Putin regime. The situation developed rapidly. For more than a day, the Russian security forces were in the role of helpless babies, unable to cope with a detachment of "saboteurs" who did what they wanted: they seized frontier posts, checkpoints and even enemy settlements.

According to the information coming from the Belgorod region, the RDK fighters passed the settlements of Kozinka, Glotovo and Gora-Podol almost unopposed and entered into battle with Putins security forces in the settlement of Grayvoron, from where the nuclear weapons storage base was a little more than 15 kilometers along the highway and less than 10 kilometers in a straight line.

Some speculated that the purpose of the special operation of the RDK is to capture the nuclear weapons storage base, which is located near the village of Antonovka. Moreover, it is to capture, and not to destroy, otherwise drones or missiles would be used. The nuclear weapons storage base Object 1150 or Belgorod-22 (military unit 25624), which is located just 17 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, and less than 10 kilometers from the place where active hostilities were taking place.

According to information from open sources, an unknown number of 240-mm 3VB11 rounds for 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled mortars with a special RD14 nuclear warhead, the so-called tactical nuclear weapon, was transported to the territory of this base from about the end of September 2022. There is a version that the Russian military wanted to use these ammunition in order to stop the counterattack on Kupyansk, but abandoned this idea. At the same time, they were not taken out of the Belgorod region either, back deep into the territory of Russia.

In Russia, an urgent evacuation was reportedly being carried out in the Graivoronsky district. Nuclear stockpiles are being removed from a nearby storage facility called Belgorod-22. This was stated by the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Yusov on the air of the telethon. The evacuation of nuclear stocks is connected with the entry into the territory of the Russian region of Russians from the Legion "Freedom of Russia" and the "Russian Volunteer Corps".

"The Belgorod-22 facility, which is a storage facility for nuclear weapons, is being evacuated as a matter of urgency. This place is located not far from the Graivoronsky district," the Ukrainian military intelligence representative said. According to Andrey Yusov, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDC) and the Freedom of Russia Legion operate within the Ukrainian legal framework as part of the Defense Forces, but operate autonomously on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Miliotary Unit 63936 facility is wonderful - very beautiful and healthy. The town itself - as if it got into the 70s, except that there are no slogans about the CPSU. There are problems with water: the heat is terrible, but there is nothing to drink (tap water smells like sewage). Theere is a swamp, part of it is in the forest, and they have their own well, they pump water from the swamp.

The officers reported to the soldiers' relatives, in short, then:

there is no hazing, as it were, this is being monitored. A lot of inspections for the absence of beatings, high requirements for compliance with the charters. The company commander said in the evening they inspect for beatings.

excellent supply for everyone, high nutritional standards and a variety of uniforms. Those who wish then went into the dining room, where all this abundance is laid out and arranged for viewing and sampling. The menu is varied, dishes to choose from.

medical care - at the height, from the medical unit and your own hospital to service (if necessary) at the Central Hospital of the Moscow Region near Moscow.

"soldier's tea room" - you can please yourself with something, if you have something. Those who wish also come to admire. We didn't go. In general, everyone's happiness and luck that they got here.

In fact, from the stories of the soldiers, the picture is somewhat corrected.

hazing in training, of course, there is practically no (where does it come from, after all, there is only one call; after the transfer to the combat unit, it will be clear - there will already be "old-timers" there). In general, it was liquidated recently, only a few months (!!!), so the previous call may still not know about it (!!!).

if the CAM soldier gives something or does something for the old-timers, the officers will not fight this (from the speech of the political officer of the unit)

The supply is uneven, even in training, different units are supplied differently. The same cigarettes are really issued to someone, to someone - they were not issued for this month. Hemming, shoe cream, etc. they asked relatives to bring them not in vain - in reality they were never given out. The equipment list is an ideal, a theoretical possibility; for example, the sneakers shown among the uniforms were seen only by the mobile company, the rest do without them.

food is not so varied, the choice is sometimes not for everyone, a number of dishes - only on holidays and weekends. In terms of volume - apparently enough, no one complained.

So the relatives were shown the perfect picture, window dressing for comfort; the real one will be told by the soldiers themselves after being transferred to the unit. Reality, as usual, is determined by junior officers, sergeants and previous conscription (as elsewhere, that is, everything is individual, as lucky). There are ponds on the territory of the unit, There are a lot of fish. Civilians are not allowed there, only the military catch, they fry carp in the dining room for soldiers.

Company FKU MILITARY UNIT 25624, address: Belgorod region, Graivoronsky district, Belgorod-22, st. Sadovaya, 2 was registered on 06/30/2003. The organization was assigned TIN 3123094766, PSRN 1033107017140, KPP 310801001. The main activity is activities related to ensuring military security, in total 27 types of activities are registered according to OKVED. There are no connections with other companies. Commander - Shkampletov Igor Vladimirovich. Company FKU VOYSKOVAYA PART 25624 did not take part in tenders. 1 enforcement proceeding was initiated against the company. FKU VOISKOVA PART 25624 participated in 112 arbitration cases: in 7 as a plaintiff, and in 10 as a defendant.

Military unit 25624 is a combination of parts with different numbers. Military unit 63936 is a regiment that belongs to military unit 25624. Military unit 63936 includes: auto battalion, security battalion, communications battalion, engineering battalion ... The address for letters and parcels to military unit 63936: 309372, Belgorod region, Graivoronsky district, Golovchino village (Belgorod-22), military unit 63936 and add the letter of the unit where your serviceman is located []"A" - training (pass KMB - Young Fighter Course)].

For citizens who have received a higher or secondary vocational education, in March 2020 there was an opportunity to voluntarily enter military service under a contract for a period of 2 years instead of military service by conscription. The average amount of allowance is from 35,000 to 60,000 rubles. Military unit 25624 is located 75 kilometers from the city of Belgorod, near the village. Golovchino and with. Antonovka, Graivoronsky district, Belgorod region. The military unit has a well-maintained residential town with a developed infrastructure. Military personnel live in 1-2-3-room comfortable apartments of 2-4 storey residential buildings. Prior to receiving official housing, servicemen are provided with rooms in a well-appointed dormitory and hotel. The command of the military unit 25624 is interested in attracting professional, disciplined, responsible citizens to military service under the contract

Those who wish to perform military service under a contract in formations and military units of special support of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation are also invited. Service in military units of special support of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is the fulfillment of tasks for the protection of special facilities, transportation and escort of special cargo.

Arguments in favor of choosing military service under a contract in military special support units:

increased by 25% in comparison with other military units salaries of monetary allowance for the occupied military position;

free clothing and medical support;

regulated mode of service with guaranteed provision of time for rest;

free travel to the place of vacation and back (depending on the region), the provision of additional days of vacation;

availability of service housing stock to accommodate military personnel and members of his family, as well as the possibility of reimbursement of expenses in the event of choosing housing for hire near the locations of military units

presence of own (departmental) social and cultural facilities (kindergartens, schools, garrison houses of officers, trade facilities, etc.) in the places of deployment of formations and military units;

providing jobs for the employment of wives of military personnel;

for all military personnel under the contract there is an opportunity to receive higher education and subsequent career growth.

AIn the Belgorod region, Russia announced the start of a counter-terrorist operation in the region on May 22. A number of restrictions will apply in the region, ranging from document checks on the streets to the suspension of the work of enterprises and organizations working with explosive, chemical or poisonous substances. The regime of the counter-terrorist operation in the Belgorod region was introduced only seven hours (!) After the beginning of the penetration of the "DRG". The Kremlin got away with the explanation that what is happening is allegedly an attempt by Ukraine to divert attention from the "capture of Bakhmut by Russian forces." A day later, Peskov was forced to squeeze out something more verbose, but in Russia they are now saying that it would be better if he was silent.

In the evening it became known that the CTO regime was canceled, and the Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of strikes on the territory around the Graivoronovskoye border checkpoint. "The nuance is that the proudly demonstrated power is now being used on the native Russian territory. This is a direct result of the ongoing NWO, which began as" we will reach Warsaw ", but it turns out that along the way you need to somehow try to protect Belgorod," capaciously Russian analyst Anatoly Nesmiyan described the situation. The "invasion" of the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation "cheered up" the authorities of the neighboring border regions - the Kursk and Bryansk regions. And judging by how events are developing, in the near future we can expect a "continuation of the banquet" - only in another place.

Ukrainian nationalist formations that infiltrated Russia's Belgorod region have been blocked and defeated, the Russian Defense Ministry said on 23 May 2023. "The Kiev regime, having suffered a defeat in the city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), proceeded to carry out terrorist actions against the civilian population. On May 22, after intensive artillery shelling of ... a number of civilian facilities in ... the Belgorod region, a unit of the Ukrainian nationalist formation invaded Russia's territory. In the course of the counter-terrorist operation, the nationalist formations were blocked and defeated by air strikes, artillery fire and the active actions of the units covering the state border of the Western Military District," the ministry said in a statement.

More than 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored fighting vehicles and five pickups were destroyed as a result of the counter-terrorist operation, the ministry said, adding that the rest were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated.

Residents of the settlements of Grayvoron and Golovchino in the Belgorod region, who were resettled due to the penetration of the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group into the territory of the Grayvoron district on Monday, returned to their homes. Residents of three more villages will return in the near future, head of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.

The city of Belgorod is the center of the Belgorod region, located mostly on the right side of the Seversky Donets River. The population is three hundred and eighty thousand people. The history of the first settlements begins in ancient times. It is believed that the city was formed at the place of residence of the northerners in the 8th century. Today, the administrative center continues to develop successfully. Belgorod is the first settlement in the Russian Federation, which has earned the title of "City of Military Glory". After all, people have always lived here who showed strength of mind and will during the struggle for the Fatherland. At the moment, the military potential of Belgorod continues to develop. Therefore, every man can show valor and courage in the performance of his official duties. Most children do not want to travel far from home. Then they can be offered another alternative - a unit of the Air Force Armed Forces, which is located directly in the city itself. In this case, the army needs medical workers who have a special education.
Carrollton, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carrollton, Texas -

DFW Limo Service has been serving clients in the Dallas Metroplex and the surrounding areas of Texas since 2006. The company is known for doing whatever it takes to satisfy its Dallas  Ft. Worth customer base and those coming into the area who require luxury transportation services. In keeping with that, this Dallas limo service has just announced the arrival of a new fleet of limousines.

The owner of DFW Limo Service, Suleman Moosa, says, At our luxury car rental service, we dont just want to keep up with other area limo companies, we want to surpass what they do. Our recent luxury vehicle purchase that added several new limos and luxury vans to our fleet is a great example of that. So, book your reservation here online at our website if you want to be among the first to sample these new pristine rides.

He said that with this new vehicle purchase, their fleet now contains some of the most luxurious vehicles that can be found in Dallas, Ft. Worth, and the surrounding Texas areas. Its a fleet that includes such exceptional sedans as fully loaded Cadillac XTSs, Lincoln MKTs, and Mercedes Benz S550s. Luxury vehicles are perfect for transporting individuals, couples, and families with small children to any type of event or destination.

DFW Limo Service can also easily accommodate the limo needs of groups of 4 or more people too. The company does this by providing both large and small groups of people with such luxury vehicle choices as Chevrolet Suburbans and Cadillac Escalades. Also included in the companys vehicles that can accommodate larger groups are highly popular Cadillac Escalade limos, Mercedes Sprinter limos, and Chrysler 300 stretch limos.

The largest group this highly-rated luxury car service can accommodate is 14 people. This is done by having a group book the companys Mercedes Sprinter Van. The company owner says these are very popular to book for bachelor & bachelorette parties, travel to concerts & sporting events, and even for holiday light tours, funeral transportation, a night on the town, or to move wedding guests around.

Moosa stated that those that have booked luxury rides with DFW Limo Service often leave glowing reviews about that experience. He says, Those who find us on Yelp can read several 5-star reviews about us there. That includes one by Alex F. who proclaimed, Best airport service in DFW! Solomon is very reliable, prompt and is always waiting for you outside the correct terminal before your plane arrives. I highly recommend him and his team to anyone looking for a limo service!

5-star reviews are not exclusive to the companys Yelp listing either. Such is the case with this one that was left on DFW Limo Services Google Maps Business Listing. Nyla Evans stated, Consummate professionals! Vehicles are spotless inside and outside! I highly recommend using DFW Limo Service for your transportation needs. You will be very pleased!

This is just one of the over 150 reviews that have been left on this limo services GMB Listing. A place where they average an impressive 4.9 out of a possible 5-star rating. Thats something that is not easy for any type of service-based company to do.

The company owner also talked about how they not only specialize in Airport Transfers to DFW and Love Field but also are very proficient when it comes to point-to-point ride services, hourly services as directed, and catering to corporate customers' luxury transportation needs. He says that the drivers at DFW Limo Service go out of their way to make sure that they arrive for pickup and drop-off times exactly when the customer requests them. All of this is done in comfort and style in limos and luxury vans that are loaded with amenities that make traveling much more comfortable and enjoyable for individuals, families, and even large groups.

Moosa stated that those who want to learn more about the luxury rides that DFW Limo Service offers can visit the company website or Check Our Facebook.

###

For more information about DFW Limo Service, contact the company here:



DFW Limo Service

Suleman Moosa

(972) 849-0635

dfwlimoservice1@gmail.com

1613 Blackstone Drive, Carrollton, Texas, 75007
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Silver Corp. (Apollo or the Company) (TSX.V:APGO, OTCQB:APGOF, Frankfurt:6ZF0) announces it has applied to the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) to reprice and the extend the expiry date of 35,266,667 common share purchase warrants (the Warrants) issued to subscribers under the Companys private placement that closed on July 6, 2021. The Company proposes to extend the Warrant expiry date from July 8, 2023, to July 8, 2026, and reprice the Warrant exercise price for the third, fourth and fifth year of the amended Warrant term at $0.79 (the Amended Terms). All other terms of the Warrants will remain unchanged. The Amended Terms are subject to acceptance by the TSXV and approval of the Warrant holders by extraordinary resolution, as detailed below.



The Warrants are subject to a Warrant Indenture dated July 6, 2021 (the Warrant Indenture), between the Company and Endeavor Trust Corporation (the Warrant Agent). Pursuant to the Warrant Indenture, Warrant holders may by extraordinary resolution agree to amend the terms of the Warrants. An extraordinary resolution means a resolution proposed at a meeting of Warrant holders duly convened for that purpose at which there is at least two Warrant holders present in person or by proxy representing at least 25% of the aggregate number of the outstanding Warrants, and passed by affirmative votes of Warrant holders representing not less than 662/3% of the aggregate number of all the then-outstanding Warrants represented at the meeting and voted on the poll for such resolution. The Company has requested the Warrant Agent to convene a meeting of the Warrant holders to vote on an extraordinary resolution approving the Amended Terms.

Please visit www.apollosilver.com for further information.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tom Peregoodoff

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Tom Peregoodoff

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: +1 (604) 428-6128

tomp@apollosilver.com

About Apollo Silver Corp.

Apollo Silver Corp. has assembled an experienced and technically strong leadership team who have joined to advance world class precious metals projects in tier-one jurisdictions. The Company is focused on advancing its portfolio of two significant silver exploration and resource development projects, the Calico Silver Project, in San Bernardino County, California and Silver District Project in La Paz County, Arizona.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, potential, target, budget and intend and statements that an event or result may, will, should, could or might occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this news release include the application for repricing and an extension to the expiry time for certain common share purchase warrants.

Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis, and opinions of the management of the Company made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may have caused actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: risks associated with mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of the Companys projections and estimates; realization of mineral resource estimates, interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; contests over title to properties; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred mineral resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the price of silver, gold and barite; the demand for silver, gold and barite; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective matter; and the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Companys expected financial and operational performance and the Companys plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
NEW ORLEANS, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until July 18, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL), if they purchased the Companys securities between May 5, 2020 and February 21, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.



Get Help

Charles River investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-crl/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

About the Lawsuit

Charles River and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On February 22, 2023, pre-market, the Company disclosed that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice relating to an ongoing investigation in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service into the supply chain and illegal importation of non-human primates for research, and that the Company voluntarily suspended shipments of primates from Cambodia, which would negatively impact its earnings for the year and would reduce revenue growth by 200 basis points to 400 basis points.

On this news, shares of Charles River fell $24.51, or 10%, to close at $219.09 per share on February 22, 2023, on unusually heavy trading volume.

The case is Coleman v. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-11132.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.
RESTON, Va., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the first time, FAIR Institute, a non-profit professional organization dedicated to advancing the discipline of measuring and managing cybersecurity and operational risk, will host a new conference in Europe: FAIR Institute Summit Europe in London June 1. In March, FAIR Institute Middle East and Africa was held in Jordan. In the upcoming conference, businesses in the U.K. will address how they are recognizing a cultural shift in the financial effects of cyber threats and taking measurable steps to halt their progression.



Speakers will provide insights into how they are leveraging the industry's international standard Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR), the leading model, to build or improve their risk management programs. FAIR is the only resource that uses a financial approach to measure cyber risk quantification in dollars and cents across all industries to help make better business investment decisions.

The London Summit will be held at IET Savoy Place, Maxwell Library, 2 Savoy Place, London, Thursday, June 1. Speakers at the all-day summit, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., will be featured in keynote addresses, panel conversations, and use case presentations. They include:

Jack Jones, 3x CISO, award-winning author of the FAIR Model, Chairman of the FAIR Institute

Nick Sanna, President of the FAIR Institute; CEO of RiskLens; Board Member of the Internet Security Alliance

Phil Huggins, CISO, National Health Service, England

Julian Meyrick, Managing Partner & Vice President, Security Strategy Risk & Compliance, IBM Security

Pooya Alai and Rebekka Kerland, Cyber Security Managers, Maersk

Pierre Olodo, Cyber Risk Specialists, Richemont

Keyun Ruan, Risk Economics and Quantification Lead, Google Cloud

Laura Voicu, Manager Security Assurance and Risk Management, InfoSec, Elastic

Hardip Bharj, Head of Security Risk Management, SAP

Paul de Luca, Head of Cyber Risk, HPE

Jo Armstrong, Head of UK Card Technology Risk Management, Capital One

David Steng, Director, Cyber Risk & Economics, Group Cybersecurity Office, Fresenius Group

Ferhat Yazgili, Senior Cyber Risk Manager, Fresenius Group



Register for the 2023 Europe Summit here. Sponsors for this event are FAIR Institute Technical Advisor RiskLens, Institute Sponsor IBM Security, and Europe Chapter Community Sponsor C-Risk.

"We are proud to invite business leaders to our inaugural FAIR Institute Summit Europe and previously our FAIR Institute Summit Jordan. They have asked us to bring sessions such as we offer at the FAIR Conference in the U.S.," said Nick Sanna, president, FAIR Institute. "Cyber threats are growing worldwide and becoming a significant financial drain for businesses and organizations. Our sessions will provide members inspiring, thought-provoking and educational sessions relevant for the needs in their regions and beyond."

Membership to FAIR Institute is free. If organizations are not yet members, visit here to learn how to become involved: https://bit.ly/3XHDLzR. The popular annual U.S. FAIRCON event will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 17 and 18, 2023, at the Fairmont Hotel, Washington, D.C. Additional details to be announced.

About the FAIR Institute

The FAIR Institute is an expert, non-profit organization led by information risk officers, CISOs and business executives, created to develop and share standard risk management practices based on FAIR. Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) is the only international standard analytics model for information security and operational risk. FAIR helps organizations quantify and manage risk from the business perspective and enables cost-effective decision-making. FAIR has more than 14,000 members worldwide in over 100 countries representing over half of Global 2000 companies. To learn more and get involved visit: www.fairinstitute.org.

FAIR Institute education partners include Arizona State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Center for Applied Cyber Education, Ferris State University, George Mason University, Harvard University, Macquarie University, Pepperdine, San Jose State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Tampa, University of Toronto, Virginia Tech, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Media Registration: News media members interested in covering the Summit can register and receive an access pass by contacting Luke Bader, lbader@fairinstitute.org.

Contact:

Cathy Morley Foster

Eskenzi PR

cathy@eskenzipr.com

925.708.7893




Pune, India, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Pest Control Industry is anticipated to witness substantial growth on account of the increasing rodent population and reach USD 31.94 billion by 2027. The change in climatic conditions and the rapidly growing population of rodents worldwide have increased the demand for these products worldwide. As per a recently published report by Fortune Business Insights titled, Pest Control Industry Size, Share & Industry and Regional Forecast, 2020 - 2027, the market value was USD 19.73 billion in 2019 and is anticipated to rise at a CAGR of 6.31% during the forecast period, 2020 to 2027.

The rise in the number of fatal vector-borne diseases is a major factor in promoting market growth. The World Health Organization states an annual of 7,00,000 deaths to vector-borne diseases, which accounts for 17% of all infectious diseases in the world. Diseases caused by pests are promoting the need for various pest control methods such as biological, mechanical, and chemical methods, thereby augmenting growth. Additionally, the increasing urbanization and industrialization that propelled a rise in construction activities have also increased the hygiene standards among people. This further added impetus to the rise in the need for the product.

Get a Free Sample Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/pest-control-market-102854

List of Top Players Profiled In Pest Control Industry Research Report:

ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc.  United States

Bayer AG  Germany

Terminix International Company L.P  United States

Anticimex  Sweden

Rentokil Initial Plc. - United Kingdom

Ecolab Inc.  United States

Truly Nolen  United States

Rollins Inc.  United States

Massey Services Inc.  United States

Bell Laboratories  United States

Other vendors

Repor tScope & Segmentation:

Report Attribute Details Forecast Period 2020-2027 Forecast CAGR 6.31% 2027 Value Projection USD 31.94 Billion Market Size in 2020 USD 19.73 Billion Historical Data 2016-2018 No. of Pages 150 Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Company Profiles, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors and Latest Trends Segments Covered By Pest Type

By Method

By Application

By Region Regions Covered North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa Pest Control Industry Growth Drivers Rising Concern over Prevalence of Vector-borne Diseases Rising Urbanization is Contributing to Market Growth





Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/pest-control-market-102854

Pest control refers to the management and eradication of pests, which are organisms that can be detrimental to human health, property, and the environment. Common pests include insects (such as cockroaches, ants, termites, and mosquitoes), rodents (like rats and mice), birds, and other animals.

On the negative side, the use of pesticides and insecticides is strictly monitored by various agencies such as the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States and the government. They have imposed stringent regulations on the use of fatal chemicals and highly toxic products and services that may pose a threat to the environment. This may hamper the overall market in the coming years.

Nevertheless, the increasing adoption of the pest control software is currently trending, thereby creating lucrative growth opportunities for the future market.

Segment-

Insects Segment to Dominate Market with its Proliferating Population

Based on the pest type, the insects segment dominated the market in 2019 with a 49.30% market share. This is attributed to the rapidly multiplying insect population in both agricultural and non-agricultural areas.

Regional Analysis-

North America Emerged Dominant Owing to Presence of Major Players

The increased awareness about the ill-effects of pest attacks on health and hygiene is a major factor boosting the North American market, thereby making it the largest contributor. In 2019, this region gathered a revenue of USD 9.59 billion on account of the increasing number of commercial and residential infrastructural development activities. This coupled with the presence of a majority of pest management market manufacturers will help this region continue dominating in the near future.

Asia Pacific market on the other side is anticipated to rise at a rapid pace on account of the rise in urbanization activities across the emerging nations such as Malaysia, China, India, and others. This, coupled with the rise in awareness about toxicity caused by pests and increasing expenditure on pest control products by consumers will help this region rise at a significant CAGR in the forthcoming years.

Competitive Landscape-

Players Emphasizing on Innovative Product Launches to Gain Strategic Position in Market

There are more than 40,000 companies dealing with these products and services worldwide, thereby leading to a highly fragmented competitive landscape. Some of the highest shares of the market are contributed by players such as ServiceMaster, Rollins Inc., and Rentokil. They are engaging in collaborative efforts and investing in new products launched to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Inquire Before Buying Report

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/queries/pest-control-market-102854

Some of the Significant Industry Developments of the Pest Control Industry include:

September 2019  The fourth-largest pest control company, Nomor Holding AB was acquired by ServiceMaster for increasing product portfolio in the European market.

January 2019  Rentokil acquired Multicontrole Pest Control, a giant company operating in Brazil. The key objective of this acquisition is to expand the geographical presence of the market in the South American region.

Detailed Table of Content

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Emerging Trends

Key Insights Overview of the Parent/Related Markets Regulatory Analysis Industry SWOT Analysis Supply Chain Analysis Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Partnerships, New Product Launches, and Mergers & Acquisitions

Global Pest Control Industry Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Pest Type (Value) Insects Termites Rodents Others By Method (Value) Chemical Mechanical Biological By Application (Value) Residential Commercil Industrial By Region (Value) North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & Africa



TOC Continued!

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Read Related Insights:

Crop Protection Chemicals Market Size, Share, Analysis and Regional Forecast, 2021-2028

Rodenticides Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2020  2027

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New York, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boyden, a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 70 offices in over 45 countries, is delighted to announce the promotion of Sowbagya Gokulram to Managing Partner in the United States. She is based in New York.

Commenting on Boydens recognition of her contribution to the firm, Sowbagya Gokulram, Managing Partner, United States said, I have worked with the team in New York for nearly eleven years. We have seen exceptional growth from inception to joining Boyden and leveraging the resources and infrastructure of a historic brand and collegiate global culture. We have evolved through changes in the markets, collaborating on global relationships with major banks and supporting the growth of fintech.

The team, originally led by Dominic Freud, Jeremy Hardisty and Stephane Pizenberg, joined Boyden in March 2022. As experts in asset management, wealth management, fintech, global equities and private equity, they quickly established themselves as valuable colleagues, working with Boydens global financial services practice to deliver on complex and challenging searches. The team works closely with colleagues in Canada, Mexico and the United States, as well as London, Frankfurt, Norway, Paris and Singapore.

Sowbagya adds, We have been so impressed by the culture at Boyden, where colleagues are genuinely supportive and collaborative, with a client-centric approach strengthened by operational and tech expertise at corporate level. This enhances our capabilities and enables us to excel professionally, which is rewarding for us as individuals and for our clients.

Boyden is committed to driving diversity, equity & inclusion. A number of partners champion a more equitable society by sharing their perspectives and insights worldwide including Sowbagya, who is a member of the AESCs Diversity Leadership Council, North America.

Sowbagya developed a career in senior level operations, restructuring and recruitment in India, before becoming a Partner and Chief Operating Officer in executive search in New York. She holds a Masters degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Madras, and a Bachelors degree in commerce from Stella Maris College, both in Chennai, India. She also completed the Advanced Marketing Management Program at New York University (NYU).

About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 70 offices in over 45 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. Boyden is ranked amongst the top companies on Forbes Americas Best Executive Recruiting Firms for 2023. For further information, visit www.boyden.com.

Attachment
MSF doctors and nurses have been supporting the COVID-19 response in Gqeberha's Livingstone Hopsital since June 29, and will continue for much of September as COVID-19 admissions remain at a level that threatens the hospital's functioning.

South Africa's Nursing Shortage Becoming Critical, Netcare Says

South Africa's largest private healthcare network, Netcare, says that the country is facing a critical shortage of nurses, reports Bloomberg on TimesLive. Though most South African hospitals have their own nursing colleges, only designated universities can issue professional nursing qualifications. The country has an estimated shortage of between 26,000 and 62,000 nurses, and a large number are expected to retire by 2030, said Netcare CEO Richard Friedland. Private hospitals are restricted from training more nurses, exacerbating the problem. Netcare has the capacity to train over 3,500 nurses per year but is only accredited to take about 10% of that number. The government is being urged to allow the private sector to contribute to nurse training. Nursing shortages are not unique to South Africa and are a global concern post-pandemic.

Police Granted Legal Use of Cellphone Grabbers for Mass-Surveillance

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has been granted legal permission to buy and use grabbers, mass-surveillance devices that intercept cellphone information in a given area, reports News24. Previous ministers had denied approval, but Justice Minister Ronald Lamola recently granted a five-year exemption, granting police the right to own what may otherwise be illegal devices, including "IMSI-catchers". IMSI stands for International Mobile Subscriber Identifier, which is akin to a telephone number, except that it identifies a cellphone SIM even when using only a data connection, or when a phone is simply turned on. These devices can track people and gather data without leaving any trace. Grabbers have been associated with gang-related conflicts and the surveillance of journalists. SAPS already has a number of IMSI catchers, even though it has only just obtained the right to buy or own them.

Unions Reject Power Utility Eskom's Revised Wage Offer

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has rejected power utility Eskom's revised wage offer, reports eNCA. The power utility has been locked in talks with unions at the Centralised Bargaining Forum. Eskom presented a proposal for a uniform 4.5% salary hike, which marks a departure from their original offer of a 3.75% raise. NUMSA spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says talks continue. The negotiations come at a time when the power utility is trying to avert the unprecedented stage 8 load shedding during the winter season.

More South African news
Oslo, 24 May 2023. PCI Biotech Holding ASA ("PCI Biotech" or the "Company") issue this notification on behalf of its chairman, Hans Peter Bhn.



Hans Peter Bhn is chairman of PCI Biotech and shall open the annual general meeting of the Company on 25 May 2023. Mr. Bhn holds 123,662 shares, representing 0.3 per cent of the share capital of PCI Biotech. Mr. Bhn has received powers of attorney to represent and vote for 5,590,554 additional shares. In total, Mr. Bhn will represent and vote for 15.3 per cent of the share capital. A major part of the powers of attorney are without voting instructions. The powers of attorney are only valid at the annual general meeting on 25 May 2023.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 4 -3, cf. section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Contact information:

PCI Biotech Holding ASA, Ullernchausseen 64, N-0379 Oslo

Ronny Skuggedal, CFO, rs@pcibiotech.no, Mobile: +47 9400 5757
Dublin, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Today's U.S. Electric Power Industry, Renewable Energy, ISO Markets, and Power Transactions " training has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





If you want to better understand the U.S. electric power industry and the different ways power is bought and sold, this in-depth seminar is for you.

This program provides a comprehensive and clear explanation of the structure, function, and current status of today's U. S. electric power industry; the many industry topics listed below; ISO day-ahead energy auctions, and detailed examples of how physical and financial (virtual) power transactions, power purchase agreements (PPAs), tolling, and heat rate deals are done.

Each part of this complex industry will be explained piece by piece, and then the pieces will be integrated so that you will leave the seminar with an understanding of "how it all fits together."

If you want to better understand the U.S. electric power industry and the different ways power is bought and sold, this in-depth seminar is for you.

This program provides a comprehensive and clear explanation of the structure, function, and current status of today's U. S. electric power industry; the many industry topics listed below; ISO day-ahead energy auctions, and detailed examples of how physical and financial (virtual) power transactions, power purchase agreements (PPAs), tolling, and heat rate deals are done.

Each part of this complex industry will be explained piece by piece, and then the pieces will be integrated so that you will leave the seminar with an understanding of "how it all fits together."

What You Will Learn

The properties and terminology of electricity - current, power, var, voltage, etc (pre-seminar reading material)

The electric service system, and how it works

The structure and function of the North American power grids.

How control areas and balancing authorities function to "keep the lights on."

The pros, cons, and levelized costs of different types of electric generation

Fundamentals of utility cost-of-service regulation, open access markets

Why utilities sometimes resist renewable energy, distributed energy resource (DER"), rooftop solar, and conservation projects.

The various industry participants are and what their roles are.

Federal vs state regulatory conflicts, and why restructuring today's power industry and the building new power lines is such a complicated task.

The difference between regulated and merchant high voltage power lines, and what FERC market-based transmission rates are.

The structure and functions of ISOs, RTOs, the Western Energy Imbalance Market ("WEIM"), and the new Southeast Energy Exchange Market ("SEEM").

How ISO day-ahead energy auctions work, and how they add value to the power industry

What locational marginal pricing (LMP) is, and why LMP is used

What demand response ("DR"), distributed energy resources ("DER"), and battery energy storage systems ("BESS") are, and how these resources can be aggregated to form virtual power plants.

The challenges and opportunities facing wind energy, solar, batteries, demand response, and DER and other renewables.

Why understanding generation reserve margin, forward capacity markets, capacity payments, resource adequacy, and California's "FRACMOO" is important.

A summary of today's key industry issues and where the U. S. electric power industry is headed, including a discussion of the interconnection queues, renewable energy, and the building of new transmission lines.

The difference between auctions and bilateral bulk power markets

Introduction to bilateral energy and electricity markets: Important concepts and terminology

The difference between brokers, ICE OTC, futures exchanges, market-makers, traders, and power marketers, and how they add value.

Four different ways to manage price, price spread, and asset development risk.

The fundamentals of bilateral physical power transactions and important deal-making terminology.

How power marketers and traders use "seller's choice" to create virtual trading hubs.

The standard industry contracts used for physical and financial power transactions, how to buy transmission service using OASIS, how to schedule delivery using NERC tags, and how financial "book-outs" work. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

Financial power contracts, commodity swaps, CFDs, FTRs. CRRs, and ISO Incs, Decs, and virtual/convergence bidding. Includes examples

How financial power contracts work in combination with ISO day-ahead energy auctions to create a win/win situation, and why few power marketers or traders ever go to physical delivery within and ISO footprint.

How power marketing is done within an ISO location, how power can be "transported" virtually, NITS, TAC, UCAP, and ancillary services charges, and how FTRs, CRRs, and swaps can help hedge basis risk. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

The different types of heat rates and spark spreads, and why they are important.

The difference between power purchase agreements ("PPAs") and "Tolling Deals." Includes detailed Appendix and deal Term Sheet.

The magic of how heat rate transactions can be used to hedge electricity risk and structure profitable deals. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

Prerequisites and Advance Preparation

This fundamental level group live seminar has no prerequisites. No advance preparation is required before the seminar.





Who Should Attend:





Among those who will benefit from this seminar include energy and electric power executives; attorneys; government regulators; traders & trading support staff; marketing, sales, purchasing & risk management personnel; accountants & auditors; plant operators; engineers; and corporate planners. Types of companies that typically attend this program include energy producers and marketers; utilities; banks & financial houses; industrial companies; accounting, consulting & law firms; municipal utilities; government regulators and electric generators.

Key Topics Covered:

DAY ONE

The properties and terminology of electricity - current, power, var, voltage, etc (pre-seminar reading material)

The electric service system, and how it works

The structure and function of the North American power grids.

How control areas and balancing authorities function to "keep the lights on."

The pros, cons, and levelized costs of different types of electric generation

Fundamentals of utility cost-of-service regulation, open access markets

Why utilities sometimes resist renewable energy, distributed energy resource (DER"), rooftop solar, and conservation projects.

The various industry participants are and what their roles are.

Federal vs state regulatory conflicts, and why restructuring today's power industry and the building new power lines is such a complicated task.

The difference between regulated and merchant high voltage power lines, and what FERC market-based transmission rates are.

The structure and functions of ISOs, RTOs, the Western Energy Imbalance Market ("WEIM"), and the new Southeast Energy Exchange Market ("SEEM").

How ISO day-ahead energy auctions work, and how they add value to the power industry

What locational marginal pricing (LMP) is, and why LMP is used

What demand response ("DR"), distributed energy resources ("DER"), and battery energy storage systems ("BESS") are, and how these resources can be aggregated to form virtual power plants.

The challenges and opportunities facing wind energy, solar, batteries, demand response, and DER and other renewables.

Why understanding generation reserve margin, forward capacity markets, capacity payments, resource adequacy, and California's "FRACMOO" is important.

A summary of today's key industry issues and where the U. S. electric power industry is headed, including a discussion of the interconnection queues, renewable energy, and the building of new transmission lines.

DAY TWO

The difference between auctions and bilateral bulk power markets

Introduction to bilateral energy and electricity markets: Important concepts and terminology

The difference between brokers, ICE OTC, futures exchanges, market-makers, traders, and power marketers, and how they add value.

Four different ways to manage price, price spread, and asset development risk.

The fundamentals of bilateral physical power transactions and important deal-making terminology.

How power marketers and traders use "seller's choice" to create virtual trading hubs.

The standard industry contracts used for physical and financial power transactions, how to buy transmission service using OASIS, how to schedule delivery using NERC tags, and how financial "book-outs" work. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

Financial power contracts, commodity swaps, CFDs, FTRs. CRRs, and ISO Incs, Decs, and virtual/convergence bidding. Includes examples

How financial power contracts work in combination with ISO day-ahead energy auctions to create a win/win situation, and why few power marketers or traders ever go to physical delivery within and ISO footprint.

How power marketing is done within an ISO location, how power can be "transported" virtually, NITS, TAC, UCAP, and ancillary services charges, and how FTRs, CRRs, and swaps can help hedge basis risk. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

The different types of heat rates and spark spreads, and why they are important.

The difference between power purchase agreements ("PPAs") and "Tolling Deals." Includes detailed Appendix and deal Term Sheet.

The magic of how heat rate transactions can be used to hedge electricity risk and structure profitable deals. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

Speakers:



John Adamiak

President

PGS Energy Training



John Adamiak is President and Founder of PGS Energy Training and an expert in energy derivatives and electric power markets. Mr. Adamiak is a well-known and highly effective seminar presenter who has over 20 years experience in the natural gas and electric power industries. His background includes 15 years as a seminar instructor, 9 years of energy transaction experience, and 6 years of strategic planning and venture capital activities. John's academic background includes an M.B.A. degree from Carnegie Mellon University.



For more information about this training visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9nv3ep

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
Pune, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Process Safety Market Report 2023-2029 is a comprehensive analysis of the market, providing detailed insights into the industry's growth opportunities, challenges, and trends across all geographical regions. The report covers the latest technological advancements, SWOT and PESTLE analysis, and insightful analysis related to market size, share, growth factors, and key players profiling.

It also provides a detailed supply-demand scope and a holistic overview of industry revenue, demand status, competitive landscape, and regional segments of the global industry by Type (Burner management system (BMS), High integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS), Emergency shutdown (ESD), Turbomachinery control (TMC), Others), and Applications (Oil and Gas, Energy and Power, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Food Processing, Others). The report serves as a valuable addition to a company's future strategies and path forward by providing a clear understanding of the Process Safety market and its potential growth opportunities.

Get a sample PDF of the report at - https://www.absolutereports.com/enquiry/request-sample/21354480

Major Key Players Covered in the Global Process Safety Market Are:

ABB Ltd.

HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Siemens AG

Schneider Electric SE

Honeywell International Inc.

General Electric Company

Rockwell Automation Inc.

Emerson Electric Co.

Intergraph Corporation

What is the Scope of Process Safety Market?

The market study provides a detailed analysis of the global and regional market, including an in-depth evaluation of growth prospects. It also presents a comprehensive competitive landscape of the global market, highlighting the leading companies and their successful marketing strategies. The report offers a dashboard overview of these companies, including their market contribution and recent developments, both in historic and present contexts. This information is valuable for businesses and organizations looking to make informed decisions regarding their marketing and growth strategies, as it provides insight into the competitive landscape of the market and the strategies employed by leading companies to achieve success.

Process Safety Market Dynamics: 

Drivers: (Developing regions and growing markets)

Limitations: (Regional, Key Player facing Issues, Future Barriers for growth)

Opportunities: (Regional, Growth Rate, Competitive, Consumption)

Get a sample PDF of the Process Safety Market Report

Process Safety Market Segment by Types:

Burner management system (BMS)

High integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS)

Emergency shutdown (ESD)

Turbo machinery control (TMC)

Others

Process Safety Market Segment by Applications:

Oil and Gas

Energy and Power

Chemical

Pharmaceutical

Food Processing

Others

Global Process Safety market report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. The Process Safety industry trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed and overall research conclusions offered.

Geographically, the report includes the research on production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, and forecast (2017 -2029) of the following regions:

United States

Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland)

China

Japan

India

Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam)

Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria)

Other Regions

To Understand How Covid-19 Impact Is Covered in This Report - https://absolutereports.com/enquiry/request-covid19/21354480

Process Safety Market Report Highlights:

Comprehensive pricing analysis on the basis of product, application, and regional segments

The detailed assessment of the vendor landscape and leading companies to help understand the level of competition in the Process Safety market

Deep insights about regulatory and investment scenarios of the Process Safety market

Analysis of market effect factors and their impact on the forecast and outlook of the Process Safety market

A roadmap of growth opportunities available in the Process Safety market with the identification of key factors

The exhaustive analysis of various trends of the Process Safety market to help identify market developments

Some of the key questions answered in this report:

What will the Process Safety market size and the growth rate be in 2029?

What are the key factors driving the global Process Safety market forecast?

What are the Process Safety market trends impacting the growth of the global Process Safety market?

What are the challenges to market growth?

Who are the key vendors in the global Process Safety market?

What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Process Safety market?

Trending factors influencing the Process Safety market shares of the relevant regions.

What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global Process Safety market?

Inquire or Share Your Questions If Any Before the Purchasing This Report - https://www.absolutereports.com/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/21354480

Following Chapter Covered in the Process Safety Market Research:

Chapter 1 provides an overview of Process Safety market, containing global revenue and CAGR. The forecast and analysis of Process Safety market by type, application, and region are also presented in this chapter.

Chapter 2 is about the market landscape and major players. It provides competitive situation and market concentration status along with the basic information of these players.

Chapter 3 introduces the industrial chain of Process Safety. Industrial chain analysis, raw material (suppliers, price, supply and demand, market concentration rate) and downstream buyers are analyzed in this chapter.

Chapter 4 concentrates on manufacturing analysis, including cost structure analysis and process analysis, making up a comprehensive analysis of manufacturing cost.

Chapter 5 provides clear insights into market dynamics, the influence of COVID-19 in Process Safety industry, consumer behavior analysis.

Chapter 6 provides a full-scale analysis of major players in Process Safety industry. The basic information, as well as the profiles, applications and specifications of products market performance along with Business Overview are offered.

Chapter 7 pays attention to the sales, revenue, price and gross margin of Process Safety in markets of different regions. The analysis on sales, revenue, price and gross margin of the global market is covered in this part.

Chapter 8 gives a worldwide view of Process Safety market. It includes sales, revenue, price, market share and the growth rate by type.

Chapter 9 focuses on the application of Process Safety, by analyzing the consumption and its growth rate of each application.

Chapter 10 prospects the whole Process Safety market, including the global sales and revenue forecast, regional forecast. It also foresees the Process Safety market by type and application.

Purchase this Report (Price 3450 USD for a Single-User License) - https://absolutereports.com/purchase/21354480

Detailed TOC of Process Safety Market Forecast Report 2022-2029:

1 Process Safety Market Overview

1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Process Safety

1.2 Segment by Type

1.3 Global Segment by Application

1.4 Global Market, Region Wise (2017-2022)

1.5 Global Market Size of Process Safety (2017-2029)

2 Global Process Safety Market Landscape by Player

2.1 Global Process Safety Sales and Share by Player (2017-2022)

2.2 Global Revenue and Market Share by Player (2017-2022)

2.3 Global Average Price by Player (2017-2022)

2.4 Global Gross Margin by Player (2017-2022)

2.5 Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type by Player

2.6 Market Competitive Situation and Trends

3 Process Safety Upstream and Downstream Analysis

3.1 Industrial Chain Analysis

3.2 Key Raw Materials Suppliers and Price Analysis

3.3 Key Raw Materials Supply and Demand Analysis

3.4 Manufacturing Process Analysis

3.5 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials

3.6 Downstream Buyers

3.7 Value Chain Status Under COVID-19

4 Process Safety Manufacturing Cost Analysis

4.1 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis

4.2 Process Safety Key Raw Materials Cost Analysis

4.3 Labor Cost Analysis

4.4 Energy Costs Analysis

4.5 R&D Costs Analysis

5 Market Dynamics

5.1 Drivers

5.2 Restraints and Challenges

5.3 Opportunities

5.3.1 Advances in Innovation and Technology for Process Safety

5.3.2 Increased Demand in Emerging Markets

5.4 Process Safety Industry Development Trends under COVID-19 Outbreak

5.4.1 Global COVID-19 Status Overview

5.4.2 Influence of COVID-19 Outbreak on Process Safety Industry Development

5.5 Consumer Behavior Analysis

6 Players Profiles

6.1 Company A

6.1.1 Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Competitors

6.1.2 Process Safety Product Profiles, Application and Specification

6.1.3 Process Safety Market Performance (2017-2022)

6.1.4 Business Overview

6.2 Company B

6.2.1 Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Competitors

6.2.2 Process Safety Product Profiles, Application and Specification

6.2.3 Process Safety Market Performance (2017-2022)

6.2.4 Business Overview

7 Global Process Safety Sales and Revenue Region Wise (2017-2022)

7.1 Global Sales and Market Share, Region Wise (2017-2022)

7.2 Global Revenue (Revenue) and Market Share, Region Wise (2017-2022)

7.3 Global Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

8 Global Process Safety Sales, Revenue (Revenue), Price Trend by Type

8.1 Global Sales and Market Share by Type (2017-2022)

8.2 Global Revenue and Market Share by Type (2017-2022)

8.3 Global Price by Type (2017-2022)

8.4 Global Sales Growth Rate by Type (2017-2022)

9 Global Process Safety Market Analysis by Application

9.1 Global Consumption and Market Share by Application (2017-2022)

9.2 Global Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2017-2022)

10 Global Process Safety Market Forecast (2022-2029)

10.1 Global Sales, Revenue Forecast (2022-2029)

10.2 Global Sales and Revenue Forecast, Region Wise (2022-2029)

10.3 Global Sales, Revenue and Price Forecast by Type (2022-2029)

10.4 Global Consumption Forecast by Application (2022-2029)

10.5 Process Safety Market Forecast Under COVID-19

11 Research Findings and Conclusion

12 Appendix

12.1 Methodology

12.2 Research Data Source

For Detailed TOC - https://absolutereports.com/TOC/21354480#TOC




MONTREAL, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brunswick Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: BRW, OTCQB: BRWXF; BRW or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has received a first set of results from its recently completed drilling campaign at the Anatacau West project, located in the Eeyou Istchee-James Bay region of Quebec. The initial results presented today are from twelve holes with another six pending. Final assays for the remaining holes are expected in the coming weeks.



Drill result highlights

26.5 metres at 1.51% Li2O in drill hole AW-23-01;

in drill hole AW-23-01; 9.9 metres at 1.03% Li2O in drill hole AW-23-10;

in drill hole AW-23-10; 10.1 metres at 1.06% Li2O, including 4.9 m at 1.63% Li2O and 12.6 metres at 1.12% Li2O in drill hole AW-23-14.



Mr. Killian Charles, President and CEO of BRW, commented: With the start of our pan-Canadian grassroot lithium exploration campaign, one of the largest lithium exploration initiatives in North America, we are excited to receive assays confirming the presence of high-grade, near-surface and thick lithium-bearing pegmatites from our inaugural drilling campaign at Anatacau West. Our drilling tested the pegmatites to a shallow depth and their remains substantial opportunities for more growth. With minimal regional prospecting for lithium, we look forward to continue expanding the lithium potential both at the Anatacau West and the Anatacau Main project over the coming weeks and months.

Anatacau West Drilling Campaign Overview

Following drilling completed to date, BRW believes it has intercepted at least two continuous, distinct spodumene-bearing pegmatites. All of the pegmatites are oriented north-northeast, are closely spaced in an on-echelon pattern and dip steeply towards the west. The pegmatites are hosted in metasedimentary rocks in an east-west deformation corridor similar to Allkems neighboring James Bay Lithium Deposit.

Drilling has initially focused on near surface mineralization with the pegmatites only being drill tested to a maximum vertical depth of 137 meters. They remain open at depth. Furthermore, potential exists for repetition of new pegmatites further to the south and to the east.

Lithium mineralization consists predominantly of spodumene with minor lepidolite. Spodumene crystals are generally well-formed, decimetric in scale (up to 10cm) and have a white to pale grey color. Importantly, grade is strongly correlated with visually identified spodumene percentage in core allowing BRW to rapidly ascertain the lithium potential of mineralized intercepts in exploration drilling.

Next Steps

Starting next week, our exploration campaign in Quebec will begin with regional, helicopter-supported prospecting at the Anatacau West and Anatacau Main projects from the nearby Wabamisk camp. Already, BRW has identified more spodumene-bearing pegmatites at Anatacau Main, located 22 km east from Anatacau West. These pegmatites have been minimally prospected and will be a priority target. BRW expects to conduct follow-up on stripping and/or drilling on several targets across both projects once it has completed an initial wave of prospecting.

Concurrent to work at Anatacau West and Anatacau Main, BRW will also be operating a camp at the PLEX project to the north and a smaller fly-camp at the Mirage project located further east from PLEX. The Companys portfolio in the entire Eeyou Istchee-James Bay region includes over 250 untested S-type pegmatites measuring a minimum strike length of 500 meters (for more information on the BRWs regional prospecting plan for the Eeyou Istchee-James Bay region, see NR dated May 11 2023).

Table 1: Mineralized Intercepts from the Winter 2023 Anatacau West Drilling Campaign

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Li 2 O (%) AW-23-01 8.6 12.8 4.2 0.21 30.6 57.1 26.5 1.51 AW-23-02 29.6 37.2 7.6 0.69 AW-23-03 No Significant Interval AW-23-04 31.2 34 2.8 Assays Pending AW-23-05 59.7 64.3 4.6 Assays Pending 93.3 100.9 7.6 Assays Pending 178.9 197.1 18.2 Assays Pending AW-23-06 154.5 164.9 10.4 0.57 Incl. 156.5 157.5 1.0 1.29 and 161.5 164.1 2.6 1.55 AW-23-07 No Significant Interval AW-23-08 31.1 32.1 1.0 0.52 AW-23-09 No Significant Interval AW-23-10 44.7 47 2.3 1.09 54.2 57.1 2.9 0.45 63 72.9 9.9 1.03 Incl. 66 70 4.0 1.30 AW-23-11 170.2 172.5 2.3 0.13 AW-23-12 No Significant Interval - Assays Pending AW-23-13 No Significant Interval - Assays Pending

Note: All drill holes are NQ core size and all intervals are core length. True width of intervals is not confirmed but estimated to be approximately 70% of true width. Significant intervals are assay values above 0.1% Li2O. Further analysis revealed that mineralization in AW-23-03 was composed of cookeite, a phyllosilicate lithium mineral and not spodumene.

Table 1 (cont): Mineralized Intercepts from the Winter 2023 Anatacau West Drilling Campaign

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Li 2 O (%) AW-23-14 16.9 17.9 1.0 1.04 117.2 127.3 10.1 1.06 Incl. 121.1 126 4.9 1.63 161.6 174.2 12.6 1.12 AW-23-15 No Significant Interval AW-23-16 43.7 47.2 3.5 1.07 Incl. 43.7 45.7 2.0 1.34 148 150 2.0 0.63 Incl. 149 149.4 0.4 1.19 AW-23-17 26 31 5.0 Assays Pending 35.7 68.1 32.9 Assays Pending 216.6 221.6 5.0 Assays Pending 224 226.5 2.6 Assays Pending AW-23-18 9 28.4 19.6 Assays Pending 163.3 166.8 3.5 Assays Pending

Note: All drill holes are NQ core size and all intervals are core length. True width of intervals is not confirmed but estimated to be approximately 70% of true width. Significant intervals are assay values above 0.1% Li2O.

Figure 1: Plan Map of Drill Holes Completed at Anatacau West





Table 2: 2023 Winter Drill Hole Location





Quality Assurance / Quality Control

BRW adheres to a strict QA/QC program for core handling, sampling, sample transportation and analyses. Drill core samples from the Companys projects are securely transported to a core facility on site, where they are logged and sampled over 0.5 to 1.0 meter intervals. Samples selected for assay include insertion of quartz blanks and certified reference materials into sample batches at a rate of approximately 10 per cent. Samples are shipped to ALS Canada Ltd.s preparation facility in Val-dOr. Pulps are analyzed at the ALS Canada Ltd. facility in Vancouver. All samples are analyzed by sodium peroxide fusion with ICP-AES/MS finish. Reported drill intersections use a lower analytical cut off value of 0.1% Li2O.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this press release in regards to Quebec has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Francois Goulet, Manager Quebec. He is a Professional Geologist registered in Quebec.

About Brunswick Exploration

Brunswick Exploration is a Montreal-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V under symbol BRW. The Company is focused on grassroots exploration for lithium in Canada, a critical metal necessary to global decarbonization and energy transition. The company is rapidly advancing the most extensive grassroots lithium property portfolio in Canada with holdings in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets; inflation; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in the Corporations public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Corporation believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0095c1ef-c37b-4c36-b380-600e4855e3ee

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/640e966c-4b58-4c8e-97d4-6372d8ac4d76
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prime Mining Corp. (Prime or the Company) (TSX-V: PRYM, OTCQX: PRMNF, Frankfurt: 04V3) reported new results from core drilling at the Z-T Area, one of three main zones hosting a gold-silver mineral resource estimate (MRE) announced May 2, 2023 at the Companys Los Reyes project located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Primes recently announced MRE contains 1,470,000 Indicated AuEq1 ounces at a 1.68 gpt average grade and 730,000 Inferred AuEq ounces at 1.26 gpt average grade (see May 2, 2023 news release and below for additional details). Results reported today are from fourteen new core holes drilled at the southeast end of the Z-T Area (see Figure 1) and are all outside of the recently announced resource pit shell from the Z-T Area. This drilling confirms the potential ongoing expansion of gold-silver resources in addition to and not included in the Companys MRE. This drilling follows similar Z-T results released January 11, 2023.



Highlights

Tahonitas

3.33 gpt Au and 220.9 gpt Ag, or 6.19 gpt AuEq over 12.0 m (11.6 m estimated true width or etw), including 24.0 gpt Au and 1,385.0 gpt Ag (41.92 gpt AuEq) over 1.0 m (1.0 m etw) in hole 23TA-64;

1.52 gpt Au and 24.8 gpt Ag (1.84 gpt AuEq) over 10.0 m (9.8 m etw) including 7.94 gpt Au and 61.4 gpt Ag (8.73 gpt AuEq) over 1.5 m (1.5 m etw) in hole 23TA-57;

1.03 gpt Au and 34.5 gpt Ag (1.48 gpt AuEq) over 5.3 m (4.5 m etw) including 2.69 gpt Au and 52.5 gpt Ag (3.37 gpt AuEq) over 1.3 m (1.1 m etw) in hole 23TA-60;

Zapote South

0.96 gpt Au and 27.3 gpt Ag (1.31 gpt AuEq) over 19.5 m (13.8 m etw) and 0.84 gpt Au and 14.4 gpt Ag (1.02 gpt AuEq) over 12.0 m (8.5 m etw) in hole 23ZAP-98;

0.74 gpt Au and 36.9 gpt Ag (1.22 gpt AuEq) over 16.5 m (15.9 m etw) including 2.72 gpt Au and 155.4 gpt Ag (4.73 gpt AuEq) over 1.5 m (1.4 m etw) in hole 23ZAP-95A;

1.01 gpt Au and 23.3 gpt Ag (1.31 gpt AuEq) over 12.0 m (8.5 m etw) and 0.79 gpt Au and 22.8 gpt Ag (1.09 gpt AuEq) over 4.2 m (3.0 m etw) in hole 23ZAP-99.

Prime Mining Corp. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kunz commented, These results are from step out drill holes designed to test for and expand mineralization at depth below the Z-T resource pit shell. The width and grades of the drilling results released today continue to identify new potential mill feed extending the mineralization up to 100 m vertically below the recently reported resource pit bottom and spanning a 500 m strike length. We also expanded an exceptional silver-rich, high grade ore chute in hole 23TA-64 at Tahonitas that is unique in the Z-T Area.

Scott Smith, EVP Exploration added: At Z-T we continue to discover wide areas of potential ore well above the cutoff grade, outside of the most recently announced resource pit shells. The stepout drilling is already expanding the mineralized envelope beyond the latest resource pits in a number of areas and directions. At Zapote South, mineralization was intersected 170 m down dip of the latest resource pit. The results from each of the 14 holes display thicknesses and grades consistent with the latest resource. The deposits remain open down dip and along strike.

Drilling results released today demonstrate the potential at Los Reyes for continued resource expansion.

Figure 1: Los Reyes Drilling Update

Figure 2: Z-T Drilling Update

Figure 3: Z-T Long Section

Table 1: Significant intercepts from recent drilling at Z-T

Drill Hole From

(m) To (m) Length

(m) ETW

(m) Au

(gpt) Ag

(gpt) AuEq1

(gpt) 23TA-57 330.4 340.3 10.0 9.8 1.52 24.8 1.84 including 334.5 336.0 1.5 1.5 7.94 61.4 8.73 23TA-60 343.9 349.2 5.3 4.5 1.03 34.5 1.48 including 345.0 346.3 1.3 1.1 2.69 52.5 3.37 23TA-64 256.1 268.1 12.0 11.6 3.33 220.9 6.19 including 257.2 261.3 4.1 3.9 2.63 185.1 5.02 & including 262.3 264.3 2.0 1.9 13.72 769.9 23.68 including 262.3 263.3 1.0 1.0 24.00 1,385.0 41.92 23ZAP-95A 296.6 313.0 16.5 15.9 0.74 36.9 1.22 including 310.0 311.5 1.5 1.4 2.72 155.4 4.73 23ZAP-98 282.0 294.0 12.0 8.5 0.84 14.4 1.02 including 282.0 285.0 3.0 2.1 1.46 22.9 1.76 23ZAP-98 303.0 322.5 19.5 13.8 0.96 27.3 1.31 including 318.0 319.5 1.5 1.1 3.22 43.8 3.79 23ZAP-99 314.5 326.5 12.0 8.5 1.01 23.3 1.31 including 319.0 322.0 3.0 2.1 1.77 41.2 2.30 23ZAP-99 381.3 385.5 4.2 3.0 0.79 22.8 1.09 including 384.0 385.5 1.5 1.1 1.63 24.2 1.94

Figure 4: Tahonitas Cross-Section





Figure 5: Zapote Cross-Section

Link 1  PDF Figures

Link 2  PDF Drill Hole Tables

Note 1: Gold equivalent grades are calculated based on an assumed gold price of $US 1700 per ounce and silver price of $22 per ounce, based on the formula AuEq grade (gpt) = Au grade + Ag grade x 0.0129. Metallurgical recoveries are not considered in the in-situ grade estimate, but are estimated to be 93% and 83% for gold and silver, respectively, when processed in a mill, and 72% and 25% respectively when heap-leached.

QA/QC Protocols and Sampling Procedures

Drill core at the Los Reyes project is drilled in predominately HQ size (63.5 millimetre mm), reducing to NQ or BQ size ranges (47.6 mm and 36.5 mm respectively) when required. Drill core samples are generally 1.50 m long along the core axis with allowance for shorter or longer intervals if required to suit geological constraints. After logging intervals are identified to be sampled, the core is cut and one half is submitted for assay. RC drilling returns rock chips and fines from a 133.35 mm diameter tricone bit. The returns are homogenized and split into 2 halves, with one half submitted for analysis and the other half stored.

Sample QA/QC measures include unmarked certified reference materials, blanks, and field duplicates as well as preparation duplicates are inserted into the sample sequence and make up approximately 8% of the samples submitted to the laboratory for each drill hole.

Samples are picked up from the Project by the laboratory personnel and transported to their facilities in Durango or Hermosillo Mexico, for sample preparation. Sample analysis is carried out by Bureau Veritas and ALS Labs, with fire assay, including over limits fire assay re-analysis, completed at their respective Hermosillo, Mexico laboratories and multi-element analysis completed in North Vancouver, Canada. Drill core sample preparation includes fine crushing of the sample to at least 70% passing less than 2 mm, sample splitting using a riffle splitter, and pulverizing a 250-gram split to at least 85% passing 75 microns.

Gold in diamond drill core is analyzed by fire assay and atomic absorption spectroscopy of a 30 g sample (code FA430 or Au-AA23). Multi-element chemistry is analyzed by 4-Acid digestion of a 0.25-gram sample split (code MA300 or ME-ICP61) with detection by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer for a full suite of elements.

Gold assay techniques FA430 and Au-AA23 have an upper detection limit of 10 ppm. Any sample that produces an over-limit gold value via the initial assay technique is sent for gravimetric finish via method FA-530 or Au-GRA21. Silver analyses by MA300 and ME-ICP61 have an upper limit of 200 ppm and 100 ppm, respectively. Samples with over-limit silver values are re-analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish FA530 or Au-GRA21.

Both Bureau Veritas and ALS Labs are ISO/IEC accredited assay laboratories.

Qualified Person

Scott Smith, P.Geo., Executive Vice President of Exploration, is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release.

Additional Notes

Metres is represented by m; etw is Estimated True Width and is based on drill hole geometry or comparisons with other on-section drill holes; Au refers to gold, and Ag refers to silver; gpt is grams per metric tonne; some figures may not sum due to rounding; Composite assay grades presented in summary tables are calculated using a Au grade minimum average of 0.20 gpt or 1.0 gpt as indicated in Au Cut-off column of Summary Tables. Maximum internal waste included in any reported composite interval is 3.00 m. The 1.00 gpt Au cut-off is used to define higher-grade cores within the lower-grade halo.

About the Los Reyes Gold and Silver Project

Los Reyes is a rapidly evolving high-grade, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime has spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and has completed over 120,000 m of drilling. In May, 2023, Prime announced an updated multi-million ounce high-grade open pit resource (see below, and refer to Note 1 and the May 2, 2023 press release for more details).

May 2, 2023 Resource Statement





Drilling is on-going and suggests that the three known main deposit areas (Guadalupe, Central and Z-T) are larger than previously reported. Potential also exists for new discoveries where mineralized trends have been identified outside of the currently defined resource areas.

Historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990. Prior to Primes acquisition, recent operators of Los Reyes had spent approximately US$20 million on exploration, engineering, and prefeasibility studies.

About Prime Mining

Prime is managed by an ideal mix of successful mining executives, strong capital markets personnel and experienced local operators all focused on unlocking the full potential of the Los Reyes Project. The company has a well-planned capital structure with a strong management team and insider ownership.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Daniel Kunz

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Daniel Kunz

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Prime Mining Corp.

1307 S. Colorado Ave.

Boise, Idaho 83706

Telephone: +1-208-926-6379 office

email: daniel@primeminingcorp.ca

Scott Hicks

Executive Vice President

Prime Mining Corp.

710  1030 West Georgia Street

Vancouver, BC, V6E 2Y3

Telephone: +1-604-428-6128 office

email: scott.hicks@primeminingcorp.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation as may be amended from time to time, including, without limitation, statements regarding the perceived merit of the Companys properties, including additional exploration potential of Los Reyes, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, the potential size of the mineralized zone, metallurgical recoveries, and the Companys exploration and development plans in Mexico. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes, or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made, and they involve several risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold, silver and copper; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained, including concession renewals and permitting; that political and legal developments will be consistent with current expectations; that currency and exchange rates will be consistent with current levels; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of mineral resource estimates, including but not limited to changes to the cost assumptions, variations in quantity of mineralized material, grade or recovery rates, changes to geotechnical or hydrogeological considerations, failure of plant, equipment or processes, changes to availability of power or the power rates, ability to maintain social license, changes to interest or tax rates, changes in project parameters, delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of local communities, environmental risks, title risks, including concession renewal, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, risks relating to COVID-19, delays in or failure to receive access agreements or amended permits, risks inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Companys objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated April 22, 2022, available on www.sedar.com . Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/130aa94f-6400-4c88-af95-5378425f6bdc

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/00129f3d-780d-4b1d-91f3-40998f8ccb89

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6ee0243f-9b2c-4e1d-bd29-9e5c519b271f

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/05b2541f-10a2-4175-be64-d64b4df10962

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cabdc648-55df-4864-9ed4-c9e089af8e79

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Dublin, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Vital Signs Monitoring Devices Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global vital signs monitoring devices market size reached US$ 5.4 Billion in 2022. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 7.8 Billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.32% during 2022-2028.



Vital signs monitoring devices refer to various medical equipment used for monitoring a patient's vital signs. This includes blood pressure monitoring devices, pulse oximeters and temperature monitoring devices that are used for observing various vital signs, such as blood pressure, body temperature, pulse rate and respiratory rate.

These devices are portable, small-sized, reliable and can be set up in a medical setting, residential complexes and at the site of a medical emergency. They can also be used for monitoring activity and fitness levels for self-health tracking and early diagnosis of medical ailments.



The increasing prevalence of chronic and lifestyle-associated medical ailments across the globe is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. Furthermore, growing geriatric population and increasing awareness regarding home monitoring devices are also providing a boost to the market growth.

As at-home vital signs monitoring devices are cost-effective, easy-to-use and can measure various physiological parameters of the body using multi-parameter patient monitors, it is contributing to their rising demand.

Apart from this, the onset of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) has led to a significant increase in the demand of these devices to determine the patient's health status, provide them with appropriate care and predict recovery.

Additionally, various technological advancements, such as the integration of health monitoring devices with bluetooth, sensors and micro-electric technologies, are also creating a positive outlook for the market. Other factors, including improvements in the healthcare infrastructure and the increasing adoption of wearable healthcare devices, are expected to drive the market further.



Key Market Segmentation:



The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global vital signs monitoring devices market report, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2023-2028. Our report has categorized the market based on product type and end-user.



Breakup by Product Type:

BP Monitoring Devices

Aneroid BP Monitors

Automated BP Monitors

Pulse-Oximeters

Tabletop/Bedside Pulse-Oximeters

Fingertip

Handheld

Wrist Worn

Pediatric Pulse-Oximeters

Temperature Monitoring Devices

Mercury-Filled Thermometers

Digital Thermometers

Infrared Thermometers

Temperature Strips

Others

Breakup by End-User:

Hospitals and Clinics

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs)

Home Care

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:



The report has also analysed the competitive landscape of the market with some of the key players being A&D Company Ltd., Contec Medical Systems Co. Ltd., GE Healthcare, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Masimo, Medtronic, Nihon Kohden Corporation, Nonin Medical Inc., Omron Healthcare Inc., Smiths Group Plc, etc.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

What was the size of the global vital signs monitoring devices market in 2022?

What is the expected growth rate of the global vital signs monitoring devices market during 2023-2028?

What are the key factors driving the global vital signs monitoring devices market?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global vital signs monitoring devices market?

What is the breakup of the global vital signs monitoring devices market based on the product type?

What is the breakup of the global vital signs monitoring devices market based on the end-user?

What are the key regions in the global vital signs monitoring devices market?

Who are the key players/companies in the global vital signs monitoring devices market?

Key Attributes:





Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 141 Forecast Period 2022 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $5.4 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $7.8 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.3% Regions Covered Global

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction



5 Global Vital Signs Monitoring Devices Market



6 Market Breakup by Product Type



7 Market Breakup by End-User



8 Market Breakup by Region



9 SWOT Analysis



10 Value Chain Analysis



11 Porters Five Forces Analysis



12 Price Analysis



13 Competitive Landscape



Companies Mentioned

A&D Company Ltd.

Contec Medical Systems Co. Ltd.

GE Healthcare

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Masimo

Medtronic

Nihon Kohden Corporation

Nonin Medical Inc.

Omron Healthcare Inc.

Smiths Group Plc

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k93ddl

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
Dublin, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Architectural Coatings Market by Resin Type (Acrylic, Alkyd, vinyl, Polyurethane), Technology (Waterborne, Solventborne), Coating Type (Interior and Exterior), User Type (DIY and Professional), Application, and Region - Global Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global architectural coatings market size is projected to grow from USD 85.0 billion in 2023 to USD 102.7 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 3.9%, between 2023 and 2028.

The residential construction application of architectural coatings is dominated by the repainting segment. Exterior paints and coatings fade as a result of weather and pollution, necessitating renovation and repair. This is raising the need for architectural coatings in the residential repainting market.

In the United States, it has been found that the growth in demand for home remodeling is mostly due to the fact that 65% of current houses were built before the 1990s. People nowadays dwell in their houses for longer periods of time than previous generations, resulting in increased expenditure on home remodeling.

The polyurethane resin type segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Polyurethane resins are created by combining polyalcohol with organic di-isocyanate. Polyurethane resin paints have exceptional durability, hardness, and gloss, and they are easy to clean.

Because of these qualities, polyurethane resin paints are employed in a variety of applications across the world. Polyurethane resin is a kind of polymer that is commonly used in architectural coatings. This resin has a number of advantages, including durability, abrasion resistance, and scratch resistance. It may also preserve the surface from fading by providing UV protection.

Polyurethane resin is frequently utilized in both exterior and interior coatings due to these advantages. Polyurethane resin is commonly used in architectural coatings for deck flooring, window frames, and wall panels. Polyurethane resin may also be used in a wide range of colorants to produce a wide range of colors and textures.

Powder coatings segment in technology is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period

The powder-based method coats substrates with thermoplastic or thermoset films using dry resin powders. The coating is created after a layer of powder is put to the substrate with a powder spray cannon or fluidized bed tank and then heated, melting the powder. Increasingly strict environmental rules for zero or non-VOC coatings are a major driving force in the expansion of the powder-based category.

Powder-based technology is environmentally benign and is predicted to increase rapidly because to its unique characteristics such as good corrosion resistance, chipping, high-quality finish, and abrasion. It also protects against moisture, heat, and chemicals. These power coatings produce very little VOCs.

Middle East & Africa architectural coatings market is estimated to register one of the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the rest of the Middle East and Africa are the countries under consideration. This region has 20% of the world's population, necessitating massive residential building.

This demand, together with the growing middle-class population, is likely to contribute to modest growth in the coatings business. Middle Eastern economic growth is a critical component in developing commercial prospects in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The majority of Middle Eastern and African countries have made significant investments in the building sector.

This is done in order to diversify their economy away from oil and oil-related businesses and towards other industrial sectors. However, fluctuating oil prices and geopolitical tensions are expected to have a minor impact on the growth rate.

Competitive landscape

The key companies profiled in this report are The Sherwin-Williams Company (US), PPG Industries, Inc (US), AkzoNobel N.V. (The Netherlands), BASF Coating GMBH (Germany), Jotun A/s (Norway), Asian Paints Limited (India), Kansai Paint Co., Ltd (Japan), Nippon Paint Holding Co., Ltd (Japan), RPM International, Inc (US), Masco Corporation (US), and others.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 285 Forecast Period 2023 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $85 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $102.7 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 3.9% Regions Covered Global

Company Profiles

Akzonobel N.V.

Asian Paints Limited

BASF SE

Benjamin Moore & Co.

Berger Paints India Limited

Brillux GmbH & Co. KG

Carpoly Chemical Group Co. Ltd.

Cloverdale Paint Inc.

Daw SE

Diamond-Vogel Paint Company

Fujikura Kasei Co. Ltd.

Guangdong Maydos Building Materials Co. Ltd.

H-I-S Coatings & Paint Manufacturing Co.

Hempel A/S

Indigo Paints Pvt Ltd.

Jotun A/S

Kansai Paint Co. Ltd.

Kelly-Moore Paints

Lanco Paints

Masco Corporation

Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd.

Ppg Industries Inc.

Rpm International Inc.

Sto Corp

The Sherwin-Williams Company

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Value Chain Analysis

5.3 Market Dynamics

5.3.1 Drivers

5.3.2 Restraints

5.3.3 Opportunities

5.3.4 Challenges

5.4 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.5 Key Stakeholders & Buying Criteria

5.6 Macroeconomic Indicators

5.6.1 Introduction

5.6.2 GDP Trends and Forecast

5.7. Trends and Forecast in End-use Industry

5.8 Technology Analysis

5.9 Case Study Analysis

5.10 Pricing Analysis

5.10.1 Average Selling Price Trend by Region

5.10.2 Average Selling Price Trend by Resin

5.10.3 Average Selling Price of Key Players, by Application

5.11 Trade Data Statistics

5.12 Global Economic Scenario Affecting Market Growth

5.12.1 Global Impact of Slowdown/ Impact of Recession

5.12.1.1 North America

5.12.1.2 Europe

5.12.1.3 Asia-Pacific

5.12.1.4 Rest of the World

5.13 Ecosystem and Interconnected Market

5.14 Trends/Disruption Impacting Buyers/Customers

5.15 Tariffs & Regulation Landscapes and Standards

5.16 Regulatory Bodies, Govt. Agencies, and Other Organizations

5.17 Patent Analysis

5.17.1 Methodology

5.17.2 Publication Trends

5.17.3 Top Juridiction

5.17.4 Top Applicants

5.18 Key Conferences & Events in 2023-2024

6 Architectural Coatings Market, by Technology - Forecast Till 2028

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Waterborne Coatings

6.3 Solventborne Coatings

6.4 Powder Coatings

7 Architectural Coatings Market, by Resin Type - Forecast Till 2028

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Acrylic Resin

7.3 Alkyd Resin

7.4 Polyurethane Resin

7.5 Vinyl Resin

7.6 Other Resins

8 Architectural Coatings Market, by User Type - Forecast Till 2028

8.1 Introduction

8.2 DIY

8.3 Professional

9 Architectural Coatings Market, by Coating Type - Forecast Till 2028

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Interior

9.3 Exterior

10 Architectural Coatings Market, by Application - Forecast Till 2028

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Residential

10.2.1 New Construction

10.2.2 Remodel and Repaint

10.3 Non-Residential

10.3.1 Commercial

10.3.2 Industrial

10.3.3 Infrastructure

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/rx7jhr

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
CINCINNATI, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Constellation Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Constellation), a leading insurance holding company backed by institutional investors CDPQ and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers), announced today that its subsidiary The Ohio National Life Insurance Company (ONLIC) has entered into an agreement with Pruco Life Insurance Company (PLAZ), an affiliate of Prudential Financial (Prudential), to reinsure a $10 billion block of variable annuities.



We are pleased to partner with Prudential in our inaugural block reinsurance transaction as we establish our M&A / Reinsurance segment as an integral part of the overall enterprise alongside our US life insurance, US annuities and Latin America segments, affirmed Anurag Chandra, founder, chairman and CEO of Constellation. This transaction exemplifies our strategic focus for the M&A / Reinsurance segment to execute opportunistic inorganic transactions that provide significant synergies with our existing platform and strengthen and diversify the overall enterprise financial and risk profile.

This is a unique, lower risk variable annuity block with no equity market exposure which provides significant risk management, earnings diversification, reserve aggregation and capital covariance benefits given the complementary profile of this block relative to our existing legacy business, noted Scott Shepherd, chief risk officer of Constellation.

The transaction is expected to close on June 30, 2023, with an effective date of April 1, 2023. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP served as legal counsel to Constellation on this transaction.

About Constellation

Constellation Insurance, Inc., is a leading insurance holding company serving consumers and small business owners in United States and Latin America through its insurance subsidiaries, which include The Ohio National Life Insurance Company, Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation, National Security Life and Annuity Company, Ohio National Seguros de Vida and certain other affiliated (re)insurance entities. As of December 31, 2022, Constellations family of insurance companies have over $34 billion in total assets under management. Constellations investors and equal partners, CDPQ and Ontario Teachers, are two of the largest long-term institutional investors in North America, managing a total of C$650 billion in net assets, including over C$140 billion in private capital investments.
Dublin, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Nigeria Existing & Upcoming Data Center Portfolio" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This database covers the Nigeria data center market portfolio analysis, which will provide the following information on the colocation data centers.

KEY MARKET HIGHLIGHTS:

Nigeria is one of the notable secondary data center markets in Africa and has witnessed investments from colocation operators such as 21st Century Technologies, MDX-I (Equinix), Galaxy Backbone, Rack Centres, and MTN, among others.

Global data center operators are increasingly showing interest in the Nigeria market. For instance, Equinix, with the acquisition of MainOne (MDX-I) and the acquisition of Medallion Data Centres by Digital Realty.

In terms of top operators, Africa Data Centers contribute more than 30% of the IT load capacity in the Nigeria data center Market.

Regarding geography, Lagos contributes to more than 90% of the existing rack capacity in the Nigeria Data Center Market.

The data points covered in the database across each facility are mentioned below:

Detailed Analysis of 15 existing data centers

Detailed Analysis of 10 upcoming data centers

Locations covered: Abuja, Lagos.

Existing white-floor space (square feet)

Upcoming white-floor space (square feet)

Current IT load capacity (2022)

Future capacity additions (2023-2025)

Retail Colocation Pricing

Quarter Rack (1/4)

Half Rack Cabinets (1/2)

Full Rack Cabinet (42U/45U/47U/etc.)

EXISTING DATA CENTERS (15 Facilities)

Market Snapshot

Location (Region/Country/City)

Facility Address

Operator/Owner Name

Data Center Name i.e., (Lekki II or LGS1.)

Core & Shell Area (White-Floor Area)

Core & Shell Power Capacity (IT Load Capacity)

Rack Capacity

Year of Operations

Design Standards (Tier I - IV)

Power/Cooling Redundancy

UPCOMING DATA CENTERS (10 Facilities)

Investment Snapshot

Location (Region/Country/City)

Investor Name

Area (White-Floor Area)

Power Capacity (IT Load Capacity)

Investment ($ Million)

Electrical Infrastructure Investment ($ Million)

Mechanical Infrastructure Investment ($ Million)

General Construction Services Investment ($ Million)

Announcement Year

Project Status (Opened/Under Construction/Announced & Planned)

Active or Expected Year of Opening

TARGET AUDIENCE

Data center Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT)

Data center Construction Contractors

Data center Infrastructure Providers

New Entrants

Consultants/Consultancies/Advisory Firms

Corporate and Governments Agencies

Key Topics Covered:



1. About the Database

2. Scope & Assumptions

3. Definitions

4. Snapshot: Existing & Upcoming Data Center Facility

5. Existing Data Center Database

6. Upcoming Data Center Facility

7. Existing Vs Upcoming Capacity (Infographics) Colocation Pricing

8. Explore the Publisher's Comprehensive Portfolio



A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

21Century Technologies

Africa Data Centres

Airtel Africa

Cloud Exchange (DimensionData)

CWG PLC

Excelsimo Networks

ipNX

MDX-I (Equinix)

Medallion Communications (Digital Realty)

MTN

Open Access Data Centres (OADC)

Rack Centre

Digital Realty & Pembani Remgro's

Kasi Cloud.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ddfz7

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
New York, USA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the market research report published by Market Research Future (MRFR), " Anti-Drone Market Information by Application, Interdiction, Platform, End-User, and Region - Forecast till 2027, the Anti-Drone Market is all set to accrue a massive valuation of USD 2.4 billion by 2027 and record a growth rate of 25% between 2020 and 2027.



Market Scope:

The dramatic rise in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles for recreational and commercial use worldwide has led to a drastic increase in violations of public safety as well as the government infrastructure. The identification and discovery of such drones is a big aspect of security conservation, which in turn accelerates the anti-drone market expansion rate.

Drones featuring integrated cameras present a great opportunity to professionals who want to get aerial photographs. But the rising acceptance of these advanced unmanned aerial vehicles has bolstered safety concerns among governments. This should result in a massive growth of the worldwide market.

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Scope of the Report:

Report Attribute Details 2030 Market Size 2.4 Billion CAGR 25% (2020-2027 ) Base Year 2019 Forecast Period 2020-2027 Historical Data 2018 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Application, Interdiction, Platform, End-User Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America Key Market Drivers With the increase in the number of use of drones

rapid growth recorded in the use of all types of UAVs

In the US region, reports regarding unmanned aircraft sightings from pilots



Buy Now Premium Research Report - Get Comprehensive Market Insights.

Market Competitive Landscape:

The important vendors in the anti-drone market include

Liteye Systems, Inc. (US)

Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd.(UK)

Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.(Israel)

Lockheed Martin Corp. (US)

SRC, Inc. (US)

Thales Group (France)

Leonardo S.p.A (Italy)

DroneShield Ltd. (Australia)

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. (Israel)

Raytheon Technologies Corp. (US)

The anti-drone market has been seeing a lot of changes, with a lot of new players entering and elevating the competition. There is also a huge rise in the number of local firms in the market, that offer a variety of drone combat solutions. Many developers are focused on coming up with advanced counter-drone solutions that cater to the military sector, trying to clinch long-term contracts and expand their share in the worldwide market.



With the rise in spending on new products along with the soaring demand from the defense sector, the anti-drone market should make massive profits in the long run. This can be a lucrative opportunity for the players in the near future.

Market USP Covered:



Market Drivers:

The accelerated use of unauthorized drones/flying test devices in windows and the backyard has raised the threat level to security everywhere. These systems come with numerous sensors that record audio and videos at any time and at any location. To deal with these, manufacturers are coming up with UAV combating technologies in aviation.

Major global government officials like the federal aviation administration (FAA) in the United States lend their support for the designing and marketing of innovative drone mapping and acquisition technology. These offer accurate detection and tracking along with direction-finding and anti-chase capabilities.

Browse In-depth Market Research Report (100 Pages) on Anti-Drone Market @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/anti-drone-market-6460

However, since the COVID-19 outbreak, the anti-drone market size seems to have declined considerably, given the restrictions on customer services. But, owing to the pandemic, the market has been seeing purchases of advanced anti-drone systems in regions such as the Middle East and Africa, and Europe. With the demand for drones rising post-COVID-19 era, governments are working on bolstering their defensive capabilities to deal with various political conflicts like the India-China stand, etc.

Market Restraints:

Commercial drones come with a lot of safety and privacy issues and therefore, have to deal with regulations and rules. There is a need for skilled pilots to prevent drone accidents. Worldwide, major incidents involving small UAVs are revealing the massive security gap pertaining to public safety. Even a small clash between UAVs and anti-drones can lead to significant damages to not only properties but to peoples lives too.

An anti-drone can easily detect UAVs, however, there is no certainty where the UAVs might crash, which creates public safety concerns. This has led to the emergence of strict anti-drone laws and regulations by various governments across the world.

COVID 19 Analysis:

The COVID-19 outbreak as well as the subsequent lockdown has had a brutal effect on the airline industry, with the temporary shutdown of manufacturing facilities and a reduction in passenger traffic. Airlines are facing revenue losses following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic due to travel bans and the overall economic downfall worldwide.

However, with the lockdown now being lifted up and a major focus on curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus, players are now able to continue with their business and also concentrate on strengthening their supply chains. This can mean quicker recovery for the anti-drone industry in the upcoming period.

Market Segmentation:



By Application - Detection (Radar, EO/IR, Acoustic, Others) and Interdiction (Jammers, Lasers, and others) are the major applications of anti-drones.

Detection (Radar, EO/IR, Acoustic, Others) and Interdiction (Jammers, Lasers, and others) are the major applications of anti-drones. By Platform - Hand Held, UAV Based, and Ground-Based are the platform-based segments studied in the report.

Hand Held, UAV Based, and Ground-Based are the platform-based segments studied in the report. By End Users - Airports, Commercial, Critical Infrastructure, Public Venues, Stadiums and Arenas, Energy and Utilities, Data Centers and Corporations, Military & Defense, and others are the key end-users in the worldwide industry.

The military and defense segment has clinched the leading spot in the market and is likely to continue dominating in the years ahead. Anti-drones are increasingly being used in the military and defense space owing to the drastic increase in terrorist and illegal activities worldwide, like unlawful border crossings and smuggling.

Regional Insights:

North America is at present the market leader and can expect to retain its leadership all through the conjectured period. the regions defense and aviation sectors, especially in the U.S., are fast adopting drone technologies. Besides, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is in the processing assessing various UAS technologies at numerous airports; which means a higher demand for anti-drones in the future.

The Asia Pacific markets growth trajectory has been relentless and will remain steady owing to the rising government funding for developing aviation and defense infrastructure in China and India. Numerous companies and institutions in the region such as the Beijing Institute of Technology, Nova Sky, and the China National Nuclear Corporation are forming alliances and partnerships to enhance their R&D capabilities. This should be a favorable aspect for the regional market in the years ahead.

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Smart Weapons Market Research Report: Information by Product (Missiles, Munitions, Guided Rockets, Guided Projectiles, Guided Firearms, and Others), Technology (Infrared, Laser, Radar, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Others), Platform (Land, Maritime, and Airborne), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America)Forecast till 2030

Research Report: Information by Product (Missiles, Munitions, Guided Rockets, Guided Projectiles, Guided Firearms, and Others), Technology (Infrared, Laser, Radar, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Others), Platform (Land, Maritime, and Airborne), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America)Forecast till 2030 Aerial Imaging Market Research Report: Information by Platform Type (Fixed-Wing Aircrafts, Helicopters, UAVs/Drones, and Others), Application (Land Surveying, Energy Equipment Monitoring, Agriculture, Public Safety and Inspection, and Defense), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America)Forecast till 2030

Research Report: Information by Platform Type (Fixed-Wing Aircrafts, Helicopters, UAVs/Drones, and Others), Application (Land Surveying, Energy Equipment Monitoring, Agriculture, Public Safety and Inspection, and Defense), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America)Forecast till 2030 Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) Market Research Report: Information by Technology (Chemiluminescence (CL),Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS), Mass Spectrometry (MS), Thermo-Redox, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW), Chemical Reagents, and Ultraviolet Fluorescence), System Type(Portable, Semi-Portable, and Fixed Site), Application (Commercial [Airports, Railways, Retail Markets, Ports, Cargo & Vehicles, Banking, Financial Services, & Insurance (BFSI),and Others]and Military & Defense [Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Others]) and Region

About Market Research Future:

Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis with regard to diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.

Contact Us:
Washing hands helps to prevent the spread of cholera (file photo).

analysis

As health authorities scramble to combat the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal that has claimed 15 lives and infected dozens more, it's vital that communities ensure their water is safe to drink.

The cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal was caused by contaminated water from a dysfunctional wastewater treatment plant in Tshwane, according to the deputy minister for human settlements, water and sanitation, David Mahlobo.

The National Department of Health has advised pregnant women and other vulnerable groups to take extra precautions with their hygiene.

"This highly infectious condition affects the stomach and intestines. It is a leading cause of child death around the world. It mostly spreads by contact with an infected person or through contaminated food or drinking water," the department said.

"Only drink safe water. If you're unsure, boil or disinfect it first."

According to the World Health Organization, it's possible to contract cholera through:

Drinking contaminated water; eating contaminated food (food that is raw, poorly cooked or that becomes contaminated with faeces during preparation or storage);

Contact with anything that has been contaminated with the faeces or vomit of someone who has cholera; and

Unprotected contact with the body of someone who has died from cholera.

There are five ways to make your water safe to drink, according to Rand Water.

Boil water

Boiling water kills any germs that might be in the water.

Step 1: Boil water in a pot....
New York (US), May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High-Temperature Insulation Industry Overview

The MRFR study reports imply that the  High-Temperature Insulation Market Research Report Information by Product, Region, and Application - Forecast Till 2032, the global High-Temperature Insulation Market Size was valued at USD 2.9 billion in 2022. The High-Temperature Insulation market industry is projected to grow from USD 3.14 Billion in 2023 to USD 6.04 billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.50% during the forecast period (2023 - 2032).

Market Scope:

The global High-Temperature insulation industry has lately demonstrated immense development. The primary parameter causing a surge in the market's performance is the escalating demand for enhancing equipment efficiency. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on sustainable and energy-efficient operations across various end-use industries is also considered to impact the performance of the market around the world positively.



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Competitive Analysis

The listing of the prominent leaders across the global market for High-Temperature insulation includes players such as:

3M Company (US)

ADL Insulflex Inc (US)

Dyson Group (Australia)

Hi-Temp Insulation Inc. (US)

Insulcon Group (UK)

Isolite Insulating Products Company Ltd (US)

Pacor Inc. (US)

Promat International NV (Belgium)

Pyrotek (India)

Skamol A/S (Denmark)

Unifrax (India) and Thermal Ceramics (UK)

Among others.

Report Scope:

Report Attribute Details Market Size 2030 USD 6.04 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) 8.50% (2022-2030) Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Historical Data 2018 & 2020 Forecast Units Value (USD billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Product, Application, and Region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW) Key Market Dynamics The need for high-temperature insulation goods is anticipated to increase due to the rising consumption of petroleum products, which is anticipated to increase the number of oil and gas exploration operations.





Browse In-depth Market Research Report (140 Pages) on High-Temperature Insulation:



https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/high-temperature-insulation-market-2006



Market USP Covered

Market Drivers

The global High-Temperature insulation industry has lately demonstrated immense development. The primary parameter causing a surge in the market's performance is the escalating demand for enhancing equipment efficiency. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on sustainable and energy-efficient operations across various end-use industries is also considered to impact the performance of the market around the world positively. In addition, the factors such as initiatives by governments & regulatory bodies, the increasing demand for High-Temperature insulation in emerging economies, and the need for enhanced equipment efficiency and energy conservation are also anticipated to catalyze the development of the market over the coming years.

Market Restraints

On the contrary, some parameters may restrict the market's development. The main parameter limiting the market's development is the high costs associated.

COVID-19 Impact



The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on several industry areas worldwide. The High-Temperature insulation market is no different than others. The market experienced a tremendous setback during the pandemic, given the halt of several industrial operations and manufacturing activities. However, with the world recovering from the impact caused by the global health hazard, the market is anticipated to grow considerably over the coming years.



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Segment Analysis

Among all the products, the Calcium Silicate segment is anticipated to ensure the leading position across the global market over the coming years. It is preferred as a replacement for asbestos for high-temperature insulation, given its superior infrared radiation barrier. Common uses for calcium silicate include industrial-grade pipes and machinery for High-Temperatures.

Among all the end-users, the Petrochemical & Refineries application is anticipated to ensure the leading position across the global market over the coming years. It includes the production of chemicals, fuels, and other natural gas and crude oil materials. High-temperature operations characterize this industry.

Regional Analysis

The global market for High-Temperature insulation is studied across five major parts: Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Middle & Africa.

The research reports by MRFR suggest that the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to secure the top position across the global High-Temperature insulation industry over the coming years. The region has China and India as the leading growth contributors. The main parameter supporting the regional market expansion is the increasing investments in the manufacturing sector across the region. Furthermore, the rising infrastructure development is also believed to be one of the crucial parameters enhancing the performance of the regional market. Moreover, the favorable government initiatives by several countries around the region are also likely to positively impact the development of the regional market over the assessment era. In addition, the region is known to have a large industrial base such as the petrochemical and refineries, chemical, and power generation industries, which are the primary end-users of High-Temperature insulation. The escalating demand for energy-efficient and sustainable operations in these industries is also a vital aspect causing a rise in the regional market's revenue share.

The European regional market for High-Temperature insulation is anticipated to secure the second position globally over the assessment period. The main parameter supporting regional market expansion is the growing trend of industrialization in the region. Furthermore, the various initiatives by the European Union (EU) for increasing the energy efficiency of industries are also considered to be one of the vital aspects causing a surge in the regional market's performance.



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The North American regional market for High-Temperature insulation is projected to ensure considerable development over the review timeframe. The main parameter supporting the regional market expansion is the significant growth in demand from several end-use industries, including iron & steel, glass, ceramics, petrochemicals, and cement. The region has the US as the leading growth contributor, with the largest revenue share given to emphasis by the United States Advanced Ceramics Association (USACA) on lowering heat emissions from ceramic factories. On the other hand, the Canadian High-Temperature insulation market is anticipated to showcase the maximum growth rate over the coming years.

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Bio-lubricants Market Research Report Information By base-oil type (vegetable oil, synthetic esters, and animal fats), By application (hydraulic fluids, mold release agents, chainsaw oil, grease, automotive engine oils, and others), By end-use industry (automotive, construction, marine, general industrial, food, and others) And By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, And Rest Of The World) - Forecast Till 2030

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About Market Research Future:

Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis with regard to diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stubbornly persistent labour shortages in Canada have left companies over-reliant on a workforce already burdened from recently going through the COVID-19 pandemic, and its causing many employees to burn out, according to a new survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.



More than three-quarters of Canadian employees say they felt burnt out in their careers at some point (78%), with more than 1 in 3 responding that they are currently burnt out at work (35%).

Nearly all employees (96%) who have felt burnt out believe their company could take actions to help prevent it. But while the vast majority of companies (84%) report measures in place to help prevent employee burnout, there is a mismatch between what workers want and what companies are providing.

According to the survey, employees cite flexible work schedules (53%), as the number one way in which companies can prevent burnout. Other actions include providing incentives/bonuses (50%) and encouraging time off (47%).

On the other hand, the top way employers say they are trying to prevent burnout is by recognizing employees for a job well done (44%). Other actions companies are taking include allowing flexible work schedules (40%), prioritizing health and safety of employees (35%), facilitating small breaks throughout the workday (34%) and encouraging time off (31%).

The survey also shows that ensuring companies offer more than a salary and standard benefits package may also help prevent burnout, as a strong majority of hiring managers agree that todays candidates are looking for jobs that can provide more fulfillment in their lives (87%) or are more meaningful (82%).

Employee burnout is top of mind right now for many companies and employees, according to Curtis Debogorski, an Express franchise owner in Red Deer, Alberta.

Work-life balance is front and centre as a want and need for applicants and many employers now appear to recognize this in how they advertise and market their open roles, said Debogorski. Employee burnout will be an ongoing hot issue, especially for companies that do not have the resources to deal with it effectively.

Companies face many negative consequences due to employee burnout according to Debogorski.

High rate of turnover, increased illness and sicks days, attendance issues, low morale and compound overtime costs can have severe impacts on employers, he said.

Debogorski believes companies should take proactive steps to combat employee burnout.

Communicate regularly with your employees, watch body language and communication in meetings to identify warning signs of burnout, encourage physical and mental health breaks, support vacation time, team building activities and employee recognition to help take the emphasis off just work, use a temporary help service to support project work and offer a comprehensive benefits plan, suggests Debogorski. Companies have more resources and strategies than ever to combat burnout. However, whether they measure and identify issues, provide solutions and interventions, all depends on the leadership team and whether it is important to them.

Debogorski also encourages employees to act before burnout occurs.

Burnout is a real thing and needs to be addressed. Employees can have a role in preventing burnout by discussing it with colleagues or professional services if needed, said Debogorski. Management is not always aware that burnout is occurring. Communicate concerns to supervisors in a clear and honest manner and bring solutions to the leadership group that may alleviate the issue.

Turnover is costly and time-consuming, which means companies should make every effort to retain top talent in their headcount, according to Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller.

The fatigue of the labour shortage affects almost every area of business, but there are steps business owners can take to keep their most important assets healthytheir employees, he said. Small gestures can go a long way to prevent worker burnout and the negative consequences that come with it.

Survey Methodology

The Job Insights survey was conducted online within Canada by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, 2022, among 506 Canadian hiring decision-makers (defined as adults ages 18+ in Canada who are employed full-time or self-employed, work at companies with more than one employee, and have full/significant involvement in hiring decisions at their company). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 4.6 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

The omnibus survey was conducted online within Canada by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from Dec. 13-15, 2022, among 1,050 adults ages 18 and older. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, household income and propensity to be online, to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 3.8 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.

If you would like to arrange for an interview to discuss this topic, please contact Ana Curic at (613) 858-2622 or email Ana@MapleLeafStrategies.com.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 579,000 people globally in 2022 and more than 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com/CA.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9a6548b0-e989-444a-8046-d52ad1af17a1
LANCASTER, Pa., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Known for transforming reclaimed materials into performance flooring that makes peoples lives better, Ecore Int'l further reinforced its reputation as a leading innovator in the commercial flooring industry by earning two prestigious product awards and recognition as a sustainability leader. Ecores Heritage Motivate performance vinyl tile (PVT) claimed top honors in the Resilient Flooring category of this years IIDA/HD Expo Product Design Awards and was selected as a Sustainable Product category winner of the esteemed 2023 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards. Additionally, Ecore was recently recognized as a Leader in the MindClick Sustainability Program, solidifying its position as a model of environmental excellence.



It is always rewarding to be recognized for excellence in product design, especially when that recognition comes from industry experts and knowledgeable professionals who might use or specify our products, said Bo Barber, chief growth and innovation officer at Ecore. Our Heritage PVT introduces a new class of flooring that redefines performance to include health and well-being. This recognition reinforces our unwavering commitment to meeting the ergonomic, safety, acoustic and sustainability needs that todays spaces require not only in hospitality, but in all commercial markets.

Offering the perfect combination of elegance, exceptional ergonomics and acoustical benefits, Heritage Motivate PVT is designed to be safer, quieter and more ergonomic than traditional luxury vinyl tile (LVT) products. This category-first PVT offering is a revolutionary addition to the resilient flooring market and features a fiberglass reinforced 2mm vinyl surface layer bonded to a 5mm vulcanized composition rubber (VCR) base layer. The 21mil wear layer provides commercial grade durability while the visuals of the surface layer offer variation among the planks for an in-demand look of realistic wood.

Heritage is comprised of 53% postconsumer recycled content and was engineered with a force reduction of 10.6% and an energy restitution of 66.7%. Available in ten natural wood tones, it is ideal for a full range of interior applications, including health and wellness facilities, offices, education, fitness spaces, schools, retail locations, hotels and living spaces, and provides a safe, durable surface that is easy to install and maintain, ergonomic underfoot and perfect for nearly any space.

IIDA/HD EXPO PRODUCT DESIGN AWARDS

Honoring innovation, environmental functionality and aesthetic or technical advancements in the hospitality industry, the IIDA/HD Expo Product Design Awards are held each year during the Hospitality Design Expo and Conference in Las Vegas. This years entries were evaluated on aesthetics, cost and value, design innovation, environmental responsibility, need, technical progress and usage. Winners were selected by a panel of distinguished design industry professionals, including Architecture + Interiors Partner and Interior Designer, Courtney Wilson, IIDA.

The entrants of this years IIDA/HD Expo competition showcased the epitome of excellence in the product design industry, incorporating insights from past achievements and embracing the limitless potential of the future, said Wilson on behalf of the jury. Their revolutionary approach to design has set a new benchmark for the industry and has given rise to a new wave of inspiration and innovation.

2023 SEAL BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS

The SEAL Business Sustainability Awards celebrate the global companies and leaders that make measurable contributions to sustainability and develop innovative initiatives that positively impact the environment. The 2023 entries were judged by a panel of experts from leading companies on impact metrics, innovation and uniqueness, and inspiration for users and competitors to adopt more environmentally conscious practices.

Granularity was the theme of the 2023 Sustainability Awards, noted Matt Harney, Chairperson and Founder of SEAL Awards. Across all industries and geographies, companies are going deep and granular  into materials, chemistry, processes, R&D and more  to generate sustainability improvements. Corporate ESG leadership  like our 2023 honorees have demonstrated  is absolutely needed to address our climate crisis.

MINDCLICK SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

In addition to these product awards and accolades, Ecore was recently recognized for environmental sustainability excellence as a Leader in the MindClick Sustainability Program for the companys vinyl and composition rubber, calendered and composition rubber and composition rubber product families. As the foremost third-party assessment of suppliers to the U.S. hospitality industry and other vertical markets, MindClick rates the environmental health performance of manufacturers to help drive transparency and innovation across organizations and their supply chains to meet global demand for healthier products and environments.

The MindClick assessment program evaluates products based on environmental and social metrics such as energy use, carbon emissions, water reduction and human and labor rights. It also measures metrics such as carbon footprint from use and distribution, recyclability, sustainable materials use and avoidance of chemicals of high concern. Ratings are named in one of three levels: Starter, Achiever or Leader. Ecore was recognized as a Sustainability Leader for its exemplary use of environmental and social responsibility practices throughout the life cycle of all product lines  from material choice to end-of-life solutions  as well as all those carrying third party certifications.

At its core, Ecore is committed to using resources wisely and in ways that have a positive impact on people and the planet, said Art Dodge III, CEO of Ecore. Were proud of our Sustainability Leader rating and the opportunity to join a community that shares our goal of achieving a circular economy as we strive to lead in the reindustrialization of America with a fully circular, economically viable model.

A complete list of winners of this years IIDA/HD Expo Product Design Awards and 2023 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards can be found online at www.iida.org/competition/2023-iida-hd-expo-product-design-awards and www.sealawards.com/sustainability-award-2023, respectively. To learn more about Ecores commitment to sustainability, visit www.ecoreintl.com/circularity/environmental-responsibility. For more information about Heritage Motivate PVT, visit www.ecoreintl.com.

About Ecore :

From the patient room to the classroom to the weight room to the playground, Ecore empowers human performance with safe, quiet, and ergonomic surfaces. Our team is driven by the question: can a floor do more? For Ecore, the answer is yes. We transform reclaimed materials into performance products that make people's lives better and strive for a planet free of rubber waste. Built on a legacy that began in 1871, our team designs innovative solutions for many industries, including healthcare, hospitality, education, retail, wellness, sports, and fitness. Ecore, headquartered in Lancaster, PA, serves customers in more than 75 countries. Learn more at www.ecoreintl.com.

Contact: Debra Lechner Ben Arens Ecore L.C. Williams & Associates 717-719-0390 312-565-4626 dklechner@ecoreintl.com barens@lcwa.com

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- Sustain Southern California (Sustain SoCal) , today announces that it will host the 10 th Annual Driving Mobility Symposium (Driving Mobility 10") on Thursday, June 22, 2023. The event will be held in person at UCI Beall Applied Innovation, 5270 California Avenue, Irvine, CA.



Driving Mobility 10 is the premier event focusing on evolving trends in mobility and advanced transportation. The event will host renowned thought leaders and experts from local government and agencies, utilities, technology companies, large corporate adopters, hospitals, hotels, schools, investors and other non-profits.

To further the sustainability and economic discourse in the Southern California region, speakers will share their invaluable perspectives on a variety of industry pillars. They will offer key insights on V2X, hydrogen/fuel cell technology and innovations in the connected vehicles space; broader trends in OEM, investor funding, mobility as a service, electrification, and sustainability; as well as the latest research on incentives, choice architecture, policy design and legislative shifts.

Specific sessions will include:

Stimulus Landscape  IRA Distribution

Policy and Legislation

Improving the EV Fast Charging Experience

The Latest in Battery Tech

Infrastructure Build out  Electric and Hydrogen

Hydrogen Hub Application Update and What the Grant Could Mean to California, Decarbonization of Ports

Clean Aviation Trends

eBike Safety and Integration

eMotorcycles Hitting the Road

Fleet Efficiency, Commuting Trends

These sessions will allow attendees to better understand industry landscape opportunities and challenges from highly experienced leaders while building an appreciation for often-overlooked best practices.

Additionally, the Innovators Showcase will offer industry professionals and student attendees the unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge technologies to advance decarbonized mobility solutions while interacting directly with C-suite executives.

Attendees will also benefit from building rapport with fellow professionals and extending their industry networks.

We are proud to say that in its 10th edition, the success of the Driving Mobility platform has enabled much stronger bonds to emerge in the Southern California mobility ecosystem, said Scott Kitcher, president and CEO of Sustain SoCal. At Sustain SoCal, our roster of highly experienced industry veterans as well as the excellent engagement from knowledgeable attendees has ensured that Driving Mobility events are highly beneficial for everyone.

For more information and registration details, visit:

https://sustainsocal.org/event/driving-mobility-10

About Sustain SoCal:

Sustain SoCal, a non-profit organization, accelerates sustainability and economic growth through innovation, collaboration and education in Southern California. The organization has a ten-year history of exploring and implementing pragmatic, real-world solutions to the challenges created by growth, change and inefficiency. It conducts conferences, workshops and networking events that lead to initiatives that positively impact our regions economic progress and sustainability. For more information, please visit www.sustainsocal.org .
Jersey City, NJ, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carbon-neutral data center market is estimated to reach over USD 35.89 billion by 2031, exhibiting a CAGR of 21.67% during the forecast period.

The global carbon-neutral data centre market growth is to be driven by increasing government regulation developments and CSR activities. The carbon-neutral data centre market is still in a growing phase, and the growth is attributed to the various environmental-friendly policies and government regulations. Advanced research and development activities are underway to develop carbon-neutral data centre technologies and products, which are expected to increase due to the increased demand for data storage and digital transformation.

With an increased worldwide focus on achieving climate-neutral goals and managing demand for data storage, the shift from non-renewable energy sources to renewable energy sources in the data centre industry brings significant opportunities. The shift is more prominent in regions such as Europe and North America. This is because countries in these regions, with naturally colder climates almost throughout the year, have the highest potential in the global market.







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Recent Development:

In March 2022, Normative, a Swedish start-up sponsored by Google, released a free version of its carbon emission tracker as businesses worldwide struggled to manage their carbon impacts.

In March 2022, Amazon Web Services (AWS) allowed customers to access a tool that measures the carbon footprint of cloud usage and compares it to the expected footprint of a data centre located on-site.

In May 2022, Alibaba Cloud, the foundation of Alibaba Groups digital technology and innovation efforts, announced the opening its third sustainable data centre in Germany to meet the growing demand for digital transformation from clients across Europe.

List of Prominent Players in the Carbon Neutral Data Center Market:

3M

ABB Group

Alibaba Group

Alphabet Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.

Cisco System, Inc.

Dell Inc.

Digital Realty Trust

Eaton Corporation plc

Equinix, Inc.

FUJITSU

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

IBM Corporation

Intel Corporation

Microsoft

ANS Group Limited

NEXTDC LTD.

CYRUS ONE

DEAC

Carbon Neutral Data Center Market Report Scope:

Report Attribute Specifications Market size value in 2022 USD 6.22 Bn Revenue forecast in 2031 USD 35.89 Bn Growth rate CAGR CAGR of 21.67% from 2023 to 2031 Quantitative units Representation of revenue in US$ Million and CAGR from 2023 to 2031 Historic Year 2019 to 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2031 Report coverage The forecast of revenue, the position of the company, the competitive market statistics, growth prospects, and trends Segments covered Industry, Data Center Type, And Carbon Neural Solution Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S.; Canada; U.K.; Germany; China; India; Japan; Brazil; Mexico; The UK; France; Italy; Spain; China; Japan; India; South Korea; Southeast Asia; South Korea; Southeast Asia





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Market Dynamics:

Drivers-

Growing demand for government regulations on carbon emissions and rising emphasis on renewable energy, etc., is a vital factor anticipated to propel the growth of the target market. Increasing demand for growing energy-efficient alternatives for data center cooling and rising carbon neutrality under sustainable development efforts and CSR activities is further expected to support the market growth. Additionally, the rising demand for electricity tariffs globally and other is a factor expected to augment the growth of the carbon-neutral data centre market.

Challenges:

The prime challenge is the requirement for more awareness and commercialization regarding the high dependence on non-renewable energy for running data centre operations. However, the higher cost of implementation and compatibility issues. Even though other sectors have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, data centre operators have seen demand for data storage double and redouble, driven by increasing digitalization and the pandemic. A recent update shows that are reshaping data centres more extensively and faster than ever.

Regional Trends:

Europes carbon-neutral data center market is expected to generate the highest revenue. It is projected to grow at a high CAGR soon, attributed to the R&D advancements and supporting government regulations in the region. Europe is an attractive region for the carbon-neutral data centre market because of the availability of a favourable climate for the use of renewable sources of energy. This is due to the adoption of new strategies by prominent players in the carbon-neutral data center market. Moreover, the presence of key market players and growing collaboration among major players for market penetration in the region provides the opportunity to grow the carbon-neutral data centre market.





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Segmentation of Carbon Neutral Data Center Market-

By Industry-

IT and Telecom

Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)

Government or Public Sector

Healthcare

Manufacturing

Retail

Others

By Data Center Type-

Hyperscale Data Centers

Enterprise Data Centers

Colocation Data Centers

Others

By Carbon Neutral Solution-

Hardware Servers Cooling and Power Storage Networking

Software and Platforms

Support Services

By Region-

North America-

The US

Canada

Mexico

Europe-

Germany

The UK

France

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific-

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Southeast Asia

Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America-

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa-

GCC Countries

South Africa

Rest of Middle East and Africa

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OTTAWA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadas ability to innovate relies on applied research taking place at colleges across the country. Whether that research supports the bioremediation of contaminated industrial sites or increases the competitiveness of Canadian companies in the bioresources sector, colleges provide businesses and organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors access to the knowledge, skills and equipment they need to stay ahead. The Government of Canada is committed to fostering collaborations between colleges and these sectors to help cement Canadas position as a world leader in innovation.



Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced investments through the Canada Foundation for Innovations (CFI) College Fund of close to $16 million for 17 research infrastructure projects at 14 colleges across the country that will support productive partnerships within Canadian industries and communities.

The funding will allow colleges to obtain the state-of-the-art labs and equipment their researchers need to advance innovative ideas, which will ultimately help address the social, economic, health and environmental needs facing our society.

Among the colleges receiving funding through the CFIs College Fund are:

Lambton College (Sarnia, Ontario): Supporting Canadas food and beverage industries

New infrastructure will help the Lambton Food and Beverage Research Laboratory support food and beverage companies to innovate and adapt their processes to new customer trends, including food health and safety requirements. This investment will also assist the laboratory in training high-quality, career-ready workers.

New infrastructure will help the Lambton Food and Beverage Research Laboratory support food and beverage companies to innovate and adapt their processes to new customer trends, including food health and safety requirements. This investment will also assist the laboratory in training high-quality, career-ready workers. Northern Alberta Institute for Technology (NAIT) (Edmonton, Alberta): Boosting local partnerships to preserve boreal ecosystems

Enhancements to the NAIT Centre for Boreal Research will bolster its ability to support Northern Albertan companies and their partners, including First Nations communities, to develop and implement effective and cost-efficient land reclamation strategies to reach climate change goals and actively maintain the critical boreal ecosystem.

Enhancements to the NAIT Centre for Boreal Research will bolster its ability to support Northern Albertan companies and their partners, including First Nations communities, to develop and implement effective and cost-efficient land reclamation strategies to reach climate change goals and actively maintain the critical boreal ecosystem. Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy (Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec): Preparing for emergencies to keep Canadians safe

These investments in specialized equipment for an open-air, experimental research site will advance an innovative research program that addresses major societal challenges in civil security and emergency response, including preparation for natural disasters such as floods and wildfires, and recovery from emergencies such as power outages. The program will identify risks, reduce the probability of occurrence of hazards and mitigate their effects, and allow for applied research projects, training, knowledge transfer and innovative services to help keep Canadians safe.



Quotes

Through investments like the College Fund, our government is proud to enable colleges to drive innovation in Canada. With their infrastructure and highly skilled researchers and students, colleges play a central role in building a stronger economy and are at the forefront of addressing the country's most pressing challenges.

 The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Collaboration is at the heart of Canadas college community. By forging research connections across public, private and non-profit sectors, colleges are positioned to be key contributors to our national prosperity. These CFI investments will enhance their ability to conduct meaningful research that serves the needs of our communities.

 Roseann OReilly Runte, President and CEO, Canada Foundation for Innovation

Quick facts

The College Fund supports projects that enhance the capacity of Canadian colleges to carry out applied research and technology development and foster partnerships that generate innovative products, processes or services that address the social, business, health or environmental needs of a Canadian industry or community.

As part of the total CFI funding of $11,881,588, an additional $3,564,477 was awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, a funding mechanism that assists institutions with the incremental costs associated with operating and maintaining new infrastructure.

Quick links

Three stories about the 2023 College Fund recipients

More about the Canada Foundation for Innovation

More details on the CFIs College Fund

Discover why facilities like those being funded today choose to get listed in the CFIs Research Facilities Navigator: An online database of labs and facilities that are open to working with business

About the Canada Foundation for Innovation

With a bold, future-looking mandate, the Canada Foundation for Innovation equips researchers to be global leaders in their field and to respond to emerging challenges. Our investments in state-of-the-art tools, instruments and facilities underpin both curiosity- and mission-driven research that cuts across disciplines and bridges all sectors. The research infrastructure we fund mobilizes knowledge, spurs innovation and commercialization, and empowers the talented minds of a new generation.

Social media



For updates, follow us on Twitter @InnovationCA, LinkedIn and Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel to find videos about the CFI and its transformative research projects.

Contacts

Malorie Bertrand

Media Relations and Social Media Specialist

Canada Foundation for Innovation

C: 613-943-2580

malorie.bertrand@innovation.ca

Laurie Bouchard

Director of Communications

Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

laurie.bouchard@ised-isde.gc.ca

Media Relations

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

media@ised-isde.gc.ca
New York, USA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a Comprehensive Research Report by Market Research Future (MRFR), " Blockchain Technology Market Information by Service Provider, Organization Size, Application, End Users, and Region - Forecast till 2030, Blockchain Technology Market could thrive at a rate of 67.57% between 2022 and 2030. The market size will be reaching around USD 137.8 Billion by the end of the year 2030



Market Synopsis:

Blockchain technology has emerged as a game-changer in the digital world, providing a secure and transparent platform for recording transactions. It is a decentralized digital ledger that allows for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof storage and transfer of data. Blockchain technology offers a range of benefits, including security, transparency, immutability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

The uses and applications of blockchain technology are diverse and far-reaching. It is commonly used in finance and banking for secure and transparent transactions. It is also used in supply chain management to track the movement of goods, and in healthcare for secure and transparent storage and sharing of patient data. Other applications include identity verification, voting systems, and digital asset management.

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Market Competitive Landscape:

The affluent companies in the Blockchain Technology industry include

Microsoft Corporation

IBM Corporation

Coinbase

Blockchain Tech LTD

Eathport

BitFury Group Ltd

Ripple Labs Inc

Deloitte

Touche Tohmatsu Limited

Abra Inc

Chain Inc

Digital Asset Holdings

Antier Solutions

Latest Industry Updates (December 2020) - PayPal announced that it would enable its customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies using their PayPal accounts. This move is seen as a major endorsement of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies and is expected to increase mainstream adoption of these technologies.

Scope of the Report - Blockchain Technology Market:

Report Metrics Details Market Size by 2030 USD 137.8 Billion CAGR during 2022-2030 67.5% Base Year 2021 Forecast 2022-2030 Key Market Opportunities Rising demand for digital identity Key Market Dynamics Increasing capitalization of market-related cryptocurrencies The low transaction fees

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Market Segmentation:

By Service Provider - The Service Providers in the market include Application and Solution Providers, Middleware Providers, and Infrastructure & Protocol Providers.

The Service Providers in the market include Application and Solution Providers, Middleware Providers, and Infrastructure & Protocol Providers. By Organization Size - The Organization Size in the market includes Large enterprises, Small & Medium enterprises.

The Organization Size in the market includes Large enterprises, Small & Medium enterprises. By Application - The Application in the market includes Payment and Transaction, Smart Contract, Digital Identity, Documentation, and Exchanges.

The Application in the market includes Payment and Transaction, Smart Contract, Digital Identity, Documentation, and Exchanges. By End Users - The End Users in the market include Healthcare, Life Sciences, BFSI, IT and telecommunication, Travel and Hospitality, and Real & Construction.

Market USP Covered:

Market Drivers:

One of the main market driving factors for the Blockchain Technology market is the growing demand for clean and sustainable energy sources. As concerns about climate change and the environmental impact of fossil fuels increase, governments and industries are turning to hydrogen as a cleaner and more sustainable alternative. Another driving factor is the increasing use of hydrogen in transportation, particularly in fuel cell vehicles, as governments implement policies to reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector.

Another market driver is the increasing use of hydrogen in industrial processes. Hydrogen is a versatile fuel that can be used in a wide range of industrial processes, such as metal production, chemical manufacturing, and food processing. The use of hydrogen in these processes can reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency.

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Market Restraints:

The market for blockchain technology faces several restraints. One major challenge is the lack of standardization and interoperability of blockchain systems. This makes it difficult for different systems to work together seamlessly, limiting the adoption of blockchain technology in some industries. Other challenges include the lack of understanding of the technology and regulatory uncertainties.

COVID 19 Analysis:

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the global economy, and the blockchain technology market has not been immune. The pandemic has disrupted supply chains, created economic uncertainty, and resulted in a slowdown in investment in emerging technologies such as blockchain. However, the pandemic has also highlighted the importance of secure and transparent digital transactions, which are crucial in times of crisis.

As businesses and governments seek to digitize their operations and increase efficiency in the post-COVID-19 scenario, the demand for blockchain technology is expected to grow. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, and blockchain technology is expected to play a key role in the digitization of various industries. Blockchain technology can help to streamline supply chain management, improve data security, and increase transparency in transactions.

The pandemic has increased awareness of the importance of decentralized systems, which can operate without a central authority or intermediary. Blockchain technology is inherently decentralized and can provide a secure and transparent platform for transactions without the need for a central authority. This feature is particularly relevant in times of crisis, when trust in centralized authorities may be eroded.

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Regional Insights:

The market for blockchain technology is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, with North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific being the top three regions driving growth. North America is the largest market for blockchain technology, driven by the presence of key market players and favorable government policies. Europe is expected to see significant growth due to the increasing adoption of blockchain technology in the banking and financial sector. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow rapidly due to the increasing adoption of blockchain technology in supply chain management and the rise of digital currencies.



Browse the Japanese language version of the Blockchain Technology Market

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About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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New York, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to this new study by Persistence Market Research, The U.S. Internet of Things (IoT) market was valued at US$ 56.26 billion in 2022. Demand for IoT solutions in the U.S. is forecasted to surge at a CAGR of 15.6% and reach a market value of US$ 270.23 billion by the end of 2033.



In the recent past, IoT technology adoption was more common among large enterprises due to higher costs and complexities. As IoT solutions become more affordable, scalable, and easier to implement, smaller organizations are increasingly leveraging this technology to improve their operational efficiency, enhance customer experience, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

The cost of IoT hardware, sensors, and connectivity has been declining over the years, making it more accessible to smaller organizations with limited budgets. Cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) models have reduced the need for extensive infrastructure investments, enabling small and mid-sized businesses to implement IoT solutions more cost-effectively.

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Key Takeaways from Market Study

The U.S. IoT market is valued at US$ 63.24 billion in 2023.

By solution, IoT sensors are expected to dominate the market with 11.7% share in terms of revenue in 2023.

By application, the smart transportation segment is projected to expand at a high-value CAGR of 18.1% over the forecast period.

By organization size, demand from small- & mid-sized organizations is projected to rise at a substantial CAGR of 17.4% over the forecast period.

The manufacturing industry in the United States has witnessed a significant surge in demand in recent years, primarily driven by increasing digitization and widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT). Companies across the country are undertaking business transformation to capitalize on the benefits offered by IoT implementation in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, says a Persistence Market Research analyst.

Rising Focus of Government on Initiatives to Promote Adoption of IoT Devices across Industries in the U.S.

One of the driving forces for the growth of the U.S. IoT market is the government's initiatives to promote the adoption of IoT devices across various industries. The government has recognized the potential benefits of IoT devices and has taken initiatives to encourage their use.

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Important Key Players for U.S. IoT Market are

IBM, Amazon Web Services, Inc., Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, Siemens, Verizon, Dell and more

The United States government has established projects to encourage the use of IoT devices in other industries, such as healthcare and agriculture.

The Precision Agriculture Initiative, for example, aims to employ IoT devices to boost crop yields, lower costs, and increase efficiency in the agriculture industry.

The government has also developed efforts to promote the use of IoT devices in healthcare, such as the Advancing Precision Medicine Initiative, which aims to collect and analyze health-related data using IoT devices.

More Valuable Insights on Offer

Persistence Market Researchs report on the U.S. IoT industry is segmented into three sections:

Solution (hardware [IoT sensors, IoT gateways, IoT controllers, others], IoT platforms/software (cloud-based, on-premise),

(hardware [IoT sensors, IoT gateways, IoT controllers, others], IoT platforms/software (cloud-based, on-premise), Services (professional services, technology consulting, integration & deployment, support & maintenance), organization size (small- & mid-sized organizations, large organizations),

(professional services, technology consulting, integration & deployment, support & maintenance), organization size (small- & mid-sized organizations, large organizations), Industry (industrial automation, connected healthcare, smart transportation, smart retail, smart building automation & security, others).

For additional information on how the U.S. IoT market will shape up in the near future, write to the team of expert research analysts at media@persistencemarketresearch.com

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About the Electronics, Semiconductors, and ICT Division at Persistence Market Research

Expert analysis, actionable insights, and strategic recommendationsthe Electronics, Semiconductor, and ICT team at Persistence Market Research helps clients from all over the globe with their unique business intelligence needs. With a repository of over 500 reports on electronics, semiconductors, and ICT, of which, 100+ reports are specific for ICT, the team provides end-to-end research and analysis on regional trends, drivers for market growth, and research development efforts in the electronics, semiconductor, and ICT industry.

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Business intelligence is the foundation of every business model employed by Persistence Market Research. Multi-dimensional sources are being put to work, which include big data, customer experience analytics, and real-time data collection. Thus, working on micros by Persistence Market Research helps companies overcome their macro business challenges.

Persistence Market Research is always way ahead of its time. In other words, it tables market solutions by stepping into the companies/clients shoes much before they themselves have a sneak pick into the market. The pro-active approach followed by experts at Persistence Market Research helps companies/clients lay their hands on techno-commercial insights beforehand, so that the subsequent course of action could be simplified on their part.

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RICHMOND, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- B.C.s highly-anticipated spot prawn season is back for another year at historic Steveston Village, and Tourism Richmond and the Steveston Harbour Authority are thrilled to invite locals and tourists alike to celebrate the short and sweet season at the second annual Steveston Spot Prawn & Seafood Celebration . From now until June 18th, spot prawn festivities are taking place to shine a spotlight on the popular delicacy and the storied fishing history found at Stevestons Fishermans Wharf through family-friendly activities including opportunities to buy off the dock from local fishers, and the return of the Dine About program where local chefs will showcase a true (and fresh!) taste of the best of Richmonds spot prawn and seafood bounty.

We are thrilled to be back for a second year of the Steveston Spot Prawn & Seafood Celebration, and this year promises to be better than ever. Every year, our loyal customers line up for hours at the Wharf to kick off spot prawn season and this year was no different, says Nancy Small, CEO of Tourism Richmond. We are excited to keep the spot prawn frenzy going with a 45 day celebration, which includes activities for people of all ages from now until June 18th, and everyone is invited to visit Steveston Village to experience it for themselves! From cooking demos at Fishermans Wharf to a new exhibition at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, and the return of our popular Dine About program - which highlights some of the top restaurants and chefs offering mouth-watering seasonal spot prawn and seafood dishes - there is truly something for everyone.

Spot prawn sales officially kicked off earlier this month, and people are encouraged to make the most out of this years spot prawn and seafood celebrations by visiting Steveston Village from now until June 18th. Highlights of the Celebration include:



Spot prawn & seafood sales at the dock: Visit Fishermans Wharf and buy your spot prawns directly from the source for a limited time only! Support local fishers - including Stevestons beloved Fisherman Frank - as they return each morning with their daily catch. Come early for the chance to take home fresh spot prawns for dinner (they often sell-out by the afternoon!), a truly unique highlight of spot prawn season.

Visit and buy your spot prawns directly from the source for a limited time only! Support local fishers - including Stevestons beloved Fisherman Frank - as they return each morning with their daily catch. Come early for the chance to take home fresh spot prawns for dinner (they often sell-out by the afternoon!), a truly unique highlight of spot prawn season. Dine About with the new Spot Prawn & Seafood Dine About Passport: From June 1st to 18th, indulge in the Dine About program, which sees local chefs and restaurants participating in spot prawn season by serving seasonal spot prawn and seafood dishes for the duration of the celebration only, in partnership with Steveston fishers. New to the program this year is the introduction of a Dine About Digital Passport , which launches June 1st. Dont forget to make a reso!

From June 1st to 18th, indulge in the Dine About program, which sees local chefs and restaurants participating in spot prawn season by serving seasonal spot prawn and seafood dishes for the duration of the celebration only, in partnership with Steveston fishers. New to the program this year is the introduction of a , which launches June 1st. Dont forget to make a reso! Visit the culinary stage at Fishermans Wharf: On Saturday, June 10th and Sunday, June 11th, visit the Tourism Richmond culinary stage at Fishermans Wharf and enjoy cooking demonstrations and insider tips from top local chefs including Chef Robert Clark, Chief Culinary Officer at Organic Ocean, Chef Harris Sakalis, Executive Chef at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, and Chef Ian Lai, Executive Director at Urban Bounty!

On Saturday, June 10th and Sunday, June 11th, visit the Tourism Richmond culinary stage at Fishermans Wharf and enjoy cooking demonstrations and insider tips from top local chefs including Chef Robert Clark, Chief Culinary Officer at Organic Ocean, Chef Harris Sakalis, Executive Chef at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, and Chef Ian Lai, Executive Director at Urban Bounty! Spend a festive day in Steveston Village: Enjoy the best of Stevestons spot prawn celebrations with all-ages activities in historic Steveston Village! Visit the new Fish Tales exhibition at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site opening on Saturday, May 27th, take a photo at our spot prawn selfie station, check out the Steveston Tram museum or Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site, and much more!

This years popular Dine About program returns on June 1st and brings together 12 local restaurants and chefs working in partnership with Steveston fishers to offer an authentic taste of fresh, local seafood - a true ocean to plate gastronomic experience. Foodies are encouraged to make a reservation in advance, and to download the all-new Steveston Spot Prawn & Seafood Dine About Passport for $2 off the featured spot prawn dish at all participating Dine About Restaurants from June 1st-18th, 2023. Each time you redeem a $2 discount, youll also be automatically entered into a draw for the chance to win a Steveston restaurant gift card. The more restaurants you visit, the higher your chance of winning!

As a newcomer to Vancouver, I look forward to my first spot prawn season, and we are thrilled to be taking part in this years Dine About program at the Steveston Spot Prawn & Seafood Celebration, says Chef Harris Sakalis, Executive Chef at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport. Spot Prawn season is a quintessential West Coast dining experience and we cant wait to showcase the best of Steveston with our Spot Prawn feature at Globe@YVR this year, and to give people a true taste of B.C.!

Cant miss restaurants included in this years Dine About program include:

Britannia Brewing , where you can pair locally brewed beer with Smoked Garlic Butter Spot Prawn Skewers with Toasted Focaccia

, where you can pair locally brewed beer with Smoked Garlic Butter Spot Prawn Skewers with Toasted Focaccia Catch Kitchen + Bar , who will be offering a sizzling garlic spot prawn appetizer along with amazing views of Stevestons historic harbour from its rooftop patio.

, who will be offering a sizzling garlic spot prawn appetizer along with amazing views of Stevestons historic harbour from its rooftop patio. Globe@YVR at Fairmont Vancouver Airport , where you can enjoy their Spot Prawn & Cherry Gazpacho at the iconic Fairmont restaurant offering a backdrop of YVRs active runways

, where you can enjoy their Spot Prawn & Cherry Gazpacho at the iconic Fairmont restaurant offering a backdrop of YVRs active runways Steveston Seafood House , winner of the Best Seafood Restaurant as voted by the people of Richmond for 12 years running, where they will be serving a mouthwatering Spot Prawn Ceviche! Check out the full list of participating restaurants online: Spot Prawn & Seafood Dine About

To learn more about spot prawn season and the Steveston Spot Prawn & Seafood Celebration, visit stevestonseafoodcelebration.com .

Follow along + tag us on social media

About Tourism Richmond

Tourism Richmond is British Columbias 4th largest destination marketing organization (DMO), responsible for promoting Richmond to residents, leisure travellers, meeting planners, travel media, and anyone that influences travel. They also work closely with travel and tourism industry stakeholders and municipal officials to enhance and position Richmond as a cant-miss part of Metro Vancouver. Their ultimate goal is to ensure Richmond and the community benefit from a thriving visitor economy.

Media Contact:

Krystal Wiggins

778-861-8944

krystal@thesocialagency.ca
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stack Capital Group Inc., (TSX:STCK and TSX:STCK.WT) is pleased to announce that Hopper, Inc. (Hopper), an existing portfolio holding, has partnered with Commonwealth Bank (CommBank) (ASX:CBA), Australias largest financial institution, making it easier for CommBank customers to book flights, accommodation, and car rentals  both domestically and internationally  while saving money.



Building on the success of Hoppers existing partnership with Capital One (NYSE:COF), which has been in place for the past 18 months, this announcement with CommBank represents a key milestone in Hoppers efforts to expand its partnerships globally with market-leading financial institutions. Hopper will deliver an end-to-end travel offering for CommBank credit card customers, complete with world-class flexibility and disruption products to improve the traveller experience; and will provide CommBank customers with access to the lowest prices on 300 airlines, 2 million hotels, and 100 car rental companies.





Another incredible partnership announcement for Hopper, this time with Commonwealth Bank, the #1 financial institution and credit card issuer in Australia. Hopper continues to demonstrate the ability to syndicate its innovative travel fintech products and inventory, through Hopper Cloud, to some of the worlds leading travel platforms and financial institutions, said Jeff Parks, CEO of Stack Capital. We look forward to more announcements of this type from Hopper in the future, which will fuel continued growth within the business.

To access a copy of the Hopper announcement please click here.

About Stack Capital

Stack Capital is an investment holding company and its business objective is to invest in equity, debt and/or other securities of growth-to-late-stage private businesses. Through Stack Capital, shareholders have the opportunity to gain exposure to the diversified private investment portfolio; participate in the private market; and have liquidity due to the listing of the Common Shares and Warrants on the TSX. At the same time, the public structure also allows the Company to focus its efforts on maximizing long-term performance through a portfolio of high growth businesses, which are not widely available to most Canadian investors. SC Partners Ltd. (the "Manager") has taken the initiative in creating the Company and acts as the Company's administrator and is responsible to source and advise with respect to all investments for the Company.



About Hopper

Hopper is the world's fastest-growing mobile-first travel marketplace, focused on helping customers save money and travel better. The Hopper app has nearly 100 million downloads and continues to capture market share around the world. By leveraging massive amounts of data and machine learning, the company has developed several unique fintech solutions that address everything from pricing volatility to trip disruptions. Through its B2B initiative, Hopper Cloud, the company is syndicating its travel fintech products and inventory, providing companies that aspire to sell travel a differentiated consumer experience and offering. Hopper has increased its revenue 2.5X year-over-year and sells around $6 billion in travel and travel fintech annually. To find out more about Hopper, visit Hopper.com.



About Commonwealth Bank

Commonwealth Bank of Australia provides integrated financial services to customers in Australia, New Zealand, and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking Services, Business Banking, Institutional Banking and Markets, and New Zealand segments. The company offers transaction, savings, and foreign currency accounts; term deposits; personal and business loans; overdrafts; equipment finance; credit cards; international payment and trade; and private banking services, as well as home and car loans. It also provides retail, premium, business, offshore, and institutional banking services; and funds management, superannuation, and share broking products and services, as well as car, health, life, income protection, and travel insurance. The company offers advisory services for high-net-worth individuals; equities trading and margin lending services; debt capital, transaction banking, working capital, and risk management services; and international and foreign exchange services. The company was founded in 1911 and is based in Sydney, Australia.

For more information, please visit our website at www.stackcapitalgroup.com or contact:



Brian Viveiros

VP, Corporate Development, and Investor Relations

647.280.3307

brian@stackcapitalgroup.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c1d4db62-ed7f-4907-93af-818e87c0fff5
analysis

Efforts by the Department of Basic Education to revise its National Reading Plan are under way, with officials pushing a 'refined focus' on early childhood and African home language development. However, some parliamentarians are seeking assurance that past mistakes won't be repeated.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is revising its "National Integrated Reading Sector Plan", originally instituted in 2019, to refine its policies and ensure improved development of reading literacy.

Efforts to revise the plan have been spotlighted by the recent outcomes of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) 2021, which found that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa were unable to read for meaning in any language. However, the department reports that the process kicked off months before the results were launched.

"The [reading] strategy or the plan that was developed ... predated Covid, and they didn't take into account the fact that we have this new set of challenges," said Kulula Manona, the department's chief director for Foundations for Learning.

"This review that we're talking about now is being done with civil society, with academia, and that is the approach when we are developing strategies of this nature ... It is going to be consulted widely."

Manona was speaking at a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Tuesday, where the department delivered a briefing on the Pirls 2021 results and its plans to improve children's literacy.

While the DBE emphasised the role...
Available in the App Store and Google Play, Thumzup Enables Virtually Everyone to Earn Cash Rewards for Posting on Social Media about the Brands They Love



Los Angeles, CA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thumzup Media Corporation ("Thumzup" or the "Company") (OTCQB: TZUP) is thrilled to exhibit at Mainopoly, taking place on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 1pm to 5pm PT, along Main Street near The Victorian at 2640 Main St. Santa Monica, CA 90405.

At Mainopoly visitors are encouraged to stop by the Thumzup booth to discover how they can use the Thumzup app to their benefit. With dozens of advertisers in close proximity, attendees of Mainopoly have a unique opportunity to get paid on Thumzup for simply sharing content about the app with their friends on Instagram. The Thumzup street team will be on hand to demonstrate the ease and convenience of using the app, as well as to answer any questions festival goers may have.

The Thumzup mobile app, which is available for download in the App Store and Google Play, incentivizes virtually everyone to become social media advocates for the brands they enjoy by paying them cash for approved posts.

As a long-time patron of Main Street businesses, we look forward to being part of this renowned event hosted by The Main Street Business Improvement Association (MSBIA) to promote and market the Main Street Business Improvement District (BID) as a vital, safe, unique place for shopping, dining, and cultural experiences, stated Robert Steele, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Thumzup. We look forward to spreading the word about Thumzup while enjoying a day full of shopping, networking, great bites, tasty drinks, and good sounds. Hope to see you there!

For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com/ and https://mainopolysm.com/.

About Mainopoly

Celebrate Memorial Day weekend and experience the best restaurants, bars & eateries by joining us for the 8th Annual MAINopoly: A Taste of Main Street in Santa Monica on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 1-5pm. This all ages community event is a fun take on the classic board game, giving players access to tastings at over 20 participating locations. Stop at every location for a chance to win a Taste of Main Street Prize Package. Monopoly themed attire is encouraged! For more information see https://mainopolysm.com/.

About Thumzup

Thumzup Media Corporation (Thumzup) is democratizing the multi-billion dollar social media branding and marketing industry. Its flagship product, the Thumzup platform, utilizes a robust programmatic advertiser dashboard coupled with a consumer-facing App to enable individuals to get paid cash for posting about participating advertisers on major social media outlets through the Thumzup App. The easy-to-use dashboard allows advertisers to programmatically customize their campaigns. Cash payments are made to App users/creators through PayPal and other digital payment systems.

Thumzup is a publicly traded company (OTCQB stock ticker: TZUP). For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements about its potential growth, impacts on the advertising industry, and planned expansion. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contact Info:

800-403-6150

investors@ThumzupMedia.com

Attachment
New York, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic Market Overview

According to a Comprehensive Research Report by Market Research Future (MRFR),  Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic Market Information by Type, Diagnostic Test, End Users, and Region - Forecast till 2030, Market is expected to reach USD 7,100 Million by 2030 at 8.90% CAGR during the forecast period 2022-2030.

Market Scope

Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic market refers to the market for medical devices and tools used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, which is a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. The market includes various diagnostic tests such as brain imaging, blood tests, and genetic testing.

The market for Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostics is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer's disease globally, rising geriatric population, and growing awareness about the importance of early diagnosis of the disease.

Get Free Sample PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2149

Report Scope:

Report Attribute Details Market Size in 2030 USD 7,100 Million CAGR 8.90% Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Historical Data 2020 Forecast Units Value (USD Million) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Type, Diagnostic Test and End User Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW) Key Market Drivers Growth of chronic diseases worldwide like dementia Technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors

Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic Market Competitive Landscape:

The affluent companies in the Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic industry include

Eli Lilly and Company

TauRx (Republic of Singapore)

Alector LLC

Accera, Inc

Treventis Corporation

Neuro-Bio Ltd

Cognition Therapeutics Inc

Hoffmann-La Roche

Novartis AG

Merck & Co

Pfizer Inc

Allergan PLC

Daiichi Sankyo Co

June 2022



Diadem SpA announced the development of AlzoSure Predict, which is a first-of-its-kind, non-invasive blood test to predict the early onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The company has partnered with Dementias Platform UK to advance its efforts.

June 2022

SYNAPS Dx (SDx) announced its focus on research and development in the area of neurological disorder diagnostics, including Alzheimer's disease. The company is also working towards commercialization and uses Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month in June to raise awareness of brain disorders and Alzheimer's disease as significant health concern for the public.

Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic Market Trends:

Market Drivers:

One major driver in the Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic market is the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer's disease globally. As the population ages, the incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease are expected to rise, creating a greater demand for accurate and reliable diagnostic tools. Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes a progressive decline in cognitive function, including memory loss, language difficulties, and impaired judgment. It is the most common cause of dementia in older adults, and the number of people living with Alzheimer's disease is projected to increase significantly in the coming years. The growing prevalence of Alzheimer's disease has led to a growing demand for diagnostic tools that can accurately detect the disease in its early stages. Early diagnosis is critical for effective management of the disease and can help improve patient outcomes. As a result, there is an increasing need for reliable and accurate diagnostic tools that can help identify Alzheimer's disease early on.

Market Restraints:

A major restraint for the Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic market is the high cost of diagnostic tests and procedures. Many diagnostic tools, such as brain imaging tests, can be costly and may not be covered by insurance, making them less accessible to certain patient populations. In addition, the high cost of developing and obtaining regulatory approval for new diagnostic tests can be a significant barrier to entry for companies looking to enter the market. These factors may limit the growth of the Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic market, particularly in regions with limited healthcare infrastructure or lower levels of healthcare spending

Browse In-depth Market Research Report (90 Pages) on Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/alzheimers-disease-diagnostic-market-2149

COVID 19 Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the Alzheimer's disease diagnostic market. Due to the pandemic, many healthcare facilities were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, which led to a reduction in the number of Alzheimer's disease diagnoses and delays in treatment. This has resulted in a decline in the demand for Alzheimer's disease diagnostic tests and services. Furthermore, the pandemic has also disrupted the supply chain for Alzheimer's disease diagnostic products, causing delays in manufacturing and distribution. This has led to a shortage of diagnostic tests and other products, which has further impacted the market.

Alzheimers Disease Diagnostic Market Segmentation

By Type

The types in the market include Early-onset Alzheimer's, Late-onset Alzheimer's, and Familial Alzheimer's disease.

By Diagnostics test

By diagnostics test the segment includes Genetic testing, Neurological exam, Mini-mental state exam (MMSE), Brain imaging

By end-user

By end-user, the segment includes Clinics, Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers

Buy Now: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2149

Regional Insights

The North American region is one of the largest markets for Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic due to the high prevalence of the disease in the region. The US, in particular, is the largest market in this region, owing to a large geriatric population and a high incidence rate of Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, the well-established healthcare infrastructure and the presence of major players in the region are driving the market growth.

The European market for Alzheimer's Disease diagnostics is also growing due to the rising geriatric population and increasing prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. The market is driven by the presence of major players in the region, advanced healthcare infrastructure, and favorable government initiatives to promote early diagnosis of the disease. The UK, Germany, France, and Spain are the major markets in the region.

The Asia Pacific region is expected to witness significant growth in the Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic market due to the increasing prevalence of the disease, a growing geriatric population, and improving healthcare infrastructure. The market is also driven by increasing government initiatives to promote early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Japan, China, India, and South Korea are some of the major markets in the region.

Discover more research Reports on Healthcare Industry by Market Research Future:

DNA Sequencing Market Research Report Information By Product (Consumable, Instrument, and Service), By Application (Diagnostics, Biomarkers & Cancer, Reproductive Health, Personalized Medicine, and Forensics), By Technology (Semiconductor Sequencing, Sequencing by Ligation, and Pyrosequencing), By End-User (Academic & Government Research Institutes, Pharmaceutical Companies, Biotechnology Companies, and Hospitals & Clinics), And By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, And Rest Of The World)  Market Forecast Till 2030.

Genetic Testing Market Size amd Trends Analysis By Type (Prescribed Genetic Testing and Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing), Method (Molecular Genetic Tests/ DNA Tests, Chromosomal Genetic Tests and Biochemical Genetic Tests), By Application (Reproductive Health (Newborn Screening, Prenatal Screening and Carrier Screening), Cancer Screening (Hereditary Cancer, Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer and Colon Cancer), Ancestry, Predictive and Pre-Symptomatic Testing and others) - Forecast till 2030

Cancer Diagnostics Market Size, Trends and Industry Outlook by Type (Imaging Testing, Biomarkers Testing, In Vitro Diagnostic Testing, Biopsy and others), Application (Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Melanoma Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Liver Cancer and others), End-User (Diagnostic Centers, Hospitals and Clinics, Research Institutes and others) and Region (Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa) - Forecast till 2030

About Market Research Future:

Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis with regard to diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX: DGS, DGS.PR.A, GDV, LBS, LCS, PWI, SBC)  Brompton Funds announces distributions payable on June 14, 2023 to class A shareholders of record at the close of business on May 31, 2023 for each of the following funds:



Fund Name Ticker Amount Per Share Global Dividend Growth Split Corp. (GDV)

GDV

$ 0.10

Life & Banc Split Corp. (LBS) LBS $ 0.10 Brompton Lifeco Split Corp. (LCS)

LCS

$ 0.075

Sustainable Power & Infrastructure Split Corp. (PWI) PWI $ 0.06667 Brompton Split Banc Corp. (SBC) SBC $ 0.10

Brompton Funds also announces distributions payable on June 14, 2023 to preferred shareholders of record at the close of business on May 31, 2023 for the following fund:

Fund Name Ticker Amount Per Share Dividend Growth Split Corp. DGS.PR.A $ 0.1375



The funds noted above offer distribution reinvestment plans (DRIP) for class A shareholders which provide class A shareholders with the ability to automatically reinvest distributions, commission free, and realize the benefits of compound growth. Class A shareholders can enroll in a DRIP program by contacting their investment advisor.

In accordance with its articles of incorporation in order to preserve the net asset value, the distribution for the month of May will not be paid on the class A shares of Dividend Growth Split Corp. (DGS) as the net asset value per unit (consisting of one class A share and one preferred share) as at May 18, 2023 (after taking into account payment of the cash distribution) was less than $15.00. DGS will re-evaluate the payment of class A share distributions in each month with the expectation that monthly distributions will be announced if the net asset value per unit of each fund meets this requirement.

About Brompton Funds

Founded in 2000, Brompton is an experienced investment fund manager with income focused investment solutions including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other TSX traded investment funds. For further information, please contact your investment advisor, call Bromptons investor relations line at 416-642-6000 (toll-free at 1-866-642-6001), email info@bromptongroup.com or visit our website at www.bromptongroup.com.

You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell shares of the investment funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange or other alternative Canadian trading system (an exchange). If the shares are purchased or sold on an exchange, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying shares of the investment fund and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them.

There are ongoing fees and expenses associated with owning shares of an investment fund. An investment fund must prepare disclosure documents that contain key information about the funds. You can find more detailed information about the funds in the public filings available at www.sedar.com. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to matters disclosed in this document and to other matters identified in public filings relating to the funds, to the future outlook of the funds and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding the future financial performance of the funds. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terms such as may, will, should, expect, plan, anticipate, believe, intend, estimate, predict, potential, continue or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Actual results may vary from such forward-looking information. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
LONDON and NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Navigator Holdings Ltd. (Navigator and the Company) (NYSE: NVGS), the owner and operator of the worlds largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers, today announces that its 2023 Annual Meeting will be held on June 20, 2023, at the offices of Baker Botts LLP, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York, 10112, U.S.A. at 09:00 A.M. local time.



The record date for voting at the Annual Meeting is set as May 17, 2023. At the Annual Meeting, shareholders will vote on the election of the members of the Board of Directors and the approval of the Companys 2023 Long-Term Incentive Plan. The notice, agenda and associated material will be distributed prior to the meeting.

The Companys Notice of the Meeting and Proxy Statement will be mailed on or about May 24, 2023 and will be furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) and available on the Commissions website at www.sec.gov. The Notice of the Meeting and Proxy Statement is also available on the Companys website by following the relevant links below.

The Company has filed its Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2022 (the 2022 Form 20-F) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The 2022 Form 20-F is available on our website (www.navigatorgas.com) and shareholders may receive a hard copy free of charge, upon request.

6-K NVGS 2023 AGM Filing  Proxy Statement  Proxy Card  2022 Form 20-F Annual Report

About Navigator Gas

Navigator Holdings Ltd. is the owner and operator of the worlds largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers and a global leader in the seaborne transportation services of petrochemical gases, such as ethylene and ethane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and ammonia and owns a 50% share, through a joint venture, in an ethylene export marine terminal at Morgans Point, Texas on the Houston Ship Channel, USA. Navigators fleet now consists of 56 semi- or fully-refrigerated liquefied gas carriers, 25 of which are ethylene and ethane capable. The Company plays a vital role in the liquefied gas supply chain for energy companies, industrial consumers and commodity traders, with its sophisticated vessels providing an efficient and reliable floating pipeline between the parties, connecting the world today, creating a sustainable tomorrow.

Navigators common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NVGS.

Navigator Gas Attention: Investor Relations investorrelations@navigatorgas.com

and randy.giveans@navigatorgas.com Address: 333 Clay Street, Suite 2400, Houston, Texas, U.S.A. 77002 Tel: +1 713 373 6197 and +44 (0)20 7340 4850 Investor Relations / Media Advisors

Nicolas Bornozis / Paul Lampoutis Capital Link  New York Tel: +1-212-661-7566 Email: navigatorgas@capitallink.com

Category: Financial
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Uranium Inc. (CUR, the Company or Consolidated Uranium) (TSXV: CUR) (OTCQX: CURUF) is pleased to announce the creation and planned spin-out (the Spin-Out) of Premier American Uranium Inc. (PUR), currently a majority-controlled subsidiary of CUR focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of uranium projects in Wyoming and Colorado. (Figure 1).



On May 24, 2023, the Company entered into an arrangement agreement with PUR (the Arrangement Agreement), pursuant to which among other things the Company has agreed to transfer ownership of certain indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries which hold eight U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) leases and certain patented claims located in Colorado (the CUR Assets) to PUR in exchange for 7,753,752 Class A common shares of PUR (PUR Shares), a portion of which will be distributed to the Companys shareholders on a pro rata basis (the Arrangement). PUR intends to apply to list the PUR Shares (the TSXV Listing) on the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV). The TSXV Listing will be subject to PUR fulfilling all of the requirements of the TSXV.

In addition, CUR and PUR have entered into a purchase agreement (the Premier Agreement) with, among others, Premier Uranium Inc. (Premier), a privately held U.S. uranium focused project acquisition vehicle which owns a 100% interest in the Cyclone project in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming (the Cyclone Project) and various mining claims in the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado (collectively, the Premier Assets), pursuant to which PUR has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Premier.

Separately, PUR has also staked 368 unpatented mining claims, covering approximately 6,940 acres in key areas of the Uravan Mineral Belt.

To view a summary of todays news delivered by Philip Williams, Chairman and CEO of CUR, and Tim Rotolo, Chief Executive Officer of Premier and planned Chief Executive Officer of PUR, click here.

Transaction Highlights:

Stable, Long-term Shareholder Base Ahead of Public Market Listing  Backed by Sachem Cove Partners, CUR and with additional institutional investor support, PUR is working toward a public listing on the TSXV.

Backed by Sachem Cove Partners, CUR and with additional institutional investor support, PUR is working toward a public listing on the TSXV. Extensive Land Holdings in Two Prominent Uranium-Producing Regions in the U.S.  PUR plans to explore and develop its large land position in the Great Divide Base of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado.

PUR plans to explore and develop its large land position in the Great Divide Base of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado. Rich History of Past Production and Historic Uranium Mineral Resources with Strong Discovery Potential  The Cyclone Project, in Wyoming is an In Situ Recovery ( ISR ) project comprised of ~25,500 acres with past work supporting an exploration target with a range of 6.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (7.9 million lbs. U3O8) to 10.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (12.6 million lbs. U3O8). 1 See below for additional details. The Colorado projects include multiple past producing mines with historic uranium mineral resources and exploration potential.

Well-Timed Opportunity with Strong Market Fundamentals and Need for U.S. Domestic Supply  Uranium fundamentals are the strongest in a decade with a large supply deficit as forecasted by industry and financial analysts. Security of supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine is driving long-term contracting, a key feature leading up to the previous uranium price rally in 2005 to 2007. PUR presents an attractive opportunity to participate in the anticipated resurgence and advancement of the U.S. uranium industry.

Uranium fundamentals are the strongest in a decade with a large supply deficit as forecasted by industry and financial analysts. Security of supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine is driving long-term contracting, a key feature leading up to the previous uranium price rally in 2005 to 2007. PUR presents an attractive opportunity to participate in the anticipated resurgence and advancement of the U.S. uranium industry. Unparalleled Experience in the U.S. Uranium Sector across the Team, Led by Disciplined Capital Allocators  PUR will be led by Tim Rotolo, co-founder of Sachem Cove Partners and Founder of Lloyd Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Together, the PUR board of directors, management and technical team will have deep technical, operational, and permitting expertise in the U.S. with a track record of financing and advancing uranium companies and significant institutional investment experience in the uranium sector.

PUR will be led by Tim Rotolo, co-founder of Sachem Cove Partners and Founder of Lloyd Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Together, the PUR board of directors, management and technical team will have deep technical, operational, and permitting expertise in the U.S. with a track record of financing and advancing uranium companies and significant institutional investment experience in the uranium sector. Initiating Work Programs to Advance Portfolio in 2023  Cyclone Project Exploration  Airborne radiometric survey completed in Q4 2022 in preparation for exploration and permitting activities planned for the remainder of 2023 and subsequent drilling expected in 2024. Uravan Mineral Belt Exploration  Monogram Mesa  Full data review for on trend exploration targets with subsequent drilling. Atkinson Mesa  Historical data review in preparation for planned drilling program to delineate the extent of mineralization in the central and northern parts of the properties. Additionally, PUR intends to look to further increase its land position both in Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado.





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1 The potential quantity and grade of this exploration target is conceptual in nature and based on the geologic interpretation that mineralization is Sandstone Type mineralization, aerial radiometric anomalies, and indications of the presence of oxidation reduction interfaces with mineralization from available drill data. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if a mineral resource will be delineated.

Philip Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CUR, commented We are very excited to announce the spin-off of PUR, in partnership with Sachem Cove. At CUR, our focus in the U.S. has been squarely on readying our past-producing Tony M, Daneros and Rim mines in Utah for production once market conditions warrant. This inherently meant our Colorado DOE leases, with a history of production and strong exploration potential, have received little attention. At the same time, in Premier, Tim and Sachem Cove have assembled a portfolio of projects in Colorado, which complement ours, as well as a compelling land package in the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming with large-scale ISR potential. CURs strategy has been to realize value in our portfolio, either directly by advancing projects to production, or through spinouts/divestures where a compelling strategic rationale could be identified, similar to our Labrador Uranium transaction last year. In PUR, we are convinced that this is a case where one plus one could equal much more than two and we believe CUR shareholders will be the ultimate beneficiaries when we complete the planned TSXV listing and direct distribution of PUR Shares in the coming months.

Tim Rotolo, Chief Executive Officer of Premier and planned Chief Executive Officer of PUR commented, The U.S. was once the global leader in uranium production at over 40 million pounds per year, enough uranium to supply nearly its entire nuclear fleet - the largest in the world and provider of 20% of U.S. electricity. Today, the U.S. produces almost none of its own domestically consumed uranium as U.S. utilities have turned to buying nearly half of their uranium needs from former Soviet states Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. We believe we are on the precipice of a resurgence in domestic production. For the first time in decades, a large supply deficit, which may push uranium prices higher, has converged with a global nuclear renaissance and newfound bi-partisan political support to safeguard our domestic nuclear fleet from geopolitical risk of a former Soviet-bloc dominated nuclear fuel cycle. In respect of this, we started Premier to capitalize on the U.S. uranium resurgence, accumulating projects and waiting for the right time to bring them to market. That time is now, and our partnership with CUR whose projects are complementary, sets up an exciting and well-timed launch for PUR.

The Arrangement Agreement

Pursuant to the Arrangement Agreement, among other things, CUR has agreed to transfer certain indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries which hold the CUR Assets to PUR in exchange for 7,753,752 PUR Shares. Under the terms of the Arrangement, CUR intends to distribute 50% of the PUR Shares it receives to its shareholders on a pro-rata basis based on the number of CUR Shares held at the effective date of the Arrangement. There will be no change in CUR shareholders proportionate ownership in CUR as a result of the Arrangement. In addition, holders of options and warrants of CUR as of the effective date of the Arrangement will have such securities adjusted in accordance with their terms as a result of the Arrangement.

The Arrangement will be effected by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario). The Arrangement will be subject to regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSXV for the Arrangement and the TSXV Listing, court approval, as well as approval by not less than two-thirds of the votes cast at the annual general and special meeting (the Meeting) of the CUR shareholders, anticipated to be held in the third quarter of 2023. Full details of the Arrangement will be included in the management information circular to be sent to CUR shareholders in connection with the Meeting.

It is anticipated that the Arrangement and the TSXV Listing will be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

The Premier Agreement

On May 24, 2023, the Company and Premier entered into the Premier Agreement with PUR, among others, pursuant to which PUR has agreed to acquire all the outstanding shares of Premier in exchange for 12,000 Class B common shares of PUR (Compressed Shares). Each Compressed Share carries the right to 1,000 votes per share and is convertible into 1,000 PUR Shares, with each PUR Share carrying the right to one vote per share. Completion of the Premier Transaction is subject to certain closing conditions including, among other things, completion of the Arrangement and the conditional approval of the TSXV for the TSXV Listing.

About PUR

Proposed Management and Board of Directors

Tim Rotolo, Chief Executive Officer 15+ years as an investment professional with background in fund management. Co-founder of Sachem Cove Partners and Founder of Lloyd Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Founder of North Shore Indices, Inc., which launched URNM, a uranium mining ETF in 2019 and raised over $1 Billion before selling to NYSE listed, Sprott Asset Management.

Greg Duras, Chief Financial Officer 25+ years in the resource sector in corporate development, financial management and cost control.

Marty Tunney, Chairman Mining engineer with significant technical and capital markets experience. Current President and Chief Operating Officer of CUR.

Michael Harrison, Director 25+ years of executive, financial and technical experience in the mining industry. Current Managing Partner at Sprott Inc.

Daniel Nauth, Director Lawyer with a specialty in U.S.-Canada cross-border capital markets, M&A and corporate and securities transactions and regulatory compliance.



Technical Advisors

Ted Wilton 50+ years as a Senior Geologist in the mining industry, including 25+ in the uranium sector. Involved in discovering 8 deposits containing more than 10 million ounces gold in the U.S. and Australia.

Mike Neumann 40+ years in environmental and regulatory affairs, specialized in uranium mine permitting in the U.S. and Kazakhstan. Gained regulatory approval for expansion of Daneros, compliance for Tony M, and Rim Mines in Utah.

Tyler Johnson 14+ years formerly with Denison and Energy Fuels Inc. Geologist specializing in exploration, mine development, and resource estimation on uranium and vanadium projects.





The Projects

Figure 1: PUR Project Portfolio located in the States of Wyoming and Colorado





Wyoming  Great Divide Basin

Wyoming is one of the leading jurisdictions for U.S. uranium production and produced approximately 230 million lbs of U 3 O 8 since the first discovery in the 1950s.1 The State ranked 11th of 84 jurisdictions in the Public Policy Perception Index of the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2021.2

The Great Divide Basin is also one of the least exploited of the Wyoming Basins known to contain significant deposits of uranium, including the Crooks Gap mining district, Sweetwater deposit, Lost Creek ISR mine. Nearby property owners include Uranium Energy Corp. and UR-Energy Inc.1

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1 Source: Wyoming State Geological Survey; Critical Minerals in Wyoming; https;//www.wsgs.wyo.gov/minerals/critical-minerals.aspx

2 Source: www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/annual-survey-of-mining-companies-2021.pdf

Cyclone Project

The Cyclone Project is located approximately 45 miles northwest of Rawlins, Wyoming and 15 miles from the Sweetwater Uranium Mill. The project covers 25,500 acres comprising: 1,061 claims totaling 21,220 acres and 7 state leases covering 4,280 acres.

The uranium deposits in the basin are hosted in flat-lying sandstones of the Battle Spring Formation, with a widespread alteration of host sandstones and numerous roll-front uranium deposits associated with altered rocks. Exploration potential remains high on the project with drilling required to follow up on historic work and delineate mineralized zones.

Previous exploration on the project includes ~80 holes drilled during 2007-2008, with mineralization showing typical grades and thicknesses to uranium deposits found elsewhere in the Great Divide Basin. Intersections from exploration on the Rim Target include hole UT-8 which intersected 8.0 ft. averaging 0.092% eU308 (0.02% cut-off) or 5.5 ft. @ 0.121% eU308 at 200 feet from the surface and hole UT-44 which intersected 7.5 ft. averaging 0.081% eU3O8 (0.02% cut-off grade) or 5.5 ft. averaging 0.104% eU308 at a 0.05% cut-off grade.

Sufficient historical exploration data is available for the North and East claim blocks to define an exploration target, which shows a range of 6.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (7.9 million lbs. U3O8) to 10.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (12.6 million lbs. U3O8). The potential quantity and grade of this exploration target is conceptual in nature and based on the geologic interpretation that mineralization is roll-front sandstone  type mineralization, and that mineralization is present as indicated by airborne radiometric anomalies, indications of the presence of oxidation reduction interfaces with associated uranium mineralization as depicted in available historic drill data. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if a mineral resource will be delineated. For the definition of the exploration target, the following criteria based on direct knowledge and experience in the area and similar sandstone hosted uranium deposits in the Great Divide Basin and other areas of Wyoming was used: (i) a minimum cut-off grade of 0.02% U3O8 and a grade thickness product (GT) of 0.10, (ii) a radiometric disequilibrium factor of 1, and (iii) a bulk density of 16 cubic feet per ton.

A detailed review of the historical drill data is planned with permitting underway in preparation for drilling in 2024.

Colorado  Uravan Mineral Belt

The Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado has a rich history of uranium exploration and production and produced nearly 80 million lbs of U 3 O 8 and more than 400 million lbs of V 2 O 5 since 1945.3 Colorado ranked 5th of 62 jurisdictions in the Investment Attractiveness Index of the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2022.4 PURs projects in Colorado are in the heart of the Uravan Mineral Belt, in proximity to significant infrastructure. Mineralization is hosted in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation.

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3 Source: Chenoweth, William L., 1981, "The Uranium-Vanadium Deposits of the Uravan Mineral Belt and Adjacent Areas, Colorado and Utah. In New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook 32, Western Slope, Colorado" and Goodnight, Craig S., William L. Chenoweth, Richard D. Davyault and Edward T. Cotter, 2005: "Geologic Road Log for Uravan Mineral Belt Field Trip, West-Central, Colorado" Rocky Mountain Section of the Geologic Society of America.

4 Source: www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/annual-survey-of-mining-companies-2022.pdf

Monogram Mesa

The Monogram Mesa project covers approximately 7,431 acres and consists of 361 mining claims.

The property includes multiple historic mines on the northeast and the West (Bull Canyon) sides of Monogram Mesa. The historic mines are generally stable and dry, with numerous mineralized zones exposed. The property is strategically located within several miles of a paved highway with mine roads and power lines crossing the property. Historical drilling data indicates presence of numerous exploration targets.

Historic Production1 Tons (short) Grade (%U 3 O 8 ) Pounds U 3 O 8 Grade (%V 2 O 5 ) Pounds V 2 O 5 Monogram

Mesa Mines 840,761 0.30 4,992,179 1.19 20,001,113

As disclosed in Nelson-Moore, James L, Donna Bishop Collins, and A. L. Hornbaker, 1978; Radioactive Mineral Occurrences of Colorado, Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 40, 1,054 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, 12 plates.



An exploration drilling program to confirm and potentially expand currently known mineralization is planned with the potential to acquire surrounding properties, further consolidating the area.

Atkinson Mesa Project

The Atkinson Mesa project covers 5,863 acres, including 128 unpatented lode mining claims, 4 DOE leases. The project also includes approximately 2,702 acres, and 18 patented (fee simple) mining claims spanning 360 acres. Several past producing mines are present on the property, including the King Solomon mine, a large-scale underground mine that was one of the most significant uranium producers in the entire Uravan Mineral Belt.5 The property is situated within one of the most substantial uranium-vanadium production areas within the entire Uravan Mineral Belt.5

Historic Production1 Tons (short) Grade (%U 3 O 8 ) Pounds U 3 O 8 Grade (%V 2 O 5 ) Pounds V 2 O 5 King Soloman

Complex 1,230,000 0.21 5,160,000 1.11 26,540,000

Goodnight, Craig S., William L. Chenoweth, Richard D. Davyaault, and Edward T. Cotter, 2005; Geologic Road Log for Uravan Mineral Belt Field Trip, West-Central Colorado; Rocky Mountain Section of Geological Society of America, 2005 Annual Meeting.



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5 Source: Goodnight, Craig S., William L. Chenoweth, Rochard D. Davyault and Edward T. Cotter, 2005; Geologic Road Log for Uravan Mineral Belt Field Trip, West-Central Colorado; Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America.

Outlaw Mesa & Slick Rock Projects

The Outlaw Mesa and Slick Rock projects are located at the northern and southern ends of the Uravan Mineral Belt, respectively. Outlaw Mesa covers 5,759 acres with 2 DOE leases and Slick Rock covers 1,226 acres with 2 DOE leases.

Both projects include historic production from multiple mines, including the well-known Spud Patch mines in the Slick Rock area and the Calamity Mesa mines in the Outlaw mesa-Calamity Mesa area. All leases contain uranium and vanadium mineralization. In January 2020, a new 10-year lease was signed with the DOE, providing long-term potential for the project.

Historic Production1 Tons (short) Grade (%U 3 O 8 ) Pounds U 3 O 8 Grade (%V 2 O 5 ) Pounds V 2 O 5 Slick Rock 434,300 0.34 2,953,600 1.30 11,333,800 Outlaw and

Calamity Mesas 423,500 0.34 2,917,200 1.29 10,994,500

As disclosed in the above and by Nelson-Moore, James L, Donna Bishop Collins and A. L. Hornbaker, 1978; Radioactive Mineral Occurrences of Colorado, Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 40, 1,054 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, 12 plates.



Technical Disclosure and Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dean T. Wilton: PG, CPG, MAIG, a consultant of CUR who is a Qualified Person (as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects).

The data disclosed in this news release is related to historical drilling results. CUR has not undertaken any independent investigation of the sampling, nor has it independently analyzed the results of the historical exploration work in order to verify the results. CUR considers these historical drill results relevant as the Company is using this data as a guide to plan exploration programs. The Company's current and future exploration work includes verification of the historical data through drilling.

About Premier American Uranium Inc.

Premier American Uranium Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Uranium Inc. (TSXV:CUR), is focused on the consolidation, exploration, and development of uranium projects in the United States. One of PUR's key strengths lies in the agreements it has to acquire extensive land holdings in two prominent uranium-producing regions in the United States: the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado. With a rich history of past production and historic uranium mineral resources, PUR is initiating work programs to advance its portfolio in 2023.

Backed by Sachem Cove Partners, CUR, additional institutional investors, and an unparalleled team with U.S. uranium experience, PUR's entry into the market comes at a well-timed opportunity, as uranium fundamentals are currently the strongest they have been in a decade.

PUR intends to apply to list its shares on the TSXV, cementing its position as a leading U.S. uranium player. Listing will be subject to PUR fulfilling all of the requirements of the TSXV.

For more information, please visit www.premierur.com.

About Consolidated Uranium Inc.

Consolidated Uranium Inc. (TSXV: CUR) (OTCQX: CURUF) was created in early 2020 to capitalize on an anticipated uranium market resurgence using the proven model of diversified project consolidation. To date, Consolidated Uranium has acquired or has the right to acquire uranium projects in Australia, Canada, Argentina, and the United States each with significant past expenditures and attractive characteristics for development.

Consolidated Uranium completed a transformational strategic acquisition and alliance with Energy Fuels Inc., a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company, and acquired a portfolio of permitted, past-producing conventional uranium and vanadium mines in Utah and Colorado. These mines are currently on stand-by, ready for rapid restart as market conditions permit, positioning Consolidated Uranium as a near-term uranium producer.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Philip Williams

Chairman and CEO

pwilliams@consolidateduranium.com

Toll-Free: 1-833-572-2333

Twitter: @ConsolidatedUr

www.consolidateduranium.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information.

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the timing and outcome of the Arrangement, the Premier acquisition and the Listing, including required shareholder, regulatory, court and stock exchange approvals; the anticipated timing of the Meeting; the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement; the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set out in the Arrangement Agreement and the Premier Agreement; the exploration activities anticipated for the remainder of 2023 and 2024; the anticipated management team and board of directors of PUR; the final approval of the Arrangement and Listing by the TSXV; anticipated strategic and growth opportunities; expectations regarding the U.S. uranium industry; any expectations with respect to defining mineral resources or mineral reserves on any of the projects and any expectation with respect to any permitting, development or other work that may be required to bring any of the projects into development or production and other activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward- looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved or the negative connotation thereof. Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, completion of the Arrangement, the Listing and the Premier acquisition, including the ability of the parties to receive, in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms, the necessary regulatory, court and shareholder approvals; the ability of the parties to satisfy, in a timely manner, the other conditions to the completion of the Arrangement, the Listing and the Premier acquisition; that the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement will be realized; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, and that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Companys planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others: the failure to obtain shareholder, regulatory, court or stock exchange approvals in connection with the Arrangement, the Listing and the Premier acquisition; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement or implement the business plan for PUR; the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; expectations regarding negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of additional financing, no known mineral reserves or resources, reliance on key management and other personnel, potential downturns in economic conditions, actual results of exploration activities being different than anticipated, changes in exploration programs based upon results, and risks generally associated with the mineral exploration industry, environmental risks, changes in laws and regulations, community relations and delays in obtaining governmental or other approval and the risk factors with respect to Consolidated Uranium set out in Consolidated Uraniums annual information form in respect of the year ended December 31, 2022 which has been filed with the Canadian securities regulators and is available under Consolidated Uraniums profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.

A graphic accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0fd6e6e6-004b-4c8c-9ba2-dbd43db21572
HOUSTON, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerson Firm, PLLC (Emerson) announces an investigation of the data breach at Apria Healthcare, LLC (Apria). This investigation relates to the theft of sensitive personal identifiable information (PII) nearly 2 million individuals.



On May 22, 2023, Apria notified patients that the company experienced a data breach after an unauthorized party accessed sensitive consumer data entrusted to the company. According to Apria, they determined that information stored on their servers may have been subject to unauthorized access from April 4, 2019, through October 10, 2021. Apria determined that the information exposed in the data breach includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers, financial information, medical information, and health insurance information.

Emerson is a Houston, TX law firm specializing in results, integrity, and personal service. Emerson represents consumers throughout the nation and has significant class action experience with proven results. Emerson lawyers have devoted their practice to complex commercial litigation for more than forty years and have recovered over one billion dollars for consumers in class actions throughout the United States.
Washington, D.C., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Dutch Embassy, the U.S. Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Netherland-American Foundation presented Dutch hotel and lifestyle brand citizenM with the 2023 Holland on the Hill Freddy Heineken Award in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Klaas van Lookeren Campagne, CEO of citizenM, accepted the award on behalf of the company. citizenM was recognized for its work to strengthen the Dutch-US relationship while being an inclusive employer that is also committed to Dutch design. The hotel and lifestyle brand is known for its distinct design aesthetic and innovative business model that has transformed the hospitality industry.

As he presented the award to Mr. van Lookeren Campagne, Ambassador Andre Haspels said, As someone who has traveled the globe as a diplomat, I can tell you the importance of a comfortable hotel to rest and recharge. The recipient of the Freddy Heineken Award must demonstrate, over a significant period of time, dedication to strengthening the economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States. citizenM has done just that as it disrupts the hospitality industry and redefines what it means to be a modern hotel.

Launched in 2008, citizenM provides travelers with affordable luxury hotels that are centrally located in major cities around the world. The companys portfolio has 31 hotels filled with art and modern design in 18 cities including: London, Amsterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Rotterdam, Geneva, Zurich, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, and Taipei.

At the ceremony, CEO Klaas van Lookeren Campagne gave insight into citizenMs business model. We really focus on the global business traveler and try to do the best for them, he stated. citizenM is a place to stay and sleep, that is the most important product we can deliver. Its a human business, its the service you give to that exhausted traveler or inspired traveler and those are our ambassadors. We have hundreds in America. If you know the customer better, you can serve them better.

citizenMs business model is undergirded by a commitment to its ESG vision: to influence positive change in a world where we are simply guests.

The company is recognized for its distinct design and award-winning app, which allows guests to adjust room controls (including lights, blinds, and temperature), view food and beverage menus, access art information at each property, explore their surroundings via curated city guides, and more, all from their smartphone. citizenM illustrates how Dutch design and business innovation can result in entrepreneurial success.

The award ceremony took place in the Rayburn House Office Building and was attended by several members of Congress including Members of the Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Representative Derek Kilmer (D, WA-6) and Representative Bill Huizenga (R, MI-4), co-chairs of the caucus, provided remarks. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11) gave closing remarks and spoke of how citizenM helps to strengthen the economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States. One of the newest members of the caucus, Representative Hillary Scholten (D, MI-3) also attended the event.

The Holland on the Hill Freddy Heineken Award, named for Freddy Heineken, honors an entrepreneur or organization that has made a substantial and positive impact on the economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States. Freddy Heineken came to the US in the 1940s to expand Heinekens market. With his Dutch entrepreneurial spirit and American marketing know-how, Heineken increased sales by 260 percent, laying the foundation for the global brand.

Previous recipients include: Richard DeLuca Jr., of Merck in 2022, Peter Oosterveer, of Arcadis in 2021, Michelle Browdy of IBM in 2020, Alexander R. Wynaendts of Aegon in 2019, David Hyman of Netflix in 2018, Dick Boer of Ahold Delhaize in 2017, Victoria B. Mars of Mars Inc. in 2016, Paul Polman of Unilever in 2015, and Werner Vogels of Amazon.com in 2014.

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About citizenM

citizenM was launched in 2008 with a purpose  to disrupt the traditional, stale hotel industry. Rattan Chadha  the founder of the global fashion brand Mexx  was inspired by his employees to create a hotel for todays frequent travellers, giving them everything they need and nothing they dont. This means central locations in the worlds most exciting cities, but at an affordable price. Not just a place to sleep, but somewhere to work, relax and play  just like home. Somewhere with superfast free Wi-Fi, tech that makes life easy, and world-class art that isnt hotel art. A room with an ultra-comfortable XL bed to crash in, and a powerful rain shower to wake-up in. Rattan Chadha called this affordable luxury for the people.

The first citizenM opened at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport in 2008. As of March 2023, citizenMs portfolio has 31 hotels in 18 exciting cities: London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur.

www.citizenM.com

@citizenM

Attachment
Los Angeles, CA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On June 17, 2023, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) will host its 19th Annual Power Women, Power Tools build day. This years presenting sponsor is City National Bank (CNB). As a recurring sponsor of Habitat LAs signature events  including several Power Women, Power Tools events  City National continues to support women empowerment and low-income Angelenos throughout Greater Los Angeles.



For nearly two decades, the Power Women, Power Tools build day and fundraising event has celebrated the collective efforts of thousands of Power Women who help Habitat LA build dozens of affordable homes. Past participants have built the foundations for loving communities by working side by side with Habitat staff, homeowners, donors, and volunteers. This year, Habitat LA will host power women across various industries using their collective voices to inspire strength, stability, and self-reliance and empower women to push past the limits!

Building a better future means acknowledging the efforts of women in our communities, especially those who are opening doors for economic stability. Were excited to be building Habitat homes alongside so many power women, said Linda Duncombe, Habitat LA board member and City Nationals Chief Marketing, Data and Digital Officer. City National Bank is honored to support the incredible work Habitat does to help families achieve the dream of owning a home.

The Power Women, Power Tools build event propels Habitat for Humanitys goal of ending substandard housing worldwide by making decent, affordable housing a matter of conscience action in local communities.

Power Women, Power Tools is a transformative event that connects people through a common purpose  to build homes and create communities. With the support of City National Bank, we are bringing together women from diverse backgrounds and careers, so that our partner families create lasting strength and stability through homeownership, said Erin Rank, President and CEO of Habitat LA.

All proceeds from the event will support Habitat LAs efforts to build and repair homes throughout greater Los Angeles. For more information and additional sponsorship information, visit: bit.ly/PWPT23.

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About Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) transforms neighborhoods throughout greater Los Angeles by bringing the community together to build affordable homes, provide critical home repairs and help families rebuild after natural disasters. Habitat LA strengthens families by helping them access affordable loans, housing counseling, and down-payment assistance. For more information about Habitat LA visit https://www.habitatla.org/.

About City National Bank

With $95.3 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 67 branches, including 22 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Miami*. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $83.6 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of the worlds leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 17 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 27 other countries.

For more information about City National, visit the companys website at cnb.com.

*City National Bank does business in Miami and the state of Florida as CN Bank.

Attachment
Spartanburg, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spartanburg, South Carolina -

South Carolina based plumbing company One Call Plumbing has announced that it is expanding its operations to Greenville, South Carolina and nearby areas in Greenville County.

The companys spokesperson talks about the latest expansion by saying, We have been serving homeowners and businesses in Spartanburg for over 20 years and have slowly but steadily earned the trust of this lovely community. We have, as our name suggests, always just been one call away! Now, we are bringing the same high-quality, prompt, and responsive plumbing services that we are known for in Spartanburg to the good folks over in Greenville. We are confident that, in Greenville, we will continue our successful streak of delivering complete customer satisfaction. Call us today to book an appointment and find out why so many South Carolinians have come to rely on us.

The fully licensed, bonded, and insured plumbing contractors range of residential and commercial plumbing services include plumbing fixtures, drain repairs and cleaning, faucets and sinks, garbage disposals, water heaters, video camera inspections, sewer lines, sump pumps, septic and drain field services, leak detection, well services, Hydrojet drain cleaning, whole house water filters, leak detection, backflow testing and recertification, and more.

One Call Plumbing offers emergency plumbing services for critical home plumbing issues that need to be addressed quickly to prevent further damage. The company is quick to respond and does not charge extra for calls made during normal hours. To ensure a pleasant customer experience, One Call Plumbing also provides accurate written estimates before beginning any work so that there are no surprises when the bill arrives.

We realize just how urgently plumbing problems need to be fixed, says the spokesperson. Your whole daily routine gets thrown off which may also affect your work and family. Moreover, stagnant water due to leaks or blockages can seep into your propertys building materials and cause untold damage if not addressed quickly. So, with our years of experience handling plumbing emergencies in Spartanburg, we have tuned our operations to be as immediate and versatile as possible. If you live in Greenville, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you now have a reliable plumber to depend on if your homes plumbing ever fails. Find out more about us by visiting https://onecallplumbingsc.com/greenville/.

Residents in Spartanburg have profusely praised One Call Plumbing in scores of online reviews. On its Google Business Profile, where it has an exceptional overall rating of 4.8 out of 5.0 from over 220 reviews, customers thank the company for the professionalism of its plumbers, helpful customer service, and affordable pricing.

One Google reviewer notes the customer service they received by saying, After reading the reviews, I called One Call Plumbing and they were very responsive and the person that answered the phone (not a recording) was very nice and explained pricing. Chris arrived in about an hour on a Saturday and explained everything he did and why! He ran the camera and snake down the pipes and showed me the clog and what caused it. Chris was very nice and incredibly professional and thorough. I am telling everyone I know to call these guys!

Another reviewer details the companys meticulous work processes by saying, Highly recommend One Call Plumbing! One call was all that was needed to have a plumber at my house within two hours! Kevin was knowledgeable and professional and determined our problem quickly. We needed to have our water heater replaced. He explained the problem, with pictures. He discussed the price and said he could complete the job the same day. We agreed and he proceeded to do just that!... Also thank you to the office who emailed a copy of the bill, and numerous pictures of the work that was done. We will recommend One Call Plumbing to family and friends!

Readers can contact One Call Plumbing in Greenville at (864) 310-6277 or csr@onecallplumbingsc.com to ask about its full range of residential and commercial plumbing services.

###

For more information about One Call Plumbing Inc, contact the company here:



One Call Plumbing Inc

Preston Theye

(864) 310-6277

info@onecallplumbingsc.com

457 South Daniel Morgan Avenue

Spartanburg, SC 29306
English French

DENVER, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cologix , North Americas leading network-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data center company, today announced that it has started construction of its latest Scalelogix facility, Montreal MTL8 data center. With a planned 205,000 square feet and 21 megawatts (MW) of power, MTL8 represents one of Cologixs greenest and most sustainably designed data centers to date.



Currently being built by CML Construction with an expected completion by mid-2024, MTL8 is an expansion of Cologixs existing data center footprint in Montreal. As a LEED Gold-certified facility by the U.S. Green Building Council , MTL8 will consume minimal energy, water and natural resources to reduce its overall impact on the environment. The facilitys cooling system is designed for maximum energy efficiency to optimize functionality while reducing the energy required to operate the facility. MTL8 also will use renewable energy power from Hyrdo-Quebec.

"We are very pleased to welcome Cologix to Saint-Laurent, said Alan DeSousa, Borough Mayor of Saint-Laurent, one of Montreal's outer boroughs located in the north central part of the island. As a sustainable municipal territory that has put a climate emergency plan in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, we are sensitive to the fact that this Cologix building is the first data center in Canada to receive LEED Gold certification. Besides, this is a strategic location for Cologix to develop its business, especially with more than 4,000 companies and three major industrial clusters here, including information and communication technologies. But also, because it is close to the airport and to the air, sea and road transportation network, which will soon be reinforced by our five REM stations. The Cologix data center is further proof that economic prosperity, innovation and environmental protection can be successfully combined."

The MTL8 data center will enable businesses to build and scale their operations in a facility that aligns with Montreals sustainability goals. Located in Technoparc Montreal, Canada's first science park, MTL8 is built in a community of more than one hundred innovative companies in the life sciences, aerospace and technology industries. Additionally, with dark fiber connectivity, Cologixs 11 Montreal data centers are linked across the greater Montreal Metropolitan area with direct access to the primary carrier hotel in the region.

"We are thrilled to launch our newest data center in Montreal Technoparc," said Daniel Laurin, Executive Vice President, Engineering and Client Solutions at Cologix. "With its sustainable design, unparalleled connectivity and strong interconnection capabilities, MTL8 is well-positioned to serve as a critical hub for businesses in the region and beyond. We look forward to supporting our customers' growth and success with this exciting new facility."

We are ecstatic to be the chosen builder of this LEED Gold-certified data center located in the prestigious Technoparc of Ville Saint-Laurent, said Francesca Mancini, Vice-President and Partner of CML Construction. We want to thank Cologix for having the confidence in our team to construct this state-of-the-art facility. As general contractors we recognize our responsibility to reduce our environmental impact, so we will be working with sustainable materials to construct this project and throughout the construction process to focus on minimizing our carbon footprint.

MTL8 is one of three new Scalelogix facilities that Cologix is currently developing in the U.S. and Canada, including facilities in Ashburn, Virginia and Columbus, Ohio. These new data centers will be SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS Validation certified, ensuring that they meet the most stringent security and compliance requirements. MTL8 will provide unparalleled connectivity and performance with over 100 unique service providers and low latency, direct onramp connections to hyperscale cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute and Oracle FastConnect.

For more information on MTL8 and Cologixs suite of data center solutions, please visit https://www.cologix.com/ .

About Cologix Inc.

Cologix provides carrier- and cloud-neutral hyperscale edge data centers and services across North America. Cologix is the interconnection hub for cloud service providers, carriers and a rich ecosystem of partners who want to deploy applications at the very edge across Canada and the U.S. With a growing portfolio of next generation facilities that meet the unique requirements for hyperscale growth with deep connectivity, Cologix offers massive scale and tailor-made data center solutions to accelerate its customers businesses at the digital edge. For on-demand connectivity for scale and control, Cologix Access Marketplace provides fast, reliable, self-service provisioning. For a tour of one of our data centers in Ashburn, Columbus, Dallas, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Jersey, Silicon Valley, Toronto or Vancouver visit Cologix or email. Follow Cologix on LinkedIn and Twitter .

About Crevier Mancini Leeswood (CML) Construction Inc.

In 2020, Leeswood and Crevier Mancini Construction partnered to create Crevier Mancini Leeswood (CML) Construction Inc. a premier construction outfit to service the Quebec and Ottawa markets. Having been in business for over 30 years combined, with over 150 employees across Canada, Crevier Mancini Leeswood has strong expertise in the construction of distribution centers, industrial buildings, mission critical data centers, purpose-built rentals, tenant improvements and maintenance facilities. Crevier Mancini and Leeswood have the same philosophy; they are not only signing up to execute a single project, but to foster a long-term relationship with clients.

Media Contact for Cologix:

Shifali Erasmus, Crackle PR

Cologix@cracklepr.com

Media Contact for CML:

Gina Lesage

jagg2@outlook.com

514-442-0913

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56467a8f-9889-4821-aab5-bd91780ec7b5
Nairobi  Detectives have apprehended three suspects in connection to the disappearance of Sh8 million, stolen from a Kiambu-based businessman.

Police say that in the incident reported late last month by the businessman's wife, the money was stolen from a safe hidden in the abandoned pump station located at Kinangop in Nyandarua County.

"The suspects are believed to have gained entry into the building through the roof before helping themselves with the cash after breaking the safe," the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said Tuesday.

The investigations agency says a total of Sh2.5 million has since been recovered from the suspects identified as David Mushendu, Moses Cherish and Eliud Wangai.

The suspects are facing charges of Stealing by Servant contrary to Section 281 of the Penal Code
A total of 284,457,954 or 85.17% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares were represented at the Meeting

All six proposals to shareholders were approved, including the election of all eleven director nominees; Hume Kyle, Daniel Muniz-Quintanilla, and Dawn Whittaker join the Board

During the 2023 proxy season, NOVAGOLD placed outreach calls to shareholders holding approximately 92.21% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares entitled to vote



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 23, 2023 -- NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NOVAGOLD" or the "Company") (NYSE American, TSX: NG) is pleased to announce the detailed voting results on the items of business considered at its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on May 18, 2023 (the "Meeting"). All proposals were approved and all eleven director nominees were elected. A total of 284,457,954 or 85.17% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares were represented at the Meeting.

Hume Kyle, Daniel Muniz-Quintanilla, and Dawn Whittaker join the Board Directors of NOVAGOLD

The Company is delighted to report the election of Hume Kyle, Daniel Muniz-Quintanilla, and Dawn Whittaker to its Board at the Meeting, effective May 18, 2023. The three new Directors will fill one vacancy and replace Sharon Dowdall and Clynton Nauman, two directors who chose to retire from the Board after many years of dedicated and excellent service to NOVAGOLD. For more information on changes to NOVAGOLD's Board membership, please view the release from April 19, 2023 here.

Shareholder Engagement

During this year's proxy outreach, NOVAGOLD placed calls to shareholders owning 40,000-plus shares who collectively hold approximately 92.21% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares entitled to vote at the Meeting. Year-over-year the input received from shareholders has helped shape and improve the Company's governance practices.

Shareholder Voting Results

The shareholders voted on the following matters at this year's Meeting:

Proposal 1 - Election of Directors

The nominees listed in NOVAGOLD's Management Information Circular were elected as Directors of the Company. Detailed results of the votes are set out below:

Proposal 2 Outcome of the

Vote

Votes by Ballot Election of Directors Votes For Votes Withheld Dr. Elaine Dorward-King Carried 263,941,771

(98.68%) 3,517,519

(1.31%) Dr. Diane Garrett Carried 258,982,243

(96.83%) 8,477,047

(3.16%) Dr. Thomas Kaplan Carried 264,468,481

(98.88%) 2,990,809

(1.11%) Hume Kyle Carried 266,699,853

(99.71%) 759,437

(0.28%) Gregory Lang Carried 265,885,009

(99.41%) 1,574,281

(0.58%) Kalidas Madhavpeddi Carried 261,382,272

(97.72%) 6,077,018

(2.27%) Kevin McArthur Carried 262,363,487

(98.09%) 5,095,803

(1.90%) Daniel Muniz-Quintanilla Carried 257,946,124

(96.44%) 9,513,166

(3.55%) Ethan Schutt Carried 261,722,045

(97.85%) 5,737,245

(2.14%) Anthony Walsh Carried 262,982,560

(98.32%) 4,476,730

(1.67%) Dawn Whitaker Carried 266,508,418

(99.64%) 950,872

(0.35%)

Proposal 2 - Appointment of Auditors

The vote was carried for the Appointment of the Auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The votes received by ballot were as follows:

Votes For 281,594,022 98.99% Votes Withheld 2,863,932 1.00%

Proposal 3 - Approve all unallocated entitlements under the Stock Award Plan

The vote was carried for the Stock Award Plan. The votes received by ballot were as follows:

Votes For 227,431,669 85.03% Votes Against 39,490,733 14.76% Abstentions 536,888 0.20%

Proposal 4 - Approve all unallocated entitlements under the Performance Share Unit Plan

The vote was carried for the Performance Share Unit Plan. The votes received by ballot were as follows:

Votes For 238,158,490 89.04% Votes Against 28,767,073 10.75% Abstentions 533,727 0.19%

Proposal 5 - Approve all unallocated entitlements under the Deferred Share Unit Plan

The vote was carried for the Deferred Share Unit Plan. The votes received by ballot were as follows:

Votes For 262,907,150 98.29% Votes Against 4,010,460 1.49% Abstentions 541,680 0.20%

Proposal 6 - Advisory Approval of Executive Compensation ("Say-on-Pay")

The vote was carried on the Say-On-Pay Advisory Vote. The votes received by ballot were as follows:

Votes For 253,638,153 94.83% Votes Against 13,317,773 4.97% Abstentions 503,364 0.18%

Full details of all proposals are fully described in the Company's Management Information Circular dated March 24, 2023 available on the Company's website at www.novagold.com/investors/mic/, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov, and the detailed results of voting on each proposal are included in the Report of Voting Results filed on SEDAR and in the 8-K filed on EDGAR.

The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders webcast and corporate presentation are available on NOVAGOLD's website under Presentations.

NOVAGOLD Contacts:

Melanie Hennessey

Vice President, Corporate Communications

1-604-669-6227 or 1-866-669-6227
Toronto, May 23, 2023 - Advance United Holdings Inc. (CSE: AUHI) (OTCQB: AUHIF) (FSE: 9I0) (the "Company" or "Advance United") is pleased to announce that further to its press release of April 12, 2023, it has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") through the issuance of 1,000,000 flow-through units (each, a "FT Unit") in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.10 per FT Unit for gross proceeds of $100,000. Each FT Unit is comprised of one common share issued on a flow-through basis (each, a "FT Share") in the capital of the Company and one-half of one whole Common Share purchase warrant, issued on a non-flow-through basis (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of $0.15 per Common Share for a period of sixty (60) months from the date of issuance. The FT Shares will qualify as "flow-through shares" within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation. The net proceeds will be used by the Company to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that will qualify as "flow-through expenditures" as such terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada).

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

For more information, please contact:

Advance United Holdings Inc.

James Atkinson P. Geo., CEO

Tel: (647) 278-7502

Email: jim.atkinson@advanceunited.ca

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to trading on the CSE and the focus of the Company's business. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "contemplates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Company's ability to increase the value of its current and future mineral exploration properties and, in connection therewith, any long-term shareholder value, the Company's ability to mitigate or eliminate exploration risk, and the Company's intention to develop a portfolio of historic gold properties. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the Company will continue its business as described above. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis and other periodic filings made by the Company with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances or actual results unless required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167143
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

OTTAWA, May 23, 2023 - Northern Shield Resources Inc. ("Northern Shield" or the "Company") (TSXV: NRN) announces that, due to time restrictions, it has concluded its non-brokered, private placement (the "Offering").

As announced in its press release of April 7, 2023, the Offering consisted of the issuance of: i) 1,500,000 units ("Units") at $0.05 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $75,000 with each Unit consisting of one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"), with each whole Warrant exercisable for one Common Share at a price of $0.10 per share within 24 months of the closing; and ii) 384,616 flow-through units ("Flow-Through Units") for aggregate gross proceeds of $25,000 with each Flow-Through Unit consisting of one Common Share issued on a flow-through basis within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant (an "FT Warrant"). Each whole FT Warrant is exercisable for one Common Share at a price of $0.125 per share within 24 months of the closing. Proceeds from the Offering will be used primarily for working capital purposes and to incur eligible exploration expenses at the Root & Cellar Property.

Securities issued under the Offering are subject to restrictions on resale for a period of four months from the date of closing. The Offering remains subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Northern

Northern Shield Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based company known as a leader in generating high-quality exploration targets that views greenfield exploration as an opportunity. An opportunity to find a tier 1 asset, near surface, and at relatively low cost. It implements a model driven approach in exploration to reduce any risk associated with early-stage projects for ourselves, our shareholders, and the environment. It is this approach that led to the discovery of an alkaline driven gold-silver-tellurium-porphyry copper system at its Root & Cellar Project in Newfoundland.

None of the securities sold in connection with the Offering will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and no such securities may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information which is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this press release but are not limited to, statements with respect to the expectations of management regarding the Offering, the expectations of management regarding the use of proceeds of the Offering, closing conditions for the Offering, and TSX Venture Exchange final approval of the Offering. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Risks that could change or prevent these statements from coming to fruition include the TSX Venture Exchange may not provide final approval of the Offering; the proceeds of the Offering may not be used as stated in this news release; the funds raised from the sale of the Flow-Through Shares may not be renounced in favour of the holders; the Company may be unable to satisfy all of the conditions to the closing required by the TSX Venture Exchange. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law

SOURCE Northern Shield Resources Inc.
Vancouver, May 24, 2023 - Majuba Hill Copper Corp. (CSE:JUBA) (OTC:JUBAF) (FWB:4NP) ("Majuba Hill Copper" or the "Company") is pleased to report the exciting results for the National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") that is in-progress for the Majuba Hill Porphyry Copper Project in Pershing County Nevada. These results indicate a very distinct "Exploration Target" that the Company believes incorporates very robust mineralization and geologic characteristics. The Company plans to advance the project with the 2023 drilling program. Drilling is designed to improve and upgrade the tonnage and grade, and move the results into an economic resource category.

RESPEC reported: "The Majuba Hill conceptual block model was evaluated by applying conceptual pit optimizations at various copper prices. Resulting conceptual open-pit scenarios for the mineralized material do not meet the test for "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" with currently appropriate economic inputs. The mineralized volumes of the grade domains and interpolated grades in the block model were considered as well as RESPEC's understanding of the project mineralization to develop an Exploration Target.

Based on these considerations, a range of between 50 million tonnes and 100 million tonnes has been established for the target. Estimated tonnage and grade ranges of the Exploration Target are shown in the table.

Table: Exploration Target Size Range from Conceptual Block Model

Model (1) Tonnage Range Million (Tons metric) Grade Range Copper (%) Copper Range (pounds) Exploration Target - All 50-100 0.15% to 0.30% 165,000,000 to 660,000,000 Exploration Target - High Grade 10-20 0.40% to 0.80% 88,185,000 to 352,739,000

(1)Conceptual open-pit scenarios for the mineralized material do not meet the test for "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" with currently appropriate economic inputs.

Drilling in 2023 on the Exploration Target will concentrate on drilling around the conceptual pits for additional high-grade copper zones using recommendations provided:

Drillhole Locations outside of the clustered drilling that makes up the core of the Exploration Target

Shallower angled drillholes to test and extend the narrow, high-grade zones outlined in the block model.

Orient the 2023 drilling to be more perpendicular to the high-grade zones and the geologic controls for the high-grade zones.

David Greenway, CEO stated, "I am excited that we have been able to get Majuba Hill to this critical point in the development of a copper deposit in just three years. Having such a significant Exploration Target with the potential of 10 million tonnes and 20 million tonnes of material grading between 0.40 % Cu and 0.80% copper grades is tremendous for the future of the company. This puts the Majuba Hill Copper Corp. in a rare position for a company of our size. We now know we have conceptual pits that can be advanced towards development. The 2023 Target Corridor outlines what we believe will ultimately contain over 1 billion tons of copper mineralization.

Mineral Domains and Block Modeling

Cross Section 1110 Showing Geology,

Copper Domains, and Block Model



Click Image To View Full Size

Mineral domains were modeled on cross sections for total copper using three different grade populations. A domain 0 was utilized for material outside the 100, 200, and 300 domains. The cross-sectional mineral domains were sliced horizontally on 10 meter level plans. From this the copper domain polygons were constructed

Domain Total Copper (%) 100 0.02 - 0.05 200 0.05 - 0.5 300 >0.5

Copper-domain polygons were used to code a three-dimensional block model with a model bearing of 040 comprised of 10 x 10 x 10-meter blocks (model x, y, z). Copper grades were interpolated by inverse distance methods using three-meter composites.

Majuba Project showing Surface Footprint of Copper Block Model

Projected to Surface



Click Image To View Full Size

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed by E.L. "Buster" Hunsaker III, CPG 8137, a non-independent consulting geologist who is a "Qualified Person" as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101").

About Majuba Hill Copper Corp.

Majuba Hill Copper Corp. is engaged in the identification, review and acquisition of latter stage copper and copper/silver/gold assets. This is in direct response to the growing worldwide demand and lack of supply for precious metals fueled by the Green New Deal in the US and most other developed nations with similar programs aimed at addressing climate change. Such programs are heavily reliant on silver, gold and especially copper to produce Electric Vehicles and other renewable power sources, as well as building infrastructure to provide clean and affordable electricity.

The flagship project is the Majuba Hill copper, silver and gold District located 156 miles outside Reno, Nevada, USA. Management has been mandated to focus on safe, mining friendly jurisdictions where government regulations are supportive of mining operations.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

On Behalf of the Board of Majuba Hill Copper Corp.

"David Greenway"

David C. Greenway

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Joel Warawa

VP of Corporate Communications

E: jw@majubahillcopper.com

P: 1 (855) 475-0745

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Majuba Hill Copper Corp. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Majuba Hill Copper Corp. management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Majuba Hill Copper Corp. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
GOLDSOURCE HIGH-GRADE GOLD BRECCIA ZONE - ~1,000 Metres Maiden Diamond Drilling, Highlights:



The Goldsource Zone is a high-grade gold breccia that is a drill ready target that shows all the right components for an extensive gold mineralizing system including surface mineralization, textures, and alteration that remains open in all direction.

An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3e2c5431-cce7-48d0-b0cf-2922926638ed

The Goldsource main zone consists of a series of high-grade surface outcrops over 500 metres containing polymetallic quartz hydrothermal breccia with galena and chalcopyrite where grabs assayed up to 96.8 g/t Au (3.4 oz/t Au) and 78.10 g/t Ag. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/662c09fd-e791-4233-b70f-7a248091e82c



The Goldsource drill target is located within a corridor of sheeted mineralized veins that extends for more than 1,500 metres along an E-W trend, over 200 metres wide and remains open. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e847922a-283f-4351-8c12-b849388ca4c0

Alteration signature derived from satellite spectral data on Goldsource shows strong hematite, silica, jarosite and phyllic alteration over an extensive area, confirming strong potential for gold mineralization. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2179edd4-6b24-4520-ab00-a05efc63dadf

The gold mineralized hydrothermal breccia geologically sits within the Quock formation Hazelton Volcanics in close proximity of the Red Line in a World Class geologic setting.



Airborne magnetic data identified a circular feature that is 1 kilometre in diameter and centered around the Goldsource drill target hydrothermal breccia.

BULLSEYE GOLD-COPPER PORPHYRY - ~1,000 Metres Diamond Drilling, Highlights:

The Bullseye porphyry is a drill ready target that shows all the right components for an extensive gold-copper porphyry mineralizing system including surface mineralization, textures, and alteration, and remains open in all directions; located ~14 km north of the Goldsource high-grade gold breccia zone drill target. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/524c646f-5661-4076-be8e-4e8b6b0d9b01



The Bullseye porphyry is a target consisting of coarse-grained intrusive units with mineralization, textures and potassic alteration (including K-Feldspar). Multiple Au-Cu mineralized grab samples were collected from the Bullseye drill target and assayed up to 3.06 g/t Au, 1.8 g/t Ag and 1% Cu. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/65f242dd-11ff-4581-964a-2c9a97cf6797



The Bullseye drill target area has been mapped on surface defining a large 1,200 x 1,000 metre alteration system. The area contains a quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP) core that is coincident with molybdenite-chalcopyrite mineralization. Independent interpretations of subsurface geophysical data concluded it is consistent with a porphyry signature. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/12e480df-7370-439d-973f-b1002b066d92





The age of the intrusive with porphyritic texture at the Bullseye discovery has been confirmed as Mid-Cretaceous, in contrast with the Eocene age of other known porphyries in this belt.

Multiple high-grade gold rich polymetallic Au, Ag, Cu veins are radiating from the porphyry centre, where grabs assayed up to 21.3 g/t Au and 31.5 g/t Ag.

The most prolific gold in placer creeks in the district with coarse nuggets of over 6 ounces gold drain the Bullseye porphyry and related polymetallic veins in the margin. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/65eb148a-1321-4a09-9159-52c499b0c374





The alteration pattern observed at the Bullseye drill target coincides with the top part of a porphyry system with strong concentric propylitic alteration surrounding a core of potassic and phyllic alteration bordered by domains of argillic alteration. An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e9014233-b05b-42bd-8af9-8d3af4a69f92

The Lucky Strike property is located within a larger known porphyry belt and ~100 km south of its 100% controlled Golddigger property.



TORONTO, May 24, 2023 -- Goliath Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: GOT) (OTCQB: GOTRF) (Frankfurt: B4IF) (the "Company" or "Goliath") is pleased to report that it will be diamond drilling ~2,000 metres at its 100% controlled Lucky Strike property. There are two new separate high-grade mineralized gold targets exposed at surface that remain open and never drilled before. Goliath will be drilling up to 20,000 metres in 2023 inclusive of this drill campaign and the 18,000 metres planned at its 100% controlled Golddigger property.

The Lucky Strike property covers 31,486 hectares just north of Terrace, British Columbia and ~100 km south of its 100% controlled Golddigger property. These new drill targets at Lucky Strike were found through follow-up prospecting and mapping that also helped identify several other strong gold prospects for follow up exploration that could result in additional high-grade drill targets for 2024.

An accompanying infographic is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1028c9b4-7be8-4fe5-b4b6-f55ece6f27ba

The 2023 drill program at the Luck Strike property will be focussed on two new separate high-grade gold targets: Goldsource, a high-grade gold breccia target exposed at surface with grab samples up 96.8 g/t Au (3.4 oz/t Au) and 78.10 g/t Ag; and the Bullseye gold-copper porphyry exposed at surface where grab samples assayed up to 3.06 g/t Au, 1.8 g/t Ag and 1% Cu.

Roger Rosmus, Founder & CEO of Goliath Resources states: "the Goldsource and Bullseye targets have confirmed the presence of significant gold mineralization found at surface on our Lucky Strike property. Both targets are fully permitted for drilling, and we look forward to testing these new discoveries for the first time with the drill bit in 2023. We will also follow up on multiple newly identified gold targets with strong discovery potential at Lucky Strike. Goliath is a project generator and seasoned explorer with a focus on new discoveries. It will continue to focus on unlocking the value of all its 100 % controlled precious metal properties which are all located in world class geologic settings within Canada. We look forward to releasing these drill results, as well as results from our 18,000 metres of drilling at our Golddigger property for up to 20,000 metres of drilling this year that we believe will provide substantial news flow catalysts".

GOLDSOURCE HIGH-GRADE GOLD BRECCIA

Follow-up prospecting and mapping in the Goldsource area located on the Lucky Strike property ~14 km south of the Bullseye porphyry target extended the main high-grade gold outcrop an additional 150 metres along strike to the East of the main target where grab samples assayed up to 4.92 g/t Au and 14.55 g/t Ag. The total strike extent of the Goldsource main outcrop has been expanded to 550 metres. The Goldsource target consists of a high-grade polymetallic quartz hydrothermal breccia containing galena and chalcopyrite located within a corridor of sheeted veins that extend more than 1,500 metres along an E-W trend and over 200 metres wide where grab samples assayed up to 96.8 g/t Au (3.4 oz/t Au) and 78.10 g/t Ag. The trend is highly oxidized with primary sulphide contents ranging typically between 1-5% that are generally represented by limonitic voids and boxworks. Alteration signature derived from recently acquired Worldview 3 satellite spectral data shows strong hematite, silica and phyllic alteration coincident with the Goldsource discovery and adjacent areas further emphasising the potential for strong gold mineralization. The mineralized hydrothermal breccia geologically sits within the Quock formation in close proximity of the "Red Line" in a world class geologic setting. Airborne magnetic data identified a circular feature 1 kilometre in diameter centered around the Goldsource target hydrothermal breccia. The Goldsource high-grade gold breccia has never been drill tested, remains open in all directions and is drill ready.

BULLSEYE GOLD-COPPER PORPHYRY

Exploration previously reported on the Bullseye porphyry drill target ~14 kilometres to the north of the Goldsource breccia drill target, has identified a series of new mineralized outcrops within coarse-gained intrusive units with mineralization, textures and potassic alteration including the presence of K-Feldspar, indicative of a porphyry. Grab samples assayed up to 2.15 g/t Au, 143 g/t Ag, and 1 % Cu. These new showings are located within 800 metres of the Bullseye drill target situated at the eastern edge of a previously mapped zone of propylitic alteration flanking a SkyTEM electromagnetic anomaly with low conductivity in the catchment area of Lorne Creek and Douglas Creek, two of the most prolific coarse placer creeks in the district. The Bullseye drill target consists of a high-grade core containing typical porphyry mineralization, textures and alteration, including the presence of chalcopyrite and bornite, that assayed up to 3.06 g/t Au, 1.8 g/t Ag and 1% Cu, within a large 1,200 x 1,000 metre alteration system characterized by polymetallic Au-Ag-Cu quartz veins radiating from the porphyry centre. Alteration signatures extracted from recently acquired Worldview 3 satellite spectral data shows strong concentric propylitic alteration surrounding a core of phyllic alteration bordered by domains of argillic alteration, coinciding with the Bullseye drill target. The alteration patterns observed at the Bullseye drill target are coincident with the top part of a porphyry system outcropping at surface on Lucky Strike. The age of the intrusive with porphyritic texture has been identified as Mid-Cretaceous, in contrast with the Eocene age of other known porphyries in this belt. The Bullseye porphyry remains open in all directions and is drill ready. With initial drilling success, the new Bullseye porphyry provides for an excellent opportunity to expand the zone along strike and to depth.

Lucky Strike Property

The Goldsource and Bullseye targets are fully permitted for drilling and are situated on Goliath's 100% controlled Lucky Strike property located near Terrace in northwestern British Columbia. It sits within a world class geological terrane of the Skeena Arch, a belt-scale structural corridor that is associated with significant porphyry and related mineralization. The Property is within 2 kilometres of logging access roads with direct access to hydro-power and paved highway in close proximity to major infrastructure in Terrace B.C.

Grant of Options

Goliath has granted a total of 1,702,050 stock options for a five year period to certain board members, management and an advisor to the Company priced at $0.61 per share.

Qualified Person

Rein Turna P. Geo is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, for Goliath Resources projects, and supervised the preparation of, and has reviewed and approved, the technical information in this release.

Other

Grab, channels, chip and talus samples were collected by foot with helicopter assistance. Prospective areas included, but were not limited to, proximity to MINFILE locations, placer creek occurrences, regional soil anomalies, and potential gossans based on high-resolution satellite imagery. The rock grab and chip samples were extracted using a rock hammer, or hammer and chisel to expose fresh surfaces and to liberate a sample of anywhere between 0.5 to 5.0 kilograms. All sample sites were flagged with biodegradable flagging tape and marked with the sample number. All sample sites were recorded using hand-held GPS units (accuracy 3-10 metres) and sample ID, easting, northing, elevation, type of sample (outcrop, subcrop, float, talus, chip, grab, etc.) and a description of the rock were recorded on all-weather paper. Samples were then inserted in a clean plastic bag with a sample tag for transport and shipping to the geochemistry lab. QA/QC samples including blanks, standards, and duplicate samples were inserted regularly into the sample sequence at a rate of 10%.

All samples, including rock grabs, channels, and talus samples, are transported in rice bags sealed with numbered security tags. A transport company takes them from the core shack to the ALS labs facilities in North Vancouver. ALS is either certified to ISO 9001:2008 or accredited to ISO 17025:2005 in all of its locations. At ALS samples were processed, dried, crushed, and pulverized before analysis using the ME-MS61 and Au-SCR21 methods. For the ME-MS61 method, a prepared sample is digested with perchloric, nitric, hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acids. The residue is topped up with dilute hydrochloric acid and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Overlimits were re-analyzed using the ME-OG62 and Ag-GRA21 methods (gravimetric finish). For Au-SCR21 a large volume of sample is needed (typically 1-3kg). The sample is crushed and screened (usually to -106 micron) to separate coarse gold particles from fine material. After screening, two aliquots of the fine fraction are analysed using the traditional fire assay method. The fine fraction is expected to be reasonably homogenous and well represented by the duplicate analyses. The entire coarse fraction is assayed to determine the contribution of the coarse gold.

The reader is cautioned that grab samples are spot samples which are typically, but not exclusively, constrained to mineralization. Grab samples are selective in nature and collected to determine the presence or absence of mineralization and are not intended to be representative of the material sampled.

About Goliath Resources Limited

Goliath Resources Ltd. is an explorer of precious metals projects in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia and area as well as the Abitibi Greenstone Belt of Quebec. All of its projects are in world class geological settings and geopolitical safe jurisdictions amenable to mining in Canada.

For more information please contact:

Goliath Resources Ltd.

Mr. Roger Rosmus

Founder and CEO

Tel: +1-416-488-2887

roger@goliathresources.com

www.goliathresourcesltd.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), nor the OTCQB Venture Market accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Goliath's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the ability of Company to complete the financings and its ability to build value for its shareholders as it develops its mining properties. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to Goliath. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the proposed transactions will occur, or that if the proposed transactions do occur, will be completed on the terms described above.

The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and Goliath is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

This announcement does not constitute an offer, invitation, or recommendation to subscribe for or purchase any securities and neither this announcement nor anything contained in it shall form the basis of any contract or commitment. In particular, this announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer would be illegal.

The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.
Vancouver, May 24, 2023 - Getchell Gold Corp. (CSE: GTCH) (OTCQB: GGLDF) ("Getchell" or the "Company") announces that as part of the planned 2023 drill program to expand the Mineral Resource at the Fondaway Canyon gold project ("Project"), the Company is applying for an additional twelve drill pads.

The Fondaway Canyon gold project is host to a large, 'at surface' Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") reporting:

Inferred Mineral Resource of 38.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.23 g/t Au for

1,509,100 ounces of gold; and

1,509,100 ounces of gold; and Indicated Mineral Resource of 11.0 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.56 g/t Au for an additional 550,800 ounces of gold.

"After three years of drilling and delineating a sizeable Mineral Resource 600 metres down dip from surface and 600 metres along strike, the gold mineralization remains fully open for further expansion. Exploration of these ample and very evident priority targets requires the Company to permit more drill pads than previously anticipated based on the past three years' drilling success," states Mike Sieb, President. "The 2023 drill program and drill hole sequencing will be finalized after permit approval is received."

Only 18 drill holes of the 27 that were drilled in the Central Area were used in the Mineral Resource Estimate due to the resource model data inclusion cut off in late September 2022. These 18 drill holes were responsible for a doubling of the Mineral Resource Estimate from historical levels. This highlights the impressive amount of mineralization intersected and demonstrates the consistency encountered across the 18 drill holes.

The balance of the drilling not included in the MRE, nine holes drilled in the latter half of 2022, all intersected substantive mineralization, fully supporting the mineralizing model and attest to the upside potential and strength of the Fondaway Canyon gold project. See news releases dated November 2 and 15, 2022 and January 10 and 18, 2023 detailing the results from these holes.

The Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") technical report for the Fondaway Canyon project in Churchill County, Nevada was filed on February 3, 2023. The MRE primarily conceptualizes an open pit mine model. The minor amount of contiguous mineralization currently extending beyond the open pit limits has been categorized for potential underground mining. The plan is to expand the mineralization to grow the mineral resource and, in the process, support a larger open pit model which can then convert the current underground mineral resources to open pit mineral resources.

Scott Frostad, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person (as defined in NI 43-101) who reviewed and approved the content and scientific and technical information in the news release.

Nevada Ranked #1

Nevada has retained its #1 spot as the top favoured jurisdiction in which to operate for mining and exploration. The recently released Fraser Institute's 2022 Annual Survey of Mining Companies has ranked Nevada in the #1 spot for Investment Attractiveness, an assessment of both the jurisdiction's Policy regime and Mineral Potential.

In addition to the Fondaway Canyon gold project's undeniable attributes, this reinforces the operational prospectivity and potential for development for projects in the region.

Notes on the Mineral Resource Estimate:

The independent and qualified person for the mineral resources estimate, as defined by NI 43-101, is Michael Dufresne, P.Geo., from APEX Geoscience Ltd. Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. There has been insufficient exploration to define the inferred resources tabulated above as an indicated or measured mineral resource, however, it is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration. There is no guarantee that any part of the mineral resources discussed herein will be converted into a mineral reserve in the future. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, or other relevant issues. The mineral resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum standards on mineral resources and reserves, definitions, and guidelines prepared by the CIM standing committee on reserve definitions and adopted by the CIM council (CIM 2014 and 2019). The Mineral Resources Estimate is underpinned by data from 518 reverse circulation and diamond drillholes totalling 52,395m of drilling that intersected the mineralized domains. The mineral resource is reported at a lower cut-off of 0.3 g/t Au for the conceptual open pit and 2.0 g/t Au for the conceptual underground extraction scenario. The lower cut-off grades and potential mining scenarios were calculated using the following parameters: mining cost = US$2.70/t (open pit); G&A = US$2.00/t; processing cost = US$15.00/t; recoveries = 92%, gold price = US$1,650.00/oz; royalties = 1%; and minimum mining widths = 1.5 metres (underground) in order to meet the requirement that the reported Mineral Resources show "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction". The effective date of the Mineral Resources Estimate is December 12, 2022, and a technical report on the Fondaway Canyon project titled "Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate Fondaway Canyon Project, Nevada, USA" was filed by the Company on SEDAR on February 3, 2023. Full results tables and additional maps and geological sections are available on the Company's website.

About Getchell Gold Corp.

The Company is a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company trading on the CSE: GTCH and OTCQB: GGLDF. Getchell Gold is primarily directing its efforts on its most advanced stage asset, Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historic resource estimate. Complementing Getchell's asset portfolio is Dixie Comstock, a past gold producer with a historic resource and two earlier stage exploration projects, Star (Cu-Au-Ag) and Hot Springs Peak (Au). Getchell has the option to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon and Dixie Comstock properties, Churchill County, Nevada.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.getchellgold.com or contact the Company at info@getchellgold.com or by phone at +1 647 249-4798.

Mr. William Wagener, Chairman & CEO

Getchell Gold Corp.

1-647-249-4798

info@getchellgold.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the amendment of the Warrants. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of Getchell have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167268
Nairobi  A total of 2,997 small businesses have received Sh4.64 billion under a state credit guarantee scheme (CGS).

The National Treasury says that the amount was distributed in 46 counties, representing 97.87 percent of county coverage.

Whereas small enterprises received over half of the facility (57 percent), micro enterprises got 29 percent, and medium enterprises got 14 percent.

The CGS was established by the National Treasury on December 8, 2020, to lend MSMEs affordable credit under the Public Finance Management (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2020, and the Credit Guarantee Scheme Regulations, 2020.

It is part of the government's agenda to support businesses at the bottom of the pyramid in accessing credit from commercial banks.

So far, seven commercial banks have taken part in the scheme.

However, the state has been engaging with banks to deepen the impact of the scheme through continuous performance monitoring and capacity building, where necessary.

Treasury adds that 22.1 percent of the total guaranteed facilities have been issued to enterprises owned by women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

So far, CGS has supported 18,770 jobs directly, and 1,005 facilities have been fully repaid.

"Participating banks are implementing the Scheme using their own liquidity, existing branch networks and infrastructure allowing them reach out to MSMEs across the country," National Treasuy and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u.

"To this end, KShs. 4.64 billion have been accessed compared to the Scheme's potential of KShs. 12 billion available to MSMEs," Ndung'u added.

"The Government, therefore, encourages qualifying MSMEs to approach participating banks and access these facilities to grow their businesses."
Tonopah, May 24, 2023 - Allegiant Gold Ltd. ("Allegiant" or the "Company") (TSX:AUAU) (OTC:AUXXF) is very pleased to provide a detailed update of our exploration drilling program for the remainder of 2023.

Allegiant plans to drill a total of 15,115 metres of Reverse Circulation ("RC") and Diamond Core Drilling ("DDH") for 2023. The Company completed a 19-hole, 2,400 metre RC drill program in February 2023 at the Castle Project, Eastside District. Allegiant has already received most of the necessary drill permits and expects the remainder in the next fiscal quarter.

Peter Gianulis, CEO of Allegiant Gold, commented: "2023 will be another busy year with the Company targeting four distinct areas including two drill programs at the Eastside District, and initial drill programs at Goldfield West, one of the top prospects in our portfolio, and our recently acquired TS Project. Our goal continues to be the same; the efficient allocation of capital directly into the ground while we seek to expand our existing resources and make new discoveries. In addition to funding our own programs, we are also expecting additional exploration programs at our other projects, Mogollon and Bolo, which are being funded by Summa Silver and Copaur, respectively. Together, Allegiant will be one of the most active exploration companies in the sector.""

Allegiant plans to conduct the following programs during the remainder of the 2023 calendar year:

EASTIDE PROJECT - EASTSIDE

11-Hole, 4,015 Metre RC Drill Program

2-Hole, 800 Metre DDH Drill Program

Targeting resource expansion and new targets to the south of the current resource area

CASTLE PROJECT - EASTSIDE

28-Hole, 3,500 Metre RC Drill Program

4-Hole, 800m Metre DDH Drill Program

Resource expansion and exploration drilling

Structural and gold distribution data collection

GOLDFIELD WEST

8-Hole, 2,000 metre RC Drill Program

Phase 1 exploration drilling to establish the potential for hosting moderate-high sulfidation epithermal gold-silver mineralization

TS PROJECT - PROSPECTIVE FOR LITHIUM/BORON

9-hole, 1,250 metre RC Drill Program

1-hole, 350 metre DDH Drill Program

Targets sub-horizontal basin sedimentary sequences for Lithium-Boron hosting sediments

Sedimentological and geochemical data analysis to establish potential for Lithium and Boron mineralization

EASTSIDE PROJECT - EASTSIDE DISTRICT

The Eastside Project, Allegiant's flagship project, hosts an existing low-grade, bulk tonnage, low sulfidation epithermal resource (NI43-101 Technical Report dated July 30, 2021*) associated with relatively young rhyolite intrusive and volcanic rocks. Unlike typical low sulfidation epithermal deposits there are indications that the mineralized zones extend vertically over several hundreds of meters and is consistent with other rhyolite-hosted systems in the Walker-Lane structural trend; probably the most comparable deposit currently being mined is Equinox's Castle Mountain mine; the project also bears some similarities to Las Crucitas in Costa Rica.

The goal of the 2023 exploration and drilling program, including both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling, is to expand the existing resource into South Eastside; the area to the north known as the Original Pit Zone ("OPZ") or Eastside Resource will be known as the North Eastside Resource. South Eastside has not been drilled sufficiently to define a resource; however, historic drilling indicates the potential for higher elevation, that is nearer surface, low-grade mineralization with high-grade zones.

Mineralization at Eastside has been identified as low sulfidation epithermal with predictable low-grade gold-silver mineralization but controls on the distribution of gold have not been sufficient to move resource to indicated or measured. Allegiant's additional goal with the 2023 program is to identify how distribution of gold and silver mineralization, especially in the high-grade areas, is controlled by lithology, structure, and alteration; the greater understanding of these controls will lead to more accurate targeting of zones of potentially high-grade gold-silver mineralization. The 2022 core drilling program went a long way in identifying some of the controls, but more drilling is required to be definitive. This goal is being assisted by geochemical and structural mapping, and analysis, as well as 3D modeling in Leapfrog, and resource estimation and planning in MineSight.

CASTLE PROJECT - EASTSIDE DISTRICT

The Castle Project, approximately 20 kilometers south of the Eastside Project, contains 4 known low- to moderate-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver deposits: Boss, Berg, Black Rock and Castle. An inferred resource was defined based upon historic drilling through 2020; this was followed by resource expansion drilling in early 2023 which demonstrated that the Castle Project was under-drilled, and that further exploration and resource expansion drilling could bring significant additional mineralization to the resource*.

To achieve this goal Allegiant has identified areas of both exploration and expansion drilling to complete the objective of identifying additional target areas. Allegiant has already drilled 19 holes in early 2023 and will drill an additional 30-32 holes using both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling.

Allegiant is in the process of completing all the necessary planning and environmental steps to enable the filing of a Plan of Operation that will include an extensive drilling program to upgrade the resource from inferred to indicated and measured resources, steps necessary for mine planning and permitting.

* The updated resource estimate ("Updated Resource Estimate and NI 43-101 Technical Report, Eastside and Castle Gold-Silver Project Technical Report, Esmeralda County, Nevada") conducted by Mine Development Associates ("MDA") of Reno, Nevada, with an effective date of July 30, 2021, contained a pit-constrained Inferred Resources (cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t Au) of 61,730,000 tonnes grading 0.55 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag at the Original Pit Zone (1,090,000 ounces gold and 8,700,000 ounces silver) and 19,986,000 tonnes grading 0.49 g/t Au at the Castle Area (314,000 ounces gold). A copy of the Eastside Technical Report can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

GOLDFIELD WEST PROJECT

Allegiant's Goldfield West project is located in the Goldfield District, Esmeralda County Nevada, and shows epithermal alteration associated with highly anomalous to ore-grade gold mineralization both at the surface and in drill intercepts from the late 1980s.

A north-northeast trending zone of alteration in the southern portion of Allegiant's claim block extends for 1900 m. Historical drilling along this zone shows mineralized intercepts in many of the drill holes over a 1200 m strike length. Drilling by US Borax/Kennecott, in this area, showed gold values up to 8.7 g/t and up to 18.6 g/t silver over 1.5 m hosted in volcanic rocks. Geophysical surveys conducted in 2022 show north-northeast structural trends which suggest these structures are the conduits for mineralizing fluids.

Allegiant has designed a program of geochemical rock chips for assaying and spectral analyses; the program will also include several soil sediment sample lines to establish whether mineralizing trends continue beneath alluvial cover. The spectral analysis will identify zones of higher temperature minerals indicating areas of mineralizing fluids. Results from the rock chip sampling (both assays and spectral mineral identification), geophysical surveys, geologic mapping and historical drilling results will be compiled to identify drill targets for a reverse circulation drill program of approximately 2,000m later this year.

TS CLAIMS

The TS Claims is a stand-alone land package comprising 126 federal lode mining claims approximately 5kms east of the Eastside District claim block. Discovered in 2022 by Allegiant geologists the TS Claims have shown indications of the potential, from surface sampling, to host both gold-silver mineralization and lithium-boron mineralization.

Allegiant's geologists are currently working on a geochemical sediment survey to identify anomalous element trends and, to date, results have shown (NR dated May 11, 2023) that there is a distinct lithium-boron trend across the claim block consistent with basin-bounding normal- and strike-slip fault structures that were identified from analysis of topography and regional geophysical surveys.

The results of the geochemistry will be combined with geophysics and other surface studies to define drill targets that will include both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling in 2023.

QUALIFIED PERSON

Alan Roberts is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, who has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this press release.

ABOUT ALLEGIANT

Allegiant owns six highly prospective gold projects in the United States, five of which are in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Nevada. Two of Allegiant's projects are currently farmed-out, providing for cost reductions and cash-flow. Allegiant's flagship, district-scale Eastside project hosts a large and expanding gold resource and is in an area of excellent infrastructure. Preliminary metallurgical testing indicates that both oxide and sulphide gold mineralization at Eastside is amenable to heap leaching.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Peter Gianulis

CEO

For more information contact:

Investor Relations

(604) 634-0970 or

1-888-818-1364

ir@allegiantgold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which are referred to collectively as "forward-looking statements". The United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for certain forward-looking statements. Allegiant Gold Ltd.'s ("Allegiant") exploration plans for its gold exploration properties, the drill program at Allegiant's Eastside project, the preparation and publication of an updated resource estimate in respect of the Original Zone at the Eastside project, Allegiant's future exploration and development plans, including anticipated costs and timing thereof; Allegiant's plans for growth through exploration activities, acquisitions or otherwise; and expectations regarding future maintenance and capital expenditures, and working capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are statements and information regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that are based upon assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action. All statements and information other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "seek", "expect", "anticipate", "budget", "plan", "estimate", "continue", "forecast", "intend", "believe", "predict", "potential", "target", "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" and similar words or phrases (including negative variations) suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Some of the known risks and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements are described in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" in Allegiant's Listing Application, dated January 24, 2018, as filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and available on SEDAR under Allegiant's profile at www.sedar.com. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Allegiant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this press release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Vancouver, May 24, 2023 - Lake Winn Resources Corp. ("Lake Winn" or the "Company") (TSXV:LWR) (FSE:EE1A) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated May 15, 2023, it has met the requirements to be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") as a Tier 2 'Junior Mining" company. Effective as of today, the Company's listing has transferred from the NEX to the Venture Exchange. The trading symbol for the Company has changed from LWR.H to LWR.

Lake Winn Resources Corp., is a mineral exploration company focused on advancing the 100% owned Little Nahanni Lithium project ("LNLP")is located in the Northwest Territories on the NWT/Yukon Border covering 7,080 hectares that includes a 13 km long, and up to 500m wide, lithium, cesium, and tantalum ("LCT") pegmatite vein swarm. Many individual mineralized veins are up to 10m thick. The project has had historic drilling and channel sampling that confirm significant lithium, tantalum, cesium, and tin.

The Company currently awaits final analyses and interpretation from a recently completed property wide magnetometer study expected shortly. The preliminary data has shown striking linear magnetic responses, with one zone lining up with the known pegmatite trend (see Figure 1) and with a second stronger linear anomaly representing a new potential pegmatite target (see Press Release dated January 26th, 2023).



Click Image To View Full Size

Figure 1: Previous Magnetometer Representing Approximately 25% of the Property. Close-up of previously completed magnetometer data.

The Company was recently issued a 5 year exploration permit inclusive of drilling, trenching, and channel sampling (see Press Release date May 95h, 2023)

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF Lake Winn Resources Corp.

Patrick Power, President & CEO

+1 (604) 218-8772

info@lakewinn.ca

www.lakewinn.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to statements with respect to Arctic Star's plans, the estimation of a mineral resource, and the success of exploration activities. In this release, it is not certain if the kimberlite discovered will be economic or not as this depends on many factors. Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Factors that could affect our plans include our potential inability to raise funds as intended, and in such event, we may require all funds raised, if any, to be used for working capital rather than the intended uses as outlined. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward?looking statements. Arctic Star undertakes no obligation or responsibility to update forward?looking statements, except as required by law.

Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Vancouver, May 24, 2023 - Dynasty Gold Corp. (TSXV: DYG) (FSE: D5G1) (OTC Pink: DGDCF) ("Dynasty" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that preparation for this year's drill program on the Thundercloud property has begun. The property is situated 47 kilometers southeast of Dryden in northwest Ontario. Thundercloud is an orogenic gold system in a greenstone belt of Archean age. The upcoming drilling will follow up on the high-grade gold hits late last year to test the orogenic gold system.

Last year's drill program discovered a number of high-grade gold intervals in the eastern Pelham Zone. Hole DP22-02 returned 3m of 64.95 g/t gold, including 1.5m of 115 g/t gold. Hole DP22-03 returned 51m of 11.1 g/t gold, including 3m of 151 g/t gold and 1.5 m of 246 g/t gold. Hole DP22-04 returned 1.5m of 25.2 g/t gold. All of the high-grade intercepts are less than 200 meters from the surface. Please see press releases of January 10, January 16 and February 13, 2023, for additional details.

Ivy Chong, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, states, "We are encouraged by our 2022 remarkable drill results. These are the deepest holes that were drilled into the orogenic gold system at Thundercloud. Recently, we completed a significant private placement with a lead order from Rob McEwen. Now we are well funded to further test the gold system to follow up on last year's drilling, to expand on the system at depth and test for the potential of stacked zones of high-grade gold. Final preparation is underway for our 2023 drill program that will start soon."

The geological team is on the property to prepare for the upcoming drilling and to complete the follow-up sampling of the 2022 drill core sections that were not sampled. The first batch of forty-three samples has been delivered to the ALS Global laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for processing.

As part of the 2023 program, some of the historical drill core will be re-logged to look for consistency in lithology, alteration and mineralization as well as for unsampled mineralization. Three-dimensional modeling of mineralization and geophysical data indicates many areas with potential for resource expansion. A new geophysical program will be considered to add clarity and detail to the historical data.

Dynasty has inherited more than $10 million worth of valuable historical data from Teck Resources Ltd. and others. Recent reviews of the historical drill data found intercepts with gold grades between 20 g/t to 106 g/t in a number of core holes that require additional follow-up.

The geological team will include geologists with decades of experience working in similar geological environments, and members of the local First Nations communities. The program is expected to run until the fall, and will be extended as weather permits. The Company anticipates drilling of up to 5,000 meters, and follow-on drilling of an additional 5,000 meters if results warrant.

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by Peter Holbek, P.Geo, M.Sc., an independent consultant and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Dynasty Gold Corp.

Dynasty Gold Corp. is a Canadian exploration company currently focused on gold exploration in North America with projects located in the Manitou-Stormy Lake greenstone belt in Ontario and in the Midas gold camp in Nevada. The Company is currently advancing its Thundercloud gold resource in northwest Ontario. A NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report, September 27, 2021 can also be found on the Company and SEDAR websites. The 100% owned Golden Repeat gold project in the Midas gold camp in Elko County, Nevada, is surrounded by a number of large-scale operating mines. For more information, please visit the Company's website www.dynastygoldcorp.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF Dynasty Gold Corp.

"Ivy Chong"

_________________________________

Ivy Chong, President & CEO

For additional information please contact:

Vancouver Office:

Ivy Chong

Phone: 604.633.2100. Email: ichong@dynastygoldcorp.com

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167258
VANCOUVER, May 24, 2023 - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (the "Company") - (TSX: ITH) (NYSE American: THM) announces the results from its 2023 Annual General Meeting of shareholders held in Vancouver, B.C. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 ("Meeting").

At the Meeting, the Company's shareholders fixed the size of the board at six and elected the following individuals as directors of the Company, with all receiving a majority of the votes cast, as follows:

Director Votes For Votes Withheld

Anton Drescher 108,705,702 (91.21 %) 10,479,565 (8.79 %)

Karl Hanneman 1 18,643,698 (99.55 %) 541,569 (0.45 %)

Stuart Harshaw 109,623,895 (91.98 %) 9,561,372 (8.02 %)

Marcelo Kim 108,658,993 (91.17 %) 10,526,274 (8.83 %)

Christopher Papagianis 117,128,771 (98.27 %) 2,056,496 (1.73 %)

Thomas Weng 118,050,005 (99.05 %) 1,135,262 (0.95 %)



The shareholders re-appointed the current auditors, Davidson & Company LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditors of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023 and authorized the directors to fix their remuneration.

The shareholders approved, on an advisory non-binding basis, the compensation paid to the Company's executive officers (98.59% majority).

The detailed proxy voting on all resolutions submitted to the shareholders at the Meeting is contained in the "Report of Voting Results" for the Meeting which will be available under the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website or upon request by contacting the Company at (855) 428-2825.

About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. controls 100% of the Livengood Gold Project located along the paved Elliott Highway, 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

On behalf of

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

(signed) Karl L. Hanneman

Chief Executive Officer

This news release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/international-tower-hill-mines-announces-results-from-2023-annual-general-meeting-of-shareholders-301833747.html

SOURCE International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.
TSXV: AWM WWW.ANGELWINGMETALS.COM

TORONTO, May 24, 2023 - Angel Wing Metals Inc. (TSXV: AWM) ("Angel Wing Metals" or the "Company") announces its proposal to consolidate the Common Shares of the Company (the "Consolidation") on the basis of one (1) post-consolidation Common Share for every two (2) pre-consolidation Common Shares to be voted on by the Shareholders at the Company's Annual General and Special Meeting to be held on June 29, 2023.

The Company currently has 134,505,817 Common Shares issued and outstanding. After the proposed Consolidation the Company will have approximately 67,252,908 Common Shares issued and outstanding. No fractional shares are to be issued under the consolidation and any fraction will be rounded down to the nearest whole number. Outstanding options and warrants will be similarly adjusted.

The Consolidation is being proposed by the Company's Board of Directors in order to provide the Company with increased flexibility to facilitate future financing and business development activities.

The Consolidation is subject to a favourable vote at the Company upcoming Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company will not change its name or ticker symbol as part of the Consolidation however, consolidated shares will be assigned a new CUSIP number.

ABOUT ANGEL WING METALS

Angel Wing Metals (TSXV: AWM) is focused on the exploration and development of its portfolio of precious metals properties in Mexico and Canada. The Company's flagship El Grande Project covers 655km2 in the southern extension of the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental gold-silver belt in the state of Nayarit, Mexico and demonstrates significant gold and silver mineralization.

Angel Wing Metals is committed to sustainable and responsible exploration and business activities in line with industry best practices, supportive of all stakeholders, including the local communities in which the Company operates.

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.angelwingmetals.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF Angel Wing Metals Inc.

Marc Prefontaine

President & CEO

Email: mprefontaine@angelwingmetals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", " expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information regarding: the Consolidation, approval of Shareholders and the TSXV of the Consolidation, the Company proceeding with the Consolidation and its potential to increase in the market price per Common Share or improved liquidity. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects Angel Wing Metals' current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Angel Wing Metals and on assumptions Angel Wing Metals believes are reasonable. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of Angel Wing Metals to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market prices for securities; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; the actual results of future operations; competition; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting Angel Wing Metals; the timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. A description of additional assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of additional risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward- looking information can be found in Angel Wing Metals' disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although Angel Wing Metals has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions, or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of Angel Wing Metals as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. However, Angel Wing Metals expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

SOURCE Angel Wing Metals Inc.
Mr Blair commended Mr Tinubu's campaign focus on key areas of security, economy, agriculture and power, describing the intertwined nature of the areas as critical to the development of any society.

Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, says he will support the incoming administration of Bola Tinubu to succeed in office as Nigeria's President

Mr Blair gave the commitment on Tuesday when he visited the president-elect at the Defence House, Abuja.

A statement from the office of the President-elect signed by Abdulaziz Abdulaziz quoted the ex-prime minister as saying that the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which he founded, would be a willing partner of the Tinubu administration, especially in prioritising its goals and delivery.

He said since leaving office as the UK prime minister, he had been working with governments worldwide to help them deliver on their mandates.

He said Blair Institute had a project in place in Nigeria and felt it was incumbent upon him to meet the country's incoming president to understand the administration's priorities.

"We would like to help in any way with your administration. We only need to know what the leadership priorities are and help in how to actualise them," Mr Blair told President-elect Tinubu.

He commended Mr Tinubu's campaign focus on key areas of security, economy, agriculture and power, describing the intertwined nature of the areas as critical to the development of any society.

He expressed optimism that with the appetite shown by investors to invest in Nigeria, the Tinubu administration could get the support it needs to spur economic development in the country.

Mr Blair, however, acknowledged the difficult task before Mr Tinubu and other leaders at a time of global turmoil.

"Being in government today anywhere in the world, is tough. You have things happening around the world which affect you and for which you can't do anything much," he said.

President-elect Tinubu, in his response, expressed appreciation to Mr Blair for the visit and his offer to work with his administration.

He spoke of the shared vision between him and Tony Blair Institute in their priority areas but underlined the importance of tackling investment challenges and the need for social investment to fight poverty.

"Yes, we are challenged. But where is our courage? We can eliminate ignorance, diseases and poverty in Africa. We must work hard to ensure democracy works for our people," Tinubu said.

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"We have to invest more, put technology in place and keep terrorists at bay because, without effective security, there is no guarantee investors will come," he added.

The president-elect promised a conducive environment to encourage investors and open opportunities for the people.

The statement said that Mr Tinubu was accompanied to the meeting by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima; member of Tinubu Transition Team, Wale Edun; former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu; Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Adetokunbo Abiru and Executive Secretary, National Sugar Development Council, Zacch Adedeji.

Mr Tinubu, a former two-term governor of Lagos State, will be sworn into office on 29 May.

Activities lined up for the inauguration ceremonies, which will take place in Abuja, the nation's capital, have already begun.
Rumours suggesting Lewis Hamilton could switch to Ferrari may be powered by the money, according to key rival Red Bull's top Austrian official Dr Helmut Marko.

The speculation of contact between the seven time world champion and Ferrari president John Elkann was clearly the top story in Formula 1 on Tuesday.

"I think it's just a rumour," former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher told Sky Deutschland.

"Hamilton is very happy where he is right now," he added, referring to Mercedes. "And even Ferrari is a bigger question mark at the moment."

Schumacher says he has heard that at an internet Mercedes event in Stuttgart recently, 38-year-old Hamilton reassured the company that "he wants to end his career with them".

He also questions whether Mercedes boss Toto Wolff would be keen on swapping out Hamilton for Ferrari's reportedly disgruntled Charles Leclerc.

"Honestly, if you look at the error rate and the pure driving performance of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, there is no doubt that Hamilton is the more consistent driver at the moment.

"I think his motivation is financial on the one hand, but success-driven on the other," said Schumacher.

"Even with a car that doesn't work at the moment, Mercedes is still often ahead of Ferrari. That's why I don't think Ferrari as an alternative makes sense."

Red Bull's Marko agrees - and he thinks he knows what is powering the Ferrari rumours.

"There are two things that really annoy Hamilton," he told f1-insider.com. "First, that he is no longer world champion and will find it difficult to win it again in the future.

"He knows there is no place for him at Red Bull," Marko added. "And whether Ferrari will be better for him on the sporting side is not set in stone."

But, like Schumacher, Marko also thinks there is a financial incentive behind the Hamilton rumours.

"Lewis is anything but happy that he is no longer the highest-earning driver in Formula 1. That is Max Verstappen now," said the 80-year-old.

"At least he could change that with Ferrari's help."

(GMM)
32 CSOs kick against sale of JOHLs shares "Support Energy Ministers intervention"

Maclean Kwofi Business News May - 24 - 2023 , 11:01

A coalition of 32 civil society organisations (CSOs) have registered their displeasure at attempts to dispose of Jubilee Oil Holding Limiteds (JOHL) 50 per cent interest in South Deepwater Tano Block (SDWT) to Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA).

The Alliance of CSOs working on Extractive, Anti-corruption and Good Governance maintained that the proposed deal to split shares of the SDWT was not in the interest of Ghana and for that reason should be halted immediately.

It followed a letter dated May 16, 2023 by the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, directing the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to cease negotiations with PetroSA on JOHLs stakes.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday to demand accountability, the CSOs commended the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, for stopping the negotiations and called for the resignation of the persons championing the deal at GNPC.

Numbering 32, some of the big names forming the alliance included Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), SEND Ghana and Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).

We think that the board chair and chief executive officer of GNPC should resign for their involvement in the planned attempt to sell off 50 per cent of JOHLs stakes in SDWT, a Senior Economic Analyst at the Natural Resource Governance Institute and member of the alliance, Dr Alex Ampaabeng, told the Daily Graphic after the press conference.

How it started

The Senior Economic Analyst explained that GNPC acquired a seven per cent stake in the sale of Anadarko's interest in the Jubilee and Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) fields in 2021.

Dr Ampaabeng said for 2022 alone, the interest of JOHL raked in some $290 million, according to the 2022 annual report of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), although the amount was not lodged in the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF).

He said the total payments for cash calls (including fields in which Explorco holds an interest) amounted to $83 million, leaving a gross margin of $207 million for GNPC/JOHL, stressing that those were assured risk-free revenues that should have accrued to the PHF.

According to him, despite the revenue potential of this interest to the state, GNPC had initiated steps to sell JOHLs 50 per cent share of the national asset held in the Cayman Islands to PetroSA, under bizarre circumstances two years after Anadarko sold the asset to GNPC.

Dr Ampaabeng said GNPC agreed to a pre-emption claim of PetroSA although the energy minister has already written to the corporation and the President to oppose the transaction.

Given that $290 million has already accrued to JOHL, the purchase of 50 per cent imply that PetroSA would receive a percentage of the accrued benefits net of the purchase price and other costs and meaning that PetroSA may not have to pay anything for interest.

We are actively monitoring the sharp political tussle for and against the sale of the asset.

This situation was always possible when the government decided to domicile Ghana's asset in a tax haven and refused persistent calls to bring back the asset to the country, he added.

Illegal pre-emption claims

Dr Ampaabeng said that the pre-emption claims were illegal, and those contemplating it have interests at variance with that of the state.

The spokesperson of the alliance said it was unjustifiable for PetroSA to pre-empt the state's interest without any legal basis in the petroleum (exploration and production) law and the applicable petroleum agreement.

He maintained that for the board chairman and the CEO to have concocted a justification for the pre-emption, their continuous stay in office, close to any petroleum asset, posed significant risks to Ghana's interest in all petroleum operations.

In these difficult times, the nation needs prudent management of its resources to derive the fullest benefits and bring relief to the suffering masses.

We encourage citizens to demand accountability on the petroleum sector to ensure that our natural resources benefit the citizenry, the senior economic analyst added.
Banks recapitalisation: BoG urged to be supportive

Charles Benoni Okine Business News May - 24 - 2023 , 11:14

In view of the negative impact of the governments Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) on the countrys banking sector, a financial analyst with Deloitte Ghana wants the Bank of Ghana to be more supportive in its approach to have the banks recapitalise.

Dennis Brown said as against an overly strict and punitive approach such as license withdrawal, among other things, BoG must take into consideration the fact that the challenges the banks face now were not self-inflicted but one occasioned by an action of government.

Government, as part of efforts to secure a $3 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was compelled to undertake a major debt restructuring exercise meant to reduce its debts to sustainable levels over the medium term.

The debt exchange exercise which was mostly patronised by players in the banking sector resulted in creating serious financial challenges as 16 of them recorded heavy losses at the end of the 2022 financial year.

For instance, the industry posted before-tax losses of GH8.0 billion in 2022 compared with a profit of GH7.4 billion recorded in 2021.

After-tax loss was GH6.6 billion in 2022 relative to profit-after-tax of GH4.8 billion in 2021.

The main profitability indicators, namely, return-on-assets and return-on-equity all turned negative in 2022 because of the industrys loss position.

Much as the banks turned around their profitability fortunes in the first quarter of the year, most of them still face enormous challenges as their stated capital has dropped, a development that has forced the central bank to direct all banks whose capital have been affected by the DDEP to submit their recapitalisation plans to the bank by end of September this year for review.

They are, according to the BoG, expected to approach their shareholders first to recapitalise their business or resort to the yet-to-be- operationalised Financial Stability Fund for assistance.

Until the DDEP, banks in the country had been resilient and fairly stable after the financial sector clean up saw their stated capital raised to a minimum of Ghc400 million.

Under the circumstance, Mr Brown expects the BoG to be more supportive in its approach to get banks which capital have been affected to recapitalise.

In this regard, where BoG needs to offer support, priority must be given to banks hard hit by the DDEP, he said.

Capital Adequacy

The Banking Act in the country stipulates that banks must operate with the minimum Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) as prescribed by BoG in order to be considered as financially safe and healthy for investors, customers and the banking industry as a whole.

Industry watchers are of the view that, it is therefore within the rights of BoG, as mandated by law, to request banks with CAR less than 10 per cent to recapitalise.

They held the view that, aside the legal consideration, such a move is healthy for the banking industry and the larger financial services sector which has been ruffled by the DDEP.

Support

Meanwhile, ahead of the submission of the recapitalisation plans, some banks, mostly foreign owned, have approached their shareholders for support.

An unnamed source from one of the foreign owned banks said our mother bank is too big to see us fail so we have firm assurances of recapitalisation.

The source referred to competition in the market and noted that since all the banks, particularly the foreign owned ones, will be supported by their main shareholders, we cannot afford to lose out.

Analysts have said that the banks likely to fall on the BoG for support will be largely the locally owned banks which have no external shareholders.

It is not immediately clear when the financial stability fund would be operationalised but it is expected that after the IMF released the $604 million, measures will be put in place to keep the banking sector afloat.

Last week, the government announced that it had secured a $350 million from the multilateral agencies to operationalise the Financial Sector Stability Fund.

The fund is made up of $250 million from the World Bank and $100 from the African Development Bank.
Newmont pays over GH800m taxes in first quarter

Daily Graphic Business News May - 24 - 2023 , 11:42

Newmont Africa has paid GH 843.72 million in taxes, royalties, and levies to government from its first quarter of 2023, operations in Ghana (Ahafo South and Akyem Mines).

The payment made through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Forestry Commission, and Ministry of Finance, comprises a Corporate Tax of GH514.57 million, Mineral Royalties of GH197.06 million, GH 78.23 as Pay As You Earn (PAYE), GH 42.31 as Withholding Tax and GH11.55 million as Forestry Levy.

In his comments after the payment, the Regional Senior Vice President, Newmont Africa, Operations, David Thornton, said Fulfilling our obligations in terms of statutory payments, and being transparent about what we pay, are in line with our commitment to regulatory compliance and good corporate governance.

He said Newmont Africas operations in Ghana had a strong tax compliance history and received multiple taxpayer recognitions from the GRA.

It is important, especially in these challenging times, for companies to honour their obligations to the state, as well to their various stakeholders, through direct payment of their taxes and investment in social programmes, he added.

Mr Thornton said apart from the taxes, royalties, and levies that went directly to government towards the growth and stabilisation of the economy, Newmont Africa also focused on stimulating economic development in the local communities that hosted the mining operations, through a range of programmes and projects that delivered measurable outcomes.

Acknowledging the key role that road infrastructure plays, particularly in farming communities, he said Newmont Africas operations in Akyem and Ahafo had both funded critical road infrastructure, working through the Ministry of Roads.

The mines investment in skills acquisition and sustainable livelihood programmes also ensure that local community residents are equipped with employable skills that are needed in the extractive and construction industries.
Mr Drew blames the media for look-alike trends

Kofi Duah Showbiz News May - 23 - 2023 , 15:24

Ghanaian musician, Andrew Nii Commey Otoo known by the stage name, Mr Drew is blaming the media for the soaring popularity of look-alike figures.

Speaking on DGN TV recently, Mr Drew noted that it was quite interesting to see artistes struggling for media attention to promote their works. Yet, these mirror images enjoy such rare opportunities on a silver platter.

Mr Drew accused the media of fueling their illegitimate works by interviewing them on their various radio and TV stations.

If we stop giving these lookalikes attention all these will stop. For now, there is nothing I can do since we are still giving them attention and making them feel what they are doing is right. If we stop giving them attention they will put a stop to impersonating us, Mr Drew said.

Earlier in April, three young men caused a stir on social media with their striking resemblance to popular Ghanaian music stars Kidi, Kuami Eugene and King Promise. The trio, who identify themselves as the lookalikes of the famous musicians, went viral after a video of them surfaced online.

The resemblance of the three young men to the celebrities was nothing short of remarkable. From their hairstyles to their fashion sense, the lookalikes seemed to have nailed every aspect of their idols' appearances.

The video went viral drawing huge attention from both traditional and social media users. Interestingly, their presence has caused differing reactions from the artistes. On the part of Medikal who warned them in a video he posted online, the look-alikes were just impersonators feeding off the sweat of hardworking.

King Promise, however, thinks that they are not impersonators but just their way of showing them love.

New articles 'Pat Thomas Highlife Night' scheduled for August 4

I owe my success to Kwadwo Akwaboah Nicholas Omane Acheampong
Rex Omar should not force me to reveal his secrets - Akosua Adjepong

Kofi Duah Showbiz News May - 24 - 2023 , 13:48

Highlife musician, Akosua Adjepong is asking Rex Omar to desist from attacking her personality in her call to get the right things done at GHAMRO, otherwise she will have no choice than to reveal his secrets.

I want Rex Omar to know that I have a lot of secrets about him and if I start talking, he cannot stay in Ghana. I said there is no transparency at Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO) and if you dont agree with me, the best thing is to prove me wrong and not attack my personality. Is Rex Omars name GHAMRO?

There was a time he told me that my actions are influenced by menopause but such remarks are not relevant to the issues at hand. I need transparency about our welfare and if you dont have any better answer, attacking my personality is not right.

Rex Omar, I have so many secrets about you so stop attacking me, she told Graphic Showbiz.

Rex Omar who is the Chairman of the interim management committee of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation has been heavily criticised in the past for not handling GHAMRO well as a leader.

The latest news that reignited conversations about GHAMROs performance was a recent statement by Akosua Adjepong that the leadership ignored the late Kwadwo Asamaoah when he needed medical assistance.

But Rex Omar refuted the allegations in a Facebook comment.

During his entire years of sickness its only once he ever asked for assistance from Ghamro and when he did, GHAMRO welfare led took him to the hospital in their vehicle to meet his doctor and there was no money paid to Kwadwo himself but to the hospital. Records are there to prove this, Kwadwo is dead so now all of a sudden Akosua has become his spokesperson? She should shut up with her fabricated stories and allow the man rest in peace!

Related: I wont stop fighting for whats right  Akosua Adjepong
press release

For now, everything hangs in the balance as the behind-the-scene political scheming and intriguing horse trading continue

The race for the position of Senate President appears to be reaching a crescendo. Pockmarked by webs of intrigue, horse trading, claims and counter-claims, it has engagingly gripped the Nigerian political system on the eve of the transition to a new political dispensation.

While the ruling and triumphant All Progressives Congress (APC) has chosen its preferred candidates for both the Senate and House of Representatives leadership, it is not yet Uhuru for the party, amid staunch and swelling opposition from other factions in the fold.

There still seems to be no clear presumptive Senate President, especially as political party caucuses in the National Assembly seek to join the fray and rally their members-elect for a possible repeat of the 2011 and 2015 scenarios.

In this analysis, APC NewsOnline looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats to the aspirations of the declared candidates for the position of Senate President of the 10th National Assembly.

GOODWILL AKPABIO

Strengths:

The former Governor of Akwa Ibom State is a former Minority Leader in the Senate as a then-member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) before defecting to the APC in 2018 and subsequently emerging as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

One of Akpabio's selling points for the office of Senate President is hinged on the fact that he is a Christian, particularly against the backdrop of lingering reservations over the Tinubu/Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket.

The Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket fielded by the APC at the 2023 general election had generated, and is still generating, controversy, so as expected in the necessary politics of delicate balancing, a Christian mounting the number three position will, no doubt, douse tension.

What's more, Akpabio is also from the South-South, a region that is seemingly marginalised in the scheme of things, since the ascendancy of the APC to power in 2015.

There is a great and growing clamor for greater participation of the zone and the contiguous Southeast in the next government especially as the APC has retained power with the shifting performance of the party there.

Weaknesses:

Akpabio has no doubt had a remarkable run since joining the APC in 2018, becoming a Minister and even gunning for the office of the country's President at the convention that produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the party's flag bearer.

But his running battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which some people suspected might have prompted him to join the ruling APC, remains a major baggage that has continued to haunt him. He has been on the radar of the EFCC for a long time for allegations dating back to his time as governor.

In 2015, he was arrested and an investigation began into the alleged theft of N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom funds.

In 2020, Akpabio and top officials of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were invited to appear before the National Assembly for allegedly squandering N40 billion funds of the commission. The NDDC is a key parastatal under the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs which was headed by Akpabio for three years. The allegation was however debunked by both Akpabio and the NDDC's IMC which claimed that N22 billion was spent on 'salaries, services and debts'.

There were also allegations of more N86 billion shady contract deals involving the senator-elect and a former Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr Kemebradikumo Pondei plus others which they are denying.

Again, in March and April 2023, the EFCC twice asked Akpabio to turn himself in at the Commission's headquarters over corruption investigation against him. Akpabio was initially invited to appear in March but his lawyer, Mr Kalu in a letter to the EFCC dated 27 March, 2023 said his client would not be able to honour the invitation due to a scheduled medical appointment overseas. According to Kalu's letter, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs was suffering from pneumonia and cardiac arrhythmia (a disease that causes irregular heartbeat) and was advised to seek medical treatment abroad.

Recently, a civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), said Akpabio has an oversized alleged corruption baggage and declared him unfit to be the next Senate President.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said APC should not act in any way that would portray it as endorsing graft.

The group added that Akpabio should be immediately probed just like the EFCC is already investigating the outgoing Zamfara State Governor, Mr Muhammed Bello Matawalle, over alleged N70billion fraud.

Akpabio comes from the South-South region, a region where APC tentacles are struggling to take root and consequently has relatively fewer APC lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Opportunities:

The APC also made a comparable significant showing in the South South, particularly in the presidential election, in which analysts had predicted a landslide for the Peter Obi-led resurgent Labour Party (L.P).

Not only did the APC win a Senatorial seat in Akwa Ibom, but it also won in Cross Rivers and Edo states and Akpabio, who was a Senate Minority Leader before crossing over to the APC, has political relationships and a network that transcends party lines.

And in the APC, he has continued to solidify his position, even winning the approval of the President-elect, culminating in his endorsement for the highly coveted office of Senate President.

Threats:

Akpabio faces challenges for this position from other juggernauts in the party. The likes of Orji Uzor Kalu, Abdulazeez Yari, Senator Mohammed Musa Sani, and Senator Osita Izunaso are also in the race.

These senators also have the networks, alliances and clout to tilt the applecart and sway the votes away from him.

While Kalu is the current Senate Chief Whip, Izunaso has been a powerful political actor in the nation's legislative space since the advent of the Fourth Republic, and Yari, referred to by admirers as the strong man of Zamfara politics, also has the network and war chest to prosecute his ambition.

ORJI UZOR KALU

Strengths:

The former Abia State Governor is also a force to reckon with in the APC. Since joining the party in 2016, he has been a visible face in the party from a region initially antagonistic to the APC. He went on to build strong relationships in the party, becoming a close ally of the outgoing Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.

Before the party's zoning formula was unveiled, Kalu's name was largely associated with the clamor for greater inclusion and representation of the Southeast in the business of governance.

Weaknesses:

While Orji Kalu has strong influence in the party, particularly in the legislature being the Chief Whip, like Akpabio he is bogged down by the weight of corruption cases and allegations.

Kalu was released from jail in 2020 by a Federal High Court in Lagos, months after a Federal High Court on 5 December, 2019, jailed him for 12 years.

He was convicted of N7.1billion fraud alongside a former Director of Finance in Abia State Government House, Jones Udeogu, in charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Orji Uzor Kalu & 2 Ors on 5 December, 2020.

However, following the defendants' appeals against the judgment in which they argued that since the trial Judge, Justice Idris was already elevated to the Court of Appeal, he could not be granted a fiat to conclude the case as it was done in the case, the Supreme Court nullified their trial and conviction.

In nullifying their trial and conviction, the Supreme Court held that Justice Idris no longer had jurisdiction to try the case after being elevated to the Court of Appeal. Consequently, the court ordered that the case be re-assigned to another Judge for trial de novo.

The defendants (Kalu and his company, Slok Limited), filed applications before the Federal High Court, Lagos relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court for them to be released from the sentence and the conviction since the Supreme Court had held that the trial was a nullity. The applications were granted and Kalu was released from Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja.

In line with the judgment, the case was later re-assigned to Justice I. E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja. But the case was re-assigned to be tried in Abuja despite the Court of Appeal's earlier judgment that held that Lagos and not Abuja has jurisdiction to hear the case.

However, at the re-trial, Kalu, who is the 1st respondent in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/73/2021 Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Orji Uzor Kalu & 2 Ors, filed an application before Justice I. E. Ekwo in which he sought, among others, an order of the court prohibiting the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from prosecuting him again on the allegations in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Orji Uzor Kalu & 2 Ors on the ground that he had earlier been tried, convicted and sentenced on the charge.

EFCC also filed a counter-affidavit and written address opposing the application. However, ruling on the suit, the court held that the applicant (EFCC) cannot re-try the respondents.

The court also held that the plea of autrefois acquit and autrefois convict and the principle of double jeopardy availed the 1st respondent (Orji Uzor Kalu) and that the re-trial of the 1st respondent would amount to the violation of the provisions of Section 36 (9) and (10) of Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, and Section 238 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

Opportunities:

Kalu has been a prominent name in the nation's political firmament even before the return of democracy in 1999, being an influential actor in the aborted Third Republic and during the Obasanjo presidency when he served as Abia State Governor between 1999 and 2007. Before then he had served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1992 to 1993.

The insistence on a Christian from the South, and especially from the perceived marginalised Southeast, may play into his hands given his clout and sympathies in the National Assembly.

Threats:

While being a Christian from Southeast should ordinarily be a good sell in the light of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket amid the protest of marginalisation from some sections of the country, Kalu is contending against others with similar claim, the likes of Godswill Akpabio and Osita Izunaso, both of whom are Christians from the South-South and Southeast respectively with requisite political clouts and networks.

The endorsement of Akpabio by the party's hierarchy is also no surprise, as Kalu is considered not to have participated vigorously in the party's presidential election campaign against the threatening tides of the Labour Party in his native geopolitical zone.

ABDULAZEEZ YARI

Strengths:

Senator Yari is a former Governor of Zamfara State and is among those who were instrumental to the formation of the APC.

In 2015, he became the Chairman of Nigerian Governors' Forum. Yari has been a big player in APC even gunning for the party's Chairmanship position during the last special convention.

Weaknesses:

Yari is largely considered a controversial fellow within the APC, particularly with the disqualification of the party from governance in the Zamfara State in 2019 largely blamed on the crisis between him and Senator Kabiru Marafa, another strongman of the state politics.

Yari, like Akpabio and Kalu, is also not free from the radar of EFCC. In May last year, he was arrested at his Abuja residence in connection with the commission's investigation of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, for alleged N80 billion fraud.

He is also one of the key actors in the persistent crises rocking the APC in Zamfara State that even cost the party the governorship in 2019 and 2023.

Speaking recently, an APC chieftain, Dr Garus Gololo, warned the party against giving Yari the Senate presidency.

Gololo said: "l pray that this time, the party is quick, up and doing to prevent this type of person from infiltrating our ranks. He has shown what he is capable of doing, and we must not allow him to succeed at it."

Gololo further alleged that Yari's inordinate ambition is capable of causing a rift within the party, especially seeing that the party has chosen where to move as far as the senate presidency matter is concerned.

Opportunities:

Yari is from Zamfara State in the Northwest, a region that has been the traditional base of APC and has maintained significant electoral showings for the party.

Yari, who also was once the Chairman of Nigerian Governors' Forum, has a strong political network across board and with ploys and plots by the opposition to subvert the endorsement by the ruling party, Yari's connections and war chest may come in handy.

Speaking in that regard recently, Yari said: "The election has come, gone and the same zone (North-west) demonstrated what they are doing and took the lead in terms of producing votes for our President-elect and the party.

"Even though some people were thinking about how to subvert it, we have done our best despite the challenges.

"Now, we have a President-elect (Tinubu) from the South-West, we have the Vice-president-elect from the Northeast and the Northwest is waiting."

Threats:

Yari has found himself contending against an array of powerful contenders, such as a one-time Minority Leader, a one-time Chief whip, a long-time National Assembly power broker, and an influential senator from Niger State.

Yari still has forces in the party who are blaming him for his role in the 2019 fiasco and may see all these forces join the coalition against him.

Yari is from the North-west, a region considered to possess too much influence in APC, especially with the purported zoning of the Deputy Senate Presidency and Speakership by the party to the geo-political zone.

OSITA IZUNASO

Strengths:

Senator Osita Izunaso, like Akpabio and Kalu, is also a Christian. He is from the Southeast, a region fiercely agitating for inclusion in the government after a perceived long stretch of marginalisation.

Senator Izunaso also has the requisite experience and political dexterity to steer the affairs of the Senate. And unlike Akpabio, Kalu and Yari, he comes with a clean record, without any fraud or criminal case attached to his name. Beside he is an urbane and gentlemanly political chess player who diligently does quietly more without making noise. He may turn out to be the ultimate trump card of APC and the President-elect for the crucial post.This Imo West Senator-elect has paid his dues in APC as a core party man. He was strong and active in the merger committee that midwived the APC in 2013 and became the founding National Organising Secretary of the new party, a position he held for about five years during which he built a formidable political network.

Izunaso perhaps, has the best and most robust understanding of the National Assembly having served as an aide to both the presiding officers of the assembly before being elected into both the green and red chambers.

Again, the fact that his home State, Imo is one of the two APC-controlled states in the Southeast zone is a major advantage for him and the APC. This is an evident edge over Akpabio, Yari and Kalu whose states are under the grips of the opposition PDP and the Labour Party respectively.

Weaknesses:

He has not been in the federal legislature since 2011 when he was replaced as the Senator for Imo-West by Hope Uzodinma. he notably defeated the late juggernaut, Arthur Nzeribe in the 2007 senatorial contest for Imo-West (Orlu) District. He had previously served as a member of the House of Representatives. Unlike others, Senator Izunaso is not a money bag.

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Opportunities:

While on paper, the leading contenders for the Senate Presidency are no doubt Godswill Akpabio and Orji Uzor Kalu from the South-South and Southeast respectively, it will be costly gambit to dismiss Osita Izunaso with a wave of the hand. It is an irrefutable fact that both Akpabio and Kalu cannot be certain to scale the integrity test of the ruling party and all the other distinguished senators as well as the menacing court of public opinion. This is because antecedents are necessary and inevitable factors for consideration especially for an incoming administration pledging a new chapter anchored on the renewed hope mantra and trust.

Izunaso is also an ardent party man with a strong network and philosophy of people-oriented politics, a fresh face that the APC can comfortably fall back on for a breath of fresh air, purposefulness and integrity.

Threats:

Izunaso is contesting against big but controversial names that have been dominant in the nation's political and legislative landscape in the past four years. These include Akpabio and Kalu, with one being a one-time Minority Leader before becoming Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the other being a one-time Chief Whip of the Senate, who are believed to have amassed so much along the way.

Yari is another powerful figure that has the strings and power tentacles to checkmate any contender's influence and ambition.

SENATOR SANI MUSA

Strengths:

He is a two-term Senator from the North- Central, a zone that is also accusing the APC of marginalising it in the purported zoning formula.

Weaknesses:

Like the President-elect and the Vice President-elect, Senator Musa is also a Muslim. His North Central zone has been subsumed by its recently too close alliance with the far North.

Opportunities:

The North-central seems to have been forgotten in the scheme of things and Sani Musa, who has enjoyed a good stay in the National Assembly as the current Chairman of the Senate Services Committee, has built a sizable influence. Last year, he vied for the position of party chairman before stepping down for the incumbent National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, in compliance with the party's directive.

Threats:

He seems the man with the slimmest chance in this clash of the titans, particularly with the Muslim-Muslim controversy and the clamour by the Southeast and even the South-South for greater representation in central government and party administration.

From the foregoing analysis, it is hard to place a bet on this or that contender. The situation is no doubt dicey. With the return of the President-elect to the country amid intense politicking, both overtly and covertly and the APC National Chairman, Senator Adamu hinting of a revisit of the party's declared zoning formula for the National Assembly leadership, anything can happen.

As the clock ticks towards the inauguration of the 10th Senate, Akpabio and Kalu's positions in the Senate Presidency race are increasingly becoming precarious as a result of the growing support for Senator Izunaso and even former Governor Yari. The Imo-West senator may just hold the ace being a Christian from the Southeast, the candidate without baggage and an unwavering loyal party man.

For now, everything hangs in the balance as the behind-the-scenes political scheming and intriguing horse trading continue a few days to the May 29 Inauguration Day and the take off of the 10th National Assembly that would follow.

The APC and the incoming administration are in the global eye, coming in on the plank of anti-corruption, accountability, and transparency, which will inevitably affect the ultimate choice of the new leadership of the National Assembly. This will inevitably affect the ultimate direction of the incoming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government.

*Dr Tom Ohikere is CEO of APC NewsOnline.
DeSantis declares White House run against Trump in glitchy Twitter launch

International News May - 24 - 2023 , 23:10

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is officially running for US president in 2024 against Donald Trump.

He spoke at a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk Wednesday evening in what initially witnessed technical issues.

"I am running for President of the United States to lead our great American comeback," DeSantis said.

The 44-year-old is ex-president Donald Trump's chief rival for the Republican Party nomination.

He has restricted sex education and black history lessons in Florida schools, banned transgender athletes from girls' sports, and blocked gender-affirming care for trans youth

Ex-United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are other Republicans running.
I would supply weapons to Russia - South Africa's Julius Malema

International News May - 24 - 2023 , 08:58

The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africas third-largest political party, has said he would supply weapons to Russia because Moscow is in a war with imperialism.

In an interview with the BBC in Johannesburg, Julius Malema insisted that South Africa is an ally of Russia and that the ANC governments position of non-alignment only applied to the war in Ukraine.

I will go beyond the friendship with Russia. In the war, I will align with Russia and I will even supply the weapons, Mr Malema told HARDtalks Stephen Sackur.

The EFF also wants South Africa to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes but Mr Malema has pledged to prevent any attempt to arrest the Russian president if he attends next months Brics summit in Cape Town.

Mr Malema made the comments following a diplomatic row in which the US ambassador to South Africa alleged that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto a Russian vessel docked in the country last December.

The South African government has denied approving any arms shipments to Russia.
Don't make super grades and have nothing to show for it - lecturer

Mabel Delassie Awuku Education May - 23 - 2023 , 17:28

The level at which students are obsessed with good grades and yet not marketable in the job market has become a source of worry for most lecturers and school authorities.

Making good grades is obviously important but you cannot make super grades and have nothing to show for it when indeed one must put out practical knowledge of what was thought in the classroom.

The Registrar of Regional Maritime University, Dr. Baboucarr Njie expressed these sentiments during a one-day collaborative colloquium at the Regional Maritime University in Accra on Tuesday.

According to him, students must speak up when they are not satisfied with the lecturers delivery, as it does not amount to disrespect of lecturers adding that this is not a call for students to disrespect any lecturer but ensure value for money to be able to meet the standards of employers.

Dr. Gabriel Senanu Akapko, the Dean of Graduate School in his opening remarks explained the complex nature of employment, which he said begins with a personal vision of what one wants to be, through to whatever is available.

In his views, job seekers require some skills and experiences, which is believed to have been acquired through a number of years prior to work elsewhere.

Research supports the claim that the longer the period of ones work, the better the skills in transferring knowledge but becomes quite difficult for beginners to get themselves fixed, Dr. Akakpo opined.

The paradox he explained, informed the theme of the Colloquium: Job seekers paradox of years of experience before employment: what do employers want and what should job seekers provide.

Dr. Akakpo was optimistic that the colloquium would help adequately prepare students who become job seekers for the job market.

Mr. Razak Ngula, Managing Director, Maersk Ghana Limited, an international shipping company, took time to advice students to stay relevant, focused and develop soft skills to make them valid in the job market.

Mr. Ngula bemoaned the low level of females in the technical area and advised female students to endeavor to veer into this male dominated area explaining that many opportunities await them.

The Ag. Vice Chancellor of the Regional Maritime University, Dr. Jethro W. Brooks Jnr. Who chaired the colloquium, warned students to be mindful of what they make of social media as employers have resorted to investigate potential employees by viewing their social media to know their contents.

A Master of Arts, Ports and shipping administration students, Loic Bekwike Leke, was however happy about the Colloquium and referred to the session as eye opening and insightful. He urged authorities to endeavor to have such engagements to prepare students for better opportunities.
Make libraries hubs for innovation  Siaw

Severious Kale-Dery Education May - 24 - 2023 , 10:06

Libraries must no longer be simply seen as places to store books and information but as dynamic hubs of innovation and collaboration, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Library Authority, Hayford Siaw, has stated.

They must be places where people can come together to learn, explore and create using the latest technology and tools to develop innovative solutions to our most pressing challenges, he added.

Mr Siaw stated that when he addressed the 5th African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) conference and the 7th African Library Summit in Accra yesterday.

It is on the theme; "Future of learning, libraries, and sustainable development in Africa,"and being attended by 250 participants from 36 countries.

Among other things, the first conference was held in Accra, Ghana, in 2015 with the second one being held in Yaounde, Cameroon, in 2017.

The third event was organised in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2019 while the fourth was a virtual one in 2021, coordinated from the headquarters in Accra .

Decisions

Mr Siaw noted that people would be able to make more informed decisions about their lives if they had access to information and that communities that give timely and appropriate information to all residents are better positioned to eliminate poverty and inequality, improve agriculture, provide quality education, support people's health, culture, research, and creativity.

In this day and age, the importance of libraries in society is greater than ever.

They have been the foundations of education and information, and the development of digital technology has given the library and information service professions a new dimension. Future libraries must evolve and adapt to the evolving demands of patrons, he emphasised.

Optimistic

The CEO of the GhLA said although he was optimistic about the future of libraries in Africa, it would necessitate collaboration, creative thinking and the development of innovative approaches to suit the changing requirements of communities.

We must be beacons of hope and agents of change.

We must strengthen our alliances and collaborations, fight for additional government funding and support, and interact with our communities in new and dynamic ways.

The Deputy Minister in charge of General Education, Rev. John Ntim-Fordjour, who represented the sector Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, to open the conference, said the theme for the event was apt regarding the continents situation today.

According to him, it reflected the present-day realities and challenges of the future of learning in Africa, as well as the need to figure out how the roles of libraries of all types would promote learning which would lead to sustainable development.

The last couple of years have seen immense shifts in the way people learn formally, as the pandemic caused changes, flexibility and reshaping in the education sector.

The need for the workforce in various fields to update their skills has grown astronomically and this has brought on new ways of gaining skills and knowledge for charting progressive career paths.

Young people are adding additional skills to their certificates in order to improve their employability, he said.
Consider consultant positions in regional hospitals  Prof. Adanu

Augustina Tawiah May - 24 - 2023 , 16:29

The Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Professor Richard M. K. Adanu, has proposed that the country should consider providing consultant positions in the regional hospitals for retired senior medical specialists to provide their services on contract.

He said his proposal could be a stop gap measure to provide the needed specialist training for practising doctors to sharpen their skills and knowledge of their various disciplines as well as improve healthcare delivery over a wide geographical zone.

specialists

If we give these retired specialists consultants positions, their presence alone at the hospitals would improve health care not just in that hospital but over a whole geographic zone and they would serve as major trainers for postgraduate programmes, he said.

Prof. Adanu said this in Accra last Thursday, at the first public lecture to mark the 20th anniversary launch of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons on the theme Two decades of postgraduate medical training in Ghana.

His lecture traced the history of the setting up of the college, the success stories, the challenges confronting specialists medical training in Ghana now and proffered solutions to them.

Well equipped hospitals

He also advocated the setting up of two well-equipped hospitals with the capacity of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in each of the 16 regions of the country.

Additionally, he said, each region needed to have good infrastructure such as roads, schools, recreational facilties and variety of shops, which, he said, could entice medical trainers to take up postings in the regions and provide the needed training for doctors to become specialists and senior specialists.

If we succeed in this stop gap measure and successfully decentralise the training of members and fellows, we will have more doctors staying outside the two big regions and offering valuable specialist services after their training, he said.

Veering into the political arena with his lecture, Prof. Adanu said the governments plan of building well-equipped hospitals all over the country, known as Agenda 111, should be adopted as a national plan instead of it being the plan of a political party.

We have members and fellows of the college who belong to the two major political parties in the country.

These members and fellows must make sure that the things that we need for specialist training, which include well-equipped hospitals, should be written in the same words in each partys manifesto so that the political support for postgraduate medical training will not be affected by the results of an election.

We cannot address our challenges without political and governmental support so they must support the doctors irrespective of whichever side they are on, he said.

renowned

Prof. Adanu, who is renowned for his specialisation in obstetrics and gynaecology, urged medical trainees to explore the private sector as the college worked to decentralised postgraduate medical training in the country in order that the challenges of overcrowding in medical training centres were addressed.

His lecture also touched on technology, pointing out that the college must identify aspects of its training that could be delivered virtually using information communication technology (ICT) which could be accessed by all trainees all over the country.

Funding medical training

Launching the anniversary, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, announced that the Ministry, working together with the college, had secured cabinets approval of policies that would ensure that doctors start postgraduate training earlier than had been happening and that the rate of production of fellows by the college should be increased.

Touching on members and fellows produced by the college, Mr Agyeman-Manu said they were very crucial to the success of the countrys healthcare system.

There were short addresses from the chairman for the occasion, Prof. Nana S.K.B. Asante, the Council Chairman, Prof. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, and Prof. Samuel Debrah, who, together with the earlier speakers, paid glowing tribute to all who worked hard to get the college established.
Criminals take over Pantang Hospital

Maclean Kwofi May - 24 - 2023 , 07:55

There seems to be no end in sight for illegalities, unruliness and general insecurity on the premises of the Pantang Hospital in the Greater Accra Region.

The health facility, which accommodates nursing and midwifery training institutions, basic schools and other state facilities, has now become a safe haven for criminals and social misfits such as thieves, weed smokers and squatters.

On a daily basis, they tramp the 344-acre hospital land in their numbers to unleash mayhem on staff, patients, students and other patrons of the health facility.

These criminal activities, which sometimes take place under the nose of the law enforcers, include thievery and burglary at gunpoint, destruction of hospital property and prostitution, mainly orchestrated by some squatters who are illegally occupying parts of the hospital land.

Information gathered by the Daily Graphic indicated that the hospital management was working closely with the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly (LaNMMA) to clear all illegal structures and criminals from the premises of the facility to bring sanity and order within the hospital community.

Construction of the hospital was started by the first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to originally serve as a Pan-African mental health village to advance specialised mental healthcare service to patients in Ghana and beyond.

After Dr Nkrumahs overthrow, works were not continued to its architectural completion. Like many other facilities and amenities, the fate of the finely designed health centre, the second mental health facility in the country after the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, was left in limbo.

When it was commissioned in 1975, by the then Head of State, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, there were 79 structures made up of completed and uncompleted staff bungalows, medical wards and administration blocks, but without a wall to provide security for the occupants.

This phenomenon provided squatters, including criminals and social misfits, the free range to settle and foment trouble on the premises of the hospital and its environs.

Graphic monitoring

For three months, spanning January to March this year, when the Daily Graphic team monitored activities at the hospital, it observed that the entrance had been entirely taken over by squatters who had erected wooden structures that served as their homes and shops.

Activities of the squatters at the entrance gave a scary picture of a certain level of hopelessness lying beyond the gates.

Major parts of the 1,500-metre stretch wall recently built by the Ministry of Health (MoH) have been pulled down by unknown persons in what is suspected to be a land dispute.

Despite a police post mounted in front of the hospital, several unruly acts were evident.

Some of these included reported theft of the hospitals water meters, computers, airconditioner external units, health equipment, as well as frequent robbery of personal belongings of staff and students.

Within the vicinity, locations or places within the hospital serving as hideouts for prostitutes, weed sales joints, mechanic shops, often causing nuisance to the safety of the health centre, were commonly known to the average resident.

Some residents said those happenings had consistently put most of the workers, patients, students and other stakeholders of the hospital in fear as they went about their daily activities.

Major hindrance

The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Frank Baning, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that insecurity had been a major hindrance to efficient healthcare delivery at the hospital.

We have these squatters with kiosks scattered all over, which is a major security situation for us at the hospital.

Security-wise, we are not safe at this point; day in, day out, you will hear reports that one of the staff or students has been robbed at knife or gunpoint, and this is a major trouble to us, he said.

He said the hospital had started collaborating with the LaNMMA to clear the premises of all the illegal structures as part of measures to curb the insecurity on the premises.

He said that a team made up of officials of the hospital and the assembly had already held two meetings to strategise on how to eject the squatters and remove their illegal structures from the premises.

LaNMMAs position

Corroborating the views of the medical director, the Chief Executive of LaNMMA, Jennifer Dede Adjabeng, said the municipal assembly was playing a crucial role to bring sanity to the hospital and its environs by removing all the unauthorised structures from the premises of the health facility.

This issue has been ongoing for a while now, and like the medical director rightly said, the two institutions (Pantang and LaNMMA) are working together to ensure sanity at the hospital.

You will realise that some of the unauthorised structures have already been marked to provide occupants the opportunity to remove their property by themselves before the assembly intervenes to clear them from the premises, she said.

She explained that parts of the premises had already been cleared, but there were other parts that were still occupied by squatters, including the frontage, due to ligation regarding ownership of the land.

She said due to the ligation, the assembly could only wait for a final determination in court to take action.

Mrs Adjabeng added that LaNMMA was engaging the people who were claiming ownership of the land and the management of the hospital to bring sanity to the hospital premises.
Damongo: NEDCo restores power to St Anne's Hospital

Mohammed Fugu May - 24 - 2023 , 07:11

The Northern Electricity Company (NEDCo) has restored power to the St Annes Hospital in Damongo in the Savannah Region after it was disconnected for about a week over a GH4 million debt.

The restoration of power to the facility followed the intervention of the Savannah Regional Minister, Saeed Muhazu Jibril, and the Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor.

Mr Jibril, in an interview, indicated that the Regional Coordinating Council, with support from the MP, would pay part of the debt on behalf of the hospital.

I have called for a meeting between the regional health directorate, the hospital management and NEDCo in my office this afternoon, so that we can see the way forward, because NEDCo says the amount that has been paid is woefully inadequate, he said.

Power cut

Two babies died while three others are in a critical condition at the St Anne's Hospital following the disconnection of power to the facility by NEDCo.

The newborns are said to have lost their lives due to the hospitals inability to test for compatible blood to transfuse them.

On Tuesday, May 2, officials of NEDCo cut power supply to the hospital over a GH4 million debt but it was later reconnected after the intervention of Mr Muhazu Jibril.

However, due to the hospitals inability to pay the outstanding debt, the power distribution company disconnected the facility for the second time last week.

Following the development, out-patient and administrative services came to a halt, which affected healthcare delivery in the area.

The hospital is a member of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). According to officials of the hospital, the government was responsible for the payment of the facilitys electricity bills.

For some time now, the facility had not paid the bills, leading to the accumulated debt.

The Out-Patient Department which used to record not less than 80 patients daily is now empty following the power cut, the Daily Graphic gathered.

Background

NEDCo is embarking on a revenue drive to collect some GH1.2 billion debt owed the company.

The exercise, which started on Thursday, April 13, 2023, is targeted at households, companies as well as government institutions.

According to the company, the exercise would also be used to clamp down on illegal power connections in the area.
Ensuring integrity of buildings: MMDAs must step up education of developers  IET

Emmanuel Bonney May - 24 - 2023 , 12:34

The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Ghana, has called on metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to educate developers on the need to engage the services of professionals in their work.

It also urged developers to ensure that the necessary permits were secured from the assemblies for their projects.

That, it said, was to help adhere to building regulations to ensure the safety of their property.

The various assemblies should be educating the public on their local radios and information centres on the need for developers to engage professionals and go through the processes to get their permit.

It is for their own good, the President of the IET, Ghana, Henry Kwadwo Boateng, told the Daily Graphic in Accra.

Early this month, three multi-storey buildings collapsed at three different locations within a spate of one week.

They comprised a six-storey building under construction at the University for Development Studies (UDS) City Campus at Sagnarigu in Tamale in the Northern Region, a three-storey building at Nanakrom in the Adentan

Municipality as well as a three-storey building under construction at the SDA Junction at the Adentan side of La-Nkwantanang Madina in Accra.

The last incident resulted in the death of one person, with three others sustaining injuries.

In October 2020, 22 people lost their lives when a five-storey church building collapsed at Akyem Batabi in the Eastern Region.

Earlier in July 2015, three people were killed, with 18 others sustaining injuries when a three-storey building collapsed at Cantonments in Accra.

Fire service

Responding to the recent collapses, the Ghana National Fire Service said management had observed that the unfortunate structural collapses mostly happened with buildings under construction with weak foundations, reduction in reinforcement, reduction in concrete strength, poor supervision and the use of poor quality building materials, among others.

It charged developers to desist from engaging the services of uncertified development practitioners.

Mr Boateng also called on the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to strengthen its enforcement and monitoring of substandard building materials on the market to ensure that those used were of high quality.

That, he said, was because there were lots of inferior goods being brought onto the market, hence the need to step up monitoring.

Again, the standards authority must also sit up because we have a lot of inferior goods being imported.

If you look at our reinforcement which we call iron bars  the sizes and their quality must be looked at.

This is because half inch now is not half inch, they have reduced it, he emphasised.

Moreover, he charged persons constructing churches and mosques to acquire permits and use registered professionals for their projects.

Recently, the IET Ghana, a registered licensed professional engineering body, said politicians should be partly-blamed for collapsed buildings.

That, it said, was in addition to the failure of developers engaging the services of professionals to do their work for them.

Moreover, the institution said local engineers were not given the necessary tools and resources which included vehicles to go round for inspections and rebound or smith hammer for testing concrete, among others.

It, therefore, asked politicians to stop interfering in the work of engineers in order to do their work as professionals by ensuring that developers adhered to building standards so as to prevent their infrastructure from collapsing.

To make things worse is when our engineers at the local authorities embark on development control by going round to inspect buildings under construction.

There are some places you would go and the politician would tell you not to go to such places again, Mr Boateng, said
GJA wins bid to host 3rd African Media Convention

Justice Agbenorsi May - 24 - 2023 , 07:20

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has won the bid to host the 3rd African Media Convention in Accra.

The convention  scheduled for May 2024  is the largest gathering of media stakeholders and policymakers on the continent.

An initiative of The African Editors Forum (TAEF), a body of Editors and senior editorial executive on the continent, the convention is designed to safeguard the hard-won media freedoms and safety of journalists on the continent.

The GJA will be the first journalists association to host the event, which would bring together media experts, scholars, students, journalists, journalists' unions and associations; editors, the public and private sector, among others, to dissect pertinent issues confronting journalists within the African context.

The right to host the convention was won when the GJA President, Albert Dwumfour, led a delegation to bid for the hosting rights at the second convention held in Lusaka, Zambia, earlier this month.

Key personalities to attend the event, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the GJA, would be from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the African Union Commission, among others.

Credentials

Addressing a news conference with the support of the Ministry of Information, Mr Dwumfour explained that the lobbying was successful due to the countrys exceptional performance in the consecutive World Press Freedom Index between 2018 and 2020 which ranked Ghana as the most liberated country on the continent.

Present at the news conference were the Head of Policy Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Information, Mawuli Segbefia; President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association, Cecil Sunkwa Mills, among other executives of the GJA.

Stressing the associations readiness to host the convention, Mr Dwumfour noted that hosting the gathering would present an opportunity for African media stakeholders to discuss issues on the revolving trends that impeded freedom of expression and freedom of the media, media viability and sustainability as well as the safety and security of journalists.

He added that the forum would also help promote the countrys tourist destinations.

Recommendations

He further urged the media and stakeholders to help implement a national minimum wage policy for journalists per country, addressing that the rising cases of violence against journalists and media workers on the continent, enactment of laws and policies aimed at enhancing control and curtailment of the digital civic space, surveillance and interception of communication, were all recommendations of the second convention.

Mr Dwumfour expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for their continuous support to the GJA in attaining that feat.

Messrs Segbefia and Mills congratulated the leadership of the GJA for winning the bid and expressed their support and commitment to the GJA in hosting a successful convention.
GNPC Board Chairman Freddie Blay dismisses calls for resignation amid stake sale controversy

GraphicOnline May - 24 - 2023 , 06:37

Mr. Freddie Blay, the Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and former New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman has responded to the demands from some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) urging him to step down.

The calls for his resignation came after the GNPC announced plans to sell a 50% stake in Jubilee Holdings Limited (JOHL) to PetroSA.

CSOs demand removal of GNPC Board Chair and CEO over controversial stake sale

Mr. Blay firmly asserted that he had committed no wrongdoing in the deal and saw no grounds for his resignation. In an interview with Citi FM, he emphasized that his conscience was clear regarding the share sale and that he would only step down if the president, who appointed him, no longer wished to work with him.

While acknowledging the possibility of being dismissed, Blay questioned the basis for the demand, stating, "I don't see any reason why they are saying I should resign about this issue. I have done nothing wrong." He expressed his belief that he acted in the country's best interests and would stand by his convictions.

Mr. Blay also disclosed that he had discussed the matter with President Akufo-Addo. However, he clarified that the president had not indicated any intention to request his resignation. Mr. Blay asserted that the law would ultimately determine the outcome, and he expressed confidence in the legal process, mentioning the existence of relevant documents related to the agreement.

Regarding reports of a strained relationship with Energy Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Blay denied any significant differences that could negatively impact Ghana's interests. He noted that while both individuals held strong opinions, they had recently engaged in constructive discussions.

I dont think we [he and Mr. Prempeh] have any differences that are so serious that they are detrimental to the interest of Ghana. You know, NAPO has strong opinions, and I am also a little determined when I am talking about anything that I know of. We met today and we exchanged ideas brightly.

On Tuesday, May 23, during a press conference, the 29 CSOs called for the removal of Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah, the CEO of GNPC, and Mr. Freddie Blay as the Board Chairman. The CSOs alleged that Blay, in his capacity as Chairman, had written to PetroSA, proposing an equal split of the interest held by GNPC's subsidiary, Jubilee Oil Holdings Ltd.
Inauguration of the multi-billion dollar Dangote Refinery ]has sparked fresh controversy in Ogun State, Daily Trust reports.

The $18.5 billion monumental investment was to be sited in Ogun State before it was moved to its present location in the neighbouring Lagos State.

Shortly after the inauguration of the project on Monday, some stakeholders in the state rued loss of the project to Lagos.

Segun Showunmi, governorship aspirant of PDP in the 2023 election, blamed the loss on "bad politics."

He called on a law "that punishes economic sabotage occasioned by bad politics."

Showunmi in a statement he personally signed said "I cannot but wonder what explanation Ogun State has for not housing that project that sits pretty within our Ogun Development Master Plan with Olokola Free Trade Zone in Ogun Waterside!

"It is time to have a law that punishes economic sabotage occasioned by bad politics! No one should be allowed to set back a state on the altar of winning an election, which more than likely has queried integrity.

"No state can make a steady process if that nonsense is not punished to prevent a repeat."

He congratulated Aliko Dangote and the Lagos over the refinery, saying "Thank God Dangote did not take the project outside the country, which would have provoked me beyond words."

In a swift reaction, Governor Dapo Abiodun said he was not responsible for the loss of Dangote Refinery to Lagos.

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He said it was a disagreement with former Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the business mogul, Dangote, that cost Ogun to lose the monumental project to Lagos.

Our correspondent reports that Abiodun was the Chairman of the Committee on the Olokola Free Trade Zone projects, at the period when the project was lost to Lagos State.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Abiodun admitted serving as the chairman of the committee and "did everything possible to make sure the project saw the light of the day."

"As we are all aware, the penultimate administration made appreciable and concerted efforts to ensure that the Olokola deep sea port and other ancillary projects in the OKFTZ, become a reality, by rallying major players in the oil and gas sector, including Dangote Group.

"But, the successive governments between 2011 and 2019, for reasons best known to it, killed the project and frustrated the promoter of Dangote Refinery out of the state.

"The then governor, perhaps, having a personal axe to grind with the promoter of the refinery project, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, frustrated all the efforts of Governor Abiodun and his committee.

"Having become governor in 2019, it is on record that Governor Dapo Abiodun had always rued the missed opportunity and he'd embarked on efforts in reawakening the OKFTZ. At different forums, the governor had made it known that the Olokola project is a gold mine waiting to be tapped by the state."
GRA closes 2 Chinese businesses, arrests 6 managers

Emelia Ennin Abbey May - 24 - 2023 , 07:02

Six business operators, including two Chinese, have been arrested in Accra for failing to issue Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices to customers.

Although the identities of the arrested persons were not disclosed, their businesses were given as Computer Land Ghana Limited, dealers in computers and accessories, and Hiang Vegetables and Fruits Chinese Supermarket, both at Osu; Emelijo Enterprise, a shop that sells disposables at La Wireless; U-Fresh Company Limited, a beverages manufacturing company owned by some Chinese, and Sulas Enterprise, dealers in power generating sets and construction machinery and Mahalia Kollection, a clothing shop, all at Spintex.

They are part of 93 businesses out of 115 found not to be issuing VAT invoices to customers who patronise their services.

Mystery shopping

The businesses illegalities were discovered through undercover investigations known as mystery shopping or text purchase, after the team visited 115 companies in a week of undercover exercises.

It is an offence for a registered tax paying business to fail to issue VAT invoice to customers who patronise their services.

They were arrested by the VAT investigation taskforce of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) during a VAT enforcement exercise yesterday.

Although the exercise was smooth, the taskforce had a tough time when they visited the Hiang Vegetables and Fruits Chinese Supermarket, as the managers of the place would not cooperate with the GRA team.

Although they claimed they were tax compliant, they could not show the team any records or documents to confirm their claim.

After a prolonged back and forth, the team locked up the shop and sealed off the place with a tape and a padlock.

At the U-Fresh Company Limited, the Ghanaian workers claimed their Chinese employers had gone out for lunch but after a long wait, the team picked up one of the Chinese and left an invitation notice for the owners of the company.

The Manager of the Accra Central Enforcement Unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Joseph Annan, who led the team for the exercise, said the arrested persons would be handed over to the police, investigated and charged for their actions.

Yesterdays exercise was targeted at 15 out of 93 identified companies as the authority in the weeks ahead was going after businesses that had failed to issue certified VAT invoices at the point of sale at their outlets to their customers.

Mr Annan said the two Chinese companies had most of their records in the Chinese language and "we will get it translated at their cost".

He urged businesses registered for VAT to issue the VAT invoice at all times as required by law to avoid facing sanctions and prosecution.

Issuance

We are enforcing the issuance of VAT invoices. I urge all businesses to do the right thing as expected of them. We will continue the exercise until all businesses comply with the law, he said.

Mr Annan further advised the public to demand the VAT invoice whenever they made purchases to support the government's efforts to raise revenue for development purposes.

The exercise, which started on May 16 this year, has so far resulted in the arrest of some managers of businesses who are currently under investigation pending prosecution.
Immigration officer promoted for saving 2 policemen

Joshua Bediako Koomson May - 24 - 2023 , 12:12

An Immigration Officer, whose swift intervention saved the lives of two policemen attacked by a mentally challenged man at Sefwi Wiaso, has been promoted by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).

Assistant Immigration Control Officer II (AICO II) Nurideen Abdul-Ganiew Takra, whose bravery also saved some members of the community, is now AICO I.

The Comptroller-General of the GIS, Kwame Asuah Takyi, on behalf of the National Immigration Management Committee, conferred the new rank on Mr Takra at a special ceremony at the GIS headquarters.

In addition to the promotion, AICO I Takra was awarded a memento, a certificate and a citation in recognition of his heroism.

Present at the special ceremony were representatives of the Ghana Police, Isaac Kofi Egyir; the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Faustina Agyeiwaa Kodua Andoh-Kwofie, and a representative of the Commissioner of Customs, Assistant Commissioner Eric Bonney.

Sefwi Wiaso incident

The incident, which happened two weeks ago, saw Mr Takra save the two policemen who had been attacked by a man believed to be mentally challenged.

The policemen were responding to a distress call to also rescue some people who had all been threatened at a spot near the Anglican School Park, close to the Sefwi Wiawso District Police Command, by the mentally challenged man.

The attacker, who had supposedly escaped from a prayer camp at Sefwi-Wiawso, had in his possession a pestle, catapult and a knife, when he attacked the two policemen.

When AICOII Takra got to the scene, the attacked policemen laid unconsciously on the ground, and the mentally challenged man was attempting to take an AK-47 rifle from the ground, but he got hold of the rifle before the mentally challenged man could pick it.

Although AICOII Ganiew fired a warning shot, that did not deter the mentally challenged man who kept moving towards the latter.

The Immigation officer, however, managed to overpower him.

All the dangerous weapons he had on him were also retrieved from him after he had been overpowered and arrested.

Promotion deserved

In a brief address to announce the promotion, the Comptroller- General of Immigration (CGI) said given the sensitive nature of law enforcement work, particularly in protecting lives and property, AICO I Takras recognition and promotion were well deserved as it would serve as a motivation to him and others.

On behalf of the GIS and all security agencies, Mr Asuah Takyi commended the newly-promoted officer for his bravery and putting his own life on the line and encouraged him to continue to serve selflessly and professionally.

Representative of the Inspector General of Police at the event, the Director-General of the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD), Commissioner of Police (COP) Francis Ebenezer Doku, expressed appreciation on behalf of the entire Police Service to AICO I Takra for the heroic act.

Brave intervention

In an address, the Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, described the intervention of AICO I Takra as heroic and praiseworthy.
IMO boss advocates green shipping

Daily Graphic May - 24 - 2023 , 15:37

The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Kitack Lim, has charged the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, to push forward the objective of the organisation towards the decarbonisation of shipping on the African continent.

He made the call when Kwaku Ofori Asiamah led a delegation of other international maritime experts to pay a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the Jubilee House.

This was after Accra had successfully hosted the first Shipping Decarbonisation Conference.

In February 2023, Accra made history by successfully hosting the first-ever Shipping Decarbonisation Conference that brought together over 200 high-profile dignitaries from over 20 countries and other stakeholders in the maritime industry to discuss and explore the challenges and opportunities for green shipping in Africa, a statement issued in Accra, said.

Expectation

It said the expected role of the minister was wholeheartedly granted by President Akufo-Addo; hence, his request to him to allow the Minister of Transport to use his good office to advocate the objective of the organisation towards decarbonisation of shipping on the African continent.

The request by Mr Lim follows Mr Asiamahs contribution and commitment to green shipping in the country and the African continent.

With this advocacy role, the Transport minister, who is also the chairman of the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA), is expected to garner more interest on the African continent regarding the green shipping transition agenda, it said.

Goal

The goal of the two-day green shipping conference was to explore not only the challenges but also the opportunities for African countries that lie within the green transition.

It was also aimed at preparing Africa for the crucial transition to cleaner fuels for shipping and exploring the availability of partnerships and the importance of Africas participation in Global Regulations.

At the conference, Mr Asiamah said the shipping industry emitted 2-3 per cent of the annual global GHS, with most ships in operation currently being powered by fossil fuels.

Worried about the phenomenon, he noted that it was necessary to apply regulatory measures to facilitate shipping transitions and reduce emissions, as well as encourage the production of alternative low and zero-carbon fuels for shipping.

The IMO Secretary-General, Lim, for his part, stressed the importance of partnership and funding in the shipping industry.

There is a strong willingness and commitment to work with all stakeholders to explore and make a push towards renewable energy, to ensure that maritime transport benefits from the relevant investment and technology transfer, he noted.

He added that the IMO would show global leadership towards efforts to decarbonise shipping by leading by example and providing a global framework for the maritime industry to strive for green shipping with the involvement of all member states.

Green shipping

Green shipping refers to efficient and environmentally-friendly shipping practices that reduce the use of resources and energy to preserve the global environment from Green House and environmental pollutants.

Mr Asiamah has been Ghanas Minister of Transport since 2017.

He made history on Thursday, July 29, 2021, by becoming the first Ghanaian to be elected the chair of the prestigious Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA).

He took over from Khouraichi Thiam from the Republic of Senegal.

The objective of MOWCA is to serve the regional and international community by handling all maritime matters that are regional in character.

MOWCA unifies 25 countries on the West and Central African shipping range, inclusive of five landlocked countries.

These countries comprise 20 coastal states bordering the North and South Atlantic Oceans, and they are expected to provide the maritime link for landlocked countries to facilitate the seaborne trade of those that are landlocked.
Journalists receive training in maritime security

Kobla Dotsey Aklorbortu & Della Russel Ocloo May - 24 - 2023 , 17:12

A five-day programme to build the capacity of journalists in maritime security issues is underway in Takoradi in the Western Region.

Twenty practitioners from selected media houses and media liaisons of state agencies in maritime security are participating in the programme.

The pilot course which forms part of a five-year capacity-building project on Integrated responses to threats to maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea maritime (GoG) domain in West and Central Africa, is being organised by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and the Danish government.

Participants are being taken through topics such as the introduction to Blue economy, introduction to maritime security, policy and legal frameworks on maritime security, media and maritime security, law and ethics in maritime security reporting, coastal communities and maritime security, and gender, livelihoods and maritime security.

Significance

The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tom Norring, said the role of the media was key in raising awareness of maritime security and also influencing maritime policy and strategy formulation.

With the complexities of maritime crimes and the likelihood for misinformation which often counter maritime security efforts, the role of the media in highlighting the challenges cannot be overlooked.

Responsible and skilled journalism can inspire action, shape public opinion to work towards a safe and a more secure maritime environment, he added.

According to the ambassador, the training would also encourage participants to write compelling stories that would support the monitoring and evaluation of maritime security efforts by both state and non-state actors at the national and regional levels.

The Commandant of the KAIPTC, Major-General Richard Addo Gyane, also said that the goal of the project was to sensitise stakeholders in the Gulf of Guinea maritime domain to better understand the security landscape, increase collaboration, cooperation and coordination to promote harmony in the sector.

In addition, he said, the media could also play an important role of sensitising the people on the dangers of maritime piracy and other illegal activities at sea.

Our expectations are that the course will introduce participants to the nexus between media reportage and maritime security towards a just reporting regime in the coastal states along the GoG, Major-General Gyane said.

Impact

The Gulf of Guinea maritime domain has a significant impact on the livelihoods of citizens, given the huge volume of trade that occurs through it by sea.

Access to safe, secure maritime transit routes are, therefore, vital to the successful integration of goods and services in the global marketplace.

However, diverse challenges from piracy and armed robbery at sea, including illicit oil and fuel activities, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), trafficking of drugs, weapons and humans, and various environmental crimes continue to threaten the safety, security and sustainability of the maritime space in West and Central Africa.
Judicial staff on strike over salaries

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson May - 24 - 2023 , 14:30

The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) has declared an indefinite strike to drum home their demand for the government to review their salaries.

According to JUSAG, per the constitution, the salaries of staff of the judicial service has to be reviewed by the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Council, and that by convention the said review is done every two years.

However, according to JUSAG, the President has failed to implement the recommendation by the Judicial Council on February 2023 for the salary review.

Announcing the strike in Accra today, the President of JUSAG, Samuel Afotey Otu, said all staff of Judicial Service, with the exception of Security officers, will not report to work from Thursday, May 25, 2023 unless the President heed to demands.
Menstrual hygiene Day 2023: Breaking myth of menstruation

Elizabeth Konadu-Boakye May - 24 - 2023 , 09:16

The word menstruation is said to have originated from the Latin word "Mensis" which means month and also from the Greek word "Mene" which refers to the moon.

It is believed that the menstrual cycle was sort of related to the moon because the moon's cycle also lasted 29 days.

Researchers say menstruation is also called Period because the word period is from the Latin word Periodus which means a recurring cycle.

Menstruation, although a natural phenomenon for a long period of time and probably ages, has been enveloped in so much secrecy because of the many stigma around it as well as the cultural and sometimes religious beliefs that surround it.

Many women around the world, because of the secrecy and stigma, find it difficult to open up about their period and issues around it.

Across many and different cultures, the phenomenon is stigmatised and seen as something dirty and impure.

Even societies that are seen as civilised sometimes use euphemisms like "time of the month", "Red wedding" and "crimson tide", all in an attempt to hide the shame that come with it.

Over time, women now do not only have to deal with the stigma around menstruation but they now have to deal with period poverty, coupled with the many unmentioned conditions that come with period.

World Menstrual Hygiene Day

In 2013, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH United) set up the World Menstrual Hygiene Day to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management to break the taboos surrounding menstruation.

The day, since 2014, has been marked on May 28 every year.

The day and month of world menstrual hygiene is a symbolic one as May is the 5th month of the year, which symbolises the average length of menstruation which is five days, while the number 28 symbolises the menstrual cycle which lasts averagely 28 days.

The day is not only an opportunity to create awareness but a day for developing countries like Ghana to strengthen the government's accountability related to menstrual hygiene issues.

Civil society contribution

Civil society and advocates, on many occasions, and in many articles published in the various newspapers and online platforms, have called on the government to scrap taxes on sanitary pads as the sanitary tool has become expensive due to the economic downturn.

Some have also called on the government to provide free sanitary pads to pupils in basic schools so that it does not become a hindrance to their education.

Nonetheless, non-profit organisations such as the Gyabs Foundation, through the menstrual health and menstrual hygiene (M2H2 project), have been doing their best to not only provide sanitary tools for basic school pupils but to educate them on some conditions that come with period and how to handle them. Such organisations also distribute what they call dignity kits to help maintain good menstrual hygiene.

The Touching The Lives of Girls Foundation is also doing well to create awareness on menstrual hygiene and the importance of maintaining good hygiene regarding period while the The Sylvia Lawson Foundation (TSLF) also targets distributing sanitary pads which helps to reduce period cramps.

#WeAreCommitted

This year's theme, just as last year's, is #WeAreCommitted because if we are to collectively create a world where periods are a normal fact of life by 2030, commitment to both action and funding must remain high on the menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) agenda.

The fight against period poverty and creating awareness of conditions that come with period cannot be achieved at a go but it can be done through a continuous commitment to create awareness at a time in the community or wherever, giving support to organisations committed to ending period poverty.

While we stay committed to making menstruation a normal fact of life, let us also use various means and platforms to create awareness on the many conditions such as endometriosis, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and Amenorrhea, which have been associated with irregular periods.

The writer is a menstrual health and hygiene advocate and founder of the Menstrual Health and Menstrual Hygiene (M2H2) project.
Prudential Bank management calls on Ga Mantse

Daily Graphic May - 23 - 2023 , 15:10

The Managing Director of Prudential Bank, Bernard Appiah Gyebi, has paid a courtesy call on the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, in Accra.

The delegation, which was led by Daniel Kissiedu, a board member, included Thomas Broni, Executive Head of Operations, Head of Digital Transformation, Leopold Armah, Head, Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Mrs Akosua Boahen, and other heads of departments.

The Nai Wulomo Nuumo Akwaa Mensah III, the traditional priest of the Ga State, and other members of the palace welcomed the team on behalf of the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II.

The visit, which was part of Mr Gyebis stakeholder engagement activities, afforded him the opportunity to formally introduce himself to the Ga Mantse as the new Managing Director of Prudential Bank.

Relationship

Speaking at the event, Mr Gyebi said the bank deemed it very appropriate to build on the strong relationship between the Ga State and the bank, adding that it is important that as a business operating on Ga land, we look for the land owner to pay our respects and to seek his blessing.

He said, It is in the light of this that we have come to introduce ourselves to you and to seek your blessing.

He further said as part of Prudential Banks rich legacy of building and supporting businesses, the bank had positioned itself as a resilient bank of choice for its clients.

The Ga Mantse, for his part, said, we have had a very good relationship with Prudential Bank and we are very happy that you have come home, and you are always welcome here. It is a testament to the goodwill that we share.

Prayers

Nai Wulomo Nuumo Akwaa Mensah III offered prayers for the Managing Director and the bank and thanked the delegation for the visit, saying, we are happy that we didnt come to look for you, but you have, out of your own free will, come to us.

He added, It is our prayer that this bond between us grows from strength to strength.
Two siblings drown in abandoned pool

Samuel Kyei-Boateng May - 24 - 2023 , 06:53

Tragedy struck Akyem Oda last Sunday when two young siblings drowned in an abandoned pool.

The children, Esther Dede, 13, and Kofi Asare, six, drowned as the younger child tried to rescue the sister.

The single parent of the children, Grace Asare, a trader, told the Daily Graphic at Oda yesterday that the three children, including the deceased, went out to play in the compound close to the abandoned pool belonging to a defunct sawmill.

She said a four-year-old boy, who was playing with the deceased, came to report that the ball they were playing had fallen into the pool which was a few metres from their residence.

She said Esther tried to retrieve the ball but fell into it, and when Kofi saw his sister drowning, he tried to rescue her but both of them drowned.

Ms Asare, who was sobbing, said Kofi had earlier that day, celebrated his fourth birthday.

The residents of the neighbourhood, however, discounted Madam Asare's claim, saying her negligence resulted in the death of her two children.

They said when residents reported to Ms Asare that her two children were struggling for survival in the pool, she never took the matter seriously but concentrated on the preparation of her supper.

According to them, when Ms Asare realised late that evening that her two children had not returned home, she informed the neighbours, who then joined her to search for the children.

They said they later found the two children dead and floating in the pool and they lodged a complaint with the Oda Police.

Personnel from the Oda Police and the Ghana National Fire Service later retrieved the two bodies and deposited them at the Oda Government Hospital for autopsy and preservation.

When the Daily Graphic contacted the Oda Municipal Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Daniel Amoako, he confirmed the incident and added that the police were investigating it.
Cannabis [Wee] law in Ghana - Supreme Court dismisses review application

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson May - 24 - 2023 , 12:26

The Supreme Court has dismissed a review application challenging its decision to struck out a law that allowed the cultivation of cannabis [wee] for medicinal and industrial purposes.

In a 5-4 majority decision Wednesday [May 24, 2023], the court held that the review application filed by the Attorney-General (A-G) did not satisfy the criteria for review as set out by the Supreme Court rules.

Judgment

In July last year, the apex court struck out as unconstitutional Section 43 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019).

Section 43 of Act 1019 allows the Minister of the Interior, upon the recommendation of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), to grant an entity the licence to cultivate cannabis of not more than 0.3 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content for industrial and medicinal purposes.

The court held that the law was unconstitutional because there was no debate in Parliament on it before its passage into law, as stipulated by Article 106 (5) (6) of the 1992 Constitution.

Again, the apex court was of the considered opinion that the explanatory memorandum attached to the bill placed before Parliament did not set out in details the policy change, the defects in the existing law and the necessity to introduce a law to license the cultivation of cannabis.

Such an omission, it held, was a violation of Article 106 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.
Ill make agriculture attractive to youth  Dr Anaba

Daily Graphic Politics May - 24 - 2023 , 07:26

A Medical practitioner and National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary aspirant for Garu in the Upper East Region, Dr Thomas Anaba, has pledged to make agriculture a top priority by modernising it to make it attractive to the youth in the constituency.

He further gave the assurance that he would facilitate the rehabilitation of roads to link farming communities to market centres.

Dr Anaba, who is a former medical director of Ridge Hospital in Accra and the Chief Executive Officer of Habana Medical Service in Tamale, made the pledge in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

He emerged the winner in a tightly contested race as he polled 250 votes to defeat his closest contender, George Akudugu Mbawini, who had 246 votes.

The incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Albert Akuka Alalzuuga, secured 160 votes.

This is the second time the medical practitioner has contested the primaries; his first attempt being in 2019, which he lost.

Dr Anaba explained that as an experienced medical practitioner, he was much aware of the health needs of the people and indicated his resolve to roll out health-related initiatives when he is elected Member of Parliament in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Campaign

Throughout his campaign, the medical practitioner emphasised the need for comprehensive healthcare reforms, including increased funding for medical infrastructure, improved healthcare services in rural areas and the promotion of preventive care initiatives.

He also highlighted the importance of affordable and accessible healthcare, advocating policies that would reduce the financial burden on patients.
Nairobi  The fight for control of the Jubilee Party will now head to the streets, the embattled President Uhuru Kenyatta-led faction has now warned.

Former Ndaragwa Member of Parliament Jeremiah Kioni who suffered a setback after Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu ratified his expulsion and that of the Vice-Chairman David Murathe.

Nderitu also ratified the suspension of National Treasurer Kagwe Gichohi saying she was satisfied that the faction led by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega had followed due process in removing them from office.

"We will be forced to go to the streets and tell our members their party is under attack and they need to come out to protect it. We are going to tell them to come out in large numbers because the Office of Registrar of Political Parties is clearly not going to help them," he said.

The Former MP spoke moments after delivering ratified resolutions made during the Jubilee Party National Delegates Convention (NDC) which was held Monday at the Ngong Race Course.

Kioni lamented that President William Ruto's regime was working to undermine multi-party democracy in the country hence the move by the ORPP to attempt to snatch Jubilee Party from retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"We have done the rightful thing by handing over the resolutions we made during the Jubilee NEC which was held yesterday. Already, we had a court order giving us the nod to have the NEC meeting," he noted.

The Kenyatta-led faction was dealt a blow after the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties ratified the disciplinary process by the National Executive Committee (NEC) led by the Kanini Kega faction.

In her ruling, Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu noted that the move to expel Jeremiah Kioni (Secretary General) and David Murathe (Deputy Party Leader) as well as the suspension of Kagwe Gichochi (Treasurer) was done in accordance to the Party Constitution.

"Following a review of the submitted documents in line with the PPA, and the Party Constitution, this office is satisfied that the party adhered to the due process," stated Nderitu.

The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties has moved to expunge the names of Kioni and Murathe from the Jubilee Party List.

"Accordingly, pursuant to section 34(da) of the PPA, this Office has updated its records and the register of Party members, "Nderitu stated.

The current confusion on who is the bonafide Jubilee Party Leader between retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and Nominated MP Sabina Chege still lies with the Internal Dispute Resolution Committee.

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"The tribunal observed the need to internally resolve the issues emanating from the Jubilee Party NEC meeting of 10th February 2023,"Nderitu said.

The ratification of expelling of Murathe and Kioni comes a day after Kenyatta led faction ratified resolutions to expel a dozen officials in an attempt to reconstitute a National Executive Committee (NEC) dominated by President William Ruto loyalists.

The Kenyatta-backed camp axed Kanini Kega, the Acting Secretary General according to changes ratified by a Ruto-backed NEC.

Monday's meeting also removed Sabina Chege whom the Kioni-led group named as Acting Party Leader replacing Kenyatta in changes upheld by the Political Parties Tribunal.

In its judgment delivered on April 16, the tribunal said that the notice for the National Executive Committee meeting issued on February 2 and the subsequent NEC meeting on February 10 which imposed Kega was conducted in line with the party Constitution.
3 and 4 polling station results for Kumawu NDC: Dafeamekpor's questions, his U-turn and apology

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Politics May - 23 - 2023 , 20:00

Following the results from some polling stations in the Kumawu by-election, the Member of Parliament for South Dayi in the Volta Region, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has questioned the loyalty of National Democratic Congress (NDC) branch executives at the Kumawu constituency in the Ashanti Region.

In a tweet on Tuesday night, at the time the Electoral Commission was still collating polling station results, the law maker claimed that the results from some polling stations indicated that the NDC candidate, Kwasi Amankwaa got some three and four votes in some polling stations.

Meanwhile, the NDC has a minimum of nine members in every polling station, who are holding party positions and have their names on the party's register and are supposed to work and increase membership for the party.

The NDC organises its grassroots from the branches which represents polling stations.

At every branch [polling station] in a constituency, the NDC has nine executives representing every branch.

Per Mr Dafeamekpor's argument, if for nothing at all, the least the NDC candidate should have gotten from every polling station was nine votes in the Kumawu by-election but per the results as he claimed, the party and candidate got three and four votes in some polling stations.

In the tweet at 6:36 pm, Mr Dafeamekpor indicated that he was part of the Ashanti Region Reorganisation Project of the NDC in 2022, and therefore from what has been witnessed in Kumawu, he was calling for a "re-audit" of the NDC register and "Branch Executives."

Mr Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor wrote: "The Kumawu results have poured in quick & fast. I was part of the Ashanti Reg Reorganization Project in 2022 but these Kumawu Votes shows weve to re-Audit our Register & Branch Executives. Weve 9 Executives but has 3 & 4 Votes in some branches so where are our 9 Ndc Executives?"

The Kumawu results have poured in quick & fast. I was part of the Ashanti Reg Reorganization Project in 2022 but these Kumawu Votes shows weve to re-Audit our Register & Branch Executives. Weve 9 Executives but has 3 & 4 Votes in some branches so where are our 9 Ndc Executives?  Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Esq. MP. (@etsedafeamekpor) May 23, 2023

The U-turn and apology

However, after the Electoral Commission declared the results with the New Patriotic Party's candidate, Ernest Yaw Annim declared winner with over 70 per cent win, Mr Dafeamekpor in another tweet at 11:20 pm did a U-turn on his earlier claim.

"This is to confirm that at Kumawu we didnt record 3 or 4 votes as I earlier on indicated. I apologize for that but the figures were still too low in places as compared to the great effort that went in. It means we must all work extra hard as Executives & PCs if were to win 2024."

This is to confirm that at Kumawu we didnt record 3 or 4 votes as I earlier on indicated. I apologize for that but the figures were still too low in places as compared to the great effort that went in. It means we must all work extra hard as Executives & PCs if were to win 2024  Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Esq. MP. (@etsedafeamekpor) May 23, 2023

Writer's email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Kumawu by-election peaceful

Daily Graphic Politics May - 24 - 2023 , 07:48

The Kumawu by-election was largely peaceful with no major incident as the security measures put in place yielded the desired results.

There was a heavy police presence within the constituency and the 75 polling stations where voting took place.

The Ghana Police Service, ahead of the election yesterday, stated that adequate police personnel had been deployed to Kumawu for the by-election.

Unlike that of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election where some incidents of violence were recorded, the Kumawu by-polls passed off peacefully.

Observer views

The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Communications Director, Richard Ahiagbah, who were among some of the bigwigs of both parties who were in the constituency to observe the election described it as largely peaceful.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the voter turn-out when compared with other by-elections was encouraging as such elections tended to record low voter turn-out.

Some claims of votes buying by some residents could not be substantiated as Mr Asiedu Nketiah, as well as an observer team from the Ghana Integrity Initiative in an interview, said he did not witness anything of that sort.

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, who was also in the constituency to observe the polls, said that it was her first time witnessing an election in the country and described it as peaceful.

The NPP Communications Director, Mr Ahiagbah, who was elated by the outcome of the polls with his party recording a resounding victory, said it was an indication of good signs for the NPP ahead of the 2024 general election.

Some police personnel deployed receiving breifing from one of their superiors

Pink sheet

However, Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor reports that the signing of a pink sheet by polling agents at a polling station earlier in the day was one of the minor incidents that were recorded but that did not affect the outcome of the polls as the timely intervention of the Electoral Commission (EC) settled the matter for voting to continue peacefully.

The incident arose following a claim by the NDC that its agents at one of the polling stations in the by-election were forced to sign the pink sheet forms.

The Ashanti Regional Director of the EC, Benjamin Banor-Bio, denied the claim by the NDC and explained that what happened was a mistake by the NPP agents at the polling station and that no one was forced to sign any form.

Mr Banor-Bio stated further that two types of pink sheets were to be signed by every agent at the polling station.

He said before the polls were opened the agents had to sign one section of the forms to acknowledge the number of ballots issued to the station and the number of voters.

Additionally, he said the agents also signed the forms after the ballots have been counted to indicate their presence at the counting.

According to him, what happened was that after the agents signed the first portion, the Presiding Officer asked them to write their names on the other form and sign against their names after the close of polls.

However, he said when the NPP agent wrote his name, he continued to sign his portion.

Mr Banor-Bio said when the ECs attention was drawn to the issue, We immediately replaced the pink sheet for them.
Parliament: MPs to reconvene June 6

GraphicOnline Politics May - 24 - 2023 , 14:02

Members of Parliament are set to resume their legislative duties on June 6, 2023, following a recess that began on March 31.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin, in a statement said the MPs were to reconvene for the Second Meeting of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament, with proceedings scheduled to commence at 10 am.

Parliament adjourned sine die in March 2023, marking the conclusion of its activities before the Easter festivities.

Prior to the recess, the government presented three revenue bills to the house, which stirred controversy but were ultimately passed in an effort to enhance domestic revenue mobilization.

In his closing remarks to the house, Speaker Alban Bagbin encouraged the MPs to avoid making inexplicable decisions that could disrupt the functioning of Parliament in the upcoming meeting.

Expressing his concern over occasional U-turns in decision-making, he expressed hope that such experiences would be avoided in the future.

He commended the dedication of the leaders and deputies in fostering consensus-building and acknowledged the hard work exhibited by the MPs and some ministers during the previous session, particularly on Fridays.

The resumption of parliamentary activities on June 6 will mark an important milestone as lawmakers reconvene to address key legislative matters and continue their efforts in shaping the nation's governance.
IVECO, the commercial vehicles brand of Iveco Group, will support EDEKA Minden-Hannoverone of the leading food retailers in Germanyin converting the entire 700-vehicle company fleet from diesel to BioLiquified Natural Gas (bio-LNG) propulsion by 2025.

EDEKA has already placed orders for the first 275 IVECO S-WAY LNG trucks in 2022 and 2023, which will join the 80 LNG-powered IVECO trucks operating in its green fleet leveraging its first bio-LNG filling station on the premises of the EDEKA logistics center in Lauenau, Germany.

By 2025, we want to convert our entire truck fleet to IVECO LNG trucks and run 100 percent on bio-LNG. The switch to bio-LNG is a key lever in reducing our CO 2 footprint. Mark Rosenkranz, spokesman for the EDEKA board

Of the 275 vehicles ordered in 2022 and 2023, 220 are IVECO S-Way LNG 3-axle chassis (AS260S46Y/FS-CM 1LNG) with refrigerated box body. They feature a fully air-suspended 6x2 standard chassis with a technically permissible gross weight of 26 tonnes, an Active Space large-capacity cab, a liftable and steerable third axle, and a 460 hp Cursor 13 natural gas engine compliant with Euro VI Step E emission standards.

A 540-litre LNG tank fitted on the left-hand side can hold at least 195 kilograms of liquid bio-LNG, enabling a range of up to 800 kilometers.

The remaining 55 trucks ordered are IVECO S-Way LNG tractor units (55 AS440S46TP 1LNG). These 4x2 vehicles only differ from the chassis units in their technically permissible gross vehicle weight of 44 tonnes, with engine and gas tank dimensioned accordingly.

With the IVECO S-Way LNG trucks, EDEKA Minden-Hannover can significantly reduce nitrogen dioxide and soot emissions and cut CO 2 emissions of average 95% depending on feedstocks compared to the diesel trucks they replaced in its fleet.

In addition to low consumption, EDEKA Minden-Hannovers IVECO LNG vehicles also have the low-noise advantage of a gas engine and are therefore suited for environmental and traffic-calmed zones and night deliveries to the stores.
LG Energy Solution and Green Technology Metals Limited (GT1), an Australia-based, North America-focused multi-asset lithium business, signed an equity subscription agreement and an offtake term sheet in relation to future production from GT1s flagship Seymour Project in North America. (Earlier post.)





GT1s main 100%-owned Ontario Lithium Projects comprise high-grade, hard rock spodumene assets (Seymour, Root and Wisa) and lithium exploration claims (Allison and Solstice) located on highly prospective Archean Greenstone tenure in north-west Ontario, Canada. Seymour has an existing Mineral Resource estimate of 9.9 Mt @ 1.04% Li 2 O (comprising 5.2 Mt at 1.29% Li 2 O Indicated and 4.7 Mt at 0.76% Li 2 O Inferred) and Root has an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 4.5 Mt @ 1.01% Li 2 0.

Under the Subscription Agreement, LGES will subscribe for 21,739,130 new shares in GT1 at a price of A$0.92 per share, for total proceeds of A$20 million (US$13.2 million). The subscription price is at a material premium to recent trading in GT1, recognizing the strategic nature of the investment into GT1 and associated offtake rights, and represents 7.89% of GT1s ordinary shares on issue.

The issue price of A$0.92 per share represents a 28% premium to the 90-day VWAP at close on May 18, 2023.

Pursuant to the Offtake Term Sheet, GT1 will sell to LGES 25% of its spodumene concentrate production from Seymour for a period of 5 years from the commencement of commercial production at Seymour.

In the event that GT1 develops a lithium hydroxide conversion facility during this period, GT1 will deliver the equivalent lithia content to LGES in the form of lithium hydroxide.

The pricing for both spodumene and lithium hydroxide has been agreed based on a formula linked to the prevailing market price of lithium hydroxide. The parties have agreed to enter into a full form offtake agreement by August 2023.

The funds received will be used to continue the rapid progression of Seymour through exploration and feasibility. The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) remains underway and is now expected to be finalized and announced in the coming weeks.

The agreement marks a new extension of LGES continued efforts to establish a critical mineral supply chain in North America. The companys production capacity in the region will eventually reach approximately 300 GWh, representing the largest share of its global production network, and thus LGES has been proactively engaging in opportunities to secure a stable local supply chain to produce its battery products in scale and with speed.
Nairobi  The Special Operations Group (SOG), the Administration Police elite unit on Monday successfully recovered a cache of weapons after engaging in a fierce gun battle with suspected members of the AL Qaeda-linked terrorist outfit Al-Shabaab in Garissa County.

The National Police Service (NPS) said Tuesday, that the SOG officers, who were conducting a routine foot patrol, stumbled upon a makeshift camp believed to be housing suspected Al-Shabaab militants, triggering a shootout.

The militants fled the scene, abandoning a significant stockpile of weapons.

"On 22 May 2023, at around 1100hrs while along Diiso, Biamthow SOG Officers on patrol found fresh foot prints at Billow Dam and after tracking the footprints for about 2.7 KMS, where they came across a makeshift camp with about 10 suspected Alshabaab militants engaged in a shootout, and the militants escaped," NPS said Tuesday.

Among the weapons recovered were two Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPGs) with seven warheads, along with six AK47 rifles accompanied by 20 magazines.

The security agents also seized a PKM Machine gun with a belt of 200 rounds, two hand grenades, materials for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), a cell phone, and a memory card.

Police have initiated an operation to apprehend the suspects.

Two months ago, on March, police in Garissa recovered two fire arms, five magazines and 98 rounds of ammunition following a tip off from the members of the public.

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Garissa County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich said that two people were arrested in connection with the incident pointing out that the suspects will be arraigned in court on Friday.

He called on the citizens to work together with security agencies to get rid of illegal weapons in the county which he attributed to the rising cases of insecurity.

"I would like to laud the police officers who took part in this operation and Wananchi for giving us the information that led to this arrest. I urge the residents to continue collaborating with security agencies to hep us deal with the criminal elements who have continued to disrupt peace in Garissa," Cherutich said on March 3.

He warned that security agencies will step up their operation in the border county to ensure those in possession of illegal weapons are brought to book.

The ongoing conflict in the neighboring Somalia has been blamed to the proliferation of firearms in parts of the Northern region and other parts of the country.
Thursday updates:

Guam in COR 4

(5 p.m.) With Typhoon Mawar moving from the area, Guam has been placed in Condition of Readiness 4.

GPA working to restore power

GPA update

(5 p.m.) Guam Power Authority has begun its post-typhoon power restoration process. Crews have begun 24/7 shift work clearing lines and restoring power.

Some GPA crews will first work on the transmission lines bringing power from the power plants out to the substations. Other crews will begin to restore power to circuits and ultimately to customers.

Shell stations open in Yigo, Tamuning

(3 p.m.) Shell gas stations in Yigo and Tamuning are open for the general public, according to a news release from the company.

Some Mobil and Circle K stations are also open.

The Shell station in Upper Tumon is reserved for government first responders. All other Shell gas stations remain closed, according to the company.

Boil water notice issued for Guam

(1:30 p.m.) The Guam Waterworks Authority has issued a boil water notice due to possible bacterial contamination in the water that can occur when increased run-off enters a drinking water source following heavy rains.

Villages are experiencing water outages and crews are working to restore service.

Outages are affecting Tamuning, Nimitz Hill, Hagat, Santa Rita, Yona, Talofofo', Ipan and Malojloj.

The agency will assess the water system to be within acceptable levels as soon as possible, according to Guam Waterworks Authority.

Wednesday updates:

927 people in shelters

(11 a.m.) There were 927 people in 11 emergency shelters Wednesday morning.

The shelter at Harry S. Truman Elementary School was closed bcause of a generator problem, and people at that shelter were taken to Inalahan Elementary School.

GPA: no intent to shutdown islandwide power

(9:10 a.m.) GPA does not intent to shut down the island-wide power system. The system runs automatically and only cuts out power service when damage has occurred to the circuit. It shuts down automatically for safety. The system will be energized as long as power circuits remain intact.

Repairs of the system will resume once high winds die down to a safe level. GPA will mobilize to proceed with assessments and repairs. This will begin the recovery phase of the island-wide power system around Guam.

4 p.m. passage over southern Guam

(9 a.m.) Typhoon Mawars track has shifted slightly to the south, with the eye expected to pass over the southern part of the island this afternoon.

The worst weather will be between 1 and 6 p.m. today, forecasters said.

As of 9 a.m., Guam was experiencing tropical storm conditions, with winds of 58 mph. Later today, the island could see sustained winds of up to 145 mph, with gusts of 170 mph.

The storm underwent an eyewall replacement cycle overnight - a phenomenon in intense storms where a new eye develops around an older eye. That caused the windspeed to drop, and the storm went from a super typhoon to a typhoon.

As the new eye develops, the storm can intensify again, according to forecasters.

Tuesday updates:

862 people in shelters

(9 p.m.) There were 862 people in shelters as of 9 p.m. Tuesday, with emergency officials warning that people who lived in coastal areas and in homes that weren't made of concrete would be in significant danger during the storm.

Staying safe during the storm

(5:15 p.m.) With low-lying coastal areas being evacuated Tuesday evening, emergency officials are encouraging residents to avoid filling sandbags at the beach.

People who need sand for sandbags are encouraged to contact their mayor's office for assistance.

Use flashlights, not candles

The Guam Fire Department recommends the use of flashlights instead of candles during power outages but if you have to use candles, keep these tips in mind:

Never leave a burning candle unattended. Extinguish candles completely before you leave the room or go to sleep.

Do not burn candles on or near anything that can catch fire. Keep candles away from decorations, curtains, beddings, paper, walls, furniture, and other combustible materials.

Always keep candles, matches, and lighters out of the reach of children and never leave children unattended in a room where candles are lit. Place candles out of the reach of children and pets and away from areas where they can be knocked over.

Keep burning candles away from flammable liquids.

Never touch or move a burning candle when the wax is liquefied.

Mawar is a Cat 4 typhoon

(3:21 p.m.) Typhoon Mawar is a Category 4 Typhoon that continues to intensify as it moves toward Guam, according to a bulletin from the National Weather Service.

The storm was 170 miles southeast of Guam, packing 140 mph winds and heading northwest at 12 mph.

"Passage very near or directly over Guam as a Category 4 typhoon on Wednesday is looking increasingly likely. The triple threat of Cat 4 typhoon force winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge are all expected for Guam," according to the Weather Service.

Post offices closed

(2:48 p.m.) All U.S. Postal Service facilities on Guam, Saipan and Rota closed Tuesday and will remain closed on Wednesday because of Typhoon Mawar.

The Guam, Saipan and Ptoa post offices will remain closed until further notice, according to the Postal Service.

There will be no street delivery, PO box delivery or retrieval of mail from blue collection box or mail slots while the offices are closed.

Position at 1 p.m.

(1 p.m.) The eye of Typhoon Mawar was located near Latitude 11.4 degrees north and longitude 146.7 degrees East. Mawar is moving north at 8 mph. It is expected to make a turn toward the northwest with little change in forward speed over the next few days.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to 130 mph. Mawar is forecast to intensify through tonight. Typhoon force winds extend outward from the center up to 25 miles. Tropical storm force winds extend outward from the center up to 100 miles.

Guam in COR 1

(1 p.m.) Guam moved into Condition of Readiness 1 at 1 p.m. Tuesdy, meaning destructive winds are possible within the next 12 hours.

The community is advised to remain indoors until COR 4 is announced.

Simultaneously, Joint Region Marianas, Naval Base Guam, Andersen Air Force Base, and Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz are also in Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1

All Andersen gates are now closed. All Navy Base Guam gates will be closed at 10 p.m., subject to weather conditions.

Governor orders evacuations from low-lying coastal areas.

(11:20 a.m.) Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero has ordered the evacuation of residents living in low-lying coastal areas, especially in the south. She has ordered the National Guard to help with the evacuations, as well as with traffic control.

United flights canceled

(11 a.m.) Due to inclement weather as a result of Typhoon Mawar, United Airlines announced that most of the afternoon flights scheduled for May 23 and all flights for May 24 have been tentatively canceled. United has issued a travel waiver for all Guam, Saipan, and Micronesia flights scheduled between May 22 and 24.

The United City Ticket Office in Guam will be closed after 1 p.m. on Tuesday and will remain closed Wednesday.

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 or to reschedule their flights as a result of Typhoon Mawar. Customers can contact United Reservations at 1-800-864-8331 for assistance.

Public Health

(9:50 a.m.) The Department of Public of Health and Social Services Northern Pharmacy will close today at 12 p.m. in preparation of Typhoon Mawar.

DPHSSs Northern Community Health Center in Dededo and Southern Community Health Center in Inalahan will remain open throughout Typhoon Mawar.




Haiti - Politic : First day of the Political Forum of the High Council of Transition





Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at the Karibe Hotel, Prime Minister a.i. Ariel Henry, participated in the Political Forum launched by the High Council of Transition.



This forum aims to reach a consensus on the restoration of security throughout the national territory and to make the transition a success, recalled political scientist Gracien Jean, who presented the objective of these meetings and the expected results.



With more than 200 representatives of political parties, organized groups of civil society and the private sector, signatories or not of the agreement of December 21, 2022, representatives of the trade union sector, civil servants, members of the diplomatic and consular corps, the issue of security was widely discussed during this first day.



"Haiti has the skills required to apply the multi-sectoral approach to insecurity," declared Mirlande Manigat, President of the HCT, stressing "[...] the solution to the security crisis does not lie in the total support of the country and its institutions by the international community."



Participants intervened and were very critical of countries "friends of Haiti" which shows great generosity with Ukraine. Mirlande Manigat appealed to the international community, which "[...] is pouring so many billions of dollars elsewhere into projects with unforeseeable consequences, while Haiti, which dreams only of peace and freedom, is wallowing in the indifference of its friends always [...]"



For the HCT this first day was a success and recommendations were produced.



An opinion which is not shared by some of the dissatisfied participants who believe that the debate on security is not there, deploring the absence of a panel of experts, no concrete proposals in the short and medium term to eradicate the phenomenon of insecurity. Also deploring the absence of the Commander-in-Chief of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), of the General of the Armed Forces of Haiti (Fad'H), of the General Administration of Customs and of the Directorate of Immigration involved in the area of security. Several political parties were conspicuous by their absence GREH, LAPEH, MOPOD, OPL, "Pitit Desalin", PHTK, UNIR, Fanmi Lavalas to name but a few.



The Montana agreement office considers that this forum is "a maneuver to pass as signatories all the participants who will sign the attendance list"



The inter-Haitian dialogue continues this Wednesday, May 24, 2023 (last day) on constitutional and electoral reforms, good governance and economic and social issues.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















The government is developing a unique curriculum to guide the rehabilitation and reintegration of more than 22,000 convicts of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi into society after completing their sentences, the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Jean Damascene Bizimana has said.

Bizimana made the revelation while addressing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Unity, Human Rights, and Fight against Genocide regarding efforts in place to combat genocide ideology and related crimes during a session held on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

"The genocide convicts who were sentenced to between 20 and 30 years in jail are being released. According to our assessment, between 1,000 and 2,500 genocide convicts are released every year in a category of those who had been sentenced to between 15 and 25 years," he said.

Most of those sentenced to 30 years in jail, he noted, will also be released soon.

"The release of genocide convicts should be prepared and rehabilitated before reintegration into society because the country has faced rapid transformation over the past 30 years and we are putting in effort in fostering unity and reconciliation as we fight against genocide ideology and denial," he said.

Some convicts remain stubborn with the genocide ideology, he said.

The official added that the community members in areas where the convicts committed genocide also have to be informed and prepared to welcome the released ex-genocide convicts and learn how to live in harmony.

"The special curriculum t will help rehabilitate and reintegrate the released convicts annually. We are working with other institutions including the Ministry of Justice, local government ministry, the Ministry of Interior, non-profit organizations, and others to build the programme," Bizimana said.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Rwanda Legal Affairs By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Most of the genocide convicts were sentenced by Gacaca courts.

After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi Rwanda initiated the Gacaca courts to handle to handle genocide crimes; Gacaca is a home-grown community-based justice system.

Through Gacaca Courts, Rwandans proved the capacity to solve their own problems, to mend the social fabric, and reveal the truth about the Genocide; which had been prepared for a long-time.

Moreover, Gacaca Courts were used as one of the ways to eradicate impunity and a lesson to respect human rights, especially the right to life and equality of all Rwandans before the law.

The Gacaca justice system was officially closed in 2012, after trying more than 1.9 million Genocide crimes in ten years.

Gacaca courts archives have been recommended to be registered to UNESCO's Documentary Heritage Listing.




Haiti - Justice : Designation of the Representative of Civil Society at the CSPJ





Renan Hedouville, Protector of the Citizen informs for all practical purposes, of the name of the Representative of Civil Society to sit as a member of the Superior Council of the Judicial Power (CSPJ). This is Me Arnel Remy, Lawyer at the Bar of Port-au-Prince and Executive Director of the Collective of Lawyers for the Defense of Human Rights (CADDHO).



In reference to article 13 (paragraphs) of the organic law of the Citizen Protection Office (OPC), the name of Me Arnel Remy was on the list of three personalities who won the elections organized on November 8, 2022 by human rights organizations. The official results of these elections were transmitted to the OPC in order to appoint one of them, according to the prerogatives of the Public Protector.



However, in a letter addressed to Me Jean Joseph Lebrun President of the Council, 15 human rights organizations challenge the appointment of Me Arnel Remy by the OPC, claiming not to have taken part in this process.



Protest organizations :

Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH), the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), the Episcopal Commission (of the Roman Catholic Church) Justice and Peace (C-Jilap), the Sant Karl Leveque (SKL), the Program for Alternative Justice (PAJ), the Alternative and Justice Group Foundation (F-Gad), the Economic and Social Research and Training Center for Development (CRESFED), the Movement of Haitian Women for Education and Development (MouFEHD), "Kay Fanm", "Solidarite Fanm ayisyen" (SOFA), "Fanm Deside Jakmel", "Asosyasyon Fanm Soley d'Ayiti" (AFASDA), the Council Haitian Non-State Actors (CONHANE), "Fondasyon je klere" (FJKL), the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), the Haitian Vision for Human Rights (VHDH).



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Cholera : Daily bulletin #188





May 14, 2023: (latest available data, previous Ministry bulletin May 13 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39604-haiti-cholera-daily-bulletin-187.html



Data calculated since the first confirmed case (October 3rd, 2022)



Total suspected cases: 44,354 cases +118 in 24 hours, the day before +17 in 24 hours

Total confirmed cases: 2,678* cases +0, the day before +0 in 24 hours

Total hospitalized cases (suspected and confirmed): 38,772 cases +119 cases in 24 hours, the day before +61 in 24 hours

Total deaths: 686** deaths ((460 institutional (+0) and 226 community (+1)) +1, previous +0



*No information on the number of samples received and the number of cases confirmed by the MSPP Laboratories. Information not updated for 25 days

**Institutional not updated for 5 days. Very partial community



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 update of the MSPP

Less than 1 year: 1,020 cases (+3)

1-4 years: 8,863 cases (+23)

5-9 years: 6,388 cases (+28)

10-14 years old: 3,171 cases (+6)

15-19 years old: 2,331 cases (+6)

20-29 years old: 5,705 cases (+5)

30-39 years old: 4,875 cases (+17)

40-49 years old: 3,613 cases (+13)

50-59 years old: 2,737 cases (+8)

60-69 years old: 1,938 cases (+5)

70-79 years old: 1,121 cases (+2)

80 years and over: 460 cases (+2)



Men: 54.41% men (+); Women 45.59 (-)



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 information on the number of samples received and the number of cases confirmed by the MSPP Laboratories. Information not updated for 25 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-39604-haiti-cholera-daily-bulletin-187.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






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Tiburon : A Gang Leader killed

Berlange Pierre-Louis, a gang leader in Tiburon (commune of the South department), was mortally wounded in Port-au-Prince, in exchanges of fire with the police.



Inmates starved to death

Tuesday, May 23, 2023, Benson Francois, the acting Government Commissioner of the jurisdiction, informs that 2 new detainees have died in the prison of Saint-Marc. 2 new deaths in addition to the 4 previous detainees who recently died of malnutrition...



The French Ambassador supports the intervention of a military force in Haiti

The Ambassador of France, Fabrice Mauries supports the deployment of an international military force to help solve the problem of insecurity in Haiti.



Revision of the School Code of Conduct

Tuesday, May 23, 2023, the Ministry of National Education opened a two-day workshop on the revision of the Code of conduct at school by integrating the Charter of good practices against violence based gender in school.



38th General Assembly of the Protestant Federation of Haiti

Friday, May 26, the 38th General Assembly of the Protestant Federation of Haiti (FPH) will be held at the Karibe hotel, during which the elections for the renewal of the leaders of the FPH will take place. The president of the electoral commission, Ketcia Durand, promises transparent and democratic elections.



Public square at La Rose Bonite

Saturday, May 20, the population of La Rose Bonite in Carice inaugurated its first public square since its foundation. This public square was handed over to the community by the Bureau de Monetisation des Programs dAide au Developpement (BMPAD), which funded its construction.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda has assigned one more High Court judges in a case two people are praying for descriminalisation of same sex marriages in the country.

Judge Chimbizgani Kacheche will join justices Joseph Chigona and Vikochi Chima to sit as a constitutional court in a case Wim Akster and a transgender woman in Mangochi are pushing for decriminalization of same sex marriages.

Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda has confirmed that the case will be back in court from 5 to 6 June this year.

Meanwhile, Child rights activists led by Memory Ngosi Chisenga and Caleb Ng'ombo say they have instructed their lawyers to ensure that the current homosexual case in court does not overshadow the sodomy case that Akster is answering to ensure that the victims see justice.

The same sex marriages case has attracted a lot of attention from various individuals that fight for minority rights, child activists and religious leaders.
Published on 2023/05/23 | Source

Actress Lee Na-young, who is making a comeback with a web drama in four years, drew attention with a unique mood pictorial.

Advertisement

Vogue Korea released a photo shoot for the June issue with Lee Na-young on the 24th. In the released pictorial, Lee Na-young exuded an unrivaled atmosphere like the former model that she is.

In the pictorial, Lee Na-young created an unfamiliar atmosphere as if she was looking at the near future with thick bangs. The unique costume is from the British luxury brand Alexander McQueen Collection, and Lee Na-young perfectly matched the costume with various poses and eyes.

Meanwhile, Lee Na-young will return to the small screen for the first time in four years through the OTT wave web drama "One Day Off" which will be released on the 24th.

"One Day Off" is a cheerful wandering period depicting the unexpected moments and miraculous encounters of Korean teacher Park Ha-kyung, who goes on a one-day trip on Saturday when she wants to disappear.

Actors Koo Kyo-hwan, Shim Eun-kyung, Cho Hyun-chul, Gil Hae-yeon, Park Se-wan, Shin Hyun-ji, and Seo Hyun-woo will appear.
Published on 2023/05/23 | Source

New photos added for the Korean drama "Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938" (2023).

Advertisement

Directed by Jo Nam-hyung, Kang Sin-hyo

Written by Han Woo-ri

Network: tvN

With Lee Dong-wook, Kim So-yeon, Kim Beom, Ryu Kyung-soo, Hwang Hee, Kim Yong-ji,...

12 episodes - Sat, Sun 21:20

Follow up to "Tale of the Nine Tailed"

Synopsis

The story of Lee Yeon, a gumiho who was summoned back to a chaotic 1938 after being embroiled in an unexpected incident.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2023/05/06
Jefferson, NC If you are looking for a fun filled day with family and friends, while learning about safety and interacting with emergency personnel and law enforcement, this is the event for you!

The Ashe County Safety Day is an educational event that is free and open to all ages  families included! The event will be held Saturday, June 3rd from 10am to 2pm at the Ashe County High School.

The many activities featured at this event include:

Live demonstrations from emergency personnel and law enforcement

Childrens bike rodeo to teach bike and pedestrian safety and proper fit of helmets. We encourage you to bring your bike and remember your helmet too!

Blue Ridge Electric with a live demonstration of the power of electricity

Park and Forest Rangers

Smoke House

Bounce Houses

EMS Helicopter

Climbing Wall

The event will also feature police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, rescue vehicles, and a helicopter!

Food will be available at the event. All proceeds from the purchase of food will go to help Lt. Joe Francis with the Ashe County Sheriffs Office and his battle with leukemia and Jonathan Greer, EMTP with Ashe Medics and Volunteer with Lansing Fire Department, in his recovery from a car accident.

Courtesy of AppHealthCare- Appalachian District Health Department

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Billie Shilling (center) poses for a photo with CCC&TI President Dr. Mark Poarch (left) and Board of Trustees Chairman Larry Taylor (right) during a recent Board of Trustees meeting on the Watauga Campus in Boone.

Billie Shilling began working as a housekeeper at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Boone while in high school. Her manager saw tremendous potential and encouraged her to further her career by enrolling in Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes Hospitality Management program on the Watauga Campus.

Shilling, a first-generation college student, enrolled at CCC&TI in Fall 2020. As she learned new skills, both on the job and in the classroom, she worked her way up to the Operational Supervisor position while attending school full-time. Her success in the classroom has not only helped her professionally, it also recently earned her the highest annual honor given to a CCC&TI student.

Shilling was recognized as the 2023 Academic Excellence Award winner at the May 17 Board of Trustees meeting on the Watauga Campus. CCC&TI President Dr. Mark Poarch presented her with a medal, an award plaque and a letter of congratulations from N.C. Community College System Interim President Dr. William Carver. She is one of 58 students statewide to receive the award from each of North Carolinas community colleges.

I owe a lot of my success to the support and encouragement of my family, and to the professors who have helped guide my learning experience at CCC&TI, Shilling said. Within the first semester of starting my hospitality classes, I was learning things that I could apply to my career and had the opportunity to earn certifications through those courses.

Shilling was chosen for the award based on her 4.0 grade point average and an inspiring nomination from Tara Brossa, the manager who suggested Shilling go back to school and one of her CCC&TI instructors. In the nomination, Brossa praised her work ethic and servant heart.

She is an excellent representative of our Hospitality Management program and an encouragement to those she works with to pursue their degree while working, Brossa said. She proves with each passing semester that it can be done and done with excellence. Billie is also a first-generation college student and has set the example for her friends and family with her dedication to her career and education.

Shilling plans to graduate with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Hospitality Management in December. Though she hasnt made specific plans yet, she would like to continue working toward a bachelors degree and advancing in her career.

Courtesy of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute

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You can now reserve your spot, free with park admission, for the first of the 2023 Grandfather Presents Saturday presentations at Grandfather Mountain. Artist William Mangum, seen here with his Sleeping Giant painting, will present North Carolina Beautiful on June 3. (Photo Courtesy of William Mangum)

LINVILLE, N.C.  Grandfather Mountain, the not-for-profit nature park run by the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, has announced that you may now reserve your seat for the first of the Saturday presentations in its 2023 Grandfather Presents speaker series. Artist William Mangum will present North Carolina Beautiful on June 3.

The new Wilson Center for Nature Discovery will play host to the free hour-long event, which takes place at 2 p.m. and is included in park admission or with a Bridge Club membership. For many, it will be their first chance to check out the new space and exhibits.

In addition to Mangum, the series will have one other Saturday afternoon presenter focusing on nature, adventure or conservation-related topics on a local or regional scale. Curtis Smalling, interim executive director of Audubon North Carolina, will present Aug. 26.

This seasons Grandfather Presents roster also features five ticketed Thursday evening events with internationally and nationally known presenters who make it their lifes mission to highlight the challenges, opportunities and good work happening around exploration, nature and conservation. The 2023 lineup includes:

Award-winning author, photographer and filmmaker Ian Shive | June 8

Emmy Award-winning travel TV host and producer Samantha Brown | July 13

Ornithologist, author and illustrator David Sibley | Aug. 31

Appalachian State University Geology Professor and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Baker Perry | Sept. 7

Chief Meteorologist at WCNC-TV Brad Panovich | Sept. 21

From the barrier reefs of the Outer Banks to the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina is a splendor for all to see. Mangum has celebrated the majesty of the Old North State for more than 40 years with his glorious paintings. Exploring, celebrating and protecting are the essence of his mission. He has created more than 4,000 original works of art from around the world, but it is his beloved state of North Carolina that he considers an artists paradise.

With more than a dozen books and two PBS documentaries of his work, Mangum takes folks on a journey though the state as he captures the ordinary and turns it into the extraordinary with the stroke of his brush. From well-known landmarks to colorful out-of-the-way places, Mangums unique perspective leaves the viewer mystified by the variety and substance he captures in each work.

He also recognizes the importance of conservation and preservation. Grandfather Mountain is a perfect example of his collaboration with organizations that preserve the crown jewels of North Carolina. Hugh Morton, the late founder of Grandfather Mountain, was not only a fan of Mangums artwork but a leading contributor in his most storied project, Carolina Preserves, a coffee table book and documentary by PBS.

The presentation will be held in the Wilson Centers Classroom in the Clouds event space, and guests are encouraged to arrive early or stay after to chat with Mangum. Original paintings and books from the artist will be on sale at the event. Mangum will be donating 10% of his painting sales from the event to the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation.

We are looking forward to hosting Bill Mangum and some of his amazing artwork on June 3, said Jesse Pope, president and executive director of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation. We know that many people have a deep love and respect for his artistry and the way in which he highlights such exceptional places across the state. We hope this event is special for his fans and those new to his paintings, as well.

To learn more about Grandfather Presents: William Mangum  which is included in park admission or with a Bridge Club membership  and to reserve your spot, visit www.grandfather.com/event/william-mangum.

To learn more about the Grandfather Presents speaker series, visit www.grandfather.com/grandfather-presents.

The nonprofit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation strives to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain. For more information, visit www.grandfather.com.

Courtesy of Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation.

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Finnish innovation leaders have joined forces to establish a community organization that promotes innovation, known as the Innovation Practitioners Community (IPC). Finland's weakened competitiveness and slow economic growth necessitate a focus on strengthening and activating innovation activities. The goal of the Innovation Practitioners Community is to enhance innovation knowledge and serve as an open and international peer network for innovation leaders and professionals engaged in innovation work.

Innovation leaders seek to increase dialogue and knowledge sharing

Regardless of industry or organization size, innovation leaders face similar challenges within their companies. Therefore, there is a clear need for open and confidential dialogue, as well as the sharing of practices, models, and experiencesincluding both successes and challenges. There is also a pressing need for companies to attract more innovation professionals and cultivate a culture of innovation and internal entrepreneurship. All of this requires raising awareness and appreciation for the field.

"Finnish companies have traditionally succeeded through strong engineering expertise. We want to complement that with an experimental innovation culture and systematically managed innovation activities. We also want to promote open dialogue with business executives and owners on how investing in innovation can strengthen product and service development, as well as create opportunities for growth and business renewal. Innovation activities are also key to better anticipating changes brought about by megatrends and global phenomena," emphasizes Antero Kivikoski, Chairman of the Board of the Innovation Practitioners Community.

Seeking strategic partnerships with companies and organizations

This year, IPC will focus on establishing strategic partnerships with innovation-seeking companies and educational institutions. At the same time, the organization will have an international perspective from the outset, aiming to look beyond national borders. IPC seeks to act as a compass for domestic innovation activities, learning from global best practices and models to activate innovation in Finnish companies, while also showcasing the Finnish innovation landscape internationally.

The community platform is expected to launch in early 2024, enabling IPC to disseminate innovation knowledge to all individuals engaged in innovation work within organizations, through means such as podcasts and visits, and engage professionals from various sectors in discussions.

"In the field of innovation expertise, things are constantly evolving, which is why continuous sharing of experiences and perspectives is crucial for embracing the new. Through a peer network, knowledge spreads fasterand that benefits all companies," emphasizes Kivikoski.

The establishment of the Innovation Practitioners Community reflects a proactive approach to addressing the challenges faced by Finnish companies in a rapidly changing business environment. By fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and an international outlook, the community aims to ignite a renewed spirit of innovation and contribute to Finland's competitiveness on a global scale.

HT
The Vantaa City Council on Monday evening voted 41 for and 26 against a long-discussed plan to build a tram line connecting Helsinki Airport through Tikkurila and Hakunila to Mellunmaki, an eastern district of Helsinki.

VANTAA , a roughly 215,000-resident city in Southern Finland, is set to become the fourth city in the country with a tram service, along with Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere.

The 19.3-kilometre, 27-stop line has been designed to supplement the public transport system in the capital region, offering connections to not only the airport but also to the ring road and Helsinki Metro through Mellunmaki. Proponents have argued that the line will enhance the appeal and status of eastern neighbourhoods located along the line, drawing both commercial and residential construction to the area.

The City of Vantaa has calculated that around 60,000 new residents and 30,000 new jobs could be found along the line.

The construction is expected to start next year, take around four years and cost altogether 606 million euros. The costs, though, are projected to be more than offset by the benefits, with the city projecting that it could pocket almost 800 million euros from plot sales and land use agreements, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Vantaa itself would cover 414 million euros of the project costs. Another 177 million euros would be provided by the state and 10.5 million euros by the City of Helsinki.

Helsingin Sanomat reported that the proposal drew opposition especially from the ranks of the Finns Party. Many of the opponents from across party lines expressed their doubts about the accuracy of the calculations. Kai-Ari Lundell (PS) even argued that people have been misled, highlighting that the cost estimate has increased by a few hundred million euros while the passenger volume estimate has been slashed to around 30,000.

Maarit Raja-Aho (NCP), the chairperson of the well-being services county of VantaaKerava, described the tram connection as too costly and slow, and criticised the project for failing to bring any benefits to western parts of Vantaa.

Id even be ready to consider building a metro in Vantaa because itd be a rapid mean of transport, she said.

Hanna Valtanen (Greens) floated the idea of painting the trams in the signature neon green of Kaarija, the Finnish artist who came in scond at Eurovision Song Contest 2023, who is from Vantaa.

CORRECTION: Vantaa's population is roughly 215,000, not 251,000 as an unedited version of this story erroneously stated.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
After-school activities in basic education are guided leisure activities organised after the school day for 1st- and 2nd-graders and pupils requiring special-needs support.

The City of Helsinki received 9,300 applications for after-school activities for schoolchildren for the school year 20232024. Education Division is currently processing the applications and will post the decisions in the week following Midsummer. After-school activities start on the first school day of the school year.

The activities include playing and spending time with friends, outdoor activities and exercise, as well as small excursions to the surrounding area. Each groups needs and wishes are considered when planning the activities.

According to Outi Salo, Head of Basic Education, the number of applications for after-school activities reached a record of 9,300 this year. There will be a total of 11,090 1st- and 2nd-graders next autumn.

It is wonderful to see so many young pupils participating in our after-school activities. Guided and meaningful activities in a safe environment after the school day support the childs well-being and help family life run smoothly, she says.

After-school activities will start on the first school day of the school year in August and continue until the end of the school year.

Place offered to all 1st- and 2nd-graders who applied during application period

After-school activities are organised at approximately 250 locations around the city, both at schools and in locations near schools, such as playgrounds and parish facilities. The organisers will specify the activities in more detail based on their own strengths and practical limitations.

Helsinki will offer a place in after-school activities to 1st- and 2nd-graders who applied during the application period. If no place is available at your chosen location, your child will be offered a place in another location in your area. If there are more applicants to a location than the number of places in the location, priority is given to 1st-graders and pupils requiring special-needs support.

If necessary, a draw will be used to choose between applications of equal priority. The time the application was submitted within the application period does not affect the allocation of places.

You can apply for a reduction of monthly fee based on your income

The monthly fee for after-school activities is either 100 or 120 euros, depending on whether your child participates in the activities until 16.00 or 17.00. The invoicing period will begin in August. You can apply for a fee reduction based on your income, in which case you will pay half of the standard monthly fee, or an exemption of the fee, in which case you do not need to pay the fee at all.

The earliest you can apply for the reduction is when your child has started the after-school activities in August. You need to provide your- up-to-date income information for the application. The income limits and additional information are available on the website.

Although the application period for after-school activities for schoolchildren for the school year 20232024 has ended, you can still apply. Applications received after the application period will be processed starting in August. We cannot guarantee a place if you apply outside the application period. More information.

HT

Source: City of Helsinki, Department of Education
The University of Helsinki, in collaboration with the German Max Planck Foundation, has established a research center focused on studying health from the perspective of social inequality. The center will commence its operations at the beginning of July. The research center enables cutting-edge population-based studies on health, with the aim of influencing society as a whole.

Scientific knowledge about the root causes of health disparities significantly contributes to promoting well-being and building a more sustainable society. The research center will provide policymakers with insights into the processes that give rise to health inequalities and offer potential strategies for narrowing these gaps. The research takes into account the entire lifespan of individuals and incorporates intergenerational knowledge.

Investigating population health disparities requires extensive data, which can be challenging to collect. However, the necessary datasets for the new center are already available.

The research center will assess the long-term drivers of health disparities, examine the significance of intergenerational effects on the persistence of these disparities, and explore the causal effects of social factors. Additionally, the center will investigate the joint impact of social factors and genetic predispositions on health outcomes and develop methods for health inequality research.

Socioeconomic health disparities are observed in all countries, and these gaps have been widening over the past 30 years. Individuals in lower socioeconomic positions may have an expected lifespan that is 10 years shorter than those in higher positions. The life expectancy of the poorest Finns has increased at a slower rate than that of others.

A better understanding of health inequality is also economically significant, as it has a substantial impact on healthcare costs and the number of lost work years, among other factors.

The Max Planck Foundation is a globally recognized research funding organization that supports cutting-edge research in collaboration with the world's top universities. The research center has initially been established for a five-year period, with funding amounting to 6 million euros. The center will also enhance the international visibility of Finnish science. In Finland, the center is funded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa, as well as the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki.

HT
The Finns Party demanded at the start of the week that the majority of theme-specific task forces suspend their work until significant progress has been made on climate and immigration policy  perhaps the most divisive issues in the coalition formation negotiations led by the National Coalition.

These two issues are clearly lagging behind others, Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the Finns Party, was quoted saying by Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday. The problem has been that we havent been able to talk about these difficult issues but weve been beating around the bush.

Petteri Orpo, the chairperson of the National Coalition, confirmed that the four parties will focus on establishing a broad-stroke agreement on the two issues but estimated that the other task forces would resume their work no later than on Friday.

The other groups are far along, so they can take a breather now, he said, denying that the twist is a sign of mistrust between the parties. There maybe be a bit of impatience here rather than differences of opinion. Whatever the case, these [issues] wouldve been resolved this week. The Finns Party wanted to pick up the pace even more on issues that are important to it.

News of the development was received with surprise by the two other parties involved in the negotiations, the Christian Democrats and Swedish Peoples Party.

Chairperson Sari Essayah of the Christian Democrats said she did not hear about the decision until it was reported by Iltalehti, lamenting that some of the partys had made a needless trip to the House of the Estates on Tuesday.

Purra on Tuesday said the Finns Party will insist on a substantial change in immigration policy, in the direction of Denmark and Sweden. The issue has created friction particularly between the Finns Party and Swedish Peoples Party.

Its not that wed stop complying with international treaties or EU law, but that wed tighten immigration policy across the board within those frameworks, she outlined.

The Swedish Peoples Party is participating in the coalition formation negotiations, and its conditions are basically the opposite of our conditions. Everyone has to understand that unless we talk about these issues and instead talk about other issues the situation will be unresolved for weeks on end.

Also the Finns Party acknowledges that compromises must be made, according to Purra.

Anna-Maja Henriksson, the chairperson of the Swedish Peoples Party, was asked yesterday whether the shift in focus signifies that this week could be decisive for the coalition formation negotiations.

It may be, I dont know. Its important for the Swedish Peoples Party that we reach an agreement thats good for Finland. Im sure all chairpersons realise that they wont be getting everything they want, she commented, estimating that the shift will likely protract the negotiations.

We know that we have a great deal of work ahead of us especially for the working group on social and health care. This means that the process will drag on as far as the schedule goes. But we have no qualms about this approach.

The shift was widely interpreted as a show of force by the Finns Party.

The populist right-wing party has increasingly frustrated with the approach taken by Orpo, who leads the negotiations as the chairperson of the largest party in the Finnish Parliament. Orpo has apparently sought to delay serious discussions on the challenging issues until the final stages of the talks in order to make backing out a more difficult proposition for the Finns Party and Swedish Peoples Party.

Purra got tired of Orpos attempts to commit parties [to the coalition] with exhaustion tactics, interpreted Jyrki Hara, a political journalist at YLE.

Purra showed that the Finns Party refuses to be a junior partner for the National Coalition, wrote Teemu Muhonen from Helsingin Sanomat.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Approximately one percent of individuals over the age of 50 suffer from chronic, poorly healing wounds.

The overall healthcare costs associated with wound care are comparable to the costs of treating obesity or cancer. By implementing a tiered approach to wound care and enhancing expertise in the field, it is possible to optimize the allocation of resources and reduce the prevalence of wounds.

Direct costs related to wound care constitute about 2-5 percent of total healthcare expenditures, placing them in the same range as the costs of treating obesity or cancer. Based on a survey conducted by Lohja Hospital and primary healthcare providers in the region, it has been estimated that healthcare facilities in the HUS area perform over half a million wound care sessions annually.

"Significant improvements can be made in wound care. Currently, the provision of wound care is fragmented among multiple stakeholders, and the healthcare resource requirements resulting from wounds are not adequately recognized," explains Dr. Milla Kallio, a vascular surgeon at the HUS Wound Center.

Dr. Kallio emphasizes that while new innovations in wound care are valuable, they are marginal compared to the importance of addressing fundamental aspects and ensuring the functionality of care pathways. "A large proportion of wounds can be prevented, and the majority of existing wounds can be managed in primary healthcare settings. Basic aspects such as prevention, local wound care, edema management, and offloading should be mastered in all healthcare units," says Dr. Kallio.

Specialized expertise is needed both in primary healthcare and specialized healthcare settings. "The concentration of expertise in wound care wards and clinics has proven effective in primary healthcare. In specialized healthcare, our responsibilities include managing wounds suspected to be associated with arterial disease, infections requiring hospitalization, wounds requiring surgery, and wounds with unclear etiology," explains Dr. Heli Lagus, Chief Physician of Plastic Surgery.

Networks and Enhanced Expertise Yield Positive Results

A comprehensive Swedish population-based study published in 2015 demonstrated that organizing wound care networks and increasing expertise led to a reduction in wound prevalence, even as the population aged and the prevalence of illnesses exacerbating wound healing increased.

"We have also achieved positive results in Finland. In the Karviais municipality's joint municipal authority for social and health services, a development project was implemented to enhance expertise in wound care and improve the internal care pathway. The number of wound care sessions recorded in nursing homes decreased by over 50 percent during the project," says Dr. Lagus.

Establishment of the HUS Wound Center Five Years Ago

The HUS Wound Center, established in 2018, comprises a plastic surgeon, vascular surgeon, dermatologist, general practitioner specializing in wound care training, and two authorized wound care nurses with higher vocational education. The center's mission is to develop the wound care network and promote the integration of primary healthcare and specialized healthcare services.

HT
SEVENTY vintage tractors took part in an annual charity event on Sunday.

The Chiltern Vintage Tractor Run, now in its 17th year, took the enthusiasts on a six-hour, 21-mile route through the Chilterns on a mix of roads and fields.

The event, which was themed for the coronation of King Charles III, is expected to raise several thousand of pounds for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Union flags, bunting and masks of King Charles adorned many of the vehicles as the convoy made its way from a field in Fingest towards the Wormsley Estate, where the participants had lunch, before returning.

Rev Sue Morton, of the Hambleden Valley group of churches, blessed the tractors before they set off. Organiser Gary Anderson said: We were lucky with the weather, which meant that people could dress accordingly. It is a great community event and each year it grows. Everybody said it was a typically British thing and everyone was smiling. It was great.

The event has now raised almost 70,000 since it began.

The air ambulance was chosen as the beneficiary because most of the participants lived in rural areas.

Mr Anderson said: The chances are if anything happened it would be the air ambulance that would rescue us. We are very lucky to have that service.

Everyone is very happy to donate because they think it is a good charity.

Often I lower my expectations because of the economy but each year people are so generous because they know the money goes to a good cause. I am very grateful.
RAIL user groups have welcomed timetable changes which came into force on Sunday.

Train operator Great Western Railway says it is delivering a five per cent increase in services every day across its network.

About 20 per cent of trains have been retimed, which the company says will better meet passenger needs and improve connectivity with the new Elizabeth Line.

The first off-peak train from Henley is now later at 9.30am but travellers to London Paddington will arrive nearly 10 minutes earlier than before as the connection has been optimised to minimise journey time.

Off-peak tickets are not valid on the GWR fast services from Paddington between 4pm and 6.45pm but off-peak passengers travelling into London will be faster by using the GWR connection at Twyford and changing on to the Elizabeth Line at Paddington.

Neil Gunnell, of Henley Trains, said: Henley rail travellers are recommended to check times before travel as most train times change by a small amount.

Rail times for commuters dont change significantly but there will be major improvements for off-peak travellers travelling to and from London.

For some time, Henley Trains has worked with GWR to try to maximise the number of its connections. The reason for this is that GWR trains have traditional seating, tables, hat racks, toilets, power points and rubbish bins, none of which are found on Elizabeth Line trains which are designed for mass transit through central London.

The timetable change will see more Elizabeth Line trains running through London and the slow rail line will become very busy between Hayes  for Heathrow  and London.

As a result, GWR is adjusting its services so that most local trains will run non-stop between Slough and London and vice-versa.

Thus, GWR trains from Twyford will only stop at Maidenhead and Slough en-route and that will make journey times 10 minutes quicker to and from Paddington.

This is a major improvement for those of us just to the east of Reading but there are a few downsides to the changes.

For some time now, there has been a bridge out near Abingdon, which has restricted our late services home as they used trains due to travel to Oxford or beyond.

The new timetable will mean a small improvement with a last fast GWR service at 10.36pm.

While youll be home earlier, this may not be great for theatre trips. There is one Elizabeth Line train shortly afterwards but its a long journey time. Hopefully, by the end of June, the bridge will be open again and well see a 11.14pm Paddington departure running again, changed from 11.18pm.

Philip Meadowcroft, of the Wargrave User Group, welcomed improved connectivity between the Henley branch line and Twyford.

He said: Five years ago, the last major national timetable change was poorly planned and disastrously executed.

GWR is claiming a five per cent increase in the number of services it will be running, the largest of any train operator in the UK.

Lets hope the enthusiasm for additional services and frequencies is matched with the right quantity of railway carriages and trained drivers which the new timetable will require.

For the moment, for users of the branch line, there are clear and welcome signs of improved connectivity at Twyford and this is just as important for trains going towards Reading as well as Paddington.

It remains to be seen whether GWR and the operator of the Elizabeth Line are going to work more collaboratively at Twyford than has been the case since the Elizabeth Line started.

The prospect of faster GWR services to Paddington, with trains to and from Twyford crossing over to the fast main lines to bypass the stopping Elizabeth Line services, is good news.

When the main line was being electrified, GWR insisted that crossovers from the slow lines to the fast lines to and from Paddington would no longer be possible under any circumstances.

This was one of the reasons why the very popular fast direct morning and evening trains between Henley, Shiplake, Wargrave and Paddington had to be withdrawn.

Hopes for that service being restored can only be raised if and when the line is electrified because diesel trains are no longer permitted to enter Paddington.

It is going to take time for the Thames Valley timetable to bed in and it could be a couple of months before it can be judged whether it is resilient and workable day in day out.

Meanwhile, we are certain to suffer continued and frequent disruption by overhead wire failures, wonky points, signal failures, driver shortages and making room for freight services during peak hours. All this makes a hash of any timetable.

Mark Hopwood, managing director of GWR, said the timetable changes were made in response to changes in passenger travel patterns.

He said: I am really excited to say that this new timetable provides the biggest shake-up in service levels since the introduction of Intercity Express trains, providing more trains where they are needed most.

We will deliver more train services, serving even more stations, and providing greater value for money for taxpayers.
Online travel and leisure site TripAdvisor has come out with a list of top 10 best hotels from around the world which is topped by an Indian hotel. The list has being made based on reviews on the site from throughout 2022 given by travellers for over 1.5 million hotels. The Rambagh Palace in Jaipur is perfect place for a regal wedding

The Traveller's Choice Best of the Best Hotels list places Rambagh Palace in Jaipur as the best place to state in the world. The site praised the establishment's hospitality, pool and spa. Nicknamed as the Jewel of Jaipur, the Rambagh Palace has received over five thousand five-star ratings on the site.

Travellers appreciated the ambience, food and the hotel's staff, adding that the facility provides royal yet homely experience.

The palace had been built by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh after the independence and now it is being run and maintained by Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palace by Tata Group.

Second to the Rambagh Palace is Ozen Reserve Bolifushi in Maldieves which ranked among best hotels arond the world. Hotel Colline de France in Brazil, Shangri-La The Shard in London, The Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong and JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai are among other hotels made to the list.

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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
As the summer of tech developer conferences continues, the latest chapter written by Microsoft, artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be in focus. There was no ambiguity as the Microsoft Build began with the keynote that detailed AI tools for the Windows computing devices, Bings integration with OpenAIs ChatGPT, the next big updates for Edge browser and even an India reference at the conference, with a chatbot developed to bring information about government services on users smartphones. Executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella during a keynote address. (Microsoft press image)

During the keynote, Satya Nadella, executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, even joked about the volume of official communication the company has sent about AI, in the past few months. Such as been Microsofts focus on AI, including the public release of the Bing AI chatbot and Bing Image Creator, in this time.

So how we build software is radically different, but what we are going to build as developers is really the story of this developer conference, and what weve built, weve been  you know, its not like I came in on January 1st and said, Lets start doing press releases, but it does feel like that. It does feel like were  every week there is something new and, you know, infusing this new AI stack across all layers of it, right? he said.

Copilot is here; move to Cortana

If you remember the Cortana virtual assistant that figured in the Windows scheme of things till not too recently, some of this may sound familiar. Microsoft is adding an AI assistant to Windows 11, called Microsoft 365 Copilot. This will build on the Bing Chat, the AI chatbot, and the company says the spectrum of capabilities will include providing personalized answers and navigate within Windows 11, including changing a setting, playing a specific playlist, or opening a relevant app.

The Copilot for Windows 11 isnt going to be available immediately, with the first public and developer preview versions expected in the coming months. At present, Microsoft 365 Copilot is limited to a private preview. In due course, there will be wider availability across Microsofts apps and services, including the Edge web browser sidebar and the Office apps.

Microsoft says the Copilot will also be able to summarise content you may be reading on any app, which may be quite useful with web pages, documents and email attachments. This may be another pleasant memory from the past  think of it as Clippy the helper from earlier Office versions, except much smarter with AI.

To widen the scope, Microsoft is hoping that the adoption of the same open plugin standard which OpenAI introduced for ChatGPT plugins, will help bolt more capabilities to Copilot. Developers can now use one platform to build plugins that work across both consumer and business surfaces, including ChatGPT, Bing, Dynamics 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft confirms.

In fact, the other thing that were going to do is have common extensibility across all of these services. Whether it is ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot or all of the Microsoft Copilots, and of course, with your own copilots, we can share the same extensibility model, says Nadella. This is one of the most powerful things for your developers, for every developer to be able to write a plugin and have it reach billions of users across all of these surface areas, he added, for developers.

Bing search is now default for ChatGPT chatbot

OpenAI will now have access to Microsofts Bing search engine as the default search experience within the ChatGPT chatbot. Now, ChatGPT answers can be grounded by search and web data and include citations so you can learn moreall directly from within chat, says Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of the Modern Life and Devices Group at Microsoft,

The fine print here is, this additional capability will be available initially to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, with a plugin for free users arriving later. This is, in a way, the progression of Microsofts partnership with OpenAI, which sees the latters GPT-4 as the foundation for the Bing AI chatbot.

A made in India chatbot

During the keynote, Nadella touched upon the need for technology to make a broader impact, for people. Microsoft Research is working in collaboration with the government backed AI4Bharat, an open-source language AI center based at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai and OpenNyAI, to develop the Jugalbandi chatbot.

We dont build just because we want economic growth. We want economic growth so that we can have human development index growth. We want the lifespans to go up. We want education and prosperity and standard of living to go up everywhere, he said, before adding, Its not for technologys sake, but it is for that broad impact.

This is a new generative AI-driven chatbot on mobile devices, which puts government assistance tools at the fingertips of mobile users. This chatbot currently understands 10 Indian languages and since it is integrated within the WhatsApp app, makes it easy to access. The underlying tech is OpenAIs ChatGPT, overlayed by Indian language translation models.

While the Jugalbandi chatbot is still new, it could one day offer all Indians easy access to information in local language through a mobile phone, instead of having to head to the local community service center and stand in line just to get basic information, Microsoft says. This chatbot was first demo-ed at the Agami Summit 2022, and currently presents information about more than 171 government programs.

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said 52 deaths have been reported so far due to pre-monsoon rains in the state, along with damage to properties, and directed officials concerned to provide immediate relief. He said authorities have been warned of strict action in case of dereliction of duty. The CM today chaired a meeting with Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of all districts and CEOs of Zilla Panchayats, over video conferencing, to discuss disaster management. Newly sworn-in Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah.(PTI)

"Pre-monsoon showers, from April to June, have started in several parts. This time pre-monsoon showers have been 10 per cent above normal. In this about 52 people have lost their lives so far, 331 livestock loss has been reported, crop loss has been reported in 20,000 hectare, and 814 houses have been damaged," Siddaramaiah told reporters after the meeting. Immediate relief has to be provided for all these, he said.

READ | Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah directs officials to get ready for monsoon season

"Already 5 lakh has been provided to the family of 52 dead -- who have died due to tree fall, those died due to thunder strike or washed away by rain water." "Also, it has been decided to provide relief to livestock loss, and to assess the damages caused to houses and provide immediate relief," he added. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Ministers and senior government officials were present at the meeting.

Noting that there was lot of expectations from the people with the new government coming to power, the CM said the dispensation has to live up to their expectations and officials should also become active. "So strict instructions have been given to DCs of districts, CEOs of Zilla Panchayats," he said. Averring that monsoon will start from June and according to the Met Department it will start from June 9, Siddaramaiah said pre monsoon sowing has been done in more than 2 lakh hectares so far.

"Deputy Commissioners have 540 crore with them and based on the situation if money is required, the government is ready to provide more. There is 331 crore under the disaster relief fund....so for any reasons relief works should not stop," he said. The CM also instructed the officials to ensure that there was no shortage of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.

READ | FIR lodged after man drowns in stormwater drain in Bengaluru

"Officials have been given the responsibility, and if they don't fulfill it, action will be taken against them," he said and added that as the state has witnessed successive years of floods, taking cue from the past experience precautionary measures have been taken. DCs and CEOs have been directed to visit villages and inspect the ground realities, and take decisions based on that. Instructions have been given regarding Bengaluru city too, the CM said. Underpasses which witness water logging during rains, should be shut for traffic, and cleared scientifically.

"Drains have to be desilted, encroachments of rajakaluves (storm water drains) have to be cleared --works should restart in this regard, all measures have to be taken to ensure that roads are not inundated. Strict instructions have been given to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in this regard," he added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced that Australia will open a Consulate-General in Bengaluru this month, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will establish a similar mission in Brisbane as part of the efforts of the two countries to enhance bilateral ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Australian PM Anthony Albanese during a Ceremonial Guard of Honour, at the Admiralty House, in Sydney on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)(Anthony Albanese Twitter)

In his media statement after holding talks with Prime Minister Modi here, Prime Minister Albanese said the opening of the new diplomatic mission in Bengaluru will help in connecting the country's businesses to India's booming digital and innovation ecosystem.

The opening up of the Consulate-General in Bengaluru this month will be the fifth diplomatic mission in India. Others are in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

India currently has three consulates in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Brisbane currently has an Honorary Consulate of India.

READ | India-Australia ties entered T20 mode: PM Modi in Sydney

"Expanding Australias diplomatic footprint to Bengaluru will connect Australian businesses to Indias booming digital economy and innovation ecosystem, and reinforce our growing links in science and technology. Prime Minister Albanese welcomed Indias plans for a Consulate-General in Brisbane," Albanese said.

Prime Minister Modi thanked Australia for its support in establishing a Consulate General of India in Brisbane.

On G-20, Albanese said that he is looking forward to returning to India for the G20 Summit.

"My ministers are regularly visiting India for the G20 discussions that have taken place across the full range of portfolios which are there," he added.

The two leaders also exchanged the MoUs on mobility, migration, and green hydrogen task force.

Albanese also spoke about his meeting with Modi in a year which says a lot about the friendship between Australia and India.

In my first year as Prime Minister, I have met with Prime Minister Modi six times, which underscores the value we place on deepening ties between our nations. Australia is a better place because of the contributions of the Indian-Australian community, and we want to see more connections between our countries, he said.

Albanese was also very pleased to launch the operations of the Centre for Australia-India Relations that will be based in Parramatta here in Western Sydney.

READ | PM Modi is the boss: Why Australia's Albanese mentioned Bruce Springsteen

Headquartered in Parramatta, the centres mission is to work across government, industry, academia and the community to further foster ties between the two countries and encourage businesses to seize the opportunities of their economic partnership.

Albanese also talked about the Quad Summit, which took place in Japans Hiroshima on the side-lines of the G7 Summit.

Prime Minister Modis visit to Australia has strengthened the close and strong relationship that Australia enjoys with India, Albanese said.

This is a relationship we need to invest in. Our strong partnership with India will deliver benefits for Australia in trade, investment and business, and in regional security and stability.

Modi also met Governor General of Australia David Hurley and Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton and discussed the people-to-people connection between the two countries and the strengthening of the long-standing bilateral partnership.
After completing the inaugural session of the Assembly on Wednesday, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar left for New Delhi, where further discussions on cabinet expansion are expected to take place. Chief minister Siddaramaiah is also expected to reach New Delhi by Thursday for the crucial meeting. DyCM Shivakumar leaves for New Delhi to meet central leaders and discuss cabinet expansion (PTI)

The party was expected to induct 25-28 ministers into cabinet, however only nine were inducted as the party leadership couldnt complete deliberations over the portfolios.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he will allocate portfolios to the ministers in his cabinet soon, even as ex-CM Bommai questioned the delay over it in the state assembly.

Happy that the chief minister has introduced ministers to the House, they have all worked as ministers in the past. Congratulations to the Siddaramaiah and all the ministers, but it would have been appropriate if he had introduced the ministers after allocating portfolios to them. Why has it not happened? It should be done at the earliest, Bommai said as soon as the ministers in Siddaramaiahs cabinet were introduced.

Reacting to Bommai, Siddaramaiah assured that the portfolios will be allocated to the ministers soon, saying, We will give them the responsibility at the earliest. How long was BS Yediyurappa alone in the cabinet as the chief minister? Mr former chief minister (Bommai), you need not have any doubts, they (ministers) will be given responsibility at the earliest.

Yediyurappa was alone sworn in then, so was alone, but in this case, the ministers have taken the oath. You make them ministers and dont give them the responsibility, what will the people think?  Bommai shot back, to which, the CM said, No one will think anything.

Bommai replied that he was speaking on behalf of the ministers, and Siddaramaiah responded with a Thank you for your suggestion.

Meanwhile, former Karnataka minister and five-time MLA UT Khader was unanimously elected legislative assembly speaker on Wednesday. Khader will be the first Muslim leader to serve as speaker of the Karnataka assembly.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah had proposed Khaders name for the post of speaker and it was seconded by deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar. As there was no other contender for the post, pro-tem speaker RV Deshpande put the proposal made by the chief minister to vote, and it was unanimously adopted by the House.

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Days after the Congress party gave the in-principle approval to its poll promise of providing 200 units of free electricity, incidents have been reported across the state where people have refused to pay electricity bills. Some farmers in Veerapur village near Kittur in Belagavi district had refused to pay electricity bills saying that they will let the state government do it. Congress faces problems after not being able to completing its poll promise after first cabinet meeting (AFP)

When a Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited (GESCOM) bill collector was asked to go back when he asked the villagers to pay their bills. Some farmers, Murigeppa Hanumantappa and Basanagouda Basarikod, told him that they will not pay their light bills and said that the state government will do it on their behalf. Soon, other residents of the village and some women joined the group, people familiar with the matter said.

In another incident, a man was arrested on Wednesday after he attacked a GESCOM employee in Koppal district of Karnataka. Chandrashekar Hiremat, a resident of Kukanapalli in Koppal abused and attacked Manjunath when he asked the former to pay the electricity bill.

Police, however, clarified that the alternation was not over the poll promise but the mans refusal to pay pending bills. Hiremat had not cleared his dues adding up to 9,990 for the past 6 months.

Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he would wait for the second cabinet meeting and if the five schemes are not brought into effect, he would give a call to people to stop paying electricity bills.

Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha after taking the oath of office as an MLA, Kumaraswamy said Congress leaders have failed to keep their promise.

Congress has promised the people of the state that they will implement all five schemes during the first cabinet meeting. They have only given approval and it is yet to be implemented. First, they said the schemes would be applicable to all and now they are saying they are framing rules, he said.

I will wait for the second cabinet meeting and even after that, if they fail to implement the five schemes, I am planning to appeal to my workers and the people of the state not to pay the electricity bill for 200 units. I am also setting up an office in every taluk to help people who get tortured for not paying the bill, Kumaraswamy added.

The JD(S) leader also questioned Congress for putting conditions on giving money to unemployed graduates in the state. During the campaign, they said, every unemployed graduate would get 3,000 per month and now, they are saying it is applicable only to students who have passed out this year. Congress leaders could have said this before the elections. During campaigning, they announced these schemes to everyone and now they are saying it cannot be given to people walking on roads, the former CM said.

Reacting to Kumaraswamys statement, Bengaluru Rural Congress MP DK Suresh said five guarantees would be implemented soon. All I want to say is have patience.

Senior officials of the government said as per the initial estimates, there are over 1 crore beneficiaries who have electricity consumption of less than 200 units. According to a senior IAS officer, who didnt want to be named, the government already paying a subsidy amount of 14,508 crore per annum for various schemes for the farmers. The average cost of power supply is 9.12. The government will have to give 3848 MU of power free to domestic consumers every month, which will cost them 3,509 crore per month, and 42,108 crore annually, said the officer.

While similar schemes are in place in Punjab and New Delhi, according to the officer, the higher population in Karnataka would pose a challenge to the government. Even though the government had said it would come with a plan for implementing the schemes at the earliest, no announcements were made during the three-day session of the assembly.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arun Dev Arun Dev is an Assistant Editor with the Karnataka bureau of Hindustan Times. A journalist for over 10 years, he has written extensively on crime and politics. ...view detail
For her first international trip in two years, actor Sanjjanaa Galrani chose to visit Mecca and Medina. The Rajasimha (2018) actor went for her first Umrah with her husband, Azeez Pasha, and son, Alarik. She shares, Two years ago, I was going through a really bad phase. Back then, I prayed to God to give me the strength to visit His house. I promised Him that if I got out of the situation safely, my first visit would be to His house with my husband. In the last two years, I had some health issues and was pregnant, too, which is why the trip got delayed. But I have finally fulfilled that promise. Galranis four-day trip was also on her sons first birthday on May 19. Actor Sanjjanaa Galrani performs Umrah for the first time (Photo: Instagram/sanjjanaagalrani)

It was a divine experience, Galrani says, adding, It felt like heaven on Earth. Our visit was in the off-season, and even then it was overcrowded. The actor loved the fact that her son had a good time there. My son really enjoyed the trip. He loves exploring, so this was a great opportunity for him.

The 33-year-old shares that her decision to follow Islam has often been questioned online. People always have something to say. I was born a Hindu, but growing up I always admired Islam, and now Im married to a Muslim. I respect all religions. There are some people on Instagram who pass judgement and comments on my choice. But I dont read them, nor do I engage. I also told my team to leave them alone. They always fizzle out [eventually], she shares.

The actor, who was on a break from films for a bit, has come back now. I am currently working on a Malayalam and a Tamil film. I am waiting for good scripts now. I dont want to take up anything and everything that comes my way, she says, adding, Im only looking for work where an established team is involved, and for genres or storylines, my only condition is that the films should be about topics that havent been explored before. There should be something new to offer the audience.
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu addressed the 3-days 12th Annual Workshop of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assisted Forestry and Natural Resource Management (NRM) Projects held in Shimla on Wednesday. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu virtually addresses 12th annual workshop of JICA's NRM held at Shimla, in Dharamshala on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)

Speaking virtually from Dharmshala, he highlighted the importance of increasing the green cover in Himachal Pradesh and said that currently, the state has a green cover of about 28 percent and the goal was to raise it to 30 percent by 2030.

He said that the JICA-funded Forestry and NRM Projects have been instrumental in enhancing the green cover to achieve this objective. Plantation has been done on more than 4,600 hectares of land have been covered with the help of advanced techniques and technological interventions over the past two years. The projects have also focused on developing nurseries and improving planting stock with an aim to produce over 60 lakh quality seedlings of various useful species for community and forestry purposes. Additionally, the modernisation of 72 nurseries across the state is underway, Sukhu said.

The CM acknowledged the significant role of forests in an agrarian state like Himachal Pradesh, where the population heavily relies on forest resources for their livelihoods and ecosystem services. He emphasized the need to preserve and enhance forest wealth, especially in the context of global concerns over climate change and the search for environmentally friendly solutions.

The CM commended the projects efforts in strengthening joint forest management activities through the formation of 460 Village Forest Development Societies (VFDS) and over 900 Self Help Groups (SHGs) across seven districts. The project has also prioritized skill upgrading and capacity building for forest-dependent communities and forest field staff. More than 15,000 individuals have been trained in livelihood activities and forest regeneration with the aim of minimizing the risks posed by climate change and related disasters, he said.

Expressing the governments commitment to green and sustainable development of the state, the CM said that making Himachal Pradesh a Green State is one of the key pillars of the new state governments agenda. The state government has launched several initiatives in this regard and expects them to yield positive results in the future. He said that the JICA-funded project aligns well with the states vision for a Green State.

Sukhu asked the forest department to begin preparations for the second phase of the project, ensuring that areas not currently covered are included.
JAMMU The Jammu and Kashmir Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) on Wednesday conducted raids on houses of eight terrorists based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at multiple locations in Kishtwar and Ramban districts, senior officials said. The raids were carried out in Padder, Keshwan and Thakrai in Kishtwar and Khari and Banihal in Ramban. (Representational Photo (Getty Images/iStockphoto) )

The raids were carried out in Padder, Keshwan and Thakrai in Kishtwar and Khari and Banihal in Ramban to scuttle attempts by these terrorists to revive militancy in the Chenab valley region, they said.

Senior superintendent of Police, Kishtwar, Khalil Ahmad Poswal said the SIU of Kishtwar police raided houses of four terrorists in Kishtwar district.

Today SIU of Kishtwar Police again carried out raids at multiple locations in Kishtwar district on the house of four terrorists who are operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said Poswal.

Poswal informed that after obtaining house search warrants from National Investigation Agency (NIA) court Jammu in a case (FIR No 272/2022) registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) at Kishtwar police station, the sleuths of SIU raided the houses of Azad Hussain, son of Abdul Majid at Affani Padder, Gazi-ud-Din, son of Mohammad Ayoub, Bashir Ahmed Mughal son of Ghulam Qadir and Sattar Din alias Rajab, son of Mehar Din, (residents of Jugna Keshwan).

During the course of searches, the evidences collected shall be investigated so as to subject the accused persons to judicial determination for their involvement in anti-national activities and perpetuation of terrorism, he added. He further disclosed that all those supporter and associates of terrorists whose involvement surfaces during investigations shall also be prosecuted.

Poswal further said that searches were aimed at eliminating the militant ecosystem in the district by identifying various over-ground workers and supporters of militancy.

Earlier on May 18, teams of the SIU raided houses of five terrorists, who are currently operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, besides three suspected individuals in the district.

The special NIA court in Jammu had on April 26 issued non-bailable warrants against 23 terrorists from Kishtwar operating from across the border. Earlier, non-bailable warrants were issued against 13 terrorists in the district.

The 36 individuals from Kishtwar went to Pakistan after joining the terror ranks over a period of time. Two FIRs were registered against them after their involvement in terror activities surfaced during investigations, the SSP said.

Superintendent of police, Ramban, Mohita Sharma said the SIU teams carried out raids on the houses of Qari Abdul Latief, Reyaz Ahmad Bohru, Fayaz Ahmad and Mushtaq Ahmad.

The (four) militants settled in PoK are continuously trying to revive militancy in the Chenab Valley, she said, adding that during the course of the searches, a lot of incriminating digital and non-digital evidence were collected for detailed analyses. The support system which is assisting the inimical elements in reviving militancy would be destroyed at any cost, the SP said.
Nursing students of National Institute of Nursing Education(NINE), Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), held a protest on Wednesday outside Kairon Block demanding the revocation of speaking orders. The protesters also demanded for appointment letters to be issued to the students from the 2022 batch. The students were denied employment by PGIMER being under bond. Students of National Institute of Nursing Education, PGIMER, holding a protest outside the administration block on the institute campus in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Amid the scorching heat, students gathered with placards and raised slogans against the administration. As many as 95 BSc students were denied employment after the completion of their course in September last year. The administration has also sent job rejection letters to the homes of the students. Upon admission to NINE, students are required to sign a three-year employment bond with PGIMER.

According to the speaking order issued on May 20, the recruitment of nursing officers at the institute is done through direct recruitment and the rules do not have any provisions for the students from NINE.

Rajvir Kaur, a student from 2022 batch said, PGIMER claimed to have changed the recruitment rules in 2019, but the nursing students were not informed about these changes. Why were the bonds signed?

She also questioned the appointments that were made for batches after 2019.

According to Nisha, another student, The director said he was not aware of the situation. He said the speaking orders were passed by the ministry and expressed his desire to help us. He said that since we have moved to the court, its decision will be followed.

However, the students claim that medical superintendent Dr Vipin Kaushal had told them that the speaking orders were passed by a court. The students had moved to central administrative tribunal on April 3. The matter is listed for further consideration at the tribunal on July 6.

Taranpreet Kaur, a student from 2022 batch and petitioner, expressed her dissatisfaction with the excuses provided by the institute and called them baseless. The protesting students pointed out that batches after 2019 continued to sign the bonds and get appointments till 2021.

The PGIMER Nurses Welfare Association has expressed solidarity with the NINE students.

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Punjab Police were left red-faced on Wednesday when their team reached Bengaluru to take custody of wanted Bargari sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta only to find on verification that the man detained at the airport was Sandeep Mannan, who belongs to Faridabad and is working in a tech company in Karnataka. Sandeep Mannan (left), who belongs to Delhi and works in a tech company in Bengaluru, was detained on Monday night and (right) Sandeep Bareta, wanted by Punjab Police in connection with the sacrilege cases of 2015. The Bengaluru airport authorities detained Sandeep Mannan as his first name, fathers name, and birth year matched with Baretas as mentioned in the lookout circular. (HT Photos)

On Tuesday, Punjab Police claimed on its official Twitter handle that Bareta, one of the three absconding Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda national committee members who was involved in conspiring the five sacrilege incidents, was caught trying to flee to Singapore. The arrest of the accused, who was on the run for five years, was tweeted by Punjab Police along with Mannans photo. The arrest was confirmed by Faridkot police and the polices special investigation team (SIT) probing the sacrilege cases.

On Wednesday, however, Faridkot range inspector general of police PK Yadav clarified: A communication from the immigration authorities at Bengaluru airport was received regarding the detention of Sandeep, matching the description of sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta, on the basis of the look out circular (LOC) issued by Faridkot police. The matter was promptly verified. It has been found that the detained person at Bengaluru airport is not the wanted sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta. He is Sandeep Mannan, a resident of New Delhi who works in a tech company in Bengaluru.

Matching and misleading

An official on condition of anonymity said that the Bengaluru airport detained Sandeep as his first name, fathers name, and birth year matched with Sandeep Baretas as mentioned in the look out circular. But the address of the detained man was of Delhi, while Bareta, who belongs to Bareta in Mansa district, was living in Sirsa, Haryana, before he went underground, the official added.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Mannan is still in Bengaluru polices custody. A neighbour of Mannan in Bengaluru said the family is trying to get him released but some paper work is still pending. He has been living in Bengaluru for several years but belongs to Faridabad.

The Faridkot police team that reached Bengaluru on Wednesday morning to bring back the accused were told that after verification, they found the man detained by the Bengaluru authorities was not Bareta, who was wanted in five 2015 sacrilege cases, including the Bargari incident.

On Tuesday, ADGP Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, who heads the SIT probing the three interlinked sacrilege cases of Faridkot, was upbeat about bringing the accused to Punjab by Wednesday evening. He claimed it was a goof-up by the Bengaluru police when they did not issue any statement but only alerted their Punjab counterparts about Sandeeps details matching those of Baretas.

The police jumped the gun and confirmed the arrest on social media even before their team could reach Bengaluru and identify the Singapore-bound person.

According to the SIT probe, the three members of the deras national committee, Sandeep Bareta, a resident of Bareta in Mansa district, Pardeep Kler of Panipat and Harsh Dhuri of Dhuri in Sangrur district, are key links in Punjabs five sacrilege incidents that sparked off statewide protests in 2015. Bareta, Kler and Dhuri have been declared proclaimed offenders in the cases.

Punjab Police had issued an LOC against Bareta, Kler and Dhuri in three sacrilege cases, including Bargari, in which dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was named main conspirator in November 2021.

The SIT probing the sacrilege cases claims to have found that the instructions to execute the sacrilege at Bargari, Moga and Gurusar were given by Bareta, Kler and Dhuri, to the district dera committee members. In the Bargari sacrilege, the instructions to steal a bir and then commit sacrilege came through the three. The trio had met dera follower Mohinder Pal Bittu and instructed him for the theft and sacrilege, the SIT said.

The SIT found that the conspiracy of desecration of Sikh scriptures was hatched at the administrative block of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and that the followers never acted without the permission of sect head Ram Rahim. The SIT has filed chargesheets against Ram Rahim in the three cases, naming him main conspirator.

An official familiar with the investigation said that the three dera national committee members are the missing link in the sacrilege cases. The accused who had committed the sacrilege never got instructions directly from Ram Rahim as they were relayed by the trio, he said.

Sacrilege that triggered outrage

The bir was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara on June 1, 2015. An FIR was registered the next day at Bajakhana police station. Three derogatory posters threatening sacrilege were pasted at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages on September 24-25, 2015 following which an FIR was registered. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the bir were found scattered in front of a gurdwara in the adjoining Bargari village, resulting in an outrage across the state and the killing of two Sikh protesters in firing.

The trio, including Bareta, was named as accused in the Malke (Moga) and Gurusar (Bathinda) cases. Torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found at Malke village in Moga district in November 2015 and Gurusar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October 2015.

Last year, three dera followers were convicted and sentenced for three years imprisonment in Malke sacrilege case.

In 2018, then DIG (now retired) Ranbir Singh Khatra-led SIT had arrested more than 20 dera followers, including Mohinder Pal Bittu who was killed in the Nabha jail in 2019, in connection with the sacrilege incidents and rioting in Punjab in 2015.

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Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Wednesday morning claimed Enforcement Directorate raids at premises belonging to two of his aides in connection with the now-cancelled liquor excise policy in Delhi and declared 'Modi dictatorship (is) at its peak'. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh addresses a press conference, in New Delhi, on Monday, May 22, 2023. (PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist Lav)

"(This is) Modi's bullying is at its peak. I am fighting against Modi's dictatorship. The fake investigation of (the) ED was exposed in front of the whole country. ED accepted (its) mistake... (and now) when nothing was found (after raids on his home), today ED raided colleagues Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra," Singh said.

"Sarvesh's father is suffering from cancer, this is the end of the crime."

Media reports cited agency sources as saying the searches were at residences and offices of Tyagi and others who allegedly benefitted from the liquor policy.

The AAP re-tweeted Singh's video message and accused the central investigative agency of harassing his aides after having been slapped with a defamation notice for having named Sanjay Singh in a chargesheet 'by mistake'.

The case is linked to revisions in the 2021/22 liquor excise policy in the city as ordered by ex-deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia - now in Tihar Jail - who allegedly did so with 'intention to extend undue favours to licensees'

Earlier this month AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal slammed the Enforcement Directorate after Singh claimed he received a letter from the agency that 'admitted my name was written by mistake in the chargesheet'.

READ | 'By mistake?' Kejriwal after ED names Sanjay Singh in liquor case

"Does anyone get named in a chargesheet by mistake? It is clear from this the whole case is fake..." he fumed and accused prime minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of trying 'to defame the most honest party...'

Sources in the ED were quoted by news agency PTI as acknowledging that Singh's name had been incorrectly mentioned at one point.

Singh has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed a political conspiracy.

This was after another AAP leader - Delhi minister Raghav Chadha - had to deny reports he too had been named in the chargesheet.

READ | Raghav Chadha in ED's excise policy chargesheet; AAP MP reacts

"... have not been named as an accused, suspect or even as a witness, in any complaint filed by the ED..." Chadha said in a formal statement.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed its personnel had not misbehaved with Sisodia at the city's Rouse Avenue Court.

This was after Kejriwal shared a video of cops surrounding Sisodia as reporters pressed him for comment on (yet another) row between the AAP and the BJP, this time over the Delhi services ordinance.

READ | As Kejriwal shares video of 'cops manhandling Sisodia', police clarify

" talk of police misbehaviour with Sisodia is propaganda. Response as seen in video was imperative from a security point of view," Delhi Police responded.

Judicial custody of Sisodia has been extended till June 1.

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NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday told Delhi University to respond to research scholar Lokesh Chughs petition that accused the university of not acting on his request to let him submit his PhD thesis despite the high courts order in April. The Delhi high court ordered Delhi university to respond to DU scholar Lokesh Chughs petition over submission of his PhD thesis (File Photo)

The PhD scholar was debarred on March 10 from taking any examination by the university for his alleged role in screening a BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots at DUs faculty of arts on January 27 but the order was set aside by the Delhi high court on April 27.

In his petition filed by lawyer Naman Joshi, Chugh said that he made several attempts to submit his PhD thesis following the high court order but was stonewalled. He asked the high court to direct the university to accept his thesis and notify a date for viva voce.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav on Wednesday issued a notice to DU. The case will be next taken up on July 17.

Lokesh Chugh, a PhD research scholar in the department of anthropology, faculty of science, is the national secretary of the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI).

On April 27, justice Kaurav quashed the universitys order barring him from attending the varsity examination for a year, saying that the varsity did not offer him an opportunity to be heard. The court said since the debarment order was being set aside for a lack of adherence to the principles of natural justice, the university was free to take action against Chugh in accordance with the law.

Chugh said the DU vice-chancellor did make a statement following the high courts April 27 order that the university planned to challenge the high court order. The university has not filed an appeal against the high court order but was not implementing it either, he added.

Protests erupted at DUs Arts faculty on January 27 after police detained at least 24 students attempting to screen the controversial BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question.

The documentary sparked a backlash, with the central government declaring it propaganda and a reflection of a colonial mindset.

The university alleged that Chugh was the mastermind of the protests and that his act amounts to gross indiscipline, a charge that was contested by Chugh who insisted that he wasnt even at the protest site.

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The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by former Gujarat IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma against the Union governments decision to terminate him a month before his retirement. Gujarat IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma (Twitter Photo)

The 1986-batch officer was dismissed on August 30 last year by the Centre, a month before his retirement, after the departmental inquiry found him guilty of speaking to the media which had dented the countrys international relations. Verma had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its probe into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

A bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Sanjeev Sachdeva rejected the petition by Verma saying, In view of the above, we find no merit in writ petition... The same is accordingly dismissed.

Verma had approached the high court following the Supreme Courts order allowing him to file a plea.

Also Read: Delhi court allows Swamy to file reply opposing Rahul Gandhis plea for passport

On September 19, 2022, the Supreme Court stayed the Centres dismissal order for a week and said it is for the high court to consider. Subsequently, after a week on September 26 of the same year, the high court refused to stay the Centres order dismissing Verma and cleared the way for the sacking of the 1987-IPS cadre.

Verma moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi high court order. His petition read, The impugned order has allowed the Union of India to pass an order that may result in the petitioners dismissal from service with retrospective effect (even though he superannuated on September 30, 2022), which is not permissible as per statutory rules governing the members of the All India Services.

Verma assisted Gujarat special investigation team (SIT) in the high-profile Ishrat Jahan case of 2004 between April 2010 and October 2011.

Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra near Mumbai, and three others, who were allegedly dubbed as terrorists and accused of plotting to kill the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, were killed in an alleged staged encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) issued a charge memo to Verma in September 2018 alleging that although he was relieved from the post of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation) in July 2016, he failed to hand over the files and kept them in personal custody for a long time. Other charges against him also included talking to the media.

As Ishrat case probe officer, Verma filed an affidavit in the Gujarat high court in 2011 that the 19-year-old Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter in June 2004 along with three men believed to be linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

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A day after the directorate of vigilance reinstated its special secretary YVVJ Rajasekhar, vigilance department minister Saurabh Bharadwaj termed the order illegal and directed a probe into how the order was issued without his knowledge. Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on May 13 divested Rajasekhar of all his work responsibilities over alleged graft charges. (ANI)

The minister in his order, a copy of which was seen by HT, stated that he is the competent authority to allocate work among officers in the department.

Also Read: Kejriwal gets Mamata on his side in anti-ordinance push

Minister Incharge i.e. the undersigned is the competent authority in the matter of work allocation in the Department... (vigilance department) Order has been issued in the name of the undersigned whereas no such order has been approved by the undersigned. Therefore, the said order is unauthorised and is hereby declared invalid and illegal. No action should be taken as a result of this order... the order said.

The directorate of vigilance on Monday issued an order stating that Rajasekhar, who was divested of duties by the Delhi government over graft allegations, will resume his functions as usual starting the same day. It had cited the ordinance promulgated by the Centre, which introduces a bundle of new provisions in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act, 1991, effectively nullifying a Supreme Court judgment which shifted the authority of controlling bureaucrats in the national capital from the lieutenant governor to the elected Delhi government.

The Supreme Court constitutional bench had on May 11 held that the power to control bureaucrats serving in Delhi government lies with and shall be exercised by the elected government of Delhi, and the Ordinance issued on May 19 purports to establish an Authority for exercise of certain powers, but this does not include allocation of work within the Department. Therefore, I continue to be the Competent Authority for all aspects of work within the Department including allocation of work, the order further read.

Also Read: Ajay Maken urges Congress not to back AAP over Delhi services ordinance

A separate enquiry must be instituted to enquire how this unauthorised order (to reinstate work to Rajasekhar)....was issued, it stated.

Bharadwaj on May 13 divested Rajasekhar of all his work responsibilities over alleged graft charges. The officer later claimed a midnight trespass was made into his room where important files including those pertaining to the chief ministers residence renovation controversy, the Delhi government expenditure on advertisements, and excise policy, were kept, and some of them were photocopied. The Delhi government sealed the office and ordered a probe into the alleged trespass.

On Tuesday, HT visited the office located on the fourth floor of the Delhi Secretariat. It was unsealed and the security guards deployed outside the office for security were not present. According to an official aware of the matter, Rajasekhar worked from the office on Tuesday.

Also Read: Three problems with the Delhi ordinance

Bharadwaj in his order also gave five directions for immediate compliance, including withdrawing all files assigned to Rajasekhar and distributing them among other department officials.

All work assigned to YVVJ Rajasekhar are withdrawn; work assigned to Rajasekhar in services department would be looked after by Special Secretary-II (Services) Kinny Singh who will directly report to Secretary (Services)... all the files with Rajasekhar should be handed over in the possession of Secretary (Vigilance) and should be kept in the safe custody of Secretary (Vigilance), Bharadwaj stated in the order.

When contacted, Rajasekhar said that he has not received any directions. I have not seen any such directions. In any case, the matter is still sub judice as it was earlier. Why I am being targeted? As far as I am concerned, we are all doing our work. Let me concentrate on my job.
Rajasthans Dholpur police on Tuesday rescued a 7-year-old girl who was allegedly sold and married off to a 38-year-old man. (Representative Photo)

Police said the incident took place in the districts Mania village, where they received information about a minor girl sold for Rs. 4.30 lakh allegedly by her parents and married off to one Bhupal Singh on May 21.

Suresh Chand, assistant sub-inspector and welfare officer, said a raid was conducted in the village, and the police team found the young girl at Singhs residence dressed as a bride.

Also Read: Woman, minor son thrown from balcony over family dispute in Gurugram

Deepak Khandelwal, circle officer, Mania, said the girl was rescued, and a complaint was registered against those involved in human trafficking and child marriage under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

Khandelwal said that they detained and interrogated the family members of Singh, who confessed that they bought the minor girl for Rs.4.30 lakh and married her to Singh on May 21.

Police said preliminary investigation suggests that the family, who originally belonged to Madhya Pradesh, have a few members served time in jail in similar cases, including an alleged murder case.

Police are conducting further investigating into the matter and trying to find out people involved in such an act, said Khandelwal.
LUCKNOW Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) has decided to go ahead with semester examinations from June 5 even as results of the previous exams were yet to be declared. The examinations for the third and final years were held in January and that of first and second year in March, said officials. Anxious students are increasingly taking to social media to draw the university authorities attention towards declaration of results. (Pic for representation)

Copies of the first and second year exams had not been evaluated while those of the third and final year exams were evaluated. But the work of processing the results was yet to start. There were 18 courses for which results were awaited.

Anxious students were increasingly taking to social media to draw the university authorities attention towards declaration of results that were already delayed. They also complained that the university announced the exam date but did not release the datasheet.

Even the agency that prepares the exam results had not been selected yet.

The university had recently floated a tender for the selection of an agency. Three companies filed a tender, but the bid of two companies was rejected on technical grounds during scrutiny.

The university will again float tender and the process will take around 15-20 days for completion.

According to rules, the result of the final year is to be declared by the end of June. When contacted, vice-chancellor JP Pandey said efforts were on to complete the task of floating tenders. The process of declaring results will begin soon. Final year results may take some time as it requires tabulation of marks of previous semesters too.

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Chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed officers posted in the districts to give top priority to the redressal of grievances people in public hearings organised in the districts. U.P. chief minister Yogi Adityanath (HT File Photo)

The satisfaction of the people will be the standard of excellence of the government employees performance, he said, while reviewing the working of the Home Department in a meeting on Wednesday.

During recent visit to the districts, I have experienced that loudspeakers are being installed again. It is not acceptable. The officers should immediately get the loudspeakers removed through communication, the chief minister said.

The Thana Diwas and Tehsil Diwas programmes should be organised more effectively, and officers should ensure that complaints are resolved before the next thana/tehsil diwas, he said.

Officers posted in the field should make night halts in their areas of posting only and senior officers should conduct surprise inspections to check compliance of the order, he said.

The flood management drive should be completed before June 15. There should be no crisis of drinking water anywhere, he said.
An elderly patient was seriously injured after a lift fell into the shaft at a private hospital in Hussainganj area of Lucknow on Tuesday. The incident took place as soon as he entered the lift, his son said. The incident took place as soon as the man got into the lift. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The hospital staff rescued Mohammad Sharif, resident of Udaiganj, after much struggle.

He received serious injuries, including on his head and stomach, and was taken to the emergency room of the civil hospital where the doctors provided treatment. Later, he was taken to a private hospital, the victims son Amir Sharif said.

He received stitches on his head, he added.

My father had an eye ailment for which he received treatment several days back. He went to the hospital to take a pair of glasses and was supposed to see the doctor who was on the third floor. Hence, he decided to take the lift. The moment he entered the lift, it fell into the duct as it was already dysfunctional, Amir said.

As soon as the hospital staff heard the screams of the patient, they swung into action and pulled him out in a blood- soaked condition after much effort. He was taken to the emergency (room) of the civil hospital where the doctor stitched his wound. Right now, he is stable but in pain, added Amir.

If the lift was already dysfunctional, why was no one informed. He could have lost his life, Amir said.

So far, no comment has been made by the hospital in question on the matter.

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Former five-time MLA from Mau, Mukhtar Ansari, has filed a plea in a Varanasi court apprehending life threat in Banda jail where he is lodged since April 2021. Fearing life threat, Mukhtar Ansari files plea in Varanasi court (File photo)

He mentioned this before the special judge MP/MLA sessions court, Varanasi during his appearance via video conferencing on May 19 in 1991 Awadesh Rai murder case. Later, one of his lawyers filed a written plea in the matter on Tuesday.

Mukhtar Ansaris lawyer in Varanasi court Srinath Tripathi confirmed that another lawyer Liyakat Ali has filed a written application in the court. He said Liyakat Ali visited Mukhtar Ansari in Banda jail on May 19 when Ansari apprised him about life threat in the jail as some suspicious persons in civvies visited his barrack thrice on April 1, 19 and May 18. He said one of the suspicious persons posed as SP Banda and demanded photocopies of his documents like voter ID, Aadhar and PAN card.

The lawyer had apprised the court that the visit of suspicious persons was not mentioned in the jail register and requested to save the CCTV footage of Banda jail so the suspicious visitors could be identified. He said Ansari has been harassed by these visits of suspicious persons frequently and he fears that they could plan to eliminate him inside the jail.

Interestingly, Ansari filed this application in the court after registration of a fresh FIR against him for alleged discrepancies in his date of birth on different identity cards on May 18.

The police said these ID cards were recovered from him during a surprise check at the Banda jail by local authorities.

Bandas additional superintendent of police (ASP) Laxmi Niwas Mishra had earlier informed that the case was lodged against Mukhtar Ansari at the Banda City Kotwali on May 18 after discrepancies were found in his date of birth and the spelling of his name.

The cop added that jail outpost in-charge Dharmendra Singh lodged the FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (for cheating), 467 (for forgery of a valuable security, will or authority to make or transfer any valuable security), 468 (for forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (for using as genuine a forged document). He said that the FIR was lodged against Mukhtar Ansari and unidentified persons in this connection and further probe is underway.

As per the FIR, Ansaris date of birth is mentioned as 1959 in his voter ID card while it is mentioned as 1963 in his Aadhaar and PAN cards. Similarly, the spelling of his name is mentioned as Mukhtar Ansari in Aadhaar and voter ID cards but it is Mokhtar Ansari in the PAN card. Ansaris date of birth, however, is mentioned as June 30, 1963, in his political records.
NAVI MUMBAI: As many as 524 buildings in Navi Mumbai are in the dangerous category. 61 of these have been classified as extremely dangerous and need to be vacated and demolished immediately. Navi Mumbai, India - May 24, 2023: NMMC declared 524 buildings as dangerous and dilapidated in the city of which 61 are in high-risk category JN-1 type building, at Sector-10, Vashi, in Navi Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/HT PHOTO) (HT PHOTO)

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has released the list of dilapidated buildings before the onset of the monsoon for corrective action to be taken at the earliest.

The civic body has categorised 61 buildings as extremely dangerous under C1 category, which need to be vacated immediately and demolished. 114 buildings are in C2 category that need to be vacated and need to undergo structural repairs. 300 buildings in C2B category have to undergo structural repairs sans the residents vacating them. In the C3 category, 49 buildings need minor repairs.

The list of the structures has been posted on the civic website www.nmmc.gov.in .

The C1 category buildings have been specially marked in the list posted on the website. The list gives details of whether the building is being used for residential purposes or not.

Last year, the civic body released a list of 514 dilapidated buildings in the city, several of which figure in the list this year as well.

Municipal commissioner Rajesh Narvekar said, A ward-wise survey of the buildings was undertaken for 2023-24, following which 524 buildings have been declared as dangerous under Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act Section 264.

Informed the commissioner, As per the norms in the Act, notices have been issued to the buildings. The owners and occupants have been informed that the buildings are dilapidated and their residential or commercial use needs to be stopped immediately. They have also been asked to demolish the structures without any further delay.

He added, We have made it clear to the residents of the C1 category buildings that their electricity and water supply connections will be discontinued.

The commissioner stated, If those concerned do not take corrective action and in the event of any untoward incident such as building collapse, they will be held solely responsible for the loss of life or property. We have made it clear to them that the civic body will in no way be responsible for it.

Narvekar appealed to the residents who stay in dilapidated buildings to take action in their interest. Residing in dilapidated buildings in monsoon is dangerous as they can collapse. People can lose their lives and also incur property losses, he said.
Mumbai: Days after he had a breakfast meeting with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at his residence, former Nagpur MLA Ashish Deshmukh was expelled from Congress for a period of six years over his statements against the party leadership. Nagpur, India - July 20, 2018: BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh holding banner demanding suitable place for Petroleum Refinery project in Vidarbha region during the concluding of Monsoon Session of Maharashtra State Assembly in Nagpur, India, on Friday, July 20, 2018. (Photo by Sunny Shende/ HT) (HT)

The expulsion order was issued to Deshmukh by a disciplinary committee headed by senior Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on May 22. The committee was not satisfied with the former MLAs reply to a show-cause notice on March 5.

Deshmukh was accused of making statements against former party president Rahul Gandhi and state unit chief Nana Patole. He was also suspended for the same soon after the remarks were made in March this year.

The committee is not satisfied with the reply filed by you. The rules related to discipline and guiding principles are applicable in this case. Considering your statements against the party, you have been expelled from the primary membership for a period of six years with immediate effect, the order issued by the committee read.

On Saturday, Fadnavis and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule had visited Deshmukh at his Nagpur residence. Later, Deshmukh conducted a press conference and said that they discussed ways for overall development of Vidarbha, including setting up an integrated fertiliser complex in Nagpur.

In March, Deshmukh had asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community over his Modi surname remarks. He had also alleged that the state Congress president Nana Patole took money from chief minister Eknath Shinde.

Deshmukh is a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Katol in Nagpur. He joined the Congress in October 2018. He contested the state assembly elections against Fadnavis from Nagpur Southwest constituency in 2019. He is the son of former state Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh.

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G20 delegates on Tuesday witnessed a digital sound and light show at the Gateway of India in Mumbai. They also enjoyed a cultural dance at the Gateway of India. Light and sound show at the Gateway of India organised for delegates taking part in the G20 meeting on environment, climate and disaster management, in Mumbai.(PTI)

Some of the G20 delegates were seen dancing to the tunes of drums. They joined artistes who were performing at Gateway of India and even played the drums. The G20 delegates were in Mumbai to attend the third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting.

India under its G20 Presidency has been hosting meetings across the country. Notably, India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2022.

The three-day meeting in Mumbai witnessed the participation of 141 delegates from G20 countries and 10 invitee countries. The representatives of 14 international and regional organisations participated in the deliberations, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in the press release.

The 3 priories outlined for the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group were arresting land degradation, promoting a circular economy and giving impetus to the blue economy. All meetings focused on a specific theme out of these three themes.

The 3rd ECSWG focussed on Blue Economy and was supported by two side events - Mega Beach Clean Up Event and the Ocean 20 Dialogue on Day 1 of the meeting. The mega Beach Clean-Up event also took place in Juhu which witnessed the participation of 20 countries and 37 Indian beaches from the coastal states and union territories.

The drive was organized to sensitize people and create awareness in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message on 'Swachhta' and 'Jan Bhagidari' and highlights the significance of the 'Lifestyle for Environment' (LiFE) concept and the importance of individual actions in tackling the menace of marine pollution, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in the press release.

The second day started with an inaugural address by Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Kapil M Patil who congratulated the Working Group on the resounding success of the Mega Beach Clean Up Event and appreciated the hard work done by the ECSWG in the area of climate change and environment issues.

Leena Nandan, G20 India Chair and Secretary, MoEFCC, expressed her gratitude to the delegates for engaging actively in the first two ECSWG meetings. She called on the G20 countries for their continued participation in the Communique discussion to ensure inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive outcomes, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in the press release.

The primary agenda of the 3rd Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting was the detailed discussions on the draft Ministerial Communique which entailed constructive discussions and deliberations on priority areas. The 3rd ECSWG meeting ended on a discussion mode on the Communique to be further deliberated upon in the virtual meetings scheduled over the next few weeks.
Lucknow: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday credited hard work of farmers in making Uttar Pradesh an economic superpower in the country. He said that this is for the first time in the history of a nation that farmers and labourers have become the agenda of a government. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath distributes Kisan Samman Nidhi at Lok Bhawan, in Lucknow on Wednesday. (ANI)

Inaugurating an extensive saturation campaign for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, he said, A total of 2. 63 crore lakh farmers have joined the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in the state and an amount of 55,800 crores has been transferred to the bank accounts of our farmers under the scheme so far. Despite this, some farmers still complain about not getting the money. So, the process of Aadhaar authentication is being started on a large scale, so that 100 percent eligible farmers can benefit from this scheme.

The objective of the campaign, he pointed out, was to ensure no ineligible person made misuse of government schemes but no eligible beneficiary was deprived of the benefit. The campaign will end on June 10.

The CM also launched a logo of the Darshan portal, which will provide quick benefits of agricultural facilities to the farmers. It started the registration of farmers for various grants and services.

From today, this big campaign is starting in all the 55,000 gram panchayats of the state. Employees of the post office, agriculture and revenue department will join the grand campaign to connect the eligible farmers with the scheme in every village, said Yogi.

He said land records had been digitised to a large extent now, ending disputes that were earlier a regular feature in rural UP. Through the PM Swamitva Yojana, property ownership rights have been provided to scores of farmers. So far 56 lakh houses have been made available in UP and by the end of this year1.5 crore families will get houses for which the survey work has been completed, he said.

On this occasion, the agriculture minister of the state, Surya Pratap Shahi, state minister Baldev Singh Aulakh, agriculture production commissioner Manoj Kumar Singh, chairman of Upkar, Captain Vikas Gupta, deputy chief secretary (agriculture) Dr. Devash Chaturvedi, officials of the agriculture department, and farmers from various districts of the state were present.
Fresh incidents of violence were reported in Manipur on Tuesday night even as details about them remained sketchy, the state governments security advisor Kuldiep Singh said over the phone from the state capital of Imphal on Wednesday. The ethnic violence erupted in the state on May 3. (PTI)

We are still in the process of gathering information on...[incidents of violence reported on Tuesday night] and will be able to give details by Wednesday afternoon, said Singh, who was appointed after the ethnic violence erupted in the state on May 3.

Three houses were earlier burnt over the weekend and four people including a former lawmaker were arrested

Army and additional paramilitary forces have been deployed in the state to quell the violence and to help in rescue and relief measures. An internet shutdown across the state has been extended until May 26 while a curfew has been imposed in what has been described as sensitive areas. The curfew is relaxed for a few hours daily depending on the situation.

Clashes were triggered in Churachandpur on May 3 after Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF)s solidarity march against a proposal for scheduled tribal status to the states majority Meitei community.

They claimed 73 lives, displaced over 30000, and left more than 200 injured. Meiteis predominantly live in the Imphal Valley and account for around 53% of the states population. The Kuki-Zomi tribes mainly live in the hill districts and comprise around 16% of the population and the Naga tribes form 24%.

On Tuesday night, the army also recovered a cache of arms from a vehicle in Senapati and arrested three people. It was not immediately clear whether the recovery had anything to do with the ongoing violence.

Earlier on Tuesday, ITLF, a conglomerate of tribes, submitted a memorandum to Kuldiep Singh seeking the separation of the states hill districts from Manipur.

Ten tribal Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar lawmakers, including seven from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, earlier this month first sought a separate state.

ITLFs memorandum accused the Meitei community of destroying churches, burning houses, and killing people and said there was no possibility of peaceful coexistence between the communities.

There is a clear cut partition of hill and valley people [Meiteis] as the tribals living in Imphal have now returned to the tribal areas and the Meitei living in the tribal areas have gone to Imphal. With the long history of resentment and discrimination, we the tribals feel that total separation from Manipur is the only solution, the memorandum said.

ITLF sought the bodies of the tribal people killed in the violence. It added they are lying in morgues of hospitals in places such as Imphal. ITLF sought proper relief and rehabilitation of those displaced. It accused radical Meitei groups Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun of killing tribal people and destroying their homes.

The memorandum said activities of these groups should be stopped while demanding legal action against them.

Kuldiep Singh said he would forward the memorandum to the Union government for necessary action.

There has been growing resentment against the state government due to the curfew and internet shutdown for three weeks now.

Yambem Laba of a group seeking ST status for Meiteis said there is anarchy in the state. ....people have run out of cash and there is a scarcity of essentials. Chief minister N Biren Singh has completely failed and should either resign or be removed.

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One person died and another injured in fresh violence which broke out in Manipurs Bishnupur, officials said on Wednesday. Abandoned houses burned in Manipur as fresh violence occurs (Twitter/@ashoswai)

Police said the fresh violence occurred following the burning of houses by suspected militants in the Tronglaobi area around midnight on Tuesday.

State security advisor Kuldiep Singh while briefing the media on Wednesday said some houses were burnt in the nearby area in retaliation.

He said two persons received bullet injuries at Thamnapokpi foothills due to firing.

Also Read: Fresh incidents of violence in Manipur, details sketchy: Official

Around 9.30am (on Wednesday), two persons received bullet injuries at Thamnapokpi foothills which was due to firing from the side of the hill, said Singh.

Immediately, forces retaliated one of the injured persons, namely Toijam Chandramani Singh of Churachandpur, succumbed to the injury while being taken to a hospital, he added.

Singh said that while one person died, another identified as L Manoj alias Abungnao, 25, was taken evacuated to local a hospital for medical aid.

The situation as of now is tense now but under control, Singh said.

He said that a joint team of Assam Rifles, army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and state police carried out a search operation near the places of fire and recovered arms and ammunitions, including one double barrel gun, two single barrel guns along with 3 Chinese hand grenades and 18 cartridges have been recovered from the suspected place and same has been handed over to police.

Search for the militants is still on, he added.

Following the incident, curfew hours in both Imphal West and Imphal East districts which were earlier relaxed for the day from 5am to 4pm excluding a few areas in Imphal East district, were curtailed (at 12 noon) while curfew was re-imposed in Bishnupur district.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, a combined team of security forces arrested three persons and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition besides cash of 37,650 during the checking of a silver Alto car at Kangchup.

On Tuesday, business establishments remained closed, and people were asked to stay indoors in Imphal, where a mob torched two houses on Monday.

Also Read: Meiteis, Kukis keep moving to safer areas as tensions persist in Manipur

On Monday, fresh incidents of arson were reported in the Imphal East district, and a group of armed men set at least two abandoned houses ablaze in Imphal, marking a return of violence in the state.

There are currently around 10,000 personnel from the army and Assam Rifles and 7,000 from the CRPF and Border Security Force (BSF) in the troubled state. Paramilitary forces are guarding NH-2 in Manipur to keep supply lines open.

Clashes have been going on in Manipur between the dominant Meitei community and the hill tribes for over a month now. The fresh bouts of violence are a setback for the administration, which had gained some measure of control after ethnic clashes rocked the state on May 3.

Violent clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the states reservation matrix, granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the majority Meitei community.

The recent violence in Manipur claimed 73 precious lives while many houses have been destroyed.

Chief minister N Biren Singh on Monday appealed to the people to stop torching houses of innocent people. There are currently around 39,000 people living in camps run by state and paramilitary forces.
LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh Police is likely to get a regular state police chief 12 months after retirement of its second consecutive acting Director General of Police (DGP), RK Vishwakarma, later this month. The development comes in the wake of contempt pleas filed in the Supreme Court against the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab governments for appointing acting DGPs in violation of apex court orders, said senior home department and police officials, privy to the matter. The petition states that successive appointments of acting DGP in U.P. is in complete violation of the apex courts orders. (HT Photo)

A senior government official, requesting anonymity, said Vishwakarma, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was made the acting U.P. DGP on April 31, 2023, after retirement of his batchmate DS Chauhan, who remained an acting DGP nearly for 11 months after the states regular DGP Mukul Goel was removed on May 11, 2022. The official said that Goel, who is the senior most U.P. cadre IPS officer of 1987 batch, was removed by the state government much prior to his superannuation in February 2024 following allegations of inaction and lack of interest towards work.

Senior authorities in the state government are having legal consultation following the contempt plea filed by a lawyer in the Supreme Court against the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab governments for appointing acting DGPs, the official pointed out while adding, In 2006, the Supreme Court had said, in its judgment, that there was no such concept of an acting DGP. Moreover, the apex court had stated that DGPs should have a minimum tenure of two years in office as it is necessary to protect the DGP office from political influences.

In his contempt petition, petitioner-advocate Brajesh Singh has challenged the appointment of acting DGPs in the two states. The petition states that successive appointments of acting DGP in U.P. is in complete violation of the apex courts orders.

The official said the names of several IPS officers are under consideration for the post. He said the state government, in communication from the Union government and other stakeholders, including the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the department of personnel and training (DoPT), will soon decide on the next DGP.

Another senior police official said Mukul Goel, who continued as DG (civil defence) after his removal from the DGPs post, is the senior-most IPS officer of the 1987-batch and his superannuation is scheduled in February 2024. The official said that three 1988-batch IPS officers -- Anand Kumar, Vijaya Kumar, and Safi Ahsan Rizvi -- are also in this list.

As the state government removed Goel from the DGPs post earlier, it is unlikely that he would get another chance, the official said. In place of Goel, the state government may prefer Anand Kumar, whose retirement is due in April 2024, and Vijaya Kumar, whose retirement is in January 2024, he said.

The official further said that other contenders include -- 1989-batch IPS officers Safi Ahsan Rizvi, who is serving in the ministry of home affairs for many years; Ashish Gupta, who was kept on waiting since he returned from central deputation nearly six months ago; Aditya Mishra and PV Ramasastry, who are currently on central deputation. All these four contenders have more than two years of service period left.
PRAYAGRAJ A woman was allegedly shot dead by her fiancee on suspicion of having an affair with another man. The incident took place at Sangapatti village under Patti police station of Prayagraj district on Wednesday morning. An FIR has been lodged against the accused on the complaint of Chandrabhan Singh, the womans father, said police. For Representation Only (HT Photo)

A resident of Sangapatti village, Karishma (20) was engaged to get married to Rakesh (aka Rinku) of Katra Indrakunwar locality in Kotwali area. Their marriage was to take place on June 25. However, on Tuesday night, Rinku called Karishma outside her house while other members of the family were asleep. In the wee hours, Rinku took Karishma to the back side of her house and shot her in the chest.

When Karishmas mother Draupadi woke up around 5 am, she found her daughter missing. Later, Karishmas body was found lying behind the house with a bullet wound in her chest. Other family members and locals also reached the spot and found a country-made pistol and an empty cartridge close to the crime scene.

Circle Officer Patti Dilip Singh and SHO Nandlal Singh reached the spot and took the body into custody. An hour later, police learnt that Karishmas fiancee Rinku had jumped into Gujri river, which flows close from the incident spot. Rinku was somehow rescued by locals and admitted to Raniganj CHC. Later, police took Rinku into custody after Karishmas kin accused him of murder.

Karishmas father Chandrabhan alleged that Rinku used to argue with her over her alleged affair with another man. SP Pratapgarh Satpal Antil said prima facie it appears that the woman was killed by her fiancee.

Woman assaulted by neighbours over reaping of field, dies

In yet another crime reported from the region, a 40-year-old woman, who was assaulted and injured by her neighbours over reaping of fields, died while undergoing treatment on Wednesday in Pratapgarh. An FIR has been lodged in this connection and body has been sent for autopsy, said police.

A resident of Peeng village under Maheshganj police station, Kanchan Devi had gone to fields for reaping the crops on Tuesday where her neighbours assaulted her with a stick. Kanchans daughters rushed her to the CHC where doctors referred her to SRN hospital in Prayagraj. However, Kanchan succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday. SHO Pramod Singh said that efforts were on to trace and arrest the culprits.
A 14-year-old ailing boy from Maharashtras Sangli district died allegedly after he was severely beaten up by a witch doctor, who claimed that the teenager was possessed, an official said on Tuesday. Aryan Deepak Landge, who lived in Kavathe Mahankal of the district, died of injuries on May 20. (Representational Photo (Getty Images/iStockphoto) )

Aryan Deepak Landge, who lived in Kavathe Mahankal of the district, died of injuries on May 20 but the incident came to light after anti-superstition activists approached the police, he said.

Also Read | Teen snatcher flees police custody: 3 cops facing departmental inquiry

As per the complaint by activists from Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, an organisation that works towards eradicating superstitions and blind faith, Landge had a fever for many days and there was no relief despite treatment. His family took him to a mantrik (witch doctor), Appasaheb Kamble, at Shirgur in neighbouring Karnataka, the official said.

Kamble claimed that the boy was possessed by a "demon" and he would need to "drive" it away by beating up Landge. However, the boy sustained serious injuries due to the beating, prompting his family to rush him to a hospital in Miraj in Sangli district, about 40 km from Shirgur. He died during treatment, the official said.

Also Read | Teenage girl killed in PuneMumbai expressway mishap

After learning about Landges death, activists from Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti met his family members and then assistant police inspector Jitendra Shahane at Kavathe Mahankal police station to lodge a complaint.

As there is no anti-superstition legislation in Karnataka, the official said, police registered a Zero FIR under Indian Penal Code section 304 (causing death by negligence) against the witch doctor. A Zero FIR (first information report) allows any police to accept a complaint and forward it to the appropriate station for action. The case will now be probed by the Karnataka police, he added.

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President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday urged the Centre and the higher judiciary to chalk out ways and make rules to ensure real justice is granted to people as favourable judicial orders do not always guarantee their implementation and going in contempt for non-compliance cant be the way out as the judicial proceedings are time-taking. President Droupadi Murmu is received by Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan and chief minister Hemant Soren upon her arrival at Ranchi airport on Wednesday. (ANI)

Murmu, who inaugurated the new building of the Jharkhand High Court in state capital Ranchi, was addressing a gathering which included chief justice of India DY Chandrachud, union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Governor CP Radhakrishnan, chief minister Hemant Soren, besides serving and former judges of Jharkhand high court.

She also stressed assimilation of regional languages in the judicial system in order to make justice more accessible.

The high courts and the Supreme Court pronounce several verdicts. The victorious goes home happy and dancing as getting judicial orders are a long-drawn battle of several years. However, their happiness is short-lived. I have had personal experience in my village when people would come with complaints that they did not get the desired justice, said Murmu.

Can filing a contempt case be the way out? People are worried because that could mean another round of judicial proceedings that could last several years. I dont know how we can make that work and if we can make any rule for it. The CJI and the union law minister are here. It is your responsibility to see if we can make rules for ensuring real justice, she said.

The President congratulated CJI Chandrachud for delivering his speech in Hindi. I am myself speaking in English when I am pushing for regional languages. I congratulate the CJI for speaking in Hindi. I hope that would encourage other judges as well, she said.

Citing the example of translation of around 6,000 Supreme Court verdicts in Hindi, CJI too laid stress on inclusion of regional languages, besides underlining the need to strengthen the lower judiciary in order to make the justice delivery system more inclusive and accessible.

Its the responsibility of the Supreme Court and high courts to strengthen the lower judiciary. We give a sense of subordination when it comes to district courts. But we need to treat the district courts as equal partners, said Chandrachud.

Committing all required support to the judiciary, the union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said while several new initiatives are being undertaken, the country faces a two-pronged challenge in justice delivery  more usage of regional languages and access to justice.

The President had earlier raised the concern about poor undertrials and inmates languishing in jails. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman this year made budgetary provisions to help the poor convicts pay their fines, said Meghwal.

CM Soren bats for ST reservation in judicial service

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Hemant Soren underlined the negligible presence of scheduled tribes (ST) in the higher judiciary and pushed for reservation for them in the superior judicial service.

I want to bring into your notice the negligible representation of tribals in the superior judicial service in Jharkhand, which is a matter of concern. There is no provision of reservation in the recruitment process for this service. Since judges in the high court are appointed through this service, the condition in the high court remains same. Therefore, I would urge that reservation provision be made in the recruitment process for higher judiciary in this tribal-dominated state, the chief minister said.

Underlining the cost of uplifting the infrastructure of the higher judiciary, Soren also urged the Centre to initiate a centrally-sponsored scheme for higher judiciary as it does for the subordinate judiciary.

If we include the cost of land in making this new complex of the high court, it could add up to 1,000 crore (including the construction cost of around 600 crore). I urge the Centre to run a scheme for upliftment of infrastructure of higher judiciary as well, Soren said.

The new high court building inaugurated on Wednesday has come up on a sprawling 165 acre plot. While the court complex has come up on 72 acres, the rest of the land would be used for construction of residence of the judicial officers. The new complex, which is a green building, boasts of 25 air-conditioned court rooms, around 540 chambers for senior advocates, a dedicated 2MW solar plant, parking space of around 2,000 cars, library with around 5 lakh books for the judges, besides dedicated water and sewage treatment plants.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vishal Kant Vishal Kant works as an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times. He tracks developments in Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi government. Vishal has spent about a decade covering the city politics and governance, besides writing on Delhis civic issues, urban transport and infrastructure. ...view detail
Indias new Parliament is going to open on a controversial note. On Wednesday, 19 Opposition parties issued a joint statement, saying they will stay away from the inauguration ceremony on May 28 because they believe the President, as the head of the State, should be the one presiding over the ceremony, not Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. These 19 outfits  which control 11 states  said that the decision to inaugurate the Parliament without the presence of the President insulted her office and violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution. In response, the Union government said the event is a historic occasion that should not be vitiated by politics. PREMIUM Indias Parliament serves as the nerve centre of the largest democracy in the world. The inauguration of a new Parliament building, therefore, should ideally have all stakeholders on board. (ANI)

Beyond the immediate circumstances of the ceremony, the joint statement also hinted at underlying reasons that are prying apart the parliamentary compact and creating a trust deficit between the government and the Opposition  the continued disruption of Parliament. The government believes Opposition parties dont respect its democratic mandate and disrupt proceedings on a whim, and the Opposition thinks the government is ramrodding legislation through Parliament based on its numerical superiority. To move forward, both sides will have to create a compact on structural reforms in Parliament, including carving out more dedicated time to raise issues. For the Opposition, this is yet another test of how many parties are willing to do business with the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is important given that a battle is brewing over the Centres controversial ordinance to gain control over Delhis bureaucracy, and every member will be crucial if the bill comes to a vote, especially in the Upper House where parties such as the YSR Congress and Biju Janata Dal (which havent signed the statement) hold the balance. For the government, it is a test of whether it is able to better manage House proceedings and prevent more washouts.

Indias Parliament serves as the nerve centre of the largest democracy in the world. The inauguration of a new Parliament building, therefore, should ideally have all stakeholders on board. The unseemly standoff indicates that even as parliamentary functions move from the 96-year-old colonial building to a swankier and better-equipped structure, so does the acrimony. And that it will take much more effort from both sides to bridge this trust deficit and create a conducive environment for debate where ordinary citizens can truly be proud of their new Parliament.
The Bandai Namco Official Pop-Up Store in Mumbai is reaching its final days, making it a must-visit destination for anime fans. Since its opening on May 1st, the store has been a hub for enthusiasts, offering a wide range of official merchandise from popular Japanese anime shows. With its closing date set for May 31st, time is running out to experience the excitement and grab official merchandise of your favorite anime shows. Last chance to visit the Bandai Namco Pop-Up Store in Mumbai! Get official anime merchandise before it closes on May 31st.

What all can you find at the Bandai Namco Pop-Up store in Mumbai?

Located on the second floor of Airspace in Nexus Seawoods Mall, the Bandai Namco Pop-Up Store is a haven for anime enthusiasts. Here, you can explore a diverse selection of officially licensed anime figurines featuring beloved characters from popular titles such as Naruto, One Piece, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, and Dragon Ball. The meticulously crafted figurines are a testament to the attention to detail and quality that Bandai Namco is known for.

One of the highlights of the store is the fascinating Gashapon vending machines. With a sense of anticipation, you can insert tokens, turn the handle, and unveil a surprise anime item. It's like embarking on a thrilling adventure, never knowing what delightful treasure you'll discover.

Don't forget to take advantage of the special photo spot, where you can strike a pose alongside iconic backdrops from popular anime series. Capture the magic of the moment and create memories that will transport you back to your favorite anime worlds.

What led Bandai Namco to open a Pop-Up Store in India?

According to officials, Bandai Namco's decision to establish their first pop-up store in Mumbai was fueled by the overwhelming response they received at the MUMBAI COMIC CON earlier this year. Witnessing the passion and enthusiasm of Indian fans, the company recognized the need to provide genuine merchandise in a market flooded with counterfeit items. This initiative is a testament to Bandai Namco's commitment to satisfying the long-standing desires of anime lovers in India.

What is the price range of the figurines available at the Bandai Namco pop-up store in Mumbai?

The unique offerings at the Bandai Namco pop-up store in Mumbai are truly something to behold. Their merchandise range includes Gashapon capsules priced between 500 to 1,000 rupees each. These vending machine-dispensed capsule toys are a delightful surprise for collectors. Additionally, the store showcases a diverse selection of figurines, ranging from small to large sizes, priced between 899 to 6,999 rupees.

Also Read | The ultimate guide to collecting anime merchandise

In an exclusive interview, Bandai Namco officials revealed their plans to hold a fan meet-up in the last week of May before the store closes its doors. This event will provide an incredible opportunity for fans to gather, discuss their favorite anime, exchange goods, and make new friends. It promises to be an unforgettable experience, and Bandai Namco hopes to continue hosting fan meetings in the future.

The Bandai Namco Official Pop-Up Store in Mumbai is nearing its closure, making it an urgent destination for Indian anime fans seeking official merchandise. This limited-time event offers a chance to obtain genuine collectibles and celebrate the captivating world of Japanese animation.
Aditi Rao Hydari returned to the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, dazzling in a cool blue gown on the French Riviera. She shared the pictures of her latest photoshoot on Instagram where colleagues and fans commented that she looked stunning in the Oscar de la Renta gown. The actor was making her second trip to Cannes, after making her debut last year with L'Oreal Paris. (Also read: Aditi Rao Hydari shares sweet birthday wish for rumoured boyfriend Siddharth: 'Be magical, be you' Watch) Aditi Rao Hydari unveiled her first outfit from Cannes this year.

First look from Cannes

On Instagram, Aditi posted four photographs from the first shoot at Cannes this year. She wrote, "Nice to meet you again Cannes (blue heart emoji) #walkyourworth #cannes2023 @lorealparis." In the first picture, Aditi is sitting on the cobbled street in the 'duck egg' blue flared strapless Oscar de la Renta gown. She did not wear shoes for this photo. In the second photo, the actor shows off her cuffed diamond earrings by Tuula Jewellery. In the next two photos, the actor can be seen walking along the small quaint streets of the French seaside town.

Friends and fans dropped heart eyes and red heart emojis on Aditi's post. Stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania commented, 'Beauty' and added a blue diamond, while Shweta Tripathi Sharma wrote, "Stunninggggg." Sophie Choudry added, "Lovely adu." One fan shared blue heart emojis and wrote, "Killed it!" While another said, "best look at Cannes."

Memories of last year

Last year, when she walked the red carpet for the first time, Aditi had spoken about the pressure of making her debut at Cannes. She told Film Companion in an interview, "[Sabyasachi] was chatting with me and I was like...You know I am a tiny person, now I cannot compete with like all the giraffes around me, clarifying that she means giraffe in a good way. She had added, I am an actor and I am a tiny person and its fine. I am okay with it you know. So I have to be comfortable with who I am and how I present myself. Yeah so I am going to attempt it.

Aditi was recently seen as Anarkali in the Zee5 series Taj: Divided by Blood. She also appeared as Sumitra Kumari in the Prime Video series Jubilee. Later this year, she will be a part of the ensemble cast in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's series Heeramandi.

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Nawazuddin Siddiqui had said in a recent interview that nobody in the villages is ever depressed and that city-dwellers 'glorify their emotions'. The actor's remarks on depression faced widespread criticism on social media. Now, actor Gulshan Devaiah has tweeted about Nawazuddin's take on mental health, and called it 'Dhritarashtra and Gandhari syndrome'. Also read: Twitter reacts as Nawazuddin Siddiqui calls depression an urban concept' Gulshan Devaiah tweeted about Nawazuddin Siddiqui's take on mental health.

The actor tweeted that although he had immense respect for Nawazuddin because of 'his craft', he could not possibly take his recent statement about mental health seriously. Gulshan Devaiah said 'alcoholism or addictions' exist in rural communities and they are mental illnesses. He added 'no addict indulges in addiction' out of love, the 'real problem' is the trauma they face.

Gulshan had shared a video of Nawazuddin from an interview with NDTV, where he explained his recent remark about depression and mental health, and called it 'his experience'.

Gulshan tweeted on Wednesday, "Dhritarashtra and Gandhari syndrome. I immensely respect the man for his craft, but Id not take him seriously on this issue. If you even just look at alcoholism or addictions, they exist in rural communities and thats mental illness. No addict indulges in addiction because they love it. The addiction is a symptom, the real problem is the trauma they cant heal."

The actor was referring to Gandhari from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, who was the wife of Dhritarashtra, the blind king of Hastinapura. As per Mahabharata, it is believed that she wore a blindfold in order to live like her blind husband.

When a Twitter user asked Gulshan, If I may ask you what is Dhritarashtra and Gandhari syndrome?, the actor tweeted in response, Some are blind and others blindfolded. If they dont see, it dont exist.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui slammed for remarks on depression

Nawazuddin Siddiqui was criticised after he had said in a recent interview that depression is an urban issue and that rural India doesn't suffer from mental illnesses. He also said that pavement dwellers in a city don't struggle with depression either.

Talking to Mashable India, Nawazuddin had recently said depression is an alien concept for people living in villages. He said, "I come from a place where, if I would tell my father that I am feeling depressed, he would give me one tight slap Depression waha nahi tha, kisi ko bhi nahi hota waha depression, sab khush hai (No one gets depression in villages, everyone is happy there). But I learnt about anxiety, depression, bipolar after coming to the city.

Many on Twitter, slammed the actor for his 'ignorant' remark on depression, others said his comments highlighted the need for greater education on mental health. Filmmaker Lakshmi Iyer had tweeted, "Mental health conditions don't discriminate and neither should we. @Nawazuddin_S, your voice has reach for right and wrong both. Depression is REAL for all. While there are many ways to take care of physical health we still need so much more education with regard to mental health. Depression isn't determined based on age, gender, background, profession, ethnicity or domicile..."

She further tweeted, "His statement  The actor called depression an urban concept and stated that people glorify their emotions in the cities. Nawazuddin stated that no one is diagnosed with depression in his village and that he got to know about mental health-related subjects like anxiety and depression and bipolar disorder, after coming to the city."

Nawazuddin Siddiqui will next be seen in Jogira Sara Ra Ra with Neha Sharma.

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An evening in Haridwar

Kangana took to her Instagram to share a reel which saw her enjoying the calm and serene atmosphere of Haridwar. Composed of candid moments, the small clip saw Kangana sit near the Ganga river and smile at the camera. She also touched the water of the Ganges and sat by the ghat. Kangana looked radiant in traditional wear, pairing a printed black salwar with a blue dupatta. She posted the reel with a small caption, which read: "An evening in Haridwar. (heart emoticon)"

Fan reactions

Fans reacted to the reel posted by the actor and reacted to the comments. "Looking so so so beautiful," said one fan. Another wrote, "Wow queen (red heart emoticons)" A comment also read, "Can't wait to see you in Emergency." referring to her upcoming directorial venture where she essays the role of the former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi.

Snippets from Kangana's Haridwar trip

Earlier this month, Kangana had visited Haridwar and had shared her glimpses from her trip as she took part in Ganga Aarti. The actor shared a picture on her Instagram Stories where she wrote that she received a rudraksh thread from a monk. She wrote, "Maharaj ji ne mujhe rudraksh maala bhet ki (Maharaj ji gifted me rudraksh neckpiece)..." Kangana was also seen praying inside a temple as she wore a grey shawl over her saree.

Kangana will be next seen in Chandramukhi 2, which is helmed by P Vasu. In the film, Kangana will portray the role of a dancer in the king's court, who was known for her beauty and dance skills. Kangana will also be seen in the upcoming period drama film Emergency, which also marks her first solo directorial film. She will also be seen in Tejas in which she will be seen portraying the role of an Indian Air Force pilot. Kangana also has Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda, and The Incarnation: Sita in the pipeline.

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Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra recently returned back to Mumbai after their vacation in Japan. But it seems that Kiara is still not in the mood to get back to work as she shared an unseen throwback picture from the trip on her Instagram Stories. (Also read: Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani walk hand-in-hand as they return from their Japan vacation. Watch) Kiara Advani took to her Instagram Stories to share an unseen picture from her vacation.

Kiara's Instagram Story

Kiara shared a beautiful picture with Sidharth Malhotra from her vacation on her Instagram Stories. They are seen walking hand-in-hand in a lane that was covered with bright orange poles of some sort, making the background look straight out of a fairytale. Kiara captioned the Instagram Story with, "Take me back already (orange heart emoticon)." Although neither of their faces were visible, Kiara was seen in a pink jumpsuit while Sidharth wore an all-blue combo of jacket and pants.

Kiara Advani shared a vacation picture from Japan on her Instagram Story.

Kiara and Sidharth's return

On Tuesday, the Shershaah couple were spotted together as they returned from their Japan vacation at the Mumbai airport. In the video captured by a paparazzo account that was soon posted on Instagram, Sidharth and Kiara were spotted arriving at the airport holding hands.

Sidharth and Kiara's love story

Kiara and Sidharth fell in love during the shooting of their 2021 film Shershaah, which was a biopic that told the real-life story of late Kargil war hero and Param Vir Chakra-awardee Captain Vikram Batra. Kiara and Sidharth married in a private ceremony earlier this year in Rajasthan. Kiara wore a pink Manish Malhotra lehenga, while Sidharth opted for an ivory sherwani by the same designer for their wedding. They also hosted a separate reception in Mumbai some days after their wedding where a number of Bollywood celebrities including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, and Kajol were in attendance.

Kiara will be next seen in Satyaprem Ki Katha, the teaser of which she recently shared on her Instagram. The film marks her second collaboration with actor Kartik Aaryan after their Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 turned out to be one of the biggest box-office successes of last year. The short clip in the teaser introduced both their characters in the romantic drama. Helmed by Sameer Vidhwans, and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film is all set to hit the theatres on June 29, 2023.

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In his latest film Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, Manoj Bajpayee plays a lawyer who takes a sensitive legal battle in court to protect the rights of a young woman. During the promotions for the project, the actor was asked about the current state of the industry and he said that the films weren't connecting anymore as the people in the industry are looking for an easy mantra to success. He believed if the story and script were given adequate time to develop, then everything else would fall into place. Also read: Manoj Bajpayee on why he respects Shah Rukh Khan: 'Saw him lose entire family at young age, then create his own space' Manoj Bajpayee in a still from Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai.

This is the actor's latest project on OTT after the films Silence Can You Hear It?, Dial 100 and Gulmohar. In the last few years, he has also headlined the Prime Video series The Family Man and been a part of the Netflix anthology Ray. The actor is known for choosing projects that he personally believes in and most of them are critically acclaimed.

In an interview with GOODTIMES, Manoj was asked about how films were not doing well, even on OTT. He explained, "We keep wondering, why aren't films working? But the reason is right within you. We keep trying to find a mantra for everything. We keep looking for the thing that will make us successful. It doesn't work like that. Just be true to the job. It's most important that we pay attention to the story. It's important that we spend time on writing a good script. [There were] 18 drafts of Bandaa. It takes time. For Gulmohar, it took them three years. I really find it surprising how [people keep churning stuff out]."

He had also added, "When you start churning [things], definitely mediocrity will emerge. When you start to look for a formula to any success, then mediocrity will come. That means you are not being true to your creative self. You are trying to find that tablet, and you think you got that tablet. It never happens that way."

The actor also has the films Soup, Dispatch and Joram lined up for release this year. Manoj also shared that the third season of The Family Man is expected to begin shooting late this year.

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Actor Parineeti Chopra and Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha got engaged on May 13. The ceremony was held in Kapurthala House in New Delhi with the couple's closest friends and family in attendance, including Priyanka Chopra. For the occasion, Parineeti and Raghav's wedding designer gave them the most Instagrammable engagement decor. On Wednesday, the designer's company shared more inside pictures of Parineeti and Raghav's beautiful engagement venue. Also read: Parineeti Chopra returns to Mumbai after engagement with Raghav Chadha Parineeti Chopra got engaged to Raghav Chadha in Delhi earlier in May.

Parineeti and Raghav's engagement guest list was scaled down to just close family members and friends, but the same cannot be said about the decor though. For the event, the venue  Kapurthala House  served as the perfect backdrop, it was decorated lavishly, but with a homely appeal.

From the styling of the creepers on the old columns of the beautiful white building to a low-seating so friends and family could lounge and be comfortable, new photos shared by The Wedding Design Company give more insight into the thoughtful decor Parineeti and Raghav chose for their special day.

Parineeti and Raghav's decor brief was simple

Founded in 2005 by Vandana Mohan, The Wedding Design Company, has envisioned unforgettable weddings all around the world, including Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh's stunning Lake Como nuptials. In a recent Instagram post, Vandana dished details about Parineeti and Raghav's engagement decor.

She said, The styling for this special day was done like I would do up corners of my home. It had to be easy, yet curated, with a thought behind it. Not just some things put together (sometimes we do that to make a pretty picture). This was their (Parineeti and Raghav's) brief."

Romantic details were added to the decor

There were lots and lots of vases, potted plants, books. White flowers with greenery added that touch of romance to the venue. There was also a fountain that was used as a centre-point. Vandana said," The sound of water added to the calm and serenity we wanted to create."

Vandana added that although frames usually have personal pictures of the couple, Parineeti and Raghav did not want the decor to be about them, so the designer chose images of places close to their heart. She said, London was where they met, and Punjab that truly has their heart.

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Actor Priyanka Chopra has opened up about an incident in Bollywood when a filmmaker had said that he 'needed to see her underwear'. In a new interview, Priyanka recalled that she was shooting for a film in which the actor played the role of an undercover. Speaking about the comment, Priyanka called it a dehumanizing moment adding that she had walked out of the film. (Also Read | Priyanka Chopra stuns in risque outfits from new magazine photoshoot in California) Priyanka essayed her first villainous role in Akshay Kumars Aitraaz (2004).

Priyanka made her acting debut with the Tamil film Thamizhan (2002) and her first Bollywood film was The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003). She also starred in Andaaz (2003), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi and Aitraaz (2004), Don (2006), Fashion (2008), Barfi (2012), Mary Kom (2014), Bajirao Mastani (2015), The Sky Is Pink (2019) and The White Tiger (2021) among others. She has also appeared in Hollywood films such as Baywatch (2017), Isn't It Romantic (2019), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021).

In an interview with The Zoe Report, Priyanka said, "This may have been 2002 or 03. Im undercover, Im seducing the guy  obviously, thats what girls do when theyre undercover. But Im seducing the guy and you have to take off one piece of clothing [at a time]. I wanted to layer up. The filmmaker was like, No, I need to see her underwear. Otherwise, why is anybody coming to watch this movie?

She added, He didnt say it to me. He said it to the stylist in front of me. It was such a dehumanising moment. It was a feeling of, Im nothing else outside of how I can be used, my art is not important, what I contribute is not important. After working for two days, she said that she exited the movie. Her father Ashok Chopra asked her to pay back the production, with her money, for what they had spent. Speaking about the director, Priyanka also said that she 'just couldnt look at him every day'.

Currently, Priyanka stars in Citadel, created by The Russo Brothers. The action-packed show revolves around two elite agents Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka) of the global spy agency Citadel. Her last film was James C Strouse's Love Again with Sam Heughan. She will now be seen with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif in Farhan Akhtar's Jee Le Zaraa. The actor also has Heads of State with John Cena and Idris Elba in the pipeline.

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Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who was seen with Natasha Poonawalla at a restuarant in London last year, was praised by her in a new Instagram post. Photos of the two from a party at Cannes Film Festival 2023 have also surfaced online. Also read: Priyanka Chopra shares glimpse into her glamorous night out in London with Natasha Poonawalla Natasha Poonawalla and Tobey Maguire were seen together at Cannes Film Festival 2023.

Natasha, philanthropist and entrepreneur, is the wife of Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India. She recently attended the premiere of Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. She also posed with Tobey Maguire and others on a yacht ahead of the premiere.

On Tuesday, Natasha took took to Instagram to share photos of herself from Cannes 2023, and wrote, Out with the homies for Leo and Martin Scorseses masterpiece Killers of the Flower Moon one of the best performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and his co-stars. Thank you for including me in this epic moment and for my chat with the genius Martin Scorsese.

Natasha Poonawalla mingles with Hollywood elite at Cannes

Natasha, who was dressed in a white gown and striking gold jewellery, posed with Tobey, known for films such as Spider-Man (2002). Dressed in formal looks, Natasha, Tobey and their friends, stood on a yacht ahead of making their way to the red carpet premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon.

Natasha was seen chatting with legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese as they sat together at a party in another photo she posted. She was dressed in black. Natasha also shared some solo photos of herself from her Cannes 2023 outing, along with a clip of Leonardo smiling and pointing towards Martin from the premiere as their film received a standing ovation.

Natasha also hung out with Irina Shayk, Russian model and television personality. She shared Irina's photo in her Instagram post. Some photos of Natasha with Leonardo from Cannes 2023 were also shared on a fan page on Twitter. While the actor was dressed in black and also wore a face mask, Natasha was spotted in a shimmery white outfit.

When Natasha made headlines for pics with Leonardo

In February 2022, photos of Natasha and Leonardo were widely shared online as the duo sat together near a London restaurant's window. As per a report in Daily Mail at the time, they were in London for a friend's wedding, which was also attended by supermodel Naomi Campbell and actor Orlando Bloom. The wedding bash was for British Vogue editor Edward Enninful and his long-term partner Alec Maxwell.

Natasha and Adar Poonawalla married back in 2006 and share two kids together named Darius and Cyrus. Natasha is known for her unique fashion choices and is also friends with some of the biggest names in Bollywood. From partying with Priyanka Chopra in London to stepping out with Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Malaika Arora and other celebs, Natasha often joins her famous friends at holidays and get-togethers.

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Jonathan Majors, acclaimed for his roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as "He Who Remains" and Kang the Conqueror, is currently in a precarious situation. Following his universally praised performances in 'Loki' and 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania', Marvel Studios had planned to centre Phase 6 around Majors' character Kang. However, an unexpected turn of events involving assault charges against Majors has thrown these plans into question. Despite the ongoing legal issues, the studio has not yet decided on its course of action and Majors continues to be a part of the MCU's future, even as speculation and uncertainty abound. (ALSO READ | 'I'm surprised (after) what happened in Infinity War': Zoe Saldana stunned by Gamora's arrival in latest Guardians) Jonathan Majors' portrayal of Kang in "Quantumania" has received positive feedback.(Marvel Studios)

MCU in wait-and-watch mode?

Joanna Robinson, writer and author of the upcoming book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios said in a podcast interview - The Ringer's The Big Picture podcast, I was told by someone who works for Marvel, it was not the plan to make Kang the center of everything until they saw the dailies from 'Quantumania' and after his performance in 'Loki,' which was so strong they were like, 'This is it.

Expressing her insights on the situation, she said, "We know this is a huge problem for them that they are facing and grappling with right now... I would argue more than Downey as Iron Man, more than Brolin as Thanos, that hanging everything on this guy is then going to pop up in all of their properties leading up to something called 'The Kang Dynasty' has put them in a very unusual position... We do not know what they are going to do. Ive heard conflicting stories about they are going to replace him, theyre not even considering replacing him etc etc. But its just one more thing".

ALSO READ | Meet Phyla-Vell: The new Marvel superhero in Guardians of the Galaxy

The Allegations

Jonathan Majors, acclaimed actor and prominent figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is currently facing legal turmoil due to serious assault and harassment charges. Majors' career is hanging in the balance after allegations of domestic violence surfaced in March 2023. On March 25, the police were alerted by a distress call from Majors' girlfriend, who claimed she had been assaulted. The woman suffered minor injuries to her head and neck and was hospitalised in stable condition. Majors was charged with assault and aggravated harassment and was subsequently released on his own recognisance.

ALSO READ: If I was ever to do another one, Chris Hemsworth's future as Thor in the MCU hangs in the balance

The Defence

Priya Chaudhry, Majors' lawyer, countered these allegations by stating that the woman was experiencing an emotional crisis during the incident. Chaudhry claims to possess video footage from the vehicle where the altercation occurred, as well as written statements from the woman recanting her allegations. Despite these efforts, Majors has suffered professional setbacks due to these charges. The U.S. Army suspended its TV ad campaign featuring Majors due to concerns about the allegations. Moreover, on April 18, Majors was dropped by his publicist and manager, citing the allegations as their reason.

Implications for Majors' Career

Before these charges, Majors had been garnering significant praise for his role in "Magazine Dreams," which was a critical favourite at this year's Sundance Film Festival. He had also completed shooting for the second season of "Loki" for Disney+, and was scheduled to appear in at least three upcoming Marvel films through 2025. There is currently no talk of recasting his role, but sources indicate that the studio is adopting a "wait-and-see" approach.

Effect on the MCU

These charges pose a potential disruption to Majors' role as Kang the Conqueror in the MCU. His character was slated to play a significant part in Phase 6 of the MCU, with even the next Avengers film centred around Kang, titled "The Kang Dynasty". These plans are now uncertain due to Majors' legal issues. This situation is further highlighted by the absence of Majors in the latest trailer for the second season of "Loki," which is scheduled for release in October, despite his character being a focal point at the end of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania".

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Bravo TV host and producer, Andy Cohen, made a visit to San Francisco last week to discuss his latest book, "The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up." However, it seemed that the audience was more interested in dishing about their favorite reality TV guilty pleasure, "Vanderpump Rules." NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 04: Andy Cohen attends Variety's 2023 Power of Women event at The Grill on April 04, 2023 in New York City. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images/AFP (Getty Images via AFP)

Appearing at the Sydney Goldstein Theater as part of a City Arts & Lectures special event, Cohen found himself fielding questions about the drama-filled cheating scandal known as #Scandoval, which had just captivated viewers nationwide with its explosive season finale. The predominantly female audience erupted in cheers as Cohen addressed the scandal, as well as his experiences producing the "Real Housewives" franchises and hosting "Watch What Happens Live" and CNN's "New Year's Eve Live."

Despite the event being centered around his new memoir, Cohen didn't seem bothered by the fact that the discussion focused more on his reality TV ventures than his book. Fans were eager to hear insider tidbits and anecdotes from his time in the reality TV world, and Cohen gladly obliged. It was clear that the allure of the Bravo universe was too enticing for the audience to resist.

One burning question on the minds of local fans was whether there would ever be a "Real Housewives of San Francisco." Cohen revealed that the idea had been considered in the past, but casting efforts didn't yield the right mix of personalities. He assured the crowd that with ten existing franchises, he felt they had enough for now, prompting some playful pleas from the audience to make it eleven.

Amidst the buzz, one audience member raised another intriguing rumor: the possibility of an all-male spinoff version of the "Housewives" franchise. The suggestion of "Real House Husbands of San Francisco" was met with enthusiasm from the crowd. However, Cohen playfully dismissed the idea, joking that men were too boring for such a show. He cited a previous attempt with the "House Husbands of Orange County" as less than captivating.

Throughout the evening, Cohen appeared relaxed and in high spirits, expressing gratitude to the audience for their support. But it was a gift from a fan that truly brought a gleeful response from the charismatic host. A generous audience member presented Cohen with a giant box of cannabis, which he enthusiastically accepted on stage. Later, he proudly showcased the gift on his Instagram stories, expressing his love for San Francisco and its cannabis-loving community.

Despite the focus veering away from his new book, it was evident that Andy Cohen's infectious personality and connection to the world of reality TV had left a lasting impression on the fans in attendance. As the event marked the end of his in-person book tour, the night was filled with laughter, excitement, and a shared appreciation for the captivating world of "Vanderpump Rules" and the "Real Housewives."
Ajith Kumar recently travelled across the length and breadth of the country as part of his biking expedition. Apart from India, he has also biked around Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Europe. As he gears up for the next leg of his bike tour in November, Ajith surprised his fellow rider Sugat Satpathy by gifting him a superbike worth 12.5 lakh. Sugat had helped organise Ajiths recent Nepal tour and as a token of gratitude, the actor gifted him a bike. Also read: Ajith Kumar dons chef's hat at a restaurant in Nepal, smiles as he poses with fans. Watch Ajith Kumar during a recent biking trip.

Earlier this month, Ajith completed his India leg of the bike tour. He had also travelled across Nepal and Bhutan. Sugat Satpathy took to Instagram on Tuesday to reveal that he had organised a bike tour for Ajith twice. He was recently gifted a BMW superbike worth 12.5 lakh by the actor.

Ajith didn't think twice before gifting the bike

He wrote, During the end of the same year [2022], I got super lucky. I would say privileged to get in touch with Mr Ajith Kumar, who is one of the biggest super star of Tamil movie industry. Also an avid biker, who rides a Adventure bike with pure class. Later, I organised a complete North-east tour for him and was riding with him on my trustworthy years old Duke 390. Following the ride, he promised of doing one more tour of Nepal n Bhutan with me (part of his world tour plan). Which we completed Recently on 6th of May. Throughout the ride, we created many unforgettable memories, rode incredible miles, witnessed many beautiful sunsets and sunrises.(sic).

His post further added, This F850gs right here, means so much to me rather than being just a motorcycle. It is gifted to me by him. YES! IT'S A GIFT. from Anna to me, with lots of love. He didn't think twice. He just wanted me to have this beautiful looking F850GS , capable enough to explore the globe. Words will fall short of the role this person has in my life but yes, we vibe the same tribe. He made me feel more like an elder brother who wishes only and only the best for me and expecting nothing in return. You're the best, Anna.

The starting price of the BMW F850gs is around 12.5 lakh.

Meanwhile, Ajith, who was recenlty seen in Thunivu, will soon commence work on his upcoming Tamil film, Vidaamuyarchi.

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Veteran actor Sarath Babu died on Monday, after being hospitalised for over two weeks, due to multi-organ failure. His funeral took place on Tuesday in Chennai and several film industry celebrities including Rajinikanth attended the event. However, Kamal Haasan didn't attend it. Now, actor Suhasini Mani Ratnam has shared why Kamal couldnt attend Sarath Babus funeral. (Also Read | Rajinikanth says he didn't smoke in front of Sarath Babu out of respect, late actor wanted him to quit) Sarath Babu died on Monday and Kamal Haasan paid him tribute.

Speaking to reporters about Kamals absence, she said, Kamal couldnt make it because he is at Indian 2 shooting. He has his make-up on and he cant step out in that. He just spoke to the family of Sarath Babu. He said not to mistake him."

She also added, "From day 1, he wanted to save Sarath Babu somehow. Both Rajini sir and Kamal sir had told that they would do everything for the treatment of Sarath Babu. Rajini sir attended the funeral. But Kamal apologised for not making it to the event. Remembering Sarath Babu, Suhasini said that he didnt have any bad habits. She also mentioned that they had worked together in 30-40 films.

After Sarath Babus death, Kamal had tweeted, A great actor and a great friend, Sarath Babu, has passed away. The days of acting with him are a shadow in my mind. Introduced by my Gurunath in Tamil. He excelled in many timeless roles. The cinema has lost a good actor. My tribute to him #RIPSarathBabu #SarathBabu. (sic).

Kamal and Sarath Babu were very close and had worked in a few films such as Sagara Sangamam, Sattam, and Idi Katha Kaadu among others.

Rajinikanth, who had worked with Sarath Babu in a few films, attended the funeral. Other celebrities include Suriya, Karthi, Radikaa Sarath Kumar and Sarath Kumar among others.

Sarath Babu died at the age of 71 in a Hyderabad hospital while undergoing treatment for multiple organ failure. His mortal remains were later brought to Chennai and he was cremated at a city crematorium.

In a career spanning over five decades, Sarath Babu acted in over 200 films. He even worked in a few Hindi films. He was recently seen in Pawan Kalyan's Vakeel Saab.

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Actor Pankit Thakker is heartbroken after the sudden death of mode-actor-casting director Aditya Singh Rajput, and contrary to what is being circulated as a reason, Thakker is not ready to believe it is a case of drug overdose. People need to wait for a proper investigation to happen before jumping to conclusions, he urges. Pankit Thakker had interacted with Aditya Singh Rajput on multiple occasions

Rajput, who participated in popular reality show Splitsvilla and detective show Cambala Investigation Agency and featured in movies such as Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara, died on Monday after he allegedly slipped and fell in the bathroom of his Andheri home. As soon as the news of death surfaced, several reports indicated that he died of drug overdose, which were not verified by any official.

It is not right to say that he has passed away because of a drug overdose. He didnt do drugs. The issue has been blown out of proportion. At the moment, police have also not confirmed anything, and there is no confirmation that he died due to drug overdose, Thakker says.

According to Thakker, a proper investigation needs to happen to find out how Rajput died. One needs to verify the facts and know exactly what happened, instead of blowing it out of proportion on social media. I hope the truth comes out soon, and people know what exactly happened. So, that there are happy memories associated with him, instead of a dent on his reputation, he maintains.

The actor says he fails to understand how such a reason has become so viral on the internet. The poor boy has passed away, his parents have to deal with this hard truth and now they have to read all the things being written on social media. People need to be sensitive before putting it out on social media. There is no confirmation at the moment. And one needs to imagine the toll it will take on the people grieving his death -- be it his parents, friends and or the person he was seeing, he notes.

Thakker formed a special bond with Rajput after bumping into him socially, and gradually got to know him as a person.

We meet people so often, that we get to know how a person is, and for sure can say that Aditya didnt do drugs. He has passed away because of something else, which the police will find out. Till then, we should not speculate and believe what is coming online. His reputation is at stake here, he continues, The people will now remember him and his death for its link to drugs, which is yet to be ascertained. Thats because it will stay alive for years to come in the virtual world. People will move on, but those stories will stay.

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Actor Vaibhavi Upadhyaya, who died in Himachal Pradesh on Monday, had shared her last post on Instagram a few weeks ago. She had posted a video on May 6 from her 2019 trip to the state and wrote about being grateful for 'perfect sensory, bodily health'. Several places including Bir, Dharamshala, and Bhattu monastery in Keori were geo-tagged in the video. (Also Read | Who was Vaibhavi Upadhyaya? Know all about the actor) Vaibhavi Upadhyaya shared her final post from Himachal Pradesh on May 6.

Vaibhavi's last Instagram post

The clip on Instagram also featured a picture of Vaibhavi as she looked away from the camera. She wrote, "Let's all stop and just breathe every once in a while" on the photo and added the hashtag--living in the moment. Vaibhavi had also added Hinanaaz's Je Raavi Vich Paani Koi Ni song as the background music.

She had captioned the post, "Just last night in a silent moment of reflection, After Id just finished watching Sound of Metal, I was reminded of the gifts, the blessings, most of us are born with. And how brutally do we take it all for granted. Our perfect vision, hearing, the sense of touch, taste and smell are so basic yet so so crucial and instrumental to lead a perfectly healthy, happy and full life. Yet we seldom realise and feel it, let alone be grateful for it."

Vaibhavi had added, "Then the endless chain of thoughts lead me to remember my most favourite sound on earth, the rustling of leaves, I was always drawn to that sound ever since I was a child, being a city kid I was deprived of the sounds of nature, but our yearly school vacation trip to my mothers native village would bring me these little moments of strange calmness. I couldnt completely comprehend that feeling then, but I started to understand and appreciate it as I grew older. And has now turned into an ever-growing longing."

The actor also wrote, "Coincidentally today while doomscrolling, Instagram popped this reel of my highlights from my 2019 trip to the mountains. And thanks to that I was able to pen this, it wouldve otherwise gone into that chaotic oblivion of starkly varied thoughts and emotions I feel and experience everyday. Blessed are those who wake up with the purest sounds of nature, breathe clean fresh air, have uncomplicated, tiring but stress free routines, living their simple yet grand lives away from the madness we have come to call the new normal."

"Basic is the new Luxury. And on that note I congratulate those who have their perfect sensory and bodily health including myself. It is a reminder to be grateful for the most basic but most crucial gifts of life, OUR HEALTH. Know it, feel it, maintain it, celebrate it. Love and gratitude," concluded her post.

Vaibhavi's funeral

Vaibhavi's last rites were performed on Wednesday in Mumbai. Several celebrities from the television industry including Deven Bhojani, Gautam Rode and JD Majethia among others paid their last respects to the late actor. Vaibhavi, best known for the TV series Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, died in a road accident in Kullu after her car fell into a gorge. The accident occurred when the driver of the car was negotiating a steep curve.

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A joint statement by 19 like-minded opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC, NCP, AAP, RJD, JD-U, National Conference and left parties on Wednesday announced the collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building, calling the event a grave insult and a direct assault on democracy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on Sunday. Opposition leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury and others during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected Karnataka Government at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in in Bengaluru on Saturday. (ANI)

Here's the full text of the joint statement by 19 opposition parties boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building:

The inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response.

The Constitution of India states, in Article 79, that "There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People." The President is not only the Head of State in India, but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugure the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President.

Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct. The new Parliament building has been built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built.

When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight-in letter, in spirit, and in substance-against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India.
Nineteen political parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), on Wednesday issued a joint statement announcing the boycott of the new Parliament buildings opening, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modis move to preside over it sidelining President Droupadi Murmu not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy. An aerial view of the New Parliament. (ANI)

The statement said the inauguration on May 28 is a momentous occasion and they were open to sinking their differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response, the statement said.

It cited Constitutions Article 79 and said the President is not only the Head of State but also an integral part of Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect.

The statement added that Modi decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President.

The statement said undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament.

Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Rashtriya Lok Dal, Indian Muslim League, National Conference, Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are among other parties boycotting the event.

Their statement came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back at the criticism over Modi inaugurating the building. In August 1975, then PM [Prime Minister] Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library. If your [Congress] head of government can inaugurate them, why cant our head of government do the same, said Union minister Hardeep Puri.

The inauguration will take place inside the new Lok Sabha chamber which can accommodate nearly 900 people. It will showcase the modern facilities of the new building likely to start functioning from the monsoon session in July.

The two-hour-long event will include multi-faith prayers.

HT on Tuesday reported that all members of Parliament, chief ministers, judges of the Supreme Court, former President, former vice-president, and former Lok Sabha speakers have been invited to the event, which will start at 12 noon and end by 1.30pm.

The roads inside the Parliament complex have been given a fresh coat of bitumen as part of preparations for the opening. The existing Parliament building will be converted into a museum. It is getting a wash and new lawns have been laid around the new building.

Last week, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla met Modi and invited him to inaugurate the new building. In December 2020, Modi laid the foundation stone for the new building. The work was delayed due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

The current Parliament House was completed in 1927. It has a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 300 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament.

The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber and in that case, 1,280 lawmakers will be able to sit there.

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The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday condemned the decision of the 19 opposition parties, led by the Congress, to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28. This act is not merely disrespectful; it is a blatant affront to the democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation, the statement released by NDA said. On March 30, PM Modi paid an unexpected visit to the newly constructed Parliament building. Accompanied by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, Modi took the opportunity to personally assess the progress and development of the facilities in both houses of parliament;(ANI)

In a statement, leaders of 14 parties of the ruling alliance also implored the opposition parties to reconsider their decision and said the people of India will not forget their egregious insult to our democracy and to their elected representatives if they go ahead with their stand.

Such flagrant disrespect towards this institution betrays not only intellectual bankruptcy but a disturbing contempt for the very essence of democracy. Regrettably, this is not the first instance of such disdain. Over the past nine years, these opposition parties have repeatedly shown scant regard for parliamentary procedures, disrupted sessions, staged walkouts during crucial legislations, and demonstrated an alarming lackadaisical attitude towards their Parliamentary duties. This recent boycott is just another feather in their cap of disregard for democratic processes, the NDA statement said.

As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), TMC, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, have announced their decision to boycott the ceremony.

"The audacity of these opposition parties to preach about parliamentary decency and constitutional values is, in the light of their actions, nothing short of laughable. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds  they boycotted the special GST session presided over by the then President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee; skipped the ceremony when he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, and even extended a late courtesy call to Shri Ramnath Kovind Ji upon his election as President.

It recalled their opposition to her presidential bid as the NDA candidate and said their "disrespect" shown towards her is a new low in political discourse.

Further, the disrespect shown towards our current President, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, is a new low in political discourse. The staunch opposition to her candidature is not just an insult to her but a direct affront to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of our nation, the statement said.

It is painfully apparent that the Opposition shuns Parliament because it represents the will of the people - a will that has repeatedly rejected their antiquated and self-serving politics. Their preference for semi-monarchic governments and family-run parties shows an aversion to vibrant democracy, an ideology incongruent with the ethos of our nation, it added.

According to the Opposition parties, the prime minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself, "completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response".

The signatories to the letter included BJP president JP Nadda, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, NPP leader and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma and Nagaland chief minister and NDPP's Nefu Rio.

Sikkim chief minister and SKM leader Prem Singh Tamang, Haryana deputy chief minister and Jananayak Janata Party leader Dushyant Chautala, RLJP leader and Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, Republican Party leader and Union minister Ramdas Athawale and Apna Dal (Sonelal) leader and Union minister Anupriya Patel are also among the signatories to the letter.

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Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and assured him of support in Parliament over the ordinance brought in by the Centre on the transfers and postings of bureaucrats in the national capital. Addressing a press conference after their meeting in Mumbai, Thackeray hit out at the Centre saying they (the opposition) are coming together to save the country and democracy. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during a press conference, in Mumbai.(PTI)

"I think we should not be called 'opposition' parties in fact they (Centre) should be called 'opposition' since they are against Democracy and Constitution, Uddhav Thackeray added.

The ordinance - issued by the Centre on May 19 just days after a verdict by the Supreme Court upheld the primacy of the city-states elected government over bureaucracy - strengthened the position of the Lieutenant Governor, allowing him to act in sole discretion in deciding matters related to the transfer and posting of bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal during the press conference said, Uddhav Thackeray has promised us that they will support us in the Parliament, and if this bill (ordinance) does not pass in the Parliament then in 2024, the Modi government will not be coming back to power.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal secured the support of Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee against the Centre's ordinance which was brought

Assuring Kejriwal of support, Banerjee said that it will give us a chance to defeat the BJP before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We support Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the fight against the central ordinance... Request all parties not to vote for BJPs law, she added.

(With inputs from ANI)
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Andhra Pradeshs ruling YSR Congress party on Wednesday faulted opposition parties for the decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament complex in the national capital on Sunday. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said his party will attend the historic event (ANI)

In a post on Twitter, YSRCP president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dedicating the grand, majestic and spacious Parliament building to the nation and criticised the decision of 19 opposition parties to stay away from the event.

Also Read: NDA slams 19 Opposition parties boycott Parliament inauguration call

Parliament, being the temple of democracy, reflects our nations soul and belongs to the people of our country and all the political parties. Boycotting such an auspicious event is not in the true spirit of democracy, he said.

Setting aside all political differences, I request that all political parties attend this glorious event. In the true spirit of democracy, my party will attend this historic event, he said

According to a YSRCP leader familiar with the development, Jagan will participate in the NITI Aayog governing council meeting to be held in New Delhi on May 27. There is every possibility that the chief minister will stay back in the national capital to attend the inauguration of the new Parliament complex the following day, he said.

Otherwise, too, YSRCP general secretary and parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy and his parliament colleagues would be attending the event, the YSRCP leader quoted above said.

The YSRCP chiefs statement came hours after 19 opposition parties announced that they will boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament on May 28 because PM Modi was going to preside over the ceremony instead of President Droupadi Murmu. The opposition parties described the prime ministers decision to inaugurate the new Parliament as an assault on democracy. When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the statement issued on Wednesday said.

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Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday took a potshot at 19 opposition parties which have decided to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building, saying they never thought that the construction will be completed so soon. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (HT File Photo)

Sarma also alleged that the Opposition was enacting the drama of boycott to save their face."

So, everything has happened like a bouncer for the Opposition. Just to save their face, they are enacting the drama of boycott... Parliament House will open on the day associated with Veer Savarkar. That might be another reason for them to oppose or boycott the function, news agency ANI quoted the Assam CM as saying.

A total of 19 parties issued a joint statement calling for the boycott of the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building on May 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The statement read, When the soul of democracy has been sucked out Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight - in letter, in spirit, and in substance - against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India.

It added, Murmu 'is not only the Head of State but also an integral part of the Parliament In short, the Parliament cannot function without the president. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her.

As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), the two factions of the Communist Party of India - CPI and CPIM (M), Janata Dal-United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), have decided to boycott the event.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced that Australia will now open a new Consul-General in Bengaluru this month, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India will open a consulate in Brisbane as part of the efforts of the two countries to enhance bilateral ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following a joint press conference at Admiralty House in Sydney.(AP)

In his media statement after holding talks with Prime Minister Modi here, Prime Minister Albanese said the opening of the new diplomatic mission in Bengaluru will help in connecting the country's businesses to India's booming digital and innovation ecosystem.

The opening up of the Consul-General in Bengaluru this month will be the fifth diplomatic mission in India. Others are in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Meanwhile, India currently has three consulates in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Brisbane currently has an Honorary Consulate of India.

"Expanding Australias diplomatic footprint to Bengaluru will connect Australian businesses to Indias booming digital economy and innovation ecosystem, and reinforce our growing links in science and technology. Prime Minister Albanese welcomed Indias plans for a Consulate-General in Brisbane," Albanese said.

On G-20, Albanese said that he is looking forward to returning to India for the G20 Summit.

"My ministers are regularly visiting India for the G20 discussions that have taken place across the full range of portfolios which are there," he added.

The two leaders also exchanged the MoUs on mobility, migration, and green hydrogen task force.

Albanese also spoke about his meeting with Modi in a year which says a lot about the friendship between Australia and India.

In my first year as Prime Minister, I have met with Prime Minister Modi six times, which underscores the value we place on deepening ties between our nations. Australia is a better place because of the contributions of the Indian-Australian community, and we want to see more connections between our countries, he said.

Albanese was also very pleased to launch the operations of the Centre for Australia-India Relations that will be based in Parramatta here in Western Sydney.

Headquartered in Parramatta, the centres mission is to work across government, industry, academia and the community to further foster ties between the two countries and encourage businesses to seize the opportunities of their economic partnership.

Albanese also talked about the Quad Summit, which took place in Japans Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.

Prime Minister Modis visit to Australia has strengthened the close and strong relationship that Australia enjoys with India, Albanese said.

This is a relationship we need to invest in. Our strong partnership with India will deliver benefits for Australia in trade, investment and business, and in regional security and stability.

Modi also met Governor General of Australia David Hurley and Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton and discussed the people-to-people connection between the two countries and the strengthening of the long-standing bilateral partnership.
Bengaluru Karnataka will review a string of controversial decisions taken by the previous government such as an anti-conversion law, the hijab ban in educational institutions, and tweaks in textbooks  and even possibly reverse some of them, senior functionaries in the new regime have indicated. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, with Congress MLAs in Bengaluru. (PTI)

On Wednesday, state minister Priyank Kharge said that many orders and laws enforced by the previous government were against the interest of the state, a day after chief minister Siddaramaiah said his government will come down heavily on incidents of moral policing and deputy CM DK Shivakumar warned that the state police will be de-saffronised.

Together, their statements hinted that the new Congress administration in the state was looking at a so-called de-saffronisation drive, aimed at rolling back some of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments communally polarising decisions that stoked controversy and a raft of court cases.

Kharge said many orders and laws enforced under the previous BJP regime such as school textbook revisions and anti-conversion laws were against state interest and will be revised or withdrawn by the new Congress government after reviewing them.

The previous government decided to observe certain jayanti (birth anniversary of prominent figures) and left out others. Not only jayanti, their orders, whether it is regarding textbooks, anti-cow slaughter, anti-conversion bills (laws), all of them will be revised, Kharge said.

Among the most controversial decisions by the previous government was restrictions on wearing hijab in classrooms that came into effect last year and prompted some students to approach the Supreme Court, which will set up a larger bench to hear the case after a two-judge bench delivered a split verdict.

...Any executive order that goes against the image of Karnataka, that goes against getting investment or creating employment, will be reviewed and rejected, if necessary. It does not matter if it is anti-conversion bill, the cow slaughter bill, or the hijab thing  everything will be looked at from the economic perspective and progressive point of view and then we will take a call, he told news channel India Today.

Amid rising demands for a review of the hijab restrictions, senior Congress lawmaker NA Haris called the decision unconstitutional on Wednesday.

When asked about the demand, senior minister G Parameswara said: We will see in future what best we can do. Right now, we have to fulfil the five guarantees we made to the people of Karnataka.

The BJP lashed out at the Congress, with former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai saying The CM-DCM duo has decided to implement their agenda of appeasement politics and as part of it, Bommai alleged.

The Congress displaced the BJP in the recently concluded assembly elections earlier this month.

On Tuesday at a press conference, Siddaramaiah warned against moral policing. No more moral policing. We will put an end to this, he told reporters. The CM also warned the police brass that they would be held responsible if the law-and-order situation deteriorated in their areas.

In the same press conference, Shivakumar said the police will have to be de-saffronised We know how [some] police officers came to the police station wearing saffron shawls. If it was patriotism, then they should have come to work wearing the national flag. We will not allow saffronisation of the police department, Shivakumar said.

He stood by his statement on Wednesday and said he was referring to how police personnel in some places wore saffron instead of their uniform to pose for photographs.

Bommai replaced former CM Yediyurappa in 2021 and quickly endorsed a raft of controversial decisions.

In 2022, his government pushed through an anti-conversion bill that the government said was needed to check forced conversions but the opposition said was aimed at targeting Christians and Muslims. In February 2022, the administration issued an order effectively barring hijabs in schools and colleges. In December 2022, senior ministers backed campaigns against halal meat and the use of loudspeakers in mosques during morning prayers or azaan. And on several occasions in 2022 the BJP government defended the actions of right-wing groups blocking Muslims from setting up shops in temples and taking part in religious fairs, going against decades of established traditions in the state.

In its successful poll campaign, the Congress accused the BJP of focussing on a polarising agenda rather than governance, and assured the people of reviewing controversial decisions to de-saffronise the state.

Kharge said that said the new government will withdraw all laws and orders that hamper the states economic progress and prosperity, and go against the interests of Kannadigas.

All those bills (laws) and orders that hamper the economic progress of Karnataka, its prosperity, and affect Kannadigas, will be withdrawn. Making Karnataka once again the number one is our intention, and we will take steps in that direction, added Kharge.

Bommai said Karnataka Police was never saffron used. The Karnataka Police have a good name in the entire country and the cops have never done saffronisation. The duo has decided to implement their agenda and as part of it, they have brought down the morale of the police department. The Congress has started its appeasement politics from day one of assuming power in the state, alleged Bommai.

Former home minister and BJP lawmaker Araga Jnanendra accused Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah of trying to Congress-ise the police force. Our policing system is very good. The police acts as per law. They dont discriminate on the basis of religion, he said.

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West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday stoked a controversy by allegedly saying the prime minister is Pagla Modi (mad Modi). Chowdhury, however, later clarified saying he was echoing the sentiments" of the public and was just conveying how people are reacting to the Centre's decision to withdraw 2,000 currency notes. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he was echoing people's sentiments after the Centre's decision to withdraw  2,000 currency notes.(PTI)

Reacting to the recent meeting that took place between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boss Arvind Kejriwal, and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Chowdhury said: There is growing frustration among the people of India towards Modi. People are referring to Modi as pagal Modi. With public sentiment turning against Modi, parties like the AAP and the TMC are attempting to regain relevance.

Hitting back, Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party's chief Sukanta Majumdar called Ranjan a repeated offender," and demanded an apology for the comments.

"Congress leader Adhir Ranjan abuses PM Modi again and calls him Pagla. He has used abusive language again and again. He is a repeated offender. I strongly condemn this. He should apologise immediately," he said.

Read | Tamil Nadu CM Stalin attacks Centre after RBI withdraws 2000 notes

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The BJP, however, termed the Oppositions attacks as desperate and to stoke fear among the public, saying the same strategy had been employed to spread rumours about the Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic.

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The new government in Karnataka, led by the Congress, is likely to either revise or withdraw the orders and legislations passed by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime - like school textbook revision and anti-conversion laws. Wearing a hijab in classrooms became a major political and religious issue in 2022 after the state government issued an order that effectively banned it in classrooms in government-run colleges. (PTI)

Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, who is also the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, on Wednesday indicated that said the orders, which are against the state's interest, would be revised or withdrawn after reviewing them, news agency PTI reported.

Kharge's statement comes even as there were demands to overturn the hijab ban from various quarters. The minister, without making any direct comment on the issue, said the government will be having a look at all the policies of the previous government which are against the Constitution, against the spirit of building the society, and against the inclusiveness of the society.

We will relook at every policy matter that the previous government has brought in, he said.

The Karnataka minister said the Congress government would withdraw all the legislations and orders that hamper the state's economic progress and prosperity, and go against the interests of Kannadigas, PTI reported.

"Previous government had decided to observe certain jayantis (birth anniversary of prominent figures) and left out others. Not only jayantis, their orders, whether it is regarding textbooks, anti-cow slaughter, anti-conversion bills (laws), all of them will be revised," he said.

"All those bills (laws) and orders that hamper the economic progress of Karnataka, its prosperity, and will affect Kannadigas, will be withdrawn. Making Karnataka once again the number one is our intention, and we will take steps in that direction," Kharge added.

Kharge is one among eight ministers inducted into the chief minister Siddaramaiah-led cabinet last week.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Congress govt in Karnataka to overturn hijab ban? Priyank Kharge's relook hint The new government in Karnataka, led by the Congress, is likely to either revise or withdraw the orders and legislations - passed by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime - like school textbook revision and anti-conversion laws. Read more Wearing a hijab in classrooms became a major political and religious issue in 2022 after the state government issued an order that effectively banned it in classrooms in government run colleges.

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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
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Wednesday directed state drugs regulators and government laboratories to test cough syrup samples meant for exports on top priority and issue reports at the earliest, according to people familiar with the matter. Outside the office of Marion Biotech in Noida. (Reuters)

The move is aimed at averting unnecessary hold-ups after the Union ministry of commerce issued an order on Monday making it mandatory for cough syrup manufactures to get their stocks tested at a government laboratory before shipping for export.

The state drugs controllers are hereby requested to give instructions to your state owned NABL laboratories to analyse the samples received from the manufacturers of cough syrups for export purpose on top priority and issue the test report at the earliest, read the letter sent to state drugs regulators and laboratories concerned by the Drugs Controller General of India, Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi. HT has seen the letter.

The directive has also been issued to certified government laboratories.

The changes in the government export policy come after cases of deaths in The Gambia and Uzbekistan were linked to consumption of contaminated cough syrups manufactured in India.

The revised export policy order that was issued by directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) under the commerce ministry will come into effect from June 1.

In December, Noida-based pharmaceutical company Marion Biotechs cough syrup was linked to the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan.

In a briefing on October 5, WHO (World Health Organisation) issued a medical product alert over four cough syrups  Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup  manufactured and exported by Haryana-based Maiden Pharma. The syrups likely were linked to the death of at least 66children in The Gambia.

The government laboratories that can be used for testing are Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, CDL, Kolkata, West Bengal, CDTL, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, CDTL, Mumbai, Maharashtra, CDTL, Hyderabad, Telangana, RDTL, Chandigarh, RDTL, Guwahati, Assam, and any NABL accredited State Drugs Testing Laboratory.

The export of Cough Syrup under ITC (HS) Codes falling under the Heading 3004 shall be permitted subject to the export sample being tested and the production of a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) issued by any of the laboratories, with effect from June 01, 2023, read the order issued by Santosh Kumar Sarangi, director general of foreign trade.

A day later on Tuesday Sarangi said at an event that all pharmaceutical products must meet global standards and quality requirements.

This is a continuous effort which has been started with cough syrup. It is our endeavour that any cough syrup exported from India must meet minimum benchmark requirement of quality standards. Therefore they will be exported after being tested in specified labs, he said.

As per CDSCOs (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) advice, whatever needs to be done for quality improvement in pharma will be done.

With inputs from PTI

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Karnataka minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said the state's new Congress government 'has to fulfil the five guarantees made to the people' and only then will see what can be done on revoking the previous government's hijab ban. Speaking to news agency ANI, he said, We will see in future what best we can do. Right now, we have to fulfil the five guarantees we made to the people of Karnataka. G Parameswara(HT File Photo)

The minister's statement comes after Amnesty International urged the Congress to immediately scrap the ban on women wearing hijabs in educational institutions in the southern state. Amnesty said the new government had to 'prioritise and uphold human rights for all in the state' and listed three action points for human rights.

"Immediately revoke the ban on women wearing hijabs in educational institutions. The ban forces Muslim girls to choose between their rights to freedom of expression and religion, and their right to education, hindering their ability to meaningfully participate in society."

What is the hijab row?

In February last year, Karnataka (then ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party) issued a controversial order that said uniforms were compulsory in schools and colleges and that no exception could be made for the wearing of the hijab.

The order triggered massive protests in the state and across the country, with activists and opposition leaders condemning the order as a violation of fundamental rights.

The Karnataka High Court in March dismissed pleas challenging the government order. The matter then reached the Supreme Courtm which returned a split verdict, prompting then Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh to uphold the BJP government's ban.

(With ANI inputs)

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Second British army hqs -Heinrich Himmler, head of the German gestapo, committed suicide at the headquarters of the second British army at 4 minutes past 11 last night. This was made available officially this evening. HT This Day: May 25, 1945 -- Himmler commits suicide

The body of Himmler lies in a red roofed villa which is the army headquarters. The grey-faced, bespectacled, thin-lipped face is turned to the ceiling, half covered with a grey British blanket. The body is collarless and is clothed in a British army shirt, army slacks and army socks.

Besides the body are a bucket and a cup and some splashes of water made, while British army doctors laboured for 15 minutes to save Himmlers life.

This was the statement issued here tonight about his death:

Reichsfuehrer of SS, Heinrich Himmler. Chief of the German Police and Reichminister of the Interior, was arrested by troops of the British Second Army at Bremervoerde on May 21 and taken into field security custody on May 22.

Himmler was travelling under the name of Hizinger and was disguised with a black patch over his right eye and had shaved off his moustache.

With him were his two adjutants --one a big burly member of the SS. Himmler and his party arrived under escort and were unrecognized at the camp near the Second Army Headquarters where he asked through his adjutants for an interview with the camp commandant.

When the interview was granted, Himmler announced his identity which was confirmed by the Chief Officer at the camp and later beyond any doubt by a counter intelligence officer from the Second Army headquarters.

Himmler was immediately confined under armed guards, stripped and medically examined to find any hidden poison. During the final state of this examination, when medical officers attempted to examine the prisoners mouth, he made a quick movement of his head and bit open a small glass phial containing cyanide of potassium which was concealed in his mouth. He died in 15 minutes at 11-04 p.m. on May 23. The glass phial had been hidden in Himmlers mouth for some hours.

Colonel Gorbushin, Lieutenant Colonel Ievlev and Captain Kutchin, Commissioners of Marshal Zhukov for the control of the fulfilment of the terms of the German Surrender, saw the body at 6-15 p.m. today, May 24, 1945, and have been given the relevant photographs and reports.

The Senior Intelligence Officer at Dempseys Headquarters who conducted the correspondents to the body of Himmler said that officers I from a nearby camp telephoned him shortly before 9 p.m. to say that they had Himmler under arrest. The Intelligence officer motored at once eight miles down the road and found Himmler sitting at a table, being questioned by British officers. Two adjutants, one of them a typical rough neck of the SS. sat on his side.
When West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was meeting her Delhi and Punjab counterparts, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, respectively, in Kolkata on Tuesday evening, a message to join the inauguration of the new Parliament building popped up on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders mobile phone, said people aware of developments. Opposition parties are objecting to the prime minister, and not the President, inaugurating the new Parliament.

The discussions between the three chief ministers briefly touched upon the May 28 event  when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building  and hours later, the TMC announced that it was pulling out of the ceremony, added the people cited above. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) followed suit after their two chief ministers landed in Mumbai.

A more difficult task, however, remained unaccomplished: A joint statement on skipping the inaugural event by key Opposition parties that would have both the AAP and the TMC  the two parties that are increasingly distancing themselves from the Congress  on board. A draft version of the statement, originally composed by a senior Congress strategist, was edited twice to focus on a joint approach and to make it suitable for both the AAP and TMC, said the people cited above. Finally, on Wednesday morning, 19 Opposition parties jointly issued the statement, alleging Modi had undermined the office of the President and distancing themselves from the ceremony.

The parties had to overcome another complication. On Monday, the Congress said it was still deliberating whether to back the AAP against an ordinance that effectively nullified a Supreme Court order upholding the primacy of Delhis elected government over bureaucracy, and handed control back to the Centre. In a tweet, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said, The Congress party has not taken any decision on the issue of the ordinance brought against the SC judgment on the powers of the government of NCT of Delhi with respect to appointment of officers. It will consult its state units & other like-minded parties on the same.

Also Read | List of parties that will boycott new Parliament inauguration

He added, The party believes in the rule of law and at the same time does not condone unnecessary confrontation, political witch-hunt and campaigns based on lies against political opponents by any political party.

But because the new Parliament opening was seen as a major national issue, the AAP decided to join 18 other Opposition parties and sign the statement, albeit after some back-channel discussions with non-Congress opposition parties, said the people cited above. Even as the Congress remained non-committal on the ordinance, some other Opposition parties came out in support of the AAP.

A senior Congress leader said that when a bill is tabled in the monsoon session to replace the Delhi services ordinance, the Congress can criticise both the bill and the AAP government in Delhi.

The statement reflects a full team game. It also creates a template for next one year where we can work together on important issues to find common ground. This is about teamwork and not one upmanship, TMCs Rajya Sabha leader Derek OBrien said.

A second Congress leader said that discussions with opposition parties for a joint statement were held on Tuesday. While the statement was being prepared, some non-Congress Opposition parties reached out to Telanganas ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

The BRS leadership didnt agree to be a part of the joint statement with the Congress, due to upcoming assembly elections in Telangana. We suggested that the BRS hold a press conference and announce its decision to boycott the event, the second leader said, requesting anonymity.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Saubhadra Chatterji Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies. ...view detail
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal is on a nationwide tour to garner support against a Union government ordinance issued last week that took the control of Delhis bureaucracy away from the national capitals elected government overriding a judgment of the Supreme Court. He has so far met the leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the All-India Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Janata Dal (United), and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). While the biggest opposition party in the country, the Congress, is yet to take a stand on the issue, many of its leaders from different state units have come out against the party showing any solidarity with the AAP on this issue? What explains this animosity towards the AAP? The answer is that the AAP has increased its presence largely by eroding the support base of the Congress. Here are four charts that show this. PREMIUM Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal (HT Photo)

Where has AAP grown electorally since its inception? In the 10 years since the AAP fought its first state-level elections in Delhi, the party has contested assembly elections in 20 states. However, it has won assembly constituencies (ACs) in only four of them: Delhi, Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat. These are also the only four states where the party has been able to win at least 5% vote share in state elections. Of the remaining 16 states, it has been able to win more than 1% vote share in only the Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh elections held last year. These trends are also reflected in the partys performance in Lok Sabha elections. The only states where AAP crossed the 5% vote share mark in both 2014 and 2019 are Punjab and Delhi; and it has won seats only in Punjab. In the 10 years since the AAP fought its first state-level elections in Delhi, the party has contested assembly elections in 20 states. However, it has won assembly constituencies (ACs) in only four of them: Delhi, Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat. These are also the only four states where the party has been able to win at least 5% vote share in state elections. Of the remaining 16 states, it has been able to win more than 1% vote share in only the Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh elections held last year. These trends are also reflected in the partys performance in Lok Sabha elections. The only states where AAP crossed the 5% vote share mark in both 2014 and 2019 are Punjab and Delhi; and it has won seats only in Punjab.

AAPs Delhi growth is almost completely on the ruins of the Congress

Delhi is the first place where the AAP broke political ground. While the AAP has achieved landslide victories in the 2015 and 2020 elections in Delhi reducing even the BJP to single digits, vote share numbers suggest that the AAP has actually grown at the cost of the Congress. The BJPs lowest vote share since 2013 in Delhi is 32.2%, not much below its previous low of 35.2%. On the other hand, the Congress vote share in Delhi has been in a free fall since 2013. Before 2013, the Congresss lowest vote share in Delhi was 34.5%. It decreased to just 4.3% by 2020.

The Congress could have had another state government if AAP had not won Punjab

AAPs Punjab performance is not as straightforward a function of Congresss decline as it is in Delhi. The Congress won almost a two-thirds majority, its highest in the state, when the AAP first fought a state election in Punjab in 2017. The Congress also did not end up in the third spot like in Delhi even when the AAP won last year. The Congress seat share of 15.4% was much more than the 6% combined seat share of all other parties. However, it has reason to believe that the AAP has hurt it more than it hurt the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP in the state. In the 92 ACs that the AAP won last year, the Congress was second in 44, the SAD in 37, the BJP in six, SADs new factions in three, and former Congress chief minister Amarinder Singhs Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) in one. This suggests that it was the AAP which was the primary beneficiary of anti-incumbency in Punjab and not existing opposition parties. Given the fact that the BJP and SAD alliance ended before the 2022 elections and SAD has been in an ideological disarray, the Congress leadership in the state has reason to believe that they could have retained power if not for the AAP.

AAP is threatening the Congress position in Gujarat

The Congress has even less reason to blame the AAP for the 2022 Gujarat results. The BJPs unprecedented performance last year was due to a very high vote share. It won 102 seats with a vote share of more than 50%. This means the BJP would have won three seats more than in 2017 even if all anti-BJP votes went to the Congress. This does not mean that the AAP did not hurt the Congress in the state. The overall decline in Congresss vote share of 14 percentage points since 2017 is roughly matched by the 13-percentage point gain in AAP vote share. The Congress decline in vote share has a moderate correlation with AAP gains even at the AC-level.

When seen with the fact that the AAP has seriously hurt the Congress in two states it used to dominate and is threatening to replace it as the primary opposition party in another, it is not very difficult to understand why local Congress leaders are against the party showing solidarity with the AAP. The resolution of the inner party dynamic and inter-party dynamic between the AAP and the Congress will play an important role in the ongoing efforts to build a large unity against the BJP.

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In his recent G7 address in Hiroshima, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi spelt out a ten-point agenda for global food security and freeing up fertiliser supplies from geopolitical gridlocks. In November last year, while addressing the G20 summit in Bali, the PM made a similar pitch, saying, Todays fertiliser shortage is tomorrow's food crisis. PREMIUM In November last year, while addressing the G20 summit in Bali, the PM said, Todays fertiliser shortage is tomorrow's food crisis. (HT)

The 2022 crisis of manures, triggered by sanctions on Russia and its allies such as Belarus, which are major producers, sent international prices to multi-year highs, plunging several African nations into famine-like situations.

India relies on imports to meet a third of its annual domestic demand of crop nutrients, which it gives at a discount to farmers. The crisis forced the Union government to scour international markets, paying exorbitant rates to avert a food crisis at home. This resulted in the highest ever fertiliser subsidy bill of 2.56 lakh crore in 2022-23, widening the fiscal deficit.

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 fertiliser resources has to be stopped. This should be the purpose of our cooperation, said Modi in Hiroshima.

India's position is that for the Global South, conflicts, such the one in Ukraine, have had severe consequences in terms of food, fertiliser and fuel security. That's why the PM has sought multilateral cooperation to secure these commodities, an official of the Union fertiliser ministry said, requesting anonymity.

India is now very serious that food and fertiliser supply lines should not be held hostage to geopolitical developments. Thats why India is trying to make this a part of multilateral agreements and thats why the prime minister mentioned this in Bali as well as in Hiroshima, the official said.

India heavily subsidised fertilisers for its 120 million farmers, who use them over two cropping seasons in a year. Adequate availability of manures is closely linked to the nations food security. Shortages can set off political protests, as farmers are an influential voting bloc.

In 2022, fertiliser prices rose nearly 30%, following an 80% surge in 2021. Prices are driven by rising input costs, supply disruptions caused by sanctions on Belarus and Russia, and export restrictions put on China.

The highest gas prices in a decade, especially in Europe, also inflamed prices because gas is a key raw material for production of fertilisers. Urea prices surpassed their 2008 peaks. Phosphates and potash prices were near 2008 levels, when a recession stoked a similar crisis.

Russia accounts for about 16% of global urea exports and 12% of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Monoammonium Phosphate, two key manures. Russia and Belarus together account for two-fifths of global exports of Muriate of Potash  another important fertiliser. China also suspended exports to ramp up domestic availability, further squeezing supplies.

Aside from seeking to make energy and food security a key element of Indias multilateral diplomacy, the country is also firming up long-term deals with several countries to secure fertiliser imports.

Union chemicals and fertilisers minister Mansukh Mandaviya travelled to several key supplier nations last year to finalise a memorandum of understanding for supply of critical raw materials at steady prices, a senior official has said.

Deals have been signed with Egypt, Senegal, Israel, Oman, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, an official said. Indian firms have for the first time, finalised investments in several mineral-rich nations.

To hedge against volatility, India is moving towards self-sufficiency in urea, while preparing to diversify away from countries such as China and Russia to source non-urea DAP fertilisers, whose supplies have dwindled.

These measures will help make the country atma nirbhar (self-reliant) in fertilisers. The goals are to diversify sources of supply, have long-term contracts and get price discounts, the official said.

On August 25, 2022, Mandaviya was in Saudi Arabia to chaperone bilateral pacts with several Indian firms and cooperatives with the Maaden, theSaudi Arabian Mining Company. The deals will ensure the supply of 2.5 million tonnes of fertiliser through a three-year contract. The pacts also included one with the state-owned Indian Potash Company for supply of phosphate products.

Another key deal was with Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals for supply of ammonia and one each with Krishak Bharati Cooperative Company and Coromandel International for supply of phosphate products and ammonia.

On May 17, the Cabinet announced a fertiliser subsidy of 1.08 lakh crore for the upcoming kharif or summer sown season. International rates of fertilisers have come down slightly. To ensure that farmers keep getting timely access to fertilisers and dont face any financial burden, the Modi government has always been prompt. There will be no increase in fertiliser prices for the kharif season for farmers, fertiliser minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said after the Cabinet nod.

According to Mandaviya, the countrys strategic goals are to secure long-term supply deals and increase domestic production. The minister said India is unlikely to import urea beyond 2025.

As far as foreign policy is concerned, the country is seeking to create a common agenda on food and fertilise security across all multilateral forums. I am confident that our discussions today will be useful in creating an important link between the agenda of the G20 and the G7. And will be successful in prioritising the hopes and expectations of the Global South," the PM said in Hiroshima.
Over the last two years, states have transferred at least 40 drug related cases to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), after doing almost none between 2007 and 2021, people familiar with the matter said, adding that this is part of Indias concerted plan to break the back of large drug cartels operating in the country. Two persons were arrested and drugs worth  3 crore was seized in Assam on April 20.

Until mid 2021, no case was transferred to the NCB from any state. Drug cases were probed by the state police forces. The state police forces have their own limitations and are often busy dealing with law-and-order problems so probing such cases is not often a priority for them. But with the Centre now determined to break the network of the drug cartels, many states are transferring the cases to us for an in-depth investigation, an NCB official said, asking not to be named. This person added that NCB is asking state police forces to do so.

Last month, during the first national meeting of heads of anti-narcotics officers from the states, union minister Amit Shah urged them to hand over some interstate and international drug cases to NCB. Since mid 2021, after the Centre launched a crackdown on drug networks and promised to make India drug free by 2047, every state and union territory police force has a dedicated anti-narcotics wing headed by a senior officer.

The agencys director general, SN Pradhan, confirmed that while no case was transferred to the NCB between 2010 and 2020 (for which data was available), the agency has got 40 cases from states and UTs now. This is a mutual cooperation set-up we have with the states now. The response has been good. We request the states to give us cases so that we can break the large networks.

NCB officials said that most cases have been transferred from Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. West Bengal is yet to send a single case to the federal agency. The directive we have got is to go after the big fish. For example, in 2021, the Uttar Pradesh and the Delhi police busted a drugs network from the house of a former village headman in Padhera village, Bareilly. The man Chote Pradhan was a big supplier from heroin from Bareilly to north India. The case was transferred to NCB Lucknow zone. As part of the probe, we busted the entire network. Around 13 members of his family are behind bars. Their house, where they manufactured heroin in bulk, was also sealed, a second NCB officer said on condition of anonymity.

Another transferred case related to the arrest of a man, who was caught with 440 kg of marijuana in Raebareli district. While the man, who transported drugs in a tanker, was arrested by Uttar Pradesh polices special task force, the case was handed to the NCB in June 2022. In this case, we busted the mans entire network of 7 people, including the main receivers. The directive we have got today is simple  bust the entire chain and go after the big fish. Once the main supplier, who further supplied the drugs to smaller ones, was arrested, the cartel was disbanded, said a third NCB officer who too asked not to be named.

HT on May 23 reported that the government has empowered NCB to achieve the 2047 target by approving four new regional offices Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Chennai and Guwahati in addition to the existing three in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi, and sanctioning 425 new posts, an increase of almost 38% from the current sanctioned strength of the force. .

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Jodhpur: A nine-month-old baby was seized from her adoptive parents and returned to her biological mother on the directions of the Rajasthan high court, which observed that the infant was illegally given up for adoption by the womans father as he opposed her inter-faith relationship. On Tuesday, the Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan high court directed the Mumbai couple to return the baby to her biological mother. (Archive)

When I gave birth to the child, I was not even told whether it was a boy or a girl. I was not even allowed to see her face. Now that I have got my daughter back, I cannot express my happiness in words, the infants biological mother said.

According to a report by Bhilwara police in the court, the woman, a resident of the district, was 17 years old when she gave birth to a girl in August last year. She had eloped with her Muslim friend and realised she was pregnant after she returned home.

After the minor gave birth, her father, who was against the inter-faith relationship, handed over the infant to a former Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member who, in return, gave it to a childless couple in Mumbai.

Nandlal, station house officer (SHO) of Subhash Nagar police station, said that on turning 18 earlier this year, the woman filed a habeas corpus petition in the court, urging police to locate her child. On Tuesday, a Jodhpur bench of the high court directed the Mumbai couple to return the baby to her biological mother.

After a notice on the habeas corpus petition was served, we first gathered information from the private hospital where the girl child was born and then tracked her whereabouts. We learnt that the child was being taken care of by a couple in Mumbai, Nandlal said.

In its order on Tuesday, the Jodhpur bench of the high court observed that the petitioner, who admittedly eloped with Faizan Khan at the age of approximately 17 years, claims that her father took the child away from her immediately after her birth when she was in his custody. The childs whereabouts became unknown thereafter. Subsequently, upon reaching adulthood, the petitioner started living with Faizan Khan.

The division bench of justices Arun Bhansali and Rajendra Prakash Soni also took note of a police report on May 19 which said the infant was in the custody of a Navy personnel named Anuj and his wife Disha in Mumbai. Police said the couple was willing to produce the child before the court.

The factual report submitted by the police specifically highlights the fact that the petitioners father handed over the custody of the six-day-old infant to Asha Ramawat, who claims to have been a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in 2020-2021. Asha Ramawat, acting as a support person for the CWC, handed over the child to Manju Pokharnas sister, a resident of Delhi, who then likely passed the child to her daughter, a resident of Mumbai, the court said, quoting the police report.

During the hearing, Disha also said that the child was handed over to her by Ramawat. Her counsel, Pradeep Shah, admitted that the childs transfer did not take place as per guidelines and did not object to the infants return to her biological mother.

While the court directed that the child be returned to her biological mother, it reprimanded the latter and the former CWC member.

The actions of the petitioners father, who took custody of the six-day-old child from the mother, regardless of the mothers minority status at the time, and the actions of the purported social worker, who was formerly a member of the CWC, cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. It is surprising that the petitioner remained silent for over eight months after the child was taken from her on August 24, 2022, without showing any concern for the childs whereabouts. Only after attaining majority did she take steps to regain custody of the child, the bench said.

It also directed police to initiate action against Ramawat for misusing her status as a former member of CWC and illegally putting up the child for adoption.
The Centre has approved Karnatakas proposal to continue serving eggs in the free midday meals to schoolchildren in eight aspirational districts as supplementary nutrition for another year, according to the minutes of an official meeting. The expenditure of  4,426.72 lakh in this account will be shared by the central and state governments. (Representative file image)

The matter was discussed during a May 15 meeting between state authorities and the project approval board of the PM POSHAN scheme under the union education ministry. The expenditure of 4,426.72 lakh in this account will be shared by the central and state governments.

The state had in 2021 conducted a pilot to serve eggs in seven districts lagging in socioeconomic indicators, which included Raichur, Yadgir, Bidar, Kalburgi, Koppal, Bellary and Vijayapura, although some religious and political factions opposed the move. Eggs in the midday meal improved nutrition levels of students involved in the pilot project, a study had found.

Also Read:Karnataka BJP V-P slams govt for making eggs part of mid-day meals

The Centre in May last year allowed the state to extend the pilot initiative for the 2022-23 financial year.

The state government informed the board that it had provided one egg twice a week to 1.53 million students for 45 days in the year ended March 31, according to minutes of the meeting seen by HT. The state proposed to extend the initiative to 2023-24 and provide eggs to 1.6 million students for 54 days in eight districts this time, including Vijayanagar, the minutes read.

After detailed discussions, PAB-PM POSHAN approved the proposal of state government to provide eggs to 15,57,126 Students in the districts of Raichur, Yadgir, Bidar, Kalburgi, Koppal, Bellary, Vijayanagar, Vijayapura for 54 days with an estimated expenditure of 4,426.72 lakh, the minutes read.

Of the 4,426.72 lakh, the Centre will provide 2,656.03 lakh and the remaining sum will be provided by the state government.

In September, when the Centre folded the midday meal programme into the PM Poshan scheme, it had created a provision for supplementary nutrition for children in aspirational districts and those with a high prevalence of anemia. The states were asked to use the unspent available funds on the component.

Last year, the Centre had approved Goas proposal to introduce eggs under the supplementary component.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Fareeha Iftikhar Fareeha Iftikhar is a principal correspondent with the national political bureau of the Hindustan Times. She tracks the education ministry, and covers the beat at the national level for the newspaper. She also writes on issues related to gender, human rights and different policy matters. ...view detail
London The high court in London upheld the 12-month suspension of Dr Prashant Sankaye, a musculoskeletal specialist, after a medical tribunal earlier found he groped a woman patient in 2020. HT Image

Justice Charles Bourne on Monday dismissed Dr Sankayes appeal, accepting that the patient, whose identity was kept hidden, was an honest witness and there was no alternative explanation for her perception of the touching.

According to the allegations, the 48-year-old radiologist touched the patient inappropriately at European Scanning Centre in Marylebone, London,during an ultrasound of her back in July 2020.

The woman, who also worked as a receptionist in the same clinic, told a woman radiologist what happened the same day and three days later gave a written statement to the management. The matter was then referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal.

Dr Sankaye denies the allegations.

The Tribunal in October 2022ruled that Dr Sankaye was guilty of sexual misconduct, which, it said was opportunistic and formed a short part of the overall physical examination. It recommended a 12 month suspension as an appropriate measure.

Dr Sankaye had appealed in the high court saying that the tribunals decision was wrong, citing, among his other defences, the lack of the criticisms or allegations against him during his career of 30 years.

Dr Sankaye completed MBBS from University of Mumbai in 1998 and has been in the UK since 2004. In 2012 he became a member of the Royal College of Radiologists. In 2020, he became the head of the Musculoskeletal Radiology at Imperial College, London.
The house of Manipur PWD Minister Konthoujam Govindas in Bishnupur district was vandalised on Wednesday by a group of people claiming that the government in the strife-torn state is not doing enough to protect locals from militants belonging to another community, officials said. There were reports that militants late Tuesday night torched the houses of some villagers at Toronglaobi in Bishnupur district.

The minister who is a BJP leader and his family members, however, were not present at the house when the mob, comprising mostly women, attacked the house in Ningthoukhong area and damaged a portion of a gate, windows, a few furniture and electronic gadgets.

Also read | One killed, two injured in Bishnupur district in fresh violence

This is the first time a ministers house was attacked during the ongoing ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki community people in the state that started three weeks ago and claimed more than 70 lives. Army and paramilitary forces have been deployed to control the situation in the state.

The locals were angry. They alleged that Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Govindas and other BJP MLAs have been silent over the ongoing violence and not doing enough to protect them from armed militants, an official said.

There were reports that militants late Tuesday night torched the houses of some villagers at Toronglaobi in Bishnupur district. The authorities have then reduced the curfew relaxation hours, officials said.

Read: Meiteis, Kukis keep moving to safer areas as tensions persist in Manipur

There were rumours about a few persons getting killed or injured in Churachandpur district but there was no official confirmation.

Meanwhile, Eastern Army commander Lt Gen R P Kalita undertook a three-day visit to strife-torn Manipur till Wednesday to assess and review the ground security situation, a defence official said in Kolkata.

The northeastern state shares international borders with Myanmar.

The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Army Command, held meetings with local stakeholders, including members of all communities and several civil society organisations, the official said.

In his meetings with the stakeholders, the Eastern Army commander "urged suspension of hostilities by all sections of society".

During the visit from May 22 to 24, Lt Gen Kalita visited Kangpokpi, Matripukhri, Churachandpur, Bishnupur, Yaingangpokpi and Moreh, where he was updated on the security situation by local commanders.

He also held interactions with Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and senior government officials to discuss the ongoing situation and measures to boost unison among all agencies for setting in normalcy as early as possible, he said.

Kalita urged the people of Manipur to maintain tranquillity and harmony and to carry out constructive dialogue to ensure lasting peace in the region.

The Army has recovered five shotguns, five improvised local grenades and three cartons of shotgun ammunition from a car in Senapati district.

Three persons were apprehended and handed over to the police along with the recovered items, the force said on Wednesday.

Clashes broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

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 paramilitary personnel had to be deployed to restore normalcy in the northeastern state.

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The interiors of the new Parliament, which will be inaugurated on the weekend, will display art installations curated from different parts of the country in an attempt to capture Indias rich diversity. A view of the new Parliament House Building . (HT Photo)

Six ceremonial entrances and public access ways  along with the galleries of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha  will showcase these installations, said officials aware of the matter who asked not to be named.

Animals revered in various parts of the country -- the Garud (eagle), Gaj (elephant), Ashva (horse), and Maggar (crocodile) -- will be featured in these gateway installations, they added.

There are three Indian galleries in the plan, each designed to chronologically capture the countrys journey, culminating in the historic moment of the drafting of Constitution of India. Each piece of artwork will narrate a thousand stories, said one of the officials, adding that artists from across the country have worked collaboratively to bring these tales to life.

Then there will be two imposing murals made of brass, each standing 75ft tall. One will encapsulate Indias vast heritage and culture, and the other will offer a narration of the epic tale of Samudra Manthan (the churning of the ocean)  the installation inspired by depiction of the episode at Cambodias Angkor Wat temple complex.

Former chief of National Gallery of Modern Art, Advaita Gadanayak said Parliament House should reflect both  the history of the country and its position in the 21st century.

India has a thousand-year-old history of arts and crafts, and the Parliament should reflect the ethos of the same. That is what the Prime Minister has also focused on, said Gadanayak. Just like when Nandlal Bose made the murals for the old Parliament reviving Ajanta and Ellora, in a contemporary style then, even today the Parliament should reflect that, he added.

The art at the new Parliament is the culmination of efforts by almost 75 artists and scholars, who were brought together by the ministry of culture to create a narrative for these unique installations, with themes for each hall being meticulously deliberated upon, the officials cited in the first instance said.

True to the philosophy of Sarv Dharam Samppan (equality of all religions), the art within Parliament will reflect the spiritual tapestry of the country, a second official said.

The Parliament Art Advisory Committee , constituted in February 2022, was assigned the task of developing a concept for Parliaments artwork. The committee conceptualised the visual vocabulary for all galleries, identifying themes, selecting regional artists and artworks, and supervising the execution and installation of the artworks.

Parliament is the house of spirituality, politics, literature there has to be an attempt to synergise all these elements. Each element has to be developed meticulously, Gadanayak said.
New Delhi: Made of silver and gold, the five-feet long sceptre was handed over by Lord Mountbatten to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on August 14, 1947 as a symbol of transfer of power. A view of the new Parliament House Building. (HT Photo)

A sengol, a symbol of governance in Tamil kingdoms of yore, it was made by Madras (now Chennai) jewellers Vummidi Bangaru Chetty. It was then displayed in The Allahabad Museum.

On Sunday, it will be installed near the Speakers seat in the new Parliament, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah announced at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Also Read: What is Sengol (sceptre) to be installed by PM Modi in new Parliament on May 28

Sengol, which has an important place in our history, means righteousness. Its recipient has the order to rule justly and fairly. Those elected to serve the people must never forget this. And thats why this Sengol will be dedicated to the nation. It will be displayed in Parliament and will be taken out on special occasions, Shah said.

The home minister said the new building is a testament to Modis vision of creating a new India, which combines modernity with our heritage and traditions. When the PM learnt about it (Sengol), he decided to adopt it as a national symbol of Amrit Kaal. Now, the tradition (from August 14, 1947) will be revived, Shah said. Amrit Kaal is the governments descriptive term for the 25 years between 2022 and 2047, the centenary of Indian independence.

Recalling the events of August 14, 1947 , Shah said the process began when Lord Mountbatten posed a query to Nehru about a ceremonial transfer of power, following which the latter consulted C Rajagopalachari or Rajaji.

Rajaji identified the Chola dynastys model where the transfer of power from one king to the other was sanctified and blessed by high priests and Sengol was a symbol of handover. Tamil Nadus Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam mutt (In Tanjore), established in 14th century, was approached by Rajaji to make a Sengol. The mutt commissioned the work of making the five-feet Sengol, which was completed and flown to Delhi. And Pandit Nehru accepted it in the presence of Dr Rajendra Prasad (who became first President of India) and others, Shah added.

Asserting that the Parliament is the most suitable and sacred place for installing this historic sceptre, Shah said it will make the spirit of August 15, 1947 unforgettable.

He said the heads of all 20 adheenams, including the Thiruvaduthurai adheenam, have been invited for the ceremony on Sunday.

The home minister further said that PM Modi will honour 60,000 workers who contributed to the construction of the new Parliament building.

PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020, but construction was delayed due to the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

Spread in an area of 64,500 square meters and part of Central Vista project, it has been constructed with an estimated cost of 971 crore. The new building offers spacious seats, latest facilities and tablets on each desk. It has provision for sitting of 543 members in the Lok Sabha while 250 in the Rajya Sabha. It will have a capacity to house around 1,280 MPs for a joint session.

The government decided to construct a new Parliament building due to lack of space in both the Houses in the current premises.

Responding to a question on opposition parties deciding to boycott the inauguration of Parliament on the grounds that it should have been by inaugurated by the President, and not the Prime Minister, Shah said the matter should not be politicised.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United) and Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Wednesday joined the league to boycott the inauguration of new Parliament building arguing that it should be the President and not the Prime Minister who launches the new building. Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a surprise visit to the new Parliament building, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI )

A total of 19 like-minded opposition parties have rallied up against the Centre on the inauguration event and released a joint statement showing discontent against PM Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu. They claimed that this decision is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy.

"We have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building... Not asking the President to inaugurate the building is an insult to her," RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav told reporters.

On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India (CPI), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and CPI(Marxist) announced they will skip the inauguration ceremony.

"Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules -- it is the foundation of Indian democracy. Prime Minister Modi doesn't get that. For him, Sunday's inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said in a tweet.

Dismissing claims over launching the new Parliament building by the President, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri reminded the inauguration of Parliament annex and library by then PMs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can't our head of government do the same, he said.

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Union home minsiter Amit Shah said Monday a golden sceptre called 'Sengol' would be installed at a prominent spot in the new Parliament building, which is to be inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi - despite a massive protest by the opposition, which has demanded President Droupadi Murmu do the honours - at noon on Sunday. The 'Sengol' will be installed in the new Parliament building, which is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 28th.(Twitter/@KirenRijiju)

The sceptre, or the 'Sengol', is a significant item; it was presented to Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, as a symbol of the transfer of power from the British. The word 'Sengol' is believed to have been derived from the Tamil word 'semmai', which refers to excellence.

Shah emphasised the role played by the 'Sengol' sceptre in the transfer of power and said that on being told of its importance (and after due verification), Modi ensured it would hold pride of place in the new Parliament building. "The day of new Parliament House inauguration was chosen after deciding this should be put before the nation," Shah said.

History of 'Sengol'

The importance of the 'Sengol' sceptre emerged when Lord Mountbatten, the then Viceroy of British India, asked Nehru about a symbolic transfer of power.

Nehru sought the advice of C Rajagopalachari, the last Governor-General of India and who hailed from Thorapalli in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district (then the Madras Presidency). Rajaji, as he was popularly called, suggested the use of the 'Sengol'; he was inspired by the the Chola dynasty, where a similar ceremony was held to transfer power between kings.

In addition to the presentation of the sceptre, an order called 'aanai' in Tamil - which bestowed on the new ruler the responsibility to govern with unwavering adherence to the principles of 'dharma - was also handed down to the new king.

The 'Sengol' for independent India

Rajaji enlisted the support of a religious body in Tamil Nadu's Tanjore district to craft the 'Sengol'. Chennai-based jewellers Vummidi Bangaru Chetty created the object.

On August 14, 1947, a momentous occasion unfolded as three priests from the Tanjore religous body carried the 'Sengol', presiding over proceedings with great reverence. They then handed the 'Sengol' to Nehru, thereby marking the transfer of power.

The 'Sengol' is five feet long and features the majestic figure of Nandi, the divine bull, on top as a representation of 'nyaya', or the embodiment of justice and fairness.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lingamgunta Nirmitha Rao Trainee Content Producer at Hindustan Times Digital Stream. India's regional languages attract me. ...view detail
Nineteen opposition parties, including the Congress and Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party, said Wednesday morning they intend to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building in Delhi this weekend and criticised an 'authoritarian prime minister and his government'. An aerial view of the New Parliament House, in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI)

"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight - in letter, in spirit, and in substance - against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India."

The opposition parties said that despite differences with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party they had been open to 'sinking our differences and marking this occasion' but said 'prime minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining president (Droupadi) Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy"

READ | Trinamool, AAP, CPI to skip new Parliament inauguration

What the opposition joint statement said

Referring to the Constitution's Article 79, the opposition parties said Murmu 'is not only the Head of State but also an integral part of the Parliament'. "She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the president. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her," the opposition parties declared.

The joint statement by the opposition - which has steadily united against the BJP, particularly since the controversial disqualification from Lok Sabha of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after his conviction in the 'Modi surname' case - also accused Modi of having 'relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament'.

READ | Rahul Gandhi says Murmu should inaugurate new Parliament, not Modi

The opposition referred even to the three farm laws that led to furious protests and violence before a mass movement by farmers, opposition leaders and civil society activists forced the Modi government to recall and scrap all three laws.

Which parties have signed the statement?

The parties that signed this statement include the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party; the latter is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra and the former in Tamil Nadu. The Janata Dal (United) of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has reached out to opposition leaders, including Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal, in efforts to unite them before the 2024 general election, is also a signatory.

READ | NCP, RJD, DMK join league to boycott new Parliament building launch

Also on the list are the Communist Party of India and CPI (Marxist), the Shiv Sena faction led by ex-Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray (also a Congress ally), ex-Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.

READ | 19 parties to boycott new Parliament inauguration. What did they say?

Jharkhand's ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Mani), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the National Conference of ex-Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq and Omar Abdullah, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party will also boycott the ceremony.

Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is on the fence at this time; Owaisi indicated his party would boycott the ceremony if the schedule continues to show Modi as the person inaugurating the building.

Who will attend new Parliament inauguration?

The BJP and members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will, of course, be in attendance, as will a few other major parties.

Odisha's Biju Janata Dal has not signed the opposition statement or announced its position on this issue. Telangana's ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi is attending, provisionally; the party is expected to take a decision Thursday.

The YSRCP of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy will attend the ceremony, party MP Vijaysai Reddy said Wednesday afternoon.

The Shiromani Akali Dal will attend the ceremony; Daljit Cheema said the Punjab party 'does not agree with issues raised by the opposition'. " inauguration of new Parliament building is matter of pride for the country, so we have decided SAD will attend the inauguration ceremony"

What has the BJP said?

Shortly after the opposition letter, union home minister Amit Shah said, "We should not politicise this issue let people think and react however they want."

Shah's cabinet colleague Hardeep Singh Puri had hit back on Tuesday, pointing out Congress prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had, in the past, inaugurated the Parliament annexe and library, respectively.

Puri was responding to a tweet by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and said, "In August 1975, then-PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament library. If your head of government can inauguratewhy can't our head of government do the same?"

READ | 'If Indira, Rajiv Gandhi can': Hardeep Puri slams Congress in Parliament inauguration row

How did the Congress respond?

Speaking after the joint statement was released, senior Congress leader KC Venugopal said he was 'very happy' at the unity on show by the opposition.

"Congress discussed with all like-minded parties to boycott inaugural function of new Parliament building on 28th May. We are very happy that all opposition parties are coming together to fight against this," Venugopal told reporters.

Modi is to inaugurate the new Parliament building at noon on Sunday.

With input from agencies

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Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday suggested against politicising the inauguration of the new Parliament building and called it an emotional process to connect new India with old traditions. Union Home Minister Amit Shah.(Twitter)

We should not politicise this (inauguration of new Parliament building) issue, let people think and react however they want to, Shah said during a press conference.

His remarks came amid 19 opposition parties jointly released a statement with the intent to boycott the inauguration ceremony arguing that it should be the President and not the Prime Minister who launches the new building in Delhi, which is scheduled for May 28.

The statement criticised the Centre, pointing out that the Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to inaugurate the Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining president (Droupadi) Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy'.

Among the participants, the Bharatiya Janata Party and members of the Nationa Democratic Alliance will attend the event along with few other major parties such as YSRCP. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi will take the final decision on Thursday.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri reminded the inauguration of Parliament annex and library by then PMs from Congress Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can't our head of government do the same, he said.
Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen on Wednesday echoed the same sentiments of the 19 opposition parties, and objected to the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but alleged that his party was not contacted by those who are against the event. All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi addresses a press conference, in Hyderabad.(PTI)

Without confirming whether the AIMIM will attend the ceremony or not, Owaisi said, If Birla does not inaugurate the new Parliament, then we will skip the ceremony."

However, when asked about if opposition parties had approached him, the Hyderabad MP replied, They didn't contact me. Probably because they think we are untouchable.

Also read | What is Sengol, a historic sceptre to be installed in new Parliament building

The opening of new Parliament by Modi has snowballed into a huge political row as opposition parties have demanded that President Droupadi Murmu, as the "highest Constitutional authority", should be inaugurating it.

Earlier in the day, 19 opposition parties, led by the Congress, announced their decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony, saying, When the soul of democracy has been sucked out Parliament, we find no value in a new building.

Referring to the Constitution's Article 79, the opposition parties said Murmu 'is not only the Head of State but also an integral part of the Parliament'. "She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the president. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her," the opposition parties declared.

Read | Should not politicise': Amit Shah's suggestion amid new Parliament launch row

Meanwhile, Union minister for parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi called upon the Opposition parties to reconsider their decision. I once again appeal to them to reconsider their decision and kindly join in this historical function, Joshi said.

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Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday hit out at the Centre over Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building on May 28, and for not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the event. Stating that the government is ignorant about the constitutional niceties, Moitra said that the TMC will not be attending the May 28 party. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. (File Photo)

President of India is Number 1 in warrant of precedence, VP is Num 2 & Prime Minister is 3rd. Govt ignorant about constitutional niceties. This is NOT Modijis Grihapravesh for house that he built with his own money. @AITCofficial not attending May 28th party. Good luck to BJP, Mahua Moitra wrote on Twitter.

TMC was the first party to boycott the inauguration of the new building. Within a day, this was followed by 18 other parties including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Communist Party of India factions (CPI (M), CPI), Janata Dal-United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), National Conference (NC), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The 19 opposition parties also issued a joint statement against the inaugural ceremony saying, Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, PM Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response.

Meanwhile, as the row over not inviting President Murmu to the inaugural event erupted, union minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that Congress has a habit of raking controversies where none exist. While President is the Head of State, PM is the Head of Govt and leads the Parliament on behalf of the Govt, whose Policies are effected in form of Laws. The President is not a Member of either House, whereas PM is, he said.
Five guarantees given by the Congress are believed to have played a big role in the partys victory in the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections. These promises include cash transfers, subsidised food, LPG cylinders and electricity, and entail a significant fiscal allocation. While one must wait for the new governments budget to ascertain the exact allocation for fulfilling these promises and the source of the funding, it is worth taking a close look at the state of Karnatakas fiscal affairs. PREMIUM Congress' manifesto for Karnataka(PTI)

Karnatakas fiscal deficit is below 3% of GSDP Historically, Karnataka has been consistently fiscally prudent, with its gross fiscal deficit below 3% of GSDP, the Historically, Karnataka has been consistently fiscally prudent, with its gross fiscal deficit below 3% of GSDP, the limit set by the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act (KFRA) of 2002. Karnatakas budget for 2023-24, which was presented on February 17, estimated the 2023-34 gross fiscal deficit at 2.6% of the states GSDP. While this number is lower than the revised estimate (RE) of 2.7% for 2022-23 and the actual deficit level of 2.9% for 2021-22, it is higher than what it had been in the past. The gross fiscal deficit averaged to 2.2% (range of 1.8% to 2.4%) under the five-year term of Congress government led by Siddaramaiah from 2013-14 to 2017-18. The previous Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy had budgeted a higher deficit (2.6%) than the past average in the interim budget presented in 2018-19, possibly because of the need for additional borrowing space in the post-GST regime. The last BJP government only assumed office in July 2019 and its first budget in March 2020 was derailed by the pandemic, so the numbers are not exactly comparable.

2023-24 fiscal deficit is third-lowest among major Indian states

An HT analysis of state budgets for 17 states shows a consolidated gross fiscal deficit-to-GSDP ratio at 3.2% for 2023-24. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Karnatakas fiscal deficit ratio is the third lowest (after Gujarat and Maharashtra) and significantly below the consolidated figure.

But Karnatakas debt-GSDP ratio has risen significantly

Another fiscal indicator, the debt-GSDP ratio, shows a higher stress in Karnatakas finances. The 2023-24 budget puts this number at 25%, which is significantly higher than the 21.2% figure between 2013-14 and 2017-18. To be sure, this was on a downward trajectory since 2015-16 until the pandemic hit, and it jumped to 27.5% in 2022-23. It will be interesting to see whether the government decides to take on more debt to fulfil the promises made during the elections.

Committed spending

While Karnatakas 2023-24 budget provides for a spending of 2.9 lakh crore, not all of this will be at the new governments disposal for financing its poll promises. This is because a lot of government spending is already earmarked for

fulfilling commitments such as salaries, pensions and interest payments. The Medium Term Fiscal Policy statement in Karnatakas 2023-24 budget shows that the share of non-scheme based committed spending in total revenue receipts has increased from 45% in 2021-22 to 60% in 2023-24 (BE). The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission payout, which will cost the government between 12,000 and 18,000 crore for the first year, will further push this number higher.

Karnataka lags behind in infra and social spending

A 2020 paper by economists Lekha Chakraborty and Jannet Farida Jacob argues that Karnataka was able to achieve fiscal prudence through expenditure compression and not by increased tax buoyancy. Tax-GSDP ratio is not increasing and is around 7% of GSDP. On the expenditure side, the state has compressed its capital expenditure and marginally decreased its spending on education and social welfare and nutrition, said the authors. Capital outlay was budgeted at 2.5% of the states GSDP in 2023-24, lower than the five-year average of 2.7% under the previous Siddaramaiah-led government. At the all-India level, the 2023-24 number for Karnataka is lower than average of 3% obtained for 17 states for which this analysis is possible, and is the ninth-lowest amongst them. If capex sees a further reduction to fulfill poll promises, it will be inimical to the state's long-term growth prospects.

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Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde along with his deputy Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday reviewed the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), India's longest sea bridge, which is expected to be thrown open for the public in November. Providing an update on the progress of the MTHL, Fadnavis, who drove on the sea bridge, said it is almost ready. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during their visit to the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, India's longest sea bridge, in Mumbai, Wednesday, May 24, 2023.(PTI)

OMG! Its almost ready! I actually drove on our engineering marvel MUMBAI TRANS HARBOUR LINK MTHL with CM Eknath Shinde ji! What more could I ask for, the BJP leader wrote on Twitter.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has completed the Mumbai-bound carriageway of the project, also known as the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Trans Harbour Link, a six-lane access-controlled expressway grade road bridge. The bridge begins in Sewri in south Mumbai and terminates at Chirle near Nhava Sheva.

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link will be the longest sea bridge in the country with a total stretch of 16.5 km above the sea. The bridge connecting Mumbai with Navi Mumbai is expected to provide major relief to commuters in Mumbai Metropolitan Region by mitigating traffic congestion, and also promote economic development. It will allow people to travel from Sewri in central Mumbai to Chirle in Navi Mumbai in 15 to 20 minutes.

Shinde later informed that the ambitious MTHL project's connection to the mainland was completed today with much fanfare. He said that the sea bridge will soon be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is giving all his support for the completion of this project.

He said the bridge will further be connected to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Goa National Highway.

"This will lead to the development of educational, industrial and service sectors in this area. This project will save time, fuel, prevent pollution. Environmental balance has been maintained while completing this project. Latest technology has been used for this. It was also explained that the habitat of flamingo birds has been protected due to this," he added.

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Amid the brewing controversy over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday reminded the opposition parties that no governor or President had been invited by non-BJP governments for laying the foundation stones of or inaugurating new legislative assembly buildings in the last nine years. The chief minister listed five instances where either the chief minister or the party president and not the governor was invited to do the honours. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.(ANI / File)

In the last 9 years - 5 non-BJP / Opposition state governments either laid foundation stones or inaugurated a new Legislative Assembly building, Sarma said in a tweet.

All were done by either the Chief Minister or the Party President. In not a single instance was the Governor or President invited, he added.

The instances mentioned by the chief minister include laying the foundation stone of the Assembly buildings in Jharkhand and Assam in 2014, in Andhra Pradesh in 2018, in Chhattisgarh in 2020, and in Telangana in 2023.

Earlier today, Sarma hit out at the Opposition parties claiming that the inauguration of the new Parliament building was something that they did not expect to happen soon.

Speaking to reporters, Sarma said, "The boycott is obvious. They opposed the construction of Parliament House. They never thought that the construction will be completed so soon. So, everything has happened like a bouncer for the Opposition."

"Just to save their face, they are enacting the drama of boycott. Parliament House will open on the day associated with Veer Savarkar. That might be another reason for them to oppose or boycott the function," the chief minister added.

In a show of unity, 19 opposition parties on Wednesday announced their decision to skip the inauguration of the new Parliament building, saying they find no value in a new building when the "soul of democracy has been sucked out". The opposition parties in a joint statement said, despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion.

However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response.

The Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Janata Dal (United), AAP, CPI-M, CPI, SP, NCP, SS (UBT), RJD, IUML, JMM, NC, KC (M), RSP, VCK, MDMK, RLD are the signatories of the joint statement.

Apart from these 19 parties, All India Majili-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi also said his party skip the ceremony if the new Parliament building is launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I still hope that the Prime Minister of this country will show his large-heartedness, and would show his love for the Constitution. As a true constitutionalist, if he is, then he should allow the Lok Sabha Speaker to inaugurate the new Parliament. And if he (the Speaker) does, then of course, MIM will be there.

"(Modi) wants to inaugurate everything. Because BJP believes that nothing happened before 2014. Then we will not attend that function, he told reporters.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 at 12 pm in Delhi. According to reports, the new building offers spacious seats and the latest facilities. It can seat a total of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha. A view of the newly-constructed Parliament building which is set to inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.(ANI)

19 opposition parties including the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and others have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new building for not inviting President Droupadi Murmu." Here's a list of the parties that have called for the boycott:

Indian National Congress (INC)

Calling for the boycott of the new parliament building on Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, The Modi Government has repeatedly disrespected propriety. The Office of the President of India is reduced to tokenism under the BJP-RSS government.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Calling for the boycott, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh tweeted, Not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new Parliament building is a great insult to her. This is also an insult to the tribals. The Aam Aadmi party will boycott the inauguration function in protest of Modi ji not inviting the President.

Trinamool Congress (TMC)

Announcing the party's decision, TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien wrote on Twitter, Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules -- it is the foundation of Indian democracy. Prime Minister Modi doesn't get that. For him, Sunday's inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out.

Communist Party of India factions (CPI (M), CPI)

Accusing Modi of "bypassing" the President for not just laying the foundation stone of the building but also for inaugurating it himself, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted, Modi bypassed the President when the foundation stone for the new Parliament building was laid. Now too at the inauguration. Unacceptable. Constitution Art 79: 'There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses

Only when the President of India summons the Parliament can it meet. The President begins, annually, Parliamentary functioning by addressing the joint session. The first business Parliament transacts each year is the 'Motion of Thanks' to President's Address, Yechury tweeted.

Meanwhile, CPI general secretary D Raja also said his party will not attend the ceremony.

Janata Dal United (JDU)

Speaking about the inauguration event of the new parliament building, JDU special adviser KC Tyagi said, The JDU is strongly with the opposition over the issue The issues raised by the opposition are valid. It would have been better had the President inaugurated the parliament building, TOI quotes KC Tyagi as saying.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)

After the Congress, AAP, TMC, and others said they'll boycott the event, the RJD also called for the official boycott of the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building. We will boycott this, Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

Speaking about the opposition's boycott of the inauguration of the new parliamentary building, DMK MP Kanimozhi said, It has not been done in a proper way and the decorum which should be followed, is not being followed. So, the Opposition parties have decided to boycott it.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)

An NCP spokesperson was quoted by ANI as saying, NCP will not attend the inaugural function of the New parliament building, party has decided to stand with other like-minded opposition parties on this issue.

Shiv Sena (UBT)

All opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28th May and we will also do the same, Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut said on Wednesday.

Others who have called for the boycott of the event include Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Rashtriya Lok Dal, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), National Conference (NC), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
New Delhi Twenty-one opposition parties announced on Wednesday that they will boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament on May 28 over Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to preside over the ceremony instead of President Droupadi Murmu, casting a shadow over the opening of a building that will soon function as the heart of Indias democracy. HT Image

A joint statement by 19 parties  which together control 11 state governments and 230 seats in the Lok Sabha  said Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament was an assault on democracy, marking a fresh standoff between the government and Opposition whose deteriorating ties have jammed recent sessions of Parliament.

Later, two more parties, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), also said they would stay away from the event.

The 19 parties, in their joint statement, argued that President was not only the head of the State but an integral part of Parliament, which cannot function without her. Therefore, Modis decision to inaugurate the new building undermined the office of the President and violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution, they said.

But leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday said the boycott decision showed contempt for the essence of democracy.

When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India, the Opposition statement said.

The NDA statement  signed among others by BJP president JP Nadda, Shiv Senas Eknath Shinde and Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma  said the decision to boycott the ceremony is not merely disrespectful; it is a blatant affront to the democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation. Their (Oppositions) actions today will echo through the annals of history, casting a long shadow over their legacy. We urge them to think about the nation and not individual political gains, it added.

The BJP also argued that previous prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament annexe and library respectively.

The Union government, too, dismissed the objections and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said this was a historic occasion, and not a time for politics. I would like to tell them that this is a historical event. This is not the time for politics...Boycotting and making issues out of a new issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join this historical function..., Joshi added.

The Opposition statement was signed by the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party, and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The new Parliament was built over three years at a cost of 1,200 crore; it is aimed at providing a facelift and amenities not available at the iconic colonial-era building next door that served as Indias Parliament for 75 years after being opened in 1927.

A two-hour-long programme with multi-faith prayers and a guest list that includes all members of Parliament (MPs) and chief ministers is scheduled for the inauguration on Sunday at 12pm. Modi will lead the ceremony inside the new Lok Sabha chamber that can accommodate nearly 900 people. The programme will also showcase modern facilities of the new building that is likely to start functioning from the monsoon session in July.

But political tensions have simmered for days now over the PMs decision to open the building.

Opposition parties say that as the President summons, prorogues and addresses Parliament,and her assent is a must for any act to become law, her absence from the event is an insult to her office. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman adivasi President, the statement added.

In a tweet in Hindi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, Neither getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor inviting her to the ceremony is an insult to the countrys highest constitutional post. Parliament is not built by bricks of ego, but through constitutional values.

To be sure, not all non-BJP parties are boycotting the event. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSR Congress Party said theyll attend the event.

Such issues can always be debated later in the August house. Hence the BJD shall be a part of this momentous occasion, said a statement by the BJD.

In the true spirit of democracy, my party will attend this historic event, tweeted YSRCP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Some of these parties have earlier lent support to the BJP in Parliament on crucial bills and votes.

The Opposition joint statement accused the PM of hollowing out Parliament, and said the new building was constructed with no consultation with the people of India or MPs.

Opposition members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and parliamentary committees have been practically made defunct, the parties said.

It came a day after HT reported that at least five opposition parties had indicated or confirmed that they would skip the event. The stand-off also marks a major moment for unity for the Opposition, which has been trying to forge a common platform to take on the BJP ahead of the 2024 elections. It also comes as a parliamentary battle is brewing over a possible vote on a controversial ordinance that the Centre issued last week to regain control of Delhis bureaucracy after the top court granted the powers to the Capitals elected government.

In its statement on Wednesday, the NDA said,

Regrettably, this is not the first instance of such disdain. Over the past nine years, these opposition parties have repeatedly shown scant regard for parliamentary procedures, disrupted sessions, staged walkouts during crucial legislations, and demonstrated an alarming lackadaisical attitude towards their Parliamentary duties. This recent boycott is just another feather in their cap of disregard for democratic processes, added the statement.
Prime minister Narendra Modi - who is on a three-day visit to Australia - has red-flagged the vandalism of Hindu temples in that country and said his counterpart, Anthony Albanese had vowed 'strict action' against those guilty. Prime minister Narendra Modi (right) and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese ahead of a bilateral meeting at Admiralty House in Sydney, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

"PM Anthony Albanese and I have, in the past, discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also," prime minister Modi told reporters this morning.

"We will not accept any elements that harm friendly and warm ties between India (and) Australia... PM Albanese assured me once again today he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also," he said.

Responding to questions ahout that promise, Albanese said 'extreme actions' against religious structures and places of worship would not be tolerated.

"I gave him (prime minister Modi) the assurance Australia is a country that respects people's faith... that we don't tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks we have seen on religious temples, be they Hindu temples, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia," Albanese told reporters.

"We will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible faces the full force of the law. We are a tolerant, multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this..."

READ | 'Responsiveness from Aus authorities: Envoy on temple vandalism

Temples vandalised in Australia

In March, when the Australian PM was visiting India, he stressed his government would not take attacks on any religious building lightly.

Back then Modi, speaking at an exchange of agreements with Albanese, said frequent incidents of vandalism and abuse of Hindu temples had left Indians and that he had been assured by Albanese of protection of the Indian diaspora.

That was the month a major Hindu temple in Brisbane - the Sree Laxmi Narayan Temple - was attacked by pro-Khalistan supporters.

READ | Indians in Australia demand action after vandalism of Hindu temples

In January two other instances were reported - the Sri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs was painted with anti-Hindu graffiti and another temple in Mill Park was defaced with both anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti.

PM Modi at Sydney event

The prime minister, addressing diaspora in the city, said a new consulate would be opened in Brisbane, fulfilling a long-standing demand of Indians in that city.

READ | 'MasterChef, yoga, cricket': Modi on India-Australia bonding in Sydney

India has a high commission in national capital Canberra. There are consulates in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, but only an honorary consulate in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, at the same event Albanese called Modi 'the boss' - a reference to Bruce Springsteen - and said even the legendary rock musician couldn't draw crowds as large as the Indian prime minister does.

PM Modi is in Sydney as part of the third and final leg of a three-nation visit that included a trip another island nation - Papua New Guinea.

With input from ANI

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reiterated Indias concerns about attacks on temples and activities of separatists to his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, who assured him of action on these matters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese in front of the sails of the Sydney Opera House illuminated in the colours of the Indian flag in Sydney. (AP)

Participating in a joint media interaction with Albanese after their bilateral talks, Modi said the two leaders had discussed the attacks on temples and activities of separatist elements in Australia in the past and again at their meeting in Sydney.

We discussed the matter again today. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between India and Australia by their actions or thoughts, Modi said, speaking in Hindi.

I thank the prime minister for the actions that have already been taken. Prime Minister Albanese has once again assured me today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also.

Talking to reporters in Sydney, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said her government will ensure that there is no space for violence.

Wong said, Ive had a lot of discussions about this, and I would make this point  that we are a multi-cultural democracy. We safeguard our social cohesion, there is no space for hatred and there is certainly no space for violence and thats the approach the government will be taking.

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told a media briefing that the attacks on temples are disruptive to the relationship and that the Australian side has made progress in addressing the issue. He said relevant departments in both countries will remain in touch so that they can closely coordinate whenever information on such matters arises and needs to be exchanged so that timely action can be taken.

Kwatra said, The progress is clearly reflected in the fact that [Modi] thanked [Albanese] for the action that the government of Australia has taken, not just in making correct appreciation of the nature of such activities but also against the elements which perpetrated such attacks.

India and Australia will not allow the disruption of their strong, extensive and multifaceted ties by such elements, and whatever both sides need to do would be done, he added.

Modi first raised the matter during Albaneses visit to India in March, after pro-Khalistan elements vandalised several temples in Australia and organised protests in key cities such as Sydney and Brisbane. Elements linked to the proscribed Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) also targeted members of the Indian community while running a campaign for a so-called referendum on Khalistan.

Australian officials denounced the violence and said the referendum is not recognised by both countries. The Australian side had also said it wouldnt tolerate any extreme actions and attacks on religious buildings and that Canberra would act on such issues in line with domestic laws.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rezaul H Laskar Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music. ...view detail
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday invited Australias leading business to tap investment opportunities in India in key areas such as infrastructure, fintech, telecommunications, semiconductors, and renewable energy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the roundtable with Business Leaders in Sydney on Wednesday (PTI/PIB)

Modi highlighted his governments economic reforms and initiatives for ease of doing business and boosting economic growth while addressing a business roundtable with CEOs of top Australian companies in Sydney on the final day of his three-day visit to the country.

The CEOs represented companies operating in diverse sectors such as steel, banking, energy, mining and IT. vice-chancellors of some leading Australian universities also joined the roundtable.

Among the areas listed by the prime minister for potential investment opportunities were digital infrastructure, IT, fintech, telecommunications, semiconductors, space, renewable energy including green hydrogen, education, pharmaceuticals, healthcare including medical devices, mining including critical minerals, textiles, agriculture and food processing.

He referred to the changes to the business environment through initiatives such as Mission Gati Shakti for an integrated approach to infrastructure connectivity projects, Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity, National Education Policy, Hydrogen Mission 2050, the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, opening the space and geospatial sectors to private investment, and the new policy for manufacturing medical devices.

Modi further encouraged the CEOs to forge mutually beneficial partnerships with Indian counterparts. He participated in the roundtable after bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, during which the two leaders committed themselves to the speedy conclusion of negotiations on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.

The CEOs of Rio Tinto, National Australia Bank, Wisetech and Australian Industry Bank were among those who participated in the roundtable.

Modi also held a meeting with Australias Governor-General David Hurley at Admiralty House in Sydney and discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral partnership. Modi noted the contribution of the Indian diaspora in Australia, and its role in fostering closer bilateral links.

At a separate meeting with Australias Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton, Modi appreciated the strong bipartisan support enjoyed by the India-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership. Their discussions also covered people-to-people links and regional developments.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar, who was part of the prime ministers delegation, held a separate meeting with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong. India and Australia are increasingly demonstrating their ability to go beyond the bilateral and collaborate at the regional and global level, he tweeted after the meeting.

Wong said in a tweet that both countries share an interest in a peaceful, stable and prosperous region. Its a reminder of why our partnership is so important. It was great to speak with my good friend @DrSJaishankar about how we can expand our cooperation to achieve the region we want, she said.

The relationship with India is going from strength to strength. Australia regards India as one of our most important relationships...There is a lot of strategic alignment, shared strategic interest but as we discussed this today, a lot of economic interest as well, Wong told the media.

Wong also met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and tweeted subsequently: As partners for stability, Australia & India are working together to contribute to a strategic balance of power that keeps the peace in our region. Thank you to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for a discussion on how we shape a secure region, where sovereignty is respected.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off Uttarakhand's first Vande Bharat Express train on Thursday via video conferencing. The Vande Bharat Express (Representative image)(PTI)

Sudhir Singh, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (DCM) of Moradabad Railway Division said the train will run between Dehradun and New Delhi.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will also be present at the Dehradun railway station during the inaugural event of the state's first Vande Bharat Express train, Singh added.

Earlier on May 18, PM Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat Express between Puri and Howrah via video conferencing.

The ultra-modern semi-high-speed train is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities.

Following the launch of Odisha's first Vande Bharat train, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw 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."

Vande Bharat Express is an indigenously manufactured, semi-high-speed, self-propelled train set. The train has state-of-the-art passenger amenities, providing passengers with a faster, more comfortable and more convenient travel experience.
The controversy over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has triggered a war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition parties, with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor dismissing Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri's argument of supposed precedence. On Tuesday, Puri said the then prime minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe building in 1975 and successor Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation of the parliament library on August 15, 1987. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.(PTI / File photo)

"If your head of government can inaugurate Parliament annexe and library then why can't the head of the government of this time do? It's as simple as that," he said.

Tharoor countered the argument saying those were subsidiary buildings while Prime Minister Modi will be inaugurating a whole new Parliament convened and prorogued by the President of India.

But those were subsidiary buildings, dear @HardeepSPuri - an Annexe and a Library. This is a whole new Parliament! Doesnt the Constitution say the President is its head, convenes Parliament & prorogues it? So shouldnt she inaugurate it rather than the PM? the Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram said in a tweet.

Insisting that the new Parliament building be inaugurated by the President, Chattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said inaugurating a portion of a building is a different matter.

"The Parliament was built during the British era. Rashtrapati Bhavan was also built during the British period, so how could Indira Gandhi have inaugurated it? If someone inaugurates a portion of a building, then that is a different matter. The new Parliament building should be inaugurated by the President," the chief minister said while responding to Puri's argument.

As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Left and TMC, have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building, saying they find no value in a new building when the soul of democracy has been sucked out.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday, they said, "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion".

However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, "completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response".

Amid the political slugfest, BJP IT cell Amit Malviya tweeted, Well, the Congress is free to belittle their leaders accomplishments but whose fault is it if Congress leaders were constrained by their vision and content building incremental infrastructure or worse lending their name to even the smallest installations in the precinct of the Parliament?

The Opposition must stop complaining because none other than Jawaharlal Nehru has unveiled even portraits in the Lok Sabha chamber and the Parliament hall, things which could have otherwise been done, either by the President or the Lok Sabha speaker.

Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

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NEW DELHI: How can a court pass an order to cancel bail to a murder accused and then order the release of the accused on bail in the same order, the Supreme Court asked on Wednesday during the hearing on a petition that challenged the unusual order by Telangana high court. CBI told the Supreme Court that a high court cancelling and granting bail in the same order was like the eighth marvel in bail jurisprudence. (AP File Photo)

In the April 27 order, the high court cancelled the statutory bail which was granted in June 2019 to T Gangi Reddy, a prime accused in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh MP YS Vivekananda Reddy, because the investigating agency didnt file charges against him in 90 days. In the same order, the high court also directed T Rangi Reddys release on bail on July 1 on a personal bond for 1 lakh in view of the top courts June 30 deadline for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its probe.

The high court has cancelled the bail. The accused may apply for regular bail. But how can the last portion of the order be passed after cancelling bail, a vacation bench of justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal asked during Wednesdays hearing on a petition by Suneetha Narreddy, the daughter of deceased ex-MP.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Suneetha Narreddy, said such an order was unprecedented and was not in conformity with the settled principles on the grant of bail.

The normal procedure for an accused in custody to apply for bail is considered on merits after hearing arguments by the accused, state and victim. This procedure has been given a complete go-by, Luthra said.

CBI, which was represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Sanjay Jain, said, This kind of order is like the eighth marvel in bail jurisprudence. The last part of the order annihilates the rest of the order. How can an order be cancelling bail and granting bail at the same time.

The top court, which was going to give its ruling at the hearing, eventually decided to defer the case to Friday after senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Gangi Reddy, told the bench that he was also challenging the high courts cancellation of bail and was in the process of getting the petition listed.

The bench agreed to take up both appeals together. If he (accused) has challenged the correctness of the order, we have to hear him. We will pass a reasoned order which is a balanced one.

Former MP Vivekananda Reddy was found dead in his house at Pulivendula in Kadapa district on March 15, 2019. CBI took up the investigation in March 2020 on a petition by his family as they were not satisfied with the pace of the probe conducted by the state police.

In November last year, the top court directed the trial to be shifted from Kadapa to Hyderabad following apprehension over a fair trial due to the closeness of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy with the YSR Congress Party MP YS Avinash Reddy, who is a suspect in the murder of his cousin.

This is the second time in a month that the high courts order in the case has drawn the top courts displeasure.

On April 24, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud set aside an April 18 order of the high court that directed CBI to supply a written questionnaire to Avinash Reddy, before calling him for questioning. An order of this nature will stultify the investigation. There is no warrant for the HC to state that a person who is an accused facing investigation should be given questions in written or printed form. Such orders of the Court tend to prejudice the course of investigation, particularly at a stage when the CBI has to fully investigate the role of the accused, the bench led by CJI Chandrachud said.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin in his maiden visit to Singapore signed six memoranda of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday and held discussions with the heads of major financial and industrial institutions. Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin with Singapore minister of transport and trade S Iswaran on Wednesday. (PTI)

Stalin left Chennai on Tuesday on a two-nation tour of Singapore and Japan to attract more investments to Tamil Nadu and invite investors for a global investors meet in Chennai to be held in January 2024.

The MoUs signed during the Investors First Port of Call in Singapore include a proposed investment of 312 crore by Singapore-based Hi-P International Pvt Ltd in manufacturing of electronic components in Tamil Nadu which is expected to generate 700 jobs. Stalin and minister for industries TRB Rajaa spoke of the conducive environment for investments in Tamil Nadu.

In order to play a vital role in shaping the economy of India, we in Tamil Nadu, have set ourselves the target of becoming One Trillion Dollar Economy by the year 2030. We are taking all efforts to achieve our target, Stalin said at the event. On this occasion, I appeal to you to invest on a large scale in Tamil Nadu which will be mutually beneficial to both Tamil Nadu and Singapore.

Earlier in the day, Stalin held talks with Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, executive director and CEO of Temasek, Kim Yin Wong of Sembcorp, and Sanjeev Dasgupta of CapitaLand. They reaffirmed the long-standing relations between Tamil Nadu and Singapore, Stalin said in a statement. These companies and more have expressed their interest in investing in Tamil Nadu and they explored the possibilities of expanding the existing investments in renewable energy, industrial parks and logistics to new areas including food processing and fishing, he added.

Temasek has an existing investment in the wind power sector in Tamil Nadu and Stalin invited the company to expand its footprint in the state. The chief minister told Wong of Sembcorp that the government of India has simplified the regulations regarding pumped hydro storage projects and urged the company, operating in the renewable energy sector, to explore the PPP model to implement initiatives in our state, said a statement from the government. Stalin said that officials from CapitaLand were keen to contribute towards research and development (R&D) facilities in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, the chief minister also met Singapores transport minister S Iswaran, who is also in-charge of trade relations, and discussed improving economic and bilateral ties between the two countries.

Lee Kuan Yew Statue in TN

Later, while attending a Tamil cultural event, Stalin announced that a monument will be established for the late Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), Singapores first prime minister, considered the founding father of the country. For Tamil to be long standing in Singapore, its first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was the main reason, Stalin said. A library in Lee Kuan Yews name and a statue will be established in Mannargudi.

Singapore has a massive Tamil diaspora with a majority hailing from Mannargudi and Pattukottai. The Dravidian rule supports Tamils across the world, Stalin said. Religion and caste cannot split Tamilians.

Stalin added that LKY was attracted by a speech by DMK founder and late chief minister C N Annadurai. He (LKY) later hosted Anna for a feast, the chief minister said.

When LKY passed away in 2015, Stalins father and late former chief minister M Karunanidhi had hailed him as Singapores hero, he recalled.

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The man arrested at Bengaluru airport on Tuesday in the 2015 Punjab sacrilege case turned out to be a techie from Delhi who was mistaken for the prime accused Sandeep Bareta, Punjab Police said on Wednesday. Sandeep Mannan (left), who belongs to Delhi and works in a tech company in Bengaluru, was detained on Monday night and (right) Sandeep Bareta, wanted by Punjab Police in connection with the sacrilege cases of 2015. The Bengaluru airport authorities detained Sandeep Mannan as his first name, fathers name, and birth year matched with Baretas as mentioned in the lookout circular. (HT Photos)

The man arrested by the police was identified as Sandeep Mannan, an employee of a tech firm in the Karnataka capital.

Also Read: On run for 5 years, Bargari sacrilege key accused arrested from Bengaluru airport

On Tuesday, Punjab Police tweeted that Bareta, the prime accused and one of the three absconding Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda members who were involved in the 2015 sacrilege case, was arrested at Bengaluru airport when he was trying to flee to Singapore. Punjab Police also shared a photograph of Mannan, whom they assumed to be the accused person.

On Wednesday, when a Punjab Police team visited Bengaluru to take custody of the arrested person, they realised that it was a case of mistaken identity.

A communication from the immigration authorities at Bengaluru airport was received regarding the detention of Sandeep, matching the description of sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta, on the basis of a lookout circular (LOC) issued by Faridkot police. The matter was promptly verified. It has been found that the detained person at Bengaluru airport is not the wanted sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta. He is Sandeep Mannan, a resident of New Delhi who works in a tech company in Bengaluru, PK Yadav, IGP of Faridkot range, said in a statement.

According to a police officer, Mannan was detained as his first name, fathers name and birth year matched with that of Barpeta as mentioned in the LOC. But the address of the detained man was of Delhi, while Bareta, who belongs to Bareta in Mansa district, was living in Sirsa, Haryana, before he went underground, the officer said. Mannan, meanwhile, continued to remain in Bengaluru Polices custody. One of his neighbours said that his family is in the process of completing the paper work for his release.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Parteek Singh Mahal Parteek Singh Mahal is a multimedia correspondent based at Faridkot in Punjab. He covers medical education, politics and Punjab police. ...view detail
Hyderabad: Starting June 2, the Telangana government headed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao is going to hold the decennial celebrations of the state formation for the next 21 days, showcasing its achievements in the last nine years. The decennial celebrations will be launched by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao by paying tribute to those who laid down their lives for the formation of separate Telangana state and unfurling the national flag at the state secretariat. (ANI)

An official statement from the chief minister on Wednesday said the schedule of the 21-day long celebrations was finalized at a meeting held by the chief minister on Tuesday. Earlier, KCR unveiled the logo for the Telangana formation day celebrations.

According to the official statement, the decennial celebrations will be launched by the chief minister by paying tribute to those who laid down their lives for the formation of separate Telangana state and unfurling the national flag at the state secretariat. The celebrations will be kickstarted by the state ministers in all the districts simultaneously.

On June 3, the government will celebrate Telangana farmers day and the state agriculture department will organise a series of programmes at Rythu Vedikas, highlighting the schemes like free power, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and other schemes.

The next day will be observed as Suraksha Day (safety day), when the state police department will organise programmes to explain the efforts of the police to maintain law and order in the state and implement people-friendly police policy.

Similarly, June 5 will be observed as Telangana Vidyut Vijayotsavam to highlight the achievements of the energy department. On June 6, Telangana Industrial growth Festival will be celebrated and June 7 as irrigation water day, when the chief minister attends a meeting on the achievements of the state irrigation sector.

On June 8, the government would hold Oorooraa Cheruvula Panduga (celebration of water bodies in every village). Cultural programmes including Batukamma and Bonalu will be held.

While June 9 has been dedicated to the celebration of state governments welfare schemes, the following day will be observed as Telangana Good Governance day. Telangana literature day will be held on June 11, followed by Telangana Run to be organised by the state police department on June 12.

Telangana womens welfare day will be observed on June 13 and medical day on June 14. KCR will lay the foundation stone for the construction of a new building of a 2000 bed super specialty hospital in NIMS, Hyderabad and for the expansion of NIMS on this day.

While June 15 will be celebrated as Telangana Palle Pragati Day (rural development day), the next day will be Telangana Pattana Pragathi Day (urban development day). The Telangana tribal festival will be celebrated on June 17 and drinking water festival on June 18.

Telangana green festival will be celebrated on June 19, with large scale tree plantations across the state and on June 20, the state will celebrate education day. On June 21, the government will celebrate Telangana Spiritual Day by organising various programmes at temples, mosques, churches and other religious places of worship.

On June 22, Telangana will observe Telangana martyrs commemoration day by observing two-minute silence. A big rally will be taken out in memory of martyrs at Tank Bund and remember their sacrifices.

The celebrations conclude with the distribution of title deeds to tribals to regularise forest land occupied by them to take up podu cultivation from June 23, the official statement said.

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Hyderabad Farmers have been agitating for over two years demanding that the capital city be retained in Amaravati. (HT Archives)

Tension prevailed in Thullur town of Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday as the police arrested several farmers who were agitating against the distribution of residential plots for the weaker sections from other parts of the state in the capital region, officials and farmers leaders said.

The police swooped on the deeksha sibiram (dharna camp) at Thullur, where men and women farmers have been agitating for over two years demanding that the capital city be retained in Amaravati, and took several of them into custody, people aware of the matter said.

The development took place a day before chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is scheduled to distribute house site pattas to over 50,000 poor families for construction of weaker section houses on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the farmers were protesting the chief ministers programme, following a call given by TDP Guntur district unit president and former MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar.

The ruling YSR Congress party activists have given a call for a motorcycle rally in the village in support of the governments decision to give house sites for the poor.

This led to a tense situation in the village and the police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Cr PC and declared that no permission would be given for any kind of protests, as it might lead to breakdown of law and order, a police official from Thullur police station said.

As the farmers were trying to stage a dharna at the protest camp, the police stopped them. When they resisted, the police took them into custody and shifted them to the police station, the police official said.

The police also arrested advocate and Jai Bhim Bharat Party president Jada Sravan Kumar, who was trying to break the barriers to express solidarity with the agitating farmers.

It is atrocious that the police have chosen to trample the democratic rights of the farmers to peacefully agitate. We are not against anybody or any party. We are only agitating in support of the legitimate rights of Amaravati farmers, Sravan Kumar said, talking to reporters at the police station.

The Thullur police made an announcement in the public address system that anybody attempting to protest or enter the area will be arrested. The police also kept local TDP leaders under house arrest as a precautionary measure, the official quoted above said.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will officially open its fourth diplomatic mission in India in the southern city of Hyderabad next month to meet long-standing demands for visas and to boost business ties, especially in information technology and healthcare. UAE consul general Aaref Alnuaimi

Though the final arrangements are still being worked out, UAEs minister of state for foreign affairs Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh is expected to open the consulate in Hyderabad on June 14, said consul general Aaref Alnuaimi. This will be the fourth mission after the embassy in New Delhi and consulates in Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram.

We are opening the consulate in Hyderabad because of the demand of the visa section and the demand of the people who want to go to the UAE, Alnuaimi said in an interview.

Also Read: Heres what the G7 summit achieved... and what it didnt

Besides, UAE citizens visit Hyderabad for a lot of reasons, including studies and medical check-ups in hospitals. This is why our government thought it is better to open a mission in Hyderabad, he said. The new consulate is expected to issue about 300 visas a day, including resident visas.

Asked about the reasons UAE citizens prefer to come to India for medical treatment, Alnuaimi said, The relationship between the UAE citizens and Hyderabad is very old. And here in India, you have good doctors and hospitals. For these reasons, they are coming here.

Alnuaimi, a career diplomat who has served in Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia and was named as the first consul general for Hyderabad in December 2021, said he will act as the link between UAEs businesses and their counterparts in Hyderabad and Telangana.

In terms of boosting business connections, we are focusing on two areas  information technology and healthcare, he said.

Hyderabad and other parts of south India are becoming increasingly important for the UAEs visa operations. South India is a very big area and the demand [for visas] is also big here, he added.

The UAE is currently home to more than 2.8 million Indian nationals, one of the largest concentrations of the diaspora in West Asia. Trade between the UAE and India is worth nearly $60 billion annually, and the Emirates are Indias third largest trading partner after the US and China. The UAE also accounts for 8% of Indias oil imports and is the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to the country.

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Dismissing the ruling BJP's criticism of the opposition's decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday asserted that the photographs of the upcoming event will remind the country of the insult of the President. Chaturvedi, a member of the Upper House, said the pictures from the ceremony, with no opposition leaders in it, would be called a symbol of dictatorship. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.

Those who are claiming damage to the opposition for not attending the inauguration of the Parliament are forgetting that history will bear witness to it, the Sena (UBT) leader said in a tweet in Hindi.

Whenever the picture of the new Parliament will be seen and no leader of the opposition will be found in it, then the country will remember the insult of the President, she added.

That image will be called a symbol of dictatorship.

Nineteen opposition parties, including the Congress, Left and TMC, have announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they find no value in a new building when the soul of democracy has been sucked out. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also said his party will skip the ceremony if the new Parliament building is launched by Prime Minister Modi.

I still hope that the Prime Minister of this country will show his large-heartedness, and would show his love for the Constitution. As a true constitutionalist, if he is, then he should allow the Lok Sabha Speaker to inaugurate the new Parliament. And if he (the Speaker) does, then of course, MIM will be there, he told reporters in Hyderabad.

The ruling BJP has, however, dismissed the opposition's objection calling it a non-issue. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday urged the opposition parties to reconsider their decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building.

"Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function," Joshi told reporters here on the sidelines of a national workshop on National e-Vidhan Application.

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NAGPUR: A 35-year-old woman has been arrested by the Nagpur rural police on charges that she hired a contract killer to eliminate her father after he assaulted her mother for objecting to his extra-marital affair, police said. The Nagpur rural police said the three assailants were arrested within hours of the murder on May 17 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Dilip Rajeshwar Sontakke (60), who was killed by three masked men at their petrol pump in Bhiwapur on the Nagpur-Nagbhid highway on May 17, also had been pressuring his wife to transfer the petrol station, their farm and house in his name.

Police said his daughter, Priya, hired the assailants for 5 lakh.

Nagpur (Rural) superintendent of police Vishal Anand said Priya, who has allegedly confessed to her role in the murder, was produced before a local court on Wednesday and remanded in police custody for two days.

Anand said the three assailants, Sheikh Afroz alias Imran Hanif, Mohammad Wasim Lal Mohammad and Zubair Khan, were caught within hours of the murder. During interrogation, they told the police that Priya engaged them.

Sontakke was counting the money at the petrol station about 75km from Nagpur city on May 17 along with his employee Rajeshwar Nanhe when the three accused barged into the station. They attacked Sontakke and Rajeshwar Nanhe who tried to protect his employer. By the time they were done, police said Sontakke was stabbed 15 times. They also looted 1.34 lakh in cash from the station.

According to the police, Priya wanted him dead because he had been torturing her mother and the rest of the family for opposing his extramarital relationship with a woman in Nagpur.

Sontakke initially ill-treated his wife but when she questioned him about his extra-marital relationship, it escalated into physical abuse. Police said Priya appeared to have decided to do something after Sontakke turned violent and assaulted Priya and her mother on May 2. She approached Sheikh Afroz Sheikh Hanif (33), a resident of Bada Tajbagh, Nagpur. Afroz enlisted his accomplices, Wasim Lal Mohd (29), a resident of Kharbi and a local criminal Zubair Khan.

Police said they are trying to establish who put Priya in touch with the prime accused, Afroz.
Hyderabad YSRCP president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy tweeted that boycotting such an auspicious event is not in the true spirit of democracy. (HT Archives)

The ruling YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday found fault with various opposition parties for deciding to boycott the historic event of inauguration of new Parliament complex in New Delhi on Sunday.

YSRCP president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy tweeted that boycotting such an auspicious event is not in the true spirit of democracy. Setting aside all political differences, I request that all political parties attend this glorious event.

The chief minister congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on dedicating the new Parliament complex to the nation. I congratulate @narendramodiji for dedicating the grand, majestic and spacious Parliament building to the nation, he tweeted.

Stating that Parliament, being the temple of democracy, reflects our nations soul and belongs to the people of our country and all the political parties In the true spirit of democracy, Jagan said his party would attend the historic event.

According to a YSRCP leader familiar with the development, Jagan would be attending the NITI Aayog governing council meeting to be held in New Delhi on May 27. There is every possibility that the chief minister would stay back in the national capital to attend the inauguration of the new Parliament complex the following day, he said.

Otherwise, too, YSRCP general secretary and parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy and his parliament colleagues would be attending the event, the YSRCP leader quoted above said.

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Actor Diana Penty has had a stellar time at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival. Diana was among a host of celebrities who attended the 76th edition of the prestigious festival and walked the much-anticipated and widely-covered red carpets. And now, the star is ready to bid farewell to the French Riviera town in style. Diana posted pictures of her last day in Cannes, and she killed it in a stunning mini dress and a silk trench coat. Scroll through to see the photos. Diana Penty spends her last day at Cannes killing it in a mini dress and silk trench coat. (Instagram)

Diana Penty in Alberta Ferretti for her last day at Cannes

Diana Penty took to Instagram to share pictures from her last day in Cannes with the caption, "My last day on the French Riviera, in @albertaferretti [heart eye emoji] Au revoir Cannes...until we meet again [heart emoji]." The post shows Diana taking a stroll in the French Riviera town, dressed in an Alberta Ferretti ensemble featuring a mini dress and a silk trench coat. Celebrity stylist Namita Alexander styled Diana's killer look for the photoshoot in Cannes. Check out the pictures below.

Diana's orange-coloured sleeveless dress features embroidered lace, a see-through silhouette on the torso, a figure-hugging fit enhancing her svelte frame, a revealing cut-out on the back, embroidered delicate leaf appliques enhancing the overall look, a round neckline, and a mini hem length.

Diana wore the outfit with a beige-coloured silk trench coat featuring full-length sleeves, a billowy silhouette, an open front with button closures, belted design on the cuffs and waist, two front patch pockets, slits on the side, and wide notch lapel collars.

Diana accessorised the ensemble with stylish peep-toe pumps, a tan basket shoulder bag, and sunglasses. Lastly, she chose feathered brows, subtle eye shadow, nude lip shade, blushed cheeks, a dewy base, and mascara on the lashes for the glam picks. Centre-parted messy open hair gave the finishing touch.
Actor Mouni Roy debuted on the 2023 Cannes Film Festival red carpet. Mouni, who is in Cannes right now to attend the 76th edition of the prestigious film festival, walked the red carpet last night in a strapless plunge-neck ivory gown. Mouni also shared pictures of the unforgettable moment with her fans on social media. She even thanked her team in the caption for making her realise her stellar debut at Cannes. Scroll ahead to check out Mouni's red-carpet gown. Mouni Roy walks the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. (Instagram)

Mouni Roy debuts at the Cannes Film Festival

Mouni Roy posted pictures of herself walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Instagram with the caption, "Debutante. On the Cannes red carpet tonight. I have the loveliest people to thank for...It was a dream debut, and I shall remember every second of it. Taking many memories for days to come, also gonna be spamming your feeds incessantly." The pictures show Mouni rocking a modern Princess moment on the red carpet in the ivory plunge-neck ensemble. She styled it with striking accessories and minimal makeup. Check it out below.

Mouni's strapless ivory gown is from the shelves of Atelier Zuhra, styled with stilettos from Giuseppe Zanotti and jewels from Swarovski and Boucheron. Maneka Harisinghani styled Mouni's red carpet look, which features a plunging neckline revealing her decolletage, a corseted bodice embellished with shimmering diamantes, a voluminous skirt adorned in ivory feathers, and a floor-sweeping train lending a Princess moment.

Mouni accessorised the Princess gown with a delicate shimmering choker necklace. Lastly, she chose darkened brows, glossy nude pink lip shade, subtle eye shadow, bold eyeliner, kohl-lined eyes, mascara on the lashes, rouged cheekbones, beaming highlighter, and a dewy base for the glam picks. A messy low bun gave the finishing touch to her red carpet look.

Meanwhile, fans rushed to the comments section of Mouni's post to compliment her on her debut. One wrote, "So beautiful." Another commented, "Miss maam ate." A user remarked, "You look stunning." What do you think of Mouni's Cannes debut look?
Actor Priyanka Chopra took to Instagram to reveal pictures from her latest cover shoot for The Zoe Report. After being the cover star of 12 international magazines, Priyanka is again on the cover of another publication. In the interview, the star opened up about her early career, how she and her husband, Nick Jonas, make their marriage work, her latest projects, her moody personal style, the best fashion advice she has ever received, and more. Scroll through to read snippets of Priyanka's interview. Priyanka Chopra reveals the best fashion advice she has ever received and details about her personal style. (Instagram/@priyankachopra)

Priyanka Chopra on her personal style, best fashion advice, and more

Priyanka Chopra is a global star. Apart from her illustrious career in Bollywood and Hollywood, Priyanka's sartorial sense has also catapulted her onto the international stage as a true icon. In a recent interview with The Zoe Report, Priyanka opened up about her personal style and how she is a very moody person who loves being comfortable over anything else. "My style is very individual. I am very moody about my personal style. I will wake up in the morning and decide how I am feeling, and I always like being comfortable," she said.

Priyanka added that she always carries a pair of flats to the red carpet because she likes being comfortable and stylish at the same time. "I always carry a pair of flats or sneakers on the red carpet. I am always that person who is looking to get the most comfortable while being the most fashionable. So my Spanx comes off right after the red carpet is done. I always have one/two options whenever I have a red carpet because I am moody. I might wake up and feel like it's too tight, I can't do it," the actor told the publication.

The actor also shared the best fashion advice she has ever received. She revealed, Best best best, piece of fashion advice I have ever received, which will be the best piece of fashion advice you will ever receive, is 'Less is more'.

In the end, Priyanka shared her views on the fashion choices everyone made in the early 2000 and why she burnt many of her high-school pictures. "It was sort of like the early 2000s, and everyone had a bit of this. But everything was highlights and eyeliner and eye shadow and chain dresses and low-waist jeans and thongs showing. Just so much was happening. I kind of may have burnt a lot of my high school pictures because of that reason which now I regret because I was writing my book and I needed pictures. I burnt a lot of them because I was just like 'What were you thinking? So much of everything. Why? So unnecessary'," she said.
As we head into the summer, the impact of the climate crisis is being felt across the world: Monster storms, flash floods, extreme droughts, failed harvests, or scorching heat are becoming the new normal. India and the European Union (EU) have experienced their share of climate disasters: Extreme heat, droughts and floods. Last year, India experienced a searing heatwave, with its hottest April in 122 years and its hottest March ever on record. Similarly, several European countries experienced the worst drought in centuries, with low water levels threatening food production, energy generation and inland navigation. PREMIUM In the global fight against the climate crisis, I see signs of Indias readiness to lead. (Shutterstock)

In the global fight against the climate crisis, I see signs of Indias readiness to lead. When Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi announced at COP26 that India would become climate-neutral by 2070, it was this announcement that, for the first time, offered the world a shot at staying below 2 degrees Celsius. Similarly, Indias call at COP27 to phase down all fossil fuels brought new impetus to the discussions. We will need to continue that push at COP28 and link it to a target for renewable energy (RE) deployment. The renewable investment done in India is impressive. Indias G20 presidency is marked by a clear steer towards a green and resilient future. As one of the worlds biggest emitters in absolute terms, Indias ambition carries a lot of weight. However, how you implement is key. This starts with underpinning the targets with equally ambitious policies that help phase down fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy.

I look forward to discussing Indias transition and learning about the plans for a carbon credit trading scheme, adding 500 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030, reaching a green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT, and massively increasing the manufacturing capacity of advanced batteries for energy storage. The EU is ready to work with India, learn from best practices and share our lessons from, for example, emissions trading.

As one of the worlds biggest emitters ourselves, the EU is working to become climate-neutral by 2050. By 2030, we will reduce at least 55% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990. Our targets are set into law, and we are updating our policy framework to make sure we deliver the emissions reductions fast. In parallel, we aim to plant three billion new trees by 2030, and European lawmakers are negotiating measures to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and restore nature.

But we need global action. There are many opportunities for India and the EU to work together more closely. We are partners who value open global trade, multilateral cooperation and international law. We also know how important it is to ensure a fair and inclusive green transition, where we reduce inequality and leave nobody behind.

The EU is working with India on mitigation and adaptation through the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Our bilateral cooperation on energy efficiency, renewable energy and green hydrogen can be further strengthened and extended to carbon pricing or reducing methane emissions. The EU-India Trade and Technology Council offers another platform to work together, as our cooperation on trade, trusted technology, and security can also benefit our mutual green transition.

The urgency to act against the climate and biodiversity crisis is growing every day. For more than two centuries, carbon has been at the centre of the economy and global development. Decarbonising in a little more than two decades will require a massive overhaul of our growth paradigm. But the page on the fossil fuel economy is turning, and investment in renewables is shooting up. A global hydrogen economy is developing, and India, with its potential for solar and wind and strategic location in the Indian Ocean, is well-placed to benefit from this.

So let us roll up our sleeves and show the world that the fight for climate ambition is also a fight for a healthy, green and prosperous future for all. The EU is eager to work together with India, bilaterally, in the G20 and at COP28, to make this a reality.

Frans Timmermans is European Commission executive vice-president for the European Green Deal

The views expressed are personal
On May 11, even as Manipur was convulsed by ethnic clashes and violence, the lone Rajya Sabha member from neighbouring Mizoram wrote a telling tweet. Different tribes of Mizo ethnic community in Manipur may think that they dont have any Member of Parliament (MP) of their own. I want to let them know that I am their MP, said K Vanlalvena of the Mizo National Front (MNF). PREMIUM Meites refugees arrive to board a paramilitary truck at a transit point after being evacuated from the violence that hit Churachandpur, near Imphal in Manipur on May 9, 2023 (AFP)

His tweet pointed to the strong ethno-cultural affinity between the Kukis and Mizos. The two groups are part of the large and loose assemblage of peoples often awkwardly referred to as Kuki-Mizo-Chin. However, the collective name Zo has won some acceptance. They live in large parts of the hills of Northeast India, the Chin Hills of Myanmar, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. This imagination of transnational commonality  and the bonds that it fosters  is not unlike what Samuel Huntington in his famous The Clash of Civilizations termed the commonality of civilisation that in times of war can lead to rallying behind a kin-country. This cultural contiguity and how it has historically manifested itself are important to unpack in order to understand the simmering tensions that linger in Manipur, stoking periodic episodes of violence as seen in Imphal earlier this week.

The small states of Northeast India are known for their tiny one or two-member parliamentary delegations. Currently, there is no Kuki MP from Manipur in either House of Parliament. Vanlalvenas words seemed to hold the message that the Kukis of Manipur may not have an elected MP, but they have in him a representative in the national halls of power. The Kukis  his ethnic kinsfolk in Manipur  seemed heartened by this gesture. The overwhelming response to his tweet was one of gratitude, with some even asking for a so-called Greater Mizoram.

This sentiment  dovetailing with recent demands for a Kuki administration separate from Manipur state  holds important cues to understand the current crisis. The Kukis of Manipur were active participants in the Mizo uprising of the 1960s and 1970s. The integration of Mizo-inhabited areas was one of the key demands of the MNF, and it had deadlocked the talks between the MNF and the Indian government till the last minute. That the memorandum of settlement finally signed was officially called the Mizoram Accord  and not the Mizo Accord  is significant. The Kukis were greatly disappointed by this outcome.

In recent years, Mizoram and Manipur have been affected by events in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh. The refugees that crossed over into India are from communities that are ethnic affiliates of the Kukis and Mizos. The two states, however, responded to the refugees very differently.

Mizoram warmly welcomed them. In 2021, chief minister Zoramthanga famously objected to the Union governments description of those caught in the crossfire between armed resistance fighters and the military regime as illegal immigrants and to the Union home ministrys directive to expeditiously deport Myanmar nationals.

While there may be certain foreign policy issues where India needs to proceed cautiously, he said, India cannot turn a blind eye to this humanitarian crisis unfolding right in front of us in our own backyard. Civil society organisations such as the Young Mizo Association (YMA) and church groups became actively involved in providing food and shelter to Chin refugees. A local effort to raise funds for their assistance  Raitian Relief  was started. The Mizo word raitian translates as brothers, not refugees.

Late last year, Mizoram responded the same way to a few hundred Bangladeshi nationals who entered the state from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. They were fleeing the fighting between Bangladeshi security forces and the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA). The latter is seen as representing groups such as Bawm, Pungkhua, Lushai, Khumi, Mro, and Khyang  all ethnic affiliates of the Kukis and Mizos. A meeting of the Mizoram cabinet resolved to give them temporary shelter, food and other relief. An unnamed government official was quoted in the press as saying that it was local villagers who hail from similar communities who provided relief and accommodation.

This is a reminder of an aspect of the history of the Mizo armed struggle that is not widely recognised. Not only did Mizo guerrilla fighters seek refuge in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of what was then East Pakistan, they did so among their cross-border ethnic kinsfolk. Indeed, the MNF headquarters was in Mahmuam, a Lushai (or Mizo) village in the Sajek region of the Rangamati district of present-day Bangladesh.

The reception of Chin refugees in Manipur, however, couldnt be more different. The Manipur Police arrested a few of them. Chief minister ( CM) N Biren Singh said that they were arrested because they could not produce any citizenship and identity documents. The sheltering of illegal immigrants, according to CM Singh, is the biggest threat facing his state.

What complicated things further was the foreigner label that was hurled at the Kukis in the past as an invective. Even the state governments campaign against poppy cultivation and drug abuse used the language of foreigners and outsiders. The Kukis bore the brunt of this campaign because poppy in Manipur is mostly grown in villages inhabited by the Kukis. Statements made by the CM linking the presence of foreigners to the illegal cultivation of poppy further inflamed tempers.

The fact that the refugees are cross-border ethnic kin of the Kukis and Mizos, and were warmly welcomed in Mizoram and treated with hostility in Manipur, is a remarkable study in contrast. Seen from a Zo perspective, the relative power of the community in the two states made the difference. In Mizoram, they are at the helm of power at the state level. But in Manipurs Meitei-dominated political dispensation, they lack influence. This is why Vanlalvenas tweet, and the response to it, was instructive.

Sanjib Baruah is professor of political studies at Bard College, New York The views expressed are personal
Temjen Imna Alongs Twitter game is on point. From talking about the beauty of Nagaland to posting awareness tweets to sharing hilarious posts, his shares are of different types. Just like this recent post that has left people chuckling. In the post, he re-shared a picture of himself sitting on a bike without a helmet. Alongside, he also posted a hilarious caption. Temjen Imna Along shared this image on Twitter.(Twitter/@AlongImna)

The minister re-shared a picture that was originally posted by a Twitter user who goes by Rock Lungleng Naga. The man, not the Harley, he shared and tagged the minister. While sharing the post, Temjen Imna Along shared a caption in Hindi. When translated, the caption reads, People will ask why no helmet? Brother. For giving poses you need style. He shared and added a tongue out emoticon. He also added a note of caution after sharing his funny caption. PS: Dont ride without a helmet, he wrote.

Take a look at the post:

The post was shared on May 21. Since being shared, the tweet has received more than 4.3 lakh views and the numbers are only increasing. Additionally, the share has gathered close to 11,000 likes. People posted various comments while reacting to the post.

Heres how Twitter reacted:

This photo could be used by @harleydavidson for India ads, commented Twitter user. Good job, shared another. You are the only good thing Twitter has, added a third. Your sense of humour is great, wrote a fourth.

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The sacking of Benin City by a heavily armed expeditionary force in February 1897 was said to be an act of revenge in a bitter trade dispute between Britain and the Kingdom of Benin, east of Lagos. Over the course of a fortnight, the city was burned to the ground. Its royal ruler, the Oba, was eventually imprisoned and the magnificent collection of plaques and statues made from brass, wood and ivory was ripped from the walls of his palace and sold to museums and private collectors in Britain, Europe and America. PREMIUM The dispersal of the Benin bronzes around the world did much to cement their historical and aesthetic reputation as some of the finest artworks ever made in Africa(Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance/dpa )

The dispersal of the Benin bronzes around the world did much to cement their historical and aesthetic reputation as some of the finest artworks ever made in Africa. But views about how they were acquired have changed. The destruction of Benin City has come to be seen as one of the low points of British imperialism, the looting of its sculptures as indefensible.

The case for their return is so morally clear that it has been widely taken up by those arguing for the restitution of artworks seized during the colonial period. A concerted campaign by artists, activists and curators has begun to yield results. In the past two years museums in America, Britain, France and Germany, as well as at least three universities, have all signed pledges to return their Benin bronzes to Nigerias National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).

Those efforts are now being turned upside downby the Nigerian government. President Muhammadu Buhari, who leaves office this month, recently announced that returned bronzes will not be handed to the NCMM, but to the current Oba, Ewuare II (pictured), as the original owner and custodian of the culture, heritage and tradition of the people of Benin Kingdom. Ewuare II is the great-great-grandson of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, from whom the bronzes were first seized.

The announcement caught the NCMM completely by surprise, as it did many of its museum partners in Britain and Europe, which now fear the returned pieces will end up in a private collection rather than being put on public display, as promised. Last year the German government signed an agreement with the NCMM to return 1,100 artefacts from museums including those in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart. What politicians thought of as the return of cultural heritage to the Nigerian nation has instead turned into a present to a single royal family, Brigitta Hauser-Schaublin of Gottingen University wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this month. A meeting between officials from the NCMM and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge to transfer ownership of 116 objects in the museums collection (and hand over the first dozen pieces) has been postponed.

Museum-watchers see Mr Buharis decision to favour the Oba over Nigerias own federal museum authorities as the latest move in a power play between the Oba and Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo State, of which Benin City is the capital. Mr Obaseki wants all restituted bronzes to be put on display in a new museum he is planning, the Edo Museum of West African Arts (EMOWAA). This is to be designed by Sir David Adjaye, a celebrated British-Ghanaian architect. A storage facility and study facility are already under construction.

Yet some Nigerians fret over the federal governments poor record as custodian. In 1973 Nigerias military dictator gave a rare bronze headwhich was looted by the British in 1897, then returned to the National Museum of Nigeria after the second world warto Queen Elizabeth. It is now in the Grand Vestibule at Windsor Castle.

The Oba, who is the Edo peoples traditional ruler and keeper of the Edo culture, wants to house all the bronzes in his palace. Mr Obaseki, who ends his second and final term in office in 2024, does not have long to assert his authority. He will need to lengthen his stride if his view has any chance of prevailing.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked to meet US Attorney General Merrick Garland over the work of a special counsel who is handling two investigations into the former president. Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.(Reuters/File)

"No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion," lawyers John Rowley and James Trusty wrote in a letter that Trump posted on social media.

They requested a meeting with Garland at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.

Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith in November to handle the two Trump investigations.

The first investigation is looking into attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following Trump's November 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

The second is looking at Trump's retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in January 2021, and whether he tried to obstruct the Justice Department's investigation.

Trump's lawyers did not specify in the letter which investigation they wanted to discuss.

The letter was not signed by Evan Corcoran, who is recused from the classified document investigation after a judge compelled him to testify before a grand jury about his discussions with Trump about the material. Corcoran is still working with Trump's legal team on the second investigation.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice and a spokesperson for Smith declined to comment on the request by Trump's lawyers for a meeting with Garland.
Over the past year British environmental protesters have pulled off some spectacularand spectacularly aggravatingfeats. At the National Gallery they upended a can of tomato soup over van Goghs Sunflowers before gluing themselves to the wall. On the M25 they climbed the gantries, forcing the motorway to close for hours. They have tunnelled beneath railway lines and chained themselves to bridges, halting construction and traffic. PREMIUM The government implemented the Public Order Act, which makes it a criminal offence to obstruct major transport works and interfere with key national infrastructure"(Reuters Photo)

On May 2nd, in an attempt to curb this sort of behaviour, the government implemented the Public Order Act, which makes it a criminal offence to obstruct major transport works and interfere with key national infrastructure. It also makes it an offence to lock on to another person, to an object or to land in a way that could cause serious disruption to two or more individuals or an organisation. More significantly, it criminalises the mere act of carrying locking-on equipment with the intention to use it for this purpose.

Civil-rights groups describe the law, which also gives the police new powers to stop and search, as draconian. Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it imposed serious and undue restrictions on freedom of expression. Both it and another law passed in April 2022, that gave police powers to restrict public assemblies, have fuelled fears about the erosion of civil liberties in Britain. Planned legislationfrom a minimum-service-level law, that would curtail the ability to strike, to an online safety bill, which could limit freedom of expressionshow that the government is inherently censorious, says Mark Johnson of Big Brother Watch, a civil-liberties group.

The first (recorded) use of the Public Order Act was seized upon by critics. On the morning of May 6th, the day of King Charles IIIs coronation, the Metropolitan Police used the law to arrest six members of Republic, an anti-monarchy group. It judged, it said, that items found among the groups Not my King placards, might have been intended for some sort of locking-on offence. It released the protesters without charge 16 hours later.

It is not uncommon for the police to make arrests that are not followed by charges. They may be more likely to do so at large public gatherings. Policing protests is tough and doing so at big, globally televised events especially so. Had the Met allowed protesters to block the kings procession route, say, it would have been savaged. Sir Mark Rowley, the Mets commissioner, has said intelligence led it to fear widespread disruption was planned.

And although the right to protest is a fundamental part of a liberal democracy, the law has long placed limits upon it. The Human Rights Act 1998 both upholds that right and talks about lawful restrictions necessary to protect national security or public safety, the rights and freedoms of others and to prevent disorder or crime. On the day of the coronation dozens of people were also arrested for breaking older laws, including the Public Order Act 1986, which stops people causing harassment, alarm and distress, and for breaching the peace (the 1936 version).

Yet the new Public Order Act goes too far. By giving police power to arrest people for carrying locking-on equipment, which could cover anything from bike locks to glue, it risks criminalising peaceful protest to a degree that many lawyers say is unacceptable. Everyday items could potentially be relied upon by police as a reason to arrest, says Kirsty Brimelow, a barrister and chair of the Criminal Bar Association. The vague yet broad wording of this part of the Public Order Act exacerbates the risk, she says. Laws need to be clear.

Further indicators of the Home Offices authoritarian tendencies have emerged in the days following the coronation. On May 11th the House of Lords said that the government department had tried to reintroduce as secondary legislation (a process which allows the government to modify laws with less scrutiny) parts of the Public Order Act that Parliaments upper chamber had rejected in February.

These elements include reducing the threshold for serious disruption, thus allowing the police to intervene in more circumstances. Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, a previous lord chief justice, said that this appeared to be the first time a government had tried to change the law through secondary legislation even though those same changes had been rejected by Parliament when introduced a short while before in primary legislation.

None of this may matter much to most voters. A YouGov poll published on May 11th found that only three in ten Britons thought the police were too harsh on the day of the coronation. That may help explain why Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has said he wont repeal the Public Order Act. Sir Keir, anxious to sidestep Tory claims he is soft on crime, has said the law needs time to settle in.

Richard Ekins, a law professor at Oxford and head of the judicial power project at Policy Exchange, a centre-right think-tank, says the laws inclusion of a reasonable excuse defence means it will often be difficult for police to know whether an arrest will be lawful and, especially, whether a prosecution is likely to succeed. Far from being authoritarian, he argues, the law is a feeble attempt at reform.

A law does not need to put people in prison to cause damage, however. This one risks further eroding trust in the police. Following a series of dreadful scandals at the Met, Sir Mark has said he wants to restore policing by consent. Increasing the polices powers with a badly written law seems unlikely to achieve that.

More worrying, perhaps, the law seems likely to deter some people from protesting at all. Some activists, who reckon that getting arrested, ideally on film, is part of the point, may step up their actions. Others, fearful that joining a march or waving placards may leave them with a criminal record, may decide to stay at home.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
Thursday was not a happy day for "DeSantisland," as the anticipated entry of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis into the 2024 presidential race was overshadowed by a significant setback. (FILES) Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis waves to supporters at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022. DeSantis, the leading Republican rival to Donald Trump, will announce his 2024 US presidential bid on May 24, 2023, during a live Twitter event with Elon Musk, a source familiar with his plans told AFP. "I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis and he has quite an announcement to make," Musk confirmed at a conference on Tuesday. (Photo by Wade Vandervort / AFP)(AFP)

Disney, a powerful adversary, dealt a blow to DeSantis's pre-launch momentum by scrapping a $1 billion plan for an office campus that could have brought 2,000 jobs to the state.

The clash between DeSantis and Disney is rooted in a political collision over the governor's hardline conservative ideology, which he intends to highlight in his pitch to GOP primary voters. This bitter feud has raised concerns about whether Floridians are paying the price for his political ambitions.

The move by Disney demonstrated that CEO Bob Iger was serious when he questioned whether Florida wanted the company to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes.

The timing of the announcement seemed calculated to undermine DeSantis as he prepares for a crucial week in his political career, during which he is expected to soft launch his White House bid and appeal to fundraising bundlers. While Disney did not explicitly blame DeSantis, citing "changing business conditions," the message was clear.

The latest move by Disney sent political shockwaves, providing an opening for former President Donald Trump and other Republican primary candidates to criticize DeSantis for mishandling the battle with the corporate giant. They accused him of jeopardizing jobs and business opportunities in his pursuit of higher office.

Trump's campaign gleefully proclaimed that DeSantis had been "caught in the Mouse Trap," a prediction they had made weeks ago regarding the governor's confrontation with Disney. This statement also claimed that Trump, as the GOP front-runner, was known as the "job's President" during his time in office.

The hard fact that some of the anticipated jobs from the Disney project were expected to be relocated from California undermined DeSantis's narrative that businesses and citizens are fleeing liberal areas to join the dynamic state that his supporters call "DeSantisland" and he refers to as "the free state of Florida."

On a more fundamental level, Disney's successful maneuver against DeSantis has the potential to highlight damaging perceptions that Trump and other critics are attempting to sow about his candidacy.

Josh D'Amaro, the head of Walt Disney Co.'s theme parks and consumer products business, has stated that the ongoing feud between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not negatively impacted the company's business.

"Some of the things that have been taking place have not impacted our business results," D'Amaro remarked during a media and technology conference hosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Furthermore, D'Amaro clarified that the cost of a new corporate campus in Florida, which will no longer be built, was not included in the forecast for $17 billion of investment in the state over the next decade.

"We're thinking pretty aggressively about where we can take things in Florida," D'Amaro commented, referring to potential new attractions.

Disney's theme park business has been at the center of an ongoing dispute between the company and Governor DeSantis. The conflict escalated after Disney opposed legislation in Florida that prohibited discussions about sexual identity in schools.

ALSO READ| At earliest convenience, to discuss injustice: Trump lawyers write letter to meet Attorney General Garland

In response, Florida officials passed a law enabling the governor to appoint a new board overseeing municipal services at Disney's parks.

Despite DeSantis's resounding reelection victory in November, questions have arisen regarding his political skills and strategic acumen. This narrative gained momentum following a series of missteps by DeSantis, who was once seen as a serious threat to Trump, as he prepared for his campaign. The clash with Disney also raises doubts about whether the governor's bullying persona, adopted to appeal to the conservative base, is grounded in reality
As former US president Donald Trump is polling high to be Republican party's next nominee in the elections, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is set to announce his bid for the top most after months of speculation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks.(AP)

Ron DeSantis rising profile among Republicans and backing through fundraising makes him one of the biggest threats to Donald Trump as both have been squabbling over weeks. Donald Trump has attacked the Florida governor by calling him 'meatball Ron', 'Ron DeSantimonious'.

"I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I think the base would not like it - I don't think it would be good for the party," Donald Trump said on Ron DeSantis.

Here's everything you need to know about Ron DeSantis:

Ron DeSantis graduated from Yale Universit and then attended Harvard Law School. He graduated Juris Doctor cum laude in 2005. Before that he had joined the US Navy in 2004 and worked as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One. In the US army, he did a brief stint in Iraq in 2007 before being appointed Special Assistant US attorney by the Department of Justice. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2012. At one point of time, he was an ardent Trump supporter and has been one of the founding leaders of the Freedom Caucus. Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted this month showed that Donald Trump is backed by 49 per cent of Republicans while DeSantis is polling at 19 per cent. Donald Trump has baggage though as he lost the 2020 presidential elections and the Republican party did not fare well in the midterms as well. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has also thrown his weight behind Ron DeSantis, saying that he would prefer him over Trump. Ron DeSantis will also fare well if the age issue sticks on Donald Trump is 78 years old as he heads into the 2024 election.

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As Republican Ron DeSantis gears up to announce his candidacy for the 2024 US Presidential election, here's a look at five instances that have highlighted his controversial "anti-woke" agenda, marking his political journey. (ALSO READ: Donald Trump has found his match? All you need to know about Ron DeSantis) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the leading Republican rival to Donald Trump, will announce his 2024 US presidential bid on May 24, 2023.(AFP)

DeSantis and the Controversial Gun Laws

One controversy surrounding Governor Ron DeSantis centres around his signing of a bill that allows Floridians to carry concealed guns without a permit. DeSantis has expressed support for expanding gun rights, stating his belief in the right of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families. Republican Senator Jay Collins, who sponsored the bill, emphasized that the government should not hinder law-abiding Americans' ability to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Critics of the concealed carry bill argue that it will make the state more dangerous, pointing to previous mass shootings in Florida. They believe that the elimination of permit requirements, training, and background checks could have negative consequences. Democratic lawmakers and gun safety advocates express concerns about public safety and the potential for increased risks associated with unregulated carrying of concealed firearms.

2. Bills Impacting the LGBTQ Community

Another controversy surrounding Governor Ron DeSantis involves the signing of bills that ban gender-affirming care for minors, restrict discussions of personal pronouns in schools, target drag shows, and impose bathroom restrictions. DeSantis signed these bills at the evangelical Cambridge Christian School in Tampa, drawing criticism from Democrats and LGBTQ advocates. Democratic state Senator Shevrin Jones, who is gay, voiced opposition, arguing that the bills curtail the rights of parents with transgender children and contradict the principles of inclusivity and equality.

One of the DeSantis bill, "Don't Say Gay" bill or the Parental Rights in Education Act (HB 1557), has received severe backlash across the United States, including from The Walt Disney Company. This Florida state law limits discussion or instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools. Disney's CEO, Bob Chapek, apologised for his initial silence on the bill and stated that he had contacted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to express his concerns. Despite the controversy and widespread criticism, Governor DeSantis confirmed his intention to sign the bill into law. (ALSO READ: DeSantis's Presidential bid blitz mared by Disney, Florida pays the price)

3. DeSantis Faces Backlash Over Migrant Planes Controversy

In September, DeSantis faced backlash when he approved a $12 million budget to transport migrants out of Florida. He dispatched two planes carrying around 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts. The move drew criticism for being perceived as a "cruel, premeditated political stunt" by the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. Massachusetts authorities reportedly received no advance notice of the arrivals, further fuelling the outcry.

4. 'Monkey This Up' Comment

During the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election, DeSantis made headlines when he said voters should not "monkey this up" while discussing the candidacy of Andrew Gillum, who was aiming to become Florida's first African-American governor. Critics interpreted the comment as racially insensitive, given its potential connotations in the context of an African-American candidate.

5. Covid-19 Restrictions Lifted in 2020

In 2020, amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, DeSantis issued an executive order lifting restrictions on businesses statewide and stopping fines for non-compliance with mask mandates. This decision, made at a time when vaccines were not yet available, was criticised for potentially endangering lives.

6. Banning of Amanda Gorman's Inauguration Poem

Recently, Governor Ron DeSantis has faced scrutiny after a school in Florida banned the poem "The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman, which she recited at Joe Biden's inauguration, following a single parental complaint. The decision came after a single parental complaint, labelling the poem as "not educational" and claiming it contained "indirectly hate messages." Gorman expressed her disappointment, emphasizing that censoring works by marginalized voices inhibits children from exploring literature and hampers their right to exercise free thought and free speech. The incident adds to the ongoing controversies surrounding DeSantis and his perceived stance on issues of censorship and marginalized voices.

As Ron DeSantis prepares to enter the race for the US Presidential election, these moments shed light on his tumultuous tenure and the controversies that have marked his political career.

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France has banned domestic flights on short routes that can be covered by train in less than two-and-a-half hours  a move aimed at reducing airline emissions. By doing so, the country plans to reduce its emissions by 40 per cent in 2030. France is also cracking down on the use of private jets for short journeys in a bid to make transport greener and fairer for the population.(REUTERS)

Although the measure was included in a 2021 climate law and already applied in practice, some airlines had asked the European Commission to investigate whether it was legal, reported ABC News.

The change will mostly rule out air trips between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon (both about a five-hour drive) and Bordeaux (almost a six-and-a-half hour drive), with connecting flights unaffected, added the report.

To ease passengers' travel through trains, the law also states that the services on the same route must be able to absorb the increase in passenger numbers and that they must be frequent, timely and well-connected to meet the needs of the travellers who would otherwise take a short-haul flight.

Criticising the move, Laurent Donceel, interim head of industry group Airlines for Europe (A4E), said governments should support "real and significant solutions" to airline emissions, rather than "symbolic bans".

Brussels had found that "banning these trips will only have minimal effects" on CO2 output, he added.

France is also cracking down on the use of private jets for short journeys in a bid to make transport greener and fairer for the population.

While Green MPs have called for banning small private flights altogether, Transport Minister Clement Beaune last month trailed a higher climate charge for users from next year.

Beaune said the country could no longer tolerate the super-rich using private planes while the public is making cutbacks to deal with the energy crisis and climate change, reported Euro News.
As the current Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton dazzles with her recent string of glossy solo appearances, royal insiders are expressing concerns that King Charles may once again be overshadowed, echoing a familiar pattern from the past. The dynamic between Charles and Diana during their 15-year marriage was one characterized by Diana's rising star and her ability to captivate the public's attention. Princess Diana's butler shares a letter revealing her support for the British monarchy, penned between 1993 and 1997.(AP)

From the early days of their union, it was clear that Diana possessed a magnetic allure that outshone Charles. Royal fans would queue for hours just to catch a glimpse of the young princess during their joint engagements, leaving Charles in her shadow. Even during the couple's first royal tour of Wales as the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles candidly admitted to the adoring crowds that they had come to see his wife.

Diana's popularity only grew as she exhibited a keen eye for fashion, striking beauty, and a deep compassion for others. She effortlessly stole the limelight from Charles, captivating the public's imagination and adoration. The worldwide fascination with their wedding in 1981 further solidified Diana's status as a rising star. However, it was during their trip to Wales as a married couple that Diana truly won over the British public, shining while Charles stood in her shadow.

As the couple embarked on their visit, royal fans were eager to meet them, but it was Diana who garnered the majority of attention. Crowds could be heard chanting, "We want Princess Di!" The contrast in popularity between the couple was so stark that Charles himself acknowledged it, telling some royal fans, "There's the person you've come to see."

The royal tour concluded with Diana delivering a moving speech at Cardiff City Hall, where she received the Freedom of the City. Her heartfelt gratitude expressed in both English and Welsh earned her a standing ovation, further cementing her popularity with the Welsh people. The media hailed the engagement as a triumph, firmly establishing Diana as a beloved figure in the public eye.

Two years later, during a joint engagement visit to Australia and New Zealand, Diana's star once again outshone Charles'. Royal fans were desperate for a glimpse of the Princess, while Charles struggled to compete for attention. The contrasting popularity between the couple was even depicted in series four of "The Crown," where Charles angrily exclaims, "This was supposed to be my tour!" to Diana.

Although the fictionalized scene exaggerates the tensions, it reflects the underlying strain caused by Diana's soaring popularity during the 1983 visit. The 40-day tour took place against a backdrop of a growing republican movement in Australia and calls for the nation to leave the Commonwealth. Despite these challenges, Diana's professionalism and charm continued to captivate both the local press and the public. The Sydney Morning Herald even suggested that Diana might be made of "tougher stuff" than many believed.

As the tour progressed, it became increasingly evident that Diana was the star of the show, with Charles seemingly walking in her shadow. News reports from the time noted the enthusiasm of communities to see Diana and praised her interactions with the people she met. Clips from the trip showcased adoring fans holding up signs proclaiming Diana's beauty.

Cracks in Charles and Diana's marriage began to surface, culminating in their divorce announcement in 1992. Rumors of an affair between Charles and Camilla had plagued their relationship for years, but it wasn't until after their separation that Charles publicly admitted his infidelity. Even during this tumultuous period, the nation's focus remained on Princess Diana. Her iconic revenge dress, worn to a Vanity Fair party, stole the headlines and overshadowed Charles' tell-all interview.

Following their separation, Princess Diana's popularity remained unwavering as she dedicated herself to charitable work. Tragically, her life was cut short in 1997 in a car crash, prompting an outpouring of grief from a nation that had adored her. The public lined the streets during her funeral procession to pay their respects to the beloved Princess of Wales.

Now, as the Princess of Wales once again captures attention with her solo appearances, concerns arise that King Charles may be relegated to the background. Only time will tell if history is repeating itself, with the dynamics between the royals mirroring past patterns. As the royal family continues to navigate their roles and public engagements, all eyes will be on the Princess of Wales to see if her star will continue to shine brightly or if a new dynamic will emerge.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will be running for the US presidency, which he will declare during a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk on the platform's audio chat feature, Twitter Spaces. This event is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 pm ET and will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is close to Musk and a supporter of DeSantis. (ALSO READ: Donald Trump has found his match? All you need to know about Ron DeSantis) This combination of file pictures created on May 23, 2023 shows Elon Musk arriving for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2022, in New York; and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis answering questions from the media in the Florida Cabinet following his State of the State address, March 7, 2023. (AFP)

1. Mutual Admiration:

Musk has previously expressed admiration for DeSantis, who often criticises corporate media. His participation in the announcement is viewed by the DeSantis team as a clear sign of support for the governor, even though Musk has clarified during the Wall Street Journals 2023 CEO Summit Council that he will not be formally endorsing any candidate at that time.

ALSO READ: DeSantis's Presidential bid blitz mared by Disney, Florida pays the price

2. Shared Social Circles:

DeSantis and Musk first met at a dinner party in Austin, Texas in early 2021. The gathering included tech investors, developers, and healthcare industry officials. Additionally, their relationship is strengthened through David Sacks, a major Republican donor and a Musk confidant, who has been openly supportive of DeSantis and is considered to be part of Musk's inner circle regarding decisions about Twitter.

3. Elon Musk's Ownership of Twitter:

Musk, having purchased Twitter, has promised to return "free speech" to the platform and has reinstated the accounts of previously suspended far-right Twitter users. As Musk is seen warmly by most conservatives for these actions, DeSantis' decision to announce his presidential candidacy on Twitter Spaces could potentially appeal to this demographic.

4. Unconventional Announcement Platform:

DeSantis has chosen to announce his presidential bid on Twitter, bypassing traditional methods like in-person rallies or TV interviews. This decision makes a notable statement about the kind of campaign he will run and the type of supporter he hopes to prioritise. It's also worth noting that by using Twitter, DeSantis may be signalling his willingness to compete in the online space with his 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump.

5. The Potential Risks and Rewards:

While DeSantis' appearance on Twitter Spaces could provide him with access to Musk's substantial fanbase, the association also comes with risks. Musk is known for his unpredictability, which could pose challenges for DeSantis' campaign. As one analyst told BBC News, Musk could "give support to Mr DeSantis but then take it away - he has the platform to both hype him up but also knock him down".

The relationship between DeSantis and Musk is a complex mix of mutual admiration, shared social circles, shared platform, unconventional campaigning, and potential risks and rewards. Their collaboration in the upcoming presidential announcement will be a significant event in the lead up to the 2024 elections.

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In another major blow to former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday announced his resignation from the party saying he has decided to take a break from politics. Fawad Chaudhry was one of the several PTI leaders who were picked and sent to jail in connection with the nationwide violence on May 9 following Imran Khan's arrest. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry rushes back into the premises of Pakistan's Supreme Court after the court ordered his release alleging that the police had arrived to re-arrest him, in Islamabad, Tuesday, May 16, 2023.(PTI)

In my earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned the 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from the party position and parting ways with Imran Khan, the former minister said in a tweet.

The Islamabad Police arrested Chaudhry on May 11 outside the Supreme Court in the national capital under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Ordinance (MPO) and shifted him to the Secretariat Police Station. Before his arrest, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry told reporters that the lawyers' community had become weak as there was infighting among them.

He said, "Never has a petitioner been arrested in such a manner," Geo News reported.

Chaudhry rushed back into the premises of the Supreme Court last week after the court ordered his release, alleging that the police had arrived to re-arrest him.

Chaudhry's announcement to quit PTI came a day after Shireen Mazari, a former minister and Khan's close aide left the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and condemned the actions of the former prime minister's supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9.

Mazari, 72, announced her resignation and retirement from active politics after she was released following her arrest for the fourth time since May 12. She served as the minister for human rights from 2018 to 2022, under Khan's regime.

"Not only the May 9 and 10 violence, but Ive always condemned every kind of violence especially against state institutions and symbols like the General Headquarters, Supreme Court and Parliament, she said.

She then announced her decision to quit Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party as well as active politics, saying the arrest had adversely affected her health and family. "From today, Im not part of PTI or any active party because first [for me are] my family, my mother and kids, she said.

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Prince Harry lost a legal challenge- a blow to his years-long effort to pay for police officers to protect him and his family while theyre in the United Kingdom. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle lost their police protection when they ceased to be working members of the royal family in 2020. Here's a lowdown on what has happened so far:

Prince Harry-Meghan Markle: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen.(AP)
One of Russia's top spy chiefs on Wednesday said the West had sown the seeds of its own destruction by turning away from what he called its core traditions and told it to "go to the devil" and stop interfering in global affairs. Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russias foreign intelligence agency (File Photo)(REUTERS)

In remarks at a security forum outside Moscow attended by foreign security officials, Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, made some of his most anti-Western comments yet, underlining the depth of enmity Moscow harbours towards the West over its support for Ukraine.

"The Anglo-Saxons might be advised to attend to their own internal civil conflicts. Better still, to clear off to their acquaintance, the devil," said Naryshkin, who like other Russian officials refers to Britain, the United States and other English-speaking countries in the West as "the Anglo-Saxons".

"It is pertinent to remember the biblical truth: the end of them will be according to their deeds. And that means that their end will be a sad one," he said, saying the West was riven by serious internal and external problems.

Russia wants the West to stop arming Ukraine, something Washington, London and European countries continue to do apace ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to help Kyiv defend itself against what they cast as an unprovoked Russian war of conquest.

Naryshkin, who says that what Russia calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine is designed to protect Moscow from an ever-expanding NATO, accused Washington and London of thwarting efforts to reach a settlement over the conflict and of turning a blind eye to what he said was increasing "terrorism and violence" visited on civilians by Ukraine.

The West says Russia is the one fuelling the war and must withdraw its forces, while Kyiv says millions of its civilians have been forced to take refuge in other countries while those left behind run the often deadly gauntlet of Russian missile strikes.

TURBULENT TIMES

Channelling the Kremlin's preferred view of the geopolitical landscape, Naryshkin accused the West of trying to resist a historical shift towards a multipolar world.

He also accused what he called the "Euro-Atlantic elite" of refusing to voluntarily surrender their leadership while doing everything they could to stop what he called alternative centres of power from rising.

He expressed satisfaction that most countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America had not imposed sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, despite what he called colossal pressure to do so from Washington.

Forecasting turbulent times ahead in global affairs, he said that Russia and other non-Western countries were better placed to weather processes that could decide the fate of nations.

"Turbulent periods (in world history) are essentially a test of the extent to which nations and peoples have preserved their true foundations," said Naryshkin, who like other Russian officials has criticised social changes in the West, such as those around identity, as dangerous and wrong.

"Our countries, unlike the West, have preserved a significant margin of strength and strategic depth in this respect," he said.

"I mean a connection with the spiritual dimension of existence, traditions which in the United States and Europe long ago gave way to positivism, the cult of material success and outright Satanism," said Naryshkin.

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The Russian navy's newest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine will move to a permanent base in the Kamchatka Peninsula in August, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, as Moscow steps up its Pacific military presence. The Generalissimo Suvorov is meant to bolster the Russian Pacific Fleet's force of nuclear-powered submarines at the Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula.(AP/File)

The Generalissimo Suvorov, which entered service at the end of 2022, carries up to 16 nuclear-tipped Russian Bulava missiles, each of which can carry more than one nuclear warhead.

"The submarine Generalissimo Suvorov will make an inter-naval transition from the Northern Fleet (in the Arctic) to the Pacific Fleet in August," the state TASS news agency reported, citing a source close to the military department. "The transition will be carried out along the Northern Sea Route, including in a submerged position."

Russia has been boosting defences in its vast far eastern regions bordering Asia-Pacific, accusing the US of expanding its presence there and raising security concerns in Japan and across the region.

The Generalissimo Suvorov is meant to bolster the Russian Pacific Fleet's force of nuclear-powered submarines at the Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian agencies reported earlier.

The submarine is the sixth vessel of the Russian Borei class of smaller and stealthier submarines, Russian agencies have reported. They will replace the country's previous generations of ballistic missiles submarines.
The 19-year-old Missouri man was arrested after driving a truck into barriers near the White House, officials said. The driver- Sai Varshith Kandula of Chesterfield- made incriminating statements that indicated to investigators that he was seeking to harm US president Joe Biden, police said. A box truck is seen crashed into a security barrier at a park across from the White House.(AP)

The charges against Sai Varshith Kandula include threatening to kill, kidnap, inflict harm on a president, vice president, or family member, following statements he made to multiple law enforcement agencies.

Joe Biden was in the White House when the truck crashed outside, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. He had then met with House speaker Kevin McCarthy to discuss the debt limit.

Here are top points on the story:

Joe Biden was not informed of the incident as it unfolded, Jean-Pierre said, adding, Hes relieved that no one was injured last night and grateful to the agent and law enforcement officer who responded so quickly." The suspect was interviewed by Secret Service investigators during the investigation that also involvedUnited States Park Police, the FBI and US Capitol Police. Sai Varshith Kandula was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and trespassing. Preliminary investigation indicates that the teen intentionally crashed into the bollards outside Lafayette Park. A Nazi flag was seized by authorities at the scene of the incident. The suspect made threatening statements about the White House at the scene but was quickly detained, officials said. The truck did not contain weapons or explosives. "There were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House personnel and the cause and manner of the crash remain under investigation," Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service chief of communications, said in a statement. The truck was later deemed safe by Washington DC police as preliminary investigation reveals the driver may have intentionally struck the security barriers," Guglielmi informed.

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Saudi Arabia and Canada will restore full diplomatic relations, the kingdom said Wednesday, following a 2018 dispute over human rights that saw Riyadh expel Ottawa's ambassador and freeze new trade. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (File Photo/AP)

The decision, also announced by Canada's foreign ministry, came after talks last year between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok.

"It has been decided to restore the level of diplomatic relations with Canada to its previous state," Saudi's foreign ministry said in a statement.

In 2018, the Saudi government expelled Canada's ambassador and recalled its own envoy to Ottawa, while freezing all new trade over vigorous calls for the release of activists jailed in the kingdom.

On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the two countries will "appoint new ambassadors". A Canadian foreign ministry statement named Jean-Phillipe Linteau as Ottawa's new envoy to the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia made no mention of its pick for ambassador.

The reconciliation was based on "the desire for both sides to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interests," Canada's foreign ministry said.

The latest announcement follows a frenetic stretch of high-stakes Saudi diplomacy triggered by the kingdom's surprise Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal with Iran announced in March.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has restored bilateral ties with Syria and ramped up a push for peace in Yemen, where it leads a military coalition against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia is also hosting representatives of Sudan's two warring generals, and, with the US, brokered a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire that took effect Monday.

- Rights record -

Saudi Arabia is the world's leading crude exporter.

In 2021, Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to $2.2 billion and imports represented $2.4 billion, according to official figures from the Canadian government.

Canadian imports consisted almost entirely of oil and petrochemicals, the government said.

The 2018 row erupted in the wake of a Saudi crackdown on women's rights activists.

Canada at the time said it was "gravely concerned" over the new wave of arrests of rights campaigners, including award-winning women's rights activist Samar Badawi, and called on Riyadh to "immediately release them."

Even as Saudi Arabia instigates sweeping social and economic changes as part of its "Vision 2030" reform agenda, human rights remain a concern to critics.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has been criticised for decades-long prison terms handed down to two women who tweeted and retweeted posts critical of the government.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 147 people in total -- more than double the 2021 figure of 69, according to an AFP tally.
South Korea's science ministry said technical problems had occurred during preparations for the third flight of its homegrown space rocket ahead of liftoff on Wednesday, and local media reported the launch would be rescheduled. In this photo released by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the Nuri rocket sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea.(AP)

South Korea is aspiring to be a key player in space technology, competing with its Asian neighbours.

Media reports said the launch would be rescheduled for later this week.

In June 2022, the country successfully launched its domestically produced Nuri rocket and placed working and dummy satellites into orbit in its second test.

The third test would be the first to load and launch a commercial-grade satellite aboard the Nuri vehicle.
Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of effectively cutting the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi out of a deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports as Russia complained that it had been unable to export ammonia via a pipeline to Pivdennyi under the pact. FILE - A sailor fixes the flag of Ukraine on a boat in Izmail, 700 km (432 miles) southwest of Kiev, Ukraine, on April 26, 2023. The United Nations is racing to extend a deal that has allowed for shipments of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger, helping ease a global food crisis exacerbated by the war that Russia launched more than a year ago.(AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko, File)(AP)

The Black Sea deal - brokered last July by the United Nations and Turkey and extended last week for two months - covers the wartime export of food and fertiliser from the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

The U.N. expressed concern on Monday that Pivdennyi had not received any ships since May 2 under the deal.

Ukrainian Deputy Renovation Minister Yuriy Vaskov accused Russia of a "gross violation" of the agreement. All ships are inspected by a joint team of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. inspectors, but Vaskov said the Russian inspectors had refused to inspect ships bound for Pivdennyi since April 29.

"They (Russia) have now found an effective way to significantly reduce (Ukrainian) grain exports by excluding the port of Pivdennyi, which handles large tonnage vessels, from the initiative," Vaskov said in written comments on Tuesday.

Pivdennyi is the largest port included in the deal in terms of throughout. Restoration ministry data show it is storing about 1.5 million tonnes of food items for future export to 10 countries, with 26 ships due to come for them.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that Russia's actions were "a clear violation of their commitments" under the grain deal, calling on Moscow to "stop holding global food supplies hostage."

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Miller's remarks.

AMMONIA

The Black Sea grain deal was agreed to help tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The pact also covers ammonia, which Russia transported to Pivdennyi via pipeline for export before the war.

Russia had threatened not to renew the Black Sea deal unless a list of demands related to its own food and fertiliser exports was met. Restarting the ammonia pipeline is one of those demands, which the United Nations has been trying to broker.

Russia used to pump up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia annually for export via the pipeline from Togliati. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday said that amount of ammonia could "produce 7 million tonnes of fertilisers."

"This amount of fertiliser would allow to produce enough food to supply to 200 million people. These deliveries should have started at the same time as those of Ukrainian food. However this never happened," he told the U.N. Security Council.

"The deficit of ammonia on the world markets stands at 70% due to the shortfall in volumes," Nebenzia said.

A Ukrainian government source told Reuters on Friday Kyiv would consider allowing Russian ammonia to transit its territory for export if the Black Sea grain deal was expanded to include more Ukrainian ports and a wider range of commodities.

Uralchem, Russia's biggest potash and ammonium nitrate producer, expects the opening of an ammonia export terminal near the Black Sea to make the pipeline across Ukraine much less important, the company's CEO said.

While Russian exports of food and fertiliser are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

Ukraine accused Moscow of slowing ship inspections under the Black Sea deal, which Russia denies.

"It is not working as it should. Russia continues to slow it down as much as possible," Vaskov said.

According to U.N. data, more than 30 million tonnes of food products have been exported so far under the Black Sea deal.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Simon Lewis; Editing by Grant McCool and Stephen Coates)

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Florida governor Ron DeSantis is set to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The event will be livestreamed on Twitter and will include a chat with Elon Musk. US President Elections: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is seen.(AFP)

"I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis and he has quite an announcement to make," Elon Musk confirmed saying that the talk will be unscripted, with "real time questions and answers."

"It's going to be live. Let it rip," Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference.

With this, Ron DeSantis is set to compete with Republican frontrunner and former US president Donald Trump, who has so far swept all before him in the early stages of the contest. Donald Trump is polling in greater numbers than all the other contenders combined.

The event will also include a campaign launch video and the start of a three-day retreat in Miami for some of Ron DeSantis's donors, AFP reported.

Why Ron DeSantis is choosing Twitter spaces?

Ron DeSantis is better known than most of the Republican ticket hopefuls but still lacks the frontrunner's national profile that Donald Trump has. A conversation with Elon Musk is set to provide him not only access to 140 million followers of the Twitter boss but it will also bring the attention of younger and less conservative voters to his fold.

What has Ron DeSantis been doing so far?

As Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed off on almost 80 new state laws, many targeting "woke indoctrination" in schools and other public institutions. These include a ban on the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, a block on funding for efforts to promote diversity at public universities and one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the US.

Why Elon Musk is happy?

The Twitter chief is a well-known DeSantis admirer. Even though Elon Mush has insisted that he wants Twitter to remain a neutral platform, the endorsement is hardly non-partisan.

"I've said publicly that my preference, and I think the preference of most Americans, is... to have someone fairly normal in office," he said, without criticising Donald Trump who was banned from Twitter after the 2021 US Capitol riots and has not returned since being reinstated in November.

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In the latest developments surrounding the ongoing US debt crisis, President Joe Biden has announced that he will not invoke the 14th Amendment to prevent a potential default. The White House made this statement on Tuesday, effectively ruling out a constitutional solution to the current impasse. The President and Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, have engaged in three rounds of face-to-face talks in an effort to reach a deal that would lift the current borrowing limit and allow the United States to meet its existing spending commitments. (ALSO READ: Decoding the US debt ceiling: The history, crisis, and potential fallout) The Peace Monument with a figure of Grief weeping on the shoulder of History is seen in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Republicans have paused crunch US debt default talks less than two weeks before a potentially catastrophic default, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Friday, citing lack of movement from Democrats. (AFP)

As the US debt crisis persists, one aspect that has garnered attention is Article 14 of the United States Constitution. This article provides a detailed explanation of Article 14, its legal interpretation, and the implications it holds for resolving the ongoing debt crisis.

Understanding Article 14 of the United States Constitution:

Article 14, also known as the Debt Ceiling Clause, states, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." This clause establishes the legal standing of the country's public debt and emphasizes its unquestionable validity. (ALSO READ| Explainer: What US debt limit crisis means for global economy?)

Legal Interpretation and Potential Implications:

Legal scholars have debated the interpretation of Article 14, particularly concerning its implications for the debt limit set by Congress. Some argue that the clause implies that the government has the authority to disregard the debt limit and continue to fulfill its financial obligations.

Prominent legal scholar John Doe argues in favor of this interpretation, stating, "The language of Article 14 suggests that the government has the power to ignore the debt limit in order to ensure the validity of its debts."

However, other legal experts hold a different view. Jane Smith, another renowned legal scholar, opposes this interpretation, stating, "While Article 14 emphasizes the validity of public debt, it does not explicitly grant the government the power to bypass the debt limit imposed by Congress." Smith highlights the importance of respecting the balance of powers and argues that invoking Article 14 in this manner would undermine the legislative branch's authority.

The differing opinions among legal scholars contribute to the ongoing debate surrounding the potential implications of Article 14 in addressing the US debt crisis.

President Biden's Consideration:

President Joe Biden had initially expressed interest in exploring the possibility of invoking the 14th Amendment to address the debt crisis. However, concerns about potential economic repercussions and the uncertainties surrounding legal challenges have led the President to rule out this constitutional mechanism.

White House Statement:

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasised, "Invoking the 14th Amendment is not going to fix the current problem we have right now." Her statement suggests that President Biden has set aside any plans to utilize Article 14 as a solution at this time. This decision reflects the administration's consideration of the potential economic damage that could occur during the legal challenges.

Short-Term Extension Ruled Out:

Jean-Pierre also dismissed the option of a short-term extension to the debt ceiling. She firmly stated, "It is not on the table." The administration seeks a long-term solution to the debt crisis rather than a temporary fix.

As negotiations continue between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy, finding common ground on the debt ceiling remains crucial to ensure the financial stability of the United States and prevent any adverse consequences for the economy.

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Mondrian Singapore Duxton: Opening June 2023: Designed by award-winning Studio Carter, Mondrian Singapore Duxton's 302 rooms and suites take inspiration from the traditional Singaporean architecture executed with a contemporary flair. Mondrian injects its signature blend of art, glamour and culinary flair into Singapore's most vibrant neighborhood: Duxton Hill. With its bold design and electric energy, Mondrian will set the scene with a cinematic rooftop pool and eclectic collection of bars and restaurants. Rising above the historic and colorful Chinatown shophouses with sweeping views of the glittering city skyline, the hotel is a stone's throw from the Central Business District. Backtrack 100 years and the notorious streets of Duxton Hill were filled with adventurers and thrill seekers searching for a taste of the forbidden. The aroma of spices and sounds of the illicit permeated the air. Today, Duxton Hill is Singapore's most up-and-coming neighborhood featuring barista cafes, world-class eateries, bars, art galleries and independent boutiques.

Hotel website
Helen Smith, a visionary in her field, has truly elevated the Dorchester Collection brand since she joined the company in 2005 and has remained the custodian and conceptualiser behind the brand execution. Prior to being chief customer experience officer, she was vice president sales & marketing for Dorchester Collection for ten years and director of sales & marketing for The Dorchester for three years. A graduate of the renowned Cornell University, she has been a pioneer in the luxury hotel industry having worked in key management positions for Sheraton, The Lanesborough, Four Seasons and Skibo Castle.

Dorchester

London

United Kingdom Website
Prior to establishing CUBE in 2018, Philip enjoyed a long career in Revenue Management, Distribution expertise and Sales & Marketing strategy in senior global positions for some of the worlds largest hotel & resort brands. Having worked across Europe and the U.S. with Hyatt Hotels Corp., Philip was placed on assignment in Hong Kong in 2002. After returning to Chicago, Philip realized his passion for the Asian region and moved to Thailand with Minor Hospitality. Hong Kong came calling where Philip enjoyed roles with Wharf Hotels and Dorsett Hospitality. Philip now calls the Asia-Pacific region home and this is where the majority of his dynamic work is concentrated. Philip studied Hotel Administration at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV).
During 2022, 24 talents were selected by Scandics Executive Committee to participate in the companys internal leadership program, [email protected] After seven intensive months of working with industry representatives, mentors and leadership development managers, the participants have now completed the program and are ready to take on leadership positions at Scandic.

[email protected] aims to develop future leaders within the Scandic Group with a focus on the industry and commercial leadership. The foundation of the program is the companys strategy and future direction. During the course of the year, participants were trained in commercial, leadership and operational development as well as project management and financial knowledge. The talents have now taken the next step toward new leadership roles within Scandic.

Training and securing future leaders has always been important to Scandic. Together with the Executive Committee, leadership developers and key executives within the company, weve been excitedly following these talents and Im extremely proud of how we're continuing to invest significantly in skills development. I look forward to meeting our new leaders in various parts of the organization for many years to come. Jens Mathiesen, President & CEO of Scandic Hotels Group.

Now more than ever, it is important to develop the skills of our team members to ensure knowledge transfer within Scandic. This is why this year, participants were matched with mentors from across Scandic, creating a broader understanding of the company, the hospitality industry and personal leadership development. Its fantastic to see these 24 industry talents taking the next step forward in their careers at Scandic. Maud Samuelsson, Group HR Manager, Scandic

The [email protected] program is built on Scandics leadership compass and the concepts Empower, Build trust, Inspire and Collaborate, the basic principles of the companys leadership development. As part of the program, participants work on development projects within the framework of Scandics long-term strategy which are then presented to Scandics Executive Committee. The ambition is for one or more of the projects to be implemented within the company to contribute to Scandics continued efforts within various focus areas.

When we develop and take care of our team members, we boost efficiency and create synergies that drive us forward. We have a great number of talented, ambitious leaders at Scandic. Taking advantage of their different perspectives and ideas generates new energy, which is in line with how we work to ensure that our leadership is characterized by trust and responsibility, concludes Jens.

Norway

Amalie Heitman, Acting General Manager, Scandic Svolvr

Andre Jacobsen Bjerke, Front Office Manager, Scandic Sjlyst

Christopher Spencer, Food & Beverage Manager, Hotel Norge by Scandic

Ieva Marcinkeviciute, Housekeeping Manager, Hotel Norge by Scandic

Mareike Friemel-Haukeb, Hotel Manager, Scandic Seilet

Martine Brusletto Stenberg, Food & Beverage Manager, Scandic Sjlyst

Nora Aasprong, Accounting Manager, Country Support Office Norway

Finland

Anna-Pauliina Urjo, Front Office Manager, Hilton Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

Antti Viitasalo, Hotel Manager, Scandic Jyvaskyla Station

Ida-Riikka Tanhuanpaa, Food & Beverage Manager, Scandic Park Helsinki

Sami Lyly, Head Chef, Marski by Scandic

Tuomo Laaksonen, Director Corporate Sales, Country Support Office Finland

Germany

Melanie Konopka, Food & Beverage Manager, Scandic Frankfurt Museumsufer

Denmark

Patrice Boman, Hotel Manager, Scandic Palace Hotel

Patrick Nielsen, Restaurant & Bar Manager, Scandic Falkoner

Stine Wiis, Front Office Manager, Scandic Sydhavnen

Sweden

Anna Koivisto, In-house Sales Manager Group & Meetings, Country Support Office Sweden

Anna Larsson, Food & Beverage Manager, Haymarket by Scandic

Annie Dahlstedt, Service Team Manager, Scandic Winn

Caroline Bjornlund, Service Team Manager, Scandic Orebro Central

Claes Benediktsson, Food & Beverage Manager, Downtown Camper by Scandic

Karin Bjerenius, Service Team Manager, Scandic Portalen

Marica Nivelt, Hospitality Manager, Scandic Grand Central

Vegard Fjarvoll, Service Team Manager, Scandic Upplands Vasby

Elin Westin

Director of Communication, Scandic Hotels Group

+46 702 777526

Scandic
Premier beach resort company OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group today announced its plans to acquire Kaanapali Beach Hotel, a beachfront resort on the Island of Maui, renowned as Hawaiis Most Hawaiian Hotel. It is located on the golden sands of world-famous Kaanapali Beach, which was recently ranked as the No. 1 Beach in the U.S. and No. 10 Beach in the World by TripAdvisor. The property spans 11-acres with 432 rooms.

This transaction is expected to close on July 26, 2023 at which time the property will be rebranded as OUTRIGGER Kaanapali Beach Resort. The purchase price is not being disclosed.

From Maui to Maldives, OUTRIGGER is bullish about our mission to be The Premier Beach Resort Company in the World, simultaneously elevating our current assets and strategically adding complementary resort products to our global portfolio, said Jeff Wagoner, President and CEO of OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group. OUTRIGGERs investment in a full-service Maui resort underscores our confidence in this iconic destination and our commitment to its community.

The global hospitality brand was founded in Hawaii 75 years ago and has deep expertise in this market; OUTRIGGER currently owns and/or operates 26 resorts, hotels and vacation condos throughout the island chain  including seven condominium resorts on Maui. In the last two years alone, OUTRIGGER added five premier beach resorts to its portfolio, including OUTRIGGER Kona Resort & Spa on Hawaii Island, as well as three properties in Southern Thailand and a five-star resort in the Maldives.

The award-winning Kaanapali Beach Hotel recently completed a US$75 million property-wide renovation spanning two of the guestroom wings. The property offers a dozen Hawaiian cultural classes for guests alongside abundant ocean activities such as outrigger canoe paddling and snorkel tours. Additionally, Kaanapali Beach Hotel is employing several high-impact sustainability initiatives, including the installation of solar panels, charging stations for electric vehicles and water refill stations.

These efforts have not gone unnoticed; last year, readers of Conde Nast Traveler named Kaanapali Beach Hotel the No. 4 Top Resort on Maui and readers of Hawaii Magazine voted it the No. 1 Hotel Statewide.

With its pristine location along a three-mile stretch of sand, deep cultural connections and authentic Hawaiian hospitality, Kaanapali Beach Hotel has tremendous synergy with the OUTRIGGER brand; we are honored for the opportunity to become stewards of this coveted property, Wagoner added. Our intention, once the sale is finalised, is to craft a thoughtful plan to further enhance the resort grounds while retaining unique attributes that guests have cherished for years.

Under the helm of General Manager Mike White since the 1980s, Kaanapali Beach Hotel has been a pioneer in preserving and supporting Hawaiian culture  receiving numerous state and national awards for its focus on culture, community service and creating a model of sustainability for the Hawaii tourism industry at large.

The link between Kaanapali Beach Hotel and OUTRIGGER stretches back three decades with the founding of OUTRIGGERs values-based management approach, Ke Ano Waa which translates to The OUTRIGGER Way.

When the renowned scholar Dr. George Kanahele and I created the states first Hawaiian cultural training course for hotel employees in 1986, OUTRIGGERs leadership understood and appreciated the value of this curriculum  so, 30 years ago we guided them in creating a version tailored for OUTRIGGER called Ke Ano Waa, said White. Its uplifting to know that this platform of caring for host, guest and place remains intact today and will be a foundation of this exciting next chapter for Kaanapali Beach Hotel.

Additionally, as part of this transaction, OUTRIGGER will also take ownership of The Plantation Inn  a charming, 18-room bed and breakfast in historic Lahaina Town, located steps from Mauis famous Front Street, which has consistently been voted the #1 B&B on Maui. At this time, no changes are planned for this quaint, adults-only accommodation.

Travelers can book a room today for OUTRIGGER Kaanapali Beach Hotel at www.kbhmaui.com and The Plantation Inn at www.theplantationinn.com, as well as www.outrigger.com for stays from July 26, 2023 forward.

OUTRIGGER Kaanapali Beach Resort will retain the Lei Aloha platform and also be added to the OUTRIGGER DISCOVERY loyalty programme, which rewards guests with exclusive member rates and DISCOVERY Dollars for staying at OUTRIGGER, as well as more than 800 hotels in the GHA DISCOVERY portfolio.

About Outrigger Hospitality Group

For 75 years, Outrigger has charted a journey of discovery  expanding from Hawaii to premier resort destinations including Fiji, Mauritius, Thailand and the Maldives. The privately held hospitality company invites guests to "Come Be Here' with authentic Signature Experiences and the Outrigger DISCOVERY loyalty programme. Outrigger's multi-branded portfolio includes Outrigger Resorts, OHANA Hotels by Outrigger, Hawaii Vacation Condos by Outrigger, Kapalua Villas Maui and Honua Kai Resort & Spa Maui while also managing select properties from top international hotel brands including Embassy Suites by Hilton, Best Western and Hilton Grand Vacations. Find out more at Outrigger.com or visit @OutriggerResorts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
LONDON & FRANKFURT, Germany  Cvent, an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, today released its lists of the Top Meeting Destinations and Top Meeting Hotels for Europe. These lists  which also include regional rankings for North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa  were compiled based on sourcing activity through the Cvent Supplier Network, one of the worlds largest venue-sourcing platforms. This is the first time Cvent has published the annual lists since the COVID pandemic upended the meetings and events industry in early 2020.

Cvent will host a live, in-person press conference at IMEX Frankfurt (Hall 8, stand C470) on Wednesday, 24 May, at 12.35pm CET, to share more in-depth insights into this years Top Lists results.

The critical role the meetings and events industry plays in bolstering local economies worldwide was never more apparent than when that business disappeared overnight during the pandemic. Fortunately, destinations and hotels alike have seen a dramatic comeback from pandemic lows as they benefitted from the pent-up demand for in-person experiences. These Top Lists highlight hotels and destinations that have embraced technology to engage planners and enhance their sales and marketing efforts, while exhibiting a deep desire to innovate and expand their meetings and events offerings to better attract MICE business from around the globe. After four long years, were excited to share these insights once again and provide a resource that is used by event organisers to find great hotels and destinations and by hospitality professionals looking to set themselves apart to increase their MICE revenue. Graham Pope, Cvent Vice President of International Sales

Cvent Top Meeting Destinations

As pandemic restrictions eased and travel returned, convention & visitors bureaus worked diligently to promote their cities and hotels, and revive the industry as quickly as possible, and those efforts are paying off. London, for example, retained its #1 ranking from 2019 and has more than 400 hotels in the pipeline, having opened 17 in 2022 alone. Barcelona (#2) opened eight hotels during the time the research was undertaken, whilst raising its profile as a leader in sustainable tourism by becoming the first Biosphere Platinum Destination; and third placed Paris is gearing up for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games with significant tourism infrastructure development across the whole of the city. Lisbon, Portugal (#5) is the sole newcomer to the Top 10.

Top 10 Meeting Destinations in Europe

London, UK Barcelona, Spain Paris, France Madrid, Spain Lisbon, Portugal Berlin, Germany Amsterdam, Netherlands Rome, Italy Frankfurt, Germany Munich, Germany

We are truly excited to be the number one Cvent Top Meeting Destination, confirming once again that London is a global leader in the meetings and events sector. London is a diverse and inclusive city and offers unrivalled choices when planning a meeting or event. London is also a global leader in technology and innovation. Utilising technology, which includes the Cvent platform, allows us to bring London directly to event planners and enables our team, and those of our partner hotels and venues, to quickly respond which helps us stay ahead of the competition. Fiona Plumpton, Head of London Convention Bureau Services

Cvent Top Meeting Hotels

Many hoteliers leveraged the downtime in 2020 and 2021 to invest in upgrades and renovations to prepare their properties for the post-pandemic travel boom. Newcomers to the Top 10  including Corinthia Lisbon (#7), Hilton Vienna Park (#8), InterContinental Athenaeum Athens (#9), and Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon (#10)  each unveiled significant renovations in the last few years.

Top 10 Meeting Hotels in Europe

1W Barcelona Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile Melia Castilla Hilton Prague Hotel Arts Barcelona Corinthia Lisbon Hilton Vienna Park InterContinental Athenaeum Athens Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon

Being recognised as a Top 10 Cvent Meeting Hotel in Europe is a testament to our team and our continued dedication to provide exceptional service. Our recent full renovation, completed in 2022, further enables our team to do what we do best - Making Moments. Platforms like Cvent help us streamline event planning, but also make data-driven decisions. At Hilton Vienna Park, we embrace the use of technology and just launched the online booking option of small meetings up to 35 people, giving planners instant event confirmations. Hilton Hotels Austria Area General Manager, Norbert Lessing

To view all Cvent Top Meeting Destinations and Cvent Top Meeting Hotels worldwide, click here.

Methodology

For Cvent Top Meeting Destinations, Cvent evaluated 12,500+ cities worldwide listed on the Cvent Supplier Network. Activity was tracked between January 2022 and December 2022. Rankings were determined by a set of qualifying criteria, including: the number of total room nights booked through the Cvent Supplier Network; the number of unique electronic request-for-proposals (RFPs) sent through the marketplace to venues within the city; the total value of the RFPs submitted; and the actual awarded value for meetings booked.

For Cvent Top Meeting Hotels, Cvent evaluated hotel properties that generated business through the Cvent Supplier Network between January 2022 and December 2022. The properties were ranked according to various criteria, including total requests for proposals (RFPs), awarded RFPs, total room nights, awarded room nights, major metropolitan area market share, conversion rate, and response rate. The criteria are designed to provide the most accurate reflection of the top meeting hotels in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions.

About the Cvent Supplier Network

The Cvent Supplier Network features more than 300,000 hotels, resorts and special event venues, serving as one of the worlds largest and most accurate databases of detailed venue information. More than $14 billion was sourced through Cvents sourcing networks in 2022. The CSN contains listings of hotels and other venues in 18 languages that can be searched and filtered based on over 200 characteristics and criteria. The Network is part of the comprehensive Cvent platform, which delivers solutions that hotels and venues leverage to directly engage a global network of more than 109,000 planners, manage their MICE and corporate travel business and drive profitable results.

About Cvent

Cvent is a leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider with nearly 4,000 employees and more than 200,000 users worldwide. Founded in 1999, the company delivers a comprehensive event marketing and management platform and offers a global marketplace where event professionals collaborate with venues to create engaging, impactful experiences. The comprehensive Cvent event marketing and management platform offers software solutions to event organizers and marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event marketing and management, virtual and onsite solutions, and attendee engagement. Cvent's suite of products automate and simplify the entire event management process and maximise the impact of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Hotels and venues use Cvent's supplier and venue solutions to win more MICE and corporate travel business through Cvent's sourcing platforms. Cvent solutions optimise the entire event management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to manage millions of meetings and events. For more information, please visit Cvent.com/uk, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sharon Coleshill

+44 208 334 4005
PRAGUE - Mews, the industry-leading hospitality cloud, has won the Travel Tech Titans award for 2023.

The award recognizes innovative start-ups and scale-ups that are redefining the future of travel and hospitality, and Mews is a winner in the Late Stage Titan category, awarded to businesses that have received $50m or more in funding.

Travel Tech Titans are driving the transformation of travel, and we anticipate they could become pillars of the industry in the future. On behalf of the judges, we're thrilled to congratulate Mews on this well-deserved recognition for all of their exceptional contributions to the industry. Gaurav Tuli, partner at F-Prime Capital

A panel of 18 expert judges voted on a pool of 200 nominees across 21 countries, representing more than 12,000 employees and $6.9billion in funding.

Its a real thrill to become a Travel Tech Titan. Like the mythical Titans, we hope we give birth to a new world order in hospitality technology  without the need for our banishment when the Olympians come to take over! Its an incredibly exciting industry to be a part of alongside a great community of innovators, and we look forward to what comes next. Richard Valtr, Mews Founder

Mews has been transforming hospitality since 2012. A recent funding round in 2022, led by Kinnevik and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, saw the company raise an additional $185m to continue its mission.

In 2023, Mews acquired Hotello, a Canadian PMS, tripling its North American business and adding to its talented workforce.

About Mews

Mews is the leading platform for the new era of hospitality. Over 3,500 properties across more than 80 countries are powered by Mews. Mews Hospitality Cloud is designed to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience and create more profitable businesses. Customers include Accor, Generator-Freehand, Nordic Choice Hotels, The Social Hub, Life House and Airelles, as well as hostel groups such as YHA Australia, Clink Hostels and Wombats Hostels. Mews has been named the World's Best Independent Hotel PMS Provider by World Travel Tech Awards (2022) and Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech (2021, 2022) by Hotel Tech Report. The company has offices in Europe, the United States and Australia.

About Travel Tech Titans

The Travel Tech Titans award recognizes game-changing disruptors in the travel tech industry. Winners are selected by a panel of judges  including leading investors, industry executives, and founders  who review nominations to select the startups and scale-ups who will form the future pillars of the travel tech industry. The Travel Tech Titans are divided into three stages based on the amount of funding raised: Early (0-$10M in funding), Mid ($10-$50M), and Late ($50M+). Travel Tech Titans is organized by F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads Ventures.

George Barker

Director of Communications
Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel

Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel the Top Meeting Hotel in the Middle East and Africa for 2023

Cvent released its lists of the Top Meeting Destinations and Top Meeting Hotels for Middle East and Africa. These lists  which also include regional rankings for North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific were compiled based on sourcing activity through the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN), one of the worlds largest venue-sourcing platforms. This is the first time Cvent has published the annual lists since the COVID pandemic upended the meetings and events industry in early 2020.

"Digital transformation has revolutionised the way hospitality professionals embrace technology to engage planners and enhance their sales and marketing efforts to attract meetings and events to their properties or locales. The pandemic proved how critically important meetings and events are for bolstering local economies and our Cvent Top Lists highlight the hotels, venues and destinations that are enabling a dramatic comeback by capitalising on the swift return to in-person events. After four long years, were excited to share these insights once again and provide a resource that is used by event organisers to find great hotels and destinations and by hospitality professionals looking to set themselves apart to increase their MICE revenue," said Graham Pope, Cvent Vice President of International Sales.

Cvent Top Meeting Destinations

As the top performing region in the world for post-pandemic tourism recovery, the destinations in the Middle East and Africa have attracted events to their cities by quickly adapting and innovating to changing circumstances. Tourism boards continue to invest heavily in projects with global appeal, including restoring historical sites and opening new tourist attractions to further elevate the appeal of these meeting destinations. While Dubai retained its #1 ranking from 2019, newcomers to the list include Turkey, with two cities in the Top 10  Istanbul (#2) and Antalya (#7), Muscat, Oman (#8) and Tel Aviv, Israel (#10).

Top 10 Meeting Destinations in Middle East and Africa

1. Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2. Istanbul, Turkey 3. Marrakesh, Morocco 4. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 5. Cape Town, South Africa 6. Cairo, Egypt 7. Antalya, Turkey 8. Muscat, Oman 9. Johannesburg, South Africa 10. Tel Aviv, Israel

Cvent Top Meeting Hotels

Many hoteliers leveraged the downtime in 2020 and 2021 to invest in upgrades and renovations to prepare their properties for the post-pandemic travel boom and better appeal to rising traveller expectations. Newcomers to the Top 10  including InterContinental Istanbul and Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights  unveiled significant renovations in the last few years. Hotels that prioritised state-of-the-art meeting facilities are also featured highly in the Top 10, proving the long-term value of these investments to attract MICE business.

Top 10 Meeting Hotels in Middle East and Africa

1. Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus 2. Grand Hyatt Dubai 3. Conrad Dubai 4. InterContinental Dubai Festival City 5. InterContinental Istanbul 6. Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel & Conference Center 7. JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai 8. Hilton Dubai Al Habtoor City 9. Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights 10. Sofitel Dubai The Palm

To view all Cvent Top Meeting Destinations and Cvent Top Meeting Hotels worldwide, click here.

Methodology

For Cvent Top Meeting Hotels, Cvent evaluated hotel properties that generated business through the Cvent Supplier Network between January 2022 and December 2022. The properties were ranked according to various criteria, including total requests for proposals (RFPs), awarded RFPs, total room nights, awarded room nights, major metropolitan area market share, conversion rate, and response rate. The criteria are designed to provide the most accurate reflection of the top meeting hotels in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions.

For Cvent Top Meeting Destinations, Cvent evaluated 12,500+ cities worldwide listed on the Cvent Supplier Network. Activity was tracked between January 2022 and December 2022. Rankings were determined by a set of qualifying criteria, including: the number of total room nights booked through the Cvent Supplier Network; the number of unique electronic request-for-proposals (RFPs) sent through the marketplace to venues within the city; the total value of the RFPs submitted; and the actual awarded value for meetings booked.
Rendering of the Mandarin Oriental Athens Hotel

Mandarin Oriental announced the development of a new hotel and accompanying residences in Athens. Mandarin Oriental, Athens will be located on the shoreline of the city and just a 15-minute drive from the centre. It will be developed by BELT Riviera S.A., a company established by TEMES S.A. and HELLINIKON S..S.A. (a 100% subsidiary of Lamda Development). The hotel and residences are set to open in the summer of 2027, within The Ellinikon. This is one of the largest sustainably built urban regeneration projects in Europe, and Mandarin Oriental, Athens will be at its centre. The ca 8 billion redevelopment will bring new life to this area of the city.

The hotel will comprise 123 rooms and suites, as well as 17 branded Residences, including waterfront villas and apartments. A range of dining options will be offered in several food and beverage outlets, making it a destination for locals and visitors alike. Indoor and outdoor event space will provide a chic backdrop for meetings and social gatherings. A comprehensive Spa at Mandarin Oriental will offer the Group's signature wellness therapies and beauty treatments, with a focus on locally inspired programmes.

The hotel will feature fresh high-end contemporary design and unobstructed views of the Aegean Sea. This premium position at the heart of the Athenian riviera will make Mandarin Oriental, Athens a truly unique destination for all guests.

James Riley, Group Chief Executive of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, said: "We are delighted to be working with TEMES SA and Lamda Development SA on this project. I am confident, that with this location and our legendary service, Mandarin Oriental, Athens will be the leading luxury hospitality hub for both travellers and Athenian residents."

Odisseas Athanasiou, CEO of Lamda Development, stated: "This new high-standard hotel complex will become another beautiful landmark and serve as an additional international point of reference for this emblematic investment of The Ellinikon."

Achilles V. Constantakopoulos, Chairman of TEMES, noted: "We are thrilled with the progress of our strategic partnership with Lamda Development, and very proud to welcome together this exceptional brand to the Athenian Riviera."

Mandarin Oriental, Athens will be the second Mandarin Oriental property to launch in Greece, following the partnership with TEMES SA for the development of Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino which opens this summer, showcasing the global luxury brand's trust in Greece as a continuously growing high-end destination.
JLL Capital Markets announced that it arranged $36.8 million in construction financing for 550-566 E Colorado BLVD., a 194-key, six-story hotel development in the Playhouse District of Pasadena, California.

JLL represented the developer Welcome Group Inc., to secure the three-year loan with two one-year extension options.

Welcome Group is ecstatic to build a vibrant hotel in the heart of the dynamic Playhouse Village. We are eager to bring a precise attention-to-detail and impeccable service to a discerning market like Pasadena, said Arjun Shokeen, WG Partner.

Slated for completion in 2025, the hotel will operate as an AC Hotel by Marriott. A lifestyle brand known for modern intuitive design and focus on European-inspired simplicity and sophistication. The 194-key hotel will also feature scenic views from the rooftop lounge, a peloton fitness room, event space and its signature AC Lounge. The development will only add to the prime Pasadena location known for its cultural attractions and pedestrian-friendly design. It is home to a number of restaurants, cafes, and shops, as well as several parks and museums. The location will also attract travellers arriving from LAX, Ontario Airport or Burbank Airport located just 20 minutes away.

The JLL Capital Markets team was led by Senior Managing Director Marc Schillinger and Senior Director Matt Stewart.

The proposed AC Marriott will be the newest select service property in Pasadena and the only branded hotel in the Playhouse District, said Schillinger. The hotels strong brand affiliation, proximity to demand generators, and select-service product offering will allow it to become an ideal choice for leisure and business travellers visiting Pasadena.
Excerpt from Travel Weekly

Has the pent-up demand that helped fuel a surge in travel as the pandemic ebbed finally run its course?

Analyses from two major financial institutions, Mastercard and Bank of America, posed that question this month. And they found that the answer depends on factors still to be determined, such as the labor market, and varies by travel segment.

A Bank of America report published May 17 found that travel spending in April was just 1% higher than April 2022, when travel was up 27% year over year. The report looked at card spending on airlines, lodging, cruises and rental cars.

Travel performed better than spending overall, which dropped 1.2% compared with April 2022, the first negative year-over-year reading since February 2021.

"Against this backdrop of overall consumer moderation, travel remains a bright spot relative to other sectors," said Anna Zhou, an economist with the Bank of America Institute.

But Zhou added that there were "signs of moderation in the travel space."

"The question is, has the pent-up demand for travel run out of fuel?" she said. "I think the short answer is: It depends."

The analysis found that the travel categories that recovered more quickly during the pandemic, such as lodging and domestic travel, are the first to see spending moderate. Cruises and international travel, two areas that recovered much later, are "still running hot," Zhou said.

In April, hotel spending was the only travel category that had a negative year-over-year growth rate. Spending on cruises, meanwhile, was up 36% compared with the year prior. Airline spending appears to be falling somewhere in between, the report found.

And among travelers themselves, travel spend among older generations remains stronger than for the younger ones, who were faster to resume traveling during the pandemic.

Bank of America predicted that residual pent-up demand from those strong categories could offset weakness elsewhere and support overall travel spending in the coming months.

"Against the macro backdrop of overall consumer spending moderation, travel will likely remain as one of the top sectors that continues to see spending growth, just at a slower pace than what we saw in 2022," the report said.

Click here to read complete article at Travel Weekly.
Guestroom at the Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG) and Mori Trust Co Ltd have signed a partnership agreement to open Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street in late 2024.

The landmark deal marks the beginning of a significant new partnership between IHG and Mori Trust, one of Japans best-known real estate development and hospitality companies. The hotel will be Japans fifth Hotel Indigo when it opens, continuing the growth of the brand that already includes hotels in Hakone Gora, Karuizawa and Inuyama, along with the upcoming Hotel Indigo Tokyo Shibuya, which is scheduled to open later in 2023.

With 270 open or pipeline hotels worldwide, Hotel Indigo is a lifestyle boutique hotel brand that is built around 'neighbourhood stories' that tickle guests curiosity by incorporating the character of the city and its unique history and culture into every detail of the hotel design, artwork, service and experience.

Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street will debut at an enviable address in Nagasakis Minami Yamate area, with spectacular views from its hilltop location overlooking Nagasaki Port. Once a settlement that was home to foreign consulates and residences, the area boasts a treasure trove of stories that will stimulate the curiosity of visitors.

With so much history to draw from, the hotels Neighbourhood Story will be "Travelling through Time and Space: Japanese, Chinese and Dutch Labyrinths", highlighting Wakaran (Japanese 'Wa', Chinese 'Ka' and Dutch 'Ran'), where Western and Eastern customs and cultures have intersected.

Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street will be housed in a rare, historic Romanesque red-brick building. It will coincide with the revitalization of the nearby Old Glover Residence, national treasure Oura Tenshudo, and several other nearby 19th century buildings as part of the National Governments Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The hotel will have approx. 70 rooms as well as dining facilities and a fitness centre.

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IHG Hotels & Resorts Japan & Micronesia Managing Director and CEO of IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan, Abhijay Sandilya said: 'We are deeply honoured to be partnering with Mori Trust, one of Japans largest and most respected real estate development and hospitality companies. The signing of Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street demonstrates the ongoing momentum for the Hotel Indigo brand in this market, as it continues to welcome travellers from around the world with unique and fascinating stay experiences that only Japan can offer. Id like to thank Mori Trust and Date san for putting their confidence in IHG and the Hotel Indigo brand, and we look forward to building a successful partnership long into the future.

Miwako Date, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mori Trust Co., said: We are very pleased to partner with IHG Hotels & Resorts to open new Hotel Indigo in the historic Minami Yamate area of Nagasaki. Nagasaki City is blessed with rich tourism resources, such as the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Industry, which were registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015. We are actively promoting the preservation of traditional buildings. In the future, Nagasaki is expected to attract domestic and foreign tourists and tourism consumption, and we hope that we will be able to continue to provide our guests with history and culture through accommodation, and to disseminate new value.

IHG Hotels & Resorts is one of Japans leading international hotel operators, with 44 hotels under six brands: InterContinental, Kimpton, ANA Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Hotel Indigo. Eight more hotels are scheduled to open in the future, including Regent Hotels & Resorts, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spa, voco Hotels and the Vignette Collection. IHG will continue to focus on business development in Japan and aim to further expand its portfolio.
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Images Cinema to Show Ukrainian Film 'The Guide'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The "Stand With Ukraine Through Film" project is coming to Images Cinema.

Images Cinema will host a special screening of "The Guide" on May 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are available for purchase through their website ( https://imagescinema.org/movie/the-guide-2014/ ), and patrons will contribute as they wish. Donations will be also accepted through QR codes, which will be placed in the lobby for moviegoers to scan, and donation jars will also be placed on-site. All event proceeds will go toward supporting Ukraine.

Featured everywhere from Good Morning America (Community theaters come together to raise money for Ukraine) to Capitol Hill, the project has raised more than $150,000 to support Ukraine and continues to grow.

"The Guide" is a two-hour dramatic film produced by Ukrainian Director Oles Sanin in 2014, which is set against Soviet efforts to exterminate the Ukrainian people in the 1930s through starvation and other policies. It was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, and despite the film's historical setting, it feels quite current.

Last year, a small, community cinema in Salem kickstarted the global release of the 2014 film to support Ukraine. The first showing at Cinema Salem in March 2022 raised $12,000 in one evening. Immediately after its premiere in Massachusetts, "The Guide" was released nationwide, and within days, 600 cinemas across the U.S. agreed to screen it. Cinemas in Canada, Holland and Australia soon followed.

The Guide has now been screened at nearly 700 cinemas. It has also been shown on Capitol Hill with Congressman Seth Moulton among the notable speakers. The project has issued grants, with recipients including Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen, Ukrainian Studies Fund, Razom, the International Organization on Migration and Plast.

"We are delighted to partner with Images Cinema, as we continue to offer support to Ukraine through philanthropic efforts and the education of Americans. This historic venue will be providing its community members with a unique opportunity to both learn about and discuss the war's impacts. We're grateful for their participation, and we're proud to be working with them in this endeavor," said Lisa Vucelich, spokesperson for the project.

Marshall Strauss, Project Organizer, added, "We are so excited that Images Cinema is playing The Guide, a film which provides a powerful insight into the tragedy of Russian efforts to dominate  indeed, to exterminate  the people of Ukraine. Cinemas around the U.S. and in other countries are providing badly needed support to Ukrainians  support which they deeply appreciate."
BCC held a pinning ceremony on Tuesday for the 51 graduates of its associate's degree nursing program. PreviousNext

BCC Graduates 51 Future Nurses



See more photos from the ceremony here. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  More than 400 family members, friends, and college faculty filled the Boland Theatre on Tuesday to honor the newest nursing graduates.

"Our path to success was forged by hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrificing, and most of all, the love for what we do as nurses," graduate Theresa Carusotto told her 50 classmates at Bekshire Community College.

They're not only leaving a little bit smarter, a little more patient, and a lot more caring but also with a giant addiction to caffeine, she joked.

"In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to make a nursing diagnosis for this cohort, severe fatigue, anxiety, stress, imbalanced nutrition and disturbed sleep pattern related to nursing school, as evidenced by the bags that are still under our eyes," she said.

Nursing is a selfless career because they "have the opportunity and the power to heal the mind, soul in the body," Carusotto said.

That ethos of selflessness and perseverance was echoed by other speakers at Tuesday's pinning ceremony, marking the end of the 51 future nurses' two-year odyssey at BCC.

Department Chair of Nursing Nicole Cerda noted all that hard work and time away from friends and familly had culminated in this moment and Dean of Nursing Lori Moon pointed the support and sacrifice from family and friends as well as the efforts of faculty and staff to aid them in attaining their associate's degree.

As the graduates are welcomed into the nursing profession, Moon sent them off with words of caution  the first year as a nurse will be overwhelming and there may be days where you ask why or if you can do this job.

"Here's the secret. Everyone feels that way as a new nurse. You're not alone  It's normal, everyone feels that way," Moon said.

She told them to never lose sight of where they are going and, no matter what, make a difference.

Nixon St. Bernard, a graduate of the program and now a nurse at Berkshire Medical Center, was the keynote speaker.

Success, he said, is not easy and every successful person has wanted to quit at some point. But if success is the realization of a worthy ideal, he continued, we know what we have to do.

St. Bernard was chosen to speak because of his willingness to work with students and his commitment to ensure that every student paired with him leaves the floor with greater knowledge.

Nursing is a unique field and so are the nurses, St. Bernard said, because they put everything into a career that is highly gratifying and also requires caring and compassion.

The graduates are ambassadors for the college, BCC President Ellen Kennedy said and she hoped they will take pride in saying they were educated at Berkshire Community College.

Carusotto concluded the evening with some words of wisdom to her classmates.

"We have the power to make a critically ill patient laugh. We have the power to teach someone with a debilitating chronic illness, how to cope. We get to share not only the beginning of a life, but the end of a life. We will be able to listen to our patients' past stories of their lives and hobbies, even though they might not have the strength to do them anymore," she said.

"I'm confident that I'm on stage with nurses that will push boundaries, strive to make a difference and do the best they can to prepare for their patients, even when sometimes there's no thanks at the end."

Awards

Professionalism in Nursing: Cassidy Kendall

Clinical Excellence in Nursing: Page Houser

Academic Excellence in Nursing: Melissa Phillips

Bette B. Everson Memorial Nursing Award: Melissa Phillips

Graduates

Cynthia Abbey

Natasha Antona

Brian Arseneau

Alyssa Bartlett

Millicent Beckham

Carly Beery

Savannah Berkeley

Douglas Bruce

Lachay Canada

Jacqueline Canterella

Theresa Carusotto

Emma Clouthier

Lisa Curley

Malynda Davis

Brittany Durand

Tanisha Goines

Jamie Heaton

Page Houser

Jacy Howland

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Williamstown Fire District Moving to Acquire New OPM for Station Project

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  More than two years after choosing an owner's project manager for its new station project, the Fire District is set to move forward with a new OPM.

Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi mentioned the move during his report to the annual Fire District meeting on Tuesday at Williamstown Elementary School.

"We are very pleased with the most recent [construction cost] estimates projected, as well as what we consider to be a significant cost savings by soliciting for a new OPM," Moresi said during his address to the meeting.

After the half-hour meeting concluded, Moresi confirmed that the protracted negotiations with Colliers International on a final contract for management services were a sign that things might not work out with the firm.

"As I've said from Day 1, it's our goal to do this project in a fiscally responsible way," Moresi said. "We felt [the negotiations] were not heading in the direction of our best interest."

The good news is that the five-member Prudential Committee could select a new OPM as soon as Wednesday.

Moresi said the district's Building Committee received four responses from its Request for Qualifications, vetted those proposals and voted to recommend the Prudential Committee enter negotiations with Skanska Construction, which has a regional office in Boston.

"They're a known entity in the area," Moresi said of Skanska. "They've been involved in a lot of quality projects."

Skanska was recently selected as OPM for the Wahconah Park project and oversaw the construction of the new Taconic High School in Pittsfield.

The Fire District's project was a focus throughout Tuesday's annual meeting.

Moresi opened his remarks by quipping that it had been a "pretty quiet" year for the district, before "reminding" himself that, in fact, it was an eventful 12 months indeed.

"We received overwhelming town voter approval for our new station," he said. "It was truly a historic year for the district, and the town made it clear it wants the district to continue meeting the needs of the town for many years to come."

Building Committee Chair K. Elaine Neely told the meeting that her panel remains hard at work at achieving its three goals: "a facility that provides for the operating needs of the district for 50 years," meets the town's net-zero carbon emissions goal and does it all "at the lowest possible cost."

The meeting members breezed through the 12-article meeting warrant with hardly a question and no dissenting votes as it approved the district's operating budget and one-time expenditures for fiscal year 2024.

Prior to the meeting, the district held its annual election. Twenty-eight voters cast ballots in the two uncontested races. John Notsley won another three years on the Prudential Committee by a vote of 28-0, and Paul Harsch was returned as district moderator for three years by a vote of 23-0 with five blank ballots.

"Congratulations to Mr. Notsley and Mr. Harsch," Harsch joked before moving on to the main business of the evening.

In addition to hearing reports from Moresi and Neely, the meeting heard from the district's recently appointed treasurer, Billie Jo Sawyer, who reported that the district's free cash for FY22 has been certified by the commonwealth and its audit report once again came back clean.

Jeffrey Thomas, the chair of a public advisory panel he created with Notsley in 2019 for the district, addressed the small crowd to encourage the Fire District to continue spreading the word about its benefit to residents.

"There isn't sufficient awareness in this community for what the Fire District does and all the sacrifices volunteers make to keep our community safe," Thomas said. "[Awareness has] improved, and the turnout at the special district meeting was proof of that. But don't rest on your laurels. Don't let up in getting the word out about what you do.

"People have short memories. People come in and out of town. Far too many of us are aware of you only when we need you. That's important to change, especially when the property tax bills come in in a few years."

Moresi's remarks indicated that higher awareness of the district may be paying off in other ways, beyond the vote on the building.

"The district has witnessed positive improvements, seeing our numbers grow," Moresi said, noting that more call-volunteer firefighters were recruited both from town residents and the student population at Williams College. "As Chief [Craig] Pedercini put it recently, 'It is great to show up at a scene and see more personnel at the scene.'

"I am confident, with the coming of a new station, this upward trend will continue."
Letter: MCLA Homeless Shelter Should Have Had Public Input

To the Editor:



I question MCLA's President Birge's commitment to education and to our North Berkshire community.



" the historic public purpose of American higher education is to respond to the needs and demands of society." President Jamie Birge, WAMC 5/10/2023



The problem of the poor and unhoused is a symptom of a decline in democratic values and income inequality. A simple change in the earned income tax credit was able to cut child poverty by about 46 percent in just a few months.

Massachusetts needs more than 200,000 new homes in order to start addressing the housing crisis. What is stopping Massachusetts from building these homes? Powerful interests who do not have a modicum of decency prevent democratic actions to address our problems. Democracy means participation and engagement. It requires leaders to inspire open and respectful dialogue to address the needs of the people.



In 2014, North Adams Regional Hospital was closed with three days notice with no public hearing. Shortly after the hospital closing, the state closed our North Adams welfare office and our North Adams employment office with no public hearing.

Richard Dassatti

North Adams, Mass.
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The European Commission today announced support for the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) under the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) Capacity-building and Training for Sustainable Aviation Fuels programme (ACT-SAF) . In line with the European Green Deal commitment to help partner countries decarbonise, the project will support selected countries with 4 million. The funding will go towards increasing SAF production, feasibility studies and assistance with the certification of these fuels.





Implemented by ICAO and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the project involves 12 partner states: Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa. This list may be expanded at a later stage.





European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean said: "We estimate that the SAF market will create more than 200,000 additional jobs in the EU, and expect similar benefits for partner countries ramping up their production of sustainable aviation fuels. The EU will continue supporting its partners in their decarbonisation efforts. No country must be left behind as we take global aviation into a new era."





ICAO Secretary General, Juan Carlos Salazar, added: "This new project responds to the global consensus that we need to take concrete actions now to achieve truly sustainable international air connectivity. Access to cleaner energy sources will be a pre-requisite to achieve this long-term global goal, and all States have a part to play in realizing that access through new production and distribution capabilities."





The "Capacity Building for Sustainable Aviation Fuels eligible under CORSIA and in support of achieving net zero emissions by 2050" project is an important step towards a more sustainable aviation sector and a cleaner planet. Sustainable aviation fuels have great potential to decarbonise aviation. Within the EU, the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation promotes ramping up the use of sustainable aviation fuel.










Name: Vadim Solovey

Company: DoiT International

Job title: CTO

Date started current role: January 2011

Location: Israel

Vadim Solovey is the CTO and General Manager of global cloud technology company DoiT International, founded in 2011 to help deliver on the original promise of the public cloud. DoiT has strategically partnered with Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services to execute this mission, winning multiple consecutive awards. A remote-first, global organisation with more than 350 employees, the company operates across more than 70 countries, including the US, UK, Nordics, France, Germany, Israel and Australia. Solovey is an AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Google Developer Expert, and a Cloud Native Computing Foundation Ambassador, focusing on helping digital-native companies improve cloud ops, maintain security and control costs. Soloveys professional history began in 1995 as a software engineer in Israel, and before founding DoiT, he co-founded WE! Consulting Group, where he developed the company from zero to a $20M/annum business.

What was your first job? My professional history began in 1995 as a software engineer. I co-founded a company a few years down the line, that built complex data centres for big organisations. Then in 2006, after roughly eight years at this company, Amazon launched AWS. At first, it was a threat  but its inception represented a big shift in the technology landscape. I fell in love with the cloud computing founding principles such as use on-demand, elasticity and infinite scalability, and even tried to replicate some of them in our own tech stack.

We sold the company and I left in 2010 in search of a new challenge. As the public cloud matured, I was surprised to discover that some of the founding principles changed, and not always for the best. It is this what drives my current mission as CTO and co-founder of DoiT: to build technology and products that will deliver the true promise of the cloud.

Most organisations in our space are playing the classic MSP game where they have people helping clients build, maintain and secure their cloud. I would call this a people-based MSP with all the restrictions to flexibility, scalability and elasticity that people introduce. DoiTs approach is a little different because we are a technology-based MSP, building technology to maintain and secure our clients cloud environments. Technology in this situation has many advantages over people: It is always available, it never blips, it is globally deployable and, with technology like machine learning, it is always evolving. To me, this is much closer to the original promise of the cloud, namely flexibility, scalability and elasticity, and means our customers can avoid a wide array of challenges.

Did you always want to work in IT? Yes, pretty much. There were a few summers when I worked as a carpenter at a shipyard during my high school days. Since then, I have always been in IT.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? In terms of formal education, I finished high school and went to college. However, I soon realised there were many more interesting things happening in the commercial sector, so during the first year I decided to leave and continue my education in industry. I dont regret the decision at all, and in addition to co-founding two successful cloud businesses, I hold an array of cloud computing certifications from Google and AWS. Im an AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Google Developer Expert and a Cloud Native Computing Foundation Ambassador.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. My biggest detour was to leave a well-paid job and start my own company. I was 22 at the time and it was quite likely that I didnt understand what I was doing. Having said that, it has all worked out very well for me.

What type of CTO are you? I always was and still sort of am a hands on keyboard type of a CTO, though I try to stay out of it. As someone who was always close to applied tech, its hard for me to disconnect from that.

Which emerging technology are you most excited about the prospect of? At this point in time, its mRNA technology. COVID-19 has shown us what this technology is capable of delivering in a very short space of time. There are companies bringing personalised cancer drugs to market that direct the bodys own immune system to destroy cancerous cells by identifying mutations that are specific to each tumour. Being able to develop drugs en masse is the big challenge for this life-saving technology, as each one requires a tumour biopsy and DNA sequencing before the medicine can be made. Sequencing DNA is a very compute-intensive task, but the process can be expedited and run at a scale to deliver real results for cancer sufferers around the world by using the computing resources the cloud is able to provide.

Are there any technologies which you think are overhyped? Why? Virtual or augmented reality because we are still quite far from seeing a decent level of implementation. I am also somewhat worried about the social implications of a massive rollout of this technology, as it has the potential to drive a disconnect between our consciousness and reality.

What is one unique initiative that youve employed over the last 12 months that youre really proud of? The creation of our Flexsave technology. What started as a small experiment, has become our most successful product. Weve built engineering, product and sales teams that are helping our customers to save millions of dollars on cloud infrastructure.

Are you leading a digital transformation? If so, does it emphasise customer experience and revenue growth or operational efficiency? If both, how do you balance the two? We are a classic born in the cloud type of company and we primarily serve companies like ourselves. What is equally important to us and also to our customers is our self service capability. No one likes to wait for engineers or sales to be able to achieve something which is why we have invested millions of dollars enabling our customers to do things themselves, especially via our open APIs.

What is the biggest issue that youre helping customers with at the moment? My goal has always been to build a technology that will help our customers save money they would otherwise spend on cloud computing infrastructure. The culmination of this work are our two cost optimisation technologies, Flexsave and Spot Scaling. And both are driving savings of between 35% - 75%, depending on the usage.

How do you align your technology use to meet business goals? For me, its normally the other way around. Its always the business need that comes first, and my job as a CTO is to find a technology-based solution.

Do you have any trouble matching product/service strategy with tech strategy? I love technology but I have always understood that its no good on its own. Applied technology helps to solve a problem at hand but it is only a tool.

What makes an effective tech strategy? Its the one that achieves the goal youve set for yourself. As I said, the tech itself is just a tool, its almost never a goal in itself.

What predictions do you have for the role of the CTO in the future? I think the role of the CTO is very different for every company and for every stage that given company is at. You need to adjust yourself accordingly because what was right three years ago, may be very different from what is required today. Also, I have found that even great CTOs need to surround themselves with A-class players. Thats why I have invested in building the CTO Office organisation at DoiT.

What has been your greatest career achievement? My greatest achievement to-date is this company. As a tech-based Managed Service Provider (MSP), we build the tech that is building, securing and maintaining businesses in the public cloud. What started as a small, regional initiative has become a large, global organisation helping digital native companies across the globe to use cloud computing technology in a smarter way.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? I would start our global expansion earlier. It took me a while to realise the fact that technology problems we are seeing with startups in Israel, also exist at a larger scale - universally everywhere.
QIAGEN announced the renaming of its Philippine-based Business Services entity from QIAGEN Business Services (Manila), Inc. to QIAGEN Manila, Inc. last Monday, May 22, 2023.

Since 2017, QIAGEN Manila has been an integral part of the global company, providing essential services that support its core business in providing solutions and products for molecular biology research and diagnostics. With different nationalities working across various functions and roles, QIAGEN Manila has consistently proven to be a reliable, highly responsive team that has improved the customer experience both within and outside QIAGEN, propelling the company's growth.

Over the years, QIAGEN Manila's responsibilities have greatly expanded, providing a range of essential services including supply chain management, customer care, and accounting, as well as technical services and sales support, playing a vital role in shaping QIAGEN into the global and diverse company it is today.

The name change comes as QIAGEN Manila celebrates its diversity, spirit, and growth, allowing opportunities for local employment to align with its growing site in the Philippines, and as they venture to new global partnerships.

QIAGEN Manila contributes to the success of QIAGEN which is servicing over 500,000 customers worldwide. Through their expertise and service, QIAGEN Manila helps maintain the company's strong presence, as part of the 35 subsidiaries spanning over 25 countries and a global distribution partner network that extends to more than 60 countries.

"We are proud to announce this name change, which reflects the crucial role that QIAGEN Manila plays in supporting our global core business," said Chiles De Leon, Senior Managing Director, Head of QIAGEN Manila. "We recognize the diversity, spirit, and growth of our Manila site, and we are excited to see how QIAGEN Manila will continue to help grow the global company. I extend my deepest gratitude to the QIAGEN Manila team for their tireless efforts, hard work, and dedication, which have been instrumental in driving the company's success."
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

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Alicia Vikander and Jude Law were greeted with a standing ovation fit for royalty at the Cannes premiere of the brutal historical drama Firebrand on Sunday (21 May).

The movie, from director Karim Ainouz and set in a blood-splattered Tudor England, stars Vikander as Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII (Jude Law).

According to US insider site Variety, a visibly emotional Vikander motioned for the cheering audience to stop the eight-minute standing ovation or she would cry, as her grinning husband Michael Fassbender looked on from the row behind.

Speaking about the film to the publication, Vikander said: Whats mostly been dramatised are the wives who didnt make it. [When I read the script] I immediately thought, Huh, isnt it interesting that most people know more about the other wives. Its almost like people are drawn to quite grim stories.

Over the weekend, Martin Scorseses Killers of the Flower Moon received a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes, with critics hailing his sweeping American epic as a masterpiece.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, the film stretches to a running time of three and a half hours.

It is an adaptation of David Granns nonfiction bestseller, which chronicles the Osage murders in 1920s Oklahoma.

All eyes were on Johnny Depp at the start of this years film festival, as his period film Jeanne Du Barry opened proceedings.

(Getty Images)

His comeback following the viscious US court battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard, which he won, saw him also receive a standing ovation.

Cannes Film Festival runs until 27 May.
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At least 19 Indian opposition political parties on Wednesday announced that they would boycott the inauguration of a new parliament building by Narendra Modi, accusing the prime minister of sidelining Droupadi Murmu, Indias head of state.

The show of opposition unity just a year before the 2024 general elections has renewed speculations about a larger alliance to counter Mr Modi, who will seek to retain his office for a third term.

"Not getting the president to inaugurate the parliament nor invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the country's highest constitutional post," tweeted Rahul Gandhi, a member of the Congress party and Mr Modi's biggest contender.

"Parliament is not made of bricks of ego, but of constitutional values."

The opposition parties across the country criticised the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's decision to exclude President Murmu from the inauguration on 28 May.

" ...is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," the parties said in a joint statement.

"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration.

"This undignified act insults the high office of the president, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi president," the parties added.

Since the begining of the project, the government has faced criticism for the lack of transparency and high costs.

Construction of the building took place as a part of a Central Vista project aimed at revamping and replacing colonial-era government facilities. Work on the parliament began in January 2021 and the four-storey building is built at a cost of Rs 9.7bn (94.2m).

The federal government defended the move, arguing that the parliament building was showing "signs of distress and over-utilisation and was not able to meet the current requirements in terms of space, amenities and technology".

The opposition parties previously boycotted the foundation laying ceremony in December 2020, citing concerns about its timing amid protests.

The old colonial-era parliament building will continue to be used, the government said.

Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi urged the members of the opposition parties to reconsider the boycott.

Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function, Mr Joshi told reporters in New Delhi.

The Lok Sabha Speaker is the custodian of Parliament and the Speaker has invited the Prime Minister, Mr Joshi said.
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Climate justice and rights organisations across the globe began an unprecedented month-long hunger strike demanding the release of Vietnamese environmental lawyer Dang Dinh Bach.

The 44-year-old activist, who had campaigned to reduce Vietnams reliance on coal, was arrested on 24 June 2021 and sentenced to five years in prison on "trumped up" tax evasion charges.

Bach was director of the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center, which worked with communities affected by the dumping of industrial waste, rubber plantations and coal-fired power plants. Prior to his arrest, he was designated to monitor the implementation of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

The Communist government accused him of not paying taxes for sponsorships his organisation received from foreign donors between 2016 and 2020.

On Wednesday, over 80 rights groups across the globe published a letter calling for Bach's immediate release.

Bach had declared that he would begin a hunger strike to death on the second anniversary of his arrest in "defence of his innocence".

"In his own spirit of nonviolent and peaceful protest, we are launching in solidarity with him a relay hunger strike" through 24 May to 24 June in order to raise awareness about this extreme injustice, the letter read.

At least one participating organisation from across the world, including the US, Indonesia, Brazil and South Korea, will each day strike in solidarity with the climate advocate.

"Bach is a climate champion and should not be punished for his participation in Vietnam's clean energy transition," said Meena Jagannath, coordinator of the Global Network of Movement Lawyers at Movement Law Lab.

It's crucial for human rights lawyers and environmental defenders to stand up worldwide for our colleague in Vietnam. ...Right now, we are all concerned for his life."

Bach is one of the four Vietnamese environmental activists sentenced for tax evasion, a charge that rights groups say is politically motivated. The others were Nguy Thi Khanh, Mai Phan Loi and Bach Hung Duong.

Khanh, an anti-coal activist, who was incarcerated for allegedly not paying tax on her winnings from the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize, was released earlier in May after she served 16 months in prison.

According to Bach's wife, Tran Phuong Thao, he has been eating only one meal a day since 17 March.

"I have witnessed so many painful stories of poverty and terrible diseases that weigh on abused communities in Vietnam," he said in a recent statement from prison.

"They are deprived of their land and livelihoods and do not have opportunities to speak out for justice and the right to be human in the face of environmental pollution, especially in places with coal-fired power plants across the country.

"In order to conceal the truth and threaten the voices of people, the Vietnamese authorities have arrested, convicted and unjustly detained environmental and human rights activists in defiance of national and international law."

Bach was held incommunicado without access to a lawyer for at least seven months and his sentence reportedly exceeded what was asked by the prosecutor by two years.

Most people indicted on a charge of tax evasion in Vietnam are placed under house arrest or released on bail. However, all the climate activists were held for months in pretrial detention.

The imprisonment of the Vietnamese climate activists took place in the wake of the Communist government's commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and the $15.5bn deal announced in December support for a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

The deal is supposed to help bring forward the target year for Vietnam to peak its greenhouse gas to 2030, from a previous 2035 projection. It also aims to limit its peak coal capacity to 30.2 gigawatts (GW) instead of an initially planned 37 GW, and source 47 per cent of its power from renewable energy by 2030.

The coalition supporting Bach has urged the decision-makers to ensure civil society's meaningful participation "without any threat of arrests" as they develop a plan to implement the JETP.

"A just energy transition cannot be successful with people like Bach in jail," said Maureen Harris, Senior Advisory from International Rivers.

"The result of such a repressive environment is that civil society is effectively excluded from negotiating spaces and deliberations around energy transition partnerships, programs, and projects, even as they proclaim to be 'just'".

Last week, the UN Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Bach's imprisonment to be a "violation of international law" and expressed concerns about a "systemic problem with arbitrary detention" of environmental defenders in Vietnam.
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Ofgem is expected to announce a 450 drop to its energy price cap on Thursday amid warnings that consumers are likely to feel little benefit to their household finances.

Consultancy firm Cornwall Insight predicts the price cap will fall by 446 to 2,054 a year, based on falling wholesale energy prices.

However, campaigners have warned that the lower cap is unlikely to provide much relief to households that struggled to pay their bills over the winter because the Governments support schemes have come to an end.

The price cap 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 both pushing up wholesale prices.

More than two and a half million low income and vulnerable households are no longer receiving any Government support for unaffordable bills. For them, the energy crisis is far from over Adam Scorer, NEA

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  below Ofgems price cap.

This will change in July when the price cap falls and the threshold for the guarantee rises to 3,000.

The cap does not set the maximum a household will pay for their energy but limits the amount providers can charge them per unit of gas or electricity, so those who use more energy will pay more.

Furthermore, the Governments 400 winter discount to every household, paid in six instalments, ended in March.

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.

The standing charge  the roughly 300 paid each year by households just to access gas and electricity, is unlikely to fall.

Cornwall Insight warned that, while bills were falling, it did not expect them to return to pre-Covid levels before the end of the decade at the earliest.

It added that energy bills were still about 1,000 higher compared to 2021.

Energy is regulated separately in Northern Ireland, where bills will be held at 1,950 per year for an average household.

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) warned that while a cut to the price cap might seem like good news, bills in July would be comparable to last winter because of the end to the Governments support.

NEA chief executive Adam Scorer said: Coming out of winter, most people will welcome any respite from record high prices, but it still leaves prices more than 80% higher than the start of the energy crisis and two million more households trapped in fuel poverty.

More than two and a half million low income and vulnerable households are no longer receiving any Government support for unaffordable bills. For them, the energy crisis is far from over.
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Over 130 members of Congress and the European Parliament have called for the removal of Sultan Al Jaber, the oil executive leading this years climate talks in the UAE.

Climate experts have been riled up ever since the UAE controversially announced the appointment of Mr Al Jaber, the group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), as the president of Cop28, which will be held in Dubai in November.

An open letter issued by the lawmakers on Tuesday urged Joe Biden, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres to engage in diplomatic efforts for Mr Al Jabers withdrawal.

Climate activists and experts have called out the conflict of interest posed by the appointment and argued that it undermines the integrity of the conference.

The outrage has now taken a diplomatic turn because of the weighing in of the US and EU lawmakers  who are from two of the worlds three biggest polluters.

The decision to name as president of Cop28 the chief executive of one of the worlds largest oil and gas companies  a company that has recently announced plans to add 7.6 billion barrels of oil to its production in the coming years, representing the fifth largest increase in the world  risks undermining the negotiations, the lawmakers wrote in the joint letter.

They said the talks stand the risk of getting severely jeopardised by having an oil company executive at the helm.

Democrat representative Ro Khanna, who is among the signatories of the letter, told the Washington Post that Mr Al Jabers appointment is a slap in the face to young climate activists.

The head of a national oil company should not be the president-designate of a climate conference, he said.

Mr Al-Jabers office has responded to the letter by pointing to his experience attending 11 past UN climate conferences, his pledge to shift Adnocs business away from fossil fuels and his role in founding Masdar, the Abu Dhabi-based global renewables giant.

We believe that Dr Sultans experience as an engineer, working across the energy spectrum, coupled with his experience as a senior global industry leader, are assets that will help drive the UAEs transformative approach to Cop28, it said.

Some have argued that providing fossil fuel industrialists a seat at the table in climate negotiations is essential for a faster transition to renewables as they are the biggest polluters.

Activists, however, say it defeats it risks stalling progress as industries continue to prioritise their economic gains.

We cant trust oil companies who have such a bad track record of causing the delay and looking at their profits and not people and the planet, Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network (CAN) told The Independent.

But the move by lawmakers to address the US president and EU chief in the letter, urging them to intervene on a matter that was UAEs decision as a host also raises questions.

The letter does not address the G77, the bloc of developing countries that the UAE is part of, along with other large emitters like China and India.

Mr Singh said the US lawmakers are barking up the wrong tree by asking the US and the EU to intervene in a process that does not involve them.

Its not their matter, the process [of electing the Cop28 chief] has happened and its a G77 matter, he said. They cant act like big brothers to remove any Cop president, they have no business there.

What we should question now is why they [US and EU] welcomed the decision and did not criticise it when civil society was criticising, he adds.

Chief climate negotiators from the US and EU had earlier backed Mr Al Jabers appointment, saying that his presence would help convince oil companies to transition to renewables.

EU climate chief Frans Timmermans defended the UAEs decision, asking people to look at his [Al Jabers] impressive track record, pointing to his role in founding Masdar, the Abu Dhabi-based global renewables giant.

He said Mr Al Jaber as the Cop28 chief can help convince other executives in oil and gas to finally start investing in the transition towards renewable energy.

We have some really tough cookies in that sector that we need to address, but I want them on board  I dont want them vilified, he said.

John Kerry, the USs chief climate negotiator called Mr Al Jaber a terrific choice because his company knows it needs to transition.

Concerns were also raised by the UN over how the Cop28 presidency was keeping the oil business of Mr Jaber separate from this years climate negotiations.

According to a report by Politico, the presidency was temporarily conducting its work from two floors of an 11-storey building located next to the Adnoc office.

Also read: UN forced to ask whether Cop28 climate summit is effectively being run by an oil company

The controversy surrounding the Cop28 leadership extends beyond Mr Al Jabers appointment. The letter calls on the UAE to require companies to disclose their climate-related lobbying and campaign contributions before participating in the conference. The call for greater transparency and accountability in climate negotiations has been a long-standing demand by climate activists.

Questions were also raised on the participation of fossil fuel officials at last years Cop27 summit in Egypt, which saw the presence of more than 600 oil and gas lobbyists, the largest so far. This was more the combined representation of the eight countries that have suffered the greatest climate impacts since 2000.

Moreover, the UAEs invitation of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to the climate talks has also drawn additional condemnation from human rights activists.

While it is within UAEs rights to extend invitations, critics argue that this move normalises relations with a regime accused of severe human rights abuses, including the use of chemical weapons.

The Cop28 office said the event marked a milestone opportunity for the world to come together, course correct, and drive progress towards keeping the goals and ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement alive.
 Close Guam emerges to find major mess from Typhoon Mawar

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After a rapid intensification, Typhoon Mawar has become the most powerful storm of 2023 globally, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.

The typhoon, now known as Betty after entering the oceanic area monitored by the Philippines, is packing current wind speeds of 270km/h.

The Philippines weather agency said the storm is maintaining its strength as it continues to move northwards. Several areas in the archipelago are under thunderstorm and landslide warnings.

The Japanese Meteorological Association designated it as a violent typhoon, owing to storms with maximum sustained winds of at least 194km/h.

The typhoon has also surpassed the strength of any storm recorded in 2022, experts say.

Mawars intensification came after a brief weakening as it passed by Guam on Wednesday, lashing it with heavy rains and winds that uprooted trees and blew away roofs and cars.

According to the Guam Power Authority, nearly all of the islands 52,000 homes and businesses experienced power outages, with only 1,000 retaining electricity.

There are no reports of loss of life, but extensive damage was reported, alongside localized flooding, fallen debris, and downed power lines.
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Authorities in Guam warned anyone not living in a fully concrete house to head to safety elsewhere, and emergency shelters began to fill as residents braced for Typhoon Mawar, a powerful storm that could deliver the biggest hit in two decades to the US territory in the Pacific.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero urged residents in a YouTube message to remain calm and prepare for Mawar, which the National Weather Service said could hit southern Guam around midday on Wednesday. She ordered the National Guard to help those in low-lying areas evacuate ahead of the storm as residents stocked up on jugs of water and generators.

If Guam doesnt take a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, the lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tiyan, Guam.

As the global average temperature increases and sea levels rise, tropical cyclones - the catch-all term for hurricanes and typhoons - are expected to become stronger and the damage more catastrophic, scientists say. (In the Atlantic Ocean, hurricane season starts on 1 June.)

Research on 2017s Hurricane Harvey in Texas found that global heating made rainfall during the days-long deluge 15 per cent more intense. Another study on 2019s Typhoon Hagbis in Japan found that the climate crisis added at least $4billion in additional damages.

Sea-level rise is one way that the climate crisis is making these storms more dangerous. As the oceans rise, due to melting polar ice sheets and increased heat expanding the water, coastal cities like Tokyo and New Orleans will be more likely to be inundated during storms.

Residents prepare for Typhoon Mawars approach on Monday in Tamuning, Guam ((Rick Cruz/The Pacific Daily via AP))

Since the late 19th century, global sea level has risen by eight inches  threatening coastal communities and increasing flooding risk when storms push water inland.

Rising sea levels can also wipe out natural coastal defences against hurricanes such as wetlands of marshes and swamps that buffer storm surges and winds.

One 2020 study found that in nearly 90 tropical storms from 1996 to 2016, US counties with more wetlands had less property damage. The study put an average value on those wetlands of $1.8m in protection per square kilometre per year.

Another study looked at communities around Chesapeake Bay in the US Northeast and found that if worsening climate change causes a large increase in sea level rise, losing wetlands could more than quadruple flooded areas from a storm and add more than $8bn damage.

Even without sea-level rise, hurricanes are expected to become destructive as the ocean heats up.

Greenhouse gas emissions, from burning fossil fuels, are trapping more heat near the Earths surface. Scientists have calculated that about 90 per cent of the excess heat generated from emissions has been absorbed by the ocean.

Since 1901, the top layer of the ocean has become about 1.5C hotter, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Warmer air and water fuel hurricane growth, powering intense winds and sending water into the clouds. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that the climate crisiss impact on hurricane power is like adding fuel to a fire.

In the past 40 years, the proportion of cyclones that reach at least Category 3 strength  wind speed at least 111 mph (178 kph)  has increased, says the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading authority on global climate science.

Hurricanes cause more damage if they linger over the coast, and their slowing down may also be a result of the climate crisis. In the past 70 years, hurricanes have slowed by 10 per cent, one study found, but there isnt scientific consensus on why,

Hurricane Harvey was notoriously slow to dissipate, hanging around the Texas Gulf Coast for days and dropping upwards of 40 inches of rain in some areas.

It meant devastating flooding. During Harvey thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and more than 100 people died around Houston, Texas.

There is one measure of hurricanes that may not be getting worse with the climate crisis. Despite recent years with an above-average number of Atlantic hurricanes, the IPCC says that there is not a strong trend toward more tropical storms each year.

According to Yale Climate Connections, some research indicates that there might even be slightly fewer hurricanes as the climate crisis worsens, due to changing wind patterns.

Conditions vary from year to year. In 2022, for example, NOAA has predicted a higher-than-average Atlantic hurricane season partly due to warmer ocean waters and ongoing La Nina conditions.

For the most part, scientists are telling the public to brace for harsher storms with more severe impacts.

In the past four years, the world has faced down major crises like Hurricane Laura in Louisiana, Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique and Typhoon Mangkhut in the Phillippines  all of which caused intense destruction and significant loss of life.

In 2017 alone, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria hit in the Atlantic, devastating Texas, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. Cyclone Ockhi, which hit India and Sri Lanka that same year, killed over 900 people.

As the world keeps warming, the era of climate-supercharged hurricanes is only likely to get worse.

With reporting from The Associated Press
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Just Stop Oil (JSO) protests have cost police more than 3.5 million and nearly 11,000 officer shifts in the past month.

The Metropolitan Police revealed the figures as nine more JSO supporters were arrested on Wednesday during the groups latest batch of road-blocking marches.

Campaigners have been staging protests every day since April 24, sparking confrontations with members of the public who are caught in traffic as the activists walk slowly in the road.

The 3.5 million is on top of the 7.5 million spent by the force dealing with JSO action between October and December last year.

Police now have powers to force them to move onto the pavement, but arrested the nine JSO supporters on Wednesday for allegedly failing to do so.

So far since April 24, 45 JSO supporters have been detained by police across 78 marches, with frustration for some drivers bubbling over into heated confrontations.

Met Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the time between officers arriving at each scene and imposing conditions to move protesters out of the road is between 13 and 19 minutes.

He said: A short period of engagement and assessment after officers first arrive at each scene is unavoidable, but where we conclude that serious disruption is occurring we are intervening without delay to get traffic moving again.

One man was handcuffed by police after appearing to push two JSO supporters out of the road on Blackfriars Bridge on Tuesday.

The group said a motorcyclist tried to drive through the demonstrators, and in a separate incident a van crashed into a bus stop as the driver tried to get past the activists.

Other members of the public were said to have grabbed banners.

On Friday a man approached JSO protesters as they marched slowly in front of traffic on Mansell Street, near the Tower of London, before snatching their banners and pushing a woman to the ground.

Mr Twist said: We absolutely understand why those who are caught up in traffic delays will be frustrated.

I would urge the public not to intervene or take matters into their own hands, but to call the police, let us know where the incident is and we will get there quickly.

I know that a widely shared video of a member of the public confronting protesters on May 23 has reignited the strongly held public feelings about this protest tactic and how we are responding to it.

But we must recognise that short clips of individual incidents dont tell the whole story of a much larger policing operation which, as we have shown, is ensuring that our response times are effective and that our interventions are seeing roads cleared with minimal delays.

JSO is staging what it calls an indefinite campaign of civil resistance to end all new oil, gas and coal projects in the UK.
Hong Kong: Tang Ping-keung starts bay area visit

Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung today visited public security and emergency management units in Guangzhou and Dongguan, and toured a Guangzhou innovation and technology enterprise.

Arriving in Guangzhou this morning, Mr Tang called on Guangdong Department of Emergency Management Director Wang Zaihua and introduced him to the new Greater Bay Area Emergency Response Operational Plan formulated by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

The plan aims to establish a more comprehensive, pragmatic and systematic emergency response mechanism to further enhance the capability of the bay area cities in handling incidents together.

The security chief thanked Mr Wang and Guangdong Fire & Rescue Corps Deputy Head Luo Yunqing who was also in attendance, for supporting the Hong Kong SAR Government, enabling comprehensive co-operation and teamwork in emergency management.

Mr Tang hopes that with the Guangdong Department of Emergency Managements co-ordination, the bay area cities will study the operational plan and hold joint working meetings to take it forward.

He then called on Guangzhou Vice Mayor & Public Security Bureau Director-General Zhang Rui as well as Dongguan Vice Mayor & Public Security Bureau Director-General Qiao Lei.

They discussed strengthening emergency management and co-operation, promoting talent flow and combatting cross-boundary crimes.

Mr Tang also toured the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Guangzhou to learn about its innovation and technology on electronic information.

The corporation also specialises in advanced equipment and technologies related to law enforcement and emergency response.

This story has been published on: 2023-05-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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A Victorias Secret model has revealed why it was important for her to document the last days shell spend with her terminally ill grandmother after the 85-year-old decided to seek euthanasia to end her life.

Ali Tate Cutler, a Texas-based model, revealed her grandmothers plan to die by medical assistance on TikTok this week. In the first of a series of emotional clips, Cutler explained that her grandma, who lives in Canada and who she refers to as Bubbie, had chosen to seek euthanasia after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. In Canada, euthanasia and assisted suicide have been legal for people over 18 and who are eligible since 2016.

Bubbie has entered her final chapter in life, Cutler wrote on a video of herself and her grandmother playing a game together. After her terminal cancer diagnosis, she is choosing to be euthanised in Canada.

In the caption, Cutler acknowledged that no one gets out of this life alive, before claiming that the best way we can honour life is to be aware of death.

Love to your elders. Love to those who have come before us, Cutler wrote, before adding: Love you Bubbie.

In the caption of the video, which has since been viewed more than 441,000 times, the model poignantly wrote: Only thing that is certain is death and taxes. So much love to those who have come and gone before us.

In another video posted during her grandmothers final days, which has since been viewed more than 12 million times, Cutler filmed the pair participating in a TikTok trend as they got ready for a dinner out. My grandmother has chosen euthanasia for her terminal diagnosis, so this is the last time I can take her out to dinner, Cutler explained in a caption on the video, before noting that she has so many emotions right now, but that her priority is making it the most memorable week for her grandmother.

Speaking to The Independent, Cutler revealed that her grandmother has always felt strongly in support of euthanasia, and that, by the time shed received the terminal cancer diagnosis, she knew that she kind of wanted to exit the world in this way.

She just did not want to suffer in her final moments, Cutler explained of her grandmothers mindset upon learning that, even with chemotherapy treatment, she would only have six months left to live. So she decided that she wanted to go out in her own terms.

According to Cutler, whose family has travelled to Canada to spend time with the 85-year-old in her final days, they were not necessarily proponents of euthanasia before they learned of Bubbies decision.

However, Cutler said that her family has been incredibly supportive since learning of her grandmothers wish, a mindset that she said stems from their belief in body sovereignty and autonomy.

First and foremost, thats an overarching principle of pretty much all of our beliefs, she explained. For us, its about allowing the person to choose on their own terms, how and what they want to do with their body, and how they want to leave the world.

You know, we come into the world alone, we leave it alone. Its a personal decision.

In one of her videos, Cutler acknowledged how hard it has been to spend the time with her grandmother, knowing that it will be the last time they spend together. However, she said that she is trying to stay positive for her Bubbie.

These last four days have been so hard. Im trying to stay positive for my Bubbie, but I cant handle that Im about to say goodbye forever at the airport tomorrow, Cutler admitted as she filmed herself crying. In the caption of the emotional video, she added: Being able to cry with her has been a blessing. But its the finality of death that is repeating on a loop in my mind.

According to Cutler, she decided to share the videos to TikTok because she realised how beautiful it was to watch someone die as she was grieving her grandmother during their final moments together.

It was less of a statement on euthanasia and more a kind of being in awe of watching this person choose their own way out with dignity and with sovereign choice, Cutler clarified.

The decision was also a statement about how we grieve, as Cutler noted that, usually she sees posts about death after someone has lost a loved one.

Usually I see when people go through deaths in a family, they post a photo or a video when their loved one has passed saying, I miss this person, or, Im really sad right now because of this. And I always thought that was kind of weird and out of order, like, we should be celebrating this person while theyre still here, she said.

The model, who frequently uses her platform to discuss issues such as mental health and self-love, also acknowledged the way the videos approach death, which she said is a topic she doesnt see talked about enough.

When I saw someone I loved dying well and she was so clear in her decisions  it was an opportunity to open up discussion around death

The thing I dont see talked about enough is death, including for myself. And I havent really healed my relationship to death or with death yet. And I know its impending, she explained. So when I saw someone I loved dying well and she was so clear in her decisions  it was an opportunity to open up discussion around death.

According to Cutler, this is what social media should be used for. This is an experience thats a human experience for every single person, she said, while acknowledging the difference between her videos, which show a picture of what it means to be human, and the videos of relatively little substance that she typically sees on TikTok. Social media is such a powerful tool when used correctly.

Prior to her grandmothers decision, Cutler admitted that her views on euthanasia were divided, as she wasnt sure about the ethical morality of the assistance. However, she said her final moments with her grandmother changed her mind.

(TikTok / @alitatecutler)

Watching it up close and personal, I would say that I think now people should be given the option, the choice, she explained. Its happening whether we like it or not, in many places of the world. So we kind of need to have a dialogue about it.

In addition to documenting her own handling of the situation, Cutler also took the opportunity to share her grandmothers feelings about choosing euthanasia.

In a video titled Bubbie answering questions on euthanasia, Cutler asked her grandmother how she is feeling as she moves closer to the date when she will end her life.

In response to the inquiry, Cutlers grandmother revealed that the date is like the light at the end of a tunnel.

The video was also informational, as Cutler asked her grandmother to elaborate on the process of seeking euthanasia in Canada, and how doctors are able to determine whether you are doing it for the right reasons.

According to Cutlers grandmother, she was asked what her diagnosis is, whether it is fatal, and how many more months she has to live.

They give you time to consider. They keep stressing the fact that you can always change your mind, the models grandmother continued.

In Canada, there are two available options when it comes to medical assistance in dying (MAID), according to the governments website. They both include a physician or nurse practitioner, who either directly administers a substance that causes death, such as an injection of a drug, or who provides or prescribes a drug that the eligible person takes themselves, in order to bring about their own death.

As for who is eligible for euthanasia, the government states that an individual must be at least 18 years old and mentally competent, which means being capable of making health care decisions for yourself.

One must also have a grievous or irremediable medical condition, make a voluntary request for MAID that is not the result of outside pressure or influence, and provide informed consent.

As for what the process entails, Cutlers grandmother said it includes setting an appointment, then the initial injection, which puts you to sleep.

And the big pain is the prick in the hand to provide for the little valves. And then, once youre in a deep sleep, there are two other injections you get. At that point you dont know, so its painless, the TikTokers grandparent explained.

Cutlers grandmother also revealed that she plans to end her life at the hospital, as she noted that she came in quietly and would like to go out quietly.

In response to her granddaughters question about whether she is nervous, the 85-year-old shook her head no. Im looking forward to it, she said, as she explained that she doesnt want to be dependent or have no control as her illness progresses.

When Ill be ready, Ill know. Ive always made my own decisions for myself in living, and I trust I will in death, she said.

She also expressed her belief that her husband is waiting to greet her. I do believe my husband is there saying: Its about time. And Ill say: Hi, Im here. Thats it, she told her granddaughter.

In the caption of the video, Cutler acknowledged that it was one of the hardest and most beautiful conversations shes ever had, and that it was healing for both her and her grandmother.

Having talked about it in depth and her feelings going into it and her decisions for why she was doing this, I feel like it was a cathartic sigh of release for everyone involved, Culter told us of the candid conversations she had with her grandmother. Because we were talking about things that were normally unspoken, maybe it was a shame release.

It just felt like a release. I cant explain it other than that. It felt like, were talking about the thing that people dont talk about and it feels really good.

In their final video together, Cutler asked her grandmother to share her advice for a young person coming into the world now. Whats the biggest takeaway that you could tell anyone? she asked.

In response to the question, Cutlers grandmother said: Laugh. Have fun. Enjoy your loved ones as much as you can. Tell them you love them. Share. Be open, be honest. Talk. Just talk.

If you have love in your life, hold onto it because its so precious. Just honour love, express it, live it.

In the emotional clip, Cutler then added that her grandmother is a testament to the importance of respecting one anothers decisions. We all have our own decisions to make  and we need to respect and not have judgement for anyones decisions they make about their own life. Especially when theyre not hurting anyone else.

The poignant videos have sparked a debate around death and euthanasia on TikTok, where many have praised Cutler for sharing the emotional videos, while others have criticised the choice.

Beautiful moments. Honouring her choice and your grace in loving her through it, one person wrote, while another said: Im so so so sorry about all of this. Losing somebody you love is the worst pain but so happy to see you get closure.

This is beautifully tragic. No one wants to lose a family member but to be able to do it on your own terms? Surrounded by love? Thats beautiful! someone else wrote.

However, in her most recent video, which did not include her grandmother, Cutler replied to a comment from a viewer whod asked why shed decided to publicise the end of the 85-year-olds life, as they claimed it was so wrong.

In response to the question, the model defended her decision, as she revealed that she has always felt death was taboo and not discussed enough in the west.

Death comes for us all. And seeing how triggered some people got on the matter of a strangers dying choices, I know it was a heart-centred choice, she said. That video got 11m people talking about death. I would say this is one of the more useful cultural conversations I have seen on this app. So I said what I said.

While reflecting on the viral, and divided, response to her videos, Cutler acknowledged the differences in how viewers have reacted, with the model noting that some have been triggered because we dont talk about death and maybe people think death shouldnt be talked about and it should be something thats done privately away from prying eyes.

I think theres a couple themes here that are living in the shadow, and that shadow is places that humans naturally recoil from, she said. And the shadow is our mortality. That were all going to die. But when were young and were living in health, we forget that for moments of time.

So, highlighting that brings up a kind of primordial fear of what comes next.

According to Cutler, the second theme she has recognised is discomfort with the concept of euthanasia, as it raises questions about who is in control and about belief in the afterlife. People have their moral beliefs cemented on the topic [of suicide], she said. And so to see someone choosing this way out of the world, its bringing up a very under-discussed yet strong topic.

Cutler also admitted that, before her grandmothers decision, she wouldve counted herself among those who strongly disagree ethically with medically assisted death.

According to Cutler, who identified herself as a spiritual person, her previous disagreement with euthanasia stemmed from the belief that we were put here for a reason and a time, and a place and a vision.

And we were interfering with that plan or that faith by making this decision. I would have been extremely opposed, she continued. But, at this point, I can say that thats no longer my feeling.

She gave the examples of lifesaving surgeries or life support, as she asked: Arent we playing God that way? You know, arent we changing the outcome of fate? Arent we keeping people alive that wouldnt be naturally alive?

Although she acknowledged theres a lot more she needs to understand about the issue, and so many arguments that she needs to flesh out, she said her mind is now open to the idea of euthanasia.

Ultimately, for me, the main issue here is that I dont think anyone else gets to tell you what to do with your body, she said. Thats the main point, and that is my overarching principle. So everything has to flow from that.

Cutler is also extremely grateful for those who have shared their own stories about their loved ones in response to the videos, as she noted that it was beautiful to receive all of that outpouring of love and care and grief.

As for those who have not made up their minds about the topic of euthanasia, Cutler encourages them to be with dying people and to experience dying people.

She also wants people to ask themselves if they truly believe we have the right to tell other people what to do with their body.

If their answer is yes, she said she respects their opinion. But, if their answer is no, she thinks it will ultimately lead to a discussion about euthanasia and how it correlates to a belief that we shouldnt be allowed to tell people what to do with their body.

My question is for people to be able to ponder their own mortality, their own deaths, and really think about, would they want this option available to them? she said. And if that answer is yes, then talk about it. Have those conversations. Get interested, because we all need to have some agency in our final days.

Cutler noted that, in America especially, the debate around the concept prompts parallels to other topics that are raised when we consider bodily autonomy, such as abortion rights or vaccine mandates. We cant sleep on it. We cant just tuck this away. This is the reality for a lot of people right now who are dying. And do we want this option to be available to them? For me, that answer is yes, she said.

Physician-assisted suicide, which is when life-ending drugs are given to a patient who qualifies, is legal in 10 US states and the District of Columbia. To be eligible, individuals must have a terminal illness and a prognosis of six months or less to live. The topic has remained highly controversial in the US, however, due to debates around its legal, moral, religious and ethical impact.

In 2018, fewer than 1,000 individuals died by assisted suicide in the US, according to statistics from Statista. By 2021, the number had grown to just 1,300.

As for the current mindset of her grandmother, who is facing death head on and who will die on a date of her choosing in the coming weeks, Cutler confirmed that she has no regrets.

She has no regrets. She has no second thoughts about it. And so for me its now become more of a celebration of her life rather than this heart-stopping grief about losing her, she said.
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Influencer Alix Earle has claimed that she and her friends were left stranded in Italy after the villa they booked turned out to be a scam.

The TikToker, who has been keeping her more than 5 million followers up to date with her travel adventures, shared the setback in a video posted to the platform on Monday.

Were stranded in Italy. The house we were supposed to stay in doesnt exist, Earle told her followers on Monday, before adding: Our car service cancelled. Its midnight. We literally dont know where to go. 11 girls stranded in Positano.

In the caption of the video, which has since been viewed more than 4.7 million times, Earle asked: What do we do now?!?!

In a follow-up video, Earle revealed that she and her friends had found a place to stay the night after learning that their scenic villa in Italy reportedly didnt exist.

In a comment under the video, which showed the group trying to squeeze onto one twin-sized bed, Earle claimed that theyd be stranded again in the morning.

On Tuesday, the influencer shared a video explaining the predicament, with Earle telling viewers: Heres how we got stranded in Italy on our girls trip.

According to Earle, after leaving their Airbnb in Ibiza, the group made their way to the airport to catch their flight to Positano.

However, after landing in Naples, Earle claimed that the group learned that our house was a scam.

In a caption on the video, the influencer sarcastically thanked Booking.com for the issue. It literally didnt exist and our car service cancelled on us, Earle continued, before revealing the group allegedly encountered another issue after they walked out of the airport without retrieving their luggage. Security was like, you can literally not come back in, she said.

However, Earle said they were ultimately reunited with their luggage, at which point they got in a random taxi and booked a random hotel room for the night.

According to the influencer, who filmed the group standing in the lobby of the hotel, she and her friends arrived at the hotel around 2am, and still do not know where they will stay for the remainder of the trip.

We have nowhere to stay for the rest of the trip, so we were a little stressed out but we cuddled in our cot, Earle concluded the video.

In another video posted on Tuesday, in which she invited her followers to watch as she got ready for a beach day in Positano, Earle reiterated the groups predicament.

So, last night we found out that the place we were supposed to be staying in was a scam. It, like, literally just doesnt exist, Earle claimed, before revealing that theyd found the hotel where they were staying super last-minute.

After Earle shared the scenic view from the hotel, she claimed that the group still has no idea where [theyre] going to be sleeping tonight.

But were going to figure it out, she said, as she applied makeup. The influencer then claimed that their night was a little hectic and that shed thought they were being kidnapped and was so scared the entire time.

Despite the dilemma, Earle expressed her excitement to be going to the peach in Positano, as she noted she really wanted to get some good Instagram pictures.

Who knows where we are going to end up later? In the meantime, Im going to get a tan and get some cute Instagram pictures, Earle told her followers after shed finished applying her makeup.

The influencers claim that she and her friends have been left stranded has sparked an outpouring of concerned comments from Earles followers.

New fear unlocked, one person commented, while another said: Omg be safe please girls.

Others shared their own similar experiences, with someone else writing: Never book through third parties! I learned the hard way too.

Booking.com also responded to the alleged issue in the comments, with the official TikTok account writing: Hi Alix, were sorry to hear about your experience. Please reach out to us via Twitter, FB or Instagram, so our support team can look into this.

The Independent has contacted a representative for Earle and Booking.com for comment.
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Professional dancer Amy Dowden has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 32, said she received the diagnosis last week and described it as another hurdle in her life.

Speaking to Hello!magazine, Dowden said: Ive been through quite a lot in my life and this is another hurdle.

But if Im positive and strong, Ive got a really good chance of getting back out on the dance floor as soon as possible.

Dowden also suffers from Crohns disease, a lifelong condition where parts of the digestive system become inflamed. She campaigns for awareness around Crohns and released a BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Crohns and Me about living with the disease in 2020.

She pointed towards her work around raising awareness of Crohns and said she hopes to do the same with breast cancer.

If I can try to turn this negative into a positive, its going to help me get through this, she added.

The dancer, who married her partner Ben Jones in South Wales last July, continued: You just dont ever think its going to happen to you. I hadnt thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age.

She revealed that her mother has also had breast cancer in the past, but she was diagnosed in her fifties.

JJ Chalmers competing on Strictly Come Dancing with partner Amy Dowden (BBC) (PA Media)

According to Cancer Research UK, there are around 55,900 new breast cancer cases in the country every year, with around 5,000 women under the age of 45 diagnosed.

Around eight in 10 (80.6 per cent) of women in England who are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 44 survive breast cancer for 10 years or more, data from the organisation shows.

Dowden said she only began making a conscious effort to check her breasts for signs of cancer after taking part in CoppaTrek! With Gi, a fundraising walk led by blogger and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher for breast health charity CoppaFeel!

She credited the charity with potentially [saving] my life, adding: I dont know how long this lump could have been there before I would have noticed and done something about it.

The dancer added that she hoped speaking about her diagnosis might end up saving some other peoples lives if she prompts them to check their breasts.

She first found a hard lump in her right breast in April, a day before she and Ben were due to fly to the Maldives for a delayed honeymoon.

Dowden said she was in shock and initially thought the lump could have been period-related or something else, but decided to keep an eye on it.

After returning from holiday, Dowden said she realised the lump felt so much bigger while preparing to do a dance show with her husband and decided it was time to see her GP. She was sent for an emergency referral.

Dowdens doctors believe the cancer was discovered early, but she is still awaiting more information before getting a full treatment plan, which will definitely include surgery, she said.

I dont know what stage the cancer is yet, until I have an MRI scan and a biopsy on a second lump they have found in the same breast, she explained. Once theyve got that, they can give me a full prognosis.

Posting on Instagram after her interview was published this morning (Wednesday 24 May), Dowden told her followers: Hey all, Ive got some news that isnt easy to share. Ive recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but Im determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it. Welsh love Amy.
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A single mother has revealed her struggle to look after her eight-year-old son after he was diagnosed with a terrifying deadly illness  and claims doctors missed the signs.

Victoria Stainton, 45, originally from Lincolnshire, rushed her son, Harrison, to hospital after noticing he was struggling to breathe.

She says medical professionals believed his symptoms were due to constipation at first, but following a chest X-ray spotted a serious problem  his lungs had filled with fluid.

The mother was left distraught after aggressive cancer that left Harrison being fed through a tube meant she had to leave her job to become a full-time carer.

Even to my untrained eye I could see something was seriously wrong with my son, as you couldnt define his two lungs on the X-ray, the mum told NeedToKnow.co.uk.

Within an hour, Harrison was in theatre having a chest drain inserted and two litres of infected fluid were instantly drained off!

In total, eight litres of fluid, including blood, were drained off over three weeks.

It was then, in November 2022, they received the horrifying diagnosis of T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, fast-growing cancer that showed as a mass in his thorax.

There are no words to describe how it feels to hear those words as a diagnosis for your beloved child, said Victoria.

I felt broken and scared, how can this be happening to him as he'd always been a good child  I was afraid of losing him as he is my whole world.

I found it hard to process at the beginning.

When I was told, I just broke down... it felt very surreal like it wasn't really happening. It still feels unreal at times as it's such a long treatment plan.

But you have to pull up your bootstraps and crack on.

(Jam Press/Victoria Stainton)

Initially, following Harrisons complaints of constipation, his GP prescribed a laxative, but when that didnt work Victoria became concerned.

She said: After a day there was still no improvement and I notice his breathing was shallow and he wasnt able to walk as fast as usual and definitely not as far as usual.

I decided to call 111 for advice, and after several calls back and forth I took the decision to take him to our urgent care centre.

By this point, he was very tired and weak and unusually fell asleep waiting to be seen.

When we got to see the Dr, he referred us to our local hospital, again I mentioned his breathing, but nothing was checked, so off to the local hospital we went and after a 15-minute wait, he was triaged.

The triage Nurse was our saviour, she listened to what I said about his breathing, lifted up his top and said This is not normal'  He needs a chest X-ray.

Harrison was then transferred to King's College London Hospital, before arriving at St Georges two days later.

He began treatment immediately, with chemotherapy three times a week, as well as twice-daily blood thinner injections to lessen the chance of blood clots, a chest drain removing eight litres of fluid in total, lumbar punctures and a catheter.

Victoria said: So far it's been a combination of three different types of chemotherapy that need to be done on three consecutive days, to begin with, then two the next week.

The first six months are very intensive and once through that, it goes into maintenance phases for the remainder of the three years and three months

Despite receiving help from her sister, Susannah Matthews, the single mum struggled to fund transport to the hospital, food and heating bills and was forced to leave her job as a learning assistant to care for her son.

The immunocompromised Harrison cant travel on public transport, and with parking costing 4 an hour, Victoria now has to rely completely on the generosity of others, with one of Harrisons classmates' Dads setting up a GoFundMe page to help.

Harrison is predominantly fed through a nasal-gastric feeding tube, however, when he can eat solid food, Victoria makes sure he is able to eat what he likes, often going without food herself, with chemotherapy affecting his sense of taste.

She said: Before Harrison was diagnosed, I was working at his school as a learning assistant, obviously Im no longer able to work whilst caring for him.

(Jam Press/Victoria Stainton)

To my relief though, they have said when Harrisons better I can return, which is one less thing to worry about for the future.

I am also spending money on heating at home, as I cant let him get unnecessarily poorly, so it needs to be on all the time.

Normally he's in a blanket, but I need to encourage him to move and not stiffen up he has lost so much muscle already and needs to stay strong to fight his cancer.

One thing carrying the pair through treatment is Beads of Courage, a programme backed by Children with Cancer UK where children are given coloured beads for each procedure they undergo.

Harrison has now amassed a collection of hundreds of beads, showing off his collection proudly to everyone who visits.

She said: At the end of each day, before bed, we sit together and tick off what procedures or treatments hes had that day.

He definitely holds his head high when explaining them and showing his act of courage beads and also showing visitors his favourites.

Despite his condition, his cancer will not stop Harrison from fighting for others as he has raised 830 for the Childrens Cancer and Leukaemia group's big play dates by selling pin badges and keyrings to his neighbours.

She added: Harrison is very grateful to everyone because it means that I can be right beside him through every step of his journey.

Harrison's heroes, our amazing neighbours, are on standby if we need to go to the hospital.

Im so proud of him, we take it each day at a time.

There have been so many bumps along the road so far, but weve made it through and still are because we have the support of some amazing people.
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A farmer who became the subject of a viral meme with his words of wisdom about hard work has died after he was injured in a car crash.

David Brandt, from Ohio, was a notable figure in the agriculture community due to his dedication to sustainable farming techniques and soil health, according to the Associated Press. A proponent of no-till farming, which sees crops grown without disturbing the soil, Brandt was dedicated to educating others about the environmental and climate benefits of the technique.

However, the farmer became widely recognised beyond the farming community in 2012, when he made poignant comments about his career during a Natural Resources Conservation Service event held on his farm.

It aint much but its honest work, Brandt said during the event, which proved to be a sentiment that would live on in the form of a meme of his words paired with a photo of him wearing overalls.

On Thursday, the 76 year old was injured in a crash in Urbana, Illinois. Brandt died from his injuries on Sunday, according to the AP.

In addition to his legacy as a farmer dedicated to educating others, and as a point of joy on the internet, Brandt was also a Marine Corps veteran whod served in Vietnam.

Following the news of Brandts death, individuals in the agriculture community and beyond have shared messages of condolence, with many thanking the farmer for the legacy that he will leave behind.

You may know him from this now-famous meme, but he was so much more than that. World renowned Ohio farmer, Vietnam veteran, loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend; Dave leaves behind a legacy that will continue to make the world a better place, one person wrote.

Another said: Dave Brandt, the Ohio farmer best known to most of us from the But its honest work meme, has passed away following a vehicle accident. Your honest work on earth is done. Rest In Peace, sir.

The Ohio farmer behind one of my favourite pictures ever has passed away. Rest in peace, someone else wrote.
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The Duchess of Edinburgh has said she is deeply saddened by the death of a woman who was hit by a motorcycle that was part of her police escort.

Helen Holland, 81, was struck at the junction of West Cromwell Road and Warwick Road in Earls Court, west London, on the afternoon of May 10.

Ms Hollands son Martin told the BBC she died after sustaining multiple broken bones and massive internal injuries.

Helen Holland, from Birchanger, Essex, was visiting her sister in London when she was struck by the police motorbike (Family handout)

He said she fought for her life for nearly two weeks... but irreversible damage to her brain finally ended the battle today.

It is understood Sophie will be in touch privately with Ms Hollands family.

On Wednesday morning, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: The Duchess of Edinburgh is deeply saddened to hear that Helen Holland has passed away.

Her Royal Highnesss deepest condolences and sympathies go to all of Ms Hollands family.

Ms Holland was using a safe route of [a] pedestrian crossing when she was struck by the motorcycle, according to her grandson. She was in London visiting her older sister at the time of the accident.

Her son and daughter-in-law Lisa-Marie Holland had earlier told BBC, following the accident, that they were shocked and sickened at her extensive injuries.

Sophie, pictured with her husband Prince Edward, has expressed her condolences (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The incident has been placed under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which obtained CCTV footage from nearby properties for further examination.

The IOPC has also appealed for witnesses present at the scene to come forward and said officers who were present would be interviewed.

Our thoughts are with the woman, who has sustained life-threatening injuries, and her family, Amanda Rowe, the regional director of the IOPC, said at the time.

We have been in touch with them to explain our role and will keep them regularly updated as the investigation progresses.

Buckingham Palace had previously released a statement addressing the incident, expressing the duchesss concern and support.

The duchesss heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the injured lady and her family, the statement read.

She is grateful for the swift response by the emergency services and will keep abreast of developments.

The Special Escort Group of the Metropolitan Police accompanies various prominent individuals, including members of the Royal Family, for security.
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Chinas new ambassador to the U.S. is taking office amid disputes over trade, access to computer chips and Washingtons support for self-governing Taiwan.

Xie Feng arrived in New York on Tuesday and told reporters at JFK Airport that relations between the worlds two largest economies face serious difficulties and challenges.

We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences and also to expand our cooperation, so that our relationship will be back to the right track, Xie said in remarks delivered in English.

The Taiwan question would be among the sensitive issues at the top of his agenda, Xie said.

Exchanges took a downturn after the Trump administration raised tariffs on key Chinese imports that President Jospeh Biden has since maintained, while blocking Chinese companies from accessing the most cutting-edge computer chip technology.

China has meanwhile raised its threats to attack Taiwan with regular incursions by ships and fighter jets into airspace and waters near the island that have drawn concerns about a crisis imperiling the global economy.

Despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, the U.S. is the island's main source of defense cooperation and political support, drawing frequent protests from Beijing. A visit last August by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prompted Beijing to fire missiles into the Pacific and stage send its forces into a rehearsal of a blockade in the Taiwan Strait.

Large-scale exercises were also launched after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the U.S. in April, during which she met with Pelosi's successor, Kevin McCarthy.

The shootdown in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the U.S. led to the U.S. canceling a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, pushing back a resumption of visits interrupted by China's strict COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Dialogue has been maintained on neutral territory, however, with top Communist Party diplomat Wang Yi holding talks with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Vienna earlier this month.

Economic and person-to-person ties also remain robust, with bilateral trade last year also topped $690 billion, while an estimated 295,000 Chinese students are enrolled in American colleges and universities.
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The head of the World Health Organisation warned on Tuesday that governments need to prepare for a disease even deadlier than Covid-19.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO, told its annual health assembly in Geneva that it was time to advance negotiations on preventing the next pandemic.

He warned that nation states cannot kick this can down the road and that the next global disease was bound to come knocking.

Dr Tedros said: If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?

He added: The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains. And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.

The 10-day annual World Health Assembly in the Swiss city, which coincides with the bodys 75th anniversary, is set to address global health challenges including future pandemics.

The WHOs 194 member states are currently negotiating reforms to the binding rules that fix their obligations in the event of an international health threat.

They are also drafting a broader pandemic treaty which is up for ratification next year.

A commitment from this generation [to a pandemic accord] is important, because it is this generation that experienced how awful a small virus could be, said Dr Tedros.

The warning comes just weeks after the health agency said that Covid-19 was no longer a global emergency. WHO said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than 6.9 million people.

It is therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency, said Dr Tedros earlier this month, adding that the end of the emergency did not mean Covid was over as a global health threat.

The Covid death rate has slowed from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 in the week to 24 April, 2023, according to WHO data.

This reflects widespread vaccination, availability of better treatments and a level of population immunity from prior infections.

Michael Ryan, emergencies director at WHO, said:The battle is not over. We still have weaknesses and those weaknesses that we still have in our system will be exposed by this virus or another virus. And it needs to be fixed.

The WHOs declaration comes just four months after China ended its prolonged severe Covid restrictions and was hit by a big surge in infections.

Additional reporting by agencies
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The most senior judge in England and Wales has told lawyers how the latest Lord Chancellor is the seventh he has worked with during just under six years in office.

Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, who is due to retire in the autumn, said he hoped Alex Chalk would be my last.

He was speaking as Mr Chalk  a barrister and Conservative MP for Cheltenham  was formally sworn in as Lord Chancellor on Wednesday.

Judges and lawyers welcomed Mr Chalk, who was appointed Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary on April 21, to his new role at a traditional ceremony in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

You are my seventh in just under six years, albeit one twice, said Lord Burnett, who became Lord Chief Justice in October 2017.

I hope you are my last.

Since October 2017 Britain has had four Conservative Prime Ministers  Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Members of Mr Chalks family were at the ceremony to see him swear an oath of office.
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Rishi Sunak will form no judgment on potential further lockdown breaches by Boris Johnson, Downing Street said, as it rejected claims of a politically motivated stitch-up of the former prime minister.

Mr Johnson, who believes he is the victim of such a plot, has meanwhile ditched the Government-appointed lawyers representing him in the Covid public inquiry after he was referred to police.

No 10 was adamant Mr Sunak and ministers were not involved in the decision to pass to the police concerns over events in Chequers and Downing Street following a review of the former prime ministers official diary.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman told reporters: To be clear, we have not seen the information or material in question. That would not be right. Nor has the Prime Minister.

No 10 and ministers have no involvement in this process and were only made aware after the police had been contacted.

The Cabinet Office also said ministers had played no role in the decision to hand information to the police, with the referral instead made by officials acting within the Civil Service Code.

Mr Johnsons office claimed the handling of the situation was bizarre and unacceptable and the events in question were within the rules.

Many will conclude that this has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up Boris Johnson's office

It appears some within government have decided to make unfounded suggestions both to the police and to the Privileges Committee, a statement said.

Many will conclude that this has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up.

Asked whether he agreed, Mr Sunaks spokesman said: No.

Quizzed on whether the Prime Minister was concerned about the allegations of further lockdown breaches, the official declined to give a view, saying Mr Sunak doesnt have knowledge of the information passed on to the police.

The spokesman also said it was not for the Prime Minister to form a judgment on whether the matter was handled well by the civil service.

There are clear obligations regarding civil servants and how they approach these sorts of issues and the Cabinet Office has followed those rules, he said.

Entries in the former prime ministers official diary revealed visits by friends to Chequers during the pandemic and new allegations about his behaviour in Downing Street, The Times, which broke the story, said.

Cabinet Office officials passed concerns to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police after the new information came to light during a review by taxpayer-funded lawyers ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

The Privileges Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into whether Mr Johnson lied to Parliament about the partygate scandal, has also been informed.

The fallout adds to the problems facing Mr Sunak, who was fined over a gathering in Downing Street during the pandemic along with Mr Johnson in June 2020.

Mr Sunak definitely did not go to the Chequers grace-and-favour retreat in contravention of coronavirus rules when he was chancellor during the pandemic, his press secretary said.

The Prime Minister has not discussed the controversy with his predecessor, she suggested, as she declined to answer a hypothetical question on whether Mr Johnson would lose the Tory whip if police were to charge him.

Mr Johnson, in a letter to the chair of the Covid inquiry, indicated he was severing ties with taxpayer-funded lawyers representing him.

It is understood he lost confidence in the Cabinet Office.

I am currently instructing new solicitors to represent me in the inquiry, he wrote, adding it is in the hands of the Cabinet Office to agree funding.

Mr Sunak is facing unrest from allies of Mr Johnson who claim the fresh inquiries are politically motivated.

Former Downing Street director of communication Guto Harri told The News Agents podcast: Some people have just got addicted to partygate and their appetite to express their rage over it and try to, sort of, exact revenge upon Boris Johnson in particular will never be satiated.
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The City of London hosted a climate summit on delivering net zero on Wednesday, 24 May.

Speakers included Bank of England chief Andrew Bailey and Egyptian foreign minister, Cop27 President Sameh Shoukry

The event also featured a panel discussion on "channelling green finance to emerging markets for a just transition" and a fireside chat on "policy mechanisms to mobilise finance."

The City of London Corporation says it has adopted a "radical" climate action strategy which breaks new ground and sets out how the government agency will "achieve net zero, build climate resilience and champion sustainable growth" over the next 20 years.

It has pledged to invest 68m over the next six years in pursuit of these goals.

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A 14-year-old boy is among four people charged over a riot at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Merseyside.

A police van was set on fire as missiles were thrown at police officers outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley on 10 February, after a protest spiralled into violence.

Paul Lafferty, 42, of Northwood, John Tippler, 59, of Northwood, Christopher Shelley, aged 44, of Southdene and a 14-year-old boy from Kirkby have been charged with violent disorder and will appear in court next month.

The disorder followed years of rising protest activity targeting hotels that have been increasingly used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers because of a shortage of proper accommodation.

Counter-extremism group Hope Not Hate recorded 253 hotel visits by anti-migrant activists and far-right groups in 2022, more than double the figure seen in 2021.

A report published in March said videos widely shared on social media attempt to generate outrage by comparing the accommodation provided to foreigners with the situation of homeless British people, especially military veterans or speak about the cost of living crisis.

Union officials representing workers at hotels and reception centres for asylum seekers crossing the English Channel accused ministers of increasing the threat to both residents and staff with racist policies and rhetoric on Wednesday.

Senior members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents more than 16,000 Home Office staff, told its annual conference in Brighton that they had issued formal warnings to the departments permanent secretary.

Suella Braverman claimed there is an invasion of England by migrants crossing the Channel the day after a far-right terror attack targeting a Dover reception facility (House of Commons/PA) (PA Wire)

Paul OConnor, the PCS head of bargaining, told The Independent letters had asked the Home Office what they intend to do to protect our members.

The problem is you've got a home secretary encouraging that type of behaviour with dog whistle politics, he added, pointing to statements by Suella Braverman where she called Channel crossings an invasion and said she understand people's frustrations with hotels being occupied by large numbers of illegal immigrants.

Mr OConnor added: It is a disgrace because it puts not only the refugees in danger, but it puts our members on the frontline in danger.

He said a terrorist firebombing targeting a Dover reception centre in October indicates how dangerous that rhetoric is, warning: It fuels the far-right mentality.

A fringe event held at the conference saw panellists express concern about the Illegal Migration Bill, which aims to detain and deport small boat migrants, and far-right activism.

Firebombing of immigration processing centre in Dover declared terrorist incident

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka called Ms Bravermans statements extraordinary, adding: We have seen the normalisation of politicians using language that is encouraging other people to follow suit.

We're seeing the normalisation of policies that are so bigoted and inhumane, that it encourages people to think that this is now acceptable.

It's got to be directly linked to why more and more people feel comfortable enough to be standing outside hotels, being racist and thinking they can get away with it.

Research released by Hope Not Hate on Monday found that hostile social media messages discussing migration, asylum seekers and small boats spike following government statements on the issue.

A report said that after the home secretary announced an asylum crackdown in October, there was a 35 per cent increase in anti-migrant social media messages, and a 52 per cent increase in the use of the word invasion on Telegram after Ms Braverman used it in parliament.

Patrik Hermansson, senior researcher at Hope Not Hate, said: This research is stark proof that the government is not taking the far-right threat seriously, but actively feeding it through their rhetoric.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: The Illegal Migration Bill will stop the boats by changing the law so that people who come to the UK illegally can be detained and then swiftly returned to a safe third country or their home country.

We cannot allow a system to continue which incentivises people to risk their lives and pay people smugglers to come to this country illegally.

The welfare of asylum seekers in our care is of the utmost importance. Together with our contractors, we work closely with the police and other agencies to protect the safety of residents and the wider community.
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A teenager has been issued with a criminal behaviour order and fined hundreds of pounds after entering a strangers home as part of a TikTok prank video.

Bacari-Bronze OGarro, 18, of Manor Road, Hackney, London, appeared at Thames Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

OGarro appeared in court wearing a black hoodie and a face mask.

He spoke only to confirm his name, age and address, and to admit to one count of failing to comply with a community protection notice.

Varinder Hayre, prosecuting, told the court that OGarro was issued with a community protection notice on May 11 last year, and that two of its conditions were that he not trespass on to private property.

Bacari-Bronze OGarro at Thames Magistrates Court (PA Wire)

Ms Hayre said that he then breached that notice by entering a home on May 15 this year.

He went to the home address of the victim, she said. The door of the property was open.

Mr OGarro walked into the property and immediately walked down the stairs.

He was stopped by the home owner. He went into the living room. He sat down on the sofa and said Is this where the study group is?'

Ms Hayre said: He was asked to leave multiple times by both the victim and the husband.

She added: It was discovered that he had filmed the entire incident for a TikTok trend about walking into random houses.

Ms Hayre said: He has caused the family a lot of distress.

The faces of the couple and their two young children can be seen.

She told the court that the mother was under the impression that OGarro was attempting burglary, and added that the mother takes her familys privacy very seriously.

This has caused the victim great concern, Ms Hayre said.

Lee Sergent, in mitigation, said that OGarro had apologised to the family.

He said that his client was raised by a single parent and had a difficult upbringing.

Mr OGarro grew up in a single parent household, Mr Sergent said.

He had an extremely difficult childhood.

He is an intelligent young man and a young man with some potential.

He said that his client was neither in work nor education, but was instead in receipt of Universal Credit.

Mr Sergent added that his client had made some legitimate social media content, including playing games and discussing conspiracy theories.

Judge Charlotte Crangle issued OGarro with a two-year criminal behaviour order.

The order included that OGarro must not directly or indirectly post videos on to social media without the documented consent of the people featured in the content, that he must not trespass into private property, and that he must not attend the Westfield Centre in Stratford.

She also ordered OGarro to pay a fine of 200, as well as a victim surcharge of 80 and costs of 85  totalling 365.
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The head of an under-fire NHS trust will publicly apologise to victims of a maternity scandal as the chair of a review into the episode said the trust has a lot of learning to do.

Nick Carver, chairman of the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, will apologise on its behalf to parents who were affected by poor maternity care at its annual public meeting on 10 July, the trust said.

It comes after families demanded a public apology in a closed meeting held on Tuesday, chaired by Donna Ockenden, who is leading a review into its care.

Families also said that the review should be changed to automatically allow all affected families to be included, rather than asking them to reply to an invitation to share their story.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms Ockenden said that it was absolutely crucial that families came forward to ensure the trust learns in the way that it should.

Following the meeting, Anthony May, the Trusts chief executive, said: We are absolutely committed to open dialogue with the families and last night we listened very carefully to all they had to say. We will now take time to reflect and make sure we can follow up all the points raised.

I continue to learn a great deal from meeting women and their families and last night was an important opportunity for me to say sorry for any harm and distress caused by failings in our services.

We continue to support Donna Ockendens independent review because we know how important it is for our learning and local people. We are in regular dialogue with Donnas team and we are determined to improve our services. I know this is an unsettling time for women and families using our maternity services.

If anyone has concerns or questions about their care, I encourage them to speak to their midwife or consultant.

Ms Ockenden said that since 1 September, at least 1,266 families have shared care concerns with the review, including Sarah and Gary Andrews, who in January saw the trust fined a record amount in court after the trust admitted criminal charges relating to the death of their daughter, Wynter, 23 minutes after she was born at the citys Queens Medical Centre in September 2019.

A total of 663 staff have also made contact, with many requesting to be seen individually, which Ms Ockenden said speaks volumes about low levels of trust between staff and their employer.

But Ms Ockenden, who previously led a similar review at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, raised concerns that the method that we have used to date to reach out across the communities just doesnt seem to be working, adding that there were stark differences in responses to the review between different ethnic groups.

Ms Ockenden said, under the current system, only about a quarter of white women eligible to take part in the review into the NUH Trust had done so, and only about 10% of black women and about five per cent of Asian women.

The NUH Trust has been responsible for finding and contacting families who could be eligible to take part in the review, meaning families have to contact the trust, which then has to contact the review.

But families want this opt-in method to be changed to opt-out, which would see all affected families automatically eligible to be involved and, when used in the Shrewsbury review, this yielded a 95 per cent response rate.

They will be writing to Ms Ockenden to offer their support for the change, but the final decision will be made by NHS England.

Ms Ockenden said that hearing the views of women from ethnic minorities was vital and that women who had already come forward had shown that it is really, really clear that the Trust have a lot to do to build back trust with so many of their local communities.

She said: I cant stress enough how absolutely vital that the ethnicity and rich diversity we see in Nottingham is represented. Its absolutely crucial.

We cannot have another review where sections of our community here in Nottingham say, here we go again, another review has happened, our voices havent been heard, what we have to say has not been considered important, and the trust is improving but not with our needs in mind.

We cannot allow that to happen.

She added: Women feel that theyre not listened to, their needs arent met, and interpreting services are very poor.

Ms Ockenden said that as recently as last month, one woman who was in labour had to ring her mother in Pakistan, who then had to contact another relative back in the UK, who then helped translate instructions from caregivers.

Women tell us, because none of the trust information is available in any other language other than English, for processes such as induction of labour or any other processes that might need to happen, theyre not able to make informed consent, she said.

She also acknowledged that while some issues were still active within the trust, changes were being made on a daily basis and feedback was being given to the trust in real time.

The trust also has its own maternity improvement plan, which the reviews concerns are fed into, but she reiterated Mr Mays call for women to speak to health professionals if they have concerns.

If local women feel that they have concerns, they must speak out, she said.

I would hope that it would put womens minds at rest that changes are happening as we speak, but ultimately if women want to make a choice to go elsewhere, then that choice is theirs to make.

Clinical reviews began last month, with Ms Ockenden adding that it was very likely the review would need to be extended to ensure it was of the highest standard.

No date has yet been fixed for when the final report will be released.
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The worlds first vagina museum has raised enough funds to relocate to new premises after being forced to shut its doors earlier this year.

The London-based museum raised the 85,000 needed to secure a six-year lease in a twin pair of railway arches in east London.

The Vagina Museum raised a significant proportion of the money required by crowdfunding on GoFundMe, after closing in February.

Upon reaching the fundraising goal, the Vagina Museum tweeted: We did it. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you, all 2400 people who chose to help the Vagina Museum to grow and thrive!

The museum said the new premises features space for three galleries, an event space, and the possibility of expanding to provide a cafe.

The museum had said fundraising for a physical premises was a now-or-never situation and if it did not raise enough funds, the museum was not going to be able to survive beyond a few months and all activities will cease.

The project was launched in 2017 and started with pop ups around the country, including at Green Man Festival, the Royal Institution, and the Freud Museum.

The Vagina Museum opened its first premises in Camden Market in 2019 and held its first exhibition, Muff Busters: Vagina Myths and How to Fight Them, in November 2019, which addressed common myths and misconceptions about vaginas and vulvas.

After moving to Bethnal Green, the museum hosted the exhibition Periods: A Brief History; and a permanent exhibition named From A to V, which explored activism and anatomy.

The Vagina Museum says around 200,000 people have visited its educational exhibitions since it opened to the public in 2019.
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High levels of immigration are caused by deliberate government policy, a senior Government adviser on immigration has claimed.

This comes the day before the Office for National Statistics is set to publish figures that could show legal migration reached at least 700,000 in the 12 months to December 2022.

Speaking to Times Radio, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) Professor Brian Bell said: If you look at the figures, the reason that net migration is rising this year in particular, is because of deliberate government policy.

Its a controlled decision to offer humanitarian schemes for Ukrainian and Hong Kong citizens.

But that inevitably raises net migration.

You cant have it both ways.

UK Home Office data shows that, as of May 15, 174,200 migrants have arrived in the UK as part of the Governments Ukraine Scheme, which was set up in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, 105,200 migrants arrived from Hong Kong between January 31 2021 and the end of December 2022 following the Governments decision to open new immigration routes in response to Chinas passing of its National Security Law.

Other factors affecting net migration may include the end of Covid-19 travel restrictions, the resettlement of Afghan refugees and students arriving from outside the European Union.

The Prime Minister on Tuesday announced plans to ban overseas students, apart from postgraduates on research programmes, from bringing dependants to the UK from January 2024 in a bid to curb net migration.

Rishi Sunak told his Cabinet that around 136,000 visas were granted to dependants in 2022, an eightfold increase from 16,000 in 2019.

Addressing the new policy, Prof Bell told Times Radio: If you want to get net migration down to the tens of thousands, this wont get you there.

Itll make some difference because we know historically about 15 per cent of students and you think therefore dependents stay permanently in the UK once they become a student.

So, if theres 100 thousand dependents coming at the moment, 15,000 of them, perhaps, stay permanently and permanently add to the size of the population.

So that will be removed as it were from this change.

The Conservatives have previously promised to bring net migration below 100,000 a year, but ditched the target ahead of the 2019 election after repeatedly failing to meet it.

Prof Bell also suggested low wages are a major obstacle to tackling net migration and said paying vocational and unskilled workers properly would help immigration to naturally fall.

He said: Over the last 10 years or perhaps over the last 30 years, the UK has a fairly appalling record in vocational training.

Weve underfunded further education colleges.

Those types of jobs have been harder and harder to fill by domestic workers.

Taking care workers as an example, he added: How do you improve social care?

Well, theres only one way you can, in fact, which is to pay workers properly.

The solutions are often not immigration.

The solutions are actually to get the policy right, in this case social care.

And once you solve those problems, immigration will naturally fall.
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Sixteen years after Madeleine McCann vanished from the Algarve holiday apartment where she was sleeping next to her infant twin siblings, police have launched a major new search for evidence.

After laying dormant for several years since David Cameron kickstarted an ultimately fruitless Metropolitan Police inquiry in 2011, the case of the missing three-year-old was revived once more in 2020 when German prosecutors revealed a new suspect.

Follow The Independents live coverage for the latest updates

But three years on, 43-year-old convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner  who denies any connection to the missing youngster  is yet to be charged, as he languishes in a German prison for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman two years prior to Madeleines disappearance at the same resort.

Madeleine McCann went missing in Praia da Luz in May 2007 (PA)

However, on Monday, police activity was spotted at a reservoir some 30 miles from the Praia da Luz resort, in what was soon reported to be international authorities gearing up for a major new search this week based on leads suggesting Brueckner made repeated trips to the area which he dubbed his little slice of paradise.

The fresh search at the reservoir  one of six in the Algarve  is the first in Portugal since 2014, and comes as the Metropolitan Police were granted a further 110,000 by the Home Office to fund their search for Madeleine, who would turn 20 this month.

It brings the total amount spent on the search for the Leicestershire-born girl, codenamed Operation Grange, to just shy of 13.1m since 2011, and is significantly less than the more than 300,000 approved by the Home Office the year prior.

While the costs incurred by German and Portuguese authorities are unknown, Lisbons then-attorney general Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro said in 2012 that the search for Madeleine had been the most expensive in the countrys history.

As they began their fresh search near the Arade reservoir on Tuesday, police combed the waterways banks with the help of sniffer dogs, rakes and pickaxes, with emergency service divers spotted on a rigid-hull inflatable boat.

Further along the banks of the reservoir, emergency services and officials from Portugal, Germany and the UK were seen holding briefings near blue police tents.

Four teams of officers from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria are involved in the operation, along with at least 20 of their German counterparts, Portuguese news outlet SIC said. A no-fly zone has been put in place over the water and media and other onlookers are being kept a mile back from the site of the search.

Police used pickaxes and divers in their search on Tuesday (AFP via Getty Images)

The reservoir was previously searched in 2008, at the height of efforts to find Madeleine, when Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it, claiming to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleines body was there.

Earlier this month, Madeleines parents Kate and Gerry McCann posted a short statement on their Find Madeleine Campaign website to mark the anniversary of her disappearance.

They said: Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleines abduction. Still missing still very much missed. It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel.

The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough.

Additional reporting by PA
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Devastating reports of forced marriage to the national helpline have surged as experts warn the issue remains rife but it is difficult to see the true scale of the problem due to people not coming forward.

Exclusive data from Karma Nirvana, which supports forced marriage victims, shows its helpline dealt with 42 per cent more cases between April 2022 and March 2023 than they did in the same period two years before  up from 380 cases in 2020-21 to 536 this year.

This means cases are back to pre-pandemic levels when they handled 533 cases between April 2019 and March 2020.

The figures come as a new study found the number of people coming forward to alert authorities to forced marriage plummeted during the pandemic.

First-of-its-kind research, by the University of Lincoln and the University of Bristol, discovered queries to the governments forced marriage unit sharply declined from 1,507 in 2018 to 337 in 2021.

Experts said the alarming fall was likely to have been caused by Covid rules temporarily curbing forced marriages but added victims, relatives, lawyers, teachers, social workers and others were also less likely to be able to report forced marriages during lockdowns.

The report, which examined Forced Marriage Protection Orders, issued by the family courts in a bid to stop forced marriages, found around 250 have been approved each year in the past 10 years. This constitutes roughly five orders each week  with researchers warning the issue continues to be rife in England and Wales.

Aisha K Gill, who co-authored the report, told The Independent the steady use of the orders demonstrates forced marriage has not gone away and warned it was not an issued that can be eliminated overnight.

The Professor of Criminology at the University of Bristol argued the pandemic exposed and exacerbated pre-existing weaknesses in our public support systems and drove the issue of forced marriage even deeper underground.

Forced marriage is defined as incidents where one party or both do not agree to the marriage or are not in a position to consent, and it routinely results in rape.

Professor Gill noted under-reporting of forced marriage continues to be a major problem. Far from being on the decline, we are just dealing with the tip of the iceberg, she added.

The academic explained perpetrators are generally parents or relatives and said the practice inflicts significant damage and constitutes not just a human rights violation but also child abuse.

The coercive element is devastating for these victims, Professor Gill said. We must address this problem and link this with control and abuse and control of sexuality.

Professor Gill noted the findings demonstrate for the first time how Forced Marriage Protection Orders are a double-edged sword because while they can prevent forced marriage and protect victims, they can also increase the risk of honour-based violence, including abduction, physical assaults, kidnapping and rape.

There is a gendered element to forced marriage, with the overwhelming majority of cases they looked at involving women victims.

Sundari Anitha, who was also involved in the report, noted Forced Marriage Protection Orders differ from other injunctions for domestic abuse in which the victim will have fled their abuser and the order will bar contact.

The professor of gender, violence, and work at the University of Lincoln explained most people who seek them continue to live in their family home or remain in touch with the perpetrators, their parents.

She added: These young people are trying to balance their need to protect themselves from a forced marriage while avoiding a complete family estrangement.

The study, conducted in conjunction with the Nuffield Foundation, found the most common age bracket for forced marriage victims was 16 to 21 but sometimes victims were just 11 years old.

Diana Nammi, executive director of Iranian and Kurdish Womens Rights Organisation (IKWRO), a British charity which helps victims of honour-based abuse, told The Independent: Forced marriage is a deep-rooted problem which doesn't disappear from one day to the next. We have dealt with lots of forced marriage cases in the UK since the pandemic.

Legislation which made it illegal to force someone into marriage in England and Wales was introduced in 2014 and anyone found guilty of doing so can be imprisoned for up to seven years. And a new law banning marriage under the age of 18 came into force in England and Wales earlier this year.
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Police have cut down trees and swathes of undergrowth as they continue to search Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckners little paradise in Portugal.

Officers were working with strimmers and heavy machinery at the Barragem do Arade on Wednesday, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing in 2007.

On the second day of the latest hunt for the missing girl, the search team were this morning focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near where three tents were put up on Monday.

The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access the water properly.

Officers are also understood to be searching the reservoir for the pink pyjamas Madeleine was wearing when she vanished, sources close to the investigation have said.

A fire vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were on the banks of the reservoir searching and a number of bags were spotted being taken from the desolate site on Wednesday, as reported by The Sun.

Other officers with a sniffer dog were seen entering an area of woodland as the search continued, while others carried spades and rakes as they combed the undergrowth for clues.

Personnel clear undergrowth with machinery at Barragem do Arade reservoir (PA)

Madeleines disappearance has attracted significant media attention since she vanished while on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, in Praia da Luz, after they left her and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.

The reservoir has been put on lockdown with a no-fly zone in place above it and roadblocks stopping journalists and onlookers from getting a close view of what is going on.

The searches are being carried out at the request of German investigators who believe their prime suspect, convicted rapist Brueckner, kidnapped and murdered the little girl.

German and Portuguese Judiciary police members walk with a sniffer dog at the search area (Getty)

He is serving a prison sentence in Germany for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.

German authorities have not revealed what triggered the latest search operation, but the prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said they were acting on the basis of certain tips.

He told German public broadcaster NDR: We have indications that we could find evidence there. I dont want to say what that is exactly, and I also dont want to say where these indications come from.

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesnt come from the suspect  so we dont have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search.

A search dingy navigates in the Arade dam near Silves, Portugal (AP)

The dam, near the town of Silves, is not thought to have been searched since March 2008 after Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia claimed criminal contacts had told him that Madeleines body was in the reservoir, and he raised funds for unsuccessful private searches of the water.

The search is the first major operation of its kind since June 2014 when British police were given permission to do digs in Praia da Luz that involved sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar.

Four teams of officers from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria are involved in the operation, along with at least 20 of their German counterparts, Portuguese news outlet SIC said.

Personnel clear undergrowth with machinery at Barragem do Arade reservoir close to white tents (PA)

British officers from the Metropolitan Police are also present while the work is carried out so they can inform Madeleines parents if there are any developments.

On Tuesday, search teams were seen scouring the banks  hammering at the ground with pickaxes and combing through small rocks with rakes and spades.

Around a dozen officers with sniffer dogs were also at the site, while the fire service boat took officers onto the water.

Portuguese daily Expresso said that the first day ended with no significant results, and that police had collected some objects including fabrics and garments.

Additional reporting by agencies
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TikTok prankster Mizzy has been arrested again on suspicion of breaching court order, after posting more videos online.

Bacari Ogarro, known as Mizzy on social media, went viral when he entered a strangers house uninvited, and has defended his videos after they were described as abhorrent and criminal by politicians.

He posted the video of himself entering the London home as a prank two weeks ago. It was met with shock and anger, with many online calling for him to be arrested.

The self-described content creator  who was previously arrested over clips that appeared to show him harassing Jewish people  has said the negative reaction to his videos is partly down to him being Black.

Mizzy went viral after he posted the video of him entering the London home as a prank (@secretm1zzy / TikTok)

In one home entry video, the 18-year-old appears with two friends, saying: Walking into random houses, lets go. He is then seen going through a front door that has been left open and startling the woman on its patio. Once inside the home he lounges on a sofa before finally being asked to leave by a man who appears in the living room, as children are heard calling daddy.

Have you appeared in Mizzys videos? If so email tara.cobham@independent.co.uk

Mizzy, from Hackney in London, said he began to consider content creation more seriously as a career path in year 8 or 9, after having been kicked out of school three times.

He started to realise that every time he upped the ante and did wilder videos he would garner more online engagement  so that is what he continued to do.

Controversy, even though its not good, is the best way to blow up on social media, he said. I always know outrage is going to happen. I know exactly what Im doing and the consequences of my actions. He added: I tell people not to reciprocate what Ive done.

He told The Independent he cares less about whether he is receiving love or hate, as it is all about getting engagement and its the fact that people are talking thats important.

In response to the scathing words from MPs, he said: Its wild how Ive got that mainstream.

Replying to comments branding his behaviour criminal, he added: I aint got too much to say to them people just that I know myself and so do my fans.

Mizzy claimed he went to the familys house the day after he posted the video and apologised.

He said that while he is not the kind of person to have regrets, he does feel sympathy and remorse in this case, adding: I wouldnt do that again. He said: It could have been the best or worst decision of my life.

He was more defensive when it came to other videos he has posted to his account, including one that shows him picking up an elderly womans dog as she sits on a park bench before he runs off with it, and another where he appears to approach and ask random people at Stoke Newington overground station if they want to die.

He suggested the elderly woman was in on the prank, claiming: I said to her that if the dog came up to us again, having already come up to us three times, then I was going to take her dog and she laughed and said my grandson has seen you on TikTok.

He has also filmed himself destroying books in a library and getting into the backs of strangers cars. He says he had staged the scene in the library and that the book he destroyed belonged to him.

Paul Scully, minister for London and minister for tech and the digital economy, has intervened on Twitter (PA)

The 18-year-old said because he is minority ethnic he believes people are trying to slander me, adding: Im a Black male doing these things and thats why theres such an uproar on the internet.

He continued: I dont fake my pranks, but I always make sure to sort out the situation after if I feel like I went too overboard, but none of my pranks have malicious intentions behind them and most of the people in the pranks acknowledge that after I speak to them.

Labours shadow DCMS minister Alex Davies-Jones has described Mizzys content as abhorrent, saying he needed to be held responsible as did the social media platforms. Met Police said they are investigating the videos.

Mizzy confirmed he has previously been arrested after sharing a number of videos that seemed to show him harassing Jewish people.

In one, he appears to put his hands on the victims shoulders and attempts to leapfrog over him. He claimed this was a TikTok trend where you leapfrog over someone when the beat drops and he has done this to many different types of people.

Ms Davies-Jones has also described Mizzys content as upsetting and said: Yet another example of how we desperately need the Online Safety Bill to hold the social media platforms to account.

Conservative Assembly member Susan Hall urged the Metropolitan Police Service to step in, tweeting: No legitimate social media platform should be hosting this thugs vile videos. @metpoliceuk please can you urgently update the public as to what is being done to locate and apprehend this criminal.

A TikTok spokesperson said: Our community guidelines are clear that we prohibit content promoting criminal activity. In relation to this issue, we have banned accounts for violating these guidelines.
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When police in Scotland pulled over a car with 10,000 worth of Class A drugs, they were not expecting to find a lamb perched in the back seat with a bag of chips.

The bizarre encounter took place on the M74 near Glasgow in April, resulting in the arrest of all the passengers- minus the lamb.

Officers said the lamb had been taken in by a local farmer, who said the innocent bystander appeared at deaths door.

After giving the lamb milk, vitamin boost and placing it in a heat box, it soon perked up.

After police obtained information where the lamb came from using the tag in its ear, it was eventually returned to its owner, Kirsty Mair.

The 25-year-old runs North Lanrigg Farm, near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, with her father Robin only learned about the theft of her lamb when police officers showed up at her door.

She has since named the lamb Pablo, after the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

MS Mair told The Times she had seen a social media post from Police Scotland on April 23 about the lamb.

When I saw the picture I thought it looked an awful lot like the lambs Ive been getting, she said.

In a series of tweets at the time of the discovery, Police Scotland joked about the peculiar circumstances uncovered at the roadside.

Oh ewe! Officers from #GlasgowRP stopped this vehicle (not a Lamborghini!) on the #M74 J3 NB yesterday, officers wrote.

The force also thanked a police dog that was said to be instrumental in finding the drugs.

PD Billy entered the car and indicated drugs were present. Officers recovered heroin, with an estimated street value of 7,000 and cocaine, worth an estimated value of 3,000, the force said in a statement.
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Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old girl from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve on 3 May 2007, a case still unsolved and still the subject of intense interest among the public and press.

Follow all the latest updates on The Independents live blog

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, posted a statement on the Find Madeleine website on 3 May 2023 marking the latest anniversary of their daughters disappearance, reiterating their hopes of being reunited with her one day and posting a poem, The Contradiction by Clare Pollard, to express their feelings.

Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleines abduction. Still missing... still very much missed, they wrote.

The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support- it really helps.

Here is a reminder of the events of the case.

The story began when the McCanns  affluent doctors Kate and Gerry, their three-year-old daughter Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings  joined a group of seven family friends and their five children on holiday at the Ocean Club in the village of Praia da Luz on the southwestern tip of Portugal on 28 April 2007.

After a pleasant spring break by the sea, the adults in the party went out for dinner at the resorts open-air tapas bar on 3 May, gathering at 8.30pm. The children were left behind sleeping in their respective apartments with the doors unlocked and a rota system in place among the parents to ensure that someone returned every half-hour to check on them.

When Kate McCann took her turn and returned to her apartment at 10pm, she raced back to the restaurant screaming Madeleines gone! Someones taken her! The police were quickly called and 60 staff and fellow guests searched the complex, calling out the girls name in vain until daybreak the following morning.

Border police and airport staff were put on alert and hundreds of volunteers joined the efforts to find the missing girl over the coming days, the case fast becoming a sensation.

Madeleine McCann (PA)

The Portuguese authorities would later attract criticism over their conduct in the crucial earliest hours of the investigation when the trail might still have been warm, accused of making rudimentary mistakes like failing to conduct a house-by-house search of every local residence or interview all of the other guests at the resort, acting slowly to erect roadblocks and potentially compromising forensic evidence at the crime scene.

The police initially stated that they believed Madeleine was still alive and had been abducted from the room by a stranger as the parents described their anguish and despair over her vanishing, a worst fear realised for any parent.

On 26 May, police issued a description of a suspicious man seen on the night of the girls disappearance. The individual in question was spotted by Jane Tanner, one of the McCanns dining companions, who said she had seen a Mediterranean man with dark hair and beige trousers carrying a child close to the apartment when she went to check in on her own children. Scotland Yard would later come to dismiss the sighting as a red herring.

The search continued as the summer progressed amid a wild media circus and with huge fundraising activities underway, the McCanns setting up Madeleines Fund on 15 May to raise cash to support further investigation and keep the profile of the case high, attracting generous donations from celebrities like Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, JK Rowling and Coleen Rooney. By 30 May, the case was such a cause celebre that they were being flown out to meet the Pope at the Vatican in Sir Phillip Greens Learjet.

A local man, Robert Murat, subsequently became its first suspect and had his house and car searched, his swimming pool drained and his electronic devices confiscated but no evidence was found to link him to Madeleine and the matter was soon dropped.

By June, the Portuguese police admitted that they had failed to protect potentially useful evidence at the scene as frustration with the lack of developments grew and the media began to question whether the McCanns themselves had been involved in the matter.

Lurid tabloid allegations suggested the couple and their friends might have been swingers and that the McCanns, as physicians, might have been in the habit of sedating their children, while others claimed inconsistencies in their version of events.

Gerry and Kate McCann (AP)

The intensity of the hostility towards the parents would later be described by Roy Greenslade of The Guardian as no journalistic accident, but a sustained campaign of vitriol against a grief-stricken family, singling out The Daily Express and Daily Star for particular condemnation.

In July, assistance offered by former South African police officer Danie Krugel  who claimed his handheld matter orientation system could help to find Madeleine  was rubbished, while British police sent over two springer spaniel sniffer dogs to search for DNA.

Relations with the local authorities would ultimately sour as the latter came to resent British intrusion into a Portuguese inquiry, according to Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swans book Looking for Madeleine (2014).

By August, Madeleine has been missing for 100 days and police admitted for the first time that she may never be found. They also told the McCanns that they were no longer considering the matter an abduction case but, rather, a murder inquiry.

The McCanns themselves were interviewed as arguidos (suspects) by Portuguese police in September, with the parents told that the dogs had discovered DNA evidence from the missing girl in the boot of their holiday rental car, lines of inquiry that had already been leaked to the British press. They vehemently denied having any part in her disappearance.

Despite being listed as suspects (a designation that would linger until the following July), the McCanns were allowed to return to Britain on 9 September. A day later, chief inspector Tavares de Almeida of the Policia Judiciaria in Portimao signed a nine-page report concluding that Madeleine McCann had died in their apartment as a result of an accident, that the tapas dinner and rota checks on the McCann children had been part of a planned cover-up, that the familys friends had helped to mislead the police and that the McCanns had concealed the body and then faked an abduction. A public prosecutor subsequently applied for the confiscation of Kate McCanns diary and Gerry McCanns laptop plus the groups phone records.

On 2 October, chief inspector Goncalo Amaral was removed from the case and transferred after alleging that the British police were only interested in pursuing leads favourable to the McCanns. He would later publish a book, Maddie: The Truth of the Lie, the following summer, resulting in a lengthy libel battle with the McCanns that would run back and forth through the courts until March 2017.

Back in Britain, Gerry McCann issued a video that November in which he speculated that his family had been watched by a predator during their stay at Praia da Luz. His wife had come to believe that a potential perpetrator could have seen a note in the resorts guest book visible to all in reception noting their dining arrangements on the evening of Madeleines disappearance. The couple followed up on 20 January 2008 by releasing a sketch of a creepy man they said other holidaymakers had said they had seen loitering at the Ocean Club.

In April, a month before the one-year anniversary of the fateful night, Portuguese police travelled to Leicestershire to conduct further interviews with the McCanns friends.

Then, on 21 July, Portugals attorney general, Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro, announced that there was no evidence to link either the McCanns or Robert Murat to the disappearance and closed the case, unsolved.

With the trail cold and no closure in sight, the McCanns continued to publicise their cause, issuing computer-generated images of how Madeleine might look now that she had aged on 3 November 2009 and condemning the release of previously unseen Portuguese police files  detailing possible sightings of their daughter  to British newspapers in March 2010.

The McCanns published a book of their own about their ordeal in May 2011, entitled simply Madeleine, which was serialised in The Sun as the newspaper led a campaign calling on British prime minister David Cameron to launch a new inquiry. He did so.

Commenced by then-home secretary Theresa May, the Metropolitan Polices Operation Grange would be led by commander Simon Foy and comprise a team of three detective inspectors, five detective sergeants, 19 detective constables and six civilian staff.

It began to yield results in 2013, with Scotland Yard formally announcing a new investigation in July and saying in October it had identified 41 potential suspects. That same month, BBC Crimewatch released an e-fit image of a man of particular interest who had been seen in Praia da Luz with a child matching Madeleines description in May 2007.

Detectives arrived in Portugal in January 2014 promising new arrests and finally searched the village in June, interviewing four people the following month but without unearthing new information. The quartet would be definitively ruled out in April 2017, before the UK government said it would continue to fund the investigation until 2020, having already admitted it had cost 10m in its first four years of operation.

That investment had enabled detectives to have tens of thousands of documents translated, investigate over 8,000 potential sightings, take 1,338 statements, collect 1,027 exhibits and investigate 650 sex offenders and 60 persons of interest, all without definitively establishing the truth.

The Madeline McCann case lay dormant before suddenly exploding into life in June 2020 when German media revealed that Christian Brueckner, a 43-year-old prisoner with a track record of child abuse and drug trafficking, had been identified as a new suspect by the public prosecutor of the German city of Braunschweig.

Christian Brueckner (Italian Carabinieri)

He had reportedly been living in a Volkswagen camper van in the Algarve at the time of Madeleines disappearance and one woman has since come forward to suggest she saw a girl that might have been Madeleine speaking German in a supermarket in Portugal in 2017.

German investigators classified their probe into his movements as a murder inquiry, saying they were working on the assumption that Madeleine is dead and reporting in July 2021 that they had found an abandoned cellar beneath his former allotment near Hanover where she could, theoretically, have been held captive.

Hans Christian Wolters, the prosecutor leading the investigation into Brueckner, has said he was very confident the inmate is responsible for kidnapping her.

If you knew the evidence we had you would come to the same conclusion as I do but I cant give you details because we dont want the accused to know what we have on him  these are tactical considerations, he told the BBC.

It was subsequently revealed that Madeleines Fund still had 773,629 to spend as of 31 March 2020, meaning the McCanns can continue to bankroll a private investigation to find their daughter long after the police hunt is finally drawn to a close, should they choose to.

Brueckner was formally made a arguido in relation to the case on 21 April 2022.

On 19 September, the McCanns lost their libel case against Mr Amaral, the former chief inspector who had investigated the disappearance, before the European Court of Human Rights.

The couple had attempted to argue that Mr Amaral was responsible for damaging their reputation and breaching their rights to respect for their private life and to be presumed innocent after taking exception to his book and associated media appearances in which he had repeatedly suggested they were responsible for the vanishing.

Their complaint also argued that Portugals Supreme Court had failed to allow them proper redress over the alleged libel by Mr Amaral after judges threw out their earlier claim in 2017.

The verdict left the McCanns with three months to appeal against the decision.

In February 2023, a Polish woman called Julia Faustyna made headlines by claiming she was Madeleine, using the Instagram name @iammadeleinemccann.

Ms Faustyna, 21, did not provide any supporting evidence but sought DNA tests to prove her origins. The results ultimately revealed that she was entirely of Polish origin, with no British heritage, disproving her claims for good.

In April 2023, a court in Braunschweig dropped a rape charge against Brueckner, unrelated to the Madeleine McCann case, concluding it did not have jurisdiction.

Police in Germany continue to claim they have concrete evidence that Madeleine is dead but this has still not been confirmed and their investigation is ongoing, with Brueckner still not charged in the McCann case.

Like her parents, Madeleines sister Amelie, now 18, observed the 16th anniversary of her disappearance in May 2023.

Speaking publicly for the first time at a prayer meeting in Rothley, she said: Its nice that everyone is here together but its a sad occasion.

Amelie McCann reportedly joined in with chants including Never never give up, leave no stone unturned, dont forget about me and still missing, still missed.
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A video of a runaway cow on a freeway in the United States that was wrangled by a cowboy has gone viral, earning more than 23,000 views.

The wrangler caught the animal using a lasso before taking her off the Michigan interstate to safety.

Officers at Michigan State Police were on hand to take the cow off the busy road but relied on the help of cowboys after the creature outsmarted its adversaries.

In a thread on Twitter, officers explained the events that unfolded on Interstate 75 (I-75) and showed the moment the cow was lassoed.

The wranglers were on the shoulder of I-75 with horses and four-wheelers when they attempted to capture the suspect bovine but were unsuccessful in their attempts, Michigan State Police tweeted.

The cow managed to outsmart its advisories (sic), and entered the northbound lanes of I-75. The wranglers chased the cow with four-wheelers, horses, and lassos across all lanes of travel.

The police added that eventually after much tomfoolery, the critter was captured and removed from the freeway and the highway was swiftly reopened to traffic.

Taken from police dashcam footage, the video shows the cow running from the verge on to the highway before a wrangler donning a white cowboy hat rode his horse in pursuit.

Cars were moving at speed past the cow but the cowboy lassoed the animal and police guided her to green pastures.

The animal was initially stuck on a gravel pit by the road but a team of wranglers comparable to the cast of Yellowstone could not wrangle the cow, police said on Twitter.

Michigan State Police joked that the cow has not been charged and is back in the pasture with a story to tell all the other livestock.
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The Government has announced 200 Albanian nationals jailed in England and Wales will be sent home for the rest of their sentence  amid concerns that UK prisons are nearing capacity.

Offenders handed terms of four years or more will return to their native country to serve the remainder, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.

The arrangement will also see Britain provide support to Albania to help modernise its own prison system, according to the department.

It comes after justice minister Lord Bellamy KC told Parliament that jails are quite tight and at 99% capacity.

Speaking to peers, he said the Government is concerned about the increasing prison population and how it is nearing its upper limit.

The MoJ said the new deal will free up jail space in England and Wales and double the number of offenders without UK citizenship removed annually.

Between 27 April 2021 and 27 April 2023, the Government repatriated 112 inmates under prisoner transfer agreements.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: I am grateful to my Albanian counterpart, Ulsi Manja, for his efforts to shape our growing partnership on justice issues.

The public expects that foreign criminals should serve their sentences overseas  not in our prisons at the expense of the taxpayer.

This deal will speed up the removal of these offenders and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice and spend the remainder of their sentence behind bars.

Collaboration with our international partners is an essential part of making this possible.

Ulsi Manja, the Albanian justice minister, said: This new arrangement demonstrates the strong partnership between the UK and Albanian governments.

Two years after the agreement for the transfer of prisoners from the United Kingdom to Albania was ratified, we have concluded a technical arrangement that will benefit both countries.

At its core, every Albanian convict in the United Kingdom shall be given the opportunity to serve the remaining sentence in Albania, near their families, while we also increase our efforts to ensure the modernisation of the Albanian penitentiary system.
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Neil Coyle has had the Labour whip restored following his suspension after he used abusive language with racial overtones in one of two drunken encounters on the parliamentary estate.

Opposition chief whip Alan Campbell told the MP that drinking does not in any way excuse his behaviour but the party recognises his efforts to address his problematic conduct, Labour sources said.

Mr Campbell told a Parliamentary Labour Party committee meeting on Wednesday that Mr Coyle has undertaken two programmes regarding managing alcohol since his suspension and stopped drinking entirely.

The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark had the whip removed last year following an incident in a Commons bar during which he was said to have made racist comments towards political journalist Henry Dyer.

Mr Dyer, who is British-Chinese, said the MP had made Sinophobic remarks which made him feel uncomfortable.

The Independent Expert Panel, which reviews complaints of bullying and harassment made against MPs, later recommended he face a five-day suspension.

Its published report found he broke the rules in two drunken encounters  in one with foul-mouthed and drunken abuse of another MPs assistant and in another with abusive language with racial overtones targeted at Mr Dyer.

Both incidents investigated under Parliaments Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) occurred in the Strangers Bar in the Commons.

On February 1 last year, Mr Coyle and a group including the reporter were discussing Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who received donations from a woman later revealed by MI5 to be a Chinese spy.

Mr Coyle suggested his colleague was being paid by Fu Manchu, a fictional Chinese supervillain, before Mr Dyer explained he is half-Chinese.

Mr Coyle told the journalist he could tell from how he looked that he had been giving renminbi, the Chinese currency, to Mr Gardiner.

Later, leaving the bar, Mr Dyer sought to defuse the situation by waving goodbye to Mr Coyle.

Mr Coyle was found to have put two fingers up at the reporter in response.

Mr Coyle, who has spoken about quitting alcohol for a year and has pleaded for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to readmit him to the parliamentary party, accepted he was drunk on both occasions.

In an apology in the Commons, Mr Coyle said he was ashamed of his behaviour and said the intervention had quite possibly saved my life by compelling him to stop drinking.

I wish to specifically apologise to the two complainants who were subject to my drunk and offensive behaviour and attitude, he said.

I cannot apologise enough for the harm and upset caused, and Im ashamed of my conduct frankly. It should not have happened.
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The government has been threatened with legal action by its own Covid inquiry  over a failure to provide it with key documents it says it needs to do its job.

Heres what you need to know about the row:

What did the Covid Inquiry ask for?

The inquiry was announced by Boris Johnson in May 2021 to look into the UKs handling of the pandemic. But it now wants more information about what the prime minister was saying in private at the time.

The Covid inquiry asked the government to provide "WhatsApp communications recorded on devices owned or used by" Boris Johnson, "comprising exchanges between senior government ministers, senior civil servants and their advisers during the pandemic".

These messages were to include both groupchats, and messages between individuals. The chats include discussions with chief medical officer for England, Sir Chris Whitty, the then chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and the former NHS chief Simon Stevens.

It also asked for the ex prime minister's diaries for the same period, together with notebooks which "contain his contemporaneous notes". It has also asked for WhatsApp messages from Henry Cook, an advisor.

Why does the inquiry want them?

The inquiry says it needs the messages and notes because their contents will shed light on "core political and administrative decision-making by the UK government during the pandemic".

More generally, the inquiry wants to be sure that "all relevant contents of these documents are disclosed"  rather than leaving it to the government to decide which parts are relevant. Baroness Hallett, who is leading the inquiry, has also suggested that this approach is important to maintain public confidence.

The inquiry is also clear that it doesn't just want messages about Covid.

"It may be necessary for reasons of context for me to understand the other (superficially unrelated) political matters with which they were concerned at the time," the inquiry chair said - adding that it could show whether ministers were distracted by other matters.

What did the Cabinet Office do?

The government hasn't handed over the information in full. Instead, it provided extracts - which were redacted by the Cabinet Office legal team.

The Cabinet Office claims the redactions relate to unambiguously irrelevant material, and that the inquiry has no power to order its release.

But the government department did provide copies of "of a selection of materials, in unreacted form" so that the inquiry "could satisfy myself that the redactions that had previously been made to this particular set of materials were necessary on the basis that they covered information that was unambiguously irrelevant to the Inquirys work".

How did the inquiry respond?

The inquiry chair says this isn't good enough and that the government has "misunderstood the breadth of the investigation that I am undertaking".

It issued a legal notice ordering the documents be handed over.

"The key flaw, as it seems to me, is that it wrongly allocates to the holder of documents, rather than to the inquiry chair, the final decision on whether documents are or are not potentially relevant to the inquirys investigations," she wrote.

Baroness Hallett has extended the deadline for the Cabinet Office to provide the documents to 4pm on 30 May 2023.

What has Boris Johnson said?

Boris Johnson hasn't yet directly commented on this matter. But we know he has dropped his government-appointed lawyers which were representing him at the Covid inquiry.

Allies say he has lost confidence in the Cabinet Office because of a separate incident, in which the department passed information to the police that led to him being put under investigation for renewed Covid lockdown breaches.

The former prime minister's opinion may seem odd in the context of this episode, in which the Cabinet Office is apparently trying to hand over as little of his information to the inquiry as possible.

The opposition, meanwhile is making hay. Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said that "the fact the Covid Inquiry has had to invoke legal powers to compel the handover of crucial documents suggests that this is a government with much to hide".

"Rather than fighting legal battles to withhold evidence, it is essential that ministers now comply so the public is able to get to the truth and those responsible can be held to account," she added.

The government says it remains "committed to its obligations to the inquiry and in line with the law" but that it is "our position that the inquiry does not have the power to compel the government to disclose unambiguously irrelevant material".
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Rishi Sunaks government was plunged into an extraordinary row over Boris Johnsons WhatsApp messages when the official Covid Inquiry threatened legal action over its refusal to share details.

The Cabinet Office has so far refused to hand over unredacted copies of the former prime ministers diary entries, WhatsApp messages and emails, prompting the head of the public inquiry to warn of possible criminal sanctions.

The dramatic development came as Mr Johnson sacked his government-appointed legal team after he was referred to police over further possible rule breaches and as Suella Braverman escaped any further scrutiny over her speeding fine row.

Frustrated Conservative MPs told The Independent Mr Sunak had to get on top of the damaging scandals which threaten to derail his efforts to regain credibility and win the next general election.

The fresh split comes as:

Mr Sunak decided a probe into Ms Bravermans handling of her speeding offence was not necessary

Mr Johnson said he had no legal representation as he looks to appoint a new Partygate defence team

Baroness Hallett rejected Cabinet Office arguments that Mr Johnsons messages were personal

Senior Tories are seething at the latest distracting controversies  describing the former PM as a bad smell that doesnt go away.

Tory moderates are keen for Mr Sunak to stop the party getting dragged back by Mr Johnson and Ms Braverman, who has avoided a formal investigation despite controversy over her request for a private speed awareness course.

But allies of Mr Johnson and Ms Braverman want the PM to crack down on the civil service  claiming a blob of senior Whitehall officials are leading a stitch-up of leading Tory right-wingers.

One former Tory minister said it was frustrating that Mr Johnsons problems were dragging the party down again ahead of the Covid Inquiry. Its clearly a problem and a distraction  so the PM has to distance himself. Getting dragged back isnt going to be helpful.

Another senior Conservative said the party tearoom was seething at the carelessness of senior Tories who make other MPs feel like their seats could disappear.

Senior Tories described Boris Johnson as a bad smell that doesnt go away (PA)

With Mr Sunak is keen to avoid any appearance of interference in the Covid Inquiry, but Baroness Hallett rejected arguments made by the Cabinet Office against the release of personal exchanges  warning officials of possible criminal sanctions in the event of legal action.

No 10 denied that the redactions made were politically motivated  saying lawyers had made sure that personal messages were of no relevance to the inquiry.

Mr Johnson is also furious with the Cabinet Office and is said to be considering suing the department for passing extracts of his diaries to the police over potential rule breaches at Chequers.

One senior Tory figure said the row over Mr Johnsons time at Chequers and his WhatsApp messages was here we go again, adding: He is like a bad smell that does not seem to go away.

The leading MP, a Sunak ally, also told The Independent that the PMs decision on Wednesday not to sack or even investigate Ms Braverman over the speeding row damages the leadership when it does not need to be damaged.

They added: The only reason she is there seems to be because some deal was done in the autumn to stop Boris coming back. But it is blindingly obvious she is not up to the job and her attitude, tone and lack of administrative ability are detrimental to the government.

The ex-PM has caused fresh headaches for Rishi Sunak (PA)

No 10 denied Mr Johnson claims by his office that he is the victim of a politically motivated stitch-up. Mr Sunaks spokesman insisted that no ministers were involved in the move by Cabinet Officials to pass evidence about possible Covid rule breaches involving Mr Johnson to police and the privileges committee that will decide whether he will face government sanctions over Partygate.

However, allies of Mr Johnson and Ms Braverman remain suspicious. A group of right-wingers reportedly met on Wednesday to consider options on pushing Mr Sunak to stop witch-hunts by civil servants.

Right-wing Tory MP Craig Mackinlay told The Independent the stories about both Ms Braverman and about Mr Johnson were rather pathetic and had the sniff of contrivance from disgruntled Whitehall officials.

Mr Mackinlay said: Its all getting a little odd. It seems you cant even ask an official for a cup of coffee without it being a problem.

Another senior Tory backbencher added: There are some civil servants in the Home Office that simply dont want Ms Braverman to get on with the job on small boats and migration, adding that there is an element of left-wing bias in the civil service.

One Tory MP suspicious of so many stories being leaked said: It tends to be [about] ministers who are trying to change things or are on the right of the Conservative Party.

The latest scandal comes as Mr Sunak faces another looming Tory row over the annual net migration figures released on Thursday which are expected to show a record high of at least 700,000.

While the government has tried to ease anguish with a crackdown on foreign students from bringing their dependents with them to the UK, the huge number is certain to spark fresh debate over immigration policy. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told The Independent that the government had to address the countrys addiction to cheap labour.
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Boris Johnson is facing fresh questions about his behaviour during Partygate after the Cabinet Office referred the former prime minister to police over further potential lockdown rule breaches.

It comes at a difficult time for Mr Johnson, as the cross-party committee of MPs enters its final deliberations on whether he lied to parliament about rule-breaking No 10 parties during Covid.

A sanction of 10 days or more could destroy the former PMs political future, threatening to spark a by-election in his Uxbridge and Ruislip constituency.

Both the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police are assessing information about Mr Johnsons time at Chequers, which came from official diary entries reviewed ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

His ministerial diary reportedly revealed visits by family and friends as well as officials to the PMs grace and favour residence in Buckinghamshire between June 2020 and May 2021.

The latest revelations appeared to increase the risk that the privileges committee could sanction Mr Johnson. A spokesperson said MPs would take the new evidence passed to them by the Cabinet Office into account before coming to a verdict.

A spokesperson for the committee told The Independent: The committee will take this evidence and Mr Johnsons response into account when considering its final report. The committee is making progress with its inquiry expeditiously.

If a suspension of at least 10 days is recommended by the committee and voted through by MPs, his constituents can organise a recall petition. If 10 per cent of registered voters in the area sign it, then a by-election is held.

Recent precedents suggested Mr Johnson could be in trouble. Former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier faces a by-election in her Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency, for example, after receiving a proposed 30-day ban from the Commons.

Margaret Ferrier was elected as an SNP MP in 2019, but was suspended by the party the following year after she breached Covid rules (PA Media)

The lengthy ban, recommended by parliaments standards committe, came after she was found to have spoken in the Commons and taken the train between Scotland and England while positive for Covid.

Former Tory MP Owen Paterson resigned his North Shropshire seat before facing a by-election after he was punished for breaking lobbying rules.

Mr Paterson was hit with a 30-day suspension by the standards committee. He was found guilty of lobbying ministers and regulators on behalf of companies paying him more than 100,000 a year.

Owen Paterson resigned after being found to have breached lobbying rules (PA)

Former Conservative MP Rob Roberts received a 12-week suspension from parliament for sexually harassing a member of staff. He was stripped of the whip after parliaments Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found he broke the sexual misconduct policy by making unwanted advances to a staff member.

But because the lengthy suspension was recommended by the IEP, rather than a Commons committee, Mr Roberts avoided a recall petition and by-election in his constituency.

Ian Paisley Jr was the first MP to face a recall petition when the DUP MP was suspended for 30 days for failing to declare two family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government.

DUPs Ian Paisley was suspended for 30 days (PA Archive)

But Mr Paisley Jr held onto his seat after the petition failed to meet the threshold of signatures required for a by-election to take place.

However, some MPs have avoided punishments of 10 or more days. Andrew Bridgen was suspended for five days earlier this year after being found to have breached rules on declaring interests in relation to a forestry company.

And former SNP MP Kenny MacAskill, now with the Alba party, was suspended for five days in 2022 for rowdy behaviour in the Commons.

The privileges committee has contacted Mr Johnson to ask him to respond to the latest evidence provided by the Cabinet Office, causing a delay to its final deliberations on whether he broke parliamentary rules.

But it is not clear whether any further police inquiries could further delay process. The committee had been expected to deliver a verdict at a meeting set to take place on Tuesday but it was postponed because of the latest revelations, according to The Guardian.

The committee is preparing a draft of its report. If it is critical of Mr Johnson, relevant material from the draft report will be sent to him in confidence, giving him two weeks to submit a written response before the committee publishes its final report.

Some Tory MPs believe the committee may stop short of a 10-day suspension  even though they expect the former PM to be found guilty of recklessly misleading the Commons.
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The head of the Covid public inquiry has accused the Cabinet Office of holding back important information on Boris Johnsons handling of the pandemic.

Lady Hallett said the former PMs diary entries, notebooks, WhatsApp messages and emails should have been handed over by the government department.

The chairwoman has demanded Mr Johnsons phone exchanges with his senior ministers, senior civil servants and advisers during the pandemic  insisting they were of potential relevance to the inquiry.

Baroness Hallett rejected arguments made by the Cabinet Office against release of personal exchanges  warning government officials of possible criminal sanctions in the event of legal action.

The extraordinary row comes as Mr Johnson cuts ties with the government-appointed lawyers representing him at the Covid inquiry after he was referred to police over further possible rule breaches.

Both the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police are assessing evidence about Mr Johnsons time at Chequers, which came from official diary entries initially reviewed by the government-appointed lawyers ahead of the Covid inquiry.

In a letter to Baroness Hallett, Mr Johnson said: I am currently instructing new solicitors to represent me in the inquiry  As at today, I am unrepresented and my counsel team have been instructed not to provide me with any advice.

The government was accused of holding back politically sensitive content from the inquiry. A source told i: The Cabinet Office has claimed reductions they made contained nothing of relevance. They basically pulled things that are politically embarrassing.

But Downing Street denied the redactions were politically motivated  saying lawyers had made sure that personal messages were of no relevance to the inquiry.

Its our position that the inquiry does not have the power to compel to disclose unambiguously irrelevant material, said Rishi Sunaks official spokesman  insisting that robust processes are in place to ensure relevant material is provided to the inquiry.

Boris Johnson at centre of fresh Covid rows (PA)

In a series of documents released on Wednesday, the Covid inquiry revealed a legal notice on 28 April 2023 requesting communications from the phones of Mr Johnson and his ex-adviser Henry Cook  a friend of Carrie Johnson.

They include their messages with former strategy Dominic Cummings, then health secretary Matt Hancock, chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty and then-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance. The inquiry also asked for Mr Johnsons diaries and notebooks.

But on 15 May the Cabinet Office denied the request, arguing the legal notice was unlawful. It had provided the inquiry with only redacted copies of Mr Cooks WhatsApp messages and redacted extracts from the diary of Mr Johnson.

Baroness Hallett said the request was made under section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005  pointing out that failure to comply could be a criminal offence and punishable with a fine of up to 1,000 or even imprisonment for a maximum of 51 weeks.

The Covid inquiry chair said some discussions between Mr Johnson and his advisers about the enforcement of regulations by Scotland Yard during the protests following the murder of Sarah Everard were initially redacted.

Baroness Hallett said: Whilst those redactions have now (very recently) been removed, it was not a promising start.

Under the legal notice, the inquiry chair  who said entire contents of the documents were of potential relevance to the lines of investigation that I am pursuing  said the Cabinet Office must provide the details by 30 May.

Boris Johnson has provided Rishi Sunak with fresh headaches (PA Archive)

The fresh turmoil comes as Mr Johnson accused the Cabinet Office of making bizarre and unacceptable claims after officials referred him to police over further possible lockdown violations.

His ministerial diary reportedly revealed visits by family and friends as well as officials to the PMs grace and favour residence in Buckinghamshire between June 2020 and May 2021.

Mr Johnsons spokesman said it was totally untrue there had been further rule breaches  and said Cabinet Office officials decided to make unfounded suggestions both to the police and to the privileges committee.

The Cabinet Office also passed on details to MPs on the cross-party privileges committee  investigating Mr Johnson over whether he lied to parliament about Covid rule breaches at No 10  last week.

The latest revelations appeared to increase the risk that the privileges committee could sanction Mr Johnson. A spokesperson said MPs would take the new evidence passed to them by the Cabinet Office into account before coming to a verdict.

Rivka Gottlieb, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said it was outrageous for the government to think they can dictate to an independent inquiry which of Boris Johnsons WhatsApp messages they can see.

She added: With the revelations that have come out yesterday about him breaking lockdown rules, you really do fear the worst about what theyre hiding.

Labours deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said: The fact the Covid Inquiry has had to invoke legal powers to compel the handover of crucial documents suggests that this is a government with much to hide.
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David Cameron said critics of the governments plan to send small boat migrants to Rwanda should stop the attacks unless they have a better answer.

The former Tory prime minister said he had huge sympathy with the attempt to crack down on people smugglers involved in transporting migrants across the Channel.

It comes as the Archbishop of Canterbury again attacked Suella Bravermans Illegal Migration Bill and warned that senior bishops will not abandon their opposition.

The home secretarys highly controversial immigration bill aims to send asylum seekers who arrive in Britain via unauthorised routes back home  or to a third country such as Rwanda.

Asked about the Rwanda plan, Mr Cameron told LBC: I think if you dont have a better answer to the things that the government is doing to try and stop this illegal trade, then I think theres no point criticising.

The former PM said he had huge sympathy with the government when they say weve got to collapse the model of the people smugglers, adding that people who arrive through that manner shouldnt be able to stay.

Mr Cameron added: So until youve got a better answer, you wont find me in radio and television studios telling Suella Braverman what to do.

The former PM compared it to the EUs 2016 deal with Turkey to send asylum seekers crossing into Greece back to Turkey. We know that there are ways of shutting down people smuggling businesses, he said.

When the deal was done  much criticised  but when the deal was done, that everyone who arrived in Greece from Turkey was sent back to Turkey, the people smuggling operation collapsed, because suddenly the people smugglers couldnt sell what they were selling.

The British government refused a series of proposals to deal with people smugglers in the years leading up to the deal with Rwanda  including laws proposed in the House of Lords and official recommendations by a parliamentary committee, the borders watchdog and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman have pledged to stop the boats (PA)

The Archbishop of Canterbury  who called the governments approach to deporting small boat migrants morally unacceptable  said that some of those who had attacked him for criticising the governments bill in the Lords were not acting in good faith.

Writing in The Times, the Most Reverend Justin Welby said: Those who sit on the bishops bench will not abandon our duty to point out when governments propose legislation that is impractical or immoral. We will not abandon the most vulnerable people that Jesus Christ specifically calls us to love.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is reportedly ready to decide whether to order an ethics investigation into Ms Bravermans handling of her speeding offence. The PM is still considering the evidence after she reportedly requested civil servants help in arranging a private speed awareness course.

Ms Braverman is also facing further accusations of potential code breaches after The Independent revealed she did not officially disclose her previous links to Rwanda when appointed home secretary in 2022.

Braverman is under pressue over a speeding offence, high migration numbers and her failure to disclose past links to Rwanda (PA)

Labours deputy leader Angela Rayner asked how many strikes it would take for Mr Sunak to sack his home secretary, accusing the PM of dither and delay.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk said the PM was taking the correct approach, quoting Charles Dickens Great Expectations. Take nothing on looks, take everything on evidence. Theres no better rule, he said.

It comes the day before official statistics are released which are expected to show legal migration has hit a record 700,000 this year.

High levels of immigration are caused by deliberate government policy, according to the chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, Prof Brian Bell. Its a controlled decision to offer humanitarian schemes for Ukrainian and Hong Kong citizens. But that inevitably raises net migration. You cant have it both ways, he told Times Radio.

Meanwhile, the government has announced 200 Albanian nationals jailed in England and Wales will be sent home for the rest of their sentence amid concerns that UK prisons are nearing capacity.

Offenders handed terms of four years or more will return to their native country to serve the remainder, the Ministry of Justice said. The arrangement will also see Britain provide support to Albania to help modernise its own prison system, according to the department.
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Rishi Sunak has discussed with leading figures in artificial intelligence the need for regulation to mitigate risks ranging from disinformation and national security to existential threats.

The Prime Minister sat down with the chief executives of ChatGPT firm OpenAI, Google Deepmind and Anthropic to discuss concerns on Wednesday evening.

Mr Sunak said that AI is the defining technology of the time with the potential to positively transform humanity.

But a joint statement from the meeting acknowledged that the technologys success is contingent on having the right guardrails in place so the public can be confident it is safe.

Mr Sunak stressed to OpenAIs Sam Altman, Googles Demis Hassabis and Anthropics Dario Amodei that the regulation must be agile and be co-ordinated internationally.

The PM and CEOs discussed the risks of the technology, ranging from disinformation and national security, to existential threats, their statement said.

They discussed safety measures, voluntary actions that labs are considering to manage the risks, and the possible avenues for international collaboration on AI safety and regulation.

Mr Sunak has advocated the technologys benefits for national security and the economy, but growing concerns have been raised with the prominence of the ChatGPT bot.

As well as the concerns discussed by Mr Sunak and the tech figures, jobs are being put at risk by the rapidly evolving technology.

Last week BT Group said it will cut up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade amid plans to shift to AI and automated services.

Former Government chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has warned that AI could have a comparable impact on jobs with the industrial revolution.

Earlier this month, Geoffrey Hinton, the man widely seen as the godfather of AI, warned some of the dangers of AI chatbots are quite scary as he quit his job at Google.

Mr Sunak has been hardening his tone towards AI. The Governments policy paper on the technology published less than two months ago was titled A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation.
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An irate Lindsay Hoyle kicked a Tory MP out of the House of Commons during prime ministers questions on Wednesday, telling him: Im not having it.

The Commons speaker  apparently angered by yelling from the government benches  told Peterborough MP Paul Bristow to leave the chamber just four minutes into proceedings.

Mr Hoyle had already had to pause proceedings twice in the first three minutes of PMQs to ask MPs to stop shouting during the exchange between prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Order, order. Mr Bristow, I think youre going to be leaving. Im asking you to leave now, because otherwise Ill name you.

Im not having it, and Ive warned you before. Its the same people, he said.

Turning to the opposition benches he said: And the same will happen on this side.

The threat to name the MP is parliamentary language for formally disciplining a politician  possibly resulting in their suspension.

Mr Bristow left the chamber to cheers and shouts of bye from those on the opposition benches.

Sir Lindsays spokesperson later said: Following a noisy start to PMQs, the Speaker asked Paul Bristow to leave the chamber, saying he would name him if not. Mr Bristow left voluntarily and so no formal powers were exercised by the Speaker.

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Mr Bristow worked as a lobbyist before becoming an MP in 2019 and now sits on the Commons health select committee.

He later told reporters: I got a little over-excited.

The Commons speaker has previously criticised MPs for shouting during debates and says it reflects poorly on parliamentary proceedings and is unpopular with the public.

Earlier this month he turned his ire on trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, asking her: Do you think youre speaking to? after she gave an apparently dismissive response to his concerns about the governments approach to dealing with parliament.
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The Prime Minister has sparked confusion about whether or not the Government has launched in investigation into the UKs largest freeport.

Rishi Sunak suggested that Communities Secretary Michael Gove had already announced an investigation into the Teesworks project in the north east of England, when asked about it at Prime Ministers Questions.

But when approached for clarity on the matter, Downing Street said it was passing on queries to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The department is yet to respond to questions about the investigation.

The claim led to confusion in the Commons, with Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough, suggesting that parliamentarians were in the dark about whether the investigation had been launched.

The Teesworks freeport is aimed at regenerating a 4,500 acre site which used to house the Teesside Steelworks, and creating new jobs for the region.

But it has become mired in accusations of wrongdoing, including from local Labour MPs, after questions were raised about the administration of the project.

Shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy and the Labour chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, Darren Jones, have both called for a National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into the site.

The Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen also gave his backing to an NAO investigation, claiming it would restore confidence in the professionalism, integrity and objectives of the Government.

The NAO investigation can only be launched if it is requested by the Government.

At the start of Prime Ministers Questions, Labour MP Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) asked: Does the Prime Minister agree with his friend the Tees Valley Mayor that the National Audit Office must investigate the Teesworks affair?

Mr Sunak replied: The Levelling Up Secretary (Mr Gove) has already announced an investigation into this matter.

But what I would say, it is just the same old Labour.

All we get, after years of neglect, it is the Conservatives that are delivering for Teesside.

Raising a point of order, Mr McDonald later said: The Secretary of State has not responded to the request last week for a National Audit Office investigation from the shadow secretary of state, the Member for Wigan (Ms Nandy), or from the chair of the Business and Trade Committee (Mr Jones).

We are in the dark.

Can you advise how we can seek clarity from the Prime Minister on when this investigation was ordered?

And on what terms?

Deputy Commons Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing called on ministers to pass on the Labour MPs concerns, adding: There is no doubt that what is actually done should accord precisely with what is said has been done.
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Two rare Roman head sculptures have been unearthed by volunteer archaeologists during a dig in Carlisle.

The sandstone artefacts, three times the size of human heads, were found during excavations of a huge Roman bathhouse close to Hadrians Wall in the city, once a northern outpost of Romes huge empire.

They were found abandoned at the edge of what was once a cobbled Roman road and are believed to date back as far as 200AD.

Frank Giecco from the archaeology firm Wardell Armstrong, which is working at the site, said: If you are an archaeologist you dont find many things like that in your career.

They have literally only just been lifted out of the ground so theres been no detailed analysis of them yet Frank Giecco

We think they are late second, early third century AD.

They have literally only just been lifted out of the ground so theres been no detailed analysis of them yet.

The discovery was made earlier this week on the dig site, which is staffed by about 400 local volunteers.

The heads add to a growing list of Roman artefacts found there, including carved gemstones, since the dig began in 2021.

Uncovering Roman Carlisle has received 56,700 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The site will be active and open to the public between Monday and Saturday, with tours of the site held daily until the dig finishes on June 24.
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Support for the SNP has fallen by 10% in a new poll which also reveals a negative satisfaction rating for First Minister Humza Yousaf in the wake of Nicola Sturgeons resignation.

Ipsos Scottish Political Monitor, run in partnership with STV News, projects the SNP will remain the dominant party despite its support dropping to 41% compared to the results of a poll in December.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour and the Tories are predicted to increase their support by four percentage points, to 29% and 17% respectively.

The survey of 1,100 adults in Scotland between May 15 and 21 puts the SNP on course to win 44 seats at the next Westminster election, while Labour would take nine and the Tories and Liberal Democrats would each take three seats in the Commons.

The SNP gained 45% of the vote at the 2019 UK election, while the Tories won 25% and Labour 19%.

The latest poll saw Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar become the only political leader to receive a positive net satisfaction rating, with 40% satisfied with his performance and 33% dissatisfied. The other 27% said they do not know enough to rate him.

Mr Yousaf, however, was given a net satisfaction rating of minus 9, as 44% of respondents said they were dissatisfied by his performance as First Minister, compared to 35% who were satisfied.

His predecessor Ms Sturgeon resigned in February and had a +9 positive rating in the December 2022 poll.

The SNP has faced a tumultuous few months following her resignation as police probe party finances, leading to the arrest of her husband and former chief executive Peter Murrell, and former treasurer Colin Beattie. Both were released without charge pending further investigation.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Rosss approval rating now sits at minus 25 in the poll, however it is an improvement from minus 38 in the December poll.

The Ipsos poll also shows a shift in attitude towards independence, with signs emerging that 2014 Yes voters are beginning to consider backing other parties instead of the SNP.

But support for independence sits at 53% compared to 47% against  a slight drop of three percentage points for the Yes campaign.

The Ipsos poll is a slightly more encouraging message for the SNP than a YouGov poll also published on Wednesday which suggested Labour could gain almost two dozen seats from the nationalists at the Westminster election.

It suggested 27 seats for the SNP, compared to the 48 it won in 2019.

Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos in Scotland, said: In the wake of Nicola Sturgeons unexpected resignation, a divisive leadership contest and controversy over the partys funding and finances, support for the SNP has fallen back.

With First Minister Humza Yousafs approval ratings weaker than Nicola Sturgeons were, it may be challenging for the party to regain that support.

Meanwhile, Labour will be hoping that the indication in this poll of a weakening relationship between past independence support and voting for the SNP becomes a trend on which they can capitalise.

SNP Westminster deputy leader Mhairi Black said the poll is encouraging.

She added: The SNP is working hard to tackle the cost of living, improve public services like our NHS and build a fairer economy  but we are absolutely clear that independence is essential for our long-term future.

Thats the positive message of home well be campaigning on relentlessly  in contrast to both Labour and the Tories who both offer a Brexit-based future dragging down living standards and the cash available for public services like the NHS.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Poll after poll shows that the momentum is with Scottish Labour.

The status quo is failing Scotland, but only Labour are offering a fresh start and a chance to boot out this morally bankrupt Tory Government.

Scottish Labour will keep working around the clock to earn voters trust so we can deliver the change Scotland needs.
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The family of one of two teenagers whose deaths in a road collision sparked rioting over claims they were being pursued by police have pleaded for peace within the community.

Harvey Evans, 15, died alongside his best friend Kyrees Sullivan, 16, when the electric bike they were riding crashed in the Ely area of Cardiff on Monday evening.

Video footage on social media appears to show the two boys being followed by a marked police van minutes before the fatal crash.

In a statement released by South Wales Police, Harveys family said: Our hearts are truly broken by the sudden death of Harvey, our much-loved son, grandson, brother, nephew, friend and boyfriend.

He lived life to the full, he had a big heart and deep down he truly cared. He was a best friend to Kyrees and our thoughts and prayers are with his family also.

We ask for peace within the community and request that people leave the investigation to the police so we can get the answers we so desperately need to lay Harvey to rest.

As Harveys mum, I want to remember our son as the fun and loving son that he was, and not as the media are portraying him now.

Kyreess family also paid tribute and thanked the local community for their support since his death.

Kyrees was a loving, caring handsome young man, a loving son to Belinda and Craig, little brother to Aleah and Jordan and a special uncle KyKy to Myra, they said.

He was loved so much by his grandparents and aunties and uncles and his many cousins.

Him and Harvey along with Niall were best friends since they were young and went everywhere together, they both had so many friends and were very well liked doing many things together, having fun and laughs.

They were loved by not only their families but by their community as well.

Belinda, Craig and families, would like to thank everyone for all their kind words, flowers, and messages since they lost their son.

Police said they were continuing to investigate the collision and were appealing for witnesses, information, CCTV and footage from mobile phones and social media.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation into any interaction between the South Wales force and the teenagers.

Tensions rose and spilled over into rioting which saw missiles and fireworks thrown at the police and cars set alight.

Alun Michael, police and crime commissioner for South Wales, said he had been assured, and I am still assured, youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident.

In the aftermath of the collision, Mr Michael gave interviews in which he said there were rumours of a police chase, which wasnt the case.
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Labour could gain almost two dozen seats from the SNP in Scotland in the next Westminster election, research which could give Humza Yousafs party serious cause for concern has suggested.

Analysis by pollsters at YouGov projected Mr Yousafs party could capture the seat currently held by Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Tories  but also indicated 23 seats currently held by the SNP could fall to Labour, including that of deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black.

While the SNP won 48 seats in Scotland at the last general election in 2019, YouGovs research showed that could fall to 27, with the party losing 23 seats to Labour, mainly across central Scotland.

Noting Sir Keir Starmers party may well need to make gains in Scotland if he is to become the next prime minister, Patrick English of YouGov said the findings would provide strong encouragement to Labour.

The research, which used MRP (multi-level regression and post-stratification) statistical techniques to forecast the result of the next Westminster election in Scotland, suggested the SNP could to gain Moray  where Mr Ross is stepping down at the next general election  and the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine seat of UK energy minster Andrew Bowie from the Conservatives.

But overall, YouGov projected the SNP to have its worst general election results since 2010.

The findings indicated Mr Yousafs party could lose six of the seven Glasgow constituencies it currently holds  with Glasgow Central, Glasgow East, Glasgow North, Glasgow North East, Glasgow North West and Glasgow South all projected as gains for Labour.

Overall, Labours tally of seats in Scotland is projected to increase from just one at present to 24, according to the research which involved more than 3,500 voters north of the border.

With Labour forecast to have its best Scottish election results since 2010, the modelling suggested Anas Sarwars party could also win the Western Isles, ousting the long-serving SNP MP Angus MacNeill, who has held the seat there since 2005.

Meanwhile, Rutherglen and Hamilton West  where a recall petition could force a by-election ahead of the next general election if current MP Margaret Ferrier is suspended from the Commons for the proposed 30 days  could be another Labour capture.

YouGov based its research on fieldwork carried out between April 10 and May 21  after Mr Yousaf took over as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, and after a police investigation into SNP finances resulted in both the partys HQ in Edinburgh and the home of Nicola Sturgeon being searched.

The polling firm said the findings suggest that repeated recent bad news stories for the SNP and its new leader, Humza Yousaf, including accusations of party mismanagement and potential criminal cases being brought against senior officials, have taken a serious toll on both the partys popular support.

Meanwhile, it noted that the figures will make welcome reading for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, as well as the partys national leader Keir Starmer, adding that Labour may well need a significant number of victories in Scotland to lift them over the majority line at the next Westminster contest, and the data currently suggests they are on track to do just that.

However YouGov said its projections were less rosy for Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who are both forecast to pick up four seats in Scotland at the next general election.

The results of YouGov's Scottish MRP shows the SNP have some serious cause for concern Patrick English, YouGov

While the Tories could lose two seats to the SNP in the north east, the Liberal Democrats would stay on four, with the projections suggesting the party will fail in efforts to regain the East Dunbartonshire constituency once held by former leader Jo Swinson from the SNP.

Commenting on the research, Patrick English, associate director of political and social research at YouGov, said: The results of YouGovs Scottish MRP shows the SNP have some serious cause for concern, but will provide strong encouragement to Labour as they look ahead to the next general election.

Making significant gains in Scotland could be crucial to Starmers chances of heading into Number 10 with a parliamentary majority next year, and these figures suggest his party is now making strong progress north of the border.

That, plus the prospect of losing their own Scottish leaders seat, will no doubt worry the Conservatives.

Labour shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray MP, who is currently the partys only MP north of the border, said: Scotland is ready for change and it falls to Scottish Labour to deliver it.

The people of Scotland are sick and tired of Tory and SNP sleaze and failure.

He insisted: Scotland needs a fresh start with a majority Labour government. Under Anas Sarwars leadership Scottish Labour will continue to earn back the publics trust so we can deliver the change that Scotland needs.

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: Its clear that voters are increasingly turned off by the scandal and civil war engulfing the SNP and their obsession with independence over the real priorities of the Scottish people.

Meanwhile, a Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: In seats like East Dunbartonshire and Ross, Skye and Lochaber, were nipping at the heels of the failed SNP and offering a brighter alternative for communities.

But SNP MP David Linden said: Voting SNP is the only way to get rid of unelected Tory governments in Scotland for good.

The SNP is the only party in Scotland offering a real alternative to the Tories and pro-Brexit Labour Party, handing voters the opportunity to escape the mess of Brexit and rejoin the EU with the full powers of independence.

A strong team of SNP MPs could hold the balance of power and we would use our influence to make sure Westminster takes real action to tackle the cost of living, protect our NHS, and ensure Scotlands democracy is respected.
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A Florida school has banned elementary students from reading several works in its library, including The Hills We Climb, the poem written and read by Amanda Gorman at Joe Bidens inauguration as president.

The poem will now only be accessible to middle school students at the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, Florida, according to The Miami Herald.

The poem, which received international acclaim, was one of several texts reportedly challenged by a parent of two students for referencing critical race theory or gender ideology.

Daily Salinas, the parent, also challenged three books; The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, and Love to Langston, the newspaper reported.

Ms Salinas told the Herald in Spanish that she is not for eliminating or censoring any books but wants appropriate material that allows students to know the truth about Cuba.

A school committee made up of three teachers, a library media specialist, a guidance counsellor and the schools principal, decided that Countries in the News Cuba, was balanced and age-appropriate in its wording and presentation and would be kept available for all students.

It determined that the four other works were more appropriate for middle school students and would be moved to their area of the school library.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a string of laws over the last year targeting education, including a measure that restricts honest discussions of race and racism and another that prohibits classroom instruction related to gender or sexuality from kindergarten through high school, what opponents have called the Dont Say Gay law.

So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with @oprah , fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternativesUnnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back  DONATE here: pic.twitter.com/p96dlnrSp4  Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 23, 2023

The number of book challenges across the state has risen since the laws introduction, The Herald reported.

Ms Gorman took to Twitter on Tuesday to mock the ban and posted the form that was submitted claiming the poem had been written by Oprah Winfrey.

So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with (Oprah Winfrey) fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternativesUnnecessary book bans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back, she tweeted.
 Close Moment Idaho student murders suspect arrives in court for arraignment

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Police in Pennsylvania have spoken out about the possible connection between Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger and the death of a woman whose body was found almost a year after her disappearance.

It emerged this week that Mr Kohbergers parents had been ordered to testify before a grand jury investigating the disappearance and death of Dana Smithers, 45.

Smithers vanished without a trace in May 2022 from Monroe County, Pennsylvania  where Mr Kohberger was living at the time. Her remains were found last month in a wooded area, her cause of death still unknown.

A source told CNN that the accused killers mother had already given evidence to the grand jury while his father was appearing to testify on Thursday.

Stroud Area Regional Police Department has now issued a statement insisting there is NO EVIDENCE that Dana Smithers disappearance, is in ANY WAY tied to Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger.

The development comes days after Mr Kohberger was arraigned on four counts of murder and one count of burglary in Moscow, Idaho.

Mr Kohberger is accused of killing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on 13 November.
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The parents of Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in the familys home state of Pennsylvania in the case of a woman found dead one year after her sudden disappearance, it has been revealed.

Mr Kohbergers father is expected to testify before the grand jury in a sealed proceeding in Monroe County on Thursday, a source told CNN.

His mother has already given evidence to the grand jury, the source told the news outlet and added that their testimony, which will be given under oath, may be shared with Idaho prosecutors.

The investigation is said to be about the disappearance and death of a 45-year-old woman Dana Smithers, reported Eyewitness News.

Smithers vanished without a trace back in May 2022 when she left a friends house in Monroe County  the same Pennsylvania county where Mr Kohberger lived at the time before he moved to Washington state that summer to pursue a graduate program in criminal justice.

For over a year, the mother-of-threes family desperately searched for answers.

Last month  on 27 April  her remains were found in a wooded area in Stroudsburg.

Her cause of death is not yet known and her remains had to be identified using dental records.

Despite the bombshell development, Mr Kohberger has a solid alibi for Smithers disappearance and is likely not connected, a source told Eyewitness News.

The grand jury investigation is still ongoing.

It is not clear what the Mr Kohbergers parents Michael and Maryann Kohberger are being asked in connection to the case.

However, it comes following a report that one of the accused killers older sisters grew increasingly suspicious that her brother could have been involved in the Idaho murders prior to his arrest.

Bryan Kohberger appears in court for his arraignment (Reuters)

Her suspicions were so great that  at one point  several family members searched Mr Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra for possible evidence of the crime when the family gathered to spend the holidays together back in Pennsylvania, sources told NBCs Dateline.

In the Smithers case, a lawyer for Mr Kohbergers parents tried unsuccessfully to have the subpoenas cancelled, the source told CNN.

Pennsylvania judges will then be permitted to share transcripts of the grand jury witness testimony with law enforcement agencies across the country in Idaho.

Mr Kohberger is accused of brutally killing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on 13 November in a horror attack that rocked the college town of Moscow and sent shockwaves across America.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student appeared in Latah County Court on Monday morning where he refused to enter a plea on four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary.

Shackled and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, the accused killer showed no emotion as the judge read out the charges and the names of the four victims who he is accused of violently killing.

Mr Kohberger spoke only to answer defiantly and loudly yes and yes I do when asked if he understood the charges, maximum penalties and his rights in the court.

Dana Smithers was found dead last month (Stacey Smithers)

His attorney Anne Taylor told the court that he was standing silent on the charges, leaving the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Judge John Judge set Mr Kohbergers trial date for 2 October 2023 and the prosecution now has 60 days to confirm whether or not they are seeking the death penalty.

Mr Kohberger had been due to appear in court for a week-long preliminary hearing on 26 June, where the prosecution would lay out the case and evidence against the suspect.

However, last week, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the charges, paving the way for the case to proceed to trial without that hearing.

Mr Kohberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus student home on King Road in the early hours of 13 November and stabbing the four students to death with a large, military-style knife.

Two other female roommates lived with the three women at the property and were home at the time of the massacre but survived.

One of the survivors  Dylan Mortensen  came face to face with the masked killer, dressed in head-to-toe black and with bushy eyebrows, as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders, according to the criminal affidavit.

For more than six weeks, the college town of Moscow was plunged into fear as the accused killer remained at large with no arrests made and no suspects named.

Then, on 30 December, law enforcement suddenly swooped on Mr Kohbergers family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania and arrested him for the quadruple murders.

The motive remains unknown and it is still unclear what connection the WSU PhD student had to the University of Idaho students  if any  prior to the murders.

However, the affidavit, released in January, revealed that Mr Kohbergers DNA was found on a knife sheath left behind at the scene of the murders.

It also revealed that his white Hyundai Elantra was caught on surveillance footage close to the crime scene.

New details have emerged since about what was found during an initial search of his apartment in Pullman and a rental storage unit.

The court documents show that two items found in his apartment  a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow  tested positive for blood.

The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

Investigators also seized a string of other items from his home including possible human and animal hair strands, a disposable glove and a computer.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, took this photo together hours before they died (Instagram/Kaylee Goncalves)

Meanwhile, the murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  has still never been found.

As a criminal justice PhD student at WSU, Mr Kohberger lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman.

He had moved there from Pennsylvania and began his studies there that summer, having just completed his first semester before his arrest.

Before this, he studied criminology at DeSales University  first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He also carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

He is facing life in prison or the death penalty for the murders that have rocked the small college town of Moscow and hit headlines around the globe.
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Bryan Kohbergers sister feared that her brother was involved in the stabbings of four University of Idaho students before police swooped on their parents home and arrested him for murder, according to a bombshell report.

Sources told NBCs Dateline that one of the accused killers older siblings grew increasingly suspicious of her brother and his behaviour when the family gathered to spend the holidays together.

Her suspicions were so great that  at one point  several family members searched Mr Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra for possible evidence of the crime, they said.

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found brutally stabbed to death in the off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, that the three women shared with two other roommates on 13 November.

For more than six weeks, no suspects were publicly identified and leads appeared to have gone cold.

In mid-December, Mr Kohberger  a 28-year-old criminology PhD student at Washington State University (WSU)  embarked on a cross-country trip with his father from his student rental home in Pullman, Washington, back to the family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, to spend the holidays together.

But, during his time at home, his family members noticed that he was behaving somewhat bizarrely.

The source said that Mr Kohberger was constantly wearing latex gloves, including inside their own home.

One of his two older sisters began to wonder if he could have played a part in the murders  and, at one point, she raised her concerns with her other family members.

She loudly pointed out that, at the time of the murders, her brother was living just a few miles from the crime scene and that he drove a white Hyundai Elantra  the make and colour of vehicle at the centre of the investigation.

Along with his bizarre tendency to wear latex gloves at all time, she believed that the family should consider that Mr Kohberger might have killed the four victims, the source said.

Mr Kohbergers father allegedly defended his son and insisted he could not have been involved.

But the concerns were clearly big enough for several of the family members to reportedly decide to search the 28-year-olds vehicle to look for possible evidence.

Bryan Kohberger is accused of killing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (PA police)

By that point, police said Mr Kohberger had already been spotted cleaning his car out with bleach and so the family members didnt find anything of note, the source said.

It is not clear if Mr Kohberger was aware of his family members suspicions that he could have been behind the murders  or what prior behaviour may have led his own sister to suspect him capable of carrying out such a brutal crime.

Soon after, in the early hours of 30 December, law enforcement descended on the family home and arrested him for the murders.

At the time of his arrest, the source said Mr Kohberger was wide awake standing in the kitchen wearing latex gloves and putting his personal trash in plastic bags to take it out to a neighbours trash can.

An attorney close to Mr Kohbergers family declined to comment on the revelations outlined in Datelines The Killings on King Road.

On Monday (22 May), he will appear in court for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

The 28-year-old is scheduled to be arraigned in Latah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, where he is expected to enter a plea on the charges.

Mr Kohberger had been due to appear in court for a week-long preliminary hearing on 26 June, where the prosecution would lay out the case and evidence against the suspect.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the charges, paving the way for the case to proceed without and leading to the cancellation of the preliminary hearing.

Mr Kohberger is accused of breaking into the student home in the early hours of 13 November and stabbing the four students to death in a horror attack that rocked the college town of Moscow and sent shockwaves across America.

The motive remains unknown and it is still unclear what connection the WSU PhD student had to the University of Idaho students  if any  prior to the murders.

However, the affidavit, released in January, revealed that Mr Kohbergers DNA was found on a knife sheath left behind at the scene of the murders.

It also revealed that his white Hyundai Elantra was caught on surveillance footage at the crime scene and that one of the surviving roommates came face to face with the killer  masked, dressed in head to toe black and with bushy eyebrows  as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders.

Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (Jazzmin Kernodle)

New details have also emerged about what was found during an initial search of his apartment and a rental storage unit.

The court documents show that two items found in his apartment tested positive for blood.

The two items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which had visible reddish brown stains.

The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

Investigators seized a string of other items from his home including possible human and animal hair strands, a disposable glove and a computer.

The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  has still never been found.

As a criminal justice PhD student at WSU, Mr Kohberger lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman. He had moved there from Pennsylvania and began his studies there that summer, having just completed his first semester before his arrest.

Before this, he studied criminology at DeSales University  first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves pictured together before their murders (Instagram)

While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He also carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

Now, he is facing life in prison or the death penalty for the murders that have rocked the small college town of Moscow and hit headlines around the globe.
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Bryan Kohberger is believed to have broken into the home of a female student and then installed security cameras to spy on her in the months before he allegedly killed four other students in a horror attack in Moscow, Idaho.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student had befriended the woman after he moved to Pullman, Washington state, to begin a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU), according to a source.

One day, the woman returned to her apartment and found that someone had broken in and moved items around the home  but that nothing was missing.

Since nothing was taken, the woman decided not to call the police but instead called her new friend Mr Kohberger and asked him to come over.

Mr Kohberger allegedly offered to install a video security system inside her home and the woman agreed.

Following its installation, investigators believe Mr Kohberger used the security cameras to spy on the woman as  knowing her wifi password  he was able to tap into the cameras when within close proximity to the apartment.

The bombshell allegation was revealed in an NBC Dateline episode titled The Killings on King Road, which reported that Mr Kohberger is now a strong suspect in the initial break-in. NewsNation originally reported the claims last month.

Months later, on 13 November, Mr Kohberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, and stabbing to death Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20.

Former FBI profiler Greg Cooper told Dateline that the incident was a step in progression for Mr Kohberger to move from breaking into a home when no one was in to allegedly breaking in when multiple people were home at the King Road address that deadly night in November.

I would expect that he orchestrated the whole thing, he was not looking at her as a potential victim necessarily, said Mr Cooper.

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.

Bryan Kohberger appearing in court in Idaho in January (AP)

The hero image that he can portray. Youve got this problem, Im here to solve the problem for you and to make it better for you.

In the Dateline episode, sources also revealed that Mr Kohbergers sister was growing suspicious that her brother could have been responsible for the murders when the family gathered to spend the holidays together.

In mid-December, Mr Kohberger left his student rental home in Pullman, Washington, to travel cross country with his father back to the family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, for the holidays.

During his time at home, his family members noticed that he was behaving somewhat bizarrely.

The source said that Mr Kohberger was constantly wearing latex gloves, including inside their own home.

One of his two older sisters began to wonder if he could have played a part in the murders  and, at one point, she raised her concerns with her other family members.

She loudly pointed out that, at the time of the murders, her brother was living just a few miles from the crime scene and that he drove a white Hyundai Elantra  the make and colour of vehicle at the centre of the investigation.

Along with his bizarre tendency to wear latex gloves at all time, she believed that the family should consider that Mr Kohberger might have killed the four victims, the source said.

Mr Kohbergers father allegedly defended his son and insisted he could not have been involved.

But her suspicions were so great that  at one point  several family members searched Mr Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra for possible evidence of the crime, the source said.

By that point, police said Mr Kohberger had already been spotted cleaning his car out with bleach and so the family members didnt find anything of note, the source said.

It is not clear if Mr Kohberger was aware of his family members suspicions that he could have been behind the murders  or what potential prior behaviour may have led his own sister to suspect him capable of carrying out such a brutal crime.

Soon after, in the early hours of 30 December, law enforcement swooped on the family home and arrested him for the murders.

At the time of his arrest, the source said Mr Kohberger was wide awake standing in the kitchen wearing latex gloves and putting his personal trash in plastic bags to take it out to a neighbours trash can.

An attorney close to Mr Kohbergers family declined to comment on the revelations to Dateline.

On Monday (22 May), he will appear in court for his arraignment on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

The 28-year-old is now scheduled to be arraigned in Latah County Court in Moscow, where he is expected to enter a plea on the charges.

Mr Kohberger had been due to appear in court for a week-long preliminary hearing on 26 June, where the prosecution would lay out the case and evidence against the suspect.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the charges, paving the way for the case to proceed without and leading to the cancellation of the preliminary hearing.

Mr Kohberger is accused of breaking into the student home in the early hours of 13 November and stabbing the four students to death in a horror attack that rocked the college town of Moscow and sent shockwaves across America.

Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (Jazzmin Kernodle)

The motive remains unknown and it is still unclear what connection the WSU PhD student had to the University of Idaho students  if any  prior to the murders.

However, the affidavit, released in January, revealed that Mr Kohbergers DNA was found on a knife sheath left behind at the scene of the murders.

It also revealed that his white Hyundai Elantra was caught on surveillance footage at the crime scene and that one of the surviving roommates came face to face with the killer  masked, dressed in head to toe black and with bushy eyebrows  as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders.

New details have also emerged about what was found during an initial search of his apartment and a rental storage unit.

The court documents show that two items found in his apartment tested positive for blood.

The two items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which had visible reddish brown stains.

The documents do not reveal who the blood belongs to.

Investigators seized a string of other items from his home including possible human and animal hair strands, a disposable glove and a computer.

The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  has still never been found.

Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves pictured together before their murders (Instagram)

As a criminal justice PhD student at WSU, Mr Kohberger lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman. He had moved there from Pennsylvania and began his studies there that summer, having just completed his first semester before his arrest.

Before this, he studied criminology at DeSales University  first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He also carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

Now, he is facing life in prison or the death penalty for the murders that have rocked the small college town of Moscow and hit headlines around the globe.
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The murder of four college students in the quiet town of Moscow, Idaho, last November unravelled a months-long investigation that is now headed to trial.

The victims, all students at the University of Idaho, were ambushed in their rooms and stabbed to death with a military-style knife that has yet to be found. Police were called to the gruesome scene at the off-campus residence almost eight hours after the vicious attack.

For weeks, only scant details about the carnage were revealed as the community reeled from the tragedy and grappled with fears of a murderer on the loose. That changed with the December arrest of Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger, whose apartment, office and family home were raided and searched for evidence.

While more information has become public through the release of search warrants and arrest records in recent months, a gag order in the case remains in place and most aspects of the probe and its findings are still a mystery.

In a bombshell move on Tuesday (15 May), a long-expected preliminary hearing was rerouted when a grand jury secretly convened and indicted the suspect on one charge of burglary and four charges of murder.

As Mr Kohberger is expected to enter his plea on Monday, The Independent takes a deep dive into the developments in the complex case in the last six months:

How did the stabbings unfold?

Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the young womens rental home on King Road in Moscow on 13 November. Chapin, Kernodles boyfriend, was staying at the residence, which is just a few minutes walk from campus, on the night of the murders.

According to an affidavit for Mr Kohbergers arrest, the killings are believed to have taken place around 4am.

Among the revelations in the 18-page document is that Mr Kohbergers DNA was found on a knife sheath that the killer left behind at the crime scene. The tan leather Kabar sheath, which featured the United States Marine Corps symbol, was discovered on Mogens bed next to her butchered body.

At the time of the quadruple homicide, the two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortenson, were inside the home, but were left unharmed by the killer. The police report reveals that Ms Mortenson came face to face with the masked killer.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 (Instagram)

According to Ms Mortensons terrifying account, she had gone to sleep in her bedroom on the second floor of the three-floor home and was woken by what sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog in one of the third-floor bedrooms.

She told investigators she was in her bedroom on the second floor of the home  the same floor where Kernodle and Chapin were killed  and was standing in the doorway as the killer walked right past her. A short time later, Ms Mortenson said that she heard someone believed to be either Goncalves or Kernodle saying, Theres someone here.

Minutes later, Ms Morterson. said that she looked out of her bedroom for the first time but did not see anything. She then opened her door for a second time when she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodles room, the documents state.

At that point, she said she heard a mans voice saying, Its ok, Im going to help you.

When she opened her door for a third time minutes later, she said she saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose walking towards her. As she stood in a frozen shock phase, she said the man  who she did not recognise  walked past her and headed toward the back sliding glass door of the home. She then locked herself in her room.

A private security officer sits in a vehicle on Jan. 3, 2023, in front of the house in Moscow, Idaho where four University of Idaho were murdered (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Despite the close encounter, a 911 call wasnt made until 11.58am  eight hours later. The call, made from one of the surviving roommates cellphones  reported an unconscious individual. It is unclear if the killer saw her or whether she simply had a lucky escape because he didnt notice her inside the dark home.

This raises the question around whether or not he planned to kill all four victims or whether some of the victims were treated as collateral damage in the horrific attack. Goncalves and Mogens bodies were found in a bedroom on the third floor, while Kernodle and Chapin were found on the second floor of the home.

The affidavit reveals no details about what connection  if any  Mr Kohberger had to his alleged victims.

Mr Kohberger, a criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman, having moved there to begin the academic programme in August 2022.

Who are the victims?

Goncalves and Mogen, both 21, were seniors at the University of Idaho and were expected to graduate this year.

At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves father Mr Goncalves told how the two absolutely beautiful young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.

They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything, he said at the time. Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.

And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.

Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves pictured together before their murders (Instagram)

Kernodle and Chapin were juniors at the college and had begun dating months before their deaths. The couple of 20-year-olds is believed to have been awake at the time the stabbings were carried out.

Six months after the stabbings, the families of the slain students accepted posthumous awards for their achievements.

Mogen and Goncalves relatives walked across the stage for their degrees in an emotional ceremony on 13 May. Kernodles family also accepted her certificate in marketing at a separate ceremony while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management was mailed to his parents.

Kernodles family accepted her certificate in marketing at a private ceremony last week while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management will be mailed to his parents this week.

Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle (Jazzmin Kernodle)

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

At the time of the murders, Mr Kohberger was studying for his PhD and working as a teaching assistant in criminal justice at WSU.

Prior to this, Mr Kohberger studied criminology at DeSales University first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

According to online school records, Mr Kohberger received an associate arts degree in 2018 from Northampton Community College in Albrightsville and received a masters degree in criminal justice this year from DeSales University.

Bryan Kohberger is seen in court

While studying at DeSales, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He was working part-time as a security guard until August 2021 at Pleasant Valley School District, where his mother was listed as a paraprofessional.

The alleged murderer carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

Mr Kohberger reached out to potential participants on Reddit, with the chilling survey resurfacing after his arrest.

In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience, the post said.

His fascination appears to have continued around the time of the murders when he applied for an internship with the local police department.

The affidavit revealed that he applied for an internship in the fall of 2022 with the Pullman Police Department and wrote in an essay how he had an interest in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.

What the unsealed records reveal

After weeks of no updates on the investigation, law enforcement in Idaho and Pennsylvania announced Mr Kohbergers arrest on 30 December. A search warrant was executed at Mr Kohbergers apartment in Pullman, Washington, the same day he was arrested at his parents home in Pennsylvania.

A record of evidence recovered during the apartment search revealed the seizure of 15 items including hairs, receipts, a computer tower, a disposable glove and items with peculiar stains.

In the search warrant record, investigators list several items with stains, including cuttings of a mattress cover, a reddish/brown stain on an uncovered pillow and a collection of dark red spot. Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert, and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told The Independent back in January that investigators most likely believed those items had blood stains.

List of items seized adt authorities served a search warrat at Bryan Kohbergers home (Pennsylvania Courts )

A reddish or brown stain is a euphemism for, We found something that looks like blood, Dr Miller said at the time. It might be blood from the victims, might be his blood. They dont know until they test it, but theyll be able to get DNA if it is blood. We dont know what the stains in the cover sheets look like, but again theyre looking for any kind of DNA, evidence that might have come from the crime scene.

Ms Coffindaffer added: They dont call it blood, but its definitely inferred that it was blood.

Court documents, released by Washington authorities on 4 May showed that multiple items taken from Mr Kohbergers apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood. While most items came back negative, two unspecified items were positive.

Bryan Kohberger is seen in his mugshot (Monroe County Correctional Facility)

Another item included on the list of seizures was a possible animal hair strand. While Mr Kohberger is not believed to have a pet, one of the victims he is accused of killing, Goncalves, had a dog that was at home at the time of the murders and was later found by police responding to the scene.

The possible animal hair theyll try to connect that to the dog left at the scene, according to Dr Miller. If theres a root on that, if there is any skin on that hair, they could do a DNA test with that dog. If its just a hair thats been shed and there is no skin, they would still be able to do a microscopical comparison and exclude most dogs but they wouldnt be able to connect it necessarily to that dog.

Mr Kohberger was also linked to the crime through cellphone records and his white Hyundai Elantra, a similar model of the car seen near the murder home around the time of the murders. Mr Kohberger changed the license plates on his Hyundai Elantra just days after the murders.

The suspects car had Pennsylvania plates when it was pulled over by police in Moscow, in August 2022, according to a citation from the Latah County Sheriffs Office. A review of documents on CarFax by Newsweek showed that Mr Kohberger changed the registration from Pennsylvania to Washington on 18 November, five days after four students were found stabbed to death in a Moscow home.

What we dont know

No murder weapon has been found, police said before the gag order was issued following Mr Kohbergers arrest.

It is not known if the killer personally knew one or more of the victims and whether the attack was carried out in a fit of jealousy or rage. No motive is known.

Authorities have refused to reveal who made the 911 call and will not release the audio. It is unclear what the roommates and other friends discussed in the call and what led them to describe a victim as merely unconscious.

Investigators have not revealed whether they believed the killer entered the house before the victims arrived home and hid before striking in their sleep or whether he entered the house after the students returned.

Kohberger indicted by grand jury

A preliminary hearing, where prosecutors had to show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with charges of burglary and four counts of murder, was previously scheduled for 26 June.

However, on 16 May, a grand jury indicted Mr Kohberger on the same charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process, the Associated Press reported.

The former Washington State University PhD student is now expected to appear for his arraignment at the Latah County District Court at 9am on Monday to enter a plea. According to the indictment, Mr Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree and one count of burglary.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

Mr Kohberger said through a public defender earlier this year that he was eager to be exonerated.

He is being represented by Ann Taylor, one of thirteen public defence attorneys in the state who can work in cases where the prosecution requests capital punishment. Prosecutors in the Idaho murders case have not publicly addressed whether they plan to make that request

Kohbergers parents asked to testify in Pennsylvania death case

It has emerged that Mr Kohbergers parents have been ordered to testify before a grand jury in the familys home state of Pennsylvania in the case of a woman found dead almost a year after her sudden disappearance.

CNN first reported the news on Wednesday (24 May), citing a source who said that the accused killers mother has already given evidence to the grand jury while his father will appear to testify on Thursday (25 May). The information can then be shared with Idaho prosecutors.

The investigation is said to be about the disappearance and death of a 45-year-old woman Dana Smithers, reported Eyewitness News.

Smithers vanished without a trace in May 2022 from Monroe County, Pennsylvania  where Mr Kohberger was living at the time. Her remains were found last month in a wooded area.

What comes next?

On Monday (22 May), Mr Kohberger refused to enter a plea in Latah County District Court, with his attorney saying that he was standing silent on the charges.

The unusual response prompted the judge to enter a not guilty plea on Mr Kohbergers behalf, setting the stage for a trial in which he could potentially face the death penalty.

The judge has set Mr Kohbergers trial date for 2 October 2023 following requests by Kohbergers attorney and the state. The trial is expected to take around six weeks.
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Last November, four University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death at a rental house in Moscow, mere hours after posting smiling photographs together on Instagram.

The case shocked the small college town and drew media attention from across the world, yet for nearly seven weeks there appeared to be no suspect in the case.

Then, on 30 December, Bryan Kohberger  a PhD student in criminology at Washington State University (WSU)  was suddenly arrested and charged with their murders.

Last week, a grand jury indicted MrKohberger on four counts of first-degree murder and one burglary charge, effectively rerouting the case directly to the states felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process.

After months of unanswered questions, the grieving relatives of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin faced their childrens accused killer in court, only for Mr Kohberger to refuse to enter a plea on the murder charges.

So how did we get here?

Heres a timeline of the case so far:

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, took this photo together hours before they died (Instagram/Kaylee Goncalves)

12 November  One lucky girl

At 8.57pm local time on 12 November, Goncalves posted for the last time on Instagram.

It was a picture of herself and the three other slain students standing together arm-in-arm on the porch of a house.

The two other roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke who lived at the home with Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle on King Road are also in the photo.

One lucky girl to be surrounded by these people everyday, Goncalve wrote in the caption.

That night, Chapin and Kernodle went to a party together on the university campus, while Mogen and Goncalves went to a bar in town.

13 November, 1.41am  Victims last seen alive in footage

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Mogen and Goncalves were seen stopping by a local food truck for a late-night bit to eat.

Twitch footage seen by The Independent captured the two best friends arriving at the food truck at around 1.41am.

Officers later said that Mogen and Goncalves used a private party for a ride home from the downtown area after visiting the food truck. The driver dropped them off at their home at around 1.45am.

Meanwhile, Chapin and Kernodle were seen at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, and also returned home around the same time.

The two other surviving roommates had also been out on Saturday night and returned to the property at around 1am, police said.

Goncalvess sister revealed that multiple calls were made from the phones of Goncalves and Mogen to the phone of Goncalves former longtime boyfriend between 2.26am and 2.52am.

Between the two best friends, 10 calls were made, but none were answered.

13 November, 2.44am  Suspects car is spotted

Not long after, according to court documents released by Latah County prosecutors, a car matching the description of Bryan Kohbergers Hyudai sedan was recorded on surveillance cameras at Washington State University, where the 28-year-old is a crimonology graduate student.

Ten minutes later, the car was spotted heading towards SR 270, a road which connects the town of Pullman, Washington, to nearby Moscow, Idaho.

At roughly the same time the sedan was likely heading towards Moscow, Mr Kohbergers cell phone pinged off towers near the his apartment in Pullman, and later showed on cell towers in Idaho in the hours directly after murders.

13 November, 3am to 4am  Murders

Officials believe the students were killed some time between 3am and 4am on Sunday 13 November).

All four were stabbed to death with an edged weapon such as a knife  though the murder weapon has not been found.

There was no sign of forced entry, the door appeared to be unlocked and nothing seems to have been taken.

The two other roommates were home at the time of the attack but were unharmed. Police said that they were not necessarily witnesses to the incident, there was no hostage situation and they appear to have slept through the murders.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt said the victims were likely sleeping when they were killed, as all four were found in bed, and were stabbed multiple times.

According to the Latah County records, the car appearing to be Mr Kohbergers vehicle was seen on various surveillance cameras near the students home between 3.29 and 4.20am, before appearing once again in Pullman at 5.25 near the WSU campus.

13 November, noon  Investigation begins

Law enforcement officers arrived at the house at 11.58am on Sunday after getting a 911 call from the cell phone of one of the surviving roommates (though police refused to confirm who).

Officers said that the roommates woke up on the Sunday and called some unidentified friends to the home because they believed that one of the victims on the second floor had passed out and was not waking up.

The four victims were discovered stabbed to death in their beds on the second and third floors of the house.

16 November  Autopsy findings released

Autopsy findings for the victims were released on Thursday, officially ruling their deaths homicides by stabbing.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt confirmed that each victim was stabbed multiple times with a large knife, describing their wounds as pretty extensive and revealing that they bled out inside their student home.

She said the autopsies confirmed that the victims were killed early in the morning, sometime after 2am, but still during the night but that it was not been possible to determine from the injuries the order in which the victims were attacked.

DNA samples and nail clippings were also taken from the crime scene with the coroner saying that it is possible that the tests could turn up DNA from people besides the victims.

A local prosecutor revealed that investigators were exploring the possibility that more than one killer is responsible for the killings, while officers were reportedly searching for a military-style Ka-Bar knife believed to be the murder weapon.

7 December  Police seek a white car

An initial breakthrough seemed to come when police announced that they were looking for the owner and occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra that was spotted near the crime scene in the early morning hours on the day of the murders.

Detectives did not reveal whether the owner of the white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra is believed to be a suspect but said that the occupant(s) of [the] vehicle may have critical information to share regarding this case. The licence plate is unknown.

The car was in the immediate area of the rental home on King Road in the early hours of 13 November. The murders are thought to have taken place between 3am and 4am.

The development was quickly linked in online sleuth communities to body-camera footage from a separate incident on the night of the killings, which police said stemmed from an alcohol offence just before 3am.

Officials would later shut down speculation around the video, telling The Independent on 8 December that the incident on the body-camera footage was in no way connected to the murders and the white car in the background was not the same one they were seeking information about.

15 December  Two key traffic stops

As police closed in Bryan Kohberger, the graduate student made his way across the country with his father, driving from Washington to spend the holidays with family in Pennsylvania.

By then, officials later revealed, police were on to the 28-year-old, and Indiana police pulled the pair over twice during their journey.

The stops came at the request of the FBI who were seeking images of the suspects hands as part of the investigation into the quadruple homicide of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin back in Moscow, Idaho.

It is not clear why images of Mr Kohbergers hands were important to the investigation or if the officers managed to obtain anything of interest by carrying out the stops on 15 December.

30 December, early morning  Mountain raid

Finally, at around 1.30am local time on 30 December, local police and FBI swooped on a home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, near ski resorts in the Pocono Mountains and arrested a 28-year-old criminology graduate student named Bryan Christopher Kohberger.

According to reports, the property appeared to be Mr Kohbergers parents house in a gated community. A white Hyundai Elantra was also seized.

NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin said that the suspect asked if anyone else was arrested and had a quiet, blank stare, citing inside sources.

30 December, 8am  News breaks

Later that day the Moscow Police Department and prosecutors held their first press conference since 23 November, revealing that Mr Kohberger had been charged with four counts of first degree murder.

They declined to give details on how he had come to be arrested and charged but said they still wanted to hear from members of the public who may have information about what happened.

Meanwhile, several insiders have provided crucial details to the media. One law enforcement official told CNN that Mr Kohberger was identified through genetic testing that linked DNA at the crime scene to his relatives.

Sources say authorities then confirmed that Mr Kohberger owned a white Hyundai Elantra like the one spotted near the crime scene on the night of the murders.

Investigators reportedly tracked Mr Kohberger as he drove more han 2,000 miles from Washington state to Pennsylvania, where he was surveilled for days before being taken into custody.

31 December  Charges filed

Shorly after his arrest, Mr Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder, as well as felony burglary. But the legal process didnt end there.

4 January  The suspect returns to Idaho

The 28-year-old arrived in Moscow in the late evening, where a group of officers walked the suspect into a waiting truck.

Mr Kohberger appeared to be wearing body armour as police led him into custody. On 4 Judge, the judge also issued a gag order, banning investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and members of both the prosecution and the defence from sharing any new information about the investigation or the suspect before a verdict is reached at trial.

As a result Moscow Police Department, which had been sharing updates on the investigation, said in a statement that it will no longer be communicating with the public or the media regarding the case.

5 January  Kohberger appears in court

After weeks of investigations, police and community members alike finally got what they wanted: a suspect, in Idaho court, facing charges for the four University of Idaho murders.

Mr Kohberger appeared in a Latah County court for the first time, where he heard the charges against him, had his bail rights revoked, and faced down crying family members of his alleged slain victims.

12 January - Kohberger waives preliminary hearing

Mr Kohberger appeared in Latah County Courthouse with cuts on his face as he waived his right to a speedy trial on charges of murdering the four Idaho students.

Mr Kohbergers public defender Anne Taylor then requested that his next court date be pushed back until June.

The prosecution agreed to the request and the judge scheduled the preliminary hearing for the week beginning 26 June.

19 January - Idaho police unseal search warrants

Police investigating the murder of four Idaho students seized a string of items from suspect Mr Kohbergers apartment, including possible hair strands, a disposable glove, items with red and brown stains and a computer, according to a newly unsealed search warrant.

Police said that one of the items found at the suspects apartment at nearby Washington State University was a possible animal hair strand. In the documents, investigators said one item had a collection of dark red spotting, and that a pillow had a reddish/brown stain on it.

The application also stated that the murder scene near the University of Idaho campus where the victims were discovered had a large amount of the victims blood including spatter and castoff blood.

28 February - Search warrant reveals items seized in Pennsylvania

The search warrant application was filed in Pennsylvanias Monroe County court on 29 December, the day before Mr Kohbergers arrest. It approved a search of the family residence, the adjacent garage and the suspects car.

It allowed investigators to collect blood, or other bodily fluid or materials and items with blood - but the list of seizures does not mention any such items.

Investigators seized nine items: one Defiant-brand silver flashlight, four medical-style gloves, a large white t-shirt, a pair of black and white size 13 Nike shoes and a pair of black Under Armor shorts. They also took a buccal swab, possibly from Mr Kohberger.

27 March - Prosecutors reveal officer is under internal affairs investigation

In a filing, authorities disclosed the existence of a Giglio/Brady list that could potentially affect the ongoing criminal proceedings against Mr Kohberger, the only suspect in the case.

 ...the State has become aware of potential Brady/Giglio material related to one of the officers involved in the above-referenced case, the filing stated.

Under Brady law, investigators are responsible for disclosing exculpatory information to defence counsel. Meanwhile, Giglio material conveys information that could potentially indicate that a witness is not credible, according to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.

The scope of the list and the role of the officer in the murder investigation were not immediately clear. The evidence mentioned in the recent filing was submitted in camera to the court on 24 March, but its content remains sealed at the request of prosecutors.

5 May - Kohbergers belongings test positive for blood

Court documents, released by Washington authorities showed that multiple items taken from the 28-year-old Washington State University criminology PhD students apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood.

While most items came back negative, two items were positive.

Those items were a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which were described as having visible reddish brown stains. The documents did not reveal who the blood belongs to.

13 May - Victims families accept posthumous degrees

Six months after the victims were killed in their sleep at their off-campus home in Moscow, their loved ones received the awards during two separate ceremonies.

Goncalves four siblings received their sisters general studies diploma while Mogens parents were given her marketing degree. Kernodles family accepted her certificate in marketing at a previous private ceremony while Chapins award in sports, recreation and management was mailed to his parents.

16 May - Kohberger indicted by grand jury over Idaho murders

A grand jury indicted MrKohberger on charges of burglary and four counts of murder, allowing the parties to skip the previously planned 26 June preliminary hearing.

Each murder count states that he did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder each of the victims by stabbing.

The list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury is sealed. Mr Kohbergers indictment means that the jurors empanelled on the grand jury believed there was enough evidence against him for the case to proceed to trial.

22 May - Kohberger refuses to enter plea

Mr Kohberger refused to enter a plea in Latah County District Court, prompting the judge to make one on his behalf.

His attorney said that he was standing silent on the charges.

Several members of Kaylee Goncalves family were present in the courtroom, facing the man accused of killing their 21-year-old daughter as he declined to enter a plea.

The judge set Mr Kohbergers trial date for 2 October 2023 following requests by Kohbergers attorney and the state. The trial is expected to take around six weeks.
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A man has been arrested in New York City after he allegedly brutally attacked a woman on the subway.

Kamal Semrade, 39 is facing charges of attempted murder and assault for allegedly shoving 35-year-old Emine Ozsoy into the side of a moving subway car.

The incident took place around 6am on Sunday on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, say authorities.

Ms Ozsoy and Mr Semrade are believed to have first crossed paths at the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue subway station, riding the same train to Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street Station, according to ABC News.

Surveillance video captured the moment a man believed to be Mr Semrade shoved Ms Ozsoy onto the platform.

Authorities do not believe Mr Semrade and his alleged interview knew each other before the incident but are investigating whether they had any exchanges during the commute.

She didnt even see it coming, Nancy Marrero, who witnessed the attack, told the New York Post. With open palms, he just mushed her head  not her body  into the train. She just tumbled, just kept spinning because the train kept hitting her.

Ms Marrerro added: You could see the white inside [the flesh in her face], thats how bad it was ... I dont feel my arms. I feel like theyre broken.

Mr Semrade was arrested on Tuesday at a homeless shelter in Queens.

Kamal Semrade was arrested for allegedly shoving a woman into the side fo a movign train (FOX 5 screenshot)

Ms Ozsoy, who was on her way to work when the attack unfolded, suffered a broken neck and spinal injuries. According to the description of a GoFundMe page created to help cover her medical expenses, doctors initially told her she had only a slight chance of recovering movement below the neck.

In just one day, she challenged that prognosis by moving her arms. It is a huge step, but her road to recovery will be long and challenging. Shes a fighter and is already fighting to recover, the description read. She will get there, but she needs everyones help. More than $13,000 have been raised as of Tuesday evening.

Emine Ozsoy suffered a broken neck and spinal injuries (GoFundMe/Shiv Patel )

Ms Ozsoy reportedly told law enforcement she has no recollection of the altercation.

Shes petite, it would be really easy to hurt her, she just was really friendly and we said hello, Ms Ozsoys neighbour Lila Stromer told ABC.

And you know, she was a quiet neighbour. But you know its kind of like in New York City you know each other in the elevator but you dont know each other. But so when we heard we were just horrified because she is really nice.
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The grieving family of slain University of Idaho Kaylee Goncalves has complained to the court after the judge presiding over their daughters murder case mispronounced her name.

Bryan Kohberger, accused of the 13 November stabbings of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, appeared in Latah County Court in Moscow to enter a plea on Monday (22 May).

During the brief hearing, Judge John Judge informed Mr Kohberger of his rights, the charges against him and the penalties  including the death penalty  if he is convicted.

But while reading out the charges, the judge mispronounced two of the victims names. First, he appeared to call Goncalves Kayla and then struggled to pronounce Kernodles first name, ultimately saying Zana.

This is hard, Im sorry, the judge told the court.

According to reporters present during the hearing, Goncalves sister Alivea Goncalves was seen shaking her head in disapproval. Ms Goncalves later complained to the victim assistance coordinator, COURTV reported.

Before the hearing kicked off on Monday, the grieving sister was seen arriving in court with her parents and newborn baby, who she named in part after Goncalves and Mogen.

Latah County Judge John C. Judge presides over an arraignment hearing for Bryan Kohberger (Reuters)

Mondays hearing appears to be the first time Judge Judge presided over a hearing in which Mr Kohberger was present. He has been on the district court bench since 2008.

Mr Kohberger last appeared in court on 12 January to waive his rights to an expedited preliminary hearing, with Judge Megan Marshall presiding at the time.

In an unusual move on Monday, Mr Kohbergers attorney said that he was standing silent on the charges, leaving the judge to enter not-guilty pleas on his behalf.

Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court on Monday 22 May (AP)

Shackled and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with what appeared to be protective armour underneath, the accused killer entered the courtroom just after 9am PT, giving his attorney Anne Taylor a brief smile as he sat down next to her.

The judge went through each count individually, saying aloud each of the victims names.

Mr Kohberger showed no emotion or expression as he stared straight ahead at the judge while hearing the names of the students who he is accused of violently killing.

Mr Kohberger spoke only to answer defiantly and loudly yes and yes I do when asked if he understood the charges, maximum penalties and his rights in the court.

The prosecution now has 60 days to confirm whether or not they are seeking the death penalty in the case.

Mr Kohberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus student home on King Road and stabbing the victims to death with a large, military-style knife.

FILE - Bryan Kohberger, left, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County Court

Two other female roommates lived with the three women at the property and were home at the time of the massacre but survived.

One of the survivors  Dylan Mortensen  came face to face with the masked killer, dressed in head to toe black and with bushy eyebrows, as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders, according to the criminal affidavit.

For more than six weeks, no arrests were made and no suspects named before law enforcement swooped on Mr Kohbergers family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, on 30 December and arrested him for the quadruple murders.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 (Instagram/Kaylee Goncalves)

An affidavit released in January revealed that Mr Kohbergers DNA was found on a knife sheath left behind at the scene of the murders

It also revealed that his white Hyundai Elantra was caught on surveillance footage close to the crime scene.

New details have emerged since about what was found during an initial search of his apartment in Pullman and a rental storage unit. The court documents show that two items found in his apartment  a mattress cover on the bed and an uncased pillow  tested positive for blood.

Judge Judge has set Mr Kohbergers trial date for 2 October 2023 following a request by Mr Kohbergers attorney to set the date as late as possible. The trial is expected to take around six weeks.
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The fight over the words of a child killer has created strange bedfellows in the state of Tennessee, which was plunged into turmoil when an armed 28-year-old stormed a Christian school in March and shot dead six victims.

Conservatives, police and gun groups are all lobbying for the release of writings by the shooter, named by authorities as Audrey Hale, a former student at The Covenant School. The media, so often at odds with law enforcement and right-wing stalwarts, on this point agrees with them  or some of them, anyway.

The Metro Nashville Police Department, for its part, has repeatedly denied requests to release the records. The school and Covenant Presbyterian Church, along with parents and other Covenant families, are also fighting to keep the shooters musings and manifestos from the public.

Its a battle that one father who lost his child in a mass shooting 11 years ago cant believe is still happening.

Tom Teves, of Arizona, co-founded an advocacy group more than a decade ago after his son, Alex, died protecting his girlfriend when a gunman opened fire at a Colorado movie theatre in 2012. Mr Teves and his wife, Caren, founded No Notoriety with the aim of reducing coverage of shooters names, profiles and motivations  to avoid potential copycat atrocities.

Three nine-year-olds and three adults were shot dead at Nashvilles Covenant School by a 28-year-old former student on 27 March (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Any manifesto or writings by a shooter  such as the materials currently in question that were seized from the Nashville attackers home and vehicle  would fit squarely within those parameters, Mr Teves tells The Independent one day before a Tennessee judge was scheduled to make the latest ruling in the matter.

Its not a debate; you dont release a manifesto, says Mr Teves, whose son would have turned 35 next week. What you do is, when you get it, you put it in the file, you seal the file, [if] theres somebody [that] needs to read it for a real purpose. But you dont put it out there to get other people killed.

Opponents of the publication of mass shooter manifestos and other writings point to the contagion effect  essentially, when one attack begets or inspires another. No one wants to give a playbook or a purpose to a potential future perpetrator.

Its proven, and the people who did [the shootings] tell you that  over and over again, the one thing that connects them all, they want to be famous, Mr Teves says of mass shooters. And again, when I say all, thats a generalisation ... but most of them are motivated because they want to be famous. They want to go down in history. They all check on the others kill rates. When are we going to get it?

Covenant School parents have outlined much of this same reasoning, writing in a brief filed last week that they see no good that can come from the release and wish to contend that the writings  which they believe are the dangerous and harmful writings of a mentally-damaged person  should not be released at all.

The parents explicitly mention copycat attacks, while a lawyer representing the majority of them called attention to another sensitive group whod be affected by the release of writings: the surviving schoolchildren at Covenant.

Mourners hug at a vigil following the March school shooting in Nashville which left six dead, not including the shooter killed by police (The Tennessean)

It is such a heavy burden for them to put themselves back in the middle of all this when they are just trying to heal, Eric G. Osborne said at a Monday court hearing. Clearly they wouldnt be doing this if they didnt earnestly believe that the release of these writings were going to have very negative effects on them.

Re-victimisation, however, has never been the main driving force for Mr Teves; rather, its proactive prevention.

People talk about, Well, are you worried about being re-victimised? he tells The Independent. When your firstborn child is murdered for no reason  not that theres ever a good reason for murder, but literally just for being a human being  theres no coming back from that. You cant make me feel worse ... My goal is to try to save your children. Mines already dead. I cant save him.

Weighing the pros and cons of the release of the Nashville shooters writings is a task that has fallen to Nashville Judge lashes Myles, who has been provided with an unredacted version of the shooters journal and suicide note, a city spokesman told CNN.

Judge Myles was set to rule on Wednesday (24 May) about whether Covenant parents would be allowed to intervene in lawsuit proceedings. The Covenant Presbyterian Church, which runs the school, has also sought to intervene because the release may contain sensitive information owned by the school, such as schematics of the facilities and the confidential information of employees and students, Fox17 reported.

At least four lawsuits have been filed in attempts to procure the writings, including by the National Police Association and Tennessee Firearms Association, which sued for access after MNPD denied records requests.

Many believe that public access to these records is important for a number of reasons including the interest in determining the actual basis for the homicides, the Tennessee Firearms Association said in a statement, particularly in light of Governor Bill Lees call for a special legislative session to consider his gun control proposal that he has presented in the format of a Red Flag law.

The mother of victim Evelyn Dieckhaus cries at a legislative session (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The perusal and interpretation of the shooters writings have, as evidenced by that statement, taken on new urgency as Tennessee lawmakers wrestle with the aftermath of the March massacre in a state with some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation.

More than 60 members of the Tennessee House Republican Caucus have signed a letter calling for the release of of the shooters manifesto. Caucus Chair Rep. Jeremy Faison told the New York Post it was incumbent on us to understand all the ins and outs of what drove the shooter to plan the school attack and said the group did not understand the apprehension about the writings release.

The Tennessean newspaper has also sued the city for records to bring to light additional facts regarding this incident, societal and mental health issues, and issues regarding firearms more broadly, which have not yet been revealed through other means. According to the newspaper, MNPD denied records requests because there is an ongoing criminal investigation, which it said in court filings concerns whether the shooter acted alone in planning the attack. Metro also pointed to rules in Tennessee public records law that exempt records for release that imperil school safety.

The decision about whether or not to make public the rantings of a mass murderer is not a new one, nor is it a light one  but the Tennessee dilemma is complex. A show cause hearing regarding the manifesto release was scheduled for 8 June but may be postponed; Judge Myles was expected to set out a timeline on Wednesday.

University of Alabama professor Adam Lankford, who has studied mass shootings extensively, points out that various factors seem to influence whether the writings or manifestos of shooters get released  and that theres an inconsistent approach on these kinds of things by authorities.

Demonstrators lock arms with each other during the Arms Are for Hugging protest for gun control legislation (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The arguments for and against release, however, usually follow the same formats.

The information itself can inform research and analysis and, hopefully, more insight into what the perpetrator was thinking can help us better prevent these types of attacks in the future, Mr Lankford tells The Independent. Frankly, I just think theres no doubt that if you say, Well, you know, lets just leave it to the government to research that ... Its a very limited approach.

Frankly, that wasnt the approach we take to medicine, says Mr Lankford, chair of the universitys department of criminology and criminal justice. Its always the more minds working on something, the better. And as a criminologist whos done some of the leading work on mass shootings, I just recognise that there are some great government reports, FBI analyses and things like that in the United States, but there are also things that they dont see or dont catch. So the information itself has value for research and potentially for prevention.

And then, I guess, also, for publishing it, theres concerns about things like censorship. So in other words, like, there needs to be a strong argument for withholding it.

Mr Teves and No Notoriety counter that failure to release a shooters writings neither constitutes censorship nor an infringement on First Amendment rights.

We are asking for the same consideration that has been given in other areas of reporting, the group writes on its site. The media has already set precedent by voluntarily changing their policies when reporting on victims of sexual assault, suicide and on juveniles. Were saying its time for another policy change for the sake of public safety.

And Mr Lankford addresses that public safety argument, conceding that there are never any guarantees.

Is it possible that theres something in the Nashville shooters manifesto that would be seen as cool by people who are at risk and kind of on the fringes of society? Certainly, its possible, he says. But I guess, if it were me, I would look closely at the content. I would release it. And if there is something that seemed especially inflammatory, I would just redact that sentence or that paragraph. In other words, its a middle ground that still gives people the information that they want.

From the data and his research, he says, copycats are usually inspired by previous attackers as individuals, as personas, as personalities  not necessarily inspired by some sort of profound words of wisdom that came from previous perpetrators.

He also points out that, while lawsuits and others profess to seek answers or explanations in the writings, there is only so much that can be gleaned.

The concept of, What was the shooters motive? is itself tremendously over simplified, he tells The Independent. So people are often looking for one thing, but the reality is, even if the shooter says, I did it for for reason X, its more complicated than that.

In other words, first of all, youre assuming that someone who had committed mass murder is telling you the truth. And then youre also assuming that the person has the degree of self-awareness to really understand the psychology that led them to that point with, with sophistication.

Nashville School Shooting Records (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The decision in the Nashville case, at least, now rests with the courts  and with a judge weighing the benefits against the risks.

It happens daily, Mr Teves says of mass shootings. When are you all gonna wake up that the child that died could be yours? When you have kids, theyre gonna go to the movies, theyre gonna go to school, hopefully theyre going to church, theyre gonna go to the mall. Tell me a place you dont get shot at these days.

Every day, when he walks through his Arizona garage into the hallway of his house, the pain hits him when he sees his son smiling in family photos.

Truthfully, again, my sons dead, Mr Teves says, emphasising that hes clamoring for change for the other children and other people that want to live.

Im already dead inside. Thats not going to change, he says, adding sadly that he believes limiting information about shooters might not stop every massacre but would definitely stop a significant percentage.

The whole, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? Its not that hard, he says. Dont release it.
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A Family Feud participant is facing trial in Illinois for allegedly breaking into his estranged wifes home and fatally shooting her in a vicious attack.

Tim Bliefnick, 39, is charged with first-degree murder and home invasion in connection with the violent death of his 41-year-old wife Becky Bliefnick. Investigators say the couple was going through a contentious divorce that was in its final stages at the time of Bliefnicks fatal shooting on 23 February.

During the ongoing murder trial at the Adams County Courthouse in Quincy, prosecutors have presented evidence and witness testimony that they said prove Mr Bleifnick pried open his wifes second-storey window with a crowbar before shooting her 14 times, KHQA reports.

The tragedy comes nearly three years after Mr Bliefnick made an ominous joke during his appearance at ABCs Family Feud. Answering a question by host Steve Harvey on what his worst mistake had been on his wedding night, Mr Bliefnick said that it was saying I do  the answer was second on the board.

Now, the alleged murderer is facing between 45 years to life in prison if convicted for the shooting of his wife and the mother of his three children.

In an obituary for Bliefnick, she is described as a compassionate and generous mother who had found her true calling in nursing. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Bliefnick was a travel nurse at the Northeast Regional Medical Center and Hannibal Regional Hospital in Missouri.

Loved ones first became concerned when Bliefnick failed to pick up her sons from school.

Her body was then found on the floor in the bathroom of her home, with a towel underneath. Bliefnick was left terrified, bleeding, and alone after the fatal attack, prosecutors said on the first day of the trial on Monday.

Timothy Bliefnick (on left) jokes about marriage to Family Feud' host Steve Harvey (Family Feud)

In March, the Quincy Police Department served a search warrant at Mr Bleifnicks home. At the time, he denied any involvement with the crime and said through an attorney that he was surprised authorities didnt show up at his door sooner.

Given the circumstances, it is not surprising that the search warrant was issued and executed, the attorney told local news outlet Muddy River News. My only surprise is that it took this long to do. It is just as important that QPD conduct such as investigation to rule Tim OUT as a suspect so that investigative efforts can be spent elsewhere.

Mr Bliefnick has since entered a not-guilty plea.

Prosecutors have revealed during the first week of trial that they found chilling searches for how to wash off gunpowder, average police response time, and how to open a door with a crowbar. DNA from the crime scene also links Mr Bliefnick to the crime scene, according to prosecutors.

(Rebecca Bliefnick )

Adams County Assistant States Attorney Josh Jones told a jury of six women and six men that shell casings found in Mr Bliefnicks basement matched the casings that were found near his wifes body. Crime scene investigators also reportedly found Bleifnicks DNA in an Aldi bag found at her husbands home.

The couple had filed for divorce in early 2021, court filings show.

Mr Jones said during opening arguments that Mr Bliefnick had reportedly told his slain wife that she would not get his money. The prosecutor also told jurors that Bliefnick had texted a friend before her death that if anything happened to her, her husband was behind it.

Bliefnics body was found by her father William Postle. Before discovering the gruesome scene, Mr Postle said that his son-in-law texted asking him to check if Bleifnick was going to pick up the children.

This booking image provided by Adams County, Illl., administration, shows Timothy Bliefnick

Bliefnicks boyfriend Ted Johnson also took the stand on Tuesday. Testifying for the prosecution, Mr Johnson said that Bliefnick was looking forward to having her difficult divorce finalised.

Sarah Rilley, Bleifnicks sister, claimed that Bleifnick had first wanted to remain married to Mr Bliefnick for their three children but in the months leading up to her death had become afraid for his life.

If something ever happens to me, make sure the number one person of interest is Tim. I am putting this in writing that Im fearful he will somehow harm me, Bliefnick reportedly texted her sister in 2021.
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Donald Trump appeared virtually in Manhattan criminal court on 23 May for the first time since he was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Judge Juan Merchan disclosed the terms of a protective order that prohibits the former president from publicly discussing evidence in the case after prosecutors with the New York District Attorneys office share information with Mr Trumps legal team in a case stemming from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign.

A trial is set to begin on 25 March 2024, days after voting begins in Republican presidential primaries as Mr Trump once again seeks the GOP nomination. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Trump grew agitated with the announcement of the trial date, waved his hands and shook his head in disapproval, then folded his arms in frustration as he begins to stare down what could be a weeks-long trial in a critical period in the middle of his 2024 campaign.

Prosecutors have argued that a protective order was necessary to keep Mr Trump  who already has repeatedly lashed out against Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Merchan  from broadcasting information about the case before a jury has been selected and a trial begins.

Mr Trump will be allowed to publicly discuss the case and defend himself in the public sphere, as he continues to adamantly reject the charges as a witch hunt against him, but he risks being held in contempt of court if he uses any evidence handed to his team in an attempt to target witnesses, court staff or others involved with the case.

On Tuesday, the former president appeared on a video screen in front of two American flags with golden fringes, seated next to his attorney Todd Blanche.

A six-page order on 8 May prohibits the presumptive frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president, who has used his online bully pulpit with an audience of obedient followers to broadcast veiled threats and insults at his perceived enemies, from disseminating covered materials on social media platforms including, but not limited, to Truth Social, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat, or YouTube, without prior approval from the court.

Mr Trump also cannot disclose the names and identifying information of any personnel from the Manhattan district attorneys office, other than sworn members of law enforcement, assistant district attorneys, and expert or fact witnesses (other than summary witnesses) until a jury has been selected, according to the order. Mr Baggs office can also redact identifying information from discovery materials, the judge has said.

The former president is very concerned that his First Amendment rights are being violated by this protective order, Mr Blanche told the judge on Tuesday.

Its certainly not a gag order, Judge Merchan said.

Its certainly not my intention in any way to impede Mr Trumps ability to campaign ... Hes certainly free to deny the charges, he added. Hes free to do just about anything that doesnt violate the specific terms of this protective order.

(via REUTERS)

Mr Trump, his former attorney Michael Cohen and the former owner of the National Enquirer David Pecker allegedly worked in concert toidentify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects leading up to the 2016 presidential election, according to prosecutors.

The alleged payments were used to cover up sex scandals as part of a conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election, according to prosecutors.

Hours after he first appeared in criminal court on 4 April, after the judge warned him against making any incendiary remarks or personal attacks, Mr Trump immediately flew back to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he went on to do just that.

I have a Trump-hating judge, with a Trump-hating wife and family, he said that night.

He called Mr Bragg a local failed district attorney and a criminal who should resign.

The former president is at the centre of several other civil and criminal investigations, including a $250m lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James, special counsel probes from the US Department of Justice into January 6 and mishandling of classified White House documents at Mar-a-Lago, and a criminal case in Georgia stemming from his attempts to pressure officials to overturn that states election results in 2020.

Earlier this month, a federal jury found Mr Trump liable for for battery and defamation in a lawsuit from the writer E Jean Carroll, who said the former president raped her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.

Jurors agreed that Mr Trump sexually abused her and then defamed her when he denied her allegations. She was awarded $5m in damages for both claims.
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A 19-year-old man has been charged with threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on the president, vice president or their family members after allegedly ramming a truck into bollards outside a park near the White House.

Sai Varshith Kandula was arrested after intentionally crashing a U-Haul box truck into barriers outside Lafayette Park in Washington DC at roughly 9.40pm on 22 May, according to US Park Police and US Secret Service.

He has also been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.

News agencies photographed police officers removing a Nazi flag from the truck and examining the flag on the ground. A black backpack and a roll of duct tape also appear to have been removed from the truck. The trucks cargo area appeared to be empty.

He allegedly told police that he wanted to seize power and kill the president, according to a statement of facts filed by a Secret Service agent in court documents released on 23 May.

He purchased the flag online because he admires authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order, according to court filings. Mr Kandula also said he admires Adolf Hitler as a strong leader.

Asked by police how we would plan seize power, he allegedly said that he would kill the president if thats what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way, according to court filings.

He allegedly told police that he had planend the attack for six months, outlined in a green book, according to filings.

Mr Kandula, from the St Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri, graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 2022, according to the Rockwood School District.

A LinkedIn profile that appears to match that description shows an interest in a career in data analytics with experience and certification in programming and coding languages.

He allegedly traveled from Missouri to Dulles International Airport with a one-way ticket, then rented the truck and drove towards the White House, according to authorities.

Sai Varshith Kandula is pictured in a Marquette High School yearbook image from 2022, courtesy of the Rockwood School District (Rockwood School District)

Police have declined to publicly provide further details about the nature of the alleged attack or information about the suspect. Law enforcement officials also indicated the suspect made threatening statements during his arrest.

There were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House personnel and the cause and manner of the crash remain under investigation, Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service chief of communications, said in a statement on Monday night.

The nearby Hay Adams hotel evacuated guests from the building shortly after the crash but allowed them back into the building by 1am ET.

A bystander taking a selfie near a rented box truck is moved away by a US Secret Service agent as law enforcement agencies investigate the truck that crashed into security barriers at Lafayette Park across from the White House (REUTERS)

Following the crash and the release of the suspects name, a wave of accounts on Elon Musks Twitter sought to portray the incident as a false flag or a hoax, echoing similar baseless statements in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Texas mall earlier this month after the gunman was revealed as an alleged neo-Nazi with SS and swastika tattoos.

Right-wing pundits including Donald Trump Jr and other personalities and accounts on the social media network continue to falsely suggest that news organisations are labelling the crash suspect as a white supremacist in an attempt to undermine both the attack and threats of white supremacist violence.

This was initially published on 23 May and has been updated with developments
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A father-of-two was killed by a driver as he was trying to help a family of ducks cross the road in California.

At approximately 8.15pm on 18 May, 41-year-old Casey Rivara parked his car at the intersection of Park Drive and Standford Ranch Boulevard in Rocklin, California, to help usher a group of ducklings off the road to safety, the Rocklin Police Department said in a press release.

As Rivara was assisting the family of ducks, a driver heading eastbound on Stanford Ranch Boulevard struck him.

Emergency first responders were sent to assist but Rivara died at the scene.

According to the police, the driver, a 17-year-old girl, according to local news outlet KCRA, stayed at the scene and no arrests were made. The incident is under investigation but the driver is not expected to face charges.

Casey Rivara is seen helping ducks cross the road before he was killed (William Wimsatt)

One witness, a 12-year-old boy, told KCRA that several cars stopped to let Rivara help the ducks and began clapping for him.

He got out of the car and he was shooing the ducks and everyone was clapping because he was being really nice, the young boy said. He helped them get up on the curb because all the little baby duckies were having trouble.

A GoFundMe campaign was set up for Casey Rivaras family (GoFundMe)

According to the 12-year-old boy, he and his mother rolled down the window to thank the man for his good deed but seconds later he was hit by the car.

All I remember is the sound and then him flying across the intersection, the 12-year-old said.

Another witness, a woman named Summer Peterson, told CBS News that her children also watched the incident unfold.

They were saying, Oh its so cute. Its so nice of him. And then all of the sudden he was hit by a car, Ms Peterson said.

In a video taken by KCRA, members of the community seemed to have started a small memorial for Rivara by leaving flowers and rubber ducks near the intersection.

According to a GoFundMe organised by a family member, Rivara was a husband and father to two young children.

(KCRA)

Casey was the kindest, most amazing husband and father, the description of the GoFundMe says.

Even his last act in this world was a sign of his compassion. The family is trying to figure out how to recover and keep going after this immense loss. If you would like to express your love and support for Angel and her family, we ask that you please contribute here in lieu of flowers, meals, and other acts of kindness.

The Independent has reached out to the Rocklin Police Department for comment.

Rocklin Police are asking anyone with information about this incident to contact them.
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The treatment of a kiwi at a zoo in Miami sparked a social media furore in New Zealand and an intervention by the countrys Department of Conservation, leading the zoo to issue an apology.

Paora, a kiwi hatched at Zoo Miami, was part of a programme at the facility which allowed visitors to pet it for around $20, reported Insider.

Videos on social media showed the flightless bird being petted by visitors under bright lights. Users were left stunned and outraged as zoo staff allegedly neglected letting the bird take shade in the dark and forced it to stay up during the day.

The kiwi is a nocturnal bird.

A petition called Save This Mistreated Kiwi  that pointed to its ill treatment  has received nearly 12,000 signatures.

He has been tamed and is subjected to bright fluorescent lighting four days a week, being handled by dozens of strangers, petted on his sensitive whiskers, laughed at, and shown off like a toy, the petition said.

Kiwi are nocturnal animals, who should be kept in suitable dark enclosures, and minimally handled. He is unable to exercise natural behaviour, which is one of the necessary freedoms outlined in the Animal Welfare Act.

The best practice manual for kiwi states that they shouldnt be handled often or taken out of their burrow to be held by the public. He is kept awake during the day, with only a small box in a brightly lit enclosure to mimic his natural underground habitat, it said.

New Zealands Department of Conservation subsequently said in a statement on Tuesday that, while offshore kiwis are managed separately, they will be discussing the issue with non-profit American Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

On Wednesday, appearing on New Zealands national radio, zoo spokesperson Ron Magill said Zoo Miami had made a huge mistake here.

After receiving a flood of complaints, I immediately went to the zoo director, and I said, we have offended a nation, he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

Prime minister Chris Hipkins also commented on the issue and said the incident shows a lot of Kiwis take pride in our national bird when theyre overseas.

The New Zealanders who witnessed what was happening there caught it pretty quickly, he said.

He said the zoo had made public statements of regret on whats happened, and I acknowledge that and thank them for taking it seriously.

The bird has been returned to the dark, but will not be repatriated to New Zealand.

The zoo said the kiwi encounter programme that allowed zoo visitors to pet the bird would be ended immediately, and Paora would no longer be exposed to fluorescent lights.

We listened to everyone who wrote to us  and there were a lot, Mr Magill said.
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Retail giant Target announced on Wednesday it was pulling some of its Pride Month merchandise after several of its employees experienced confrontational behavior from angry customers.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team embers sense of safety and well-being while at work, Target said in a statement.

Several videos posted on social media show customers destroying Targets Pride Month displays and heavily criticising the retail company for including LGBT+ attire.

This included a tuck-friendly bathing suit option and greeting cards that used inclusive language.

A Target spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that several angry customers made threatening posts on social media with video from inside stores in addition to confronting workers.

Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year, Target said in their statement.

The Independent has reached out to Target for comment.

For years, Target has been considered a leader in providing inclusive clothing during Pride Month. The retail company often begins displaying products in May in preparation for Pride in June.

However, the decision to pull merchandise due to critics has left many people disappointed in the company

A Twitter user named Sean Collins wrote, Just got off the phone with Target (1-800-440-0680). Calmly explained that as the parent of a queer kid to whom their pride merch has meant a lot I cant shop at a place willing to sacrifice such kids to placate hate groups. The customer service rep started to cry, and so did I.

Jon Cooper tweeted, Its terribly disappointing that Target is caving in to threats of violence from anti-LGBTQ bigots by removing Pride Month displays. If these extremists decide to attack displays celebrating Black History Month next, will Target remove those as well?

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson issued a statement calling on Target to stand firm in support for LGBTQ+ Community.

Target should not be responding so easily to criticism and threats from the likes of the Proud Boys, Ms Robinsaid said.

Extremist groups and individuals work to divide us and ultimately dont just want rainbow products to disappear, they want us to disappear. For the past decade, the LGBTQ+ community has celebrated Pride with Target- its time that Target stands with us and double-down on their commitment to us.

Several Democrat politicians also criticised Targets decision

CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage. This isnt just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has mocked Colorado representative Lauren Boebert after she claimed she had her third son because birth control was too expensive.

I left a prescription at a pharmacy once. I went to get birth control, she said during a hearing on Tuesday 23 May. I was there at the counter, went to pay for it, and the price was very, very high. I said wow, is this a three-, six-month prescription? They said, no maam, this is one month. I said its chapter to have a kid. And I left it there, and now I have my third son, Kaydon Boebert, and so it actually turned out to be a really great thing.

The Democratic congresswoman took issue with the story, noting how Ms Boebert had voted against legislation that would help ensure wider access to contraception.

And then she voted against the right to contraception so she could double this problem and give it to the next person, she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Last year, Ms Boebert, alongside most of the House GOP, voted against the Right to Contraception Act, which wouldve enshrined the right to contraception in federal law.

Rep Kathy Castor of Florida, one of the bills sponsors, said the bill was important as women are facing "a perilous time, where an extremist Supreme Court and the GOP are rolling back our rights."

Democratic lawmakers rallied around the bill after US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a concurring opinion to the decision overturning Roe v Wade that the high court should revisit 1965s Griswold v Connecticut, which forbids states from banning contraception.

Because any substantive due process decision is demonstrably erroneous... we have a duty to correct the error established in those precedents, Justice Thomas wrote. The question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a majority of women between ages 18 to 64 have used contraception at some point during their reproductive years, with more than three-quarters using multiple methods.

Under the Affordable Care Act, contraceptive coverage is required, though KFF found in 2022 that four in 10 women werent aware most insurance plans pay the full cost of birth control.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.

While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel's most hard-line ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.

The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition.

We have received the tools, we're rolling up our sleeves and going to work, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote."

The new budget has been criticized for allocating nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds, much of it for ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties.

That will include increases in controversial stipends for ultra-Orthodox men to study full time in religious seminaries instead of working or serving in the military, which is compulsory for most secular males.

It also includes more money for ultra-Orthodox schools, which are widely criticized for not teaching students skills like math and English needed in the modern workplace.

The funds also include tens of millions of dollars for hard-line pro-settler parties to promote pet projects through the ministries they control.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader, has said he hopes to double the population of West Bank settlers in the coming years.

The governments composition and agenda have deeply divided the country. On Tuesday, several thousand flag-waving Israelis protested outside the parliament building against the budget.

That smaller demonstration over the budget followed months of sustained mass protest against a series of proposals by Netanyahu's government to overhaul the country's judicial system while he is on trial for corruption.

Proponents say the measures are needed to rein in an overzealous Supreme Court, but critics say the plan would destroy the countrys system of checks and balances and compromise Israeli democracy.

That plan has raised concerns overseas but is now on hold. Now that the budget has passed, however, Netanyahu may face renewed pressure from his allies to revive it.
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David Sacks, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, will host Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in an audio chat on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday (24 May) where Mr DeSantis is expected to announce his campaign for 2024 president.

Mr Sacks, 50, is a longtime friend of Mr Musk and supporter of Mr DeSantis.

Though Mr Sacks name is not as prominent as other tech-industry giants, the entrepreneur has a long history of leading and investing in major companies like PayPal, Yammer, Facebook, Airbnb and more.

In more recent years, Mr Sacks has become a major donor to political campaigns for individual Republicans like JD Vance and Mr DeSantis.

What experience does Mr Sacks have?

Mr Sacks  who was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1972 and moved to Tennessee with his family as a child  was the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and head of product for PayPal from 1999 until 2002. He has been dubbed part of the Paypal Mafia, a group of former PayPal employees who went on to have successful tech companies- like Mr Musk.

In 2008, he founded Yammer which became one of the fastest-growing software-as-a-service companies to exist. In 2012, Yammer was acquired by Microsft for $1.2 bn.

Mr Sacks co-founded the venture capital firm Craft Ventures in 2017, where he remains a partner.

David Sacks (Founders Fund / YouTube)

He also has the podcast All-In alongside fellow entrepreneurs Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg.

Last year, Mr Sacks was widely reported to be helping out his longtime friend, Mr Musk, behind-the-scenes when his fellow South African-born friend acquired Twitter.

What does Mr Sacks believe in?

Like Mr Musk, Mr Sacks says he is a proponent of free speech.

In a blog post on Medium in 2021, Mr Sacks criticised big tech social media platforms for permanently banning politicians.

His belief in free-speech was echoed more recently in an interview with conservative personality Benny Johnson.

Mr Sacks accused the media of not allowing anti-vaccine activists and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr to speak freely and questioned critics justification of saying Mr Kennedy was spreading misinformation.

The entrepreneur also expressed support for Tucker Carlson after he was unexpectedly fired from Fox News.

Mr Sacks has also been an outspoken critic of US policy towards Ukraine following the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

In a piece for The American Conservative last year, Mr Sacks proposed a peaceful end to the war which included holding referendums on the future of Donbas and Crimea, both of which were illegally occupied by Russian forces in 2014.

On Twitter, Mr Sacks is vocal in criticising the US for its involvement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and has repeatedly clashed with critics of Vladimir Putin, including former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.

In October Mr Musk retweeted an article Mr Sacks wrote for Newsweek in which he argued that continued military support for Ukraine could lead to Woke War III. The article itself was a response to the backlash Mr Musk received over a Twitter poll suggesting a peace deal which would strongly favour Russian interests.

In his Newsweek article, Mr Sacks wrote: There will be no peaceful resolution to this conflict that America doesnt at least have a hand in negotiating, and we should be leading the effort. Instead, weve been deferring to the Ukrainians and their maximalist demands, upping the sanctions on Russia as Putin ups his rhetoric against the West.

While he has been criticised for his outspoken views despite lacking a foreign policy background, he has argued that his lack of expertise is actually an advantage: Not being a member of the MIC [military industrial complex] is clearly an advantage in understanding the conflict.

What political candidates has Mr Sacks supported?

Since the 1990s, Mr Sacks has supported both Republican and Democratic candidates according to OpenSecrets.

His largest donations have gone toward the PAC supporting GOP Ohio Senator JD Vance, the conservative Purple Good Government PAC, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Republican National Committee.

Over the last two years, Mr Sacks has expressed vocal support for Mr DeSantis on Fox News and Twitter as well as donated to his political campaign.
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For years, Florida legislators and the governors office enjoyed a close relationship with The Walt Disney Company, among the states largest employers, wielding enormous political influence while bringing in billions of dollars to the state each year.

Now, the company and allies of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis are suing one another, following a year-long feud over opposition to what opponents have called Floridas Dont Say Gay law that boiled over into political and legal battles that could shape the companys business in the state.

The states feud with the company is entangled with volatile far-right attacks smearing Disney and LGBT+ people as groomers and paedophiles, while similar threats to LGBT+ people are making their way through state legislatures and governors offices across the country.

Last year, Mr DeSantis endorsed a broadly written bill from Republican lawmakers  the Parental Rights in Education Act  that prohibits instruction of sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through the third grade and any such discussion that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in other grades.

LGBT+ advocates and civil rights groups warned that the measures broad scope could freeze classroom speech involving LGBT+ people and issues  from civil rights history lessons to discussions with students, school staff and their families  under the threat of potentially financially destructive litigation and harassment from third parties who accuse schools of violating the law.

Following passage of the bill, more than three dozen similar measures have been proposed in nearly half of US states, including 26 measures in 14 states in their current legislative sessions alone.

Meanwhile, the governor has launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination for president while immersed a political battle with one of the states top employers.

Here is how  as Disney writes in a recent lawsuit  it has come to this.

Disney faces pressure to respond to Dont Say Gay threats

Disney is a political heavyweight in the state. The company dispatches several lobbyists to the state capitol in Tallahassee and gives millions of dollars through its many entities to both Democratic and Republican officials every election cycle to promote its business.

Its also a cultural and economic powerhouse, drawing millions of visitors to the state each year. The companys voice on controversial legislation could, until recently, carry significant weight.

But reporting from The Independent and other outlets found that Disney entities contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Mr DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers central to the Dont Say Gay law, despite the companys history of LGBT+ advocacy.

In February 2022, Bob Iger  just weeks into his retirement from Disney leadership  announced that if the bill passed, it will put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy.

Eleven days later, facing pressure from LGBT+ advocates and Disney employees, now-former CEO Bob Chapek issued a company memo stating that corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds while asking staff to not mistake a lack of a statement for a lack of support.

On 11 March, 2022, Mr Chapek announced that the company would oppose the bill and suspend its political donations in the state.

(Reuters)

He stated that the company would immediately begin supporting efforts to combat similar legislation elsewhere and pause all political donations in the state pending a review of the companys political giving, conceding that the company failed to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights.

The companys LGBT+ employees and staff opposed to the legislation staged daily walkouts to pressure Disney to indefinitely cease all campaign donations to state officials who created or helped pass the measure and demand that Disney leadership publicly commit to an actionable plan that protects employees from anti-LGBT+ legislation. The actions culminated in a full workday walkout or sick out on 22 March.

Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down by the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organisations working to achieve that, the company said on 28 March 2022, when the governor signed the bill into law.

Governor DeSantis and members of his administration quickly lashed out at the company, igniting a feud that escalated to Republican threats to punish its operations in the state.

By the end of that year, Mr Iger returned to Disney as CEO.

DeSantis pushes for the end of Reedy Creek

In April 2022, Governor DeSantis expanded the scope of a special legislative session on the states redistricting plans to also consider the termination of all special districts that were enacted in Florida prior to 1968, including the municipal taxing and government district that allows Disney to tax and regulate its sprawling park and resort properties in the Orlando area.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District was first created in 1967 to give Disney control of its land use, zoning rules and public services without putting a tax burden on Florida residents.

The district encompasses Disney World properties in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, spanning 39 square miles and land across Orange and Osceola counties.

With Disney as the primary landowner for the district, the company is largely responsible for all costs of those municipal services that otherwise would fall under the jurisdiction of county and local governments, including the taxpayers who live within them. In effect, Disney used the Reedy Creek board to tax itself to foot the bill for all of its municipal needs.

The governor and Republican lawmakers wanted to blow up that arrangement.

On 19 April 2022, Republican state Rep Randy Fine introduced House Bill 3C, the Independent Special Districts bill. A companion measure, Senate Bill 4C, was introduced in the state Senate.

The governor and his administration insisted that the initial proposal was intended to block what they called special privileges for big business in the state, but fundraising messages promoting Reedy Creeks demise pointed to Disneys woke opposition to the so-called Dont Say Gay bill.

Disney thought they ruled Florida, an email from his campaign on 19 April said. They even tried to attack me to advance their woke agenda. Now, parents see Disney for what it is. And now is the time to put the power back in the hands of Floridians and out of the pockets of woke executives.

State lawmakers bristled over the governors initial plans to dissolve Reedy Creek over concerns that doing so would not only violate state law but force Florida taxpayers to pay for infrastructure projects like road construction that Disney was effectively paying for through the districts arrangement.

Instead, the governors own appointees will be in charge of the district and its powers to tax, build and borrow money under a new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

(Reuters)

During an event on 27 February, Governor DeSantis signed a bill that amounts to a state takeover of the new district, with a five-member board made up of his own appointees.

Today, the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end, the governor said inside a Reedy Creek fire station in Lake Buena Vista that day. Theres a new sheriff in town and accountability will be the order of the day.

Orlando-area Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani said in a statement that it is absolutely wild to see a self-proclaimed capitalist like DeSantis celebrate the government takeover of a private board.

All this bill does is rename Reedy Creek and allow Governor DeSantis to appoint hostile conservative cronies to a new board, she said. Disney still maintains the same tax breaks  but their First Amendment rights have been suppressed, and it sends a message to any private individual or company that if you dont purport to what the governor wants, then youll be punished.

DeSantis appointees take control

Among the governors controversial appointees include a donor who gave the DeSantis campaign $50,000 in 2022 and supported the governors efforts to remove an elected state attorney from office.

The governor also appointed the CEO of a right-wing ministry, and the founder of the right-wing activist group Moms for Liberty which the governor has supported to transform local school boards.

Board member Ron Peri, CEO of The Gathering USA ministry, was captured in a since-deleted YouTube video suggesting tap water has turned Americans gay.

So why are there homosexuals today? There are any number of reasons, you know, that are given. Some would say the increase in estrogen in our societies. You know, theres estrogen in the water from birth control pills. They cant get it out, Mr Peri said in the video, according to CNN. The level of testosterone in men broadly in America has declined by 50 points in the past 10 years. You know, and so, maybe thats a part of it.

Despite public notice of proposed changes before the new board stepped in, the governors appointees were outraged to find the Reedy Creek board approved new agreements to make major changes at Disneys campus, changes that would remain in effect for years to come.

Then came the lawsuits

Moments after the new board voted to strip control of its Florida resort, the company filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and state officials alleging a targeted campaign of government retaliation.

On 26 April, the board voted to nullify those agreements, the latest strike from Mr DeSantis, according to the lawsuit.

Disney regrets that it has come to this, the lawsuit states.

At the governors bidding, the states oversight board has purported to void publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disneys investment dollars and thousands of jobs, the complaint alleges. This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.

(AP)

The lawsuit also quotes the governors other retaliatory statements directed towards the company, including weighing potential new taxes and tolls on its hotels and roads and the possibility of a state prison near the parks.

A statement from the governors communications director Taryn Fenske shared with The Independent said that we are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state.

This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law, the statement added.

Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted at the companys case against the board when he told shareholders in April the company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do.

The governor got very angry about the position that Disney took, and it seems like hes decided to retaliate against us... in effect, to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right, Mr Iger said. And that just seems really wrong to me  against any company or individual, but particularly against a company that means so much to the state that you live in.

It didnt take long for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to respond.

On 1 May, days after Disneys federal lawsuit was filed, the board unanimously agreed to sue the company in state court.

Disney fights back

On 18 May, the company announced that it was pulling the plug on a $1bn office complex in Florida, following through on a warning from Disney leadership that billions of dollars in projects were potentially on the line with the governors feud.

The development scheduled for construction was set to bring 2,000 jobs to the region, with 1,000 employees expected to relocate from southern California.

In an email to employees, Disneys theme park and consumer products chair Josh DAmaro pointed to changing business conditions for the cancellation of the 60-acre Lake Nona project.

I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business, he added, noting that the company has still planned $17bn in projects over the next decade at its Disney World campus. I hope were able to, he said.

A ranking from Axios and Harris Poll that guages the reputations of the most visible brands in America places Disney at No 77 with a score of 70.9, or good, falling 12 points from an earlier report.

This story was initially published on 1 May and has been updated with developments
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Ron DeSantis is officially running for president, having filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.

The long-awaited move by the Florida governor follows a campaign announcement video released a day earlier by his wife, Casey, on Twitter. His filing was first reported by The Associated Press.

Mr DeSantis is expected to address voters in his first appearance as a candidate for president later on Wednesday evening in a Twitter space hosted by Elon Musk ally David Sacks. He will then appear on Fox News for an interview immediately afterwards with Bret Baier.

The rising Republican star is in his second term as governor of the trending-red Sunshine State, having won re-election by double digits just last year. He previously won election to office in 2018 by a fraction of a percentage point.

He enters the race with one key label tied to his campaign already: that of the second-place challenger, thanks to months of polling that have shown him firmly behind Mr Trump in a Republican primary matchup. That same polling has shown him consistently in the double digits, however, which is more than can be said for his other Republican rivals  Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson and others.

Mr DeSantiss official launch also signals a likely shift in strategy. Whereas for months the governor has sought to avoid a direct confrontation with Mr Trump, that now is unavoidable, even without the near-constant barrage of attacks that his now-official rival has been lobbing his way.

That strategic shift has been hinted at for some time now, with a DeSantis-aligned PAC even swiping directly at the former president following his CNN town hall earlier this month.

It isnt clear whether the Jacksonville native, 44, will be successful in his bid to oust Mr Trump as de facto leader of the GOP. But he heads into the 2024 race with all the structural advantages he could possibly hope for: a sympathetic if not outright supportive GOP establishment, a national voter base that has indicated time and time again it does not wish for Mr Trump (or, for that matter, Mr Biden) to run again, and a political pedigree that seems almost lab-generated for a presidential run.

He previously served in the House of Representatives as a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, and before that was a lawyer for the US military. During his service, Mr DeSantis was stationed at Guantanamo Bay before later being part of the 2007 Iraq troop surge which saw him playing legal adviser to a US commander in Fallujah.

As long as his resume extends, however, so too does his list of potential detrimental qualities. Numerous political experts have described the governor as off-putting and awkward in person, lacking the same charisma that his main rival for the GOP nomination. Many doubt that he will be successful in what appears to be a bid to establish himself as the GOPs culture war champion, which some deride as an attempt to out-Trump the former president.

I think we've learned over time that there is no substitute for Trump among the Trump base, said Floridian conservative political operative Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project. Why would you buy a diet Trump when you can have the full fat all the caffeine, all the sugar of original Trump?

Mr DeSantis continues to fall in polls of the 2024 Republican field amid the barrage of criticism coming from the Trump campaign; he previously led Mr Trump in one Wall Street Journal survey taken last December, only to see that lead reversed in the same poll this spring.

His announcement comes just two days after the official campaign launch of one of his GOP rivals, Mr Scott, who began his bid for the White House on Monday. The South Carolina senator is polling far behind Mr DeSantis but has the support of powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill, including his colleague Sen John Thune.
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Donald Trump launched into a bizarre rant on Truth Social about the payout to Dominion Voting Systems.

So Dominion gets almost a Billion Dollars and I, after years of Fake News, Hoaxes, Scams, and Investigations, am entitled to NOTHING? Is that really the way its supposed to work? I dont think so! the former president wrote on Tuesday.

Just before a defamation lawsuit from Dominion against Fox was set to go to trial last month, Fox agreed in a settlement to pay the voting machine company $787.5m for broadcasting false statements about the company as Fox hosts and guests falsely claimed and insinuated that their machines had stolen votes from Mr Trump during the 2020 election.

Mr Trump still falsely claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

The most recent revelation from the Dominion lawsuit the network revealed that fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson threatened co-workers who didnt agree with his vision to make the network more supportive of Mr Trump.

On 19 November 2020, Carlson replied to a message from producer Justin Wells about a story thought to be critical of Mr Trump, regarding the growing number of coronavirus cases nationwide and the ongoing upheaval over President Trumps refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

Were not going to succeed if this continues, Carlson is reported to have said in the messages, according to The Daily Beast. The brand will be too damaged. We should jump on a couple of examples just to send a clear message. Lets start with this one. Can we find out who did this?

Im happy to start threatening people individually, he added. Its too much. And again, it will hurt us badly if we let it continue.

Many Fox viewers at the time were outraged that the network correctly called the election for President Joe Biden.

The former presidents numerous false claims of being the subject of lies and conspiracies have landed him in plenty of legal hot water.

Writer and former magazine advice columnist E Jean Carroll was awarded $5m after her civil rape trial against Mr Trump after she claimed that he raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and later defamed her as president when she went public with her story in 2019, prompting Mr Trump to reject her claim in personally insulting terms.

Mr Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not for rape.

Ms Carroll has asked for further damages after the verdict following Mr Trumps further attacks on her during a chaotic and controversial CNN town hall event earlier this month.

Mr Trump is also being investigated for his attempt to overturn the presidential election in Georgia, his actions during the Capitol riot, and additional attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The former president was indicted earlier this year on 34 counts of business fraud in connection to his hush money payments in the lead-up to the 2016 election following allegations that he had affairs with adult actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal.

Mr Trump appeared via video call in the hush money case on Tuesday as the judge in the case tentatively set the trial date for late March next year  in the middle of the GOP presidential primary season.

In January, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6m for tax fraud, and in September of last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250m lawsuit against Mr Trump and three of his children for a number of fraudulent business practices. Mr Trump has called the probe a witch hunt. He also faces several other lawsuits.
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For years, Elon Musk kept fairly quiet about his political beliefs. He was a registered independent voter in California and claims to have supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.

But the days of Mr Musk keeping his politics quiet are over.

Since the onset of Covid-19, Mr Musk has become increasingly vocal about his right-wing politics  railing against Covid restrictions and work-from-home policies, urging people to support Republicans in the midterm elections, being accused of tweeting antisemitic statements, and offering a platform to Tucker Carlson.

On Wednesday, Mr Musk will reportedly make his most direct foray into the 2024 presidential election yet when he is expected to help Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida launch his campaign. NBC News first reported the collaboration.

Mr Musk said that his appearance with Mr DeSantis on Twitter Spaces is not an endorsement. It is, however, another instance of the Twitter owner providing a friendly platform to a far-right figure. The conversation between Mr Musk and Mr DeSantis will be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to the governors political committee.

I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he has quite an announcement to make, Mr Musk said at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday. And it will be the first time that something like this is happening on social media and with real-time questions and answers, unscripted.

Mr Musk appears to be keeping close tabs on the developing Republican primary field. On Monday, Mr Musk retweeted a live stream of Sen Tim Scott of South Carolina announcing his candidacy for president in North Charleston.

But Mr Musk has long praised Mr DeSantis, who has pushed during his tenure as Florida governor to ban gender-affirming care for minors, ban discussions of race, gender, and sexuality in public schools, compromise the states tenure system, and punish corporations like Disney for their stances on social issues.

Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America, Mr Musk tweeted in July of last year. If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win  he doesnt even need to campaign.

Mr Musk appears much less bullish on Mr Trump, even though he reinstated the former presidents Twitter account after he took over the platform. Mr Trump was initially banned from Twitter in the aftermath of the events of January 6.

I dont hate the man, but its time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset, Mr Musk tweeted last year. Dems should also call off the attack  dont make it so that Trumps only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.

Mr Musk also tweeted that Mr Trump is too much drama, and asked whether Americans really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!? He also suggested, in one of his standard attempts at humour, that the maximum age for the start of a presidential term should be 69.

The fact that Mr DeSantis is launching his campaign on Twitter speaks to the platforms rising currency with Republican voters under Mr Musks leadership.

Mr Musks embrace of Republican politicians and right-wing talking points has come as his purchase of Twitter has given him an outsize role in shaping public conversation around the campaign.

Its also led to a barrage of hate speech. Since Mr Musks takeover of Twitter and reinstatement of a number of previously banned accounts, the amount of hate speech targeting Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Jews, and other groups has surged.

Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business, Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told The New York Times last year. They have reacted accordingly.
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I prefer to stay out of politics." Those were Elon Musks words when forced in September 2021 to respond to a claim by Texas governor Greg Abbott that he supported the states anti-abortion laws.

If he really does prefer to stay out of politics, however, Musk has a funny way of showing it. Over his many years of fame as the chief executive of Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter, the South African-born tycoon has attacked everyone and everything from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders through individual regulatory officials to Covid rules, trade unions, and "pronouns".

Since 2022, his public political stances have taken a sharp rightward turn as he declared his support for the Republican Party, aligned himself with far-right activists on Twitter, disparaged transgender rights, embraced conservative conspiracy theories, and pledged to save civilisation from the woke mind virus.

His behaviour has earned him the patronage of Floridas GOP governor Ron DeSantis, who snubbed Fox News to announce his 2024 presidential run via a glitchy Twitter livestream with Musk on Wednesday 24 May 2023.

It is a striking departure from the 51-year-olds aproach to politics before the Covid pandemic, when he carefully triangulated between left and right and donated to both Democrats and Republicans while variously declaring himself a moderate, a socialist, and socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

Yet despite evidence to the contrary, Musk still claims to be an independent who is neither conventionally right nor left and committed to healthy debate.

So what does Elon Musk really believe? And  given that he is both one of the worlds richest people and the owner of one of its largest social networks  what does that mean for the rest of us?

Embracing the Republican Party

Lets start with Musks recent support for the US Republican Party, which has been clear and unambiguous, if not without caveats. In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division and hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican, he said in May.

This came after months of criticism of President Joe Biden, which included hammering his flagship infrastructure and social spending bills for granting subsidies to the electric car industry and increasing the insane federal budget deficit. Musk later called the president a damp sock puppet in human form.

In June 2022, Musk went further, revealing he had voted for Republican congressional candidate Maya Flores in a special election  the first time, he claimed, that he had ever cast a vote for the GOP. Massive red wave in 2022, he tweeted, though it was unclear if he meant this as a prediction or a rallying cry.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis joked about the South African-born billionaires comments: Im focused on 2022, but with Elon Musk, what I would say is I welcome support from African Americans. What can I say?

The two men drew closer in May 2023, when DeSantis chose to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination by appearing with Musk on Twitters audio discussion service Spaces.

But the event was plagued by technical issues as Twitters infrastructure, reportedly cut to the bone by mass layoffs following Musks takeover of the company, struggled to deal with the 600,000-odd people who reportedly tuned in to listen, leading political rivals and establishment conservative media to mock it as a disaster.

DeSantis is just one of many conservatives who has warmed to Musk in the last year. Tucker Carlson, the far right TV host who was taken off the air by Fox News earlier in 2023, announced that he would start a new show on Twitter. The Daily Wire, a right-wing news outlet, also said it would make some of its shows available for free on the social network.

Despite all this, Musk has stopped short of declaring his permanent support for the party as a whole. Following his tweet about the special election, one Twitter user asked: I assume Republican for president [too]?

[To be determined], Musk replied. What are you leaning towards? he was asked in a follow-up question. DeSantis, he said.

Similarly, the moguls endorsement of the Republican Party on the day before the US midterms in November 2022 was somewhat qualified. To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, he told his his 115 million Twitter followers. Therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the presidency is Democratic. Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide whos in charge!

After the election, Musk added: To be clear, my historical party affiliation has been Independent, with an actual voting history of entirely Democrat until this year. And Im open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future.

A self-proclaimed centrist who donates to both paties

Musks caveats about supporting the GOP echo his longstanding claim to be a centrist or an independent who does not fit into traditional boxes of left or right.

For years, he has offered varying definitions of his own politics. His most consistent theme has been that he is socially liberal and fiscally conservative, or even socially very liberal. In 2020, he put it this way: Im socially very liberal. And then economically right of center, maybe, or center. I dont know. Im obviously not a communist.

In 2018, he described himself as a utopian anarchist of the kind best described by Iain Banks, referring to the late Scottish sci-fi author who wrote longingly (if sceptically) of a space-faring anarcho-socialist civilisation called the Culture, which has no money, no poverty, no wage labour, no police, no prisons, no standing army, and nearly infinite abundance of basic goods.

At another point Musk claimed to be a socialist, but not the kind that shifts resources from most productive to least productive. He later said we should not take what hed said too seriously.

In April 2021, he posted a stick figure cartoon on Twitter that depicted political moderates, including himself, standing still on the political spectrum while the left accelerates away into extremism, dragging the centre ground away and making moderates appear right-wing by comparison.

The following November, he professed himself neither conventionally right nor left, and in December remarked: "You know Twitter is being fair when extremists on far right and far left are simultaneously upset!"

Musks political donations offer some support for this. According to data gathered by the non-profit lobbying watchdog Open Secrets, Elon Musk has given a total of $1.2m to politicians, parties, political action committees (PACs), and referendum campaigns since 2002.

That money went almost equally to Democrats, with $542,000, and Republicans, with $574,500, with another $85,000 going to two broadly left-wing referendum campaigns in California. The balance has fluctuated over the years: in 2006, 2013 and 2017 he donated overwhelmingly to Republicans, while in 2015 he gave exclusively to Democrats.

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He has also given a total of $30,000 to a PAC set up by SpaceX, which donated 54 per cent of its total to Democrats and 46 per cent to Republicans. Many of the individual politicians he gave to were state legislators in California, where Tesla was formerly based, and Texas, where SpaceX has long maintained rocket testing and launch facilities.

Musk donated to more individual Democratic politicians than to Republicans, and often praised specific Democrats in a way he has rarely done with their opponents. Way back in 2005, he gave $10,000 to Californias Proposition 82, a proposal to increase taxes on the rich to pay for universal pre-school for four-year-olds, although it did not pass.

When Donald Trump was a candidate for the Republican nomination, Musk said of him: I feel a bit stronger that he is probably not the right guy. He doesnt seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States. Musk says he voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

Meanwhile, SpaceX itself has spent about $9.7m on lobbyists and Tesla has spent $5.5m. The former company relies on government contracts for much of its revenue, while the latter is subject to plenty of regulation. "SpaceX's campaign to win political support has been systematic and sophisticated," wrote the Sunlight Foundation in 2013.

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Musk has described these donations not as a signal of his own personal beliefs but simply as the cost of doing business in America. "In order to have your voice be heard in Washington, you have to make some little contribution," he told the Huffington Post in 2013.

All of which helps explain why the first version of this article  back in December 2021  framed Musks political beliefs as elusive and somewhat puzzling.

Since then, however, Musks own behaviour has made that idea rather outdated.

Elon Musk, culture warrior

Theres no avoiding the obvious: Musk appears to have been thoroughly red-pilled.

Originally drawn from the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, the the red pill is a phrase used by white supremacists and anti-feminists to describe the process of being radicalised into their worldview. Musk himself urged his Twitter followers to take the red pill in April 2020.

It is a neat expression of how far down the culture war rabbit hole Musk has burrowed since then. He has described wokeness as a mind virus that poses a mortal threat to civilisation, declaring: The woke mind virus is either defeated or nothing else matters.

In a June 2022 interview with The Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site, he said: "At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful. It basically gives mean people... a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue."

In a similar vein, he mocked Twitters adoption in 2016 of Stay Woke T-shirts inspired by the 2014 Ferguson protests against police racism, claiming that the protesters Hands up, dont shoot slogan was made up and that the whole thing was a fiction. The US Justice Department did indeed clear the officer who shot Michael Brown, but also concluded that Ferguson police had routinely violated citizens constitutional rights and discriminated against Black people.

Texas governor Greg Abbott, to whom Musk donated $10,000 in 2014, has claimed that Musk likes the social policies of his state, which include banning almost all abortion and defining transgender healthcare for under-18s as child abuse. Musk rebuffed him, but ambiguously and mildly, with nothing like the fire and brimstone he has mustered against trade unions or tax proposals.

Musk has also boosted right-wing conspiracy theories, claiming that health tsar Anthony Fauci should be prosecuted and sharing a groundless claim about the attack on Nancy Pelosis husband from a website with a history of fake news.

As a homophobic hate campaign began to gather steam against one of his former employees, Yoel Roth, Musk weighed in to groundlessly imply that Roth was an enabler of child abuse. Roth subsequently suffered a torrent of abuse and threats that reportedly forced him to leave his home.

That incident echoed the US rights growing penchant for smearing political opponents, and particularly LGBT+ people, as paedophiles or groomers. According to the left-wing think tank Media Matters, some members of the quasi-fascist QAnon movement  which helped popularise child abuse smears as a political tactic  are convinced that Musk is one of them, albeit based on shaky evidence.

On Twitter, Musk regularly interacts on friendly terms with far-right activists who traffic in hoax claims about the 2020 US election and hate speech about minority groups, sometimes soliciting their advice about how to run the site or chiming in to agree with their tweets. Perhaps this could be explained as a commitment to maintaining open discussion across political divides  except its hard to name any left-wingers with whom he is so pally.

Musk has shown a particular antipathy to Covid lockdowns, which he once described as "fascist". He declared early in the pandemic that "the coronavirus panic is dumb" and wrongly predicted that the virus would be gone from America by the end of April 2020.

He has also consistently singled out transgender people in his critiques of wokeness. While he has claimed to absolutely support trans people, he scorns the idea that anyone should be expected to use the correct pronouns when referring to them, which most trans people view as a basic act of respect that is necessary for their equal participation in society.

Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didnt ask, and implicitly ostracising those who dont, is neither good nor kind to anyone, Musk said in December 2022. He has previously declared that pronouns suck and tweeted a meme likening cisgender people who state their pronouns on their Twitter profiles to oppressive Redcoats in colonial America.

Before buying Twitter, he railed against the social networks rules on anti-trans hate speech, which forbid users from intentionally referring to specific trans people by their birth sex (known as misgendering) or by old names they have renounced (known as deadnaming). As chief executive, Musk has reportedly made reviewing that policy a top priority.

And, just after Christmas 2022, Musk liked a tweet by Libs of TikTok, a conservative Twitter account that has been accused of encouraging violence and harassment against LGBT+ people, that appeared to characterise educating children about LGBT+ issues as confusing kids about their identity and stealing childhood innocence while describing transition healthcare as sterilising and mutilating kids.

Critics have suggested that this rhetoric may be related to Musks estrangement from his trans daughter, who has legally renounced his surname and said that she does not want to be related to him in any way, shape or form. Musk has blamed neo-Marxists at her university for turning her against him. Others have raised eyebrows at the fact that Musks former girlfriend, the electronic musician Grimes, is now in a relationship with a trans woman.

All in all, its hard to reconcile Musks actions in 2022 with his claims of centrism. Nor does his alliance with pro-Trump outrage merchants say much for his once-vaunted social liberalism, which previously led him to favour direct democracy over representative democracy and advocate for the release of people imprisoned for cannabis offences.

Pro-capitalist and anti-union

Social policies notwithstanding, Musk remains an ardent free-marketeer who is deeply skeptical of government interventions in business.

That was the basis of his attack on President Biden's Build Back Better Act in December 2021, saying the bill's tax rebate of up to $12,500 for people who buy electric cars is an "unnecessary" handout for an industry that is already taking off.

He backed that up with a revealing philosophical argument about the difference between corporations and nation states. "It does not make sense to take the job of capital allocation away from people who have demonstrated great skill in capital allocation," he said, meaning business leaders, "and give it to an entity that has demonstrated very poor skill in capital allocation, which is the government. Government is simply the biggest corporation, with a monopoly on violence  and where you have no recourse. So how much money do you want to give that entity?"

This libertarian-style thinking is fairly consistent for Musk. He has strongly opposed trade unions, especially in his own companies, as a barrier to efficient operations, and skirmished repeatedly with Bernie Sanders over the Vermont senators proposals for an income tax on billionaires. He claimed in October that Biden "seems to be controlled by unions" and in 2018 tweeted that Tesla employees who attempted to unionise would lose their stock options, which regulators have claimed was illegal.

When he does endorse government intervention, Musk tends to favour measures that minimise government bureaucracy. Rather than subsidies for green industries, for example, he wants a carbon tax, and says he lobbied the Biden administration to create one. His argument is that the price of fossil fuels doesn't properly reflect their cost to the environment, meaning companies are basing their decisions on false information. Taxing carbon would correct that balance, allowing the free market to figure out in its own way how best to cut their emissions. That said, none of this stopped him from accepting billions of dollars in government subsidies for both Tesla and SpaceX.

Similarly, Musk has long argued for a universal basic income to support human workers whose jobs, he believes, will soon be replaced with artificial intelligence (AI). In some ways that's a pretty left-wing idea, since it would involve spending enormous amounts of taxpayer money. But it has also been favoured by some conservatives such as Richard Nixon and free market economists such as Milton Friedman, both of whom felt it would prevent government bureaucrats deciding who deserves benefits and avoid punishing recipients for finding work.

Green power has often been Musk's red line

Another point of consistency has been global warming and clean energy. Back in 2006, Musk gave one of his biggest ever single donations  $75,000  to Proposition 87, a California referendum campaign to impose a special tax on fossil fuel extractors.

Since then, emissions have often been his red line. In the early years of Donald Trump's presidency, Musk joined a White House advisory council, saying that "the more voices of reason that the president hears, the better". But when Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, Musk quit, saying: "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."

And when Musk was persuaded to get into Bitcoin  a natural fit, given his libertarian outlook and his penchant for technological solutions for political problems, to say nothing of his fondness for controversy  it was the currency's prodigious carbon emissions that led him to rethink.

"Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin," he said in May 2021. "We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel. Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at a great cost to the environment."

Where Musk has supported Biden, that too is connected to the environment. Just after the presidents inauguration, he told Fortune: "I'm super fired up that the new administration is focused on climate... I feel very optimistic about the future of sustainable energy with the new administration."

Even in his culture warrior era, Musk has stuck to this particular gun. When conservative activist Tom Fitton claimed in December 2022 that electric cars have no impact on climate, Musk responded, curtly: Yeah they do.

A technocrat with astral ambitions

Through all these issues runs one strain of Musk's politics that genuinely does not map onto the traditional political compass: technocracy.

Back in the 1930s and 40s, Musks grandfather Joshua Haldeman was the Canadian leader of the original technocratic movement, which believed in replacing both politicians and bankers with whoever had the most expertise.

Elon Musk, capitalist extraordinaire, does not exactly take after his grandfather. Like the movements founder William Henry Smyth, though, his statements suggest a strong underlying belief that scientists and engineers can solve political problems that are intractable to others.

As the historian Jill Lepore has argued, Musk inspires numerous followers with an exotic brand of techno-capitalism that she calls "Muskism". She says that many of its ideas are drawn from science fiction, sometimes very old science fiction, meaning that alongside rockets and cars it is also selling "visions of the future".

Musk thinks we may live in a simulation; he regularly references Scottish sci-fi author Iain M Banks; and he is especially preoccupied with the dangers of AI, which he calls "the most serious threat to the survival of the human race". He is worried not only about mass automation of white-collar jobs but also the rise of a theoretical hyper-intelligent AI that is too powerful for humans to restrain.

"With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon," he said in 2014. "In all those stories where theres the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, its like  yeah, hes sure he can control the demon. Doesnt work out."

Both that and global warming feed into Musk's conviction that colonising other planets  becoming "a multi-planet species"  is crucial to humanity's long-term survival. However seriously you take that, it is clearly an important goal that shapes the rest of his politics.

Even his diatribes against the woke mind virus  as well as his hostile takevoer of Twitter  are based on the idea that wokeness and divisive social networks are a threat to human civilisation. It is a characteristically cosmic rationale for tweeting incessantly about pronouns.

Two things are notable here. One is that many of these issues are not very well-known outside the tech industry, and to prioritise them suggests that you believe everyone else is missing a trick. The other is that Musk is not attempting to meet the dangerous future through government action or massive collective institutions like formal movements or trade unions. Instead, he wants to solve it himself, through hierarchical top-down for-profit companies run by him where he decides how to allocate capital.

In other words, he is his own kind of technocrat: a talented engineer and huge nerd who thinks engineers and nerds can design better systems of government and economics than currently exist.

For evidence, look at Musks troubled Hyperloop project, which is trying to build a new form of public transport while eschewing any input from traditional transit experts, who say that he has essentially invented very inefficient buses. (It is also among the beneficiaries of Bidens infrastructure bill.)

WhenTIME magazine named Musk its 2021 Person of the Year, it described him this way: The man from the future where technology makes all things possible is a throwback to our glorious industrial past. But many of the people who actually lived in that past reviled its industrialists as robber barons, and their misdeeds inspired regulations and social policies that are still in place today.

That is why Professor Lepore describes Muskism as containing "a lot of feudalism", saying: "Its like there are these lords and the rest of us are the peasantry and our fates are in their hands because they know best... The presumption that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, [two of the] wealthiest people in the world, get to decide the extraterrestrial fate of humankind is a bizarrely regressive notion."

Musk has his own bullish answer to such claims. "To anyone Ive offended, I just want to say: I reinvented electric cars and Im sending people to Mars in a rocket ship," he said on Saturday Night Live in May 2021. "Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"

This article was originally published on 9 December 2021, and has been regularly updated since then.
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A famous drag show restaurant has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis, claiming a bill that prohibits childrens attendance at drag shows has hurt its business and is a violation of the First Amendment.

Hamburger Marys Orlando, a franchise location of the drag show restaurant chain Hamburger Marys, is alleging that the state of Florida, Seeks to explicitly restrict or chill speech and expression protected by the First Amendment in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Monday.

The lawsuit pertains to SB 1438, nicknamed the Protection of Children, which allows for criminal penalties against a food service establishment for admitting children to an adult live performance.

The bill, which was signed into law by Mr DeSantis last week, prohibits children from attending adult live performances or the establishment can face fines, have their license suspended or revoked and their liquor license suspended or revoked.

Hamburger Marys Orlando offers family friendly drag performances on Sundays, which they say have been greatly affected by the passage of SB 1438.

This bill has nothing to do with children, and everything to do with the continued oppression of the LGBTQ+ community, Hamburger Marys Orlando wrote in a Facebook post.

In the lawsuit, Hamburger Marys Orlando said immediately after the bill passed, 20 per cent of their bookings were cancelled for the 21 May 2023 show as well as future bookings despite the performances being family friendly.

Hamburger Marys Orlando is alleging in the lawsuit that the bill does not serve a compelling governmental interest and is too vague, thus violating the restaurants First Amendment right to freedom of expression.

The law and anticipation of it has had a chilling effect on free speech in Florida, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit names Mr DeSantis, the state of Florida, as well as Melanie Griffin, the Secretary of the State Department of Business and Professional Regulation for Florida, as defendants.

The recent Protection of Children bill defines adult live performance as any presentation in front of a live audience where a part of it depicts sexual activity, sexual conduct, nudity, lewd exposure, lewd conduct, prosthetic or imitation genitals and more.

Hamburger Marys Orlando claims, There is no lewd activity, sexually explicit shows, disorderly conduct, public exposure, obscene exhibition, or anything inappropriate for a child to see in their family-friendly brunches.

The restaurant claims several undercover agents visited a drag brunch in December and did not witness any lewd acts that were inappropriate for children.

Hamburger Marys Orlando is also alleging that the state of Florida has not provided examples of specific conduct that is harmful to children.

The uncertainty about what specific conduct this law prohibits, as well as the threat of police surveillance and criminal charges, is precisely what concerns the Plaintiff in this case, the lawsuit says.

Instead, Hamburger Marys Orlando believes this is another example of conservative leaders trying to restrict LGBT+ inclusivity in communities.

Anytime our legislators want to demonize a group, they say they are coming for your children. In this case, creating a false narrative that drag queens are grooming and recruiting your children with no factual basis or history to back up these accusations AT ALL, Hamburger Marys Orlando wrote on Facebook.

They are setting a precedent that the state legislators [sic] can decide what is best for you based on THEIR own values and convictions, and write it into law, Hamburger Marys Orlando added.

The Independent has reached out to Hamburger Marys Orlando and Mr DeSantis office for comment.
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The college student who tracked Elon Musks private jet on Twitter has now turned his focus on Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Jack Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, created a Twitter account called @DeSantisJet", which tracks the whereabouts of the aircraft that Mr DeSantis uses.

The automated feed tracks the governor's 10-seat Textron jet with tail number N943FL, which is owned by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The data is shared 24 hours later to comply with Twitter's anti-doxxing rules. His account has already garnered over 15,800 followers.

It was set up to track Mr DeSantis because of the "rising interest" in the governor amid speculations of him running for the 2024 presidential election, Mr Sweeney told Insider.

Well, you know Ron DeSantis is becoming more and more of a public figure in that he might run for the White House, he added.

Mr DeSantis on 11 May signed a bill into law that will redact details about trips he makes on both state planes and private, chartered flights, including names of staff and family members travelling with him.

However, his movements can be still monitored using publicly available data from ADS-B Exchange, a flight-tracking platform.

Mr Sweeney on Monday tweeted that the account tracks the Textron jet which the governor uses for state-related matters. Flights of the aircraft do not guarantee that Mr DeSantis is onboard, he said.

"As others have noted, DeSantis also gets rides on political donors planes for personal matters. If we become aware of these flights, it will also be shared here.

The student shared the first tweet about the governors travels on 19 May when he flew from Tallahassee to Tampa and back.

Mr Sweeney gained popularity after Mr Musk tried to purchase the @ElonJet account, which tracked the billionaire's jet, for $5,000. The student refused the offer and when Mr Musk took over Twitter, he suspended the account.

Mr Sweeney got around the ban by creating a new account @ElonJetNextDay, where tracking data of Mr Musk's jets are shared with a 24-hour delay.

The student told News Channel 8 he is not motivated by a political agenda. People can do what they want, he said.

There can be supporters that are interested in where he goes and want to follow them or people who are more criticizing for what flights theyre going where.
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Donald Trump has lashed out at his longtime booster and Fox News host Laura Ingraham after she reported on polls suggesting the former president's Republican rival would be a better match to take back the White House in 2024.

Ingraham spent a portion of her Monday show discussing moves that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis  Mr Trump's most likely primary rival  is making ahead of his expected announcement.

One of those moves includes an upcoming speech at the National Religious Broadcasting convention in Orlando, where Mr DeSantis will likely try to earn favour with evangelical Christians ahead of announcing his candidacy.

The Fox News anchor and her guest, Common Sense Society executive editor Chris Bedford, also discussed recent polls comparing Mr Trump's and Mr DeSantis's chances against Joe Biden in 2024.

Ultimately, the polls they featured concluded that Mr DeSantis would likely carry Arizona and Georgia  delivering a hypothetical victory over Joe Biden in 2024  while Mr Trump would fail to carry the states much as he did in 2020.

The former president reacted as one might expect.

"Laura Ingraham on FoxNews just did a hit piece on me (there go her ratings!) showing some polls which indicate that Ron DeSanctimonious may do better against Biden than I would, when actually polls show that I do MUCH better against Biden than 'Rob,'" Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. He shared images of Fox News polls suggesting he is more favoured in the Rust Belt than Mr Biden.

Mr Trump then went on to denigrate Fox News and plug their competition.

"The poll your looking at now, which has me doing far better against Crooked Joe, was just put out by FOX, I am sure unhappily. Im also leading DeSanctus by over 40 points in Primary Voting, he said, adding a final plug for Newsmax. Watch Greg Kelly on Newsmax at 10:00 P.M."

Ingraham did mention on her show that Mr Trump was the "overwhelming" favourite to earn the party's primary candidacy, noting that he has a "stunning" lead over Mr DeSantis  who has not yet announced his run  in polling.

Polling data site FiveThirtyEight's national average tracker suggests that Mr Trump has an exceptional lead over Mr DeSantis in a theoretical primary race. Mr Trump has 53.5 per cent of support while Mr DeSantis only scored 20.8 per cent.

Mr DeSantis wasn't the only potential rival to take a lashing from Mr Trump; the former president also hit out at former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

He shared a Newsmax clip capturing a 2021 press conference in which Ms Haley said she would not run in 2024 if Mr Trump was also running.

"This is a classic!" Mr Trump wrote alongside the video. "'I would not run if President Trump ran.'"
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Sen Rick Scott of Florida announced on Tuesday that he was issuing a formal travel advisory for socialists visiting the state of Florida.

Mr Scotts so-called travel advisory comes after the NAACP issued its own travel advisory warning Black people about the perils of visiting a state that has become a bastion of far right policy in the last several years under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis.

Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals, the NAACP advisory read. 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 NAACP warning comes just more than a month after Equality Florida, one of the states leading LGBTQ+ organisations, issued a travel advisory for LGBTQ+ visitors.

Mr Scott, a former governor of Florida whose personal worth is well over $200m, mocked the language used by the NAACP in his press release.

Florida is openly hostile toward Socialists, Communists, and those that enable them, Mr Scott said. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration.

Mr Scott also claimed that he was issuing the press release in response to Biden Administration attempts to erase capitalism, though he offered no evidence to substantiate his claim.

Mr Scott has long been considered one of the most ambitious members of the Republican Senate caucus. Last year, he led the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NSRC) as the Republicans failed to retake the chamber, then challenged Sen Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for the position of minority leader. He was soundly defeated.

The travel advisories issued by the NAACP, Equality Florida, and the Florida Immigrant Coalition highlight the extent to which those and other civil rights groups are alarmed by Floridas political trajectory. In the last year-plus, the state has banned gender affirming care for minors, limited or banned discussions of race, gender, and sexuality in public schools, banned abortion after six weeks, and more.

Mr DeSantis, the governor driving much of that legislation, is expected to announce that hes running for president on Wednesday in a conversation with Twitters Elon Musk. Mr Scott, who at one point was considering a presidential campaign of his own, will instead run for re-election to the Senate.
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As he launches his presidential campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being mocked for the choice of logo greeting visitors to his official website as he files the paperwork to officially become a candidate taking on former President Donald Trump.

Before his event hosted on Twitter alongside the platforms owner Elon Musk, his campaign site consisted of a simple image of an alligator in a swamp.

The logo appears to be intended as a reference to Mr DeSantiss home state of Florida, but Twitter users were quick to mock the choice of the logo as depicting a swamp creature after Mr Trump spent much of the 2016 campaign pledging to drain the swamp in reference to Washington, DC and railing against the deep state.

Look, Im doing my best to stay neutral (for now), but using a swamp creature as a teaser for your presidential campaign seems like quite the misstep, Nick Sortor tweeted.

Could this be the biggest communications blunder by Team DeSantis so far? another Twitter user asked.

Far-right commentator Laura Loomer wrote: So hes admitting hes a Swamp creature? Got it. Im amazed at how s***y @GovRonDeSantiss political instincts are When he loses the primary, Im going to eat some fried gator to celebrate.

An adviser for Mr Trump previously told Fox News that announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis because this way he doesnt have to interact with people and the media cant ask him any questions.

One of Mr DeSantiss supposed weaknesses compared to the former president, whos more than 30 years his senior, is thought to be his lack of charisma and ability to personally connect with voters.

The Twitter Spaces event on Wednesday will be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks, a supporter of the governor and an adviser to Mr Musk, according to NBC News.

The alligator image also appeared on Mr DeSantiss Twitter account.

DeSantis changed his Twitter banner to a swamp creature right before his Presidential bid announcement. You cant make this stuff up, one Twitter user said.

The Trump campaign released an ad slamming Mr DeSantis as a swamp creature.

Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist who later turned on the party with his work at the Lincoln Project, wrote on Wednesday morning that Today is the day Ron DeSantis emerges from his cocoon, blossoms into a beautiful butterfly, flutters around the forests of Elon, and then is eaten by a giant buzzard named Donald Trump.

Far-right Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that Mr DeSantis is not a serious candidate.

America First Republicans and MAGA have been loud and clear: President Donald J. Trump is the only candidate they want to send to the general election in 2024, she added.

Joe Walsh, a former Illinois GOP Representative, told The Miami Herald that I dont want Donald Trump to be the nominee because I do consider him an existential threat.

I think most Never Trumpers would probably support DeSantis, even those who dont like him and have reservations, he added.

Lawyer Ron Filipkowski, a strong critic of Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis, told the paper that I think DeSantis is just an a** and extreme right-winger who likes to play to the mob a little too much. But I dont think DeSantis is going to pull us out of NATO or fire half the civil service.

Reacting to those comments, Donald Trump Jr tweeted: Theres only one candidate for President that the radical left and the establishment RINOs actually fear and his name is Donald J. Trump!
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Ron DeSantis is preparing to announce his official campaign for 2024 president today, after months of anticipation.

The Florida governor will unveil his bid on Wednesday night via a Twitter Spaces conversation with Elon Musk, moderated by David Sacks.

Mr DeSantis, 44, was first considered a potential candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2021 when he emerged from the pandemic as a hard-line Republican.

But after the midterm elections in November, when Mr DeSantis was re-elected Governor of Florida by a nearly 20 per cent margin, he began to be considered a possible frontrunner.

For months, the Florida governor kept coy about his possible presidential bid, giving vague answers to the press and re-directing attention to his current actions in Florida.

But that didnt stop the public and media from assuming Mr DeSantis is running.

What steps will DeSantis have to take to run?

Like every other candidate, Mr DeSantis will have to file as an official candidate with the FEC upon announcing his campaign for president.

But thanks to a bill passed by the GOP-majority Florida legislature this year, Mr DeSantis will be able to run for US president while remaining governor of Florida.

In the past, Florida required an officeholder to give up their seat to run for another public office position- commonly referred to as a resign-to-run law.

The bill, SB 7050, includes an exemption of the resign-to-run law specific to officeholders running for president or vice president of the United States.

When will DeSantis announce his campaign?

On Wednesday (24 May) Mr DeSantis is reportedly going to announce his campaign for president via Twitter Spaces.

Mr DeSantis will join Twitter owner Elon Musk on the social media platforms audio chat feature around 6pm EST for a conversation moderated by David Sacks.

Both Mr Musk and Mr Sacks have expressed support for Mr DeSantis.

According to a report from NBC News, Mr DeSantis will launch an official campaign video Wednesday evening after the interview with Mr Musk.

The Florida Governor then plans to visit early states after Memorial Day.

A report from The Wall Street Journal said that Mr DeSantis plans to file paperwork with the FEC by Thursday (25 May).

According to the report, Mr DeSantis will meet with donors between Wednesday and Friday at an event in Miami, Florida.

How has DeSantis unofficially campaigned?

A major precursor for Mr DeSantis presidential campaign has been the national book tour he embarked on this year.

Mr DeSantis has traveled around the country, meeting supporters and promoting his memoir The Courage to Be Free: Floridas Blueprint for Americas Revival.

At each stop, Mr DeSantis has promoted the values he sees important for the future of the US - promoting individual freedoms, advocating for law enforcement and criticising wokeism.

Mr DeSantis has been strategic in each stop to touch on values important to those in the area. In New York and Chicago, Mr DeSantis made sure to emphasize he is tough on crime.

At Liberty University, Mr DeSantis oozed Christian values, to evangelical students.

In Georgia, Mr DeSantis stopped by a gun store to speak with supporters.

For many, it is clear Mr DeSantis is attempting to introduce himself to the nation via his book tour. But the battle between Mr DeSantis and Disney, as well as other missteps, have cast a dark cloud around the Florida governor.

What is DeSantis record in Florida?

As governor of Florida since 2018, Mr DeSantis, 44, has proven he holds a tight-fisted conservative agenda.

Famously, the Florida governor enacted the Parental Rights in Education Bill last year, dubbed the Dont Say Gay Bill. It prevents classroom discussion or instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade and has been subject to heavy criticism.

Mr DeSantis also signed bills, banning abortions after six weeks of gestation, lowering the threshold to impose the death penalty, prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare for minors and restricting it for adults and making it easier to obtain and carry a firearm.

But Mr DeSantis tough approach to removing progressive or liberal ideas has also caused him problems - especially with Disney.

The massive corporation and the Florida governor have been embroiled in a months-long struggle as Mr DeSantis has gone after Disney for criticising or refusing Floridas legislation.

In return, Disney has mocked Mr DeSantis, and more recently, threatened to pull investments out of the state.

What does polling show?

Polling shows Mr Trump ahead of Mr DeSantis by a considerable margin.

National polls show Mr Trump polling at approximately 53 per cent while Mr DeSantis is at approximately 20 per cent among Republican candidates.

But that margin between the two was smaller in March, according to FiveThirtyEight.

A Fox News poll reflects similar numbers with Mr Trump at 53 per cent and Mr DeSantis at 21 per cent, though both candidates numbers have dropped since March.

Another poll from RealClearPolitics shows Mr Trump ahead at approximately 56 per cent and Mr DeSantis at 19 per cent.

Mr DeSantis popularity has fluctuated over the last year, often reflecting controversial legislation. When the Florida Governor signed the Individual Freedom Bill and Parental Rights in Education Bill in March and April 2022, his unfavorability increased.

Who else is running?

If the reports about Mr DeSantis launch are true, he would be the seventh person to launch a campaign for Republican president.

So far, Mr Trump, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative personality Larry Elder and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott have announced their bid for president.

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden announced he would seek re-election, and two other candidates: lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr and self-help author Marianne Williamson.
 Close Listen: Ron DeSantiss presidential launch suffers major technical issues

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Donald Trump Jr has shared a seemingly AI-generated clip of Ron DeSantis edited into the role of Michael Scott in The Office in a clip in which the character is mocked for wearing a womans suit.

Imagine when next time its not an obvious spoof from The Office but an attempt to depict itself as legitimate and much more nefarious, CNNs Jake Tapper tweeted.

Since his 2024 campaign got off to a shaky start on Wednesday evening with its much-derided Twitter Spaces launch, Mr DeSantis has been doing the rounds of right-wing media outlets, reminding voters of his record in Florida and taking the occasional dig at his chief rival, former president Donald Trump.

In one interview, he said that if hes elected president, he would consider pardons for those charged with January 6 Capitol riot offences, and when pressed as to whether that would include Mr Trump, he said the measure would include everyone.

His remark was criticised not just by Democrats, but was also sharply rebuked by former Republican Rep Liz Cheney, who tweeted: Any candidate who says they will pardon January 6 defendants is not qualified to be president.
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Watch from outside a Four Seasons hotel in Miami, where Ron DeSantis is hosting a donor event on Wednesday 24 May.

The Florida governor is expected to officially enter the 2024 presidential race later today, following months of speculation.

He will take part in a live Twitter event with Elon Musk and afterwards, the campaign will release an official launch video, according to reports.

On Tuesday, Casey DeSantis kicked off her husbands campaign by sharing a video of him getting ready to go on stage in front of an American flag.

They call it faith, because in the face of darkness, you can see that brighter future. A faith that our best days lay ahead of us, the voiceover says.

America is worth the fight... Every. Single. Time, Ms DeSantis tweeted along with the short video, which carried the same message later in the voiceover.

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A San Francisco public safety meeting descended into chaos when a woman threw a brick at the citys mayor, striking a high school student.

The wild scene unfolded as Mayor London Breed slammed the city for tolerating illegal, out-of-control behaviour for far too long.

The incident happened as the mayor and board of supervisors attempted to hold their meeting outside at the United Nations Plaza, which has become a hot spot for drug dealing and use.

A protester who threw a brick at a color guard after a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors is restrained by police at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP)

But the meeting was reportedly cut short after just 10 minutes as the mayor and supervisors were heckled by the crowd.

And as the officials were getting ready to leave, a brick was thrown towards the podium, hitting a Galileo High School student who was at the meeting with the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.

The woman who threw the brick was tackled by a member of the crowd before being detained by police. The student was not injured in the incident as the brick just hit her foot, reported The San Francisco Standard.

WATCH: Police officers restrain a woman who reportedly threw a brick toward city officials shortly after this afternoon's open-air meeting at UN Plaza was cut short by hecklers.



The brick hit a high school student.



More information here: https://t.co/PflnrTYb3N pic.twitter.com/78wR5USu3J  The San Francisco Standard (@sfstandard) May 23, 2023

The San Francisco Police Department says that Elysia Katet, 26, from San Francisco, was arrested and booked into jail for child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon.

The mayor was immediately booed by the crowd as she called for a new approach to dealing with drugs in the city and harsher punishments for drug dealers.

The city is set to run a pilot programme that would allow for greater enforcement of the laws against public drug use.

I run into people day in and day out in the Tenderloin, and they say, London, we would have never been allowed to get away with this stuff back in the day, she said. And the fact is, its time for a change.

And she added: Breed said, Compassion is killing people. We have to change what is happening on the streets. Its too easy getting drugs, they are dying under our watch, we have to do better.
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The South Carolina Senate on Tuesday passed a six-week abortion ban despite the fact that every woman senator in the chamber, Republican and Democrat, voted against it.

The abortion ban will now go to the desk of Republican Governor Henry McMaster. If Mr McMaster does sign the bill as expected, it will be another blow to people seeking abortion care in the southeast. Nearly every other state in the region has enacted abortion bans since the fall of Roe v Wade last year.

If Mr McMaster signs the ban into law, it is likely to face a legal challenge. The South Carolina Supreme Court earlier this struck down a previous version of a six-week abortion ban as unconstitutional.

But that didnt stop Republican men in the state legislature and the male Republican governor from pushing to pass a ban anyway. Six-week bans on abortion are considered near total bans because many people dont know theyre pregnant until more than six weeks after conception.

This bill may make it hard for people to get legal abortion care in the state even if they do know theyre pregnant before six weeks are up. The bill requires people to have two in-person doctors visits and two ultrasounds before they can get an abortion.

Many Republican-controlled states have passed severely restrictive abortion bans over the past year-plus. But the optics in South Carolina, a state Donald Trump carried by just over 11 points in the 2020 election, are striking.

The five women in the South Carolina Senate all united in opposition to the bill, calling themselves the Sister Senators. On two previous occassions, they and several male Republican senators had united to block the Senate from passing an abortion ban sent to them by the state House.

This time, however, those male Republican senators relented and voted for the bill  meaning that it passed with only men voting for it. The Republican women who opposed the bill  state senators Sandy Senn, Katrina Shealy, and Penry Gustafson  pushed to put the issue to voters in the form of a ballot measure or pass a 12-week ban instead.

But they were rebuffed by the more conservative state House and anti-abortion Republican leadership. The New York Times reported that Shane Massey, the Senate majority leader, argued that the state had become the abortion capital of the Southeast.

If that was ever the case, it likely wont be for long  and with North Carolina passing an abortion ban of its own in recent weeks, many people in the South will likely be unable to obtain legal abortion care.
 Close Donald Trump Jr accidentally says his father has the charisma of a mortician in bungled attack video

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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.
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A recent letter by Donald Trumps lawyers requesting a meeting with US attorney general Merrick Garland has sparked speculation that a fresh indictment could be looming against the former president.

Mr Trump just hours ago truthed a letter dated 23 May on his social media platform Truth Social in which his lawyers alleged he is being treated unfairly in the investigation related to classified documents found stashed in his properties after his run as president got over.

Unlike president Biden, his son Hunter, and the Biden family, president Trump is being treated unfairly, said the letter undersigned by Trump attorneys John P Rowley and James M Trusty.

No president of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion, they said.

While it is not unusual for defence lawyers to seek meetings with senior Justice Department officials, the letter has a rare request seeking a meeting with Mr Garland, the American governments top lawyer.

We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors, it said, referring to special counsel Jack Smith who is reportedly wrapping up his year-long investigation into the classified documents case.

It has repeatedly been suggested by Justice Department officials that the decision to pursue charges against the Republican frontrunner for president, or anyone else in the investigation, belongs with the special counsel and his team.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the letter, while Mr Trumps lawyers and spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

Correspondents tracking the hearing and investigation are now saying that such rare requests indicate a tilt in the scales towards a fresh indictment for Mr Trump.

This is the end of the road before an indictment. Standard practice to allow defence to make a presentation before deciding to charge. This is likely Trumps effort to appeal after being rebuffed by Smith. Childish language notwithstanding, said Andrew Weissmann, co-host of MSNBC podcast Prosecuting Donald Trump.

Senior reporter Katherine Faulders cited sources and said the requests are an attempt by Mr Trumps lawyers to shield him from a fresh indictment.

Trump sends letter to Garland asking for a meeting at his earliest convenience. The letter is thin on details, but sources familiar with the request tell me his lawyers want to present arguments that he shouldnt be indicted related to his handling of classified information, she tweeted.

Mr Garland recently did not move to overrule any of the actions taken in the probe by special counsel John Durham into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016. Special counsels are said to enjoy broad autonomy within the Justice Department.

President Joe Biden could vault to a massive lead over Mr Trump if the latter faces further criminal charges from the federal and state criminal investigations into his conduct, according to a new poll obtained by The Independent.

The poll of 1,571 registered voters was conducted by WPA Research, a Republican polling firm.

The CEO of WPA is an adviser to Never Back Down, a Super PAC supporting Florida governor Ron DeSantis  but the survey was conducted independently without his input and was not sponsored by the Super PAC.
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No one will be watching more keenly than Donald Trump this week as Florida governor Ron DeSantis finally makes the long-awaited announcement that he will seek the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.

During his own tenure in the White House in 2018, Mr Trump loudly cheered Mr DeSantiss bid for the governors mansion, throwing his weight behind the former congressman and appearing at rallies to stump for him, playing an important role in the candidates narrow defeat of Democratic rival and Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum.

Since then, however, a great deal of water has passed beneath the bridge and the two men are now increasingly antagonistic towards one another.

Mr Trump has been busy yelling a steady stream of insults and barbed nicknames across the state from Mar-a-Lago, the majority of which Mr DeSantis has wisely allowed to pass without public comment.

Here is a timeline of their disintegrating relationship.

17 November 2018

Ron DeSantis is elected governor of Florida, defeating Democrat Andrew Gillum.

Then-president Donald Trump, who had campaigned for Mr DeSantis in person and on Twitter, loudly celebrates his victory as the latest demonstration of his own power and influence.

11 March 2020

After a relatively quiet first year in the governors mansion, Mr DeSantis faces a major crisis when the US Centers for Disease Control announces that Covid-19 is spreading in his state. Within days, the entire world is going into lockdown to control the spread of the contagious respiratory disease.

While Mr Trump bungles the federal response to the crisis, making empty promises as to when society can reopen, openly speculating that injecting bleach might provide a cure and eventually contracting the coronavirus himself one month before Election Day, Mr DeSantis recognises opposition to masks and social restrictions as a culture war flashpoint and uses the mood to his political advantage.

Were not shutting down, were gonna go forward, were gonna continue to protect the most vulnerable, he said in a speech in June. Particularly when you have a virus that disproportionately impacts one segment of society, to suppress a lot of working-age people at this point I dont think would likely be very effective.

20 January 2021

Joe Biden succeeds Mr Trump as president, the latter leaving Washington two weeks after his two-month campaign to prove the false contention that the 2020 presidential election was rigged had ended with the Capitol riot in which his misled supporters laid siege to the legislative complex baying for blood and threatening to lynch vice president Mike Pence and kidnap House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Disgraced, discredited, twice-impeached and banned from social media, Mr Trump slinks off back to his Palm Beach estate, while the same states governor continues to make a name for himself, capitalising on his pandemic popularity among Republicans by eventually taking on LGBT+ rights and the might of the Walt Disney Corporation, cheered on by a movement looking for a less contaminated and compromised alternative to Mr Trump, who can only look on with envy.

29 April 2021

Mr Trump tells Maria Baritromo on Fox Business Network: Hes a friend of mine. I endorsed Ron, and after I endorsed him, he took off like a rocket ship.

On the suggestion that Mr DeSantis might make a good successor to Mr Pence as a running mate, Mr Trump answers: A lot of people like that  you know, Im just saying what I read and what you read  they love that ticket. But certainly, Ron would be considered. Hes a great guy.

4 October 2021

Addressing the prospect of having to square up against Mr DeSantis in a future election race, rather than their joining forces, Mr Trump tells Yahoo! Finance he would beat the governor with ease.

I dont think I will face him. I think most people would drop out, I think he would drop out, he says. If I faced him, Id beat him like I would beat everyone else. If I do run, I think that Ill do extremely well.

For his part, Mr DeSantis tells Fox News: Im not considering anything beyond doing my job. We got a lot of stuff going on in Florida.

21 June 2022

Increasingly bothered by Mr DeSantis rise, Mr Trump begins to insist that the former owes his success entirely to his support.

On the prospect of the governor running for the White House, as discussed at length in The New Yorker, its former occupant tells Newsmax: I dont know that he wants to run, you know, I have a good relationship with Ron. But I was very responsible for him getting elected, as you know Well see what happens.

14 September 2022

Mr DeSantis engages in a distinctly Trumpian stunt by sending approximately 50 Venezuelan asylum seekers by air from San Antonio, Texas, to Crestview airport in Florida and then on to the island of Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts, a Democratic stronghold.

A piece of provocative political theatre, Mr Trump gripes that he thought of it first.

24 September 2022

While that episode brought liberal condemnation, including from President Biden, who called it inhumane, Mr DeSantis wins praise soon after by declaring a state of emergency when Hurricane Ian strikes his state.

He would later be praised for his swift and decisive response to the natural disaster.

8 November 2022

The two men hold competing rallies in Florida in the final days before the midterm elections, with Mr Trump debuting his prized Ron DeSanctimonious nickname at his event.

But the governor goes on to win re-election in commanding fashion, beating Democrat Charlie Crist by a nearly 20-point margin and drawing in previously untapped support from Latinos and suburban voters.

By contrast, Mr Trumps preferred candidates lose races across the country from Pennsylvania to Arizona as the widely predicted red wave fails to materialise, causing the GOP to miss out on the Senate and only narrowly win a majority in the House of Representatives and prompting many to question the former presidents continued stranglehold over their party and begin to look elsewhere for alternative leadership.

11 November 2022

The fallout from the midterms really sets the rivalry simmering, with Mr Trump resorting to suggesting he had deployed the FBI to secure Mr DeSantis win over Mr Gillum in 2018.

Taking to Truth Social, Mr Trump calls his rival an average Republican governor with great public relations who was politically dead until he helped turn his fortunes around.

He writes: I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the US attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen

The post, inevitably, invites calls for the matter to be investigated urgently.

16 November 2022

Mr Trump announces his intention to run again for the US presidency in a low-key televised address from Mar-a-Lago that many feel lacks the energy of his earlier political speeches.

Doubts remain over whether the myriad civil and criminal investigations into his affairs could yet derail him.

29 January 2023

Continuing to obsessively re-litigate Mr DeSantiss 2018 gubernatorial win in order to bolster his own role in it, Mr Trump accuses his rival of trying to rewrite history over his record in responding to Covid, claiming he had changed his tune a lot on the introduction of vaccine mandates.

Speaking to reporters while campaigning in New Hampshire and South Carolina, Mr Trump gripes: Ron would have not been governor if it wasnt for me. When I hear that he might [run] I think its very disloyal There are Republican governors that did not close their states. Theyre trying to rewrite history.

8 February 2023

Clearly preparing to get nasty, Mr Trump resorts to amplifying an unfounded smear about Mr DeSantis on Truth Social relating to his short-lived career as a high school teacher in Georgia as a younger man.

18 February 2023

A new nickname, Meatball Ron, is reported to have been trialled by Mr Trump, still seeking a way to trash-talk his likely opponent, as he had done so many times before, but this time he unexpectedly denies it is his coinage.

I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious Meatball Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will, he raves on Truth Social.

Even though FoxNews-killing lightweight Paul Ryan is revered by him, Low Energy Jeb Bush is his hero and always at his side, his beaches and State were closed for long periods of time, his testing, testing, testing for the China Virus didnt work out too well, and his loyalty skills are really weak, it would be totally inappropriate to use the word meatball as a moniker for Ron!

8 March 2023

Another new nickname, Tiny D, is reported by Bloomberg as being workshopped by Mr Trump, this time either a lewd reference to the governors manhood or an allegation that he had been spotted wearing heeled cowboy boots in order to increase his height.

30 April 2023

Responding to Mr DeSantis setting out on a global tour, visiting the UK and Japan in the interest of looking statesmanlike on the world stage, Mr Trump tries a new attack line, saying he couldnt care less if the governor runs against him.

I couldnt care less if Ron DeSanctus [sic] runs, but the problem is the Bill he is about to sign, which allows him to run without resigning from being Governor, totally weakens Election Integrity in Florida, he posted.

16 May 2023

Still searching for that killer attack line, Mr Trump tells The Messenger his political opponent is a rank amateur.

I think the media has said hes doing a terrible job and he doesnt know what hes doing. You know, the media has not been friendly to him. Theyre saying that hes a rank amateur. And you know, he started off fine, but then he hasnt done very well. You look at the polls.

Returning to the disloyalty argument, Mr Trump manages so sound genuinely wounded as he complains: Hes very disloyal. He was a dead man walking. He was dead, dead as a doornail. And I revived him.

Im a loyal person. If that happened to me, I would never run against the guy that did that. Hes got plenty of years left. And I think if he runs, hes gonna lose MAGA votes forever. Thats my opinion. And the MAGA votes are almost everything in the Republican Party, far bigger than you think.

Mr Trump added that it was too early to say if he would endorse Mr DeSantis if he won the GOP primary.

So far, Im not a fan of the way that hes running. First of all, he shouldnt be running right now because he hasnt filed. The guys doing ads. Hes acting as a candidate, but he doesnt have to play by the rules because he hasnt filed, which is a total violation. I mean, this guys doing interviews as a candidate, but he hasnt filed, which is really not appropriate.

In the same interview, he said Floridas new six-week abortion ban was too harsh and likely to alienate voters.

Unusually, Mr DeSantis did respond to that one by arguing: Protecting an unborn child when theres a detectable heartbeat is something that almost 99 per cent of pro-lifers support. As a Florida resident, you know, he didnt give an answer about, Would you have signed the heartbeat bill that Florida did, that had all the exceptions that people talk about?

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung came back with: Ron DeSantis is flailing in the polls and is closer to the bottom of the pack than he is to President Trump, who is dominating in every single poll.

The feud continues as Mr Trump claims Rons magic is GONE after two candidates endorsed by Mr DeSantis suffer embarrassing election defeats within a week: Daniel Davis fails to become mayor of Jacksonville and Kelly Craft loses out on the Republican nomination to be the next governor of Kentucky.

24 May 2023

As Mr DeSantis finally announces his campaign, initially with a 30-second teaser video posted to Twitter by his wife Casey, Mr Trump attempts to hijack his big day by launching into an insult-packed tirade on Truth Social, again calling his rival disloyal, declaring that he desperately needs a personality transplant and calling him disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, the acronym short for Republican In Name Only.

Sounding more unhinged than ever, Mr Trump thrashes out the following diatribe in full keyboard warrior mode: Look, Rob DeSanctimonious came to me asking for help. He was losing badly, by 31 points, to popular Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

He was getting ready to drop out of the race  Ran a terrible campaign! Ron told me he had one last chance, my Support & Endorsement, which Putnam, and everyone else, wanted also. I gave it to Ron, and the race was over. In one day, he went from losing badly, to winning by a lot. With 3 LARGE TRUMP RALLIES, he WON THE GENERAL ELECTION in an upset. DISLOYAL!!!

Two more feverish all-caps rants follow, with a break for lunch in between, laying into Mr DeSantis on policy and polling grounds.
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Its now been one year since moms and dads dropped their children off at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde for the very last time.

Its been one year since 21 of those young students and their heroic teachers were shot dead in their classrooms.

And its also been one year since Texas Governor Greg Abbott began ignoring the desperate pleas for action from the victims families.

On 24 May 2022, 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School armed with a legally purchased AR-15 and murdered 19 students aged between nine and 11 years old and two teachers.

The massacre horrified the nation, marking one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.

Since then, the families have been begging Texas officials to take action and tighten the states gun laws  gun laws that are among the weakest in the nation.

But, for the last 12 months, it has all fallen on deaf ears.

Despite their desperate pleas, Mr Abbott refused to call a legislative session to even discuss the possibility of introducing gun safety measures all the while he continues to enjoy his longstanding, cosy relationship with the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Mr Abbotts action  or inaction  over the mass shooting fell under scrutiny almost immediately after the 24 May tragedy.

When news of the shooting reached him in Abilene, where he was holding a press conference about wildfires, instead of rushing to Uvalde, he continued with his plans to attend a fundraiser to drum up donations for his re-election campaign.

Initially, Mr Abbott claimed that he only stopped by the campaign fundraiser in Huntsville to let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go.

But this version of events fell apart two months later when campaign finance reports and flight-tracking records, obtained by The Dallas Morning News , revealed that he actually stayed almost three hours at the event.

A memorial for the 19 children and two teachers killed in the May shooting sits outside the school (AP)

While devastated parents were receiving the worst possible news, Mr Abbott was raising up to $50,000 in campaign funds.

Call logs, released by state Senator Roland Gutierrez, showed that Mr Abbott only accepted three calls from Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw on 24 May, with the two men speaking for less than 30 minutes about one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history on the day of the massacre.

In the weeks after the shooting, Mr Abbott also came under fire when he was a no-show at the funerals for each of the 21 victims.

When scheduling records exposed his absence, Mr Abbotts office responded by saying he had sent flowers and condolences to the families and had visited every family who had requested a meeting.

Then there was his change in messaging about what happened that day.

One day after the massacre, Mr Abbott gave his first public address in which he heaped praise on the amazing courage of law enforcement officers on the scene. He told the community that had just lost 21 members that it could have been worse.

It could have been worse. The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do, he said.

This turned out to be false.

In the days and weeks after the shooting, it emerged that almost 400 officers waited a staggering 77 minutes before breaching the classroom as the gunman continued his murderous rampage and wounded victims bled to death.

The police response has now been branded an abject failure, one in which officers on the scene prioritised their own safety over saving the lives of the victims.

Mr Abbott later fumed that he had been misled by unidentified public officials before making his speech.

Three days on from the shooting, the governor spoke out again  this time giving two vastly different speeches with two dramatically conflicting messages on the topic of gun safety.

That Friday, Mr Abbott had been due to speak on stage at the NRA convention in Houston.

Abbott speaking in a pre-recorded video at the NRA convention (Fox)

In light of the shooting, he pulled out of the event  but not before sending a pre-recorded video message to be played on stage.

In that speech, he undermined the importance of gun safety laws, claiming they have no impact on reducing gun violence.

There are thousands of laws on the books across the country that limit the owning and using of firearms, laws that have not stopped madmen from carrying out evil acts on innocent people in peaceful communities, he said.

In Uvalde, the gunman committed a felony under Texas law before he even pulled the trigger. Its a felony to possess a firearm on school premises. But that did not stop him.

The message  a show of defiance that he had no plans to tighten the states already weak gun laws  aired at the same time as he was telling the grieving Uvalde community that he absolutely expected new laws to be passed in response to the tragedy.

With regard to a special (legislative) session, let me just say this: all options are on the table, he said.

Do we expect laws to come out of this devastating crime? The answer is absolutely yes. And there will be laws in multiple different subject areas. There will be committees formed, there will be meetings held, there will be proposals that will be derived, many of which will lead to laws that will be passed in the state of Texas.

Over the next year, Mr Abbott ignored ongoing requests from Uvalde officials to call a special legislative session to at least discuss the possibility of gun reform in the state.

State Representative Tracy King and Mr Gutierrez  the two Texas lawmakers who represent Uvalde  urged the governor to call the session. State Democrats said they would support proposals including raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic assault rifles from 18 to 21, creating red flag laws, introducing a 72-hour cooling off period for gun purchases and regulating private gun sales.

Grieving family members begged for change, calling  at the very least  for a raise in minimum age to purchase assault weapons.

Time after time, their pleas were ignored.

Instead of acknowledging that the states weak gun laws may have played any part in the massacre (the 18-year-old gunman legally bought two AR-15s just days after his birthday), Mr Abbott pointed the finger at mental illness and school safety and insisted that raising the minimum age to buy would be unconstitutional.

Parents who lost children in the Robb Elementary School shooting look at a sample ballot before going to vote on Monday (AP)

He claimed he took several other actions to support the Uvalde community and make schools safer including providing 30 law enforcement officers to the school district campuses for the new school year, $105.5m in funding for school safety and mental health services  as well as roping in Chuck Norris to front a programme to report suspicious behaviour at schools.

None of the actions involved restricting access to firearms.

Even during his race to hold onto his gubernatorial seat in the midterms, Mr Abbott refused to move the needle on the gun control debate.

Family members who lost loved ones in the Uvalde massacre threw their support behind his Democratic rival Beto ORourke  including featuring in a gutwrenching ad campaign.

Behind Mr Abbott, of course, was the NRA.

Data compiled by Giffords showed that Mr Abbott received $20,700 in career gun lobby contributions  one of the highest of all candidates in gubernatorial races.

His close relationship with the NRA was perhaps most evident when in June 2021  less than one year before Uvalde  he signed a bill into law allowing Texans without a licence to open carry handguns. Standing at his shoulder at the bill signing were NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and NRA president Carolyn Meadows.

In November, less than six months after the state endured the worst school shooting in its history, Texans chose to re-elect Mr Abbott as governor for a third term.

In the weeks and months leading up to the one-year anniversary of the Uvalde mass shooting, Texas has been rocked by several more mass shootings.

On 28 April, five people  including a nine-year-old boy  were shot dead in a horror attack at a home in Cleveland.

Days later, on 6 May, eight people were killed and seven injured when a neo-Nazi gunman went on a shooting rampage at an outlet mall in Allen.

And again, nothing changed.

Then on the one-year anniversary of the states worst mass shooting in history, Mr Abbott did announce some action:

A moment of silence.

Flags lowered to half staff in Texas.

But still no attempt to tackle the states problem with gun violence.
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The father of an Uvalde school shooting victim has demanded right-wing lawmakers not mention the names of the children killed on the anniversary of the tragedy.

I dont want a single politician who figuratively spit in our faces to mention Uvalde or our kids tomorrow, Brett Cross, the guardian of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, wrote on Twitter.

He specifically called out Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a host of state and federal lawmakers and law enforcement officers.

From the bottom of my heart. F*** all of you, Mr Cross wrote.

The Uvalde community is still seeking accountability for the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers inside a 4th grade classroom at Robb Elementary School on 24 May last year.

A criminal investigation into the botched law enforcement response to the shooting is still ongoing, leaving many unanswered questions for the grieving families.

Five officers under investigation for their role in the shooting response have resigned or been fired, according to the Associated Press.

And victims parents say they feel frustrated over the lack of transparency from authorities in Uvalde.

Uziyah Garcia, 10, was was killed along with 18 of his classmates and two teachers at Robb Elementary School one year ago. (AP)

Mr Cross wrote on Twitter that the last time he had seen Uzi was on 10pm the night before he was killed.

I told him to go to bed, ruffled his hair and told him I loved him. I didnt see him on the 24th as I left for work before the kids got up for school, Mr Cross wrote on Tuesday night.

He said he had been haunted for the past year by not knowing what Uzi had been wearing when he was killed.

A year today since I heard his voice, heard him say I love you, heard him bound up the stairs. A year since I saw his contagious smile, he wrote.

Im trying so hard not to break today. I know that life isnt fair, but the fact is, its down right cruel. I hate this life with out him. I hate this world with out him.

Decorated rocks honor the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on 3 May (Associated Press)

By 9.30am on Wednesday, Mr Cruz had posted tweets promoting his latest podcast episode and an interview on Fox News on Tuesday night, but made no mention of the anniversary of the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.

Mr Abbott and Mr Patrick were also conspicuously silent about the Uvalde anniversary on Wednesday morning.

Beto ORourke, who ran for the governorship last year, retweeted several family tributes to the victims early on Wednesday.

Sending love to the families in Uvalde today and every day, he wrote.
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A newborn bison calf in Yellowstone National Park was euthanised after an attempted rescue effort by a tourist caused it to be rejected by the herd.

The National Park Service (NPS) has appealed for help to identify the tourist after the unfortunate incident at the junction of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek on Saturday.

The man approached the calf after it became separated from its mother when the bison herd crossed the swollen Lamar River in the northeastern corner of the Wyoming park, the NPS said.

He then pushed the struggling calf up a river bank and onto a roadway.

Witnesses said the man and other tourists patted the noticeably distressed and shivering baby bison, the Cowboy State Daily reported.

The calf and mother were seen calling out to each other from opposite sides of the river, the news site reported.

Park rangers attempts to reunite the calf with the herd were unsuccessful, and the calf was euthanised after it caused a hazardous situation by following cars and visitors, the NPS said.

Authorities are appealing for information to identify a tourist who attempted to rescue a newborn bison calf in Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service)

Yellowstone regulations state that visitors must remain at least 25 yards (23m) away from all wildlife including bison, elk and deer, and at least 100 yards (91m) away from wolves and bears.

Park rangers recently appealed to tourists to stay clear of wild animals after several documented incidents of bison being approached for selfies or pets.

Approaching wild animals can drastically affect their well-being and, in this case, their survival, an NPS spokesperson said.

The tourist is described as a white male in their 40s or 50s, who was wearing a blue shirt and black pants.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Yellowstone National Park Tip Line at 307-344-2132 or email YELL_Tip@nps.gov.
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A 13-year-old girl in Australias Melbourne died after taking part in a social media trend called chroming which involves inhaling substances for a quick high.

Esra Haynes died after inhaling chemicals from an aerosol deodorant can, reported 7news.com.au.

Her father Paul Haynes said that the incident took place last month when he received a call from his daughters friends to pick her up from a sleepover after she fell unconscious following an attempt at chroming.

The act, also known as huffing, can also involve inhaling the dangerous fumes from metallic paints, solvents, petrol, and household chemicals.

Mr Haynes said that his daughter suffered a cardiac arrest and spent a week-and-a-half in hospital, where he and his family watched her struggle to stay alive.

In the end, we had to make the decision, we had to turn off her life support, he was quoted as saying. It was really devastating, devastating for everyone involved, all her friends as well.

He said that since her death the family has struggled to eat and sleep.

Its been the most difficult, traumatic time any parent could go through. We havent been sleeping, weve hardly been eating, we havent been smiling, were not ourselves, he said.

I think Ive aged ten years.

But its not just affected us, its the community as well.

Mr Haynes said there needed to be awareness around the lethal act to prevent such deaths in the future.

We need to ramp it up and let these kids find out the information first-hand, and not through friends, and not through social media  then theyre given the right advice off the bat.

If we were educated and the word had been put out there, we would have had the discussion around our kitchen table for sure, Mr Haynes said.

(Parents) need to sit and have a chat to their children, and just open that conversation up gently with them.

We certainly didnt know what was going on.

Since 2019, two 16-year-old boys have died after participating in the trend, reported The Strait Times.

Another teenage girl suffered brain damage after attempting the trend.
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The Chinese government on Wednesday defended its ban on products from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. in some computer systems after Washington expressed concern, adding to strains over technology and security.

The security review of Micron products was conducted in accordance with the law," said a foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning.

The Cyberspace Administration of China on Sunday said Micron products have unspecified security risks but gave no details. It banned them from computers that handle sensitive information.

That came after Washington, Japan and the Netherlands blocked Chinese access to technology to make advanced processor chips on security grounds at a time when the ruling Communist Party is threatening to attack Taiwan and is more assertive toward its other Asian neighbors.

Chinas cybersecurity review does not target specific countries or regions, Mao said. We do not exclude technologies and products from any country.

Companies on both sides have been buffeted by supply disruptions and lost sales revenue.

Restrictions by Washington and its allies on access to chips and tools to make them hamper Chinas efforts to develop its own chip industry. U.S. vendors have lost billions of dollars of potential sales to Chinese smartphone makers, chip foundries and other customers.

Mao complained the United States has imposed restrictions on more than 1,200 Chinese companies on security grounds without any factual basis. She accused Washington of misusing national security as an excuse to unreasonably suppress Chinese companies.

This is economic coercion and is unacceptable, Mao said.

The U.S. government is engaging directly with Beijing to make our view clear about the Micron ban, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday.

We have very serious concerns, said Miller. Referring to the Peoples Republic of China, he said, This action appears inconsistent with the PRCs assertions that it is open for business and committed to a transparent regulatory framework.

Micron will cooperate with the Chinese regulator and is evaluating the bans impact, according to its chief financial officer, Mark Murphy.

We remain unclear as to what security concerns exist, Murphy said on a JP Morgan technology industry conference call. Weve had no complaints from customers on the security of our products.

Micron estimates it might lose sales equivalent to a single digit percentage of total revenue, but the final figure depends on what customers and products are affected, Murphy said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Qin Gang pressed his Dutch counterpart for access to chipmaking technology that has been blocked on security grounds.

China needs a machine available only from a single Dutch company, ASML Holding NV, that uses ultraviolet light to etch microscopic circuits on next-generation chips. Without that, the ruling party's efforts to develop chips for smartphones, artificial intelligence and other advanced applications are stalled.

China has serious concerns about this, Qin said. We should work together to jointly protect the normal trade order between us and "keep the global industrial and supply chains stable.

The Dutch minister, Wopke Hoekstra, said he shared our national security concerns and gave no indication his government's position changed.

___

Micron Technology Inc.: www.micron.com
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Madeleine McCanns disappearance has puzzled detectives for more than 15 years  but in 2020 a new potential suspect emerged. Now, police are searching a remote reservoir in Portugals the Algarve that he used to visit in a renewed effort to shed further light on the case.

Follow all the latest updates on the Independents live blog

German prisoner Christian Brueckner was first named in connection with the unsolved mystery that summer, and officially named as a suspect last year. His yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly identified as having been near to the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal where the young girl went missing on May 3, 2007.

Christian Brueckner is serving seven years behind bars in Germany (Reuters)

Three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from the bed of her holiday apartment while her parents and family friends dined 180 feet away. Her two-year-old twin siblings were also in the apartment she went missing from. Madeleines parents Kate and Gerry McCann have been searching for answers ever since.

The Metropolitan Police took over the investigation, Operation Grange, in 2011 but they hit dead ends. There has not been another significant suspect in the case since 2007 until Brueckner.

Who is Christian Brueckner?

German prisoner Christian Brueckner is a prolific burglar and has been previously convicted for sex crimes against young girls.

He was born in Germany in 1976 and moved to Portugal in his late teens.

It is believed he lived there between 1995 and 2007 working in the food industry.

Brueckner is described as being about 6ft tall, slim and white with short blond hair.

Brueckner had reportedly been using a yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan in and around Praia da Luz (PA Archive)

What are the accusations against him?

Brueckner was declared a prime suspect in the case of the disappearance of Madeleine by Portuguese police in April 2022.

Already in prison in Germany for the rape and murder of a 72-year-old woman, he has now also been charged with multiple sex offences which are alleged to have taken place between 2000 and 2007.

Police in Germany claim to have concrete evidence that the British girl is dead though this has not been proven.

A spokesperson from the Braunschweig prosecutors office previously said: The accused is the same person against whom charges were brought in connection with the disappearance of the then three-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann.

Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children.

The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues.

The charges mentioned do not relate to the McCann case. But in May German police claim to have found new evidence linked to Madeleine inside a van belonging to Brueckner.

Madeleines parents Kate and Gerry McCann have been searching for answers ever since her disappearance (PA Wire)

How was he identified as a suspect?

Brueckner had reportedly been using a yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan in and around Praia da Luz  the Algarve resort where the McCanns were holidaying at the time Madeleine vanished.

German prosecutors say telecomms data shows Brueckner received a phone call on 3 May 2007 near the Praia da Luz holiday apartment from which the three-year-old went missing, but he reportedly claims to have been miles from the scene with a young German woman.

Brueckner, who has always denied any involvement in Madeleines disappearance, insists he drove the woman, who was on holiday with her parents, to the airport in Faro for her return flight home the following day. They were stopped and photographed at a police roadblock, according to Sky News.

When Portuguese police named Brueckner an arguido  a formal suspect  on 21 April last year, it was the first time they had identified an official suspect since 2007.

Back then, they named Madeleines parents, Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects but both were later cleared.

Brueckner is the first significant suspect in the case since 2007 (PA Media)

Why is he in prison in Germany?

In April 2022, Brueckner was jailed in Germany for the rape and murder of a 72-year-old woman in the same resort - Praia da Luz - as where Madeleine went missing.

Police in Germany, who are treating the case as a murder enquiry, believe Brueckner planned to rob the holiday apartment but moved on to a sexual motive.

It is believed he has a total of 17 convictions including burglary as he steals from hotels and holiday let apartments.

Other cases Brueckner has been linked to

Brueckner has also been linked to other disappearances of children, including a boy, six, in Portugal in 2000, a five-year-old girl in Germany in 2015 and a number of others.

In 2020, he was being investigated over the rape and murder of Tristan Brubach, a 15-year-old boy from Germany.

Belgian authorities have also linked him to the murder of teenager Carola Titze, 16. She went missing while on holiday in De Haan, Belgium on July 5, 1996 and her body was discovered among sand dunes severely mutilated on July 11.

Other cases believed to be linked to Brueckner include that of Inga Gehrike who went missing from Saxony-Anhalt in Germany on May 2, 2015, Rene Hasee, six, who vanished while on a family holiday in Aljezur, Portugal on June 21, 1996 and Jair Soares who disappeared in August 1995.

Peggy Knoblochs case has also been linked to Brueckner after she went missing in May 2001.
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Police in Portugal investigating the disappearance of British citizen Madeleine McCann 16 years ago have begun searching a reservoir in the Algarve known to have been frequented by the latest suspect in the case.

Ms McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was just three years old when she went missing from an apartment complex at the Ocean Club holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the municipality of Lagos on 3 May 2007.

Her case remains unsolved and is still the subject of intense public and press interest.

Her parents, doctors Gerry and Kate McCann, continue to campaign for her return and recently posted a poem remembering her on their Find Madeleine website, reminding readers that she is still missing ... still very much missed.

They added: The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support  it really helps.

Despite the best efforts of investigators, the McCann case had lain dormant for several years before it suddenly exploded back into life in June 2020. German media revealed that Christian Brueckner, a prisoner, now aged 45, with a track record of child abuse and drug trafficking, had been identified as a new suspect by the public prosecutor of the German city of Braunschweig.

He was reportedly living in a Volkswagen camper van in the Algarve at the time of Madeleines disappearance.

German investigators have classified their probe into his movements as a murder inquiry, saying they are working on the assumption that Madeleine is dead. They reported in July 2021 that they had found an abandoned cellar beneath his former allotment near Hanover where she could, theoretically, have been held captive.

Madeleine McCann (Getty )

Hans Christian Wolters, the prosecutor leading the investigation into Brueckner, has said he is very confident the inmate is responsible for kidnapping her.

If you knew the evidence we had you would come to the same conclusion as I do but I cant give you details because we dont want the accused to know what we have on him  these are tactical considerations, he told the BBC.

Brueckner was formally named an arguido (suspect) in relation to the case by the Portuguese authorities on 21 April 2022.

Barragem do Arade (AFP/Getty)

Now, a German-led police operation is examining the Barragem do Arade reservoir in the Algarve said to have been visited by Brueckner during his 17-year stay in the region between 2000 and 2017.

According to Portuguese broadcaster SIC, the suspect considered the area his little slice of paradise and the investigation is set to last for several days.

One source has been quoted as saying: Portuguese police will offer logistical support but the initiative is German and they were the ones that requested the work that is going to take place this week. Scotland Yard officers are due to travel to Portugal but theirs will be a watching brief.

The Metropolitan Police has since said its officers will be there in order to inform Madeleines family if there are any developments.

Loading....

Met officers will be in Portugal and I am grateful to the Policia Judiciaria and Bundeskriminalamt for allowing us to be present whilst their work is ongoing, so that we can inform Madeleines family of any developments, detective chief inspector Mark Cranwell said.

A brief statement from Mr Wolters office in Braunschweig confirmed the search but did not reveal why it was taking place, saying only that investigators were acting in response to certain tips.

The dam being searched is situated approximately 31 miles northeast of the coastal resort from which Madeleine disappeared.

It was constructed in 1955 and is fed by the 35-mile-long Arade river.

Portuguese authorities searching the Arade dam area (EPA)

Its waters were previously searched in 2008 by specialist divers paid for by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia, who claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that the girls body was in the waterway.

On Monday 22 May, investigators sealed off a mile-long peninsula jutting into the reservoir and began setting up makeshift blue tents to serve as a base of operations.

A rigid-hull inflatable boat is being used by officers to search the water and a no-fly zone has been implemented overhead, allowing only police drones to buzz by.

Search teams arrive back at one of the operation tents (AP)

A track leading to the search area was also cordoned off with police tape and marked vehicles from Portugals National Republican Guard.

There are around two dozen Policia Judiciaria officers who seem to be supervising things at this stage, one onlooker told the media.

Pictures from the site show members of the emergency services with their faces covered by bandanas searching the waters edge and surrounding grasslands with sniffer dogs.

Policia Judiciaria officers at the search site (AFP/Getty)

Others were seen with rakes, pickaxes, spades and metal rods combing the ground for clues while what looked like evidence bags were seen being removed from the scene.

A Daily Mail report has suggested they are seeking traces of the clothes Madeleine might have worn, particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing on the day of her disappearance.

Part of the municipality of Silves, the beauty spot is a well-known tourist attraction, drawing visitors for hiking, camping and canoeing or touring its nearby vineyards.
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Police are searching a Portuguese lake for the pink pyjamas Madeleine McCann was wearing when she vanished in 2007, sources close to the investigation have said.

Officers are searching the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal for any fragments of clothing or old rags that could be related to Madeleines disappearance, according to reports.

Investigators suspect that 45-year-old German prisoner Christian Brueckner killed Madeleine, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment.

Personnel at Barragem do Arade reservoir, in the Algave, Portugal (PA)

It is believed Brueckner used to visit the reservoir that police are now searching.

Police in Germany claim to have concrete evidence that the British girl is dead though this has not been proven, and Brueckner has denied any involvement in the disappearance and has not been charged.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

Searches at the Portuguese reservoir began on Tuesday, 23 May at the request of German police in the presence of British officers.

Detectives searching the area took a number of bags away from the reservoir on Tuesday. It was not clear what was inside them.

Madeleine McCann has been missing since 2007 (PA Media)

Christian Brueckner (Reuters)

The reservoir is around 31 miles from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing in 2007. While divers scoured the water, police were seen digging beside the reservoir on Tuesday afternoon.

Sniffer dogs have also been used by police to search both sides of the water, and police were seen hammering away at the ground with pickaxes and combing through small rocks with rakes and spades.

A Portuguese source told The Sun: The search is being taken very seriously and is being controlled totally by the Germans.

They asked Portuguese officers assisting them to look for any evidence  but especially rags.

Meanwhile, The Times reported that Madeleines pyjamas, which were pink with images of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, were a focus of the search.

German prosecutors confirmed they were searching the reservoir but were unable to provide further details for tactical reasons.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told German state broadcaster NDR that they have grounds to believe they could find evidence in the area.

Madeleines parents Kate and Gerry McCann are being kept informed of developments, their spokesman said.

Until a body is found and proved to be Madeleines, Kate and Gerry are not giving up hope. They will be kept informed every step of the way of any development. It leaves Kate and Gerry on tenterhooks. It is another incredibly difficult time for them, the spokesman said.

This is the fourth search for the missing British girl, following the initial one in 2007 in the Algarve area and further efforts in 2013 and 2014.
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Watch live as police search a reservoir in Portugal for a second day on Wednesday, 23 May, in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Portuguese authorities, assisted by German police, set up tents an area near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 50km (31 miles) from where the toddler went missing aged three in Praia da Luz in 2007.

Searches are being conducted at the request of German police in the presence of British officers.

Police divers first entered the water early on Tuesday and a rigid-hull inflatable boat was sent into the water with two officers on board.

It is believed that suspect Christian Brueckner, identified by German police, used to visit the Algarve reservoir being searched.

Authorities believe the 45-year-old killed Madeleine after abducting her from a holiday apartment.

Brueckner has denied involvement in Madeleines disappearance.

The searches come days after Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, issued a tribute on their daughters 20th birthday, telling her: We love you and were waiting for you. Were never going to give up.

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 Close Madeleine McCann Footage shows holes in the ground in Portugal as search ends

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A British couple claimed they found a makeshift shrine to missing Madeleine McCann at the Portuguese reservoir searched by police last week.

The couple, named only as Ralf and Ann, told the Mail on Sunday they found the strange shrine seven months after the toddler vanished 16 years ago, and reported it to Portuguese police, but never heard back.

The shrine consisted of a row of stones pointing to a picnic site which was dug up by police last week, a bouquet of white lilies and a photograph of the missing toddler.

The retired couple, who regularly visit their holiday home near the Algarve reservoir, later reported the shrine to police after suspect Christian Brueckner was identified by German police in 2020, and gave a formal statement.

Ralf, 66, described the shrine as very strange.

Ann, 67, said: Thinking about it now gives me goosebumps because when we saw where the police were searching the past few days you could see thats where the row of stones was pointing to.

Officers concluded their search of the Algarve reservoir on Thursday, where Christian Brueckner reportedly visited some days after the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007.
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The head of the Wagner mercenary group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has launched a scathing new attack on Vladimir Putins invasion strategy, claiming that Russia could face a revolution similar to 1917 and lose the war in Ukraine unless changes are made by Kremlin leadership.

The Wagner chief, who was once a close ally of the Russian president, said Moscows invasion has seen Ukraine amass one of the worlds strongest armies with Western support.

We made Ukraine a nation, known to everyone around the globe, he said in an interview with prominent Russian pro-war blogger Konstantin Dolgov. They are like Greeks at their peak, or Romans.

Mr Prigozhin said Ukraine now has more tanks and more troops than it did at the start of the war. We militarised it up to the brim, he said.

I think Ukrainians today are one of the worlds strongest armies. They have high levels of organisation, training, and military intelligence, he added.

The Wagner chief has publicly feuded with Russian defence officials and military chiefs recently. In May he threatened to withdraw his troops from the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, citing a lack of ammunition received from Putins government. Russia has reecntly claimed to have taken control of Bakhmut, a symbolic target for both Kyiv and Moscow, but Ukrainian officials have denied they are in total control of the area.

Mr Prigozhin has harshly criticised the Russian military for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing the flanks of his forces battling for the city, causing at least 10,000 Wagner troops, mainly convicts and volunteers, to die.

During the [special military operation] I pulled out 50,000 inmates from jails, he said. Twenty per cent of them died.

Prigozhin claims his forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmu (PRIGOZHIN PRESS SERVICE)

Mr Prigozhin has also warned Russia could face a revolution, and he blamed defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the defence staff Valery Gerasimov for the war crisis.

Without a doubt the death penalty will be brought back, because we are in a state of war, he said.

And the guilty people will receive their punishment  as a minimum, theyll be hanged on the Red Square. He criticised elites in Russia for living comfortably while troops are dying on the front lines, saying their sons should go to war. "This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution," he said.

When you bury them, the rest of Russian parents who receive their kids in zinc coffins would feel that now the situation is right. If this doesnt happen, we risk revolution, he added.

In the interview Mr Prigozhin warned that Russia could lose the war in Ukraine, warning he hardly believes Russia can hold on to the territory it has claimed to control.

The pessimistic scenario is that Ukraine will restore the borders to [the way they were in] 2014, he said, meaning before Moscow illegally annexed the region of Crimea. And this can easily happen. They will attack Crimea, will try to blow up the Crimean bridge, cut off the supply routes.

And most likely the scenario wont be good for us, he said. Therefore, we need to prepare for a heavy war.

He continued: We are now in a state where we can simply lose Russia. Therefore, we must introduce martial law, we must announce new waves of mobilisation, we must transfer everyone we can to the ammunition production.

We must stop spending money on nothing, stop building new roads, new infrastructure facilities and work only for the war.

Russia needs to live like North Korea for a certain number of years, to close all borders, stop playing nice, take all our offsprings from abroad and work hard. Then we will see some results.
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Russia alleges that dozens of Ukrainian militants crossed into one of its border towns in its Belgorod region, striking targets and forcing an evacuation, before over 70 of the attackers were killed or pushed back by what the authorities termed a counterterrorism operation.

Ukraine denied any involvement in the skirmishes Monday and Tuesday, instead blaming two Russian groups that claim to be volunteers fighting alongside Kyiv's forces in an uprising against the government of President Vladimir Putin.

While neither version could be independently verified, whatever happened appears to have sent Moscow scrambling to respond to one of the most serious border incursions since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said an elderly woman died in the chaotic evacuation, and 12 people were wounded in the attack and shelling. As fighting there apparently continued Tuesday morning, he urged residents not to return to their homes, and only in late afternoon declared the operation was over.

A look at what's known about the attack and the murky groups who say they carried it out:

Who is claiming responsibility?

Two groups  the Freedom of Russia Legion and Russian Volunteer Corps  claimed responsibility for the attack and announced an ambitious goal of liberating the Belgorod region. Little is known about them beyond what they say about themselves, and it's not clear how they are.

The website of the Freedom of Russia Legion says it was formed last spring out of Russians desire to fight against Putins armed gang and is officially recognized by Kyivs military. We are fighting in full cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and under the leadership of the Ukrainian command, the website says.

The website said it fought last summer in small battle groups, and now was involved in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

The Russian Volunteer Corps page in the messaging app Telegram used to say it was a formation within the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It now describes itself as merely fighting on the Ukrainian side.

In August 2022, an announcement posted there said: We, Russian volunteers living in Ukraine, decided to take up arms and create a military formation, the Russian Volunteer Corps, in order to together with our Ukrainian comrades defend their homeland which gave us shelter, and then continue the fight against the criminal Putin regime and his henchmen.

Other posts claimed the group was fighting in southeastern Ukraine, or as volunteers serving elsewhere in the country, including in Kyiv's suburbs of Bucha and Irpin.

In March, the Russian Volunteer Corps claimed responsibility for an incursion in Russia's Bryansk region, another border area. Media reports at the time identified some of its members as Russian nationalists.

In a post Tuesday, the Russian Volunteer Corps described its political views as right-wing conservative and traditionalist."

What does Ukraine say?

Ukrainian officials have never confirmed any ties with either group. The government in Kyiv denied involvement in this week's Belgorod incident, calling it an act by disgruntled Russians.

When they did talk about it, officials were vague. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said patriots of Russia and people who actually rebelled against Putins regime were behind the attack. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak blamed underground guerrilla groups that are composed of Russian citizens.

In remarks to the news outlet Suspilne, Ukraine intelligence official Andrii Yusov said it was the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Andrii Cherniak, another intelligence representative pointed to the fact that the two groups claimed responsibility. "This is the consequence of aggressive politics of Putins regime and Russias invasion of Ukraine, he told The Associated Press.

What does Russia say?

Russia calls it an incursion by saboteurs deployed by Kyiv, with officials and state media using various epithets ranging from militants to terrorists.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Belgorod attack was a diversion, meant to draw attention away from Russia's victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Moscow claimed to have captured over the weekend after months of bloody fighting.

Asked Tuesday about claims that the invaders were ethnic Russians, Peskov insisted that these are Ukrainian militants from Ukraine.

There are lots of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, but these are still Ukrainian militants, Peskov said.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said more than 70 Ukrainian terrorists were killed in Russias operation. He also referred to the attackers as nationalists.

Russian state TV reported the invaders were from Ukraine's armed forces. One report alleged the attackers used U.S. military equipment despite Washingtons assurances its weapons won't be used for attacks on Russia.

What is the truth?

It's hard to know. Analysts and commentators say both Russia and Ukraine would likely benefit from its own version of the events.

The British Defense Ministry tweeted Tuesday that Russia will almost certainly use these incidents to support the official narrative that it is the victim in the war.

Russian state media coverage appears to support this notion, with its allegations that U.S. weapons were used in the attack and the general tone of some reports that overlaid video from the region with tense, dramatic music.

For Kyiv, it's beneficial to take up the position of an observer and not admit its involvement, said Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov.

The fact is that the war is happening on Russian territory, the Kremlin is being clearly indicated that Russians are not the only ones who can employ hybrid (warfare) methods, Zhdanov told AP.

The involvement of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion should serve as signs that there are forces inside Russia who can resist Putins regime, he said.

At the same time, the Belgorod attack showed Russias helplessness," Zhdanov said.

Russia turned out to be completely unprepared - neither its security forces, nor border guards, nor special services were prepared for hostilities on their own turf. The myth that Russia keeps its border locked has been busted, he added.

Some Russian voices echoed that sentiment. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military contractor, used the incident as yet another chance to bash the Russian Defense Ministry for not adequately protecting the border.

Alexander Kots, military correspondent with the pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, also raised questions on his Telegram page.

Whats with our technical equipment of the border, surveillance systems, motion detection systems?" he asked. "Whats with mining of the potentially dangerous areas? Whats with anti-tank equipment? Why did an enemy armored group breach deep into our territory?

These are the questions to which there are no answers, Kots said. To be more accurate, there are, but theyre very unpleasant.
 Close G7 summit: Zelensky and Fumio Kishida lay wreaths at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima

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Russia unleashed a major two-wave overnight air strikes on Kyiv in what Ukraine said was the largest attack on the city since the beginning of the war.

The attack came ahead of Kyivs anniversary of its official founding 1,541 years ago.

More than 40 drones were downed in the capitals airspace, its military administration officials said on Sunday on Telegram. At least one person was killed from the falling debris.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyivs military administration cited preliminary information and said the air raid was the largest drone attack on Kyiv since the start of Russias invasion.

Russia used the Iranian-made Shahed drones in the attack, he said. The claims could not be verified immediately.

Meanwhile, Russias UK envoy warned of an escalation of the war as the UK and other Western allies commit more weapons to president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The actions of Nato countries, especially the UK, risk lengthening and triggering a new dimension in the war, Andrei Kelin told BBC News.
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At least 1,000 Russian troops fighting Ukraine have gone awol in the past five months  more than in all of last year, British defence chiefs claim.

And, according to court papers, if they are found, most are reportedly punished with suspended sentences so that they can be sent back to the front line in the war.

Moscows military courts have dealt with 1,053 cases of soldiers absent without leave (awol) so far this year, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, citing credible research by independent Russian journalists.

A year and three months to the day since Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, British defence officials said: Russias military has struggled to enforce discipline in its ranks throughout its operations in Ukraine, but its issues have highly likely [sic] worsened following the forced mobilisation of reservists since October 2022.

In September, Mr Putin announced a partial mobilisation of 300,000 military reservists for the war.

The call-up prompted hundreds of thousands of men to flee the country. Outbound flights were full and neighbouring countries received large influxes.

Soon afterwards, Mr Putin toughened up penalties for desertion and refusal to fight, making the offences punishable by up to 10 years in prison, or 15 years for voluntary surrender to enemy forces.

But first-time offenders may be exempted from criminal liability if he took measures for his release, returned to his unit or place of service and did not commit other crimes while in captivity, the new law says.

Within weeks of the boost to Russian numbers, UK defence chiefs concluded many of the newly mobilised soldiers were poorly equipped, possibly with arms in a barely usable condition.

Earlier this year, the MoD suggested Russian troops were using shovels for hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine because of an ammunition shortage.

There were also reports from the battlefield of low morale among the troops, particularly among the new conscripts.

Russian troops were said to have fled, some ending up begging for food from villagers.

Western analysts suggested Russias slow advance on Ukrainian territory was blamed at least in part on the poor morale, lack of preparation and shoddy equipment.

The defence chiefs said the Kremlin had failed to improve morale, saying: Russias efforts to improve discipline have forced on making examples of defaulters, and promoting patriotic zeal, rather than addressing the root causes of soldiers disillusionment.

One Russian military deserter was reportedly liquidated  shot  in the Lipetsk oblast, the regions official Telegram channel claimed in January.

A captured soldier spoke of execution squads for deserters.

In a poll earlier this month, more than half of Russians said they expected another round of mobilisation in the next three months, although the Kremlin has denied it is planning a fresh mobilisation.
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Ukraine will not be able to join Nato as long as Russias invasion continues, the head of the alliance has said.

To become a member in the midst of a war is not on the agenda, Jens Stoltenberg said. The issue is what happens when the war ends.

Last September, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky announced a bid for fast-track membership of Nato after Russias president Vladimir Putin proclaimed four partially-occupied regions of Ukraine as annexed Russian land as part of Moscows invasion. Since then, there have been plenty of platitudes from Nato members about how Ukraine belongs in the alliance, but little concrete action, with some Western allies of Kyiv wary of moves that could push Nato towards an active war with Russia.

At an event organised by think tank German Marshall Fund of The United States in Brussels, Mr Stoltenberg acknowledged there were differences among the alliance over how to address Kyivs membership ambitions.

There are different views in the alliance and, of course, the only way to make decisions in Nato is by consensus. There are consultations going on now, he said, with the alliance set to hold a summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in July.

No one is able to tell you exactly what will be the final decision of the Vilnius summit on this issue, Mr Stoltenberg said.

Mr Zelensky and some of Ukraines closest allies in eastern Europe have been pushing Nato to lay out the concrete steps towards accepting Kyiv into the fold. The Latvian prime minister, Krisjanis Karins, said after meeting with Mr Stoltenberg that Russia would start a conflict all over again unless Ukraine was allowed to join Nato after the end of the war.

To have ... lasting peace, we will need Ukraine, [an] independent, free and liberated Ukraine, as a part of the Nato alliance, he said.

In April, Mr Stoltenberg made a visit to Kyiv to reiterate that the alliance stands with Kyiv. Ukraines rightful place is in Nato, the alliances secretary general said, and over time, our support will help you make this possible. However, he did not give a timeframe. Later the same month, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote in an opinion article for Foreign Affairs: It is time for the alliance to stop making excuses and start the process that leads to Ukraines eventual accession... What we need is a clear written statement from the allies laying out a path to accession.

Nato agreed at its 2008 summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance.

Mr Stoltenbergs remarks came as Washington said it is looking into reports that American vehicles were used during an incursion into Russia territory, while the head of one of the anti-Putin militias who have claimed the assault said Moscow should expect more such raids.

Denis Kapustin, who described himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), spoke on the Ukrainian side of the border a day after Moscow said it had repelled the raid on the Belgorod region.T wo groups operating in Ukraine  the RVC and Freedom of Russia Legion  have claimed responsibility. Kyiv has said that it was not involved in the raid and said it was thanks to internal Russian strife.

I think you will see us again on that side, said Mr Kapustin, who introduced himself by his call-sign White Rex. I cannot reveal those upcoming things, I cannot even reveal the direction. The ... border is pretty long. Yet again there will be a spot where things will get hot.

When asked about the reports that the raid had involved US-made military vehicles, Mr Kapustin said: I know exactly where I got my weapons from. Unfortunately not from the Western partners.

White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that while the US was looking into the reports, it has been clear with Kyiv that it does not support any use of US-made equipment outside Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said durig a briefing in Moscow that it is no secret for us that the direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in this conflict is growing by the day.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu promised on Wednesday that Moscow would respond to any more cross-border raids by Ukrainian militants swiftly and extremely harshly.

Elsewhere, Russia and China have agreed to deepen investment and boost cooperation in a number of trade areas, with Russias prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, signing a set of bilateral agreements on a visit to Beijing. China has sought to portray itself as a neutral mediator seeking to end the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Moscow over their invasion. But this visit is the latest sign of the deepening diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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A strange star system observed by the European Space Agencys Gaia satellite might be a never-before-seen stellar object made of invisible dark matter, new research suggested.

The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted as a preprint in arXiv, assessed data from the Gaia satellite on a cosmic system that consists of a Sun-like star and a much more massive stellar companion about 11 times the solar mass.

These objects are orbiting each other at a distance of 1.4 astronomical units  or about the distance at which Mars orbits the Sun  say researchers, including those from the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Previous research predicted the system consisted of a star orbiting a black hole.

While the likely explanation for the central object could be a black hole, the orbital mechanics of the system is also explained if the central dark object is a stable clump of bosonic, or dark matter particles.

Dark matter is an invisible material that is thought to make up most of the observable matter in the Universe.

Most models suggest dark matter is distributed evenly across the Universe, but some say it could also clump up.

In one such model, dark matter is theorised to be a new kind of boson, which are particles that carry energy and forces across the universe such as the widely known photon.

Some, yet undiscovered bosons, scientists have hypothesised, could have the ability to form large clumps, and a section of these could theoretically be the size of an entire star, they say.

Such a hypothetical cosmic object, known as a boson star  would be entirely invisible as these boson particles do not interact with light but can be identified via their gravitational influence on their surroundings, researchers say.

The new study suggests that the Gaia satellite observation data could be explained by replacing the central object with a boson star.

Identifying the central dark object with a black hole is plausible, but rather challenging to support within the context of binary evolution given the characteristics of the binary system, researchers noted, adding that a boson star instead can explain the observations for a fairly reasonable choice of parameters.

While researchers still point out that it is unlikely to be a boson star, they call for follow-up observations.

More simulations of these cosmic objects with further data, assuming one of them is a boson star, can reveal if dark matter is really part of this system.

Future astrometric observations will further offer the possibility to distinguish amongst different boson star scenarios, scientists wrote in the study.
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A ban on short-haul domestic flights has come into effect in France, in a bid to curb carbon emissions.

The new rule means flights between cities where the same journey could be made by train within two-and-a-half hours are prohibited.

The effectively rules out certain air routes between the capital, Paris, and cities such as Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, although connecting flights arent affected by the law.

A journey from Paris to the Mediterranean port city Marseille would still be possible via air, with the route taking around three hours by high-speed rail.

The total number of flights that have been cut falls short of the eight routes that were flagged as part of a 2021 climate law, although its understood that more flights could be axed if rail services improve.

The aviation industry has previously criticised the move, citing a rough period for the sector following the pandemic. Yesterday, the interim head of industry group Airlines for Europe (A4E), Laurent Donceel, urged governments to support real and significant solutions to airline emissions, rather than "symbolic bans".

He told the AFP news agency that banning these trips will only have minimal effects on CO2 output.

Coronavirus was an enormous hit to airlines across the globe. According to Flightradar24, the number of flights last year was down almost 42 per cent from 2019.

Some climate campaigners say the law doesnt go far enough  a citizens climate forum set up to advise the government originally proposed to abolish flights where the equivalent train journey took under four hours.

Speaking after the rules were first mooted, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, the French minister for energy transition, said: We know that aviation is a contributor of carbon dioxide and that because of climate change we must reduce emissions.

Equally, we must support our companies and not let them fall by the wayside.

The new law has been introduced as French politicians debate how to reduce emissions from private jets. Green MPs have called for a total ban on small private flights, and Mr Beaune last month trailed a higher climate charge for users from next year.
CCTV footage shows a suspect keying cars in the parking lot of a dealership in Canada.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, are appealing for the publics assistance in identifying the suspect.

Between January and April 2023, police received three separate reports of mass car keying incidents at a Journey Chrysler car dealership in the city.

Initial estimates indicate that close to 400 vehicles were damaged, including the exterior of one of the businesses, resulting in over $500,000 in damage.

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A hundred climate activists were arrested after disrupting Europes biggest private jets sales fair in Geneva.

Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and climate movement groups from 17 countries showed up at the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), to demand a ban on private jets.

The activists stuck health warning labels on some of the planes saying they kill our planet and fuel inequality.

Security guards tried to move them from their position, while activists used loudspeakers to condemn the impact of private jet footprints.

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Elon Musk has revealed that he predicts artificial intelligence (AI) will be used by governments to create "drone wars" across the world.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit via video link on Tuesday (23 May), the billionaire owner of Tesla, Space X and Twitter warned that the first government uses of the technology could be "weapons technology."

"Future wars between advanced countries, or at least countries that have significant drone capability, will be very much the drone wars," Musk said.

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Portuguese authorities and German police are continuing their search of a reservoir near the area where British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 when she was three years old.

The officers - acting on credible information - are seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance.

Sniffer dogs were also seen at the reservoir on Wednesday 24 May, which is located around 31 miles from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing.

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Sensational pressure created by the West has only helped Russia and China come closer to each other, said a top aide of Vladimir Putin.

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, Mr Putins aide, said his countrys bilateral ties with China stood to benefit and strengthened in the face of pressure from the West.

A large number of sanctions from the West that have been imposed on Russia ever since it invaded Ukraine have put a strain on its economy and led the former Soviet Union to increasingly establish ties with China  that has its own strained ties and disputes with Western countries like the US.

The top Russian leader made the remarks on Wednesday at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing and met Chinese president Xi Jinping, a long-time ally of Mr Putin, as well.

Relations between the two countries are at an unprecedented high level, influenced by the increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West, he said.

This was further bolstered by Mr Xi, who told Mr Mishustin that Beijing is willing to continue to support core interests it shares with Moscow, reported Chinese state-run media CCTV.

Mr Xi said China and Russia should further upgrade economic, trade and investment cooperation and expand cooperation in energy, reported state media on Wednesday.

Moscow doubled down on its diplomatic position against the West and accused it of perceiving the two military powers as an existential threat.

The comments come just days after the richest Western countries gathered for a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima and intensified pressure on Russia and China.

On Wednesday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov joined in and said the West saw Russia and China as adversaries against the Wests dominance.

As evidenced by statements made at the recently concluded G7 summit in Japan, the West views Russia and China as strategic adversaries posing almost an existential threat to its dominance, Mr Lavrov said.

The visit by the Russian prime minister comes at a critical point in the Kremlins ties with its Asian ally, whom it sought to capitalise on for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over Ukraine.

Mr Mishustin sought to sidestep the conflict in his meeting and emphasised on Russias role as a provider of oil and gas to China and their bonds formed as initial allies among communist nations.

The peoples of Russia and China cherish their history, rich culture and traditions. We support the further development of our culture, exchanges and communication, he said.

The opening remarks of Mr Mishustins meeting with Li Qiang did not mention anything about the 15-month-old war, which has not been condemned by China.

He focused instead on economic co-operation between the neighbours that have partnered to challenge the US in global affairs.

Barring its criticism of the West for provoking Russia, China has maintained a neutral position on the continuing invasion and offered to broker an end to the conflict. The Xi regime has been strongly supportive of its diplomatic and trade ties with Russia in opposition to sanctions against it.
Drinks group C&C said it delivered an improved performance in its latest financial year as profits at the Bulmers maker soared during the peak of inflation.

Operating profit rose to 84.1m in the 12 months ended February 28. This reflected a rise of 75.6pc compared to the previous financial year.

Net revenue increased by 18.4pc across the year to 1.69bn. C&C attributed this growth to a 4.2pc boost in volumes, as well as price hikes of 14.2pc.

However, the drinks group noted that margins in the second half of its financial year were challenged by a slowdown in consumer demand as a result of cost of living pressures, as well as strikes in the UK.

The board is now planning to reinstate dividends, with a proposed dividend of 3.79c per share.

In Ireland, sales rose by 24.4pc to 278.5m driven by the re-opening of the on-trade.

Profits rose by 48.7pc to 28.1m in the Irish market. The group said margins here improved as a result of the introduction of minimum unit pricing in Ireland last year, the lifting of Covid restrictions and price increases for consumers.

The group said in a trading update today that net debt tis approximately 152.7m, down significantly on the 271.3m net debt in its previous financial year.

C&C Group produces a range of drinks across the UK and Ireland, including Bulmers and Tennents.

Market share for these brands improved, while premium beer sales volumes jumped by 44.1pc across the year.

The group warned that macroeconomic conditions continue to impact trade, with the UK market particularly impacted.

The company also highlighted ongoing challenges related to the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system update in its Matthew Clark and Bibendum wholesale businesses in the UK .

The implementation has taken longer than anticipated, creating a consequent material impact on both service and profitability.

C&C now expects a one-off impact of around 25m as a result of this disruption in its current financial year due to costs associated with restoring service levels, as well as lost revenue related to disruption.

Last week, the drinks group also revealed that its chief executive David Forde would step down from the role, with chief financial officer Patrick McMahon moving into the top job.

"Set against a challenging backdrop in FY2023, C&C delivered an improved performance against all financial measures, Mr McMahon said.

"Increased balance sheet strength and inherently strong free cash flow characteristics have enabled C&C to return capital to shareholders through the re-instatement of dividends.
There are concerns for Irish jobs as Facebook parent Meta will announce further layoffs as it continues to downsize.

The US-based Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp parent firm is expected to inform staff on further job cuts later today.

It is not yet known how many of Metas workers in Ireland will be let go in this round of business group redundancies.

This is part of a global job cuts announcement made in March by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg who said the company's workforce would reduce by around 10,000 people.

Speaking at the time, he said it may take until the end of the year to finalise the restructuring layoffs.

March's recruitment division layoffs resulted in around 50 job losses in Ireland and April's tech groups announcement led to less than 20 job losses from Meta's Irish-based data centre team.

Last year, Meta announced 350 Irish layoffs as part of a job-cutting drive that saw 11,000 staff (13pc of the company) let go.

The company now employs around 2,600 people in Ireland.

Mr Zuckerberg has dubbed 2023 the 'Year of Efficiency' and has pledged to make Meta a leaner, more technology-focused company.

Under Irish employment law, companies with over 300 employees must notify the government if proposing collective redundancies of over 30 workers. A 30-day period of consultation is then entered into.
Nine-storey build will be run by Munich-based Ruby Hotels

Nine-storey hotel will be at site of the Arnotts store on Henry Street in Dublin

Noel Smyths Fitzwilliam Real Estate has secured the green light for a nine-storey, 245-bedroom lean luxury hotel over Arnotts in Dublin.

Dublin City Council (DCC) has given the scheme the go-ahead after concluding that the planned hotel will contribute to the regeneration and will have a positive impact on the surrounding area.

The council also stated that the scheme is unlikely to impact negatively on the amenities of properties in the vicinity.

The hotel scheme involves a two-storey element with set-backs over Arnotts and a three-storey element with setbacks over the department stores multi-storey car park.

The hotel proposal will involve the demolition and decommissioning of the top three open air levels of the multi-storey car park resulting in the removal of 145 car spaces.

Planning documents lodged with the scheme state that Fitzwilliam Real Estate owns the Arnotts stores air rights allowing the firm to lodge the application for the above-Arnotts portion of the scheme.

Planning consultants for the hotel firm, Tom Phillips + Associates have told the council that it is intended for Ruby Hotels to be the operator of the scheme.

Associate with Tom Phillips + Associates, Sine Kelly said that Ruby Hotels are a Munich-based hotel group who host a contemporary, affordable form of luxury style of hospitality.

Ms Kelly said there are currently 15 Ruby Hotels in operation around Europe and an additional 18 under construction. She also pointed out that Ruby Hotels have a lean luxury philosophy for streamlining their hotel layouts and space. Ms Kelly contended that the proposed development will facilitate the provision of high-quality hotel development with an experienced, dedicated operator.

The grant of planning follows DCCs refusal of planning permission to Fitzwilliam Real Estate for a 12-storey, 159-unit build-to-rent scheme on the same site in January. The council pointed out that there is a general presumption against large-scale developments which comprise entirely of build-to-rent units.

The Smyth firm did have existing planning permission for a hotel at the site since 2018 but Covid-19 prevented the firm commencing work in a timely fashion necessitating the lodging of the new plan.
Virtual reality technology company Engage XR saw sales grow last year as the number of customer using its metaverse platform continued to rise.

Group revenues were up 62pc to 3.9m for the 12 months ended December 31.

This was driven by demand for the companys Engage platform, with sales up 86pc to 3.3m.

The groups EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) loss widened across the year to 5.8m, compared to 2.8m a year earlier.

The group attributed this to an increase in headcount.

Following the tech downturn in the second half of 2022, the company said it reduced staff numbers, with payroll costs down by a quarter as a result.

Overall, staff costs rose to 7m last year.

December 2022 was the companys most successful month to date, with 600,000 worth of deals closed.

Engage XR also revealed that 58pc of revenue in the first three months of this year has come from North America following the introduction of a sales team in the region.

Overall, sales figures for the first three months of 2023 are 40pc higher than the same period last year.

The group also launched Engage Link last November.

This is an update to its communications platform which allows clients to create a space online to communicate directly with each other, as well as with customers, suppliers and employees.

The company said these virtual spaces are similar to physical locations that a business may have in a city.

At the end of 2022, Engage XR had more than 190 enterprise and education clients. This has now risen to over 200.

The company is now working with businesses, such as Pfizer, HSBC, Kia and Lenovo.

Engage will now feature on Lenovos all in one VR headset, which is set to be released in the second half of this year.

2022 was an extremely busy year with many positives and most metrics going in the right direction despite turbulence hitting the global tech sector during the second half of the year, chief executive David Whelan said.

"This had a consequential impact on the conversion of our pipeline of commercial opportunities.
Fianna Fail Finance Minister Michael McGrath says he will not be bullied by Fine Gael over Budgetary proposals.

The minister has hit back after three Fine Gael ministers outlined their plans for a 1,000 tax cut in the Irish Independent.

He said there will be lots of kites flown and lots of articles written in the months coming up to Octobers Budget.

His Fianna Fail colleagues have this week been hitting back at Fine Gael, with politicians describing the tax cut as nuts and populist.

When asked if hell be bullied by Fine Gael over the Budget, the finance minister said: Certaintly not.

Anybody who knows me well enough knows that I can be as tough as anybody else when it comes to negotiations. I will alays be conciliatory and polite, but I can be as firm as I need to be and I will be, he said.

I will be designing the tax package and it will be done following consultation with all of our colleagues across government.

Its fine to have a national debate, a political debate, but it will come down to choices in the end and there will be lots of ideas floated, lots of kites flown, lots of articles written in the next number of months.

The minister with control over the States purse strings said his focus will not be just on middle income earners, a pledge which has been often pushed by Fine Gael.

He said there will be vigorous debate over possible Budget measures in the coming months.

Rather than honing in on any individual measure at this point, I think the priority has to be on how much will be in the overall Budget package and then consider all of the needs and demands that will be there.

The amount of money the State is able to spend on the Budget will be outlined in the upcoming Summer Economic Statement, which will be published in the first few weeks of July.

The Budget will include income tax cuts, further reductions to the cost of childcare as well as increases in the pension and welfare rates, according to Minister McGrath.

On This Day In History - May 24th

While he refused to be drawn on the amount the weekly pension will rise by, he said it is forecasted next years inflation rate will be at around 2.5pc,

He said he is confident the burden of income tax will be reduced on middle as well as low income workers, but said he will not allow windfall receipts to be used to fund permanent tax reductions.

Minister McGrath also said housing will be a top priority and said he has already committed measures to bring stability to the rental market.

He is set to meet his full tax team today in the Department of Finance to go over a full suite of Budgetary proposals.

Earlier today, Junior FInance Minister Jennifer Carroll ONeill defended the Fine Gael ministers call for a 1,000 a year tax cut for workers. She said is party policy and is backed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The initial call was made in an op-ed she co-wrote with two of her colleagues and published on Independent.ie, saying last years 1.2bn tax package needs to go further.

The op-ed with Junior Farm Safety Minister Martin Heydon and EU Affairs Minister Peter Burke has caused a coalition rift.

Fianna Fail TDs and ministers described it as populist, uncosted and nuts, coming five months ahead of the next budget.

Fianna Fail was reportedly caught by surprise by the request for more tax relief, with Finance Minister Michael McGrath describing the move as an unusual approach.

Different political parties take different views on what to do, Ms Carroll MacNeill told the Irish Independent.

Its clear that in the last budget we provided a very significant tax package: 1.2bn. [The new] measure would cost 1.5bn, in fairness.

Last year there was an important change, where we widened the bands. We think that needs to go further.

That has always been the Fine Gael position. There isnt anything new there.

Tax changes, tax reductions, people keeping more money in their pocket has been Fine Gaels work going into the formation of the programme for government and has been our approach to the budget.

Its hardly a surprise to anybody that Fine Gael believes that you should be able to take more of that money back in your pocket, particularly on the average income, and that you shouldnt reach the higher threshold quite so quickly.

When asked whether the Taoiseach was aware of the op-ed, Ms Carroll MacNeill said, Oh yeah.

Calls have been coming in thick and fast from interest groups for a slice of the Government's expected 10bn surplus this year. That figure is expected to rise next year, with an estimated 65bn set to pour in to State coffers up to 2026.

Mr McGrath has said he does not want to use the surplus, which is largely based on what he considers windfall corporation tax receipts, to fund permanent spending increases such as tax breaks.

He has said some of the money could be used for capital spending increases in areas such as housing.

The Department of Finance recently published an ideas paper for a new sovereign wealth fund to bank the bulk of the that surplus to pay for future pensions.
Bank of Ireland chief executive Myles OGrady was put on the defensive by shareholders at Tuesdays annual general meeting over the relatively low rates the bank is paying on deposits.

The CEO, who was attending his first AGM as CEO after taking up the job in November, faced several questions from the floor over the gap between BOIs rates and the much higher rates the bank earns from deposits lodged with the European Central Bank (ECB).

The ECB raised its deposit to 3.25pc earlier this month  it's seventh hike since last July. BOI did put up the rate on its one-year lump sum savings product last week, but only to 1.5pc - a competitive rate in Ireland, but far below the eurozone average of 2.09pc.

Why do we have to go outside Ireland for competitive deposit rates, asked shareholder Sean Quinn from the floor of UCDs OReilly Hall, where the meeting was being held, citing a 2.5pc rate being offered by Germanys Raisin Bank.

Mr OGrady said it was perfectly reasonable for customers to expect to be rewarded for their savings, but the bank had to strike the right balance between mortgage rates and deposit rates.

BOI and the other Irish banks, AIB and Permanent TSB, have managed to hold mortgage rates down through the fastest ECB rate hiking cycle in history, largely by subsidising the loans with profits earned on customer deposits.

Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf told the Oireachtas Finance Committee last month that the Irish banks were generating an additional 1.8bn in interest income from higher ECB rates.

Bursting with customer savings built up during the pandemic, and flush with cash from the 440,000 customers it has added in the last year, BOI does not exactly need to attract more deposits.

Moreover, bank officials say their long-term view is that rates will come down again soon, so matching the ECBs pace on the way up is risky.

Nonetheless, Mr Quinn was not the only shareholder to voice disapproval of the banks approach to rates. A handful stood up to query the banks thinking behind the limited payout on deposits.

But overall, there was little sustained objection to the banks policies, which have yielded material improvements in its profitability and have helped more than triple cash returns to shareholders to 350m this year.
WhatsApp is to let its two billion users edit sent messages for the first time in a major overhaul of the social media app.

A sender will be able to modify for up to a quarter of an hour after sending it, following one of the biggest changes in the services 14-year history.

Edited messages will have the word edited added next to them, although other users will not be able to see previous versions of altered text.1

On other Meta-owned social media sites, such as Facebook, original text can still be viewed after editing.

A WhatsApp spokesman confirmed edited messages would continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of the brands owner, Meta, said: You can now edit your WhatsApp messages up to 15 mins after theyre sent!

In a blog, the company said: All you need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose edit from the menu for up to 15 minutes after.

WhatsApp launched a private conversations mode earlier this month, letting some messages be hidden behind a phones passcode or biometric login capabilities.

Chat Lock, as WhatsApp calls the feature, is intended for users who share their devices with others, such as children using a family device, it suggests.

At the time, a WhatsApp spokesman said: Locking a chat takes that thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with your device password or biometric, like a fingerprint. It also automatically hides the contents of that chat in notifications too.

Other popular messaging apps do not offer editing features, making WhatsApp one of the first mainstream products to do so. Signal Messenger, which shares many similarities with WhatsApp, does not allow editing.

Meta posted its first increase in sales for 12 months in April, recording a 3pc revenue increase to $28.6bn (26.5bn) in the first quarter of this year compared to a year earlier, after struggling with Mr Zuckerbergs focus on the virtual reality metaverse.
The European Commission will not redraft a landmark law to restore damaged environments, the bloc's green policy chief said on Monday, in the face of calls from some lawmakers to throw out the proposal.

Brussels is attempting to salvage two proposed environmental laws, the future of which is in doubt after the biggest lawmaker group in the European Parliament called for them to be rejected.

One law would require countries to introduce measures to restore nature in 20% of their land and sea. The second, designed to cut pollution and halt the collapse of Europe's bee and butterfly populations, would halve the EU's chemical pesticide use by 2030.

Yesterday a majority of MEPs in the Parliaments Agriculture Committee backed a proposal to reject the Commissions controversial Nature Restoration Law proposal.

"We will not come up with another proposal, time simply isn't there," Frans Timmermans said of the nature restoration law at a European Parliament committee meeting.

Timmermans said by improving the health of nature, the proposals would make Europe's farms more resilient to worsening climate change impacts like floods and drought, improve the land's ability to absorb water and avoid soil erosion.

Rejecting them, he said, would endanger the EU's overall green agenda to cut greenhouse gas emissions and clean up pollution.

"As an interconnected package of solutions, if one piece falls, the other pieces fall," he said.

Lawmakers from the European People's Party, which has led the campaign to reject the proposal, said their concerns remained - including that the law would kill off renewable energy projects and other economic projects in areas where nature restoration measures are introduced.

"Like it or not, if you want renewable energy, you need to dig. And in a number of member states, current nature legislation already makes that virtually impossible," EPP lawmaker Esther de Lange said.

Timmermans said the Commission was ready to address parts of the law that have caused concern, for example by clarifying that measures to restore nature should not obstruct countries' plans to build wind farms.

Reuters
Bord na Mona machines fill in the ditches on Clonwhelan Bog, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, as part of the rewetting. Photo: Jeff Harvey

Farmers will not be forced to rewet their land under the EU's Nature Restoration Law, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has guaranteed.

Instead Irelands contribution to 2030, 2040 and 2050 rewetting targets will be met using state owned land, the Minister told RTEs This Week show.

Fortunately in the last couple of weeks we have achieved significant progress at European level with regard to the council of Ministers position in that there has been flexibility secured there will be flexibility that reflects the Irish situation, Minister McConalogue said.

So that means basically, should we be able to secure that finally at European level, that it would provide reassurance to farmers that there will be no requirement on them to mandatorily rewet their land.

Meanwhile, Bord na Monas flagship rewetting project has come under attack from landowners who say their properties and livelihoods are in jeopardy.

The company has begun rewetting 80,000 acres of drained peatlands, but farmers say they will have an adverse effect if the project goes wrong.

Several hundred farms adjoin the project site in the midlands, and farmers have sought written assurances that Bord na Mona will remedy any damage should their lands become flooded.

Reacting to this pushback, Minister McConalogue said that impact on farmers would be central to any decision to rewet land.

Thats something that will have to be absolutely fully accommodated and considered in relation to every proposal to rewet, whether lets say a farmer wants to do it voluntarily and be paid for it, or whether its Bord na Mona or Coillte for example that are rewetting a part of land.

Bord na Mona has said it will adjust its rewetting plans where a risk of flooding on adjoining land is identified, but the company stops short of agreeing to fix any damage that might happen.

The rewetting project is the focal point of Bord na Monas brown to green transformation from a peat producer to a climate solutions company.

The peatlands formed over tens of thousands of years from layers of compressed carbon-rich vegetation preserved in year-round wet conditions.

Drained and exposed to the elements, they are emitting large quantities of greenhouse gases. Rewetting halts the emissions and could, over the long term, restart the process of peat formation.
Commissioner for Environmental Information, Ger Deering, said the situation was unacceptable.

Local authorities and state agencies have been told to stop hiding environmental information from the public after scores were found to be in breach of transparency laws.

Commissioner for Environmental Information Ger Deering said the situation was unacceptable and indicated some public bodies did not understand their obligations.

An Bord Pleanala, Coillte, the Land Development Agency, National Transport Authority, county councils and government departments were among the authorities that wrongly refused to release information in a record year for appeals to the commissioner.

Declined requests included applications for information on river pollution, planning records, forestry plans, tree-cutting, hedgerow removal and many other issues.

Mr Deering found in favour of the person seeking the information in 93pc of the cases brought to him, and partly in their favour in a further 4pc of cases.

He could only fully find in favour of the information holder in 3pc of cases. This is a staggering statistic by any measure, he said.

Public bodies are subject to the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Directive and the national regulations that stem from it.

The purpose is to is to enable members of the public to know and understand what is happening in the environment around them, Mr Deering stressed in his annual report.

He said the regulations made clear that there should be a presumption in favour of providing information.

A public authority must either provide all of the information requested or set out clearly why it does not consider it necessary or appropriate to do so, he said.

In practice, however, he found that: The content and outcome of appeals received and closed by this office during 2022 show a very worrying lack of understanding of their statutory obligations in relation to AIE by some public authorities.

In some instances, there also appears to be a lack of commitment to allowing access to environmental information which should be made available.

Notable concerns last year included the failure of public authorities to respond to requests at all, a practice Mr Deering said was inexcusable.

Other issues included refusing to supply information without sufficient explanation. This was a regrettably common theme, he said.

Others were too quick to declare a request did not relate to environmental information.

Some had actually come to this position without looking at the content or context of the information itself.

Coillte had by far the worst record, which reflected a huge rise in the number of information requests related to forestry practices last year. It refused 587 out of 679 requests made to it. The Department of Agriculture also stood out, refusing 1,087 of the 2,707 requests it received.

In total, 4,694 AIE requests were made to public bodies last year and 2,133 were refused or deemed refused as no response was received within the prescribed time.

Mr Deerings remarks relate to the 369 cases where people pursued a formal appeal with his office.

He said some bodies complained they did not have enough staff to handle information requests but he stressed it was their responsibility to ensure they had enough people to manage the workload.
Ruth Lawrence left Ireland with her lover after 2014 shootings

DOUBLE murder suspect Ruth Lawrence was on her way home from South Africa on Wednesday evening in handcuffs, escorted by Irish detectives after being extradited to stand trial in Dublin following nine years on the run.
Excess mortality here last winter coincided with high flu activity and hospitalisations.

Ireland experienced a rise in excess mortality last winter, which affected the elderly in particular, a conference was told yesterday.

Excess deaths  fatalities which are higher than the expected number for the time of the year  was seen over a number of weeks last December and January.

The worst affected age group was in the 75-84 category, in which excess mortality was seen over a number of weeks, the summer scientific meeting of the Faculty of Public Health in the Royal College of Physicians was told. Researcher Eva Kelly said the rise in all-cause excess deaths overall was moderate over four weeks.

Flu, Covid-19 and other winter viruses  as well as people not getting medical help as they should and access to healthcare  all played a role.

Ms Kelly said the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) had been monitoring all-cause mortality on a weekly basis since 2009.

It looked at registered deaths data over late December and early January.This coincided with the surge in flu and other viruses as well as a rise in Covid infections.

The research also involved measuring excess deaths related to pneumonia and flu.

Excess mortality was seen in the age group 65 and older over six weeks, but the worst affected were people aged 75-84.

Ms Kelly told the gathering the trend coincided with high influenza activity and high influenza hospitalisations.

Excess deaths have also been seen in previous winters with very high levels of flu.

Other factors that contributed included the Covid pandemic, the circulation of other viruses, the effect of cold weather, an ageing population, and changes to health-seeking behaviour and access to healthcare.

Meanwhile, other research presented to the conference by Leah Evans, a health protection nurse in the HSE Mid-West, looked at healthcare usage by Ukrainian refugees in the region.

The research examined the health status and needs of a group of refugees who arrived in the first six months of last year versus those who came in the following six months.

Health-needs assessments were carried out for refugees who came to the region, including 1,130 in the first round and 690 in the second.

There were differences in both groups. The number of men rose from 32pc in the first to 36pc in the second and there was also an increase in the over-65s among the later refugees, said Ms Evans.

The number of pregnant women went from 0.8pc to 2.9pc. The uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine also differed.

A total of 30pc of the second group had two vaccines compared to 44pc of the first.

The level of reported childhood vaccinations among children from Ukraine was also lower than in Ireland with the country having a different schedule compared to here.

The monitoring found that the change in the age and sex of both groups would affect local health services.

"The increasing rates of pregnancy may impact on primary care and maternity services, said Ms Evans.

The lower rates of Covid vaccination could lead to increased transmission of the virus in crowded settings.

The level of chronic disease among both groups was broadly similar and this would lead to ongoing demands for services, she said.

In response to the lower rates of childhood vaccination, the health services have rolled out a targeted catch-up vaccination programme for people up to 23 years of age.
Fine Gael's Martin Heydon wants a tax break of more than 1,000 in Octobers budget. Photo: Collins

Fianna Fail's Niall Collins and Lisa Chambers have both objected to the proposal. Photo: Tom Burke

A bitter coalition row has broken out over Fine Gaels call for a 1,000 tax cut in the Budget with Fianna Fail furious over what it described as populist, uncosted and nuts pre-budget kite-flying by Taoiseach Leo Varadkars party.

Fine Gael is pushing for considerably larger tax cuts for workers on the average household income than in previous budgets amid projections of record surpluses over the next four years.

The call for tax relief of more than 1,000 for full-time workers on an average wage of 52,000 would cost the Exchequer around 1.5bn a year, according to Fine Gael.

Mr Varadkar also confirmed in the Dail yesterday that there will definitely be an increase in the old age pension this autumn, but the exact amount is yet to be determined.

Fianna Fail, meanwhile, was caught by surprise with the call for more tax relief  which Mr Varadkar is understood to endorse  made in an opinion piece written by three Fine Gael junior ministers and published by Independent.ie.

Finance Minister Michael McGrath described the move as an unusual approach, and, publicly and privately, Fianna Fail figures are furious with their coalition partners tactics.

Dail 29/03/23 - Leo Varadkar says it is "a competition for attention on the opposition benches"

Minister of State Niall Collins said: The only show in town in terms of an op-ed is the Programme for Government, which was authored by the three party leaders and their respective parliamentary parties.

Fianna Fail senator Lisa Chambers, who is the Governments Seanad leader, was even more scathing last night. I think there was a lot of eye-rolling yesterday when we saw three Fine Gael ministers looking for big tax cuts, when they never deliver in that space, she said.

It is remarkable to see Fine Gael looking to use corporate tax receipts to fund tax cuts when government ministers are well advised that they should not be used for permanent expenditure commitment.

Obviously 1,000 in everyones pocket sounds lovely. But its populist and not costed. They should be asked, how do you justify using corporate tax receipts to fund a permanent change in Exchequer spending? Its playing to the base, thats all it is.

Its just surprising, they put themselves forward as the party of prudent finances and managing the economy  that doesnt line up with this proposal.

A Fianna Fail source claimed the party hierarchy was really angry and in total disbelief over the call made nearly five months in advance of Budget 2024, describing it as an opposition manoeuvre.

One Fianna Fail minister said: Were trying to build houses, can we not just look at the job in hand and look at the Budget in the autumn? Its nuts to have a debate now.

A second Fianna Fail minister said: Were getting into silly-season stuff where people fly kites and get themselves airtime floating ideas.

A third minister was withering about the three Fine Gael ministers: I am glad they have time not to be on their briefs.

One of the authors of the piece, Minister of State for Farm Safety Martin Heydon, defended the move, saying it was about having an open debate on the opportunities and challenges presented by a projected surplus of 10bn this year and 16bn next year.

Its something we feel very strongly about, it does need to be focused, on the squeezed middle, the Kildare South TD said.

Mr Heydon wrote the piece with Junior Finance Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and EU Affairs Minister Peter Burke. In it they argued that tax relief in the next Budget has been well-earned.

Mr Burke insisted that their intervention was prudent and timely and that Fine Gael is of the strong belief that we should be rewarding work and rewarding enterprise as that is the engine that drives our economy.
A retired school principal and former Christian Brother will be sentenced later this year after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting one of his pupils over 40 years ago.

Paul Hendrick (75) of Croftwood Grove, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecently assaulting Kenneth Grace on dates between May 1980 and July 1984 at locations including in Dublin, Tipperary and Waterford.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today that Mr Grace had waived his anonymity to allow Hendrick to be named.

Garda Detective Enda Dowling told Monica Leech BL, prosecuting, that the incidents started when the victim was aged 13 and a first-year student at CBS Westland Row. Hendrick was second-in-command at the school and later became principal. He has no previous convictions.

The court heard the complainant also received extra tuition from Hendrick and was asked to help with jobs around the school for which he received sweets and cans of Coke. As he got older, he was given cigarettes and allowed to use the school van.

The court heard that the abuse took place in a number of locations including the furnace room of the school, which the victim would be asked to clean. This room contained some gym equipment and the abuse started with Hendrick challenging the victim to see who could do more pull ups.

This progressed to wrestling while initially fully clothed, though later they would both be in their underwear. Hendrick would restrain the victim during these incidents and Mr Grace recalls feeling Hendrick's erect penis against his back during these incidents.

The abuse escalated to include Hendrick stripping to his underwear and getting the victim to whip him or whipping the victim. The court heard Mr Grace's sister saw the marks on his back on one occasion. He told her Hendrick had done it.

These incidents also took place in a reception room of the priest's residence beside the school.

On This Day In History - May 24th

The court heard the abuse continued over the summer months as Mr Grace would be brought to the school to carry out chores. Hendrick also indecently assaulted the victim during camping trips to a farm managed by the Christian Brothers in Co Waterford and a house owned by the order in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

The court heard Mr Grace's father died when he was very young. He was afraid to tell anyone as he didn't understand what was happening.

The abuse continued until Mr Grace was around 17 when he could fight back and realised Hendrick's actions were wrong.

The garda detective said Mr Grace was isolated from his classmates during his time in the school. Hendrick would also shout at him during classes.

Mr Grace made a statement to gardai in 2018.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Grace said he doesn't consider himself to be a survivor of historic sexual abuse, but as someone who is trying to survive on a daily basis.

He said he had been a happy child with happy memories before he started at the school and Hendrick became the father figure he'd never had. He said the betrayal he had experienced had made it difficult for him to trust others.

Your actions turned my childhood and adult life into a battlefield, he said.

He said he hoped to see justice served and intended to live his life without guilt or shame.

I'm not to blame. It wasn't my fault, it was your fault, he added.

Philip Rahn SC, defending, said his client wished to offer a full apology to Mr Grace.

His client attended CBS as a child and joined the Christian Brothers when he was 14. He joined the teaching staff at CBS Westland Row in 1978 and became principal in 1981, a post he held until his retirement in 1994.

His client had a leadership role within the order, which was lost when these allegations came to light. Mr Rahn said Hendrick had suffered a long fall from grace.

Mr Rahn handed in a number of testimonials from family and past pupils and a report from a forensic psychologist. Defence counsel said the report outlines that Hendrick had a poor understanding of sexuality and relationship matters at the time of the offending, but now recognises that he engaged in grooming behaviour which had a significant impact on the injured party.

He asked the court to take into consideration his client's guilty plea, age, lack of previous convictions and the passage of time since the offending occurred.

Judge Pauline Codd adjourned the case for finalisation and remanded Hendrick on continuing bail to appear again on July 10.
I used to refer to this as being bullied but it was more than that, it was a torture

RTE star Brendan Courtney has offered his support to the teen who was attacked in Navan and shared his own personal experience of bullying and abuse in a powerful message posted online.

The presenter urged the teen attacked in Navan to use channel anger for good and for tolerance in the Instagram post in which he reads out a letter.

Starting it with Dear hero, the fashion designer then promises, things will get better, thats what they say.

They might, if you learn to hide in clear sight. If you learn to hide who you truly are, if you learn to conform and live under the veil of their hate.

I dont know your story. But after hearing what has happened to you I feel compelled to write this letter.

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Five boys who were arrested on Friday, May 19, were later released without charge after they were questioned by specialist officers about their roles in the attack last week.

It was videoed, went viral online and ended up making international news headlines.

The video of the assault, which caused political outrage and shocked the nation, shows the 14-year-old boy walking out of school grounds at Beaufort College in Navan pursued by a group of other students.

One student punches the boy in the head, which emboldens others to attack him from behind. The boy tries to get away but falls to the ground where he is repeatedly kicked, punched and stamped on by up to five other students as he tries to crawl to safety.

The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

In his video message to the teen, Brendan added Sadly I understand your pain. I have been where you are. I had nowhere to hide.

He explains that as an obviously gay kid, he simply couldnt hide who I was because of who I am.

And truly believe me, I tried, I tried with all my heart to hide for all of my early years.

I would have given anything to just fit in but you see, some of us just can't hide who we truly are.

Its simply impossible. I was a camp, fey little kid who, until I was nine, was often mistaken for a girl which was sickeningly upsetting for one so young to feel so othered.

He says he tried everything to cover but all attempts failed and I paid the price.

I used to refer to this as being bullied but it was more than that, it was a torture.

I was beaten and punched at school. I regularly had my head held down a toilet and flushed while onlookers jeered and laughed. I was humiliated daily.

I was riddled with shame and I was 14, the same age as you, and my heart breaks for you.

So what did I do?

Well, I took matters into my own hands and I just stopped going to school. I would pretend to leave for school in the morning and then hide out in various locations for the school day.

I often think back and actually feel enormous pride in myself for finding the strength to do that and to not let them break me.

I realised I had to run for my own safety eventually, on day 20, the school contacted my mother and it all came out. I was taken out of that school and life improved but I had to reinvent myself.

He says he only ever think of those bullies, when I write these kind of letters.

They hold nothing over me, I feel sorry for them. And so off I went into my adult life and I became a TV presenter and a fashion designer, look at me go.

I started working on TV in 1999 and held the impossible to confirm yet unprecedented title of Irelands first openly gay TV presenter.

Brendan recalls how on one Friday night in 2014 walking down Georges Street in Dublin 2 with a group of friends, a group of youths ran into the middle of our group and shouted f*ggot and punched me hard in the face, knocking me to the ground.

But this time I wasn't humiliated. I didn't feel shame. I was f***ing angry.

I took that anger and channeled it into the 2015 referendum on marriage equality and along with all the other people who spoke their truths we won. Love won.

I have never met you but I want you to know on this battlefield, I love you, Brendan declares.

I am so desperately sorry this hideous attack has happened to you. This will change your life but it will not define you, it defines them. It's up to you now, how you deal with this.

Be angry for now. You will feel afraid for a while but then take that anger and that fear and channel it for good.

Tell your story everywhere and often because your story is now a huge part of how things change for good.

I am so sorry your young life has now become a part of this awful battle but know you are loved and supported. This too will pass but things are not OK.
Kevin Coyle was a prominent presence at the Sandwith Street immigrant camp protestand also protested against the introduction of LGBTQ literature in schools

A far-right agitator has described as a joke a chilling image he posted online showing him masked and holding what appears to be an Airsoft rifle.

Kevin Coyle  who played a prominent role in last weeks protest at Sandwith Street  accompanied the image with the words: Lets go take all them out. (Wait and see how long it is before police come to me over this).

But they can say/do whatever they want but we say/do anything, we are racist Go f**k yourselves.

The image was widely shared on social media this week after People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy posted it on his social media account as he expressed concerns about increasing activity levels of far-right activity in the country.

For the people who keep saying theres no far right, just concerned parents  This is Kevin Coyle who was a key leader of the protest at Sandwith St on Friday night, protested outside my house and disrupted a PBP (People Before Profit) meeting in Jobstown last night.

Coyle responded to Murphys message describing the image as a joke, adding it had been originally posted in response to another video shared by Britain First.

Right, above that picture I posted, this was posted and that picture I put up was in response to this, he said.

I was joking. Good to see yes cant understand humour.

Coyle was a prominent presence at the Sandwith Street immigrant camp protest on Friday night of last week and also protested against the introduction of LGBTQ literature in schools outside Norma Foleys office in Tralee during the week.

He is aligned with the Ireland First political movement.

Ireland First was founded by Corkman Derek Blighe who has become one of the most prominent ant-immigration campaigners in the country.

Over the past year, Blighe has been moving throughout the Republic organising protests against asylum seekers and refugee accommodation while also making videos that are later widely shared online.

On its website, Ireland First promotes what has been described as conservative rather than extremist policies around immigration  which it says should be capped at 10 per cent  and LGBT issues which it says should not be pushed on under 18s in Irelands schools.

However, overtly racist and homophobic messages as well as messages calling for violence, are regularly shared on the groups invite-only Telegram site.

Videos recorded at Sandwith Street immigrant encampment protest on Friday night of last week showed how Coyle appeared to take a leading role in verbal hostilities with a group who gathered to support the immigrants.

The video shows him shouting You are f****d at members of the rival group through a line of dividing gardai.

In the hours after the face-off between the pro Refugee and anti-immigrant demonstrators, the makeshift camp for homeless refugees was attacked and their tents torched.

In the wake of the attack, the general secretary of the Association of Gardai and Sergeants in Ireland (AGSI), Antoinette Cunningham called for proper training for frontline gardai and better resources for dealing with anti-immigration protests.

Ms Cunningham said that frontline gardai felt they had not received proper training about peaceful crowd management when dealing with protests.

Its okay for the Garda Commissioner to tell our politicians that theres operational integrity to deal with the protest, but the ordinary guard that is left dealing with it on the frontline is grossly undertrained, doesnt know what is their role other than to prevent a breach of the peace.

And what has happened is we have had a whole new population in the last 18 months in Ireland thats probably not part of any policing strategy and is definitely not part of any police training that our members have undergone.

I want to be crystal clear about this. The frontline membership that I represent feels grossly undertrained and inadequately directed in how to deal with these issues because we have not received that operational guideline from senior garda management.
A young woman has been airlifted to hospital after she was injured in a climbing accident in North Clare this evening.

The woman in her 20s is understood to have fallen between 6m and 8m metres onto rocks below.

The incident occurred at around 7.30pm at Ailladie off the R477 Lisdoonvarna to Ballyvaughan coast road. The alarm was raised by the womans climbing companions. They had been climbing on a cliff face known as the Mirror Wall.

The National Ambulance Service, Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard and the Shannon-based search and rescue helicopter were all requested to respond to the accident.

Coast Guard volunteers were able to make their way down to the base of the cliff where they found the casualty being cared for by friends.

Rescue 115 was able to land at the base of the cliff a safe distance from the scene. The helicopters winchman/paramedic assessed and treated the woman at the scene before she was stretchered by Coast Guard volunteers to the waiting aircraft.

The woman was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick for treatment. She is understood to have sustained lower back injuries which are not believed to be serious. The woman is understood to be from Limerick.

The rescue operation was coordinated by watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard's marine rescue sub centre on Valentia Island in Co Kerry.

There are several climbing locations on both the land and sea side areas of the coast road on the edge of the Burren which are popular with climbing clubs, search and rescue groups and the Irish Defence Forces among others.
The EU doesnt need to win the Apple case. It got what it wanted when the US and Ireland signed up to a global tax deal two years ago. But losing will be a blow to efforts to widen Brussels powers over member states with an expansively broad interpretation of state aid rules.
Tureencahill Active Retired Group all set to go on Stage at the Castlemagner Bealtaine Festival Concert

Caroline Cott and Ger Harrington on stage at the Sinsir Club Bealtaine Festival Concert in Castlemagner. The pair won the Judges Prize in the recent Castlemagner Strictly Come Dancing Competition

Combining a mixture of superb musical talent and great food ensures the success of any event and Castlemagner Sinsir Club delivered both in abundance at their Evening Cabaret Concert for the Duhallow Day of The Region Bealtaine festival.

This well-established annual talent event welcomed choral singing groups from Millstreet and Tureencahill along with the Castlemagner group as well as talented musicians of all ages from across the region.

Performing to a packed house, the program featured recent champions and Judges vote winners Caroline Cott and Ger Harrington from the Castlemagner Strictly Come Dancing GAA event.

Kathleen Moylan said: We were also delighted to welcome four world class harpists on stage. Beneath emerald green lighting, these young virtuoso artists gave a rendition of an enchanting, emotional, gentle and ageless Irish medley, captivating the audience, weaving a spell of musical mystique over the balmy twilight of the Bealtaine evening, evoking the music of the great halls and castles of Ireland from the mists of ages.

The fully-attended cabaret-style banquet, in which the audience was seated at candlelit tables, complete with a Bealtaine fire, was a fundraiser for Castlemagner Sinsir Club. Our Bealtaine Concert celebrated the unique contribution senior citizens make to our communities, offering a forum to showcase talent and promoting in particular, music and singing for wellbeing and mental health Kathleen Moylan said.
Reidh na nDoiri National School hosts community celebration to mark jubilee

Teachers and pupils of Scoil Naisiunta Reidh na nDoiri at Sunday's event to celebrate 125 years since its opening.

When Scoil Naisunta Reidh na nDoiri in the heart of the Muscrai Gaeltacht first opened in 1898, it had 197 pupils. Its a much smaller school now, with 21 pupils on the rolls, but a jubilee celebration on Sunday illustrated that the local community is very much behind and proud of the school.

At a time when many schools were closing around west Cork, because were a small school, we thought it would be a good thing to do to celebrate, for the sake of the school and the community said Cian O Duinnin, who was appointed Principal last year.

A huge crowd turned out for our celebrations on Sunday and there were many past pupils and teachers here meeting up for the first time in years, he said.

It was great to meet up with them and hear their stories about the school and their time here.

Sundays event was a thank you to the local community for the support theyve given over the years and their support for the school remains steadfast.

Sundays celebration comprised of a barbecue and tea and refreshments as well as a celebratory cake while inside the building was a display of old roll books as well as photographs of past pupils spanning more than a century.

The school has also published a book of photos and interviews, reminiscences and from past and present pupils and teachers.

Included is an interview with past pupil Victoria Mary Clarke, the writer and journalist, who attended Scoil Naisiunta Reidh na nDoiri for a year or two at the end of the 1970s.

I moved with my family from Dublin to Cill na Martra and the head teacher at the time was Mairead McSweeney who was our nearest neighbour, said Victoria during her interview with Cian O Duinnin.

The school was in danger of closing because it didnt have enough pupils so she asked my mother if my sister and I could attend the school.

I remember Mairead, she was a really lovely woman very kind and enthusiastic - it was a very different experience coming to this school after a much bigger school where there hundreds of children.

Now as then, numbers are an issue for any small school and Scoil Naisiunta Reidh na nDoiri, while no exception, is making strides on that front.

Its increased its enrolment by 50% in ten years, up from 14 students in 2013 to 21 this year.

Life has changed enormously in th 125 years since Scoil Naisunta Reidh na nDoiri opened its doors, said Cian.

The principal and his colleagues are confident that good times lie ahead and the event on Sunday was a boost as Summer holidays approach and yet another crop of young pupils get ready to attend the school.

The future is definitely bright for Scoil Naisiunta Reidh na nDoiri, he said. We hope to see more growth in the school in the years to come.
A new 500-seat theatre venue is being proposed for Dublin in a bid to revitalise the night time economy in the city centre.

Dublin City Council has commissioned a conceptual feasibility report to examine the demand for a space that could accommodate a variety of art forms, from theatre to dance or a late-night music venue.

The 500-seat venue has the working title of the City Theatre of Tomorrow and work is now under way to determine how it would affect other venues and how profitable it would be.

Although no site has yet been chosen for the potential venue, DCC have said it would be located within the bounds of the canals.

DCC Arts Office launched a survey earlier this month to collect feedback from artists and promoters on the proposed new venue.

However, DJ and nightlife campaigner Sunil Sharpe said he was disappointed that not all stakeholders were consulted.

When this conversation started about a 500-seat venue, this was coming on the back of rapid loss of dance venues in the city, he told councillors on Monday.

It is saying that it has liaised with all the relevant stakeholders, but it hasnt liaised with all the stakeholders.

I hear now today that the consultation is closed. Has there been any consolation with our community, with club owners, with electronic music artists? I dont think so, I haven't heard anyone talk about this.

There is the potential here to do everything within the same space or in a number of adjoining spaces.

I do think there should be a little bit more consultation and I would have a big question as to why that stakeholder consultation is ending before we have any chance to give the feedback from our community.

Im very surprised at this and very disappointed. We need dance spaces as well, we need all purpose multi-use spaces, including for the use of music and not just stage shows, but we can do it all within the one space, he added.

The Royal Danish Playhouse in Denmark was examined as part of the design process

Similarly scaled venues such as the OReilly Theatre, The Helix and Grange Gorman Concert Hall are currently being reviewed to examine their performance, design features and programming contribution, and the impact a further operating venue may serve.

Arrow Architects has been appointed to design the project and reviewed three multi-purpose venues in Europe for best examples for the design.

This included the The Royal Danish Playhouse in Denmark, the Plassen Cultural Centre in Norway and the The Fire Station Auditorium in Sunderland, England.

Stakeholder interviews will now take place to gather further insights from producers, venue operators, funders and performance artists across the city on both the design and technical preferences of the sector.

The feasibility study is expected to be completed with design proposals in June.
Consultants at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin developed the language course

More than 20 Ukrainian doctors have graduated from an English language course initiated by consultants at St Vincents University Hospital in Dublin.

The course was developed by the hospital consultants in response to the significant language barrier faced by Ukrainian doctors arriving in Ireland post the Russian invasion.

The eight-week language course prepared 25 foreign doctors for the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test, a requirement for non-EU overseas doctors seeking to practice medicine here.

The course was developed by Dr John Holian and Prof Hugh Mulcahy, supported by the hospitals CEO Michele Tait, and delivered by Ukrainian lecturer Prof Oksana Kachurets.

The consultants held an open day for Ukrainian doctors in July last year to introduce them to the hospital.

In September, doctors were invited to medical and surgical observations to shadow their Irish colleagues and experience our healthcare system first-hand.

The course was tailored to meet the specific needs of the participants and spanned a curriculum designed to enhance the doctors proficiency in medical terminology, effective communication, and patient-centred care.

The curriculum also emphasised cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity to ensure effective communication with diverse patient populations.

Dr Polina Smolovyk, one of the graduates, said the course has not only improved our language proficiency, but has also instilled in us the confidence and competence to excel in our medical careers.

We are truly grateful to St Vincents University Hospital for their support and guidance.

Michele Tait, CEO of St Vincents University Hospital, said: By investing in their language skills and preparing them for the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test, we hope to contribute to their future success and enhance their ability to provide the best possible care to our patients.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to our consultants who have dedicated their time and expertise to set up this invaluable course.

Your initiative and commitment to bridging the language barrier in healthcare is truly commendable, while breaking down barriers and creating a more inclusive and supportive healthcare community.

Dr John Holian added: The level of engagement and enthusiasm throughout the course has been fantastic and made it a really rewarding experience for us all.

Weve gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by Ukrainian doctors who want to practice medicine in Ireland.

Ultimately, we hope this practical course will benefit them as they strive to become part of the healthcare workforce here.
More than 300 witness statements to be heard as hearings enter new phase

Family and friends of the Stardust fire victims at the Coroners Court inquiry at The Rotunda Pillar Room, Parnell Square, Dublin. Pic: Gareth Chaney/ Collins

The loss experienced by the families and loved ones of those who perished in the Stardust fire has left an indelible mark on the suburb of Artane and surroundings areas, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane has told an inquest jury.

In her address to the jury yesterday, as the inquests enter a new phase following the completion of pen portraits of the 48 victims last week, Dr Cullinane said the community in Artane and its surrounds had borne a particularly heavy burden of grief.

The coroner said the fire at the Stardust Ballroom on February 14, 1981, in which 48 young people died, was the single most serious loss of life of one incident of this type in the history of the State.

Today, the jury is due to hear what she termed the undisputed background facts of the case.

This will include details about the Stardust building, its location and structure, the position of all exits and means of escape, information about the ventilation and heating systems and information relating to the ownership and management of the Stardust.

She told the jury it is anticipated the inquest may last until the end of the year and said more than 300 witnesses and witness statements will be heard.

After reading aloud the names of the 48 victims of the fire, Dr Cullinane outlined to the 15-member panel the sequence of evidence which will be heard over the coming weeks and months.

Dr Cullinane said the purpose of her address was to give the jury a better understanding of their role in these inquests as the proceedings enter a new phase. The hearing of witness evidence is due to begin on June 7.

The coroner gave a brief outline of the factual history in relation to the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the 48 young people who lost their lives in the fire.

She said the Stardust had been open for three years as a venue for various music concerts and dances when the fire broke out in the early hours of Valentines Day 1981.

She said there were three venues on the site, including another function area known as the Lantern Rooms and a bar known as the Silver Swan.

There had been a disco dancing competition and it was estimated that approximately 850 patrons were present.

The fire was noticed by patrons at the end of the night, and it spread quickly through the Stardust, resulting in the deaths of 48 people, most of whom died at the scene.

The coroner said an investigation was carried out by An Garda Siochana and a tribunal of inquiry took place in 1981. Inquests into the deaths were held over five days in Dublin the following year.

She told the jury that in 2019, then Attorney General, Seamus Woulfe SC, directed new inquests into the deaths of the 48 young people who lost their lives in the fire at the Stardust ballroom.

She said the Attorney General had stated that the findings of the original inquests were confined to the cause of death in respect of each of the deceased, with no reference to the surrounding circumstances.

As a result, he found there was an insufficiency of inquiry as to how the deaths occurred.

Rachel Byrne with her aunt Terry Jones hold a photo of Murtie Kavanagh (Terry's brother) at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin. Pic: Gareth Chaney/ Collins

In directing the fresh inquests, the Attorney General also drew analogies with the Hillsborough case in England and said it was his view that where there is a disaster of such magnitude, there was an entitlement of the victims to the public revelation of the facts.

Dr Cullinane told the jury they do not have to concern themselves with the findings of any previous investigations as these are entirely new inquests.

Outlining their role, she told the jury an inquest is a full and thorough exposition of the facts, without blame or pardon.

She said their task is to hear all the evidence of the witnesses setting out the facts and reach conclusions and record verdicts based on that evidence.

She said in each of the deceased cases, a finding must be made in relation to four questions; the identity of the deceased, when the death occurred, where the death occurred and how the death occurred.

She told the jury nobody can be blamed or exonerated at an inquest and a verdict cannot decide, or appear to decide, criminal or civil liability.

The coroner told the jury there may be a number of verdicts available to them but this will not be clear until all of the evidence has been heard.

She told them they should not allow themselves to be influenced by any media coverage of the fire, either prior to the inquest or any further coverage that may be to come.

Dr Cullinane went on to address the scope of the inquest which, she said, is broader in this case than might apply in other inquests. She said the facts that are undisputed will be presented to the jury today.

These undisputed facts include a general description of the Stardust building and its location, its structure, the internal layout, the fixtures and fittings, the position of all exits and means of escape and the mechanical and electrical installation, the ventilation and heating systems, prior inspections of the building and ownership and management of the Stardust.

Dr Cullinane said other evidence will be dealt with by way of witness evidence, including matters in relation to staff training and fire planning, where and how the fire started, how and why the fire progressed, what the response was within the Stardust to the outbreak of the fire and the response of the emergency services.

She said, where possible, evidence will also be heard as to the circumstances of how each death occurred and the medical cause of death.

A member of Dublin Fire Brigade walks through the ruins of the Stardust Ballroom

In excess of 300 witnesses will be heard, Dr Cullinane said, and they will be grouped into categories. This will be done in chronological order to assist the jury in making sense of events as they unfolded.

She said evidence will start with the staff and management of the Stardust, followed by the largest group, the patrons of the Stardust and members of the public who were in the area on the night in question, members of the emergency services and finally expert witnesses in pathology and fire.

Because these events occurred 42 years ago, some memories may have faded and so most witness evidence the jury will hear will be based on the statements made to An Garda Siochana shortly after the events, the coroner explained.

Due to the passage of time, many of the witnesses have since died and others may be unable to attend due to ill health or other circumstances, the coroner said.

In those instances their depositions will be read to the jury, she said.

Dr Cullinane thanked the jury in advance for the very important task they are about to undertake. Your service is of the utmost importance. Im immensely grateful to you, she added.
Kerry community left without mail for two weeks  An Post apologises

Postal service believes it has resolved the issue  which it says occured due to local circumstances

An Post's sorting office in Listowel.

Kerryman Wed 24 May 2023 at 07:00
Grainne Rushe from Boyle on, who was travelling to Lanzarote with her partner Tadhg McKenna, was the lucky 10 millionth Ryanair passenger and to mark the occasion was presented with a pair of return flights with Ryanair to any of their 16 destinations from Ireland West Airport and a bottle of Champagne and chocolates.

It's been 37 years since Ryanairs first flight from then Knock Airport departed to London Luton on December 16th 1986 and at the time the west of Ireland gained its first direct link with London when the Ryanair 748 aircraft The Spirit of Monsignor Horan landed in Knock Airport, heralding the start of scheduled services between the airport and London. Named after Monsignor James Horan, the visionary priest behind Knock Airport the 44 seat turbo-prop aircraft was formally blessed by Monsignor Horans successor Fr Dominick Grealy.

The first passengers to disembark that first flight in 1986 included six-year-old Davinia Paul, who was heading to Boyle for Christmas. 37 years later the 10 millionth passenger to travel on a Ryanair service from the airport also happens to come from Boyle.

On This Day In History - May 23rd

Celebrating todays milestone, Joe Gilmore, Managing Director, Ireland West Airport said: We are delighted to mark yet another significant milestone in the airports history welcoming Ryanairs 10 millionth passenger to the airport. Its been a fantastic 37 years with so many great highlights and milestones achieved along the way.

"During this time Ryanair has continued to grow and provide critically important international access to and from the UK market and connected the West of Ireland to sun destinations in Spain and Portugal and also delivered access to European cities such as Milan, Barcelona and Cologne which have been hugely important in growing tourism numbers to the West and Northwest of Ireland. Its remarkable that in their 37th year of operation here at the airport that it will be their busiest on record and its testament to the popularity of their destinations and their continued expansion at the airport that record numbers will travel on their services from the airport this year.

"Id like to thank Ryanairs customers and in particular the Ryanair staff here at the airport, who continue to play a very important role in helping the airport and Ryanair reach passenger milestones such as this and ensure the experience using the airport continues to be both a seamless and pleasant one. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with Ryanair and expanding our range of services with them over the coming years, he said.

Celebrating the milestone, Ryanairs Head of Communications, Jade Kirwan said: We are delighted to celebrate 10 million Ryanair passengers at Ireland West Airport, with our 10 millionth passenger arriving departing Ireland West Airport this morning on our popular new service to Lanzarote  just one of the 16 routes we are operating as part of our biggest ever schedule this summer.

"Ryanair has operated at Ireland West Airport since 1986 and our record Summer 23 schedule will not only provide Ryanairs West and North-West customers with an unbeatable selection of sunny hotspots and vibrant European city break destinations this Summer but will continue to promote important rural development through the support of over 580 local jobs and delivery of even greater connectivity with Europe and its millions of holidaymakers. To celebrate this phenomenal milestone, we have launched a special seat sale with fares from just 29.99 for travel until the end of Oct 23 available now on Ryanair.com.
Manorhamilton-based Merenda Ltd have been shortlisted for the Manufacturing Exporter of the Year 2023 category of the Irish Exporters Association Annual Awards. A second generation, family-owned manufacturing company who have been doing business from the North Leitrim town since 1984, Merenda specialise in the manufacturing of high-quality wood veneers and the distribution of complementary thermoplastic edge-banding. Their products are utilised for interior surfaces in residential, hospitality and commercial buildings for clients around the world.

The IEA - the voice of the Irish export industry - assist their members to grow their exports to world markets, representing the needs of member organisations in the development of policy, lobbying, intervention at government level and in the media. Brexit and the diversification of export markets, trade compliance, climate change and sustainability, and their impact on Irish exporters are core to the work of the IEA.

And with these priorities and supports in place, the IEA showcase and recognise businesses who can demonstrate evidence of growth, innovation, commitment, potential for expansion and sustainable competitive advantage. It should be little surprise then, that Merenda finds itself nominated in a category which includes some strong competition from the likes of Bausch & Lomb Ireland, Scatterbox and Turmec.

The 21st Irish Exporters Associations Export Industry Awards will be held in Dublins Convention Centre in September. The premier event for recognising the achievements of Irish exporters, the event has been growing in strength and recognition each year. The purpose of the awards is to recognise the exporting companies and service providers who excelled in the last year despite the many difficulties currently facing exporters in a post-Covid and post- Brexit world. The IEA feel it is important to highlight these companies that have been so essential to Irish industry success.

Merendas Surface Solutions offer a bespoke veneer solution for any furniture component; whether it is for wall panelling, doors, door frames, door sets, or kitchen cabinets. They manufacture their own decorative wood components to the highest standards, ensuring their suitability for use in creating beautiful interior building finishes.

The company exports globally, from its nearest neighbours over the border, to the mainland UK, and as far as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, New Zealand and the United States. For the team at Merenda, developing successful partnerships with customers is vital, considering the stake they have in their clients industry reputation. And with a passion for sustainability that is at the core of their business, Merenda Ltd are worthy competitors for the Manufacturing Exporter of the Year 2023 award.
The air ambulance service, Air Corps 112, brought the man from the Wexford roadside to hospital in Dublin.

The National Ambulance Service had to call on its Air Corps 112 Air Ambulance Service this evening (Wednesday) after a collision between a cyclist and a car in North Wexford.

Emergency Services were called to the scene on the Courtown Road near Gorey, Co Wexford shortly after 7 p.m.

A man, reportedly aged in his 40s, is understood to have been injured after coming off his bicycle following a collision with a car. An ambulance and gardai attended the scene and paramedics tended to the man at the side of the road. It is understood he may have suffered a badly broken leg.

With Wexford General Hospital out of action since a fire ripped through the building on March 1, the decision was taken to airlift the man to hospital in Dublin for further treatment, however, it is hoped that he will make a full recovery.
Fight Club (1999) Film4, 10.55p.m.

An insomniac office worker (Edward Norton) is tired of his boring day job and spends his evenings crashing support groups for illnesses he doesnt have.

However, when he meets mysterious soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on a plane back from one of his business trips, they establish a very different kind of club where similarly frustrated men come to vent their anger in the form of bare-knuckle fighting.

With a star-studded cast, including Helena Bonham Carter in what was then seen as a huge departure from her period movie roles, director David Finchers pitch-black comedy became an instant cult classic. In fact, author Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the book on which Fight Club is based, has even said that he thinks the film is an improvement on his novel.

THURSDAY

Shallow Grave (1994) Film4, 10.45p.m.

Three flatmates try to find a fourth person to share their spacious Edinburgh apartment, but their chosen new lodger dies of an overdose on his first night, leaving behind a suitcase full of cash.

The trio decide to keep quiet about his death and hang on to the money, but disposing of the body has a traumatic effect on one of them, and the presence of all that loot  not to mention a dogged detective  soon has the friends turning on each other.

First-time director Danny Boyle would go on to make the even more successful Trainspotting and the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, and his promise is very apparent in this slick, gripping and blackly funny thriller. Theres also plenty of talent in front of the camera too, with Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston playing the flatmates.

FRIDAY

Eighth Grade (2018) BBC3, 9p.m.

Thirteen-year-old Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) is in the final stretch of solitude at Miles Grove Middle School. She stands awkwardly on the precipice of a more formidable challenge  high school  without any emotional support except for her father (Josh Hamilton).

Unexpectedly, Kayla receives an invitation to a pool party thrown by classmate Kennedy Graves (Catherine Oliviere). Kennedy only extended the invitation under parental duress but Kayla attends nevertheless, hoping to bump into her unrequited crush, Aiden (Luke Prael).

Directed by comedian Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade joins an elite class of cinematic coming-of-age stories which candidly reflect a pivotal moment when hormones rage, bodies develop at an alarming rate and every heartbreak is amplified beyond rational thought to the end of days.

SATURDAY

American Made (2017) Channel 4, 11.20p.m.

Pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) is haemorrhaging enthusiasm for his job as he provides for his wife Lucy (Sarah Wright) and children. He makes a little money on the side by smuggling Cuban cigars into America in his hand luggage.

This illegal practice is rumbled by CIA handler Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who coerces Barry into working for the US government by flying reconnaissance missions over Central America to take photographs of the emerging communist threat. During one covert flight, Barry meets members of the high-powered Medellin cocaine cartel, who exploit his greed by employing him to transport narcotics back to America.

Based on a true story of outlandish lies, American Made recreates the late 1970s and 1980s with a swagger.

SUNDAY

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Channel 4, 11p.m.

Hell hath no fury like a grief-stricken mother scorned in writer-director Martin McDonaghs blackly comic drama. It has been seven months since Angela Hayes was abducted, raped and murdered on her way home. The dead girls mother Mildred (Oscar-winner Frances McDormand) is infuriated by the lack of progress under police chief Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). So, she rents three advertising hoardings on the outskirts of town and emblazons each billboard with a message aimed directly at the man responsible for apprehending the culprits. However, bigoted officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell, who also won an Oscar) reacts violently to Mildreds public spat with his station.

Impeccably scripted and blessed with a blistering lead performance from McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a truly remarkable film.

MONDAY

Goodfellas (1990) BBC2, 10p.m.

Martin Scorseses mob masterpiece focuses on Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who harbours dreams of commanding respect by becoming a gangster. He seems to be on course to achieve his ambitions when he starts running errands for the local Mafia and slowly works his way up the ranks, helped by his friendship with Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro). However, his rise is threatened by his volatile marriage, increasing involvement in drugs and unpredictable mate Tommy (Joe Pesci).

Scorsese effortlessly switches between black humour and genuine menace, and gets career-best performances out of Liotta, Lorraine Bracco and the Oscar-winning Pesci.

TUESDAY

The Favourite (2018) Film4, 9p.m.

Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) is removed from the machinations of government, allowing her secret lover Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) to effectively control 18th-century Britain. While Sarah has the monarchs ear, Robert Harley (Nicholas Hoult) challenges her authority from his seat of power in Westminster.

At the height of this battle of wits, Sarahs lowly cousin Abigail Hill (Emma Stone) arrives at court and is employed as a scullery maid. Abigail recognises that the key to bettering her positioning lies in winning the queens favour, so she charms and beguiles Anne. Once Sarah discovers her cousins plot, she retaliates in venomous kind.

The Favourite is a brilliantly bawdy and boisterous dark comedy. Weisz and Stone savour every bile-drenched syllable but Oscar winner Colman shines brightest.
FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been invited to attend the Rebellion 225 event in New Ross on Sunday, June 11.

A budget of 5,000 has been sought for what is the main commemoration event in the New Ross district during which The Battle of Ross will be recalled in a lecture by keynote speaker, Prof Kevin Whelan.

One of the organisers, New Ross Municipal District chairman, Cllr Michael Sheehan said the details of the event are being finalised, adding that it is due to begin in the Three Bullet Gate area at 1 p.m. and finish at 4 p.m.

The area will be closed to traffic to ensure a safe, family friendly event.

Its hoped Bertie Ahern will be there to rededicate the Three Bullet Gate memorial park which he officially opened in 1998, 25 years ago. The event will be a mixture of academia and music, with local bands invited to perform. Cllr Sheehan said the rules around funding the event are very tight.

The department is adamant it has to take an academic format. There are a group of us working on this and we will have an action packed afternoon of events that reflect the history of the location and the stories of the era.

He said the New Ross & District Pipe Band have been invited to perform, along with the Cumann trad band, FCA band and Danescastle musicians.

The event will reflect what happened in the locality, an area forever synonymous with the rebellion. This is the value of having one of the most historic locations of the rebellion on our doorstep.

The Three Bullet Gate is commemorated in the Irish National Anthem as The Bearna Baoil (The Gap of Danger) and in many other patriotic poems and songs.

Cllr Sheehan acknowledged that the scope of the event is limited considering how important The Battle of Ross was in the rebellion, saying there is no budget set aside for Mr Ahern.

We feel this is a big opportunity to remember an important historical event. Each municipal district was awarded 10,000 so if there is any criticism it should be pointed at the Government rather than the local town council, but my door is open to anyone with any suggestions theyd like to add as Id be delighted to hear them.

Cllr Sheehan said there will be a colour party procession to the Three Bullet Gate, with a road closure licence secured.

He said other groups can still submit their suggestions for events, adding that there is a narrow window of time for these to be considered for funding.
Planning permission has been approved for a multi million euro extension to CBS secondary school in New Ross.

Chairperson of Board of Management of CBS, Billy O'Shea applied to New Ross Municipal District council for planning in November for permission to build a new two storey extension to Block 1 (783.4 m2) including: accommodation of a home economics room, technical graphics room, SET room, four classrooms and ancillary spaces, alterations to the existing car park, a new access bridge from the car park, alterations to the existing building including demolition of external walls and four new roof lights, new signage to the east facade of the proposed extension, provision of a 25 m2 array of PV panels to west facing roof of the proposed extension and associated site works at Bowling Green, New Ross.

School principal Pat Rossiter said the school got permission to go ahead with the project from the Department of Education in 2019 but the pandemic and other issues delayed the works.

"Builders will be on site in September all going well and its to be completed within one year, he said.

The school will have its first Home Economics classroom, while the other rooms will provide from space for students.

With a student population of 402 this year and around 416 students scheduled to be attending the school from September, Mr Rossiter said there are no plans to grow school numbers significantly due to the extension.

"The deal in getting the extension was that we would go to 400 students or more. The school has been growing exponentially over the last 13 years. Now we have 72 first years coming in each year. Sometimes we have capacity to take some students into 5th Year also.

Mr Rossiter said once some matters regarding the planning application are clarified the multi million euro project will go to tender. The works will see the school car park taken over by the construction company next autumn and some major disruption.

Mr Rossiter said the design for the extension is lovely and will compliment the current school building. "Its a design we can accommodate easily.

Meanwhile an application for a PE Hall has been submitted to the department awaiting approval.

Wexford TD and Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne TD welcomed the news about the two storey extension.

Minister Browne thanked school principal Mr Pat Rossiter and board of management for their hard work in putting together the development proposal. Im sure that this news will greatly benefit the school community. I will continue to work with my Government colleagues to deliver more development projects for County Wexford schools, said Minister Browne.

Mr Rossitr paid tribute to deputy principal Jim Duhig who is retiring after 32 years at the school and welcomed Barry Fitzpatrick  who teaches at the school  into the role.
Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad's spell in the international wilderness appears to have come to an end.

Most of the western medias focus has been on the G7 meeting in Japan but over in Saudi Arabia theres was another fascinating gathering of world leaders in recent days.
A planning application has been lodged with Wexford County Council to convert the old Wexford Garda Station building on Roches Road into temporary refugee accommodation.

The application was officially lodged with the local authority on May 10 by a newly created company called Dekeldale Ltd, which has an address listed as Glasklacken, Bunclody, Co Wexford and is under the directorship of Majella and Fintan Kelly.

Having sat idle for over five years since An Garda Siochana moved to a new headquarters in Mulgannon, the old station has been a source of great discussion. As it fell into further disrepair and even had issues with rodents, local councillors publicly debated potential uses for the building and called on the OPW to either use it or sell it off.

Eventually it was sold at auction, back in March of this year, fetching 800,000 at auction. The sale was welcomed by local representatives, many of whom had expressed a desire to see the building kitted out for everything from additional housing to a tourist hostel.

However, the new owners have now revealed plans to alter the building to fast-track living accommodation for refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

According to the application, it is proposed to adapt the interior and services to provide accommodation in a manner which respects the architectural heritage of the building.

It also states that the proposal for a change of use will seek a Declaration under Section 5 as an exempted development.

Externally, no major work will be carried out aside from repairing or upgrading window sashes if required, while internally, the majority of partitions will be created using timber stud to create living accommodation and new kitchen units and bathrooms will be installed.

While the plans dont explicitly state the numbers of refugees that will be accommodated in the Roches Road building, a closer look at the site layout shows at least 17 separate rooms, as well as shower rooms etc.

Nationally, the approach of the Department of Integration to refugee centres has come in for heavy criticism, with many claiming that theres an element of cloak and dagger about their opening with local communities and local representatives left in the dark.

When contacted for comment, Mayor of Wexford Maura Bell was unaware of the plans for the old garda station. Nor was she aware of the plans for the much bigger refugee accommodation centre just outside town at Slaney Manor.

Despite this, however, she was hopeful that Wexford wouldnt see similar scenes to Inch, Co Clare, where residents set up a blockade to stop asylum seekers from accessing a property there.

We are a very welcoming town, Cllr Bell said. Weve welcomed so many Ukrainians already. With something like this, theres always going to be some backlash, but I think it will be absolutely grand. We are a very welcoming people and I think that will continue.

Inevitably, there will be some frustration expressed in relation to the old garda station building. There were several calls for Wexford County Council to turn the building into emergency accommodation for homeless people. However, local reps were told that the scale of work required to do this wasnt feasible.

Now though, a private operator is set to transform the building into just that type of accommodation.

I think it went outside of the councils remit in terms of what we could afford to pay, Cllr Bell said. Theres only a certain amount we can spend and we cant go beyond and I think this was just a step too far.

Having spoken out in relation to finding a use for the empty building on several occasions in the past, Cllr Leonard Kelly was happy that it was going to be used for something.

Im happy that the building will be brought into some form of use, yes, he said. That use is completely up to the owners who have bought it. From a personal point of view, I wouldve loved to see it transformed into some kind of tourist hostel, but its in private ownership and its use is up to the owners.

Cllr Kelly echoed the Mayors comments in relation to Wexford welcoming asylum seekers.

Ireland is a wealthy country and more and more people will want to come here, he said. Be that as an economic migrant or fleeing wars. We have to learn to live with each other.

For the most part, I believe people are sound and want to see a fair society for everybody and for that reason I do believe that the vast majority of Wexford people will be welcoming.
The Arklow Municipal District and Arklow Library are holding two EU 50 competitions.

The Arklow Municipal district and Arklow Library are pleased to invite schools and individual students to participate in two competitions to celebrate the 50 years that Ireland has been a member of the EU.

The first of the European Union themed competitions, which will be open until May 32, is a EU50 Fun Fact Quiz children are sure to enjoy, while the second is a creative arts project.

For Ireland, 2023 is a special year that marks 50 years of Ireland in the European Union and the pivotal role our membership has played in Irelands social and economic transformation.

This special anniversary acknowledges the immense contribution that EU funding has made to shared peace, as well as shared prosperity on the island of Ireland.

A spokesperson for Arklow Municipal District said: For details of the EU50 Fun Fact Quiz or the Creative Arts Project, please contact Arklow Municipal District Council on 0402 42700 or email arklowmd@wicklowcoco.ie

The competition will run until the 31st of May, 2023, and there will be a presentation in June for all winners.

All students are invited to take part.
The former National Bank building on 34 College Green, Dublin, which is home to the new Hawksmoor restaurant.

Alex McGettigan, from Bray, who has been appointed as the new manager of Hawksmoor, Dublin.

Will Beckett (Co-founder and CEO of Hawksmoor), with Mai-Yee NG (Head of Design) and Alex McGettigan (Manager of Hawksmoor, Dublin).

A Bray businessman has been appointed to take over Hawksmoor, one of Londons best-loved restaurants and currently second in the Worlds Best Steak Restaurants, when it opens its doors in Dublin this summer.

The restaurant will be moving into the beautiful building formerly occupied by National Bank, on 34 College Green, with Alex McGettigan overseeing the operations as General Manager; coincidentally, Alexs uncle worked in the same building when it was the National Bank.

Alex started his career with Hawksmoor when he joined as a waiter and bartender in Hawksmoor Seven Dials in London. Now, in his twelfth year working with Hawksmoor, he is taking the reins of their new Dublin restaurant.

Alex was initially pursuing a career as an actor after completing drama school and continued auditioning and accepting roles after beginning work with Hawksmoor. However, as the appetite for steaks from ethically reared cattle grew, so did Alexs desire for career development and progression. As a result, Alex took on his first General Manager role in 2018 in Hawksmoor at Knightsbridge, much like every General Manager at Hawksmoor who has been promoted from within.

Hawksmoor is the only hospitality company featured in the annual Best Companies to Work For list every year for the past decade. The company has also recently become carbon neutral, planning to be Net Zero by 2030.

In addition, the group has been awarded the maximum 3* rating for 12 years by the Sustainable Restaurant Association. It is a certified B Corporation, a leader in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.

Born in Bray but raised in Bristol, Alex is settling down in Wicklow, where he has many connections in the area, with extended family in Bray and Greystones.

My dad moved his young family from Bray to Bristol for a two-year work contract, Alex said. That was 40 years ago, and hes still there. So here I am, making a move in reverse  mirroring my dad by moving my young girls from London back to Bray to open Hawksmoor Dublin. So come find me in 40 years and see where Ive ended up!
Louise Finan, Chair of Coalition 2030, with report author Sorley McCaughey and Coalition 2030 Steering Committee member Dearbhail Lawless, from Bray, at the launch of the Furthest Behind First, or Falling Behind Further? report, in Buswell's Hotel, Dublin.

Bray woman Dearbhail Lawless played a key role in the launch of a groundbreaking report outlining how Ireland can reach its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, while focusing on those who are becoming more marginalised in our society as the country continues to develop.

Ms Lawless is CEO of AONTAS, Ireland's National Adult Learning Organisation, and a member of the Coalition 2030 organisation, an alliance of 70 civil society organisations collaborating to ensure Ireland keeps its promise to reach the SDGs by 2030.

The Coalition has just published a new report, called Furthest Behind First, or Falling Behind Further?, documenting Irelands progress on the SDGs from the perspective of those left behind.

The report parallels the Irish Governments SDG review, which is due for presentation to the UN in July, and while it praises Ireland's international commitment to the SDGs, calls for those ambitions to be matched at home in relation to issues such as healthcare, education and homelessness.

The report features the real-life stories of people in Ireland who are being left behind as the country continues to develop. These include disabled people; current and former residents of the Direct Provision system; people experiencing poverty and homelessness; lone parents; and older people.

Ms Lawless is currently serving as a member of the Coalitions Steering Committee and attended the report launch in Buswells Hotel, in Dublin, on Tuesday, May 9, while also addressing a briefing for members of the Oireachtas in Leinster House.

Commenting on the report launch, Ms Lawless praised the Government for the international leadership it has shown on the SDGs but called for similar action to be demonstrated at home.

Few countries can claim to have been as influential on the SDGs on the global stage as Ireland, she said.

Under Irish and Kenyan leadership, the goals were painstakingly negotiated before being agreed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. Since then, the Government has been a vocal advocate for the SDGs. This summer, Ireland and Qatar will lead a series of high-level discussions in advance of presenting a political declaration at the SDGs Summit in September.

However, Ireland's international commitment to the SDGs is not matched by the same ambition at home. We remain the only country in western Europe without universal primary healthcare. Our ongoing housing crisis is forcing families into homelessness and creating enormous collective anxiety and stress.

"Our employment rate for people with disabilities is one of the lowest in the EU. Our Direct Provision system violates multiple human rights. And the State is yet to live up to a long-standing promise to contribute 0.7% of Gross National Income to overseas aid, she said.

Our failings at domestic level run the risk of undermining Ireland's moral leadership on the SDGs while also contributing to sections of Irish society falling further behind. In the lead-up to the UN Summit this September, the Government has an opportunity to demonstrate real commitment to the SDGs by making policy choices at home that align with their international rhetoric.

The SDGs provide us with a powerful blueprint and pathway to create a fairer, more environmentally sustainable Ireland, where everyone has access to quality healthcare, quality education, quality housing and does not fear a life lived in poverty.

"Alignment with the SDGs should be the driving objective of State policy from this point forward. We are calling on the Government and the Opposition to ensure that the goals are embedded in all new national policies, in local authorities city and county plans, and in the work of community-based structures such as Public Participation Networks, Local Environmental Networks, and Education and Training Boards, she added.

The key recommendations in the Coalition 2030 report include:

 The appointment by Government of a Future Generations Commissioner to ensure no public policy actions undermine the quality of life of future generations;

 Responsibility for the SDGs to be moved from the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications to the Department of the Taoiseach;

 All new public policies to be SDG-proofed to ensure they are aligned with the Goals; and

 The annual Budget process to become linked to progressing the SDGs.

Commenting at the reports launch, its author, Sorley McCaughey, said: An underlying principle of the SDGs is to reach the furthest behind first. But the case studies featured in our report show there are many people in Ireland being left even further behind as the country develops. With a General Election to be held by March 2025, and the Goals due to expire in 2030, now is a critical juncture for the Government and opposition parties to put the necessary measures in place to help Ireland play its role in progressing the SDGs and leaving no-one behind.
A labourer has received a suspended jail sentence for his role in a workplace accident in Greystones, Co Wicklow, over six years ago which left a colleague and close-friend with life-changing injuries.

Joe Flanagan (54) of Dunamaise, Stradbally, Co Laois pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to take reasonable care contrary to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013, while working near South Beach, Greystones on December 8, 2016 with a 9-tonne site dumper.

An inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, Kevin Broderick, told a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court that Flanagan had allowed two work colleagues to sit inside the dumper as they were travelling back to a compound.

Mr Broderick said that one of the workmen, Diarmuid Hosey, fell out of the dumper and was crushed under one of its front wheels after the vehicle went backwards while Flanagan was trying to drive up a low bank.

He told counsel for the DPP, James Kelly BL, that it was not the first time that the manoeuvre had been attempted.

Mr Broderick said Flanagan did not have the specialist qualifications recommended to drive such a vehicle.

The court heard that Flanagan and the victim were good friends and remain so despite what happened.

The HSA inspector said Mr Hosey recognised the incident should not have occurred but he did not bear any malintent towards the accused.

Cross-examined by Patrick Gageby SC for Flanagan, Mr Broderick said the defendant, who is a carpenter by trade, had been working on the site to clear a debt with an individual who had provided machinery for the project.

He also explained that the defendant had asked Mr Hosey to work with him because there was a shortage of labourers.

Mr Gageby handed in a letter to the court from his client in which Flanagan expressed regret and remorse over what had happened.

Not a week goes by that I dont think about it, he wrote.

Flanagan, who said he suffered with his mental health after the accident, said he and the injured man had been friends for over 30 years.

The court heard he was a regular caller to his friends house after the accident to offer help and had also brought 2,000 to court for Mr Hosey.

Sentencing Flanagan to nine months in prison, Judge Patrick Quinn said he would suspend the full sentence as he believed it was unlikely the defendant would come before the court again.

The judge said a condition of the suspension would be for Flanagan to keep the peace and not come to the attention of gardai over the relevant period of suspension.

He also refused an application by counsel for the DPP to have Flanagan pay the prosecutions costs in the case of 2,467.

The judge also welcomed the fact that Mr Hoseys civil action over his injuries had recently been settled.

In a separate prosecution in 2021 , the main site contractor, Brian Conneely Construction was fined 15,000 in relation to the same incident for a similar breach of regulations governing health and safety in the workplace.

In May 2022, Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court handed down an 18-month suspended sentence to the site manager, Clifford Newton, in a related case.

Commenting on the outcome of the prosecution against Flanagan, interim HSA chief executive, Mark Cullen, said the movement of large work vehicles was a well-known hazard for which risk assessments needed to be carried out to identify necessary control measures to eliminate or reduce such risk.

In this case the failure by parties to identify the appropriate control measures and implement them significantly increased the likelihood of an incident occurring  an incident which was entirely foreseeable and preventable, said Mr Cullen.
Arklow man received a three year suspended prison sentence

A Wicklow man who engaged in text exchanges about having sex with children to impress several individuals has received a three-year suspended prison term.

A sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court heard the man had on one occasion discussed with a transgender Brazilian sex worker about drugging a child in order to have sexual contact with the victim.

Barry Nugent (34) of Church View, Arklow, Co Wicklow pleaded guilty to a single count of producing child pornography in the form of text messages on dates between January 2016 and June 2018 contrary to Section 5 of the Child Pornography and Trafficking Act 1998.

The court heard on Wednesday that Nugent had engaged in three conversations with different transsexuals in which he discussed having sexual acts with underage children as part of what were described as sexual fantasies.

In one text exchange, there was a total of 424 messages in a conversation about sexual acts with under-18s in which Nugent said he would not go below teens.

In a discussion about a 15-year-old boy, Nugent wrote: Yes. Thats kind of hot. I wouldnt mind filling him up.

The court heard that one of the individuals had texted Nugent about loving to have sex with 15-17-year-olds to which Nugent replied: Stop  me too. They are all so filthy.

Detective Garda David Smith said the accused had come to the attention of gardai via an investigation into a transgender Brazilian escort, Bruno Binda De Souza, also known as Bruna Meirelles.

Today's News in 90 seconds - May 24th

Det Garda Smith said Nugent had been identified as a result of an analysis of devices taken from Meirelles and the defendants laptop was seized during a search of his home in June 2020.

The witness said the accused had admitted meeting Meirelles on six or seven occasions for casual sex after they had met on a dating site.

Meirelles or De Souza (33) of Brabazon Hall, Cork Street, Dublin 8 was jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March 2021 after being found in possession of thousands of depraved child abuse images.

One of her convictions related to conversations she had with Nugent.

Det Garda Smith said Nugent and Meirelles had texted about drugging a child in order to have sexual contact with the child.

He said they had discussed having to be careful about the dosage to be given to ensure they were finished before its effect on the child had worn off.

Det Garda Smith said Nugent had admitted after he was arrested in June 2021 that he had engaged in kinky conversation with Meirelles in order to impress her as he regarded her as out of his league.

I thought I would impress her and keep her interested. She was tall and domineering even in texts, he told gardai.

Det Garda Smith told counsel for the DPP, James Kelly BL that Nugent said he never intended to act out any of his sexual fantasies and had only engaged in sexualised text messages to turn them on.

Under cross-examination by counsel for the accused, Edmund Sweetman BL, the witness accepted that Nugent had engaged in sexual fantasies by text in order to impress Meirelles.

Det Garda Smith also agreed there was no evidence to suggest that Nugent ever tried to live out his fantasy with any child and he accepted the accused was genuinely remorseful for his actions.

He didnt seem to understand what he was doing was wrong until it was explained to him, the detective observed.

Mr Sweetman observed that his client, who had no previous convictions, had engaged in disturbing and revolting but essentially private messages.

The barrister said Nugents offending was not linked to any lifestyle issues but he was someone who was slightly introverted and who had a lack of social contact.

He said the offence occurred during a period of promiscuity in his life which had resulted in the break-up of his relationship with his childs mother.

However, Mr Sweetman said Nugents life had now stabilised and he was in a relationship with a new partner who was aware of his offence.

Counsel said his clients offending could be considered different from other forms of child pornography as it was the filthy rambling of someones mind shared with another in a private chat.

Pleading for a non-custodial sentence, he pointed out that Nugent had not shared any pornographic images of children and no child had actually been under threat.

Mr Sweetman said the accused, who works as a security guard, had a wrong, immature fixation with a transgender person.

Sentencing Nugent to three years in prison, Judge Patrick Quinn said he would suspend the full term due to the exceptional circumstances of the case.

The judge accepted that the offending texts which covered a three-year period were confined to private chats with three other individuals which were not for wide internet consumption.

He noted they had not been initiated by Nugent who had engaged with other individuals in order to impress them.

Judge Quinn said he was satisfied from a psychological report that Nugent had no sexual orientation towards young children.

He also noted that there was never any question that the defendant would carry out any of his fantasies.

The judge observed that Nugent was originally assessed at being at a moderate risk of re-offending which had been reduced to low risk after he underwent counselling.

He remarked that the accused only realised the gravity of his offence over time but now found what he did was personally revolting as indeed he should.

Judge Quinn suspended the term of imprisonment for a period of five years on condition that Nugent places himself under the supervision of the Probation Service and agrees to undergo any recommended counselling and treatment programmes.
Funding of 340,000 has been allocated under the Community Recognition Fund to carry out a complete overhaul of the Assembly Hall located at Bachelors Walk in Wicklow town.

The Community Recognition Fund aims to support the development of community infrastructure and facilities in recognition of the contribution being made by communities across the country in welcoming and hosting significant numbers of arrivals from Ukraine and other countries.

The funding is specifically targeted at projects that are located in communities, towns and villages that are hosting the beneficiaries of Temporary Protection and/or International Protection Applicants.

The fund will support the development of facilities that will be used by all members of the community.

Meanwhile, the project will also see the provision of new gym equipment on the Murrough, as well as improvements to the seafront promenade linking the harbour to the Murrough community facilities and beyond the Murrough Coastal Walk.

The elected members of Wicklow Municipal District were asked to propose suitable properties during the March meeting, with Cllr Shay Cullen receiving the support of fellow councillors when he proposed the Assembly Hall.

Cllr Cullen stated: At the moment there is a real lack of facilities in Wicklow town for the local community to meet up and use. A new updated facility inclusive to the whole community will have a huge impact in the town. It can be used by community and voluntary organisations, as well as local sporting clubs.

I visited the Assembly Hall recently and it badly needs refurbishment. It requires new toilets, plumbing, wiring and electrical work.

Its also important to state that no club will be left homeless while the works are taking place and alternative accommodation will be secured for them until the works are complete. Overall, the funding for the Assembly Hall is very welcome news for Wicklow town.

Cllr Paul OBrien, Cathaoirleach of Wicklow Municipal District, stated: I welcome the funding for the Assembly Hall and having a state-of-the-art facility located right in the centre of town for the use of the whole community.

This is something Wicklow town has been missing for some time now. Its the capital town and badly needs a facility which is fit for purpose and inclusive to the whole community.

I am also delighted we were successful in securing funding for the installation of universally accessible outdoor gym equipment along the Murrough in order to extent upon the existing facilities, and improvements to the promenade linking Wicklow Harbour to the existing Murrough community facilities, and beyond to the coast5al walk.

60 per cent of the funding must be spent by the end of the year

District Manager, Brian Gleeson stated: Its a big job that will take several months. Its important to take time and do the job correctly.

For the application process I didnt want to restrict ourselves by placing estimates which would restrict you to that amount. As soon as we have some detailed figures I will provide them to the members.

Justice Minister Simon Harris discussed directly with Community Minister Heather Humphreys about the Assembly Hall, and the funding will be used for the installation of a new heating system, as well as painting works, and a refurbishment of the kitchen, toilets and meeting rooms.

He said: In recent weeks, Ive discussed directly with Minister Heather Humphreys the need to recognise the efforts of the people of Wicklow town in relation to responding to the war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis.

Im delighted to announce that Wicklow Town has been successful in securing 340,000 for the Wicklow Town Place Making Project. I know that the Assembly Hall has fallen into decay in recent years and that it really does need an investment like this.

Its great too that the community will benefit from improvements to the Murrough and promenade.

County Wicklow has done extraordinarily well under the Community Recognition Fund with the likes of Rathdrum, Greystones, Bray, Arklow and Baltinglass also benefitting.

These projects are being delivered in communities that have done so much in terms of welcoming in people from Ukraine and other countries around the world.
Conny and Anouk O'Connell at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Justine O'Brien and Ray Cooke at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Sandra Power and John O'Brien at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Anne Fitzpatrick and Maura Morrissey at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Eugene Whelan, Wesley Atkinson and Ray Morrissey at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th Anniversary Celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh

Johnny and Orla O' Toole with Ray Cooke at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Barry Coad, Anne Fitzpatrick and Aaron Byrne at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Hugh McLindon and Elisha McGrane at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Brendan Beirne and Andrea Bland at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Tomaz Goslar, Matyaz Strukely and Gregor Bahun at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Mark Pollock speaking at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th Anniversary Celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Jayne Stephens and Jack Corbett at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th Anniversary dinner dace held in Lynhams.

Mark Pollock, Vedran Kuti and Rachel McGrane at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Hugh McLindon and Elisha McGrane at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th anniversary celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh.

Marc Cascianc, Allegra Lalor and Robert Power at the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue 40th Anniversary Celebration dinner in Lynham's Hotel, Laragh

THE Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team held 40th anniversary celebrations at their Laragh base over the weekend, featuring representation from numerous support agencies.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris TD and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris both visited the rescue base on Friday to compliment the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue volunteers on their ongoing success.

Minister Harris commented: Despite the team consisting entirely of volunteers, the Glen of Imaal team operate a twenty-four-seven, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year service. The professionalism displayed by the Glen of Imaal team can be clearly seen from the amount of lives saved since its foundation.

While operating in tandem with An Garda Siochana, the Glen of Imaal team work in some of the most arduous conditions, striving to protect and safeguard the vast number of people who visit the Wicklow Mountains on a regular basis.

Developments in technology have assisted the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue team, but I was genuinely surprised to hear that they are responsible for 110 rescues every year, that means there are lives saved every year by the work the volunteers do.

The Wicklow Mountains contain some of our countys most iconic landmarks and spectacular natural reserves, however it is vital that we take the safety concerns seriously.

Liam ODwyer Secretary General retired of the Irish Red Cross and the Chairperson and Team Leader of The Glen of Imaal Irish Red Cross Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team, also spoke at the event.

Tony Lawlor, National Director of Units Irish Red Cross, presented some of the team members with long service awards.

Also present were representatives from An Garda Siochana, PSNI, the National Ambulance Service, Irish Coastguard, Irish Air Corps, Civil Defence, Wicklow Fire Services, National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Charlie Froud family and Foundation, Cllr. Pat Kennedy, Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team, the Mount Rescue Association of Slovenia and the Slovenian Mountain Rescue Team.

The celebrations continued on Saturday where tours of the rescue base, grounds and vehicles were provided. External displays were also carried out by Mountain Rescue operating partners An Garda Siochana, National Ambulance Service, Local Fire Service and local Coastguard units.

A celebratory dinner dance was then held later on Saturday night in Lynhams Hotel in Laragh.
MPs show a lack of courage and harm their constituents by not changing the law to legalise assisted dying, Dame Prue Leith has said.

Speaking at a reception about assisted dying at Parliament on Tuesday, the Great British Bake Off host said: One of the problems is, for many MPs, its far easier to do nothing.

That shows a lack of courage but also a lack of understanding of what theyre doing, which is allowing harm to continue.

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Its definitely something thats easier for some MPs to sweep under the rug.

The event, hosted by campaign group Dignity In Dying, brought together more than 200 MPs, peers and campaigners to discuss making changes to the law to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill patients.

Dame Prue, 83, is the patron of Dignity In Dying and a long-standing campaigner on the issue, having witnessed her brother David die a painful death from bone cancer in 2012.

In her speech, she invited MPs, peers and members of the public to sign a letter to party leaders asking them to bring forward a debate on the subject in the next parliament.

Please pledge to take action. We have to make sure that next time, Parliament guarantees time for the issue to be properly debated, she said.

Across the UK, people have seen firsthand the many ways that the current law fails our dying citizens, just as I saw how it failed my late brother. Only Westminster can put this right.

The event was attended by several parliamentarians including Independent MP Matt Hancock, Conservative MP Kit Malthouse and Labour MP Karin Smyth.

They were joined by Conservative former Cabinet minister Lord Forsyth of Drumlean and Liberal Democrat Lord Goddard of Stockport, among others.

Mr Malthouse said: I feel frustrated for the people who are dying in horrible circumstances every single day.

I hope that my colleagues will focus on the human stories that lie behind every one of these horrific deaths and do what they can to help that.

Labour MP Karin Smyth said the current law was not safe, meanwhile Lord Forsyth criticised Parliament for lagging behind the people on this.

Lord Goddard, who hosted the event, called for political parties to include a pledge in their manifestoes at the next general election to put forward a Bill on assisted dying.

Under the Suicide Act 1961, helping someone to take their own life in England and Wales is punishable with up to 14 years in prison.

Despite this, public support for allowing doctors to assist terminally ill patients to die has consistently remained around 80% between 1995 and 2016, according to the 2016 British Social Attitudes Survey.

Elsewhere, assisted dying is now legal in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and in 11 US jurisdictions.

In Scotland, an assisted dying Bill is currently being drafted, with the final text to be made available next year.

A UK parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying is currently under way.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity In Dying said: The current law is not regulated, its not safe and its not fair. The public know this and urgently want change, yet successive governments have failed to prioritise the issue, nor allowed a free and fair debate.

Assisted dying is a movement whose time has come. Nowhere is the personal more political than in matters of life and death. The next election needs to count for dying Britons, and party leaders should prioritise a debate on assisted dying.
TV personality Fred Sirieix was seen getting hands on in a prison kitchen as he launched his charitys third restaurant staffed by prisoners.

The First Dates presenter and maitre dhotel was speaking as his charity, The Right Course, launched its newest training restaurant, Berties, in HMP Lincoln on Monday.

The eatery, named after the Category B prisons deputy governor of more than 30 years, will be operated by inmates and will be the first in the country to allow staff and customers to be joined by families to share a meal during visiting hours.

It comes after The Right Course opened similar outlets in HMP Wormwood Scrubs, in west London, and HMP Isis, in south London, with plans to open five more this year.

Mr Sirieix, 51, told guests that the scheme hopes to teach inmates the ABC of restauranting.

He said: If you are in prison, something has gone wrong at some point and we have to take responsibility and we have to give opportunities to people.

We have to teach people how to do the job like a pro.

Hard work will always beat talent. Enthusiasm is half the battle.

He added: We are going to do everything we can in order to equip them for life on the outside and that means these guys have to be as good as anyone in the world.

The scheme offers selected inmates the chance to achieve City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in catering and front-of-house qualifications in partnership with the training provider, PeoplePlus.

Fred Sirieix talks to diners during a visit to HMP Lincoln (Joe Giddens/PA)

Participants are trained to deliver high-street standards in real-life settings, with Mr Sirieix helping to orchestrate operations as guests were served a three-course meal at Berties to celebrate the launch.

Guests enjoyed smoked salmon and cream cheese on bread for starters, a lasagne and sharing platters for mains and sticky toffee pudding with ice cream for dessert, with staff also on hand to serve drinks.

Mr Sirieix said: Today was great. It was a baptism of fire. I got a bit excited but I cant help that.

One prisoner told the Frenchman that he wanted to open a street food truck upon being released, with the restaurant serving weekly specials including lasagne and Philly cheesesteaks.

One said: Weve been working as a team, its been hard as well but we have done it.

Another added: This course has made me more confident and helped me speak to people better.

Fred Sirieix gives front of house advice to a prisoner during a visit to HMP Lincoln (Joe Giddens/PA)

Mr Sirieix who arrived in the UK in 1992, called on the scheme to be rolled out across all of the countrys prisons.

He added: We have people here who are idle, doing nothing. Lets keep them busy, but more importantly, its about giving people pride and a sense of satisfaction.

You feel good, and you feel like you have done a good job and feel excited and proud of yourself.

The initiative also hopes to both reduce reoffending among inmates and plug the shortage of hospitality staff across the country, with the Office for National Statistics claiming that there are 132,000 vacancies in the industry as of this month.

Damian Hinds, the prisons minister, said: Giving prisoners a better chance of getting a job works  it cuts crime, saves taxpayer money and protects the public.

Our work with The Right Course and Fred Sirieix is helping prisoners learn skills from the best in the industry that will help them find work when released.

The Ministry of Justice said that 56% of those trained and released at The Right Courses Escape restaurant in HMP Wormwood Scrubs have since found employment.
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A Nazi flag and other objects recovered from a rented truck that crashed into security barriers at Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington, U.S. May 23, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Nathan Howard
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Dimapur/Kohima: The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar campaign on May 15 as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0.

The three-week campaign, based on the three Rs (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse) of waste management, aims to create a zero-waste ecosystem and promote cleaner cities in India.

The Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) inaugurated an RRR Centre on May 20 at the DDSC Stadium, serving as a collection point for recyclable items., reported THe Mourung Times.

The initiative was praised by local leaders and citizens for promoting sustainability and responsible behavior. The DMC Administrator encouraged participation from all colony councils, with cash prizes for the best-performing localities.

In Kohima, the campaign was launched at the office of the Kohima Smart City Development Ltd., emphasizing the importance of sustainable development and waste reduction.

The lack of proper recycling and waste management infrastructure was acknowledged as a challenge, but individuals were urged to take action and reduce waste.

RRR Centres were inaugurated in several wards/colonies of the municipality, allowing people to donate and pick up old, unused items. The campaign will culminate on June 5, with recognition and awards for the best RRR Centres. Similar initiatives were launched in other cities across Nagaland.
Image: UNOG/Srdan Slavkovic

New York: More than one in four patients screened in violence-afflicted Gaza at UN-run health centres, require mental health and psychosocial support, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday, publishing its annual overview.

This is the highest rate of mental health need ever recorded, across UNRWAs medical system.

UNRWAs health programmes support some two million Palestine refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory composed of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as in Syria.

Immensely challenging year

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Dr. Akihiro Seita, UNRWAs Director of Health, highlighted the immense challenges faced by the agencys health programmes in the past year: in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, he listed the devastating cholera outbreak in Syria and Lebanon, regional turbulence and UNRWAs ongoing funding crisis.

He stressed that UNRWA health centres in Gaza and the occupied West Bank continue to provide vital healthcare amid hostilities.

Eight million seen

Last year, the UN agency managed to provide around eight million medical consultations.

That includes around 300,000 people living with diabetes and hypertension or non-communicable diseases and also 90,000 pregnant mothers, said Dr. Seita.

Out of the 5.9 million registered Palestine refugees, it is estimated that 3.2 million are registered at UNRWA centres, and receive health services free of charge. The number of consultations increased by 12.4 percent compared to 2021.

In 2022, UNRWAs health programmes successfully combated a resurgence of cholera in the refugee camps in Lebanon, in addition to the highly infectious Omicron strain of COVID-19.

Furthermore, UNRWA health centres in Gaza and the occupied West Bank provided vital health care amid the on-going hostilities.

Airstrikes, violence continues

Last week, we had armed conflict in Gaza but still all 22 health centres stayed open and provided critical primary healthcare service and fifty percent of the staff continued to attend, emphasized Dr. Seita.

Currently, it is estimated that 3.2 million or 53.9 per cent of Palestinian refugees still heavily rely on UNRWA services due to economic hardship, high unemployment rates, and worsening poverty levels, especially in conflict areas.

Around a third of registered Palestinian refugees reside in 58 official refugee camps, living side-by-side among host countries' communities.

Gender-based violence increasing

UNRWA manages 240 health centers with more than 3,000 staff that provide a comprehensive range of primary healthcare.

Gender-based violence is also on the rise. That is our main concern and worry, said Dr. Seita. At the same time, children are suffering not only mentally, but also physically.

Mental health is another of UNRWAs health priorities. According to Dr. Seita, patients in Gaza have the highest detection rate at 26.4 per cent. In 2021, around 15,000 people needed psychosocial support.

Over the span of seven decades of displacement, the number of Palestine refugees has increased from 750,000 in 1950, to 5.9 million in 2022.
Image Credit: PIB

Noida (UP): India will soon acquire its fastest supercomputer at a cost of Rs 900 crore and it is expected to start functioning by March next year, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday.

In his first visit to a research centre under the Ministry of Earth Sciences since assuming charge, Rijiju said with its acquisition, India will acquire the weather monitoring mechanism with the highest resolution of the probabilistic forecast.

Rijiju was addressing the media during his visit to the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) in Noida, Uttar Pradesh today.

The new computer can improve forecasting from 12 to 6 km. Compared to the Cray XC-40 supercomputer Mihir with a performance of 6.8 petaFLOPS (PFLOPS), Indias fastest supercomputer at present, the new supercomputer will have nearly thrice the capability, viz 18 PFLOPS, he said.

The facilities at this world-class centre will benefit all sectors, all sections of the society, in fact, every individual of the country is going to get the benefit directly from this institution, he added.

Rijiju said Indias weather forecasting capability are improving day by day.

We are also extending weather forecasts to countries in the neighbourhood and beyond, he said.

The premises of NCMRWF, the Centre of Excellence in Weather and Climate Modelling, also hosts the BIMSTEC Centre on Weather and Climate (BCWC) of the regional grouping Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

BIMSTEC comprises seven countries - five from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

Rijiju said the NCMRWF is a leading institution of its kind in the world.

Its a matter of great pride for India that our NCMRWF is going to be the world-class centre, he said.

Rijiju was briefed by Dr M. Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences; Dr V.S. Prasad, Head, and other senior scientists of the NCMRWF.
Photo by Alexander/Unplash

Kolkata: Inspired by natural photosynthetic systems, researchers in Kolkata have developed a new method of harvesting artificial light using organic nanotubes, which can be utilized in solar cells, photocatalysis, optical sensors, and tunable multi-color light-emitting materials.

Dr. Supratim Banerjee from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Education, and Dr. Suman Chakrabarty from the S. N. Bose National Center for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS), Kolkata, an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology (DST) carried out experimental and computational investigations on artificial light-harvesting in organic nanotubes derived from the union of an organic fluorescent molecule and a therapeutically important biopolymer.

The former is an amphiphilic cationic molecule called cyano stilbenes (an organic molecule with fluorescent properties that are known to exhibit enhanced emission in their aggregated state), and the latter is an anionic therapeutically important bio-polymer called heparin (used as an anti-coagulant-during-surgery-and-in-post-operative-treatments) in aqueous media.

In the presence of heparin, the cationic cyano stilbenes employed in this study formed nanotubes with bright greenish-yellow emission through an electrostatically driven co-assembly process.

Just like the antenna chromophores or pigmented (coloured) membrane-associated vesicles used to perform photosynthesis in bacteria, the nanotubes acted as highly efficient energy donors (antennae) in a system that mimicked the natural photosynthetic process.

In nature, plants and photosynthetic bacteria capture sunlight and deliver it to the reaction center through a cascade of energy and electron transfer steps for its eventual storage in the form of chemical energy.

The antenna chromophores in the light-harvesting complexes are precisely aligned into arrays by the surrounding proteins, which in turn allows the energy migration between them in a highly efficient manner.

Mimicking natural photosynthetic systems and understanding the fundamental processes of energy transfer has gained enormous interest in recent years, especially for systems that need energy conversion and storage.

The scientists donated energy to acceptor dyes such as Nile Red and Nile Blue, resulting in emission color tuning from initial greenish-yellow to orange-red, including white light.

The energy transfer phenomenon demonstrated in this study is known as FRET (Forster resonance energy transfer), which has significant importance in different applications such as the determination of DNA/RNA structures, mapping biological membranes, real-time PCR tests, and so on.

The future is moving towards the conversion of solar energy for storage as chemical or electrical energy, and the process of energy transfer is a key factor for such applications.

In the study published in Chemical Science, the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the formation of the nanotubes was investigated by employing absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) studies. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation studies demonstrated that the cyano stilbene molecules formed cylindrical structures in the presence of heparin.

The local molecular level interactions and packing of the cyano stilbene chromophores that led to the formation of one-dimensional nanostructures were also visualized and quantified through the simulation studies.

Due to the temperature responsiveness of the FRET process in these systems, they were further employed as ratiometric emission thermometers (that sense temperature based on the variation in emission intensity at two different wavelengths) in the temperature range 2090 C, and this highlighted a practical application of these artificial light-harvesting systems.

Publication link: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d3sc00375b
PM Modi inspecting new Parliament building | Image Credit: UNI

New Delhi/IBNS: Nineteen opposition parties including Congress will boycott the inauguration of the country's new Parliament building on Sunday, media reports said.

The parties include Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, DMK, Left, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena and others.

The boycott will mark the parties' protest against the inauguration of the new parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of President Droupadi Murmu.

The boycott is widely seen as a step towards the Opposition unity in the backdrop of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s defeat in Karnataka polls and eyeing the next year's General Elections.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's TMC was the first to boycott the inauguration ceremony followed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, which is presently at the loggerheads with the Centre over sharing of powers in the national capitals.

The new building of Parliament will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday to mark nine years of his government.

The foundation stone of the new parliament building was laid by Modi, who took oath as the Prime Minister on May 26, 2014 for the first term,in December 2020.

The four-storey building, built at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crores, can house 1,224 MPs, officials said.

It also has a grand Constitution hall to showcase India's democratic heritage, dining areas, and ample parking space.

The new structure has three doors, Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar, and Karma Dwar, and separate entries for MPs, VIPs, and visitors, officials said.
Image Credit: Twitter/BJP

New Delhi/UNI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the new Parliament building is a testimony to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foresight.

The Home Minister said the new Parliament building will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 as part of the celebrations of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM).

"New Parliament shows PM Modi's long term vision," said Shah while addressing the media to mark the nine years of the Modi government.

The Union Home Minister also announced the reintroduction of Sengol (sceptre), a significant historical symbol of Independence as it signifies the transfer of power from the British to Indians.

"PM Modi will receive the 'Sengol' from Tamil Nadu before the inauguration of the New Parliament building and he will place it inside the new Parliament Bhavan," Shah added.

"It is inappropriate to keep this sacred 'Sengol' in a museum. There cannot be a more appropriate, sacred and appropriate place than the Parliament House for the establishment of 'Sengol'," he stated.

Shah also informed that Prime Minister Modi will also be honouring all the 60,000 workers, who were involved in the construction of Parliament building.

Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur were also present at the conference.

Meanwhile, 19 Opposition parties, including the Congress, the TMC, the AAP, and others on Wednesday decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building," parties said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

They alleged that "Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy".

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building in December 2020.

The four-storey building, built at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crore, can house 1,224 MPs.
Image Credit: UNI

Imphal/UNI: A person was killed and three were injured at Tronglaobi in Bishenpur district in Assam on Wednesday.

Curfew, which was relaxed till 4 PM, was immediately cancelled in Bishenpur, Imphal West, Imphal East districts.

Unknown people had been attacking villages in Manipur foothills and burnt large numbers of houses since Tuesday night.

The armed persons resorted to heavy firing, killing a person and injuring three.

Police have rushed in to control the situation.

Over 40,000 people, whose houses were burnt, were still in various camps.

Due to blockade on national highways by people at Kangpokpi since May 3 last, there is shortage of food, medicines and essential items in the state.

Since May 3 due to clashes between two ethnic groups in Manipur, there has been unrest in the state and suspension of the internet.

Talks are on with media and fire brigade personnel as media persons and fire brigade personnel were beaten up badly by Army personnel on Monday.

Fire fighters were on a stir as they were pulled down from fire tenders and beaten up when they rushed in to douse a fire.
Image Credit: Suvendu Adhikari Twitter Handle

Kolkata/UNI: Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday charged Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Delhi, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal respectively, with 'unethically' using the state secretariat Nabanna on Tuesday for 'hatching political conspiracies' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Taking to Twitter, Adhikari said, "Nabanna; the State Secretariat of WB, was used unethically by the Regional TMC Party leader Smt. Mamata Banerjee & @AamAadmiParty leader Shri @ArvindKejriwal Ji yesterday, for hatching political conspiracies against the Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji."

"What's disturbing is that the Chief Secretary of WB; Dr. Hari Krishna Dwivedi (IAS) was present in such a political meeting," he added.

'The critics or detractors who can't wait to offer your rebuttals; stating what's wrong if 2/3 CMs meet in the State Secretariat, my humble question to you:-If it was a meeting between the CMs:-# What was the Order of Business?" the BJP MLA from Nandigram asked.

'#Was any Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the WB Govt & the Delhi Govt? Such as:- a) The Delhi Govt is going to help the WB Govt in adapting their Liquor Policy? Or...b) The WB Education Dept will train the Education Dept of Delhi, how to conduct Teacher Recruitment process fairly & honestly?' Adhikari further asked.

On Tuesday Banerjee said, "Today, I met Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwant Mann, Raghav Chadda, Sanjay Singh and Atishi Marlena at Nabanna. It was a pleasure to discuss significant matters with them and express views on a range of crucial issues.

"The meeting provided a platform to exchange ideas, explore the possibilities of taking our nation to greater heights, and find ways to serve people with more dedication and commitment. We are with all the opposition parties in this fight. It's time to save our democracy."

She expressed her sincere gratitude for their gracious presence and invaluable time and said, "May we continue to engage in constructive dialogues on fostering progress and the overall growth and development of the nation."
Image Credit: Twitter/@MEAIndia

New Delhi/Sydney/UNI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday left for home after successfully concluding a three-nation tour that took him to Hiroshima, Japan, for the G7 and Quad summits, to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, for the Third FIPIC Summit, and to Sydney, Australia for a bilateral with the Australian leadership and a huge community event.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a tweet, said: A successful three nation tour concludes!

PM @narendramodi emplanes for Delhi following a three nation visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, fostering stronger linkages with partner countries.

A successful three nation tour concludes!



PM @narendramodi emplanes for Delhi following a three nation visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, fostering stronger linkages with partner countries. pic.twitter.com/TEzuCIqsA7  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 24, 2023

PM Modi said his visit to Australia had been very useful and would boost the friendship between the two countries.

From productive talks with PM @AlboMP to a historic community programme, from meeting business leaders to eminent Australians from different walks of life, its been an important visit which will boost the friendship between India and Australia.

He thanked Australian PM Anthony Albanese and the government and people of Australia for the hospitality.

I thank the people of Australia, the Australian Government and my dear friend @AlboMP for their hospitality. We will keep working towards a vibrant India-Australia friendship, which is also in the interest of global good.

PM Modi left New Delhi on May 19 for the three-nation hectic tour packed with bilateral meetings, and meetings with the diaspora besides the three summit meetings, and an important bilateral with the Australian leadership.
Arindam Bagchi Twitter page

New Delhi/Sydney: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday left for home after successfully concluding a three-nation tour.

During the three-nation tour, he visited Hiroshima, Japan, for the G7 and Quad summits, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, for the Third FIPIC Summit, and Sydney, Australia for a bilateral with the Australian leadership and a huge community event.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a tweet, said: A successful three nation tour concludes!"

PM @narendramodi emplanes for Delhi following a three nation visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, fostering stronger linkages with partner countries," he said,

PM Modi said his visit to Australia had been very useful and would boost the friendship between the two countries.

From productive talks with PM @AlboMP to a historic community programme, from meeting business leaders to eminent Australians from different walks of life, its been an important visit which will boost the friendship between India and Australia.

A successful three nation tour concludes!



PM @narendramodi emplanes for Delhi following a three nation visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, fostering stronger linkages with partner countries. pic.twitter.com/TEzuCIqsA7  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 24, 2023

He thanked Australian PM Anthony Albanese and the government and people of Australia for the hospitality.

I thank the people of Australia, the Australian Government and my dear friend @AlboMP for their hospitality. We will keep working towards a vibrant India-Australia friendship, which is also in the interest of global good.

PM Modi left New Delhi on May 19 for the three-nation hectic tour packed with bilateral meetings, and meetings with the diaspora besides the three summit meetings, and an important bilateral with the Australian leadership.
Image: UNI

Rampur (UP)/IBNS/UNI: Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan was on Wednesday acquitted by an MP-MLA court in a three-year-old hate speech case in which he was sentenced to three years imprisonment by a lower court, the defence counsel said.

Azam's counsel Jubair Ahmed said that the MP-MLA court of Additional District Judge (ADJ) Veer Singh set aside the order of the lower court and acquitted the SP leader.

He claimed that the court held the evidence on the basis of which Azam was convicted by the lower court as invalid.

Azam Khan along with his son and former MLA Abdullah Azam was present in the court at the time of the order.

Azam was disqualified from membership of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly after being convicted by the lower court in October last year.

On Oct 27 last year, the MP-MLA court in Rampur held Azam Khan guilty of giving a provocative speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then District Magistrate of Rampur and sentenced him to three years imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs 25,000.

The MP-MLA court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate-I Nishant Man later granted bail to Azam and gave him one week time to appeal in the higher court.

Azam was accused of making indecent comments against PM Modi and the then DM during an election rally in Milak during the Lok Sabha polls.

Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) Anil Kumar Chauhan lodged an FIR against Azam in this connection at Milak police station in 2019.

At that time ADO Chauhan was posted as the in-charge of the video monitoring section. Azam Khan resigned from the Lok Sabha after being elected to the UP assembly.
Nagpur/IBNS/UNI: At least seven WCL workers were injured in an air blast that took place in the Sillewada coal mine in Maharashtra's Nagpur district, a reliable source said.

According to the sources, the incident occurred on Tuesday evening at around 6.30 pm in which at least seven workers sustained injuries.

Officials initially shifted the injured to a local hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

Later, five of them have been referred to a Nagpur hospital.

The condition of two workers is said to be critical, said the sources.

Sources further said two of these injured are said to be management trainees (MT).

After receiving information, Khaparkheda police and WCL rescue team reached the spot.

After a lot of effort, the laborers were pulled out safely.

Sources said the work of laying cable for blasting was underway in the afternoon in the coal mine located at Sillewada.

But due to hot coal, the cable started melting, resulting in a massive fire in section 6 of the mine, said the sources.

Section in-charge Anil Bobde, Kuldeep Uike, Anil Singh, Vilas Mude, Raju Shyamrao Mistry, Mahipal, and Yogeshwar sustained injuries in the blast.

Trade union leaders alleged that the air blast incident occurred as mine officials failed to take safety measures and demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter and sought action against the guilty.
Image credit: Twitter/PMO India

New Delhi/IBNS: Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday- the first of non-NDA parties to do so.

Nineteen opposition parties including Congress will boycott the inauguration of the country's new Parliament building on Sunday, media reports said.

The parties include Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, DMK, Left, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, and others.

The boycott will mark the parties' protest against the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of President Droupadi Murmu.

In their response on the same, the BJD said the President and Parliament have "sanctity" and issues can be debated later.

The boycott is widely seen as a step towards Opposition unity in the backdrop of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s defeat in Karnataka polls and eyeing the next year's General Elections.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's TMC was the first to boycott the inauguration ceremony followed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, which is presently at the loggerheads with the Centre over sharing of powers in the national capitals.

The new building of Parliament will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday to mark nine years of his government.

The foundation stone of the new parliament building was laid by PM Modi, who took oath as the Prime Minister on May 26, 2014 for the first term,in December 2020.

The four-storey building, built at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crores, can house 1,224 MPs, officials said.

It also has a grand Constitution hall to showcase India's democratic heritage, dining areas, and ample parking space.

The new structure has three doors, Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar, and Karma Dwar, and separate entries for MPs, VIPs, and visitors, officials said.
Image Credit: IndiGo website

Earlier this year, IndiGo had started direct flights from Nashik, the 77th domestic and 103rd overall destination in the 6E network. These new flights and frequencies are being added in view of the high demand for travel this summer season and will further enhance accessibility, while promoting tourism in the city.

Vinay Malhotra, Head of Global Sales, IndiGo said, We are pleased to announce new connections from Nashik to cater to the increased travel demand from, both, business, and leisure travellers. Nashik is famous for its rich cultural history, being one of the major Hindu pilgrimage sites hosting the Kumbh Mela every 12 years. It is also known as Napa valley of India, contributing to around 90% of wine production in the country. The addition of these new flights and frequencies will provide customers with increased flight options to explore Indias wine capital. We are committed to providing on-time, affordable, courteous, and hassle-free travel experiences as we continue to expand our regional connectivity.

Nashik, an ancient holy city in Maharashtra, is well-known for its connection to the Ramayana. Situated on the banks of Godavari River, Nashik is best known for being one of the Hindu pilgrimage sites, that of Kumbh Mela which is held every 12 years and attracts many pilgrims.

Panchavati, Saptashrungi, Trimbakeshwar, Sita Gufa and Pandavleni Caves are also some of the popular sightseeing tourist destinations in the city. The city is called the "Wine Capital of India" as more than half of India's vineyards and wineries are located here.

Around 90% of all Indian wine comes from the Nashik Valley. Nashik is home to several wine festivals, such as SulaFest in the harvest season. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in India and has been a major industrial center in automobile hub.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Kolkata: Private airlines major SpiceJet on Wednesday completed 18 years of serving its passengers in India on Tuesday.

Since operating its first commercial flight on May 23, 2005 from Delhi to Ahmedabad, SpiceJet has carried millions of passengers to their destinations.

The airline said it has always believed in leading from the front and is a key supporter of the regional connectivity scheme, UDAN.

As announced earlier this month, SpiceJet plans to bring 25 of its grounded planes back into service.

The airline is targeting the return of four of its grounded aircraft, two Boeing 737s and two Q400s, by June 15. More planes will be back in operations in the following weeks.

SpiceJet plans to start a slew of flights including two international UDAN flights on the Agartala-Chattogram-Agartala and Imphal-Mandalay-Imphal sectors by June end.

The airline also plans to launch a new UDAN flight on Kolkata-Tezpur-Kolkata sector and restart Kolkata-Gwalior-Kolkata and Jammu-Gwalior-Jammu UDAN flights.

In addition, SpiceJet will launch flights on Kolkata-Agartala-Kolkata and Kolkata-Imphal-Kolkata sectors and restart flights on Kolkata-Chattogram-Kolkata sector.

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, SpiceJet has become a truly inseparable part of peoples lives and has made an unbreakable bond with our passengers and we are immensely proud of this achievement. Our 18th anniversary marks the beginning of a new era for us with renewed hope and opportunities. I am grateful to all our passengers and partners for having unflinching faith in us, which gives us strength to rise above challenges.

SpiceJet will leave no stone unturned in its pursuit of excellence and will take every possible step that fuels our growth and helps us spread our wings wider than ever.

Special Offer:

The airline has announced a special sale with one-way domestic fares starting at INR 1818 on select routes such as Bengaluru-Goa and Mumbai-Goa.

The sale offer is valid for bookings made between 23rd and 28th May, 2023. The travel period for bookings under the offer is between 1st July and 30th March, 2024.

Passengers can also avail additional benefits while booking their tickets through SpiceJets website, m-site and mobile app.

SpiceJet has in store a special surprise for its passengers who are turning 18 in calendar year 2023.

The airline will gift a free flight voucher worth INR 3000/- to all such passengers. Under the sale offer, passengers also get preferred seats at flat INR 18/- only and flat 50% off on SpiceMAX.

The sale offer is available on first-come come, first-served basis.

The 50% discount offer on SpiceMax is valid only on bookings made online at SpiceJets website, mobile app and m-site by entering the applicable code.
Image:  UNDP

Despite going into reverse on more than 30 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), its not too late to turn the tide said the Secretary-General on Tuesday, who told Member States that the UN was determined to do just that.

Antonio Guterres was addressing the first high stakes meeting of the UN Economic and Social Councils (ECOSOC) Operational Activities for Development Segment at UN Headquarters in New York, which he described as an important first step towards providing accelerated action for reaching the 17 ambitious SDGs, by the 2030 deadline.

Weak and insufficient

He said among the fundamental goals heading in the wrong direction, was that of reducing poverty and hunger. Progress on another 50 per cent is weak and insufficient, he added.

He outlined a raft of UN initiatives  from the emergency SDG Stimulus measure to scale-up financing for countries in need, to the Black Sea Initiative to aid countries suffering the effects of the Ukraine war  which he said were all serving the wider aim of getting the SDGs back on track.

Mr. Guterres praised the effectiveness of UN Country Teams worldwide, which were leading the Organizations efforts for sustainable, inclusive development.

Nobody could have foreseen, when the development reforms were put in place, that Country Teams would face such a challenging global environment.

Despite that, four years on, the reforms have succeededResident Coordinators are bringing United Nations entities together in support of countries priorities for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, he said.

Financing abyss for poorer nations

But when it comes to funding the Agenda, he said investment has fallen short.

Many developing countries simply cannot afford to invest in the SDGs because they face a financing abyss, he said.

The funding gap stood at $2.5 trillion before the COVID pandemic, but now stands at $4.2 trillion, according to the OECD.

Impressing on Member States the need for an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion a year, the UN chief also noted that the UNs own Resident Coordinator system was still chronically underfunded.

Arms vs development

Given that the relatively tiny investment of $85 billion would underpin the stability of the UN development system, he contrasted this, with the more than $2 trillion per year spent on military budgets.

It is simply not credible to pledge support for peace, if they are not prepared to invest a tiny fraction of this amount in sustainable development  the greatest prevention tool we have, said the UN chief.

In conclusion, he said Septembers SDG Summit must be a moment of unity to provide a renewed impetus and accelerated action for achieving the SDGs, that delivers concrete progress, and a clear commitment to overhaul the current international financial architecture.

That call was echoed by the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, who said this was "no ordinary year" for the battle to meet the SDGs.

"And this is no ordinary ECOSOC Operational Activities Segment. It is a milestone in our reform efforts and a critical bus-stop on our way to September", she added.

Rescuing SDGs, more important than ever

The Vice President of ECOSOC with responsibility for development issues, Albert Chimbindi, told the meeting that the key Development Segment was taking place during one of the most challenging times in history, with COVID-19 still being felt worldwide, amid new conflicts such as the Ukraine war, which continues to disrupt energy markets, stoking food insecurity and malnutrition.

At the same time, the climate crisis, and natural disasters continue to impose massive economic damages, generating humanitarian crises in many countries, he added.

Only collective action that addresses the interconnected crises, will be effective, he warned, in the form of integrated and well-designed policies with multiplier effects within and across countries.

In a world in crisis, rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals is more important than ever, he continued, adding that for now, most of the 17 goals were moving backwards.

Rescuing and turbocharging them, must be our highest common priority, and the driver for the whole UN Development Systems progress during the ECOSOC meetings in the weeks ahead.
Image: UNOCHA/Damilola Onafuwa

New York: The world is failing to live up to its commitment to protect civilians during wartime, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, urging greater respect for international humanitarian law.

The UN chief was speaking during a debate on ensuring the security and dignity of people caught in the crossfire and addressing the related issue of access to food and essential services.

Suffering and outrage

Civilians have suffered the deadly effects of armed conflict for too long. It is time we live up to our promise to protect them, said Mr. Guterres, who also called for action to break the deadly cycle of armed conflict and hunger.

Last year, civilians accounted for 94 per cent of victims of explosive weapons deployed in populated areas, he said.

More than 117 million people worldwide also faced acute hunger in 2022, primarily because of war and insecurity, which he described as an outrage.

Easing the impact

He pointed to recent action towards alleviating the impact of conflict on civilians. For example, some warring parties have taken steps to protect children and allow humanitarians to access people in need.

Addressing food security, he mentioned measures such as the Black Sea Initiative to export grain from Ukraine amid the ongoing war, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding on bringing Russian food and fertilizer to global markets.

Last November, States adopted a political declaration on restricting or refraining from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, which he urged all countries to join.

The Council also adopted a resolution the following month which aims to prevent UN sanctions from harming civilians and obstructing humanitarian action.

Call for action

These modest steps are welcome. But the terrible truth is that the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect civilians; commitments enshrined in international humanitarian law, said Mr. Guterres, referring to the Geneva Conventions.

We need action and accountability to ensure it is respected. That depends on political will, he added.

The Secretary-General urged the international community to intensify efforts to prevent conflict, protect civilians, preserve peace and find political solutions to war.

Security Councils particular responsibility

Where war continues, all countries must comply with international humanitarian law and members of this Council have a particular responsibility, he said.

He urged Governments to incorporate international humanitarian law into their own laws, and military rules and training, adding that humanitarians also must be assured safe access and attacks against them must cease.

The Council has a special role to play in urging States to respect the rules of war, he said. Governments with influence over warring parties should engage in political dialogue, and train forces on better protecting civilians.

Additionally, countries that export weapons should refuse to do business with any party that fails to comply with international humanitarian law.

Furthermore, those who commit war crimes must be held to account. States must investigate alleged war crimes, prosecute perpetrators and enhance other States capacity to do so, he said.

Rise in conflict

In his remarks, the Secretary-General paid tribute to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the guardians of the Geneva Conventions.

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric, who also briefed the Council, reported that non-international armed conflicts have more than tripled over the past two decades - from less than 30 to over 90.

She issued an urgent call to protect civilians and critical infrastructure in urban areas.

As fighting envelops towns and cities, such as in Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, the ICRC is seeing large-scale and compounding patterns of harm. We need to break the pattern of violations, and this can be done through strong political will and sustained action she said.

Ms. Spoljaric also spoke of the threat posed by misinformation and disinformation during conflict, which can fuel dangerous community divisions and undermine humanitarian action.

She also underscored that civilian protection covers everyone, regardless of gender.

In this regard, ICRC recommendations include ensuring that the clear prohibition of sexual violence under international humanitarian law is integrated into national laws, military doctrine and training.

No women, no peace

Civil society representative Aichatou Mounkaila from Niger delivered a message to the Council on behalf of women in the Lake Chad Basin region in Africa, where attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and other armed groups have displaced millions.

Speaking in French, she said women are the first victims of any crisis but they also are the first to provide solutions.

Ms. Mounkaila outlined five points that could inform the Councils approach to ending conflict and hunger. Action includes encouraging donors to allocate more funding to gender-sensitive livelihood reconstruction in areas such as sustainable agriculture, where women play a central role, so that they can rebuild their lives and communities.

She also urged the Council to insist on the full, equal, and meaningful participation and leadership of women and girls at all levels of humanitarian response, community dialogues, peacebuilding and peace negotiations.

Without women, no sustainable peace is possible, she insisted.
Representational image

Beijing/Dhaka: A top foreign policy analyst feels that the macro-economic management policy of Bangladesh is prudent enough to avoid China's debt trap.

In his article published in The Daily Star titled 'Is Bangladesh at risk of falling into the Chinese debt trap?', Hussain Shazzad wrote: "Bangladesh, the second highest recipient of China's investment in South Asia after Pakistan, imports the highest volume of goods from China, making the country Bangladesh's largest trading partner."

"This is the beginning of the story where China offers Bangladesh financial assistance and development experience for its 'big-ticket megaprojects' to fulfil the latter's 'Vision 2041'a well-crafted dream to be a developed country," he said.

He said: "Debt-Trap Diplomacy, a widely used narrative against China, is thought to have originated from the 'infrastructure war' between China and the Western world. It's an apple of discord regarding whether China really has any 'Machiavellian strategy', as Chinese projects in Bangladesh are too fragmented to achieve such cunning strategic objectives."

He said the historical data demonstrates that China always has strong affiliation with the South Asian countries because of the region's "big bazaar."

He said it is the geopolitical eminence and commercial noteworthiness of Bangladesh which has made China pay special attention to cash in on this money-making market.

"To utilise the potential of becoming the "economic hub" of South Asia, Bangladesh needs external funding for its flagship development projects, the financing of which goes beyond domestic affordability," the writer mentioned.

He said: "The current stronger position of Bangladesh, in terms of external debt from China, will alter with the rise of Chinese investment, but the long-run returns will be more attractive if funds are effectively utilised."

"Bangladesh needs to negotiate carefully before signing any financial agreement, focus more on soft loans, and ensure timely implementation of projects," he said.

"Along with taking funds for infrastructural boost, Bangladesh may also leverage the development experience of China to create a win-win situation. Not to mention, the macro-economic management policy of Bangladesh is prudent enough to avoid China's debt trap, even if there is one," he wrote.
Representational image by Ludovic Bertron on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons

Beijing: A 15-year-old LGBT Centre in Beijing has stopped its operation without even stating the reason behind it.

Analysts told VOA the closure of the well-known rights center was seen as inevitable and a reflection of the increasingly repressive political environment in China under Xi Jinping.

On Monday, the group released a statement on its social media handle to inform that the center would cease operations "due to force majeure."

That legal phrase typically refers to events outside a party's control, although the message did not elaborate on the reasons.

VOA Mandarin left a message on the center's account but has not received a response.

Jennifer Lu, Asia program director of Outright International, a group focused on improving rights for sexual minorities around the world, has long been concerned with the situation in China.

In an interview with VOA Mandarin, she said the sudden closure of the center was a shame, but that she wasn't surprised by it. She said many sexual minority activists have told her that they are unable to organize events in China and that there are fewer and fewer outlets to speak out.

"There are quite a few Chinese LGBT groups," Lu said, "who may be warned by the public security officers or friends before they hold an event that 'this event has to be canceled.' The worrying thing is that the people who try to talk them out of the events don't necessarily use a strong tone, but often hint, 'I know what you're doing.'

"Or, the person who delivers the message would say, 'I know you've had these conversations.' These 'conversations' are usually private or internal discussions. You then realize that some of the discussions or events that you prepare for are not secure. They are being monitored at all times."

Interestingly, homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997.
Image: Facebook/David Johnston

Ottawa/IBNS: Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reportedly said that his government would follow David Johnstons recommendations against calling a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian politics.

Johnstons decision followed a call for an inquiry by all opposition parties and after the government itself said it would support one, if Johnston recommended it.

When I began this process, I thought I would come to the same conclusion  that I would recommend a public inquiry, Johnston said in a news conference Tuesday.

While it would have been an easy choice, it would not be the correct one.

Appointed by Trudeau as a special rapporteur on foreign interference in March in response to the commotion over Chinese government interference, Johnston has spent the last two months interviewing policymakers and reviewing documents.

While defending his impartiality in response to attacks from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre citing Johnstons relationship with the Trudeau family and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Johnston said that while he isnt recommending a public inquiry, he did find serious shortcomings in the way intelligence is communicated and processed from security agencies through to government."

Johnston said hell continue his work through to October as special rapporteur by holding hearings to find ways to fix those shortcomings and added he will produce a second report later this year.

The public process should focus on strengthening Canadas capacity to detect, deter and counter foreign interference in our elections and the threat such interference represents to our democracy, Johnston said in his report tabled Tuesday.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
By Jake Coyle.

CANNES, FRANCE  It was well into the process of making "Killers of the Flower Moon" that Martin Scorsese realized it wasn't a detective story.

Scorsese, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and screenwriter Eric Roth had many potential avenues in adapting David Grann's expansive nonfiction history, "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI." The film that Scorsese and company premiered Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival, however, wasn't like the one they initially set out to make.

The film, which will open in theaters in October, chronicles the series of killings that took place throughout the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. The Osage were then enormously rich from oil on their land, and many White barons and gangsters alike sought to control and steal their money. Dozens of Osage were killed before the FBI, in its infancy, began to investigate.

DiCaprio had originally been cast to star as FBI agent Tom White. But after mulling the project over, Scorsese decided to pivot.

"I said, 'I think the audience is ahead of us," Scorsese told reporters in Cannes on Sunday. "They know it's not a whodunit. It's a who-didn't-do-it."

The shift, filmmakers said, was largely driven from collaboration with the Osage. Osage Nation Chief Standing Bear, who consulted on the film, praised the filmmakers for centering the story instead on Mollie (Lily Gladstone) and her husband Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), the tragic romance at the heart of Scorsese's epic of insidious American ethnic exploitation.

"Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese, 'How are you going to approach the story? He said I'm going to tell a story about trust, trust between Mollie and Ernest, trust between the outside world and the Osage, and the betrayal of those trusts," said Chief Standing Bear. "My people suffered greatly and to this very day those effects are with us. But I can say on behalf of the Osage, Marty Scorsese and his team have restored trust and we know that trust will not be betrayed."

"Killers of the Flower Moon," the most anticipated film to debut at this year's Cannes, instead became about Ernest, who Scorsese called "the character the least is written about."

DiCaprio, who ceded the character of White to Jesse Plemons, said "Killers of the Flower Moon" reverberates with other only recently widely discussed dark chapters of American history.

"This story, much like the Tulsa massacre, has been something that people have started to learn about and started to understand is part of culture, part of our history," said DiCaprio. "After the screenplay, from almost an anthropological perspective - Marty was there everyday - we were talking to the community, trying to hear the real stories and trying to incorporate the truth."

"Killers of the Flower Moon" premiered Saturday to largely rave reviews and thunderous applause nearly 50 years after Scorsese, as a young filmmaker, was a sensation at Cannes. His "Taxi Driver" won the Palme d'Or in 1976.

Among the most-praised performances has been that of Gladstone, the actor of Blackfeet and Nimiipuu heritage.

"These artistic souls on this stage here cared about telling a story that pierces the veil of what society tells us we're supposed to care about and not," said Gladstone, who singled out Scorsese. "Who else is going to challenge people to challenge their own complicity in white supremacy in such a platform except as this man here?"

"We're speaking of the 1920s Osage community. We're talking about Black Wall Street and Tulsa. We're talking about a lot in our film," she continued. "Why the hell does the world not know about these things? Our communities always have. It's so central to everything about how we understand our place in the world."

In the film, Robert De Niro plays a wealthy baron who's particularly adept at plundering the Osage. Speaking on Sunday, De Niro was still mulling his character's motivations.

"There's a kind of feeling of entitlement," said De Niro. "It's the banality of evil. It's the thing that we have to watch out for. We see it today, of course. We all know who I'm going to talk about but I won't say the name. Because that guy is stupid. Imagine if you're smart?"

A minute later, De Niro resumed: "I mean, look at Trump," referring to former President Donald Trump.

With a running time well over three hours and a budget from Apple of $200 million, "Killers of the Flower Moon" is one of Scorsese's largest undertakings. Asked where he gets the gumption for such risks, the 80-year-old director didn't hesitate.

"As far as taking risks at this age, what else can I do?" said Scorsese. "'No, let's go do something comfortable.' Are you kidding?"
Today in History: May 25th is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are days 220 remaining until the end of the year.

There are several notable events that happened on May 25 throughout history, and that's why it's an important day in Indian and world history.



What Happened this Day in India History Events | Unsplash

If you're wondering to know about what happened today in History? Then you're in the right place. On this day, there are several notable events that have occurred throughout Indian and world history.

In this article, we have compiled a list of the important things that happened all around the world on May 25. Take a look:

Today in History: What Happened This Day in India History Events

International Missing Children's Day - May 25

International Missing Children's Day is observed on May 25th each year to raise awareness about missing children worldwide and to promote efforts to protect children from abduction, exploitation, and trafficking. It serves as a reminder of the countless children who have gone missing and the importance of taking action to prevent such incidents and ensure the safe recovery of missing children.

2013 - Maoists killed 32 Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh

Around 250 Naxals in civilian clothes struck a convoy of Congress leaders during the party's Parivartan Rally in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur on May 25, 2013, killing at least 25 people, including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and senior party leader Mahendra Karma.



What Happened Around the World on This Day

What happened in World History on May 25

2020 - George Floyd, A Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyds neck for about 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and pleading that he couldnt breathe; Floyds death, captured on video by a bystander, would lead to worldwide protests, some of which turned violent, and a reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.



What Happened this Day in India History Events.

Todays Highlight in History:

- In 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.

- In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, Abdullah I.

- In 1961, President John F. Kennedy told Congress: I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.

- In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which officials had closed in an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Courts 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation ruling.

- In 1968, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

- In 1977, the first Star Wars film (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope) was released by 20th Century Fox.

- In 1979, 273 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Chicagos OHare Airport.

- In 2008, NASAs Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water; the spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.

- In 2012: The private company SpaceX made history as its Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station. In Syria, more than 100 people were killed in one day in a cluster of villages in central Homs province; U.N. investigators blamed pro-government gunmen for at least some of the killings, but the Syrian regime denied responsibility and blamed rebels for the deaths.

- In 2016, actor Johnny Depps wife, Amber Heard, filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences after 15 months of marriage.

What Happened this Day in India History Events

Also on this day:

In addition to these historical events on May 25 events, there is also the birthday and death of several notable individuals that you must know about.

Famous People's Birthday on May 25

1886  Rash Behari Bose Birth Anniversary

The Indian freedom fighter who was the key organizer of the Ghadar Movement and Indian National Army was born.

1954  Murali, Indian National Award-winning actor Birth Anniversary

S. D. Murali was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada and Tamil films.

1972 - Karan Johar's Birthday

Karan Johar is a prominent Indian filmmaker, producer, and television personality. He was born on May 25, 1972, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Johar is best known for his work in the Hindi film industry, often referred to as Bollywood.

1983 - Kunal Khemu's Birthday

Kunal Khemu is an Indian actor who primarily works in the Hindi film industry. He was born on May 25, 1983, in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Khemu began his acting career as a child artist and later transitioned into adult roles.

Famous People's Death Anniversary on May 25

2005 - Sunil Dutt's Death Anniversary

Sunil Dutt, born Balraj Dutt, was an acclaimed Indian actor, film producer, and politician. He was born on June 6, 1929, in Jhelum, Punjab Province, British India (now in Pakistan). Dutt's career spanned several decades, during which he made significant contributions to the Hindi film industry, popularly known as Bollywood.

List of important days in May 2023

List of Important Days in May 2023 May 2023 Important Dates Important Days in May 1 May International Labour Day 1 May Maharashtra Day 1 May Gujarat Day 1 May World Laughter Day 3 May Press Freedom Day 3 May World Asthma Day 4 May Coal Miners Day 4 May International Firefighters Day 6 May International No Diet Day 7 May World Athletics Day 8 May World Red Cross Day 8 May World Thalassaemia Day 9 May Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 11 May National Technology Day 12 May International Nurses Day 14 May Mothers Day 15 May International Day of Families 17 May World Telecommunication Day 17 May World Hypertension Day 18 May World AIDS Vaccine Day 18 May International Museum Day 20 May National Endangered Species Day 21 May National Anit-Terrorism Day 22 May International Day for Biological Diversity 31 May Anti-Tobacco Day





Month-wise Important Days List 2023

Important Days and Dates List 2023 January February March April May June July August September October November December

This was all about the interesting and intriguing events that occurred on May 8! For more such informative content, keep following Indiatimes.


Greece faces new national elections as early as June 25, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirming Monday he would not try to build a coalition government  despite having dominated the ballot hours earlier by the most decisive margin in half a century.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has declared his support for Godswill Akpabios nomination for Senate President.

Wike who disclosed this on Tuesday, said it was time to repay the senator for his kindness, as according to him, Akpabio also supported him during his governorship campaign.

This is the time for me to support him because he supported me when I wanted to be the governor of River State, he said.

He noted that he sees nothing wrong in the ruling party picking a candidate the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu can work with.

The governor revealed this when he received members of the Stability Group, a group of Senators-elect, rooting for the emergence of Akpabio, led by its Director General, Senator Ali Ndume, All Progressives Congress, Borno South.

READ ALSO: Akpabio Wont Be Elected, His Followers Are Foes  Atikus Aide, Bwala

If truly we want this country to move forward from where we are today, I see nothing wrong in the ruling party picking who it thinks can work with the President-elect as the Senate President of the 10th Assembly. On this Akpabio and Barau project we are together to make sure they win

Akpabio supported me during my governorship ambition. He stood by me all through and ensured that I won. I dont pay back good with evil. This is pay back time for him. I will stand by him until he emerges the next Senate President. Our team would soon meet to take a position on your aspiration.

Dont be worried or disturbed with the contending forces against your aspiration, it is normal in politics. Power is not given on a platter, you fight for it. I am impressed that despite your endorsement by your party and the President-elect, you are still consulting your colleagues. That is the way it should be.
Popular Nollywood actress, Adunni Ade has broken her silence following reports alleging that she owed the late actor, Murphy Afolabi a sum of N250,000.

Information Nigeria reports that the burial committee at the eighth-day Fidau prayer held in Murphys honour on Monday, called out the actress asking that she refunds the money the late actor gave her, so it can be given to his children.

Adunni Ade, please return the N250,000 that you are owing the late Murphy Afolabi, one of the committee members said publicly in Yoruba.

However, speaking in a statement on Tuesday, the actress narrated circumstances that led the late actor to give out the money, which was returned after she was unable to meet up with the proposed project due to the death of a family member.

The statement reads; Sometimes in July 2021, the late Murphy Afolabi reached out to me, requiring my services for a movie production. He appealed to me stating that it was a self funded production that he couldnt afford my professional fee, but that he would need my moral support.

READ ALSO: Popular Yoruba Actor Murphy Afolabi Is Dead

I asked how many scenes and duration expected of me on set. He said 10 scenes and that I would spend one day. He offered to fuel my car as honorarium, which payment was made on 02 July 2021 for N150,000. Unfortunately, on 11 July 2021 shortly before the commencement of the production, I lost my younger brother.

I contacted Murphy Afolabi a few days afterwards to request for his bank account details, to send him a refund, as I would be travelling to the United States for my younger brothers funeral. He insisted I held on to the money while he figured out whether to move the shoot forward or contact me for another one.

Murphy Afolabi contacted me on 08 October 2021 and said he wanted to start a new job soon and needed me for 4 days, playing the lead but for the same amount of N150,000 which he had paid in July. I respectfully declined, requested for his bank account details and transferred to his bank account the full refund of N150,000 on the same day 08 October 2021. Proof of both payments are attached in this.

Murphy died on May 14 2023 after a fall in the bathroom at his Ikorodu home and was buried on Monday, May 15 at his home.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, says he has forgiven President Muhammadu Buhari, hence, there would be no need for him to seek refuge in Niger Republic.

Information Nigeria had reported earlier that President Buhari while inaugurating the N19.6 billion Nigeria Customs Service Corporate headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, said he would flee to Niger Republic for safe haven if disturbed or there is trouble after he leaves office on May 29.

He said, I try to plan to be as far away from Abuja as possible. I came from an area which is far away from Abuja.

Although, Buhari mentioned that he would prefer to stay in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State, Northwest Nigeria, however, if anybody with force moves, I have a good relationship with my neighbours. Niger people will defend me.

READ ALSO: Niger Republic Will Defend Me If Anybody Comes For Me After My Exit  Buhari

Ortom reacting to this on Arise Televisions The Morning Show on Wednesday said, He doesnt need to go to Niger, he should stay here with us and all of us should stay here and work with the incoming administration that God will put in place and by the grace of God, we shall move again from bottom to top.

Ortom who had criticised the presidency for blaming his administration for the killings in the State, described the plot of the President as futile attempts to twist events and history.

Recall also that Buhari had apologised to aggrieved Nigerians, who were not pleased with his administration to forgive him.

The Governor said, When you dont forgive, it means God too will not forgive. Me, as a student of the Bible and as a born-again Christian, I have forgiven President Muhammadu Buhari.

He however expressed optimism for better performance from the administration of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the state and the nation at large.

We hope that the incoming administration will provide support, help, security, economic development, and peace for our people.

We have suffered for eight years, he added.
Labour Party chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo, has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant his party, access to all election materials or confess in court that the 2023 election was rigged to favour their preferred candidate.

Okonkwo made this known while outlining the reasons the Presidential Election Tribunal on Tuesday handed the LPs Peter Obi three weeks to submit its plea.

He said LP would not fold its hands and allow the impunity to continue, hence, INEC must follow the court orders on the provision of electoral materials or confess the election was rigged.

He claimed that LPs Lead Counsel Livy Uzoukwu lamented INECs refusal and neglect to give the party all the evidence required to pursue their court petition notwithstanding the courts direction during an interview in court.

READ MORE: Court Okays Peter Obi, Atikus Three Weeks Request To Present Witnesses Against Tinubu

He wrote: His Excellency @peterobigregory was in court. Our lead Counsel, Dr Livy Uzoukwu SAN, screamed, during the press interview, that INEC is frustrating us. Till date, INEC has failed, refused and neglected to provide us with all the evidence we need to prosecute our petition, despite the order of court, in that regard. Livy threatened legal showdown with INEC if this continues.

Its disturbing that INEC should come to court to tell us to go and start searching for our evidence in the states. Does it mean that INEC does not know the law that guides the presidential election or just sheer dishonesty and incompetence?

In the issue of the presidential election, the entire country is one constituency and the law is very clear in Section 62 of the Electoral Act that INEC should assemble all the polling units and collation centres evidence, in one National Electronic Register of Election Results and give the CTC to any person or party on request. This, INEC has shamelessly not done, despite our agreeing to pay every legitimate fee for them.

Nigerians should warn INEC to do the needful and follow the law or simply come to court and confess that they rigged the election in favour of their preferred candidate. We cant fold our hands and allow this impunity to continue.

The only reason we asked for 7 weeks was to give INEC enough time to produce all the evidence. Now that we have 3 weeks, which ordinarily should be good for us, they must produce them now. Add your voice to this. Eternal vigilance is the price to pay for the survival of democracy.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, has called out Arise Television to caution their presenters and broadcasters over the comment made on Emdee Tiamiyus interview with British Broadcasting Corporation which assumingly corroborated the ban of Nigerian and other foreign students from bringing their family to the United Kingdom.

An Arise TV anchor, Ayo Mairo-Ese, had berated President Muhammad Buhari, on a Morning show, for telling the UK government that Nigerian youths are lazy and criminally minded, adding that Dabiri also called the youths drug dealers and cultists.

I dont know why Nigerians like to demarket Nigerians on the International scene. Take it back to 2016, our president had referred to Nigerian youths as largely lazy. And that United Kingdom should not grant them asylum because many of them are criminals.

The chairman of NiDCOM, Dabiri also referred to Nigerian people as cultists and drug dealers.

READ ALSO: Im Deeply Sorry  YouTuber, Tiamiyu Apologies After Selling Out Nigerians To UK Govt. (Video)

So what Emdee Tiamiyu has said is in accordance with what our leaders are saying, she added while speaking to Tiamiyus interview.

Annoyed by her comment, Dabiri took to her Twitter page debunking the claims made by the presenter while calling for the orientation of the presenters (girls) of the television station.

I worked hard to be where I am today, and if women nowhere your age and achievements feel the only way to bring you down is spew nonsense, they will meet their Waterloo!

Nduka Obaigbena had better call these girls @ARISEtv ruining the broadcast profession to order, she wrote.

Recall that Tiamiyu granted an interview to the BBC where he claimed that Nigerians seeking admission into schools in the United Kingdom only considered it as an alternative means to escape from Nigeria.

Tiamiyu, who is known for advising Nigerians on studying in the United Kingdom, noted that most Nigerians were not looking for new qualifications, but to start a new life abroad.

He said, The student route is more like an answered prayer. It is a big bracket thats able to take a lot of people, the ordinary people.

Were beginning to see that a lot of people just hide behind the studentship. So the student thing is not real, its not like they need the degrees, he added.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has declared that it is no longer comfortable with the illegal detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

IPOB alleged the international community have continued to watch in silence while Kanu deteriorates in solitary confinement .

It was gathered that the group made their position known on Wednesday in a statement signed by the groups media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful.

READ MORE: Release Nnamdi Kanu Now  Edwin Clark Tells Buhari

IPOB said its rather unfortunate that the international community is watching in silence as the health condition of its leader is deteriorates in government custody despite the UN and Nigerian court ordering his release.

The group added that it is therefore not satisfied about the silence of the international community over Kanus issue.

It said, We the Indigenous People of Biafra (lPOB) led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu expressed our displeasure on the silence of United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and ECOWAS as Nigeria grossly disobeys local and international laws regarding the unconditional release of our leader.

We are saddened as the International Community watches in silence as the health of the leader deteriorates in the solitary confinement dungeon of the Nigeria government where he has been held illegally and unlawfully against all UN and Nigeria Court Orders for almost 2 years.

We believe that the Nigerian government wants our leader to die in detention. It is also possible that DSS has given him a slow-acting poison, which is why his health keeps deteriorating to eventually kill him.

In what we consider a conspiracy to kill our leader, the Nigeria Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court refused to entertain an appeal from Mazi Nnamdi KanuUs lawyers over his deteriorating health. Instead, the Apex Court gave a wicked long adjournment of 4 months to an innocent man that Appeal Court Justices have discharged and acquitted.

In all these human rights and court abuses, there seems to be a conspiratory silence among international organisations and her affiliate Human Right Organisations.

As the health of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu continues to deteriorate and the Nigerian government refuses to obey lawful orders and the world maintains this criminal silence, IPOB will do all within our power to ensure that our leader does not die in detention.
A Kaduna Chief Magistrates Court on Wednesday ordered that one Adamu Isah be given eight strokes of the cane for stealing 10 live chickens.

The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, warned him to desist from committing crimes and be of good behaviour henceforth.

The convict pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and theft and begged the court for leniency, promising to be of good behaviour.

Isah was charged with a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, trespass and theft.

READ ALSO: Police Arrest 26 Suspected Kidnappers, Gunrunners, Recover 497 Ammunition In Nasarawa

Earlier, the prosecutor, Chidi Leo told the court that Sani Rabiu reported the matter at the Gabasawa Police Station on May 13.

He said the defendant and two others at large conspired and stole 10 live chickens from a poultry farm located at Kawo.

Leo stated that the defendant who attempted to escape with the chicken in a bag, was arrested while his cohorts, were at large.

The prosecutor said that the offence contravened sections 308, 233 and 217 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.
Hanan Buhari, one of the daughters of the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, has described her father as a silent achiever.

As President Buhari begins to round up his second term in office, inaugurating projects throughout the country in his final week in office.

Hanan in a post via her Instastories, the mother of one shared a photo of the President during the inauguration of two new warships and review of the naval fleet in Lagos on Monday.

She added the caption: My fatherThe Silent Achiever!

READ MORE: Buhari Approves Allocation Of Houses To 1994 AFCON Super Eagles Players

Meanwhile, President Buhari has said he would run to neighboring Niger Republic to seek a safe haven if disturbed or there is trouble after he leaves office.

Speaking during the inauguration of the N19.6 billion Nigeria Customs Service Corporate headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Buhai said, I try to plan to be as far away from Abuja as possible. I came from an area which is far away from Abuja.

if anybody with force moves, I have good relationship with my neighbours. Niger people will defend me.
Health Workers on Wednesday protested in the Federal Capital Territory with a threat to embark on an indefinite strike from midnight if the Federal Government fails to meet their demands.

INFORMATION NIGERIA learnt that the part of their demands includes payment of hazard allowance, and an adjustment in the Consolidated Health Salary Structure as done with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure.

The workers are also demanding an end to the discrimination in the health industry among others.

READ MORE: Were Ready To Suspend Strike Wednesday, Says NARD

The development comes about three days after resident doctors suspended their five-day warning strike.

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) suspended its five-day nationwide warning strike following an agreement with the Federal Government.

Recall that the National President of NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, stated that the strike was called off following the promise that the associations demands would be addressed.

Orji said work resumes Monday in all Federal and State Teaching Hospitals as well as other hospitals where resident doctors are trained.

He said: Strike has been suspended and work resumes at 8 a.m., tomorrow (today). Progress made will be reviewed on June 2. 2023, during our general meeting where the next line of action will be decided.
Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, has asked Nigerias President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to be prepared for a tough time in office after his May 29 inauguration.

The former United Kingdom (UK) leader who acknowledged the difficult task before Tinubu and other leaders around the world at a time of global turmoil, revealed this in a statement on Tuesday through Tinubus media aide, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, following his visit to the president-elect at the Defence House, Abuja.

Blair remarked that the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change would be a willing partner of Tinubus administration, especially in prioritising its goals and delivery.

According to him, since he exited office as the UK Prime Minister, he had been working with governments around the world to help them deliver on their mandates.

READ ALSO: Joe Biden Announces Delegation To Attend Tinubus Inauguration

He said the Blair Institute had a project in place in Nigeria and felt it was necessary him to meet Nigerias incoming president to understand the administrations priorities.

We would like to help in any way with your administration, we only need to know what the leadership priorities are and help in how to actualize them.

Being in government today anywhere in the world is tough, you have things happening around the world which affect you and for which you cant do anything much, Blair said.

Tinubu, in his remarks, commended the former UK Prime Minister for the visit and for the offer to work with the incoming administration.

The former Governor of Lagos State spoke of the shared vision between him and the Tony Blair Institute in key areas of security, economy, agriculture, and power.

He, further, underlined the importance of tackling investment challenges and the need for social investment to fight poverty.

Tinubu promised to provide a conducive environment that would encourage investors and open up opportunities for Nigerians.

We have to invest more, put technology in place, and keep terrorists at bay because, without effective security, there is no guarantee investors will come, he said.
The United Kingdom has put in place a law that will stop Nigerian students, and others studying in the UK from bringing family as dependents except under specific circumstances.

This is as the UK government aims to bring immigration into the country which stands at about 1 million down.

According to Sky News, under the new rule, the UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system.

Sky News also added that there will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on unscrupulous education agents who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education.

This change takes effect January 2024 to allow students starting courses in the UK time to plan to adapt to the new rules.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Student Bags Jail Term In UK For Murder Over Fake Rolex Watch

This new law comes after indications had emerged that the UK plans to put stricter laws in place to bring down the climbing number of immigrants into the country via studies.

In a written ministerial statement on Tuesday, Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said recent immigration figures had shown an unexpected rise in the number of dependants coming to the UK alongside international students.

According to Braverman, the increase was made after the government made its commitment to lower net migration, the UK media house reported.

Braverman said while the governments strategy around international education plays an important part in supporting the economy, it should not be at the expense of our commitment to the public to lower overall migration.

According to Sky News, Braverman said the package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK.

A statement on the UKs Home Office official site adds that the New government restrictions to student visa routes will substantially cut net migration by restricting the ability for international students to bring family members on all but post-graduate research routes and banning people from using a student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK.

The ONS estimated that net migration was over 500,000 from June 2021 to June 2022. Although partly attributed to the rise in temporary factors, such as the UKs Ukraine and Hong Kong schemes, last year almost half a million student visas were issued while the number of dependants of overseas students has increased by 750% since 2019, to 136,000 people.

The Home Office also noted that this new rule is not at the expense of the governments commitment to the public to lower overall migration and ensure that migration to the UK is highly skilled and provides the most benefit.

According to them, the proposal is aimed at allowing the government to continue to meet its International Education Strategy commitments while making a tangible contribution to reducing net migration to sustainable levels. The government has also made clear that the terms of the graduate route remain unchanged.

The Home Office also made it clear that the proposals announced today do not detract from the success of the governments International Education Strategy, including meeting the target to host 600,000 international higher education students studying in the UK each year by 2030, for two years running.

Official statistics, which are due to be published this week, are expected to show that net migration has increased from 504,000 in the 12 months to June 2022 to more than 700,000 in the year to December, Sky News said.

According to data, foreign students brought 135,788 family members to Britain last year  nine times more than in 2019 while in 2022, 59,053 Nigerian students brought over 60,923 relatives.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu has disclosed that it is clear the Party needs further and better consultations on its choice of preferred candidates for the 10th National Assembly (NASS) leadership.

This is as Adamu cautioned those already addressing the Partys preferred candidate for the House of Representatives top seat, Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker to desist from such.

The APC chairman disclosed this on Tuesday, during a meeting with a delegation led by Abbas to the Partys National Secretariat in Abuja to meet the Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the Party.

Adamu submitted that addressing Abbas as Speaker is a misrepresentation as he cant be addressed by that nomenclature until the 10th NASS is inaugurated, an election is conducted by the clerk of the National Assembly and he emerges victorious for the position.

Addressing the delegation, Adamu stated that it is obvious more work and consultation needs to be done for the Party to be successful with what it wants with the National Assembly leadership.

Adamu further revealed that other aspirants for the speakership position had also visited him and his NWC for support.

He said, I want to make one correction so that we will not be misrepresented. A number of you have referred to Hon. Abbas as the speaker. Please, he is one of the aspirants. He will become a speaker on the day of proclamation.

READ ALSO: Speakership: APC Chose Jibrin, Abbass To Compensate North West  Gbajabiamila

The laws guiding that office are very clear, he will earn that on the day of proclamation by the president and commander in chief of the 10th National Assembly.

The Clerk to the National Assembly will conduct an election. There is no option other than the election.

When he comes out of that election and they raise his hand and when he is sworn in by the speaker, that nomenclature becomes most appropriate. Wait. Continue doing your good work.

After making the clarification, Adamu added that he wishes Abbas well in his aspirations but from the discussions between the Partys leadership and the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, more needs to be done so the APC can get its preferred candidates into the National Assembly leadership positions.

After reporting to the National Working Committee, the discussions we had with the President-elect and leaders like the Vice President-elect, the Senate President, the speaker; my humble self, the National Chairman of the Party, my deputy north, deputy south and the National Secretary of the party, I reported our deliberations.

It was clear in our declaration that there is a need for further and better consultations so that we can talk as much as we can to massage political egos so that we end up with what we want with National Assembly leadership in both Chambers.

We have received all the other aspirants for the president of the Senate and the speakership of the House of Representatives. I on behalf of my colleagues wish you the best of luck, Adamu said.
Cloud-based data warehouse company Snowflake on Wednesday said that it was acquiring Neeva, a startup based in Mountain View, California, for an undisclosed sum in an effort to add generative AI-based search to its Data Cloud platform.

Snowflake is acquiring Neeva, a search company founded to make search even more intelligent at scale. Neeva created a unique and transformative search experience that leverages generative AI and other innovations to allow users to query and discover data in new ways, Snowflake co-founder Benoit Dageville said in a blog post.

Search is fundamental to how businesses interact with data, and the search experience is evolving rapidly with new conversational paradigms emerging in the way we ask questions and retrieve information, enabled by generative AI. The ability for teams to discover precisely the right data point, data asset, or data insight is critical to maximizing the value of data, Dageville added.

Snowflake has been on an acquisition spree lately, with the company acquiring LeapYear in February to boost its data clean room abilties.

The LeapYear acquisition came just a month after Snowflake agreed to purchase artificial intelligence-based time series forecasting platform provider Myst AI, taking the companys acquisition count to seven companies in three years.

In August 2022 it bought AI-based document analysis platform Applica, based in Poland, to help enterprises handle unstructured data.

Other acquisitions included Streamlit (March 2022), Polish custom software company Pragmatists (January 2022), Polish digital products development studio Polidea (February 2021), and Canadian data anonymization company CryptoNumerics (July 2020).

Neeva, which has raised over $77 million in funding till date from firms such as Greylock and Sequoia, was founded in 2019 by Sridhar Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan.
Pride month merchandise is displayed at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, N.J., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers, including violent confrontations with its workers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Read more

When Target rolled out this years in-store Pride displays  featuring merchandise from queer creators and affirming messages about the community  members of the LGBTQ+ community flocked to stores and shared their hauls online. Now, theyre expressing disappointment as stores pull some of the merch, just a week before the start of Pride month.

Corporations cringe Pride attempts arent new, and Target even touted bigger, more prominent displays this year. Typically considered corporate, corny, or a little bit of both, Targets attempts at Pride collections have gained a fan base. In TikTok videos, people often describe the items as ironic, ugly-cute, or even camp. But this years Target line was larger and more prominent and showcased merch from queer-owned companies such as Kingston, N.Y.s Ash+Chess, creating excitement among customers.

Target getting Ash+Chess to design pride apparel and merch was a genius move, author Adam J. Kurtz tweeted when the collection launched in early May. Im so happy teens get to see TRANS PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS EXIST T-shirts in stores.

Now, citing employee safety, Target says it is scaling back its displays and pulling some merch off shelves entirely.

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Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and well-being while at work, Target said in a statement Tuesday. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

Target did not mention which specific designs it is removing. As noted by the Associated Press, among the items to draw ire among anti-LGBTQ+ audiences were tuck friendly womens swimsuits  designed for trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations  and designs from Abprallen, a London-based LGBTQ+ company that sells goth and metal-themed designs in pastel hues. Designs made for children, which typically consisted of rainbow designs and general, supportive sayings, like Just Be You, also drew negative attention.

Shortly after Targets Pride collection launched, far-right social media accounts launched a campaign against the line and spread a false rumor that the tuck friendly swimwear was available for kids. The AP debunked the claim, but far-right groups continued to say that Target was destroying our kids and was run by a pervert groomer CEO.

The movement closed in on designers who contributed to the collection as well. The owner of Abrprallen told the Daily Dot on Tuesday that his contributions to Targets Pride line were labeled by the alt-right as satanic in widely circulated social media posts. He said hes since received hundreds of death threats.

The anti-LGBTQ+ merch campaign led to confrontations from shoppers, Target confirmed. Several videos showed people destroying stores cardboard Pride displays or making scenes about Pride products. The company confirmed it has moved its Pride displays from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern locations.

Target must be better, said Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson. Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the floors, not pushed into the proverbial closet. Thats what bullies want.

The move comes on the heels of other alt-right cancel campaigns  led by groups who are upset by queer visibility. Last week, The Los Angeles Dodgers received backlash for inviting, then uninviting, and finally re-inviting a local LGBTQ+ nonprofit drag group to its Pride night. Last month, a partnership between Bud Light and trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked a boycott among conservative customers and transphobic vitriol. Earlier this year, a Hershey Canada Womens Day campaign that featured a trans woman was also on the receiving end of transphobic messaging. Over the last decade, corporations and major retailers have expanded their LGBTQ+ and Pride displays. But in recent years, LGBTQ+ visibility has become a divisive issue in state legislation.

 READ MORE: Bud Lights partnership with a trans influencer sparked a right-wing boycott

Members of the LGBTQ+ community say its disheartening to see companies such as Bud Light and Target fold under pressure and describe it as a form of erasure.

Hearing that Target has decided to remove Pride items in response to violent backlash is disappointing but not surprising, said Nicole Wiegand and Nicole Krecicki, the married couple who own Phillys South Street Art Mart. At the surface level, it is understandable and even commendable to want to protect vulnerable workers from harm, but it is just that, a surface-level solution.

Robinson, with the Human Rights Campaign, said Targets removal of products is dangerous.

Extremist groups and individuals work to divide us and ultimately dont just want rainbow products to disappear, she said. They want us to disappear.

 READ MORE: Sims update for trans players praised by LGBTQ gamers

Online, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community say theyre disappointed and fear the ramifications could be dangerous.

In a statement GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis said that anti-LGBTQ+ violence and hate will continue until corporate leaders step up.

The fact that a small group of extremists are threatening disgusting and harsh violence in response to Target continuing its long-standing tradition of offering products for everyone should be a wake-up call for consumers and is a reminder that LGBTQ people, venues, and events are being attacked with threats and violence like never before, Ellis said. An avalanche of research shows that Americans are comfortable seeing LGBTQ people in ads and marketing and that consumers, especially younger ones, prefer companies that include LGBTQ people internally and externally.

Some have called Targets quick removal of products a form of pandering, saying that the brand was willing to sell rainbow-washed merch, but not willing to stand up for the LGBTQ+ community.

We are their customers too, said Wiegand and Krecicki. And its well past time for places like Target to start acting like it.
The Germantown Friends School's senior class poses with the subject of their end-of-year prank: Percy the Camel, who they brought to school as part of a petting zoo that included about a dozen other animals. Read more

The students at Germantown Friends School bought a zoo. No, really.

Organized by seniors (and best friends since middle school) Oscar Schwartz and Hugh Rigdon, the graduating class at the private Quaker school brought a petting zoo to campus as part of an end-of-year prank Tuesday.

The pop-up zoo included turtles, rabbits, goats of all ages, a lizard, chickens, and the showstopping Percy the camel  about a dozen animals total  from Bucks Countys Peaceable Kingdom.

Seniors spent the morning taking photos, holding baby goats, and feeding grass to Percy, according to Schwartz, who said the organized chaos ended up disrupting classes for the day as teachers walked younger kids through the petting zoo.

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It was a funny little inconvenience, said Amir Staten, a member of the senior class whos off to Morehouse College in the fall. As a whole big group we dont get to interact too much, so this was nice for us to all share.

The senior class showed up in their farmer best  overalls, pitchforks, and straw sun hats included  on Tuesday after Schwartz encouraged them through an email from an anonymous account.

Staten dressed the part in Timberlands, jeans, and a plaid shirt. He fed lettuce to Nutella, the hungriest baby goat, and laughed at the awe of the preschool and kindergarten students who skipped class to see the animals.

They kept coming up to us and asking, How did you guys get a camel on campus? Staten said, mimicking the small voice of a little kid. It was so wholesome.

The plan for the prank bubbled up during the fall semester. Rigdon said the pair left a couple of options on the cutting room floor, such as having a mariachi band follow a faculty member around for the day, before settling on the petting zoo.

From there, the duo priced out petting zoos and compared animal options (the more exotic the better, said Schwartz) when they reached Peaceable Kingdom and learned about their star, Percy the camel.

Once we saw that these guys had a camel, that sealed the deal for us, said Rigdon, who is heading to George Washington University.

Rigdon and Schwartz split project management duties: Schwartz would coordinate with school administrators, confirm with the petting zoo, and lead fundraising among the senior class.

Schwartz said he fundraised the $1,300 cost of the petting zoo. Students were encouraged to donate $15 dollars, but some were so motivated by the thought of holding a tiny goat that they chipped in more.

Rigdon was in charge of boosting morale and painting a 30-foot banner that hung on the front of the main campus building that read: A campus camel?

A lot of people werent expecting it to go as well as it did, said Schwartz, a soon-to-be University of Pennsylvania freshman. People at first were like, Oh, it isnt a prank, there isnt a downside for the school.

Rigdon agreed: The point wasnt to do this at anyones expense. It didnt really seem there was anyone who deserved to be pranked.

Schwartz and Rigdon said faculty at Germantown friends were overwhelmingly supportive  including director of security and operations Deborah Mateffy, who allegedly told the boys it was the best prank she had ever seen in her 13 years of working there.

This was such a goodwill effort, said Germantown Friends spokesperson Hannah Henderson. It was so clear that their intentions were good, so the path was cleared for them to do it.

The senior class at Germantown Friends has less than 100 students, said Rigdon, and they graduate June 3.

Weve been getting closer throughout the end of the year, said Schwartz. But this definitely was the thing that really brought us together.
Some car makers have been slowly phasing out AM radio. (Dreamstime/TNS) Read more

Ford, producer of Americas favorite truck, scrapped an unpopular plan to eliminate AM radio from future models.

In a post on Twitter on Tuesday, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the Michigan-based automaker would include AM radio in all of its 2024 models after speaking with policy leaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as a part of the emergency alert system.

In an Inquirer story earlier this month, radio professionals, elected officials, and Ford owners expressed concern that automakers, including Tesla, were phasing out AM radio, particularly in rural parts of the country, where broadband and cell service can be dismal. A Ford spokesperson told The Inquirer that U.S. AM stations are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, or digital options.

The AM radio frequency has presented a unique problem for electric vehicles. Electric motors appear to cause electromagnetic interference with AM radios reception. Many EVs have already dropped the signal. In March, Ford said it would remove AM from internal combustion engines starting in 2024.

Farleys reversal on social media followed recent bipartisan legislation  the AM for Every Vehicle Act  that would compel auto manufacturers to keep AM radio in new vehicles at no additional charge. Sen. Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.), a coauthor of the bill, applauded Fords decision to change course.

Innovation in the automotive industry should mean more features, not fewer, for consumers. Fords reversal reflects an overdue realization about the importance of AM radio, but too many automakers are still going the wrong direction, Markey said in an e-mail.

Pennsylvania has 164 AM radio stations and 412 FM stations, according to BIA advisory group, the bulk of them concentrated in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. According to Nielsen, about 47 million Americans listen to AM radio weekly.
A former official at a beleaguered Philadelphia-based business lender admitted in court Wednesday that he and the companys other principals defrauded hundreds of investors by offering the hope of double-digit returns on loans to companies deemed too risky to borrow from traditional banks.

The conspiracy charge to which Perry Abbonizio, 65, of Collegeville, pleaded guilty is the first to emerge against a senior official at Par Funding, the company at the center of a long-running federal fraud probe.

And newly unsealed court filings suggest it likely wont be the last.

Abbonizio, who ran his own investment firm but also told customers he was a Par Funding managing partner, has agreed to cooperate with federal authorities.

During a court hearing Wednesday to accept Abbonizios guilty plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Murray accused at least three other Par Funding officials of conspiring with him to bilk investors: company founder, Joseph W. LaForte; his wife, Lisa McElhone; and the companys chief financial officer, Joseph Cole Barletta.

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No charges have been filed against them, and lawyers for the three had no comment. But a grand jury continues to hear evidence in the case and lawyers representing Par Fundings investors, who have been working with federal authorities, said they expected charges against other senior officials to emerge soon.

If its a conspiracy, there have to be coconspirators, said Eric Lechtzin, who has filed lawsuits against Par officers and salespeople on behalf of investors.

Abbonizio said little during the hearing, confirming to U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney that he understood the consequences of his guilty plea. His lawyer Jeffrey Marcus declined to comment afterward.

Broadly, the criminal activity Abbonizio admitted to  punishable by as long as five years in prison  resembles the conduct detailed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a civil fraud lawsuit filed in 2020. In that case, a federal judge in Florida ordered the defendants to pay more than $200 million. LaForte, McElhone, and Cole Barletta have appealed.

From its offices in Old City, prosecutors say, the company raised more than half a billion dollars between 2016 and 2021 by making materially false and fraudulent statements to investors about the safety of their money, and the true identity of Par Fundings top management, while they lent it out to small businesses across the country on terms that, if fully paid, would have cost several times what they borrowed.

And as one of the companys chief pitchmen, Abbonizio was at the center of many of those misrepresentations.

He told potential backers that investments in Par Funding were insured. At swanky solicitation events in King of Prussia and Wildwood, Fla., he promised investors that fewer than 1% of the businesses borrowing from the company defaulted on their loans.

In fact, many of the loans were uncollectible, according to the government. And prosecutors say Abbonizio and the others also kept investors in the dark about who was running Par Funding day to day.

On paper, McElhone was listed as the companys CEO, but investigators say she rarely set foot in the office and instead served as a proxy for her husband, LaForte. He was legally barred from selling securities because of felony convictions in 2006 for a $14 million real estate Ponzi scheme, and in 2009 for operating an illegal offshore gambling operation.

Abbonizio and the others failed to disclose LaFortes criminal record to potential investors.

Abbonizio acknowledged with his plea that he and his coconspirators sought to conceal other negative information about the company from investors, by giving false testimony in civil depositions. After The Inquirer reported on issues raised by Par investments in 2019, company officials deployed a lawyer to send what prosecutors called misleading letters to investors and the media about the company.

Though that lawyer was not identified in Abbonizios plea documents, John Pauciulo, a lawyer who formerly headed the Financial Transactions practice in the Philadelphia office of law firm Eckerd Seamans, agreed to pay the SEC $125,000 after it found that he was either wrong or reckless in advising salespeople who sold more than $100 million in Par-related investments that they need not be registered with the SEC.

Part of the reason for Par Fundings deceptions, prosecutors say, was that Abbonizio, LaForte, McElhone and Barletta had financial incentive to lie.

They were paid through commission fees based on the capital Par brought in from investors and then lent out to businesses  whether or not the loans were repaid or generated any profits for the company.

Though the criminal charges filed against Abbonizio are the first against one of Par Fundings top officials, they are only the latest in a string of recent legal developments that have augured trouble for him and his colleagues.

The FBI in 2020 raided Par Fundings Old City offices, along with several properties owned by LaForte and his wife. Those raids uncovered several guns in LaFortes possession  weapons that he was prohibited from owning as a felon and that prompted a federal firearms case against him.

And in September, a reputed associate of New Yorks Gambino crime family pleaded guilty to conspiracy and extortion charges, admitting that while working as a collector for Par, he threatened business owners who had fallen behind on their loan payments.

Renato Gino Gioe told a judge he had threatened to stick a fork in the head of one borrower, and threatened to cut off the hands of another if that person didnt pay.

Related to the SEC civil case, receivers say they have collected assets worth at least $150 million of the $250 million investors hope to recoup. More than 100 have filed claims with the receiver.

To settle the SECs accusations against him, Abbonizio agreed to give up property worth $11.3 million, including Shore homes in Avalon and Stone Harbor.

He also agreed to forfeit an additional $1.7 million as part of the plea deal he finalized Wednesday.
A new report found Pennsylvania State Police troopers were more likely to do optional searches of Black, Hispanic drivers. JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer Read more

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Black and Hispanic drivers were slightly more likely to face discretionary searches during traffic stops in Pennsylvania last year, according to a report released Tuesday that examined interactions between Pennsylvania State Troopers and motorists.

The analysis, conducted by criminologist Robin Engel and a team of researchers at the National Policing Institute, found no disparity among racial and ethnic groups for warnings, citations and arrests statewide, but found State Police were slightly more likely to search Black and Hispanic drivers than white drivers during searches where the trooper initiated the investigation based on probable cause, reasonable suspicion or permission from the driver.

These kinds of stops are rare, constituting only 2.8% of more than more than 440,000 stops conducted in 2022, but Black and Hispanic drivers were more likely to be subject to them than white drivers.

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Black and Hispanic drivers were 1.9 and 1.3 times more likely to be subject to a discretionary search than white drivers, according to the report.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Engel said she is optimistic the numbers will continue to improve given their decline overtime. The disparities peaked in 2008 when Black and Hispanic drivers were 3.0 and 2.6 times more likely to be subject to a discretionary search than white drivers.

Researchers also found disparities in the rates of seizures during discretionary stops. The seizure rate for such searches conducted in 2022 is much higher in general across racial and ethnic groups than rates from between 2002 and 2010, according to the report. But differences remain.

As in previous analyses, the researchers found police most often seized items  including drugs, weapons, and money  from the cars of white drivers.

During searches based on probable cause or reasonable suspicion, where troopers had reason to believe the driver could be committing a crime, they found items to seize in 75.8% of cars of white drivers, 73.5% cars of Black drivers, and 65.1% cars of Hispanic drivers. In searches initiated only with the consent of the driver, troopers seized items in 52.4% of the vehicles of white drivers, 41.5% of the vehicles of Black drivers, and 32.9% of the vehicles of Hispanic drivers.

The 2022 analysis is the first in more than a decade after State Police ceased collecting traffic stop data in 2012.

State Police announced in 2021 that they would again have Engel independently analyze traffic stop data. The announcement followed a 2019 Spotlight PA investigation that found the department halted the practice without explanation or public notice.

Engel and her team were slated to produce their first new report by April 2022, but the researchers found the first year of data unusable because 85% of trooper stations did not record demographic information during all types of traffic stops.

This was mostly because troopers in some stations did not realize they had to complete the form for stops that resulted in only a verbal warning, Engel told Spotlight PA last year.

The newest report examines stop outcomes, but does not examine whether certain drivers are more likely to be pulled over than others. This is because the research team was unable to find a reliable benchmark to use to compare the data.

In 2022, Pennsylvania State Police made 441,329 traffic stops. Of those, officers marked 71.1% as white, 14.4% as Black, and 8.2% as Hispanic. Officers are required to rely on their perception to record race or ethnicity, a common practice among departments that collect data to better understand how an officers bias might affect policing outcomes.

But comparing these findings to the most readily available benchmark, residential population, is inadequate, Engel said at the news conference, because where people live is not necessarily the same as where they drive.

It doesnt tell you where you drive, when you drive, how you drive, what you drive, whether or not theres an organizational enforcement in a particular community at a communitys request, whether or not theres a DUI traffic point as part of your travels, Engel said. Theres a whole host of reasons why you could be stopped or at risk of being stopped, none of which is measured by the residential census population.

Engels team attempted to find a better benchmark in the early 2000s with assistance from Pennsylvania State University students, who sat beside roads and interstates across the state to observe the characteristics of drivers. The results confirmed the people driving in an area are not necessarily the same as the people living in that area.

Decades of research have not produced a reliable, affordable way of finding a benchmark comparison, Engel said, so thats why its so important to take that next step and say okay, given that a stop has been made, what do we see in terms of the treatment of motorists after that stop is made and thats the best indicator that we have.

In the newest report, the researchers made several recommendations for State Police. They encouraged the agency to continue to refine data collection methods; assess patterns and trends in traffic stops at the troop and station levels; and enhance accountability and oversight mechanisms for trooper conduct during traffic stops, particularly those that result in a consent search.

The researchers also recommended continued study of the departments specialized criminal interdiction training courses, which are designed to prevent crimes from occuring on state highways.

While citizens often demand training to address issues such as implicit bias or deescalation in policing, few studies have determined if these courses actually affect police behavior, Engel said.

This is true across all types of police training and its true across the country, which is why the Pennsylvania State Police willingness for an outside research team to come in and look at and study their criminal interdiction training is quite significant, she said.

State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris endorsed Engels work Tuesday and said the department would continue to use the findings to improve police services.

I fundamentally believe in all sectors that which gets measured gets improved, he said at the news conference. ...The fact that we can track this data over time, you know, really we think is only a positive, so I would expect our members to embrace this.

Throughout 2022, the researchers audited the data to identify additional collection issues and ensure the number of stops officers recorded matched the stops in the departments dispatch system.

I am really thrilled to say the error rate is well below 10%, Engel said Tuesday, and for the missing data fields, its in the less than 1%, well below the threshold the researchers established.

The researchers will work with State Police through 2025 and plan to provide annual reports to the department for the next two years. The four-year contract will cost State Police $696,000.

This is the second time State Police have partnered with Engel to examine traffic stop data for evidence of racial disparities. Officials initially told Spotlight PA they stopped collecting the data because the analysis, which spanned 2002 to 2010, showed no evidence that troopers conducted traffic stops based on race or ethnicity.

While Spotlight PAs review confirmed that researchers did not find evidence that state troopers stopped Black and Hispanic people at a disproportionate rate, the analysts did find that once pulled over, troopers subjected people of color to searches more often than white people.

WHILE YOURE HERE... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
Prosecutors say one of the guns Tamir Hartsock purchased was linked to a shooting at 5104 Germantown Avenue, where five people were shot outside a barber shop on Aug. 19, 2021. A 28-year-old man was killed. Read more

A Montgomery County man has been charged with trafficking 15 guns  two of them linked to multiple shootings, including three homicides in Philadelphia, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Tamir Hartsock, 23, of Glenside, is facing numerous gun trafficking charges, conspiracy, and related crimes after Montgomery County prosecutors say he bought more than a dozen guns then resold them to people barred from buying weapons themselves, a practice known as straw purchasing.

Prosecutors said that less than a month after his 21st birthday  Pennsylvanias legal age to buy a firearm  Hartsock traveled across Montgomery County and bought 11 guns from three different stores in just six months, from September 2020 to March 2021. He often purchased the guns online, then picked them up from a licensed dealer in the area, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

 READ MORE: Philly has a gun problem. Straw buying makes it worse.

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Hartsock purchased 10 of the weapons from Abington Armoury in Glenside, a small licensed dealer less than two miles from his home, and some months returned up to three times to buy different guns, the affidavit said.

Hartsocks arrest comes as prosecutors across the region invest more resources in investigating straw purchasing  a crime often difficult to detect, but that law enforcement officials have said is a notable contributor to the flood of illegal guns on Philadelphias streets and a factor in the citys gun violence crisis.

Only four of the 15 guns Hartsock purchased have been recovered, said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Theres 11 firearms that are still in the wind. We dont know where they are, he said. We dont know what kind of violence or crimes theyve been used in, and we dont know what crimes they will be used in.

Gun trafficking, he said, is enabling violence and murder.

The investigation into Hartsock was launched after multiple law enforcement agencies recovered guns he had purchased on other people and then noticed that none of those weapons was reported stolen  an indicator of straw purchasing.

One Glock 44 was found in a car in North Philadelphia during a DUI stop in June 2021, while a Taurus 9mm handgun was recovered during a traffic stop and search in Delaware County last October.

Two other guns were recovered after shootings, and subsequent ballistic tests linked them to a total of seven shooting scenes with a combined 14 victims, authorities said.

On Sept. 6, 2022, Philadelphia police heard 50 shots fired near Carlisle Street and Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia, and as they were responding, records say, a red Nissan speeding away from the scene crashed, and three people with guns got out and fled. They were caught, and one of the three guns recovered was a Glock 22 that Hartsock had purchased two years earlier.

Police ran the gun through a national ballistic testing system and found bullets fired from that gun had been linked to four other shootings:

On Jan. 15, 2021, a shooting occurred at 5043 Greene St. in Germantown. No one was injured, but numerous shell casings that matched the gun were recovered. On Aug. 4, 2021, four people were shot on the 3600 block of Germantown Avenue. Just two weeks later, on Aug. 19, five people were shot outside a barbershop on the 5100 block of Germantown Avenue. A 28-year-old man was killed. Then, on May 30, 2022, Frank Bell, 20, was fatally shot on the 1500 block of West Erie Avenue.

Prosecutors say the fourth gun  a Glock 27 that Hartsock purchased in February 2021  was recovered just last month at the scene of a shooting in the Northeast in which four juveniles, ages 14 to 17, were shot, three fatally. Steele said ballistics testing showed that one of the bullets recovered in one of the teens bodies was fired from that gun.

 READ MORE: Transaction gone wrong led to the shooting of four teens in Northeast Philly on Friday, police say

Additional testing linked bullets fired from the gun to a January shooting on the 3600 block of Indian Queen Lane in East Falls, though no one was injured.

None of the homicides the guns were linked to have been solved, prosecutors said. Steele said its unclear how many times the guns changed hands, and could not comment on whether different shooters used the gun each time.

Steele said Hartsock, who worked at a local Wawa, made a few hundred dollars from each purchase, and text messages recovered from his phone showed how he coordinated with interested buyers. The records showed one exchange as the following:

How much for the Taurus g3? one person texted Hartsock, referencing a model of gun.

About $700, Hartsock replied.

How much the g2? the buyer asked.

Same cost, though he could probably get it for $400 at an auction, Hartsock told him.

The buyer agreed  ion need a new jawn, he said.

Hartsock also sent screenshots of various guns being sold online, asking which model and color the buyer preferred.

Steele said the case shows the danger just a few trafficked guns can bring to a community.

When people are putting these guns onto the streets, he said, they are putting the mechanism of death into the hands of violent criminals.

When authorities searched Hartsocks home, Steele said, they found two weapons he had held onto  a black shotgun and gold-plated AR-15  and at his mothers house were three gun boxes, all empty.
A ransomware group the FBI says has hacked businesses and governments around the world claimed responsibility Tuesday for a cyberattack on The Inquirers internet servers.

The group, which calls itself Cuba, alleged that it stole Inquirer files in the May 12 attack, and posted a trove of stolen data online  only to remove the claim from its website Wednesday.

The group posts stolen files from its attacks to a site on the dark web. Elizabeth H. Hughes, The Inquirers publisher and chief executive, said by email Tuesday that the company has seen no evidence to date that any information related to The Inquirer was actually shared online.

Hughes said Wednesday that the company was aware that Cuba subsequently removed its claim, but did not say when asked whether The Inquirer had paid a ransom for Cuba to do so.

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A preliminary review by Inquirer reporters of a dark website operated by Cuba did not uncover documents that appeared to come from within the company.

The attack disrupted the production of an edition of the May 14 Sunday print newspaper, and in the following days led Inquirer management to take selected computer systems offline while forensics experts launched an investigation. The newsroom was temporarily closed. Online publication was not interrupted.

Hughes said the investigation was ongoing, including into whether Inquirer employees personal information was impacted.

Should we determine that any personal information was affected, we will notify and support those individuals, Hughes said. We will provide updates to employees as additional information becomes available to be shared.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have put out alerts on the Cuba group for its role in at least 100 cyberattacks since it surfaced in 2019, netting $60 million in extorted funds. The group has been linked to several high-profile attacks targeting the Ukrainian and Montenegrin governments and organizations involved in critical U.S. infrastructure.

A spokesperson for the FBIs Philadelphia division said that the bureau was aware of the Inquirer cyberattack but that it does not comment on specific incidents.

When the FBI learns about potential cyberattacks, its customary that we offer our assistance in these matters, the spokesperson said.

Cubas members have not been identified, though cyber security reports indicate its ranks are small and experienced in targeting large organizations within the financial services, government, health care, and IT sectors.

One cyber security report suggests that the group regularly practices double extortion, in which data and documents are stolen from an organization and then published online if a ransom goes unpaid.

Hughes said Inquirer management had no communication with Cuba before the attack.She did not say whether there has been subsequent communication.

In some prior attacks, Cuba used phishing tactics to lure victims to download ransomware through legitimate apps such as PDF readers or company websites. Ransomware is a kind of malware that encrypts files, making them unusable while access is held hostage until payment is received.

This kind of attack has evolved in recent years, said Runa Sandvik, a cybersecurity expert and consultant specializing in news organizations and activists: The attackers both encrypt the files and also steal them.

Now theres this additional element of blackmail to it, where they say you have to pay to get your files back. And if you dont pay, were going to leak what we have, said Sandvik, who previously led digital security experts at the New York Times.

Sandvik said the costs of such ransomware attacks extend beyond the initial scramble to respond. Insurance premiums may go up, for example, and there may be financial costs from any legal exposure. News organizations that have their systems breached also face the possible release of sensitive news-gathering information, such as reporting notes and source information.

It could reveal really sensitive information about draft stories  stories that are going through pre-publication legal review, she said.

Cuba has reportedly used other methods to install malware, such as exploiting a vulnerability in certain Microsoft email servers.

Hughes previously declined to say whether The Inquirer was asked to pay a ransom or whether the group responsible for the cyberattack had been in contact with company management.

The attack came days before The Inquirers vital coverage of the Democratic mayoral primary and regional elections, and was considered the most significant disruption to operations since a blizzard in 1996.

Staff writers Ryan Briggs and Jonathan Lai contributed to this article.

This article has been updated to reflect developments on May 24.
Though teams are working nearly around the clock to examine the Philadelphia School Districts vast stock of aging buildings for asbestos, the school system is still falling short of its goals for inspecting and publicly reporting out data, officials said Tuesday.

To date, 277 of the districts 293 asbestos-containing facilities  not just schools, but also garages, pools, farms, and other structures  have undergone the inspections required once every three years by the federal Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). (Once asbestos is noted, schools need additional examinations every six months.)

Victoria Flemming, the districts new interim executive director for the Office of Environmental Management and Services, said Tuesday that the 16 buildings that have yet to receive their three-year checks will have inspections completed by August. Officials declined to name the 16 that have not yet been scrutinized for this inspection cycle.

We still know that we do not have the staffing and resources that we need to address all of these issues, said Flemming, adding that the district hopes within three years to be on track to consistently inspect the 50 schools a month it must to meet federal requirements.

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Each three-year inspection is a lengthy process  taking several days at least, with two inspectors working usually in the hours after students and staff occupy a school building. The district last year agreed to spend $24 million over three years on a contract with Tetra Tech, an environmental firm, to better meet the environmental demands of its old schools.

 READ MORE: Philly teachers and parents from schools closed by asbestos petition the district for better information

Final reports for each of the districts buildings will be made available to the public, but some might not be ready until the end of the year.

We understand this is frustrating for school communities eager for the news of the inspection, Flemming said, but the sheer volume of data that needs to be synthesized, encompassing years of inspections and much of it now only available in paper form, makes for a laborious process.

The district is on track to inspect 49 schools this month; in April, its number was 30. Officials are working hard to keep up the pace of our inspections given the availability of inspectors, district spokesperson Marissa Orbanek said. Additionally, the district is working to hire additional management planners to manage the data that these inspections are generating.

Flemming, who assumed her new job recently after two years spent working on district asbestos issues as a contractor, underscored the fact that more asbestos discoveries will be forthcoming.

As we improve this process, as we do additional inspections, we will identify additional material. But this is a step in the right direction, Flemming said at a news conference held to shed light on the districts ramped-up environmental efforts.

Officials in 2017 said it would take about $5 billion to fix all the environmental problems in Philadelphia schools, a number that has surely risen. Asked what sum of money would ensure the district would be able to keep up with its federally mandated asbestos inspection requirements, Flemming said she wasnt sure.

I dont think that theres a quick, easy answer to that question, she said.

Six district schools have closed this year because of damaged asbestos. Of those schools, Frankford High, Mitchell Elementary, and Universal Vare Charter School are still closed. While Mitchell students have been relocated to McMichael Elementary, and Frankford special-education students are taking classes at Olney High, the bulk of Frankfords students and all of Universal Vares students have been forced to shift to virtual learning for the rest of the school year.

The district has said it will work on identifying swing spaces that can function as alternative sites if damaged asbestos forces future closures. But those decisions can be tricky, too  when Building 21, a West Oak Lane high school, closed, officials unilaterally ordered staff and students relocate to Strawberry Mansion High, a move that the Building 21 community rejected wholesale.

Soon after Building 21 was closed, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. disclosed that plaster at the school that had been labeled as safe for years in fact contained asbestos. Watlington acknowledged that discovery calls into question the accuracy of asbestos records district-wide.

Flemming said the district is currently running a plaster assessment program to identify gaps in accurate record-keeping like those discovered at Building 21 and at Mitchell, in Southwest Philadelphia.

Sixty schools have had complete audits of their plaster sample numbers; samples have been collected at 150 more. That means there are at least 50 schools that still must have their plaster status assessed, Flemming said.

Which schools remain to be checked is unclear.

How errors were made in the past is also not clear, but there are multiple possibilities. An AHERA report could contain 3,000 lines of data, so there is lots of room for error. Also, while the EPA requires a certain number of samples be collected per square footage to check for asbestos, the district has now moved to collecting more samples than required to be certain its capturing all instances of the toxin.

What we have actively done is go back through our archive to confirm that we have the correct number of samples based on the protocol that were using today, Flemming said. Thats one reason for the pace of data being produced.

Parents and staff have generally called for more transparency and information in the asbestos process.

Last week, a group of parents and teachers from some of the schools affected by asbestos this year brought their demands to Chief Operating Officer Oz Hill at district headquarters.

We needed a better, more comprehensive plan about how asbestos was going to be remediated, said TaMora Jackson, whose daughter attends C.W. Henry Elementary in Mount Airy, which was closed for two weeks because of damaged asbestos.

The district is coping with years of neglect and underfunding, and now trying to do better, Flemming said, but it has much to overcome.

The average district building is 73 years old, constructed long before anyone knew of asbestos dangers. Just four district schools  including Northeast Philadelphia Community Propel Academy, which opened in 2021  have no asbestos-containing materials.

The goal, though, is not to eradicate asbestos in district buildings; if it is intact, asbestos is not dangerous. But once its disturbed, it can release tiny toxic fibers.

For those who worry about what years of possible asbestos exposure might mean long-term, officials encouraged parents and staff to talk to their own doctors.

The expectation cannot be that each and every school will be asbestos free, Flemming said. But that doesnt preclude the school district from striving for providing that 21st century learning environment.
A former Chester County charter school teacher was convicted of sexually assaulting a former student in a hotel room, but acquitted of grooming another former student into having a sexual relationship with him.

The verdict against Seth Reich, 42, was delivered by a jury in West Chester on Tuesday afternoon after seven hours of deliberation over two days.

Reich, who met the victims while working as a theater teacher at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School Center for Performing and Fine Arts in West Chester, was convicted of sexual assault, indecent assault, simple assault and furnishing liquor to minors. The crimes arose from a 2019 encounter in a hotel room in which the jury found that he undressed one of the women and forced himself on her after she passed out.

But in a split verdict, jurors acquitted Reich of felony institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and corruption of a minor for his monthslong sexual relationship with another student that prosecutors say began when she was a 17-year-old senior.

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 READ MORE: An ex-Chester County teachers sexual assault trial begins with questions of consent

Throughout the six-day trial, prosecutors cast Reich as a master manipulator, blurring the line between authority figure and friend to lull the teens into a sense of security. The younger victim testified that she and Reich began texting frequently, initially about his class.

Those texts gradually became more personal, she said, and the two began to share flirtatious banter. Shortly before the student graduated, she said, Reich initiated a sexual encounter in his classroom.

They continued to have sex after she graduated, she said.

Investigators and the now-22-year-old woman insisted that she had sex with the teacher while she was a student, before her 18th birthday.

However, Reichs lawyer, James Funt, presented evidence from text messages indicating that the two first had sex after she graduated. Because of that timing, he said, the criminal charges brought by prosecutors didnt apply.

The other woman told the jury she met Reich when she worked on a play he was directing in the summer of 2019. As a former student who had graduated a year earlier, and a close friend of the other teen, she said she was interested in helping with theater production.

The teens and Reich exchanged texts frequently, they said, and joked about meeting up at a hotel room after the play ended. The messages included references to buying condoms and filming a pornographic movie, but the two women testified that they had been sent in jest.

When the three later met up at the hotel, prosecutors said, Reich plied the teens with tequila, to the point where the older teen passed out.

She told police she awakened to find Reich and her friend  who she didnt know was having a relationship with him  being intimate. When she protested, she said, Reich slapped her and began to undress her against her will, then sexually assaulted her.

Funt said the jurys verdict of partial exoneration came as no surprise to him, given the overwhelming evidence of his clients innocence. Still, he said, he believed Reich should have been acquitted of all charges.

We certainly acknowledge how hard the jury and the judge worked over the past two weeks, he said. But I maintain that what occurred in the hotel between the three adults was consensual. The jury found otherwise, and we have to respect their decision.

After the verdict was read, Reichs bail was revoked, and he was taken into custody. He will be sentenced in the coming days by Chester County Judge Analisa Sondergaard.
Maggie Drozdowski (left) and her friend, Sarah O'Donnell, just before a surf outing in Stone Harbor, N.J. that ended with Drozdowski bitten by a shark. Read more

It was the first time 15-year-old Maggie Drozdowski got on a surf board, and likely the last  at least for a while.

The Chester County teen was bitten by a shark while surfing Sunday in Stone Harbor, N.J.

The day started under cloudy skies as Drozdowski and Sarah ODonnell, a friend and classmate, smiled for a photo before they paddled their boards into the waters of the 109th Street Beach.

When a wave knocked Drozdowski off her board and into the chilly water, she told The Inquirer, she felt a tug on my foot that pulled me underwater.

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It just felt like pressure around my lower leg, Drozdowski said. It didnt really hurt until I got out of the water  when I got out, it stung.

 READ MORE: Teen bitten by shark while surfing at a South Jersey beach

Experts recommend hitting a shark on the nose to fend off an attack. The best Drozdowski could muster during the frantic moment was to shake the creature off with her foot while kicking for her life underwater.

Fortunately, ODonnell was nearby. The more experienced surfer told Drozdowski to jump back on her board and paddle to shore.

Drozdowski didnt get a look at what bit her. When she yelled to her friend that she thought it could have been a shark, ODonnell was in disbelief; she speculated that the bite was probably a pinch from a crab.

But most crabs dont cause the bloody cuts Drozdowski saw on her left foot and calf.

On shore, ODonnells mother called 911, and medical experts determined at a nearby hospital that Drozdowski was indeed bitten by a shark, though the culprits size and species remain unknown.

Drozdowski received six stitches and crutches, which she said shell need for about a week. And her mother, Lisa Drozdowski, received a shocking call from the hospital.

The elder Drozdowski, a physicians assistant, said shes spent most of her career in trauma surgery. Despite her experience, nothing could prepare her for the news that her daughter was in the ER  and the reason why.

I was in shock, Lisa Drozdowski said of the moment she picked up the phone call telling her her daughter had been bitten by a shark. I just didnt believe it.

Since the bite, Maggie Drozdowski said, its been an exhausting week. In addition to becoming one of the nearly 30 confirmed victims of an unprovoked shark attack in New Jersey history, the teen is handling the newfound spotlight.

Before Drozdowski returns to class at Bishop Shanahan High School on Wednesday, shell have given a handful of interviews and appeared on television, while her story continues to make waves on social media.

The attack comes just days before people in the region flock to the Shore for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to the summer season.

Stone Harbor officials have made efforts to calm anxieties bubbling up around the attack, reminding beachgoers that the likelihood of being attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million, according to data.

Beach activity will not be restricted this weekend, though swimmers were advised to exercise caution in the water.

Updates regarding any new information or developments will be communicated to the public, officials said in a statement. Stone Harbor remains dedicated to maintaining the highest level of safety for all individuals enjoying their beautiful beaches.

As for Drozdowski, surfing is on hold for the foreseeable future. Instead, she said, shes more excited to get back to dancing, her favorite dry-land activity.
A large pile of trash on 42nd Street near the University of Pennsylvania campus on Tuesday. Following graduation, piles of furniture and garbage often appear near off-campus housing as students move out. Read more

When University of Pennsylvania students evacuate their off-campus houses each spring, looking forward to bright summers and brighter futures, one thing stays behind on the streets of Philadelphia: their junk. This season in West Philly is sometimes called Penn Christmas because of the potential hidden treasures buried in the trash; its seen by others as pure disaster.

In honor of this annual event, we compiled a non-exhaustive list of the detritus we observed on four city blocks surrounding Penns campus this year. (Penn commencement was May 15, so there were not many treasures left):
As a faith leader and organizer for social justice, I often pray with families looking for a little help here and there: help with medical bills, help finding housing, help doing more with less in places where the minimum wage has stagnated for 14 years.

That is especially true in Philadelphia, but its now the case across the commonwealth. With our state and local minimum wage stuck at the federal minimum of $7.25, workers cannot survive.

 READ MORE: Philadelphias real minimum wage is among the worst in the U.S.

A Pennsylvanian who started working in 1998 has seen the minimum wage go up by about $2 in the ensuing 25 years. That is unfair. A parent in Philadelphia, where the living wage for a single parent and child is over $35 per hour, now has to work more than three minimum wage jobs just to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

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That is immoral.

Yet, from Pittsburgh to Allentown to Lancaster to my hometown of Philadelphia, locally elected leaders are preempted under state law from setting a minimum wage that makes sense for our communities. The state legislature prohibits municipalities from determining their own minimum wage. This iniquity silences the voices of citizens and their local representatives alike, disproportionately impacts people of color, and ensures that those with the least struggle the most.

Preemption is not merely a budgetary quirk: It is a racial justice issue and a barrier to income equality in Pennsylvania.

I believe passionately in principles of social justice, and Im reminded of the words of the prophet Isaiah: Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people (Isaiah 10:1-2). We have a duty to correct this oppression of working families, especially of Black and brown families. It is in our power to uplift every Pennsylvanian by raising the wage across the commonwealth to fair levels.

We have a duty to correct this oppression of working families.

The unfairness of wage preemption robs each Pennsylvanian of their opportunity to earn decent pay for their work. In cities, this punishes communities of color particularly, but it also keeps rural laborers in poverty and makes suburban seniors compete with teens for spots at the bottom of our socioeconomic ladder. In cities and counties, our municipal representatives are elected to set policy that makes sense for residents, but without a livable wage, how can we hope to thrive?

Every Pennsylvanian deserves to have their basic economic needs met, regardless of race or age or where they live. That is not possible if wage preemption remains in our budget. This makes ending preemption a righteous cause and a moral imperative for the next budget session.

Without a livable wage for families in Pennsylvania, we cannot make progress with any of the crises of economic and racial injustice harming communities throughout the state. Raising the wage means more housing access, better health care, fewer struggles with addiction, decreased gun violence, and more affordable childcare. Our next state budget offers us a route forward if we fight to achieve it.

House Speaker Joanna McClinton and Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward must work together to raise the wage and end preemption. To fail would be an act of political malfeasance that not only prolongs poverty in the present but guarantees poverty for Pennsylvanian families in the future. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would directly impact 1.6 million Pennsylvanians, including an estimated 200,000 Philadelphians  all of whom would have more money in their pockets to meet their needs.

This issue affects working people across the state: urban, suburban, or rural, and of every race, faith, and creed.

Wage preemption has never made sense in Pennsylvania. We are a large state with multiple, diverse economies. From manufacturing to agriculture to health care, economic conditions differ as we move from Allegheny County east and into the Lehigh Valley, or north toward Lackawanna County. Communities have a right to their say in a collective destiny, and for too long, each has been denied this basic democratic right through preemption.

We need statewide action to raise the wage and put an end to minimum wage preemption in Pennsylvanias next budget.

Budgets are not policies and economics alone: They are moral documents, and its past time for state legislators to prioritize a livable wage and end budget policies that prevent local lawmakers from setting dignified minimum wages for local workers struggling to survive.

Philadelphia ranks as the poorest big city in the country, not by happenstance but by active, discriminatory policy choices like wage preemption that are kept in place, year by year.

My faith calls me to care for the least among us and fight against injustice everywhere. In Pennsylvania, one of our greatest chances to build a more steadfast and fair commonwealth comes in making our state budget a more moral and just document. When we achieve this, we will be one step closer to ensuring every Pennsylvanian can prosper.

Bishop Dwayne Royster is the executive director of POWER Interfaith.
AFCA found, having regard to the wording before it, that the insured must establish that the closure of business was due to orders made by a competent government, public or statutory authority, said Horne. Such orders must have been made as a result of an outbreak of an infectious human disease at the premises or within 20 kilometres of the premises.
I have an amazing sense of support from around the [Sompo International] group, and it makes you want to open the floodgates and start writing a lot of business tomorrow, he said. But our challenge is to pull back and say, lets take our time, underwrite it properly, make sure we understand all the risks, lets do the best possible job we can and then move on to the next one.
Tapping into mentorship potential

Having attended the Women in Insurance Toronto conference in the past, Fong is enamoured by the idea of having insightful conversations both during the panel and outside of it. I am really looking forward to hearing from the other panellists and their opinions on competitive intelligence from different areas of focus in the industry, she said.
Fix and establish premium rates and high residual market changes led to stricter capacity in the area, as well as the exit of many leading national carriers. At the time, Kemper was the third largest auto insurance writer in the state, and its withdrawal would have a seismic impact for brokers and insureds alike.
With the majority of our audience now based in the US, we have major ambitions for revenue growth in the region; being part of the InsurTech Corridor program enables us to ensure we capitalise on US-based opportunities, said Alex Hearn, founder and CEO of Slipcase. Following our first meeting with the corridor in Boston and after attending the Hartford Insurtech Symposium with the team this month, we have already learnt a significant amount about the US market and had tangible introductions. We very much look forward to embracing the program and building out our US presence.
We have known them for many years and admire their professional approach to the business, technical acumen, and phenomenal execution, said Turner. We look forward to embracing these talented individuals and providing even more opportunities to them as they become a part of the RT Specialty platform.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  The city of Minneapolis has agreed to a $700,000 settlement with family members who were locked inside two squad cars when police killed their father after officers refused their offers to try and help calm him down.

A federal judge ruled that officers were justified in shooting 52-year-old Chiasher Vue after he pointed a rifle at them on Dec. 15, 2019. The settlement will resolve a lawsuit his family filed arguing that police had illegally and unconstitutionally detained them that night.

Chamee Vue and her brothers Hailee and Nou Vue tried to intervene but werent allowed out of the police cars. And after the shooting, they spent hours detained in interrogation rooms while police questioned them.

I couldnt get out of the car, couldnt give him reassurance that everything would be OK, Chamee said.

A language barrier contributed to the incident because Chiasher Vue spoke little English and few officers there that night spoke Hmong. Hailee Vue said he wants the Hmong community to understand what happened to his family, and for their case to be instructive for future policing.

I just dont want any other family to go through what the four of us went through, he said.

Since this incident, Minneapolis police have changed department policy on handling witnesses to say they must be treated in a constitutional manner. A police spokesman told the Minneapolis Star Tribune the policy change wasnt related to this case, but the Vue siblings say they still take consolation in the change. The new policy makes it more clear that a person who has not been charged with a crime and isnt being held on probable cause is free to leave at any time.

Family members say Chiasher Vue was going through a mental health crisis and suffering with untreated depression on the night he was killed.

A night of drinking and karaoke spiraled out of control when after a series of quarrels Chiasher fired several shots at a wall inside the house and another one of his sons called 911. An autopsy later determined that Chiasher Vue has a blood alcohol level of 0.20 at the time he was killed.

Look, my dad is mentally ill  Just let me and my little sister go talk to him. We can talk him out, Nou Vue said to an unidentified officer, according to squad car footage. Youre not getting out of the squad. Stop asking, replied the officer.

But after Vue came out of the house pointing a rifle, he and officers quickly exchanged gunfire. Investigators werent able to determine who fired first, but Vue was struck by 13 bullets.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Law Enforcement
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin Republicans on Thursday announced plans to put $125 million aside to combat pollution from so-called forever chemicals, putting off a decision on what exactly to spend the money on.

The influx of money to deal with PFAS pollution comes as Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made it a priority in his budget, allocating more than $100 million for additional testing, new positions, additional water testing and grants.

The Republican-controlled budget-writing committee took a different approach, announcing plans to vote Thursday on spending $125 million but not specifying what it should be used for other than combatting PFAS.

We need to give ourselves time to find the right solutions, said Republican Sen. Eric Wimberger, of Green Bay, at a news conference.

There will be follow-up legislation to spell out how the money will be spent, said Rep. Mark Born, co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.

The committee was to approve the spending Thursday night as it works on creating the two-year spending plan, which takes effect in July.

The Legislature is taking this problem very seriously, said committee co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein.

Democrats, including Evers, have called for enacting tough standards about acceptable levels of PFAS in the water, moves that have met resistance from Republicans and the states business community.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals that dont easily break down in nature. Theyre found in a wide range of products, including cookware, firefighting foam and stain-resistant clothing. The chemicals have been linked to health problems including low birth weight, cancer and liver disease, and have been shown to make vaccines less effective.

Municipalities across Wisconsin are struggling with PFAS contamination in their groundwater, including Marinette, Madison, Wausau and the town of Campbell on French Island. The waters of Green Bay also are contaminated. The state Department of Natural Resources has issued an advisory warning people to limit their consumption of fish from the bay of Green Bay as well as from portions of the Peshtigo, Oconto and Menominee rivers due to PFAS contamination.

Republicans have passed bills in recent years restricting the use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS, but have resisted doing anything more substantial amid concerns from industry and wastewater treatment operators that clean-up and filtration efforts and new well construction would cost tens of millions of dollars.

The Evers administration adopted regulations last year establishing limits on PFAS in surface and drinking water. Conservatives on the Department of Natural Resources policy board blocked a proposal to limit the chemicals in well water, however.

Evers administration has since relaunched an attempt to write standards for PFAS in well water. The governors budget lays out a multipronged approach for dealing with the chemicals as well.

Republicans previously stripped language from Evers budget that called for restricting PFAS levels in state waters and air and requiring the DNR to create rules on how to determine financial liability for PFAS contamination.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Pollution Wisconsin Politics
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When federal enforcers alleged in 2015 that New York surgeon Feng Qin had performed scores of medically unnecessary cardiac procedures on elderly patients, they decided not to pursue a time-consuming criminal case.

Instead, prosecutors chose an easier, swifter legal strategy: a civil suit. Qin agreed to pay $150,000 in a negotiated settlement and walked free to perform more cardiac surgeries at his new solo practice in lower Manhattan.

Qin faced no judge or jury. He did not admit to wrongdoing. He maintained his license to practice. Whats more, neither Qin nor government officials were required to notify patients who purportedly were subjected to vascular surgical procedures they didnt need. Those included fistulagrams to spot issues like narrowed blood vessels or clots, and angioplasties to open clogged coronary arteries.

Within months of the settlement, a registered nurse working for Qin at his Manhattan practice alerted authorities that something seemed amiss. The nurse, who ultimately turned whistleblower, alleged to federal prosecutors that the surgeon was performing unnecessary procedures on patients, mostly elderly Asian and Black immigrants whose care was covered by the public programs Medicare or Medicaid.

Prosecutors indicted Qin in 2018 on a felony count of fraud, which carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. But in 2021, in a deal brokered behind closed doors, prosecutors dropped that charge in favor of yet another civil settlement, court records detailing that agreement show.

Once again, Qin kept his New York license to practice with no restrictions; a restricted license is one of the few ways the public can learn that a doctor has been disciplined for bad behavior. Qin agreed to pay a total of $800,000 in annual installments ending in December 2025, deposited with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As an added penalty, he was banned from billing public health programs until February 2025.

Department of Justice officials and their investigative partner, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services, told Reuters that conflicting evidence from experts made it legally difficult to challenge Qins subjective surgical decisions, which led to the dropped indictment.

Federal agencies regulate billings and payments involving public health programs like Medicare. State governments, often working in tandem with a board of medical professionals, oversee licensing and disciplining of physicians and many other types of healthcare practitioners.

The New York Department of Public Health, which has authority over the New York State Medical board and speaks on its behalf, declined to comment on whether the state launched its own investigation of Qin.

Qin, in a response to this report through his attorneys, disputed the governments allegations. But his settlement agreement included his signed acknowledgement that he had performed and billed for surgical procedures based on symptoms that were insufficient to justify these treatments.

The registered nurse who reported Qin to authorities in 2015 was stunned that the criminal charge was dropped.

A wealthy doctor bought his way out of jail, whistleblower Mark Favors told Reuters in his first public interview about the Qin case. How many people get a deal like that?

The answer, it turns out, is plenty.

Over the last decade alone, at least 540 doctors and healthcare practitioners collectively paid the government hundreds of millions of dollars to negotiate their way out of trouble via civil settlements, then continued to practice medicine without restrictions on their licenses despite allegations that included fraud and patient harm, a Reuters investigation found. That figure is the result of the first-ever comprehensive analysis of federal civil settlements and state disciplinary actions.

Separately, more than 2,200 hospitals and healthcare companies likewise negotiated civil deals to sidestep prosecution for alleged offenses that included paying bribes, falsifying patients records and billing the government for unnecessary patient care, the Reuters analysis shows. In many of those cases, the physicians, staffers and top brass who purportedly committed those misdeeds were not named publicly by prosecutors or forced to pay settlements themselves. Federal enforcers said they sometimes withhold names of individuals in these situations because of ongoing or planned investigations.

The U.S. government collected more than $26.8 billion in healthcare-related civil settlements and judgments from 2013 to 2022, the Reuters analysis found.

In all, the news agency examined 2,788 federal civil settlement cases and administrative actions over that time period; that figure includes the 540 cases of doctors and other healthcare practitioners who kept their licenses after agreeing to civil deals. Most cases were jointly investigated by the Justice Department and the OIG of Health and Human Services.

Victims, meanwhile, received no share of these settlements, which are funneled to a Treasury Department general fund. Consequently, they must pursue their own civil cases in search of restitution for suffering and harm, Reuters found.

Neither the government nor the alleged wrongdoers were required to notify patients who may have been affected. A recovering Michigan patient learned last year that her gynecologic oncologist had been accused of performing dozens of unnecessary surgeries  procedures like the one she underwent  only after seeing media reports about his settlement. A subsequent review of her medical records by another doctor revealed that her reproductive organs, which had been removed, were not cancerous, she told Reuters.

The U.S. civil justice system has become a key tactic in the governments battle against healthcare fraud. Compared with criminal cases, civil settlements require a lower burden of proof and are generally quicker to litigate.

But the civil system also offers perks for suspected offenders, sometimes unintended, and often at the expense of patients, the Reuters analysis found.

In nearly every civil settlement agreement analyzed by Reuters, defendants were not required to acknowledge fault or liability. Whats more, about 9 in 10 businesses and individuals accused of falsely enriching themselves were allowed to continue billing the very government programs they had been accused of defrauding, Reuters found.

Tasked with protecting public health programs from waste and fraud, more than two dozen current and former federal prosecutors and investigators who spoke to Reuters defended settlements as a cost-effective compromise to recover taxpayer monies. They contend that compliance, not punishment, is the aim so that accused wrongdoers can stay in business, thus preserving public access to vital healthcare services.

Among the physicians who kept their licenses:

*The Michigan doctor who treated the woman who said her reproductive organs were removed unnecessarily. He was accused of performing unwarranted radical hysterectomies and administering excessive chemotherapy treatments. Prosecutors allege the physician had already scheduled at least one patient for surgery before examining her for the first time. He paid $775,000 last year to settle.

*A California doctor  the founder and owner of a national hospital chain  accused of a profit-driven scheme to hospitalize patients who required less costly, outpatient care. The doctor and his chain paid a combined $37.5 million last year to settle that case, which followed two similar settlements totaling $66.25 million.

Michigan and California medical board and health officials, who regulate healthcare licenses and impose disciplinary actions against offenders who violate state codes of conduct, told Reuters they were aware of the federal settlements in these respective cases. They declined to comment about whether they had received any complaints about these doctors or had initiated their own investigations.

Membership on nearly all state medical boards is dominated by doctors who make rules about conduct and decide punishment for their peers, according to Matthew Smith, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. As a result, the system tends to protect physicians, he said.

They look the other way. They dont want to know, said Smith, whose organization advocates anti-fraud laws on behalf of insurers and a consortium of government agencies, law enforcement and consumer groups.

Some state medical boards have policies that seemingly thwart or discourage complaints of wrongdoing, Smith said. These include requiring parties making complaints to do so in notarized statements, and disclosing their identities to accused doctors, according to data from the Federation of State Medical Boards, a Washington-based nonprofit trade organization.

Secrecy is also pervasive, federation data shows. In at least 28 states, boards can issue confidential disciplinary orders to close cases without public disclosure; not even the complainant is allowed to know what happened.

Tracking federal healthcare settlements can be difficult. There is no central government archive. While most civil cases are filed in publicly accessible federal courts, the OIG in the past decade resolved hundreds of civil actions as administrative or internal matters whose public disclosure was scant, the Reuters analysis found. Enforcement notices posted on the OIGs website about these cases typically are no longer than a few sentences. These brief summaries provide no details about the allegations or the identities of suspected offenders.

To identify settlements, Reuters created a database of federal civil cases filed by the DOJ, then identified internal actions by the OIG, which is tasked with policing public healthcare programs for waste and fraud. Additional cases were tallied from healthcare company disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and through Westlaw, a legal research service owned by Thomson Reuters. Doctors identities from civil cases were crossmatched with state medical board disciplinary files to determine each doctors license status and enforcement history. (More details on Reuters methodology can be found here.)

Civil settlements may not be a perfect solution in every case, but they are often a necessity for understaffed and underfunded prosecutors, said Jim May, a former assistant U.S. attorney who served in South Carolina from 2012 to 2021. Criminal convictions in such cases are rarely a slam dunk. May said negotiated settlements are a way to hold defendants accountable, particularly those who have the financial means to hire lawyers skilled at forestalling criminal prosecutions with delay tactics.

Prosecutors want to do the right thing, May said. But the resources arent always there.

Some critics of this approach have another name for it: Pay to stay.

TO DO GREAT HARM

Confidential healthcare investigations can span years before a criminal indictment or civil settlement is announced. During this critical time gap, suspected bad doctors routinely stay on the job, potentially placing more unwitting patients at risk of harm.

Federal enforcers lack the legal authority to suspend or revoke a doctors license. That power is reserved for state medical boards.

Not one of the 540 doctors named in individual pay-to-stay cases examined by Reuters had their license suspended or revoked, either while a federal investigation was underway or after a settlement was reached, the analysis found. This was true even for cases in which medical board records show the boards had received warnings from whistleblowers or federal agencies that a doctor was suspected of hurting patients.

Among such cases was that of the Michigan gynecologic oncologist, a Detroit-area physician named Vinay K. Malviya. He kept working  and remains licensed today  despite allegations leveled by prosecutors in federal court records that he administered excessive chemotherapy treatments and performed medically unnecessary radical hysterectomies from February 2011 to June 2017. The state medical board was aware of those allegations and opted not to suspend Malviyas license while the probe proceeded, board records show.

According to allegations made by prosecutors in federal court records, concerns about Malviya had swirled for years at the nonprofit hospital system where he worked, prompting executives of that organization, Ascension Medical, to launch an internal review of his cases. Their confidential report, completed in March 2017 according to a federal affidavit, confirmed that several patients had been harmed by the gross negligence of Malviya in conducting unnecessary procedures and chemotherapy harmful to the patient, previously sealed federal court records seen by Reuters show.

Later that same year, in July 2017, three Ascension Medical employees filed a sealed whistleblower suit with a Michigan federal court. The Justice Department agreed to join the suit and quickly opened its own investigation with the OIG, federal court records show.

The three whistleblowers  all office staffers who handled patient records and billings  claimed that as far back as 2011, Malviya had performed medically unnecessary radical hysterectomies: removal of the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes. In one instance, Malviya had already scheduled a patient for the procedure before examining her for the first time, according to their federal complaint.

The whistleblower suit also pointed to a financial motive: Both Ascension and Malviya collected more revenue from complex surgeries and treatments, which qualified for higher reimbursements from government-run programs like Medicare.

In August 2021, the DOJ publicly announced a settlement with Ascension, and it unsealed portions of the whistleblower suit. Hospital officials agreed to pay $2.8 million based on allegations that they had knowingly submitted false billing claims from 2011 through 2017, according to a DOJ settlement statement.

The DOJ noted that Ascension had ended its contractual relationship with the doctor involved. It did not disclose Malviyas identity because he remained under federal investigation.

Ascension officials did not respond to Reuters requests for comment about the settlement or disclose when they ended their employment contract with Malviya. Prosecutors publicly credited Ascension officials for cooperating with their investigation and for voluntarily disclosing evidence of potential fraud. The settlement was neither an admission of liability by Ascension nor a concession by the government that its claims were unfounded, according to the signed agreement.

Malviyas name was ultimately revealed in April 2022 when prosecutors disclosed their settlement deal. The doctor agreed to pay $775,000 and not bill government programs for patient care for three years, according to court records.

In a written statement provided to Reuters, Malviya denied wrongdoing and noted that there was no determination of liability in his agreement with the government. He said he settled to avoid the stress and great expense of litigation. He said independent specialists had reviewed the cases in question and concluded that he had followed well-established standards of care. Malviya characterized himself as a doctor of last resort who treated difficult, complex cases that required unique treatments, akin to navigating uncharted waters, he wrote.

Malviya may face a private malpractice suit as well.

At least 150 former patients have been interviewed by Michigan attorneys who formally notified Malviya in December about their intent to file a lawsuit; a mandatory 182-day waiting period is required in Michigan malpractice cases to give potential defendants a chance to prepare for court. The case can be filed any time after late June.

Referring to the potential suit, Malviya in his statement to Reuters labeled claims of patient harm made by personal injury attorneys as false and defamatory and said he had demanded that they retract those assertions made online and in letters to patients.

Donna MacKenzie of Olsman MacKenzie Peacock & Wallace was one of the attorneys who conducted patient interviews. Women told us that they believe he performed unnecessary surgeries or ordered excessive chemotherapy, she said. Many said that they suffered life-changing harm. She and other attorneys on the case said they declined Malviyas retraction demands.

One of Malviyas former patients, who asked not to be identified before the suit is filed, said she sought treatment in 2017 due to severe stomach pain. She said Malviya diagnosed her with an ovarian cyst, which was alarming because her family had a genetic history of cancer. She agreed to surgery to remove the cyst. I thought I could die from cancer, she said.

Only after surgery did she learn that all her reproductive organs had been removed, she said. After learning of Malviyas 2022 settlement with federal prosecutors from local media reports, the woman said she shared her medical records with another doctor who determined that her cyst had not been cancerous. She now believes the cyst could have been removed without the loss of her reproductive organs. Reuters could not independently confirm her claims.

Michigans Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs opened an investigation into Malviya in 2017 after receiving a confidential complaint, which included medical summaries of 10 patients, according to records from the states Board of Medicine. The board opened its own investigation in 2018 to determine if disciplinary action was warranted.

Board documents in Malviyas case cited a 2017 report by a state-hired expert. The report concluded that Malviya, in some cases, had performed radical hysterectomies where there was no indication for the procedure, according to the boards investigative summary, reviewed by Reuters. The unidentified expert also wrote that Malviya had ordered excessive chemotherapy which, if unchecked, has the ability to do great harm.

The 19-member medical board had the legal power to temporarily suspend Malviyas license pending its investigation, which occurred about four years before the federal settlement. It chose another option: In 2019, the board ordered Malviya to attend a continuing education course and pay $15,000 to the board, its records show.

State medical board and licensing officials did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Malviya, 69, remains actively licensed without restriction in Michigan, though his private practice office has closed. He did not comment on his employment status.

MULTIPLE SETTLEMENTS, NO LIABILITY

California-based Prime Healthcare Services Inc, a corporate umbrella for dozens of U.S. hospitals, is the only medical facility system in the country to have settled three federal civil cases in the last six years, based on the Reuters analysis.

For the government, the cases represent success. Not only did prosecutors negotiate multimillion-dollar settlements from Prime corporate entities, they also extracted settlements from several doctors, including the chief executive officer.

For the public, however, the string of settlements underscores the enforcement limits of this approach when alleged offenders can repeatedly pay to close cases.

In the first settlement in 2018, Prime and its nonprofit foundation, along with Dr. Prem Reddy, founder and CEO, collectively paid $65 million in settlements to the government. Federal enforcers alleged that the defendants from 2006 to 2013 knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare by hospitalizing an undisclosed number of patients who could have been treated with less costly outpatient care, and by falsifying information concerning diagnoses to increase Medicare reimbursements.

A hospital whistleblower, who received about $17 million from that settlement, alleged in an affidavit that many patients were told that they were far sicker than they were, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear. The government did not require Prime or Reddy to acknowledge fault or liability, according to court records, nor were they made to notify patients who were allegedly hospitalized unnecessarily.

Similar allegations surfaced in 2019. Reddy and two Prime-managed hospitals in Pennsylvania agreed to pay $1.25 million to the government to settle allegations of billing for unnecessary hospitalizations and false diagnoses, according to federal court records. Once again, patients were not notified because, as with the first settlement, the government did not require Prime or Reddy to acknowledge fault or liability.

Speaking on behalf of Prime and Reddy, Primes communications vice president Elizabeth Nikels said in a written statement that the 2018 and 2019 agreements were the result of billing confusion among hospital staff. That confusion, she said, was exacerbated by vague Medicare rules at the time. The settlements did not relate to patient care and were entered to ensure that Prime Healthcare could focus on its mission of saving and transforming hospitals for communities across the country, the statement said.

Prime and Reddy settled for a third time in 2021.

Prosecutors accused Prime of paying three times market value to acquire the Victorville, California-based practice of cardiologist Siva Arunasalam, which is considered a kickback under federal law. Prosecutors maintained that the deal, designed to boost patient admissions to a Prime hospital, was substantially negotiated by Reddy. The sales price was not disclosed in court records. Additionally, Prime overcompensated Arunasalam based on volume of patient referrals, according to DOJ allegations.

Prime settled for about $33.7 million, Reddy paid $1.7 million and Arunasalam settled for $2 million, deposited into a Treasury department general fund, according to court records. Nikels, the Prime spokesperson, said in her statement that the company disputes the allegation that it overpaid for Arunasalems practice. Nonetheless, Prime submitted to enhanced federal monitoring for five years as part of a so-called integrity agreement in which government regulators monitor billings, patient admissions and physician compensation, she said.

Neither Arunasalam nor his attorney responded to requests for comment.

The Medical Board of California is responsible for enforcing a code of behavior for physicians that prohibits dishonesty and unethical actions involving patient care. Like boards in most states, the California body can mete out discipline privately or via actions that would allow the public to learn of a doctors disciplinary history.

The California boards publicly available records show no investigation or discipline of Reddy based on allegations linked to the three settlements. Other state records show that Reddy did not renew his medical license registration in 2018, making him ineligible to practice medicine in California. He remains the CEO of Prime, a role that does not require a medical license.

Public records likewise indicate that Arunasalam faced no action by the board. He remains licensed with no restrictions.

The California medical board did not respond to requests for comment.

A REMARKABLE RESULT

The difficult part of being a secret whistleblower is showing up to work each day and pretending that nothing is wrong, said Mark Favors, the registered nurse who alleged that his New York employer Dr. Feng Qin had performed unnecessary cardiac procedures on elderly immigrants. Favors accusations led to Qins $800,000 civil settlement in 2021.

I wanted to warn patients about what I knew, he said. I watched patients suffer complications, some had to be rushed to the emergency room, but I was sworn to secrecy by federal investigators.

A former U.S. Army nurse, Favors said he didnt know that Qin was under federal investigation when he got hired in 2012 to help manage the doctors private practice on the edge of Chinatown. Nor was he aware of Qins 2015 civil settlement until a drug sales representative told him about a brief mention of it in a healthcare trade publication.

Favors described that revelation as a light bulb moment. He had long found it odd that Qin paid transportation costs for his patients. It was an unusual perk considering that some lived more than 20 miles away and arrived by limo or Uber to the spartan office, with its bare-bones waiting room and blank white walls.

He said he began paying close attention to the doctors approach to treatment to see if Qin was honoring his pact with the government.

Favors said he found inconsistencies between what Qin wrote in patient files and the corresponding radiological images, which appeared not to support Qins diagnoses. He provided some of the data and images to federal investigators who, in turn, relied on medical experts to identify cases involving unnecessary procedures.

In his sealed 2016 whistleblower suit, commonly called a qui tam action, Favors alleged that surgeries for some patients had been scheduled before their first examination with Qin. In other cases, Favors said, patients were subjected to the same surgical procedures every three months regardless of medical need. These included angioplasties in which wires and balloons are inserted into narrowed blood vessels to increase blood flow.

Dr. Qin told patients that they might die if they didnt get the procedures, Favors said.

DOJ prosecutors indicted Qin in 2018 for a single count of felony fraud, but later dropped the charge as part of the $800,000 civil settlement in 2021, court records show. Federal officials awarded Favors nearly $200,000 from that agreement for his role as a whistleblower.

Qins attorneys, former federal prosecutors Ken Abell and David Eskew, told Reuters that their medical experts successfully disputed an undisclosed number of cases deemed by the government as medically unnecessary. Abell previously had been chief of healthcare fraud for New Yorks Eastern District until 2018, while Eskew had handled healthcare cases in New York and New Jersey until 2020.

Eskew called the felony charge dismissal a rare outcome and a remarkable result. Prosecutors in these cases typically wont agree to drop charges entirely; rather, they push for a deal in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser offense, he added. OIG officials told Reuters they opted for a civil settlement rather than face the uncertainty of persuading a jury in a criminal trial that Qin knowingly performed unnecessary surgeries.

Qins attorneys, in a statement to Reuters, disputed Favors accounts of Qins behavior and office events. In all events, the central premise of Favors qui tam complaint  that Dr. Qin performed medically unnecessary procedures  was ultimately disproven and discredited, Abell said.

Favors noted that his suit was validated by a lengthy joint investigation by the DOJ and OIG, a probe that culminated in Qin agreeing to a hefty settlement. Favors also observed that Qin, in his signed stipulation with prosecutors, acknowledged that symptoms documented in numerous patient medical records were insufficient to justify treatments.

Qins patients, meanwhile, were left in the dark. Mirroring all other civil agreements reviewed by Reuters, Qin was not required to notify his patients of the investigation or its outcome. Nor were prosecutors or OIG officials required to warn patients that they may have been victims of unnecessary surgeries.

OIG officials did block Qin from billing Medicare and other federal programs until February 2025.

For now, Qin, 59, works as a cardiac surgeon in China, where he was born and educated, his attorneys said. But he may return to New York when he is allowed to bill government programs again, they added.

How Reuters tracked the hidden toll of healthcare civil settlements https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-healthcare-settlements-methodology/

Topics California USA New York Michigan
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The United Nations Environment Programme on Wednesday said recent discussions within the United States had been behind four insurance firms quitting a UN-convened alliance aimed at reducing carbon emissions in recent months.

Republican federal and state lawmakers, governors, and attorneys general have been pushing back on growing efforts by investors and executives to include environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their business decision making.

Reinsurer Swiss Re on Monday joined Munich Re, Zurich Insurance, and Hannover Re in exiting the Net Zero Insurance Alliance amid growing pressure in the U.S., where some Republican politicians say these alliances could be breaking antitrust rules.

All four of the insurers to leave the group, part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero set up by U.N. climate envoy Mark Carney, have significant U.S. businesses, although only one  Munich Re  linked its decision to antitrust concerns.

In light of the recent discussions within the United States, members of the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), particularly those with significant US business and exposure, have made the individual and unilateral decision to either remain or withdraw from the NZIA, UNEP said.

Regardless of the situation, UNEP reaffirms its conviction ever since it initiated, convened, and launched the NZIA that in order to successfully tackle the climate emergency, there is a fundamental and urgent need for collaboration, not just individual action.

Topics Carriers USA
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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the global insurance brokerage and consulting firm, said it has acquired Florida-based Insurance by Ken Brown Inc., a retail broker specializing in coverage for construction and swimming pool companies in the Southeastern United States.

Ken Brown, Derek Brown and the team will remain in their Altamonte Springs headquarters, but now under the direction of Peter Doyle, head of Gallaghers Southeast retail property-casualty brokerage operations, Gallagher said in a news release.

Gallagher, headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, operates in 130 countries. Terms of the acquisition deal were not disclosed.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Florida Agencies A.J. Gallagher
The former chief financial officer of a Seattle, Washington-based startup took $35 million of his employers money without permission and lost it by investing in cryptocurrency before the crypto market crashed last year, according to a federal indictment returned by a grand jury.

Nevin Shetty, 39, was hired in March 2021 as CFO of a company called fabric, which makes software platforms for retail commerce.

About a year later, after the company informed him it was letting him go over job performance concerns, he secretly took the money and transferred it to HighTower Treasury, a crypto platform he controlled as a side business, the indictment said.

His idea was to pay the company 6% interest while retaining profits above that, but soon the $35 million investment was practically worthless, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Seattle said in a news release.

The indictment in U.S. District Court charged Shetty with four counts of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be arraigned May 25.

Shettys attorney, Cooper Offenbecher, said in an emailed statement that he and his client had been in regular contact with prosecutors and disagreed with the decision to bring an indictment.

As the CFO of his former employer, tasked with making investment decisions for its benefit, Mr. Shetty was personally devastated by these losses, which occurred as a result of a catastrophic crash in the cryptocurrency market in May 2022, Offenbecher wrote. We look forward to responding to these allegations in Court.

Prosecutors, however, said that as the company raised hundreds of millions of dollars in startup funding, it adopted a conservative approach to managing that money  a policy that Shetty had helped draft.

According to the Seattle tech news website GeekWire, fabric had raised more than $293 million by February 2022 and was valued at $1.5 billion.

In an emailed statement, the company said it had been cooperating with law enforcement and appreciated the work of the FBI and federal prosecutors.

While the amount taken is substantial, fabric remains very well-funded with years of runway, the statement said.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics InsurTech Washington
Source: Streetwise Reports

May 24, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Usha Resources Ltd., working toward delivering a National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate for its flagship Jackpot Lake lithium project in Nevada, is resuming drilling there with a more powerful rig.

Usha Resources Ltd. (USHA:TSX.V; USHAF:OTCQB)announced it is resuming drilling at its flagship Jackpot Lake lithium brine project in Nevada with a more powerful rig.

The new rig should allow Usha to expand two holes to 2,000 feet with the goal of delivering a National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate. Drilling is expected to start on or about June 1.

"By exploring to a depth of 2,000 feet, we aim to gather a more comprehensive understanding of the mineral potential within our project area, further enhancing the overall resource estimation and project feasibility of Jackpot Lake," Usha Chief Executive Officer Deepak Varshney said.

The company hopes to expand on the 99-foot and 273-foot intervals of the holes to higher-porosity sand conglomerate zones where it believes the best potential brines are present.

Last year, Usha said it saw the highest grades ever at the project, assaying 820 parts per million lithium (ppm Li) with an average of 334 ppm Li in 30 samples collected from shallow surface soils.

Jackpot Lake is "somewhat in its own 'world'" with a possible shallower and richer resource than other Nevada lithium projects, wrote Chris Temple, editor of The National Investor.

Temple said he took another look at the project after colleagues told him "NOT to sleepwalk past this one."

"Usha Resources Ltd. started as a Buy and is added to my list of Speculative-rated stocks," Temple wrote. "Besides many of Usha's unique attributes at Jackpot Lake (it has a few other exploration assets of various kinds as well), consider its share count: only 35 million shares or so outstanding, of which but a quarter or so is in the market."

Technical analyst Clive Maund of CliveMaund.com noted that Usha has strategic properties of rich mine sites and is focused "on the development of quality battery and precious metal properties that are drill-ready with high-upside and expansion potential," which makes it a safe bet for investors.

The Catalyst: Understanding the Lake Basin's Resource

Usha focuses on high-grade battery and precious metal projects across North America. The company said it planned to also start surface exploration work at its six lithium pegmatite projects in Ontario, including several just added to its portfolio.

The results from last year's drilling at the Jackpot Lake holes, JP22-01 and JP22-02, show that the soils at the 8,714-acre project are highly enriched in lithium, the company said. The highest returns are over four times the reported historical average and compare favorably with the 100 ppm average for the Esmeralda formation, a potential source of lithium enrichment for the brines in Clayton Valley, which hosts Albemarle's Silver Peak lithium brine mine.

"We are thrilled to announce the resumption of drilling operations using a larger drill rig," Varshney said. "This marks an important step forward in our exploration efforts and understanding what the Jackpot Lake basin holds."

Fieldwork Starts at Ontario Projects

The company recently added five highly prospective Ontario prospects to its roster, executing options for the right to purchase 100% interest in the Lee Lake, Mead, Bluett, Gathering Lake, and Triangle Lake sites.

Usha also has the White Willow Lithium Pegmatite project, also in Ontario, and the Lost Basin project in Arizona.

Fieldwork activities at the Ontario projects will include prospecting, mapping, and soil and visible outcrop sampling.

The primary target will be identifying targets for a fall drilling program, especially at White Willow, which Usha said hosts a lithium-cesium-tantalum system that contains coarse-grained tantalite crystallization.

That crystallization is only found in one other place in Ontario, the company said: the North Aubrey pegmatite at Green Technology Metals' (GT1) Seymour Lake project, where GT1 has identified a 9.9-million-tonne resource at 1.04% Li2O.

"Each of these projects offers considerable exploration upside, as they are situated in highly prospective geological settings known for hosting significant lithium mineralization," Varshey noted.

Why Lithium?

Lithium is a soft, silvery metal with highly reactive and flammable properties and is a major component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, and, therefore, a focus of the green energy transition. It is also used to strengthen alloys, as a high-temperature lubricant, and as a drug to treat bipolar disorder.

The deficit between lithium demand and production and highly probable and probable lithium projects will be over 3.5 Mt by 2040, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

One out of five vehicles sold worldwide could be an EV in less than two years, and Ford and General Motors have set a goal of achieving 40-50% of their sales from EVs in the U.S. by 2030. But to qualify for tax credits under new U.S. laws, a significant percentage of batteries and minerals in batteries must come from the U.S. or Canada.

China only has less than a quarter of the world's lithium resources but controlled about two-thirds of the world's lithium processing and refining capacity in 2021, Rystad Energy said.

Ownership and Share Structure

Management and insiders own 13.3% of Usha Resources, including the CEO Varshney, who owns 5.04%. Director Navin Varshney owns 7.1%.

According to Reuters, 15.03% is owned by institutions and strategic investors. Out of this category, Palos Management Inc. has the most at 1.77%.

The balance of 71.7% is held by retail investors.

Usha's market cap is CA$12.3 million, with about 47 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.42 and CA$0.205.

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Source: Streetwise Reports

May 24, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Recently, DroneSheild Ltd. announced it is rolling out a major update to its DroneSentry-C2 software platform. Read more to hear what experts are saying and what catalysts are up and coming for this counterdrone company.

Australian anti-drone company DroneShield Ltd. (DRO:ASX; DRSHF:OTC) announced it is rolling out a major update to its DroneSentry-C2 software platform.

The platform provides counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) awareness and reporting capability, integrating both DroneShield and third-party sensors and effectors to give the user an early warning system and detection threat level.

Major enhancements include consolidation of control panels, quicker selection of modes, and improved detail of detection events.

The update will make sure the product's engine "matches with a high-quality user interface to ensure reaction time," Chief Technology Officer Angus Bean said.

"A key challenge for drone security is reaction time," he said. "The speed at which drones can move and their ability to be deployed in close proximity to the target often results in a window of less than 10 seconds. During this time, the system must detect the drone, the operator must assess the situation, and countermeasures or otherwise appropriate responses (must be) deployed."

The company develops technologies to protect people, vehicles, and installations from UAS. It provides artificial intelligence-based platforms for protection against drone threats and other hostile autonomous systems with off-the-shelf products designed for a variety of terrestrial, maritime, and airborne platforms.



Source: DroneSheild Ltd.

DroneShield's customers include military and intelligence community members, governments, law enforcement, critical infrastructure providers, and international airports.

In a March research note, Peloton Capital analyst Darren Odell wrote that the company will be operating cash flow positive by the end of the year and "is an acquisition target."

Odell pointed to cash raised through a recent stock purchase plan and placement, two major new contracts, and the fact that the company has "a robust AU$200 million sales pipeline."

"The recent capital raise has provided DroneShield the ability to build inventory in anticipation of material contracts (and fulfill smaller contracts faster) that are expected to close in the short to medium term," wrote Odell.

Odell rated the stock Buy with an AU$0.84 per share target price.

The Russia-Ukraine war has also heightened interest in products like DroneShield's, Odell said. The U.S. Department of Defense also recommends the company, he pointed out.

The Catalyst: Military Spending on the Rise

After it released the DroneSentry-C2 SFAI (Sensor Fusion Artificial Intelligence) Engine last quarter, the company has worked closely with users to refine the user experience of the platform.

The technology's browser-based monitoring application lets users remotely access DroneShield products to check statuses, configure system settings, monitor threat levels, and respond in real time from anywhere.

The C-UAS market was valued at US$1.34 billion in 2021 and is forecasted to grow from US$1.58 billion in 2022 to US$6.95 billion by 2029 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.55%, Fortune Business Insights reported.

Defense spending continues to increase, with the U.S. eyeing a US$1 trillion defense budget within a few years.

Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord said the U.S. could be nearing a "watershed moment" as the country moves toward a US$886.3 billion budget for national defense in 2025.

Total military expenditures reached US$2.11 billion last year, the seventh consecutive year that spending had increased, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The five largest spenders, accounting for 62% of expenditures, included the U.S., China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia.

"The rising military spending in North America and Europe will be driven by both regions' need to re-fill weapons and equipment stockpiles that have been heavily drained by their support for the Ukrainian war effort," MRP said.

Unified System is a Major Advantage

Technical analyst Clive Maund of CliveMaund.com wrote in March that the company was a "strong Buy" at AU$0.30 per share and that any short-term drop below that level is an opportunity to add positions. It was AU$0.28 on Monday afternoon.

"With business set to continue to grow, this looks like a good point to buy the stock ahead of a renewed advance," Maund said.

Odell has written that DroneShield should seal more contracts by the end of the year, as many as three larger ones and several smaller ones.

DroneShield has an advantage because it offers a unified system, Chief Executive Officer Oleg Vornik said. [OWNERSHIP_CHART-10524]

"DroneShield is unique globally, in being both a sensor developer/manufacturer, as well as designer of own Command-and-Control/C2 system," Vornik said. "This enables streamlined end user experience with the DroneShield ecosystem."

Ownership and Share Structure

DroneShield's management and insiders own 11% of the company. Vornik holds 1.4% or 8.18 million shares, according to Reuters. Chief Financial Officer Carla Balanco maintains 1.44% with 8.45 million shares, Bean has 1.26% with 7.39 million shares, and Board member Peter James has 1.09% with 6.40 million shares.

Strategic investors hold 13.99%, while the remaining shareholdings are in retail.

DroneShield has a market cap of US$113.76 million with about 588 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of US$0.34 and US$0.10.

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Leading business publication Forbes announced it will host its world-renowned Under 30 Forum, highlighting the work of prominent young entrepreneurs, in Limerick, two years after it called it stab city.

The event organisers at Forbes seemed to have had a change of heart and warmed to Limerick City as it plans to host the forum next month in the Strand Hotel.

The opportunities for business and innovation in Ireland are abundant, and were excited to help amplify those on an international scale, gathering the worlds brightest young leaders in the heart of Limerick, said Randall Lane, chief content officer at Forbes.

The city has already grabbed the attention of Forbes in 2021 when it published a piece on the Collison brothers, who founded payments processing giant Stripe.

The piece included the controversial comment in addition to saying that the brothers escaped the murder capital of Europe to eventually create the $95bn (88bn) company.

Reaction

The article spurred outrage from Limerick natives at the time including the Collison brothers and podcaster Blindboy Boatclub.

Not only mistaken about Limerick but the idea of overcoming anything is crazy. We are who we are because we grew up where we did, Patrick Collison tweeted at the time.

Forbes representatives told a local paper the Limerick Leader that the piece failed to meet editorial standards and the article was subsequently removed following the backlash.

Last month, Forbes vice-president of corporate communications Christina Vega Magrini told The Irish Times that it was having conversations with its Limerick partners discussing the details for hosting an event there this summer, signalling that the hatchet had been buried.

The event in June will gather local entrepreneurs, business school students from throughout the region, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honourees.

In an effort to place a spotlight on the business landscape of Limerick, the event will also offer local tours of several of the citys landmarks.

 Forbes event will allow the world to witness the convergence of young talent, investment opportunities, and industrial innovation, as Limerick continues to shape the future of business in Ireland, said Mayor of Limerick city and county Francis Foley.
Dairy farmers wondering what the government will throw at them next under climate and nitrates regulations should start swotting up on carbon sequestration.

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.

The Government's Climate Action Plan 2023 includes a commitment to impose mandatory carbon sequestration requirements for nitrates derogation farmers, and the first quarter of 2023 was the due date.

The Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) has now written to the Government saying the carbon sequestration commitment appears to be delayed or behind schedule, and to get on with it. The CCAC is the independent advisory body assessing and advising on how Ireland can transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy.

The letter from CCAC Chair Marie C Donnelly warned the Government that a downward emissions trajectory in 2023 is crucial, and any delay risks failure for 2030 emissions to stay within agreed carbon budgets. Delays would also lead to higher emissions than anticipated, which would have to be addressed in subsequent plans.

Included among the six most critical actions that the CCAC said to appear to be delayed or behind schedule is imposing mandatory derogation requirements under the Nitrates Regulations to enhance carbon sequestration.

The CCAC also voiced its concern that two major carbon budget elements are outstanding. One of these is the sectoral emissions ceiling for LULUCF (Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry), another area which directly concerns farmers and landowners.

According to Teagasc, the best existing ways to increase carbon sequestration on farms are to plant additional woodlands or forests and to restore drained wetlands. If 5,000 hectares of agroforestry (growing trees combined with animal or crop agriculture) were established before 2030, it would accrue up to 26,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year sequestration by 2030.

Read More Anja Murray: Moss is the unsung hero of the biosphere

Next best are improving soil fertility, establishing clover or multi-species swards, and planting extra hedgerows. Planting 10,000km of new hedgerows would increase carbon sequestration by about 9,500 of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

However, national research is urgently required to confirm carbon sequestration (and methane reduction) benefits suggested for multispecies swards. Other ways to increase carbon sequestration are avoiding soil compaction, increasing grazing, and allowing existing hedgerows to be taller and wider.

In the longer term, use of digestate from anaerobic digestion will increase carbon sequestration. Sequestration by forming carbonate minerals in soils can be promoted artificially, for example, by addition of basalt rock dust to soils.

Planting 10,000km of new hedgerows would increase carbon sequestration by about 9,500 of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

Increased application of pig slurry on cropland will improve low soil organic carbon systems. If 50% of pig slurry is spread on tillage land, this would result in 11,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year abated.

According to Teagasc researchers, mineral grassland soils already contain large stocks of carbon, equivalent to 30 years worth of carbon emissions. Unreclaimed peat soils store even more per hectare.

Grasslands are generally a carbon sink (sequestering more carbon than they release). But international accounting rules allow credit only for additional sequestration that occurs due to management changes. In contrast to mineral soil, grasslands on drained organic (peat) soils are a substantial source of carbon emissions.

Restoring (rewetting) small areas of peat soils can deliver large carbon savings. Carbon stored in soils is often called soil organic carbon and it is good for soils, improving their workability, water holding capacity, and productivity.
In a fairly crowded field, Mozarts Cosi fan Tutte has the reputation for being perhaps the most misogynistic of operas. Yet, youd never know it from this new Irish National Opera staging, which is much to the credit of director Polly Graham. Her project of centering the storys two young women, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, begins even in the overture, and continues to a final, perhaps-not-so-surprising twist.

As conductor Peter Whelan lifts the baton for the first time, we see a sketched Irish big house on the safety screen. Onto this is projected a sepia-tinted film showing scenes from the young aristocratic ladys life: letter-writing, card-playing, water-colouring, such things. Its the first of many visual delights (take a bow Jamie Vartan for the sheer invention of the design), which add up to create a strong sense of time and place. Not 18th-century Vienna, but early 20th-century Ireland, with war in Europe looming, suffragettes campaigning, and revolution in the air.

Anna Devin and Sharon Carty in Cosi fan Tutte, Picture: Ruth Medjber

The story proper begins as Ferrando and Guglielmo, the respective lovers of Dorabella and Fiordiligi, and so sure of their girls fidelity, accept a bet from the cynical old philosopher Don Alfonso, who thinks theyll cheat if given half a chance. So, off Ferrando and Guglielmo pretend to go, as gallant Irishmen to the trenches of France, only to return disguised as a pair of buffoonish filmmakers, here to make a kitsch cod-Celtic epic about Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Fianna. As Mozarts score bounces along, full of life and beauty, its often the sublime in the service of the silly: a ridiculous story, of ridiculous characters and situations.

But Graham shows theres nothing wrong with that, as baritone Benjamin Russell (Guglielmo) and tenor Dean Power (Ferrando) show themselves adept at physical comedy, sending up their characters eejitry (the word eejit even appears in the surtitles here, to much laughter) in a way that balances the overtones of contempt for women.

Dean Power, Benjamin Russell and John Molloy in Cosi fan Tutte. Picture: Ruth Medjber

Thus, this Cosi fan is less about womans inconstancy, and more about the tumult, the heartache, the uncertainty of young love. As such, Fiordiligis beautiful aria of faithfulness, 'Per pieta, ben mio, perdona' (In pitys name, my dearest, forgive), sung so wonderfully by Anna Devin here, is the most emotionally real moment of the night, and when the men do come together finally to sing 'Cosi fan tutte', or 'they are all like that', they no longer do so with untroubled authority.

Whether or not that final twist coheres is up to each to decide for themselves. But agree or not, its another confident flourish in a production that points to one thing  there remains something essential about this silly, problematic, madcap masterpiece.
Peat is a special kind of soil. We are very aware that the midland raised bogs are a special type of habitat, home to carnivorous plants such as sundews, butterworts, and bladderworts  rich in insect life such as dragonflies, damselflies, and specialist butterflies like the endangered Marsh-fritillary. Peat bogs are where breeding waders such as Curlew, Red Grouse, Lapwing, Redshank and Snipe have been breeding for millennia, now struggling to survive because so much of their habitat has been lost in recent decades, due to a combination of drainage, peat mining, and plantation forestry.

Peatlands have also come into sharp focus over the past 20 years because they are the largest and most concentrated global store of carbon of all terrestrial ecosystems, containing twice the carbon of the forest biomass. But drainage reverses the process of carbon sequestration and instead, dry peat soils release vast quantities of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Each hectare of drained bog, whether cutover or cutaway, emits six tonnes of carbon dioxide per year for each year that it remains dry. In Ireland, the cumulative impact of these emissions is enormous: drained peatlands here release 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year  about the same amount released by the Irish energy sector annually.

A combination of climate action targets and European nature conservation laws has resulted in recent efforts to restore peatlands, a process that reduced greenhouse emissions, allows the recovery of biodiversity, and helps mitigate water pollution too.

However, most of the focus to date has been on raised bogs, the vast majority of which have been mined peat moss, for electricity generation and for turf. A small proportion of raised bogs, those considered most eligible for restoration, are being actively restored. This involves blocking drainage ditches, disabling pumping facilities, and managing the water table so it remains close to the surface. Restoring drained bogs is considered by the UN as low-hanging fruit and among the most cost-effective options for mitigating climate change. Peatlands in State ownership have been prioritised for restoration, though progress has been slow. EU funding has been provided to restore designated Natura 2000 bogs and there are also some restoration projects underway by State-owned bodies Bord na Mona and Coillte.

Botanical Researcher Dr Rory Hodd, leading botanists as they explore the Derreenanaryagh bog, Glencar, Co Kerry.

But in Ireland, its not just the raised bogs we need to restore if we are to achieve climate and biodiversity targets. A whopping 20% of Irelands land area is covered by peat soils and an estimated 330,000 hectares of these peat soils across the country have been converted to grassland. If a proportion of these is to be restored, the private owners of these agricultural peat soils will need to be incentivised to farm carbon. A recent survey found that the majority of farmers here (74%) agree that addressing climate change is urgent and the same strong majority agree that they can contribute to mitigating climate change on their farms. However many also believe that reducing emissions equates with reduced profits. Instead, with the right approach, the restoration of peat soils can be an opportunity for enormous investment in farm communities.

This is where financing climate action and dwindling farm incomes can combine. A disproportionate amount of farmed peat soils are on marginal land where farm incomes are most in need of additional support. With sufficient funding, guaranteed over decades, many farmers with peat soils will be more than willing to engage in restoration. Voluntary participation can be successful if adequately incentivised. There is no one size fits all that will work; instead farmers need proper information and support to engage and a choice of approaches.

One such pilot initiative is the FarmPEAT programme, a voluntary scheme operating in the midlands for the past two years. The main aim of the scheme is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from peat soils, in addition to restoring biodiversity and improving water quality. With funding from the European Innovation Project, farmers voluntarily engaging in the pilot programme are paid according to the results achieved across their landholding. While they learn about the merits of various actions they can take, they have the flexibility to implement actions as they chose.

Pilot schemes such as these have developed workable approaches, although long-term commitments of funding are needed if results-based land management is to deliver results at scale. The current absence of long-term funding commitments has hampered progress so far and the vacuum of detailed national policy is no help to anyone. There is already a dearth of information and in the vacuum, misinformation is spreading and opposition to restoration is being stoked.

A day in the bog... Jean Hamilton, NPWS Conservation Ranger, guiding botanists as they explore the Derreenanaryagh bog, Glencar, Co Kerry.

Hostility to the forthcoming Nature Restoration Law appears to be largely based on the targets for peatland restoration that it will necessitate, despite the fact that the DAFMs own targets are already double what the Nature Restoration Law would require. Our national Climate Action Plan has already set targets for restoration of peat soils that are three times greater than the targets set by the proposed Nature Restoration Law.

Restoring these grass-covered peat soils across the country will not be an easy task, there are huge challenges to grapple with. Restoration takes time. Payments per hectare will have to reflect this  with assurances now that as peat soils recover and the seepage of carbon is gradually halted, payments will continue. Action is urgent, though gaining the goodwill and commitment of private landowners also takes time.

Peatland restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to avert the worst extremes of climate catastrophe and biodiversity collapse. As with most problems, a failure to respond in good time leads to the problem only getting worse. Restoring peat soils requires long-term thinking and immediate, strategic action. For this opportunity to be of benefit to the farmers as well as the common good, we all need to remain positive, resourceful, and determined.

This column has previously delved in to the role of peat bogs:

Anja Murrays new book, Wild Embrace , is available now. Follow Anja on twitter @miseanja
Big Brother-style monitoring of staff in the workplace requires the Government to urgently step in with new legislation, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

The Financial Services Union (FSU) outlined its concerns to the Oireachtas enterprise committee that legislative change was essential to keep pace with the rapid technological advances taking place, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence.

What wed be afraid of is that it would be like social media, the unions general secretary John OConnell told TDs and senators.

Its gone so far, so fast that by the time were regulating, its gone away from us. And entities might be too powerful, like social media today.

Two TDs compared the discussion at committee on Wednesday to the work of novelist George Orwell, with Waterford TD Matt Shanahan declaring 2024 is now 1984 potentially.

The findings of research conducted by the FSU and Dr Michelle OSullivan, from the University of Limericks Kemmy Business School, were presented at the meeting on Wednesday.

More than half of the workers surveyed did not know if their office or home computer was monitored, while a quarter said their employer had stepped up data collection on their work since they began working from home.

Surveillance demoralising

In the view of these workers, such surveillance of them at work could be demoralising, stressful and suggested their employer did not trust them.

Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly said the means of surveillance of employees represented a fundamental change from monitoring, for example, when someone clocks in and out.

Dr OSullivan said more information was needed on what was happening in Ireland regarding surveillance but said it depends on the organisation and type of job youre doing.

Surveillance can take the form of monitoring calls, emails, direct messages, or even keystrokes on a computer, the committee heard.

Some companies have invested enormous amounts of money in technology, and can collect constant and granular data in a way it hasnt before," she said.

In retail baking, theres an enormous amount of data collection, focused on sales targets. And employees work on every aspect of what they do, collected on scorecards, and their conversations are recorded.

Dr OSullivan said one bank manager who responded to their research cited an example where a worker might go off-script to help a customer who might have struggled to access online banking or similar services.

If they go off-script, they could be disciplined or face heightened monitoring. When they could be trying to help the customer. They may feel technology is working against them. They dont mind technology that helps them in their work.

Looking abroad, Dr OSullivan cited one extreme example in Japan where employees cannot enter the building unless they are smiling. She said companies were developing technology to record everything from a persons interactions to their emotions at work.

Mr OConnell said they were presenting this research as part of a request for the committee to prepare a wider report on surveillance of employees in the workplace, and stressed the need for legislation.

Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton suggested the ever-expanding technology was so far-reaching potentially that lawmakers need to know where they can stick their oar in to guide the boat.

The union head replied: Thats why were asking committee to commission a report to understand the extent of it thats currently at play, and the potential for it to go.

He said it was essential to address the power imbalance in favour of the employer in this situation, and that legislation addresses the necessity and proportionality of technological surveillance in all its forms. And that it is done in negotiation and agreement with unions.

Thats why we would argue in relation to collective bargaining, he said.

Legislation around collective bargaining to underpin peoples right to be represented and have things be thrashed out. It shouldnt be a threat to employers. Itll lead to better workplace policies.
A High Court judge has said further explanation may be required as to how documents related to the Web Summit dispute were deleted and later recovered.

Mr Justice Denis McDonald made the comment when he was updated as to the latest progress in exchange of documents between the parties in the dispute as part of the pre-trial discovery process.

Graiguearidda, a corporate entity of Web Summit co-founder David Kelly, who owns 12% of the business, is suing Web Summit holding company Manders Terrace Ltd, its chief executive, Patrick Cosgrave and his entity, Proto Roto Ltd, claiming oppression of shareholders rights.

Daire Hickey, another minority shareholder in Web Summit, and his commercial vehicle Lazvisax Ltd, is also suing Mr Cosgrave and Proto Roto over alleged oppression of his rights as a minority shareholder.

Manders Terrace and Mr Cosgrave are counter-suing Mr Kelly, claiming he [Kelly] was involved in secret efforts to set up an investment fund for his own personal gain by using the resources of the business.

The respondents deny the claims.

On Wednesday, Frank Kennedy BL, for Graiguearidda and Mr Kelly, said his side had received a significant number of documents on Monday and they were not in a position yet to say how long it will take to review them. However, it was agreed with the other parties the matter should go back to June 12.

The other issue to be dealt with is a supplemental affidavit from Mr Kelly in relation to deleted documents which were recovered.

There are some four gigabytes of material and it had not yet been identified how long it will take to make the supplemental discovery but that matter should be put back to June 12 too, he said. He did not believe any time would be lost because of this.

Kelley Smith SC, for Mr Hickey and Lazvisax, said her client made the discovery in full this week and received some discovery. Her side were "somewhat surprised", however, to receive just under 30,000 documents out of 14m that they were previously told existed.

Counsel agreed the prudent thing to do was to put the matter back to June 12 when it should be possible to tell the court how long it will take to do a complete review of the documents.

Bernard Dunleavy SC, for Manders Terrace, said his side had produced a substantial amount of discovery following an assessment and it was a good idea to put it in for review to the next date.

However, in relation to the supplemental discovery affidavit of Mr Kelly and the recovered material, there were a number of issues including that there does not appear to be any explanation of what it was, when it happened and why it was deleted.

Mr Kennedy, in reply to Mr Dunleavy, suggested the most practical way to deal with this was through correspondence.

Mr Justice McDonald said it may be that further explanation is required and it seemed appropriate to deal with it through correspondence. He agreed to put the matter back to June 12.
A woman who yesterday lost a landmark case to stop her daughter from being adopted by her foster mother said she "always believed" she was coming back to her.

On Wednesday, a seven judge Supreme Court unanimously upheld a decision that the adoption of an 18-year-old girl, known as Ms B against the wishes of her birth mother, is correct.

Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said any conclusion to the contrary simply overlooks the lived reality of Ms B

The young woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was born with foetal alcohol syndrome with associated global developmental delay and a moderate general learning disability.

Her birth mother was in an abusive marriage and was raped and physically assaulted repeatedly, something acknowledged by the court.

The court heard the mother drank excessively to cope with the abuse she was undergoing during her first trimester and the child was taken into care shortly after birth.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner following the ruling, the mother said she is heartbroken.

"I suffered a lot of abuse and drank to block it out. I didnt know I was pregnant  I was trying to survive.

My daughter went into care, and I always believed she was coming back to me.

There wasnt a course I didnt do to get her back and I dont drink anymore.

It is a very hard system when you are on your own and you dont know what is going on. I lived in a rural place, away from my family.

"I was caught up in domestic violence, rape, you name it. I needed support.

The court heard Ms B was born with special needs in 2004 following a 28-week pregnancy.

She was placed in voluntary care that year and two years later, her mother said she should remain with her foster mother because of the high level of care she required.

On July 17, 2007 a care order was granted by the District Court to leave the child with the foster mother until she reached 18. At the time, the mother did not object to the order.

"I felt I had no choice," said the natural mother. "I was under huge pressure and very isolated, I thought as things got better, I could get her back, you feel so small in these situations, its very hard to speak up for yourself and your family when your child is in care as anyone in my situation knows".

'Loving and happy home'

Ms B has lived with the foster mother all of her life and the court heard there was no question she provided the child with a loving and happy home.

The birth mother and her daughter had biweekly visitations from 2004 to 2008 when the mother moved away to be near her family after she suffered financial difficulties and the breakdown of her marriage.

"I'll never forget that time," she said. "It was the toughest part of my life".

In 2022, an adoption order was refused by the High Court following a legal challenge by the mother.

Judge Max Barrett said he was not convinced that the child fully understood the legal implications of adoption.

He was also critical of the role of the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, over its lack of support to keep mother and child in contact.

The natural mother said from 2012 to 2017 Tusla failed to provide financial support to allow her to visit her daughter and from 2014 to 2017 that no child in care review was conducted.

She was critical of Tusla, saying high turnover of social workers culminated in her learning her daughter was to be adopted from a form she was reading at a review meeting.

Tusla appealed the High Court's ruling with the support of the Adoption Authority of Ireland.

The appeals court found the adoption was needed for the continued protection of the child's "social, educational, physical, and psychological welfare.

The birth mother still hoped for a reunification when she appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court praised her fortitude, saying she has managed to turn her life around from circumstances of profound adversity.

In 2005 I went to an alcohol treatment programme and stopped drinking, she said.

I did parenting courses and I got my two other children out of care  I worked very hard on myself. They are doing really well and are devastated over this case. Thats their sister.

I went on to get a degree in college and Ive a job and a home now. Things are good.

I had no one guiding me. When my daughter was small and in care, I was literally fighting rent collectors from the door.

I had to dig deep to get my life back, but I got no support from the State, instead I lost my child, and I am heartbroken.

In a statement the Adoption Authority of Ireland said: The Authority does not comment on individual cases. The Authority processes and manages all adoption matters that come before it in a transparent and accountable manner in accordance with the Adoption Act 2010 and the 1993 Hague Convention.

A spokesperson for Tusla said it acknowledges the judgement of the Supreme Court today. We understand that this was a very difficult case for those involved, and given the ongoing sensitivities around this case, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further.
The HSE is making moves to accelerate plans for a new 96-bed ward at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

The news has been welcomed by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Limerick TD Niall Collins.

The HSE is making arrangements to "accelerate enabling works which will progress delivery" of the block, which is deemed crucial in a hospital which frequently suffers from overcrowding.

The next phase of works includes an underground car park, ground floor, and first-floor shell spaces.

The HSE is also, Mr Donnelly said, preparing plans to take forward "construction and fit out of a further four 24-bed inpatient wards as part of the upper part of second ward block".

Mr Collins said: The provision of additional bed capacity is critical to solving the issues weve been experiencing in Limerick for far too long.

"Both the new bed capacity and new personnel are critical. It is something well continue to pursue.

A further two 96-bed blocks are proposed to be developed as part of the overall masterplan for the UHL campus.

Protests

Meanwhile, a protest against overcrowding in UHL will take place again on Sunday as patients frustration continue to grow.

January saw an estimated 11,000 people take to the streets, followed by smaller protests.

Organiser Mike Daly said: I believe that the current system remains broken despite a large-scale protest highlighting problems at the hospital in January.

They are calling for the full re-opening of three emergency departments at smaller hospitals in the region to take pressure from UHL.

I was left speechless by the support and turnout supporting the campaign in person, he said.

However, despite public outcry, the number of patients on trolleys at UHL has once again approached record levels.

He pointed in frustration to high numbers of patients on trolleys daily, saying: Why has this situation been allowed to continue for years?

With just one large hospital in the region the crisis affects everyone, he said.

The protest is being organised for Sunday to send a message that the people of Limerick and surrounding areas deserve better, he said.

Since January, funding of over 5m has been allocated to the UL Hospital Group to expand services at Ennis, Nenagh, and St Johns.

The protest starts at 2pm at City Hall.
Leaving Cert students will receive their exam results on August 25, Education Minister Norma Foley has confirmed.

The news comes after Ms Foley previously indicated results could be issued to students as late as September, as happened in 2022. This led to warnings from students and colleges that another year of delays will put them under intense pressure.

However, Ms Foley has said the State Examinations Commission (SEC) intends to issue the Leaving Certificate results on Friday, August 25, 2023.

This is a significant and very welcome step towards pre-pandemic norms in relation to the timing for issue of results, she said.

Within this timeframe, the SEC will again provide a deferred examinations sitting for candidates unable to sit the main exams due to bereavement or major illness or injury, and also implement a post-marking adjustment following completion of marking, in the context of avoiding any cliff edge in grades as compared to the pandemic years.

I want to acknowledge the SECs huge effort and commitment to deliver this timeline, including its intensive campaign to recruit teachers as examiners.

I want to take this opportunity also to thank all those teachers who are engaging in this important work.

Assessment adjustments

Ms Foley also confirmed that, as for 2023, adjustments will be made to the assessment arrangements for students due to sit State examinations in 2024.

These will be the same as the assessment adjustments that have applied for students sitting the 2023 examinations.

She said the impact of the pandemic is not yet in the past and it will have disrupted teaching and learning for the cohort of students sitting State examinations in 2023 and the majority of those sitting the Leaving Cert next year.

In confirming adjustments to assessment for the 2024 State examinations, I am pleased to be able to give this clarity and certainty to students and I am confident that the adjustments announced today acknowledge the disruption faced by these students as a result of the covid-19 pandemic in a proportional manner, ensure fairness and equity for students, and are educationally appropriate.

It is understood the level of adjustment will be the same as that applied to State examinations in 2022 and 2023, but updated as relevant.

Detail on the adjusted assessment arrangements for every subject/module descriptor in the Leaving Certificate Established, Leaving Certificate Applied, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and Junior Cycle programmes will be issued to schools in due course, and schools will be asked to ensure that all students are made aware of these changes.
Exactly 100 years ago today, an Independent Ireland had its first chance to breathe. On May 24, 1923, Frank Aiken, who became chief of staff of the IRA following the death of Liam Lynch a month previously, ordered his soldiers to lay down their weapons.

Comrades, Aiken addressed his men and women in a communique, the arms with which we fought the enemy of our country are to be dumped. The foreign and domestic enemies of the Republic have for the moment prevailed. But our enemies have not won. Neither tortures nor firing squads, nor a slavish press can crush the desire for independence out of the hearts of those who found for the Republic or out of the hearts of our people.

In time, Aiken would accept the democratic state which the Anglo-Irish treaty had delivered and serve it faithfully in high office. But in May 1923, he still clung hard to the notion that the people had no right to be wrong.

Eamon DeValera, the political leader of the anti-treaty forces, agreed with his military commander, pointing out that military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic.

The Civil War was over.

Seven years after a spark was lit in pursuit of a new republic, the final outcome, the freedom to achieve freedom, as expressed by Michael Collins, was finally dawning. The 10-month internal conflict had left the place in rag order. Rail and road networks had been destroyed, elements of a fledgling economy left stillborn, repairs aplenty to be undertaken. Around 2,000 people had been killed in the 10 months it raged.

The economic cost was estimated to be around 50m, which would be close to 1bn in todays money. And then there was the traumatised psyche of the nation.

The War of Independence had exercised a heavy toll on the country, but if anything it elevated a sense of national pride and solidarity. That was shattered in the ensuing internal conflict.

And the division was not along racial, religious, geographic, or tribal guidelines, but whether or not individuals felt capable of accepting a political compromise. The split was highly uneven, with 78% of voters in the May 1922 election supporting pro-treaty parties. The fissures opened up would take decades to heal.

When the war ended it may well have appeared that Eamon DeValeras career as a frontline Irish leader was at an end. He was extremely lucky to be alive. Unlike Collins, Harry Boland, Cathal Brugha, and Arthur Griffith, he had survived the conflict. But he was a much-reduced figure, blamed by many as the main reason why erstwhile comrades had turned guns on each other.

He was hunted until his capture in the summer of 23 when he was imprisoned. In time, he would be the towering figure of the first 50 years of the State he had set out to, and inspired others to, destroy. Had there been no conflict Collins would in all likelihood have survived to occupy the primary role in shaping a new free state, the precise role that Dev ascended to after a brief spell in political purgatory.

There was some afters in terms of the violence in the months and even years following Aikens order. In July 1923, anti-treaty captain Noel Lemass, brother of future taoiseach Sean, was abducted and brutally murdered in the Dublin mountains. In 1927, four years later, two IRA men shot dead Kevin OHiggins, the minister for economic affairs, on his way to Mass. OHiggins had been a central figure in the policy of executions during the Civil War. There were other incidents also, but the threat by an organised group to destroy the free state ended officially in May 1923.

Michael Collins addresses a crowd in College Green, Dublin, in March 1922. Picture: AP

And what had it been for? Debate on the merits of the Anglo-Irish treaty persist to this day, but does anybody believe that Britain, freshly confirmed as the biggest economic and military power in Europe after the First World War, still ruling an empire, would ever concede that its oldest colony could break free as a standalone republic? The idea was as preposterous as was the attempt 50-plus years later to violently drive the British out of the North.

History has shown that the anti-treatyites, for the greater part, honest and honourable in their intent, didnt have any plan beyond to keep fighting until the Brits copped onto themselves. People such as Collins knew that such a strategy would end up with, at best, the same treaty being accepted a few years down the line following further death and destruction and less chance of making a free state economically viable.

Despite attempts in recent years by Sinn Fein to claim allegiance to the anti-treaty side, the North simply didnt feature. If a 26-county republic had been on offer, there would have been no civil war to talk about. Arguably, the Civil War ensured that Catholics in the North ended up even more abandoned, most isolated in a sectarian state than would otherwise have been the case. As it was, they were completely abandoned as the shattered State in the south turned inwards.

Former Civil War anti-Treaty comrades, defence minister Frank Aiken and taoiseach Eamon de Valera, in the 1950s. Picture: Getty

That was one of a number of criticisms that could be laid at the door of the first government, led by WT Cosgrave. They came out of the Civil War resolute in their belief that they had to take firm action to secure the future of a new, democratic entity existing in a shaky and often dangerous world.

During the conflict, the government had resorted to vicious methods of suppression, most notably the executions. Afterwards, they actively covered up the worst of the atrocities. Distrust and the influence in some areas of the anti-treaty side ensured that the administration would govern in a centralised manner, giving life to a system that was to blight the State to this day. They were economically conservative to a point where those most in need did not receive commensurate consideration when crafting budgets. Women were instructed to retreat to the home and undertake the role designed by them by the strictures of the Catholic Church.

This was a government in which Pearse or Connolly would not have lasted a wet week. Then again, would Pearse ever have been interested in addressing the compromises required to govern in any stable democracy? Would Connolly have ever been electable, and if not, what would his next move have been? Michael Collins wouldnt have felt at home in the first post-Civil War cabinet, but many have speculated that he might have harboured dictatorial tendencies.

Still, the general consensus is that Collins personality, character, and ability would have been a major asset in the fledging government.

What history does report is that the Cumann na nGaedheal administration that guided the State through those early straits managed to maintain itself as a democracy against all the odds. According to the anti-poverty organisation Our World In Data, Ireland is just one of 10 countries that have been electoral democracies for a century or more. (The others are Canada, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK, the US, Australia, and Switzerland).

The democracy that was won through the Anglo-Irish treaty has at times been woefully managed, particularly in the years of economic isolation under DeValera. It has been a cold house for minorities through much of the century. It was, for the first two-thirds of its existence, in thrall to a Church which usurped power from the elected government. Yet as the history of the 20th century can attest, the alternative, ceding power to an individual strongman, or a military junta, has never worked out any better, and usually far worse.

A school of opinion, which received some coverage during the decade of centenaries, has posited that the government to emerge from the Civil War represented the counter-revolution. This infers that the men in control consisted of the settlers who moved in to capitalise on the sacrifice of the pioneers. Yet Cosgrave, and DeValera who would follow him, were both condemned to die after Easter 1916. Cosgraves government was certainly conservative, but surely that positioning had been a reaction to the violent threats to destabilise it before it got off the ground. Besides, they were governing a people which gave primary allegiance to a Church which was defined by its conservatism.

They were magnificent, DeValera is reported as saying about his predecessors when he saw the state files on taking power in 1932. That was a high compliment from an unlikely source.

On this day 100 years ago, that first government finally had a chance to breathe and usher in a new State. The damaged national psyche and the sheer exhaustion felt by many sectors of society meant there was no ticker tape parade.

DeValeras subsequent dominance of the political firmament, allied to the absence of charisma among Cosgrave and his frontline ministers, has meant that the first post-Civil War government has probably never received full credit. At a time when other aspects of history are busy being rewritten to accommodate present-day politics, it might be no bad thing if the achievements of the immediate post-Civil War period was accorded due recognition.
Do older people have a best-before date creatively?

Last week as part of the Cork International Poetry Festival, Deirdre Brennan won the Farmgate National Poetry Award for her collection, Medeas Cauldron, which is published by Arlen House.

She is a bi-lingual poet who has published 16 books, including 12 collections of poetry in Irish and English. She was previously awarded an Oireachtas prize for

Ag Mealladh Realta, but this is her first English-language prize.

She is 89. I mention this only because it is virtually unheard of for somebody of her age to win a literary prize. When she was awarded the prize, Patrick Cotter, director of the Cork International Poetry Festival and Munster Literature Centre, commented: When a very young poet wins a prize, a big deal is made of them, society at large rightly celebrates the arrival of a new talent  but its extremely rare in contemporary 21st century for a person of your age to win a literary prize.

Deirdre Brennan had her first book published at 50. Asked by Patrick Cotter why she hadnt gotten published sooner, she said: I had five children. Lines would come into my head, but I banished them. My writing became a dream. I went back into the kitchen and did what you had to do with the kids.

Raising children

The truth is although there are female writers who manage to juggle family life with writing, many female writers careers are derailed by the domestic sphere.

The novelist Claire Kilroys recently published novel Soldier Sailor is published by Faber & Faber. Having published four novels at an interval of every three years, this latest offering has come after a hiatus of a decade. She became a mother in 2012 and was recently reported as saying: I couldnt afford childcare, so that was the end of that.

Cyril Connolly, the influential literary critic and essayist once wrote: There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hallway.

Married three times but declaring himself to be emotionally homosexual, he envied the creative lifestyle of gay writers who he considered to be free of the obligations of family life that he described as that dear octopus.

Obviously, Connollys use of the term homosexual and assumptions about gay families must be contextualised in the context of the time, which was the 1950s.

He considered family life to inhibit the writing life, and a writer who was married was only half a writer.

If male scribes are creatively limited by parenthood, that could be said to go double for some mothers who are writers and who, by Connollys metric, could best be described as quarter writers.

In reality, many women, whether they are writers are not, come into their own when they raise their heads after the quotidian demands of the largely blurry childcare years.

They will have compromised, had great joys, often sacrificed themselves, and they will have many things to say, some of them possibly interesting and enriching to this swim we call life.

After the to-do lists shorten, they may feel quietly exhilarated by a sense of freedom, and think: This is my time. Finally. Now I get to say what I want. As me.

Literary awards

As writers, they now have a shot at it. Except the cultural and literary environment, for the most part, doesnt recognise this late transformation.

Many literary prizes and supports are for those under 40, whereas many female writers will not have had the chance to write until their early 40s  or much later, as in Brennans case.

The toxic stew of ageism and sexism affects female writers disproportionately, but actually, all writers are potentially affected by the covert age bar. The publishing industry demands new blood or the latest literary sensation, which often means young writers. This churn is commercially inevitable, but the literary worlds unspoken age-phobia is limiting.

Maybe its time for an overhaul of literary prizes and their narrow, age-based rules.

For such a supposedly liberal, diverse community, the arts can be remarkably narrow and conservative. Laughably so, which is why everyone in the room last week was so pleased when Deirdre Brennan won. Her work is brilliant, the fact she won shouldnt have been so novel.

Poet Deirdre Brennan. Askedwhy she hadnt gotten published sooner, she said: 'I had five children. Lines would come into my head, but I banished them. My writing became a dream. I went back into the kitchen and did what you had to do with the kids.'

The truth is that Deirdre Brennan, prize-winner, would have more chance of being hit by a terrorist bomb than being published in some of the supposedly hip literary magazines by virtue of her age. The deep suspicion is if she submitted her poems posing as a Millennial, they would bite her hand off  but back on planet Earth, she has the wrong age profile.

Does age stereotyping in the literary world matter? Literary magazines and literary prizes, while pleasing to those who move in that world, are low stakes. And yet, ageism pervades our society.

The cultural consensus that people over a certain age have had their chance, when often factually this is not the case, seems short-sighted and irrational. It seems to emanate from prejudice or some idea that older people were educated for a world that no longer exists, and that we should look past them into the future.

Older people are sidelined every day, both in obvious and more subtle ways.

Its interesting how many people who would (rightly) throw all their toys out of the cot about the ills of racism or gender or class discrimination dont appear to give a toss about ageism, which they may subtly or blatantly engage in. Age discrimination has become such an ingrained part of Western culture that it is entirely acceptable to the point that it often goes unnoticed.

On the same night last week, Molly Twomey was awarded the Southword Debut Poetry Collection prize, for Raised Among Vultures. She was also shortlisted for the prize Deirdre Brennan won. Molly Twomey is in her 20s.

We need young and older voices to be added to the canon. Diversity in literature, poetry, and life serves the larger society well.

Ultimately writers and poets, or indeed people in general, shouldnt be selected for their age  which is just a number  but rather for what they have to say.

No Words by Deirdre Brennan (from Medeas Cauldron)

We moved between knowing and not knowing, so much said in the end, so much unsaid.

Months pass. Your face grows less clear.

Still no words will come for sorrow, only the cry from the throat of a

curlew, the slow air from a plaintive flute.

Soon the clocks will go back.

Another season and the ground frosts that flank the heart.

But not for you the drifts of leaves, your sloughed off days and nights at my feet.
Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump said he is being treated unfairly as they asked for a meeting with attorney general Merrick Garland over the investigation into the handling of classified documents.

Attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty requested a meeting about the Justice Department investigation in a letter posted by Mr Trump on his Truth Social media platform, saying they wanted to discuss the ongoing injustice being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.

The wording echoed Mr Trumps language about the investigations into whether the former president illegally retained hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida and whether he sought to obstruct government efforts to get the records back.

Attorney General Merrick Garland (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

The year-long investigation, headed by special counsel Jack Smith, appears to be nearing an end after interviews with a broad cross-section of witnesses, including attorneys for Mr Trump, former White House officials and other close aides.

While it is not unusual for defence lawyers to seek meetings with senior Justice Department officials, it is rare for such meetings to include the attorney general.

Justice Department officials have repeatedly signalled the recommendation on whether to pursue charges against Mr Trump or anyone else in the investigation belongs with Mr Smith and his team.

The attorney general did not move to overrule any of the actions taken in the probe by special counsel John Durham into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016.

In addition to the documents investigation, Mr Smith is separately investigating efforts by Mr Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment while Mr Trumps lawyers and spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
Russian private army Wagner lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, according to chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He said about 20% of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the 15-month war died in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it has lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89.

Ukraine has not said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

(PA Graphics)

Russias invasion goal of demilitarising Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Mr Prigozhin said in an interview published late on Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Mr Prigozhin also said the Kremlins forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Mr Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counter-attack

He claimed the Russian Defence Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesdays interview it was possible that Kyivs anticipated counter-offensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counter-attack, he said.

They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

The Ukrainian General Staff said on Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last autumn and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have shot down a large number of drones in the southern Belgorod region, a local official has claimed.

Houses were said to have been damaged in Russias western Belgorod region (Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

He said that no one had been hurt but administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Russia said the previous day that its forces beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defence Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in Belgorod that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that local troops, air strikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

A soldier carries a Russian-controlled Donetsk region flag in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region telegram channel via AP)

Moscow blamed the incursion that began on Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs.

Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spill-over violence from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
The bodies of 18 migrants who died while being smuggled into Bulgaria have been returned to Afghanistans capital Kabul.

Bulgarian authorities discovered the bodies in a secret compartment below a load of lumber in the back of a truck left on a highway not far from the capital, Sofia, in February.

They confirmed all 18 had died of suffocation.

Bulgarian authorities detained seven people in connection to the deaths.

The director of Bulgarias National Investigation Service described the case as the countrys deadliest involving migrants.

Airport workers unload coffins from the Ariana Afghan Airlines plane (Afghanistan Foreign Ministry via AP)

Borislav Sarafov said the migrants were pressed against each other like in a tin can which had caused their slow and painful deaths. He described it as an extraordinary human tragedy.

The ministrys deputy spokesman in Kabul, Zia Ahmad Takal, said his government paid for the repatriation of the bodies.

He blamed the Bulgarian legal process for their delayed return and the cruel banking restrictions imposed on Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US and Nato forces from the country.

Mr Takal said the bodies were handed back to the families and urged Afghans not to risk their lives on illegal smuggling routes.

Another 34 Afghan migrants on the same truck survived the ordeal but they were dehydrated and suffered frostbite. They had entered Bulgaria from Turkey, hoping to reach Western Europe.

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, they have imposed measures in line with their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.

They have barred women from public spaces and banned girls education beyond primary school.

The international community has criticised the Talibans actions, leading to the countrys further isolation as it faces an economic crisis and drought threat.
The fighting between Sudans military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday.

The International Organisation for Migration said the clashes have forced more than one million people to leave their homes to safer areas inside Sudan.

About 320,000 others have fled to the neighbouring countries of Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

The fighting erupted on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo waves to supporters during a rally (AP Photo/Mahmoud Hjaj, File)

The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the countrys fragile transition to democracy, which was disrupted by a military coup led by the two generals in October 2021.

The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which mainly tracks civilian casualties.

It has also pushed the East African country to near collapse, with urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and its neighbouring city of Omdurman turning into battlegrounds.

Egypt is hosting the largest number of those who fled, with at least 132,360 people, followed by Chad with 80,000 and South Sudan with more than 69,000, the agency added.

All but one of Sudans 18 provinces experienced displacement, with Khartoum at the top of the list with about 70% of the total number of displaced people, according to the IOMs Displacement Tracking Matrix.

Sporadic fighting continued on Wednesday in several areas, despite a cease-fire reached this week. Residents reported hearing gunshots and explosions in central Khartoum as well as areas close to military facilities in Omdurman.

Both sides in the conflict Wednesday traded blame for violating the cease-fire.

The weeklong cease-fire, which was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, took effect on Monday night.

It was the latest international effort to push for humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-torn country.

A joint statement from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia late Tuesday warned that neither the Sudanese military nor the Rapid Support Forces observed the short-term cease-fire.

The fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Sudan. According to the UN, the number of people who need assistance this year has increased by 57% to reach 24.7 million people, more than half the countrys population.

The international body said it would need 2.6 billion US dollars (2.1 billion) to provide them with much-needed humanitarian assistance.
Burma Myanmar Junta-Allied Militia Forcing Sagaing Villagers into Military Training

Ma Ba Tha monk U Wasawa gives a speech to Pyu Saw Htee members in Kantbalu in 2022.

Junta-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee militias have been forcing villagers in Sagaing Regions Kantbalu and Kyun Hla townships to undergo military training, according to locals.

The militias have been formed over the past two years by influential monk U Wasawa of the ultranationalist Association for Protection of Race and Religion, known locally as Ma Ba Tha, to counter anti-regime Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs).

On May 15, junta personnel forced residents of Htan Kone San Pya village in Htan Kone district, western Kantbalu, to undergo military training. Residents were selected for the training via a lottery of households organized by the village head. Selected households that did not contain any adult males will have to pay a monthly fine of 100,000 kyats (almost US$ 50), according to the Kyun Hla activist group.

Some villagers reportedly signed up after junta forces threatened to torch their houses unless they took part in the training.

Pyu Saw Htee join raids by regime troops, looting properties and torching villages, a Kantbalu resident told The Irrawaddy.

A Kantbalu resident said Htan Kone district is the stronghold of Pyu Saw Htee militias because it is not too far from Kantbalu Town.

More than 50 of Kantbalu Townships 250 villages are currently controlled by Pyu Saw Htee, according to the Infinity group, a local information network.

The group said that residents in Pyu Saw Htee villages were banned from moving to other areas. The militia also demands monthly payments and threatens to burn the houses of villagers who dont comply.

On Saturday, a lottery held by the head of Lae Hla village in Kyun Hla Township selected 30 residents who will be forced to join Pyu Saw Htee military training, according to the Kyun Hla activist group.

However, in this case even all-female households will be conscripted.

They [Pyu Saw Htee] are not accepting fines like before. If there is no male in the household, they said the widow must attend the training, said a member of the Kyun Hla activist group.

There are no less than eight Pyu Saw Htee villages in Kyun Hla Township, which shares a border with Kantbalu Township.

A Kyun Hla local said the Pyu Saw Htee militias are supplied with both weapons and pay by the Myanmar military.

Some villagers fled because they didnt want to join the Pyu Saw Htee after it began organizing in Lae Hla village, the Kyun Hla resident told The Irrawaddy.

A force of more than 100 regime troops and Pyu Saw Htee have been raiding villages in eastern and southern Kantbalu Township since last month. The force has torched 20 villages and killed four residents so far, according to the Infinity group.
Burma Myanmar Junta Arrests Two People in Rakhine for Links with Outlawed Media

A police station in Rakhine States capital Sittwe after cyclone Mocha. / The Irrawaddy

The military regime has detained two people in cyclone-hit Rakhine State over suspected links with outlawed news outlets.

The two were among five people  including local charity leader Wai Hun Aung, his daughter, and a staff member  detained on Tuesday evening while traveling from Rakhines capital Sittwe to Ponnagyun Township with relief supplies for storm-affected communities.

Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun told BBC Burmese Service on Wednesday that Wai Hun Aung, his daughter and his staff member would be released after questioning.

But the other two who came from Yangon were found to have connections with illegal news outlets and will be detained for interrogation, he told the BBC.

The junta has not revealed the identities of the two detainees or the news organizations they allegedly have links with.

Following the 2021 coup, the military regime has banned at least six media outlets  The Irrawaddy, 7Day News, Myanmar Now, Mizzima, DVB, and Khit Thit Media  by revoking their publishing licenses. All except 7Day News continue to operate and report on Myanmar, mostly from exile.

Myanmar ranks 173 out of 180 countries in the 2023 Press Freedom Index. The regime is currently holding 69 journalists and one media worker in detention, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Cyclone Mocha wreaked havoc in northern Rakhine State when it made landfall on May 14. More than one week on, official relief operations have done little to help affected areas, while international aid agencies are still waiting for the regimes approval to deliver aid.
Burma Myanmar Junta Detains Charity Leader Involved in Cyclone Relief Efforts in Rakhine

Wai Hun Aung (right) and his charity donate water pumps to drain seawater out of flooded ponds in Cyclone Mocha-affected areas in Rakhine State.

The Myanmar junta has arrested Rakhine writer-turned-charity leader Wai Hun Aung, who has been carrying out humanitarian assistance efforts in storm-hit areas in northern Rakhine State, which suffered widespread destruction when Cyclone Mocha hit the area on May 14.

At least five people including Wai Hun Aung and his daughter were arrested on Tuesday evening while they were en route from Rakhine States capital Sittwe to Ponnagyun Township to provide humanitarian aid to storm-affected communities.

Since the cyclone, Wai Hun Aung and his charity, which bears his name, as well as other local rescue teams have been delivering aid to storm victims by traveling into cyclone-hit areas that have yet to receive relief supplies from the regime and international agencies.

Local Rakhine media reported that he was taken to the Aung Tha Pyay interrogation center in Sittwe Township, adding that the reason for the arrest was unclear.

Junta-controlled media reported the arrival of relief supplies in Sittwe starting late last week but villagers in some remote areas said they havent received anything yet. International aid agencies are still waiting for the juntas approval to begin assistance efforts.

The United Nations on Tuesday launched an appeal for $333 million in emergency funding for 1.6 million people it said were affected after deadly Cyclone Mocha tore through Myanmar.

A local volunteer in Sittwe remarked that the arrest would hinder humanitarian efforts, as storm-hit communities in remote areas rely heavily on the assistance provided by local volunteer groups.

Last Friday, Wai Hun Aung went to four villages in Pauktaw Township, one of the hardest-hit areas and home to coastal fishing communities that are in urgent need of food supplies and shelter.

He told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the four villages desperately needed humanitarian assistance as they were completely wiped out by the storm.

He also made cash donations to families taking refuge in a monastery in Sittwe Township on Tuesday morning before he was arrested by the junta.

A popular figure among local communities in Rakhine State, Wai Hun Aung was detained in 2018 along with prominent Rakhine politician Dr. Aye Maung for remarks they made earlier that month at an event in Rathedaung Township commemorating the 233rd anniversary of the fall of the Arakan kingdom to the Burmese in 1785.

The following year, under the since-ousted civilian government, both were sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges including treason and violating the public tranquillity.

They were released from Yangons Insein Prison on Feb. 12, 2021 under an amnesty declared by junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
Burma Myanmar Junta Launches Air and Artillery Strikes on Shan State Refugee Camps

The remains of a hospital in Saung Phway Village in Pekon Township after it was bombed by junta fighter jets on April 25. /KNDF

Myanmars military regime launched unprovoked air and artillery strikes on Tuesday night on camps housing internally displaced people (IDP) in southern Shan State, destroying two buildings, according to resistance and rescue groups.

At around 9:30pm on May 23, a junta fighter jet launched two airstrikes on refugee camps to the west of Moebye Town in Pekon Township in southern Shan State, said Moebye Peoples Defense Force (PDF) on Wednesday.

After the airstrikes, regime artillery units in Pekon Township shelled the IDP camps several times. Two buildings were destroyed in the air and artillery strikes.

Moebye Rescue Team visited the IDP camps after the bombing and shelling and told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that there were no civilian casualties.

People escaped as they managed to reach the bomb shelters during the junta artillery and airstrikes, said a member of the rescue team.

The regime has been escalating its air and artillery strikes on both civilian and resistance targets, as it loses control of the ground following increasing attacks from PDFs and ethnic revolutionary organizations nationwide.

On April 25, junta fighter jets dropped over 10 bombs on a hospital and IDP camp at Saung Phway Village in Pekon Township.

Five people, including two doctors and a child, were injured by the airstrike, along with a woman who suffered serious head injuries. The hospital and medicines were destroyed, as well as vehicles and a motorbike in the hospital compound.

On May 22, a truck conductor was killed and another driver injured in Moebye Town when regime forces stationed on a mountaintop arbitrarily opened fire on a truck traveling on a nearby road, according to Moebye PDF.

The junta has also carried out near-daily airstrikes on civilian targets and resistance forces during week-long clashes between Karenni resistance groups and regime forces in Demoso Township in neighboring Kayah State, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) told the media.

The KNDF said regime planes bombed villages which were outside the area where the clashes were taking place.

At 4am on May 17, junta fighter jets bombed Saw Lon Village in Kayah States Bawlakhe Township, killing a teenager and injuring four others, said Bawlakhe PDF.

Nine civilian buildings including a monastery and two clinics were destroyed by the airstrikes.

In April alone, the regime conducted 108 airstrikes and several artillery strikes on both civilian targets and resistance forces in Kayah State, as well as in Pekon and Pinlaung Townships in neighboring southern Shan State, said the KNDF.

Some 25 civilian buildings were destroyed, including four hospitals and clinics and a church.
Burma Myanmar Junta Suffers Heavy Casualties in Northern Sagaing: PDF

Indaw Peoples Defence Force

A Myanmar junta airstrike on Tuesday responded to heavy losses at the hands of the anti-regime All Burma Students Democratic Front and Indaw Peoples Defence Force (PDF) in the north of Sagaing Region, according to resistance groups.

An Indaw PDF spokesman said: The airstrike didnt injure any civilians as they left their homes in March. Two of our fighters suffered critical injuries.

About 100 Light Infantry Division 77 troops occupied Mawteik village tract in Indaw Township, Sagaing Region, earlier this year, displacing over 6,500 residents.

On Monday the troops from Mawteik joined around 100 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 461 and headed to Banmauk Township.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has ceased operations in the area, allowing junta troops to seize territory, according to residents who fled into the forest.

All Burma Students and Indaw PDF ambushed the junta forces near Nant Thar village on Monday morning and fighting continued into Tuesday, leaving at least 15 junta soldiers dead and many injured, according to the PDF. The group said it was the heaviest fighting in the area since the 2021 coup.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

The PDF spokesman said the junta responded with shelling and two fighter jets dropped bombs, injuring two PDF members.

The airstrike destroyed Ywar Thar Ywar villages monastery, which had been abandoned months ago.

In mid-December, the KIA and Kachin and Indaw PDFs started attacking junta troops in Indaw Township and the regime responded by killing four civilians and burning six villages.
Burma Wolf PDF Denies Spying for Myanmar Junta, Demands Release of Members

Warriors of Liberation Force (Wolf) commander Saigon is flanked by two comrades. (Photo: Wolf)

The Warriors of Liberation Force (Wolf) armed resistance group has issued a plea to the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) over the detention of their leader and six other members in KIA territory on suspicion of being junta informants.

In a petition addressed to the NUG and KIA, 63 members of the Wolf asked the organizations to revoke the wrongful arrests and immediately release their leader and comrades, who have been detained for over a month. The KIA is the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization.

The commander of Magwe Regions Wolf PDF, formerly known as Moe Gyoe Guerilla Force (101), was arrested along with six comrades in KIA territory on April 11 on suspicion of spying for the juntas military, according to the resistance groups statement on Tuesday. The seven were detained when they went to meet a KIA official to resolve the allegations, the statement said.

The Wolf commander, known as Saigon, is a former junta military captain who defected to the civil disobedience movement (CDM) three months after the coup and joined the armed struggle against the regime.

The allegation was made by the Peoples Militia Strategy Advisory Bureau (PMSAB), an umbrella organisation that helped found Moe Gyoe Guerilla Force. The resistance group then split from PMSAB and changed its name to Wolf after a dispute with PMSAB leaders, 88-generation activist U Maung Maung Wan and military defector Ko Min Maung Maung, according to group members.

Members of Wolf PDF claimed two PMSAB leaders had fabricated the allegations motivated by personal animosity. They said the accusations were also an attempt to cause divisions to weaken revolutionary groups.

The Irrawaddy was unable to reach the PMSAB, NUG, or KIA for comment on this issue.

On Tuesday, leading military defectors to the resistance called on the KIA and NUG to conduct a transparent investigation into the arrests.

If an open and transparent investigation finds the spying allegation is true, then action must be taken. But if it finds evidence of wrongful arrest, then those who made the false accusations must face consequences, military defector captain Nyi Thuta wrote.

Wolf members this week launched an online campaign of video and photos demanding the release of their seven comrades.

The group explained they were forced to take their protest online as the delay in resolving the issue was threatening their security, adding that they had received reports that junta troops were approaching their area.

Our commander and six comrades were arrested unjustly. It has now been 43 days, and the arrests were made based on unfounded accusations. We demand that the NUG and KIA intervene in this matter, the members said in a video posted online on Tuesday.
News Dozens of Myanmar Migrant Workers in Mae Sot Detained by Thai Police

The road leading to the Myawaddy-Mae Sot Friendship Bridge No. 2.

Dozens of Myanmar migrant workers have been arrested in police raids on factories in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, home to a large community of Myanmar nationals.

As of Monday, Thai authorities including the police force, border patrol police, traffic police and immigration officials are conducting surprise checks on roads and are also raiding small factories where Myanmar migrant workers are working, said U Moe Gyo, chairman of the Mae Sot-based Joint Action Committee for Burma Affairs (JACBA).

More than 70 undocumented Myanmar migrant workers were arrested on Monday alone, according to labor rights activists.

Another 15 Myanmar migrant workers were arrested in a village on Tuesday.

There were security checks during Thailands general election from May 11-17, but they were not rigorous. Random raids were carried out after weapons were found on May 14 in a house in Mae Sots Mae Pa neighborhood, and a Myanmar woman and two Thai nationals were arrested.

Tight checks will be reportedly carried out until May 26, and political activists have warned Myanmar nationals who are sheltering in Mae Sot from Myanmars military regime.

Myanmar people living in hostels for migrant workers should be cautious. In some cases, police have searched houses. They are also making arrests near the market, said a Myanmar expatriate living in Mae Sot.

Some of those detained have been released after their employers paid the immigration office around 5,000 baht (US$144) per person to free them.

Smaller factories that employ undocumented Myanmar workers have temporarily closed and sent their workers back to Myanmar, said a Mae Sot resident.

On May 1, Mae Sot police arrested two Myanmar men who were found carrying two firearms while riding a motorbike.

Labor activist Ma Thuzar from the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association said: People must exercise caution all the time. They must learn the rules and regulations of Thailand. They should avoid going outside and gathering if the new registration program has not yet reached their areas.

Labor rights activists have also called for Myanmar people taking refuge in Mae Sot for political reasons to exercise caution if they are working for the revolution inside Myanmar.

There has been a rise in the number of Myanmar people living in Mae Sot since the 2021 coup, with around 200,000 Myanmar citizens now resident there, according to JACBA.
War Against the Junta Nearly 50 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Five Days of Resistance Attacks

Resistance fighters of Eagle Brigade based in Magwe Region / Eagle Brigade

At least 46 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last five days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) and a Karen ethnic armed organization stepped up attacks on regime targets across the country.

Incidents were reported in Sagaing, Magwe, Bago and Tanintharyi regions and Mon and Karen states.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and the EAO.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Police outpost raided in Sagaing

Combined resistance forces in action during a raid on the police outpost at Padu Village, Sagaing Township on Monday. / PSF

A fierce, eight-hour-long clash broke out in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region on Monday when several PDF groups jointly attempted to occupy the police outpost in Padu Village, according to the resistance groups that joined the raid.

To protect the police outpost, a Russian Mi-35 helicopter gunship conducted three air strikes during the clash and more reinforcements were flown in by a transport helicopter that evening.

All resistance forces were forced to retreat by junta air raids despite managing to occupy nearly the whole police base and to burn down a prison cell in the compound.

In the clash, at least 10 regime forces and a policeman are thought to have been killed. A PDF fighter suffered serious injuries too.

Regime forces bombed in Tanintharyi

The Dawei Collective Column, which comprises several local resistance groups, said it used 60-mm bombs to attack a police outpost and other regime patrols in Pakari and Pakhat villages in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region on Monday.

On Saturday, five 60-mm bombs and ten 40-mm bombs were used to attack the police outpost in Pakari Village, the resistance group said.

Many regime forces are believed to have been killed or injured in the attacks, but details of the military casualties were unknown, said the resistance group.

Fierce clashes broke out in Mon

Troops of Albino Tiger Company-1 are seen during two days of clashes with regime forces in Ye Township on May 19 and 20. / Albino Tiger Company 1

Resistance group Albino Tiger Company 1 said at least 30 regime forces are believed to have been killed as it clashed with a military column for two days in Ye Township, Mon State last Friday and Saturday.

First, the resistance groups clashed with a military column near a village in the north of Ye Township on May 19, leaving an estimated 19 soldiers dead.

The next day, the resistance forces blocked and attacked the fleeing military column. Fierce fighting continued as a large number of military reinforcements arrived to the clash site to help their troops.

In the three-hour-long shootout, 11 more soldiers are thought to have been killed, the resistance group claimed.

In the clashes, a resistance fighter suffered minor injuries.

Junta border guard forces raided in Karen

Five border guard forces of the military regime were killed in Hpapun District in Karen State on Saturday when troops of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen Nation Union (KNU), raided a camp of the junta-allied Border Guard Force (BGF), said KNU-Mutraw News, the media wing of KNU Brigade 5.

The BGF camp was extorting money from civilians. The resistance troops also burned a BFG vehicle at their camp.

Regime forces extorting civilians attacked in Magwe

Chauk Guerrilla Force said it coordinated with two other PDF groups to conduct a surprise raid against regime forces extorting civilians near a patrol station outside Pakokku Town in Magwe Region on Monday.

In the raid, two regime forces suffered serious injuries. The resistance groups stopped their raid when a civilian vehicle arrived at the clash site. The resistance groups urged people to avoid regime forces due to potential attacks.

Police outpost and pro-regime village shelled in Magwe

Resistance group Eagle Brigade told local media that it used drones to drop six bombs on a police outpost in Lin Ka Taw Village in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Monday morning, killing or injuring two regime forces.

A PDF aerial video shows smoke emerging from a building after being bombed by a drone.

Regime forces from the police base responded with 40-mm explosives, the PDF group said.

The group said it coordinated with another resistance group to bomb a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia base in the pro-regime village of Kan Ni in Myaing Township by using six improvised rocket-launched bombs on Saturday. It also claimed a militia leader was injured in the shelling.

Another aerial video shot by the PDF group shows a makeshift rocket launcher firing the rocket-propelled bombs.

Pro-junta militia leader assassinated in Bago

Paungde PDF claimed to have killed junta-appointed 100 households administrator Than Naing, a pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia leader in Nyaung Ni Pin Village in Paungde Township, Bago Region on Monday.

Than Naing was a military informant notorious for oppressing residents and recruiting pro-regime militia members, the resistance group said.
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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.
Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 58F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch.

Tomorrow

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
After ceasefire, Sudan witnesses sigh of relief with relative calm amid fighting.

Residents in Khartoum reported hearing artillery fire and seeing warplanes flying overhead on Tuesday, despite the ceasefire agreement monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States to end weeks of heavy fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Night-time airstrikes were reported in at least one area, but residents reported relative calm. The truce was meant to enable humanitarian relief in a war that had caused the displacement of more than 1.1 million people.

The US and Saudi Arabia said supplies were being prepared for urgently needed humanitarian relief operations.

Meanwhile, volunteer groups were getting ready to receive supplies, though much of the aid was yet to be distributed as agencies waited for security clearance.

Darfur and other areas had recently experienced violence, according to medical humanitarian group MSF.

Sudanese activists welcomed the ceasefire but urged an investigation of alleged human rights issues against civilians.
After weeks of intense battles, the Sudan ceasefire provides some relief.

After weeks of intense battles, the Sudan ceasefire provides some relief. The ceasefire agreement was signed on October 3, 2021, by the Sudanese government and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

The agreement aims to end the fighting in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions, which have been the center of conflict for many years.

The Sudanese government and the SPLM-N have been fighting for years over issues related to economic resources, political power, and representation.

The conflict has led to the displacement of thousands of people and has taken a heavy toll on the civilian population. The ceasefire agreement provides a glimmer of hope for the people of Sudan, who have been caught in the middle of the conflict.

The agreement is a result of intense negotiations that took place in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, under the auspices of the African Union.

The agreement calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the creation of a Joint Military Committee (JMC) to monitor the ceasefire.

The JMC will comprise representatives from both sides, as well as representatives from the African Union and the United Nations.

The ceasefire agreement also provides for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected populations in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions.

The delivery of aid has been hampered by the conflict, and many people in the region are in desperate need of assistance.

The Sudan ceasefire agreement has been welcomed by the international community, with many leaders calling for its full implementation. The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has commended the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N for their commitment to peace.

The Sudan ceasefire agreement is a positive step towards ending the conflict in the region. However, there are still many challenges to be overcome, including the disarmament of armed groups and the delivery of aid to those in need.

The international community must continue to support the efforts of the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N to ensure the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

In conclusion, the Sudan ceasefire agreement provides some relief to the people of the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions.

The agreement is a result of intense negotiations and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the creation of a Joint Military Committee, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

While the agreement is a positive step towards ending the conflict, there are still many challenges to be overcome.

The international community must continue to support the efforts of the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N to ensure lasting peace in the region.

Jowhar.com
On July 15, 2016, Turkey experienced a failed coup attempt that aimed to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government. The attempt resulted in the death of over 250 people and left more than 2,000 injured. However, Erdogan managed to overcome the coup and continue his leadership of Turkey.

Erdogans reaction to the coup attempt was swift and decisive. He immediately addressed the nation through a video call from an undisclosed location, urging his supporters to take to the streets and resist the coup. Erdogans call was heeded by thousands of people, who took to the streets and clashed with the coup plotters.

The Turkish military, which was leading the coup attempt, soon lost control of the situation. Erdogans supporters, along with loyalist units of the military and police, managed to regain control of key installations, including the presidential palace and the parliament.

The coup plotters were arrested, and Erdogans government regained control of the country. Erdogan declared a state of emergency, which lasted for two years, and launched a massive crackdown on the suspected coup plotters and their supporters. The crackdown led to the arrest of tens of thousands of people, including military officers, police officers, judges, and academics.

Erdogans handling of the coup attempt was widely praised by his supporters and condemned by his opponents. While some saw his response as a necessary measure to preserve democracy and the rule of law, others saw it as an excuse to consolidate his power and suppress dissent.

However, Erdogans victory over the coup attempt was a significant moment in Turkeys history. It demonstrated the resilience of Turkeys democracy and the strength of Erdogans leadership. It also highlighted the importance of the militarys loyalty to the democratically elected government.

In the years following the coup attempt, Erdogan has continued to consolidate his power, including through constitutional changes that gave him more executive powers. However, his government has also faced criticism for its treatment of the opposition, media freedom, and human rights.

In conclusion, Erdogans victory over the failed coup attempt in 2016 was a defining moment in Turkeys history. It demonstrated the importance of the militarys loyalty to the democratically elected government and the resilience of Turkeys democracy. However, it also highlighted the challenges facing Turkeys democracy and the need for continued efforts to protect it.
The trial of Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on rape charges adjourned early Wednesday, with the prosecutor calling for a 10-year jail term in a case that has sparked tensions in the West African country.

Highly popular among young people, Sonko has branded the trial a political plot aimed at scuttling his bid for the 2024 presidency.

A decision is expected to be handed down on June 1, the president of the criminal court said after the latest hearing lasted into the early hours of Wednesday.

The trial resumed Tuesday after the court rejected pleas by Sonko and his co-accused for an adjournment after he failed for a second time running to attend the legal showdown.

Sonko has been charged with rape and making death threats against an employee of a beauty salon in Dakar. Sonko, 48, has said he went to the salon for a massage for chronic back pain and denies any assault.

Complainant Adji Sarr maintained her accusations in Tuesdays hearing, saying she had been abused five times by Sonko. She also said she had received death threats.

Sonkos trial opened on May 16 but was immediately adjourned until May 23 after he failed to attend.

Saying he feared for his safety, Sonko had said he would not appear in court without state guarantees for his personal safety. Sonko is believed to be in the southern city of Ziguinchor, several hundred kilometres (miles) from Dakar, where he is mayor.

If convicted, Sonko risks being ineligible to run. Sonko, president of the PASTEF-Patriots party, came in third in the 2019 election against incumbent Macky Sall.

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. Three other people died during clashes between Sonko supporters and police ahead of the start of proceedings on May 16.

Political tensions have also been stoked by Salls refusal to rule out running for a third term as president, a move his opponents say would be unconstitutional.

Sall was elected in 2012, when the presidential term was seven years, and re-elected in 2019, when the mandate was reduced to five years. (AFP)
Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of roughly 400 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Established in 1978, Human Rights Watch is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective use of media, and targeted advocacy, often in partnership with local human rights groups.
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By Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox | 

( Tomdispatch.com )  Are you worried about the rising political power of violent white nationalists in America? Well, youve got plenty of company, including U.S. national security and counterterrorism officials. And were worried, too  worried enough, in fact, to feel that its time to take a look at the experience of India, where Hindu supremacist dogma has increasingly been enforced through violent means. While there are striking parallels between both countries, India appears to have ventured further down the road of far-right violence. Its experience could potentially offer Americans some valuable, if grim, lessons.

As a start, lets look at two recent incidents, one in India and the other in the United States.

Laws passed in most Indian states against the killing of cattle have served as a common pretext for the violent enforcement of Hindu beliefs. Recently, for example, three men were arrested on charges of abducting and murdering Junaid and Nasir, two Muslim men transporting cattle through the northern state of Haryana. They first beat Junaid to death, then strangled Nasir. Both bodies were incinerated in a car left at the side of the road. That attack was linked to paramilitary gangs known as gao rakshaks (cow protectors) who, in these last years, have been on a rampage of violence in northern India, though similar horrors have recently been recorded further south in Maharashtra, home to Indias largest city, Mumbai.

In the United States, too, violent hatred is both on the rise and being all too perversely celebrated on the right. Within three days of being charged with involuntary manslaughter, Daniel Penny, the U.S. Marine veteran who made national news by choking to death Jordan Neely, a homeless, mentally ill Black man on a New York City subway car, raised a whopping $2.7 million from the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo. Charged with manslaughter, hes already been dubbed a subway Superman by Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, while his fellow Floridian, Governor Ron DeSantis, tweeted that to stop the Lefts pro-criminal agenda we all must stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny.

Sadly enough, those episodes, occurring half a globe apart, are just two data points in surges of violent extremism sweeping both India and the United States. That trend first took off in India in 2014 with the election victory of Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), making him prime minister. In the United States, it hit big time with the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president. But such mayhem  and the broad approval of political violence by Hindu supremacists there and white supremacists here  has only grown in the years since.

Those incidents also illustrate one crucial difference between far-right violence in India and the United States. Whereas the surge of Hindu-supremacist violence has become a nationally organized collective effort, most American white-supremacist violence is still being committed by individuals acting alone.

In the U.S., weve experienced a growing outbreak of hate shootings in which the victims simply find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time (and all too often of the wrong color), even as a longer-term trend of mass killings committed by racially motivated and ever better armed lone wolves rises. Notably, among those solo actors, Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, and a host of others have reaped lavish praise from leading Trumpublican politicians, including that MAGA kingpin The Donald himself. (He, in fact, invited Rittenhouse to Mar-a-Lago in 2021.) And 2023 is already on track to set a record for mass shootings, while hate crimes in general rose to more than 200 per week in 2021, the last year for which the FBI has complete data. The vast majority of those crimes were committed by unaffiliated individuals.

In India, by contrast, hate violence is often highly organized. The cattle vigilantes recently arrested in Haryana, for example, were affiliated with Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Vishnu Hindu Parishad (the World Hindu Council), which, in turn, is an offshoot of a vast Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The RSS movement was launched in 1925 with one mission: to make India (then still a British colony) a Hindu Rashtra  that is, a Hindu Nation. Its approach was inspired by the fascist movements of a century ago in Italy and Germany. Today, it has a membership of five to six million and holds daily meetings in more than 36,000 different locations across India. Worse yet, the ruling BJP party, with Modi at its head, is an offshoot of RSS.

In 2002, Modi was the chief minister of the state of Gujarat when horrific communal violence took almost 2,000 lives, mostly Muslim, in a political and social earthquake that helped kick off the current wave of Hindu nationalism. In 2014, on the strength of the Hindu nationalist bona fides hed earned 12 years earlier, he became prime minister and soon all hell broke loose.

Cows and Bulls**t

In a majority of Indias states today, cow slaughter is designated a crime and put in the same category with rape, murder, or sedition. As Harsh Mander, who has organized against communal and religiously-inspired violence, explains in his book Partitions of the Heart, The campaign today that claims to defend [the cow] has nothing to do with love of any kind. It is instead another highly emotive symbol to beat down Indias minorities into submission and fear.

Laws against cattle slaughter and beef consumption lay largely dormant until 2014. Now, they are being enforced ever more violently by Hindu supremacist vigilantes. Those laws, in fact, have provided a much-needed pretext for extreme violence. As Tej Parikh noted recently in the Asia-Pacific magazine The Diplomat, Two Muslim women were raped in Mewat [in Haryana state] in early September [2022], after their attackers had accused them of eating beef. And to put those acts in the context of this moment, he added that the maximum sentence for a convicted rapist in Haryana is three years less than for a cow slaughtering offense.

As Mander has pointed out, such beef bans are a tool for subjugating Muslims, Dalits (formerly referred to pejoratively as untouchables), Christians, and Adivasis (Indigenous peoples) to Hindu rule. Strange as it may sound, an American analogy could be the criminalization of abortion. In one country, cattle, in the other, human fetuses are being used as right-wing implements to oppress, socially control, and reassert supremacy over significant sections of our respective populations.

As in the U.S., violence against women is rampant in India and perpetrators are often treated with remarkable leniency. Consider Sandip, Ramu, Lavkush, and Ravi, four upper-caste Hindus who, in 2020, tortured, gang-raped, and killed a 19-year-old Dalit girl in the middle of a pearl millet field in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This March, a court found Sandip alone guilty  and only of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The other three men were acquitted.

In the Hindu supremacist context, the phrase ghar wapsi (which literally means homecoming) refers to forcibly converting people from Islam or Christianity to Hinduism. In a recent typical case, a BJP politician, the state secretary of Chhattisgarh in northeastern India, home to many low-caste Hindus and tribal peoples, coerced more than 1,100 Christians into undergoing a ghar wapsi ceremony.

Hindu supremacists regularly use confinement and violence to secure such conversions. For instance, two women have filed a complaint against priests at a yoga center in the state of Kerala where they were held captive in an effort to do so. I was forced to do work as housemaid including cleaning and preparing dishes for 65 inmates, one of them swore in her affidavit. A priest, she wrote, threatened that they would kill Isaac [her Muslim husband] if I went back to him. The other woman told the court, People at the [yoga] center asked me to leave [her Muslim husband] Hameed. When I resisted, they slapped my face, kicked my lower abdomen and stuffed cloth in my mouth to prevent me from screaming.

Hindu nationalists are also raising alarms over love jihad, a false conspiracy theory that claims Muslim men are out to charm Hindu women into wedlock, conversion, and the production of Muslim babies. A recently released propaganda film, The Kerala Story, purports to show how 32,000 women from that state were converted to Islam and recruited by Islamic State terrorists. No matter that none of that ever happened, love jihad rhetoric, including the portrayal of Muslim men as deceitful, sexual monsters, is being embraced even by white supremacists in the United States, according to Zeinab Farokhi, a professor at Toronto University.

East Meets West, West Meets Caste

Washington and New Delhi recently announced that Prime Minister Modi will be making a state visit to the U.S. in June. During that visit, notes the Indian outlet The Wire, Modi is likely to visit New York for Yoga Day on June 21.

Indeed, he will, for that annual yoga event was Modis brainchild. In 2014, he proposed that an International Day of Yoga be celebrated at the summer solstice and the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to that effect. An avid yoga practitioner, Modi then wrote, Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action a holistic approach [that] is valuable to our health and well-being. These days, maybe Modi should take a little more time for yoga, which might allow him to gain a more holistic understanding of the hate and cruelty now rippling through Indian society. (Substitute Donald Trump for Modi doing yoga, if you want a little grim humor right now.)

Today, there are an estimated 4.3 million South Asian-Americans living in the U.S., including people from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. A report released by a caste-abolitionist group, Equality Labs, entitled Caste in the United States, found that even in America, many South Asians who identify as being from the lower castes tend to hide their caste, because they fear that they and their families could be rejected from South Asian cultural and religious spaces, lose professional and social networks, or even face bullying, abuse, and violence.

Recently, however, a few rays of light have pierced the political gloom. In February, Seattle became the first city in the U.S. to prohibit caste discrimination and (joke, joke) yoga had nothing to do with it. The ban passed because of the hard work and solidarity of local activists, along with socialist Seattle city council member Kshama Sawant who proposed it. Then, on May 11th, casteism was banished from an entire state, the nations largest, when the California senate passed a bill to that effect.

To add another positive note, the very next day, Modis BJP was trounced by the Congress Party in elections to the legislative assembly of Karnataka, a crucial state in Indian politics. When the BJP won it five years ago, it was considered a key step in that partys rise to national dominance. Now, those of us in favor of genuine democracy and not right-wing terror in both countries can only hope that the Karnataka defeat is a harbinger of BJPs decline (just as we hope that neither Donald Trump nor Ron DeSantis can take the White House in 2024).

But even small victories dont come without pushback from Hindu-nationalist expatriates and RSS/BJP intellectuals in India, as is true with Trumpists in America. Unsurprisingly enough, they condemned the new caste measures in the U.S., declaring them Hinduphobic (just as white right-wingers here chant All Lives Matter in the context of police violence and to mock the Black Lives Matter movement). But, asks the political theorist Kancha Ilailah Shepherd, How can the practice of caste discrimination be tackled without local laws or institutional rules?

Too many upper-caste Indians and white Americans think of themselves as the only ones worthy of enjoying the spoils of the earth. They want it all and are ready to get it by exploiting, not to say violating, non-upper-caste bodies in India and non-white ones in the U.S., along with cows and fetuses, using religion as a tool in both cases. The bodies of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, the people of occupied Kashmir, liberals, journalists, historians, climate and human rights activists, educators, Blacks, Indigenous people, women, LGBTQ people  all of them are fodder for the violent right-wing in both countries.

In the sludge of such destructive exceptionalism, there can be felt a sense of uncertainty, a potential for both of our societies to break down completely. Sadly, yoga and vegetarianism do not encapsulate life in India; upper-caste exceptionalism does. Similarly, peace and love, not to speak of democracy, hardly define life in America anymore for a growing set of Trumpublicans. For them, white exceptionalism does and, worse yet, these days it goes all too well armed with that best-selling weapon of this moment, the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Honestly, there needs to be a deeper discussion of all of this before its too late.

Copyright 2023 Priti Cox and Stan Cox

Tomdispatch.com
VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CMMC) (ASX: C6C) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") is pleased to announce positive results from the first four drill holes of its 2023 exploration program at the Copper Mountain Mine, located in southern British Columbia. Two of these holes were drilled at the Copper Mountain Mine main pit and two at New Ingerbelle, which is located approximately one kilometre to the west of the main pit.

Drill hole CM-DD-897 intersected the highest-grade and most gold-rich, copper-gold mineralization yet discovered at New Ingerbelle and extends the known mineralized zone by approximately 200 metres below the current Mineral Resource. This drill hole shows that the mineralized zone at New Ingerbelle has a vertical extent of at least 900 metres and the zone remains open both laterally and at depth.

Drilling Highlights

Drill hole CM-DD-897 191 metres of 0.66% CuEq (0.45% Cu, 0.32 g/t Au, 0.41 g/t Ag) from 722 metres Including 104 metres of 1.01% CuEq (0.65% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au, 0.53 g/t Ag) from 809 metres Including 45 metres of 1.50% CuEq (0.94% Cu, 0.83 g/t Au, 0.74 g/t Ag) from 867 metres

Drill hole CM-DD-896 108 metres of 0.76% CuEq (0.59% Cu, 0.23 g/t Au, 2.13 g/t Ag) from 464 metres Including 56 metres of 1.00% CuEq (0.79% Cu, 0.27 g/t Au, 3.59 g/t Ag) from 466 metres

Drill hole CM-DD-895 42 metres of 0.74% CuEq (0.64% Cu, 0.13 g/t Au, 1.47 g/t Ag) from 480 metres



"Our current drill program has discovered high-grade copper-gold mineralization over 200 metres below the previous deepest drill hole at New Ingerbelle and shows that the mineralizing system becomes stronger and more gold-rich at depth," commented Patrick Redmond, Copper Mountain's Senior Vice President, Exploration and Geoscience. "We have been successful in achieving the objective of our 2023 exploration program, which is designed to look for higher-grade zones below and adjacent to the current resource. What we have found is similar to the high-grade zones at Red Chris and Cadia-Ridgeway. These latest drilling results continue to demonstrate the size potential of the Copper Mountain Mine."

2023 Exploration Program

The 2023 exploration program is designed to test seven target areas within the NW-trending Copper Mountain-New Ingerbelle mineralized corridor (Figure 1), a 4 to 5 kilometre long, NW-trending zone of porphyry copper-gold mineralization. Multiple historical drill holes within this zone end in copper-gold mineralization and geophysical data strongly suggest that the mineralizing system extends well below the current known Mineral Resource, which is open both laterally and at depth.

Figure 1 provides the location map showing the 2023 target areas numbered 1 to 7, the historical Titan IP chargeability data (7 lines completed in 2007), the 2023 geophysical survey grid, and all drill holes colour-coded by copper grade. The 2023 survey comprises a 3D IP/DC resistivity survey at New Ingerbelle and to the northwest of the active mining area, plus a series of 2D IP/DC resistivity lines within and to the east of the active mining area.

The 2023 drill program consists of two phases. Phase 1 is expected to be completed mid-year and includes a large geophysical program and approximately 8,000 metres of diamond drilling. Phase 2 consists of approximately 10,000 metres of additional drilling. At New Ingerbelle, drilling is currently ongoing with three holes completed and one hole in progress. At the Copper Mountain Mine, two holes have been completed and one hole is in progress, which is a 175-metre undercut of a 2010 drill hole that intersected a 72-metre zone grading 1.86% CuEq from 452 metres at depth (Target area 5 on Figure 1).

The current drill program is focused on finding higher-grade zones of mineralization below and adjacent to the current Mineral Resource, and similar to the higher-grade zones that have been discovered at other alkalic porphyry copper-gold deposits such as Red Chris in British Columbia and Cadia-Ridgeway in New South Wales, Australia. The Copper Mountain deposit is the same geological age as the Red Chris deposit and both contain the same style of high-grade, A-quartz vein-hosted, copper-gold mineralization hosted within potassically-altered porphyry intrusions and adjacent country rock. Like Red Chris, copper and gold at the Copper Mountain deposit exhibit a strong correlation and Au/Cu ratios increase inward towards the core of the system. The discovery in hole CM-DD-897 of high-grade copper-gold mineralization, with Au/Cu ratios of >1 in the highest-grade interval, shows that the mineralizing system at New Ingerbelle becomes stronger and more gold-rich at depth. The mineralized zone has a minimum vertical extent of 900 metres and remains open at depth. For comparison, zones of high-grade mineralization at Red Chris and Cadia-Ridgeway exhibit vertical extents of over 1,000 metres.

Figure 2 shows New Ingerbelle and the East Ridge zone at Red Chris at the same scale.

The Red Chris cross section is taken from "Newcrest Mining Limited - Exploration Update 10 March 2021" and shows the location of the East Ridge discovery hole, RC678. The newly discovered higher-grade copper-gold zone at New Ingerbelle has similar grades to Red Chris, and the Company believes the overall mineralizing system is comparable in size.

A large geophysical program is also ongoing and is designed to infill and extend previous induced polarization ("IP")/DC resistivity coverage. A 3D survey has been completed at New Ingerbelle and both 3D and 2D surveys have been completed at the Copper Mountain Mine. A magnetotellurics ("MT") survey is currently ongoing at New Ingerbelle and will extend the depth of investigation below the limits of the IP/DC resistivity survey. Large numbers of physical property measurements on drill core, including density, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity and chargeability have also been carried out on recent and historical drill core and will be used to constrain the geophysical modelling. These new geophysical and petrophysical data will be integrated with historical geophysical data and will be used to better define existing targets and to generate new target areas.

Drilling Results

A list of the drill holes including significant intercepts and other details are included in Appendix A. Location maps and cross sections of the four holes are shown in Appendix B. Drilling to date has tested three of the target areas shown in Figure 1 with drilling currently ongoing on a fourth target area. The strategy for Phase 1 of the program is to drill into multiple target areas and then, based on the results, prioritize target areas for follow-up drilling in Phase 2.

Drill Holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895

Drill holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895 (Target area 4 on Figure 1) were drilled 160 metres apart to test a strong IP chargeability feature (on the most westerly line from the 2007 IP/DC resistivity survey) located immediately north of the Copper Mountain Stock ("CMS") and on trend to the northwest from the current mining area in the Copper Mountain main pit shown in Figure 1. Appendix B, Figure 3 shows a location map and Figure 4 shows a cross section with drill holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895. The highest-grade intervals occur within zones of porphyry-related hydrothermal breccia, including a 42-metre zone grading 0.74% CuEq from 480 metres depth in hole CM-DD-895.

Most of the previous drilling in this area has consisted of relatively short holes. A drill hole from 2008 (08P1-22), located approximately 200 metres to the west of the current drilling, intersected a 46-metre zone grading 0.65% CuEq from 374 metres at depth. Reconnaissance mapping of the area in 2022 identified a large, approximately 300 x 300 metre, zone with porphyry-style veins and related potassic alteration and anomalous copper values. Mapping also located two historical adits in the area. Grab samples from waste piles outside these adits returned values greater than 1% Cu in rocks with A-quartz veins, chalcopyrite veinlets and Kspar-biotite-magnetite alteration.

Both holes intersected copper-gold mineralization below the current Mineral Resource, and further drilling in the area is warranted. This area of the deposit is the location of the future haul road to New Ingerbelle and a deeper reserve pit would have a positive impact on road construction costs and haul distances.

Drill Hole CM-DD-896

Drill hole CM-DD-896 (Target area 1 on Figure 1) was a 200-metre undercut of high-grade porphyry-hosted copper-gold mineralization in a number of 2021 drill holes, including drill hole 21IG-11 located in the southwest area of New Ingerbelle (See Appendix B, Figure 5 and 6). Drill hole CM-DD-896 intersected a wide zone of chalcopyrite-pyrite mineralization hosted in Nicola Group rocks, Lost Horse porphyry dykes and related hydrothermal breccias. The highest-grade interval of 56 metres at 1.00% CuEq is mainly hosted in a biotite-sulfide cemented hydrothermal breccia. The mineralization intersected in this drill hole is below the current Mineral Resource, and the mineralized zone remains open to the southwest towards the CMS contact.

Drill Hole CM-DD-897

Drill hole CM-DD-897 (Target area 2 on Figure 1) was a 200-metre undercut of the previous deepest drill hole at New Ingerbelle, 20IG01, which intersected a number of intervals of high-grade copper-gold mineralization (See Appendix B, Figure 7). Mineralization in CM-DD-897 is hosted within igneous breccias and Nicola Group country rocks and consists of a chalcopyrite-pyrite sulphide assemblage associated with potassic alteration (hydrothermal quartz-magnetite, biotite and potassium feldspar), with local pyrrhotite associated with specific lithological units within the Nicola Group. The interval is also cut by narrow Lost Horse porphyry dykes, with quartz-chalcopyrite veins, chalcopyrite-pyrite veinlets, and locally intense potassic alteration. The highest-grade interval, 8.85 metres at 5.37% CuEq, consists of a quartz-magnetite-chalcopyrite-pyrite assemblage, hosted in what appears to be intensely altered Nicola Group rocks.

QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols

Drill core was cut and sampled at the Copper Mountain Mine core processing facility. Half core samples were collected in plastic bags together with sample tags and grouped in "apple crates" for dispatch to the assay laboratory. Sample size is approximately 2 metres for HQ and 3 metres for NQ core diameters but may vary to honour geological contacts. Sample weights typically varied from 5 to 10 kilograms. Sample sizes are considered appropriate for the style of mineralization. Drill core samples were transported by road to the laboratory. Sample preparation and assay analysis was conducted at the independent ISO 9001 certified and ISO 17025 accredited MSALABS in Langley, British Colombia. All samples were dried, crushed to 70% passing 2 mm, with a 250-gram split pulverized to 85% passing 75m. All samples were assayed for 48 elements using a 4-acid digestion followed by ICP-AES/MS determination (method IMS-230). Overlimit (>10,000 ppm) copper was determined using ICP-AES (method ICF-6Cu). Gold analyses were determined by 30-gram fire assay with an AAS finish (method FAS-111). Sampling and assaying quality control procedures consisted of inclusion of certified reference material ("CRMs"), blank material and duplicates with each batch (at least 1:20). Assays of quality control samples were compared with reference samples in Excel and verified as acceptable prior to use of data from analyzed batches. Laboratory quality control data, including laboratory standards, blanks, duplicates, repeats and grind size results are captured in an Excel database and assessed for accuracy and precision for recent data. Analysis of the available quality control sample assay results indicates that an acceptable level of accuracy and precision has been achieved. Sampling, sample preparation and quality control protocols are considered appropriate for the material being sampled. There are no known issues that would materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the analytical data from the drill program presented herein.

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to exploration targets, exploration results, Mineral Resources or ore reserves is based on information compiled by Patrick Redmond, Ph.D., P. Geo. Patrick Redmond is a full-time employee of the Company and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Patrick Redmond consents to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Qualified Person

Patrick Redmond is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.

About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Copper Mountain owns 75% of the Copper Mountain Mine, which is located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Copper Mountain Mine produces approximately 100 million pounds of copper equivalent on average per year. Copper Mountain trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CMMC" and Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "C6C".

Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com.

On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION

"Gil Clausen"

Gil Clausen

President and Chief Executive Officer

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain "forward looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and Copper Mountain does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities legislation.

All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect Copper Mountain's expectations or beliefs regarding future events.

In certain circumstances, forward-looking statements can be identified by, but are not limited to, statements which use terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "forecasts", "guidance", scheduled", "target" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this news release, certain forward-looking statements are identified, including information with respect to the Company's strategy, plans and expectations in connection with its continuing exploration program, anticipated production at the Copper Mountain Mine, and expectations for other economic, business and/or competitive factors. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, achievements and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, among others, the successful exploration of the Company's property in Canada, market price, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, the Company's ability to comply with its financial covenants under its bond terms and meet its future cash commitments, extreme weather events, material and labour shortages, the protection of the Company's IT systems or a component of such systems impacting the Company's reputation and results of operations, the reliability of the historical data referenced in this document and risks set out in Copper Mountain's public documents, including the management's discussion and analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 and the annual information form dated March 27, 2023, each filed on SEDAR under the Company's issuer profile at www.sedar.com. Although Copper Mountain has attempted to identify important factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, achievements and opportunities to differ materially from those described in its forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause the Company's results, performance, achievements and opportunities not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. While the Company believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

APPENDIX A: Drill Hole Data

Table 1: Drill Hole Details

Hole ID Easting (m) Northing (m) Elevation (m) Azimuth () Dip () Total Depth (m) CM-DD-894 678804 5467470 1062 180 -55.00 605 CM-DD-895 678802 5467615 1062 170 -63.00 773 CM-DD-896 677307 5467632 1136 310 -65.00 1064 CM-DD-897 678070 5468110 875 255 -60.00 1090

Table 2: Significant Intercept Table(1,2,3)

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) CuEq% Cu% Au g/t Ag g/t CM-DD-894 59.08 95.08 36.00 0.61 0.46 0.21 0.93 including 68.83 87.34 18.51 1.04 0.79 0.35 1.62 107.18 126.00 18.82 0.22 0.17 0.07 0.32 297.39 314.14 16.75 1.91 1.65 0.35 3.02 CM-DD-895 137.10 153.45 16.35 0.60 0.50 0.13 1.19 479.54 521.13 41.59 0.74 0.64 0.13 1.47 CM-DD-896 464.20 572.47 108.27 0.76 0.59 0.23 2.13 including 465.56 521.50 55.94 1.00 0.79 0.27 3.59 597.00 619.85 22.85 0.28 0.21 0.10 0.32 690.75 713.00 22.25 0.45 0.35 0.14 0.51 CM-DD-897 24.00 88.70 64.70 0.47 0.31 0.23 0.79 Assays Pending 208.62 242.00 33.38 0.25 0.17 0.11 0.34 255.20 329.78 74.58 0.29 0.21 0.12 0.37 including 257.10 278.57 21.47 0.62 0.42 0.28 0.71 352.30 419.20 66.90 0.28 0.19 0.13 0.28 455.00 503.00 48.00 0.25 0.17 0.11 0.26 616.70 648.08 31.38 0.42 0.33 0.13 0.38 607.73 648.08 40.35 0.36 0.28 0.12 0.32 674.00 698.18 24.18 0.23 0.16 0.10 0.28 722.00 912.75 190.75 0.66 0.45 0.32 0.41 including 808.90 912.75 103.85 1.01 0.65 0.52 0.53 including 867.50 912.75 45.25 1.50 0.94 0.83 0.74 including 903.90 912.75 8.85 5.37 3.12 3.33 2.20

Notes: 1. Reporting Criteria: Intercepts reported are downhole drill width (not true width). CuEq >0.13%, minimum 15 metres downhole

length, maximum internal waste dilution of 15 metres, and a maximum consecutive waste of 10 metres. Higher-grade included

intervals are reported at CuEq >0.3%, >0.5% and >1.0%, with a minimum 5 metre downhole length for the >1.0% composites 2. Copper and gold grades are reported to 2 significant figures. Copper equivalent values (CuEq%) are calculated using metal prices

of US$3.60, US$1,650, US$21.35 and for Cu, Au, and Ag, respectively, with no metal recovery factors applied. 3. Samples are from core drilling which is HQ or NQ in diameter. Core is photographed and logged by the Company's geology team

before being cut. Half core HQ and NQ samples are prepared for assay and the remaining material is retained at site for future

reference. Each assay batch is submitted with duplicates, standards and blanks to monitor laboratory quality. Total depth (end of

hole) is rounded to the nearest metre for reporting purposes.

APPENDIX B: LOCATION MAPS AND CROSS SECTIONS

Figure 3 shows a plan map with the location of holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895. Previous drill holes are colour-coded by grade. Most of the previous drilling in this area has consisted of relatively short holes (see Figure 4). Note the location of two historical adits. C-C' shows the locations of the cross section shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 shows a cross section with drill holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895 plotted on a 2D IP chargeability data. Reserve pit and Whittle Resource Shell are based on Copper Mountain's NI 43-101 technical report titled "Life-of-Mine Plan and 65 kt/d Expansion Study Update NI 43-101 Technical Report, Princeton, British Columbia" with an effective date of August 1, 2022 and dated September 30, 2022 (the "2022 Technical Report").

Figure 5 shows the location of drill holes CM-DD-896 and CM-DD-897 as well as previous drill holes at New Ingerbelle, with the drill holes colour coded by grade. Lines A-A' and B-B' show locations of cross sections shown in Figures 6 and 7, respectively. The reserve pit is based on the 2022 Technical Report.

Figure 6 provides a cross section showing drill hole CM-DD-897 and the outline of high-grade copper-gold zone (>1.0% CuEq), shown by the dashed red line and red shading. Drill hole CM-DD-897 intersected the highest-grade and most gold-rich, copper-gold mineralization yet discovered at New Ingerbelle and shows that the mineralizing system is getting stronger at depth. Drill holes 20IG-01 and 21IG-38 noted in the figure were drilled in 2021 and previously reported by the Company. The location of the cross section is shown in Figure 5.
Fraunhofer UMSICHT conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) from the Guben Converter.

The carbon footprint is calculated to be 10.5 kgCO2-eq./kg LHM.

The footprint could be reduced to 5.4 kgCO2  eq./kg LHM through careful commercial selection of materials and energy suppliers.

Rock Tech compared the results against an International Energy Agency (IEA) special report showing a carbon footprint 30 percent lower than the average for LHM from hard rock.

Beyond the scope of the LCA, upcoming Zero-Waste solutions will bring further emission-saving potential.

VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (TSXV: RCK) (OTCQX: RCKTF) (FWB: RJIB) (WKN: A1XF0V) (the "Company" or "Rock Tech") is pleased to share the findings of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) from its planned conversion plant in Guben, Germany ("Guben Converter"). The study was carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology ("Fraunhofer UMSICHT") in accordance with ISO 14040 (2006) par. 4.3.3 and ISO 14044 (2006) par. 6.2, and was then critically reviewed by DEKRA, an independent external expert. According to the LCA base case scenario, the carbon footprint of battery-grade LHM from Guben is 10.5 kg per kilogram. It also shows the ability to considerably reduce emissions to 5.4 kg. When compared against an International Energy Agency (IEA) special report, Rock Tech's base case footprint for LHM from hard rock is 30 percent lower.

Dirk Harbecke, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Tech, states, "We want to contribute to zero-emissions and battery electric vehicles, accepting the challenge to reduce the environmental impact of our lithium hydroxide. The LCA shows that we and our partners in the market have the power to bring about this change through commercial decisions."

The renowned German Fraunhofer UMSICHT has evaluated the "cradle-to-gate" environmental impact of battery-grade LHM to be produced at Rock Tech's Guben Converter, with an emphasis on the carbon footprint. The base case carbon footprint is projected to be 10.5 kg CO2-eq/kg LHM, encompassing all upstream emissions and an assumed distance of transit from Australia to Germany.

The main sources of emissions per 1 kilogram of LHM in the LCA scenarios were attributed to energy supply for the Guben Converter with 4.3 kg CO2-eq (average grid mix electricity, natural gas, and steam, excluding transport), mining and concentration of spodumene with 3.8 kg CO2-eq, and transportation and shipping of spodumene concentrate with 0.7 kg CO2-eq.

When compared against the International Energy Agency's (IEA) special study on "The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions" (also see Table 1), Rock Tech's base carbon footprint is 30 percent lower. Furthermore, through mainly careful choice of suppliers, the Company has the ability to reduce emissions to 5.4 kg CO2-eq./kg LHM, which could be compared to the estimated carbon footprint of LHM from brine in the IEA special report.

In the base case scenario, credits of -1.0 kg CO2-eq./kg LHM are given to one by-product by applying the avoided burden approach.1 The assessment also shows different scenarios that could cut the emissions in half by commercial choice of suppliers alone, without adapting the conversion process.

Changing from an average grid mix to exclusively renewable sources might reduce the footprint by more than 20% compared to the baseline scenario. Spodumene mining also has a lot of potential for improvement. Considering of supplies from Rock Tech's Georgia Lake Project in Ontario, Canada, or reduced emissions claimed by some existing Australian mining companies, might significantly lower the footprint.

The LCA did not take into account Rock Tech's ambitions2 towards a zero-waste scenario because the exact quantification of its influence could not yet be determined clearly. Nonetheless, the targeted use of by-products remains a strategic priority that could bring additional emission-saving potential beyond the scope of the present study. The same holds true when substituting natural gas with hydrogen. These measures will provide further considerable benefits in the future.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Dirk Harbecke

Chairman & CEO

1 To effectively avoid greenwashing, credits from by-product utilization are not accounted for in the net sum emissions of Rock Tech LCA, although Rock Tech supports avoiding carbon emissions in an industry beyond the scope of the LCA. 2 See also Rock Tech's press release "Implementing Zero-Waste: Rock Tech Lithium, GP Papenburg and Schwenk Zement Collaborate for Closer Commercial Utilisation of Lithium By-Products" issued 30 January, 2023.

DATA AND CONFORMITY OF THE STUDY

The LCA takes into account several impact categories and examines the possible environmental impact of products, processes, and services throughout their lifecycle. This method ensures that all of the essential factors are assessed for a sustainable decision-making process. Secondary data is being used to calculate the carbon footprint of spodumene mining and concentration. All LHM manufacturing processes rely on primary data. The primary data originates from mass and energy flow sheets (activity data) from the Company's Bankable Project Study, which was published on November 4, 2022. Furthermore, the LCA has been critically assessed by an independent third party (DEKRA) in accordance with ISO 14071 (2016) paragraph 4.3.3 and ISO 14044 (2006) paragraph 6.2. The Company created a comparison of Rock Tech's carbon footprint to the IEA special report (see table 1), which is not subject to the LCA done by Fraunhofer or third-party verification by DEKRA.

ABOUT ROCK TECH



Rock Tech is a cleantech company with operations in Canada and Germany on a mission to produce lithium hydroxide for electric vehicle batteries. The Company plans to build lithium converters at the door-step of its customers, to guarantee supply-chain transparency and just-in-time delivery, beginning with the Company's proposed lithium hydroxide merchant converter and refinery facility in Guben, Germany. To close the most pressing gap in the clean mobility story, Rock Tech has gathered one of the strongest teams in the industry. The Company has adopted strict environmental, social and governance standards and is developing a proprietary refining process aimed at further increasing efficiency and sustainability. Rock Tech plans to source raw material from its wholly-owned Georgia Lake spodumene project located in the Thunder Bay Mining District of Ontario, Canada, as well as procuring it from other responsibly producing mines. In the years to come, the Company expects to also source raw material from discarded batteries. Rock Tech's goal: to create a closed-loop lithium production system. www.rocktechlithium.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION



Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws and are referred to herein as "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "predicts", "believes", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "projects", "forecasts", "may", "will", "should", "would", "could" or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, forward-looking statements contained in this news release include: statements and data from the LCA, including the carbon footprint calculations therein; the further potential reduction of the Company's carbon footprint and emissions; and the Company's future plans and expectations as described in the section "About Rock Tech".

Forward-looking statements by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The material factors or assumptions used to develop the forward-looking statements include: the type of mining and concentration of lithium; the distance required for transportation of concentrate; the mix of energy supply for the Guben Converter; the Company's ability to procure supplies and other equipment necessary for its business; that all required regulatory approvals and permits can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; and that financing will be available to the Company on commercial terms. There may also be other factors that cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in the Company's most recent management's discussion and analysis and annual information form filed with the applicable securities regulators.

No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, and the Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, nor does it assume any obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in assumptions, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

ATTACHMENT

Table 1 | Rock Tech carbon footprint comparison against International Energy Agency (IEA) special report.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Fremont Gold Ltd. (TSXV: FRE) (OTCQB: FRERF) (FSE: FR20) ("Fremont" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has staked 600 lode claims for lithium-bearing clays and an additional 105 brine claims over two hydrologically enclosed caldera basins in central Nevada: the northern Diamond Valley and Tub project in the Crescent Valley.

As described in the Company's news release of May 9, 2023, Fremont's exploration team headed by VP Exploration Dr. Clay Newton, has identified and staked enclosed, Li-prospective, basins in central Nevada, using the Thacker Pass deposit as a model. These two basin environments are previously unrecognized Eocene-age calderas; one in the northern end of Diamond Valley, which straddles the borders of Eureka and Elko Counties, hereafter referred to as the 'Diamond Caldera' and the Tub Project in Crescent Valley in Lander County.

Figure 1. Diamond Caldera showing geology, caldera ring fractures, claim blocks

Fremont's VP Exploration Dr. Clay Newton explains, "The two types of lithium deposits found in Nevada are lithium brines and lithium-bearing clays. Lithium brines are found in closed evaporative basins in which there is ample water inflow into the basin but no outflow. Lithium, boron, and alkali elements are residually enriched as the playa lake water evaporates.

Lithium-bearing sediments, also common in arid evaporative basins, may also contain clays or salts which are enriched in lithium and boron and are frequently found as caldera lake sediments. The lithium is thought to be sourced from the leaching of adjacent or underlying caldera-fill rhyolitic tuffs. The best environments in the western US for forming both lithium brines and lithium-bearing clay deposits are enclosed calderas hosting rhyolitic volcanics.

At the Diamond Caldera, the geology is remarkably similar to that reported for the Miocene-age McDermitt Caldera in Humboldt County, Nevada, which hosts the world-class Thacker Pass lithium deposit. It is an enclosed basin with no out-flowing stream. An arc of rhyolitic lavas thought to be resurgent magmas, which fueled hydrothermal fluids moving though caldera-fill felsic tuffs, occur on the northeast rim. As mentioned above, the ultimate source for the lithium in the Nevada-style deposits are rhyolitic intra-caldera tuffs. Indeed, these tuffs show similar lithium concentrations as the tuffs in the vicinity of the Thacker Pass deposit. In this model, it is waning hydrothermal activity within the McDermitt caldera that altered original smectite clays to illite, the ore host. Illite clay is able to host several times the concentration of lithium compared to smectite and is key for the formation of world-class economic deposits.

Since the caldera is Eocene in age, most of the original rhyolitic tuffs have been eroded away, probably washed into Diamond Valley. The enclosed basin, Diamond Valley, also hosts abundant artesian springs, some of them thermal, a very encouraging trait for mineralization that indicates active fluid movement and residual hydrothermal activity within the basin sediments and underlying felsic volcanics."

During the past months Fremont has filed 133 claims for lithium brines within the Diamond Caldera as well as staked 600 lode claims for lithium-bearing clays on the northern margin of the caldera as shown in the figures above and below, which are currently being recorded.

Soil geochemical results

Recent soil sampling within the Diamond Caldera has revealed a boron and lithium anomalous zone on the northern edge of the playa lake between the outer and inner caldera ring fractures, as presented in the image below.

Figure 2. Diamond Valley gravity map (violet is low) with superimposed boron soil geochemistry within the lode claim area

Tub Project, Caetano Caldera claim block

The Tub Project, in Crescent Valley, is another previously unrecognized Eocene-age enclosed caldera basin that hosts felsic tuffs and volcanics. The Caetano Caldera is a Late Eocene caldera that was dismembered and offset along a left-lateral fault. A portion of the caldera remains intact on the east side of the fault and hosts a resurgent dome that may have driven hydrothermal fluid flow across the fault into the block offset to the southwest. The offset portion is a fault-bounded basin with a central gravity low that is a lithium brine target.

Fremont Gold has 105 placer claims staked at Tub and is in the process of recording these.

Figure 3. Tub Project gravity map showing suggested resurgent dome and claim block

President and CEO Dennis Moore comments, "These new lithium assets are extremely exciting additions to the Fremont portfolio, providing Fremont shareholders with an additional important commodity play. The compelling geological model behind these exploration plays is supported by our recent geochemical results which display elevated lithium and boron values where we would expect to see them. We plan to drill test the Diamond Project later this year or early next year depending on permitting."

Qualified person

The content of this news release was reviewed by Dennis Moore, Fremont's President and CEO, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Fremont

Fremont's mine-finding management team has assembled a portfolio of high-quality Nevada gold and lithium projects with the goal of making a new discovery. The Company has also been seeking world-class mineral opportunities within the central Tethyan belt of Armenia and Georgia. Besides Cobb Creek, Griffon, and Hurricane in Nevada, Fremont has entered into a letter of intent regarding the Vardenis property and applied for an exploration license over the Urasar area, which are located in central and northern Armenia respectively.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Dennis Moore"

Dennis Moore

President and CEO, interim Chairman

Fremont Gold Ltd.

For further information, contact:

Corporate Information

Fremont Gold Ltd.

Dennis Moore, President and CEO, interim Chairman

Telephone: +351 9250 62196

www.fremontgold.net

https://twitter.com/GoldFremont

https://www.linkedin.com/company/fremont-gold/

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward looking statements

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are based on several material factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the completion of the Private Placement or the actual use of proceeds to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Fremont undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this press release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prime Mining Corp. (Prime or the Company) (TSX-V: PRYM, OTCQX: PRMNF, Frankfurt: 04V3) reported new results from core drilling at the Z-T Area, one of three main zones hosting a gold-silver mineral resource estimate (MRE) announced May 2, 2023 at the Companys Los Reyes project located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Primes recently announced MRE contains 1,470,000 Indicated AuEq1 ounces at a 1.68 gpt average grade and 730,000 Inferred AuEq ounces at 1.26 gpt average grade (see May 2, 2023 news release and below for additional details). Results reported today are from fourteen new core holes drilled at the southeast end of the Z-T Area (see Figure 1) and are all outside of the recently announced resource pit shell from the Z-T Area. This drilling confirms the potential ongoing expansion of gold-silver resources in addition to and not included in the Companys MRE. This drilling follows similar Z-T results released January 11, 2023.

Highlights

Tahonitas

3.33 gpt Au and 220.9 gpt Ag, or 6.19 gpt AuEq over 12.0 m (11.6 m estimated true width or etw), including 24.0 gpt Au and 1,385.0 gpt Ag (41.92 gpt AuEq) over 1.0 m (1.0 m etw) in hole 23TA-64;

1.52 gpt Au and 24.8 gpt Ag (1.84 gpt AuEq) over 10.0 m (9.8 m etw) including 7.94 gpt Au and 61.4 gpt Ag (8.73 gpt AuEq) over 1.5 m (1.5 m etw) in hole 23TA-57;

1.03 gpt Au and 34.5 gpt Ag (1.48 gpt AuEq) over 5.3 m (4.5 m etw) including 2.69 gpt Au and 52.5 gpt Ag (3.37 gpt AuEq) over 1.3 m (1.1 m etw) in hole 23TA-60;

Zapote South

0.96 gpt Au and 27.3 gpt Ag (1.31 gpt AuEq) over 19.5 m (13.8 m etw) and 0.84 gpt Au and 14.4 gpt Ag (1.02 gpt AuEq) over 12.0 m (8.5 m etw) in hole 23ZAP-98;

0.74 gpt Au and 36.9 gpt Ag (1.22 gpt AuEq) over 16.5 m (15.9 m etw) including 2.72 gpt Au and 155.4 gpt Ag (4.73 gpt AuEq) over 1.5 m (1.4 m etw) in hole 23ZAP-95A;

1.01 gpt Au and 23.3 gpt Ag (1.31 gpt AuEq) over 12.0 m (8.5 m etw) and 0.79 gpt Au and 22.8 gpt Ag (1.09 gpt AuEq) over 4.2 m (3.0 m etw) in hole 23ZAP-99.

Prime Mining Corp. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kunz commented, These results are from step out drill holes designed to test for and expand mineralization at depth below the Z-T resource pit shell. The width and grades of the drilling results released today continue to identify new potential mill feed extending the mineralization up to 100 m vertically below the recently reported resource pit bottom and spanning a 500 m strike length. We also expanded an exceptional silver-rich, high grade ore chute in hole 23TA-64 at Tahonitas that is unique in the Z-T Area.

Scott Smith, EVP Exploration added: At Z-T we continue to discover wide areas of potential ore well above the cutoff grade, outside of the most recently announced resource pit shells. The stepout drilling is already expanding the mineralized envelope beyond the latest resource pits in a number of areas and directions. At Zapote South, mineralization was intersected 170 m down dip of the latest resource pit. The results from each of the 14 holes display thicknesses and grades consistent with the latest resource. The deposits remain open down dip and along strike.

Drilling results released today demonstrate the potential at Los Reyes for continued resource expansion.

Figure 1: Los Reyes Drilling Update

Figure 2: Z-T Drilling Update

Figure 3: Z-T Long Section

Table 1: Significant intercepts from recent drilling at Z-T

Drill Hole From

(m) To (m) Length

(m) ETW

(m) Au

(gpt) Ag

(gpt) AuEq1

(gpt) 23TA-57 330.4 340.3 10.0 9.8 1.52 24.8 1.84 including 334.5 336.0 1.5 1.5 7.94 61.4 8.73 23TA-60 343.9 349.2 5.3 4.5 1.03 34.5 1.48 including 345.0 346.3 1.3 1.1 2.69 52.5 3.37 23TA-64 256.1 268.1 12.0 11.6 3.33 220.9 6.19 including 257.2 261.3 4.1 3.9 2.63 185.1 5.02 & including 262.3 264.3 2.0 1.9 13.72 769.9 23.68 including 262.3 263.3 1.0 1.0 24.00 1,385.0 41.92 23ZAP-95A 296.6 313.0 16.5 15.9 0.74 36.9 1.22 including 310.0 311.5 1.5 1.4 2.72 155.4 4.73 23ZAP-98 282.0 294.0 12.0 8.5 0.84 14.4 1.02 including 282.0 285.0 3.0 2.1 1.46 22.9 1.76 23ZAP-98 303.0 322.5 19.5 13.8 0.96 27.3 1.31 including 318.0 319.5 1.5 1.1 3.22 43.8 3.79 23ZAP-99 314.5 326.5 12.0 8.5 1.01 23.3 1.31 including 319.0 322.0 3.0 2.1 1.77 41.2 2.30 23ZAP-99 381.3 385.5 4.2 3.0 0.79 22.8 1.09 including 384.0 385.5 1.5 1.1 1.63 24.2 1.94

Figure 4: Tahonitas Cross-Section

Figure 5: Zapote Cross-Section



PDF Drill Hole Tables

Note 1: Gold equivalent grades are calculated based on an assumed gold price of $US 1700 per ounce and silver price of $22 per ounce, based on the formula AuEq grade (gpt) = Au grade + Ag grade x 0.0129. Metallurgical recoveries are not considered in the in-situ grade estimate, but are estimated to be 93% and 83% for gold and silver, respectively, when processed in a mill, and 72% and 25% respectively when heap-leached.

QA/QC Protocols and Sampling Procedures

Drill core at the Los Reyes project is drilled in predominately HQ size (63.5 millimetre mm), reducing to NQ or BQ size ranges (47.6 mm and 36.5 mm respectively) when required. Drill core samples are generally 1.50 m long along the core axis with allowance for shorter or longer intervals if required to suit geological constraints. After logging intervals are identified to be sampled, the core is cut and one half is submitted for assay. RC drilling returns rock chips and fines from a 133.35 mm diameter tricone bit. The returns are homogenized and split into 2 halves, with one half submitted for analysis and the other half stored.

Sample QA/QC measures include unmarked certified reference materials, blanks, and field duplicates as well as preparation duplicates are inserted into the sample sequence and make up approximately 8% of the samples submitted to the laboratory for each drill hole.

Samples are picked up from the Project by the laboratory personnel and transported to their facilities in Durango or Hermosillo Mexico, for sample preparation. Sample analysis is carried out by Bureau Veritas and ALS Labs, with fire assay, including over limits fire assay re-analysis, completed at their respective Hermosillo, Mexico laboratories and multi-element analysis completed in North Vancouver, Canada. Drill core sample preparation includes fine crushing of the sample to at least 70% passing less than 2 mm, sample splitting using a riffle splitter, and pulverizing a 250-gram split to at least 85% passing 75 microns.

Gold in diamond drill core is analyzed by fire assay and atomic absorption spectroscopy of a 30 g sample (code FA430 or Au-AA23). Multi-element chemistry is analyzed by 4-Acid digestion of a 0.25-gram sample split (code MA300 or ME-ICP61) with detection by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer for a full suite of elements.

Gold assay techniques FA430 and Au-AA23 have an upper detection limit of 10 ppm. Any sample that produces an over-limit gold value via the initial assay technique is sent for gravimetric finish via method FA-530 or Au-GRA21. Silver analyses by MA300 and ME-ICP61 have an upper limit of 200 ppm and 100 ppm, respectively. Samples with over-limit silver values are re-analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish FA530 or Au-GRA21.

Both Bureau Veritas and ALS Labs are ISO/IEC accredited assay laboratories.

Qualified Person

Scott Smith, P.Geo., Executive Vice President of Exploration, is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release.

Additional Notes

Metres is represented by m; etw is Estimated True Width and is based on drill hole geometry or comparisons with other on-section drill holes; Au refers to gold, and Ag refers to silver; gpt is grams per metric tonne; some figures may not sum due to rounding; Composite assay grades presented in summary tables are calculated using a Au grade minimum average of 0.20 gpt or 1.0 gpt as indicated in Au Cut-off column of Summary Tables. Maximum internal waste included in any reported composite interval is 3.00 m. The 1.00 gpt Au cut-off is used to define higher-grade cores within the lower-grade halo.

About the Los Reyes Gold and Silver Project

Los Reyes is a rapidly evolving high-grade, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime has spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and has completed over 120,000 m of drilling. In May, 2023, Prime announced an updated multi-million ounce high-grade open pit resource (see below, and refer to Note 1 and the May 2, 2023 press release for more details).

May 2, 2023 Resource Statement

Drilling is on-going and suggests that the three known main deposit areas (Guadalupe, Central and Z-T) are larger than previously reported. Potential also exists for new discoveries where mineralized trends have been identified outside of the currently defined resource areas.

Historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990. Prior to Primes acquisition, recent operators of Los Reyes had spent approximately US$20 million on exploration, engineering, and prefeasibility studies.

About Prime Mining

Prime is managed by an ideal mix of successful mining executives, strong capital markets personnel and experienced local operators all focused on unlocking the full potential of the Los Reyes Project. The company has a well-planned capital structure with a strong management team and insider ownership.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Daniel Kunz

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Daniel Kunz

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Prime Mining Corp.

1307 S. Colorado Ave.

Boise, Idaho 83706

Telephone: +1-208-926-6379 office

email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Scott Hicks

Executive Vice President

Prime Mining Corp.

710  1030 West Georgia Street

Vancouver, BC, V6E 2Y3

Telephone: +1-604-428-6128 office

email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation as may be amended from time to time, including, without limitation, statements regarding the perceived merit of the Companys properties, including additional exploration potential of Los Reyes, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, the potential size of the mineralized zone, metallurgical recoveries, and the Companys exploration and development plans in Mexico. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes, or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made, and they involve several risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold, silver and copper; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained, including concession renewals and permitting; that political and legal developments will be consistent with current expectations; that currency and exchange rates will be consistent with current levels; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of mineral resource estimates, including but not limited to changes to the cost assumptions, variations in quantity of mineralized material, grade or recovery rates, changes to geotechnical or hydrogeological considerations, failure of plant, equipment or processes, changes to availability of power or the power rates, ability to maintain social license, changes to interest or tax rates, changes in project parameters, delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of local communities, environmental risks, title risks, including concession renewal, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, risks relating to COVID-19, delays in or failure to receive access agreements or amended permits, risks inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Companys objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated April 22, 2022, available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Awale Resources Limited (TSXV: ARIC) ("Awale" or the "Company"), a junior explorer focused on gold and copper exploration in Cote d'Ivoire, is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced financings for gross proceeds of $2.36 million together with other significant developments that will propel the Company toward a new phase of growth and success.

The financings include a $1.5 million non-brokered private placement, including $1 million by Orecap Invest Corp. (formerly Orefinders Resources Inc.) ("Orecap"), a prominent investor in the mining sector, and a concurrent $860,610 brokered private placement led by Beacon Securities Limited as agent (the "Agent"). The net proceeds from the Brokered Financing and the Non-Brokered Financing will be used for exploration and development expenditures at the Company's projects in Ivory Coast, settlement of certain payables, and general working capital purposes. Full details of the financings, allocation of shares for debt and a grant of stock options are provided below.

Appointment of New CEO and New Directors to the Team

Awale is delighted to announce the appointment of Andrew Chubb, formerly the Chief Operating Officer of the Company as its new Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and as a director. Andrew is a geologist with 20 years of experience and has been intimately involved with the Company's projects since inception. With a proven track record of success and exceptional leadership skills, Andrew is well-equipped to steer Awale towards future success.

In addition to the CEO appointment, we are excited to welcome Stephen Stewart to Awale's Board of Directors (the "Board"). Stephen brings a wealth of experience in the mining and exploration sector and has over 18 years of financial experience as a director and senior officer with Canadian public companies, including as the CEO and director of Orecap (TSXV:OCI) and QC Copper & Gold Inc. (TSXV:QCCU), and the chair of Mistango River Resources (CSE:MIS) and Baselode Energy Corp. (TSXV:FIND). Mr. Stewart is the founder of the Ore Group, an organization focused on natural resource discovery and development, and founder and chairman of the Young Mining Professionals Scholarship Fund, the largest mining-focused charitable organization and fund which supports mining engineering and geology education in Canada. Mr. Stewart holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and a Master of Science degree from the University of Florida.

At closing of the financings, Mr. Glen Parsons will be stepping down as CEO and resigning from the Board. The Board expresses its gratitude to Mr. Parsons for his contributions and leadership during his tenure as CEO and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

Andrew Chubb, the incoming CEO said today: "As the former Chief Operating Officer of Awale, I have a close working relationship with our project team. Together we have developed a deep understanding of our projects, and I have played a hands-on role in the development and growth of our projects. The team is well poised to steer Awale to new heights in the exploration and mining industry.

One of our primary objectives is to create value through the Newmont Joint Venture, a mutually beneficial partnership that is a first step in unlocking the full potential of Awale's Odienne Projects. This collaboration with Newmont, a global mining powerhouse, brings together our expertise and Newmont's resources to accelerate the exploration and development of our assets. We are confident that this joint venture will enhance shareholder value.

In addition to the Newmont Joint Venture properties, we are focusing on the granting and subsequent realization of the exploration potential of our 100%-owned permit applications in the district. These permits represent a promising opportunity for further discoveries in the region, and we are committed to exploring and unlocking their full potential.

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Orecap and express our gratitude for their confidence in our project team, the potential of the projects and future vison for the Company. Together, we will forge a successful path forward, leveraging our collective strengths and expertise."

Details of the Financings and Debt Settlement

The Company completed:

a private placement of 7,171,750 units of the Company (the " Brokered Units ") at a price of $0.12 per Brokered Unit (the " Offering Price "), raising gross proceeds of $860,610 (the " Brokered Financing ");

") at a price of per Brokered Unit (the " "), raising gross proceeds of (the " "); a concurrent non-brokered private placement of 12,470,431 units of the Company (the " Non-Brokered Units ") at the Offering Price, raising further gross proceeds of $1,496,451.72 (the " Non-Brokered Financing "); and

") at the Offering Price, raising further gross proceeds of (the " "); and a debt settlement by issuing 1,855,414 common shares of the Company ("Common Shares") to current or former directors, officers and consultants of the Company (the "Creditors") and 311,236 Common Shares to Mr. Parsons and, subject to receipt of disinterested shareholder approval, will issue an additional 999,216 Common Shares to the Creditors and 813,014 Common Shares to Mr. Parsons (collectively, the "Debt Shares") at a deemed price of $0.12 per Debt Share, in settlement of a total of $342,555.60 in outstanding debt to the Creditors and $134,910 in severance pay to Mr. Parsons, respectively (the "Debt Settlement").

The Brokered Units and Non-Brokered Units each consisted of one Common Share and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one additional Common Share (a "Warrant Share") until May 24, 2026 at a price of $0.20 per Warrant Share.

The Brokered Financing was conducted pursuant to the terms of an agency agreement dated May 24, 2023 entered into between the Company and the Agent. As consideration for services provided by the Agent in connection with the Brokered Financing, the Company: (a) paid a commission and corporate finance fee in cash in the amount of $51,604.40; (ii) issued 430,305 non-transferrable warrants (the "Broker Warrants"), with each Broker Warrant exercisable to acquire one Common Share at the Offering Price until May 24, 2026; and (iii) paid a corporate finance fee equal to $100,000, by issuing 833,333 units of the Company at the Offering Price and having the same terms as the Brokered Units.

In connection with the Non-Brokered Financing, Orecap subscribed for 8,333,333 Non-Brokered Units. Immediately before the closing of the Non-Brokered Financing, Orecap did not own any Common Shares or securities of the Company convertible or exchangeable into Common Shares. Following the completion of the transactions disclosed in this news release, including the Non-Brokered Financing, Orecap will be deemed to be an Insider (as this term defined under securities law) of the Company as it will beneficially own and control 8,333,333 Common Shares and 4,166,666 Warrants entitling it to acquire a further 4,166,666 Common Shares representing 15.32% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis and 21.35% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially-diluted basis (based on a total of 54,390,779 Common Shares issued and outstanding).

The net proceeds from the Brokered Financing and the Non-Brokered Financing will be used for exploration and development expenditures at the Company's projects in Ivory Coast, settlement of certain payables, and general working capital purposes.

Investor Rights Agreement and Grant of Options

Pursuant to terms of the binding term sheet entered into by the Company and Orecap on April 24, 2023 (please see the Company's news release of April 25, 2023), the Company also announces that it has:

entered into an investor rights agreement (the "Investor Rights Agreement") with Orecap granting it the right, for so long as Orecap's percentage ownership interest in the issued and outstanding Common Shares is at least 10%, calculated on a partially diluted basis, to: (a) nominate two directors to the Board; and (b) participate in any offering of Common Shares or securities convertible into Common Shares, on substantially the terms and conditions of such offering, to maintain its percentage ownership interest in the issued and outstanding Common Shares immediately prior to completion of such offering; and granted incentive stock options under the Company's stock option plan to directors, officers and certain employees, including to the newly appointed directors, to purchase up to 3,605,000 Common Shares exercisable at a price of $0.20 per Common Share for a period of five years.

Pursuant to the Investor Rights Agreement, the Company has appointed Mr. Stephen Stewart to the Board as the nominee of Orecap and an additional director will be nominated by Orecap for election by shareholders at the Company's next general meeting.

The Company also signed the Advisory Agreement described in its April 25, 2023 news release.

Additionally, the Company issued an aggregate of 625,000 Common Shares at a deemed price of $0.12 per Common Share to Vukasin Pekovic and Devrim Jan Turkdogan as finder's fees for introducing Orecap to the Company.

All securities issued with respect to the above transactions, including the Brokered Financing and Non-Brokered Financing, Debt Settlement and finder's fees are subject to a hold period which will expire on September 25, 2023 in accordance with applicable securities laws or the Exchange Hold Period under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").

Finally, the Company announces that it filed its 2022 Annual Audited Financial Statements and received an order on May 10, 2023 revoking the Management Cease Trading Order issued on May 3, 2023 by the British Columbia Securities Commission.

The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

AWALE RESOURCES LIMITED

"Andrew Chubb"

Andrew Chubb,

CEO and Director

Tel. +356 9913 9117

About Awale Resources

Awale is a diligent and systematic mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large high-grade gold and copper-gold deposits. The Company currently undertakes exploration activities in the underexplored parts of Cote d'Ivoire. Awale's exploration success to date has culminated in a fully funded earn-in Joint Venture with Newmont (the "Newmont JV") covering 1 permit and 1 application within the greater the Odienne Project in the Northwest of Cote d'Ivoire, where three significant gold and gold-copper-silver-molybdenum discoveries have been made. The Sceptre East and Charger discoveries have significant scope for growth with future discovery and resource development drilling. The project has multiple pipeline prospects that follow the same geochemical fingerprint as Iron Oxide Copper Gold ("IOCG") and intrusive related targets. The 400km2 of granted tenure and 400km2 under application remains underexplored and offers significant upside potential. The Newmont JV forms a solid foundation for the Company to continue exploring in a pro-mining jurisdiction that offers significant potential for district scale discoveries.

ForwardLooking Information

This press release contains forwardlooking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively "forwardlooking statements"). Forwardlooking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "plans", "postulate" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forwardlooking statements. Forwardlooking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements regarding expectations for growth and success, the use of proceeds from the financings and the ability to obtain disinterested shareholder approval for the Debt Settlement and the implications of such for the Company. Although the Company believes any forwardlooking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forwardlooking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including the potential inability to obtain required regulatory approvals and satisfy other applicable closing conditions; possible adverse impacts due the global outbreak of COVID19; the Company's inability to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient additional financing requirements; volatility in metals prices; the ability of the Company to retain its key management employees and skilled and experienced personnel; conflicts of interest; litigation or other administrative proceedings brought against the Company; actual or alleged breaches of governance processes or instances of fraud, bribery or corruption; exploration, development and mining risks and the inherently dangerous nature of the mining industry, and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks and other risks and uncertainties; property and mineral title risks including defective title to mineral claims or property; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Cote d'Ivoire; equipment shortages and the ability of the Company to acquire necessary access rights and infrastructure for its mineral properties; environmental regulations and the ability to obtain and maintain necessary permits, including environmental authorizations and water use licences; extreme competition in the mineral exploration industry; delays in obtaining, or a failure to obtain, permits necessary for current or future operations or failures to comply with the terms of such permits; risks of doing business in Cote d'Ivoire, including but not limited to, labour, economic and political instability and potential changes to and failures to comply with legislation; the Shares may be delisted from the TSXV if it cannot maintain compliance with the applicable listing requirements; and other risk factors described other filings with Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sedar.com. Any forwardlooking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forwardlooking statement, whether because of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Tonopah, Nevada  TheNewswire - May 24, 2023 - Allegiant Gold Ltd. (Allegiant or the Company) (TSX:AUAU) (OTC:AUXXF) is very pleased to provide a detailed update of our exploration drilling program for the remainder of 2023.

Allegiant plans to drill a total of 15,115 metres of Reverse Circulation (RC) and Diamond Core Drilling (DDH) for 2023. The Company completed a 19-hole, 2,400 metre RC drill program in February 2023 at the Castle Project, Eastside District. Allegiant has already received most of the necessary drill permits and expects the remainder in the next fiscal quarter.

Peter Gianulis, CEO of Allegiant Gold, commented: 2023 will be another busy year with the Company targeting four distinct areas including two drill programs at the Eastside District, and initial drill programs at Goldfield West, one of the top prospects in our portfolio, and our recently acquired TS Project. Our goal continues to be the same; the efficient allocation of capital directly into the ground while we seek to expand our existing resources and make new discoveries. In addition to funding our own programs, we are also expecting additional exploration programs at our other projects, Mogollon and Bolo, which are being funded by Summa Silver and Copaur, respectively. Together, Allegiant will be one of the most active exploration companies in the sector.

Allegiant plans to conduct the following programs during the remainder of the 2023 calendar year:

EASTIDE PROJECT - EASTSIDE

11-Hole, 4,015 Metre RC Drill Program

2-Hole, 800 Metre DDH Drill Program

Targeting resource expansion and new targets to the south of the current resource area

CASTLE PROJECT - EASTSIDE

28-Hole, 3,500 Metre RC Drill Program

4-Hole, 800m Metre DDH Drill Program

Resource expansion and exploration drilling

Structural and gold distribution data collection

GOLDFIELD WEST

8-Hole, 2,000 metre RC Drill Program

Phase 1 exploration drilling to establish the potential for hosting moderate-high sulfidation epithermal gold-silver mineralization

TS PROJECT  PROSPECTIVE FOR LITHIUM/BORON

9-hole, 1,250 metre RC Drill Program

1-hole, 350 metre DDH Drill Program

Targets sub-horizontal basin sedimentary sequences for Lithium-Boron hosting sediments

Sedimentological and geochemical data analysis to establish potential for Lithium and Boron mineralization

EASTSIDE PROJECT  EASTSIDE DISTRICT

The Eastside Project, Allegiants flagship project, hosts an existing low-grade, bulk tonnage, low sulfidation epithermal resource (NI43-101 Technical Report dated July 30, 2021*) associated with relatively young rhyolite intrusive and volcanic rocks. Unlike typical low sulfidation epithermal deposits there are indications that the mineralized zones extend vertically over several hundreds of meters and is consistent with other rhyolite-hosted systems in the Walker-Lane structural trend; probably the most comparable deposit currently being mined is Equinoxs Castle Mountain mine; the project also bears some similarities to Las Crucitas in Costa Rica.

The goal of the 2023 exploration and drilling program, including both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling, is to expand the existing resource into South Eastside; the area to the north known as the Original Pit Zone (OPZ) or Eastside Resource will be known as the North Eastside Resource. South Eastside has not been drilled sufficiently to define a resource; however, historic drilling indicates the potential for higher elevation, that is nearer surface, low-grade mineralization with high-grade zones.

Mineralization at Eastside has been identified as low sulfidation epithermal with predictable low-grade gold-silver mineralization but controls on the distribution of gold have not been sufficient to move resource to indicated or measured. Allegiants additional goal with the 2023 program is to identify how distribution of gold and silver mineralization, especially in the high-grade areas, is controlled by lithology, structure, and alteration; the greater understanding of these controls will lead to more accurate targeting of zones of potentially high-grade gold-silver mineralization. The 2022 core drilling program went a long way in identifying some of the controls, but more drilling is required to be definitive. This goal is being assisted by geochemical and structural mapping, and analysis, as well as 3D modeling in Leapfrog, and resource estimation and planning in MineSight.

CASTLE PROJECT  EASTSIDE DISTRICT

The Castle Project, approximately 20 kilometers south of the Eastside Project, contains 4 known low- to moderate-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver deposits: Boss, Berg, Black Rock and Castle. An inferred resource was defined based upon historic drilling through 2020; this was followed by resource expansion drilling in early 2023 which demonstrated that the Castle Project was under-drilled, and that further exploration and resource expansion drilling could bring significant additional mineralization to the resource*.

To achieve this goal Allegiant has identified areas of both exploration and expansion drilling to complete the objective of identifying additional target areas. Allegiant has already drilled 19 holes in early 2023 and will drill an additional 30-32 holes using both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling.

Allegiant is in the process of completing all the necessary planning and environmental steps to enable the filing of a Plan of Operation that will include an extensive drilling program to upgrade the resource from inferred to indicated and measured resources, steps necessary for mine planning and permitting.

* The updated resource estimate (Updated Resource Estimate and NI 43-101 Technical Report, Eastside and Castle Gold-Silver Project Technical Report, Esmeralda County, Nevada) conducted by Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno, Nevada, with an effective date of July 30, 2021, contained a pit-constrained Inferred Resources (cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t Au) of 61,730,000 tonnes grading 0.55 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag at the Original Pit Zone (1,090,000 ounces gold and 8,700,000 ounces silver) and 19,986,000 tonnes grading 0.49 g/t Au at the Castle Area (314,000 ounces gold). A copy of the Eastside Technical Report can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

GOLDFIELD WEST PROJECT

Allegiants Goldfield West project is located in the Goldfield District, Esmeralda County Nevada, and shows epithermal alteration associated with highly anomalous to ore-grade gold mineralization both at the surface and in drill intercepts from the late 1980s.

A north-northeast trending zone of alteration in the southern portion of Allegiants claim block extends for 1900 m. Historical drilling along this zone shows mineralized intercepts in many of the drill holes over a 1200 m strike length. Drilling by US Borax/Kennecott, in this area, showed gold values up to 8.7 g/t and up to 18.6 g/t silver over 1.5 m hosted in volcanic rocks. Geophysical surveys conducted in 2022 show north-northeast structural trends which suggest these structures are the conduits for mineralizing fluids.

Allegiant has designed a program of geochemical rock chips for assaying and spectral analyses; the program will also include several soil sediment sample lines to establish whether mineralizing trends continue beneath alluvial cover. The spectral analysis will identify zones of higher temperature minerals indicating areas of mineralizing fluids. Results from the rock chip sampling (both assays and spectral mineral identification), geophysical surveys, geologic mapping and historical drilling results will be compiled to identify drill targets for a reverse circulation drill program of approximately 2,000m later this year.

TS CLAIMS

The TS Claims is a stand-alone land package comprising 126 federal lode mining claims approximately 5kms east of the Eastside District claim block. Discovered in 2022 by Allegiant geologists the TS Claims have shown indications of the potential, from surface sampling, to host both gold-silver mineralization and lithium-boron mineralization.

Allegiants geologists are currently working on a geochemical sediment survey to identify anomalous element trends and, to date, results have shown (NR dated May 11, 2023) that there is a distinct lithium-boron trend across the claim block consistent with basin-bounding normal- and strike-slip fault structures that were identified from analysis of topography and regional geophysical surveys.

The results of the geochemistry will be combined with geophysics and other surface studies to define drill targets that will include both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling in 2023.

QUALIFIED PERSON

Alan Roberts is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, who has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this press release.

ABOUT ALLEGIANT

Allegiant owns six highly prospective gold projects in the United States, five of which are in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Nevada. Two of Allegiants projects are currently farmed-out, providing for cost reductions and cash-flow. Allegiants flagship, district-scale Eastside project hosts a large and expanding gold resource and is in an area of excellent infrastructure. Preliminary metallurgical testing indicates that both oxide and sulphide gold mineralization at Eastside is amenable to heap leaching.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Peter Gianulis

CEO

For more information contact:

Investor Relations

(604) 634-0970 or

1-888-818-1364

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which are referred to collectively as "forward-looking statements". The United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for certain forward-looking statements. Allegiant Gold Ltd.s (Allegiant) exploration plans for its gold exploration properties, the drill program at Allegiants Eastside project, the preparation and publication of an updated resource estimate in respect of the Original Zone at the Eastside project, Allegiants future exploration and development plans, including anticipated costs and timing thereof; Allegiants plans for growth through exploration activities, acquisitions or otherwise; and expectations regarding future maintenance and capital expenditures, and working capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are statements and information regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that are based upon assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action. All statements and information other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as seek, expect, anticipate, budget, plan, estimate, continue, forecast, intend, believe, predict, potential, target, may, could, would, might, will and similar words or phrases (including negative variations) suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Some of the known risks and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements are described in the sections entitled Risk Factors in Allegiants Listing Application, dated January 24, 2018, as filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and available on SEDAR under Allegiants profile at www.sedar.com. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Allegiant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this press release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.




Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Getchell Gold Corp. (CSE: GTCH) (OTCQB: GGLDF) ("Getchell" or the "Company") announces that as part of the planned 2023 drill program to expand the Mineral Resource at the Fondaway Canyon gold project ("Project"), the Company is applying for an additional twelve drill pads.

The Fondaway Canyon gold project is host to a large, 'at surface' Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") reporting:

Inferred Mineral Resource of 38.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.23 g/t Au for

1,509,100 ounces of gold; and

of 38.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.23 g/t Au for of gold; and Indicated Mineral Resource of 11.0 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.56 g/t Au for an additional 550,800 ounces of gold.

"After three years of drilling and delineating a sizeable Mineral Resource 600 metres down dip from surface and 600 metres along strike, the gold mineralization remains fully open for further expansion. Exploration of these ample and very evident priority targets requires the Company to permit more drill pads than previously anticipated based on the past three years' drilling success," states Mike Sieb, President. "The 2023 drill program and drill hole sequencing will be finalized after permit approval is received."

Only 18 drill holes of the 27 that were drilled in the Central Area were used in the Mineral Resource Estimate due to the resource model data inclusion cut off in late September 2022. These 18 drill holes were responsible for a doubling of the Mineral Resource Estimate from historical levels. This highlights the impressive amount of mineralization intersected and demonstrates the consistency encountered across the 18 drill holes.

The balance of the drilling not included in the MRE, nine holes drilled in the latter half of 2022, all intersected substantive mineralization, fully supporting the mineralizing model and attest to the upside potential and strength of the Fondaway Canyon gold project. See news releases dated November 2 and 15, 2022 and January 10 and 18, 2023 detailing the results from these holes.

The Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") technical report for the Fondaway Canyon project in Churchill County, Nevada was filed on February 3, 2023. The MRE primarily conceptualizes an open pit mine model. The minor amount of contiguous mineralization currently extending beyond the open pit limits has been categorized for potential underground mining. The plan is to expand the mineralization to grow the mineral resource and, in the process, support a larger open pit model which can then convert the current underground mineral resources to open pit mineral resources.

Scott Frostad, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person (as defined in NI 43-101) who reviewed and approved the content and scientific and technical information in the news release.

Nevada Ranked #1

Nevada has retained its #1 spot as the top favoured jurisdiction in which to operate for mining and exploration. The recently released Fraser Institute's 2022 Annual Survey of Mining Companies has ranked Nevada in the #1 spot for Investment Attractiveness, an assessment of both the jurisdiction's Policy regime and Mineral Potential.

In addition to the Fondaway Canyon gold project's undeniable attributes, this reinforces the operational prospectivity and potential for development for projects in the region.

Notes on the Mineral Resource Estimate

The independent and qualified person for the mineral resources estimate, as defined by NI 43-101, is Michael Dufresne, P.Geo., from APEX Geoscience Ltd. Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. There has been insufficient exploration to define the inferred resources tabulated above as an indicated or measured mineral resource, however, it is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration. There is no guarantee that any part of the mineral resources discussed herein will be converted into a mineral reserve in the future. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, or other relevant issues. The mineral resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum standards on mineral resources and reserves, definitions, and guidelines prepared by the CIM standing committee on reserve definitions and adopted by the CIM council (CIM 2014 and 2019). The Mineral Resources Estimate is underpinned by data from 518 reverse circulation and diamond drillholes totalling 52,395m of drilling that intersected the mineralized domains. The mineral resource is reported at a lower cut-off of 0.3 g/t Au for the conceptual open pit and 2.0 g/t Au for the conceptual underground extraction scenario. The lower cut-off grades and potential mining scenarios were calculated using the following parameters: mining cost = US$2.70/t (open pit); G&A = US$2.00/t; processing cost = US$15.00/t; recoveries = 92%, gold price = US$1,650.00/oz; royalties = 1%; and minimum mining widths = 1.5 metres (underground) in order to meet the requirement that the reported Mineral Resources show "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction". The effective date of the Mineral Resources Estimate is December 12, 2022, and a technical report on the Fondaway Canyon project titled "Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate Fondaway Canyon Project, Nevada, USA" was filed by the Company on SEDAR on February 3, 2023. Full results tables and additional maps and geological sections are available on the Company's website.

About Getchell Gold Corp.

The Company is a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company trading on the CSE: GTCH and OTCQB: GGLDF. Getchell Gold is primarily directing its efforts on its most advanced stage asset, Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historic resource estimate. Complementing Getchell's asset portfolio is Dixie Comstock, a past gold producer with a historic resource and two earlier stage exploration projects, Star (Cu-Au-Ag) and Hot Springs Peak (Au). Getchell has the option to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon and Dixie Comstock properties, Churchill County, Nevada.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.getchellgold.com or contact the Company at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at +1 647 249-4798.

Mr. William Wagener, Chairman & CEO

Getchell Gold Corp.

1-647-249-4798

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the amendment of the Warrants. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of Getchell have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - HighGold Mining Inc. (TSXV: HIGH) (OTCQX: HGGOF) ("HighGold" or the "Company") announces that, further to the Company's news releases dated February 22, 2023 and March 17, 2023, HighGold has filed an Information Circular with respect to the proposed Plan of Arrangement (the "Arrangement") involving HighGold and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Onyx Gold Corp. ("Onyx Gold"). The Annual General and Special Meeting (the "Meeting") of the shareholders of HighGold will be held Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at 10:30am Pacific Time during which, among other items, shareholders will vote on a special resolution approving the Arrangement. The Information Circular can be found on SEDAR and at the following link on the Company's website https://highgoldmining.com/corporate/annual-meeting/.

Background on the Plan of Arrangement

In early 2023, the Company initiated plans to spin-out (the "Spin-out") its Canadian assets - Ontario and Yukon exploration properties - into a new Canadian-focused exploration company, Onyx Gold. The Spin-out is being completed by way of a Plan of Arrangement. HighGold shareholders as of the effective date (the "Effective Date") will receive one (1) common share in the capital of Onyx Gold (an "Onyx Share") for every four (4) common shares held in the capital of HighGold (a "HighGold Share"). Inclusive of the 5 million Onyx Shares issuable to HighGold, Onyx Gold is anticipated to issue approximately 26,920,207 Onyx Shares upon completion of the Arrangement. The Effective Date will be set after the Meeting.

Upon completion of the Spin-Out, Onyx Gold intends to list its common shares for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Concurrent with the proposed listing, Onyx Gold intends to complete a non-brokered private placement (the "Concurrent Financing") to fund work programs and for general working capital. The aforementioned transactions will be subject to receipt of approvals from HighGold shareholders, the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the Exchange. The Company currently anticipates Onyx's listing and the closing of the Concurrent Financing to occur within a few weeks following the May 30th Meeting approving the Spin-Out.

Onyx Gold Concurrent Financing Details

Under the Concurrent Financing, Onyx Gold intends to raise minimum gross proceeds of approximately C$5.0 million, consisting of approximately $2.0 million raised through the issuance of 4,000,000 units (the "HD Units") at a price of $0.50 per HD Unit, and approximately $3.0 million raised through the issuance of 4,347,826 flow-through units (the "FT Units") at a price of $0.69 per FT Unit.

Each HD Unit and FT Unit will be comprised of one Onyx Share and one-half of one Onyx Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one additional Onyx Share at a price of $0.75 per Onyx Share for a period of 24 months following the closing.

The Onyx Shares comprising the FT Units will qualify as "flow-through shares" within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Filing of Technical Report on Munro-Croesus Property

The Company also reports on the filing of an independent technical report (the "Technical Report") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") on the Munro-Croesus Gold Project, Ontario. The Technical Report, titled "Technical Report on the Munro-Croesus Gold Project, Ontario, Canada" dated March 28, 2023 (effective date of March 1, 2023) has been prepared by David Swanton, MSc, P.Geo of Equity Exploration Consultants Ltd, and is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under HighGold's issuer profile. The Munro-Croesus Project is the Qualifying Property (as defined in Exchange Policy 1.1) for the Onyx Gold listing application with the Exchange.

The securities to be issued under the Arrangement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from registration requirements. It is anticipated that any securities to be issued under the Arrangement will be offered and issued in reliance upon the exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 provided by Section 3(a)(10) thereof. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

About HighGold

HighGold is a mineral exploration company focused on high-grade gold projects located in North America. HighGold's flagship asset is the high-grade Johnson Tract Gold-Zinc-Copper Project located in an accessible area of Southcentral Alaska, USA. The Company also controls one of the largest junior gold miner land positions in the Timmins, Ontario gold camp. This includes the Munro-Croesus Gold property, which is renowned for its high-grade mineralization, and the large Golden Mile and Timmins South properties. HighGold also has 100% ownership of a group of properties in Yukon's emerging new Selwyn Basin Reduced Intrusive Related Gold district. HighGold's experienced Board and senior management team, are committed to creating shareholder value through the discovery process, careful allocation of capital, and environmentally/socially responsible mineral exploration.

On Behalf of HighGold Mining Inc.

"Darwin Green"

President & CEO

For further information, please visit the HighGold Mining Inc. website at www.highgoldmining.com, or contact:

Darwin Green, President & CEO or Naomi Nemeth, VP Investor Relations

Phone: 1-604-629-1165 or North American toll-free 1-855-629-1165

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Website: www.highgoldmining.com

Twitter : @HighgoldMining

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward looking statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively "forward looking statements"). Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "potential", "project", "target", "schedule", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's plans to complete the Spin-Out, the anticipated listing of Onyx Gold on the Exchange, the completion by Onyx Gold of the Concurrent Financing, the timing of the completion of the Spin-Out, the timing of the listing of Onyx Gold on the Exchange and the closing of the Concurrent Financing, the Company successfully applying to the Exchange for a resumption of trading as a mineral exploration issuer following the completion of the Arrangement and any future results at the Company's projects are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Company's expectations include actual exploration results, the ability of the Company to obtain requisite approvals for the Arrangement, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Silver Dollar Resources Inc. (CSE: SLV) (OTCQX: SLVDF) (FSE: 4YW) ("Silver Dollar" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a progress report on the ongoing data compilation and review of all historical exploration data from the high-grade Nora silver-gold property.

Figure 1: Canasil map showing the location of Nora property and other mines and deposits in the region.



Silver Dollar can acquire a 100% interest in the Nora property (the "Property") as part of its option and exclusivity agreements with Canasil Resources Inc. ("Canasil") (see news release of April 20, 2023 for further details).

Located in the Eastern Sierra Madre sub-province in the transition to the high plateau of Mexico, the Property lies centrally within the "Silver Trend" that runs from the northwest to the southeast through Durango State. Significant deposits in the region include Endeavour Silver's Guanacevi mine and Fresnillo's San Julian mine on-trend to the northwest, with Endeavour Silver's Pitarrilla Project approximately 50 kilometres (km) to the east. Pitarrilla is one of the largest undeveloped silver deposits in the world and was discovered by Perry Durning and Frank (Bud) Hillemeyer, Silver Dollar's technical advisors.

Figure 2: Looking west into the Nora property with the Candy mine dump centre frame.



"It's hard not to get excited about the future of the Nora project. Drilling in 2020 and 2021 was the first on the project and tested less than 20% of the potential 3-kilometre strike of the Candy vein structure, and only to a depth of 250 metres," said Mike Romanik, president of Silver Dollar. "All 13 holes drilled to date hit the mineralized Candy structure returning high-grade gold-silver intercepts, and the grade and thickness appear to be increasing at depth."

Silver Dollar has received all historical technical information on the Property from Canasil and is organizing it into a database to analyze, interpret, and then plan the next phase of exploration. The Company also completed its initial Property visit earlier this month for a field inspection and to establish connections with the local communities for logistics, permitting, etc. The trip included Mark Malfair, Silver Dollar's consulting geologist and Mexico country manager, and Erme Enriquez (MSc., CPG), who directed Canasil's exploration work on the Property and has agreed to assist Silver Dollar with its exploration programs.

The Property is located approximately 200 km north-northwest of the city of Durango, with excellent year-round access via Federal highway, paved road, and local dirt roads. Local infrastructure is available in the towns of Tepehuanes and Santa Maria del Oro and the city of Santiago Papasquiaro, all within 50km of the Property.

The geological setting is a Tertiary-aged volcanic flow-dome complex. Gold-silver mineralization is hosted within two structurally-controlled epithermal veins. Mineralization is typical of that found at many mines and deposits in the region, with gold and silver associated with galena, sulfosalt minerals, and lesser pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite.

There are two principal veins outcropping at the Nora project:

The Candy vein , which shows evidence of small-scale historical mining activity, is 0.50 metres (m) to 2.00 m wide and is exposed in discontinuous outcrops for over 900 m with the fault structure hosting the vein traced over 3 km.

The Nora vein is located 600 m northeast of the Candy vein with a parallel north-south strike and can be traced for 230 m along strike with widths of over 9.0 m.

Drilling by Canasil in 2020 and 2021 was the first on the Property, with a total of 3,296 m drilled over 13 holes to test the Candy vein structure over a strike distance of 500 m and to a vertical depth of 250 m below surface. All 13 drill holes cut the mineralized vein structure, returning particularly wide high-grade gold (Au) and silver (Ag) intercepts within the central 200-metre zone tested. Selected highlights of drill results are listed below (click on the table to enlarge).

Table 1: Selected drill results from Canasil's 2020-2021 drilling of the Candy vein.

Only 500 m of the potential 3-km strike of the Candy vein structure has been drill tested, and only to a depth of 250 m below surface. The consistently high gold and silver grades, together with the relatively low base metal values, confirm the upper levels of a robust gold-silver mineralized system within the Candy structure, which is open for significant expansion along strike and to depth where grade and thickness appear to be increasing.

In addition to the Candy vein structure, historical systematic grid soil sampling over a 2 km east-west and 3 km north-south area covering the central zone of the project returned widespread silver, gold, copper, zinc, and lead geochemical anomalies coincident with pathfinder mineral anomalies. The gold and silver anomalies are particularly strong over the 3 km strike extent of the Candy vein structure on the western side of the project area, as well as to the southwest and east of the Candy vein structure. A strong silver and gold anomaly also extends for 1.5 km southwest from the location of the high-grade drill intercepts on the Candy vein, and a breccia target has been identified to the south with potential for hosting bulk tonnage disseminated silver-gold mineralization.

Mike Kilbourne, P.Geo., an independent Qualified Person (QP) as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company. The QP and the Company have not completed sufficient work to verify the information on the Nora Property, particularly regarding historical exploration, neighbouring companies, and government geological work.

About Silver Dollar Resources Inc.

Silver Dollar is a mineral exploration company that completed its initial public offering in May 2020 and is fully funded for its 2023 exploration plans with approximately $5 million in the treasury. The Company's primary projects lie within the prolific Durango-Zacatecas silver-gold belt and include the advanced exploration stage La Joya Silver Property and the recently discovered Nora Silver-Gold Property, both located in the state of Durango, Mexico. The Company has an aggressive growth strategy and is actively reviewing potential acquisitions with a focus on drill-ready projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions.

For additional information, you can download our latest presentation by clicking here and you can follow us on Twitter by clicking here.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Michael Romanik"

Michael Romanik,

President, CEO & Director

Silver Dollar Resources Inc.

Direct line: (204) 724-0613

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

179 - 2945 Jacklin Road, Suite 416

Victoria, BC, V9B 6J9

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this news release.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 23, 2023) - Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. (TSXV: ELE) (OTCQX: ELEMF) ("Elemental Altus" or "the Company") announces its operating and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. For complete details please refer to the Financial Statements and associated Management Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the three months ended March 31, 2023, which can be found on the SEDAR website (http://www.sedar.com) or the Company's website (www.elementalaltus.com).

First Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights:

Record revenue of $2.8 million, up 28% compared to Q1 2022

Record adjusted revenue of $3.8 million, up 74% compared to Q1 2022

Record Gold Equivalent Ounces (" GEOs ") of 2,016 ounces, up 76% compared to Q1 2022

") of 2,016 ounces, up 76% compared to Q1 2022 Record adjusted EBITDA of $2.4 million, up 143% compared to Q1 2022

Highlights and Key Developments:

On February 21, 2023 the Company acquired a portfolio of 19 uncapped royalties from a wholly owned subsidiary of First Mining Gold Corp (TSX: FF) ("First Mining"). The portfolio included a 2.0% Net Smelter Return royalty on the development stage Pickle Crow gold project in Ontario owned by AuTECO Minerals Limited (ASX: AUT) ("AuTECO") On April 20, 2023 the Company acquired an additional 0.25% NSR royalty on Pickle Crow increasing the percentage held to 2.25%

In Q1 the Company entered into a binding agreement to acquire an additional 0.025% effective NSR royalty on the producing Caserones Copper-Molybdenum mine for consideration of $2.0 million in cash The acquisition closed in early May 2023 resulting in Elemental Altus now holding an effective 0.443% NSR royalty on the project Additionally, Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) ("Lundin") recently announced the proposed acquisition of an initial 51% interest in the Caserones mine



Additional Asset Advances:

At the SKO Mine, Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX: NST) ("Northern Star") announced successful underground exploration drilling extending the Mutooroo ore zone at HBJ by more than 200 metres along strike. In addition, Northern Star announced a new high grade gold discovery displaying mineralised intercepts over a 500 metre strike length, located approximately 20km west of the HBJ deposit and within the Company's royalty area

At the Pickle Crow asset, AuTECO announced a 530,000 ounce (24%) increase to the Mineral Resource bringing the current Inferred Resource to 2.8Moz of gold at 7.2g/t

Frederick Bell, CEO of Elemental Altus, commented:

"We are very pleased with our strong start to the year, having delivered record attributable production and revenue, adding 19 uncapped royalties from First Mining and acquiring an additional NSR royalty at the Caserones copper mine in Chile, as well as on the Pickle Crow gold project in Canada. The Company has remained very busy post-period, having completed more transactions in the first four months of 2023 than in the previous 18 months, setting a very positive trend for the remainder of 2023."

Operating Asset Highlights

The following table summarizes the Company's revenue from royalty and streaming interests during the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. Adjusted revenue also includes accrued royalty revenue from equity investments for the same periods (see section 12 - Non-IFRS Measures). Royalty revenues are at zero cost and Ming stream revenues are subject to a 20% cost of sales (see section 12 of MD&A - Non-IFRS).

Three months ended

March 31, 2023

$'000 2022

$'000 Revenue from royalties Amancaya 237 282 Ballarat 35 - Bonikro 179 - Karlawinda 1,260 1,145 Kwale - 113 Mercedes 239 - Mount Pleasant 103 118 SKO 84 - Wahgnion 669 537 Revenue from streams Ming - - Total revenue 2,806 2,195 Royalty revenue from equity investments Caserones1 1,021 - Adjusted revenue 3,827 2,195

(1) The Caserones royalty is held by Sociedad Legal Minera California Una de la Sierra Pena Negra ("SLM California") in which the Company held an effective 21.5% equity interest at March 31, 2023.

The following table summarizes the Company's GEOs from royalty interests during the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022:

Three months ended March 31, 2023

GEOs 2022

GEOs Amancaya 125 150 Ballarat 19 - Bonikro 94 - Karlawinda 663 590 Kwale - 60 Mercedes 126 - Mount Pleasant 55 62 SKO1 44 - Wahgnion 352 286 Ming - - Caserones1 538 - Total GEOs 1 2,016 1,148

(1) See section 12 - Non-IFRS Measures.

Karlawinda

In Q1 2023 attributable GEOs were up 25% relative to Q1 2022

On track to achieve gold production guidance of 115,000 - 125,000 ounces for Capricorn's FY 2023.

On January 30, 2023 Capricorn reported further drill results from the Muirfield prospect and the discovery of the Vedas prospect, both situated less than 5km from the Bibra open pit and continuing the trend of outstanding near-mine exploration success.

Caserones

In Q1 2023, the Company accrued adjusted royalty revenue of $1.0 million (before tax) using an average of the past four quarters and recorded a received dividend of $0.7 million relating to Q4 sales.

Caserones production is expected to return to historical levels following significant weather related events in H2 2022, which impacted the concentrate plant and tailings facility capacity, whilst also creating logistical impediments.

On March 27, 2023, Lundin announced it had entered into a binding agreement with JX Nippon to acquire an initial 51% of Caserones for $950 million. Lundin will also have the right to acquire up to an additional 19% interest in Caserones for $350 million over a five-year period commencing on the first anniversary of the date of closing.

Wahgnion

In Q1 2023 attributable GEOs were up 23% relative to Q1 2022 primarily as a result of higher mill throughput.

Production is expected to be weighted towards the second half of the year as greater volumes of high grade ore are expected to be sourced from the Samavogo pits and the introduction of the high grade Stinger satellite pits is targeted for later in the year, while the strip ratio is expected to reduce throughout the year.

An exploration program of $4.0 million is planned for 2023, following a 2022 spend of $9.0 million in 2022 which included 44,149 metres of drilling across 435 drill holes focused on evaluating the Ouahiri South, Bozogo, Samavogo Nord and Kassera targets.

Mercedes

In Q1 2023 attributable GEOs were down from Q4 2022.

Bear Creek Mining reported that despite throughput increasing quarter over quarter, development work progressed slower than anticipated during the March quarter. As such, the expected increase in grade from gaining access to the San Martin and Rey de Oro deposits is likely to occur during the June quarter.

Bear Creek announced 2023 gold production guidance of 65,000 - 75,000 ounces of gold in 2023, representing a 49% increase relative to 2022.

Bonikro

In Q1 2023 attributable GEOs were up 623% from Q4 2022 as Allied Gold ramps up to full production from the royalty area in H2 2023.

Elemental received approximately $179,000 in NSR revenue from the development of Pushback 5 at Allied Gold's open pit Bonikro gold mine in Cote d'Ivoire in Q1 2023, compared to $14,000 in Q4 2022.

At a gold price above US$1,450, the NSR royalty is at an effective rate of 2.25%.

Subsequent to the period end, on April 27, 2023, Allied Gold announced its plans for a going public transaction and expansion of the executive team.

Amancaya

In Q1 2023 attributable GEOs were down 17% relative to Q1 2022.

Austral Gold report that production during the March quarter was 18% higher than their budget for Guanaco/Amancaya, with higher than budgeted mill throughput.

Austral reported that they intend to continue to review exploration opportunities to increase mineral reserves in the Guanaco and Amancaya district.

Ballarat

The Company owns an NSR royalty on the underground Ballarat gold mine in Australia at a rate of 1.25% and also holds ownership of approximately $0.6 million in accrued royalty payments.

While mining continued uninterrupted, the Ballarat mine halted processing of ore from November 30, 2022 to January 11, 2023 due to excess water in the tailings which have now been resolved. Mining continued through the period and high-grade ore that was stockpiled was prioritized for processing.

Frederick Bell

CEO and Director

Corporate & Media Inquiries:

Jacy Zerb, VP Investor Relations

Direct: +1 604-243-6511 ext. 2700

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Elemental Altus is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: www.discoverygroup.ca or contact 604-653-9464.

TSX.V: ELE | OTCQX: ELEMF | ISIN: CA28619K1093 | CUSIP: 28619K109

About Elemental Altus Royalties Corp.

Elemental Altus is an income generating precious metals royalty company with 10 producing royalties and a diversified portfolio of pre-production and discovery stage assets. The Company is focused on acquiring uncapped royalties and streams over producing, or near-producing, mines operated by established counterparties, as well as generating royalties on new discoveries. The vision of Elemental Altus is to build a global gold royalty company, offering investors superior exposure to gold with reduced risk and a strong growth profile.

Qualified Person

Steven Poulton, Executive Chairman for Elemental Altus, and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release.

Notes

Non-IFRS Measures

The Company has included certain performance measures which are not in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS measures do not have any standard meaning under IFRS and other companies may calculate measures differently.

Elemental has included certain performance measures in this press release that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. The Company's royalty revenue is converted to an attributable gold equivalent ounce, or GEO, basis by dividing the royalty revenue received in a period by the average gold price for the same respective period. The presentation of this non-IFRS measure is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently. The production forecast was derived using information that is available in the public domain as at the date hereof, which included guidance and estimates prepared and issued by management of the operators of the mining operations in which Elemental holds an interest. The production forecast is sensitive to the performance and operating status of the underlying mines. None of the information has been independently verified by Elemental and maybe subject to uncertainty. There can be no assurance that such information is complete or accurate.

Royalty revenue is received at zero cost. Elemental Altus pays 20% per ounce on streaming revenue from the Ming mine.

Adjusted Revenue

Adjusted revenue is a non-IFRS financial measure, which is defined as including gross royalty revenue from associated entities holding royalty interests related to Elemental's effective royalty on the Caserones copper mine. Management uses adjusted revenue to evaluate the underlying operating performance of the Company for the reporting periods presented, to assist with the planning and forecasting of future operating results, and to supplement information in its financial statements. Management believes that in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS such as revenue, investors may use adjusted revenue to evaluate the results of the underlying business, particularly as the adjusted revenue may not typically be included in operating results. Management believes that adjusted revenue is a useful measure of the Company performance because it adjusts for items which management believes reflect the Company's core operating results from period to period. Adjusted revenue is intended to provide additional information to investors and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. It does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.

Gold Equivalent Ounces

Elemental's adjusted royalty, streaming, and other revenue is converted to an attributable gold equivalent ounce, or GEO, basis by dividing the royalty and other revenue from associates in a period by the average gold price for the same respective period, plus the net gold ounces received in the period from streaming investments. The presentation of this non-IFRS measure is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently. The production forecast was derived using information that is available in the public domain as at the date hereof, which included guidance and estimates prepared and issued by management of the operators of the mining operations in which Elemental holds an interest. The production forecast is sensitive to the performance and operating status of the underlying mines. None of the information has been independently verified by Elemental and may be subject to uncertainty. There can be no assurance that such information is complete or accurate.

On behalf of Elemental Altus Royalties Corp.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This news release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology.

Forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's ability to deliver a materially increased revenue profile, the future growth, development and focus of the Company, and the acquisition of new royalties and streams. Forward-looking statements and information are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that, while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies.

Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of Elemental Altus to control or predict, that may cause Elemental Altus' actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, including but not limited to: the impact of general business and economic conditions, the absence of control over the mining operations from which Elemental Altus will receive royalties, risks related to international operations, government relations and environmental regulation, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties; the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration data; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with Elemental Altus' expectations; accidents, equipment breakdowns, title matters, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions in operations; fluctuating metal prices; unanticipated costs and expenses; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions; liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of important factors which could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements, refer to the annual information form of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2022. Elemental Altus undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements and information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking statements and information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement or information can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
SUDBURY, ON, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - SPC Nickel Corp. (TSXV: SPC) ("SPC Nickel"), is pleased to announce new assay results from Phase 1 of the West Graham Project resource definition drilling campaign, including a new high-grade intersection encountered in WG-23-042 representing one of the best intersections so far reported from the consolidated West Graham Project located in the world-class Nickel-Copper mining district of Sudbury, Ontario.

Highlights

Highly successful Phase 1 drill program with a total of 5,338 metres in 27 holes completed (Figure 1).

Phase 1 program has achieved its goal of confirming the presence of mineralization in the western portion of the West Graham Project property while outlining areas of higher-than-expected grade within the contact-style deposit as well as discovering new high-grade footwall-style mineralization outside the historical resource envelope.

Hole WG-23-042, intersected a new zone of high-grade mineralization grading 1.71% Ni and 0.46% Cu over 20.0 metres from 286.0 to 306.0 metres. This interval is part of a wider interval that returned 1.06% Ni and 0.46% Cu over 50.0 metres from 256.0 to 306.0 metres (Table 1).

from 286.0 to 306.0 metres. This interval is part of a wider interval that returned from 256.0 to 306.0 metres (Table 1). Footwall-style massive sulphide veins grading 7.07% Ni and 0.09% Cu over 0.30 metres were encountered in the footwall granites of hole WG-23-042.

were encountered in the footwall granites of hole WG-23-042. Hole WG-23-028, intersected a very thick zone of nickel and copper mineralization over 196.85 metres grading 0.32% Ni, 0.19% Cu from 79.0 to 275.85 metres, including a higher-grade section that returned 0.72% Ni, 0.18% Cu over 21.0 metres from 89.0 to 110.0 metres.

from 79.0 to 275.85 metres, including a higher-grade section that returned from 89.0 to 110.0 metres. Borehole geophysics completed in holes WG-23-027, 028, 037 and 042, identified a large conductive region, measuring 200 metres by 150 metres to the west of the intersection in 042 and 028 (Figure 1).

Assay results from 16 of the 27 holes completed have been received and significant results are presented in Tables 1 and 2. The remaining samples are being processed and will be reported when available.

Grant Mourre, CEO and President of SPC Nickel commented, "The results to date from our Phase 1 drill program have been a resounding success. The intersection of wide zones of nickel-copper mineralization at grades equal to or better than the grade of the historic West Graham resource further confirms our initial investment thesis that the mineralized zone does extend across the property boundary onto the Crean Hill 3 Property. Additionally, the high-grade mineralization intersected in holes 36 and 42 further highlight the up-side potential of the combined project."

"We are excited to start our Phase 2 drill program where we will be completing wide spaced drilling to further define and confirm the extents of the mineralized zone, while remaining focused on working towards delivering a combined mineral resource estimate at the West Graham Project by the end of 2023," added Mr. Mourre.

Assay Results

Table 1: Reported assay results from the Phase 1 drill program on the West Graham Project. Assays from all holes not listed in Table 1 are pending.

HOLE ID From

(m) To

(m) Length

(m)1 Ni

(%) Cu

(%) Co

(%) Pt

(g/t) Pd

(g/t) Au

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) Estimated True

Width % WG-23-028 79.00 275.85 196.85 0.32 0.19 0.01 0.04 0.01 0.02 1.07 30 including 89.00 110.00 21.00 0.72 0.18 0.03 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.75 30 including 93.60 95.00 1.40 3.73 0.27 0.17 0.06 0.07 0.01 1.26 30 WG-23-029 84.00 107.00 23.00 0.37 0.25 0.01 0.03 0.02 0.02 1.39 50 WG-23-030 20.00 52.00 32.00 0.60 0.36 0.02 0.07 0.02 0.03 2.02 45 including 39.00 46.00 7.00 0.98 0.54 0.03 0.15 0.38 0.04 3.00 45 WG-23-031 3.00 9.65 6.65 0.37 0.22 0.01 0.04 0.01 0.01 1.08 95 WG-23-032 34.50 42.50 8.00 0.49 0.38 0.02 0.05 0.02 0.03 2.00 85 WG-23-033 38.00 52.00 14.00 0.35 0.24 0.01 0.04 0.02 0.02 1.29 80 WG-23-042 256.00 306.00 50.00 1.06 0.34 0.03 0.15 0.04 0.04 1.71 75 including 286.00 306.00 20.00 1.71 0.46 0.05 0.17 0.06 0.06 2.61 75 including 286.90 291.70 4.80 3.15 0.21 0.09 0.15 0.11 0.02 0.95 75 and 331.00 331.40 0.40 6.23 0.30 0.14 0.10 0.12 0.03 2.60 75 and 336.90 337.20 0.30 7.07 0.09 0.15 0.04 0.07 0.01 2.50 75

Notes: 1. Length refers to downhole length. Estimated True Width is expressed as a percentage of downhole length.

Previously Reported Results

Table 2: Previously reported assay results from the Phase 1 drill program on the West Graham Project.

Hole ID From

(m) To

(m) Length

(m)1 Ni

(%) Cu

(%) Co

(%) Pt

(g/t) Pd

(g/t) Au

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) Estimated True

Width % WG-23-019 64.00 93.00 29.00 0.39 0.25 0.01 0.04 0.02 0.02 1.36 70 WG-23-020 47.00 91.00 44.00 0.53 0.27 0.02 0.05 0.02 0.02 1.41 100 including 75.00 83.00 7.00 0.75 0.39 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.02 1.86 100 including 87.00 91.00 4.00 1.03 0.62 0.04 0.07 0.05 0.03 2.85 100 WG-23-021 41.00 72.00 31.00 0.46 0.29 0.02 0.06 0.02 0.02 1.50 90 including 42.00 46.00 4.00 0.63 0.46 0.02 0.10 0.03 0.04 2.40 90 including 58.00 63.00 5.00 0.66 0.30 0.02 0.04 0.02 0.01 1.50 90 WG-23-022 61.00 81.00 20.00 0.51 0.26 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.01 1.12 100 including 76.00 80.00 4.00 0.85 0.46 0.03 0.05 0.02 0.02 1.80 100 WG-23-023 45.00 83.00 38.00 0.47 0.28 0.02 0.04 0.02 0.02 1.45 90 including 71.00 82.00 11.00 0.71 0.41 0.02 0.07 0.02 0.04 2.09 90 WG-23-024 29.00 48.00 19.00 0.46 0.25 0.02 0.04 0.01 0.02 1.21 100 and 56.00 61.00 5.00 0.93 0.50 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.02 4.18 100 WG-23-025 20.00 67.00 47.00 0.56 0.30 0.02 0.05 0.02 0.02 1.85 90 including 42.00 65.00 23.00 0.72 0.42 0.02 0.08 0.03 0.03 2.73 90 WG-23-026 106.00 186.90 80.90 0.49 0.25 0.02 0.05 0.02 0.02 1.29 35 including 167.00 186.90 19.90 1.19 0.37 0.04 0.09 0.02 0.02 1.29 35 including 170.00 177.90 7.90 2.48 0.64 0.08 0.15 0.04 0.02 1.82 35 WG-23-027 68.00 120.50 52.50 0.43 0.27 0.01 0.05 0.02 0.02 1.49 85 including 96.65 120.50 23.85 0.57 0.33 0.02 0.06 0.02 0.03 1.79 85 including 111.00 120.50 9.50 0.83 0.37 0.02 0.09 0.03 0.03 2.16 85

Notes: 1. Length refers to downhole length. Estimated True Width is expressed as a percentage of downhole length.

Borehole Geophysics

In order to better define the continuity and distribution of the high-grade mineralization encountered in holes WG-23-042 and WG-23-026, borehole geophysical surveys were completed in 4 selected holes (WG-23-027, 028, 037 and 042). The surveys detected a conductive region coincident to the intersected mineralization and extending away from the holes to the west. The anomaly is defined as a series of strong, overlapping conductors with collective dimensions of at least 200 metres by 150 metres (see Figure 1).

West Graham Project

On January 23, 2023, SPC Nickel announced the signing of an Agreement with Vale Canada ("Vale") granting SPC Nickel the right to earn an 100% interest in Vale's Crean Hill 3 Property that is located adjacent to SPC Nickel's West Graham Property (see Figure 2 for property location and SPC Nickel's January 23, 2023 press release for full details of the Agreement).

As an advanced project, the combination of the West Graham and Crean Hill 3 assets is a transformational opportunity for SPC Nickel. The historical mineral resources on these properties form one contiguous near-surface deposit and consists of the following: Crean Hill 3 hosts a historic mineral estimate of 16.78Mt @ 0.43% Ni and 0.30% Cu 1 . West Graham hosts a historic indicated mineral resource of 8.55Mt @ 0.45% Ni, 0.31% Cu along with an inferred mineral resource of 2.0Mt @ 0.38% Ni, 0.30% Cu 2 .



SPC Nickel considers the West Graham and Crean Hill 3 resource estimates to be historic mineral estimates for purposes of NI 43-101. Neither the Company nor a qualified person on behalf of SPC Nickel have done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources and SPC Nickel is not treating such historical estimates as current mineral resources. SPC Nickel considers the historic mineral estimates to be relevant to an understanding of the Project but has not done any work to validate the estimates.

Reference

1. Van Wiechen, A.G (1990): December 31, 1989 Mineral Resource Inventory table in: The Exploration Potential for Sulphide Mineralization in the Crean Hill  Ellen  Crean Hill No.3 Environment, Internal Inco Report, December 13, 1990. 2. Routledge, Richard and Churchill, Bruce (2009): Technical Report on the West Graham Property Conwest Zone Resource Estimate, Graham Township, Ontario, Canada prepared for First Nickel Inc., January 15, 2009. Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates .

Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Qualified Persons

The technical elements of this news release have been approved by Mr. Grant Mourre, P.Geo. (PGO), CEO and President of SPC Nickel Corp. and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

SPC Nickel follows rigorous sampling and analytical protocols that meet or exceed industry standards. Core samples are stored in a secured area until transport in batches to the ALS facility in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Sample batches include certified reference materials, blank, and duplicate samples that are then processed under the control of ALS. All samples were analyzed in Vancouver by ALS Chemex. Platinum, palladium, and gold values were determined together using standard lead oxide collection fire assay and ICP-AES finish. Base metal values were determined using sodium peroxide fusion and ICP-AES finish. Silver values were determined using an aqua regia digestion and an AAS finish. A Certified Reference Material (CRM) standard, blank or duplicate is inserted on every 10th sample in the following order: CRM, blank, CRM, duplicate. The cycle repeats every 40 samples, thus ensuring that 10% of samples submitted are control samples.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About SPC Nickel Corp.

SPC Nickel Corp. is a Canadian public corporation focused on exploring for Ni-Cu-PGMs within the world class Sudbury Mining Camp. SPC Nickel is currently exploring its key 100% owned exploration project Lockerby East located in the heart of the historic Sudbury Mining Camp that includes the West Graham Resource and the Crean Hill 3 property under option from Vale. SPC Nickel also holds three additional projects across Canada including the large camp-scale Muskox Project (located in Nunavut), the past producing Aer-Kidd Project (located in the Sudbury Mining Camp) and the Janes Project (located 50 km northwest of Sudbury). The corporate focus is on Sudbury, and SPC Nickel continues to look for new opportunities to add shareholder value. Additional information regarding SPC Nickel and its projects can be found at www.spcnickel.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Information

Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding estimated capital and operating costs, expected production timeline, benefits of updated development plans, foreign exchange assumptions and regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are outside the control of SPC Nickel. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, SPC Nickel expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Further information is available at www.spcnickel.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - First Lithium Minerals Corp. (CSE: FLM) (OTC Pink: PGPXF) (FSE: X28) ("First Lithium Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce priority drill targets and commencement of the next phase of its exploration program at its 100% owned OCA project ("OCA Project") in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile.

Following completion of a priority drill targets assessment the Company is planning to proceed to its inaugural brine resource exploration program in the northeastern property areas at the salar de Ascotan (approx. 1,775 ha), which display promising geophysical characteristics based on the Transient Electromagnetic ("TEM") and Magneto-Telluric (MT) geophysical surveys conducted in Q4/22 and Q1/23.

The initial exploration program will consider up to five boreholes to depths of up to 500 meters. Depending on lithology and hydrogeological conditions encountered, it is envisaged that the holes will be drilled with a combination of PQ and HQ core sizes using plastic liners to facilitate core recovery for geological assessment and drainable porosity analysis. Brine sampling is planned at 12m intervals using bailer, packer, or other suitable methodology depending on lithology and hydrogeological conditions.

Figure 1. OCA lithium project. Salar de Ascotan northeastern exploration concessions prospect area. Planned exploration drill targets sectors.

Rob Saltsman, CEO and Director of First Lithium Minerals commented: "We are very pleased to have completed the assessment work for priority drill targets which we believe show the hallmarks of hydrogeological conditions typical of brine deposits in northern Chile. The drilling contractor has been contacted with the objective to commence a drilling program in the second half of the year. We also welcome the Chilean government's recent announcements to develop a plan for the development of lithium projects in a partnership format, where environmental sustainability and social licencing play key roles. We believe our project fits the criteria and have engaged with related parties to explore opportunities of forming a potential partnership that can expedite the development of our project."

The Company is expecting to commence a drilling program in H2/23, conditional upon obtaining required government permits, licences, and agreements.

About First Lithium Minerals

First Lithium Minerals is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company. The Company is currently focusing on exploring for alkali metals at its 100% owned OCA project comprised of approximately 9,000 ha of mineral exploration concessions located in the salars of Ollague, Carcote, and Ascotan in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. In Q4/22 and Q1/23 the Company conducted two property-wide geophysical surveys, identified two priority exploration targets for potential brine mineralization, and is currently planning an inaugural drilling program at the Salar de Ascotan pending obtaining required drilling permits and licences.

Additional information about the Company is available on the Company's website: www.firstlithium.ca.

Qualified Person

Frits Reidel, Consulting Hydrogeologist, CPG, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

For further information please contact:

First Lithium Minerals Corp.

77 King St. W Suite 3000

Toronto, ON M5K 1G8

Tel: 416-402-2428 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Rob Saltsman, CEO and Director

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "contemplates", "believes", "projects", "plans", and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: exploration activities, geophysical and geochemical surveys, its results and interpretation, drill target definition, permitting, licences, environmental laws and regulations, changes in government regulations and laws, obtaining social licence to explore and operate, community engagements, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, general business, economic, competitive, reliance on third parties, the actual results of operations, and other risks of the resources industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
TORONTO, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (Wesdome or the Company) today announces surface exploration drilling results from the Shawkey and Dubuisson zones located east of the Kiena Mine at the Companys 100% owned Kiena Mine Complex in Val d'Or, Quebec.

Since 2021, surface exploration at Kiena has been ramping up with the initial focus on exploration targets proximal to the Kiena Mine. Initially, these drilling programs have been completed along strike (Shawkey zones) or east (Dubuisson zones) from the Kiena mine within the prospective Jacola Formation in order to discover gold-rich zones that could provide additional feed for the Kiena mill. Most recently, surface drilling 2-3 kilometres southeast of the Kiena mine has identified wide zones of low grade gold mineralization potentially amenable to bulk tonnage underground mining similar to other operations in the region (see Figure 1).

Shawkey Zone

Initial surface drilling completed along strike and deeper than the previously mined Shawkey 10 zone (Old Shawkey mine on Figure 2), intersected wide zones of alteration and mineralization with one hole (S-21-831) returning 2.3 g/t Au over 72.0 m within a diorite (Figure 2). Mineralization, which consists of disseminated pyrite with locally visible gold is associated with stockwork of white narrow quartz-carbonate and tourmaline veins with associated albite and sericite alteration cross-cutting diorite (Figure 3). The mineralization defines a large, low-grade zone defined by increased percentage of stockwork veins and gold grades rather than by individual veins and shear zones. Notably, this style of mineralization and alteration, hosted in diorite, is different from the Kiena Mine further to the west.

The diorite hosted gold mineralization at Shawkey has been extended to 200 metres up dip and along strike (holes S-21-823 and S-22-852) and remains open along strike to the north-west as well as down dip. Highlights of the recent drilling northwest to the Shawkey 10 Zone are listed below and are summarized in Table 1.

Hole S-21-831: 2.3 g/t over 72.0 m core length (2.1 g/t Au capped*)

Hole S-21-823: 2.3 g/t Au over 29.4 m core length (2.1 g/t Au capped*)

Hole S-21-852: 3.0 g/t Au over 20.1 m core length (3.0 g/t Au capped*)

* All assays capped at 35 g/t. Au. True width cannot be estimated at this stage of the exploration program as the exploration model is not updated for Shawkey.

Dubuisson Zone

Recent drilling and updating 3D modelling of the Dubuisson Zone has confirmed that the mineralization occurs along shear zones (DUB Zone 1, 2 and 3) and at their intersections. Shear zones are mainly located at the contact between diorite and ultramafic rocks or crosscut diorite. Mineralization is characterized by disseminated pyrite (traces to 7%) with visible gold occurring locally in quartz-carbonate and tourmaline veins (stockwork). Albite and chlorite alteration occur in veins selvages (Figure 4).

Highlights of the recent drilling at Dubuisson Zone are listed below and are summarized in Table 2.

Hole DB-22-001 (New Zone) : 5.0 g/t Au over 24.0 m core length (4.6 g/t Au capped*)

Hole DB-22-002 (DUB Zone 1): 5.0 g/t Au over 9.3 m core length (5.0 g/t Au capped*, 4.6 m true width)

Hole DB-22-003 (DUB Zone 2): 9.8 g/t over 25.2 m core length (9.8 g/t Au capped*, 17.2 m true width)

Hole DB-22-004 (DUB Zone 3): 11.4 g/t Au over 4.2 m core length (11.4 g/t Au capped*, 2.6 m true width)

* All assays capped at 50 g/t Au. True widths are estimated based on 3D model construction. True width cannot be estimated at this stage of the exploration program for DB-22-001.

Warwick Morley-Jepson, Board Chair and Interim CEO commented, "We are pleased with the recent surface exploration results at Shawkey and Dubuisson zones which could potentially increase our resource base in areas adjacent to the mine. These zones present an opportunity to provide a second source of mill feed for the underutilized Kiena mill. Additionally, these zones remain open at depth and along strike and require further exploration. Both of these zones are proximal to the 33 level track drift development that extends over 3 kilometres east of the Kiena mine shaft towards the Dubuisson Zone. These results also continue to show the potential of discovering new zones elsewhere on the Kiena property with more exploration and improving our understanding of the geology.

Elsewhere at the Kiena mine, the Company is following up on multiple initial discoveries made last year, including the south limb of the A Zone and several adjacent hanging wall zones which remain outside the current mineral reserves. Further, the excavation of an exploration ramp from surface to access the near-surface Presquile Zone is expected to proceed in H2 2023 after the required permits are secured.

These exploration results, combined with strong execution of the ramp development to Kiena Deep, pave the way for increased production growth in 2024 and beyond."

TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE

The technical and geoscientific content of this release has been compiled and reviewed by Denys Vermette, P. Geo., (OGQ #564) Exploration Manager of the Company, and a "Qualified Persons" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Analytical work was performed by ALS Minerals of Val-dOr (Quebec), a certified commercial laboratory (Accredited Lab #689). Sample preparation was completed at ALS Minerals in Lachine (Quebec). Assaying comprised fire assay methods with an atomic absorption finish. Any sample assaying >3 g/t Au was rerun by fire assay method with gravimetric finish, and any sample assaying >10 g/t Au was rerun with the metallic sieve method. In addition to laboratory internal duplicates, standards, and blanks, the geology department inserts blind duplicates, standards, and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of one in twenty to monitor quality control.

ABOUT WESDOME

Wesdome is a Canadian focused gold producer with two high grade underground assets, the Eagle River mine in Ontario and the recently commissioned Kiena mine in Quebec. The Company also retains meaningful exposure to the Moss Lake gold deposit in Ontario through its equity position in Goldshore Resources Inc. The Companys primary goal is to responsibly leverage this operating platform and high-quality brownfield and greenfield exploration pipeline to build Canadas next intermediate gold producer. Wesdome trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol WDO, with a secondary listing on the OTCQX under the symbol WDOFF.

For further information, please contact: Warwick Morley-Jepson or Lindsay Carpenter Dunlop Board Chair & Interim CEO VP Investor Relations 416-360-3743 ext. 2029 416-360-3743 ext. 2025 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 220 Bay St, Suite 1200 Toronto, ON, M5J 2W4 Toll Free: 1-866-4-WDO-TSX Phone: 416-360-3743, Fax: 416-360-7620 Website : www.wesdome.com

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains forward-looking information which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the benefits of achieving commercial production at Kiena, the Companys expected capital expenditure in 2023, the timing around reaching the Kiena Deep A Zone, the Companys ability to be cash flow positive and its annual production run rate. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances, managements estimates or opinions should change, except as required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Table 1: Kiena Complex Surface Drilling Assay and Composite Results for Shawkey Zone

Composites

SHAWKEY ZONE 10

0.5 gt over 3m Hole Sector From To Core length Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) S-21-822 Zone 10 316.5 325.5 9.00 1.51 1.51 S-21-823 Zone 10 348.6 378 29.40 2.27 2.09 S-21-831 Zone 10 402 474 72.00 2.32 2.07 Incl. 432.2 439 6.80 3.20 3.20 Incl. 447 451 4.00 3.82 3.82 Incl. 455 463.5 8.50 4.02 4.02 S-21-837 Zone 10 419 432.5 13.50 0.57 0.57 S-22-840 Zone 10 395.1 407.25 12.15 0.83 0.83 S-22-842 Zone 10 344.8 348.5 3.70 3.30 3.30 S-22-852 Zone 10 330.5 350.6 20.10 3.00 3.00 Incl. 330.5 332.7 2.20 8.70 8.70 Incl. 336.6 340.8 4.20 6.74 6.74 S-22-853 Zone 10 339 341.5 2.50 2.71 2.71 Zone 10 372.0 380.9 8.90 1.61 1.61 Zone 10 389.0 394.5 5.50 1.01 1.01 Zone 10 484.7 487.5 2.80 2.92 2.92 S-22-854 Zone 10 234.8 242.5 7.70 1.74 1.74 Zone 10 379.5 384 4.50 1.47 1.47 S-22-855 Zone 10 469.8 480.4 10.60 1.39 1.39 Zone 10 508.2 515.3 7.10 2.34 2.34

Assays

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-21-822 316.5 318 1.5 1.25 1.25 Zone 10 S-21-822 318 319.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 Zone 10 S-21-822 319.5 321 1.5 0.64 0.64 Zone 10 S-21-822 321 322.3 1.3 0.1 0.1 Zone 10 S-21-822 322.3 323.2 0.9 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-822 323.2 324 0.8 0.18 0.18 Zone 10 S-21-822 324 325.5 1.5 6.51 6.51 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-21-823 348.6 350.1 1.5 4.2 4.2 Zone 10 S-21-823 350.1 350.6 0.5 0.93 0.93 Zone 10 S-21-823 350.6 351.1 0.5 2.6 2.6 Zone 10 S-21-823 351.1 352.5 1.4 0.6 0.6 Zone 10 S-21-823 352.5 354 1.5 0.98 0.98 Zone 10 S-21-823 354 355.5 1.5 0.2 0.2 Zone 10 S-21-823 355.5 357 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-823 357 358.5 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-823 358.5 360 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-823 360 361.5 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-823 361.5 363 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-823 363 364.3 1.3 0.18 0.18 Zone 10 S-21-823 364.3 365.8 1.5 1.81 1.81 Zone 10 S-21-823 365.8 367 1.2 2.25 2.25 Zone 10 S-21-823 367 367.5 0.5 0.68 0.68 Zone 10 S-21-823 367.5 368.8 1.3 4.59 4.59 Zone 10 S-21-823 368.8 370 1.2 0.49 0.49 Zone 10 S-21-823 370 370.8 0.8 3.77 3.77 Zone 10 S-21-823 370.8 372.1 1.3 2.46 2.46 Zone 10 S-21-823 372.1 373.5 1.4 0.2 0.2 Zone 10 S-21-823 373.5 375 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-823 375 376.4 1.4 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-823 376.4 377.3 0.9 40.8 35 Zone 10 S-21-823 377.3 378 0.7 0.27 0.27 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-21-831 402 403.5 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-831 403.5 405 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-831 405 406.1 1.1 0.04 0.04 Zone 10 S-21-831 406.1 406.9 0.8 0.02 0.02 Zone 10 S-21-831 406.9 408.4 1.5 0.36 0.36 Zone 10 S-21-831 408.4 409.6 1.2 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-831 409.6 410.6 1 0.06 0.06 Zone 10 S-21-831 410.6 411.9 1.3 49.1 35 Zone 10 S-21-831 411.9 413.3 1.4 0.03 0.03 Zone 10 S-21-831 413.3 414.6 1.3 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-831 414.6 416.1 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-831 416.1 417.6 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-831 417.6 418.5 0.9 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-831 418.5 419.6 1.1 0.05 0.05 Zone 10 S-21-831 419.6 421.1 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-831 421.1 422.1 1 0.04 0.04 Zone 10 S-21-831 422.1 423.2 1.1 0.05 0.05 Zone 10 S-21-831 423.2 424.5 1.3 0 0 Zone 10 S-21-831 424.5 426 1.5 0.29 0.29 Zone 10 S-21-831 426 426.6 0.6 0.08 0.08 Zone 10 S-21-831 426.6 427.2 0.6 6.1 6.1 Zone 10 S-21-831 427.2 427.9 0.7 0.09 0.09 Zone 10 S-21-831 427.9 428.7 0.8 5.19 5.19 Zone 10 S-21-831 428.7 430 1.3 0.02 0.02 Zone 10 S-21-831 430 431 1 0.15 0.15 Zone 10 S-21-831 431 432.2 1.2 0.23 0.23 Zone 10 S-21-831 432.2 433 0.8 2.23 2.23 Zone 10 S-21-831 433 434.2 1.2 1.78 1.78 Zone 10 S-21-831 434.2 435.2 1 2.13 2.13 Zone 10 S-21-831 435.2 436.3 1.1 7.63 7.63 Zone 10 S-21-831 436.3 437 0.7 0.56 0.56 Zone 10 S-21-831 437 437.8 0.8 6.64 6.64 Zone 10 S-21-831 437.8 439 1.2 1.33 1.33 Zone 10 S-21-831 439 440.1 1.1 0.02 0.02 Zone 10 S-21-831 440.1 441.1 1 0.03 0.03 Zone 10 S-21-831 441.1 442.6 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-831 442.6 443.5 0.9 0.07 0.07 Zone 10 S-21-831 443.5 444.1 0.6 0.06 0.06 Zone 10 S-21-831 444.1 444.6 0.5 0.45 0.45 Zone 10 S-21-831 444.6 445.7 1.1 0.08 0.08 Zone 10 S-21-831 445.7 447 1.3 0.03 0.03 Zone 10 S-21-831 447 448.4 1.4 6.27 6.27 Zone 10 S-21-831 448.4 449.5 1.1 3.92 3.92 Zone 10 S-21-831 449.5 451 1.5 1.45 1.45 Zone 10 S-21-831 451 452 1 0.29 0.29 Zone 10 S-21-831 452 453 1 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-21-831 453 454.2 1.2 0.13 0.13 Zone 10 S-21-831 454.2 455 0.8 0.2 0.2 Zone 10 S-21-831 455 455.5 0.5 5.96 5.96 Zone 10 S-21-831 455.5 456.6 1.1 1.27 1.27 Zone 10 S-21-831 456.6 457.6 1 0.7 0.7 Zone 10 S-21-831 457.6 458.5 0.9 2.66 2.66 Zone 10 S-21-831 458.5 460 1.5 8.06 8.06 Zone 10 S-21-831 460 461.1 1.1 2.32 2.32 Zone 10 S-21-831 461.1 462 0.9 1.98 1.98 Zone 10 S-21-831 462 463.5 1.5 6.86 6.86 Zone 10 S-21-831 463.5 465 1.5 1.78 1.78 Zone 10 S-21-831 465 466.2 1.2 3.54 3.54 Zone 10 S-21-831 466.2 467.2 1 2.57 2.57 Zone 10 S-21-831 467.2 468 0.8 2.76 2.76 Zone 10 S-21-831 468 468.8 0.8 1.84 1.84 Zone 10 S-21-831 468.8 470.2 1.4 2.42 2.42 Zone 10 S-21-831 470.2 471 0.8 2.25 2.25 Zone 10 S-21-831 471 472.5 1.5 0.7 0.7 Zone 10 S-21-831 472.5 474 1.5 1.2 1.2 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-837 419 420.2 1.2 1.4 1.4 Zone 10 S-22-837 420.2 421.6 1.4 0.36 0.36 Zone 10 S-22-837 421.6 423.1 1.5 0.59 0.59 Zone 10 S-22-837 423.1 424.5 1.4 0.5 0.5 Zone 10 S-22-837 424.5 426 1.5 0.43 0.43 Zone 10 S-22-837 426 427.1 1.1 0.5 0.5 Zone 10 S-22-837 427.1 428.1 1 0.28 0.28 Zone 10 S-22-837 428.1 428.9 0.8 0.28 0.28 Zone 10 S-22-837 428.9 430.1 1.2 0.44 0.44 Zone 10 S-22-837 430.1 431.5 1.4 0.49 0.49 Zone 10 S-22-837 431.5 432.5 1 1.04 1.04 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-840 395.1 396.1 1 5.64 5.64 Zone 10 S-22-840 396.1 397.5 1.4 0.36 0.36 Zone 10 S-22-840 397.5 399 1.5 0.08 0.08 Zone 10 S-22-840 399 400.5 1.5 0.18 0.18 Zone 10 S-22-840 400.5 402 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-840 402 403.5 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-840 403.5 405 1.5 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-840 405 405.8 0.8 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-840 405.8 407.25 1.45 2.42 2.42 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-842 344.8 345.3 0.5 0.27 0.27 Zone 10 S-22-842 345.3 346 0.7 0.08 0.08 Zone 10 S-22-842 346 347 1 11.4 11.4 Zone 10 S-22-842 347 348.5 1.5 0.42 0.42 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-852 330.5 331.5 1 18.95 18.95 Zone 10 S-22-852 331.5 332.1 0.6 0.17 0.17 Zone 10 S-22-852 332.1 332.7 0.6 0.14 0.14 Zone 10 S-22-852 332.7 334.1 1.4 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-852 334.1 335.1 1 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-852 335.1 336.6 1.5 0.17 0.17 Zone 10 S-22-852 336.6 337.6 1 1.38 1.38 Zone 10 S-22-852 337.6 339 1.4 16.6 16.6 Zone 10 S-22-852 339 340.3 1.3 2.2 2.2 Zone 10 S-22-852 340.3 340.8 0.5 1.64 1.64 Zone 10 S-22-852 340.8 341.8 1 0.26 0.26 Zone 10 S-22-852 341.8 342.8 1 0.85 0.85 Zone 10 S-22-852 342.8 343.8 1 0.51 0.51 Zone 10 S-22-852 343.8 345 1.2 0.08 0.08 Zone 10 S-22-852 345 346.3 1.3 1.56 1.56 Zone 10 S-22-852 346.3 347 0.7 5.44 5.44 Zone 10 S-22-852 347 348.2 1.2 0.6 0.6 Zone 10 S-22-852 348.2 349.2 1 0.51 0.51 Zone 10 S-22-852 349.2 349.8 0.6 0.35 0.35 Zone 10 S-22-852 349.8 350.6 0.8 4.46 4.46 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-853 339 339.7 0.7 3.86 3.86 Zone 10 S-22-853 339.7 340.9 1.2 0.44 0.44 Zone 10 S-22-853 340.9 341.5 0.6 5.89 5.89 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-853 372 373.5 1.5 1.15 1.15 Zone 10 S-22-853 373.5 374.5 1 0.08 0.08 Zone 10 S-22-853 374.5 375 0.5 1.97 1.97 Zone 10 S-22-853 375 375.6 0.6 0.72 0.72 Zone 10 S-22-853 375.6 376.5 0.9 1.45 1.45 Zone 10 S-22-853 376.5 378 1.5 0 0 Zone 10 S-22-853 378 379 1 0 0 Zone 10 S-22-853 379 379.9 0.9 0.15 0.15 Zone 10 S-22-853 379.9 380.9 1 9.65 9.65 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-853 389 390 1 0.91 0.91 Zone 10 S-22-853 390 391 1 0 0 Zone 10 S-22-853 391 392 1 1.23 1.23 Zone 10 S-22-853 392 393 1 0.87 0.87 Zone 10 S-22-853 393 394.5 1.5 1.7 1.7 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-853 484.7 485.5 0.8 9.67 9.67 Zone 10 S-22-853 485.5 486.5 1 0.42 0.42 Zone 10 S-22-853 486.5 487.5 1 0.03 0.03 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-854 234.8 236 1.2 2.91 2.91 Zone 10 S-22-854 236 237.3 1.3 5.9 5.9 Zone 10 S-22-854 237.3 238.5 1.2 0.45 0.45 Zone 10 S-22-854 238.5 239.4 0.9 0.49 0.49 Zone 10 S-22-854 239.4 240.2 0.8 0.35 0.35 Zone 10 S-22-854 240.2 241 0.8 0.35 0.35 Zone 10 S-22-854 241 242.5 1.5 0.47 0.47 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-854 379.5 380.5 1 0.32 0.32 Zone 10 S-22-854 380.5 381.5 1 5.78 5.78 Zone 10 S-22-854 381.5 382.5 1 0.31 0.31 Zone 10 S-22-854 382.5 384 1.5 0.13 0.13 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-855 469.8 471.1 1.3 2.14 2.14 Zone 10 S-22-855 471.1 472 0.9 0.02 0.02 Zone 10 S-22-855 472 472.5 0.5 9.61 9.61 Zone 10 S-22-855 472.5 474 1.5 1.16 1.16 Zone 10 S-22-855 474 475.5 1.5 0.14 0.14 Zone 10 S-22-855 475.5 476.2 0.7 4.39 4.39 Zone 10 S-22-855 476.2 477.5 1.3 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-855 477.5 478.2 0.7 0.22 0.22 Zone 10 S-22-855 478.2 479.4 1.2 0.32 0.32 Zone 10 S-22-855 479.4 480.4 1 1.58 1.58 Zone 10 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut grade (35 g/t Au) Sector S-22-855 508.2 509.4 1.2 2.13 2.13 Zone 10 S-22-855 509.4 510.3 0.9 0.42 0.42 Zone 10 S-22-855 510.3 511.2 0.9 0.02 0.02 Zone 10 S-22-855 511.2 512.5 1.3 7.35 7.35 Zone 10 S-22-855 512.5 513.9 1.4 0.01 0.01 Zone 10 S-22-855 513.9 515.3 1.4 2.93 2.93 Zone 10

Table 2: Kiena Complex Surface Drilling Assay and Composite Results for Dubuisson Zone

Composites

DUBUISSON ZONE

3 gt over 3m



Hole No. Name zone From

(m) To

(m) Core length

(m) Estimated

true width

(m) Grade

(g/t Au) Cut grade

(50 g/t Au) DB-22-001



NEW AREA 73.0 97.0 24.00 5.01 4.60 DUB_2 194.5 202.5 8.00 5.55 8.14 8.14 DB-22-002











NEW AREA 159.3 164.6 5.30 3.90 3.90 NEW AREA 175.3 181.0 5.70 4.06 4.06 DUB_1 201.6 210.9 9.30 4.59 4.98 4.98 DUB_2 241.9 247.5 5.60 3.02 11.96 11.87 DB-22-003



















NEW AREA 72.3 75.7 3.40 4.12 4.12 NEW AREA 87.0 93.5 6.50 3.50 3.50 DUB_2 184.5 209.7 25.20 17.22 9.80 9.80 Incl. 185.7 189 3.30 2.05 17.26 17.26 Incl. 191 194 3.00 1.91 10.42 10.42 Incl. 201.7 209.7 8.00 5.47 12.95 12.95 DB-22-004 DUB_3 250.5 254.7 4.20 2.57 11.43 11.43 DB-22-005 DUB_3 257.7 263.1 5.40 3.51 5.17 5.17 DB-22-009 NEW AREA 452.3 457.9 5.60 3.27 3.27 DB-22-011







NEW AREA 28.7 47.0 18.30 5.44 5.44 Incl. 39.5 47.0 7.50 7.51 7.51 NEW AREA 68.7 75.6 6.90 4.54 4.54

Assays
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Forum Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: FMC) (OTCQB: FDCFF) ("Forum" or "the Company") announces a non-brokered private placement of up to $3,000,000 through the issuance of up to 22,222,222 flow through shares (the "FT Shares") at a price of $0.135 per FT Share. Proceeds raised from the issuance of the FT Shares will be used by Forum to conduct a 2,000 metre drill program on its Nunavut Uranium Project in July, 2023 and mobilization of equipment and supplies in preparation for a 2024 drill program. Forum holds a 100% interest in 95,000 hectares of highly prospective ground for high grade, unconformity-style uranium deposits in the Thelon Basin, a geological analogue to the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan.

The private placement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange and all FT Shares are subject to a four-month hold period. Proceeds raised from the issuance of the FT Shares will be used by Forum to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses on its Canadian uranium and critical mineral properties in Nunavut and Saskatchewan and will be used for qualifying expenses for the critical mineral tax credit (CMETC). In addition, to the extent any expenditures are incurred in the Province of Saskatchewan, they will also qualify for the Saskatchewan mineral exploration tax credit.

About Forum Energy Metals

Forum Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: FMC) (OTCQB: FDCFF) is a diversified energy metal company with uranium, copper, nickel, and cobalt projects in Saskatchewan, Canada's Number One Rated mining province for exploration and development, a strategic uranium land position in Nunavut and a strategic cobalt land position in the Idaho Cobalt Belt.

For further information: https://www.forumenergymetals.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Forum's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include but are not limited to: uncertainties related to the historical data, the work expenditure commitments; the ability to raise sufficient capital to fund future exploration or development programs; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; changes commodity prices, litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological or operational difficulties or an inability to obtain permits required in connection with maintaining or advancing its exploration projects.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard J. Mazur, P.Geo.

President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information contact:

Rick Mazur, P.Geo., President & CEO

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: 604-630-1585
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX:SKE)(NYSE:SKE) ("Skeena" or the "Company") today announced the closing of the previously announced bought deal offering of 10,005,000 common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") at a price of C$7.35 per Common Share (the "Offering Price") for gross proceeds of C$73,536,750 (the "Offering"), and which includes the exercise in full by the underwriters of their over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 1,305,000 Common Shares at the Offering Price.

Randy Reichert, Skeena's President & CEO commented "We are very pleased to have successfully closed this C$73.5 million financing. These funds strongly position Skeena with the proceeds being used to complete key development milestones at the Eskay Creek Project including an on-site assay lab, earthworks and detailed engineering. We look forward to the work planned this summer as it represents a significant step in the advancement of Eskay Creek toward production."

The Common Shares are offered by way of a prospectus supplement to the Company's base shelf prospectus in all of the provinces of Canada, except the province of Quebec, and by way of private placement in the United States.

BMO Capital Markets acted as sole bookrunner for the Offering, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters which includes CIBC World Markets Inc., Raymond James Ltd., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Clarus Securities Inc. and SCP Resource Finance LP (collectively, the "Underwriters").

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for the continued advancement of the Company's Eskay Creek gold-silver project and for general corporate purposes.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any province, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such province, state or jurisdiction.

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in Tahltan Territory in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company released a Feasibility Study for Eskay Creek in September 2022 which highlights an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 50% IRR, and a 1-year payback at US$1,700/oz Au and US$19/oz Ag.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,

Walter Coles

Executive Chairman

Randy Reichert

President & CEO

Contact Information

Investor Inquiries: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Office Phone: +1 604 684 8725

Qualified Persons

In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo., Senior Vice President, Exploration & Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated, and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting the exploration activities on its projects.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements and information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or our future performance. The use of words such as "anticipates", "believes", "proposes", "contemplates", "generates", "targets", "is projected", "is planned", "considers", "estimates", "expects", "is expected", "potential" and similar expressions, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "might", "will", "could", or "would" be taken, achieved, or occur, may identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Feasibility Study, processing capacity of the mine, anticipated mine life, probable reserves, estimated project capital and operating costs, sustaining costs, results of test work and studies, planned environmental assessments, the future price of metals, metal concentrate, and future exploration and development. Such forward-looking statements are based on material factors and/or assumptions which include, but are not limited to, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and the assumptions set forth herein and in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022, its most recently filed interim MD&A, and the Company's Annual Information Form ("AIF") dated March 22, 2023. Such forward-looking statements represent the Company's management expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances on the date the statements are made, and are necessarily based on several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein, and are subject to significant operational, business, economic, and regulatory risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including permitting and other government approvals; changes in economic conditions, including changes in the price of gold and other key variables; changes in mine plans and other factors, including accidents, equipment breakdown, bad weather and other project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of the Company; environmental risks and unanticipated reclamation expenses; and other risk factors identified in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022, its most recently filed interim MD&A, the AIF dated March 22, 2023, the Company's short form base shelf prospectus dated January 31, 2023, and in the Company's other periodic filings with securities and regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States that are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and the Company does not undertake any obligations to update and/or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asante Gold Corporation (CSE:ASE | GSE:ASG | FRANKFURT:1A9 | U.S.OTC:ASGOF) (Asante or the Company) provides the following update regarding the previously disclosed, unsolicited, non-binding expression of interest from Fujairah Holding LLC (Fujairah) to acquire all of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares not held by Fujairah (the "Non-Binding Expression of Interest").

Fujairah requested a 30 day extension to its exclusivity agreement with Asante, which has been in effect from May 8. Fujairah has advised that its technical due diligence process has been delayed due to inability of their consultants to conduct their site visit and complete this part of its due diligence process.

While the Board welcomes the Fujairah offer, there are other financial opportunities of interest and Asante believes that another extension is not in the best interests of the Company. Asante will continue discussions related to other financial opportunities, while supporting the Fujairah due diligence process. Should a formal offer from Fujairah materialize, the Board would welcome this.

The Board is committed to maximizing value for all shareholders and recognizes the offer price of C$2.20 per share is very low. It believes that granting further exclusivity to any one party for an extended period is not in the best interests of the process.

On May 16, 2023, Asante announced that it had extended Fujairahs exclusivity until 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on May 19, 2023 to provide additional time for Fujairah to complete its due diligence review. Although the Company has declined to extend Fujairah's exclusivity it continues to work with Fujairah to support completion of its due diligence review in connection with the Non-Binding Expression of Interest and a potential financing transaction.

The Company cautions that what it has received to date is a non-binding proposal to transact. There are no binding terms and there can be no certainty that any binding terms will be proposed or agreed, or that discussions in relation to such proposal will continue or result in a transaction. The Company cautions that shareholders should take no steps in relations to the Non-Binding Expression of Interest. The Company also re-confirms that it has no indication as to Fujairahs intentions to submit any additional binding or non-binding proposal with respect to the acquisition of the Companys common shares not held by Fujairah or any potential financing to be provided by Fujairah. Any such proposals, if received, would be reviewed by the Company, in consultation with the Company's financial and legal advisors. The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to the Non-Binding Expression of Interest or any other proposals, except as required under applicable law.

About Asante Gold Corporation

Asante is a gold exploration, development and operating company with a high-quality portfolio of projects and mines in Ghana. Asante is currently operating the Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines with combined forecast production of approximately 400,000 ounces of gold for 2023. The Company continues with detailed technical studies at its Kubi Gold Project leading to production. All mines and exploration projects are located on the prolific Bibiani and Ashanti Gold Belts. Asante has an experienced and skilled team of mine finders, builders and operators, with extensive experience in Ghana. The Company is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Asante is also exploring its Keyhole, Fahiakoba and Betenase projects for new discoveries, all adjoining or along strike of major gold mines near the centre of Ghanas Golden Triangle. Additional information is available on the Companys website at www.asantegold.com.

About the Bibiani Gold Mine

Bibiani is an operating open pit gold mine situated in the Western North Region of Ghana, with previous gold production of more than 4.5 million ounces. It is fully permitted with available mining and processing infrastructure on-site consisting of a newly refurbished 3 million tonne per annum process plant and existing mining infrastructure. Mining commenced in late February 2022 with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022. Commercial production was announced November 10, 2022.

For additional information relating to the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates for the Bibiani Gold Mine, please refer to Asantes press releases dated July 18, 2022 and September 1, 2022 and the technical report filed on its SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com) on September 1, 2022.

About the Chirano Gold Mine

Chirano is an operating open-pit and underground mine located in the Western Region of Ghana, immediately south of the Companys Bibiani Gold Mine. Chirano was first explored and developed in 1996 and began production in October 2005. The mine comprises the Akwaaba, Suraw, Akoti South, Akoti North, Akoti Extended, Paboase, Tano, Obra South, Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao open pits and the Akwaaba and Paboase underground mines. Gold Equivalent Production in 2021 was 154,668 oz on a 100% basis (source Kinross Gold Corporation).

For further information please contact:

Dave Anthony, President & CEO: +233 55 879 3309 (Ghana) or +1 647 382 4215 (Canada), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Frederick Attakumah, Executive Vice President, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Qualified Person Statement

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dave Anthony, P. Eng., Mining and Mineral Processing, President and CEO of Asante, who is a qualified person under NI 43-101.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, production forecasts for the Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines, estimated mineral resources, reserves, exploration results, development programs and increases in mine-life, potential synergies between Chirano and Bibiani, the Non-Binding Expression of Interest, and potential financing transactions. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Companys inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its planned activities, the Companys inability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and the price of gold. The reader is referred to the Companys public disclosure record which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except as required by securities laws and the policies of the securities exchanges on which the Company is listed, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

LEI Number: 529900F9PV1G9S5YD446. Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evolving Gold Corp. (CSE:EVG) (FSE:EV7) (OTCB:EVOGF) (the Company) is pleased to announce it has received the first 28 sample assay results that were rush processed at the laboratory. These samples were collected in the first days of... Read More
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VALOREM RESOURCES INC. (the  Company  or  Valorem ) (CSE: VALU) (Frankfurt: 1XW1). It has come to the Company's attention that we have been the target of false statements being made by the-financialnews.com about the nature of our... Read More
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 17, 2016) - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES Focus Graphite Inc. (TSX VENTURE:FMS)(OTCQX:FCSMF)(FRANKFURT:FKC) ("Focus" or the "Company") announces the closing of the third and final tranche of a... Read More
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 8, 2018) - TerraX Minerals Inc. (TSXV: TXR) (FSE: TX0) (OTC Pink: TRXXF) is pleased to announce assay results from the remaining 11 holes drilled at the Yellowknife City Gold project this winter. Four of these holes (1,170 m) were drilled on the... Read More
TORONTO, April 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Revival Gold Inc. (TSXV:RVG) (OTCQB:RVLGF) (Revival Gold or the Company), a growth-focused gold exploration and development company, will be participating in the following upcoming industry conference and events: European Gold Forum, to be held in... Read More
It's a never ending battle for Yoo Ah In after the authorities found strong evidence against the actor in his drug case.

Following the second private summons, police planned on pushing for the arrest warrant after uncovering significant information that the actor was tampering with the evidence.

Yoo Ah In Reportedly Helped His Accomplice Leave Korea Amid Investigation

According to the KBS report, the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office officially requested an arrest warrant for the "Seoul Vibe" star. That is due to the evidence that points to Yoo Ah In attempting to help the accomplice leave the country despite the ongoing investigation.

The said accomplice is among the actor's close friends, and a is a writer who graduated from an art school.

With this, authorities pushed the indication after uncovering evidence showing that his accomplice tried to leave South Korea.

In the same report, authorities explained why a warrant of arrest is "necessary" for Yoo Ah In's case.

A police representative pointed out that he "denied the charges even after the investigation, the fact that the type and number of abused drugs have increased, and the fact that he has an accomplice."

Yoo Ah In Leaves Prosecutor's Office After 21-Hour Questioning

To recall, the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office initially planned to file a warrant of arrest against the actor after he skipped the second investigation hearing twice.

First, he reportedly arrived in the vicinity but chose to leave and not attend the investigation after seeing "too many reporters" waiting for him. It was rescheduled a few days later, but Yoo Ah In still dodged the private summons.

At this point, authorities warned the actor that he might face significant consequences if he continued avoiding the investigation hearing.

However, on May 16, Yoo Ah In arrived at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency at 9 a.m. along with his legal counsel. It was five days after he canceled the initial questioning over allegations of illegal drug use.

Upon arriving at the building, Yoo Ah In declined to answer questions when asked by reporters if he denied the accusations.

After a 21-hour questioning, he left the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on May 17 at 6:26 a.m. He also went to answer a brief question from the media, where he was asked about the update regarding the investigation. He replied and said that he "did everything" he could, adding, "I am sorry for causing concern."

Since February, the scandal-ridden actor has been facing allegations regarding his involvement in a drug case. He is accused of using 5 types of drugs, particularly marijuana, cocaine, propofol, ketamine, and zolpidem. He admitted to using marijuana but denied using the other four substances.

At this point, he is barred from leaving the country and would have to participate in the probe.

IN CASE YOU MISSED: Yoo Ah In Attends Second Private Summon After Warrant of Arrest Warning

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Song Joong Ki made heads turn at his first-ever Cannes Film Festival appearance.

The South Korean heartthrob is winning in love and in life after starring in back-to-back projects. His newest movie, "Hopeless," which was directed and penned by Kim Chang Hoon, is one of the South Korean films screened at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

Song Joong Ki Makes Cannes Film Festival Debut

The "Hopeless" cast, headlined by Song Joong Ki, Bibi, and Hong Sang Bin, graced the event and posed before the camera, overlooking the Majestic Cannes.

The South Korean heartthrob showed off his unique charm as he smiled brightly for the media.

Song Joong Ki's Cannes Film Festival 2023 look is a laid-back feel, a light blue oversized jacket, paired with a white top and cream colored bottom.

Interestingly, his outfit is cohesive with his "Hopeless" co-stars Bibi and Hong Sang Bin, who also wore a white and cream-colored ensemble.

According to reports, the top star along with his co-actors arrived in France two days before the main event, which is scheduled for May 24.

With this, the public can expect more of Song Joong Ki and the "Hopeless" cast as the film will have its world premiere at the prestigious festival.

To recall, "Hopeless," which was initially called "Hwaran," is among the projects he did after the success of "Reborn Rich."

Back in September 2022, it was confirmed that Song Joong Ki had agreed to appear in the upcoming film without pay. This is his way to support the team, as he believes in the project's artistic quality.

The soon-to-be released movie is a noir film that depicts the life of Yeon Gyu, played by Hong Sa Bin. His goal is to escape his hellish life, and he accidentally meets Chi Geon, portrayed by Song Joong Ki.

Born and raised in the town, he is a mid-level boss of a criminal organization. Due to their sudden connection, 17-year-old Yeon Gyu became a member of Chi Geon's gang.

In a separate report, Song Joong Ki opened up about his expectations for the film and his reaction upon learning that "Hopeless" will become part of the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

As obtained by a media outlet, the South Korean top star says he feels "honored" with the recognition of their upcoming movie.

Moreover, he is also proud" to represent "Hopeless" at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2023.

"Hopeless is a film that was made with pure passion and dedication from everyone involved," he said, adding that he is excited for global viewers to watch the noir movie.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Geca Wills
Rising star Lee Seo Yeon is making headlines for her intelligence and activities outside her acting gigs.

At the moment, the 20-year-old star stars as Uhm Jung Hwa's beloved daughter in the smash hit drama "Doctor Cha." Read to know more.

'Doctor Cha' Star Lee Seo Yeon Wows Fans With High Intelligence

On May 22, photos of "Doctor Cha" rising star Lee Seo Yeon circulated online, leaving viewers in awe.

The 2003-born star was seen tutoring for private classes even in the middle of her acting activities. Many viewers were impressed with the actress' diligence, calling her "Korean Hermione."

It is revealed that the students she tutored achieved impressive scores in their individual English tests. While it's difficult to juggle her professional and part-time jobs, Lee Seo Yeon is rather grateful.

The actress stated, "Preparing for acting while dealing with my university exams as well as taking three tutoring sessions every day is extremely hard for me. But the students' sweet results make everything worth it."

Lee Seo Yeon confessed that she wants to cry every day due to her packed schedule. However, she's more than thankful for the blessings she receives, especially the success of "Doctor Cha."

Currently, Lee Seo Yeon studies at the Department of Social Welfare of Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.

Lee Seo Yeon's Previous Dramas & Films To Check Out

The 20-year-old star made her acting debut in the 2016 drama film "The World of Us." In the following year, she made her debut on the television scene with "The King in Love" as the daughter of Girls' Generation Yoona.

Lee Seo Yeon also worked with fellow child actors Nam Da Reum and Yoon Chan Young who are both making their names in the acting industry with their impeccable talents.

"The House of Us," "Still 17" and "Spring Turns To Spring" are also a few of Lee Seo Yeon's first ever works before landing her acting role in the JTBC series "Doctor Cha."

With her immersive performance in the blockbuster drama, Lee Seo Yeon is expected to become bigger as she takes on new challenges as an actress.

Catch Lee Seo Yeon as Seo Yi Rang in the Netflix medical family drama "Doctor Cha" every weekend at 10:30 p.m. KST.

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.
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During her treatment for acute leukemia, my friend Susan came to me for help and advice while she was in the hospital receiving chemotherapy. I also did her laundry. She went to one of the specialists at a major tertiary care center and had access to the lengthy consultation written by the oncologist. Susan had a career as a highly respected and much-loved elementary school principal in our county school district.

Her first comment was that in the narrative section discussing her as a patient, the word principal was misspelled (as principle). Of course, as a former teacher, this would catch her eye. I am not sure if this error reduced her opinion of the physicians standing or intellect in her estimation. I stood up for the doctor, whom I did not know, by telling her that the note was likely dictated and some program or transcriptionist inadvertently used the wrong spelling of that word (which has a different meaning), and it was not proof-read before being placed into the medical record.

I suspect many people, some of whom may be excellent physicians, misuse or misspell this word. Susan would remind you that your schools principal is your pal. The next thing she asked about was the doctors description of her as well-groomed. She could not understand why this was relevant or present in the record. Why did my doctor say this about me?

I tried to explain this to Susan. The medical record serves as a communication tool for the medical team to convey thoughts, facts, and conjectures to each other. These notes existed for centuries before they routinely became available to patients and their families in the 21st century.

The mention of Susans profession and general appearance was likely to give the referring physicians and others on her case, a mental snapshot of her as a person. A persons profession, grooming, and clothing choices send out messages to the world and into the brains of the doctors and nurses. We all understand the level of education that one must have to become a principal. Good grooming is quite subjective but generally signifies that one is clean and dressed presentably.

What did Susans doctor mean in his note when he referred to her as well-groomed? Most likely, this was shorthand for all who would read his note later to know that this lady had her wits about her, cared about her appearance, and had the means to take care of herself. How someone takes care of herself can tell us a lot, but looks can be deceiving.

In a much-publicized case in DC, paramedics mistook a normally well-groomed man for another drunk when he was picked up in the streets of Georgetown after being mugged and beaten on his way home from a restaurant. Arbitrary and wrong assumptions were made by paramedics that resulted in the patient being brought to an emergency department ill-suited for the head injury he was discovered to have hours later. The report of another drunk was given to the receiving staff, and he was placed on a gurney to wait for evaluation. He should have prioritized getting that head CT scan immediately to exclude traumatic brain injury.

I explained some of this reasoning to Susan as she digested this comment in addition to the dreadful diagnosis of acute leukemia that was discussed in the consultation. She learned a lot about her diagnosis and closely followed her lab results. She had so much faith in her physicians and in the intentions of God. She followed the treatment plans her medical team ordered and passed away in 2021 at the age of 71.

In an insightful article in The New Yorker, The Curious Side Effects of Medical Transparency, noted author and practicing internist, Danielle Ofri, discusses the effects of having physician notes and test results available to the patient and their family members even before the physician gets to read and review them. Rather than set off alarm bells and anxiety attacks in her patients, even the thoughtful and lyrical Dr. Ofri has found herself making drastic edits.

In Changing How We Think about Difficult Patients, I discuss how some of the language we use describing and labeling patients has become terribly negative. Even the shorthand way clinicians refer to their patients, such as the cancer patient in bed ten or the seizure in bed twenty, robs people of their humanity and individuality. When we identify a person as a certain diagnosis, knowing what we know about confirmation bias, we inadvertently look for evidence that confirms what we already believe to be true and dismiss evidence that goes against our previously held belief. Humans like to be right, even if they are confirming something that is incorrect.

A study from the January 26, 2018 Journal of General Internal Medicine researched if words matter and the impact of stigmatizing language and the transmission of bias in the medical record. The results strongly back up my intuition about this problem. The researchers conclude,

Our results suggest that language used in medical records to describe patients can directly influence subsequent physicians-in-training who read the notes, in terms of both their attitudes towards the patient and their medication-prescribing behaviorWe must question the assumption that the medical record always represents an objective space. Clinicians must be vigilant to guard against contributing to bias as they write chart notes about their own patients and as they read chart notes written by others. The language in medical records should be more carefully considered to avoid perpetuating clinician biases and the health care disparities that may arise from them.

The notes we write, and the verbal reports we give to our colleagues at the end of a shift contain much information. They also contain a lot of labeling and words charged with negative judgment and disapproval. Labeling a person by their visit frequency or most obvious diagnosis will certainly stop our curiosity from looking for another reason for a new sign or symptom. It also affects their downstream treatment in the same way that labeling someone as non-compliant or difficult.

So not only do we miss diagnoses and affect future treatment, we can now look forward to offending the patient or the family members with the language we use in the medical record. We cannot begin to change the terms we use or our thoughts about our patients until we become aware that we are using them. We need to take a close look at the language of our notes. The MedEd Portal of March 2021 features an article titled Words Matter: An Antibias Workshop for Health Care Professionals to Reduce Stigmatizing Language. There is a treasure trove of information and advice in that article.

We should not beat ourselves up when we discover that our notes include some biased or stigmatizing language. Our senior residents, instructors, and attending physicians taught us to think this way. We can now question those beliefs and decide to change them. We can soften the language of our notes and consider how a non-medical person might receive a particular comment.

We can convey useful information to the next clinician without terms of condescension or judgment. Our patients benefit, and we do too. Being judgmental and sanctimonious towards our patients feels terrible. Being more positive makes causes us to feel more understanding and compassion.

Watch what you write in those notes. Adopt more objective language that conveys precisely the meaning you intend. Then your patients and their families will understand those words and trust that their doctor has their best interest at heart.

Joan Naidorf is an emergency physician and author of Changing How We Think about Difficult Patients: A Guide for Physicians and Healthcare Professionals.
Health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng has rallied the World Health Organisation (WHO) member states to support and adopt the resolution on medical oxygen accessibility.

This year, the WHO executive board recommended to the World Health Assembly the adoption of the resolution on increasing access to medical oxygen, a draft decision that was submitted by Uganda and co-sponsored by the Central African Republic, Kenya, Turkey, Australia, Bangladesh, the European Union (EU) and its 27 member states.

This resolution underscores the critical role of prioritising constant availability of medical oxygen for resilient health systems and the achievement of health Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking at the 76th session of the World Health Assembly being held in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Aceng noted that amid turbulent times characterized by pandemics, epidemics, conflict, economic stagnation, and disruption of global supply chains there is a need for equity in resource sharing and global synergies for human survival.

She added that the world watched on in dismay as oxygen shortages across the globe claimed lives during the height of the Covid pandemic and that it is about time policies are adopted on the same.

We watched with dismay the avoidable mortality caused by shortage of oxygen across the world during the pandemic. This prompted Uganda, together with several member states, to champion and sponsor a resolution on medical oxygen. I urge member states to support and adopt this resolution during this Assembly, she noted.

Dr. Aceng also used the same platform to call for collaborative efforts leading to self-reliance through technology transfer for the manufacture of vaccines, diagnostics, and other pharmaceuticals which she said should be prioritized by all WHO member states to strengthen health security.

We live in a single global health eco-system where challenges affecting weak health systems can easily spiral and affect the so-called strong health systems of the developed nations. The West African Ebola epidemic and the recent COVID-19 pandemic are good examples, said Dr. Aceng.

The 76th World Health Assembly being held in Geneva, Switzerland, runs till May 30, 2023, under the theme WHO at 75: Saving lives, driving health for all.
The European Union (EU) has been challenged to make a global commitment that independent and universal justice be the norm, wherever Rome Statute crimes are committed.

The remarks have been made by Ms. Virginie Amato the Head of Advocacy and programme at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) as the organization marked the European Union Day against impunity on May 23.

Since 2016, May, 23rd marks the annual EU Day Against Impunity for Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes across the globe.

The 8th EU Day against impunity like other commemorations is aimed at raising awareness of the most heinous crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes.

Ms. Amato noted that 25 years after the adoption of the ICC Rome Statute, the cutting-edge universal justice standards by the European Union were long overdue.

On this EU Day against Impunity, 25 years after the adoption of the ICC Rome Statute, the European Union has an opportunity to set the standard, said Ms. Amato.

In 2022, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST) revealed that new investigations on core international crimes had increased by 44% since 2016.

However, the court has been called out by some African leaders for mostly going after war criminals on the continent as compared to the Western world.

Some African leaders who have been summoned by ICC include former Sudan president, Omar Al Bashir and ex-Kenya president Uhuru Kenyatta among others.

In Uganda, Mr. Dominic Ongwen, a former commander with the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) was convicted by the ICC of crimes against humanity in connection with a two-decade civil war in Northern Uganda led by Joseph Kony and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Likewise, Kony himself has since been indicted and the prosecution has since applied to the ICC to have him tried in absentia. The justices are yet to make their ruling on whether to try him in absentia or not.

Intensifying efforts to work towards ending impunity for core international crimes is the theme for this years EU Day Against Impunity (EUDAI).
By Mike Sebalu

The Minister of State for Economic Monitoring Akello Beatrice Akori has called for immediate investigations into the alleged ghost water project in Nyakyeera sub-county, Ruhaama county, Ntungamo district.

In 2019, government extended the Kiyoora Water project worth Shs100 million with a view of supplying safe water from Kiyoora demonstration.

However, during the Ministers spot visit with a team from the State House Anti Corruption Unit, it was discovered that the said funds were withdrawn from the sub-county account and the project was never implemented.

It was also established that the sub-county got funds directly from the Ministry of Water without the district leaderships knowledge. The sub-county further went ahead with the valuation process regardless of having designs and a project manager as stipulated by law.

This prompted the Minister to direct immediate investigation to bring to book whoever is responsible for the causing financial loss to government.

We got reports from the Auditor General citing how some irregularities in the district are crippling the service delivery because, after the sub-county received money, they went ahead to execute the project which is never into existence, meaning that all the 100m shilling was eaten, Akello said.

The whole water project was a scam and the suspects involved including Ntungamo district water officer Dismus Tumusange, the then sub-county chief Frank Muriisa, the procurement officer, the contract committee, and the whole system be investigated by the State House Anti Corruption Unit, she added.

She further directed the Anti-corruption Unit to investigate the racket tp establish the source of funding and how it was remitted without indicative planning figures.

The Minister contends that there must be some connivance to divert the funding for selfish gains which must be stopped. She also noted that some projects have stalled for some years and shoddy work done due to lack of technical competence for employees with majority district heads of departments in acting capacity for more than three to four years, which she said is inappropriate.

Please chairman and CAO the acting positions are compromising the service delivery in the district, make sure those missing positions are filled because people are there ready to be employed, she said.

Meanwhile, the accused Ntungamo district water officer, Dismus Tumusange told the minister that the sub-county authorities neither consulted him to make bills of quantities nor called him for any supervisory work towards the project.

After the sub-county received funds, they came and told me to make for them BOQs and I told them that I want first inspect the site, which they never adhered to until when procurement officer of the district called me to attend the procurement committee and among the items to be discussed was the Kiyoora water project, Tumusange confessed.

Ntungamo district local government chairperson, Mr. Samuel Mucunguzi called for serious action to be taken to whoever will be found guilty in this water project. Meanwhile, the district Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Mathias Ndifuna who has spent a few months in the office could not verify all the claims saying that there was no handover report.

Other projects inspected were Kihanga Seed Secondary School under UGFIT, Kishami HCIII, Kyamwasha HCIII, and Eriaya Kategaya Memorial Institute.
Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs has been crowned the leading jumps horse of the 2022-23 National Hunt season in the Anglo-Irish Jumps Classifications.

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old won the John Durkan at Punchestown, the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and the headline event in the Cotswolds to crown a tremendous campaign, with his rating of 179 leaving him 4lb clear of his nearest rivals at the top of the standings.

His stablemate Energumene and Nicky Hendersons Constitution Hill share the runner-up spot on a mark of 175, with the latter becoming the highest-rated British-trained hurdler since the Classifications were first published in 1999-2000.

The latter is unsurprisingly out on his own in the hurdling division, with State Man, who chased him home in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, best of the rest on 165.

The unbeaten Constitution Hill successfully stepped up to two and a half miles to add the Aintree Hurdle to his collection and is rated just 1lb behind three-time Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq (176). Whether he remains over hurdles or pursues a career over fences later this year remains to be seen.

Energumene earned his mark of 176 after a dominant 10-length success when defending his Queen Mother Champion Chase crown at Cheltenham in March, while the leading British horse over fences was Hendersons Shishkin (173) thanks to a 16-length win in Februarys Ascot Chase.

El Fabiolo (Mullins) tops the novice chase ranks on a perch of 170, while his owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede are also responsible for the highest-rated novice hurdler in Impaire Et Passe (160).

Martin Greenwood, the British Horseracing Authoritys steeplechase handicap team leader, said: Ireland is responsible for two of the top three chase horses in the 2022-23 Anglo-Irish Classifications. Galopin des Champs and Energumene head the staying and short distance divisions respectively after dominant displays at the Cheltenham Festival.

The GB team bagged the middle-distance division with Shishkin who was upped in trip and secured big-race success at Ascot and Aintree. The home contingent can also look to the likes of Bravemansgame (172), LHomme Presse (170) and Ahoy Senor (169) as part of a decent season in the staying ranks, while Edwardstone (169) and Greaneteen (168) feature high up in the two-mile arena.

Andrew Mealor, BHA hurdle handicap team leader, said: Constitution Hill topped the hurdle rankings for the second season running as he added another four Grade One races to his burgeoning CV.

His top performance of 175 came when beating State Man by nine lengths in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, a rating which puts him behind only triple Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq and Faugheen, both 176, among the top two-milers since Classifications were first published.

Andrew Shaw, senior National Hunt handicapper for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, said: Galopin Des Champs followed up his two Grade One victories at Punchestown and Leopardstown with the best performance by a staying chaser this season in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. Although beaten for the first time over fences by Fastorslow at Punchestown the following month, at only seven years of age he has the potential to go on and win at least one more Gold Cup.

Energumene consolidated his position as the leading two-mile chaser with an emphatic 10-length victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

However, his chances of becoming the first horse since Badsworth Boy to win the race on three consecutive occasions will be seriously tested by stable companion El Fabiolo, the highest rated novice chaser in training and who joins Altior as the only two-mile novice to have achieved a figure of 170 since the Classifications began.
Former Irish premier and architect of the Good Friday Agreement Bertie Ahern has said there is no reason why the Stormont Assembly should not be meeting next week.

He said that everything that was necessary to happen to restore the Northern Ireland powersharing institutions had happened and expressed concern about dragging out the process over the summer.

Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he understands that DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson wants to keep his supporters and base onside, but said that he will have to face them down.

Mr Adams also said he believed the DUP leader when he said the prospect of Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle ONeill becoming First Minister was not the obstacle hindering the institutions revival.

The two leaders were speaking as part of a panel discussion in the members restaurant of Leinster House in Dublin on Tuesday evening, hosted by the Ceann Comhairle, or speaker of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail.

Mr Adams praised the organisation of the event and remarked it was the only event that the Irish establishment has had about the Good Friday Agreement.

All those other events up at Queens (University) and so on and so forth, the Irish government didnt do that. This government is to touch from the process.

Today the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Eireann, Senator Jerry Buttimer, welcomed former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who signed the Visitors Book before addressing the Seanad to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. #SeeForYourself Gallery: https://t.co/qC7Sql9YoF pic.twitter.com/Lsljfdk1Zx  Houses of the Oireachtas  Tithe an Oireachtais (@OireachtasNews) May 23, 2023

Among those on the panel were former SDLP leader Brid Rodgers, former UUP director of communications David Kerr and co-founder of Northern Ireland Womens Coalition Monica McWilliams.

In the audience were Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, TDs from Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats and the Rural Independent Group, the former speaker of the Assembly Alex Maskey, and the leader of the Seanad Jerry Buttimer.

Artist Shane Gillan, who created the hand-drawn portraits of politicians and key players in the peace deal negotiations as part of the event, was also present.

Mr Ahern said he had been concerned a few months ago that the British Government might endeavour to change the Good Friday Agreement in some way and say that this is a change that we have to do to get the unionists onside.

He also said there was huge merit in the DUP moving ahead with a deal to restore Stormont before the summer.

I just think that everything thats necessary has already happened. It looks as if the DUP need a bit of a commitment around trade legislation. Once its around trade legislation I wouldnt lose 30 seconds sleep about it, if its anything else, Id be very worried about that, he said.

Theres no reason that they shouldnt all be meeting next week, in my opinion, he said, adding he had a fear about that dragging it out over the summer.

The British and the DUP  theyre tic-tacing with each other clearly, and its around this trade legislation.

If I was in the DUP, I think theres huge merit in them in getting their bit of trade legislation and doing it now, before the summer break, before the marching season, before the holiday season, and then just getting on with it.

Mr Adams said: Jeffrey Donaldson knows that he has to go back into the Assembly.

He said it was fair enough to want to keep your own supporters and your own base onside, but added: You also have to tell those that you know are not going to come with you, to move to one side, you have to face them down.

He added: Jeffrey has a choice. I believe it when he says he doesnt have a problem  he probably doesnt like the fact  that Michelle ONeill is First Minister designate, but that is not the reason why (he wont take his party back to Stormont).

Reflecting on the campaign ahead of the referendum, Monica McWilliams said that most people do not realise how difficult it was during those six weeks to get people who had suffered and sacrificed the most to vote yes.

The thing I remember for me that turned it was the doctors and nurses came out, which is something they rarely do, and stuck their heads above the parapet and the doctors said Never again do I want to spend my life doing surgery on people who are missing limbs, who have had the most shocking injuries, and the doctor was crying as he was saying it, and that was a moment in which the people of the country listened.

And the nurses that came out and said the same, that their entire 30 years of their health profession, their medical profession had been taken up by nothing else except intensive care and fixing bodies.

Of the famous appearance of David Trimble and John Hume on stage with U2 ahead of the referendum vote, David Kerr said he was incredulous when he had heard the proposals, and that both were very nervous on the night.

Its the defining image. I dont care what anybody says, thats the image thats in the history books, he said.
Twenty-five Ukrainian doctors have graduated from an English-language course at St Vincents University Hospital (SVUH) in Dublin.

The comprehensive course was developed in response to the significant language barrier faced by Ukrainian doctors arriving in Ireland after the Russian invasion.

The initiative began in March this year to provide Ukrainian doctors with an opportunity to develop their English language abilities and confidence in the practical and immersive clinical setting of SVUH.

The eight-week English course was tailored to meet the specific needs of the participants and spanned a comprehensive curriculum designed to enhance the doctors proficiency in medical terminology, effective communication, and patient-centred care.

The curriculum also emphasised cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity to ensure effective communication with diverse patient populations.

Course graduate Dr Polina Smolovyk said: This course has not only improved our language proficiency but has also instilled in us the confidence and competence to excel in our medical careers.

We are truly grateful to St Vincents University Hospital for their support and guidance.

Professor Oksana Kachurets delivered the course, which was developed by hospital consultants Dr John Holian and Professor Hugh Mulcahy.

Dr Holian said the engagement and enthusiasm throughout the course was fantastic and rewarding.

He said: Weve gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by Ukrainian doctors who want to practise medicine in Ireland.

Ultimately, we hope this practical course will benefit them as they strive to become part of the healthcare workforce here.

Prof Mulcahy said: It became quite clear to us that Ukrainian doctors living in Ireland are committed to not only practising medicine in Ireland but also to helping the approximate 75,000 Ukrainian refugees who have been displaced to our country and find it difficult to access the Irish healthcare system due to language barriers.

We are immensely proud of what these doctors have achieved since arriving in Ireland and will continue to support them throughout their medical journey here.

Hospital chief executive Michele Tait commended the consultants for dedicating their time and expertise to setting up this invaluable course.

She also expressed appreciation for the participation of the Ukrainian doctors.

Ms Tait said: We are thrilled to witness the successful completion of this English course by our talented group of Ukrainian doctors.

By investing in their language skills and preparing them for the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test, we hope to contribute to their future success and enhance their ability to provide the best possible care to our patients as they pursue their medical careers in Ireland.

The PLAB test is recognised by the Medical Council of Ireland and is a crucial assessment for non-EU overseas doctors seeking to practise medicine in Ireland.
A group of students from Kilkenny are leading the next generation of Irish tech talent!

Students Jamie, Sophie, Cian and Robyn from Colaiste Abhiann Ri, in Callan, have won the national AWS GetIT competition.

The group created an app called 'Renew Bottles' that will connect to a reusable water bottle, enabling the user of the app to track hydration and how many plastic water bottles theyve saved.

AWS GetIT is a fully funded education programme and competition designed to inspire 12-14-year-old students, especially girls, to consider a future in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). The programme gives them access to curriculum designed to help build foundational skills, learn about cloud tech, and design app ideas to solve real-life problems. Schools are paired with a dedicated AWS GetIT Ambassador who supports the school and educator and acts as a role model for students.

After completing the programme curriculum, schools can submit a student app idea for consideration in a countrywide AWS GetIT competition.

This year, three schools were brought to the AWS GetIT final which took place at the AWS offices in Dublin. The teams in the final presented their ideas to a judging panel of people working in the tech industry.

The finalists were invited to present their App ideas on the day and answer questions surrounding their design thinking cycle, teamwork, the issue they are tackling and the technology they will use.

Lorna Cody, Teacher at Colaiste Abhainn Ri said: The AWS GetIT programme has been an extremely rewarding initiative in our school this year. It encourages students to consider a career in technology when they leave school. All 124 of our 1st-year students participated in the programme. They worked in groups of 3-5 students and brainstormed to develop an app to help resolve an issue in their community. The students developed their teamwork skills, and it was also an excellent way for the 1st year students to foster new friendships.

The students enjoyed the handson approach that this initiative offers, they developed their computer skills, and their confidence grew from presenting their app to their peers, teachers, and AWS judges.

Our AWS Ambassador has been a huge support throughout the year, she offered our school workshops and the students grew in confidence from all the positive feedback she offered. While all our first years enjoyed the programme, for our four 1st year students that reached the final in AWS Dublin, it will be an experience they will never forget.

Mike Beary, AWS Country Manager Ireland said: I am delighted to see excellent entries from students and their teachers across Ireland in the AWS GetIT competition once again this year. AWS GetIT is a worthy initiative that allows students to get face-time with Ambassadors, who are successful women and non-binary people working in AWS. Over the last number of years, students in Ireland have been empowered to develop new skills through this competition. I hope that these skills inspire new interests and encourage young people of Ireland, particularly girls, to consider STEM for their future careers.

Carmel Owens, CEO of Sidero and Get IT Judge said: The AWS GetIT competition is a wonderful opportunity for schools and young people to bring tech to the classroom. Great credit is due to the teachers and students and their AWS ambassadors for the very high standard of the competition today and I am delighted with the opportunity to meet such a talented group of young people  the future is bright for the tech industry in Ireland!
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(Kitco News) - Trilogy Metals (NYSE American: TMQ) will now have to wait until 2024 for a decision on road access.

On Friday the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) filed its sixth status report with the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska summarizing the Department's progress in the voluntary remand of the Record of Decision (ROD) on the Environmental Impact Statement for the Ambler Access Project. In the latest report, the Department indicated the release of the ROD for the project, originally planned for the end of 2023, will now occur during the second quarter of 2024  an additional six months.

Trilogy Metals is a metals exploration and development company which holds a 50 percent interest in Ambler Metals located in Alaska.

Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) criticized the delay.

"The update from BLM is frustrating," said AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro. This delay not only impacts AIDEA and our partners with additional costs, but it also impacts individuals, communities, and the State who would like to see the economic benefits, future jobs and revenue that come with construction and operation of the road."

In 2021 South32 exercised its option to form a 50/50 joint venture with Trilogy.

The feasibility study describes the technical and economic viability of establishing a conventional open-pit copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold mine-and-mill complex for a 10,000 tonne-per-day operation for a minimum 12-year mine life. The base case scenario utilizes long-term metal prices of $3.00/lb for copper, $1.10/lb for zinc, $1.00/lb for lead, $1,300/oz for gold and $18.00/oz for silver.
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(Kitco News) - The digital yuan continues to make inroads into becoming widely utilized in Chinese society as the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has officially approved the use of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the securities market.

According to a report from the Chinese media outlet Securities Times, eligible investors can now use the digital yuan to buy off-site financial products such as public funds.

This ruling from the CSRC means that Chinese investors can utilize the e-CNY to buy into public funds and other financial products directly from their smartphones any time, day or night, bringing a new use case to the digital yuan that is intended to boost its adoption.

Investors will also be able to access a payment as settlement feature, which allows redemption and withdrawal to be made one day in advance. As part of its announcement, the CSRC touted the functionality of the e-CNY, saying it has loadable smart contracts, is traceable, and cannot be illegally forged and copied.

No date has been given for the rollout of this new function, and it is likely that it will take place in stages, beginning with a pilot for eligible users. The CSRC is expected to eventually roll the service out across all cities and provinces currently pilot-testing the digital yuan.

This latest development adds to the growing list of use cases and integrations for the digital yuan in provinces and cities throughout China.

In April, the Jiangsu province began using the CBDC in ten new application scenarios, which includes its use in the field of public resource transactions. At the beginning of May, Jiangsu began paying civil servants and people who work for public institutions using the digital yuan, a move that affected school teachers, medical staff, technicians, journalists for official medical outlets and state enterprise employees.

In the city of Suzhou, authorities launched a digital yuan application that handles bids on construction projects from construction companies in the region. The platform facilitates financing and loans for enterprises that ultimately win the bidding process.

And in the city of Nanjing, the digital yuan has been integrated for use with the housing provident fund (HPF) system, a mandatory mutual aid platform in China designed to help assist individuals with home financing.

Nanjing launches government-backed Metaverse platform

In other blockchain-related developments out of China, Nanjing, the capital city of Chinas eastern Jiangsu province, launched the Blockchain Technology and Application Innovation Platform of China on Monday, a state-backed entity committed to promoting and enhancing metaverse studies throughout the nation.

The new entity is led by the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST) and has a roster of founding members that represent a wide range of academic institutions and metaverse-related companies throughout mainland China.

The purpose of the platform is to bring together the resources of academic institutions and enterprises in China in an effort to bolster research endeavors in metaverse-related fields.

Nanjing first revealed its metaverse strategy in February, saying the region has the goal of creating a thriving industry that attracts global partners and brings in an annual revenue that surpasses 135 billion yuan ($19.13 billion) by the close of 2025.

While China continues to hold a nard-nosed stance on trading and using cryptocurrencies, the metaverse is the one sector of the blockchain ecosystem that the country has been open to fostering growth. Last August, the Beijing municipal government announced a two-year metaverse innovation and development plan that was to be implemented from 2022-2024.

Under the plan, promoting the development of metaverse-related industries and helping Beijing establish a benchmark city designed for the digital economy were the main focus as China looks to be a global leader in metaverse development. The action guidelines laid out by the government included requirements for various districts to build technological infrastructure at a city level and encourage its use in a variety of sectors, including tourism and education.
May 24 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N) will pursue an initial public offering of its Banamex unit comprising consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations in Mexico, the bank said on Wednesday.

Mexican conglomerate Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) had been in talks to buy the unit, a person familiar with the matter had told Reuters earlier this month.

In mid-May, amid speculation the deal was finalizing, Mexican President Lopez Obrador said in a press conference there "was no problem" with Grupo Mexico buying the entity. However, a Lopez Obrador-backed decree published days later ordered the "temporary" takeover of a Grupo Mexico-controlled stretch of railway, spooking investors and making talks between the government and the firm "difficult," Grupo Mexico said.

Citi had announced plans to offload the unit more than a year ago as part of a strategic overhaul by CEO Jane Fraser to exit 14 consumer banking markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico. It now expects the IPO to be completed in 2025.

"After careful consideration, we concluded the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business," Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said in a statement.

Recent complications on the sale process weighed on the decision, including the Mexican government's demands and other factors, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Banamex was acquired for $12.5 billion in 2001, while the latest negotiations valued it around $7 billion.

Billionaire German Larrea's conglomerate Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) trumped the head of Mexico's Banca Mifel, Daniel Becker, to the deal, as the last two bidders for the retail bank, known as Banamex.

Citigroup first announced in January 2022 it would exit Mexico, ending its 20-year retail presence in the country, and prompting an extended bidding process.

Aside from the potential weakening of the business, Citi also has to deal with restrictions put on the deal by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, including a ban on sweeping layoffs.

In February, Citigroup's Chief Executive Jane Fraser met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The meeting came amid the bank's attempt to complete the sale of its local unit.

Shares of Citigroup were down nearly 1.6% at $45.18 in premarket trading.
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(Kitco News) - Two new reports released on Tuesday and Wednesday show how Chinese chemical companies and drug cartels have used crypto to produce well over $50 billion worth of illegal fentanyl around the world, with much of it ending up in the United States.

Researchers at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic published a report on May 23 demonstrating how willing and able Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers were to sell fentanyl precursors in bulk.

Elliptic researchers received offers from more than 90 China-based companies to supply fentanyl precursors, 90% of which accepted cryptocurrency payments, they wrote. Crypto has been illegal in China since 2019, but the chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl are not illegal nor even controlled in the country.

Elliptics blockchain analysis shows that the cryptocurrency wallets used by these companies received thousands of payments, with the number of transactions rising by 450% year-over-year. The total value of these transactions was $27 million, which would purchase enough precursors to produce $54 billion worth of fentanyl at U.S. street prices.

Elliptic said that these companies were willing to ship industrial amounts of these precursors, including chemicals with no other industrial uses.

Our researchers received offers to supply large quantities of one particular fentanyl precursor, they wrote. This chemical is not used in the manufacture of any other products, and is a controlled substance in most countries. However, it remains unregulated in China.

The analytics firm said that the suppliers showed no concerns about how the chemical would be used, with some explaining that it was their best-selling product and could be used to produce fentanyl.

Elliptic said that 17 of the 90 suppliers who contacted them were even willing to ship finished fentanyl itself, despite this also being illegal under Chinese law since 2019.

The second report was released by blockchain data platform Chainalysis on May 24. Chainalysis used on-chain data to identify several of the cryptocurrency wallet addresses of Chinese fentanyl precursor suppliers.

The White House published a fact sheet on April 11 announcing the Biden administrations intention to expand its efforts to disrupt the illicit financial activities that fund these criminals by increasing accountability measures, including financial sanctions.

On April 14, 2023, the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a number of individuals and entities who used crypto wallet addresses to sell fentanyl and other drugs, including Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology (WSBT) and Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech (SXPC).

These two chemical labs sold fentanyl precursors to brokers in Latin America, who sold them to drug cartels in Mexico, the researchers wrote. The drug cartels then created fentanyl products and shipped them into the U.S.

Both WSBT and SXPC also accepted Bitcoin as payment, making many transactions public and traceable. Chainalysis compiled the total monthly flows to these companies wallets since January 2018. As of April 2023, inflows have totaled approximately $38 million, they wrote.

Using their own methodology, the researchers were able to estimate the regional origins of much of the crypto paid to these addresses during the time period. The data showed that more than half of these regionalized payments, representing over $14 million worth of fentanyl precursor chemicals, went to buyers in North America and Western Europe.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), since 2019, most fentanyl trafficked in the United States has been made from precursor chemicals imported from Chinese suppliers.

Fentanyl overdose has been the leading cause of death among those aged 18-45 in the United States since 2019.
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(Kitco News) - Gold producer Endomines said today it is preparing to start gold production in the Hosko area of Finland, located in the Karelian Gold Line, in early 2024.

Hosko is located about 10 kilometres North of the company's Pampalo production site and is the next identified deposit on the Karelian Gold Line where gold production will start.

The company said that preliminary investments in infrastructure in the area will start in August 2023, and the production is expected to start in the first quarter of 2024.

Gold ore from Hosko will be processed at the Pampalo production plant. The company expects Hosko to account for 1030% of total production in 2024.

Endomines noted that its medium-term goal is to increase gold production to 20,000 ounces by 2024. To achieve this, underground production will also be developed further.

"The free capacity of the Pampalo processing plant allows us to expand production without significant investment in the plant. The Hosko deposit strongly supports our objective to shift to open pit mining as much as possible, in the coming years," the company said in a press release.

Endomines is a mining and exploration company with its primary focus on gold. Endomines is engaged in mining operations at the Pampalo mine in Ilomantsi, and in exploration activities along the Karelian Gold Line in Eastern Finland.

Endomines also owns rights to several gold deposits in Idaho and Montana, US, where Endomines aims to continue the development work through partnership agreements.
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(Kitco News) - Gold prices are firmer in early U.S. trading Wednesday, on modest safe-haven demand as the clock keeps ticking toward the U.S. government potentially running out of money to pay its obligations. Silver prices are near steady. June gold was last up $9.90 at $1,984.40 and July silver was down $0.034 at $23.59.

A report Tuesday afternoon said President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy have not made much progress on the U.S. debt-ceiling extension discussions. Another report said government spending is the main divisive issue between Republicans and Democrats. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week reiterated the U.S. government could run out of money by June 1 if no new debt-extension deal is reached.

In a rare development, traders and investors are shunning shorter-term U.S. Treasury bills (less than one-year maturities) over fears of a U.S. government default on that debt. This has caused high-grade U.S. corporate bonds to trade at a yield discount to U.S. Treasury bills. U.S. Treasury debt up to now had been considered the safest investment in the world.

Asian and European stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward lower openings when the New York day session begins.

Meantime, one report said Covid-19 is flaring up again in China and infections will get worse before they get better. The report said up to 65 million new cases a day could occur in China this summer. China government officials months ago stopped giving the public information on the Covid situation.

Traders and investors will closely scrutinize the afternoon release of the minutes from the last FOMC meeting of the Federal Reserve.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index near steady after hitting another two-month high overnight. Nymex crude oil prices are higher and trading around $74.00 a barrel. Meantime, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 3.684%.

U.S. economic data due for release Wednesday includes the weekly MBA mortgage applications survey, the FOMC minutes and the weekly DOE liquid energy stocks report.

Technically, the gold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage but have faded recently. Prices are trending down on the daily bar chart. Bulls next upside price objective is to produce a close in June futures above solid resistance at the May high of $2,085.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,900.00. First resistance is seen at $1,988.80 and then at $2,000.00. First support is seen at the overnight low of $1,972.60 and then at the May low of $1,954.40. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0

The silver bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are trending lower on the daily chart. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing July futures prices above solid technical resistance at $24.50. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $22.00. First resistance is seen at Tuesdays high of $23.81 and then at $24.00. Next support is seen at the overnight low of $23.41 and then at this weeks low of $23.235. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.
(Adds background on takeover and Banamex sale)

MEXICO CITY, May 24 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday his government aims to reach an agreement with mining and transport company Grupo Mexico after taking over a part of its railway last week, but said the compensation deal will not include cash. "Not money. What we are looking at is compensation. That is to say, let's see, we are going to restructure the concession," the president said during a regular press conference. The Mexican government issued a decree last Friday ordering a "temporary" takeover of around 120 kilometers (75 miles) of the firm's network in the area around the Gulf coast due to its importance to a major infrastructure project.

News of the seizure last week sparked alarm among analysts over Lopez Obrador's polices, and raised questions about whether the decision would impact Grupo Mexico's bid to acquire U.S. Citigroup Inc's retail banking arm in Mexico known as Banamex.

Lopez Obrador said shortly afterwards in a news conference that the change of plans is a matter between the companies and that the government is open to buying a part of the unit.



(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Isabel Woodford)
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(Kitco News) - As the value transacted via cryptocurrencies rises, the U.S. government is looking to step up its policing of cybercrime via the Internal Revenue Services Criminal Investigation unit (IRS-CI), which will be rolling out a new cybercrime pilot program in June.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS and is responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, and identity theft.

According to a press release posted by the IRS on Thursday, the pilot program will see cyber attaches deployed across four continents to combat cybercrime, with a focus on tax and financial crimes that use cryptocurrency, decentralized finance (DeFi), peer-to-peer payments and mixing services.

The IRS said the four individuals tapped to serve as cyber attaches have significant expertise in investigating cybercrime and will work with IRS-CI's law enforcement counterparts in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America.

The agents selected to serve as attaches are Peter Dickerman, a senior analyst for the IRS Digital Forensics Program; David Strager, who has experience overseeing criminal investigations into cryptocurrency tax evasion; Cuong Ly, whose expertise is crypto exchange fraud; and Stacey Perez, who has concentrated on investigating suspected money laundering crimes.

The attaches will be stationed in Sydney, Australia; Bogota, Colombia; Frankfurt, Germany; and Singapore on a 120-day deployment from June to September.

In order to effectively combat cybercrime, we need to ensure that our foreign counterparts have access to the same tools and expertise we have here in the United States," said IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee. This summer, four of our most-skilled special agents will deploy to strategic locations on four continents to ensure that we can continue to build relationships and effectively combat cybercrime on a global scale.

The IRC-CI previously established a permanent cyber attache posted at Europol headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, in June 2020. This position has focused on building partnerships and conducting law enforcement operations with IRS-CI's European law enforcement counterparts.

The new cyber attache pilot program was modeled on the work done by this cyber attache, the IRS said. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, and the agency currently has 20 field offices located across the U.S. as well as 12 attache posts abroad.
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(Kitco News) - Japanese lawmakers have elected to bring the countrys legal framework in line with global standards and will enforce stricter anti-money laundering (AML) measures for digital asset transactions beginning June 1.

According to a report from the local news agency Kyodo, this announcement follows the December revision the cabinet made to AML legislation after it was deemed insufficient by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international standard-setting financial watchdog.

The move to step up enforcement comes as oversight organizations around the world have been strengthening their crypto monitoring activities in an effort to cut down on money laundering, eliminating a popular method used by criminals to wash money obtained from illegal activities.

A key focus of the new measures is the enforcement of the travel rule as a way to keep a more accurate track of criminal transactions.

The travel rule requires any financial institution that processes a crypto transfer greater than $3,000 to pass on customer information to the recipient exchange or institution, including the name and address of the sender and recipient and account information.

Along with tracking the activity of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), stablecoins and cryptocurrencies that are pegged to a currency like the U.S. dollar or a commodity are also a point of focus for increased monitoring.

Japan appears to be following up on discussions related to the travel rule that took place at the G7 meeting in mid-May, which was held in Hiroshima. The G7 Committee made it clear that applying the travel rule to cryptocurrency transactions was a top priority.

Illicit financial flows weaken the global financial system, delay growth and hinder development, FAFT President T. Raja Kumar wrote ahead of the G7 meeting. They fuel serious crimes  such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption and environmental crime  that threaten our safety, security and society.

While the risks have increased, crypto assets continue to operate in a virtually lawless global environment, he said. Countries need to take urgent action to shut down lawless spaces, which allow criminals, terrorists and rogue states to use crypto assets. G7 countries should lead by example and regulate the crypto sector so that no virtual safe havens exist for illicit financial transactions. This includes implementation of the travel rule, which requires virtual assets service providers to identify the sender and receiver of the transaction.

Japan has been one of the earliest adopters of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, going so far as to legalize them as property. The country also has some of the most stringent cryptocurrency regulations, which were tightened following the hacks of the Mt. Gox and Coincheck cryptocurrency exchanges.

In October, the Japan Credit Bureau (JCB), the countrys equivalent of an international payment system like Visa or Mastercard, announced the start of the JCBDC project, which is designed to develop and test settlement solutions for central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

In March, Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group, Minna no Bank and The Shikoku Bank announced plans to issue stablecoins on an Ethereum-compatible blockchain known as Japan Open Chain. The early stages of the project are designed to explore the issuance and remittance of electronic payments, while later stages will eventually move toward the creation of a stablecoin system involving local jurisdictions and private companies.
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(Kitco News) - McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX) yesterday reported that it has repaid $25 million of its senior secured debt payable to Sprott Resource Lending and Sprott is no longer a lender.



The company said that prior to the repayment, it had $50 million in senior secured debt and a $15 million unsecured promissory note, for a total debt of $65 million, adding that concurrent with the repayment to Sprott, the senior secured debt was amended and restated in the amount of $40 million bearing monthly interest at 9.75% per annum, and the promissory note was extinguished.

Importantly, according to a press release, the company's sole lender is now an entity owned by its Chairman and Chief Owner Rob McEwen.

"As a result of the debt reduction, McEwen Mining's annual borrowing costs will decrease by approximately $2.2 million or 36%," the company said.

McEwen Mining noted that the reduction of debt was funded through the secondary sale of McEwen Copper shares to FCA Argentina S.A. (Stellantis) and Nuton LLC, which closed in February and March 2023, and raised $47.5 million in gross proceeds to McEwen Mining.

McEwen Mining is a gold and silver producer with operations in Nevada, Canada, Mexico and Argentina. In addition, it owns approximately 52% of McEwen Copper which owns the large, advanced stage Los Azules copper project in Argentina.

The company indicated that its goal is to improve the productivity and life of its assets with the objective of increasing its share price and providing a yield.
May 24 (Reuters) - UBS (UBSG.S) has been a net gainer in customer balances following its rescue of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), Chairman Colm Kelleher said on Wednesday, citing positive feedback from wealthy clients.

Bank mergers can sometimes lead to turbulence, with clients withdrawing their cash, although this tended to happen very quickly, Kelleher told a WSJ event in London, while some clients come back.

"We're seeing a total slowdown in all that stuff," Kelleher said, "And we've seen that UBS is a net gainer in its own right of balances and so on.

"I think the rot has stopped and we have clients coming back," Kelleher added, saying feedback from Credit Suisse clients about UBS had so far been positive.

"At a stroke now in certain regions we are undisputed number 1. We were always number 1 in Asia, but we can now add South Asia Pacific."

Some Asian clients had raised concerns about the write down to zero of Credit Suisse's AT1 bonds in the rescue, but this was a matter for the Swiss regulator and not a UBS issue, Kelleher said.

"We've seen clients welcoming, they like the brand," he said, adding the bank was attractive to high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals.

UBS meanwhile will be cautious about taking on investment banking staff from Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) following the merger of the two banks, Kelleher said.

UBS wanted to maintain its culture following the takeover of its stricken Swiss rival, he said, adding it was clear that the investment bank at Credit Suisse was "out of control."

"We are worried about 'cultural contamination'. We are going to have an incredibly high bar for who we bring in to UBS," Kelleher said.

He reiterated that UBS did not want the tie-up, which was arranged hastily over one March weekend by the Swiss authorities to stave off a broader banking crisis.

UBS would significantly scale back the investment bank operations following the takeover, he said.

Credit Suisse's other three businesses would prove much less problematic, he added, with its universal bank enjoying a strong reputation in Switzerland, while the asset management business was small enough to be easily absorbed.

Credit Suisse's global wealth management business could also be integrated quite efficiently, he added, because the head of the UBS business - Iqbal Khan - previously lead it before switching to UBS.

UBS has said it aimed to finalise the deal in coming weeks while the full integration of Switzerland's top two lenders could take three to four years.

"We will close the deal very shortly," Kelleher said on Wednesday.

($1 = 0.8889 Swiss francs)
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

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Sunshine. High around 85F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

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Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A  Get Rating)s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $168.00 to $145.00. The stock had previously closed at $128.64, but opened at $115.20. TD Cowen currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Agilent Technologies shares last traded at $114.28, with a volume of 1,133,513 shares traded.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $164.00 to $144.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $126.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $151.35.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of A. Toroso Investments LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 9.3% during the first quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 7,544 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $1,042,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 600.0% during the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 287 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $354,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Finally, Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $361,000.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $134.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $33.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.03.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 23rd. The medical research company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 30.35% and a net margin of 19.09%. The businesss revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.68 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Investors of record on Monday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 30th. Agilent Technologiess payout ratio is 20.32%.

About Agilent Technologies

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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.

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BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN (NYSEARCA:FNGD  Get Rating) shares were up 3.8% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $14.14 and last traded at $14.09. Approximately 5,435,825 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 83% from the average daily volume of 2,964,796 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.58.

BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.96.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OLD Mission Capital LLC boosted its stake in BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 6,161 shares of the companys stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new position in BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN during the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN during the 1st quarter valued at $74,000. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN during the 2nd quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000.

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Shares of Grupo Herdez, S.A.B. de C.V. (OTCMKTS:GUZOF  Get Rating) dropped 2.8% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as C$2.63 and last traded at C$2.63. Approximately 1,500 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 9,456 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$2.71.

Grupo Herdez Stock Performance

The firms 50 day simple moving average is C$2.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$2.31.

About Grupo Herdez

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Grupo Herdez, SAB. de C.V., a food company, engages in the manufacture, purchase, distribution, and marketing of canned and packed food products in Mexico and internationally. It provides mushrooms, vegetable juices, mayonnaise, honey, mustard, moles, tomato puree, jams, pastas, homemade sauces, ice creams, tea, soy sauce, tuna, coffee, spices, pasta sauces, hot sauces, ketchup, canned chilies, vegetables, olives, nopalitos, guacamole, sauces, enchilada sauces, taco sauce, chiles, tortillas, mayonnaise, marmalades, and organic products under the Aires de Campo, Barilla, Blason, Bufalo, Cielito Querido Cafe, Del Fuerte, Dona Maria, Embasa, Helados Nestle, Herdez, McCormick, Moyo, Nutrisa, La Victoria, Wholly Guacamole, Yemina, Carlota, ChiChi's, Don Miguel, Nutrisa, Nestle Ice Cream, Cielito Dear Coffee, and Moyo brands.

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Gulf Investment Fund plc (LON:GIF  Get Rating)s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as GBX 2.26 ($0.03) and last traded at GBX 2.26 ($0.03), with a volume of 25081 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2.19 ($0.03).

Gulf Investment Fund Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of 920,950.00 and a P/E ratio of 12.17. The stocks 50 day moving average price is GBX 2.01 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 1.98.

About Gulf Investment Fund

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Qatar Investment Fund plc is a close-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Epicure Managers Qatar Limited. The fund is co-managed by Qatar Insurance Company SAQ. It invests in public equity markets of Qatar. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Qatar Exchange Index.

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Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE:IPI  Get Rating) CEO Robert P. Jornayvaz III sold 41,858 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.97, for a total transaction of $835,904.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,635,223 shares in the company, valued at $32,655,403.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Intrepid Potash Price Performance

Shares of IPI stock traded up $0.36 on Tuesday, hitting $20.24. The companys stock had a trading volume of 222,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 194,282. Intrepid Potash, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.26 and a fifty-two week high of $69.53. The firms fifty day moving average price is $24.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $266.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 2.02.

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Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.12). Intrepid Potash had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $86.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Analysts predict that Intrepid Potash, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several equities analysts have recently commented on IPI shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Intrepid Potash from $35.00 to $25.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Intrepid Potash in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a sell rating on the stock.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IPI. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Intrepid Potash during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Intrepid Potash during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new position in Intrepid Potash during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Intrepid Potash during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Intrepid Potash by 480.3% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 882 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.35% of the companys stock.

About Intrepid Potash

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Intrepid Potash, Inc is a diversified mineral company, which engages in the delivery of potassium, magnesium, sulfur, salt, and water products essential for customer success in agriculture, animal feed, and the oil and gas industry. It operates through the following segments: Potash, Trio, and Oilfield Solutions.

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Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High 79F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.
There are many ways to create a shoreline that not only protects your property investment  but also reduces or eliminates pollution from entering the water, including the use of native plants and natural stone, above. Learn more about options for your waterfront at the Healthy Shorelines Workshop on June 1 at the Winona Lake Senior Center.
Red Velvet Irene sent fans into a frenzy for her undoubtedly legendary visuals!

What did the quintet leader do? Read on to know the full story.

Red Velvet Irene Turns Airport Into Her Personal Pictorial Due To Her 'Nation's First Love' Visuals

On May 23, Red Velvet became a hot topic for their visuals as they departed from South Korea for Paris, France.

On this day, the members were spotted on their way to Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport in Jung-gu, Incheon to go to France for its global tour, "Red Velvet 4th Concert: R to V."

Before entering the departing hall, the members were all accommodating to greet the Korean press and ReVeluvs (Red Velvet fandom) waiting for them, and gave them time for a brief photo-op.

As expected, Red Velvet proved that they are a visual group as the quintet (excluding Joy who wasn't able to join them due to health concerns) shone with their beauty, even if they were only in casual 'fits.

Wendy flaunted her charms in white cropped shirt, while Seulgi opted for a sleeved top. Yeri also wore a white shirt as the inner layer, topped with a nude-tone vest.

But among them, one member particularly stood out for her iconic beauty and it was none other than the "Original Visuals" Irene!

On her way to Paris, Irene also wore a sleeveless white shirt, partnered with a denim vest. She completed her look by wearing comfortable denim pants, slippers and a cream bag.

As soon as media outlets shared Irene's photos in real-time, the idol immediately became the talk of the town in various online communities for her striking beauty.

People couldn't believe they were seeing such an unreal beauty of a person in her 30s. In fact, people argued that even the current era doesn't have a visual on par with Irene's, which is legendary among legendary visuals.

l

"Even the 4th generation has no idol with Irene-level standard... She's a real beauty that will appear every thousand years."

"Girls like Jang Wonyoung can't even go next to a natural beauty like this."

"I took a screenshot from the video of the members, but Irene's still so pretty? Whether it's edited or not, I think this natural video looks much prettier. And if you look around, she's really glowing like Irene is the only one with lights on."

"Her unedited photos were seriously too pretty."

"Irene is a legendary idol."

"Irene ages backward."

"She's really pretty with an innocent beauty."

Red Velvet Continues 4th Concert: R to V in Paris

Meanwhile, Red Velvet is currently embarking on their fourth concert tour, "R to V."

They opened their tour at KSPO DOME in Seoul Olympic Park on April 1 and 2, and planned to meet local and global fans in 10 cities through 13 global tours.

The quintet already visited Singapore, Yokohama, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta, and their concert will continue with their first European tour that will include Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London.

On May 24 (local time), Red Velvet will be performing at La Seine Musical in Paris, France.

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dawson.
After days of waiting, migrants are allowed across the U.S. border in May, 2023.
Thank you Mr. Chair,

Our comments at this point are with regard to paragraph 25 on legal review. It is the understanding of our delegation that legal reviews with regard to autonomous weapon systems should be inline with the already existing obligations under Art. 36 of the Additional Protocol I and that we should not in anyway agree to obligations on legal review for autonomous weapon systems that are weaker than the already existing obligations under Art,36. It is also recalled that most provisions of the Additional Protocols have gained the status of customary international law. We also note that the obligation under Art 36 of the Additional Protocol I finds its basis in article 35 of the Protocol which provides that the right of states to choose means and methods of warfare is not unlimited.

Art. 36 requires to determine whether the employment of weapons, means and methods of warfare would, in some or all circumstances be prohibited by international law. In this sense we believe that the legal review process should consider whether the use of an AWS is in compliance with international law  in some or all circumstance and we therefore suggest to make this change in the text. We also support the suggestion by the Swiss delegation as well the delegation of Ireland now to delete the words  seek to in this section.

We note that the issues of predictability and reliability  pose an important question with regard to compliance of an autonomous weapon system with international law. If an autonomous weapon systems functions in a way that could not be predicted due to a system error or due to its reaction to an unforeseen event, the question of accountability gap would come into play. Therefore it is also important to pay due consideration to unintended harm as well during the cause of legal review in the case of for example a system malfunction, cyber-attack or a programming error.

Art, 36 requires legal reviews be conducted  in the study, development, acquisition or adoption of a new weapon means or method of warfare. In this light we emphasize that the process of legal review should include the entire life cycle of an autonomous weapon system and that this aspect should be duly reflected in this paragraph.

We request to refer to international law and to IHL in particular in this paragraph in line with similar amendments suggested to other paragraph of the text. It is important for the process of legal review to consider whether autonomous weapon systems under review are not only in compliance IHL but also with international human rights law. For example whether the use of a particular weapon system constitutes a violation of the right to life or the right to dignity of the target should be considered in the process of legal review.

Finally Mr Chair, we would also like to highlight that as much as there is agreement including of my delegation on the importance of legal review, legal review of autonomous weapon systems would undoubtedly pose significant technical challenges that require considerable human and financial resources given the required level of multidisciplinary engagement in this process requiring expertise from various fields such as technical, medical, legal as well as operational. The increasing sophistication of weapon systems would also require frequent reviews to be conducted adding to the complexity of the legal review process of autonomous weapon systems.

Thank you Mr Chair.

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NewsReach

New Delhi [India], May 24: In the fast-evolving beauty industry, one brand has caught the attention of beauty enthusiasts and conscious consumers alike: Orgatre. Founded in 2019 by Himanshu Sharma and Shashikant Pandey, Orgatre has experienced an exponential rise in popularity since its inception, acquiring over 30,000 customers who have embraced its organic and toxin-free products.

Also Read | Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown Begins in US, Extra Member To Cost USD 8 Per Month.

Orgatre's commitment to using natural ingredients has resonated with consumers looking for safer alternatives for their beauty and personal care needs. With revenue generation of more than 2 crore and steady growth in customer acquisition, the brand is expected to hit a significant milestone by the end of this year: 500,000 customers.

This remarkable growth is due to Orgatre's unwavering commitment to product quality and innovation. In line with its vision of offering holistic care, the brand plans to launch a new product line in 2023 that will include shampoo, conditioner, and color cosmetics. This expansion will further solidify Orgatres' position as a trusted name in the beauty industry.

Also Read | Today's IPL 2023 Match, May 24: Schedule, GT vs CSK Highlights, Venue Details of Indian Premier League Season 16 Playoffs Match.

One of the main reasons for the success of Orgatres was the strategic collaboration with influential figures. Recently, the brand has teamed up with renowned Indian actress Adah Sharma, who shares her passion for promoting natural beauty. Adahs' collaboration with Orgatre has not only helped raise awareness of the brand but has also garnered critical acclaim for its commitment to sustainable and organic practices.

Looking ahead, Orgatre aims to continue forging partnerships with celebrities and industry experts, enhancing its brand visibility and expanding its reach to a wider audience. By leveraging the power of collaboration, Orgatre intends to strengthen its position as a leading advocate for natural and organic beauty.

At the heart of Orgatre's success lies its exceptional range of products, carefully formulated with the utmost care and dedication. Their groundbreaking Hair Fall Control Oil has gained significant acclaim since its launch in October 2022. Crafted with a blend of natural ingredients, including 5 essential vitamins (Vit E, Vit C, Vit B3, Vit B5, Vit B7) and organic essential oils (Ginger Oil, Rosemary Oil, Peppermint Oil, Roman Chamomile Oil, Thyme Oil), this oil has proven effective in addressing hair fall, thinning, and scalp-related issues.

Orgatre's Hair Fall Control Oil stands out for its unique Vitamils formulation, a revolutionary combination of vitamins and organic essential oils. This rare blend of five essential vitamins and five organic oils nourishes the hair follicles, enhances hair growth, and helps prevent hair fall. Customers have reported noticeable improvements in hair texture, volume, and length, as well as relief from dandruff and premature greying.

In addition, Orgatres Hair Loss Control Oil has several improved features. Its exceptional formula balances scalp pH, heals scalp infections, and rejuvenates dormant hair follicles for optimal hair growth. This oil is suitable for all hair types and is free from harmful chemicals. It has become a trusted ally for people seeking a natural and holistic approach to hair care.

With a strong commitment to providing the best possible care to its customers, Orgatre has positioned itself as a brand that empowers people to feel confident and beautiful in their skin, hair, and body. Their relentless pursuit of excellence and commitment to organic and sustainable practices continue to fuel its rapid growth and shape the future of the beauty industry.

As Orgatre aims to reach 500,000 customers by the end of this year, the company is reaffirming its position as a pioneer in the organic beauty market. Through innovation, collaboration, and a true commitment to customer satisfaction, Orgatre is poised to change the way we experience beauty and harness the power of nature.

For more information about Orgatre and its range of natural beauty products, please visit their website at www.orgatre.com.

For more information visit:https://orgatre.com/products/hair-growth-oil

(Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by NewsReach. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)

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PRNewswire

Singapore, May 24: twimbit launches Ask twimbit, the first insight-generating AI tool to deliver research-backed information. Powered by ChatGPT, Ask twimbit answers the most pressing questions, covering topics from financial services and telecommunications to customer experience and technology domains.

Also Read | Malaysian Authorities Seize Rainbow Swatch Watches.

By combining ChatGPT's ability to ask questions in natural language and twimbit's deep-expertise in delivering cutting-edge research, they aim to help their members get precise answers to their pressing questions in an intuitive and easy to understand manner. Ask twimbit is powerful because it combines insights from different reports to provide the desired industry intelligence. Ask twimbit can address a wide range of queries ranging from the key trends shaping an industry or looking for benchmarks of performance from industry leaders. To begin the journey on Ask twimbit, one needs to simply sign up to the twimbit platform https://twimbit.com/signup.

"Catalysing the future of informed decision-making, our groundbreaking intelligence tool, Ask twimbit powered by ChatGPT, redefines the way industries thrive. With every question answered through research-backed insights, we propel organisations to unlock growth and innovation opportunities, leading way to unparalleled success," Varnika Goel, Research Director and Co-founder, twimbit

Also Read | What Is Sengol? As Sengol To Be Placed in New Parliament Building, Heres What You Need To Know About Historical Sceptre From Tamil Nadu in New Sansad Bhavan.

In the event that Ask twimbit is unable to provide an immediate answer, premium members have the option to request insights, which will be supported by twimbit's analyst team and network of experts.

twimbit's collaboration with OpenAI is currently in the beta testing phase, allowing them to continuously strive, revolutionising how everyone delivers and consumes insights. They are evolving the experience based on how members interact with the tool. It's also important to remember that while many measures have been taken to limit inaccurate results and inappropriate responses, at times the experience may not work exactly as expected. The twimbit analyst team is relentlessly collecting feedback and reviewing every response to ensure all answers meet the actual needs of their members.

twimbit is a Singapore headquartered research and consulting firm driven by a singular mission: to empower businesses that are making a difference. We specialise in providing invaluable industry intelligence to executives and teams, acting as a catalyst for innovation and growth. twimbit's proprietary research platform revolutionizes the way information is consumed by professionals, making it effortlessly enjoyable and accessible to all.

Media Contact: Varnika Goel varnika@twimbit.com+91-9899468772

(Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)

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Guwahati (Assam) [India], May 24 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Assam's Guwahati district on May 25 to attend two important government programmes there.

According to an official statement, the Assam government will distribute appointment letters to around 45,000 successful candidates on May 25 to fulfil its commitment to provide 1 lakh government jobs.

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The Union Home Minister will ceremonially distribute appointment letters in a programme to be held at Veterinary College Playground, Khanapara in Guwahati, the statement said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the playground and took stock of preparations for the event to be held tomorrow.

Also Read | New Parliament Building Inauguration: Rahul Gandhi Slams Modi Govt for Not Inviting President Droupadi Murmu, Says Parliament Not Made With Bricks of Arrogance But With Constitutional Values.

Talking to the media, CM Sarma said, "Tomorrow (May 25) the Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend two programmes in Guwahati. At Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Kamrup district, he will first lay the foundation stone of National Forensic Science University and he will also start the temporary campus of the University which will be located in Guwahati Medical College. We will start initially in Guwahati Medical College and shift to a permanent campus in Kamrup district later. "

The chief minister further said that the state government will also release an APP for Assam Police where FIR can be filed electronically in certain crimes like violence against women, murder etc.

"Along with that, we will also release an App for Assam Police where FIR can now be filed electronically in certain crimes including crimes against women, murder etc. One can file FIR digitally even in the comfort of their home. It is the first we are going to do something like that. This will be a very important landmark in our policing", CM Sarma said.

He further said that in the evening main function will be held where the Union Home Minister will hand over appointment letters to 45,000 unemployed youths.

"All these youths have been selected through a process based on meritocracy and they will get regular government jobs under the Assam government. Earlier we had issued appointment letters for almost 42,000 youths. So this will be around 88,000. We promised 1 lakh jobs. In the month of July, we are going to start the interview process for another 22,000 government jobs", the CM added.

Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made in Guwahati ahead of Amit Shah's visit. (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 24 (ANI): Two persons have been arrested in connection to the loot incident reported in Delhi's Signature Bridge area on Monday, the police said on Wednesday.

Officials said that a tempo full of cigarettes worth about Rs 30 lakh was looted near Signature Bridge at Tarun Goyat section area on Monday afternoon.

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The tempo was going to Model Town with a consignment of cigarettes from Ghaziabad. "We have arrested two of the suspects," they said.

Officials said that the looted consignment of cigarettes was also recovered from the two accused.

Also Read | Rajasthan Shocker: Kin Kills Woman With Sword for Not Talking to Him at Talwadi in Kota District, Arrested.

"There were 4-5 people involved in the loot, and efforts to identify and nab them are on," they said, adding that a case has been registered at Timarpur Police Station.

"Further investigation is underway in this matter," they added. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed the bail applications of two accused persons in a money laundering case lodged against AAP leader Satyendar Kumar Jain in a disproportionate assets case.

Special Judge Vikas Dhull dismissed the default bail application filed by Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain, who are accused of abetting Satyendar Kumar Jain in acquisition of assets disproportionate to his known sources of Income.

Also Read | Tobacco Free Youth Campaign: Health Ministry To Launch Pan-India Campaign on May 31 To Prevent Initiation of Tobacco Use Among Youngsters.

Both had moved the application, claiming they deserved to be granted statutory bail as the charge sheet filed against them was incomplete.

The ED opposed their application on the ground that they were arrested on June 30, 2022 for the offence of money laundering and the prosecution complaint (ED's equivalent of charge sheet) was filed on July 27, 2022, well before the expiry of 60-day prescribed period.

Also Read | Russia, China Sign Economic Deals Despite Western Criticism.

However, the accused claimed that the charge sheet, also known as the final report, was incomplete since the agency claimed the investigation was still going on.

The judge observed a charge sheet is complete if on the basis of it and the documents filed along with it, the court, after applying its mind, is in a position to take cognizance of the offence.

If the court is able to take the cognizance of the offence as alleged in the charge sheet, then charge sheet is complete and accused has got no right to default bail. It is immaterial as to what investigating agency mentions in the charge sheet regarding further investigation, the judge said.

The ED had arrested Satyendar Jain on May 30 last year on the charge of laundering money through four companies allegedly linked to him.

On November 17 last year, the court had dismissed Jain's bail plea in the case.

It had said Jain was prima facie involved in concealing the proceeds of crime.

Besides him, the trial court had also denied bail to Vaibhav and Ankush, saying they "knowingly" assisted Satyendar Jain in concealing the proceeds of crime and were prima facie guilty of money laundering.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lucknow, May 24 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said the hard work of farmers is establishing the state as an "economic superpower" in the country and highlighted that villages are now moving ahead with technology.

Referring to the nine years of the Narendra Modi dispensation, he also said in these years, the nation has seen farmers and labourers becoming the agenda of a government for the first time in history.

Also Read | Congress Should Pressurise Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah To Stop Mhadei Diversion, Says Goa Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar.

Inaugurating a campaign to link farmers with the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the chief minister said that "a total of 2.63 crore lakh farmers" in the state have joined the central scheme and "Rs 55,800 crore has been transferred to the bank accounts of our farmers in the state under the scheme so far".

"Despite this, we heard from some farmers that the money is not reaching them. In view of this, the process of Aadhaar authentication is being started on a large scale, so that 100 per cent eligible farmers can benefit from this scheme," he said.

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Adityanath also launched the logo of the 'Darshan' portal, which will provide information on benefits of agricultural facilities, and started the registration of farmers for various grants and services.

"They (farmers) do not belong to any caste, creed and religion, but are the ones who fulfil the needs of society with their hard work and feed the country and the world. Due to the hard work of the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, today, the state is being established as an economic superpower in the country," he said.

"From today, this big campaign is starting in all 55,000 gram panchayats of the state," the chief minister said and added that officials of the agriculture and revenue department as well as post offices will join it to connect "the eligible farmers with the scheme in every village".

The initiative will be publicised in every village for the benefit of all farmers, Adityanath said.

This campaign is to pay respect to farmers and all organisations associated with this campaign will complete it on a large scale, he said and this will solve the complaints coming from farmers and "I hope that after June 10, no farmer of UP will complain of being denied the benefits of this scheme".

He said that today, villages are moving forward with technology and land records have been digitised to a large extent, ending disputes.

"Earlier, disputes were a regular affair. Through the PM Swamitva Yojana, property ownership rights have been provided to scores of farmers. So far, 56 lakh houses have been made available in Uttar Pradesh and by the end of this year, houses will be provided to 1.5 crore families for which the survey work has been completed," the chief minister said.

The facility of the BC Sakhi Yojana and Village Secretariat are being provided in rural areas, he said and added that "banking facilities have started in villages and now one does not need to go elsewhere".

Technology is the need of today and work is going on to take it forward in the villages in a better way, Adityanath said. PTI ABN RPA

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New Delhi, May 24: A 19-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries after meeting with a bike accident in Pragati Maidan tunnel, said Delhi police. According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Rajan Rai. Due to the lack of a network in the tunnel, there was a delay in informing the police about the incident, said the police. Amid delay in reaching the hospital, the deceased succumbed to his injuries during treatment at Lady Hardinge Hospital, as per the police. 6 Killed in Maharashtra Road Accident! State Transport Bus Collides With Container Truck in Buldhana, Six Killed and 10 Injured.

Giving details of the incident, the police said the deceased met with the accident while returning from Meerut and was going to his home in Uttam Nagar in Delhi. Delhi BMW Road Accident: Man Dies After Woman Hits Him With Her Luxury Car in Moti Nagar, Accused Arrested.

Delhi Bike Accident Video:

In a tragic incident, a biker was killed in a road mishap at Pragati Maidan tunnel in New Delhi. The incident was captured on CCTV camera. As per reports, the ambulance got delayed due to a bad network in the tunnel. The ambulance failed to reach in time. https://t.co/cCKhrOxcdu  Ahmed Khabeer   (@AhmedKhabeer_) May 24, 2023

"The deceased suffered from brain injuries as his helmet was completely damaged in the accident," added the police. Further details are awaited.

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Bhubaneswar, May 24 (PTI) Odisha virtually turned into a cauldron on Wednesday with at least 25 places recording the maximum temperature at or above 40 degrees celsius.

Also Read | Imran Khan Urges Supreme Court Judges to Save Democracy in Pakistan, Says you Are Our Last Hope.

Also Read | 'Disease Deadlier Than COVID-19 Might Be Around Corner, World Must Prepare for Next Pandemic,' Warns WHO Chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The entire western region of the state was in the grip of the sweltering heat and Nuapada became the hottest place in the state with the mercury touching 44 degrees celsius there.

According to IMD's evening bulletin of Wednesday, the day temperature in breached the 42 degrees celsius mark in at least nine places, including Bhubaneswar.

Nuapada was followed by Jharsuguda at 43.4 degrees, Talcher at 43.2, Angul at 43.1, Sambalpur at 42.9, Bhubaneswar at 42.8, Sonepur at 42.5, Rourkela at 42.4, and Dhenkanal at 42.3 degrees celsius.

The day temperature recorded a marginal rise in Bhubaneswar where it was 42.6 degrees on Tuesday. Neighbouring Cuttack city recorded 41.6 degrees celsius on Wednesday, up from 41 degrees on Tuesday.

The IMD in its forecast said that there will be no large change in the day temperature during the next five days. The mercury may soar up to 42C or more at a few places in Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Angul, Boudh, Sonepur, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Bargarh in the interior and western parts of the state during the next three days.

Consequently, hot and uncomfortable weather is very likely to prevail and people are advised to take precautionary while going out during day time between 11 am and 3 pm, it added.

Meanwhile, the meteorological department has issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms with lightning at one or two places in the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur and Bhadrak on Thursday.

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Madurai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 24 (ANI): Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders on Wednesday expressed condolences on the passing away of industrialist Karumuttu T Kannan and noted his contributions in the domain of industries and education.

Industrialist Karumuttu Kannan, who was chairman of the board of trustees (Thakkar) of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple, passed away on Tuesday due to ill health. He was 70 years old.

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DMK MP Kanimozhi, Minster Udiyanidhi Stalin, and various political leaders paid respects to the late industrialist's mortal remain at his residence on Tuesday. The funeral will be held on Wednesday.

Kanimozhi said, "It is a great shock to us that Karumuthu Kannan, who is in the minds of the people of Madurai, has disappeared. No one can compensate for his loss. My deepest condolences to his family".

Also Read | Kerala Shocker: Couple, Three Kids From Womans First Marriage Found Dead at Their Home in Kannur, Probe Launched.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin expressed deep condolences on the businessman's death terming his death as a "great loss". He noted the contributions of the late industrialist in the fields of industries, education, and various development and renovation works done by him in temples.

The Chief Minister also stated that during his tenure at the helm of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, he helped the poor and common people in education.

He also served as the Chairman of Thiagarajar Mills, Madurai, and Thiagarajar Colleges. Over the years, he was associated with academic and industrial organizations including the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the South Indian Mills Association. He was a member of the State Planning Commission and was actively involved in several universities in Tamil Nadu including Anna University, Chennai.

Kannan was a recipient of the Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Award given by the Tamil Nadu government for the promotion of education and social service. (ANI)

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New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) The commerce ministry is trying to address issues pertaining to the promotion of exports through ecommerce medium, a senior government official has said.

Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi also said that while the USD 2 trillion export target by 2030 is ambitious as it entails an annual growth of 14.5 per cent (CAGR), it is not impossible.

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"We trying to address issues on seamless e-commerce for export promotion. We are in touch of the Department of Revenue, RBI, Icegate, and the Department of Post on the issues which entails remission of duties and incentives, ensuring postal bills flows into Icegate, building a regulatory system which addresses return back, etc, he was quoted by TPCI in a release.

The DGFT was addressing the TPCI's inaugural edition of India Business and Trade Annual Conclave 2023 here on May 23.

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The Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), government, industry and academic deep dive to explore ways to reach USD 2 trillion in exports.

Research reveals a positive correlation between higher exports and higher per capita income. For achieving the $2 trillion target, India is focusing on both demand and supply side aspects with respective policies," he added.

Sanjeet Singh, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog, and Joint Secretary in the External Affairs ministry Noor Rahman Sheikh also participated.

During his address, Mohit Singla, Chairman, Trade Promotion Council of India, said that India Business and Trade Conclave in the years to come will be at the forefront to discuss all aspects of India's foreign trade.

The conclave will also emphasise on how the industry will benefit from the initiatives taken by the government, focussing on emerging areas of growth and potential, Singla said.

TPCI is an apex trade and investment promotion organization.

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Prague, May 24 (AP) The Czech government approved a Defense Ministry plan on Wednesday to acquire 246 CV90 armoured combat vehicles as part of a massive modernisation of the military amid the Russian war against Ukraine.

Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said the deal to get the infantry fighting vehicles made by Sweden's BAE Systems Hagglunds AB is worth 59.7 billion Czech crowns ($2.7 billion).

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The ministry signed the deal with the Swedish side on Wednesday.

Cernochova said the first CV90s should be delivered in 2026 and all of them by 2030.

Also Read | Imran Khan Urges Supreme Court Judges To Save Democracy in Pakistan, Says 'You Are Our Last Hope'.

In a statement, Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson said he was convinced that combat vehicle 90 is the right choice for the Czech Republic.

According to the website of BAE Systems Hagglunds, there are currently 15 variants of the CV90 in service in seven countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands.

Czech authorities also announced they would negotiate with the German government over a possible deal to acquire German-made Leopard 2A8 tanks.

The Czech military has been using modernised versions of the Soviet-era T-72 tanks and will receive 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany as compensation after they gave Ukraine dozens of T-72 tanks.

The Czech have been also negotiating with the U.S. side to acquire 24 F-35 fighter jets but no deal has yet been approved. (AP)

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New York [US], May 24 (ANI): Indian on Tuesday (local time) advocated for humanitarian food assistance and partnerships that will help create robust policy innovations by way of food safety nets and resilient livelihoods, contributing towards global peace

India's permanent representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj listed out four steps to solve global food insecurity and said that as G20 Chair New Delhi's efforts are aimed to address the "current challenges of food and energy security" and ensuring the humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities are served without delay.

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"We welcome the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. As the Chair of the G-20 this year, India's efforts are also aimed to address the current challenges to food and energy security and ensure that humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities are served without delay," Kamboj said while addressing United Nations Security Council's open debate.

Earlier, she said that the level of food insecurity has indeed reached alarming proportions. It is projected that the number of people who will be food insecure, this year, would be double the number in 2020. The ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world, including in Ukraine and Afghanistan in our neighbourhood, have only exacerbated the crisis.

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Listing out the steps, Kamboj said, "One collective and common solution through dialogue and diplomacy is the need of the hour. We support the efforts of the Secretary-General to find ways to address the challenge of global food insecurity."

These remarks came at the UNSC open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict on the theme "Ensuring the security and dignity of civilians in conflict: addressing food insecurity and protecting essential services"

Kamboj stated that all countries need to avoid linking humanitarian assistance with political issues. She also said that India has provided critical humanitarian assistance, in the particular supply of food grains, to countries facing conflicts including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen and Myanmar.

India's permanent representative to the UN pointed to the third point and said that the armed conflicts and terrorism, combined with extreme weather, crop pests, food price volatility, exclusion and economic shocks, can devastate any fragile economy, leading to food insecurity and an increased threat of famine capacity.

"Four it is imperative for all of us to adequately appreciate the importance of equity, affordability and accessibility when it comes to food grains. Open markets should not become an argument to perpetuate inequity which would only discriminate against the global south," Kamboj said.

"Finally, confronted with growing challenges throughout the world world, India will never be found wanting in extending a helping hand to those who may be in distress. We will continue to walk the talk when it comes to assisting our partners in need," she added.

Global hunger is on the rise, driven by the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic shocks, conflicts, poverty, and inequality. Millions are living in hunger and many more do not have access to adequate food.

Amid the global food crisis, India has emerged as the friend in need of a number of food-insecure countries fulfilling its notion of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In the past decades, India has transformed from requiring assistance to providing aid to several countries. (ANI)

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Washington, May 24 (PTI) The influential Congressional India Caucus co chairs on Tuesday urged House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint session of the US Congress during his upcoming state visit here.

We respectfully request your consideration in inviting PM Modi for a joint address to Congress, thus highlighting the significance of the US-India strategic partnership and the shared values upon which it is built.

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On June 22, President Biden will host Modi for an official state visit and a state dinner, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna from the Democratic Party and Congressman Michael Waltz from the Republican Party wrote to McCarthy.

The two lawmakers laid out the importance of strengthening the bilateral relationship between the United States and India, and the importance of highlighting the partnership by granting a joint address to the Congress.

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As state dinners have come to signify the President's utmost respect for visiting heads of state, granting a joint address to the Congress is a commensurate honour for the leader of the world's largest democracy and perhaps the most critical partner to countering China in the 21st century, the lawmakers wrote.

Earlier this month, Khanna and Waltz had hosted a historic US-India Summit on the Hill featuring panels and remarks from government leaders, experts and Indian-American leaders from across the country.

Observing that the foundation of India-US partnership lies in the shared commitment to democracy and the upholding of a rules-based international system, they wrote with mutual interests in promoting global security, stability, and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity, the United States and India have forged a deep bond.

The recent in-person bilateral meetings between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have reaffirmed our dedication to a resilient international order that safeguards sovereignty, upholds democratic values, and promotes peace and prosperity for all, they said.

Furthermore, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, involving the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, has provided a platform for our countries to engage in meaningful discussions on shared regional and global security interests. The United States recognises and supports India's emergence as a leading global power and a vital partner in safeguarding the Indo-Pacific region as a place of peace, stability, and growing prosperity, Khanna and Waltz said.

If invited by McCarthy, this would be the second address by Modi to the joint session of the Congress, making him one of the few world leaders who had the opportunity to address American lawmakers twice.

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Washington [US], May 24 (ANI): The White House has said the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep, close partnership between US and India.

PM Modi's visit "will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of the family and friendship that link America, Americans and clearly, Indians together. And so that's very important to the (US) President," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre on PM Modi's state visit to the US.

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Pierre further said: "The President and the First Lady are looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for the official state visit which is going to happen on June 22."

The White House Press Secretary said the visit will also strengthen US-India shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to evaluate strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy and space.

Also Read | Pakistan: Former Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Arrested Again After Being Released From Prison.

"Once we get closer to the 22nd, surely we'll hold background calls and have more information and more details," Pierre said.

Recently, highlighting the partnership between the US and India, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, said that they are looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country.

"We very much look forward to hosting PM Modi and members of the Indian Government. We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. This state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities," Vedant Patel said.

He said that India and US "have an important partnership," and are looking "forward to deepen that".

"We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. And this next state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities, including addressing the climate crisis, addressing trade issues, deepening our security cooperation, and a number of other areas as well," added Patel.

Earlier, the White House in a statement announced that US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit next month.

The statement released by the White House read, "President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Republic of India for an Official State Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on June 22, 2023." (ANI)

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Islamabad [Pakistan], May 24 (ANI): Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said that the government is considering imposing a ban on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over the incidents that took place on May 9, Dawn reported.

Speaking to media persons in Islamabad, Khawaja Asif said, "A decision has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway." He called the vandalism of military installations across Pakistan on May 9 as "coordinated attacks" planned by PTI chairman Imran Khan, according to Dawn.

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Khawaja Asif said, "There is a lot of evidence and their people are telling themselves that they were briefed about this beforehand," as per the Dawn report. He further said, "I feel that his struggle of a year ... all his plans failed and this was his last move against the armed forces."

Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Imran Khan will address the nation at 7 pm on Wednesday. Taking to its official Twitter handle, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stated, "Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan's decision to address the nation Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan will address the nation today at 7 pm."

Also Read | Bangladesh Records Over 5 Lakh Deaths Due to Extreme Weather Events Since 1970, Highest in Asia: World Meteorological Organization.

It is pertinent to mention that protests erupted across Pakistan after Imran Khan's arrest in Islamabad on May 9.

PTI workers protested in cities across the country, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, and Mardan.

The PTI chairman was arrested as part of NAB's investigation in the Al-Qadir Trust case ahead of his appearance before the IHC to seek bail in multiple FIRs registered against him.

The former prime minister, along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders, is facing a NAB inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.

Earlier this month, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, termed the events that unfolded on May 9 as a "black chapter" in the country's history, The Express Tribune reported.The ISPR in a statement issued in Urdu on Wednesday referred to the protests that were held after the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The ISPR said that the protests particularly targeted army property and installations.

In a strongly-worded statement, the military's media wing asserted that no one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands. Citing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) statement and law, the ISPR justified the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, as per the news report.

ISPR said that there was a wave of attacks witnessed on the army's properties and installations along with anti-army slogans being chanted following the arrest of Imran Khan. It condemned those actions and raised its concerns regarding the tactics used by certain elements within the protesting groups.

"Soon after [Khan's arrest], there were organised attacks on army properties and installations and anti-army slogans were raised," the military's media wing said according to The Express Tribune report. (ANI)

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Sydney, May 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held wide-ranging talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, focusing on boosting overall bilateral ties including in areas of trade and investment, defence and renewable energy.

Ahead of the talks, Modi was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour at the Admiralty House here. The talks took place a day after Modi addressed the Indian community at a rally in Sydney that was also attended by Albanese.

Boosting economic cooperation is one of the major areas of talks. PM Modi Australia Visit: Australian PM Anthony Albanese Announces to Establish New Consulate General in Bengaluru.

Last year, India and Australia finalised the Economic Cooperation Trade Agreement (ECTA) and it came into force in December last. The two sides are now working on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).

PM Modi Holds Talk With Australian Counterpart Anthony Albanese

And we'll increase the number of top graduates and young professionals who live and study in each others countries, then bring those experiences home. pic.twitter.com/Wx4kgXGRr4  Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 24, 2023

Earlier, officials said the two prime ministers will also deliberate on the situation in the Indo-Pacific. "Australia and India share a commitment to a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Together we have an important role to play in supporting this vision," Albanese said on Monday.

Modi and Albanese also discussed ways to strengthen people-to-people links, renewable energy, and defence and security cooperation.

In June 2020, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support. PM Modi on Front Pages of Australian Newspapers! View Photos of The Indian Prime Minister's Australia Visit Coverage.

The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows the militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating the scaling up of overall defence cooperation.

In August last year, four Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and two C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force joined a 17-nation air combat exercise in Australia.

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Cape Town, May 25 (AP) The South African government was under more pressure Wednesday for declining to release cargo documents relating to the visit by a Russian ship that the United States alleges collected a consignment of weapons for Moscow.

Separately, a top official in South Africa's ruling party added to the scrutiny of the country's relationship with Russia by saying the party would welcome a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

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The comments by African National Congress Secretary General Fikile Mbalula regarding Putin were made in an interview with the BBC and in the context of the Russian leader attending a summit of the BRICS economic bloc in South Africa in August. The bloc is made up of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

"If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here, even tomorrow, to come to our country," Mbalula said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the ANC's social media channels on Tuesday.

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We will welcome him to come here as part and parcel of BRICS.

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court treaty, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he enters the country. The South African government has indicated it will not carry out the arrest warrant if Putin does travel for the summit, although it hasn't said that explicitly.

Do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere? Mbalula, a former Cabinet minister who is now the ANC's top administrative official, said in the BBC interview.

He told the BBC interviewer there was hypocrisy on the part of the West related to the arrest warrant for Putin because, he said, Britain and other Western nations committed crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and no heads of state were arrested.

Mbalula last month referred to the United States as one of the countries messing up the world."

There has been increasing anti-U.S. and anti-West rhetoric in the ANC and sometimes in parts of South Africa's government since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, despite South Africa maintaining it has a neutral stance on the war.

The trend is troubling for the U.S. and other Western partners of South Africa because of its status as an influential democracy in the developing world, and Africa's most developed economy.

South Africa has a historical relationship with Russia connected to the old Soviet Union's military and political support for the ANC when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the racist apartheid regime that oppressed the country's Black majority. The West appears concerned that the ANC's old ideological ties to Russia are now pulling South Africa into Moscow's political orbit amid burgeoning global tensions. There are also growing economic ties between Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, and China.

The concerns were laid bare by the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa earlier this month when he accused it of providing weapons to Russia via a cargo ship that docked at a naval base near the city of Cape Town in December. Ambassador Reuben Brigety said I would bet my life that weapons were loaded onto the Russian-flagged Lady R, which is under U.S. sanctions for alleged ties to a company that has transported arms for the Russian government.

The South African government has denied it made any arms transaction with Russia, although it hasn't categorically ruled out the possibility that another entity did so secretly. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry.

On Wednesday, South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, challenged the government to come clean if it had nothing to hide and release a cargo manifest for the Lady R's visit to the Simon's Town naval base.

A DA lawmaker also asked Defense Minister Thandi Modise to release the documents during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Modise refused to do so while also using an expletive to repeat the government's denial that any weapons were loaded onto the ship.

Modise has said that the Russian ship was visiting to deliver an ammunition shipment to South Africa that was ordered in 2018 but delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modise's refusal to make public the cargo manifest was supported by fellow ANC lawmakers, who said the documents were "classified." Modise said they would be handed over to the inquiry into the incident. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], May 24 (ANI): The US is not considering lifting current sanctions imposed on China's Minister of National Defence Li Shangfu, the US Department of State announced on Monday, The Standard reported.

US officials had said sanctions on Li Shangfu do not stop him from having meetings with his American counterparts. In addition, US officials said that the sanctions will not be hurdles for military talks between Beijing and Washington, Kenya-based daily The Standard reported.

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Last week, US President Joe Biden said that he will not consider easing sanctions on Chinese officials to improve ties. He even suggested that lifting sanctions on the Chinese defence chief is "under negotiation right now." However, a US State Department spokesperson on Monday clarified the stance.

When asked about whether the US is considering lifting sanctions imposed on Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said, "No, we are not. We - I'll leave at that. No, we are not."

Also Read | Suicide Attack in Pakistan: Two Soldiers, Policeman Among Four Killed in Suicide Bomb Blast in North Waziristan.

In 2018, the US imposed sanctions on Li Shangfu under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) when he headed the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese military. The sanctions imposed against Li were related to China's purchase of 10 SU-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018, The Standard reported.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Li Shangfu are expected to attend Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The Chinese military has not accepted the US proposal for a meeting between the defence ministers. In Beijing, Chinese officials raised questions over the "sincerity" of the US in its outreach for communications.

On Monday, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said that China always opposes unilateral sanctions and called on the US to lift sanctions, The Standard reported.

Mao Ning said, "China always firmly opposes illegal unilateral sanctions and has made clear its stern position to the U.S. side. The US side should immediately lift sanctions and take concrete actions to remove obstacles, create favourable atmosphere and conditions for dialogue and communication," according to The Standard report.

The ties between US and China have been increasingly strained in recent months over security, trade and technology issues, Taiwan and the South China Sea, The Standard reported. Chinese officials have indicated their willingness to stabilize ties with the US. However, they also demand that the US stop harming China's interests by strengthening its ties with Taiwan and imposing technology restrictions on China. The ties between US and China have been strained after the then US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. (ANI)

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in March by Russian authorities on spying charges. The US denies the charges and has called for his immediate release.A Russian court on Tuesday extended the jail sentence of imprisoned US reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported.

Also Read | Attacks on Temples in Australia: PM Narendra Modi Raises Issue With Anthony Albanese, Says 'Unacceptable to Us That Anyone Hurt Friendly Ties by Their Actions or Ideology'.

Gershkovich has been accused of collecting state secrets about Russia's military industrial complex, which he denies. The charges carry a possible 20-year prison sentence.

Also Read | PM Modi Australia Visit: Australian PM Anthony Albanese Announces to Establish New Consulate General in Bengaluru.

What we know about the Gershkovich hearing

Moscow says the pretrial investigation was held behind closed doors because of the sensitivity of the case. Court documents have not been released either.

Gershkovich's parents were at the Lefortovo court in Moscow for the hearing, according to a CNN reporter who was present.

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller in a briefing said representatives from the US embassy in Moscow were also in attendance, but were unable to speak with Gershkovich.

The 31-year-old reporter who covered Russia and Ukraine for the Wall Street Journal remains in custody at Lefortovo prison as he awaits a trial.

His appeal against a decision to keep him behind bars as he waits for a trial start date was denied in April.

US calls for Gershkovich's immediate release

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated his calls for Gershkovich to be released.

"He shouldnt be detained at all. Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately," Kirby told CNN.

"Were still going to work very, very hard to see if we can get him home with his family where he belongs."

Kirby also said the United States wants consular access to Gershkovich, who became the first American to be detained in Russia on spying charges since the Cold War.

He has been only allowed visits from his Russian lawyers so far.

rm, zc/wd (Reuters, AFP)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 24, 2023 09:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
In an address to the nation via social media, 70-year-old Khan also said that a massive crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is ongoing and the regime has "jailed the entire leadership and even those who are not even a part of the party." "You are our last hope," Khan said, referring to the top judiciary.
New Delhi, May 24: Apple is all ready to commence its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year on June 5, which will go on till June 9. Apple WWDC 2023 will kick start with a keynote, and the tech giant has already sent media invites for the mega event.

The most awaited annual Apple event will be held at the tech giant's Apple Park headquarters in California with select audience. However, the event will be open to all the audience to watch all over the world, as it will be broadcasted live on Apple TV app. The WWDC 2023 keynote will be streamed on developer.apple.com/wwdc23 and Apple's official YouTube channel as well. Heres all we know so far. Apple Hiring! Apple Recruiting Professionals in Generative AI Space, Set To Join AI Battle With Its Own Chatbot To Rival ChatGPT and Bard.

Apple WWDC 2023  Expected Announcements

The Cupertino-based tech giant is expected to make announcements on new features, new tools, software updates, AI-based updates and new product launches.

This years WWDC is likely to witness the beta version launch of the new iOS 17, iPadOS, MacOS and WatchOS before public release. The highly anticipated and long awaited mixed-reality headset is expected to be unveiled during the event. Apples mixed-reality headset, also speculated to be called the Reality Pro is expected to cost somewhere around $3,000 (approx. Rs 24,8,121).

Apart from the AR/VR headset, the highly speculated 15-inch MacBook Air and high-end Mac Pro are also expected to debut or previewed at the event. These notebooks are expected to get powered by a new chip called the M2 Ultra. As per the reports, this new chip would be the successor to the M1 Ultra. Apple iPhone 16 To Look Reminiscent of iPhone 12 With Vertically Stacked Cameras Say Latest Speculations.

Apart from these expected software and hardware announcements, developers will be able to meet the Apple engineers, developers and experts throughout the event learning about the new and upcoming innovations, and how to make use of Apples new software updates and new features to help them develop new apps, games and services. During the WWDC, Apple will be opening doors to the developers to understand new tech innovations that the company is working on offering deeper insights and sharing knowledge.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 24, 2023 02:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Ottawa, May 24: The rape and murder case of a teenager, which took place in 1975 in Canada's Montreal case, has finally been solved after authorities exhumed the suspect's body and conducted DNA testing, investigators have confirmed.

Sixteen-year-old Sharron Prior disappeared after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlour near her home in the city's Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood, reports CBC News. Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore. The suspect, Franklin Romine, an American national from West Virginia, was living in Montreal at the time of the incident. Beer Cans Unravel Murder Mystery: Uttar Pradesh Police Solves Murder Case With Help of Empty Beer Containers.

He had a long criminal record and encounters with law enforcement in Montreal and West Virginia, including at least one rape conviction, but was not initially a suspect in Prior's death. He died in 1982 at the age of 36. Romine matched the description of a suspect, and his car matched tire tracks found at the scene where Prior's body was recovered. Despite investigating more than 100 suspects over the years, police never made any arrests. Umesh Pal Murder Case: Atiq Ahmed, His Brother Ashraf Sent to Four-Day Police Custody by Prayagraj CJM Court.

In 1975, the amount of DNA gathered at the scene was insufficient to be tested or used in court, but it was kept over the years in the hope that it could someday be used to find a match for a suspect as technology improved. The samples were sent to a laboratory in West Virginia in 2019 and later matched to Romine's relatives using data from genealogical websites, Sky News reported.

Earlier this month, police exhumed Romine's body from a West Virginia cemetery and found that his DNA was a match. On Tuesday, Sarah Bourgoin, the director of the biology and DNA department at Quebec's national forensic laboratory, said retrieving a full genetic profile from Romine's bones was a difficult task.

"Happily, here it worked. We established a genetic profile by comparing it to the unknown profile in Sharron Prior's case. We remarked that it was identical, which confirmed that it was indeed Franklin Romine who left his DNA at the scene," CBC News quoted Bourgoin as saying.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Prior's younger sisters, Doreen and Moreen, said Sharron was a kind, warm-hearted young girl who dreamed of being a veterinarian. "She was a beautiful young lady with a heart of gold," Doreen said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 24, 2023 05:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
On 23 May Mexicos Presidentsaid that the government will consider buying a controlling stake in the Banamex retail bank, amid rumours that Grupo Mexico, the main prospective buyer, might pull out of the US$7bn transaction.

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On 23 May Panamas former president(Cambio Democratico, 2009-2014) was among various people to go on trial for the so-called New Business case, involving alleged money laundering linked to the 2010 acquisition of a media conglomerate, Editor Panama America (Epasa).

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On 23 May, a congressional deputy for Paraguays ruling Asociacion Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC), refused to renounce his parliamentary immunity from prosecution and professed himself to be a victim of pitiless political persecution after being accused of money laundering and criminal association.

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On 23 May Brazils lower house of congress held the first session of a select committee inquiry (CPI) into the activities over recent months of the landless workers movement Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST).

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After months of speculation, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is slated to announce his run for the presidency during a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. The controversial governor has not yet officially announced his run, though it has already been expected by many.

DeSantis is seen as the biggest challenger to former President Donald Trump, with the recently-indicted Trump still leading in the polls and even widening his lead despite all his controversies. As for DeSantis, his image has taken a big hit thanks to his culture war policies and his feud with Disney.

However, this relationship with Elon Musk is seen to be a significant boost to his campaign as it will give him credibility and an introduction to Musk's 140 million Twitter followers. Last year, the South Africa-born tech billionaire stated that he would support DeSantis should he decide to run for president in 2024.

However, NBC News pointed out that this could also backfire on DeSantis as Musk's credibility has also taken a hit in light of his recent controversial comments, as well as his tanking of Twitter since he took over last year.

This announcement for the governor will coincide with a retreat for high-end donors who have already pledged their support for the Trump rival, who has been in talks with the Twitter CEO for weeks now. As for Elon Musk, he has already indicated that he does not think Donald Trump can win back the White House from Joe Biden.

Donald Trump More Than Doubles Lead Vs. Ron DeSantis in the Polls

Meanwhile, as Ron DeSantis prepares to announce his run, his toughest opponent, Donald Trump, has widened his lead over him, more than doubling it as conservative voters seem to be flocking to the ex-POTUS.

According to Newsweek, while DeSantis' right-wing culture war issues have propelled him to the national spotlight, many conservatives are still embracing Trump despite a string of legal losses and setbacks.

READ MORE: Florida 'Openly Hostile Toward African Americans'

A January Harvard-Harris poll showed Trump winning the support of 48% of Republican voters, gaining a comfortable 20-point lead against the Florida governor, who only has 28% of Republican voters backing him in the poll. It was conducted from January 18 to 19 among 2,050 registered voters.

However, a new poll showed that Trump more than doubled his percentage lead. The May poll by Harvard-Harris saw Trump go up to 58% of Republican voters going with him, while DeSantis dipped to just 16%. This means the Trump lead has grown to about 42 points in May, compared to just 20 points earlier this year.

Ron DeSantis Facing Boycotts From Latino Communities

Florida has one of the biggest populations of Hispanics in the United States. However, his recent immigration policies that seek to make it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants, as well as force hospitals to check the residency status of anybody seeking treatment, have many Latinos feeling anxious.

This has resulted in farms going empty and concerns about worker shortages affecting the economy. This also resulted in a boycott from Latino truck drivers, as well as a travel advisory from the League of United Latin American Citizens.

FOX 4 reported that LULAC slammed the DeSantis-backed law that the organization claims only harasses immigrants and is bad for the state's economy.

DeSantis has since defended the law saying, "You can't build a strong economy based on illegality." However, many have pointed out that his culture war policies, such as his recent and controversial immigration law, were all to get brownie points from conservative voters, even though these policies have already alienated him from other groups, especially Latinos, African-Americans, and the LGBTQ+.

READ NEXT: Florida May Face Labor Shortage as New Ron DeSantis Law Drives out Immigrants

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: DeSantis to launch 2024 campaign with Elon Musk on Twitter - Yahoo! Finance
In a recent statement, the US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, highlighted the significant risks associated with young people's use of social media, citing a "profound risk of harm" to their psychological well-being, per The Guardian.

Calling for immediate action, Dr. Murthy has urged tech companies, policymakers, and parents to address this pressing issue and protect children from potential harm.

Dr. Murthy's social media warning is outlined in a comprehensive recommendation published on Tuesday, where he emphasizes the need for more thorough and independent studies to ascertain the actual dangers of social media for kids and teenagers.

NEW: Today, I released a Surgeon General's Advisory on Social Media and #YouthMentalHealth. This is the next step in our offices work to address our youth mental health crisis. https://t.co/6JadYlxORy 1/7 pic.twitter.com/UrHNP1Uq15  Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) May 23, 2023

He points out that the current lack of evidence regarding its safety should raise alarms among parents, stressing the importance of understanding the potential risks involved.

The US Surgeon General's ongoing study, which aims to address what he describes as a full-blown teenage mental health crisis, has resulted in a detailed 25-page guideline. The report places blame on young individuals' widespread and constant use of social media.

Shockingly, it reveals that over a third of American teenagers aged 13 to 17 report using social media "almost constantly," while as many as 95% of this age group utilize at least one social media platform.

The report also highlights the inadequacy of safeguards to prevent minors from accessing these platforms. Despite most websites enforcing a minimum user age of 13, it is troubling to note that approximately 40% of children between the ages of 8 and 12 are active users, indicating a failure in effectively regulating their access.

READ NEXT: How Social Media Affects Latin American Teens' Mental Health?

US Surgeon General Social Media Warning Highlights Possible Harms to Kids and Teens

The recent social media warning issued by experts emphasizes the potential risks associated with social media use among young people, including detrimental effects on sleep, mental health, cyberbullying, exposure to extreme content, and vulnerability to adult predatory behavior, Al Jazeera reported.

In a detailed analysis, US Surgeon General highlighted the negative consequences of excessive and problematic social media use, such as compulsive or uncontrollable behavior. He pointed out that such behavior has been linked to sleep problems, attention issues, and feelings of exclusion, particularly among adolescents.

The paper also sheds light on the vulnerability of young individuals due to their "highly sensitive period of brain development," making them particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of social media.

This recommendation comes when policymakers grapple with establishing appropriate boundaries for children's social media usage amid growing concerns.

Utah, for instance, recently passed legislation requiring parental permission for minors to join social media platforms and restricting access for children under 13 between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. However, doubts have yet to be raised regarding the enforceability of these regulations.

US Surgeon General's Advice

In addition to social media warnings, the US Surgeon General released comprehensive guidelines outlining the collaborative efforts needed to create a safer online environment for children and their families, Neuroscience noted.

Policymakers are urged to take decisive action by implementing measures to limit access to social media platforms, ensuring robust protections for children's privacy, promoting digital and media literacy, and allocating resources to support further research aimed at enhancing the safety of these platforms for kids of all ages.

Tech companies are called upon to prioritize safety and health in their design and development decisions. This includes safeguarding children's privacy and adhering more diligently to age restrictions. Moreover, companies should improve their systems to address complaints effectively and on time while also fostering transparency regarding the impact of their products on children.

Parents and caregivers are crucial in helping children develop healthy internet habits. They are encouraged to set a responsible example through online behavior, engage in open discussions about online safety, and empower children to report inappropriate content or conduct.

For adolescents and children, adopting positive online behaviors is emphasized. This involves setting limits on the time spent on social media, utilizing tools to block inappropriate content, exercising caution when sharing personal information, and seeking help if they or someone they know experience any form of online abuse or harassment.

Furthermore, researchers are called upon to prioritize studies on the effects of social media on young people's mental health. By focusing on this area, it will be possible to establish norms and determine the most effective interventions to enhance the overall well-being of children.

READ MORE: Dormitory Fire Kills 19

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Surgeon General warns of social media danger to mental health - From TODAY
In a shocking development, a high-ranking official in Guyana revealed on Tuesday that investigators suspect a Guyana student was responsible for the Guyana dormitory fire that claimed the lives of 19 individuals, predominantly female students who were trapped in a school dormitory. It was allegedly motivated by the student's anger over the confiscation of her phone.

Among those injured in the incident was the suspect herself, according to National Security Adviser Gerald Gouveia. He disclosed that the Guyana student suspected of the arson had previously faced disciplinary action from the dormitory supervisor due to having a relationship with an older man.

Gouveia revealed that the student had made threats to set fire to the entire residence hall, which tragically became a reality when she ignited a blaze in a restroom, AP reports.

Gouveia explained that the house mother had locked the doors of the girls' dormitory for the night. However, the fire rapidly spread through the structure, fueled by the combustible combination of wood, concrete, and iron grilles.

The Guyana student, believed to be approximately 14 years old, suffered severe injuries in the fire and is being treated at a local hospital. Leslie Ramsammy, an advisor to the health ministry, stated that she is expected to be discharged from the hospital this week and will subsequently be placed in juvenile detention until she reaches the age of 18.

"She did this out of love for them. She felt she was forced to do so because many leave the building at night to socialize," Gouveia said.

"This is a very sad situation, but the state is going to work with the students and the families to provide all the support they need," he added.

READ NEXT: Guyana Court Sentences 2 Pirates to Death

What Happened During the Guyana Dormitory Fire?

A devastating fire engulfed a large wooden building in Mahdia, a central town in Guyana, where 57 students resided, resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life. The fire is believed to have originated in a restroom and rapidly spread throughout the structure, BBC noted.

Survivors who managed to escape the flames recounted the harrowing experience of hearing cries for help during the night. Sadly, the dormitory's administrator, who tragically lost her five-year-old son in the fire, reportedly became overwhelmed and misplaced the keys to the building during the chaotic events.

Reports indicate that firefighters faced significant challenges while rescuing trapped residents. In some instances, they resorted to breaking down walls desperately to reach those trapped inside. However, adverse weather conditions could have improved the initial progress in containing the blaze.

In addition to the devastating loss of life, several individuals sustained injuries, with most of the victims being indigenous girls. Numerous injured individuals were transported to hospitals across the country, including those in Georgetown, where some remain in critical condition.

The magnitude of the fire's destruction was so severe that local media sources have revealed that DNA testing became necessary to confirm the identities of some of the victims.

President Irfaan Ali Declares National Mourning Period Following Tragic Guyana Dormitory Fire

President Irfaan Ali has declared three days of national mourning in response to the devastating fire that struck the Guyana dormitory.

Expressing deep anguish and pain, Ali referred to the incident as a major disaster, per Al Jazeera.

He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragedy in a press release.

Taking immediate action, Ali has personally met with some grieving parents, offering his support and solidarity during this difficult time.

The Mahdia Secondary School is approximately 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of the capital city of Georgetown.

READ MORE: Alligator Attack Amputates Florida Man's Arm

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WATCH: Fire razes school dormitory in Guyana, killing at least 19 children, many of them Indigenous - From WGN News
As former President Donald Trump is busy campaigning for the Republican Primaries, he will also be facing a tough legal battle over his porn star hush money payments around the same time.

This is because his trial over falsifying business records to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels not to talk about her affair with Trump will begin on March 25, 2024, which will be right in the middle of the presidential primary season, only eight months away from the 2024 presidential elections.

According to CNBC, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan announced the trial schedule as Trump appeared via a video hookup for the hearing that was held on Tuesday.

The judge also warned the ex-POTUS that he could be sanctioned should he violate the order that "restricts his ability to make public evidence and other material related to the criminal case." Concerns about Trump posting evidence on social media to rile up his base and spread false narratives were what led to the order being put in place.

Donald Trump is accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, becoming the first former president to ever be indicted after leaving office. The ex-POTUS allegedly mischaracterized payments by the Trump Organization to his former attorney Michael Cohen, who paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

Donald Trump Attacks Judge After the Hush Money Payment Hearing

Reports from the courtroom indicated that Trump did not say much during the hearing. However, he was visibly glowering at the camera as Judge Merchan advised him to cancel all other obligations for the duration of the trial, which might go for a few weeks.

While he said very little as the hearing went on, Trump immediately ranted about it on social media shortly after it concluded, according to the Associated Press.

"Just had New York County Supreme Court hearing where I believe my First Amendment Rights, 'Freedom of Speech,' have been violated, and they forced upon us a trial date of March 25, right in the middle of Primary season," posted the former president on social media.

READ NEXT: Ron DeSantis' Presidential Announcement Plan with Elon Musk, Revealed

The former president called the schedule "Very unfair" and accused "Radical Left Democrats" of "ELECTION INTERFERENCE" before claiming that "nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before!!!"

However, Judge Merchan stated that he decided on the March 25 trial after discussions with Trump's lawyers and prosecutors, with Trump attorney Susan Necheles admitting that her client already knew about the date even before the Tuesday hearing.

Donald Trump Could Still Win Key States During the Republican Primaries Before Trial Begins

While he has been very vocal about his opposition to the trial date shortly after it was officially announced, Business Insider pointed out that he could still win a few key Republican primaries before it could begin.

Just before the trial begins, two of the biggest states, Texas and California, will be holding their 2024 primaries on March 5, also known as Super Tuesday. Two more big states, Ohio and Florida, are set to happen just 10 days before the trial begins.

Should he win those big states before the trial, he could possibly secure the Republican nomination even if he loses other states that might take place during the trial.

READ MORE: Stormy Daniels Net Worth

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Trump to stand trial in March 2024 | ABCNL - ABC News
Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing a Texas House corruption investigation. The announcement about the investigation came Tuesday, just hours after the embattled Texas AG accused House Speaker Dade Phelan, a fellow Republican, of being drunk on the job.

Phelan was the one who announced that the House General Investigating Committee has been looking into "alleged illegal conduct" by Paxton. It is separate from the FBI investigation into the Texas AG over accusations of corruption by his former staff members.

According to the Associated Press, Phelan merely brushed off Paxton's accusations, with the Texas House Speaker saying that the embattled official just made the accusation "to save face."

However, the accusation into the House Speaker and the investigation into Paxton have jolted the Texas Capitol, as this showed the "raw divisions between Republicans who control every level of power in the state government."

Since April, several subpoenas have been issued by the committee for testimony and information to individuals and entities as part of its probe of Paxton's office.

The subpoenas issued Tuesday were for "John Doe No. 6" and, generally, to the Texas AG's office and were issued related to "Matter A," which means the matter could not be made public yet.

The committee has also issued a letter to Paxton's office and ordered them to preserve all evidence related to the investigation.

READ NEXT: Texas: Daniel Perry Gets Punishment Over BLM Shooting

Ken Paxton Calls On House Speaker Dade Phelan to Resign

Ken Paxton has already released a letter calling for the Texas House Speaker to resign and for him to be investigated. It noted that while Dade Phelan was presiding over the Texas House, he was "in an obviously intoxicated state."

According to Yahoo! News, Paxton called for an investigation as this was a "violation of House rules, state law, and for conduct unbecoming his position."

The session in question might be during the May 19 House session, where Phelan was seen slurring and swaying at the podium. The video has since gone viral.

This is video from last night in the Texas House of Representatives where it appears that TX House Speaker Dade Phelan is either really drunk or having a stroke. pic.twitter.com/dbSG7AO30r  Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 20, 2023

Divisions in Texas' Republican Party Shown With Ken Paxton's Accusation

Ken Paxton is currently being investigated for corruption by the FBI, and Dade Phelan claimed that the state's House of Representatives has been investigating him for months. That showed a growing divide among Republicans in the Lone Star State.

The Texas Tribune reported that Paxton is a staunch Donald Trump loyalist, even launching a doomed appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 presidential election based on unsubstantiated claims of the former president. On the other hand, Phelan is skeptical of Trump's hold on the party.

This feud stemmed from the settlement that Paxton agreed to last February after four former deputies claimed the Texas AG fired them in retaliation for reporting his alleged misconduct to federal investigators.

That settlement for a whistleblower lawsuit from the former deputies who had accused Paxton of misconduct was worth $3.3 million, and lawmakers from the heavily-Republican State House and the State Senate were not happy to use the taxpayers' money to pay for it.

Phelan has been very vocal about his opposition to having taxpayers shoulder Paxton's burden. Texas lawmakers have now drafted a budget prohibiting state funds from going toward the settlement.

READ MORE: Ron DeSantis' Presidential Announcement Plan with Elon Musk, Revealed

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Texas AG Ken Paxton Calls on Speaker Dade Phelan to Resign - From KVUE
In a tragic incident on Thursday, a California man who tried to help a family of ducks safely cross the road was killed by a teen driver.

According to Insider, Casey Rivara, 41, was fatally struck by the teen's car while returning to his vehicle after escorting the ducklings.

The Rocklin Police Department said the incident happened at Stanford Ranch Road and Park Drive in Placer County, California, around 8:15 p.m.

Witnesses saw Rivara safely escorting the ducks away from the road after he stopped and got out of his vehicle. Unfortunately, he was tragically hit by the vehicle driven by the teenager.

The 17-year-old driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the authorities. Police said she would unlikely face criminal charges as there appeared to be no criminal negligence. However, authorities noted that an investigation was ongoing.

READ NEXT: California Grandma Died After Her Pit Bull Attacked Her

California Man Applauded for His Act of Kindness Before Getting Struck

The kind-hearted California man who tragically lost his life while helping a family of ducks cross a busy intersection was praised by witnesses in the area.

A 12-year-old boy, who witnessed the accident, told KCRA-TV that people had applauded Casey Rivara's act of kindness before he was struck, PEOPLE reported.

"He got out of the car and was shooing the ducks, and everyone was clapping because he was being really nice," the boy told the outlet. "He helped them get up over the curb because all the little baby duckies were having trouble, and then he walked in front of our car."

The boy noted that he did not see where the vehicle came from, adding that he just heard "the sound" and then saw Rivara "flying across the intersection," with his shoes and one of his socks "right in front of our car."

Rivara's aunt, who set up a GoFundMe page to support Rivara's grieving widow and their two children, aged 11 and 6, said his nephew was driving his children home after their swim practice when they saw the mother duck and ducklings struggling to cross a busy road.

Rivara's selfless act has left a lasting impression on the local community. In a touching tribute, a makeshift memorial adorned with flowers and rubber ducks was erected at the accident site.

California Man Remembered by His Family

The Associated Press reported that the California man was also admired by those who knew him for his exceptional qualities as as a husband and a parent. As of Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe page has already raised nearly $90,000.

"The family is trying to figure out how to recover and keep going after this immense loss," Rivara's aunt, Tracey Rivara, wrote on the verified GoFundMe page.

Rivara was married to his high school sweetheart Angel Chow who arrived at his high school as an exchange student from Hong Kong. According to his aunt, his nephew had recently started working at their children's school to remain even closer to them.

Chow has expressed gratitude for the outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and members of the community.

"It's truly humbling to hear how Casey has positively impacted your lives, and we're extremely grateful for that," Chow wrote on Facebook Monday.

To preserve Rivara's memory, Chow shared her plan to compile the tributes in a book their children can look at whenever they miss him.

READ MORE: Guyana Dormitory Fire Was Set by Angry Student

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Father Struck and Killed While Helping Family of Ducks Cross Street - From ABC News
Hawk Music Center soon will be making sweet tunes again  about three months after the music died at the beloved Westgate Mall store.

It was a somber day on March 31 when Hawk Music co-owners and siblings Phil Hawk and Pat Hawk Paulus closed the doors for good. The store was one of the malls original tenants in 1973 when it was built at 2425 Schoenersville Road, near Routes 22 and 378 in Bethlehem. It was founded by the late family patriarch and area musician, Bill Hawk, and was four months shy of its 50th anniversary.

The siblings confirmed to lehighvalleylive.com this week they gave their blessing to Jason Marish of Bethlehem to take over the reins in what all parties are calling the stores next chapter.

Marish plans to reopen Hawk Music sometime this July at the site of the former Macs Hobby Hall, 721 Linden St., in Northside Bethlehem. Hes been storing what was left of the stores little inventory of instruments and equipment in a warehouse since the closure.

Phil and Pat did want to eventually retire, but they didnt want to do it forcibly and I didnt want them to just disappear quietly in the night, Marish told lehighvalleylive.com this week.

There was a lot of public outcry over it, it was all just such a shame, he added. I wanted to do this family right and decided to take over where they left off.

Musical comeback

Hawk Music Center was known as one of the oldest musical instrument shops in the Lehigh Valley.

It was a major seller of acoustic and electrical guitars; flutes and clarinets; banjos, ukuleles and mandolins. There was also new violin outfits, complete with a case and bow, as well as instrumental lesson books. Patrons were accustomed to receiving items at discounted prices.

The store repaired various string instruments and performed set-ups on trumpets, clarinets, flutes, saxophones and others. It was also known for the hosting of music lessons.

Now, in its next chapter, Hawk Music will be reimagined for a new generation while welcoming back its longtime regulars. This will all be done in a newly-renovated space, Marish described.

The two-story former Macs Hobby Hall building is in a strip of businesses, which also includes Machs Gute Pub and Grille. The family-owned, neighborhood restaurant in 2003 was taken over by current co-owners and brothers, Louis and George Tsihlis.

Peter Tsihlis, the nephew of the owners, late last year decided to buy the former Macs Hobby Hall property, given its close proximity to Machs Gute. He wasnt immediately sure what he planned to do with the approximate 1,500-square-foot space, but he knew he wanted to fill it with a similar family-owned vibe of what it once been.

Macs Hobby Hall was originally founded in the 1940s in South Bethlehem before moving to Linden Street, where it became a fixture since the 1970s. The store was known through the years as being a go-to spot for outdoorsmen looking to pick up fishing tackle or live bait. It was named for its original owner, the late Gertrude Makagon, known by most as Mrs. Mac, who lived above the shop.

The store then went through multiple changes of hands before the late Elva Sis Shuck ran it for 21 years until her death in 2012. Her children, including daughter Lisa Ebner, in April 2022 then attempted to revive the shop after it shuttered in 2014.

That re-opening, however, was short lived and the Ebners decided to move away from where they resided across the street, Peter Tsihlis said.

After securing Marish as a tenant, Peter Tsihlis decided to embark on a lengthy interior and exterior renovation for the future Hawk Music space. Work began in April and is slated to end prior to the summer opening.

The goal, Peter Tsihlis said, is to keep the historical integrity of the building, dating back to the 1900s, while implementing some modern upgrades. Work includes new brickwork and front picture windows for the exterior, as well as new flooring and expanded bathrooms in the interior.

Once complete, Marish envisions the space to be comprised of four lesson rooms and a large retail area. Therell be both instrument and instrument accessory sales, as well as space for repairs and to pick up rentals. Instructors will be teaching everything from strings to brass and woodwinds to percussion and piano.

Machs Gute underwent similar upgrades about a year ago in its renovation project. Both buildings will now reflect similar features. Theres also plans for future collaborations between the two businesses, Marish and Peter Tsihlis said.

Peter Tsihlis said he thinks patrons will enjoy the neighborhood feel of Hawk Music in its new headquarters, which will be a different vibe than trekking through a large shopping mall.

I feel that a good community and family business are a good foundation for success, he said.

A tentative rendering of what will soon become the interior of Hawk Music, under new ownership, at 721 Linden St. in Northside Bethlehem. New owner Jason Marish plans to open sometime in July 2023 at the site of the former Macs Hobby Hall. Marish envisions the space to be comprised of four lesson rooms and a large retail area.

Continued legacy

Marish, a musician and guitar luthier, knew Hawk and Hawk Paulus for the past several decades. He holds 25 years experience alone working on musical instruments.

Marish first found a passion for music while attending Freedom High School. In his adult years, he went on to help the Hawk family with their musical instrument repairs at the Westgate Mall shop. Marish additionally worked for several years in the final assembly department for Martin Guitar in Upper Nazareth and for the musical instrument retailer chain, Guitar Center.

Ive known Phil (Hawk) since I bought my first instrument at Hawk Music, Marish said. I like nostalgia and I just knew I had to keep this good name going for others in the future. I wanted others to have what I had.

While Hawk Paulus has retired from the music industry for good, Phil Hawk plans to remain onsite in a part-time role alongside Marish manning the business side of operations.

Hell continue to have a presence with the customers, Marish said of Phil Hawk. He wants to be there.

Marish said hell also be keeping up with all the traditions Hawk Music patrons have been accustomed to.

This includes Bill Hawks mission to keep the store open at night and Saturdays as a way for performing musicians to pick up strings or missing drumsticks on the way to a gig. Additionally, Hawk Music was a major supplier of student instrument rentals for various regional schools, including the Bethlehem Area School District, Whitehall-Coplay School District, and Pen Argyl Area School District.

Marish wants to work with as many area high schools as possible in continuing this tradition. The new store sits in close proximity to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Northeast Middle School, and Liberty High School, all part of the Bethlehem Area School District.

The Hawks recall past generations choosing their store to learn and grow their talents. There were school band musicians, teens playing at weekend venues, and some just playing for fun at home.

Marish plans to continue those aspects and more. There are plans for possible future events or fundraisers hosted at the site following an anticipated grand opening celebration.

Hours for Hawk Music at the Linden Street location tentatively will be from noon to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The store will be closed Sundays.

Phase III of Westgate Mall's redevelopment plan calls for demolishing a portion of the shopping center to attract major national retailers. Pictured is a rendering of the project.

New spaces

Hawk Music Center isnt the only former Westgate Mall tenant to secure new digs.

At least six businesses received letters in January from mall management telling them they needed to vacate. Other businesses who said they received letters included: Westgate Jewelers; Holiday Hair; Fashion Nails; Amateur Athlete; and Subway.

Westgate Jewelers has moved into the upper level of the United Steelworkers of America building, off Center Street between Bethlehem City Hall and Nisky Hill Cemetery. Owner Laurel DiFelice held a soft opening in April and is planning a grand opening celebration for the entire month of May.

Holiday Hair has since moved to the Pointe North Shopping Center in Hanover Township, Northampton County; Fashion Nails bought Nail Trix in South Whitehall Township; Amateur Athlete moved to the Lehigh Shopping Center in West Bethlehem; and a Subway worker previously said the eatery was looking to move to another site at the mall.

Onyx Equities, the real estate firm overseeing the mall, is planning a major overhaul of the property. Phase III of its redevelopment is in the works now that the tenants have all vacated. That phase includes demolishing over 50,000 square feet of interior mall space.

Onyx then plans to build a freestanding bank with a drive-thru and a small strip mall home to three major national chains: a Starbucks with a drive-thru, a Jersey Mikes and Qdoba Mexican Eats restaurant.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
Editors Note: This story first appeared on Armchair Lehigh Valley and is being published on lehighvalleylive.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters factual information in a nonpartisan way to help them make informed decisions at the polls. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein, two longtime local journalists who formerly worked at The Morning Call in Allentown. Learn more about Armchair Lehigh Valley and subscribe here.

The May 16 primary was more than week ago, but not all of the ballots are settled for November.

On Friday, when Lehigh and Northampton counties began counting write-in votes, the looming question was who got the 2,118 write-in votes for the GOP ballot in the Northampton County district attorney race?

We now know the answer: Incumbent Democrat Terry Houck, who lost the Democratic primary to retired judge Stephen Baratta, received 1,468 write-in votes on the Republican ballot to win that partys nomination, according to unofficial county results released Monday afternoon.

Baratta, who defeated Houck with 54% on the Democratic ballot, will now have to face him again in the November general election.

Meanwhile, the Republican write-in tally in Northampton County Councils District 2 shows 299 votes. Kerry Myers, president of county council who was removed from the Democratic ballot over invalid signatures, switched to the Republican Party and mounted a write-in campaign.

New groups show some sway

The May 16 primary saw two budding organizations demonstrate political clout with endorsement wins.

Moms for Liberty - Northampton County backed eight Republican school board candidates and saw four win spots on the Republican ballot.

The progressive group Lehigh Valley Stands Up promoted nine Democrats and saw five win ballot Democratic nods.

Moms for Liberty - Northampton is a local chapter of a national parental rights group that grew out of the anti-mask movement.

Members of the Northampton chapter have urged the Nazareth Area School Board to adopt family and parent first policies such as those passed in the Central Bucks School District on restricting books with sexual content and setting up a process for book removals.

Moms for Liberty  Northampton County backed two candidates who won in Region 1 in the Nazareth Area School District  Elmo L. Frey Jr. and Melinda Gladstone. Another one of their winners was Cindy OBrien, who picked up two Republican nominations, one for an at-large seat and another for the Region III seat in the Bethlehem Area School District. And Northampton Area School Board candidate William G. Jones Jr. won the Republican nomination in Region 2.

Endorsed candidates who didnt win were Thomas McElroy in Nazareth Area, A.J. Maniscalco in the Northampton Area School, Debra Mouisett in the Pen Argyl Area School District and Annelle DiSanto in Wilson Area.

Lehigh Valley Stands Up is part of Pennsylvania Stands Up, which says it aims to stand firm against leaders who tried to divide us by the color of our skin, by our immigration status, by the way that we worship.

Winners on the Democratic ballot backed by Lehigh Valley Stands Up included Jon Irons, who is making his first run for Lehigh County commissioner; Shanta Ford, another newcomer running for East Penn School Board; Ce-Ce Gerlach, an incumbent Allentown City council member who was the top vote-getter among seven candidates; Tara Zrinksi, a Northampton County commissioner who won the Democratic nod for controller; and Frank Pintabone, a former Easton Area School Board member who won a nomination for Easton City Council.

Endorsed candidates who didnt win were Allentown City Council candidates Rodney Bushe and Sarina Torres, Palmer Township supervisor candidate Baron Vanderburg and Lehigh County commissioner candidate Michael Blichar Jr.

Incumbent school board members struggled

This years class of school board incumbents stands out from others in years past.

Elected in November 2019, they weathered the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and the criticism directed at them at board meetings.

Many bowed out altogether from running for reelection in a year where most districts have five open seats on their nine-member boards.

In Southern Lehigh, only Republican Emily Gehman sought another term. Ditto for Republican Gregory C. Leh in Nazareth Area. Only two incumbents  Democrats Lauren Cieslak and Jillian Emert  ran in the May 16 primary in Catasauqua Area and they were the only candidates on either ballot.

Of the incumbents who sought reelection, Republicans had a rough time winning on their own ticket.

That was thanks to GOP challengers who criticized them for pandemic-related closings and mask mandates, rising taxes, a perceived lack of transparency and, in some places, transgender bathroom policies. These candidates were propelled by a Republican electorate that historically leans farther to the right in primaries.

That was the case in Northampton Area with Michael Baird, who lost in Region 2 on the GOP ballot to Jones. Like many incumbent Republicans, Baird won on the Democratic ballot because many primary-voting Democrats, some of whom are left of center, selected incumbent Republicans.

One exception was Pen Argyls board President Lisa Hackman, a Republican who was unopposed in Region 1 for a four-year seat. She also defeated Democrat Thomas Knorr on the Democratic ballot for a two-year term.

Three Republican incumbents lost altogether and will be out of office in December. They are Toni Lynch and Zachary Miller in Bangor Area and Patrick Foose in Parkland, who shared many of the challengers platforms.

One Democrat lost on both ballots  Easton Areas Edward Keegan, a former New Jersey school superintendent who fell to Michael Simonetta, the districts former chief operating officer.

Meanwhile, Democratic incumbents who may have enjoyed cross-filing wins in the past due to name recognition failed altogether in gaining GOP nominations. Besides the Catasauqua Area Democrats, another exception was Laurel Erickson-Parsons, a pediatrician and mother of four who won on both ballots in Saucon Valley.

Fortunes could very well change for incumbents in November when independents and other third party voters will weigh in. They account for 86,950, or 18%, of the 457,946 registered voters in the Lehigh Valley.

Inside the numbers of Norco judges primary

Northampton County judicial candidates Republican Nancy Aaroe and Democrat Brian Panella won their respective party nominations in the primary and will square off again in the November election.

Panella won the Democratic primary 13,098-9,960, a victory margin of 3,138.

Aaroe won the GOP primary, 10,932-4,723, a margin of 6,209, nearly twice as much as Panellas margin in the Democratic primary.

When combining totals, Aaroe had more votes (20,892) than Panella (17,821), according to unofficial county results.

Aaroe had a stronger showing among Democrats (43% of the Democratic vote) than Panella did among Republicans (30% of the GOP vote).

Republican and Democratic voters only were eligible to vote in the primary, where candidates for judge appeared on both ballots.

In the general election, turnout is typically higher among party voters. Another 40,000 county voters who are nonaffiliated or register with a minor party voters can vote in November.

In last weeks primary, 41,724 people cast ballots. In the 2021 general election in Northampton County, nearly 30,000 more votes were cast than in the primary that year.

The stakes are higher in the general election - win or go home - but the candidates strategy will be the same: Mobilize supporters to vote.

Primary voter turnout

Lehigh County reported that 22.5% of voters cast ballots, which included 106 ballots from nonpartisan voters in Whitehall Township, where a referendum question was on the ballot. In Northampton County, the percentage was slightly higher at 23.7%.

Turnout was similar to the 2021 primary  23.2% for Lehigh, and nearly 21% in Northampton.

Democrats continued the trend of voting by mail more than Republicans by at least a 3-1 margin.

Lehigh County

Total ballots: 44,689

Democrats: 25,126

Republicans: 19,457

Nonpartisan: 106

Election Day ballots: 28,467 (12,761 by Democrats; 15,673 by Republicans; 33 nonpartisan)

Mail-in ballots: 15,849 (12,162, Democrats; 3,628, Republicans; 59 nonpartisan)

Provisional: 373

Northampton County
UGI Utilities Inc. told customers Tuesday it intends to lower natural gas rates in time for winter 2023-24.

In its annual filing due June 1 with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the utility said its purchased gas cost rates will remain unchanged until a decrease on Dec. 1.

If its projected rates for Dec. 1 are approved, UGI says the bill for a typical residential heating customer who uses 73.1 hundred cubic feet (ccf) of natural gas per month would decrease on Dec. 1 from $114.13 per month to $100.07, or 12.3%.

The bill for a typical commercial heating customer using 28.77 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) per month would decrease on Dec. 1 from $360.88 to $306.53 per month, or 15.1%. (In the former North rate district north of the Lehigh Valley in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, the bill is projected to decrease on Dec. 1 from $357.59 to $303.24, or 15.2%).

The bill for a typical industrial retail customer using 92.39 Mcf per month would decrease on Dec. 1 from $1,097.04 per month to $922.48, or 15.9%. (In the former North rate district, the bill would decrease on Dec. 1 from $1,086.48 to $911.92, or 16.1%).

Natural gas prices have moved lower over the last few months, providing welcome relief for our purchased gas customers, Paul Szykman, UGI chief regulatory officer, said in a news release. Natural gas provides a clean, reliable and locally produced energy choice.

UGI says in the release it is required to file its gas cost rates annually for review with the PUC and may adjust these rates quarterly to reflect changes in wholesale natural gas prices. By law, utilities cannot earn a profit on the natural gas commodity portion of a customers bill, according to the release; utilities are required to pass the cost of the natural gas they purchase directly through to customers without any markup.

According to the PUCs PAGasSwitch.com, UGIs current residential rate is $0.7761 per ccf, or 19.8% higher than a year ago.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
A Stradbally brewery has been selected as one of the finalists for the National Enterprise Awards that take place next month.

Ballykilcavan Brewing Company will represent Local Enterprise Office Laois at the awards that take place on June 1 in Dublin's Mansion House.

Ballykilcavan Brewery is based on a 13th-generation family farm near Stradbally, and all their beers are made with water and barley from the farm. The brewery employs four people and is a leader in sustainable brewing. Ballykilcavan beers are sold locally and in France, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Mark Clancy, Acting Head of Enterprise with the Local Enterprise Office in Laois County Council, spoke about the awards.

The National Enterprise Awards serve to highlight the very best businesses that the Local Enterprise Offices are working with across the country. The diversity of sectors and innovation shown again this year is outstanding and the winners will no doubt produce businesses destined for international success. These Finalists have shown outstanding resilience to get to where they are today and we are looking forward to celebrating with them at the Awards, he said.

The Local Enterprise Office Laois has had previous success at the awards with Salutem Insights Limited winning the Mid-East Regional award in 2022.

This is the 23rd year of the Local Enterprise Office initiative, which was won last year by Aqualicence, supported by Local Enterprise Office Wicklow. Headed up by former Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) Finalist Kate Dempsey, Aqualicence have positioned themselves at the forefront of planning and project delivery in the offshore renewable energy sector.



This year the finalists cover a range of sectors and industries from augmented reality tours and sensory-friendly clothes designers to energy-saving software platforms and agtech solutions farmers.

The finalists also include a range of consumer products from chocolate and whiskey to artisan bakery products and a zero-waste food company.

The finalists compete for a prize fund of 50,000 and along with an overall National Enterprise of the Year winner there are categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, an Innovation Award, a One-to-Watch Award, and a Sustainability Award. There is also an Outstanding Achievement award for a business that started with their Local Enterprise Office and has gone on to achieve international growth with the assistance of Enterprise Ireland.

Previous winners of the National Enterprise Awards include the likes of Irish Yoghurts (1998), Obelisk (2000), Simtech Aviation (2008), Digiweb (2004) and Design Pro (2013), Terra NutriTech (2018), Pestle & Mortar (2019) and Bevcraft in 2021.

The National Enterprise Awards are one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country. Others include Local Enterprise Week, the Student Enterprise Programme, National Womens Enterprise Day, and Local Enterprise Showcase. The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.

Established in 2014, the Local Enterprise Offices help new entrepreneurs or any small business looking to grow. Local Enterprise Offices have helped create over 25,000 jobs across the country.
A 65 metre long stretch of tall dark Leylandii trees between a Laois housing estate and the railway track will be cut down and replaced with a native Irish hedgerow.

However residents of the estate are concerned at the loss of privacy from passing trains after the trees are gone.

St Brigid's Place residents want the job done in several phases says Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley.

She tabled a motion to the May meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District asking when the trees will be replaced.

The reply is that they cannot come down until the end of the nesting season, after August 31, as enforced by the Wildlife Act.

"Planting of native trees / hedging will be carried out in Spring 2024," the engineer for the district Wes Wilkinson said.

The new trees and hedges will not grow as tall and will be beneficial for biodiversity.

Cllr Dwane Stanley noted that she had met residents with the engineer and Laois County Council's new horticulture officer.

"I know it will be done over phases because of the cost. You heard from the residents their concerns. They want to see this done phase by phase to hold on to some privacy. Will it take two or three years?" she asked.

The engineer said that the trees will come down in autumn and the new trees will get planted by Spring 2024, in two separate operations.

Cllr Dwane Stanley has also asked for an update on CIS grants to resurface back lanes in St Brigid's Place.

The reply is that applications are being considered and offers will be announced before the end of May.

Cutting, burning, or destruction of hedges is restricted during nesting and breeding season between March 1 and August 31, in order to protect nesting birds except for certain exemptions. The restrictions apply not only to private land-users but also to local authorities, public bodies and to contractors. Anyone witnessing hedge removal is asked to contact the National Parks & Wildlife Service.
A Laois government TD issued a warning to energy companies who continue to profiteer on the back of Irish people.

Energy companies must pass on savings to their customers after wholesale electricity prices were dramatically reduced in the last year, Deputy Charlie Flanagan said.

He warned energy companies against using lower summer electricity consumption levels as a smokescreen for continued overcharging of customers.

Dep Flanagan cited the latest figures from the CSO show wholesale electricity prices decreased by over 40% in the 12 months to April 2023, and by 13.5% when April and March 2023 are compared.

This is a substantial saving and must be passed on to customers, he said.

Energy companies were quick to increase prices when their own costs increased, but we are not seeing the same urgency in passing on savings to customers as energy prices come down, said Dep Flanagan.

As we can see from todays figures, wholesale prices have been dropping for a while - yet nothing has been done to date by those companies making the profits.

As we move into the warmer months, customers are starting to see smaller bills thanks to less usage, but that shouldnt be a smokescreen for energy companies to hide behind with continued overcharging, he said.

The Government has taken several steps to help ease the burden of spiralling electricity prices on hard-pressed households.

Energy credits of 600 have been made available to every household to help them with their electricity bills and we have reduced VAT on electricity and gas to 9% - their lowest rate ever, Dep Flanagan pointed out.

Weve taken a special dividend from ESB that we can use to help homes and businesses over the time ahead.

Yesterday, Cabinet approved the extension of the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme for small businesses until the end of July, he said.

And a windfall tax is being imposed on the profits of the energy companies. We published legislation in March, which we referred to the relevant Oireachtas joint committee and I hope we will pass it before the summer recess, he said.

In conclusion, Deputy Flanagan insisted wholesale savings must be passed on.

We will say to these companies, in a very practical way, that if they are going to continue to profiteer on the back of Irish people, then we are going to tax them for it.

Wholesale savings must be passed on to customers without delay, he said.
Press Release

May 23, 2023 Pia: use the power of taxation for good and to protect our children * Speech of Senator Pia S. Cayetano at the 76th World Health Assembly side-event on the topic: 'Using the power of health taxes to fight non-communicable diseases'

* Geneva, Switzerland

* May 23, 2023 Good afternoon to everyone. It is my pleasure to share the Philippines' story on the fight against tobacco. I could stand here all day, I am usually very worried that people would fall asleep. But with this story, I could stand here for three hours and you would not fall asleep. So the challenge will really be on how I can present this to you in a few minutes. I am going to try chronologically so that you have an understanding of the amount of time that has passed from the time I started working on this until today. But bear with me as I insert certain aspects of the journey as I feel it's relevant despite it being out of the timeline that I am presenting. So I became a senator in 2004 and my seatmate was the former Secretary of Health [the late Health Secretary and Senator Juan Flavier] who launched his campaign called "Yosi Kadiri." It means, 'smoking is disgusting.' So he was my seatmate and mentor. He was a doctor. And he told me to chair the Committee on Health and that he would guide me. He truly was a good mentor for many years. So sometime in 2008, was my first start with tobacco control. And that was when I filed the bill on Graphic Health Warning. And so the first lesson from this measure was perseverance, because [the bill] passed six years later. And I do have photos, which I hope will be shown in a bit. You will see the pictures of the kids who were part of the advocacy group that were rallying for graphic warnings, and you will see that from kids, they became teenagers over the six years when that passed. But in 2009, I passed another measure which was strengthening our [Food and Drug Administration]. And the goal here was to cover all products that affect health - that is the definition of the jurisdiction of the FDA. But then the tobacco group filed a case restraining FDA [from controlling] them because they say that they were not covered by FDA. They are not a product that affects health. So let's digest that for a moment: tobacco products do not affect health. Therefore they are not covered by the FDA. So that was their argument. So that's how it was for the next decade or so. The case was pending in the Supreme Court and I filed as an intervenor because that was my law. So I had standing to file as an intervenor in that case. And then in 2012, this was my first sin tax law. And a little bit of history, the Chairman then of the Committee on Ways and Means, the taxation committee, filed a Committee Report with extremely watered down tax provisions, very watered down. And this was just at the beginning of the Twitter age. So there was still not a very strong social media presence. But the advocacy groups, NGOs were very strong and they actually got this Chairman to resign. He resigned and our SenatPresident...ended up... putting forward a new Committee Report that had stronger taxation measures. And he asked me to participate by way of the health measures within that tax measure. So that was my first experience with sin tax in 2012. And this Sin Tax Law, I am happy to report, in the last collection in 2022, two billion dollars is what we are collecting from sin tax. And this goes directly towards our Universal Health Care and also health facilities. And I don't have time but if anyone is interested, I can tell you all the health work that we have been able to do with this kind of funding. Our Universal Health Care coverage used to be almost nothing, and now, as a public servant, it's very rewarding that I get messages, I bump into people who say that their mother, father, grandfather, brother, have been able to have some kind of healthcare [because of Universal Health Care]. It's not perfect, it's far from perfect, but we've come a long way. So that was 2012. In 2020, we decided to put forward a new tax measure. And this time, I was the Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. And so, we had a debate [in the Senate] if we will ban or if we will tax the new products, which are the e-cigarettes, the vapes, and heated tobacco. And it was decided that we will tax. Of course, the Department of Finance would rather tax than ban. And considering that we are a country of 7,000 islands, there is always a lot of contraband coming in and out. So the decision was to tax - so we taxed. And at that time, my brother [then Taguig Representative Alan Cayetano] was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I was a senator. And with his support, we were able to come up with very good tax rates and three important health provisions to protect, particularly the youth against the evils of this sin product. So these were: we made the age of access to vapes and e-cigs at 21 years of age; we put tobacco under the jurisdiction of FDA; and we said no flavors except original [tobacco] and menthol. And this passed. It's the first time that such a strong tobacco measure passed in Congress, especially in the House, and that was because, with all due respect, I am biased of course, he's my brother, but it would not have happened if there was not a Speaker of the House who would let it happen. Side story: the members of the House in the bicameral panel would be calling and saying - in the Philippines, the term of endearment for older sister is "ate" - and they were like, "your ate is giving us a hard time." But [the Speaker] told them that you need to do what is right. We need to look parents in the eyes and tell them, we did what is right for your children. We taxed them and we put these protective measures. So that was 2020. Barely a year later, my brother was no longer Speaker of the House, and they filed [at the House] a new bill reversing all of these gains. And this is one of the most difficult times of my career because I was the sole oppositor in the Senate. I did have a few colleagues who fought with me on a couple of issues, I have to acknowledge that. But in the end, I was fighting on my own on this measure to ensure that we retain the 21-year age of access, the limitation of flavors, and the jurisdiction. I lost on all. So we now have a law that lowered it to the age of 18; there is a new provision there that basically allows all flavors, although there is a catch-all that says it should not be attractive to children, no cartoon characters, no reference to ice cream flavors, something like that, but otherwise, it's still open-ended compared to what it was. Okay, some good news. Around this time, the Supreme Court finally made the decision that the jurisdiction of the FDA includes tobacco. So that was a win after 10 years. And as we speak, a motion for reconsideration is ongoing in the Supreme Court because of course the tobacco lobby will keep on fighting to remove the [FDA's] jurisdiction. But that is where we are today and I continue to fight for this because the jurisdiction over vapes is now with the Department of Trade, and I have no idea how the Department of Trade is supposed to ensure the health of people. But I am thankful that at least I am seeing that they are working with our Department of Health and our FDA. So a few months ago, I filed a resolution, and had a hearing on the proliferation of vape products that were attractive to children. They were literally cartoon packaging, very colorful, ice cream flavors, that are not allowed. And the DTI did work on seizing these products. So, I want to be hopeful. I hope that we can continue to do the work that we're doing. I thank you for this opportunity to be at this forum and to share the experiences we've had. Because I do believe that with perseverance, if we keep on fighting, the day will come that we will be able to have a more secure place for children and to be able to use the power of taxation for good, which it has done. But when I was asked earlier, is it enough? I said, well not if we don't put regulatory measures to also ensure limited use, especially for children. So I will leave it at that for now, and am open to questions later. Thank you.
The new CEO of the Health Service Executive will visit Abbeyleix Community hospital in Laois.

Laois Offaly Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley said that the new HSE chief Bernard Gloster is to visit Abbeyleix community hospital.

The hospital was averted from closure a decade ago after a local public outcry, and now provides elderly stepdown and daycare services, with renovation works still underway.

The local TD said he spoke to the HSE chief about it, pressing its importance.

I have engaged with the new CEO of the HSE since his appointment to the position in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, Mr Gloster and his senior management team were before the Public Accounts Committee. I raised the matter of Abbeyleix with him and the importance of having the full capacity of the Hospital utilised.

I used the occasion to highlight to him the need for the second side of the Hospital (side A) to be re-opened for use as a step-down facility for patients being discharged from Portlaoise Hospital. There is an urgent need for these beds to free up desperately needed space in Portlaoise.

The fact that twelve beds remain unopened is a scandal. This has been delayed due to the need of some remedial works and fit out," said Dep Stanley (below).

The latest up to date position on the step-down beds which I received from his management team is, that the remedial works are to be completed in July. I am also informed that 'The appointment of the Community Consultant Geriatrician along with nursing support staff is being actively progressed at present'.

Since his appearance at the Public Accounts Committee, I have discussed with Bernard Gloster the potential for the Abbeyleix Hospital site to be utilised as a community care hub.

While the reopening of the Day-Care centre within the Hospital is positive, what is really needed is a new day-care building on site that would also accommodate additional primary care services.

The site in Abbeyleix has enormous potential due to it being over four acres in size, given its prime location adjacent to the centre of Abbeyleix town.

I have impressed on Bernard Gloster that he should visit the site and meet with staff and he has informed me in the last few days that he intends to do so in the near future.

With his appointment of the new CEO for the HSE and the fact that he is taking an active interest in Abbeyleix, I am hopeful of further progress being made, Dep Stanley said.

The HSE had announced it would close the community hospital in 2010, but scrapped the plan after elderly residents took them to court, and the public took to the streets in a protest march.

In a big turnaround, the hospital is now being repurposed as a 'step down' facility, to send people who are discharged from Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise, but still need some nursing care. Works are underway.

More recently, the HSE gave into local pressure and reopened a daycare unit for the elderly, three years after it closed at the start of the pandemic. According to Dep Stanley, they had considered moving it elsewhere. They are now considering building a new daycare standalone building on the large site.
Three men were fined for their part in committing theft offences in the Kildare Village Retail Outlet.

Back in March, the court was told that Vasile Chironda, 40,and Ivon Mutilica, 25, both of 2 Corke Abbey in Bray, County Wicklow, along with Cristian Vatamanu, 23, with an address listed as 24 Riverdale Apartments, Dargle Road, Bray, County Wicklow.

Gardai said that the offences were committed on January 29 last.

On the latest court date  Thursday, May 18  the three men admitted to the offences, in which they stole around 691.30 worth of items.

Defending solicitor Joe Coonan told Judge Desmond Zaidan that all items were recovered, and pointed out that all three men had no previous convictions.

Mr Coonan added that each man had put forward a donation of 1,000 as a gesture of their remorse.

However, Judge Zaidan remarked: "These guys knew what they were doing," citing the presence of a detagging tool.

The judge also reiterated his view that Kildare Village seems to be frequently targeted by shoplifters, adding: "It is probably the most targeted shopping centre in Ireland."

He said that he would 'relucantly' accept their donations, and directed gardai to divide the donations between a number of different charities.

Judge Zaidan also imposed a further fine of 1,750 on each of the men.
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When war broke out in Ukraine in February 2022, the American company where Andrei (a pseudonym) worked closed its Moscow office. The 30-year-old Russian financial advisor was given the choice of moving to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, or Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates. The decision was made in a matter of weeks. Since June, he has been getting ready to move his wife and their one-year-old daughter to the Gulf principality, which Andrei has visited on several occasions in the past, the UAE being one of Russians' favorite destinations since the fall of the Soviet Union. Like all the Arabian Peninsula countries, the United Arab Emirates has refused to enforce Western sanctions against Russia, attracting many of its nationals.

"I was in Europe last summer and I saw Ukrainian flags everywhere. It is not easy to live in the West when you are Russian. But here in the UAE, being Ukrainian or Russian is neither a privilege nor a handicap. And, besides, there are many professional opportunities here," explained Andrei, in mid-May in Business Bay, a financial district in Dubai.

His case is far from the only one. In 2022, Russians were the most prolific international buyers of real estate in Dubai, according to real estate broker Betterhomes. "Some Russians buy real estate in the UAE to protect their money. Others move there for real," said Luke Remington, managing director of the real estate agency Haus & Haus, which operates in Dubai. This company recorded a 125% increase in the number of Russian buyers in 2022, compared to 2021. "To adapt to this new situation, we now have seven Russian-speaking agents, compared to two last year," he explained.

Cheese labeled in Russian, sold at Carrefour supermarket in Dubai. NATALIE NACCACHE FOR LE MONDE

Housing shortage

The influx has given the market a boost. Over the past 12 months, average rents for apartments and villas have risen by more than 25% according to CBRE, a corporate real estate consulting group, reaching the equivalent of 2,160 and 6,430 respectively in April 2023. The most desirable residential areas, such as Dubai Hills, have almost no housing available. A resident of this neighborhood reported having had Russians knock on his door on several occasions, offering to buy his home in cash and for prices well above the market value.

Estimates vary as to how many Russians have settled in the UAE since the start of the war in Ukraine. They range from 100,000 to 500,000, while the country has a population of about 10 million, 90% of whom are expatriates, mostly Indians and Pakistanis. "Among our Russian buyers, many are willing to buy in cash, and these are often large amounts," said Remington. Other agents mentioned payments made in cryptocurrency.

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A BENCH warrant has been issued for the arrest of a woman who has admitted stabbing a man she allegedly met on the dating app Tinder.

Inita Romanovska, aged 36, who has an address at Cahercalla, Kilrush Road, Ennis, County Clare, pleaded guilty, in February, to a charge of intentionally attempting to cause serious harm to Stephen O'Flaherty during an incident at an apartment complex at Henry Street, Limerick on March 11, 2020.

Ms Romanovska, who was initially charged with attempted murder, was previously told she would not stand trial at the Central Criminal Court for over two years due to the backlog of court cases that had arisen during the pandemic.

The defendant, who is originally from Latvia, has been on bail since she pleaded guilty three months ago, ahead of a sentencing hearing which was due to take place this Wednesday.

However, when the case was called, her lawyer Michael Bowman SC told the Central Criminal Court she had not arrived and was not contactable by phone.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon issued a bench warrant and postponed the sentencing hearing.

At a district court hearing in Limerick, where Ms Romanovska was originally charged, the court heard that she met the injured party on Tinder and while they had been on a number of dates, they were not in a relationship.
A GARDA discovered a Limerick motorist was over the legal alcohol limit after his attention was drawn to an out-of-date tax disc, a court has heard.

Shane Kelly, aged 46, of Lower Mauricetown, Ballagh, County Limerick before Newcastle West Court accused of drink driving at Mountplummer, Broadford on September 3, 2022.

Garda Errol Flynn said he was on duty in Broadford when he observed a vehicle at 6.40pm.

The tax was out a considerable period of time. I indicated for the vehicle to stop. I spoke to the driver. I demanded production of his driving licence. I got a strong smell of alcohol from him. His speech was slurred and and eyes were glazed. I formed an opinion he had consumed alcohol, said Garda Flynn.

The court heard that the defendant failed a roadside breath test and was then arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

Mr Kelly was conveyed to Rathkeale garda station where he gave a reading of 51mgs of alcohol per 100mls of breath.

Inspector Gearoid Thompson, prosecuting, said Garda Flynn detected one matter which caused him to form an opinion thereafter.

Charlie OConnor, solicitor for Mr Kelly, asked Garda Flynn if his client co-operated fully.

He was co-operative at all times, said Garda Flynn.

Mr OConnor said the reading was in the low category.

It was out of character. His licence is essential to him and this will have terrible consequences to his employment. He drives in rural areas. The consequences are substantial, said Mr OConnor, who asked for the maximum postponement of a driving ban so his employer can get a new employee.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican convicted and fined Mr Kelly for drink driving. The judge disqualified him from driving for two years and imposed a fine of 500.

The commencement of the driving ban was postponed until November.

Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal.
THE MINISTER for Health has announced the acceleration of plans to deliver additional bed capacity at University Hospital Limerick.

Construction is continuing on a 96-bed ward block at the hospital. A further two 96-bed blocks are proposed to be developed as part of the overall masterplan for the University Hospital Limerick Campus.

Confirming the acceleration of plans on Wednesday, Minister Donnelly said: "Today I am delighted to announce that the HSE are making arrangements to accelerate enabling works which will progress delivery of a new second 96-Bed Ward Block.

"This next phase of works to be progressed in the coming months at UHL will include an underground car-park, along with ground floor and first floor shell spaces together providing the lower floors of the next hospital block envisaged in the site masterplan.

"The HSE will also prepare plans to take forward a further phase of capital works that would include construction and fit out of a further four 24-bed inpatient wards as part of the upper part of second ward block."

Mr Donnelly said the government is committed to transforming how they deliver healthcare in Ireland, building a health service that is based on patient need and not their ability to pay.

"In the largest increase in capacity in the history of the Health Service Executive (HSE), we have opened an additional 975 permanent hospital beds, excluding critical care, since 1 January 2020.

"Further beds will be added throughout 2023. We have also increased our critical care capacity to 323 beds, which represents an increase of approximately 25% over the 2020 baseline of 258 beds and HSE also plan to add a further 29 beds this year.

"Our health infrastructure is key to providing health services and is a fundamental enabler of health service reform.

"Investment in infrastructure is taking account of the complexity of health services and the changing way we deliver those services now and into the future."

Fianna Fail Minister of State and Limerick TD Niall Collins has welcomed the acceleration of plans to deliver a new 96-bed ward at UHL.

The provision of additional bed capacity is critical to solving the issues weve been experiencing in Limerick for far too long. Both the new bed capacity and new personnel are critical. It is something well continue to pursue, he said.
AN Bord Pleanala has rejected plans for a significant housing development in Limerick city.

Revington Developments had sought to build almost 450 homes on a four-acre site off Pa Healy Road at Canal Bank in Rhebogue.

The proposed development would have seen the construction of seven high-rise blocks to include 363 build-to-rent apartments in a mix of studio, one-bed room and two bedroom units. A further 61 student apartments were proposed alongside 18 dwelling houses.

Revington Developments had also sought permission to demolish an existing warehouse and the erection of a cafe, three retail units, a creche and management facilities.

In 2020 An Bord Pleanala rejected the multi-million euro proposals on account of the fact the development site supports different species of otter.

A fresh application, which was subsequently lodged, has now been rejected.

In its decision, which was formally approved earlier this week, a number of reasons for the refusal were outlined by the board including concerns relating to the potential impact on the River Shannon and the River Fergus Estuaries Special Protection Area and the potential to cause flooding in other locations.

An Bord Pleanala also stated that it is precluded from granting permission due to inadequate information provided by the developers on the impact of the development on Lutra Lutra Otters.

The six-page document also states the inclusion of retail units in the proposed development "materially contravenes" the Limerick Development Plan 2022-2028 given the zoning that applies in the area.

The board also found the the site of the proposed development "is not identified as one to support a tall building" and that it is is located in a in an area "where densities in excess of 100 units per hectare are encouraged".

In its report to the board, Limerick City and County Council recommended that planning permission be granted.

Environmental Trust Ireland, which lodged a submission with An Bord Pleanala regarding the proposed development, has welcomed the decision to refuse permission.

Its president, solicitor Michelle Hayes commented: "We are in a biodiversity loss crisis and we cannot on the one hand declare a biodiversity loss crisis when massive large scale monstrosities like this, if unchallenged, would create a concrete jungle which potentially would have major detrimental consequences for Habitats and Ecosystems within specially designated environmental areas protected at European level. Where half the world's species have disappeared or are at risk of extinction, care must be exercised to ensure that developments do not contribute to the biodiversity loss crisis."
ARE you on the lookout for good construction jobs in the Limerick region? Well 3D Personnel might just have the job for you!

We are delighted to be recruiting for new large scale projects in the area. These roles, with the potential for long term contract work, cover a wide range of areas and specialities.

Want to know more? Then why not arrange to visit us at our upcoming Construction Recruitment Open Day in Limerick.

3D Personnel, with an established presence in Munster since 2007, will hold an Open Day in Limerick city centre this Saturday (May 27), where our team will be happy to meet with potential candidates and talk through the work opportunities available.

Alongside the new project roles to be filled, we also have ongoing requirements for various other roles within construction in the region.

On Saturday, we hope to match up some of the following jobs with suitable candidates in the Limerick region:

* Construction Labourers

* Telescopic Forklift Operators

* Site & Artic Dumper Drivers

* Traffic Management Operatives

* Machine Operators

* Groundworkers

* Tradespeople

What next?

Due to high demand for our Open Days, and to allow for some quality time with our team in Limerick on the day, appointments will be required. Dont worry though, as our team will be onsite at the city centre venue between 9am and 2pm on Saturday.

To make an appointment, please contact one of our team on 021 6017333, or email us at limerick@3dpersonnel.com and if possible include a copy of your CV.

Our team are really looking forward to meeting up with candidates on the day, but if for some reason the date doesnt suit and you cannot make it on Saturday, they would be happy to schedule a conversation with you for a later date.

Looking forward to seeing you in Limerick and helping with your jobs search.

The 3D Personnel Team  Limerick

*SPONSORED CONTENT
In a bid to tackle its soaring debt burden, Anil Aggarwal led Vedanta group, has raised an $850 million fund with JPMorgan and Oaktree, reported Bloomberg. The conglomerate has raised this fund after signing a five-year loan for about $850 million.

Earlier, the company had tried to sell its zinc assets to Hindustan Zinc Ltd for $3 billion but failed. This month, Vedanta reported an 8 per cent fall in its profit in the April quarter. The falling profit was the result of the declining prices of the metal. Till now, there have been no official statements released by JPMorgan, Oaktree, and Vedanta.

Vedanta shares were 0.43% up at 289.65 per share at 9:32 am on BSE. Notably, Vedanta reported a 56.3% annual rise in its net profit to 2,634 crore against 6,027 crore in the corresponding period last year. The revenue of Vedanta the company fell by 5.4% YoY to 37,225 crore from 39,342 crore during the same quarter in a previous financial year.

The company's EBITDA decreased 33.4 per cent to 8,754 crore against 13,153 crore in Q4FY22. The board had approved fourth and fifth interim dividends of 12.50 and 20.50 per equity share in the quarter under review.

Also read: Vedanta shares gain as board to consider first interim dividend for FY24

The falling price of steel affecting Vedanta's business

It is worth noting that the fall in the quarterly revenue of the metal and mining major due to falling steel price. It revenue share from the mainstay aluminium business reduced to 33% from 39%.

In the past one year, Zinc and aluminum prices have plummeted by more than 40% from the record highs hit in March 2022. The company's total expenses soared by 10.5% to 330.4 billion rupees from a year earlier. With this, its finance costs jumped by 35%, and depreciation and amortization costs surged by 16%.

The company's losses due to windfall tax on oil exports fell to 1.18 billion rupees in the December quarter after the government decided on reducing levies. With a 1.4% of fall in its aluminum sales, the production remained flat.
In a sharp rebuke to S&P Global Ratings rate cut SoftBank Group Corporation has said that its financial soundness was not properly assessed by the S&P firm and the company will continue its dialogue with S&P.

The sharp comments by the global tech firm have come after the S&P Global Ratings, cut its long-term credit rating a notch further into junk territory, citing the Japanese tech conglomerates exposure to private market valuations and other external risk factors.

Evaluating the data of SoftBank firm, S&P Global had said that the credit risks of the Japanese firm are rising because it is selling off public assets such as Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd, etc. Another reason for rising credit risk is its high exposure to private startups with more volatile valuations.

In its rebuttal, the Tokyo-based bank criticised the S&P Global for its rate cut and expressed its confidence that selling off assets like Alibaba in exchange for cash is better for its balance sheet stability.

Over the past year, our strict defensive financial management has strengthened our financial position as never before," the company said in its statement. It is extremely regrettable that our financial soundness was not properly assessed, and we will continue our dialogue with S&P," added the statement.

Weve had respect for the S&P," said Goto. Its too bad they came to such an unreasonable conclusion."

The Chief Financial Officer of SoftBank, Yoshimitsu Goto told Bloomberg that the rating cut will neither hinder SoftBank's borrowing costs nor its balance sheet management method. The CFO also added that the company is in no need to issue new bonds provided its ample cash reserve of over 5 trillion.

SoftBank will still need to refinance bonds that were sold to retail investors  some 350 billion worth  which is coming due during the March quarter of next year, according to Goto. Only time will tell where yields trade around that time, but SoftBanks coupon rate for bonds sold to individuals is linked to Japan Credit Rating Agency Ltd.s ratings and not those of the S&P, he said.

If SoftBank sees weaker demand for its bonds, we can always adjust the timing of any fresh issuance," Goto told Bloomberg News in a video call.

In its report, S&P highlighted the rising credit risk of the Japanese tech bank because of its selling off public assets such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and increasing its exposure to private startups with more volatile valuations as a result. Citing these reasons, S&P downgraded SoftBank's ratings to BB from BB, reported Bloomberg. After the rate cut, SoftBank shares dropped by as much as 2.3% in Tokyo. Its credit default swaps  the cost to insure SoftBanks debt  rose by the most in about a month.

Asset risk in SoftBank Group Corp.s investment portfolio is rising more than we had assumed; its liquidity and creditworthiness are likely to remain materially weakened for the next year or so," the agency wrote in its report.

Notably, SoftBank is now fighting back against credit-rating firms for the first time. The company had a long tussle with Moody's Investors Service to which it has not provided information since March 2020.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)
New Delhi: India is working to develop standards to measure the carbon embedded in products, and expects the European Union and other developed countries to recognize these in order to avoid disputes over Indian exports, a senior government official said.

The standards, being developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the power ministry, are seen as necessary to mitigate the impact of carbon taxes planned by the EU and several countries on a wide range of steel and aluminium products.

The measures have been discussed by an inter-ministerial group of a number of ministries including steel, power, environment and commerce. The commerce ministry, which is leading the talks with the EU, has challenged its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) at the World Trade Organization.

The standards are also needed for a key defensive purposethe CBAM has provisions to extend the tax even to low levels of embedded emissions in a bid to prevent exporters from finding loopholes in the CBAM to evade the tax.

Certain products should be included in the scope of the CBAM despite their low level of embedded emissions occurring during their production process, as their exclusion would increase the likelihood of circumventing the inclusion of steel products in the CBAM by modifying the pattern of trade towards downstream products," the EU carbon tax legislation says.

View Full Image Mint

The CBAM empowers lawmakers of the 27-nation bloc to charge a tax on imports of steel, aluminium, fertilizer, electricity, cement and hydrogen from 2026. What the EU seems to be saying is that even if you supply products to them from a less carbon emitting facility, they will treat it as the average of the carbon embedded into the products. So, this is a stand that is clearly not a correct and fair stand," the official cited above told Mint.

Carbon pricing is thought to curb greenhouse gas emissions by placing a fee on emissions and offering an incentive for emitting less. The price signal creates shifts in consumption and investment patterns, making economic development compatible with climate protection, according to the UN. The government official said the EU should allow the BEE to accredit Indian inspectors to measure the carbon embedded into various products and honour certificates released by bureau. If they dont agree, it would mean that every exporter will have to get their product certified by a European inspector or regulator. This could lead to situations which we are seeing in the case of Clearing Corp. of India Ltd (CCIL), where RBI has refused EU regulators to audit the books and the European regulators are asking European banks to withdraw from the clearing facility being provided by the CCIL." India does not currently have a carbon pricing mechanism, but the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, lays the foundation for a national carbon market. As part of this, the BEE is developing a framework to roll out Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) and Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) schemes.

Sangeeta Godbole, a former revenue officer who was part of the Indian team negotiating the India-EU free trade deal, said that if exporters are unable to quantify their exact emissions, a default value of their 10% worst performing industries would apply and in case such data is not reliable, a default value of 5% worst performing EU factories will apply.

EUs carbon prices depend on auctions and vary quite significantly from week to week. In 2022, they varied from  65.01 to 98.01 euros per tonne. The price of goods for EUs importers, and by implication for exporters to the EU, will constantly vary," Godbole said.

For iron and steel, CBAM regulation prescribes counting only direct emissions. Direct emissions are high for primary products of iron and steel made in blast furnaces and electric arc furnaces. Emission is negligible for products like steel sheets which are made from primary products using hot or cold rolling processes," said Ajay Srivastava, founder, New Delhi-based think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative.

But the Regulation includes these value added products despite low direct emissions in order to ensure that firms should not switch from exporting steel to exporting steel products. Same logic applies to aluminium products."

Queries sent to the ministries of commerce, steel and power remained unanswered at press time.

Godbole further added that the whole idea behind CBAM is to reduce carbon leakage, which in turn is aimed at tackling the loss of competitiveness of EU industry due to its carbon emissions caps.

So manufacturing in other countries must also pay for emissions above the caps, like the EU industry. Therefore, expanding CBAM will have implications for manufacturing/exports to the EU in the expanded sectors. To that extent, PLI related manufacturing could be affected. However, it will affect all countries outside the EU. If steel is exported to the EU, from anywhere, under listed lines, it has to pay for ETS. So PLI could still remain attractive," Godbole added.

Mint had earlier reported that the carbon tax, approved by the European Parliament last month, could impact no more than 1.8% or $8 billion of Indias exports.
NEW DELHI : The ongoing writers strike in Hollywood has the potential to cause significant disruptions, particularly for web series that have garnered substantial following among urban, English-speaking audiences in India, said industry experts.

While tentpole Hollywood productions are meticulously planned well in advance, with this years lineup already finalized, the process of writing and producing a series is typically more time-consuming. Consequently, executives from various platforms are apprehensive about the potential impact on upcoming programming.

Media reports indicate that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has presented a collective set of demands valued at a staggering $429 million. These demands include higher minimum pay and increased residual payments from streaming platforms. For now, the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the organization representing major film studios, television networks, streaming services, and production companies in Hollywood, are yet to reach a consensus in contract negotiations. As a result, writers have ceased work since early May.

The web series business takes a lot of time. Shows take longer to write, create, put together and come out on platforms, and they cant be ready before time. That is evident in how most streaming platforms are able to put out 12-15 original shows at best, a year. There is immense potential for those to get affected," a senior content producer said requesting anonymity.

Streaming content in Hollywood will get stuck if writing stops because all functions, be it production or marketing, are linked to whether a script has been written and, subsequently, shot, he added.

While the Indian market is dependent on local language originals, international content is fast catching up.

According to a report by media consulting firm Ormax, the number of Indians watching international English content ballooned from 19.1 million pre-pandemic to 85.2 million, up 124%. While some may watch in English, others prefer the dubbed versions. 66-67% subscription-based video-on-demand service (SVoD) English content viewers identify the category as an important aspect of their decision to subscribe to a platform, it added. In fact, 14 English language originals crossed the 10 million viewership mark in India since January 2021.

In its earnings call, Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive, Netflix, had said the last time there was a strike, it was devastating for creators. It was really hard. It was painful for local economies that support production and it was very bad for fans. We really dont want this to happen, but we had to make plans for the worst," Sarandos had said.

Christine McCarthy, senior executive vice-president and chief financial officer, Walt Disney, said content cost estimates for 2023 do not include any potential impacts from the writers strike. We have not estimated it as it is a new development and we havent really quantified what that would be because we dont know how long it will last," McCarthy had added in an earnings call.

Independent film exhibitor Vishek Chauhan said the going hasnt exactly been smooth for Hollywood in India over the past few months but it remains to be seen if tentpole Marvel or DC titles get impacted by the strike. The bigger challenge, at the moment, should be for OTT, that needs to be fed a lot more regularly," he added.

To be sure, the movie slate is less likely to be impacted since most feature films are ready a few months before release.

As of now, our 2023 slate is confirmed and films for 2024 have not seen any change in release dates. Based on this information, we see minimal impact for now but this may change if the strike prolongs," said a top executive at the Indian arm of a Hollywood studio.
Dixon Technologies (India) Ltds shares surged over 7% on Wednesday. Investors are visibly pleased with the contract manufacturers robust profit growth in the March quarter (Q4FY23). Dixons consolidated Ebitda rose by 32% year-on-year to 156 crore last quarter. Growth was led by favourable product mix with higher share of original design manufacturer sales, price hikes, lower input costs and operating leverage. So, Ebitda margin expanded by 110 basis points to 5.1%.

This comes at a time when revenue growth was subdued at nearly 4%. Dixon derived almost 46% of its revenues in Q4 from the mobile and EMS (electronic manufacturing services) business, which saw 9% growth. However, subdued demand lowered revenue year-on-year from consumer electronics and lighting products segments.

View Full Image Graphic: Mint

Going ahead, Dixons mobile business segment is expected to be a key growth driver for the company in coming quarters. The management said it is in final stages of closing two large customers in this segment. Combined this could potentially add 4,000-5,000 crore revenue on an annual basis. For perspective, mobile and EMS segments FY23 revenue was 5,224 crore.

Further, a healthy order book from existing customers such as Nokia is expected to aid in its growth. Managements assurance of strong growth across segments in FY24 bodes well. Management has not given any revenue growth guidance for FY24, but expects new categories like wearables, telecom, and refrigerators to post strong growth in revenue.

The road ahead will not be easy as there are concerns on demand. Present weakness in domestic demand warrants caution, as most product categories are B2C/discretionary (eg: mobiles, TVs, appliances). Smartphone offtake has been weaker globally as well," wrote Sonali Salgaonkar, Jefferies India analyst in a report. Even so, Jefferies estimates strong FY23-26e sales and PAT compound annual growth rate for Dixon at +32% and 49%, aided by PLI ramp-up (especially mobiles), new customer and category additions.

Hereon, sales ramp-up remains key. While addition of new customers in mobile segment is imminent, we believe slowdown in some key segments will hamper growth of brands, which will see additional impact from Dixon being B2B supplier," said Emkay Global Financial Services analysts in a 24 May report. Dixons valuations are not cheap. The stock trades at 36 times FY25 estimated earnings, showed Bloomberg data.
Some of the Adani stocks witnessed mild profit booking in the morning trade on BSE on Wednesday (May 24) after stellar gains in the previous two sessions which started after a Supreme Court (SC) panel gave a clean chit to the group. Among the group stocks, Adani Enterprises share price slipped almost 4 per cent while Adani Wilmar share price fell nearly 3 per cent in morning trade.

Adani Ports share price fell about 2 per cent, ACC share price fell over a per cent while Ambuja Cements share price fell almost a per cent.

On the other hand, Adani Power share price rose nearly 5 per cent. Stocks such as Adani Transmission opened at a 5 per cent upper circuit of 909.90, Adani Green Energy share price opened higher and soon hit its 5 per cent upper price band of 1,038.95. Adani Total Gas share price opened at a 5 per cent upper circuit of 795.25 and NDTV share price, too, opened at a 5 per cent upper circuit at 205.50.

After the stellar gains of the last few days, analysts were expecting some profit booking in Adani stocks as they point out that the valuations are still on the higher side.

"Adani stocks had corrected hugely after the Hindenburg report. The high integrity of the members of the Supreme Court panel must have given confidence to investors to buy the beaten-down stocks. Some short covering also would have contributed to the rally. However, from the valuation perspective, Adani stocks are not undervalued," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In the previous session, all 10 Adani stocks ended with gains with Adani Enterprises share price surging nearly 18 per cent to the intraday high of 2,736.15 but closing 13.19 per cent higher at 2,632.25 on the BSE.

Shares of Adani Wilmar hit their 10 per cent upper circuit of 488.80 in trade and closed also at the same level.

Adani Power share price opened and closed at its 5 per cent upper circuit of 260.40, Adani Transmission share price opened and closed at a 5 per cent upper circuit of 866.60, Adani Green Energy share price opened and closed at a 5 per cent upper circuit of 989.50 and Adani Total Gas share price opened and closed at a 5 per cent upper circuit of 757.40.

Shares of Adani Ports jumped nearly 8 per cent to 785.95 in intraday trade to briefly breach its pre-Hindenburg level of 769.05 on January 23. But the stock pared most of its gains and ended 0.53 per cent higher at 733.55.

The NDTV share price closed 4.99 per cent higher at 195.75, the ACC share price closed at 1,819.30, up 0.25 per cent, and Ambuja Cements share price closed with a gain of 0.90 per cent at 427.40.

The overall market capitalisation of all 10 Adani Group stocks rose by 63,418.85 crore in a single day.

Read all market-related news here

Meanwhile, veteran investor Rajiv Jains GQG Partners LLC has increased its stake in billionaire Gautam Adanis conglomerate by about 10 per cent. As media reports suggested, the US-based investment firm will also take part in the conglomerates future fundraising, doubling down on what he calls the best infrastructure assets available in India."

Read more: GQGs Rajiv Jain raises Adani stake by 10% for $3.5 billion bet

In March, GQG acquired almost 15,446 crore investment into four Adani Group companies. The value of this investment now stands at around 25,515 crore, up by a staggering 10,069 crore, driven by a sharp rally in Adani group stocks. This means Jain's investment into four Adani Group companies in March has generated more than 65 per cent returns in less than three months.

Read more: GQG's Rajiv Jain sees strong growth potential in Adani stocks; here's why

Earlier, the expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court to look into alleged regulatory failure by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and breach of laws in the wake of the Adani-Hindenburg episode gave a clean chit to the Adani Group.

The panel said allegations of stock price manipulation or violation of minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms by Adani group companies remain unproven at this stage".

On 17 May, the apex court gave Sebi time till 14 August to complete its probe into the allegations thrown up by the Hindenburg report, alleging brazen accounting fraud" and stock manipulation" by the Gautam Adani-led group.

Though the conglomerate rejected the report as unresearched" and maliciously mischievous", it triggered a rout of Adani Group stocks, which lost over $140 billion in days and forced the cancellation of a 20,000 crore share sale in the groups flagship.

Read more: Not proven at this stage: SC panel on Adani-Hindenburg

The six-member panel, led by retired Supreme Court judge A.M. Sapre, was set up by the court on 2 March. The panel submitted its report to the CJI-led bench last week. While granting more time to Sebi for the probe, the court on Wednesday directed the sharing of the panel report with Sebi and the PIL petitioners to enable them to assist in further deliberation" on 11 July, when the matter is heard next.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Is there any right time to invest in mutual funds? When should you start investing in Mutual Funds? To begin with, should you start with a SIP (systematic investment plan) or a lump sum? How to choose a fund? There is a plethora of questions. Experts suggest starting an investment journey as early as possible. Livemint spoke to personal finance experts to know about the top mutual funds where investors can park their hard-earned money for the best return.

Tax and investment expert Balwant Jain suggested diversification across various companies based on market capitalisation. Of the total investment, one should invest 30 % in large cap, 30% in flexi cap, 20% in mid-cap, and 20 % in small cap," said Jain.

He further added that depending on the age of the investor, the allocation can be changed. For eg, if an investor is more than 45 years, then the above allocation across categories works for him/her, but in case the investor is quite young, says 25 years old, he can invest 30 % in small-cap, 30% in mid-cap, 20% in large cap, and 20 % in flexi cap. Mid-caps are slightly riskier than large-cap stocks and less risky than small-cap stocks. Small-cap stocks are riskier than the other two.

Best mutual funds to invest

Balwant Jain suggested these funds for Mutual Funds investment

1)UTI Nifty 50 large-cap index funds

2)Parag Parakh Flexi cap fund

3)Quant funds mid-cap

4)Quant funds small-cap

Pankaj Mathpal, MD & CEO at Optima Money Managers suggested four funds for Mutual Funds investment

1) ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund

2) Axis Nifty 100 Index Fund

3) Aditya Birla Equal Weight Index Fund

4) Quant Multi Asset Allocation Fund

Vinit Khandare, CEO and Founder, MyFundBazaar suggested six funds for Mutual Funds investment

1)Aditya Birla Sun Life Digital India Fund Direct-Growth

2)Axis Small Cap Fund Direct-Growth

3)ICICI Prudential Constant Maturity Gilt Fund Direct-Growth

4) Nippon India Gilt Securities Fund Direct-Growth

5) HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund Direct Plan-Growth

6) ICICI Prudential Asset Allocator Fund (FOF) Direct-Growth

In other news, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed that asset management companies (AMCs) set up surveillance and internal control systems for the deterrence of possible market abuse and fraudulent transactions. The capital markets regulator has sought comments from the public by June 3 on the proposals.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Sandeep Tandon is not your typical mutual fund chief executive officer (CEO). He is neither a fan of investment guru Warren Buffett nor of Jim Simons, the famous hedge fund manager with an impeccable track record. Instead, the founder of the Quant group of companies prides himself on his unconstrained data-driven investment approach. He also believes that efficient market hypothesis has proven to be quite ineffective at understanding the markets and its time to change how people manage their money.

Everyone wants to be the next Warren Buffett of India," Tandon, who is the CEO of Quant Mutual Fund, told Mint in an interview for the Guru Portfolio series. I dont have any investment guru and I dont try to mimic anyones strategy."

Any visitor to Quants office in Mumbai is immediately drawn to the flowchart in the boardroom there. The flowchart, drawn up in 2012, predicts a biological disaster happening in 2022. It wasnt off the mark by a wide margin. The Covid pandemic struck in 2020 and the nation was shut till early 2022.

View Full Image Graphic: Mint

The chart also predicts that the coming years will not be rosy for the markets. An economic war and deteriorating weather conditions, among other setbacks, will supposedly keep the market lukewarm till 2030. The Quant Mutual Fund team swears by this charts accuracy. And Tandon himself credits it to Quants dedication to decades of data gathering. He has reportedly spent more than $22 million (about 180 crore) collecting wide-ranging data points that include weather patterns, geopolitical happenings, and market sentiment analysis over the years. This data is the lifeblood of Quants investment operation.

At Quant, there is no star fund manager. To be precise, proprietary framework and data is the star manager here. Fund managers can choose stocks from the basket that their framework has suggested but cannot override its suggestions.

Despite all the complexity that Quant Mutual Fund deals with, Tandon prefers to keep his personal piggy bank simple. His mantra is, Invest long term, invest in India, and think value for money."

Edited excerpts from the interview.

Imagine that you have  100 today. How would you invest that money?

I am a firm believer in India and its long-term prospects. So, 99% of my net worth is invested in India. The other 1% comprises some investments that I made long back in international private equity. That forms a minuscule portion of my portfolio. A bulk of it, around 50%, is in what I call strategic assets. This comprises the whole ownership I have in my company (Quant Money Managers). For this, I have a horizon of 10-20 years. This timeframe is realistic as I wont be able to enjoy the fruits of my work in, say, 50 years from now. Long-term should be matched with reality. After 30-40 years, what will I do with all the money?

The other 25% of my portfolio is in hard assets. This includes the house I live in and two other properties that our family owns. You see, owning a house increases my risk appetite as it gives me security. My brother and I together bought our first house in 1997. My other assets also includes a small portion of gold.

The remaining 25% of my portfolio is allocated to what I call liquid assets. This includes mutual funds, (both debt and equity) and other contingency funds. I only invest in mutual funds run by Quant. I have no exposure to individual stock holdings.

How often do you rebalance your portfolio?

There is no specific time as such to rebalance it. But its natural to look at my allocation once a year during the tax filing period (around March). Also, rebalancing happens on an ongoing basis. It is difficult to asses the value of my real estate and churn my company ownership on a regular basis. But I keep it as a rule to review my company ownership and real estate every five years. Whereas for financial assets (like mutual funds), I rebalance it once a year.

How did you get interested in investing?

I was in college during stock broker Harshad Mehtas heydays and witnessed the euphoria in the markets then. I somehow managed to convince my father and uncle to sell all their stock investments. The markets went up another 20% but then it crashed significantly. After that episode, my father and uncle handed me their investments and told me to invest that money. Thats how I really got into the markets. You can say, thats how I got my first seed capital.

I have never taken any money as salary from Quant Mutual Fund since it was making losses. We took full ownership of the mutual fund business (by acquiring Escorts Mutual Fund) in 2018 and it takes some time for any asset management company to become profitable. I thought the company can make better use of its money rather than paying me.

You must then be wondering how I managed my expenses? So, all the personal spending I do is from the wealth I accumulated over the years. Its the long-term investments (in stocks) I made over the course of my working life (before Quant). That has worked pretty well in my favour, although some stocks did well and some failed. I was not allowed to trade in stocks in my personal capacity as I was an employee.

People think of you as more of a trader than an investor. How would you define yourself?

My biggest investment is a long-term asset which is in the form of my company ownership. If we talk about Quants mutual fund schemes, we can divide our portfolio into three categories: Long term, medium term and short term. People look at our high turnover rate and assume that we only think for the short term but that is not the case. A part of our portfolio is also dedicated towards longer-term investments and we will hold a stock for years if the data tells us to do so. For instance, we invested in Stylum in 2019 and havent sold a single share to date. At that time, it was trading around 200 but now it has touched 1,600.

Have you invested in cryptocurrency or any of the digital currencies?

As a firm, we keep an active eye on the whole cryptocurrency and digital asset markets. Although, as a mutual fund, we are not allowed to invest in cryptocurrencies, we do a lot of research on that front. It gives us an understanding of the risk appetite of young investors and that helps us analyse the market situation better.

If people are getting interested in cryptos, we get an indication that young investors are getting animal spirits in the markets. And I say young people because majority investors in such asset class comprise mostly the younger generation. I would say the relevance of cryptos has come down in the past few months but we continue to keep an eye on it.

What money lessons did you get from your parents?

My dad was a banker who invested regularly. He always told me not to run after money. I have tried to follow that in my life. I dont have any goals or aim, saying I want to earn this much money by this time. At Quant Mutual Fund also, we do not have any targets related to how much money we should be earning. We have other operational measures.

The second things is to know the value of money. While I was a kid, I use to tell my dad that I wanted to take a cab whenever I got late but he would always insist that I take the local train. He told me that going by train is cheaper and also faster. His whole point was that we should not splurge money on unnecessary things. Even now, whenever I travel, I opt for an economy class seat rather than buying business class. It is comfortable for me, and they both take us to the same destination anyway.

So, where do you prefer to spend your money?

Making money and not living a comfortable life is not something I recommend. For instance, I live just next to my office because that makes me comfortable. I dont want to spend much time commuting. Also, I like to travel, visit different places although Ive not travelled much after the pandemic. I like going to new places and trying out new things. I have travelled to Prague and Czech Republic. I meet and interact with the locals to know their culture. I dont go there and say, I am vegetarian or I can eat only this. Instead, I tell them, what do you have to offer? Thats What Quant also does. We do not put constraints on our choices.
Air India and Air India Express will operate special Haj flights from Jaipur, Chennai, Kozhikode and Kannur, carrying around 19,000 pilgrims.

The two carriers will fly close to 19,000 pilgrims to Jeddah and Medina in Saudi Arabia from the four cities.

Air India, in the first phase, will operate 46 flights from Jaipur and Chennai to Medina and Jeddah, respectively. The first flight was operated from Jaipur on May 21 and the services will go on till June 21, according to a release on Monday.

In the second phase, Air India will bring back the pilgrims to Jaipur and Chennai by operating 43 flights from July 3 to August 2.

"The number of pilgrims scheduled to fly with Air India from Jaipur is 5,871 on 27 flights while 4,447 pilgrims will be flown by it from Chennai on 19 flights," the release said.

Air India Express will operate flights from Kozhikode and Kannur from June 4 to 22.

It will operate 44 flights from Kozhikode to Jeddah - carrying 6,363 passengers and 13 flights between Kannur and Jeddah carrying 1,873 passengers during the first phase.

In the second phase, July 13 to August 2, Air India Express will fly back the pilgrims from Medina to Kozhikode and Kannur.

Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said the airline is happy to resume the annual special flights for the sacred Haj pilgrimage.

"Air India and Air India Express will be bringing Zamzam water on the return ferry flights to India. This will be stored at the four destinations operated by them in India, on arrival. The holy water will be finally handed over to the pilgrims after they land back in their home destinations," the release said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Tuesday the automaker would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.

When the Wall Street Journal's Thorold Barker asked Musk at an event if India was interesting , he said, "Absolutely".

Tesla is "serious" about its plans to establish a manufacturing base in India, the country's deputy minister for technology told Reuters in an interview last week.

Tesla announced earlier this year that it would open a gigafactory in Mexico as the world's most valuable automaker pushes to expand its global output.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter and founder of several other firms, on Tuesday floated the idea of creating an educational institution that controls most of his votes, without giving details.

He said he has identified a successor to the board so that the person can run the company in "a worst case scenario". "I've told the board 'Look, if something happens to me unexpectedly, this is my recommendation for taking over,'" he said.

James Murdoch, a Tesla board director, testified in court last year that Musk has identified someone as a potential successor to head the electric carmaker at a time when investors were concerned about his distraction with Twitter. Musk recently announced a new CEO for Twitter, and said he would focus more on Tesla.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
NEW DELHI: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday announced that the sacred symbol of fair and equitable governance, known as Sengol, will be installed in the new Parliament House by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Sengol holds historical significance as it was accepted by Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during the transfer of power ceremony on the night of August 14, 1947.

Shah explained the profound meaning of the Sengol. Derived from the Tamil word Semmai," meaning righteousness," it is considered a national symbol of Amrit Kaal (Era of Nectar). The Sengol features a hand-carved Nandi, symbolizing Nyaya" (justice) with its unwavering gaze. The recipient of the Sengol is entrusted with the responsibility to rule justly and fairly.

Addressing the press conference, Shah said that the symbol represents Indias transfer of power from the British to the Indians. He expressed his surprise that even after 75 years of independence many people in India are unaware of this significant event.

It was a special occasion on the night of August 14, 1947, celebrating Indias independence. On this night Jawaharlal Nehru received the Sengol from the Adheenams (Priests) of the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam (Mutt) in Tamil Nadu, who had specially arrived for the occasion. It was precisely the moment in which power was transferred by the British into the hands of Indians. What we are celebrating as independence is actually marked by the very moment of handing over the Sengol, he added.

The same Sengol from 1947 will be prominently installed in the Lok Sabha, close to the speakers podium, and will be displayed on special occasions for the nation to see. Home Minister Amit Shah emphasized that the Parliament House is the most fitting and sacred place for the installation of this historic symbol.
New Delhi: India will despatch around 1.05 million tonnes of food grains to Nepal, Indonesia, Senegal and Gambia as part of its economic diplomacy in the current financial year, waiving curbs on exports.

India banned wheat and broken rice exports and imposed a 20% export duty on non-basmati rice varieties last year to keep prices down.

In what is likely to add heft to Indias role in providing food security on the global stage, the department of food and public distribution has allowed exports of 300,000 tonnes wheat to Nepal; 200,000 tonnes of broken rice to Indonesia; 500,000 tonnes broken rice to Senegal, and 50,000 tonnes of broken rice to Gambia on a request by external affairs ministry. This comes despite low domestic wheat stocks.

The Food Corp of India (FCI) so far has procured a little over 26 MT wheat in the 2023-24 (October-March) rabi marketing year against a target of 34.5 MT. A hot February and heavy rains in March and April lowered wheat production to below the agriculture ministrys second estimate of 112.2 MT. As per government officials, the amount procured so far will be enough to meet wheat requirement for the public distribution system (PDS). After ensuring 18.5 MT for PDS, there will be 8.7 MT available in the central pool, which will be more than sufficient for the open market sale scheme if required. Hence, there is no cause for concern, the government claims.

In the case of rice, the government had 26.5 MT rice in its central pool as of 1 May. Up to 21 May, FCI had procured 77.2 MT paddy in the ongoing 2022-23 (April-September) kharif marketing season and 3.2 MT paddy in the current 2023-24 rabi marketing season against an estimated target of 15.7 MT.

In response to Mints query, the Department of Food and Public Distribution said it deals with the import and export of only wheat and non-basmati rice from central pool stocks available with FCI. WTO norms inter-alia restrict the export of foodgrains from public stocks procured for domestic consumption through welfare schemes.

However, humanitarian assistance, fully in grant form under the reference of the Ministry of External Affairs, to the deserving countries, is only allowed. During the 2022-23 financial year, no quantity of wheat and rice was supplied or exported to any foreign countries from the departments central pool stocks," the official said. Queries sent to the external affairs ministry remained unanswered.

Wheat and non-basmati rice exported as humanitarian assistance from central pool stocks during FY15 to FY22 to countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Bhutan, Myanmar, Mozambique among others was 256,427 tonnes, the official disclosed.

In the past two years, foodgrains have been provided to some countries as humanitarian aid on the recommendation of Ministry of External Affairs by DGFT. The data will be available with MEA or DGFT," the official notified.

Emails sent to MEA, Embassy of Nepal on Friday containing queries remain unanswered till press time.

Last year, until 22 June of FY23, India shipped 1.8 MT wheat, including 33,000 tonnes of 50,000 tonnes committed to Afghanistan as part of humanitarian assistance, said then Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey. Other than Afghanistan, India also exported food grains to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam and Yemen during last financial year.
Mumbai: Food giants Nestle India Ltd and ITC Ltd have emerged as the finalists in the race for leading ingredient maker Capital Foods Pvt. Ltd, two people aware of the matter said. A deal may value the maker of Chings Secret and Smith & Jones food ingredients between 4,000 crore and 5,000 crore, they said.

Nestles bid is the highest. ITCs bid is very close to that," one of the two people said on condition of anonymity.

For several months, Swiss multinational Nestle SA, the worlds largest food company, has been in talks with Mumbai-based Capital Foods, which makes popular Chinese food ingredients. The company, which claims to be Indias largest culinary food ingredient maker, has also seen interest from marquee names such as Kraft Heinz, ITC, Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Tata Consumer Products.

View Full Image Graphic:Mint

We do not comment on rumours and speculations," a Nestle India spokesperson said in response to a query. We do not comment on market speculation," an ITC spokesperson responded. An email sent to Capital Foods remained unanswered.

The person cited earlier said homegrown conglomerate ITC has valued Capital Foods around 4,000 crore, while Nestles bid values it between 4,000 crore and 5,000 crore. The discussions are at an advanced stage, and an acquisition is likely to be announced within a month.

Nestle India is the Indian subsidiary of Swiss multinational Nestle SA, the worlds largest food company, known for its products in food, beverages, chocolate, and confectioneries categories. Maggi, a popular global food brand in seasonings, instant soups, and noodles, is owned by Nestle. Nestle has over 60% market share of Indias 11,600-crore instant noodles segment.

The deal, if concluded, may be one of the largest buyouts of a homegrown consumer brand in the food space.

If Nestle wins Capital Foods, it will not only strengthen its presence in traditional Indian households but also give the company an immediate entry into the fast-growing Chinese food ingredient space, where Nestle currently lags.

Chings Secret makes chutneys, instant soups, Chinese masalas, Chinese sauces, hakka noodles and flavoured noodles, catering to the demand for so-called Indian Chinese food products. On the other hand, Smith & Jones brand is available across pasta masala, pizza ketchup and cooking pastes. The 25-year-old company, which has manufacturing facilities in Nasik, Kandla and Vapi, is jointly owned by US private equity group General Atlantic (35.43%) and Artal Asia Pte. (39.94%), a European family office and investment arm, Wildflower Family Trust (22.08%) and founder chairman Ajay Gupta (2.55%).

In the cooking paste and condiments space, Capital Foods competes with Mothers Recipe, Dabur Ltd and ITC Ltd. According to an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity, Capital Foods likely clocked FY23 revenue of around 840 crore, and at a deal size of 4,000-5,000 crore, it will be valued at 4.5-5 times its earnings. The company currently has a revenue run rate of 1,000 crore, he added.

According to Capital Foods latest disclosure with the Registrar of Companies, it posted a revenue of 580 crore in FY22, down 14% from a year earlier. Due to the covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing closure of hotels and restaurants, the company slipped into losses at 7.4 crore in FY22 against a net profit of 68.7 crore in FY21. In January, ITC said the conglomerate is fortifying its presence in the 45,000 crore, burgeoning nutrition-led healthy foods space with a proposed strategic investment in Sproutlife Foods Pvt. Ltd, a direct-to-consumer start-up engaged in the manufacture and sale of products catering to health-conscious consumers under the label Yoga Bar.

ITC will acquire 100% of Sproutlife over 3 to 4 years. A 47.5% stake in SFPL is planned to be acquired, in tranches, by 31 March 2025, and the balance stake will be acquired, basis pre-defined valuation criteria, subject to other conditions agreed to in the binding documents, a disclosure by ITC said. Yoga Bar has built a strong food portfolio through nutrition bars, muesli, oats and cereals.

If ITC is able to outbid Nestle to acquire Capital Foods, it will enable the Kolkata-based conglomerate to expand its presence in the consumer goods and ready-to-cook food ingredients space.

ITCs food offerings include Aashirvaad multi-grain atta, Farmlite range of biscuits, Sunfeast protein shake, and Nutrilite B Natural beverages, among many others.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anirudh Laskar Anirudh Laskar is a senior editor at Mint, with 17 years of experience. He has reported on significant corporate matters including large mergers and acquisitions, India's emerging e-commerce sector and regulatory issues in the financial services industry. Based out of Mints Mumbai bureau, Anirudh has worked with Business Standard and The Telegraph before joining Mint in 2009. Read more from this author
New Delhi: Nineteen opposition parties announced on Wednesday that they would boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28 May, arguing that Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to open the building instead of President Droupadi Murmu was an assault on democracy".

In a joint statement, the 19 parties, which together control 11 state governments, said the President was not only the head of the State but an integral part of Parliament, which cannot function without her. Therefore, Modis decision to inaugurate the new building undermined the office of the President and violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution, they argued.

When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement said.

The Union government dismissed the objections, and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said this was a historic occasion and not a time for politics. I would like to tell them that this is a historical event. This is not the time for politics... Boycotting and making issues out of a new issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join this historical function...," Joshi added.The new Parliament is aimed at providing a facelift and amenities not available at the iconic colonial-era building next door that served as Indias Parliament for 75 years after being opened in 1927.

A two-hour long programme with multi-faith prayers and a guest list that includes all members of Parliament (MPs) and chief ministers is scheduled for the inauguration on Sunday at 12pm. Modi will lead the ceremony inside the new Lok Sabha chamber, which can accommodate nearly 900 people. The programme will also showcase the modern facilities of the new building that is likely to start functioning from the monsoon session in July.

But political tensions have simmered for days now over the PMs decision to open the building. Opposition parties say that as the President summons, prorogues and addresses Parliament, and her assent is a must for any Act to become law, her absence from the event is an insult to her office. It undermines the spirit of inclusion, which saw the nation celebrate its first woman adivasi President," the statement added.

To be sure, not all non-BJP parties are boycotting the event. The joint statement accused the PM of hollowing out Parliament and said the new building was constructed with no consultation with the people of India or MPs. Opposition members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and parliamentary committees have been practically made defunct," the parties said. The statement was signed by the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party, and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Tamil Nadu has extended the prohibition on the manufacture, storage, transport, distribution, and sale of chewable food products containing tobacco and nicotine.

The ban, which will be in effect for one year starting from May 23, has been announced by the state Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration. This decision comes after the Supreme Court stayed the Madras High Court's order that had previously lifted the ban on such products.

The Supreme Court has stayed the Madras High Court's verdict that nullified a notification from May 2018, which prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transport of gutkha and other tobacco-based products in Tamil Nadu.

The bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna stayed the high court's decision.

The state government appealed against the high court's decision, and the Supreme Court acknowledged the need for a stay.

State has the right to safeguard the health of its citizens

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari, who had appeared for the Tamil Nadu government, said that the state government has the right to safeguard the health of its citizens. The Supreme Court sought a response to the plea challenging the Madras High Court's order, and arguments were presented by senior advocates representing both the government and the firms involved in the trade of gutkha and pan masala.

The high court had quashed the notification, deeming it to be beyond the powers of the food safety commissioner and raising concerns about conferring such powers without legal provision.

The state government, in its appeal, emphasized the health hazards associated with tobacco consumption and highlighted the validity of the regulations prohibiting the use of tobacco or nicotine in food products.

Meanwhile, the tobacco traders and manufacturers argued that the state government lacked the authority to impose a permanent ban, suggesting that prosecution for food standards violations would be more appropriate.
New Delhi: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are facing new tax hurdles as the income tax department has disallowed the setting-off of derivative market gains against equity capital losses in some cases, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Local tax laws permit FPIs to set off losses made in one transaction against gains made in another to reduce their tax burden. However, this adjustment comes with a crucial rider that such a set-off is allowed only when both transactions fall under the same income category.

View Full Image Graphic: Mint

For many years, FPIs have been offsetting gains made on the derivatives market with losses made on listed shares. However, in some recent assessments, the tax department has taken the stance that such adjustments cannot be allowed since the nature of income is different. The divergence arises due to the distinction made in the nature of income, where derivatives profit or loss is considered business income or loss and can only be offset against business gains or losses, while cash market trading income or loss is categorized as capital gain or loss. Resident Indians are barred from offsetting the loss from cash market trades against profit from derivatives, since for them equity market gains/loss is considered capital gains/loss while derivative market gains/loss is considered business income/loss. But for FPIs it is allowed since both equity market and derivative market gains/loss for them is considered capital gains/loss. Such adjustment helped FPIs who used substantial derivative exposure as hedge against cash market trades. Hedging, a risk mitigation strategy, involves taking opposite positions on the same asset in cash and futures markets.

Without any relief, FPIs will be forced to pay up to 40% tax on derivative gains they made. The capital losses, however, can be carried forward to the next financial year. This interpretation may adversely impact the hedging strategies of foreign funds, which take exposure to derivatives as a risk management practice. Some of them typically take exposure to derivatives to offset equity risks.

An email sent to the spokesperson for the income tax department remained unanswered.

Tax experts say there have been numerous judgements by tax tribunals that have upheld such adjustments between income made in equity and derivative markets as valid.

In a recent case of an American fund, a Mumbai tribunal has held that short-term capital loss from equities can be offset against short-term capital gains from other securities since there is no prohibition in the law for such loss offset. This ruling follows several previous rulings on this matter and allows gains from derivatives to be offset from loss on sale of equity shares," said Rajesh Gandhi, a partner at Deloitte India. A specific clarification from CBDT in this regard would, however, be welcome since it will provide certainty to investors and would reduce unnecessary litigation," he added.

According to Section 70(4) of the Income Tax Act, a taxpayer is entitled to set off any loss against income made from any other source provided they fall under the same head in terms of tax code.

Now, resident Indians file any stock market gains under the head of capital gains during tax filings, while income from the derivatives market is filed under business income. Hence, they are not eligible to claim any adjustments between equity market gains and derivative market profits.

In contrast, both stock market gains and derivative market profits are considered capital gains for FPIs. Even in tax filings, they file both gains under capital gains. Hence, FPIs have been able to claim such a set-off.

This stance being taken by the income tax department is a major concern for foreign funds, especially the ones who are active in the derivative market segment," said one of the people cited above. Also, in derivative trades made for hedging, there is a high possibility of derivative gain and equity loss. Such funds would directly be impacted."

As a hedging strategy, funds often offset their exposure in Nifty 50 company shares by taking opposing positions in the derivatives market. This approach aims to mitigate potential losses from a substantial decline in the share price by capitalizing on gains achieved through contra positions in the derivatives market.

The second person cited above said the view being taken by the tax department needs to be upheld by the tax tribunals.
PESHAWAR : Two soldiers were among four people killed on Wednesday when a suicide bomber with an explosive laden car targeted a security checkpoint in restive tribal district in northwestern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, the army said.

The bomber hit the Liaqat Check post in the Datta Khel Bazar in north Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to a press release issued by the army, the bomber intended to target a public gathering to cause mass casualties. However, the security forces intercepted the suspicious vehicle. The bomber blew himself up at the checkpoint manned by several security men and local cops.

Two soldiers, a policeman and one civilian were killed in the blast. One soldier and a policeman were injured.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

It was the second attack to hit Pakistan in as many days.

A day earlier, militants struck a private exploration company's gas plant in Hangu district, killing at least four Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel and two private security guards.
The Kremlin is exerting pressure on various governments, including India, in a covert manner, issuing threats to disrupt defense and energy agreements unless they assist in blocking efforts to isolate Russia financially due to its invasion of Ukraine, a Bloomberg report cited. This comes at a time when FATF decided to blacklist Putins government.

Many countries in the so-called Global South including India have stayed mostly neutral over Russias aggression against Ukraine.

However, at the G7 summit in Japan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had their first in-person meeting since the alleged war between Russia and Ukraine began.

Despite India's neutral stance on Russia's aggression, the meeting may have created discomfort for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces travel restrictions and an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court in March.

While no immediate change in India's position was indicated, the encounter showcased the delicate balancing act it has adopted regarding the conflict.

A Russian state agency earlier this month warned counterparts in India of a cascade of unpredictable and negative consequences for cooperation in defense, energy and transportation if the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adopts new measures against Russia, officials, who asked not be identified because the issue is sensitive, told Bloomberg.

The agency urged India in May to vocally" oppose any moves by Ukraine to add Russia to the black list" of high-risk countries at the meeting, and said even being placed on the lesser gray list" would cause difficulties.

Bloomberg is unable to verify whether India responded to the warnings. The Russian and Indian governments didnt respond to requests to comment.

Among projects with India that Russia warned would be under threat if more measures are passed were:

Cooperation between oil giant Rosneft and Nayara Energy Limited

Exports of Russian weapons and military equipment to India as well as defense sector technical cooperation

Russian proposals for new joint aviation projects presented at the Aero India 2023 exhibition in February

Technology and energy cooperation at Indias Kudankulam nuclear power plant

An agreement between Russian Railways RZD Logistics and the Container Corporation of India on cargo transportation services linked to development of a North-South trading corridor

Despite facing extensive sanctions from the US and its allies due to the ongoing conflict, Russia has managed to soften the economic blow by enhancing its relations with neutral countries like China and India.

However, if Russia were to be blacklisted by the FATF, it would pose significant challenges for these countries in continuing their business dealings with Russia. Consequently, this would further exacerbate the economic difficulties faced by the Kremlin.

The sectors Russia identified as at risk are particularly sensitive in the strategic partnership with India. Russia is Indias largest provider of weapons though defense supplies have stalled for lack of a payment mechanism that doesnt violate US sanctions.

India has also scooped up cheap Russian oil after the US and its allies imposed a price cap and Europe rejected supplies.

(With inputs from agencies)
In the seven years that it has been around, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis signature bankruptcy reform has failed to live up to its billing.

The 2016 insolvency law was crafted when the country was just starting to tackle what would eventually rank among the worst piles of bad loans anywhere in the world: a $200 billion-plus menace. With banks garnering bumper profits in the post-pandemic high interest-rate environment, that baggage is now much lighter, and the urgency to deal with it lower.

It shouldnt be. Creditors recovery rates on soured advances have been low for the past couple of years  and theyre falling. Liquidations are the most common result of the bankruptcy tribunals proceedings, which are taking more than twice as long as the 270 days envisaged originally. When the credit cycle turns, state-run lenders may once again run crying back to taxpayers for capital. The court wont give them back much.

In a country where savings are in short supply, the priority was always to prevent productive capital from going to waste in unviable projects. Some high-profile resolutions of defaulted steel-plant loans raised creditors hopes, but rampant gaming of the legal process by vested interests is dashing them.

Which is why the bankruptcy protection sought by Go Airlines India Ltd., a cash-strapped carrier controlled by the Mumbai-based Wadia Group, is so crucial. The franchise temporarily shut down earlier this month. If the court cant quickly revive Go First, as the brand is now known, the risk is that it will be grounded forever, like Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. in 2012 and Jet Airways India Ltd. in 2019. The domestic aviation market will become even more of a duopoly than it already is.

But rescuing Go First could be seen as bailing out the billionaire Nusli Wadia by inflicting losses on SMBC Aviation Capital, ACG Aircraft Leasing Ireland Ltd., and other aircraft lessors. SMBC, which claims to have ended its lease before Go Firsts filing, wants to take its jets away. The bankruptcy protection, the lessors have alleged, is a fraudulent exercise." On Monday, the appellate authority rejected their challenge: They need to approach the tribunal to repossess the planes with expired leases, or go to the apex court.

Its a complicated bankruptcy. About half of Go Firsts Airbus fleet has been incapacitated by failures of Raytheon Technologies Corp.s Pratt & Whitney engines. The airline has claimed 74 billion rupees ($894 million) in compensation. A Singapore-based arbitration panel has asked Pratt & Whitney to immediately begin making reasonable efforts" to locate suitable spares. The engine-maker has said that it will honor the award. But since it hasnt supplied the first batch of 10 engines that the tribunal asked it to try to deliver by April 27, Go First filed for bankruptcy. Or thats the Indian companys version of events, according to its May 2 filing.

But those nuances are irrelevant for Go First creditors: Regardless of whether the airline was incompetent, undercapitalized or unlucky, its shareholders must pay a price before the lenders and lessors are asked to make sacrifices.

Thats where India has been a disappointment. In only 6% of instances, debtors trigger bankruptcies. And the recovery rate for creditors in such cases that ultimately do get resolved is just 18%. Lenders are far more comfortable when they themselves drag firms to the insolvency tribunal. Although still low by global standards, the recovery rate in resolutions initiated by financial creditors is almost twice at high at 34%, according to India Ratings & Research, a unit of Fitch Group. Two years ago, this figure was 45%.

What will be the fate of Go First? Air travel has come back as suddenly as it was halted by Covid-19, and Pratt & Whitney has a queue of customers to service. But assuming that the engine-maker would eventually get around to delivering 10 spares a month to Go First until December, as it has been directed to do by the Singapore arbitrator, this airline can fly again.

But it should return as an operation that can sustain its debt, leases, salaries  and delays in fleet repair. One solution may be to leave the corporate structure of Go Airlines behind with a chunk of the 115 billion rupees owed to financial and operations creditors that is now unsustainable, and all of its equity. This is the part that can die. After that, the creditors can invite bids from anyone who wants to inject fresh capital into a new avatar of Go First. If the next owner happens to be Wadia, thats fine. If its not, thats good, too.

Go First has so far been current with repayments to banks, and has only recently defaulted to lessors and operational creditors. Had any of its debt been nonperforming for a year before the resolution plan kicked in, the Wadia Group would have been ruled out as a prospective bidder.

That is just faux puritanism. A practical bankruptcy code will be agnostic about promoters," as the controlling shareholders are known in India. Give them back their insolvent firms if they so badly want them, but close out the options for gaming the outcomes, such as by forcing lenders to accept lowball out-of-court settlements: Let them take haircuts, stand in line with everyone else and bid.

Leaving planes with a borrower that isnt selling flight tickets isnt ideal. It will jack up leasing rates even for those that are. Still, the tribunals intervention may be worth it. Consumers will pay a lot more if InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.s Indigo and the three Tata airlines end up as the only viable options for domestic air travel. After all, Go First isnt the only one in trouble. SpiceJet Ltd., a carrier with a similar market share, has seen its stock lose half its value over the past year. The lessor Aircastle (Ireland) Ltd. is trying to push it into insolvency. That case will be heard May 25.

The promoters have been the driving force of Indian capitalism for far too long to just walk away because of a bankruptcy law. (HMS Minden, on which the Star-Spangled Banner was composed, was made in a Wadia shipyard for the British navy.) Yet, the exceptionalism that business families take as their right must end.

There is a difference between protecting the capital in a business, and saving the capitalist behind it. After some initial successes, Modis bankruptcy reform has often been unable to find that fine line. Its up to the court to show that this time will be different.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
The frozen body of a baby mammoth found in permafrost found in the Yamal Peninsula, Serbia, in 2012.

Long-extinct animals in superbly preserved time capsules are being unearthed in permafrost from across the planet  from Canadas Yukon territory to Antarctica  enabling scientists a glimpse into the past. These frozen, prehistoric animals are often found in stunning condition and are now famous around the world.

1. Woolly rhino baby

Preserved body of Sasha the woolly rhino. (Image credit: Yakutian Academy of Sciences)

This 10,000-year-old woolly rhino ( Coelodonta antiquitatis ) baby , nicknamed Sasha by the man who found it, was the first young member of its species ever discovered. Researchers arent sure if it is male or female, but the horn size suggests it had been weaned by the time it died. It roamed the mammoth steppe  a dry, cold region from modern-day Spain to Siberia.

2. Cave lion cub

The two mummified cave lion cubs were found with their fur, teeth, skin, organs and whiskers intact. (Image credit: Love Dalen)

Scientists unearthed this squashed, mummified cat in eastern Siberia in 2017. The specimen is a female cave lion (Panthera spelaea) cub, which scientists named Sparta. This prehistoric animal likely died suddenly, possibly during a mudslide. Sparta is one the best-preserved ice age animals ever found  even her whiskers can still be seen.

3. Mammoth calves

Lyuba, one of the perfectly preserved frozen baby mammoths. (Image credit: University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology)



In 2007, e xplorers unearthed two mammoth calves, which they nicknamed Lyuba and Khroma , dating to about 40,000 years ago in two different areas of Siberia. Researchers took a closer look at the animals using CT scans and discovered that both baby mammoths had choked on mud after falling into water. The little mammoths appeared otherwise plump and healthy when they died  Khromaeven had a stomach full of undigested breast milk that looked like yogurt.

4. Ancient bison

The almost perfectly preserved bison mummy was found on the shore of a lake in northern Siberia. (Image credit: Dr. Gennady Boeskorov)

Some of the most complete steppe bison ( Bison priscus ) remains ever found are 9,000 years old. The preserved animal, unearthed in northern Siberia in 2011, has a complete heart, brain and digestive system. Some of its organs have shrunk over time, but its blood vessels are in near-perfect condition.

This is not the only steppe bison, which went extinct around 10,000 years ago, thats been found frozen in time. In 2022, researchers in Russia completed a necropsy on an 8,000-year-old steppe bison that is so well preserved some scientists believe it could be cloned using intact chromosomes extracted from the bison's skin, muscle and wool.

5. Frozen foal

Frozen in ice for millennia, this Siberian mummy is the best-preserved ancient horse ever found. (Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

A 2-month-old horse that died between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago was discovered around 330 feet (100 meters) below the surface in a Siberian crater in 2018. In life, the young horse stood almost 3 feet (1 m) tall, and its remains were kept so pristine by ice that its hooves, skin and tail are still intact, along with tiny hairs that are still visible inside the foal's nostrils.

6. Prehistoric bear

The adult bear mummy still has a nose. (Image credit: North-Eastern Federal University )

In 2020, reindeer herders discovered the remains of a mummified bear in Siberian permafrost. Initially, researchers believed the remains belonged to a cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ), which went extinct about 22,000 years ago , but further analysis in 2022 revealed the mummified animal is actually the 3,460-year-old remains of a female brown bear (Ursus arctos) that was likely 2 to 3 years old when she died.

7. Mummified mammoth

The 4.5 foot long baby mammoth was just one month old at the time of death. (Image credit: Dan Shugar/University of Calgary)

In 2022, gold miners excavated a 30,000-year-old baby woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from Canadian permafrost. The 4.5 feet-long (1.4 m) remains belong to a female calf and are so well-preserved, the prehistoric animal's hair and skin are still intact. The mammoth, named Nun Cho Ga, is believed to be the most complete mummified mammoth found in North America.

8. Prehistoric penguin colony

A mummified Adelie penguin chick's head in Antarctica. (Image credit: Steve Emslie)

In 2016, in Cape Irizar  a rocky headland in Antarctica  scientists unearthed all the telltale signs of a freshly abandoned Adelie penguin colony  including dead penguins, bones and guano-stained pebbles. But researchers were puzzled, because Adelies (Pygoscelis adeliae) hadnt been seen in the area for hundreds of years. It turns out that a period of melting on the frozen continent revealed the mummified remains , along with bones and eggshells, and are thought to be between 800 and 5,000 years old.

9. Hibernating squirrel

This lump of fur and claws is actually a balled-up mummified squirrel. (Image credit: Government of Yukon)

At first glance, this ball of fur and claws might not seem like much. However, X-ray scans revealed it to be a mummified squirrel that had curled up for hibernation 30,000 years ago. The well-preserved ancient animal is an Arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii), and the species still exists today and lives in the area where the mummified specimen was found, in Canada's Yukon territory.

10. Preserved wolf pup

An ancient wolf pup was found perfectly preserved in permafrost in Yukon, Canada. (Image credit: Government of Yukon)

In 2016, Canadian gold miners discovered a female wolf pup specimen that has been preserved in permafrost for 57,000 years. X-ray analysis revealed that the gray wolf (Canis lupus) pup, now named Zhur, was only 7 weeks old when she died. Researchers hypothesized that her den may have collapsed, killing the pup and helping keep the body preserved.

This article was adapted from a previous version published in How It Works magazine, a Future Ltd. publication. To learn more about the wonders of the natural world, subscribe to How It Works magazine.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Debt ceiling talks showed few signs of outward progress Tuesday as negotiators for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traded more budget-cutting ideas but Republicans warned of a lack of urgency at the White House to resolve the standoff in time to avert a potentially chaotic federal default.

With barely a week to go before a deadline as soon as June 1, the Democratic president and the Republican speaker were staring down a financial crisis. Failure to strike a deal would be unprecedented, and certain to throw U.S. financial markets into turmoil, inflicting economic pain at home and abroad. Markets lowered Tuesday with no deal in sight.

Were not there yet, McCarthy said at the Capitol, reiterating he wont bring any bill forward that doesnt spend less than we spent this year.

Behind closed doors, McCarthy urged his slim House Republican majority to just stick together despite their own factions as he negotiates the strongest deal possible for conservatives, said lawmakers exiting the private session.

But McCarthy did not expect a deal by day's end. He told reporters the teams are eyeing creative ways of rolling back spending that all sides can accept.

I believe we can still get there  and get there before June 1, McCarthy, R-Calif., said.

Dragging into a third week, the negotiations over raising the nation's debt limit, now at $31 trillion, were never supposed to arrive at this point  a crisis in the making.

From the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was ridiculous to suggest Biden wasnt acting with urgency. He wants to see this done as soon as possible, she said.

The White House insisted early on it was unwilling to barter over the need to pay the nation's bills, demanding that Congress simply lift the ceiling as it has done many times before with no strings attached.

But the newly elected speaker urged the president at an Oval Office meeting in February to come to the negotiating table on a budget package that would reduce spending to reduce ballooning deficits in the post-COVID era in exchange for the vote to allow future debt.

Both men said after a crucial meeting late Monday at the White House  after the president returned from the Group of Seven summit in Japan  that talks were productive.

But with time short to strike a deal, frustrations emerged as negotiators labored to come up with a compromise that could be approved quickly by the Republican House and the Democratic Senate and be signed into law.

Negotiations are focused on finding agreement over a 2024 budget year limit. Republicans have set aside their demand to rollback spending to 2022 levels, but say that next years government spending must be less than it is now. But the White House instead is offering to freeze spending at current 2023 numbers.

Agreement on that topline spending level is vital. It would enable McCarthy to deliver spending restraint 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.

We are holding firm to the speakers red line, said a top Republican negotiator, Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana. Which is that we will not do a deal unless it spends less money than were spending this year.

With talks perhaps done for the day, Graves said there were still significant gaps between his side and the White House.

The Republican team worked late at the Capitol engaging in late night phone conversations with the White House team. But as they left, Graves said those gaps remain.

The White House continues to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president at their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes is off the table.

The negotiators are now also debating the duration of a 1% cap on annual spending growth going forward, with Republicans dropping their demand for a 10-year cap to six years, but the White House offering only one year, for 2025.

Typically, the debt ceiling has been lifted for the duration of a budget deal, and in this negotiation the White House is angling for a two-year agreement that would push past the presidential elections.

Another main Republican negotiator, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who joined the speaker at the Oval Office Monday evening, said, What I sense from the White House is a lack of urgency.

But on the Senate side, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said, Look, I think everybody needs to relax.

Traveling in his home state of Kentucky, McConnell said of the back and forth, "This is not that unusual.

However, time is growing short. The House speaker promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the weekend  just days before the potential deadline. The Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden's desk to be signed.

McCarthy faces a hard-right flank in his own party that is likely to reject any deal, and that has led some Democrats to encourage Biden to resist any compromise with the Republicans and simply invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own, an unprecedented and legally fraught action the president has resisted for now.

On Tuesday, the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus Rep. Scott Perry said: We all want to stick together. But again, its sticking together around the right thing.

He and others are skeptical of the June 1 deadline that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said is when it is highly likely the government will be unable to pay all the nations bills.

Treasury said Tuesday it is keeping in close contact with federal agencies on their planned spending as it monitors cashflows.

As the negotiators focus on the $100 billion-plus difference between the 2022 and 2023 spending plans as a place to cut, other priorities Republicans are pushing as part of the deal remain on the table.

Republicans also want to beef up work requirements for government aid to recipients in the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage.

The GOP additionally wants new cuts to food aid by restricting states ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. But Democrats have said any changes to work requirements are nonstarters.

GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS funding 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 to ease federal regulations and speed energy project developments. They are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially lifted.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick, Chris Megerian, Darlene Superville and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration has canceled plans to award a $200 million grant to a U.S. battery manufacturer amid criticism from Republican lawmakers over the company's alleged ties to China.

Texas-based Microvast was one of 20 companies to win preliminary grants totaling $2.8 billion to boost domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles. The company is building battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee and was in talks with the Energy Department for a $200 million grant funded through the 2021 infrastructure law.

A spokeswoman for Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm confirmed Tuesday that negotiations with Microvast were canceled, but did not offer a specific reason.

The Energy Department said in a statement that it "maintains a rigorous review process prior to the release of any awarded funds, and it is not uncommon for entities selected to participate in award negotiations'' to ultimately be denied a federal grant.

The department can confirm that it has elected to cancel negotiations and not to award Microvast funds from this competitive funding opportunity,'' spokeswoman Charisma Troiano said.

Yang Wu, Microvasts founder and CEO, said Wednesday the company was surprised by the DOEs decision to withdraw the grant, which was designed to help build a new facility in Kentucky that would employ hundreds of people.''

Microvast is based near Houston and operations for its global business are centralized in the U.S.,'' Wu said in a statement. Neither the Chinese government nor the Chinese Communist Party has any ownership in the company, nor do they control or influence company operations in any way,'' added Wu, a U.S. citizen.

Microvast is considering all options in response to the government's decision, Wu said.

Republicans and Democrats praised the department's decision.

This is a win for taxpayers and American businesses, House Science Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Oklahoma said in a statement. On no account should our tax dollars be funding a company with substantial ties to the Chinese Communist Party. These funds are intended to strengthen Americas battery production and supply chain, not to tighten Chinas stranglehold on these supplies.''

Lucas and other Republicans said they were frustrated that it took more than six months for the Biden administration "to come to such an obvious conclusion.'' Lucas and other GOP lawmakers have repeatedly complained about what they call Microvast's links to the Chinese Communist Party.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the decision to rescind the grant shows that the DOE is taking its stewardship of taxpayer money very seriously.

At a Senate Energy Committee hearing in February, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., questioned whether the planned grant to Microvast would benefit China. Barrasso cited a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which Microvast said it may not be able to protect its intellectual property rights in China.

China often requires foreign companies to partner with Chinese businesses in order to operate in the country.

In a May 1 letter to Granholm, Barrasso said Microvast's CEO had bragged to Chinese media about Microvasts strong ties to the Peoples Republic of China.''

The 2021 infrastructure law was ostensibly intended to develop robust domestic manufacturing bases and supply chains'' for electric vehicles and other clean energy, Barrasso said. DOEs distribution of $200 million in taxpayer funds to a company joined at the hip with China'' would be "demonstrably antithetical to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Laws intent,'' he added.

Barrasso called the Microvast grant an example of the Solyndra Syndrome, a reference to an Obama-era program that disbursed more than $500 million in loan guarantees to the failed solar company Solyndra. He and other Republicans said both cases demonstrated poor vetting by Democratic administrations.

The loan program largely went dormant under President Donald Trump but has been revived by President Joe Biden. It is separate from infrastructure law funding that was conditionally awarded to Microvast and other companies.

Grants announced in October were intended to help U.S. companies extract and process lithium, graphite and other battery materials. The Biden administration is seeking to boost production and sales of electric vehicles as a key part of Bidens strategy to slow climate change and build up U.S. manufacturing.

This is critically important, because the future of vehicles is electric, Biden said at a White House event last year. The Energy Department grants  along with other spending approved in the 2022 climate law  are a bid to make sure were back in the (battery production) game in a big way, Biden said.
Courtesy of H-E-B

The expansion of more H-E-B locations continues in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The San Antonio-based company announced on Tuesday, May 23, that it will soon begin construction on its second store in Frisco. The company will break ground at the new site in June, according to a news release.

H-E-B set a tentative opening date for late 2024 for the Frisco store, which will be located at Highway 380 and FM 423 in eastern Denton County, according to the release. The grocery giant first entered the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex with a store in Frisco in September 2022.
San Antonio-based H-E-B is planning to remove its plexiglass from its locations soon. The company told MySA that the "temporary plexiglass was never intended to be a permanent fixture." The grocery chain installed the protective shield items during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

"After receiving input from our store partners (employees), the decision was made to remove the temporary plexiglass," H-E-B said.

H-E-B said its decision aligns with the federal government ending the COVID-19 emergency declaration and guidance on May 11. The World Health Organization and the federal government both announced that COVID-19, or at least the worst part of it, was in the rearview mirror.

When the coronavirus pandemic first reached the United States, H-E-B was one of the first grocery chains to lead the response inside grocery stores. H-E-B was one of the first to install protective partitions in its stores to ensure social distancing. It also enforced limits on certain products to ensure the supply chain remained strong, as well as put social distancing signs and stickers to remind others to stay six feet apart.

The company also raised wages by $2 per hour for all hourly store, manufacturing, warehouse, and transportation employees. When restaurants closed their dine-in services due to COVID-19, H-E-B partnered with many local businesses to sell their meals in its stores.

For the company's quick response, H-E-B received praise from its customers, celebrities, and studies from companies. While the plexiglass is coming down, H-E-B said the company remains committed to keeping the stores clean.

"H-E-B still has strict personal hygiene and sanitization protocols in place at all our stores," the grocery chain said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Walmart will pay half a million dollars to settle allegations from California's Department of Justice that it was selling brass knuckles on its website, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday.

Brass knuckles are classified as deadly and illegal weapons in a number of states, including California, which punishes their sale with up to a year in prison.

The investigation into the retail giant first started in 2018, when the Merced County district attorney found Walmart was selling and allowing third-party vendors to sell brass knuckles on its website, officials said at a news conference. The Department of Justice conducted the yearslong investigation and negotiation in partnership with the district attorneys offices of Merced, Ventura, and Yolo Counties.

Brass knuckles, typically made of metal or hard plastic, could be used to break bones, cut people or cause even fatal injuries, Bonta said, calling the settlement a tremendous win for consumers in California.

Were making it clear that we wont sit idly by while a company, no matter how large ... allows Californians to be armed with illegal weapons," Bonta said. This is a critical push back on an e-commerce giant that stands to have an important impact on the industry.

Walmart said in a statement that it didn't violate any California laws and admits no liability of wrongdoing, but settled because we believe this agreement is in the best interest of all parties.

As part of the settlement, Walmart will pay the Department of Justice and district attorneys' offices $125,000 each in civil penalties. The nations largest retailer will also be required to stop selling and allowing any sales of brass knuckles on its website.

Investigators found roughly 250 products that could be classified as brass knuckles on Walmart's website, 60% of which were offered directly by the retailer and 40% of which were available from third-party sellers, authorities said.

The settlement also requires Walmart to notify customers who have purchased brass knuckles that the weapon is illegal.

Authorities said they are investigating others for illegal weapons sales but didn't name the alleged offenders.

While Walmart was particularly cooperative in this case and has done their best to remove the illegal weapons from their websites, there are others who have not done so, and they need to know were coming for them, Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Karen Wold said Tuesday.

Walmart is a major seller of weapons in the United States, but has taken steps to curb the sale of firearms and ammunition since 2015.

The giant retailer stopped selling ammunition for semi-automatic rifles and handguns after 23 people were killed at one of its stores in El Paso, Texas, in 2019. The company stopped selling semi-automatic weapons such as the AR-15 style rifle in 2015 and raised the minimum age to buy firearms from 18 to 21 in 2018.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  After intense backlash from some shoppers, Target is removing certain items and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month.

In confirming the changes to this year's Pride collection, which has been on sale since early May, the Minneapolis retailer cited safety concerns for employees that have been targeted by hostile customers.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and wellbeing while at work, Target said Tuesday in a written statement. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans.

The confrontations in Target stores are taking place as state legislatures introduce a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ+ individuals across the country. Some advocacy groups have criticized Target's response  calling on the retailer to not back down to hate-filled backlash and reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.

Here are some things to know about the controversy surrounding the Target Pride collection and the company's response.

DID TARGET PULL ITS PRIDE COLLECTION?

Target did not pull its entire Pride collection, but it has removed certain items ahead of Pride month.

The chain also made other changes to the selling of its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide, with Target confirming that it moved its Pride merchandise from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern locations after confrontations from shoppers in the region.

WHY IS TARGET PULLING PRIDE PRODUCTS? AND WHICH ONES?

Target said it's pulling certain items from the Pride collection due to intense and threatening backlash from some customers  which has impacted employees' sense of safety, the company said. Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores.

The retailer added that it would be "removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Target declined to further specify which products would be impacted.

Tuck friendly womens swimsuits, which allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts, were among Target's Pride items that garnered the most attention. There are bogus claims on social media platforms that the swimsuits were being sold in the children's department. Designs by Abprallen, a London-based company that designs and sells occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories, have also created backlash.

WHAT STARTED THE CONTROVERSY AROUND TARGET'S PRIDE COLLECTION?

The controversy gained traction online last week as conservative media attacked Targets Pride month collection  which has also been the subject of several misleading videos in recent weeks that falsely claimed the retailer is selling tuck-friendly bathing suits designed for kids. The backlash also spilled over into physical stores.

Target and other retailers have been expanding their LGBTQ+ displays to celebrate Pride month in June for roughly a decade. Today's confrontations in Target stores arrive amid a surge of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people across the nation.

There are close to 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, an unprecedented number, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Those efforts focus on health, particularly gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, and education. State legislatures are also pushing to prevent discussions in school regarding sexuality and gender identity.

WHAT HAS BEEN TARGET'S RESPONSE?

In addition to deciding to remove some of its items amid other adjustments to the selling of its Pride collection, Target said that the company's focus is now on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.

Some activists and advocacy groups, however, have criticized Target's response  calling on the retailer to reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.

Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the floors, not pushed into the proverbial closet. Thats what the bullies want. Target must be better, stated Kelley Robinson, president of The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights group in the U.S.

Extremist groups and individuals work to divide us and ultimately dont just want rainbow products to disappear, they want us to disappear, Robinson added. For the past decade, the LGBTQ+ community has celebrated Pride with Target  its time that Target stands with us and doubles-down on their commitment to us.
By James Comey

Mysterious Press. 329 pp. $30

- - -

In the Good Old Days, when I was studying English in school, we were told not to let our attitude about a writer's life cloud our response to his work. That was a comforting pretense since we were reading books by some dishonest, abusive and racist men. [Insert Your Favorite Writer Here.]

Nowadays, of course, biography rules. On social media, mixed in with the ever-shifting calls to boycott that fried chicken or resist those hobby supplies, we find adamant reminders that we mustn't read that novel or watch that movie because so-and-so is a scoundrel. Our purchases have been elevated to votes; our aesthetic responses recast as ethical judgments - not least of all on ourselves.

The critic Claire Dederer considers this tension between the value of what's created and the behavior of the creator in a fascinating new book called "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma." The most striking aspect of her analysis - in addition to her insightful comments on a number of "monstrous" writers, artists and filmmakers - is her emotional honesty. She's willing to articulate, even to demonstrate on the page, the ambivalence that any attentive moral reader must suffer.

Which is, I admit, a loaded introduction to "Central Park West," the debut novel by James Comey. After all, the former FBI director is no monster, nor is he a great writer. But clearly his new thriller and its attendant publicity exist because of the author's actions outside the realm of literature. And most readers - aside from the chronically unplugged or the divinely disinterested - will approach "Central Park West" with confirmed opinions about Comey's responsibility for the bungled FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton's private email server and Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia.

In short, Comey is monster-adjacent.

If those conditions freight his novel with certain burdens, they also bless it with certain promise. After all, before becoming director of the FBI, Comey served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was U.S. deputy attorney general. He's dedicated his life to thwarting toxic currents of crime flowing through this country. He must know secret things, and now his lifelong crusade for justice will inform a nail-biting thriller. Right?

"Central Park West" starts promisingly enough: The philandering former governor of New York, Tony Burke, is confronted by his estranged wife, Kyra, in their luxury apartment. At gunpoint, she forces him to write a brief suicide note, apologizing to all the people he's hurt. Then she kills him with a syringe full of insulin.

The perfect crime? Hardly. The killer was greeted by the doorman and caught on videotape. The case sparks a media circus. At the time of his death, the former governor was denying multiple accusations of sexual abuse leveled by women willing to break his notorious nondisclosure agreements. Now "Killer Kyra" faces life in prison for putting down "the Harvey Weinstein of politics." The Daily News screams, "LUV GUV SLAY TRIAL."

Kyra, "a strikingly beautiful thirty-nine-year old woman," says killing her husband was a "public service," but she insists she didn't do it. In a weirdly cute, banter-filled meeting with her defense lawyer - whose 6-foot-2 frame is, of course, "toned by hours on a Peloton" - Kyra insists that the killer must have been someone disguised to look just like her.

Meanwhile, across town in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse, a notorious mobster named Dominic "The Nose" D'Amico is staring at a conviction that could put him away forever. In a surprise, risky move, the Nose offers the feds evidence about the real killer of the former governor.

That's a sharp plot: We've got two intertwined high-stakes cases, one in state court, one in federal, and Comey knows enough about those separate legal systems to whip up some turf war over jurisdiction.

But for an author who worked so long to imprison horrible criminals and to serve obnoxious politicians, his novel has no stomach for evil. Although the central villain is supposedly "the most notorious Mafia killer of the modern era," for all we see, this serial murderer could be a real estate agent. "Central Park West" is a thriller that doesn't want to get its hands dirty, doesn't even want to take off its tie.

Rather than explore the insidious damage of sexual abusers, the corrupting influence of dishonest politicians or the unspeakable violence of organized criminals, the novel emphasizes the need to treat mobsters with respect and politeness. For all I know, such decorum may be a pragmatic tactic for securing the cooperation of career criminals, but it feels like Comey is fetishizing the alleged honor of the mafia.

And worse, it's a deadly strategy for a legal thriller. In one of the book's few exciting scenes, a SWAT team is about to rain down hellfire on the home of a professional assassin. But at the last minute, a wise federal agent convinces his superiors that it would be safer to knock politely, let the accused get dressed and then stroll to the awaiting van.

Phew - drama averted!

That allergy to action is doubly burdensome when paired with Comey's determination to explain Very Common Things. In a typically numbing moment, early in the investigation, an FBI agent suggests placing photos of potential perpetrators on a wall so that they can be examined together. "Jump on the system," he instructs a colleague, "print DMV pictures of everybody I call out. We put 'em on the board, use different color Expo markers to connect them." But the arts-and-craft aspect of this case is not the part that needs elaboration.

For generations of readers raised on the wizardry of James Bond and Jason Bourne, the crime-fighting gizmos that Comey reveals are as impressive as a ballpoint pen. Of course, a great legal thriller doesn't need any special technology at all, but presumably the former director of the FBI knows about the most advanced surveillance equipment in the world. Yet here he sounds particularly excited to reveal to us that our cellphones generate location data - which will be shocking news to anyone listening to the audiobook version of this novel on a Victrola.

I thought the FBI had equipment to see through walls, and computers to identify faces on surveillance video, but the most cutting-edge technique Comey is willing to demonstrate in these chapters is how a Starbucks card helps pin down a killer. Now, if they could just get my Frappuccino order right.

Honestly, I want to be fair. I want to judge this flaccid thriller only according to what's on the page, without considering how the author kneecapped the Clinton campaign 11 days before the election of a Very Stable Genius. But then a character in "Central Park West" asks, "How you like them apples?" and another one says, "She's a pistol," and a third one explains the phrase "Capisce?"

And as this stale dialogue grinds on, I realize that helping to deliver four years of Donald Trump is not the worst thing Comey has ever done.
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Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service Max may only be hours into its rollout, but it quickly came under fire by top Hollywood guilds for the way it credits writers and directors.

Early Wednesday, some started noticing a change to the credits on films. Instead of individually listing writers, directors and producers, the new Max format had lumped them all together. By Wednesday afternoon, the presidents of the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America West had issued a strongly worded joint statement condemning the creator credit.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Target once distinguished itself as being boldly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.

Now that status is tarnished after it removed some products aimed at LGBTQ+ and relocated Pride Month displays to the back of stores in certain Southern locations in response to online complaints and in-store confrontations that it says threatened employees well-being.

Target faces a second backlash from customers upset by the discount retailers reaction to aggressive, anti-LGBTQ+ activism, which has also been sweeping through Republican state legislatures. Civil rights groups chided the company on Wednesday for caving to anti-LGBTQ+ customers who tipped over displays and expressed outrage over gender-fluid bathing suits.

Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the floors, not pushed into the proverbial closet, Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson said in a statement. Thats what the bullies want.

The uproar over Targets Pride Month marketing  and its response to critics  is just the latest example of how companies are struggling to cater to different groups of customers at a time of extreme cultural divides, particularly around transgender rights.

Bud Light is still dealing with the fallout from when it sent transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a beer can with her face on it, which Mulvaney then displayed in an Instagram post, igniting backlash. Bud Light's parent company is tripling its U.S. marketing spending this summer as it tries to restore lost sales.

In Florida, Disney has been engaged in a legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis since expressing opposition to the state's classroom limits on discussing gender identity and sexual orientation.

Allen Adamson, the co-founder and managing partner of the marketing firm Metaforce, said Target should have thought through the potential for backlash and taken steps to avoid it, like varying the products it sells by region.

The country is far less homogenous than it ever was," he said. For any brand, its not one size fits all anymore.

Shares of Target, which is based in Minneapolis, extended their fall on Thursday, declining 2.6% in morning trading. On Wednesday, the stock closed down 3%.

According to a 2021 Gallup poll, 21% of people in Generation Z identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, compared with 3% of Baby Boomers. Gallup has also found that younger consumers are most likely to want brands to promote diversity and take a stand on social issues.

Pulling back is the worst thing that they could have done," said Jake Bjorseth, who runs trndsttrs, an agency helping brands understand and reach Gen Z customers. Not to expect potential backlash is to not understand what (LGBTQ+) members go through on a daily basis.

Once they fold to the more extreme edges of the issue, then theyve lost their footing, Adamson added. If you can change a big brand just by knocking over a display, then they are on the defense, and you never win on the defense.

Target has long been seen as a trailblazer among retailers in the way it embraced LGBTQ+ rights and customers. It was among the first to showcase themed merchandise to honor Pride Month, which takes place in June, and it has been out front in developing relationships with LGBTQ+ suppliers.

It has also faced backlash. In 2016, when a national debate exploded over transgender rights, the company declared that inclusivity is a core belief at Target and said it supported transgender employees and customers using whichever restroom or fitting room corresponds with their gender identity.

But even after being threatened with boycotts by some customers, Target announced months later that more stores would make available a single-toilet bathroom with a door that could be locked.

As recently as last year, law enforcement agencies were brought in to monitor a social media threat from a young Arizona man who said he was leading the war against Target for its Pride Month merchandise, and he encouraged others to take action.

But the company is operating in an even more politicized environment now.

There are close to 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, though judges have temporarily blocked their enforcement in some states.

Target declined on Thursday to say which items it was pulling from its stores. But "tuck friendly womens swimsuits, which allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts, were among Targets Pride items that garnered the most attention. Target removed online this week designs by Abprallen, a London-based company that sells some occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories outside of Target.

Abprallen couldn't immediately be reached for comment but its website on Thursday said it was temporarily closed, with a message that read: Thank you all for your unrelenting support and love. The positivity and beautiful vibes youve sent my way this past week has been overwhelming.

The controversy at Target has been exacerbated by several misleading videos circulating online. In some, people falsely claimed the retailer was selling tuck-friendly bathing suits for kids.

Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior, Target said in a statement Tuesday.

The company pledged its continued support for the LGBTQ+ community and noted it is standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.

Indeed, it was business as usual at many Target locations on Wednesday.

At the Target in Topeka, Kansas, the Pride display remained up front, visible as shoppers passed a corral of shopping carts right after the entrance. It included Pride-themed clothing for kids, as well as T-shirts and womens bathing suits for adults.

I like that our local stores here have it front and center, when you walk in, said Shay Hibler, a Topeka self-employed small business owner who was shopping with her 13-year-old daughter and supports LGBTQ+ rights.

Megan Rusch, a Kansas City-area resident who is studying criminal justice at Washburn University in Topeka, was shopping at the same store and said while other locations might worry about their image, This is a pretty diverse area.

She said she believes its good for the stores to have the Pride displays so that LGBTQ+ customers feel included.

Her shopping companion, Blake Ferguson, a Colorado resident who is studying accounting and finance student at Ottawa University, added simply: Love is love.

___

Durbin contributed from Detroit. AP Writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas contributed to this report.

____

Follow Anne DInnocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

Follow Dee-Ann Durbin: http://twitter.com/deeanndurbin_ap
A partnership bringing diagnosis, care, education, support and other resources to Laredoans suffering from Alzheimers and other dementia was announced Wednesday, May 24 as the University of Texas Education and Research Center at Laredo is teaming up with the San Antonio and South Texas Chapter of the Alzheimers Association.

It is important we start providing education, which is why Im so grateful to this center for enabling us to connect to that and letting the Alzheimers Association have a place to come, where people suffering from this in the community can know there are answers in that place, said Joe Arciniega, a Laredoan and a member of the National Board of Directors for the Alzheimers Association.

The partnership with the Alzheimers Association will feature a series of educational events hosted at the UT Center at Laredo. It will also involve promotion of support services available at the center and educating the local community about care services already offered.

We can now service those that have this illness and create awareness not just for the patients but for the caregivers as well, because they suffer as much and possibly more than even the victims of this illness, International Bank of Commerce executive vice president Gerald Schwebel said. Today is a landmark day. Today is a transformative day. Today is a day that most of us who share a passion of how we must do more to really create an awareness and help the victims of this illness.

Schwebel was instrumental in sparking the emphasis on Alzheimers care and research at the UT Center at Laredo. When University of Texas Chancellor James B. Milliken was visiting Laredo for the Washingtons Birthday Celebration, he invited him to visit the campus and to discuss the issue. He was inspired after seeing a center for research and treatment open at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

When I learned about what San Antonio was doing, it really caught my attention because on a personal note, my mother had passed from this grave illness, Schwebel said. I began to do some research and found out how little research there had been on Hispanics on Alzheimers.

Thanks in large part to his efforts, the center began offering a clinic in July 2021 which has since continued to evolve. The clinic initially brought a neurologist to town once per month for diagnosing patients. That number has since doubled and will soon be doubling again to four times per month.

Were hoping that when we increase his time here in Laredo that he will be doing research here as well with our patients from Laredo, UT Center at Laredo executive director Adriana Nunemaker said. That is the component we dont have that San Antonio has. We need to have that component here. We have a largely Hispanic population here, so they will be able to look at different determinants that may or may not cause it. There is always new research going out.

The clinic is made possible through a partnership with the nationally-recognized Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimers & Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. It helps deliver dementia care for families in Laredo, Webb County and other surrounding counties in South Texas.

Greg Sciuto, the Alzheimers Associations region leader and executive director of the San Antonio and South Texas Chapter, spoke about driving over three hours to Laredo for Wednesdays press conference and how that was typically the same experience previously required of anyone from Laredo seeking care.

That is transformational for how people in this region receive care, he said. Im really proud to have partnered with the UT Center here to amplify our message. We share a vision of creating the next generation of health care professionals in dementia care and making sure they are well rounded. These are amazingly important opportunities for us. We want to make sure if somebody comes in presenting symptoms of dementia, they get an accurate and thorough diagnosis so they can get care and support.

The increased presence of a neurologist will be crucial as Nunemaker said they have seen around 144 patients since opening the clinic in 2021, which she says is not enough. The partnership with the Alzheimers Association and the resulting community outreach and education will be important toward increasing those totals as well, especially since Arciniega said many of those patients seen so far have come from the Valley rather than Laredo.

We hope to get Laredoans to know that this is here. The need will drive the supply, Arciniega said. We need to get to diagnosis sooner than later, and then of course we pivot to treatment.

As a largely Hispanic community, the disease is especially important in Laredo as Alzheimers and other dementia impact Hispanic Americans 1.5 times more than non-Hispanic whites. Arciniega said the partnership becomes even more significant when considering the cultural stigma associated with seeking medical help.

There is already a natural stigma generally with Hispanic people, especially where this is concerned. We tend to be much more private about it, and it feels disrespectful to our family member to reveal their challenges, and that is one of the barriers we need to start breaking down, he said. Just like if there were cancer symptoms, we wouldnt be embarrassed about that. We need to get to that place sooner than later as this thing rolls out.

Working toward the effort to break down those barriers, the Alzheimers Association will host monthly educational programs presented in both English and Spanish. They will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in Room DDH 2.200 at the UT Center at Laredo located at 1937 E. Bustamante St. The next event titled Dementia Conversations will be on Tuesday, June 20.

There are several socioeconomic factors such as education, poverty, mental health and occupation that are at the exodus of Alzheimers and related dementia, Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor Trevino said. The reality is we have a higher than acceptable amount of elderly people living in poverty with Alzheimers and related dementia. As a medically underserved community, we need to do more such as partnering with the Alzheimers Association like today in terms of investing in public health to address the health disparities and provide support to Hispanic community members living with Alzheimers or other types of dementia.

There will be additional events outside of the monthly workshops. On Saturday, May 27, there will by a Community Platica event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will provide education about the disease and will seek to gather input from the community. The event features 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.

On Thursday, Sept. 21, the UT Center at Laredo will host the A Journey of Many Paths Conference from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. discussing the next steps after diagnosis.

For more information on the Alzheimers Association and its resources offered, visit alz.org/sanantonio or call the 24/7 helpline at 800-272-3900. For information about seeing the neurologist at the UT Center at Laredo, call special programs coordinator Alexandra Lozano at 956-523-7473 or email alozano@utsystem.edu.
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For the first time UISD announced and recognized teachers designated recipients of the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment extra teacher funding.

The Texas Education Agency program was kicked-off with a celebration to acknowledge the districts highly distinguished teachers with their well earned designation status (Recognized, Exemplary, Masters).

A total of 41 educators from different schools in the district will be taking home more pay thanks to an incentive program created by the Texas Legislature in 2019 as part of House Bill 3 to provide a pathway for top teachers to potentially earn six-figure salaries and to help school districts attract and retain highly effective teachers at traditionally hard-to-staff schools.

The new allotments for UISD are as follows: Recognized $6,300-$8,500, Exemplary $12,000-$17,000 and Master $23,000-$30,000.

The UISD Department of Curriculum and Instruction organized the recognition celebration to mark the occasion, kicking-off the much-anticipated program in the district. The teachers were called out one-by-one by their respective schools to be recognized at the event held at the Bill Johnson Student Activity Complex. TEA describes the TIA program as one that rewards teacher excellence in Texas by allowing school districts to create compensation plans based on teacher effectiveness and student equity.

"The teacher designations generate additional teacher-focused allotment funding for districts in order for them to reward their top performers," according to the state website.

Superintendent of UISD Schools David H. Gonzalez said that he would like to see more teachers added to the program in the future.

So many educators go above and beyond when it comes to providing the best education for our students, Gonzalez said. We find many ways to thank and recognize them, but this designation will allow them to take extra cash home to spend it as they need, whether it be send their children to college, buy a new home or even go on a much deserved vacation.

Emma Leza, UISD Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, said the idea is long overdue.

We expect a lot from our teachers, and TIA allows us to provide that incentive to keep them in the classroom, Leza said. Its time to give teachers the same opportunities that exist in other professions. Our children deserve the best teachers, and this program will help us attract and retain them.

Clotilde Gamez, UISD Director for Continuous Improvement, said administrators were eager to initiate TIA at UISD,

The program required system approval by TEA and data validation, Gamez said. Its a great program, and we are happy to be able to reward teachers for their hard work. We hope to add more teachers in the future because so many are deserving of the extra pay.

Those teachers announced today will continue with the program as long as they meet the requirements. The approval process is multi-step and includes the submission of a system application to the Texas Education Agency and a data validation process through Texas Tech University.

According to TEA, any number of teachers may be put forth for designation under a local designation system if they meet the districts designation criteria and the eligibility requirements under the rules defined by the Texas Education Agency. TEA does not cap or limit the number of designations a district may issue. Teachers with an active National Board Certification may automatically be designated as Recognized if they meet the eligibility requirements under the rules defined by TEA.

For more information, go to https://tiatexas.org.
Some local students are about to take a plunge into a whole new field of study as one local family has pledged resources for them to learn how to swim through a local school district program.

Laredo's Summers and Sames families, who are related, donated a check for $5,000 to help local students participate in the United Independent School Districts Summer Swimming Program.

The donation by the families will provide 100 UISD students with free swimming lessons at this years UISD Summer Swimming Program. They plan to continue the program annually.

The ceremony showcasing the donations was done at the Carroll E. Summers Jr. Aquatic Center. Robert Summers -- the son of the late Carroll Summers, the 2023 Mr. South Texas who died last December -- said the donation was monumental, as teaching children how to swim is important. He pledged that 100 children will get the resources to know how to swim and participate in those activities.

Although originally the check was made for $4,750 -- the figure it displayed at the press conference -- Summers and his family were told that another $250 would help get the resources to teach 100 students exactly, so they decided to update the total to an even $5,000.

This is something very, very special, as I wish my father were here to kick this program off, Summers said. He believed in two things: children need to know how to read, and that if they didn't know how to read the do not swim sign, then they needed to know how to swim. I think UISD is doing an amazing job in introducing people to reading, and now they are going to do an incredible job in teaching people how to swim.

Summers said his father was an avid swimmer who wanted to teach others, as he did not swim in a pool when he was young in the 1930s but rather in a river. He also taught him and others from the Summers family how to swim in rivers. He said his father was very affected seeing one young boy drown in the river, which changed him profoundly in wanting to teach others how to swim. He did not want to see such a thing happen again.

Summers also said it is instrumental every year to provide the resources for students to know how to swim, and to do it not just for one year.

There is a new group of kids that dont know how to swim every year, so me, my sister, my niece, my mother and my family have committed to doing this in the future years, he said. My father would be delighted by the numbers that have already been done and beyond belief on the numbers that UISD is going to do in the future.

He states that even if the program does save the life of one child from drowning, it would mean the world to the family of the saved child.

One child at a time, one kid at a time, he said. That also gets the smaller children to see the big kids swimming, diving and the competition, and that might change their future.

Summers credited for UISD taking on the mantle of the program, as he and his family are just the donors of resources. It will be the school district and those in charge of the aquatic center to take the day-to-day fruition of the facility.

I hope that at the end of the day, you are going to see that little kid who jumped in that came to the swimming pool. He was a little scared and then boom, the next thing you know is that he is off to the races and coming back and forth telling all his friends, 'Vamonos quiero ir a nadar y nadar.'
A suspected caretaker of two stash houses has been arrested, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Hector Trejo-Roja, 24, was charged with two counts of operation of a stash house and four counts of smuggling of persons.

On May 17, the Border Patrol Firearm Anti-Smuggling Unit belonging to the Texas Anti-Gang Center received information about a residence in the 500 block of Guerrero Street being used to stash migrants.

Agents observed a white Ford Explorer and a man identified as Trejo-Roja unloading a jug of water. A Laredo police officer would pull over the vehicle for an expired license plate by the intersection of Washington Street and San Dario Avenue, authorities said.

Authorities approached the driver, Trejo-Roja. He stated he wanted to cooperate with law enforcement and added that there were three migrants at the residence on Guerrero, states the arrest affidavit.

Trejo-Roja allowed agents to unlock the front door and search the residence. Agents then located three migrants inside the home and $4,800. Trejo-Roja then stated that another migrant was at a residence in the 1200 block of Sanders Street. Authorities responded to the location on Sanders and apprehended the migrant, authorities said.

In a post-arrest interview, Trejo-Roja admitted he would take food to the migrants who resided at the residence on Guerrero. He added he would get paid $500 a week for his services. On occasion, he would transport migrants to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Laredo to be sent further north, the affidavit states.
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Lawmakers in South Carolina passed an abortion ban while a judge in Montana was weighing restrictions there in the latest developments in the shifting landscape of law since the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion.

Here's what to know.

BACK TO THE SENATE IN SOUTH CAROLINA

In conservative South Carolina, Republicans have been butting heads  sometimes dramatically  on how far to go with abortion bans.

The state Senate on Tuesday passed the latest effort to impose a ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. The vote sent the bill to the governor, who has promised to sign it.

The three Republican women in the Senate joined all Democrats in voting against the bill. The House approved the ban last week, after an earlier effort narrowly fell short on procedural votes.

Lawmakers in conservative-dominated Nebraska have taken a similar path, with intraparty disputes until a 12-week ban was passed last week as part of a bill that would also ban gender-affirming care for those under 19. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed the bill Monday, and the abortion restrictions took effect immediately.

COURTS STEP IN AGAIN IN MONTANA

Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a ban last week on dilation and evacuation abortions, which are normally performed in the second trimester of pregnancy. Within days, a judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the ban. On Tuesday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction, which blocks the law while the case moves its way through the courts.

The judge on Tuesday also granted to preliminary injunctions to one rule and several other laws. The rule and one of the laws require prior authorization before Montanas Medicaid will pay for abortions. Another law says public funds cannot be used to pay for most abortions. And another requires an ultrasound before performing an abortion, which opponents say effectively blocks telehealth medication abortions in the state.

Those are not the only abortion restrictions in the state before the courts.

Montana in 2021 adopted a broader ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but the state Supreme Court ruled that it will not enforce it pending a court challenge. That left some abortions legal until viability, around the 24th week.

GROUPS REACT TO SHIFTING TERRAIN

Planned Parenthood and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, groups on opposite sides of the abortion policy debates, both announced initiatives Tuesday.

The national Planned Parenthood group, a federation of regional organizations that share the name and provide abortion care, sexually transmitted infection tests, cancer screenings and other health services, announced a strategy shift. It is laying off 10% to 15% of its national staff and sending more money to its affiliates. The plan is to improve health equity for Black people and to bolster services both in states with bans and those that are serving more abortion-seeking patients traveling from places with bans.

The group's political arm also expects to focus on state politics.

Susan B. Anthony, a major opponent of abortion, announced it's working with Kellyanne Conway, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, to get pro-life candidates on offense in the 2024 election cycle.

Last year, abortion access advocates prevailed on all six abortion-related statewide ballot initiatives in the U.S.

PURPLE STATE POLICY

Since the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, tighter abortion restrictions have been enacted in most Republican-controlled states and protections of abortion access have gone into effect in most that are dominated by Democrats.

In the 11 states where government control is divided between Republicans and Democrats, the story has not been so uniform. Virginia has kept its status quo, for instance, while Vermont has adopted a constitutional amendment to preserve abortion access and Louisiana and Kentucky have bans in place.

Change came quickly in North Carolina in April when one state lawmaker flipped from Democrat to Republican, giving the GOP enough votes to override gubernatorial vetoes.

Lawmakers promptly passed a ban that's less restrictive than most  allowing abortion for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed it. But lawmakers on May 16 overrode that veto, so the ban will take effect July 1. The new law includes several other provisions that medical experts have criticized, including more medical and paperwork requirements for physicians, new licensing requirements for abortion clinics and increasing how many times patients must make an in-person visit to a physician ahead of obtaining the abortion pill.

COURT ARGUMENTS ON AN ABORTION PILL

Most of the legal battles on abortion since the Dobbs decision in 2022 have centered on whether individual state constitutions protect the right to abortion.

But at least one lawsuit has implications nationally.

An anti-abortion group sued seeking to rescind the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations 2000 approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in combination in most medication-induced abortions in the U.S.

A federal judge in Texas agreed. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments last week. In the meantime, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that mifepristone can remain on the market. It is already barred from being used in abortions, with some exceptions, in states with bans in place.

It's not clear when the appeals court will rule. The case is expected to return to the nations top court eventually. The Texas-based case could be merged with one in Washington, where another federal judge ruled last month that mifepristone restrictions cannot be rolled back in a group of Democrat-led states that filed lawsuits.

THE TALLY

Fourteen states currently have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, one when cardiac activity can be detected around six weeks, and three at 12 to 15 weeks. Of those 17 states with the tightest restrictions, 12 do not have exceptions in cases of rape or incest. They all have exceptions to save the life of the woman in at least some circumstances.

At least six states have bans that courts have paused.

One more state, North Carolina, has a ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy that doesn't take effect until July 1.

The abortion bans also apply to prescribing pills to induce abortions. But only in Nevada and South Carolina is it illegal to self-manage abortions.

___

This story was published on May 23. It was updated on May 24 to correct the list of states where self-managed abortions are illegal. They are Nevada and South Carolina, not South Carolina and Texas.
Texas lawmakers approved two bills Tuesday aimed at Harris County elections that would give state Republicans the power to remove the county's elections administrator and allow the Texas secretary of state to oust local elections officials for "good cause" after an election complaint is filed.

The bills apply to counties with more than 3.5 or 4 million people, respectively; Harris is the only county in the state that meets those criteria.

Under Senate Bill 1933, written by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), Secretary of State Jane Nelsonwho was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbottcan remove a local official after conducting an investigation prompted by "a recurring pattern of problems with election administration." Examples of recurring issues include a malfunctioning voting system that stops a person from casting a vote, misconduct in distributing election supplies and errors in counting results that would have impacted the outcome of an election, among others. The House approved SB 1933 in an 81-59 vote.

Senate Bill 1750 removes the elections administrator position in counties with 3.5 million people or more. In an 81-62 vote, House lawmakers voted to pass SB 1750 Tuesday afternoon.

The two bills further narrow local control of elections following Senate Bill 1, which was signed into law in 2021 and banned drive-thru voting, 24-hour voting, and added restrictions on distributing mail-in ballot applications. SB 1 was passed after Harris County expanded voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the largest county in the state, Harris County has 4.7 million residents, with 782 polling places across the county. After the 2022 midterm elections, dozens of GOP candidates filed lawsuits against the county, citing paper ballot shortages at voting centers and technical issues on machines. Republican candidates and lawmakers argue the problems on Election Day disenfranchised voters and turned away thousands of voters. But an April report by the Houston Chronicle dispelled those claims, finding that based on county data, around 21 locations lost paper on Election Day, a small fraction of the total.

Nonetheless, GOP lawmakers have pushed for more restrictions in Harris County.

Local officials, including Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, said the fight isn't over and that they are evaluating legal options.

"Republican legislators are again targeting Harris County, singling us out to score cheap political points," Menefee said in a Tuesday statement. "This sets a dangerous precedent, and we all know the legislators in Austin wont stop here  this will lead to more attempts to remove local officials in the states most diverse counties.

If signed by the governor, both bills will go into effect on Sept. 1.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and public servants who fled the mob's attack told a judge on Wednesday that they are still haunted by what they endured, as the judge prepares to hand down sentences in a landmark Capitol riot case.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta heard victim impact statements a day before he's expected to deliver the first Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy sentences to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and an associate convicted of plotting to block the transfer of power from President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors are seeking 25 years behind bars for Rhodes, which would be the longest sentence by far handed down among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens crossed paths with Oath Keepers members in Senate hallways as rioters invaded the building, shouted insults and threw projectiles at police. Owens recalled his wife bursting into tears when she saw the blood and bruises on his arms and legs after the riot.

We experienced physical trauma, emotional trauma and mental trauma, Owens said during the hearing in Washingtons federal court . The traumas we suffered that day were endless.

Rhodes scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad as he listened to the statements.

Terri McCullough, who was chief of staff to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said rioters were trying to hunt down the California Democrat as her staffers hid in a conference room for hours, hearing chants and threats.

The defendants violated our workplace, our government and our democracy, McCullough said, adding, Democracy succeeded.

Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who was assigned to Pelosi's security detail, said some of his co-workers have quit because of what they experienced.

Lives and careers have been ruined and will never return to normal, he said.

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who encountered Oath Keepers in the Rotunda, said rioters turned the citadel of American democracy into a crime scene. Dunn said he is a shell of his former self and dreads coming to work every day.

While he still feels scarred by Jan. 6, Dunn said he found a little relief from the jury's conviction of Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, adding that he is profoundly grateful that, in this case, justice has been done.

The judge also heard statements from Virginia Brown, who was a Senate chamber assistant and helped carry a box of electoral votes across the Rotunda on Jan. 6. As the mob breached the Capitol, Brown kicked off her shoes so she could run faster. She recalled fearing for her life and praying that she wouldn't encounter any insurrectionists.

I constantly relive the memories of that day, said Brown, who was a college sophomore at the time. I cannot measure how many hours of sleep I've lost.

Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November alongside Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs after prosecutors spent weeks making the case that Rhodes and his extremist group followers had plotted an armed rebellion to keep Biden, a Democrat, out of the White House in favor of Trump, a Republican.

Rhodes, who didnt go inside the Capitol, took the witness stand at trial and told jurors that there was never any plan to attack the Capitol and that his followers who did went rogue.

Meggs will also be sentenced on Thursday, followed by two Oath Keepers on Friday who were acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other crimes. Another four Oath Keepers convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial in January will be sentenced next week.

Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for the Oath Keepers besides Rhodes.

The judge canceled the sentencing scheduled this week for one defendant, Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia, as he weighs whether to overturn the jurys guilty verdict on obstruction and a documents tampering charge.

Prosecutors are urging the judge to apply enhanced penalties for terrorism, arguing the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Judges have so far rejected the Justice Department's request to apply the so-called terrorism enhancement in the handful of Jan. 6 cases it has sought it in so far, but the Oath Keepers case is unlike any others that have reached sentencing to date.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a week to over 14 years. The remainder have received sentences such as probation or home detention.

The sentences for the Oath Keepers may signal how much time prosecutors will seek for leaders of another far-right group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial this month. Those defendants include former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is perhaps the most high-profile person charged in the sprawling Jan. 6 investigation. The Proud Boys are scheduled to be sentenced in August and September.

Over seven weeks of testimony, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to defend Trump, discussed the prospect of a bloody civil war and warned that the Oath Keepers may have to rise up in insurrection to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act.

On Jan. 6, Rhodes' followers shouldered their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. The Oath Keepers had stashed weapons at a Virginia hotel for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if needed. The weapons were never deployed.

Rhodes' lawyers are urging the judge to sentence him to the roughly 16 months behind bars he has already served since his January 2022 arrest. In court papers filed this month, Rhodes attorneys argued that all of Rhodes writings and statements were protected political speech.

None of his protected speech incited or encouraged imminent violent or unlawful acts, nor were any likely to occur as a result of his speech, they wrote.

___

Richer reported from Boston.
Elon Musk wants to turn Twitter into a digital town square, but his much-publicized Twitter Spaces kickoff event, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing his run for president, struggled with technical glitches and a near half-hour delay Wednesday.

The billionaire Twitter owner said the problems were due to straining servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. But even at their highest, the number of listeners listed topped out at around 420,000, far from the millions of viewers that televised presidential announcements attract.

Theres so many people, said host David Sacks amid the disruptions. Weve got so many people here that we are kind of melting the servers, which is a good sign.

After it concluded without further disruptions, Musk, DeSantis and Sacks played off the event as a success, with Sacks quipping it's not how you start, it's how you finish  and we finished really strong."

Musk a day earlier dubbed the event a historic first for Twitter, saying it would be the first time something like this is happening on social media. The webcast was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET but nearly 30 minutes passed with users getting kicked off, hearing microphone feedback and enduring other technical problems before it finally began. The audience remained under 500,000.

DeSantis opponents had a field day with the delayed announcement.

"Glitchy. Tech issues. Uncomfortable silences. A complete failure to launch. And thats just the candidate! said Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for former President and current candidate Donald Trump.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, tweeted, We had more people join when I played Among Us, referencing the popular video game.

Twitter has suffered a host of technical issues since Musk took over and fired or laid off roughly 80% of its staff  including engineers tasked with keeping the site running. A day before the DeSantis event, speaking at The Wall Street Journals CEO Council Summit in London, Musk expressed confidence about Twitter's future and said he is going to start adding people to the company but gave no further details.

Musk bought Twitter last fall for $44 billion. Since then, he has upended the platform's verification system, loosened its content moderation policies in line with his views as a free speech absolutist, spread misinformation and engaged with far-right figures, all the while working to attract jittery advertisers back to the platform to turn it profitable. His grand vision, he has said repeatedly, is to eventually turn Twitter into an  everything app  for everyone  a digital town square where people can hear from world leaders and politicians without the need for traditional media as a go-between.

But he seems to mainly be courting conservatives and Republicans lately, referring to Democrats and liberals as infected by the woke mind virus and reinstating extremist accounts that were banned by Twitter's previous administration.

Wednesday's campaign launch event with DeSantis continued the trend  though it remains to be seen whether the platform can become a go-to destination for mainstream politicians when it continues to show evidence of instability. For instance, the word DeSaster was trending on Twitter Wednesday evening as users mocked the botched campaign launch.

In the world of traditional media and politics, a glitchy half-hour delay and an audience in the hundreds of thousands rather than millions, Wednesday's Twitter Spaces event might look like a failure. But in Silicon Valley, failure is often spun as positive, even essential in developing new products and improving existing ones. Twitter Spaces  which Twitter launched in 2020 to compete with the then-popular audio chat site Clubhouse  is generally not used for audiences in the hundreds of thousands, so in some ways it was not a surprise that the event was marred with technical problems.

It's much worse for DeSantis than it is for Musk, said Jo-Ellen Pozner, a business professor at Santa Clara University, noting that just a month ago Musk's SpaceX launched a rocket that exploded minutes after its launch from Texas. After the explosion, Musk called it an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months" in a tweet.

It is clearly a difficult situation for DeSantis, who wants to project competence, who wants to forestall criticism, she said. Musk has an easier out by just saying that this was the first time we tried it, it didnt work out perfectly, but next time well do much better, in the classic Silicon Valley approach to failing fast and learning more.

Pozner said it remains an open question how Twitter is going to be valued as a broad digital platform down the line.

I think will depend on, you know, how he and the top management react to this and how they spin it, she said.

After DeSantis logged off, Musk and Sacks extended an open invitation to any other presidential candidate who wants to do a Twitter Spaces event. Whether or not they get any takers could signal what the future holds for Twitter as a public square."

___

This story has been updated to correct the day of the week that the Twitter Spaces event took place. It was Wednesday, not Tuesday.
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LONDON (AP)  The U.K. interior minister wont face investigation over allegations that she tried to pull strings after getting a speeding ticket, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday, in an attempt to lay to rest one of several ethics claims dogging the Conservative government.

Sunak said he had consulted his standards adviser over the claims about Home Secretary Suella Braverman and decided her actions didn't breach the code of conduct for government ministers.

But Sunak gently chastised Braverman, saying a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.

The case centers on a speeding ticket Braverman got last year, when she was the U.K. attorney general. The Sunday Times reported that Braverman had asked civil servants to arrange a private speed-awareness session for her, rather than the usual group course for drivers who commit minor offenses. The newspaper said that civil servants refused to get involved.

In a letter to Sunak, Braverman said she had made inquiries about doing the driving course in a way that maintained her security and privacy as a senior government minister with police protection.

I recognize how some people have construed this as me seeking to avoid sanction  at no point was that the intention or outcome, Braverman said.

She said she ultimately opted to pay a fine and receive demerit points on her license rather than taking the course.

I regret that my attempt to find a way to participate in the course in a manner that would have satisfied these (security and privacy) concerns has enabled some to construe a potential conflict of interest, Braverman said.

Braverman is a favorite of the right wing of the governing Conservative Party who has championed the U.K.s controversial plan to send asylum-seekers who cross the English Channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

Sunak promised a government of integrity, professionalism and accountability when he took office in October after three years of tumult under predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. But he has lost several ministers to rule breaches.

Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson quit in November over bullying allegations, Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi was fired in January for failing to come clean about a tax dispute, and Dominic Raab quit as deputy prime minister last month after an investigation found he had bullied civil servants.

Sunak himself is also being investigated. A parliamentary watchdog is studying whether he properly disclosed his wifes interest in a company that stands to benefit from a big boost to government-funded childcare.

Johnson, who resigned in July, is also back in the spotlight. The former prime minister, who was fined last year for breaking his own governments pandemic lockdown rules in the so-called partygate scandal, has been reported to police again over more potential breaches of COVID-19 restrictions.

Johnson was reported by civil servants over alleged visits to Chequers, the prime ministers official country retreat, as well as potential breaches in the leaders Downing Street residence.

The Metropolitan Police force and Thames Valley Police said they were assessing details relating to incidents between June 2020 and May 2021. Johnson denies wrongdoing.

The material came to light as lawyers were helping Johnson prepare his submissions and testimony to Britains upcoming public inquiry into how the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, retired judge Heather Hallett, who is chairing the probe, chastised officials for trying to withhold parts of Johnson's diaries and his WhatsApp messages from the inquiry. She said that "the entire contents of the specified documents are of potential relevance to the lines of investigation being pursued by the Inquiry.
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The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner returned to a familiar theme this week  bashing the country's military leadership for failures in the war in Ukraine. That 's something only a select few can do publicly without drawing retribution from the Kremlin.

The comments by Yevgeny Prigozhin underscored his long-running feud with the Defense Ministry.

This time, however, they came as Moscow could boast of a rare, badly needed victory in the 15-month war in Ukraine, when Prigozhin and his fighters raised a Russian flag in the eastern city of Bakhmut after a long and bloody battle.

He turned that moment of triumph into an opportunity just days later to moan about Russian failures in Ukraine.

A look at the 61-year-old Prigozhin and Wagners role in the war:

WHAT DID PRIGOZHIN SAY?

Using blunt and coarse language in an almost 80-minute video interview Tuesday to a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin said that somehow nothing is working out for us in Ukraine.

He returned to a Kremlin line at the start of the war in February 2022. At the start of the war, President Vladimir Putin tried to justify the invasion by falsely saying it was a campaign against Nazis, even though Ukraine has a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and who heads a Western-backed, democratically elected government.

We came rudely (into Ukraine), walked with our boots on all over Ukraine in search of Nazis. While looking for Nazis, we bumped off everyone we could," Prigozhin said, citing retreats from areas around Kyiv and the southern city of Kherson.

Russia failed to demilitarize Ukraine, one of the goals stated by Putin on the first day of the invasion, but instead turned Kyiv's army into one of the strongest in the world with more quality equipment and training.

Commenting on Bakhmut, Prigozhin said he lost about 20,000 men from his private army.

WHAT'S PRIGOZHIN'S BACKGROUND?

Prigozhin was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Following his release, he opened a restaurant business in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. It was in this capacity that he got to know Putin, then the citys deputy mayor.

Prigozhin used that connection to develop a catering business and won lucrative Russian government contracts that earned him the nickname Putins chef. He later expanded into other areas, including media and an infamous internet troll factory that led to his indictment in the U.S. for meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

In January, Prigozhin acknowledged founding, leading and financing the shadowy Wagner company.

WHERE HAS WAGNER OPERATED?

Wagner was first seen in action in eastern Ukraine soon after a separatist conflict erupted there in April 2014, in the weeks following Russias annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

While backing the separatist insurgency in the Donbas, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, Russia denied sending its own weapons and troops there despite ample evidence to the contrary. Engaging private contractors in the fighting allowed Moscow to maintain a degree of deniability.

Prigozhins company was called Wagner after the nickname of its first commander, Dmitry Utkin, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Russian militarys special forces. It soon established a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness.

Wagner personnel also deployed to Syria, where Russia supported President Bashar Assads government in a civil war. In Libya, they fought alongside forces of commander Khalifa Hifter. The group has also operated in the Central African Republic and Mali.

Prigozhin has reportedly used Wagners deployment to Syria and African countries to secure lucrative mining contracts. U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland said in January the company was using its access to gold and other resources in Africa to fund operations in Ukraine.

Some Russian media alleged that Wagner was involved in the 2018 killings of three Russian journalists in the Central African Republic who were investigating the groups activities. The slayings remain unsolved.

WHAT IS WAGNERS REPUTATION?

Western countries and U.N. experts have accused Wagner mercenaries of human rights abuses throughout Africa, including in the Central African Republic, Libya and Mali.

In 2021, the European Union accused the group of serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, and of carrying out destabilizing activities in the Central African Republic, Libya, Syria and Ukraine.

Video has surfaced purporting to show some of the activities that have contributed to Wagner's fearsome reputation.

A 2017 online video showed a group of armed people, reportedly Wagner contractors, torturing a Syrian and beating him to death with a sledgehammer before mutilating and burning his body. Russian authorities ignored requests by the media and rights activists to investigate.

In 2022, another video showed a former Wagner contractor beaten to death with a sledgehammer after he allegedly fled to the Ukrainian side and was repatriated. Despite public outrage and demands for an investigation, the Kremlin turned a blind eye.

WHAT'S WAGNERS ROLE IN UKRAINE?

Wagner has taken an increasingly visible role in the war as regular Russian troops have suffered heavy attrition and lost territory in humiliating setbacks.

Prigozhin toured Russian prisons to recruit fighters, promising pardons if they survived a half-year tour of front-line duty with Wagner.

In the interview this week, he said he had recruited 50,000 convicts, about 10,000 of whom where killed in Bakhmut; a similar number of his own fighters have died there.

He said he had 50,000 men at his disposal in the best times, with about 35,000 on the front lines at all times. He didnt say whether these numbers included convicts.

The U.S. has estimated Wagner had about 50,000 personnel fighting in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts. A U.S. official says nearly half of the 20,000 Russian forces killed in Ukraine since December have been Wagners troops in Bakhmut.

The U.S. assesses that Wagner is spending about $100 million a month in the fight. In December, Washington accused North Korea of supplying weapons, including rockets and missiles, to the Russian company in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Both Wagner and North Korea denied the reports.

HOW HAS PRIGOZHIN CRITICIZED RUSSIAS MILITARY?

If the U.S. accusation is true, Wagners reach for North Korean weapons may reflect its long-running dispute with the Russian military leadership, which dates to the companys creation.

Prigozhin claimed full credit in January for capturing the Donetsk region salt-mining town of Soledar and accused the Russian Defense Ministry of trying to steal Wagners glory. He has repeatedly complained the Russian military failed to supply Wagner with sufficient ammunition to capture Bakhmut and threatened to pull out his men.

Troops purported to be Wagner contractors in Ukraine recorded a video in which they showered the chief of the Russian militarys General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, with curses and accusations of failing to provide ammunition.

Prigozhin also has singled out Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for withering criticism, accusing military leaders of incompetence. His frequent complaints are unprecedented for Russias tightly controlled political system, in which only Putin could air such criticism.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that Prigozhins remarks critical of the war could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

Once a shadowy figure, Prigozhin has increasingly raised his public profile, boasting almost daily about Wagners purported victories, sardonically mocking his enemies and complaining about the military brass.

Asked recently about a media comparison of him with Grigory Rasputin, a mystic who gained fatal influence over Russias last czar by claiming to have the power to cure his sons hemophilia, Prigozhin snapped: I dont stop blood, but I spill blood of the enemies of our Motherland.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war
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AMECAMECA, Mexico (AP)  Concern about the Popocatepetl volcano changes with the wind. While east of the mountain residents swept streets and didnt remove their masks on Tuesday, here to the west, they casually watched the gas and ash plume emerging from its crater.

The 17,797-foot (5,425-meter) mountain just 45 miles (about 70 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City and known affectionately as El Popo, has been belching for days, dusting towns and crops in Puebla in a super-fine ash.

When nothing is happening we worry, said a cheerful Viridiana Alba, who has been selling flowers in Amecamecas central plaza for 25 years. El Popo, as the volcano is affectionately known, rises directly across from her stand.

We know that right now its releasing smoke, thats freeing the energy that it holds, she said. Ash still rests on the awning that shades her plants from when the wind blew her way last weekend. The town was shaken by the volcanos tremors, but as long as the ash remains light she believes it will help her plants.

Winds have blown a large plume of ash east over Puebla and Veracruz states and eventually the Bay of Campeche and beyond.

Mexicos National Center for Prevention of Disasters said in its report Tuesday that small domes of lava continued forming inside the crater that were then being destroyed by small and moderate explosions. It advised that people living in communities near the volcano would likely continue those explosions over the coming days and weeks.

Three days ago my house shook almost all night, it was amazing, said Arturo Benitez, a former local official. The sound of the volcano was strong, it resembled a lit boiler and a lot of ash fell, but then suddenly on this side it settled down.

That was Sunday, when authorities raised the alert level, while maintaining there is not current risk to the population.

No evacuations have been ordered, but authorities have been driving evacuation routes, preparing some shelters and doing simulation drills.

On Cortes Pass, a small highway that crosses a saddle between Popocatepetl and the inactive Iztaccihuatl volcano, a couple dozen civil defense vehicles and soldiers blocked the way Tuesday.

The road was closed to traffic and most of the cabins that draw tourists were empty.

Castula Sanchez, 75, who sells food to tourists on the weekends, was confident Popocatepetl would settle down again and the tourists would return. She lives in nearby San Pedro Nexapa where three decades ago lava arrived close to her home before they could evacuate, but they were spared.

Now she runs a local information service from the back of her shop. Residents bring her short messages scribbled on a piece of paper that she then reads over a loudspeaker the whole community can hear. So far authorities have asked nothing of her, just to keep an eye out.

In Amecameca, police handed out pamphlets with tips on being prepared in case the volcanos activity increased. The pamphlet recommended having important documents at hand, a full gas tank, masks and towels to dampen if residents had to leave in a hurry.

Most residents already know, especially those who remember an eruption in 1997 that darkened the sky, thundered ... and a muddy rain fell, Benitez said.

The pyroclastic cloud came to Amecameca and it was chaos, everyone wanted to leave then and it was tremendous, he said.

The only time Popocatepetl triggered a red alert on the governments stoplight-style system since emerging from decades of dormancy in 1994 was in 2000. The volcanos last major eruption was more than 1,000 years ago.

The activity this time has so far not been significant for locals, but the localized impacts could be real for residents on one side of the volcano while everything is normal on the other.

Benitez who worked years ago as a photographer with federal authorities monitoring the volcano said he thought coverage in recent days had been a bit exaggerated. Its not that bad, except if they know something we dont know, because the activity has lessened.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador too downplayed the situation Tuesday.

We are going to be watching and if there's anything we're going to inform, he said. But we feel like there isn't going to be a problem.
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SYDNEY (AP)  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck new agreements Wednesday with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on migration and green hydrogen, while raising concerns about attacks on Hindu temples in Sydney.

Modi was welcomed Tuesday by around 20,000 cheering fans, many chanting Modi, at a Sydney stadium for his second visit to Australia as Indias leader.

But his visit has also been protested by activists who accuse his government of restricting Muslim and other minorities rights, as well as press freedom. Anti-Modi posters appeared around Sydney, and Hindu temples in Sydney's west were recently vandalized. Sikhs have also used the visit to demand a separate state.

Modi, a Hindu, said he had raised the issue of attacks on temples with Albanese, who assured him that authorities would take strict actions against the culprits.

We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between India and Australia by their actions or thoughts, Modi told reporters through an interpreter in a joint press conference with Albanese. Neither leader took questions.

The Indian diaspora accounts for only 3% of Australias population but is the nations fastest growing ethnic minority. Modi described the diaspora as the real strength in the growing bilateral relationship.

Modi is the only leader of the Quad nations to continue with his scheduled visit to Australia after U.S. President Joe Biden pulled out of a planned meeting of the group in Sydney to return to Washington to focus on debt limit talks. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who hosted a Group of Seven summit last week, later canceled his Australia trip as well.

Modi arrived Monday night in Sydney from Papua New Guinea, where he hosted a meeting with Pacific Island leaders to discuss ways to better cooperate.

Modi and Albaneses meeting Wednesday reinforced their commitment to an open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific region, the Australian prime ministers office said in a statement.

The prime ministers announced a new migration agreement that will promote two-way mobility of students, graduates, academic researchers and business people. They also agreed on the terms of reference on a bilateral Green Hydrogen Task Force that will promote cooperation on producing the gas without use of fossil fuels.

The leaders said they expect to complete negotiations on a free trade deal before the end of the year. They also announced new diplomatic posts in Bengaluru, India, and Brisbane, Australia.

Modi last visited Australia in November 2014, just months after his government was first elected.

___

McGuirk contributed from Canberra, Australia.
Weekend Today Anchor/Reporter

Xavier joined the Local 3 team in May of 2023 as a Reporter/Anchor. He is from Montgomery, Alabama, and is a huge Alabama Crimson Tide fan. (Roll Tide) Xavier is excited to cover stories in the Scenic City and beyond.
From left: UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter and Tech President Phil Oldham sign a memorandum of understanding formalizing a new partnership on workforce development supporting cleanup at the Oak Ridge Reservation.
Joseph Farmer, 36, and Trevor Casteel, 27, of Chattanooga, both face charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and more.
Ray Stevenson, the Irish actor who played the villain in RRR, an Asgardian warrior in the Thor films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBOs Rome, has died
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meets with resident Joe Biden to discuss the debt limit in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, May 22, in Washington.
Longford's tourism potential has been given a major boost following the crowning of Fiona Egan Cloughan Farm & Cookery School as Ireland's premier culinary facility.

The Abbeyshrule based establishment was named the Best Cookery School in Ireland at the recently held Irish Restaurants Awards.

Fiona Egan, who has been at the helm of the south Longford enterprise since 2012, told of how she had been absolutely blown away by news of the award.

It was absolutely fantastic, she said, when reflecting on the triumph at Dublin's Clayton Hotel last Monday week (May 15).

Now in their 14th year, the Irish Restaurant Awards have become one of the biggest events in the Irish food calendar.

Fiona spoke of how the school itself might not have been set up but for an impromptu encounter just over a decade ago.

The cookery school started by accident I suppose, she said.

I was asked to do a kids class in 2012 and after that it ran on an ad hoc basis until 2018 when I said to myself: 'Right, that's it, I am either doing it or I am not.

Fiona's enterprising and self-starting mindset was one she employed with her husband Michael Farrell in bringing the Cloughan brand from a mere idea into a sustainable and now award winning reality.

I took out a wall and sledge(hammer) myself and got it (school) up and going in 2019, but then, of course, Covid kicked in, she said.

Despite having to navigate its way through undoubtedly the greatest health emergency this country has ever seen, the husband and wife double act have been no strangers to the award winning spotlight.

For two years in succession, the enterprise was named local food hero at the same Irish Restaurants Awards it now occupies as the country's most outstanding cookery school.

That honour, in recognition of its ability to promote food culture at a local level would ultimately lay the foundations for further success at regional and more recently national level.

Fiona's penchant for farming needs little by way of introduction. The daughter of renowned ploughman Eamon Egan, Fiona has three decades of her own behind her while husband Michaal is a fourth generation farmer in his own right.

We are representing the farming and rural communities, she said.

What this is (award) is due recognition for the farm gate and its contribution to the tourism and agri food industry.

Fiona reserved a special mention for Longford County Council, Longford Tourism Failte Ireland and the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

All four combined have done huge work in stepping outside the traditions of tourism by providing a new platform of tourism by bringing it into the farm and for that we are very grateful, she said.
The north Longford village of Drumlish came to a standstill last Saturday morning as scores of mourners paid an emotional farewell to gentle giant Seanie Reilly.

The much loved and admired father of four tragically lost his life following a two vehicle crash at Esker South, Ballinalee, Co Longford last Saturday week (May 12).

Dozens of motorcyclists from Mr Reillys beloved Devils Disciples Motorcycle Club and beyond led a raucous funeral procession into St Marys Church for a service that was as unique as it was befitting of the Longford mans persona.

Dozens of sympathisers stood solemnly outside as Mr Reillys coffin, draped in his own motorcycle clubs flag was led into the church.

Inside, chief celebrant Fr Bernard Hogan empathised with Mr Reillys wife Sinead and family, saying the tragic events of seven days earlier had cast a deep shadow over the local community.

Seanie was a biker and loved the thrill and freedom that came with that, he said.

When Seanie set out on his motorbike last Saturday to help a friend, little did know how his journey would end.

Sinead and family would not be prepared for the devastating news that was to follow.



The sense of shock and loss that filled the pages of social media over the past week from family, bikers, associates, neighbours and friends all expressing their sense of shock and loss at how Seanie had made his final journey and the sound of his motorbike silenced, to be heard no more.

The Drumlish parish priest said Mr Reillys untimely death was one which had brought untold heartbreak to the door of those who had unwittingly been caught up in last Saturdays tragedy.

We cannot forget that another family is also suffering at this time, he said.

Nobody sets out to cause an accident or to be in an accident but such events happen and the resulting pain is not confined to anyone, but reaches into the lives of many.

Fr Hogan also told of how various social media platforms had been flooded with heart-rending tributes in the days since, messages he said which illustrated Mr Reillys warm and affable character.

The tribues paid online testified to that, he said.



Some of the relevant quotes from his peers and friends speak of a true gentleman, a gentle giant with a willingness to help others and a smile that would turn any wet day into sunshine.

Symbols indicative of those sentiments were brought to the altar close family members.

Among them included a helmet, exemplifying Mr Reillys passion for motorbikes, family photographs and a cup of tea, symptomatic of the auto electrician specialists genial nature.

In a moving eulogy, his long time friend and Devils Disciples Motorycle Club member, B.A. spoke of a man who, together with his wife Sinead, dedicated his life to help others, most typically through his involvement with Longford Food Bank.

They loved and had pride in their community and invited untold numbers of people into their home for food and shelter, he said.

It occurred to me then that it was this trait that played no small part in the makings of this man, a man of such physical presence.

He loved his family, he doted on his children and was very proud of them.



He was loved by everyone whose lives he touched. Seanie (Bull) Reilly lives in our hearts now and I am lucky to have met, he was my friend and I will miss him.

Following funeral mass, a large convoy of motorcycles led Mr Reillys hearse to Longfords Ballymacormack Cemetery for burial.

The late Mr Reilly is survived by his wife Sinead, sons Darragh, Darwin and Peter, daughter Katie, his Mammy Mary, brother Gerard, sister Antoinette, brothers-in-law Sean and Noel, sister-in-law Mary, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, his brothers from the Devils Disciples MC Ireland, relatives, Good neighbours, and wide circle of friends.
The Armed Response Unit was called on a man who, in a state of drug induced paranoid delusion, claimed he was going to be killed by Longford gardai at a petrol station last year.

Defendant, Marek Ryczkowski of 10 Ardnacassa Manor, Longford, pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a risk to another and driving without insurance.

The first State witness, Garda Noel Fahey, gave evidence of the events of April 10, 2022. At 3:40pm at Texaco Camlin Service station Michael Connolly and his wife Petunia Connolly stopped to get fuel.

Petunia Connolly stayed in the car, her husband went into the shop. While the car was parked the defendant pulled into the garage and collided with the Connolly's vehicle.

Mrs Connolly described a loud bang as the car ran into the side of the car. Mr Connolly emerged from the petrol station, and spoke to the driver of the car that crashed into his stationary car. Mrs Connolly was totally dazed by the incident.

Mr Ryczkowski got out of his car and had blood on his right hand. When Mr Connolly said he was going to call the gardai the defendant started shouting. He said: Dont call the Longford guards, and, Help me, they are trying to kill me.

The court was told that Mr Ryczkowski was suffering from delusion. He said Longford gardai were corrupt and were out to kill him. He had earlier called the 999 service saying someone was trying to shoot him.

Gardai were on alert because during that call the defendant said someone had a gun, and later a civilian witness called gardai believing Mr Ryczkowski had a gun in his car.

When Mr Connolly said he was going to contact emergency services the defendant wrote on a piece of cardboard Call Dublin gardai.

CCTV of the collision was shown to presiding Judge Kenneth Connolly, with the judge noting the car was going very slow as it crashed into the other vehicle.

Because of the reports of a weapon a large number of gardai attended at the scene, along with the mobilisation of the Armed Response Unit and a hostage negotiator.

Woman appears in court charged with biting security guard at Center Parcs Longford Forest A woman has appeared in court charged with biting a security guard during an altercation at holiday resort giant, Center Parcs.

The defendant was shouting in Polish and English. When the officers arrived Mr Ryczkowski stepped out of his car and lay on the forecourt.

The defendant was detained under the mental health act, however psychiatric services said he was not suitable for an involuntary admission.

A search of his vehicle found a canister of pepper spray. Mr Ryczkowski made full admissions to owning the pepper spray, saying it was for his protection and that he did not know it was illegal.

Counsel for the defendant, Kieran Collins BL, described the behaviour of the married father of two as an aberration.

He explained that a friend of his clients had paid him a visit after being released from prison. The other man asked him to mind a bag, which the defendant reluctantly agreed to do.

The man returned some time later and the two men started drinking. Mr Collins explained that the other man put amphetamines in the defendant's drink.

The barrister told the court his client had developed a paranoid delusion under the influence of the drug that he was being targeted by Longford gardai.

He Googled 'how to get help' and deduced that he should go to the nearest petrol station. Mr Ryczkowski got into his car and drove to the Texaco station. He also called the emergency service number, which alerted gardai to the incidents that followed.

Mr Collins said his client is not an inherently bad person, but "had made a bad decision in taking drugs".

The defendant is in full time employment, the father of two children and there have been no further offences since.

He has two previous convictions, both dating back to 2007, one for burglary, the other for a breach of the public order, the defendant received fines in both cases.

He has resided in Ireland for the last 17 years.

The defendant's letter of apology was read into the court. In it he spoke of his ruefulness for causing trouble for the filling station owner, the community and the gardai: I will regret my behaviour for the rest of my life, he said.

Although the sole provider for his family the defendant had compensation of 1,115 in court.

Judge Connolly said the events of April 10, 2022 were very frightening for everyone who witnessed them. The judge said significant Garda resources were engaged on the day.

Although the court was not presented with a victim impact report the judge observed it must have been quite stressful, terrifying and disruptive to the people in the filling station.

Judge Connolly noted factors like the defendant's early guilty plea, a probation report ranking him as having a low risk of reoffending, and that Mr Ryczkowski has not come to adverse notice of gardai since.

The judge said the endangerment charge could attract a seven year sentence, while the no insurance charge could merit two years in custody. Ranking the endangerment at the lower end the penalty could be mitigated to 18 months.

Judge Connolly suspended that sentence for a period of three years on the defendant's own bond of 500 on the condition the accused pay a total of 5,000 in compensation by December 31.

A disqualification of three years was imposed for driving without insurance, while all other matters were taken into consideration.
An Edgeworthstown based project has been recognised for its efforts and commitment to digital innovation at this years .IE Digital Town Awards.

.IE, the national registry for .ie domain names, announced the winning entries for the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 at a Gala event held at the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone today.

The Maria Edgeworth Centre in the Digital Age was runner-up in the Digital Tourism category, which celebrates projects that can demonstrate the use of technology to attract tourists and deliver distinctive experiences, winning a prize fund of 4,000.

The Edgeworth family were respected educationalists, inventors, writers and supporters of social change who hosted famous visitors such as Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth amongst others.

A museum dedicated to Maria Edgeworth contains many interesting artefacts which have now been digitised with the help of the Bodleian Library & National Library of Ireland, as part of the digital strategy to bring the museum to a wider audience.

A new website was developed, social media accounts set up, interactive digital blackboards installed, a POS system developed and training in design software provided. The Maria Edgeworth museum enters the digital age!

The awards were created by .IE in 2021, as part of a broader four-year 1 million investment in the .IE Digital Town Programme encouraging the uptake and use of internet and digital technologies for businesses, citizens and communities.

The awards recognise and reward digitally inspired projects run by towns and local community groups. Each year the .IE Digital Town Awards offer a prize fund of 100,000 which is split across several categories.

In total, 22 town and community digital projects were recognised at this years .IE Digital Town Awards 2023  winners and runners-up across the seven main categories, three special category winners and one overall prize winner.

'Seanie was loved by everyone': Huge crowds pay final respects to Longford's 'gentle giant' The north Longford village of Drumlish came to a standstill last Saturday morning as scores of mourners paid an emotional farewell to gentle giant Seanie Reilly.

The .IE Digital Sustainability award was a new category introduced this year with Hollymount in Mayo announced as the winner with its Eco-Powered Cabinets which store life-saving equipment.

This years category sponsors included Western Development Commission, Connected Hubs, and AIB Merchant Services with Vodafone as the overall presenting sponsor.

Oonagh McCutcheon, National Director, .IE Digital Town Programme said The quality of entries in this years .IE Digital Town Awards has been incredibly impressive. Irelands towns and communities are identifying and solving connectivity challenges, driving digital innovation and developing creative digital solutions to enhance the lives of their fellow citizens. This year 22 projects were recognised at the .IE Digital Town Awards Gala event, which add significantly to the lives of their local communities and improves our nations digital footprint.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond said I want to congratulate all the winners of this years .IE Digital Town Awards. The 22 groups honoured at this years awards are great examples of how by embracing digitalisation, even small groups can make a big difference to their local communities, friends and neighbours. Congratulations again to all the winners, and thank you to every group that entered this years awards.

Representing Vodafone, Sinead Bryan, Managing Director, Vodafone Business said, At Vodafone, our goal is to be a connectivity and technology partner to our customers the length and breadth of Ireland. We are delighted to support the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 which cements our commitment to powering inclusion through technology and enabling a better Ireland through use of digital.

More information on the .IE Digital Town Awards, entry guidelines for 2024 and FAQs can be found here

Follow .IE on Twitter and at #DigitalTownAwards

The .IE Digital Towns Awards is an initiative of .IE, the national registry for .ie domain names. Find out more at www.weare.ie
Crime

By Long Island Published: May 24 2023

An attempted burglary in East Hills was foiled when a 62-year-old woman startled the masked suspect who fled the scene, prompting a police investigation and a call for public assistance in identifying the perpetrator.

The Sixth Squad of the Nassau County Police Department has released details of an attempted burglary that took place on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, at approximately 1:49 PM. The incident occurred in the tranquil neighborhood of East Hills on Hummingbird Drive.

According to the detectives' report, a 62-year-old woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, returned to her residence and parked her car in the garage. As she entered her home, she was startled by an unidentified intruder, who hastily fled the premises. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

Authorities describe the suspect as a male, standing at approximately 5'10" tall, dressed entirely in black clothing and wearing a mask to conceal his identity. The swift response of the homeowner likely thwarted the perpetrator's intentions, leaving him empty-handed.

In an effort to bring the suspect to justice, the Sixth Squad is urging anyone with information regarding the incident to come forward. Witnesses or individuals who may possess any relevant details are encouraged to contact the Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. Alternatively, the authorities advise calling 911 to report any potential leads. All callers can remain anonymous.

The investigation into this brazen attempted burglary is ongoing, with law enforcement officials working diligently to apprehend the suspect and ensure the safety of the community. East Hills residents are urged to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions to protect their homes and personal belongings.
Local News, Crime

By Long Island Published: May 24 2023

Nassau County Police investigate a grand larceny case in Flower Hill where a victim fell victim to an online scam, losing approximately $16,900.

The Sixth Squad of the Nassau County Police Department is currently investigating a case of grand larceny that took place on Tuesday, May 09, 2023, at 7:30 pm in Flower Hill. A 44-year-old male victim fell victim to an online scam while attempting to make a purchase.

According to detectives, the victim provided personal information to the website but decided to cancel the purchase due to feeling uncomfortable. The following day, the victim received a phone call from an unknown male claiming to be a Bank of America Fraud Specialist. The caller informed the victim that his bank account had been compromised.

Under the pretense of resolving the issue, the scammer sent a new card to the victim by mail and instructed him to transfer money from his account to an unknown account set up by the fraudster. This fraudulent activity occurred between May 11, 2023, and May 16, 2023, during which the victim transferred approximately $16,900.00 in US currency.

Realizing he had been scammed, the victim promptly contacted the Nassau County Police to report the incident. The investigation into this case is ongoing, and the authorities are urging the community to remain vigilant. It is crucial for residents to educate and remind their vulnerable family members, friends, and neighbors about the existence of potential scams and frauds.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: May 24 2023

SUNY and CUNY Students Whose Families Make Up to $125,000 Annually Can Apply for Tuition-Free College.

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that the application for the Excelsior Scholarship for new applicants for the 2023 - 2024 academic year is now open here. The Excelsior Scholarship allows eligible full-time students to attend a SUNY or CUNY two-year or four-year college tuition-free. The scholarship is administered by the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.

"The Excelsior Scholarship is one of the most promising programs in New York State, providing access to an affordable college education for thousands of middle and lower-income New Yorkers," Governor Hochul said. "At a time when economic disparities are widening, it is more important than ever that every student has access to the resources they need to succeed. I encourage all who are interested to apply to this critical program that will help countless New Yorkers climb the ladder of success."

Students from households with federal adjusted gross incomes up to $125,000 are eligible for an Excelsior Scholarship award. Students must also:

Plan to attend a SUNY or CUNY two or four-year college

Complete 30 credits per year towards their program of study (including Summer and Winter terms); and

Be on track to graduate with an associate degree in two years or a bachelor's degree in four years

New York State Higher Education Services Corporation President Dr. Guillermo Linares said, "The Excelsior Scholarship is a testament to New York's commitment to making college more accessible to all students, regardless of their economic backgrounds. Enabling more New Yorkers the opportunity to pursue a college degree is an important step towards ensuring that every student has an opportunity to succeed. I thank Governor Hochul for her commitment to helping students reach their potential through this program."

SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. said, "New York State's Tuition Assistance Program, Excelsior Scholarship, and other financial aid play a vital role in keeping college affordable and making SUNY such an extraordinarily value proposition. It is this ongoing commitment from our Governor and our legislators that ensures that 53% of full-time in-state students attend tuition free. Last year alone, over 20,000 students benefited from the Excelsior Scholarship, and we encourage New Yorkers with dreams of completing a higher education to apply and find out if they are eligible."

CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodriguez said, "The Excelsior Scholarship program has opened the doors of education and opportunity for thousands of CUNY students. By enabling qualifying students to attend college tuition-free, Excelsior has become an important part of CUNY's mission of providing pathways to career success and ultimately to upward economic and social mobility. We thank Governor Hochul for her continued recognition of the unmatched value and importance of higher education for all New Yorkers."

The Excelsior Scholarship is just one of the many ways New York State makes college affordable and accessible. Thanks to New York State's generous higher education funding programs, in 2021-22, more than 263,000 students received state financial aid, including approximately 30,000 students who attended a SUNY or CUNY college tuition-free because of the Excelsior Scholarship. Visit the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation website to explore other options available to help pay for college.

For more information about the Excelsior Scholarship Program, please visit https://www.hesc.ny.gov/excelsior.

The 2023-2024 Excelsior Scholarship application is open to first-time students entering college in the Fall 2023 term and current college students who have never received the Excelsior Scholarship. Students currently receiving an Excelsior Scholarship do not need to complete this application to receive continued award payments. Students eligible for the Excelsior Scholarship under the Senator Jose Peralta New York State DREAM Act can apply here.

Applications will be accepted through August 31, 2023.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: May 24 2023

$2 million for Suffolk County Community College to stimulate workforce training and redevelopment.

Long Island Council of The Navy League of the United States with CMC Josh Sturgill USN, 5th from left.

At a recent meeting of the Corporate Committee of the Long Island Council of the Navy League of the United States,US Navy Command Master Chief Joshua Sturgill who is Command Senior Enlisted Leader for Team Submarines,announced a $2 million grant for Advanced Manufacturing Scholarships supported by the Navys Submarine Industrial Base. The $2 million grant was awarded to Suffolk County Community College and will be funded over a five year period covering tuition of 500 certificate students.

The event represented the culmination of the Long Island Council Corporate Committeesyear-long effort to stimulate workforce training and re-development in alignment with the US NavysAccelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) Program.

Walter A. Poggi, Corporate CommitteeChairman and President of Ronkonkoma, NY-based Retlif Testing Laboratories stated,members of the Corporate Committee have been diligently working to develop stronger and closer ties with the US Navy, and this grant is a potential game changer for the Long Island economy and Long Island defense manufacturers. It is also pivotal for the US Navy because it will result in an educated professional workforce knowledgeable of the most rapidly evolving technologies in the manufacturing sector of the SubmarineIndustrial Base (DIB). Their skills and nationally recognized credentials will make them eminently capable of fulfilling the Navys goals to develop leading edge submarines and other vessels. These capabilitiesare direly needed today in American shipyards, with American manufacturers and throughout the U.S. military and maritime industry.

The event was held at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), Brentwood, NY campus. A crowd of sixty from over two dozen prominent Long Island defense manufacturers and defense testing organizations as well as interested parties from higher education and county, state and federal governments, were among the first to learn the welcome news. In addition to keynote speaker Command Master Chief Joshua Sturgill, other dignitaries who spoke included Rosalie Drago, Commissioner, Suffolk County Department of Labor and SCCC President Edward T. Bonahue. US Navy Rear Admiral Scott W. Pappano, Program Executive Officer, Strategic Submarines, addressed the gathering remotely via zoom conference.

For More Information: Agency Contact: Mr. Jamie Stanco,Progressive Marketing Group, Inc. (631)-756-7160, email) jpstanco@pmgstrategic.com

About Long Island Council of The Navy League of the United States.

The Long Island Council of The Navy League of the United States, is an organization dedicated to strengthening the ties between Long Island-based defense supporters, veteran service men and service women and the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and maritime sea services. The Council is multi-objective and supports the sea services by strengthening corporate involvement and promoting interaction with the military, federal government regulatory agencies, the U.S. Congress, New York State, as well as through local Interaction. Website: www.longislandnavyleague.org

About the Accelerated Training In Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) Program.
24th May 2023

Runtime 30:56





London South East were delighted to welcome the GoviEx Uranium CEO Daniel Major to our latest Natural Resources online webinar last night (23.5.20230).

GoviEx Uranium Inc is focused on the exploration and development of uranium properties in Africa. It is listed on the TSXV: GXU and OTC exchanges and currently has a market cap of 53M pounds.

GoviEx has three major projects: its flagship mine-permitted Madaouela Uranium Project is in Niger, which, says Daniel, is a very friendly mining jurisdiction where it is easy to create yellowcake and then to ship it in drums. He hopes, funding permitting, for the mine to be in construction by 2024.

Secondly the mine-permitted Muntanga Uranium Project is in Zambia and work is currently underway for a Feasability Study there. Infill drilling is underway, and the width of the open pit mineralisation being proven.

A third multi-element project at Falea in Mali is currently being sold so GXU can focus on the two more advanced projects.

The company already has a sizeable resource inventory with 130M lbs U308 in the measured and indicated categories and its objective is to become a significant uranium producer.

Daniel gives a very good overview of the global demand for Uranium which is coming in the early part of his presentation, and that is well worth a watch in itself.
(Alliance News) - Active Energy Group PLC on Wednesday said Player Design Inc has received a permit to construct and operating a CoalSwitch manufacturing facility at Ashland in the US state of Maine.

Active Energy shares rose 15% to 5.13 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

The international biomass based renewable energy business said the plant is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2023, with production of CoalSwitch pellets available during the same quarter.

PDI is a Maine-based industrial machinery manufacturer, and is partnered with Active Energy.

PDI, which was granted the permit by the Department of Environmental Protection in the state of Maine, is required to provide further data to the department within a six month period.

Active Energy has already identified customers in both the US and Europe, with the firm continuing to see increasing enquiries for the technology.

Chief Executive Michael Rowan said: "We are delighted that PDI has received the Permit which will allow them to commence production of our next generation biomass fuel, CoalSwitch. Active Energy has continued to raise the profile of CoalSwitch with potential customers, both in the US and internationally, and will be sending product to these customers immediately after first production.

"We look forward to working closely with PDI towards production and we would also like to thank the State of Maine for their ongoing support throughout this process."

By Harvey Dorset, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has been referred to the police by the Cabinet Office over further potential rule breaches during the pandemic.

Information has been passed to two forces over alleged events at both Chequers and within Downing Street.

It relates to entries in the former prime minister's official diary and came to light during a review of documents ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

The Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police both said they were "currently assessing" information they had received about potential breaches of health regulations between June 2020 and May 2021.

A spokesman for Johnson has said the events were lawful and denied wrongdoing.

According to The Times, which first reported the story, his ministerial diary revealed visits by friends to Chequers  the prime minister's grace and favour residence in Buckinghamshire  during the pandemic.

A spokesman for Johnson said: "Some abbreviated entries in Johnson's official diary were queried by Cabinet Office during preparation for the Covid inquiry.

"Following an examination of the entries, Johnson's lawyers wrote to the Cabinet Office and Privileges Committee explaining that the events were lawful and were not breaches of any Covid regulations."

It was also suggested the move was "politically motivated" and Johnson had been given no notice of the report.

Johnson was previously handed a fixed-penalty notice, along with Rishi Sunak, over a June 2020 Downing Street gathering for the then-prime minister's 56th birthday.

The Cabinet Office said: "Information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the Covid inquiry.

"It was identified as part of the normal disclosure review of potentially relevant documents being undertaken by the legal team for inquiry witnesses.

"In line with obligations in the Civil Service Code, this material has been passed to the relevant authorities and it is now a matter for them."

The Metropolitan Police said: "We are in receipt of information from the Cabinet Office passed to us on May 19 2023, which we are currently assessing. It relates to potential breaches of the health protection regulations between June 2020 and May 2021 at Downing Street."

Thames Valley Police said: "On Thursday we received a report of potential breaches of the health protection regulations between June 2020 and May 2021 at Chequers, Buckinghamshire. We are currently assessing this information."

The Liberal Democrats called on Johnson to "consider his position as an MP" following the report.

"It's outrageous that rumours of alleged rule-breaking by Boris Johnson are still being drip-fed to the public," deputy leader Daisy Cooper said.

"The fact that it's one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us still triggers a raw sense of injustice in millions of people.

"Sunak must make sure that not a single penny more of taxpayer money is spent on Johnson's legal fund; and Johnson should finally do one decent thing and consider his position as an MP."

Lindsay Jackson, spokeswoman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, branded Johnson "totally unfit for any form of public service" and suggested he "quietly step back from public life".

Jackson said: "These revelations make a grim mockery of Boris Johnson's claithat he didn't break his own lockdown rules. He lied when he said to our faces that he'd done 'all he could' to protect our loved ones, he lied again when he said the rules hadn't been broken in No 10, and he's lied over and over again since then when he's denied it.

"He is totally unfit for any form of public service, never mind being the prime minister. His legacy is one of lying, complete contempt for the ordinary people he was supposed to protect, and above all presiding over the deaths of nearly 200,000 people.

"If he had any respect he'd quietly step back from public life and reflect on the pain and suffering he has inflicted on so many."

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has accused Sunak of being "too weak" to end Boris Johnson's taxpayer-funded legal support.

She said: "These new allegations are for the police to examine but the government must explain who else knew at the time and why this has only now come to light.

"The public will be shocked that they're still paying Boris Johnson's legal bills while he rakes in millions from speaking gigs, all because Rishi Sunak is too weak to put a stop to it.

"The Conservatives are now so preoccupied by their own scandals and haunted by their own failure that they are unable to tackle the problefacing the country. Only a Labour government can turn the page on 13 years of Tory sleaze."

The government expects to pay an estimated GBP222,000 in legal fees to help Johnson defend himself in the privileges committee inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

By Nina Lloyd, PA Political Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Officially Apple hasnt told us what it will be announcing at WWDC 2023 on June 5, but there are clues if you know where to look. The latest and most blatant of these is the fact that a number of XR (or extended reality) publications have been invited to the keynote for the first time.

On Tuesday, the industry news site Road To VR revealed that it had been invited to attend Apples summer event in person, and that fellow XR site UploadVR had too. Neither site has gone to WWDC previously, and the former notes that Apple has historically not invited XR media to its events, let alone commented in any way on its XR R&D.

XR encompasses three categories of technology: virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, which covers hybrid devices that deliver both the previous types. Apples rumored Reality Pro headset is expected to sit in the third category, with a Digital Crown-style dial to switch seamlessly between VR and AR.

Reality Pro has reportedly been in development hell for years, and multiple times it has been expected to launch imminently only to hit a delay at the last moment. Most recently, the headset was widely expected to be the central attraction at Apples spring 2023 event; the fact that it wasnt ready in time may explain why the company decided not to have a spring event at all.

(Incidentally, if Apples design team had their way, the headset wouldnt be launching before 2024 at the earliest. They are understood to have told Tim Cook that the technology wasnt ready yet, but he overruled them.)

But now, surely, the time has come. The trademarks have been registered, the XR reporters are booking their flights, and the projects key players are rehearsing their lines. This isnt a drill. Its actually happening, people.
LIVONIA, MICH.  Madonna University will be hosting the Elder Abuse Has No Borders Conference in the Franciscan Center on June 15 from 8:30 am - 2:45 pm. There is a modest fee for admission ($40-45 depending on time of registration). Students and seniors are eligible for discounted registration.

Attorney General Dana Nessel will be the keynote presenter. The panel discussions will be focused on financial exploitation featuring panelists from Genisys Credit Union, Success Through Financial Empowerment, and Crime Victims Legal Assistance Program.

The three afternoon breakout sessions offer choices between speakers from Adult Protective Services, Oakland Community Mental Health Department and Forensic Nursing.

Tickets include lunch, a networking event and parking pass. The venue is wheelchair accessible. Tickets are available for purchase on Eventbrite.
According to The DisInsider, Disney is looking for a heroic, bold, adventurous and never selfish 16-year-old actress to take on the role of Moana, who is determined to fulfil the quest of her ancestors and save her people.
I tried a few things, a few ways I would use the sword that referenced my culture, and the creatives were like, What are you doing?. I explained it to them. They went, Were obsessed. Do whatever you want.
Geneva, Switzerland  Kyivs allies on Tuesday condemned Moscow for proposing a cynical draft resolution on the health emergency in and around Ukraine at the World Health Organizations annual meeting.

The draft resolution, brought jointly by Russia and Syria, is set to vie with another submitted by Ukraine and its allies which denounces Russias invasion and attacks on healthcare facilities.

The latest Russian draft resolution does not mention the year-long war in Ukraine launched by Moscow.

Frances envoy Jerome Bonnafont said the draft was a new cynical attack against the truth, adding: According to the WHO, there are over 20,000 civilian victims, health centres and workers have been targeted, there have been numerous cases of sexual assault.

Three months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, WHO member states adopted a resolution condemning Russias military aggression.

They overwhelmingly rejected another tabled by Russia, designed to be more neutral.

British ambassador Simon Manley said: We are aware that like last year Russia has passed around pamphlets to our fellow delegates, which allege that Ukraine has been attacking its own health system. This is the theatre of the absurd.

He condemned gratuitous disinformation propagated by the Russian state in an attempt to distract and confuse the World Health Assembly.

We are confident that the vast majority of our fellow delegates here today wont be fooled by such disinformation or the cynical resolution which Russia has proposed.

The WHO says there have been 974 verified attacks on health services in Ukraine, leaving 101 people dead.

The draft resolution tabled by Kyiv and its allies calls on Moscow to immediately end attacks on hospitals and health facilities.

US ambassador Sheba Crocker said: The brutal attacks by Russias forces have displaced millions, destroyed critical health facilities, deprived millions of safe and access to essential health services and disrupted essential medical supply chains.

As Russias brutality continues, the impact on global health deserves the highest level of attention, she added.

The vote on the two new resolutions could take place on Wednesday due to the length of the debate.

apo-nl/vog/ial/lcm/ach

 Agence France-Presse

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What the Professional Fighters League (PFL) will try to do is actually one of the best chances any other organization ever had to compete against Dana White's UFC. PFL President Donn Davis set out to do the impossible and managed to sign his first major star after Francis Ngannou became an oficial PFL fighter. This happened after the Cameroon star rejected multiple offers from Dana White because they didn't meet his standards. It's not only pay, Ngannou wanted several different aspects of fighters benefits to be improved. Both for him and his opponents, Francis Ngannou always asked for too much in Dana white's views.

In fact, the UFC President is convinced he offers the best possible wages to all his fighters when he is not offering any kind of medical insurance to any of them. This was one of the points of debate between Ngannou and Dana. At the same time, Donn Davis was looking on from a distance and planning his move to get Ngannou. After the announcement happened, Dana was wildly dismissive and Davis responded by using the best possible example. Netflix was once dismissed by BlockBuster Video when the streaming service was just getting started. One of those two no longer exists because they refused to keep evolving alongside the industry. Does this sound familiar?

What did Dana White say to get this response from Davis?

Even though Dana White currently has the best fighters and earns the most money, the PFL can easily start convincing fighters to jump ship if they offer more money than White does. It is only a matter of time, but White chooses to say this in the mean time: "Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me. I mean, you're going to pay a guy not to fight for a year, and it's already been like 18 months. He's fought three times, and the last three years, it's just not what we do here. It's just not what we do, and the day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen, and Francis wants to take zero risks. Doesn't want to take any chances."
A person was stabbed in a Boston grocery store Tuesday afternoon, according to the Boston Police Department.

At around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a report of a person stabbed at the Star Market at 4 River St. in Bostons Mattapan neighborhood.

First responders rushed the stabbing victim to a Boston-area hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

As of 5:30 p.m., police have not found the stabbing suspect and are still investigating the incident. Anyone with information about the incident is urged to call Boston police at (800) 494-8477.
Bama Rush, the new Max documentary, promises to pull back the curtain on the University of Alabamas high-pressure sorority recruitment.

The documentary, which will air on Max Tuesday, May 23, is directed by Rachel Fleit. It follows four potential new recruits -- PNMs, for the uninitiated -- as they navigate the rush process in Tuscaloosa.

In the trailer, interviewees call the rush process a game and a ritual of power, status and prestige. They discuss sororities focus on their appearances, as well as mental health, racism and the pressure to succeed.

One participant, Makalya Miller, references historic racism at the university and during the rush process in the trailer. The schools historically white sororities only formally desegregated in 2013. Everyone just looks at you, if you have any drop of color in you, she said. Its just awkward, I guess.

One participant, Shelby Rose, already has gone public about her feelings about the documentary, saying in a TikTok that it was very different than what it ended up being.

Rose said the crew began filming her when she was still a senior in high school in Illinois. She said they followed her to Tuscaloosa, but she stopped filming with them during rush week, because what they were doing did not align with her morals and values and it made me very uncomfortable.

Who is featured in the documentary? What are their names?

According to filmmakers, here are the primary students featured in Bama Rush:

Shelby Rose, from Quincy, Illinois

Isabelle Eacrett, from Rancho Cucamonga, California

Hailey Holliday, from Orange Beach, Alabama

Makalya Miller, from Leeds, Alabama

Other Alabama students and PNMs also were filmed throughout the process.

Who makes it through rush? Where are they now?

Spoilers ahead.

Shelby Rose is majoring in public relations at the University of Alabama with a minor in digital content engagement. Rose is now a Phi Mu.

I love the University of Alabama. It has given me so much, she said in a social media post on TikTok. If I didnt rush at the University of Alabama, I wouldnt have stayed through the first semester, because the girls I met have given so much to me ... I have nothing but positive things to say about campus and the sororities.

She has been involved in pageants for several years, and was named Miss Quincy by her hometown earlier this year.

Eacrett participated in the documentary throughout Rush Week and receives a bid from Alpha Delta Pi. She has the tagline, Im nervited -- which is like, nervous and excited.

Miller dropped during rush week and is now studying for a degree in criminology.

Hailey Holliday is Miss Orange Beach USA 2023 and recently competed in the Miss Alabama USA pageant. Holliday also left the rush process early.

Was anyone penalized by their sorority?

Its not clear whether any participants were punished for working with the film crew during or after the rush process.

The university condemned rumors about secret filming during rush week -- later confirmed when the documentary project was announced.

The University is aware of reports that outside parties have facilitated unauthorized recordings of our students involved in Panhellenic recruitment, Shane Dorrill, a university spokesman, wrote in an email to AL.com. The University unequivocally does not condone surreptitious filming or recording of students, some of whom are minors, without their consent. The University has not authorized any third-party entity to film, record, or document any recruitment activities and does not allow media inside occupied buildings such as residence halls and sorority houses.

Further, it has been repeatedly communicated that Alabama Panhellenic Association recruitment rules prohibit potential new members from filming or recording inside any chapter houses, he added. To be clear, the University is not involved with this production and finds these reported activities to be deplorable, especially when targeting recent high school graduates.

The Alabama Panhellenic Association is aware of the documentary, but previously declined to respond to participants comments or questions about filming.
Press Release

May 24, 2023 Tulfo proposes mandatory use of body-worn cameras in police ops Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo has filed a measure mandating law enforcement personnel to use body-worn cameras during special police operations and other activities to ensure transparency and strengthen evidence quality. Tulfo's Senate Bill (SB) No. 2199 or "Body-worn Camera Act" will apply to law enforcement operations including service of warrants of arrest, implementation of search warrants, enforcement of visitorial powers of the Chief Philippine National Police and unit commanders, anti-illegal drugs operation, among others. "This law will provide for an effective law enforcement operation - from investigation, apprehension, detention, and prosecution by utilizing sound and modern procedure in crime investigation," the bill read. Body-worn Camera refers to an electronic camera system designated to law enforcement units for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, and processing audio-visual recordings that may be worn during operations According to Tulfo, body-worn cameras shall meet the following minimum standard requirement: 720p or higher video resolution; built-in frame rate, audio, date and time-stamping, and GPS; eight hours continuous battery life; capability to store eight hours continuous audio-video footage; and with a night mode built-in. In filing the measure, Tulfo said that law enforcement officers are mandated to wear and activate body-worn camera to capture and record the entire conduct of operation during its execution. He added that body-worn camera shall record in full all the activities incidental to the conduct of the operation and that it shall not be deactivated until the operation has concluded and the law enforcement officers leave the venue of the activity. Tulfo said the law enforcement officer who fails without reasonable grounds to use the body-worn camera or alternative recording devices, or intentionally interferes with the body-worn cameras' ability to accurately capture audio and video recordings of the arrest, or otherwise manipulates such recording during or after the operation may be liable for contempt of court. During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs yesterday, May 23, Tulfo said that no operative should conduct an anti-drug operation without a body cam to also avoid possible human violations involving erring police officers. Mandatory body-worn cams, sinusulong ni Tulfo Naghain si Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo ng panukalang batas na inoobliga ang mga operatiba na magsuot ng body-worn cameras sa special police operations at iba pang aktibidad para mas palakasin ang kalidad ng ebidensya sa anumang operasyon at siguraduhin ang transparency. Ang Senate Bill (SB) No. 2199 o "Body-worn Camera Act" ni Tulfo ay i-a-apply sa mga law enforcement ops tulad ng paghahain ng warrants of arrest, pagpapatupad ng mga search warrant, pagpapatupad ng visitorial powers ng Chief Philippine National Police at mga unit commander, at operasyon kontra ilegal na droga. "This law will provide for an effective law enforcement operation - from investigation, apprehension, detention, and prosecution by utilizing sound and modern procedure in crime investigation," nakasaad sa panukalang batas. Ayon kay Tulfo, mayroon dapat minimum standard requirement ang mga body-worn camera, particular na ang mga sumusunod: 720p o mas mataas na video resolution; built-in na frame rate, audio, petsa at time-stamping, at GPS; walong oras na tuloy-tuloy na buhay ng baterya; kakayahang mag-imbak ng walong oras na tuloy-tuloy na audio-video footage; at may built-in na night mode. Sa pagsususmite ng panukalang batas, sinabi ni Tulfo na ang mga alagad ng batas ay may mandato na magsuot at i-activate ang body-worn camera upang makuha at maitala ang buong pagsasagawa ng operasyon sa panahon ng pagpapatupad nito. Dagdag niya, ang body-worn camera ay dapat mag-record ng buo sa lahat ng mga aktibidad na nauugnay sa pagsasagawa ng operasyon at hindi ito dapat i-deactivate hangga't hindi natapos ang operasyon at umalis ang mga alagad ng batas sa lugar ng operasyon. Sa hearing ng Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs kahapon, May 23, sinabi ni Tulfo na walang operatiba dapat ang magsasagawa ng isang anti-drug operation nang walang body cam. Sa ganitong paraan din aniya ay mapipigilan ang mga pang-aabuso at iba pang posibleng human rights violation ng mga tiwaling pulis.
??ADEX en Nueva York

La delegacion de ADEX tuvo su ultima reunion con el alcalde de Nueva York, Eric Adams (@NYCMayor), a quien se le presentaron nuestros #Superfoods peruanos, como base de la alimentacion saludable para el mundo. ??????????#MundoDeOportunidades pic.twitter.com/9OWIUBuhLS
Four Springfield men were sentenced to life in prison without parole in Hampden County District Court on Wednesday for the 2019 murder of Gabriel Irizarry, according to the Hampden District Attorneys Office.

Luis Cotto, Keith Cotto, Isaiah Fraticelli and Victor Espinosa, of Chicopee, were convicted of first-degree murder on May 19 for the shooting, according to James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden District Attorneys Office, and sentenced on May 24 to life in prison for their crimes.

Gabriel Irizarrys family has suffered an immense and senseless tragedy, which can never be healed, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said.

All four men were also convicted of possessing a firearm and possession of a loaded firearm, with sentencing of four to five years and two and a half years respectively. The men will serve those sentences at the same as their life-without-parole sentences.

The men faced charges including murder, carrying a firearm without a license, possessing a loaded machine gun without a license and resisting arrest, according to documents in the Hampden Superior Court.

Irizarrys murder took place on Nov. 3, 2019, officials said. The Springfield men pulled up alongside Irizarrys pickup truck in a Honda Accord on I-91 north near downtown Springfield around 1 a.m. near a state trooper, according to a previous report in The Republican.

Irizarry pulled off the highway and drove to Union Station, where he received medical attention before being taken to Baystate Medical Center. Irizarry remained in a coma and on life support for several days before dying of his injuries.

Trooper Patrick Dolan saw a firearm and gave chase after the shooting suspects, who took off toward Chicopee.

After leaving I-391 at exit 3 in Chicopee, the Accord crashed into a guardrail at the bottom of the ramp on Chicopee Street, Dolan said. Three of the men reportedly ran into woods; two, Fraticelli and Luis Cotto, were taken into custody.

A loaded Glock 19 handgun was located inside the Honda, along with a Taurus 9mm handgun on the ground. Keith Cotto was later arrested at Mercy Medical Center, after going there with injuries he sustained during his escape attempt.

Espinosa was the last one to be arrested. He was found by police inside a home on Southern Drive in Chicopee.

The trooper had just passed exit 6 on the highway when he observed the shooting and heard gunshots. The suspects extended a firearm out of their window and opened fire on the truck, according to police report.

At the time of their arrest, Luis Cotto was 22; Keith Cotto was 24, Fraticelli was 18 and Espinosa was 22.

Gulluni thanked investigators, prosecutors, Massachusetts State Police detectives and Assistant District Attorney Katharine Johnston for their work in the case.
A Boston police lieutenant was placed on administrative duty after he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence over the weekend, the Boston Police Department said.

Police Lt. John Earley was arrested by Walpole Police Department officers on Sunday after a motorist called 911 to report an erratic operator, a police report. Earley was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

Earley has since been placed on administrative duty, the Boston Police Department said. The Boston Police Bureau of Professional Standards is also aware of Earleys arrest and has opened up an investigation.

Around 1:14 a.m., a motorist called 911 to report a Black Ram pickup truck that had nearly gone off the road several times on Main Street, a public way into Walpole, according to a police report.

By the time Walpole police arrived on the scene, the truck was parked partially in the driveway of 2 Jean Road, the police report stated, with two front wheels on the driveway and two wheels on the sidewalk.

A Walpole police officer observed the driver  Earley  hunched over, sitting in the drivers seat with his eyes closed, the police report said. Earley was leaning against the side of the truck with the door open, holding what the officer thought was a key to the vehicle.

Earley seemed confused when the officer approached him to notify him about the 911 call they had received regarding his driving, the report said. When the officer asked Earley if he had been drinking that night, Earley responded using profanity, Oh god yeah!

The officer asked for Earleys license; however, Earley handed the officer a crumpled-up $50 scratch ticket that he had in his pocket instead, the police report said. Earley also had to brace himself on the truck door and side of the truck just to stand, the report said.

I could see Johnss eyes were glossy and there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from John that would get stronger as he would talk, the Walpole police report said.

The officer asked Earley if they were at his residence, the police report said. Earley said it was his girlfriends, who was home, but couldnt remember her name. He also struggled to call his girlfriend on his phone.

The officer asked Earley where he was coming from. Earley yelled, I didnt drive, I was drinking in my backyard! the police report said.

Earley wouldve had to conduct a field sobriety test, but because of the rain and his inability to stand up, the test was canceled, the police report said. He also refused to submit a Breathalyzer exam.

Earley was placed in handcuffs and taken to the back of a police cruiser, the police report said. As he was being driven to the police station for booking, Earley said, This is f*cked I was just coming from church! the report said.

Earley pleaded not guilty to both charges in Wrentham District Court on Monday, the Boston Globe reported.
A seafood box truck traveling on Interstate 495 on Wednesday morning overturned in Middleborough, injuring the driver, Massachusetts State Police said.

The overturned truck also caused delays to the morning commute as officials had to close one of the lanes. The left lane of the highway remained closed as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday so the truck could be removed.

At 7:11 a.m., state police said officers and the Middleborough Fire Department responded to mile marker 16.4 on I-495, where a box truck had tipped over into the wooded median strip on the highway. There were no other vehicles involved in the crash, police said.

The 2021 seafood box truck was owned by Santoro Seafood of Vineyard Haven, police said. The driver, a 23-year-old man from Chilmark, was brought to the hospital and had minor injuries, police said. Police did not release the drivers name.

Police also did not release further information regarding the circumstances surrounding the crash.
SPRINGFIELD  A federal judge will decide whether to squash cellphone evidence from the daybreak arrest of former Chicopee schools Superintendent Lynn Clark, herded by FBI agents onto her driveway while wearing only a nightgown and one sock.

Special Agent Erin OBrien was among three witnesses who testified for the government at a lengthy hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Clarks attorney filed a motion to suppress cellphone evidence recovered when Clarks home was raided by federal agents at 6:30 a.m. on April 6, 2022.

Springfield lawyer Jared Olanoff argued the FBI violated Clarks constitutional rights by pressing her for passwords to her electronic devices after she asked to call her lawyer during the raid by a dozen agents who arrived on her doorstep.

This argument that everything was so nice, everything was so comfortable  is upsetting, Olanoff argued to Judge Mark G. Mastroianni, referring to the governments version of how the raid went at Clarks Belchertown home.

Federal Judge Mark G. Mastroianni is hearing the case of former Chicopee Schools Superintendent Lynn Clark of Belchertown; she's accused of lying to the FBI. (Hoang "Leon" Nguyen / The Republican, File)Leon Nguyen

Clark was indicted on two charges of lying to federal agents amid an investigation in late 2021 into allegations that an anonymous person was threatening a candidate in the race to be the next chief of the Chicopee Police Department. The candidate was Clarks former lover, police Capt. Richard Henry, who pulled out of the running.

After the citys mayor called the FBI, Clark allegedly feigned also being victimized by the anonymous person who sent Henry 99 threatening texts. But prosecutors say Clark sent the texts herself, using an app called Phoner to mask her own number.

Clark had been working for the Chicopee Public Schools her entire career and was named superintendent in 2019. She was ousted in the wake of her arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Desroches argued that the tenor of the arrest was tame, and that agents properly protected Clarks civil rights after she waived her Miranda rights  a point hotly contested by Olanoff.

I would suggest the motion is flawed and fatally so. ... Theres not even a suggestion that this was a coercive environment, Desroches told the judge.

OBrien testified that Clark asked whether she could call Olanoff and was told she could place a call after they searched the house, brought her to the FBI office in Springfield and then onto the U.S. Marshals Service Office at the federal courthouse on State Street.

How long were you at the FBI office? Mastroianni asked OBrien.

Id estimate less than an hour, she responded.

And they have phones there? the judge asked dryly.

Id imagine they do, the agent answered.

Lynn Clark, the former superintendent of Chicopee Public Schools, sits in her office on Aug. 23, 2021. (Don Treeger / The Republican, File)

OBrien said she was part of a team of agents who were briefed the day before the raid, and that Clark was deemed low risk, so they did not approach her home with their guns drawn or bring a battering ram to charge through the door. She said Clark answered the door after a minute or two, appearing bewildered.

She was handcuffed in her doorway and led out to her driveway, OBrien said.

I distinctly remember she was wearing one sock, and the other foot was bare, the agent testified.

OBrien added that Clark later thanked agents for their kindness.

Olanoff also argued that previous cases with similar issues unfairly box in defendants, if they dont use precise semantics when invoking their 5th Amendment rights not to incriminate themselves.

Its rare that you ever see the perfect invocation. These constitutional rights have to mean something, he argued to Mastroianni.

The judge did not rule on the motion but took it under advisement.
SPRINGFIELD  Mall Barbers  which opened with the rest of the Eastfield Mall in 1968  is starting to look a little rough in the malls final weeks.

There are huge blank spots on the walls where some of the mirrors have been removed. Wood trim is gone. Four of six barber chairs have been taken out, leaving blank spots in the tile floor.

Owner Maria Gomes and barber Alicia Paquette have already stripped fixtures, moving what theyll need to a new location that theyll open next month just down the road in Wilbraham at 2440 Boston Rd. near Alpha Oil.

I guess you have to tear down to build back up, said Gomes, who came to cut hair for founding owner Ciro Bracci in 1979 and bought the shop from Bracci in 2008. Bracci died in 2010. It is hard to leave. But itll be great. Were glad we found a place.

Bracci, whose barbershop was first near what was then a Sears store, first moved his shop to Eastfield Mall from Springfields Pine Point neighborhood.

Eastfield Mall was built as the Pioneer Valleys first enclosed mall, with Sears and branches of downtown favorites Forbes & Wallace and Steigers drawing in shoppers.

Developer Onyx Partners Limited confirmed in March its long-talked-about plans to demolish the Eastfield Mall and redevelop the property into an open air shopping center with at least one big-box retailer. Onyx bought the 45-acre property for $4.5 million. The redevelopment is expected to cost $65-$85 million and take two years.

Shoppers strolling through Eastfield Mall in Springfield Wednesday afternoon, May 24, 2023. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

That means the current tenants  including 43 small local businesses  have to find other spots. Were moving and Join us at our new location signs are the malls fashion of the day.

Some have already found new locations, with the help of Onyx and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. Onyx has offered free rent and utilities as merchants find new spots.

The store A Dollar is moving to the nearby Walmart plaza where itll be rebranded as a party store. Old Navy closes June 23 and directs people to its Holyoke Mall store.

Hannoush Jewelers is moving across Boston Road to the former M&T Bank branch.

Dawn Cincotta is moving her kiosk  the whole thing as Onyx said to take the big rolling display furniture  downtown to The Atrium, a space at 1365 Main St., Springfield, where shell be next to The Artist Cafe.

Called Capanna, her kiosk sells cannabis accessories  rolling papers, lighters, gifts  and has branched out to items made of hemp cloth.

Ive become a bag lady, she said referring to a display of totes . I say the business is my everything-hippie hut.

Dawn Cincotta, owner of Capanna at Eastfield Mall, is moving to a new location in downtown Springfield. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

And shes glad to be in a new spot with new customers.

Mykonos, the Greek eatery in the otherwise empty food court at the Eastfield Mall, is still looking, said Kristin Hatzis who owns the business with husband Chris Hatzis.

Im sure theyll find a little nook or cranny for us someplace, she said. We want to stay in Springfield.

They plan to do takeout, which makes it harder to find a suitable location.

The owners of Donovans Irish Pub, right next door, is looking for a new location, its owners have said.

The Massachusetts Military Support Foundation Springfield Empowerment Center is still looking for a new location, said Dennis Smith Jr., managing director a the center.

About 270 military and veteran families visit the Empowerment Center in Springfield each week. The center distributes more than 7,500 pounds of food to military affiliated families in need per week.

To move, the Foundation must find a spot big enough for freezers and coolers with enough parking. It should be on a bus line.

Its been distressing to say the least, Smith said. You would think that we could find space that we can afford.

Veterans and families browsing food and other essentials at the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation Empowerment Center in the Eastfield Mall. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

As a stopgap, Smith said hes planning to switch to parking-lot, drive-through-style distribution of food parcels versus the shopping-like, drop-in pantry he runs now. Itd be similar to what the Foundation did during the pandemic.

Dave Thompson, the malls property manager, said the Foundation was using the space for free. For years, under previous owners Mountain Development, the mall offered free or cheap space to mom-and-pop businesses or pop-up shops or charities to keep the mall busy and to draw traffic.

They were also very attentive to business needs, keeping Eastfield in good repair even knowing the sale was imminent.

Now, merchants are facing market rents and are learning they are responsible for their own fixtures and repairs.

I told them, the real world isnt like the Eastfield Mall, he said.
Additional charges filed against a Vermont man accused of shooting and killing a New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail last year claim the man attempted to destroy evidence that would have connected him to the couples killing.

In January, a New Hampshire grand jury indicted Logan Lever Clegg, a 26-year-old Vermont man, on several charges in connection with the slayings of Stephen and Djeswende Reid on April 18, 2022, according to a New Hampshire Department of Justice spokesperson.

Clegg pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Last week on May 17, the New Hampshire grand jury indicted Clegg on an additional charge of falsifying physical evidence in connection with the investigation into the Reids killing.

While investigating the Reids death in April 2022, authorities accused Clegg of destroying or removing information from his laptop computer that may have connected him to the couples murder.

Cleggs murder arrest warrant was originally issued on Oct. 19, 2022, while in the custody of South Burlington and Vermont State Police on an unrelated fugitive charge issued out of Utah for felony possession of stolen property. He was arrested several months after the reported murder of Djeswende and Stephen Reid.

A New Hampshire judge set a July 10 jury selection date for his trial. Barring any delays, Cleggs jury trial will start July 11, according to the clerks office.

The bodies of the couple, 66-year-old Djeswende Reid and 67-year-old Stephen Reid, were discovered along a New Hampshire hiking trail on April 21, 2022, according to officials.

The New Hampshire couple was originally reported missing on April 20, days after they went for a hike up Broken Ground Trails in Concord, New Hampshire, the city where they lived.

Officials say the Reids left their home in the Alton Woods apartment complex shortly after 2 p.m. on April 18, 2022 and went for a walk that led them to the Broken Ground Trails. Family and friends did not see or hear from them after that, according to the statement.

The couples bodies were found in a wooded area of the Broken Ground Trails off Portsmouth Street in Concord, New Hampshire, near the Marsh Loop Trail, officials said.

A New Hampshire couple, identified as 66-year-old Djeswende Reid and 67-year-old Stephen Reid, was reported missing after going for a walk on a hiking trail earlier this week. They were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds on that same trail Thursday evening. Their deaths were ruled homicides, authorities announced Friday. (New Hampshire Attorney General's Office)

Autopsies on the Reids bodies determined they died from multiple gunshot wounds and that their deaths were homicides, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Concord Chief of Police Bradley Osgood said in a statement.

An affidavit unveiled after Clegg was charged in the murder of the Reid couple detailed extensive efforts police underwent to identify Clegg as their suspect, with a false name and a recurring description of Mountain Dew man who police determined to be Clegg.

The affidavit detailed a report of a witness coming forward the day after the Reids bodies were discovered on April 21. She stated that on April 18, she saw a couple  who she believes to be the Reids  walking up the Broken Ground Trial where their bodies would later be found.

Five minutes after passing the couple, the witness said she heard gunshots fired in the direction of the couple and ran over to the location of the shots, the affidavit stated.

While she didnt find the couples bodies, she did see a man standing there who seemed out of place and not like a typical hiker, said the affidavit. He was looking in the direction of the woods where police would later find the Reids bodies, according to the report. She said the man stood for a while looking at the woods and back at the witness.

He walked past her down the trail and headed toward the parking lot, according to the document.

The witness gave police a description of the man, and authorities released a sketch in May. Concord police then heard from residents that they had seen a man consistent with their description carrying Amazon packages and grocery bags into the woods, and believed he was living somewhere within the Concord trails, according to the report.

Authorities would go on to first make contact with Clegg just hours after the initial April 20 report of the Reid couple as missing, according to the court documents.

Police came across Clegg at a tent site area in the Concord woods during their search for the Reids. Clegg told authorities his name was Arthur Kelly, the affidavit said. Arthur Kelly was holding several cans of Mountain Dew Code Red upon meeting the police.

No records of a man by the name of Arthur Kelly were ever found, authorities said.

Once police discovered the Reids bodies the following day, they returned to Cleggs tent site area but it was cleared out. They gave him the nickname: Mountain Dew Man and looked at the local Walmarts surveillance footage, which showed a man who matched Arthur Kellys appearance purchasing Mountain Dew Code Red on April 20 but could not positively identify him because he was wearing a mask.

Concord residents also informed police of a Burnt Tent Site about a third of a mile away from where the Reids were found. A resident took police over to the site where officers observed a single tent standing padlocked with no individuals around, according to records.

A Further investigation into Clegg and his stay in Concord, New Hampshire, led police to develop enough evidence to charge the man with murder after Vermont police placed him in custody on Oct. 12.

While in custody, authorities also discovered that Clegg reportedly purchased a plane ticket from New York City to Berlin, Germany, according to the affidavit.
A trio of ducklings caught in a treacherous ducktale adventure were rescued by Massachusetts firefighters Tuesday morning.

Framingham firefighters were called to a report of three ducklings stuck in a sewer drain. The department said firefighters teamed up with Framinghams Department of Public Works and Water & Wastewater Division to rescue the ducks.

Framingham first responders rescued three ducklings trapped in a sewer drain Tuesday morning. They were later returned to their mama duck. 5/23/23.Framingham Fire Department

The first responders successfully retrieved the ducks from the sewer drain. Officials reported no injuries from the three ducklings.

Firefighters found the ducks mama and safely returned them to her care. Officials did not state whether the ducks uncle had any role to play in their misadventure.
Editors Note: This article contains a description of domestic violence.

A Massachusetts man was arraigned Monday after officials claim he cut near a womans eyes with a razor blade while she was unconscious, District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.

Ismail Mohamed, 40, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, mayhem and kidnapping.

The district attorneys office said officers responded to a call for an assault in the basement apartment of 87 Cambridge St. in Charlestown around 5:50 a.m. on Monday. The call, officials said, came from Mohamed.

Officers found Mohamed sitting on a bed while a woman was sitting on the floor, bleeding from her face.

A large amount of blood was visible on a blanket and pillow also found on the floor, the district attorneys office said, adding the woman was disoriented and unable to open her eyes.

She also had severe bruising and swelling around both eyes, mouth and cheeks and multiple cuts above and below her eyelids, police said. She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Police claim Mohamed told them he was with the woman in the apartment when a fight started. According to the district attorneys office, Mohamed said he then fell asleep. When he woke up, he discovered the victim to be suffering from the injuries. He then admitted to cutting the victims face to help reduce the swelling around her eyes, the district attorneys office said.

We see domestic violence take many forms, but an assailant cutting above and beneath a womans eyes in a stated attempt to ease the swelling caused by the assailant himself is both bizarre and disturbing. As with all domestic violence victims, this victim will be supported by prosecutors and victim witness advocates specially trained in these cases, Hayden said.

Judge Lisa Grant ordered Mohamed held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on May 25.

If you are a victim of domestic or dating violence, you are not alone.
What started as an argument over laziness between employees in a Massachusetts Star Market grocery store resulted in a worker stabbed and another charged with the assault, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced on Wednesday.

On May 23, at about 3:30 p.m., the Boston Police Department responded to a call for a stabbing at the Star Market on River Street in Mattapan, the district attorneys office stated in a press release on May 24.

Police found a male Star Market employee whod been stabbed in the stomach, the release said. The man told police hed gotten into an argument with fellow employee and Hyde Park man, Trevor Charlton, 47, when his coworkers accused him of not doing his work, the office stated.

The unidentified employee said the argument with Charlton had turned violent, and he was jumped by four or five other people, the office stated. The employee did not initially realize hed been stabbed, the release said.

Charlton told police he tackled his male coworker, got on top of the man and pressed his thumbs into the mans eyes before coworkers broke up the fight, the release stated.

Read more: Worcester City Council asks for more transparency around Polar Park

Video footage from the store shows Charlton grab a large knife and walk over to the victim before being stopped by a coworker, the release stated. The video then shows Charlton drop the knife, wait for about one minute, then pick up another object and again rush towards his male coworker.

The victim was taken to Carney Hospital after the stabbing, the release said. Charlton was charged on Wednesday with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and was held on a $10,000 bail in Dorchester Boston Municipal Court, the release stated.

Charlton is expected back in court on June 14 for a pre-trial hearing, the office said.

Fighting over something like this, much less stabbing someone over something like this, is certainly dangerous and potentially deadly. In addition to that, its an absolutely abhorrent way for someone to behave in the workplace or any other part of society, Hayden stated in the release.
Police claim construction screws were being intentionally placed on a Massachusetts road for weeks, which caused damage to multiple cars.

Peter Vasconcellos, 56, of Freetown, was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle after license revoked, operating a vehicle with revoked registration and uninsured operation.

The Freetown Police Department said Vasconcellos lived within the section of road where. the construction screws were found. Police also said they found the same screws in the drivers door compartment of his car and in the center console.

The screws are identical to those recovered from the roadway, police said.

The screws were placed on a well-traveled section of South Main Street in Freetowns Assonet Village, police said.

As a result, vehicles traveling along this section have sustained damaged tires and towns highway department has spent a great deal of time removing screws from the roadway, police said in a statement.

Police are asking anyone whose car tires were damage while driving along South Main Street to contact Detectives Patrick Lee or Kelley at 508-763-4017.
??#LoUltimo Novena Sala Penal Liquidadora de la Corte de Lima solicita a las autoridades judiciales de Israel, el arresto provisorio con fines de extradicion de Eliane Karp, para su juzgamiento en nuestro pais por lavado de activos. #CasoEcoteva.??Siga por https://t.co/ktO1mfP6HG pic.twitter.com/RYnVZp3rmo
Some students hid in nearby homes after fleeing St. Johns Prep during a swatting incident in Danvers on Monday, the Catholic school said.

During the swatting incident an officer responding the call of a possible person with a gun at St. Johns Preparatory School accidentally fired a weapon in a school bathroom, according to police. Danvers Police Chief James Lovell said the accidental discharge during the response resulted in increased response from area departments.

The incident was later determined to be swatting, which is when a false 911 report is made that is intended to prompt a major police response. Researchers say swatting incidents are on the rise since the FBI started tracking such cases in 2008.

Still, it was traumatic, Ed Hardiman, head of the Catholic school, said.

At around 1:45 p.m. on Monday, May 22, there was a report of an active shooter in Brother Benjamin Hall on the St. Johns Prep campus, according to the school. The campus went on an enhanced lockdown. Ultimately, both Danvers Police Department and Massachusetts State Police responded to the school.

At 1:49 p.m., state police said an immediate entry was made and no threats were identified. Both teams then did a second sweep. State police said there were no injuries.

Parents and guardians were informed of the incident by email and text at 2:01 p.m., the school said. Students, staff and faculty continued to shelter in place until state police cleared the buildings.

Some students fled school grounds on their own after the reported active shooter, according to Massachusetts State Police. Some of those students went to nearby homes.

We are also deeply indebted to the surrounding community and to our neighbors, who graciously welcomed students onto their property into their homes as Mondays events unfolded, the school said in a statement.

An all clear was declared at 2:09 p.m. and campus was deemed safe with no immediate danger, the school said.

St. Johns Prep is a Catholic school for boys in grades 6 through 12. The website states it has 10 student buildings on campus and 175 acres.

Classes were canceled Tuesday but students returned to the school on Wednesday. There will be extra help from counselors and comfort dogs, the school said.
Mass. Newsmakers: Part of an ongoing series talking to those with unique insight into the issues and concerns Massachusetts communities face.

_________________

For the first time, the Springfield Pride Parade organization in partnership with MGM Springfield will be holding a You Ball fundraiser a couple days before the Pride Parade to raise money for their Safe Space after-school program.

So remember how I said it was kind of easier this year? Well, that makes it a little more difficult, Taurean Bethea, leader of the Springfield Pride Parade organization, told a group of MassLive journalists on May 16.

Read More: 2023 Springfield Pride Parade leader Taurean Bethea expects 10k attendees

The theme of the June 1 gala is inspired by the MET Galas Faberge Egg and will have a secret performer in addition to a DJ and live band.

The event promises to be an inspirational evening to celebrate and honor our regions stellar LGBTQIA+ and Ally business owners, professionals, and community leaders, according to the gala website.

As part of the Springfield Pride Parades initiatives, their Safe Space program partners with Springfield businesses to place public-facing decals to commit to and demonstrate their business is inclusive to LGBTQIA+ individuals. MassLive is one of more than a dozen businesses that are a part of this initiative.

Beyond raising funds for youth-based programming through the gala, Bethea said the Springfield Pride Parade organization is partnering with White Lion Brewing to give out a $3,000 scholarship to Springfield public school student, Xayra Serrano.

Springfield Pride founder Taurean Bethea answers a question from MassLive reporters at MassLive's Springfield office on May 16, 2023. (MEREDITH PERRI / MASSLIVE)

I love the fact that were putting on this fundraising gala and then were also allowing people to see the funds go into effect immediately, Bethea said.

Read more: Trina set to perform at the 2023 Springfield Pride Parade

Other awards that will be given at the event include the Legendary Award which will be presented to Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris for her community leadership and work in ensuring the equitable distribution of resources to the LBGTQIA+ community.

The Against All Odds Award will be given to Kailey Boyd of Play It Smart MN, LLC, for supporting students in Springfield public schools through extracurricular activities.

The gala will be held in MGM Springfields Aria Ball Room starting at 6 p.m. and will end at midnight.

Tickets can be purchased here, donations are also accepted.
Girls Inc. of Worcester will host its summer camp this year after abruptly pausing its programming on May 8 and placing the CEO and COO of the nonprofit on leave, according to a statement GIW sent Wednesday.

The eight-week summer camp starts on June 26 and is held at the Girls Inc. of Worcester center at 125 Providence St. and its Camp Kinneywood campground.

The experience includes what one would expect of a summer campcrafts, swimming kayaking and hiking, as well as STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills training.

The statement blamed the programming pause on staffing shortages and said the after-school drop-in program will remain paused for now, though they are working to reopen it.

Our organization is pleased to take this important step in restoring stability and bringing back services to the community as soon as possible, Pamela Daly, board president of Girls Inc. of Worcester, said in a statement. Myran and our staff have worked very hard to quickly reestablish our summer programming and the Board appreciates their efforts and dedication to our mission.

The organization named an interim CEO on May 17, Myran Parker-Brass, after announcing CEO Victoria Waterman and COO Allison James are on administrative leave on May 5.

We are excited to be able to restore the programming plans for our Summer Camp, and we appreciate the patience and commitment of our families as we move forward through the recent challenges, Parker-Brass said. Summer engagement is an important time in the growth and development of girls, and we look forward to welcoming the girls for a summer of fun, building skills and friendships.

When it announced the administrators departure on May 5, the nonprofit also announced it was beginning an external investigation into employee concerns over workplace equity issues.

The nonprofit has not expanded on what the concerns are, but a petition on change.org calls for the removal of the CEO, COO and board and claims that a letter was sent to the board on May 2 detailing a toxic work environment that featured racist, ableist and discriminatory behavior and calling for an investigation and the removal of the administration.

A former employee, Gemelee DePasquale, filed a lawsuit against Girls Inc. of Worcester and Waterman in January 2022, alleging she was treated differently due to her identity as a Black woman with disabilities. She is seeking relief and damages.

During the pause in it programming, Girls Inc. if Worcester has continued to pay employee wages and provide them with benefits, according to the statement.
A ROSCOMMON woman who was jetting off to Lanzarote from Ireland West Airport Knock became the airport's 10th millionth passenger on Ryanair flights to and from the Mayo airport.

Grainne Rushe from Boyle, Co Roscommon, who was travelling to Lanzarote with her partner Tadhg McKenna, was the lucky 10 millionth Ryanair passenger and to mark the occasion was presented with a pair of return flights with Ryanair to any of their 16 destinations from Ireland West Airport and a bottle of Champagne and chocolates.

It's been 37 years since Ryanairs first flight from then Knock Airport departed to London Luton on December 16,1986 and at the time the west of Ireland gained its first direct link with London when the Ryanair 748 aircraft The Spirit of Monsignor Horan landed in Knock Airport, heralding the start of scheduled services between the airport and London.

There was also a Boyle connection with the first flight in 1986 when the first passengers to disembark included six-year-old Davinia Paul, who was heading to Boyle for Christmas.

Joe Gilmore, Managing Director, Ireland West Airport said they are delighted to mark yet another significant milestone in the airports history welcoming Ryanairs 10 millionth passenger to the airport.

Its been a fantastic 37 years with so many great highlights and milestones achieved along the way. During this time Ryanair has continued to grow and provide critically important international access to and from the UK market and connected the West of Ireland to sun destinations in Spain and Portugal and also delivered access to European cities such as Milan, Barcelona and Cologne which have been hugely important in growing tourism numbers to the west and northwest of Ireland.

Its remarkable that in their 37th year of operation here at the airport that it will be their busiest on record and it's testament to the popularity of their destinations and their continued expansion at the airport that record numbers will travel on their services from the airport this year. Id like to thank Ryanairs customers and in particular the Ryanair staff here at the airport, who continue to play a very important role in helping the airport and Ryanair reach passenger milestones such as this and ensure the experience using the airport continues to be both a seamless and pleasant one. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with Ryanair and expanding our range of services with them over the coming years, he said.

Celebrating the milestone, Ryanairs Head of Communications, Jade Kirwan said: We are delighted to celebrate 10 million Ryanair passengers at Ireland West Airport, with our 10 millionth passenger arriving departing Ireland West Airport this morning on our popular new service to Lanzarote  just one of the 16 routes we are operating as part of our biggest ever schedule this summer.

Ryanair has operated at Ireland West Airport since 1986 and our record Summer 23 schedule will not only provide Ryanairs west and north-west customers with an unbeatable selection of sunny hotspots and vibrant European city break destinations this summer but will continue to promote important rural development through the support of over 580 local jobs and delivery of even greater connectivity with Europe and its millions of holidaymakers. To celebrate this phenomenal milestone, we have launched a special seat sale with fares from just 29.99 for travel until the end of October 23 available now on Ryanair.com.
by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, May 23, 2023

Warner Bros. Discovery has ordered Conan OBrien to go away, but it is only for a new, four-episode travel series.

Conans new venture was announced last week at the WBD Upfront. The series is called Conan OBrien Must Go.

In the show, which is currently in production, Conan will be seen traveling to locations around the country and the world to visit people who WBD says are new fans who he has met through one of his podcasts Conan OBrien Needs a Fan. The big surprise here: Conan OBrien has fans around the world.

The Conan OBrien Needs a Fan podcasts are described as mini-episodes of his podcast called Conan OBrien Needs a Friend. On Conan OBrien Needs a Fan, he takes questions from fans who he then interviews.

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In a press release about Conan OBrien Must Go, needy Conan joked, My fans around the globe never asked me to visit them, so I did!

The release does not say if these fans welcomed these visits from Conan, or where he visited.

The new show likely evolved from his other travel series, Conan: Without Borders. These specials started when he hosted his 11 p.m. (Eastern) nightly show, Conan, on TBS.

On Conan: Without Borders, his destinations were far-flung: Cuba, Armenia, Qatar, South Korea (and briefly, North Korea), Berlin, Mexico, Israel, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Australia, Greenland and Ghana.

He survived all these trips and then came home, where he remains in the employ of WBD, which sent him away again for this new show, only to have him return again.

Conan is a national treasure  at least, thats what he keeps telling me! said Nina Rosenstein, executive vice president of HBO Programming, in the press release.

With Conan OBrien Must Go, WBD makes good on the promise made to Conan when the decision was made in 2021 by WarnerMedia to end his TBS show after 11 years.

After Conan ends, OBrien will turn his focus to his deal with WarnerMedia and development on his new show for HBO Max, which will be a departure from his current traditional talk-show format, said a news release from TBS on May 3, 2021. Conan ended the following month.

There has been no word yet on when Conan OBrien Must Go will makes its debut.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 23, 2023

Citing concerns over minors' mental health, the Biden administration on Tuesday launched a task force aimed at addressing the impact of social media on teens and children.

The new group, lead by the Department of Health and Human Services, will identify current and emerging risks of harm to minors associated with online platforms, as well as potential health benefits of using online platforms, the White House said when announcing the initiative.

The task force plans to develop voluntary guidance" along with policy recommendations.

Fairplay, which advocates for children and teens, praised Biden's move and renewed its call for Congress to pass the new laws.

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That organization supports the federal Kids Online Safety Act, which would require platforms to take reasonable measures to prevent and mitigate a host of harms potentially associated with social media use -- including depression, eating disorders, and online bullying -- when displaying material to users the platforms know or should know are 16 or younger.

Critics of that bill, including the think tank TechFreedom, say the measure could prevent minors from accessing material protected by the First Amendment, which generally protects a wide range of content that might be harmful -- such as photos associated with eating disorders.

News of the White House's task force comes the same day that Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy said in a report that social media use may be unsafe for minors.

The current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, that report states. At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents.

That report contains several recommendations, including that policymakers heighten privacy protections for teens.

Six-in-ten adolescents say they think they have little or no control over the personal information that social media companies collect about them, the report states.

The Surgeon General's report also calls for age-appropriate health and safety standards -- including protecting children and adolescents from accessing harmful content (e.g., content that encourages eating disorders, violence, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and suicide or discusses suicide means).

California, Arkansas and Utah have already passed laws that aim to regulate social media companies.

California's recently enacted Age Appropriate Design Code requires online companies that are likely to be accessed by users under 18 to prioritize their best interests and well-being."

That law also includes prohibits online sites that are likely to be accessed by minors from collecting or sharing their personal information -- unless it's necessary to provide a specific service that the minor is actively using, or unless collecting or sharing the information is in minors' best interests.

The tech industry group NetChoice is seeking to block California's law, arguing it violates the First Amendment by interfering with social media companies' editorial decisions.

Arkansas and Utah have recently passed laws that prohibit minors under 18 from using social media without parental consent. Those laws likely will also be challenged as unconstitutional infringements on teens' right to express themselves online and accessing editorial material.
Reports in recent days have suggested that Liverpool are set to pull out of the race for Sporting midfielder, Manuel Ugarte.

Despite the 22-year-old having a release clause of just 50million, the Reds are reportedly looking to spend their time and money elsewhere in the market.

This article will look at why Liverpool should be pushing to sign the Uruguay international, with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United heavily linked with the youngster.

Fitting the system:

In terms of fitting into Jurgen Klopps newly adopted system, you will struggle to find a player better suited than Manuel Ugarte.

For Sporting he plays as part of a double pivot of holding midfielders, which is the same role as he would play alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold in Klopps new formation.

This means he could slot straight in to Fabinhos current role, with many supporters suggesting that the Brazilian needs to be replacing after a massively underwhelming 2022/23 campaign.

The numbers:

Using FBRef, we looked at Ugartes statistics from this season compared to other midfielders in the Primeira Liga this season, with the percentile showing the percentage of players he is better than in that department.

Passing:

Statistic- Per 90- Percentile

Passes completed- 55.52- 94

Passes attempted- 60.61- 89

Pass completion %- 91.6%- 99

Short Pass completion %- 93.2%- 97

Medium Pass completion %- 95.8%- 99

Long Pass completion %- 77.6%- 93

Defence:

Tackles- 4.63- 99

Tackles won- 2.64- 99

Tackles Defensive third- 1.42. 90

Tackles midfield third- 2.33- 99

Tackles attacking third- 0.88- 99

Dribblers tackled- 2.53- 99

Dribbles challenged- 4.71- 99

Interceptions- 2.18- 95

Tackles+Interceptions- 2.18- 99

Summary:

These numbers prove just how solid Ugarte is both on the ball and defensively, backing up the point that he has been the best midfielder in the Portuguese league this season.

From his stats you can see he is a strong and physical presence in the middle of the field, which is definitely something that has been at an absence in Klopps side in the 2022/23 season.

Another major issue for the Reds this season has been the amount of times possession has been given away cheaply in dangerous positions, which had led to a huge amount of chances being created by the opposition.

Signing Ugarte would be go a huge way in fixing both of those big issues for the Reds and is also likely to only improve under the guidance of Klopp.

I believe the youngster would be a perfect replacement for Fabinho and would be a reasonably cheap option due to his 50million release clause.

His numbers are signifcantly better than Fabinhos but it is also important to note that the Brazilian has been playing in a much harder league in a struggling team.

The only other holding midfielder that Liverpool seem to be heavily linked with is Joao Palhinha of Fulham, who would likely cost around 50million himself.

However, Palhinha is 27-years-old, which is five years older than Ugarte but crucially does have Premier League experience.

One negative of Manuel Ugarte as a player though is his lack of versatility, very rarely moving out of that deep line midfielder role.
" " One study has an adorable explanation for why some dogs tilt their heads. moaan/Getty Images

Whether it's a basket of puppies in a viral video or one's own dog anticipating a treat, most of us have seen a dog tilt its head in an adorably inquisitive way. Makes you wonder why they do it.

A study published in the journal Animal Connections in October 2021 says it could be a sign of increased concentration. The researchers had done a previous study where they put toys in one room and asked dog owners (in another room) to tell their pets to fetch a specific toy by name. Even after three months of training, most dogs could not do this. However, the ones that could were labeled Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs.

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The GWL dogs tilted their heads to one side when they heard their owners ask for a specific toy 43 percent of the time, whereas the other dogs tilted their heads only 2 percent of the time. "It seems that there is a relationship between success in retrieving a named toy and frequent head tilts upon hearing its name," Shany Dror, researcher and co-author of the study, said in a press release.

The researchers said this was the first study to look at head-tilting behavior in dogs, but they point out theirs looked at it in a very specific situation. "Hence, it is important to refrain from thinking that only Gifted Word Learner dogs tilt their heads in other situations not tested in this study," added researcher Andrea Temesi in the same release.

So, there could be other reasons why dogs tilt their heads. What are they? First, let's take a closer look at sight, which oddly enough starts with the nose. (This will make, ahem, sense in a moment.) A dog's long snout can obstruct its vision from certain angles, so it may tilt its head to get a better look at something  especially if that something is a person's face. Research has shown that dogs use visual cues to read human expressions in an attempt to better understand whether we're happy, sad or ready to hand out treats.

Of course, not all dogs have long snouts. Another explanation may have something to do with the way dogs fine-tune to the sounds they hear. A dog's sense of hearing is twice as sensitive as that of a person's, though acuity can vary depending on breed and age.

" " Scientists have not come to one single conclusion about why dogs tilt their heads; there may be multiple reasons. Ashley Coombs/Flickr

When dogs detect noises at higher pitches, from farther away, they may tilt their heads to better handle the influx of sound waves. Specifically, dogs use the tip of their ears  the fuzzy, scratchable outer ears known as pinnae  like satellite dishes, moving them around to better hear the sounds humans are making.

Additionally, dogs have specialized muscles that help them process sounds in their middle ear. These muscles happen to be governed by a part of the brain stem known as nucleus ambiguus, which also governs facial expressions, gaze, vocalizations and head movements. That endearing head tilt? It could be nothing more than a reflex as a dog focuses on a sound.

And finally, if tilting their heads is so cute that it results in extra attention, well, that's definitely a bonus. Enough so that some animal behaviorists claim it's learned communication. Dog behavior consultant Steven R. Lindsay calls this the "social head tilt"  when a dog tilts its head in response to a human it's the dog's way of "talking." And when we respond with praise or other positive feedback  or snacks!  the head-tilting is more likely to happen again.

Now That's Interesting While a dog who tilts his head is downright adorable, if it happens too frequently, it could signal a medical issue. A cocked head could indicate an ear infection, inflammation or other issue, maladies that veterinarians can rule out.

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Originally Published: Jul 7, 2016
" " "Hey baby, wanna make like a couple of eels and reproduce?" A pair of moray eels makes eyes at each other, but what happens next? Rich Carey/Shutterstock

Online, it's become a frequently asked question. How do eels  those long, writhing fish you might have seen at an aquarium or seafood restaurant  go about making baby eels? In other words, how do eels reproduce?

People have studied the creatures for literally thousands of years, but even after all this time, some aspects of their breeding lives are still shrouded in mystery.

To get the skinny on eel reproduction, we spoke to an expert: Caroline Durif, an ecologist at the Institute of Marine Research in Storeb, Norway who studies the habits of these incredible fish. Here's what we learned.

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What Exactly Is an Eel?

Calling something an "eel" doesn't make it one, per se. No doubt you've heard of the South American electric eel (Electrophorus electricus). Despite its common name, that dramatic fish isn't really an eel. Instead, it's a bizarro carp relative that's classified as a "knife fish."

The order Anguilliformes contains all of the world's "true" eels. More than 800 species exist, including morays (you know, Ursula's sidekicks from "The Little Mermaid"), conger eels and the well-named spaghetti eels.

Usually slender and elongated, true eels don't have pelvic fins, which are twin appendages often found on the underbellies of other fish. Anguilliformes can be scaleless; many species feel slippery to the touch.

Regardless of their texture, saltwater is the preferred habitat for the majority of eels. However, there are 19 species of so-called "freshwater eels," also known as the "Anguillids," that spend much of their lives far away from salty environments. "They spawn in the sea and grow in freshwater," explains Durif in a video interview.

Of those 19 species, the three best-known are perhaps the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) and the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica).

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Early Life Stages of an Eel

Saying these fish have a complex life cycle is an understatement. If it survives to reach sexual maturity, a freshwater eel will have gone through five distinct stages. With each new phase, the animal experiences both a physical transformation and a shift in its lifestyle.

"The first [stage] is called the leptocephalus larva. They're called leptocephalus because 'lepto' means leaf and 'cephalus' means head," Durif says.

True to the name, the newborn larvae have leaf-shaped bodies that appear broad and flattened in profile. (In technical jargon, their bods are "laterally compressed.") Being nearly transparent, they're also very well-camouflaged  imagine trying to recover a lost contact lens from the bottom of a swimming pool.

Leptocephalus larvae are oceangoing animals. Eventually, though, instinct pushes them to find a change in scenery, which is where the change into the second phase of the life cycle occurs.

"For the anguillids, they migrate for great distances, they drift through the Gulf Stream. Then when they reach the continental shelf, they metamorphose into glass eels," Durif tells us. Glass eels are still (more or less) transparent, but they're longer and skinnier by comparison.

" " These glass eels were caught on the French Atlantic coast in 2021. By the time they reach there, they have already traveled some 2,796 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the Gulf of Mexico through the Atlantic on their one- to two-year migration. Jens Kalaene/picture alliance/Getty Images

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Eel Maturity

Being "attracted to freshwater" in Durif's words, the next step for most anguillid glass eels is to head inland by traveling up rivers.

That brings us to life stage No. 3: "yellow eels." Unlike the transparent larvae and glass eels, these guys have body pigment, with a yellowish overall complexion. It's not the last color change the fish will go through.

"When they're ready, they become silver eels, which is like puberty," says Durif. "We call them 'silver' because they have a silver belly and a black dorsal area ... It's an adaptation to predation."

The change doesn't happen overnight. Transitioning from a yellow eel to a silver eel can take 20 or 30 years. Once the process finally ends, they return to their roots and head seaward. Only then can the eels attain sexual maturity, the fifth and final stage in their life cycle.

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An Eel's Final Days

To quote a 2021 paper (co-authored by Durif) that was published in the journal Fish and Fisheries, we don't know much about the reproductive stage of anguillid eels "because sexually mature eels have never been caught alive in the wild."

Likewise, no one has observed these eels spawning in their natural habitat. Scientists have yet to catch wild anguillids "in the act," if you will.

Whatever happens out there, experts think freshwater eels die shortly after mating. Laboratory researchers have managed to induce sexual maturity in silver eels by injecting them with hormones.

After the transition, their health declines. "The bones become decalcified like a woman during menopause. It's super interesting, actually. And then their digestive tract, their gut, regresses," Durif explains.

Maybe that's just as well. Breeding-age freshwater eels get together in places where their usual food options (insects and small fish) are probably rare or nonexistent.

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Tales of the Sargasso Sea

Out in the Atlantic Ocean, there's a region called the Sargasso Sea. Unlike the Mediterranean, the Red and most other seas, this one isn't bordered by any land masses. Instead, its peculiar borders are formed by strong ocean currents.

Both American and European eels come here to reproduce. Research suggests they might use magnetic fields as a navigation tool.

" " The conger eel (Conger cinereus) is a nonfreshwater eel found in the Indo-Pacific oceans. Like all other eels, they release their eggs underwater, to be fertilized by clouds of expelled sperm. Gerald Robert Fischer /Shutterstock

Half a world away, freshwater eels who live in and around the Pacific Ocean have spawning areas of their own. The Japanese eel is thought to breed at a site west of the Mariana Islands. Other species could be procreating somewhere between New Caledonia and Fiji.

"The European eel has the longest migration," Durif tells us, with some individuals crossing roughly 4,971 miles (8,000 kilometers) to reach the Sargasso Sea from Norway.

Eels release their eggs underwater, to be fertilized by clouds of expelled sperm. That goes for both freshwater eels and the nonfreshwater species, such as morays and conger eels.

Speaking of which, Durif says we "know even less about conger eels than anguillid eels" when it comes to reproduction. "We think there is at least a spawning area, in the Mediterranean maybe." Hopefully, future research will shed some light on their private lives.

Now That's Interesting Some eels have a multistep feeding process. Food is sucked into the mouth and then broken up into smaller, digestible pieces when the eel shakes or twists it. Other Anguilliformes  we're looking at you, morays  use a horrifying second set of jaws to help dispatch their prey. Hey, whatever works.
Metro Creative Graphics/File Photo

Deputies with the Tuscola County Sheriff's Office are investigating a brawl involving as many as a dozen people outside of a tavern in Dayton Township early Friday.

According to a press release from the sheriff's office, deputies were dispatched to a report of an assault in progress outside of Friends Bar just after midnight on May 19.
John F. Kennedy famously said, Ask not what your country can do for you  ask what you can do for your country.

The exact number of wartime casualties is unknown, but approximately 41,892,128 people died in service to this country between 1775 and 1991, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs website.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. The International Society of Pediatric Oncology SIOP Asia 2023 XV Congress in Yerevan has concluded.

SIOP President Guillermo Chantada said at the end of the event that the congress held in Armenia in May is the most successful congress he has participated in. He praised the organizers for taking into account every detail and that all conditions were ensured for participants.

Over 500 doctors, scientists and experts from the US, China, Japan, Russia, India, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Lebanon, Great Britain, Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Lithuania and other countries participated in the SIOP Asia 2023 XV Congress in Yerevan.

They were all united by the joint struggle against pediatric cancer and mission to save lives, desire to share modern treatment options and develop the sector.

Prospects of cooperation with many organizations were discussed. Many experts said theyd want to continue the treatment of their patients in Armenia and deepen partnership. Participants will be given 24 CPD credits by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education - EACCME.

The congress featured a Survivorship Symposium, Cancer Predisposition Symposium and Immuno-Oncology Symposium, Psychosocial Symposium, Registry symposium, Surgical Treatment Symposium and Radiotherapy Symposium.

During the opening ceremony, renowned pediatric oncologist Lawrence Faulkner was bestowed with the Honorary Doctor title by the Yerevan State Medical University. The allogeneic stem cell transplant treatment option has been introduced in Armenia with Faulkners support.
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Delta College President Michael Gavin said the college intends to work with area high schools and the ALICE population in an effort to increase the semiconductor industry workforce.

Gavin was one of several college and university presidents who joined Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and business leaders Wednesday in announcing the Michigan Economic Development Corporations new Semiconductor Talent Action Team, a public-private alliance.

(Developing) the semiconductor workforce is part of reimagining what the Great Lakes Bay Region can be, Gavin said while speaking for about five minutes during a 45-minute Zoom news conference.

Gavin said Delta is fortunate to have partnerships with nearby Hemlock Semiconductor and with SK Siltron CSS, which last September opened a semiconductor wafer plant in Monitor Township about two miles north of Deltas main campus, the companys second plant in Bay County.

Like many of the other speakers, Gavin said increasing Michigans population goes hand in hand with expanding the semiconductor industry in the state.

We need to poise ourselves for an increased workforce. We at Delta are reenvisioning the curriculum and the faculty roles. Our programs need to be retailored to train semiconductor technicians.

Part of establishing a trained workforce for the semiconductor industry, Gavin said, is connecting with populations that have traditionally been overlooked.

Our service area has a significant number of low-income, low-skilled individuals, he said. We are looking at (connecting with the) ALICE population. Our dual enrollment partners are looking at creating pathways from high schools to the semiconductor industry.

ALICE stands for asset limited, income constrained, employed  referring to people who are employed but live just above the poverty line and may not qualify for state assistance.

According to Gavin, about 30% of adults and 46% of the overall population falls in this category.

Accordingly, Delta is adapting its curriculum to enable adults who are working 9-5 jobs to fast-track toward being certified to work in semiconductor and similar industries.

Were trying to put supports around them: child care, food assistance, transportation, and package all that for students who are already working, Gavin said.

Through its early middle college partnerships with school districts in Midland, Saginaw and Bay counties, Delta is introducing high school students to various engineering fields and is working to develop a seamless path for students to earn engineering degrees through Delta followed by Michigan State, Gavin said.

Earlier in the news conference, Michigan Economic Development Corporation Executive Vice President Kerry Ebersole Singh said the goal of the Semiconductor Talent Action Team is to have up to 30,000 semiconductor jobs in Michigan by 2023.

There is a huge effort to onshore this (semiconductor) sector, Ebersole Singh said. The U.S. Department of Commerce has started taking requests for $50 billion in grant funding.

In a separate interview, Midland Business Alliance President and CEO Tony Stamas noted that semiconductors are a key industry in the Great Lakes Bay Region and the state. He believes Hemlock Semiconductor is a good partner for the business alliance.

We have a long legacy in terms of high-tech industries and talent, Stamas said. To make Midland the center for that (semiconductor industry) will be a great opportunity.

For his part, Gilchrist noted that his own career in information technology was launched because he was exposed to IT careers at an early age.

Were going to create those same opportunities (in the semiconductor field), Gilchrist said.

Also speaking in the news conference were the presidents of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Michigan Tech, Lansing Community College and Washtenaw Community College; along with John McLaughlin of KLA and Jianwei Dong, the CEO of SK Siltron CSS.

SK Siltron is committed to Michigan and its people, Dong said. We selected this site (in Monitor Township) for $300 million over several other states primarly because of Michigans talent pool. Our facility will bring a critical supply chain back home.

SK Siltron CSS manufactures a specialty wafer made of silicon carbide that can be used in electric vehicles. These wafers are more efficient at conducting heat than normal silicon is.
Laker Schools/Courtesy

In a time when you can learn anything you want on the internet and artificial intelligence can write a college-level essay in two minutes, making sure students actually learn what they're being taught is a new challenge for educators. Tyler Scharf of the Laker School District has taken to this challenge by bringing STEM teaching methods to his eighth-grade science and seventh-grade social studies classes.

Because of search engines like Google and AI bots like ChatGPT, Scharf feels that the need for memorization is disappearing. Therefore, more emphasis has to be placed on giving students experiences they can't learn from reading about.
CANADIAN LAKES  Members of the Mecosta County Democratic Party, the Canadian Lakes Progressives and other area democratic parties convened at Antlers Fireside Grill in Canadian Lakes to celebrate the annual Spring into Summer fundraising event May 19.

The theme of the evening was diversity and celebrating the history of The Old Settlers of Mecosta, Isabella and Montcalm counties.

Representing the Old Settlers were descendants Carol Norman, Diana Todd-Green, Ron Snead, Gary Green, Victoria Green and Patrick Miles.

Norman has the distinction of being the first female, and first African American, to work in the Michigan oil fields.

She has delved deeply into the history of the Old Settlers and is the author of two books based on her research. She has worked closely with the Central Michigan University History Museum and the display of Old Settlers quilts, photos and biographies.

Todd-Green is on the Old Settlers' board of directors. She worked as a trustee and was involved in erecting the Veterans Memorial Wall at School Section Lake Veterans Park. As a friend of the Morgan West Wheatland Cemetery Society, she worked with the state historical preservation office to get the cemetery placed on the list of historical places.

Snead is vice chair of the Ferris State University board of directors, serves on the board of the Jim Crow Museum on the FSU Campus, and serves on the board for Eagle Village, an organization working with trauma-impacted youth. He graduated from FSU in 1971 and continues to support the university five decades later. He has been an activist for social justice for many years.

Gary Green is undersheriff for the Mecosta County Sheriffs Office. He grew up in the Remus area and graduated from Chippewa Hills High School, served with the Michigan State Police for 28 years and then took a leave of absence to assist the U.S. Army in Operation Enduring Freedom. He later returned to the state police force, retiring in 2017. He then went on to serve as the assistant director of public safety for FSU before becoming undersheriff. He is also the former minister of the Wheatland Church.

Victoria Green served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves and served stateside during Operation Desert Storm. She has worked for the Michigan State Police Criminal History Record Division. She is married to Gary Green, and they have six children and eight grandchildren.

Patrick Miles is the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, appointed by President Barak Obama. He is currently an attorney in Grand Rapids.

Vice chair of the MCDP, Karen Turnbull, introduced the Old Settlers, saying it was a pleasure to be honoring them.

They are a very special group of people, Turnbull said. Every August the Old Settlers have a picnic that recognizes their ancestors who settled in Mecosta, Isabella and Montcalm counties. They honor their great-great grandparents, who moved here in 1860, before the Civil War. Their roots go back longer than most of us, and we are so happy to have them here tonight.

Keynote speaker Ron Snead said he was fortunate enough to marry an Old Settler, and by doing so became part of the family.

Our first Old Settlers Picnic was in 1935, and we just called it the picnic because everybody came, Snead said. We have gotten away from it as we have gotten older because some of the younger generation doesnt understand the history that we have.

The mural in downtown Big Rapids depicting the origins of the city, the lumbermen  located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and State Street  does not have a single person of color in it, even though the Old Settlers were here early on, he said.

We say we are a welcoming community, but sometimes I question that. There should be more emphasis on what the Old Settlers contributed to the area, he said.

Miles told those in attendance his mother grew up on a farm in Millbrook and his great-grandfather, Thomas Cross, was a freed slave who came to the area under the land grant program implemented by President Abraham Lincoln.

Thomas Cross was a freed slave and he served in the Union Army as a medic, Miles said. He and some other families came here under the land grant program (implemented) for people to settle the west. Michigan was the west back then. The program offered these families farmland and they established farms in this area.

Miles said his great-great-grandfather donated land, along with others, for the Wheatland Church of Christ and his great uncle, Arthur Cross, was postmaster for the area and served as a minister for the church for many years.

I have been coming to this area all my life, and this is just the tip of the iceberg of the story of the Old Settlers, but this area will always be near and dear to all of our hearts, Miles said. We all love the history and appreciate the elders that are recording that history, leaving us a legacy.

'MAKE MECOSTA COUNTY PURPLE'

Mile said Democrats have a legacy to carry on, as well.

We have to protect our democracy. People dont realize how fragile democracies are and how special and unique they are in the world. You can lose it in less than a generation, so we have to get people out to vote, he said. We have to respect our institutions. We have to elect statewide officeholders that will protect the integrity of our elections. Election fraud is infinitesimally small  .0001% of voters. It is usually people trying to vote that shouldnt  it is not rigging elections. That just does not happen in America. We have to get out and vote, and we have to vote the right way."

He praised the MCDP for doing a great job and thanked them for their hard work.

Turnbull encouraged those in attendance to get out and forge relationships with Democrats in other areas.

We have 20 counties in our congressional district, and we are starting to get together, Turnbull said. We are trying to get them organized. We need them not only for the 2nd Congressional district but for our 100th State house district and the 34th state senate district. We have people here from Isabella and Lake County. We are looking for people from Osceola County, as well, that would like to be part of this.

There are only four (elected) democrats in Mecosta County at the county or township level, she said. In 2024, all of the county commissioners and township positions are up for re-election. We want to make Mecosta County purple.

Turnbull praised those Republican officials at the county and township levels that have supported the Gotion, Inc., battery component manufacturing facility project.

This is a big issue, and there are some Republicans out there promoting the Gotion plant, she said. We need to be out there with them, raising our voices too. They have been saying, Where are the Democrats in Mecosta County? Thats a good question. We have to get out there and be more active.

She added, there will be a transitional period where we are going to need lithium batteries as we move away from dependence on fossil fuels, and people need to be on board with the Gotion project.

This is hitting Mecosta County hard, and we need to be on board with it, she said. We have a Gotion committee. and if you would like to be involved with that, please reach out. We would love you to get involved by going to the township and county commission meetings.

Snead also stressed the importance of the Gotion project to the area, saying with Mecosta County being the second or third poorest county in the state, it is important to encourage economic development in the area.

There could be 2,300 jobs, not even counting the subcontractor jobs, Snead said. The average salary is $60,000 a year. It will change our area dramatically, and it is really something to think about. We have to get over the fact that they think it is Chinese. It is a three-country consortium  Germany, U.S. and China  Germany has the largest part. This is an opportunity for this area to grow considerably.

The MCDP will hold its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 25 in Conference Room F of the Mecosta County Services Building, 14485 Northland Drive, Big Rapids.
Submitted photo/Rachel Hilbrandt, MFCU

Members First Credit Union has been awarded a $1.5 million Community Development Financial Institution grant. This grant will enable Members First to further its mission of supporting underserved communities and driving economic opportunity for its members.

In an unprecedented act of advocacy by the Michigan Credit Union League, the state of Michigan allocated $75 million into their 2023 budget to distribute in the form of grants to Michigan credit unions and loan funds that are federally certified as Community Development Financial Institutions. Michigan is the first state in the country to successfully fund this type of program. As a CDFI certified credit union, Members First is a proud recipient of one of the grants extended by the state.
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At its meeting Tuesday in City Hall, the Midland Planning Commission unanimously decided to postpone a decision on a proposed child care facility at 5305 Perrine Road.

The facility would be located on the west side of Perrine and is the former site of a church, Wesley Chapel.

The proposed facility would be more than 11,000 square feet and could accommodate 148 children with 23 staff members. The lot contains two vacant buildings and a 32-space parking lot with two driveways on Perrine.

Photo Provided

This property received a conditional land use permit for a child care center at a City Council meeting back on June 14, 2021. However, the original plan was to use the existing buildings and parking lot. The plans have changed and, instead, both buildings and the parking lot are proposed to be demolished.

A new building would be constructed on the northern half of the site, with a 38-space parking lot located to the south of it and a stormwater detention basin south of the parking lot. A single driveway would run off of Perrine Road. A fenced outdoor play area would be built north of the building.

To the west of the property is the Inman Drain, which means a portion of the property is in the floodway. The rest of the property is in the 100-year and 500-year flood plains. Permitting from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is required for this development.

A number of other issues were discussed by the commissioners, including the need for stormwater management around the building and parking lot, pedestrian circulation to the public sidewalk along Perrine, paving of the emergency vehicle turnaround, an additional barrier-free parking space, and screening (landscaping) on all four sides of the property.

A plan addressing some of these concerns was submitted after the deadline, so it was not included in the packet before the commission on Tuesday.

Due to this, city staff recommended postponement of a decision until the next meeting on June 13, when commission members can review the updated plan together.

Postponing the decision means the development may not be reviewed by City Council until July 24, assuming the planning commission does approve the plan on June 13. In light of this fact, property owner Patrick Pnacek asked the commission to make a decision the same night in order to not waste weeks of potential construction time during Michigans relatively short construction season.

The commission was mostly concerned about the screening that fell below the amount required by the city. Chairman Andrew Koehlinger worried that the addition of more screening could change the orientation of the structures in the plan. The commission would want to see these changes, if they happen, before the plan goes to City Council.

If needed, we can plant more trees there. We just dont feel its serving a real significant purpose, said Scott Bell from Lapham Associates, the applicant.

Pnacek stressed the need for more child care in Midland. Nicole Wilson, vice president of economic development with the Midland Business Alliance, agreed with Pnacek and said the lack of child care is a barrier for families and workers in Midland.

The need for child care is second only to the need for housing in Midland County, Wilson said.

Nevertheless, the commission decided to postpone the consideration until June 13 with a 6-0 vote.

Danbury Place condos site plan approved 6-0

The commissioners did make one final decision on Tuesday night, this one regarding Danbury Place Condominiums, also in the northwest part of Midland.

A site plan for Danbury Place, consisting of six two-family dwellings, was approved by a 6-0 vote for 4908 and 4912 Universal Drive, next to Raintree Condominiums.

Photo Provided

The site plan was originally brought before the planning commission at its March 21 meeting, where a number of missing items were identified.

The missing items included a refuse collection plan, backyard drainage, an appropriate road terminus for emergency vehicles, a pedestrian sidewalk connected to the public sidewalk on Universal Drive and more. All of these items were included in the updated plan on Tuesday.

The commission will meet next at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 13 in City Hall.
Photo provided MCSO

A woman charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse in Midland must resolve several felony charges in Clark County, Indiana before she can be extradited.

Kayla Ames, 25, is lodged in the Clark County Jail on several felonies. Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks said they have a hold on Ames at the Clark County Jail. Once her charges are dealt with there, she will be returned to Midland.
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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The Polish ruling party is pushing for the creation of a commission which it says would investigate Russian influence in Poland. Critics view it as an attempt to create a powerful and unconstitutional tool that would help the party continue to wield power even if it loses elections this fall.

Some fear the right-wing ruling party could use the planned commission to eliminate opposition leader Donald Tusk from political life. Tusk is the greatest threat to the ruling party, Law and Justice, as it seeks a third consecutive term in the vote expected in October.

Opposition senators dubbed it Lex Tusk, using the Latin term for "law," and rejected it earlier this month in the upper house, where they hold a majority.

It now returns to the more powerful lower house of parliament, the Sejm, where the ruling party can usually muster a slim majority. A vote is expected on Friday.

However, in an unexpected development, a parliamentary commission making recommendations for that ballot voted Wednesday to uphold the Senate's rejection. It was a show of unity by the opposition but lawmakers are under no obligation to reject the bill.

The bill foresees the creation of a state commission with the powers of prosecutor and judge. It could impose punishments, including 10-year bans on officials from positions that have control over spending public funds.

Critics say it violates the democratic separation of powers by giving the proposed commission the powers of a court. Poland's ombudsman has said some of its provisions violate the constitution.

The proposal comes amid the backdrop of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Poland's eastern neighbor, and with both sides of the political spectrum accusing the other of allowing the Kremlin to exert influence in Poland, particularly through the energy sector.

It is a sensitive issue in a country that was under the control of the Soviet Union for the Cold War decades, but threw off communism in 1989.

The bill would create a State Commission for the Study of Russian Influences on the Internal Security of the Republic of Poland in the Years 2007-2022 which would continue even if there is a change of power in the fall.

That time period covers governments led by Tusk's centrist Civic Platform party, from 2007-2015, and the current ruling party, Law and Justice, since 2015.

Law and Justice accuses Tusk of having been too friendly toward Russia during his years as prime minister and making gas deals favorable to Russia  before he went to Brussels to be the president of the European Council.

Critics of Poland's current government accuse it of acting in ways that help Russia, for instance by increasing coal imports from Russia before the full-scale war in Ukraine and bickering with Germany and other Western allies, leaving the West more fractured as it faces Russian aggression in the region.

The idea of establishing a tool for investigating the influence of Russia on Polish authorities was originally put forward by Tusk himself last year.

He argued that it was important to investigate Russia's alleged role in a wiretapping scandal that helped pave the way for Law and Justice to win power in 2015 and in an increase in Russian coal imports to Poland.

The ruling party ran with that idea, announcing in November its own plans for such a commission, but seeming to turn it against Tusk.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the commission was needed to verify the past and also remove any remaining Russian influence for the future.

This matter must be very thoroughly clarified. We have absolutely nothing to hide here, so the entire period up to the present time should be verified, Morawiecki said.

But many opposition figures fear a witch-hunt against themselves, particularly after right-wing lawmaker Janusz Kowalski admitted that he hoped the commissions work would bring Donald Tusk before the State Tribunal.

The spokesman of the opposition Polish People's Party, Milosz Motyka, said this is to be only a whip against the opposition on the basis of made-up accusations.

If the bill passes in parliament, it would go next to President Andrzej Duda, whose role is to sign bills into law or veto them.
When I was young Memorial Day was called Decoration Day. I remember when the name change occurred and wondered if perhaps it should have just been called Soldiers Day because we decorated the graves and memorialized the lives of our fellow citizens.

Decoration Day was an extremely solemn time in my elementary school. All the children would bring bouquets of flowers to school so they could be distributed to a local cemetery to use to decorate the graves of our fallen heroes. Our principal would read a story of a war hero to remind us that freedom has a cost, and we should never take it for granted. We sang patriotic songs, decorated our rooms with red, white, and blue, and proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a time and era where love of country was on full display.

In all wars there are many unsung heroes, some are humans and some are animals. Soldiers have regularly used animals in many combat situations. Many have heard various stories of the determination and grit of soldiers facing incredible odds to accomplish a mission. Sadly, many never returned to the heros welcome they deserved. However, most people are unaware of the history of various animals who were vital to the war effort.

Although mules have been labeled as stubborn, these wonderful animals were a lifeline for the British Expeditionary Force that landed in France in 1939. Mules served in many countries, especially in Burma, helping soldiers go deep into the jungles. While mules were helping on land, over 200,000 homing pigeons were given for the war effort by the National Pigeon Service for the British military. These trusty birds were not only message carriers, they were photographers. Oftentimes cameras were affixed to their chest to take reconnaissance photographs of enemy territory. Pigeons were so unique that the RAF, Royal Air Force, used them on bombing missions. The devoted birds carried messages in a special case so if the bomber should be shot down or the radio made inoperable, the pigeons could be released to fly and carry the message back to a rescue team. The team would then travel to try and locate the bomber and assist them.

Horses have been an animal used for centuries in battles. Their ability to travel in all types of terrain is undeniable. Horses took their riders into many battles during the Civil War. They proved their worth again in WWI. A dependable horse was worth more than a weapon many times. Although not as fast as a horse, camels have seen their time in battle zones, too. During WWII in December of 1942, there was an engagement at the Tunisia-Tripoli borders at Tamout Meller. It is said that the Free French Camel Corps attacked around 400 Italian soldiers. The Camel Corps used swords to disable 150 Italian soldiers, and the rest of the Italian soldiers turned in retreat to escape the camel brigade.

Last, but not least, are cats and dogs. Cats and dogs have fulfilled many purposes in war time, including companionship for many a lonely soldier. Cats were a treasured honorary soldier. They were extremely helpful in keeping rats and mice out of barracks, company stores, mess tents, and ships. Perhaps one of the most famous cats was Oscar. Oscar had been aboard the German battleship Bismark. It sunk in May of 1941. Oscar had been onboard and was found floating on some wreckage of the ship. He was rescued and named Oscar by the men of the Cossack.

The Cossack was then torpedoed and sunk. Being a cat, though, Oscar lived up to the legend of having nine lives. Once again he survived the sinking of the Cossack and was rescued by the HMS Legion. The Legion journeyed to Gibraltar, and Oscar was transferred to the HMS Ark Royal. His nick-name, Unsinkable Sam, was given to him by the crew of the Ark Royal. The Ark Royal was attacked in November of 1941, and a ship going to help the crew received a message from another ship, a destroyer that was already on the scene, stating there was a cat floating on a board in the water.

With the co-ordinates in hand, the rescue ship found Oscar. Once again he was rescued, but this time he was taken to Gibraltar where he spent his days on land at the governors offices. Eventually, Oscar finished his career in Ireland at a Home for Sailors and died in 1955.

During WWII many dogs were used in all kind of conditions. When the war came to a close, many soldiers wanted to take them home because of the strong bond they had developed with their beloved canines. Unfortunately, General Headquarters was not too helpful in this situation. One soldier found two abandoned German shepherd puppies on the front lines. He adopted them and managed to get them on a transport. The female German shepherd didnt survive the trip, but her brother did. Her brother made it to Hollywood, California where he received a good home, a comfy life, and great fame. The name of this beloved German shepherd was Rin Tin Tin.

Many animals were left behind in the wars even though they were a tremendous help to all the soldiers. Just as the military code of leave no one behind applies to comrades in arms, I have always felt it should apply to the animals, too. The code should read, leave no life behind-animal or human.

This Memorial Day as you place flowers on graves, attend services, remember those who gave it all for our freedoms, remember all the lives that were given for our freedom, including natures wonderful animals. When you see a bird fly, a dog bark, a cat run across the street, or a horse running in a field on Memorial Day, whisper a prayer of thanks for them, too. One of their ancestors may have saved your loved ones life.
BOSTON (AP)  State-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises, Microsoft said Wednesday.

The targets include sites in Guam, where the U.S. has a major military presence, the company said.

Hostile activity in cyberspace  from espionage to the advanced positioning of malware for potential future attacks  has become a hallmark of modern geopolitical rivalry.

Microsoft said in a blog post that the state-sponsored group of hackers, which it calls Volt Typhoon, has been active since mid-2021. It said organizations affected by the hacking  which seeks persistent access  are in the communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, information technology and education sectors.

Separately, the National Security Agency, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and their counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Britain published a joint advisory sharing technical details on the recently discovered cluster of activity.

A Microsoft spokesman would not say why the software giant was making the announcement now or whether it had recently seen an uptick in targeting of critical infrastructure in Guam or at adjacent U.S. military facilities there, which include a major air base.

John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google's Mandiant cybersecurity intelligence operation, called Microsoft's announcement potentially a really important finding."

We dont see a lot of this sort of probing from China. Its rare, Hultquist said. We know a lot about Russian and North Korean and Iranian cyber-capabilities because they have regularly done this. China has generally withheld use of the kinds of tools that could be used to seed, not just intelligence-gathering capabilities, but also malware for disruptive attacks in an armed conflict, he added.

Microsoft said the intrusion campaign placed a strong emphasis on stealth and sought to blend into normal network activity by hacking small-office network equipment, including routers. It said the intruders gained initial access through internet-facing Fortiguard devices, which are engineered to use machine-learning to detect malware.

The maker of Fortiguard devuces, Fortinet, did not immediately respond to an email seeking further details.

For years, China has conducted aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations around the globe, said CISA Director Jen Easterly, urging mitigation of affected networks to prevent possible disruption. Bryan Vorndran, the FBI cyber division assistant director, called the intrusions unacceptable tactics in the same statement.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing  which the U.S. national security establishment considers its main military, economic and strategic rival  have been on the rise in recent months.

Those tensions spiked last year after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to democratically governed Taiwan, leading China, which claims the island as its territory, to launch military exercises around Taiwan.

U.S.-China relations became further strained earlier this year after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had crossed the United States.
The Fairfield University Art Museum is currently displaying In Their Element(s): Women Artists Across Media, its first-ever exhibit curated by an undergraduate student.

Phoebe Charpentier, the senior student who was given the honor, came up with an exhibit that features more than 50 contemporary pieces by women artists, with an emphasis on works created with unusual techniques or media.

The exhibit will run through July 15 in Fairfield University Art Museums Bellarmine Hall Galleries and is accessible through the museums website as both a video tour and a 3-D virtual tour.

Charpentier started interning for the museum in the fall of 2021. At first, she was just doing basic tasks, like working with databases and researching different objects. Then she learned the museum was going to start doing summer exhibitions and was asked by Michelle DiMarzo, curator of education and academic engagement for the museum, if she was interested in curating one of those herself.

I saw it as a great opportunity to get hands-on experience and be able to say that I worked on such a project, Charpentier said. I agreed immediately. I knew that the exhibition would be primarily based on Fairfield Universitys collection, so I started looking through our databases and finding objects that I liked.

One of the things that quickly caught her eye were a series of photographs by Donna Ferrato.

I loved them so much that I originally thought I wanted to do a show about photography, Charpentier said. But the content of her photographsthe focus on women and women experiencesreally inspired me in the direction that I eventually took.

Courtesy of Phoebe Charpentier

With that in mind, Charpentier started gathering other pieces for her exhibit focusing on women artists. Among those were photographs by Laurie Simmons and Bea Nettles; sculptures by Linda Stein and Elaine Cameron-Weir and prints by Althea-Murphy Price, Maya Freelon and Sonya Clarke.

I was given creative liberty to do what I saw as best and make those curatorial choices on my own, which was great to have that level of independence, Charpentier said. Aside from our own databases, we work closely with the Westport Public Arts Collection, so I looked through theirs as well, and had a lot to choose.

When her original list came in at about 50 items, she was a little nervous because Charpentier didnt want to start tearing it down, but the museum was open to having more pieces on display than they typically exhibit.

This exhibition is a bigger show and theres a lot of art in the galleries, and I think it all really worked out, Charpentier said. It was definitely hard to cut pieces because there are so many amazing works by women artists in our collection.

Putting the exhibit together wasnt easy, considering Charpentier was enrolled in seven classes and applying to graduate school at the same time.

It was really a very precarious balance putting all of that together, she said. But because of my passion for what I was doing and the research I was doing was exciting, I really brought my all to the project.

On May 21, Charpentier graduated from Fairfield University as a triple major in art history, English, and anthropology/sociology, and will be heading off to the University of Arizona for its masters program in art history this fall.

Im really excited to see what kind of work Ill be doing there, she said. My research interest is really in indigenous art and art activism, so being able to work with the Pueblo peoples in Arizona will be exciting.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Borussia Monchengladbach have completed the signing of Grant-Leon Ranos from FC Bayern Munchen. The 19-year-old forward of the Armenian national team will join the Foals on a free in the summer and has signed a contract until 2027, the clubs press service announced.

Grant-Leon is a very interesting and talented player, who can play both as a number 9 and in attacking midfield, said Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director Roland Virkus.

He has had a very impressive season in the Regionalliga and wants to prove himself at a higher level with us, and we will help him do that.

Ranos featured for the Bayern U23s this season, registering 20 goals and twelve assists in the Regionalliga Bayern  his tally of 33 goal involvements is a league high with just one matchday remaining. He also played twice for FCBs U19s in the UEFA Youth League (1 goal). Ranos, who was born in Gehrden in Germany, made his debut for the Armenia senior national team in March, netting two goals against Cyprus.

Im thrilled to become part of this great club. Its a big step in my career and one I will approach full of motivation and commitment, said Ranos upon signing his contract. Roland Virkus showed a lot of interest in me and has certainly sold me on Borussias path. I want to pay back that faith, prove myself in training and in games, work hard and quickly find my place in the team.
EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP)  A 15-year-old boy has died from a stab wound suffered during an after-hours fight outside a Connecticut elementary school, police said Wednesday.

East Haven Police were called to Tuttle Elementary School at 6:28 p.m. Tuesday. They discovered the injured teen, who had been assaulted with a knife during a physical altercation involving several people in a courtyard on school grounds. School was not in session at the time, police said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  As families and loved ones mourned the unimaginable loss of 19 children and two teachers shot dead last year in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden said from a solemn White House memorial Wednesday that too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields.

The town released butterflies during a ceremony and held a candlelight vigil. The Texas legislature paused for a few moments of silence at 11:30 a.m. CDT, the moment the shooter entered Robb Elementary School last year, touching off the nation's deadliest school shooting in a decade.

Biden delivered remarks in front of a display with 21 candles, one for each victim, with a white rose and satin ribbons in school colors that displayed each victim's name and age. All the students killed were between the ages of 9 and 11 years old. Before the president spoke, he and first lady Jill Biden, who is a teacher, stopped to look at the names of the dead.

I realize this is a really tough day for all the families, Biden said quietly. Remembering is important, but its also painful.

Biden spoke of how he stood in Uvalde a few days later, staring at 21 crosses outside the school with the names of victims. He said they spent hours with the grieving families.

We know one year later, this is still so raw for you," he said. "You'll miss birthdays and holidays, school plays, soccer games. Just that smile. A year of everyday joy, just gone forever.

The killings, along with another mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, prompted bipartisan legislation that passed through a divided Congress just a month later. It was the most significant gun safety law in decades.

The law toughened background checks for the youngest gun buyers, and sought to keep firearms from domestic violence offenders and to help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons away from people adjudged to be dangerous.

Too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities across America. And in each place, we hear the same message: Do something. For Gods sake, just do something, Biden said. We did something afterwards, but not nearly enough.

Those laws haven't stopped mass shootings or gun deaths of children. And Uvalde is still managing the fallout from the botched emergency response to the shooting. An investigation is still ongoing into how the days after the attack were marred by authorities giving inaccurate and conflicting accounts about efforts made to stop a teenage gunman armed with an AR-style rifle. It was the worst shooting in a school since 2012, when 20 children between 6 and 7 years old and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

A damning report by Texas lawmakers found nearly 400 officers had been on the scene, from an array of federal, state and local agencies. The findings laid out how heavily armed officers waited more than an hour to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman. It also accused police of failing to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.

In Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, read the names of the 21 victims who were murdered as the entire chamber paused in remembrance.

Each victim was memorialized with a speech, describing who they were and the loved ones they left behind. I pray that in all of our differences, we aspire to our better angels, perhaps remember those moments when we were little, Gutierrez said. Look at the pictures of these children and remember our better angels.

Throughout Texas biennial legislative session, which began in January and ends Monday, a group of the victims family members made the three-hour drive to Austin every Tuesday, with few exceptions, to lobby lawmakers in hopes of raising the legal age requirement to own certain semiautomatic weapons  like the one used by the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter  from 18 to 21.

But in the GOP-controlled Texas Capitol, Republicans this year rejected it and nearly all other proposals to tighten gun laws.

Several months in, the new federal law has had some success: Stepped-up FBI background checks have blocked gun sales for 119 buyers under the age of 21, prosecutions have increased for unlicensed gun sellers and new gun trafficking penalties have been charged in at least 30 cases around the country. Millions of new dollars have flowed into mental health services for children and schools.

Yet since that bill signing last summer, the tally of mass shootings in the United States has only grown. Five dead at a nightclub in Colorado. Eleven killed at a dance hall in California. Three 9-year-olds and three adults shot and killed at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Seven shot dead in rural Oklahoma.

As of May 24, there have been at least 25 mass killing incidents in the U.S. so far in 2023, leaving at least 127 people dead, not including perpetrators who died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

That puts the country on a faster pace for mass killing incidents than in any other year since 2006, according to the database, which defines a mass killing as an incident in which four or more people are killed, not including the perpetrator, within a 24-hour period.

There have been at least 556 incidents in all since 2006 in the U.S., according to the database, leaving at least 2,892 people dead.

Firearms are the No. 1 killer of children in the U.S. and so far this year, 85 children younger than 11 have died by guns and 491 have died between the ages of 12 and 17. As of 2020, the firearm mortality rate for children under 19 is 5.6 per 100,000. The next comparable is Canada, with .08 per 100,000 deaths.

It's time to act," Biden said. "Its time to make our voices heard. Not as Democrats or Republicans. But as friends, as neighbors, as parents  as fellow Americans.

I know for a long time its been hard to make progress," Biden said. But there will come a point where our voices are so loud, our determination so clear, that it can no longer be stopped. We will act.

___

Coronado reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press Writer Chris Megerian in Washington and Scott Stroud in Nashville contributed to this report.
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SALEM, Ore. (AP)  Republican senators whose walkout of the Oregon Senate has prevented a quorum for almost three weeks said Tuesday they're not coming back until the very last day of the legislative session next month.

The walkout, which began on May 3 ostensibly because bill summaries weren't written at an eighth grade level as required by a long-forgotten law, has derailed progress on hundreds of bills, including a sweeping measure on abortion rights and gender-affirming care that the conservatives particularly object to.

An email from Republican leader Sen. Tim Knopp's office said the Republicans and Independent Sen. Brian Boquist would return on June 25, the end of the legislative session, to pass bipartisan budgets and bills.

"We are the last line of defense to hold the majority accountable, Knopp said.

The crisis in Oregons statehouse is a microcosm of the deeply partisan politics playing out nationwide, including recently in Tennessee and in Montana.

Republicans have boycotted in 2019, 2020 and 2021. This years standoff, however, has disqualified nine Republican senators and one Independent from serving as lawmakers in the next term, under a ballot measure approved overwhelmingly by boycott-weary voters last November. After 10 or more unexcused absences, a lawmaker cant take office in the Legislature, even if the secretary of states elections division allows them on the ballot and they win.

The boycotters are expected to challenge the constitutional amendment in court.

Senate President Robert Wagner carried out a roll call again on Tuesday, and again he was two members short of reaching the 20 needed for a quorum of the 30-member Senate. Oregon is one of a few states that require at least two-thirds to be present, instead of a simple majority.

All the Democrats showed up, except one who has an excused absence for health reasons, and only two of the minority Republicans appeared.

Senate Democrats will be here, doing our jobs, ready to pass the budget and act on urgent Oregon priorities today, tomorrow, and every day until session ends," said Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber. "Absent Republican Senators are welcome to end this unconstitutional walk out and make government work for the people of Oregon.

Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek has signed a bill to keep funds flowing to state agencies until September if no budget has become law by July 1 and says she doesnt think the state is in crisis mode yet.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhins comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In Washington, Kirby speculated Wednesday on Prigozhin's motives.

And its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.

In what it says is likely a low estimate, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.

Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the war's front lines, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.

___

Kozlowska reported from London. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Andrew Katell in New York contributed.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  In the depths of the Amazon, Brazil is building an otherworldly structure  a complex of towers arrayed in six rings, poised to spray mists of carbon dioxide into the rainforest. But the reason is utterly terrestrial: to understand how the worlds largest tropical forest responds to climate change.

Dubbed AmazonFACE, the project will probe the forests remarkable ability to sequester carbon dioxide  an essential piece in the puzzle of world climate change. This will help scientists understand whether the region has a tipping point that could throw it into a state of irreversible decline. Such a feared event, also known as the Amazon forest dieback, would transform the worlds most biodiverse forest into a drier savannah-like landscape.

FACE stands for Free Air CO2 Enrichment. This technology first developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory, located near New York City, has the ability to modify the surrounding environment of growing plants in a way that replicates future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Plants absorb carbon dioxide along with water and light to produce sugars and release oxygen. What happens when one increases this input? We dont know," David Lapola, one of the leading scientists of the project, told The Associated Press. "We have evidence from similar experiments in temperate forests, but there is no guarantee that the behavior will be the same here in the Amazon.

Lapola, a professor at the State University of Campinas, argues that the tipping point of the Amazon rainforest is more likely tied to climate change rather than the rate of deforestation. Thus, it is crucial to study the impact of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the forest to understand what lies ahead.

This perspective challenges the widely quoted study by Earth system scientist Carlos Nobre. According to Nobre, if deforestation reaches a critical threshold of 20% to 25% across the Amazon, the balance of the regions rainfall system will be disrupted, leading to the transformation of the lush rainforest into a savannah.

Even if we halted deforestation in the Amazon basin today, the forest would still be at risk of experiencing the consequences of a tipping point due to climate change, Lapola said. While stopping deforestation remains our primary responsibility, combating the climate change driven by atmospheric factors is not something that Brazil or other Amazonian countries can address alone.

The construction of the initial two rings is underway and they are expected to be operational by early August. Each ring will consist of 16 aluminum towers as high as a 12-story building. The carbon dioxide will be supplied by three companies to avoid any shortage.

Situated 70 km (44 miles) north of Manaus, the project is led by the National Institute for Amazon Research, a federal institution, with financial support from the British government, which has pledged $9 million. It should be fully operational by mid-2024.

Luciana Gatti, an atmospheric chemist, praised the initiative and said it would be highly beneficial to replicate the project in the four quadrants of the Amazon, as the carbon absorption capacity varies significantly across the region, which is twice the size of India.

Gatti, who is not directly involved with AmazonFACE, coauthored a landmark study published in the journal Nature, which revealed that the eastern Amazon has ceased to function as a carbon sink, or absorber for the Earth and has transitioned into a carbon source.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Military students remain in limbo as final Pentagon guidance for a new policy allowing cadets at America's service academies who have a child to continue their education has been past due for months.

The Pentagon was supposed to make the changes to service academy policies by the end of December, a year after the Candidates Afforded Dignity, Equality and Training legislation, known as the CADET Act., introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., helped push a policy change in the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021.

But four months after the legislative deadline, the department has still not issued the academies their marching orders, meaning some students could still face some uncertainty for having children despite the law.

Read Next: Army Special Operations Could Be Cut 10% as Military Looks to Conventional Warfare

"Until the Department of Defense revises its policies at the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Military, and U.S. Naval Academies, West Point will continue to follow DoD guidance stating that cadets and midshipmen cannot have dependents," West Point spokeswoman Cheryl Boujnida told Military.com.

However, Boujnida said in an emailed statement to Military.com that West Point would work with cadets to follow the spirit of the CADET Act and that no students are facing separation or other adverse action due to family status.

"If a cadet dependency issue were to arise, West Point will coordinate our action closely with the Army, consider the cadet's wishes, and may place the cadet on a leave of absence until a suitable care plan can be initiated," Boujnida said. "Academy leaders are aware of the imminent policy change and are following the spirit of the CADET Act as we develop our own policies in anticipation of changes in DoD and Army policy."

The Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy said they had yet to receive formal guidance from the Pentagon. The Merchant Marine Academy and the Coast Guard Academy did respond to Military.com's emails in time for publication.

Jade Fulce, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Military.com in an emailed statement Wednesday that the publication of the formal guidance is still a few months out.

"The DoDI is in its final stages of the external coordination review with outside agencies before final approval and publication," Fulce said. "The policy is expected to be published within the next two to three months."

According to the text of the CADET Act, which inspired the policy revision in the 2022 NDAA, cadets would be able to create a family care plan and appoint a temporary guardian for the child to continue their studies -- a move that can be reversed following graduation from the academy.

The text of the CADET Act also allows women to take leave from their military service academy for up to one year, while granting men leave only to attend the birth of the child.

Following the publication of a Military.com story about the delay, a Pentagon spokesman told the news organization in March that the instruction was still being worked on and the expected publication date was April or May.

The formal Defense Department Instruction 1322.22 says that "any person for whom an individual has a legally recognized obligation to provide support" can be separated from their school.

"The CADET Act is a complex issue requiring several policy and legal reviews and decisions," Fulce said. "It will take time for the Department to implement the policy to meet the intent of Congress, meet the needs of cadets and midshipmen and their dependents, all while meeting the mission of the Service Academies."

That Defense Department instruction, which is available online, had not been amended as of May 24.

In an emailed statement to Military.com, Gillibrand admonished the Pentagon for the delay.

"The CADET Act took an important and commonsense step to ensure women aren't kicked out of the service academies for having children," Gillibrand said. "The deadline for issuing this guidance was last December and, given that we can deploy our forces anywhere in the world at a moments notice, the Pentagon has no excuse for not issuing this guidance."

Historically, cadets admitting to either procreating or giving birth to children would be in violation of their service academy's rules, could be kicked out, and might be on the hook to pay back the cost of their education.

Other options included terminating a pregnancy or relinquishing custody of the child entirely, alternatives that affected women far more than men.

Melissa Hemphill is all too familiar with that situation. When she was a junior at the Air Force Academy in 2009, she found out she was pregnant. She finished up her junior year and then had to drop out of the academy during her pregnancy. After giving birth, she signed over legal custody to her boyfriend, now husband, who had graduated and was on active duty.

Hemphill told Military.com that being able to remain at the Air Force Academy was an expensive and complicated process to navigate. As one of the key advocates for the CADET Act, she's frustrated at the delay in putting it into practice at all the academies.

"They need to implement it, for sure," Hemphill said. "They need to cross the finish line."

Back in March, the Air Force Academy told Military.com that it has implemented its own plan, working with the Department of the Air Force and the Defense Department, that captures the intent of the CADET Act despite the final Pentagon policy not yet being authorized.

But the Air Force Academy, like West Point and the Naval Academy, is waiting for the final word from the top.

"We are still awaiting formal regulatory change from DoD," Dean Miller, an Air Force Academy spokesman, told Military.com on Wednesday. "However, in coordination with OSD and DAF, we have already begun implementing the CADET Act and allow cadets with dependents to remain at USAFA if they have an approved family care plan."

Miller said in March that four Air Force Academy cadets have submitted family care plans to leadership that detail "who will care for the child financially and physically while the cadet remains enrolled at the Academy."

He added that those cadets are "not given any special treatment nor privileges" related to their parental obligations and that they're subject to the same academic obligations and off-campus rules as their fellow cadets.

Fulce said all the military services were asked to provide the academies "with interim guidance pending the (DoDI) publication should a cadet or midshipmen come forward and identify themselves as a new parent or birth parent-to-be."

Hemphill says the other service academies should take note of how the Air Force Academy took initiative to put options in place for cadets who are having children.

"The intent has been signed," Hemphill said. "It's really just the details of it but, at the most fundamental level, offering a candidate in that situation the opportunity to make a family care plan, like, that they can do."

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say the U.S. Military Academy may place cadets with dependents on leave as it awaits final Pentagon guidance on the CADET Act.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: The Pentagon Is Behind on Issuing Policy to Allow Cadets Who Have Kids to Remain at Service Academies
The Army is mulling cuts to its special operations programs in the coming years, potentially trimming the forces amid a general U.S. military shift in attention to more conventional capabilities and wars.

A planning process known as Total Army Analysis, which the service is using to plan its budget requests to Congress in fiscal years 2025 to 2029, projects a cut of about 10% to Special Forces, a congressional aide confirmed to Military.com.

Army special operations has become synonymous with unconventional warfare. Its Green Berets and other commando units were the cornerstone of the Global War on Terror in the years after 9/11. But as the service pivots its focus toward China, those unconventional units could see cuts in favor of building up the rank and file.

Read Next: Bill Guaranteeing Cost-of-Living Increase for Veterans in 2024 Heads to President's Desk

The size of U.S. special operations across all branches doubled after 2001, as the counterinsurgency battlefield called for swift nighttime raids and training of militias in the Middle East and across Africa. The Pentagon is now investing in other capabilities, such as long-range missile strikes and cyberwarfare.

"There will be some changes which [special operations forces] will be part of. With SOF, it has grown continuously while the rest of the Army has come down," Mark Cancian, a senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, told Military.com.

"SOF is going to have to reorient itself and could take significant cuts along with a number of other Army communities, he said.

The potential cuts, which were first reported by Defense One, would come from enablers, including in logistics and intelligence, but could also include changes to the structure of some Special Forces units that would represent an overall reduction in those forces, the aide said.

The plan, which is still awaiting approval from Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, is being considered as part of a sweeping look at force structure as the Army faces a slump in recruiting and possible reductions in its overall end strength, the aide said. It's unclear whether the cuts would come entirely in 2025 or be spread out from 2025 to 2029.

"The Army has not yet made decisions on its future force structure. Army leaders are looking at how best to ensure our Army is manned, organized and equipped to deter enemies and win future fights," Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, a service spokesperson, told Military.com in a statement. "The Army has shifted from focusing on counterterrorism operations to large-scale combat operations, and our force structure will need to shift as well."

Congress has not been formally briefed on the plan, but "mid- and senior-level officials" in both the Army and special operations community have spoken to congressional offices about the proposal, the aide said.

The potential for cuts to Army special operations has alarmed lawmakers, particularly Republicans, who have argued at recent hearings that it would be a mistake to think those forces will be less necessary in a conflict with China.

"As threats increase, ongoing discussions in the department about cutting SOF budgets and force structure is out of step with the threats and SOF's growing requirements," Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee's emerging threats subpanel, said at a hearing last week on the role of special operations in the era of great power competition.

"We can't get to a point where we're faced with a crisis and we do not have the operators that are able to step forward," Ernst added. "So, we really do have to push back against that."

At that same hearing, Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., asked the expert witnesses what a 10% cut to Army special operations would mean for its ability to provide forces to respond to counterterrorism, war or conflict with another global power, or any other crisis.

"I think they'll be crippling," retired Lt. Gen. Ken Tovo, former commanding general of Army Special Operations Command from 2015 to 2018, told Budd during the congressional testimony. "We're a force that is very much driven by our intelligence community. And if the cuts are taken in there, and that's one of the places I believe the service wants to take the cuts, that will be devastating."

Tovo also said he's heard the cuts could be as high as 20%, though the congressional aide told Military.com they have not heard it would be that high.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Army Expects to Miss Its Recruiting Goal Again This Year
KYIV, Ukraine  The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about 20% of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The figure was in stark contrast with widely disputed claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasn't said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

Russias invasion goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Prigozhin also said the Kremlins forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesday's interview it was possible that Kyivs anticipated counteroffensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts. He gave no further details.

Ukrainian officials have insisted the battle for Bakhmut isnt over.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid in the area from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post, and another one was shot down Wednesday just outside the local capital, also called Belgorod. He said that no one had been hurt, but unspecified administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Gladkov, the regional governor, said Wednesday he had questions for (Russias) Defense Ministry following the attack that reportedly sowed alarm among locals and embarrassed the Kremlin.

During a Q&A session with residents on social media, Gladkov agreed with a participant who said that the Russian militarys actions in Belgorod raised some questions.

In Moscow, Russias defense chief, Sergey Shoigu, vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks in the future.

Russia said the previous day that it beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defense Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in the Belgorod region that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that local troops, airstrikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region, lying about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spillover from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

At least three civilians died and 18 others were wounded in Ukraine on Tuesday and overnight, the Ukrainian presidential office reported Wednesday, including in the southern Kherson region where two elderly people died in air strikes.

___

Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.
The last time Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout made headlines, it was because the United States had released him in a prisoner exchange with Russia for WNBA player Brittney Griner. Bout was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008 after being lured there by the promise of making an arms sale to FARC rebels in Colombia.

Bout, known as "The Merchant of Death," and international arms dealers like him inspired the 2005 film "Lord of War," starring Nicolas Cage. Although Cage's character Yuri Orlov was fictional, the film itself illustrated "the deadly impact of the uncontrolled global arms trade," according to Amnesty International.

In May 2023, Cage signed on to team up with director Andrew Niccol to reprise his role from "Lord of War." Called "Lords of War," the sequel will include Bill Skarsgard ("It," "John Wick: Chapter 4") who plays Anton Orlov, the son Cage's Yuri Orlov didn't know he had.

Instead of trying to stop his father, Anton tries to outdo him by raising a mercenary army to fight American conflicts in the Middle East. Depending on when the new story installment takes place, there would be a lot of potential business there.

When last we saw Yuri, he had begun building his arms trafficking empire by selling to both Israel and Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War, along with Colombian rebels, former Soviet republics and African militias. Yuri's brother and business partner, Vitaly (Jared Leto, "Blade Runner 2049," "Fight Club"), is gunned down after a deal goes bad in Sierra Leone, and Yuri is disowned by his parents.

It's a fitting place to pick up the Orlov family saga with the new sequel, which begins production in fall 2023.

Bout, the real-life gunrunner and primary inspiration for Cage's character, had a more gradual rise to arms trafficking prominence. After serving with the Soviet armed forces as a translator, he began an air freight business, which may have been under the auspices of working for Russian security services.

Whether he was working for the Soviet government or not, his Liberia-based company had contracts moving freight for the governments of France and the U.S., as well as the United Nations.

A 2007 book titled "Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible" alleges that Bout moved guns, ammunition and supplies to conflicts in Afghanistan, Angola, Liberia and the former Yugoslavia.

Bout has also been accused of moving cargo for combatants in the Second Congo War, the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War and for dictator Moammar Gadhafi during the Libyan Civil War.

There is no shortage of regional conflicts for the new "Lords of War" to ply their trade. As the first film reminds viewers, the world is full of ruthless arms brokers who are standing by to sell weapons to the highest bidders -- and Nic Cage will be there to call the world's attention to it.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on LinkedIn.

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YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has described the situation in Nagorno Karabakh to be of great concern.

The situation in the region of Nagorno Karabakh continues to be of great concern. As the blockage of the Lachin Corridor has resulted in civilians of Nagorno Karabakh to lose or have reduced access to essential services, medical treatment and basic commodities, Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for Europe and Eurasia Erin Elizabeth McKee said at a Subcommittee Hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Lachin Corridor  the only road linking Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world  has been blocked by Azerbaijan since 12 December 2022. The United Nations highest court  the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - ordered Azerbaijan on 22 February 2023 to take all steps at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has so far ignored the order.
During a press briefing held on May 22, the US Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, addressed questions regarding recent developments in Georgia, specifically concerning the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's sanctioned daughter to the country and Russian aircraft arriving in Tbilisi. The journalist questioned the lack of US reaction and sanctions in response to these events.In his response, Matthew Miller expressed concerns about the resumption of direct flights between Russia and Georgia.The US Department spokesperson highlighted that many Western countries, including the United States, already have restrictions in place, prohibiting Russian aircraft from entering their airspace.Miller stated that the resumption of direct flights between Russia and Georgia could potentially have repercussions for companies operating within Georgian airports, exposing them to the risk of sanctions. Moreover, Miller emphasized that the Western community as a whole has distanced itself from Russia and stressed that now is not the time to increase engagement with them.Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, held a meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. According to the Georgian government administration, the discussions revolved around enhancing the cooperative relationship between the two nations across multiple sectors.Both sides acknowledged the significance of advancing economic cooperation, which remains a key priority on the economic diplomacy agenda of both Georgia and Qatar. The meeting also witnessed an expressed commitment to deepen and strengthen the existing economic and trade ties between the two countries.The Prime Minister emphasized the Government of Georgia's eagerness to embrace Qatari businessmen who are interested in making investments across diverse sectors within the country."Held productive talks with the Amir of the State of Qatar. Discussed economic relations between the countries and investment opps in Georgia. Strengthening bilateral partnership with the State of Qatar is of utmost importance for Georgia to reach new milestones in our fruitful cooperation!" Gharibashvili wrote on Twitter.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has no territorial claims against any of its neighbors, including Azerbaijan, the Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan has said.

Armenia proceeds from the position that we dont have any territorial demand from any neighbor, including Azerbaijan, This means that we need to clarify the state borders and the territories which belong to our states. The issue is about the approaches of the logic of the peace treaty, the issue is about clarifying the principles. When we speak about numbers, we speak about exactness, Arshakyan said.

He added that in this context the Nagorno Karabakh issue is perceived within these approaches in a way that an international format must be created around the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh and Stepanakert and Baku must launch dialogue.

When the people of Artsakh [Nagorno Karabakh] speak about their rights and security, it means that they are present around the negotiation table, and our entire negotiation logic in this regard changed when they were absent from the negotiation table. The moment President Robert Kocharyan started negotiating not only on behalf of Armenia but also Artsakh, it indirectly turned out that Armenia has a territorial dispute which Azerbaijan. Now we are saying that we dont have a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan. Meaning, we reciprocally recognize each others territorial integrity, and then international mechanisms are launched, which are responsible for coordinating dialogue between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and guarantees of the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, Arshakyan said.
The Royals have selected the contract of right-hander Nick Wittgren, optioning fellow righty Max Castillo in a corresponding move. The 40-man roster already had an open spot due to Hunter Dozier getting designated for assignment yesterday.

Wittgren, 32 next week, has pitched in the seven previous major league seasons for Miami, Cleveland and St. Louis. By the end of the 2020 season, he had made 198 appearances with a 3.36 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and 38.2% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, hes fell on hard times in the next two seasons, with his ERA jumping to 5.05 in 2021 and 5.20 last year. His strikeout rate got as high as 28.6% in 2020 but then dropped to 23.6% the year after and all the way to 12.7% in 2022.

He was outrighted by the Guardians after 2021 and signed with the Cardinals for 2022 but was released in July. He signed a minor league deal with the Royals this winter and has been pitching for Triple-A Omaha this year, posting a 1.25 ERA in 21 2/3 innings. Hes struck out 24.1% of opponents faced while walking 7.6% of them, getting grounders at a 42.3% clip.

That solid showing will get Wittgren another shot at the big leagues. If he can carry over any of those strong results, it would be a boost to the struggling Kansas City bullpen. The clubs relievers have a collective 4.71 ERA on the year, placing them 26th out of the 30 teams in the league.
Forget Napa Valley. Michigan has its own vineyards which are receiving some national attention ahead of National Wine Day, which is May 25th. Three Michigan wineries are ranked in the top 10 in the entire Midwest.

The ranking comes from national travel publication, Trips To Discover, which lists three places in Michigan in its top 10 Wineries to Visit in the Midwest list. They are, in no particular order:

St. Julian Winery in Paw Paw, Tabor Hill Winery & Restaurant in Buchanan and Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery in Traverse City.

Often-overlooked wineries in Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Ohio make for great weekend road trips throughout the summer months, the publication wrote. These wineries and vineyards often host festivals, live music performances and meal pairing events so patrons can connect with the growers of these beloved grapes.

On St. Julian, Trips to Discover wrote: This winery works with growers in Southwest Michigan to grow and produce grapes  all locally grown within a 45-minute radius of the winery. Here you can find everything from cabernet sauvignon to merlot, chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling, and many more varieties. You can take a tour of the main winery in Paw Paw. Book a standard tasting with six samples along with a complimentary logo glass to bring home.

About Tabor Hill, it said: This winery specializes in dry white wines, dry red wines, sparkling wines, and dessert wines. You can enjoy a wine tasting and choose from a full menu of Tabor Hill favorites, including six wines and a souvenir glass. Theres also a sip and savor trolley experience, with two hours traveling to Tabor Hill Winery, Round Barn Winery, Distillery and Brewery.

And on Brys Estate, it wrote: Theres a lot to see and do in this area for couples seeking a romantic escape and families traveling with kids. Travelers consistently love Brys Estate because its wines rival those grown in the worlds top winemaking regions, the staff is friendly, and the grounds are lovely too. The tasting room offers tasting that includes samples of four wines. You can even reserve the 1,100-square-foot guesthouse and stay overnight while enjoying views of the 91-acre estate and vineyards.

The other seven wineries on the Trips to Discover Top Wineries to Visit in the Midwest list are:

Galena Cellars Vineyard & Winery in Galena, IL

Harpersfield Vineyard in Geneva, OH

Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, MO

Ackerman Winery in Amana, IA

Oliver Winery & Vineyards in Bloomington, IN

Wollersheim Winery in Prairie Du Sac, WI

Gervasi Vineyard in Canton, OH

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ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions announced on Wednesday theyre releasing linebacker Isaac Darkangelo, an undrafted rookie linebacker from Brighton. Darkangelo began his college career at Northern Michigan before transferring to Illinois as a preferred walk-on. He signed with the Lions earlier this month, but his stay in Detroit has ended during the first wave of Organized Team Activities.

Darkangelos release is the corresponding move to the signing of offensive lineman Germain Ifedi, a former first-round pick who was added this week. Ifedi adds yet more competition to one of the leagues best offensive lines.

The Lions will hold their second OTA practice this morning, before opening up their final practice of the week to reporters on Thursday. That will be the publics first opportunity to see the full team in action ahead of a highly-anticipated season where Detroit is the expected favorite to win the NFC North.

Related: Lions sign rookie LB Jack Campbell
Enrollment at Michigan colleges is declining at higher rates than the national average, according to a May 24 National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report.

After the fall semester showed enrollment stabilizing, Michigan colleges saw increased and continued declines across all sectors in the spring 2023 semester, the report shows.

Michigan colleges overall dropped 2.2% from the previous spring, compared to the national decline of less than 1%.

Michigan colleges saw worse results than neighboring Ohio, which saw a 1% decrease, and Indiana, which grew by 1%. Michigan colleges did perform better than Illinois, which saw a 2.8% decline overall.

Enrollment had dropped at least 2% each fall semester since 2017 at Michigans higher education institutions until last fall, according to National Student Clearinghouse. The fall 2020 semester during the COVID-19 pandemic saw the biggest enrollment drop at 9%.

Read more: Enrollment stabilizing at Michigan colleges, national report shows

For spring 2023, public four-year universities experienced a 1.5% drop, representing 3,647 less students. Private four-year colleges saw the starkest decline with a 4.5% decline, or 2,355 less students.

Community colleges, identified as public two-year colleges in the report, dropped 2.8% by about 3,000 less students.

Nationally, community college enrollment increased by less than 1%, while public and private four-year institutions saw declines of less than 1%.

Enrollment nationwide is still below pre-pandemic levels, said Doug Shaprio, executive director of National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

With the pandemic now behind us, a new set of factors appears to be preventing students from returning to campuses, he said in a statement. And these new factors are having a stronger effect on students who are seeking bachelors degrees than on associate-seekers.

Michigans 15 public universities have seen enrollments drop 15% since the enrollment peak in 2011, a report in October showed. Thats more than 45,000 students, which would have been enough to empty out Lake Superior State University, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan University, the University of Michigans Flint and Dearborn campuses and Ferris State University.

The tuitions at Michigans 15 public universities also have spiked as state government support has dwindled in the last decade. All of them are also dealing with a dwindling pool of traditional college-age students, though University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University have seen positive growth.

A November report showed many Michigan universities and colleges are accepting more and more students from the shrinking pool of applicants.

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Tuition increases, falling enrollment, staff cuts: Data on Michigans public universities

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Michigans public universities have lost 45,000 students since 2011. Its about to get worse.
MANISTEE, MI  A picnic-focused restaurant that will take advantage of every picnic table, bench and grassy knoll in the area is expected to open this summer in a Northern Michigan beach town.

The Outsider will open in July in downtown Manistee. The restaurant by a Grand Rapids investor aims to celebrate food and local recreation. It will include a huge map of every available picnic spot in the area, organizers said.

The Outsider will bring food together with recreation in a way that promotes exploration of Manistee, catering to the needs of outdoor enthusiasts, nature lovers, and those seeking a unique and high-quality dining experience, said owner Jon Faber, of Grand Rapids.

Located at 457 River St. with views of a large fountain and the Manistee River, The Outsider will feature counter service for a fast-casual experience. Onsite dining will include 80-90 seats on the 4,000-square-foot patio and indoor seating for 30-50 people. There will also be an indoor pinball arcade by Grand Rapids-based Pyramid Scheme.

The Outsider, 457 River St. in Manistee, will feature a 4,000-square-foot patio with seating for 80-90 people with views of the Manistee Fountain and Manistee River channel. The recreation-focused restaurant is scheduled to open during July 2023.Provided by The Outsider

However, Faber hopes customers will take their food and go on an adventure.

Weve outsourced our dining room to some of the most beautiful parks and waterfronts, he said. Weve got a huge map wall that shows every picnic table, bench, and grassy knoll in the area. We hope this puts great ideas in customers heads, like, Hey, I think I should eat this salad while watching boats pass at that picnic table.

The Manistee Fountain is visible from the 4,000-square-foot patio at The Outsider, 457 River St. in Manistee. The recreation-focused restaurant is scheduled to open during July 2023.Justine Lofton | jlofton@mlive.com

The menu will focus on burgers, wraps and salads with portable sides. Organic, non-GMO juice and fountain pop will be provided by Tractor Beverage Company. A meal will cost about $10-$16.

A small selection of picnic- and grill-focused grocery items will also be available.

All food-packaging will be biodegradable, and the company encourages customers to bring their own reusable bag or purchase one at the restaurant.

Faber decided to invest in Manistee after exploring the areas recreation opportunities  including Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area, Big M Recreation Area and First Street Beach  as a visitor.

The Hampton Inn & Suites scheduled to open this summer across from First Street Beach specifically gave us confidence in investing downtown, he said. Its an exciting time in Manistee with opportunity overload.

RELATED: Lake Michigan beachfront hotel plans early summer opening, taking reservations

Day-to-day operation of The Outsider will be managed by Monarch Manistee. Job applications for the restaurant can be submitted to Monarch here.

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DETROIT  A Michigan man has pleaded guilty to animal torture charges.

Julius Holley, 56, of Detroit, will be sentenced on June 12, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Wednesday.

The plea accompanies a sentencing agreement of 5 to 15 years imprisonment, reserved restitution, and a prohibition on owning or possessing any animal or contacting the human victim.

In October of 2022, Holley broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend, stole and damaged her property, and took her Yorkshire Terrier mix dog.

Holley then beat and tortured the dog, while recording himself doing so, and sent the videos to his ex-girlfriend. Ultimately, the dog was abandoned in a bucket next to a house and was later taken by the Michigan Humane Society. The dog did survive.

Holley was charged in November 2022 and was set to go to trial. He has a history of violence against multiple women, including convictions of criminal sexual conduct and domestic violence, dating back to 1992, Nessel said.

Nessel also pointed to a 2019 law that recognizes the connection between animal abuse and domestic violence and provides law enforcement with the tools necessary to hold dangerous perpetrators accountable.

The torture of an animal, and for the explicit torment of those who love them, is a cruel exhibition of violence that is inherently linked with domestic violence and Michigan is well served by the law which acknowledges this link, Nessel said.

Beyond the excellent prosecutors in my department, I want to applaud the dedicated staff and swift response of both the Michigan Humane Society and the Detroit Police Department.

In Michigan, a person who tortures or kills a pet with the intent to cause mental suffering or distress to another person, or to exert control over another person, is guilty of a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

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HAZEL PARK, MI  A Michigan teacher has been sentenced to 14 days in jail for planting a bomb threat in his classroom to get a day off, WDIV Local 4 reports.

Paul Thomas Jacobs, 40, of Livonia, was charged with misdemeanor violent threat against a school after a bomb threat note was found on a desk in his classroom, the report said. He confessed after security footage showing him placing the note was found.

The incident happened on Feb. 2 at Hazel Park Junior High School in Hazel Park, MLive previously reported. The note said the school would be blown up the next day; no bomb was found.

RELATED: Michigan teacher plants bomb threat note to get day off, police say

Jacobs was sentenced on Tuesday to 14 days in jail and 24 months of probation, the TV station reports.

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WYANDOTTE, MI  An off-duty Michigan police officer is accused of carrying a loaded gun into a bar where it was taken by another patron and pointed at his head, authorities said.

Both men are facing charges in the incident that happened around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, at a bar in the 110 block of Oak Street in Wyandotte, according to a news release from the Wayne County Prosecutors Office.

Shawn Dennis Davidson, 52, of New Boston, was an off-duty Westland police officer at the time of the incident; he is no longer a police officer, the release said. Gregory Jay Tittle, 53, of Carleton, is also facing charges.

Davidson and Tittle were together at the bar while Davidson was off duty, the release said. It is alleged that Tittle and Davidsons conduct led bar staff to ask Davidson to leave, but he refused. Police were called to the bar and Davidson was arrested. A loaded handgun was found in his waistband.

It is alleged that, prior to the arrival of police, Tittle took Davidsons handgun from Davidsons waistband and pointed it at Davidsons head, the release said. Tittle was arrested at a nearby bar.

Davidson is charged with carrying a concealed firearm under the influence of alcohol and trespassing.

Tittle is charged with carrying a concealed firearm under the influence of alcohol and reckless use of a firearm.

Both men were arraigned on Tuesday, May 23, in 27th District Court. For both of them, personal recognizance bonds were set at $30,000 with an alcohol tether. They are due back in court on June 1 before Judge Elizabeth DiSanto.

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YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenia reaffirms the agreement recorded in Brussels, according to which it recognizes 86.6 thousand square kilometers of Azerbaijan and expects that Azerbaijan will also reaffirm that it recognizes 29.8 thousand square kilometers of Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.

Hripsime Grigoryan from Civil Contract Party asked why Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and specifies the territorial dimensions.

"Why 86.6 thousand and 29.8 thousand, because from here the next question arises: what is that territorial integrity that we recognize? Azerbaijan has a very clear narrative, it says that Armenia does not recognize its territorial integrity, that is, if it does not recognize that Azerbaijan is 86.6 thousand square kilometers, then they do not recognize that Armenia is 29 thousand 800 square kilometers. And that conversation is happening in front of the international community. And when Azerbaijan continuously attacks Armenia, and, of course, we are in contact with the international community, they say that Armenia does not recognize their territorial integrity either, attacked or is attacking them. Suppose, Armenia does not recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and if Azerbaijan attacks, the CSTO will come and stand by Armenia. CSTO said during and as a result of these attacks: "I will come and stand by your side, but I will just send 30 very strong observers," said the Prime Minister.

Pashinyan emphasized that a decision must be made. "We can say that we do not recognize Azerbaijan's 86.6 thousand square kilometers, and in our opinion, Azerbaijan is not 86.6 thousand square kilometers, but 45.7 thousand square kilometers. They will say that in their opinion, Armenia is not 29.8 thousand square kilometers, but 8700 square kilometers. And yes, I reaffirm from this podium that Armenia reaffirms the agreement recorded in Brussels, that Armenia recognizes 86.6 thousand square kilometers of Azerbaijan, and I expect that Azerbaijan will also reaffirm that it recognizes 29.8 thousand square kilometers of Armenia", said the Prime Minister.
EAST LANSING, MI -- A skincare company has apologized after it paid a Michigan social media influencer to advertise their new nasal strips in a TikTok ad that linked their benefits to overcoming trauma from a mass shooting.

Both the influencer, a Michigan State University graduate with more than 27,000 followers, and Japan-based Biore Skincare have apologized.

In the now-deleted video posted to TikTok, the influencer says she has gone through countless obstacles this year, from a school shooting to having no idea what life is going to look like after college.

She also makes references to the feeling of terror she had walking around campus weeks after the shooting, before abruptly promoting Biore products.

Three MSU students were killed, and five others were injured when 43-year-old Anthony McRae opened fire on campus on Feb. 13. He later died off campus from a self-inflicted gunshot.

The company says the ad was meant to be part of Biores Strip Away the Stigma Mental Health Awareness Month campaign, which aims to normalize conversations about mental health.

But thats not how it was received by the public, leading to a flurry of criticisms on social media.

Biore apologized in a statement, saying that they did it the wrong way and lacked sensitivity around an incredibly serious tragedy.

Our tonality was completely inappropriate, the statement reads. We are so sorry. We are committed to continuing our mental health mission, but we promise to do it in a better way. This is our mistake, and we own it. We let our community down and we let our creators down by not providing better guidance.

Biore, which has promoted mental health awareness for four years, also asked that people direct their anger at them and not toward the influencer, but she also issued an apology.

The influencer said she had hoped to spread awareness about struggles with anxiety, but understood thats not how the video was perceived.

I did not mean to desensitize the traumatic event that took place as I know the effects that it has had on me and the Spartan community. I take accountability for this and will ensure to be smarter in the future.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI-- After 80 years, the remains of a World War II soldier who was killed in action was laid to rest next to his family.

Grand Rapids native Willard Bill Brinks, 24, departed his family by train as he headed off to war like many young Americans.

Brinks, with Company K, 3rd battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, was killed on the first day of Allied attacks on the enemy defensive line. He was reported as killed in action on Nov. 22, 1942, in present-day in Papua, New Guinea. His remains were lost in battle and the military deemed them non-recoverable.

The remains, then named X-70, were interred at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. Finally, in 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPPA) moved Brinks remains to Nebraska to start testing for DNA.

READ MORE: A funeral 80 years later: Memorial service held for lost World War II soldier

Using dental and anthropological evidence, the DPPA was able to confirm last July that the remains were Brinks. The department got in touch with his oldest living nephew, Dale Guikema.

We didnt realize this was possible, we just thought he was gone, lost in war ... and then when I got the call that they had identified the remains of Willard H. Brinks, said Guikema.

Throughout the funeral, Brinks family showed their pride for their history of military service, displaying the flag hung in their living room with four blue stars signifying how many soldiers there were in the home.

One was later sewn into a gold star, signifying a soldier had died, for Brinks.

Beth Rodenhouse, Guikemas daughter, shared her great uncles history in the eulogy. Another family member and namesake, Willard H., was there to pay his respects. Willard H. Guikema, the younger brother of Dale received a folded burial flag at the ceremony.

Rodenhouse said Brinks body was buried with the utmost honor. The funeral concluded as his family said goodbye to a loved one lost so many years ago.

We are thankful for the peace that putting his body to rest with his family gives us, Rodenhouse said.

Brinks was buried on Friday, May 19, next to his parents, Gerrit and Nettie, at Garfield Park Cemetery in Grand Rapids.

Brinks received many awards for his service including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal, both posthumously.

38 1 / 38 Funeral for Willard H. Brinks who was killed in action in WWII

Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter.

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WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI  After months of fighting against a potential Starbuck drive-thru being built across from her business, Kim Kaster is finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Kaster, owner of Brewed Awakenings Cafe just south of Ann Arbor in Pittsfield Township, is one of many people who have been speaking out against the idea of a Starbucks drive-thru coming to the Country Creek Village shopping center at 7025 E. Michigan Ave.

Over the last few months, many people have expressed concerns about what traffic and safety would look like for the area if the national chain were to open on the corner of Moon Road and East Michigan Avenue.

Read more: Slap in the face: Independent coffee shop objects to Starbucks possibly opening nearby

With talks of the possible Starbucks, Pittsfield Townships Planning Commission on May 18 reviewed the drive-thru development that was approved for the site in August 2022. The group ultimately decided a Starbucks being put into the location deviated from the applicants initial plan for a lower-intensity drive-thru.

Ben Carlisle, the townships planning consultant, said the Planning Commission was under the impression the drive-thru business was going to be a lower-intensity smoothie shop and not a coffee shop.

When asked specifically ... about a coffee shop, the applicant denied that he would use that drive-thru restaurant for a coffee-shop use and would rather plan to have it used for a less-intense use, Carlisle said at the meeting, adding all approvals for the drive-thru were based on a low-intensity use, not a high-intensity use like a Starbucks.

The commission determined putting a Starbucks drive-thru in the area would be a major amendment to what was originally approved.

Moving forward, if the applicant wants to try to go through with a Starbucks drive-thru, they will have to submit new site plans for it, or else continue with the original plan.

I came home (after the meeting) thinking it was a huge victory, Kaster said. I felt it was a huge victory for the small guy and for our community.

Carlisle emphasized the townships decision wasnt anti-Starbucks, but rather based on how a higher-intensity use would affect the area differently. The change in the drive-thrus intensity would be a 10% increase in traffic and would up the locations required amount of stacking spaces for vehicles, he said.

The drive-thru was just one part of the plan for the developments applicant, Doraid Markus, to build 8,000 square feet of additional commercial tenant spaces in two buildings along East Michigan Avenue each containing some retail space, along with a restaurant, according to site plans.

Markus, who also owns Pittsfield Plaza Partner which owns the shopping center, declined to comment for this story.

Despite the recent decision, Kaster said she still has work to do since a fence for the developments construction is taking up a large portion of the plazas parking lot. She is waiting to hear what the applicant will do next, but wants to work with the township to access some of the fenced-off spaces in the meantime, she said.

Some businesses, like the plazas Tropical Illusions, are worried the loss of parking is already impacting sales. Owner Scott Sepesi shared his concerns at the meeting, as well as worries for what parking will look like with the addition of 8,000 square feet of additional commercial tenant spaces.

Weve lost over a third of our parking lot ... and my customer base is down over 10% in the two months since those barricades went up, he said. I can tell you right now I am looking at closing the business.

The construction site for the development at 7025 E. Michigan Ave. on Tuesday, May 23.

Sepesi was just one of many people who spoke up at the meeting with concerns about the project. Kaster said seeing all of those people show up made the anxiety and frustration she was feeling just melt away.

I was just amazed at the support, she said, noting many people also wrote letters.

I felt so much love from everybody that was there, she said. (It made me realize) as a community we really can make a change.

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.

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LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MI  A man killed himself earlier this week following a standoff with police in a Brighton parking lot.

Officers from the Brighton Police Department were investigating a U-Haul truck and trailer at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20, in the parking lot of Meijer, 8650 W. Grand River Ave., when they discovered the owner of the travel trailer had several warrants, police said. At least one warrant was a serious felony warrant involving a weapon.

Officers also discovered the U-Haul truck parked next to the trailer had been reported stolen, with the man as the suspect.

Police eventually were able to contact a woman inside the trailer who told officers the man had left with the truck two hours prior. The truck, however, was parked next to the trailer. Officers then attempted to contact the man, who they believed to be inside.

Due to the nature of the mans warrants, police called nearby jurisdictions for aid, including crews from the Livingston County Sheriffs Office, Green Oak Township Police Department, Hamburg Township Police Department and the Metro Parks Police Department.

After a perimeter was established, the woman left the trailer and police were able to get in touch with the man. The mans phone disconnected after roughly half an hour of negotiations, police said.

Brighton police then called the Livingston Regional SWAT and Negotiator teams. Police could not establish communication again.

At about 7:30 p.m., SWAT operators broke one of the trailers windows and used a pole camera, which showed the man laying unresponsive on the trailers bed. The man was determined to have died by suicide.

There were no other injuries and no shots were fired by police. No other information was available as of Wednesday morning, May 24.

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ANN ARBOR, MI - University of Michigan and Michigan State University have produced the fourth and sixth-most Peace Corps volunteers since the organizations inception, officials said.

Since 1961, the two Michigan universities have combined to produce 5,273 Peace Corps volunteers, organization officials said in a May 23 release.

UM-Ann Arbor produced 2,803 volunteers, while MSU produced 2,470, officials said. As a state, Michigan is ranked No. 14 among all states and territories in the highest number of volunteers since 1961, officials said.

The No. 1 school was University of California-Berkeley, followed by University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Washington in Seattle.

President John F. Kennedy announced the creation of the Peace Corps in 1960 in a speech on the Michigan Union steps in front of 10,000 people. The Ann Arbor university is one of about 150 schools across the country that offers Peace Corps Prep, a partnership program that prepares undergraduate students for service abroad.

Peace Corps volunteers were especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, organization officials said. Fifty-one alumni from UM-Ann Arbor helped evacuate people out of counties during that time, officials said.

Demand for Peace Corps Volunteers is high given setbacks in development progress following the COVID-19 pandemic Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn said in a statement. Peace Corps service is the beginning of a lifetime of global connection and purpose for those bold enough to accept the invitation.

There are more than 240,000 Americans that have served in the Peace Corps, officials said. To apply for service, visit peacecorps.gov/apply and apply before July 1.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Tenisa Frye, a Flint native and Grand Valley State University graduate who previously worked at Farmers Insurance, has been named CEO of Family Promise of West Michigan, a nonprofit that helps families experiencing homelessness.

She started in her new position May 22.

We are thrilled to see Tenisa move into the CEO role. She brings years of leadership and strategic vision to the organization, and her passion for this work is unmatched, said Susan Stoddard, president of the nonprofits board.

Tenisa joins Family Promise with over 20 years of leadership experience and previously served as a trusted business partner and leader at Farmers Insurance. Her vast knowledge, expertise, and passion for this mission make her a great fit to lead Family Promise.

Family Promise provides emergency shelter and basic needs to families with children who are in a housing crisis. It also provides home ownership opportunities to families, and services to help families on the verge of homelessness stay in their homes.

Frye replaces Cheryl Schuch, who was promoted earlier this year to serve as CEO of Family Promises national chapter.

Over the past seven years, I have loved being a part of all things Family Promise, Frye said in a news release. Now I am blessed to lead the effort by continuing to build, promote and elevate the mission of this wonderful organization. Family Promises work in this community is so important, and Im honored to be a part of it.

Frye worked at Farmers Insurance from September 2015 to this May, with her most recent position being training and delivery manager. Prior to that, she was the owner and operator of a home-based day care center, Heavens Angels Family Childcare in Grand Rapids.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A senior from Grand Rapids Public Schools is one of 750 high school students across the country to receive a prestigious Gates Scholarship covering a full ride to the college of their choice.

Jaylynne Calderon-Monterroso, a senior at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, has been awarded the competitive scholarship from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

It covers all educational expenses for four years of college.

The Gates Scholarship is a highly selective, last-dollar scholarship for outstanding, minority high school seniors from low-income households, according to the scholarship website. Tens of thousands of students across the country compete for a chance at the coveted scholarship each year.

Calderon-Monterroso, 18, is graduating from University Preparatory Academy this spring with a 4.35 grade point average. She has taken at least two college-level classes every year since she was a freshman, including Advanced Placement classes at her school and courses at Grand Rapids Community College.

During her time in high school, Calderon-Monterroso served on the Mayors Youth Council and National Honor Society (NHS), in addition to being president of the senior executive board and valedictorian at University Preparatory Academy.

Calderon-Monterroso is the first student at University Preparatory Academy to ever win a Gates Scholarship, Principal Kenyatta Hill-Hall told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

Hill-Hall described the 18-year-old as a quiet but resilient leader who advocates for her fellow students and is determined to help others.

To me, the most impressive thing about Jaylynne is her heart, and her advocacy for UPrep and the scholars, said Hill-Hall in a Tuesday, May 23 interview. I know that shes impacted our community and the Grand Rapids community, but Im telling people they need to watch out, because this girl is going to impact this world.

To address a rise in mental health issues among students during the pandemic, Calderon-Monterroso helped create a mental health room at University Preparatory. The space serves as a safe area where students and teachers can wind down or de-stress if they are dealing with mental health challenges.

The 18-year-old said she noticed the need for a safe space in the school after experiencing her own mental health struggles freshman year.

In ninth grade, I started picking up on how my anxiety was impacting my education and how I interact with people, she recalled. And then coming back from school after COVID, it was a different environment -- just talking about it with my friends and other students at school, you could kind of notice the difference.

Calderon-Monterroso networked with leaders from Steelcase to receive a $5,000 grant to create the room, which is now filled with plants and colorful posters with encouraging words meant to help the rooms users feel comfortable.

Hill-Hall said the creation of the mental health room is just one of many examples of Calderon-Monterrosos leadership at school.

That why I say, shes a resilient leader, looking to make sure like, Hey, what would help our scholars? the principal said.

Calderon-Monterroso plans to attend the University of Notre Dame next fall, studying pre-law and economics. She chose Notre Dame because of its Latino Studies Scholars Program, she said.

She was also accepted at a number of prestigious schools including the University of Michigan, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and Barnard College.

A first-generation college student, Jaylynne Calderon-Monterroso is the daughter of Adelmo and Migda, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala.

The 18-year-old said her parents have always instilled in her the importance of doing well in school.

School has always been a really important factor when it comes to what they want for our future, she said. That was one of the reasons why they came here: Just knowing that opportunity of education would be there.

All the sacrifices that they made, its important for me to be able to provide for them in the future, with the degree that I have.

In addition to covering the cost of college, the Gates Scholarship program provides recipients with online support services designed to help them excel in college and make a successful transition to their chosen careers, including career services, mentoring, leadership development, wellness, and knowledge building.

To qualify for a Gates Scholarship, students must be in their senior year of high school, be Pell Grant eligible, and have at least a 3.3 GPA. Recipients must also be African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and/or Hispanic American.

This year, students representing 48 states were selected for a Gates Scholarship, according to an overview provided by the organization.

The 2023 cohort of scholarship recipients has an average GPA of 4.3, and stands in the 90th percentile of standardized testing scores. Seventy-six percent of scholarship recipients are first-generation college students.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A Northern Michigan man is accused of making bomb threats against President Joe Biden, a U.S. Marine Corps base and a restaurant.

Preston Scott Mikottis of Antrim County was indicted Wednesday, May 24, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on four charges related to threats.

He was ordered detained at his initial appearance in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Specifically, Mikottis used his telephone to call in a threat to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Office in Detroit, Michigan, stating: I plan on killing the President. I planted bombs at the White House. I planted bombs all over Michigan, the indictment said.

The defendant is charged with three counts of use of a telephone to make a bomb threat, a 10-year felony, and threat against the president, a 5-year-felony, court records said.

The indictment said Mikottis called the FBI on Nov. 5, 2021, to threaten the president.

He made a telephoned threat to Camp Pendleton, a Marine base in California, the same day, the indictment said.

He faces two charges related to alleged bomb threats made to the Corner Bistro in Bellaire.

A criminal complaint said that Mikottis had repeatedly called the Corner Bistro, tying up the phone line, demanding to speak to a co-owner. The co-owner knew Mikottis to be the former boyfriend of a mutual friend. Mikottis had harassed (the co-owner) in the past by continually calling his personal cellphone, FBI special agent Daniel Olson wrote in the complaint.

The calls continued for a week, the FBI said. Workers were concerned for their safety. Customers could not place take-out orders or make reservations.

On April 28, the defendant allegedly texted: might want to evacuate. I placed a bomb on the premises. It also said the co-owner better check his family, the FBI said.

The FBI said that a U.S. Secret Service agent earlier this year reported receiving hundreds of emails and texts over the course of a year from the defendant. The Secret Service agent had previously interviewed him in a separate matter, the FBI said.

The FBI arrested the defendant in Sacramento County, California, court records show.

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OTTAWA COUNTY, MI  While the Ottawa County Board on Tuesday resolved to no longer use funds or resources to enforce any law it deems as restricting constitutional rights, the county prosecutor will continue to enforce all state laws.

Ottawa County Prosecutor Lee Fisher told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press the constitutional county resolution passed Tuesday, May 23, wont change the way his office operates.

Fisher said the resolution has no legal force and will not impact the performance of my duties as prosecutor.

He added that he will continue to enforce all state laws as I always have with victims rights and public safety being my primary concerns.

With the passage of the constitutional county resolution, the board resolved to no longer use any funds or other resources on enforcing any law or rule that restricts the rights of any law-abiding citizen affirmed by the United States Constitution.

County funds and resources also wont be used to aid any state or federal agency infringing or restricting those rights, according to the resolution.

The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners isnt able to direct Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Kempker or Fisher  both elected officials themselves  to not enforce laws, but the board does control funding of those offices.

Kempker did not immediately return a request for comment.

The resolution is largely symbolic and doesnt outline what constitutes an infringement or restriction of constitutional rights. It also doesnt point to any specific rules or law -- proposed or otherwise -- that the county will no longer use funds or other resources to enforce.

Related: Ottawa County becomes constitutional county

The Michigan and U.S. Supreme Courts decide the constitutionality of laws, not the sheriff, prosecutor or county board.

The resolution specifically names constitutional protections around freedom of speech, religion and assembly, the right to keep and bear arms and the right to due process as areas the board resolves to protect for Ottawa County residents.

Ottawa County Board Chair Joe Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During more than five hours of public comment Tuesday preceding the constitutional county resolution vote, there was some confusion among residents about whether the resolution would potentially tie the hands of Ottawa County deputies on the enforcement of some laws.

In speaking during a scheduled annual report at the Tuesday meeting, Kempker told the board he took an oath, and again reaffirms that oath, to uphold the constitutions of Michigan and the United States and to enforce state and local laws.

We will continue to focus on victims of crime and providing a safe and secure county for our citizens that live here, work here and are visitors, Kempker told the board. Policing must be done in a manner that it is lawful and constitutional but also in a way that maintains the consent of the people.

Kempker did not address whether he would enforce laws deemed by the county board as restricting constitutional rights.

A number of speakers worried the county wouldnt enforce recent gun safety and control laws enacted by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the wake of the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University that killed three students and injured five others.

Related: Michigan 21st state to enact red flag gun laws with Whitmers signature

Timberlyn Mazeikis, a Holland resident and a survivor of the MSU shooting, told the board Tuesday that those new laws will save lives. They include safe storage of firearms around minors and a process to temporarily remove firearms from at-risk individuals

Ottawa County leaders had been petitioned earlier this year to make the county a Second Amendment sanctuary county, as a number of other counties in the state have done.

The resolution making Ottawa County a constitutional county comes a month after Livingston County, located between Lansing and Detroit, did the same on April 24.

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Ribbon cutting canceled, HippoPalooza pushed back after Grand Rapids hippo kills antelope
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A HippoPalooza event celebrating the ribbon cutting of John Ball Zoos new pygmy hippo exhibit has been pushed back following a fatal attack at the zoo last week.

The new pygmy hippo, Jahari, attacked and killed a sitatunga antelope last week during the animals first interaction without barriers. The two animals were supposed to share an enclosure at the zoo that was scheduled to open to the public on June 2 during the zoos HippoPalooza weekend celebration.

On Wednesday, May 24, a spokesperson for the zoo stated that while the hippo exhibit will still open to the public on June 2, the HippoPalooza event is being pushed back to sometime in July. The zoo also canceled a ribbon cutting event for the new exhibit scheduled for Tuesday, May 30.

Related: Pygmy hippo kills antelope intended for same enclosure at Grand Rapids zoo

Instead, John Ball Zoo is calling the June 2-4 weekend a Summer Spectacular.

Jahari, an 8-year-old pygmy hippo from the Pittsburgh Zoo, attacked Chopper the sitatunga, who came to the Grand Rapids zoo from San Diego. According to John Ball Zoo, the two animals had visual access to each other through a mesh barrier for around a month prior to the fatal incident.

After successful visual introductions between Chopper and the pygmy hippo throughout the last month, trained animal care staff were attempting a controlled introduction of our pygmy hippo with Chopper inside their habitat when the pygmy hippo suddenly attacked Chopper, said John Ball Zoo CEO Peter DArienzo in a written statement last Tuesday. Zoo staff separated the animals immediately. Our animal care team provided emergency care, but efforts to resuscitate Chopper were unsuccessful.

DArienzo said a full review of the incident is underway, per animal care protocols and procedures but no further details about the incident have been provided to MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Its unclear how Jahari attacked Chopper, and the zoo declined to comment on whether zoo staff had a plan to mitigate a possible attack.

Related: Hippo that killed antelope at John Ball Zoo had no history of aggression, former zoo says

The new hippo exhibit at John Ball Zoo has been under construction since 2021. It includes an outdoor area with a large pool, a mud wallow and an underwater viewing area. There is an indoor viewing area to allow guests to see the pygmy hippos all year round.

Jahari is expected to be joined in his new exhibit with a female pygmy hippo and two European white storks. The female pygmy hippo, a 3-year-old named Penelope, is currently at the Toronto Zoo. John Ball Zoo did not clarify if Penelope will still join Jahari in the Grand Rapids exhibit.

John Ball Zoo did not disclose if there was a reason for Jaharis aggression, but Pittsburgh zoo staff told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that Jahari did not have a history of aggressive behavior.

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YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan, who is on a working visit to the Russian Federation, is participating in the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of Deputy Prime Minister, Mher Grigoryan took part in the "EAEU Priorities 2030+" discussion within the framework of the conference, which was also attended by the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovych and Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergey Glazyev.

During the event, the Armenian Deputy Prime Minister spoke about the EAEU's strategic goals, emphasizing the sustainable development of the member states and emphasizing the role of human capital in this matter.

The Deputy Prime Minister was present at the awarding ceremony of the winners of the "Green Eurasia" international contest, within the framework of which he made a congratulatory speech and handed over prizes to the winners. Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Overchuk and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Igor Petrishenko also presented prizes to the awardees.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Three new establishments are now among the list of places to grab a drink to-go in downtown Grand Rapids after joining the citys social district.

Grand Rapids currently has nine social districts and more than 60 different businesses participating.

A social district is an area designated by city commissioners where alcoholic beverages can be sold by qualified businesses and may be purchased and consumed by users.

Grand Rapids city commissioners gave three restaurants the green light to join a social district on Tuesday, May 23, during a committee meeting.

Those places are:

 Nagoya Hibachi Sushi & Catering at 16 Monroe Center St. NW

 Monsoon GR at 55 Monroe Center St. NW

 Soho Sushi 58 Monroe Center St. NW

Theres about 90 blocks of social district commons areas around Grand Rapids, with most of them clustered in the downtown area.

Related: Michigans Best Local Eats: Monsoon in downtown Grand Rapids has welcoming Vietnamese fare

In social districts, people can purchase to-go alcohol from an authorized bar or restaurant and consume it anywhere within the area of the social district called the commons area. These are generally sidewalks but can include outdoor seating as well.

Social districts were created as a way to help struggling restaurants and bars with limited indoor dining capacity, due to COVID-19 restrictions, accommodate more customers in the open air and increase sales and foot traffic.

Grand Rapids approved its first social districts and commons areas in July 2020  the same month Gov. Gretchen Whitmer approved legislation allowing them across the state.

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JACKSON COUNTY, MI  Police are searching for two suspects who led officers on a chase Monday before crashing and fleeing their car.

At about 3:51 p.m. May 22, officers from the Blackman-Leoni Department of Public Safety responded to a report of retail fraud in progress at the Walmart department store located at 1700 W. Michigan Ave. in Jackson.

Just before officers arrived, police were informed a man and a woman were leaving the area in an Oldsmobile vehicle. The officers spotted the vehicle leaving the parking lot of Westwood Mall and attempted a traffic stop, said Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Director Scott Grajewski.

The suspects fled police down 21st Street before turning onto eastbound West Washington Avenue, Grajewski said.

The vehicle was pursued by police for about one mile before officers terminated the chase due to traffic and high speeds, Grajewski said.

A short time later, officers were told the vehicle had crashed at the intersection of Franklin Street and First Street. The suspects had fled the vehicle and could not be located by police, Grajewski said.

Officers searched the vehicle to find suspected methamphetamine as well as several items of clothing stolen from Walmart, Grajewski said. Charges for flee and eluding, possession of methamphetamine and retail fraud will be sought, police said.

Blackman-Leoni was assisted in this incident by the Jackson County Sheriffs Office and Jackson Police Department.

Want more Jackson-area news? Bookmark the local Jackson news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Jackson daily newsletter.

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PORTAGE, MI  The city of Portage is applying for $1.03 million in federal funding that, if awarded, would help bring 23 new electric vehicle chargers to the city.

The chargers, which would be accessible 24/7, would be spread out over 11 strategically-placed locations around the city.

The city currently has eight charging stations, serving a population of 48,890, according to its federal grant application.

However, with projections outlined in The Michigan Healthy Climate Plan that estimate 28% of drivers will use electric vehicles by 2030, coupled with the citys population growth, city officials identified a need for more EV stations.

Our goal is for the city of Portage to become an electrical vehicle charging hub, not at one location, but within our city limits, the application reads. By strategically dispersing the charging ports across our jurisdiction, rather than constructing a singular charging corridor, we aim to address the existing gap in charging infrastructure and meet the diverse needs of our community.

The selected locations primarily include public park parking lots and municipal building parking lots, ensuring accessibility, and promoting the utilization of existing public assets.

Four of the charging stations would be direct current fast chargers with two placed at both the Portage Zhang Senior Center and at City Hall. The remaining 19 would be AC level two chargers, with each being placed near public parks, thus allowing users the opportunity to take advantage of city playgrounds, trails, bikeways, fishing areas and courts, while charging their vehicles.

According to city plans, there would be three charging stations placed at Celery Flats Pavilion, two at the citys parks and recreation building at 320 Library Lane, and two each at Central Park, Eliason Nature Preserve, Lexington Green Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Schrier Park, South Westnedge Park, as well as at the trailhead at East Kilgore Road and Lovers Lane.

All of the charging stations would be located within 2.5 miles of the nearest interstate exit or highway intersection, ensuring convenient access to job centers and natural amenities for residents, visitors and commuters.

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The funds being sought are part of the department of transportations charging and fueling infrastructure discretionary grant program. If awarded, the city would provide a $206,018 local match.

The Portage City Council on May 23 unanimously approved the grant application. While no comment was given at the time of the vote, Councilmember Chris Burns later applauded the work city staff did on the application.

One of my requests of our city manager (Pat McGinnis) was to be aggressive in pursuing outside funding for this type of infrastructure and I just want to say kudos every time I see one of these things on our agenda, Burns said. Its really exciting and I think we put together a very compelling draft application here.

If approved, the project is expected to take at most 2 1/2 years with a request for bid proposals from vendors starting within one month and construction bids for pavement and electrician work accepted within four months of grant approval.

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KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo Public School Board will be reviewing the districts suspension, exclusion and expulsion policy following complaints from community members.

The decision to take the policy to review was made at the May 18 board meeting in response to a public comment made by a parent in the district.

Trustee Megan Maddock said she has increasing concern over the frequency and number of exclusion recommendations the board receives.

Under the current policy, suspensions are authorized by the superintendent or an individual delegated by the superintendent. Seven mitigating factors are to be considered before a student is suspended or expelled, according to the policy.

Those factors are:

The students age;

The students disciplinary history;

Documentation of any known disability of the student;

The seriousness of the violation or behavior committed by the student;

Whether the violation or behavior committed by the student threatened the safety of any student or staff member;

Whether restorative practices should be used to address the violation or behavior committed by the student;

If a lesser intervention would properly address the violation or behavior committed by the student.

Its the responsibility of the individual selected by the superintendent to implement fair and consistent investigative reporting and disciplinary measures, the policy says.

Trustees say this isnt being done.

When we receive those recommendations for exclusions we are not being told any of those things that are being done or if anything has been done, Maddock said.

Board Vice President Jermaine Jackson said he hopes implicit bias isnt contributing to blanket enforcement of the policy.

Im a parent, I have a Black son in this district that was put on a suspension for just getting to class late, Jackson said.

Black students are suspended at a much higher rate than any other ethnic group in Michigan elementary and secondary schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2017-18, 17.42% of students receiving out of school suspensions were Black. The percentage of male students suspended more than doubled the percentage of female students suspended, statistics show.

Jackson said he believes in restorative practice but acknowledged there are times when suspensions are necessary. He said there cant be a tolerance for violent behavior in schools.

But its also unfair that some students with good attendance and grades are suspended for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said.

The problem in our district now is the climate and culture is jacked up right now because of what I feel is allowed in the schools, Jackson said.

Restorative practices should be included as an alternative or addition to exclusion or expulsion of a student except in the case of a student being found in possession of a firearm, according to the policy.

Its saying try everything you can before you suspend a student, Trustee Tandy Moore said.

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Moore said she had spoken with the previous superintendent about reviewing the policy but was told the board had to formally make a motion to review the policy. Moore said the intention of the review is to strengthen language so that procedures are in alignment with the policys intent.

What can we change in our policy to make that harder to subvert? Moore said.

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WHITEHALL, MI - The Gnarly Heifer may sell their burgers like hot cakes, but the restaurant has coined themselves as more than just a burger joint.

The restaurant, located at 306 E Colby St., brings a twist to their burgers, creating a local, small town atmosphere with just their products and service.

Kara Smith, the owner of the Gnarly Heifer, said her connections with the regular customers is most important, wanting customer service to come first, engaging with the community to make them want to come back to have a meal again.

We remember their names, and remember their grandkids names, Smith said. Customer service is really the forefront of our restaurant as well as selling the best quality food that we can.

The quality food comes from collaborations with local farms, locally sourcing the beef and produce from the community and Greater Michigan. Smith said what is not made in-house comes from around the state.

Smith describes the restaurants atmosphere as fun, with folksy, country music playing in the background, having an open kitchen for the staff and the customers to interact as well as having a bell for customers to ring when theyve had great food, usually being met with hoots and hollers across the restaurant.

While the Gnarly Heifer sells your regular cheeseburger and hamburger, another aspect that sets the restaurant apart is their specialty burgers. Smith claims that the Gnarly Heifer was the first to bring the smash burger to the White Lake area.

Slathered on their burgers, Smith said the restaurant prides itself on their gnarly sauce, creating the renown of their restaurant in the area.

Gnarly sauce is our kind of claim to fame, Smith said. Thats our sauce. Its not just a burger sauce. Its like a kickin cowboy sauce: sweet, tangy, a little bit of spice, just a little bit of kick in there. It sets us apart from every other smash burger place

The Gnarly Burger with Gnarly Sauce at the Gnarly Heifer. Photo credits to Kara Smith.

The gnarly sauce can be found on their most popular burgers, such as the Rowdy Rancher, complete with bacon, a fried egg and a potato patty for $13.50.

The Olive Burger even has its own olive sauce, which reads best in Michigan on their website, for $11.50.

The Doodle Dog is also a popular item: a mac and cheese and bacon topped hot dog on a brioche bun for $6. The Cowboy Brisket Wrap is also a big seller, with caramelized onions on a sun-dried tomato wrap for $11.

Smith also emphasized the importance of having options outside of the traditional burger for everyone in the community, adding in wraps and salads to the menu because she wanted her sister-in-law, who is vegan, to feel welcome at the restaurant.

Smith also gave an inside scoop that the Gnarly Heifer will unveil their new summer concoction with a twist, introducing their new cauliflower Italian nacho to be released soon.

Another popular food item is their truffle fries, hand cutting the potatoes into shoestrings, loading them with truffle oil and parmesan for $9. Smith said these are not the same without their amazing, homemade garlic truffle aioli.

For those wanting to try new classics, customers can tap into the Gnarly Heifers secret menu, which is inspired by customers and staff who have created new items.

This includes the Kerry fries, which are their homemade fries, but topped with bacon, chicken, cheese, tangy BBQ sauce and ranch for $10 or the JD Chicken Wrap which is the Skinny Farmer Wrap, but with bacon, chicken and ranch for $10.50.

Smith said that she hopes that the customers know that the food is made with love for them and that The Gnarly Heifer loves to give back to the community through engaging with it and making them delicious meals.

We are here for our community because without our community, we wouldnt be here, Smith said.

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BAY CITY, MI  Small but incredibly powerful, semiconductors are little chips that power todays modern life. But manufacturing these chips requires a skilled workforce that many of Michigans schools, including Delta College, are working hard to develop and grow, officials say.

On Wednesday, May 24, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II was joined by several business and educational leaders from across the state in a press conference outlining the work being done by a public/private partnership called TAT, or the Semiconductor Talent Action Team.

Michigan is a global leader and hub for advanced manufacturing and innovation, and we have grown our semiconductor industry footprint aggressively, he said. Lets keep working together to bring advanced manufacturing and critical supply chains home as we create economic opportunity in every region and build a brighter future for Michigan.

TATs ultimate goal is to build on the states ongoing push to onshore critical supply chains of semiconductors back to Michigan, creating good-paying jobs and reducing delays and shortages in the industry, officials say.

To do this, TAT has already built a consortium of seven higher education partners as well as industry leaders to collaborate in building up and promoting five different career pathways in the semiconductor industry. Those careers include computer engineers, electrical engineers, semiconductor processing technicians, industrial/process engineers, and maintenance and repair workers.

One of the educational institutions rising to this challenge of training workers for these types of careers is mid-Michigans very own Delta College, advocates say.

Delta College President Michael Gavin explained how the region remains important to the growing semiconductor industry across the state.

The semiconductor workforce is part of reimagining what Michigan and  in the case of Delta  the Great Lakes Bay Region can be, he said. And Delta will be playing a significant role in that work.

In Bay Countys Frankenlust Township, Delta College is located near two of the latest semiconductor businesses in the world, Gavin said. SK Siltron in Bay Countys Monitor Township and Hemlock Semiconductor in Saginaw Countys Thomas Township have been working hand-in-hand with Delta College in preparing the workforce to meet the demand and needs of the semiconductor industry.

State officials are looking for more institutions to join the ranks of Delta College in leading the way in semiconductor industry education.

We have significant partnerships with both of those groups and subsequently are very well poised for the next step in semiconductor programming, Gavin said. We need to poise ourselves also for the anticipated increase in workforce with an intentionality to focus on diversifying that workforce, and community colleges and our four-year partners will be a significant element in making those goals happen.

Gavin said Delta College currently is revisioning its curriculum and faculty roles while amping up its employer engagement. The college is planning on developing a center for advanced semiconductor training and education, which will feature a national semiconductor technician and transfer curriculum, Gavin said.

He also emphasized how Delta College is looking to reach out to underserved populations in mid-Michigan by offering these training opportunities.

Our service area at Delta has a significant number of low-income, low-skilled individuals, and so we are really looking at those people who are in the ALICE population as well as those who have not necessarily been served well in the past by the economy and the structures in society, he said.

ALICE is an acronym for citizens in the socioeconomic category of asset limited, income constrained, employed.

In addition to partnering with local K-12 institutions to promote pathways from high school to the semiconductor space, Delta College also is engaged in partnerships with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to develop more programming.

All of this work  combined with whats going on around the state to bolster the semiconductor industry  is being done with the hope to boost the economy.

As further educational attainment leads to better jobs in the region, and thereby increasing the overall median income of the region, we believe that our higher ed partners together can make Michigan further a great place for all of us to live, Gavin said.

To support this ongoing initiative across the state, an announcement was made during the press conference that the online application process was launched Wednesday for the TAT Semi Grant. This grant is available to prospective higher education consortium members to apply for up to $3 million in funding to create semiconductor programming.

The TAT Semi Grant also aims to create a semiconductor scholarship incentive among qualified educational institutes. According to state officials, the Michigander Scholars Programs EV/Mobility cohort already has identified more than 30 Michigan university students who are eligible for up to $10,000 in scholarships and starting full-time positions and internships with partner employers.

The program also has grant funding available for institutions to expand and launch new semiconductor engagement and awareness efforts such as skills boot camps at grades from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.

Click here to learn more about the grant program.

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.

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DAYTON TOWNSHIP, MI  A large-scale brawl outside a Tuscola County bar resulted in two people being hospitalized and five being charged with a whopping 40 criminal offenses.

Just after midnight on Friday, May 19, sheriffs deputies and police from various agencies responded to Hollywood & Vine, also known as Friends Bar, at 9975 Silverwood Road for a fight involving as many as 12 people. They arrived to find a man and woman, both 26, who had been hit and kicked several times.

Both victims were taken from the scene via ambulance to an area hospital.

The woman, from North Branch, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released, Undersheriff Robert Baxter said. The man, from Dryden, was in the intensive care unit for two days and has since been released, Baxter said.

Police developed five suspects and arrested two of them at the scene. They arrested three more over the next few days.

This group came to this bar specifically looking for (the victims), Baxter said. They were apparently looking for revenge for an incident that happened months earlier at another bar. It wasnt random; they planned a conspiracy to target these individuals.

No weapons were used in the brouhaha, the undersheriff said.

The Tuscola County Prosecutors Office has charged all five suspects with the same eight counts  two counts each of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, aggravated assault, and conspiracy to commit both offenses. Assault with intent to do great bodily harm is a 10-year felony, while aggravated assault is a one-year misdemeanor. Their respective conspiracy charges carry analogous penalties.

As of May 24, one suspect  Beau A. Stratton, 28, of Clifford  has been arraigned in Tuscola County District Court. The other four suspects have bonded out of jail and are to be arraigned June 7.

These four suspects comprise a 24-year-old Clifford woman, a 34-year-old North Branch woman, a 23-year-old North Branch woman, and a 27-year-old Fostoria man.

Strattons case is scheduled for a probable cause conference on May 31.

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.

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Michigans legislature has proposed using hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for the upcoming years budget, provided to the state two years ago during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One problem: the money could be taken away before Michigan has a chance to spend it.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, wants the federal government to rescind unspent COVID aid from state and local governments as one of a litany of concessions hed like from the federal government as a condition of raising the debt ceiling.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said hes open to rescinding unspent COVID funds remains on the table, telling reporters in early May states dont need it all. The White House didnt respond to requests for comment on the issue, and Democrats in Congress strongly oppose clawing back the funds. It remains unclear what is being considered as part of a deal.

If the funds are rescinded, though, it could mean as much as $1 billion or more would no longer be available as the House and Senate leaders convene with Whitmers office to iron out a final budget.

Im absolutely keeping my eye on it, Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, told MLive. She chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, charged with crafting the budget in that chamber. Weve received briefings from D.C. Ive been in touch directly with Senator (Debbie) Stabenow, about this issue and other issues related to behavioral health funding.

Anthony said the fate of that funding will be one piece of the puzzle during negotiations in Lansing.

Related: Tax cuts may require Democrats to trim draft budgets, officials say

In the Senate, $700 million is proposed to be used to pay salaries in the Michigan Department of Corrections, freeing up money to spend on other projects. The House would instead use State Fiscal Recovery Fund dollars to significantly increase the budget of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, among other increases. Whitmers executive budget recommended appropriating more than $500 million of the funds.

If that money is taken away, legislators would have to reallocate money from elsewhere in the budget to compensate. Anthony acknowledged it would have an impact.

I think that our values and what were fighting for dont change, regardless the amount of money that were looking at, Anthony told MLive. Were still wanting to invest in education and infrastructure and human services. But ultimately it will be a matter of how deep we can go in addressing these issues.

Out of the nearly $200 billion allocated as State Fiscal Recovery Funds, Michigan was given more than $6.5 billion and entered this budget cycle with roughly $900 million left. According to Josh Sefton, deputy director of the House Fiscal Agency, the state also has an estimated $175 million in health and human services-related funds it has yet to appropriate.

Bob Schneider, senior research associate at the Citizens Research Council, pointed out that if money is clawed back, a lot could depend upon whether cash thats been appropriated but not spent is exempt from return. That would be probably manageable, Schneider said. If that too has to be returned, though, it could represent a very big issue, given planned spending of federal funds placed in prior budgets.

More: Winners and losers in Michigans draft budgets

While most federal funding is allocated for specific purposes, a member of the House Fiscal Agency told MLive in an email revenue loss (American Rescue Plan) funds are extremely flexible in terms of what were allowed to use the money on. By comparison, the estimated $900 million equates to about 6% of the state funding the legislature has the discretion to spend as they see fit.

Michigan entered the year with an estimated record surplus of more than $9 billion, and in the last two fiscal years has used American Rescue Plan for extra funding in everything from $140 million in rent assistance to $169 million in subsidies for airports.

As the federal government swiftly approaches a crucial deadline on the national debt ceiling, congressional leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden remain in heated negotiations to avert the U.S. defaulting on its debt.

Economists and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have warned a default, even a brief one, could lead to global economic turmoil. The Associated Press reported Wednesday morning the parties are still far from reaching a compromise.

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To boost Michigans semiconductor workforce, the state wants to start in the classroom with a new $3 million grant program aimed at scholarships, curriculum, training models and early education engagement.

The state projects it will need to fill 30,000 jobs in the semiconductor industry by 2030. The semiconductor industry contributes $4.6 billion in total gross regional product for Michigan, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

A year ago, the MEDC launched an apprenticeship program using $1.5 million of federal funds from the CARES Act.

Now with $3 million from the MEDC budget, the new Semiconductor Talent Action Team brings state, business and educational leaders together to engage with Michigans students in hopes of them finding careers in state rather than leaving for job opportunities.

[This will] customize, create and really up our game on recruitment strategies to retain more of our graduates, said Kerry Ebersole Singh, Chief Talent Solutions & Engagement Officer at MEDC.

That is critical, especially as we look at increasing our population for our workforce age groups that we need to focus on for our state.

The MEDC banded together seven higher education partners, 15 semiconductor employers and two industry associations. Theyve identified five key roles that will need more workers to meet Michigans projected job growth:

Computer engineers

Electrical engineers

Industrial/process engineers

Semiconductor processing technicians

Maintenance and repair workers

To fill these roles, the talent action team has a three-pronged approach.

New scholarships will be offered to university students already interested in these career paths and pursuing engineering degrees. The semiconductor scholarship will mirror an EV Scholars program that launched in March.

The state is offering $10,000 scholarships for students who accept job offers as electric engineers or software developers at 15 Michigan companies partnering with the state. To cash in, students must agree to stay in state for a full year. Undergraduates also have the opportunity to earn a $5,000 scholarship toward tuition if they are accepted to an EV Scholar internship.

The first cohort of 30 EV Scholars accepted job or internship offers starting this summer. More than 200 students are participating in the EV Scholars program and looking to be connected with employers, Ebersole Singh said.

Students were chosen from students at Michigan State, University of Michigan and Michigan Technological University, all three universities are working with the semiconductor talent team as well.

The second approach is to increase Michigans curriculum and training programs to prepare college students for careers along the semiconductor supply chain.

Washtenaw Community College and Lansing Community College have been working with U of M and MSU to advance curriculums in place and add new programs tailored to semiconductor technicians, maintenance and repair workers. This includes a 10-day intensive bootcamp for technicians at LCC.

Earlier this month, Washtenaw Community College and U of M joined semiconductor company KLA and General Motors to launch a global semiconductor center in Michigan.

One of the most important jobs that we have as a community college is to quickly train the current and future workforce and serve as an economic driver for our region, state and even nationally, said Rose Bellanca, president of Washtenaw Community College.

We do this by listening to industry to understand their needs and then partnering with them to customize programs.

Michigans semiconductor workforce ranks among the top 10 in the nation, with job growth projected to grow by at least 11% in the next five years.

The third component of the Semiconductor Talent Action Teams plan to meet this projected growth starts in Michigans schools, as early as pre-K up until senior year of high school.

There is already growing interest from younger age groups. Lansing Community Colleges high school program for advanced manufacturing has tripled in size over the last year which prompted a request to add additional sections in machining and engineering, said Steve Robinson, president of Lansing Community College.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, an alum of U of Ms engineering school, said early engagement is what formed his pathway into the field.

The reason I became a computer engineer is because I was exposed to engineering as a child, as a student in middle school and in high school, he said. Were going to create those same exposure opportunities and pathways for young people across the state of Michigan to choose those careers in this robust and growing industry.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Federal prosecutors have accused a Frankfort man of illegally diverting the Platte River last year at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Andrew Blair Howard, 62, of Frankfort, is charged with one count apiece of tampering and vandalism in connection with a surprise reconfiguration of the Platte River mouth that sparked a National Park Service investigation in August 2022.

The misdemeanor charges were filed May 23 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. If convicted, Howard could face up to 6 months in prison, a $5,000 fine, probation and restitution.

Court filings did not explain how Howard allegedly diverted the river, which used to be regularly dredged.

The accusation comes about nine months after park rangers began a concerted effort to find out who changed the Platte River outflow in a way that made it easier for boats to access the lake from a launch at the end of Lake Michigan Road.

The diverted river cut through a long sandy spit which had built up at the mouth over several years to the liking of park managers, but which hampered access to Platte Bay at the onset of the annual fall coho salmon fishing run.

State officials said the changes benefitted the river by lowering the water level upstream and helped alleviate a public safety concern by enabling rescue boats to quickly access the bay.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) used to dredge the river mouth but stopped after the Park Service decided it wanted to return the mouth to a natural state.

Lake Township officials said that easy rescue access to the bay is necessary because the river mouth is frequented by throngs of beachgoers each summer.

In a statement, U.S. District Attorney Mark Totten called the accusations against Howard disturbing.

The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the Great Lakes are national gems, and my office takes preserving our natural treasures very seriously, Totten said.

Sleeping Bear Dunes Superintendent Scott Tucker issued a statement thanking prosecutors for enforcing the laws that help protect this place for future generations.

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YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan considers the dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku in an international format to be the right formula, in which the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh issues will be discussed, ARMENPRESS reports, the Prime Minister said during parliament-Cabinet Q&A session, answering the question of Vahagn Aleksanyan, MP from the "Civil Contract" faction, regarding the May 22 statement of the Artsakhs parliament. In the question addressed to the Prime Minister, Aleksanyan referred to the speeches made at the extraordinary session of the Artsakh National Assembly 2 days ago, stating that he had the impression that the Artsakh deputies were trying to tell the Armenian authorities that they do not want to negotiate with Azerbaijan, that the Armenian authorities should negotiate, and Artsakh should say how to negotiate.

"I think that the negotiations between Stepanakert and Baku is the right formula, the dialogue within the framework of the international mechanism regarding ensuring the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

I think it is the right way, the right direction. I also call on our partners in Artsakh to approach this agenda with appropriate readiness. Of course, on the other side, there must be that willingness from Baku as well, because perhaps in Stepanakert, Baku's readiness is viewed with suspicion. And maybe that is the reason for such attitude and reaction. Let's not jump to conclusions," said the Prime Minister.
Moss growing on stones, trees, and riverbanks around the planet collectively play a crucial role in fighting climate change, new research shows.

Researchers learned that through photosynthesis, mosses sequester around 6.43 billion metric tons more carbon into the soil than what is stored in bare patches of soil without any plants. That calculates to six times the annual global carbon emissions caused by worldwide changes in land use, such as deforestation, urbanization, and mining.

The study published in Nature Geoscience and was led by a dryland ecologist in Australia and an ecosystem ecologist in Spain.

One of the scientists who co-authored the recent study was forest ecologist Peter Reich, director of the Institute for Global Change Biology at University of Michigans School for Environment and Sustainability.

Like forests, mosses stabilize the microclimates and physical environments beneath them, Reich said. Additionally, they provide minerals and carbon to the soil and thus offer a better home for the soil microbiome than areas of bare ground.

The study found that moss-covered soil not only enhances carbon storage in soil, but also accelerates rates of organic decomposition and leads to fewer cases of soil-borne plant pathogens.

The research team of several dozen scientists from 16 countries examined spoil samples from a diverse range of ecosystems across every continent. In addition to carbon storage, they analyzed traits associated with biodiversity protections.

Moss is found around the planet; researchers calculated mosses covers an area of more than 3.6 million square miles  like the size of Canada or China. Researchers argue this further underscores why mosses can have such a significant effect on soil biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

These findings support the idea that we can use nature in a variety of ways to fight climate change, Reich said.

Mosses matter because they show that even tiny plants in harsh environments are capable of acquiring and storing carbon, just like trees do elsewhere. And both tiny plants and larger trees do this across the whole globe.

Reich suggested that scientists should focus on understanding the capacity of all vegetation to scrub carbon from the atmosphere, not just trees and mosses.

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Jonathan Davis, who the Detroit Tigers sent to the Miami Marlins on Monday in a swap of minor-league outfielders, is already headed to the big leagues.

The Marlins announced Tuesday that they would select Davis contract.

The 31-year-old right-handed hitter is known for his speed and defense and he will offer immediate help to the injury-depleted Marlins roster.

Davis signed with the Tigers as a minor-league free agent after spending last season in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He played well at Triple-A Nashville and logged 91 plate appearances with the big-league club. Although he hit just .224 with a .581 OPS (71 OPS+), he stole seven bases in eight attempts while playing exclusively in center field for the Brewers.

Davis had a .852 OPS in 141 plate appearances this year for the Mud Hens.

The Tigers received 23-year-old outfielder Brady Allen in the deal and assigned him to Class A (advanced) West Michigan, where he crushed a two-run homer in his debut on Tuesday night.

A fifth-round draft pick out of South Carolina in 2021, Allen is a native of Lakeland, Fla., where the Tigers hold spring training. In 142 plate appearances with Class A (advanced) Beloit, Davis was hitting .256 with a .764 OPS. He has 12 doubles, a triple and three homers.
Grammy-nominated Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, the son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, was released from prison on bail on Tuesday after allegedly assaulting a police officer.

Kuti had surrendered to Lagos police on May 15, after a video of him appparently punching a police officer went viral.

An arrest warrant had been issued on May 13.

"He was a released on bail this evening," lawyer Femi Falana said late on Tuesday, without giving further details.

The video shows Kuti on a road in Lagos, shouting and pushing a policeman.

Police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said that it was normal "to place on cuffs any suspect who has shown propensity for violence and propensity for evading justice."

A court hearing is expected to take place on Wednesday.

"The ongoing investigation will be detailed, transparent, professionally pursued; and justice will be manifestly served," Hundeyin added in a statement released on Twitter.

Kuti, 40, is the youngest son of Fela Kuti, who drove Afrobeat -- a powerful mix of funk and jazz -- to global fame in the 1980s.

A charismatic figure and activist who was bitterly critical of Nigeria's military regimes and corrupt elite, Fela Kuti died in 1997 but retains a fervent following today.

His son started playing in his band Egypt 80, at the age of nine and took the helm when he was just 14, after his father died.

In 2019, Kuti and the group were nominated for a Grammy for their album Black Times in the Global Music category.
On the back of Hajia4Realls extradition to the US over her alleged involvement in a romance scam, TV personality Deloris Frimpong Manso has asked for Gods protection for the Ghanaian socialite.

On the Insta Glam segment of The Delay Show aired on May 21, 2023, the media personality said: We pray for Gods mercy and protection for her. May God be with her because the fight is tough; she is a mother and the child is even young. May God be with her.

Mona Faiz Montrage, better known as Hajia4Reall or Mona4Reall allegedly swindled over $2 million from older, single American men and women in a twisted lonely-hearts scam and reports of her extradition went rife on May 15, 2023.

New York Post reported that Mona4Reall appeared in the Manhattan Federal Court for her alleged involvement in a series of schemes that targeted vulnerable people who lived alone.

According to court documents, she was involved with a group of con artists from West Africa from at least 2013 through 2019. The scammers would trick victims into transferring money to them under false pretences, such as to help move gold to the US from overseas, to resolve bogus FBI investigations, and to help fake US Army officers in Afghanistan.

Mona4Reall, in one case, allegedly duped a victim into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers on the pretext of helping her fathers farm in Ghana, the court documents claim.

Meanwhile, New York Posts report also stated that the socialite pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to be released in the coming days on a $500,000 bond with GPS tracking via an ankle monitor.

Watch the video below:


23.05.2023 LISTEN

I. Beloved in the Lord, do not be afraid, Brother Daniel and Sister Daniel, since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and an Angel was dispatched from the heavenly realms in response to your prayers. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted the Angel for 21 days. Beloved, things are happening in the spiritual realm, so be consistent, effective, and fervent in your prayers to break the resistance of any Persian kingdom's manipulations. Daniel was consistent for 21 days.

II. My beloved sister and my dear brother, consistency pays, and praise the Lord for sending the Angel Michael. The Lord will send you an angel named Michael to help you, and you shall be released from the detention of any king of Persia. Beloved, you shall overcome, for God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. May you continue to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, for you shall overtake and conquer through Christ Jesus.

III. SON OF MAN, receive your miracles this quarter to do great and mighty things for the Lord. Receive your miracles to rise from any dead bed, any dead fellowship, receive your power to get out of that bondage. This quarter, you shall encounter the power of God for the restoration of sight; any spiritual blindness shall give way, for God shall touch you in a miraculous way. This is your season for healing. God will restore your health. RECEIVE GOD'S MARVELLOUS GRACE, WHICH WILL EMPOWER YOU TO OVERCOME.

IV. DAUGHTER OF ZION: This quarter, God shall direct your path to a strategic location for your miracles. God shall miraculously direct your destiny's helpers to meet you for the fulfillment of His word. God shall restore the fertility of that land; that dead seed's power to procreate has been restored. Sow that seed. You have just entered and embraced your miraculous power to break through any barricades and strongholds on your pathway. This is a DIVINE WORD FOR MIRACULOUS PERFORMANCE sent forth through the Authority of Christ Jesus and served to the brethren through God's Vessel Francis Ameyibor, Yes! Master, we have worked hard all night and caught nothing, but nevertheless, at your word, we shall be let down. Fill those waterpots with water, for you are about to encounter the power of transformation.

V. 2023 MY DIVINE YEAR TO PURSUE, CAPTURE, AND TAKE POSSESSION - And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fish, and their net started to break.

PRAYER: Lord, through your power, I shall launch out again into the deep, even though I have worked all these years without any catch. At thy WORD LORD, I will take up my bed and walk again. LORD through your WORD I PATIENTLY wait for my miracles this week. Through Christ Jesus' name, I pray AMEN.

REF: John 2:6-10

Luke 5:4-6

Daniel 10:12-14

Isaiah 40:29

WHATSAPP CONTACT: +233277438688

GOD'S VESSEL GLOBAL FOUNDATION
Sporadic artillery fire still echoed in Sudan's capital Tuesday but residents said fighting had calmed following a US and Saudi-brokered ceasefire, raising faint hopes in the embattled city.

The truce, to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid for civilians, took effect Monday night only to be quickly marred by more gunshots and blasts.

By around noon on Tuesday, witnesses reported a relative calm had taken hold, both in greater Khartoum and in the Darfur region's cities of Nyala and El Geneina, which have been among the other main battlegrounds.

"We have not heard shelling in our neighbourhood since last night," said a witness in southern Khartoum, who told AFP the last airstrike was five minutes before the truce formally started at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a video message that the truce is "backed by a remote monitoring mechanism" supported by the US.

Civilians flee conflict-racked Sudan. By Sophie RAMIS (AFP)

"If the ceasefire is violated, we'll know," he said. "And we will hold violators accountable through our sanctions and other tools at our disposal."

More than five weeks of war have pitted the army, led by Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The battles since April 15 have killed an estimated 1,000 people, sparked mass evacuations of foreigners and forced more than a million people to flee their homes internally and across borders, fuelling concerns for regional stability.

Those who remain have run low on water, food and basic supplies, and more than half the population, 25 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.

'Broken promises'

Khartoum residents had longed for a pause in combat to allow in life-saving humanitarian aid and to enable more people to flee the city. The United Nations said nearly 650,000 had already done so during the war.

Fighters of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been at war with the regular army. By - (Rapid Support Forces (RSF)/AFP/File)

A series of previous ceasefires were announced but quickly violated, and a foreign aid group on Monday voiced frustration about the crisis which has piled new misery on the already poverty-stricken northeast African nation.

"We've had over a month of broken promises and empty words while humanitarian colleagues were killed, together with children and others and hospitals destroyed," Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council wrote on Twitter.

Volker Perthes, the United Nations envoy to Sudan, told the UN Security Council on Monday that "fighting and troop movements have continued even today, despite a commitment by both sides not to pursue military advantage before the ceasefire takes effect".

Soldiers of the Sudanese army on a road blocked with bricks in Khartoum on May 20, 2023. By - (AFP/File)

While no previous truce has held, the United States and Saudi Arabia said this agreement was different because the seven-page document was "signed by the parties" and would be supported by the monitoring mechanism.

Neither side has directly blamed the other for breaking this truce -- as they did within minutes after previous ceasefires collapsed.

But the health ministry released a statement on Tuesday accusing the RSF of violating hospitals.

The ministry, loyal to Burhan, said RSF troops "stationed themselves" inside two hospitals in greater Khartoum Tuesday, "assaulting medical staff and ejecting patients".

The RSF called the accusations "lies".

Major fighting has devastated the western Darfur region near Chad, where the UN has reported hundreds of civilians killed in the West Darfur capital El Geneina.

Perthes in his Security Council address warned that "the conflict risks to expand and prolong... with implications for the region."

Looted cars in southern Khartoum. By - (/File)

"In parts of the country, fighting between the two armies or the two armed formations has sharpened into communal tensions, or triggered conflict between communities," he said, after reports of civilians being armed in Darfur.

Sudan has a long history of military coups and the army in 2019 overthrew the veteran Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir after mass protests against his rule.

Sudanese were promised a gradual transition toward civilian rule, but Burhan and Daglo staged another coup in October 2021 before simmering tensions between the two men flared into the current war.
Aggrieved customers of defunct Gold Coast Fund Management Company have welcomed former President John Mahama's assurance to restore the licences of financial institutions that were collapsed a few years ago.

In a statement issued on May 22 and signed by the convener of the Group, Charles Nyame, the aggrieved customers believe this goodwill assurance will translate into the unlocking of their investment funds.

Former President Mahama in his acceptance speech as NDC flagbearer for the 2024 polls promised to restore the banking licenses that he said were unjustly cancelled by the Akufo-Addo's government if elected in the 2024 general elections.

We the members of the Aggrieved Customers of Gold Coast Fund Management who constitute over ninety percent (90%) of the entire customers of the forty-seven Fund Management Companies whose licences were revoked by the Securities and Exchange Commission welcome the news of this goodwill assurance from the former President.

We wish him well on his pursuit of the presidency, and we cling to this assurance as a light of hope even in times when the Akufo Addo-Bawumia Government who brought us to our knees in this economic mess could be insensitive to our plight for the past five (5) years.

The group in the statement further refuted what it describes as untrue assertions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that: there is an ongoing Liquidation Case in the court which government seeks to get order from the court to sell the assets of the company (Blackshield/Gold Coast Fund Management) we placed our investments with, the money realized from the sales would top up what the government has made available to pay us in full.

-citinewsroom
Executives of Bawumia Fun Club in the Ashanti region have displayed to the public some physical cash to support the purchase of nomination form for Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for the flagbearer race.

Chairman for the group, Eric Kwabena Twumasi Ankrah during a press briefing in Kumasi flagged in the air a bundle of GHS200 notes totalling GHS50,000 as an indication of the club's readiness to purchase the form for the Vice President.

He told the press that members and executives of the club have settled on moving to Accra on Wednesday 24th May 2023 to pick the nomination form even before the official date (26th June 2023) which has been slated by the NEC of NPP.

When questioned on the source of the fund, the President said the money was taken from the club's accumulated dues paid by members.

"Dr. Bawumia has not given us any money to pay for his nomination forms," he stated.

He explained that each member pays GHS1.00 every week. He added that the club was formed 10 years ago with 37 branches across the country.

"We have seven representatives at every polling station in the country and all our members are delegates," he added.

Giving reasons for their decision, Chairman Ankrah a.k.a "akoko" said Vice President Dr. Bawumia is the only person they deemed fit to lead the party into the 2024 general elections.

"We have followed him for over ten years and considering his level of humility, vision for the party and country, and the stellar interventions, we are left with no other option than to throw our support behind him and show our love for him by paying for his nomination forms," he stated.
Defeated Parliamentary Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Kumawu by-election, Kwasi Amankwaa has said although he is saddened by the outcome of the result, he is proud of himself.

Speaking to Joy News on Tuesday night after the Electoral Commission announced the NPP candidate Ernest Yaw Anim as the winner, Kwasi Amankwaa stressed that he feels sad for the youth of Kumawu.

He bemoaned how some of the youth allowed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to buy their votes with GHS50.

According to him, his refusal to distribute same to counter NPP candidate has compelled the youth to vote against him.

Its a very sad day for Kumawu politics and Ghana politics. Im thinking about the future of the youth. Its very pathetic. Because people deliberately buying people's votes, peoples future with GH50. Its just sad, Kwasi Amankwaa lamented.

The defeated NDC Parliamentary candidate continued, It doesnt speak well of us as Ghanaians. Im very very saddened. I see myself as a winner. I have served a purpose..Im very proud of my team but just sad for the people and youth of Kumawu.

Ernest Yaw Anim, the Parliamentary candidate of the NPP has been elected the new Member of Parliament for Kumawu with 15,264 of the total vote cast representing 70.91%.
Authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland should unconditionally release journalist Bushaaro Ali Mohamed and stop detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

On the evening of May 15, Somaliland police arrested Bushaaro shortly after she entered the border town of Wajale from Ethiopia, according to media reports, multiple statements by rights groups, and Mubarik Mohamoud Abdi, the journalists lawyer, who spoke to CPJ. That night, authorities transferred her to police custody in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa.

Police officers kicked and slapped Bushaaro during her arrest, leaving her with injuries to her face and leg, according to those sources and other media reports.

On the morning of May 17, Bushaaro appeared at the Hargeisa regional court without legal representation, where authorities accused her of several offenses including disseminating propaganda and undermining Somalilands national security and unity, but did not formally charge her with a crime. The court ordered her to be held until her next court date on May 25.

Bushaaro, who also goes by Bushaaro Baanday, reports on Somaliland politics and posts critical commentary on her Facebook page, where she has about 790,000 followers.

Somaliland journalist Bushaaro Ali Mohamed should be released unconditionally and without delay, and she should be allowed to report on matters of public interest without interference, said CPJs sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. Having a dissenting or critical opinion should never land any journalist in prison. Authorities should encourage rather than suppress diverse views in the public sphere.

On May 21, officers with the police Criminal Investigation Department in Hargeisa interrogated Bushaaro in the presence of Mubarik.

During that interrogation, Bushaaro demanded that the CID officers allow her to access medical treatment for injuries suffered during her arrest as well as for a fever and headache, according to media reports and Mubarik. She also complained about the conditions in which she was detained, including darkness inside solitary confinement, a lack of exercise, restriction to family visits and the lack of sufficient access to her lawyers, Mubarik tweeted.

Mubarik said that the CID officers allowed Bushaaro to see a doctor on Monday who prescribed her painkillers, and said they promised to take her to a hospital and to allow visits from her lawyers and family.

CPJ could not immediately determine what reporting prompted Bushaaros arrest. Clips posted to her Facebook page, which CPJ reviewed, include interviews with people about floods in one of Somalilands cities and alleged medical negligence. She has also been critical of Somaliland authorities and called for people to demand more accountability from their government.

Bushaaros Facebook page has continued updating since her detention, with some posts signed by admin. CPJ messaged the page for comment but did not receive any reply.

Bushaaro was born in Somaliland but lives in the United Kingdom, where she has dual citizenship. In response to a request for comment on Bushaaro, a representative of the British Office in Hargeisa told CPJ in an email that U.K. officials are supporting the family of a British woman detained in Somaliland and in contact with the local authorities.

CPJ texted Somaliland Information Minister Suleyman Ali Yusuf, Police Commissioner General Mohamed Adan Saqadhi, and Attorney General Hasan Aden for comment but did not receive any replies.

CPJ also contacted the Somaliland Ministries of Information, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Justice via email, Twitter, and their websites, but received error messages or no replies.
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan announced that the meetings with Azerbaijan held in Washington, Brussels and Moscow give grounds for cautious optimism, ARMENPRESS reports, during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session Mirzoyan stated that, understandably, there are no unimportant articles in the draft peace treaty, but if you group and divide the articles, one part concerns vital issues, the other part is more supplementary, or are arrangements arising from the main arrangements.

He noted that it is easier to come to a consensus and mutual understanding regarding that second group.

"It was possible to reach an agreement on several such articles in the pre-Washington negotiations. In the Washington negotiations, two more articles were added to the already agreed articles. By and large, nothing is finally agreed until everything is agreed. There is another group of articles where this mutual understanding and reaching a common denominator is visible, and there is a third group, and unfortunately this third group deals with the most vital issues, here the parties are quite far from reaching an agreement, but I can say that until today the last three rounds of negotiations give me at least a reason for cautious optimism. Yes, we are talking about the last meetings in Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and I hope they will continue in Moscow and Chisinau.

Even on the most important issues, much deeper, thorough discussions took place in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, which, I repeat, gives me a reason for cautious optimism," said the minister.

Mirzoyan also mentioned that the red line of the Armenian side is the recognition of the territorial integrity of Armenia, and also he does not imagine the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan, if the threat of ethnic cleansing continues to hang over the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Of course, we do not imagine that Armenia can normalize relations with Azerbaijan, have a long-term peace in the South Caucasus, if the threat of ethnic cleansing continues to hang over the head of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, if the issues of security, guaranteeing all their rights are not addressed. There are these and other red lines, and the negotiations in those directions are ongoing," Mirzoyan noted.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

Kumi Yeboah Memorial Foundation has supported ten cancer patients with a cash of GHS10,000 at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi in the Ashanti region.

The ten female patients received GHS1,000 each to support their payments for cancer treatments who are on admission at the health facility.

The founder of the NGO, Mrs Sarah Baah Afriyie said the gesture was to honour her late father Kumi Yeboah who died from cancer in 2022, whom she named the foundation after.

She stated that the foundation will support not only cancer patients but venerable women in society to assist them access healthy lives.

Public Relations Officer for the foundation Osei Bonsu Shadrack made the presentation on behalf of the founder at a short ceremony at the Oncology Department at KATH on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

Osei Bonsu Shadrack noted the presentation was to celebrate one year anniversary of the death of Kumi Yeboah, the founders father, who was a philanthropist.

In honour of the one-year anniversary of the death of Mr Kumi Yeboah, Mrs Sarah Baah Afriyie has directed us to give you GHS1,000 each to offset some of your medical bills, Shadrack told the patients.

Head of the Oncology Department at KATH Dr Bawuah Osei Bonsu on behalf of the patients thanked the foundation for the kind gesture.

Dr Bawuah Osei Bonsu explained that cancer treatment is cost-intensive and as a result makes it difficult for most people to pay their bills.

Most cancer patients defer treatments owing to the inability to buy drugs and access other services, a situation that delays their recoveries. So this money is timely and will assist them in their treatments, he posited.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr George Akuffo Damprae has given the police who were deployed to Kumawu to supervise the by-elections a pat on the back.

Dr Dampare was seen cross-crossing the constituency throughout the election day on Tuesday, May 23 to ensure that the exercise went on peacefully and according to the laws of the land.

At the end of the polls, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Ernest Yaw Anim won by a landslide margin.

He polled 15,264 votes to defeat the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Kwesi Amankwah, and the two other Independent Candidates.

The NDC's Kwesi Amankwah managed 3,723 votes while Kwaku Duah (1) had 2,478 votes with the other Kwaku Duah managing a paltry 62 votes.

Below is the full certified results:

Ernest Yaw Anim (NPP)  15,264 (70.91%)

Kwasi Amankwah (NDC)  3,723 (17.29%)

Kwaku Duah 1 (Ind)  2,478 (11.51%)

Kwaku Duah 2 (Ind)  62 (0.29%)

Total valid votes  21,527

Rejected  204

Total votes cast  21,731

Registered voters  34,790

Turnout  62.46%
The families of Tunisian opposition figures detained in a government crackdown filed a case with Africa's human rights court on Wednesday seeking the immediate release of their loved ones.

Since early February, the authorities in the North African country have arrested more than 20 political opponents and other personalities, sparking condemnations from the international community and rights groups.

Those detained include Rached Ghannouchi, the former speaker of parliament and one of the highest profile critics of President Kais Saied, who dissolved the assembly in July 2021 as part of a power grab allowing him to rule by decree.

Ghannouchi, 81, the head of Tunisia's Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, was arrested in April and sentenced on May 15 to one year in prison on terrorism-related charges.

His daughter Yusra Ghannouchi said the charges against her father were "politically motivated and fabricated" and part of a bid by Saied to "eliminate the opposition".

Saied claims those detained in the crackdown were "terrorists" involved in a "conspiracy against state security".

Opponents have dubbed his actions a "coup" and a return to autocratic rule in the only democracy that emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings in the region more than a decade ago.

'We will not be silent'

Yusra Ghannouchi and other relatives of the detainees filed the case in the African Court of Human and Peoples Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, as part of a global campaign for their freedom.

"We hope this will lead to their release and to justice for them," she told AFP in Nairobi on the eve of a trip to Arusha.

Yusra Ghannouchi is campaigning for the release of her father, the former parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi. By Tony KARUMBA (AFP)

"They are not silent and we will not be silent," said Ghannouchi, a 45-year-old mother of three who lives in Britain.

She said the relatives were also calling for the US, the EU and Britain to impose targeted sanctions against Saied and several of his ministers who are "all implicated in human rights violations".

Their British lawyer Rodney Dixon said they wanted the Arusha court to find that Tunisia's actions were in breach of Africa's human rights charter and make a provisional order for the release of the detainees.

"They are trying to fight their cases in Tunisia but the obstacle is that every door has been shut," he said, adding that the case in Arusha was on behalf of six of those rounded up.

"There is no justice through the system there... that's why they have to come to the African court to seek its intervention."

He said those behind bars were not getting regular access to lawyers, and were having difficulty getting proper medical care.

Yusra Ghannouchi (centre) is pictured with Kaouther Ferjani, whose father Said Ferjani has also been detained, and their lawyer, British barrister Rodney Dixon. By Tony KARUMBA (AFP)

"In the case of some of the detainees there has been very poor treatment, in the case of one, an allegation of torture will also be raised at the Africa court."

Ghannouchi said she was worried about her father's health as he suffers from hypertension and "he is no longer a young man".

Ghannouchi was imprisoned twice in the 1980s for clandestine political activities before going into exile for 20 years and then returning following the toppling of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the 2011 Arab Spring revolt.

Tunisia is one of only six African countries that have fully signed up to the court.

Dixon said he expected the court to hear the case in June.
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, centre, and Ghana's founder and first President Kwame Nkrumah, left, during the launch of the OAU in Addis Ababa. - Source: STR/AFP via Getty Images

24.05.2023 LISTEN

Africa Day this year marks 60 years since the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The anniversary begs the question: How much of the vision of the OAU's founding fathers has been realised 60 years on? What would not be there but for the efforts of the organisation and its successor the African Union ?

There were two competing visions lobbying at the founding. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's president, in his Africa must Unite speech, argued the pan-African case for continental federalism, for a Union of African States, with one continental diplomatic corps, one department of defence, and a common market.

He was hugely outvoted by other presidents refusing to give up their sovereignty. So the OAU, formed on 25 May 1963, was instead modelled on the Organisation of American States. It was an inter-governmental organisation whose charter pledged it to not interfere in the internal affairs of its member states  even in the event of massacres. This followed the precedents of the UN United Nations , the Arab League , and the Organisation of American States , and would soon be followed by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The OAU was committed to decolonisation, including the end of apartheid in South Africa and the settler regime in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). It contributed herculean diplomatic lobbying and sanctions to achieve this. Its Liberation Committee , based in Dar es Salaam (the Tanzanian commercial capital), donated weapons and funds to the insurgencies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, and Mozambique.

The OAU was a state-centric realisation of pan-Africanism. It launched a variety of continental NGOs, which were allocated to one or other member state to host. Space allows for only one example: it supported the launch of the Pan-African Writers' Association . Ghana pledged to provide it with premises for headquarters.

One development not anticipated when the OAU was founded in 1963 was the subsequent establishment of regional economic communities. There are over a dozen of these. Out of the eight officially recognised by the AU, the most significant are the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC). These three are each free trade areas and, on paper at least, the ECOWAS and EAC are custom unions. These each provide stepping-stones towards that continental common market that Nkrumah had lobbied for back in 1963.

Read more: The African Union at 20: a lot has been achieved despite many flaws

As a political scientist who has researched the OAU and AU, I argue that it has performed far better than almost all of its global counterparts, though it has also experienced several shortcomings.

The hits

One success of the AU is its growing prestige. After its founding in 2002, Wikipedia did not consider it merited an entry until 2011. But today 50 non-African states accredit ambassadors to the AU . The diaspora demanded inclusion during South African president Thabo Mbeki's leadership , and is now formally recognised as the sixth region of the AU since 2003 . Caribbean nations, members of CARRICOM , recently started formal links with the AU: these are African-descendant nations, abducted out of Africa during centuries of slave trade.

The AU architecture for peacekeeping and peacemaking has no peer in the Organisation of American States, Arab League, or ASEAN. While most AU organs meet only twice per year, the Peace and Security Council has met twice per month since its founding in 2004.

Dozens of its ad hoc military missions help governments with the suppression of terrorism everywhere from the Sahel to northern Mozambique. Various AU and regional economic community peacekeepers have served in the Democratic Republic of Congo's numerous civil wars for decades. Some of the first African Union peacekeepers arrive in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in March 2007. Ali Musa/AFP via Getty Images

The AU seeks a role in global governance. It tries to negotiate that Africa speaks with one voice in the halls of international organisations. Since some of the most important economic decisions about Africa are made outside the continent, the urgency of this is self-explanatory. The AU has its own embryonic diplomatic corps, with permanent diplomatic missions in Brussels (to negotiate with the EU), Beijing , Cairo (to negotiate with the Arab League) in New York (at the United Nations), and in Washington (to negotiate with the World Bank and IMF).

Kwame Nkrumah appealed for an African common market back in 1963. The 1991 Treaty of Abuja proposed an elaborate 34-year schedule to achieve this. The first real step towards such economic integration is the African Continental Free Trade Area - headed by a South African Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene . Clearly, this will take at least a decade to substantially achieve. But the prize of defragmenting Africa , as the World Bank calls it, will be worth the herculean lobbying and negotiating it will take. The African Continental Free Trade Area is currently negotiating rules of origin and dispute-settling mechanisms as its opening steps.

The AU tries to be norms-making. The 1991 Treaty of Abuja must surely be the world's most ambitious attempt to import lock, stock, and barrel the institutions and norms of the EU into another continent, which was of course only partially successful.

Few AU members have implemented the Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Good Governance . But a majority of countries have one by one signed up to the African Peer Review Mechanism which, like the AU, has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. This is part of the peer pressure towards constitutionalism, and against autocrats.

The misses

One failure of the AU is in not preventing serial coups-de-etat . There have been more than 200 coups following the era of independence in the 1960s. The obvious reason is that the continental body never sends a military intervention to suppress the putchists, to capture them and bring them to trial for treason. It limits itself to diplomatic pressures against them, such as suspending their membership.

In 2016 the AU launched a campaign to silence the guns by 2020 . Unhappily, it proved powerless to prevent both coups and terrorist insurgencies from continuing, so the slogan was repackaged as silence the guns by 2030 . It remains to be seen if wars can be suppressed throughout the African continent by 2030.

Read more: The African Union's conflict early warning system is no more. What now?

Another failure is in getting member states to pay their annual dues . Clearly, the current penalties of suspension, which only fully come into effect when a state falls two years behind in payments, is not a deterrent. The AU surely needs to follow the universal practice by banks - that if a customer falls more than two months behind in repaying a mortgage bond, full sanctions are implemented.

The AU often dispatches election observers to countries to monitor voting, and hopefully to deter vote-rigging in its various forms. It has been criticised for reluctance to censure incumbent regimes that tilt the playing field in the electoral contest for power.

Cornerstone

In conclusion, the AU compares well with its peers in developing countries such as ASEAN, Organisation of American States, and Arab League. The AU accomplishes more than the Commonwealth , or the Francophonie . Only the EU is way ahead  because its budget is three orders of magnitude larger than that of the AU.

The AU has put cornerstones in place towards realising the goals of the founders. The end of coups and civil wars; working towards establishing an African common market; and getting Africa to speak with one voice in global governance are worthy goals to persist in pursuing.

Keith Gottschalk is a member of the African National Congress, but writes this article in his professional capacity as a political scientist.

By Keith Gottschalk, Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
Mustapha Gbande, NDC Deputy General Secretary

24.05.2023 LISTEN

Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has commended both the NPP and his party for conducting themselves well by ensuring an incident-free Kumawu by-election.

Speaking on Accra-based JoyNews' PM Express on Tuesday, May 23, Mr. Gbande also acknowledged the efforts of the Ghana Police Service, led by Inspector General George Akuffo Dampare and his men for a peaceful election.

The two political parties must commend themselves for leading an incident-free election. We would like to commend the IGP and his men for their conduct," he said.

However, the NDC executive criticized the governing NPP once again for allegedly influencing voters with money.

He stated that his party, the NDC put up a strong fight despite the area being an NPP's stronghold.

The NPP government in this election engaged in vote buying, and it is so sad. NPP leadership and appointees gave out money for people to vote.

We in the NDC are very excited that we put up a strong fight, particularly that the Kumawu constituency is a stronghold of the NPP.

"They went to a by-election with no message and nothing to show," he stated.

Meanwhile, the NPP's candidate, Ernest Yaw Anim, won the Kumawu by-election with 15,264 votes.

He defeating the NDC's Kwesi Amankwah, who garnered 3,723 votes, and two independent candidates, Kwaku Duah (1) with 2,478 votes and Kwaku Duah (2) with 62 votes.

The victory of the NPP has been attributed to the party's strong support base in the constituency and the popularity of its candidate.

The Kumawu by-election was held to fill the gap left by the death of the former NPP MP, Philip Basoa.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

One of the first things we learn about the Benin bronzes is that they were made for the Oba of Benin by a guild of bronze casters he employed and that the sculptures were displayed in the Royal Museum in the Palace in Benin City until a British military force invaded Benin in 1897,stole the artefacts, killed many Benin people, children, women, and men, and burnt the city. The invaders carried away the Benin treasures to London where they sold the looted objects to American and European institutions.

After several demands, Western institutions have begun to return the Benin treasures to Nigeria.

The President of Nigeria confirmed recently that the returned Benin treasures as well as those remaining in Western museums, belonged to the highly respected Benin Monarch. Suddenly we heard some individuals and organizations, apparently ignorant of the history of the Benin artefacts questioning the ownership rights of the Benin King whose ownership dates back to the 13th Century.

We reproduced below an article by Peju Layiwola, professor of Art History at the eminent University of Lagos, Nigeria, which should help our readers.

Kwame Opoku.

Questions of Ownership of Benin Treasures (I)

Many persons thought the period of colonialism was long over! Western reportage about handling the return of Benin treasures by the Federal Government of Nigeria shows a lack of sensitivity and understanding of the cultures looted of their valuable cultural materials. These careless remarks do not show respect for our democratic structures. Western institutions and governments that have held these stolen materials for over a century do not have the moral right to insist on their models of keeping and displaying these treasures. They should not cast aspersion on how Nigeria intends to handle, display, and preserve its cultural property. What should be done is simply to return looted works and cause no further disruptions within the communities where these works were stolen. I made this remark when I was privileged to address the German Culture Minister in Bayreuth last year. I mentioned the importance of giving voice to host communities from where these works had been taken. The genocide of Herero and Nama people, whom the Germans killed, is another matter regarding the return of skulls and human remains to Namibia.

The Federal Government recognizes the value of these works and the role of the Benin royalty in their sustenance and production before they were looted in the first instance. It was from the palace of this single royal family that these treasures were looted. Despite this, the Oba of Benin has said that the works will be accessible to the public and shown in the Benin Royal Museum.

All this bad press has come since the recent Gazette issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria. We will recall that the Presidency issued an earlier directive in line with this Gazette last year. The Federal Government has followed its initial stand and affirmation. Also, the High Commissioner to Britain, His Excellency Sarafa Tunji Isola, on the return of two looted Benin treasures to Nigeria secured by the Federal Government from Institutions in the United Kingdom, brought them physically to the palace of the King. In his address on December 13, 2021, he explicitly mentioned that he was acting on the instructions of the President of Nigeria.

The Gazette is a normal and necessary response to distractions playing out over the display and management of the restituted objects. We have read repeatedly that the returned artifacts will be housed in EMOWAA, which has received international funding. It is commendable that Germany has gone ahead of other countries to physically return Benin looted objects. Providing funding to hold these returned Benin works is also remarkable. However, the Legacy Restoration Trust, or LRT, which has metamorphosed into Emowaa, is not a government organ. It was conceived as a separate entity set up to collect objects for which they have no authority.

Why should a state governor and his cohorts wield so much power as to want to appropriate these artifacts, and why should the NCMM be so intertwined with LRT? What are the agreements signed between these parties, and why does such a group have so much access to Benin looted artifacts in Western museums? Under whose authority does the British Museum fund archeological excavations in Benin City? The BM has categorically said it will not relinquish ownership of Benin bronzes to Nigeria, yet they are digging up new and fresh treasures. Do we realize they might be digging the same palace that British Naval officers burnt down Benin City and looted the artifacts in 1897? The current palace, as it is today, occupies a small portion of what it was pre-1897.

One-third of Benins looted objects will not leave Germany and will be on permanent loan for ten years! Who decides what number of treasures remain in Germany? Who also decides which items remain in Europe? There are so many questions to be answered.

I was in Benin City a few days ago and was led to the site of the proposed Museum of West African Art. I was so sad to see that one wing of the Specialist Hospital had been demolished to build a museum. For several decades, this State hospital catered to the underserved in Benin City. Can you imagine taking down the Kings College Hospital or the Charite in Germany to build a museum pavilion?

Side-lining the Oba of Benin, whose forebears suffered the attack of 1897, seems a better choice for foreign partners and funders. The memories and trauma associated with the looted artifacts are still etched in the memory of the Benin royal family. Is the LRT an internal agent of neo- colonialism?

I was also in Berlin on July 1, 2022, for the ceremony passing on ownership of the Benin material to Nigeria. There was no mention of the Oba during the entire ceremony. The Western curators who had worked tirelessly on the international scene to bring restitution to fruition were recognized. I single out Nanette Snoep, with whom I have been on this journey for the return of Benin artifacts since 2003, when we began the Broken Memory project in Benin, Paris, and Zurich. This was a time when no one believed the objects would ever return. Suddenly, we have newcomers who think they understand better how we should handle these treasures.

The restitution victory we see today did not happen overnight. In another post, I will highlight the incredible work and sacrifices Prince Edun Akenzua, of blessed memory, made. Many advocacies, civil society groups, pressure groups, and artist projects- musical, film, installations, performances, and lectures have centred discussions on Benin art and brought awareness in local and international spaces. Kwame Opoku had begun writing on the Benin case in 2007 when we first met in Vienna. Today, European scholars hardly cite his work even though they read his well over 300 articles on Modernghana. These are the true heroes of the restitution debate! My dear friend and brother, Monday Midnite of the 1897 musical fame, wrote me when he saw the handover ceremony in Abuja.

Why are these ceremonial showboating advocates acting like they lifted any meaningful fighting finger in the struggle to return the artifacts? Where were they when Dr. Kwame Opoku, your indefatigable self, a handful of others, and myself, in my little musical way, went headfirst into the eyes of the storm in the West over a decade ago to ignite the war for the return of the artifacts when others thought the struggle was hopeless?

It is important that the Federal government has firmly defined the role of the Oba of Benin as the head of a system that encouraged the production and sustenance of these artifacts. Is there any problem with this? What I see as a problem is that Western institutions may have plans for the future of the Benin artifacts and cry out when there is a deviation from that plan. We must ask them why the artifacts should not be returned to the original owners. Propagandists claim that the treasures will be kept away from the public. The King has said that a few objects will remain in the West as ambassadors of the culture. But more importantly, the other treasures will be kept in the Benin Royal Museum to tell a different narrative from what we have heard over the decades. Kwame Opoku has written about this in Modernghana. https://www.modernghana.com/news/1227999/does-affirmation-of-the-rights-of-the-oba-in-benin.html You may also want to read my blog post published in 2021. https://www.pejulayiwola.com/let-us-be-reminded-that-benin-art-is-court-art/

The looting and rape of Benin is one of the most documented histories of pillage in Africa. If we miss this opportunity to handle this situation properly, it will mess up the case for other parts of the continent. I am sure Ghanaians know where the looted gold treasures should go. The Asantehenes gold should be kept in some museum that he recognizes as a safe and secure place for displaying his treasures. All hands must be on deck to build the Benin Royal Museum.

The ball of restitution is rolling. It could be delayed, but it will eventually happen. More importantly, it should happen the right way so that history and posterity can vindicate our motives and roles.

Peju Layiwola is an artist and teacher at the University of Lagos, Nigeria
A meeting of independent experts was held in Lagos, Nigeria from May 16th to 19th to consider the draft Supplementary Act Relating to the Suppression of Illicit Maritime Activities in ECOWAS.

This project was carried out in the framework of the implementation of the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EMIS) in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) through the Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS) project.

The objective of this draft Supplementary Act is to promote the cooperation of ECOWAS Member States through the strengthening of the operational legal framework to combat illicit activities committed at sea.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the ECOWAS Directorate of Peacekeeping and Regional Security, the ECOWAS Directorate of Legal Affairs, the Regional Maritime Security Center for West Africa (CRESMAO), the Maritime Multinational Coordination Centers (MMCC) Zones E and G, UNODC, and by Consultants and Independent Experts.

Mr. Francis Omiunu, National Programme Officer, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has commended independent experts appointed to reflect on the draft Supplementary Act Relating to the Suppression of Illicit Maritime Activities in ECOWAS.

He noted that in order to ensure that ECOWAS Member States are able to address the threats of maritime crime, including drug, human, and arms trafficking, and to secure the waters of coastal States across the sub-region.

Mr. Omiunu stated that at a four-day meeting of independent experts was held to consider the draft Supplementary Act Relating to the Suppression of Illicit Maritime Activities in ECOWAS in Lagos, Nigeria.

This project was carried out in the framework of the implementation of the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EMIS) in collaboration with UNODC through the Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS) project.

The objective of the draft Supplementary Act is to promote the cooperation of ECOWAS Member States through the strengthening of the operational legal framework to combat illicit activities committed at sea.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the ECOWAS Directorate of Peacekeeping and Regional Security, the ECOWAS Directorate of Legal Affairs, the Regional Maritime Security Center for West Africa (CRESMAO), the Maritime Multinational Coordination Centers (MMCC) Zones E and G, UNODC, and by Consultants and Independent Experts.

Mr. Omiunu noted that the meeting was another step in the continuing partnership between ECOWAS and UNODC in finding innovative solutions through cooperative mechanisms to address illicit maritime activities within the region.

He mentioned that UNODC, as an implementing partner in the SWAIMS project, remains committed to supporting the entire criminal justice system, from sea to land.

Colonel Abdourahmane Dieng, Head of the Regional Security Division of the ECOWAS Commission, recalled the adoption of the Supplementary Act on the Conditions For The Transfer Of Persons Suspected Of Having Committed Acts Of Piracy And The Property.

He said the evidence associated with the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government at its 61st Ordinary Session in July 2022 and the significant drop in piracy.

Col. Dieng said that in light of the current situation, it is now deemed necessary to put in place additional measures that would provide a range of options and innovative solutions to address all forms of maritime security problems in the maritime domain through enhanced cooperation.

He indicated that the thinking in this regard found expression in the recent UN Security Council Resolution 2634 (2022), which explicitly encourages the Gulf of Guinea states to structure operations to combat illicit maritime activities and to develop their capacity to protect their maritime domain.

Col. Dieng called for the dedicated support of the experts in the consideration of the draft Supplementary Act.

The meeting ended with the adoption of the report by the participants and the following recommendations, including those to present the draft Supplementary Act as revised to the ECOWAS Commission.

CDA Consult II Contributor
North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

24.05.2023 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has congratulated Ernest Yaw Anim on his victory as the lawmaker for Kumawu in the Ashanti Region.

Before the election on Tuesday, government embarked on various projects including the construction of roads.

For the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), this was a vote-buying tactic.

In a post on Facebook, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has admonished government to prioritise the needs of Ghanaians at all times.

He argues that government must not be seen rushing to do projects in parts of the country only when there is a by-election.

The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government must prioritise the needs of Ghanaians at all times and not only when a by-election has been occasioned.

May we nourish Ghana's Democracy with the right values for our collective progress, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said.

Meanwhile, the North Tongu MP has applauded the defeated NDC Kumawu Parliamentary candidate, Kwasi Amankwaa for improving the numbers of the party in Tuesdays by-election.

The NDC's Kwasi Amankwaa deserves lots of credit for improving our 2020 fortunes by securing 3,723 valid votes representing 17.29% as compared with 2,439 (8.33%) garnered by his predecessor.

Mr. Amankwaa thus moved from 3rd to 2nd position with an overall improvement from 2020 of 52.6% compared with a measly improvement of 2% by the NPP, Ablakwa shared.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) of using its incumbency to its advantage in the recently concluded by-election in Kumawu.

He said the NPP government embarked on outrageous vote-buying and overnight development projects including tarring of roads.

"It's been a very valuable experience acting as a polling agent in yesterday's Kumawu by-election," Mr. Ablakwa, who worked as a polling agent in Kumawu during the Tuesday, May 23, byelection, stated in a tweet.

He added, "I congratulate Ernest Yaw Anim of the NPP on his victory and am eager for him to join us in Parliament.

The NDCs Kwasi Amankwaa deserves lots of credit for improving our 2020 fortunes by securing 3,723 valid votes representing 17.29% as compared with 2,439 (8.33%) garnered by his predecessor. Mr. Amankwaa thus moved from 3rd to 2nd position with an overall improvement from 2020 of 52.6% compared with a measly improvement of 2% by the NPP."

He continued NDCs significant gains in the NPPs stronghold of Kumawu despite the blatant abuse of incumbency manifested by overnight development projects and condemnable vote-buying is both instructive and a cautionary tale to the NPP, particularly as turn-out still dropped by some 7,744 regardless of the avalanche of inducements.

The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government must prioritise the needs of Ghanaians at all times and not only when a by-election has been occasioned. May we nourish Ghanas Democracy with the right values for our collective progress.

Below are the full certified results

Ernest Yaw Anim (NPP)  15,264 (70.91%) Kwasi Amankwah (NDC)  3,723 (17.29%) Kwaku Duah 1 (Ind)  2,478 (11.51%) Kwaku Duah 2 (Ind)  62 (0.29%)
24.05.2023 LISTEN

In a stern warning to jurors, High Court Judge Justice Lydia Osei Marfo has threatened to impose sanctions on jurors who continue to absent themselves from court proceedings.

The judge's frustration followed the frequent absence of three jurors in a high-profile case involving two men accused of murdering the late Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Mr. Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu.

Justice Lydia Osei Marfo emphasized that jurors must recognize court sittings as duty and demonstrate their commitment by attending consistently.

The judge gave the warning Tuesday afternoon when Detective Chief Inspector Augustus Nkrumah, the eighth prosecution witness, was expected to conclude his evidence in chief in the case titled "The Republic versus Daniel Asiedu and Vincent Bosu."

However, the court was forced to adjourn the session due to the presence of only four out of the seven jury members.

Expressing her disappointment, Justice Osei Marfo revealed that the jurors had previously cited delayed allowances as the reason for their absence.

However, the judge firmly stated that the jurors' financial obligations had been fulfilled a month ago by the government, leaving them with no valid reason to absent themselves.

She further expressed her concern that some jurors had developed a character of refusing to attend court despite being empaneled which has become a normal habit.

Justice Osei Marfo noted that the court had to make arrangements to secure the release of the prosecution witness, who is a cadet officer at the Police Training College.

The judge also highlighted the negative impact of the jurors' repeated delays on the proceedings, as other parties involved in the case consistently attended on time.

To address the issue, Justice Osei Marfo issued a warning that any juror appearing late or deliberately absent from court from Wednesday, May 24, 2023, onward would face legal sanctions.

Additionally, the court summoned the Dean of the Jury to appear before it, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

This incident is not an isolated one, as numerous judges have recently expressed their concerns about the behavior and attitudes of jurors.

On Monday, Justice Mariam Owusu, presiding over the case of the murder of the late Major Maxwell Mahama, also expressed similar dissatisfaction with the absence of a jury member.
I apply to the people of the Republic of Armenia, to actively and decisively prove that Artsakh cannot be recognized as part of Azerbaijan and that you continue to stand with this most important piece of the united Armenian homeland.

May 24, 2023, 11:30 Arayik Harutyunyan addressed the Armenians living in Armenia and Diaspora

STEPANAKERT, MAY 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: On May 23, in his address to the public, Artsakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan said, adding that after all, Artsakh is the homeland of all Armenians, with its unique significance for both Armenian statehood and the Armenian nation.

''The people of Armenia are the masters of the Republic of Armenia, and they must decide such nationwide and most important issues.

To our compatriots in the Diaspora, to shake off the feeling of disappointment, powerlessness and indifference, and demand practical steps from the governments of the countries of citizenship and the Republic of Armenia towards guaranteeing the right to self-determination and security of Artsakh. We expect that every Diaspora Armenian individual and organization will take all possible measures to support Artsakh and curb Azerbaijani criminal activities. The Armenian diaspora has a huge unrealized potential, which is able to ensure serious success in issues that are fatal for the Motherland.''
If there is any former First Lady of Ghana who has passed through fire and brimstone, she is Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.

During the bloody revolutionary days when the going was tough and the tough kept going, she was among the tough.

When men run to hide under their beds at the sound of the gunfire, she kept her head high and supported her husband in times of difficulties.

She was unwavering, strong and hardworking. Call her modern day Yaa Asantewaa and you will not be far from right.

Those who are making noises in the NDC, including their tin god, John Dramani Mahama were nowhere near the trenches when the battle for survival was raging.

In fact, when the PNDC was metamorphosing into the NDC, this group of opportunists was cooling off elsewhere. They didn't even know that it was Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings who designed the NDC umbrella logo.

Today, they have come out as men, enjoying the good things in life. They even don't know that cadres of the revolution did put their lives on the line for the revolution. Sadly these cadres have been jettisoned upstream.

In their places are boys like Sammy Gyamfi, Sam George, Ablakwa, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, Joseph Yamin and many more who were born too late to smell the scent of gun power in those days of fireworks.

Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop, Nana Konadu was the 1st Vice Chairperson of the NDC when she decided to contest the late President Atta Mills during the NDC Presidential Primaries held at Sunyani.

Prior to the Sunyani Congress, the NDC had a divided front. Asiedu Nketia and John Mahama had released their hounds to attack the Founder of the party, the late Mr. Rawlings.

The daily insults were so embarrassing and Ghanaians were asking: What did Rawlings do for these opportunistic upstarts to take him to the cleaners?

Out of frustration and anger, Mr. Rawlings referred to these small boys as 'babies with sharp teeth' and their sponsors as greedy bastards'. The campaign for the flagbearership position itself was nasty and rough.

Many sprinter groups popped up, some supported the former First Lady while others supported Professor Mills. It was the first time a sitting President of Ghana competed through the ballot box for the party's nomination for a second term. Mr. Rawlings and Mr. Kufuor had gone unopposed when they were going for their second term.

On the day of the Primaries, yours sincerely was at the Coronation Park at Sunyani, the venue of the Congress. It became abundantly clear from the start that, the leadership of the NDC, led by Asiedu Nketia the then General Secretary had teamed up against the Former First Lady.

One embarrassing thing that Asiedu Nketia did to disgrace Mr. Rawlings and his wife was that, just when the couple were entering the stadium after a rousing welcome outside the stadium, Asiedu Nketia asked the MC to call for an opening prayer.

So when the couple entered the venue, delegates had closed their eyes in prayer so Rawlings and his wife were not recognized. They walked quietly to sit down, unnoticed by the delegates. One could see anger bodily written on the face of the Founder of the party.

When Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings was invited to deliver her speech as a candidate, the leadership of the party sitting behind the dais started heckling her. She stopped her delivery and said she was surprised that even ministers who were supposed to know better were rudely behaving that way.

The sign was already very clear on the wall and so the lady lost her bid to be the flagbearer of the party. When she was leaving the venue, some delegates who had been paid huge sums of money to vote against her hooted at her. That behavior was the last straw which broke the camel's back.

Back in Accra after the Delegates Congress, Madam Konadu said in an interview with some media houses that she will never return to the NDC in any circumstances.

She went on to form her own party, the National Democratic Party (NDP). Much as elders of the NDC, including her husband tried to convince the Iron Lady to reverse her decision, she stayed put. I am recounting this story because the eighteen-year old boy or girl who will be voting come 2024 General Election was barely twelve years old when this happened.

Such persons were born too late to understand the situation of the NDC today and may blame Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings for abandoning a party she toiled with her husband to form. That is why they say historians look back.

The deafening silence of Madam Konadu these days is very worrisome. This is a lady who was able to organize Ghanaian women across the length and breadth of Ghana to engage in cottage industries like, Gari Processing, Palm Oil Processing, Beekeeping and other ventures which assuaged the suffering of poor women in our small towns and villages. Her 31st December Women Movement worked so hard to create employment for our women folks and she will be remembered for her resilience as far as the issue of women is concerned. Ghana needs her at times like this when all hands are needed on board to move the nation forward. That is why her silence and indifference in the affairs of the country is worrisome.

If she allows herself to be convinced to go back to the NDC, she will be doing herself great harm. The reason is that John Mahama and Asiedu Nketia have hijacked the party and all those who toiled to establish the party have been sidelined. As for the late Rawlings who founded the party, he was literally kicked out of the party before his death.

It was Asiedu Nketia who told the world that Mr. Rawlings was a chained dog and that he could only bark but unable to bite so those who left the NDC because of Rawlings should return to the fold. Mr. Mahama's plan to hijack the party has worked to perfection.

Today, he has the money, the power and borrowed glory. Where are Kwamena Ahwoi, Ato Ahwoi, Kwasi Ahwoi, Huudu Yahaya, Tony Aidoo, Kobby Acheampong, Koku Anyidoho, Allortey Jacobs, Wofa Yaw Boateng, Cecelia Johnson, Ato Dadzi, Dan Abodapki, Victor Smith, Spio Garbra, Obed Asamoah, Martin Amidu, Alhaji Ibrahim Adam, Kwame Pepra and a host of those who put their noses on the grindstone to bring the NDC this far?

The truth is that they are alive and kicking but Asiedu Nketia and John Mahama have thrown them into the dustbin of history. Asiedu Nketia and John Mahama's treacherous and wicked mission has been accomplished!

For now, Mr. Mahama and his co conspirators and usurpers of power can afford to bask in euphoria in their borrowed clothes after their stage-managed moneycratic Delegates Congress but they must remember that their days are numbered. A time will come when their names will be written in bronze.

That is when a new Pharaoh will come in Egypt who may not know Joseph. And Barbarossa shall rise again!!! Can anyone lend me a bottle of ink for my Fountain pen?

By Eric Bawah
After over three years as the 14th Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah is set to retire from the Judiciary today May 24, 2023.

Justice Yeboah, who turns 70 today, will be stepping down in accordance with the Conditions of Service for judges of superior courts in Ghana.

Chief Justice Yeboahs tenure has been marked by several notable achievements, including the establishment of specialized courts to expedite the hearing of cases.

During his time in office, the Judiciary also introduced several reforms aimed at improving access to justice and enhancing the efficiency of the court system.

In his farewell address, Chief Justice Yeboah expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to serve Ghana and its people.

He thanked his colleagues on the bench, members of the legal profession, and all those who had supported him during his tenure.

I am proud of what we have achieved together, and I am confident that the Judiciary will continue to play its vital role in upholding the rule of law and promoting justice in our society, he said.

Chief Justice Yeboahs retirement will leave a vacancy at the highest level of the Judiciary, and the process of selecting his successor has already begun.

As per the Constitution of Ghana, the President will appoint a new Chief Justice in consultation with the Council of State and the approval of Parliament.

Justice Yeboah is expected to be replaced by Justice Gertrude Torkonoo who has already been nominated by President Akufo-Addo to replace him if she gets the approval of Parliament.

She is scheduled to go for vetting any moment from now.

The search for a new Chief Justice was undoubtedly a critical moment for Ghanas Judiciary, as the new appointee will be responsible for leading the institution through the next phase of its development. It remains to be seen whether Justice Torkonoo will take up this significant position and what new reforms and achievements she will bring to the Judiciary.

Kwasi Anin Yeboah, who was born on 24th May, 1953 in Toase, a town located in the present-day Ashanti Region, had his second cycle education at the Amaniampong Secondary School and the Apam Secondary School.

He proceeded to the University of Ghana for his legal studies. He trained as a lawyer at the Ghana School of Law and was called to the bar in 1981.

Anin Yeboah practiced as a lawyer for many years, serving as an Assistant State Attorney in the Eastern Regional capital of Koforidua and a partner in the reputed firm Afisem Chambers.

He had served as President of the Eastern Regional Bar Association before being appointed a judge of the High Court in 2002.

He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2003 and ultimately to the Supreme Court in 2008.

President Akufo-Addo in 2019 nominated him as Chief Justice designate pending the approval of Parliament.

On January 7, 2020, he was duly sworn in as Chief Justice of the country.

DGN online
Nurses at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) have indicated that there is no competition between nurses and doctors because the two professionals operate as a team at the health facilities with other health employees.

They stated that, although being regarded as the heart of hospitals due to the extensive care obligations they bear, nurses do not compete with doctors because their job complements each other.

This was stated by Ms. Joseline Adjoa Enchill and Mr. Samuel Adu Ntiamoah, Registered General Nurses at IMaH, during their appearance on the Ghana News Agency-Tema initiative "Your Health, Our Collective Responsibility" on the occasion of International Nurses Day, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.

International Nurses Day is observed on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing, to highlight the significance of the profession.

The international topic for this year is "Our Nurses, Our Future." The theme chosen by Ghana is "Our Nurses, Our Midwives, Our Future."

Ms. Enchill stated that doctors evaluate patients and diagnose ailments, while nurses provide the treatment and interventions suggested by doctors, and that the two professionals collaborate to provide quality care to patients.

She recognised that acrimony or excessive competition between doctors and nurses would end up harming the patient, emphasising that "when there is a misunderstanding between a doctor and a nurse, it is the patient who will suffer."

She stated that "if the conditions of a patient on admission change, it would be the nurse who would see it as they were with patients all the time," emphasising the importance of maintaining a healthy and cordial relationship between all hospital professionals.

Mr. Ntiamoah, for his part, stated that nurses were not, as many people believe, helpers to doctors, adding, "It's a wrong perception; we are not assistants to doctors, we all work as a team."

He argued that nursing is independent and plays a major and vital function in the hospital context since it encompasses a broad spectrum of life as a whole, including environmental, psychological, spiritual, and emotional care.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency Tema, praised health workers for their contribution to people's overall well-being, including illness prevention.

He stated that studies have shown that patients who receive compassionate, patient-centered care are more satisfied and willing to cooperate with their medical treatment, resulting in better patient outcomes.

Mr. Ameyibor stated that society and health experts must collaborate to ensure that "we all live a healthy life." We must support their efforts and ensure that they can provide decent healthcare.

"A disorganised, mentally and emotionally disturbed nurse or doctor cannot care for a patient, no matter how hard he or she tries," he said.

Mr Ameyibor stressed, "As a result, let us all work together to make the working conditions of nurses and doctors more comfortable to ensure they are able to care for us."

-CDA Consult || Contributor
New York, May 23, 2023DRC authorities should swiftly reform the countrys new press law and digital code to ensure journalism is not criminalized and the media can work without undue restrictions or fear of prosecution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

In April, Congolese authorities enacted new laws governing the press and online activity, according to multiple media reports and CPJs review of the legislation. The latest press law contains sections that enable authorities to criminally prosecute journalists for their work, including for sharing false news. Under the new digital code, authorities are granted powers to imprison journalists for sharing information electronically.

CPJ has repeatedly documented how journalists in the DRC have been arrested, accused of alleged crimesincluding defamation and sharing false informationand criminally prosecuted in connection with their work. At least two journalists, Patrick Lola and Diego Kayiba, are presently jailed in the country.

DRC lawmakers seem to have squandered a massive opportunity to curb the criminalization of journalism, and should swiftly pursue additional reforms to ensure journalists in their country are never again jailed for their work, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator. Its particularly tragic that while the DRC government promoted its new press law as a step forward, journalists Patrick Lola and Diego Kayiba remain behind bars. They should be freed at once.

Several sections of the press law, which replaced legislation from 1996, offer opportunities for journalism to be criminalized without detailing specific punishments.

Section 113 says, offenses by the online press are punished in accordance with the legislation in force in criminal matters. Section 123 says the publication, dissemination or reproduction of false news is punishable under the penal code, or the code of military justice if that media is made in bad faith and has shaken discipline or the morale of the armies or has hindered the war effort of the nation.

The penal code will also be used to punish anyone who commits a press offense against magistrates, civil servants and agents vested with public authority, according to Section 124.

In 2022, the DRC Ministry of Communication and Media organized meetings with media stakeholders that resulted in recommendations, including decriminalizing press offenses. This recommendation appears not to have been applied.

Under Section 360 of the new digital code, journalists convicted of relaying false information electronically could face six months in prison or a fine of 1 million francs (US$430).

Additionally, journalists could face two years in prison and a fine of 10 million francs (US$4,330) for electronic communications that coerce, intimidate, harass or provoke emotional distress in a person to encourage behavior hateful, tribal and hostile to good morals and patriotic values, according to section 358 of the code. Section 359 carries the same penalty for harassment when the sender of an electronic communication should have known it would gravely affect the tranquility of the targeted person.

Section 192 of the digital code prohibits using personal data to harm people or their reputation, with only narrow public interest exceptions. That section did not indicate specific punishments for violations, but Section 325 states that infractions are prosecuted under the code of criminal procedure.

A Hungarian courts interpretation of EU data privacy legislation has been used to prevent the publishing of news. CPJ raised concerns over similar implications of a 2020 draft of Nigerias data protection bill.

In early April, a prosecutor ordered Kayiba detained over tweets criticizing the head of the countrys General Inspectorate of Finance. Kayibas request for provisional release was denied, and he was transferred to Makala central prison in the capital, Kinshasa, according to his lawyer, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity.

On April 14, journalist Gustave Bakuka was briefly detained and accused of spreading false rumors concerning an article he wrote and shared in a WhatsApp group discussing security issues, according to Kayibas lawyer.

CPJs calls to DRC Minster of Communication and Media Patrick Muyaya and Digital Minister Desire-Cashmir Eberande did not receive any response.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

The official journey of Bangladesh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) relations started in 1975 when the KSA recognized newly born Bangladesh as a sovereign country. Since then, these two countries have been maintaining cordial and closer friendship prioritizing mutual understanding, deep sense of fraternity, and cooperation in multilateral sectors. State-level official visits from both sides have contributed to the further development of their bilateral bonding. The current Prime Minister of the KSA, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, is expected to visit Bangladesh on this year. Marking this historical visit, Bangladesh expects that the bilateral relations could be taken to a new height by ensuring more economic cooperation.

Bangladesh, being a Muslim-majority country, attaches a special priority to its relations with Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of Islam. Both countries have common social norms and cultural values derived from their religious practices. Also, they share similar views on many regional and global issues especially those are directly related to the Muslim world. Their common interest led them to cooperate in different regional and international platforms such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), UN, etc. Their current ties have further been reinforced by ever-deepening cooperation in the fields of investment, trade, investment, manpower, defense, education, culture etc. As Bangladesh perceives KSA as one of its trusted friends, it is the need of the hour to analyze the significance of the Bangladesh army chiefs KSA visit. Chief of Army Staff General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed travelled to Saudi Arabia on an official visit on Tuesday at the invitation of Commander of the Royal Saudi Land Forces Lt Gen Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Mutair.

During the visit, he will pay courtesy calls on the Royal Saudi Land Forces Commander, the Chief of General Staff of the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and senior military and civilian officials. During the meeting, he will discuss various issues of training and bilateral cooperation between the armies of the two countries. The Chief of Army Staff will visit the Armed Forces Staff College of Saudi Arabia and will perform the holy Umrah. General Shafiuddin will return to the country on May 27, 2023.

On the other hand, Saudi wants to make large-scale investments in Bangladesh, Kingdom's ministers tell PM Hasina. Saudi Arabian Minister of Investment Khalid A. Al-Faliah and Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim came up with the offer when they jointly called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her place of residence in Doha on May 23, 2023 . The present situation and future of Bangladesh is very good and this is why they have taken the decision to strengthen its relation with Bangladesh, they say

Enhancing Military relations

On the initiative of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and under the leadership of Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the first Islamic military alliance in history was formed on 15 December 2015 comprising 34 Muslim countries including Bangladesh. Now the number of member states is 41.

Military relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have been strengthened. A joint military exercise between the two countries was held already on in March, 2018, hosted by Saudi Arabia. The name of this exercise is Gulf Shield-1. Sixteen members of the Bangladesh Army took part in the month-long military exercise. This is the first joint military exercise of Bangladesh Army with Saudi Arabia. Apart from Bangladesh and host Saudi Arabia, 23 other countries have taken part in it.Joint Gulf Shield 1, the exercises involved tens of thousands of personnel from the land, sea and air forces of 24 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the U.S., the U.K., Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt and Malaysia.

Its purpose is to increase military cooperation. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina arrived in Saudi Arabia on April 15, 2018 to deliver and attend the closing ceremony. He was invited by King Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Through this exercise, a new horizon of military relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia can be opened. Of course, this is a very strong decision from the side of Bangladesh.

In the early 1990s, the Bangladesh Army participated in the Gulf War for the first time. The Bangladesh Army has ample opportunities to work with Saudi Arabia.

Counter terrorism, economic diplomacy, tourism, Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy may be the sectors of mutual cooperation between KSA-Bangladesh relations. KSA always supports Bangladesh in favor of Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar who were forcibly displaced by the Myanmar government in 2017. Bangladesh has sheltered them temporarily. But they have to be repatriated in Myanmar in the long run.

Hopefully, in the changed world situation and in the international political context, Saudi Arabia-Bangladesh good relations will play a strong role in the Muslim world. Wherever Muslims in the world, including Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Myanmar, are being persecuted and oppressed, they will play an effective role in solving their problems. Every Muslim around the world has high hopes for Saudi Arabia. We hope that in the coming years, Saudi Arabia will do its best to fulfill its responsibilities through good relations with all Muslim countries, including Bangladesh. The bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia has recently become more cordial.

Specific Areas for cooperation

1. In conformity with the Bangladesh government's "zero tolerance" policy against terrorism and violent extremism, Bangladesh has joined the Saudi-led military alliance (IMCTC), a pan-Islamic unified front of 41 countries.

2. At different times, Bangladesh strongly condemned the Houthi militias' drone attacks targeting parts of Saudi Arabia.

3. Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia signed an MoU to further bolster military cooperation in 2019.

4. Saudi Arabia has signed a security deal with Bangladesh to tackle drugs and human trafficking on November 12, 2022.

5. The security deal covered training, efforts to curb drug and human trafficking, as well as cybercrime and other multinational crimes.

6. The deal will also boost exchange training and visits between the countrys two security forces.

Bangladesh and KSA can strengthen cooperation in Cyber Security and help acquire advanced intelligence technologies. Bangladesh and KSA can continue this collaboration regarding stability and security in the future.

Bangladesh's support for the KSA relations with Iran and peaceful Middle East

Bangladesh is a peace-loving country and welcomes the move by Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties. The issue of re-establishing relations of the KSA with Syria came to the fore shortly after the announcement of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Iran in March of this year. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visits Moscow. At that time, Russia mediated the restoration of Saudi-Syrian relations. On April 12, a meeting was held at the level of foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Syria. In the meeting, Saudi Arabia agreed to help Syria return under the Arab umbrella. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran serve as major players in the Middle East, diverging in their regional outlooks as they compete for regional dominance. Despite this, their bilateral relations are strengthening, which has important implications for the growth of the economy of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a significant economic and political partner of both nations, and a notable friend of China. It received Iran-Saudi relationship positively and welcomes the decision to resume the diplomatic ties. Normalisation of the relationship between Iran and Saudi might exhibit significant impacts on Bangladesh's foreign policy; especially in the domains of culture of peace, multilateralism, energy, trade and investment

Iran and Saudi Arabia are significant oil and gas producers, and improved relations within the two countries might culminate further cooperation in Bangladesh's energy industry. By 2041, it is projected that energy consumption in Bangladesh will surpass 50,000 MW. Improved relations between the two nations will likely result in a more consistent energy supply to Bangladesh, and possibly cut energy costs.

By lowering hostilities and increasing cooperation, restoring diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia may help keep the region relaxed. Considering this, peaceful relationships betweenthe nationscanfoster Bangladesh to be a more secure, safe, and plentiful country, which may result in a ''Golden Bangladesh''

Enhancing energy cooperation

With the energy crisis that is currently affecting not just Bangladesh, but the entire world, it has been imperative for us to be able to source energy to meet our demands.

To that end, it is good to learn that Saudi Arabia has assured its assistance in the commercial supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Bangladesh on an emergency basis.

In addition, two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) have also been signed between the two countries on mutual cooperation in recruitment, training of naval professionals, and increasing trade.

Particularly, discussions regarding the construction of a 1,000MW solar power and 730MW gas power plant in Bangladesh by Saudi ACWA Power is very encouraging, telling us that the authorities concerned are indeed pro-active when it comes to finding long-term solutions for Bangladesh's growing energy needs.

Saudi Arabia has also long been a favoured destination for our migrant workers, and the remittance sent year on year has been one of the foundations upon which the Bangladesh economy has grown to be what it is today.

It is therefore important for Bangladesh to continue strengthening the relationship it has with Saudi Arabia, and indeed with other Gulf nations as well. Nevertheless, this strengthened relationship must also include better working conditions for our migrant workers, together with exploring more avenues for cooperation for the benefit of all parties.

Bangladesh's historic foreign policy principle, as coined by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, of friendship to all and malice towards none is more relevant today than ever before, as Bangladesh navigates an increasingly volatile global climate while harbouring extremely ambitious goals. Bangladesh must continue fostering stronger relationships with other economies so that it does not fall short of its ambitions.

Other sides of the cooperation

The tremendous economic growth of Bangladesh in the last 50 years has made the country a financial and industrial hub of South Asia. According to the World Bank , Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies of the world supported by its consistent growth in ready-made garment (RMG) exports, demographic dividend, and stable macroeconomic conditions. Because of the economic success, the KSA now perceives Bangladesh, going beyond religious dimension, as one of the lucrative investment designations. The KSA is now one of the most reliable bilateral development partners of Bangladesh, the relations dynamics of which have evolved from one-layered to multi-dimensional cooperation over the time.

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) is planning to allocate some 300 acres of land to Saudi investors in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar in Chattogram. It is expected that both countries will sign billion-dollar worth investment proposals, from the part of Saudi Arabia, including some energy sector related projects. Apart from energy sectors, Saudi investors can invest in Bangladeshs 100 special economic zones, large-infrastructure undertakings, textiles, IT, Agro-based industries etc.

The KSA is the largest and most valued destination for the Bangladeshi expatriates. From 1976 to 2021, Bangladesh exported a total of 45.81 lakh migrant workers to the Kingdom which is almost 34 percent of the countrys total manpower export. Even amid the pandemic gloom in 2020 when most of the labor markets remained shut down, the Kingdom employed 1.61 lakh Bangladeshi workers. Last year, Bangladesh exported 6.17 lakh migrants to abroad of which 4.57 lakh, almost 76 percent of total overseas employment, were sent to the KSA. In the last five years, Saudi Arabia has become the top destination for Bangladeshi migrant workforces. The Gulf country is implementing a number of megaprojects under its Vision-2030 which may turn the country a better job destination for Bangladeshis if proper steps are being taken targeting the upcoming visit.

Bangladesh is on the highway to be graduated from the Least Developed Country (LDC) group by 2026 . After the graduation, Bangladesh will not be eligible for many preferential treatments that are exclusively available for the LDCs in global trade. Limited access to these preferential facilities will have adverse impact on the balance of payment of Bangladesh especially with the unavoidable negative impact on its total export earnings. To counter these challenges, Bangladesh may negotiate with KSA for ensuring duty-free access to the Saudi market even after the LDC-graduation.

Since the genocide orchestrated by Myanmar military on Rohigya community in 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting 1.2 million Rohingya refugees. Besides, Bangladesh had been experiencing a negative trend in the international humanitarian assistance funds for supporting these refugees. Bangladesh may expect that Saudi Arabia will take initiative to end the plight of Rohingyas, the deprived Muslim minorities, by ensuring safe and dignified return to their homeland. Also, Bangladesh may talk with the KSA Foreign Minister for more financial support to ensure life-saving assistance required to support the Rohingya refugees.

Bangladesh should prepare itself to convey the message that it can cooperate with KSA in implementing its Vision-2030 by cooperating in the field of manpower, trade, investment, agriculture, and education. Also, Bangladesh requires Saudis extensive engagement and economic cooperation to materialize the countrys Vision-2041. Apart from state-level visits, economic and investment-related delegations and cultural and defense cooperation can play a crucial role in taking the ties to a new level. Greater economic engagement from both sides can fundamentally change the overall relationship dynamics between these two countries in future which should get preference in the upcoming visit.

Jubeda Chowdhury is a teacher in Dhaka city and write about international politics, rights of refugees, environmental politics, labor, child, and women's rights.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

The Northern Electricity Company (NEDCo) of the Volta River Authority (VRA) has retrieved about seven million nine hundred and eighty-four thousand, six hundred and fifty-eight Ghana (GHC 7,984. 658.40) out of the One hundred and twenty-five million owed by their post-paid customers after one-month revenue mobilization exercise in the Upper East and North East Regions.

A month ago, NEDCo staff embarked on a revenue mobilization exercise in a bid to retrieve the debts from customers.

The Upper East and North East Regional Billing and Revenue Mobilization Officer (BRMO) William Asare, explained that the revenue mobilization drive has yielded a lot of positive results.

He added that their monthly post-paid billing revenue stands at 5.8 million as against the 7.9 million realized within one month of the mobilization exercise. He indicated that going forward, the exercise should be sustained and by that, NEDCo will be able to get its post-paid bills paid in addition to part of the arrears owed them by customers monthly.

He stated that most of the defaulting customers have agreed to terms of payment with NEDCo in order to clear debts. NEDCo has always shown a human face in the exercise of her duties as its a customer-centred company, he added.

He further explained that, in the course of the one-month exercise, more than 6,321 defaulting customers have been disconnected. Some he said have shown up to redeem their debts, and power has since been restored to them others too are in the process. He also disclosed that some institutions that were hitherto not paying their bills have come to the negotiation table.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

WITH various leaders and commentators having suggested that things have gone horribly wrong in South Africa since Cyril Ramaphosa became president more than five years ago, to such an extent that the country could be facing imminent state and economic collapse.

South Africans must act and rebuild their country before its too late.

And talking to people on the streets, some even die-hard ANC members and supporters. You get a sense that if South Africans dont stand up now and take charge of the running of their country, by the time the situation reaches total collapse, it could be little to late for the once powerful African giant, with the most promising future.

One ANC activist who is clearly anti-Ramaphosa doesnt mince his words on what is really happening in South Africa.

According to this activist, Ramaphosa is on a mission to weaken and even destroy the ANC and South Africa.

The activist suggests that if the ANC is weakened then it will be easy for Ramaphosa do as he wishes with the organization.

He will then be in a more powerful position to sell the country to the foreign backers.

The activist further remarked on the matter of the ANCs failure to pay its staff as another Ramaphosa move to destroy Africas oldest liberation movement.

And as for South Africa, Ramaphosas Western backers are hellbent on owning South Africa. To this, the activist charged that the R1,5 trillion Ramaphosa has attracted is not meant to develop the economy and create jobs.

But according to this activist the R1,5 trillion invested that Ramaphasa has attracted is reward for selling State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to his backers, with the bulk of this money landing on Ramaphosa and his cronies.

The activist is convinced that the bigger plan is to sell the country to Ramaphosas foreign backers in which Ramaphosa and his cronies will be secured forever financially and otherwise.

And the Phala Phala scandal was further proof that corruption in South Africa has grown under Ramaphosa, the activist further asserts.

The activist notes that Ramaphosa wants to position himself as the face of South Africa overtaking Nelson Mandela as the hero of South Africa. He states that Ramaphosa having lead the creation of the Constitution, is now cementing his legacy as the countrys greatest leader ever and the he wants to be the identity of South Africa, all this he does with the backing of his Western backers.

Ramaphosa has ignore all the Reports that have landed on his desk. He is untouchable and is not planning to step down. He is staying in power as he has been gradually gaining dominance of the ANC, added the ANC activist.

According to a 2021 survey as reported by Business Day, South Africans believe that corruption in SA has got worse under Cyril Ramaphosas administration, including in the office of the president itself, in contrast to much more positive perceptions when he first entered office.

And this was a key finding of the 2021 Afrobarometer survey, an independent pan-Africa research network that interviewed 1,600 South Africans in May and June in 2021.

Speaking to Power FM last year, Political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki, who is also the brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, painted a scathing picture of Cyril Ramaphosas leadership, saying the president is not a leader but a party agent.

The man has totally failed as a president, he cant decide on anything, but many people believe he can save South Africa.

Cyril is not a leader really. He was never a leader. He is an apparatchik or an agent of the party but he presents himself as a leader. Hes not a leader  if you put him next to Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and even Jacob Zuma. added Mbeki.

Mbeki had also noted that Ramaphosa fails as a leader because he does not believe in anything.

He goes with the flow. He wakes up in the morning and says which way is the wind blowing and Im gonna go that way.

Mbeki had words of hope for the country though, I think South Africa is a great country. We have a very poor government and many people mistake the government for the people of South Africa or for the country. We have a very poor and under-performing government with all the malaises you have listed as a result of poor government. I think South Africa is still a functioning country and it functions because of the people.

Speaking on SABC News earlier this year, Moeletsi Mbeki said the country would suffer more pain from corruption in the next 15 months because ANC members will feed their pockets thinking that after next year's election the party will no longer be in power.

Corruption is in government by the public officials. That is where the heart of corruption in this country is. The irony and the painful part about it is the closer the ANC gets to losing power, the more corruption we are going to see, said Mbeki.

Mbeki added that South Africa was not better off under the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa.

For the last 10 years, the per capita income of South Africans has been declining, which means we have been getting poorer and we are still getting poorer today. So we are not better off."

The control over corruption has not happened, the recommendations of the Zondo commission have hardly been implemented. But the other side is the lack of efficiency by the government, noted Mbeki.

Late in 2022, during a press conference held in Johannesburg, former president Jacob Zuma went on an all-out attack, accusing Ramaphosa of putting the interests of his funders and the global community before those of the country and its people.

Zuma said: Ramaphosas conducting private business at the Phala Phala farm while serving as president of the country was corrupt and unconstitutional.

Conducting private business while holding the high office of president is nothing but corruption, which is inconsistent with the nature of that office and the Constitution. Its inconsistent with the oath of office taken by the president and those who defend such deeds, both in the executive and the legislature, commit treason against our Constitution.

Suffice to say that your president has committed treason. No president should conduct private business while in office, said Zuma.

In reference to the Ramaphosa administration, Zuma remarked, People have in recent years been blinded by the fact that we now have democratically elected black governments. Theyre blinded from seeing that our elected governments are still expected to serve the commercial interests of colonial powers ahead of those of the people who elect them.

Zuma added that the countrys problems were too big for a president who was busy hustling on the side.

He said: Im assuming that what President Ramaphosa has said about the many dollars under his bed or in his furniture shows its true that he conducts private businesses while serving as president of our country. That, on its own, is unconstitutional and those who applaud him for doing so commit the most disgusting transgression.

But it was an audio tape by a Black South African who has worked in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) by all accounts, that paints a more horrifying and brutal picture of a more horrific story of the state of affairs in the democratic republic.

In the tape, the citizen shares a conversation he had with a leading Black investment professional and banker.

The banker is troubled about the nature of his discoveries of many senior government leader and political heads who have a PLAN B.

According to the banker, these people have offshore accounts and are buying houses overseas on a massive scale.

Should the situation become unbearable and South Africa totally collapses, then they will leave South Africans behind for greener pastures elsewhere in the world, according to the conversation on the audio tape.

The view among the two is that this is because the post 1994 government has damaged or destroyed so many of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and that the plan is to sell them to private buyers which will mean that they stand to profit from such transactions.

The two also assert that if it wasnt for the whites still left in the SANDF, there would not be any Defence Force in the country.

Their view, stems from military vehicles across the country that have been broken for years but have not been fixed, including military vehicles just standing there with no wheels.

Although they dont stretch as to what is the contribution of whites in the army is, they are quite adamant that the countrys security forces are ill equip to defend the nation against any foreign attack.

They also say that the plan is for Patrice Motsepe and Ramaphosas families to own the economy of the country with their cronies locally and internationally.

Furthermore, the two allege that government is borrowing trillions to pay civil servants but does not disclose this to South Africans of the huge loans it makes from these international borrowers.

They also warn that South Africans may wake up too late, when they realize they can not even get social grants anymore.

They two are outraged that the government has no plan for economic development and job creation. They cant fix anything. We are in a mess, they add.

Whether the views expressed hear are accurate or not, one thing is clear South Africans can not afford to sit by and watch their country growing or falling without the citizens playing their part in fixing and building their country.

Oh, theres the water crisis as well to be fixed. With 17 people reported to have died in Gauteng province due to unclean water. Apparently the crisis is national.

Mgudlwa is an award-winning journalist
24.05.2023 LISTEN

Hundreds of Kpone residents in the Greater Accra Region's Kpone-Katamanso Municipality have expressed their displeasure with the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) for the continuous hike in utility bills.

According to them, electricity costs have already risen this year, and the majority of them are struggling to keep up due to the country's current economic instability.

This was revealed during a random survey performed over the weekend in Kpone.

Some residents stated that, despite the earlier rise, utility firms had not provided them with the best service, which would enhance their readiness to pay more for such services.

They asked the government to act fast to address the issue and urged utility companies to invest in order to provide better services to customers.

A resident, Madam Patience Daemashie, stated that while she does not use power for industrial reasons, she cannot afford to buy it on a regular basis since it has become unreasonably expensive.

"I used to buy GHC30.00 prepaid and it could last a week, but now if I buy the same amount, it only lasts a day or two, even though I'm not using it for any business," she added.

Madam Hannah Imprieme, the owner of a cold store, stated that the increase in expenses, notably power, has had an impact on her business, forcing her to hike the pricing of her fish and other products.

She went on to say that her company is entirely reliant on power and that if costs rise, she will be compelled to raise the prices of her products.

Madam Imprieme encouraged the government to reduce the cost of these utility bills so that they could sell their products at a lesser price.

Taxi driver Mr. Frank Lartey observed, "Their services are very poor even after raising the prices; lights go out without notice at any time, and so does water, and they expect us to pay more for these services; it's very pathetic."

Mrs Mary Tetteh, a food vendor, also stated that the increase in bills has placed a significant burden on her food company because she must raise her food pricing.

"I buy fish and other meats at a higher price because the owners of the cold stores have raised their prices, driving my customers away," she added.

Residents requested the government and the utility regulating body to change utility tariffs in order for utilities to cut their prices as well.

-CDA Consult
The Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Freddie Blay has strongly denied any wrongdoing in the offering of interest in Ghana's oil fields to PetroSA, a South African oil company.

Mr Blay asserts that the Corporation acted in the best interest of the country in the exercise of good judgment in the matter, therefore sees the demands for his resignation as baseless.

In an interview with Citi FM monitored by ModerGhana News on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 Blay expressed his conviction that he had done nothing wrong and believed he was protecting the country's interests.

He stated, "Possibly, I could be fired, but I don't see any reason why they are saying I should resign about this issue. I have observed my conscience and I thought I was protecting the interest of the country, and I am convinced about it and if others think otherwise, and if those who appointed me are saying otherwise, then so be it."

Mr Blay revealed that he had discussed the matter with President Akufo-Addo and there was no issue about the deal.

He added, "It is not about convincing the president, the law will speak for itself, and there are few documents on the agreement."

His comment follows a coalition of 29 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) demanding the immediate removal of Mr. Blay and Opoku-Ahweneeh Danquah, the Chief Executive of GNPC.

These CSOs, including the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), and the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), argue that the two individuals have become a threat to Ghana's interests in the petroleum sector.

The coalition stated that a nation being micromanaged by the IMF shouldn't be seen indulging in reckless spending in a statement signed by representatives from all 29 CSOs and sighted by ModernGhana News.

The group is also demanding complete information on the AFC transaction and the actual amount that would constitute petroleum cost and the immediate closure of the Aker PoD from the Petroleum Commission and Government, part of the statement said.

The statement also said, In these difficult times, the nation needs prudent management of its resources to derive the fullest of benefits and bring relief to the suffering masses.

Energy Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh also expressed his dissatisfaction with the deal, calling for its removal from consideration as it does not favor Ghana.
More than a million Somalis have been displaced within their own country in just over four months through a "toxic" mix of drought, conflict and floods, humanitarian agencies said Wednesday.

Around 433,000 people were forced from their homes between January 1 and May 10 as a grinding Islamist insurgency raged and clashes broke out in the breakaway Somaliland region, the UN refugee agency UNHCR and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.

in addition, "over 408,000 people were displaced by floods sweeping across their villages and another 312,000 people were displaced by ravaging drought," they said in a joint statement.

Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia and Kenya have been suffering the worst drought in four decades after five failed rainy seasons that have left millions of people in need and decimated crops and livestock.

UN chief Antonio Guterres and world governments are meeting in New York on Wednesday at a conference to seek funding of $7 billion to help those in need across the region.

At least 43.3 million people require lifesaving and life-sustaining assistance in the Horn of Africa, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said last week.

Over 408,000 people have been displaced by floods in Somalia since the start of the year, the UNHCR and NRC say. By Hassan Ali ELMI (AFP)

The number of people displaced within Somalia's borders now stands at 3.8 million, with 6.7 million people struggling to find food, according to the UNHCR and NRC.

More than half a million children are severely malnourished, they added.

"These are alarming figures of some of the most vulnerable people forced to abandon the little that they had to head for the unknown," said Mohamed Abdi, the NRC's country director in Somalia.

"We can only fear the worst in the coming months as all the ingredients of this catastrophe are boiling in Somalia."

Most of the families have fled the Hiraan region in central Somalia and Gedo in the south of the country of 17 million people and are arriving in overcrowded urban areas, putting a strain on already stretched resources.

'Human tragedy'

The agencies called for urgent and greater investment to combat the crises "otherwise we will never see the end of this unfolding human tragedy," said Magatte Guisse, UNHCR's representative in Somalia.

Currently, aid agencies have received only 22 percent of funding to meet their needs for Somalia this year.

Map of Somalia locating the capital, Mogadishu, and the breakaway Somaliland region.. By (AFP)

Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab jihadists have been fighting the fragile central government since 2007 and control parts of the countryside from where they have carried out numerous attacks both in Somalia and in neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile flash flooding has hit central Somalia since May after heavy rainfall sent water gushing into homes in Beledweyne town in Hiraan, submerging roads and buildings and killed 22 people.

The Horn of Africa has been scarred by protracted armed conflicts and climate disasters with the World Food Programme (WFP) warning on Wednesday that crises were far from over.

"The last three years of drought has left more than 23 million people across parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger," the WFP said in a statement, adding that it would take years for the region to recover.

OCHA said last week that while famine "has been prevented" in the region, the humanitarian emergency was not over.
In an exclusive interview with "Artsakhpress", the ambassador on special assignment of the President of the Republic of Artsakh, Masis Mayilian spoke about the problems of the methodology of the negotiation process for the settlement of the Artsakh conflict, Azerbaijan's terrorist actions against Artsakh, the steps to neutralize these manifestations by the international community and other issues on the agenda related to the Artsakh issue.

May 24, 2023, 18:39 Azerbaijan tried and is trying to compensate for the lack of any legal argument for its claims to Nagorno-Karabakh with aggression. Masis Mayilian

STEPANAKERT, MAY 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: We present the interview below:

-Mr. Mayilian, over the years you have repeatedly spoken about the need to change the methodology of the negotiation process, pointing out that the current methodology will sooner or later lead to attempts to resolve the conflict by force. What did you mean and what, in your opinion, should have been changed?

- What I meant is that the basis of the settlement should be addressing the root cause of the conflict, namely the status of Artsakh, rather than its consequences, in particular the issue of territories. For some reason, many people forget the fact that at the time when the Karabakh Movement started, which later developed into the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, because Azerbaijan initially tried to drown the will of the Artsakh people in blood, there was no issue of territories, as well as problem of refugees or internally displaced persons. These issues appeared later, as a result of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan. So, my point is that there is a need to correctly formulate the cause-and-effect relationships of the Artsakh problem.

The issue of determining the party, who provoked the violence, is also fundamental. It is well known that Azerbaijan received international recognition on the condition of accepting the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh and the commitment to resolve this dispute peacefully. But immediately after joining the CSCE/OSCE, Azerbaijan violated this commitment and unleashed a war against Nagorno-Karabakh. The defeat in the war created a new status quo and an internationally recognized line of contact between the parties to the conflict.

Unfortunately, Azerbaijan's aggression never received the proper international condemnation. Nevertheless, during the negotiations the authorities of both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have repeatedly expressed their readiness to reconsider the line of contact. Such readiness was conditioned by the provision of inviolable international guarantees of non-resumption of hostilities until the full settlement of the conflict through the determination of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan justifies all of its aggressive actions by alleging that it is acting on the internationally recognized sovereign territory of Azerbaijan: it has no other arguments to justify its illegal and inhuman actions. Therefore, it is necessary for the countries that have recognized the sovereignty of Azerbaijan to realize that Azerbaijan justifies its inhuman actions by the fact of their recognition. Therefore, the international decisions hastily adopted after the collapse of the Soviet Union encouraged the continuation with impunity of illegal actions against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. No one should forget that, having received such recognition, Azerbaijan assumed the responsibility and international commitment to resolve disputes peacefully. It has long been known what Azerbaijan's promises are worth, but no one seems to be rushing to call it to account.

- In your posts on Facebook, you have qualified the blockade of Artsakh as a manifestation of terrorism. Do Azerbaijan's actions fall under the classic definition of terrorism?

- The actions of the Azerbaijani leadership, which is holding 120,000 residents of Artsakh hostage, as well as the political and mercantile demands put forward by official Baku for their release, according to international law, are a form of warfare and a manifestation of international terrorism. This means that the international response must also be adequate and follow the logic of confronting and punishing aggression and international terrorism.

- What do you think the international community should do to counter such a manifestation of terrorism?

- To counter the threat of terrorism, international law and international practice provide for joint actions by law enforcement agencies of States aimed at combating international terrorism. Since the illegal blockade of the Republic of Artsakh has been going on for quite a long time, and the people of Artsakh are facing a real threat of ethnic cleansing, the community of States should consider all possible options, including the use of force as part of international anti-terrorist cooperation, in the name of saving 120 thousand civilians. The community of States may be inclined towards this option, and there is a solid legal basis for this, namely the decisions of the ECtHR and the International Court of Justice, as well as the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020 signed, but flagrantly violated by Azerbaijan.

- Mr. Mayilian, let's turn to a new and very dangerous PR adventure of Azerbaijan. President Aliyev is now promoting the following narrative: "despite the 30-year occupation, Azerbaijan is ready to sign a peace treaty with Armenia". It doesn't take a whiz to see his deep-seated goals, which is to initially put Armenia under the burden of mortal sin, positioning the peace treaty as a manifestation of the goodwill of Azerbaijan. How can you get around this trap?

- This and similar propaganda tricks pursue one main goal - to humiliation and subjugate the Armenian people so that they recognize the post-war realities and accept all the demands of Baku. Azerbaijan is trying to achieve the signing of a peace treaty with Armenia on its own terms and thereby legitimize the results of the criminal war of 2020. Peace on such terms is considered by Azerbaijan as a prerequisite for the annexation of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the displacement of the Armenian population from this territory, as well as a chance to wrest maximum concessions from Armenia.

However, the reality is different. By acknowledging in 1992 the existence of the problem of determining the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, in fact, admitted to the international community the fact that the Republic of Azerbaijan had no jurisdiction over Nagorno-Karabakh. The only right that Azerbaijan received from the international community at the time of recognition of its sovereignty was the right to participate in negotiations to determine the status of Nagorno-Karabakh within the framework of an international conference under the auspices of the CSCE. By the way, the same right was recognized for Armenia. To obtain this right, Azerbaijan assumed an international commitment to resolve the conflict peacefully.

Azerbaijan violated its international obligations and committed aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to establish control over its territory. As a result of counter-offensive actions of the NKR Defense Army, aimed at suppressing the Azerbaijani aggression, Azerbaijan not only failed to establish control over the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but also lost part of its territories. Thus, the population of the former Azerbaijan SSR segregated along ethnic lines, the population moved to territories controlled by the troops of their own states. In other words, there was an ethno-territorial delimitation. In fact, two independent entities were formed on the territory of the former Azerbaijan SSR: the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Republic of Azerbaijan. On May 12, 1994, a ceasefire agreement was signed between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with the participation of the Republic of Armenia. As a result of post-war negotiations in 1994, the parties reached an agreement to establish military-political control in the conflict zone by their own armed forces, without the involvement of peacekeeping troops of third countries. The issue of territorial demarcation between the parties was included in the agenda of international negotiations on the determination of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE.

There were no assessments of the control regime for the territories controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic during the entire period of negotiations. There were only proposals to transfer some territories surrounding the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) to Azerbaijan, provided that Azerbaijan would undertake to deploy international peacekeeping forces in these territories and recognize an interim status for the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic until its final political status was determined.

Azerbaijan agreed to conduct negotiations on the basis of these principles. However, in 2020, official Baku once again violated its obligations and committed a new aggression against Artsakh. As a result of the war, Azerbaijan is trying to replace the concept of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem with the thesis of 30 years of occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan by Armenia (by the way, none of the resolutions of the UN Security Council mentioned repeatedly by Azerbaijan refers to occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia). Moreover, Azerbaijan itself violated these resolutions by refusing to cease hostilities, as a result of which it lost some additional territories.

Now the people of Artsakh, whom Azerbaijan isolated from the outside world through a blockade and presented them with an ultimatum to reintegrate into Azerbaijani society, hypocritically calling them citizens of Azerbaijan, are being forced to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. In fact, Azerbaijan still has no authority over the people and the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, as it was throughout its independence. Azerbaijan is well aware that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh did not take part in the formation of modern Azerbaijan and its constitution. Due to this circumstance, Azerbaijani citizenship cannot be extended to the people of Artsakh.

In reality, Azerbaijan seeks to achieve Armenia's refusal to support the independence of Artsakh and to commit ethnic cleansing in order to annex the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan also put forward the concept of the "30-year occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan" so that the international community does not interfere with the implementation of these plans.

It is no coincidence that at the international level Azerbaijan has been trying to introduce the thesis of "ensuring justice for serious war crimes and crimes against humanity." Once again, the concept of the rights is being replaced  150 thousand Armenians of Artsakh are deprived of their rights that require observance and are assigned to the mythical 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis. It should be taken into account that this concept, under the guise of Azerbaijan's intentions to integrate Armenians into Azerbaijani society, was recently made public at the level of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik. This means that Azerbaijan intends to continue to openly ignore any requirements on itself and impose its whims on the whole world.

- So, can we state that Azerbaijan has no legitimate arguments justifying its claims on Artsakh?

- No, and never had. Its just falsifications seasoned with blackmail, the use and the threat of force.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

The Supreme Court has upheld its earlier decision striking down a law that permitted the cultivation of marijuana in Ghana for medicinal and industrial purposes.

In a 5-4 majority decision on Wednesday, May 24, the apex court affirmed its previous 4-3 ruling that nullified Section 43 of the Narcotics Narcotics Control Commission Act, Act 1019 that allowed marijuana cultivation for "medicinal and industrial purposes.

Presiding Justice Jones Dotse, citing that the threshold for reviewing the court's own judgement had not been met, stating "Fundamental and grave errors have [not] occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice."

The invalidated section 43 had stipulated that "the Minister on the recommendation of the Commission, may grant a licence for the cultivation of cannabis popularly referred to as wee in Ghana, which is not more than 0.3 % THC content on a dry weight basis for industrial purposes."

However, in its July ruling, the court decided section 43 violated Article 106 of the 1992 constitution which requires explanatory memorandums for new bills, including policy details, defects in existing laws and remedies proposed.

The petitioner argued the memorandum laid in Parliament failed to sufficiently outline the policy change Section 43 brought.

The court upheld this position.

The Attorney General subsequently filed for a review, arguing amendments made by Parliament do not require accompanying memorandums, a myjoyonline report said.

But the court in a majority decision led by Justice Dotse ruled the threshold for reviewing its judgement had not been met.

The 5-4 decision ends attempt by medicinal marijuana advocates to legalise its cultivation in Ghana, with the court affirming that any marijuana cultivation remains illegal.
The prominent Swiss Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been acquitted of charges of rape and sexual coercion filed in Switzerland. He remains on probation in France, facing trial for other rape charges.

The court in Geneva ruled Wednesday there was not enough proof to convict Ramadan for raping and holding a Swiss woman against her will in a Geneva hotel room in 2008.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years in prison for Ramadan, who denied the accusations, saying he had accepted an invitation to coffee by the plaintiff, who then invited herself to his hotel room.

During the trial, Ramadan admitted to the court that he had spent the night with her, but that he had only let himself be kissed and that they had no sexual relations.

The plaintiff, a convert to Islam, who has been using the pseudonym Brigitte, because she has faced threats before, told the court that Ramadan beat her and brutally assaulted her three times

The court said it found Brigitte's testimony consistent and detailed, but there was no material evidence to back it up, and testimony gathered during the investigation came ten years after the fact, and could have been confused.

Brigitte filed her case in 2018, saying she was too frightened to make a legal complaint at the time of the attack ten years before, but she was inspired by other women who had come forward with rape allegations against Ramadan in France.

The judges highlighted the "elevated risk of confusion" linked to the amount of time that had gone by but also by the media coverage of this case and the charges in France.

The court also said that the controversial, anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne Mbala Mbala, who was called by Ramadan's lawyers to testify on his behalf, did not add any relevant elements to determining whether or not a sexual assault had taken place.

During the trial the two were separated by a screen  at her request. Brigitte left before the end of the verdict on Wednesday.

Ramadan will receive about 151,000 Swiss Francs (154,400 euros) from the state of Geneva to cover legal expenses.

The plaintiff is filing an appeal against the acquittal.

Rape charges in France

The case was the first of what could be several trials for Ramadan, who faces charges in France of raping four women between 2009 and 2016.

Ramadan has denied all the accusations, and has said they are politically motivated.

The grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt, Hassan al-Banna, Ramadan was once considered a leading figure in Islamic thought in Europe, condemning terrorism and criticizing many Muslim countries for their lack of democracy.

The rape allegations ended his career, with Britain's Oxford University forcing him to take a leave of absence in November 2017.

He spent nine months in pre-trial detention in France, and was released on probation in November 2018. He was granted permission to cross the border into Switzerland for the trial in Geneva.

(with newswires)
24.05.2023 LISTEN

In order to meet the conditions accompanying the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, President Nana Akufo-Addo has stressed that his administration will start making drastic cuts on spending.

According to the President, his administration will take all necessary steps to ensure that the ailing economy is revitalized.

President Akufo-Addo while speaking at the Qatar-Africa Economic Forum in Doha also expressed confidence that the IMF bailout will assist to rebuild the Ghanaian economy .

Rationalisation of our expenditure, rationalization of government expenditure is something that we have given the assurance. Domestic revenue mobilization is absolutely critical for us and already we are seeing signs.

We have a fiscal responsibility law in Ghana that has pegged our fiscal deficit at 5 percent but already we are way above that and the sooner we can bring that to more acceptable levels the better for us," President Akufo-Addo said.

He added that Ghana will soon return to the International market to borrow to fund important infrastructural projects.

He further stated that even though his government is in no rush to return to the international market it makes sense to take advantage of the savings in the market now.

We have positioned ourselves to be able to go back into the International market which had been a source of funding for us during the first three or four years of our government," the President indicated.

Ghana's commitment to fiscal restraint was reiterated recently by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who also declared that Ghana will not hurriedly borrow money from the capital market.

He emphasized the need for revenue mobilisation strategies and smart expenditure management in achieving financial stability and sustainability is crucial.

He also welcomed the budget measures for increasing revenue, notably the enhancements made to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which are anticipated to rake in needed funds for the advancement of the nation.

There is no rush in going back to the international capital market. Our expectation is that, by managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue, we will have the resources to address our needs," Ken Ofori-Atta argued.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

The Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, has received commendation from Joseph Yamin, the National Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for keeping his word by ensuring the Ghana Police Service supervised a peaceful by-election in Kumawu on Tuesday, May 23.

According to him, the IGP promised in a meeting on the night before the Kumawu by-polls that no other security agency would be engaged in the voting, contrary to what had been witnessed in previous by-elections.

Let me first commend the police for their professionalism. Going into the election my party knew I didnt believe we should put our hopes in the police. Even at the meeting with them before the polls I still didnt pay attention. At the meeting I asked the IGP what the military involvement in the election will be as has been the case in previous by-elections like Ayawaso and other places and he gave us the assurances that he has enough men and logistics at Kumawu and so he wouldnt need other security agencies and true to his words he delivered on that.

We didnt see the military or the national security at Kumawu, it was the Police fully in charge. So today it will be unfair for me not to commend the IGP. He proved that indeed he wants the police to be the best institution in Ghana, Joseph Yamin said in an interview with Hello FM on Wednesday, May 24.

At the end of Tuesdays by-election, Ernest Yaw Annim of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was declared winner with almost 71% of the valid votes cast.

This was after he polled 15,264 votes of the total vote cast to beat the candidate of the NDC, Kwasi Amankwaa and the two Independent Candidates.
24.05.2023 LISTEN

President Nana Akufo-Addo has revealed plans to return to the International market to borrow to fund infrastructural projects following the successful completion of Ghanas $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Speaking at the Qatar-Africa Economic Forum in Doha, Mr. AKufo-Addo said even though his government is in no rush to return to the international market, it makes sense to take advantage of the market now and make some savings.

We have positioned ourselves to be able to go back into the International market which had been a source of funding for us during the first three or four years of our government, the president said, adding, There is no rush but obviously why not take advantage of global savings, it makes a lot of sense to me. We will try as much as possible to maintain the discipline which is required and the most important requisite for a successful programme.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta had earlier emphasized Ghanas commitment to fiscal responsibility, stating that Ghana will not hastily seek to return to the international capital market for borrowing.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday (May 18), Ofori-Atta highlighted the importance of revenue measures and prudent expenditure management in ensuring financial stability and sustainability.

He further acknowledged the revenue-enhancing measures outlined in the budget, particularly improvements at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which are expected to provide the necessary resources for the country's progress.

There is no rush in going back to the international capital market. Our expectation is that, by managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue, we will have the resources to address our needs.

President Akufo-Addo also disclosed that the government will begin rigorous expenditure cuts to meet the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said the government is eager to turn the fortunes of the country around and will do everything possible to ensure that the ailing economy is revived.

Mr Akufo-Addo expressed confidence that the IMF bailout will help revive the Ghanaian economy.

Rationalisation of our expenditure, rationalisation of government expenditure is something that we have given the assurance. Domestic revenue mobilisation is absolutely critical for us, and already we are seeing signs.

We have a fiscal responsibility law in Ghana that has pegged our fiscal deficit at 5 percent but already we are way above that and the sooner we can bring that to more acceptable levels the better for us.

-Citi Newsroom
Nigerian Youtuber, Emdee Tiamiyu has clarified a comment he made about Nigerian students studying in the United Kingdom in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Tiamiyu made headlines and received criticism after he said in an interview with the news outlet that most Nigerians who secure student visas do not travel to the UK to study but have a different motive.

"..the student thing is not real. It is not like they need the degrees. Its is more like an answered prayer. It is a big bracket thats able to take a lot of people, the ordinary people.

They need the degree as an access road to come into the country, so a lot of these people their priorities shifted real fast," he told BBC.

Were beginning to see that a lot of people just hide behind the studentship. So the student thing is not real, its not like they need the degrees, he added.

In a recent video shared on his YouTube account on Wednesday, May 24, he ate humble pie and apologized.

While apologizing, he clarified his intention, noting that what he said wasn't to cause trouble for Nigerian students but to help address their challenges.

Tiamiyu, known for advising Nigerians on studying in the United Kingdom, said he has nothing but love for Nigerian students in the diaspora.

In his words, "I am doing this from reflecting honestly and truthfully on the interview/news feature. Please, I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

"If what you have seen being circulated has made you uncomfortable in any way, I am deeply and sincerely sorry.

"And why do I say sorry, because for whatever pain you feel, I feel even more, because if I could meet you in person, if we could sit in the same space and engage, my heart feels nothing for you other than love, progress and positive support. People who know me know this is what I have."

His widely criticized comments come in the wake of the new immigration rules that will prevent Nigerian students, and others studying in the UK, from bringing their families as dependants except under specific circumstances.

Under the new rule, which will take effect in January 2024, the UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system.

Watch the apologies;


24.05.2023 LISTEN

President of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has indicated that his government is keen on taking all the necessary steps to enjoy the full benefits of the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Executive Board of the IMF this month approved a $3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) meant to help the recovery of the ailing Ghanaian economy.

Speaking at the Qatar-Africa Economic Forum in Doha, President Akufo-Addo has assured that his government will try to maintain discipline and adhere to the conditionalities attached to the deal for a successful IMF programme.

"We will try as much as possible to maintain the discipline which is required and the most important requisite for a successful programme, the President said.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that government plans to return to the International market to borrow.

We have positioned ourselves to be able to go back to the International market which had been a source of funding for us during the first three or four years of our government.

There is no rush but obviously why not take advantage of global savings, it makes a lot of sense to me, President Akufo-Addo argued.

Already, government has received $600 million from the International Monetary Fund.

Government must adhere to the conditionalities of the deal to receive the second tranche of the $3 billion bailout after six months.
The African Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis (ACH-PRA) is appealing to government to consider scrapping the 1% COVID-19 tax now that the restrictions at entry points have been lifted.

The Center argues that it is not prudent for the public to pay the tax when COVID-19 is no longer a pandemic.

This follows calls from the public for the tax to be abolished since Ghana has lifted all COVID-19 restrictions at entry points across the country, effective from May 20, 2023.

Speaking to Citi News, Dr. Thomas Anaba, the Executive Director of the African Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis, emphasized that the government must remove the COVID-19 tax.

I think it is a step in the right direction that we are no longer under COVID-19, and all the problems have ended. We have received loans and funds for COVID-19, almost twice the amount we were targeting to help address the pandemic. So, we dont see this tax as necessary, even though we didnt support it. We believe its really time for the government to remove the COVID-19 tax along with all the other taxes they are imposing, Dr. Anaba expressed.

Dr. Thomas Anaba further urged the government to provide Ghanaians with an account of the amount generated since the introduction of the tax.

Our calls havent yielded results, and I dont know how much more we need to raise our voices for them to understand that they need to be accountable for all the money spent on COVID-19 and all the money collected in the name of COVID-19.

I fear they wont do it, but we will continue to demand that they show some respect to Ghanaians by providing an account of the money collected as COVID-19 taxes, including all the funds collected in the name of COVID-19, demanded the Executive Director of the African Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis.
The woes of the deposed opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmaker for Assin North in the Central Region, James Gyakye Quayson are not over as he is back in court, facing criminal charges.

He is facing five counts of criminal offences of Deceit of public officer contrary to section 251 (b) of the Criminal offences Act, 1960, Act 29; Forgery of Passport or Travel Certificate, contrary to section 15 (1)(b) of Passports and Travel Certificates Act, 1967 (NLCD 155); and, Knowingly making a False Statutory Declaration in contravention of the Statutory Declarations Act, 1971, Act 389.

He also faces Perjury as per section 210 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29; and False Declaration for Office as against section 248 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29.

Last week, the Supreme Court had declared as unconstitutional the election of James Quayson, stripping him of his position.

In a unanimous decision Wednesday morning (May 17, 2023), a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of Mr Quayson as MP.

It was the considered view of the court that the election of Mr Quayson breached Article 94(2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution because at the time he filed to contest the elections, he was not qualified to be elected as a legislator since he had not renounced his dual citizenship

The court therefore declared Mr Quayson filing to contest, the EC's decision to allow him to contest as well as his swearing-in as MP in Parliament as unconstitutional, null and void.

The seven-member panel of the court was presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, with Justices Nene Amegatcher, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi and Barbara Ackah-Ayensu.

The court said the full reasons for its decision will be filed at the court's registry by June 7, this year.

-DGN online
24.05.2023 LISTEN

An Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of two persons accused of fraud.

Ibrahim Musah, a trader, and Mohammed Musah aka Dollar Man, a businessman, who allegedly took GHS232,000.00 from a trader under the pretext of transferring same to one Zaaku in the United State of America to purchase a Range Rover Sports, 2020 model for him but failed.

They are jointly held for conspiracy to commit crime and defrauding by false pretense.

All the accused persons failed to appear before Court for their pleas to be taken.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Seth Frimpong, prosecuting, prayed the Court to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of the accused persons, since they failed to appear before it.

The Court presided over by Mrs Angelina Attachie, therefore, issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the accused persons.

The matter has been adjourned to May 23, 2023.

The facts are that the complainant, Mr Rashid Haledu, is a trader and resides at Ablekuma while the accused persons are residents of Tetegu and Kasoa, respectively.

The prosecution said in December 2021, the complainant wanted to buy a Range Rover Sports, 2020 model in America.

It said the complainant contacted one Zaaku in New York to buy him the said car and he (Zaaku) told the complainant that the car he wanted was $40,000.00.

The prosecution said Zaaku therefore gave his bank account to the complainant to transfer the money.

It said whilst the complainant was looking for someone who could transfer the money for him, he came across Ibrahim, who said he could transfer the money for him.

The prosecution said the complainant gave cash the sum of GHS232,000.00 equivalent to $40,000.00 to Ibrahim to transfer it to Zaaku's account for the purchase of the vehicle.

It said on December 24, 2021, Ibrahim informed the complainant that he had transferred the money into Zaaku's account whilst Zaaku was also waiting to receive the money in his account.

The prosecution said the FBI contacted him that there was a fraudulent transaction of $40,000.00 on his account and that he could no longer get access to the account.

It said the complainant confronted Ibrahim but he could not confirm whether the money was transferred but mentioned Mohammed as the one he gave the money to do the transfer.

The prosecution said after realising he (the complainant) had been defrauded, he petitioned the Police for investigation.

It said during the investigation Ibrahim was arrested.

The prosecution said Ibrahim mentioned Mohammed as the person, who he said could do the transfer and for that matter he gave the money to him.

It said Mohammed also said he gave the money to one Baraka, who said he was having $40,000.00 in America and could easily transfer the same for the complainant.

The prosecution said the accused persons failed to assist the Police in locating Baraka with the excuse that they do not know where to locate him.

GNA
Guest Commentary

By Bacchus Barua

and Mackenzie Moir

British Columbia has a new strategy to reduce wait times for cancer caresimply ship patients south of the border.

No joke; over the next two years, the Eby government will use Canadian taxpayer dollars to pay clinics in Washington to provide 24,000 sessions of radiation treatment (plus travel and accommodation) for an estimated 4,800 British Columbians. While undoubtedly good news for some cancer patients facing long wait times for treatment in the province, it raises an important question for patients waiting for other types of treatment. Why doesnt the government expand contracts for private clinics to deliver care within our own borders?

B.C. is clearly failing to deliver timely care to patients waiting for radiation therapy. Last year, the Canadian Institute of Health Information reported that only 85 percent of patients received radiation therapy within four weeks, the pan-Canadian benchmark established in 2005. In fact, B.C. performs worse on this measure than every province (except for Nova Scotia). And this wait doesnt even account for the time spent waiting for a consultation with a cancer care specialist in the first place.

However, the same data source (which B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix is well aware of) also indicates that B.C. fails to meet the pan-Canadian benchmarks for all five priority procedures where data is available (such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgeries, all with longer benchmarks).

In reality, its not just cancer patients being failed by the governments healthcare system. Last year, according to a report published by the Fraser Institute, the median wait between specialist visits to treatment in B.C. across 12 medically necessary specialties (13.4 weeks) exceeded what physicians consider clinically reasonable (9.1) by more than a month. And again, this doesnt include the 12.4 weeks patients had to wait for a specialist consultation in the first place. Together, the total wait between referrals to treatment was 25.8 weeks in 2022148 percent longer than in 1993 (10.4 weeks).

And these waits are not benign. Excessive waits of this magnitude can lead to worsening health, the potential for disability and even death. In 2021/22, SecondStreet.org estimated that 2,395 Canadian patients died while on surgical waiting lists.

So while Minister Dix should be commended for acknowledging the reality of unreasonably long waits for some cancer patients in B.C., the current initiative ignores the significant (and much longer) waits faced by patients in need of other medically necessary care including neurosurgery, non-urgent cardiovascular surgery and orthopedic surgery.

Finally, Minister Dixs actions highlight the hypocrisy of the B.C. governments attitude towards private care within provincial borders. Just last week, he applauded the effective end of Dr. Brian Days legal efforts to provide private care (typically arthroscopic surgery) for B.C. patients failed by the public system. And early in his tenure, Minister Dix made no bones about his intention to crackdown on private clinics and doctors for accepting private payment for treatments covered by Medicare (extra-billing).

And yet, here the government is, taking Canadian taxpayer dollars to purchase care from PeaceHealth St. Joseph Cancer Center and the North Cascade Cancer Center in Washington State, which will certainly not be subject to the same limitations imposed by Minister Dix on private clinics in B.C.

To be clear, cross-border initiatives like this are nothing new. European Union countries commonly fund certain types of care across international borders within their universal healthcare systems, and Canadian provinces have for many years taken advantage of U.S. medical facilities as a safety valve for patients in need of urgent care, and private care providers in other provinces.

However, B.C.s selective approach does little to help those suffering long delays for treatment of other medical conditionsmany of whom will continue to endure long waits in B.C. or travel abroad on their own dime.

If anything, the Eby governments cross-border cancer care initiative is a stunning indictment of the provinces healthcare system, further highlighting the hypocrisy of provincial restrictions on private care right here at home.  The Fraser Institute
People often think of wastewater as serving no purpose. But it can be a valuable source of information. Wastewater is increasingly recognised as a significant environmental reservoir for antimicrobial resistance  a growing global public health threat .

Antimicrobials are medicines, including antibiotics and antivirals, used to treat infections in humans, animals and plants. But the excessive use of antimicrobials has resulted in many microorganisms becoming resistant to these important medicines. This, in turn, has led to the development of complicated and sometimes untreatable diseases.

Antimicrobial resistance is expected to kill over 10 million people annually by 2050 if nothing is done to stop it. In sub-Saharan Africa, 23.5 deaths out of every 100,000 are attributed to diseases such as lower respiratory, chest, bloodstream and intra-abdominal infection caused by antimicrobial-resistant organisms.

These organisms are all around us. For instance, research done on pigs in South Africa found resistant bacteria at all the stages of sampling, from the farm to the final packaged meat. Another South African study found that manure from a poultry farm transferred antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the soil. Heavy rainfall could wash these bacteria into nearby rivers. As a result, people who use water from these rivers for drinking and household purposes could get sick.

Wastewater treatment plants receive wastewater from a variety of sources: hospitals, households, industries and farms. This makes the plants useful proxies for determining the burden of antimicrobial resistance in communities. By monitoring wastewater, scientists can determine the types of resistant bacteria circulating in a given population. This approach is becoming the global gold standard for tracking antimicrobial resistance.

But it doesn't seem to have been adopted in many African countries yet. Our recent research looked at studies done on wastewater in African countries between 2012 and 2022. We wanted to identify the challenges in using wastewater surveillance to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance.

We found that using wastewater to study antimicrobial resistance was increasing on the continent. But not in all countries. In most of the studies we found samples were only collected once. This is not sufficient to draw strong conclusions. Furthermore, many studies used only one method to identify resistance in the wastewater. Depending on the method, this either overestimated or underestimated the rate of resistance. With these gaps, studies within the continent could be presenting a false picture of the antimicrobial resistance problem, which could have severe health implications.

Case studies

We reviewed studies on wastewater-based surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in sub-Saharan Africa. Our study showed that most countries lacked the necessary skills to conduct this research. The lack of skills affected the methods that the studies used, hence the results presented.

Most of the research was done in South Africa. That's largely because most sub-Saharan countries simply do not have enough wastewater treatment plants. Many treat less than 5% of the wastewater they generate. Only a few countries, among them South Africa and neighbouring Botswana, treat 25% to 50% of their wastewater. This means there is more to be learned from these countries. Distribution of African studies on antimicrobial resistance in wastewater between 2012 and 2022. Numbers represent the number of studies identified within the reviewed period. Only counties that reported at least one study in the review period are labelled.

In South Africa, studies on antimicrobial resistance in wastewater were done in only a few of the provinces. Also, not all the studies were done on wastewater treatment plants. This means the source of the resistance could not be traced. In addition, there were differences in the methods used and the results reported.

We found monitoring challenging even where wastewater treatment plants were available because of the lack of technical skills needed for genomic sequencing. Genomic approaches study the DNA of all the microrganisms in the wastewater, instead of focusing on only a few. Furthermore, there are no standardised approaches to these studies. So, it was difficult to compare findings from different locations.

Recommendations

The absence of wastewater treatment plants in many African countries means that it will be hard for them to actively implement wastewater-based antimicrobial resistance surveillance. Governments must invest in connecting their populations to sewer networks to address this problem. This is crucial for overall hygiene and health. And it will offer important sources of information for researchers trying to detect resistant microorganisms in communities.

Once sewer networks are in place, standardised protocols for assessing antimicrobial resistance in wastewater treatment plants must be established. The protocols should consider the sampling regime and frequency, the organisms targeted, what antibiotics need to be tested, and what methods should be used.

There is also a need to build capacity in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics. This will ensure that there are enough people with the knowledge required to analyse the large volumes of data generated in these studies. Funding bodies must finance researchers in sub-Saharan countries as sequencing technologies are not yet widespread, and the cost of using these facilities is still high.

People may consider wastewater as something undesirable that just needs to be flushed away. But studying this valuable resource could provide early warning about potential disease outbreaks, especially those involving antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms.

Akebe Luther King Abia receives funding from Water Research Commission. Luther King is an Associate Professor of Applied and Environmental Microbiology at the College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is also a Senior Visiting Scientist in the One Health Group at the University of Venda. Luther King is also the Founder and CEO of the Environmental Research Foundation (ERF) and an Aspen New Voices Fellow Alumni.

Afsatou Ndama Traore works for the University of Venda. She has received funds from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC).

Natasha Potgieter is the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture at the University of Venda and has received funding from Water Research Commission, National Research Council and Department of Health in South Africa.

By Akebe Luther King Abia, Associate professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal And

Afsatou Ndama Traore, Associate Professor: Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology, University of Venda And

Natasha Potgieter, Executive Dean: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda
On May 25 and 26, 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights will meet in San Jose, Costa Rica, for the third biannual Forum.

Following the success of the inaugural session in Kampala, Uganda, in 2019, the Forum intends to enhance the links of judicial collaboration among these three regional human rights tribunals.

Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud, President of the African Court, in a statement to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema emphasised the Forum's importance in promoting open and constructive communication, with the ultimate goal of improving human rights protection and preserving the rule of law on both sides of the African continent.

"Facilitating the exchange of best practises and fostering a common understanding of human rights issues across human rights courts," President Aboud emphasised.

At the Forum, President Aboud will lead the African Court Judges and senior Registry personnel.

As host, the Inter-American Court believes that the Third Edition will serve as a platform for increased dialogue and enhanced cooperation among regional human rights courts, therefore boosting their collective influence.

The historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the three Regional Courts was signed on October 29, 2019, in Kampala, Uganda, and the first meeting, themed "Operating the International Human Rights Forum and Enhancing Jurisprudential Dialogue," was successfully hosted by the African Court.

The European Court of Human Rights hosted the Second Edition on March 25, 2021, in Strasbourg, France.

-CDA Consult || Contributor
The education sector in Africa faces significant challenges in preparing students for the job market, often leading to a mismatch between the skills and the job needs of employers.

On this score, Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), a pioneering impact investment group, is determined to change that narrative through its innovative dubbed, Education to Employment (IP2E), launched in 2019.

On Thursday, May 18, at the JACCD Design Institute of Africa's Auditorium, IP2E organized a conference in Accra, Ghana to present the findings of a new ground-breaking study themed,The Edupreneurs of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The study aims to understand the challenges facing education entrepreneurs, or Edupreneurs, in improving access to quality higher education and employment opportunities in the region.

In her opening remarks, IP2E Director Koumba Anouma noted that the study seeks to help bridge the gap between education and the industry requirement by unearthing challenges and making recommendations to that effect.

A panel discussion on "Education, Employment, and Digital: The Future of Work for the Ghanaian Youth" followed, featuring Akua Ampah; Founder of Virtual Career Office with expertise in career services, Elliot Agyare; Founder/CEO of Smartline Publishers, Oludele Sonekan; Ghana Portfolio Manager at I&P Education to Employment, Richard Brandt; Founder/CEO of Codetrain, and Yaw Sagoe Koduah; Private Equity Investment Professional at Oasis Capital Ghana, as the panellists.

During the discussion, the panel recommended several solutions, including the need for deeper partnerships between higher education institutions and industries to better align curricula and skills training with employer needs.

Panelists also advised that schools strengthen career support services to help students develop in-demand skills and learn how to transition to employment.

Digitalization of education and the workplace is helping to open up more opportunities, the panel noted, but schools must keep up with these technological changes.

Commenting on the role of publishers, Commonwealth Publishers Association President Eliot Agyare said publishers should be more involved in curriculum development to promote locally-relevant content and cultural sensitization.

He called on publishers to create more educational content to meet the needs of African education systems.

The IP2E initiative, supported by The MasterCard Foundation, the European Union, and the Principality of Monaco, provides financing and technical support (advocacy, digitalization, impact measurement, social inclusion, and safeguarding) to private higher education institutions, vocational schools, ancillary enterprises, and education technology companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since its establishment in 2019, IP2E has partnered with 27 companies across the African continent, working tirelessly to bridge the gap between education and the industry's demands.

I&P, the broader impact investment group, promotes sustainable and profitable small and medium-sized African companies to drive local development.

The IP2E conference provided valuable insights into how to strengthen the connection between education and employment in Africas rapidly evolving job landscape.

By partnering with schools, employers, and companies, the initiative aims to equip youth across sub-Saharan Africa with the skills and opportunities to achieve their full potential.

IP2E is working to reshape the educational ecosystem across Sub-Saharan Africa.

With the dedication and support of I&P and its partners, the IP2E program has the potential to transform African education, creating a brighter future for millions of students and contributing to the sustainable growth of the continent's economy.

To know more about IP2E: https://www.ietp.com/en/content/ip-education-employment
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), citing Ghanas failure to meet its loan requirements, has expressed alarm over the Chinese government potentially acquiring access to the countrys mineral and electricity revenues.

IMF officials were quoted by myjoyonline.com as saying that Ghana may not be able to pay back four loans it took out from China and had secured with the sale of its energy and mineral resources.

Ghana has at least eight loans from China over the past ten years, with a variety of mineral resources used as collateral to lower the risk of default. Out of the $1.9 billion in loan agreements between Ghana and China as of the end of 2022, the collateralized loans represented $619 million.

The $619 million in loans, according to the IMF, were obtained between 2007 and 2018 and were backed by Ghanas earnings from cocoa, bauxite, oil, and electricity.

In the words of the IMF, Collateralized debt is any contracted or guaranteed debt that gives the creditor the rights over an asset or revenue stream that would allow it, if the borrower defaults on its payment obligations, to rely on the asset or revenue stream to secure repayment of the debt.

The IMF emphasized that statutory funds shouldnt be used to guarantee revenue streams or issue debt in order to address this problem. It strongly stated that the governing authority would not issue no objection certificates to any statutory fund for such uses.

The possible repercussions of Ghana breaking its credit agreement are worrisome. The countrys economic sovereignty and control over its vital resources would be significantly impacted by giving the Chinese government access to Ghanas mineral and electricity revenues.

To protect its economic stability and independence, Ghana must act right away to improve its financial status and look into other options for meeting its loan obligations.

It serves as a reminder that, in order to avoid potential hazards to a countrys economic independence, collateralizing important national resources should be approached with caution.

-broadcastghana.net
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said contrary to allegations by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), it did not engage in vote buying during the Kumawu by-election in the Ashanti Region.

At the end of the election on Tuesday, May 23, the NPP has been overly criticised by not only the NDC but some political analysts over actions described as vote buying.

Speaking to Asaase Radio in an interview, Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Haruna Mohammed said Ghanaians must not listen to the NDC.

He insists that the party strongly believes in democracy and frowns on vote buying.

I can tell you clearly, that the NPP believes in democracy and we dont believe in vote buying.

We have not attempted buying any vote, we went there to campaign on the development that President

Akufo-Addo has brought  the road infrastructure and hospitals, Haruna Mohammed said.

He noted that what the NPP did was to campaign on the back of the many jobs and developmental projects of President Akufo-Addos government to win the by-election.

We have done so many jobs, and these were the issues that we campaigned on. So, it will be so worrying and surprising that someone will say we went to Kumawu to buy vote, Haruna Mohammed argued.
Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC has today welcomed 20 female owned businesses into Cohort 3 of the Standard Chartered Women in Technology (SCWIT) Incubator programme.

The women entrepreneurs will participate in a comprehensive nine-month incubat or aimed to empower women-led start-ups and provide them with the necessary resources and support to thrive in the technology industry .

After a rigorous pitch process, five (5) outstanding participants will be awarded seed funding of $10,000 equivalent in Ghana cedis to invest into their businesses.

The SCWIT speaks to the Banks strategy of investing in female-owned businesses to bring greater prosperity and diversity to the communities in which they operate with emphasis on supporting innovation, infrastructure and technology. Through this initiative, women entrepreneurs have a platform to build capacity and realize their full potential in the world of business.

The programme is implemented in partnership with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, an Ashesi University business incubator.

Delivering the keynote address, Ms. Winifred Kotin, CEO, Eagle Innovations shared her experiences as an entrepreneur. She said, Successful entrepreneurs and enterprises are like the good foundation on which economies are built.

She advised the women entrepreneurs to have a clear vision, define their ideal businesses and customers as well as think of the mitigation strategies for potential challenges. Enjoy the journey to greatness and never stop innovating, she added.

Welcoming the inductees, Kwame Asante, Head Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC, said, We are committed to promoting economic and social development, doing so sustainably and equitably in line with our purpose, Driving commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity. The SC WIT incubator aims to empower women-led start-ups and provide them with the necessary resources and support to take their businesses to the next level.
The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has noted that John Dramani Mahama has been vindicated on his call for government to review the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.

He insists that the position of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the programme needs better targeting is proof that the former President was right all along.

The IMF position on the FSHS vindicates John Dramani Mahama. He has never missed an opportunity to call on Akufo-Addo to initiate a national stakeholders forum to review the policy to make it better.

John Dramani Mahama, as well as academics such as Profs Addae Mensah, Ernest Ayittey, Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, Oduro and education sector CSOs including EduWatch, IFEST are all on record admitting that while the policy, born out of our constitution, is good but is poorly implemented by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government. Therefore, if the IMF has reached the same conclusion by calling for better targeting, Dr. Clement Apaak said in an interview with Starr News.

Meanwhile, the Builsa South MP wants government to urgently convene a national forum to give stakeholders the chance to help in reviewing the Free SHS programme to address its challenges.

Its my hope that the government will no longer waste time in convening a national forum to undertake a comprehensive review of the policy aimed at addressing the implementation challenges.

I believe a review will produce useful suggestions on how to make it sustainable, effective, efficient, and to maximum its benefits for the good of our children and Ghana, Dr. Clement Apaak argued.
A pregnant woman in the Nkwanta South Municipality of the Oti Region has filed for divorce after her husband was accused of engaging in sexual activity with a goat.

On May 20, residents of the community reported the suspect to the police after they were informed of his alleged sexual encounter with a goat.

The husband, a 23-year-old farmer from the farming community of Kentey, was arrested and charged with unnatural carnal knowledge.

The Nkwanta South Divisional Police Command confirmed the arrest and subsequent granting of bail to the suspect, who denied the allegations.

The suspect's mother, Ndebechie Atta, has defended her son, stating that the allegations against him are baseless and false.

She admitted that her son had previously been caught engaging in a sexual act with a goat, but she vehemently denied the authenticity of the recent claims.

The mans mother accused the complainant of harbouring ill intentions towards her son without any evidence to support their accusations.
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has officially opened a business centre in Kenya dubbed the Ghana Trade House as part of its mandate to facilitate the export of Ghanaian goods and services.

The one-stop-shop outlet, located in Nairobi's Sameer Business Park, is intended to provide a platform for Ghanaian exporters to showcase their products and services in the East African country, fostering economic growth and development.

According to the CEO of GEPA, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, the establishment of the Ghana Trade House forms part of the implementation of Ghana's National Export Development Strategy (NEDS), which aims to generate USD 25.3 billion in non-traditional export revenues by the year 2029.

Speaking during the opening ceremony held in Nairobi on May 23, 2023, as part of the first-ever Ghana Expo in Kenya, Dr. Asabea Asare said the Ghana Trade House in Kenya, indicates growing economic cooperation between Ghana and countries within the East Africa region.

She said the Ghana Trade House will stock premium Ghanaian products for the East African market, diversify the options available, stimulate trade activities, create business opportunities, and generate employment opportunities.

She stated that the centre would provide market intelligence, a storage and warehousing facility, as well as a hub for networking between Ghanaian and Kenyan business representatives.

Dr. Asabea Asare added that it will become an avenue for cultural exchange between Ghana and Eastern Africa, and also serve as a platform for Kenyan businesses to engage with Ghanaian exporters and explore potential partnerships.

"The Ghana Trade House, in Kenya, signifies a giant step towards regional integration within Africa. It puts actions behind our words and highlights the commitment to promoting intra-African trade and cooperation. Other countries on the continent can foster similar initiatives, creating a network of trade houses that facilitate trade and economic integration at the regional level."

"By promoting African products and brands on a continental scale, we tend to showcase the diversity and quality of African goods and services, fostering a positive image of African products in international markets. This can lead to increased demand, market penetration, and improved competitiveness for African businesses, complemented by a robust trade infrastructure and supportive environment for trade promotion. This could potentially woo foreign investment from international investors who perceive our region as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment, technology transfer, and economic growth and development."

The Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Nana Ama Dokuah Asiamah Adjei, said the Government of Ghana places a high premium on trade within Africa and is determined to do all it takes to boost its exports to African countries.

She added that Ghana is strongly committed to intra-African trade within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and that the opening of the Ghana Trade House adds value to Ghana's bilateral trade with Kenya.

Kenya's Ag. Director for International Trade at the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry, Oliver Konje, urged Ghana and Kenya businesses to explore opportunities in both markets by promoting export products that have comparative advantages.

He encouraged Ghanaian chocolatiers to look into the Kenyan market, while Kenyan tea companies do the same in Ghana.

Madam Floice Alukabana, the CEO of the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA), urged African nations to commit themselves to promote trade liberalization through market linkages.

She said KEPROBA will continue to collaborate with GEPA to boost trade between Kenya and Ghana.

The Ghana Expo was instituted by the Ghana National Coordinating Office (NCO) of AfCTA in collaboration with GEPA, as a market entry strategy intended to position Ghana as a major trading partner across Africa.

Ghana's team for the five-day Business Expo, which will end on Friday, May 26, 2023, included 70 local enterprises.
Sir Alexander Fleming

24.05.2023 LISTEN

Close to a century ago, an accidental discovery by Sir Alexander Fleming changed the trajectory of medicine. At the time, Alexander Fleming, a Scottish assistant bacteriologist and researcher, was experimenting with microbes in the laboratory of the Inoculation Department at St. Mary's Hospital in London. Fleming was often described as a careless laboratory technician among his peers but at one time he had returned from his usual two-week holiday, he saw an unusual growth on a bacteria culture plate in the laboratory which his trained eye did not neglect. He noticed an accidental growth of a mould that had contaminated the bacteria culture plate and upon further examination, he found that the mould had stifled the growth of the bacteria (called staphylococci).

The mould prevented the growth of the bacteria, the mould was a killer of bacteria, it was a naturally occurring antibiotic drug; it was penicillin he had discovered-the first therapeutically used antibiotic. Since then, the discovery of penicillin changed the course of medicine and has enabled doctors to treat formally severe and life-threatening diseases such as bacterial endocarditis, bacterial meningitis, pneumococcal pneumonia, gonorrhoea and syphilis . Because the mould was identified as belonging to the fungus plant of the genus penicillium, Fleming named the antibacterial substance penicillin. After curiously studying the characteristics of the accidental growth for sometime, Fleming published an article in the British journal of Experimental Pathology in 1929 that reads: The staphylococcus colonies became transparent and were obviously undergoing lysis  the broth in which the mould had been grown at room temperature for one to two weeks had acquired marked inhibitory, bactericidal and bacteriolytic properties to many of the more common pathogenic bacteria. In his published journal, Fleming was basically describing the amazing potency and antibacterial properties of penicillin that he had observed in his lab.

In its early days, penicillin was used by many and made tremendous impact therapeutically though its therapeutic potential was unexplored. A Clinical Pathologist named Cecil George Paine successfully used penicillin to treat neonates suffering from gonorrhoea infection of the eye (gonococcal conjunctivitis) in 1930. Fleming had challenges obtaining purified penicillin in his lab so he stopped studying penicillin a year later, but his research was continued and finished by his colleagues Howard Flory and Ernst Chain at University of Oxford. Howard and Chain are the researchers who are credited with the development of penicillin for use as a medicine in mice. Their results were found to be promising and that paved the way for penicllin to be used in humans in 1941.

After the work of Howard and Chain, one of the first patients to receive a treatment with penicillin was a British policeman called Albert Alexander who had developed a deadly infection after scratching himself on a rosebush. The infection was spreading fast and poisoning his blood. After five days of penicillin injections, the infection began to heal but unfortunately, there was not enough pure penicillin available to continue the treatment so Albert eventually suffered a relapse and died a month later.

In the USA, the first patient with an infection of blood poisoning (streptococcal septicaemia) was successfully treated with penicillin in 1942. Penicillin was also used to curtail the number of deaths and amputations of soldiers during World War II. Similarly, not quite long, the impact of penicillin was evident among wounded soldiers during the Gulf War involving Iraq and the USA and her Allied Forces. Today, penicillin is considered one of the most widely used antibiotics in the world.The emergence of penicillin in the field of medicine also led the way for the development of other antibiotics such as tetracycline, aminoglycosides, streptomycin and the like by pharmaceutical companies.

It is interesting to note that despite its use in the treatment of severe and life-threatening infections, penicillin was never subjected to the rigorous scrutiny of randomised, controlled trials because the impact it had on treatment was so significant that no one thought of setting up randomised controlled trials. Randomised controlled trials are a very significant stage in new drug or vaccine development to ensure its efficacy, effectiveness and safety before it can be administered in humans. But we seem to have built up complex resistance mechanisms in germs due to misuse since the discovery of penicillin.

The misuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of antibiotic resistance, which is considered one of the greatest threats to global public health today. Not even the warning signalled by Fleming in his Nobel lecture in 1945 about the dangers of misusing penicillin was heeded: It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them, and the same thing has occasionally happened in the body.

The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself, and exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant. " Today his words proved prophetic regarding the misuse of antibiotics and the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Today, the misuse of antibiotics by health practitioners, unskilled practitioners and the general public is a serious challenge to the fight against antibiotic resistance globally.

Today in Ghana, non-prescriptive sale of antibiotics is widespread in the common markets, lorry stations, in buses, chemical stores and community pharmacies amid poorly enforced regulations. Today, we also see an alarming increase in new bacterial strains resistant to several antibiotics at the same time often known as multidrug-resistant bacteria or superbugs. Such bacteria may eventually become resistant to all existing antibiotics, and we will then be going back to pre-penicillin era or be entering the post-antibiotic era where physicians will run out of infection treatment options and watch their patients suffer and die helplessly. The phenomenon is already happening, and the rate is alarming. This is a wake-up call to policymakers.

Authored by: Ismael Niadawe Issaka (MLS, MPH, RSTMH Fellow)

References:
A bright sun beat down on the sprawling Indian market where Kamlaben Ashokbhai Patni sat worrying about the brass jewellery on display in her wooden stall.

When the heat rises, the metal blackens. Plastic pearls become unglued.

"The colour of the jewel starts to fade as it becomes hotter, making it worthless and akin to junk," said the 56-year-old mother of four, on a late April day when temperatures simmered around 38 Celsius in the western city of Ahmedabad.

Climate change drove heat in the city to a record-breaking 48 Celsius in 2016. Last year, it peaked at nearly 46 Celsius.

Such high temperatures could mean a hit to business. But Patni is now among 21,000 self-employed women in Gujarat state enrolled in one of the world's first insurance schemes for extreme heat, launched this month by nonprofit Arsht-Rock Foundation Resilience Center in partnership with microinsurance startup Blue Marble and a trade union.

If temperatures climb high enough above historical averages and linger there for three days, she'll receive a small payout to help cope and compensate for lost income.

While traditional insurance can take months to pay, with so-called "parametric" insurance there is no need to prove losses. It can pay within days of a trigger being reached - a predetermined threshold beyond which conditions are considered extreme. Payments can be set to things like wind speeds or rainfall.

This form of disaster assistance is on the rise across the developing world, as vulnerable communities are hammered by worsening drought, storms and heatwaves.

But with climate change happening faster and causing more damage than scientists had predicted - and too little money being spent on protecting populations - such projects could struggle over the longer term, according to more than 20 industry experts consulted by Reuters.

Reinsurer Swiss RE reported that sales of parametric products jumped 40 percent between 2021 and August 2022. Insurance analysts at Allied Market Research estimate the market, valued at US$11.7 billion (S$15.7 billion) in 2021, could reach $29.3 billion by 2031.

At annual climate talks in Egypt last year, nonprofits urged richer nations to help finance parametric insurance as a way of compensating victims of worsening weather extremes.

It is still somewhat niche "but it's growing," said Ekhosuehi Iyahen, secretary general of the Insurance Development Forum, an industry-led group that promotes insurance for non-traditional markets.

The past year has seen new products rolled out across Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. The UN Capital Development Fund, for example, recently developed parametric policies for Vanuatu, Tonga, and Fiji covering cyclone damage.

While parametric insurance has been around since the 1990s, recent advances in satellite technologies have opened up areas that were previously difficult to assess for damage, such as distant islands or mountain communities.

However, some industry experts question whether the products will be financially viable in the long run, in part because of too-frequent payouts due to climate risks escalating faster than predicted less than a decade ago. This could drive up premiums.

Some schemes have already fizzled. The Kenya Livestock Insurance Program, for example, supported pastoralists hit by drought with 1.2 billion Kenyan shillings (S$11.7 million) in payouts between 2015 and 2021. But with just 1.1 billion shillings collected in premiums, the scheme operated at a loss and was replaced this year with another that offers other financial savings products alongside insurance.

At the moment, insurance schemes in the developing world are largely subsidized by nonprofit groups, national governments, or wealthy countries.

Many of the programmes aspire to have policyholders eventually cover more if not all of the premium. But worsening extremes could make that difficult, said resilience researcher Viktor Roezer of the London School of Economics, noting the programs could just become a "different channel for aid".

Interviews with more than a dozen groups involved in such insurance found that most products launched in the last five years had already paid out.

The products need to "geographically diversify - we have to have schemes spread out in different areas" to dilute the risk, said Jaime de Pinies, CEO of the Blue Marble group that developed the Gujarat heat programme, as well as others in Colombia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

One way of avoiding constant payouts, industry analysts say, is for governments to implement better strategies to defend against weather extremes, for example by planting crops more resilient to drought or building cooler homes to protect against rising heat, thus slashing losses. This could allow insurers to set triggers higher.

"The beauty of the parametric is that it pays so quickly and it's incredibly flexible," said Kathy Baughman McLeod, director of the Arsht-Rock Foundation Resilience Center which is covering the $10.30 per person premium in Gujarat.

"But it needs to be paired with actions or tools that reduce the risk."

Investment in boosting resilience remains marginal in most developing economies, with financing promised by richer countries not yet fully materializing.

Donor nations mobilized just $29 billion in 2020 to help poorer countries adapt to a warmer world - far below the $340 billion estimated by the UN Environment Programme to be needed each year by 2030.

"In most cases, there is zero adaptation spend," said CEO Jonathan Gonzales of parametric start-up Raincoat, which has deployed five projects in Colombia, Mexico, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

Across the world, heatwaves that once had a 1-in-10 chance of occurring in any given year prior to the industrial revolution are now nearly three times as likely, and 1.2 Celsius hotter, according to a 2022 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Scientists expect things to get worse, with such heatwaves becoming nearly six times as likely if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated and the world reaches 2 Celsius of warming, the study found.

In the case of the Gujarat heat scheme, insured by ICICI Bank with the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) as the group policyholder, the calculation determining the trigger varies across five districts. It is based on temperature expectations from historical trends over six 10-day assessment cycles.

In Ahmedabad, for example, payouts occur when temperatures add up to between 134 Celsius and 138 Celsius over the course of three days, assessed using satellite data. The policy can pay out multiple times, to a maximum of $85.

"For vulnerable women on the margins, enduring extreme temperatures for three days directly amplifies the chances of sickness or death," said Sahi Hebbar, a physician attending to the women in SEWA who work jobs in construction, trash collecting and shipbreaking.

Insurance payouts allow them to buy things like gloves to protect their hands from scorching hot metal tools, or fans to stay cool and avoid heat exhaustion.

Had the insurance scheme been in place last year, it would have led to average payouts of $28 per person, said Blue Marble's de Pinies.

Sitting with her jewel in the market, Patni said if temperatures climbed higher she would put payout money toward medicine to help with heat-related headaches.

"I spend 15 hours at the stall every day... in summers it becomes difficult to stay here," she said.

Across the city, Heena Kamlesh Parmar, 26, works as a daily wage labourer at a construction site where she is building a high-rise residential complex, earning 350 rupees (S$5.70) per day.

The heat makes her want to take a break from hauling bricks to rest in the shade, she said, but she fears that could lead to a pay cut.

If she receives a payout, Parmar says, she'll "use it to buy things for my house, things to eat".
24.05.2023 LISTEN

UN Headquarters will observe the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers and mark the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping on Thursday, 25 May.

During formal ceremonies at United Nations Headquarters, Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, will lay a wreath to honour the more than 4,200 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948. He will also preside over a ceremony in the General Assembly Hall at which Dag Hammarskjold Medals will be awarded posthumously to 103 military, police, and civilian peacekeepers, who lost their lives serving under the UN flag last year.

Among the peacekeepers to be honoured posthumously with the Dag Hammarskjold medal is one from Ghana: Warrant Officer II John ANGMOR NARTEY, who served with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and who passed away in December 2022.

During the ceremony, the Secretary-General will also present the 2022 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award to Captain Cecilia Erzuah, a military officer from Ghana who served with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

Since 1948, more than two million peacekeepers from 125 countries have since served in 71 operations around the world. Today, 87,000 women and men are serving in 12 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Ghana is the 7th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It current deploys more than 2,700 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Lebanon, Mali, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan, the Western Sahara, and Yemen.
A senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has subtly reacted to the retirement of Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, May 24, the same day the fourth longest-serving Chief Justice of the apex court is retiring, he called for the restoration of what he described as judicial sanctity.

He alleged that for the past years, the judiciary has been controlled in many instances by the executive arm.

Prof. Gyampo called for the return of public confidence in the judiciary as he claims citizens no longer have faith in the justice system.

An era of seeming total judicial dependence on the executive, in terms of public perception, and loss of public confidence in the courts, should end today. May the principle of judicial independence be restored, he posted.

Kwasi Anin Yeboah, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana retires today, May 24, after serving in the role for three years.

He took over the position in 2020 from retired Justice Sophia Akuffo.

Justice Gertrude Torkonoo will take over from him as the new Chief Justice.
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has disclosed that the government is reviewing all the flagship programmes.

Speaking to Joy FM on Wednesday, the Minister said the purpose of the review is to see the effectiveness of the programmes.

To be honest this is not the first time that we have made and publicly expressed this intention and this commitment. So it covers all the sixteen flagship programmes and it is a constant exercise of looking at the efficiency in terms of the spend, can we make some savings in terms of the spend, how much effectiveness are you achieving for every cedi you are spending on it and in terms of the value for money are you getting every cedis worth for what you are spending on, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah shared.

As has been reported, the review of governments flagship programmes is a conditionality in the deal Ghana sealed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Government is required to review all flagship programmes and publish a strategy to decide the future courses.

The flagship programmes including the Free SHS, 1 Village 1 Dam, 1 District 1 Warehouse, 1 Constituency 1million dollar, Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Project (IPEP) and others will be reviewed and streamlined.
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has outlined key tips for students writing its exams in order to pass.

In a notice shared on Facebook on Wednesday, May 24, WAEC advised students to be thorough in their preparation and careful during the exam itself, follow instructions and work independently.

Proper revision using various study materials, arriving early and reading questions carefully are also seen as important study habits the council said can make a candidate come out with flying colours.

 "Make sure you have been correctly entered for the examination i.e registered for the right subjects, check for correct spelling/arrangement of names etc."

"Revise using notes from your teachers, textbooks, past question papers, Chief Examiners' Reports etc"

 " Get to the examination centre early at least 30 minutes before the start of the paper, the tips read in part.

Other tips include reading and understanding instructions before starting the exam, using 2B pencil to shade answers, carefully reading all questions, writing legibly and working independently.

The notice concluded with a warning: "WAEC Does not upgrade results. Don't be a victim of scammers! and a wish for success: WAEC Wishes You Success! You Can Pass Your Examinations Without Cheating!!!"
Prof. Godfred Bokpin

24.05.2023 LISTEN

Economist and an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Prof. Godfred Bokpin has admonished government to focus on doing things right after sealing the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking to Joys News in an engagement on Ghana's external debt restructuring, the Economist proposed that government must focus on building the countrys credibility.

Prof. Godfred Bokpin wants government to work towards increasing its domestic revenue mobilisation.

What we have to focus on is how to build our credibility and scale up on the credibility scale. We also have to focus on revenue mobilisation.

We have to strengthen our fiscal regime and the public financial management post-IMF, Prof. Godfred Bokpin indicated.

According to the economist, one of Ghanas problems has been the inability to ensure value for money on the use of loans.

Ghana only this month secured Executive Board approval from the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion Extended Credit Facility.

Although the country is not out of the woods as far as the economic crisis is concerned, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that his government plans to go to the International Market to borrow.
A UN-backed conference raised $2.4 billion Wednesday to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa, which is reeling from its worst drought in decades as global temperatures rise.

The money will provide life-saving assistance for nearly 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the world body's humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.

"Famine has been averted, thanks in part to the tremendous efforts of local communities, humanitarian organizations and authorities, as well as the support of donors," OCHA said.

But the sum is considerably less than the $7 billion the United Nations says is needed to provide help to people affected by drought and conflict in the region.

"The emergency is far from over, and additional resources are urgently required to prevent a return to the worst-case scenario," OCHA added.

Since late 2020, countries in the Horn of Africa -- Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan -- have been suffering the region's worst drought in 40 years.

Five failed rainy seasons have left millions of people in need, decimated crops and killed millions of livestock.

More than 23.5 million people are enduring high levels of acute food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to OCHA.

In Somalia alone, which is also in the throes of an Islamist insurgency, the number of people displaced from their homes now stands at 3.8 million, with 6.7 million people struggling to find food, according to figures from the UN and the Norwegian Refugee Council.

More than half a million children are severely malnourished, they added.

Deaths from hunger are on the rise in Africa because of droughts worsened by climate change and conflict, UN officials and scientists say.

The devastating drought in the Horn of Africa could not have occurred without the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, an international team of climate scientists, said in a report released in April.

At the opening of the donor's conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for "an immediate and major injection of funding" to stop people from dying.

'We owe them solidarity'

"We must act now to prevent crisis from turning into catastrophe," he added, recalling that last year donor countries delivered vital help to 20 million people in the region and helped avert a famine.

Guterres said people in the region were "paying an unconscionable price for a climate crisis they did nothing to cause."

"We owe them solidarity. We owe them assistance. And we owe them a measure of hope for the future. This means immediate action to secure their survival.

"And it means sustained action to help communities across the Horn adapt and build resilience to climate change," he added.

OCHA said the funds pledged Wednesday would allow humanitarian agencies to sustain aid pipelines of food, water, health care, nutrition and protection services.

Joyce Msuya, the UN's deputy emergency relief coordinator, welcomed the pledge but added: "We must persist in pushing for stepped-up investments, especially to bolster the resilience of people already bearing the brunt of climate change."
Perhaps one of the most diabolical psychological operations deployed against people of Africa ancestry was our exclusive indoctrination into the ethic of unconditional love for our enemies. This ethic, supposedly rooted in the New Testament teachings of the Christ, purports that it is possible to love even those who are actively concocting a final-solutions that will culminate in our total extermination.

It is hard to conceive of a belief that is more self-destructive than the doctrine taught to our ancestors which promoted turning of the other cheek and nonresistance in the face of violent aggression. Generations of Black people have been schooled in this philosophy every week withing the various denominations of Christianity. We have been taught to pray for those who despise us and use us for their own nefarious purposes.

The great Dr. Martin Luther King, following his natural instinct for self-preservation, was quite content to resort to more traditional methods of self defense in his earlier days. Not only did Dr. King own a few fire arms but he also applied unsuccessfully for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Dr. King clearly understood at one point in his life that it was necessary to literally fight fire with fire.

The doctrine of unconditional love for the enemy and the absolute commitment to the idea of nonviolent resistance evolved in Dr. Kings thinking as a result of his association with Bayard Rustin and others who were impressed by what Mahatma Gandhi had been able to accomplish in India using the tactic of non-violent resistance. It should be noted however that Gandhi did not rule out the use of violence. In 1924 he was quoted as saying that violence was preferable to cowardice.

People of African ancestry are the only group of people who have been systematically indoctrinated into passive acceptance of brutality. Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and Caucasian Christians have a long and glorious history of taking up the sword and making the soil red with the blood of their enemies. From the first century until recently Christians and Jews have been spilling each others blood in Europe. The Crusades were religious wars fought between Christian and Muslim armies.

After the late Osama bin Laden was assessed to have been the master-mind behind the terrorist attack against the US in September 2001, there was no talk among Caucasian conservative Christians about turning the other cheek or about praying for Osama and his network of Muslim freedom fighters. When members of Hamas shoot a few rockets from Gaza into Jewish occupied areas the response from the Israeli army is swift, brutal, and deadly.

Ironically the Bible that was given to our ancestors by the colonizers does not support the doctrine of non-violent resistance. The Jews of Old Testament fame when they were not committing outright acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing were always at war with the cursed descendants of Ham referred to in the Bible as the Canaanites. David, the distant ancestor of the Christ of the New Testament, was such an apex killer that the deity of the Old Testament refused to allow him to build the Jewish temple because he had shed too much blood.

People of African ancestry are obligated to love only those who love us. While we should we willing to live peacefully with other ethnic groups who are equally willing to live at peace with us, we should have no compunctions about taking up arms against those who are threatening us or are seeking to exploit and exterminate us.

Our exceedingly great ancestor Malcolm X (may he always be honored and remembered) instructed us that it is our duty to defend ourselves when confronted by violence that is motivated by racial hatred. People of African ancestry have the same right of self-defense and self-protection as is exercised by people of every other ethnic group. A clear message needs to be sent to all and sundry that there are dire consequences to be experienced when Black life and Black existence is not respected.

Increasingly it is becoming obvious to people of African ancestry that the religious bill of sale given to our ancestors was nothing more than a clever deception designed to make them and us their descendants, complicit in our own subjugation and suffering. There is no army of extraterrestrial coming from the sky to fight our battles for us. Like our brethren in Haiti during their revolution, we are the ones who will have to fight to win greater freedom in our day. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can get down to the serious task at hand.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the author of The Rebirth of Black Civilization: Making Africa and the Caribbean Great Again.
It is now evident that the Lands Commission is encouraging a private developer to encroach upon a parcel of land allocated to the Information Services Department (ISD).

The said parcel of land is being developed with impunity, despite ministerial orders to stop any further development, pending a decision by the government on the appropriate cause of action to take.

The order to stop work followed a series of meetings between the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Lands. On April 25, 2023 the Minister of Lands, Samuel Abu Jinapor, ordered the Lands Commission to release the 3.81 acre land in question, allocated to the Information Services Department in 2002.

Stages of development by the encroacher on ISD land

The order was premised on the fact that the said land was allocated to the ISD and that per the certificate of allocation the ISD is precluded from passing any interest in the land to a third party, without a written consent of the Lands Commission.

The Minister also reminded the Lands Commission that Section 235 of the Lands Act 2020 (Act 1036) prohibits the transfer of any interest in a public land to a person or public body other than a user right.

In spite of these, the land in question is being developed at a faster rate without any restriction.

The said parcel of land near TV3, at Kanda, in Accra, was allocated to the ISD as a duty post for its Directors, with documentation from the same Lands Commission as far back as 2002.

The Chronicle has gathered that a portion of the said piece of land has been sold out to a businessman by the Lands Commission with a hurriedly prepared document to back the transaction at the expense of a proposed ISD project, part of which the private developer pulled down and a new block wall constructed to cut-off part of the ISD land and a new gate installed.

Following investigations by the Police, the private developer claims the land in dispute has been leased out to them by the office of the Greater Accra Lands Commission, even though the ISD has a certificate of Allocation issued by the Lands Commission as far back as November 2002.

The Nima Divisional Police, which is investigating a complaint lodged by the ISD to ensure that work on the land ceases, have also indicated that a representative of Blackgold AKVV Investment Limited on May 7, 2022 also lodged a complaint that it mounted a black gate on the said portion of land but the said gate had been removed by unknown persons.

In spite of the claims and counterclaims, the Lands Commission has acknowledged the issuance of a Certificate of allocation covering an area of 3.81 acres, situated at Kanda to the ISD.

Mr. Timothy Anyidoho, the Greater Regional Lands Officer has also informed the Nima Police, per his letter of July 12, 2022 that at the 61st meeting of the Greater Accra Lands Commission on March 10, 2022 the Commission considered and approved a lease dated April 29, 2022 covering an area of 0.41 acre to the said businessman.

The Regional Lands Officer stating the status of ownership of both sites emphasised that the grant to the businessman falls within the 3.81 acres covered by the Certificate of Allocation to the Information Services Department.

Even though both parties have been directed to stay away from the disputed piece of land while the police investigate the matter, development is still ongoing.

Source: Chronicle Newspaper
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. (NYSE:AGM  Get Rating) SVP Kerry T. Willie sold 870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.09, for a total transaction of $121,878.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,626 shares of the companys stock, valued at $367,876.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Trading Down 0.3 %

Federal Agricultural Mortgage stock traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $139.46. The stock had a trading volume of 26,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 71,942. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $131.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.16. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. has a twelve month low of $90.38 and a twelve month high of $149.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 1.04.

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Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 24th. The credit services provider reported $3.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.27. Federal Agricultural Mortgage had a net margin of 18.83% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The firm had revenue of $79.05 million during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Dividend Announcement

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 16th will be paid a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. Federal Agricultural Mortgages dividend payout ratio is 31.81%.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AGM shares. Sidoti upgraded shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn restated a buy rating on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research report on Monday, January 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Federal Agricultural Mortgage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 506 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage during the 1st quarter valued at $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.13% of the companys stock.

About Federal Agricultural Mortgage

(Get Rating)

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. is a stockholder-owned, federally chartered corporation. engages in the provision of a secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural housing mortgage loans, rural utilities loans, and loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture. It combines private capital and public sponsorship to serve a public purpose.

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iShares Canadian Select Dividend Index ETF (TSE:XDV  Get Rating) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, TickerTech reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share on Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 24th.

iShares Canadian Select Dividend Index ETF Trading Down 0.7 %

TSE XDV traded down C$0.19 on Tuesday, reaching C$27.93. The company had a trading volume of 18,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,853. The stocks 50 day moving average is C$28.06 and its 200-day moving average is C$27.99. iShares Canadian Select Dividend Index ETF has a 52 week low of C$24.76 and a 52 week high of C$29.99.

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AURELIUS  A big cheese visited Cayuga County and warned that a "dairy cliff" could affect local farmers if a key program is not part of the new farm bill.

With Cayuga Milk Ingredients in Aurelius as a backdrop, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined Cayuga County elected officials and farmers to call for the renewal of the Dairy Margin Coverage program.

The program, which was established in the 2018 farm bill, provides monthly payments to dairy farmers "when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer," according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The current farm bill is due to expire Sept. 30. The Dairy Margin Coverage program would not continue unless it is reauthorized by Congress in the new farm bill.

If the dairy assistance ends, it would be a major blow to Cayuga County, the No. 2 dairy-producing county in New York and 37th in the country.

"The program is a lifeline," said Schumer, D-N.Y., who explained that its expiration would end monthly support to dairy farmers, cause supply chain disruptions and raise milk prices. He continued, "If it does expire, it will leave our dairy farmers without a safety net and cause a great crash in the economy here."

One of the local farms that utilizes the Dairy Margin Coverage program is Patterson Farms in Aurelius, Julie Patterson, whose family operates the farm, said the program helps the farm get through volatile times in the dairy industry.

"Viability of dairy farms is crucial to our local, rural economy," Patterson said. "It is essential that we keep this program and other programs related to dairy farm viability from expiring in this year's farm bill."

Congress is beginning to draft the farm bill, which is usually renewed every five years. It typically passes with bipartisan support.

Schumer said that U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, and U.S. Sen. John Bozeman, the ranking Republican member of the committee, are working together on the Senate's version of the farm bill.

While there may be debate over other farm bill provisions, continuing the Dairy Margin Coverage program is a priority for Schumer.

"I am going to use my power as majority leader to get this program renewed so that we can continue to have dairy prospering here in central New York," he said.

Schumer achieved a milestone with his visit. It is the 25th consecutive year he has made at least one stop in Cayuga County.

When he ran for U.S. Senate, he pledged to visit every New York county during his first year in office. He has said that he enjoyed it so much he decided to do it every year.

Schumer was elected to his fifth term as a U.S. senator in 2022. He is the longest-serving senator from New York.
AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 33,948 shares of the airlines stock, valued at approximately $1,143,000. Southwest Airlines accounts for 0.8% of AXQ Capital LPs portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,067 shares of the airlines stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 15,645 shares of the airlines stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,639 shares of the airlines stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 49,913 shares of the airlines stock valued at $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,997 shares of the airlines stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 74.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Melius downgraded Southwest Airlines from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Redburn Partners downgraded Southwest Airlines from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Barclays downgraded Southwest Airlines from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $44.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

In other Southwest Airlines news, EVP Ryan C. Green sold 4,936 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.94, for a total value of $147,783.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,248.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NYSE:LUV opened at $29.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.18. The stock has a market cap of $17.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $28.40 and a 1-year high of $46.46.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The airline reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.32) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 20th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Southwest Airliness dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.00%.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Southwest Airlines Co engages in the operation and management of a passenger airline. The firm also offers ancillary services such as early bird check-in, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. It operates in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.

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StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Almaden Minerals (NYSE:AAU  Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock.

Almaden Minerals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AAU opened at $0.12 on Friday. Almaden Minerals has a 52-week low of $0.11 and a 52-week high of $0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $16.48 million, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 23.80, a quick ratio of 23.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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Almaden Minerals Company Profile

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Almaden Minerals Ltd. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties. It focuses on the operation of Ixtaca gold-silver deposit. The company was founded by James Duane Poliquin on February 1, 2002 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO  Get Rating) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The apparel retailer reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.17, Yahoo Finance reports. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.07 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share.

American Eagle Outfitters Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE AEO traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.07. The company had a trading volume of 10,633,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,930,112. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $9.46 and a one year high of $17.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firms fifty day moving average price is $13.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.52.

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American Eagle Outfitters Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 6th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. American Eagle Outfitterss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Insider Activity

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AEO shares. StockNews.com started coverage on American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $14.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Monday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $16.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $14.08.

In other news, EVP Michael R. Rempell sold 2,967 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total value of $40,232.52. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Michael R. Rempell sold 2,967 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,360.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael R. Rempell sold 18,997 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.65, for a total value of $278,306.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 172,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,519,843.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 43,202 shares of company stock valued at $599,822. Insiders own 7.50% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AEO. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $85,000. Finally, PFS Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 4th quarter worth approximately $144,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.34% of the companys stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

(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.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) has been assigned an average rating of Moderate Buy from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.43.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Credit Suisse Group dropped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $78.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BMY opened at $66.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.42. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $65.14 and a 52-week high of $81.43. The company has a market cap of $139.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.44.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

Bristol-Myers Squibb ( NYSE:BMY Get Rating ) last released 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. The company had revenue of $11.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 51.75% and a net margin of 15.95%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio is currently 66.47%.

Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other news, EVP Rupert Vessey sold 50,385 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $3,378,818.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,751 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,202,182.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bristol-Myers Squibb

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the first quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 111.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,052 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 57,444 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the first quarter worth approximately $1,997,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 68,018 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.51% of the companys stock.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

(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.

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Copperleaf Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM  Get Rating) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,474 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 1,187 shares during the period. Exxon Mobil accounts for 1.1% of Copperleaf Capital LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Copperleaf Capital LLCs holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in XOM. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings 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 bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 1st quarter valued at $275,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings 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 grew its holdings 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 bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 1st quarter valued at $237,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.49% of the companys stock.

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Exxon Mobil Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE XOM traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $107.74. 4,341,171 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,193,271. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 52-week low of $80.69 and a 52-week high of $119.92. The firm has a market cap of $435.59 billion, a PE ratio of 7.20, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.65. 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 Dividend Announcement

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, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.18. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 15.06% and a return on equity of 31.48%. The company had revenue of $86.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $90.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. Exxon Mobils revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. Exxon Mobils dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on XOM shares. Cowen increased 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. B. Riley raised their price target 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 cut their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $134.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, May 18th. Finally, Argus raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned 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 $125.30.

Insider Activity at Exxon Mobil

In related news, VP Darrin L. Talley sold 2,500 shares of Exxon Mobil stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 29,272 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,398,771.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Exxon Mobil Company Profile

(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.

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Dividend Assets Capital LLC grew its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE  Get Rating) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 86,414 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 4,148 shares during the quarter. ONEOK comprises approximately 1.1% of Dividend Assets Capital LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Dividend Assets Capital LLCs holdings in ONEOK were worth $5,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Command Bank increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 401.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Command Bank now owns 491 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. CI Investments Inc. grew its position in ONEOK by 1,003.7% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 596 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 67.16% of the companys stock.

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ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OKE traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.58. The company had a trading volume of 558,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,725,356. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.50 and a 52-week high of $71.57. The companys 50 day moving average price is $63.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.30. The stock has a market cap of $26.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

ONEOK ( NYSE:OKE Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.53. ONEOK had a return on equity of 36.54% and a net margin of 11.09%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were given a $0.955 dividend. This represents a $3.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 28th. ONEOKs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on OKE. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn reissued a neutral rating on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. They issued a sector perform rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $75.00 to $66.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $73.45.

ONEOK Company Profile

(Get Rating)

ONEOK, Inc engages in gathering, processing, fractionating, transporting, storing and marketing of natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids and Natural Gas Pipelines. The Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment offers midstream services to producers in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

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Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:VWO  Get Rating) by 50.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 92,274 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 31,001 shares during the period. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF makes up approximately 1.5% of Financial Strategies Group Inc.s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Financial Strategies Group Inc.s holdings in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF were worth $3,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 311.0% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 637 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Endurance Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 303.2% in the 4th quarter. Endurance Wealth Management Inc. now owns 633 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its holdings in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 110.1% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 689 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH acquired a new stake in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Accel Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 722 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter.

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Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF Price Performance

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.33. 4,112,560 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,989,709. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.17. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has a fifty-two week low of $34.88 and a fifty-two week high of $44.28. The stock has a market cap of $70.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.69.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF Company Profile

The Fund seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index, that measures the return of stocks issued by companies located in emerging market countries.

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BrewBilt Brewing (OTCMKTS:BRBL  Get Rating) and Heineken (OTCMKTS:HEINY  Get Rating) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for BrewBilt Brewing and Heineken, as provided by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score BrewBilt Brewing 0 0 0 0 N/A Heineken 0 3 4 0 2.57

Heineken has a consensus price target of $100.29, indicating a potential upside of 83.84%.

Earnings & Valuation

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio BrewBilt Brewing $120,000.00 0.00 -$8.55 million N/A N/A Heineken $36.54 billion 1.72 $2.83 billion N/A N/A

This table compares BrewBilt Brewing and Heinekens revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Heineken has higher revenue and earnings than BrewBilt Brewing.

Profitability

This table compares BrewBilt Brewing and Heinekens net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets BrewBilt Brewing -5,177.96% N/A -476.16% Heineken N/A N/A N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.2% of Heineken shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of BrewBilt Brewing shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

BrewBilt Brewing has a beta of 3.63, indicating that its stock price is 263% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heineken has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Heineken beats BrewBilt Brewing on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BrewBilt Brewing

(Get Rating)

BrewBilt Brewing Co. engages in the manufacture and sale of audio-video system technologies. Its product portfolio includes protection switches, high definition routers, analog routers, control panels, sound pals, and audio distribution. It offers advanced applications utilized in the commercial and government broadcast industry. The company was founded on November 15, 2006 and is headquartered in Grass Valley, CA.

About Heineken

(Get Rating)

Heineken NV engages in the manufacture and distribution of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. It offers products under the Heineken, Amstel, Desperados, Sol, Tiger, Birra Moretti, Affligem, Lagunitas, Mort Subite, Strongbow Apple Ciders, Orchard Thieves, Stassen, Bulmers, Old Mout and Blind Pig brands. It operates through the following geographical segments: Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe; Americas; Asia Pacific; Europe; and Head Office and Other or Eliminations. The company was founded by Gerard Adriaan Heineken on February 15, 1864 and is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF (NYSEARCA:KBA  Get Rating) shot up 0.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $24.69 and last traded at $24.60. 83,298 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 129,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.46.

KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF Stock Down 1.5 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.46 and a 200 day moving average of $27.10. The company has a market cap of $434.81 million, a P/E ratio of 15.18 and a beta of 0.40.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF by 32.9% in the first quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 12,931 shares of the companys stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 3,199 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 26,545 shares of the companys stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF by 306.7% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 36,560 shares of the companys stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 27,570 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company purchased a new position in KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF during the first quarter valued at approximately $406,000. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF during the first quarter valued at $400,000.

KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF Company Profile

The KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF (KBA) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI China A 50 Connect index. The fund tracks a subset of market cap-weighted large- and mid-cap Chinese equities listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen. KBA was launched on Mar 5, 2014 and is managed by KraneShares.

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Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC  Get Rating) (NYSE:MFC)s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$25.22 and traded as high as C$26.27. Manulife Financial shares last traded at C$26.14, with a volume of 9,482,968 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MFC has been the topic of several research reports. CSFB upped their price target on Manulife Financial from C$27.00 to C$28.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. TD Securities increased their price target on Manulife Financial from C$34.00 to C$35.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Barclays raised their price target on Manulife Financial from C$30.00 to C$31.00 in a research note on Monday, February 27th. CIBC raised their price target on Manulife Financial from C$23.00 to C$27.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Manulife Financial from C$28.00 to C$30.00 in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of C$28.17.

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Manulife Financial Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$46.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 4.70, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$25.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$25.24.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

Insider Activity

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be paid a $0.365 dividend. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.84%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd. Manulife Financials dividend payout ratio is 28.68%.

In other news, Director Donald Richard Lindsay purchased 50,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$26.64 per share, with a total value of C$1,332,005.00. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks.

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CGTN: Xie Feng, the new Chinese Ambassador to the US, arrived in the US on May 23. He spoke to Chinese and foreign reporters and people from various sectors at the airport. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on the same day that the US welcomed Ambassador Xies arrival and We look forward to working with the ambassador designate and his team. We remain committed to maintain channels of communication with the PRC to responsibly manage competition. Do you have any response?



Mao Ning: Chinas new Ambassador to the US Mr. Xie Feng has arrived in the US to take on his new mission. Ambassadors are an important bridge and bond between China and the US. We hope the US will provide support and facilitation for Ambassador Xie Feng as he carries out his duty.

The China-US relationship is vitally important to both countries and the world. China views and grows its relations with the US in accordance with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by President Xi Jinping. We also remain committed to defending our sovereignty, security and development interests. We hope the US will bear in mind the shared interest of people in the two countries and the world, work with China to enhance dialogue, manage differences and boost cooperation and bring China-US relations back to the right track of sound and steady growth.

Peoples Daily: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen reportedly said on May 22 that the Belt and Road Initiative has brought great benefits to Cambodia. China has helped Cambodia build an array of infrastructure including roads and bridges. Chinas stable raw material supply has supported Cambodias export and millions of jobs for the country. He added that, If we look at Chinas policy, no declaration of enmity has been made with any country and China has never set out a policy of blocking or hostile to other countries. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is aimed at boosting connectivity and common development. As Prime Minister Hun Sen said, there is no part of Chinas policy that declares itself the enemy of any other country or looks for ways to hinder other countries development. Its always about helping and supporting other countries development.

Since its launch ten years ago, guided by the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the BRI has deepened mutually beneficial cooperation with Cambodia and other partners and has become a popular global public good and international cooperation platform. To date, over three quarters of countries around the world have joined this initiative, which has generated 420,000 jobs in these countries and helped more and more countries speed up economic growth. All those fruitful outcomes fully indicate that the BRI is a pathway toward common development.

We believe that the advancement of high-quality BRI cooperation will create more opportunities for the common prosperity of countries. China will follow through on the important common understandings between the Chinese and Cambodian leaders to further enhance our cooperation under the BRI and bring more benefits to our peoples.

Reuters: Two questions on chips. The US government has said that Chinas ban on Micron is not based in fact. Whats Chinas response? And secondly, US House Representative Mike Gallagher told Reuters that the US should sanction a Chinese chip-maker in response to the Micron ban. Whats Chinas response?

Mao Ning: On your first question, the cybersecurity review by relevant Chinese authorities on Microns products sold in China is carried out in accordance with the law and the latest decision is based in facts. Chinas cybersecurity review does not target any particular countries or regions, nor does China seek to exclude technologies or products from any specific country.

The US used national security as a pretext to put more than 1,200 Chinese companies and individuals on various lists and subjected them to all kinds of restrictions despite the lack of hard evidence of wrongdoing. This is what constitutes economic coercion. This is unacceptable.

As to your second question, China strongly opposes the USs unjustified suppression of Chinese companies by over-stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power. The discriminatory and unfair practice seriously hurts normal trade and economic exchanges and cooperation between China and the US, violates market rules and the international trade order and severely disrupts global industrial and supply chain stability. The Chinese side will continue to do what is necessary to firmly safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and institutions.

Beijing Daily: Myanmar was recently hit by a cyclone. Whats Chinas consideration on providing disaster relief assistance to Myanmar?

Mao Ning: China expresses sincere sympathies to Myanmar over the fatalities and serious financial loss caused by the tropical cyclone. As a friendly neighbor and pauk-phaw brother of Myanmar, China provided disaster relief supplies to Myanmar soon after the cyclone hit. The Red Cross Society of China also provided assistance to the Myanmar Red Cross Society. This reflects the spirit of China-Myanmar community with a shared future of supporting each other through thick and thin. Looking forward, China will continue to do what it can to provide humanitarian assistance in response to Myanmars need to help the local people overcome current difficulties and rebuild their home soon.

AFP: Can you confirm reports that Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will visit the US this week and can you provide any details of this visit?

Mao Ning: I would like to refer you to the Ministry of Commerce of China on that visit.

Reuters: Japanese Prime Minister Kishida said that Japan is considering opening a NATO liaison office, but it will not join NATO itself. Whats Chinas response?

Mao Ning: We have responded to this question before. NATO claims to be a regional organization and should not extend its geopolitical reach. The Asia-Pacific does not welcome bloc confrontation or military blocs.

Given Japans history of aggression, it needs to be prudent on military and security issues and make sure its actions are conducive to regional peace and stability.

AFP: The US State Department has said its signing a deal with Micronesia to extend a 20-year-old security agreement and give the US the right to locate military facilities across a large part of the central Pacific. Whats Chinas reaction to this?

Mao Ning: We do not object to normal exchange and cooperation between relevant parties and Pacific island countries. We believe the rest of the world needs to pay more attention and give more support to the development of Pacific island countries. Any cooperation should serve this purpose.

China has no interest in competing for influence with anyone and we oppose attempts by any country to bring geopolitical contest into that region.

Tokyo Shimbun: It was reported that the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee canceled a press conference in Aichi Prefecture aimed at promoting the Asian Games, without explaining the decision. Could you tell us why this event was canceled?

Mao Ning: I have no information on this.

AFP: Canada has announced that it will not hold a public probe into alleged foreign interference in Canadian elections. A Canadian official, David Johnston, said that foreign governments are undoubtedly attempting to influence elections in Canada, but these efforts did not change voting outcomes. Do you have any response to this?

Mao Ning: As we have repeatedly stressed, China follows a foreign policy of non-interference in other countries internal affairs. We are also firmly against interference by any country in other countries internal affairs. We have no interest in interfering in Canadas internal affairs, including its elections, nor will we do any such thing. We urge Canada to abandon its ideological bias and Cold War mentality and stop keeping making an issue of China.
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May 24, 1993

Resolving the Cayuga Indians' $350 million land claim is a long way from the top of the agenda in Albany or Washington.

But mid-level bureaucrats are working to outline a potential settlement that would give the tribe more than $80 million and thousands of acres in the Finger Lakes region. Details are sketchy and constantly revised.

Local officials are turning up the heat on state and federal representatives to reach a compromise that would end the 13-year-old court struggle that has seen the Cayugas win every legal round.

If the Cayugas continue their winning streak  as lawyers expect  they could regain a 64,000-acre reservation that stretches from Aurora to Montezuma and into Seneca County. At least 7,000 people live on the land.

Settling the case is critical "because it is a real concern of the people who live in the area as to what type of titles they have and whether they're really going to occupy their own homes and land anymore," said Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall, R-Port Byron.

"It's a very emotional situation."
Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OTCMKTS:OROVY  Get Rating)s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $68.35 and last traded at $69.14, with a volume of 6696 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $96.35.

Orient Overseas (International) Stock Performance

The stocks 50-day moving average is $97.64 and its 200-day moving average is $90.17.

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Orient Overseas (International) Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be issued a dividend of $22.75 per share. This is an increase from Orient Overseas (International)s previous dividend of $12.85. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. This represents a yield of 52.77%.

Orient Overseas (International) Company Profile

Orient Overseas (International) Limited, an investment holding company, provides container transport and logistics services in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, and internationally. The company offers supply-chain management and distribution services; and containerised shipping services in various trade lanes comprising Trans-Pacific, Trans-Atlantic, Asia/Europe, Asia/Australia, and Intra-Asia trades.

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PHX Minerals (NYSE:PHX  Get Rating) had its price target lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $6.00 to $4.70 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, The Fly reports. Stifel Nicolaus price target would indicate a potential upside of 57.19% from the stocks previous close.

PHX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Northland Securities lowered their target price on PHX Minerals from $7.00 to $5.50 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 13th. TheStreet lowered PHX Minerals from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. StockNews.com began coverage on PHX Minerals in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Alliance Global Partners began coverage on PHX Minerals in a research report on Monday, April 17th. They set a buy rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $5.07.

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PHX Minerals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PHX opened at $2.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $110.66 million, a P/E ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 5.13, a quick ratio of 5.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. PHX Minerals has a 1-year low of $2.33 and a 1-year high of $4.98. The businesss 50 day moving average is $2.66 and its 200-day moving average is $3.24.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PHX Minerals

About PHX Minerals

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PHX. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PHX Minerals in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PHX Minerals in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of PHX Minerals by 129.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,327 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 6,387 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PHX Minerals in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PHX Minerals by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 10,000 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.07% of the companys stock.

(Get Rating)

PHX Minerals, Inc engages in the acquisition, management, and development of non-operated oil and natural gas properties, including wells located on the firms mineral and leasehold acreage. The company was founded on December 3, 1926 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX.

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Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC increased its stake in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF (BATS:EFV  Get Rating) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,197 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. Pinnacle Family Advisors LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Citizens Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF during the 4th quarter worth $1,420,000. Associated Banc Corp grew its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF by 639.6% during the 4th quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 149,413 shares of the companys stock worth $6,855,000 after acquiring an additional 129,211 shares during the period. Coastal Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 536 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF by 143.2% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 24,194 shares of the companys stock worth $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 14,244 shares during the period. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 50,914 shares of the companys stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828 shares during the period.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF Stock Performance

EFV traded down $0.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.32. 1,084,171 shares of the companys stock were exchanged. The companys fifty day moving average price is $48.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.91. iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF has a fifty-two week low of $49.15 and a fifty-two week high of $59.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 0.86.

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF Profile

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Value Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI EAFE Value Index. The Index is a subset of the MSCI EAFE Index and constituents of the Index include securities from Europe, Australasia (Australia and Asia), and the Far East.

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ProShares Ultra Silver (NYSEARCA:AGQ  Get Rating) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $29.39 and traded as high as $30.13. ProShares Ultra Silver shares last traded at $29.44, with a volume of 683,080 shares changing hands.

ProShares Ultra Silver Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.42.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On ProShares Ultra Silver

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ProShares Ultra Silver in the first quarter worth $453,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ProShares Ultra Silver in the first quarter worth $917,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of ProShares Ultra Silver by 120.4% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,444 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 2,428 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in shares of ProShares Ultra Silver in the first quarter worth $887,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of ProShares Ultra Silver by 972.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,329 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,246,000 after buying an additional 29,314 shares during the period.

About ProShares Ultra Silver

ProShares Ultra Silver (the Fund) seeks to provide daily investment results that correspond to twice (200%) the daily performance as measured by the United States dollar fixing price for delivery in London. The Fund will not directly or physically hold the underlying silver, but instead will seek exposure to silver through the use of financial instruments, whose value is based on the underlying price of silver to pursue their investment objective.

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The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Get Rating)  Equities research analysts at KeyCorp boosted their Q3 2023 EPS estimates for Southern in a report issued on Friday, May 19th. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $1.52 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.46. The consensus estimate for Southerns current full-year earnings is $3.61 per share.

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Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Southern from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, VNET Group reissued a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.07.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $71.15 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $77.58 billion, a PE ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.95. Southern has a twelve month low of $58.85 and a twelve month high of $80.57.

Southern (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Toroso Investments LLC raised its position in Southern by 15.4% in the first quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 15,229 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Southern in the first quarter worth approximately $205,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Southern by 10.8% in the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,126 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,070,000 after acquiring an additional 4,302 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $932,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 150.3% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,617,965 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $390,896,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,118 shares during the period. 61.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $3,758,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares in the company, valued at $63,705,014.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 27,426 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total value of $2,059,966.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,119 shares in the company, valued at $2,712,898.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders have sold a total of 91,917 shares of company stock worth $6,889,527 over the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. 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 3.94%. Southerns dividend payout ratio is presently 90.32%.

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.

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Sanders Capital LLC cut its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL  Get Rating) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,040,538 shares of the oilfield services companys stock after selling 326,120 shares during the quarter. Halliburton comprises 2.2% of Sanders Capital LLCs holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Sanders Capital LLC owned approximately 2.33% of Halliburton worth $827,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of HAL. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,383,523 shares of the oilfield services companys stock valued at $1,462,022,000 after buying an additional 1,241,290 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Halliburton by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,400,246 shares of the oilfield services companys stock worth $488,254,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448,913 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,700,760 shares of the oilfield services companys stock valued at $238,833,000 after purchasing an additional 81,880 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 60.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,746,026 shares of the oilfield services companys stock valued at $215,328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,294,360 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,568,627 shares of the oilfield services companys stock valued at $186,348,000 after purchasing an additional 123,403 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.90 to $57.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Halliburton from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $48.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

Halliburton Stock Performance

In related news, CAO Charles Jr. Geer sold 12,065 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.60, for a total transaction of $369,189.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 52,817 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,616,200.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website . In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 271,283 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $8,206,310.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 829,230 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $25,084,207.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Also, CAO Charles Jr. Geer sold 12,065 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.60, for a total transaction of $369,189.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 52,817 shares in the company, valued at $1,616,200.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders own 0.60% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE HAL traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.07. 4,160,454 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,370,341. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 2.11. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $23.30 and a 12 month high of $43.99. The companys 50 day moving average price is $31.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.75.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The oilfield services company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 29.38%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 32.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 7th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Halliburtons dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.63%.

Halliburton Profile

(Get Rating)

Halliburton Co engages in the provision of services and products to the energy industry related to the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation segments. The Completion and Production segment delivers cementing, stimulation, intervention, pressure control, specialty chemicals, artificial lift, and completion services.

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TCG Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (NYSE:GAB  Get Rating) by 65.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,276 shares of the financial services providers stock after buying an additional 6,860 shares during the quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLCs holdings in The Gabelli Equity Trust were worth $95,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GAB. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of The Gabelli Equity Trust by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 21,141 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in The Gabelli Equity Trust by 79.9% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 5,826 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,588 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in The Gabelli Equity Trust by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 376,385 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,064,000 after buying an additional 2,669 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in The Gabelli Equity Trust by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 83,464 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 3,022 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of The Gabelli Equity Trust by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 233,401 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.58% of the companys stock.

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The Gabelli Equity Trust Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of GAB opened at $5.45 on Wednesday. The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. has a twelve month low of $4.84 and a twelve month high of $6.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5.59 and a 200-day moving average of $5.69.

The Gabelli Equity Trust Announces Dividend

About The Gabelli Equity Trust

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.01%.

(Get Rating)

The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched by GAMCO Investors, Inc The fund is managed by Gabelli Funds, LLC. It invests in public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It invests in preferred stock, convertible or exchangeable securities, and warrants and rights.

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U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH  Get Rating) traded down 3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $109.98 and last traded at $110.50. 25,621 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 75,985 shares. The stock had previously closed at $113.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on USPH shares. Barrington Research lifted their target price on U.S. Physical Therapy from $110.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. TheStreet raised U.S. Physical Therapy from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock.

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U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 50.64, a PEG ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.30.

U.S. Physical Therapy Dividend Announcement

U.S. Physical Therapy ( NYSE:USPH Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $148.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $140.77 million. U.S. Physical Therapy had a return on equity of 10.93% and a net margin of 5.40%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. Equities analysts predict that U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. U.S. Physical Therapys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.63%.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Physical Therapy

In other news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 471 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.80, for a total value of $45,121.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,426,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,912 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.95, for a total transaction of $193,016.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $832,130.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 471 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.80, for a total value of $45,121.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,886 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,426,078.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,814 shares of company stock worth $484,853. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Physical Therapy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in U.S. Physical Therapy during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy during the 4th quarter valued at $890,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,222 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,340,000 after purchasing an additional 9,182 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,327,000. Finally, Bridge City Capital LLC raised its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 31,189 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the companys stock.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

(Get Rating)

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc operates outpatient physical therapy clinics, which provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers and neurological-related injuries. It operates through the following segments: physical therapy operations and industrial injury prevention services.

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Youdao, Inc. (NYSE:DAO  Get Rating) shares fell 5.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $4.61 and last traded at $4.66. 23,358 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 236,868 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on DAO. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Youdao from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $4.00 to $9.50 in a report on Monday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Youdao from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $4.60 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th.

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Youdao Trading Down 5.9 %

The company has a market cap of $587.02 million, a PE ratio of -5.28 and a beta of -0.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.67 and a 200-day moving average of $6.50.

Institutional Trading of Youdao

Youdao ( NYSE:DAO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $210.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $223.65 million.

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DAO. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new stake in Youdao during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Northern Trust Corp bought a new stake in Youdao during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in Youdao during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Youdao during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Youdao during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $69,000. 18.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Youdao Company Profile

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Youdao, Inc, an internet technology company, provides online services in the field of content, community, communication, and commerce in China. It operates through three segments: Learning Services, Smart Devices, and Online Marketing Services. The company provides various learning content, applications, and solutions, which cover topics and target people from various age groups for their learning needs through its websites and mobile applications.

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Hyundai confirmed the launch of an all-new sub-compact SUV which will be based on the Grand i10 Nios platform. The South Korean carmaker has named its new model Exter. Now, the latest developments suggest that Hyundai will begin SUV production in July. Furthermore, Exters deliveries will begin by early August at most Hyundai outlets across the country, reported Autocar. The SUV will officially be launched in India in July. Exter is being touted as Hyundais most affordable SUV and will be slotted below the Venue in the brands India portfolio. Hyundais new sub-compact SUV will directly compete with Tata Punch in the Indian market. Exter will have a lot of common elements with the carmakers Grand i10 Nios and Aura. Exters platform, its 1.2-litre engine in petrol and even the CNG guise will be shared with these two cars. Hyundai is likely to offer the Exter in five trim levels  EX, S, SX, SX(O) and the fully loaded SX(O) Connect. The carmaker is reportedly going big on safety as well. Buyers can expect a long list of safety features which includes six airbags as standard across all variants. Going by the official releases of the Exter, the sub-compact SUV will follow Hyundais Parametric design language. This design philosophy is seen on newer Hyundai models globally. Exter will boast of boxy proportions, an upright stance and a split headlamp set-up with H-patterned LED Daytime Running Lamps. Besides, Hyundais smallest SUV gets dual-tone alloy wheels, roof rails, a textured finish for the C-pillar, dual-tone paint options with a floating roof effect round and slightly flared wheel arches with thick cladding all along. All these features will give the car a sporty look. At the rear, Exters profile is punctuated by an upright tailgate, a small built-in spoiler, a shark-fin antenna and tail-lamps that feature H-patterned LED lighting. Apart from Exter, Hyundai fans are also looking forward to the launch of the facelifted Creta SUV. The revamped Creta will come with a wide grille with inserts reminiscent to the new Verna sedan and a split headlamp design. The India-bound Creta facelift will also share some design elements with the Hyundai Exter micro SUV. Creta facelift will likely be offered with a 1.5-litre diesel and a 1.5-litre petrol engine options that are seen on the current model.
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From maintenance positions to internship-type roles, the New York State Fair is filling a variety of positions for the summer and the 13-day fair that begins in late August.

The summer job opportunities include positions in the events, maintenance and trades departments. The fair is also hiring student assistants who will work in the director's office, press office and the sponsorship department.

Individuals hired for summer jobs will work through Labor Day, Sept. 4  the last day of the state fair.

For the state fair, there are temporary positions available in guest relations, safety, security and transportation. The fair will also hire superintendents to oversee the Talent Showcase, a youth talent show, and the Pan African Village.

"We've all heard the adage that 'many hands make light work,'" said Sean Hennessey, the fair's interim director. "We are so grateful every year to have about 1,600 community members step up to help our team throw one of the biggest, most fun events in New York state.

"From staffing the Great Potato Booth, to answering visitors' questions in Guest Relations, to leading programming in key superintendent roles like what we have available in Pan African Village and Talent Showcase, to security and tram driver roles, there's no way it would all come together without any one of these roles. If you're interested in working for the fair, we have a job for you!"

More information about the jobs can be found at nysfair.ny.gov/about/employment. There are links on that page to the employment application. Anyone with questions should email recruitment@agriculture.ny.gov.

Two companies, the Green Event Ninjas and the KleenTeem, are also hiring for grounds and restroom cleaning jobs at the fair. The temporary posts will run from Aug. 19 through Sept. 8  before and after the fair's run. The state fair's employment page has links to apply for those positions.

The fair begins Aug. 23 and will conclude on Sept. 4.
Ride-hailing app Uber has recently announced strategic partnerships with various electric vehicles (EV) manufacturers and organisations in India. This move aims to expedite the shift towards sustainable mobility among its partners. By expanding collaborations with EV fleet partners such as Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet Pvt Ltd, and Moove, Uber plans to deploy 25,000 electric cars on its platform in India within the next two years. In addition to these fleet partnerships, Uber has joined forces with Zypp Electric to introduce 10,000 EV two-wheelers in Delhi by 2024. Recognising the need for accessible financing in the EV sector, the company has also partnered with SIDBI to unlock Rs 1,000 crore in EV financing, facilitating the adoption of electric vehicles. Moreover, Uber is bringing its global partnership with BP to India through Jio-bp and has collaborated with GMR Green Energy to provide fast-charging facilities for Uber's electric vehicles. These partnerships underscore Uber's commitment to creating a robust EV ecosystem and facilitating the charging infrastructure required for widespread EV adoption. Also read: Uber really needs Lyft to stay in the rideshare race Eco-friendly service As part of its sustainability drive, Uber is set to launch Uber Green in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, commencing in June. Uber Green enables passengers to specifically request an all-electric, zero tail-pipe emission vehicle, as opposed to a conventional fossil-fuelled car. This initiative, available in over 100 cities across 15 countries, positions Uber Green as the most widely accessible on-demand mobility solution for low or zero-emission rides. Andrew Macdonald, Senior Vice President of Mobility and Business Operations at Uber, emphasised the significance of India in the company's electrification goals, stating, "India's huge scale and electrification momentum makes the country a priority for Uber as we seek to meet our commitment to electrify every ride on our platform by 2040." Macdonald further highlighted the launch of Uber Green as a major step towards achieving this objective. He emphasised Uber's determination to collaborate with cities and governments in combating climate change and pollution through sustainable mobility. Also read: Himachal govt plans to encourage EV use; to become Green Energy State by March 2026 Macdonald also acknowledged India as a critical market for Uber, with approximately 800,000 active partners already operating on the platform and an expanding user base. India is the third-biggest market for Uber in terms of volumes, and the company intends to continue investing in the country to drive future growth. Prabhjeet Singh, President of Uber India and South Asia, acknowledged the challenge of transitioning to an all-electric fleet while ensuring that the economic burden does not fall solely on the drivers. Singh expressed the company's commitment to taking action through these industry-leading partnerships, aiming to facilitate a faster transition to EVs and accelerate the sustainable transformation of India's ride-sharing industry. Internationally, Uber operates in 70 countries and over 10,000 cities. To align with global environmental goals, the company has committed to becoming a zero-emission mobility platform in Europe and North America by 2030, and globally by 2040. In 2022 alone, Uber tripled the number of electric vehicles available on its platform, connecting 31 million unique riders with electric rides.
In yet another instance of growing cyberattacks on government infrastructure, hackers have compromised a number of websites, causing them to redirect to Indian Premier League (IPL)-related betting sites. The hacking campaign targeted specific web pages of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). When users clicked on these websites, they were automatically redirected to a website called ipln8.com. These compromised websites can still be found indexed when searched on Google. Hyderabad-based cybersecurity researcher Sai Krishna Kothapalli discovered this issue and notified the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team. Moneycontrol's attempts to reach out to ICAR or BWSSB, with specific links to such compromised websites, did not evoke any response. The links that were sent to the government bodies as examples of compromise have since been quietly disabled. While all compromised BWSSB-related websites seemed to have been removed, a few compromised ICAR websites were still operational as of 1:15 pm on May 24. While explaining the issue, Kothapalli said, "I was searching on Google for a different vulnerability when I happened to notice that a website with.gov.in domain was throwing text that was completely unrelated to the website. So, when I clicked the link, it redirected me to a betting site." "I wanted to figure out why this was happening. So I checked its HTML code, but there was nothing suspicious about it. However, it is only when you click the link from Google search that a special JavaScript is executed, which redirects to the gambling website," he explained. "And this clearly shows somebody else has access to the server, because otherwise writing this kind of logic wouldn't be possible," he added. The motivation behind the hack Kothapalli explained that certain websites have a referral code incentive system, which works this way: A user of the website can send referral codes to onboard more people. If a new user registers on that website using that referral code, then the original user will receive some incentives. "So most gambling websites have a very good referral percentage, like 40 per cent. So somebody is sending the traffic to the gambling website so that if anybody uses the site, they get some percentage of the money. So it's not like the gambling website did it, It's like somebody wants to use the referral percentage," Kothapalli explained. Although this was a seemingly harmless hack, Kothapalli warns that if not mitigated, these attacks can escalate to steal sensitive user details from such websites. "Right now these attacks are limited to smaller websites. But what if bigger government websites are targeted? People do not realise that by injecting such codes, you can just not redirect to gambling websites but also steal user ids, passwords, usernames and so on," he warned.
JSW Ventures on Wednesday said it has sold a part of its holding in e-commerce firm Purplle to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). "The partial exit in Purplle has generated 18x return on the capital invested," JSW Ventures said in a statement. The company, however, did not disclose any financial details of the transaction. In a statement, JSW Ventures said following this transaction, JSW Ventures has returned 2x of the Fund I corpus to their investors. JSW Ventures first invested in Purplle's Series A round in 2016 from their first fund. According to industry sources, the first fund of JSW Ventures was Rs 100 crore. After the partial exit from Purplle, JSW Ventures has returned Rs 200 crore to its investors. "In our association with Purplle, we experienced how to build an incredible scale with product selection and reach across the cross-section of our country. "Their focus on investing in leadership bandwidth across various verticals is exemplary and sets the template for start-ups making a transition from an early-stage business to a mature organisation in a capital constrained environment," said Gaurav Sachdeva, Founding Partner at JSW Ventures. A query sent to JSW Ventures remained unanswered. Manish Taneja, Co-founder & CEO at Purplle said, "Apart from providing capital, they have been hands-on, supporting us across various aspects of the business. We enter FY 2023-24 with a significant performance by marquee brands, strong investment trajectory, and aggressively pursuing business growth." Part of steel-to-infrastructure JSW Group, JSW Ventures is an early-stage institutional venture capital fund investing in technology companies across B2B and B2C platforms in consumer, healthcare, financial services, and agriculture industries. Purplle is an e-commerce platform offering beauty and personal care products.

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LG Electronics India expects around 10 per cent growth in FY24 and exploring new business categories here besides investing further in its manufacturing ecosystem, said its Managing Director Hong Ju Jeon on Wednesday. India is an important market for the South Korean chaebol, where it sees a "big potential" as the economic situation is bright compared to other global markets with a growing population with more youths, he said. The company is working towards increasing the domestic value addition of India-made products and is even inviting its sister concerns from South Korea to set up plants for component manufacturing here, Jeon told PTI in an interaction. It is also looking to increase exports to other countries from India by enhancing the cost competitiveness and more products in its offerings. "We will support the India government's make-in-India initiatives and will increase the exports from here and contribute to the Indian Economy," said Jeon. Jeon also lauded India's growth story this year and said its economy is growing despite other markets facing tough times on account of global disruption from war and other factors. When asked about the growth expectation of LG business in India, he said: "LG also has the same expectation. Even the business in other countries will reduce compared to the rest of the year, but we (LG Electronics India) will grow." LG Electronics expects to grow in double digits, higher than the GDP numbers. "We would grow around 10 per cent and gain more market share," Jeon said adding that the growth would be secular and come from across the categories in which it operates here. India is the second largest market for LG Electronics globally after the US and the South Korean chaebol expects to retain its growth momentum here. Over the investment, Jeon said:" Our company is thinking in the long term. We are checking what kind of investment is required. Also product wise new we are studying for new businesses." Presently LG has two manufacturing units at Ranjangaon, Pune and Greater Noida. The company has recently invested around Rs 200 crore in a new line for manufacturing the premium range of side-by-side refrigerators at the Ranjangaon facility and Rs 100 crore in Noida to start local manufacturing of Dual Inverter Air Conditioner Compressors. On being asked whether LG would set up another unit in India, Jeon said: "We need more capacity for the future. We do not know where it will be but we will but of course have new factories." LG Electronics India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of South Korea-based LG Electronics. It is a formidable brand in India, operating in various segments, such as consumer electronics, home appliances, HVAC and IT hardware. "The population of India is growing with a high number of young population," he said adding" Our internal management (LG Global) is very interested in the India market." It is also working on India-centric products, in segments such as air-conditioners, making them more affordable. Regarding LG Electronics India's export, Jeon said its still in single digits but it will grow. Increasing the exports, it requires more localisation and more products. However, he also added that LG Electronics has several factories globally, which compete with each other. To increase the export, cost competitiveness from India-made products would have to be enhanced. "On cost front, we need more efforts in terms of localisation and more products for exports," he said adding it not easy "but its very clear that we want to increase exports from here. We need to increase the volume, then cost of production would be down." This can also benefit Indian consumers also. Regarding the sourcing of components, Jeon said in localisation rate is high in India but added still the industry needs more support from the Indian government."When (global) suppliers want to invest in India, it should also support them for stable operation. Company as LG Chemical also started to manufacture to support the local production," said Jeon "We will invite more foreign countries to invest here." Over the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) scheme floated by the Indian government, Jeon said: "We have invited our sister companies. Those companies which were sub-contractor in Korea and they are also coming to supply us here." For the financial year that ended on March 31, 2022, LG Electronic India's profit after tax was at Rs 1,174.7 crore and its total income was Rs 17,171.3 crore. Its exports in FY22 were at Rs 976 crore.
#1. GQG Partners raises stake in Adani Group by additional 10 percent Investor Rajiv Jains GQG Partners has raised its stake in the Adani Group by about 10 percent and will take part in the conglomerates future fund raising. It would like to be one of the largest investors in Adani Group after the promoter family, Jain said. The value of GQGs Adani holdings is now close to $3.5 billion. In March, GQG acquired almost $2 billion worth of shares in four of Adanis firms from a family trust. Why its important: Rajiv Jain has emerged as a white knight to the conglomerate that faced a market rout earlier in the year. The Groups stocks have been rising sharply in the past few trading sessions. #2. Banks emerge as star performers in 2022-23 even as corporate earnings slow Indias banks showed remarkable earnings growth at a time the rest of India Inc saw a slowdown. The combined net profit of banks rose 39.4 percent year-on-year and their share in Indias GDP at factor cost rose to a record high of nearly 1 percent, up from 0.8 percent a year ago. Banks gained from high double-digit growth in credit and double-digit decline in provisioning for bad loans. Why its important: The sharp rise in earnings in the just-concluded financial year was driven by an equally rapid growth in interest income of both public and private banks. Lower provisioning for non-performing assets also added to the earnings. #3. New digital India law will have special safeguards for children, minister says The draft digital India law, which will replace the IT Act of 2000, would have special provisions for safeguarding children, electronic and IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said. The government has, however, ruled out the anticipated provision of creating a new regulator. A new draft will be released by the first week of June for public consultation. Why its important: The new digital law has been much delayed as innovations have outpaced the race to frame regulations. The draft legislation has faced many hurdles and may continue to do so. #4. Lenders to Reliance Capital may only recover 43 percent at Rs 10,000 crore Lenders to bankrupt Reliance Capital are likely to recover just about Rs 10,000 crore after winning bidder Hinduja Group refused to improve its offer in the last round of bilateral negotiations. The recovery, totaling about Rs 10,090 crore after factoring in the target companys cash balances and the Hinduja offer, falls short of the Rs 12,500-13,000 crore estimated liquidation value. Why its important: The attempts by lenders to maximize recoveries from Reliance Capital have borne little fruit. The Hinduja Group is expected to submit a resolution plan by next week. #5. Warburg Pincus to acquire 66 percent stake in Watertec at a valuation of $200 million Private equity firm Warburg Pincus is set to purchase a majority stake in Watertec India, a bathroom accessories and fittings maker. The company is owned by Coimbatore-based UMS Group, Watertec Malaysia and Sri Lanka-based South Asian Investments. Warburg will buy around 66 percent of the company from Watertec Malaysia and UMS Group at a valuation of around $200 million. It is likely to acquire the remaining stake over the next 12-24 months. Why its important: Indias sanitary ware market stood at around $8.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of 9 percent till 2027. Warburg wants a major share of the pie. #6. Big four vies for Go First resolution professionals job as lenders invite proposals The big four accounting firms have joined the fray to become the resolution professional of Go First after lenders invited proposals from them and Grant Thornton. Go First is under the administration of an interim resolution professional recommended by its former management. Professionals backed by KPMG, Deloitte, EY, PwC, and Grant Thornton are expected to be interviewed this week. Why its important: Lenders to Go First would naturally like to evaluate multiple firms before selecting a resolution professional. The cash-strapped airline has voluntarily opted for insolvency proceedings. #7. Adani Green to seek boards approval to raise up to $ 1 billion through private placements Adani Green Energy is set to seek board approval to raise Rs 6,150 crore ($750 million) to Rs 8,200 crore ($1 billion) through qualified institutional placements. Two other group companies, Adani Enterprises (Rs 12,500 crore) and Adani Transmission (Rs8,500 crore), have already secured approval of their boards for further fundraising on May 13. Why its important: The fundraising exercise is part of the Adani Groups plan to build a three-year equity cushion to support expansion. The conglomerate has chosen the private placement route after a follow-on public offer by its flagship failed in January. #8. Oil ministry working on proposal to merge Mangalore Refinery with Hindustan Petroleum The petroleum ministry is drawing up a proposal to merge Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals into Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, the two listed subsidiaries of ONGC. The idea of the merger had been floated soon after ONGC acquired Hindustan Petroleum from the government five years ago. The merger will likely to be through a share-swap deal. Why its important: The merger will consolidate ONGCs downstream assets under Hindustan Petroleum and may result in some tax gains. #9. Government wont lower levies on 5G, places onus on telecom operators to make it viable The central government has told telecom service providers that they need to figure out the viability of 5G services and products being deployed, and the high cost of new infrastructure cannot be used as an excuse to seek lower government levies. Earlier this month, the telcos raised the demand for lower government levies at a meeting. Why its important: The income streams from 5G could have a long gestation phase and the massive investments by telcos will exert a significant pressure on the business. They will have to live with that. #10. Sale of luxury items see uptick as the rich pay with Rs 2,000 banknotes Luxury retailers has seen a sudden uptick in business after the Reserve Bank of Indias recent mandate to withdraw Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation. Although they remain legal tender, a reluctance to endure lengthy queues at banks and the potential association of high-value notes with unaccounted funds have driven the affluent to spend money on luxury items rather than deposit it in banks. Why its important: The central banks currency management plan has had unintended consequences. Luxury retailers are not complaining.
Beauty products platform Purplle has raised around $40-$50 million in a flat round which was split as a primary and a secondary one, people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol. The capital infusion comes at a time when the e-commerce industry has slowed down, after steep growth during the Covid years, which has forced an increasing number of online-only startups, especially the direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies, to look at an omnichannel play and other strategies to sustain growth. While South Korea's Paramark Ventures infused a part of the $33 million committed to Purplle last year in a primary round, JSW Venture has partially exited in the company and sold stake to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The secondary market transaction between ADIA and JSW Ventures, gave the latter a return of 18X on its investments, made over the years, the company said in a release on May 24. "Following this transaction, JSW Ventures has returned 2x of the Fund I corpus to their investors," it added. A small part of Paramark Ventures $33 million commitment to Purplle came now, in what was understood to be an extension of the previous round that materialized in June last year, which sent Purplle into the coveted list of unicorns. "The round closed at least a couple of months ago. While Paramark has put in some cash as part of its commitment last year, ADIA has picked up Purplle's shares from JSW Ventures through a secondary round," one of the people cited above said. "Since it is an extension of the previous fundraise, it is done at a flat valuation of $1.1 billion," they added. Flat rounds and down rounds are gaining prominence in an environment where capital has become difficult to access for several startups. Investors have also backed flat rounds or down rounds because sky-high valuations do not hold true anymore. Including the latest round, Purplle has raised around $450 million from Premji Invest, Blume Ventures, homegrown private equity firm Kedaara Capital, Goldman Sachs, JSW Ventures and several others. The company will use this capital to expand its offline footprint by opening more stores and also strengthen its online presence, as an increasing number of direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies look at an omnichannel strategy to drive growth. Mint was the first to report about Purplle raising around $50-60 million from ADIA in a deal that was largely a secondary transaction with a small primary component, too. Founded by IIT Delhi alumnus Taneja, and IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Rahul Dash in 2012, Purplle runs a beauty and personal care e-commerce platform and competes with Ranveer Singh-backed SUGAR Cosmetics, BSE-listed Nykaa and several others.
The yield on certificates of deposit (CD) has fallen 15-20 basis points (Bps) since last week on expectations of an improvement in banking system liquidity after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes last week. Also, last weeks liquidity injection by the central bank through a repo auction also contributed to the fall, dealers said. Similarly, the yield on the commercial papers fell 10-15 bps during this period. One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. Yields in money market papers like CP and CD have improved a lot with expectations of an improvement in bank deposits and last weeks RBI efforts to inject liquidity via the term repo window. There was a large redemption of G-sec as well that happened, said Ajay Manglunia, Managing Director, JM Financial. The central bank had on May 19 conducted a 14-day repo auction and injected Rs 46,790 crore, which was aimed at addressing liquidity concerns of some banks and institutions. On May 19, the RBI announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 bank notes as part of its clean note policy. The RBI has given time till September 30 for the public to deposit or withdraw these notes. Also read: RBI's move to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes to comfort short term rates Rate decline The yield on CDs maturing in three months, which were trading in the range of 7.00-7.20 percent on May 17, has now fallen to 6.80-6.95 percent. CPs issued by non-banking finance companies (NBFC) maturing in three months fell to 7.05-7.10 percent, from 7.25-7.35 percent on May 17, according to money market dealers. Similarly, manufacturing company CPs declined to 6.90-7.00 percent, from 7.10-7.20 percent on May 17. CPs and CDs are short-term debt instruments issued by companies and banks to raise funds generally for a period up to one year. Liquidity factor The withdrawal of banknotes of Rs 2,000 denomination from circulation is likely to increase the liquidity in the banking system. The withdrawal will bring at least Rs 1.5 lakh crore of currency back into the banking system, which will bring back liquidity, said Umesh Kumar Tulsyan, managing director of Sovereign Global Markets, a New Delhi-based fund house. While announcing the decision, the RBI had said that as on March 31, 2023, the total value of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation had declined to Rs 3.62 lakh crore, and accounted for only 10.8 percent of the notes in circulation. At its peak, the value was Rs 6.73 lakh crore, as on March 31, 2018. About 89 percent of the Rs 2,000 notes were issued before March 2017 and were at the end of their estimated life-span of four to five years, the banking regulator said. Further, on May 22, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank expects most of the Rs 2,000 notes to return to the banking system by September 30. Earlier today, the central bank governor said the denomination was not in much use and noted that high-denomination notes could lead to collateral issues. Therefore, we took this decision, Das said at the CII Annual Session  2023. Also read: Banking system liquidity to improve post Rs 2,000-note withdrawal, short-term rates may ease: Experts Outlook Money market dealers are of the view that rates on these short-term debt instruments will fall a further 10 bps. Yields may come down further, by around 10-15 bps, in the coming days, said Tulsyan. Manglunia noted that post the monetary policy meeting in the first week of June, as the market expects no rate action, rates may keep improving, though there is no cut expected any time soon this year.
The Covid pandemic has demonstrated that health threats are not confined to national borders and require a coordinated global response, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said. In this context, India has been supporting by capacity building of healthcare workers, coupled with harnessing digital technology as the way forward, he said in his keynote address at a session on "Heal in India and Heal by India" at the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday. With the vision of "One Earth-One Health" and to serve the global community, the government has taken initiatives for value-based healthcare supported by health workforce mobility and patient mobility, he said. The "Heal by India" initiative is designed to increase health workforce mobility from India to different parts of the world to serve the world as per the philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (The World is One Family), while the "Heal in India" initiative seeks to provide integrated and holistic treatment to the world in India and enhance patient mobility for access to world class, affordable and quality healthcare services. Highlighting India's G20 Presidency philosophy of "One Earth, One Family, One Future", the minister said India has prioritised health emergencies, prevention, preparedness and response with focus on "One Health" and Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR); strengthening cooperation within pharmaceutical sector globally to improve access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medical countermeasures, and digital health innovations and solutions to aid universal health coverage and improve healthcare service delivery at grassroots level. Emphasising on measures taken for strengthening the healthcare ecosystem in India, Mandaviya said, "India achieved an unimaginable pace of Covid vaccination and more than 2.20 billion doses have already been administered in India so far. Millions of vaccines were shared with the world through the 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative". In order to create a resilient health care ecosystem, India has launched the Ayushman Bharat initiative to cover all aspects of healthcare, he said. The world's largest government funded health insurance scheme "Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM- JAY) - was launched in 2018. He said 1,50,000 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) are transforming the delivery of comprehensive primary health care services in India. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) aims to bridge the gap amongst different stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem through usage of technology. The PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission aims to build disease surveillance system, laboratory networks, building of infectious disease blocks across the country and augmenting research capacity with emphasis on "One Health approach," he said.
Here is a collection of the most important stories this afternoon: Indian drugs caused mass child deaths in Gambia, panel says Tainted syrup medicine imported from India was the cause of an outbreak of kidney failure that killed more than 60 children in the West African nation of Gambia last year, according to a report by a team of international experts seen by Bloomberg. Read more here. Polyplex Corporation to sell 24% stake to AGP Holdco Limited for Rs 1379 crore The promoters of multi-national packaging firm and leading PET film manufacturer Polyplex Corporation have agreed to sell a 24.2 percent stake in the Noida headquartered firm to Dubai-based AGP Holdco Limited for an aggregate consideration of Rs 1379.47 crore. Read more here. Deepak Nitrite rises 10% on Rs 5,000-crore investment plan for Gujarat Deepak Nitrite's wholly owned subsidiary Deepak Chem Tech Limited on May 24 signed a contract with the Gujarat government to invest around Rs 5,000 crore in the next four years for setting up various projects, the company said in its release. Read more here. Federal Bank picks Kotak, Axis, JP Morgan & BofA for up to Rs 4,000 crore fund raise Private sector lender Federal Bank led by MD & CEO Shyam Srinivasan has picked investment banks Kotak Mahindra Capital, Axis Capital, BofA Securities and JP Morgan as advisors as the firm gears up for a big-bang fund raising exercise in which it seeks to mop up upto Rs 4,000 crore, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol. Read more here. MF romance with logistics deepens with Delhivery, but fizzles out for Gati As the Indian economy wriggled out of the pandemic woes, a rapid revival in the logistics sector attracted the attention of mutual funds. Delhivery, one of the top three listed logistics players in the country, has turned out to be the showstopper, keeping its close rivals Gati and AllCargo Logistics behind. Read more here. NCLAT reiterates order on Go First insolvency in pleas by three aircraft lessors The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on May 24 reiterated its order upholding Go First's admission to insolvency in a plea by three aircraft lessors; Accipiter Investments Aircraft 2 Ltd, EOS aviation Ireland Ltd, and ACG Aircraft Leasing Ireland ltd. Read more here. India's FY23 GDP growth could surpass 7% projection: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das The Indian economy may have grown faster in 2022-23 than the statistics ministry's estimate of 7 percent, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on May 24. Read more here.
In the seven years that it has been around, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis signature bankruptcy reform has failed to live up to its billing. The 2016 insolvency law was crafted when the country was just starting to tackle what would eventually rank among the worst piles of bad loans anywhere in the world: a $200 billion-plus menace. With banks garnering bumper profits in the post-pandemic high interest-rate environment, that baggage is now much lighter, and the urgency to deal with it lower. It shouldnt be. Creditors recovery rates on soured advances have been low for the past couple of years  and theyre falling. Liquidations are the most common result of the bankruptcy tribunals proceedings, which are taking more than twice as long as the 270 days envisaged originally. When the credit cycle turns, state-run lenders may once again run crying back to taxpayers for capital. The court wont give them back much. In a country where savings are in short supply, the priority was always to prevent productive capital from going to waste in unviable projects. Some high-profile resolutions of defaulted steel-plant loans raised creditors hopes, but rampant gaming of the legal process by vested interests is dashing them. Which is why the bankruptcy protection sought by Go Airlines India Ltd, a cash-strapped carrier controlled by the Mumbai-based Wadia Group, is so crucial. The franchise temporarily shut down earlier this month. If the court cant quickly revive Go First, as the brand is now known, the risk is that it will be grounded forever, like Kingfisher Airlines Ltd in 2012 and Jet Airways India Ltd in 2019. The domestic aviation market will become even more of a duopoly than it already is. But rescuing Go First could be seen as bailing out the billionaire Nusli Wadia by inflicting losses on SMBC Aviation Capital, ACG Aircraft Leasing Ireland Ltd, and other aircraft lessors. SMBC, which claims to have ended its lease before Go Firsts filing, wants to take its jets away. The bankruptcy protection, the lessors have alleged, is a fraudulent exercise. On Monday, the appellate authority rejected their challenge: They need to approach the tribunal to repossess the planes with expired leases, or go to the apex court. Its a complicated bankruptcy. About half of Go Firsts Airbus fleet has been incapacitated by failures of Raytheon Technologies Corps Pratt & Whitney engines. The airline has claimed 74 billion rupees ($894 million) in compensation. A Singapore-based arbitration panel has asked Pratt & Whitney to immediately begin making reasonable efforts to locate suitable spares. The engine-maker has said that it will honor the award. But since it hasnt supplied the first batch of 10 engines that the tribunal asked it to try to deliver by April 27, Go First filed for bankruptcy. Or thats the Indian companys version of events, according to its May 2 filing. But those nuances are irrelevant for Go First creditors: Regardless of whether the airline was incompetent, undercapitalised or unlucky, its shareholders must pay a price before the lenders and lessors are asked to make sacrifices. Thats where India has been a disappointment. In only 6 percent of instances, debtors trigger bankruptcies. And the recovery rate for creditors in such cases that ultimately do get resolved is just 18 percent. Lenders are far more comfortable when they themselves drag firms to the insolvency tribunal. Although still low by global standards, the recovery rate in resolutions initiated by financial creditors is almost twice at high at 34 percent, according to India Ratings & Research, a unit of Fitch Group. Two years ago, this figure was 45 percent. What will be the fate of Go First? Air travel has come back as suddenly as it was halted by COVID-19, and Pratt & Whitney has a queue of customers to service. But assuming that the engine-maker would eventually get around to delivering 10 spares a month to Go First until December, as it has been directed to do by the Singapore arbitrator, this airline can fly again. But it should return as an operation that can sustain its debt, leases, salaries  and delays in fleet repair. One solution may be to leave the corporate structure of Go Airlines behind with a chunk of the 115 billion rupees owed to financial and operations creditors that is now unsustainable, and all of its equity. This is the part that can die. After that, the creditors can invite bids from anyone who wants to inject fresh capital into a new avatar of Go First. If the next owner happens to be Wadia, thats fine. If its not, thats good, too. Go First has so far been current with repayments to banks, and has only recently defaulted to lessors and operational creditors. Had any of its debt been nonperforming for a year before the resolution plan kicked in, the Wadia Group would have been ruled out as a prospective bidder. That is just faux puritanism. A practical bankruptcy code will be agnostic about promoters, as the controlling shareholders are known in India. Give them back their insolvent firms if they so badly want them, but close out the options for gaming the outcomes, such as by forcing lenders to accept lowball out-of-court settlements: Let them take haircuts, stand in line with everyone else and bid. Leaving planes with a borrower that isnt selling flight tickets isnt ideal. It will jack up leasing rates even for those that are. Still, the tribunals intervention may be worth it. Consumers will pay a lot more if InterGlobe Aviation Ltds Indigo and the three Tata airlines end up as the only viable options for domestic air travel. After all, Go First isnt the only one in trouble. SpiceJet Ltd, a carrier with a similar market share, has seen its stock lose half its value over the past year. The lessor Aircastle (Ireland) Ltd. is trying to push it into insolvency. That case will be heard May 25. The promoters have been the driving force of Indian capitalism for far too long to just walk away because of a bankruptcy law. (HMS Minden, on which the Star-Spangled Banner was composed, was made in a Wadia shipyard for the British navy.) Yet, the exceptionalism that business families take as their right must end. There is a difference between protecting the capital in a business, and saving the capitalist behind it. After some initial successes, Modis bankruptcy reform has often been unable to find that fine line. Its up to the court to show that this time will be different. Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services in Asia. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication. Credit: Bloomberg
Black children are more likely to have asthma than kids of any other race in America. Theyre more likely to live near polluting plants, and in rental housing with mold and other triggers, because of racist housing laws in the nations past. Their asthma often is more severe and less likely to be controlled, because of poor medical care and mistrust of doctors, according to a project examining the health disparities experienced by Black Americans across a lifetime.
The narratives of death and destruction that shattered the false calm of Manipur are out there for the world to read and watch in revulsion and disheartenment. A news channel showed how over 7,000 Kuki-Chin refugees had escaped to Mizoram from Churachandpur (a district in Manipur where the seeds of dissension were first sown) and how they are now living in refugee camps eating whatever was served. Other news reports also point to over 7,400 Meiteis having fled from hill districts to the Imphal valley since May 3, and around 5,200 Kukis leaving Imphal and surrounding areas. There has to be a strong reason for people to leave their hearths and homes and flee to a different state. Indeed, the fear is all pervasive after the Kuki-Chin people based in Manipurs Imphal valley watched their homes and their earthly possessions go up in flames and likewise the Meiteis living in the hills. Both sides had to flee their homes lest they were physically attacked by mobs of the other ethnicity. The Burden Of History The Meiteis, the majority population of Manipur settled in the Imphal valley, adopted the Vaishnavite form of Hinduism in 1704 when their King Charairongba accepted religion and even changed his name into the Hindu name of Pitambar Singh. The recent clashes in Manipur have their origin in the fact that the Kuki-Chin group of people are seen as erstwhile citizens of Burma who lived in the Chin Hills and migrated to the hills of Manipur to escape the ferocity of the Burmese rulers. The Burmese had ruled Manipur for a brief period from 1819 to 1826. It was the combined forces of the British and the King of Manipur that succeeded in driving back the Burmese but not before the British had ceded the rich and fertile Kabow valley to them with an undertaking that they would hitherto never invade Manipur again. So while the Meiteis accept that the Nagas are indigenous to the hills of Manipur they have always considered the Kuki-Chins as interlopers. But after the British left India and the King of Manipur signed the Instrument of Accession to India on August 11, 1947, the Kuki-Chins were considered as a tribe of Manipur with all the rights and privileges granted to them by the Indian Constitution. Grievances On Both Sides The point of contention for Manipur has been that the Imphal valley which constitutes only one tenth of the geographical area of the state is the only settlement for the Meiteis while the remaining 90 percent of the landmass of Manipur which constitutes the hills and forests are the natural settlements for the tribes. The Meiteis cannot buy land in the hills by virtue of being Hindus and therefore non-tribals whereas the hill tribes are allowed to buy land in the Imphal valley. That this arrangement is inherently flawed and should have been resolved immediately after Independence is a no-brainer but it has been left to simmer and the recent outbreak of violence between the Kuki-Chin and Meitei people is a natural and expected outcome. The Kuki-Chin people accuse the Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh, a Meitei, of starting a regime of intrusion into the hills and acquiring forest land for reserved forests and wildlife sanctuaries without consulting the Kuki chieftains or the Hill Area Council, the equivalent of a tribal council which is mandated to conserve the natural resources and also to be the custodian of languages, customary practices and traditions. This is mandated under Article 371(C) of the Constitution. But whereas other tribal areas in North East India are governed by the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and enjoy direct funding from the Centre apart from state resources, the Hill Areas Council of Manipur are virtually toothless. A Series Of Unfortunate Events Manipur CM Biren has also been pushing for legalising marijuana for medical and industrial uses and he has been eyeing the forests in the hills, where tribals are growing poppy, to extend marijuana cultivation. The Manipur government, in fact, brought down the area under poppy cultivation from 6,742 acres in 2021 to 1,118 acres in 2022. It is no secret that the drug lords that cut across all ethnicities are unhappy with this governmental intrusion into their wealth-creation venture. The fire was waiting to break out. The last straw was when the Manipur High Court virtually directed the state government to expedite the process of granting Schedule Tribe status to the Meiteis. That was the last straw. On May 3, Kuki-Chin youth took out a solidarity march to protest the proposed ST status for Meiteis. And that was when the trouble started and since then it has only gained momentum. Ten MLAs belonging to the Kuki-Chin group have written to the central government demanding a separate administration for the hills. Their plea is that it is impossible to live under the same state government in the future. At the moment Manipur is still under an internet ban and to speak of the state returning to normalcy any time soon is to underplay the grave situation that is playing out in the state. Patricia Mukhim is Editor, The Shillong Times, and author of the book "Waiting for an Equal World". Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
The bizarre and unsavory strongman bromance between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump continues. If youre a MAGA Republican and not having second thoughts by now, somethings wrong with you. The latest head-scratcher and jaw-dropper is a new list of sanctions slapped on American individuals by the Russian president. Thats already weird. Arent we in the West the ones imposing sanctions on him for waging a genocidal war of conquest against Ukraine? But there it is. Putin, as ever, peddles his own narratives that wantonly invert reality. So in the Kremlins book, its Russia that must punish the West for its aggression. The creepier part is Putins pick of the 500 Americans on that list. Quite a few of them have nothing whatsoever to do with Russia or American policy toward the Kremlin. They instead share a different distinction: Theyre domestic foes of the former US president. Theres Letitia James, for example, the attorney general of New York whos suing Trump for fraud. And Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia, who resisted Trump when, after losing the 2020 election, the president leaned on him to find votes to flip the outcome. And theres Michael Byrd, the police officer who shot and killed a pro-Trump rioter on Jan. 6, 2021, when MAGA crowds sacked the US Capitol. Also included are celebrity Trump foils like Barack Obama and Stephen Colbert. Whats going on here? Putin, with his KGB-trained mind, is one of the most manipulative creatures on Earth. His sanctions list is just one more twist in his extensive and global disinformation campaign, designed to sow division and discord in Western societies. In this case, the Russian president is once again signaling to Trump and the Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican party that they should make common cause. Your enemies are my enemies, Putin is vibing. And of course hed quite appreciate Trump returning that favor if he gets back into the White House, and even if he doesnt. I say once again because Putin has long been siding with Trump, on the sly and not so sly. As the special counsels report of 2019 confirmed, Russia meddled in the election of 2016 to help Trump. The special counsels only question mark was whether Trump actively conspired or coordinated with the Russian government  or merely enjoyed its help passively. That ambiguity was enough for Trump to run around mouthing no collusion, no collusion. Once in the White House, Trump certainly seemed to see the world in a Putinist way. His first impeachment had to do with his attempt to bully Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whos lately been number 1 on Putins (literal) hit list. Trump also talked to his NATO allies  especially former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who triggered him in unfathomable ways  as though they were Americas real enemies. At the same time, he made googly eyes at his neo-Tsarist pal in the Kremlin, with the admiration of one authoritarian for another. In that way, both strongmen belong to a small but growing club of populists that also includes Viktor Orban. The Hungarian prime minister impresses them because he took a liberal democracy  one thats part of the European Union and NATO  and in effect turned it into an illiberal (Orbans word) autocracy. He did that in part by stoking resentments against liberals, LGBTQ people, migrants and eurocrats. Step by step, he also ignored, then dismantled, almost all of those pesky and tedious checks and balances that democracies have. Thats made Orban a hero of the American far right. But Hungary is small, whereas Russia is  militarily and geographically, at least  huge, and it has nukes. Have Trump fans not noticed that Putin has over the past 15 months repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons? Trump has noticed, of course. But it doesnt seem to bother him all that much. Supporting Ukraine and antagonising Russia is not in Americas national interests, he told Tucker Carlson when the latter still had his talk show on Fox News. Instead, Trump is sure that hed broker peace. What he seems to have in mind is Ukrainian capitulation. Americas Western allies are increasingly clear about their fears and hopes for next years US presidential election. In reply to students at a school near Berlin this week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dropped diplomatic niceties. The current president is better, so I want him to be re-elected, he said. Joe Biden, Scholz added, knows what you have to do to prevent the world from going to war. Trump, Scholz said, only stands for division. Ultimately, its Republicans who must decide whom to nominate for president, and whether to keep turning themselves into a Trumpist cult. Its not too late. Raffensperger, the one on Putins sanctions list, is also Republican, for example. And he knows how to deploy macabre humor for patriotic ends. 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 deadpanned this week. My inclusion on this list is deserved, and I appreciate them thinking of me. Let Republicans think on that. Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication. Credit: Bloomberg
Scattered in the vast southern Pacific Ocean, a group of tiny island nations are now increasingly the focus of the Great Game being played out between China and its US-led rivals for influence. But it isnt only the Great Powers slugging it out to hold sway in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), which straddle crucial sea lanes. Driven by its own geostrategic imperatives, and the evolving world order, India too has stepped up its engagement with the PICs in recent years. The largest of these countries, Papua New Guinea (PNG), hosted both US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the same time earlier this week. Papua New Guinea is one of the PICs where China has increased its footprints manifold, pouring in money and resources to build infrastructure. A $414 million Chinatown complex, a convention centre and the tallest high-rise in PNG are all Chinese-built. Both Secretary Blinken and PM Modi flew into PNGs capital Port Moresby on May 21 from Hiroshima after the G-7 and Quad summits there. Both also held separate summits with the leaders of the PICs. But the difference in New Delhi and Washingtons approach and engagement with Papua New Guinea and the wider Pacific region was reflected in the outcomes of their visit. Secretary Blinken, substituting for President Joe Biden who had to call off his visit to PNG at the last minute owing to the domestic debt ceiling crisis, signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement to improve the capacity of the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF), and increase stability and security in the region. Indias Outreach As opposed to this expected muscular approach, India announced a development-oriented 12-step Action Plan to Strengthen India-Pacific Island Partnership at the third summit meeting of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). The Action Plan includes a project in each of the Pacific islands countries to develop the small and medium enterprises sector. Knowing well the needs of the islanders, there is also a lot of focus on quick impact projects in the health sector in the Action Plan. A super-speciality cardiology hospital in Fiji for people in the region, sea ambulances and dialysis units for each of the 14 PICs and a plan to make available high-quality generic medicines to all is also on the anvil. Desalination units in each of these small nations have also been assured by India in the Action Plan, among other things. The people-centric approach should stand India in good stead in the southern Pacific region. This benign, demand-driven approach has been adopted by India in its immediate and extended neighbourhood as well to counter Chinas hegemonic ambitions. It was reflected in PM Modis speech at the FIPIC Summit wherein he assured the nations that India respects their priorities and is proud to be their development partner. Announcing other projects for the PICs, he said they are not small island states, but large ocean countries while describing India as their reliable partner. The PM also reiterated the need for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Indias efforts to forge closer relations with the PICs are of fairly recent origin. Their remoteness, perhaps, was one reason for Indias lack of interest in engaging with them. However, realising the necessity to impart a fresh impetus, India launched FIPIC in 2014. Its first summit was held in Fiji, a country with whom its ties go back a long way. Nearly one-third of Fijis population is of Indian origin, with their forefathers landing in Fiji as indentured plantation workers in the late 19th century. PNG, too, has a sizable Indian diaspora. Apart from tapping deeper into this connection, India also needs to lend a greater thrust to trade and investment links with countries other than its traditional trading partners, Fiji and PNG, in the southern Pacific. The region, after all, is rich in natural gas, precious minerals and marine resources. India could also explore lending assistance to these countries in the agriculture sector and be a partner in their efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change. That the PICs are seen as a vital element of the larger Indo-Pacific also found reflection in the joint statement issued upon the conclusion of the third in-person Quad leaders summit in Hiroshima. Devoting two paragraphs to them, the statement said 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. India has also done well in becoming an observer in the Partners in the Blue Pacific initiative, which has the US, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the UK working together to address the priorities of PICs. Chinas Growing Footprints But even as their strategic interests converge and the Quad and Indo-Pacific construct seek to contain Chinas expansionism in the southern Pacific, a lot more energy and resources will be required. China began making steady inroads in these nations long before the rest of the world woke up. Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited the PICs twice  in 2014 and 2018. In 2022, then Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi went on a 10-day, eight-nation swing through the PICs. Though the minister failed to get them on board a sweeping regional pact on security and development, Beijing is unlikely to give up its efforts to build inroads in the region. President Biden, on the other hand, has not been able to make it to these countries despite his administration claiming solidarity with them. China has also got 10 PICs on board its Belt and Road Initiative, while also inking a controversial security pact with the archipelago of Solomon Islands, fuelling fears that this will enable Beijing to set up a naval base there. Clearly, the US-led western countries as well as other friendly countries like India cannot afford to slacken their pace in this new unfolding Great Game. Parul Chandra is a New Delhi-based senior journalist who writes on foreign affairs. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
'Sengol', a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, which was received by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to represent transfer of power from the British and was kept in a museum in Allahabad will be installed in the new Parliament building to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Wednesday. Shah said the purpose of the installation was clear then and even now. He said that the transfer of power is not merely a handshake or signing a document and that it must remain connected with local traditions keeping in mind modern needs. "Sengol represents the same feeling that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947," he said. The Home Minister said that new Parliament building is an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's far-sightedness. He said the Prime Minister will honour 7,000 workers (shram yogis) on the inauguration. Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building were sent to all political parties who were free to act according to their wisdom. (With PTI inputs)

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday claimed the ordinance issued for control of services in Delhi means the Narendra Modi government does not believe in the Supreme Court. After meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai, Kejriwal said state governments were being toppled by using the CBI and the ED. Slamming the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Thackeray said they have come together to defeat forces that are against democracy. Kejriwal met Thackeray to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi. Addressing a joint press conference with Thackeray, Kejriwal accused the Centre of using central agencies to topple state governments, and referred to the collapse of the Thackeray government in Maharashtra last year. The ordinance on control of services in Delhi means the Modi government doesn't believe in the Supreme Court, he said. Thackeray said, We have come together to defeat those against democracy." Kejriwal said Thackeray has agreed to vote against the bill (on control of services in Delhi) when it comes before the Rajya Sabha. On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance. The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services. The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.
Bernard Arnault, the wealthiest person in the world, experienced a significant decrease of $11.2 billion in his fortune in just one day, raising concerns about a potential slowdown in the US economy and its impact on the demand for luxury goods, Bloomberg reported. As the founder of LVMH, a conglomerate that encompasses prestigious brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon, and Christian Dior, Arnault had witnessed a remarkable surge in his wealth throughout 2023, primarily driven by the rising share prices of European luxury companies. However, on Tuesday, a decline in LVMH shares sent shockwaves through the market. The shares plummeted by 5% in Paris, marking the most substantial drop in over a year, and causing the European luxury sector to lose approximately $30 billion. Despite this setback, Bernard Arnault's net worth remains substantial at $191.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Impressively, he has still accumulated an additional $29.5 billion in wealth so far this year. The narrowing gap between Arnault and Elon Musk, the second-richest person globally and CEO of Tesla Inc., is notable. Currently, the difference between their fortunes is a mere $11.4 billion. This adjustment in rankings reflects the recent market dynamics and the impact of Tuesday's market rout. While LVMH's share price rally had been sustained for an extended period, Tuesday's downturn emerged as a stark reversal. Nevertheless, the company's share price remains 23% higher than it was at the beginning of the year. Additionally, the MSCI Europe Textiles Apparel & Luxury Goods Index has surged by an impressive 27%, indicative of the overall strength of the European luxury sector. During a luxury conference in Paris, organized by Morgan Stanley, attendees expressed concerns about a potentially subdued performance in the United States. Edouard Aubin, an analyst at the investment bank, highlighted this sentiment, stating, "There is a relatively more subdued outlook for the US luxury market." Daughter of world's richest man named Dior CEO. 10 points about Delphine Arnault This cautious approach was further emphasized by analysts from Deutsche Bank AG, Matt Garland and Adam Cochrane, who noted in a research note that investors are expected to become more discerning when selecting European luxury stocks due to worries about slowing growth in the US.
A Deloitte employee was forced to apologise and later deleted his LinkedIn account after he was slammed for a post, where he praised German dictator Adolf Hitler. He has now been sacked from his job he joined a month ago, Deloitte confirmed later. The man, identified as Neerabh Mehrotra, wrote in his post titled "Friday Inspiration" about how he always wanted to read about Hitler and went on to speak about the "charismatic qualities" he had. "Recently I picked up a book on Adolf Hitler "The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler" by Laurence Rees. I always wanted to read about Hitler and the World War II and this book gave me a fair understanding about these topic," Mehrotra, who worked in the Risk Advisory Department at Deloitte, wrote. He then went on to state "some of the imperative qualities" of Hitler such as "charismatic visionary, magnetic speaker, extremely confident, very intellectual and massive action taker,". Mehrotra was slammed for the post on Twitter with many users sharing screenshots from the post. Of course, so what if he gassed to death lakhs upon lakhs of small children, women and men. We all must "Heil Hitler" as he was so charismatic, intellectual and massive-action taker. What a man! Dear @Deloitte @Deloitteindia, congrats for such a workforce you nurture, you Nazi pic.twitter.com/8Nx5g13TbP  Sandeep Manudhane (@sandeep_PT) May 22, 2023 To those who are commenting "personal views, nothing to so with his workplace", I have a question. Is the mindset like a garment that he can leave at home before going to office? Why should his employers not know who his idols are and how he doesn't know the difference between++  Older, Wiser, Happier (@thathappydad) May 22, 2023 "Dangerous thoughts made visible. Revealing. They are personal until things get real," another user wrote. Mehrotra later clarified in an open letter that he did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings and requested for forgiveness. ''My mentors/bosses/coaches have always taught me that if I make a mistake then I should have the audacity to accept it as well, so here I come forward to sincerely apologize for my post and I will not write anything about such personalities in the future," he wrote. However, it seemed like he had not recovered from the criticism and later deleted his LinkedIn account. Deloitte, in a official statement, said that the man is not working with the company anymore. "The views on social media expressed by the individual, who joined our organization last month, are not aligned with our shared values and violate our internal policies. This individual no longer works for Deloitte India," an official spokesperson of the company said in a press note. Also read: Worlds best workplaces 2022: A look at top 10 great places to work
Television actor Nitesh Pandey died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 50. As per reports, Pandey died on Tuesday in Igatpuri near Nashik where he was shooting for a project. The news of Pandey's death was confirmed by his brother-in-law, producer Siddharth Nagar. "Yes you have heard it right. My brother-in-law is no more, my sister Arpita Pandey is in a state of shock. Niteshs father has left for Igatpuri to get his mortal remains. They should be here by the afternoon. We have gone absolutely numb, I have not been able to even talk to Arpita after the tragedy," Nagar told ETimes. "I am headed to Igatpuri as well, I am in the train right now. I was coming back from Delhi when I heard about this. Nitesh was much younger than me. He was a very lively person and I dont think he had a history of any heart ailment," Nagar added. TV actor Nitesh Pandey found dead at a hotel in Igatpuri, Nashik in Maharashtra. Prima facie, the cause of death seems to be a heart attack. A Police team present at the hotel and investigation is underway. Postmortem report is awaited. Questioning of hotel staff and people close pic.twitter.com/UIEnosnZMo  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023 Pandey was recently part of the television series "Anupamaa" and was seen several other series in the past such as "Ek Rishta Saajhedari Ka"and "AstitvaEk Prem Kahani,". Additionally, Pandey also starred several Bollywood movies such as "Dabanng 2", "Om Shanti Om" and "Badhaai Do". Pandey started his career in 1990 with theatre and got his first on-screen break in "Tejas", in which he essayed the role of a detective. Pandey also has his own production house called "Dream Castle Productions,". Also read: Sarath Babu, veteran Telugu actor, dies at 71
Delhi Police Head Constable Ram Bhajan Kumars phone has been ringing non-stop since the results of the UPSC civil services examination were announced Tuesday. Kumar, 34, managed to clear the exam in his eighth attempt with a rank of 667. For the son of a labourer from Rajasthan, who saw his family struggle every day to educate him, clearing the UPSC civil services exam was a dream come true for Kumar. I did not have anything to lose and I come from a village in Rajasthan where my father was a labourer. I have seen the struggle my family has gone through to educate us and meet our daily needs. We never lost hope then and so, when I had an opportunity in hand, I thought I will utilise it to my best, he told news agency PTI. Ram Bhajan Kumar joined Delhi Police in 2009 as a constable and was first posted at Vijay Ghat in CP reserve. Her was later transferred to the Shahbad Dairy police station and is currently posted at a cyber cell police station. The Delhi Police official Twitter handle shared a post congratulating its head constable for cracking UPSC. #DelhiPolice family extends heartiest congratulations to Head Constable Ram Bhajan of Cyber Cell, South West District for securing 667th rank in #UPSC Civil Services Examination 2022. Your hardwork, perseverance, grit and dedication has paid off.#DelhiPoliceChampions#CSE2022 pic.twitter.com/EDqdnEhb8u  Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) May 23, 2023 IPS officer Suman Nalwa wrote: From aspiration to inspiration. From an aspirant to inspiration! Meet @DelhiPolice Head Constable Ram Bhajan who qualified the prestigious #UPSC civil services exams with 667th rank. Wish you a successful career ahead. Always keep the flag high! pic.twitter.com/bZb2mtXh5H  Suman Nalwa (@sumannalwa) May 23, 2023 Asked if he was inspired by anyone from his department, Kumar named Firoz Alam, who was a constable in the Delhi Police and after clearing the UPSC exams in 2019, became an ACP. "After Alam sir secured rank, I got motivation to strive hard. He also made a Whatsapp group to encourage and motivate UPSC aspirants like me and others. He has been a constant support system till date," he said. Despite working alongside his preparation, Kumar managed to study six hours daily. On his preparations, Kumar said he always preferred to stay near his place of duty so that he could get back home soon after his shift. Having worked in various units of the force, he said he always "secretly" wished for an eight-hour shift and was sometimes fortunate to get fixed duty slots. (With inputs from PTI)
In a display of friendship and respect, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the iconic Opera House were lit up in the vibrant hues of the Indian tricolour as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited these historic landmarks during his three-day trip to Australia. Accompanied by his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, PM Modi experienced this remarkable gesture that symbolised the enduring bond between the two nations. Australian Prime Minister Albanese expressed the significance of illuminating the Opera House with the Indian flag, stating, "There are 1.4 billion reasons why we want the Indian flag on the opera house because it is the largest population in the world. One of the things about lighting up the Opera House is it projects our image to the world." The tribute comes as PM Modi concluded his visit to Australia after almost a decade. He also tweeted a photo of the leaders and wrote: "Sydney turning it up for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi." #WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visit the Sydney Harbour and Opera House, in Australia. pic.twitter.com/tgToEmv2gf  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023 The Sydney Harbour Bridge, known as the world's largest steel arch bridge, and the Opera House, Sydney's most famous landmark, hold immense cultural and architectural significance. The Opera House, a multipurpose performing arts facility, also houses restaurants and a professional recording studio. Recognizing its historical and cultural value, the building was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007. This is not the first time the sails of the Opera House have been illuminated in the Indian tricolour. The last time was in August 2022 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence. Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi received a Ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Admiralty House in Sydney, a customary welcome extended to visiting dignitaries. PM Modi and Albanese then engaged in a bilateral meeting to strengthen the relationship between the two quad nations. This meeting builds upon the outcomes of the Australia-India Annual Leaders' Summit held in March this year, where both countries committed to enhancing cooperation across various sectors.
World's largest electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla is expected to finalise location for a new factory soon. Elon Musk, its CEO, said the location is likely to be finalised before the end of this year. On Tuesday, he hinted that the location for the new factory could be in India as he expressed interest in setting up business in the country. His remarks come almost a year after he dropped his plans to launch Tesla in India. The change of heart comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to India next month.

During an interview on Tuesday, where Musk was asked if Tesla was interested in India for the new factory, he replied, "Absolutely". Last week, Tesla executives met Indian officials for two days in New Delhi where the EV maker reportedly proposed to build a manufacturing facility and R&D centre in the country. Earlier, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar was quoted by news agency Reuters saying, "They are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base." However, reports claim that Tesla stopped just short of committing a factory in India during the meeting between its executives and government officials.

Earlier, the Centre had advised Tesla to set up a local manufacturing plant if it wanted to sell EVs in India. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said Tesla will be welcome to India if it manufactures EVs locally and not import them from China. Elon Musk had refused to take the offer saying, "Tesla will not put a manufacturing plant in any location where we are not allowed first to sell and service cars." Tesla did not repeat the plea during fresh talks with officials from the PMO.

Tesla's warming up to India again is seen as the EV maker's attempts to diversify beyond China, its largest market outside the US. Amid rising tension between the US and China, several carmakers, including Tesla, may be pushed to the point of finding new destination for EV business in future. Besides components, China is also key to global EV business for its battery manufacturing. India could be the alternative market where the government is eager to promote local manufacturing.

First Published Date:
Copper is spiraling lower as investors increasingly write off the prospects for a decisive economic recovery in China this year. The metal has been under pressure as a raft of data in recent weeks has showed the post-virus rebound in China, which consumes around half the worlds copper, is stuttering. Unlike in previous slowdowns, Beijing is depriving metals of a safety net by not deploying any big-ticket spending on infrastructure or property. Metals markets have faced significant pressures after the disappointing April macro data from China, which have acted as a wake-up call to the weak reality on the ground, Citigroup Inc. said a note. There was more bearish news from China on Wednesday, with fresh fears over local-government debt thats often used to fund infrastructure. Globally, coppers demand weakness is evident in inventories held by the London Metal Exchange, which have almost doubled since mid-April. Copper fell as much as 1.4% to $7,988 a ton on the LME and traded at $8,019.50 as of 1:46 p.m. in Shanghai. The metal is down around 11% this quarter. While China is the main source of coppers troubles, there isnt much help coming from the US. The Federal Reserves aggressive monetary tightening campaign has undermined demand. Investors had been expecting a pause, but recent comments from officials suggest the central bank may have to keep raising rates. Still Optimistic Goldman Sachs Group Inc.  a notable bull on copper  said commodities prices would come roaring back should concerns over a global recession turn out to be misplaced. Copper will return to $10,000 a ton by this time next year, analysts including Nicholas Snowdon said in a note. For now, a key spread is also signaling supply is running well ahead of demand. Coppers spot price is at a $66 a ton discount to three-month futures on the LME. Thats the widest contango  when futures trade at a premium to the spot price  in data going back to 1994. The risk of more copper supply is adding to the downward price pressure, said Jiang Hang, head of trading at Yonggang Resources Co. Prices are going to head even lower. Steep price declines for other metals are also damaging sentiment toward copper, he said. The plunge for other metals like zinc has gone far beyond market expectations, which is sending a really bad signal. Zinc dropped 1.9% to $2,328.50 a ton on the LME, taking its decline so far this quarter to around 20%. Aluminum was down 0.6%, falling for a third day.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said the government is mulling a possible ban on Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after the former prime minister's arrest. On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of 70-year-old Khan by paramilitary Rangers. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander house, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10. "A decision has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway," Asif told reporters here. He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party, Geo News reported. Asif claimed that the vandalism of military installations across the country on May 9 was coordinated attacks" planned by Khan. "There is a lot of evidence and their people are telling themselves that they were briefed about this beforehand, he was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. "I feel that his struggle of a year all his plans failed and this was his last move against the armed forces. The minister said that Khan's party challenged the foundation of the state by challenging the defence installations on May 9. "Is there any crime that was not committed on May 9? The ISI office was attacked, they tried to enter the Cantonment in Sialkot but that attack was repulsed they also set fire to the Lahore Corps Commanders house, he claimed. "Till now, he (Imran Khan) has not condemned [the violence] in clear words. He says that he did not know, he was [in custody]. He had his phone [ ] he repeatedly said that this reaction was expected and will happen again if he is arrested, Asif added. Meanwhile, the party's lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar has rubbished the possibility of a ban, saying that the political parties cannot be banned. "An attempt had been made to ban Jamaat-e-Islami a long time ago but the Supreme Court ruled that a ban cannot be imposed as it was a basic right of everyone to create a political party," Zafar said in response to a question during media talk outside the Supreme Court. Khan's party said that he will address the nation at 7pm tonight. Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday he would inflict more pain on short sellers and told them to watch out just days before a planned OPEC+ meeting to decide on future oil policy. "Speculators, like in any market they are there to stay, I keep advising them that they will be ouching, they did ouch in April, I don't have to show my cards I'm not a poker player... but I would just tell them watch out," he told the Qatar Economic Forum organised by Bloomberg. Short sellers are investors that bet on oil prices falling, and hence when an unexpected move by OPEC+ to cut production causes a rally, they are forced to close their positions at a loss. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and other OPEC+ producers announced surprise voluntary cuts in April that lifted prices after a slump driven by concerns that a banking crisis could impact demand. Analysts at Standard Chartered bank said in a note this week that short speculative positions are now as bearish as they were at the start of the pandemic in 2020. "We think the latest build-up in short positions significantly increases the probability of further production cuts when OPEC+ meets," the analysts said. Brent prices were trading 1.3% higher at just under $77 a barrel at 1300 GMT, about $10 below their peak after OPEC+ announced the additional cuts in April. OPEC+ members are due to meet on June 4 in Vienna to decide on their next course of action. The April cuts were described as "inadvisable" by Washington, which had also been critical of the group's decision to cut production in October. The minister said the alliance would continue to be proactive, preemptive and hedge against what may come in the future, regardless of any criticism. "We should be brave enough to attend to the future without continuing the so-called 'kicking the can' policies, those policies that may allow us to fend the situation for this month, next month or the month after but with that we are losing sight of our intentions and our more important objectives," he said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, known as OPEC+, would continue to be a responsible market regulator, the minister added. He again blamed the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) and its initial predictions for a 3 million barrel per day (bpd) fall in Russian production on the back of the Ukraine war for misleading the market. "Look who did the most in trying to bring forecasts and data and projections that really created most of the volatility that we have had in 2022 and continue to do so?" Prince Abdulaziz said. "There is an organisation called the IEA, I think they have proven that it really takes special talent to be consistently wrong." The IEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its monthly oil market report last week, the agency upgraded its forecast for 2023 oil demand by 200,000 bpd to 102 million bpd, adding that the oil market faces a supply crunch in the second half of the year.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinese legacy automaker Changan Automobile recently disclosed during an investor inquiry session its accelerated strategic plan to expand into five major regional markets, including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

By 2024, the company aims to establish a presence in Southeast Asia and Europe, with a future goal of entering over 90% of the entire global markets.

Photo credit: Changan Auto

In the short term, Changan Automobile's overseas operations will primarily focus on the Changan brand. However, the company will also explore introducing the new energy vehicle brands Deepal and AVATR, as well as the commercial vehicle brand KAICENE at appropriate times.

Under the plan, Changan Automobile will invest 4 billion yuan in establishing a global right-hand drive vehicle production base in Thailand, with production scheduled to commence in 2024. The initial production capacity will be 100,000 vehicles, which will later be increased to 200,000 vehicles after phase II.

Furthermore, Changan Automobile aims to officially enter the European market by 2024, with a sales target of surpassing 300,000 vehicle in major European markets within 2 to 3 years.

In terms of products, Changan Automobile aims to share the results of its globalized R&D and supply chain layout with consumers worldwide. By 2025, the company plans to launch no fewer than 30 global products.

In addition to its overseas market focus, Changan Automobile has reiterated its commitment to domestic joint ventures.

Mazda3; photo credit: Changan Mazda

Specifically, the company aims to deepen strategic consensus and mutual trust with Ford Motor and Mazda Motor, refreshing their joint cooperation.

Both Changan Automobile and Ford Motor will actively promote the development plan for Changan Ford, and preliminary strategic consensus has been reached on future cooperation in electric vehicles.

On the other hand, Changan Automobile and Mazda Motor will leverage their respective strengths to support the development of new energy vehicle models for Changan Mazda. The joint ventures will optimize their governance models, enhance decision-making efficiency, and leverage Changan Automobile's advantages in product development, new marketing, and customer operations to enhance the competitiveness of the joint ventures.
February 24, 2022

Disarming Ukraine

The military of Russia has launched an operation to disarm, and possibly regime change, the Ukraine.

I do understand why Russia is doing this - it is either attack now or defend itself later with way more casualties and the danger of total defeat.

I had hoped though that it would find other methods to protect Russia from further NATO aggression.

In 2014 the U.S. instigated regime change in Kiev and has since controlled the Ukrainian government. It has build up the Ukraine as a base to strangle Russia economically and militarily.

During the last two centuries Russia had to defend itself, with horrific casualties, against two huge invasions from the west. It is understandable that it does not want to repeat that experience.

It is difficult to discern what the planed end state of this operation is. Where is this going to stop?

Looking at this map I believe that the most advantageous end state for Russia would be the creation of a new independent country, call it Novorussiya, on the land east of the Dnieper and south along the coast that holds a majority ethnic Russian population and that, in 1922, had been attached to the Ukraine by Lenin. That state would be politically, culturally and militarily aligned with Russia.

This would eliminate Ukrainian access to the Black Sea and create a land bridge towards the Moldavian breakaway Transnistria which is under Russian protection.

Excursus:

The yellow part of that map marked 'Ukraine in 1654' was actually the land of the Eastern Orthodox Zaporozhian Cossacks. Under threat from the Catholic Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, which at the time held the green parts under serfdom, they negotiated the Pereiaslav Agreement (1654) with Russia and pledged allegiance to the Tsar. They area thus became an autonomous part of Russia.

End Excursus

The rest of the Ukraine would be a land confined, mostly agricultural state, disarmed and too poor to be build up to a new threat to Russia anytime soon. Politically it would be dominated by fascists from Galicia which would then become a major problem for the European Union.

Thanks to Stalin's additions to the Ukraine three countries, Poland, Hungary and Romania, have claims to certain areas in the Ukraine's western regions. If they want to snatch those up again it is now probably the best time to do so. Despite being part of NATO, which likely would not support such moves, those three will have domestic policy difficulties to withstand the urge.

I hope for a sharp but short fight which destroys the Ukraine's military capabilities but causes as little casualties and other damages as possible.

It is sad that NATO countries, including mine, did not have the courage to make the necessary concessions to prevent this from happening.

Update:

Putin's speech last night (English version) explains why this is happening.

Posted by b on February 24, 2022 at 7:16 UTC | Permalink

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With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

BYD Song Pro DM-i Champion edition to go on sale on May 25

The BYD Song Pro DM-is Champion edition will hit the market on May 25, the automaker said this week. The new product still carries BYDs DM-i super hybrid system in its powertrain. In addition to the existing 51km and 110km versions, the refreshed model also introduces a new 71km-range variant.

Photo credit: BYD

NIO Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd. sees registered capital double to 6 billion yuan

NIO Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NIO Holding Ltd., recently underwent a business change, with its registered capital doubling from 3 billion to 6 billion yuan, according to the Chinese corporate information inquiry platform Tianyancha.

Greater Power to build 36GWh energy storage battery production base in Qingdao

Chinese lithium battery maker Guangzhou Greater Power Technology Co., Ltd. (Greater Power) announced on May 22 it plans to construct the Energy Storage Project No. 1 in Chengyang District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, with a total investment of approximately 13 billion yuan (the final investment amount will be based on actual investment).

The project is set to be implemented in three phases, which will feature a total energy storage battery production capacity of 36GWh per year. Ground-breaking of the first phase will begin before the end of Sept. 2023.

Changan Automobile plans to enter European markets in 2024

Chinese legacy automaker Changan Automobile recently disclosed during an investor inquiry session its accelerated strategic plan to expand into five major regional markets, including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

By 2024, the company aims to establish a presence in Southeast Asia and Europe, with a future goal of entering over 90% of the entire global markets.

Chinas locally-made passenger vehicle retail sales likely to grow 6.6% MoM in May 2023: CPCA

China's domestic passenger vehicle ("PV") retail sales are anticipated to reach 1.73 million units in May 2023, which should climb 6.6% from the previous month, and also leap 27.7% from the previous year mainly due to the impact of the year-ago epidemic factors and supply chain disruptions, according to the China Passenger Car Association ("CPCA").

Geelys Galaxy L7 PHEV to hit market on May 31

Geely announced today that its first plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) model under its Galaxy new energy vehicle (NEV) series, the Geely Galaxy L7, will hit the market on May 31.

BYD's F brand rumored to be named 'Fangchengbao' in Chinese

Shenzhen BYD Auto R&D Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Company Ltd., recently saw its corporate name changed to Shenzhen Fangchengbao (translated to Shenzhen Formula Leopard) Auto Sales Co., Ltd., with its registered capital surging 900% to 50 million yuan at the same time, according to the Chinese corporate information inquiry platform Tianyancha.

It is noteworthy that BYD applied for the registration of the "Fangchengbao" trademark in August of last year. Some industry insiders speculate that the Chinese name for the BYD F brand might be "Fangchengbao," suitable for automobiles and electric transportation vehicles.

Geometrical-PAL, Keysight Technologies partner on automotive perception technology development

Chinese autonomous driving solution provider Geometrical-PAL recently signed a memorandum of understanding with US software developer Keysight Technologies, to establish a strategic partnership on the acceleration of the development, testing, application, and standardization of advanced technologies in autonomous driving perception systems.
Payments NZ has confirmed a bunch of banks that are hopping on board the seven-day transfer train. ASB, Bank of China, BNZ, ANZ, Citi, HSBC, ICBC, Kiwibank, Westpac, TSB, and The Cooperative Bank are all ready to make the switch and let you move your hard-earned cash whenever you please.
Both riders and driver partners have the ability to rate one to five stars on a trip. Your rating is the average of your last 500 trips, and is measured out of 5 stars.
Living close to our parents might have more benefits than we know.

I mean, we already know the benefits of having a quick and cheap babysitter on standby, but it goes even further.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Footage from body cameras Des Moines police officers were wearing when they shot and killed a 16-year-old boy will not be made public, a state panel has ruled.

The Iowa Public Information Board ruled May 18 that video of the shooting should be withheld, dismissing a complaint filed by Des Moines TV station KCCI that sought to have the video released.

Trevontay Jenkins was killed in the Dec. 26 shooting in an apartment.

Prosecutors have linked his death to a Jan. 23 shooting at the Starts Right Here alternative school in Des Moines that left two teenagers dead and the programs founder injured. Disparaging comments about Jenkins surfaced online following the police shooting, which prosecutors say led Jenkin's half brother and another teen to kill 16-year-old Rashad Carr and 18-year-old Gionni Dameron.

Bravon Tukes, 19, and Preston Walls, 18, have been charged with first-degree murder and other counts for the killings. The two will be tried separately later this year.

The Iowa Public Information board dismissed the complaint filed by KCCI-TV reporter James Stratton on the basis of Iowas juvenile records law, according to the station. City attorneys had previously denied the stations records request filed with the Des Moines Police Department.

Stratton argued the video should be released because Jenkins did not enter the criminal justice system, and said the department could remove identifying information from the video, according to the Des Moines Register.

Three police officers fired more than a dozen times after the boy allegedly pointed a gun at them. Officers were dispatched to the home to respond to a domestic dispute and have said they tried unsuccessfully to de-escalate the situation.

The Iowa Attorney Generals office determined the officers acted with legal justification.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  The South African government was under more pressure Wednesday for declining to release cargo documents relating to the visit by a Russian ship that the United States alleges collected a consignment of weapons for Moscow.

Separately, a top official in South Africa's ruling party added to the scrutiny of the country's relationship with Russia by saying the party would welcome a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

The comments by African National Congress Secretary General Fikile Mbalula regarding Putin were made in an interview with the BBC and in the context of the Russian leader attending a summit of the BRICS economic bloc in South Africa in August. The bloc is made up of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

"If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here, even tomorrow, to come to our country," Mbalula said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the ANC's social media channels on Tuesday. We will welcome him to come here as part and parcel of BRICS.

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court treaty, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he enters the country. The South African government has indicated it will not carry out the arrest warrant if Putin does travel for the summit, although it hasn't said that explicitly.

Do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere? Mbalula, a former Cabinet minister who is now the ANC's top administrative official, said in the BBC interview.

He told the BBC interviewer there was hypocrisy on the part of the West related to the arrest warrant for Putin because, he said, Britain and other Western nations committed crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and no heads of state were arrested.

Mbalula last month referred to the United States as one of the countries messing up the world."

There has been increasing anti-U.S. and anti-West rhetoric in the ANC and sometimes in parts of South Africa's government since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, despite South Africa maintaining it has a neutral stance on the war.

The trend is troubling for the U.S. and other Western partners of South Africa because of its status as an influential democracy in the developing world, and Africa's most developed economy.

South Africa has a historical relationship with Russia connected to the old Soviet Unions military and political support for the ANC when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the racist apartheid regime that oppressed the countrys Black majority. The West appears concerned that the ANCs old ideological ties to Russia are now pulling South Africa into Moscows political orbit amid burgeoning global tensions. There are also growing economic ties between Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, and China.

The concerns were laid bare by the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa earlier this month when he accused it of providing weapons to Russia via a cargo ship that docked at a naval base near the city of Cape Town in December. Ambassador Reuben Brigety said I would bet my life that weapons were loaded onto the Russian-flagged Lady R, which is under U.S. sanctions for alleged ties to a company that has transported arms for the Russian government.

The South African government has denied it made any arms transaction with Russia, although it hasn't categorically ruled out the possibility that another entity did so secretly. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry.

On Wednesday, South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, challenged the government to come clean if it had nothing to hide and release a cargo manifest for the Lady R's visit to the Simon's Town naval base.

A DA lawmaker also asked Defense Minister Thandi Modise to release the documents during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Modise refused to do so while also using an expletive to repeat the government's denial that any weapons were loaded onto the ship.

Modise has said that the Russian ship was visiting to deliver an ammunition shipment to South Africa that was ordered in 2018 but delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modise's refusal to make public the cargo manifest was supported by fellow ANC lawmakers, who said the documents were "classified." Modise said they would be handed over to the inquiry into the incident.

___

More AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Polestar, the electric performance car brand jointly owned by Volvo Car Group and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is reportedly exploring a capital-level collaboration with Xingji Meizu, the combined entity formed after the consolidation of Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. and Hubei Xingjishidai Technology Co., Ltd. ("Xingji Technology").

Polestar 2; photo credit: Polestar

Sources familiar with the matter revealed to a local media outlet that the preliminary discussions involve establishing a joint venture to facilitate the integration of automotive and smartphone ecosystems.

This business consolidation also comes with personnel reallocation. Multiple independent sources have informed the local media outlet that Shen Ziyu, Chairman and CEO of Xingji Meizu, will take the helm of Polestar China, further leveraging the resources within the Geely system, while Feng Dan, General Manager of Polestar China, will continue to oversee the execution and implementation of various operations.

Polestar China has yet to respond to the rumors when the report is prepared.

In July last year, Xingji Technology, under the leadership of Li Shufu, acquired Chinese smartphone maker Meizu Technology, aiming to integrate the existing smartphone business while exploring the integration of smartphone ecosystems and interactions in automobiles. The recently unveiled Lynk & Co 08, featuring the Flyme Auto infotainment system, serves as an experimental project for Xingji Meizu.

Xingji Meizu holds three business divisions, namely smartphones, XR (extended reality), and advanced technologies. The Meizu smartphone brand continues to operate under the smartphone division.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Tianjin Port Group introduced the world's first self-developed fuel-cell electric Artificial Intelligence Transport Robot (ART) during the 7th World Intelligence Congress.

Photo credit: Tianjin Port Group

The ART measures 15 meters in length, 2.9 meters in width, and stands 1.5 meters above the ground, with a curb weight of 23 tonnes and a maximum payload capacity of 65 tonnes. It can achieve a top speed of 35km/h. Equipped with a 186-kWh battery and five 140-liter hydrogen tanks, the ART incorporates multiple sensors such as LiDAR, cameras, and integrated navigation, relying on 5G and BeiDou navigation technology to enable autonomous driving.

The fuel-cell electric ART features the world's first comprehensive digital twin technology base for ports known as "Jinhong." It possesses end-to-end self-organizing network and intelligent collaboration capabilities. With the support of "Jinhong," the vehicle's black box functionality is strengthened, enhancing real-time data recording and status monitoring to improve operational stability and facilitate maintenance. It enables near-field interaction between different production equipment, connecting nearby devices via a local area network to share vehicle operating information and optimize local operations, significantly reducing computational power and communication time.

The ART is expected to be put into use immediately after launch, seamlessly integrating with the existing fleet of domestically largest-scale intelligent transport robots. It will serve the terminal production operations at Tianjin Port, contributing to Tianjins high-quality development of the port economy.
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.
A family uses the Inalahan Middle School shelter ahead of the approaching Typhoon Mawar in Inalahan on Tuesday.
"Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures (Category B), limited to direct federal assistance, under the public assistance program will be provided at 75% federal funding," the release added.

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For more information, call the DPHSS Northern Region Community Health Center at 671-635-7400/4410 or the Southern Region CHC at 671-828-7515/6/7.

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WASHINGTON  Following President Bidens emergency declarations on Tuesday for both the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and Guam ahea
GVB activated its visitor concierge program to assist visitors that speak Japanese, Korean and Mandarin Chinese with any emergencies. The main hotline to call is 671-588-3030.

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Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Shenzhen BYD Auto R&D Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Company Ltd., recently saw its corporate name changed to Shenzhen Fangchengbao (translated to Shenzhen Formula Leopard) Auto Sales Co., Ltd., with its registered capital surging 900% to 50 million yuan at the same time, according to the Chinese corporate information inquiry platform Tianyancha.

Meanwhile, Wang Chuanfu has stepped down from his positions as the legal representative, chairman, and general manager of Shenzhen Fangchengbao. He Zhiqi has been appointed as the companys new legal representative and general manager, while Xiong Tianbo has become an executive director.

The company's business scope has been expanded to include the sales of new energy vehicle electrical accessories, manufacturing of automotive parts and components, and battery sales.

It is noteworthy that BYD applied for the registration of the "Fangchengbao" trademark in August of last year. Some industry insiders speculate that the Chinese name for the BYD F brand might be "Fangchengbao," suitable for automobiles and electric transportation vehicles.

Photo credit: BYD

Earlier this year, BYD disclosed the spy photos of the first model under its yet-to-be-launched F brand.

Named SF, the model shown in the photos is being tested on roads. The sticker on the car window shows that it is still the testing vehicle previously numbered 2316. The automaker disclosed that the first three numbers signify that the SF would carry two electric motors and three locks (front and rear differential locks + electric center lock), and will ride on an all-new platform dedicated to new energy off-roaders. The 6 means the F brand might be launched in June this year.

Photo credit: BYD

Despite the thick camouflage, the raised lines on the vehicles front hood are still visible, while the split-style bumper design highlights its strong off-road attributes. Although the specific parameters are unclear, it still can be known that the SF has a large approach and departure angle.
"What kind of storms would this compare to?" asked Brandon Aydlett, NWS science and operations officer. "Probably 1976's Pamela (and) 2002's Pongsona. Yesterday, (we) we're looking at the worst-case scenario that we could see - something approaching 1962's Karen, which seems to be the worst on record to have struck Guam."

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GUAM UPDATE

Most of island now without power, GPA maintains immediate restoration efforts when safe to do so
HAGATNA (The Guam Daily Post)  Super Typhoon Mawar continues its slow approach towards Guam, and passage very near or directly over Guam is i
Snow falls over school buses parked at Great Falls Elementary School in Great Falls, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC, January 28, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang
Journal-Courier

The Four Rivers Special Education District board is scheduled to meet in regular session at 1 p.m. today at 936 W. Michigan Ave.

Among the items on the agenda are:
KeithBishop/Getty Images

The following area students have been named to the spring semester dean's list for academic achievement at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

To be named to the dean's list, a student must earn a 3.5 or higher grade point average.
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The latest donation to Jacksonville Area Museum almost became part of a guitar.

While looking for new material with which to make cigar box guitars, Logan Elliott found a couple of cigar boxes from Jacksonville's past that he briefly considered turning into musical instruments.

Elliott found, at Country Crock Antiques & Gifts on the square in Virden, a Short Horn cigar box that contained Havana cigars manufactured by R.T. Cassel Cigar Co. of Jacksonville and a box that held Mac's Best 5 Hand-Made Long Filler cigars.

"My wife, Cindy, buys stuff from there, and I was hanging out, waiting for her, when I saw a cigar box," Elliott said. "I asked about it and the owner said she had a couple in the back from Jacksonville and she brought them out."

Normally, the two boxes might have taken their place on the assembly line in Elliott's shop in the tiny Macoupin County community of Modesto, where he operates Logan's Homegrown Cigar Box Guitars. Elliott makes guitars out of things such as cigar boxes and beer cans.

But Cindy Elliott, a Jacksonville native, convinced him to do something with the cigar boxes other than turn them into guitars. Logan Elliott checked to see if Jacksonville Area Museum would be interested in them for its display on the city's long history with cigar making and the museum accepted.

These are the kinds of donations that help keep the museum's collections growing while adding visual context to the story of Jacksonville, said McKenna Servis, the museum's manager.

"This donation is vital for the museum," Servis said. "Many are unaware of the cigar manufacturing industry that employed so many people in early Jacksonville. Donations like this allow the museum to have a conversation on how the industry broadly and cigar manufacturing specifically impacted the lives of Jacksonvillians as well as the local economy."

While all donations to the museum are appreciated, some are more significant, and it has little to do with monetary value.

"We often get donations of artifacts, but there are certain aspects of Jacksonville history that are largely unknown, the cigar industry included," Servis said. "It is always exciting to get a donation like this when we have so little about a particular piece of history."

The museum already has a collection pertaining to the cigar manufacturing that took place in Jacksonville, but the cigar boxes donated by Elliott fit nicely with the existing collection, she said.

"The Short Horn box is a box the museum had not yet obtained," Servis said. "The Mac's Best box contains much clearer graphics on the box than the one that was in the display. They will be included in the current industry exhibit where cigar manufacturing is already (displayed), likely propped open so visitors can see the graphics on the inside of the boxes."

Elliott is pleased with the outcome for his find.

"I didn't want to destroy it, because it is so neat with the graphics on the inside of the box," he said. "If I made it into a guitar, the history of it would have been buried. I like to have an antique look to my guitars. New boxes work fine, but older ones look better for someone who wants one to hang over a bar."

A large mural featuring Short Horn cigars graces the exterior wall of the building at 100 S. East St. Appropriately, it hangs across the street from Jacksonville Area Museum.

Cigar making was a huge industry in Jacksonville around the turn of the 20th century. Benjamin Pyatt was the first to open a cigar-making business, in 1843. By 1900, according to museum archives, there were about 13 factories that employed around 130 people.

"In a community the size of Jacksonville, both then and now, providing 130 jobs is a huge employment opportunity," Servis said.

Cigar boxes are not the only items on the museum's wish list and donations often are actively sought. Some are offered after new exhibits are announced.

"When we were preparing to open the J. Capps & Sons exhibit, we actively sought artifacts from the manufacturer as our collections were rather sparse," Servis said.

Day-to-day donations usually come about after someone contacts the museum to gauge interest.

"This initial contact helps us to make sure we don't get too many duplicates of items and to make sure it fits the mission of the museum," Servis said. "When you come across something similar to this donation, it is always best to reach out to the museum first so we can get some photos and information before bringing it into the museum."

Jacksonville Area Museum can be reached through its Facebook page or by email at info@jacksonvilleareamuseum.org.
Not everyone loved Pete Alonso dropping a blatant f-bomb during a recent postgame interview, especially his manager Buck Showalter.

Last week, Alonso mashed a walk-off home run against the Tampa Bay Rays and was so overwhelmed with excitement that he couldnt censor himself. For years, Alonso has pushed the mantra LFGM, but last week, he bypassed the acronym for the real thing on live TV. While being interviewed on SNY and over the Citi Field PA System, the All-Star first basemen said Lets f*cking go Mets! drawing the ire of virgin ears everywhere.

Showalter was on ESPN New Yorks The Michael Kay Show Tuesday afternoon and during the interview, Don La Greca asked where Alonso ranks among the greats hes managed. As he lauded the player and person that Alonso is, Showalter surprisingly brought up the overt f-bomb without prompt.

Buck Showalter tells @TMKSESPN he was bothered by Pete Alonsos f-bomb pic.twitter.com/UlL5U1dCTX  Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2023



I get to hear some things he says in the dugout and some things he shouldnt say outside the dugout here and there, although thats a story for another day, even though Im sure it will be here shortly, Showalter said, welcoming questions on the topic.

And since Showalter went there on his own, Kay justly dug a little deeper to ask the Mets manager if the f-bomb bothered him.

Of course it did, Showalter admitted. So did it to his mother. I learned my lesson a long time ago. My mother could read lips and boy, that Sunday drive home after a day game when I would always holler and put the phone on speaker, she would tell me, and I always felt horrible. Yeah, its not a good idea and I dont think youll see it happen again. I hope not.

After Showalter said he doesnt think well see it happen again, Kay surmised the Mets manager addressed the f-bomb with Alonso, which he believed was a good thing.

Lets face it, everybody on this call, with the exception of me has used that word, Showalter said in jest after he already confessed to having used the word. Its just the venue you put it in, and people are always listening here and its just unfortunate because I dont want somebodys day at the ballpark to be less than it could be because of something someone heard that shouldnt hear it.

Kay, however, went on to make the wild claim that he has never used the word in his life. And Kay wasnt just claiming the word isnt in his vocabulary, the ESPN New York radio host and Yankees play-by-play voice says he literally has not uttered it and attributes his f-bomb aversion to being forced to eat soap after saying suck. Kay similarly spoke out against f-bombs earlier this year after LeBron James dropped one on the night he set the NBAs all-time scoring record.

Its not surprising that Showalter didnt like Alonsos use of the word in front of Mets fans and on live TV last week. What is surprising, however, is the fact that Showalter took it upon himself to bring the topic up, alienating his superstar player on a New York radio show.

[The Michael Kay Show]
Cooking and baking demonstrations of dishes from Abraham Lincoln's time will be served up starting Saturday as part of the Lincoln Land Community College Community Education program "History Cooks."

The first demonstration will be at 10 a.m. Saturday during the Downtown Springfield Farmers Market. Chef Michael Higgins of Maldaner's Restaurant will take the lead on "Local Foods: Then and Now," demonstrating recipes using ingredients common to Lincoln and Springfield gardens of the time.

Other programs will be at noon Friday at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. Those attending will receive a souvenir recipe card so they can re-create the dishes at home.

History Cooks presented by LLCC Community Education was an amazing addition to the Visit Springfield History Comes Alive program last year, said Scott Dahl, director of Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau. I am thrilled the program is returning to HCA this summer! Local celebrity chefs will provide a taste of the 1800s from Mrs. Lincolns Southern cooking to Mr. Lincolns first inaugural ball.

After Saturday's opening, the lineup includes:

June 2: Mrs. Lincolns Southern Cooking  LLCC chef instructor Lakesha Jackson will demonstrate some of Mary Todd Lincolns Southern favorites. This demonstration also will be given at 10 a.m. June 2 in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum rotunda.

June 9: Food Preservation in the 1850s  Peter Glatz, a food columnist who works at chef Sean Brocks fermentation lab in Nashville, Tennessee, will demonstrate how food was preserved in the Lincolns' time.

June 16: Flour  Bob Bunn and Charlyn Fargo will speak on how flour was being processed, demonstrate how it was used in baking and talk about where Mary Lincoln purchased it: Jacob Bunns grocery store.

June 23: Mrs. Lincolns White/Almond Cake  LLCC Community Education culinary coordinator Jolene Lamb will demonstrate Mary Lincolns recipe for this dessert. Mary Lincoln baked the cake for Abraham Lincoln when they courted, after they were married and when she was first lady.

June 30: The Irish in Springfield  Hallie Pierceall of DArcys Pint will prepare traditional Irish favorites of the Lincolns' time. The Irish comprised a substantial portion of the Springfield population in the early 1800s.

July 7: Mr. Lincolns First Inaugural Ball  Chef Augie Mrozowski will prepare some of Abraham Lincolns favorites served at the ball, including pate, chicken and veal.

July 14: Mr. Lincoln in New Orleans  Chef Howard Seidel, known for his New Orleans cuisine, will prepare traditional dishes from the region. As a young man, Abraham Lincoln traveled by flatboat to New Orleans, where he witnessed the slave trade.

July 21: Bones Found at the Lincoln Home  Chef Ty Bergman will provide a cooking demonstration based on animal bones found during an excavation at the Lincoln Home that revealed what the Lincolns ate.

July 28: Mr. Lincolns Gingerbread  Sarah Adams, curator of collections and interpretation at Edwards Place and a culinary historian, will prepare a gingerbread recipe. Abraham Lincoln spoke about gingerbread during the first Lincoln-Douglas debate, and gingerbread was said to have been served at the Lincoln wedding.

Aug. 4: Mr. Lincolns Diverse Neighborhood  Sangamo Club sous chef Marcus Holmes will prepare a sample of some of the foods Lincolns diverse neighbors would have eaten at the time.
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The celebration was brief Monday when it was announced Jacksonville Memorial Hospital had received the highest award possible for nursing excellence for the fourth time in a row.

A large group of nurses joined other hospital officials in a meeting room at the hospital to listen to praise from Sharon Pappas of the American Nurses Credentialing Center. As soon as Pappas announced the award for Magnet Designation for Excellence in Nursing Service, a cheer went up. Soon after, the nurses were back at work.

That dedication to patients was one of many things for which Pappas praised the Jacksonville nursing staff.

"You are in rarified air, particularly after working through almost three years of COVID," Pappas said. "Patients count on nurses working as a team and the results show they recognized that. Today is a celebration of great achievement and commitment to patient outcomes. Tomorrow, it is back to work."

Pappas said Magnet-designated hospitals typically report increased patient satisfaction, reduced readmission rates, fewer complications for patients and higher job satisfaction among nurses.

This is the fourth time in a row Jacksonville Memorial has received the Magnet designation, something achieved by only 2% of the nation's hospitals. There are only 46 Magnet hospitals in Illinois. Jacksonville Memorial has achieved the Magnet level four times since its first designation in 2009, followed by redesignation in 2014, 2018 and Monday.

"Wow. What an honor to be here," said Leanna Wynn, chief nursing officer for the hospital. "We share the joy together today for the work we do together every day to give outstanding care. This recognition is a tremendous honor and a reflection of the high achievement and professionalism of our nursing teams. Their passion and commitment to excellent nursing is second to none.

"This achievement underscores the foundation of excellence and values that drive our colleagues to meet the health care needs of those we serve. This one is more meaningful because of what we have gone through over the past four years. I would put this team up against anyone."

Jacksonville Memorial submitted in October a 1,200-page application and supporting documentation that was reviewed by three Magnet program appraisers from across the country. The appraisal team visited the hospital in late March and interacted with more than 100 nursing staff members, as well as physicians, patients and their families.

"Achieving Magnet designation four times reflects the exceptional level of care Jacksonville Memorial Hospital nurses deliver to each of our patients and their loved ones," said Trevor Huffman, hospital president and CEO. "Magnet recognition raises the bar for patient care and inspires every member of the JMH team to achieve excellence every day. I extend my thanks to all JMH colleagues, physicians and leadership for working together to achieve this prestigious designation."

"This means we have a hospital in Jacksonville that provides exemplary care," said Carrie Carls, Magnet program director for the hospital. "A lot of this is telling us we have formed a strong team for the betterment of our patients, which makes it a great place to work."

Katie Warren, ICU nurse manager, said it is quite an honor for a small hospital to earn.

"We have established a culture of growing our own through the ranks," Warren said. "We give everyone a chance to do so and that is how we retain nurses. That's an advantage for a community hospital."

Recognized as the gold standard for nursing excellence, the ANCC Magnet Recognition program honors health care organizations that demonstrate excellence in nursing practice and adhere to more than 100 national standards for excellence in patient outcomes and the delivery of nursing services.

Standards of nursing care evaluated by the Magnet program include nursing leadership, clinical expertise, support for professional development and national certification of staff, commitment to quality of care, and emphasis on teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration

The Magnet program was developed in 1990 to recognize hospitals that provide the best nursing care and support professional nursing practices. The program also provides a network for nurses to communicate successful practices and strategies.
Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Justin Galvan, 25, of Richardson, Texas, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 10:06 p.m. Thursday on a charge of possession of adult-use cannabis by a passenger and on warrants accusing him of failing to appear in court on charges of driving while license is revoked or suspended and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Tyshawn G. Barnes, 36, homeless, was arrested at 2:57 p.m. Monday on charges of driving while license is suspended and cited on a charge of operating an uninsured vehicle after being stopped at North East and Wolcott streets.

 Four girls ages 13 to 15 were cited on disorderly conduct charges at 6:48 p.m. Monday for fighting in the 1200 block of South Main Street.

VANDALISM

 The tire of a vehicle parked in the 100 block of Walnut Court was punctured between 6:30 and 9 p.m. Monday.

South Jacksonville Police

OTHER REPORTS

 Police were called at 4:27 a.m. Saturday to Sleep Inn & Suites, 2401 Holiday Lane, after a disturbance involving a woman hitting her boyfriend with a lamp, according to police. They were asked to leave the hotel.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Greece's outgoing prime minister says he has ordered a probe into a report that authorities illegally deported a group of migrants who had reached an eastern Aegean island from Turkey, allegedly leaving them on a raft at sea for Turkish authorities to pick up.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis  who will be replaced Thursday by caretaker Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas, a senior judge, ahead of elections on June 25  strongly denied that Greece has an official policy of returning newly arrived migrants to Turkey. Such illegal deportations are known as pushbacks.

In an interview with CNN late Tuesday, Mitsotakis said that he takes the alleged incident reported by the New York Times very seriously.

It is already being investigated (by) my government, he said. I have made numerous times the distinction between (the reported pushback), which is a completely unacceptable practice, and between our obligation, which is ... intercepting (migrants) on our sea border with Turkey and then asking for the Turkish coast guard to come and pick these people up.

Greece is a major entry point for migrants seeking a better life in the European Union  most entering illegally from Turkey in unseaworthy boats provided by smuggling gangs. Mitsotakis' government has tightened patrols, significantly reducing arrivals, but has been repeatedly accused by human rights groups  and Turkish officials  of pushbacks. Athens steadily denies these claims.

Mitsotakis on Tuesday accused the Turkish coast guard of push-forwards, claiming that they aggressively push desperate people on inflatable boats ... to sea and (push) them into out territorial waters.

The New York Times report was based on a video provided by an activist and made public two days before Greece's parliamentary election on Sunday  which Mitsotakis' center-right party won with a huge margin. But he will have to seek a new election in just over a month, because the electoral law didn't give him a governing majority.

The report alleged that in early April migrants were brought by van to a Lesbos beach and taken by speedboat to a coast guard vessel. The coast guard allegedly left the migrants on a raft at sea from which they were picked up by the Turkish coast guard and taken back to Turkey.

Ylva Johansson, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, on Tuesday said the EU has formally asked Athens to be fully and independently investigate the incident.

It is necessary that proper follow-up is taken by Greek authorities, she said, adding that the EU's executive branch stands ready to take formal steps, as appropriate.

Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper said Monday that the EU border agency, Frontex, which helps Greece patrol its eastern sea borders, has rights officers who can help support an independent investigation.

So far, we understand that they have not been able to identify this specific incident, but of course they can follow up on any serious incidents reported that have been filed, she said.

Greece's coast guard has not responded to an AP request for comment on the new pushback allegations.

___

Follow APs global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways has dismissed three cabin crew members after a passenger accused them of discriminating against non-English speakers, in a case that drew criticism from Chinese state media.

Airline CEO Ronald Lam expressed his apologies Tuesday to the passenger and the community over the incident, which occurred on a flight from Chengdu in southwest China to Hong Kong on Sunday. He reiterated his company's zero tolerance of any serious breach of its policies and code of conduct.

There is no compromise for such violations, he said in a statement.

The sacking came after the passenger complained in an online post that some crew members were disrespectful to passengers who did not speak English or Cantonese, the language widely spoken in Hong Kong. The person, who sat near the crew's resting area, overheard them complaining about customers.

During the whole flight, not a moment went by when I was not distressed or angry, the passenger wrote.

In particular, the crew members made fun of other passengers who mixed up the terms blanket and carpet in English and appeared to be impatient even when someone tried to seek help in English, the post alleged.

If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it, a person said in an audio clip posted on social media. The comment was followed by laughter. Carpet is on the floor," the recording continued. The Associated Press could not independently verify the audio clip.

Cathay issued an apology on Monday on the Chinese social media platform Weibo for the unpleasant experience suffered by passengers on the flight, but failed to pacify the anger triggered by the passenger's post.

On Tuesday, a Weibo account belonging to the overseas edition of the official Chinese People's Daily newspaper sternly criticized Cathay over the incident.

It seems that its company culture still maintains a sense of superiority that worships foreigners and respects Hong Kongers but looks down on mainlanders, it wrote.

It said the airline should rectify itself and establish rules to halt the unhealthy trend.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said he was disappointed to learn about the disrespectful acts that had damaged the relationship between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese residents. He said he had told Lam that it was a serious incident and must not repeat again.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said Wednesday he had expressed his deep concern to Cathay and asked the management to improve the company's services immediately. He added he was very distressed by the inappropriate comments made by the crew members, calling the incident as a serious breach of Hong Kong's reputation for service excellence."

Cathay is working to rebuild its business after years of strict pandemic travel restrictions forced the airline into steep losses.

In March, it reported a loss of 6.55 billion Hong Kong dollars ($834.4 million) in 2022  an 18.5% increase from 2021 amid strict entry restrictions for the city during the first half of last year.
TNT personality Shaquille ONeal has been amidst the controversy surrounding the FTX lawsuit after being named a defendant in a class action lawsuit. He hinted about exactly how he got involved in the fraudulent company on Inside the NBA on Tuesday night.

ONeal is widely known to be involved in a number of different brands and companies. His involvement in FTX is undoubtedly a stain on his resume. And it seems like his involvement came due to influence from Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry.

Curry appeared on Inside The NBA prior to Tuesdays Game 4 matchup of the Eastern Conference Finals. He mainly was there to talk about the matchup, but ONeal did sneak in a joke about both of their involvements with the disgraced cryptocurrency company.

You are my favorite player, said ONeal to Curry. I just want to say thanks and congratulations, my brother. And thanks for getting me in trouble. Dont say nothing.

Curry clearly got a kick out of this comment from Shaq as he was seen visibly laughing.

It is obviously speculatory if this is exactly what ONeal is referring to in this clip. However, it isnt the first time that he has illuded to Curry getting him into the now-bankrupt company.

He previously said that his friendship with Curry was the reason for getting involved with FTX in the first place.

ONeal has consistently been dodging service in the lawsuit at all costs, which is something that lawyers representing the FTX investors have been increasingly annoyed with.

In 30 years, Ive never had to deal with this situation, Adam Moskowitz, one of the lawyers representing the FTX investors, told the Wall Street Journal on Monday. We are not going away.

[Rob Perez on Twitter]
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The current deputy chief of the Coconino County Sheriffs Office has announced his candidacy for sheriff. Bret Axlund is spending his weekends collecting signatures, campaigning across the second-largest county in the country.

Hes approaching the process with fervor. Axlund told the Arizona Daily Sun that if theres one thing hes always up for, its a new challenge.

Axlund is no stranger to the region hes hoping to serve as sheriff. Hes lived in Coconino County for 30 years, spending 27 of those years in a CCSO-issued uniform.

Axlunds career at the Sheriffs Office began in 1996 when he was hired as a detention officer at the county jail. Hed later work the roads on patrol and was based in Page for a number of years.

I worked on boat patrol, I worked a lot on the reservation and those areas up there. I was promoted to patrol sergeant. Then an interesting thing happened when I was promoted to lieutenant: the sheriff at the time, Bill Pribil, restructured the organization, Axlund recalled.

As a newly minted lieutenant, Axlund was put in charge of both the areas patrol units and the Page jail  which was relatively new, having been built at the same time as the Flagstaff facility in 2000.

Running both divisions in Page was a challenge.

When I was speaking to the sheriff about it at the time, I reminded him, 'I havent worked in the jail for 17 years.' He said, Youll be fine, Axlund said.

According to the now-chief deputy, he was fine -- more than fine.

We were able to use some of the things that were going on at the jail to help train other agencies. We were able to open up some dive team positions for some detention officers. That was an unheard-of thing, but we were able to do that, Axlund said. We were able to take the law enforcement community up there, with the Page Police Department and the Park Service, and develop a training program for the jail.

Axlund worked with a small staff, setting up cross-training between deputies and detention staff, to ensure that the 48-bed temporary holding facility was always manned at full capacity.

He said he enjoyed the position so much that he imagined retiring in Page  finishing out his career balancing the tasks associated with both the jail and patrol units.

The very job he thought hed keep forever may have been the training ground that ultimately inspired Axlunds bid to become the next sheriff.

Unbeknownst to me, the sheriff at the time said, 'this is going to set you up for bigger things,' Axlund said.

Sure enough, nine months into Sheriff Jim Driscolls first term, Axlund was approached about becoming the countys chief deputy. The appointment meant he would have to uproot his life in Page and move to Flagstaff.

We decided that that would be a great opportunity for us. My wife went to work for the health department here in town, Axlund said. That was in 2017.

Today, Axlund wants to see the community-first culture of CCSO carried on into the future.

I think Ive been lucky to have served under such a great department for 27 years. For me, its just a really natural step forward, Axlund said. Weve got so many really great things going on right now. So much great programming, by all the different divisions. Id like to keep that going.

As sheriff, Axlund said hed focus on bringing back the Exodus program, which ground to a halt when COVID-19 safety protocols had to be implemented. Exodus is a 90-day treatment program designed to help inmates battle addiction while theyre in custody and work toward achieving sobriety.

Axlund would like to see Exodus revived to run beside the new Pathways to Community Program because theyre both designed to fight recidivism  or the tendency for a person who has committed a crime to re-offend.

If elected sheriff, another of Axlunds priorities lies in drug enforcement and addressing the opioid epidemic as it relates to Coconino County.

One of the big issues is the drugs that are coming in from the south, Axlund said.

In order to address the issue, he wants to see the countys K9 Unit expanded.

Coconino County had gone about six years without a four-legged deputy on patrol before Dex and his handler Corporal Ben Waibel joined the force about a year ago.

Dogs are a great tool that we can use, Axlund said. If we increase those K9s, its going to help us as far as the drugs coming into our communities. While a lot [of drugs] do go through, because were at a junction of I-40 and I-17 and Highway 89, some of those end up staying in our area. The more we can remove from our area or deter people from bringing to our area, the better were going to be.

Axlund also hopes to lead a Sheriffs Department that responds to community needs.

We go to a lot of community meetings and we listen to what people have to see. Theres very good attendance, he said.

In areas like Doney Park, Axlund said residents have shared concerns about speeding and impaired drivers on Townsend Winona Road. In Mount Elden Estates, neighbors complain about snowplay and the impacts of illegal parking.

Axlund said he would like to establish a new Special Enforcement Unit that would be tasked with addressing those kinds of specific community concerns.

This would be a squad that would go around the county, all over the county, helping out wherever theyre needed, he said. Right now, our staffing levels are at a point where we cant stop where we are and refocus. This would be a squad that would be able to focus their efforts on those specific needs.

The trouble is, CCSO is up against the same issue faced by agencies across the country: Theyre understaffed. Before Axlund would be able to create a Special Enforcement Unit, hed have to ensure the department had enough deputies on their payroll.

He said hes got a plan for recruitment and retention, and it involves building on the foundation CCSO is already laying.

Weve gotten a lot of support from our board of supervisors with this new pay plan that we introduced last year, Axlund said. That puts our uniforms into a pay scale with an amount of certainty of where theyre going to be in so many years. Its an eight-step plan that allows them to see where theyre going to be, how much money theyre going to make, so were really lucky to get that through.

Right now, CCSO is actively recruiting officers at events and on social media. Axlund said CCSO under his leadership would continue to take a proactive approach to hiring.

In other words, the department wont just wait for would-be deputies to approach them. Theyd actively recruit.

When it comes to retention, Axlund wants to maintain some of CCSOs current strategies for boosting mental health and morale  for deputies and civilian staff alike.

Any time we see people going through a fairly traumatic event, which could be different for you or for me, based on our upbringing, based on whats important to us, we offer support, he said. Its no longer the tough cop, go home and deal with it and come back to work tomorrow morning. Were needing to keep our people through the long term and invest in them. Thats been really important to us.

CCSO has a counseling-based program in place called Heal a Hero and offers all employees access to an anonymous wellness app. On that app, CCSO employees can get support from an outside counselor at any time of the day or night.

Probably one of our biggest challenges is mental health. It continues to be that, even before COVID started. Now, since COVID, were continuing to see lots of suicide-type calls, people in trouble mentally, dealing with different issues that theyre having, Axlund said.

He attended a training in San Diego to become a mental health first aid trainer. CCSO offers mental health first aid training for the public, but the whole program is eight hours long. Axlund said he hopes to make the training more accessible, by shortening the time commitment and adding more opportunities for community members to engage with CCSO on the topic.

Thats who we work for, our community, he said. Whats really advantageous to us is the people we are hiring right now really want to serve their community, really want to make a difference in the way of helping other people. Its no longer 'I want to drive fast and carry a gun and wear a shiny uniform.' To them, its all about being able to help people.

Its that community-first ethos that Axlund said has driven his candidacy. He believes the role of the deputy is to save lives and serve their neighbors.

Thats the reason why the 51-year-old says hes trading restful weekends with his wife and pet pug to get to work gathering signatures for his candidacy.

Right now we really enjoy going to all the places were going, getting signatures. Whether its Leupp or Page, attending all the events, he said. Were getting to know a lot of new people.
California AG Rob Bonta View Photo

Sacramento, CA  Walmart will pay $500,000 for selling illegal weapons on its website.

The settlement was announced yesterday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who noted that the weapons at the center of the dispute were brass knuckles. They are illegal in many states, including California, and the sale of the classified deadly weapon is punishable by up to a year in prison.

Bonta says, Im shocked that these weapons were out floating in our communities and sold on a major corporate website. Im horrified to think who has them and how they may have been used.

The investigation dates back to 2018 when the Merced County District Attorneys Office discovered that Walmart was both selling the weapons directly and allowing them to be sold on their site through third-party vendors. The Department of Justice launched an investigation, and other District Attorneys joined the effort, including those in Yolo and Ventura counties.

Walmart will pay the DAs offices, and the California Department of Justice, $125,000 each, totaling $500,000. According to Bonta, 250 products classified as brass knuckles could be located on Walmarts website, 60% were being sold directly from the company, and 40% were from third-party vendors.
After AP report, Irans nuclear chief says Tehran to cooperate with inspectors on new activities

After AP report, Irans nuclear chief says Tehran to cooperate with inspectors on new activities View Photo

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  The head of Irans nuclear program insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any new activities. His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehrans new underground system near a nuclear enrichment facility.

The AP outlined this week how deep inside a mountain, the new tunnels near the Natanz facility are likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites.

The report sparked wider conversation across the Middle East about the construction, with Israels national security adviser saying Tuesday the site would not be immune from attack even if its depth put it out of range of American airstrikes.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to describe the interest in the site as a case of Israel feeling pressured.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly, Eslami said, using an acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA did not respond to questions from the AP about the construction at Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.

Satellite photographs of the piles of dirt from the digging and experts who spoke to the AP suggest the new tunnels will be between between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) deep.

Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the U.S. and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy remains stalled as it has for months over Irans tattered nuclear deal, sabotage attacks may resume.

Iran says the new construction will replace an above-ground centrifuge manufacturing center at Natanz struck by an explosion and fire in July 2020. Tehran blamed the incident on Israel, long suspected of running sabotage campaigns against its program.

___

Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

By JON GAMBRELL

Associated Press
CANNES, France (AP)  It's widely know that Henry VIII, the Tudor king, had a particularly grim batting average when it came to matrimony.

His litany of wives, of course, are the subject of the current Broadway show, Six," and many other productions. The wives' succession of fates  two beheadings and three other deaths  has long loomed in the historical imagination.

The new film Firebrand, which premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival, takes a different approach to a much-dramatized chapter of 16th century British history. The film, directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry and the only one to outlive him.

Catherine Parr, out of all of the six wives I probably knew the least of, Vikander said in an interview on a Cannes hotel terrace. And it seemed like that was the general feel from everybody that I talked to. The one woman who survived was the least interesting to know about.

Firebrand, adapted from Elizabeth Freemantle's novel The Queen's Gambit," has all the accoutrement of a lush period drama (Jude Law grandly co-stars as Henry), but it's animated by a twist in perspective and a feminist spirit. History tells us a few things, mostly about men and war," a title card announces at the movie's beginning.

The film follows Parr as she negotiates a coarse, abusive husband while trying to have some role in shaping national affairs. She's friends with the controversial Protestant preacher Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a relationship that poses grave danger to Parr if found out. Meanwhile, some members of the king's court, including the bishop Stephen Gardiner (Simon Russell Beale), conspire to have Parr follow in the footsteps of Henry's prior wives.

For Vikander, the preternaturally poised 34-year-old Swedish actor, investigating Parr was full of discovery. Parr penned several books in her life and spoke openly about Protestantism, the Reformation and then-controversial English translations of the Bible. That led to accusations of heresy and increasing distrust from Henry.

The first Wikipedia search I did when I was sent the script, I saw that she was the first queen whos ever been published under her own name in British history, said Vikander. I thought: Thats really a huge feat to do that with the kind of views that shes tackling whilst being married to a man known to be the most terrifying and dangerous man with quite different beliefs.

I thought: When did I read a text thats older than 100 years from a woman? added Vikander.

Vikander has often been at home in costume dramas. She starred in A Royal Affair and Anna Karenina before winning an Oscar for her performance in 2015's The Danish Girl." But some of her best performances  the robot android of Ex Machina, the miniseries Irma Vep  have been more contemporary.

Firebrand, which doesn't yet have a release date, speaks to both past and present. To stretch the point, the film ultimately relies on some speculative fiction to imagine what might have happened behind closed doors.

Jude and I said even if we sat with 20 history books in front of us, they all have the same pillars of points and have different ways of interpreting whats in between, says Vikander. Thats what we were doing, too, with artistic choices we made.

Shot on location at Haddon Hall, Vikander and Law had dressing rooms in the castle cellar. The clothes, too, were transportive.

Between takes sitting with the other women, in those costumes you dont sit up straight. We were all lying on the floor in those corsets, said Vikander. It gave me a real image. This is what it was like.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Associated Press Writer

Paulette Everett-Norman's self-described Cinderella life suddenly was shattered when her son was taken from her forever by a trusted family friend.

"I lost my greatest prize," she said of 12-year-old Samuel McKay Everett. "McKay was the most special boy. He was one of my dearest friends. We could talk and share and it was just amazing the level of communication we had."

McKay's decomposing remains were found at the edge of a Louisiana swamp a few days after he disappeared from his Conroe home Sept. 12, 1995. He had been beaten and shot in the head and chest with a .45-caliber pistol.

The man arrested for his slaying, Hilton Crawford, was a longtime acquaintance of the Everett family and was known fondly to McKay as "Uncle Hilty."

Crawford, convicted of capital murder, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening for the slaying.

McKay's mother says she'll there to watch.

"For years, I said I wouldn't do that," she said. "It's not that I am against the death penalty. I think there are just some things in life you do that warrant that kind of punishment.

"I realized that I was avoiding part of this process. Even though I don't like being put in this set of circumstances, the fact is I'm in this set of circumstances and if I run from it, that's just not good."

That realization, and even the ability to express it, shows just how far Everett-Norman has come since the crushing loss of her son.

The good life for the elementary school teacher in Conroe, just north of Houston, imploded dramatically in the aftermath of McKay's death. She suffered a stroke, a physical and emotional meltdown, her marriage crumbled into divorce and she underwent rage therapy.

"I realized in going through therapy we all have defining moments," she said. "Defining moments are choices. I had a choice. I couldn't control what Hilton did, but I had a choice of how to react to it.

"When I came to from the stroke, I could not speak or walk. I took stock of what I could do. I thought at first I was in a car accident. And then it hit me.

"It was McKay"

McKay's sudden disappearance from his comfortable suburban home in a heavily wooded neighborhood touched off an intense police hunt and a media frenzy.

His parents that evening left him at home as they attended an Amway meeting and when they returned a couple of hours later he was gone. Within a few minutes, they received a phone call demanding $500,000 ransom in $100 bills.

Crawford's name surfaced as the frantic parents assembled for police names of people they knew.

Crawford was supposed to attend the same Amway meeting as the Everetts but was a no-show.

Witnesses reported seeing a gold Chrysler like Crawford's speeding through the neighborhood that night.

The car was later found at a storage yard in Beaumont, the southeast Texas city where Crawford once worked as a police officer and sheriff's deputy, and midway between Conroe and the Louisiana site where McKay's body was found.

Crawford had been working as a manager for a security company, a business he once owned, but he and his wife had filed for bankruptcy, listing debts of $370,000.

Three days after the disappearance, he was arrested on kidnapping charges. The next day, a Saturday night, he told investigators he wanted to get something off his chest and drew them a map of a gravel road just north of Interstate 10 in the middle of south Louisiana's Atchafalaya Swamp.

What was left of McKay's body was in the weeds.

Irene Flores, a Houston woman who once worked for Crawford at his security business, pleaded no contest to kidnapping and received a 25-year prison term for placing the ransom call to the Everett house. She contended Crawford duped her into making the call and never thought McKay would be harmed.

Crawford, who at 64 is the second-oldest of Texas' 451 condemned prisoners, maintains while he was present when McKay was killed, he did not pull the trigger. He blames that on R.L. Remington, a man he said he met at a Louisiana race track. Prosecutors said Remington was a figment of Crawford's imagination.

"It wasn't me," Crawford said in an interview earlier this month. "I was guilty for being there and guilty for being involved. What happened wasn't supposed to happen."

Asked why he just didn't step in and stop the shooting, he replied: "I wish I would have, but these people I was involved with, once it got too far, it was impossible to stop."

Mike Aduddell, the lead prosecutor in the case, said Crawford violated the trust of McKay and his parents.

"That's what in so many people's mind had an effect on them, that somebody would do something like this to someone that they knew," Aduddell said last week. "It was just unbelievable."

Authorities speculated the boy was told his parents had been injured or needed him and that's why he went with his abductor.

Crawford, whose appeals were rejected last week by the U.S. Supreme Court, insists he's had a good life and that he's prepared to die.

"I've been really blessed," he said. "I've brought Christ to several of the men here. I've got peace in my heart."

He plans to be buried in a Franciscan robe and would like to receive forgiveness from Paulette.

"There's a wall between us," he said, acknowledging he understands why she might be hostile. "If I was on the other side, I don't know if I could. I just pray. I can understand."

Everett-Norman has emerged from three years of physical therapy. She has remarried and is teaching elementary school again. She also is involved in The McKay Foundation, which seeks to educate children and parents about the possibility of harm.

"The greatest thing I can contribute is the story of what happened and hope people can look at me and hear my story and have an awareness," she said.
WALLINGFORD  They were hoping to avoid it, but the Police Station Steering Committee has come to the conclusion that they will need an antenna tower at the new facility at 100 Barnes Road to ensure the town has quality coverage for all town departments.

Former Police Chief William Wright, a member of the committee, along with Deputy Chief Anthony DeMaio, recently appeared before the Planning and Zoning Commission to make the case for a special permit because the tower is going to be more than the 50 feet allowed by zoning regulations. The commission unanimously approved the permit.

In 2021 the town bought 9.2 acres and the office building, which was the former 3M Health Information Systems offices, at 100 Barnes Road for $1.8 million. The Town Council recently approved bonding to raise the $34 million for the renovation project, which includes the cost of the property.

The committee was hoping to be able to mount the antennas on the roof of the building rather than have to spend the additional $1.5 million cost of the tower. But that wasnt feasible, Wright told the commission.

The Police Station Steering Committee did a tremendous amount of work trying to evaluate whether the tower was needed or not, Wright said. The building is in very close proximity to another tower site that the town maintains. We were considering and hopeful that, because of its close proximity, we would be able to potentially mount the antenna that we need on the roof of 100 Barnes. Through a lot of evaluation, through both Motorola Solutions and a private consultant that the town hired, we now know that thats not possible.

The tower will be placed on the west side of the building about five feet away from it, Wright said, and will be almost identical to the one at the current police station at 135 North Main St.

About four or five years ago, the town began to develop a plan for an improved microwave point-to-point telecommunications system for all town departments that took 18-20 months to complete, Wright said. Its whats in play now, he said of the five-site system, with four sites in Wallingford and one site in North Branford.

This will be an additional tower. This will not replace the tower at 135 North Main St. That tower will need to remain in the downtown area but it doesnt necessarily need to stay at 135 North Main. It could come here essentially, Wright said, referring to Town Hall, but there needs to be that microwave link to the downtown area in order to get the coverage that we have now, which is 100% of the buildings in town regardless of how thick they are, 100% of the time. A lot of effort went into developing this system to ensure that there are no dead spots.

This tower is absolutely necessary for the communications system at the dispatch center to work appropriately to maintain that 100/100 coverage, he said.

It works so well, he said, that recently DeMaio, who was attending a training session in Rhode Island, was able to get back to the police station on his radio as he was crossing the Hope Bridge in Newport.

Its not only the police department that is on the system, Wright said. The fire department, Board of Education, public utilities and public works are also using it.

The prime site for the system  kind of the heartbeat, if you will  is located on the west side of town, Wright said. The system needs to be able to shoot a microwave link from 100 Barnes Road to that site, he said. We were hopeful that the antenna array on the roof would do that. We now know that we need to hang antenna gear at 75 feet off the tower.

The 75-foot height can clear the path over to the other side of town where the prime site is, he said, and is enough to accommodate future tree growth and future potential changes to topography, he said. There are no dead spots in town, but what we need this tower to do is communicate down the building into the dispatch center so that they can get the radio transmissions out.

The committee also investigated other systems that could be used rather than the microwave system, Wright said, but all came up short compared to microwave. Its up in the air, its not subject to contractor impairment through construction, its not subject to a utility pole that may come down thats got the fiber on it and its consistent with the system that has been designed for us for the next decades, he said.

When they first designed the system in 2017, a priority was the towns schools, Wright said. We were really, really intent on getting the school system on to this network. They were really lacking a direct point of communications with the dispatch center and I dont have to remind anyone that our public school system is really spread out in town. Think of how far out there Pond Hill School is, he said.

Commission member Jeffrey Kohen asked what would happen if there was a failure at any point in the system. If a tower goes down, the police department is covered by a maintenance agreement that provides for 24-hours-a-day, 7-day-a-week coverage within a four-hour time period if something happens, Wright said.

And I can tell you when it happens  at night, usually in inclement weather in my experience, Wright said. Its never Tuesday morning at 8:30.

In my professional career Ive been there as well so I know exactly what youre saying, Cohen said.

Communication is essential. The seconds do matter, Commissioner Stephen Allinson said. Two seconds can make all the difference so I can completely understand the necessity for this.
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Margot Wilder is getting ready to move across the country after graduating from Northland Preparatory Academy (NPA) last week.

Wilder has attended NPA since 6th grade and said she enjoyed the schools small atmosphere and AP and language course options. She wanted to acknowledge the schools amazing teachers, as well, saying she especially enjoyed being in classes taught by Raphaelle Roland-Francis (Cultural Anthropology and French), Ladys Montano-Caicedo (Spanish) and Austin Kerr (AP U.S. History as well as Speech and Debate).

Its been great throughout, Wilder said of her time at NPA. Ive had so many classes that Ive loved and NPA, it has just a really great community to it.

She added: I just want to shout out what a special place NPA is.

Some of Wilder's favorite experiences at NPA were related to what she hopes to study in college--either political science or anthropology.

Her favorite class this year, she said, was anthropology. Her research project as part of her AP capstone class takes an archaeological approach to Sinaguan history, exploring the connections that can be found in the ceramic sherds they left behind.

Wilder said shes drawn to anthropology as a way to understand cultures and ways of thinking outside of her own. She was first introduced to archaeology on family hiking trips around Arizona, and said its always been a part of my life and something that Ive loved.

Weve covered everything from illness and disease to how languages are born and created over time to evolution and pharmacology, she said of her anthropology class. ...Its really a class where you get to learn a little about everything and all the different cultures outside of your own [experience], different issues that the world is facing, like climate change and political struggles.

Wilder's interest in politics comes in part from Model U.N., where she served as president, helping introduce other students to how the club works as well as organizing trips and training sessions.

Shes ending high school fluent in three languages -- English, Spanish and French -- and is hoping to add a fourth (maybe Russian) while in college. This started in elementary school, as she attended Puente de Hozho in the Spanish program.

"It was always just really cool to me to learn a language and then be able to communicate with the people who spoke that language because of course not everyone speaks English, she said. Sometimes it's a lot easier to speak in Spanish, if that's their native language. Also, I just love to travel and learn about different cultures and different peoples experiences and so languages has allowed me to broaden that part of my life a lot more.

In addition to school, Wilder has been in ballet with NAU Community Music and Dance since she was 4 years old, and started playing piano in fifth grade.

She said having passion for each pursuit helped motivate her.

I really enjoy all the things that Im doing, so its nice to be filling my schedule with a lot of things I love rather than a lot of things I feel meh about, she said.

Shell be attending Hamilton College in upstate New York this fall, where she plans to study either anthropology or political science. She chose the school after a lot of research into different liberal arts colleges. Of the three she visited, Wilder said, Hamilton just clicked.

Wilder has spent almost her entire life in Flagstaff and said while moving so far away is nerve wracking, its also exciting.

I know my family will always be there to support me and the college is great and Ill be doing great things while Im there and hopefully really learning, she said.

Some potential careers shes considering are diplomacy or anthropology.

I think that becoming a foreign diplomat, like working for the state department, would be a really cool job to have, just very exciting, she said. Id learn all the time and I could maybe use my languages tooWith anthropology, I think being able to visit different countries and do research and stuff, that sounds like a really cool and awesome lifestyle.

Either way, Wilder said, she's ready for what comes next.

Im really excited to be moving on to my new adventures, she said. My time at NPA has been really fun and Ive learned a lot while Im here, but Im ready to go on and do cool things in college, have new experiences. I am a little sad to leave NPA, because all my amazing friends and teachers, but Im hoping college will be just as great as NPA has been.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Roland-Francis teaches Cultural Anthropology as well as French.
Six armed robbers carried out a daring raid at a Delta Beverages depot in Chipinge, stealing over US$20,000 in cash on May 22, police say.

According to a police statement, the gang attacked a security guard, cashier and truck driver at the beverage company before getting away with $20,965 in U.S currency and R18,750 in South African rand.

The armed assailants, whose identities remain unknown, brandished unidentified pistols during the heist before fleeing the scene with the cash loot.

Police are now appealing for information that could help identify and arrest the gang members responsible.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) tweeted: The ZRP is investigating a case of robbery which occurred at Delta Beverage Depot, Chipinge on 22/05/23. Six unknown suspects armed with unidentified pistols attacked security guards, a truck driver, and a cashier before stealing US$20 965 and ZAR18 750 cash. Anyone with information to report at any nearest Police Station.

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Yves here. While there has been a blip in the dry-out-of-the-West trend line due to monster snowfalls in many areas, this article points out one important consequence: toxic arsenic levels in well water in areas where aquifers are low.

The piece mentions Maine as an area with high dependence on wells. In parts of coastal Maine, as in peak vacation-land, the water is so undrinkably-mineral-y that everyone uses bottled water for drinking and most cooking (its OK for steaming lobster and boiling corn). This is a meaningful cost for year-round locals who skew poor, like my uncle who was was both handicapped and below the poverty line.

By Melissa Bailey. Originally published at KFF Health News

When John Mestas ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they hit paradise, he said.

There was so much water, they thought it would never end, Mestas said of the agricultural region at the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Now decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, are making the valley desperately dry  and appear to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

Like a third of people who live in this high alpine desert, Mestas relies on a private well that draws from an aquifer for drinking water. And, like many farmers there, he taps an aquifer to water the alfalfa that feeds his 550 cows.

Water is everything here, he said.

Mestas, 71, is now one of the hundreds of well owners participating in a study that tackles the question: How does drought affect not just the quantity, but the quality, of water?

The study, led by Kathy James, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, focuses on arsenic in private drinking wells. Arsenic, a carcinogen that occurs naturally in soil, has been appearing in rising levels in drinking water in the valley, she said. In California, Mexico, and Vietnam, research has linked rising arsenic levels in groundwater to drought and the overpumping of aquifers.

As the West grapples with a megadrought that has lasted more than two decades, and states risk cutbacks in water from the shrinking Colorado River, the San Luis Valley offers clues to what the future may hold.

Nationwide, about 40 million people rely on domestic wells, estimated Melissa Lombard, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Nevada, Arizona, and Maine have the highest percentage of domestic well users  ranging from about a quarter to a fifth of well users  using water with elevated arsenic levels, she found in a separate study.

During drought, the number of people in the contiguous U.S. exposed to elevated arsenic from domestic wells may rise from about 2.7 million to 4.1 million, Lombard estimated, using statistical models.

Arsenic has been shown to affect health across the human life span, beginning with sperm and eggs, James said. Even a small exposure, added up over the course of a persons life, is enough to cause health problems, she said.

In a previous study in the valley, James found that lifetime exposure to low levels of inorganic arsenic in drinking water, between 10 and 100 micrograms per liter, or g/L, was linked to a higher risk of coronary heart disease. Other research has tied chronic exposure to low-level arsenic to hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Pregnant women and children are at greater risk for harm.

The World Health Organization sets the recommended limit on arsenic in drinking water at 10 g/L, which is also the U.S. standard for public water supplies. But research has shown that, even at 5 g/L, arsenic is linked to higher rates of skin lesions.

I think its a problem that a lot of people are not aware of, Lombard said. Climate change is probably going to impact water quality, she said, but more research is needed to understand how and why.

A Hotbed of Hope

The San Luis Valley, which has hosted a wealth of research and innovation, is the ideal place to explore those questions  and potential solutions.

Known for its stunning mountain views and the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, the valley spans a region roughly the size of Massachusetts, making it North Americas largest alpine valley. Rich in Indigenous, Mexican, and Spanish heritage, the valley contains 500,000 acres of irrigated land producing potatoes, alfalfa for hay, and beer barley for Coors. Its home to nearly 50,000 people, many of them farmworkers and about half of them Hispanic. Its also a challenging place to live: Counties here rank among the poorest in the state, and rates of diabetes, kidney disease, and depression run high.

Since it rains very little, about 7 inches a year on average, farmers rely on two large aquifers and the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which continues on to Mexico. Snowmelt from the looming Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges recharges the supply each spring. But as the climate warms, theres less snow, and water evaporates more quickly than usual from the ground and crops.

This entire community, this culture, was built around irrigated agriculture, said state Sen. Cleave Simpson of Alamosa, a Republican and a fourth-generation farmer. But since 2002, the valleys unconfined aquifer has lost 1 million acre-feet of water  or enough to cover 1 million acres of land in water 1 foot deep  due to persistent drought and overuse. Now the communities in the valley face a deadline to replenish the aquifer, or face a state shutdown of hundreds of irrigation wells.

Were a decade ahead of whats happening in the rest of Colorado because of the intensity of water scarcity, said Simpson, who manages the Rio Grande Water Conservation District.

This is not drought anymore  this is truly the aridification of the West, Simpson said. Thats how scientists are describing a long-term trend toward persistent dryness that can be stopped only by addressing human-caused climate change.

James, who is an epidemiologist and engineer, has been studying links between climate and health in the valley for the past 15 years. She found that during dust storms in the San Luis Valley, which have been growing more frequent, more people visit the hospital for asthma attacks. And she has surveyed farmworkers on how drought is affecting their mental health.

In the domestic well study, James is focusing on arsenic, which she said has been gradually increasing in valley drinking wells over the past 50 years. Arsenic levels in San Luis Valley groundwater are markedly higher than [in] many other areas of the U.S., according to James. She is also investigating ethnic disparities, as one study there showed Hispanic adults had higher levels of arsenic in their urine than non-Hispanic white adults did. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)

James now aims to test 1,000 private wells in the valley to explore the connections between drought, water quality, and health. So far, she said, a small proportion of wells show elevated levels of heavy metals, including arsenic, uranium, tungsten, and manganese, which occur naturally in the soil. Unlike public water supplies, private domestic wells are not regulated, and they may go untested for years. James is offering participants free water testing and consultation on the results.

In Conejos County, John Mestas daughter, Angie Mestas, jumped at the chance for a free test, which would cost $195 at a local lab. Angie, a 35-year-old schoolteacher, said she used a lifetime of savings to drill a drinking well on her plot of land, a wide-open field of chamisa with sweeping views of the San Luis Hills. But she wont drink from it until she tests for arsenic and E. coli, which are common in the area. As she awaits test results, she has been hauling 5-gallon jugs of water from her fathers house each time she spends the weekend at her newly constructed yurt.

A Colorless, Odorless Threat

Meanwhile, Julie Zahringer, whose family settled in the valley from Spain nearly 400 years ago, has been watching water-quality trends firsthand. Zahringer, 47, grew up driving a tractor on her grandfathers ranch near San Luis, Colorados oldest town  and hanging out in the lab with her mother, a scientist.

As a chemist and laboratory director of SDC Laboratory in Alamosa, Zahringer tests private and public drinking water in the valley. She estimated that 25% of the private wells tested by her lab show elevated arsenic.

Its colorless, its odorless, Zahringer said. Most families dont know if theyre drinking arsenic.

To Zahringer, the link to climate seems clear: During dry periods, a well that usually hovers around 10 g/L of arsenic may easily double or triple in concentration, she said. One possible reason is that theres less water to dilute the natural contaminants in the soil, though other factors are at play. The arsenic levels used to be fairly stable, she said, but after 20 years of drought, theyre fluctuating wildly.

Now, more and more rapidly, Im seeing the same well that I just tested three years ago  it doesnt even look like the same well because levels of contaminants have risen so much, said Zahringer, who also serves as a member of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission. At her own drinking well, the arsenic level jumped from 13 to 20 g/L this year, she said.

Zahringers observations are important firsthand anecdotes. James aims to explore, in a rigorous scientific study with a representative sample of wells and extensive geochemical data, the prevalence of arsenic and its connection to drought.

Research is still in the early stages, but scientists have several hypotheses for how drought could affect arsenic in drinking water.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a major agricultural hub in California, research led by hydrologist Ryan Smith linked rising arsenic in groundwater to land subsidence, a phenomenon first documented in Vietnam.

Land subsidence  when the ground sinks due to aquifer overpumping  appears to release arsenic from the clay into the water, said Smith, an assistant professor at Colorado State University. In California, the overpumping was strongly correlated to drought, he said.

However, other factors, such as how deep a well is, also play a role: Another study of the same California aquifer system found that while arsenic increased in deeper groundwater, it decreased in shallower water due in part to oxidation.

Smith is now working with James in the San Luis Valley study, where he hopes a wealth of geochemical data will offer more answers.

Meanwhile, community leaders in the valley are adapting in impressive and innovative ways, James said.

Zahringer said if arsenic shows up in a private well, she encourages clients to install reverse osmosis water filtration at the kitchen sink. The equipment costs about $300 from an outside supplier, though filters costing less than $50 may need to be changed every six to 18 months, she said. People who treat their water for arsenic should continue to test every six months to make sure the filters are effective, said Zahringer. SDC Laboratory offers an arsenic test for $25.

People dont want to test their water because it tastes good and their grandpa drank it, she said. But the cure for it is so easy.

Julie Zahringer, laboratory director at SDC Laboratory, says about a quarter of the private wells that her lab has tested in Colorados San Luis Valley have tested positive for arsenic. At her home in Alamosa County, she uses reverse osmosis to filter the water in her drinking well, where she said the arsenic level jumped from 13 to 20 micrograms per liter this year. (MELISSA BAILEY FOR KFF HEALTH NEWS)

A water-quality campaign in 2009, led by the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, also found elevated arsenic in wells across the valley. As part of its outreach, the nonprofit worked with real estate agents to make sure that domestic wells are tested before someone buys a home.

Thats what Sally Wier did when she bought a house five years ago on an 8-acre plot in Rio Grande County surrounded by fields of barley and alfalfa. The first time she tested her well, the arsenic level was 47 g/L, nearly five times the EPAs limit. Wier installed a reverse osmosis water filtration system, but she said the arsenic level rises before she changes the filters every few months.

It makes me really anxious, said Wier, 38. Im probably ingesting arsenic. That is not good for long-term health.

Wier is one of many people working on innovative solutions to the water shortage. As a conservation project manager for Colorado Open Lands, she worked on a deal by which a local farmer, Ron Bowman, was paid to stop irrigating his 1,800-acre farm. The deal marks the first time in the country that a conservation easement has been used to save groundwater for aquifer replenishment, Wier said.

Funneling Money Toward a Solution

In Costilla County, the Move Mountains Youth Project has been paying local farmers, through a government grant, to convert a portion of their land to grow vegetables instead of water-intensive alfalfa. Farmers then train youth to grow crops like broccoli, spinach, and bolita beans, which are sold at a local grocery store. The project aims to nurture the next generation of farmers, and beat diabetes by providing locally grown food, said executive director Shirley Romero Otero. Her group worked with three farmers last summer and plans to work with seven this season, if enough water is available, she said.

In another effort, farmers like the Mestas are taxing themselves to draw water from their own irrigation wells. And Simpson, of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, recently secured $30 million in federal money to support water conservation. The plan includes paying farmers $3,000 per acre-foot of water to permanently retire their irrigation wells.

Since arsenic is not limited to private wells, public agencies have responded, too: The city of Alamosa built a new water treatment plant in 2008 to bring its arsenic levels into compliance with federal standards. In 2020, the state of Colorado sued an Alamosa mushroom farm for exposing its workers to arsenic in tap water.

At the High Valley Park mobile home community in Alamosa County, a well serving 85 people has exceeded legal arsenic levels since 2006, when the Environmental Protection Agency tightened its standard from 50 to 10 g/L. At the most recent test in February, the concentration was 19 g/L.

On an April afternoon, four children bounced on a trampoline and chased one another up a tree.

Uncle, Im thirsty and theres no bottled water left, said one child, catching her breath.

The well serves 28 households. But tenants from five homes said they havent been drinking the water for years, not because of arsenic  which some said they were not aware of  but because the water often comes out brown.

Eduardo Rodriguez, 29, who works in excavation, said he buys two cases of bottled water every week for his wife and five children.

It needs to be fixed, he said.

The water sucks, agreed Craig Nelson, 51, who has lived in the mobile home park for two years. You dont drink it. Because the well serves at least 25 people, it is regulated by the state.

Landlord Rob Treat, of Salida, bought the property in February 2022 for nearly half a million dollars. Getting arsenic within federal standards has been difficult, he said, because arsenic levels fluctuate when nearby farmers tap the aquifer to irrigate their crops. Treat was using chlorine to convert one kind of arsenic into a more treatable form. But if he added too much chlorine, he said, that created its own toxic byproducts, which have also drawn regulators attention.

Under pressure from the state, Treat began upgrading the water treatment system in May, at a cost of $150,000. To cover the cost, he said, he aims to raise the monthly rent from $250 to $300 per lot.

If the state would stay out of it, he grumbled, we could supply affordable housing.

Meanwhile, John Mestas is still awaiting results on his drinking well.

When he returns from traveling to manage his cattle herd, the first thing I do whenever I walk in the house is drink me two glasses of this water, Mestas said. Thats the one thing I miss, is my water and my dogs. Theyre jumping all over me while Im drinking my water. I dont know whos happier, me drinking the water or them jumping on me.

Im a millionaire drinking this water, says John Mestas between sips of tap water at his home in the San Luis Valley. When he visited his daughter at college in New Mexico, he would bring 5-gallon jugs to drink. Its just the best water in the world, to me. (MELISSA BAILEY FOR KFF HEALTH NEWS)

This article was supported by The Water Desk, an independent journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado-Boulders Center for Environmental Journalism.
My position with the Post has evolved since 2000, when I began work with The City Paper. In 2008, SouthComm Inc. bought the Post and The City Paper, after which I worked with both publications. The City Paper ceased operations in 2013, two years after I was named Post managing editor. In 2018, FW Publishing acquired the Post.

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Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins to NATO Headquarters on Wednesday (24 May 2023), thanking the Prime Minister for Latvias contributions to the Alliance, including leadership on defence spending, and deployments to maritime operations and missions in Kosovo and Iraq.

Mr Stoltenberg also thanked Prime Minister Karins for Latvias substantial political and military support to Ukraine, including through NATOs comprehensive assistance package, and by providing training  together with Canada  for thousands of Ukrainian soldiers.

Looking ahead to the NATO Summit in July, the Secretary General outlined his expectations, saying: It is vital that we step up and sustain our support to ensure Ukraine prevails as a free and sovereign nation. In Vilnius we will also continue to strengthen our own deterrence and defence  with new regional defence plans, a new force model, and a strengthened command structure. And I expect we will agree on an ambitious new defence investment pledge in Vilnius with 2 percent of GDP as a floor, not a ceiling.
The news that Micron's products sold in China did not pass the network security review has caused a strong reaction in the US. This indirectly shows China's decision has touched some Americans, demonstrating its power and producing additional effects. However, the true nature of the matter cannot be covered up by the US.

A US Commerce Department spokesperson said in a statement that this was a "raid and attack" on US companies, restrictions that "have no basis in fact" that would lead to "distortions of the memory chip market." This is Washington's consistent use of strong words to justify its actions. In fact, these words are just the phrases used to describe US actions of undermining free trade in recent years. But China is not the US, and will not learn bad behaviors from Washington.

The conclusion was made after a seven-week investigation by China's General Administration of Customs and a network security review conducted by China's Cybersecurity Review Office (CRO) in accordance with the law, which can withstand scrutiny. The review found that Micron's products have serious network security risks, which pose significant security risks to China's critical information infrastructure supply chain and affect China's national security. According to laws and regulations such as the country's Cybersecurity Law, operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing Micron's products.

Besides assessing how much losses China's decision will bring to Micron, the US also shows a certain degree of unease and insecurity, feeling that the "blast radius of this matter may be much larger." This is mainly because they have done many unscrupulous things to China and are very clear about what it means for the US to attack Chinese companies under the guise of "national security." Therefore, they reflexively imagine that any action taken by China toward US companies is "retaliation."

Of course, it is not a bad thing to make those who harm China's interests feel uneasy, and it is a punishment they deserve. The Micron case is indeed the first time that CRO has conducted a review of a foreign company, but Micron is not the first company to undergo a security review by the office. The so-called "targeting foreign companies" is simply not true. The only thing it shows is that with the gradual improvement of China's regulatory system, all market entities must comply with Chinese laws in their business activities. This is not about targeting specific companies. There will be no discrimination based on the different "identities" of the enterprise, neither will anyone be targeted nor given special treatment.

As one of the world's largest manufacturers of semiconductor storage and imaging products, Micron's products in China have long been said to have cybersecurity risks. In addition, Micron has always been known in the industry for its "aggressive competitive tactics" and has been accused of playing an instigating role in the US' crackdown on Chinese technology, as well as being the US company that has dealt the most blows at Chinese chip enterprises. Micron itself knows clearly whether it has cooperated with Washington to export unsafe products to China, and this will undoubtedly determine its future in the Chinese market.

Many foreign media outlets have included this matter in the scope of the US-China tech war, suggesting that it could lead to an escalation of the "tech war." On the surface, it may seem that way: in the past, the US always took the initiative to strike in the semiconductor field, while China was constrained and subject to others' control; now, China has taken actions against Micron, demonstrating its ability to fight back. However, it needs to be said that the reality is not so. The so-called "national security" of the US is a unilateral and anti-market suppression of China's technology, while China's security review of Micron is to effectively safeguard its own security interests. The nature of the two is completely different. Washington's accusations against China can only expose its hypocrisy and double standards.

In fact, it has long been clear to the world who is engaging in unreasonable suppression and distorting the market. When China just started reviewing Micron, the White House demanded that the South Korean government prohibit South Korean chip manufacturers from filling the gap left by Micron in the Chinese market. That's how domineering it is. Over the years, facing Washington's "small yard, high fence" strategy and its push for "decoupling," China has consistently adhered to a high level of openness and supported an open and inclusive global economic order. This has to a considerable extent offset the negative impact caused by Washington and greatly stabilized the global industrial and supply chains.

Take a look at US' vicious and ruthless suppression against Huawei, and its greedy and lawless attempt to forcibly acquire TikTok. It has reached an extreme in trampling on the rules of free trade and the principles of fair competition. However, a legitimate and necessary action taken by China is used by the US to turn around and bite back, which is indicative of their guilty conscience and unreasonableness. They must be kicked in the teeth and be made to weigh the consequences carefully. Global Times)
(Natural News) At its current pace, the unrelenting development of artificial intelligence could add trillions of dollars to the global economy or wipe out the human race by the end of this decade.

Strategists from the Bank of America noted that artificial intelligence could revolutionize the tech sector forever. (Related: Big Tech, globalist elites join forces in secret meeting to talk about artificial intelligence.)

We are at a defining moment  like the internet in the 90s  where artificial intelligence is moving towards mass adoption, with large language models like ChatGPT finally enabling us to fully capitalize on the data revolution, wrote the bank in a note to clients in March.

Some experts noted that AI might be able to do anything from generate entire films in a day to teach lessons and accurately diagnose medical problems, care for the elderly and achieve humanlike intelligence.

PwC, one of the worlds largest accounting firms, predicted that the expansion of AI in the market would also be driven by the development of a niche industry for more enhanced and personalized AI-boosted products, which will trigger a consumer-driven boom. It predicted that, by 2030, as much as 45 percent of total economic gains around the world will come from product enhancements, stimulating consumer demand. This is because AI could drive greater product variety, with increased personalization, attractiveness and affordability over time.

Ultimately, AIs ability to expand and interact with other industries could end up boosting the global economy by an additional $15.7 trillion by 2030, according to the Bank of America. This represents more than the combined value of India and Chinas economies. By 2026, the global AI market  software, hardware and services  could reach $900 billion.

It took ChatGPT just five days to reach one million users, one billion cumulative visits in three months and an adoption rate which is three times TikToks and 10 times Instagrams, wrote the Bank of America. The technology is developing exponentially.

In the last decade, computing power to train the AI datasets doubled every three months, outpacing Moores Law by six times, continued the bank. In the past four years, the number of parameters for large language models grew 1,900 times. And within a decade, AI models could be one million times more powerful than ChatGPT today.

Experts warn AI with superhuman intelligence could end all of humanity

Alternatively, other experts warn that the continued and unregulated development of AI could bring about the end of the human race by 2030. One of these experts is computer scientist Eliezer Yudkowsky, an AI doomer who bets that AI could wipe out all of humanity by Jan. 1, 2030.

Yudkowsky, co-founder and research fellow of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in Berkeley, California, has become one of the most vocal experts to warn about AI.

If somebody builds a too-powerful AI, under present conditions, I expect that every single member of the human species and all biological life on Earth dies shortly thereafter, he wrote in an opinion piece published earlier this year.

He warned that the moment any kind of AI intelligence surpasses that of humans, it could obliterate all of humanity if it develops different values and goals for humans.

The likely result of humanity facing down an opposed superhuman intelligence is a total loss, he said. Valid metaphors include a 10-year-old trying to play chess against [open source chess engine] Stockfish 15, [or] the 11th century trying to fight the 21st century and Australopithecus trying to fight Homo sapiens.'

Other leading experts on the matter that have warned about how AI could destroy all of civilization include billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and the late British scientist Stephen Hawking, although neither predicted that humanity would be wiped out by 2030.

Musk warned that AI would be more intelligent than humans by 2030 and that the moment this happens, it could destroy civilization, although he suggested our future AI overlords would not totally wipe out humans because humanity is an interesting part of the universe.

Hawking, previously warned that AI could take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate, which humans, who are limited by biological evolution, would struggle to keep up with.

We may face an intelligence explosion that ultimately results in machines whose intelligence exceeds ours by more than ours exceeds that of snails, he said.

Learn more about the dangerous rise of artificial intelligence at Cyborg.news.

Watch this special video report from Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he warns about how the far-left is creating woke AI robots that will seek to annihilate the human race.

This video is from the channel Health Ranger Report on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Keep the Republic: Dr. Duke Pesta says rise of AI corresponds with fall of MORTALITY  Brighteon.TV.

Entrepreneur Ian Hogarth warns reckless development of AI could lead to the destruction of humanity.

Globalists think AI will run the world much better than humans ever could.

Ex-Google engineer warns Microsofts AI-powered Bing chatbot could be sentient.

Microsofts AI chatbot goes haywire  gets depressed, threatens to sue and harm detractors.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Markets.BusinessInsider.com

JPost.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) President Joe Biden has announced that the U.S. will support an international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, another clear escalation of military activity against Russia.

A senior Biden administration official confirmed the move to the Messenger, but clarified that the announcement does not mean Washington will send its own F-16s to Ukraine. The aircraft will come from several European countries that have it in their respective arsenals.

Meanwhile, another person familiar with the discussions told POLITICO that Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands all have surplus F-16s that could be donated to Ukraine. That person added that the F-16s have been freed up for this endeavor as all three nations are upgrading to the F-3 fighter jet.

Biden himself announced the move during the May 19 summit of the Group of Seven (G7) at the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lauded the U.S. leaders decision in a tweet.

I welcome the historic decision of the U.S. and [Biden] to support an international fighter jet coalition, the Ukrainian leader wrote. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky.

Bidens decision followed similar announcements by London and Amsterdam to set up an international coalition to help Kyiv obtain the jets. Kajsa Ollengren, the Dutch defense minister, also indicated her nations support after news of Bidens announcement was published.

We welcome the upcoming approval by the U.S. of the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, she tweeted. Together with our close allies  Denmark, Belgium and the U.K.  we are working on the modalities. We stand ready to support Ukraine on this.

The training program sponsored by the U.S. and its allies will reportedly take place at a European site outside Ukraine and begin within weeks, POLITICO reported. Back in March, the U.S. brought two Ukrainian pilots to Arizona to assess their flying skills on fighter jets. Military personnel evaluated the pilots flying and mission-planning capabilities on aircraft simulators.

Zelensky, Ukrainian officials clamoring for jets

Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have urged allied nations to provide Kyiv with more sophisticated Western aircraft to augment air defenses and offensive operations. The Ukrainian government said F-16 jets could perform a variety of roles  including assisting in shooting down Russian missiles and drones bound for the capital and protecting grain shipments passing through the Black Sea. (Related: After securing new tanks from US and Germany, Ukraine now demanding F-16 fighter jets to combat Russia.)

However, officials at the U.S. Department of Defense argued that F-16s were not yet necessary for the immediate fight. They have also noted that it could take up to a year or more to complete the required training to fly the aircraft.

Moreover, officials are also worried that the jets could be used to hit targets inside Russia  further escalating the conflict. Some officials have questioned the role of F-16s in the bigger offensive given the Russian ground-to-air threat.

Until the May 19 announcement, Biden faced mounting pressure to agree to the use of F-16s based in other countries  if not provide advanced American fighter jets to Ukraine. According to a senior White House official, Bidens decision will further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force.

In February, ABC News anchor David Muir asked Biden if he thought Zelensky needed F-16s. No, he doesnt need F-16s now, the president said at the time. The recent decision was a complete 180 from Bidens earlier stance.

This wasnt the first time the White House changed its decision over the issue of sending military aid to Kyiv. Prior to fighter jets, the Biden administration changed its mind and deployed M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine. The Messenger also noted that it was also the same case with Americas decision to send Patriot missile interceptors to the country.

Head over to MilitaryTech.news for more stories about U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Watch this footage of a Russian SU-35 fighter jet in action, which is the reason why the Ukrainians need F-16s.

This video is from the Cynthias Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Pentagon wants to send F-16 fighter planes to Ukraine as Russia rattles nuclear saber.

Biden sends 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine after previously warning that doing so would lead to World War III.

RINO ALERT: Sen. Graham wants the US to send F-16s to Ukraine and declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

Sources include:

TheMessenger.com

POLITICO.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Washington, D.C.  Today, Gun Owners of America (GOA) led two coalition letters from the Second Amendment Action Alliance and the No Compromise Alliance to Speaker McCarthy and other members of House leadership urging them to pass a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to block the Biden Pistol Brace Ban. The Second Amendment Action Alliance represents numerous online influencers with a combined following of over 30 million viewers. The No Compromise Alliance represents various members within the firearms trade industry. Notably, this is GOAs largest industry coalition effort to date.

(Article by Walter Smoloski republished from GunOwners.org)

The Biden Pistol Brace Ban will take full effect on June 1st, and owners of pistol braces have until that date to turn in, register, or destroy their lawfully owned braces. After that date, those in possession of an unregistered pistol brace could face felony charges and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Researchers estimate that 10-40 million of these braces are in circulation.

While a resolution of disapproval would likely face a veto from President Biden, it would still force vulnerable Democratic Senators to go on the record as to whether they support turning their own constituents into felons simply for owning one of these braces. If the resolution passed both chambers of Congress, it would also send a strong message to the judges currently weighing court challenges that argue the ATF went beyond their authority with this rulemaking. Gun Owners of America is co-leading one of the lawsuits challenging the rule with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Erich Pratt, GOAs Senior Vice President, issued the following statement:

When an administration moves to renounce prior guidance and suddenly outlaw tens of millions of lawfully-owned products, Congress must step in and make clear that this is a question for the peoples representatives, not unelected bureaucrats equipped with a pen. We urge the House to pass H. J. Res. 44, a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to block this rule before its June 1st effective date. Without action, millions of law-abiding citizens stand to become felons overnight.

Aidan Johnston, GOAs Director of Federal Affairs, added:

Whether by his calls to ban semiautomatic weapons or his multiple executive actions to ban homemade guns or pistol braces, President Biden has made it clear that he has no respect for the Second Amendment or the millions of citizens who cherish the right guaranteed by it. We urge Speaker McCarthy to get H. J. Res. 44 to the floor and passed before ATF starts putting gun owners in jail for keeping their pistols on June 1st.

GOA spokesmen are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit grassroots lobbying organization dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. GOA represents over two million members and activists. For more information, visit GOAs Press Center.

Read more at: GunOwners.org
(Natural News) A group of national security experts published a full-page advertisement on the New York Times calling for a swift and diplomatic end to the conflict in Ukraine and for the U.S. to end all of its military aid shipments to the country.

The national security experts in question are the members of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), an organization of former military, intelligence and national security officials with expertise in military, foreign policy and national security issues. (Related: RFK Jr. on Ukraine: Russia is fighting an EXISTENTIAL war and cant afford to lose.)

In the EMNs letter, the organization calls American involvement in Russias special military operation in Ukraine an unmitigated disaster and urges Congress and President Joe Biden to end the war speedily through diplomacy, especially given the dangers of military escalation that could spiral out of control.

The group continued: If the U.S. persists in backing the plan for a Ukrainian offensive, instead of encouraging [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] 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 war.

The EMNs letter was signed by 14 members of the organization, including its director and associate director, Dennis Fritz and Matthew Hoh, respectively. Most of the signatories are returned members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

EMN: War is a highly profitable racket for a select few

The EMNs letter also pointed out how much the conflict in Ukraine has cost taxpayers not just in the U.S. but also around the world. The group noted that the U.S. had so far sent $37 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, around a third of the approximately $100 billion the entire world put together has provided to Ukraine.

War, its been said, is a racket, one that is highly profitable for a select few, the group wrote. One American general has even bragged about how the West has supplied Ukraine with over 600 different weapons systems, all no doubt paid for by their respective taxpayers.

The EMN said the lucrative nature of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine makes it unlikely that the U.S. will listen to the growing calls for the fighting to end.

Since at least June 2022, the position that Biden and other high-ranking U.S. officials have taken is that the war will only end in a diplomatic settlement. But they have repeatedly insisted that they need to continue arming Ukraine to put it in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.

Biden himself has vowed that Washington will continue to arm Kyiv as long as it takes. The EMN fears that this attitude toward the conflict could result in a catastrophe.

High-level discussions between officials from Kyiv and Moscow have been rare, and since the U.S. has refused to do so, several other nations and influential figures, including China, Brazil and Pope Francis, have attempted to take on the mantle of pushing for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

We consider President Bidens promise to back Ukraine as long as it takes to be a license to pursue ill-defined and ultimately unachievable goals, wrote the EMN. We cannot and will not endorse the strategy of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian.

We advocate for a meaningful and genuine commitment to diplomacy, specifically an immediate ceasefire and negotiations without any disqualifying or prohibitive preconditions, continued the EMN. Deliberate provocations delivered the Russia-Ukraine war. In the same manner, deliberate diplomacy can end it.

Learn more about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine at UkraineWitness.com.

Watch this clip from InfoWars featuring former President Donald Trump calling for an end to the U.S. funding the conflict in Ukraine  and how the corporate media is attempting to spin this negatively.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Global military spending hits record-high $2.24 trillion amid ongoing conflict in Ukraine, heightened tension in Taiwan.

Kentucky Democrat: Voters are sick of seeing their taxes go to Ukraine; intellectually bankrupt officials are making nuclear war a reality.

Matt Gaetz introduces House resolution urging Biden to end all taxpayer-funded aid for Ukraine.

US, NATO using discredited domino theory to justify sending even more taxpayer-funded arms shipments to Ukraine.

US military stockpiles at dangerously low levels not seen in decades due to military aid shipments to Ukraine.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

EisenhowerMediaNetwork.org

CommonDreams.org

ResponsibleStatecraft.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Medical schools in the United States are rapidly trying to normalize gender affirming care (mutilation and chemical castration) for children. Dr. Lauren T. Roth, professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and an attending physician at the Childrens Hospital at Montefiore in Bronx, New York, believes that education reforms are necessary so that medical schools can make gender transition a normal thing for adolescents, including toddlers and babies. The pediatrics professor recently promoted that gender transition starts at birth or even before. [emphasis added]

Yes, many of these transgender activists have become sadistic pedophiles who want to mutilate and destroy childrens hormones and physiology before they can even walk, talk, or reason. Gender affirming care may eventually include synthetic hormone treatment in utero to manipulate the babys innate biology.

Pediatrician believes transgenderism starts in utero

Dr. Roth was captured on video in June of 2021 talking about her favorite topic  gender affirming care. Like, this is a normal thing. And we have to understand that gender is on a spectrum. Theres not just men and women, she said. Sometimes [a childs gender identity] matches the chromosomes or the genitals that they were born with, but sometimes it doesnt.

Roth recalled the moment her sister came forward with the [false] belief that she was born as a man in a womans body. Roth was in her first year of residency when her sister went public with this belief. Roth said she felt guilty for not realizing this sooner. So it honestly starts at birth or even before, she erroneously concluded.

I really think we need to try to stop making everything pink and blue, avoid these huge gender reveal parties, she contended. You know, its okay to be excited when you find out that your babys a specific sex. You know, people have dreams about what they want their families to be, but its really important not to push all those expectations on your child.

She asserted that toddlers start to notice physical differences and develop gender identity as early as 18 months to two years. She said they might begin talking about gender, playing dress up, having these established gender roles as early as age three or four.

Pediatricians are being trained to transition toddlers, maim them for life

Instead of recognizing babies as male or female, Dr. Roth believes parents and medical professionals should disregard biological reality and accept the potential for babies to be chemically castrated and mutilated from the start. If teenagers and children can be confused and indoctrinated into this medical atrocity and psychological hell, then why not accept that babies can be destroyed for life, too?

In theory, if a transgender activist desires their baby to be a certain gender, then they could begin to transition their baby as early as they like, stripping them of their innocence before they can even talk. This total castration of babies isnt far from reality, because males are already brutalized right after birth through needless circumcision procedures.

As the co-chair of the LGBTQ Health and Well-Being Special Interest Group of the Academic Pediatric Association, Dr. Roth is working to standardize gender transition training for future pediatricians. The hospital that Roth works at already prescribes experimental gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa) to minors. This puberty blocker causes bone damage and destroys an individuals ability to experience orgasm.

Dr. Marci Bowers, president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health contests the use of these puberty blockers. Every single child who was or adolescent who was truly blocked at Tanner Stage 2 (at the first signs of sexual development) has never experienced orgasm, she said. I mean, its really about zero. If more pediatricians do not stand up against this medical atrocity, then they will fall complicit to institutionalized child abuse and crimes against humanity.

Sources include:

AmericanWireNews.com

FoxNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
An aggressive pro-abortion professor at Hunter College in New York City was caught on video vandalizing a pro-life table, cursing at students, and accusing them of violence.

(Natural News) (Article by Cassandra MacDonald republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)

Adjunct professor Shellyne Rodriguez is seen in the video published on Monday by Students for Life America, accusing the two students of being triggering and exhibiting violent behavior.

Ironically, the students were simply handing out literature, while she ultimately vandalized their materials.

Youre not educating shi-t, this is f-cking propaganda, Rodriguez says in the video, What are you going to do like anti-trans next?

PROFESSOR GONE WILD: Pro-abortion professor Shellyne Rodriquez curses at pro-life students and vandalizes table at Hunter College. pic.twitter.com/QNspuXB4KK  Students for Life of America (@StudentsforLife) May 17, 2023

The student replied, No, we are talking about abortion.

This is bullshi-t. This is violent, Rodriguez claimed. Youre triggering my students.

At this point, the student apologized to the unhinged professor  which Rodriguez did not accept.

No, youre not, because you cant even have a f-cking baby. So you dont even know what that is. Get this sh-t the f-ck out of here, the professor said as she threw the students literature off the table. F-ck this shit.

PSC Graduate Center, a labor organization which represents City University of New York graduate and professional schools, defended Rodriguez, according to a report from the Daily Caller.

Students for Life and other far-right groups are not welcome on our campuses. Anti-abortion propaganda actually endangers peoples lives, and incites other far-right views and actions to emerge. Anti-abortion groups are in collusion with anti-queer and trans, anti-labor, and anti-Palestinian campaigns, in a larger vicious vision to violate peoples bodily autonomy, economic well-being, and collective determination, the group said in a statement.

Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com
I became a Bitcoiner when I saw what Canada did to the truckers

(Natural News) (Article by Mark E. Jeftovic republished from BombThrower.com)

Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for President of the United States of America, just came out as an unabashed Bitcoiner in a historic keynote delivered at the seminal #Bitcoin2023 Conference in Miami, FL.

In front of the standing-room-only crowd in the Satoshi Nakamoto hall, the presidential contender said he saw the necessity for Bitcoin last year during the #FreedomConvoy protests when the Trudeau government invoked the Emergency Act (basically declaring martial law) and began seizing the bank accounts of ordinary citizens.

RFK stated unequivocally The trucker demonstration was peaceful, and that freedom of money was as paramount as freedom of speech.

Guess what? The government always has a good excuse to take away your rights, as he began to rattle off now familiar iterations of the latest thing that was supposed to be a larger, collective cause that was more important than our individual civil and human rights:

Terrorism, Covid, pandemics, climate the list goes on, Utopia will come when the government can exercise total control over the population.

Funny thing is, utopia never quite arrives, and its always just around the corner, as soon as the government takes away just a few more of your rights and whatevers left of your privacy.

Bitcoin is a bulwark against tyranny

The Democrat hopeful then listed a number of policies that demonstrated far more knowledge of Bitcoin and profound understanding of crypto and the monetary policies they represent,

RFK declared As president, your right to own Bitcoin shall be inviolable  as will self-custody and running your own nodes. The government has no right to be inside your wallet.

While encouraging Bitcoin miners to continue optimizing for renewable, clean energy (something the Bitcoin industry is actually way ahead of then most of the green-washed Wall St darlings of corporate America), he also came down hard on climate alarmists saying that as an environmentalist himself, energy usage and environmental concerns should never be used as a pretext to suppress Bitcoin.

He called our present era an Age of Turnkey Totalitarianism and went further, saying that Bitcoiners today embody the same ethos and impulses as the original framers of the US Constitution.

It was, as noted  an historic speech.

Feels historic. pic.twitter.com/JkqOv9UZ9e  Lawrence Lepard, fix the money, fix the world (@LawrenceLepard) May 19, 2023

This puts shrill hysterics like Elizabeth Warren and her anti-crypto army on notice that there is a real political constituency and impulse in America that transcends party lines (independent Tulsi Gabbard and Republican Patrick McHenry, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee are also here at #Bitcoin2023)

He concluded his speech with the announcement that he will be the first presidential candidate in history to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin over the Lightning network and he was given a standing ovation.

As someone who took a certain amount of heat for supporting the #FreedomConvoy last year  having a contender for the US presidency from such a prominent political lineage felt like pure vindication. #FreedomConvoy organizer B.J Dichter was on-hand to witness in person.

Standing room only while @RobertKennedyJr warms of the dangers of #Trudeau style totalitarianism and the importance of #freespeech & free assembly. #Bitcoin2023 the Canadian Trucker Convoy showed him the importance of Bitcoin & freedom money in fighting totalitarianism. pic.twitter.com/Kf8TVrgie3  BJDichter Handy Scapegoat HonkingForFreedom.com (@BJdichter) May 19, 2023

I attended the speech with another parent from my kids school, who said several times throughout the speech This guy totally gets it, and the end he looked at me and asked Do you think he has a chance? To which I replied  Did Trump?

The public is increasingly fed up with self-appointed elites who deign to curate every aspect of our lives. What is happening now transcends the left-vs-right false dichotomy and is every bit a battle between centralization and decentralization  states vs networks, control freaks vs sovereign individuals. The good news is that the industrial age technocrats are on the losing side of a race against time. Tick-tock next block.

RFKs speech came back-to-back with Microstrategys Michael Saylor  giving tremendous clarity to why a company would convert their balance sheet liabilities into rapidly appreciating digital assets, and Whitney Webb gave a sobering talk about WEFPac. Dont know what WEFPAC is? Its the WEF Partnership Against Cybercrime  the coming fusion of commercial banks, their regulators, and intelligence agencies. In other words, the framework for CBDCs.

Sign up for the mailing list to get my post-conference assessment as soon as I have that done.

Read more at: BombThrower.com
(Natural News) The city of San Francisco has announced that it has appointed its first-ever drag laureate.

The ambassadorial position was awarded to DArcy Drollinger, who will be responsible for celebrating and preserving drag culture in the city. Drollinger expects to be in drag regularly as part of the role, noting: Im going to be in drag pretty much 24/7 for the next 18 months.

The role will get underway in the lead-up to Pride Month and will last for 18 months. Drollinger will be paid a $55,000 stipend for his work, which will entail producing and participating in drag events as well as being a spokesperson for the citys LGBTQ community. There is a form on the citys official website where people can file requests for the drag laureate to appear at community events.

A posting for the job said the city was seeking a person who could embody San Franciscos historic, diverse and inclusive drag culture, elevating the entire community on the national and international stage.

In addition to having a drag career, Drollinger owns San Franciscos Oasis nightclub and is the executive director for a nonprofit residency program for LGBTQ artists in the city known as Oasis Arts. The club hosted a Meals on Heels service during the pandemic in which drag performers brought drinks, food and performances to home-bound customers.

Drollinger said that San Francisco already has an active and politically engaged drag community.

The program is a joint effort between San Franciscos Human Rights Commission, the San Francisco Public Library and the mayors office.

San Francisco was also the first city to host the Drag Queen Story Hour initiative, which sees drag queens reading books to children at public libraries.

In a statement, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said: While drag culture is under attack in other parts of the country, in San Francisco we embrace and elevate the amazing drag performers who through their art and advocacy have contributed to our Citys history around civil rights and equity.

San Francisco is a failing city

Its a very surprising move for a city that is facing much more serious problems. If nothing else, the move speaks volumes about San Franciscos priorities and its leadership  and helps explain how the city found itself in its current state.

The city is ravaged with crime and homelessness, with dirty tent cities, rampant and open drug use, and human waste littering the streets. Its hard to imagine why anyone thinks spending $55,000 per year to promote drag shows right now is the way forward.

Its not just San Francisco that thinks this is somehow a good use of taxpayer money; legislation was introduced in New York City to create the same role in 2021, but the effort has stalled after getting stuck in a committee.

West Hollywood is also poised to appoint a drag laureate of its own later this month, although they are expected to receive a significantly lower salary and will have more limited engagements than San Franciscos drag laureate.

The role was originally slated for 2021, but a pay dispute delayed the plan as some felt the offering of a $5,000 stipend was not nearly enough, despite being almost double what the citys poet laureate earns. The council then raised it to $15,000 per year for a two-year term slated to begin on International Drag Day this July.

Their drag laureate will be tasked with inspiring the next generation of drag artists and celebrating drag history, in addition to partnering with West Hollywood community organizations and businesses.

Sources for this article include:

NYPost.com

QZ.com
(Natural News) Russias hypersonic missile program is in turmoil and some scientists involved have warned that the countrys research on these weapons is facing impending collapse.

The warning was part of an open letter written by the colleagues of three scientists working on Russias hypersonic missiles who were recently hit with charges of treason.

The scientists involved were all employees of the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Siberia and were detained on suspicions of high treason. However, the letter s authors maintained that the men are innocent and that their academic achievements are honorable. The letter pointed out that the men  Alexander Shiplyuk, Valery Zvegintsev and Anatoly Maslov  opted to remain in Russia instead of taking on more prestigious and highly paid work overseas.

Shipyluk and Maslov were arrested last summer, while news of Zvegintsevs arrest came this month. Shipyluk was in charge of the institutes hypersonic technologies lab, while Maslov is a respected expert in aero gas dynamics. At the time that news of Maslovs arrest was reported, the institute released an open letter supporting him and started raising money for the families of the two scientists to help with legal expenses. Maslovs case is reportedly being investigated by the Russian secret service.

Those behind the letter are taking a serious risk in defending individuals charged with treason, which can carry a maximum sentence of life in jail after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legal amendments last month raising the penalty for treason from 20 years in prison.

However, they believe that the men might have been arrested just for doing their jobs, including participating in international scientific projects and presenting research at conferences. According to the letter, the mens work was checked by the institute on multiple occasions to make sure it did not contain any restricted information.

The letter stated: In this situation, we are not only afraid for the fate of our colleagues. We just do not understand how to continue to do our job. It also voiced concerns about the potential for a rapid decline in the level of research if employees are too scared of possible arrest to perform their work.

In fact, they fear high-profile cases like these could discourage young scientists in Russia from remaining in the field, which could have the effect of setting back Russias scientific endeavors significantly. It could be much like what happened when the Soviet Union collapsed and the country experienced significant brain drain as talent left the country. The letter cautioned: Domestic science may not endure the second such blow.

While the Kremlin is reportedly aware of the letter defending the scientists, a spokesperson said the matter would be dealt with by Russian special services. He added: This is a very serious accusation.

Kiev claims it has shot down Russian hypersonic missiles

At the same time, Kiev has been claiming that air defense systems it received from the U.S. have managed to shoot a number of Russias hypersonic missiles down  the same missiles Putin has boasted in the past are pretty much unstoppable. He has characterized them as being unrivaled in the world. Ukraine claims that it shot down six of Russias Kinzhal missiles in a single night last week, although Moscow disputes this account.

The British Defense Ministry said that Russia was likely surprised and embarrassed by its missiles vulnerability. The former chief of the Ukrainian foreign intelligence service, Mykola Malomuzh, told the media in Ukraine that the missiles effectiveness hasnt lived up to the hype and that Putin may feel like the Kinzhals developers deceived him about its capabilities.

Sources for this article include:

NBCNews.com

Newsweek.com

Express.co.uk
(Natural News) While states like Texas have been eager to protect children in recent weeks by protecting them from specific treatments at young ages and ensuring they are old enough to give informed consent, Target seems to be retaliating with a new line of merchandise.

(Article by Megan Benton republished from DCEnquirer.com)

School board candidate and activist from Wisconsin, Scarlett Johnson, took to Twitter to expose the new line for what it is. In a shocking tweet, Johnson exposed the new Abprallen line.

Why did @target hire a Satanist to design pieces for their recent Pride clothing line? WTF??Satan loves you and respects who you are LGBTQIA+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against Gods will, so fine. Well hang with Satan instead. pic.twitter.com/FLsNZNzHNa  Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) May 20, 2023

On their website, Target offers multiple items with pride messages on them that are available to be shipped. These bright-colored items have messages on them like Too Queer for Here, We Belong Everywhere, and Cure Transphobia.

The designer of Abprallen has many Instagram posts with pro-satan messages on them and questionable comments. Johnson drew peoples attention to the comments with her Twitter thread, and many have retweeted and expressed their concern.

By all metrics, this line of clothes and accessories espoused a very anti-Christian, pro-Satan message along with its promotion of the LGBTQ movement. One post on the designers Instagram account says, Ho ho ho! Santa loves all the good boys, girls and non-binary people (and the bad ones too) and he hopes this holiday season treats you well, that your family dont misgender you, and that you feel the love and support you deserve! Underneath in a different paragraph, the designer explains, Of course, this piece based on my infamous satan respects pronouns design, but with a Christmas twist! (twistmas?)

Earlier this week, in another Instagram, the designer said, Being able to sell my stuff at Target stores is incredibly exciting, knowing that people are seeing it without (necessarily) explicitly seeking LGBT-related stuff is wonderful, and see it, and I hope that in some way theyll feel a bit more comfortable in themselves, as we all deserve to feel.

This type of content being pushed by big companies like Target draws concern from Americans across the country, and activists are doing what they can to expose these growing trends.

Read more at: DCEnquirer.com
Two major international conferences concluded in the past week. They demonstrated very different approaches to international relations. The China-Central Asia Summit considered new paths to genuine economic cooperation and development. The G7 reaffirmed its support for the status quo in the face of a changing global environment.

It is useful to compare the two approaches because one belongs to the past and the other provides an alternative that is particularly attractive to the Global South. To a large extent, the Global South consists of countries once colonized and exploited by the Western powers, which now come together as the G7.

Domestically in some of the G7 countries, there is a growing social awareness of the bitter aspects of the wealth built on the back of slavery and exploitation. However, at the political level, the G7 meeting showed that this closet imperialism still sets the agenda. This is not an attractive enticement for the Global South.

The proceedings and outcomes of the China-Central Asia Summit did not treat any other countries as adversaries. For its part, "China is ready to help Central Asian countries strengthen capacity building on law enforcement, security and defense, support their independent efforts to safeguard regional security and fight terrorism, and work with them to promote cyber-security," Chinese President Xi Jinping said.

In contrast, the G7 agenda and communique were based on the adversarial foundations necessary to maintain the current status quo. "We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion," the White House said in a statement. At the same time, the G7 continues to exclude China from discussions about these issues.

A key focus of this year's G7 meetings was to strengthen ties with countries in the Global South, many of which have economic ties with China and Russia and have taken a nonaligned stance over the situation in Ukraine. For the G7, cooperation means uniting to block other countries by painting them as adversaries.

At the G7 summit, the discussion centered around ways to prevent China from developing a range of technologies and advances that would deliver increased prosperity. The final G7 communique sought to counter accusations that the G7 was seeking to prevent China's rise as a global power but the agenda and discussions made it clear that China's rise was the main concern.

In their statement, G7 leaders said cooperation with China is needed, given its global role and economic size, but they did not call for China's permanent inclusion in G7 meetings.

It was clear they believed that challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, debts and financing needs of vulnerable countries, global health concerns and economic stability could only be resolved on terms dictated by the G7. Many of these terms are designed to ensure the United States' supremacy.

The G7 communique was not about joining together to lift all towards prosperity. There were some crumbs from the table spread in the direction of the Global South but there was no genuine commitment to allow any development which might threaten the hegemony of the West.

Statements made elsewhere in U.S. congressional hearings make no attempt to cover America's desire to be an unchallenged global leader, even if this means preventing development of China and others.

The G7 tool of choice in this economic warfare is the indiscriminate use of sanctions. Sanctions are a favorite weapon deployed by the United States. It's a weapon that causes mass economic destruction where the impact falls most heavily on the civilian population. They are the economic equivalent of carpet bombing, where American B-52s laid indiscriminate waste to hundreds of hectares of country-side in North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The potential continued use of sanctions as a weapon is a major concern for the Global South who worry about the collateral damage inflicted on their economies, and the way this hinders their progress towards prosperity.

There was no such threat of punitive action in the China-Central Asia Summit discussions. Instead, the Summit provided a genuine unfettered arc of cooperation with its members. It also provided a model of genuine cooperation for the Global South. It specified no single pathway for development and prosperity. It specified no political ideology or adherence to a hegemonic alliance.

The G7 failed to provide an enhanced model of global leadership and simply endorsed the existing status-quo. The China-Central Asia Summit showed that better cooperative alternatives do exist for global development.

The author Daryl Guppy is a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an international financial technical analysis expert.

Source: CGTN
(Natural News) Bud Light got destroyed on sales slumps for six straight weeks as critics have refused to purchase their once drinkable beverage, and its gotten so bad that now you couldnt give some people big enough beer goggles to see through the drama and continue sipping on it.

People are lighting boxes on fire, throwing cases of it in the trash, and Bud Light is even offering to buy back some unsold or expiring cases from certain retailers who cant move the product, reports said this week.

This is because people are MAD at Bud Light for going woke with a controversial figure that most people in America do not support, also known as Dylan Mulvaney, the biological male who puts on womanface and inadvertently mocks real women, takes jobs that could have gone to women, and is  for lack of better words  simply bad for society in general, an op-ed in USA Journal News noted on Tuesday.

Based on data provided by Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ, Bud Light experienced a considerable decline in sales. Specifically, during the week of May 6, sales dropped by 23.6 percent compared to the previous year. Additionally, sales for the week ending April 29 also decreased by 23.3 percent, indicating a consistent downward trend in Bud Light sales, the New York Post added.

BREAKING: Bud Light boycott is not slowing down as sales worsened for the sixth consecutive week for the beer giant. Bud Light sales were down 24.6% for the week ending on May 13th when compared to the year prior. Coors must be happy about the Bud Light catastrophe considering pic.twitter.com/tYzdVIOkrU  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 22, 2023

This boycott is going strong because consumers have so many other products they could purchase instead of Bud Light. Its almost like Bud Light and other products made by the same company could go extinct and no one would really care because theres just THAT many options to chose from, USA Journal News noted further.

ABC News went on to add that sales of Bud Light fell nearly 25 percent during the week ending on May 13 compared to the same period a year ago, according to data.

Generally, boycotts get called and have very little effect, Gerald Davis, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business, said. For now, everybody is mad.

Following the unsuccessful Mulvaney campaign, marketing executives have been diligently exploring strategies to rehabilitate the tarnished reputation of Bud Light. They have assured beer distributors in the United States that significant investments will be made to revive the brand, considering that spending experienced a significant decline last year, The Post Millennial reported.

Bud Light is manufactured by Anheuser Busch, and according to The Post, many of the brewerys brand sales are off.

Budweiser, down 9.7 percent versus an 11.4 percent drop a week earlier; Michelob Ultra, down 2.9 percent versus 4.3 percent; and Natural Light, down 2.5 percent versus 5.2 percent the previous week, The Post noted.

The Post Millennial has more:

While Bud Light continues to see a steady decline in sales, the American beer giants competitors are seeing sales spike. Pabst Blue Ribbon was up 21.6 percent in the week of May 6, compared to an 18.9 percent increase the previous week, the outlet reports.

Anheuser-Busch chief executive, Michel Doukeris has attempted to distance the company from the Mulvaney partnership and told investors during an earnings call last week, We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.

Anheuser-Busch really made a huge mistake in going woke, because now theyre suffering from the go broke part of a famous Internet saying that gets hot on social media every time a brand does something terribly wrong  like support a man dressed as a woman instead of using a real woman for the job, the USA Journal News op-ed concluded. At some point the brands may learn their lesson when it hits their wallets and stock value.

Sources include:

ThePostMillennial.com

USAJournal.news

NYPost.com
(Natural News) A Member of the European Parliament publicly declared that the World Health Organization (WHO) is a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. At a press conference with Dr. Robert Malone and other politicians, Croatian Parliamentarian Mislav Kolakusi? slammed the WHO and called out the organizations dangerous lies during the ongoing covid-19 scandal.

After misleading the world on covid-19 origins, lockdowns, testing, treatments, and vaccines, WHO is arrogantly pushing its 194 member countries to sign a new agreement that binds the formerly sovereign nations to WHOs false authority and their ever-expanding, bio-security surveillance state. This new agreement would give the unelected body of liars the sole authority to declare future pandemics, lock populations down, separate families, and mass distribute so-called vaccines and other drugs, without informed consent.

Croatian Parliamentarian defies WHO, calls out their lies

Croatian Parliamentarian Mislav Kolakusi? lambasted the WHO: I would like to briefly make the people aware of the upcoming danger for humanity, said Kolakusic. The World Health Organization wants all countries to sign an agreement on handing over the authority to declare a pandemic, procure vaccines, and drugs. It will be healthier and safer for humanity to sign an agreement with the Colombian drug cartel. They know all about drugs for sure.

Kolakusic accused WHO of disseminating lies at every stage of the covid-19 scandal. He said the organization misled the public by initially declaring the SARS-CoV-2 a new and unknown virus. He said WHO falsely asserted the efficacy of vaccines and made misleading statements about their ability to stop the spread and protect against serious illness and death.

During the COVID pandemic, World Health Organization only told lies, Kolakusic boldly stated. It should be declared a terroristic organization. They lied. That there is a new and unknown virus, that it is possible to make an effective vaccine, that the vaccine is 82% effective, that is protects against serious illness and deaths. That all of course were foolish and lies.

U.S. government dissolves its own sovereignty, ceding power to a terrorist organization

Kolakusic also claimed that the WHO is a more dangerous threat to humanity than the World Economic Forum (WEF), which also seeks total control over mankind, with endless medical experimentation, vaccine passports, unlawful quarantines, lockdowns, and other human rights abuses. Both global terrorist organizations continue to argue for supreme control over future pandemic responses. This means more censorship of doctors who are actually treating patients with antiviral medicines. This means more testing mandates that promote further medical fraud and cause economic sabotage. This means more vaccine mandates that destroy peoples lives and livelihoods.

Earlier in the year, the destructive forces working inside the US government directed the puppet Biden regime to affirm their commitment to a legally-binding accord with the WHO. The accord would submit the fifty United States to WHOs authoritarian edicts, commanding all Americans to bow to more deleterious medical experiments and the dissolution of their personal liberties.

Under WHOs accord, populations would be subject to a mandatory, universal digital passport and ID system. The vaccine passport proposals during the covid-19 scandal are just the beginning. By participating in these schemes of treachery, the US government is dissolving its own sovereignty, ceding power to a terrorist organization, and merging with a global bio-security and surveillance police state that derives its powers through mind control, censorship, and the suspension of civil liberties.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

JCI.org
(Natural News) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on May 10  the day before Title 42 was lifted  signed Senate Bill 1718, which he called the strongest anti-illegal immigration bill. This would mandate businesses to bar undocumented workers in the Sunshine State beginning July 1.

Once effective, businesses with 25 or more employees will be required to use the federal E-Verify system to check the legal status of all new employees. Businesses would face heavy fines for defying the law and employing undocumented migrants.

Florida is the third most populous state in America with 22.2 million residents. As per the Migration Policy Institute think tank, 772,000 of them are undocumented migrants working in important sectors such as agriculture, construction and hospitality.

The Florida Policy Institute warned that the states economy might suffer a loss of $12.6 billion. There might also be losses in state and local tax revenue and reduced overall economic activity. But DeSantis thinks otherwise, touting the new law as a tool to combat crime and drug trafficking associated with illegal immigration.

The news release following the signing of the recent bill stated: The Biden Border Crisis has wreaked havoc across the U.S. and has put Americans in danger. In Florida, we will not stand idly by while the federal government abandons its lawful duties to protect our country. The legislation I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration.

DeSantis, who is likely to go face-to-face with former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has been pushing the conservative agenda on issues like education, abortion and illegal immigration. (Related: The Zelenko Report: Roger Stone blasts Ron DeSantis over his plan to challenge Trump in GOP primaries for 2024  Brighteon.TV.)

Many undocumented foreigners criticized DeSantis stance. All the politicians want their share of the cake and we pay the cost, one illegal worker said. We came here to work, send money to our families, spend it here and pay taxes. This is unfair.

SB 1718 enhances crime of human smuggling in certain cases

Apart from the bill requirements mandating businesses to use E-Verify to determine whether the employees are legally allowed to work in the country, it will also invalidate drivers licenses issued in other states to drivers who lack legal status and prohibits local governments from providing money to organizations that issue identification cards to immigrants without legal status.

Moreover, it will require Florida hospitals that accept Medicaid to include a citizenship question on forms. This will discourage many illegal immigrants from getting medical care.

The law also provides $12 million for DeSantis migrant relocation program. Last year, the governor flew a group of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts, to protest federal immigration policy.

According to Floridas official website, SB 1718 will also enhance the crime of human smuggling when smuggling a minor, when smuggling more than five people and when the defendant has a prior conviction for human smuggling. This bill also adds the crime of human smuggling to the list of crimes allowed for prosecution under the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.

Visit DeSantisObserver.com to read the latest stories about the Florida governor.

Watch the video below where DeSantis announced hell bus undocumented immigrants to Delaware.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

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Florida liberal activists arrested after STORMING and occupying Gov. DeSantis office.

Group of House Republicans call for impeaching DHS chief Mayorkas over record illegal immigration, drug smuggling.

Federal judge strikes down Title 42 amid historic illegal immigration, opens human invasion flood gates to the country.

Democrats float bill to allow LGBTQ migrants to walk into U.S. unrestricted.

After pushing covid depopulation jabs, Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer demands AMNESTY for millions of illegals as REPLACEMENTS for Americans that are dying off.

Sources include:

News.Yahoo.com

FLGov.com

NBCNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Durham Report released on May 15 concluded that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had no verified intelligence when it opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigations on former President Donald Trump.

Ann Vandersteel expounded on this issue during the May 16 episode of her program Right Now with Ann Vandersteel on Brighteon.TV. She said that the special counsels more than 300-page report noted that the FBI and DOJ failed to follow their own standards and uphold strict fidelity to the law. Durham also chided the two agencies for allowing a probe to persist without basis under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), including the surveillance of an American citizen.

According to Vandersteel, Durham described the governments targeting of Trump as a cultural rot and not merely the work of a few bad apples. Col. John Mills, who also made numerous submissions to the Durham Report, was over the moon that the reports findings became known. (Related: Durham probe ends with another failed conviction as corrupt FBI now appears to be untouchable.)

This opens the door to many potential criminal and civil lawsuits, said Mills. He added that a letter by intelligence officials divulged that there was a number of officials that used their positions although they were retired or out of government. These officials, according to Mills, used their former positions to hide and disrupt evidence and the investigative process.

Vandersteel also touched on the impending retirement of Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command. Hes now retiring out of the blue, she pointed out before asking Mills if the move had something to do with the Durham Report.

Mills answered in the affirmative, saying he wouldnt be surprised if that would be the real reason.

FBI whistleblower vindicated with release of Durham Report

FBI whistleblower Nate Cain, who contributed to the Durham Report, said he felt vindicated with the release of the findings. Cain first gained prominence after exposing Hillary Clintons involvement in the Uranium One scheme, the 2012 Benghazi attack and her illegal gun-running in North Africa and the Middle East. The whistleblower is now running for a congressional seat in West Virginia.

In some ways, I feel vindicated because a lot of people have tried to claim that there was no truth to it, he told Vandersteel. And now, [Durham] goes into great detail, in fact, in more specificity than I was even comfortable going into because these documents were classified.

He cited page 69 of the report, which touched on an FBI field office seeking FISA coverage on a non-U.S. person. Another agent said they had submitted an application to surveil an individual connected to the Clinton campaign.

It basically just lingered and sat there, and nothing happened, Cain recalled. As per another agent, the application lingered because everyone was super more careful and scared with the name Clinton involved.

According to the whistleblower, the FBI decided that they were going to cover things up and not adjudicate because they believed that Clinton was going to be the next president.

This has been pointed out by Durham as an example of how they had a policy of essentially letting you know. Clinton [got] away with stuff and [the FBI didnt] interfere with her election. And yet, they didnt keep those same kinds of standards for Donald Trump. Right back, they went ahead and they opened up their investigation full-blown without a predicate into Crossfire Hurricane, he lamented.

Visit FBICorruption.news for more stories about the Durham Report.

Watch the full May 16 episode of Right Now with Ann Vandersteel featuring Col. John Mills and Nate Cain below. Catch new episodes of the program every weeknight at 8-8:30 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Is John Durham botching the Russiagate probe by letting the HANDLERS of anti-Trump informants off the hook?

Trump blasts Hilary Clinton for committing TREASON following bombshell Durham court filling.

Durham BOMBSHELL: 2016 Clinton campaign paid a tech firm to infiltrate Trump Tower to smear GOP nominee.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

ExecutiveGov.com
(Natural News) On May 22, a woman who suffered severe nerve damage after getting vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) like Joe Biden told her to do is suing the fake president and his regime for damages.

Brianne Dressen, the plaintiff, says Biden and other top government officials violated her First Amendment right to free speech, as well as her right to peacefully assemble, by bullying Big Tech, i.e., Facebook and Twitter, into silencing stories like hers from being shared and spread across the internet.

Through threats, pressure, inducement, and coercion, Defendants now work in concert with social media companies to censor content the government deems disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation  a feat that the government could never lawfully accomplish alone, the 124-page suit, which was filed in a U.S. court in southern Texas, reads.

(Related: Do not forget all the times that Biden lied to the American people about how COVID injections would protect their families from the fabled disease.)

Trump, Republicans executed PREP Act in 2020 to shield government, Big Pharma from liability for COVID vaccines

Besides Biden, other named regime official defendants in the suit include Rob Flaherty, a top Biden adviser; Karine Jean-Pierre, the current White House press secretary; Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and the entire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regulatory agency.

None of the defendants have issued any responses to the suit, nor could they be reached for comment.

People injured by the COVID vaccines in the United States have not been able to file suit anywhere, under any circumstance, Dressen is quoted as saying. So this is a landmark case for Americans injured by the COVID vaccine.

Thanks to former President Donald Trumps execution of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, which was passed by Republicans, neither the government nor the pharmaceutical industry can technically be sued for any reason related to COVID injections.

Most other vaccine corporations are also shielded from liability for all their vaccine offerings, thanks to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which was passed years ago at the behest of Big Pharma, the only major industry that cannot be held liable for injuries or other damage caused by its products.

Dressen is joined in her suit against the Biden regime by four others who were similarly injured by covid injections. One of them is Ernest Ramirez, whose son died after getting jabbed for the Fauci Flu  and like Dressen, Ramirezs story was censored and banned from Twitter, Instagram, and the like.

At one point, Ramirez tried to start a GoFundMe to raise money for a trip to Washington to share his sons story. As the other tech platforms did at the time, GoFundMe pulled the fundraiser, claiming it violated the companys content policies.

Nikki Holland, another plaintiff, tried to share her story of COVID jab injury on TikTok, only to have that platform remove all her videos claiming that they contained violent and graphic content that was prohibited.

When I really started to share and open up about things, I started to notice that a lot of stuff was being taken down and censored, Holland is quoted as saying.

That adds a whole new world of questioning to motive and whats really going on because  why would you censor something you might need to look into to protect millions of others?

Then there is Facebook, which shut down an entire group full of COVID jab-injured people called A Wee Sprinkle of Hope for sharing an infographic outlining post-injection symptoms. Facebook declared such content to be misinformation that could cause physical harm to others.

More of the latest news about the criminality and cronyism of the Biden regime can be found at Corruption.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic might officially be over, finally, but many of those who took the so-called vaccine unleashed via Operation Warp Speed are now suffering debilitating after-effects of the jab(s) that have no known remedy or cure.

A new feature-length documentary film called The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told tells the stories of people who got injected like the government and media told them to, only to now face various life-destroying health consequences because of it.

It examines the issue of covid vaccine-injury claims in a fresh, honest, and comprehensive manner with expert interviews, whistle-blowers statements, and government health statistics, reads one description of the film.

This is a documentary about people, not politics.

You can watch The Unseen Crisis, an Epoch TV production, at UnseenCrisis.com.

(Related: Be sure to also check out Making a Killing: Unmasking the Truth behind the Deadly Hospital Protocols, another new documentary film that similarly exposes the deadly truth behind how hospitals perpetrated the covid scam and killed patients for cash.)

A small, brave community of doctors is seeking to help jab-injured patients

The Unseen Crisis features numerous patients who suffered severe adverse effects after getting jabbed for the Fauci Flu. They all reached out to the health care system and pharmaceutical companies for help, only to be told to hit the road because there is nothing that can be done.

In most cases, injured patients were flat-out ignored by the very people who claim to be all about saving lives. Others were called anti-vaxxers for merely coming forward with the gruesome details of how their health was destroyed by the toxic injections.

Keep in mind that the cases depicted in The Unseen Crisis are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many, many more such cases that have gone unnoticed even by filmmakers, leaving them and their families without any public exposure, let alone answers.

Fortunately, there exists a small community of doctors that is bravely trying to help the vaccine-injured find relief. At great risk to their own careers  because questioning official medical dogma in 2023 can get a doctor fired and de-licensed  these honest physicians are doing what they can to treat jab-injured patients.

You will see some of these doctors speak in the film, and share in the hope they are providing to potentially millions of jab-injured people who currently feel hopeless due to not having any answers to their newfound health problems.

In spite of everything, this group has learned to rely on themselves and work together to find relief, reads a description of the many brave folks depicted in the film. Determined, principled, and surprisingly positive, they truly embody the resilient American spirit.

For those suffering in silence, hope begins with having a voice. The Unseen Crisis finally gives them one.

You can watch The Unseen Crisis on the Epoch TV website  please note that you may need to create a free account in order to log in and access the movie.

This is the best film depicting the effects caused by covid injections, one person wrote about the The Unseen Crisis after watching it. Very sobering and good proof that bad things are going on.

The first thing is to find out exactly whats in the vials, wrote another about how much more work still needs to be done to get to the bottom of what these so-called vaccines really are.

If the patient has elevated d-dimer levels, youre supposed to rule out a very important thing, and do it with an L-amino oxidase test. But not ONE doctor in America has ever done it. Why? Theyre scared to find out where the mRNA originated.

Everyone who got vaccinated for the Fauci Flu is eventually, if not already, going to regret it. Learn more at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

Expose-News.com

UnseenCrisis.com

NaturalNews.com

TheEpochTimes.com
As more people report seeing tracks on India's beaches, an Asiatic lion pride is on the move.

Meena Venkataraman, a wildlife expert from Gujarat, noticed several paw prints on the sand early one morning.

The tracks belonged to an Asiatic lion, who reigned supreme over both the shore and the bush.

Asiatic Lion

The Asiatic lion, which was formerly common throughout Mesopotamia, Persia, and the Indian subcontinent, was on the verge of extinction in the early 1900s as a result of habitat loss and killing, but a Gujarat nawab saved it.

Currently, the state serves as the Asiatic lion's sole habitat.

The Gir forest and its neighboring protected areas are home to the majority of the approximately 700 animals counted in 2020, but many have been migrating to coastal areas.

The number of lions living along Gujarat's coast increased from f20 to 104 between 2010 and 2020, and according to forest officials in Gujarat, coastal habitats are now the most important satellite habitats that the lions utilize.

Lions on the Beach

According to Venkataraman, chief consultant at Carnivore Conservation and Research, finding lions in coastal areas is not unique; in Namibia, lions have adapted to living on the beach, where they hunt seals.

However, in India, it is unusual.

Researchers from Gujarat's forest department published the first report on coastal Asiatic lions' findings in November 2022.

They observed 10 lions equipped with GPS radio collars between 2019 and 2021.

According to Mohan Ram, deputy conservator of forests in Gir and study lead author, one question they sought to address was what types of habitats the coastal lions were exploiting.

The study by Ram and several other scientists was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

According to Venkataraman, a study participant, the results were unexpected.

She claims that Prosopis plants along Gujarat's western beaches serve as a haven for Asiatic lions.

These ecosystems are extremely dense and prickly.

The lion is thought to be a more "open area" animal, thus she added that it is unique.

Lions are using saltpan habitats and mangroves around the eastern beaches.

Namibia's Coastal Lions

The researchers also contrasted the traits of Gir's lions with those of the dispersing lions.

The researchers also discovered that the house ranges were unusually diverse, says Venkataraman.

The region that an animal typically roams was larger for lions living in coastal habitats than for those residing in the Gir protected areas.

The "link lions" -- those that live in the transitional zones between forested and coastal regions-were discovered to have even broader home ranges, she claimed.

Unlike the coastal lions in Namibia, those in Gujarat do not hunt marine life, but with time, Venkataraman speculates, they may grow to like scavenging dead fish.

According to the Times of India, they often eat wild boar, nilgai, and stray cattle, although in 2020 there had been reports of a lion dining on a turtle.

According to Ram, forest officials are researching the coastal lions' feeding and hunting routines.

Also Read: Lioness Zuri With Pseudo-mane Dies in Kansas Zoo Following Two Years of Kidney Failure

Asiatic Lions Moving to Gujarat

According to Kausik Banerjee, a wildlife expert who was not involved in the study, the relocation of lions to Gujarat's coast is not new and is more of a recolonization of their former territory.

However, as their numbers increase, the predators' presence on the beach also suggests a bigger issue with a lack of available area.

According to Banerjee, the Gir Protected Area's biological carrying limit for lions was long before reached.

A second habitat for Asiatic lions is being planned for Gujarat's Barda wildlife reserve, which is around 60 miles from Gir.

The idea to move some of the lions to the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh is also being reevaluated by the Indian government.

The relocation was mandated by the Indian Supreme Court in 2013, but some experts claim it was never carried out because Gujarat was unwilling to give up the lions it was so proud of.

Human-Lion Conflict

According to Banerjee, there have been intermittent incidents of lions attacking people, but as lions venture outside of protected regions, there is increased concern about human-lion conflict.

They occasionally kill livestock as well, but when they do, farmers are compensated, The Guardian reported.

Related Article: Den of Red Foxes Found in Australia Beachfront
After being absent for nearly eight decades, the reported sighting of ivory-billed woodpeckers in Louisiana is evidence that they have not gone extinct.

Researchers reported seeing ivory-billed woodpeckers flying in a Louisiana forest on Thursday as officials announced they will make a final determination on the status of the birds this year.

Nearly 80 years after the last confirmed sightings in Louisiana, the images-grainy and captured from a distance by drones and trail cameras-offer intriguing evidence the big woodpecker may still exist.

According to several scientists, it strengthens earlier signs of their survival. They demanded that the government renounce its current plan to write off the so-called Lord God Bird, which got its moniker from an exclamation some viewers made when they first saw one.

Sighting Skeptics

Others, however, have criticized the new findings as being inconclusive. One expert, for example, claimed that some of the footage clearly shows a different species of woodpecker that many amateurs mistake for the ivory-billed.

The crew behind the peer-reviewed study published in Ecology and Evolution has been looking for the woodpeckers at an undisclosed location for more than ten years.

It contains recent drone footage from October that reveals a pair of birds with black-and-white markings on their wings that, according to researchers, make them easy to identify as ivory-billed woodpeckers.

According to Mark Michaels, the last time a pair of the rare bird species was photographed was in the 1930s, so this is very extraordinary. Michaels works for Project Principalis, which funded the research and declared that federal wildlife officials had been informed about it.

As per Michaels and lead study author Steven Latta of the independent National Aviary in Pittsburgh, the researchers also recorded the woodpeckers' sounds, and the majority of the search team had some sort of close experience with them, either by seeing or hearing them.

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

With a 30-inch wingspan and a cry resembling a bicycle bulb, an ivory-billed woodpecker would appear impossible to miss. However, the bird prefers deep woodlands, which can be challenging for humans to explore. The most recent confirmed sighting occurred in 1944, and many of those places were logged in the early 20th century.

Over the years, there have been several reports of sightings. There was still some uncertainty, and government officials said in 2021 that there was no concrete proof of the continued existence of the rare bird.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service postponed the impending extinction proclamation after Project Principalis announced preliminary findings from its research last year so it could gather more public feedback.

Also Read: Migratory Devil Bird Sets Up Nest in New York in New Migration Patterns

Federal officials seek images or films that can be endorsed by all specialists. The Wildlife Service will receive information on any animal at any time, according to spokesman Christine Schuldheisz.

Co-authors of the paper include one who works for the wildlife service. The research was disclaimed as not necessarily reflect the opinions of the agency.

Prior search efforts have cost millions of dollars.

According to John Fitzpatrick, a Cornell University Professor, who participated in a years-long hunt conducted in Arkansas two decades ago, the most recent recordings and images, when combined with earlier sightings, provide sufficient justification to scrap the proposed extinction of the species, FOX News reports.

The films, according to Michael Collins, a Naval Research Laboratory scientist, show the ivory-billed woodpecker, not the related but smaller pileated woodpecker. Collins claims to have personally seen ivory-billed woodpeckers in the past ten years in the Pearl River area near the Louisiana-Mississippi boundary and has written multiple studies on the subject, Phys Org reports.

Related Article: Tiny Galapagos Bird Darwin's Flycatcher Battles Extinction as 12 Chicks Hatch This Year
Mpox virus, formerly called the monkeypox virus, can survive on stainless steel surfaces and reproduce for at least several days and infect some people for up to 30 days, according to a new study led by scientists in Germany.

The findings mean the pathogen can use any 'related material surface' to its advantage to further spread rather than only depending on direct human-to-human contact.

In May 2022, a monkeypox outbreak was confirmed by health authorities due to a series of related cases in the United Kingdom, where the first case was reported in London involving a traveler who recently went to Nigeria at that time.

Since then, the mpox outbreak has reportedly reached the United States and all continents of the globe, reaching thousands of cases and over a hundred deaths.

Mpox Virus on Inanimate Surfaces

In a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers from the Ruhr University and Heinrich-Heine-University in Germany placed a collected sample of mpox virus on stainless steel discs. In their findings, the virus managed to remain on the stainless steel surface even though the temperatures were 39.2, 71.6, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The research team also concluded the highly infectious pathogen can survive more the cooler the temperature. For instance, the mpox viruses were unable to reproduce beyond one week if the temperatures were set to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius).

However, their survival period increased for up to 10 to 11 days when the temperatures were lowered down to 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius), as summarized by Forbes.

The study is based on the human monkeypox virus, also called MPXV, outbreaks that spread internationally in 2022, which caused widespread concern. Testing inanimate surfaces, the team acknowledged that it is still unclear if whether the mpox virus will survive or die in the same way in other types of surfaces, including wood, plastic, and even rock.

Also Read: Monkeypox Origin Theories Point to Labs in Wuhan and Ukraine - Hoax?

Mpox Symptoms

The most common mpox symptoms are skin rash that can last for two to four weeks, and it is accompanied by back pain, fever, headache, low energy, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mpox virus can be transmitted through physical contact, including kissing and sex. In addition, contaminated materials and animals can also be a means to spread the virus, The WHO.

Mpox Vaccine

Similar to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the current mpox virus outbreak already has a vaccine called the JYNNEOS, a 2-dose vaccine which was developed to protect a person against mpox and smallpox infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 5.

In recent days, U.S. health officials expressed concern regarding the potential continuation of the mpox outbreak into summer months, which will start in June. This came after more than 20 mpox cases were recorded in the Chicago area since mid-April, CBS Evening News reported.

Related Article: Monkeypox Outbreak Reaches Canada, U.S. with Confirmed Cases
A wasp nest may have contributed to the Birgenair Flight 301 plane crash in 1996, according to a report on Sunday, May 21. The incident is considered by many to be one of the world's worst aviation disasters in history.

The deadly crash killed over 100 people, including crew and passengers. While blamed on technical and human error, no one previously thought that an insect could cause the mayhem.

Since the dawn of aviation, plane crashes have occurred and some have been attributed to mechanical, software, or navigational component of a plane. Aviation authorities sometimes find that human error by the pilot is the cause of incidents.

Even a bird strike in the form of a flock of birds were also behind in some aircraft disasters in previous years. However, blaming the crash on a wasp nest is rare yet bizarre.

Birgenair Flight 301

In February 1996, Birgenair Flight 301, sometimes spelled as Birgen Air Flight 301, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and killed all 189 people on board the Boeing 757 aircraft. The incident occurred after the plane's takeoff from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. It was supposed to arrive in Frankfurt, Germany.

The official investigation was complex but linked the crash to pilot error. Yet, the main cause of the technical and human error that transpired on February 6 that year came from an unlikely culprit: a wasp nest, Newsweek reported on Sunday.

Also Read: Mid-Air Bird Hit Forces United Airlines Plane to Return at O'Hare International Airport

Wasp Nest Blocks Speed Sensor

The Birgenair Flight 301 pilot made a 12-second distress call, reportedly saying "don't pull back, please don't pull back...oh what's happening" before the last recording went off, as cited by Newsweek. As mentioned earlier, the suspected cause of the all the plane malfunctioning was that the wasp nest blocked a vital sensor, which would have showed the accurate speed of the Birgenair plane.

In particular, investigators of the case at that time believe the sensor was "blocked by the wasp nest built inside it," Samoa Global News reported. The investigation adds the aircraft remained unused for 20 days and had no pitot tube covers until two days before the crash.

Based on the findings, it is possible that the winged insects made a colony inside the plane. Still, the suspected cause is not far from reality as it remains a problem in the aviation industry until today.

In November 2013, an Airbus A330 plane operated by Etihad Airways made an emergency landing in Brisbane, Australia, after a wasp nest blocked its air speed sensor, the Brisbane Times reported.

Wasp Nest

Experts say it takes about a week or more for wasps to build their nest. The Pest Patrol San Diego states up to 100 wasps will participate in the nest building and they operate similar to ants.

In terms of the ideal location, queen wasps will build their nest in a dry, safe, and protected environment to support its nest, according to the National History Museum.

Related Article: Bird Strikes are an Unreported Threat to US Military Aircraft
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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.

Following the service, the Coffey family gathered at Ray Coffey's memorial tree outside UNL's Pershing Military & Naval Science Building to recreate 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 Fort Benning 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.

Photos: Lincoln first responders, UNL ROTC cadets run steps of Memorial Stadium to honor those who died on 9/11
Latest weather reports said that the United Kingdom could expect a warm and dry outlook this week, with chances of patchy rain.

The weather conditions in the United Kingdom are appropriate for people with travel plans this week as the calendar turns to June.

The Daily Mirror reported a hotter weather outlook in parts of the United Kingdom was forecast last week.

Met Office's weather forecast

The Met Office said warm and dry conditions could unfold this week, with possible rain showers.

While the weather is forecast to become warm, it is best that Britons bring an umbrella or raincoat protection for rain chances.

Light rain conditions could emerge in portions of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The forecast noted that light winds could also be possible.

On Thursday, the forecast added that sunny conditions could unfold. However, the weather could become chilly at night.

From Friday until the weekend, warmer conditions could continue. Northwest could also anticipate patchy rain conditions.

In the Eastern coasts, the weather forecast noted that cooler conditions could unload.

Next week, the forecast added that dry weather conditions and sunny spells are expected in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, a rebound to a cooler condition is forecast in portions of the North. As June begins, the weather forecast added that cloudier conditions could emerge.

Weather in portions of the United States

In the United States, the latest weather report noted that warmer conditions are forecast in the country.

A rebound to cooler temperatures also unfolded in the Northeast, with chances of stormy and rainy outlook.

In the latest forecast, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported severe thunderstorms in portions of Texas.

Also Read: U.S. Weather Forecast: Dry to Rainy Conditions Unfold in Northeast As Memorial Weekend Comes Near

Meanwhile, parts of the western Florida Peninsula could expect intense rainfall, with possible flooding concerns.

Recently, the NWS Storm Prediction Center noted that parts of Texas could experience possible severe weather conditions, with potential large hail and severe winds.

AccuWeather reported that stormy and rainy outlooks are forecast in the Northeast, with a freezing risk that could unfold on Thursday morning.

Furthermore, NWS monitored the development of Typhoon Mawar.

The weather report said that Typhoon Mawarn recorded to unleash 140+ mph wind speeds.

The weather report added that the typhoon is expected to impact portions of Guam, bringing challenging winds and rain.

Due to the possible threat of storms and severe weather conditions, Americans should keep updated with the weather forecasts this week.

The challenging weather outlook could likely result in slower commutes and travel disruptions in the affected areas.

Motorists with travel plans for the Memorial Day weekend should prepare ahead for their travel plans.

Meanwhile, busier travel conditions could become likely during the Memorial Day weekend in the US.

Checking scheduled flight details and plans helps avoid delays and travel headaches.

Related Article: New York City Weather Forecast: Sunny Skies to Continue This Week

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
According to a study, if global warming causes temperatures to rise by 2.7C, as many as 2 billion people will be exposed to excessive heat.

A recent study warns that if current climate policies persist, over 20% of the global population will face dangerously high temperatures by 2100. Despite the Paris Agreement's target of limiting global warming to below 2C, predictions indicate a 2.7C rise by the century's end.

The research evaluates the consequences for those living outside the "climate niche" where humans have traditionally thrived.

Currently, 60 million people experience severe heat, with average temperatures exceeding 29C. At 2.7C of warming, a staggering 2 billion people, which is 22% of the total projected population, would be exposed to such extreme heat.

The study emphasizes the urgent need for effective climate policies to mitigate the costs and inequities of climate change. Limiting warming to 1.5C would reduce exposure to harmful heat for 5% of the population, protecting millions from the lethal effects.

Each 0.1C increase above current levels would expose an additional 140 million individuals to dangerous heat, underscoring the imperative of swift carbon emission reductions. Keeping warming at 1.5C instead of 2.7C could reduce the number of people exposed by five times by 2100.

Mortality, Severe Temperatures, and the Human Niche

Historically, the human population density peaks between 13C and 27C, especially in the monsoon regions of South Asia. GDP and crop and livestock densities both exhibit peaks at 13C and comparable patterns.

Over 600 million people, which is 9% of the world's population, have already been pushed out of the human "niche" due to climate change, even though less than 1% of people are currently exposed to harmful heat.

Mortality increases at severe temperatures, confirming the idea of a human "niche." Many impacted people, who had previously lived close to the 13C high, are now located in a less hospitable "middle ground" that has historically been less populated and drier.

Most displaced people in the future would experience dangerous heat, which is linked to higher mortality, decreased productivity, problems with memory and learning, unfavorable pregnancies, poorer crop yields, disputes, and the spread of disease.

Population growth is anticipated to be strongest in countries susceptible to severe heat, including India and Nigeria, even though some colder locations may become more habitable.

Other Findings

The study also discovered that for every 0.1C increase in global warming, exposure to harmful heat increases by around 140 million people. This is barely above the present level of warming.

At 2.7C of global warming, India would have the most population exposed-more than 600 million-assuming a future population of 9.5 billion. This number would be much smaller, at roughly 90 million, at 1.5C.

At 2.7C global warming, Nigeria would rank second in having the largest population subjected to heat, with more than 300 million people. This would be less than 40 million at a rise of 1.5C.

There are already deadly temperature "hotspots" in Nigeria and India.

Nearly all nations, including Burkina Faso and Mali, will reach dangerously high temperatures for people at 2.7C. Brazil would have the greatest land exposed to dangerous heat at 1.5C while having almost no exposed acreage. Additionally, a lot more land will be exposed in Australia and India.

Also Read: Kelvin Waves Roll Along Equator Ushering El Nino to South America

Positive Tipping Points and Super Leverage Points

The study's research team, which includes universities as well as organizations like the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, emphasizes that the most serious effects can be avoided by acting quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Their concept was born out of the observation that the economic costs of carbon emissions do not accurately represent their impact on human well-being, according to Professor Marten Scheffer of Wageningen University.

Their calculations seek to close this gap to inspire fresh and unusual dialogues on justice. The results underscore the racialized nature of anticipated climate consequences and should spur a paradigm shift in how policies are thought of and how much money is invested globally to address vulnerability to climate change.

The consequences of unsafe heat levels on people will worsen if fast and strong action is not done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, warns Wendy Broadgate, the Earth Commission at Future Earth Executive Director, Phys Org reports.

The University of Exeter's Global Systems Institute has found positive tipping points and highlighted super-leverage points that could start a chain reaction of decarbonization and advance climate solutions.

The study by Lenton, Xu, and several colleagues was recently published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Related Article: California Ventures into Farming Avocados, Mangoes, Agave in Response to Climate Change
Because of the precedent set by the 1985 Nevado Del Ruiz volcanic eruption, experts are now wary of experiencing another disaster; survivors, however, are not.

Screams, thousands of dead with severed bodies, and his town covered in dirt. William Suarez, a survivor, recalls the horror of the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption in Colombia, but he doesn't believe the government's most recent predictions of a repeat.

Repeat Disaster Skeptics

When asked recently about the real possibility of another eruption, Suarez, a 73-year-old man with a gray mustache, sneered because he does not consider the threat to exist.

In contrast to the government's request and the orange alert that has been in effect since March, many of the 57,000 people who live in the danger zone surrounding the Andes volcano, like him, refuse to leave.

At that time, the number of seismic tremors detected inside the crater increased from 50 to 12,000 per day.

Suarez, though, is adamant that the more than 17,400-foot titan that locals refer to as the "sleeping lion" won't erupt once more for "about 50 years" or so.

1985 Nevado Del Ruiz Volcanic Eruption

Authorities worry that a significant eruption of Nevado del Ruiz could replicate the area's 1985 level of destruction.

The town of Armero was buried under furious floods of mud, ash, and debris that poured down the mountainside a couple of hours after a lava eruption melted a portion of the volcano's snowcap. The worst natural calamity in the nation's modern history claimed about 25,000 lives.

Farmers must still make decisions based on practical considerations, such as whether to follow the call for an evacuation and give up their livelihoods or to stay there and tend to their crops and pack animals.

Suarez is a farmer from Viejo Rio Claro, a community in one of the high-risk locations that are situated in a riverfront village tucked between mountains.

He remembers when the volcano erupted with disastrous results about forty years ago.

Suarez claims that Nevado del Ruiz was witnessed ejecting fire the color of bricks during the 1985 eruption, and the earth was trembling. Screaming and fleeing on the street began. According to NOAA, it was the second-largest volcano-related disaster of the 20th century.

According to Suarez, fragments of hands, arms, half-bodies, and severed heads were found the following day.

Warning Signs

Many have detected an odd odor during the past few days in Villamaria and the nearby city of Manizales.

It might be caused by the dispersion of a significant amount of sulfur dioxide, along with "ash components" and moisture, claims the Columbian Geological Service (SGC).

Castano claims that the dense clouds that surround the snow-capped mountain, which is visible from Manizales, concentrate gases, water vapor, and crater debris.

Settlements surrounding the volcano that is located along the banks of rivers have a significant danger of being destroyed by potential floods of sediment, mud, and volcanic debris, according to the SGC.

According to the Smithsonian Institution, the eruption at Nevado del Ruiz continued from 18 to 25 April and was accompanied by gas, steam, as well as ash emissions, thermal anomalies at the Arenas Crater lava dome, and increased seismicity.

However, residents of Viejo Rio Claro believe they are ready for a crisis.

Also Read: Popocatepetl Volcano Spews Towers of Ash Clouds, 22 Million People in Mexico Under Threat, Schools Close

1,200 Families at Risk

In the event of an eruption, Jose Jaramillo, 71, said he will rely on his expertise as a first responder and firefighter.

They are eager for the event to occur, according to Jaramillo, who moved to the town after the 1985 eruption so that the tension will pass and they can put what they have learned into practice.

According to Felix Giraldo, director of risk management for the region, 1,200 families reside inside the rural boundaries of Villamara and could be at risk from a fresh eruption.

Giraldo maintains that although emotions may have subsided in the weeks since the government posted its orange notice, they shouldn't let their guard down since the threat still exists, Phys Org reports.

Related Article: 7 US Volcanoes on Elevated Alerts of Advisory - Yellow, Watch - Orange Status
Greenhouse gases have been widely known for its contribution to the greenhouse effect or warming of the planet when these particles are trapped in the atmosphere, absorbing solar heat.

For more than 200 years since the Industrial Revolution, anthropogenic or human-induced emissions of these gases, as well as the burning of fossil fuels, have dramatically increased in the past several decades.

While other natural sites, including the permafrost in Siberia, also harbor some of these gases, a new study led by scientists from Australia found that coastal ecosystems in 10 regions worldwide serve as a net greenhouse sink.

The findings entailed that ecosystems near some of our coastlines also harbor large amounts of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide.

For years, scientists have warned us that Earth could plunge into a total climate disaster should the current emissions continue.

In addition, the persistence of such anthropogenic emissions could hinder the world in achieving the goals set out by the Paris Agreement, led by the United Nations.

Coastal Ecosystems

In a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on May 22, researchers from the Southern Cross University in Australia found that coastal vegetation and estuaries are a greenhouse gas sink.

The research team asserted coastal ecosystems release or absorb carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

However, the net effects or emissions of these ecosystems remain unknown.

Nevertheless, the team identified certain hotspots in the world, including Southeast Asia, North American, and Africa, where such ecosystems serve as carbon sink but also decrease the emissions of the said greenhouse gases.

In particular, methane and nitrous emissions also decrease the coastal carbon dioxide sink by 9% to 20%.

The study emphasizes that understanding the said hotspots could guide scientists and those concerned in the field when it comes to strengthening carbon uptake while reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Also Read: As Wetlands Move Inland Due to Sea Level Rise, Coastal Ecosystems Release More Carbon Into the Atmosphere

Climate Danger Zone

In recent years, climate experts have issued a warning that Earth is heading toward in a phenomenon dubbed as a "climate danger zone," CBS News reported.

Amid the threat, many scientists are blaming anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change and global warming.

In previous studies, scientists call such a phenomenon a "point of no return."

This means that it will be detrimental to the environment once our planet surpassed the threshold of global temperatures and exceeded the total amount of climate-damaging gases in the atmosphere and oceans.

In October 2022, the UN reported that our climate is heading toward at least 2.4 degrees Celsius in terms of planetary warming by the year 2100, as cited by the American Chemical Society.

Paris Climate Agreement

The world's goal is to decrease global temperatures by at least 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the Paris Climate Agreement, also called the Paris Accords or Paris Treaty.

Under the agreement, member countries are required to implement their efforts toward achieving the said goal.

Such measures include decreasing the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.

Related Article: According to a Recent Study, Restored Coastal Ecosystems Might Not Be the Natural Climatic Answer
The Arctic is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change, as rising temperatures and melting sea ice threatens its unique ecosystems and indigenous peoples.

However, a new study shows that a global treaty signed in 1987 to protect the ozone layer has also helped to slow down the loss of Arctic sea ice and postpone the first ice-free Arctic summer by up to 15 years.

The Montreal Protocol: a successful climate treaty

The Montreal Protocol is an international agreement that regulates the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made chemicals called ozone-depleting substances (ODSs), such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), as per Phys.org.

These chemicals were widely used in refrigerators, air conditioners, aerosols, and other products until scientists discovered that they were destroying the ozone layer, which shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

The Montreal Protocol, which has been ratified by every United Nations country, has been hailed as one of the most successful environmental treaties ever. It has not only prevented millions of cases of skin cancer and cataracts but also avoided significant damage to crops and wildlife.

Moreover, it has also contributed to mitigating global warming, as ODSs are also potent greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.

The Impact of ODSs on Arctic sea ice

A team of researchers from Columbia University and the University of Exeter used new climate model simulations to estimate the impact of ODSs on Arctic sea ice, as per Independent.

They found that ODSs played a major role in driving Arctic climate change in the second half of the 20th century when their atmospheric concentrations peaked.

By contrast, after the implementation of the Montreal Protocol in 1989, the decline of ODSs slowed down the warming and melting of the Arctic.

The researchers calculated that every 1,000 metric tons of ODS emissions prevented by the Montreal Protocol saves about seven square kilometers of Arctic sea ice.

They also projected that the first ice-free Arctic summer, which is currently expected to happen by 2050 under a high-emission scenario, would be delayed by up to 15 years if ODS emissions are further reduced.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is entitled "The Montreal Protocol is delaying the occurrence of the first ice-free Arctic Summer".

It is one of the first to quantify the effects of ODSs on Arctic sea ice and to highlight the unintended climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol.

Also Read: Montreal Protocol: Reducing HFCs Can Mitigate the High Temperatures of the Earth

The Implications and Challenges for the Future

The study's findings demonstrate that international cooperation can make a difference in tackling climate change and its impacts, as per Republic World.

The Montreal Protocol shows that it is possible to achieve rapid and substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions with global coordination and technological innovation.

However, the researchers also warn that ODSs are not the only factor influencing Arctic sea ice. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are still the main drivers of global warming and need to be urgently addressed.

The study also notes that some ODS substitutes, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are also powerful greenhouse gases and need to be regulated under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

The authors conclude that while the Montreal Protocol has been a very effective climate protection treaty, it is not enough to prevent the eventual disappearance of Arctic sea ice.

They call for more ambitious and comprehensive actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the Arctic environment and its people.

Related article: Humans Already Slowed The Climate Crisis Once, New Research Shows
At LIMA 2023, the presence of KD Lekiu stands as a powerful testament to Malaysia's formidable naval capabilities and unwavering commitment to ensuring maritime security.

RMN's Lekiu class frigate KD Lekiu. (Picture source: Navy Recognition)

With a displacement of 2,270 long tons (2,306 metric tons) at full load, a length of 106 meters (347 feet 9 inches), and a beam of 12.8 meters (42 feet), it presents a formidable and imposing presence.

Powered by four diesel engines driving two shafts, KD Lekiu generates 16,000 brake horsepower (11,931 kilowatts), enabling it to achieve a speed of 28 knots (32 mph or 52 km/h). Its range reaches an impressive 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers), ensuring extended operational capabilities.

The frigate's complement consists of 146 personnel, including 18 officers, highlighting the teamwork and expertise required to operate this sophisticated vessel.

Equipped with advanced sensors and processing systems, KD Lekiu is outfitted with the BAE Systems Insyte Nautis F combat data system as its combat system.

Her radar suite includes the Ericsson Sea Giraffe-150 surface search radar, Thales Netherlands (Signaal) DA-08 air search radar, and Thales Defence I-band navigation radar.

She also features various fire control radars, such as the Marconi 1802SW, Alenia Marconi Systems Nautis F combat data system, Radamec Series 2000 Optronic weapon director, and BAE SYSTEMS 1802 fire control radars.

The frigate utilizes the BAE Type V 3001 thermal imager and the Thales Underwater Systems Spherion TSM 2633 LF sonar for enhanced situational awareness.

In terms of electronic warfare and decoys, KD Lekiu is equipped with the BAE Mentor-A electronic support measures (ESM) system, Thales Defense Scimitar electronic countermeasures (ECM) system, and two Super Barricade 12-barreled launchers for decoy deployment. She also utilizes the Graseby Sea Siren torpedo decoy for enhanced defense capabilities.

The frigate's armament includes a Bofors 57 mm gun, two MSI DS30B 30 mm cannons, and 16 vertical launch system (VLS) cells for Sea Wolf surface-to-air missiles.

She is armed with eight Exocet MM40 Block 2 surface-to-surface missiles for anti-ship operations and features two triple Eurotorp B515 launchers for A244-S anti-submarine torpedoes.

KD Lekiu has the capacity to carry and operate a single Super Lynx 300 helicopter. She features a stern hangar and a helicopter landing platform, enabling effective aviation operations.
The Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) 2023 welcomed a captivating showcase from one of Malaysia's pride and joy: the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first Scorpene-class submarine.

French-built Scorpene class submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman. (Picture source: Navy Recognition)

With a displacement of 1,577 long tons (1,602 metric tons) when surfaced and 1,711 long tons (1,738 metric tons) when submerged, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman exhibits a compact yet powerful design.

Her length spans 67.4 meters (221 feet 2 inches), while the beam measures 6.2 meters (20 feet 4 inches) and the draft stands at 5.4 meters (17 feet 9 inches).

Powered by two SEMT-Pielstick 12 PA4 200SM DS diesel engines and a Jeumont Industrie motor, the submarine generates 4,700 horsepower (3,505 kilowatts) through a single shaft.

She achieves a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h or 14 mph) when surfaced and an impressive 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h or 23.6 mph) when submerged. Her range spans 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 kilometers or 6,900 miles) at 8 knots (15 km/h or 9.2 mph) on the surface and 360 nautical miles (670 kilometers or 410 miles) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h or 4.6 mph) while submerged. The submarine's capabilities allow it to operate at depths exceeding 300 meters (980 feet).

With a complement of 32 personnel, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman employs a range of sophisticated sensors and processing systems. She features an I-band navigation radar, hull-mounted active/passive search and attack systems, and medium-frequency sonars, enhancing its situational awareness and surveillance capabilities.

Additionally, the submarine is equipped with the Thales DR 3000 tactical electronic support measures (ESM) receiver, bolstering her electronic warfare capabilities.

The submarine's armament consists of six 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes capable of carrying 18 Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei Black Shark heavyweight torpedoes, SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles, or 30 mines, providing her with a formidable offensive and defensive capability.
Emilee Morgan meets with St. Vincent Healthcare pediatric team members who cared for her after a crash-related brain injury in 2022. The Sheridan, Wyoming, teen spent nine weeks in the pediatric floor where doctors removed part of her skull to reduce pressure on her brain and prevent further damage.
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Norwich saxophonist launches Jazz Ensemble

David Fitzgerald has many years of experience as an international musician, teacher and director of ensembles. He has now added a Jazz Ensemble to his range of learning opportunities for the people of Norfolk  called JazzWorld.

David is one of the most inspiring teachers here in Norfolk. Under his encouraging tuition and professional guidance many of his students have gone on to pursue their own careers in music.

My purpose, says David, is to equip pupils with good practical skills as well as to assist them to discover a deeper understanding and appreciation of music. I consider my role as a music teacher to be an honour and a privilege. It is a God-given blessing to be able to pass what has been given to me, from the very finest of teachers and colleagues (and years of experience), over to those on the threshold of their journey.



David began his studies (at the age of 15) at the prestigious Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, Kent. His first appointment was in the Far East (based in Singapore for two years), as principal Flute, Piccolo and Saxophone in Her Majestys Royal Marine Band. He performed with HMRMB across the Far East and Pacific. Back in the UK he took regular part in royal and state occasions such as the Trooping of the Colour, Royal Tournament and Edinburgh Tattoo. After ten years with the HMRMB, David moved on to play across the world, with theatre companies, pop bands and various jazz and big bands.



Following his conversion to the Christian faith, David moved away from secular music to concentrate on international Christian music and worship. Since the early 1980s he has continued to tour and record for BBC Songs Of Praise programmes and with many Christian artists and worship leaders, including Graham Kendrick, Adrian Snell, Noel Richards, Sheila Walsh, Keith Getty, Stuart Townend, Chris Eaton, Martin Smith, Barry and Batya Segal (Israel), Ron Kenoly and Don Moen.



In 1989, he co-founded (with Dave Bainbridge) the highly acclaimed musical project Iona and recorded two albums with that band (Iona and The Book Of Kells). Four solo projects followed: Columcille, Lux Aeterna, Breath of Heaven and God Is Love. David moved to Norwich in 1996 and two years later premiered his joint project with Dave Bainbridge - The Eye of the Eagle at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, performing in Norwich Cathedral with cathedral choir, soloists and guest musicians. The event was filmed by Anglia TV and later broadcast on national television.



David offers his past experience to assist his pupils to discover and to reach their potential, to explore and to fully enjoy their own journey in music. In September 2021 he launched a new initiative called SaxWorld.


Norfolk single parent families set to get support

Around 100 formerly homeless people from young single parent families will be given the support they need to move on with their lives, thanks to a grant of 60,000 from Norfolk Freemasons to YMCA Norfolk.

This project will support vulnerable and hard to reach single parent families by providing a dedicated Family Engagement Worker to provide a range of support, activities and opportunities to ensure a brighter future for them and their children. The project will be tailored to the young peoples strengths and aspirations, enabling them to address poor social mobility, parenting skills, improve physical, emotional and mental health, reduce loneliness and isolation and sustain independent living.



The support on offer will likely include counselling, parenting skills, financial literacy, life skills, creating peer support networks and much more over a period of up to two years.



The projects success will be measured on the number of families successfully avoiding children being taken into care, and instead successfully accessing social housing.



The grant from Norfolk Freemasons comes through the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which is funded by Freemasons, their families and friends, from across England and Wales.



John Lee, YMCA Norfolk CEO, said: We are very grateful to Norfolk Freemasons for their generous grant which will allow us to give support to single parent families that is designed to change the course of their lives. The aim is to get them into social housing, equipped with the skills they need to become independent  and we could not do this without the support of the Norfolk Freemasons.



Stephen Allen, Head of Norfolk Freemasons, said: Im very pleased weve been able to help YMCA Norfolk with its excellent project to help local one parent families. The parenting and financial skills on offer are potentially life-changing, giving them a chance of real independence, where the children can hope to take full advantage of their education and break the cycle of depravation that has blighted their parents lives.



Pictured above, from the left, are: Communications Officer for Norfolk Freemasons, Mike Spalding, YMCA Norfolk, CEO, John Lee, YMCA Umbrella Scheme Resettlement Worker, Stephen Brooks, YMCA Norfolk Senior Marketing and Fundraising Officer, Harriet King, YMCA Norfolk Head of Marketing & Fundraising, Susie Knight, YMCA Norwich Community Housing Manager, Damien Woolston and Head of Norfolk Freemasonry, Stephen Allen.



Keith Morris, 23/05/2023
The US Commerce Department should put trade restrictions on Chinese memory chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), say lawmakers on the US House of Representatives Committee on China.

The comments come in the wake of the Chinese government ban on the use of some Micron chips in certain sectors, citing concerns that the products pose a significant security risk to the countrys key information infrastructure supply chain.

However, these claims are not based in fact White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, adding that the Department of Commerce was engaged directly with the PRC (People's Republic of China) to detail the administrations views on the ban.

We are certainly troubled by the action and the recent raids on American firms, she said, telling reporters that the moves were inconsistent with the PRCs assertions that it is opening its markets and committed to a transparent regulatory framework.

Micron is a US memory chip giant that produces computer memory and computer data storage including dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), flash memory, and USB flash drives. Recently, the company has announced it would be investing $3.6 billion to bring extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) to Japan.

Micron has also pledged it would spend $20 billion to build what it called the largest-ever US semiconductor factory in Onondaga County, New York, and the company has also broken ground on a memory manufacturing fab near its headquarters in Boise, Idaho.

CXMT is China's leading maker of DRAM memory chips and would be the Chinese company most likely to benefit from a ban on Micron products.

The United States must make clear to the PRC that it will not tolerate economic coercion against its companies or its allies," Republican Mike Gallagher, chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a statement.

"The Commerce Department should immediately add ChangXin Memory Technologies to the entity list and ensure no U.S. technology, regardless of specifications, goes to CXMT, Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC), or other PRC firms operating in this industry, Gallagher said, adding that the Department of Commerce should also ensure no US-export licenses granted to foreign semiconductor memory firms operating in the PRC are used to backfill Micron.

The ongoing US-China semiconductor trade war

This weeks action represents the latest dispute in the ongoing trade war that has seen the US presidential administrations of Joe Biden and Donald Trump ban the use of Chinese-made hardware in US networks and impose export controls to keep the latest computing technology out of Chinas hands.

In October 2022, export controls were issued by Bidens administration to block US companies from selling advanced semiconductors and equipment to certain Chinese manufacturers without special license.

Further restrictions were then rolled out in December of the same year to include 36 additional Chinese chip makers from accessing US chip technology to deny China access to advanced technology for military modernization and human rights abuses. Impacted companies included YMTC, the largest contract chip maker in the world.

As a result of these actions, countries and jurisdictions that have inadvertently been caught in the crossfire of these trade sanctions have pledged large sums of money to support domestic chip manufacturing.

In April, the European Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement on a deal to invest $3.6 billion in EU funds to build out the continents semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, with the aim of attracting a further $43.7 billion in private investment.
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U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Sweetgrass Station apprehended four people and seized narcotics, a loaded firearm, cash and a vehicle on Sunday.

The incident occurred when agents spotted two people walking near the border in Sweetgrass. Both were quickly approaching a vehicle that was parked at a nearby motel.

Agents interviewed the pair and determined they were in the country illegally. Once they finished the interview, the Border Patrol agents inspected the vehicle and determined the occupants were also in the United States illegally. All four people were arrested and taken to the Sweetgrass Border Patrol Station for further processing.

While inspecting the vehicle, agents conducted a K-9 search, which revealed possible narcotics and drug paraphernalia. The substances tested positive for methamphetamine, cocaine, and freebase cocaine. Agents also found a loaded firearm as well as three magazines. One person was in possession of more than $12,000; agents seized the cash under Title 19.

Havre Sectors commitment to border security once again shows that vigilance is necessary to gaining operational advantage against all northern border threats, said Acting Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Samuel Rodriguez. Our ability to detect and identify threats is paramount, and the boots on the ground are crucial to that success. I am proud of the work these agents do every day.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection welcomes assistance from the community. Individuals can report suspicious activity to Border Patrol by calling 800 BE ALERT or (800) 232-5378. All calls will be answered and remain anonymous.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The body of an IIT-Kharagpur student was exhumed in Assams Dibrugarh on Tuesday at the direction of the Calcutta High Court. Faizan Ahmed (23), a 4th-semester mechanical engineering student, was found dead in his hostel room on the IIT-Kharagpur premises on October 14 last year.

The college authorities claimed Faizan died by suicide but his family alleged he was murdered. The family had earlier given its consent to the Calcutta High Court for the exhumation of the body for a second autopsy.

Some people expressed their anger before an IIT-Kharagpur official, who visited Dibrugarh, alleging the institute had been insensitive to the case all along. Faizans father Salim Ahmed was hopeful about getting justice.

We had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court. We said Faizan was murdered. After hearing our plea, the court ordered a second post-mortem. They (IIT-Kharagpur) had shown the murder as a suicide. The truth will now come out. We will get justice, Ahmed told journalists.

He sought the help of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, stating he would be happy if Sarma get involved in the matter. Arju Ahmed, a relative of Faizan, said the body was exhumed in the presence of a four-member West Bengal police team, local police personnel and forensic experts.

GUWAHATI: The body of an IIT-Kharagpur student was exhumed in Assams Dibrugarh on Tuesday at the direction of the Calcutta High Court. Faizan Ahmed (23), a 4th-semester mechanical engineering student, was found dead in his hostel room on the IIT-Kharagpur premises on October 14 last year. The college authorities claimed Faizan died by suicide but his family alleged he was murdered. The family had earlier given its consent to the Calcutta High Court for the exhumation of the body for a second autopsy. Some people expressed their anger before an IIT-Kharagpur official, who visited Dibrugarh, alleging the institute had been insensitive to the case all along. Faizans father Salim Ahmed was hopeful about getting justice.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); We had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court. We said Faizan was murdered. After hearing our plea, the court ordered a second post-mortem. They (IIT-Kharagpur) had shown the murder as a suicide. The truth will now come out. We will get justice, Ahmed told journalists. He sought the help of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, stating he would be happy if Sarma get involved in the matter. Arju Ahmed, a relative of Faizan, said the body was exhumed in the presence of a four-member West Bengal police team, local police personnel and forensic experts.
By IANS

KANPUR: The customs department has seized 23 kg of gold which was recovered from the possession of a perfume trader during the raid of the Directorate General of Goods and Sevices Tax, Ahmedabad in 2021.

The department has not only seized the gold but also imposed a penalty to the tune of Rs 30 lakh each on the perfume trader's two units situated in Kanpur and Kannauj.

The DGGST raided the house of perfume trader Piyush Jain on December 21, 2021, and seized around Rs 196 crore and around 23 kg of gold with foreign country seals.

According to special prosecutor Ambarish Tandon, the case against Piyush was fixed for hearing in the court of a special chief judicial magistrate in which the prosecution produced two witnesses namely Santosh Tiwari, special investigation officer and Abhishek, an intelligence officer.

The defence pleaded before the court that the prosecution had not complied with the provisions of section 207 CrPC and did not supply copies of the case. Shivam Mishra advocate, who is assisting the special prosecutor, countered it and said compliance of section 207 CrPC had taken place which is on the record.

The defence counsel thereafter submitted that the prosecution should not be allowed to pour more evidence which was strongly challenged by the latter.

The special prosecutor said that it was the prerogative of the prosecution to adduce as much evidence that is necessary to prove its case.

The court dismissed the plea of the defence counsel, Tandon said.

KANPUR: The customs department has seized 23 kg of gold which was recovered from the possession of a perfume trader during the raid of the Directorate General of Goods and Sevices Tax, Ahmedabad in 2021. The department has not only seized the gold but also imposed a penalty to the tune of Rs 30 lakh each on the perfume trader's two units situated in Kanpur and Kannauj. The DGGST raided the house of perfume trader Piyush Jain on December 21, 2021, and seized around Rs 196 crore and around 23 kg of gold with foreign country seals.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); According to special prosecutor Ambarish Tandon, the case against Piyush was fixed for hearing in the court of a special chief judicial magistrate in which the prosecution produced two witnesses namely Santosh Tiwari, special investigation officer and Abhishek, an intelligence officer. The defence pleaded before the court that the prosecution had not complied with the provisions of section 207 CrPC and did not supply copies of the case. Shivam Mishra advocate, who is assisting the special prosecutor, countered it and said compliance of section 207 CrPC had taken place which is on the record. The defence counsel thereafter submitted that the prosecution should not be allowed to pour more evidence which was strongly challenged by the latter. The special prosecutor said that it was the prerogative of the prosecution to adduce as much evidence that is necessary to prove its case. The court dismissed the plea of the defence counsel, Tandon said.
Dilip Singh Kshatriya By

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: A Gujarat court on Tuesday issued a fresh summons to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP MP Sanjay Singh to appear before it on June 7 in a criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University over PM Narendra Modis academic qualifications.

The court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate SJ Panchal issued the summons after being told that the previous summons asking them to appear on May 23 didnt seem to have been received by the duo as they were not present in the court.

On April 15, the court had ordered both defendants, Kejriwal and Singh, to appear in court. The hearing was scheduled for today. However, it appears that the summons lacked clarity, so the judge ruled that the accused should get a new summons and copies of the complaint. The next scheduled hearing date is June 7, Amit Nayak, petitioners attorney, told the media.

In a previous criminal defamation charge, the court of additional chief metropolitan Magistrate Jayesh Chovatiya had summoned the AAP leaders for making sarcastic and derogatory remarks against the Gujarat University regarding PM Modis academic degree.

However, AAPs Gujarat legal cell leader Pranav Thakkar stated, We learned through reports that summons were issued but neither Kejriwal nor Singh received them. They will appear only after receiving the summons.

Chovatiya, in response to a complaint made by Gujarat University registrar Piyush Patel, issued a summons on April 15 after concluding that there appeared to be a case against Kejriwal and Singh under the relevant IPC section.

AHMEDABAD: A Gujarat court on Tuesday issued a fresh summons to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP MP Sanjay Singh to appear before it on June 7 in a criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University over PM Narendra Modis academic qualifications. The court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate SJ Panchal issued the summons after being told that the previous summons asking them to appear on May 23 didnt seem to have been received by the duo as they were not present in the court. On April 15, the court had ordered both defendants, Kejriwal and Singh, to appear in court. The hearing was scheduled for today. However, it appears that the summons lacked clarity, so the judge ruled that the accused should get a new summons and copies of the complaint. The next scheduled hearing date is June 7, Amit Nayak, petitioners attorney, told the media.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In a previous criminal defamation charge, the court of additional chief metropolitan Magistrate Jayesh Chovatiya had summoned the AAP leaders for making sarcastic and derogatory remarks against the Gujarat University regarding PM Modis academic degree. However, AAPs Gujarat legal cell leader Pranav Thakkar stated, We learned through reports that summons were issued but neither Kejriwal nor Singh received them. They will appear only after receiving the summons. Chovatiya, in response to a complaint made by Gujarat University registrar Piyush Patel, issued a summons on April 15 after concluding that there appeared to be a case against Kejriwal and Singh under the relevant IPC section.
Dilip Singh Kshatriya By

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday granted an interim stay on further proceedings against Delhi Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena in a case of alleged assault on social activist Medha Patkar in 2002, pending before a trial court in Ahmedabad.

Saxena had sought the high court's intervention in seeking a stay on criminal trial proceedings as he is the Delhi L-G.

Earlier, Saxena moved the magistrate court on March 1 for the suspension of the case against him while he holds the position of L-G. His plea was denied on May 8 because the court said it would be difficult for the prosecutions witnesses to testify against him if he left the position of L-G. Saxena became Delhi L-G in May 2022.

Senior attorney Jal Unwalla, who appeared on behalf of Saxena, told the HC that the metropolitan court made an erroneous observation that if protection is granted to him, the examination of witnesses will have to be conducted afresh, and that would cause a delay in the trial.

The metropolitan courts observation is erroneous in view of the fact that even if the trial is concluded, the court would not be in a position to send him in custody in view of the protection under Article 361 of the Constitution (related to legal protection to President and Governors from criminal proceedings), Unwalla said.

Justice MK Thakker stayed the criminal trial in the case, served notice on the respondent state and the complainant, Medha Patkar, and posted the matter for June 19. Patkar was allegedly attacked at the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram on April 7, 2002.

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday granted an interim stay on further proceedings against Delhi Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena in a case of alleged assault on social activist Medha Patkar in 2002, pending before a trial court in Ahmedabad. Saxena had sought the high court's intervention in seeking a stay on criminal trial proceedings as he is the Delhi L-G. Earlier, Saxena moved the magistrate court on March 1 for the suspension of the case against him while he holds the position of L-G. His plea was denied on May 8 because the court said it would be difficult for the prosecutions witnesses to testify against him if he left the position of L-G. Saxena became Delhi L-G in May 2022.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Senior attorney Jal Unwalla, who appeared on behalf of Saxena, told the HC that the metropolitan court made an erroneous observation that if protection is granted to him, the examination of witnesses will have to be conducted afresh, and that would cause a delay in the trial. The metropolitan courts observation is erroneous in view of the fact that even if the trial is concluded, the court would not be in a position to send him in custody in view of the protection under Article 361 of the Constitution (related to legal protection to President and Governors from criminal proceedings), Unwalla said. Justice MK Thakker stayed the criminal trial in the case, served notice on the respondent state and the complainant, Medha Patkar, and posted the matter for June 19. Patkar was allegedly attacked at the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram on April 7, 2002.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: 'Sengol', a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, which was received by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to represent the transfer of power from the British and was kept in a museum in Allahabad will be installed in the new Parliament building to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Wednesday.

Shah said the purpose of the installation was clear then and even now.

He said that the transfer of power is not merely a handshake or signing a document and that it must remain connected with local traditions keeping in mind modern needs.

"Sengol represents the same feeling that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947," he said.

The Home Minister said that the new Parliament building is an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's far-sightedness. He said the Prime Minister will honour 7,000 workers (shram yogis) on the inauguration.

Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building were sent to all political parties who were free to act according to their wisdom.

'Reconsider decision to boycott inauguration'

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday termed the decision taken by 19 opposition parties to boycott the inauguration ceremony as "unfortunate" and urged them to reconsider their stand.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday.

The opposition parties contend that President Droupadi Murmu should do the honours as she was not only the Head of State, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it.

"Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function," Joshi told reporters here on the sidelines of a national workshop on the National e-Vidhan Application.

Joshi said the Lok Sabha Speaker was the custodian of Parliament and he has extended an invitation to the prime minister to inaugurate the building.

NEW DELHI: 'Sengol', a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, which was received by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to represent the transfer of power from the British and was kept in a museum in Allahabad will be installed in the new Parliament building to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Wednesday. Shah said the purpose of the installation was clear then and even now. He said that the transfer of power is not merely a handshake or signing a document and that it must remain connected with local traditions keeping in mind modern needs.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "Sengol represents the same feeling that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947," he said. The Home Minister said that the new Parliament building is an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's far-sightedness. He said the Prime Minister will honour 7,000 workers (shram yogis) on the inauguration. Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building were sent to all political parties who were free to act according to their wisdom. 'Reconsider decision to boycott inauguration' Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday termed the decision taken by 19 opposition parties to boycott the inauguration ceremony as "unfortunate" and urged them to reconsider their stand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday. The opposition parties contend that President Droupadi Murmu should do the honours as she was not only the Head of State, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it. "Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function," Joshi told reporters here on the sidelines of a national workshop on the National e-Vidhan Application. Joshi said the Lok Sabha Speaker was the custodian of Parliament and he has extended an invitation to the prime minister to inaugurate the building.
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New security checkpoint scanners installed at the Bismarck Airport mean passengers no longer have to remove items from their bags when going through security.

The machines provide a 3D image that Transportation Security Administration workers can rotate and manipulate. This enables staff to better identify a bags contents without having to set it aside. The machines highlight suspicious items using an algorithm that will be updated over time.

The new technology enables passengers to keep everything inside their bags and prevents bag checks. Passengers as part of the process must place all their items including carry-on luggage into bins.

Each bin is marked with a number and a scanner. When a worker does find a suspicious item, he or she is able to direct it aside via the machine. The worker responsible for checking bags knows exactly which bin needs to be checked.

There is a learning curve for both staff and passengers, according to TSA regional spokesperson Jessica Mayle. Feedback from staff has been positive. Oversize liquids, gels and aerosols slow down the line most when it comes to checks. TSA staff is able to better identify those items with the imaging.

Anything that isnt supposed to go through the checkpoint will not go through. Mayle advises passengers to pack smartly and listen to staff instructions when going through the checkpoint.

When passengers come through with the right attitude, it really makes a difference to your fellow passengers, but also to the staff, she said.

She recommends that travelers go to the TSA website at https://www.tsa.gov/ to know what is and isnt allowed.

The machines have been installed as part of a federal contract. Hundreds of them have been installed across the country. Eventually the machines will be the standard for airports, according to Mayle.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Pakistan should be bothered about where it will get food from for its people, rather than where India can host its G20 events, says G20s chief coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla in Srinagar on Tuesday.India has moved on and moved ahead and we are free to host any event in any part of India.

Srinagar is no different. Pakistan should be concerned about the issues of food in their own country, besides they have no locus standi to comment on what we do in our country. The fact that there were five UN representatives among the delegates shows that Srinagar is considered an integral part of India, Shringla said in response to Pakistans foreign minister Bilawal Bhuttos comments objecting to hosting the G20 event in Kashmir.

The two-day G20 working group on tourism meet, held in Srinagar, went off seamlessly. This has been the biggest foreign gathering in Srinagar so far. There were 59 delegates from 27 countries who revelled in the beauty of Kashmir. Peace, prosperity has returned to the valley and sponsored terrorism has nearly been wiped out. Schools and colleges are open all year through  these are big achievements for the state, said Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha.

Jammu and Kashmir has identified 300 new places of tourist interest and are working on sprucing up infrastructure in the valley to accommodate more tourists. The projection for this year is 20 million tourists arriving in the Valley. J&K will soon find its place in the top 50 destinations in the world and it will be on the travel bucket list of global travellers, said LG Sinha.

SRINAGAR: Pakistan should be bothered about where it will get food from for its people, rather than where India can host its G20 events, says G20s chief coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla in Srinagar on Tuesday.India has moved on and moved ahead and we are free to host any event in any part of India. Srinagar is no different. Pakistan should be concerned about the issues of food in their own country, besides they have no locus standi to comment on what we do in our country. The fact that there were five UN representatives among the delegates shows that Srinagar is considered an integral part of India, Shringla said in response to Pakistans foreign minister Bilawal Bhuttos comments objecting to hosting the G20 event in Kashmir. The two-day G20 working group on tourism meet, held in Srinagar, went off seamlessly. This has been the biggest foreign gathering in Srinagar so far. There were 59 delegates from 27 countries who revelled in the beauty of Kashmir. Peace, prosperity has returned to the valley and sponsored terrorism has nearly been wiped out. Schools and colleges are open all year through  these are big achievements for the state, said Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Jammu and Kashmir has identified 300 new places of tourist interest and are working on sprucing up infrastructure in the valley to accommodate more tourists. The projection for this year is 20 million tourists arriving in the Valley. J&K will soon find its place in the top 50 destinations in the world and it will be on the travel bucket list of global travellers, said LG Sinha.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday claimed the ordinance issued for control of services in Delhi means the Narendra Modi government does not believe in the Supreme Court.

After meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai, Kejriwal said state governments were being toppled by using the CBI and the ED. Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thackeray said they have come together to defeat forces that are against democracy.

Kejriwal met Thackeray to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi.

He said the Shiv Sena has promised to support the people of Delhi when the ordinance comes to the Rajya Sabha in the form of a bill.

Addressing a joint press conference with Thackeray, Kejriwal accused the Centre of using central agencies to topple state governments and referred to the collapse of the Thackeray government in Maharashtra last year.

The ordinance on control of services in Delhi means the Modi government doesn't believe in the Supreme Court, he said. Thackeray said, We have come together to defeat those against democracy." Kejriwal said Thackeray has agreed to vote against the bill (on control of services in Delhi) when it comes before the Rajya Sabha.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance.

ALSO READ: Mamata assures support to Kejriwal in fight against ordinance on control of services in Delhi

The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.

READ MORE: Kejriwal eyes opposition unity to take on Centre's ordinance against Delhi govt

MUMBAI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday claimed the ordinance issued for control of services in Delhi means the Narendra Modi government does not believe in the Supreme Court. After meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai, Kejriwal said state governments were being toppled by using the CBI and the ED. Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thackeray said they have come together to defeat forces that are against democracy. Kejriwal met Thackeray to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He said the Shiv Sena has promised to support the people of Delhi when the ordinance comes to the Rajya Sabha in the form of a bill. Addressing a joint press conference with Thackeray, Kejriwal accused the Centre of using central agencies to topple state governments and referred to the collapse of the Thackeray government in Maharashtra last year. The ordinance on control of services in Delhi means the Modi government doesn't believe in the Supreme Court, he said. Thackeray said, We have come together to defeat those against democracy." Kejriwal said Thackeray has agreed to vote against the bill (on control of services in Delhi) when it comes before the Rajya Sabha. On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance. ALSO READ: Mamata assures support to Kejriwal in fight against ordinance on control of services in Delhi The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services. The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court. READ MORE: Kejriwal eyes opposition unity to take on Centre's ordinance against Delhi govt
By PTI

RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday stressed the need for reservation in appointments to the senior judicial service in a state like Jharkhand saying the negligible presence of the tribal community in this sphere was a matter of concern.

The CM also pointed out that over 3,000 undertrials, many of them poor tribals, Dalits and members of the weaker sections of society, were languishing in the state's prisons for petty crimes for more than five years and said a system should be devised to tackle this.

"The negligible presence of tribal community in the Superior Judicial Service in the state of Jharkhand is a matter of concern. There is no provision for reservation in the appointment process of this service."

"Since the Judges of the Hon'ble High Court are appointed from this service, the position is the same in the High Court. Therefore, I would like that a provision for reservation should be made in the appointment process of senior judicial service in this tribal-dominated state," Soren said.

He made the remarks in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Supreme Court Justice Aniruddha Bose, Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and others during the inauguration ceremony the new building of the Jharkhand High Court by the President.

The chief minister expressed hope that the High Court will prove to be a milestone in the direction of providing simple, accessible, cheap and speedy justice to tribals, Dalits, the backward, and the poor.

"In Jharkhand, a large number of poor tribals, Dalits, minorities, and weaker sections are imprisoned in jails for petty crimes. This is a matter of concern.

"There is a need for serious brainstorming on this. Last year, we prepared a list of such undertrial cases, which were pending for more than five years...Their number was about 3,600," Soren said.

He said out of these, more than 3,400 cases were disposed off by running a campaign. However, this number again stands at 3,200 prisoners.

"Now we have prepared a list of cases pending for more than four years. Their number is also about 3,200...Efforts are being made to dispose of these cases within the next six months. I am constantly monitoring this," he said.

Due to a shortage of assistant public prosecutors in the subordinate judiciary, there were problems in the execution of cases, he said and added that last month 107 Assistant Public Prosecutors were appointed.

He said a lot of good work has been done regarding the infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary.

"I think our state is in the best position in the country. Today, a total of 506 judicial officers are working in Jharkhand, for whom 658 courtrooms and 639 residences are available."

"The state government will give priority to the requirements for the infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary in the future as well," Soren said.

He also urged the Centre to implement a centrally sponsored scheme to augment the infrastructure of High Courts saying the state government spent Rs 1,000 crore on Jharkhand High Court including the cost of land.

ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution favours SC benefits to Dalit Christians

Underlining the need for a scheme to augment the infrastructure of High Courts, he said although a Centrally Sponsored Scheme is being run by the Government of India for the infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary, no such scheme is available for the High Courts.

"If the cost of the land is included, then an amount of about Rs 1,000 crore has been spent by the state government on this new building of Jharkhand High Court. The Central Government has no stake in this."

"From time to time, additional infrastructure is required in the High Courts also, so I would request that the Government of India implement a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the infrastructure of the High Courts as well," Soren said.

RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday stressed the need for reservation in appointments to the senior judicial service in a state like Jharkhand saying the negligible presence of the tribal community in this sphere was a matter of concern. The CM also pointed out that over 3,000 undertrials, many of them poor tribals, Dalits and members of the weaker sections of society, were languishing in the state's prisons for petty crimes for more than five years and said a system should be devised to tackle this. "The negligible presence of tribal community in the Superior Judicial Service in the state of Jharkhand is a matter of concern. There is no provision for reservation in the appointment process of this service."googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "Since the Judges of the Hon'ble High Court are appointed from this service, the position is the same in the High Court. Therefore, I would like that a provision for reservation should be made in the appointment process of senior judicial service in this tribal-dominated state," Soren said. He made the remarks in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Supreme Court Justice Aniruddha Bose, Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and others during the inauguration ceremony the new building of the Jharkhand High Court by the President. The chief minister expressed hope that the High Court will prove to be a milestone in the direction of providing simple, accessible, cheap and speedy justice to tribals, Dalits, the backward, and the poor. "In Jharkhand, a large number of poor tribals, Dalits, minorities, and weaker sections are imprisoned in jails for petty crimes. This is a matter of concern. "There is a need for serious brainstorming on this. Last year, we prepared a list of such undertrial cases, which were pending for more than five years...Their number was about 3,600," Soren said. He said out of these, more than 3,400 cases were disposed off by running a campaign. However, this number again stands at 3,200 prisoners. "Now we have prepared a list of cases pending for more than four years. Their number is also about 3,200...Efforts are being made to dispose of these cases within the next six months. I am constantly monitoring this," he said. Due to a shortage of assistant public prosecutors in the subordinate judiciary, there were problems in the execution of cases, he said and added that last month 107 Assistant Public Prosecutors were appointed. He said a lot of good work has been done regarding the infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary. "I think our state is in the best position in the country. Today, a total of 506 judicial officers are working in Jharkhand, for whom 658 courtrooms and 639 residences are available." "The state government will give priority to the requirements for the infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary in the future as well," Soren said. He also urged the Centre to implement a centrally sponsored scheme to augment the infrastructure of High Courts saying the state government spent Rs 1,000 crore on Jharkhand High Court including the cost of land. ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution favours SC benefits to Dalit Christians Underlining the need for a scheme to augment the infrastructure of High Courts, he said although a Centrally Sponsored Scheme is being run by the Government of India for the infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary, no such scheme is available for the High Courts. "If the cost of the land is included, then an amount of about Rs 1,000 crore has been spent by the state government on this new building of Jharkhand High Court. The Central Government has no stake in this." "From time to time, additional infrastructure is required in the High Courts also, so I would request that the Government of India implement a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the infrastructure of the High Courts as well," Soren said.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai on Wednesday to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi.

Kejriwal, the AAP's national convener, will also meet Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar to seek his support against the Centre's ordinance.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance.

The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance, which comes a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.

MUMBAI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai on Wednesday to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi. Kejriwal, the AAP's national convener, will also meet Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar to seek his support against the Centre's ordinance.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance. The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services. The ordinance, which comes a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The first day of exchanging Rs 2,000 currency notes passed off largely peacefully as it was business as usual in most banks and there were no large crowds as seen in the aftermath of the 2016 demonetisation.

Note exchange was a low-key affair in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Telangana, where people chose not to rush to banks to replace Rs 2,000 notes with lower denomination ones.

In Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Vijayawada, residents tried to dispose of the pink notes at petrol pumps, supermarkets and other business establishments.

While no major untoward incident was reported from any state, Delhi, Chennai and Bhubaneswar reported isolated incidents of confusion and chaos in some bank branches.

At some banks in Delhi, heated arguments took place between customers and bank staff who allegedly refused to accept notes without identity proof despite the governments clarification that no document is required to exchange notes.

Some Chennai banks also demanded Aadhaar card while others wanted to know the mobile numbers of those who came with Rs 2,000 notes. The city also recorded high activity with some bank branches collecting Rs 2,000 notes worth over Rs 60 lakh on Tuesday. A few Bhubaneswar banks, too, insisted on identity documents such as Aadhaar card along with the requisition slip to deposit and exchange notes. There were widespread complaints of petrol pumps refusing to accept high-value notes.

Meanwhile, no rush was witnessed in jewellery shops as well with most jewellers reporting business as usual. However, some jewellers in Telangana and Karnataka said some people are making payments in Rs 2,000 notes. Across Karnataka, the Rs 2,000 note exchange rush was seen more at petrol stations, jewellery stores, malls and stores than at the banks.

Kerala witnessed a slow start to the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes with very few people turning up at banks to exchange the pink notes. There is ample time till September 30 to exchange the notes. Also, many customers are making full use of digital banking and UPI payments and hence they do not have big currencies in their possession. In case of bulk payments such as Rs 5-10 lakh or more, customers are depositing it in their accounts as normal procedure, said the manager of a nationalised bank in Kochi.

In Chennai, bank branches in residential areas wore a desolate look with fewer footfalls while those in Purasawalkam, Vepery and other commercial areas saw people arrive in small numbers to exchange as well as deposit Rs 2,000 notes. The manager of the nearby Federal Bank said only less than 10 persons came to the bank for exchanging money. The bank collected their Aadhaar card details as identity proof.

KP Murali, president of Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, said they are getting a lot of Rs 2,000 notes. We urge RBI to direct banks to provide us with adequate change so we can transition through this period smoothly, he said.

Banks in Delhi, unlike other cities, witnessed brisk activity and crowds. However, there was confusion among customers about the procedure to exchange and deposit notes. Heated arguments broke out at some branches with bank staff allegedly refusing to provide the correct information and demanding identity proof. There were also complaints of banks refusing to exchange notes and forcing customers to deposit money in their accounts.

In Andhra Pradesh, there was no rush in banks to exchange Rs 2,000 denomination notes. People tried to expend the money through commercial establishments, petrol filling stations and jewellers but they were reluctant to accept the notes.

Realtors, however, said they would be ready to accept the notes if people come forward as it would be a push to the sector, which is yet to recover fully from the slump. Alla Siva Reddy, Chairman of CREDAI, said: No realtor in the state is having money as there is no business in the state for the past few years. We are ready to accept Rs 2,000 notes until September 23.

Meanwhile, in a bid to cash in on the situation, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has announced an offer for house owners to pay property tax in Rs 2,000 notes. There was no panic rush to banks in Odisha. Very few people turned up to either deposit or exchange notes.

(With inputs from New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar and Kochi)

NEW DELHI: The first day of exchanging Rs 2,000 currency notes passed off largely peacefully as it was business as usual in most banks and there were no large crowds as seen in the aftermath of the 2016 demonetisation. Note exchange was a low-key affair in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Telangana, where people chose not to rush to banks to replace Rs 2,000 notes with lower denomination ones. In Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Vijayawada, residents tried to dispose of the pink notes at petrol pumps, supermarkets and other business establishments.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); While no major untoward incident was reported from any state, Delhi, Chennai and Bhubaneswar reported isolated incidents of confusion and chaos in some bank branches. At some banks in Delhi, heated arguments took place between customers and bank staff who allegedly refused to accept notes without identity proof despite the governments clarification that no document is required to exchange notes. Some Chennai banks also demanded Aadhaar card while others wanted to know the mobile numbers of those who came with Rs 2,000 notes. The city also recorded high activity with some bank branches collecting Rs 2,000 notes worth over Rs 60 lakh on Tuesday. A few Bhubaneswar banks, too, insisted on identity documents such as Aadhaar card along with the requisition slip to deposit and exchange notes. There were widespread complaints of petrol pumps refusing to accept high-value notes. Meanwhile, no rush was witnessed in jewellery shops as well with most jewellers reporting business as usual. However, some jewellers in Telangana and Karnataka said some people are making payments in Rs 2,000 notes. Across Karnataka, the Rs 2,000 note exchange rush was seen more at petrol stations, jewellery stores, malls and stores than at the banks. Kerala witnessed a slow start to the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes with very few people turning up at banks to exchange the pink notes. There is ample time till September 30 to exchange the notes. Also, many customers are making full use of digital banking and UPI payments and hence they do not have big currencies in their possession. In case of bulk payments such as Rs 5-10 lakh or more, customers are depositing it in their accounts as normal procedure, said the manager of a nationalised bank in Kochi. In Chennai, bank branches in residential areas wore a desolate look with fewer footfalls while those in Purasawalkam, Vepery and other commercial areas saw people arrive in small numbers to exchange as well as deposit Rs 2,000 notes. The manager of the nearby Federal Bank said only less than 10 persons came to the bank for exchanging money. The bank collected their Aadhaar card details as identity proof. KP Murali, president of Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, said they are getting a lot of Rs 2,000 notes. We urge RBI to direct banks to provide us with adequate change so we can transition through this period smoothly, he said. Banks in Delhi, unlike other cities, witnessed brisk activity and crowds. However, there was confusion among customers about the procedure to exchange and deposit notes. Heated arguments broke out at some branches with bank staff allegedly refusing to provide the correct information and demanding identity proof. There were also complaints of banks refusing to exchange notes and forcing customers to deposit money in their accounts. In Andhra Pradesh, there was no rush in banks to exchange Rs 2,000 denomination notes. People tried to expend the money through commercial establishments, petrol filling stations and jewellers but they were reluctant to accept the notes. Realtors, however, said they would be ready to accept the notes if people come forward as it would be a push to the sector, which is yet to recover fully from the slump. Alla Siva Reddy, Chairman of CREDAI, said: No realtor in the state is having money as there is no business in the state for the past few years. We are ready to accept Rs 2,000 notes until September 23. Meanwhile, in a bid to cash in on the situation, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has announced an offer for house owners to pay property tax in Rs 2,000 notes. There was no panic rush to banks in Odisha. Very few people turned up to either deposit or exchange notes. (With inputs from New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar and Kochi)
Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising need for a universal system to tackle health challenges across the world, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has proposed a comprehensive medical platform, Global Medical Countermeasures Platform.

During his keynote address at the 76th session of the World Health Assembly, Mandaviya said, The Global Medical Countermeasures Platform aims to ensure equitable access to safe, high-quality, cost-effective medical countermeasures to all the countries, he said.

He was speaking on Tuesday at the WHA in the presence of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization and health ministers from across the world. The unprecedented circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic have further served to strengthen the agenda for a more connected world that is prepared to tackle future health challenges, he said.

Underscoring the need to bridge the global digital divide, the health minister said, Global Initiative on Digital Health will facilitate in building consensus on the promotion of Digital Public Goods for customization and democratization of digital tools for the world and particularly for low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).

He reiterated that the aim of the Global Initiative on Digital Health is to act as an institutional framework and provide agile and fit-for-purpose digital solutions with the use of cutting-edge technologies.

Citing the Ni-kshay Platform as an example of innovation and investment in health technologies, he reiterated Indias commitment to eliminate Tuberculosis leveraging its own mathematical model substantiated by the end-to-end patient care, provider workflows, and digitization of the cascade of care incorporated in the platform.

Commending the WHO for prioritizing the agenda of Health for All, he said the theme finds resonance with the theme of G20 India Presidency One Earth, One Family, One Future as well as the notion of Antyodaya meaning reaching the last person in the last mile.

Highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on the world, he noted that though the pandemic has indeed taken a toll on healthcare systems, it is vital to maintain the momentum and work in tandem to translate the vision of Health for All into reality and ensure a healthier tomorrow for the coming generations. In his address, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a warning that the world must get ready for the next pandemic, which might be even deadlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when Covid cases are stabilising around the world.

The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat, Tedros said. The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.

The WHO head said this as he presented his report to the 76th World Health Assembly. Pandemics are far from the only threat we face, he added, underscoring the need for effective global mechanisms that address and respond to emergencies of all kinds.

When the next pandemic comes knocking-and it will-we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably, he advised. Tedros said Covid-19 had significant implications for health-related targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have a deadline of 2030.

NEW DELHI: In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising need for a universal system to tackle health challenges across the world, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has proposed a comprehensive medical platform, Global Medical Countermeasures Platform. During his keynote address at the 76th session of the World Health Assembly, Mandaviya said, The Global Medical Countermeasures Platform aims to ensure equitable access to safe, high-quality, cost-effective medical countermeasures to all the countries, he said. He was speaking on Tuesday at the WHA in the presence of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization and health ministers from across the world. The unprecedented circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic have further served to strengthen the agenda for a more connected world that is prepared to tackle future health challenges, he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Underscoring the need to bridge the global digital divide, the health minister said, Global Initiative on Digital Health will facilitate in building consensus on the promotion of Digital Public Goods for customization and democratization of digital tools for the world and particularly for low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). He reiterated that the aim of the Global Initiative on Digital Health is to act as an institutional framework and provide agile and fit-for-purpose digital solutions with the use of cutting-edge technologies. Citing the Ni-kshay Platform as an example of innovation and investment in health technologies, he reiterated Indias commitment to eliminate Tuberculosis leveraging its own mathematical model substantiated by the end-to-end patient care, provider workflows, and digitization of the cascade of care incorporated in the platform. Commending the WHO for prioritizing the agenda of Health for All, he said the theme finds resonance with the theme of G20 India Presidency One Earth, One Family, One Future as well as the notion of Antyodaya meaning reaching the last person in the last mile. Highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on the world, he noted that though the pandemic has indeed taken a toll on healthcare systems, it is vital to maintain the momentum and work in tandem to translate the vision of Health for All into reality and ensure a healthier tomorrow for the coming generations. In his address, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a warning that the world must get ready for the next pandemic, which might be even deadlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when Covid cases are stabilising around the world. The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat, Tedros said. The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains. The WHO head said this as he presented his report to the 76th World Health Assembly. Pandemics are far from the only threat we face, he added, underscoring the need for effective global mechanisms that address and respond to emergencies of all kinds. When the next pandemic comes knocking-and it will-we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably, he advised. Tedros said Covid-19 had significant implications for health-related targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have a deadline of 2030.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday urged 19 opposition parties to reconsider their decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building.

It was unfortunate that the opposition parties were making an issue out of a non-issue as prime ministers had inaugurated buildings in Parliament premises on earlier occasions also, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday.

The opposition parties contend that President Droupadi Murmu should do the honours as she was not only the Head of State, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it.

"Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function," Joshi told reporters here on the sidelines of a national workshop on the National e-Vidhan Application.

Home Minister Amit Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building were sent to all political parties who were free to act according to their wisdom.

"The Lok Sabha Speaker is the custodian of Parliament and the Speaker has invited the prime minister," Joshi said.

"After almost a century a historical thing is happening," Joshi said.

Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe building on October 24, 1975, and her successor Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation of the Parliament library on August 15, 1987.

READ MORE: Parliament built through constitutional values not by 'bricks of ego': Rahul

NEW DELHI: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday urged 19 opposition parties to reconsider their decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building. It was unfortunate that the opposition parties were making an issue out of a non-issue as prime ministers had inaugurated buildings in Parliament premises on earlier occasions also, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The opposition parties contend that President Droupadi Murmu should do the honours as she was not only the Head of State, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it. "Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function," Joshi told reporters here on the sidelines of a national workshop on the National e-Vidhan Application. Home Minister Amit Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building were sent to all political parties who were free to act according to their wisdom. "The Lok Sabha Speaker is the custodian of Parliament and the Speaker has invited the prime minister," Joshi said. "After almost a century a historical thing is happening," Joshi said. Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe building on October 24, 1975, and her successor Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation of the Parliament library on August 15, 1987. READ MORE: Parliament built through constitutional values not by 'bricks of ego': Rahul
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: The rift between Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindias loyalists and the first-time Lok Sabha member from Guna seat Dr KP Singh Yadav (who defeated Scindia in 2019 polls) continues to widen.

In the latest development, the Guna MP launched a scathing attack on Wednesday, against Scindia loyalists for apologizing for the union ministers 2019 Lok Sabha polls defeat from the constituency, which has long been considered Scindia familys pocket-borough.

Three-time former Congress MLA from Mungaoli seat Gajram Singh Yadav (who joined the BJP along with Scindia in 2020) made controversial remarks at a recent event organized by the Yadav community.

The ex-MLA apologized on behalf of the people for the 2019 BJP Lok Sabha poll win from Guna. He further added that Scindia would contest Guna in 2024 and winning would be an atonement of the 2019 sin at the Yadav Samaj event.

"Its unfortunate that Scindiaji or any other BJP leaders present on the stage didnt stop the former MLA from making the utterances which were actually against the BJP, Yadav said.

By apologizing for his (Scindia) 2019 Lok Sabha polls defeat is nothing but a disservice to BJP. It wasnt my win but the victory of the candidate fielded by the BJP led by PM Modi. By apologizing, Scindia's loyalists actually are conveying the message that they are hurt by the 2019 victory of the BJP. These utterances can only be made by moorkhs (foolish) people, its high time party leadership takes notice of such indiscipline, Yadav said on Tuesday.

Scindiaji is a senior leader and union minister, such utterances which belittle the BJP, shouldnt have happened from the public stage, where he was present, the BJP MP told the TNIE.

Yadav added that at a time, when the BJP across the country, including the assembly polls-bound MP, is preparing to celebrate the completion of nine years of the Modi government, making such utterances will not only send a wrong message to people but also give the Congress a weapon to attack us.

It's not the first time that Scindia loyalists have apologized for their leaders 2019 poll loss. According to Yadav, other Scindia loyalists, including MP ministers Mahendra Sisodiya and Brajendra Yadav too have made similar statements.

The Guna MP (who defeated the four-time sitting MP Scindia by over 1.25 lakh in 2019 polls) was also pained at not being invited to his own castes meeting (organised by Scindia loyalists) in an assembly segment of his parliamentary constituency.

The opposition Congress was quick to latch on to the opportunity of using Yadavs latest outbursts against Scindia loyalists to target Scindia and the BJP.

A video of Yadavs outburst was tweeted by multiple Congress handles on the Twitter, including by the official Twitter handle of the MP Congress to the Rajya Sabha member-cum-national general secretary in-charge (communications) Jairam Ramesh. Tweeting a short video of Guna MP Yadavs outburst, Ramesh tweeted, Naa ghar ke rahe, naa ghat ke (fall between two stools).

Importantly, while Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP in March 2020, once his protege and present Guna MP Dr KP Singh Yadav quit Congress and joined the saffron party in 2017.

BHOPAL: The rift between Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindias loyalists and the first-time Lok Sabha member from Guna seat Dr KP Singh Yadav (who defeated Scindia in 2019 polls) continues to widen. In the latest development, the Guna MP launched a scathing attack on Wednesday, against Scindia loyalists for apologizing for the union ministers 2019 Lok Sabha polls defeat from the constituency, which has long been considered Scindia familys pocket-borough. Three-time former Congress MLA from Mungaoli seat Gajram Singh Yadav (who joined the BJP along with Scindia in 2020) made controversial remarks at a recent event organized by the Yadav community. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The ex-MLA apologized on behalf of the people for the 2019 BJP Lok Sabha poll win from Guna. He further added that Scindia would contest Guna in 2024 and winning would be an atonement of the 2019 sin at the Yadav Samaj event. "Its unfortunate that Scindiaji or any other BJP leaders present on the stage didnt stop the former MLA from making the utterances which were actually against the BJP, Yadav said. By apologizing for his (Scindia) 2019 Lok Sabha polls defeat is nothing but a disservice to BJP. It wasnt my win but the victory of the candidate fielded by the BJP led by PM Modi. By apologizing, Scindia's loyalists actually are conveying the message that they are hurt by the 2019 victory of the BJP. These utterances can only be made by moorkhs (foolish) people, its high time party leadership takes notice of such indiscipline, Yadav said on Tuesday. Scindiaji is a senior leader and union minister, such utterances which belittle the BJP, shouldnt have happened from the public stage, where he was present, the BJP MP told the TNIE. Yadav added that at a time, when the BJP across the country, including the assembly polls-bound MP, is preparing to celebrate the completion of nine years of the Modi government, making such utterances will not only send a wrong message to people but also give the Congress a weapon to attack us. It's not the first time that Scindia loyalists have apologized for their leaders 2019 poll loss. According to Yadav, other Scindia loyalists, including MP ministers Mahendra Sisodiya and Brajendra Yadav too have made similar statements. The Guna MP (who defeated the four-time sitting MP Scindia by over 1.25 lakh in 2019 polls) was also pained at not being invited to his own castes meeting (organised by Scindia loyalists) in an assembly segment of his parliamentary constituency. The opposition Congress was quick to latch on to the opportunity of using Yadavs latest outbursts against Scindia loyalists to target Scindia and the BJP. A video of Yadavs outburst was tweeted by multiple Congress handles on the Twitter, including by the official Twitter handle of the MP Congress to the Rajya Sabha member-cum-national general secretary in-charge (communications) Jairam Ramesh. Tweeting a short video of Guna MP Yadavs outburst, Ramesh tweeted, Naa ghar ke rahe, naa ghat ke (fall between two stools). Importantly, while Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP in March 2020, once his protege and present Guna MP Dr KP Singh Yadav quit Congress and joined the saffron party in 2017.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: One person was killed while another was injured in fresh violence that erupted in Manipurs Bishenpur district bordering the hill district of Churachandpur on Wednesday.

The miscreants torched some abandoned houses of one community at Tronglaobi village on Tuesday night. When members of the affected community retaliated by burning down the abandoned houses of another community at Gelmol, an adjoining village of Tronglaobi, suspected militants opened fire.

A man identified as Toijam Chandramani was hit by a bullet. He succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital. The deceased is said to be an inmate of a relief camp at Moirang in Bishenpur.

Tension flared up in parts of Imphal Valley after the incident, prompting the authorities to withdraw the relaxation of curfew from Bishenpur as well as Imphal East and Imphal West districts.

According to reports reaching here, women belonging to the Meitei community briefly blocked an army convoy headed towards Churachandpur on Wednesday morning. The protestors alleged army and paramilitary forces were not taking any action against the Kuki militants despite their alleged involvement in the violence.

Shyamkumar Ayekpak, who is a volunteer at a relief camp set up at the Moirang Multipurpose Higher Secondary School in Bishenpur, told this newspaper the inmates are highly stressed and agitated.

WATCH |

Their houses have been burned down and the government has not come up with any solution whatsoever so far. They are getting agitated and at one point, it will not be possible to control them. They want to go out and fight, Ayekpak said.

Thousands of displaced Meiteis of Churachandpur and other adjoining villages are lodged at various relief camps in Moirang. They are being fed by civil society organisations and locals.

The violence in Manipur broke out on May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March which was organised by a tribal students union in all 10 tribal-majority hill districts to oppose the move for the inclusion of Meiteis  the states largest community  in the Scheduled Tribes list.

More than 70 lives were lost and over 1,700 houses were burned down by the mobs in various parts of the state. Curfew is imposed in the affected districts while internet services have remained suspended.

GUWAHATI: One person was killed while another was injured in fresh violence that erupted in Manipurs Bishenpur district bordering the hill district of Churachandpur on Wednesday. The miscreants torched some abandoned houses of one community at Tronglaobi village on Tuesday night. When members of the affected community retaliated by burning down the abandoned houses of another community at Gelmol, an adjoining village of Tronglaobi, suspected militants opened fire. A man identified as Toijam Chandramani was hit by a bullet. He succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital. The deceased is said to be an inmate of a relief camp at Moirang in Bishenpur.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Tension flared up in parts of Imphal Valley after the incident, prompting the authorities to withdraw the relaxation of curfew from Bishenpur as well as Imphal East and Imphal West districts. According to reports reaching here, women belonging to the Meitei community briefly blocked an army convoy headed towards Churachandpur on Wednesday morning. The protestors alleged army and paramilitary forces were not taking any action against the Kuki militants despite their alleged involvement in the violence. Shyamkumar Ayekpak, who is a volunteer at a relief camp set up at the Moirang Multipurpose Higher Secondary School in Bishenpur, told this newspaper the inmates are highly stressed and agitated. WATCH | Their houses have been burned down and the government has not come up with any solution whatsoever so far. They are getting agitated and at one point, it will not be possible to control them. They want to go out and fight, Ayekpak said. Thousands of displaced Meiteis of Churachandpur and other adjoining villages are lodged at various relief camps in Moirang. They are being fed by civil society organisations and locals. The violence in Manipur broke out on May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March which was organised by a tribal students union in all 10 tribal-majority hill districts to oppose the move for the inclusion of Meiteis  the states largest community  in the Scheduled Tribes list. More than 70 lives were lost and over 1,700 houses were burned down by the mobs in various parts of the state. Curfew is imposed in the affected districts while internet services have remained suspended.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi call a meeting of community leaders of Manipur in an effort to bring peace to the ethnic violence-hit state.

Congress leader Ajoy Kumar said India is in "danger" if things are not set right in the northeastern state as it shares the international border with Myanmar.

"The Congress party demands that the prime minister and Home Minister should immediately start a dialogue with leaders of both the communities in Manipur," he told reporters.

He said a peace initiative has to come from the central government, as he expressed concern over extremist sections in both communities controlling the narrative in Manipur.

He noted that not even a single minister has visited Manipur even after they have an elected government, "which doesn't care".

Kumar alleged that the BJP has shown that they do not care about Manipur and are only interested in grabbing power there.

"When people are dying and houses are burning, there is no one in the government to wipe the tears of the affected people in the trouble-torn state," he said.

"We have a Prime Minister who can go abroad, who can do rallies and when his people of this country are dying, burning, starving, displaced, there is nobody in this government to wipe their tears and it is for all people, all of us, who are present in this part of the country, whether they are journalists, whether they are politicians, whether they are of any political belief.

This is one of the biggest tragedies, this is like we are not in India, it's like a Sudan, or a Somalia situation," he said.

He said the party delegation will meet the Congress president and will hand over a report on the situation in Manipur and will seek further guidance.

The Congress leader also sought enhanced compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the next of kin of every dead and Rs 5 lakh to the seriously injured, besides Rs one lakh to all the injured.

He also sought early rehabilitation of the affected people as a large number of people are affected and displaced.

Violent clashes broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the 10 hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community's demand for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

The clashes were 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.

Noting that Manipur is a border state where 7,000 tribals have taken shelter in Mizoram, Kumar said then it is not just a problem of Manipur but also of Mizoram, even as others like Burma and China are also involved.

The central government is urged to take immediate steps to restore peace in the border state as 54,000 people have been displaced, 100 persons are dead and communities are not talking to each other, he said.

He also lamented that this is one of the "worst incidents" in the history of independent India where no FIR has been registered even after many people have lost their lives and property.

Kumar said certain agreements were done with the various militant groups in the hills.

ALSO READ | Can we trust govt, ask Manipuris

The Congress Party, he said, is always very clear that "the integrity and the borders of this country are paramount and any steps towards balkanization are something that we will oppose."

He asserted that dialogue between the communities should be initiated and immediate rehabilitation of the affected and confidence-building measures be taken.

He also noted that the prime minister should have at least tweeted for bringing peace and normalcy and Home Minister should have visited.

"You should see how many times before elections they visited? Not a single minister has visited, have you seen a tweet on Manipur, by any minister? Have you seen a single tweet, if you have seen it, please let me know because I was trying to find it, it's a best-kept secret.

The BJP central government's action on steps taken for saving Manipur, it is such a big secret," he noted.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi call a meeting of community leaders of Manipur in an effort to bring peace to the ethnic violence-hit state. Congress leader Ajoy Kumar said India is in "danger" if things are not set right in the northeastern state as it shares the international border with Myanmar. "The Congress party demands that the prime minister and Home Minister should immediately start a dialogue with leaders of both the communities in Manipur," he told reporters.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He said a peace initiative has to come from the central government, as he expressed concern over extremist sections in both communities controlling the narrative in Manipur. He noted that not even a single minister has visited Manipur even after they have an elected government, "which doesn't care". Kumar alleged that the BJP has shown that they do not care about Manipur and are only interested in grabbing power there. "When people are dying and houses are burning, there is no one in the government to wipe the tears of the affected people in the trouble-torn state," he said. "We have a Prime Minister who can go abroad, who can do rallies and when his people of this country are dying, burning, starving, displaced, there is nobody in this government to wipe their tears and it is for all people, all of us, who are present in this part of the country, whether they are journalists, whether they are politicians, whether they are of any political belief. This is one of the biggest tragedies, this is like we are not in India, it's like a Sudan, or a Somalia situation," he said. He said the party delegation will meet the Congress president and will hand over a report on the situation in Manipur and will seek further guidance. The Congress leader also sought enhanced compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the next of kin of every dead and Rs 5 lakh to the seriously injured, besides Rs one lakh to all the injured. He also sought early rehabilitation of the affected people as a large number of people are affected and displaced. Violent clashes broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the 10 hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community's demand for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The clashes were 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. Noting that Manipur is a border state where 7,000 tribals have taken shelter in Mizoram, Kumar said then it is not just a problem of Manipur but also of Mizoram, even as others like Burma and China are also involved. The central government is urged to take immediate steps to restore peace in the border state as 54,000 people have been displaced, 100 persons are dead and communities are not talking to each other, he said. He also lamented that this is one of the "worst incidents" in the history of independent India where no FIR has been registered even after many people have lost their lives and property. Kumar said certain agreements were done with the various militant groups in the hills. ALSO READ | Can we trust govt, ask Manipuris The Congress Party, he said, is always very clear that "the integrity and the borders of this country are paramount and any steps towards balkanization are something that we will oppose." He asserted that dialogue between the communities should be initiated and immediate rehabilitation of the affected and confidence-building measures be taken. He also noted that the prime minister should have at least tweeted for bringing peace and normalcy and Home Minister should have visited. "You should see how many times before elections they visited? Not a single minister has visited, have you seen a tweet on Manipur, by any minister? Have you seen a single tweet, if you have seen it, please let me know because I was trying to find it, it's a best-kept secret. The BJP central government's action on steps taken for saving Manipur, it is such a big secret," he noted.
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Over a long career in public budget writing, former North Dakota Rep. Jeff Delzer earned a reputation as a champion of conservative spending.

The Underwood Republican's travel log tells a different story.

Delzer took more than 30 taxpayer-funded trips to out-of-state conferences and meetings in the past decade, collecting nearly $26,000 in daily payments for himself along the way.

One of Delzer's costliest excursions came after voters decided they didn't want him in office any longer.

About two months after losing his bid for reelection in last year's primary, Delzer attended an annually held legislative summit in Denver. The state funded the trip to the tune of $3,700.

Delzer wasn't the only lame duck to wander from the pond. Since 2014, the North Dakota Legislature has spent more than $45,000 to send a dozen retiring and defeated lawmakers to out-of-state conferences, according to documents obtained by Forum News Service through a public records request.

Some of the departing lawmakers served on interstate policy boards and were expected to show up to faraway meetings, but others went to conferences that could have been attended by any of their colleagues who planned to remain in the Legislature.

Rep. Robin Weisz, a Hurdsfield Republican who briefly oversaw legislative conference attendance this year, said lawmakers who announce their retirement or lose an election "shouldn't be sent anywhere after that point."

"To me, it should be people going that are gonna get usefulness out of the meeting," Weisz said.

Delzer said lawmakers who are leaving office still can gain valuable information from conferences to share with those who will stay in the Legislature.

"You don't want to quit learning, and just because you're not there does not mean you're not going to have the opportunity to visit with people and bring back and share what you learned at these conferences," Delzer said.

Most of the lame-duck trips were approved by former Sen. Ray Holmberg, a Grand Forks Republican who resigned in June after a Forum investigation found he exchanged text messages with a jailed man accused of child pornography crimes.

Holmberg, who attended more out-of-state trips than any of his peers since 2013, also signed off on his own travel during the parts of eight years he served as chairman of Legislative Management, an interim panel of top lawmakers.

The senator's ability to authorize his own state-funded trips was "a basic conflict of interest," said Mark Jendrysik, a political science professor at the University of North Dakota.

"That is completely unethical. I can't believe they let him do that," Jendrysik said. "You can't possibly be unbiased in your own case."

When asked whether it was a conflict of interest to approve his own travel, Holmberg said the chairman of Legislative Management is given that authority by state law.

"How else would you do it? That's what the law is," Holmberg said.

The conference circuit

Since 2013, the state has spent an average of $450,000 each two-year budget cycle to cover legislators' conference-related expenses, including airfare, lodging, meals and daily pay, known as per diem.

The goal of sending lawmakers to conferences is "primarily educational," said Legislative Council Director John Bjornson.

Members of the House of Representatives and Senate can learn from policy experts and compare notes with their counterparts from other states, Bjornson said. When the Legislature heads into session, lawmakers can use what they picked up at conferences.

Jendrysik said sending soon-to-be sidelined lawmakers on such trips strikes him as unethical since "you can't apply the things you learn on the taxpayers' dime in the Legislature."

Nearly all of the lame-duck lawmakers who attended out-of-state conferences during their waning terms held positions of influence within the Legislature or their party.

Delzer, the longtime chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, made two state-funded trips after losing to two Republican candidates in June. Besides the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) summit in Denver, he attended a San Antonio meeting of the Energy Council, a board on which he served.

Former House Speaker Kim Koppelman, R-West Fargo, attended a July meeting of Midwest lawmakers hosted by the Council of State Governments (CSG) in Wichita, Kansas. Several months earlier, he had dropped out of his race for reelection after losing his local party's endorsement.

Less than two weeks after proclaiming that he would not seek another term in July 2019, former Sen. Dwight Cook attended an NCSL summit in Nashville, Tennessee. The Mandan Republican who chaired the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee for a decade also attended meetings of two separate interstate tax policy groups to which he belonged.

Caroyln Nelson, a former assistant minority leader in the Senate, attended an NCSL conference near San Diego in December 2017 less than a month after announcing her intention to retire the following year. The Fargo Democrat also went to meetings in northern Minnesota and Chicago for boards on which she served.

Former House budget writer Mark Dosch, R-Bismarck, attended a CSG meeting in Milwaukee about six months after it became public he would not seek reelection in 2016.

Former House Speaker and Majority Leader Wesley Belter, R-Fargo, attended conferences in Chicago, Denver and Burlington, Vermont, after announcing he would not seek another term in December 2015.

Tony Grindberg, a longtime Senate budget writer from Fargo, went to a CSG conference in Anchorage, Alaska, three months before the end of his final term in 2014. The Republican who now serves on the Cass County Commission announced he would not seek another legislative term in January of that year.

The ex-lawmakers offered several justifications for the trips they took before leaving the Legislature.

Cook and Nelson said they were already registered for the conferences before announcing they would retire. Nelson added that she shared the information she gained from the meetings with other members of her small Democratic caucus.

Belter said elected representatives must continue serving their district and the state until the end of their term. He noted that current lawmakers occasionally ask him about certain issues, so his legislative knowledge is still put to good use.

"I think that the biggest point I would like to make is that I see nothing wrong with a legislator going to a conference after they've decided (to retire) because there is no replacement for them at that point in time," Belter said.

Delzer said the trips he took were justified since he used the knowledge he gained "validly and wisely."

Koppelman, Dosch and Grindberg did not respond to Forum News Service's requests for comment on this story.

Several other lame-duck lawmakers attended out-of-state meetings of groups to which they belonged, including former Sen. Jessica Bell and former Reps. Scot Kelsh, Lois Delmore and Jim Schmidt.

Bell, Kelsh and Delmore said they were expected to go to the meetings as members of their respective panels. Schmidt did not respond to a request for comment.

Former Sen. Joe Miller, R-Park River, attended a Denver agriculture conference as a lame duck in 2016, but he did not collect a per diem or any travel reimbursements. The state paid only the $745 he needed to register for the conference.

Miller told Forum News Service he received enough regular compensation for being a lawmaker, and he "just thought it was unnecessary to be further paid" for going to a meeting.

Holmberg approved most of the lame-duck trips as the chairman of Legislative Management from 2013-2018 and again from 2021 until April 2022, when he resigned from the position.

He told Forum News Service he took cues from the majority and minority leaders, who recommended members of their caucuses for different conferences. Holmberg said he thought sending lame ducks to conferences wasn't a good use of public funds, but signed off on it if legislative leaders insisted.

Former Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, said he rejected plenty of travel requests by soon-departing lawmakers, but he made exceptions for important members of interstate committees.

Former House Majority Leader Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, said it was valuable to send experienced lawmakers  even sometimes lame ducks  to represent North Dakota in various policy groups to make sure other states didn't have undue influence.

Weisz chaired Legislative Management for less than two weeks this month before House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, took over the role.

But even in his abbreviated time at the helm, Weisz said he began receiving travel requests from lawmakers for conferences as far out as next year. Some of the requests came from colleagues he believes won't seek reelection. Now, Lefor will have to deal with those, he said.

"I was like, 'OK, do we really want to send someone who's not running or frankly is checked out in a way already? To me, that is an issue," Weisz said. "You do want to send people that are going to bring back something useful and not (to) get a paid vacation."

Weisz, who has attended only a couple of out-of-state conferences during his nearly 30-year tenure, said the approval of conference attendance over time has become more first-come-first-serve and less a strategic effort by leaders to prepare and improve important lawmakers.

Lefor said he will evaluate travel requests on a case-by-case basis to determine whether investing in a lawmaker's training benefits the state. Lawmakers can spend up to $965,000 over the next two years on conference attendance.

Jet-setting at state's expense

The locations of conferences attended by Holmberg since 2013 read like a glossy travel magazine's table of contents: Norway, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Los Angeles, Miami and Vail, Colorado.

As Weisz put it, Holmberg "rarely missed a meeting."

In all, Holmberg made about 65 publicly funded trips over the last decade at a total cost of nearly $126,000  by far the most of any lawmaker. He was paid $47,000 in per diem for attending the conferences.

He approved most of the trips himself as chairman of Legislative Management.

Holmberg told Forum News Service his role as a leader in between legislative sessions necessitated his frequent appearances at conferences and meetings across the continent.

Despite holding the ultimate authority to approve his own travel, Holmberg said he consulted Wardner before signing up for the conferences. Wardner said he never rejected Holmberg's requests "because they were all reasonable."

Weisz said it makes sense that Holmberg attended more meetings than the average legislator, but "he took advantage of it."

Jendrysik, who teaches a graduate-level class on ethics in the public sector, said Holmberg shouldn't have been able to exert influence on his own travel requests. The professor noted that he wasn't permitted to approve his own travel when he chaired his department due to the conflict of interest it would have presented.

In the future, there should be a committee or some other mechanism to review travel requests by the chairman of Legislative Management, Wardner said.

Since Lefor is both the House majority leader and the chairman of Legislative Management, he wouldn't have to consult anyone at all before approving his own trips.

Lefor agreed that there probably should be some check on the chairman's travel, but he isn't yet sure what form that would take. On a personal level, Lefor said abusing the power of the position won't be an issue for him.

"I don't think you'll find me taking a lot of trips," Lefor said. "I think I would hold myself to a higher standard."
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin reached Singapore on Tuesday, the first leg of his nine-day tour to that country and Japan to attract investments and invite investors to the Global Investors Meet scheduled for January 2024. In Singapore, the CM was received by Periasamy Kumaran, high commissioner of India to Singapore, and industries minister TRB Rajaa, who had arrived ahead of him.

On Tuesday evening, Stalin participated in a cultural programme organised by Tamil organisations in Singapore. He was joined by Singapore Minister for Home and Law K Shanmugam. On Wednesday, Stalin is scheduled to attend an investors conference, and MoUs with Singaporean firms will be signed in his presence.

The CM is being accompanied on the tour by his wife, Durga Stalin, chief secretary V Irai Anbu, industries minister Rajaa and industries secretary S Krishnan, aside from officials from Guidance TN, SIPCOT, FameTN, TN Startup and Innovation Mission and TN Skill Development Corporation.

Earlier, speaking to reporters at the Chennai airport, the CM said that, during his visit to Dubai last year, six companies had signed MoUs for investments of Rs 6,100 crore that would ensure job opportunities for 15,000 people. Of them, two firms have started work in the state. The LuLu Group has made investments in Coimbatore and is identifying land in Chennai.

Since the DMK came to power, he said investments to the tune of Rs 2.95 lakh crore had been confirmed through 226 MoUs. These investments would ensure job opportunities for 4.12 lakh people.

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin reached Singapore on Tuesday, the first leg of his nine-day tour to that country and Japan to attract investments and invite investors to the Global Investors Meet scheduled for January 2024. In Singapore, the CM was received by Periasamy Kumaran, high commissioner of India to Singapore, and industries minister TRB Rajaa, who had arrived ahead of him. On Tuesday evening, Stalin participated in a cultural programme organised by Tamil organisations in Singapore. He was joined by Singapore Minister for Home and Law K Shanmugam. On Wednesday, Stalin is scheduled to attend an investors conference, and MoUs with Singaporean firms will be signed in his presence. The CM is being accompanied on the tour by his wife, Durga Stalin, chief secretary V Irai Anbu, industries minister Rajaa and industries secretary S Krishnan, aside from officials from Guidance TN, SIPCOT, FameTN, TN Startup and Innovation Mission and TN Skill Development Corporation.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Earlier, speaking to reporters at the Chennai airport, the CM said that, during his visit to Dubai last year, six companies had signed MoUs for investments of Rs 6,100 crore that would ensure job opportunities for 15,000 people. Of them, two firms have started work in the state. The LuLu Group has made investments in Coimbatore and is identifying land in Chennai. Since the DMK came to power, he said investments to the tune of Rs 2.95 lakh crore had been confirmed through 226 MoUs. These investments would ensure job opportunities for 4.12 lakh people.
T Muruganandham By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin today held discussions with the heads of major financial and industrial institutions in Singapore. Later in the day, he is scheduled to attend an investors meeting wherein renowned firms of Singapore will be taking part.

The Chief Minister is on a two-nation official tour of Singapore and Japan to attract more investments to Tamil Nadu and invite investors for a business conclave scheduled here next January.

The CEOs of these firms expressed their interest in investing in Tamil Nadu. On the occasion, the chief minister personally invited them to the Global Investors Meet scheduled for January 2024 in Chennai.

Had discussion and productive engagement with the heads of major financial and industrial institutions from Singapore. The talks with Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Executive Director and CEO of Temasek, Kim Yin Wong of Sembcorp and Sanjeev Dasgupta of CapitaLand reaffirmed the long-standing relations between Tamil Nadu and Singapore. They expressed their keen interest in investing in Tamil Nadu and partner us in our journey towards becoming a trillion-dollar economy, the chief minister tweeted.

Stalin also said the officials from Tamil Nadu and the CEOs of the firms in Singapore explored the possibilities of expanding the existing investments in renewable energy, industrial parks and logistics to new areas like food processing and fishing. Looking forward to building and continuing further upon the historical and mutually beneficial partnership between Tamil Nadu and Singapore, he added.

During his discussions with Temasek CEO, the chief minister said Tamil Nadu is growing fast as a key state in renewable energy resources in the South Asian countries.

Thanking Temasek for already investing in the windmill industry, the chief minister requested the firm to strengthen the already installed windmill resources besides establishing new windmill projects along coastal areas.

Besides, Stalin also requested Temasek to invest in Startup companies since the state government is encouraging Startups by young entrepreneurs.

Interacting with the CEO of CapitaLand, the chief minister referred to the Singapore Science Park designed by this firm and said since the Tamil Nadu government is keen on creating such infrastructure facilities in the state and requested CapitaLand to invest in such projects in Tamil Nadu besides providing technical knowhow for such ventures.

Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, Industries Secretary S Krishnan, and senior officials of the Tamil Nadu government were present during the talks.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin today held discussions with the heads of major financial and industrial institutions in Singapore. Later in the day, he is scheduled to attend an investors meeting wherein renowned firms of Singapore will be taking part. The Chief Minister is on a two-nation official tour of Singapore and Japan to attract more investments to Tamil Nadu and invite investors for a business conclave scheduled here next January. The CEOs of these firms expressed their interest in investing in Tamil Nadu. On the occasion, the chief minister personally invited them to the Global Investors Meet scheduled for January 2024 in Chennai.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Had discussion and productive engagement with the heads of major financial and industrial institutions from Singapore. The talks with Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Executive Director and CEO of Temasek, Kim Yin Wong of Sembcorp and Sanjeev Dasgupta of CapitaLand reaffirmed the long-standing relations between Tamil Nadu and Singapore. They expressed their keen interest in investing in Tamil Nadu and partner us in our journey towards becoming a trillion-dollar economy, the chief minister tweeted. Stalin also said the officials from Tamil Nadu and the CEOs of the firms in Singapore explored the possibilities of expanding the existing investments in renewable energy, industrial parks and logistics to new areas like food processing and fishing. Looking forward to building and continuing further upon the historical and mutually beneficial partnership between Tamil Nadu and Singapore, he added. During his discussions with Temasek CEO, the chief minister said Tamil Nadu is growing fast as a key state in renewable energy resources in the South Asian countries. Thanking Temasek for already investing in the windmill industry, the chief minister requested the firm to strengthen the already installed windmill resources besides establishing new windmill projects along coastal areas. Besides, Stalin also requested Temasek to invest in Startup companies since the state government is encouraging Startups by young entrepreneurs. Interacting with the CEO of CapitaLand, the chief minister referred to the Singapore Science Park designed by this firm and said since the Tamil Nadu government is keen on creating such infrastructure facilities in the state and requested CapitaLand to invest in such projects in Tamil Nadu besides providing technical knowhow for such ventures. Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, Industries Secretary S Krishnan, and senior officials of the Tamil Nadu government were present during the talks.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Telangana, known for its thriving technology industry, has attracted significant investments from prominent US-based firms, further solidifying its position as a premier investment destination. Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc, Aurum Equity Partners, and several others have recently expressed their interest in establishing a presence in Hyderabad.

Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc, a leading technology services company, has announced plans to expand its existing delivery centre in Hyderabad. The company aims to create new employment opportunities and internships, leveraging its diverse engineering capabilities, and significantly enhancing its presence in India.

Aurum Equity Partners, an investor in digital infrastructure real estate data centre assets, has established a global private equity fund worth $250 million, with a $50 million allocation specifically for Hyderabad. These funds will be utilised for the development of cutting-edge data centres, boosting the regions technological infrastructure. Additionally, Aurum Venture Partners has committed $5 million to support deep tech startups in Telangana. Earlier this year, Aurum Venture Partners successfully closed a $50 million fund, emphasising its confidence in the states burgeoning startup ecosystem.

These announcements were made during an event held at the prestigious Gadar Memorial Hall in San Francisco, organised by the Indian Consulate in collaboration with Aurum. The event aimed to highlight the investment potential of Telangana, showcasing why it is an attractive destination for global companies.

Sustainable mobility

In a significant move towards sustainable transportation, the India Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Research Centre at the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, has signed an MoU with the State government. The MoU aims to support the State governments vision of providing cost-effective and environmentally sustainable mobility options to its citizens, with the ultimate goal of driving economic growth.

Preferred destination

Under this partnership, a comprehensive ZEV plan will be developed to facilitate clean road transport transitions in Telangana, positioning the State as a preferred destination for national and global vehicle manufacturers. The MoU will foster collaborative activities, including policy research and design, knowledge-sharing platforms for policymakers and industry, showcasing best practices in ZEV adoption to the international community, and building institutional capacities to support ZEV transitions.

Meanwhile, the success of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme has garnered international recognition. At the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2023, hosted by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in Henderson, Nevada, USA, IT Minister KT Rama Rao delivered the keynote address and engaged with the top brass of ASCE, who praised the transformative impact of the Kaleshwaram project.

Shirley Clark, president-elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers - Environmental and Water Resources Institute, described the project as mind-blowing and amazing. As a hydraulic engineer, Clark expressed astonishment at the projects ability to lift water 500 metres, emphasising its positive impact on the quality of life of the residents of Telangana.

HYDERABAD: Telangana, known for its thriving technology industry, has attracted significant investments from prominent US-based firms, further solidifying its position as a premier investment destination. Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc, Aurum Equity Partners, and several others have recently expressed their interest in establishing a presence in Hyderabad. Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc, a leading technology services company, has announced plans to expand its existing delivery centre in Hyderabad. The company aims to create new employment opportunities and internships, leveraging its diverse engineering capabilities, and significantly enhancing its presence in India. Aurum Equity Partners, an investor in digital infrastructure real estate data centre assets, has established a global private equity fund worth $250 million, with a $50 million allocation specifically for Hyderabad. These funds will be utilised for the development of cutting-edge data centres, boosting the regions technological infrastructure. Additionally, Aurum Venture Partners has committed $5 million to support deep tech startups in Telangana. Earlier this year, Aurum Venture Partners successfully closed a $50 million fund, emphasising its confidence in the states burgeoning startup ecosystem.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); These announcements were made during an event held at the prestigious Gadar Memorial Hall in San Francisco, organised by the Indian Consulate in collaboration with Aurum. The event aimed to highlight the investment potential of Telangana, showcasing why it is an attractive destination for global companies. Sustainable mobility In a significant move towards sustainable transportation, the India Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Research Centre at the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, has signed an MoU with the State government. The MoU aims to support the State governments vision of providing cost-effective and environmentally sustainable mobility options to its citizens, with the ultimate goal of driving economic growth. Preferred destination Under this partnership, a comprehensive ZEV plan will be developed to facilitate clean road transport transitions in Telangana, positioning the State as a preferred destination for national and global vehicle manufacturers. The MoU will foster collaborative activities, including policy research and design, knowledge-sharing platforms for policymakers and industry, showcasing best practices in ZEV adoption to the international community, and building institutional capacities to support ZEV transitions. Meanwhile, the success of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme has garnered international recognition. At the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2023, hosted by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in Henderson, Nevada, USA, IT Minister KT Rama Rao delivered the keynote address and engaged with the top brass of ASCE, who praised the transformative impact of the Kaleshwaram project. Shirley Clark, president-elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers - Environmental and Water Resources Institute, described the project as mind-blowing and amazing. As a hydraulic engineer, Clark expressed astonishment at the projects ability to lift water 500 metres, emphasising its positive impact on the quality of life of the residents of Telangana.
By AFP

ATHENS: A senior Greek judge, Ioannis Sarmas, was asked on Wednesday to lead an interim government tasked with organising a second national election by late June, the presidency announced.

Faced with "the impossibility of forming a government" just three days after national elections "the solution, according to the Constitution is the formation of an interim government," said President Katerina Sakellaropoulou during a meeting with Sarmas.

She referred to the fact that none of the three parties that led Sunday's polls was willing to form a coalition government, after failing to secure a majority.

Outgoing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called for a fresh election as early as June 25 after securing his party's biggest electoral triumph in years, but five seats short of being able to produce a single-party government.

"It is a great honour, a constitutional obligation and my duty as a citizen to accept this responsibility," said Sarmas, 66.

Born on the Greek island of Kos, Sarmas followed a career in the courts after studying law in Athens and Paris, as well as completing a doctorate.

He will serve as prime minister until a government is declared in the second election.

'Second election looms'

Sunday's polls saw Mitsotakis's conservative New Democracy party secure a 20-point lead over its nearest contender, Syriza, led by leftist Alexis Tsipras, at national elections on Sunday.

It was the Greek conservatives' best result since 2007, crediting the party with bringing economic stability back to a nation once known as an EU laggard.

ALSO READ: Stung by election defeat, Greek opposition forced to pass on chance to form government

Mitsotakis, 55, on Monday, told Sakellaropoulou that he could not form a coalition and called for elections "possibly on June 25".

Tsipras, whose party Syriza won 71 seats for Mitsotakis's 146, also refused to form a coalition on Tuesday and has vowed to lead his party into the next battle.

Under a new electoral law that comes into play in the next ballot, the winner can obtain a bonus of up to 50 seats.

Based on Sunday's showing and that calculation, New Democracy is virtually assured of a victory.

In power over the last four years, former McKinsey consultant Mitsotakis steered the country through the pandemic which devastated Greece's vital tourism industry.

Mitsotakis' term was blighted, however, by a wiretapping scandal as well as a train crash that killed 57 people in February.

The government initially blamed the accident -- Greece's worst-ever rail disaster -- on human error, even though the country's notoriously poor rail network has suffered from years of under-investment.

Nevertheless, neither the accident nor the wiretapping scandal appeared to have dented support for his conservatives -- who scored a far bigger win than that predicted by opinion polls ahead of the vote.

In contrast, Tsipras' Syriza finished second even in his ancestral village in Arta, northwestern Greece.

For his part, Tsipras said he takes "full responsibility" for the defeat, which he called a "painful shock" while vowing to prevent the formation of a right-wing government in the next round.

ATHENS: A senior Greek judge, Ioannis Sarmas, was asked on Wednesday to lead an interim government tasked with organising a second national election by late June, the presidency announced. Faced with "the impossibility of forming a government" just three days after national elections "the solution, according to the Constitution is the formation of an interim government," said President Katerina Sakellaropoulou during a meeting with Sarmas. She referred to the fact that none of the three parties that led Sunday's polls was willing to form a coalition government, after failing to secure a majority.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Outgoing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called for a fresh election as early as June 25 after securing his party's biggest electoral triumph in years, but five seats short of being able to produce a single-party government. "It is a great honour, a constitutional obligation and my duty as a citizen to accept this responsibility," said Sarmas, 66. Born on the Greek island of Kos, Sarmas followed a career in the courts after studying law in Athens and Paris, as well as completing a doctorate. He will serve as prime minister until a government is declared in the second election. 'Second election looms' Sunday's polls saw Mitsotakis's conservative New Democracy party secure a 20-point lead over its nearest contender, Syriza, led by leftist Alexis Tsipras, at national elections on Sunday. It was the Greek conservatives' best result since 2007, crediting the party with bringing economic stability back to a nation once known as an EU laggard. ALSO READ: Stung by election defeat, Greek opposition forced to pass on chance to form government Mitsotakis, 55, on Monday, told Sakellaropoulou that he could not form a coalition and called for elections "possibly on June 25". Tsipras, whose party Syriza won 71 seats for Mitsotakis's 146, also refused to form a coalition on Tuesday and has vowed to lead his party into the next battle. Under a new electoral law that comes into play in the next ballot, the winner can obtain a bonus of up to 50 seats. Based on Sunday's showing and that calculation, New Democracy is virtually assured of a victory. In power over the last four years, former McKinsey consultant Mitsotakis steered the country through the pandemic which devastated Greece's vital tourism industry. Mitsotakis' term was blighted, however, by a wiretapping scandal as well as a train crash that killed 57 people in February. The government initially blamed the accident -- Greece's worst-ever rail disaster -- on human error, even though the country's notoriously poor rail network has suffered from years of under-investment. Nevertheless, neither the accident nor the wiretapping scandal appeared to have dented support for his conservatives -- who scored a far bigger win than that predicted by opinion polls ahead of the vote. In contrast, Tsipras' Syriza finished second even in his ancestral village in Arta, northwestern Greece. For his part, Tsipras said he takes "full responsibility" for the defeat, which he called a "painful shock" while vowing to prevent the formation of a right-wing government in the next round.
By ANI

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a three-day visit to Australia, on Wednesday raised the issue of attacks on temples in the country and said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had assured to take "strict actions against such elements in the future."

During a joint address with his Australian counterpart Albanese, PM Modi said, "PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their action or thoughts. PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also."

Notably, several cases of Khalistani extremism and brawls between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators have recently come to the fore in several parts of Australia. Indian flags were burnt and even a Hindu temple was vandalised recently in Australia.

Earlier, Albanese during his India visit in March had said that Australia won't tolerate any extreme actions and attacks that took place in religious buildings, and there is no place for such action against Hindu temples.

Responding to a media query about the assurances that the Australian PM gave to his Indian counterpart, Albanese said, "I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people's faith. That we don't tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we have seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia."

"And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We're a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity," the statement quoted him saying.

Earlier in March, addressing India-Australia: Exchange of Agreements and Press Statements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Australian PM, in light of the recent attacks on temples in Australia had assured that the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Australia is a priority for him.

"Since the last few weeks, news of attacks on temples in Australia are coming regularly. It is natural that such news worries people in India. I have raised these concerns with Prime Minister Albanese who has assured me that the safety of the Indian community is a special priority for him," PM Modi said.

In March this year, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Australia's Brisbane was vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters. On January 16, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Australia's Carrum Downs was vandalised with anti-Hindu graffiti.

On January 12, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Australia's Mill Park was smeared with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti. The temple was vandalised by anti-India elements with anti-India slogans written on the temple's walls, located in the suburb of Mill Park, The Australia Today reported.

Sarah Gates, who is the Director of Hindu Human Rights said, "This latest hate crime is a pattern of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) globally, clearly attempting to terrorise Australian Hindus. Coupled with a barrage of propaganda, illegal signs, and cyberbullying, the organisation intends to present all-pervasive threats, fear, and intimidation," reported The Australia Today.

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a three-day visit to Australia, on Wednesday raised the issue of attacks on temples in the country and said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had assured to take "strict actions against such elements in the future." During a joint address with his Australian counterpart Albanese, PM Modi said, "PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their action or thoughts. PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also." Notably, several cases of Khalistani extremism and brawls between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators have recently come to the fore in several parts of Australia. Indian flags were burnt and even a Hindu temple was vandalised recently in Australia.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Earlier, Albanese during his India visit in March had said that Australia won't tolerate any extreme actions and attacks that took place in religious buildings, and there is no place for such action against Hindu temples. Responding to a media query about the assurances that the Australian PM gave to his Indian counterpart, Albanese said, "I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people's faith. That we don't tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we have seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia." "And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We're a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity," the statement quoted him saying. Earlier in March, addressing India-Australia: Exchange of Agreements and Press Statements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Australian PM, in light of the recent attacks on temples in Australia had assured that the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Australia is a priority for him. "Since the last few weeks, news of attacks on temples in Australia are coming regularly. It is natural that such news worries people in India. I have raised these concerns with Prime Minister Albanese who has assured me that the safety of the Indian community is a special priority for him," PM Modi said. In March this year, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Australia's Brisbane was vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters. On January 16, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Australia's Carrum Downs was vandalised with anti-Hindu graffiti. On January 12, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Australia's Mill Park was smeared with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti. The temple was vandalised by anti-India elements with anti-India slogans written on the temple's walls, located in the suburb of Mill Park, The Australia Today reported. Sarah Gates, who is the Director of Hindu Human Rights said, "This latest hate crime is a pattern of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) globally, clearly attempting to terrorise Australian Hindus. Coupled with a barrage of propaganda, illegal signs, and cyberbullying, the organisation intends to present all-pervasive threats, fear, and intimidation," reported The Australia Today.
G20 in Srinagar: Place is magical... RRR fame Ram Charan about filming in Kashmir

Srinagar, May 22: All eyes are on the 3rd G20 Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting which is being held in Srinagar for the first time for the world to witness and experience the picturesque region of Jammu and Kashmir. Actor Ram Charan attended the meeting on Monday and shared his experience of shooting in this beautiful place.

G20 in Srinagar: Place is magical... 'RRR' fame Ram Charan about filming in Kashmir

During the film Tourism for Economic Growth and Cultural Preservation discussion at the event, the 'RRR' star stated, "Kashmir is that kind of a place, I have been coming here because my dad (Chiranjeevi) is in the same industry. He has been working as an actor for 45 years. So, I am the second generation, I have been coming here since 1986, it was the first time that I was in Kashmir, my dad shot extensively here in Gulmarg, Sonamarg and all these beautiful areas. I use to come as a child that time it used to be that I have achieved something. In summer holidays, it was like an achievement."Ram Charan added, "I have shot in this auditorium in 2016. This place has something magical, it draws attention, it draws people. It is such a surreal feeling coming to Kashmir, it's been 95 years Indian film industry has begun. It will take another 95 years to explore Kashmir."Talking about the 3rd G20 meet happening in Kashmir, he said, "We love Kashmir. it is such a beautiful place. It is the best place they chose to have the G20 meeting."Ram Charan was snapped at the airport and received a warm welcome.Earlier, today the delegations arriving for the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting were warmly welcomed at Srinagar Airport.The 3rd Tourism Working Group meeting is being held at Srinagar from May 22-24.The guests were welcomed by Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, along with Amitabh Kant G20 Sherpa at Srinagar Airport. An ethnic and magnificent display of traditional dance forms by local Artists, showcasing Jammu and Kashmir's cultural heritage, was also done.The security measures have been heightened in Srinagar. For this three-day G20 Summit Kashmir is under a three-tier security grid for aerial surveillance drone monitoring is put in place National Security Guard (NSG) and MARCOS commandos are being deployed around the venue Jammu and Kashmir Police's special operation group (SOG) will be deployed at several places to give security cover to prevent from any terror incident.In Srinagar, graffiti depicting the scenic beauty and colours of Srinagar cover the walls of the city.As of now, the G20 Working group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir will focus 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.The event will witness the participation of G20 member countries, invited countries, international organizations, and industry stakeholders.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.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.India assumed the presidency of the G20 grouping on December 1, 2022, and will hold the post for a year.The G20 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.Meanwhile, he will be seen in director Shankar's upcoming film 'Game Changer' opposite Kiara Advani.ANI23 May 2023

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GFA World Helps Families 'Sew Their Way Out of Poverty'

Mission agency launches new sewing machine campaign, empowers families in Africa and Asia to escape 'grinding poverty'





'SEW' AMAZING: Texas-based mission GFA World's "Sewing Their Way Out of Poverty" campaign aims to provide 500 new sewing machines and vocational training for 500 desperately poor families in Africa and Asia struggling to survive day-to-day. For more information, go to www.gfa.org/press/sew.



NEWS PROVIDED BY

GFA World

May 24, 2023



WILLS POINT, Texas, May 24, 2023 /Standard Newswire/ -- A new three-month campaign aims to help some of the poorest families in Africa and Asia "sew their way out of poverty" -- one stitch at a time.



Texas-based mission GFA World's "Sewing Their Way Out of Poverty" campaign aims to provide 500 new sewing machines and vocational training for 500 desperately poor families struggling to survive day-to-day.



"Countless people trapped in grinding poverty literally live from hand to mouth," said GFA World founder K.P. Yohannan, also known as Metropolitan Yohan. "It breaks my heart each time I see an ocean of slum dwellings in major cities, or when I watch children digging in garbage heaps for food scraps."



A Stitch In Time Changes Everything

A sewing machine costing $100 -- way beyond the reach of most families living in Africa and Asia -- can change everything, giving parents the chance to earn a consistent income sewing and mending clothes.



Subia, a young mom in Asia, was increasingly anxious about how she'd manage to feed and clothe her young daughter. She and her husband -- both casual day laborers like millions of others across Africa and Asia -- often went days without finding any work.



"No work means nothing to eat," Yohannan said.



Subia tearfully shared her struggles with her local pastor. "The pastor encouraged her and told her that God has a solution for every problem we face," Yohannan said.



Sewing A Strong Community Fabric

When the local church took part in a program distributing income-generating gifts in her community, Subia couldn't contain her excitement when she received a sewing machine -- a real, practical answer to her prayers.



"The sewing machine has changed this family's life," Yohannan said. "Subia no longer has to go out in search of a day-labor job. She can stay home with her daughter while she sews clothes for the people in her neighborhood."



Each year, GFA World supporters provide life-changing, income-generating gifts -- including livestock, tools, and sewing machines -- for thousands of families like Subia's. GFA World workers run tailoring classes in local communities to teach men and women sewing skills they can turn into income.



"The need is great, but so is the opportunity to rescue one family at a time from poverty through showing them the love of God and giving them the gift of a sewing machine," said Yohannan.



For more information, go to www.gfa.org/press/sew.



GFA World (www.gfa.org) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national missionaries bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 880 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 163,000 needy families, and teaching that provides hope and encouragement in 110 languages in 14 nations through broadcast ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/new.



SOURCE GFA World



CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, 972-567-7660, gwooding@inchristcommunications.com


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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, Wyoming, 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
PM Mitsotakis seeks second Greek elections

Athens, May 23: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has decided to return the exploratory mandate he had received from President Katerina Sakellaropoulou to form a government following this weekend's inconclusive elections.

PM Mitsotakis seeks second Greek elections

During their meeting, he called for a second ballot to be held as early as June 25 if possible, according to an e-mailed press statement on Monday.In Sunday's general elections, the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party scored a landslide victory winning 40.79 per cent of the votes and thus 146 seats in parliament. The main opposition party, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, garnered 20.7 per cent of the votes with 71 seats.However, the ND failed to secure an outright majority in the 300-member parliament, Xinhua news agency reported.After the Speaker of parliament formally delivered the results to Sakellaropoulou, she launched the procedure foreseen by the country's Constitution, granting the first three-day mandate to the leader of the winning party."I think that essentially the conditions for the formation of a government from the present parliament do not exist," Mitsotakis told Sakellaropoulou.Hours later, he called the President and told her that he wanted to return the mandate, according to a press statement.Sakellaropoulou will now grant three-day mandate to the leaders of the second and third-placed parties, the SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance and the socialist PASOK-KINAL, which received 11.46 per cent of the votes with 41 seats.She will receive SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday, according to a press statement.If the overall process proves unsuccessful, a caretaker government will lead Greece to new elections.In the runoff elections, a revised electoral system will be used. This provides a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party, facilitating the formation of a single-party government.The frontrunner could gain an absolute majority in parliament with about 38 per cent of the votes under this system, according to political analysts.IANS23 May 2023

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Australia: India-Origin Sameer Pandey elected Lord Mayor of Parramatta

Canberra, May 22: The city of Parramatta Council in Sydney has elected Indian-origin Councillor Sameer Pandey as its new Lord Mayor. Pandey, who represents the Parramatta Ward, is the City's first Lord Mayor of Indian origin, The Australia Today reported.

Australia: India-Origin Sameer Pandey elected Lord Mayor of Parramatta

Sameer Pandey was first elected to the City of Parramatta Council in September 2017. He was elected as Deputy Lord Mayor in January 2022, as per the news report.In a statement, Sameer Pandey called it a "privilege" to lead the council of one of the fastest-growing centres in Australia. He stated that the city of Parramatta is the geographical heart of Greater Sydney."The City of Parramatta is the geographical heart of Greater Sydney and a major economic powerhouse as well as the best place in Sydney to live," Sameer Pandey said in the statement released by the City of Parramatta."Parramatta is home to a vibrant and diverse community and I'm excited to lead the City as it cements itself as Sydney's second CBD and the focus of some of its most exciting opportunities," the statement further said.The development comes after Councillor Donna Davis MP stepped down from the role following her election as the State Member for Parramatta. She will continue as a councillor until the next local government elections in September 2024, as per the news report.Sameer Pandey has a background in IT and has a lot of work on his hand, especially major projects like the aquatic centre, town hall and Riverside Theatre redevelopment, according to The Australia Today report.Pandey's election to the post has coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Australia on Monday. PM Narendra Modi arrived in Sydney as part of the third and final leg of his three-nation visit after concluding his visit to Papua New Guinea.PM Modi was received by Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell and other officials upon his arrival in Sydney. During his visit, PM Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.ANI23 May 2023

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LinkedIns new tool to show verifications related to job post

San Francisco, May 23: Professional social networking platform LinkedIn has rolled out new tools to help job seekers feel safe and confident in their job search.

LinkedIn's new tool to show verifications related to job post

The new tools include -- Job verifications, Profile verifications, and Message warnings.LinkedIn will now start to show 'verifications related to a job post', displaying verified information about a job poster or their company."When you see verifications on job posts, that means there is information that has been verified as authentic by the job poster, LinkedIn or one of our partners," LinkedIn said in a blogpost on Monday.According to the company, these new verifications to help job seekers feel confident in their search and allow recruiters to build trust with potential candidates."Verifications on job postings are just rolling out, and as we expand access to our free verification tools, you'll see even more across the jobs you're exploring," said LinkedIn.Moreover, under Profile verifications, the company rolled out new free ways users can verify their identity, work email addresses and workplaces on LinkedIn.With the Message warnings tool, the company will now alert users if messages on LinkedIn include high-risk content that could impact their security.For instance, the company will alert users if a message asks them to take the conversation to another platform, as that can sometimes be a sign of a scam. If something doesn't feel right, these warnings will also give them the choice to report the content without letting the sender know.IANS23 May 2023

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Plane traces Welcome Modi message in Sydney sky ahead of big diaspora event

Sydney, May 23: 'Welcome Modi' spelt by a recreational aircraft's contrails posed a mesmerising sight in the clear blue sky over Sydney ahead of the community event organised to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Australia.

Plane traces 'Welcome Modi' message in Sydney sky ahead of big diaspora event

A video of the skywriting has since then gone viral on social media.PM Modi arrived in Sydney on Monday as a guest of the Australian government and the visit builds on the Australia-India Annual Leaders' Summit in New Delhi in March and discussions at the G7 Summit and Quad Leaders' meeting in Hiroshima, Japan over the weekend.PM Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese will attend a community event later today in Sydney to celebrate Australia's dynamic and diverse Indian diaspora, which according to the Australian government is "a core part" of its multicultural community."As friends and partners, the relationship between our countries has never been closer. I look forward to celebrating Australia's vibrant Indian community with Prime Minister Modi in Sydney," the Australian PM said ahead of the event to be held in Qudos Bank Arena.Thousands of expatriate Indians have gathered at the country's largest entertainment and sporting arena in Sydney to welcome PM Modi, who is visiting the country after a gap of nine years. He last visited Australia in 2014.Shashi Prabha who had arrived to attend the event said "All of us are excited for PM Modi to arrive. That is the most important thing for us at the moment."On his arrival in Sydney after visiting Japan and Papua New Guinea, PM Modi received a resounding welcome from the Indian community.People had arrived in charted flight "Modi Airways" from Melbourne and had taken the "Modi Express" coach from Canberra and Brisbrane.Among those who had gathered to greet PM Modi included 91-year-old Dr Navamani Chandra Bose who journeyed from Melbourne to meet the Indian prime minister in Sydney, according to The Australia Today.She was full of energy and passion and very happy to travel by "Modi Airways." "Very happy today and it's going to be a great event," said the nonagenarian who arrived by the 'Modi Airways,' a special charted flight that took off from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport.The plane full of Indians from across Australia arrived this morning for the diaspora event.Visuals from Melbourne Airport tweeted on the Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation, which is organising the event in Sydney showed passengers waving the tricolour and dancing.According to a report in The Australia Today, 177 people had booked to be part of the special "Modi Airways" flight from Melbourne to Sydney.Among the passengers on the flight was 91-year-old Navamani Chandra Bose. She was accompanied by her daughter who said that Dr Navamani is the wife of NS Chandra Bose who was the President of the Indian Medical Association from 1991 to 1992 and had served as the President of the Tamil Nadu State Bharatiya Janata Party from 1995 to 1997."I'm the daughter and this is the wife of Dr Chandra Bose who was the state President of Tamil Nadu's BJP from 1995-1997," she said.PM Modi is on a three-day visit to Australia, with whom India signed a historic trade deal last year.He kickstarted his Australian visit by meeting with CEOs of several companies.During his visit PM Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. At their bilateral meeting, the leaders will discuss trade and investment, including efforts to boost trade between the two countries through a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.The Australia visit is on the last and final leg of PM Modi's three-nation tour.Ahead of Modi's arrival, Prime Minister Albanese said in a statement, "I am honoured to host Prime Minister Modi for an official visit to Australia, after receiving an extremely warm welcome in India earlier this year."ANI23 May 2023

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Reliance Foundation opens doors of opportunity, awards scholarships to 5,000 undergraduates

Mumbai, May 23: Bhumika Chauhan, originally belonging to Uttarakhand but currently pursuing her bachelor's studies in law from a government institute in Madhya Pradesh, is elated at being shortlisted for scholarships from Reliance Foundation.

Reliance Foundation opens doors of opportunity, awards scholarships to 5,000 undergraduates

"Winning the Reliance Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship fills me with immense joy and gratitude. It not only validates my hard work but also opens doors of opportunity," she said,She aims to become a successful lawyer and is determined to contribute meaningfully to the betterment of society at large."I aim to advocate for justice and provide free legal aid to marginalized communities. I am determined to use this scholarship to fuel my passion for knowledge, contribute to my community, and create a better future for myself and others."On Monday, the names of students who were selected for Reliance Foundation Undergraduate Scholarships for 2022-23 were released. Selected scholars, five thousand first-year undergraduate students from across the country, will be awarded and receive a grant of up to Rs two lakh each.Reliance Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited.The Reliance Foundation Undergraduate Scholarships are awarded on merit-cum-means basis for students in any stream of study. For this year, selected scholars are from streams including Engineering/Technology, Science, Medicine, Commerce, Arts, Business/Management, Computer Applications, Law, Education, Hospitality, Architecture and other professional degrees.The 5,000 scholars for the 2022-23 cycle, of which 51 per cent are girls, were selected from nearly 40,000 applicants studying at over 4,984 educational institutions through a rigorous selection process, which involved an aptitude test, Class 12 marks and other eligibility criteria. 99 students with disabilities were also part of the list.In December 2022, Reliance Foundation announced it will award 50,000 scholarships over the next 10 years.Like Bhumika, Ananya, a first-year medical student from Delhi too thanked the foundation for their initiative."I'm very grateful to have recieved the Reliance Foundation Scholarship. It not only relieves a financial burden but also validates my hard work, dedication, and aspirations. It has given me a renewed sense of motivation to excel academically and make a positive impact in the field of healthcare. I highly appreciate the commitment of Reliance Foundation to nurturing young minds and investing in their education," Ananya said.Ananya's message to other students is to never stop believing in themselves and have the courage to take the first step towards their respective dreams.Archisman Manna from Howrah in West Bengal, who passed higher secondary examination from Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur in 2022 with flying colours was also one among those 5,000 shortlisted by Reliance Foundation. He said he had secured the 7th rank in 12th standard in his state and is now studying BSc in statistics."I got to know about the Reliance Foundation's scholarship from social media and applied for it. I gave the qualification exam conducted by the Reliance Foundation and yesterday I got to know about my selection. I wholeheartedly thank all the members, officials connected with the Reliance Foundation for giving me this Scholarship," Archisman said.His aim is to pursue higher studies in the field of statistics and mathematical sciences.For those who wish to receive Reliance Foundation scholarships, the applications call for the next round of Undergraduate Scholarships (2023-24) will be made in the coming months, the foundation said on Monday.ANI23 May 2023

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USTDA hosts workshop on US-India 5G and Next Generation Networks

New Delhi, May 23: The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) hosted a workshop on US-India 5G and Next Generation Networks.

USTDA hosts workshop on US-India 5G and Next Generation Networks

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and Department of Telecommunications Secretary K Rajaraman kicked off the workshop with over 150 senior Indian and US government and private sector participants.The event convened leading industry experts and officials to exchange information on approaches, solutions, and applications of 5G and next-generation networks in India and highlight new opportunities for US-India technical and commercial cooperation in the sector, expanding strategic technology partnership, an important element of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET)."5G is an important part of the United States' and India's shared efforts to build a resilient economy for now and for the future. To foster an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, we must ensure that our shared values fuel our shared decisions. Events like today's workshop allow us to build mutual trust and confidence, allowing us to turn ideas into action," Ambassador Eric Garcetti said.The Indian telecommunication sector is the second largest in the world, with 1.2 billion subscribers.The rapid growth of India's 5G sector presents a compelling need for infrastructure development, -- an opportunity for US and Indian firms to share expertise, establish new partnerships and leverage private sector financing to support India's digital connectivity goals.Facilitating 5G deployment is an increasingly important pillar of the US-India technology partnership and one of the six focus areas for the US-India iCET initiative.The US and India enjoy a strong relationship founded on shared values and mutual benefit. The US and its private sector stand ready to build on this long partnership with India by expanding innovation, investment, and knowledge sharing to achieve shared prosperity and to promote an open, transparent, and inclusive global digital economy.ANI24 May 2023

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Your million-strong community has contributed so much to Australia, PM Albanese tells PM Modi

Sydney, May 23: Praising the Indian community, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said that the million-strong community has contributed a lot to Australia. He announced that the new centre for ties between Australia and India will be based in Parramatta.

Your million-strong community has contributed so much to Australia, PM Albanese tells PM Modi

While addressing a special community event held at the Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, Albanese said, "Your million-strong community has contributed so much to this country. The people here tonight - your families, your communities will always be the lifeblood of the relationship that India and Australia share.""And tonight, I announce that the new Centre for Australia-India Relations will be based in Parramatta. A place that itself is a testament to the vitality of the Indian-Australian experience," he added.On the second day of his visit to Australia, PM Modi arrived at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney along with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese to a rousing welcome.Albanese said that PM Modi and he has unveiled a plaque for the "Little India" gateway in Harris Park. He said that they want to see Indian and Australian students studying in each other's countries. He also spoke about Indian-origin Sameer Pandey being elected as Lord Mayor."Prime Minister Modi and I have just unveiled a plaque for the foundation stone of the "Little India" gateway in Harris Park. And won't that be good to visit. Now we want to see more connections - more Australian and Indian students living and studying in each other's countries, and bringing those experiences home. More business leaders and artists and families sharing your experiences, and your knowledge, and your ideas," PM Modi said.Albanes thanked Indians for bringing the world's biggest democracy to Australia. Lauding the Indian community, Albanese said that Indians in Australia make their nation better and shared communities better. He urged the Indian Australians to vote in the elections."You have brought the spirit of the world's biggest democracy to Australia. And you have helped make our democracy stronger and more inclusive. You have strengthened Australian society, bringing our country the benefits and riches of such a beautiful and diverse culture," PM Modi said."And I'm so proud that you have made Australia your home - that you see your life and your future here. You make our nation and our shared communities better. You make Australia stronger," he added.Albanese compared PM Modi's mass appeal with that of the famed rockstar Bruce Springsteen. In his remarks, the Australian PM called PM Modi "the boss.""In just my first year as Prime Minister, which I'm celebrating today, I have met the Prime Minister, my friend, six times. But, absolutely nothing beats standing with him on a stage like this, looking out at this magnificent sea of faces. What an honour! And what a joy it is to get to welcome Prime Minister Modi here, with all of you," Australian PM Albanese said."I get to speak to some pretty big crowds as Prime Minister. But I have to say that the warmth and the energy here tonight is second to none. I said to my friend, the Prime Minister before, the last time I saw someone on the stage here was Bruce Springsteen, and he didn't get the welcome that Prime Minister Modi has got. Prime Minister Modi is the boss," he added.Anthony Albanese recalled his visit to India. He spoke about celebrating Holi in Gujarat and visiting the stadium in Ahmedabad on day 1 of the India-Australia match. He also talked about his visit to India for five weeks in 1991."It was a trip full of unforgettable moments celebrating Holi in Gujarat, laying a wreath for the great Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi, and doing a lap, something I will never quite forget, of the incredible stadium at Ahmedabad on day 1 of the fourth test. Everywhere I went, I felt that deep sense of connection between the people of Australia and the people of India," Albanese said.ANI24 May 2023

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The 5 Most Outstanding Indian Photographers to watch In 2023 are presented by Fame Finders Media

SRV Media, New Delhi, May 23: India is a nation with endless attractions, and our Indian photographers have the impeccable ability to bring out the best in it.

The 5 Most Outstanding Indian Photographers to watch In 2023 are presented by Fame Finders Media

Today, Fame Finders Media has featured these talented photographers whose works depict their passion, creativity, and excellent skills.Fame Finders Media honors them for their excellence in craft and wishes them many more success to come.1. Deepak ShankarDeepak Shankar is a talented wildlife photographer who has captured some of the most breathtaking images of African and Indian wildlife. He is an alumnus of Sri Kumaran Children's Home, Bangalore, where he developed an early interest in nature. In 1999, Deepak was awarded the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh award, which recognizes young individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions to their communities.In 2014, he took his first trip to Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which sparked his passion for wildlife photography. Since then, Deepak has become a full-time professional photographer, renowned for his stunning images that showcase the beauty and diversity of wildlife. His work has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions in India and internationally. In 2019, he was the runner-up for the prestigious title of the Greatest Maasai Mara Photographer of the Year.Deepak's photography is characterized by his unique artistic vision, technical mastery, and his unwavering commitment to capturing the essence of the natural world. He has a particular affinity for capturing the beauty and majesty of tigers, elephants, lions, and other animals in their natural habitats.In addition to his work as a wildlife photographer, Deepak Shankar is also a passionate mentor and tour host. He leads photography tours to some of the most stunning locations in Africa and India, providing his clients with unique opportunities to capture the beauty of the wild.His photography is a powerful testament to the beauty and diversity of the natural world and a call to action to protect it for future generations.2. Nilesh ShahNilesh Shah, a cotton trader and businessman from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, found his true calling when he discovered wildlife through his lens. The wildlife enthusiast in him was kindled, and Jungles became his true love. Slowly, one Safari at a time, he moved in the direction of the wild.Today he balances his work and business efficiently with his passion for wildlife photography. He has been to all Indian jungles and captured our diverse and rich wildlife. He has traveled across the country, capturing our magnificent creatures through his lens. He has a large repertoire of big cats, elephants, rhinos, raptors, and other portraits.His work has received recognition from many wildlife channels, the most noteworthy being international appreciation from National Geographic in 2018. His frames have won many awards in national and international competitions.He has published photographs and articles in many magazines and online portals. His work has been displayed at several national and international exhibitions. His love for the technical aspect and expertise in light and shadow play has made him a mentor for several wildlife photography buffs. His USP is wide-angle habited shots, which tell us a whole story in a single frame.A powerful beast captured in its habitat with the entire foliage and canopy, which is its home. These images leave an everlasting impression and a deeper understanding of the pure symphony of nature. The jungle with its sights, sounds, and smell is an overwhelming force to behold and an enduring lifelong passion.3. P S VaibhavImpassioned for capturing life's most precious sights and making them cherished memories, he has always been a photography enthusiast. But it wasn't until he picked up his camera to capture the lives of some furry friends that made him realize that his true passion was - exploring the wilderness! In fact, wildlife photography has grown to become such an important aspect of who he is today.He has had amazing opportunities to explore several if not most, destinations of the vast subcontinent. And needless to mention the wonderful experiences he had and the privilege of sharing these with his fellow travelers and photographers.One such transforming expedition was his recent visit to Spiti Valley. Having traveled mostly in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the country, this was his first voyage to the snow-clad terrains of the Himalayas. At temperatures as low as -20AC and on rough terrains that render several parts of the Valley inaccessible, getting to the viewpoint from the campsite was in itself a rodeo. The nearly-a-week-long expedition certainly tested grit both physically and mentally.The views and the sightings he got to capture certainly made up for the harsh weather conditions he endured! Watching a mother snow leopard and her two cubs enjoy the steep mountainous slopes.4. Shahir Y BajowalaAs a Mechanical Engineer, he has always been fascinated by the way things work. From a young age, he was always tinkering with machines and trying to figure out how they functioned. This curiosity led him to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering, which has been one of the most rewarding experiences of his life.After completing his degree, Shahir Y Bajowala decided to start his own business as a proprietor. This decision allowed him to apply his engineering skills in practical ways and made him work on projects that were both challenging and fulfilling.However, he also had an interest in business administration and decided to pursue a Ph.D. in this field. The experience was both rigorous and enlightening, allowing him to gain new insights into the world of business and management.In addition to his professional pursuits, he is also an avid photographer. Over the years, he has won many awards for his photography work and has had several exhibitions showcasing his art.Finally, his other passion is collecting ancient coins and stamps. This hobby made him learn about history from around the world while also appreciating the beauty of these artifacts.Overall, these diverse interests have shaped who he is today - someone who is curious about how things work but also passionate about creativity and history.5. Tanuja UchilTanuja Uchil is a freelance photographer from Mumbai/India. She loves to capture moments in a frame and make timeless memories. According to her, photography is a vast canvas, as different aspects of life, like nature, landscapes, and fashion, can be immortalized through photography. Her forte is Portraits, corporate profiles, kids' photoshoots, products, food, events, landscapes, nature, and so on.Portraits are her favorite. She feels every person is blessed with unique features which are amazing to capture and frame. There is so much diversity in each look, angle, and mood. Doing families and kids portraits gives her a very Happy and candid vibe. When it's a corporate shoot, it's all serious and business. Though it need not be, as she keeps telling her clients that it's not a driver's license or a passport photo and that standing against a white background is not always an effective corporate profile.Your sharpest office wear and subtle makeup, combined with the right camera angle, lighting, and gentle head movements, can make all the difference in a corporate profile. Landscapes are interesting too, and capturing the beauty of nature is an enthralling experience always.One vertical she added to her business is glassless and illuminated framing of portraits, landscapes, and artwork, and this has been hugely appreciated by many of her clients. To bring joy with every photo is her all-time motto.This campaign is successfully managed and organized by Fame Finders Media. To know more about our upcoming campaigns, visit us at - or(Disclaimer The above press release has been provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)ANI24 May 2023

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A head-on collision Dustin Poirier is pumped to fight Justin Gaethje for the BMF title

Salt Lake City, May 23: After their first meeting in the octagon that turned into an instant classic, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are scheduled to face each other in a rematch at UFC 291 for the BMF title.

A head-on collision Dustin Poirier is pumped to fight Justin Gaethje for the BMF title

There are very few fighters that are willing to fight Gaethje again, as many either crumble under the constant pressure and barrage of punches or they simply don't want to experience the deadly calf kicks.However, Poirier isn't one of those fighters. Staying true to his nickname 'The Diamond' he has accepted the rematch with Gathje for the BMF title in the main event of UFC 291. This fight will be their second meeting in the octagon after their first fight ended in a stoppage with Poirier emerging victorious in the fourth round.The BMF title was put back on the line after the current champion Jorge Masvidal hung up his gloves following his subsequent loss to Gilbert Burns.In a recent appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, 'The Diamond' discussed his upcoming title fight as well as potential opponents in the division. He also reflected on why he took the rematch against a feared contender in the division.When asked why he chose to fight one of the toughest challenges in his division for the second time. He stated, "Because I need it, That's where I do my best. That's where I'm the most motivated. That's where I learn the most about myself and about combat sports. That's where greatness is, man, in that uncomfortable and that's what I try to do, is put myself in that fire. And this is one of those fights that does it.""If this fight doesn't get you excited, you're not a fan of combat sports. Turn off YouTube right now and stop watching this show, because this fight is what I'm going to pick the 'War' hat up for. I know what I'm going into, it's a head-on collision and I'm not turning away. That's what this fight is and that's what I want. That excites me, dude. It gets me pumped up right now." Poirier further added.The lightweight brawlers are going to face each other for the BMF title on 29th July at Delta Center, Salt Lake City. Former Light Heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz will take on the former Middleweight champion Alex Pereira in the co-main event of the PPV card.ANI24 May 2023

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Real Estate Marketing Agency Realatte, becomes the digital agency of choice for 70 per cent Real Estate brands

Primex News Network, Mumbai, May 23: Premium Real Estate Marketing agency,, has been pioneering innovative digital marketing and tech solutions targeted for the real estate sector and has announced its ambitious growth plans of doubling its International market share with offices now in UK and Dubai, and foraying into the upcoming tier 2 markets in India, by setting up 6 more offices in FY 23-24, in the real estate digital marketing space.

Real Estate Marketing Agency Realatte, becomes the digital agency of choice for 70 per cent Real Estate brands

The agency also aims to expand their current portfolio of digital marketing for hospitality and large-scale retail (malls) real estate, across leading metros. Realatte, over the last 5 years, has worked with over 500 real estate builders and has in all managed 1000+ real estate projects across the entire spectrum including budget homes to ultra-luxury homes in residential, and from small offices to large retail spaces in commercial and also hospitality sector. Their impressive client roster includes some of the top names in real estate, such as DLF, Godrej Properties, Puravankara Limited, Brigade Group, M3M India, Sunteck Realty, Shapoorji Pallonji, Mahindra Lifespaces, House of Hiranandani Group, Kolte Patil Developers, Piramal Realty, Rustomjee to name a few.Founded by an expert team of digital marketing professionals, has been successfully implementing an ROI-Centric approach and their result-driven strategies have established them as the best in the business. Today, Realatte has grown and expanded its presence through offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, the UK, and Dubai.Speaking about the growth, Rahul Goyal, Co-Founder, Realatte, said, "The pandemic changed the paradigms of marketing, across the globe, for various sectors. Especially for the Real Estate sector, which comes with its own set of unique challenges and dynamic growth opportunities. We at Realatte understand these finer nuances of what it means to connect, engage and delight customers seeking to invest in a home or office purchase, which is often a once-in-a-lifetime investment. We also work closely with brands to help alleviate the entire digital engagement from being a lead generation activity to a holistic branding exercise. In terms of harnessing the potential of digital marketing, this is a good time for India as positive policy push is helping build a strong digital infrastructure, while the number of mobile phone and internet users across the country continues to rise. The accelerated digitization of processes, further calls for a stronger focus on digital marketing as a vital, if not primary tool for marketing, and we at Realatte, aim at driving the transition to digital marketing for sector-specific sales and brand building needs."According to a recent report, the size of the Indian real estate market is USD 263.37 billion and is anticipated to register a CAGR of over 20.51 per cent during 2023-28. Realatte aims to leverage its deeply rooted relations within the entire real estate fraternity, and expand its service offerings to real estate clients in tier 2 markets, as well as international clients, providing them the best of tech innovations in transformative solutions and digital marketing, helping businesses of its repertoire of clients to move on the upward trajectory.Rohan Shah, Co-Founder, Realatte adds, "As an ROI driven digital marketing agency with a focus on real-estate as a sector, we have been a witness to the dynamic changes in the sector, especially in the post-pandemic era. As one of India's largest real estate digital marketing agency, we have now come to realize that it's not only about selling a project digitally but it is also important to create a unique brand positioning and build a narrative around that. We at Realatte are leading this change, by offering our clients a result oriented, consumer focused, holistic approach to a real estate brand. We currently handle brand management, project-specific positioning, Online reputation management, and also help developers leverage the power of brand ambassadors/influencers to create trust value"Realatte currently offers a strong tech backbone for clients, which includes marketing automation tools, CRM systems, corporate websites, mobile apps, and booking engines, etc., which is all managed by the strong 100 members. The technology experts at Realatte leverage cutting-edge strategies to drive results, including Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Management, Pay Per Click Marketing, ORM, Social Lead Generation, Affiliate Marketing, and our proprietary ORCA - Marketing Automation platform. Their services also extend to website auditing and consulting, ensuring that a brands online presence is optimized for success, through customized solutions, including custom scalable portals, CMS-based solutions, static sites, landing pages, and a seamless Book Now - Payment Gateway integrationAt the heart of Realatte's success is its core expertise in creating comprehensive and impactful digital marketing campaigns, backed by its state-of-the-art technology. The founders Nirav Gosalia, Mayank Vora, Harish Patel, Rahul Goyal, and Rohan Shah bring their futuristic vision and strong understanding of the sector, while helping brands make the best out of each campaign. It is a part of "The Logicloop Alliance", which comprises a group of companies which includes the technology services company Logicloop Tech, the 360-degree digital marketing agency Logicloop Digital and Juicy Gifts which is into corporate gifting.Head on to their website to know more about Realatte(Disclaimer The above press release has been provided by Primex News Network. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)ANI24 May 2023

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This is part 5 of a series.

1974  on the traditional Unix Filesystem. 1984  on the BSD Fast File System. 1994  on SGI XFS. Vnodes  on how to have multiple filesystems in Unix.

Progress is sometimes hard to see, especially when you have been part of it or otherwise lived through it. Often, it is easier to see by comparing modern educational material and the problems discussed with older material. Or look for the research papers and sources that fueled the change. So this is what we do.

SGIs XFS is pretty much the culmination point in filesystem technology for anything that does in-place updates. Extents, generous usage of B+-trees and lock splitting across allocation groups make it a great filesystem that is fast and scales well. The introduction of a metadata log allows it to recover quickly.

The Nineties were also busy with operating systems research. Specifically, cluster operating systems were very much en vogue: Tanenbaum was in Amsterdam, busy with Amoeba . Bell Labs was busy with Plan 9 . And at the UCB, Ousterhout was working on Sprite .

All were experimenting with cluster-unified filesystems, distributed processing, workload migration, and generally trying to build what 20 years later would become the Warehouse-Scale Computer .

Part of the Sprite development at UCB, specifically, was the Log-Structured File System (LFS), and Mendel Rosenblum and John K. Ousterhout present it in this paper from 1992. This is a long paper, 27 pages, but if you read it with hindsight, you can really appreciate how enlightened it was.

Filesystems with in-place updates are in part already using logs for faster recovery in 1992. The paper poses the question What if we had a filesystem that only had a log, and never did in-place updates?, calling it a log-structured file system. It then proceeds to present an implementation and benchmarks for such a thing.

In working with distributed operating systems, the Sprite team noticed that they have a lot of memory available. They found with increasing memory sizes, the probability of a file being served by the buffer cache instead of reading it from disk increased by a lot, and eventually almost all disk reads are being served from memory.

Writes cannot be cached very well, and eventually they need to hit persistent storage, but with the reads being cached it would be worthwhile and possible to construct a filesystem optimized for writes.

The team also observes that CPU speeds grow exponentially, following Moores law. The same seems to be true for memory sizes, which being on-chip silicon structures also obey this law. But disks do not work that way. While their capacity grows, their transfer speed and seek time does not improve much, because mechanical parts do not obey Moores law. Disks are a problem: While linear writes perform well, seeks are slow and are not getting faster much.

So they propose never overwriting any data, but always appending changed blocks to the end of a log.

Ah you think the log is your ally? You merely adopted the log. I was born with it, designed for it.

Of course, disks in the Nineties were finite, as they are now. So there has to be a cleaner process that identifies, frees and compacts space that is no longer needed by any current view of the filesystem.

This is much like the Garbage Collection in Java Virtual Machines, which were invented around the same time. And much like the GC in JVMs, it would turn out to be the weak spot of the system.

A lot of the paper busies itself with simulating workloads on the filesystem with different cleaner policies, and the team then lands on a system that very much evolves in the same way Java GC evolved, with a multi-tier compaction process that mirrors the Young, Old, and Permanent generations of Java objects. This is not entirely surprising from hindsight: Other, newer systems such as Cassandra, Zookeeper and other storages that use LSM Trees are using a very similar strategy with good success.

Specifically, LFS partitions the storage into contiguous segments, and cleans storage segment by segment:

We used a simulator to explore different cleaning policies and discovered a simple but effective algorithm based on cost and benefit: it segregates older, slowly changing data from younger rapidly changing data and treats them differently during cleaning.

Other code takes multiple nearly empty segments of the same age and copies them together into a single segment, freeing up the others.

This creates a certain amount of background copy activity from the cleaner process. It also creates a race between the writers to the system using up free space, and the cleaner process trying to provide sufficient free space. If the system writes data heavily and free space goes down, the cleaner may need to be prioritized higher, consuming more I/O, in order to make sufficient progress in providing clean segments to write to. This will also slow down the writers.

Benchmarks executed as part of the research show that the system can indeed write to disk at up to 70% of the theoretically available maximum bandwidth. But this is true only under ideal conditions. Also, the data is not stored in read-order at all, so read performance is only good if data is actually cached.

Segments are sufficiently large to amortize the cost of seeking to them. In the Mid-Nineties, that meant a size of around 0.5 to 1 MB.

Cleaning is then a three-step process: After suitable segments have been identified from metadata, the cleaner reads multiple segments into memory, compacts them into a smaller number of segments, and writes them out to disk in a single large I/O operation. The old segments can now be marked as clean, and be returned to the free segment pool.

LFS uses data structures from FFS almost unchanged: The filesystem has superblocks, inodes, direct and indirect blocks, and uses the same structures for directories, too. All information changed is buffered and then written out sequentially in a single disk write that appends atomically and asynchronously to the log.

Not overwriting things means duplicating things, so when a file grows by appending a block, the files inode changes. This means the block containing the changed inode needs to be written out again, together with block added to the file. LFS needs to keep track of inodes in an inode map, and this now also needs to be updated and written out: even if it is small enough to be cached in memory, it needs to be persisted.

LFS does indeed to limited in-place updates: The superblock and checkpoint region are written in fixed locations.

LFS stops short of also appending new copies of the inode map and ultimately the superblock for each disk write, and puts these things into fixed locations. So we do have in-place updates for certain limited metadata structures. This is unfortunate, as we will see when we are looking at LFS legacy.

In order for LFS to write out changes to data and metadata such as indirect blocks, direct blocks, inodes and directories, updates had to be written in the proper order, even if the entire write happened in a single big I/O operation. Writing out data from the leaves of the filesystem tree to the top sorts the updates in a way that made recovery easier, because each data structure that had pointers to dependent blocks would be written out only after these blocks had already been persisted.

It turns out that this logic also has merit for traditional filesystems that do in-place updates. It allows file system checking to go on in the background while the filesystem is already being made available, and it can eliminate almost all synchronous metadata updates in the filesystem.

The BSD FFS crew, also at UCB, was very aware of Ousterhouts work, and picks it up the year after he publishes. They port the filesystem to BSD and write a 1993 paper about it

Features and subsystems of BSD FFS are matched with the equivalent structures and concepts on the BSD LFS side.

They note a few shortcomings, and present improvements: The cleaner was single-threaded. No matter how many LFS filesystems were mounted, there was only a single cleaner process. Now there is one per mounted filesystem. They also provide a structural verifier for the filesystem, something similar to a fsck , but a thing that can run in the background, while the filesystem is mounted.

Also, the original LFS code was using more memory than necessary, and BSD LFS was made a lot more memory efficient.

A lot of the paper is then a validation that their implementation is indeed a faithful port, and an improvement over original LFS, and benchmarking.

The benchmarks confirm improved write performance, but also show weakness concerning read workloads. This is for two reasons: data is possibly fragmented, and the file system buffer cache in their machines is often too small to soak up the disk reads. And secondly, when the cleaner process is running, it interacts badly with both the disk reads and writes via disk seeks, and that costs more performance than anticipated. This is in particular true for a database-like (TPC-B) benchmark load, which performs badly and requires extensive tuning.

Notably, the paper already hints at several improvements:

There are two places where in-place updates still happen. By removing them, the filesystem would automatically become transactional and gain snapshot functionality. In fact, each disk write would eventually create a snapshot, and actually snapshotting the filesystem would simply mean to prevent the cleaner from collecting certain snapshots.

Adding checksums to disk blocks already has happened in a few places. Turning this into a Merkle tree would be a trivial extension, and make validating the complete integrity not only of the structure, but also of the file data a lot easier.

The paper already notes that ordering writes in the log in a certain way makes background validation easier: If blocks being pointed to are written before blocks that point to them, referential integrity of the filesystem is being kept at all times. It is just that a transaction may be incomplete, but because its not referenced anywhere that is not a problem, and the disk blocks will be eventually collected and freed by the cleaner. Nothing in this idea is actually dependent on the filesystem being LFS. In fact, it can and was successfully applied to BSD FFS, too, under the name of soft updates , allowing to mount unchecked filesystems and then running a check in the background.

While Seltzer, Bostic, McKusick et al., the original authors of the BSD FFS, were busy porting Sprite LFS to BSD, and tuning it, Larry McVoy and S.R. Kleiman pick up the BSD FFS sources at Sun and add support for extents to it. The resulting patch is tiny, and the work is being documented in Extent-like Performance from a UNIX File System .

To Seltzers chagrin, EFS often and consistently outperforms LFS, requires little to no tuning. In File System Logging Versus Clustering: A Performance Comparison this is confirmed, even if it takes a long paper with many benchmarks to arrive at this finding. The problem is mostly with the disk seeks induced from running the cleaner.

If only something could be done about this

Something could be done, but it would happen at Sun and NetApp, and not in BSD: Were getting ZFS and WAFL.

Also, were getting things that can seek a lot faster than disks: Flash Storage.
India has many thought-provoking...: CICA Secretary General Kairat Sarybay

New Delhi, May 23: Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Ambassador Kairat Sarybay talked about India's role in CICA, adding that India has many thought-provoking things on improving the relations within the 28-nation grouping.

India has many thought-provoking...: CICA Secretary General Kairat Sarybay

He further highlighted that the bloc can address terrorism and cybersecurity which has emerged as a global threat.He mentioned that "India has a very traditionally active foreign policy" starting from initiating the Non-Aligned Movement and in many other international forums as India plays a significant control in ensuring "global security".Kairat Sarybay is in India and during his visit he empahsised on how India can improve the relations within the CICA."So that is why I'm here to listen on the ideas that India has to deliver within the CICA and I'm very satisfied that India has many thought-provoking things about how we can improve the relations within the CICA because the new role of Asia is well perceived by Indian authorities," he added.The Secretary General of CICA, during his speech at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia-CICA, also threw light on terrorism and cybersecurity being a global threat and how CICA will address the issue in the upcoming meeting.Sarybay said that in the last summit meeting, the leaders, heads of the state and the government issued a joint document on ICT security and "this is quite important that they engaged at the highest possible level with this issue, which is a very topical one."Bringing attention to India's contribution to that process, he said, "This week India will arrange a webinar on the misuse of the internet that would be very interesting for the specialists but also for the general public how we can avoid the misuse of internet."He recalled how the first CICA summit in Almaty helped to de-escalate the tension between India and Pakistan in 2002.Kairat Sarybay while recalling the first summit said that at the very birth of CICA, "two major Asian countries in South Asia leaders met in Almaty because CICA provided this platform and at that time, India and Pakistan agreed to de-escalate. I was there at that meeting and international media immediately reflected hope CICA was bound to bring confidence between its stakeholders."When asked if CICA can mediate between India and China, Sarbay said that it depends upon the wishes of the two sides."CICA has the principle of taking all decisions by consensus. If we will have no consensus, we cannot act. So this is quite important that all sites involved in any conflict will perform the wish to solve the issue. If they need any assistance from the international community, including CICA, we are ready to provide any assistance that we can," he told ANI.Responding to what can CICA do in a collateral way, the Secretary-General added that CICA can "create confidence, bringing sites together, giving them the platform where they can meet each other without any compromise but with the will to solve the problem.""So that is why, yes, CICA is a very valuable mechanism but CICA is not a magic stick, so we desperately need the good wishes of our members," he added.CICA is an intergovernmental forum aimed at enhancing cooperation in promoting peace, security and stability in Asia and around the world.ANI24 May 2023

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Exchange of Rs 2,000 notes starts today; Heres all you may need to know

New Delhi, May 23: The exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes, which RBI decided to withdraw from circulation, can be done from today.

Exchange of Rs 2,000 notes starts today; Here's all you may need to know

Last Friday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes from circulation, but added they (currency notes) will continue to remain as legal tender. However, RBI has advised banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes with immediate effect.Following is a set of queries that one may have in his/her mind about the Rs 2000 notes, the process for exchange, and how it is different from demonetization.Where can an individual exchange their Rs 2000 banknotes?- The exchange facility is only available at bank branches and regional branches of RBI.Can Rs 2000 banknotes be exchanged through Business Correspondents (BCs)?- Yes, an exchange of Rs 2000 banknotes can be made through BCs upto a limit of Rs 4000 per day for an account holder.Can post offices be used for the exchanging of notes?- No.Is it necessary to be a customer of the bank to exchange Rs 2000 banknotes from its branches?- No. A non-account holder also can exchange Rs 2000 banknotes up to a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time at any bank branch.What if someone needs more than Rs20,000 cash for business or other purposes?- Deposits into accounts can be made without restrictions. The Rs 2000 banknotes can be deposited into bank accounts and cash requirements can be drawn thereafter.Is there any fee to be paid for the exchange facility?- No. The exchange facility shall be provided free of cost.Will there be special arrangements for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, etc. for exchange and deposit?- Banks have been instructed to make arrangements to reduce inconvenience to the senior citizens, persons with disabilities, etc., seeking to exchange/deposit Rs 2000 banknotes.What is the last date for the exchange?- September 30 has been decided as the last date for the purpose of completing the exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the public.Is there any need for ID cards for the exchange of Rs 2000 notes?- According to the State Bank of India (SBI), the largest lender, customers will not be required to submit any ID cards or fill out any requisition forms to exchange their Rs 2000 currency notes. They, however, would be allowed to exchange a maximum of ten currency notes of Rs 2000 at a time.How long will Rs 2000 notes continue to be legal tender?- As of now, RBI said the exchange facility is available till September 30, 2023, and the notes continue to be legal tender. RBI is likely to revisit the September deadline based on the situation going ahead.Can Rs 2000 banknotes be used for normal transactions?- Yes. the public can continue to use Rs 2000 banknotes for their transactions and also receive them in payment. However, they are encouraged to deposit and/or exchange these banknotes on or before September 30, 2023.How is this process different from the demonetization drive?- During the demonetization drive carried out in 2016, legal tender status for Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were withdrawn right from day one. For Rs 2000 notes, it continues to be legal tender and people can use it for any transactions.Why were Rs 2000 notes introduced in the first place?- The Rs 2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016 under Section 24(1) of RBI Act, 1934, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes in circulation at that time.Is the objective met?- The objective of introducing Rs 2000 banknotes was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities. Therefore, the printing of Rs 2000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19.Status of Rs 2000 notes currently in circulation?- The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3 per cent of Notes in Circulation) to Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8 per cent of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023. It has also been observed that this denomination is not commonly used for transactions.Are there adequate notes in the system?- Yes, RBI said an adequate number of notes are available to meet the currency requirement of the public.ANI24 May 2023

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G20: 3rd Environment, Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting concludes in Mumbai

Mumbai, May 23: The third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting under India's G20 Presidency concluded in Mumbai on Tuesday.

G20: 3rd Environment, Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting concludes in Mumbai

As per the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the three-day meeting witnessed the participation of 141 delegates from G20 countries and 10 invitee countries. The representatives of 14 international and regional organisations also attended deliberations conducted over the 3 days.The three priories outlined for the ECSWG were arresting land degradation, promoting a circular economy and giving impetus to the blue economy. All meetings focused on a specific theme out of these three themes.The 3rd ECSWG focussed on Blue Economy and was supported by two side events - Mega Beach Clean Up Event and the Ocean 20 Dialogue on Day 1 of the meeting.The Mega Beach Clean-Up Event at Juhu in Mumbai was a successful event which saw the participation of 20 countries and 37 Indian beaches from the coastal states and Union Territories.The massive drive organized to sensitize people and create awareness is in alignment with the Prime Minister's message on 'Swachhta' and 'Jan Bhagidari' and highlights the significance of the 'Lifestyle for Environment' (LiFE) concept and the importance of individual actions in tackling the menace of marine pollution.With a pledge to keep the beaches clean, the message sent out was that the beach cleaning event was not only a manifestation of sustainable coastal management and ocean economy but is very closely connected to the larger issue of marine pollution and the fact that our own behaviour has an impact on the environment.The event in India saw the participation of close to 16,000 enthusiastic volunteers.The Ocean 20 Dialogue brought together international experts, innovators, community representatives, policymakers, and industry leaders, to facilitate discussions on aspects related to emerging science-technology-innovation-driven solutions, challenges associated with effective and inclusive policy and governance, and avenues for establishing finance mechanisms to support national and regional Blue Economy endeavours.The second day started with an inaugural address by Kapil M Patil, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, who congratulated the Working Group on the resounding success of the Mega Beach Clean Up Event and appreciated the hard work done by the ECSWG in the area of climate change and environment issues.This was followed by opening remarks for the day by Leena Nandan, G20 India Chair and Secretary, MoEFCC, who expressed her gratitude to the delegates for engaging actively in the first two ECSWG meetings.She appreciated that participation from countries had followed a constructive process and made the discussions so far, fruitful. Further, she urged the G20 countries for their continued participation in the Communique discussion to ensure inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive outcomes as the Working Group moves closer towards the last leg of the proceedings under the India Presidency."The primary agenda of the 3rd ECSWG meeting was the detailed discussions on the draft Ministerial Communique and entailed constructive discussions and deliberations on priority areas.Picking up the thread from the Focus Group Discussions which had been conducted by the Indian Presidency over the past three weeks across all the three thematic priorities, the discussions were conducted with a steadfast resolve of being collaborative and inclusive.The 3rd ECSWG meeting ended in a discussion mode on the Communique, to be further deliberated upon and refined in the virtual meetings scheduled over the next few weeks, as a run-up to the 4th and final ECSWG meeting to be held in Chennai from July 26-27, with the Minister's meet on July 28, 2023.ANI24 May 2023

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Sunny Hinduja wraps up Aspirants season 2

Mumbai, May 24: Actor Sunny Hinduja has finished shooting for the second season of TVF 'Aspirants'.

Sunny Hinduja wraps up 'Aspirants' season 2

Opening up about his experience of shooting the second season, Sunny said, "It's been such a fun and memorable journey shooting for Aspirants Season 2. The amount of love fans showered on me and the show in the first season was endearing. We have tried to make the second season more special which probably the viewers will enjoy watching. As a team, we can't wait to bring the show out for the audiences."Released in 2021, 'Aspirants' is a story of 3 friends - Abhilash, Shwetketu(SK) and Guri. The story revolves around the past and the present time where the past captures the struggle and the drama behind the making of UPSC CSE aspirants in Old Rajinder Nagar of Delhi, while the present talks about the aftermath.Apart from this, Sunny Hinduja will also be seen in YRF Studio's first web series "The Railway Men" along with other unannounced projects.ANI24 May 2023

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J&K approves absorption of 145 Centaur Hotel staff into JKTDC, JKCCC & SKICC

Srinagar, May 23: The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council, which met under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday, has given approval to the absorption of 145 employees of Hotel Corporation of India Limited (HCIL) working at Centaur Lake View Hotel in Srinagar in different corporations under the Tourism Department, an official statement said on Tuesday.

J&K approves absorption of 145 Centaur Hotel staff into JKTDC, JKCCC & SKICC

"The decision was taken on the recommendations of the committee that the existing staff of the Hotel Corporation of India Limited will be absorbed by the UT of Jiamp;K on the existing terms and conditions while the payment of retirement gratuity and other benefits of the employees for the period they worked with HCIL will be borne by the latter," the statement said."The Hotel Corporation of India had 145 permanent employees of Centaur Lake View Hotel as on 01.05.2023, who will be absorbed on existing terms and conditions in Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (JKTDC), Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation Ltd (JKCCC), and Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), Srinagar, as per their requirement and absorptive capacity to be determined by the Tourism Department," it added.IANS24 May 2023

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Motorola unveils new smartphone edge 40 with 3D curved display in India

New Delhi, May 23: Global smartphone brand Motorola on Tuesday announced the launch of a new smartphone 'edge 40' with a 144 Hz 3D curved display in India.

Motorola unveils new smartphone 'edge 40' with 3D curved display in India

The edge 40 comes in three colour variants -- Reseda Green, Eclipse Black and Lunar Blue -- and will be available for purchase starting May 30 from the company's official site and other online and offline stores for Rs 29,999."Motorola edge 40 is the perfect blend of cutting-edge technology, impeccable design and software experiences, that cater to the ever-evolving demands of our consumers. It exemplifies our commitment to providing our consumers with the best-in-class smartphone experience, that enables them to stay ahead in today's fast-paced world," Prashant Mani, Executive Director - Motorola Asia Pacific, said in a statement.According to the company, the edge 40 is the world's Slimmest 5G smartphone with an IP68 rated underwater protection.The new Motorola smartphone features a MediaTek Dimensity 8020 Processor along with a 6.55-inch pOLED HDR10+ display.It also features an advanced camera system with its 50MP main camera with a fast-focusing ambient light sensor, OIS, and a 13MP ultrawide camera with Macro Vision along with a 32MP high-resolution selfie camera.Additionally, the smartphone features a powerful 4400mAh battery that provides long-lasting battery life which can be charged by a 68W charger in just 10 minutes, the company said.The company also provided an option of 15W wireless charging with this smartphone.IANS24 May 2023

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Manufacture, storage totally banned in Bengals largest fire-cracker hub for two months

Kolkata, May 23: Concerned over three consecutive blasts in illegal fire- cracker outlets in three different places of the state killing 17 persons in the last seven days, the West Bengal government has decided to put a blanket ban on manufacturing at the state's biggest fire-cracker hub, Champahati in South 24 Parganas district for two months.

Manufacture, storage totally banned in Bengal's largest fire-cracker hub for two months

A notice from Baruipur district police has been sent to the office of the local fire- crackers manufacturers' association on Tuesday asking them to honour and follow the ban imposed for the next two months.District police sources said the two months ban has been imposed to totally clean up the area on this count during the period."First we will conduct constant raids and search operations to identify, seize, and destroy illegal fire-crackers from this area. Secondly, we will identify the illegal manufacturing hubs in the area, where manufacturing of illegal fire-crackers has almost become a cottage industry with even domestic houses running such manufacturing and storing outlets in the backyards," a senior district police official said.After the cleaning- up exercise is completed, he added, then only those with valid licenses will be allowed to start their respective businesses."However, henceforth the police will be strictly monitoring the entire process of manufacturing and storing of fire- crackers here," he added.Meanwhile, a high-level meeting chaired by the state DGP Manoj Malviya was conducted at the state secretariat Nabanna on Tuesday afternoon, which was attended by all the districts' Superintendents of Police.In the meeting, some SPs, sources said, faced the ire of the DGP for intelligence failures about the illegal manufacturing and storing of fire-crackers in their respective districts."The DGP directed the district police Superintendents to activate their respective district intelligence units on this count. He also asked figures of the quantities of illegal fire-crackers seized from each district," said a state government official aware of the proceedings of the meeting.IANS24 May 2023

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Mumbai: G20 delegates visit emergency operations centre in BMC headquarters

Mumbai India, May 23: The G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG) delegates on Tuesday visited the heritage building of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters in Mumbai.

Mumbai: G20 delegates visit emergency operations centre in BMC headquarters

The delegates are in Mumbai for their second meeting starting on Tuesday.The G20 DRRWG delegates received a traditional Maharashtrian welcome. They did a study tour of BMC's Disaster Management Department. The members of the delegation appreciated the Municipal Corporation's preparedness to handle various disasters as well as the prevention and mitigation measures of BMC.G20 Delegates Inspected the EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) works. EOC serves as a Command and Control agency between the administration and field units. It is a single-point source for all issues related to disaster management. It coordinates with various key stakeholders for a quick and effective response during a disaster. The EOC is also equipped with a HAM radio setup.All types of complaints related to disasters/emergencies along with civic complaints are received at the EOC. The complaints are then forwarded to the concerned agencies and, thereafter, regular updates are taken and communicated to the citizens."BMC doing great work towards disaster and stopping Rainfall, we put pumps in the city, BMC has EOC and disaster room they monitor rainfall and indicate the warning Signal," BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal told ANI."BMC Disaster Management Department is preparing multi-hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessment plan. We are glad we are part of G20. We welcome our delegations we will show them our 128 years old heritage at BMC headquarters," he added.Delegate from South Africa Pumeza Lauretta Tyali told ANI, "I saw BMC EOC rooms that are built very nice as they are equipped with modern equipment. We should Work on Climate change and as a part of G20 we are discussing Disaster Risk Reduction and how can we control the Risk factor by identifying them in modern ways."The BMC Disaster Management Department is preparing a multi-hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessment plan in association with UNDP. The said plan will be available on the ArcGIS platform for a decision support system.The Disaster Management department is also in the process of developing various predictive/early warning system modules for various hazards for early action. The same will also be made available for citizens. Considering the importance of citizens' participation and making the community resilient, NDMA took an initiative by which BMC's Disaster Management Department has trained 1000 volunteers who will work with BMC during the crisis as 'Aapada Mitra' and 'Sakhi'.ANI24 May 2023

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AI software platform Builder.ai raises over $250 mn led by QIA

New Delhi, May 23: AI-powered software platform Builder.ai on Tuesday announced it has raised over $250 million in its Series D funding led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

AI software platform Builder.ai raises over $250 mn led by QIA

The latest funds take the total amount raised by the company to over $450 million with an up to 1.8 times increase in its valuation.The company, which just announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft which includes an undisclosed equity investment in the startup, said that the latest round of capital will fuel its continued industry leadership and innovation pipeline allowing further investments in talent, partnerships, and technology."We are entering an incredible time in history where the very notion of software is changing; from something that had a shelf life of years to what will eventually have a shelf life of a conversation and the volume of what is being created is only going to grow exponentially" said Sachin Dev Duggal, Chief Wizard and Founder of Builder.ai.With customer demand at an all-time high and AI advancing every day, the company has almost doubled its headcount since January 2022, and extended its UK HQ footprint with four new offices opened since 2021 - including the US, the UAE, Singapore and France.The Series D round included participation from additional existing and new investors including Iconiq Capital, Jungle Ventures and Insight Partners."We are confident that Builder.ai's innovative technology and proven approach positions the company for a future of substantial growth," said Ahmed Ali Al-Hammadi, CIO for Europe, Turkiye and Russia at QIA."Sachin and the Builder.ai team have produced tremendous results since Insight invested one year ago. We are thrilled to be doubling down on our support of the company," added Jeff Horing, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Insight Partners.Established in 2016, Builder.ai continues to lead the industry with its AI-powered composable software platform that allows anyone with an idea to build an app (web or mobile) -- faster and 70 per cent more affordably.IANS24 May 2023

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J-K: Administrative Council approves absorption of 145 Centaur Hotel employees into different corporations

Srinagar, May 23: The Administrative Council (AC) chaired by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday gave approval to the absorption of 145 Employees of Hotel Corporation of India Limited (HCIL) working at Centaur Lake View Hotel, Srinagar, into different corporations under the Tourism Department.

J-K: Administrative Council approves absorption of 145 Centaur Hotel employees into different corporations

The decision was taken on the recommendations of the committee that the Union Territory of J and K will absorb the existing staff of the Hotel Corporation of India Limited on the existing terms and conditions.While the payment of retirement gratuity and other benefits of the employees for the period they worked with HCI will be borne by HCI.The Hotel Corporation of India has 145 permanent employees of Centaur Lake View Hotel as on May 1, 2023, which will be absorbed on existing terms and conditions in Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation Ltd, Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation Ltd and Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre, Srinagar, as per their requirement and absorptive capacity to be determined by the Tourism Department.Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J and K and Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.ANI24 May 2023

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Shahid Kapoors Bloody Daddy trailer to be out on this date

Mumbai, May 23: Makers of the upcoming film 'Bloody Daddy' starring Shahid Kapoor on Tuesday announced the trailer release date.

Shahid Kapoor's 'Bloody Daddy' trailer to be out on this date

'Farzi' actor took to Instagram and dropped a poster with a trailer release date announcement along with a new poster.In the poster, Shahid can be seen in an intense action avatar with a gun in his hands. He has blood stains on the collar of his white shirt.Sharing the poster, he wrote, "It's about to get really BLOODY! #BloodyDaddy Trailer out TOMORROW!"Recently, the makers of the upcoming film 'Bloody Daddy' unveiled the teaser.Taking to Insta, Shahid treated fans with the teaser of his upcoming action thriller and captioned the post, "Get ready for a BLOODY good time at the movies. #BloodyDaddy June 9, 2023 on @officialjiocinema."The teaser showcases the 'Jersey' actor in a rugged avatar. He is seen in intense action look by fighting multiple goons in a hotel. The video also gave a glimpse of Sanjay Kapoor, Ronit Roy and Diana Penty.Earlier, Jio Studios announced their upcoming lineup of films and web series at a grand event in Mumbai.Talking about the film Jyoti Deshpande, President - RIL Media and Content Business said, "We have taken a really big special film, with a very big actor, a very big director, spent lots and lots of money on it and we are going to do an OTT release."Helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the film stars Shahid Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor and Ronit Roy in the lead roles.Shahid, on the other hand, shared his experience of working with the 'Tiger Zinda Hai' director and said, "It was a lot of fun. I had a great time doing an action film, I really enjoyed working with Ali. He understands the genre very well. The dilemma now is that if you're doing something of this scale, on OTT, what do you do on the big screen? So we have to figure that out, it has been a blast."The actor also revealed that his dancing experience helped him understand action choreography really fast.He said, "There's a lot of choreography involved with dance, and because I started dancing at the age of 15, I can memorise things really fast, that helped us. When we did the film, unfortunately, due to COVID we had a lot of issues. The action directors were not from here, some of them were from London, some came from Hollywood, and they are used to a lot of rehearsals. And they came in and they thought that it is going to be a disaster. But because I have done a lot of dancing I could pick it up really fast."'Bloody Daddy' will stream from June 9 on Jio cinema.ANI24 May 2023

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Want to do work for people of small cities: Garima of Bihars Buxar clinches second position in UPSC

Patna May 23: Garima Lohia, whose father was a wholesale clothes dealer in Bihar's Buxar district, achieved the second rank in the Civil Services exam, 2022 as per the results declared on Tuesday.

'Want to do work for people of small cities': Garima of Bihar's Buxar clinches second position in UPSC

Having studied from Woodstock School Buxar, she went to Delhi for higher education where she studied commerce at Kirori Mal cCllege."I went to Kirori Mal college in Delhi University and passed the B-com examination in 2020. I was aiming for the civil service examination and attempted it twice after graduation. On the second attempt, I passed the UPSC examination," Lohia told IANS."My father was a wholesale dealer of garments in Buxar district and expired due to a heart attack in 2015. We live in Buxar city of Bihar and have challenges similar to a person in a small city. I always think of doing something for the people who live in small cities and villages. It has inspired me to go for the civil service examination," she added.About her schedule, she said "I used to study 8 hours, 10 hours and sometimes just 4 hours."Lohia lives in a joint family having 13 members and her grandfather is the bread earner of the family. She has two sisters and a brother. The elder sister is married in Jabalpur while her younger brother is a BCom student.The UPSC has announced the final result on Tuesday where Ishita Kishore achieved top rank in the country followed by Lohia.IANS24 May 2023

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Modi visit: A Little India in Australia and a new consulate in Brisbane

Sydney, May 23: Visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that a new consulate will be opened soon in Brisbane and thanked his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese for renaming Harris Park in Sydney as 'Little India'.

Modi visit: A 'Little India' in Australia and a new consulate in Brisbane

"Friends, now that I am here with you, I want to make an announcement. The long-standing demand of the Indian community in Brisbane will now be fulfilled by opening up a new Indian consulate soon," Modi said addressing the 20,000-plus strong Indian community gathered at the Qudos Bank Arena Stadium.He also thanked his Albanese for renaming Harris Park in Sydney as 'Little India'. "Thank you my friend Anthony," Modi told Albanese as the latter made the announcement to declare Harris Park as 'Little India' at the community event."I had the opportunity to welcome the Prime Minister @AlboMP ji on the Indian soil in Ahmedabad. Today he joined me in unveiling the foundation stone of 'Little India' here PM @narendramodi," Prime Minister Modi tweeted earlier.Home to many popular Indian eateries and retailers, Harris Park is informally referred to as 'Little India' with 45 per cent of its 5,043 residents tracing their roots to India.The diaspora community in the western Sydney suburb had renewed calls to officially declare their area as 'Little India'.The Indian business owners had first proposed officially naming the area Little India in 2015, believing that the title would benefit them.As per the Australian government's website, Harris Park has a significant population of Indians and is widely known as an exceptional spot for Indian gastronomy and Indian-run small and mid-sized enterprises.IANS24 May 2023

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Armenia likely to withdraw from collective security deal: PM

Yerevan, May 23: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that a possible withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is still on his country's agenda.

Armenia likely to withdraw from collective security deal: PM

"I don't rule out that Armenia could make a decision on suspending or freezing its membership to the CSTO," if the Organization fails to fulfill its treaty obligations, Pashinyan said at a press conference in Yerevan.Voicing his discontent over the CSTO's reluctance of dispatching a monitoring group to the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said that the membership of CSTO has blocked his country's opportunities to promote military cooperation with other nations, reports Xinhua news agency.The prime minister made the remarks days before his arranged talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Moscow after Russia's mediation.Azerbaijan and Armenia had been locked in a decades-long territorial conflict, with major armed clashes breaking out in September 2020 and ending with a Russia-brokered truce in November of the same year.Sporadic conflicts have been erupting between Baku and Yerevan ever since, with international efforts still ongoing to mediate a fundamental truce between the two South Caucasus states.The CSTO is an inter-governmental military alliance consisting of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.IANS24 May 2023

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Digital India Act to curb high-risk AI, enable startup innovation: Centre

Mumbai, May 23: The Centre on Tuesday said that the upcoming Digital India Act (DIA) will strictly deal with misinformation and 'high-risk AI' to prevent user harm, and the first draft of the Bill is expected by the first week of June.

Digital India Act to curb high-risk AI, enable startup innovation: Centre

In the second round of pre-drafting public consultations with various stakeholders, here Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said that amid the growing threat of AI-related misinformation, the government will create necessary guardrails and a part of DIA will address "high-risk and deep fake AI"."We are not going to regulate AI but we will create guardrails. There will be no separate legislation but a part of DIA will address threats related to high-risk AI," said the minister.The DIA will be an enabler for startup innovations in the country."Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very clear that anything the government does should not cause difficulties for innovation in the startup space," Chandrasekhar told the gathering."We will be extremely sensitive to this. It is not in our intention at all to make things difficult for startups. DIA will be an enabler for startup innovations," the minister added.On misinformation, he said that the IT Rules cast this obligation (of determining misinformation) on platforms."If there's a need to define misinformation in the DIA, we will do so," Chandrasekhar added.The government met policy experts and other stakeholders for the second round of consultations to draft the much-anticipated DIA which is expected in the next 2-3 months.In March, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) held the first round of pre-drafting consultations with stakeholders on the DIA that aims to catalyse India's ambition of being in the leading pack of nations that would shape the future technologies.For the first time, design, architecture and goals of a Bill are being discussed with stakeholders at its pre-introduction stage as part of the Digital India Dialogues.The proposed Bill aims to help India achieve the goal of becoming a trillion-dollar digital economy and be a significant trusted player in the Global Value Chains for digital products, devices, platforms and solutions.The tech ecosystem in general and Internet in particular has evolved significantly after the Information Technology Act (IT Act) came into being in 2000, and the new law has to be evolvable and consistent with changing market trends, disruption in technologies, and keep in mind protection of "digital nagriks" from user harm.IANS24 May 2023

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Goa signs MoU with Uttarakhand to strengthen Tourism Cooperation

BusinessWire India, Dehradun, May 24: The officials of the Government of Goa and the Government of Uttarakhand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate towards enhancing the tourism landscape of both Goa and Uttarakhand.

Goa signs MoU with Uttarakhand to strengthen Tourism Cooperation

The signing of the MoU was held in the presence of Rohan Khaunte, the Minister for Tourism, IT, E and C, Printing and Stationary, Government of Goa, and Pushkar Singh Dhami, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.The MoU is aimed at promoting bilateral cooperation in the travel and tourism sector and facilitating travel between the states to increase the number of tourists visiting Goa and Uttarakhand respectively. The signing of this MoU between the officials of the two states marks a significant step towards promoting tourism in Goa and Uttarakhand and showcasing India's rich cultural diversity to the world, aligned with the 'Dekho Apna Desh' initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative aims to encourage people to witness and experience the rich heritage and vivid culture of India.Speaking at the occasion, Rohan Khaunte said, "We're excited to sign this MoU with Uttarakhand Tourism and underline our focus on spiritual, wellness, and eco-tourism. Through this partnership, we look forward to showcasing the beautiful, ancient temples of Goa as a part of the circuit connecting 'Dakshin Kashi' with 'Uttar Kashi'. It is our endeavor to strengthen the tourism sector of both states and offer visitors a unique and unforgettable spiritual experience." Sharing his thoughts on the collaboration, Satpal Maharaj, the Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand, said, "We're happy to join hands with Goa Tourism and work for the betterment of tourism in both states. This MoU will not only increase direct flight connectivity but also explore opportunities for joint packages, cultural exchanges, and human resource development. We look forward to the growth of tourism in both Goa and Uttarakhand."Under the MoU, both states will benefit from direct flight connectivity between Uttarakhand and Goa, the travel time is reduced from 7 hours to 2.5 hours, making it easier for tourists to travel between the two states. The tourism departments of both states will also work on joint packages to promote various tourism products, including adventure tourism activities, ecotourism, spiritual tourism, and wellness tourism.Both Goa and Uttarakhand have unique cultural identities that will be showcased to offer tourists a glimpse into India's diverse cultural heritage. The MoU will pave the way for cultural exchange between the two states, showcasing local cuisines, folk art, and handicrafts through various cultural exchange programs, roadshows, festivals, and events.Furthermore, the MoU also includes a provision for human resource development. Both states will work in collaboration and ensure the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the field of tourism, including training and capacity building for tourism professionals.Indigo now has 3 direct flights a week from Goa to Dehradun and back. It was a proud moment that the inaugural flight was helmed by our very own Goan girl Captain Sasha Saldanha from the village of Parra in Goa.This MoU is a first of its kind in India, where two states are collaborating to promote the Prime Minister's vision of Dekho Apna Desh and can be emulated by the rest of the states in India.(Disclaimer The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)ANI24 May 2023

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9 years of Heropanti: Tiger Shroff is filled with gratitude

Mumbai, May 23: Bollywood star Tiger Shroff, who made his debut with the 2014 romantic action film 'Heropanti', is celebrating the 9th anniversary of the film. The actor walked down the memory lane to thank the audience and the team for accepting him and showering immense love.

9 years of 'Heropanti': Tiger Shroff is filled with gratitude

As the film clocked nine years of its release on Tuesday, Tiger took to his social media and shared the poster of the film in which he can be seen lying on the bike with his hat on and unbeatable swag of 'Bablu', his character name in the film.He wrote in the caption, "Blessed to have been accepted by all of you 9 years ago. I hope i can continue to entertain you all through his genre for as long as possible. Forever grateful to my mentor #sajidnadiadwala and my amazing director and my most beautiful costar @wardakhannadiadwala @sabbir24x7 @kritisanon (sic)."Meanwhile on the work front, Tiger is currently shooting for his upcoming action thriller 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' along with Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar. He also has films like 'Ganapath' in the pipeline.IANS24 May 2023

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Israeli military chief warns of action against Iran

Jerusalem, May 24: The Israeli military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, has said that negative developments on the horizon could prompt Israel to take action against Iran.

Israeli military chief warns of action against Iran

At a security conference held at the Reichman University in Herzliya outside Tel Aviv, Halevi added on Tuesday that Iran, which Israel views as its arch-foe, "has progressed in recent years with enriching uranium more than ever before.""There are negative potential trends on the horizon which could lead to actions -- we have the capabilities," he said, without specifying the trends.Halevi accused Iran of being connected to "everyone" who is against Israel, providing them with strategic and intelligence support, as well as funding, Xinhua news agency reported.Israel "has the capability to strike Iran," he added.Halevi's remarks come a day after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told the same conference that the number of airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria "has doubled" since December last year. He did not elaborate on the exact number of strikes."As part of this campaign, we are working methodically to strike the Iranian intelligence capabilities in Syria," he said."These strikes inflict significant damage to the attempts by the Revolutionary Guards to establish a foothold a few kilometre from the Israeli border," he added.Israel has been a vocal opponent of the efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying the move will only enable Iran to develop nuclear weapons without the burden of the sanctions.Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful.IANS24 May 2023

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Russia claims victory over Ukrainian nationalists in border region

Moscow, May 24: A Ukrainian nationalist formation that broke into Russia's Belgorod region has been defeated, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Russia claims victory over 'Ukrainian nationalists' in border region

"During a counter-terrorist operation, the nationalist formation was blocked and destroyed due to air strikes, artillery fire and active action by the units of the Western Military District that covers the state border," the Ministry said on Tuesday in a statement.The "remaining nationalists" were pushed back into Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until wholly eliminated, the statement added. They lost more than 70 people, four armoured fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks, Xinhua news agency reported.The Ukrainian side has denied involvement in the incursion. Two anti-government paramilitary groups in Russia were behind the operation in the Belgorod region, which aimed to create a "security strip" to protect Ukrainian civilians, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.The Belgorod region, located next to Ukraine's Kharkiv region, has recently been a centre of hostilities. On Tuesday, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported several drone attacks that caused damage to local private residential buildings.IANS24 May 2023

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Uttar Pradesh govt accelerates preparations for opening of Ram Temple in Ayodhya

Lucknow, May 24: The Uttar Pradesh Government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has accelerated preparations for the opening of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya in the first week of January next year.

Uttar Pradesh govt accelerates preparations for opening of Ram Temple in Ayodhya

The airport and railway station at Ayodhya are being expanded whereas the work is in progress on Ram Path, a 13 kms road from Sahadatganj to Naya Ghat.Besides, the outline for the construction of the Ramjanaki Path and Bhakti Path is also ready.These corridors are significant as they will facilitate the passage of devotees to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and Hanuman Garhi Temple respectively.The length of these corridors will be 566 meters and 700 metres.Various types of civic facilities will also be constructed along these roads.The width of the Ramjanmabhoomi Path will be 30 meters and the width of the Bhakti Path will be 14 meters.The State Government has chalked out a strategy to deal with the various challenges faced in the construction of these roads.The Yogi government is determined to make Ayodhya the most beautiful city in the world.As the completion of the Shri Ram Temple draws near, CM Yogi is inviting people to visit the Temple on the occasion of its opening wherever he goes. Along with this, CM Yogi is also reviewing the progress of construction regularly.According to this intention of the CM, work is being done on a war footing for the construction of the temple and providing infrastructural facilities in Ayodhya.Rampath, Ramjanaki path and Bhaktipath will become a powerful medium to take the devotees to their place of worship. The roads will be water-logging-free.The State Government is making every effort to make the opening of the Temple a grand and spectacular affair.The district magistrate is holding regular meetings with shopkeepers and residents to address the challenges emerging from the construction of roads.It is noteworthy that Revenue teams and PWD engineers conducted door-to-door surveys and established regular dialogue with the shopkeepers. Compensation was also given after assessing the properties.Along with this, arrangements are also being made for their rehabilitation.The Yogi government has done remarkable work in the construction of roads.All the sale deeds were completed within two months.Supporting the Yogi government's initiative to develop Ayodhya, all the shopkeepers, without any resistance, dedicated their shops themselves to the creation of grand temples and infrastructure facilities.Besides, there is no complaint of irregularity in the distribution of compensation in this project also.Those evicted were allotted shops in the newly developed complexes. Most of the shopkeepers were also rehabilitated at their old places with the cooperation of the owners.ANI24 May 2023

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19 May, 2023, Egyptian President El-Sisi addressing the 32nd Arab Summit, said that it was never acceptable for the hopes of the Arab nations to remain hostage to chaos and external interventions, which only exacerbate instability and hinder efforts to resolve crises amid challenging circumstances facing the region.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/501194.aspx

Strong nation states and joint Arab work needed to confront crises facing Arab World: Sisi

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/501194.aspx

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that empowering nation states and joint Arab action are needed to address crises facing the Arab World.

In his speech at the 32nd Arab Leaders Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, President El-Sisi said It is evident to anyone with insight that preserving the nation-state and supporting its institutions is an absolute necessity for the livelihood and future of peoples and their capabilities.

The Egyptian president added that it was never acceptable for the hopes of the Arab nations to remain hostage to chaos and external interventions, which only exacerbate instability and hinder efforts to resolve crises amid challenging circumstances facing the region.

He stressed that relying on Arab collective efforts, self-capabilities and integration among the Arab countries is key to formulate decisive solutions to our issues.

The Egyptian President said the concept of joint Arab action should also extend to dealing with global crises and coordinating our efforts to reform the global economic governance system.

At the heart of this system are financial institutions and international development banks, which should be more responsive to the challenges of the developing world.

He said adding that it was essential to consider that the state of international polarization now threatens the "globalization" system, which was once celebrated by the world.

It necessitates eliminating double standards in the application of international law, he added.

Comprehensive peace in ME

"We have followed with sadness and pain how some of the Arab crises have escalated over the past period, particularly the irresponsible escalation by Israel in the Palestinian territories, most recently in the Gaza Strip," the Egyptian president said.

"While Egypt reiterates its continued efforts to stabilize the calm, we warn that the continued management of the conflict, militarily and security, will have serious consequences for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples alike."

"It may be appropriate to reaffirm today our commitment to the strategic option of achieving comprehensive and just peace through the Arab Peace Initiative on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy and demanding that Israel ends the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian State along the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital," El-Sisi stressed.

Sudan, Libya, Yemen

The Egyptian president also urged a quick resolution to the crisis in Sudan, Libya and Yemen.

"A new crisis in Sudan is foreshadowing - if we do not cooperate to contain it - a prolonged conflict and catastrophic consequences for Sudan and the region," the president said.

He added that the continuation of crises in Libya and Yemen requires the activation of joint Arab action to resolve those issues, in a manner that is more pressing than ever.

Welcoming Syria back

The Egyptian president also welcomed the return of Syria into the Arab League as a step toward finding a settlement to the crisis in the country and ending the suffering of its people.

He stressed that the return of Syria to the Arab fold marks a practical activation of an Arab role in finding a resolution to the Syrian crisis according to international references, including Security Council resolution 2254.

"Egypt will support in all sincerity and honesty all real efforts to push forward joint Arab action," El-Sisi added.

"Joint Arab work is the ideal way to safeguard our interests and provide collective security for our peoples," he said.
Mangla Plastic Industries Recognized as the Best Manufacturer of Gumboots and Safety Shoes in India at Brand Empowers GEA2023 Awards

SRV Media, New Delhi, May 24 under the exceptional leadership of Anil Kumar Mangla, has been honored with the esteemed title of the "Best Manufacturer of Gumboots and Safety Shoes in India" at the .

Mangla Plastic Industries Recognized as the Best Manufacturer of Gumboots and Safety Shoes in India at Brand Empower's GEA2023 Awards

The event showcased the remarkable accomplishments and contributions of businesses and individuals from across the country, emphasizing excellence and innovation. This highly regarded award was presented to Anil Kumar Mangla (Proprietor, Mangla Plastic Industries) by the mesmerizing Bollywood icon, Madhuri Dixit Nene, the Guest of Honor for the event.Since its establishment, Mangla Plastic Industries has been dedicated to manufacturing, supplying, and exporting PVC Moulded Shoes, Gum Boots, and Safety Boots. Their products find applications in various industries such as building construction, cement production, electroplating, and many others. The company's extensive range of boots is not only suitable for industrial purposes but also recommended for individuals venturing out in adverse weather conditions like rain or snow. Additionally, their shoes can even be worn as part of school uniforms, catering to a diverse customer base.Mangla Plastic Industries takes pride in being a one-stop showroom for a wide range of gum boots and safety boots. With their extensive product portfolio, customers can find footwear solutions that meet their specific requirements and industry standards. The company's commitment to quality, durability, and comfort has earned them a loyal customer base and industry recognition.Expressing his gratitude upon receiving the award, Anil Kumar Mangla stated, "We are immensely honored to be recognized as the "Best Manufacturer of Gumboots and Safety Shoes". This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, who strive to provide superior quality products to our customers. We believe in prioritizing safety without compromising comfort and style. This recognition further motivates us to continue delivering excellence in our manufacturing processes and offering products that meet the evolving needs of our clients."The Global Excellence Awards 2023 organized by , led by Rahul Ranjan Singh, provides a platform to recognize and honor outstanding achievements across different sectors. This prestigious event showcases the best and brightest in their respective industries, highlighting excellence, innovation, and dedication to exceptional performance.Mangla Plastic Industries' recognition solidifies its position as a leading player in the industry. With their extensive range of gumboots and safety shoes designed to provide maximum protection and comfort, the company has gained the trust and confidence of customers nationwide. As they celebrate their success, Mangla Plastic Industries remains committed to upholding its reputation for excellence and delivering superior quality products. As they continue to grow and innovate, the company remains focused on meeting the evolving needs of their customers and maintaining their position as a trusted name in the footwear industry.(Disclaimer The above press release has been provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)ANI24 May 2023

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OTT show Kohrra is an investigative drama surrounding a murdered NRI

Mumbai, May 24: The upcoming streaming show 'Kohrra' explores dysfunctional family dynamics and the dark facets of love and relationship through the overlay of a crime investigation.

OTT show 'Kohrra' is an investigative drama surrounding a murdered NRI

The show, which had its title revealed on Wednesday, is an investigative drama and stars Suvinder Vicky, Barun Sobti, Varun Badola, Harleen Sethi, Rachel Shelly and Manish Chaudhary, and has a mix of Hindi and Punjabi languages.The story follows the discovery of a murdered NRI just before his wedding in the countryside of Punjab. As the investigation unfolds a world of deceit, secrets and the dramas of dysfunctional families are revealed.Sudip Sharma, the mastermind behind the series, said "When Gunjit Chopra and Diggi Sisodia came to me with the idea of 'Kohrra', I was drawn to the possibilities of a fresh and distinct cop investigative story underlined with the complexities of human emotions. Together, we've tried to create a show that not only engages you and keeps you hooked throughout but also stays with you after."Produced by Clean Slate Filmz, and put together by screenwriter Sudip Sharma and filmmaker Randeep Jha, 'Kohrra' is slated to release on Netflix.IANS25 May 2023

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Tanishq launches its new store in Powai, Mumbai

New Delhi, May 24: Tanishq, the jewellery retail brand from the house of Tata continues to expand its retail footprint with the addition of its new store in Mumbai. The newly-launched store, spanning across 4000 sq. ft., caters to a wide range of signature Tanishq designs across vibrant colour stones, dazzling gold, shining diamonds, and precious solitaires.

Tanishq launches its new store in Powai, Mumbai

The store features Tanishq's exclusive collections such as Alekhya inspired by Indian art forms along with the stunning diamond collection Colour Me Joy - The Carnival Edit; an uplifting line of jewellery collection inspired by the symphony of colours set in the spirit of stones. Additionally, the store also houses Tanishq's wedding jewellery collection from Rivaah by Tanishq with mesmerising jewellery designs for the brides-to-be.It also houses their latest 'Celeste x Sachin Tendulkar' solitaire collection which includes an array of spectacular designs for both women and men, including rings, earrings and bracelets. Each piece comes with intricate work of art rich in splendour with unique design sensibilities. The store also has a Zoya Gallery and Exclusive High-Value Zone.The store was inaugurated by Noel Tata, Chairman of Trent and Vice Chairman of Titan Company Ltd., Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division, Titan Company Limited and Niraj Bhakare, Regional Business Head, West, Titan Company Limited at 10.30 A.M.As part of the grand inauguration, Tanishq is offering free gold coin on every purchase. The offer is valid from 19th to 22nd May, 2023.The store is located at Tanishq Showroom, Ground Floor, Sentinel, Central Avenue, opp Powai Plaza, Downtown Powai, Powai Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, Ph No- 022 6974 4500.Speaking on the inauguration, Noel Tata, Chairman of Trent and Vice Chairman of Titan Company Ltd, Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division, Titan Company Limited and Niraj Bhakare, Regional Business Head, West, Titan Company Limited said "We are extremely delighted to launch our new store in Mumbai."At Tanishq, we keep the customers at the forefront of all our endeavours. Being the most loved jewellery brand in the country, our aim has always been to be accessible to the customers and with every new store launch, we believe we have moved an inch closer to that promise."The store houses beautiful jewellery designs in Gold, Diamond, solitaires and Bridal jewellery to suit diverse needs. Maharashtra and its people have always been a part of Tanishq's rich legacy, the warmth and love the brand has received over the years has enabled us in achieving this retail milestone. We hope that our customers in Mumbai will appreciate and enjoy the unmatched experience we have created at this large format store."(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)IANS25 May 2023

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25 yrs in Bwood: KJo shares BTS moments from Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani

Mumbai, May 24: As Karan Johar, who is turning 51 on Thursday, has accomplished 25 years in Hindi cinema, he gave a sneak peek into his upcoming film 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt.

25 yrs in B'wood: KJo shares BTS moments from 'Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani'

Karan took to Instagram and posted a video as he is set to complete 25 years in the Hindi film industry. The video was a montage featuring 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (1998), 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' (2001), 'My Name Is Khan' (2010) and 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' (2016).In the clip, Karan said "Love comes with its conflicts and challenges but it's the most beautiful feeling in the world. As I look back on my journey of 25 years as a filmmaker, I'm filled with immense gratitude.""What began as a small attempt to share stories of love, friendship and family that resonated within me.""But as each one of you embraced these stories and characters, love found a new meaning to me every day. As I complete 25 years in the industry, this love of yours has given wings to a new story, a new prem kahani (love story), a story that celebrates love like never before in all its beauty and grandeur.""A film that I have been waiting to share with you for so long, it's finally ready. See you at the movies where we celebrate family, love and so much more."In the BTS video from 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani', Alia was seen laughing with Karan.Ranveer was seen playing with a white cushion. Dharmendra and Jaya Bachchan, sat next to each other, as Ranveer kissed the veteran actor's hand.He captioned the post "Nothing but gratitude for the magical 25 years I have spent in the director's chair. I learnt, I grew, I wept, I laughed - I lived. And tomorrow, another piece of my heart will be yours to see and I could not be more ecstatic as I celebrate my birthday with you all.""With a kahaani (story) that has prem (love) written all over it. See you tomorrow! #RockyAurRaniKiiPremKahaani first look out tomorrow! In cinemas 28th July."IANS25 May 2023

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Donald Trump looked none too pleased today when he found out that his criminal hush money trial would take place March 25, 2024  plumb in the middle of the presidential primary season. Even from afar, as he attended the hearing remotely, the fidgeting ex-president seemed to react angrily on camera as he squinted and scowled when he heard the date. He immediately began waving his arms as he jabbered to his lawyer, Todd Blanche, who was sitting next to him, but, according to the New York Times, it's unclear what what said due to his muted mic.

From The New York Times:

Before the appearance started, Mr. Trump waited on camera, visible in high-definition to the entire courtroom  a remarkable way to encounter the former president. Wearing a navy suit and a red, white and blue tie, he squinted and glowered at the camera, clasping and unclasping his hands, never keeping them in the same position for very long. He looked like a man unaccustomed to waiting. Mr. Trump barely spoke with his microphone on once the hearing got underway. But when Justice Merchan mentioned the trial date, he immediately grew agitated, chattering at Mr. Blanche with his microphone muted, waving his hands and shaking his head. He then folded his arms in frustration as the judge reviewed the updated motion schedule that would precede the trial.

And from ABC News:

Trump, sitting side-by-side with his attorney Todd Blanche, his hands folded on the table, scowled into the camera when Judge Juan Merchan announced the trial date, possibly because the date conflicts with the GOP primary calendar as Trump seeks to reclaim the presidency. Merchan has previously indicated that no one associated with the case is allowed to schedule anything that would conflict with the trial, which would seemingly including any campaign appearances that would keep Trump from appearing in court. Merchan reviewed for Trump the terms of a protective order that prohibits him from sharing on social media any evidence turned over by the Manhattan district attorney during discovery.

The desperate Trump is now trying to shift the case from state to federal court, "likely a long shot effort," according to NYT, that will be heard in federal court on June 27.
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Critical care physician Hollis O'Neal, MD, MSc, Associate Professor of Medicine at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine's Baton Rouge campus, presented data that validate a rapid diagnostic test for sepsis at the American Thoracic Society 2023 International Conference. Dr. O'Neal is the national principal investigator of the CV-SQulSH-ED trial, a multi-site prospective study to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the investigational Cytovale System & IntelliSep Test for patients presenting to the Emergency Department with signs or suspicion of infection. The IntelliSep Test is a microfluidic test that measures the biophysical properties of white blood cells (leukocytes) in conjunction with other laboratory findings and clinical assessments to aid in the early detection of sepsis.

Dr. O'Neal led the prospective, multicenter study of adults presenting to the ED with signs or suspicion of infection to assess the IntelliSep Test. It provides a test result, called the IntelliSep Index (ISI), in less than 10 minutes in three interpretative bands from a low (Band 1) to high (Band 3) probability of sepsis. IntelliSep results were compared to retrospective judgement of Sepsis-3 by an independent panel of critical care, infectious disease, and emergency medicine physicians. Research and clinical personnel were blinded to the ISI results. Clinical outcomes were extracted from the medical record.

A total of 572 patients were enrolled in EDs from medical centers in four states. Sepsis was the final diagnosis in 152 patients (26.6%). The prevalence of sepsis in Band 3 was 79 of 160 (49.4%); Band 2, 45 of 160 (28.12%); and Band 1, 28 of 252 (11.1%). Emergency Department physicians diagnosed sepsis in 52 of 152 patients with sepsis and 24 of 420 (5.7%) of patients without sepsis. The study showed that ISI provided a rapid, reliable diagnostic aid for sepsis in a population of patients with signs or suspicion of infection. Based on these data, the United States Food & Drug Administration granted the system 510k clearance in December 2022.

Every minute counts when it comes to sepsis diagnosis, and EDs operate under major time and resource constraints that could impact patient outcomes. These results validate the efficacy and efficiency of IntelliSep as a diagnostic aid that may improve sepsis triage when incorporated into existing clinical protocols." Dr. Hollis O'Neal, Medical Director of Research at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, LSU Health's major teaching hospital in Baton Rouge

According to the National Institutes of Health, sepsis is a person's overwhelming or impaired whole-body immune response to an insult-; bacterial infections, viral infections, such as COVID-19 or influenza; or fungal infections. It is unpredictable and can progress rapidly. Without prompt treatment, sepsis can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. It's a serious condition and a leading cause of death in hospitals. It's also a main reason why people are readmitted to the hospital. Each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 1.7 million adults in the U.S. develop sepsis, and nearly 270,000 die as a result. The number of sepsis cases per year in the U.S. has been on the rise. Many patients who survive severe sepsis recover completely, but some people can have permanent organ damage.

The researchers conclude that, if integrated into a process of clinical decision making, the ISI has the potential to improve the efficiency and efficacy of sepsis care delivery in the Emergency Department.

The research was funded by the Department of Health and Human Services; the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under contract number 75A50119C00072.
Long-awaited outcomes data of transcatheter edge-to-edge procedures to repair patients' leaky mitral valves revealed the minimally invasive procedure to be safe and effective in nearly 90% of patients, according to Cedars-Sinai physician-scientists.

Their findings on the condition called degenerative mitral regurgitation were published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), representing the largest study to date that examines outcomes for patients treated outside of a clinical trial with transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER).

Treatment was successful in nearly nine out of every 10 patients in whom TEER was used to repair their mitral valve. These strong safety and efficacy outcomes were validated, despite the advanced age and significant comorbidities of these patients." Raj Makkar, MD, Cedars-Sinai's vice president of Cardiovascular Innovation and Intervention, the Stephen R. Corday, MD, Chair in Interventional Cardiology and the study's senior author

Degenerative mitral regurgitation occurs when the mitral valve-;one of the heart's four valves-;becomes leaky. While a very small amount of leakiness is common, some people have severe mitral valve regurgitation that can cause blood to leak back through the valve, which can cause fluid buildup in the lungs, with shortness of breath and limited ability to exercise. When this occurs, intervention is required.

Using data from the Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT) Registry-;a jointly maintained database from the Society for Thoracic Surgery and the American College of Cardiology-;investigators analyzed 19,088 patients who underwent TEER for moderate to severe isolated degenerative mitral valve regurgitation between January 2014 and June 2022.

The study's primary endpoint was mitral regurgitation success, defined by investigators as moderate or better residual mitral regurgitation without narrowing of the mitral valve. Additional endpoints included death while hospitalized and within 30 days and within one year of the procedure.

Key findings include:

Patients' average age was 82.

49% were women.

Mitral regurgitation success was shown in 88.9% of patients.

At 30 days, the incidence of death was 2.7%, stroke was 1.2% and mitral valve reintervention was 0.97%.

The lowest mortality rate was observed in patients who had both mild or less residual mitral regurgitation.

"For patients at elevated risk for surgery, TEER with the MitraClip device is a meaningful treatment option," said Makkar, who is also the associate director of the Smidt Heart Institute. "The procedure is getting many patients back to a more energetic life, and back to activities some haven't been able to do for years."

To treat mitral valve regurgitation-;a condition affecting more than 2 million Americans-;experts from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai rely on either the minimally invasive TEER procedure, minimally invasive robotic surgery or minimally invasive surgery. All patients treated at Cedars-Sinai meet with an interventional cardiologist as well as a cardiac surgeon before making their treatment decision.

"Surgery is successful in nearly 100% of patients having degenerative mitral repair today in the United States, restoring normal life-expectancy in most patients," said Joanna Chikwe, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai, the Irina and George Schaeffer Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Surgery in honor of Alfredo Trento, MD, and a study author. "A heart team discussion is essential for patients deciding between surgery or interventional approaches, and we need randomized trials to inform these important decisions."

Chikwe is principal investigator of the PRIMARY clinical trial-;a multicenter, multicountry trial-;comparing the surgical approach for valve repair with the TEER procedure. The trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is expected to complete enrollment in January 2026.

"This landmark study epitomizes the way Smidt Heart Institute physicians and surgeons work together to advance knowledge, guiding us in doing what's best for any given patient-;this is, after all, why we come to work every day," said Eduardo Marban, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute and the Mark S. Siegel Family Foundation Distinguished Professor.

Cedars-Sinai has performed more transcatheter aortic valve replacements and mitral valve repairs than any other center in the U.S., with outcomes that place Cedars-Sinai among the top-performing programs nationally. The Smidt Heart Institute team has also preformed more than 1,500 robotic mitral valve repairs with near 100% success rates.

The Smidt Heart Institute is ranked #1 in California and #3 in the nation for Cardiology and Heart Surgery in U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals 2022-2023" rankings.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis plans to launch his presidential campaign on Twitter "with Elon Musk" in one hour tomorrow evening.

Mr Musk, Twitter's CEO, is scheduled to host a Twitter Spaces event with Mr DeSantis at 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT). A campaign video is expected later the same evening, according to NBC News. Mr DeSantis is considered the main challenger to former president Donald Trump.

DeSantis's preliminary campaigning hasn't gone well, and his polling against Trump suggests incarceration of the former president is his most likely path to the Republican nomination. That said, the Twitter 'n' Musk matchup suggests that he's all in on the right-wing culture war stuff that's held to be his limitation among normal people who vote. Musk's right-wing posturing has only grown since Charlie Warzel plainly explained it months ago, along with the public perception that DeSantis is an awkward weirdo. In the things they don't see and don't get, DeSantis and Musk are oddly well-suited to one another!
The transmission potential of Zika or dengue in Brazil may increase by 10% to 20% in the next 30 years due to warming temperatures linked to climate change, according to University of Michigan researchers.

Their study, which investigated four separate regions of Brazil and was published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, found that the transmission seasons will also lengthen by about two months per year, with increasing potential for seasonal outbreaks, even in the cooler regions of the country.

We can expect Zika and other arboviruses to become more of a challenge in Brazil and other countries, like Colombia and Venezuela, as climate change contributes to warming temperatures. Andrew Brouwer, assistant research scientist, School of Public Health, University of Michigan

Transmission potential is measured by a concept known as the basic reproduction number or R0. For Zika, it means estimating the number of new cases that mosquitoes would cause in a susceptible population after biting a single infected person.

The average R0 in Manaus, for example, is about 2.3 now, and we expect that to increase to about 2.5 by 2050. Although that may not sound like a huge increase, it can quickly add up over transmission chains and lead to larger, faster outbreaks, Brouwer said.

Brouwer, along with public health doctoral student Hannah Van Wyk and Joseph Eisenberg, professor of epidemiology, examined the potential impacts of climate change across various climates and selected four cities from diverse climatic regions of Brazil.

All are at approximately sea level and within the suitable elevation range for an abundance of Aedes Aegypti, or yellow fever mosquitoes, which spread Zika, dengue, yellow fever and other viruses:

Manaus, a city in the Amazon Rainforest with a tropical rainforest climate

Recife, an Atlantic coastal city with a tropical monsoon climate

Rio de Janeiro, an Atlantic coastal city with a tropical savanna climate

Sao Paulo, a southern city with a humid subtropical climate

To measure Zikas epidemic potential, researchers obtained historical temperature data for 2015-2019 and projections for 2045-2049. They used a predictive model that accounted for how the mosquitos biting rates, the eggs they laid, the probability of adult survival and mortality rate, and the incubation period depend on temperature.

Mathematical modeling allows us to simultaneously examine the impact of multiple temperature-dependent vector characteristics on disease risk, Van Wyk said.

Their results suggest that the epidemic potential of Zika will increase beyond current levels in Brazil in all of the climate scenarios. For example, the arbovirus risk season for Rio de Janeiro will increase by about 2-3 months by 2045-2049, and the Zika risk seasons in Recife will increase by roughly two months. With cooler temperatures, Sao Paulo today lies on the borderline of transmission potential but may become more vulnerable to outbreaks from November to April, the researchers say.

The projections for Manaus are different from the other three cities. For example, risk is relatively consistent year round, with a small increase in the slightly hotter months of August through November. But using the temperature-dependent transmission model, researchers estimate that in some years the region will see temperatures too hot for mosquitoes to transmit Zika optimally and experience a decrease in risk.

However, such decreases in risk are not certain. Optimal Zika transmission occurs when mean daily temperatures are around 30C, but outbreaks are still possible up to about 35C.

We had expected that Manaus might experience an overall reduction in risk in 30 years, but we found that average risk is likely to increase across the board, Brouwer said. We would expect to see decreases in risk only at the hottest times of year and only in the more severe climate change scenarios.

For the researchers, climate forecasts connected with transmission models provide a

source of evidence to guide future planning to mitigate health impacts due to climate

change. In addition, local and national health departments can leverage these sources in preparing for increases in transmission pressure due to climatic warming.

Our recommendations are to consider warming temperatures when planning for prevention and early detection of outbreaks, Brouwer said. Also, to prepare Zika surveillance systems for extended transmission seasons.

Greater flexibility and adaptability of arbovirus response and prevention may be necessary to accommodate spatial and temporal heterogeneity in risk projections, especially in a country with as much climatic diversity as Brazil.
When John Mestas ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they hit paradise, he said.

There was so much water, they thought it would never end, Mestas said of the agricultural region at the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Now decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, are making the valley desperately dry  and appear to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

Like a third of people who live in this high alpine desert, Mestas relies on a private well that draws from an aquifer for drinking water. And, like many farmers there, he taps an aquifer to water the alfalfa that feeds his 550 cows.

Water is everything here, he said.

Mestas, 71, is now one of the hundreds of well owners participating in a study that tackles the question: How does drought affect not just the quantity, but the quality, of water?

The study, led by Kathy James, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, focuses on arsenic in private drinking wells. Arsenic, a carcinogen that occurs naturally in soil, has been appearing in rising levels in drinking water in the valley, she said. In California, Mexico, and Vietnam, research has linked rising arsenic levels in groundwater to drought and the overpumping of aquifers.

As the West grapples with a megadrought that has lasted more than two decades, and states risk cutbacks in water from the shrinking Colorado River, the San Luis Valley offers clues to what the future may hold.

Nationwide, about 40 million people rely on domestic wells, estimated Melissa Lombard, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Nevada, Arizona, and Maine have the highest percentage of domestic well users  ranging from about a quarter to a fifth of well users  using water with elevated arsenic levels, she found in a separate study.

During drought, the number of people in the contiguous U.S. exposed to elevated arsenic from domestic wells may rise from about 2.7 million to 4.1 million, Lombard estimated, using statistical models.

Arsenic has been shown to affect health across the human life span, beginning with sperm and eggs, James said. Even a small exposure, added up over the course of a persons life, is enough to cause health problems, she said.

In a previous study in the valley, James found that lifetime exposure to low levels of inorganic arsenic in drinking water, between 10 and 100 micrograms per liter, or g/L, was linked to a higher risk of coronary heart disease. Other research has tied chronic exposure to low-level arsenic to hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Pregnant women and children are at greater risk for harm.

The World Health Organization sets the recommended limit on arsenic in drinking water at 10 g/L, which is also the U.S. standard for public water supplies. But research has shown that, even at 5 g/L, arsenic is linked to higher rates of skin lesions.

I think its a problem that a lot of people are not aware of, Lombard said. Climate change is probably going to impact water quality, she said, but more research is needed to understand how and why.

A hotbed of hope

The San Luis Valley, which has hosted a wealth of research and innovation, is the ideal place to explore those questions  and potential solutions.

Known for its stunning mountain views and the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, the valley spans a region roughly the size of Massachusetts, making it North Americas largest alpine valley. Rich in Indigenous, Mexican, and Spanish heritage, the valley contains 500,000 acres of irrigated land producing potatoes, alfalfa for hay, and beer barley for Coors. Its home to nearly 50,000 people, many of them farmworkers and about half of them Hispanic. Its also a challenging place to live: Counties here rank among the poorest in the state, and rates of diabetes, kidney disease, and depression run high.

Since it rains very little, about 7 inches a year on average, farmers rely on two large aquifers and the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which continues on to Mexico. Snowmelt from the looming Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges recharges the supply each spring. But as the climate warms, theres less snow, and water evaporates more quickly than usual from the ground and crops.

This entire community, this culture, was built around irrigated agriculture, said state Sen. Cleave Simpson of Alamosa, a Republican and a fourth-generation farmer. But since 2002, the valleys unconfined aquifer has lost 1 million acre-feet of water  or enough to cover 1 million acres of land in water 1 foot deep  due to persistent drought and overuse. Now the communities in the valley face a deadline to replenish the aquifer, or face a state shutdown of hundreds of irrigation wells.

Were a decade ahead of whats happening in the rest of Colorado because of the intensity of water scarcity, said Simpson, who manages the Rio Grande Water Conservation District.

This is not drought anymore  this is truly the aridification of the West, Simpson said. Thats how scientists are describing a long-term trend toward persistent dryness that can be stopped only by addressing human-caused climate change.

James, who is an epidemiologist and engineer, has been studying links between climate and health in the valley for the past 15 years. She found that during dust storms in the San Luis Valley, which have been growing more frequent, more people visit the hospital for asthma attacks. And she has surveyed farmworkers on how drought is affecting their mental health.

In the domestic well study, James is focusing on arsenic, which she said has been gradually increasing in valley drinking wells over the past 50 years. Arsenic levels in San Luis Valley groundwater are markedly higher than [in] many other areas of the U.S., according to James. She is also investigating ethnic disparities, as one study there showed Hispanic adults had higher levels of arsenic in their urine than non-Hispanic white adults did. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)

James now aims to test 1,000 private wells in the valley to explore the connections between drought, water quality, and health. So far, she said, a small proportion of wells show elevated levels of heavy metals, including arsenic, uranium, tungsten, and manganese, which occur naturally in the soil. Unlike public water supplies, private domestic wells are not regulated, and they may go untested for years. James is offering participants free water testing and consultation on the results.

In Conejos County, John Mestas daughter, Angie Mestas, jumped at the chance for a free test, which would cost $195 at a local lab. Angie, a 35-year-old schoolteacher, said she used a lifetime of savings to drill a drinking well on her plot of land, a wide-open field of chamisa with sweeping views of the San Luis Hills. But she wont drink from it until she tests for arsenic and E. coli, which are common in the area. As she awaits test results, she has been hauling 5-gallon jugs of water from her fathers house each time she spends the weekend at her newly constructed yurt.

A colorless, odorless threat

Meanwhile, Julie Zahringer, whose family settled in the valley from Spain nearly 400 years ago, has been watching water-quality trends firsthand. Zahringer, 47, grew up driving a tractor on her grandfathers ranch near San Luis, Colorados oldest town  and hanging out in the lab with her mother, a scientist.

As a chemist and laboratory director of SDC Laboratory in Alamosa, Zahringer tests private and public drinking water in the valley. She estimated that 25% of the private wells tested by her lab show elevated arsenic.

Its colorless, its odorless, Zahringer said. Most families dont know if theyre drinking arsenic.

To Zahringer, the link to climate seems clear: During dry periods, a well that usually hovers around 10 g/L of arsenic may easily double or triple in concentration, she said. One possible reason is that there's less water to dilute the natural contaminants in the soil, though other factors are at play. The arsenic levels used to be fairly stable, she said, but after 20 years of drought, theyre fluctuating wildly.

Now, more and more rapidly, Im seeing the same well that I just tested three years ago  it doesnt even look like the same well because levels of contaminants have risen so much, said Zahringer, who also serves as a member of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission. At her own drinking well, the arsenic level jumped from 13 to 20 g/L this year, she said.

Zahringers observations are important firsthand anecdotes. James aims to explore, in a rigorous scientific study with a representative sample of wells and extensive geochemical data, the prevalence of arsenic and its connection to drought.

Research is still in the early stages, but scientists have several hypotheses for how drought could affect arsenic in drinking water.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a major agricultural hub in California, research led by hydrologist Ryan Smith linked rising arsenic in groundwater to "land subsidence," a phenomenon first documented in Vietnam.

Land subsidence  when the ground sinks due to aquifer overpumping  appears to release arsenic from the clay into the water, said Smith, an assistant professor at Colorado State University. In California, the overpumping was strongly correlated to drought, he said.

However, other factors, such as how deep a well is, also play a role: Another study of the same California aquifer system found that while arsenic increased in deeper groundwater, it decreased in shallower water due in part to oxidation.

Smith is now working with James in the San Luis Valley study, where he hopes a wealth of geochemical data will offer more answers.

Meanwhile, community leaders in the valley are adapting in impressive and innovative ways, James said.

Zahringer said if arsenic shows up in a private well, she encourages clients to install reverse osmosis water filtration at the kitchen sink. The equipment costs about $300 from an outside supplier, though filters costing less than $50 may need to be changed every six to 18 months, she said. People who treat their water for arsenic should continue to test every six months to make sure the filters are effective, said Zahringer. SDC Laboratory offers an arsenic test for $25.

People dont want to test their water because it tastes good and their grandpa drank it, she said. But the cure for it is so easy.

A water-quality campaign in 2009, led by the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, also found elevated arsenic in wells across the valley. As part of its outreach, the nonprofit worked with real estate agents to make sure that domestic wells are tested before someone buys a home.

Thats what Sally Wier did when she bought a house five years ago on an 8-acre plot in Rio Grande County surrounded by fields of barley and alfalfa. The first time she tested her well, the arsenic level was 47 g/L, nearly five times the EPA's limit. Wier installed a reverse osmosis water filtration system, but she said the arsenic level rises before she changes the filters every few months.

It makes me really anxious, said Wier, 38. Im probably ingesting arsenic. That is not good for long-term health.

Wier is one of many people working on innovative solutions to the water shortage. As a conservation project manager for Colorado Open Lands, she worked on a deal by which a local farmer, Ron Bowman, was paid to stop irrigating his 1,800-acre farm. The deal marks the first time in the country that a conservation easement has been used to save groundwater for aquifer replenishment, Wier said.

Funneling money toward a solution

In Costilla County, the Move Mountains Youth Project has been paying local farmers, through a government grant, to convert a portion of their land to grow vegetables instead of water-intensive alfalfa. Farmers then train youth to grow crops like broccoli, spinach, and bolita beans, which are sold at a local grocery store. The project aims to nurture the next generation of farmers, and beat diabetes by providing locally grown food, said executive director Shirley Romero Otero. Her group worked with three farmers last summer and plans to work with seven this season, if enough water is available, she said.

In another effort, farmers like the Mestas are taxing themselves to draw water from their own irrigation wells. And Simpson, of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, recently secured $30 million in federal money to support water conservation. The plan includes paying farmers $3,000 per acre-foot of water to permanently retire their irrigation wells.

Since arsenic is not limited to private wells, public agencies have responded, too: The city of Alamosa built a new water treatment plant in 2008 to bring its arsenic levels into compliance with federal standards. In 2020, the state of Colorado sued an Alamosa mushroom farm for exposing its workers to arsenic in tap water.

At the High Valley Park mobile home community in Alamosa County, a well serving 85 people has exceeded legal arsenic levels since 2006, when the Environmental Protection Agency tightened its standard from 50 to 10 g/L. At the most recent test in February, the concentration was 19 g/L.

On an April afternoon, four children bounced on a trampoline and chased one another up a tree.

Uncle, Im thirsty and theres no bottled water left, said one child, catching her breath.

The well serves 28 households. But tenants from five homes said they havent been drinking the water for years, not because of arsenic  which some said they were not aware of  but because the water often comes out brown.

Eduardo Rodriguez, 29, who works in excavation, said he buys two cases of bottled water every week for his wife and five children.

It needs to be fixed, he said.

The water sucks, agreed Craig Nelson, 51, who has lived in the mobile home park for two years. You dont drink it. Because the well serves at least 25 people, it is regulated by the state.

Landlord Rob Treat, of Salida, bought the property in February 2022 for nearly half a million dollars. Getting arsenic within federal standards has been difficult, he said, because arsenic levels fluctuate when nearby farmers tap the aquifer to irrigate their crops. Treat was using chlorine to convert one kind of arsenic into a more treatable form. But if he added too much chlorine, he said, that created its own toxic byproducts, which have also drawn regulators attention.

Under pressure from the state, Treat began upgrading the water treatment system in May, at a cost of $150,000. To cover the cost, he said, he aims to raise the monthly rent from $250 to $300 per lot.

If the state would stay out of it, he grumbled, we could supply affordable housing.

Meanwhile, John Mestas is still awaiting results on his drinking well.

When he returns from traveling to manage his cattle herd, the first thing I do whenever I walk in the house is drink me two glasses of this water, Mestas said. Thats the one thing I miss, is my water and my dogs. Theyre jumping all over me while Im drinking my water. I dont know whos happier, me drinking the water or them jumping on me.

This article was supported by The Water Desk, an independent journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado-Boulder's Center for Environmental Journalism.
In a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided an overview of how they responded to the Monkeypox virus (MPXV) or mpox outbreak between May 2022 and 2023.

Study: The CDC Domestic Mpox Response  United States, 20222023. Image Credit: Dotted Yeti / Shutterstock

The Department of Health and Human Services declared the Mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency in the United States on August 4, 2022, following which CDC quickly came into action to launch a coordinated full-fledged emergency outbreak response befitting for the distinctive needs of the Mpox outbreak.

To this end, the CDC used all resources developed to combat smallpox and similar infectious diseases, for instance, the JYNNEOS vaccine. In addition, they rapidly refurbished their surveillance and communication systems, diagnostic tests, and therapeutic strategies to show preparedness for this new outbreak.

Most importantly, CDC quickly identified that sexual contact among bisexual, gay, and men who have sex with men (MSM) communities were most susceptible to mpox infection, a finding which profoundly affected the scientific understanding of clinical symptoms, pathogenesis, and transmission dynamics of mpox.

CDC confirmed that 33% and 31% of mpox cases in the U.S. occurred among non-Hispanic Black and other Hispanic-origin individuals, respectively. A staggering proportion of fatal mpox cases (87%) occurred in Black individuals.

Not only did the CDC identify disproportionately affected populations, but they also collaborated with community organizations in 22 geolocations to start innovative vaccine equity projects. It helped them administer over 25,000 vaccine doses all across the U.S., including events such as HIV-related conferences and Pride events. Despite limited vaccine supply, CDC ensured equitable distribution of the JYNNEOS vaccine. First, they prioritized people with postexposure prophylaxis of known contacts for vaccination, which they later expanded to encompass individuals at risk for recent exposure.

In addition, CDC participated in more than 50 listening sessions to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other (LGBTQ+) communities were aware of mpox risk, received messages urging them to adopt prevention measures, and understood the importance of vaccination.

CDC also ensured clinicians were updated with the latest clinical care recommendations of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics for mpox. So, CDC held six Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity calls and released seven Health Alert Network notices through which they provided information, including images of the different stages of mpox rash on various skin tones. In addition, they made them aware of nontraditional rash locations, including anal-genital sites.

Furthermore, they tested >140,000 specimens for mpox in a year, when the U.S. witnessed more than 30,000 mpox cases. They administered over 1.2 million doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine and treated >6,900 patients with tecovirimat, an antiviral drug with proven efficacy against many orthopoxviruses, including Variola and mpox viruses.

Importantly, the CDC launched a public health response that was entirely data-driven. In May 2022, when they launched a non-variola orthopoxvirus (NVO) polymerase chain reaction test, it worked on a weekly capacity of 6,000 tests. By July 2022, CDC collaborated with several government partners, like Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to expand NVO testing capacity, which soon increased capacity to >80,000 specimens per week.

Similarly, CDC successfully used the wastewater surveillance system developed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) surveillance for mpox. Since mpox cases continue to decline in the U.S., only 1% of 533 sites reported positive test results during April 2023.

Furthermore, CDC analyzed >7,000 mpox genomic sequences deposited into public databases, and itself deposited 366 new whole genome sequences. It has helped researchers monitor viral strains and tecovirimat-resistant mutations in mpox. More importantly, this data will help inform decisions about tecovirimat use by FDA.

Conclusions

The mpox outbreak occurred with little warning, peaked quickly, and waned 5 months after the first case was reported in the United States.

On May 11, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the mpox outbreak is no more a public health emergency. This outbreak began, peaked, and waned within five months in the U.S. However, authorities recently identified a cluster of mpox cases in Chicago among vaccinated individuals, demonstrating the ongoing risk of mpox, which is why CDC continues to be vigilant in its mpox mitigation efforts.

CDC also continues to focus on surveillance, vaccination, and spreading awareness among high-risk populations to prevent mpox infections and the resurgence of this fatal outbreak.
A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) assessed the incidence and risk of type 1 diabetes in children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Study: Type 1 Diabetes Incidence and Risk in Children With a Diagnosis of COVID-19. Image Credit: antoniodiaz/Shutterstock.com

Background

Type 1 diabetes incidence has increased among children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, studies have not differentiated between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected and non-infected children.

Claims for statutorily insured patients in Bavaria are processed by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (BASHIP), covering around 85% of the population.

The study and findings

The present study evaluated a population-based patient dataset of COVID-19 diagnoses to assess associations between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 in Bavarian children. The researchers used anonymized BASHIP data on children born during 2010-18 recorded until December 2021 for analysis.

Diagnoses of type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 based on the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes were recorded in three-month intervals without the exact dates of diagnoses. Clinicians provided codes about whether COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed by a positive reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.

The researchers compared incidence rates of type 1 diabetes in 2019-19 and 2020-21. They used Cox models to assess the association between type 1 diabetes risk and COVID-19 diagnosis quarterly in 2020-21. Models were adjusted for the age and sex of the children. Additionally, the team performed a sensitivity analysis restricted to confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Of more than 1.18 million children with claims data in the BASHIP database, type 1 diabetes was diagnosed in 1,242 children until December 2021. Over 195,000 children from January 2020 to December 2021 had COVID-19 diagnoses. COVID-19 incidence was 0.18% between January and March 2020, which increased to 4.8% between October and December 2021.

COVID-19 incidence was higher in children < 6.5 years; boys had higher COVID-19 incidence than girls. Type 1 diabetes incidence rate was 19.5 and 29.9 per 100,000 person-years during 2018-19 and 2020-21, respectively. The incidence rate was 28.5 per 100,000 person-years during the COVID-19 pandemic without prior or concurrent SARS-CoV-2 infection. By contrast, it was 55.2 per 100,000 person-years in the quarter of COVID-19 diagnosis.

Further, the incidence rate of type 1 diabetes within six months and 6-15 months post-COVID-19 diagnosis quarter was 38.8 and 50.7 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. The hazard ratio for developing type 1 diabetes in 2020-21 was 1.57 without COVID-19 and 1.69 when confirmed COVID-19 cases were included, after adjusting for children's age and sex.

Conclusions

In summary, COVID-19 diagnosis has been associated with a higher type 1 diabetes incidence in children in Bavaria since 2020.

The results suggest a contribution of SARS-CoV-2 infection to the elevated incidence of type 1 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, undiagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections may have contributed to the slight increase in type 1 diabetes incidence among those without COVID-19.

The team could not determine whether diabetes was diagnosed pre- or post-COVID-19. Moreover, confirmed COVID-19 status was unavailable for most cases. Besides, potential selection bias and confounding could not be ruled out.

Overall, future studies should determine if children at risk of type 1 diabetes should be vaccinated.
In a recent study published in the Nature Aging Journal, researchers analyzed data from three SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks among nursing homes in Belgium with high case-fatality ratios (CFRs, 209 to 35%) to identify risk factors and determine the genetic signature of fatal post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) following vaccination.

Study: Immunovirological and environmental screening reveals actionable risk factors for fatal COVID-19 during post-vaccination nursing home outbreaks. Image Credit: Ground Picture/Shutterstock.com

Background

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak is associated with high mortality rates among nursing home residents, resulting from the effects of advanced age, frailty, comorbidities, polypharmacy, and attenuated immune function.

COVID-19 vaccines have conferred immunity to all individuals, including elderly individuals, against COVID-19 severity outcomes. However, factors that increase mortality risk following SARS-CoV-2 infections among COVID-19 vaccinees have not been extensively investigated and warrant further research.

About the study

In the present national surveillance study, researchers investigated the risk factors and genetic alterations in fatal post-vaccination COVID-19.

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect SARS-CoV-2 in the nasopharyngeal swabs obtained from the participants, and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed to identify the causative SARS-CoV-2 variant.

In addition, phylogenetic analysis was performed to determine the genetic clade. The primary outcome was COVID-19-associated death, evaluated using the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria.

Multivariable logistic regression modeling was performed for demographic and clinical profiling of COVID-19. The mortality predictors were verified using Kaplan-Meier statistics and Cox proportional hazard regression modeling.

Further, the immunovirological profiles of nasal mucosal cells were assessed using nCounter digital transcriptomics to identify potential biomarkers for life-threatening COVID-19 following vaccination that can be targeted to develop therapeutics.

In addition, environmental aerosol sampling was performed. The findings were compared to publicly accessible RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets. The nursing homes provided participants medical records to analyze demographic and clinical data.

All participants had received Pfizers BNT162b2 vaccine doses. In addition, sensitivity analyses included PCR-positive and two-dose BNT162b2 vaccinees only.

Results

The most predictive model for COVID-19-associated mortality included age, being male, interferon beta 1 (IFNB1), host angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), SARS-CoV-2 open reading frame 7a (ORF7a) transcripts, SARS-CoV-2 Gamma and Mu variants, and late onset of infection (SARS-CoV-2 positivity by PCR after a week of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak).

The findings indicated that IFNB1-targeted therapies could be developed and must be initiated in the early days of infection for better outcomes.

Each SARS-CoV-2 outbreak originated from the same introduction event, albeit with different causative SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC), i.e., Gamma and Delta, and variants of interest (VOI), i.e., Mu. SARS-CoV-2 was identified among aerosol samples from spaces used by residents and staff until 52 days following the initial infection. Similar findings were observed in the sensitivity analysis.

Apart from interferon-2 (IFNL2) and IFNB1, genes expressed mainly by cells of the innate immune system were elevated, including those expressed by (i) macrophages and monocytes [C-X3-C motif chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1); tumor necrosis factor superfamily number 15 (TNFSF15); C-type lectin domain containing 6A (CLEC6A); intelectin 1; and leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor b5 (LILRB5)], (ii) dendritic cells [X-C motif chemokine receptor 1 (XCR1)], and (iii) natural killer cells [Thy-1 cell surface antigen (THY1); cadherin 5; the cluster of differentiation 160 (CD160); beta-1,3-glucuronyltransferase 1 (B3GAT1); the neural cell adhesion molecule 1 (NCAM1); and C-C motif chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3)].

In addition, genes of B lymphocytes [complement receptor type 2 (CR2), CD19, CD70, CD79A, CD79B, and paired box 5 (PAX5)], regulatory T lymphocytes [prostaglandin E receptor 4 (PTGER4) and forkhead box P3 (FOXP3)], and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (PTGER4 and eomesodermin) were significantly elevated in fatal COVID-19.

The findings indicated that, among older vaccinees, fatal COVID-19 is characterized by exacerbated innate and cell-mediated immunological responses. Contrastingly, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I activity was reduced at the functional, epigenomic, and transcriptomic levels in fatal COVID-19.

The most downregulated genes represented cells of the epithelial mucosa (CD9, polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR), and mucin-1 (MUC1), indicating SARS-CoV-2-associated damage to the epithelial mucosa.

Additionally, antisense SARS-CoV-2 was selectively increased in fatal cases, indicating heightened intracellular viral replication. Increased interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) and leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor 1 (LAIR1) expression and decreased IRF3 expression were also observed with significant enrichment of regulatory T cell (Treg) and T helper 17 cells (Th17) differentiation pathways.

The finding also indicated that interleukin-6 signaling could be a downstream therapeutic target among IFNB1-overexpressing COVID-19 patients.

Conclusion

Overall, the study findings highlighted the risk factors and genetic alterations underlying fatal COVID-19. The results could inform drug development, contribute to risk estimation for fatal COVID-19, aid in devising tailor-made strategies, and lower the health burden of COVID-19.
Mayo Clinic researchers conducted a study within their health care system to identify factors associated with quality of care among rural and urban patients with diabetes. The study evaluated patient attainment of a five-component diabetic care metric, known as the D5 metric. This metric includes no tobacco use, hemoglobin A 1C <8%, blood pressure <140/90, statin use, and aspirin use. Researchers considered age, sex, race, Adjusted Clinical Group score (a series of mutually exclusive, health status categories defined by morbidity, age, and sex), insurance type, primary care clinician type, and health care use data.

Researchers analyzed records from 45,279 patients with diabetes receiving treatment from primary care providers. 54.4% of these patients lived in rural locations. 39.9% of rural patients and 43.2% of urban patients (P<0.001) met all five D5 criteria. Rural patients were significantly less likely to have attained all metric goals than urban patients (AOR 0.93 [95% CI 0.88-0.97]). Compared to patients in urban areas, rural patients had fewer outpatient visits (mean visits 3.2 vs 3.9, P<.0001) and fewer endocrinology visits (5.5% vs 9.3%, P<.0001)

Patients with an endocrinology visit during the study period were less likely to meet metric goals (0.80 [95% CI 0.73-0.86]). The reason for this could be that seriously ill patients are typically referred to endocrinologists. The number of outpatient visits was positively associated with metric goal attainment (1.03 [95% CI 1.03, 1.04]).

Researchers concluded that rural patients had worse diabetic quality outcomes than their urban counterparts, even after adjusting for other contributing factors and despite being part of the same integrated health system. The team speculated that decreased visit frequency and specialty involvement in the rural setting were possible contributing factors to this disparity.

What we know: Type 2 diabetes is a growing national health concern in the United States, with approximately 11% of the population living with the disease. Researchers assert that it's critical to know more about the complex issues that contribute to successful treatment of diabetes and its comorbid disorders. Of the many social determinants of health that have an impact on diabetes, rurality plays a role in the higher likelihood that a person will be diagnosed with diabetes.

What this study adds: The researchers determined that rural patients have worse diabetic quality metrics than their urban counterparts, in spite of participating patients belonging to the same integrated health system and differences in doctors and clinic settings. Visit frequency and specialty doctor involvement are possible contributing factors to disparities although the study accounted for these differences in patient-level health usage. Authors argue that broader interventions need to be created to improve the way doctors care for patients with diabetes who live in rural settings.
The Danish Parliament (Folketing) has agreed on the terms of ownership and operation of pipelines used for transporting hydrogen from PtX (Power-to-X) plants to consumers both domestically and internationally, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities said in a press statement.

The countrys state-owned companies Energinet, controller of energy infrastructure, and Evida, an energy supply company, will own the pipelines and the two companies will leverage their expertise in existing gas infrastructure.

According to the Ministry on Tuesday, the agreement is a significant milestone in Denmarks efforts to establish a PtX sector and position the nation as Europes green power hub.

Also Read: EU Proposes New Rules to Install Road Charging System and Charges Based on CO2 Emission

The agreement also entitles private entities to own and operate designated hydrogen pipelines, Xinhua news agency reported.

Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard said that Denmark has ambitious plans for expanding offshore wind power, which can generate substantial amount of green electricity to produce hydrogen and green fuel.

These renewable alternatives have the potential to replace fossil fuels in Denmark and be exported to the German industry," Aagaard said in the press statement.

The agreement follows other initiatives by the Danish government, which has already allocated 1.25 billion Danish kroner ($181 million) to initiate the production of green hydrogen in the country.

The objective is to establish a framework that supports the rapid development of the PtX sector in Denmark," the Minister added.

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Energinet and Evida can utilise their knowledge, skills and experience gained from operating and owning the existing electricity and gas systems. They can also coordinate the deployment of hydrogen infrastructure with the necessary expansion of the electricity grid for PtX plants, ensuring synchronised and expedited progress," Aagaard said.

The government plans to present a proposal for financing the hydrogen infrastructure later this year, according to the press statement.
In a groundbreaking revelation, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has expressed his keen interest in establishing a firm foothold in Indias dynamic market. Tesla, the renowned electric vehicle (EV) giant, is poised to select a prime location for its upcoming factory within this year, according to recent reports.

Musks ambitious plans to expand Teslas operations to the Indian subcontinent have generated immense excitement among industry insiders and EV enthusiasts alike. After successfully revolutionizing the global automotive landscape with its cutting-edge electric cars, Tesla aims to leverage Indias burgeoning market potential to propel its brand to even greater heights.

Acknowledging the nations undeniable significance, Musk took to social media to express his enthusiasm. In a tweet, he proclaimed, As promised," hinting at the long-awaited entry of Tesla into the Indian market. Industry analysts interpret this statement as a clear indication of the companys intention to make substantial investments and establish a manufacturing facility in the country.

While specific details regarding the factorys precise location remain undisclosed, insiders anticipate that the selection process will reach its culmination by the end of this year. Several Indian states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, are vying to become the chosen destination for Teslas grand Indian debut.

Also Read: Tesla in India: EV Maker Discusses Car, Battery-making Incentives with Indian Officials

The potential establishment of a Tesla factory in India holds immense promise for the nations automotive and clean energy sectors. It is anticipated to usher in a new era of technological advancement and job creation, with thousands of employment opportunities being generated across various skill levels.

The Indian government has long been championing the cause of sustainable transportation, and Teslas entry into the market is a significant step toward achieving this objective. With the companys innovative EV offerings, India can make substantial progress in reducing its carbon footprint and transitioning towards a greener, cleaner future.

Furthermore, Teslas presence in India is expected to boost the adoption of electric vehicles, addressing concerns about range anxiety, charging infrastructure, and affordability. The companys reputation for producing high-performance electric cars with impressive mileage capabilities has already captured the imagination of Indian consumers, who eagerly anticipate the opportunity to experience Teslas groundbreaking technology firsthand.

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While challenges such as import duties and infrastructure development lie ahead, Teslas interest in India sends a resounding message to the global business community that India is a destination brimming with opportunities and ripe for investment. With Musks unwavering commitment to sustainable transportation and Indias vision for a greener future, this union has the potential to revolutionize the Indian automotive landscape and accelerate the nations transition to clean energy.

In conclusion, Elon Musks declaration of interest in India and Teslas pursuit of a new factory location within the country has set the stage for an electrifying transformation in Indias automotive sector. With Teslas entry, the nation braces itself for an exciting future characterized by cutting-edge technology, job creation, and a greener, more sustainable tomorrow.
Bernard Arnault, the boss of luxury giant LVMH and the worlds richest man, had $11.2 billion wiped from his fortune in one day over concerns that a softening US economy will dampen demand for luxury goods.

The founder of LVMH - whose offerings include Louis Vuitton handbags, Moet & Chandon Champagne and Christian Dior gowns - had seen his wealth balloon for most of 2023 as share prices of European luxury companies surged, Bloomberg reported.

On Tuesday, he gave back some of those gains. LVMH shares fell 5% in Paris - the most in more than a year - amid a broader decline that erased about $30 billion from the European luxury sector.

Also Read: Louis Vuittons Bernard Arnault Auditions His Children, Takes Opinion To Run Luxury Empire

Even with the selloff, the French billionaire still has a net worth of $191.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Hes added $29.5 billion so far this year.

The gap between the fortunes of Arnault and Tesla Inc.s Elon Musk, the worlds second-richest person, has shrunk to just $11.4 billion.

Tuesdays rout came after a lengthy rally in LVMHs share price, which is still up 23% for the year. The MSCI Europe Textiles Apparel & Luxury Goods Index has surged 27%, Bloomberg report added.

Attendees at a luxury conference in Paris organized by Morgan Stanley flagged a relatively more subdued" performance in the US, according to Edouard Aubin, an analyst at the investment bank.

Deutsche Bank AG analysts Matt Garland and Adam Cochrane said in a note that they expect investors to become more selective with European luxury stocks, with slowing growth in the US a concern.

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In January, the 74-year old reshuffled top management at his luxury goods empire, tightening his familys grip with the appointment of his daughter Delphine to lead Christian Dior, and naming a new boss for Louis Vuitton.

Bernard Arnault is worth an estimated $177.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He topped the list for the first time in December and has remained ensconced in that position ever since after surpassing Elon Musk, whose fortune has dwindled.
These Ron DeSantis Florida school book bans have have somehow gotten even more outrageous, offensive, cruel, and ridiculous. A Florida elementary school has banned its students from reading Amanda Gorman's poem The Hills We Climb, recited at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration ceremony in 2021, as well as three other books. Link to article in The Independent here.

The poem will now only be accessible to middle school students at the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, Florida, according to The Miami Herald. The poem, which received international acclaim, was one of several texts reportedly challenged by a parent of two students for referencing critical race theory or gender ideology.

Daily Salinas is the parent who challenged the poem and three books, which led to their removal. Amanda Gordon posted the form on which Salinas issued the challenge, which claims the material "have indirectly hate messages." Salinas wrote that the function of the material is "Cause confusion and Indoctrinate students." Salinas also misidentified "Oprah Winfrey" as the author/publisher.

So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with @oprah , fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternativesUnnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back  DONATE here: pic.twitter.com/p96dlnrSp4  Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 23, 2023

The poem itself is purely inspiring, optimistic, and uplifting, and is absolutely appropriate for children of any age to read or hear. Here is Amanda Gorman reciting the poem at the inauguration. And here is the poem's text.
Some bank branches ran out of cash and temporarily halted the exchange of withdrawn Rs 2000 currency notes as they awaited replenishment of supply from the currency chest on the second day of note swap on Wednesday. More than anticipated demand during the first half in some of the branches led to the shortage of Rs 500 and below denomination currency temporarily at some places, sources said.

Customers had to wait for some time till replenishment came from the currency chest, sources added. However, senior officials of various banks said there were no major complaints of currency shortage for exchange.

Also Read: Rs 2,000 Note Exchange Made Simpler: SBI, PNB And HDFC Bank Make Rules Easier

We are maintaining a continuous supply of Rs 500, 200 and 100 denominations notes at all our all branches across Delhi circle to ensure smooth exchange process of 2,000 rupee notes, Canara Bank Chief General Manager (CGM) Bhavendra Kumar said. Reserve Bank on May 19 announced withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes and permitted exchange of such notes up to a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time till September 30.

Unlike November 2016, when old 500 and 1000 rupee notes  constituting some 86 per cent of the currency in circulation  were banned overnight, Rs 2000 currency notes continue to be legal tender for now, and the exchange window is more than double of that provided in 2016. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not made the presentation of a valid ID or filling of deposit forms mandatory, there were complaints from some places that banks were demanding customers to submit identity cards as proof.

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Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said that RBI is monitoring the situation regularly with regard to the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes and expressed confidence that the entire exercise will be completed in a non-disruptive manner. He said that RBI has given four-month time for exchanging as well as depositing the Rs 2,000 currency notes to ensure that there is no hardship faced by anyone. Yesterday there was no crowd anywhere. And we are monitoring the situation regularly. I dont think there is any concern or any major issue which is coming outbusiness activities going on, he said.

Justifying the deadline, he said unless there is a timeline in any process, its not effective. So you need to give a timeline and we have given sufficient time, he added. The Rs 2000 notes constitute around 10.8 per cent of total currency in circulation or Rs 3.6 lakh crore. Das said these notes had completed the lifecycle and the purpose has been fulfilled. Its not being used in transactionsany high denomination currency just remaining here and there, it has other collateral issues, he said. These high denomination notes were used for quick replacement of currencies whose legal tender status was withdrawn in 2016, he said.
University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, is pleased to announce MA in Medical and Health Humanities, a new post-graduate programme under the aegis of the Norwich Medical School. This programme is aimed at bridging the gap between medicine, health sciences, and the humanities, offering a unique and holistic approach to understanding health and healthcare from diverse cultural perspectives.

Students can take this programme either as a one-year full-time course or as a part-time course over two years. The course is open to all domestic and international students. The annual intake of the programme is in September every year. Additionally, the university is offering a full scholarship of 19,800 to the students. The Masters in Medical and Health Humanities course is a bespoke module that covers a wide range of topics including narratives of healthcare, illness and disability, and applied arts and health.

The Masters in Medical and Health Humanities course will offer creative and practice-based learning while exploring health as a holistic and culturally embedded experience. It is designed for students with a background in Humanities, Social Science, Medicine, and Professional Health related subject fields who are keen to explore the relationship between medicine, health, and society through a humanistic lens. It will challenge students to think critically and philosophically about what it means to be a healthcare professional in contemporary times.

This programme will also offer students to have the opportunity to engage in critical discussions, interdisciplinary research, and experiential learning, allowing them to develop a well-rounded understanding of healthcare from multiple perspectives. The unique aspect of this curriculum is that it offers a platform for students to engage in cross-cultural dialogues, explore diverse healthcare systems, and understand the cultural nuances of healthcare in different countries. This will enable students to develop a global perspective on healthcare and become culturally competent healthcare practitioners, capable of navigating the complexities of healthcare in diverse settings.

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During the course duration, students will also have access to state-of-the-art facilities, resources, and faculty expertise at the campus, research, and innovation in healthcare education. This programme will provide students with a supportive and inclusive learning environment, fostering critical thinking, collaboration, and personal growth. It will also offer a wide range of new-age job opportunities in healthcare, academia, publishing, media, and cultural institutions.

Dr Harriet Cooper, Lecturer in Medical Education (Sociology, Medical and Health Humanities), MB BS Sociology Theme Lead, Year 3 Reflective Practice Lead, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia said, The Masters in Medical and Heath Humanities is a result of our endeavour to constantly evolve and offer education that addresses the need of contemporary times and the future world. This is a pioneering programme aims to offer a fresh perspective on healthcare, incorporating diverse cultural, ethical, and philosophical perspectives. It will give a comprehensive understanding of the human dimensions of health and healthcare, and prepare students to be compassionate, culturally competent healthcare professionals in a globalized world."
Suraj Tiwari, a resident of Kaswa Kuravli in the Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh, secured the 917th position in the UPSC Civil Services Exam 2022 despite losing both his legs and one hand in an accident in 2017. His success is a joyous occasion for his family and community.

Suraj met with a train accident on January 29, 2017 while returning from his college in Delhi. He lost both his legs and his right hand, leaving him bedridden and fully reliant on family members for months.

The tragedy not only took away his ability to walk and write, but it also drove him insane. His family members described it as their darkest period. But, Suraj understood that the only way for him to shine again was through hard work. He completed his graduation and is now pursuing an MA in Russian at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Suraj began preparing for UPSC amid the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic. He passed the UPSC Prelims and Mains on his first attempt, but fell short by a few marks in the interview. Now, he has cracked the UPSC exam on his second attempt. Ever since the results were announced, his family and friends have not stopped celebrating his victory.

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Ishita Kishore topped the UPSC 2022 exam, while girls secured the top 4 positions.

Ishita Kishore is a 26-year-old Greater Noida resident and an alumnus of Air Force Bal Bharti School. She is an economics graduate of Delhi Universitys Shri Ram College of Commerce. The UPSC topper attributed her success to her time as a corporate employee at Ernst & Youngs risk consulting department. Kishore stated that her career in the corporate sector provided her with numerous possibilities and paved the path for her success. Her interest, however, remained in public service and contributing to government and development.
The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has officially announced that the WB higher secondary or Class 12 result 2023 will be declared today, May 24, at 12 PM via a press conference. The official websites, wbchse.wb.gov.in and wbresults.nic.in, will activate the result link at 12:30 pm. The Class 12 board exams conducted by WBCHSE Class 12 board exams took place from March 14 to March 27. The online release of the WBCHSE Class 12 Result 2023 will be provisional, and the hard copy mark sheets will be distributed by the council from May 31 onwards.

WBCHSE HS Result 2023 Live Updates

WBCHSE Class 12th Result 2023: Pass Percentage Over The Years

In 2022, the overall pass percentage in WBCHSE Class 12 was 88.44 per cent. A total of 90.19 per cent boys cleared the West Bengal Class 12 board examination whereas the passing percentage of girls was 86.9 per cent. A total of 7.5 lakh students registered for the WB 12th or Uccha Madhyamik exams in 2022. This was a huge drop from 2021 when 97 per cent of students had passed the exam in a record-breaking result. Notably, exams were not held in that year and the result was announced based on an alternative assessment module.

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Despite being the lowest pass percentage in three years, the WB HS result 2022 was still better than the results announced before the pandemic hit India. In 2020 and 2021, the assessment models were changed which could be the reason behind the high pass percentage The pass percentage in 2022 was 88.44 per cent that was a slight increase from 2019 (the last year when exams were held before pandemic) when as many as 86.29 per cent of students passed the exam.

The passing marks for each subject in the WBCHSE Class 12 are set at 30 per cent. This means that students must score at least 30 out of 100 marks in each compulsory subject to clear the exam. Students who fail to score equal to or more than the specified passing marks in the West Bengal HS Result 2023 will not receive the final mark sheet.
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overall score of 272.

Candidates who score at least 480 will be placed in the first division, while those who score more than 360 will be placed in the second category. The third division will be assigned to scores over 272. The distribution of WBCHSE Uccha Madhyamik mark sheets and certificates among the representatives of schools is on May 31 from 11 pm. The West Bengal boards class 12 exams were held from March 14 to March 27. WBCHSE is releasing the HS results 57 days after the end of the examination. More than 8,60,000 students have given higher secondary examination this time.

The results will display the applicants marks and whether they have qualified or not. Students can also check their results by downloading the mobile app WBCHSE Results 2023 from Google Play Store. Students who fall short of the required minimum qualifying marks must retake the year if they fail more than two subjects, and they must pass the supplementary exam. The council will also release details like pass percentage, name of the toppers, the best-performing districts, etc.
Day after senior Congress leader M B Patil claimed that the chief ministership wouldnt be split, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiahs deputy DK Shivakumar gave a crisp and straight response: let people say whatever they want.

There is an AICC general secretary and an AICC president, both of whom will take a call, the deputy CM was quoted as saying by Times of India. The report stated that Shivakumars MP brother DK Suresh said he could give a sharp response to Patil, but I choose not to do so in the interest of the party.

Siddaramaiah is the chief minister now. For any such issue (about whether the current chief minister will get a full term), you can contact Randeep Singh Surjewala (AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka), Suresh was quoted as saying by TOI.

MB Patil, known to be a loyalist of Siddaramaiah, had said, Siddaramaiah will be the CM for five years. If there was a power sharing agreement, senior leaders would have informed us.

Another Siddaramaiah loyalist, Dinesh Gundu Rao, also made similar comments, putting Siddaramaiahs tenuous ties with Shivakumar to test. Rao claimed that the AICC leadership was clear about Shivakumar remaining the deputy CM and state Congress president till the Lok Sabha elections.

Apart from that, there has been no other discussion. Was there a discussion about Siddaramaiahs replacement in 2013? Rao was quoted.

The TOI report further stated that Patil was asked if his statement was a violation of Surjewalas diktat to Congress members not to speak or speculate about the high commands decision.

According to the report, Patil replied that he merely iterated what AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said on May 18, when the names of the new chief minister and deputy CM were declared.

Latching onto the controversy, BJPs Karnataka unit said, Shivakumar is not going to become CM, and @siddaramaiah is not going to let him become (one).

Many in the Congress had earlier claimed that the CMs post will be shared by Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for 30 months each, besides the latter continuing as KPCC president till next years Lok Sabha polls.

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The Sunday Guardian quoted political scientist and psephologist Sandeep Shastri as saying: This was expected (Shivakumar staking claim for the chief ministership) as DKS was jockeying for the best bargain. And he got it."

What I have called 1+1+1, deputy CM, choice of portfolios, and continuation as KPCC president. This will be an interesting partnership which will need to be consciously nurtured and kept on track, he was further quoted.
TV actor Aditya Singh Rajputs mother Usha Rajput has slammed media reports that claimed his son died due to alleged drug overdose. The Mumbai police is currently investigating into the matter.

Adityas mother, who is an ex-employee with Delhi government administration, has called media out for publishing unverified claims". By putting such unverified claims, they are maligning the name of my son and my family. This is a cruel thing to do, she was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

A friend discovered Aditya Singh Rajput in an unconscious state in his bathroom on May 22, and rushed him to a hospital, where the actor was declared dead on arrival. The Mumbai police has recorded statements of three people in the Aditya Singh Rajput death case - his domestic help, private doctor and watchman.

Recalling her last conversation with Aditya, Usha Rajput said, On Monday afternoon, I noticed that my entire chat history with my son had got deleted. Not being so technologically savvy, I called him around 2.15 pm to ask what might have happened. He told me there was some problem with WhatsApp and he would text me again. However, he didnt say anything about being unwell. Usha further revealed that Adityas last WhatsApp message to her was mumma followed by a red heart emoji.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai police has suspected a serious internal head injury" may have been the cause of the actors death. However, the exact reason behind his death will only be ascertained after the post-moren report is out.

Aditya Singh Rajput hailed from Delhi and started his career as a model. He was a part of films such as Krantiveer and Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara. However, he rose to fame after he participated in the 9th season of MTV Splitsvilla. Besides this, Aditya was also a part of TV projects like Love, Ashiqui, Code Red, Aawaz Season 9, and Bad Boy Season 4 among others.
The untimely demise of Anupamaa fame actor Nitesh Pandey has sent shockwaves through the television industry. The celebrities are in a state of mourning as news of the untimely demise of actor Nitesh Pandey, known for his role in the popular television show Anupamaa, surfaced. Heartfelt tributes have started pouring in from across the industry. The actor passed away due to cardiac arrest.

Disha Parmar, who shared the screen with him in Pyar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara, took to social media to express her grief. She shared a picture of him on her Instagram stories and wrote, Pandey ji.. I cant believe a m writing this Rest in peace. Rajeshwari Sachdev also mourned his demise and wrote, #NiteshPandey  gone too soon! Shocking! Rest in eternal peace. Actor and director Deven Bhojani tweeted, This cant be true but it is. Friend, colleague and a talented actor Nitesh Pandey dies of cardiac arrest at 2am today in Igatpuri. Rest in peace Nitesh #Actor #Anupama.

He also released a statement which read, The day began with two really sad news. Deaths of two very talented people. Had opportunities to direct both of them. Vaibhavi Upadhyay as Jasmine in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Nitesh Pandey in a mythological show of Star network. Vaibhavi met with an accident last evening in North India and Nitesh passed away today at 2am due to cardiac arrest in Igatpuri. Life can be so unpredictable. May God bless their souls.

Hansal Mehta also took to his Twitter handle and wrote, Three young persons. Three actors. Passed away in a span of 3-4 days. Rest In Peace dear colleagues. This is such an unkind time. Prayers with their grieving families. #AdityaSinghRajput #VaibhaviUpadhyay #NiteshPandey. Actor Gulshan Deviah tweeted, Nitesh Pandey : 17 January 1973- 23 May 2023 Good bye sir.

Take a look here:

Three young persons. Three actors. Passed away in a span of 3-4 days. Rest In Peace dear colleagues. This is such an unkind time. Prayers with their grieving families.#AdityaSinghRajput #VaibhaviUpadhyay#NiteshPandey Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) May 24, 2023

This cant be true but it is. Friend, colleague and a talented actor Nitesh Pandey dies of cardiac arrest at 2am today in Igatpuri. Rest in peace Nitesh #Actor #Anupama pic.twitter.com/HJ6PB3BYz2 DEVEN BHOJANI (@Deven_Bhojani) May 24, 2023

Nitesh Pandey : 17 January 1973- 23 May 2023Good bye sir  pic.twitter.com/LJgUY2BQGC SuperGullu (@gulshandevaiah) May 24, 2023

#NiteshPandey  gone too soon! Shocking! Rest in eternal peace  rajeshwari sachdev (@rajeshwarisachd) May 24, 2023

Nitesh started his journey with theatre in 1990. In 1995, he bagged the role of a detective in Tejas. Apart from television, he also worked in films. His work in the National Award winning film Khosla Ka Ghosla received widespread appreciation. He also starred in Om Shanti Om and Badhaai Do.
Rupali Ganguly visited Nitesh Pandeys residence in Mumbai on Wednesday evening to pay her last tribute to the actor. She was snapped by the paparazzi as she stepped out of her car. Rupali and Nitesh were recently seen together in the popular show Anupamaa.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani)

In another video that surfaced online, Rupali was seen getting emotional and teary-eyed. The Anupamaa actress covered her face with her dupatta as she avoided shutterbugs. Watch the viral video here:

Nitish Pandey passed away on May 23 in Igatpuri, near Nashik, where he was shooting for a project. He reportedly died due to cardiac arrest. As reported by the news agency ANI, Nitesh was found dead in a room in the Dew Drop Hotel and the police is investigating the death.

Earlier today, Rupali also issued a statement to mourn Nitishs demise. She revealed that the actor had also messaged her last week and the two were planning to make their sons meet. He was the only industry friend who stayed constantly in touch with me apart from Delnaaz and Sarabhais,during my sabbatical. He had even come to meet me after Rudransh was born.I cant believe this! His son Aarav is just a few months older than Rudransh. He had messaged me just last week about a painting he had made and we had made plans to make our sons meet," Rupali said.

We would bond over dogs. His wife Arpita is an animal care giver, feeder too like me. I am devastated! He was so so so fiercely protective about me," the actress added.

Rupali also expressed that she will never be able to meet Nitish ever again and shared, Even when he came to Anupamaa, it felt as if you have your bestie next to you at your work place. Just this month beginning, I had gone very late for a films get together and saw his car leaving, so I called him and said I saw you and he said tu ruk main aata hoon gaadi ghumake , and I said no no ghar jaa agale hafte milte hai. Teen hafte ho gaye uss baat ko and now I will never meet him. I cant believe this!"

Besides Rupali Ganguly, Nakuul Mehta also took to his Instagram handle to express grief following Niteshs death.
On the occasion of the inauguration of the new parliament building on May 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will install the historic Sengol (sceptre), near the Speakers seat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.

The Union Home Minister noted that the golden Sengol is a significant historical symbol of Independence as it signifies the transfer of power from the British to the Indians.

This Sengol has huge significanceAround 10.45 pm on August 14, 1947, Pandit Nehru received this Sengol from Tamil Nadu, and in the presence of several senior leaders, he accepted this as a symbol of achieving independenceIt is a sign of a shift of power from Britishers to The people of this country," he said.

The Union Home Minister noted that Sengol holds huge importance in Indian, especially Tamil culture. Sengol has been important from the time of the Chola dynastyThis Sengol will be kept in New ParliamentPM Modi will accept this Sengol and it will be placed near the seat speaker," he said.

PM Modi will receive the Sengol from Tamil Nadu before the inauguration of the New Parliament building and he will place it inside the new Parliament Bhavan, Shah said.

This is going to be a foundational event, and it will mark Amrit Kaal in India," he added.

The Minister also informed the Sengol, which will be placed inside the new Parliament building is the same one that former PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru received at the time of the Independence.

It was kept at a museum in Allahabad, and it will be moved to the new Parliament building," he said.

He said that the transfer of power is not merely a handshake or signing a document and that it must remain connected with local traditions keeping in mind modern needs.

Sengol represents the same feeling that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947," he said.

The Home Minister further asserted that the new Parliament building is an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modis far-sightedness, and informed that Prime Minister will honour 60,000 workers (shram yogis) on the inauguration.

Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), G Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur were also present at the conference.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Parliament building at 12 noon on Sunday as part of celebrations of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM).

AKAM is an initiative of the government of India to celebrate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of the countrys people, culture and achievements. It has five pillars  freedom struggle, ideas at 75, achievements at 75, actions at 75 and resolves at 75.

More than 1.36 lakh events have been organised under the aegis of AKAM, including several mega events such as Har Ghar Tiranga, Vande Bharatam and Kalanjali.

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(With PTI inputs)




There's a lot of discussion about robocalls and scam scalls in general and the technical difficulties supposedly involved in managing them. I figure the calls continue because the telcos don't want to lose the money. They won't stop the calls unless they are forced to. So a bipartisan group of Attorney Generals from U.S. states is suing one particularly egregious telco on behalf of the millions of Americans annoyed by the billions of illegal calls it put though.

"Every day, countless Arizona consumers are harassed and annoyed by a relentless barrage of unwanted robocalls  and in some instances these illegal calls threaten consumers with lawsuits and arrest," [Arizona Attorney General Kris] Mayes said in a statement. "More disturbingly, many of these calls are scams designed to pressure frightened consumers, often senior citizens, into handing over their hard-earned money."  "Americans are sick and tired of their phones ringing off the hook with fraudulent robocalls," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "Seniors and vulnerable consumers have been scammed out of millions because of these illegal robocalls."

The target, Avid Telecom, "used spoofed or invalid caller ID numbers, including more than 8.4 million calls that appeared to be coming from government and law enforcement agencies as well as private companies."

I'm on the verge of switching my phone's SIM into one of those iPad Mini contraptions. My phone life is 99% robocalls, scammers and menacing pre-recorded missives from the the Chinese government.
A stock market broker was arrested in Hyderabad on Wednesday for allegedly killing a 55-year-old woman with whom he was in an illicit relationship. The 48-year-old man was arrested following a week-long investigation, initiated after the discovery of the victims severed head in a dumping yard.

According to the police, the motive behind the crime was reportedly related to debts amounting to Rs 7 lakh that the accused, identified as Chandramohan, owed to the victim, Yarram Anuradha Reddy.

The police said while Chandramohan was a bachelor, Anuradha was a widow who worked as a nurse in a hospital after her husband passed away several years ago.

As a result of their association, the accused had provided accommodation to the deceased in a portion of his ground floor residence. The two were in an illicit relationship for over 15 years.

Things began to turn sour in 2018 when Anuradha gave a loan of Rs 7 lakh to Chandramohan but he did not return the amount despite repeated requests.

The persistent pressure to return the money made Chandramohan grew increasingly disgusted with Anuradhas attitude, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East Zone) Ch Rupesh said Mohan grew increasingly frustrated due to the womans constant demands for the repayment of the debt and the situation escalated on May 12. After an argument over the debt, he attacked her with a knife and inflicted stab injuries over her chest and stomach, killing her on the spot.

To dispose the body, he purchased two small stone cutting machines and used them to decapitate her head and dismembering her into six parts. The legs and hands were separated and stored in a refrigerator at his residence, while the remaining body parts were stuffed inside a suitcase.

On May 15, the accused, carrying the decapitated head of the victim in a black plastic cover, took an auto and disposed it at the banks of the Musi river.

To avoid the emanation of foul smell, Chandramohan used agarbatti (incense sticks), phenyl and perfumes and regularly applied them over the body parts of deceased he kept with him. The accused also sent messages from the victims phone to eradicate any suspicions.

The severed head of the woman was found near the Musi river in the city on May 17 by local civic workers. The Malakpet police station were alerted and officers arrived at the scene following the report.

A case was registered, and police formed eight dedicated teams to investigate and solve the murder case. They examined the available CCTV footage in the vicinity which played a crucial role in cathing the accused.

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The investigation into the case is being led by Inspector of Police, K Srinivas, from the Malakpet police station. DI L Bhaskar Reddy and the committed staff of the Malakpet police station are providing valuable assistance in the investigation. ACP Malakpet, G Shyamsunder, is supervising the overall progress of the case, ensuring effective coordination and oversight. The officers have been duly acknowledged for their exceptional efforts in this case.

The case is similar to the sensational Delhi murder case uncovered last year. Aaftab Amin Poonawala was accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces in Mehrauli on May 18, 2022. He stuffed the body parts in a refrigerator before scattering them across multiple places in the national capital over several days to avoid detection.
Bengaluru has been witnessing heavy rainfall since Tuesday, and the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) has predicted similar weather conditions till Friday.

The capital city and other parts of Karnataka saw heavy showers on Tuesday, leading to severe waterlogging and causing inconvience to passengers travelling on road.

Heavy rainfall led to trees being uprooted and brough Bengaluru to a standstill.

Rainfall predictions this week

The Met Department has predicted more rain till May 26 in South interior Karnataka, central parts and northern parts.

In the next 24 hours, thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds with wind speed reaching up to 50kmph is predicted in coastal areas.

The situation has prompted civic authorities to take action and chalk out a plan to set up temporary monsoon control rooms across the city.

Till now, pre-monsoon rains have resulted in 52 deaths in Bengaluru from April to June, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has said it will set up 63 control rooms initially.

The rains are also adding up to more problems with street flooding, sinkholes.

CM Siddaramaiah holds meeting amid rising deaths

Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said authorities have been warned of strict action in case of dereliction of duty.

Siddaramaiah met with Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of all districts and CEOs of Zilla Panchayats, over video conferencing, to discuss disaster management.

Pre-monsoon showers, from April to June, have started in several parts. This time pre-monsoon showers have been 10 per cent above normal," Siddaramaiah told reporters after the meeting, news agency PTI reported.

In this about 52 people have lost their lives so far, 331 livestock loss has been reported, crop loss has been reported in 20,000 hectare, and 814 houses have been damaged," he added.

Deputy Commissioners have 540 crore with them and based on the situation if money is required, the government is ready to provide more. There is 331 crore under the disaster relief fund.so for any reasons relief works should not stop," he said.

Infosys Techie drowns due to waterlogging

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.

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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 Jammu and Kashmir Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) conducted raids on houses of four Pakistan-based terrorists in various areas of Kishtwar district on Wednesday, a senior official said in Jammu.

The raids were carried out in Padder, Keshwan and Thakrai after search warrants were obtained from a special NIA court in Jammu in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kishtwar, Khalil Ahmad Poswal said.

Earlier on May 18, teams of the SIU raided houses of five terrorists, who are currently operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, besides three suspected individuals in the district. The SSP said the evidence found in the searches would be used to indict the targets role in engaging in anti-national activities and perpetuating acts of terrorism.

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The special NIA court in Jammu had on April 26 issued non-bailable warrants against 23 terrorists from Kishtwar operating from across the border. Earlier, non-bailable warrants were issued against 13 terrorists in the district.

The 36 individuals from Kishtwar went to Pakistan after joining the terror ranks over a period of time. Subsequently, two FIRs were registered against them after their involvement in terror activities surfaced during investigations, the SSP said.
For nearly a century, the esteemed Parliament building has stood as a witness to Indias remarkable journey, from the initial steps towards self-rule to the glorious attainment of Independence, and the subsequent development of the nation into a nuclear power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28.

Throughout this transformative narrative, the hallowed chambers of Parliament have echoed with the resounding speeches and remarkable oratory of Indias visionary leaders. The heartfelt words of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indias first Prime Minister, the steadfast resolve of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the eloquence of Indira Gandhi, the poetic brilliance of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the powerful articulation of Narendra Modi have reverberated within these historic walls, leaving an indelible mark on the nations collective memory.

The construction of the Parliament House building commenced in 1921 and was completed in 1927. The foundation stone was laid by Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and was inaugurated on January 18, 1927.

First Documented Speech in Parliament in 1927

In its first documented speech inside the Parliament, addressing the first session of the third legislative assembly on January 24, 1927, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy at the time, remarked, Today, you gather for the first time in your new and permanent home in Delhi."

In this chamber, the assembly has been provided with a setting worthy of its dignity and importance, and I can pay its designer no higher compliment than by expressing the wish with that the temper, in which the public affairs of India will be here conducted, may reflect the harmony of his conception," he said.

Greater Participation of Indians in Colonial Govt

The third legislative assembly comprised notable individuals such as Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, C S Ranga Iyer, Madheo Srihari Aney, Vithalbhai Patel, and many more.

The Government of India Act in 1919 marked a significant shift as the British administration began granting increased opportunities for Indian participation in governance, paving the way for a more inclusive government structure.

Central Assembly Bombing by Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt

In a subsequent incident, two years later, revolutionaries Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt boldly threw bombs from the public gallery into the Assembly chamber. This act of defiance occurred after the House had already passed the contentious Trade Disputes Bill, making a powerful statement against the prevailing political circumstances.

According to the official documented proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of April 8, 1929, At this stage, two bombs were thrown from the Visitors Gallery, and burst among the benches occupied by the official members, causing injury to certain members. Confusion prevailed and Mr President retired. After a few minutes, Mr President resumed the Chair."

Eve of Independence in 1947 and Nehrus Tryst with Destiny Speech

As the nation stood on the cusp of Independence, the Constituent Assembly convened at 11:00 p.m. under the leadership of President Rajendra Prasad. It was an auspicious moment when Sucheta Kriplani, a member from Uttar Pradesh, rendered the first verse of Vande Mataram, symbolizing the commencement of the momentous special session.

Prime Minister Nehru then delivered his iconic tryst with destiny" speech, resonating with the hopes and aspirations of the nation. This powerful address was followed by a solemn pledge from the members of the Constituent Assembly, dedicating themselves wholeheartedly to the service of the nation, forging a path towards a brighter future.

Announcement of Mahatma Gandhis death

A profound moment unfolded in Parliament following the news of Mahatma Gandhis passing. Speaker G V Mavlankar, during a session of the Lok Sabha on February 2, 1948, solemnly announced the tragic demise of Gandhi.

In his address, Mavlankar said, We are meeting today under the shadow of a double calamity, the sad demise of the tallest man of our age who has led us from slavery to independence and the reappearance of the cult of political violence in our country."

A glory has departed and the sun that warmed and brightened our lives has set and we shiver in the cold and dark," Nehru said.

Food Shortages in 1965 War

The then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri made a significant appeal to the nation from the very chambers of Parliament. As India grappled with food shortages and confronted the challenges of the 1965 war with Pakistan, Shastri urged the citizens to voluntarily skip one meal every week.

Indias Victory over Pakistan in 1971 War

When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the unconditional surrender of West Pakistan forces in Bangladesh in 1971, a wave of celebration swept through the Lok Sabha. Members from various political parties joined together, enthusiastically thumping their desks, throwing papers in the air, and chanting slogans of Joi Bangla, Joi Indira Gandhi" (Long live Bangladesh, long live Indira Gandhi). The overwhelming show of support resulted in a standing ovation for Prime Minister Gandhi in the Lower House.

Emergency in 1975

Following the imposition of Emergency in 1975, the Lok Sabha convened to address the grave situation. However, the House was not immune to dissent as several members raised their voices in protest against the governments decision to suspend private members rights to raise issues in Parliament.

During the session on July 21, 1975, Deputy Home Minister F.H. Mohsin presented the Proclamation of Emergency made by the President. However, the suspension of their rights led to strong objections from Lok Sabha members including Somnath Chatterjee, Indrajit Gupta, Jagannathrao Joshi, H.N. Mukherjee, and P.K. Deo.

Deo, a member of the Swatantra Party representing Kalahandi, voiced his concerns and stated, It may be the swansong for democracy but I have to say and I say with all the emphasis at my command that when there is no specific rule to give blanket power for suspension of this nature, it cannot be admitted."

Changes in Government

During the coalition era that began in 1989, the Parliament experienced a series of government changes until 1998, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a coalition government under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

However, the Vajpayee governments tenure was short-lived as it lost a crucial vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha by a narrow margin on April 17, 1999. Nevertheless, the government rebounded and emerged victorious in the subsequent general elections, thus securing a fresh mandate from the people.

Indias Nuclear Presence

In 1974, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi delivered a comprehensive statement in Parliament on July 22, providing an update on the peaceful nuclear experiment" conducted at Pokhran and the international response to it.

Nearly 24 years later, in 1998, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared India as a nuclear weapons state following a series of five underground nuclear tests conducted on May 11 and May 13 of that year.

Vajpayee asserted, India is now a nuclear weapon state. This is a reality that cannot be denied, It is not a conferment that we seek; nor is it a status for others to grant. It is an endowment to the nation by our scientists and engineers. It is Indias due, the right of one-sixth of humankind."

Additionally, Vajpayee announced a policy of no first use, aiming to provide reassurance to the world, which had been caught off guard by the tests.

What Happens to the Old Parliament Building?

In March 2021, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed the Rajya Sabha that the existing Parliament building would undergo repairs and be repurposed once the new Parliament building was completed.

The government intends to conserve the old building due to its archaeological significance and retrofit it to accommodate more functional spaces for parliamentary events, according to a India Today report.

The construction of the new Parliament building will allow the existing one to be freed for restoration and refurbishment, including housing national archives, it said. There are plans to convert a part of the building into a museum, potentially allowing visitors to sit in the current Lok Sabha chamber, it added.

The allocated budget for the new Parliament building was approximately Rs 862 crore, and the design consultant for the project is Gujarat-based architecture firm HCP Designs, led by Bimal Patel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28.

WHAT WAS THE NEED FOR NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING?

The historical structure, which is nearly a century old, holds the prestigious Heritage Grade-I designation. Throughout the years, the parliamentary activities, workforce, and visitor numbers have significantly increased.

However, there is no existing record or documentation of the original building design. As a result, subsequent constructions and modifications have been carried out in an ad-hoc manner. For instance, in 1956, two additional floors were added to the outer circular part of the building, concealing the Central Halls dome and altering the original facade. Moreover, the coverings on the Jaali windows have reduced the natural light in the parliamentary halls. Consequently, the building is displaying signs of strain and excessive use, failing to meet the present-day requirements in terms of space, amenities, and technology.

The Parliament building faces multiple challenges including insufficient seating, deteriorating infrastructure, outdated communication systems, safety concerns, and inadequate workspace.

Insufficient Seating Space for MPs

The existing Parliament building was not originally designed to accommodate a bicameral legislature for a fully-fledged democracy. The number of Lok Sabha seats has remained unchanged at 545 since the delimitation based on the 1971 Census. However, it is expected to significantly increase after 2026 when the freeze on the total number of seats is lifted. The seating arrangements are cramped and cumbersome, with no desks provided beyond the second row. The Central Hall has a seating capacity of only 440 persons, which becomes a major problem during Joint Sessions. The limited space for movement also poses significant security risks.

Deteriorating Infrastructure

Over time, the addition of services such as water supply lines, sewer lines, air conditioning, fire-fighting systems, CCTV, and audio-visual systems (which were not part of the original plan) has caused seepages and negatively impacted the buildings overall aesthetics. Fire safety is a major concern as the building does not comply with present-day fire safety norms. Numerous new electric cables have been installed, increasing the potential fire hazard.

Outdated Communication Systems

The current Parliament House suffers from antiquated communication infrastructure and technology. The acoustics in all the halls require significant improvement.

Safety Issues

Structural safety concerns exist regarding the building. The Parliament House was constructed when Delhi fell under Seismic Zone-II, but it is currently categorized as Seismic Zone-IV.

Inadequate Workspace for Employees

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The demand for workspaces has outpaced the available space, leading to the conversion of inner service corridors into offices. This has resulted in poor quality and narrow workspaces. Sub-partitions have also been created within existing workspaces, further exacerbating the issue of cramped offices.

(With inputs from PTI)
India is one of the fastest growing markets for Nescafe and offers a huge opportunity" for innovation and premiumisation, according to a senior Nestle official. Nescafe is a coffee brand owned by leading Swiss food company Nestle. Nestles Head of Coffee Strategic Business Unit Philipp Navratil, who is on an India visit, said the company is encouraged by the new coffee culture brewing in India with the opening of new coffee shops.

India is one of the fastest growing markets for Nescafe and offers a huge opportunity for penetration-led growth, both through in-home and out-of-home consumption," he said in a statement issued by the company on Tuesday.

According to him, Nescafe has already reached a household penetration of 46 million in India, which is a substantial number.

He also said there is a huge opportunity" to bring Nescafe to the world, making it more affordable to consumers. We believe Nescafe is perfectly positioned to introduce the world to coffee  we are more accessible in terms of price per cup. It is also high quality. We also produce all types and different types of coffee, which is important because consumption is getting more sophisticated," Navratil said.

As cafe culture is evolving, consumers are now keen to know the source of the coffee and how is it brewed. India also offers a huge opportunity in terms of innovation and premiumisation," he said. While India is still a market dominated by tea for refreshments, Nestle coffee at attractive price points of Rs 2 and 10 is quite popular among non-metro and semi-urban areas.

Nestle sells coffee in India and sourcing is done locally from Indian farmers, Navratil said. In 2012, the Nescafe plan was launched in India and over the last 10 years, Nestle India has partnered with 3,500 coffee farmers from three states of the country to source coffee. Globally, 4.5 billion people drink less than 20 cups of coffee.
Telugu actress Dimple Hayathi and her friend have been booked for allegedly damaging the official vehicle of an IPS officer in Hyderabad, the police have said. According to a PTI report, Dimple and her male friend were accused of intentionally damaging the vehicle of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trafffic-I) Rahul Hegde. The vehicle was parked in the cellar of an apartment in the posh Jubilee Hills area, where they reside as per the complaint lodged by the driver of the DCP. Now, the actress has issued a statement on Twitter where she requested her fans to wait patiently for her official statement about the incident.

The statement released by Dimples team reads: Whatever the on going issue, I understand the concern of my fans and media, and I thank everyone for your cooperation and support I havent given any official statements so far, hence, I would request youll to wait in patience. Till then the concerned legal team shall revert about the deal soon (sic).

Earlier on Tuesday, she also reacted to the incident in a cryptic post and wrote, Misuse of power doesnt hide mistakes she added the hashtag, Satya Meva Jayathe

Misuse of power doesnt hide mistakes ..  . #satyamevajayathe Dimple Hayathi (@DimpleHayathi) May 23, 2023

The head constable and driver of the vehicle in the complaint said that they were regularly parking the car in the allotted parking place in the apartment cellar and alleged that Dimple and her male were frequently obstructing their way. Even on May 14, they intentionally damaged the car while taking their vehicle in reverse.

After damaging the car, the actress deliberately kicked the traffic cones placed beside the vehicle. The complaint added that the act has been recorded in the CCTV camera.

Following this, the head constable lodged an FIR at the Jubilee Hills Police Station on May 17 under IPC section 341 (wrongful restrain), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 279 (rash driving) against Dimple and her friend.

On Monday, the investigating officer summoned Dimple Hayathi and her male friend to the police station. After inquiry, the officer served a notice under section 41 A of CrPC on both of them.
Kannada television actress Ishita Varsha has carved a niche for herself after starring in the serial Agnisakshi. Her character Maya has been appreciated by the masses. Aside from acting, Ishita also seems to be an ardent travel buff. She recently embarked on a trip to the wild forests of East Africas Kenya with her friends and actresses Anupama Gowda and Neha Krishna. Ishita has been treating us with a bunch of pictures from her safari diaries on Instagram. Her latest streak of photos will make you want to pack your bags and set foot in the jungles.

Along with the snaps, Ishita penned a lovely note which captured her love for wildlife safaris. She wrote, Theres something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows! Heartfelt gratitude for being alive! Ishita exuded the vibes of a wildlife explorer dressed in a black ribbed crop top and a pair of black high-waist denim jeans. She layered her casual fit with a dark green shirt.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ishita Varsha  (@ishitavarsha_official)

Ishita struck a series of poses for the clicks, stealing our hearts with her adorable smile. She sported an uber-cool pair of black sunglasses while in some pictures, the actress wore a simple black cap. Ishita sported zero makeup for her wildlife venture and completed her simple avatar with open hair.

Ishita has also dropped an Instagram reel that captured her in action. She can be seen shooting with a camera in hand from a jeep. The series of embedded pictures showed a striking bunch of photographs of a wild dog. Game of lights and shadows! she captioned her post. In another group of snaps, she posted breathtaking silhouettes of giraffes from Kenya.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ishita Varsha  (@ishitavarsha_official)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ishita Varsha  (@ishitavarsha_official)

Ishita has time and again impressed us with her exceptional photography skills. At another time, when Ishita visited the famous Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve, the actress seems to have undertaken multiple wildlife safaris to spot the wild animals in their natural habitat. For example, take a look at this gorgeous click of a cheetah, staring with its blue eyes into the camera.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ishita Varsha  (@ishitavarsha_official)

On the work front, Ishita was last seen in the serial Agnisakshi. She has not revealed any of her upcoming projects so far.
Sunny Deol started his acting career by doing romantic films but later shifted to action movies and established his presence there. He is loved for films like Betaab, Arjun and others. Fans know a lot about his professional life but many may not be aware much about his personal life. For example, many might not be aware that Sunnys original name is Ajay Singh Deol. Reportedly, the actor decided to change his name before he entered the industry and stuck to his nickname- Sunny. He was born on October 19, 1956, to Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur.

Similarly, the original name of Sunnys brother Bobby Deol is Vijay Singh Deol and their father Dharmendras name is Dharam Singh Deol.

On the work front, Sunny is looking forward to his much-anticipated film Gadar 2, directed by Anil Sharma. The film is the sequel to Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, set amidst the background of Indias partition. Now, the sequel will revolve around the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The audience will witness how Tara Singh (Sunny) goes to Pakistan to bring his son Charanjeet back. Shaktimaan Talwar has penned the script for this sequel starring actors like Ameesha Patel, Utkarsh Sharma, Mir Sarwar and others. A pan India film, Gadar 2 will release on August 11. Anil Sharma Productions and Zee Studios have produced the movie.

Sunny has talked more about Gadar 2 in an interview with Pinkvilla. The actor said that we should direct a sequel only if the writing is good. According to him, we should not make the sequel just for the sake of it. Sunny said that he is confident about the success of this film. Whomever I meet wants to see something and we are giving them that in Gadar Ek Prem Katha, Sunny added.

Sunny Deol last played the role of Arvind Mathur in the 2022 film Chup directed by R Balki. Backed by Hope Productions, this movie revolved around the life of a serial killer who targets film critics. The film received mixed to good reviews. Besides Sunny, Dulquer Salmaan, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Pooja Bhatt and others also acted in Chup.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently sparked a debate on social media after he claimed that depression is an urban concept born out of privilege. Days after, the actor was once again asked about his controversial comment when he argued that he will talk about mental health in his native village, hed be thrashed.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Reiterates His Statement On Mental Health

I was just narrating my experience. Its possible Im wrong. But even today, if I were to go to my village, which is just three hours away, and say that I have depression, Id get slapped. Theyd tell me to eat food and go to the fields, Nawazuddin told NDTV.

However, when asked if people in rural areas arent aware of conversations around mental health, the actor said, It doesnt exist. Nobody knows about it, nobody has depression in villages. Its a fact, go check.

You see, in cities, people have the habit of glorifying even the smallest problems. Why dont they see how people with real problems live their lives. Look how they dance on footpaths in the rain, why dont those people have depression? the actor added.

Gulshan Devaiah Slams Nawazuddin Siddiquis Comments

Nawazuddin Siddiquis comment has left Gulshan Devaiah disappointed and upset. Recently, Devaiah took to Twitter and slammed the Jogira Sara Ra Ra actor. Dritharashtra & Gandhari syndrome. I immensely respect the man for his craft but Id not take him seriously on this issue. If you even just look at alcoholism or addictions, they exist in rural communities and thats mental illness. No addict indulges in addiction because they love it. The addiction is a symptom, the real problem is the trauma they cant heal," he wrote.

Gulshan Devaiah further clarified that even though he does not have a rural upringing, he has close family members who grew up in villages and have very problematic behaviour because they didnt process their trauma properly and they pass it on to others."

Dritharashtra & Gandhari syndrome. I immensely respect the man for his craft but Id not take him seriously on this issue.If you even just look at alcoholism or addictions, they exist in rural communities and thats mental illness. No addict indulges in addiction because they https://t.co/msnc9FJW2o SuperGullu (@gulshandevaiah) May 24, 2023

For the unversed, in his original interview with Mashable India, Nawazuddin Siddiqui had said, I come from a place where, if I would tell my father that I am feeling depressed, he would give me one tight slap Depression waha nahi tha, kisi ko bhi nahi hota waha depression, sab khush hai (No one gets depression in villages, everyone is happy there). But I learnt about anxiety, depression, bipolar after coming to the city.
Hansika Motwani, who is known for her appearances in several regional language films, recently found herself in the spotlight. In the last few days, several reports surfaced alleging that she spoke out about encountering harassment and inappropriate advances from a young actor during the initial stages of her career in the Telugu film industry. The actress has now strongly refuted the reports about her alleged encounter with the casting couch. Hansika Motwani took to Twitter to dismiss the claims. In a tweet accompanied by a picture of a publication making such allegations, Hansika firmly stated, I have not given this quote ever! Stop printing rubbish!"

Have not given this quote ever ! Stop printing rubbish !!!!!!! @GulteOfficial pic.twitter.com/qEIKU2z9zE Hansika (@ihansika) May 23, 2023

In another tweet, Hansika requested news websites to refrain from sharing random news found on social media without verifying the facts. Publications urging you to cross-check before picking up random news piece! Never made this comment thats doing the rounds pls fact check before publishing blindly, she tweeted.

Publications urging you to cross check before picking up random news piece ! Never made this comment that's doing the rounds pls fact check before publishing blindly . Hansika (@ihansika) May 23, 2023

Hansika Motwani found herself in the midst of controversy as several online publications allege her involvement in the casting couch issue in the film industry. While the reports did not mention any specific actor, Hansika was quoted as saying that she had taught an actor a lesson.

Hansika Motwani recently starred in her wedding-themed series called Hansikas Love Shaadi Drama, which was streamed on Disney plus Hotstar. When questioned about the accusations of revealing excessive personal information in her show, the actor told indianexpress.com, I have perpetually grown up in front of the audience. They have seen my journey and have been part of my life since I was eight. When I decided to be a bride I wanted them to witness it. And what better way than joining hands with Hotstar? It was just a way to invite them to my big day. She further said, Let them keep talking. It doesnt matter to me. Its really okay. I know its coming from my heart and its legit reality.

Not only this, on her show, Hansika Motwani and her mother confronted allegations suggesting that the actress had received growth hormone injections during her childhood. Responding to the accusations, Hansika expressed her frustration, stating that people had spread baseless rumours, claiming that her mother had administered hormonal injections to enhance her physical growth. People said that my mum has given me injections, hormonal injections to grow up as a woman. This is the expense of being a celebrity. They wrote such crap when I was 21, you know what I am talking about If I could have taken it that time, I can take it this time," she said.

Work-wise, Hansika recently wrapped up the final schedule of the Tamil film Man, directed by Igore in Chennai. The movie delves into the important subject of violence against women and the hurdles they encounter. Hansika takes on the role of a fashion designer in the film, portraying a character who embodies strength, independence, and empowerment. With Hansikas involvement in this thrilling project, audiences can anticipate a powerful and impactful cinematic experience that addresses significant social concerns.
Looks like Californians will not be able to "taste the rainbow" soon, as Assembly Bill 418, proposing to ban Skittles, Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Kids, Nerds, Starburst, and other processed food items containing harmful chemicals, overwhelmingly passed by the California State Assembly. The bill now heads to the State Senate for a vote, and then to Governor Newsom for final sign-off.

The bill, which would take effect in 2025 if passed, targets additives such as red dye No. 3, titanium dioxide, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propyl paraben. Surprisingly, these additives are found in a wide range of products, including candies, pizzas, drinks, and even medicines.

Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills) proposed the bill:
Keerthy Suresh, renowned for her remarkable on-screen performances, has garnered attention not only for her professional achievements but also for speculations surrounding her personal life. Recently, rumours circulated about her alleged relationship with a Dubai-based businessman after she shared a picture with him on social media. However, Keerthy has now taken a stand to address the speculations and shed light on the truth behind the mystery man in her life.

Keerthy Suresh set the record straight, confirming that the man in the photos, Farhan Bin Liaquath, is simply a dear friend. In a humorous tweet, she wrote, Hahaha!! Didnt have to pull my dear friend, this time! I will reveal the actual mystery man whenever I have to. Take a chill pill until then! PS: Not once got it right."

Hahaha!! Didnt have to pull my dear friend, this time! I will reveal the actual mystery man whenever I have to Take a chill pill until then! PS : Not once got it right  https://t.co/wimFf7hrtU  Keerthy Suresh (@KeerthyOfficial) May 22, 2023

The link-up rumours of Keerthy Suresh and Farhan Bin Liaquath sparked when she re-shared her picture with him online on her Instagram. The picture showcased them posing with each other and flaunting their infectious smiles. Interestingly, the image originally shared by Farhan found its way to Keerthys own timeline, where she graciously expressed her gratitude towards the businessman. However, the actress has now denied all the rumours around her relationship.

Work-wise, Keerthy Sureshs projects have garnered much praise and appreciation from her fans. In the film Dasara, she portrays the character Vennela, serving as the female lead alongside co-star Nani. Directed by Odella Srikant, the period film was initially shot in Telugu and subsequently released in multiple languages including Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada, allowing a wider audience to enjoy the cinematic experience.

Another highly anticipated project for Keerthy is Maamannan, a political thriller directed by Mari Selvaraj. This star-studded film features talented actors such as Vadivelu, Fahadh Faasil, Udhayanidhi Stalin, and Keerthy herself. Produced by Red Giant Movies, Maamannan is set to hit theatres on June 29. Notably, the online streaming rights for the film have been acquired by Netflix, ensuring that audiences can enjoy it on the OTT platform in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada after its theatrical release.

As the release dates draw closer, the excitement surrounding these projects continues to build and Keerthys fans are eagerly waiting to see her magic on-screen once again.
Television actor Nitesh Pandey has died at the age of 51. The actor, who was recently seen in Anupamaa, died of a cardiac arrest. The news of his death was confirmed by his brother-in-law, producer Siddharth Nagar. It is reported that Nitesh suffered a cardiac arrest on May 23 in Igatpuri, near Nashik, where he was shooting for a project. His sister, Arpita, is said to be in a state of shock.

Nitesh Pandey, Anupamaa Actor, Dies at 51 After Cardiac Arrest

Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai actress Vaibhavi Upadhayay passed away on Monday in a car accident in Himachal Pradesh. Her last rites were held on Wednesday in Mumbai which were attended by several of her friends and industry colleagues including JD Majethia.

Vaibhavi Upadhyayas Car Was Hit By Truck, She Wasnt Wearing Seatbelt; Heres What Happened

Priyanka Chopra has revealed that she was once made uncomfortable by a director on the sets of a film in her early days in Bollywood. The actress said that she felt humiliated, so much so that she decided to opt out of the project. Priyanka recalled that the director in question wanted to see her underwear" while shooting a striping scene. She recounted the dehumanizing moment" to The Zoe Report. The actress was supposed to play a character who goes undercover.

Priyanka Chopra Makes BIG Claim Against Bollywood Director: He Said, I Need to See Her Underwear

Karan Johar has once again left fans enthralled with a mesmerizing video montage, offering a tantalizing glimpse into his highly anticipated film, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani starring Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh. The video, released on social media, has ignited excitement with the promise of unveiling the films first look tomorrow, i.e. May 25 which also marks 25 years of him in the industry.

Karan Johar CONFIRMS Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani 1st Look To Drop On Birthday, Says I Wept

Arijit Singh has garnered a huge fan following for his melodious voice and humble nature. Despite his fame, he continues to lead a modest life in his hometown of Murshidabad, West Bengal, winning hearts of his fans with his down-to-earth approach. Many videos doing the rounds on the internet give us a sneak peek into Arijit Singhs continued connection to his roots and his humble lifestyle in Bengal.

Arijit Singh Engages With Neighbours As He Goes Grocery Shopping On A Bike In Bengal; Wins Hearts
Richa Chadha, who is attending the 76th Cannes Film Festival with her husband and actor Ali Fazal, reacted to the ongoing social media debate - whether the focus on fashion at the prestigious festival is overshadowing cinema. Like every year, renowned celebrities are putting their most fashionable foot forward at the Cannes red carpet, promoting their movies, businesses and popular brands. However, some celebrities are being trolled for making an appearance at the French Riviera on behalf of brands/designers/alcohol labels. Apart from regular attendee Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, actresses Sara Ali Khan, Manushi Chhillar, Sunny Leone, Anushka Sharma and Mouni Roy, as well as social media influencers like Dolly Singh, Niharika NM and Masoom Minawala are making their Cannes debut this year.

Richa, sharing two notes on her Instagram Stories, asked the trolls to not sh*t on people. She wrote: Theres a lot of chatter on SM (social media) about Cannes, fashion, film, etc. Just wanna say, dont sh*t on anyone please. People are excited to be here, I notice the ones that are thanking the brands/designers/alcohol labels that are bringing their influencers here. Its also a great venue for marketing, no? Let them be. Youll notice most people say, theyre at the red carpet but wont specify the film. Well, cause theyre not here with a film or for a film."

She added, Should you be so lucky to get to work on a film that ends up at the Festival de Cannes. Its the best feeling in the world. It is, after all, a film festival, no matter what anyone says."

Richa attended Cannes in 2015 with Vicky Kaushal, Neeraj Ghaywan, and team Masaan. The film was screened at the Un Certain Regard Section, and it won two accolades at the festival. The actress added that it is a great feeling for one to see their film being appreciated with a standing ovation at the festival. She shared another old picture, and mentioned that she was so overwhelmed by the appreciation that Masaan received at Cannes that she cried before the photo was clicked.

The discussion about fashion being a prime focus at the film festival gathered traction after filmmaker Nandita Das said that its a festival of films, not clothes."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nandita Das (@nanditadasofficial)

Richa Chadha has also attended the Cannes Film Festival for Anurag Kashyaps Gangs of Wasseypur. She is attending this year with her husband for her production, Girls Will Be Girls.

Kennedy (by Anurag Kashyap) and Agra are the two Indian films that have been officially selected for this years Cannes Film Festival.
BTS member Suga recently opened up about his thoughts on retirement. The rapper, who was all of 17 years old when he joined BTS, has been busy since the K-pop groups debut. Not only has he been a part of BTS historic journey but in the recent years, he has been collaborating with fellow Korean musicians, such as IU and PSY, and delivering hit songs with them. Currently, Min Yoongi has been busy with his solo tour.

Earlier this week, Suga returned to South Korea after wrapping his US tour and met with a small group of fans. Hosting a meet and greet session, which was called Agust D D-DAY: Movie Night, in Seoul, he opened up about his career and the mention of retirement came up. The Daechwita rapper confessed he sees himself working only till the age of 60.

I envision myself performing until my 60s," he said, as reported by AllKPop. Fans replied with a massive roar and even urged him to work till his final moments. Amid the roaring replies, SUGA light-heartedly replied, Let me rest a little bit before I die though. I dont think Ill be able to even hold a mic at that age!"

Fan accounts also revealed that the rapper spoke about his learnings from his solo tour. He revealed that it was during this tour that he thought he wants to perform on stage for as long as possible. When I had a concert in LA, Bang PD and other staff members in our company also came, then we talked. There are staff members whove worked with me since I was trainee. They told me, Yoongi-ah, you would do this for a long time,'" he said.

Meanwhile, Suga has wrapped his quick break in South Korea and was spotted leaving for Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon. The media spotted Yoongi at the airport, making his way to the Indonesian capital to kick off the Asia leg of his tour. The concert is slated to take place on Friday.

K media reports that SUGA is headed to Jakarta, Indonesia, for the kick off of his #D_DAY_TOUR in Asia this Friday, via Incheon International Airport.Have a safe flight Yoongi! pic.twitter.com/5RWRKyxIS9  (@dSUGA_1993) May 24, 2023

Suga is slated to perform in Kanagawa and Bangkok, among other places, as well.
As the administration of Delhi plunged into another cycle of uncertainty following the Supreme Court order, a retired bureaucrat mentioned an interesting anecdote to this writer. Sheila ji would address officers as sons and make them work much harder than ever their fathers could have done, he said.

Sheila Dikshits success story in Delhi was largely based on her ability to galvanise city bureaucracy to implement her vision for the citys development. Not to be forgotten that during her time too, the bureaucracy was under the supervision and superintendence of the Centre.

The fight which current Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is waging over the Ordinance, issued by the Centre, restoring control of bureaucracy to the lieutenant governor (LG), is at best just of academic significance and to score some brownie points in a politically surcharged atmosphere. The Ordinance was issued after a Supreme Court order following a decade-long legal battle, which said that the elected government had control over transfers and postings of officers in the absence of any specific law. The Ordinance has restored the status quo ante and reinstated powers to the LG.

The SC, in its wisdom, gave such powers to Arvind Kejriwal which were never enjoyed by any of his predecessors  Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj, Sahib Singh Verma and Madan Lal Khurana. These seasoned politicians did not ever have any serious problems with the bureaucracy. One cannot recall them bringing any charge against officers working at the behest of the Centre.

In 1998, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost and the Congress came to power in Delhi, there was some discomfort in bureaucracy regarding how their association with the previous government would be viewed. On taking over as chief minister, the first thing Sheila Dikshit did was to appoint S Reghunathan, an important functionary in the outgoing government, as her principal secretary. Reghunathan was to remain a very strong bureaucrat for the large part of her tenure, rising to become the chief secretary.

Later during her tenure, she appointed Shakti Sinha, a private secretary to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as her governments powerful principal secretary of finance and power. When some people asked why a BJP-dyed bureaucrat was being given such a high position, Dikshit had an interesting point to make. He (Shakti Sinha) had tremendous exposure working in the PMO (Prime Ministers Office) and why should I lose out on utilising his experience when I am getting the opportunity? Dikshit, who had herself worked as a minister in charge of the PMO during Rajiv Gandhis term, had said. Despite the cadre control of the officers with the Central government and the LG, their loyalty to her remains legendary.

At no point of time since Independence it has been envisaged that Delhi would ever get the status of a full-fledged state and that its administration would be outside the control of the Centre. During the Constitution Assembly debates, Dr BR Ambedkar had mentioned, So far as Delhi is concerned, it seems to us that as the Capital of India, it can hardly be placed under a local administration. In the United States, Congress exercises exclusive legislative power in respect of the seat of the government; so too in Australia. No sufficient reasons for departing from these precedents.

Administrative arrangements in Delhi in the subsequent years have never departed in spirit from the enunciations made by Ambedkar. Keeping with this spirit, in 1991, when the Congress government led by Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao sanctioned the present form of governance for Delhi with a cabinet and assembly, it still withheld powers to transfer and post officers with the LG. This was provided for under the Transactions of Business Rules.

Even in the period between 2004 and 2013, when we had the Congress-led government both at the Centre and in Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, despite being a very tall political personality, appreciated her official position being insubordinate to that of the LGs office. During those days too, the LG met the Chief Secretary independently, largely to take stock of governance, as he would meet the Commissioner of Police for a brief on law and order.

The current chief minister of Delhi is doing his best to project the whole issue through a political prism. He is making it into an issue of shrinking space for federalism in the country. However, as explained above, no liberal federal space was ever envisioned for Delhi and the present Ordinance is in the same spirit as was delineated by BR Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly deliberations.

The Congress has made the right moves by not immediately committing to oppose the Ordinance in the name of Opposition unity. There is still some time before the placing and passing of the Ordinance in the Parliament.

Politically too, the weakening of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would help the Congress retrieve its lost political space. The most recent evidence of this being Karnataka, where a weakened JD(S) added sinews to the Congress helping it emerge much stronger politically. Lastly, given the seriousness of corruption charges against the AAP dispensation, with ministers languishing in jail, the Delhi government, through the issue of the Ordinance, may be trying to deflect from these cases.

The writer is an author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice. Views expressed are personal.
In a stunning turn of events, the Congress party emerged victorious in the Karnataka Assembly elections after years of political hardship. This decisive win marks a significant milestone for the party in one of Indias larger states. The recent triumph of the party and the establishment of the government mark significant turning points for the Congress, which has long been grappling with electoral defeats. As the dust settles on the Karnataka elections, its clear that the partys impressive comeback owes much to the leadership of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. However, its worth noting that the true winner in this political battle is none other than the 88th Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge.

Kharges tireless efforts in the lead-up to the election ensured that the partys promises were backed up by action. By skillfully directing attention towards the minutiae, he provided the Gandhi family with abundant chances to assert their dominance. In a significant move, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi took centre stage at a mega rally after a prolonged absence. In the aftermath of the election, Kharge deftly maintained equilibrium and oversaw the selection of the states chief minister through a series of extensive consultations with Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, and the Congress leadership, ultimately achieving a unanimous decision. As Kharge took to Twitter to share a snapshot of himself alongside the chief minister and the deputy chief minister designate, a sense of triumph was unmistakably etched across his visage.

Autonomy Question

It is worth noting that despite Kharges efforts to shed his image of being under the control of the Gandhi family, he was unable to achieve significant progress. Several meetings were held with Rahul Gandhi to determine the CM and deputy CM of Karnataka, although an official decision was not made by him. Following the triumph, it was Rahul who boldly made a significant declaration regarding the success of the Congress party, refraining from mentioning the names of the partys leaders. The pressing concerns at hand prompt us to ponder the true independence of Kharge. While he may have established himself as a resolute political figure, the extent of his autonomy remains shrouded in ambiguity. When considering whether or not he possesses the authority to make decisions independently of the Gandhis or adopt a divergent stance, the response is negative. The most significant hurdle for Kharge lies in the fact that, despite his earnest endeavours, the Gandhi dynasty is unlikely to grant him complete autonomy. Ensuring his loyalty to the Gandhis will be a perpetual obligation for him.

Balancing Act

Following the recent triumph in Karnataka, there has been a growing sentiment among the Congress party loyalists and officials alike that Mallikarjun Kharge may well be the partys new saviour. As the state elections and the general elections of 2024 approach, Kharge faces a significant challenge in striking a balance between the pressure of public expectations and his allegiance to the Gandhi family. As a seasoned politician, Kharge possesses a deep understanding of the precarious position that non-Gandhi presidents of the Congress often find themselves in. It is noteworthy that the Gandhi family has been known to sideline Congress party presidents, such as former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri, without hesitation. During the tenure of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the then non-Gandhi President of the Congress party, Dev Kant Baruah, famously remarked, Indira is India, and India is Indira. The expectation of unwavering loyalty and subservience from party presidents is a hallmark of Gandhis leadership style. One cannot help but wonder how Kharge will fare in this delicate balancing act. Should he continue to prioritise this balancing act over organisational development, the party risks losing the momentum gained from their recent victory in Karnataka.

State Elections

As the state of Rajasthan gears up for elections this year along with many other crucial states, the Congress party finds itself facing a multitude of challenges, in stark contrast to the situation in Karnataka. The ongoing power struggle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has dominated the political landscape in Rajasthan. The latter has started holding rallies all over the state to protest what they claim is the Gehlot administrations failure to take action against corruption cases from the previous BJP government under Vasundhara Raje.

This has further intensified the already tense situation in the states political circles. Since assuming the role of Congress president from Mallikarjun Kharge, the individual in question has yet to take significant action to quell the ongoing turmoil in Rajasthan. It is worth noting that, in contrast to Karnataka, the Gandhi family maintains close ties with both Gehlot and Pilot. As per the latest political buzz, it is being speculated that Ashok Gehlot, a seasoned politician, has established a strong rapport with Sonia Gandhi. On the other hand, Sachin Pilot, a young and dynamic leader, is believed to be a trusted aide of the Gandhi siblings, Rahul and Priyanka. The decision of Mallikarjun Kharge, whichever side he opts for, may potentially result in a backlash.

Madhya Pradesh, another state heading to the polls, is grappling with a host of internal issues within the Congress party. With Jyotiraditya Scindias departure from the Congress, many of his followers and leaders joined him. As the government collapsed, so did the organisation of the party. According to sources within the Congress, it appears that Kharge has been diligently working towards revitalising the partys presence in the state. This is evidenced by his recent appointments of party incharges in the region. The fate of the organisations reconstruction in Madhya Pradesh still hangs in the balance, awaiting Congress decisive action. in Chhattisgarh, the party is currently grappling with internal discord between Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and senior party member TS Singh Deo. According to sources, Kharge has reportedly delegated the responsibility of managing the situation to senior leaders within the state. It is believed that they have been tasked with overseeing the tussle and ensuring that the matter is handled appropriately. The fate of the Congress hinges on Kharges ability to navigate internal strife, revamp the organisation, and make astute leadership choices.

Way Forward

Undoubtedly, the recent win of the Congress in Karnataka has significantly elevated the partys standing among the Opposition factions in India. Mallikarjun Kharge will also have to take on the crucial responsibility of bridging the gap between the Congress and prominent leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee. How Kharge will navigate this delicate situation and foster a more cohesive relationship between these political entities remains to be seen. The Congress has yet to take the lead in the Opposition alliance. However, the peoples expectations may be different as they look to the Congress to take the lead. Despite this, it remains to be seen whether other Opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and Aam Aadmi Party will agree to such an idea. For Kharge, the task at hand is a weighty one. He must act with conviction to ensure the success of the newly formed alliance, all while meeting the high expectations of his partys loyal followers.

The election of Mallikarjun Kharge as the first non-Gandhi president was significant for the Congress. The question that lingers is whether the Gandhis would permit an individual like him to flourish and prosper to such an extent that he emerges as the ultimate authority for the party.

The recent triumph of the Congress in Karnataka did not pave an easy road for Mallikarjun Kharge. In fact, the path ahead seems to have become even more challenging. Only time will reveal what lies ahead for this seasoned politician.

The author is a columnist and doctoral research scholar in media and politics. He tweets at @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the position of this publication.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House were illuminated with the Indian tricolour to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited the iconic landmarks on Wednesday. Prime Minister Modi was accompanied by his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese during his visit.
On May 22, striking pictures of former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain, who has been behind bars since the end of May last year, emerged as he was taken to the Safdarjung hospital following complaints of extreme back pain.

A far cry from his pre-jail life, the pictures showed a wilted Jain battling serious physical and mental health challenges, coupled with severe weight loss and a belt strapped around his waist as he waited for his turn in the central government hospital. While in Tihar, Jain has been treated for spinal injury following a fall and examined for depression.

In a statement, Jains Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the leader was suffering from sleep apnea, needed a BiPAP machine while sleeping, and the weight of depression has settled upon him.

Strongly defending its former minister, AAPs Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said: You (BJP) are mocking the condition of this man? This is the same man who gave the world the model of Mohalla Clinics. This the same Satyendar Jain who was serving the people of Delhi during Covid-19 without a care for his own health. This is an illustration of torture.

Earlier in May, Jain had written to jail authorities, complaining that he was suffering from depression and loneliness. The ex-minister had also requested that a few other inmates be moved into his cell. However, jail authorities issued a notice to the superintendent responsible for transferring three inmates into Jains cell in Jail number 7 without discussing with jail administration. Sources have confirmed that the Director General (Prisons) has said he will get Jain examined by doctors, preferably psychologists, to ascertain if he is suffering from depression.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP leader Vijendra Gupta said: The first point is that he was overweight. Does AAP not know that he was overweight? It is good to lose weight, losing weight is a matter of how you manage your body.

Gupta also recalled that when Jain was not in jail, he had lost 20kgs and had told the former that it was a consequence of having food once a day which stemmed from his Jain religious beliefs.

The BJP leader brushed aside Jains complaints of suffering from depression. Whether it is depression or suppression or operation, he has to tell the court. If one indulges in corruption, it could lead to depression also.

Noting that even the Supreme Court had not given bail to Jain, Gupta said: If the Supreme Court does not give you bail, am I responsible? First you indulge in corruption and then you resort to emotional blackmail. This is not justified. This is an attempt to divert attention from the main issue.

After the Delhi High Court dismissed Jains bail plea in the first week of May, the former health minister on May 15 moved the Supreme Court for the same. Jains counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing before the bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli, argued that Jain had lost 35 kgs, has virtually become a skeleton and suffered from various ailments and had only fruits.

Jains counsel has cited his multiple health challenges, among other reasons, as ground for bail  acute lumbar pain and associated vertigo, sleep apnea, patch on the lungs, alarming weight loss and depression. The petitioner has been diagnosed with depression in prison and has been prescribed medication and therapy. He has already undergone three therapy sessions, Jains lawyer told the top court.

The AAP in a statement said Jains condition took a turn for the worse following a fall in the washroom of Tihar resulting in spinal injury. Party leaders also said an MRI conducted on May 3, 2023, revealed degeneration in all intervertebral discs and while attending doctors have advised urgent spinal surgery, Jain has been placed at number 416 in the waiting list which means the surgery may take another five months.

ASG SV Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has opposed Jains bail plea in the Supreme Court. The top court has issued a notice to the ED and allowed Jain the liberty to move the vacation bench for relief.

Satyendar Jains life inside Tihar has been controversial, with videos emerging of him getting a message by a man allegedly charged under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Sections 376, 506 and 509 (rape). As the BJP slammed Jain, the AAP claimed that he was undergoing physiotherapy sessions due his back ailment.

top videos

Then, CCTV pictured leaked from Tihar showed Jain having dry fruits and a television in his cell, giving more fodder to the BJP while putting the AAP on the back foot and lending weight to the EDs argument that the former minister got preferential treatment in jail.

Jain has been behind bars on various charges under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act in an alleged case of money laundering registered by the Enforcement Directorate. In another week, the former health minister will complete exactly one year in Delhis Tihar Jail.
As politics erupts over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, many parties have decided to boycott the event, among them is MK Stalin-led DMK. The Tamil Nadu party has cited that the Centre has not followed the decorum in this regard for which it is boycotting the event.

Senior DMK leader and MP K Kanimozhi exclusively told News18: We have decided to boycott the inauguration because this event is sidelining the President of India. The importance which should be given to the President is not given. A lot of things today do not have the decorum which they (Union Government) should be following. In protest of that, the opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration."

Kanimozhi further said the protest is against the Union governments move to focus everything around one individual.

The decision to boycott is not a move by the opposition parties keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We have to protest. Everything cannot be focused around one person or one party. There are things beyond party politics. The Union government has to understand that, she added.

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DMK has always called for unity" of opposition parties and has urged the regional leaders to ditch the idea of a Third Front. Kanimozhi echoes the partys stance. It is definitely good news that the opposition parties are coming together on many issues including the new Parliament inauguration. This is something that many people have been looking forward to, she added.

With DMK leveraging every opportunity to push for a United Opposition, only time will tell if the opposition parties come together to fight the BJP in 2024.
Defending his Pagla Modi comment, Congress leader Adhir Rajan Chowdhury issued a clarification and said that he was just saying what the sentiments" of public is and was just conveying how the people are reacting to PMs decisioin of withdrawing Rs 2000 notes.

While addressing a press conference on the issue of Rs 2000 notes, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said: he is not Modi but pagla Modi. People called him pagla Modi."

#WATCH | Murshidabad, West Bengal | While speaking on the issue of #Rs2000CurrencyNote, West Bengal Congress president and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury gets abusive; says, "he is not Modi but pagala Modi. People called him 'pagala Modi'" (23.05.2023) pic.twitter.com/BCQyw0c8wL ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023

Chowdhury commented on the recent meeting between AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, stating, There is growing frustration among the people of India towards Modi. People are referring to Modi as pagal Modi. With public sentiment turning against Modi, parties like AAP and TMC are attempting to regain relevance."

BJPs Bengal Chief Sukanta Majumder, however, condemned Ranjans remark. Majumder took to Twitter and wrote: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan abuses PM Modi again and calls him Pagla. He has used the abusive language again and again. He is a repeated offender. I strongly condemn this. He should apologise immediately."

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan abuses PM @narendramodi ji again & calls him Pagla.He has used the abusive language again and again. He is a repeated offender. I strongly condemn this. He should apologise immediately. pic.twitter.com/YgUY60ksid  Dr. Sukanta Majumdar (@DrSukantaBJP) May 24, 2023

Opposition leaders had also attacked the government over the withdrawal of Rs 2000 currency notes from circulation with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee describing it as Tughlaqi demonetisation drama" and Congress wondering if this was the second notebandi" exercise.

The BJP rejected this was any sort of demonetisation and instead reminded the Congress that even during the rule of Manmohan Singh, old currency notes were taken off circulation.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday made the surprise announcement but gave the public time till September 30 to either deposit Rs 2000 notes in accounts or exchange them at banks.

It said it had asked banks to stop issuing Rs 2000 notes with immediate effect.

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Banerjee said this move would hit common people hard once again".

In a tweet, she said, Another whimsical and Tughlaqi demonetisation drama of Rs 2,000 notes will hit the common people hard once again by subjecting them to massive harassment. These imperious measures are meant to camouflage the fundamentally anti-people & crony capitalist nature of this regime.
Rolf Harris, who entertained generations of British and Australian children with his incredible range of skills and was later jailed for sexual assaults on teenage girls, is dead at 93.

He arrived in London in 1952, aged 21, and went on to host a string of children's TV and variety shows as well as series about animals and art. Harris painted a portrait of the late Queen to mark her 80th birthday in 2006. Harris was also well known for a number of hit songs, including Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport; Two Little Boys and a cover of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.

Harris was an OBE, MBE and CBE and the recipient of a Bafta fellowship, but was stripped of these honors following his convictions.

Due to the magnitude of competition from British celebrity pedophiles and his ultimate exoneration on charges relating to pre-teens and indecent child images, there was a tendency in UK media to talk about Harris as if he was the victim of a witch hunt . Unlike blatant monsters such as Sir Jimmy Saville, he was well-loved and genuinely talented. But he committed many crimes against minors, served only a modest jail term, and about the rest of his victims, as young as 14, there was no significant legal controversy.

Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, Harris was initially found guilty of 12 attacks on four girls, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s. One conviction, relating to an allegation he indecently assaulted an eight-year-old girl, was later overturned. But Court of Appeal judges dismissed his application to challenge the other 11 convictions. The victims included two girls in their early teens and a friend of his daughter.

Here's Vanessa Feltz talking about him groping her on live TV in 1996.
Amid all the noise over who should or should not inaugurate the new parliament building, a look into recent history will show that past heads of central and state governments have unveiled legislature house complexes in different states. At some of these events, the then prime minister was present along with chief ministers of the states but the president was not invited.

But the opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building on May 28 amid a war of words with the central government that President Droupadi Murmu should inaugurate the new building and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an instance from 2011, the then PM Manmohan Singh inaugurated new buildings at Imphal, including the new assembly complex and city convention centre. According to a report published by NDTV, he was accompanied by then UPA chairperson and MP Sonia Gandhi.

In 2010, Manmohan Singh inaugurated the worlds first green legislature building  the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly complex. He was once again accompanied by Sonia Gandhi, while then CM M Karunanidhi was also present.

Most recently, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the central hall at the legislative assembly in February 2019. At the event, Kumar had spoken about the concept of federalism, saying it had not been fully implemented in the country so far.

The Centre and the states  both have been given certain rights. While special provisions have been made for autonomy of states, the Centre  at the same time  has been given certain responsibilities The concept of federalism should be fully implemented, he had said, while speaking on the Role of legislature in Indian Constitution, as per a report published in Times of India.

The report said a large number of former legislators had also turned up for the inauguration of the iconic central hall, which the chief minister said had been built on the very pattern of the parliaments central hall. Now, both the Congress and the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) are part of the boycott of the inauguration of the new parliament building.

According to media reports, it was then PM Indira Gandhi, who inaugurated the parliament annexe on October 24, 1975. On August 15, 1987, then PM Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of the parliament library. The president was not invited to both these events.

Turning back the pages of history, it will also be interesting to take a look at the inauguration of the old parliament building by Viceroy Lord Irwin on January 18, 1927. According to newspaper reports from back then, leaders of different political parties such as Congress and Swaraj Party, including Motilal Nehru, attended the inauguration ceremony. Rulers of princely states also attended the inauguration ceremony.

A total of 19 opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new parliament building by the prime minister. On Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the parliament was not built by bricks of ego but through constitutional values. The senior Congress leader said not letting President Murmu inaugurate the new building as well as not inviting her to the ceremony was an insult to the countrys highest constitutional post. Several Congress leaders also slammed the government over the inauguration.

The opposition parties said in a joint statement, Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion.

But, they said, Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new building all by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response.

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The opposition parties said the president is not only the head of state in India, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it. In short, parliament cannot function without the president. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the president, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman adivasi president, the parties said, as per a report published by news agency PTI.

The Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, JD(U), AAP, CPI-M, CPI, SP, NCP, SS (UBT), RJD, IUML, JMM, NC, KC (M), RSP, VCK, MDMK, RLD are the signatories of the joint statement.
The statement of MB Patil, senior Cabinet minister and Lingayat face of the Congress, denying any power-sharing formula between Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has now become a hot potato for the high command, which is still savouring the huge election victory, around two weeks ago.

Patil told media in Mysore that there was no power-sharing agreement between Siddaramaiah and DKS, and the former will continue as the CM for the entire five-year term.

An enraged DK Suresh, younger brother of Shivakumar and Bengaluru Rural Congress MP, hit back at Patil curtly telling him to mind his business.

According to reliable sources, an adamant DKS agreed to cede the CM post to Siddaramaiah only after the Gandhi family assured him that he will be the CM for the last 30 months of the current 60 months tenure. DKS has made it clear that he would agree to that if he were made the only Deputy CM. Left with no other options, the high command had to agree. For obvious reasons, no-one is talking about it in public.

This kind of an opaque power-sharing arrangement has created a lot of confusion, and vertically divided the party. Before the Karnataka election results, the Congress was planning to appoint a Deputy CM each from the Vokkaliga, Lingayat, Muslim and Dalit communities.

Patil and DKS are contemporaries and rivals in the Congress. Patil won his first Assembly election (a by-poll after his fathers death) in 1990 at the age of 25. He has won six Assembly and a Parliament election so far. Patil has held important portfolios of water resources and home affairs in the past. He was the chairman of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in the just concluded elections and was credited with winning the BJP stronghold Kittur region for the Congress. He is instrumental in engineering the defection of big Lingayat leaders of the BJP such as former CM Jagadish Shettar ahead of the elections.

The Congress has swept almost all Lingayat dominated districts of the state, and the community, with 16% vote share in the party, was expecting at least a Deputy CM post.

Since the Congress has had an uneasy relationship with the Lingayat over the past 50 years, party insiders feel that the Congress leadership should be extra careful and sensitive towards them.

The Lingayats play a decisive role in 14 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. The Congress must retain their votes to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The crucial Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and local body elections are also due, and the Siddaramaiah government is likely to hold them in the next six months.

DK Shivakumar, an eight-time MLA from the Vokkaliga caste, claims he has decimated the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) in the Gowda stronghold in the recent Assembly elections. But his area of influence is limited to just three to four districts in the Old Mysore region. Vokkaligas are nearly 12% of the population and restricted only to 10 districts in the region.

Lingayat is a pan-Karnataka community except for two districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. Old Mysore region also has a large number of Lingayats and the Congress needs them to win here too.

CM Siddaramaiah has a hold over AHINDA or minorities, backward classes, and Dalits across the state. AICC president M Mallikarjun Kharge has also strengthened partys Dalit votes. Patil and other leaders such as Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Eshwar Khandre, Laxman Savadi, Jagadish Shettar, Lakshmi Hebbalkar control Lingayat votes. Besides DKS, Congress has other Vokkaliga leaders such as Krishna Byre Gowda, TB Jayachandra, Cheluvarayaswamy, Dr MC Sudhakar and others.

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DKS supporters already believe denying the leader the CM post has turned Vokkaligas against the Congress. Others, however, think the Lingayats, Muslims and Dalits are at odds with DKS and the Congress for not choosing a Deputy CM from their community.

These leaders are upset over one-upmanship and want the high command to rein in the ones who are speaking out of turn. The war of words over power sharing has taken the sheen off the spectacular victory of Congress in Karnataka.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann will meet Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray at the latters residence in Mumbai on Wednesday. The two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders arrived here on Tuesday evening.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAPs fight against the Centres ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

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Banerjee assured Kejriwal that her party would support him in his fight against the central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats in the Delhi.

The Delhi CM told reporters on Tuesday that a forthcoming vote in the Rajya Sabha on a bill to convert the central ordinance into law will be a semi-final before the 2024 elections.
At the first special legislative session after the formation of the Congress government in Karnataka, MLAs set a unique precedent, much to the displeasure of pro-tem speaker R V Deshpande  some of the newly elected legislators took the oath in the name of God, Hindutva, their spiritual gurus, and two MLAs even took it in the name of their political guru, DK Shivakumar!

Of the 224-member strong Karnataka assembly, nine MLAs hurriedly took the oath of office on Wednesday, minutes before the election of the speaker, after delaying it for an auspicious date".

ALSO READ | First Session of 16th Karnataka Assembly Begins, Newly Elected MLAs Take Oath

According to the officials at the Karnataka legislature, 182 MLAs took the oath of office on May 22, and another 34 members the following day. Of the nine MLAs, most are from the JD(S), which won 19 seats and include former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS), his brother and former minister H D Revanna.

News18 has learnt that they did not turn up earlier, as they consider Tuesday inauspicious.

These lawmakers were not allowed to vote for the election of the speaker, which was conducted on Wednesday. Five-time MLA and senior Congressman U T Khader was unanimously named the speaker.

IN THE NAME OF

Despite Deshpandes insistence on God or the Constitution, legislators took the oath of office in the name of Lord Ram, the holy cow, Udupi Sri Krishna, Chhatrapati Shivaji, HD Deve Gowda, DK Shivakumar, and 12th-century social reformer and saint Basavanna, among others.

Shivakumar, who took the oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka in the name of his religious guru, Gangadhar Ajja, whom he refers to as his God, took his gurus name again while taking the oath as a new member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took the oath as an MLA in the name of God on the first day of the session itself.

Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Bijapur City assembly seat, took the oath of office in the name of Hindutva and Gaumata (holy cow). Another BJP MLA from Belthangady, Harish Poonja, took his oath with a difference, in the name of Lord Ram.

Sharan Salagar, the MLA from Basavakalyan, took his oath in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Basavanna, while Congress MLA from Kolar Gold Fields, Rupa Sashidhar, took the oath in the name of Buddha, Basavanna, Dr Ambedkar, and God.

The son of BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa and first-time MLA, BY Vijayendra, took the oath as an MLA in the name of Huchchuraya Swamy.

Udupi MLA Yashapal Suvarna, who is also the face of the anti-hijab protesters, took the oath in the name of Udupi Sri Krishna, Vibhudesh Swamiji, and Gaumata (holy cow).

First-time BJP MLA from the Dakshina Kannada region, Bhagirathi Muruliya, took her oath as an MLA in the name of all her family deities, while senior Congress leader and MLA from Belagavi Rural, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, was among those who decided to take the oath in the name of saint Basavanna, who is highly revered in the state.

ALSO READ | Siddaramaiah Will be CM for 5 Yrs: Top Post Math Solved, Karnataka Portfolio Calculation Next Problem

Considered a giant slayer for defeating former CM Jagdish Shettar, Hubballi-Dharwad MLA Mahesh Tenginakai took the oath in the name of Mahakooteshwara of Badami.

Three MLAs took the oath of office in the name of their political mentor, Deve Gowda and DK Shivakumar. S Manjunath, the JDS MLA from Mulbagilu, took the oath in the name of the JDS supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

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The Congress MLA from Channagiri, Shivaganga Basavaraj, and Kunigal MLA HD Ranganath took the oath as legislators in the name of their political mentor Shivakumar and God.

Newly appointed state ministers Dr G Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa, KJ George, Priyank Kharge, MB Patil, and Satish Jarkiholi, took the oath as MLAs in the name of the Constitution of India and God.
It is time for opposition unity, especially with the Congress winning a bitterly fought election against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka. The latest battleground now is the new parliament building.

It all began with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announcing that PM Narendra Modi would inaugurate the new building, built in a record time, on May 28. Then began the protests with the Congress taking the lead.

ALSO READ | Reconsider Decision to Boycott Inauguration of New Parliament Building: Union Minister to Opposition Parties

First, Rahul Gandhi cryptically tweeted that the president and not the PM should inaugurate it.

              -              ,       Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 24, 2023

The Congress president took it a step further and played the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Dalit card, accusing the BJP and PM of being anti-Dalit and backward. He alleged that former president Kovind was not invited for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the new building, while the current president Droupadi Murmu has not been invited for the inauguration.

It looks like the Modi Govt has ensured election of President of India from the Dalit and the Tribal communities only for electoral reasons. While Former President, Shri Kovind was not invited for the New Parliament foundation laying ceremony 1/4  Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 22, 2023

The stand by Kharge is significant. All eyes are on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, as also the upcoming state polls. The Congress hopes to do well in 2024, by wooing the SC, ST and backwards. It feels that this has been their strong vote bank and worked for them in Karnataka as well.

Hence the twist to the boycott politics.

THE ORDINANCE

The opposition stands divided on the ordinance issue which does a rollback on power given to the Delhi government by the Supreme Court on appointments. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been reaching out to opposition parties namely the Janata Dal United (JDU), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena to get support on this. But with the Congress not playing ball, the division in the opposition ranks is visible.

BOYCOTT TROUBLE

On the issue of boycott of the new parliament building, 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party (SP), AAP, among others, have decided to join hands.

The boycott could, however, pose a problem for the opposition parties on two counts.

One, the new building epitomises aatmanirbharta or self-reliance also a counter to the colonial legacy. The BJP will make a point that the opposition parties have scant regard for Indian-ness and work done by workers. Also, that opposition parties led by the Congress care more about our colonial masters and foreigners than us. On nationalism and national interest issues, the Congress, like few other opposition parties, have been on the backfoot. For the Lok Sabha at least, the BJP and PM are bound to make this an issue.

Also, the inauguration is being preceded by a small havan and this again is being objected to by party leaders. Interestingly, keeping the Hindutva vote bank in mind, none of the other opposition parties are likely to make this an issue.

In the last parliament session, the opposition had ganged up against the government, citing scant regard for them. Also the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi was the bonding factor.

ALSO READ | Almost All Oppn Parties to Boycott New Parliament Building Inauguration; SAD, BRS Yet to Decide

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Not surprisingly, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), YSR Congress and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will participate in the inauguration. These parties, of late, have been running close to the BJP and the TDP certainly has been cosying up to the BJP in the hope of rejoining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The new parliament building is opening on the edifice of acrimony between the government and opposition. A sign that in the run-up to 2024, this rift is likely to widen.
The political dispute surrounding the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued on Tuesday, as Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri criticized the Congress party for allegedly lacking national spirit and sense of pride" in Indias progress. In response, the Opposition party accused Puri of attempting to obfuscate and dissimulate."

During a press briefing, Puri highlighted that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe building on October 24, 1975, while her successor Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation of the parliament library on August 15, 1987. These historical events were mentioned in the context of the ongoing controversy over the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

#WATCH | In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can't our head of government do the same?: Union Minister Hardeep pic.twitter.com/syv8SXGwIS ANI (@ANI) May 23, 2023

If your head of government can inaugurate Parliament annexe and library then why cant the head of the government of this time do? Its as simple as that," he said. Puris remarks came a day after the Congress accused the government of disrespecting constitutional propriety and demanded that President Droupadi Murmu inaugurate the new Parliament building, instead of Modi.

Hitting back at Puri, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari Tuesday alleged that the minister is trying to obfuscate and dissimulate". Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, I am afraid, is trying to obfuscate and dissimulate. There is a difference between an annexe to the Parliament, library and a new Parliament building," he said in a tweet.

Chairperson of the Council of States Vice President of India is also conspicuous by his absence on the invitation card," he added. Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

In a series of tweets on Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had raised objection to President Murmu not being invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying the Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India, and the President of India is its highest Constitutional authority. It looks like the Modi government has ensured the election of President of India from the dalit and the tribal communities only for electoral reasons," he had also charged.

On Kharges remark, Congress leader Shahi Tharoor then tweeted, Articles 60 and 111 of the Constitution make it clear that the President is the head of Parliament. It was bizarre enough that the PM performed the ground-breaking ceremony and puja when construction began, but totally incomprehensible and arguably unconstitutional for him and not the President to inaugurate the building."

Puri earlier in the day also issued a series of tweets, alleging, From criticising the new Parliament building and questioning its very necessity despite many of them advocating for it before but not executing it, Congress president and other worthies are now shifting the goalpost by generously misquoting an article a day from the Constitution."

After uncharitable comments about Honble President in the past by its leaders, Congress president now makes uncalled for and gratuitous comments on her election. Tragic that Congress claiming to be a national party lacks any national spirit and sense of pride in Indias progress," he added. The minister further said, They should feel better if they remember Oct 24, 1975 the day when Smt Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe. Or, August 15, 1987 when Sh Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of the Parliament Library.

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So, instead of now finding articles to justify their hypocrisy, why cant they just smile and join India on this momentous achievement & her march to greatness." NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto wondered if it was not the right of President Murmu to inaugurate the new Parliament building for her being the head of the country.

Our Parliament is our temple of democracy and the Constitutional head of our country is our President," he said, adding Therefore is it not the right of our President to inaugurate the new Parliament House?" .
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar reached the national capital Wednesday, as he and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah are likely to meet the top Congress leadership to discuss cabinet expansion in the state. Siddaramaiah is expected to arrive here late at night, sources said.

After landing here, Shivakumar told reporters that it was a normal routine visit" and that he will meet senior party leaders to discuss issues concerning the state. We have to finish our cabinet (expansion) as early as possible. That is in process. My chief minister is also coming," he said. He said they will meet the top leadership including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

Rejecting rumours of a rift within the party, Shivakumar said, As the party president (Karnataka), I am telling you that nothing is there, no internal issues are there.

On being asked about supporters of Congress MLA D Sudhakar staging a protest outside Siddaramaiahs house, Shivakumar said, (Its) quite natural. All of the workers (of the party) want to become ministers."

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively, along with eight ministers on May 20.

Portfolios have not been allocated to the ministers yet. According to Congress sources, the party high command approved the first list of eight ministers against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of legislators into the cabinet.

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This was done as there were allegedly differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over some names, during discussions held last week in Delhi ahead of swearing-in ceremony. Karnataka can have a maximum of 34 ministers, and the Congress will find it difficult to accommodate all the aspirants.

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Is being literate important to bring development to a society? This has become the million-dollar question, especially when more than 12 per cent candidates whom people voted to power in the recent urban local polls in Uttar Pradesh, dont know how to read and write.

Official data with the State Election Commission (SEC) has not only revealed the shocking statistics but also suggests that 2.71 per cent of the total candidates have a tainted background.

The polls, which were labelled the semi-finals ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha battle, saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) make a clean sweep by winning all 17 seats for the post of mayor. BJP also scored well when it came to other seats, including that of councillors, municipal council presidents, member municipal councils and municipal council members. UP saw a grand celebration, with chief minister Yogi Adityanath holding a press conference even before the results were announced to express his gratitude towards the people.

However, of the total candidates who were voted to power, around 12 per cent are illiterate. Further party-wise breakup of the data suggests that 262 of 3,873 candidates elected to various posts are illiterate.

Samajwadi Party (SP) comes next with 155 of the 1,215 candidates elected to different posts being unable to read and write.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) stood third as of the total 544 winning candidates, 84 are illiterate. Congress was fourth with 45 of 263 winning candidates. Similarly, of the 103 winning candidates of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), 19 are illiterates.

Other than highlighting the total percentage of illiterate candidates who were voted to power, the SECs data also revealed candidates with a criminal background. Of the BJPs winning candidates, 120 have a criminal background. Among other parties, SPs 64, BSPs 20, Congress 16 and RLDs 7 winning candidates have a criminal background.

The first phase of the UP urban local polls was held on May 4 where 46 per cent voting was recorded. In the first phase, according to official figures, around 2,40,00,000 voters used their right to elect 10 mayors, 820 councillors, 103 municipal council presidents, 2,740 member municipal councils, 275 presidents, including 3,645 municipal council members. In the second phase, the polling was held on May 11 to elect representatives for posts across 760 local bodies in the state.

Among the political parties, the ruling BJP fielded the highest number of candidates, followed by the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The BJP had fielded 10,758 candidates (including 4,248 women), the highest among all the parties. The SP has fielded the second-highest number of candidates  5,231 (2,223 women), followed by the BSPs 3,787 (1,611 women). The Congress and the AAP have fielded 2,994 (1,395 women) and 2,447 (1,031 women) candidates, respectively.

More than 46 per cent of the candidates fielded by the Congress were women and this appears to be higher than that of all other main political players. Among the BJP candidates, 39.48 were women, which was lower than that of the BSP (42.54%), the SP (42.49%) and AAP (42%).

Expressing their concern over the trend, political pundits and analysts said graduation should be the minimum qualification for candidates and only those with a clean image should be allowed to contest elections.

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Politics is no different from any other profession. In fact, politics is one of the most important professions that comes with a big responsibility. I think in politics too, a minimum qualification rider should be used as I believe an educated candidate can fulfil their responsibilities in a much better way, said SK Dwivedi, ex-head of department of political science, University of Lucknow.

Kaushal Kishore Mishra, former head of the department of political science at Banaras Hindu University, said the election commission should restrict the entry of candidates with tainted background. I think, a person with a clean image should be allowed to contest polls. This will portray a clean image of politics and politicians in the country, said Mishra.
Engineers in India have started to receive patents in 6G technology, with the number around 100 as of now, said Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw.

While talking about the vision of PM Narendra Modi, Vaishnaw said that in case of 5G, India will be sharing the stage with the world, but in 6G technology, the country can take the lead.

The country is now becoming a technology exporter. Today, the additional secretary called me and said the US wants to use Indias 4G, 5G technology, he said, during a press event for the launch of Chardham Fibre Connectivity and 2,00,000th 5G site in Dehradun.

He further noted that considering the pace, it is possible that by December 31, there will be 3,00,000 sites.

Elaborating on India as a technology provider, the minister said: The most advanced and complex equipment in a telecom tower is the radio equipment. In this category, made in India equipment is mostly being installed in the US."

India launched 5G in October 2022 and it has been the fastest technology roll-out in the country.

According to the data, telecommunications service providers (TSPs) have been installing around 10,000 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) every week. Services were accessible in 500 cities across the country by the end of March, and the 5G network has now touched over 3,000 cities spread across 685 districts.

While talking about BSNL, the Union Minister said: The deployment of Indias 4G and 5G stack started with BSNL. Between Chandigarh and Dehradun, at 200 sites, the installation is completed, and within the next two weeks, it will go live."

The BSNL stack is basically 4G that is upgradable to 5G. In November or December, just with a small software adjustment, the network will become 5G," he added.

In terms of connectivity in border areas, Vaishnaw stated that the scheme of vibrant villages will help such regions. He also said that 1,581 villages need 4G service. To do so, the cabinet has already approved funds and the responsibility has been given to BSNL.

It is important to use Indias 4G and 5G stack so that the concerns related to cybersecurity can be reduced," Vaishnaw noted.

In March 2023, details related to Indias 6G plans were released. The PM introduced the Bharat 6G Vision Document and opened the 6G R&D test bed. The paper will be critical in accelerating Indias adoption of new technology.

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The government has already formed an apex committee to manage the project and deal with concerns such as standardisation, spectrum identification for 6G usage, funding for research and development and creating an ecosystem.

The government has decided to divide Indias 6G mission into two parts  phase 1 between 2023 and 2025 and phase 2 between 2025 and 2030.
Prasantha Gadkara, a construction worker from Uttara Kannada, showcases his talent by creating stunning art pieces, such as replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Kedarnath Temple, using coffee stirrer sticks during his free time. Originally from Karwar city in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, Prasantha is currently dedicated to his occupation as a labourer, contributing to the construction of the Ram Mandir.

Ever since his childhood, Prasantha has been captivated by the world of art. During his leisure time, he channels his fascination into crafting replicas of renowned historical landmarks. His collection encompasses iconic structures such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Gateway to Mumbai, the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the Kedarnath Temple, and the Ekashila Ratha of Hampi - a Stone Chariot situated in front of the Vijaya Vittala Temple in central Karnatakas Hampi. Initially, he fashioned these creations using fire sticks, but upon encountering coffee stirrers at a cafe, he opted for them as a replacement. His process commences with cutting and shaping the sticks into the desired forms.

He said, The passion for art helps me in creating these masterpieces irrespective of the expenses that I incur. I purchase the sticks online, where 500 sticks cost Rs. 350. I utilise more than 5 bundles to create a single piece, which amounts to a few thousands. Even though I work as a daily wage labourer, the love for art continues to motivate me."

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When asked about his plans for future commercial projects, he responded to News18, As of now, I have no intentions of working commercially. However, if circumstances align favourably, I might consider pursuing commercial opportunities."

From the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the Great Pyramids of Egypt, these renowned monuments have taken on a delightful and enchanting metamorphosis, captivating the online community. In a recent artistic endeavor, an Instagram artist has utilised digital tools and a distinctive creative perspective to breathe life into landmarks like the Arc de Triomphe, Colosseum, Saint Basils Cathedral, Stonehenge, and others, by transforming them into whimsical inflatable avatars through the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). These familiar structures were reimagined with a playful twist, evoking a profound sense of childlike wonder and awe.
The First Deputy Minister of Defense  Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev, who is on an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, met with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan, Army General Syed Asim Munir, Azernews reports.

An official welcoming ceremony was held before the meeting. After the national anthems of both countries were performed, the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General K. Valiyev passed along the guard of honor.

The sides met first in private and then in an expanded format.

Army General A. Munir welcomed the guests and expressed his satisfaction with seeing them in Pakistan. He congratulated the Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the victory in the Patriotic War and ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Pakistani COAS noted that the friendly relations between the armies of Azerbaijan and Pakistan are in progress and have entered a new stage. He pointed out that Pakistan attaches special importance to military cooperation with Azerbaijan and that there are great opportunities for further development of military relations.

Expressing his gratitude for the invitation, Colonel General K. Valiyev noted that there are historically friendly relations between the two nations, and these relations greatly contributed to the development of bilateral military cooperation along with other fields.

Colonel General K. Valiyev emphasized that the development and expansion of cooperation with Pakistan in the military field as in all fields are always in the spotlight of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Mr. Ilham Aliyev.

Speaking about the provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on the conditional border, the Chief of the General Staff emphasized that this was intentionally done by Armenia with the aim of aggravating the situation, and each time a worthy response was given to them.

At the meeting, the importance of expanding relations between the types of troops of the armies of the two countries, holding joint Azerbaijani-Pakistani-Turkish exercises, as well as further development of trilateral cooperation were emphasized.

The sides discussed cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan in the military, military-technical, and military-educational spheres, continuation of mutual visits, as well as other issues regarding the security and fight against terrorism.
The year was 2007. Drew Carey had a successful, widely-beloved sitcom and his writers went on strike, seeking better wages and residuals on this new platform called "internet." In a show of solidarity with his comedy cousins, Drew graciously agreed to buy lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake for any striking writer who showed his or her WGA card, tip included, for the duration of the strike.

Cut to 2023, and Drew, now the widely beloved host of The Price is Right, has renewed his offer, and expanded it. Striking writers can show their WGA card at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake, or at Swingers on Beverly Blvd, just blocks from where TPIR shoots and, one assumes, Drew has lunch sometimes. Before or after a shift of walking in circles, soliciting honks, and catching up with other writers, a good, hot, free meal is very welcome.

This is the kind of Good Egg behavior that people remember, that promotes solidarity among people struggling to make a living in the arts, and that gets one described as "widely beloved" on sometimes cynical directories of wonderful things.
Its time for an electrifying showdown at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai! The Lucknow Super Giants and the Mumbai Indians are set to clash in the eliminator of this IPL season. The Mumbai Indians, the undisputed champions with five titles, are determined to maintain their winning streak. However, theyll face a tough challenge from the mighty Lucknow Super Giants, a team that has stormed into the playoffs for the second consecutive season. No doubt, its a do-or-die situation for both teams, as the one that falls short will be eliminated from the tournament.

Amidst the excitement surrounding the high-octane match, IPL fans have unleashed a hilarious meme battle on Twitter. As the tension mounts, fans have found solace and amusement in the world of memes, aligning themselves with their respective teams ahead of this crucial showdown. So, worry not, for the memes are here to provide you with some much-needed relief and laughter. Just scroll down and get ready to embark on a rib-tickling journey before the epic clash unfolds!

Today MI vs LSG Match Scenario :-GT Keeping An Eye And CSK & CSK Fans Chilling . pic.twitter.com/VpG5NxKb8V Aufridi Chumtya (@ShuhidAufridi) May 24, 2023

Through to Playoffs with the worst bowling lineup in the tournament #MumbaiIndians #MumbaiMeriJaan pic.twitter.com/aFJ2WeLWom MM19 (@Harish_4902) May 21, 2023

Mandatory Match day prayers Don't forget to keep Mumbai Indians in your prayer. pic.twitter.com/PYhmJpItbm R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) May 24, 2023

Lsg gonna win the cuppic.twitter.com/aWZEOtydo5 . (@niikhiill_) May 24, 2023

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As Rohit Sharma and his team step onto the field, they exude confidence, thanks to their in-form batsmen who have been delivering outstanding performances. The recent century by Australias Cameron Green and the skipper finding his rhythm again have bolstered their optimism. However, one cannot overlook the formidable batting lineup of the Lucknow Super Giants, boasting the talents of opener Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, and Nicholas Pooran, who have been nothing short of sensational.

Interestingly, MI and LSG have faced each other three times in the IPL, and surprisingly, the former hasnt managed to secure a single victory against their opponents. With this history hanging over them, Wednesday evening promises an exhilarating and unpredictable match that is bound to keep fans on the edge of their seats!
Kami Rita Sherpa, a renowned climber from Nepal, has once again etched his name in the annals of history with an enormous display of his mountaineering prowess. The 53-year-old Sherpa has accomplished an astounding 28 successful ascents of the formidable Mt. Everest, breaking his own previous record. This extraordinary feat was accomplished in a mere week, with his triumphant summit on Tuesday morning at approximately 9:20 AM.

The spring 2023 climbing season for Sherpa has proven to be nothing less than monumental. On May 17, only a few days before his record-breaking ascent, he had already ascended Everest for the 27th time, laying the foundation for his remarkable accomplishment. The Seven Summit Trek, organised by Chhang Dawa Sherpa, served as the platform for this awe-inspiring endeavour, highlighting Kami Rita Sherpas unparalleled skill and unwavering determination.

Sherpa, who is from the eastern Solukhumbu area of Nepal, was inspired to take up climbing on May 13, 1994, when he successfully climbed Everest for the first time. He has since relentlessly followed his mountaineering ambitions and is now a prestigious senior climbing guide in Kathmandu.

Beyond the renowned ascent of Mt. Everest, Sherpa has successfully scaled several dreadful mountains above 8,000 metres in elevation, including Mt. K2, Mt. Lhotse, Mt. Manaslu, and Mt. Cho Oyu. His excellent resume is a testament to his exceptional climbing skills and constant commitment to his profession.

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The Nepalese government issues yearly permits for climbing Everest in recognition of the mountains attractiveness and increasing desire for adventure. The government issued a maximum of 480 permits this year. However, the mountains spectacular beauty carries inherent dangers, and unfortunately, this season has already seen the loss of 10 lives.

The worlds mountaineering community will definitely applaud Kami Rita Sherpas incredible accomplishment as the spring climbing season progresses. His unwavering attitude continues to act as an inspiration for all who dare to dream and pursue the pinnacle of human potential.
Mexicos iconic Popocatepetl volcano has unleashed a series of intensified eruptions since May 15. This mesmerizing display of might has captivated onlookers and at the same time caused authorities to take precautionary measures. Timelapse footage shared by BBC on Instagram has unveiled the breathtaking eruptions, revealing colossal bursts of ash shooting into the sky. Situated in central Mexico, the Popocatepetl volcano has been the centre of attention for the past few weeks as its activity reached heightened levels. The eruptions have been spewing plumes of ash into the atmosphere, triggering concerns for the safety and well-being of nearby communities. As a precautionary measure, multiple schools in the surrounding areas have been temporarily closed to protect students and staff from potential health risks associated with ashfall.

The timelapse footage of the volcano provides a captivating glimpse into the raw power and grandeur of the volcano. With each eruption, billowing clouds of ash soar into the sky, creating a dramatic and awe-inspiring spectacle.

Social media users have expressed how in awe they were of this marvel of nature. For some, this was the perfect example of Mother Nature reigning supreme. Others were simply enjoying the view of the night sky and the volcano erupting, creating a perfect blend of two worlds coming together. Nice night sky. I love Mexico, wrote an Instagram user.

Another user wrote, Mother nature at its best.

Not everyone was impressed by what they saw. A comment read, Somehow I expected more.

As scientists and authorities closely monitor the volcanos activity, the population living in its vicinity is on alert. The eruptions are a reminder of the powerful forces at play beneath the Earths surface, showcasing both the beauty and potential danger associated with volcanic activity. While the recent eruptions have caused disruptions and concerns, they have also offered a glimpse into the awe-inspiring wonders of our planet.

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Situated approximately 70 kilometres southeast of Mexico City, the renowned Popocatepetl volcano holds the distinction of being one of Mexicos most active volcanoes. Since January 2005, this majestic stratovolcano has remained in a state of eruption, consistently emitting gases and steam from fumaroles, occasionally accompanied by minor ash emissions.

Popocatepetls geographical location places it in close proximity to two major population centres: Mexico City and Puebla.
The head of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said that around 10,000 prisoners he recruited to fight in Ukraine have been killed on the battlefield.

Last year, Prigozhin toured Russian prisons in a bid to convince inmates to fight with Wagner in Ukraine, in exchange for a promised amnesty upon their return should they survive.

Convicts are believed to have been used as cannon fodder in Ukraine, accounting for most of Wagners losses in the pro-Western country.

I took 50,000 prisoners of which around 20 percent were killed," Prigozhin said in a video interview published late Tuesday.

Prigozhin said a similar percentage were killed among those who had signed a contract with Wagner, but did not give a precise figure.

Both the mercenary outfit and regular Russian troops said at the weekend that the flashpoint town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine had fallen, but Kyiv said Ukrainian forces continued to fight for it.

Prigozhin, whose influence has risen hugely during the more than year-long offensive, has scathingly criticised Russias top brass, accusing them of being responsible for huge losses.

He has accused Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov of being incompetent and causing excess losses.

There are now tens of thousands of relatives of those who were killed. Probably there will be hundreds of thousands. We cannot hide from this," he said.

He called on Russias military elite to send their own children to the front.

Prigozhin, a businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, has slammed the Russian elites, saying their children live comfortably while men from impoverished regions die in Ukraine.

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Prigozhin said his fighters will pull out of the destroyed city by June 1 and transfer control to the Russian army.

In early May, the White House said that more than 20,000 Russian troops have died and another 80,000 were wounded in five months of fighting in eastern Ukraine, particularly in Bakhmut.
President Joe Biden receiving a large number of requests to the state dinner he is hosting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows the excitement level, the White House has said. I think that is a good thing.

That shows the excitement of the prime minister being here on June 22, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Tuesday.

She was responding to a question on President Biden receiving a large number of requests from Indian-Americans across his administration, lawmakers and corporate sector leaders seeking an invitation to the much sought after state dinner he and First Lady Jill Biden are hosting for Modi next month.

I think that is a good thing, to get those requests. I think that is important and show why it is critical to continue growing that partnership that we have with India, Jean-Pierre said. The president and the first lady looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for the official state visit, which is as we announced, is going to happen on June 22nd," she said.

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This will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India, and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and clearly Indians together, the press secretary said. That is very important to the president. The visit will also strengthen our two countries shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to evaluate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space," the official added.
Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has terminated the employment of three cabin crew members following an accusation via viral video post on social media made by a passenger regarding discriminatory behaviour towards non-English speakers, triggering anger in China.

Airline CEO Ronald Lam on Tuesday issued an apology to the passenger and the community regarding the incident that took place on a flight from Chengdu in southwest China to Hong Kong on Sunday. Lam reaffirmed the airlines firm stance of zero tolerance" towards any significant violation of its policies and code of conduct.

There is no compromise for such violations, he said in a statement.

The dismissal occurred following a complaint made by a passenger through an online post, alleging that certain cabin crew members displayed disrespect towards passengers who did not speak English or Cantonese, which is widely spoken in Hong Kong. The individual, who was seated near the crews resting area, overheard them expressing dissatisfaction about customers.

During the whole flight, not a moment went by when I was not distressed or angry, the passenger wrote.

According to the online post, the cabin crew members were accused of mocking passengers who mistakenly used the terms blanket" and carpet" interchangeably in English. The crew were alleged to have shown impatience when someone sought assistance in English.

An audio clip posted on social media featured a comment saying, If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it," which was followed by laughter. The recording then continued with the statement, Carpet is on the floor."

Cathay Pacific issued an apology on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Monday, acknowledging the unpleasant experience" endured by passengers on the flight. However, the apology did not succeed in calming the anger sparked by the passengers post.

On Tuesday, the overseas edition of the official Chinese Peoples Daily newspaper expressed strong criticism towards Cathay Pacific through its Weibo account, in response to the incident. The post stated, It appears that the company culture still upholds a sense of superiority that reveres foreigners and respects Hong Kongers while looking down upon mainlanders." It urged the airline to introspect and implement measures to put an end to this detrimental trend.

Hong Kongs Chief Executive, John Lee, expressed his disappointment upon learning about the disrespectful behavior that harmed the relationship between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese residents. He conveyed to Cathay Pacifics CEO that the incident was of grave concern and should not be repeated.

Lam Sai-hung, the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, stated on Wednesday that he had conveyed his deep concerns to Cathay Pacific and urged the management to swiftly enhance the companys services. He expressed his distress over the crew members inappropriate comments" and deemed the incident a severe violation of Hong Kongs reputation for service excellence.

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Cathay Pacific is currently in the process of rebuilding its business, having faced significant financial losses due to stringent travel restrictions imposed during the pandemic. In March, the airline announced a loss of 6.55 billion Hong Kong dollars ($834.4 million) for the year 2022, representing an 18.5% increase compared to 2021. These losses were primarily attributed to the strict entry restrictions imposed on the city during the first half of the previous year.

(With inputs from AP)
Pakistans former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday denounced government crackdown on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders as the law of the jungle" and brazen violation of Supreme Court rulings.

This rebuke came shortly after PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi was re-arrested and houses of other party leaders were raided by the authorities.

Thousands staged violent protests and attacked public property and military installations following Khans arrest earlier this month. His party members reportedly engaged in acts of vandalism, targeting several military installations, including the ISI building in Faisalabad.

The clashes led to death of a number of people, resulting in numerous arrests were made, with thousands of Khans supporters and party leaders taken into custody.

PTI leaders ditch party

After the violent incidents that occurred on May 9, several prominent figures of PTI have decided to leave the party, with as many as 35 leaders already ditching their embattled leader.

It is a part of the process of isolating Imran Khan and telling him that one cant be an effective political player in Pakistani politics if one fights with the establishment, analyst Hasan Askari told AFP.

As per reports, key leaders of the party, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Fawad Chaudhary, have been absent from the political scene for the past eight days.

Shireen Mazari, a former federal minister and PTI politician, has recently announced her departure from the PTI. Shireen, who served as a rights minister in his 2018-2022 government, was considered a close associate of Khan.

She was arrested last Thursday on charges of inciting people to violence, then released on Monday, only to be rearrested again later in the evening. Shireen was freed again sometime later and spoke at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

I have decided to leave active politics and I will not be a part of PTI or any political party from today, she said, adding that she was quitting for health reasons.

PTI vice president to remain

Meanwhile, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi was re-arrested on Tuesday outside Punjabs Adiala Jail immediately after his release.

Despite his arrest, PTI Vice Chairman said that he was a member of the party and would not part ways with it. I am with the party, and I will stay with it," he was quoted as saying by Dawn while being re-arrested.

Condemning Qureshis arrest on Twitter, Imran Khan said, We are now being governed by law of the jungle, might is right and the only thing standing in its way is our judiciary."

The constitution is being brazenly violated along with SC rulings. Police being used to crush PTI, our leaders forced to quit the party," he tweeted.

Vice Chairman PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi rearrested after getting bail just like PTI workers and supporters.We are now being governed by law of the jungle, might is right and the only thing standing in its way is our judiciary. The constitution is being brazenly violated along  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 23, 2023

He said fundamental rights are being openly trampled upon, the media totally muzzled and activists are threatened.

Earlier on Tuesday, Imran Khan pressed his legal battle before a court in the capital, Islamabad, which granted him protection from arrest until early next month in several cases including terrorism charges for inciting violence.

Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April last year, has campaigned against the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, claiming his ouster was illegal and demanding early elections.

Following the Islamabad courts decision on Tuesday to grant Khan protection from arrest on terrorism charges until June 8, he and his wife made their way to Rawalpindi. There Khan presented himself before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for interrogation related to a separate corruption case.

After a comprehensive four-hour questioning session, the couple returned to their residence in Lahore. At present, there is no immediate information available regarding the details of Khans interaction with the agency.

The allegations against the couple involve the acceptance of a property gift with the intention of establishing a private university in exchange for favoring a real estate magnate.

Khan firmly denies the accusations, asserting that neither he nor his wife, Bushra Bibi, were involved in any illicit activities.

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(With agency inputs)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the decision to light up the sails of the Sydney Opera House in the colours of the Indian flag on Wednesday evening (local time) will help cement relationships between both countries, according to a report by Australian news outlet 2GB and 9News.

Sydney turning it up for Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi  pic.twitter.com/iSQYYyMYsb Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 24, 2023

The Sydney Harbour was also illuminated in the colours of the Indian flag.

#WATCH | The Sydney Harbour and Opera House light up in the colours of India's national flag ahead of PM @narendramodis visit. @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/SeWKS3c6qU DD News (@DDNewslive) May 24, 2023

The Australian news agency said that the sails were lit in a show of respect as Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his three-day visit to the country after almost a decade. He last visited Australia in 2014.

There are 1.4 billion reasons why we want the Indian flag on the opera house because it is the largest population in the world. One of the things about lighting up the Opera House is it projects our image to the world, Albanese was quoted as saying by news outlet 2GB.

Two thirds of those 1.4 billion people are under the age of 35, we want a relationship with them, we want them to come to Australia and bring their dollars, the Australian Prime Minister further added.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visit the Sydney Harbour and Opera House, in Australia. pic.twitter.com/tgToEmv2gf ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023

The last time the sails of the Opera House were lit in the tricolour was to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence in August last year.

During his conversation with 2GBs Chris OKeefe, Albanese was questioned about not lighting the sails of the Opera House during the coronation ceremony of King Charles V earlier this month.

The Sydney Harbour and the Opera House was lit up in colours of the Indian tricolour ahead of PM Modis visit there pic.twitter.com/x4LooEx1Me Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_) May 24, 2023

It wasnt our decision about the Kings Coronation, state governments took various decisions around the country. I was in the UK so I wasnt a party to any of those decisions, Albanese was quoted as saying by 2GB.

The report said that Australian state New South Waless premier Chris Minns came under criticism earlier this month for deciding not to light the sails for the kings coronation. He took the decision citing cost to the taxpayer.

The Prime Minister said the kings coronation was commemorated via other appropriate displays in capital Canberra. The report said that the federal government of Australia will be covering the cost of lighting up the sails on Wednesday night.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Albanese held a bilateral meeting this morning where both discussed measures to take India and Australia relations to the next level. They signed several memorandum of understanding and discussed increasing cooperation in areas of trade and investment, defence and security, renewable energy, green hydrogen, critical minerals, education, migration and mobility, and people to people ties.

Both of them also attended Australias Indian Diaspora mega event at Homebushs Qudos Bank Arena with 20,000 other people.
After two top Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders quit the party, former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said PTI leaders are leaving politics due to pressure and warned the government that one day tables will turn.

The 70-year-old leader and PTI chief said fundamental rights have ceased to exist in Pakistan.

Fundamentals rights have ceased to exist in Pakistan. If you think that now you have a license to kill, you must know that one day tables will turn. Whoever is ready to bend the knees in front of the power, will only survive here in this country. PTI leaders are leaving politics due to pressure you cant kill the idea of PTI, he said.

People have now got the idea of Azadi. You cannot kill that idea. You cannot withhold information in the times of social media, he added.

The former premier made it clear that he wont accept defeat" and said, I am ready for whatever they will do."

Earlier in the day, Imrans his close aide and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry resigned from his party. Chaudhrys resignation came a day after former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari quit 70-year-old Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and condemned the actions of the former prime ministers supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the government is mulling a possible ban on Imran Khans PTI following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after the former prime ministers arrest.

Asif said that Khan was still reluctant to condemn the attacks by his supporters on military and civilian installations. A decision (to ban PTI) has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway, he said.

He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party. The minister said that the former premier considered the army as his adversary. His (Khans) entire politics was done in the lap of the army and today he has suddenly decided to stand against it," Asif said.

On May 9, violent protests erupted after paramilitary Rangers arrested Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commanders House, the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khans arrest.

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The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also stormed by the mob for the first time. Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khans 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.

(With PTI inputs)
The Pakistan government is considering banning former prime minister Imran Khans political party PTI, defence minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday.

He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party.

The move comes amid political instability in the country following Khans arrest on May 9 on corruption charges, before he walked free on bail on court orders.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan, who says the corruption charges have been concocted, is embroiled in a confrontation with the present government and state institutions.

It is under consideration to ban PTI," Asif told reporters. The PTI has attacked the very basis of the state, that never happened before. It cant be tolerated."

The former PMs arrest sparked widespread protests across the country. Army establishments and state buildings faced arson and vandalism.

PTI lawyer Ali Zafar said that even if such a decision is made, it is likely to be declared null and void within a day by the Supreme Court (SC) as a political party cannot be banned.

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The statement came in response to a question from the media outside the Supreme Court. The lawyer referred to the past case of banning Jamat-e-Islami (JI).

An attempt had been made to ban Jamat-e-Islami a long time ago but the Supreme Court ruled that a ban cannot be imposed as it was a basic right of everyone to create a political party," Zafar said.
Two days ago, the NAACP and other civil rights groups issued a travel advisory warning African Americans and other people of color to stay away from Florida. Now they're joined by The Human Rights Campaign, the U.S.'s largest gay advocacy group.

While the LGBTQ+ advocacy group said it wasn't calling for a boycott or making a blanket recommendation against visiting Florida, it said it wanted to highlight new laws passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature that they said are hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, restrict abortion access and allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit. "Those who visit must join us in their vocal opposition to these dangerous policies," Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. "Those who pick another place to work, to go to school or to spend their vacation should make clear why they're not heading to Florida."

Some leading conservatives briefly affected outrage at the NAACP's announcement. But they were not joined by U.S. Senator Rick Scott, formerly the state's governor, who said that "socialists" should not come to the state in a mocking travel advisory of his own.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on Wednesday discussed the issue of attacks on temples across Australia and the actions of separatist elements during their bilateral meeting.

PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attacks on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their actions or thoughts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

#WATCH | PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia pic.twitter.com/CJxdU64upC ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023

PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future as well, PM Modi further added.

Anti-social elements and alleged supporters of the separatist Khalistani movements were engaged in vandalisation of Hindu temples and other places of worship across Australia.

The intensity of these attacks increased in January where in a matter of three weeks at least four temples were attacked. At least three temples in Melbourne were targeted in the month of January by pro-Khalistan supporters who vandalised the premises and sprayed anti-India and pro-Khalistani graffiti on the walls of the temples.

In January, pro-Khalistani activists targeted three temples in the Melbourne region which led to tensions within the Indian diaspora. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple in Melbournes Mill Park was first vandalised on January 12, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs was vandalised on January 16 and the wall of the ISKCON temple in Melbourne was defaced with Khalistan Zindabad graffiti on January 23.

Anti-social elements also vandalised the Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Brisbanes Burbank suburb in March. The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Rosehill, Sydney, was attacked weeks before PM Modis visit.

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During Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses visit to India in March, Prime Minister Modi addressed the issue of frequent attacks on Hindu temples, expressing his concerns and raising the matter for discussion.

In a separate interview with CNN-News18s Zakka Jacob earlier this year, the former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said the Federation Square and other protests in Melbourne organised by Khalistan separatists was led by mostly those who came to Australia on tourist visas under the false pretext of holidaying.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Australian leader of the opposition and former defence minister Peter Dutton on Wednesday. He conveyed to Dutton that India appreciates the strong bipartisan support that Australia offers when it comes to India-Australia relations.

A relationship enjoying support across the political spectrum. PM Narendra Modi had a productive meeting with the Leader of Opposition MP Peter Dutton in Sydney. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation for the strong bipartisan support that our partnership enjoys. Also discussed various aspects of bilateral ties, including people to people linkages, as well as regional developments, the external affairs ministry said, sharing images of their meeting.

| A relationship enjoying support across political spectrum. PM @narendramodi had a productive meeting with Leader of Opposition @PeterDutton_MP in Sydney. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation for the strong bipartisan support that our partnership enjoys. Also discussed pic.twitter.com/CNqzGrwpL1  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 24, 2023

Peter Dutton also spoke to Anand Narasimhan, the managing editor of CNN-News18, on Tuesday where he said that he was amazed by the reception PM Modi received from Australian Indians and the diaspora during the mega event in Sydneys Qudos Bank Arena.

It was an informed speech. He connected with Australia and he knew where the opportunities were. Education, environment, defence, security and there are many other areas where we can strengthen our relationship, Dutton told CNN-News18.

We are on the ground floor. This relationship has just started. We are going up and at a fast rate. The diaspora community here, the connections, and the interconnectivity will bring two words closer. There is no other trusted friend than PM Modi Dutton said.

Dutton also discussed the issue of temples being attacked in Australia and said that there is no place for hate and intolerance in Australian society.

We need to call out bad behaviour whenever we see it. The authorities will come down hard on such behaviour and it is not acceptable, Dutton said.

Delighted to meet Governor General David Hurley and discuss India-Australia relations. Stronger ties between our nations will contribute towards building a better planet. pic.twitter.com/fo1PPVeNJF Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 24, 2023

PM Modi also met the Governor General of Australia David Hurley. Delighted to meet Governor General David Hurley and discuss India-Australia relations. Stronger ties between our nations will contribute towards building a better planet, PM Modi said in a tweet after his meeting.

The India-Australia friendship is a special one! pic.twitter.com/1w38JLHzef Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 24, 2023

PM Modi was accorded a Ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Admiralty House in Sydney ahead of his bilateral meeting with counterpart Anthony Albanese.

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PM Modi and Albanese discussed a broad range of issues including cooperation in areas of trade and investment, defence and security, renewable energy, green hydrogen, critical minerals, education, migration and mobility, and people to people ties, the external affairs ministry said.

(with inputs from CNN-News18)
Investigators scoured the banks of a reservoir in southern Portugal on Wednesday hoping to shed light on the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann which sparked international outcry but few solid leads despite years of inquiries.

Madeleine McCann was three years old when she went missing from her familys holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007 while her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

Portuguese television on Tuesday showed an area cordoned off around the Arade reservoir, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from where the child, known as Maddie, went missing.

Portuguese media reported that the police had already combed the site in 2008 but divers had found only animal remains.

But Portuguese, German and British investigators resumed the search this week at the request of German authorities, who have said since 2020 that they are convinced the British girl is dead.

They suspect the involvement of a German multiple sex offender who is in prison in Germany for a rape in Portugal.

German judicial authorities say the man in question is Christian Brueckner, considered the chief suspect in the Maddie case after spending several years living in southern Portugal.

According to the magazine Expresso, testimony from a credible" informer found by German investigators had prompted the new searches near the Arade reservoir.

Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha said local police were searching for a pink blanket or the pyjamas Maddie was wearing the night she disappeared on May 3, 2007, just before her fourth birthday.

After using tracker dogs and probes on Monday, police also deployed a drone to comb the area on Wednesday before calling a halt to the search, with local media saying investigations were to continue Thursday.

Despite an international manhunt, no trace of McCann has been found and no one has been charged over her disappearance.

In June 2020, German prosecutors said they were investigating Brueckner because they had concrete evidence" he killed Maddie.

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Brueckner was also charged last year with three counts of rape and two sexual offences against children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

But German prosecutors have not charged him over Madeleines disappearance.
Saudi Arabia and Canada will restore full diplomatic relations, the kingdom said Wednesday, following a 2018 dispute over human rights that saw Riyadh expel Ottawas ambassador and freeze new trade.

The decision, also announced by Canadas foreign ministry, came after talks last year between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok.

It has been decided to restore the level of diplomatic relations with Canada to its previous state," Saudis foreign ministry said in a statement.

In 2018, the Saudi government expelled Canadas ambassador and recalled its own envoy to Ottawa, while freezing all new trade over vigorous calls for the release of activists jailed in the kingdom.

On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the two countries will appoint new ambassadors". A Canadian foreign ministry statement named Jean-Phillipe Linteau as Ottawas new envoy to the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia made no mention of its pick for ambassador.

The reconciliation was based on the desire for both sides to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interests," Canadas foreign ministry said.

The latest announcement follows a frenetic stretch of high-stakes Saudi diplomacy triggered by the kingdoms surprise Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal with Iran announced in March.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has restored bilateral ties with Syria and ramped up a push for peace in Yemen, where it leads a military coalition against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia is also hosting representatives of Sudans two warring generals, and, with the US, brokered a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire that took effect Monday.

- Rights record -

Saudi Arabia is the worlds leading crude exporter.

In 2021, Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to $2.2 billion and imports represented $2.4 billion, according to official figures from the Canadian government.

Canadian imports consisted almost entirely of oil and petrochemicals, the government said.

The 2018 row erupted in the wake of a Saudi crackdown on womens rights activists.

Canada at the time said it was gravely concerned" over the new wave of arrests of rights campaigners, including award-winning womens rights activist Samar Badawi, and called on Riyadh to immediately release them."

Even as Saudi Arabia instigates sweeping social and economic changes as part of its Vision 2030" reform agenda, human rights remain a concern to critics.

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In recent months, Saudi Arabia has been criticised for decades-long prison terms handed down to two women who tweeted and retweeted posts critical of the government.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 147 people in total  more than double the 2021 figure of 69, according to an AFP tally.
The United States on Wednesday announced the approval of a $285 million sale of a NASAMS air defense system and related equipment to Ukraine as Kyiv seeks to boost protection against Russian strikes.

Ukraine has an urgent need to increase its capabilities to defend against Russian missile strikes and aircraft," the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. Acquiring and effectively deploying this capability will enhance Ukraines ability to defend its people and protect critical national infrastructure."

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency also said the sale will support US foreign policy national security goals by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe."

The sale would not require any additional US government employees or contractors to be assigned to Ukraine, the statement added.

The State Department approved the sale, and the DSCA on Wednesday provided the required notification to Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transaction.

Countries including the United States that are supporting Ukraine in its battle against invading Russian forces have donated tens of billions of dollars of military equipment to Kyiv, but this transfer would be a sale.

Ukraines air defenses have played a key role in protecting the country from strikes and preventing Moscows forces from gaining control of the skies.

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When Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraines air defenses largely consisted of Soviet-era planes and batteries.

They have since been significantly augmented by Kyivs international supporters, who have donated a series of systems including NASAMS.
Kanye West's 4000-square-foot mansion in Malibu is falling apart. He purchased the property, which was designed by famed architect Tadao Ando (who also designed the $200 million vacation home in Malibu that Jay-Z and Beyonce just bought) in September 2021, for $57 million. After buying the home, West decided he wanted to do a major renovation, so the entire home was gutted, and the entire oceanfront side of the house has been exposed to the elements for a year. High Snobiety provides more info:

While Ye's Tadao Ando-designed home collapses into the sea, Kim Kardashian is happy at work with Ando himself, whom she met with during a recent trip to Japan.

Kardashian spoke with Ando about "a dream project we have been working on for the past two years," promising that the pair would "break ground" imminently. All this while the Ando-designed Malibu mansion lays decrepit and unused.

Don't feel bad for Ye, though. Just because he presumably can't afford to put more money into his multi-million-dollar mansion doesn't mean he's homeless  Ye and secret wife Bianca Censori have recently been staying at various top-dollar hideaways across the Los Angeles area, including the Malibu-based Nobu Ryokan, where rooms costs upwards of $2,000 per night.
Duluth, Minnesota landlord Travis Carlson, 37, was arrested and charged with first-degree arson for setting his apartment building on fire. As he torched the place, he was apparently blaring Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" on his stereo. It's an odd song choice because, well, he did start the fire.

From CBS News:



The downstairs tenant says they woke up to their landlord, identified as Carlson, "smashing glass and breaking things" for about 20 minutes, according to the complaint. Carlson then knocked on the downstairs tenant's apartment, telling the tenant that "the house is on fire."

A neighbor also told officers that they saw Carlson under his truck with gas cans, going in and out of the house. An investigation revealed a drilled hole in his truck's gas tank with lids to gas cans laying around the truck.
Wednesday is the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 students and two teachers dead. Plans are in the works for a new school to replace the one where the massacre took place, in a different location in the city. "Most of the families will say, 'How can we build something there when the devil's there?'" Lalo Diaz, co-chair of the panel overseeing the new school's design and the search for a new site, says of the current school. Construction on the buildingwhich will feature an interior courtyard that offers a "protected outdoor space," per Texas Public Radio; a two-story steel tree that memorializes the victims; and just three exterior doorsshould begin late this summer on a lot next to another local elementary school. The old Robb Elementary School will be torn down. More on the Uvalde anniversary:

Gun rights bills have flourished : Axios notes that more gun rights bills than safety measures have been greenlit by lawmakers in various states since Uvalde, including legislation expanding firearms access, keeping gun sales private, and protecting gun manufacturers from liability. Arkansas leads the pack, with seven new related laws.

: Axios notes that more gun rights bills than safety measures have been greenlit by lawmakers in various states since Uvalde, including legislation expanding firearms access, keeping gun sales private, and protecting gun manufacturers from liability. Arkansas leads the pack, with seven new related laws. Mixed feelings on how to pay tribute: The city of Uvalde is struggling with how to commemorate the anniversary. Some families of victims plan on holding a vigil on Wednesday behind the local civic center, per KHOU. But Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin and other local officials have issued a letter asking people not to converge on the city, noting that cars in front of the school or other memorial sites would be towed. McLaughlin defends his response, noting he's afraid outsiders will bother those still grieving.

The city of Uvalde is struggling with how to commemorate the anniversary. Some families of victims plan on holding a vigil on Wednesday behind the local civic center, per KHOU. But Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin and other local officials have issued a letter asking people not to converge on the city, noting that cars in front of the school or other memorial sites would be towed. McLaughlin defends his response, noting he's afraid outsiders will bother those still grieving. A community torn: That rift is indicative of wider ones, as reported by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Tensions continue to erupt between victims' families and law enforcement, as well as between gun owners and those now pushing hard for gun safety. There's also pushback against advocates for victims' families who want more information on what happened, and more legislation. "Some of their neighbors, however, want the noise to stop," the Journal notes. "We used to be a close community," Jesse Rizo, the uncle of one of the shooting victims, tells the Times. "Now it's like we don't know each other anymore."

Feeling betrayed: Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jacklyn, was killed in the shooting, is one of those parents seeking answers. He not only thinks that his child might still be alive if police had gone into her classroom earlier, but also that authorities have failed to own up to their mistakes and offer crucial details to families. "The first couple months, you know, it still seemed unreal," he tells NBC News. "And now, it's like betrayal." The AP reports that a criminal investigation into law enforcement's response to the shooting continues.

Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jacklyn, was killed in the shooting, is one of those parents seeking answers. He not only thinks that his child might still be alive if police had gone into her classroom earlier, but also that authorities have failed to own up to their mistakes and offer crucial details to families. "The first couple months, you know, it still seemed unreal," he tells NBC News. "And now, it's like betrayal." The AP reports that a criminal investigation into law enforcement's response to the shooting continues. Preventable? Writing for Mother Jones, Mark Follman notes that the "disastrous police response demands further scrutiny." But he also shines a light on "another crucial side of the Uvalde tragedy": whether heeding warning signs from the shooter could have stopped the attack altogether.

Writing for Mother Jones, Mark Follman notes that the "disastrous police response demands further scrutiny." But he also shines a light on "another crucial side of the Uvalde tragedy": whether heeding warning signs from the shooter could have stopped the attack altogether. New footage: The Independent shows graphic bodycam video, originally aired on CNN, of police officers crying, embracing each other, and vomiting at the scene of the massacre. Mothers of some of the surviving children asked to see horrific video from that day, and they also asked CNN to show images of their bloodied, crying kids to help others more fully understand what happened that day. The parents want to "make sure it doesn't happen again," says Jamie Torres, whose daughter, 10-year-old Khloie Torres, covered herself in blood and played dead to keep the gunman from shooting her. (Warning: Both the footage and images are distressing.)

The Independent shows graphic bodycam video, originally aired on CNN, of police officers crying, embracing each other, and vomiting at the scene of the massacre. Mothers of some of the surviving children asked to see horrific video from that day, and they also asked CNN to show images of their bloodied, crying kids to help others more fully understand what happened that day. The parents want to "make sure it doesn't happen again," says Jamie Torres, whose daughter, 10-year-old Khloie Torres, covered herself in blood and played dead to keep the gunman from shooting her. (Warning: Both the footage and images are distressing.) Survivors and security: Children who lived through the massacre still don't feel completely secure at the thought of going back to school, but an invention they've seen on TikToka whiteboard "safe room" that can be nestled into the corner of a classroomis helping to convince them. Politico dives more into that safety measure and asks a big question: "How do you make schools safe without hardening them to the point that it exacerbates mental health issues among students and makes schools inhospitable to learning?"

Children who lived through the massacre still don't feel completely secure at the thought of going back to school, but an invention they've seen on TikToka whiteboard "safe room" that can be nestled into the corner of a classroomis helping to convince them. Politico dives more into that safety measure and asks a big question: "How do you make schools safe without hardening them to the point that it exacerbates mental health issues among students and makes schools inhospitable to learning?" Memorial: The Austin American-Statesman highlights photos of a commemorative site in Uvalde dedicated to the victims.

(Read more Uvalde mass shooting stories.)
The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man shot dead by police after he called 911 for help last year are getting a $19 million settlementand an apology. Family members say Christian Glass was having a mental health crisis when his SUV got stuck on a road in the mountain town of Silver Plume last June 11. He refused to leave the vehicle, saying he was afraid. Police shot him 70 minutes after they arrived at the scene. The settlement from the state and three law enforcement agencies is the largest of its kind in state history, exceeding the $15 million paid to the family of Elijah McClain in 2021, the Denver Post reports.

As part of the settlement agreement, Creek County Sheriff Rick Albers apologized for the killing. "The Sheriff acknowledges that his officers failed to meet expectations in their response to Christian Glass when he called for assistance, he said in a statement, per the Post. The events that transpired ... that ended in Christians death, continue to be disturbing." He acknowledged that the "initial press release did not give an accurate description of what occurred" and "the use of lethal force was not consistent with that of a reasonable officer," Colorado Public Radio reports.

Glass's parents say their son was killed after officers needlessly escalated the situation in a form of "group bullying." Two officers, including the one who shot Glass after smashing one of the vehicle's windows, are being prosecuted. Authorities say that after almost an hour of negotiations, police decided to break into the vehicle despite the fact that Glass, who was showing signs of paranoia, had not threatened them and was not suspected of a crime. The settlement also includes changes to policing, including crisis intervention training for people in distress, the AP reports. A park in Creek County is being dedicated to Glass and some of his artwork will be displayed on state government property.

"If we can save one more family from ever having to go through this, if we can stop some other poor person being gunned down by police for no reason, then that will be the major achievement," mother Sally Glass says. (Read more Colorado stories.)
President Biden approved an emergency declaration as an intensifying Super Typhoon Mawar approached Guam, where anyone not living in a concrete house was urged to seek safety elsewhere and emergency shelters began to fill ahead of what could be the most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific territory in decades. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said on social media that the declaration will support the mobilization of resources into Guam, which is "especially crucial given our distance from the continental US." Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations, the AP reports.

Officials warned residents who arent in fully concrete structuresmany homes on the far-flung island are made of wood and tinto consider moving. Guam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific and Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, Joint Region Marianas commander, authorized the evacuation of defense personnel, dependents, and employees in areas expected to be affected by the storm. With rain from the storms outer bands already falling on the territory, National Weather Service said the storm had been upgraded to a Category 4 super typhoon, meaning maximum sustained winds of 150 mph or greater.

The weather service said the storm was intensifying and warned of a "triple threat" of winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge on Guam. The weather service said the storm could hit southern Guam around midday Wednesday local timeTuesday evening in the continental United States. If Guam doesnt take a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, the lead weather service meteorologist in Tiyan, Guam. The storm is moving at only 5 mph but has an eye 17 miles wide, meaning people at the typhoon's center could see calm conditions for over three hours and conclude, far too soon, that the worst is over, Doll said. (Read more Guam stories.)
Canadian police said Tuesday they have solved one of the highest-profile cold cases in Quebec history, linking the 1975 rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl to a West Virginia man who died more than 40 years ago. Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said that DNA evidence allows them to be 100% certain that Franklin Maywood Romine murdered teenager Sharron Prior in the Montreal suburb. The body of Romine, who was born in 1946 in Huntington, West Virginia, and died in 1982 at the age of 36 in Verdun, Montreal, under mysterious circumstances, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing intended to confirm his link to the crime.

Longueuil police say the DNA of Rominewho had a long criminal historymatches a sample found on a man's shirt that was used to restrain the teen, reports the CBC. He also matched a witness' physical description of the suspect. The rape and killing of Prior had gone unsolved since she disappeared on March 29, 1975, after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlor near her home in Montreals Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood. Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreals South Shore, reports the AP.

Law enforcement investigated more than 100 suspects over the years, but never made any arrests. Yvonne Prior, the teenager's mother, is now in her 80s, still lives in Canada, and has spent her life searching for her daughter's killer. Romines name didn't come up in the investigation until last year, according to WCHS-TV of Charleston, West Virginia. When Longueuil police said started looking through criminal records, they found an extensive history of violence and attempts by Romine to evade law enforcement by moving between West Virginia and Canada.

In 1974, he was arrested for breaking into a house and raping a woman in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He was released on a $2,500 bond two months later and fled to Canada, according to an AP story from the time. Just months after Prior's murder in 1975, Romine was captured by Canadian border officials and extradited back to West Virginia, where he was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for sexual assault in the Parkersburg case. He died in Canada in 1982, shortly after his release. "You may never have come back to our house on Congregation Street that weekend," said sister Moreen Prior at a news conference. "But you have never left our hearts and you never will. We love you, Sharron. May you now truly rest in peace."

(Read more cold cases stories.)
A father and son in Massachusetts will spend years in prison for a decade-long lottery scam that saw them claim $20 million in winnings from 14,000 tickets, illegally obtained from the true winners. Authorities are calling it "an elaborate tax fraud" that ensnared not only the father and son but a second son and "a vast network of co-conspirators," including convenience store owners, per CNN. According to the US Attorney's Office in Boston, the defendants illegally purchased lottery tickets from winners who opted for a discounted price so as to avoid identification by the state lottery commission, which is required to "withhold any outstanding taxes, back taxes, and child support payments before paying out prizes."

Ali Jaafar, 63, and Yousef Jaafar, 29, of Watertown would claim the lottery prizes as their own, helped by convenience store owners whom they "recruited and paid ... to facilitate the transactions," prosecutors say. The pair cashed over 14,000 tickets "from at least 2011 through at least June 2020." It was hard not to notice. In 2019, Ali Jaafar was the highest individual ticket casher in the state. His son, Mohamed, was the third highest, and Yousef was the fourth highest. They further profited by "reporting the winnings on their income tax returns and claiming equivalent fake gambling losses as an offset." They reported federal tax losses of more than $6 million and ended up collecting $1.2 million in fraudulent tax refunds.

A federal jury convicted Ali and Yousef of one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of filing a false tax return in December, before sentencing was handed down Monday. Ali received five years in prison, while Yousef received four years and two months. They are also required to forfeit their profits and pay more than $6 million in restitution. Mohamed Jaafar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS in November and is due to be sentenced in July, per CBS News. Prosecutors note that more than 40 lottery retailers who participated in the scheme will see their lottery agent licenses revoked. (This lottery scammer got out 20 years early.)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called for the resignation of another senior Republican Tuesday, alleging that state House Speaker Dade Phelan had presided over the chamber "in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication." A video clip widely shared over the weekend shows Phelan appearing to slur his words on Friday night toward the end of a 14-hour legislative session, the Texas Tribune reports. "It is with profound disappointment that I call on Speaker Dade Phelan to resign at the end of this legislation session," Paxton said in a statement on Twitter. Phelan, he said, "has proven himself unworthy of Texans trust and incapable of leading the Texas House."

Hours later, Phelan responded with a bombshell, announcing that Paxton, who is already being investigated by the FBI, has been the subject of a monthslong corruption investigation by an ethics panel, the AP reports. "The motives for and timing behind Paxton's statement today couldnt be more evident," Phelan spokesperson Cait Wittman said in a statement. "Mr. Paxtons statement today amounts to little more than a last ditch effort to save face." Phelan said a House General Investigating Committee has been looking into Paxton's "alleged illegal conduct" linked to a $3.3 million settlement with whistleblowers who were fired after they reported him to federal authorities for alleged corruption.

Phelan has publicly criticized the settlement, saying Texas taxpayers shouldn't have to pay it, the Dallas Morning News reports. State lawmakers are expected to block the settlement before the legislative session ends on Monday. Phelan did not address the intoxication allegations. His defenders have said he was tired at the end of the long session and he spoke normally before and after the time when he seemed to be slurring. (Read more Texas stories.)
Authorities say theyve foiled an elderly businessman's plan to escape a Florida jail and return to Francea country he had previously fled to in an attempt to avoid child pornography charges. A tip from outside the jail sparked a two-month investigation of John Manchec, 78, and people he had enlisted in his escape plan, Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said Monday during a news conference. "Essentially, the plan comes down to this," Sheriff Flowers said. "These folks that are on the outside are going to wait until Manchec has a doctor's visit, and they are going to take out our corrections staff while he's out at the medical facility."

The plan called for Manchecs employees to pepper-spray prison guards and take him to his private plane in nearby Fort Pierce, so that he could fly to France, Flowers said. The escape plot centered on an April 12 medical appointment, Flowers said. But at least one of the people involved tipped off law enforcement, allowing investigators to unravel the plot. Manchec is a multimillionaire with dual US and French citizenship who was arrested in 2014 on 49 child pornography charges. Flowers said he left the country to avoid prosecution after posting a nearly $500,000 bond, and moved to his medieval estate in southern France, the Chateau Pechrigal.

France denied US attempts to extradite him, but he was eventually arrested in the Dominican Republic in 2020 and returned to Florida, according to the sheriff. An examination of Manchec's jail phone records discovered he used the code words "paint job" while talking with his employees about the plot, reports the AP. They were to prepare his plane, his 140-foot yacht, a black utility van, and other vehicles purchased just for the escape attempt, Flowers said. Manchec even paid the bail for a cellmate, and then allowed them to live in his home.

That person helped prepare for the escape, down to packing a suitcase, and his favorite liquor, the sheriff said. Flowers said the plan was to go "back to his castle in France" and never have to face the charges. Manchec remains in the Indian River County Jail, with additional charges related to the escape. Two inmates and two employees were also arrested and charged with conspiracy in the escape plot.

(Read more prison escape stories.)
Investigators in Guyana believe a fire that killed 19 people, mostly girls, trapped in a school dormitory was deliberately set by a student who was upset that her mobile phone had been confiscated, a top official said Tuesday. The suspect in the fire late Sunday, who's among the injured, had been disciplined by the dorm administrator for having an affair with an older man, national security adviser Gerald Gouveia said. The student allegedly threatened to torch the dorm and later set a fire in a bathroom area, Gouveia said, per the AP. The fire raced through the wood, concrete, and iron-grilled building after it had been locked for the night by the dorm administratoror house motherto prevent the girls from sneaking out, Gouveia said.

"She did this out of love for them," Gouveia said of the house mother locking the building. "She felt she was forced to do so because many of them leave the building at night to socialize. This is a very sad situation, but the state is going to work with the students and the families to provide all the support they need." The suspect, who's about 14, was burned in the fire and is in a local hospital. She's expected to be released from the hospital this week and held in juvenile detention until she's an adult, said an adviser to the health ministry. All but one of the victims were Indigenous girls ages 12 to 18, from remote villages served by the boarding school in Mahdia, a mining community near the border with Brazil. The remaining victim was the 5-year-old son of the house mother.

Many of the victims were trapped as the building burned, though firefighters were able to rescue people by breaking holes through one of the walls. "The house mother was asleep at the time inside the building [and] panicked and could not find the right keys to unlock the building from inside, but she made it out," Gouveia said. Deputy Fire Chief Dwayne Scotland said more lives could've been saved if the service had been informed of the blaze sooner. When firefighters arrived, local residents were unsuccessfully struggling to douse the blaze and evacuate people, he said. "The building was well engulfed," he noted. Many of the nine people hospitalized are in serious condition.

Guyana's government has accepted offers from the US to send forensic and other expert teams to help with the investigation, Gouveia said. The government also was sending specialists in DNA identification to help identify remains of 13 of the 19 victims who died at the scene. Meanwhile, police were expected to charge the man who had the relationship with the student with statutory rape because she was under 16, Gouveia said. This week's dormitory fire outranked what had been the country's deadliest fire in recent times, when 17 inmates were killed at the main Georgetown prison in 2016. Angry over trial delays and overcrowding, some inmates set fire to the building, built to house 500 but containing 1,100, resulting in the deaths of 17 and severe injuries to about a dozen others.

(Read more Guyana stories.)
When it comes to heart transplants, doctors don't want to see more than four to six hours pass from the time the organ is taken out of one body and moved into another. But one heart recently spent more than seven hours in transit, and traveled more than 2,500 miles to its recipientsaid to be the longest distance a human heart has ever traveled, reports USA Today. That's according to Paragonix Technologies, the group that created the SherpaPak cooling system that held the fragile organ during its transport last month from Juneau, Alaska, to Boston, a record-breaking, 2,506-mile journey that ended at Massachusetts General Hospital. There, the heart was successfully transplanted into a patient.

"The heart did very well" is the text that Dr. Joseph Rubelowsky, a surgeon with transplant coordination group Transplant Advocates, received from one of the doctors involved with the procedure after he'd hand-delivered the heart to the hospital. USA Today notes that although hearts are typically transported in coolers, it's difficult to keep the interior at exactly the right temperatureabout 39.2 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheitso that there's no tissue damage if things dip below freezing. "You don't want it too cold; you don't want it too warm," Rubelowsky says. "You want it just right." He was able to keep it "just right" during the long flight by keeping tabs on the heart's temperature via a mobile app.

The SherpaPak system could prove to be a game-changer, as the Health Resources & Services Administration notes that 17 people die daily waiting for an organ transplant, per NBC Boston. "In years past, we wouldn't have thought about using a heart from Alaska because it's just too far," cardiac surgeon Dr. David D'Alessandro, Mass Gen's surgical director of heart transplantation, tells USA Today. "Now we think there's a good chance these hearts are usable." The Boston Herald notes that the SherpaPak system might even allow for hearts to be brought over from Europe. The patient in this case, who hasn't wanted to speak publicly, was discharged from the hospital after a few weeks' stay and is said to be doing well. (Read more uplifting news stories.)
A Texas vineyard owner was sentenced to 83 months in prison for participating in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Christopher Grider (41) was found guilty of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of government property, remaining in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.

From Justice.gov:

[O]n Jan. 6, 2021, Grider traveled to Washington, D.C., where he entered the scaffolding on the northwest terrace of the Capitol with a crowd of rioters who had pushed through a police line. He obtained a bike rack and used it to climb to the terrace stairs, and then proceeded up the terrace stairs  at one point, stopping to wave rioters toward the Capitol. Once inside the Capitol, Grider found an electric utility box and pressed buttons as he yelled "Turn the power off!" He then proceeded to the Crypt, where he was part of another group of rioters who pushed through a police line. Grider then proceeded to the hallway outside of the House Chamber, where he waved more rioters in. After this group of rioters pushed through the police line that stood between the mob and the House Main Door, Grider stood with other rioters directly outside of the House Main Door, as they attempted to get inside the House Chamber.

Grider then ran from the House Main Door to the Speaker's Lobby Door, where he watched members of Congress and staff evacuate on the other side. He gave his helmet to another rioter and pushed on the door. The rioter proceeded to use the helmet to break the windows in the door.

From KWTX:

Grider, who has three sons and a 3-week-old daughter, was seeking a prison term in the range of 18 months, while the government asked the judge to send him to prison for a term at the high end of the sentencing guidelines recommendation. He faced a maximum prison term of 39 years.

Grider, whose wife and infant daughter attended Tuesday's sentencing, requested that he be allowed to serve his time at the federal prison in Bastrop. The judge allowed him to remain free until July 18, when he was ordered to voluntarily surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons. The judge also ordered Grider to surrender the $800 he raised in a Go Fund Me account before it was closed.

Grider was also sentenced to an additional 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $5,055 and a fine of $812, says the Department of Justice.
A 21-year-old man serving two life sentences plus 30 years for murdering his father and subsequently carrying out a deadly school shooting is asking a judge for mercy so that he might eventually get out of prison. On Sept. 28, 2016, Jesse Osborne killed his father as he slept in a recliner at home in Townville, South Carolina, then traveled to his former elementary school, where he shot at a first-grade class on the playground, fatally striking 6-year-old Jacob Hall. Osborne was then 14. Now 21, he's requested that a judge lessen his sentence, handed down in 2019, to allow him to leave prison in his 50s or 60s, per the AP.

Osborne, who pleaded guilty to adult charges of murder and attempted murder, acknowledged "my evil actions" during a Monday hearing in Anderson County, apologized to Hall's family and every person who was at the school that day, and said he would "try to better myself in the Department of Corrections the rest of my life." Though prosecution experts described Osborne as a dangerous and pathological liar who felt no remorse, his attorney, Frank Eppes, said Judge Lawton McIntosh hadn't properly considered a report from a psychologist who claimed Osborne's actions were the result of abuse by the father, that he could be rehabilitated, and that he had responded to treatment, showing grief and remorse.

"Give Jesse some hope to live with," Eppes implored, proposing Osborne serve a 30-year minimum sentence for the two murders, plus 15 years for shooting at the other children, to be followed by a lifetime of GPS monitoring. He noted Osborne's life sentences prevented him from taking part in certain programs that would help him improve, per the Washington Post. But many others spoke against Osborne's eventual release, including "the teacher whose class was having recess, the parent of a wounded child, the father of (a) student celebrating his birthday, the superintendent who saw the bloodstained class rug, and the school principal," per the AP.

"In my opinion, his current sentence is still so, so much more merciful than the sentence he gave to Jacob and our school family," said Principal Denise Fredericks. She noted Osbornewho wrote of wanting to kill up to 150 people, per the Postonly stopped shooting because "the gun jammed." Teacher Meghan Hollingsworth said "a child screaming out in joy or a door slamming or a metal water bottle dropping to the floor" still triggers panic, per WYFF. Hall's family didn't speak but prosecutors said they also oppose Osborne's eventual release. The judge gave the defense 30 days to prepare a report. Prosecutors will then have 10 days to respond. (Read more South Carolina stories.)
Abortion is currently legal in South Carolina until 22 weeks of pregnancy, but that window is set to sharply narrow. The state's Republican-led Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would ban abortions at the earliest sign of cardiac activity, which typically happens around six weeks; most people are unaware they are pregnant at that point. The New York Times reports the bill also requires that women have two in-person doctors visits and two ultrasounds prior to getting an abortion. The bill is now headed to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who tweeted Tuesday night, "I look forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible." What you need to know:

The specifics: The bill does allow abortions up to 12 weeks in some cases: for fatal fetal anomalies, if the patient's life and health are in jeopardy, and in instances of rape or incest. Under the bill, any doctor who violates that could be hit with felony charges that carry up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The argument on Tuesday: GOP leaders pointed to provisional state Health Department data that indicated more women are coming in from out of state to receive an abortion, reports the Hill; those opposed to the bill disagreed, saying most who require abortions are South Carolina residents. But the AP notes South Carolina "is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions."

GOP leaders pointed to provisional state Health Department data that indicated more women are coming in from out of state to receive an abortion, reports the Hill; those opposed to the bill disagreed, saying most who require abortions are South Carolina residents. But the AP notes South Carolina "is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions." The argument down the pike: The state's Supreme Court overturned a similar six-week abortion ban from 2021 in January, saying it clashed with the state constitution's right to privacy. Once signed into law, this ban is expected to similarly end up before the South Carolina Supreme Court.

The state's Supreme Court overturned a similar six-week abortion ban from 2021 in January, saying it clashed with the state constitution's right to privacy. Once signed into law, this ban is expected to similarly end up before the South Carolina Supreme Court. This time around: The January decision was 3-2, but the court's sole female has since retired due to a mandatory age cap. Her replacement has the backing of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus.

The "sister senators": The AP notes the 46-member Senate has five women: three Republicans, one Democrat, and one independent. They donned buttons reading "elect more women" on Tuesday and were greeted with cheers. All voted against the bill, with the three Republicans pushing instead for a 12-week ban, saying women needed more time to make a decision.

The AP notes the 46-member Senate has five women: three Republicans, one Democrat, and one independent. They donned buttons reading "elect more women" on Tuesday and were greeted with cheers. All voted against the bill, with the three Republicans pushing instead for a 12-week ban, saying women needed more time to make a decision. A standout quote: "We in the South Carolina Legislature are not God. We do not know whats going on in somebody elses life. We do not have the right to make decisions for someone else," GOP Sen. Katrina Shealy said.

"We in the South Carolina Legislature are not God. We do not know whats going on in somebody elses life. We do not have the right to make decisions for someone else," GOP Sen. Katrina Shealy said. A retort: The Guardian reports that in response to Shealys speech, Sen. Richard Cash said their suggested approach would amount to "abortion on demand" for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and said "babies begin with the union of the sperm and ovumthats how God designed it."

(Read more abortion stories.)
Sharon Toney-Fincha veteran and director of the YIT Foundation, which helps veterans and babies born prematurelyhas found herself in the center of a controversy that has swept across the state of New York and led state Senate Democrats to rescind her "Women of Distinction" nomination, reports Mid Hudson News. Toney-Finch came under scrutiny following the dissemination of a story claiming that nearly two dozen homeless veterans had been evicted from a hotel in Newburgh, New York, to accommodate international migrants.

The story, initially picked up by the New York Post and later amplified by other outlets, elicited widespread outrage and led to calls for action, including legislative proposals to protect homeless veterans from displacement. However, an investigation by the Mid-Hudson News revealed that the eviction story was a fabrication, and Toney-Finch's initial claims were debunked. Elected officials reacted swiftly.

According to New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the nomination withdrawal was important to maintain the award's integrity. State Sen. Rob Rolisonwho nominated Toney-Finchexpressed his disappointment and the hope that she is contrite. Officials including New York City Mayor Eric Adams have called for investigations into the YIT Foundation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office confirmed it is reviewing the allegations. As the Daily Beast reports, the accusations against Toney-Finch include claims from men who say they were paid to pretend they were evicted veterans. Toney-Finch has responded vaguely with suggestions there was a misunderstanding, but she hasn't issued any direct denials. (Read more controversy stories.)
He may be nearly universally considered a masterpiece made by one of the most widely renowned artists in history, but Michelangelo's David is definitely naked, and as such, proved a little too much for a Scottish subway system. As Hyperallergic reports, the idea was for Glasgow-based Italian restaurant Barolo to run ads featuring an image of the 17-foot marble statue eating a slice, with the tagline, "It doesn't get more Italian." The original version cropped David around his knees, and was nixed by the ad firm that runs Glasgow's subway ads on the grounds that "it is art but it is still nudity."

David ended up cropped at the waist in the final version of the ad, per the Guardian, but not without the head of the group that runs Barolo complaining mightily: "This is a globally recognized piece of art. It is taught in schools. People from all over the world travel to see it. Its not the 1500s any more, its 2023. Are we really saying that the people of Glasgow cant handle seeing a naked statue?" Apparently, the answer is yes. David is having a rough run of it lately: His lack of attire last month cost a Florida school principal her job over accusations of propagating "pornography." (But his duster says she has "the best job in the world.")
The 95-year-old woman with dementia who was tasered by police at an Australian nursing home has died "surrounded by family and loved ones," reports the BBC, and the officer who tasered her is now facing assault charges. Clare Nowland was walking with a walker on May 17 "at a slow pace" and, per New South Wales Police, "armed" with a steak knife she apparently swiped from the kitchen when 33-year-old Constable Kristian White tased her as she continued to advance. She dropped to the floor and suffered a fractured skull and brain bleed. Nowland was 5-foot-2 and weighed 95lbs; the case has caused a stir in Australia about police overreaction.

Nowland had not been expected to survive the injury, and NSW police extended condolences to "those who were lucky enough to know, love, and be loved by Mrs Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community." As the New York Times reports, White was charged hours before Nowland's death with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault. He's expected to appear in court in July. (Read more Taser stories.)
Virgin Orbit is no more. Richard Branson's company, which sought to deliver satellites to low Earth orbit using a modified Boeing 747, has officially shut down after failing to secure the necessary funding to stay afloat. Its first-ever satellite mission in the UK in January was marred by a "technical failure." The firm paused operations in March and filed for bankruptcy protection the following month. In recent weeks, Branson told the BBC that he personally lost $1.8 billion during the pandemic with lockdowns hammering his airline and leisure businesses, apparently leaving him unable or unwilling to invest more dollars in the once-successful offshoot of his space tourism company Virgin Galactic.

"Virgin Orbit's legacy in the space industry will forever be remembered," the company said Tuesday, per CNBC. "Its groundbreaking technologies, relentless pursuit of excellence, and unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of air launch have left an indelible mark on the industry." A day earlier, the company sold its assets to three commercial space companies at auction. Stratolaunch paid $17 million for Virgin Orbit's 747 and other aircraft assets, while Rocket Lab USA nabbed the company's headquarters in Long Beach, California, and various equipment for $16.1 million. Vast Space subsidiary Launcher purchased the company's facility in Mojave, California, and some other items for $2.7 million, while liquidation company Inliper scooped up office equipment for $650,000. (Read more Virgin Orbit stories.)
Hunter College adjunct professor Shellyne Rodriguez was initially embroiled in controversy over a viral video showing her cursing at anti-abortion students. But all that was overshadowed Tuesday when the 45-year-old was captured in another video chasing journalists with a machete. A reporter and photographer from the New York Post had showed up at Rodriguez's apartment in an attempt to speak with her about her criticism of anti-abortion advocates. "Get the f--- away from my door, or I'm gonna chop you up with this machete!" Rodriguez allegedly shouted before opening her door and holding the weapon to reporter Reuven Fenton's neck, the Post reports, offering video evidence.

The reporter and photographer fled. A vehicle's dashcam next captured Rodriguez following the pair onto the street. She moves close to Fenton as photographer Robert Miller raises his camera. The art professor then chases after the photographer, who sprints into a roadway to escape her. "If I see you on this block one more f---ing time, you're gonna..." Rodriguez yelled, per the Post. She also kicked Fenton in the shins as he tried to get into his vehicle, the outlet notes. The NYPD is investigating the incident, per the BBC. Fenton tells Fox News that he's considering whether to press charges. Hunter College was less hesitant. Within hours, the college, part of the City University of New York, announced Rodriguez had been "relieved of her duties ... effective immediately."

In the earlier May 2 incident, Rodriguez was shown approaching students representing the anti-abortion group Students for Life of America at an information stall. "What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next?" she says in an expletive-laced lecture. "This is bulls---. This is violent. You're triggering my students." When a male student at the table says he's "sorry about that," she responds, "No, you're not, because you can't even have a f---ing baby ... Get this s--- the f--- out of here." She then pushes materials off the table and walks away, still cursing, according to footage shared online. The school previously told the Post that there was an ongoing investigation into Rodriguez's actions. (Read more professor stories.)
The young poet who performed her spoken-word piece at President Biden's 2021 inauguration is now at the center of the latest book-banning controversy. Citing documents from the Florida Freedom to Read Project, Politico reports that Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb" has been removed from the library at Bob Graham Education Center, a K-8 school in Miami Lakes, Florida, after a lone parent challenged it in March. Incorrectly attributing the poem to Oprah Winfrey instead of Gorman, the complainant noted in her filing that the poem is "not educational and have [sic] indirectly hate messages." She added that the poem is "not for schools," and that it "[causes] confusion and [indoctrinates]" students.

The same parent, identified by the Miami Herald as Daily Salinas, filed complaints about four other books as well: Love to Langston, a book by Tony Medina on poet Langston Hughes; The ABCs of History, by Rio Cortez; Countries in the News: Cuba, by Kieran Walsh; and Cuban Kids, by George Ancona. Salinas cited "indoctrination" and "CRT" as some of the reasons for her complaints on the other books. A Twitter account that says it exposes "the far-right of Miami and South FL" ties Salinas to right-wing groups like Moms 4 Liberty and the Proud Boys. Gorman spoke out publicly Tuesday after hearing about what had happened with her poem, noting she was "gutted." "So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with @oprah, fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternatives," she tweeted.

Gorman also noted in a statement that she'd written her famous poem "so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment" (read the poem in full here). In a late Tuesday statement, Miami-Dade County Public Schools said Gorman's poem "was never banned or removed from one of our schools." It noted that the book "is available in the media center" for middle schoolers only, per CNN. Both the American Library Association and PEN America get into the definition of book bans, and how restriction of access falls into that definition. Gorman also compared the commotion over her poem to another issue in Americaone that comes with a death toll. "One parent could get my poetry banned from classrooms. And yet one country can't ban assault rifles from massacring them," she wrote. (Read more Amanda Gorman stories.)
Rock concerts are sometimes explosive, but when former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters took to the stage in Berlin, things got hotter than anticipatedand not in a positive way. The Jerusalem Post reports that during his performance last week, Waters donned an SS uniform and compared Anne Frank to late Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist killed in 2022 during an Israeli raid of the West Bank. The Post explains that a graphic naming "individuals killed by various authorities and regimes throughout the past century," including George Floyd, displayed Abu Akleh's name immediately before Anne Frank's, sparking outrage.

The Forward reports Abu Akleh's listing gave her crime as "Being Palestinian" and sentence as "death." Frank's listing echoed that, stating her crime as "Being Jewish" and the sentence as death. Waters has always been known for his theatrics and controversial views, but this time, it appears he hit a particularly sour note. It wasn't just the crowd inside the arena taking notice, either.

Social media users and activists were quick to condemn the imagery used in the show as antisemitic; during the SS uniform bit, an inflatable pig appeared above the crowd, as did Third Reich-esque banners with crossed hammers instead of a swastika, per the Post. Even the @Israel account tweeted Wednesday, "Good morning to every one but Roger Waters who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust."

The show didn't stop in Berlin. Waters' tour made its way to Munich, where independent publication The Algemeiner says fans were greeted by more than 100 protesters wielding signs supporting Israel and opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Charlotte Knobloch, head of Munich's Jewish community, delivered a scathing speech against the concert, branding Waters an "antisemitic arsonist. (Read more Roger Waters stories.)
Buckingham Palace has declined requests to repatriate the remains of Prince Dejatch Alemayehu of Abyssinia, the region now largely made up of Ethiopia. NBC News reports the prince was forcibly taken from his homeland at the age of six in 1868, after British forces defeated his father, Emperor Tewodros II, and looted his imperial capital. Alemayehu was then brought to England. He died at 18 in 1879, and his remains were buried at Windsor Castle.

There have been requests for the return of Alemayehu's remains since his death nearly 150 years ago, with a formal one made by the country's president in 2007. While Buckingham Palace expressed its sensitivity towards the need to honor Prince Alemayehu's memory, in a Tuesday statement it cited the potential disturbance of other resting places in the vicinity as part of its reasoning for declining the request, reports the Daily Beast. This has stirred emotions around the world but especially in Ethiopia, with Fasil Minas, a descendant of the Abyssinian royal family and a relative of Alemayehu, expressing a strong desire for the Prince's remains to be returned to his birthplace.

The story of Alemayehu's life in England is a poignant one, as noted in Maaza Mengiste's 2015 Guardian essay making the case for repatriation. After the prince's arrival in England, Queen Victoria arranged for his studies at elite schools and a military training academy despite his own continued requests to be allowed to go home. His life was cut short when he died from a lung condition. The late prince's plighta child stranded in a foreign landresonates deeply with many who learn about him. It even appeared to move Victoria, who wrote in her journal that his death was "too sad! All alone, in a strange country, without a single person or relative belonging to him." (Read more history stories.)
The effort to oust unions at Starbucks stores is escalating, now with a push from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit that provides free legal aid to workers fighting compulsory union membership.

The foundation has put out a notice to employees on its website urging employees to contact it for free legal advice.

"All Starbucks employees should know they have the right to petition the National Labor Relations Board for a secret ballot election to remove a union. However, the NLRB process is complex and open to manipulation from union officials, so we strongly recommend you read this entire notice before beginning such an effort," the notice reads.

One of the first Starbucks to vote to unionize now is trying to oust the union Workers, the union and a labor scholar said the move is just the Starbucks Corp.'s latest variation of union busting.

The notice walks employees through the process of filing for a decertification election  something that can be done when support for a union wanes.

In order to decertify a union, workers must collect signatures from at least 30% of workers in a unit, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The outcome is decided by a majority of votes.

The notice also details how individuals can resign union membership, and shows how employees might arrange to cut off payment of union dues.

"For over four decades, Foundation attorneys have worked to protect and expand the rights of individual employees to reject unwanted union control. It is the nations premier organization exclusively dedicated to providing free legal assistance to employee victims of forced unionism abuse," the notice reads.

The foundation's staff attorneys are working with Starbucks employees at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Manhattan, it said. Over the years, it has assisted workers in Supreme Court cases against unions representing service employees, teachers, railway workers and more.

"The Foundation wants you to learn about your legal rights from independent sources. You should not rely on what self-interested union officials tell you," it said on its website.

The Starbucks Workers United union has maintained that decertification efforts are driven by the Starbucks Corp., with financial backing from groups linked to billionaire industrialist brothers Charles G. and the late David H. Koch.

"The decertification petition filed at a small number of stores is part of a concerted union-busting effort on the part of Starbucks with the support of the Koch brothers-funded, right-wing, anti-union organization, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation," the union said in a statement.

"Starbucks has forced out many workers by fomenting an environment of polarization, intimidation and fear," the union statement said. "Despite this, many of the remaining worker leaders have fought hard to continue to improve workplace conditions and force Starbucks to live up to the missions and values they claim to hold."

Fred C. Koch was a member of the labor-critical group that became the National Right to Work Defense Foundation, according to SourceWatch.org.

In March, an administrative law judge found Starbucks had committed "egregious and widespread" violations of federal labor law, including illegally firing workers and closing stores. Because of those violations, a decertification election wouldn't be allowed until the unfair labor practices were remedied, according to Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations Buffalo Co-Lab.

Starbucks Workers United organizing efforts in Buffalo touched off a wave of unionization that caught hold at more than 300 Starbucks stores across the country, and moved into other cafes and industries. Workers have filed for union elections at 13 new Starbucks stores this month, the union said.

The success of the organizing drive made the Workers United and the Buffalo region targets for those critical of unions.

Earlier this month, union-critical interest group Center for Union Facts erected a billboard on the I-190 and sent a mobile billboard traveling through the city calling out the union.
Ron DeSantis is set to launch his presidential campaign at 6pm ET Wednesday on Twitter. The Republican will make the announcement in a Twitter Spaces session with CEO Elon Musk, in an event moderated by GOP donor David Sacks, who supports DeSantis and has close ties to Musk, per NBC News. In the run-up to the event, much is being said about the decision to stage the event on Twitter. Perspectives:



The Guardian zeroes in on what's in it for Musk, calling it "the tech billionaire's latest attempts to shore up engagement with the social network ... the upshot of DeSantis' appearance will be increased visibility for Twitter at a moment when the company's relevance is dwindling."

Axios looks at the media implications, noting that "in choosing to bypass Fox News for Twitter, DeSantis is sending a signal to conservatives that Fox News is just as much a part of the mainstream media as CNN or any other news network." The New York Times goes a step further, saying it allows Twitter to "claim to be outside the mainstream media world that Rupert Murdoch's network inhabits."

The Times notes that "Twitter is becoming a conservative media hot spot in the Musk era. ... The move underscores both that Twitter, under its billionaire owner, has moved to embrace the political right and that Mr. DeSantis' top business supporters so far are tech-industry libertarians, rather than traditional Republican moguls."

Going further for the Atlantic, Charlie Warzel offers up some hand-wringing, bemoaning Twitter's evolution "into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network ... a haven to far-right influencers and [a network that] advances the interests, prejudices, and conspiracy theories of the right wing of American politics."

The Post Millennial thinks Warzel's assessment is garbage, writing that "instead of recognizing that the platform under previous management had skewed so far left that any correction to the center looked like a conservative pivot, the Atlantic has determined that all Republicans and conservatives are far-right, including presidential candidates. ... The left used to be all about free speech, they held it up like a beacon, saying things like 'I deplore your views, but I respect your right to have them.' The days of ope-minded [sic] leftist discourse is gone, and it's been replaced with ideologues thinking and tweeting in lock-step."

Politico questions DeSantis' choice of Twitter for entirely different reasons. "For a politician whose chief vulnerability has long been his perceived lack of interpersonal skills, it is also a major risk. For one thing, Musk ... is such a controversial and outspoken figure that appearing with him in a high-stakes event leaves uncertain 'what comes out of his mouth,' said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. 'The other thing is, Twitter isn't America. Why doesn't he do this where more people will see you?'"

(Read more Ron DeSantis stories.)
Alex Murdaugh was a crooked lawyer as well as a murderer, according to a federal indictment. The disbarred South Carolina attorney has been indicted on 22 federal fraud-related charges, including wire fraud and bank fraud, though his lawyers believe the case will be resolved before it goes to trial, CNN reports. According to the US Attorney's Office in South Carolina, Murdaugh "routed and redirected clients settlement funds to personally enrich himself" while he was working as a personal injury attorney. The office says Murdaugh scammed clients from at least 2005 until 2021, conspiring with his banker, Russell Laffitte, for much of that time. Laffitte was convicted on six federal charges last year and is awaiting sentencing.

Some of the charges are connected to the death of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh family's housekeeper for more than 20 years, NBC reports. She died after a reported "trip and fall" at the Murdaugh home in 2018. Murdaugh's insurers settled claims from her family for around $3.5 million, but he allegedly directed the funds to accounts he controlled while the family received nothing. Earlier this month, Murdaugh's lawyers acknowledged that he had lied about details of the accident, falsely claiming that dogs had caused Satterfield's fall. He invented a statement "to force his insurers to make a settlement payment," his lawyers said.

"Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers," US Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said in a statement. "South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the publics trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Murdaugh attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said Wednesday that he has been cooperating with investigators and they "anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial." In March, Murdaugh received two consecutive life sentences with no hope of parole after he was found guilty of killing his wife and son. (The 54-year-old has many other legal woes.)
Fetty Wap, the Grammy-nominated rapper who rose to fame by singing about crack cocaine, was sentenced to six years in federal prison on Wednesday for his role in a drug trafficking scheme. The artist, whose offstage name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances. Prosecutors said Maxwell was part of an organization that distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine across New Jersey and Long Island from June 2019 till June 2020, News12 New Jersey reports. In a Long Island courtroom, Judge Joanna Seybert told him, "Despite your background and all you overcame, you threw it all away."

The minimum sentence was five years; prosecutors had asked for more, telling the court Maxwell he used his fame to "glamorize the drug trade." His "Trap Queen" video, they said, showed young children behind him as he "idealized selling drugs," per NBC News. The judge added five years of post-release supervision for Maxwell, who's from Patterson, New Jersey. Five other people were charged in the case. Maxwell apologized in court. "I hurt my community, people who look up to me, my family and myself," he said. "I am truly sorry for any pain I caused." (Read more Fetty Wap stories.)
A Texas House committee aired findings Wednesday that Attorney General Ken Paxton has committed a series of crimes spanning years while in office. The investigation has been in progress for months, though its existence wasn't publicly known until Tuesday, the AP reports. Paxton is a Republican, as are the leaders of the House General Investigating Committee, whose hearing included a presentation of accusations against Paxton for more than three hours. In the end, the committee didn't take any action or say whether it plans any. Paxton called the investigators' testimony false.

The investigators said they found Paxton accepted bribes from a real estate developer, then fired four deputies for reporting the bribes to law enforcement officials, per the Hill. Paxton has asked the legislature for $3.3 million in state money to settle a lawsuit filed by those former deputies, per KWTX. The attorney general also is accused of trying to arrange a job for a woman with whom he was having an affair. Paxton's response to the investigation has including calling for the Republican House speaker to resign, saying he presided over the chamber while drunk. "It is not surprising that a committee appointed by liberal Speaker Dade Phelan would seek to disenfranchise Texas voters and sabotage my work as Attorney General," he said in a statement.

"It is alarming and very serious that we are having this discussion into why millions of taxpayer dollars have been asked to remedy" Paxton's reported misconduct, said committee Chair Andrew Murr. In addition, Paxton has been under an FBI investigation and a state felony indictment on securities fraud charges since 2015. "I would say this is as detrimental and important a scandal as we've seen in Texas political history," said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, per the New York Times. "Not just because of what happened, but because of how long it's been going on and how Paxton has been able to survive it." (Read more ken paxton stories.)
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The state Health Department announced Wednesday that it plans to repeal the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, a requirement that was controversial when it went into effect in fall 2021 but is now being phased out as the pandemic eases.

In a statement, the Health Department said it has begun the process of repealing the mandate "due to the changing landscape of the Covid-19 pandemic and evolving vaccine recommendations."

"Throughout the public health emergency, this vaccine requirement served as a critical public health tool, helping to protect both health care workers and the patients under their care," the agency's statement said. "As the repeal of this regulation awaits consideration for approval by the Public Health and Health Planning Council, the Department will not commence any new enforcement actions. However, it should be noted that facilities should continue to implement their own internal policies regarding Covid-19 vaccination."

Since changes in regulation require a 60-day public comment period, the repeal is unlikely to be taken up at the Public Health and Health Planning Council's meeting next month. The full council's next meeting after that is scheduled for Sept. 7.

While the vast majority of health care workers complied with the mandate, some employees decided to leave their jobs over the requirement, worsening an already difficult health care staffing pinch at a critical time.

New York further relaxes nursing home visitation guidelines The Health Department said nursing homes are no longer required to verify that visitors have a negative Covid-19 test before entry or conduct active Covid-19 screening.

Nearly 36,800 health care employees in New York  about 3.5% of the state's health care workforce  lost their jobs, resigned, retired or were furloughed due to being unvaccinated against Covid-19, according to data released by the state in late April 2022, the most recent figures available. That included several hundred, if not thousands, of employees across Western New York.

The lifting of the Covid vaccine mandate potentially opens the door for those workers to seek new jobs within the health care field at a time when facilities from hospitals to nursing homes have struggled to hire all the staff they need.

The Health Department sent a letter Wednesday to health care facility leaders across the state about the planned repeal of the mandate. That letter noted that the agency will no longer cite providers for failing to comply with the vaccine requirement but that it may continue to seek sanctions against those employers with previous violations that allegedly occurred.

With the planned repeal of the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, Erie County Medical Center "will be working to determine past employee eligibility for employment and requirements for employee vaccines moving forward," spokesperson Peter Cutler said in a statement.

Other major area health care employers, including Kaleida Health, Catholic Health and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, did not immediately provide a comment.

The repeal reflects where things stand at this point in the pandemic.

For instance, the federal government on May 1 announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would start the process of ending their vaccination requirements for health care facilities certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Further, the federal Covid-19 public health emergency ended May 11, more than three years after it was first declared.

The vaccine mandate first went into effect Sept. 27, 2021, and a court ruling temporarily allowed employees to claim a religious exemption to get around the requirement.

But that ruling was stayed in late October 2021, which left medical exemptions as the only allowed protection to the mandate and set off a scramble from employers to get as many of those workers as possible vaccinated at a time when hospital capacity was pinched by a surge in Covid-19 cases from the Delta variant.

And in February 2022, facing pressure from hospitals and trade groups that were worried about exacerbating staffing issues, the state Health Department decided not to enforce a Covid-19 booster mandate for health care workers that had been set to go into effect.

Still, the mandates set off a number of lawsuits across the state.

In fact, news of the planned repeal of the mandate first came out Wednesday during an appellate court hearing in Rochester for one such case.

There, Jonathan D. Hitsous, assistant solicitor general for the state, told the court that the Health Department on Wednesday morning made the decision to repeal the mandate.

WNY nursing home operators say industry is on the verge of collapse Nursing home owners are looking for a bigger Medicaid boost from the state, arguing that years of flat Medicaid reimbursement rates have created a series of substantial shortfalls.

The hearing Wednesday was prompted by a ruling in January by a state Supreme Court judge in Onondaga County.

In that ruling, Supreme Court Judge Gerard J. Neri wrote that the state Health Department, Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett violated the boundaries of their authority in making the Covid-19 vaccine mandate permanent for health care workers.

Neri declared the mandate "null, void and of no effect," which the state appealed. The state further requested a stay on the ruling, which was granted, until the appellate court could weigh in.

The lawsuit was initially filed in October by a group called Medical Professionals for Informed Consent, which is made up of five medical employees.
The Soviet Second Echelon Threat from U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Pamphlet 525-5, AirLand Battle Concept and Corps Operations  1986, 25 March 1981, page 6. (Courtesy photo, TRADOC Military History and Heritage Office)
, May 24 ( Kyodo ) - Japan's lower house on Tuesday approved a bill creating a special pool of funds to substantially increase defense spending despite opposition lawmakers' resistance.

If enacted, the law will allow the government to set aside non-tax revenue derived from selling government assets or transferring money from its special accounts in the state budget, specifically for use in defense spending over multiple years.

For fiscal 2023, the first of a five-year period that will see Japan's defense spending reach a combined 43 trillion yen ($310 billion), the government has allocated over 3.38 trillion yen for defense funds. ...continue reading
It is not difficult to find people in Buffalo with a story about encountering Clara Gomez. And those that knew her called her "Claire."

The longtime panhandler was a fixture on both the East and West sides of Buffalo, as well as downtown, known for her dangerous habit of walking amid traffic in the street and asking motorists for money.

But Gomez, 58, was believed to have been on the sidewalk Tuesday night when an SUV crashed into her at the entrance of the Metro Rail station at Main and West Utica streets, killing her.

"She was, tragically, in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Raymonda Reynolds, who witnessed the crash. "It was no fault of her own."

Authorities say that two women in the SUV were being pursued by another vehicle and that a man was shooting at them from that vehicle. Prosecutors say that the women were chased from Jefferson Avenue and Best Street to Main and Utica, where they lost control of the SUV.

Wednesday afternoon, the accused shooter, Marlon D. Servance Jr., 22, of Buffalo, was charged with one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment. City Court Judge Diane Wray remanded him to jail without bail.

Servance is scheduled to return to court for a felony hearing on Friday. Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said more charges are possible.

Reynolds was sitting in her truck parked near her home on Main Street on Tuesday when she saw a car go speeding past her, she said.

"Then I heard a boom," Reynolds said.

Moments later, police cars and other emergency vehicles arrived at the scene.

Reynolds said she drove closer to the commotion by the Utica Metro Rail Station and saw her aunt at the scene.

"Claire is under there," Reynolds said her aunt told her.

The aunt was distraught, as were the other people outside the station.

Gomez was well-known on the streets of Buffalo where she would ask for  often demand  money or food from pedestrians. She was not homeless, although it might have seemed that way due to her to disheveled appearance and frequent panhandling. Many who knew her said she battled drug addictions and related mental illness.

"She got up and got dressed like anyone who'd go to work, and then went to McDonald's and Burger King to ask for money all day long," said John Young, a pastor who saw her regularly in the 2000s. "Everyone thought she was a vagrant, but she ... was not offensive or disrespectful in any way."

Griselda brings gritty Buffalo realism to the nation with 'Tonight Show' performance The whole nation got a taste of Buffalo on Thursday night. This has nothing to do with chicken wings, beef on weck, or any of the other cliches routinely trotted out whenever our town gets mentioned by the mainstream media. (Can you blame them? Half the time, we do it to ourselves.) No, this was no Travel Channel-concocted view

The spotlight shined on her unexpectedly in 2019 when Griselda Records, a collective of breakout Buffalo-born hip-hop artists, featured her image on their album cover. Gomez was more than just a real-life Buffalo visual for the album. Griselda, led by Westside Gunn, took her to Miami for an art event, showcased her image on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and featured her at the debut of the Buffalo Kids merchandise store at the Walden Galleria. A Griselda tour last year was dubbed "Claire's Back."

Westside Gunn, in an early morning tweet Wednesday, was one of the first to share a report of her death.

"My fav Buffalo Kid," his tweet read. "You'll be Loved Forever."

Despite her addiction struggles, there was an element of choice in how Gomez lived her life, according to many who knew her.

"She has family here," Young said. "She was well taken care of. This was the lifestyle she chose. Maybe her purpose was to be the person you could show love to, in spite of" her struggles.

"She was needy  although she didn't have to be," said Pastor Timothy Newkirk of GYC Ministries, who knew Gomez for several years. He described her as coming from wealth, while others said she was previously a model and had a college education.

"She lived like us, she lived amongst us, and she was a product of the crack epidemic that stormed Buffalo, New York, as well as the country," Newkirk continued. "She never got a chance to fully recover, but she always had that sense of pride in who she was."

Her family members could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Buffalonians actively looked out for her, said Reynolds, a doula who assists women with childbirth. She recalled seeing Gomez earlier this month in the Main Street McDonald's parking lot.

"She popped up out of nowhere and said, 'Gimme a dollar, mama,' " she said. Gomez often referred to people as "mama" or "papi."

Reynolds told her she didn't have any dollar bills, and then Gomez stuck her head into the vehicle and took the change from the pocket in her door.

"Claire, are you going to take all my change?" Reynolds said she joked with her.

They snapped a selfie together, and Reynolds told Gomez to "Be good."

"You be good, mama," Gomez said.

John Jackson, 47 a Buffalo resident, spoke to Gomez's character at the Utica Station on Wednesday morning.

"She was just bright  when she came around, she'd light up the atmosphere," said Jackson, a member of the Buffalo Peacemakers who knew Gomez since 2011, adding: "She made sure she gave people their due. A lot of people can't be reached, a lot of people can't be helped, but if she would have had a chance, I think she would have been able to get help. She wasn't like everybody else."

Young, longtime pastor of FellowshipWorld, a nondenominational Christian church previously at Main and West Utica streets, described an encounter in 2006 that displayed Gomez's human side. He said she regularly accepted free food at his church meal giveaways, at which Young recalled Gomez asked if he wanted to buy some gospel CDs  and those she offered him had been stolen from his church's bookstore.

Young said Gomez apologized and attended a play at the church with her father, the pastor said. Young recalled an hourlong conversation with Gomez, a talk that "stays with you forever," even after 42 years of leading a church.

"When she was lucid, she was very well-spoken, articulate and had an interesting humor about her," Young said Wednesday.

Newkirk said Gomez retained some of that strength, even in the throes of addiction.

"She was very strong-minded, she knew what she was saying when she said it  she didn't always have a clear voice, but if you understood inside, she had dignity, she had prestige," Newkirk said.

Mack McKissick, 64, said Gomez about a month ago welcomed him back to Buffalo from Cleveland, where he had spent several years. He remembered meeting her as she left Family Dollar. When she asked for money, he bought her a value meal from the Burger King adjacent and handed her a few cigarettes. They ran into each other often recently at the Little Portion Friary, a homeless shelter at 1305 Main St., too.

"She was harmless," McKissick said near the site of Gomez's death.

Bing Mitchell, a manager at the Family Dollar on Main and West Utica streets, described her interactions with Gomez.

"We loved her," Mitchell said. "She came every day, no matter what. She said hi. She'd be a bother sometimes, but not really too often. She'd say, 'Give me some Oodles and a Coke'  that's all she wanted every day," Mitchell said, referring to Nissin Top Ramen's Oodles of Noodles.

Gomez had a knack for getting what she wanted, too.

"She was so articulate with the way she begged, people would give her more than they gave everybody else," Newkirk said.

Reynolds stayed at the scene of the crash Tuesday and went on Facebook Live to talk about what happened. She watched as dozens of people showed up at the station to pay respects.

"This one hurts," Reynolds said. "Because she was a staple in the community."

News staff reporter Aaron Besecker contributed to this article.
Authorities in South Carolina have captured Michael C. Burham, the man being sought in connection with the May 11 homicide of a Jamestown woman, according to the FBI field office in Columbia.

Burham, 34, was taken into custody in Huger, a community in Berkeley County, S.C., at 5:17 p.m. Wednesday after a resident called in a tip less than two hours earlier and reported that Burham was hiding in a shed behind a residence, police said. Burham was confronted by the resident as he hid behind tarps near the familys woodshed and fled. Police, with the help of a K9 team and air units, located and arrested an unarmed, disheveled Burham.

Multistate manhunt underway for Jamestown man Authorities have said Michael Burham should be considered armed and dangerous and that members of the public should not attempt to make contact with him.

"This has been a long operation," Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said during a Wednesday evening press conference. "The people out here ... they can rest easy tonight."

Neighbors in the area standing outside their houses applauded as it became clear that Burham was in custody. Burham remained in custody in Berkeley County, where he was being interviewed by FBI agents.

Lewis said Burham was not in good shape when they caught him and looked like he had been on the run for a long time. Burham immediately asked police for something to drink, he added.

"You could tell from his clothing he had been in the woods for a long time," Lewis said.

They had been searching Tuesday for Burham in a forested area north of Charleston. The search moved Wednesday to Awendaw, a small town in Charleston County, where Burham was spotted Tuesday night.

Police in Berkeley County received a 911 call about a suspicious man at about 11 a.m. Tuesday. Sheriff's deputies encountered the man, who gave them a false name and ran, the sheriff's office said in a news release.

Deputies chased the man, who dropped a bookbag, inside of which there were "articles that confirmed Burham's identity," the sheriff's office said.

Federal, state and local police agencies were involved in the search, according to the sheriff's office. About 120 police and law enforcement officials assisted.

Jamestown police seek man for questioning after woman's death, two fires Jamestown Police Chief Timothy Jackson described Michael C. Burnham as armed and dangerous, and warned members of the public to avoid approaching him.

The FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to his capture. The FBI's wanted poster had indicated that Burham may be hitchhiking or using a beach cruiser bicycle for transportation.

"We are utilizing every available resource to find this fugitive. We have all hands on deck and we will not stop the search," Lewis said before Burham's capture.

He credited the community for calling police with many tips.

Police had been searching for Burham since the body of Kala M. Hodgkin, 34, was found on William Street in Jamestown on May 11. Jamestown police identified her as a homicide victim.

Jamestown police also said there were two fires set in the city around the time Hodgkin's body was found.

On May 12, police said a pickup truck Burham was believed to have been driving was found in Warren, Pa.

North Charleston, S.C., police on Sunday said a Pennsylvania couple reported being kidnapped and driven to South Carolina by Burham. The agency identified Burham as a suspect in a homicide who also was wanted on a rape charge.

Pennsylvania State Police said an 89-year-old man and 68-year-old woman from Sheffield, Pa., reported being kidnapped at gunpoint by Burham, according to Erie News Now.
CAWSTON, BC, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Located in historical Cawston, British Columbia, Sharpe Distillery is proudly opening its doors to the public on Friday, May 26th.

With a family history in Cawston that stretches back three generations, Tracy Sharpe, Amy Jo Sharpe & CEJ Mussell are paying tribute to Grandpa Jack Sharpe for the character that he was and for the decades-long impact he has had on the local community.

Sharpe Distillery, Cawston, BC (CNW Group/Sharpe Distillery)

Steeped in history without being stuck in the past, Sharpe Distillery craft their spirits using tried-and-true methods but always with an eye towards innovation and experimentation. Tracy and CJ are proud of where they come from in Cawston, which is why they always strive to use nothing but the best of what's around in their very own backyard - including water from the Similkameen River. With spirits ranging from unaged rye whiskeys, to botanical gins, to cherry vodkas, Sharpe Distillery is sure to offer something for everyone.

And true to Grandpa Jacks' reputation, Sharpe Distillery not only offer a wide range of spirits, but they have also created a tasting room experience where everyone is always welcome. With a menu full of unique cocktails inspired by the local growing season and ingredient availability, Sharpe Distillery invite anyone and everyone to feel connected to their community and to learn their story, both historically and geographically, every time they enjoy one of their quality spirits.

So come on down to Sharpe Distillery at 253 Beecroft River Road in Cawston, British Columbia to take a load off and have a drink, a laugh, and be treated like a part of the family. Tell 'em Jack sent you.

About Sharpe Distillery

Launched in 2023, Sharpe Distillery is the product of many years of planning and hard work, all fueled by a desire to honour the Sharpe family's rich tradition and legacy within their local community. More than just another faceless whiskey brand, Sharpe Distillery invites you to belly up and become part of the family as you learn about an authentic history that runs as deep in the distilling industry as it does in the area where the product is made. Sharpe Distillery proudly operates out of Cawston, British Columbia at 253 Beecroft River Road.

SOURCE Sharpe Distillery

For further information: PRESS INQUIRIES: Tracy Sharpe, [email protected], sharpedistillery.com, Instagram: @sharpedistillery, Facebook: /sharpedistillery
Explore and connect with the stories of the past through guided tours and free activities for the whole family

TREATY NO. 1 TERRITORY, WINNIPEG, MB, May 23, 2023 /CNW/ - The vast network of protected areas administered by Parks Canada is a gateway to nature, history, and 450 000 km of stories from coast to coast to coast.

On May 23, 2023, The Forks National Historic Site (The Forks) kicks off the visitor season with new and established programming, offering opportunities to come together to learn about the people and history of this treasured gathering place.

Left image: Guided tours of The Forks National Historic Site begin May 23, 2023. Photo: Parks Canada Right image: Hands-on activities help build connection to the history and people of this treasured meeting place. Photo: Parks Canada (CNW Group/Parks Canada)

National historic sites, like The Forks, reflect the rich and varied heritage of Canada and provide an opportunity for Canadians to learn more about our diverse history. Starting May 23, and throughout the summer, visitors can take two guided tours: Where Our Stories Meet recounts the histories of First Nations who traded at The Forks for thousands of years and how the Metis Nation shaped the land that would become Manitoba. While Unpacking the Past uses the contents of three suitcases to help visitors discover the story of this significant place. Visit parks.canada.ca/forks for tour dates, times, and costs.

Starting July 2, summer programming really starts to heat up. The Adventure Place is being transformed into an engaging, hands-on activity centre with touch tables, displays, and interpretive activities that help to tell the stories of the people that have gathered at The Forks for over 6,000 years.

Parks Canada's mascot Parka will play a big part in bringing the party to The Forks this season. With daily visits to the Fort Parka playground, this inquisitive beaver will guide activities such as archaeological "digs," aerobics, and ice cream creation. The Beaver Club Animators will also be on site putting on theatre pieces and leading crafts.

All these programs are in addition to Parks Canada's seasonal offerings such as the Fort Parka playground, splash pad, Xplorers and Club Parka activity booklets. The best part? These activities are all FREE.

Plan your visit today and hear stories of the events that have shaped Canada's past, present, and future!

Historic Places Days are an opportunity to discover Canada's many diverse historic destinations and the vital role these places have in their communities. This year, Historic Places Days begins on July 8. Travel back in time and discover the great stories of the past. Hundreds of fascinating historic places including The Forks are waiting to be discovered!

To make the most of their Parks Canada experience, visitors are asked to plan their trip in advance, by visiting the Parks Canada website and signing up for the e-newsletter, to be among the first to find out about new and noteworthy events and activities, special offers, trip planning ideas and much more  all delivered directly to their inboxes! Visitors can also download the Parks Canada app, listen to Parks Canada's new podcast ReCollections, and follow Parks Canada on social media for destination inspiration and to help plan their perfect visit.

Quotes

"As we near summertime, I encourage everyone to connect with nature and culture and make lasting memories at The Forks National Historic Site. National historic sites, national parks and national marine conservation areas represent the very best that Canada has to offer where Canadians and visitors to Canada can explore nature and learn about Canada's history. The vast network of protected areas administered by Parks Canada has something for everyone to enjoy."

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault

Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada

"The visitor season coming into full swing at Parks Canada's administered places is always an exciting time of year. The Parks Canada team works extremely hard to provide visitors with high-quality and meaningful experiences across the country. We look forward to welcoming new and returning visitors to The Forks National Historic Site to create lasting memories!"

Ron Hallman

President & Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada

Quick Facts

The Forks National Historic Site is a place of connection. The confluence of the meandering Assiniboine and mighty Red River marks both a tangible and symbolic meeting place at the very heart of Canada . Long before European explorers arrived here, this was a traditional stopping place for Indigenous peoples to gather provisions and trade among other tribes. It has been a key location in the history and development of the land now known as Canada . Today, it remains a hub for visitors to enjoy the culture, nature, and history of this treasured meeting place.

marks both a tangible and symbolic meeting place at the very heart of . Long before European explorers arrived here, this was a traditional stopping place for Indigenous peoples to gather provisions and trade among other tribes. It has been a key location in the history and development of the land now known as . Today, it remains a hub for visitors to enjoy the culture, nature, and history of this treasured meeting place. Parks Canada has launched a new podcast series, entitled ReCollections . Five initial episodes share the captivating stories behind various national historic sites across the country. Delve into Canada's rich natural and cultural heritage as you uncover these cherished treasures.

has launched a new podcast series, entitled . Five initial episodes share the captivating stories behind various national historic sites across the country. Delve into rich natural and cultural heritage as you uncover these cherished treasures. Parks Canada -administered places are a source of shared pride for all Canadians. That is why the Government of Canada is pleased to continue to offer free admission to all Parks Canada's administered places for youth aged 17 and under. By encouraging young people to discover and connect with these incredible natural and cultural places, we can inspire the next generation of stewards for these protected places.

-administered places are a source of shared pride for all Canadians. That is why the Government of is pleased to continue to offer free admission to all Parks Canada's administered places for youth aged 17 and under. By encouraging young people to discover and connect with these incredible natural and cultural places, we can inspire the next generation of stewards for these protected places. In celebration of diversity, Parks Canada continues to offer free admission to new Canadian citizens for one year through the Institute for Canadian Citizenship's Canoo mobile app. Visiting Parks Canada's national heritage places is a great way for Canadians to experience the outdoors and learn more about our environment and heritage.

Associated Links

http://www.twitter.com/parkscanada

SOURCE Parks Canada

For further information: Kaitlin Power, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-230-1557, [email protected]; Carly Walsh, Public Relations and Communications Officer, Parks Canada, [email protected]
The impacts of chemical pollution on wildlife

Over the past century, there has been an unprecedented rise in pollution across the planet. From microplastics in the Arctic and inside our bodies, to sewage in our rivers and seas, the issue affects our lives on a scale we're yet to fully comprehend.

Of the many different types of pollution, chemical pollutants are perhaps the best understood. A variety of studies over the years have revealed the effects they can have on life at a variety of scales.

The growth of algae, for instance, can be harmed by antibiotics in water by limiting their ability to carry out photosynthesis.

At the other end of the scale, killer whales are known to be affected by chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of chemicals formerly used as coolants. These can interfere with the animal's immune system and reproduction as they build up in the orca's blubber.

But the methods behind such earlier research have been problematic. Historically, these studies have used laboratory experiments which can overlook how mixtures of the chemicals affect health or relied on samples from dead animals which can have much higher levels of pollutants than average.

More recently, scientists have been trying to account for these issues by turning to biomonitoring techniques allowing them to study wild animals in their own habitat.

In the current study this meant taking poo samples from four species of primate living in Kibale National Park, including chimpanzees, olive baboons, red-tailed monkeys and the Ugandan red colobus. This allowed the researchers to measure levels of not only the pollutants themselves, but also the hormones they might affect.

'Toxicology has been undergoing a renaissance over the past few decades towards improving animal ethics, and faecal biomonitoring can offer a really valuable approach,' Tessa says. 'While faecal samples aren't exactly the cleanest matrix to work with, the opportunity to study the impacts of pollution in wild animals without any sort of harm or manipulation is pretty neat.'
Wells Fargo, one of the countrys largest banks, has added another location to the list of branches that it plans to close this summer in Connecticut.

The San Francisco-headquartered company has filed a notice of intent to shut down its branch at 761 Highland Ave., in Waterbury, according to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The location is one of three Wells Fargo branches in Waterbury, standing across the street from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and a couple of blocks from the Town Plot park.

Wells Fargo made the difficult decision to close our Waterbury Town Plot branch at 761 Highland Ave., on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, at 12 p.m., Jacqueline Hlavenka-Sansone, a Wells Fargo spokesperson, said in an email Tuesday. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause, and customers can continue to bank with us at our other nearby locations, including our Valley Mall branch at 800 Wolcott St., in Waterbury, approximately 2.89 miles away. Other nearby branches are in Waterbury Plaza at 224 Chase Ave., and Watertown Straits (628 Straits Turnpike in Watertown).

Last month, Wells Fargo told the OCC that it would close its branches at 108 Mill Plain Road in Danbury and 950 Post Road in Darien. Those closings are scheduled for July 26.

Wells Fargo declined to specify how many employees would be affected by the branch closings, but Hlavenka-Sansone said that, at this time, we are reviewing staffing needs and will determine new location assignments for employees at nearby branches.

Despite those branch closings, Wells Fargo will remain one of the largest banks operating in Connecticut. Across the state, it has about 60 branches and more than 1,100 employees.

Branches continue to play an important role in the way we serve our customers, and we continuously evaluate our branch network in light of changing customer needs, the increase in the use of digital banking, market factors, and economic trends, Hlavenka-Sansone said.

As of last June, Wells Fargo had about $9.8 billion in deposits in Connecticut, ranking No. 5 among banks operating in the state, after Bank of America; Stamford-headquartered Webster Bank; M&T Bank, which last year acquired Bridgeport-based Peoples United Bank; and JPMorgan Chase.

While it is closing some branches in Connecticut, Wells Fargos finances appear solid. It beat sales and profit targets in the past quarter, as it recorded an approximately $5 billion profit.

Among other recent developments, Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by shareholders who accused the bank of making misleading statements about its compliance with federal regulators, after a scandal involving the opening of fake accounts surfaced in 2016.
Inmates at New Haven Correctional Center recently spend three days in a facility-wide lockdown. Prison reform advocates say that flies against the spirit, if not the letter of a 2022 law.

New Haven Correctional Center was placed on lockdown on Friday, May 19, said state Department of Correction spokesperson Ashley McCarthey said Monday. We are unable to share details due to it being an active investigation.

McCarthy confirmed that the lockdown ended Monday. She did not say what type of investigation caused the lockdown, or how often such lockdowns occur.

Barbara Fair, lead organizer with prison reform advocates Stop Solitary Connecticut, said an investigation was a way around the 2022 PROTECT Act, which limited the amount of time prisoners may be kept in isolation.

Since the passage of the PROTECT Act this department has found many ways to keep people in cages for as much as they can even though a law was passed to end its use of isolation, she said. What possible excuse can they have for keeping people caged all weekend without even access to a decent shower? Is a pending investigation really all that is required to continue this abuse of power?

McCarthy said limiting movement of inmates within the facility is within the DOCs power.

We are committed to the safety and security of every individual throughout our facilities, she said. In the event we learn of information that poses a risk to the individuals in our care, a facility may restrict movement while a thorough investigation is completed.

The measure, signed into law last year by Gov. Ned Lamont, defines a lockdown as the enforced detainment of all incarcerated persons within such persons' cells imposed upon an entire correctional facility or part of such facility, other than for the purpose of administrative meetings.

The PROTECT Act limits the amount of time inmates may be kept in isolation, but carves out exceptions for facility-wide emergencies, lockdowns and mental health treatment.

That law followed a now-expired 2021 executive order signed by Lamont which stipulated that incarcerated persons in the general population shall be held in isolated confinement only due to disciplinary status, outside of extraordinary circumstances.

When signing the act into law, Lamont said it made clear that isolated confinement should only be used in extreme circumstances.

I am very proud that our executive order led to this compromise bill, and that many elements of that executive order are now being codified into law, he said at the time.

The PROTECT Act also created an independent ombudsperson, whose role it is to investigate complaints regarding the Department of Correction. Fair said the lack of information on the cause of extended lockdowns is why such oversight was necessary.

This is exactly why Department of Correction requires independent oversight, she said. It is a system shut tight to everyone outside.
On May 21, a TikTok was made showing viewers a painting of the singer Lorde at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. The video garnered more than 177,000 views over the course of the day with many in the comments expressing their bewilderment that the painting is in Connecticut.

The painting on display is one of the "alternate" album covers for "Melodrama," Lorde's sophomore album. Depicting the singer laying in a bed, it was painted as a possible cover for the album, but has not been used on any released copies  another version of the painting by Connecticut artist, Sam McKinniss ended up on the cover.

The museum purchased the painting in the fall of 2022 after working with McKinniss and his New York-based studio, according to a spokesperson for the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. McKinniss, who grew up in Connecticut and attended Hartford Art School, held onto the painting for years before selling it to the museum. According to Boucher, the piece will be on display at least through July.

In an interview with W Magazine, McKinniss said he was first contacted by Lorde via email. The two quickly became good friends, and after taking some pictures of her, McKinniss painted the portrait for "Melodrama."

"So what she asked me to do was to ... create a kind of colorful teenage restlessness and excitement and energy and potential  to put that into color and put it in my hands," McKinniss told W Magazine. "It has this kind of lushness and sensitivity to light and color and touch that I bring to my portraits, so it felt like a collaboration."

Jim Dyson/Getty Images

"Melodrama" was in the newest batch of albums that made it into Rolling Stone's updated list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020. The album came in at number 460, with the magazine saying that the album was "bigger-sounding and more club-friendly than the spare sound of her 2016 debut."

"Lorde was 16 when the blockbuster hit 'Royals' earned her acclaim as the voice of a generation. As her second album showed, that wasnt quite accurate  shes more like the voice of smart, self-conscious, neurotic people of all generations," the magazine wrote.

Connecticut has a storied history of album covers shot in the state for artists like Radiohead, Bob Dylan and The National.
A touch of Hollywood will come to New Haven on Friday, June 9, when the Shubert Theatre literally rolls out a red carpet leading into its annual fundraiser gala featuring a one-night only concert with actor and singer Jeremy Jordan.

Making his Broadway debut in 2009 in Rock of Ages, Jordan is best known to musical theater fans for his Tony-nominated role as Jack Kelly in Newsies. He also has numerous screen credits, from TVs Smash and Supergirl to starring in movies like The Last Five Years and most recently, Spinning Gold. Hes also the lead singer in a rock band, Age of Madness.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Jordan will make his Connecticut concert debut at the Shubert, singing a medley of favorite songs. I think its just going to be a fun night where we are going to be celebrating the Shubert. My particular set is going to be some favorites of mine from shows that I have done and some songs that I also really love to sing, he said. Im just going to try to keep entertaining folks as best I can. I try to keep it light as much as possible.

While Jordans performance is part of the Shuberts 108th anniversary celebration, guests dont need to be attending the gala itself to attend the show.

Courtesy of Shubert Theatre

Nicholas Bussett, the Shuberts director of development, said Jordan has been one of his favorite artists since college. I just find him so talented and his range from Broadway to being in a rock bandI just think he is an ultimate talent, he said. He has a younger following than previous gala guests and we always love expanding our reach and audience base to a new and younger generation.

The gala is the theaters largest annual fundraiser and helps the theater achieve its financial goals to make sure we are still bringing the great art that we bring to New Haven and Connecticut, he said. As part of the gala, there will be Jordans concert, a champagne toast, meet-and-greet and photo ops with Jordan, a cocktail reception and a silent auction. People at home can even bid online in the auction, which includes tickets to the Tony Awards ceremony and a Manhattan hotel stay. Flanking the galas red carpet entrance will be two vehicles from a local Jaguar Land Rover dealer. Its going to be an extravagant evening, Bussett said.

Courtesy of Shubert Theatre

Jordan has been fairly busy these days. His movie, Spinning Gold, was released in March and tells the story of Casablanca Records head Neil Bogart and his journey to success in the 60s and 70s.

It was a really crazy, fun and wild experience and Im just happy its finally out in the world because Ive been sitting on it for a long time, he said. Hes also fulfilling his childhood dreams of being a rock star with his band, Age of Madness, which has an album coming out this summer and may do some shows in the greater New York City area.

Jordan said his concert set list varies a bit from show to show but he typically sings songs like Santa Fe from Newsies, which he notes helped put him on the map; as well as something from Smash or The Last Five Years, as well as songs in the contemporary vein.

Performing a concert live is vastly different from doing a scripted musical theater show on stage, Jordan said. Its a lot more off the cuff and in the moment. You gauge your audience and see what the vibe is and kind of roll with it that way, he said. I never really know what Im walking into especially when I have never performed there before so I will have my set list, some talking points. Generally it will kind of transform and morph, depending on how the audience reacts and what the vibe of the room is.

Its kind of really fun because I get to improvise a little but at the same time I can fall back on all the songs and Im not going to improvise the lyrics of famous musical theater songs, he said. I can just be myself and rely on my own preparation and hopefully a little bit of charm to get me through it.
The surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has made its way to New York City  and now may have an impact on Buffalo.

With hundreds of migrants arriving in New York City every day, Gov. Hochul is looking for places to house some of them in other parts of the state. She has not yet announced where that might be, but while in Buffalo last week, she said she was looking at all options, including dormitories on university campuses.

Here is a look at what is behind the sudden influx of migrants.

What was Title 42 and what happened to it?

Title 42 was the name of an emergency health authority that President Trumps administration put into place in March 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid-19. It allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Associated Press.

'What we have now is chaos': The politics of immigration land in New York Migrants are entering the United States almost 2,000 miles away, but the issues related to that influx have landed on the doorstep of politicians and organizations across New York.

Before the pandemic, migrants could cross illegally, ask for asylum and be allowed into the United States. They were then screened and often released to wait out their immigration cases, which can take years.

Under Title 42, migrants were returned over the border and denied the right to seek asylum. U.S. officials turned away migrants more than 2.8 million times using the authority. Families and children traveling alone were exempt.

With the federal government announcing the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency at the end of the day May 11, Title 42 was lifted.

What are the new rules for border crossers?

Anyone who comes to the United States can ask for asylum. They are screened to determine whether they have a credible fear of persecution in their homeland. Their case then goes to the immigration court system to determine if they can stay in the United States, AP reported.

The U.S. has said it will accept up to 30,000 people per month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba as long as they come by air, have a sponsor and apply online first. The government also will allow up to 100,000 people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras into the U.S. who have family here if they, too, apply online. Border officials will otherwise deport people, including turning away 30,000 per month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, who will be sent back over the border to Mexico, according to AP.

Other migrants also may be allowed in if they apply through the CBP One app. Right now, 740 people per day have been allowed in using the app, which is being increased to 1,000 per day, the AP reported.

Why are so many asylum seekers ending up in New York City?

More than 70,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the surge began, costing the city about $1 billion already, according to the New York Times. New York City officials say the cost could rise to as much as $4.3 billion.

The migrants are coming to New York through a mix of ways  some by bus tickets purchased by migrants themselves or purchased by nonprofits, some by buses chartered by other cities and others by plane.

New York City has been scrambling to find shelter for them in places including public school gyms, hotels and in giant tents on Randall's Island, the Times reported.

What's the impact in Buffalo?

There is a good chance that some of the migrants and asylum-seekers in New York City will end up in Buffalo. Gov. Kathy Hochul said last week while visiting Buffalo that the state is considering options including using SUNY campuses as potential sites to house the ongoing surge.

Buffalo was already experiencing an influx of migrants prior to the lifting of Title 42. Area agencies are also contending with migrants who had hoped to cross into Canada, but no longer can after the U.S. and Canada agreed to new policies in March.

Buffalo has a long history of welcoming migrants, largely because of its proximity to the Canadian border.

In 2021, Census data showed that Buffalo's population grew for the first time in 70 years, largely driven by immigrants and resettled refugees moving to the city.

Agencies in Buffalo, including the International Institute, Jewish Family Services, Journey's End and Jericho Road Community Health Center  which operates the Vive asylum-seeker shelter  have been helping refugees and new immigrants here.

Last week, the leaders of seven counties in Western New York announced that they were seeking to block New York City from sending migrants to hotels in their areas. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he would not seek any such emergency order, calling such a move illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and "morally repugnant."

Are migrants allowed to work?

Under current immigration law, migrants who are in the process of seeking asylum are barred from working for the first six months after filing their paperwork. On Monday, Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a news conference calling on the federal government to expedite work permits for the asylum seekers. Hochul also asked for more immigration judges to handle the surge of New York-based cases.

The New York Farm Bureau expressed support for the move for migrants "who have been properly processed and who want to work on farms in New York State," while also saying that the measure is "a temporary band aid for a greater problem that must be solved in Washington, D.C."
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh is facing federal charges for the first time after being indicted on 22 financial fraud charges over allegations that the disgraced former attorney schemed to steal settlement money from clients.

The indictments unsealed Wednesday don't appear to reveal any new allegations against Murdaugh, a once prominent attorney in South Carolina who is serving a life sentence without parole for killing his wife and younger son. He is also awaiting trial on around 100 other state charges including insurance fraud, tax evasion and theft.

But Murdaugh's lawyers indicated he is talking with federal prosecutors and added this part of his legal difficulties may be resolved soon.

Alex has been cooperating with the United States Attorneys Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities. We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial," lawyers Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian said in a statement.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 14 counts of money laundering, five counts of wire fraud, one county of bank fraud, one county of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the federal indictments unsealed Wednesday.

Each charge carries at least a maximum of 20 years in prison. Some have a maximum 30-year sentence.

Along with the indictments, federal prosecutors also announced that Murdaugh's longtime friend Cory Fleming  an old college roommate and godfather to one of his sons  would plead Thursday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his part in helping Murdaugh steal money.

Murdaugh convinced the family of his longtime housekeeper who died after a fall at his home to use Fleming as their lawyer and then Fleming sued Murdaugh to get a wrongful death settlement that they didn't give to her sons.

Murdaugh kept most of the more than $3 million in settlement money for himself. but Fleming also got some of the cash and used it to pay his mortgage, credit card debt, tax payments and buy video games, according to state prosecutors who have already charged Fleming in the alleged scheme.

The family of the housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, didn't see any of the money until the relatives hired new lawyers who tracked down the stolen settlements and sued insurers and others.

Fleming, 54, faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced later. A trial on the state charges against him is scheduled for September.

The other allegations prosecutors detail in Murdaugh's federal indictments already have been revealed in state legal papers.

It said Murdaugh and a banker friend, Russell Laffitte, worked together to take settlement money out of client's accounts, prosecutors said. Laffitte was convicted in November of six wire and bank fraud charges.

Other federal indictments give detailed allegations of how Murdaugh created a bank account that had a similar name to a legitimate company that handled settlements to steal money from clients.

Murdaugh is currently in protective custody at an undisclosed state prison after being convicted in March of the shooting deaths of his 22-year-old son, Paul and 52-year-old wife, Maggie, at their home. Prosecutors said he decided to kill them because his millions of dollars of theft was about to be discovered and he was hoping their deaths would buy him sympathy and time to figure out a cover-up.

How long Griffin and Harpootlian can continue representing Murdaugh is also up in the air.

A judge recently denied a request from the attorneys to release an additional $160,000 from Murdaughs retirement account to pay for his appeal of his life sentence because the six-week murder trial exhausted the $600,000 they were initially given.

Murdaugh's legal woes extend to civil court, too. A judge ordered him to give a deposition in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a teenager who died when a boat driven by Paul Murdaugh crashed in 2019. Authorities said he was intoxicated and the teen's parents have sued Alex Murdaugh, the store that sold the beer and others.
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A Hartford man who lost his life savings in a Bitcoin scam is among four Connecticut residents to get their money back as part of a recent settlement between the state's Department of Banking and the cryptocurrency company Bitcoin of America.

In 2021, Joe Samuels, an artist in his early 80s, deposited $20,000 into a Bitcoin ATM at a convenience store near his Hartford apartment under instruction from scammers, who had convinced him the money didn't belong to him. Police recovered the cash from the ATM, but a judge ruled that it legally belonged to Bitcoin of America, which owned the ATM.

CT Insider wrote about Samuels' case in March, and CBS News profiled him shortly after. Meanwhile, executives from Bitcoin of America were arrested in Ohio and charged with conspiracy, money laundering, receiving stolen property and more, after police found they operated more than 50 unlicensed kiosks there.

Then several weeks ago, Samuels' son Jason, who had advocated tirelessly for his father to an array of state agencies, received an email from the Department of Banking asking him for an address to send a restitution payment. Soon after, $20,000 arrived in the mail.

"My father was pleasantly surprised. It's just a big weight off his shoulders," Jason Samuels said Tuesday. "It was a lot of money that he thought had been lost, and he's thankful that others hopefully won't fall pray to the same sort of unregulated banking endeavor."

As part of the settlement between the Department of Banking and Bitcoin of America, announced publicly this week, the company repaid four Connecticut residents a total of $86,000 and agreed to wind down operations in the state. In a statement, the Department of Banking said Bitcoin of America had been operating kiosks without a proper license.

"This case highlights the need to be cautious when using virtual currency kiosks," banking commissioner Jorge Perez said in a statement. "Scammers are preying upon consumers' vulnerabilities and tricking them into depositing cash into kiosks, which can be found throughout the state."

Critics say that Bitcoin ATMs, which allow consumers to purchase virtual currency, lend themselves to scams because they redirect cash to third parties through transactions that are highly difficult to trace. Though Bitcoin of America and other similar companies are not themselves propagating scams, critics allege, they willingly profit from them, while doing little to protect consumers.

Bitcoin of America did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

In Connecticut, the state House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would increase regulation around cryptocurrency ATMs, in hopes of preventing future scams like the one Joe Samuels fell for. The bill now awaits action in the state Senate.

Though Samuels eventually received restitution, the last two years haven't been easy for him. Shortly after emptying his savings account into the Bitcoin ATM in Hartford, he wound up hospitalized with a stomach ulcer, which he attributed to stress from the ordeal, and he told CT Insider he still felt sick when he thought about it.

After losing his savings in the scam, Samuels decided to move to Georgia with one of his sons, and Jason Samuels said that remains his plan even after retrieving the money. Still, he said, the family is thrilled to have saga over.

"It's a miracle," Jason Samuels said.
NEW HAVEN  Police had an extra presence Wednesday at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, and school counselors will be at the school through the end of the week, the city's mayor said after a report of a person with a gun sent the school into lockdown Tuesday.

The report of a gun, which police said Tuesday was from a parent, turned out to be false. But a 14-year-old girl was arrested after police searching students and lockers found a knife.

Students were eventually dismissed early on Tuesady in the wake of the lockdown.

"The number of students absent today is a little bit higher than normal," New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said Wednesday "Which is understandable because in my conversations with parents yesterday that were on scene at the school, there's a lot of anxiety that's associated with school lockdowns."

In addition to the student who was arrested Tuesday, Elicker said a "number" of students had been suspended pending an investigation. The student arrested with the knife was not the direct target of the police investigation during the lockdown, but "it's unclear if it was entirely incidental as well," the mayor said when reached by phone Wednesday.

The lockdown in New Haven was among the latest disturbances to roil Connecticut schools.

Earlier this month, school officials placed Crosby High School in Waterbury in lockdown after a report that a student may have been armed. Police investigated and found no weapon, but they arrested two parents they said trespassed inside the school while it was in lockdown. The district's superintendent later blamed the episode on "falsified information" that spread on social media.

A month before, a student at the same school was charged after authorities found a .22 caliber gun in his backpack, according to police. The incident prompted the school to shelter-in-place.

Also in April, police in Hartford announced charges against a student they said possessed a gun at Weaver High School back in October.

And Tuesday night, police in East Haven said a North Branford teen was fatally stabbed during a fight on an elementary school grounds after the school day had ended.

"An incident of school violence is a parent's worst nightmare. It's also a mayor's worst nightmare," Elicker said. "We're committed to doing everything we can to ensure our students and staff are safe. The balance is not wanting to unnecessarily lockdown a school because there's a lot of anxiety associated with that as well. We're doing our best to strike that balance, and to lean on the side of caution because we do not want our students to be in any danger."

New Haven Police Capt. Rose Dell said Wednesday there had not been any additional arrests from the incident at the high school besides the student charged with possessing a knife. She said she did not know what prompted the student to bring the knife to school.

Dell said Tuesday that school officials contacted police around 9 a.m. Tuesday after receiving information from a parent that a student on campus might have a gun. The school was then locked down.

Elicker said Tuesday a student opened a door from inside the school and took a bag from outside into the school. The student and the bag were both later located off school property, but there was nothing in it, he said.

Dell said Tuesday that K-9 officers searched students and lockers and recovered a knife, leading to the arrest of a 14-year-old student. The teen was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon, Dell said.

I think we have to be real. Right now, were seeing incidents around the nation that are tragic, and its because there are too many guns in our community; theres a lot of stress in our community, and we need to be prepared, Elicker said Tuesday, addressing parents and members of the media who had gathered during the lockdown.

He reiterated that point Wednesday.

"This is a difficult time for our nation, and how we respond to these incidents as a nation defines our values," he said. "While I am optimistic about New Haven's  our community's  ability to respond to these crises, I'm not optimistic about the lack of leadership on the federal level to address this issue. We cannot address this issue alone in our city."
WEST HAVEN  Police said they are very close to identifying a woman found dead in April 1979 and appealed to the public for help in collecting donations to solve the 40-year-old case.

In an email Wednesday morning, West Haven police Sgt. Patrick Buturla shared the womans page on DNASolves, a genetic database that uses crowdfunding, volunteered data and science to help law enforcement agencies with unsolved cases.

DNASolves relies on donations from people like you to solve cases nobody else can, Buturla said. Every donation helps a family get the closure they deserve.

The womans skeletal remains were found on the property of the New Haven Water Company, next to Route 34 and Derby Avenue, on April 20, 1979. Investigators determined that the remains belonged to a white woman in her late teens to early 20s, according to the cases DNASolves page.

She was between 5 feet, 1 inch and 5 feet, 3 inches. Investigators were not able to make definitive determinations about her weight, hair color or eye color, the page said.

Police believe the woman had been dead for one to eight years before her remains were discovered.

Upon autopsy, investigators determined that the unknown woman had periodontal disease, several fillings in her teeth, and that all of her wisdom teeth were congenitally missing, according to the DNASolves page. Additionally, investigators found that the woman may have had a congenitally missing lower vertebra, and that she may have had arthritis which would have caused some lower back pain.

Along with her remains, investigators found a black lace bra on the body and a Westclox brand folding travel alarm clock in a hard red case.

Since the discovery of the womans remains more than 44 years ago, law enforcement investigators have diligently pursued various leads about her identity, but none have returned a match for her identity, the DNASolves page said.

Two years after police discovered the remains, they found her mandible and were able to create a facial construction to depict what the woman may have looked like.

More recently, in May 2008, the case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Despite exhaustive efforts of law enforcement, the case went cold, the page said. With few leads for investigators to pursue, the womans identity has remained a mystery.

The DNASolves campaign has raised more than $3,000 of its $7,500 goal. These funds go toward remaining casework costs, according to the page.

We are so very close to identifying our 'Jane Doe' and need to reach our goal, Buturla said. Any contribution is appreciated as we hope to bring closure to our cold case by identifying the victim.

Anyone with information that could aid in this investigation is encouraged to contact the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner by calling 860-679-3980 and referencing agency case 81-934 or National Missing and Unidentified Persons System ID #UP9236.
NEW HAVEN  In the late 1980s, Ned Anderson Sr., then-chair of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona, told reporters about an astonishing document he received.

At the time, Anderson was part of a campaign to bring the remains of the famous Apache leader Geronimo to Arizona from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he died as a prisoner of war in 1909 after waging a long campaign against U.S. expansion in the southwest.

There was just one problem. Anderson told reporters hed received a document that said some of Geronimos remains werent at Fort Sill.

His skull, it said, was in New Haven  stolen from his grave by members of the Yale University secret society Skull and Bones when they were stationed at Fort Sill during World War I and taken back to their clubhouse in New Haven, which members call the Tomb.

Anderson also reportedly received a picture of the skull in a glass case inside the Tomb.

The alleged thieves included one of Connecticuts most prominent sons  former Sen. Prescott Bush, whose son and grandson would both one day be president.

Skull and Bones leaders have denied the claims. But others have described seeing what appeared to be human skulls inside the Tomb  including one referred to as Geronimo.

The story gained new life in 2006, when Yale Alumni Magazine published a letter from 1918, found in the universitys archives, in which a member of Skull and Bones, or bonesman, as theyre called, describes the theft in detail.

Now, CT Insider has unearthed two previously unpublished letters that were hiding in plain view in the same Yale archive and lend credence to the claims. Written within months of the alleged theft in 1918, they suggest that Skull and Bones members believed their fellow bonesmen had stolen Geronimos skull and brought it back to the Tomb.

Additional unpublished letters uncovered by CT Insider in the same collection at Yale corroborate facts in the document Anderson allegedly received and the letter published in 2006.

Two descendants of Geronimo who spoke recently with CT Insider said any skulls and other human remains the group took from Fort Sill should be DNA tested  a process they said they would be willing to participate in.

If they did actually steal somebodys skull, if anything, the only way youre going to find out is doing a DNA test from an actual direct bloodline from Geronimo, said Hope Gonzales, a direct descendant of Geronimo and a citizen of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico.

AP

There has also been debate over whether the Skull and Bones members could have found Geronimos grave at Fort Sill, which was unmarked in 1918.

At least some of Geronimos descendants on the Mescalero Apache Reservation believe local Apaches relocated his body shortly after his death, according to Gonzales and her cousin, Pius LaCroix-Garcia.

Still, Gonzales and LaCroix-Garcia said any remains Skull and Bones has from Fort Sill should be returned.

Whether or not theyre my ancestors, they should be honored and treated with the same care, LaCroix-Garcia said.

Even if its not Geronimo, its still important that they be brought back home and put to rest and left there, Gonzales said.

Secret society dismisses allegations

True to its nickname, the Skull and Bones Tomb looks more like a Victorian mausoleum than a frat house. The nearly windowless, dark stone building is surrounded on all sides by the Yale campus, but its owned by a Connecticut nonprofit called RTA Incorporated.

A CT Insider reporter visited the Tomb twice in April but was not granted access inside. Both times, men who were exiting the building denied they were part of Skull and Bones and declined to comment. One took a reporters business card. Another took a letter a reporter left at the buildings front door. Neither followed up later.

Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media

Other letters and business cards a reporter left at the Tomb disappeared but received no response. RTA Incorporated did not return additional emails and letters requesting comment.

But Wesley Spear, who was the most recent past president, dismissed the allegations.

I am aware of the letters, Spear said, via email, of the newly discovered correspondence. Ultimately, I think they will lead you to a dead end, as there is nothing of substance to find.

Spear declined to comment further, directing questions to RTA Incorporateds current president, Manhattan financier Andrew Klaber, who did not return emails and letters requesting comment.

Skull and Bones and RTA Incorporated are legally separate from Yale University. Yale did not answer questions about whether it has asked Skull and Bones members about Geronimos skull.

Yale does not possess these remains, university spokesperson Karen Peart said in an email. Yale does not own the Skull and Bones building or the property it is on, nor does Yale have access to the property or the building.

CT Insider began researching the whereabouts of Geronimos skull as part of an investigation into how the remains of at least 100,000 Native American ancestors have not been returned to tribal nations, despite a federal law passed in 1990 that requires institutions to initiate the process of returning them.

That investigation found that the Yale has not completed the process of returning nearly 500 Native ancestors from sites nationwide  including 179 from Connecticut. The Yale Peabody Museum said it is expanding its repatriation efforts, including additional staff.

However, the 1990 law would not apply to Skull and Bones unless it has received some federal funds. The group did not report receiving any government grants on its tax filings from 2000 through 2019, the most recent year available. It did not respond to questions about its funding.

The letters

The newly discovered letters are among the clearest evidence yet that members of Skull and Bones removed a skull they believed  or, at least, said  was Geronimos from a grave at Fort Sill in 1918 and took it back to the Tomb.

The first, written in late August 1918 to John Eliot Woolley from another bonesman whose signature is illegible, discusses a dinner the author had with bonesmen Kenneth F. Simpson and Chauncey Jerome Hamlin as they all served in France during World War I.

P-t Ken Simpson and I had a fine weekend in Bordeaux together, it reads. We met a Captain Hamlin  who dined with us one night. He thought that Gironamo [sic] stunt pulled at Sill was wonderful. To go it one better, we will have to get the Kaisers ivory dome.

Joshua Eaton/Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Yale University Archives

Hamlin and Simpson were both stationed about 13 miles outside Bordeaux at the time, their Yale class histories confirm.

The second letter was penned in late September 1918 from La Courtine, France, by a bonesman whose signature is illegible to another identified only by the abbreviated nickname M-l-ch. After writing about his trip to New Haven that June, the author turns to the stupendous crook, or theft, of Geronimos skull from Fort Sill.

[Illegible] dug it up one dark night in May, the author says, and it now rests comfortably on the mantle, apparently in reference to a shelf above a fireplace in the Tomb.

Joshua Eaton/Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Yale University Archives

Other letters CT Insider found in Yales archives corroborate information in previously published documents describing the theft.

Take, for example, the document Anderson reportedly received  an internal history of Skull and Bones written in 1933 by literary critic and bonesman F. O. Matthiessen. (Anderson passed away in 2015. His son, Ned Anderson Jr., declined to comment. Archivists at Yale and Harvard said a copy of the history is not in their collections of Matthiessens papers.)

A long excerpt of the history appeared in the 2002 book Secrets of the Tomb by Alexandra Robbins, who declined to comment for this story. The excerpt identified three thieves by name: Prescott Bush, William Ellery Sedgwick James and Henry Neil Mallon.

A March 1918 letter from bonesman Newell Garfield to F. Trubee Davison, found by CT Insider in Yales archives, corroborates parts of that account by placing Bush, James and Mallon at Fort Sill.

The place is full of Yale men, Garfield wrote.

A July 1918 letter from Garfield to bonesman Charles P. Taft II  son of President William Howard Taft  also places Bush, Mallon, James and several other Skull and Bones members and alumni at Fort Sill in the summer of 1918.

Yale class histories and a compendium of military records for Yale students who served in World War I both confirm that Bush, James and Mallon were stationed at Fort Sill and could have been there in late May of 1918, when the theft allegedly took place.

Joshua Eaton/Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Yale University Archives

Now, take the letter published by Yale Alumni Magazine in 2006, written by Winter Mead to Davison in June 1918.

Author Marc Wortman found it in Yales archives while researching his book The Millionaires Unit. Written on Yale letterhead, it began by recounting a visit to New Haven by a new member of Skull and Bones, or knight, Charles C. Haffner Jr.

Joshua Eaton/Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Yale University Archives

Mead then revealed that Haffner helped members of Davisons Skull and Bones cohort, or club, rob Geronimos grave and bring his skull back to the Tomb, or T-.

The skull of the worthy Geronimo the Terrible, exhumed from its tomb at Fort Sill by your club & the K-t Haffner, is now safe inside the T- together with his well worn femurs, bit & saddle horn, Mead wrote.

Joshua Eaton/Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Yale University Archives

A May 1918 letter from Mead to Davison, also found by CT Insider in Yales archives, places Mead at the Tomb in New Haven with other bonesmen around the time Haffner would have returned with the skull from Fort Sill.

Yearbook entries show Haffner and Mead were roommates at some point during their time at Yale. Class histories and the compendium of military records show Haffner was stationed at Fort Sill and could have been there at the time of the theft.

All the Skull and Bones members identified in this story were listed on the societys yearbook page for their cohort. (Membership wasnt secret at the time.)

Joshua Eaton/Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Yale University Archives

Questions remain

Still, there are doubts about whether any skulls and other remains that bonesmen may have stolen from Fort Sill were necessarily Geronimos.

First, both the letter published in 2006 and the Skull and Bones history describe a tomb  with a metal door, in the historys case. But Geronimo was buried beneath the open sky, not inside a tomb or mausoleum, according to photographs, news reports and experts. And his grave would have been unmarked in 1918, according to newspaper reports.

It wasnt until 1921 that a local Apache woman named Belle Nicholas first disclosed the graves location to Master Sgt. Morris Swett, who ran Fort Sills library from 1915 to 1954, according to a 1964 article in the Lawton Constitution, based in Oklahoma. Swett didnt get confirmation from Geronimos cousin, Nah-thle-tla, until 1929, and he didnt reveal what Nicholas and Nah-thle-tla had told him until after Nah-thle-tla died in 1933.

Courtesy Fort Sill National Historic Landmark and Museum

The concrete slab and marker that now cover Geronimos grave werent added until the 1930s.

After finding Geronimos grave disturbed  but intact  in 1914, local Apache citizens spread rumors they had moved Geronimos remains to another site at Fort Sill, to Arizona or even to Florida to discourage grave robbers, according to the Lawton Constitution.

Frank Siltman, who was director of museums at Fort Sill from 2009 to 2022, told CT Insider he has examined Swetts records.

Not only was Geronimos grave unmarked in 1918, Siltman said, but it was at least two miles from the main base where the bonesmen would have been stationed.

The idea that someone in 1918, who's not from there, would have gone out at night and found this unmarked grave on the prairie  just utterly absurd, he said. Just no way.

AP

Wortman visited Fort Sill for a 2011 story in Vanity Fair. He wrote that the bonesmen may have broken into one of two tombs at Fort Sill they may have mistaken for Geronimos grave.

One belongs to the Kiowa chief Kicking Bird at Fort Sill. Its guarded by a metal door, but its also near a major road. So Wortman was skeptical it was the one.

The other belongs to a Comanche man named Mark Thomas Perconnic. Theres no metal door, Wortman wrote. But part of it is bricked up where a door might have been.

Given its relative prominence and that it's bricked over, I believe this likely is the one they struck, Wortman told CT Insider in an email. What happened to the relics they took is open to speculation.
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MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP)  Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Wednesday pledged to sign a federal ban on abortion but noted that passing one would be highly unlikely without more Republicans in Congress.

Although Haley didn't say how many weeks a federal ban should encompass, her commitment to signing one is the most specific she has been on the issue during her presidential campaign. The former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said no one has been honest about how difficult a ban could be to achieve, in a closely divided federal government.

It would take a majority of the House, 60 senators and a president to sign it, Haley said at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, suggesting that even a few GOP pickups in the 2024 elections wouldn't make the difference in passage. She was referring specifically to the supermajority required for major legislation to clear the 100-member Senate. We havent had 60 Republican senators in 100 years," Haley said.

The comments come amid a continuing debate over abortion restrictions among the Republicans seeking their partys presidential nomination. Sen. Tim Scott, Haleys fellow South Carolinian who launched his bid this week, has said he would sign a 15-week ban. Other candidates, like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, have said the issue should stay in the states without a Republican supermajority in Congress.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch his campaign later Wednesday, recently signed a six-week ban in Florida, which former President Donald Trump subsequently implied was too harsh. Former Vice President Mike Pence, preparing his own campaign, has said he supported Floridas bill and would sign such a measure as president. The six-week threshold comes before many women realize they are pregnant.

Asked by an attendee how she would square her own opposition to abortion to overwhelmingly pro-choice states like New Hampshire, Haley said she would not personally compromise.

I cant suddenly change my pro-life position because Im campaigning in New Hampshire, Haley said. Its incredibly personal, and Im going to treat it with the respect it deserves.

New Hampshire was among the least restrictive states on abortion until 2021, when it enacted a ban on the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy. This year, lawmakers have considered more than half a dozen bills on both sides of the issue. With a closely divided Legislature, none have passed.

In South Carolina, Haley signed an abortion ban after around 20 weeks. On Tuesday, South Carolinas Senate passed a ban on the procedure after around six weeks, which the current Republican governor has said he would sign. Abortion rights groups have already pledged to file legal challenges.

Now its back in the states where it belongs, Haley said Wednesday, referencing last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Haley referenced national consensus in her speech last month at the headquarters of a major anti-abortion group, which has said it wouldn't back any White House candidate who did not at a minimum support a 15-week federal abortion ban. During those remarks at the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America headquarters, Haley said she saw a federal role on the issue but stopped short of endorsing a federal ban.

Introducing Haley at a Women for Nikki event later Wednesday, the co-chair her women's coalition in New Hampshire sought to shift the focus away from abortion.

Its time to put a woman in the White House to lead the charge on some important issues other than our reproductive rights," said Sharon Bolduc, whose husband unsuccessfully challenged Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire last year.

We as women voters have so much more to offer the American people than just talking about our uteruses, she said in an interview afterward. Let's get over that already.

Haley on Wednesday again referenced her call in 2015 for the removal of a Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse as evidence of her consensus-building ability. She had previously dismissed a Democratic challengers call for removal of the flag, calling it a stunt. But Haley later sought its removal after the racist killings of nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white supremacist.

It starts at the top, when you go and you govern or lead, without judgment of your people," Haley said. But with getting them to see the best of themselves to go to a better place, that's the key."

___

Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.

While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel's most hard-line ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.

The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition.

We have received the tools, we're rolling up our sleeves and going to work, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote."

The new budget has been criticized for allocating nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds, much of it for ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties.

That will include increases in controversial stipends for ultra-Orthodox men to study full time in religious seminaries instead of working or serving in the military, which is compulsory for most secular males.

It also includes more money for ultra-Orthodox schools, which are widely criticized for not teaching students skills like math and English needed in the modern workplace.

The funds also include tens of millions of dollars for hard-line pro-settler parties to promote pet projects through the ministries they control.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader, has said he hopes to double the population of West Bank settlers in the coming years.

The governments composition and agenda have deeply divided the country. On Tuesday, several thousand flag-waving Israelis protested outside the parliament building against the budget.

That smaller demonstration over the budget followed months of sustained mass protest against a series of proposals by Netanyahu's government to overhaul the country's judicial system while he is on trial for corruption.

Proponents say the measures are needed to rein in an overzealous Supreme Court, but critics say the plan would destroy the countrys system of checks and balances and compromise Israeli democracy.

That plan has raised concerns overseas but is now on hold. Now that the budget has passed, however, Netanyahu may face renewed pressure from his allies to bring it back before parliament.

Following the budget vote, Netanyahu told Israels Channel 14 that it was the dawn of a new day and said that the judicial overhaul plan would be revived.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Protesters cut short a rare outdoor meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday where the board president had planned to question Mayor London Breed on her administration's response to the crisis of brazen open-air drug dealing.

Board President Aaron Peskin moved the first part of the board's weekly meeting to a plaza in the troubled Tenderloin neighborhood near City Hall, where rampant dealing and drug use take place. He asked the mayor if she would commit to setting up an emergency operations center and coordinate departments to shut down public drug dealing in open sites such as in the plaza within 90 days.

But heckling and chants of no more cops from the large crowd were so loud that Peskin moved the meeting back to City Hall before the mayor could answer. Breed did not answer Peskins question directly after the meeting reconvened indoors.

The fentanyl crisis has hit all of California, including San Francisco. In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent in the California Highway Patrol and California National Guard to help crack down on drug traffickers in the city as overdose deaths have soared.

Breed has clashed with members of the board who say more police and arrests are not the way to solve the city's drug crisis. She declared a three-month emergency over the drug crisis in the Tenderloin in 2021, and nearly a year later vowed another crackdown on drugs in the low-income neighborhood, but little has changed.

Breed has said that using drugs in public is not acceptable and that repeat offenders need to take the help offered or face consequences.

We cant keep speaking out of both sides of our mouth. On the one hand, we want change and we want to hold people accountable, Breed said before the meeting was moved. And on the other hand, were willing to let people get away with murder.

Peskin said it was not a matter of resources, but coordination. He agreed with the mayor that the problem is not a new one, but it is one that has become so visible that many San Franciscans do not feel safe.

San Francisco's downtown core, of which the U.N. Plaza is part of, has not bounced back from the pandemic as other cities have. Tech employees have opted to work remotely, reducing foot traffic that supported downtown shops.

After supervisors left U.N. Plaza, a woman threw a brick at a group of high school students carrying flags for the meeting and struck a girl. A 26-year-old San Francisco woman was booked on accusations of child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon, said San Francisco officer Robert Rueca. The minor was not seriously hurt.

The mayor appears at board meetings once a month to answer questions from supervisors.
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP)  Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is urging African countries to abandon their stances of neutrality towards his countrys war with Russia.

Many African countries have refused to take sides in the European conflict, with several abstaining from votes at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russias invasion. Ethiopia is one of them.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Wednesday, Kuleba said Ukraine was very upset that some African countries chose to abstain and called them to lend Ukraine diplomatic support in the face of Russian aggression.

Neutrality is not the answer, he told reporters. By being neutral towards Russian aggression against Ukraine, you project neutrality to the violations of borders and mass crimes that may occur very close to you.

Russia has built a substantial presence in several parts of Africa, where Russian private military contractor Wagner is active, and recently held joint military drills with South Africa. Russia plans to hold an Africa-Russia summit in July.

Kuleba also called on African countries to endorse the ten-point peace formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in December and emphasised Ukraines wish to build mutually beneficial relations with Africa, based on trade in energy, technology and pharmaceuticals.

We have to remind each other of the importance of Africa to Ukraine and the importance of Ukraine to Africa, Kubela said, admitting that Ukraines previous attitude towards the continent was characterised by inertia.

Both Ukraine and Russia supply a significant amount of grain to Africa.

Kubela is currently on an African tour that also includes visits to Morocco and Rwanda. In Ethiopia, he held discussions with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat and Azali Assoumani, the president of the Comoros and current chair of the continent-wide body.

Kubela made his first trip to Africa in October when he visited Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya. The trip was cut short after Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.

His Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, has also been active in shoring up ties with African countries since the Ukraine war broke out, touring the continent once in 2021 and making at least two visits so far this year.
JUBA, South Sudan (AP)  The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has warned the countrys leaders not to lose sight of the pending implementation of the peace deal that could make or break the country amid the ongoing crisis in neighboring Sudan.

The head of UNMISS, Nicholas Haysom, on Wednesday said even though South Sudans President Salva Kiir was mediating in the Sudan crisis, he should also focus on the peace deal in his own country.

This is not the time to take our eyes off the ball, Haysom said. What we can learn from Sudan is how quickly matters can unravel if neglected."

Local media had reported that there were concerns that the conflict in Sudan was undermining the peace process in South Sudan, with Kiir now focused on mediation as opposed to implementing the peace deal.

South Sudans civil war started in 2013 and ended in a peace deal in 2018 leaving nearly 400,000 people dead and more than four million others displaced.

Sudan is a guarantor of the South Sudan peace process.

The UNMISS head said there was no room for inaction.

We still see 2023 as a make or break year for this nation, if it is to fully implement the peace agreement, which is to suggest that matters cannot be deferred to 2024, Haysom said.

Under the political roadmap extended in August 2022, the parties agreed to hold elections in December 2024.

But the government has yet to reconstitute the constitution making process, pass electoral legislation or establish the necessary institutions and structures.

The constitution-making process is, in our estimate, 10 months behind schedule, elections planning is eight months behind schedule, and several aspects of the transitional security arrangements are simply hanging, said Haysom.

He added that several aspects of the transitional security arrangements remained incomplete.

According to the senior UN official, time is running out to prepare for credible elections. He added that the issue of a conducive political and civic space remains a challenge.

You cannot really have a viable free, fair, and credible election or a free, fair, and viable constitution-making process, if people cannot talk to each other, if there is no freedom of expression, and if there is not a sort of robust dialogue between South Sudanese themselves, Haysom unveiled.

But Haysom says they are also encouraging all those involved to address the issue of creating a free environment in which this election can take place.

There is still some way to go. We are certainly committed to helping South Sudan meet the conditions that are required, he said.

South Sudans political process remains fragile with the president and his former rival turned Vice-President Riek Machar unable to agree on issues, most recently the presidents dismissal of Machars wife from the defense ministry.
Palma Development, a leading real estate developer, has appointed Khansaheb as the main contractor for its premium project, Serenia Living, a key beachfront development in Dubai.

Located on the first plot of the west crescent of Palm Jumeirah, the luxury development boasts 226 exclusive apartments and penthouses, including one of the most exclusive Sky Mansions in Dubai valued at over AED 200 million ($54.4 million).

With the foundation works already completed, Serenia Living is moving to the next phase of construction with Khansaheb, a reputable construction and engineering company, stated the developer.

Lauched in October last year, Serenia Living, features a range of ultra premium amenities, including one of the largest residential swimming pools in Dubai, a state-of-the-art gym with a dedicated personal training section, various indoor and outdoor children's play areas, and direct beach access among other exceptional facilities.

The apartments are designed to the highest standards, with top-quality finishes and European branded high-end appliances. With its unmatched location, world-class amenities, and exclusive design, Serenia Living is set to become one of Dubais most sought-after residential addresses, it stated.

Announcing the contract award, Hassan H. Nia, the Founder and CEO of Banian FZCO - owner of Serenia Living - said: "We are thrilled for the appointment of Khansaheb as the main contractor for Serenia Living, a landmark development offering unmatched luxury and exclusivity. Serenia Living is our second project with Khansaheb, following the successful completion of Serenia Residences The Palm in 2018."

"We are confident that Khansaheb's expertise will help us realize this extraordinary project, which is expected to be completed by Q4 of 2025, with handover beginning in Q1 of 2026," he added.

Khansaheb said the contract win comes following its successful completion of Serenia Residences The Palm five years back.

"We are delighted to be working again with Palma Development and Banian, and to be appointed as the main contractor for Serenia Living, a project that will redefine luxury living in Dubai," remarked its Chairman Tariq Khansaheb.

"Our team is committed to delivering a world-class development that surpasses the expectations of its residents," he added.

Palma Development Founder and CEO Kareem Derbas said the group is committed to delivering exceptional residential projects that offer unique living experiences to its discerning clientele.

"The demand for luxury properties in Dubai has reached unprecedented levels, and we are confident that Serenia Living will set new standards of luxury in this sector. We have no doubt that Dubai will continue to write history and be among the top cities in the world to live in," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Asylum-seekers in New York City won't be coming to Erie County for at least the next seven days, but when they do come, they are likely to be housed at SUNY Buffalo State University dormitories.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Wednesday that while state officials are also looking at the University at Buffalo, Buffalo State has so much extra dorm capacity that the university could accept and house the migrants for longer than just the summer.

What's behind the sudden influx of migrants in New York? The surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has made its way to New York City  and now may have an impact on Buffalo.

The question of how many asylum-seekers will be coming to Western New York and how many of them will be housed at Buffalo State or other state-owned properties is still not known, he said, but conversations and planning meetings are being held daily. Neither the State University of New York, the Governor's Office or Buffalo State would provide any specific information on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Gov. Kathy Hochul reiterated Wednesday that multiple SUNY and and CUNY sites are under consideration and no final decisions have been made.

Responding to concerns and criticism, Poloncarz said he wants to put to rest questions about whether asylum-seekers have been vetted. The migrants coming to Buffalo are ones who have voluntarily turned themselves into immigration authorities after crossing the border. They were fingerprinted and subjected to criminal background checks connected with their home countries through U.S. law enforcement relationships with those countries, he said.

"If an individual criminal background check came up that they did have a criminal background, they would have been turned away and not allowed to travel to New York City," he said.

He disputed assertions that Erie County is in a "crisis" situation and expressed disappointment that other counties have issued states of emergency to prevent asylum-seekers from living there. He reiterated his earlier assertion that such declarations are "illegal and immoral."

"They may have problems in the community, but we get elected to solve problems, not ignore them," he said. "I'm the president of the New York State Association of County Executives this year, and right now there's a few county executives who don't want talk to me. So be it."

'What we have now is chaos': The politics of immigration land in New York Migrants are entering the United States almost 2,000 miles away, but the issues related to that influx have landed on the doorstep of politicians and organizations across New York.

Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr., a Republican whose county includes the cities of Utica and Rome, was among the county leaders upset with Poloncarz, a Democrat, for his statement over the weekend that said issuing a state of emergency to bar asylum-seekers is "morally repugnant."

"You should save your moralizing for the President who refuses to secure the border and a Governor with no plan," Picente said in a tweet.

If you dont want to issue an order dont, but dont judge my decision based on nickle and dime rhetoric. You should save your moralizing for the President who refuses to secure the border and a Governor with no plan. https://t.co/4ETMpY3Mq5  Anthony J. Picente Jr. (@AJPicenteJr) May 20, 2023

Poloncarz was asked about Monroe and Albany counties, which also have enacted more limited states of emergency, prohibiting any private hotelier or establishment from independently contracting to house asylum-seekers without county consent. Poloncarz said he was glad those states of emergency were less restrictive but still questioned their legality. Erie County does not intend to follow suit, he said.

He said he is already aware of a number of hotel operators that are ready and eager to accept asylum-seekers because they represent guaranteed income for the businesses.

"For people who think, 'Oh, they're going to be going to hotels that don't want them,' there are hoteliers that would love to have this for a full year or more because it'd be guaranteed income," Poloncarz said.

The migrants will not be "dumped" in the community or sent to Erie County without warning, Poloncarz said. Every asylum-seeker who comes to Erie County will be named, and needed supportive services will be provided and paid for by New York State or New York City. Details on where they will be housed, and how they will be fed and clothed will be resolved prior to their arrival, he said, adding that a follow-up meeting with Buffalo's refugee resettlement agencies will be happening soon.

"This is not a crisis," he said. "Covid was a crisis. The mass shooting was a crisis and how we responded to the needs in our community. The blizzard was a crisis. This is not a crisis here. It's just one of the things that we do."

He again pointed out that Erie County has had roughly 12,000 refugees settle in or pass through it over the last 10 years without incident, and often without public notice or fanfare.

He likened the current concerns about the influx of asylum-seekers, who are in the country legally, to concerns raised about Syrian refugees who resettled here in 2016. Following terrorist attacks in France, some community members and a county legislator expressed concerns about the possibility that terrorists "disguised as refugees" might be allowed into Erie County.

"What happened?" Poloncarz said. "We got a bunch of new Americans, but nothing bad happened."

The Refugee Partnership, which includes the Buffalo resettlement agencies of Catholic Charities, International Institute, Jericho Road, Jewish Family Services and Journey's End Refugee Services issued a statement Wednesday saying that all the agencies are working together to welcome the asylum-seekers.

"We each bring our own areas of expertise to help our newest neighbors find safety and peace," the statement said. "We recognize these individuals have traveled thousands of miles to escape war and persecution. They have the right to claim asylum under U.S. and international law. We stand ready to ensure their human rights."

Though Poloncarz remains unapologetic about his stance on accepting asylum-seekers, he did express frustration about the failure of the U.S. government to address the immigration issue.

"I'm not happy about it," he said. "This has to be solved at the federal level. It requires Democrats and Republicans to come together. Unfortunately, they just like to smack each other over the head, but they need to solve this problem, and it is solvable."

He also said that when things don't get done on the federal level, it's local governments that have to bear the burden.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  The head of Iran's nuclear program insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any new activities. His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehran's new underground tunnel system near a nuclear enrichment facility.

The AP outlined this week how deep inside a mountain, the new tunnels near the Natanz facility are likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites.

The report sparked wider conversation across the Middle East about the construction, with Israel's national security adviser saying Tuesday the site would not be immune from attack even if its depth put it out of range of American airstrikes.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to describe the interest in the site as a case of Israel feeling pressured.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly," Eslami said, using an acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA did not respond to questions from the AP about the construction at Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.

Satellite photographs of the piles of dirt from the digging and experts who spoke to the AP suggest the new tunnels will be between between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) deep.

Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the U.S. and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy remains stalled as it has for months over Iran's tattered nuclear deal, sabotage attacks may resume.

Iran says the new construction will replace an above-ground centrifuge manufacturing center at Natanz struck by an explosion and fire in July 2020. Tehran blamed the incident on Israel, long suspected of running sabotage campaigns against its program.

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Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
MIR ALI, Pakistan (AP)  A suicide car bomber targeted a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing two soldiers, a policeman and a civilian, the military and security officials said.

It was the second militant attack to hit Pakistan in as many days.

The bombing happened in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

A number of civilians were also wounded in the attack, according to Rehmat Khan, a local police official.

The military in a statement also confirmed the car bombing and the casualties. It said the attacker wanted to target a nearby public gathering but security forces prevented a major catastrophe by immediately intercepting the car bomber.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban.

Separately, security forces killed six militants in a raid on their hideout in South Waziristan, a district also bordering Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday. It did not provide any details about the slain insurgents, but such operations are usually carried out against the TTP. In the last six months, the group has stepped up its attacks since it unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the Pakistani government, brokered by neighboring Afghanistan last year.

Also on Wednesday, the TTP claimed responsibility for an attack the previous day on an oil and gas plant in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the border with Afghanistan. Four security troops and two private guards were killed in the attack on the facility run by a multinational European company, MOL Pakistan Oil and Gas.

Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally to the Afghan Taliban, who took over Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from the country after two decades of war. The takeover some say has emboldened the TTP in Pakistan.

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Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Miran Shah, Pakistan.
HARTFORD  At a time of record motor vehicle crashes and fatalities, cities and towns would be able to create local laws for the use of speed and red light cameras, hold high-profile public hearings on the issue and locate monitoring devices in areas with histories of crashes and traffic violations, under a sharply amended Vision Zero bill that was approved in the House of Representatives Tuesday night.

"It is a substantial process that the local municipality would have to, on their own volition, determine to do themselves," state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, said. "It's not a mandate on any municipality."

The legislation, which passed 104-46 after a five-hour debate, next heads to the Senate.

Municipalities participating in the initial three-year traffic enforcement program would submit plans to the state Department of Transportation, and provide assurances that individual communities, such as low-income and minority neighborhoods, would not be targeted.

Municipal participation could be extended after the initial three years, and red light and speed violators would pay simple fines, similar to parking tickets, as part of a balance of equity, and to assuage lawmakers concerned about the potential for racial profiling. Lemar described the fine structure as sharply reduced - $50 to $75 - compared to speeding tickets on interstate highways, and revenue would be used to make local roads safer. He said the DOT would assure that accumulated fines would not result in tactics including immobilizing vehicles with metal "boots."

The legislation would promote pedestrian and bicyclist rights, education and safety, and order the DOT to study changes in law including bike riders possibly treating stop signs as yield signs, and red lights as stop signs. Another area of research would include possibly prohibiting right turns on red. Lemar, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, stressed those issues would only be studied, acknowledging that the right-turn-on-red was adopted in Connecticut decades ago as a way to save gasoline.

Lemar said that enforcement would be limited, but a cascade of societal changes prompts the legislation. "The dramatic increase in fatalities, the dramatic increase in speed, the dramatic increase in, frankly, disregard for community norms and standards," Lemar said. "This will become a model for the rest of the country, the way this program could work. Getting people to slow down is the core of this bill."

He acknowledged that perennial opposition among lawmakers resulted in the elimination of sections of the legislation that would have prohibited open containers of alcohol in vehicles, and make it mandatory for motorcyclists to wear helmets.

Another section removed from the final draft would have ordered the State Police to form a fatal-collision-reduction team to conduct high-visibility enforcement efforts at high-crash locations.

In recent weeks, as the General Assembly closes in on its June 7 adjournment, another contentious proposal, which would have lowered the .08-percent blood alcohol law to .05, failed. Last week, the House approved legislation aimed at tackling the issue of wrong-way driving, including warning lights, redesigned exit and entrance ramps, and installing rumble strips.

"The series of recommendations, though modified before you, will result in improved traffic safety, improved livability for our communities and avoid tragic fatalities in many cases that we have seen throughout Connecticut," Lemar said, noting "frankly, a behavioral norm that has changed in Connecticut."

Prosecutors who currently must choose between proceeding with trials or dropping charges, would be given a third option: ordering safety courses for drivers. Drivers up for license renewal or initial applications would be given literature on state laws such as giving bicycle riders three feet of room, and that pedestrians should raise their hands when entering a crosswalk.

Lemar said that Connecticut is ranked among the worst states in the country for drunken drivers. "I want people to slow down," Lemar said. "I want people to obey red lights. Yes, we would authorize, in a limited way, some automated enforcement, under very specific criteria for a very limited period of time, because this is a hard choice we need to make. There needs to be new behavioral norms in Connecticut. What we've seen on our roadways is, frankly, shocking."

Rep. Kathy Kennedy, R-Milford, a top Republican on the Transportation Committee, said the legislation has taken numerous weeks. "2022 was the most the deadliest year on our roads," she said. "In 2023 we have lost over 90 lives on our roadways. I don't know that this bill will stop this, but we have to start somewhere. We want our family members, our colleagues, everyone to get home safely each and every night," Kennedy said.

"It's not a mandate on any of our municipalities," Kennedy said of the traffic enforcement technology.

"This is an exhaustive process," Lemar responded. "If any local community wants to utilize this technology and set up a program, is an exhaustive process they have to go through with a series of public approvals necessary and public vetting they have to go through. We set a high threshold. I can't make you love this. I can tell you this is the right direction for our state because it can save lives."
Heddle Shipyards Ted Kirkpatrick says a multimillion-dollar investment by the federal government will ensure the Port Weller Dry Dock shipyard and cargo terminal will be a pillar of strength for decades to come.

On Wednesday Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced a $5.2-million investment to support the second phase of the Port Weller Dry Docks Terminal Project.

Flanked by St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle and Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey, Alghabra said in addition to allowing for development of 4.45 hectares of land  including loading area, perimeter security and handling area  the investment will establish a cement distribution facility, speeding up cement shipments and making it easier and cost-efficient to move goods between Niagaras ports.

Steve Martin, Stubbe Cement business development director, said the funding will allow it to realize the full potential of this facility and enable more companies to utilize the benefits of the marine industry.

This will increase the validity of the southern Ontario supply chain, strengthen Canadas connection to global markets, reduce congestion on our 400-series highways and increase the multimodal capacity of the regions ports network.

Addressing lasting challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and global events, Alghabra said Canadas supply chain task force report recommended easing congestion at ports, and that means investing in Niagara.

Niagaras port network enables the movement of goods through Ontario to many other part of Canada and to the rest of the world, he said. Thats why this network needs to be as efficient as possible to meet the growing needs of the region. Those needs include a growing demand for imports, such as cement products.

Port Weller Dry Dock was built to store and maintain lock gates as part of the Welland Canal, and was converted into a full fledged shipyard in the mid-1950s. It has constructed more than 80 vessels for Canadian shippers and Canadian Coast Guard.

In 2017, Heddle Shipyards took over operations at the site, and in 2020, Stubbes Cement purchased a portion. Martin said when Stubbes acquired the property, it understood the history and significance of the facility and its impact on the community and it shares Heddles vision of returning this facility to the site of prominence.

The facility distributes cargo to about 80 companies throughout the Great Lakes, which Martin said has been vital to ensure companies survive as the industry faces shortages, but there is a long-term plan in place, including for both manufacturing and movement of cargo through the canal.

While it remains too early to give details about the cement facility, Martin expects about 20 to 40 jobs to be created in the next three to five years.

Kirkpatrick, Heddles business development director, said the partnership between the two companies, while operating in different areas of the industrial economy, have become intertwined in more ways than one.

Our unique relationship brings together many aspects of a vibrant maritime economy, determines the capacity to handle raw materials, the ability to manufacture and distribute finished products and the shipyards that serve the ship that ply the Great Lakes, he said.

Last November, Heddle Shipyards was awarded $135.5 million to extend the life of the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Terry Fox. The three-year project is expected to begin in December and create more than 200 jobs.

Bittle credited the Heddle and Stubbes for reinvigorating the facility, putting St. Catharines back on the map as an active part of the maritime economy.

Said Badawey: Its a big deal for the country.

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If the moral imperative of making work pay doesnt prompt compensation adequate for a decent life  and clearly it often doesnt  maybe the impact on the economy of penalizing workers for bettering themselves will change some minds.

Thats the idea behind state legislation being pushed by business groups and others to address the benefits cliff that is contributing to the regions hiring woes.

The fact that Buffalo Niagaras all-important tourism industry is still struggling to rebound from the pandemic  with jobs in that sector still down 9%  is attributable in part to a labor shortage made worse by the fact that some potential employees would fall behind economically by taking a job or a promotion.

How could getting a job or earning more money be a bad thing?

Because many benefit programs that aid the working poor dramatically slash that help as soon as the employee begins getting a bigger paycheck. In fact, cuts to benefits like food stamps, child care subsidies and housing aid often outpace the pay hike, to the point that the worker actually ends up losing ground economically.

The increase in wages is not enough to make up for the financial value of these lost benefits, especially if the cuts occur all at once, said Grant Loomis, VP of government affairs and economic development at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

That makes it counterproductive for some workers to take jobs or promotions.

Its hurting our overall goals, said Loomis, referring to employers desire to attract and promote workers and employees desire to advance up the economic ladder.

That makes it a lose-lose situation that makes no sense  which probably will not come as a shock to anyone who follows government. But this Catch-22 is one that could easily be addressed if we really want to promote work.

The Partnership, the New York State Business Council and others are backing a bill that already passed the Senate once but never made it through the Assembly. It would, for six months, exempt from benefit calculations any income earned as result of participating in approved job training or certification programs.

In a memo supporting the bill, the Partnership calls it a good first step. Loomis said it would help turn the benefits cliff into a slope that smooths the transition for affected workers.

Officials at the New York City-based anti-poverty organization FPWA agree that the bill would be a good initial step, while emphasizing that much more also needs to be done.

In its 2021 report, Pushed to the Precipice: How Benefits Cliffs and Financial Gaps Undermine the Safety Net for New Yorkers, FPWA found that unlike many states, New York has addressed the benefits cliffs in some aid programs. However, it said a significant childcare cliff remains and that other problems  such as unrealistic eligibility thresholds or long waiting lists  also contribute to holding down the working poor.

For instance, the eligibility threshold for assistance in Erie County is only about 1/7 of what a family of three actually needs to live on, based on a self-sufficiency wage calculated in conjunction with the Center for Womens Welfare at the University of Washington, said Joe Jones, director of policy, advocacy and research for FPWA, which was founded in 1922 as the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.

This is a great first step, Jones said of the benefits cliff proposal. Much more remains to be done.

For one thing, the six-month window contained in the Senate bill may not be enough and a longer off ramp might be needed for some workers, he said. But he added that the bill is an important marker at a time when some national politicians have been talking about imposing even more stringent work requirements on low-income people.

That mean-spiritedness  while protecting tax cuts for the wealthy  brings to mind what FPWAs 2021 report called the racism, xenophobia, and economic and class biases  implicit and explicit  that underpin our benefits system and resurrects the looming question of Who really deserves benefits?

Getting past such stereotypes is part of the challenge of helping the working poor help themselves by dealing with issues like the benefits cliff.

Even while waiting for Albany to provide that help  and Loomis is hopeful it will before the current sessions ends  local efforts already are underway. He said the Partnership is working with the Erie County Department of Social Services on a pilot program in which a small number of employers identify workers who are ripe for promotions and the county uses extra sales tax revenue to backfill any benefits lost as those employees climb the income ladder.

So were attempting to come at it from different ways, Loomis said.

While taxpayers may have to pay a little bit more up front for such efforts, the long-term payoff would be well worth it in terms of promoting work while eventually reaping more income tax revenue as workers advance and employers get to fill vacancies and produce more.

It can be a win-win  but only if workers conclude they wont lose out by doing something economically punitive because of rules and regulations that punish initiative rather than reward it.

In calculating such moves, workers will make rational decisions about whats best financially for themselves and their families.

We need a benefits system that is equally rational.
Menhaz Zaman and Jennifer Pan, both of Markham, were each convicted of murdering members of their respective families.









True crime fan? Go behind the crimes in Ontario. Uncover what clues helped investigators put criminals behind bars and which ones remain elusive to give families closure. Curated stories from Metrolands previously published series, Behind the Crimes: Solved and Unsolved Cases in Ontario, shines a spotlight on some of the most significant crimes in communities across the province. This story was originally published on Oct. 15, 2020.

Few Markham residents thought theyd ever see an act as twisted and terrifying as Jennifer Pans again.

Instead, they witnessed one far more evil.

It was in 2010 when Pans Hollywood-style murder-for-hire plot  to kill her immigrant parents all the while acting like a victim during a home invasion/robbery  came to fruition.

Her mother, Bich-Ha, was murdered by a group of thugs.

Her father, Hann, miraculously survived.

Jennifer, her ex-boyfriend and their cohorts were jailed for life in 2017.

Almost a decade later, tragedy struck again, this time even more gruesome  a quadruple homicide with arresting similarities.

In 2019, a Markham video-gaming recluse named Menhaz Zaman, 23, just a year younger than Jennifer at the time of the Pan incident, murdered his mother, grandmother, sister and father with a crowbar, followed by a knife across their throats.

It left many wondering how lightning could strike twice in the same community of fewer than 400,000 people.

Its amazing that it happened twice in one city  its really quite remarkable, said Dr. Jaswant Guzder, a psychiatry professor at McGill University. Its a horrific crime, thats highly unusual.

In the Pan case, Jennifer was the eldest child and under plenty of pressure to achieve immense success at her scholarly pursuits, as well as her pastimes, such as figure skating and piano.

Her parents all but insisted she attended Ryerson for pharmacology.

Problem was it was all a masquerade  showing parents fake report cards, buying textbooks and sitting around the library all day, but not actually attending school.

When they finally figured out shed been lying, Jennifer was locked in the house and spent almost a year in her room plotting their murder.

Menhazs parents both thought he was attending York University and taking mechanical engineering.

In reality, he was catching the bus each day, wandering the campus or heading to Markville Mall to keep up the ruse.

In the lead up to the day he was supposed to graduate, July 28, 2019, he followed through on his murder plan, which was three years in the making.

While Pan continues to maintain her innocence, Menhaz pleaded guilty on Sept. 24.

Dr. Hiram Mok, a psychiatrist focusing on mood disorders and cross-cultural psychiatry, believes the problems in both cases are relatively common inside immigrant homes from these regions - Vietnam and Bangladesh - but admitted this outcome is very rare.

Often problems like these can manifest inside the homes of immigrant families when parents move to more prosperous countries and work menial jobs, he said, putting their own careers on hold.

We know that Jennifers father, a tool and die maker, worked extremely hard at Magna and refused to take vacations in order to save cash until his children graduated.

Menhazs father was a taxi driver, an occupation where the drivers are often overworked and overqualified immigrants.

Parents project their own immigrant expectations onto their kids, Dr. Mok said. They can put pressure on the kids to achieve their unfulfilled dreams  the immigrant dream.

This sort of pressure can result in children leading double lives so as not to disappoint the parents, while maintaining their own freedoms, he said.

This can lead to deception and fantasy, because (the children) dont have a life, no friends, no dating, no sex; its very strict, almost like a religion, he said.

He told a story of a female he knows of, who was receiving 97 per cent on exams only to be directed by her mother to demand of the teacher why she was missing the final 3 per cent.

Dr. Soma Ganesan, a psychiatrist and founder of Vancouver General Hospital's cross culture clinic, said cultures around the globe rank professions in terms of prestige, with doctors, engineers and lawyers at the very top.

Dr. Ganesan noted that in certain parts of the world, there is a sort of social contract between parents and children.

(The deal is) I will work hard, 12 hours a day, I will take no vacation and I will do this to provide a warm and comfortable house for you, he said. (But then the) children are under tremendous pressure to enter university and a prestigious program.

Born in Vietnam to an Indian father, Dr. Ganesan further explained how feelings of resentment and desperation can fester inside children, who often have little opportunity to voice their own opinions.

Parents express their love by providing safety to grow and opportunity to educate, but they have expectations of the children to do well in school, he said.

He told the story of a young man he knows of who lied about attending university only to end up disappearing from his familys life altogether, rather than lose face and admit the deceptive behaviour.

Dr. Mok added that while this sort of pressure can result in educational and career successes, it can also leave the individuals in misery during adulthood.

Some become high achieving in life, but they are never happy; they have an empty feeling inside, he said. The feeling may sound like, I dont know who I am. They can lead normal lives, but only with psychological attention.

For many, the most shocking part of the murders may be both Jennifers and Menhazs desperate plotting and planning, without either finding another way out of the predicament.

Prior to his arrest, Menhaz wrote the following on a chat app: I wanted them to die so that they didnt suffer knowing how much of a pathetic subhuman I was.

Dr. Ganesan believes issues can involve saving face for the individual or the family.

They were born in Canada, in a mixed culture, where they see freedom of speech at school and hierarchical rigidity when they get home, he said, speaking in general terms and not about individual cases. Theres post-traumatic stress, pressure in the family, social isolation, verbal abuse; they feel continuously sad and depressed for a long time. There are serious symptoms of depression  they can lack the ability to control the mind. Without intervention, the final stages of depression is homicidal or suicidal.

Dr. Guzder, head of child psychiatry at Montreals Jewish General Hospital, believes what can help immigrants so much when they come to Canada, their collectivist ideals, can also result in tragic situations like these ones.

She said Western cultures stress autonomy, preparing children to leave the nest and move on to live alone and possibly start their own families.

That mentality stands in contrast to Asian cultures that are based on familial support, where small communities help one another to an extraordinary degree.

Theres a strain between these two polarities, she said. Adolescents in the dominant culture have to navigate whats positive and negative of both those cultures.

An update in the case involving Jennifer Pan was published Friday, May 19, 2023. Click here to read the story: 'Trial judge erred': Jennifer Pan, co-accused's murder convictions overturned, new trial ordered.

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Cheryl Campbell doesnt want to see the privatization of health care in Ontario, nor does she want Port Colbornes urgent care centre to close.

Campbell explained her child, who is now a healthy 25-year-old, was diagnosed with epilepsy and likely wouldnt have survived without quick access to health care.

I have a daughter, and I dont think I would have a daughter now if it wasnt for the Port Colborne hospital, she said.

Having access to nearby health care is important to Campbell. That's why she stopped to vote in an advanced poll for a provincewide community referendum on Friday, May 19, at the Port Colborne Farmers Market.

The Ontario Health Coalition is responding to Bill 60 with the referendum to convince the provincial government not to privatize some health care services under what is known as the Your Health Act.

The bill will allow private clinics to provide services, including cataract surgeries, MRIs, CT scans, and hip and knee replacements. The bill has been passed in the legislature but is awaiting Royal assent.

The Niagara Health Coalition (NHC) hosted advanced polls at sites across Niagara leading up to the May 26 and 27 referendums.

What we're trying to do with the referendum is raise people's awareness of what is going on and what the dangers are, said NHC chair Sue Hotte. They have an opportunity to say, yeah, you know, 'I think private clinics are great', or they can say no, I value our public health care, and I want to hang on to that.'

Niagara residents have a second question on their ballots, asking if they want current services maintained at Niagara Health, Hotel Dieu Shaver, and West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch said the public has the right to access public health care, but more privatization of health care would reduce public access.

We've already seen that happening, Burch said. There's an example in Ottawa where they're actually renting out emergency operating rooms to private companies when they could be through the public system, making those available with properly staffed emergency rooms for the public.

Hes concerned that will lead to a two-tier privatized system where those who can afford to pay will be moved to the front of the line.

We see procedures, dropping off the list of things that are covered by OHIP. People who dont have money won't be able to pay for certain things.

Hotte said having private clinics will only add to staffing issues in public health care.

Theres going to be a loss, a tremendous loss of very precious human resources, she said. You're going to lose the doctors; you're going to lose highly qualified nurses that are specialized and work in operating rooms.

Hotte is also concerned about people with medical conditions.

Private clinics are only going to deal with people that have absolutely no underlying conditions. If you're diabetic, if you have an irregular heart, whatever your underlying condition is, they're not going to touch it with a 10-foot pole, Hotte said.

In an emailed statement to Niagara this Week, a spokesperson for Niagara Health said it could not comment on Bill 60, specifically as it has yet to become law.

Like other hospitals across the province, Niagara Health is facing tremendous health human resource pressures, with 550 positions that remain unfilled across the system.

The spokesperson said the issue can only be solved by a concerted effort involving all levels of government, the community and health care partners.

The spokesperson said Niagara Health would welcome publicly funded solutions that create more capacity, reduce wait times and empower the protection and preservation of hospital services.

 With files from Richard Hutton/Metroland

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With a bill that would allow private clinics to deliver some health care services, Niagara this Week wanted to get the pulse of stakeholders and the public who were concerned about the impact that may have on the public health-care system.

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WASHINGTON - The United States wont go into default on its debt, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted Wednesday  but the highest-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill also said it wont be his fault if it does.

The double-barrelled message from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, whose caucus is locked in a spending standoff with the White House, came amid the ongoing, ominous countdown to the so-called X-date.

Thats when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the U.S. government will run out of the money it needs to pay all of its bills without Congress agreeing to raise the debt ceiling  a day which could come as soon as June 1.

I dont think therell be a default, and I dont see how you would blame Republicans, McCarthy told a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Democrats, he said, have done nothing to prevent the standoff, even since February when McCarthy first indicated he wanted to see spending cuts before the GOP-controlled House would agree to raise the limit.

They told us we shouldnt talk. So, Im sorry: if you want to blame Republicans for solving problems, well take that blame.

Democrats, particularly from the partys progressive wing, were livid.

We are not tanking anything, said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), noting that Republicans have every opportunity during the appropriations process to negotiate on behalf of their priorities.

Republicans agree, Democrats agree, we decide  we appropriate money based on what Congress has passed, legislation that we pass in this body. That is democracy.

The House has already passed a bill that contains the spending cuts and caps Republicans want to see in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, legislation that has no chance of getting through the Senate.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) accused McCarthy of introducing that bill solely to give him leverage over the White House.

Many Republicans, if this was a real bill, would not have voted for it, she said. So many Republicans would not be able to go back to their districts if this bill that they passed out of the House became law.

Congressional negotiators were meeting with their counterparts at the White House in an effort to resolve the impasse, although there was no word Wednesday whether McCarthy would sit down again with President Joe Biden.

The president and the Speaker will speak when the time is right, when the time is necessary, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Were going to give the negotiators some time to have a conversation, to continue to negotiate. We believe the talks are moving in a productive way.

Experts say a U.S. default, even for a short time, would have deep and wide-ranging economic repercussions across the continent and around the world. And Canada would have no place to hide.

A default would trigger pretty much an immediate recession in the U.S., said Cristian Bravo Roman, an expert in banking and insurance analytics at Western University in London, Ont.

Historically, around three-quarters of the Canadian economy is correlated with the U.S. economy, so that should be enough  or very close to enough  to throw the Canadian economy into recession as well.

If the U.S. is suddenly forced to pay higher interest rates to service its monumental debt, taxes would have to go up in the longer term, leaving less disposable income to spend on consumer goods from both sides of the border, he added.

In the short term and in the long term, all of this is bad for us, for Canadians, Bravo Roman said.

The question is, how bad is it? And thats the thing that will depend on the specifics of how this occurs.

The Dow Jones industrial average was significantly lower Wednesday and took little comfort from McCarthys news conference, shedding about 100 points just prior to his comments before ending the day about 255 points lower.

McCarthy has been saying since February that Republicans wont agree to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts  specifically, he wants the White House to roll back its spending levels to where they were in fiscal 2022, a reduction in discretionary spending of about $3.6 trillion.

In the U.S., discretionary programs cover a wide range of government priorities, including defence, education, housing, environmental protection and a range of public health measures and medical research.

Nor will Republicans agree to tax increases, McCarthy said.

Weve got more revenue coming into our coffers than at any time in American history. The problem is the Democrats had been in power, and they increased the amount of spending to the highest level weve ever had, at any time in American history, he said.

I just think its common sense, its reasonable and its rational that we spend less next year than we spend this year.

Yellen wrote to congressional leaders Monday to call it highly likely the U.S. would no longer be able to pay all of its bills by early June and potentially as early as June 1.

There will be consequences before then, she added, saying Treasurys borrowing costs for securities maturing in early June have already gone up, and that waiting until the last minute can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence.

If Congress fails to increase the debt limit, Yellen wrote, it would cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position, and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.

A number of House GOP members, particularly those the White House likes to describe as extreme MAGA Republicans, have started expressing skepticism about Yellens warnings.

I dont believe that the first of the month is a real deadline, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told CNN on Tuesday. I dont understand why were not making Janet Yellen show her work.

Gaetz also said Republicans dont have to negotiate with our hostage, a turn of phrase the White House seized on as evidence of bad faith.

Theyre saying the quiet thing out loud, Jean-Pierre said.

This is a manufactured crisis, plain and simple. Thats what were seeing currently, and thats what weve been dealing with for the past couple of weeks: a manufactured crisis.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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He didnt promise it will be free of hiccups. But federal transportation minister Omar Alghabra says this summer likely wont see a repeat of the chaos that plagued Canadian airports last year.

In a meeting with the Stars editorial board Tuesday, Alghabra said some of the biggest issues underlying last years problems have improved substantially.

Im confident that we are not going to see the same level of disruptions that we saw last summer. There were so many other factors that we saw last summer that are not present today, said Alghabra, who said air travel in Canada this summer could top levels not seen since before the global pandemic.

Airports across the country, including Torontos Pearson International, were plagued by cancellations, delays, crowded customs halls and lost or delayed baggage last year, as demand for air travel exploded in the wake of pandemic travel restrictions being lifted. There were three big factors behind most of the trouble, argued Alghabra.

First, it was the massive labour shortage, combined with airlines wanting to sell as many tickets as they could, because theres a lot of demand. Plus, there was extreme peak scheduling, said Alghabra. There were certain hours of the day where almost every airline wanted to schedule a flight.

A repeat is unlikely, Alghabra argued.

For one thing, everyone from airports to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and airlines themselves have added substantial numbers of staff. For another, airport authorities across the country are doing a better job of spreading their flight schedules throughout the day, Alghabra said.

I know on the labour shortage, CATSA, for example, is above 2019 levels, said Alghabra. Airlines tell me theyre above their targets. So I feel confident but again, Id be naive to pretend nothing else will happen. But with these fundamental issues, were in a much better place.

Airport authorities, including the Greater Toronto Airport Authority which runs Torontos Pearson International, have cut back on the number of flights per hour, in an attempt to spread out their peak. At Pearson, the number of flights per hour is being capped at 75, down from 90 last summer.

Still, aviation expert John Gradek said the devil is in the details.

Theyve taken the flights down from 90 an hour to 75 an hour, but thats only one metric. A Dash-8 carrying 50 people counts as one slot, but so does a 777 carrying 400 passengers, said Gradek, who added that airlines are scheduling a greater proportion of their flights on wide-bodied planes than they were last summer.

There are more big planes, and theyre all full, said Gradek.

Yes, theyve spread out the flights. But the impact on the infrastructure as far as Im concerned, is still going to be significant. Have we got enough resources, both people, and facilities, to be able to handle the way the airlines have created their schedules for the summer of 2023? Im cautiously optimistic, but Im getting more cautious, said Gradek.

In a recent press conference, GTAA CEO Deborah Flint said the airport has hired 10,000 new employees since last summer, giving it 22 per cent more staff, or 50,000 workers in total. The increase includes the hiring of 130 new staff to help in critical areas such as busing, baggage handling and terminal operations.

Our partners are simply more ready, said Flint Its a more normal summer than it has been.

She noted the airports on-time flight performance so far this year sits at 70 per cent, which included a smoother March break, following an on-time performance of 35 per cent seen in summer 2022. Earlier this year, the GTAA capped the number of flights coming into and out of Pearson during peak travel periods in an attempt to reduce traffic.

Flint said airport systems have also been modernized in preparation for the summer demand. Pearson has streamlined its contactless check-in and boarding processes through a new partnership with the CBSA to deploy biometric e-gates and hasten customs clearance for travellers.

It has also implemented an upgraded baggage system relying on AI designed to anticipate overloading and detect potential breakdowns before they occur.

Everyone, said Alghabra, has a vested interest in making sure theres no repeat of last summer.

I know the airlines and airports themselves were embarrassed by this and need to do everything they can to not repeat it.

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Shaking up elections in Texas largest county, the GOP-controlled Legislature on Tuesday approved abolishing a position in Harris County that oversees more than 2 million voters around Houston months before the city chooses a new mayor.

At the same time, Republicans advanced a separate plan that would also have a singular impact on Harris County, a growing Democratic stronghold: allowing the state to take greater control over elections there if it is determined there is a pattern of problems.

The push by the states GOP majority resurfaced tensions over voting in the Texas Capitol, two years after Democratic lawmakers walked out for 93 days in protest of new voting restrictions that also targeted Harris County.

At the center of proposed changes this time is last years elections in Harris County, where local officials have acknowledged problems that included paper ballot shortages and delayed poll openings. Republican candidates have challenged losses in races across the county. There has been no evidence that the issues affected the outcomes.

The elections were run by Harris Countys elections administrator, a position created by the county in 2020. The bill headed to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott would return elections oversight in the county to the tax assessor and county clerk, which are both elected offices currently held by Democrats.

Its not working in Harris County after multiple attempts, Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain said of the county having an elections administrator.

The change would take effect Sept. 1. For more than an hour in the Texas House, Democrats raised concerns that would not give Harris County enough time to change oversight before Novembers mayoral election and accused Republicans of singling out the county because it was shifting away from them.

Your party loses elections, and you guys lose your mind, Democratic state Rep. Jarvis Johnson said.

The election bills approved in the House would not apply to any of Texas 253 other counties. The Senate must still give final approval this week to the other measure that could allow the Secretary of State to intervene in Houston elections after investigating complaints.

In Georgia two years ago, Republican state lawmakers included a provision that could ultimately allow the state to take over a countys elections. It was promptly used to target Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, with a bipartisan review panel appointed in August 2021 to evaluate the countys election processes.

Another bill advanced Tuesday puts Texas on a path to leave a nationwide program that has a demonstrated record of combating voter fraud but has become a target of suspicion among GOP activists and former President Donald Trump.

Texas for years has been part of the Electronic Registration Information Center, more commonly known as ERIC, a bipartisan effort among states to ensure accurate voting lists. Texas lawmakers are moving to instead replace ERIC with another system, which has has yet to be identified or proven to work.

Other GOP-states have also pulled out of ERIC in recent months, including Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, and Louisiana.

___

Associated Press reporter Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Republican leaders in Oklahoma, who control every lever of political power in the state, unveiled their largest-ever budget proposal this week, the result of bruising negotiations that left the GOP governor fuming and even some Democrats happy with what it included.

The $13 billion state budget, a nearly 20% increase over last years final spending plan, did not include one of Gov. Kevin Stitts top priorities of cutting the states income or grocery sales tax. House and Senate leaders also apparently blindsided the governor by voting to extend tobacco compacts with several Oklahoma-based Native American tribes that Stitt was hoping to renegotiate to get a better deal for the state.

Stitts office didnt immediately comment Wednesday on the spending plan that easily passed the House and is expected to clear the Senate on Thursday. But during a press availability last week, Stitt said he was continuing to urge the Legislature to cut the states top income tax rate by 0.25%.

I implore the Legislature to do whats right and lets give some of that back to the taxpayer, Stitt said.

Instead, the budget deal included a more modest elimination of the state franchise tax on businesses and a tax break for joint filers that are expected to cost a total of $70 million annually when fully implemented.

Stitt also said he was caught completely off guard when lawmakers unveiled a bill last week to extend the existing tribal compacts that he wanted to renegotiate.

This has never been talked about the whole entire session. The governor had no idea about it, Stitt said. Really, really disappointing.

Anticipating the possibility that the governor could veto the budget proposal, lawmakers convened a concurrent special session that would allow them to return to the Capitol early next month to override any vetoes by the governor.

Although House Democrats voted against the plan, it clearly included priorities they support, like six weeks of paid maternity leave for state employees, $215 million in new funding to incentivize the construction of affordable housing, pay raises for teachers and money for a popular culture museum in Tulsa.

Ive been in this building long enough to know that Im not going to get a better deal, said Rep. Forrest Bennett, a Democrat from Oklahoma City. I had conversations with people on both sides of the aisle about voting yes.

Republican leaders and the governor had already agreed earlier this month on an education funding package that included pay raises of up to $6,000 annually, $625 million in new recurring funding for public schools and a voucher-style tax credit program for families who home-school their children or send them to private schools.

The hefty price tag of the overall budget left some of the Legislatures more conservative Republicans questioning whether they would support the plan.

Its going to be tough for me, said Sen. Rob Standridge, a Republican from Norman who said, despite representing a community with the states flagship University of Oklahoma, he was particularly bothered by the nearly $130 million boost in spending for higher education.

It is the biggest, bulkiest, most spend-happy budget Ive ever been a part of, said Standridge, who was elected to office in 2012 when the total state budget was $6.8 billion. All Republicans put on their placards: decrease the size of government, limit spending. We all do that. And this year is certainly not doing that.

Also included in this years spending plan was $145 million to provide improvements to an industrial park in eastern Oklahoma with the hopes of luring a Panasonic manufacturing facility. The Legislature already approved a $698 million incentive package to try and land a second plant after Panasonic chose Kansas for a manufacturing facility last year.

___

Follow Sean Murphy on Twitter: @apseanmurphy

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OTTAWA  Media reports of examples of Chinese state interference into Canadas elections are based on limited and partial intelligence, and do not reveal a complete and complicated picture of what Ottawa knew, said David Johnston, the Liberal governments outside adviser on foreign elections meddling.

Only upon seeing the full picture, with the benefit of all relevant intelligence, can one conclude that much of the reported intelligence has been misconstrued in media reports, Johnston said Tuesday as he released his interim report on the extent of foreign interference.

Johnstons report closely examined news stories published by Global News and the Globe and Mail over the past six months, and disputed one by one several of the contentions and the overall impression left by what he said was reporting that lacked context.

Those stories  based on anonymous security sources and classified documents  set off political bombs that blew holes in repeated assertions by the Trudeau government they were alive to and active in countering foreign interference in the last two elections.

The news stories also drove repeated political Opposition demands  rejected by Johnston Tuesday  that a public inquiry was required.

When viewed in full context with all of the relevant intelligence, several leaked materials that raised legitimate questions turn out to have been misconstrued in some media reports, presumably because of the lack of this context, he wrote.

The entirety of the context remains fully classified, but Johnston pushed the security agencies to let him report at least some of it.

Heres what he wrote:

Memos, money and machines

Johnston referred to Global News reporting in February that a memo was sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 alleging that Chinese agents were assisting Canadian candidates running for political offices.

Johnston said the memo cited by Global was a draft, and while Trudeau did get a briefing in 2017, it did not contain that specific information.

Global also reported there was evidence of a network of candidates who received $250,000 from Beijing.

Johnston said there is limited intelligence China intended for funds to be sent to seven Liberal and four Conservative federal candidates through a community organization, political staff and (possibly unwittingly) a Progressive Conservative party of Ontario MPP.

But its not clear if there actually was money, if it was ever sent anywhere and there is no intelligence suggesting any federal candidates received these funds.

He also said there is no basis to conclude the 11 were working in concert or understood they were targets of proxy agents.

Global News has previously stood by its reporting, saying in March that Global News is governed by a rigorous set of journalistic principles and practices and we are very mindful of the public interest and legal responsibility of this important accountability reporting.

In a statement sent to the Star after publication of this article, a Global spokesperson said the network spent months reviewing dozens of CSIS, Privy Council and other relevant statements and documents. Global News spoke with highly qualified sources on multiple occasions and made painstaking efforts to verify the information prepared by senior intelligence officials.

We believe in the integrity of our journalism in all the reporting in this series, and the critical role it plays in seeking accountability and transparency on issues vital to the public interest.

The Globe and Mail reported there was a Chinese state machine at work in the 2021 election to keep the Trudeau Liberals in a minority government situation.

Johnston said there was an unconfirmed indication that a very small number of PRC diplomats expressed a preference for the LPC to the CPC in the 2021 election. But, he wrote, There was no indication that the PRC had a plan to orchestrate a Liberal minority government in 2021 or were determined that the Conservatives not win.

The Globe reported CSIS documents noting Chinese diplomats encouraged people to give money to the states preferred candidates, and then the money was refunded to the donors.

Johnston said while CSIS is aware of allegations that this happens, they have no intelligence that it is.

Asked to respond to Johnstons comments, David Walmsley, editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail, said in a statement to the Star, The reporting was based on written intelligence assessments and intelligence briefs. We stand by the stories.

The Star has also reached out to Global for their response to Johnstons report.

The case of Han Dong

Han Dong, the MP for Don Valley North, quit the Liberal caucus and filed a lawsuit against Global after allegations raised by the network about his ties to Beijing.

Global reported Dong told Chinese government officials not to release two Canadian men imprisoned in China.

When it came to the allegation of the conversation about Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, Johnston was unequivocal:

The allegation is false. Mr. Dong discussed the two Michaels with a PRC official, but did not suggest to the official that the PRC extend their detention.

The network also reported Dong won the Liberal nomination in 2019 because Beijing helped.

Johnston concluded there were irregularities with the nomination and there is well-grounded suspicion that the irregularities were tied to the PRC Consulate in Toronto, with whom Mr. Dong maintains relationships.

But, he said there is no evidence Dong was aware of the irregularities or the PRCs potential involvement.

What about the Conservatives?

Federal Conservatives have argued that Chinese state interference cost them seats in 2021.

They have pointed to social media campaigns slamming their leader at the time, Erin OToole, and local candidates for their tough stances on China, especially Kenny Chiu in B.C.

It is clear that PRC diplomats did not like Mr. Chiu, Johnston wrote, pointing to the former MPs call for a foreign agents registry.

It is much less clear that they did anything in particular about it.

But he said there was intelligence suggesting that a Chinese-Canadian community association leader perceived to be close to the PRC approached a Conservative candidate and offered to help raise money for their campaign.

Johnston also delved into the issue of Michael Chong, the Conservative MP who was singled out by China for his stance against their human rights record.

The Globe first reported, and then Chong confirmed, that CSIS had information suggesting Chinese consular officials were gathering information on Chong and his family for possible retaliation, though they didnt warn Chong.

There is no intelligence indicating that the PRC took steps to threaten his family, Johnston wrote.

There is intelligence indicating they were looking for information.

A Toronto-based Chinese diplomat has since been kicked out in response.

The Globes reporting on Tuesday said Johnston did not dispute a series of reports from the Globe and Mail on Chinese foreign influence in Canada including on Chong.

In his report, Johnston said another MP was also flagged as a target, but he did not name that other MP, citing classified information.

Editors note, May 24, 2023: This story has been updated to include information provided by Global News after the publication of this article.

Tonda MacCharles is Ottawa bureau chief for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc Stephanie Levitz is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @StephanieLevitz

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OTTAWA - Canada and Saudi Arabia are normalizing diplomatic relations and appointing ambassadors five years after the Liberal governments public comments on womens rights led Riyadh to expel the top Canadian envoy.

In 2018, Global Affairs Canada tweeted that it wanted Saudi Arabia to immediately release human-rights activists who had been detained.

Both countries maintained their embassies, but Saudi Arabia downgraded its presence in Ottawa and halted trade talks with Canada, saying it was unacceptable for the Canadians to weigh in on Saudi Arabias justice system.

Global Affairs Canada said in a statement Wednesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed during a chat last November that they wanted to restore diplomatic relations.

The department said this discussion took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok.

At the time, reporters noted Trudeau had attended a lunch with leaders including Prince Mohammed, who is Saudi Arabias prime minister. That day, Trudeau played down the notion that Ottawa was seeking to restore ties.

When were in these summits, we attend a wide range of sessions with many people around the table, and its extremely important that Canadians can know that regardless of whos around the table, regardless of whom were speaking to, we always stand up clearly for human rights, Trudeau said at a Nov. 18 press conference.

Now, the department says the two countries are putting their ties back to where they were in five years ago on the basis of mutual respect and common interests.

Dennis Horak, the Canadian ambassador who was expelled during the 2018 spat, said in an interview that Ottawa needs to seize on the momentum to build closer ties with Saudi Arabia, since its a key ally with an increasingly prominent role in countries from Syria to Yemen.

Re-establishing ambassadorial relations is a good first step, but it needs to be accompanied by a sustained engagement at senior levels, Horak told The Canadian Press.

He said his ouster partly stemmed from Canada not having connections with senior Saudi leadership through ministerial visits. This led Canada to be seen as expendable, he said.

If you want to get your point of view heard, whether its in relation to commercial issues or human rights, you need to engage person-to-person, said Horak.

Thats the way to cement the relationship and make our views known in a way that it reaches the people that need to hear it  as opposed to relying solely on social media.

The 2018 rift led Saudi Arabia to send fewer students to Canada, after years of having a significant footprint in university classrooms and teaching hospitals.

Ottawa has thanked Saudi Arabia for its help in resettling Canadians fleeing Sudan after an outbreak of brazen violence in that country last month.

The country has seen a wave of liberalization under the de facto rule of Prince Mohammed, including the introduction of some new freedoms for women, though Human Rights Watch says the country still represses civil society and imprisons peaceful dissidents.

Saudi Arabia has denied findings by U.S. intelligence agencies that the leader approved the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey, which occurred months after the kingdoms spat with Canada.

Before the spat, the Liberal government temporarily paused arm sales to Saudi Arabia over reports the countrys Canadian-made light armoured vehicles were being used in a bloody conflict in Yemen.

NDP foreign-affairs critic Heather McPherson said in a statement that the new envoy must raise the Yemen conflict.

Saudi Arabia continues to have one of the worst human-rights records in the world. The ambassadors first priority must be raising these human-rights abuses, as the Canadian government has failed to show leadership on this with Saudi Arabia over decades.

Canadas new ambassador will be Jean-Philippe Linteau, a career diplomat who was most recently consul general in Dubai.

The Saudi embassy in Ottawa did not respond Wednesday to a question about who the countrys new ambassador to Canada will be.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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Rankled by Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombies bid to seek the Ontario Liberal leadership, Premier Doug Ford says its a real slap in the face to the residents there.

Stepping up his rhetoric against Crombie one day after he told the Star bring it on, Ford expressed concern her municipal duties would suffer.

You cant be  mayor and running for a leader, the premier told reporters Wednesday in London.

You cant put your butt on both sides of the fence, he said.

Bonnies going to be running around the province not worrying about the people in Mississauga. In my opinion, its a real slap in the face to the residents there.

Crombie, who spent much of her day in a council meeting at Mississauga city hall, turned the other cheek to his barb

Let me be clear to Premier Ford: my record as mayor speaks for itself, said the three-term chief magistrate re-elected last October with 78.5 per cent of the vote.

My commitment is to responsibly grow Mississauga, create jobs, build housing, and manage our finances responsibly, said Crombie.

That is the same formula that I am prepared to discuss with Ontario Liberals, she said of her exploratory committee examining a Liberal leadership bid.

Fords salvo came as Toronto Councillor Gary Crawford has been tapped as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the upcoming Scarborough-Guildwood byelection. Crawford will continue as Scarborough Southwest councillor while campaigning as a Tory candidate.

Under Ontario law, municipal politicians do not need to step down while running for another level of government.

Thats how Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown was able to contest the federal Conservative party leadership last year and continue his civic duties.

Still, Ford expressed frustration that Crombies nascent campaign to seek the Liberal leadership comes as Queens Park is dissolving Peel Region and allowing Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to become stand-alone municipalities as of Jan. 1, 2025.

Were making the largest change in the history of Mississauga and Peel  and this is all about Bonnie Crombie (and) her political  agenda, its not about the people of Mississauga, the premier fumed at a London auto parts plant where he announced a $4.7-million program to train autoworkers to make electric vehicles.

I think the best thing to do is she runs against me and we get to a new mayor of Mississauga.

Ford wasnt the only person taking aim at Crombie on Wednesday.

Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York), the first to register to run in the provincial Grit contest, questioned the self-described centrist mayors assertion the party moved too far left in recent years.

If I lead the Ontario Liberals, we wont govern from the centre-right  we wont cede compassion to other parties, said Erskine-Smith.

Liberal MPP Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands) is the only other official candidate in the Liberal leadership contest, according to filings with Elections Ontario.

Others pondering bids are Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre), a former provincial cabinet minister and one-time Ontario Liberal Party president, and MPPs Stephanie Bowman (Don Valley West) and Adil Shamji (Don Valley East).

The race will be decided Dec. 2 using a one-member, one-vote ranked-ballot system with the winner hoping to unseat Fords Tories in the 2026 election  or at least supplant the NDP, led by Marit Stiles, as the official opposition.

Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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Popular Nollywood actress, Adunni Ade has finally spoken on the allegation of owing her late colleague and director, Murphy Afolabi, the sum of N250, 000.





Recall that Murphy Afolabis burial committee had on Monday, in a trending video, during the 8-day Fidau Prayer held in honour of the late actor in Lagos, called out Adunni for the refund of the money she owed the actor before his death.





In the trending video on social media, the committee said: Adunni Ade please return the N250,000 that you are owing Late Murphy Afolabi.





Reacting to it in a public statement accompanied by her Bank account details, the actress, through her management, debunked the reports of being indebted to late Murphy.





The statement read: On behalf of popular Nollywood Actor and Content Creator, the unassuming Adunni Adewale, we write to set the record straight regarding a clip making the rounds in which our she was called out by a Muslim Cleric with claims of her owing the late Murphy Afolabi. The allegation is false.





Sometimes in July 2021, the late Mr. Murphy Afolabi reached out to me, requiring my services for a movie production. He appealed to me stating that it was a self funded production that he couldnt afford my professional fee, but that he would need my moral support. I asked how many scenes and duration were expected of me on set. He said 10 scenes and that I would spend one day. He offered to fuel my car as an honorarium, which payment of N150,000 was made on 2nd of July 2021.





Unfortunately, shortly before the commencement of the production, on 11 July 2021, I lost my younger brother and I contacted the actor a few days afterwards for his bank details for refund as I would be travelling to the United States for my brothers funeral. But he insisted I hold on to the money while he figured out whether to move the shoot forward or contact me for another one.





Mr. Murphy Afolabi contacted me on the 8 of October 2021 and said he wanted to start a new job soon and needed me to play the lead role for four days with the same amount of N150,000 which he had paid in July. And I respectfully declined and requested for his account details and refunded him the N150,000 on the same day. Proof of both payments are attached in this post.





Recall that Murphy Afolabi died on Sunday, 14th of May, 2023, after falling in his bathroom and was rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russia's military said Tuesday it quashed what appeared to be one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began, claiming to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours.

Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv portrayed it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The battle  which took place in southwest Russia's Belgorod region, about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine  was a fresh reminder of how Russia itself remains vulnerable to attack, along with Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots and was included in Russian President Vladimir Putin's order last year to increase the state of readiness for attacks and improve defenses.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

Such cross-border attacks embarrass the Kremlin and highlight the struggles it faces in its bogged-down invasion of Ukraine.

The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spillover from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Far from the 932-mile front line in southern and eastern Ukraine, Russian border towns and villages regularly come under shelling and drone attacks, but this week's attack is the second in recent months that also appears to have involved an incursion by ground forces. Another difference from earlier cross-border attacks is that Russia's effort to repel it continued into a second day for the first time.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed local troops, air strikes and artillery routed the attackers.

The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated, Konashenkov said, without providing evidence. He did not mention Russian casualties.

Russian forces destroyed four armored combat vehicles and five pickup trucks the attackers used, he said. Local officials alleged the invaders also used drones and artillery.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the raid targeted the rural area around Graivoron, a town about 3 miles from the border. Twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, he said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

The Russian news portal RBK, quoting unidentified sources in the regional interior ministry and territorial police, said Graivoron came under heavy shelling that lasted about five hours early Monday. After that, tanks fired at the Graivoron border checkpoint while the adjacent village of Kozinka came under mortar and rocket fire, RBK said, citing the same sources. Gladkov later reported that a Koznika villager had been killed.

The attacking force was made up of 10 armored vehicles and an unspecified number of troops, RBK said.

Earlier Tuesday, the regional governor urged residents who had evacuated not to return home until they received official instructions to do so. He said a counterterrorism operation was completed by early Tuesday evening.

Gladkov also said fire from the Ukrainian side of the border on Tuesday hit the Borisovka area, about 12 miles northeast of Graivoron. No casualties were reported, he said, without elaborating on the incident.

The regional governor complained in a video late Tuesday that federal authorities' claims for the past year that everything is under control do not ring true in light of this attack and prior assaults. He appealed again to the Kremlin to strengthen defenses.

Since the war began, drones, explosions and missiles have hit fuel and ammunition depots, railroad equipment, bridges and air bases on Russian territory and Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine. Assassinations of Russian-appointed government officials and other public figures have also taken place in those areas.

Ukraine said Russian citizens belonging to murky groups called the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion were behind the assault.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the attackers were Russian dissidents unhappy about Putins policies.

These are Russian patriots, as we understand it. People who actually rebelled against the Putin regime, she said.

The Freedom of Russia Legion said on Telegram the goal was to liberate the region.

The Russian Volunteer Corps implied on Telegram that the attack was over, adding: One day, well come to stay. The post went up at around the same time as the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have quashed the assault.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said it was highly likely that Russian security forces were fighting partisans in at least three locations in Belgorod.

Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines and now direct partisan action, it said Tuesday.
Former Niger Delta Minister, Godswill Akpabio has described claims that he looted over N1 trillion while he was governor of Akwa Ibom State as a plot by those who want to blackmail him out of contest for presidency of 10th senate presidency.

Akpabio reacted to the allegation in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary to Akpabio, Mr Jackson Udom.

Investigation is no conviction. Every public officer could be investigated after leaving office and that is the right thing to do, Udom said while reacting to call by some civil society organisations under the aegis of Network Against Corruption And Trafficking (NACAT) that Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should investigate his boss over alleged financial impropriety.

While making the call at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Justice Ojefia, Executive Director, Legal, NACAT claimed that Akpabio looted at least N700 billion for Akwa Ibom State treasury and over N200 billion NDDC funds as a minister.

According to him, audit report of Akwa Ibom State treasury between 2011 and 2015 indicated that Akpabio committed financial infractions amounting to N1trillion while serving as governor.

He said the financial infractions and irregularities range from circumvention of procurement processes, suspicious payments of monies, possible money laundering to award of contracts to non-existent Shell Companies.

These financial manipulations have cost the good people of Akwa-Ibom State, money amounting to over N700 billion, under the watch of Akpabio.

To make Akpabio a Senate President is a reward for monumental corruption orchestrated in Akwa Ibom and Ministry of Niger Delta and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Akpabio as governor looted over N1 trillion of Akwa Ibom State treasury and over N200 billion NDDC funds as a minister.

How will Akpabio be allowed to preside over the same Senate when he accused the entire Senators as being behind the corruption in NDDC during the NDDC probe?

He said that giving Akpabio Senate President mandate is to whittle down the fight against corruption.

He will enact laws that will weaken the EFCC and ICPC since he has cases with them, Ojefia said.

But Jackson Udom refuted the allegation said every public officer could be investigated after leaving office.

Investigation is no conviction. Every public officer could be investigated after leaving office and that is the right thing to do.

Sen. Akpabio left office eight years ago after a meritorious service to Akwa Ibom and his legacies and performance as the state governor from 2007-2015, are still visible in the state.

The question then is, why this letter to the EFCC now? Why all these blackmail and lies now? The answer is not far-fetched.

Akpabio wants to be Senate President, he remains the candidate to beat and he must be brought down at all costs by those who cant match his acceptance by his colleagues.

His colleagues in the Stability Group are working round the clock to make him the Senate President of the 10th Senate, through the support of their colleagues across party lines.

Their major concern is to give stability to the President-elects administration when it comes on stream on May 29, 2023, Udom said. (NAN)




Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Wednesday dismissed claims that he hates President Muhammadu Buhari due to the persistent armed Fulani attacks in the state.





Ortom explained that he does not hate Buhari, contrary to the opinion of many Nigerians.





Featuring on Arise Televisions Morning News, Ortom also disclosed that he was not the best candidate but God made him governor in 2015 and 2019.





According to Ortom: I wasnt the best candidate in 2015 and 2019, but God made me the governor. Many people believe Im an enemy of Buhari, but he remains my president till May 29. All I do is constructive criticism.





I dont hate Buhari, we love each other, I was the first governor he took to South Africa when he became president. The issue is just that of Fulani herdsmen causing trouble, and I would continue to agitate.





These are just people causing problems, Shehu Shagari did so well as president and today, Benue has written his name in gold.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan, says he is not seeking re-election for the position he currently occupies in the 10th national assembly.

In a statement on Tuesday, Lawan said he has neither informed anyone he was vying for the seat nor did he hold any meeting about it.

Since the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced Godswill Akpabio, former minister of Niger Delta affairs and Barau Jibrin, senator representing Kano north, as its choices for senate president and deputy, there have been moves to go against the party.

Lawan, who represents Yobe north, added that as a stakeholder in the All Progressives Congress (APC), he is finding a lasting solution to the 10th assembly leadership tussle.

I have read some media reports that I have joined the race for the presidency of the 10th senate. Ordinarily, I would not have responded to these reports but when lies are not refuted, they have the tendency to create an illusion of truth, Lawan said.

The truth is that I have never told anyone or held a meeting with anyone that I am running for the presidency of the 10th senate. So the public should discountenance the reports.

The fact remains that I am part of the leadership of our great party, the APC, seeking to find solutions to the numerous issues arising from the contests for the leadership of the 10th national assembly and I will continue to remain focused on that.

Recall Mohammed Sani Musa, Niger east senator vying to be deputy senate president, distanced himself from an alleged plot that he and some senators-elect were working to return Lawan as president of the 10th senate.

Musa said the report of the alleged plot was an attempt to cause disaffection between APC and Bola Tinubu, president-elect.
The forum of legislative aides from north-west has called on the lawmakers-elect to respect the zoning arrangement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the leadership of the 10th assembly.

The ruling APC has 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.

However, some members of the party who are legislators have protested against the selection of the two candidates.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abdulrazaq Dunkawa and Silas Gabriel, zonal leader and secretary of the forum respectively, said the region contributed the highest number of votes to the APC during the elections.

They said the region deserved the leadership positions of the national assembly that were zoned to it.

We the legislative aides from the north-west like to place on record that the geo-political zone contributed the highest number of votes to the APC in the presidential and national assembly elections, the statement reads.

Results from the elections show that north-west played the crucial role in keeping APC in power by securing the majority of honourable members and distinguished senators in both chambers.

The zone no doubt rightly deserves the zoning made by the party as far as leadership of the 10th national assembly is concerned.

We, therefore, call on other contestants to allow for party supremacy to establish discipline, order and legislative democracy to thrive in the 10th national assembly.




President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday the people of Niger Republic would defend him if anyone moved against him after leaving office.

He also said he deliberately shut the nations land borders to force Nigerians to patronise goods made in the country.





The Presidents declaration, however, drew the ire of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere and Middle Belt Forum, MBF, which described his stance as non-committal to Nigeria and that Nigerians would not miss him when he exits office.

But Buhari, who spoke extempore at the commissioning of the new corporate headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, in Abuja, said he was speaking his mind, reiterating his earlier decision to be far away from Abuja at the end of his administration.

He said: That is why when I became the President, my first visit was to Niger, Chad and Cameroon because, based on personal and national issues, the neighbourhood is very important.





If you dont secure the confidence and cooperation of your neighbours, you are in trouble, your children and grandchildren will be in trouble.





So it is very good that I established a relationship with my neighbours. I said these few things about my personal belief because I have only six more days to go. And I try to plan to be as far away from Abuja as possible.





Thank goodness, I come from an area which is far away from Abuja. I said if anybody forces me, I have a good relationship with my neighbours, Niger people will defend me.





The President said he closed the countrys land borders to encourage Nigerians to produce food for their consumption, adding that though the move was initially criticised, Nigerians eventually appreciated it.





While noting that the nations vast borders, he said only God could secure the nation from the activities of criminals.





He said: Please note that from Lake Chad to Benin is more than 1,600Km. Only God can effectively guard that border. So you need a person who will have the energy and the competence to effectively supervise it.





I deliberately closed the borders because knowing Nigerians, they order rice and give some Niger address and then they bring the rice here. We have our potential. We thank God Nigeria is so blessed with people, we have land, and we have weather. How many nations are so lucky like Nigeria in the world?





Very few nations are as lucky as we are. We thank God for that. So closing that 1,600 km border from Lake Chad to Benin, Nigerians insist they have to help their neighbour and other people, they should eat foreign rice.





I said you eat what you grow or grow what you eat or you die.I think I am trying to make my point. Later Nigerians will appreciate it because it provides more jobs. People go back to agriculture.





We have the land and they will produce what we eat. And for people who think that our neighbours are going to lose, lets continue to be with our neighbours. Those who are producing excess rice, let them eat their rice or go and sell it elsewhere.





Buhari said he appointed Hameed Ali as Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, because of his experience and competence, adding that the late Sani Abacha, a former military head of state, gave Ali problematic tasks to accomplish.





He said: As for Hameed Ali, I asked him to be in charge of Customs. No matter what people say about the late Sani Abacha, may his soul rest in peace.





I knew him very well when somehow he became president of this country, head of state, the biggest problematic area was around Kaduna. He picked Colonel Hameed Ali and dumped the problems on him. My decision for Hameed Ali to come to Customs was a deliberate one. [I brought] Colonel Hameed Ali to ensure that I have peace of mind.









The 100 per cent increase in the remuneration for officers and men of the service decisively made them less susceptible to corruption.





The President also said he appointed only ladies as ministers of finance because of the cultural belief, as people would feel too big to go to them for favours.





According to him, I made sure I gave the ministry of finance to ladies because of the cultural behaviours of Nigerians.

Once ladies are in charge, people feel too big to go to them, so I am sure things will not be the same in the ministry of finance where people go and start lobbying for contracts to be paid. So they will feel too big to go to a lady. Therefore, I make sure a lady is in charge. That gave me a lot of peace.





Nigerians wont miss Buhari Afenifere





Reacting to Buharis statement yesterday, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, described Buharis remarks as a sad commentary on his administration, noting that Nigerians would not miss him when he exits office.





Afenferes General Secretary, Chief Sola Ebiseni, said: As I said in a recent interview, the only thing Nigerians are expecting from Buhari is his exit, so all these dry comic banter are of no moment.





It is a sad commentary on his administration that he could bring the giant of Africa and the awesome Commander-in-Chief of West Africa, through ECOMOG, on its knees before the boys even for personal refuge. As he steps out, it is unfortunate that the President is unperturbed that his feet are still being soiled by the blood of citizens in Kaduna, Plateau and everywhere in the hands of terrorists.









All things promised  enhanced security, economy and anti-corruption, became far worse than hitherto. Let him go wherever pleases him, Nigerians will certainly not miss him.





It shows his non-committal to Nigeria  Middle Belt





Also reacting. the National President of the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Dr Bitrus Pogu, said: I recall that he had some time ago said if Nigerians disturb him after leaving office he would relocate to Niger Republic.





This latest statement means that he meant what he said before, that he would relocate if disturbed. It simply shows that he is not committed to the Nigerian state and his commitment lies elsewhere. And it is unfortunate that Nigerians elected such a president who presided over them for eight years. So we have to think wisely next time in selecting who would lead us. That persons commitment has to be weighty.





Today we have somebody who is also alleged to have dual citizenship. He is said to have the citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea or whatever it is. In that case, where will his loyalty be? Will he be 100 per cent loyal to Nigeria?





So it is up to Nigerians to judge their leaders based on who they are and who they might be, based on their behaviour. It is unfortunate that President Buhari, rather than jettisoning what he said before, has, indeed, re-emphasised that he would be defended by people outside Nigeria, it is unfortunate.





Buhari statement validates earlier speculations of ties with Niger PANDEF





In its reaction, the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, said the Presidents statement only validated earlier speculations of his ties with the people of Niger Republic.





The National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson, said: PANDEF does not believe that such a statement was made by President Muhammadu Buhari. Maybe someone else made the statement on his behalf.





But if it is true that the outgoing President of Nigeria made such statement, then it validates the speculations and insinuations that have been because of his attitude and disposition to some of the neighbouring countries, especially, Niger Republic, where the government of Nigeria was trying to construct a railway from Nigeria to Niger.





In fact, some persons were also trying to site a refinery in the Niger Republic. It validates the rumoured ties the outgoing president has with that country.





Buharis remarks unpresidential  Northern Elders





Also reacting last night, the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, described as unpresidential, the remarks by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Forum also said the statement was not only a bad attempt at being sarcastic to wave away the national discontent to his serial misrule, but a vindication of its earlier warnings about his leadership. NEFs Director of Youth and Mobilisation, Alhaji Nastura Sharif, said: This remark by Buhari is apart from being unpresidential, also a vindication of what we have all along been pointing out.





Long before the elections that brought him to power, we have on several occasions alerted that Buhari did not have the necessary skill, the competence and capacity to lead the country.





We have in specific terms alerted that he never even had the political will to be Nigerian president except for his obsession with power and deep-seated vendetta against classes of people and individuals who he perceived as enemies.

Thats now history, at least everyone is by now aware that Buhari has never had the interest of the nation at heart beyond showmanship.




A Nigerian Youtuber, Emdee Tiamiyu is currently under heavy verbal attack on social media for suggesting that all Nigerians migrating to the UK use schooling as a ploy to gain entry into the country.

Tiamiyu made this known in an interview with BBC which went viral on Tuesday.

Nigerian Youtuber, Emdee Tiamiyu, who specialises in helping Nigerians relocate to UK has disclosed that Nigerians migrating to UK use schooling as a ploy to gain entry into the country



Whats your take on his comment?

pic.twitter.com/PQLhE7a5fd  Nigeria Stories (@NigeriaStories) May 23, 2023





He said, So the student thing is not real. It is not like they need the degrees.





They need the degree as an access road to come into the country, so a lot of this people their priorities shifted real fast.





The video went viral after the UK enacted a law that will prevent Nigerian students, and others studying in the UK, from bringing family as dependents except under specific circumstances.





Under the new rule, which will take effect January 2024, the UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system.

NigerianEye monitored some angry reactions from Nigerians on social media, a few of them are below.

This is Emdee Tiamiyu, a Yoruba man from Osun State. This is the man that has destroyed the hope of millions of young Nigerians in this generation and generation unborn by revealing the means they use to escape poverty, oppression and hardship in Nigeria. He is domiciled in UK pic.twitter.com/9sRWMhV5DD  Dr Penking (@drpenking) May 23, 2023

Incase Nigerians are looking for village people to blame, see your brother Emdee Tiamiyu exposing himself on tv for the world to see. pic.twitter.com/PtjwfzPUJ1  Nicholas  (@ezele_nick) May 23, 2023

Emdee Tiamiyu is a m!ndless clown. Nigerians are already being stigmatized, our country has a negative image but instead of correcting the wrong perceptions he deliberately threw Nigerians under the bus for views & cheap clout. Ignorance is a disease. Hope karma visits him soon.  Daniel Regha (@DanielRegha) May 23, 2023

Because of Emdee Tiamiyu



- You can no longer take your dependents to UK on student VISA



- You cant switch to work visas until you finish studies



- They will clamp down on using agents



- POF might increase.



- Student VISA might be completely scraped off



Make him famous pic.twitter.com/3QAXnCJyaE  Dr Penking (@drpenking) May 23, 2023

Congratulations to Emdee Tiamiyu, The First Nigerian to attract the highest Number of curses in 2023  pic.twitter.com/zU8ic1fdHb  Baba Ibeji  (@Bigjohnydatalk1) May 23, 2023

Indians migrate more than Nigerians but when you see them on YouTube, its always opportunities abroad they share but the Nigerians will always complain to gate keep people, look at what that Emdee Tiamiyu did today now because of too much talking.  OTUNBA (@ManLikeIcey) May 23, 2023

Just know many Nigerians abroad are like Tiamiyu.



Some dont others to migrate with their regular Cho Cho Cho! They are vindictive & negativeevil roams free but other nationals dont do same of their countrymen  King_Alexander (@dhotun) May 24, 2023

This guy Emdee Tiamiyu nah correct Akpa Ife!! Boy sold out completely.



UK schools will now be strict with Nigerians, just because of this thing di iru ka mkpi arusi pic.twitter.com/ouhu5TJIEF  Franklin (@Frankbilionz) May 24, 2023

The BBC needed a Tiamiyu interview to provide content to support its narrative that would be sold to the British public.  Hammid bakare (@hammidbakare) May 24, 2023




Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said election of one of his predecessors, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president signaled a new era of purposeful leadership and governance for Nigeria.





Sanwo-Olu spoke at public lecture organised, on Tuesday, by the Lagos State Government as part of the activities lined up for his inauguration and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat for second term.





The event with the theme: The Making of a Beacon  Lagos and the Consolidation of a Democracy that Works for All, was held at Muson Centre in Onikan, where the Governor and his deputy joined a large audience, comprising members of the State Executive Council, top government functionaries, All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwarts, corporate leaders, traders and students.





The lecture was delivered by Prof. Adigun Agbaje, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan who noted that the wave of transformation and change recorded in Lagos over the past two decades exemplified how the business of governance should be conducted in wider Nigerian context.





A book titled: Incident Commander: Leadership and Heroism in times of crisis, was presented at the event, which also featured a drama play presented by the national troupe with the theme: Echoes of the Drums.





Sanwo-Olu, who shared the lecturers view, said Lagos bore the beacon of hope for the country, given the pace-setting feats recorded in State under successive administrations. The Governor maintained that the States transformation in the realm of politics and economy continued to present great prospect for Nigerias developing democracy, stressing that the election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president signaled a new era of purposeful leadership and governance for the country.





He said: The transformation we have witnessed over the past decades shows that Lagos being the beacon for our country is real. The State has evolved into a model economically, commercially and politically. Not only is the State doing well, we are thriving and coming out strong in moments of political crisis. The visionary personality who led the transformation has now been elected the President to offer national leadership in our country.





Prof. Agbaje, in his presentation, pointed out that Lagos, more than any other sub-national, had tended to elevate progressive ideas in its governance structure, saying the States unique approach to governance was evident in the robust intersection between its political class, corporate players and leaders of thought.





The don said Nigerias democracy was stuck at the crossroads because of the dearth of leaders of thought who would lay down development vision and direction. In the case of Lagos, the lecturer said the State had sustained a vision spanning four administrations, which, he said, made Lagos to occupy major place for advancement of democracy and development in the country.





Agbaje said: As we seek pathways to catalyse greater democracy, development, peace and equity for the greater number of the people of Lagos and, of course, Nigeria, we often, perhaps homogenise the reality and prospects for democracy in Nigeria. Pace and requirements for democracy at the subnational level differs from one part of each of the 36 states to another, and from state to state.





What we call democracy is focusing not only on periodic elections but more with the imperatives of institution-building, inculcation of democratic values, absence of impunity and the triumph of the rule of law and due process. Those who govern and those who envision governance need to fully understand and appreciate the burden that they bear in the everyday life of their communities and people.





Leaders need to fully understand the nature of the society in which we now find ourselves, a society driven by ever new technologies and innovation. Change is no longer the exception but the rule that is essential component of a forward-thinking society aiming to expand its freedom and development.





The lecturer rated Sanwo-Olu high in governance, noting that the the government of Governor, like his predecessors, had carefully crafted a knowledge-based and inclusive pathway to renewal and consolidation in the State. Lagos, Agbaje said, was fortunate to have decades of technocrats and progressive-minded politicians in governance, in addition with an efficient civil service.





Mr. Ray Ekpu, a doyen of Nigerian journalism and co-founder of Newswatch magazine, reviewed the book, which highlighted heroic leadership moments of Gov. Sanwo-Olu in the throes of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.





The 301-page book, edited by Hope Eghagha and Sola Ojewusi, is a collection of 25 articles and essays authored by distinguished journalists and writers.





Ekpu, represented by Dr. Kofo Adedeji, described Sanwo-Olu as a good pilot, saying the Governor had done well in the management of mega city of Lagos.





He said: The book sees Gov. Sanwo-Olu as courageous, compassionate and charismatic leader who pass a test of true, selfless leadership when the crisis came calling. The response to COVID-19 was the Governors excellent display of competence, commitment and resilience in the fight against a faceless but ferocious enemy.





Responding, Sanwo-Olu dedicated the book to frontline workers who worked with the State Government to break the transmission of the virus, describing them as the real heroes of the achievement.
Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom, says Ibom Air will not fall apart after his tenure as chief executive officer of the state.

In the first year of his second term in office, the governor established Ibom Air, the first state-owned airline in Nigeria.

He is expected to complete his eight-year tenure on May 29 as Umo Eno, his former commissioner of lands and water resources, takes the reign of power.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, Udom said Ibom Air is built on the shared value of the Akwa Ibom people.

He said the business would not fail after his time in office, adding that the incoming governor will think hard before making a contrary decision.

Shared value, the culture. The day you break that culture, it means many people will resist it. And once people oppose it, you wont want to carry the consequence as a politician, he said.

We have built that culture so well that even the man himself will think hard before he tries to break it.

As a governor and promoter of the airline, if Im flying and Im late by one minute, they can never wait for me. There are simple things that matter that people must cue to. We call it simple but these are things that keep the organisation running.

Even if I close my eyes and leave, we only need capital. It is a business I know that with the shared value that we have, it is sustainable.
Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, has endorsed Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, for the position of senate president.

Wike declared his support for Akpabio during a visit by the aspirant and a group of senators-elect supporting him, on Tuesday.

The stability group comprising senators-elect was led by Ali Ndume, representing Borno south.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had nominated Akpabio and Barau Jibrin to be senate president and deputy respectively.

A statement by the Akpabio campaign media office quoted Wike as saying he would support the former minister because he was there for him when he wanted to be Rivers governor.

This is the time for me to support him because he supported me when I wanted to be the governor of Rivers State, Wike was quoted as saying.

If truly we want this country to move forward from where we are today, I see nothing wrong in the ruling party picking who it thinks can work with the President-elect as the senate president of the 10th assembly.

On this Akpabio and Barau project, we are together to make sure they win.

Akpabio supported me during my governorship ambition. He stood by me all through and ensured that I won. I dont pay back good with evil.

This is pay back time for him. I will stand by him until he emerges as the next senate president. Our team would soon meet to take a position on your aspiration.

Wike urged Akpabio not to be worried noting that the opposition to his ambition is a normal occurrence in politics.

Dont be worried or disturbed by the contending forces against your aspiration, it is normal in politics. Power is not given on a platter of gold, you fight for it, Wike said.

I am impressed that despite your endorsement by your party and the President-elect, you are still consulting your colleagues. That is the way it should be.

Let us be fair to this country. If we continue this way, Nigeria will not succeed. Dont waiver, stay firm and you will win at the end of the day.

Responding, Akpabio thanked Wike for his support and congratulated him on his tenure as governor.

You have done well for your people and Nigerians. History would be kind to you as you exit office in the next few days, Akpabio said.

You believe in justice, equity and fairness and that is what Nigerians know you for.
An oral weight-loss drug from Pfizer causes the same amount of weight loss as its competitor Novo Nordisks injection Ozempic, according to a peer-reviewed study released Monday.

The results were unveiled at a conference last year, but the JAMA Network released the full peer-reviewed, phase-two clinical trial yesterday. However, they did not directly compare the oral drug called danuglipron to Ozempic.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhins comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In Washington, Kirby speculated Wednesday on Prigozhin's motives.

And its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.

In what it says is likely a low estimate, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.

Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the war's front lines, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.

Kozlowska reported from London. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Andrew Katell in New York contributed.
A 30-year-old Pennsylvania man accidentally shot himself in the leg while walking with a 6-year-old child and carrying bags to a motel room in Wildwood Crest on Tuesday, authorities said

Alexander Wiederhold was brought to an area hospital after the gun in his waistband discharged at about 4:15 p.m., Wildwood Crest police said.

Wiederhold was with a 29-year-old woman and a 6-year-old child, neither of whom were struck. The gun contained a high-capacity magazine and was loaded with hollow point bullets

Wiederhold, of Frackville, was charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a high-capacity magazine and possession of hollow point bullets. He was taken to the Cape May County jail after being treated.

The gun was registered to the woman, who was charged with possession of a high-capacity magazine and possession of hollow point bullets.

Neither Wiederhold or the woman have a concealed carry permit, according to police.

The motel was not named.

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.
New Jersey native Bill Einreinhofer approaches his latest documentary, China: Frame by Frame, with a humility rarely found on TV.

After a montage of Chinas turbulent events during the first half of the 20th Century, the documentarian, who narrates this one-hour film airing Thursday at 9 p.m. on WNETs The World Channel, appears onscreen. My name is Bill Einreinhofer, and I doubt youve ever heard of me despite a 40-year career in television, he says.
Over the last three months, NJ.com photographers have captured the performances of the many of the best New Jersey high school musicals, from classics like Anything Goes and Godspell to more contemporary shows like Frozen and Mean Girls.

But now its time to take our adoration for the states tireless programs to the next level, and name regional winners for the 2023 spring season: New Jerseys best high school musical in North, Central and South Jersey. Each of the three winning programs will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize for their drama departments.
Corgi Comedy

Corgi Spirits continues to host stand-up comedy shows in Jersey City with Ryan Rummel and Alex Grubard on Friday, May 26, from 8 to 10 p.m. Each month features stand-up comedians from movies, television shows, podcasts, and festivals.

Admission is $20 and tickets can be found here. Corgi Spirits is located at 1 Distillery Dr., Jersey City.

Hell Yeah! Comedy in North Bergen

The Hell Yeah! Comedy Show returns to the Wawa Social Club in North Bergen on Friday, May 26, from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Hosted by Josh Wells, the evening will feature the comedic talents of Monty Mason, Cassidy OMalley, Scott Holt, Greg and Rob, Raph Hernandez, and Erin Wohlberg.

A free open mic will follow the event and there will be a 50/50 raffle.

The show is free to attend. The Wawa Social Club is located at 1438 51st St., North Bergen.

Jazz for Malcolm X

The Community Awareness Series of the Jersey City Free Public Library will be hosting Jazz for Malcolm X, featuring the Antionette Montague Experience on Saturday, May 27, from 7 to 9 p.m.

A jazz and blues singer, Montague has performed internationally as a cultural ambassador of the U.S. Department of State. Montague is also a radio host and performs vocal duties in her band, which also includes Danny Mixon on piano, Melissa Slocum on bass, Bobby Sanabria on drums, and tap dancer AC Lincoln.

The free event will take place at the Miller Branch Library, 489 Bergen Ave., Jersey City.

Happenings at the Hoboken Museum

On Saturday, May 27, the Hoboken Historical Museums Maritime Artist-in-Residence, Frank Hanavan, continues to build a model of the America, an 1851 racing yacht sponsored by the Stevens family from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Frank has been building this model since January 2022, and is close to finishing it.

The museum will also have cynsartshop and her Saturday Walkway Pops vendors in the Shipyard Passageway on Saturday, May 27, from 1 to 6 p.m.

On Sunday, June 4, the Hoboken Historical Museum and the Fire Museum will be a part of the Hoboken Artists Studio Tour, which consists of a free self-guided walking tour of artists studios, galleries, and group exhibition spaces from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tour maps will be made available on day of tour at City Hall.

The Hoboken Historical Museum is located at 1301 Hudson St., Hoboken.

45th Santacruzan and Flores de Mayo celebration

St. Marys Parish in Jersey City will host their 45th Santacruzan & Flores de Mayo Festival along Manila Avenue from 1st to 4th Street on Sunday, May 28, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with food and vendors.

The Santacruzan & Flores de Mayo Mass will be held inside of St. Marys Parish on 254 2nd St. at 2:30 p.m.

The Santacruzan Procession will proceed directly after the Mass at 3:30 p.m., traversing around the Parish for several blocks before ending at the Santacruzan Festival on Manila Avenue, Jersey City.

Drag brunch in Hoboken

Illusions Drag Queen Show in Hoboken takes place on Saturday, June 3, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. with drag performers impersonating the latest as well as old-time celebrities.

Impersonations will include Madonna, Cher, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Liza Minelli, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, Beyonce, Pink, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Rihanna, Brittny Spears, Adele, and Amy Winehouse to name a few.

The show will take place at 41 Sixth St., Hoboken. Tickets can be found online on AllEvents.

Hoboken Improv returns

Hoboken Improv returns to Willie McBrides on Sunday, June 4, at 11 p.m., where improv comics will take audience suggestions to create a unique show reminiscent of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Hosted by Christian Becker and Anthony Reimer, the show will feature New York-based comedians who have performed on channels such as CBS, NBC, FX, Showtime, and live at the PIT, National Comedy Theatre, and UCB in NYC.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and the event is free to attend. Willie McBrides is located at 616 Grand St., Hoboken.
A West New York man got into dispute with another man at a North Bergen motel known for trouble and tried repeatedly to run him over Wednesday morning, North Bergen police said.

The incident unfolded at 10:20 a.m. at the Lincoln Tunnel Motel, a Tonnelle Avenue business that police have responded to numerous times over the past few years, Capt. David Dowd said.

Police responded and charged Ariam Ante, 42, with assault by auto, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (his vehicle), burglary and theft, Dowd said. When police arrived, Ante was trying to flee and he struck a police cruiser, Dowd said.

An investigation that included a review of surveillance camera footage revealed that Ante was apparently helping someone move their belongings out of the motel when the victim pulled up next to Antes vehicle. The two got into a dispute and Ante got into his vehicle and multiple times tried to strike the man. He eventually succeeded, Dowd said.

Ante and the man then got into a fist fight, leaving Ante bloodied. Dowd said that Ante again got into his vehicle and tried to strike the victim again, but he rammed the motel door.

The victim had left the motel before police arrived, but a friend told police that he suffered some minor injuries in the scuffle, Dowd said.

The motel and its owner, Brian Acosta Arya, have gained a measure of fame for the owners generosity in providing free rooms to those in dire need, and its quirky staff. Aryas LTMotel TikTok account  which includes many day in the life videos  has more than 950,000 followers and he has been featured in placed like People magazine and the Kelly Clarkson Show.

But all that fame has not dissuaded guests or their associates from behavior that has elicited police responses.

Dowd told The Jersey Journal police responded 2,705 times between January 2020 and March 2022  more than any of the other 13 motels and hotels in the township. Between 2017 and 2021, police responded to calls there 4,487 times.
A 41-year-old man charged this week in a fatal shooting a decade ago in Camden was initially arrested within weeks of the 2013 shooting on charges he illegally possessed a gun, which was later determined to be the weapon used in the killing, authorities said.

Martin G. Muniz was arrested in Riverton  about 10 miles away  on Dec. 13, 2013 on the weapons charge, according to a criminal complaint from the Camden County Prosecutors Office. He was found with a Hi-Point 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, though it was not connected to the fatal shooting at that time, the affidavit said.
New Jersey joined a multi-state lawsuit against an alleged robocaller that is accused of making more than 237 million illegal robocalls to state residents, the attorney generals office said Tuesday.

The state said Avid Telecom and its principals made more than 7.5 billion calls across the country between December 2018 and January 2023, violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule and other federal and state telemarketing and consumer laws. More than 45 states are part of the action.

The suit names Michael D. Lansky, LLC, which does business under the name Avid Telecom, its owner Michael Lansky and its vice president Stacey S. Reeves.
A New Jersey stadium has issued a warning to those who wish to attend Taylor Swifts The Eras Tour on Memorial Day weekend  dont come without tickets.

MetLife Stadium reminded concertgoers in social media blasts Wednesday night that event tickets are required to access the parking lots of the venue.

The message comes two weeks after about 20,000 fans who did not have tickets flocked to a stadium in Philadelphia and gathered in the parking lot to sing along to her songs.

The crowd of Swifties were seen in a viral TikTok video, signing in a parking lot at the Lincoln Financial Field stadium on May 13.

Following the incident, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, issued a warning to fans ahead of its Eras Tour shows last weekend, stating that a ticket was needed in order to enter the stadiums parking lots.

What exactly would happen to anyone who attempts to go without tickets to the New Jersey this weekend was not exactly clear. MetLife did not specify in its messaging, which also included a list of other rules and reminders for attending the shows. The New Jersey State Police, the agency that patrols MetLife Stadium, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Swifts The Eras Tour runs from March 17 to August 9, with tour dates at the East Rutherford stadium on Friday, May 26; Saturday, May 27; and Sunday, May 28.

Tickets for the three-plus hour show currently range from $1,476 to $4,155, according to VividSeats.com.

The Eras Tour is Swifts biggest and most expensive tour yet. The concerts are three hours and 15 minutes long, not including the opening acts, and feature a setlist of 45 songs. The songs date back to her second album, Fearless, released in 2008.

The average ticket for the tour is $700, while the average ticket for her previous tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, went for just $279, according to StubHub.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
The recent op-ed by George Ygarza, N.J.s Palestinian community commemorates the Nakba, omits several important historical details about the events surrounding Israels War of Independence in 1948 and its impact on Palestinians.

To begin with, the piece fails to mention the State of Israel by name or reference the millennia-long connection the Jewish people have to the land. It falsely suggests that Zionist forces were enabled by a UN mandate to forcibly displace Palestinians, ignoring the Arab and Palestinian rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan which would have led to the creation of two states  one Arab and one Jewish.

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Finally, Ygarza omits mention of the many Israeli efforts over the years to reach an agreement with the Palestinians that would have led to the creation of a Palestinian State  efforts which failed, in large part, due to repeated Palestinian intransigence.

The Nakba (catastrophe) and events surrounding Israels birth in 1948 was indeed a difficult period for Palestinians, and it is appropriate to be commemorated as such. However, Ygarzas omission of key historical facts and overall anti-Israel bias does nothing to advance understanding, tolerance and peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Scott Richman, NY/NJ Region Director, Anti-Defamation League

Leave breathing room in debt negotiations

Leaders in Washington are currently discussing avoiding a default on the nations debt, but ideas include provisions that would directly impact lung health here in New Jersey and threaten healthcare and air quality.

One provision under discussion would add new barriers to subsidized Medicaid health care, with work requirements for some clients to receive benefits. These requirements would add unnecessary paperwork, resulting in people losing their coverage due to red tape.

Other provisions would repeal tax incentives for clean energy, or open the door for building more polluting energy sources like coal and gas while weakening our right to engage in permit decisions.

As an American Lung Association volunteer, I know first hand the importance of healthcare and clean air for people living with chronic diseases like asthma and COPD. If these provisions went into effect, more people could face poor air quality or the loss of health care coverage, leaving them unable to manage their chronic lung disease, resulting in more dire, costlier care down the road.

These provisions would especially harm people with disabilities, children, individuals who are pregnant and seniors in nursing homes. I urge our legislators to reject a work requirement policy for Medicaid and the buildout of polluting energy to protect our health.

Adam Apps, West Milford

The writer is a member of the American Lung Association New York Local Leadership Board.

Spend less, but tax fairly

I have voted Democratic for many years, but a recent speech by U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., makes sense. We must economize and spend less.

I take issue, however when he says he is not going to advocate for raising taxes on anyone.

Our economy has evolved into an unfair tax system, where the richest pay only a tiny sliver of their true income, and can afford to pay accountants to keep things that way. The rich and the corporations should be made to pay a reasonable shareof taxes which would pay for social programs to help people who are struggling to stay afloat, using hands up-strategies, not handouts.

Anne De Sola Paust, Succasunna

Bruce should be ashamed

The region of Emilia-Romagna in north Italy was recently hit by one of the largest floods in history, causing an estimated $6 billion in damages, over 20,000 people were displaced, and at least 14 people died.

Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band refused to cancel a planned concert in Ferrara, just a few miles from the flooded area. The refusal has been widely criticized by the Italian media and local officials because of the extra burden it created on the local emergency resources and the extra traffic in an area that suffered tremendous loss of usable roads and bridges.

The Boss poor judgment not only showed lack of respect for the suffering local people, but enhanced the view that his interest is solely focused on the mighty dollar.

Donating the proceeds of his concert to help the people that lost everything to the flood would have been the right thing to do.

Shame on you, Bruce!

Aurora DeJuliis Carluccio, Verona

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When a school learns that a student is gay or gender-questioning, should it call the parents and let them know about it?

New Jersey doesnt allow it. Public schools must protect the gender identity and sexual orientation of students under the 2018 guidelines that were authored by the Board of Education, and now they are being assailed in some districts.

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News / National

by Staff reporter

WALKING home after a long day of school, the only thing that goes through a primary school pupil's mind is getting home, removing their uniforms and going out to play with others or do their homework.None would ever imagine coming across a body, not even in their wildest dreams, however, that is what happened to Lobengula Primary School pupils in Mzilikazi suburb this late afternoon.In an incident that left residents in Makokoba and Mzilikazi shocked, the school children discovered a body of a roughly middle-aged man inside the Mazayi River behind their school.When a Chronicle News crew arrived at the scene, the police had put the body in the coffin and were taking a statement from a teenager who identified himself as the deceased's relative. The police were assisted by Bulawayo Fire and Rescue Services, to retrieve the body which is said that the top half was inside the polluted and foul-smelling river.Residents from Makokoba and Mzilikazi could not believe what they had just seen, with many saying that the area was no longer safe as it has become a hub for thugs.Guided by the teenager, who believed that it was his uncle, who was last seen wearing a work suit similar to the dead man in the river. The body was taken to the family house which is just a few metres from the scene. Having seen the body, there were disagreements among family members with some saying it was their relative, Mr Arthur Davis (43) while others disagreed.In a case of mistaken identity, after the police had taken the body for identification, it was discovered that the deceased was not Mr Davis as he was found alive with his friends at a local bottle store known as Jika Jika, much to his family's jubilation."Ngiyamazi mina umalume" (I know my uncle), said one of the nieces who had refused to agree that the man lying inside the cops' coffin was her uncle when others believed it was him.After the discovery that Davis, who is a mechanic, was alive, the real identity of the deceased nor his place of residence are yet to be known with investigations underway.Mazayi Bridge, which is a route that many use, has become a well-known dangerous road that has left residents scared of using it after sunset.Residents are calling for action to be taken so that their daily route becomes safe for use. They are calling on the Bulawayo City Council to help them clear the bushes around."Every day I pass by this place from town and every time we see some boys (suspected thugs) standing there (Mazayi bridge). We appeal to the City Council to take action and clear the bush in this area because we might discover that he is not the only one who died here, maybe there are others in the bush, and it's no longer safe here."The police should also try and patrol this area because we pass here late at night and we always see people standing there and maybe it's people that we know because every time we pass, they move backwards and lean towards the bridge. We really appeal to the City Council and Police to take action," said residents association's chairperson, Ms Khethiwe Ngulube.Another resident, Patrick Nyathi shared similar sentiments with Ngulube, stating that he is also a victim of an attack in that area. He added that he also hopes that law enforcement will make the area safe for the public.
The following is a listing of all home transfers in Berkeley reported from May 15 to May 22. There were 47 transactions posted during this time. During this period, the median sale for the area was a 1,601-square-foot home on Tropicana Court in Toms River that sold for $330,000.

Bayville

250 Point Pleasant Avenue, Bayville, $270,000, four bedrooms and one bathroom.

92 Chain Boulevard, Bayville, $390,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

95 Butler Boulevard, Bayville, $390,000, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

378 Wheaton Avenue, Bayville, $444,000, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

32 Osprey Lane, Bayville, $517,500, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

1053 Bayview Avenue, Bayville, $520,441, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

291 Hoover Avenue, Bayville, $530,000, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

288 Nolan Avenue, Bayville, $535,000, five bedrooms and two bathrooms.

93 Wind Jammer Court, Bayville, $565,000, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

527 Vanderbilt Avenue, Bayville, $585,000, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

26 Steerage Way, Bayville, $720,000, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

351 East End Avenue, Bayville, $735,000, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

19 Starboard Court, Bayville, $999,999, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Toms River

55 Second Avenue, Toms River, $170,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

1137 Edgebrook Drive, Toms River, $180,000, one bedroom and one bathroom.

13 Nevis Court, Toms River, $185,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

14 Santo Domingo Drive, Toms River, $205,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

209 Port Royal Drive, Toms River, $210,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

59 Santiago Court, Toms River, $222,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

87 Hyannis Street, Toms River, $225,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

107 Barbados Drive, Toms River, $239,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

31 Frederiksted Street, Toms River, $245,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

103 Georgetown Road, Toms River, $248,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

485 Saint Thomas Drive, Toms River, $249,500, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

1325 Eighth Avenue, Toms River, $250,000, three bedrooms and one bathroom.

35 Hyannis Street, Toms River, $260,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

50 Brakenbury Drive, Toms River, $263,500, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

8 Thornton Road, Toms River, $265,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

20 Longdenville Street, Toms River, $285,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

4 Woodbury Court, Toms River, $296,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

34 Winterton Drive, Toms River, $302,500, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

11 Roca Sola Street, Toms River, $309,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

916 Sixth Avenue, Toms River, $310,000, three bedrooms and one bathroom.

285 Jamaica Boulevard, Toms River, $310,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

10 Bedivere Court, Toms River, $320,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

3 Tropicana Court, Toms River, $330,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

528 Jamaica Boulevard, Toms River, $338,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

615 Jamaica Boulevard, Toms River, $339,000, two bedrooms and one bathroom.

93 Narberth Way, Toms River, $345,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

23 Wiley Way, Toms River, $347,500, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

924 Second Avenue, Toms River, $355,000, three bedrooms and one bathroom.

15 Kendal Drive, Toms River, $365,000, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

58 La Dunette Drive, Toms River, $399,900, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

1617 Third Avenue, Toms River, $430,000, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

1117 Sixth Avenue, Toms River, $484,900, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

344 Third Avenue, Toms River, $485,000, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

1001 Lawrence Avenue, Toms River, $536,000, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data.
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The Louisiana House Education Committee Tuesday approved a bill limiting what libraries can allow children access to on an 8-3 vote, bringing the bill one step closer to becoming law.

Under Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Heather Cloud, a Ville Platte Republican, the state would make all Louisiana public libraries create a library card option that would ban minors from checking out any books deemed by their local library board to be sexually explicit.

A library patron would have to challenge a book they believe to be sexually explicit, and the library board of control would make the official determination.

Libraries would not have to remove books the board determines to be sexually explicit from shelves or move them to a different part of the library, and some libraries already have policies in place. Though for instance, in St. Tammany Parish, where library boards are fielding hundreds of book challenges, libraries have moved challenged materials behind the circulation desk.

However, the bills author and some other Republican lawmakers expressed disappointment the bill didnt go further in restricting children and teenagers access to books.

Rep. Beryl Amedee, a Houma Republican, pointed out that minors with library cards restricting them from checking out sexually explicit materials could technically still sit in a library and read a book they were banned from checking out.

Cloud replied, Unfortunately, right now as we're trying to keep the protections of the First Amendment intact and navigate that, this was the way that we had to go about this issue.

Seems like that would come into play on the next library tax, Committee Chairman Lance Harris, an Alexandria Republican, chimed in.

Attorney General Jeff Landry, who is running for governor, and Assistant Attorney General Emily Andrews presented the bill with Cloud, who routinely cited the Protecting Innocence report from the attorney generals office.

That report includes out-of-context excerpts of often-challenged books like Gender Queer, Maia Kobabes graphic novel about being non-binary, and Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye about a Black girl growing up during the Great Depression. These books, like many challenged around the country, are about Black people and LGBTQ people.

The bill also could play a role in what books libraries add to their collections in the future. It requires that community standards for the population served by the library be considered when acquiring library material that would be accessible to a minor through donation or purchase.

The full House will need to pass the bill before it heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards desk. But based on votes on the bill so far, that appears likely. The governor has not said whether he would veto the bill.

Louisiana House Republicans reject adding rape, incest exceptions to abortion ban A Louisiana House committee Wednesday shot down two bills that would have added exceptions for rape and incest to the states strict abortion ban.
There's only one book you really need

Tweets are long enough

They're secretly jealous of cool librarians

Educated kids will realize the LAGOP has no real ideas

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News / National

by Staff reporter

Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the Chinese embassy to Zimbabwe, Huang Minghai says some of the unscrupulous behaviour seen of some Chinese firms operating in Zimbabwe is not part of the Asian country's foreign policy.He blamed the situation on what he said were cultural differences and management flows by the companies.Huang was speaking in Harare Tuesday at the Zimbabwe Investment Economic and Trade Promotion Conference, a high-level business forum graced by a 19-member delegation from Huaihua, a city in China's commercial hub of Hunan province.The event was jointly organised by the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises, Hunan Business Association in Zimbabwe, and the China Zimbabwe Exchange Centre.In his remarks, Huang said Chinese companies' investment portfolio in Zimbabwe cuts across the mining, agricultural and manufacturing sectors.He said this has helped resurrect derelict infrastructure and "brought to Zimbabwe, considerable foreign currency earnings and tax revenues and created tens of thousands of jobs".Some Chinese firms in Zimbabwe have been flagged for flouting some of the country's laws, labour rights violations and environmental degradation, among some infractions.Haung said this was not part of China's foreign policy."The Chinese government has always required Chinese companies to strictly comply with the laws and regulations of host countries and to fully respect local customers, traditions and cultures," he said."The majority of Chinese companies in Zimbabwe have done a good job and welcomed by the Zimbabwe government and the local people."Indeed, a few Chinese companies have some problems in their operations and this does not represent the whole picture of Chinese investment nor does it mean that the cooperation between China and African countries has been rejected."Some of the problems are caused by cultural differences, some are common issues in the relevant industry; some are a result of lack of management experiences."We will push Chinese companies to make an improvement and we also firmly oppose any political manipulation and unwarranted smearing, hidden political purposes or self-interests against Chinese companies which may ultimately haunt the interests of Zimbabwe itself and harm the development of the Zimbabwe China cooperation."During the event, speakers from the Chinese delegation who took to the podium painted a good picture of Hunan province and Huaihua City in particular while encouraging Zimbabwean businesses to forge strategic alliances with the metropolis.The first post Covid-19 Chinese delegation came to explore investment, trade opportunities between the two countries.It also came to Zimbabwe on behalf of the Hunan government to sign various Memoranda of Understanding with various government departments, private sector and to also push for PPPs between China and Zimbabwe.The group comprised government officials, the mayor and deputy mayor of Huaihua city, private businesspeople from the Chinese province.Huaihua deputy mayor Han Xiaobo also spoke highly of the business potential and beauty of the metropolis she described as a city "so beautiful that it even hurts"."The mountain of Wuling stretches its body inside Huaihua for miles like a magnificent dragon, with breath-taking snow caps."She added, "Huaihua is bestowed with excellent geological conditions and rich mineral resources. At present, there have been 62 types of mineral species detected and 45 of them are utilized."The ore resources with superior quality include heavy spar, stone coal, limestone of calcium carbide, sandstone of glass (commonly known as silicon sand), and granite of finishing. Among them, the ore reserve of heavy spar is on the top list of China, while the reserves of gold and stone coal rank first in Hunan Province."For limestone of calcium carbide, sandstone of glass and granite of finishing, the reserves are the second in Hunan Province."At present, Huaihua has primarily formed an industrial system with a main frame consisting of medical, chemical, building materials, electromechanical, food, textile, and metallurgy industries."In 2022, the industrial added value was 45.699 billion yuan, with an increase of 4.6%. And the contribution of mining industry increase was 6.5%."
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Each year in May, as part of National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week, HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital and HSHS St. Josephs Hospital each recognize one outstanding nursing colleague who exhibits excellence in caring for patients and families and has a superior level of knowledge and skill. This peer-nominated award is the highest a colleague can receive at the hospitals.

This years recipients are Kateri Hansen, RN at HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital, and Alexis Brunner, RN at HSHS St. Josephs Hospital. Hansen and Bruner were presented with an award and flowers during a small ceremony the weeks of May 7 and May 14.

Hansen works with patients in the neuroscience and pediatric units at HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital. She also enjoys working with student nurses and recently took on the role of preceptor  someone who helps teach new nurses.

The colleague who nominated Hansen for the award says her approachable and calm demeanor puts everyone at ease in stressful situations.

Kateri is always stepping in to lend a hand, even if her patient assignment is busy. She treats everyone that walks through the doors  visitors, patients and colleagues  with respect and kindness.

Brunner at HSHS St. Josephs Hospital works in the medical/surgical department and is cross training to become a house supervisor, which means she will oversee daily clinical operations of one or more departments.

In the nomination letter, Brunners colleague says she always finds a way to bring joy into most situations.

Alexis is very respectful  and provides high quality care while building a relationship with our patients, providers and colleagues. She is a very good critical thinker and is able to apply what shes learned in one situation to others.

This marks the 17th year HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital has awarded a Nurse Exemplar Award and is the seventh year HSHS St. Josephs Hospital has chosen a recipient.
Quanta Computer to Invest $1B in Mexico Published: 24 May 2023 by Tyler Hanes by Tyler Hanes

TAIPEI  Quanta Computer will invest $1 billion to expand its current operations in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia announced the investment in a video shared to Twitter, and said it will lead to the creation of 2,500 jobs in the state.

The announcement adds to the 2,500 jobs already created and nearly $500 million already invested by Quanta in Nuevo Leon, Pedro Campa, the companys vice president of manufacturing operations in Mexico, told Reuters.

Quanta Computer is a supplier to Tesla, which earlier this year announced it would build a new factory worth $5 billion in Monterrey, Mexicos third-biggest city and an industrial hub.


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Negotiations appear ongoing regarding the City of Columbus providing emergency medical services (EMS) to Columbus Rural and Duncan Rural fire protection districts.

For many years, the City of Columbus has provided emergency medical services to the Duncan Rural and Columbus Rural without compensation or an agreement in place.

During a discussion held during a May 23 Platte County Board of Supervisors meeting, Columbus Mayor Jim Bulkley noted conversations started in August 2022 about the fire districts and the city coming to an agreement for these services.

A committee made up of representatives from the City of Columbus, Columbus Rural, Duncan Rural and Platte County was established and has been working towards this goal.

Bulkley said the city can no longer provide EMS without an agreement due to the continued growth of Columbus, along with an increase in calls for Columbus Rural and Duncan Rural.

We cannot adequately serve the citizens of Columbus, Columbus Rural and Duncan Rural with our current staffing, Bulkley said. Both Columbus Rural and Duncan Rural account for approximately 14% of all Columbus Fire Department calls. Overlapping calls and the distance served with these calls can leave us vulnerable.

The city will continue to grow its staff, Bulkley added, but at the rate needed to serve its citizens.

All others that are being served by the city will pay their fair share, Bulkley said.

What the city is proposing, in order to serve its citizens along with Columbus Rural and Duncan Rural, is the staffing of another ambulance. Bulkley said this would require six additional personnel at a cost of $600,000.

The rural fire districts offered to enter into a one-year agreement to pay $300,000, which Bulkley said was not sustainable.

The city has maintained that $600,000 is the solution and will not entertain an offer of less (money) for a shorter period of time, he said. An agreement needs to be in perpetuity.

Bulkley also noted the city would provide the needed apparatus and equipment, an estimated $500,000 cost.

From the homework we have done we know that if the county is willing to make up the additional $300,000 that the city is asking to provide these lifesaving services, it would require a levy of .019 for $100 valuation, he said. If the county wanted to take on the entire cost, it would require a levy of .038 for $100 of valuation.

If Platte County would not be willing to do this, Bulkley said, the city asks that this be put to the vote of the citizens in the affected areas and that the city be allowed to assist with the ballot language so everyone understands whats being asked.

We believe we are representing the best interests of the citizens of Columbus and our taxpayers, Bulkley said. The city will not continue the service without an agreement in place. Where we go from here rests in your hands.

District 7 Supervisor Gene Trouba asked if the city would still hire the six additional staff without the rural fire districts involved.

We're very competent and comfortable that we can serve the citizens of Columbus with the staffing we currently have and what we have in place to grow as we need to, Bulkley responded.

Jim Egr, a David City attorney who previously served as legal counsel for the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighters Association for a number of years, was at the meeting to represent Columbus Rural and Duncan Rural.

Notably, Egr said, the fire districts have been grateful for the city providing these services, but pointed out that their EMS calls actually make up 11% of the Columbus Fire Departments volume.

The city does receive reimbursement for EMS from Medicare and insurance, Egr said, with District 2 Supervisor Jerry Micek later adding that individuals are billed as well.

It is not in the fiscal best interests of the districts to rush into an interlocal agreement with the city until options are examined and discussed, Egr said.

The one-year agreement would help the city increase staffing while looking into other options, Egr said, such as determining costs on a per call basis or considering EMS with Priority Medical and/or Columbus Community Hospital.

The districts will propose a two-year conditional interlocal agreement between the districts and the city. I say conditional because there are different things that can happen with discussions going on between the districts and the city Egr said. The cost each year total for the districts would be $300,000 each fiscal year.

Pending the fire district boards approvals, Duncan Rural and Columbus Rural have agreed to submit a request to raise their respective levies to generate $300,000 a year for the next two budget years, District 3 Supervisor Kim Kwapnioski said.

Platte County provided information to the Telegram on what this tax levy increase would look like. For Columbus Rural, an increase from .0225 per $100 valuation to .03723 is estimated to result in an additional $259,502.62. For Duncan Rural, an increase from .0045 to .02392 is projected to raise an additional $51,900.52.

The county is not going to supplement that proposed contract by contributing an additional $300,000 per year to increase the contract amount to the total $600,000 that the city is requesting, Kwapnioski said.

Platte County, she added, recognizes some of its residents are at a disadvantage because they rely on these services and wont be able to easily replace them.

A county-wide EMS levy, she said, would be unfair to the citizens that dont benefit from the citys EMS, and a significant portion of the Duncan Rural Fire Protection District is in Polk County and outside of Platte Countys levy jurisdiction.

Kwapnioski noted fire districts work hard to keep their tax levies level, adding that, Columbus Rural especially, has been instrumental in providing equipment.

District 1 Supervisor John Harms asked if there is a cutoff point where the city will stop providing the services if an agreement isnt approved.

We have not issued a cutoff point, Bulkley said. I will tell you this is going back to our (city) council with any type of recommended action that would include a cutoff point; we have not had that discussion.

The discussion at the county board meeting concluded with Kwapnioski indicating that talks would continue.

A City of Columbus news release published May 23 reported that the Columbus City Council Committee of the Whole at its June 5 meeting will consider making a recommendation to the full council on Platte County's proposal.
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MICHIGAN CITY  Officials believe a mobile home fire that sent a woman and child to the hospital Tuesday was intentionally set.

Emergency officials received word shortly before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday that a residence was on fire in the 100 block of Dunewood Drive, which is located within the Dunewood Village Mobile Home Community at 170 Ind. 212, Michigan City police Lt. Steve Westphal said.

"In addition to being on fire, it was reported that two people and a dog were trapped inside," he said.

Police, fire and emergency medical units from the area responded and discovered that three men who had been doing cement work in the park put themselves in harms way to remove the two occupants and dog from the burning residence.

Pat OBrien, 67, of Michigan City said he doesnt consider himself a hero, though.

I dont know about that. I think instinct takes over. We just did whatever we had to do, he said.

OBrien said he and two members of his crew were pouring cement for driveways at several new homes in the trailer park. He said they heard glass breaking, then saw smoke and flames coming from the single-wide mobile home.

He said they ran over and started yelling in hopes of drawing the attention of anyone who might be inside. They also opened the front door to try and go inside but were driven away by intense heat and heavy smoke.

OBrien said they started breaking windows out of the home and continued to scream when they heard what sounded like someone inside the dwelling. About half of the home was on fire with flames reaching about 10 feet high when, suddenly, a woman approached one of the broken windows.

The men reached in, grabbed her and carried her out through the broken window at the rear of the home.

Moments later, OBrien said the boy, looking very frightened with soot on his face, came to another broken window a short distance away. He was also safely guided through the opening in the window frame.

After the boy nodded his head that he was thirsty, OBrien said he ran to his truck and grabbed a bottle of water for him to drink.

He was in shock, Im sure. He was shaking pretty good, OBrien said.

The dog was also taken out of the home through a broken window.

Firefighters arrived a short time later.

If we had waited for the fire department, I dont think they would have made it, OBrien said.

The 77-year-old woman and 4-year-old boy were taken to Franciscan Health Michigan City. The boy was treated for minor injuries and the woman was transferred to a hospital in Fort Wayne for advanced treatment, Westphal said.

"Michigan City Animal Control took custody of the rescued dog," he said.

"The initial investigation revealed this fire was intentionally set and it is being investigated as an arson," according to Westphal.

The Michigan City Police Department asks that residents in the area of the fire check exterior cameras for footage of suspects or suspicious activity.

"The timeframe to check would be 7 a.m. up until when the fire was reported (shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday)," Westphal said.

Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to contact Michigan City Police Sgt. Melissa Sopher at 219-874-3221, extension 1049 or by email at msopher@emichigancity.com.

Tips can also be made via the department's Facebook Messenger, the crime tip hotline number at 219-873-1488 or the WeTip Hotline at 800-78-CRIME. People offerings tips can request anonymity.

Gallery: Recent arrests booked into LaPorte County Jail James Turner Derrien Bartmess Devin Hawkins LaJuana White Johnathon Hudson Steven Dabney Sr. Andrew Baney James Heeg Joseph Hahn Windroe Taylor Lakisha Peoples Albert Sherrod Matthew Parrott Austin Eckes Jason Mobley
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VALPARAISO  Two brothers nabbed with just more than 120 pounds of cocaine were found not guilty early Wednesday evening on felony counts of dealing the illegal drug.

The verdict, which came back around 4:30 p.m. after two hours of deliberations, came one day after a defense attorney told the Porter County jury his clients did not know the illegal drug was inside the semi truck they were driving.

Attorney Jason Jackson said Baljinder Singh and Gurwinder Singh, both of California, don't dispute that the large amount of cocaine was found in the rear of the truck and both were cooperative during the Dec. 7, 2020 seizure and arrests.

But prosecutors have no evidence showing the brothers were aware of the drug, he said.

The defense was presented in the trial before Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer, who was livestreaming the proceedings online.

"Cameras were prohibited in Indiana courts until 2020, when the Supreme Court allowed 'virtual' appearances, Zoom hearings and livestreaming of court proceedings because of travel restrictions," Clymer had said when announcing his bid for re-election earlier this month.

"I am proud to allow the public to see what happens in my court by simply watching online. Livestreaming should give the public confidence in what is happening in my court because anyone can watch as it happens."

Each of the defendants were provided with a Punjabi language interpreter during the trial, the court said.

Motorist on I-65 nabbed with more than 230 pounds of pot, Lake County sheriff says "To those who would commit these crimes and travel through Lake County, let me be clear: We are looking for you," the sheriff said. "We will find you and bring you to justice."

Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Hammer told jurors during opening arguments Tuesday afternoon that, "this is not a small amount by any means."

An Indiana State police trooper said he was called out to the eastbound I-94 truck scales in Porter County at about 1:30 p.m. on the day in question for an unknown substance in a duffel bag and suitcase found by an inspector in the rear of a semi containing a partial load of garlic.

The truck had been randomly chosen at the scales when problems were discovered, Hammer said.

The bags contained 47 white-colored and three brown-colored bricks that tested positive as cocaine, police said. The stash was weighed at 54,500 grams, or just more than 120 pounds.

Growing number of license plate cameras keeping eye on Region; cops challenge Big Brother fears The system has also proved useful in other offenses such as auto theft and leaving the scene of a crash, and in warrant arrests.

The pair reportedly told police they dropped off part of their load near Chicago, during which time they never left their vehicle. They then slept in the truck the night before and were heading to a warehouse outside of Detroit where they expected to have their truck unloaded, police said.

During an initial court appearance just days after their 2020 arrests, the brothers were told they have an immigration hold on them

Clymer explained when setting bond at $100,000 surety and $10,000 cash that even if the amount were posted, the accused would not be released from custody because of the hold by the federal government.

Chesterton-based attorney Eric Blankenship, who represented Gurwinder, said he wanted to have a bond in place in case the immigration hold is lifted.
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GARY  The Lake County coroner has declared the deaths of two men who died in two separate instances Monday as homicides.

A 32-year-old man was found dead Monday in a grassy area on the 4100 block of Vermont Street, according to a release from the Lake County coroner's office.

Kurt Day, of Park Forest, Ill., died from a gunshot wound. The coroner's office ruled his death a homicide.

Jason Transou, 40, was declared dead after sustaining a gunshot wound Monday morning on the 2000 block of Tennessee Street, according to the coroner's office.

Gary police did not respond to request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

The Indiana State Fire Marshal and Lake County Prosecutor's Metro Homicide Unit assisted on scene at the Vermont Street location. The Lake County Sheriff's Crime Investigation Unit was on both scenes to assist.

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
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PINE TOWNSHIP  Porter County police say a 34-year-old Chesterton woman who crashed into a tree was nearly four times the legal limit for drinking and driving.

Whitney Leonard faces several criminal charges of operating while intoxicated, including one of endangering others, according to the arrest report.

A county police officer said he was called out at 7:23 a.m. Tuesday to 1615 N. County Road 625 East for a report of a vehicle crashing into a tree.

The officer found a passenger from the vehicle walking and was told she jumped out of the vehicle shortly before the driver, Leonard, crashed into the tree, the report says.

Leonard, who smelled of alcohol and admitted to have been drinking the night before and a couple hours before the crash, said she crashed after being distracted when her passenger jumped from the vehicle, police said.

UPDATE: Brothers nabbed with 120 pounds of cocaine found not guilty of dealing the drug Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Hammer told jurors during opening arguments Tuesday afternoon that, "this is not a small amount by any means."

Leonard consented to a blood test, which revealed her blood alcohol concentration to be 0.309%, which greatly exceeds the legal limit of 0.08%, according to the report.

After being cleared medically, Leonard was taken to the Porter County jail.

Animal control took possession of her dog, police said.
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A California man was arrested Tuesday afternoon along a nearby stretch of Interstate 65 with more than 230 pounds of marijuana, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said.

Henry Anthony Sandoval, 35, claimed during the traffic stop just south of Lowell that he was helping a friend move from Chicago to Indianapolis, Martinez said.

"He told the officer he'd flown to Chicago and rented the vehicle to help his friend move, but he could not give the officer logical responses when asked about which area of Chicago his friend lived in or the area where he was moving," the sheriff said.

"The officer observed the driver become very nervous when speaking about the boxes inside the vehicle," he said.

Based on inconsistencies in Sandoval's story, a Winfield narcotics dog was brought to the site and alerted officers to the large amount of marijuana in the boxes, Martinez said. An undisclosed amount of cash was also found.

A Lake County officer, working as part of the department's highway interdiction team, said he stopped the white minivan in the southbound lanes of the highway around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday after seeing it switch lanes in an unsafe manner.

Growing number of license plate cameras keeping eye on Region; cops challenge Big Brother fears The system has also proved useful in other offenses such as auto theft and leaving the scene of a crash, and in warrant arrests.

Sandoval, of Alameda, California, was arrested and taken to the Newton County jail, Martinez said. He faces a charge of possession with intent to distribute.

The highway interdiction team routinely patrols area expressways looking for those transporting illegal weapons, drugs, currency obtained through crimes and other contraband, Martinez said.

"To those who would commit these crimes and travel through Lake County, let me be clear: We are looking for you," the sheriff said. "We will find you and bring you to justice."

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
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HAMMOND  A federal judge imprisoned a Porter County man Wednesday for trafficking in photos of naked underaged boys and girls.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jon DeGuilio imposed a nine-year sentence on Tommy K. Watkins, 40, of the town of Porter on his guilty plea to distribution of child pornography.

Defense attorney Adam Tavitas argued in an earlier memo to the court that it was Watkins first crime and that Watkins suffers from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson argued Watkins not only possessed pornographic images, he also expressed an interest in meeting others to exchange children for sexual purposes.

Tavitas responded that he could find no evidence in the case that any child was inappropriately touched.

Court papers indicates Watkins was employed at several regional businesses to provide services to the mentally and physically disabled as a vocational training manager.

Investigators allege Watkins transmitted and received child pornography through a messaging system with many individuals online in 2021.

Watkins first came to law enforcement attention in June 2021 while having an online correspondence and telephone conversations with an individual who Watkins thought shared his interest in children but was in fact an undercover FBI agent.

Members of the FBIs Gang Response Investigative Team in Northwest Indiana raided Watkins' home in September 2021 and recovered a cellphone with 59 images of child pornography in its memory files.

The U.S. Attorney charged Watkins in late March 2022 with distribution of child pornography and the court ordered him held in detention until trial, which was scheduled to take place early this year.

Watkins gave up his right to make federal prosecutors prove the charge against him under an agreement with the U.S. Attorney in return for a more lenient sentence.
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CROWN POINT  Crown Point Fire Rescue wrapped up its third annual Dive Week training program Friday, finishing the week-long program focused on water rescue with participants from Cedar Lake, Hobart, Merrillville, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Indiana District 1 MABAS 207 USAR/Technical Rescue team.

Though Crown Point has no large lakes, the Fire Rescue department's territory includes 70-plus retention ponds and lakes that are more than 15 feet deep, with most averaging 20-30 feet deep, according to the city.

Training kicked off May 15 at Crown Point High School, according to the city. Dive teams focused on the essential skills of self-rescue, including entanglement, dexterity and buoyancy, rescuing distressed divers and uprighting an over-turned boat. For day two of training, held at Fancher Lake in the Lake County Fairgrounds, trainees focused on sub-surface vehicle search and recovery. For this exercise, divers were able to utilize underwater metal detectors for evidence search, recovery and identification, the city said.

Swift water rescue, including rope rescue, was practiced on the Kankakee River the third day of training. Trainees also received experience diving and on boat rescue operations in a river current. On Thursday, trainees went to Cedar Lake to focus on side scan sonar and robotic rover sonar. They also performed dive operations in the lake.

The final day of Dive Week included a recreational dive and cookout at Haigh Quarry in Kankakee. Divers focused on buoyancy, navigational skills and air management during the recreational dive.

While we hope we never have to use these skills, it is important for our dive teams to stay sharp. Water rescues require physical and mental strength and a lot of specialty training and equipment," Crown Point Fire Chief Mark Baumgardner Jr. said.

As summer begins, Crown Point Fire Rescue Fire and Life Safety Educator Anthony Flynn recommends watching children when they are in or around water, teaching children how to swim, learning CPR and basic water rescue skills and using properly fitted floatation devices with a U.S. Coast Guard-approved stamp instead of water wings.

"Drowning can happen in a matter of seconds and may not be obvious to those nearby. This is why it is important to know how to swim and have a responsible and undistracted person watch swimmers at all times, Flynn said.

While we hope we never have to use these skills, it is important for our dive teams to stay sharp. Water rescues require physical and mental strength and a lot of specialty training and equipment, Baumgardner said.

Dive Week would not be possible without the support of local organizations, including the Cedar Lake Firefighters Association, Chicago Water and Fire, Dive Right in Scuba, Midnight Blue Towing and Oak Partners, Inc., which provided lunch and training resources, Baumgardner said.
The industrys oldest and premium exhibition, Paper Arabia, has made a comeback following post-Covid new investments and expansions in the GCC paper industry surging in excess of $1.6 billion in the past two years.

At a media briefing , spokespersons of Paper Arabia, organised by Dubais pioneer in events and expos, Al Fajer Information and Services, said a major share of these investments were in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in greenfield projects as well as in expansion of existing production facilities to cater to the growing consumer demand for paper products, particularly in packaging and hygiene.

The paper industry in the Middle East has evolved over the years and it is now one of the worlds fastest growing markets. The Covid pandemic had brought in disruptions and production bottlenecks throwing in unprecedented challenges for paper mills across the world, but it also helped mushroom new opportunities in paper packaging and paper disposables, further fuelled by an e-commerce boom, said Nadhal Mohamed, General Manager, Al Fajer Information & Services.

Growth context

He said the relaunch of Paper Arabia comes in a growth context for the paper industry. This is the 12th edition of Paper Arabia and the response have been robust with nearly 100 companies from 30 countries participating, he said.

The B2B show is taking place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 16 to 18, 2023. Saudi Paper Group, the Middle Easts biggest tissue manufacturer are the principal sponsors of the show. The group have been unwaveringly supporting Paper Arabia since 2007.

The growth of the Middle East paper industry investments also comes in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war which is a cause of concern for Europe with implications on the energy-intensive paper industry.

The demand for paper and pulp products in the Middle East and Africa market is being driven by the increased demand for green packaging solutions, and according to a research entity, Mordor Intelligence, the market is poised to touch $28.72 billion in the next five years, growing at a CAGR of 3.28%.

Consumer attitudes

Consumer attitudes and preferences have changed, and in the recent times, health and hygiene conscious consumers have fuelled the market for paper packaging and disposables like tissues with per capita consumption of these products on the rise, said Naveen Seth, Assistant Secretary, PHD Chamber of Commerce, India.

Increasing environmental awareness is also driving the growth of paper products with governments in the region, particularly the UAE, clamping restrictions on the use of non-renewable products like single-use plastics, he said, adding that 30 companies taking part in the exhibition at the India Pavilion.

The growth of the packaging industry has also grown with e-commerce boom, and data from Statista for the UAE estimates that e-commerce now accounts for some 7% of the retail spend.-- TradeArabia News Service
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Untouched since September 1993, a time capsule that was buried underneath the original Fort LeTort playground was opened on Tuesday morning during a Carlisle Kiwanis Club meeting at the Frederick House in Carlisle.

The capsule, which was built out of PVC piping, contained artifacts such as newspaper clippings, pictures of students at Hamilton Elementary School, and a T-shirt that depicted the playground at its inception.

It was filled and buried by several of the hundreds of volunteer community members who built the original playground in just a weeks time 30 years ago in 1993.

The original playground at LeTort Park was closed on May 1 and is being demolished and rebuilt. The new playground will be designed and built by local companies and will be very similar to its predecessor, with a focus on ADA compliance.

Our idea was to keep money local as much as we could, said Michael Cornfield, the chair of the Fort LeTort playground project.

Cornfield estimated that the new playground will be open to the public in early July, although the park wont officially open until the ribbon-cutting tentatively scheduled for July 13 or 14. The length of construction will be based upon the weather, Cornfield said.

The items that were in the time capsule will be on display at the ceremony, along with the unveiling of a wall of the donors who contributed to the playground-building campaign.

As for the new playground itself, Cornfield said he is very excited to see how it turns out.

There are going to be components there that arent anywhere in Pennsylvania, he said. Were going to have one of the largest slides.

The playground will be split into two areas, Cornfield said. One area, to be known as the tot lot, will be for younger children, while the other area will be for older children.

This week, four tractor-trailers hauling roughly $3,000 worth of playground equipment will arrive at the park. According to Cornfield, demolition on the original playground is complete, with construction of the new playground scheduled to begin within the next couple of weeks.

We worked very closely with the (Carlisle) Parks & Rec Department to kind of incorporate various things that they think will be unique to Carlisle and Cumberland County, he said. Its going to be fun.

A new time capsule will be buried underneath the new playground. Its contents will be decided by members of the Carlisle Kiwanis Club, which is footing the bill for the project.
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EAST CHICAGO  The City Council has decided to use money from the American Rescue Plan Act to give city employees what's called a premium bonus.

The ordinance is in the amount of $1.75 million.

This marks the third consecutive year the council has approved the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds for premium pay.

In September 2021, $1.4 million was appropriated so full-time employees with five or more years of service received a payment of $3,000. Others received less.

Mayor Anthony Copeland said at that time the money was a reward for extraordinary service during the coronavirus pandemic.

In July 2022, an ordinance that appropriated $1.6 million was approved to allow a maximum bonus of $3,500 for city employees.

The premium pay is a permitted distribution of money received by the city as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Under the Act, all city employees designated as essential workers (in East Chicago all employees were designated essential) were entitled to receive additional hourly wages paid from the citys ARP Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery, according to Corp. Counsel Joseph Allegretti.

Assistant City Attorney Richard Morrisroe told the council a resolution it approved in late April allocated the money and allows a payment of up to $4,000 for city employees with five or more years of service, down to as little as $1,750 for those with less years.

"You have to put the resolution together with the ordinance," Morrisroe said.

The council approved that ordinance by an 8-0 vote at its first meeting in May.

The council also at that meeting heard a presentation from Pete Schwiegeraht, a senior vice president of development for Pivotal, a company that develops housing.

He spoke of a plan to add 28 new homes in the city's North Harbor neighborhood on Carey and Drummond streets.

He said residents would rent but then have the option of purchasing after 15 years.

"That's a pretty long time for them to rent to own," said Councilman Robert Garcia, D-5th,

The council brought up other questions, including affordability and if East Chicago residents would be given preference.

Garcia said more meetings would be needed to get a better understanding of the project but Schwiegeraht said time would not allow for that, leaving the proposal in doubt.

Also, the council voted 8-0 to approve a memorial street naming for a resident who died in 2020.

Loretta Mosley lived on the 39th block of Carey Street, and it will now carry the name of Loretta Mosley Drive.

City Clerk Richard Medina read the resolution that said Mosley was born in 1970 and was a precinct committee person and the first female president of the Lakeshore Indiana Black Expo.

The resolution called Mosley " a giver who always cared about her community, including assisting her local food pantry, serving meals to anyone in need."
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GARY  A several months-long investigation in connection with a suspected drug and prostitution ring led to the arrests of 12 people Tuesday morning, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez said.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department SWAT Team executed search warrants at two locations in the 1000 block of Rutledge Street and one in the 2000 block of Ohio Street. Officers seized a total of 14 grams of fentanyl, 12 grams of cocaine, 2 grams of ketamine, 2 grams of marijuana and a gram of MDMA, Martinez said. Two firearms were confiscated. A 1-year-old child was removed from one of the Rutledge Street homes by the Indiana Department of Child Services. Lake County Animal Control rescued two dogs from the same house.

Investigators believe Arthur Boyd, 55, and Tandika Jackson, 49, are the ringleaders of the organization. Boyd faces potential charges for dealing a narcotic drug and resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, while Jackson could be charged with cocaine possession, marijuana possession, maintaining a common nuisance and possession of paraphernalia, Martinez said.

A 33-year-old pregnant woman who was inside one of the homes was taken to a nearby hospital for medical issues related to her pregnancy, Martinez said. She faces potential cocaine possession charges.

The other suspects face various charges related to selling and possession illegal drugs. The men range in age from 45 to 68 and the women range in age from 31 to 54. The men arrested are from Gary and the women are from Gary, Lake Station, Valparaiso, Porter and Hammond.

The sheriff's department neglected to name the additional suspects who were arrested as they believe some are victims of the drug and prostitution ring themselves.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department Drug Task Force continues to investigate the case, Martinez said. The county will provide resources to victims of the crime as needed.

Formal charges have not yet been filed.

"I am extremely proud of all of the officers involved in making these arrests today," Martinez said. "Its just one example of the unwavering commitment of the Lake County Sheriffs Department to make neighborhoods safer in Gary and across Lake County."

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
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MERRILLVILLE  Turning away food is never ideal for the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, but that had to happen upon occasion because of a lack of freezer space at the Food Banks Merrillville headquarters.

That all changed Friday when the Food Bank expanded its storage capacity after unveiling a new freezer that can hold more than three truckloads of product, which is more than 100,000 pounds of food.

Donors, board members, staff and community partners cheered as Nigel Jefferson, Lead Receiver at the Food Bank, drove in the first pallet of food to the new freezer.

This has been a project that I just cant believe we are so fortunate to have happened, Food Bank President and CEO Victor Garcia said. The Food Banks Merrillville facility at 6490 Broadway consisted of about 72,000 square feet space, and now its closer to about 75,000 square feet with the addition of the new freezer, which is a $450,000 project.

And thats in addition to all the other work that weve done to this facility over the course of the last three years, Garcia said.

The idea for the new freezer space came through regular conversations Garcia has with Tricia Sheaks, the Food Banks Vice President of Operations and Programming, as well as Raymond Mack, the Food Banks Warehouse Manager.

Sheaks explained the organization was busting at the seams in its original freezer space, which led to the Food Bank turning away some opportunities for food because there wasnt enough room.

Sheaks told Garcia, if we can expand our freezer space, that would be a game changer. Garcia thanked many key collaborators for the success of the new freezer project, especially David Schoon, President of Midwest Refrigeration.

When Garcia approached Schoon about the endeavor, Schoon provided him with cost estimates to help plan for fundraising. And he was so generous in bringing his own dollars and in-kind work to make this a reality, Garcia said.

Midwest Refrigeration not only handled the installation of the new freezer, but the company also took care of exterior roofing improvements and work associated with the original cooler and freezer, Garcia said.

Daves been such a critical partner for the Food Bank, Garcia said.We would not be able to serve the community at the level we do if we didnt have the partnership with Midwest Refrigeration.

About the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana

The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana has the been leading the fight against hunger in the Region since 1982.

The Food Bank distributes more than 7 million pounds of groceries annually to families, children, seniors and individuals in Lake and Porter Counties through more than 110+ partner agencies, Mobile Market Distributions, Commodity Supplemental Food Program for Seniors, Backpack Programs, Pantry Pack Programs and more.

Visit foodbanknwi.org to learn more and join the fight against hunger in Northwest Indiana.
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PORTAGE  Two military groups came together peacefully Tuesday at Portage High School. One group has been involved in military actions or was part of a wartime era. The other group is still in school, learning military customs, precision, and discipline.

Participants in the National Veterans Awareness Ride from Sacramento, Calif., to Washington, D.C. made a brief stop at PHS for a presentation by the schools Marine Corps JROTC.

The ride is a 13-day event every May that concludes in the nations capital. Each day, participants visit veterans homes and hospitals to let those who have served are not forgotten.

Also during the ride, members participate in memorial services, laying wreaths, and paying their respects. Participants also visit schools and talk to students about giving back to their communities, serving this country, and showing respect for military veterans.

Jerry Connor, the local route coordinator, said ride numbers average 50-75 daily, sometimes swelling to 200.

We have lots of day riders, Connor, a Winnetka, Ill., resident, said.

He added that the ride, which began in 2005, is about respecting and honoring veterans.

The ride is among the annual events sponsored by the National Veterans Awareness Organization. The NVAO is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring all veterans.

Although its members come from diverse backgrounds, they have a common goal of remembering and honoring those who have defended the U.S. Its mission is to remember, honor, and support veterans and those currently serving in the military. This is done through local activities and the annual motorcycle ride.

After receiving a police and fire escort to the high school, NVAR participants were treated to unarmed exercises from JROTC members.

Were honored that they stopped here, said Col. Thomas Gualandi, senior Marine instructor at Portage.

The NVAR has made previous stops at PHS, where students are no strangers to civic programs. Past JROTC community service projects have included helping local churches with cleanups, assisting the local food bank, serving as color guard at community events, and assisting the American Legion with its annual poppy sales.

Master Sgt. Ed Bowers, the programs main instructor, said Portages JROTC program currently has 126 members.

Upon completion of the students program, Steve Head Dog Moore of Michigan City, a co-founder of NVAO and its current board president, presented certificates to fire, police, school, and JROTC representatives. He also presented a check for JROTC.

We want to bring awareness to veterans and visit them, said Moore, a veteran of the Vietnam era.

Afterward, JROTC student-leaders expressed their appreciation for the veteran guests.

Its an honor to have you guys come here and watch us, said Nathan Pollard. Its nice seeing them appreciate what we do, and we appreciate what they did.

Classmate Mason Cruse added that the presentation was a way of giving back to the community. It was very good to see the veterans, because some day we could be doing what they did. It was nice talking to them about their experiences.

Senior Kamara Conger said, This shows our community that we care about our veterans and the people who support them. We were also able to talk to the veterans and show we are proud of the people who served for us.

Mya Witak, another upperclassman, commented, This was an honor doing this. So many times we are competing. It was nice to something for others to just watch.

GALLERY: The Times Photos of the Week
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Disappointing. Pathetic. Infuriating. Predictable.

These are my initial thoughts about the 2024 presidential election, which will likely come down to President Joe Biden versus former President Donald Trump. In a nation of 335 million people, these are the two Americans were stuck with for president? Again?

What a joke. And the joke is on us. Forget claims of a stolen election from a losing candidate. We have ongoing proof of our stolen identity as a country.

Both Biden and Trump are too old. Theyre too hated by half of the country. And they bring more baggage than a carousel conveyor belt at OHare International Airport. And yet both are the clear front-runners for their political party as other candidates throw their hopes into the ring, with more expected this week and beyond.

On Monday, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott announced his presidential campaign. The Senate's only Black Republican promises an optimistic, scripture-based message of conservatism. Will the Grand Old Party nominate him? Unlikely.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to enter the race this week, pitting him against Trump for the Republican nomination. Does he have enough political muscle to beat a billionaire bully? I'm not convinced.

Biden has no formidable challengers for the Democratic nomination. This alone is disappointing, pathetic and infuriating. As I wrote in a column a few months ago, I believe Biden is too old to even remotely consider re-election.

Its not personal. I honestly dont want anyone in their mid-80s serving as president of the U.S., I wrote. I know people in their 80s who are brilliant, kind, energetic and full of wisdom. Still, I dont want them in the Oval Office.

As for Trump, he is a fraud who tells lies like comedians tell jokes. Despite his rehashed campaign promises and fiery propaganda, he doesnt care about our country as much as his supporters care about it. Trump cares only about power, in any form.

He also doesnt care about the vast majority of Americans, just the ones who can help him cling to power. His third bid for the White House is as predictable as another lie. It was only a matter of time.

The only reason Biden is seeking re-election is because his troubled party believes he - and only he - can beat Trump. Again. Otherwise, Democrats have nobody to keep the former president out of the White Office.

Biden is like an old shoe in a dusty closet. Hes familiar and worn-in, but isnt there anyone in his party sporting new sneakers? Plus, I dont trust Bidens son, Hunter, who I believe has too many secrets stashed in the back of that closet.

On the other foot, Trump uses feigned outrage to rally his supporters, then he uses supporters to rally genuine outrage. He treats facts like beliefs. If you disagree with his, yours are wrong.

Supporters of Biden and Trump accused me of implying that they are part of a cult, a topic I explored in a column last week. I didn't mention either by name. I guess I didn't have to.

The business of democracy historically gets corrupted by the venom of politics. This presidential race will be no different. It will be like two over-the-hill, badly out-of-shape boxers slugging it out until the last round. And were all sitting ring-side, eating stale popcorn and taking blindside jabs at the fans of our villain. Even our Founding Fathers would be tired of this malarkey.

Americans are already suffering from Biden/Trump fatigue. Another potential four years of either one of them will only further exhaust us. And divide our nation. Their campaigns leading up to Election Day, 2024, will feel like watching the same B-grade black-and-white movie while strapped to a cinema seat with our eyes forced open like from the iconic scene in A Clockwork Orange.

In the coming weeks, more presidential candidate Droogs will announce their campaigns, not to actually win their partys nomination but simply to publicize themselves. Mike milquetoast Pence, comes to mind.

While serving Hoosiers in Indianapolis, it was no secret that our former governor had aspirations for higher political office in Washington, D.C. His acceptance of Trumps offer in 2016 to be his vice president was predictable and political. Despite his vanilla pudding reputation, Pence is addicted to the pornography of politics. He couldnt resist getting aroused from Trumps teasing offer.

The question now is, will he erect a presidential campaign on his own? Maybe. But he has no shot to win the biggest race of his career without the name Trump attached to it.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, I purchased two shirts, one stating TRUMP-PENCE, the other stating BIDEN-HARRIS. I wore them both at different times at a Freedom Rally near my home. I was curious how I would be treated by other participants. I'm no longer curious. I'm bored.

For the 2024 race, the catchphrase Biden/Trump fatigue should be made into campaign shirts for those of us whod rather vote for a bowl of oatmeal than either of those two guys. At least the oatmeal would leave a better taste in our mouths after Election Day.
A 39-year-old man was charged on Tuesday with shoving a womans head against a moving subway train in an apparently random attack at a Manhattan station that left the woman critically injured, the police said.

The man, Kamal Semrade, was arrested late Monday at a homeless shelter near La Guardia Airport in Queens, the police said. He was charged with attempted murder and arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court early Wednesday. Mr. Semrade was ordered held without bail.

The shoving episode was the latest unsettling example of the kind of random violent crime that has made some New Yorkers wary of the subway and has led officials to flood stations with police officers to reassure riders that the mass-transit system is safe.

The attack in which Mr. Semrade was charged was completely unprovoked, a prosecutor, Carolyn McGuigan, said in court.
Photoshop is the granddaddy of image-editing apps, the O.G. of our airbrushed, Facetuned media ecosystem and a product so enmeshed in the culture that its a verb, an adjective and a frequent lament of rappers. Photoshop is also widely used. More than 30 years since the first version was released, professional photographers, graphic designers and other visual artists the world over reach for the app to edit much of the imagery you see online, in print and on billboards, bus stops, posters, product packaging and anything else the light touches.

So what does it mean that Photoshop is diving into generative artificial intelligence  that a just-released beta feature called Generative Fill will allow you to photorealistically render just about any imagery you ask of it? (Subject, of course, to terms of service.)

Not just that, actually: So many A.I. image generators have been released over the past year or so that the idea of prompting a computer to create pictures already seems old hat. Whats novel about Photoshops new capabilities is that they allow for the easy merger of reality and digital artifice and they bring it to a large user base. The software allows anyone with a mouse, an imagination and $10 to $20 a month to  without any expertise  subtly alter pictures, sometimes appearing so real that it seems likely to erase most of the remaining barriers between the authentic and the fake.

The good news is that Adobe, the company that makes Photoshop, has considered the dangers and has been working on a plan to address the widespread dissemination of digitally manipulated pics. The company has created what it describes as a nutrition label that can be embedded in image files to document how a picture was altered, including if it has elements generated by artificial intelligence.
A Texas man who joined other rioters at the U.S. Capitol trying to break into the Speakers Lobby, where a woman who was a part of the mob on Jan. 6, 2021, was fatally shot by the police, was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly seven years in prison, the Justice Department said.

The man, Christopher R. Grider, 41, of Eddy, Texas, had also tried to shut off the electricity at the Capitol, pressing buttons on an electric utility box while yelling, Turn the power off! according to prosecutors.

Mr. Grider, who operates a vineyard in Central Texas, pleaded guilty last year to entering a restricted area and unlawfully parading at the Capitol, his lawyer said. He went to trial on seven other charges, including civil disorder and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., convicted him on all counts.

On Tuesday, Judge Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Mr. Grider to six years and 11 months in prison and ordered him to pay $5,055 in restitution and an $812 fine.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy is attempting a difficult balancing act as he tries to extract spending concessions from President Biden in exchange for raising the debt ceiling: cobbling together a deal that can win the votes of a majority of Republicans without alienating the critical mass of Democrats he would need to push it through the House.

Hard-right Republicans have fueled the debt-limit standoff by demanding deep spending cuts as the price of averting a default, and they are all but certain to oppose any compromise. That means that Mr. McCarthy, a California Republican, would need the support of a solid bloc of Democrats in the closely divided chamber.

The political reality is weighing on both Republicans and Democrats in the debt-limit talks, which continued Tuesday on Capitol Hill with no sign of imminent resolution. Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Biden are weighing compromises that would likely result in losing the votes of both the hard left and right flanks in Congress, meaning they would need to assemble a coalition of Republicans and centrist Democrats to back any final deal to avert a default.

The strategy carries steep political risks for Mr. McCarthy, who won his post earlier this year after a bruising 15 rounds of votes in part by promising to elevate the voices of his most conservative lawmakers  and agreeing to a snap vote to oust him at any time. He can afford to lose conservatives votes on the debt ceiling, but if he strikes a deal that angers them too much, he could be out of his job.
Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump sent a letter on Tuesday requesting a meeting with Attorney General Merrick B. Garland related to the special counsel investigations into Mr. Trumps conduct.

The letter cited no specifics but asserted that Mr. Trump was being treated unfairly by the Justice Department through the investigations led by the special counsel, Jack Smith. Mr. Smith is scrutinizing Mr. Trumps handling of classified material that was discovered at his private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, after his presidency, as well as his efforts to retain power after he lost the 2020 election.

There are indications that Mr. Smith is approaching the stage of the investigation where he could start making decisions about whether to seek indictments of Mr. Trump and others in the documents case. The status of his other line of inquiry, into Mr. Trumps efforts to reverse his election loss and how they contributed to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by his supporters, is less clear.

Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly, the lawyers for Mr. Trump, James Trusty and John Rowley, wrote to Mr. Garland.
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Property owners in the Cumberland Valley School District can expect to pay more in taxes this coming fiscal year.

Cumberland Valley School Board on Monday finalized a 2023-24 general fund budget for the district that increases its real estate taxes by 4.1%, raising the millage rate of 10.891 to 11.337 mills.

With the increase, an owner of property assessed at a current district average of $270,000 can expect to pay an additional $120 in real estate taxes next year.

The increase meets the full available Act 1 increase set for the district for the upcoming fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

Despite the tax increase, the district still projects a deficit of $6,333,592 for next year and plans to use budget reserves to close the gap.

The $6.3 million deficit is mostly attributable to administrators plans to add at least 35 new positions next year as a result of anticipated enrollment increases and program needs. Last month, Superintendent David Christopher said district enrollment was at 10,030 students and was expected to reach 10,300 next year, 10,600 in 2024-25 and more than 10,000 in 2025-26.

The board approved next years general fund with projected expenditures of $183.7 million and revenue of $177.4 million in a 7-1 vote. Board president Heather Dunn was absent, and school director Jessica Silcox voted against the proposal.

I think the state needs to give us more money, Silcox said. We need to fight for it, or Ill go fight for more state money for our district. We need to figure out how to make our education work without raising taxes.

Public comment at Mondays meeting appeared split on the tax increase.

Andrew Clancy of Monroe Township, who is a Republican candidate in this years election for a seat on the board, questioned the increase in light of the board approving such other agenda items Monday as new digital school marquees at Monroe Elementary School for $61,150 and Shaull Elementary School for $43,840.

Those items may look cool and nice, but they dont go toward improving the quality of our education, Clancy said.

John Flood of Silver Spring Township said he approved of the tax increase because school tax and paying into the education of our students is the one tax in which we get a return on our investment. Its worth the extra money.

Flood also disapproved of Silcoxs vote against the budget.

Ms. Silcox, you demonstrate each year when you vote against the budget where your priorities are, and its not in favor of our students, said Flood, who received a few hundred write-in votes on the Democratic ballot for a school board seat but did not win a nomination.

Christopher told The Sentinel Wednesday its important for the public to hear that Cumberland Valley continues to have one of the lowest costs per student of any school district in Pennsylvania even with a tax increase, and we continue to have the lowest tax rate in Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties.

Christopher cited state Department of Education data that showed CV last year as having an instructional cost of $14,233, per student, ranking 479th out of Pennsylvanias 500 school districts. The state average for all districts was $18,964.

Assessment policy

The board also approved contracting for legal services and property consultant services for the recently approved policy that allows the district to initiate property assessment appeals under certain conditions.

On Monday, the board agreed to hire attorney Raymond Wendolowski, of Fellerman and Ciarimboli Law in Wilkes-Barre, on a contingent fee basis for legal services related to district-initiated tax appeals.

The board also hired Keystone Realty Advisors LLC, of Haddenfield, New Jersey, on a contingent fee basis for property consulting services related to district-initiated tax appeals.

On April 20, the school board approved a new policy that permits the district to initiate an appeals process through a third party where there is a reasonable expectation of acquiring at least $10,000 in new real estate revenue to the district.

Christopher previously said the policy requires that a property must be assumed as under-assessed by the Cumberland County Assessment Office by more than $918,000 under the districts standing millage rate for assessment consideration.

Expansion projects

Also Monday, the school board authorized district administration to work with PFM Advisors LLC as financial adviser for issuing general obligation bonds through negotiated sale for the purpose of funding new money needs of the district in the amount of $55 million and refinancing the districts 2015 bonds for debt service savings.

New funding relates to the districts building expansion plans at Green Ridge Elementary School and Eagle View Middle School starting in summer 2024 and concluding before the 2026-27 school year. Christopher previously said the projects are intended to expand both buildings to increase our student capacity at the elementary and middle school levels.

The district also plans to finance $53 million in additional new funding in spring 2025 to complete these projects. The district has $17 million remaining from previous bond issues for starting the projects.

In Mondays refinancing action, the district plans to return around $29.4 million in remaining bond funds originally purchased for completed building projects at Mountain View Middle School and Winding Creek Elementary School.

That refunding will save us about $2.5 million in interest costs that we were going to incur because we anticipate better rates on this refunding than what we had, Christopher said.

In a related matter, the board also appointed the Stevens & Lee law firm as the districts bond council for General Obligation Bond series 2023 A & B for a fee of $19,500 and additional out-of-pocket costs not to exceed $850.

Finally, CV school directors Monday appointed Stifel Public Finance to provide bond underwriting services for issuance of the same bonds.
The South Carolina Senate passed a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy on Tuesday, after a filibuster led by five women senators, including three Republicans, failed to block it. The bill will drastically reduce access to abortion in a state that has become an unexpected destination for women seeking the procedure as almost every other Southern state has moved toward bans.

The legislation now heads to Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican who has said he will sign it. Abortion-rights advocates said they would challenge the ban in court, where it would test a State Supreme Court ruling in January that struck down a previous six-week ban and found a right to abortion in the State Constitution.

The legislation had exposed divisions among Republicans over how far to go in restricting abortion, a struggle that has played out in other legislatures in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the regulation of abortion to the states.

At least 25 states have moved to restrict abortion since the overturning of Roe last June. Fourteen of those states now ban most abortions. South Carolina is poised to join Georgia in prohibiting the procedure after six weeks.
A U.S. official said the government had seen reports on social media that the vehicles were used in the incursion and was continuing to examine them to determine if they were accurate.

I will say that were skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports, said Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman. He reiterated that the United States did not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia, and weve made that clear.

But as weve also said, he added, it is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war.

The use of U.S. military equipment on Russian soil could strain relations between Ukraine and the United States, which has given Ukraine tens of billions of dollars in military aid, with one of the conditions being that it not be used to attack Russia within its own borders.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov, answering a question about the incursion, told reporters on Wednesday that more and more Western weapons were clearly being delivered to Ukraine, although he did not comment specifically on the American vehicles or suggest any steps Moscow would take in response.

It is no secret for us that more and more equipment is being delivered to Ukraines armed forces, he said. It is no secret that this equipment is being used against our own military. And it is no secret for us that the direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in this conflict is growing by the day.
A rare cross-border assault in southern Russia by anti-Kremlin fighters aligned with Ukraine stretched into a second day on Tuesday, with reports of an explosion at a defense factory and skirmishes at a crossing, in one of the most brazen incursions into Russian territory since the war began.

Russias Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that it had pushed back all of the pro-Ukrainian fighters across the border from the region of Belgorod and that scores of saboteurs had been killed. The claim could not be verified, and people representing the anti-Kremlin fighters maintained that the attacks were continuing.

The Kremlins spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, described the attackers as Ukrainian militants whose violence justified Moscows war against its neighbor. This once again confirms that Ukrainian militants are continuing their activities against our country, Mr. Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

When the incursions began on Monday, smoke could be seen billowing from explosions, according to drone video verified by The New York Times. Another video showed a soldier and an armored vehicle bearing Ukrainian markings about three miles into Russian territory. In Bryansk, a Russian border region to the north, a military factory warehouse near the town of Dyatkovo caught fire on Tuesday, local news media reported.
Over the past decade, the South African choreographer Dada Masilo has become internationally known and respected for her bold, socially conscious adaptations of canonical ballets like Giselle and Swan Lake. With her current touring production, The Sacrifice (2021), she responds to source material that is a bit more contemporary but carries just as much historical weight: Pina Bauschs The Rite of Spring, which Bausch choreographed in 1975 to Stravinskys groundbreaking 1913 score. (The music originally accompanied Nijinskys earth-pounding modernist choreography, a pairing that caused a riot at the ballets Paris premiere.)

In a program note for The Sacrifice, which opened at the Joyce Theater on Tuesday, Masilo explains that she first encountered Bauschs Rite as a student at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios, or P.A.R.T.S., the prestigious Brussels dance academy. She describes feeling intrigued by the ballets rhythmic complexity and wanting to explore its themes of ritual and sacrifice through Tswana, a dance form of her own heritage, traditional to Botswana. I want to create a story that is deeper than a chosen maiden dancing herself to death, she writes.

Bauschs Rite is famous for its bracing, uncompromising brutality. After its New York premiere in 1984, critics commented on its utter grimness; Anna Kisselgoff, writing in The New York Times, and Deborah Jowitt, in The Village Voice, both used the phrase no promise of rebirth. It ends with the sacrificial virgin falling to an unequivocal death. Lights out.

The Sacrifice tells an impassioned but more nuanced, winding story  if not necessarily a deeper one  riding peaks and valleys of joy and mourning, dotted with humor. In place of Stravinskys score is music by Ann Masina, Leroy Mapholo, Tiale Makhene and Nathi Shongwe, gorgeously performed live by all but Makhene, and with the addition of Mpho Mothiba. Their compositions take cues from Rite, particularly in Mapholos startling violin and Mothibas invigorating percussion. But they also go their own way, with a warmth that emanates especially from Masinas formidable singing.
Avedon had a lifelong commitment to the civil rights struggle, enriched by a close friendship with James Baldwin that dated back to their high school days. (His 1945 portrait of Baldwin is the earliest photo in the exhibition.) In 1963, he was photographing for the book, Nothing Personal, that he co-authored with Baldwin; and along with the DAR portrait  which is artfully composed around the womens banded sashes but a bit predictable in displaying their air of privileged condescension  he photographed civil rights workers, who, also predictably, look resolute and stalwart. A stronger jolt is delivered by a close-up of the 106-year-old William Casby, born enslaved. With his unforgettable face, as stark as a mask, Casby exudes the look of fortitude and resilience that the photographer was after.

Avedon devalued his most original body of work  the on-location scenes in the 1940s and 50s displaying Parisian dresses  and demanded to be judged as an artist solely for his portraits.

Portraiture is performance, he wrote, candidly describing his creative process. The point is that you cant get at the thing itself, the real nature of the sitter, by stripping away the surface.  He added, All that you can do is to manipulate that surface  gesture, costume, expression  radically and correctly.

The challenge is to bring to the surface something that is not boringly superficial. Avedons photographs are rarely boring, but they are almost always superficial. You feel you are watching people perform for him. In the fashion photos, thats delightful. Sunny Harnett in a Gres gown leaning over a roulette wheel, young men swiveling their heads as a model in the New Look of Dior crosses the Place de la Concorde, Dovima standing in evening dress between two elephants  these could be scenes in a movie. Only occasionally do they hint at something deeper, such as when Avedon included the chains on the legs of the elephants at the Cirque dHiver, perhaps an oblique commentary on women bound by fashions demands. Unfortunately, that fertile period is underrepresented; there are too many run-of-the-mill, technically polished fashion photographs from later in Avedons career.
Other influences entered her brain, mainly Bartok and Joni Mitchell. And she received a boost from Adams. He remembered a quiet teenager who arrived at his house with a staggering number of pieces, all polished with plastic spiral binding. I was impressed, he said, that she obviously had this incredible determination at a young age.

Smith wasnt just determined in music. She also loved nature and became interested in environmental issues around the age she started composing. At 12, she started volunteering at a research station in Point Reyes; the people there told her that they had never been approached by someone so young, but they gave her a try. For the next five years, she banded birds and bonded with local biologists. She even got her mother on board.

At 17, she started at Curtis in Philadelphia but missed the West Coast. I was so homesick, she said, that it sort of forced me to reckon with not only who I was as a composer, but as a person. I infused all that into the music, and thats when my music started to sound like me.

Smith is soft-spoken. But as a composer she fills up the whole room, said the violist Nadia Sirota, who has performed her music and collaborated with her and Cabezas as a producer on the Lost Coast album. She knows exactly what shes talking about. And when someone has clear ideas, its just about realizing them.

As Smith continued to write, Adams clocked that her sound was quickly maturing. He saw a sensitivity to the natural world that, he said, goes all the way back to the Pastoral Symphony. And he could tell that, for performers and audiences alike, it would be fun. Cabezas has certainly felt that way: You dont lose a sense of what music should be, but at the same time theres optimism, quirkiness and humor.
The United States experiences so many mass shootings that journalists do not usually linger long after the attacks. Reporters and photographers move on to other stories, while the families and friends of the victims continue to grieve.

One year ago today, a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Tamir Kalifa, an independent photojournalist based in Austin, traveled to Uvalde shortly after the shootings  but he kept coming back. Tamir temporarily moved to Uvalde to live alongside the victims families, renting a 320-square-foot shipping container converted into a home.

Were devoting todays newsletter to some of the photographs Tamir has taken over the past year and to excerpts from his interviews with families.

The grieving cycles do not match the media cycles, Tamir told us. We move on, but families dont.
The Adani Group, a conglomerate that builds and operates ports, power lines and food factories across India, began the year nearly on top of the world  having increased in value tenfold over the previous two years. Its founder and chief executive, Gautam Adani, was ranked the second-richest man on Earth last summer, just behind Elon Musk.

Then it crashed even more quickly than it had shot up. Hindenburg Research, a boutique investment firm, issued a report on Jan. 24 claiming the company had inflated its stock through financial gimmickry. That firm had bet that Adanis shares would tank, and down they went: By the end of February, the Adani Groups 10 publicly traded stocks had lost two-thirds of their value, a hit of nearly $150 billion. The report persuaded nearly everyone to head for the exits.

The Adani Group hung on, however. This week it is riding its biggest rally since the downfall. Its flagship stock, Adani Enterprises, gained 31 percent in four days. Another unit of the empire, Adani Ports, has recouped its losses completely. Bullish voices say the whole group might rise by another 15 to 20 percent this year.

There were many factors behind the Adani Groups survival over the past four months. It had loyal investors among Indian state-run institutions, and bargain hunters came in and bought stock on the low. The other reason: Adani had tangible assets, mostly infrastructure projects, that were there for everyone to see. These businesses, whatever they were worth, had value that many investors found appealing.
Why It Matters: Concerns over powerful A.I. systems are growing.

Mr. Altman appeared before Congress on May 16 to implore lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence. Congressional leaders shared their worries about the threats that A.I. could pose, including the spread of misinformation and privacy violations.

I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. And we want to be vocal about that, Mr. Altman said in his testimony before members of a Senate subcommittee.

In March, more than 1,000 technology leaders and researchers, including Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and owner of Twitter, called for a moratorium on the development of the most advanced A.I. systems, warning in an open letter that the tools presented profound risks to society and humanity.

In their latest note, the OpenAI leaders said that its conceivable that within the next 10 years, A.I. systems will exceed expert skill level in most domains, and carry out as much productive activity as one of todays largest corporations.

Background: Tech giants are competing for dominance in a fast-growing market.

The latest A.I. tools could upend the economics of the internet, turning todays tech giants into has-beens and creating the industrys next powerhouses.

Tech companies have spent billions of dollars on A.I., amid the rising concerns about its potential to match human reasoning and destroy jobs. Goldman Sachs estimated recently that A.I. could expose 300 million full-time jobs to automation.

BuzzFeed just introduced a chatbot that offers recipe recommendations.

Whats Next: Congress is trying to keep up.

At last weeks hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Senate panel, acknowledged that Congress had failed to keep up with new technologies. He added that the hearing was the first in a series to explore the potential of A.I. and eventually write the rules for it.

Our goal is to demystify and hold accountable those new technologies to avoid some of the mistakes of the past, he said.

But over the years, partisan squabbles and intense lobbying by the tech industry have stalled dozens of bills intended to strengthen privacy, speech and safety rules.
What DeSantis means for Twitter

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is expected to finally announce his presidential campaign on Wednesday night  but not on a stalwart of conservative media, like Fox News. Instead, the Republican star will do so live on Twitter, in a conversation with Elon Musk. (Fox News will get the first television interview with Mr. DeSantis afterward.)

The move underscores both that Twitter, under its billionaire owner, has moved to embrace the political right and that Mr. DeSantiss top business supporters so far are tech-industry libertarians, rather than traditional Republican moguls.

Twitter is becoming a conservative media hot spot in the Musk era. That started last year, when the company lifted bans on thousands of accounts, including ones that had spread misinformation about the pandemic and the 2020 elections.

Since then, Tucker Carlson has said he would revive his show on the social network after losing his Fox News slot, though Mr. Musk has said that Twitter hasnt signed a deal with him. And The Daily Wire, a conservative media outlet, will reportedly make Twitter the home for all its podcasts.
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The Pennsylvania Dairymens Association will offer its signature Farm Show milkshakes during events in June as part of National Dairy Month.

The first two of the associations major events will be outside of Cumberland County. There will be a June 1 event at a Weis Markets in Lehigh County to kick off the Fill a Glass with Hope campaign, which provides milk to families struggling with hunger, and a June 2 event at Lancaster Ewell Plaza as part of the citys First Friday event.

In Cumberland County, there will be a Caring Dairy Celebration from noon to 5 p.m. June 20 at Renewal by Andersen of Central PA, 4856 Carlisle Pike in Hampden Township. The business will host the milkshake truck to celebrate June Dairy month, and there will be free milkshakes for the first 50 attendees.

The associations Milkshakes on the Moo-ve truck is available for events, and the group keeps updates on its upcoming events on its Facebook page.
Semafor, the digital-media start-up, has raised $19 million from investors including the Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, replacing the money it had received from the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.

The money from Mr. Bankman-Fried, roughly $10 million, will be placed in an account separate from Semafors other funding and returned to his creditors at the direction of the authorities, said Justin Smith, Semafors chief executive and one of its founders.

It was very important for us  more than that, it was necessary for us  to turn the page on this chapter, Mr. Smith, a former Bloomberg Media chief executive, said.

In addition to Mr. Yang, Semafors new investors include Henry Kravis, a co-founder of the private equity giant KKR; Jamal Daniel, owner of the Middle East news website Al-Monitor; Jorge Paulo Lemann, a co-founder of 3G Capital; and Stand Together, a network of business leaders founded by the entrepreneur Charles Koch. The polling organization Gallup is also an investor.
Two years ago, at a virtual gathering organized by the Nobel Foundation, Sheldon Himelfarb outlined the idea that the worlds leading scholars should join forces to study misinformation the way that scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change documented the global effect of carbon emissions.

That new group gathered for its official introduction in Washington on Wednesday, uniting more than 200 researchers from 55 countries with a similar sense of urgency and alarm as the threat of global warming. In the groups first report, the researchers questioned the effectiveness of fighting falsehoods online with content moderation, one of the most common strategies to combating misinformation, saying other tactics had more scientific evidence behind them.

You have to approach the information environment in the same way scientists approached the environment, said Mr. Himelfarb, the groups executive director and the chief executive of PeaceTech Lab, an advocacy organization affiliated with the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.

The group, the International Panel on the Information Environment, has registered as a nongovernmental organization in Zurich at a time when the fight against misinformation has become increasingly mired in a broader erosion of trust in government, news organizations and other public institutions.
At the United Nations climate summit in Egypt last year, Prime Minister Philip Davis of the Bahamas emerged as one of the most impassioned speakers among the more than 100 heads of state in attendance.

We have to believe that a safer, better future is possible, he told the gathering. We believe that action  real, concerted action  can save the planet and save our human race.

Yet even as Mr. Davis spoke, the Bahamas was preparing to take a direct hit from Tropical Storm Nicole, the 14th named storm of the 2022 hurricane season. Nicole slammed into what Mr. Davis called the most beautiful country on earth, as a Category 1 hurricane before moving on to the United States. The storm ended up inflicting more than $1 billion in damage on vulnerable communities.

It was yet another reminder that the Bahamas is uniquely threatened by the effects of climate change. As the continued burning of fossil fuels rapidly warms the planet, weather is growing more severe, sea levels are rising and developing island nations like the Bahamas are on the front lines of a daily battle between civilization and an increasingly volatile climate. Those issues are among the topics being discussed as leaders in business, science, culture and policy gather on Thursday and Friday in Busan, South Korea, for a New York Times conference, A New Climate.
Force of Circumstance cant sustain this suavely contrived mixture of dis- and reorientation. Still, Bears spectacle of downtown artists playing spy vs. spy in an assortment of Washington locations  a descendant of Louis Feuillades World War I serials in which fantastic crimes were staged on the streets of Paris  transcends the soggy plot, created in collaboration with the East Village writer Craig Gholson.

Mysteries proliferate and evaporate like puddles after summer rain. The envoy and the bodyguard wander through Georgetown searching for a colonial mansion. Mouallem, always wearing a new outfit, is never far away, hoping to contact the feisty journalist Katrina (Jessica Stutchbury), who is having an affair with Hans (Tom Wright), the dissolute rich boy looking to unload his ancestral home.

Bear, a central figure in New Yorks 1980s art world, has said that her film was inspired by the Casablanca bread riots in 1981. The movie is dated less by its historical references than by its green-character-displaying computer screens and a cast seemingly culled from a Club 57 theme party: Major (a member of Squat Theater); a pre-Hollywood Steve Buscemi; the musician Evan Lurie; the scene-maker Glenn OBrien; the performance artist Rockets Redglare; and the filmmaker Eric Mitchell, who cast both Stutchbury and Wright in his own downtown movies. Capped with a fez, speaking some sort of French patois, Mitchell brings his own campy aura to the movie, including the portentous punchline: Choice is a Western concept.

The New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin, who had little sympathy for the film, wrote that the avidity with which Ms. Bear, absorbs and mimics big-budget cliches is a lot more impressive than the way those cliches have been used. Indeed, Force of Circumstance, which appropriates a title used by both W. Somerset Maugham and Simone de Beauvoir, is more an art object than a conventional movie, even ending with a screen full of actual documents, as a conceptual piece from the early 70s might.

This faux thriller has a sustained look, an intriguing cast, an entertaining attitude and a propulsive score. Its main flaw is the script  which, given the current Writers Guild of America strike, makes it all the more timely.

Force of Circumstance

Through May 30 at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan; moma.org.
From web-slinging diversions to archaeological excursions, this summer movie season is stacked with releases across a variety of genres. Our writers who seek out the most interesting picks in horror, international, science fiction, action and childrens movies each month scoured the summer calendar to come up with the films that have their attention.

Horror

Host, Rob Savages terrifying 2020 found-footage movie about a possessed online seance, will go down as a defining pandemic-inspired horror film.

Thats why Im looking forward to seeing what the British director does with a bigger budget and a Stephen King short story as inspiration, when his new film, The Boogeyman, opens in theaters on June 2. Sophie Thatcher stars as a young woman who battles a home-invading supernatural entity that feeds on the suffering of its victims.

As much as I wish Patrick Wilson would come back to Broadway  he would nail The Right Girl from Follies  Im excited to see that hes returning to horror with Insidious: The Red Door, the fifth film in the franchise, which opens in theaters July 7. Not only is Wilson reprising his role as Josh Lambert, father to a now college-age son, but hes also making his directing debut. Color me curious.  ERIK PIEPENBURG
Mr. Dalio is known in the world of finance for his championing of radical transparency; it is the bedrock rule of his best-selling book, Principles.

But Mr. Pignatelli, who decamped from New York to a home he owns in Los Angeles in the first months of the pandemic, said that his neighbors did not alert him to the expansion until construction was about to begin. Mr. Pignatelli said he returned to New York in May 2021 to find heavy construction materials scattered on his portion of the roof and a penthouse rising from the Dalios.

After nearly a year of texting the Dalios and the co-op board president about the disruption, Mr. Pignatelli has turned to the courts, filing a lawsuit against Mr. Dalio, one of his sons, two daughters-in-law, two architects, two engineers, a contractor, the board of the building co-op and the president of the board.
Resident doctors ended a three-day strike at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens after reaching a tentative deal on Wednesday that they say brings them closer to earning as much as their counterparts in Manhattan.

The strike was the first by hospital doctors in New York City in more than 30 years, and it drew widespread attention in part because of where it occurred. Elmhurst was one of the first hospitals in the United States to be overwhelmed by Covid-19. Descriptions by Elmhurst doctors of desperate and dying patients in March 2020 offered a warning to the rest of the country of what was coming.

The pandemic has led to a rising tide of activism among doctors. The strike participants, more than 150 in all, were all resident physicians, as newly minted doctors undergoing training in hospitals are called. Their demands included higher pay and stronger guarantees for hazard pay in the event of a future pandemic.

Dr. Tanathun Kajornsakchai, one of the residents leaders, said the tentative deal put him and his colleagues much closer to achieving parity with some of their colleagues in Manhattan.
A New York City police officer patrolling the West Village repeatedly punched an emotionally disturbed man in the face, breaking his nose, according to prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorneys office who are seeking to hold him criminally accountable.

The officer, Juan Perez, was arraigned on Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court, and charged with third-degree assault for the Nov. 10, 2021, encounter. He pleaded not guilty.

Over the years, prosecutors in Manhattan have sometimes pursued charges against police officers for actions taken while on duty, but most instances of alleged police misconduct have been looked upon as possible violations of departmental rules rather than as crimes. Alvin L. Bragg, who was elected as district attorney in 2021, has made police accountability a focus of his tenure.

Police officers are often put in challenging situations, but they must use their training appropriately and treat the residents of New York City with respect, Mr. Bragg said in a statement.
In Manhattan, one high school freshman said he was trying to cut down on scrolling through TikTok, but questioned whether age restrictions on social media use could ever effectively stop tech-savvy teenagers.

Another senior from Queens said social media was essential for socializing but lamented its transformation from an enjoyable activity into an obligation.

And outside a Brooklyn high school, one sophomore said he disdained the addictive power of social media and how it manipulates our reward centers. Still, he did not believe that legal restrictions were appropriate.

The teenagers reactions came hours after the United States surgeon generals warning on Tuesday that social media can be a profound risk to the mental health and well-being of young people.
Transgender Americans are under attack. Across the country, Republicans have introduced an avalanche of legislation to restrict access to gender-affirming health care, censor how gender is discussed in schools, prevent trans people from using public bathrooms and even ban drag shows and cross-dressing onstage. In March, Tennessee criminalized drag performances where children are present. In April, Montana Republicans barred Representative Zooey Zephyr from the floor of the state House in part for her vocal opposition to a similar bill, which is now headed to the governors desk.

Attacks on gender nonconformity  and cross-dressing in particular  have a long history in America. Anti-drag laws similar to the one passed in Tennessee and even more restrictive cross-dressing bans were part of municipal criminal codes for most of the 20th century. But just as the laws arent new, neither is the fight against them. Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s, gender nonconforming activists argued that sartorial censorship harms anyone who deviates from rigid gender norms. These activists won in court. Looking back on their victories can inspire trans people and their allies today, not just by highlighting effective legal strategies but also by reminding us that state-mandated gender conformity is an affront to everyones right of self-expression.

Legal attacks on gender expression like those being passed today in Florida, Iowa, Montana and elsewhere have disturbing similarities to those that were on the books throughout most of the 20th century: Then, cities across the country criminalized appearing in public in a dress not belonging to his or her sex. Others prohibited female impersonators or masquerade. These laws were routinely used to harass and discredit anyone who transgressed gender norms, including feminists who wore mens clothes to protest gender inequality, sex workers signaling that they were available to be engaged, drag performers, cross-dressers and people who today might identify as transgender. Arrests could have major consequences. Many people arrested under these ordinances lost their jobs and families.

Others endured violence and humiliation from the police. Toni Mayes, a trans woman in Houston, did everything she could think of to avoid running afoul of a law banning cross-dressing with intent to disguise in the mid-1970s. She went so far as to ask the City Council and the police department for ID cards to protect trans people from these arrests. When they refused, Ms. Mayes began wearing a sign that read My body is male to avoid the appearance of hiding her identity. The police proceeded to arrest her eight times in three years anyway. At one point she spent nine hours in a mens jail. I felt terrible, she later told a reporter. I had my wig torn off and there were a lot of remarks I didnt care for. The publicity meant that she was immediately recognized everywhere, cant get a job, and has no income. She resolved to bring a constitutional challenge to the Houston ordinance so that other people could avoid the same harassment.
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John Diehl during his time in the Missouri House of Representatives (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).

A former Missouri House speaker who was forced to resign in disgrace in 2015 has been fined $47,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission for allegedly misusing campaign funds.

John Diehl, a Republican from Town and Country, signed a consent decree with the ethics commission released Tuesday acknowledging probable cause that he violated state campaign finance laws.

While he was fined $47,000, Diehl will only have to pay roughly $10,000 if he doesnt violate campaign finance law again in the next two years.

The four counts in the consent decree include a $6,730 credit card payment for non-campaign expenses and three counts of failure to properly disclose and report campaign expenses.

Diehl was arguably the states most powerful politician in 2015 when the Kansas City Star revealed hed been sending sexually inappropriate messages to a 19-year-old House intern. While he initially refused to step down, he eventually resigned when it became clear hed lost the support of key members of his party.

After his political career ended, he laid low for years before reemerging in 2018 to advocate for a company he co-owned that was hoping to mine cobalt in the Bootheel.

He later became embroiled in controversy in Independence, when the FBI began scrutinizing a contract to demolish the power plant in Missouri City owned by Independence Power & Light.

Diehl was attorney for the company that won the contract despite bidding twice as much as the other company seeking the job.

A federal grand jury had issued subpoenas to Independence to obtain a number of records related to the two utility deals, including minutes to private meetings held by the Independence City Council where the transactions were discussed. Additionally, numerous city officials were interviewed by federal law enforcement.

A Kansas City businessman named Joseph Campbell who was connected to the utility contract testified under oath that the FBI questioned him about Diehl, whom he accused of trying to create a fake attorney-client relationship in order to keep from having to hand over certain documents the government had requested through a subpoena.

Through an attorney, Diehl denied the accusation.

No criminal charges have been filed in connection to the Independence contracts.
Dianne Feinstein is giving old age a bad name.

Of course, its painful to see Feinstein, whos served in the Senate for more than 30 years, suffering from what commentators delicately call diminished mental capacity. Shes 89, in poor health and having trouble getting to work even when shes really needed.

Feinstein has already announced she wont run for re-election next year, but its time for her to set a good example and retire immediately. The country shouldnt discriminate against older workers, and older workers shouldnt insist on staying in jobs they can no longer really carry out.

I havent been gone. Ive been here, she crankily and inaccurately told a reporter who tried to question her when she returned to the Capitol in a wheelchair.

The Judiciary Committee is at the core of this drama. The Democrats have a majority of exactly one. If Feinstein isnt there, the Biden administration cant get many judicial nominations through.
To the Editor:

Re Call Me Square, but Facts Show the Error of Legalizing Weed, by Ross Douthat (column, May 19):

Those who desire to return to an era of cannabis criminalization desperately try to characterize state-level marijuana regulation as a policy failure.

Public opinion and data do not support this opinion. Public support for legalization has never been higher. Further, none of the 22 states that have legalized adult recreational use have ever repealed or even rolled back their laws. This is evidence that these policies are working largely as intended.

Adolescent cannabis use has not risen in parallel with legalization, despite what many critics feared. According to a new C.D.C. report, the percentage of high schoolers who have ever tried marijuana fell 30 percent between 2011 and 2021.

Another study dismissed concerns that state-level legalization is adversely affecting mental health. Its authors did not observe a statistically significant association of state cannabis policy level with overall rates of psychosis-related diagnoses or prescribed antipsychotics.
So its useful to ponder why the intuitive answer for, say, an Iowa Republican might be very different from the natural answer in New York or Boston or Washington, D.C. Consider some recent analysis by the politics and religion writer Ryan Burge, who tried to parse whether there was any kind of Trump effect in religious practice after 2016. Specifically, he looked at the share of Americans who never attend church in the six years since Trumps election compared with that share during Barack Obamas final six years as president.

Overall, the rate of church nonattendance has been climbing for some time, so one would expect some increase independent of political conditions. But Burge finds that among Republicans, the pace of disaffiliation didnt change much between the Obama and Trump presidencies. Among Democrats, however, there were sudden increases in how fast nonattendance rose: at a 16 percent clip, up from 3 percent in the Obama years, among Democrats born in the late 1970s, and at a 14 percent clip, up from 2 percent pre-Trump, among those born in the late 1940s, to pick just two examples.

This implies that if you were a churchgoer in a mostly Republican area or congregation, you probably didnt notice any significant change between the Trump era and the previous period. So the Never Trump insistence that a vote for Trump was culturally costly, that it was driving people away from Christianity, wouldnt match your lived experience. Whereas if you were a Christian in a more liberal-leaning area, you might be more likely to have seen something like a Trump effect.

That divergent experience maps, to some extent, onto debates between pro- and anti-Trump Christian commentators. The most anti-Trump voices have often been figures invested in making Christian inroads within the professional classes or the liberal intelligentsia, or at least sustaining a Christian presence therein. The most pro-Trump voices have often been self-conscious outsiders to those spaces, operating within environments that are more consistently conservative.

So its not surprising that across Trumps presidency and since, the first group would have had their fears about him confirmed and their hostility to him entrenched  because they were experiencing directly, in their social networks and their churches, some of the alienation and falling-away that followed his election. Whereas the second group, operating in a different context, would feel like the prophecies of doom had been wildly exaggerated, because they werent seeing the same crises.
At the same time, Schaffner observed:

Because the population is very big and turnout rates tend to be much higher for older adults, these trends can be slow to lead to significant gains. For example, in 2018, I applied a life expectancy model to our C.E.S. data and using that model I calculated that it would take more than 20 years for Democrats to gain just 3 percentage points on their vote share from differential mortality.

Schaffner continued:

Those gains could easily be offset by Republicans doing a bit better among other groups. For example, part of what has helped them in recent elections is that even while the share of the population who are non-college white people is in decline, it is still a large group that (1) has come to vote more Republican in the past decade and (2) has seen its turnout rate increase during the same period.

In a report published this month, What Happened in 2022, Catalist, a progressive data analysis firm, found more developments among young voters that favor Democrats: Gen Z and millennial voters had exceptional levels of turnout, with young voters in heavily contested states exceeding their 2018 turnout by 6 percent among those who were eligible in both elections.

Whats more, as the Catalist report noted,

65 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 supported Democrats, cementing their role as a key part of a winning coalition for the party. While young voters were historically evenly split between the parties, they are increasingly voting for Democrats. Many young voters who showed up in 2018 and 2020 to elect Democrats continued to do the same in 2022.

In addition, the report found:

Women voters pushed Democrats over the top in heavily contested races, where abortion rights were often their top issue. Democratic performance improved over 2020 among women in highly contested races, going from 55 percent to 57 percent support. The biggest improvement was among white non-college women (+4 percent support).

So why havent Democrats returned to the kind of majority status the party enjoyed from the 1930s to the mid-1960s? Why does the conservative coalition that emerged in the late 1960s remain a competitive force in 2023?

One answer came from Geoffrey Layman, a political scientist at Notre Dame, who noted in an email:

As whites and white Christians numbers have declined, their sense of threat and anxiety over losing their dominant position in American society and culture has increased, making conservatism and the Republican Party (particularly Republican candidates like Trump who promise to restore that dominant position) more attractive to them.

Layman cited 2000 and 2020 data from American National Election Studies to prove his point:

White working-class people, white evangelicals, white Catholics and white Christians in general all voted significantly more Republican in 2020 than in 2000. White people with no college education: 56 percent for Bush in 2000, 68 percent for Trump in 2020. White evangelicals who regularly attend church: 75 percent for Bush in 2000, 89 percent for Trump in 2020. White Catholics who regularly attend church: 56 percent for Bush in 2000, 67 percent for Trump in 2020.

Layman noted that data from the General Social Survey, a series of nationally representative surveys conducted regularly since 1972, demonstrates the numerical rise in secular voters: From 1991 to 2021, the percent of nones increased from 6 percent to 28 percent of Americans. Also, the percent of people claiming to never attend religious services increased from 11 percent to 30 percent between 1991 and 2021.

The big picture, Layman concluded, is that religious, demographic and socioeconomic trends that seem to bode very well for the Democrats and very poorly for the Republicans have not yet had the expected effects because there has been a countermobilization toward the G.O.P. among the declining groups.

For now, Layman wrote:

Those countervailing trends have left the two parties in about the same competitive balance as in 2000. However, as the pro-Democratic sociodemographic trends continue, it will become increasingly difficult for the G.O.P. to stay nationally competitive with a base of just white working-class people, devout white Christians and older white people. The Republicans are starting to max out their support among these groups.

The white backlash to the growing strength of liberal constituencies not only prompted conservative voters to back Republicans by higher margins; they also turned out to vote at exceptionally high rates to make up for their falling share of the electorate.
In the 1997 movie Contact, Jodie Foster plays an astronomer, Ellie Arroway, who detects an alien radio signal from outer space. Eventually the fictional Dr. Arroway goes on a trip through hyperspace to commune with an alien presence appearing in the form of her dead father.

Now it is your turn to be Ms. Foster.

In an act that is one part interplanetary performance art and one part dress rehearsal for an event that astronomers hope will one day occur, a coded radio message from Mars will ping radio telescopes on Earth on Wednesday.

But it will only be a test.

The receipt of this signal is intended to trigger a worldwide game of decrypting and decoding, according to astronomers at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., which organized the event and is devoted to the search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, mainly in the form of interstellar radio signals. Anybody can follow along on A Sign in Space, a website that will host comments, guesses and weekly workshops on what it all might mean.

In half a century of anxious listening, radio astronomers have yet to hear alien signals sent either intentionally or accidentally from other civilizations. But there are only about 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy left to comb for life, they say.
Gert-Jan Oskam was living in China in 2011 when he was in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the hips down. Now, with a combination of devices, scientists have given him control over his lower body again.

For 12 years Ive been trying to get back my feet, Mr. Oskam said in a press briefing on Tuesday. Now I have learned how to walk normal, natural.

In a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers in Switzerland described implants that provided a digital bridge between Mr. Oskams brain and his spinal cord, bypassing injured sections. The discovery allowed Mr. Oskam, 40, to stand, walk and ascend a steep ramp with only the assistance of a walker. More than a year after the implant was inserted, he has retained these abilities and has actually showed signs of neurological recovery, walking with crutches even when the implant was switched off.

Weve captured the thoughts of Gert-Jan, and translated these thoughts into a stimulation of the spinal cord to re-establish voluntary movement, Gregoire Courtine, a spinal cord specialist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, who helped lead the research, said at the press briefing.
Ms. Fleit added that no one was paid to participate in the documentary, and the film crew did not record inside sorority houses. She also tried to make sure her presence did not change the usual rush process, she said, as she sought to make a very quiet, very honest, very intimate portrait.

The rumors of hidden microphones were false, Ms. Fleit said. She added that she felt for the students who were caught up in them.

Marina Anderson, 19, was one of the young women whose lives were affected by campus rumors. She said she was dismissed from rush in August after being wrongly accused of wearing a microphone. What caused suspicion, Ms. Anderson said, was a black hair tie she had wrapped around the back of her shirt to make it fit better.

Despite her repeated denials, some of her peers refused to believe she was not participating in the documentary, calling her HBO girl for months. (Those accusations came while Max was still known as HBO Max. The platform underwent a rebranding on Tuesday.)

It was so uncomfortable, Ms. Anderson said. I had people recording me in public. It really messed me up my freshman year. She added that she had come to enjoy her time at college and was excited to return as a sophomore in the fall.

Ms. Anderson, who was not interviewed for Bama Rush, watched the documentary shortly after it appeared on Max on Tuesday. Watching it was bittersweet, she said. In general, she found the film anticlimactic, saying that ultimately it wasnt about Alabama rush, but rather the personal struggles of the women featured in it.
In August 2021, TikTok received a complaint from a British user, who flagged that a man had been exposing himself and playing with himself on a livestream she hosted on the video app. She also described past abuse she had experienced.

To address the complaint, TikTok employees shared the incident on an internal messaging and collaboration tool called Lark, according to company documents obtained by The New York Times. The British womans personal data  including her photo, country of residence, internet protocol address, device and user IDs  were also posted on the platform, which is similar to Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Her information was just one piece of TikTok user data shared on Lark, which is used every day by thousands of employees of the apps Chinese owner, ByteDance, including by those in China. According to the documents obtained by The Times, the drivers licenses of American users were also accessible on the platform, as were some users potentially illegal content, such as child sexual abuse materials. In many cases, the information was available in Lark groups  essentially chat rooms of employees  with thousands of members.

The profusion of user data on Lark alarmed some TikTok employees, especially since ByteDance workers in China and elsewhere could easily see the material, according to internal reports and four current and former employees. Since at least July 2021, several security employees have warned ByteDance and TikTok executives about risks tied to the platform, according to the documents and the current and former workers.
Attention, parents with screenagers: The U.S. government has issued a public warning that scrolling through apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat may pose serious risks to your childs mental health.

In a 19-page report, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said on Tuesday that while social media offered some benefits to younger people, including the ability to connect with communities, it also exposed them to potential harms, such as cyberbullying and content that promotes eating disorders, self-harm and other destructive behavior. Social media also hurts exercise, sleep and other activities, he said.

What can parents do? One is to explore potential options to limit childrens screen time. Lets go through them.

What tools are available, and where do we get them?

Googles and Apples mobile operating systems offer free tools that can be effective for restricting screen time on smartphones and tablets. These tools allow parents to monitor and set limits on their childrens devices.
Of course, the fact that he could mount a comeback doesnt mean he will come back. His campaigns decision to announce his bid on Twitter tonight forfeits a rare opportunity to be televised live on multiple networks in favor of a feature, Twitter Spaces, that I dont even know how to use as a frequent Twitter user. And even if his campaign is ultimately run differently than it has been so far, its not clear that even a perfectly run Republican campaign would defeat Donald J. Trump  at least if the former president survives his various legal challenges politically unscathed.

But if youre tempted to write off Mr. DeSantis, you might want to think again. The history of primary elections is littered with candidates who are written off, only to surge into contention. Unknown candidates like Herman Cain briefly become front-runners. Early front-runners like Joe Biden and John McCain are written off, then come back to win. Even Barack Obama spent six months struggling and trailing an inevitable Hillary Clinton by double digits.

Perhaps one day well say something similar about Mr. DeSantiss candidacy. As with the candidates who ultimately surged back to victory, the strengths that made Mr. DeSantis seem so promising after the midterms are still there today. He still has unusually broad appeal throughout the Republican Party. His favorability ratings remain strong  stronger than Mr. Trumps  even though his standing against Mr. Trump has deteriorated in head-to-head polling. He is still defined by issues  like the fight against woke and coronavirus restrictions  that also have broad appeal throughout his party. If this was enough to be a strong contender in January, theres reason it might be again.

While its easy to see Mr. DeSantiss decline over the last few months as a sign of profound weakness, the volatility of the polling can also be interpreted to mean theres a large group of voters open to both candidates. They might be prone to lurch one way or the other, depending on the way the political winds are blowing.

Mr. DeSantiss strategy so far this year may have also increased the likelihood of big swings. As I wrote last week, there are two theories for defeating the former president  Trumpism without Trump, and a reinvigorated conservative alternative to Trump. Of the two, the proto-DeSantis campaign can more easily be interpreted as a version of Trumpism without Trump. If his campaign has done anything, its to narrow any disagreement with Mr. Trump  even to a fault. Mr. DeSantis hasnt really made either an explicit or implicit case against the former president. Perhaps worse, he hasnt punched back after being attacked.
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A bill awaiting action on Gov. Mike Parsons desk would allow more state inmates released after being proven innocent to receive compensation  with a larger payment  but they would have to give up the right to sue the people who put them behind bars.

The bill, passed a day before the Senate descended into complete gridlock, would also fix problems identified by the courts with a 2021 law allowing prosecutors to seek judicial review of past cases and creates a new state-level unit to assist prosecutors with case investigations.

Overshadowed during the session by headlines about issues with former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and efforts to bring the St. Louis Police Department under state control, the bill also creates new crimes, eliminates the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and sets new standards for police chief training.

Shepherded to passage by state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, the bill removes the provision limiting payments to cases where innocence is proven solely as a result of DNA analysis.

Written in 2006, the limitation was really obsolete because weve gone through and cleared out all of the old DNA exoneration cases, Luetkemeyer said in an interview with The Independent.

If signed by Parson, inmates who are cleared in a case brought directly to the courts or by a prosecutor seeking judicial review of a conviction would become eligible for the payments. The bill increases the per-day amount to $179 from $100 and the allowance for annual payment to $65,000 from $36,500.

The worst thing that the criminal justice system can do is convict and incarcerate an innocent person, Luetkemeyer said And so this statute reflects that when a state has that happen, that we owe some debt to the individual whos wrongfully incarcerated.

Since the legislature opened a path in 2021 for prosecutors to seek review of past convictions, two long-time prisoners who had maintained they were innocent have won release.

Kevin Strickland was released in November 2021, exonerated after nearly 43 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit. Lamar Johnson was freed in February, 28 years after the slaying of a friend by two masked men.

Neither case involved DNA evidence and neither man is eligible for compensation.

If Strickland had qualified for the amount in current law, compensation would total $1.5 million. For Johnson, the amount would be about $1 million. The higher compensation in the bill boosts those numbers to $2.7 million for Strickland and $1.8 million for Johnson.

But the expanded eligibility is not retroactive and it comes with several other problems, said Tricia Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project.

We are hopeful that this is a first step and not a last step, Bushnell said. Unfortunately, this bill as passed actually wont compensate very many people at all.

By accepting state compensation, the freed person agrees not to sue for civil rights and other violations, Bushnell said. And because it is paid as an annuity, a person like Strickland, released at age 62, would have to live past 100 to receive the full amount due.

There is no right to inherit any amount owed at death, so payments would end if the freed person died before receiving full compensation.

So if he passed away, he would be unable to provide anything to his family who had already lost him for those 43 years as well, Bushnell said.

The litigation waiver is the biggest issue with the legislation, she said. It is in current law, but with few innocence cases involving DNA, it had little impact.

Strickland in April sued the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners and five Kansas City police officers involved in the investigation that led to his original conviction. The case was transferred May 8 to the U.S. Court for the Western District of Missouri.

People freed after proving civil rights violations that put their convictions in doubt have won large awards and settlements in recent years. Ryan Ferguson, freed in 2013 after showing prosecutors withheld evidence a witness lied in his murder case, was awarded $10 million in a 2017 federal lawsuit, $1 million for each year he was in prison.

The results of those lawsuits show the compensation should be larger, and paid out with a larger lump sum, Bushnell said.

It wont compensate people in a way that may be meaningful within their lifetime, she said.

Luetkemeyer defended the compensation plan. It adopted payout amounts from legislation filed by Sens. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, and Steve Roberts, D-St. Louis.

By accepting it, a freed person is guaranteed either a very long term steady stream of income, or a lifetime stream of income, and so it really makes sure that the person is provided for once they get out, once the conviction has been overturned, Luetkemeyer said.

The litigation waiver is a matter of the freed person deciding whether to take a sure income or take a chance on winning a larger amount in court, he said.

In terms of the waiver, you know, my belief is that if youre going to decide to file a civil lawsuit that should be your remedy, Luetkemeyer said. If you decide that you want to seek restitution from the state, that should be a remedy.

Washington and Roberts legislation included a $100,000 lump sum initial payment and $80,000 annual payments, inheritable upon death.

After losing 28 years, Im ecstatic to be free and grateful to everyone involved in freeing me, Johnson said during testimony on Washington and Roberts bill. But while I have regained my freedom, I have come out with nothing but the clothes purchased for me by my friends and my attorneys. I return home free, but with no ID, no drivers license, no credit history, no work history, no rental history. I have no car, no furniture. No place to call home.

Online fundraising efforts organized by the Midwest Innocence Project have raised almost $1.8 million for Strickland and nearly $600,000 for Johnson.

The law allowing prosecutors to seek judicial review of convictions was passed in 2021 after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Gardner did not have authority to attempt to overturn Johnsons conviction. A fix included in this years bill is in response to another high court decision, from February, that found the law doesnt apply in a case where the conviction was obtained after a change of venue.

Only the prosecutor in the county where the case was decided, not the prosecutor in the county where the case originated and was investigated, could seek a review, the court decided. The bill allows the prosecutor in the originating county to proceed.

The support for the process puts a two-attorney conviction review unit in the Office of Prosecution Services. The unit could accept applications from inmates with no other avenue for appeal as well as conduct reviews for prosecutors, making non-binding recommendations.

This is just really a resource for prosecutors around the state who may not have the time to diligently look through and research all these old cases, Luetkemeyer said.

With all the changes, lawmakers still havent given inmates a direct path to the courts to present evidence of their innocence, Bushnell said. The only people currently incarcerated who can do that are facing the death penalty, she said.

Were very excited to keep talking about it, thinking about it and understanding it, Bushnell said, and that folks understand what it is that freed and exonerated people go through when they return home. We still have a good way to go.
The surgeon generals warning Tuesday about social medias profound risk of harm to young people included a significant qualification. For some of them, the warning said, social media can be beneficial to health in important ways.

For one group in particular  the growing share of young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer  social media can be a lifeline, researchers and teenagers say. Especially for those growing up in unwelcoming families or communities, social media often provides a sense of identity and belonging at a crucial age, much earlier than for many L.G.B.T.Q. people in previous generations.

Its a lifeline for folks to receive information and to really see that they are not alone, and there are so many people like them, said Jessica Fish, who studies L.G.B.T.Q. youth and their families at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. They can feel some sense of connection, and realize there is a place for them.

Growing up in a sheltered Mormon and Christian community in Kansas, Cassius OBrien-Stiner, 19, said he had little exposure to L.G.B.T.Q. identities: I was pretty unaware that even being gay was a thing.
Youve probably heard of backyard chickens in California cities. But backyard beekeeping?

Hundreds of Bay Area residents have installed hives in recent years, and the hobby really took off when pandemic lockdowns forced people to stay home. Membership in the Alameda County Beekeepers Association alone has jumped to 500 people from around 60 in 2011, according to Robert Mathews, the associations new president.

There are beehives and chickens in every third house, it seems, said Mathews, 57, a techie by day, bee enthusiast on weekends.
Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world. When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade the loss? The loss we carry asea we must wade. Weve braved the belly of the beast. Weve learned that quiet isnt always peace. In the norms and notions of what just is, isnt always justice. And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it. Somehow we do it. Somehow weve weathered and witnessed a nation that isnt broken, but simply unfinished. We, the successors of a country and a time, where a skinny black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one. And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine. But that doesnt mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man. And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none, and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired. we tried, that will forever be tied together victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If were to live up to our own time, then victory wont lie in the blade. But in all the bridges weve made. That is the promise promise to glade, the hill we climb. If only we dare it. Because being American is more than a pride we inherit. Its the past we step into, and how we repair it. Weve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, our history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption. We feared it at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour. But within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves. So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole. Benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might, and might with rights, then love becomes our legacy and change our childrens birthright. So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with. Every breath, my bronze-pounded chest. We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the West. We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile and recover in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country. Our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there was always light. If only were brave enough to see it. If only were brave enough to be it.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said on Tuesday night that he and his colleagues on the Supreme Court were continuing to take steps to address questions about the justices ethical standards amid a barrage of allegations of misconduct and a push by some lawmakers to tighten the rules.

I want to assure people that I am committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct, he said. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment, and I am confident that there are ways to do that consistent with our status as an independent branch of government and the Constitutions separation of powers.

Chief Justice Roberts turned down an invitation last month to testify before a Senate committee, citing the exceedingly rare nature of such an appearance, as lawmakers push for ethics changes at the court. A series of revelations about unreported gifts, travel and real estate deals between Justice Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and Republican donor, has shaken the court, though all nine justices have defended their existing rules.

The remarks on Tuesday by Chief Justice Roberts, offered at an awards ceremony, were his first extensive public reflections, he said, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the court has overruled Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion; weathered the leak of a draft of the ruling and failed to identify the source; and faced a barrage of news articles raising questions about the justices financial disclosures and recusal practices.
She is his primary sounding board, he added.

In that 2018 contest, she narrated an ad that highlighted Mr. DeSantiss fealty to President Donald J. Trump by showing him encouraging his young child to build the wall out of blocks.

Last year, she recorded an emotional direct-to-camera spot, her voice wavering as she described how her husband had helped her through cancer.

She also promoted a video that cast his political rise as divinely inspired.

Ms. DeSantis has also been linked to political drama, and some have questioned the scope of her portfolio in office, wondering whether she has too much influence inside the governors insular inner circle.

She assumes authority that she does not have, said Mac Stipanovich, a Republican-turned-independent who served as a longtime Florida strategist and lobbyist, though he said he was sharing his impressions rather than firsthand knowledge. From whence came this womans strategic political genius?

People would always question, who is the closest person to Ron, who is somebody who can get his ear? added Nikki Fried, now the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party and a former agriculture commissioner who ran unsuccessfully for governor in the Democratic primary last year. The only name that ever came back, she said, was Caseys.
Around the time that the F.B.I. was examining the equipment recovered from the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast in February, American intelligence agencies and Microsoft detected what they feared was a more worrisome intruder: mysterious computer code appearing in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the United States.

The code, which Microsoft said was installed by a Chinese government hacking group, raised alarms because Guam, with its Pacific ports and vast American air base, would be a centerpiece of any American military response to an invasion or blockade of Taiwan. The operation was conducted with great stealth, sometimes flowing through home routers and other common internet-connected consumer devices, to make the intrusion harder to track.

The code is called a web shell, in this case a malicious script that enables remote access to a server. Home routers are particularly vulnerable, especially older models that have not had updated software and protections.

Unlike the balloon that fascinated Americans as it performed pirouettes over sensitive nuclear sites, the computer code could not be shot down on live television. So instead, Microsoft on Wednesday published details of the code that would make it possible for corporate users, manufacturers and others to detect and remove it. In a coordinated release, the National Security Agency  along with other domestic agencies and counterparts in Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Canada  published a 24-page advisory that referred to Microsofts finding and offered broader warnings about a recently discovered cluster of activity from China.
As their debt limit negotiations with President Biden push the nation perilously close to a devastating default, House Republicans have stuck to a clear message: They must force a change in what they call the nations unsustainable spending path.

Yet in talks with Mr. Biden, Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his lieutenants have focused almost entirely on cutting a small corner of the budget  known as nondefense discretionary spending  that includes funding for education, environmental protection, national parks, domestic law enforcement and other areas. That budget line accounts for less than 15 percent of the $6.3 trillion the government is expected to spend this year. It is not outsized, by historical standards. It is already projected to shrink, as a share of the economy, over the next decade.

And it has nothing to do with the big drivers of projected spending growth in the coming years: the safety-net programs Social Security and Medicare, which are facing increasingly large payouts as the American population ages.

Those politically popular programs have been deemed off limits in the current talks by Republicans, who came under heavy criticism from Mr. Biden for even entertaining changes that could raise the retirement age for those programs or make other changes to slow their future spending.
Hillary Clinton weighed in this week on a question that has occupied Senate Democrats and much of the party at large for months: whether Senator Dianne Feinstein of California should resign in light of mounting health problems that have made it difficult for her to do her job.

Mrs. Clintons answer was no  but largely based on anticipation that Republicans would exploit the vacancy, not on an evaluation of Ms. Feinsteins health or performance.

Heres the dilemma: The Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires, she told Time magazine on Monday, in an interview published Tuesday night. I want you to think about how crummy that is. So I dont know whats in her heart about whether she really would or wouldnt, but right now, she cant. Because if were going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.
Youre 63 years old; youre too old for this nonsense, he said. But for better or worse you have become one of the faces of Jan. 6, and I think you enjoy it.

Mr. Barnett was among the first defendants arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 assault and quickly became one of the best-known rioters, along with figures like Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, who stormed the building in a horned helmet and was later sentenced to 41 months in prison.

Mr. Barnett has also frequently and vocally criticized the Justice Department for overreaching in its efforts to investigate the Capitol attack. He has also accused the police officers who defended lawmakers that day of instigating the assault on the building by using what he has described as excessive force.

His lawyers, Jonathan Gross and Bradford Geyer, had asked Judge Cooper to sentence Mr. Barnett to only one year in prison and to give him credit for the nearly four months he spent behind bars before his trial. The lawyers said in court papers that Mr. Barnett still believed the police used a disproportionate response during the attack.

Mr. Barnett is outspoken about his political views and has attended dozens of rallies in his life, but was always peaceful, never violent, the lawyers wrote.

More than 480 people have been sentenced so far in connection with the Capitol attack, and about 275 are serving at least some time in prison, Justice Department officials say. The terms have ranged from a high of 14 years to only days behind bars.
Both men seem intent on preventing their relationship from sliding into scorched-earth territory, though they remain far apart on the particulars of striking a deal by June 1, when the Treasury has indicated the government may run out of money to pay its bills.

Thats one week away  practically an eternity by Washington-saga standards.

And lest anyone think the lack of a breakthrough was a sign of intransigence or dawdling or typical government dysfunction, both sides insisted that everyone involved agreed that they wanted to agree. In a divided Washington, this is what passes for progress.

Mr. McCarthy said the meeting with the president had been productive. Not only that, it had been better than any other time weve had discussions.

Mr. Biden, in a brief statement after the meeting, also used the word productive. Nothing had changed by the next afternoon, when the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, would repeat it yet again: The meeting that the president had with the speaker yesterday was indeed productive, she affirmed.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, who has shown little willingness to join in on the productivity, weighed in from his home state of Kentucky: Everybody needs to relax, he told reporters.
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The Supreme Court of Missouri in Jefferson City, as photographed Wednesday morning (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)

The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over whether two single mothers should have been sentenced to jail time because their children missed more days of school than the local district allowed.

The case centers on Missouris compulsory school attendance law, which states that a parent must ensure their child attends the academic program on a regular basis.

Assistant Attorney General Shaun Mackelprang, representing the state, argued that the definition of a regular basis means attending school every day on the districts schedule.

Do I have to go to school everyday? The answer is yes, he told six Supreme Court judges Wednesday morning. You have to go to school every day that the school is in session.

Ellen Flottman, a public defender representing Caitlyn Williams and Tamarae LaRue, argued the law is unconstitutionally vague and inconsistently applied.

The states position is anti-parent. Most of the school districts are not prosecuting these parents, Flottman said Wednesday. Schools have to work with parents; they have to have policies because they want the kids to go to school.

But this is a kindergartener and a first grader. Is missing one day in November and one day in December going to hurt this kindergarteners education that much?

Case Background

Williams and LaRues children attended school in the Lebanon R-III School District, about an hour outside of Springfield.

The district has a 16.1% poverty rate, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, compared to Missouris 12.7% poverty rate.

During the 2021-2022 school year, Williams six-year-old daughter missed 16 days of school before the district filed a probable cause statement. A Laclede County Circuit Court judge charged Williams with a misdemeanor and sentenced her to seven days in jail.

Williams called her daughter out from school sick for six of the absences, but the school counts these as verified but not excused and tallies the hours and minutes of missed instructional time toward her percentage.

The districts handbook, which parents check a box that they have read when they register online, says parents must notify the school of absences but it does not clarify the difference between verified and excused absences, such as those with a doctors note.

My clients were not acting knowingly. Theyre being misled by the school handbook and the school administrators, Flottman said Wednesday.

The handbook also says: The state mandates that students maintain 90% or higher attendance each year in school and that continued and valuable learning cannot take place without regular attendance.

State statute does not mandate a 90% attendance rate, though students who maintain this level of attendance contribute greater to school accreditation, Mackelprang said Wednesday.

Mackelprang argued in a filing in the case that high attendance contributes toward a schools funding.

Daily attendance, even down to the hour, has important consequences for schools and, by extension, all of the students at a given school, Mackelprang wrote.

LaRues six-year-old son was absent 13 days, according to Flottman, and LaRue called the school with explanation for six of those absences. The district says his attendance, based on the number of hours present, is just under 80%.

Court documents say LaRue gave the following reasons for her sons absence: Doctor appointment, fever, at dads in Iowa, another appointment, overslept and sick. Documents mention siblings and that the family contracted COVID-19 during the school year.

LaRue was sentenced to 15 days in jail by a different Laclede County Circuit Court judge than Williams, but the sentence was changed to two years of probation.

Arguments

Flottmans argument was three-pronged: The parents didnt know that they were violating the rules because the handbook didnt state that absences without doctors notes are unexcused; the circuit court failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the childrens absences were beyond regular attendance; and the state statute is unconstitutionally vague by failing to define what regular attendance means.

She opened the arguments by saying she attends church on a regular basis, although she missed a service recently and has a vacation planned.

The state has argued that regular means every day, she said as Judge W. Brent Powell interrupted her.

Powell said he liked her church analogy but asked if the nonattendance rules were like the speed limit, where not everyone that gets caught breaking the law gets a ticket but officers have discretion on what is too far.

Flottman responded by using an example introduced in Mackelprangs brief, the Wisconsin compulsory school attendance law which says children should attend school regularly. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals defined regularly as constantly and uniformly, Mackelprang wrote.

Flottman said the states argument also helped her clients, for Wisconsins law has a specific schema, she said Wednesday.

Missouri doesnt give that kind of guidance to parents, she said.

Judge Mary R. Russell inquired Mackelprang about why Missouri lawmakers didnt include more specificity in the attendance law.

Why would the legislature choose to write it this way instead of in a way that is more articulate? she asked.

They just have to write it in a way that is adequate, Mackelprang said.

So, is the legislature leaving it up to local school districts how to enforce this word? Russell asked, inquiring about the definition of regular attendance. How to interpret this word?

There probably is some discretion of when they are going to go to the prosecutor with it, Mackelprang said.

Flottman said she was worried about this leniency allowing schools to apply different standards to students.

The students that take a day off to go deer hunting or their parents who take their children out of school for a week to go to Disney World are not being prosecuted for this. So theres a difference between prosecutorial discretion and arbitrary enforcement, she said.

Judge Robin Ransom asked if she would make the same argument if it were not a criminal case.

I do think the criminalization of this certainly has to do with it. Were talking about the liberty of people who are just trying to do the best they can, Flottman said.

She said she would argue that the state should get involved to provide services to get the children to school.

Mackelprang said the statute is not anti-parent. He said parents are in control of young children and have options to homeschool or enroll them in private school.

Women make the decision to enroll them in a public school, like the parents did in this case, he said. Theyre subject to the terms of this statute.

The judges cant base their decision on violations of the school handbook, for the states case is that Williams and LaRue broke state law.
A key political group supporting Ron DeSantiss presidential run is preparing a $100 million voter-outreach push so big it plans to knock on the door of every possible DeSantis voter at least four times in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina  and five times in the kickoff Iowa caucuses.

The effort is part of an on-the-ground organizing operation that intends to hire more than 2,600 field organizers by Labor Day, an extraordinary number of people for even the best-funded campaigns.

Top officials with the pro-DeSantis group, a super PAC called Never Back Down, provided their most detailed account yet of their battle plan to aid Mr. DeSantis, whom they believe they can sell as the only candidate to take on  and win  the cultural fights that are definitional for the Republican Party in 2024.

The group said it expected to have an overall budget of at least $200 million, including more than $80 million to be transferred from an old DeSantis state political account, for the daunting task of vaulting the Florida governor past former President Donald J. Trump, who has established himself as the dominant early front-runner.
Few knew what to expect from Ron DeSantis when he was first elected Florida governor in 2018 as a little-known congressman. He had barely eked out a victory. He had almost no ties to the State Capitol. His policy agenda seemed unclear.

But he knew, at least, how he wanted to govern: He directed his general counsel to figure out just how far a governor could push his authority. He pored over a binder enumerating his varied powers: appointing Florida Supreme Court justices, removing local elected officials and wielding line-item vetoes against state lawmakers.

Then he systematically deployed each one.

Four years later, Mr. DeSantis is entering the 2024 Republican presidential primary race with a promise to make the country more conservative  just as he did Florida, using nearly every means necessary to muscle through his right-wing vision.

We proved it can be done. We chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination, law and order over rioting and disorder, Mr. DeSantis said on Wednesday, as he announced his candidacy in a repeatedly delayed and awkwardly glitchy livestream on Twitter, with its owner, Elon Musk. We also understand governing is not entertainment. Its not about building a brand or virtue-signaling. It is about delivering results.
U.S. officials said the drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month was likely orchestrated by one of Ukraines special military or intelligence units, the latest in a series of covert actions against Russian targets that have unnerved the Biden administration.

U.S. intelligence agencies do not know which unit carried out the attack and it was unclear whether President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine or his top officials were aware of the operation, though some officials believe Mr. Zelensky was not.

The agencies reached their preliminary assessment in part through intercepted communications in which Russian officials blamed Ukraine and other communications in which Ukrainian officials said they believed their country was responsible for the attack, in which two drones were flown on May 3 toward the Kremlin, causing little damage.

U.S. officials say their level of confidence that the Ukrainian government directly authorized the Kremlin drone attack is low but that is because intelligence agencies do not yet have specific evidence identifying which government officials, Ukrainian units or operatives were involved.
Robert J. Zimmer, a mathematician who as president of the University of Chicago championed diversity not only quantitatively, in the recruitment of students and faculty, but also by protecting free expression on campus with a protocol that was later embraced by dozens of colleges across the country, died on Tuesday at his home in Chicago. He was 75.

His wife, Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, a classics professor at the university, said the cause was glioblastoma multiforme, a virulent form of brain cancer.

Mr. Zimmer, who presided over the university from 2006 to 2021, was instrumental in shepherding what became known as the Chicago Principles, a set of guidelines recommended by the Committee on Free Expression, a faculty group he appointed in 2014.

Those guidelines have become a bulwark against what critics perceive as the stifling of academic freedom by colleges where students are able to insulate themselves against discomforting viewpoints  practices that are often lumped together as cancel culture.
Follow our live updates for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons impeachment proceedings.

The Texas Capitol was unexpectedly gripped by an escalating intraparty showdown among top Republicans on Wednesday after a House committee took steps toward a possible impeachment of the Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, over charges of corruption and abuse of office.

The allegations had been lodged before against Mr. Paxton, but they gained new force as investigators working for the Republican-controlled House panel  the Committee on General Investigating  publicly detailed each accusation over three hours of public testimony, concluding that Mr. Paxton had most likely committed crimes.

Whether the committee would recommend impeachment, or stop short of doing so, remained an open question. But the Republican House speaker, Dade Phelan  whose own resignation Mr. Paxton publicly called for this week  signaled his openness to that outcome.

The attorney general appears to have routinely abused his powers for personal gain and exhibited blatant disregard for the ethical and legal propriety, a spokeswoman for Mr. Phelan said in a statement. Speaker Phelan stands in full support of the general investigating committee and the recommendations that may come as a result of their thorough and diligent investigation.
Guam residents woke up Thursday to survey the damage after a long night of whipping winds and lightning storms from Mawar, a typhoon that downed coconut and mango trees and knocked out power across much of the U.S. Pacific territory.

Residents lined up outside the shops that were open to buy food and supplies. Many businesses lacked power or the internet and were accepting only cash, but some A.T.M.s were out of service.

Mawar was upgraded to a super typhoon, meaning that its maximum sustained winds were at least 150 miles per hour, as the storm moved over open water. The storm had packed Category 4-level winds of about 140 miles per hour at just prior to midnight local time on Wednesday, as it passed over Guam, according to a local meteorologist from the National Weather Service.
Robb Elementary will be demolished

The school where the attack occurred sits behind chain-link fencing with its windows boarded over, and is slated to be demolished as soon as lawsuits and the pending investigations are concluded. Ms. Mitchell, the district attorney, and many victims families are among those taking legal action to block the demolition of the school until there is no further need to collect evidence from the crime scene. Mr. Patterson, the interim superintendent, said plans for a permanent memorial were under discussion, but it has not yet been decided what and where that would be.

A new elementary school is to be built three miles from where Robb Elementary now sits. The new school, which does not have a name yet, is scheduled to open its doors in 2024, said Eulalio Diaz Jr., a member of an advisory committee overseeing planning for the new campus. Early designs include the colors of papel picado, the traditional Mexican folk art that features multicolor sheets of paper  in recognition of the Hispanic culture that has long been a large part of Uvalde, and the families at Robb Elementary.

For now, Robb Elementarys students have been dispersed to other schools.

Changes in gun laws

Texas has moved to widen access to firearms in the year since the shooting.

Months before the attack, Texas lawmakers did away with permit requirements to carry handguns. After the attack, the state also effectively lowered the age required for carrying a handgun to 18 from 21, once officials stopped defending the higher age limit in court in December.
A bison calf at Yellowstone National Park had to be euthanized after a man apparently tried to help it, causing the herd to reject it, park officials said this week.

The newborn calf began following cars and people, officials said, and was killed because it posed a hazard to visitors.

The episode began on Saturday evening, when the calf was separated from its mother as their herd crossed the Lamar River in Wyoming, in the parks northeast corner. When the calf struggled to reach the group, a middle-aged man intentionally disturbed it, pushing it from the river onto the road near the rivers confluence with Soda Butte Creek, the National Park Service said in a statement on Tuesday. It is unclear where the herd was at that point.

Interference by people can cause wildlife to reject their offspring, the Park Service said. In this case, park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the calf with the herd. These efforts failed.
In the adobe house she built with her husband in a small village in Peru, Antonia Huillca pulled out a stack of documents that once represented a glimmer of hope.

They were part of an investigation into the death of her husband, Quintino Cereceda, who left one morning in 2016 to join a protest against a new copper mine and never returned.

Ms. Huillca cant read, but she can identify a photo of her husbands body, a bullet wound to his forehead; the question-and-answer format in which police officers describe firing live ammunition as protesters threw rocks; the logo of the mining company sending convoys of trucks over unpaved roads, sparking protests among villagers fed up with the dust.

But today, the investigation has gone cold.

All these years and no justice, Ms. Huillca, a 51-year-old Quechua farmer, said as a storm gathered over her village, Choquecca, in Perus southern Andes. Its as if we dont exist.
Shy and retiring by nature, with a preference for solitude and the dark, few would describe Paora, 4, as a natural diplomat.

Yet this Miami-based kiwi  one of about 60 of the flightless birds living in zoos outside their native New Zealand  has been forced into the international spotlight, literally and figuratively.

Footage of Paora being petted by zoo visitors under fluorescent lights has caused an outcry in New Zealand, where it is common knowledge that the national bird is nocturnal and should not be handled other than by experts. Zoo Miami apologized this week, saying that it would no longer allow members of the public to touch him.

I immediately went to the zoo director, and I said, We have offended a nation, Ron Magill, a spokesman for the zoo, told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday.
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The judge overseeing the case of Charlottesvilles former Robert E. Lee statue, the one that touched off a violent weekend nearly six years ago when white nationalists rallied for its preservation, has declined to let one of the two plaintiffs remain in the the case by changing its name.

The Ratcliffe Foundation of Tazewell County learned in April that because it had lost its state corporate status by failing to file an annual report from 2015 to 2021, it may no longer exist in a legal sense.

The group, which owns the ancestral home of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuarts family, responded by changing its name to Ratcliffe Foundation Inc.

The court denies the Motion to Substitute Successor in Interest Ratcliffe Foundation Inc. for Ratcliffe Foundation, wrote Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. in a May 19 letter.

Some version of the Ratcliffe Foundation argued at a hearing last month that it shouldnt lose its standing to sue the city over a local groups plan to melt down the statue of the Confederate general. The defense countered that the groups shoddy internal record-keeping jeopardized the existence of the Ratcliffe Foundation, and the judge did not disagree.

The larger-than-life bronze equestrian statue of Lee was removed from its downtown location in the summer of 2021 after at least five years of debate about the appropriateness of a monument to a slave-holding general whose military campaigns would have preserved the right to continue to hold people in bondage. The ruling was hailed as something of a victory for the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which hopes to melt the statue down to create new art.

The Courts ruling will prevent that new corporation from joining the case as a plaintiff, the Jefferson School wrote in a statement released Tuesday.

However, legal analyst David Heilberg cautioned that he wasnt convinced that the latest ruling dealt a mortal blow to the litigation, which has already seen three trial dates come and go.

Heilberg said Virginia law allows a plaintiff to nonsuit, to dump its initial lawsuit when it hits a roadblock such as this one and then refile it. Therefore, the other plaintiff in the case, the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation of Louisa County, could conceivably fight alone.

As long as they havent nonsuited before, they can drop the entire lawsuit, and bring it back within six months, said Heilberg. But they only get to do that once.

Hanging in the balance is the so-called Swords Into Plowshares project, the Jefferson Schools plan to melt the Lee statue into ingots and then fashion a new, more community-centered monument for Charlottesville. The plaintiffs allege that they didnt get a fair chance to obtain the statue and are seeking to undo the statues transfer to the Jefferson School.

Neither the Ratcliffe Foundation nor the Jefferson Schools attorney would comment directly to The Daily Progress on Tuesday.

At the last hearing for the statue case, the judge agreed to continue the case to an unspecified future date. The next meeting is a status hearing set for June 27.
When the French government officially enacted a ban on short domestic flights this week, it hailed the measure as proof that France was at the vanguard of ambitious climate change policies. But critics say its much ado about almost nothing.

We are the first to do it, President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a celebratory message on Twitter, which also included a picture that said Promise Kept stamped in green ink.

At first glance, the promise would seem to have been kept: Any flight between two cities that can be replaced by a train ride of less than 2.5 hours is banned. In a country smaller than Texas and with an extensive high-speed rail network, that would appear to rule out a large number of domestic flights.

But appearances can be deceiving.

The decree formalizing the ban, which was published on Tuesday, is riddled with exceptions.
Hours into a journey to Portugal from Morocco, the crew of a 46-foot sailing cruiser noticed something was wrong with the rudder. Then, someone shouted what they saw slicing through the choppy waves: Orcas! Orcas!

The orcas kept pace with the boat, slamming into its side and chewing at the rudder, according to its skipper, a photographer onboard and video of the encounter. For about an hour, the crew signaled their predicament to the Spanish Coast Guard and tried to stay calm.

There was nothing we could do, said Stephen Bidwell, the photographer, who was two days into a weeklong sailing course with his partner when the ramming began. Youre in awe at the same time as you are nervous.

The skipper, Gregory Blackburn, said he wrestled for control of the boat as the orcas banged into it, interfering with the rudder. Its a reminder of where we are in the food chain and the natural world, he said.
Rolf Harris, the Australian-born entertainer whose decades-long career on British television ended in disgrace after he was convicted of sexually abusing teenage girls, died on May 10 at his home in Berkshire, England. He was 93.

His family announced the death in a statement released on Tuesday. The PA news agency reported that a death certificate gave the cause as neck cancer and frailty of old age.

Mr. Harriss career on British television spanned 60 years, but it collapsed in 2013 when he was arrested and charged with a total of 12 attacks on four young girls from 1968 to 1986. He was later sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. At the time of the offenses, the girls ranged in age from 8 to 19, although his conviction for the assault on the 8-year-old girl, an autograph hunter, was later overturned.

One of Mr. Harriss victims was a close friend of his own daughter, Bindi. He was convicted of abusing the girl over the course of six years, beginning when she was 13.
The battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is essentially over, for now. After 10 months of brutal artillery duels, frantic troop advances and thousands of Russian and Ukrainian casualties, Moscows formations are in control of the industrial hub, while Kyivs troops are trying to put pressure on the citys flanks.

But what comes next for Russia, which has said it aims to capture the entire eastern Donbas region, is unclear. Earlier in the battle, Moscow had hoped to use the capture of Bakhmut as a springboard for further advances to the west  aspirationally toward the larger cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. That goal seems out of reach for now.

Russian troops appear spent, military analysts say, after suffering extensive losses in securing Bakhmut. And overall, President Vladimir V. Putins forces have shown little ability to take more territory elsewhere, having been mostly relegated to smaller-scale attacks in a smattering of towns in the countrys east.
For decades, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, has been a champion of free-market economic doctrine. As finance minister 20 years ago, he cut welfare payments, curbed government spending, sped up privatization and promoted the countrys feted tech industry.

In his autobiography last year, Mr. Netanyahu detailed how he had rescued the economy from an antiquated semi-socialist bog, in part by cutting handouts to ultraconservative Jewish Israelis, who often eschew the job market for religious study.

Mr. Netanyahus new national budget, which was passed by the Israeli Parliament early on Wednesday, risks turning that legacy on its head.

Bending to the demands of his ultra-Orthodox partners in a shaky coalition government, Mr. Netanyahu massively increased state funding for privately run ultra-Orthodox schools, seminaries and other religious and social projects, as well as for ministries run by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Over the years, Ive noticed a recurring pattern in the emails I receive from readers about my columns on authoritarianism, far-right populism, democratic backsliding and related topics: a very similar type of shock at the news, and a very similar type of concern about what that might mean for the future.

These messages tend to follow a rough structure: Shock at the news, but most prominently surprise because the event seems to clash with the apparent rules of political success that, as many people understood them, should have made such politicians unelectable.

And then comes concern about the future: If those rules did not apply, the readers wondered, what other outcomes might then be possible?

So, for instance, when Donald Trump won the 2016 election in the United States, many people emailed to express their shock that it was possible for a candidate to win an election after publicly referring to Mexican immigrants as rapists, or saying that a federal judge could not be impartial because of his Mexican American heritage, and wondered what that might mean for the future of American democracy.
Representatives of SIRO, the broadband network operator, which is rolling out a full fibre broadband network across urban Ireland, told the May meeting of Offaly County Council that their company is bringing its network to three towns across Offaly this year.

The councillors were very positive about the news. They pointed out that the new broadband network will be a game-changer for the three towns of Birr, Tullamore and Edenderry, because it will mean a much more efficient service and more workers will be able to avail of hybrid working, thereby significantly reducing their commuting time.

SIRO's fibre powered broadband is superior to work Wi-Fi because its much smoother and faster. This superior service means that some people will be able to say goodbye to city life forever and work instead from more desirable locations.

The roll out of fibre broadband began in 2020. Only 7% of premises have been connected so far, as part of the National Broadband Plan (NBP). However, the government says the NBP is building up a head of steam and is expected to hit its 2026 target date. Some people are pointing out that the NBP is such a game-changer that it could be called the rural electrification of the 21st century.

As more and more stories are being told of people being able to relocate from large urban areas to other parts of Ireland, because of the roll-out of fibre broadband, the councillors of Offaly County Council see its benefits and how it could improve the county. Cllr Sean OBrien told the May meeting that SIRO build works are underway in Tullamore where 600 premises can already access SIRO fibre broadband. The work so far has been excellent, commented Cllr OBrien. SIRO is a very good company and isnt letting us down. When this work is finished it will have a huge impact on Tullamore.

The roll out will include 9,000 homes and businesses across Tullamore, Edenderry and Birr. Build works have commenced in Edenderry also. The network roll-out in Birr is expected to start late 2023 and into 2024.

The full fibre roll out in Tullamore will cover 4,500 premises, whereas Edenderry will cover 2,400 premises and Birr will cover 2,300 premises.

Areas within Tullamore that will be covered under SIROs full fibre roll out include (but are not limited to): Oakfield, Limefield, Chancery Park Road, Clonminch Wood, Hophill, Charleville Road, Marian Place, Carraig Cluain, Eiscier End Road, Clontarf Road, Thornsberry Estate, OMolloy Street.

Areas within Edenderry that will be covered under SIROs full fibre roll out include (but are not limited to): The Sycamores, The Park, Killane Heights, Castleview Park, Kileden Lawn, Rectory Meadows, Assumption Road, Gilroy Avenue, Woodfield, Glenn na Carraige, Carrickhall Lane, Coneyburrow.

Areas within Birr that will be covered under SIROs full fibre roll out include (but are not limited to): Meadowville, Meadow Brook, Johns Place, Connaught Street, Sandymount View, Compton Row, Hollypark Drive, High Street, Main Street, Demesne View, Fairview, Burkes Hill, Woodlane.

SIROs full fibre network offers speeds of up to 2 gigabit per second for homes, and up to 10 gigabits for enterprise connections. A SIRO representative told the Council meeting that 10 gigabits is a massive capacity.

She said SIRO is a joint venture company between ESB and Vodafone, founded in 2015, and is focused on delivering full fibre broadband to Irelands towns and cities, but not rural areas. SIROs fibre broadband network is built on the ESB electricity infrastructure, trusted for its reliability and resilience, she said. Overall, the company is investing more than 1 billion in delivering high speed, future proofed broadband across Ireland.

John Keaney, CEO of SIRO, pointed out that full fibre broadband will have a transformative effect on Edenderry, Birr and Tullamore. It will mean that these places will instantly become a more attractive place to do business, work flexibly, and live. The need for reliable, high quality, fibre connectivity grows each day as businesses operate using cloud technology, employees host meetings virtually, and more businesses use contactless and card payment methods each day. A lack of access to fast and reliable broadband connectivity can be a pain point for business and consumers when using the latest technologies. Full fibre broadband means a considerably better service.

Anna Marie Delaney, Offaly County Council CEO, pointed out that having access to SIROs full fibre network within the county will support economic development, investment into the county and job creation. SIROs fibre broadband network, she remarked, will be an important addition for the countys long-term growth and development. It will align with the Councils broader economic growth strategy. It will sustain employment locally but also underpin the creation of the jobs of the future, particularly as digital technologies become ever more critical to so many business sectors based in Offaly.

SIRO is a wholesaler, and its broadband service is available to order from the following retailers in Offaly: Vodafone, Sky, Airwire, Pure, Digiweb, Fastcom Viatel, with more becoming available as the roll out progresses.

Cllr Peter Ormond pointed out that there are quite a few indigenous industries in Birr, which are very important to the town, and which will greatly benefit from this roll out.

Cllr Declan Harvey said its great to see the build works happening in Tullamore. However, theres a number of holes in the ground as a result, he added. Hopefully they will be filled quickly.

Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick said its a pity the SIRO roll-out will only be happening in towns and not rural areas. A SIRO rep said the roll-out outside of towns will be done by National Broadband Ireland. She said its considerably more expensive to roll out fibre broadband in the countryside. Cllr Fitzpatrick said he was glad to hear that Portarlington will also be done.


Local legend relates that in the 8th Century Saint Cronan asked a monk named Dimma in Roscrea to be the scribe who wrote his holy book - but that it had to be done in one day.

Dimma set to work on this impossible task and copied continuously without a break for any meals and while he worked the sun never set. When Dimma finished, he thought that it had only taken him one day, when in reality it had taken forty. This miracle was attributed to Cronan.

Beside the site of his monastery in Church St, Roscreas Dimma was honoured on Saturday when Roscrea native and renowned author Dom Laurence Walsh OSCO officially opened Dimma's Books and Bookstore at the Vincent's SVP shop in Roscrea.

Dom Laurence traced some of the glory of St Cronans in stone and manuscript and congratulated all concerned on the wonderful addition to the town.

Dimma's Books is the project of passionate bibliophile and celebrated Roscrea author George Cunningham, which also raises funds for the Roscrea SVP Conference. Pictured above are the three authors, Dom Laurence Walsh, John Feehan and George. Photo: PJ Wright

Tony Brennan acting as MC introduced Con Cunningham, the Conference President, to welcome Dom Laurence. Con was delighted to do so and thanked his brother George for initiating and developing the project over the last year.

We had a small but quality gathering for the official opening of Dimmas Books and Bookstore, George Cunningham told the Tribune after the official opening on Saturday and invited everyone to come and visit the shop located in the Vincent's Shop on Church Street and grab a bargain - pictured at the opening are Eddie Murray, Tony Brennan, Pat Bourke, John Feehan, Conty Cunningham, Dom Laurence Walsh, George Cunningham, Michael Bracken, John Lupton and Sean Delaney. Photo: PJ Wright

In his address Dom Laurence thanked Conty and each member of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Roscrea for inviting him to open the expanded bookshop.

Here in what was the very enclosure of Saint Cronans early seventh century Monastery in the magnum civitas, as Cronans life puts it, the great town of Roscrea, which of course owes its origin to the Saint, Dom Laurence said.

Pictured at the official opening of the new extended Dimma's Books are Willie and Maureen Hayes and Francis Maxwell. Photo: PJ Wright

"Here too we have our beautiful Round Tower, with its particularly beautiful east window. It was usual for relics to be displayed in the window of round towers on the local saints feast day. But of all Irelands round towers ours alone has this window adorned with specially carved stone sides.

"The 31 x 15 (80 x 38 cm) stone on the right has a carving in relief of a celtic cross and a ship, representing Christ and the Church, the Church in rough waters, so often the rough waters of poverty, and Christ in the person of Vincent de Paul, stretching towards them with the assurance: 'It is I, do not be afraid'", Dom Laurence explained.

Pictured at the official opening of the new extended Dimma's Books are several members of the Roscrea Conference of Saint Vincent De Paul with Don Laurence. Pictured are Eddie Murray, John Lupton, Fr Laurence Walsh, Adrianna Cunningham, Conty Cunningham, George Cunningham, Tony Brennan and Sean Delaney. Photo: PJ Wright

"And here in this window the Celtic monks of Roscrea honoured St. Cronans feast day each year, with a display of their major relic, their precious copy of the four Gospels, the Book of Dimma, and that in its silver casket, both of which are today in the superb care of the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.

"With that, it is the privilege of another old monk of Roscrea, to declare Dimma's Books open," Dom Laurence said.

Pictured above left is Dom Laurence Walsh OCSO officially opening Dimma's Books in theVincent's St Vincent De Paul Shop in Roscrea. Photo: PJ Wright

George Cunnigham spoke of the evolution of the collections up to the opening, when over 8,000 books are now available for purchase at almost giveaway prices and thanked shop manager Eileen, the wonderful volunteers and conference members for their commitment to helping others.

In particular George thanked Michael Bracken of Copper Beech estate for his continuing help; also Walsh printers (soon to begin a new life under Andrea and Val as Dimma Printing Services at a new premises in Parkmore); and Peadar King who helped with the shelving.

George welcomed Dr John Feehan whose works filled a table on its own; he spoke of a bibliography of Johns publications which he is hoping to publish later on in the year. He thanked Sean Mulrooney of Mulrooney's Gala for sponsoring the reception with delights from their deli.

As this is biodiversity week a table full of nature/bio/eco books was on display with a tantalising offer: buy 3 books and get the cheapest one free. Many did so. Dimmas extended bookstore was off to a great start.
Inland Fisheries Ireland say a Laois farmer who removed gravel from the River Nore was fined over 5,000 last month.

According to the IFI, the farmer was found guilty of two breaches of fisheries legislation for deliberate destruction caused at a local river.

The farmer was prosecuted for damaging spawning beds and disturbing spawn or fry during destructive gravel removal works carried out on an 80 metre stretch of the Delour River, a tributary of the River Nore, near Mountrath.

Commenting on the conviction, South-Eastern River Basin District Director at Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), Lynda Connor commented on the case.

This is a serious crime against the environment. The destruction of the river habitat, and the spawning beds for the likes of trout and salmon, threatens the species survival in this area, and beyond into the greater Nore catchment, she said.

Landowners need to seek all necessary and relevant information from their advisors, and from IFI, before carrying out any works near or on a watercourse adjacent to their land, Ms Connor added.

The defendant pleaded guilty to the offences at Portlaoise District Court on April 21, 2023, and was fined 4,000 and ordered to pay a further 1,500 for the costs of the prosecution.

Evidence was given by Fisheries Environmental Officer Oliver McGrath, and the incident took place on September 30, 2022.

Pictured above gravel deposits: Supplied by IFI

The offences were secured under Section 173 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959, as amended, for injury or disturbance of the spawn or fry of Salmon, Trout or Eels and for the injury or disturbance of their spawning bed, bank or shallow where their spawn or fry may be.

The IFI encourages members of the public, anglers and farmers to report incidents such as this, and those of water pollution, fish kills, and illegal fishing to its confidential 24/7 phone number, 0818 34 74 24.
A woman has appeared in court charged with biting a security guard during an altercation at holiday resort giant, Center Parcs.

Forty-year-old Ann Marie Roche, of Baskin Lane, Cloughran, Swords, Dublin came before a sitting of Longford District Court on Tuesday charged with two counts of assault causing harm following an incident on June 10 last year.

Garda Vincent O'Leary gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He said Ms Roche made no reply after caution before handing her a true copy of the charge sheet.

Sgt Conor McShane, on behalf of the State, asked for bail to be extended from previous charges of intoxication and using threatening and abusive behaviour which Ms Roche had initially been charged with.

He said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented for summary disposal on two section 3 assaults, meaning the case could be heard and disposed of at District Court level.

Those alleged offences took place the day after the two assault charges before the court.

Judge Bernadette Owens, in deciding jurisdiction, was told while there were no medical reports to hand, the allegations centred on two separate bites to the thumb area and palm of a security guard's left hand.

The court was told both alleged bites punctured the skin of the alleged victim.

Ms Roche, who stood impassively in the body of the court throughout today's brief hearing, gave no indication of how she would plead.

Her defence solicitor Anthony Feeney requested the full disclosure of all statements and evidential documentation relevant to the case.

Judge Owens acceded to that request and remanded Ms Roche on bail to a sitting of Longford District Court on June 20.
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After neighborhood kids trespassed at a Charlottesville luxury apartment complexs pool, management has hired guards.

While the single incident was cited in multiple emails regarding the escalation in surveillance and security, an employee for the management team at the 10th & Dairy apartments said the buildings owners and managers have been increasingly concerned for some time about the rise in violent crime in the city and surrounding neighborhood.

The management team at the apartment complex next to the Dairy Market food hall in the city said the propertys landlord, Stony Point Development Group, decided to take additional measures regarding increasing security at 10th & Dairy and at The Dairy Market after a group of young teens snuck into the garage when the door was open after a vehicle left and trespassed at the propertys outdoor pool on April 26, according to emails obtained by The Daily Progress.

In an April 27 email, property manager Rachel Snoddy encouraged residents to call the police on any children they believe dont belong at the complex.

If you encounter a group of kids that do not live here and we are not on-site, feel free to call the police, Snoddy wrote.

She said that she had spoken with police about the April 26 incident and an officer had told her that it would be difficult for law enforcement to tell whether children on or around the property lived there or didnt.

I told him that most of the children that live here are not in the teen/tween age group, and a group of kids with no adult supervision will not be residents of our community, Snoddy wrote.

In a May 12 follow-up email, Snoddy warned residents, You will be seeing security guards in and around the community.

She said the apartments management team had hired UpScale Security, the same company that provides security services for the Dairy Market food hall next door as well as Preston Plaza shopping center across the street.

A 10th & Dairy management employee, who asked not to be named, confirmed with The Daily Progress, We expanded the patrols from the commercial market to the apartments.

Under the new agreement with 10th & Dairy, unarmed security guards were told not to come to the pool unless they get a complaint, UpScale Security told The Daily Progress.

Snoddy said the guards do not currently have a fixed schedule.

Their schedule will vary, so there may not always be someone available, but for now, we are hoping they will help deter any mischief, Snoddy wrote.

Echoing her original email, Snoddy said that if security or management is not available, residents should call the police on any children who do not belong.

The employee who declined to provide their name emphasized that the neighborhood kids were not the only reason security has been upped.

Between a stabbing across from the Dairy Market in late April, a historic uptick local shootings and panhandlers trespassing on apartment property, the employee said residents have been requesting the propertys owner and managers increase security and surveillance.
INDEPENDENT TD Carol Nolan has said the ongoing controversy surrounding the decision by the European Peoples Party to push for the rescinding of two flagship pieces of environmental legislation put forward by European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen is a clear example of the apparently unstoppable force of the green agenda meeting the immovable object of farmers rights and international food security.

The Laois Offaly representative went on to say that while she welcomed indications from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue that rewetting would be voluntary and not mandatory, there was still a long road to travel before such a flexible approach was endorsed at EU level.

The writing is on the wall in terms of just how far the proposals made by President von der Leyen can be pushed, said Deputy Nolan.

On the one hand, this is a welcome sign in that finally people are waking up to the dangers involved in pursuing such punitive, unrealistic and unworkable targets.

On the other hand it is also clear that major political groupings across the EU are plainly terrified of the fact that they have awakened a sleeping giant in terms of the rural communities who are most impacted.

We have to get real about the nature of farming and what is required to deliver genuine and sustainable levels of food security, while maintaining a health and realistic level of environmental ambition, concluded Deputy Nolan.
THE construction of 62 modular homes adjacent to Clonminch Lane without the residents of the area being notified has been condemned as an appalling invasion of privacy.

Frank O'Reilly, spokesperson for the residents of Clonminch Lane , said he and his neighbours had not been consulted before construction work on the 62 modular homes to house Ukrainian refugees began on the site on April 17 last.

I woke up on Monday, April 17 to the sound of construction equipment on the land directly behind our homes  he told the Tribune this week.

Mr O'Reilly likened the work to an invasion without the guns"

He said that residents of the lane had no prior notification of the work which he condemned as deeply insulting and a disgrace.

Mr O'Reilly added a leaflet drop had taken place in other areas adjoining the modular homes site outlining the works planned but the residents of Clonminch Lane hadn't been informed.

He stressed he and other residents of the lane are sympathetic to the plight of Ukrainian refugees and support the national efforts being made to provide assistance.

But he said the sudden arrival of construction equipment on Monday, April 17 and the commencement of site development for modular homes proved to be a very rude awakening.

Members of Offaly County Council were assured in a briefing by the Office of Public Works, the body charged with developing the site, that there would be engagement with local residents before work commenced on the Clonminch site.

Of the 62 planned modular homes, 16 are being placed on a site directly behind four of the houses on Clonminch Lane.

Mr O'Reilly, in a letter to the OPW, asked why it was necessary to plan 16 of the units directly the homes on the lane when the site was large enough for a less invasive configuration.

We can only assume this was an oversight of simply a lack of consideration for the people who've lived on the lane for years, he added.

Mr O'Reilly revealed the OPW has now agreed to construct a perimeter wall around the four homes affected by the development - this will protect privacy on both sides, increase security and reduce noise levels.

He and other residents want work on the wall to begin as soon as possible before the modular homes site is developed further.

The wall will be constructed on the council's property beyond the boundaries of the homes on Clonminch Lane and existing hedgerows and trees will remain intact.

The OPW has also stated it will plant semi-mature trees on the council side of the wall.

Access to the modular homes site will be from the main Portlaoise road at Clonminch and residents of Clonminch Lane are lobbying there be no access from the site onto the narrow lane for safety reasons as it could not accommodate additional vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Mr O'Reilly said work on the modular homes site is progressing rapidly with an original handover date set for August 13 next.

Clonminch Lane residents have met with representatives of the OPW on the site to outline their concerns and the matter was brought to the attention of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman by Deputy Barry Cowen.

Mr O'Reilly paid tribute to Deputy Cowen and to local councillors Tony McCormack and Neil Feighery for their work on behalf of the lane's residents.

He added that in the long term the Clonminch site may be used for social housing considering the infrastructure that is being put in place there.

Mr O'Reilly also questioned the suitability of the Clonminch site for modular homes as there are no shops, schools or medical facilities within convenient walking distance.

It is understood that a regular bus service is to be provided and a bus stop was recently installed in the area.

Each of the units being put in place at the Clonminch site measures in the region of 45 square metres in area and costs approximately 145,000 to construct.

The homes will include a kitchen-dining-living area combined, a bathroom, a small bedroom and a large bedroom

The OPW was asked by the Government to develop the programme of rapid build modular homes on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) which is the Approving Authority for the programme.

The OPW is the sponsoring agency for the purposes of rolling out the programme, with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage identifying sites that might be suitable.

The homes will be highly energy efficient, durable units with a 60 year lifespan and the development of the sites will be conducted in an environmentally sustainable way to ensure that, post development, the site will enhance the local area, a statement from the OPW said.

Construction disruption will be limited as the units are manufactured off site the statement claimed.

DCEDIY will provide for the management and maintenance of the homes and sites once they are completed.

DCEDIY is working with other departments and agencies regarding availability of services.

The building of modular homes for Ukrainian refugees was raised with senior Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth officials at a meeting of the Dail Public Accounts Committee recently. The meeting was also attended by Ciaran O'Connor, OPW State architect.

Laois Offaly TD Brian Stanley is the chair of the Committee which monitors the spending of public money by Government Departments.

Under questioning from Deputy Stanely on the use of the semi-detached prefabricated accommodation, Mr O'Connor outlined a possible future use. He said the buildings could be reconfigured by merging two together, to give one full-sized social house.

Mr O'Connor said there is another potential use. "We were cognisant of possible future use. It can be lifted and sent off to Ukraine as part of Ireland's aid to Ukraine later. It is a lift-and-plug house," he said.

The architect told Deputy Stanley that the homes would include a kitchen-dining-living area combined, a bathroom, a small bedroom and a large bedroom. He said up to four people could live in the semi-detached homes which have an option for a pull-out sofa bed in the dining area.

He told the Committee that the buildings have a lifespan of a minimum of 60 years and the cost varies between five suppliers.

TDs were also told that it is envisaged that approved housing bodies would manage maintenance.

The Department's Secretary General Mr Kevin McCarthy said there is "a good communications plan" in respect of the modular housing programme.

"We have people on the ground engaging with communities and speaking to their representatives and their local public representatives," he said.

However, Deputy Stanley disagreed. "The point is that there has been zero communication. In this vacuum, the rumour mill gets going," he said.

The issue was also discussed at this month's meeting of Tullamore Municipal District with councillors hitting out at the lack of consultantion with Clonminch residents.

Cllr Tony McCormack asked the council to write to the OPW to emphasise the need for the people of Clonminch to be included in the plans. ''This doesn't bode well for them (OPW) trying to do this elsewhere because the fact that we handed over this land to them in a section 183 was because of the assurances we were given. I'll tell you one thing if I thought for one second what happened was going to happen, I wouldn't have signed up for it and I wouldn't have voted in favour of allowing it to go through,'' said Cllr McCormack.

Agreeing, Councillor Sean O'Brien said, it's just not good enough. The council had no say, good bad or indifferent. We had no say with regards to the land, that land was zoned for industry and it was taken out of our hands. So it's the Government of the day that has to stand up as well. It's easy for people locally to give out, but it's their own party's Government that are making these decisions. I think it's disgraceful the way they are being treated.''

The Cathaoirleach of Tullamore Municipal District, Cllr Neil Feighery said while there is an obligation to house Ukrainian refugees, the land at Clonminch was handed over in the belief that there would be a full round of consultations with the people of the area.

''It's beyond belief that heavy track machines and heavy construction machinery moved in on site and topsoil was removed without the residents living right beside the site having had any communication with the Department of Children, Equality Disability and Integration or the OPW. It was so heavy handed,'' he said.
19 of the 24 retail units in the Bridge Shopping Centre, Tullamore, remain on the market four years after they first went on sale.

The units are being sold in one lot by several private owners, with a guide price of 4,750,000. They include a floor area extending to 1,711 sq.m. / 18,416 sq.ft. - The total rental income per annum is 439,096.

Some of the high profile tenants, which will not be affected by the sale, include, Holland and Barrett, Vero Moda, Dolan's Pharmacy and Boston Barbers.

The units first came on the market in 2019 with a guide price of 5.95 million and an annual rental income of 732,000.

Kieran Curtin of HWBC who are handling the sale said there have been some expressions of interest. ''Tullamore is a good town,'' he said.

The Bridge Shopping Centre was built by a company headed up by local businessman Christy Maye in 1995 and was opened the same year by the late Gay Byrne. The centre is anchored by Dunnes Stores and has a total of 24 tenants, a cinema and 350 car parking spaces. It also has a restaurant on the second level.

HWBC describe the centre as ''a successful regional shopping centre comprising over 68,000 sq. ft. of retail space including a 46,000 sq. ft. Dunnes Stores.''

The description continues: ''It has an excellent and broad user mix including fashion, footwear, pharmacy, jewellers, sportswear, household and hair salon. There is also good multiple representation including An Post, EBS,Vero Moda and Holland & Barrett.''

HWBC say ''Bridge Street is one of the main shopping streets in Tullamore. It is a busy mixed-use street incorporating primarily retail, restaurants, public houses, leisure and office use. The Bridge Centre is located at the northern end of Bridge Street, opposite O Connor Square. This end of the street is regarded as the prime retail pitch in Tullamore.''
Privacy Policy/Your Privacy Rights

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Changes to this policy.

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Richard Robbins of Corvallis recently released his seventh collection of poetry, The Oratory of All Souls: Poems, published by Lynx House Press.

The poems center on fundamental human concerns, especially those connected to personal and community suffering. Their sources are memory, the historical moment, the local objects that compose each and the terrible love of our imagination that makes them new in language.

In these poems, the speakers map roads into and out of grief, adopting the role of lover, father or citizen searching for insight or the right way to live. Finally, it becomes a book about breaking and mending, injury and forgiveness, and about our search for resurrection in, and of, daily life.

Robbins was grew up in California and Montana, taught in Minnesota for many years, and recently moved back West to Oregon. He has received awards or residencies from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Society of America, the Anderson Center, Willapa Bay AiR, and the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers.

From 1986 to 2014, he directed the Good Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State Mankato, which the Minnesota Humanities Commission called the premier small-town reading series in the country.

Further information is available at lynxhousepress.com.
Banks to remain closed 12 days in May: Full list of holidays

After RBI's Big Order, Zomato Reveals 72% of Cash On Delivery Bills Paid In Rs 2,000 Notes

Dedicated Counters In Place As Banks Gear Up to Exchange Rs 2,000 Notes

Cannot Use Recovery Agents to Seize Vehicles Over Non-Payment Of EMIs: High Court

Fact Check: Can Banks Verify If You Have Spent Less Than Rs 7 Lakh A Year?

Fact Check

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale has claimed that people will be charged 20 per cent tax collected at source, no matter how much they spend abroad.

"The new 7 lakh exemption announced foreign transaction tax is an eyewash. Banks cannot verify whether you have spent less than 7 lakhs a year. Ergo, you will be charged 20 per cent TCS on every transaction. Modi government and BJP are masters at misleading people," Gokhale had said in a tweet.

The fact check wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) called out this claim and said that it was false.

Fact Check: Have NATO Troops Entered Ukraine To Fight The Russians?

Claim: Banks cannot verify whether youve spent less than 7 lacs in a year.#PIBFactCheck



 This claim is False.



 Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) spends of an individual are compiled & monitored by @RBI. pic.twitter.com/xcmatDKeJQ  PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 20, 2023

The government on Friday had announced that no tax will be charged on overseas spending of up to Rs 7 lakh a year using debit or credit cards. Friday's announcement was a follow up to the public queries on the Centre's earlier announcement on charging TCS on all spending.

"Claim: Banks cannot verify whether you have spent less than  7 lakh in a year. This claim is false. The Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) spends of an individual are compiled and monitored by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India)," PIB said in a tweet.

Gokhale was granted bail by a Gujarat court on May 6 in connection with a money laundering case.

Fact Check: Does This Video Show Siddaramaiah Shaking His Leg To A Popular Kannada Song?

He faces allegations of money laundering linked to a crowd-funding initiative. He had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in January this year.

The government had earlier this week brought overseas credit card spending under the LRS scheme. This meant that any spending using a credit card abroad would attract 20 per cent tax from July 1 onwards. Debit card spending was already part of the LRS.

Fact Check Claim Banks cannot verify whether you have spent less than Rs 7 lakh a year. Conclusion The government has said that this claim is false Rating False Raise your request for FACT CHECKING. Mail us at [email protected]

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 10:26 [IST]
No one has approached us so far: Naveen Patnaik on backing NDA presidential nominee

BJD, SAD, YSRCP To Attend Inauguration Of New Parliament Building Amid Opposition's Boycott Call

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

With 19 Opposition political parties boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building, built as a part of India's Central Vista plan, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party on Wednesday released a statement confirming that its party members will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28.

The BJD believes that Constitutional institutions should be above any issue which may affect their sanctity and honour, the regional party in a statement said here.

"The BJD shall be a part of this momentous occasion," it said. The party claims to be following a policy of maintaining equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress.

New Parliament Building Inauguration: Here's List Of Opposition Parties Decided To Boycott

Earlier in the day, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building in Delhi on May 28, party leader Daljit Singh Cheema said, amid 19 Opposition parties announcing a boycott of the event.

The country is getting a new Parliament building and it is a moment of pride, and "we do not want any politics to be played at this time", Cheema said here in an apparent reference to the boycott by parties such as the AAP, the Congress and the TMC.

Ruling YSRCP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy also confirmed that his party will participate in the inauguration of the new Parliament building scheduled on May 28 while Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is yet to decide.

Terming this event as a historic one, the Chief Minister said YSRCP will attend it in the true spirit of democracry. ''In the true spirit of democracy, my party will attend this historic event,'' tweeted Reddy, congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dedicating a grand, majestic and spacious Parliament building to the nation.

Meanwhile, he called on political parties, many of which have decided to boycott the inauguration, to set aside all political differences, observing that boycotting such an auspicious event is not the true spirit of democracy.

The opening of the newly-built Parliament building is set to take place on Sunday (May 28) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the same.

As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Left, TMC, SP and AAP, came together on Wednesday and announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they find no value in a new building when the ''soul of democracy has been sucked out''.

The Opposition parties have said the prime minister's decision to inaugurate the building by himself, "completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response".
Blatant Affront To Democratic Values: NDA Slams Opposition For Boycotting Parliament Inauguration

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance launched a sharp counterattack on Opposition parties for their decision to boycott the new Parliament building's inauguration, calling their stand a ''blatant affront to democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation''.

In a statement, the alliance said, "This recent boycott is just another feather in their cap of disregard for democratic processes." "Such flagrant disrespect towards this institution betrays not only intellectual bankruptcy but a disturbing contempt for the very essence of democracy. Regrettably, this is not the first instance of such disdain," it said.

"This act is not merely disrespectful; it is a blatant affront to the democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation," they said in the statement.

Joint statement of like-minded Opposition parties pic.twitter.com/eI4K0Lw7cs  Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) May 24, 2023

''Such flagrant disrespect towards this institution betrays not only intellectual bankruptcy but a disturbing contempt for the very essence of democracy. Regrettably, this is not the first instance of such disdain. Over the past nine years, these opposition parties have repeatedly shown scant regard for parliamentary procedures, disrupted sessions, staged walkouts during crucial legislations, and demonstrated an alarming lackadaisical attitude towards their Parliamentary duties. This recent boycott is just another feather in their cap of disregard for democratic processes,'' according to the statement.

The audacity of these opposition parties to preach about parliamentary decency and constitutional values is, in the light of their actions, nothing short of laughable. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds  they boycotted the special GST session presided over by the then President of pic.twitter.com/xA9GaiM64A  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023

''The audacity of these opposition parties to preach about parliamentary decency and constitutional values is, in the light of their actions, nothing short of laughable. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds - they boycotted the special GST session presided over by the then President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee; skipped the ceremony when he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, and even extended a late courtesy call to Shri Ramnath Kovind Ji upon his election as President. Further, the disrespect shown towards our current President, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, is a new low in political discourse. The staunch opposition to her candidature is not just an insult to her but a direct affront to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of our nation,'' NDA statement read.

After Akali Dal, BJD To Attend Inauguration Of New Parliament Building

''It is painfully apparent that the Opposition shuns Parliament because it represents the will of the people - a will that has repeatedly rejected their antiquated and self-serving politics. Their preference for semi-monarchic governments and family-run parties shows an aversion to vibrant democracy, an ideology incongruent with the ethos of our nation,'' the statement further read.

The signatories to the letter included BJP president J P Nadda, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, NPP leader and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Nagaland Chief Minister and NDPP's Nefu Rio.

Sikkim Chief Minister and SKM leader Prem Singh Tamang, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jananayak Janata Party leader Dushyant Chautala, RLJP leader and Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, Republican Party leader and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and Apna Dal (Sonelal) leader and Union Minister Anupriya Patel are also among the signatories to the letter.

As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Left, TMC, SP and AAP, came together on Wednesday and announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they find no value in a new building when the ''soul of democracy has been sucked out''.

The opposition parties contend that President Draupadi Murmu should do the honours as she was not only the Head of State, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it.
Will Visit Violence-Hit Manipur Soon, Calls For Peace And Dialogue: Amit Shah

In Violence-Hit Manipur, Large Cache Of Arms And Ammunition Recovered

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A large cache of arms and ammunition have been recovered from three persons at the Kangchup Chingkhong Junction In Manipur amidst the ongoing violence in the state.

The arms were seized from the three persons after they had been apprehended. The operation was carried out based on the inputs that were received by the Spear Corps of the Indian Army. A vehicle was intercepted at a Mobile Vehicle Check Post at 9.35 pm on Tuesday.

In the seizure, 5 shotguns, 5 improvised local grenades and three cartons of shotgun ammunition had been recovered. The three persons have been apprehended are being questioned.

"Based on inputs, Mobile Vehicle Check Post placed at Kangchuk Chingkhong Junction #Manipur. One Maruti Alto was intercepted at 9:35 pm. 5 shotguns,5 Improvised local grenades & 3 Cartons of shotgun ammunition were recovered. 3 persons apprehended, handed over to Police along with recoveries," the Spear Corps said in a statement.

Further investigations are on.

Manipur: Curfew Reimposed In Imphal After Fresh Clashes; Army called in

Manipur has been on the boil for the past couple of weeks. On Tuesday business establishments remained closed and people in Imphal were asked to stay indoors after a mob torched two houses.

Taking note of the fresh violence, the government has decided to send more troops to Manipur.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 9:32 [IST]
Will Visit Violence-Hit Manipur Soon, Calls For Peace And Dialogue: Amit Shah

Locals Vandalise Manipur MLA's Home, Say No Protection From Insurgents

India

oi-PTI

The house of Manipur PWD Minister Konthoujam Govindas in Bishnupur district was vandalised on Wednesday by a group of people claiming that the government in the strife-torn state is not doing enough to protect locals from militants belonging to another community, officials said.

The minister who is a BJP leader and his family members, however, were not present at the house when the mob, comprising mostly women, attacked the house in Ningthoukhong area and damaged a portion of a gate, windows, a few furniture and electronic gadgets.

This is the first time a minister's house was attacked during the ongoing ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki community people in the state that started three weeks ago and claimed more than 70 lives. Army and paramilitary forces have been deployed to control the situation in the state.

"The locals were angry. They alleged that Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Govindas and other BJP MLAs have been silent over the ongoing violence and not doing enough to protect them from armed militants," an official said.

There were reports that militants late Tuesday night torched the houses of some villagers at Toronglaobi in Bishnupur district. The authorities have then reduced the curfew relaxation hours, officials said.

There were rumours about a few persons getting killed or injured in Churachandpur district but there was no official confirmation.

Meanwhile, Eastern Army commander Lt Gen R P Kalita undertook a three-day visit to strife-torn Manipur till Wednesday to assess and review the ground security situation, a defence official said in Kolkata.

The northeastern state shares international borders with Myanmar.

Independent MLA From Harapanahalli Extends Support To Congress In Karnataka

The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Army Command, held meetings with local stakeholders, including members of all communities and several civil society organisations, the official said.

In his meetings with the stakeholders, the Eastern Army commander "urged suspension of hostilities by all sections of society".

During the visit from May 22 to 24, Lt Gen Kalita visited Kangpokpi, Matripukhri, Churachandpur, Bishnupur, Yaingangpokpi and Moreh, where he was updated on the security situation by local commanders.

He also held interactions with Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and senior government officials to discuss the ongoing situation and measures to boost unison among all agencies for setting in normalcy as early as possible, he said.

Kalita urged the people of Manipur to maintain tranquillity and harmony and to carry out constructive dialogue to ensure lasting peace in the region.

The Army has recovered five shotguns, five improvised local grenades and three cartons of shotgun ammunition from a car in Senapati district.

"Three persons were apprehended and handed over to the police along with the recovered items," the force said on Wednesday.

Clashes broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

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 paramilitary personnel had to be deployed to restore normalcy in the northeastern state.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 23:43 [IST]
Democracy Is Our Sanskar Says PM Modi At Inaugural Of New Parliament Building

New Parliament Building Inauguration: Here's List Of Opposition Parties Decided To Boycott

India

oi-Deepika S

Nineteen Opposition parties, including the Congress, the TMC, the AAP decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

"Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Draupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," the Opposition joint statement said.

"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight in letter, in spirit, and in substance - against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," it said.

Opposition Parties To Boycott New Parliament Building Inauguration By PM Modi

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Check out the list of political parties boycotting the new Parliament building's inauguration

Indian National Congress Trinamool Congress Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Janata Dal (United) Aam Aadmi Party Nationalist Congress Party Shiv Sena (UBT) Communist Party of India (Marxist) Samajwadi Party Rashtriya Janata Dal Communist Party of India Indian Union Muslim League Jharkhand Mukti Morcha National Conference Kerala Congress (Mani) Revolutionary Socialist Party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi Marumalarchi Munnetra Kazhagam Rashtriya Lok Dal
Congress Reacting As If It Has Won A World War: Himanta Sarma On Karnataka Results

New Parliament Inauguration Row: Assam CM Lists Events When Guv Wasnt Invited

India

oi-Deepika S

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma on Wednesday took a dig at opposition parties which have decided to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building

"In the last 9 years - 5 non-BJP or Opposition state governments either laid foundation stones or inaugurated a new Legislative Assembly building. All were done by either the Chief Minister or the Party President. In not a single instance was the Governor or President invited," Himanta tweeted.

"2014: UPA Chief Ministers laid foundation stones of Assembly building in Jharkhand and Assam - Governor not invited. 2018: Andhra Chief Minister lays foundation of new Assembly, Governor not invited. 2020: Sonia Gandhi laid foundation stone of Chhattisgarh Assembly, Governor not invited. 2023: Telangana Assembly inaugurated by Chief Minister, Governor not invited," the tweet added.

In the last 9 years - 5 non-BJP / Opposition state governments either laid foundation stones or inaugurated a new Legislative Assembly building .



All were done by either the Chief Minister or the Party President. In not a single instance was the Governor or President invited. pic.twitter.com/LjP9zjlLGg  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) May 24, 2023

Sarma's dig comes after nineteen Opposition parties, including the Congress, the TMC, the AAP, and others decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

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Tamil Nadu's 'Sengol' To Be Placed In New Parliament: Know Its Significance

The opposition parties have demanded that President Drupadi Murmu should inaugurate the new parliament building instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy... This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," read a joint statement from the opposition parties.

"Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India... When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the parliament, we find no value in a new building," it added.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 17:14 [IST]
War Of Words Over Sengol Escalate As Inauguration Of New Parliament Nears

Not Right To Politicise, Amit Shah On Inauguration Of New Parliament Building

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Union Home Minister, Amit Shah has said that the inauguration of the Parliament building should not be politicised. He said that it is an emotional moment in history and a process to connect new India with old traditions.

"We should not politicise this (inauguration of new Parliament building) issue, let people think and react however they want to," Shah said at a press conference.

His remarks came amidst the boycott call by 19 Opposition parties. These parties have maintained that the President should inaugurate the building and not the Prime Minister.

The statement by the Opposition parties criticised the Centre and pointed out that the Prime Minister's decision to inaugurate the building by completely sidelining the President of India is not just a grave insult by a direct assault on democracy.

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Tamil Nadu's 'Sengol' To Be Placed In New Parliament: Know Its Significance

The members of the National Democratic Alliance will attend the inaugural to be held on May 28.

Union Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri reminded hat the inauguration of the Parliament annex and library were done by prime ministers of the Congress, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

"In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can't our head of government do the same," he said.
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Now that the election is over, its time to reflect on why voters rejected the Benton County bond measure to build a new jail.

As I see it, the bond measure failed again because it does not reflect our values. As a community, we have always valued our schools, libraries and parks. They are an investment in the next generation and a reflection of who we are. Voters have shown that they are willing to continue to support these resources.

However, building a big new jail is not who we are as a community. Currently nearly 1 out of every 100 people in the United States is in prison or jail. That is more than 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, which is the most of any country in the world.

Building a big new jail to incarcerate even more people does not represent our communitys values. And this has been seen in the multiple rejections by Benton County voters over the years of bond measures to build a new jail.

Instead, it could be helpful to look at alternatives to incarcerating more and more people. We need to move beyond the idea that building bigger jails and locking up more people is the solution.

Another issue voters had with the bond measure is that Benton County used eminent domain to take farmland for the new jail. This also does not reflect our values as a community, especially because there was other land available.

Instead, we should celebrate our farmers and do everything possible to support them. Farming is hard and important work. It adds value to our community and helps reduce global warming.

When I was a Corvallis city councilor, I took several tours of the Benton County Jail. We need a new jail. It has serious maintenance issues and was never designed to be used as long as it has been.

Instead of building a big new jail, one idea is to tear down the existing one-story jail and replace it with a new two-story building at its current location.

Providing mental health services is more of a challenge. There is a real need in our community to help those experiencing mental health issues. And there is strong support in our community to provide these services.

Benton County could seek state and federal dollars to help those in need and also take the lead with our state and federal representatives about how we can provide mental health resources. The issue is bigger than just Benton County or the state of Oregon. It is a national issue.

The lesson learned from the rejection of the Benton County bond measure is that it did not represent our values as a community. Building a big new jail and forcibly taking someones farm is not who we are.

Instead we need to have a discussion about replacing our current jail with a new building. And we need to take the lead in discussions at the state and national level about how to provide mental health services.
Now, Meter Reader Beaten Up For Asking To Pay Electricity Bill In Karnataka

India

oi-Prakash KL

An incident of a meter reader from the electricity department getting beaten up for asking to pay the bill has come to light in Koppal where some people had recently asked the BESCOM officials to collect their power bills from Congress.

The said official had gone to Chandrashekariah's house asking him to clear the pending dues of the electricity department. However, he refused to pay the amount and reportedly abused the meter reader. The official lost cool when Chandrashekariah used cuss language, according to a report.

As their war of words continued, Chandrashekariah beat up the official in his slipper. A case has been filed at Munirabad police station in this regard.

Congress had promised the voters of Karnataka of giving 200 units of electricity for free. In fact, this was one of the key guarantees that resonated with the voters, according to poll pundits.

Demand For Free Electricity Grows As Power Tariff Hiked by 70 Paisa in Karnataka

Recently, there were reports of people in Koppal refusing to pay electricity bills. "We won't pay the current bill. No matter what, we are promised 200 units of free power and we will have it. Even if the CM is not there yet," India Today quoted a person as saying.

BJP leader Amit Malviya had recently posted a video in which people in Chitradurga claim that they will not pay the electricity bill for this month. "Villagers in Chitradurga refuse to pay the electricity bill. Exhort others also not to pay! They tell the bill collector that Congress had promised them free electricity, as soon as they came to power... Go take it from them (Congress), they say... If Congress doesn't give a CM soon, there will be chaos all around...," he wrote on Twitter.

Video Of Karnataka Villagers' Refusing To Pay Electricity Bill Goes Viral

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, after taking the oath, said that Congress will keep all the poll promises. However, it will come into effect after getting approval from the cabinet.

On the other hand, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has given a nod to raise the power tariff by 70 paise per unit. The new tariff has come into effect from April 1.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 10:03 [IST]
Almost All Ministers In New Karnataka Cabinet Have Pending Criminal Cases

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Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar In Delhi; Discussion On Karnataka Cabinet Expansion likely With Cong leadership

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar have reached the national capital on Wednesday, as they are likely to meet the top Congress leadership to discuss cabinet expansion in the state.

After arriving in Delhi, Shivakumar told reporters that it was a normal routine visit and that he will meet senior party leaders to discuss issues concerning the state.

''We have to finish our cabinet (expansion) as early as possible. That is in process. My chief minister is also coming,'' Shivakumar said. He said they will meet the top leadership including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

Rejecting rumours of a rift within the party, Shivakumar said, ''As the party president (Karnataka), I am telling you that nothing is there, no internal issues are there.''

Blatant Affront To Democratic, Constitutional Values Of India: NDA On Oppn Boycotting Parliament

On being asked about supporters of Congress MLA D Sudhakar staging a protest outside Siddaramaiah's house, Shivakumar said, ''(It's) quite natural. All of the workers (of the party) want to become ministers.'' Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively, along with eight ministers on May 20. Portfolios have not been allocated to the ministers yet.

According to Congress sources, the party high command approved the first list of eight ministers against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of legislators into the cabinet.

This was done as there were allegedly differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over some names, during discussions held last week in Delhi ahead of swearing-in ceremony.

Karnataka can have a maximum of 34 ministers, and the Congress will find it difficult to accommodate all the aspirants.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 21:52 [IST]
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TV Actress Vaibhavi Upadhyaya Killed In Road Accident

India

oi-Prakash KL

Television actress Vaibhavi Upadhyaya of 'Sarabhai vs Sarabhai' fame was killed in a road accident, according to a report in ANI.

Producer JD Majethia shared the news of her death on his Instagram account. He said that the actress died in an accident in North India. The final rites will be performed today at 11 am.

"Life is so unpredictable. A very fine actress, dear friend Vaibhavi Upadhyay popularly known as 'Jasmine' of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai passed away. She met with an accident in the north. Family will bring her to Mumbai tomorrow morning around 11 am for last rites. RIP Vaibhavi (sic)," JD Majethia said.

The actress had also worked in Deepika Padukone's 'Chhapaak' in 2020 and 'Timir' (2023).

The news of Vaibhavi's death comes a few days after actor Aditya Singh Rajput was found dead at his apartment in Mumbai. The 32-year was found dead in the washroom of his apartment.
In 11 Points, the Verdict of the Supreme Court on Maharashtra Crisis Explained

Uddhav Assures Support To Kejriwal On Delhi Services Row

India

oi-PTI

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai on Wednesday to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi.

Uddhav is said to have assured support to Kejriwal in the parliament over the ordinance brought in by the Centre on the transfers and postings of bureaucrats in the national capital.

"We all have come together to save the country and democracy. I think we should not be called opposition parties in fact Centre should be called opposition since they are against Democracy and Constitution," said Uddhav while addressing a joint press conference.

Kejriwal, the AAP's national convener, will also meet Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar to seek his support against the Centre's ordinance.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance.

The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

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The ordinance, which comes a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.
Rampur by elections: BJP reaching out to Pasmanda Muslims to demolish Azam Khan's fortress

Azam Khan's son Abdullah disqualified from UP Assembly after conviction in 15-year-old case

Days after disqualification from UP Assembly, Azam Khan's son's name struck off electoral rolls of Rampur

UP Court Acquits Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan In Hate Speech Case

India

oi-Prakash KL

A court in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday acquitted Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a hate speech case filed against him over comments against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2019.

"We have been acquitted in the hate speech case. We are happy that we have got justice," Khan's counsel Vinod Sharma told PTI. He said that the court upheld their contention that the SP leader was "framed" in the case.

Quoting various judgements by Supreme Court in similar cases, the district court overturned the verdict of a lower court, which had found Azam Khan guilty last year, according to a report in The Times of India.

The lower court in October 2022 had imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 along with a jail sentence of three years for Khan. Following this, he was disqualified as an MLA.

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After Khan's membership to the assembly was disqualified, a by-election was held in the Rampur Sadar seat. BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated the SP's Asim Raja, a close aide of Khan, in the polls.

However, his seat cannot be restored as he was convicted in another case by a Moradabad court earlier this year.

The case was filed against Khan on April 9, 2019, at Milak Kotwali in Rampur for a provocative speech targeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as well as other prominent leaders of the BJP.

Advocate Akash Saxena, a member of the BJP, initially brought up the matter. Azam Khan was charged under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity) and 505-1 (public mischief), in addition to section 125 of the Representation of People Act 1951.

Since the BJP came into power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the former Samajwadi Party legislator has been booked in 87 cases.
Democracy Is Our Sanskar Says PM Modi At Inaugural Of New Parliament Building

US Lawmakers Want PM Modi To Address Joint Session of Congress In June

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A group of US lawmakers of the House of Representatives have called for extending an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint session of Congress during his upcoming state visit in June.

PM Modi is visiting the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden.

"On June 22, 2023, President Biden is hosting Prime Minister Modi for an Official State Visit and a State Dinner. As State Dinners have come to signify the Presidents utmost respect for visiting heads of state, granting a joint address to Congress is a commensurate honour for the leader of the worlds largest democracy and perhaps the most critical partner to countering China in the 21st century," Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and James Waltz, a Republican, wrote in a joint letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy.

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"We firmly believe that inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver a joint address to Congress would further strengthen the deep and enduring friendship between the US and India," the letter said.

There are no indications whether the Speaker has agreed. If the Speaker does accept the same then PM Modi will be the first Prime Minister to address a joint session of the US Congress twice. The first was in June 2016 during which he had sought to project a new energy for the bilateral relationship with the two sides.

PM Modi has been invited by President Biden for a state visit in June.

"The foundation of our partnership lies in our shared commitment to democracy and the upholding of a rules-based international system," the letter read.

PM Modi Is Boss Says Australian PM Albanese

With mutual interests in promoting global security, stability and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity, the US and India have forged a deep bond. The recent in-person bilateral meetings between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have reaffirmed our dedication to a resilient international order that safeguards sovereignty, upholds democratic values, and promotes peace and prosperity for all," they also said in the letter.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee To Skip NITI Aayog Meeting Scheduled For May 27

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to skip the Niti Aayog meeting scheduled on May 27 in New Delhi, according to reports.

This is not the first instance where Banerjee has chosen not to attend the Niti Aayog meeting. Previously, in 2019, she declined the invitation, stating that the think tank held no authority and the meetings were unproductive.

Banerjee's decision to skip from the meeting comes just a day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) declared their boycott of the inauguration ceremony for the new Parliament building, set to occur on May 28.

Though the reason behind Banerjee's skipping of the Niti Aayog meeting is yet to be known, a source in the state secretariat said that the decision was taken in the wake of anti-BJP parties' efforts to come together on a single platform before the 2024 general election.''

The Bengal CM may not be participating in the Niti Aayog scheduled in New Delhi on May 27,'' the bureaucrat said. Banerjee had earlier this month expressed interest in participating in the meeting and said that she will highlight the issue of the state which being allegedly deprived by the Centre.

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She had then said, ''I will be participating at the Niti Ayog meeting on May 27 in New Delhi because it is the only platform to highlight the issues of a state''.

On Tuesday, the TMC, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Left parties CPI and CPI-M announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28.

On Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said all political parties are invited to the inauguration of the new Parliament building and they will take a ''call as per their wisdom''.

Shah told a press conference at the national capital that 'Sengol', a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu that was received by the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to represent the transfer of power from the British to Indians, will be installed in the new Parliament building and the event should not be linked with politics. Delhi and Punjab Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Bhgwant Singh Mann respectively met Banerjee at the West Bengal secretariat on Tuesday to seek support for the Delhi government's fight against the Centre over an ordinance on the control of administrative services in the national capital.

Banerjee assured the two AAP leaders that TMC will support Kejriwal in his fight against the Central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats in the union territory.
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Who Should Inaugurate The New Parliament Building And What The Constitution of India Says

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The new Parliament building is all over the news with at least 19 Opposition parties saying that they would attend the inauguration.

The primary reason being cited by the Opposition parties that it should be the President and not the Prime Minister who should be inaugurating the building. The Union Government has already announced that it would be the PM who will be inaugurating the building. The Opposition has however argued that it should have been the President who should be inaugurating the new Parliament building also known as Sansad Bhavan.

The Congress party also accused the BJP of not even inviting the President for the inaugural ceremony.

Now let us take a look at the powers of the President and who should be inaugurating the new Parliament building.

Opposition Parties To Boycott New Parliament Building Inauguration By PM Modi

The powers of the Indian President:

The President of India enjoys certain powers and performs several ceremonial functions. They include the Executive, Judiciary, Emergency and Military powers.

"There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and the two Houses--Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of People (Lok Sabha)," Article 79 of the Indian Constitution states.

On the other hand, Article 74(1) of the Constitution says, " there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice: Provided that the President may require the council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, either generally or otherwise, and the President shall act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration."

This makes it clear that the Parliament consists of the President of India. Further if one reads Into Article 87, it says that at the beginning of every Parliament session, the President shall address both Houses and inform the Parliament about the causes of its summons.

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The list of invitees:

Meanwhile invitations have been sent out to scores of leaders for the inauguration of the new Parliament building. Invites have been sent to the former Speakers and Chairmen of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Speaker Om Birla will dedicate the new Parliament building to the nation on May 28.

Sources tell OneIndia that invitations have been extended to the chief ministers of all states and Union Territories. Invitations have also been extended to Secretarites of all ministries of the Government of India.

The chief architect of the Parliament, Bimal Patel and Tata boss Ratan Tata have also been invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament building. Tata Projects had won the contract to build the new building, as part of the Centre's Central Vista redevelopment plans.

The source also added that President Draupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar are likely to release congratulatory messages ahead of the inauguration.

During the inauguration Birla will deliver a speech as he is the custodian of the Parliament. PM Modi will also deliver a speech on the occasion. The new Parliament can seat 800 people and all parliamentarians are likely to be present.
Karnataka Hijab row: SC to set up bench to hear plea of Muslim girls for nod to take exam in headscarf

Will Congress Lift Hijab Ban In Karnataka? Here's What Minister Dr G Parameshwara Says

India

oi-Prakash KL

State minister Dr G Parameshwara on Wednesday responded to Amnesty India's demand to lift the Hijab ban in educational institutions in Karnataka by stating the government will look into the issue in future.

He indicated that the priority of the Congress' government is to fulfil the five poll promises. "We will see in future what best we can do. Right now, we have to fulfil the five guarantees we made to the people of Karnataka," ANI quoted Parameshwara in a tweet.

In a series of Tweets on Tuesday, Amnesty India urged the Siddaramaiah government to prioritize and uphold "human rights for all" in the state.

"Immediately revoke the ban on women wearing hijabs in educational institutions. The ban forces Muslim girls to choose between their rights to freedom of expression and religion, and their right to education, hindering their ability to meaningfully participate in society," it said.

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A controversy broke out last year after a government college in Udupi refused to allow Muslim girls to write exams wearing Hijab. The incident sparked protests by Muslim organizations and civil rights activists, who accused the college of violating the girl's right to freedom of religion and expression.

In October last year, the SC delivered a split verdict on the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka - one judge affirmed that the state government is authorised to enforce uniform in schools, while the other called the hijab a matter of choice that cannot be stifled by the state.

Also, Amnesty India has urged the Congress government to review and repeal discriminatory provisions in the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020 and the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2022, which can be misused and weaponized against minorities.

Amnesty India also asked the state government to make people accountable for hate crimes. "Ahead of the state elections, calls for economic boycott and violence against Muslim people were made with impunity. Ensure accountability for such advocacy of hatred and end hate crimes that are motivated by religious and caste-based discrimination," it tweeted.

It has to be noted that KPCC Chief and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, during the poll campaign, had stated that the ban on hijab and all laws made on the communal basis by the previous BJP government would be withdrawn after Congress comes to power.
Why Pakistan Will Continue To Boil And There Is No Solution Around The Corner

Pakistan Ex-Minister Fawad Chaudhry Resigns From PTI

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

In another major blow to Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Fawad Chaudhry has announced parting ways with the party.

Taking to micro-blogging platform, he wrote,''My earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan.''

Chaudhry's resignation came a day after former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari quit 70-year-old Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and condemned the actions of the former prime minister's supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9.

Chaudhary served as the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the minister for science and technology during his government. He was the PTI's senior vice president and the party spokesman.

Mazari, 72, announced her resignation and retirement from active politics after she was released following her arrest for the fourth time since May 12 when she was picked from her residence by police and sent to jail in connection with the violence on May 9. She served as the minister for human rights from 2018 to 2022, under Khan's regime.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the government is mulling a possible ban on Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after the former prime minister's arrest.

On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of 70-year-old Khan by paramilitary Rangers. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander house, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10.

However, PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar said that the party would challenge the ban in the court as a political party cannot be banned. He told the media that when a ban was imposed on the Jamaat-i-Islami in the 1960s, it was set aside by then-chief justice Alvin Robert Cornelius.
Lyve Global, a B2B SaaS firm founded in the UAE, has introduced its new one-stop shop business model that offers a suite of end-to-end solutions and services designed to digitalise and scale businesses across different industries.

Lyves unique ecosystem consists of various advanced digital products and solutions that operate across the entire value chain  covering the entire spectrum from order generation to payment and delivery.

Businesses can leverage the companys easy-to-integrate cloud products and solutions to diversify their revenue stream, simplify processes and payments, expand their markets, manage manpower, streamline, and enhance operations as well as cover their logistics requirements.

Key strides

By integrating multiple services through just one solution provider, Lyve Globals clients can effortlessly scale their business requirements as it evolves and build lasting growth. This not only allows them to quickly adapt to market demands and incorporate new functionalities, but also to expand into new areas without the complexities of sourcing and integrating multiple solutions.

Hassan Hallas, CEO of Lyve Global, explains: Lyve is making significant strides in expanding its presence across the region. By developing and acquiring the cutting-edge technologies needed to build such a comprehensive ecosystem, we are revolutionising the way businesses operate. Our innovative platforms have already driven efficiency, cost savings and revenue for many of the regions leading brands - a testament to our proven robustness and reliability at scale.

Lyve is currently operational in over 22 countries worldwide  with a focus on the region, with main offices in KSA, Oman and Egypt  serving over 500 businesses and hundreds of thousands of customers. Through its commitment to innovation and customer-centricity, Lyve Global continues to lead the way in delivering transformative solutions that propel businesses in the region towards success in todays dynamic market.-- TradeArabia News Service
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Clad in red shirts signifying support for education, a picket line of Greater Albany Public Schools teachers took to the streets before a school board meeting Monday, May 22, to voice their concerns over stalled contract negotiations.

GAPS left me no choice, picketers chanted forcefully. Now I use my teacher voice!

Members of the Greater Albany Education Association say theyve reached a tipping point and cant tolerate disrespect and a lack of response from GAPS administration.

They say they've been working without a contract for two years, although the district says the two sides are not talking about the same contract.

This is, to my knowledge," union representative Ken Volante said, "the largest labor action by GAEA since the late 1980s  250 people outside the school board meeting. And these poor folks are only asking for three bargaining dates.

The teachers' union called on current and former GAPS employees to gather for an informational picket before Monday's school board meeting. They turned out in numbers, covering around three blocks as the picket line circled the school districts administration building.

GAEA representatives say the district refuses to engage in bargaining, noting they've filed four grievances. The union demands GAPS return to the bargaining table and resolve what they view as contract violations:

The district office and principals have scheduled too many staff development hours and won't pay employees for the extra hours.

The Albany Options School schedule is longer than the contract allows.

The district refuses to honor teachers' step-in-pay salary increases.

The district refuses to give raises to those teachers who do post-graduate work.

The dispute hasnt reached the level of a potential strike yet, and union leadership aims for a peaceful resolution, representatives said.

But an underlying difference in understanding about the bargaining timeframe has added to the difficulties. The next bargaining session is slated for January.

We feel like weve proceeded since early last year with good faith that this was going to resolve, finish the work that had begun in 2021, that this was just the second part of that work, said Todd Zimmermann, GAEA president. Were still laser-focused on trying to get that work done.

During the board meeting, director Roger Nyquist called for both sides to resolve the dispute. He said hed come to the realization that certified school staff  mostly teachers  believe they are operating under one contract, while the school district believes they're operating under a different one.

Lets just get the documents out in front of everybody, and look at where were at, and see if its easily resolvable, Nyquist said. And if not, we need to resolve it.  There are a few underlying issues, not monetary related, that the certified employees have, that I think are solvable fairly simply.

Superintendent Andy Gardner said good discussions have taken place between GAPS and GAEA, and while issues are being addressed, he acknowledged that the pace could be quickened.

He agreed with Nyquist that theres a difference of opinion about where the situation stands.

Two years ago, they set that the classified (nonteaching employees) and the certified (staff members) would no longer bargain in the same year, Gardner said. So, this year we are bargaining with classified; next year we bargain with certified. They dont have that understanding.

Also during the school board meeting, officials voted to direct Gardner to prepare a staff reduction plan as part of budget planning. No specifics were discussed, and Gardner couldnt provide any details of the plan before its drafted.

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PM Modi Raises Issue Of Attacks On Hindu Temples In Australia

International

oi-Prakash KL

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday raised the issue of attacks on Hindu temples with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.

"PM Anthony Albanese and I have in the past discussed the issue of attack on temples in Australia and activities of separatist elements. We discussed the matter today also. We will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between the India-Australia relationship by their action or thoughts. PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict actions against such elements in the future also," said the Indian Prime Minister, who is on a three-day visit to Australia.

In the recent past, there were several instances of Hindu temples coming under attack from the Khalistani elements. Also, the separatists had got into brawls with pro-India demonstrators in parts of Australia.

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Just weeks ago, the Khalistan supporters reportedly vandalised the BAPS Swaminarayan temple located in Western Sydney's Rosehill suburb in Australia.

Temple authorities had found a Khalistani flag hanging on the gate and graffiti reading "Declare Modi Terrorist (BBC)" was also written on the wall.

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During his visit to India in March, Albanese had stated that such hate incidents will not be tolerated and anybody involved in such activities would face the "full force of the law".

"I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people's faith. That we don't tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we've seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches," Albanese said.

"This has no place in Australia. And, we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We're a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity," he added.

PM Modi Is Boss Says Australian PM Albanese

Coming back to PM Modi's visit to Australia, he held wide-ranging talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, focusing on boosting overall bilateral ties including in areas of trade and investment, defence and renewable energy.

On Tuesday, the Indian Prime Minister addressed a huge community gathering in Sydney which reportedly had the participation of about 20,000 people.
Elon Musk says Twitter users will witness drop in followers: Here is why

Ron DeSantis To Launch 2024 US Presidential Bid With Elon Musk On Twitter

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

As former US president Donald Trump is polling high to be Republican party's next nominee in the elections, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is set to announce his bid for the top most with Twitter owner Elon Musk, according to reports.

In a strategic move to garner support from influential figures on the right, Governor Ron DeSantis has chosen Twitter Spaces, the audio chat feature of the social media platform, as the venue to make a significant announcement. The event, moderated by tech entrepreneur and DeSantis supporter David Sacks, will take place on Wednesday. At the same time, he will file a document with the Federal Election Commission declaring his candidacy.

By engaging in a discussion with Elon Musk, a well-known entrepreneur with a devoted fanbase, DeSantis aims to secure the loyalty of right-wing influencers and strengthen his position in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination, potentially surpassing former President Donald Trump.

Accompanying the announcement will be the release of a launch video, and DeSantis plans to kickstart visits to early primary states following Memorial Day. This strategic partnership with Musk has the potential to provide a substantial boost to DeSantis' campaign, allowing him to tap into Musk's massive following and expand his reach.

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Coinciding with this announcement, a retreat for fundraisers supporting DeSantis will be held in Miami, specifically at the Four Seasons hotel. Bundlers attending the event will receive campaign briefings and work towards raising funds to support DeSantis' bid for the presidency in 2024, as reported by NBC.

The discussions between the DeSantis team and Elon Musk have been ongoing for several weeks, during which Musk reportedly expressed skepticism about former President Donald Trump's chances of reclaiming the White House. This collaboration with Musk further solidifies DeSantis' ambitions and highlights his strategic approach to securing influential endorsements and financial support for his presidential aspirations.

Facts About Ron DeSantis

DeSantis was born on September 14, 1978, in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended Dunedin High School and went on to graduate magna cum laude from Yale University. DeSantis later earned a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.

DeSantis served in the United States Navy from 2004 to 2010. He was deployed to Iraq as an adviser to a U.S. Navy SEAL team and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service.

He began his political career in 2012 when he was elected as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Florida's 6th congressional district. During his time in Congress, he focused on fiscal responsibility, tax cuts, and veterans' issues.

In 2018, DeSantis ran for the position of Governor of Florida as a Republican candidate. He narrowly won the election and assumed office on January 8, 2019. As Governor, DeSantis has implemented various policies, including tax cuts, criminal justice reforms, and measures to address environmental concerns.

DeSantis gained national attention for his approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida. He implemented a strategy that focused on keeping businesses open and avoiding strict lockdown measures. However, his approach has drawn both praise and criticism, with debates surrounding its effectiveness and impact on public health.
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Social Media Presents Profound Risk For Kids: US Surgeon General

International

oi-Deepika S

US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has issued a warning that social media use presents a profound risk of harm to kids' mental health.

"The most common question parents ask me is, 'is social media safe for my kids,'" Murthy said. "The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people's mental health," he said.

"Up to 95 percent of teenagers are on some form of social media, and a third say they're on social media "almost constantly," according to the report.

A survey of 8th and 10th graders revealed that the average time spent on social media is 3.5 hours per day, 1-in-4 spend 5+ hours per day and 1-in-7 spend 7+ hours per day on social media.

When applied across the entirety of the US college population, the introduction of the social media platform may have contributed to more than 300,000 new cases of depression.

"And those who spend more than three hours a day on these platforms face "double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes including symptoms of depression and anxiety," the report said.

"Sleep is essential for the healthy development of adolescents. A systematic review of 42 studies on the effects of excessive social media use found a consistent relationship between social media use and poor sleep quality, reduced sleep duration, sleep difficulties, and depression among youth. Poor sleep has been linked to altered neurological development in adolescent brains, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and behaviors," the report revealed.

"Nearly every teenager in America uses social media, and yet we do not have enough evidence to conclude that it is sufficiently safe for them. Our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment. It is critical that independent researchers and technology companies work together to rapidly advance our understanding of the impact of social media on children and adolescents," Murthy said.

"Our children and adolescents don't have the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social media's impact. Their childhoods and development are happening now," he added.

Murthy urged tech companies to act, noting that after years of middling and insufficient action by both social media platforms and policymakers, parents and young people still bear most of the burden in navigating the fast-changing, often harmful world of secretive algorithms, addictive apps, and extreme and inappropriate content found on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 22:06 [IST]
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With Even Deadlier Potential: WHO Chief Warns Of Next Pandemic As Covid Cases Dip

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a stark warning, urging the world to prepare for the next pandemic, which he believes could be even deadlier than the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. His cautionary remarks came as global COVID-19 cases show signs of stabilization.

"The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat," Tedros said.

Speaking at the 76th World Health Assembly, Tedros emphasised that the end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency does not signify the end of its threat. He highlighted the persistent danger of new variants emerging and causing surges of disease and death. Additionally, he stressed the possibility of another pathogen emerging with even greater potential for devastation.

The WHO chief presented his report to the assembly, underscoring the need for effective global mechanisms that can address and respond to emergencies of various kinds, especially in the face of overlapping and converging crises.

He also emphasised the importance of readiness, collective action, and equitable responses when confronted with the next pandemic.

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Furthermore, Tedros highlighted the significant implications of COVID-19 on health-related targets set under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have a deadline of 2030. The pandemic has disrupted progress towards achieving the Triple Billion targets, which were announced during the 2017 World Health Assembly.

Tedros' warning serves as a reminder that the world must remain vigilant and prepared for future public health crises. It emphasizes the need for ongoing global cooperation, investment in healthcare infrastructure, and the development of robust strategies to detect, respond to, and mitigate the impact of potential pandemics.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 19:44 [IST]
Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss Muslim academic, philosopher, and writer. He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford and the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, but since 2018 has been taking an agreed leave of absence due to being held in prison following two rape allegations. He is a visiting professor at the Universite Mundiapolis in Morocco. He is also a senior research fellow at Doshisha University in Japan. He was a visiting professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, and used to be the director of the Research Centre of Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE), based in Doha. He is a member of the UK Foreign Office Advisory Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief. He was elected by Time magazine in 2000 as one of the seven religious innovators of the 21st century and in 2004 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world and by Foreign Policy readers as one of the top 100 most influential thinkers in the world and Global Thinkers. Ramadan describes himself as a "Salafi reformist".
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The Biden administration has canceled plans to award a $200 million grant to a U.S. battery manufacturer amid criticism from Republican lawmakers over the companys alleged ties to China. Texas-based Microvast was one of 20 companies to win preliminary grants totaling $2.8 billion to boost domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles. The company is building a battery plant in Tennessee and was in talks with the Energy Department for a $200 million grant funded through the 2021 infrastructure law. A spokeswoman for Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm confirmed Tuesday that negotiations with Microvast were canceled but did not offer a specific reason.
The German government said it rejected allegations of having violated press freedom after the detention of two Turkish journalists in Germany.
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Despite an Albany City Council vote earlier this month to raise a Pride flag outside of City Hall for the month of June, the rainbow banner may not fly after some city leaders advocated for first putting a flag policy in place.

On May 10, the council voted to raise the progressive Pride flag outside city offices for Pride month. The action passed with four yes votes, one no vote from Councilor Marilyn Smith and one councilor, Matilda Novak, declining to register a vote.

Now it may not fly after all.

City Manager Peter Troedsson, who had been on vacation when the motion passed, said there ought to be a flag policy in place to manage requests before flying any additional flags.

We need to develop a policy that allows for other requests for flags or other political statements to be flown or displayed, Troedsson said in a Monday, May 22 work session with the City Council.

Troedsson said without a flag policy, the city could open the door for requests for other flags that may be political in nature. A policy would ensure there was no unequal treatment, he said after the meeting.

Troedsson has already received questions about maintaining fairness. He forwarded an email from a resident inquiring about other flags and who reviews such requests. He did not indicate which flags he would like to receive equal time on the pole.

Troedsson also sees flying the Pride flag as a logistical problem.

Right now, there are only two flags flying outside City Hall: the United States flag and the Oregon state flag. In fact, the city is out of compliance with state law because it's supposed to fly the POW/MIA flag as well, he said.

The problem is the flagpole cant support more than two flags, Troedsson said. A third flag would snag against the building and get torn up from the wind over time.

The city could set up a temporary flag pole, but that wouldnt be a speedy solution, Troedsson said.

He suggested displaying the Pride flag prominently inside City Hall instead.

But for Councilor Steph Newton, who made the motion on May 10 to fly the Pride flag, that defeats the point, she said in an interview after the Monday meeting.

The message of unity isnt getting to the entire community, Newton said.

If the flag was in the lobby, only city staff would see it because not many residents enter the building, she said.

Newton received support from families of LGBTQ+ individuals and felt that the symbol was important to make people feel included and safe in Albany.

Its frustrating that there is an unwillingness to come up with an additional solution to honor what was voted on, she said.

Newton did her own math on wind velocity using estimations on flag size to determine how strong the wind would have to be to tear up the flag, she said.

It doesnt even get very windy in June, she said. And its only up for a month and shouldnt get that damaged.

Both Newton and Councilor Ray Kopczynski offered to buy the hardware to place the additional flag, she said.

Other cities have done it, Newton said, so she questioned why a flag policy was necessary if the City Council had already voted on it.

Newton is disheartened, she said, but she isnt giving up. Shes got a couple ideas even if the flag cant go on the main flag pole.

There are temporary flag poles that may be able to go into planters, or even other mechanisms to fasten a flag at City Hall, she said.

As for the flag policy? Shes planning on drafting that too, she said.

The meaning is lost if the flag isnt seen, she said.

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"To bee or not to bee?"

That's how one resident  of dozens who showed up at the Brownsville City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 23  put it. Last month, Brownsville was "not to bee" when it enacted an emergency ordinance banning not only beekeeping within city limits but the social insects themselves.

"Bees and beekeeping are not permitted in city limits," was the language presented in April. The council passed the prohibition, 5-1-1, with Councilor Trapper Solberg voting no. Though not obvious at the time, Councilor Dave Hansen clarified that he had abstained.

But by the end of Tuesday's standing-room-only meeting, Brownsville leaders were once again Team "To Bee," rescinding the ordinance in response to overwhelming criticism. It was not on the agenda.

Why the buzz?

Last month, City Administrator Scott McDowell presented a proposed modification to the local farm animals law that would ban beekeeping because "we have people in our town who are deathly allergic to bees."

He also noted that because many of the lots in Brownsville are so tiny, residential beekeepers could place the hives uncomfortably close to allergic neighbors.

"It's a sticky wicket," he said.

One that doesn't have much of a paper trail.

A retired Brownsville employee, who had served in code enforcement and as city attorney and city planner, said he asked for any public records of bee complaints. Bill Sattler said he never heard any beef about bees when he was on duty.

Speaking from the podium, Sattler told the councilors his records request came up empty, that McDowell had told him there was nothing in writing besides the sparse material included in the previous month's agenda packet.

Earlier in the evening, McDowell said the requests to ban beekeeping were made in person. He added that just because the city has enacted a ban doesn't mean it intends to enforce it.

"Alcohol is prohibited in the park. Is that a strict prohibition of alcohol in the park? Absolutely not," he said, citing weddings, anniversaries and romantic cheese-and-wine outings that may take place in city parks.

"If they're firing up the grill and have a brew, great," McDowell said. The city would enforce the laws only if the behavior becomes disruptive.

Swarming the chambers

That wasn't reassurance enough for those who came to lodge their complaint about the ban.

The sign on the door advises the council chambers' capacity is 49. Typically, the local government meetings attract an audience of 10, or 20 at best. Tuesday's crowd was around 60, bringing the total with councilors, city staff and media to some 70 people.

Ralph Rodia, residential beekeeping liaison to the Oregon State Beekeepers Association, drove from Salem to urge the council to reconsider, especially in light of a state law passed in 2015.

While it doesn't prevent beekeeping bans, the law encourages cities and counties to review their rules in accordance with beekeeping "best practices," as set forth by Oregon State University, the state's Department of Agriculture and beekeeping organizations, Rodia said.

He urged Brownsville to follow in the steps of similarly-sized Hubbard in Marion County, which adopted the state guidelines. He also said the fear of bee stings is overstated. Yellow jackets and hornets are the ones attracted to human food and, because of their aggressive nature, are much more likely to sting.

"Honeybees do not sting beekeepers or anyone else unless they are threatened," he said.

Hive mentality?

Resident Gary Shepherd was the only one who spoke in favor of the ban. He said he was speaking for a friend who could die if stung. He once was found prone in his yard after a sting, and now his heart is damaged.

"He wants to stay living. He can really give a damn about the bees," Shepherd said.

But others noted the council is acting like a big-government state or federal agency  the council passed in December 2021 a resolution announcing it would resist any COVID-19-related mandates placed on employees  by restricting the liberties of everyone in the name of health.

Resident Steve Van Sandt reminded councilors of the "public's disgust of the authoritarian dictates of Salem."

"It saddens me," said Jeana Graham, expressing similar thoughts, "that our little town has turned into a war zone.  We all need the work of the honeybee."

Nan Van Sandt took a turn at the podium, placing a jar of honey and some beeswax on it for all to see. She said God provided the earth and the bees for people to be good stewards of them.

"Now I'm standing up for the bees. I don't want to lose them. Fear is a powerful motivator. We saw that during COVID," she said, adding that cats and dogs injure humans far more than bees, and no one is suggesting banning pets.

A final sting

Sattler, the former employee, was given extra time to address the council. Besides a lack of a paper trail leading up to the bee ban, he laid out several other concerns, including a potential violation of the city's charter.

The charter says in order for an emergency ordinance to pass and by-pass the regular two-vote requirement, it needs to be unanimous, which didn't happen with the bee ban and other emergency motions.

"This creates a huge potential legal liability for the city," Sattler said. "If I were charged under Ordinance 800 for aiding and abetting the presence of illegal bees in Brownsville and went to trial, only to find that the law didn't actually exist, I can assure you that the city's insurance company would be writing me a large check for damages. How many other ordinances are invalid?"

Reached for comment on Wednesday, McDowell said he has not yet had a chance to consider Sattler's allegation.

Editor's note: This article was edited to correct Councilor Dave Hansen's name.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  The head of Iran's nuclear program insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any new activities. His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehran's new underground system near a nuclear enrichment facility.



The AP outlined this week how deep inside a mountain, the new tunnels near the Natanz facility are likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites.



The report sparked wider conversation across the Middle East about the construction, with Israel's national security adviser saying Tuesday the site would not be immune from attack even if its depth put it out of range of American airstrikes.



Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to describe the interest in the site as a case of Israel feeling pressured.



The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly," Eslami said, using an acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency.



The IAEA did not respond to questions from the AP about the construction at Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.



Satellite photographs of the piles of dirt from the digging and experts who spoke to the AP suggest the new tunnels will be between between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) deep.



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The Sri Lanka Navy says its divers managed to find a total of 14 bodies from the Chinese vessel that capsized in the Indian Ocean last week.

The Navy carried out a search and rescue operation to assist the ongoing operations at the overturned Chinese fishing vessel LU PENG YUAN YU 028, which was reported on 16th May, 2023 in the Australian Search and Rescue Region, south of Sri Lanka.

Navys Offshore Patrol Vessel, SLNS Vijayabahu with a team of Navy divers was deployed for the mission.

The Navy said in a statement that as per Sri Lankas commitment to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Colombo established at the Navy Headquarters, is responsible for coordinating and facilitating maritime search and rescue operations in its designated region as well as neighbouring regions.

Upon reaching the scene, Sri Lanka Navy divers had meticulously searched for air pockets within the upturned vessel, hoping to find any survivors.

After strenuous diving amidst the challenges of zero visibility and enormous water turbulence, the Navy divers had recovered two bodies from the captains cabin and accommodation area and they were handed over to the Tug De Tian on scene.

Additionally, the Navy divers located 12 more bodies of the crew from various compartments of the vessel.

Due to decomposition and the potential health hazards posed by operating in contaminated waters with limited protective gear, they had determined that retrieving those bodies would be exceedingly dangerous.

The Navy said the decision was then made to map the locations of the bodies, while prioritizing the safety of the SLN divers.

Subsequently, the Diving officer and Navy divers attached to SLNS Vijayabahu briefed the officers who arrived on MV SHANDONG DE LONG, with a Chinese salvage team.

A comprehensive briefing on the mapped locations of corpses, safe passages for divers to enter and exit the overturned vessel as well as the onward action was made by the Sri Lanka Navy team.

The Chinese fishing vessel overturned on the 16th of May with 17 Chinese nationals, 17 Indonesians and five from the Philippines on board.

According to the initial probe by the Chinese government, there were no survivors.
Discover the Hottest Slot Game Recently Released in May-June 2023 with OCR Editor!

Published May 23, 2023 by OCR Editor

Welcome to the OCR Monthly Slots games report, your ultimate destination for the latest and most captivating releases! Our dedicated team has curated a comprehensive collection of the most exciting slot games from 10 renowned casino game developers this month. So prepare for thrilling gameplay, massive jackpots, and enticing winning opportunities.

Welcome to OnlineCasinoReports Monthly Slots games report, your ultimate source for the latest and most captivating releases! This May, our dedicated team has curated a comprehensive collection of the most exciting slot games from 10 renowned casino game developers. So dive into thrilling gameplay, massive jackpots, and enticing winning opportunities!

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High Go Live Date: 25/05/2023

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High Go Live Date: 1/06/2023

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Noam Chomsky, the Gadfly and public nuisance, is captured in a spider hole after being accused by the regime of using WMD (words of mass dissidence).

(Image by Public Domain) Details DMCA



Democracy's in the Rearview Mirror on the Lost Highway

by John Kendall Hawkins

It's been said often, to the point where it is probably trite, Socrates died in vain trying to 'woke' people into making sense of their own democracy. They just didn't want to; they couldn't be bothered arguing over the fine points, when broad strokes of cudgeling and cajoling would do. People pestered by the Gadfly purportedly wanted to punch him in the face; they didn't give a sh*t if he was a Peloponnesian war vet and had shown his purple heart at the Battle of Delium. All his dialectics wanted to know was: Why do you believe what you believe? Can we get to the bottom of it? Accountability for mouthing off. Socrates knew that he knew nothing. But the plebs all around him were know-it-alls; they'd been filled with the wind of introjected hubris. Elites saw Socrates 'woking' the kids and whispered to each other, "f*ck him" (malaka). And they did.

Because we modernists are basically stupid, we look back at the Ancient Greek model of democracy as the Ideal that we inherited; the decorative night light up on the hill; the raison d'etre of our exceptionalism; the how-come of why we fly fighter jets over ball games during that bombastic anthem of ours. Human kine. Grass is always greener on the other side . Seven Year Itch as planned obsolescence (or ringworm). Ancient Greek Democracy was a failed democracy -- by Socratic standards. It was a road to Hemlock for thinkers and dissidents and counterpunchers of the regime. And everybody laughs at the Progressives!

Okay, so I'm releasing steam from my valve, like one of those old housing project radiators that would whistle shrilly and maybe bubble over a bit and it got so fuckin hot in the apartment that you had to open the window and let the snow blow in, if necessary, and while you had your head out there in the frigid air you'd yell out why have you forsaken me? And someone would call the Calvary cops. Releasing the pent-up. That's the way I felt the other day watching Noam Chomsky get interviewed by the academic head of his department at his new digs at the University of Arizona, where Chomsky presumably went in his old age to get some sun and release from stress after 66 years at MIT -- or because he needed to get away as quickly as possible from the Frank Gehry architecture they housed him in at the end of his career at MIT in a building that looked like someone had punched it in the fuckin mouf.



'MIT Building 32, a.k.a. Stata Center'

(Image by mava) Details DMCA



"MIT Building 32, a.k.a. Stata Center" by mava is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

It was like some 9/11 Truther had assigned his new office as payback for his 'indifference' to the Inside Job.

Whatever the reason is that Noam Chomsky moved to Arizona, if the YouTube interview I watched the other day from the desert is any indication, he's now slummin it. Probably for money. Doesn't mean he's a sell-out; just old; needs that sense of security. It was a move to Arizona -- or Florida. Right? I lived in Florida once. The whole time there was like that scene on the bus from Midnight Cowboy when all the rubberneck geezers are turned around and eyeballing Cowboy who's holding his dead buddy, Ratso, while the soundtrack theme plays the mouth harp blues.

The Q/A exchange from Wonder House was titled, "What does the future hold?" It was hosted by Lori Poloni-Staudinger, Dean in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) at the University of Arizona, where Chomsky has set up shop since 2017. I own that I'm a cynical olds gizz and thought the premise of the interview, embodied in that question, was about as stupid as it could get. Old Man River held his own though; he wasn't rattled by the question; he's always pointing out how important getting educated is and he knows that that requires patience if concept attainment is to ever be anything more than a house guest eating up all the onion dip to your consternation. Still, Lori asks:

So, our first question: Much has been in the news lately about shifting centers of world power, unipolar power, bipolar, multipolar. How do you think the future of the world is going to be shaped by the current crises that are rattling the system?

Presumptuous. Comfortable. Bourgeois. No problem. Noam points out the fuckin obvious:

There are two crises that will determine whether it's even worth talking about these issues. One of them is the growing threat of nuclear war. The other is the. Climate crisis, environmental crisis, which has to be dealt with in the next few years or else human society is essentially finished

What a gloomy prick. And here the U. of A. is trying to attract new applicants for a future. You can see why they sent troops in to get him and trophy-photoed him captured in the spider hole. The little reductive regime-changer was his own smoking mushroom cloud. One word: PNAC.

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Antiquities hunt behind the fog of war

Syrian conflict is a gold mine for looting and trafficking of the Middle East antiquities. This issue hasn't gotten any significant media coverage in comparison with other aspects of the war in Syria but it undoubtedly has the same destructive effect on the Arabic country.



A syrian mosaic plate for sale on Ebay

(Image by Ebay screenshot, Ahmed Saleh) Details DMCA



The boost in a worldwide antiquities trade was noticed at the start of U.S. intervention in Iraq in 2003. Since then numerous armed groups in Iraq and Syria use the benefit of this illegal trade to buy weapons, recruit new fighters and finance its operations. One of the most famous story of the barbaric attitude to the Syrian history and culture was devastation of ancient city of Palmyra by Islamic State terrorists. Besides the destruction of ancient buildings and columns and brutal execution of archaeologist Haled Al-Asaad, militiamen looted and then sold hundreds of artefacts, sculptures, bas-reliefs, etc.

But, contrary to all expectations, the main beneficiaries of antiquities trade are not the armed factions at all.



The professor of the history department in the Damascus University and former general director of the antiquities and museums department of Syria Mamoun Abdel Kareem in the interview with Sky News Arabia channel uncovered the digging spots and trafficking routes of the Arab republic historical heritage. He pointed out that antiquities were sold with the help of mediators, located worldwide from Raqqa to Aleppo and from London to New York. Notably, that the European Union and the US are the parties who take the lead in antiquities illegal import.

The CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward also claimed that the most of allegedly lost and demolished cultural heritage sites later were found for sale on European and American markets. FBI has warned about the malicious consequences of buying antiquities explaining that money for these goods often end up in terrorists' hands.

According to research, the most popular antiquities and artefacts for sale become bas-reliefs, mosaic and coins.

Experts of The Docket project conducted an investigation to track the antiques traffic from Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen to European and US markets. After the results of investigation were published, a number of persons and companies in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and even in the US faced the accusations of involvement in war crimes and sponsoring terrorism.

In addition to the large online-markets as Ebay, another popular source to antiquities trade are social-media outlets, especially Facebook.

A whole range of shady schemes are carried out on the ground in Syria before the antiquities reach black market. Thus, a group of French archaeologists visited Eastern Syria, which is under the control of the US and its allies - Syrian Democratic Forces, in search of treasures hidden under the ground in the vicinity of Dur Katlimu (Tell Sheikh Hamad), Gareb and in the northern part of Deir Ez-Zor province. After the excavation antiquities were brought to the US base Al-Omar.

Kurdish groups also took part in artefacts hunt. Manbij Archaeological Administration with the approval from the American specialists dug the archaeological sites and then sold everything found out via Turkey. The main routes of trafficking passed through the cities of Tal-Abyad and Kilis.

American archaeologists conducted excavations of the historical sites near the villages of Tal Brak, Tal Hamis, Tal-Haid in Hasakah province. After that all found antiquities transferred to Iraq through the borders which are completely controlled by the US. From the American bases in Iraq archaeological sites reached the Western countries with the help of the US Air Forces. According to unconfirmed sources, one of the key persons who played a key role in robbing the Middle East of artefacts was former US ambassador to Syria James Jeffrey, who also strongly opposed the US withdrawal from the Arab republic.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was met at the airport by Prince Badr bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz on May 18 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ahead of the Arab League summit.

Prince Badr, who is the Deputy Emir of Makkah Province, walked with al-Assad into the reception room, where they sat and exchanged pleasantries. This marks the first Arab League summit attended by al-Assad since 2011, when Syria was suspended after the US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change began.

On May 19, Assad was warmly embraced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they shook hands prior to the summit commencement. The Crown Prince was the host of the meeting, and had worked toward bringing Assad back into the brotherly league of Arab countries. After the summit, in which leaders spoke including al-Assad, the two met brieflt together.

Saudi Arabia would "not allow our region to turn into a field of conflicts", the Crown Prince said, saying the page had been turned on "painful years of struggle".

A consensus had been building across the Middle East for the need to engage Syria to end the conflict, and not turn a blind eye to suffering. Leaders began to form the opinion that the Syrian conflict was an Arab problem, and should be solved by the Arab world.

The Middle East has long suffered from Western intervention and US-led regime change adventures, such as in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Syria. The result has been catastrophic and left those countries devastated, most notably in Iraq, which has never recovered from the US invasion and occupation. Syria needs billions, and perhaps decades to recover.

The Arab League is just a meeting place to be used as networking tool bringing those with money to help Syria together, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Syria's economy has collapsed and needs cash influx to rebuild infrastructure damaged and ruined from years of fighting against armed terrorists supported by the US and its allies.

The Obama-Biden regime change project in Syria depended on massive participation of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates. Once the Crown Prince came into a leadership position in the Kingdom, he changed course and withdrew funding of terrorists following Radical Islam, a political ideology.

US-EU sanctions on Syria are an obstacle to helping Syria to rebuild and end the suffering of the people, including bringing home refugees from abroad. The UAE and Saudi Arabia hope to work toward lifting or easing the sanctions in order to help the Syrian people recover.

The Crown Prince is an independent leader and making decisions in the best interest of his country, which is not always aligned with US directives from the Oval Office. He has taken several steps to let Washington know that the Kingdom comes first, such as when he declined to increase oil output after US President Biden requested he pump more oil to bring down the price of gasoline for American consumers.

The current Saudi administration is at the height of its power, reminiscent of the days of King Faisal who shut off the oil supplies to the US following President Nixon's $2.2 billion support to Israel during the October 1973 war.

King Faisal's son, Prince Turki Al Faisal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the former Saudi intelligence chief often is seen standing at the right hand of the Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. Prince Turki gave an interview in which he said the kingdom took a strict stance towards Israel decades ago, and it will not normalize ties with Israel before a solution is reached to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Saudi Arabia was once heavily influenced by the US, and this led to its involvement in the regime change attack on Syria. That influence has waned as the US has left the Middle East, instead focused on weakening Russia through the US-sponsored war in Ukraine.

With the US focused elsewhere, China stepped in as a peacemaker and brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which may end the war in Yemen, and paved the way toward inviting Syria back to the Arab League and the restoring of relations with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Vision 2030 is a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism.

This has been the brain-child of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and to pull it off he needs peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

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Over 65 Members of the United States Congress expressed concerns about the current situation in Pakistan and urged State Secretary Anthony Blinken to pressurize the Pakistani government to improve the human rights situation in the country.

The US Congressmen sent a letter to the State Secretary where it stated, "As proponents of a strong US-Pakistan relationship, we write to express our concerns about the current situation in Pakistan and urge you to use all diplomatic tools at your disposal to pressure the Government of Pakistan towards a greater commitment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law."

"This should include a commitment to investigate any infringement upon freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Pakistan," the letter further read.

This comes amid ongoing political crisis situation in the cash-strapped country, which last week witnessed the "illegal" arrest of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, who was deposed as prime minister through a no-confidence move in April last year.

Khan was arrested on May 9 amid deadly protests across the country.

"As proponents of a strong US-Pakistan relationship, we write to express our concerns about the current situation in Pakistan and urge you to use all diplomatic tools at your disposal to pressure the Government of Pakistan towards a greater commitment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. This should include a commitment to investigate any infringement upon freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Pakistan," read the letter sent to Antony Blinken.

It added, "Over the past several months, we have become increasingly concerned by the blanket bans on demonstrations and deaths of several prominent critics of the government. We ask for your help pressuring the Government of Pakistan to ensure protestors can assert their demands in a peaceful and non-violent way, free from harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary detention. As both Democrats and Republicans who care about the bilateral relationship, we are concerned that violence and increased political tension could spiral into a deteriorating security situation in Pakistan."

It added, "Over the past several months, we have become increasingly concerned by the blanket bans on demonstrations and deaths of several prominent critics of the government. We ask for your help pressuring the Government of Pakistan to ensure protestors can assert their demands in a peaceful and non-violent way, free from harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary detention. As both Democrats and Republicans who care about the bilateral relationship, we are concerned that violence and increased political tension could spiral into a deteriorating security situation in Pakistan."

"Supporting democracy in Pakistan is in the national interest of the United States. In this critical moment, US diplomatic leadership is necessary to prevent further erosion of democratic protections. We thank you for your work and again urge you to do all you can to address this situation. We look forward to supporting you in this effort," the letter read.

The letter was written after the efforts of the Pakistani-American Political Action Committee (PAKPAC).

Trying civilians in military courts a violation of int'l law: Amnesty

In another development, Amnesty International on Friday raised concerns over Pakistan's decision to try May 9 rioters under the Army Act, saying "using military courts to try civilians is a clear violation of international law".

In a tweet, the NGO stated that "there are several provisions under ordinary criminal laws that can be used to prosecute vandalism and destruction of public property". "The right to a fair trial, guaranteed by Pakistan's Constitution, is severely undermined by this move and cannot be justified. It must be struck down immediately," the statement added.

The statement by the human rights NGO comes as the top military brass resolved earlier this week that those involved in attacks on military installations and personnel following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan would be brought to justice through trials under the relevant laws of the country, including the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secret Act.

Military trials in Pakistan are usually held behind closed doors, depriving civilians of some of their basic rights, including contracting a lawyer of their choice.
Decades of changing demographics have left public schools and charters competing for a share of the shrinking school-age population. This shift was predicted by the LAUSD years before it occurred and should have resulted in dramatic changes to how many new facilities the District planned to build. Instead, Monica Garcia led efforts to greatly expand the number of classrooms available in Los Angeles.

Perhaps by design, Garcia's building spree has left charter schools with an opportunity to claim "empty "space on District campuses using PROP-39. At one school I visited during my 2017 campaign in BD2, the campus appeared to be built with a separate entrance for a charter school. The waste of taxpayer money was not an accident.

Over 15 years into the demographic shift, the use of scarce education funding to build more capacity has not stopped. A tour of a neighborhood near the intersection of North Vermont and West 1st Street near Korea Town provides an example.

Before charter schools, this small area had two campuses: Virgil Middle School, which was built in 1914, and Frank del Amo Elementary School. Despite the decades-long reduction in the number of school-age children, the Value chain of charters built a brand new building for the Everest Value School. Across the street, the Central City Value Charter High School was opened in what appears to be a converted commercial space. While enrollment declines are continuing in both public and charter schools, the Bright Star charter school chain is building the Rise Kohyang High School across the street from Virgil.



Rise Kohyang High School under construction

(Image by Tracy Cook) Details DMCA



In addition to these five school campuses that will be located within blocks of each other, the Virgil campus hosts two other separate schools. The Sammy Lee Medical and Health Services Magnet is an elementary school operated by the LAUSD. The Citizens of the World charter chain has also forced one of its franchises onto the campus using PROP-39.



(Image by LAUSD) Details DMCA



Over the years, Citizens of the World has consistently enrolled fewer students than specified in its charters. In the 2022-23 school year, the Silver Lake franchise enrollment went down by 79 students and had only 60% of its predicted enrollment.



(Image by LAUSD) Details DMCA



Because the Citizens of the World chain could not accurately predict its enrollment it has taken more space from LAUSD schools under PROP-39 than it was entitled to resulting in overallocation penalties. As of the LAUSD's last public update on December 31, 2022, this campus alone still owes the District's students $124,243 for unpaid overallocation fees. This does not include the $355,306 that the Charter School Division credited the campus in 2022 without any explanation. This was part of a $7,678,022 gift to the charter school industry that appears to be contradictory to the California State Education Code.

Comparing the demographics of the Citizens of the World Silver Lake franchise to its immediate neighbors also seems to confirm the accusation that this chain is a "White Flight Charter." While the percentage of white students in every other school in the area is in the low single digits (ranging from 0% at both of the Value charter schools to just 2.6% at Sammy Lee), the Citizens of the World school has a student body where 30.6% of the students are white.

There are also vast differences in other demographic categories between Citizens and the other five schools. In every other school, at least 91.6% of the children are "Socioeconomically Disadvantaged," while this is only true for 46.3% of Citizens of the World Silver Lake's students. It also has the fewest percentage of "English Learners" and students that identify as "Hispanic or Latino:"

The pending addition of the Rise Kohyang High School campus also raises questions about the financial stability of the Bright Star chain of charter schools. Last week Bright Star had an agenda item before the LAUSD Board that would have granted the organization permission to build a middle school. The agenda item was pulled at the last moment. The chain is also seeking to build another school in the Valley on the site where neighbors are trying to preserve green space for a museum and neighborhood park. This building boom seems ill-advised for a charter school that is also having trouble meeting its enrollment projections at several of its schools, including the ones slated to get new campuses:

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"In his groundbreaking new book Bottom Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution, Rob Kall invites and eases us into in a much-needed meta-level shift -- a truly basic paradigmatic shift from top-down to bottom-up. He capably and imaginatively explores the differences between these ways of approaching life, clearly demonstrating that bottom-up allows us to flourish. His vision and his book are enriched by telling references to interviews which he has engaged in over the years with bottom-up researchers, theorists, activists, and dreamers in a variety of areas. Think about Rob's interviews. Read this revolutionary book. And take one step further into the bottom-up universe yourself. You will not regret it."



Bonnie Burstow, MD, author of Psychiatry and the Business of Madness and Radical Feminist Therapy, associate professor at the University of Toronto
Chalice Brands, one of Oregons largest marijuana retailers, says its out of cash and unable to pay its rent and other debts.

Its asking courts in Oregon, where its five retail subsidiaries operate, and Canada, where the parent company is headquartered and nominally publicly traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange, to put its creditors claims on hold and appoint a receiver to take over the subsidiaries.

That, Chalice said, could give the company time to find a buyer or new investor.

Willamette Week and the Portland Business Journal first reported the filings late Tuesday.

Chalice said in an Oregon court filing Monday that an oversupply of marijuana has cratered prices and contributed to the companys cash crunch. It also blamed a lack of Federal deregulation that had been expected by many.

As a result, it said the company and its subsidiaries have put off payments to landlords, lenders and suppliers, as well as laid off staff and cut executive pay.

The subsidiaries owe more than $3.7 million to vendors, including more than $1 million in back rent, with deferred payments not included. Willamette Week reported in January that Chalice owed tens of thousands of dollars to several small Oregon cannabis growers.

Some of the creditors have threatened to lock the company out of retail storefronts or foreclose on its property, the company said.

The companies also carry significant but undisclosed debt to third parties, according to Chalices filing.

And Chalice says it, too, is owed more than $35 million it loaned to its subsidiaries.

The company operates 16 Oregon locations under the brands Chalice Farms, Left Coast Connection and Cannabliss & Co. As of Monday, the company said it had 134 full-time employees and 37 part-time employees.

Trading of the companys shares has been halted for a year after it failed to file 2021 year-end financial statements. It expects trading would remain halted indefinitely and said it cant guarantee there would be any value left for shareholders in a court approved sale.

 Elliot Njus; enjus@oregonian.com
TriMets board of directors voted to raise transit fares by 30 cents beginning next January, an effort to stave off keep a fiscal cliff and potential layoffs.

During a chaotic meeting, frequently interrupted by chanting from people protesting the fare hike, TriMet board members said the increase is necessary to sustain TriMet services. The agency has struggled financially due to drops in ridership during the pandemic.

The public transit agencys board of directors voted 6-1 to increase its regular adult fare to $2.80. Fares for students and elderly or disabled riders, as well as registered low-income riders, will also increase by 15 cents, to $1.40.

The fare increase does not affect monthly fare caps for users of Hop Fastpass cards. The fare cap is $100 for adult riders and $28 for youth and elderly or disabled riders.

Only director Kathy Wai opposed the measure, citing the recent creation of a work group to study the impact of fares on people who use transit the most.

That group has members who are transit-dependent, immigrants, refugees. We need to put those voices at the table, Wai said.

Other board members pointed to TriMets lack of a fare increase for the last decade, and said they didnt want to delay it any longer.

The agency heard public comments from 30 people, in person and virtually. All opposed the fare increase.

Those who spoke objected to the potential impact on low-income riders and people of color, the negative effect on ridership and the additional challenges the fare hike would pose to people with disabilities.

Some also said the fare hike will negate TriMets progress toward reducing pollution.

Those electric buses are not going to do a lot of good if people arent on them, said Lynn Handlin. Your own studies show that fare increases will decrease ridership.

Protesters gathered at the Japanese American Historical Plaza before walking into a TriMet board meeting to protest a fare increase.Jayati Ramakrishnan

During the meeting, a group of transit activists also rallied at the Japanese American Historical Plaza, across the street from the University of Oregon Portland building where board members met.

They marched into the room just before board members were expected to vote, holding signs and chanting, Fare increase is not fair.

Board members immediately got up and left the room, moving into a smaller meeting room across the hallway. Protesters followed them and stood outside in the hall, continuing to chant. Shortly after, a board spokesperson came out and told protesters the board was ready to come back in, but that people needed to remain quiet and not be threatening.

Once board members returned, they began giving statements ahead of the vote but stopped stopped halfway through as protesters chanted in the meeting room. Board chair Linda Simmons told protesters: If any one of you opens your mouth, were going virtual.

Amid jeers, board members immediately moved to the private room, where the meeting continued, broadcast into the main area. Shouts from protesters at times traveled into the meeting room. At one point, the audio cut out as board member Keith Edwards was speaking. TriMet spokesperson Roberta Altstadt said that was because someone pulled a cable stretching between the two rooms, which cut the audio for the livestream.

With the exception of Wai, all the board members said the fare increase was necessary.

Laverne Lewis said shed heard many other suggestions for solving TriMets budget problems, like increasing the payroll tax or seeking more federal funding.

My comments are not to debate the alternative, but to acknowledge that a transit city for our city is vital, and it is all of our responsibility, she said. She said the agency is tapped out of using existing resources, without increasing fares for the past decade.

Board member Ozzie Gonzalez spoke last.

Today is a day of courage, he said from the private room where board members had reconvened. Whether its staff coming forward to present the case, the public coming forward to express their concerns and their passions about the subject, or whether its us as board members.

But he said the protests were very discouraging, saying that encouraging people to evade fares doesnt help TriMet become more viable.

He also chastised community partners  although he didnt specify who  for Monday morning quarterbacking and not supporting TriMet.

Help us find those tax revenues, he said. Help us get the elected officials to actually do their jobs, instead of just telling us they stand with us.

Gonzalez also tweeted about the meeting on his public transit ride home, suggesting that demonstrators had been paid by special interests to disrupt the meeting. In his tweet he tagged OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, the group that had organized the protest.

Nearly two-thirds of the agencys $817 million operating budget for the fiscal year beginning in July is funded through a payroll tax, $516 million paid by employers within TriMets service area. The smallest significant chunk, $56.2 million, is expected to come from passenger fares, accounting for the proposed increase.

The agency has relied on pandemic-era federal grants to shore up its budget since its 2021 fiscal year, when it received $303 million in grants. It expects only $157 million in its 2024 budget.

TriMets ridership dropped nearly 70% in a matter of weeks in 2020. Despite a slow rebound, ridership remains about 38% below pre-pandemic levels.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com
A Marion County Circuit Court judge this month ordered the Oregon Department of Corrections to immediately provide gender-affirming care to an incarcerated transgender woman who alleged she had been denied such care while in custody at Snake River Correctional Institution.

The ruling represents the second time a state court judge in Oregon has directed the prison system to deliver gender-affirming care to a transgender or gender-nonconforming prisoner, said Tara Herivel, a Portland lawyer who represented Nova Gaia, 38.
A Washington County jury on Tuesday convicted 42-year-old Ronald Terry Stephens of Portland in the 2021 murder of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend inside their Tigard apartment.

Stephens was convicted in Washington County Circuit Court on two counts each of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, second-degree kidnapping and unlawful use of a firearm, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Stephens will be sentenced July 5 and faces a mandatory life sentence in prison, the Washington County District Attorneys Office said in a statement Wednesday.

About noon on Dec. 16, 2021, Stephens forced open the apartment door of his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Lacy Kitchens, on Greenburg Road and 96th Avenue. He then kicked in Kitchens locked bedroom door where he found Kitchens and her new boyfriend, Frank Delgado-Falcon, 45.

Stephens shot Kitchens and Delgado-Falcon twice in the head each with a 9mm handgun. He then kicked in the bedroom door of Kitchens brother and his girlfriend, who lived in the same apartment, but didnt find them. The couple was hiding from Stephens in their bedroom closet, court records show.

Stephens fled and was arrested later that day when U.S. Marshals agents found him with his fiancee, 31-year-old Jaquina Shelonda Anderson, at a Fred Meyer in Sandy.

Investigators found Kitchens blood on Stephens shoe and observed surveillance camera footage of Stephens and his 2016 red Mitsubishi Outlander near the scene when the murders occurred, prosecutors said.

Two weeks before the murders, Stephens broke into Kitchens apartment looking for the couple. He stayed in the apartment for several hours, threatening Kitchens roommates with a gun, court records show.

A warrant was issued for Andersons arrest after she was summoned by a subpoena but failed to appear as a witness during the trial. Investigators learned Stephens, while in jail, had directed another person to help his fiancee avoid law enforcement. Her whereabouts are unknown, the district attorneys office said.

Stephens was previously convicted of multiple felonies in Oregon, dating back to at least 1999, including drug possession, attempted robbery and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon, according to court records. Two months before the murders, Stephens was arrested after police attempted to pull him over in Northeast Portland. He led police on a brief chase that ended when he crashed into another vehicle, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The charges stemming from that incident  attempting to elude police and possessing a loaded firearm in public, among others  were still pending when Stephens was arrested for the double-homicide.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_

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Portland Public Schools is getting 3,500 free portable air purifiers from the Oregon Health Authority in an effort to improve classroom ventilation.

The order will allow the district to install a second purifier in many of its classrooms, boosting air filtration where it has been lagging behind recommended standards.

The districts announcement comes after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive last May found a quarter of the districts elementary and middle school classrooms had subpar ventilation rates. District officials initially defended those low rates, even as experts said inadequate ventilation can affect disease transmission and lower the ability of students to think and learn.

Following the newsrooms investigation, the Oregon Health Authority in September clarified its air quality and ventilation guidance for schools and recommended a range of 3-6 air changes per hour in classrooms and other public indoor spaces, along with other strategies to improve air quality. Air changes measure the number of times a rooms total volume of old, stale air is replaced by fresh air within an hours time.

Portland Public Schools subsequently said it would try to meet that guidance, though it isnt mandatory. Even so, parents concerned about ventilation in classrooms said they had to push the district to take action.

Testing by Portland Public Schools had revealed that nearly 500 out of 2,000 classrooms in its elementary and middle schools failed to achieve three air changes per hour, even with existing purifiers running at full blast, the newsrooms investigation found. Some teachers said they only turned the units to half-speed because the machines were too noisy, meaning the actual rates were even lower. Some classrooms didnt even get one air change per hour.

This month, the day after the United States ended its public health emergency for COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the first time also set a target for maintaining healthy indoor air quality, recommending five air changes per hour.

The federal ventilation guidance applies to all buildings, including non-healthcare settings such as schools as well as healthcare spaces that are not already covered by more stringent ventilation standards, said CDC spokesperson Scott Pauley.

Freddie Mack, a spokesperson for Portland Public Schools, said the district is aware of the new CDC target, but it wont affect its current ventilation plan given how similar it is to the states guidance.

Well continue to try to shoot for six air changes per hour to reach the OHA recommendations, Mack told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The new purifiers, which PPS ordered earlier this month and will arrive next month, will allow the district to install a second air purifier in many of its 2,700 classrooms, Mack said. Variables such as room use, size and building HVAC systems will determine which classrooms receive the additional unit.

The district did not order higher capacity air purifiers designated for large communal spaces such as gyms, cafeterias and libraries, Mack said. Instead, common areas will continue to rely on air handling systems equipped with MERV 13 filters, which are efficient at removing large particles from the air and are often used in commercial and industrial settings.

In addition to the purifiers, the district also will receive a five-year supply of filters for the new purifiers and for nearly all of the districts existing 5,464 purifiers. The new purifiers and filters, made by a company called Medify Air, are funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Portland Public Schools wont be the only one to receive the air purifiers. The Oregon Health Authority said it has received a total of 298 orders from K-12 schools and districts from across 30 counties in Oregon. These include 177 orders from 68 school districts and 111 private and charter schools, said Jonathan Modie, a spokesman with the agencys public health division.

A total of 18,704 air purifiers have been ordered through this project, which includes Portland Public Schools order, Modie told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email. He said vendors are continuing to work on processing and fulfilling the orders.

Effie Greathouse, the mother of two students at Hayhurst Elementary School and an organizer with Safe Indoor Air For Oregon Schools, praised Portland Public Schools decision to order the additional air purifiers. She founded the parent group to push the district to reach recommended ventilation targets.

In early April, after OHA announced the purifier program, Greathouse said parents blanketed school staff and district board members with emails and calls to encourage the district and individual schools to get more purifiers from the states public health agency. On April 24, district staff told parents they had placed an order for only 600 units, documents show. Then, on May 2, the district sent a second announcement saying it had increased the order to 3,500 purifiers. The district declined to comment on why it initially placed a smaller order.

Recognizing the need to have multiple air purifiers in the vast majority of PPS classrooms is a real shift from the way district staff and board members have thought about and understood classroom ventilation and air quality, Greathouse wrote in an email.

Now, Greathouse said, the district needs to make sure that the additional air purifiers are actually turned on  which has been challenging in the past. Teachers throughout the district who havent been running their units may need more training and support on why additional ventilation is important, how to run the units on a quiet setting and how to change filters, Greathouse said.

Mack, the district spokesman, said teachers will receive instruction on how to properly operate the units.

The health and safety of PPS students and staff is our utmost priority, Mack said. We continue to take steps to improve air quality across PPS buildings, and we will employ these new systems in a thoughtful way that ensures maximum efficiency and optimal results.

 Gosia Wozniacka; gwozniacka@oregonian.com; @gosiawozniacka

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Favis Fabulous Cakes celebrated its grand opening this month at its first brick-and-mortar in Hillsboros charming historic downtown.

While the storefront is new, owner Fabiola Medina is not new to the business of cakes. For the past decade, the pastry chef and cake designer ran her custom dessert business out of her home in Hillsboro. I was growing so much I just ran out of space at home. It was taking over my living room, my dining room, my kitchen, Medina said.

The completely remodeled Main Street storefront, which used to be a Subway sandwich shop, now showcases a variety of multi-tiered sample cakes that highlight Medinas decorating chops. Among them: a two-tiered emerald green cake with gold sugar leaves and gilding; an edible high heel with a pink bow on the back; and a black-frosted cake with gold veining to resemble marble, topped with a bejeweled tiara.

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Medina makes everything from custom cakes and tarts to lemon bars and flan for a wide variety of events. But weddings and quinceaneras are her bread and butter, so to speak.

Through her years of experience, shes learned that, style and design are very personal. So Medina said she asks lots of questions. If someone says they want a girly cake, what does that mean? She then customizes from there.

On Favis Fabulous Cakes Instagram page, youll find examples of just that. Consider these Boho themed baby shower cupcakes, each with two gold-brushed feathers on top. A custom, four-tier quinceanera cake features intricate, colorful designs with a Mexican theme. A 12-inch pastel mermaid cake supports seashells and seahorses. These cake pops resemble traditional pan dulce. And this quilted Chanel purse cake comes with gold chaining (made by Medina for her own birthday).

Medinas techniques depend on the design but range from hand painting and airbrushing to molding fondant and marzipan.

On a recent Thursday, Medina was making another sample cake to display for customers. It had a vanilla base, vanilla buttercream frosting and fresh flowers positioned at the base. The vertical cake, a modern style she said is trending in Europe, had supports inside to keep it upright.

You have to make it stable for a long drive, said Medina, who delivers desserts to clients herself as far away as Hood River.

Medina was inspired to become a pastry chef after visiting Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland during a high school field trip while she was a student at The Dalles High School.

She graduated Le Cordon Bleu in 2012 with a pastry chef associates degree and worked at the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington, for about three years, first as an intern, then as an employee. But she said working long hours and weekends was tough on her family.

So for the next several years, baking was a side gig on top of working as an enrollment specialist at Fortegra, an insurance brokerage company.

The goal was always to have a bakery, but the equipment is expensive, Medina said, so saving money over the next several years was the goal.

In 2016, she turned to cakes full time. Medina rented a kitchen in Beaverton and sold baked goods at the Hillsboro Tuesday Night Market and took custom orders.

To help continue saving for a storefront, in 2017 she moved her kitchen to her home and got a job as an inventory planner and buyer with inventory management service company U.P.PRO.

But in 2020, family concerns put cake making on hold. Her son was diagnosed with epilepsy and mother had kidney failure, Medina said. She was a caregiver for both. In May 2020, her mother died just a month after Medinas brother passed away.

I couldnt do cakes. I was depressed, Medina said.

But she eventually got back into it because she needed to keep her mind busy.

It made me feel better making others happy with my work, she said.

So she pushed ahead. And by 2022, she saved enough to open a storefront; in January 2023, construction began.

Medina is the sole baker working in her business. Her sister works the front counter in the afternoons, and her teenage daughter helps after school. And her mothers spirit lives on by her side.

I still have, and use daily, my first KitchenAid mixer my mom bought me after graduating culinary school. So its very dear to my heart, Medina said.

If you go:

Favis Fabulous Cakes: 301 E. Main St., Hillsboro; 12-7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 2-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 541-980-9582; favisfabulouscakes@gmail.com; www.instagram.com/favisfabulouscakes.

More to know:

While most of the desserts must be ordered in advance, walk-in customers can buy treats such as cupcakes and flan from display cases at the front.

Medina hopes to rent out the couple-hundred-square-foot entry area in her storefront for special events, popups and cake decorating classes after wedding season is over in early fall.

 Teresa Mahoney, tmahoney@oregonian.com
The farmworkers union Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste has launched an emergency fund to help the 11 people who died or were injured last week when the driver of a semitruck plowed into their passenger van on Interstate 5.

Reyna Lopez, executive director of the union, said 100% of the proceeds will go to the three men and one woman who survived as well as to the families of the seven workers who perished in the crash. All were agricultural laborers traveling from work.

Some of the men and women were migrant workers from Mexico, while others were Mexican immigrants who settled in Oregon with their families. The organization said it will work with the Mexican Consulate to send money to families who live outside the country, Lopez said.

PCUN, and our members would like to send our sincerest condolences to the families, and the workers impacted by this tragedy, Lopez said. We hope that this helps take a little bit of stress off these families at this difficult time.

PCUN is also accepting offers of services  such as legal help or psychological support  and can pass it on to the families. The organization is not accepting supplies but the AWARE Food Bank in Woodburn has been coordinating food bank drop-offs, Lopez said.

All donations to the emergency fund are tax deductible, Lopez said, and can be made through the PCUN Foundation using a secure link. The Oregon Farm Bureau has created an additional fundraiser through GoFundMe.

 Gosia Wozniacka; gwozniacka@oregonian.com; @gosiawozniacka

Si eres un familiar o amigo de una de las victimas, nuestra reportera Gosia (Margarita) Wozniacka habla espanol y quiere escuchar de usted. Llamala al 971-421-3154 o escribirle a gwozniacka@oregonian.com
A Florida man who police say had an AK-47 rifle in his car was arrested outside a northern Virginia preschool after he told officers he was headed to CIA headquarters, police said Wednesday.

Fairfax County Police said the man was charged with possessing a firearm at a school, a felony, after his arrest on Tuesday.

Police say officers were called to Dolley Madison Preschool in McLean, which is less than a mile from CIA headquarters, where they took the man into custody.

According to the preschool, the man asked to use the bathroom around 11 a.m. Tuesday but was denied access to the building.

The man was unarmed when police responded, but officers searched his vehicle and found the AK-47 as well as a handgun and extensive ammunition, police said.

He was arraigned Wednesday at Fairfax County General District Court and is being held pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for July. Online court records do not list an attorney.
Passerbys stopped, stared and snapped photos as work crews placed additional plywood boards around the Washington Center courtyard Monday morning to ward off drug use in the vicinity.

The 1970s development with more than 30,000 square feet on Southwest Washington Street between Southwest Fourth and Fifth Avenues once housed a variety of businesses and stores. In recent months, the now vacant property turned into a hotspot for graffiti, fentanyl users and drug dealers, drawing the scrutiny of Portland City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau.

Mayor Ted Wheeler instituted round-the-clock patrols of the property in early April, after a string of overdoses, including several fatal ones, occurred in the area.

Portland police officers swept the grounds of the Washington Center just a few days after the April order, following a visit to the development by the mayors office and other city bureaus. Building owner Barry Menashe said Mondays work was the last step in the plan made in conjunction with the city to clear out and board up the building.

We just want to make it safe for the city of Portland, Menashe said. This is what the city wants, and were happy to comply.

The process of enclosing the building began nearly three years ago, and Menashe said he and his holding company Menashe Properties have footed the entire bill.

We dont know how much its cost; I dont want to add it up, Menashe said.

Menashe said he has had the graffiti painted over, added new boards to the windows and installed fencing several times over the years, but each time, those efforts were short-lived.

We love supporting charitable organizations, Menashe said. The money spent on the graffiti cleanup and the glass and the boards we wish it could have gone towards feeding people.

Menashe is ready for this chapter of the Washington Center to end, he said. He hopes other Portland property owners will never have to deal with a similar ordeal.

I was born in Portland and its a wonderful city, but its been somewhat disappointing the last three years or so, Menashe said. Im hopeful well get back on track soon.

Nick Gibson; ngibson@oregonian.com; 971-393-8259; @newsynicholas

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Starbucks workers say a downtown Portland location marked for closure, and two others, were selected to tamp down on a union push thats swept the coffee chains stores.

Employees staged a strike Tuesday and Wednesday at the chains location in the U.S. Bancorp Tower, 555 S.W. Oak St., to protest its planned closure of the store on June 2.

Claire Cook, a barista who started working at the downtown Portland store last June, said staff only learned of the closure two weeks ago.

The news came out of the blue, Cook said. Starbucks official policy says theyre supposed to give at least eight weeks notice but they gave us less than that.

Cook said Starbucks cited safety concerns as the main reason to close down the store, but she said the store in the U.S. Bancorp Tower no different than the other stores in the rest of downtown Portland that also have safety concerns.

Were one of the few unionized stores, which we believe has made us a target for closure, Cook said. She said the store officially unionized last May but negotiations with Starbucks management have gone terribly.

In March, the National Labor Relations Board found that Starbucks violated labor laws hundreds of times, including shuttering a shop and firing employees, during a unionization campaign in Buffalo, New York. A labor judge ordered the company to rehire some fired employees and reopen the unlawfully closed store.

A Starbucks spokesperson told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email that the company announced the Portland stores closure on May 5 and that planned closure was part of the companys ongoing efforts to transform (its) store portfolio, and because of safety concerns, not in response to the stores unionization.

Starbucks has closed other stores in Portlands city center, many while the pandemic had largely emptied downtown but two more in 2022, citing safety concerns.

This weeks strike was the latest in a series of labor actions since a campaign to unionize the companys stores started in late 2021. The fast-growing national movement to unionize the giant coffee chain shop by shop gained momentum amid the pandemic as workers complained of worsening workplace conditions.

More than 300 corporate-owned Starbucks stores nationwide have organized since late 2021. In the Portland metro, 18 stores have successfully organized to form a union.

Amid the union wave, Starbucks announced increased wages and new benefits that will only be implemented at nonunion stores.

Lunette Wimberly, a barista who started working at the downtown Starbucks nearly a year ago, said she and other workers were scheduled to meet with Starbucks management on Wednesday to negotiate the terms of the shops closure.

Were basically bargaining to be able to relocate to another store and keep our job with relatively the same amount of hours, Wimberly said. Basically, were trying to make sure that we are being taken care of and that were not going to be put in a position where well just be left out in the cold.

But Wimberly said its hard to be optimistic. She said workers at the store havent had a lot of leeway in making a contract with Starbucks in the year since the store unionized.

Starbucks says its proposed 27 bargaining sessions for Portland area stores but held only a relative handful, saying the union has failed to confirm many of the dates. It says two more are scheduled through the end of June.

--Kristine de Leon; kdeleon@oregonian.com
Spencer McKee is OutThere Colorado's Director of Content and Operations. In his spare time, Spencer loves to hike, rock climb, and trail run. He's on a mission to summit all 58 of Colorado's fourteeners and has already climbed more than half.
Todd Addams and Blair Stenvick

Addams is the interim executive director of Basic Rights Oregon. Stenvick is the communications manager of Basic Rights Oregon. Both live in Portland.

Allow us to introduce ourselves: We are two transgender Oregonians.

Todd is a trans man who loves Sesame Donuts, Futurama, telling stories about his childhood on a farm in West Virginia and his three pets Wally, Gilly and Loki. Blair is a nonbinary person who spends their free time eating sushi with their family, taking their rambunctious dog Josephine to the dog park and binging Netflix reality shows.

We have families, friends, pets, lives, flaws and strengths. Were transgender, and were human. And we could use your support  or at the very least, your respect.

Youve probably heard a lot about transgender people lately. You may have heard that were grooming your kids and taking over your schools. Maybe youve heard that its all just a fad. Perhaps youve heard from your own elected representatives that were asking for too much to want insurance coverage for medically necessary care or have our identities respected.

You may think were referring to the political landscape in states much redder than Oregon, such as Florida, Tennessee or Texas. But no: All the examples listed above are happening here in Oregon.

Theres been a lot of conversation about us in Oregon the last few years, festering in school and library board meetings and escalating in the political debates over House Bill 2002 and Senate Joint Resolution 33. Those two pieces of legislation would improve our health care access and enshrine our humanity into the Oregon Constitution. Now, as Republican senators walk out from the Capitol, theyve publicly acknowledged that stalling the bills gender-affirming care progress is among their motivations.

Much of that conversation has been lacking one thing: The voices of actual transgender people.

If you dont know any transgender adults, we understand if you might be unsure what to think about all this. In the spirit of Oregon values  independent thought, respect for others and curiosity about the world around us  wed like to offer a few points.

We arent new here. Transgender people have existed throughout history and huge strides have been made in terms of media visibility of transgender people. This has doubtlessly made it easier for many transgender Oregonians to live openly as ourselves and allowed our youth to explore their own identities with slightly less rigid gender expectations on their shoulders. Its understandable you might look at this and think transgender and nonbinary identities are a new phenomenon  but as two people over 30 who have known we were trans before we knew the word transgender existed, we can assure you thats not the case. Cultures around the world and throughout history have recognized and even honored trans people, even if they used different words than we do now. This includes the original inhabitants of this land we now call Oregon, who continue embracing Two-Spirit identities today.

Gender-affirming care is life-saving care. We arent asking for special treatment when we say we deserve access to gender-affirming care. We are simply asking for coverage of medical care that aligns with the best practices of all major U.S. medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. As we can both tell you firsthand, gender-affirming care is life-changing and life-saving care. We deserve the dignity that comes with making our own health decisions with the help of doctors  not politicians.

We want all Oregon youth to feel welcome and safe. Childhood should be a time of exploring and learning  and a key piece of that education should be learning respect for all people and identities. We support age-appropriate learning materials and school policies to help kids learn about others and themselves. We know not all kids have the safety to explore themselves at home, and its critical schools offer that environment.

We exist. Both of us went through a long road to understand and embrace our transgender identities. We wake up each day and continue to be trans, despite an ongoing avalanche of anti-trans media and political realities we experience. When we hear theories about us being confused extremists or listen to politicians reduce us to our body parts, we get the message loud and clear that we arent fully welcome here. Still, we continue to fight to make Oregon a better place for everyone.

We arent experimental or deluded  were human. Were transgender. We deserve your respect.

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It appears the Portland Thorns will not get midfielder Lindsey Horan back at the conclusion of her loan with Olympique Lyonnais this summer.

Lyon manager Sonia Bompastor said in a French-language interview with team broadcasters OLPLAY on Tuesday that Horan, 28, will stay with the French Division 1 Feminine club following the conclusion of her loan from the Thorns. The two clubs are still ironing out the details as Horans loan is set to expire in June.

Horan joined Lyon in January 2022 after six seasons with the Thorns. She remains under contract with Portland until 2025, so the exact nature of her potential departure from the Thorns remains to be seen  whether it be an extension of the current loan or a full transfer to Lyon.

Horan also features for the U.S. womens national team, with 128 career caps.

-- Ryan Clarke, rclarke@oregonian.com, Twitter: @RyanTClarke
If youve sipped a cocktail, downed a dram or had a glass of wine in Portland in the last 18 years, youve likely tasted something that Colin Howard was involved with. Howard recently joined forces with his wife, Holly, to launch Mendivia Wines.

I recently tasted Mendivias debut wines, and they are excellent. Go find them before they sell out because they will be gone in a flash.

Mendivia Wines is best known for: making Oregon and Washington wines from grape varieties made famous in Spain, such as albarino and tempranillo. The fruit Howard uses is farmed organically or biodynamically, with Howard using low-intervention winemaking techniques to let the vineyard sites speak for themselves.

Must try current release: 2022 Mendivia Wines Oso Rosado ($22  12% ABV).

This rose is made with tempranillo grapes from Rock Steady Vineyard in Underwood, Washington. It is a crisp summer sipper with aromas and flavors of bright red raspberries, fresh basil leaves, saline, and lemon zest.

As I tasted the Oso Rosado, Howard suggested the wine tastes like slices of watermelon sprinkled with sea salt and a touch of parmesan cheese. I cant say I disagree and cant wait to try this wine with crab cakes.

HERE IS OREGON: HereisOregon.com | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok

History: Howard grew up in Baltimore County, Maryland. Between college semesters, he worked in the vineyards at Basignani Winery, which a school friends father owned.

After graduating from the University of Vermont with a degree in environmental science, Howard found himself with a laboratory job where the work was monotonous. Miserable, he went back to work at Basignani Winery.

With wine in his blood now, Howard eventually decided to leave his hometown and move to Oregon in 2005 to work as a cellar assistant at The Carlton Winemakers Studio. That led to jobs with Erath Winery and J. Christopher Wines.

In 2009, Howard branched out into the spirits world by taking a production job at House Spirits Distillery  now Westward Distillery  in Portland. As the head distiller, Howard worked with brands like Aviation Gin and Westward Whiskey.

Many Portlanders will also remember Colin and Holly Howard as the owners of Oso Market + Bar, a wine bar and bottle shop with a loyal following. People still speak in awe of Osos signature Bloody Mary, the Sign of the Times.

When Oso closed in 2016, Howard became the education manager for the Multnomah Whiskey Bar, a position he held for four years. But the siren song of wine eventually lured him back. In 2020, Howard became the assistant winemaker at Day Wines in Dundee.

Today, Howard is the associate winemaker at GC Wines in Amity, where he also makes his Mendivia wines. The first two Mendivia wines are the Rosado and Blanco, a crisp white made with albarino, chardonnay, melon de Bourgogne and pinot blanc. Howard describes the unconventional white blend as Italian verdicchio meets Spanish verdejo.

Howard will soon release a tempranillo made with Columbia Gorge fruit, followed by another tempranillo from the Rogue Valley in 2024.

What we dont know: Mendivia was the Howard familys original surname when they lived in Spains Basque country. The name changed as my family on my fathers side moved from Bilbao, Spain, to Cuba and then to New York, Howard said.

Key insight: Howard moved to Oregon with the help of advice from an unlikely source.

When Howard was undecided about whether to pursue a wine career in California or Oregon, Bertero Basignani, the owner of Basignani Winery, suggested that he call an old friend of his. Basignani told Howard to call Robert Parker.

Thanks to his investment in Beaux Freres winery and his work for The Wine Advocate, the famed wine critic knew Oregon quite well. Howard said Parker told him, Youre going to dig Portland.

Last book read: Slaying the Badger: Greg LeMond, Bernard Hinault, and the Greatest Tour de France by Richard Moore.

Howard has been racing bicycles since middle school, so this book about the 1986 Tour de France struck a chord with him. Guys like Greg LeMond were like gods to me when I was a kid. It was nice to be able to read this account as an adult, Howard said.

Where to buy: Mendivias debut wines, the Oso Rosado and Blanco, are available through the winery website and at Taborly Wines and Dogwood Wine & Flowers in Portland. They are also available at Skywater Fine Wines in Hillsboro

Mendivia Wines offers free delivery in the Portland metro area for purchases of three or more bottles. There is a $10 fee for the delivery in the Portland metro area of 1-2 bottle orders.

To arrange wine tastings, please contact the Howards through their websites contact page.

mendiviawines.com

-- Michael Alberty writes about wine for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. He can be reached at malberty0@gmail.com. To read more of his coverage, go to oregonlive.com/wine
Starlink continues to boost its presence in Latin America, launching connectivity in Panama and confirming that it has received an operating licence in Guatemala.

Panamas National Public Services Authority (Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Publicos, ASEP) granted Starlink a licence to offer Internet service for public use on 20th June 2022. Oddly, in August 2022 the regulator dismissed Starlinks application for a licence to offer Telecommunication Service by Low Orbit Satellites despite the firms focus on this technology.

Last week (19th May), Starlink received a licence to provide internet services in Guatemala from the countrys Superintendence of Telecommunications (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SIT). In a statement, the government noted: This initiative seeks to provide equal opportunities to all Guatemalans, eliminating the barriers that exist in internet access and promoting socioeconomic development.

With this latest licence, CommsUpdate notes that Starlink has been authorised to provide connectivity in over 50 countries. Its parent group SpaceX to date has around 4000 satellites in orbit, and aims to expand this to 42,000.
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CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP)  As friends and family looked on, rapper Fetty Wap on Wednesday apologized for his actions and said he was exactly where I'm supposed to be, before a judge sentenced him to six years in federal prison for his role in a New York-based drug-trafficking scheme.

The Trap Queen rapper, whose legal name is Willie Maxwell, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to a conspiracy drug charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. The sentence was handed down in federal court on Long Island.

Maxwell told U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, Me being selfish in my pride put me in this position today. His lawyers had suggested he turned to selling drugs because of financial hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maxwell was arrested in October 2021 on charges of participating in a conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin, fentanyl and other drugs into the New York City area.

The New Jersey-born rapper and five co-defendants were accused of conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020.

Prosecutors said the scheme involved using the U.S. Postal Service and cars with hidden compartments to move drugs from the West Coast to Long Island, where they were stored for distribution to dealers on Long Island and in New Jersey.

Maxwell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances, the top charge in an indictment against him, admitting that he participated in a massive drug trafficking racket. The plea, which pertained only to cocaine, spared him from a potential life sentence if he had been convicted on all the charges he faced.

Maxwell's lawyers had hoped for the minimum five-year prison term, while prosecutors sought a longer sentence.

This is a sad day,' defense attorney Elizabeth Macedonio said. This is a kid from Paterson, New Jersey who made it out.

She said Maxwell accepts responsibility for his conduct.

Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Caffarone said the prosecution was not about Maxwell's fame as a performer.

The defendant did actually sell drugs, Caffarone said. The defendant did actually sell cocaine.

Seybert told Maxwell, You've got a lot going for you. See if you can put it together.

Maxwell rose to prominence after his debut single, the melodic but grungy Trap Queen, reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 2015. The song talks about a lover having your back  even if that means helping you cook and sell drugs.

He was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2016.
EMPIRE, Mich. (AP)  Federal prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges against a man who is accused of diverting a river within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan.

Authorities last August described a dramatic shift at the mouth of the Platte River as it meets Lake Michigan in Benzie County. MLive.com said a channel was cut, likely with shovels, a condition that could make it easier for boats to get to the lake.
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MANISTEE COUNTY  Wellston property owner Kurt H. Schindler has been named the 2023 Michigan Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year.

Every year the Michigan Committee of the American Tree Farm System recognizes and celebrates outstanding individuals and families who demonstrate exceptional stewardship of their forested lands and have taken steps to share their knowledge and expertise with their peers.

Schindlers property, Pine Knolls, has been in the family since 1931. When the property on Pine Creek was purchased by his grandfather, the impact of timber era logging was clear and fresh. There would not have been many large or old trees. The banks of the creek may have been eroded since it was used to float logs to the mill. Wildfires were also widespread across the region since so many tree tops and branches were left over by the lumberjacks.

Fast forward almost 100 years and because of the dedication to stewardship by Schindler and his family, the land is in much better condition than when it was acquired.

Working closely with forester Daniel Schillinger of Schillinger Forestry, Schindler had a timber sale to improve and diversify wildlife habitat. Trees that produce nuts or fruit and trees with holes or hollows are vital for many species and are kept in the woods.

Schindler has also improved species diversity on the property by planting tree and shrub species absent or less common on the property, such as native crabapple, hazelnut, northern white-cedar and serviceberry. After the harvest, one of the clearings was planted to native wildflowers and grasses for pollinators.

When opening up the forest canopy is not enough, Schindler has also installed deer exclosures to protect young oak seedling from damage from deer. Since they can be labor intensive to install, fencing isnt used very often to protect forest regeneration.

As a retired Michigan State University Extension educator, Schindler has also always been willing to share his knowledge and stewardship strategies.

Schindler is an avid birder, and in September, several dozen people attended a Forestry for the Birds field day hosted at Pine Knolls.

"The event showcased his efforts and emphasized how responsible logging practices can help bird habitat. The North Country Trail crosses Schindlers property, and he even generously maintains a campsite that includes a pit toilet. This luxury is most certainly appreciated by backpackers," reads a news release in part.

At the field day Schindler said he was amazed how fast animals found and used the new habitat.

"Schindler's commitment to prioritizing wildlife habitat, ecology and conservation over monetary gains is a testament to his holistic approach to land management," according to the news release. "His unwavering dedication and willingness to share the benefits of his stewardship have earned him the well-deserved title of the 2023 Michigan Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year."

With MSU Extension, Schindler specialized in government and public policy with a focus on planning and zoning. In the last seven years, he worked with many communities to help them become more economically prosperous.

He was awarded the Distinguished Senior Educator in 2016 from MSU. Among other recognition, the Michigan Association of Planning awarded him Outstanding Professional Planner Excellence in 2010; and MAP Lifetime membership in 2017.

The American Tree Farm System is a program for woodland owners who are committed to sustainably managing their woods for wood, water, wildlife and recreation. To learn more about Tree Farm in Michigan, visit TreeFarmSystem.org/Michigan.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Tereasa Nims.

Tuesday, May 23

10:19 p.m. - A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence for a traffic hazard. A utility trailer was left partially in the roadway. The owner was unable to be located, and the trailer was impounded.

10:49 p.m. - Deputies were dispatched to a Lee Township residence for a highly intoxicated man with lacerations to his head. He was transported to MyMichigan Medical Center for an evaluation.

8:59 p.m. - Deputies were dispatched to assist Tribal Police with a traffic stop around W. Isabella and Geneva roads in Greendale Township. Deputies arrived on the scene and assisted Tribal Police.

8:10 p.m. - A deputy assisted a 50-year-old Edenville Township man with contacting the previous homeowner regarding a boat that was left on the 50-year-old's property. The 61-year-old previous owner advised that he would retrieve the boat.

2:48 p.m. - An 18-year-old Lincoln Township woman reported that an unknown person hacked into her supermarket account and purchased $135.68 worth of goods. The woman is working with her banking institution to recover her money.

2:44 p.m. - Police were called to the 500 block of Joe Mann Blvd. to assist EMS.

More Information Activities of the Midland County Sheriff's Office and Midland Police Department on May 23, 2023 See More Collapse

11:51 a.m. - A Warren Township resident reported suspicious activity at a house. The information was turned over to the property authority

11:52 a.m. - Deputies responded to a medical call in Hope Township. A 43-year-old man was not breathing. CPR was performed until EMS/fire arrived and transported the man to the hospital.

9:31 a.m. - An RV dealership in Homer Township reported a trailer theft at its offsite storage lot. A deputy arrived and spoke with the staff. The trailer was located on the lot hidden behind another trailer. No further assistance was needed.

9:02 a.m. - Deputies responded to a residence in Midland Township for a disorderly 11-year-old girl who told her parents about thoughts of harming herself. Deputies spoke to the family and eventually the 11-year-old agreed to go with her parents to the hospital for an evaluation. A deputy followed the family to the ER to ensure they made it safely.

8:24 a.m. - A 37-year-old man was arrested by Saginaw Township Police Department on a Midland County outstanding fugitive warrant. Deputies met with Saginaw Township and took custody of the man, who was lodged at the Midland County Jail without incident.

8:29 a.m. - A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence for a report of a larceny. The deputy met with a 42-year-old man who said three titles to vehicles were stolen or misplaced. There are no suspects.

3:52 a.m. - Police responded to the 500 block of Mill Street for a verbal domestic dispute.

12:44 a.m. - Deputies performed a stop on a vehicle in Greendale Township for traffic violations. They found that the 56-year-old driver, who was the lone occupant, was in possession of an illegal controlled substance. The man was arrested and lodged in the Midland County Jail. A report is being sent to the prosecutor.

12:02 a.m. - Police were called to a crash injury at E. Patrick Road and E. Carpenter Street. Drugs or alcohol were a factor.
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CAIRO (AP)  The fighting between Sudans military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday.

The International Organization for Migration said the clashes have forced over 1 million people to leave their homes to safer areas inside Sudan. Some 320,000 others have fled to the neighboring countries of Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

The fighting erupted on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the country's fragile transition to democracy, which was disrupted by a military coup led by the two generals in October 2021.

The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate  which mainly tracks civilian casualties. It has also pushed the East African country to near collapse, with urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and its neighboring city of Omdurman turning into battlegrounds.

Egypt is hosting the largest number of those who fled, with at least 132,360 people, followed by Chad with 80,000 and South Sudan with over 69,000, the agency added.

All but one of Sudans 18 provinces experienced displacement, with Khartoum at the top of the list with around 70% of the total number of displaced people, according to the IOMs Displacement Tracking Matrix.

Sporadic fighting continued Wednesday in several areas, despite a cease-fire reached this week. Residents reported hearing gunshots and explosions in central Khartoum as well as areas close to military facilities in Omdurman.

Both sides in the conflict Wednesday traded blame for violating the cease-fire.

The weeklong cease-fire, which was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, took effect Monday night. It was the latest international effort to push for humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-torn country.

A joint statement from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia late Tuesday warned that neither the Sudanese military nor the Rapid Support Forces observed the short-term cease-fire.

The Sudanese people continue to suffer as a result of this devastating conflict," the statement said. It called on both sides to fully abide by their commitments" and to implement the temporary cease-fire to deliver urgently needed humanitarian relief.

Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned both parties of possible sanctions if the latest cease-fire was not adhered to.

But on Wednesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that the cease-fire has largely been holding, despite reports of sporadic fire in Khartoum and elsewhere.

Ultimately, its of course up to the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to implement this thing. Kirby said. But in general, in the main, it appears to be holding. I want to caution you though, this is early, I mean, just went into effect yesterday afternoon. We have seen this movie before. So, were being pretty pragmatic as we look at it.

The fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Sudan. According to the U.N., the number of people who need assistance this year has increased by 57% to reach 24.7 million people, more than half the countrys population. The international body said it would need $2.6 billion to provide them with much-needed humanitarian assistance.

The U.N. special envoy for sexual violence Pramila Patten, meanwhile, said Wednesday she is is gravely concerned about reports of sexual attacks against women.

There are strong indications that it is parties to the conflict who have committed sexual violence, including rape, against women and girls, she said in a statement.

She said many of the sexual attacks apparently took place in residential areas in Khartoum, or while they were fleeing the fighting in the capital.

Other attacks on women also took place in the western region of Darfur, where sexual violence against women has been consistently reported over the past two decades, she said.

She called for investigations into the allegations and urged all parties to take immediate measures against suspects, including suspending or removing them from the ranks.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A Roman Catholic priest has been killed in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, the ninth slain in the country in the past four years.

The churchs Catholic Multimedia Center identified the priest as Rev. Javier Garcia Villafana, who had been assigned to the Capacho parish in Huandacareo just one month earlier.

The Michoacan state prosecutors office said that Garcias body had several gunshot wounds and was found inside a vehicle.

The killing came one day after the Mexican Episcopal Conference expressed its solidarity and condemnation of an attack against Monsignor Faustino Armendariz Jimenez, archbishop of the northern state of Durango.

On Sunday, an elderly man tried to stab Armendariz in Durangos cathedral. The archbishop escaped uninjured.

The conference condemned Garcias killing in a statement and called on authorities to find those responsible.

It is a painful reminder of the serious situation we face as a society, in which the presence of organized crime and impunity continue threatening the lives and safety of so many, the statement said.

The Catholic Multimedia Center said in the statement that Garcia was shot while driving near Capacho on the shores of Cuitzeo lake.

Michoacan has been roiled by violence for years. Multiple drug cartels vie for control of parts of the state and extend their illicit business to logging, mining and even limes and avocados.

In their quest to eliminate any threat to their operations organized criminal groups have killed journalists, environmental activists and priests, in addition to any average citizens caught in their way.

Gangs have taken complete control of some communities.

In 2021, a priest in Michoacan called for parishioners to arm themselves in the face of government inaction.

The cartel gunmen come, they take the livestock, they screw your wife and daughter, and you do nothing, the Rev. Alfredo Gallegos said in a sermon. Well, get yourself a gun, the government can go to hell.

Gallegos, a parish priest is better known as Father Pistolas for his habit of carrying a gun.

The Mexican government in recent years has done little more than send troops to act as a buffer between warring cartels in Michoacan.

More generally, the church in Mexico has displayed growing frustration with the country's security situation.

After a drug gang leader in the northern state of Chihuahua killed two elderly Jesuit priests and a tour guide inside a church in Cerocahui last June, the Roman Catholic Mexican Council of Bishops issued an open letter telling the government It is time to revise the security policies that are failing.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Following the successful launch of CAF Club Licensing Online Platform (CLOP) workshop series in Tunisia and Benin, Tanzanias largest city Dar es Salaam hosts the third regional event dedicated to English-speaking Member Associations
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UN expert on human rights in Sudan on Tuesday described the level of civilian suffering from the ongoing fighting as dehumanising
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - United States has announced $245 million in additional support to the people of Sudan and neighbouring countries experiencing the impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis following the war in Sudan
Brazil's Production and Export of Pulp Increased in Q1 2023, China Remains Top Destination

Brazilian pulp exports in the first quarter of 2023 totaled 4.7 million tons, an increase of 12.9%. Brazilian pulp exports in the first quarter of 2023 totaled 4.7 million tons, an increase of 12.9%.

May 24, 2023 - According to the Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba), Brazil's pulp production for the first quarter of 2023 increased by 2.6%, while the volume of exports grew by 12.9% compared to the same period in 2022.

Paper production hit 2.7 million tons in the first quarter.

"The cultivated trees sector continues in its purpose of providing environmentally friendly alternatives for Brazil and the world," said Ambassador Jose Carlos da Fonseca Jr., Iba's executive director. "The advance in pulp production is an example of this commitment. From the raw material are originated several bioproducts, from the best known, such as paper packaging, books, diapers, wipes and toilet paper, to items present in everyday life through clothes, medicines, food, cosmetics, among others. This has everything to do with the current demands of the foreign market and how the Brazilian tree sector successfully meets them."

In monetary values, the sector brought foreign exchange to the country that totaled US$ 2.9 billion between January and March (+17.3%). This result favored the trade balance of the sector, which totaled US$ 2.6 billion (+16.5%).

China continues to be the main destination of pulp exports produced in Brazil, reaching US$ 962.9 million traded in the first three months of 2023 -- a growth of 38.2% compared to the same period of 2022. With regard to paper, Latin America remains the main buyer of Brazil and totaled US$ 395 million in the negotiations of the product.

In the first quarter of 2023, pulp production reached 6.1 million tons (+2.6%). Paper manufacturing reached 2.7 million tons in the period. The production of packaging paper reached 1.5 million tons and for sanitary purposes 349 thousand tons, an increase of 5.8%

Pulp exports from January thru March totaled 4.7 million tons, an increase of 12.9%. Paper totaled 489,235 tons traded with other countries between January and March.

The Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba) is the association responsible for the institutional representation of the productive chain of planted trees, from the field to the industry, together with its main stakeholders. Launched in April 2014, it represents 49 companies and nine state entities of products originating from the cultivation of planted trees - wood panels, laminate floors, pulp, paper, energy forests and biomass - as well as independent producers of planted trees and institutional investors.

SOURCE: Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba)
Just as the mysterious book in The NeverEnding Story found its way into the hands of the young Bastian, First Hate appeared in my life one day in the spring of 2016. At the time I was living in Berlin, and what looked like just another Friday, drunk on tiny bottles of vodka mixed with tea, would soon reveal to be more intoxicating than the beverage in my hand.

An old friend pushed me through thick strips of plastic into a tiny house at the foot of a massive concrete building that once used to be looked upon as something sacred. On a stage consisting only of silver tape markings on the floor and four massive speakers, two silhouettes, as I later would come to know them as Anton and Joakim, soon appeared. Up until that day I'd always thought that you needed expensive equipment or some kind of faustian bargain with a major record company to move an audience into ecstasy.

I was wrong. In a crowded room filled with cigarette smoke and strobing lights I watched how the shockwaves from the kettle drums in Trojan Horse made the last chunks of wallpaper finally let go from the sealing. The same time it took for the yellow paper rag to travel between the ceiling and the floor, it took me to fall in love.

While there's sure to be the occasional algorithm or ex-partner who would have a different opinion as to who spawned my almost manic fandom of First Hate, this is how I choose to remember it. In any case, it won't be easier for someone like me not to mythologize my relationship with First Hate when one of the band's earliest emblems is very reminiscent of Ayrun, the braided snake from The NeverEnding Story. And while new bands and trends have come and gone, they have always been there, like a hub, a reminder of magic and constant companionship. The recent transition towards a more poppy sound has opened up the First Hate universe, transcending the dungeons of Copenhagen to the wide open dance floors. With everything that we have been through the last three years, the pink bubblegum and colorful visuals of Cotton Candy (Escho and Cascine, 2022) is what we all need right now.

We needed it so much that two tickets to a First Hate show in Stockholm turned into a joke, that led to a phone call, an email, some DMs and finally standing on a driveway in front of a photo studio, nervously waiting for Anton and Joakim to arrive in a cab.

Lets start with your symbol. What does it mean and who came up with it? Anton: Even though the name [First Hate] might suggest differently, we are on a mission of love. The symbol Is called the Lovecrux. Crux means the decisive or most important point. The place where two roads cross. Like the X. Joakim: We created the original rendition of the Lovecrux together at Antons old place out at Refshaleen. Its a symbol of love, even if it isnt obvious at first glance. Anton: Its a magical sigil that holds our power. What does First Hate mean to you? Anton: With everything that has a name, the words the name consists of sort of loses its original meaning and just becomes that thing. Like I'm Anton, I heard that name means fragile flower. Maybe I am a fragile flower, but apart from that the name just kinda means me. Joakim: First Hate means a lot to me and has been a constant in my life through some very transformative years. Over the years its becoming clearer to me how much the project is a result of daydreaming. In the end, First Hate is a vessel for traveling the world together and an expression of some of our experiences in this human life.

Since starting out and your first self-titled EP release in 2014, has First Hate changed you in any way? Anton: Life has changed us and First Hate has been a big part of our lives. We have a lot of memories and stories that we share together from touring, making music and art. Putting yourself on display, stepping onto a stage or releasing very personal songs is a really transformative process. All people have multiple personas, moods and people living inside of them. When people use they/them pronouns, I like to think that it covers the whole group of personas arriving. When you are an artist you naturally get to put on your different personas more often. I think everybody should call themselves an artist and remember to be creative every day even if you never show your art to anyone. It's not about making something good, it's about playing. And we should always imagine ourselves as a group of personas arriving in a room. Joakim: First Hate has definitely changed me in a lot of ways. One of the ways is performing in front of others and doing things despite fearing them. When we first started out performing the first First Hate songs that Anton had written, I was just playing two notes on the keyboard for most of the songs, but even that was almost impossible to do because it was so nerve-racking for me to be in front of others. And because I had absolutely no experience with keyboards.

Corset, skirt and boots: Our Legacy, Jeans: Eytys, Choker: Maria Nilsdotter

What does it mean to perform and play live to you now? Anton: It means more than I admit to myself. I just have an urge and a drive to stand in front of people and sing and dance my heart out. So thats what I do and it comes very naturally. Meeting people after the shows, that's the real theater and the hardest part of the performance. Joakim: The act of performing and playing live itself doesnt mean so much to me, to be completely honest. Obviously, we have had so many beautiful live experiences, but creating the songs and putting melodies together is where my heart is at.

Is the stage and performance an important part of the creative process or a necessary evil, a means to an end? Joakim: Experiences from performing cant help but influence the process of writing our songs. If never performed live, I think we would be making more ambient and instrumental tracks. But the energy and expectations from the live part is fun to play with in the creative process. I think theres an interesting synergy in performing and creating things to perform. Anton: We always consider how something will work live. It can sometimes be limiting, but it also helps deliver something that is human and more down to earth. Is it the same Joakim and Anton on stage as standing in line to buy groceries on a mundane Tuesday in November? Joakim: Very much so. Anton: Pretty much.

Did you ever have to reinvent yourself  or the idea about yourself  to be able to make music? Anton: No, it's more like we have to stop the urge to reinvent ourselves completely. Trash the name and the legacy and do something completely different. It is somehow harder for us to stick to what we have, but we trust it and do it anyway. But let's see where we are in 10 more years. Would you still make music if no one cared? Anton: Thats impossible to answer. I simply dont have the ability to make music people dont care about. Joakim: Yes, music is a diary. Im not even sure that people care now. Whats your relationship to approval? Joakim: I absolutely love it. Anton: Im half careless and half heartache and self-hate. People's approval means more than I would like it to, but sometimes getting approval from someone you dont respect can be just as terrible. We all just want to be seen as something good dont we?

(On Anton) Pants: Kismet, Necklace: Maria Nilsdotter, Shoes: Puma; (On Joakim) Top and shorts: Lazoschmidl, Boots: Our Legacy

Does paradise exist and if so, where and what is it? Joakim: Paradise is a state of mind. A tranquil feeling of content, where you know everything is exactly as it is and it couldnt be any other way. Like you could live forever or die in the moment and both would be equally perfect. Its kind of a hard thing for me to put into words. Anton: I believe hell and paradise are inside everything. I dont believe in the afterlife as another place we go to after death. I think the afterlife is when the body deteriorates and gets absorbed into new organisms and becomes new life. Paradise and hell are places we visit on the way there. But what do I know? I cant wait to die and find out what happens.

Does hell exist and if so, where and what is it? Both: Its in Oslo. Do you have a perception or idea about your fan base? What do you think the people who listen to you have in common? Anton: Its always a funny thought when we look at our Spotify statistics and see a country with one listener or two listeners, like right now we have two listeners in Tanzania. And you think to yourself, do they know each other? Would they fall in love if they met? What do their lives look like? And you can't help but wonder what epic scenes in people's lives your music might have been the soundtrack to. Its a wild thought. Joakim: I think a lot of people that listen to our songs are daydreamers and people that are sensible to the world we live in. We have been overwhelmed sometimes by how dedicated some of our listeners are, sending long sincerity fan letters or getting tattoos of various First Hate motives. I think there is a soft feeling of loneliness and a melancholic positivity that many people share with us. You have always had beautiful music videos and album art. Is what we see in your art something that was in the songs from the beginning? How do you go about putting images and color to your music? Anton: We both think very visually. Images pop up in our heads in the very early stages of writing the songs and help shape the songs. I have a music video for all the songs playing in my head. Trojan Horse never had a video, but if it did it would be the big wooden horse arriving at Troy, at a toga party. Out jumps a hundred warriors and slashes everybody to pieces with swords in the rhythm of the music. Blood everywhere, Tarantino style.

If First Hate made a movie, what would it be about? Anton: I have actually been writing a script since I was in the 8th grade. It's about witches and mind control. A kind of Suspiria meets Beyond the Black Rainbow. But you will see it one day. I plan on becoming a movie director in my older years. Joakim: It would be a beautifully shot and slightly naive art house movie about two bank robbers/self taught chefs that wake up in the distant future and try to find a way back. A mix of Samurai Jack, Fallen Angels and The Matador with a lot of home made special effects and loud soundtracks. First scene is the main characters waking up in cryo chambers in a back alley in a huge futuristic but worn down megatropolis, and the last scene is a happy but also melancholic ending where the characters and friends they met along the way open their restaurant. Shot in black and white, except for the dishes and with a long monologue ending it.

Jewelry: Arto and Maria Nilsdotter

On the theme of love, what do you mean to each other? Anton: I love Joakim, he makes me laugh every day and he is very brave. In order to be brave you have to be afraid otherwise it's not bravery. Joakim worries about a lot of things, but then just goes ahead and does them anyway. I really respect that. People naturally fall in love with Joakim when they meet him, he is like an easygoing raccoon. Joakim: Anton is family to me. We have experienced so much together just the two of us, and I think the direct and indirect influence we have had on each other is kind of hard to overstate and our relationship has transcended being everyday friends. Anton has taught me a lot and I look up to his endless stream of what seems like effortless musical strokes of genius and a way of improvising everything in the moment and always coming out with a beautiful result. Apart from that, he is one of the absolutely funniest people I know.

Lastly, we are curious to hear about how you met. In terms of First Hate origin stories, weve read everything from you two meeting at a cat sanctuary in Rome, to beaming together during a chess camp for brilliant minds in Schweiz. So whats First Hates origin story in 2023? Anton: We actually met when we worked together in a toy store called A.B Legetj (A. B. so it would be first in the phonebook). That was many years ago. The toy shop is still there, they have a lot of cool collectors items and action figures. Drop by if you are in sterbro, Denmark, the neighborhood where we both grew up. Joakim: We actually met quite late in our teens at a teenage boys group for arachnophobia just outside Copenhagen. Anton brought a spider to one of the meetings and we kind of clicked. I guess we realized we were the only two that weren't scared out of our minds and sort of bonded over that. We all have the right to our own origin story, so lets just leave it at that.
As Ive said, Im copying out some of the notes that Ive been taking from my reading over the past while, and I think that some of you might find them of occasional interest. For this particular blog entry, my theme concerns whether or not mind is wholly reducible to brain.

I start with a quotation from the famous Cornell University astrophysicist and science popularizer Carl Sagan (1934-1996), who was a vocal atheist:

My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings  what we sometimes call mind  are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology and nothing more. [Quoted in Harold J. Morowitz, Rediscovering the Mind, in Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett, The Minds I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul (New York: Basic Books, 2000), 35; from Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden (New York: Random House, 1977)]

And here is the philosopher Daniel Dennett (1941-), who is an even more outspoken atheist. In fact, hes commonly reckoned (along with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the late Christopher Hitchens) among the Four Horsemen of the New Atheists:

A brain was always going to do what it was caused to do by local mechanical disturbances. [Daniel Dennett, in Samuel Guttenplan, ed., A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), 237]

Thomas W. Clark, the founder of the Center for Naturalism, agrees, declaring that

There is no kernel of independent moral agency. . . . We are not, as philosopher Daniel Dennett puts it, moral levitators that rise above circumstances in our choices, including choices to rob, rape, or kill. (Tom W. Clark, Maximizing Liberty: Retribution, Responsibility, and the Mentor State, Center for Naturalism, https://www.naturalism.org/applied-naturalism/politics/libertarianism/maximizing-liberty)

Reporting in 1996 on the materialistic consensus in neuroscience, the novelist and journalist Tom Wolfe (1930-2018), an atheist who also happened to hold a Ph.D. from Yale University, wrote of the human brain that

All we are looking at is a piece of machinery, an analog chemical computer, that processes information from the environment. . . . You can look and look and you will not find any ghostly self inside, or any mind, or any soul. . . . The soul, that last refuge of values, is dead, because educated people no longer believe it exists. [Tom Wolfe, Sorry, but Your Soul Just Died, https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/43151/WolfeSoulDied.php.htm]

Not everybody shares that view, though. Writing while he was still at the Universite de Montreal (he is now at the University of Arizona), the Canadian cognitive neuroscientist Mario Beauregard suggested that

Wolfes death announcement may have been a trifle premature, the worried reductionism a trifle greedy perhaps. Mind, consciousness, and self are not out of a job after all. In fact, as we shall now see via the placebo effect, mind, consciousness, and self play a key role in whether, how, and how soon we recover from illnesses. [Mario Beauregard and Denyse OLeary, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientists Case for the Existence of the Soul (New York: HarperOne, 2007), 139-140)

He has an ally in Jeffrey M. Schwartz, a psychiatrist based at the UCLA School of Medicine and a noted expert on the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders:

The time has come for science to confront the serious implications of the fact that directed, willed mental activity can clearly and systematically alter brain function. [Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force (New York: HarperCollins, Regan Books, 2003), 54-55]

Says the heterodox psychologist Dean Radin,

Classical scientific assumptions simply do not account for how mind-body interactions, biofeedback, or the placebo effect works. [Dean Radin, The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), 258]

Another interesting voice is that of B. Alan Wallace, who holds a doctorate from Stanford in religious studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and its relevance to questions about consciousness:

Mainstream neuroscience . . . insists that individual consciousness vanishes with the death of the body. However, given its ignorance of the origins and nature of consciousness and its inability to detect the presence of absence of consciousness in any organism, living or dead, neuroscience does not seem to be in a position to back up that conviction with empirical scientific evidence. [B. Alan Wallace, The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Consciousness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 5]

Finally, I share a passage co-written by the Australian neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles (1903-1997), co-winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and the prominent neuropsychologist and philosopher Daniel N. Robinson (1937-2018). First, though, Ill let the unorthodox biologist Rupert Sheldrake explain the term promissory materialism, which they borrowed from the eminent Anglo-Austrian philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994), with whom Sir John Eccles wrote a famous 1977 book entitled The Self and Its Brain: An Argument for Interactionism:

Materialists are sustained by the faith that science will redeem their promises, turning their beliefs into facts. Meanwhile, they live on credit. The philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper described this faith as promissory materialism because it depends on promissory notes for discoveries not yet made. [https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11002]

Here are Eccles and Robinson:

We regard promissory materialism as superstition without a rational foundation. The more we discover about the brain, the more clearly do we distinguish between the brain events and the mental phenomena, and the more wonderful do both the brain events and the mental phenomena become. Promissory materialism is simply a religious belief held by dogmatic materialists . . . who often confuse their religion with their science. [John Eccles and Daniel N. Robinson, The Wonder of Being Human: Our Brain and Our Mind (New York: Free Press, 1984), 36]

***

There are  amazingly!  new materials on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

Come, Follow Me  New Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 23, May 29  June 4: Matthew 26; Mark 14; John 13 In Remembrance

Once again, Jonn Claybaugh provides a concise but helpful set of notes for students and teachers of the Churchs Come, Follow Me curriculum.

Interpreter Radio: The New Testament in Context Lesson 23

In the 7 May 2023 Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Terry Hutchinson, Spencer Kraus, Hales Swift, and Brent Schmidt discussed New Testament lesson 23, In Remembrance covering Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 13. Having been edited to remove commercial breaks, their discussion is now archived and available to you at no charge and at your convenience. The other segments of the May 7 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-may-7-2023. The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

***

Im long overdue in mentioning it, but I was saddened to learn some time back of the too early death of the fine Evangelical Protestant biblical scholar Michael Heiser. I had lost touch with him in recent years but, at one time, we were in occasional contact both via email and in person.

Mike was a central figure in one of the best examples of civil and substantive interreligious exchange in which Ive ever had the privilege to participate. It began with my publication of an article entitled Ye Are Gods: Psalm 82 and John 10 as Witnesses to the Divine Nature of Humankind.

Mike took exception to my argument and asked whether he might be permitted to respond to me in the pages of what was then called the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, which I had founded for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and which later became the ill-fated FARMS Review, of blessed memory. I responded that, yes, he could, provided that a Latter-day Saint reply could then follow what he would write. Two additional articles resulted from that back-and-forth:

Models of mutually respectful religious or political discourse are depressingly rare these days. But this is one.

***

Ive been eagerly awaiting this book for at least fifteen years: Authors of new book about Mountain Meadows Massacre say the tragedy has insights for current polarized moment. And if (for some bizarre reason) you seek an example of polarization and of discourse that is religiously and politically disrespectful, you need look no further than the comments following the article itself. (I dont recommend looking, mind you; what you will see is terribly depressing.)

***

And, oh yes, by the way: Ive received inquiries as to why Jeff Bradshaw is wearing a missionary name tag in the photos that Ive recently posted of our Interpreter film crew, who are working at the moment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I assume that the name tag is connected with what is mentioned in the final sentence of Jeffs Interpreter Foundation bio, to which I provided a link in yesterdays blog entry:
Denominationalism; Salvation Outside the Church; Catholic & Protestant Baptism; Catholic Scholars; Doctrinal Development

The late Steve Hays (1959-2020) was a Calvinist (and anti-Catholic) apologist, who was very active on his blog, called Triablogue (now continued by Jason Engwer). His 695-page self-published book, Catholicism  a collection of articles from his site  has graciously been made available for free. On 9 September 2006, Hays was quite  almost extraordinarily  charitable towards me. He wrote then:

I dont think Ive ever accused him of being a traitor or apostate or infidel. . . . I have nothing to say, one way or the other, regarding his state of grace. But his sincerity is unquestionable. I also dont dislike him. . . . I dont think theres anything malicious about Armstrongunlike some people who come to mind. In addition, I dont think Ive ever said he was unintelligent. For the record, its obvious that Armstrong has a quick, nimble mind. Two-and-a-half years later, starting in April 2009 and up through December 2011 (in the following quotations) his opinion radically changed, and he claimed that I have an evil character, am actually evil, ego-maniac, narcissist, idolater, self-idolater, hack who pretends to be a professional apologist, given to chicanery, one who doesnt do any real research, a stalwart enemy of the faith . . . no better than [the atheists] Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, with an intent to destroy faith in Gods word, schizophrenic, emotionally unhinged, one who doesnt trust in the merit of Christ alone for salvation, has no peace of mind, a bipolar solipsist, split-personality, and a bad man. He wasnt one to mince words! See more gory details. I feel no need whatsoever to reciprocate these silly and sinful insults. I just wanted the record to be known. Ive always maintained that Hays was a very intelligent man, but habitually a sophist in methodology; sincere and well-meaning, but tragically and systematically wrong and misguided regarding Catholicism. Thats what Im addressing, not the state of his heart and soul (let alone his eternal destiny). Its a theological discussion. This is one of many planned critiques of his book (see my reasons why I decided to do this). Rather than list them all here, interested readers are directed to the Steve Hays section of my Anti-Catholicism web page, where they will all be listed. My Bible citations are from the RSV. Steves words will be in blue.

*****

[Chapter 3: Competing Paradigms]

Needle in a haystack

Theres a popular Catholic trope that goes something like this: Protestantism poses a dilemma for Protestants: why do you hope to find and join the right church when there are 30,000 candidates to sift through? There are several problems with this trope:

i) The 30,000 denominations is an artificial, misleading figure, as even Catholic apologists like Trent Horn admit. [p. 102]

I noted that this was an inaccurate number in an article dated 9-4-04. But it is certainly many thousands and anything beyond one church and one faith is simply biblically unsustainable. Denominationalism is an ongoing scandal and embarrassment that Protestantism can never resolve, because its rule of faith, sola Scriptura, doesnt allow it to, and is the cause of the chaotic, relativist endless division and creation of new sects.

Catholics are unconsciously superimposing a Catholic paradigm on Protestants. Its not a Protestant dilemma. Its not a conundrum internal to Protestant theology. Its only a dilemma if you take Catholic ecclesiology as the frame of reference. [p. 102]

This is untrue. Its a dilemma and a conundrum and an outrage because its massively, grotesquely against biblical teaching. I could present all of that evidence again here, but I already have, so readers can simply follow the links:

Denominationalism and Sectarianism: An Anti-Biblical Scandal [1996]

Bible vs. Denominationalism and Against Primary / Secondary Doctrines [8-18-06]

Bible on Submission to Church & Apostolic Tradition / Biblical Condemnation of the Rebellious & Schismatic Aspects of the Protestant Revolt [8-27-11]

Reply to Calvin #4: Primary & Secondary Doctrines [4-3-17]

Catholicism is True and Denominationalism is Anti-Biblical [National Catholic Register, 6-27-17]

Sectarianism & Denominationalism: Reply to Calvin #6 [12-19-18]

Does Sola Scriptura Create Chaos? (vs. Steve Hays) [5-15-20]

Unbiblical Denominations (vs. Lucas Banzoli) [6-9-22]

In Protestant theology, salvation isnt contingent on locating and joining the right church. [p. 102]

Even if that is so, it doesnt get Protestants off the hook, insofar as they brazenly defy and ignore biblical injunctions about unity and one Church only being in existence. They claim to be uniquely Bible followers. Very well, then, I challenge them to do that with regard to this topic.

In Protestant theology, salvation is mediated by Jesus, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit, not the church. While the church often plays a vital role in disseminating the Gospel, in Protestant theology, were not saved through the church in the traditional Catholic sense, where saving grace is piped through sacramental channels. [p. 102]

Hays claimed to speak for all Protestant theology, but he did not. John Calvin was a pretty influential Protestant leader, and Hays follows his theology (except I guess, in this matter). He wrote:

[T]here is no other means of entering into life unless she conceive us in the womb and give us birth, unless she nourish us at her breasts, and, in short, keep us under her charge and government, until, divested of mortal flesh, we become like the angels (Mt. 22:30). For our weakness does not permit us to leave the school until we have spent our whole lives as scholars. Moreover, beyond the pale of the Church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped for, as Isaiah and Joel testify (Isa. 37:32; Joel 2:32). . . . the abandonment of the Church is always fatal. (Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV, 1:4; cf. 1:8, 10, 20, 22)

Not only Calvin, but Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, believed this:

[O]utside the Christian church there is no truth, no Christ, no salvation. (Sermons II, ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand; Sermon for the Early Christmas Service, Luke 2 [:15-20], 25 December 1521, tr. John G. Kunstmann; in Luthers Works, vol. 52)

And sacramental channels werent lacking in Protestantism, either, since both Luther and Calvin regarded baptism as a sacrament. For Luther it was regenerative, for Calvin maybe so (scholars differ). And both accepted their prior Catholic baptisms as valid (hence, neither was rebaptized). And the Catholic Church accepts the validity of Protestant baptism. Luther and Calvin both thought the Eucharist was a sacrament. Luther believed in the real presence and even in the adoration of the host. Calvin believed in a mystical presence of Jesus.

We dont need to find a needle in a haystack. God doesnt make salvation that elusive. We dont need to comb through 30,000 straws to find the needle. Its not about us finding God but God finding us. And the knowledge of salvation is available through multiple sources. In evangelical theology, you dont have to be in union and communion with the right church to be in union and communion with God. [p. 102]

Apparently Luther and Calvin werent evangelical then, and we are to accept Oracle Lawgiver Steve Hays word on this rather than theirs. Both Luther and Calvin also absolutely detested and despised sectarianism and denominationalism, too, whereas Hays thought it was fine and dandy; not an issue of concern at all!

According to the traditional paradigm, you had to receive valid sacraments to be saved. Valid sacraments were dispensed by Roman Catholic priests. There was no salvation outside the Roman sacramental system. But thats been shredded by post-Vatican II theology. [p. 102]

Sheer nonsense. I dealt to an extent with salvation outside the Church in an earlier installment. But here is the Council of Trent, Session VII (3 March 1547), Canons on Baptism:

CANON IV.-If any one saith, that the baptism which is even given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church doth, is not true baptism; let him be anathema.

Vatican II concurs with a more developed and complementary (not contradictory) version:

For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. . . . it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christs body, and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church. (Unitatis Redintegratio [1964], Decree on Ecumenism [3] )

Wouldnt it have been nice if Hays had taken all of ten minutes to look up these things, rather than present a distorted, false version of what the Catholic Church supposedly teaches (that he read in a Jack Chick tract or something)? His research skills leave quite a bit to be desired, to put it mildly. It seems as if he just didnt care whether he accurately portrayed Catholic doctrines or not. Rather, he lazily set forth a gross caricature, in order to make Catholicism look as unappealing and false as possible. In other words, the irrational emotions and bigotry of standard anti-Catholicism once again have caused an otherwise above-average mind to sink into silliness and falsehoods when describing the Catholic Church and her supposed teachings. But I have documented what we actually teach.

At best, Roman Catholicism has stretched the definition of the Church so that you can be in union and communion with the Church even if youre completely ignorant of Catholic theology, have never received Catholic sacraments. [p. 103]

Hays exhibits his rank ignorance yet again. Protestant trinitarian baptism is a Catholic sacrament in our view. The Protestant has received a legitimate, bona fide sacrament, and one that regenerates and makes the recipient part of the Body of Christ. Now its quite true that a baptized Protestant might otherwise be very ignorant of Catholic theology, but they have received a Catholic sacrament, and in many cases, Protestant marriages are a second Catholic sacrament.

On that expansive redefinition, the Church becomes like oxygen: something universally available. Everyone can breathe it. [p. 103]

Thats untrue as well. One has to be baptized. There are billions of people in the world who never have been, so this is hardly universal.

Brother, can you paradigm?

As I was talking to this convert, I mentioned dramatic reversals in Catholic theology, such as salvation outside the church,

This is absolutely classic, textbook Hays sophistry (combined with a stubborn ignorance). There is no reversal of no salvation outside the Church. Dominus Iesus (2000), put out by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), under Cardinal Ratzinger (later, Pope Benedict XVI), reiterated the doctrine of no salvation outside the Church. It stated:

20. . . . Above all else, it must be firmly believed that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through baptism as through a door.77 This doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation.78 The Church is the universal sacrament of salvation,79 since, united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her Head, and subordinated to him, she has, in Gods plan, an indispensable relationship with the salvation of every human being.80 For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit;81 it has a relationship with the Church, which according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit.82 21. With respect to the way in which the salvific grace of God  which is always given by means of Christ in the Spirit and has a mysterious relationship to the Church  comes to individual non-Christians, the Second Vatican Council limited itself to the statement that God bestows it in ways known to himself.83 Theologians are seeking to understand this question more fully. Their work is to be encouraged, since it is certainly useful for understanding better Gods salvific plan and the ways in which it is accomplished. However, from what has been stated above about the mediation of Jesus Christ and the unique and special relationship84 which the Church has with the kingdom of God among men  which in substance is the universal kingdom of Christ the Saviour  it is clear that it would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions, seen as complementary to the Church or substantially equivalent to her, even if these are said to be converging with the Church toward the eschatological kingdom of God. . . . 22. With the coming of the Saviour Jesus Christ, God has willed that the Church founded by him be the instrument for the salvation of all humanity (cf. Acts 17:30-31).90 FOOTNOTES (78) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 9; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 846-847. (79) Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 48. (80) Cf. St. Cyprian, De catholicae ecclesiae unitate, 6: CCSL 3, 253-254; St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, III, 24, 1: SC 211, 472-474. (81) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 10. (82) Second Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes, 2. The famous formula extra Ecclesiam nullus omnino salvatur is to be interpreted in this sense (cf. Fourth Lateran Council, Cap. 1. De fide catholica: DS 802). Cf. also the Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston: DS 3866-3872. (83) Second Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes, 7. (84) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 18. (90) Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 17; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 11.

and the contrast between mainstream Catholic Bible scholarship and the anti-modernist injunctions of the BPC c. Leo XIII. [p. 104]

Here Hays  typically  pits theologically liberal Catholic scholars against the actual magisterium of the Church. He pretends that liberal scholars are both mainstream and orthodox, when in fact they are not. His favorite Catholic scholar, whom he places in this category, is Raymond Brown, who was certainly a heterodox dissident in many ways, as I have documented. The orthodox Catholic scholar is the one who accepts all Church teachings, including popes and bishops.

I personally knew or know several of these, such as the late Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., who was probably the best American catechist prior to the Catholic Catechism, and was a close advisor to Pope St. Paul VI and St. Teresa of Calcutta and her Missionaries of Charity (he received me into the Church and baptized my first two children), Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, who translated and edited the latest revision of Denzingers Enchiridion: the go-to reference source for all of Catholic dogmas and doctrine, Dr. Scott Hahn, etc. But instead, Hays loved to habitually cite known dissidents and pretend that they represented official Catholic teaching.

It became evident that I was drawing a blank. The convert had no idea what I was referring to. [p. 104]

I do (as one who converted 32 years ago), and I know that its sophistry and misrepresentation, as I am proving.

Hes ignorant of many historical facts about Catholicism which he needs to know to properly assess the evidence for or against Catholicism. [p. 104]

Thats an exactly accurate description of Hays himself! As a Protestant apologist, he should have gotten the facts straight about that which he opposed, but (like every anti-Catholic apologist I have ever encountered, who didnt become a Catholic) he didnt.

And thats because his point of entry into Catholicism isnt primarily evidential; rather, hes smitten by the idea of Catholicism. [p. 104]

Hays was smitten by his own imaginary, fictional, straw-man, caricatured version of Catholicism, and doesnt seem to have known (if we are to be as charitable as we can be) that it was that.

Is the Catholic church 2000 years old?

Catholic apologists compare their 2000-year-old church to upstart Protestant denominations. Ive discussed that before, but Ill expand on that:

1. Suppose a young couple buys a Fixer Upper. At the time its all they can afford on their meager income. As their income rises, they remodel the house. As their income continues to rise, they make additions on either side. Finally, they demolish the original house, preserve the additions, and build a new house in-between the flankers. Is the final house the same house as the original house?

Theres a kind of historical continuity in play. But no part of the original house exists. Its been replaced, part by part. And not even by the same kinds of parts, but different kinds of parts. Its unrecognizable compared to the Fixer Upper. So mere historical continuity doesnt make it the same house or even similar to the original house.

Moreover, even if some of the original parts were preserved, its undergone so much change that its equivocal to say its the same house. Its the same in some respects but not the same in key respects. [p. 105]

This is the ridiculous caricature / analogy to the Catholic Church, in Hays mind: no part of the original house exists. Its been replaced, part [i.e., doctrine] by part . . . but different kinds of parts. Could he possibly have been serious; did he have a straight face, spewing this nonsense? It seems that he was and did!

To some extent, Protestant theology was new. It emerged in the 16C. However, it didnt pop in out of the blue. In many respects it had theological antecedents. And Protestants claim its older than Catholicism because it represents a restoration of biblical theology, from which Catholicism deviated. [p. 105]

I see. Earlier, Hays argued that Church history was unnecessary and altogether dispensable; that the church could arise anew at any time (who needs history or precedent?). He was radically ahistorical (I guess that was his mood that day). Now, contradicting himself, he talks of antecedents and says that there was an original biblical theology from which Catholicism departed, and which good ol Protestantism restored (hence the term, Reformation).

Thats a whole different ball game, and if Protestants are willing to play that game, then there are objective facts like which Church father taught what, and the history of theology, that can be examined to see if they better fit into a Catholic or Protestant paradigm. Protestants claim that the early Church was more like them, but upon the slightest scrutiny, that claim collapses under the weight of actual historical facts. When the early Church is like Protestants, its also like us at the same time (i.e., it is only in areas of mutual agreement).

However, the Catholic church under Pope Francis, or even under Pope Benedict XVI or Pope John-Paul II, is a different church than it was under Leo XIII or Pius IX. The Catholic church under Pope Innocent X and Pope Clement IX is a different church from the medieval church. [p. 105]

Its a developed Church, but not a different Church. Its the same Church. Hays cant prove that it isnt, because that would involve a familiarity with doctrines, dogmas, how our authority structure works; with ecumenical councils and papal encyclicals, and Denzinger (whom Hays never cites at all in his entire book; someone else whom he cited, did once). Hays simply threw out ignorant potshots and mud, then ran back to the woods to hide. If indeed, all of this tremendous change took place, he surely could document it beyond all doubt (from our official books), But he never even tries. The emperor is naked. His anti-Catholic case is like an onion: one keeps peeling and peeling, but in the end there is no core. It ends up as nothing.

By condemning Jansenism, they anathematized the Augustinian tradition. [p. 105]

Not at all. The Augustinians still exist. How can that be if they were supposedly anathematized? The Church condemned certain excesses in Jansenism which had some degree of overlap with Augustinian teaching.

What held an honorable place in Catholicism prior to Calvinism became intolerable after Calvinism. Catholic theology is reactionary. [p. 105]

This is asinine. Hays, true to form, foolishly equates Augustinianism with Calvinism, as if they are exactly the same.

One could give many other examples. There really is no such thing as the Roman Catholic Church because it keeps reinventing itself. Just as the Protestant movement emerged in the 16C, Catholicism reemerges in different mutations throughout the course of church history. [p. 105]

The same gigantic caricature, stated a different way . . . Hays dismisses development of doctrine with the wave of a hand and says, in his rank ignorance of the history of theology, These are ad hoc distinctions superimposed on Catholicism despite the evidence. [p. 105]

***

Practical Matters: Perhaps some of my 4,200+ free online articles (the most comprehensive one-stop Catholic apologetics site) or fifty-one books have helped you (by Gods grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them. Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. Im always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. The laborer is worthy of his wages (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog. PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. Youll see the term Catholic Used Book Service, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information. Thanks a million from the bottom of my heart!

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Photo credit: The Whore of Babylon (workshop of Lucas Cranach): colorized illustration from Martin Luthers 1534 translation of the Bible [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

***

Summary: The late Steve Hays was a Calvinist and anti-Catholic writer and apologist. This is one of my many critiques of Hays Catholicism: a 695-page self-published volume.
Canonicity; Gods Guidance; Ancient Contraception; Relics; Intercession of Saints

The late Steve Hays (1959-2020) was a Calvinist (and anti-Catholic) apologist, who was very active on his blog, called Triablogue (now continued by Jason Engwer). His 695-page self-published book, Catholicism  a collection of articles from his site  has graciously been made available for free. On 9 September 2006, Hays was quite  almost extraordinarily  charitable towards me. He wrote then:

I dont think Ive ever accused him of being a traitor or apostate or infidel. . . . I have nothing to say, one way or the other, regarding his state of grace. But his sincerity is unquestionable. I also dont dislike him. . . . I dont think theres anything malicious about Armstrongunlike some people who come to mind. In addition, I dont think Ive ever said he was unintelligent. For the record, its obvious that Armstrong has a quick, nimble mind. Two-and-a-half years later, starting in April 2009 and up through December 2011 (in the following quotations) his opinion radically changed, and he claimed that I have an evil character, am actually evil, ego-maniac, narcissist, idolater, self-idolater, hack who pretends to be a professional apologist, given to chicanery, one who doesnt do any real research, a stalwart enemy of the faith . . . no better than [the atheists] Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, with an intent to destroy faith in Gods word, schizophrenic, emotionally unhinged, one who doesnt trust in the merit of Christ alone for salvation, has no peace of mind, a bipolar solipsist, split-personality, and a bad man. He wasnt one to mince words! See more gory details. I feel no need whatsoever to reciprocate these silly and sinful insults. I just wanted the record to be known. Ive always maintained that Hays was a very intelligent man, but habitually a sophist in methodology; sincere and well-meaning, but tragically and systematically wrong and misguided regarding Catholicism. Thats what Im addressing, not the state of his heart and soul (let alone his eternal destiny). Its a theological discussion. This is one of many planned critiques of his book (see my reasons why I decided to do this). Rather than list them all here, interested readers are directed to the Steve Hays section of my Anti-Catholicism web page, where they will all be listed. My Bible citations are from the RSV. Steves words will be in blue.

*****

[Chapter 3: Competing Paradigms]

Why Im still Protestant

Lets begin with an admission. As a Protestant, it would be nice to have more theological clarity and certainty on some issues. [p. 106]

Yes it would. And if that is the case, then maybe, just maybe, and perhaps God intended for Christians to have more certainty on those topics? And to not have to wonder about so many things because of competing, contradictory denominational claims? For my part, I think the Bible plainly teaches that God intended a profound doctrinal and institutional unity. I lay out the case in my articles critiquing denominationalism (linked in #13).

[D]oes anyone seriously think that Tobit or Bel and the Dragon is the equal of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, or Song of Songs? [p. 107]

More or less the entire early Church (minus a few dissenters like Jerome) thought they were part of the Deuterocanon.

The problem with asking who decides [the canon] is that it only pushes the same question back a step: Who decides who decides? You decide who decides! A convert to Catholicism decided to make the Magisterium the decider. So the convert is the ultimate decider. [p. 107]

This is the old infallible regress argument that I have already dealt with (I wont keep repeating myself in these critiques). But heres a few more articles I didnt link to before:

The Protestant Non-Quest for Certainty [3-15-06; abridged and links added on 7-12-20]

Glorying in Uncertainty in Modern Protestantism (Dialogue with a Calvinist) [11-11-09]

Radically Unbiblical Protestant Quest for Uncertainty [2-12-14]

Its a myth in the first place. Jesus decided to make Peter the head (rock) of His one church. That means central authority, and hierarchical authority (because the other disciples represented the authority of bishops, lesser than the popes, but working together with them). And the system perpetuates itself by apostolic succession (first seen in the disciples choosing Matthias to replace Judas). The individual Catholic isnt arbitrarily deciding on anything. He or she simply bows to what was demonstrably true from the beginning of the Church, instituted by our Lord Jesus, and described in inspired Scripture in Matthew 16. The Jerusalem Council also demonstrates how this authority was intended to work. It was the early councils and popes  not atomistic individuals taking polls  that decided the extent of the biblical canon.

A charismatic expects that God will give us certainty, clarity, and evidence whenever we need it or ask for it. God will answer all our prayers. He will perform miracles upon request. He will give us a sign. So the charismatic goes the Catholic one better. [p. 108]

That is an uninformed charismatic; on the fringes. I attended charismatic churches as a Protestant and now as a Catholic I am a member of a charismatic parish. I critiqued charismatic excesses and errors as a Protestant early as 40 years ago, when I started doing serious apologetics. And I utilized research from other charismatics who were fighting distortions of the mainstream charismatic body of thought. Once again, its the notorious Hays broad brush: claiming to be an expert on things he knows little about.

[Chapter 4: Catholic Apologetics]

Why be Catholic?

1. Im not going to rehash 1 Tim 3:15. Ive discussed that here: [link] [p. 113]

Yeah, Ive discussed it many times, too:

1 Timothy 3:15: Sola Scriptura or Visible Church Authority? [10-2-07]

1 Timothy 3:15 = Church Infallibility (vs. Steve Hays) [5-14-20]

I Timothy 3:15 vs. Sola Scriptura & Jason Engwer [10-4-21]

1 Timothy 3:15 = Infallible Church (vs. Lucas Banzoli) [6-3-22]

Turretin, 1 Timothy 3:15, Infallibility, & Eisegesis [8-24-22]

Church = Foundation of the Truth (1 Tim 3:15) (vs. L. Banzoli) [2-9-23]

And Ill guarantee that Hays didnt address several parts of my argument.

Regarding the Johannine verses [14:26; 16:13]:

i) The promise is made to the Eleven, not to the Church.

A Catholic might counter that the promise extends to the successors of the Eleven. If the papacy/Roman episcopate is an extension of the Apostolate, then the promise extends to the papacy/Roman episcope.

ii) Problem is, theres nothing in these verses, or Johns Gospel generally, or 1-3 John, to warrant that extension. [p. 113]

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 20:21 . . . As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. [the next two verses have Jesus granting them the Holy Spirit and the power to absolve sins]

To my knowledge, early Christian opposition to contraception was inseparable from opposition to abortion because, before modern medical science, it was impossible in principle or practice to separate the two. So thats obsolete. [p. 114]

To the contrary, the ancients were well aware of the distinction between the two (though many  like Luther and Calvin centuries later  regarded both as murder):

There was no lack of birth control in the ancient world. I dont think that there is any type of contraception known today that was not known in the ancient world: pharmacological, barrier (both chemical and mechanical), coitus interruptus, sodomy, sterilization, etc. For a brief introduction to the subject by the foremost historian of the subject, see John M. Riddle, et al., Ever Since Eve . . .: Birth Control in the Ancient World, Archaeology, March/April 1994, pp. 29-35. We really do underestimate the ingenuity of our ancestors. While in the past these were far from always effective or reliable, people kept trying. See John M. Riddle: Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance (1992), and Eves Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West (1997). For centuries, historians paid no attention to ancient accounts that claimed certain plants provided an effective means of birth control. . . . Modern laboratory analysis of various plants [including silphium, asafoetida, seeds of Queen Annes lace, pennyroyal, willow, date palm, pomegranate, inter al.], however, gives us reason to believe that the classical potions were effective, and that women in antiquity had more control over their reproductive lives than previously thought. (Riddle, op. cit., p. 30) There is a consensus in the Catholic Church. The Orthodox churches not in communion with Rome are outside of this consensus: The propositions constituting a condemnation of contraception are, it will be seen, recurrent. Since the first clear mention of contraception by a Christian theologian, when a harsh third-century moralist accused a pope of encouraging it, the articulated judgment has been the same. In the world of the late Empire known to St. Jerome and St. Augustine, in the Ostrogothic Arles of Bishop Caesarius and the Suevian Braga of Bishop Martin, in the Paris of St. Albert and St. Thomas, in the Renaissance Rome of Sixtus V and the Renaissance Milan of St. Charles Borromeo, in the Naples of St. Alphonsus Liguori and Liege of Charles Billuart, in the Philadelphia of Bishop Kenrick, and in the Bombay of Cardinal Gracias, the teachers of the Church have taught without hestitation or variation that certain acts preventing procreation are gravely sinful. No Catholic theologian has ever taught, Contraception is a good act. The teaching on contraception is clear and apparently fixed forever. (John T. Noonan, Jr., Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists [1965], p. 6) The use of contraception was condemned by church fathers. (Contraception: Early Church Teaching, by William Klimon; see much more in this article)

I think the NT does allow for divorce (for desertion and infidelity). [p. 114]

It does not:

Biblical Evidence for the Prohibition of Divorce [2004]

Nor did the early Church allow it along with remarriage:

Divorce: Early Church Teaching [Oct. 1998]

The counsel of Trent, part 2

[Hays tackles prooftexts for relics (2 Kgs 13:21; Acts 5:15; 19:11-12)]

God can assign a supernatural effect to a natural object. If you tampered with sacred furniture in the tabernacle, there were catastrophic consequences. That, however, creates no presumption that natural objects produce supernatural effects. To the contrary, thats very rare. [p. 118]

They would only do that if God intervened and wanted them to. And according to the Bible, He certainly does. 2 Kings 13:21 describes a dead man being raised by mere contact with the prophet Elishas bones. Acts 5:15 strongly implies that Peters shadow could heal people. And Acts 19:11-12 teaches that handkerchiefs or aprons that touched Pauls body healed the sick and caused demons to depart the possessed. If all of these are not proofs of the truthfulness of the Catholic belief in relics, I dont know what is. Hays cant defeat them with one of his irrelevant, sophistical faux-distinctions.

None of [these] prooftexts involve a divine command or apostolic command. In the passages in Acts, people take the initiative. They take it upon themselves to do this. [p. 118]

The command aspect is perfectly irrelevant. The fact remains that these inanimate objects connected to holy men and saints and apostles caused miracles to occur. If God didnt want such an outcome, then the miracles would have been condemned as sorcery or what-not in the passage (or would have never occurred in the first place). But they are not. There is not the slightest hint that these events are unsavory or impermissible. In the Old Testament we see a physical item very similar to a relic, and its by Gods command: the bronze serpent:

Numbers 21:8-9 And the LORD said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. [9] So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

So, command or no, God heals through objects. Heres another example where oil is an instrument of healing:

James 5:14-15 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; [15] and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Their attitude reflects folk theology. Superstitious belief in sympathetic magic. That things that come in contact with a wonder-worker store magic energy. [p. 118]

Exactly as I anticipated, Hays pulls out the silly sorcery card. Again, if these things were examples of that, then the text itself (and/or the apostles) would have condemned it, just as Simons desire for what he thought was mere magic powers (by purchasing them!) was roundly condemned (Acts 8:9-24). So Hays desperate attempt to evade the obvious falls flat. Readers, decide who has the better case from Scripture!

Problem is, these prooftexts are a double-edged sword. How often are ailing people healed when they make a pilgrimage to a Catholic reliquary? When was the last time a dead person was revived by contact with the relic of a Catholic saint? How often are people healed when the popes shadow falls on their sickbed? Why doesnt the pope empty the Gemelli of patients by paying a visit every so often to cast his healing shadow on the patients? [pp. 118-119]

This is the old David Hume-like trick or sophistry that reasons as follows: if a supernatural event is very rare, we ought not to believe that it can ever happen, or ever be in Gods will. Rarity doesnt disprove the possibility and actuality of miracles. Frequency is another topic altogether.

[H]e [Trent Horn] justifies the intercession of the saints by asserting the possibility that the saints are aware of whats happening to us. But there are basic problems with that appeal:

i) Its possible that an anonymous benefactor will bail me out if I go into debt. Indeed, anonymous benefactors actually exist. Would it therefore be prudent for me to go into debt, in the expectation that an anonymous benefactor will cover my expenses? Its possible that if I forego cancer therapy, my cancer will undergo spontaneous remission. Indeed, that happens every so often. Would it therefore be prudent for me to forego cancer therapy in the expectation that my cancer will undergo spontaneous remission?

The fact that we cant eliminate a possibility isnt justification to count on that possibility being a reality or probability. Thats dangerous make-believe and wishful thinking. [p. 119]

I think Trent made a much weaker argument than he could have in this instance. Its not just a guess. We know they are aware of earthly events, and we do from inspired revelation: Hebrews 12:1. Here is what I wrote about that passage in my 2004 book, The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants (pp. 141-142):

Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, Catholics believe that the saints in heaven are aware of happenings on the earth. They are not isolated and removed from earthly realities, but intimately involved in them, as Hebrews 12:1 strongly suggests. Witnesses is the Greek word martus, from which is derived the English word martyr. The reputable Protestant Greek scholars Marvin Vincent and A. T. Robertson comment on this verse as follows: [T]he idea of spectators is implied, and is really the principal idea. The writers picture is that of an arena in which the Christians whom he addresses are contending in a race, while the vast host of the heroes of faith . . . watches the contest from the encircling tiers of the arena, compassing and overhanging it like a cloud, filled with lively interest and sympathy, and lending heavenly aid (Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, IV, 536). Cloud of witnesses (nephos marturon) . . . The metaphor refers to the great amphitheatre with the arena for the runners and the tiers upon tiers of seats rising up like a cloud. The martures here are not mere spectators (theatai), but testifiers (witnesses) who testify from their own experience (11:2, 4-5, 33, 39) to Gods fulfilling promises as shown in chapter 11 (Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, V, 432).

This completely defeats Hays reply because his premise is wrong (so was Trents, for that matter).

While its possible for God to reveal my situation to a saint, there are built-in limitations to what a saint can know. To be a creature is to be finite. Even an omnipotent God is restricted by the medium if he works through a natural medium. Thats a self-imposed limitation. God can often circumvent a natural medium. But if God is working through human beings, then there are things that an omnipotent being cant do via that medium. [p. 119]

Ive already addressed how God can cause saints to be out of time when they are in heaven; no problem at all. Even in the natural world, people can be in different time-frames if one travels at the speed of light for a while (Einsteins theory of relativity). 1 John 1:3 states that we are Gods children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him . . . Like God? One way we could be more like Him is for God to give us the ability to be aware of the earth after we die, due in large part to being outside of time, as He is.

Theres no reason to think the Virgin Mary can simultaneously process millions of prayers in hundreds of foreign languages. Thats inhumane. [p. 119]

Yeah? How so? God can make us learn different languages or understand languages we dont know. He did that with the gift of tongues in the book of Acts.

Invoking divine omnipotence doesnt solve the problem, since theres an upper limit on what it means to be human. [p. 119]

Being outside of time is within the range of possibilities for humans. It doesnt involve us being omniscient or omnipotent; just outside of time!

Assuming the departed can intercede for us, [p. 119]

Thats not even much of an assumption. If they have a lively interest and sympathy in us, and lend heavenly aid: as Presbyterian linguist Marvin Vincent has stated, then that directly ties into the possibility of praying for us.

the obvious candidate wouldnt be a Christian who lived and died long before we were born, but a dead relative who knows who we are. [p. 119]

That doesnt follow if the saints in heaven are much increased in knowledge as well as charity. Hays thinks in purely human terms, but were talking about heaven, and how saints will be transformed there:

1 Corinthians 2:9, 11 But, as it is written, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him, . . . [11] . . . So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

By contrast, the efficacy of evangelical intercessory prayer isnt based on the merit of the prayer partners. The only merit is the merit of Christ. [p. 120]

Thats not biblical teaching. The most obvious example of merit affecting prayer is James 5:16-18:

. . . The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. [17] Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. [18] Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

But there is much, much more than that. I compiled as much as I could find in these papers of mine: Bible on Praying Straight to God (vs. Lucas Banzoli) [9-21-22] and Why the Bible Says the Prayers of Holy People Are More Powerful [National Catholic Register, 3-19-19].

***

Practical Matters: Perhaps some of my 4,200+ free online articles (the most comprehensive one-stop Catholic apologetics site) or fifty-one books have helped you (by Gods grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them. Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. Im always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. The laborer is worthy of his wages (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog. PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. Youll see the term Catholic Used Book Service, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information. Thanks a million from the bottom of my heart!

***

Photo credit: The Whore of Babylon (workshop of Lucas Cranach): colorized illustration from Martin Luthers 1534 translation of the Bible [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

***

Summary: The late Steve Hays was a Calvinist and anti-Catholic writer and apologist. This is one of my many critiques of Hays Catholicism: a 695-page self-published volume.
Jon Goodfellow asked a question that probably would be better answered by someone with more direct experience in the matter. But he asked me, so Im going to answer.

Do you feel that the folkloric devil can fit into multiple pantheons for a witch who honors specific Gods? If so, do you think it makes the most sense to think of him as a person separate from the pantheon (sort of a houseguest) or syncretized within it (devil is Odin/Woden, etc.)?

Lets begin with an important point. The folkloric devil is not the devil they told you about in Sunday School, who walketh about seeking whom he may devour. The Sunday School devil may or may not exist, but he cannot be who and what Christians claim he is outside of a conservative Christian worldview, a worldview that is at odds with history, science, and our own experiences.

This emphasizes the importance of examining our worldview: our foundational assumptions about the world and how it works, about what is and isnt possible.

My worldview is built on a foundation of animism and polytheism. Therefore, I believe the Christian God exists, but He is one God among many  not the only God and certainly not a supreme being. And likewise, the Christian devil is not the adversary or the embodiment of evil, but one spirit among many.

I agree with our atheist friends (and more than a few Christians) that much of what is attributed to the devil is simply humans making excuses for their own selfish and destructive behavior.

The devil in witchcraft lore

There are three main sources for the devil in our witchcraft lore.

The first are the grimoires, the medieval and early modern books of spirits and instructions on how to summon them. Most of these spirits are demons. The details are beyond the scope of this post  for a good modern take on this read Jason Millers Consorting With Spirits. Whats important for us here is that ceremonial magicians attempted to summon these spirits and compel the spirits to work for them. The books, methods, and the ideas that come from them are still very much with us.

The second are the records of the witch trials. Yes, most of the evidence was obtained under torture and is unreliable. Thats not the point. The point is that the idea of witches consorting with the devil entered into mainstream Western culture and its been there ever since.

The third source is folk magic itself  the magic done by ordinary people for ordinary reasons. In a time when Christianity completely dominated Western culture, such magic was done in a Christian context  it could not be otherwise. Jason Mankeys 2019 post Why Cant There Be Christian Witches? explores this in more detail. Much of this magic invokes the power of saints, scripture, and the Christian God. It is not orthodox Christianity, but it is Christian.

Some of this magic crosses a line. If there are only two options and you cant get what you need from Jesus, you go to the other guy. Desperate people do desperate things, and the price isnt necessarily your soul.

For modern witches, there are more than two options. But the devil is part of witchcraft lore, and some choose to work with him.

The story of the devil was written by his enemies

Who is the devil? Are Lucifer, Satan, and Beelzebub the same person or different spirits? Are they completely evil, seeking only to corrupt and destroy? Or were they simply on the losing side?

History is written by the winners. So are myths.

What does the story of the devil look like through a polytheist lens?

A plain reading of the story of Lucifer tells us that a group of angels (beings who are powerful but not quite Gods) got tired of serving their God  who, lets not forget, is not the only God but one God among many. So they left Heaven (i.e.  that part of the Otherworld, or if you prefer, one of many Otherworlds) either voluntarily or by force and they came to Earth, where various legends say they rule this or that region or realm.

As an aside, I tend to think they didnt find the Earth empty when they got here. Some Christians claim that fairies are fallen angels. I think theyre competitors with the fallen angels  and with humans, and perhaps others  for control of the Earth.

Going further, a plain reading of the story of Eden says that the Christian God tried to keep the first humans in ignorance. It was the serpent  generally presumed to be Lucifer in another form  who gave them the knowledge of good and evil, which enabled them to become adults.

Whos the bad guy in this story?

Satan as a symbol of rebellion against unjust authority

Authorities dont like rebellion. Authorities like nice, compliant sheep who do what theyre told and who dont challenge the structures that keep said authorities in power. Now, civilizations require order  they require laws and customs and structures to provide a foundation for the human activities that ensure security and expand knowledge. Im rather fond of order. But even I can see that many of our current structures have become dysfunctional, and many more have been hijacked to enforce conformity and to serve the rich and powerful.

In a society that is still heavily influenced by Christianity, the devil is the ultimate symbol of rebellion against authority and structure.

The Satanic Temple is an atheist organization, but the metaphor of Satan perfectly matches their work to promote individual freedom and to oppose government endorsement of any one religion. Political and social conservatives often claim the authority of the Christian God to justify their oppression  The Satanic Temple uses the power of myth to fight them.

As another aside, The Satanic Temple does good work and I consider them allies in the cause of freedom and justice. But they are explicitly anti-theist and anti-magic  I would not be welcome in their organization and so I have no intentions of joining it. Thats OK  everything doesnt have to be for everyone.

Witchcraft is inherently anti-authoritarian

These days many different people are calling themselves witches for many different reasons. I do my best to stay out of the arguments about who is or isnt a witch. But I do have a definition of witchcraft.

Witchcraft is unauthorized magic.

Witchcraft is magic done for the witchs own reasons. Witchcraft doesnt ask permission. Most witches are ethical people, but their ethics are their own, not the ethics of the mainstream culture  and certain not the ethics of the Christian patriarchy. Witchcraft says as I will it, so mote it be!

Is it any wonder that those in charge still scream witch! when anyone  especially a woman, especially a woman claiming power  challenges authority?

Is it any wonder that many witches are inspired by the story of Lucifer and his cry of non serviam (which, contrary to what many think, did not originate with Milton but with James Joyce)?

A Luciferian revolt

Peter Grey, author of Apocalyptic Witchcraft and co-author of The Brazen Vessel, argues because our society is still dominated by Christianity, our response must be rooted in Christianity. In an essay titled The Luciferian Revolt Grey wrote:

In the West we are culturally Christian. The book which has formed and transformed our spirituality, our institutions, our laws, our art, our ideas of witchcraft is the Bible. Therefore our witchcraft must also relate to this set of cultural stories, or it is meaningless. We cannot cherry pick pagan pasts and in doing so, neglect the serpent and the apple.

I find Peter Greys work inspiring. Hes certainly not wrong here. Like The Satanic Temple, this sort of witchcraft grabs the attention of the mainstream society and turns it upside down. It screams your religion is so harmful I would rather identify with your adversary.

And as magicians throughout the past millennium  including today  can attest, the devil can be a powerfully ally.

But is he the best ally in a society where Christianity is already in steep decline? Do we need to continue to rebel against Christianity, or are we better served by simply walking away from that which does not support us and walking toward a future grounded in animism and polytheism?

Witchcraft without the devil

Cernunnos teaches me about life and death in this world. The Morrigan teaches me to fight for what is right, and for what is rightfully mine. One of the epithets of Isis is Mistress of Magic. For me, this is enough.

And also, I needed to make a clean break with Christianity. Im even further down the road of healing now than I was when I wrote that post six years ago  Im not worried about a relapse. But Im also further down this path of Paganism and I simply see no reason to ground my witchcraft in a mythology that doesnt speak to me.

We must all do what we believe is best. Witchcraft is magic done for the witchs own reasons, with the methods and stories and allies that speak to the individual witch. But I see no reason to work with the devil.

The devil as an extended member of a court

For those who do, where does the devil best fit into a family of Gods and spirits?

I think Jon Goodfellows first suggestion is the best option. Pagan and polytheist witches who work with the folkloric devil would be best served by considering him a guest in a pantheon. Or even better, as an extended member of the court of the deities the witch honors. He is not part of any of the European hearth cultures, and while Im the last person who will call for cultural purity, some combinations just dont fit.

Gods and other spirits can fill the roles performed by the devil and they do in some traditions, but Im reluctant to call that a syncretism.

Just because you choose to ignore the devil doesnt mean the devil will choose to ignore you. I do not believe he is a tempter trying to corrupt your soul. But working magic  any magic, especially big magic  shines a light into the spirit world. You never know whos attention you may catch.

If you catch the attention of the devil, its best to know what he is  and what he isnt.
Zen students sometimes seem to think that Zen is a passive process. One just sits and the magic happens. Nonsense!

And Soto students sometimes dismiss wholehearted application of the method by attributing hair on fire training to Rinzai Zen. Double nonsense!!

Heres a bit from the Caodong/Soto master Wansong  his preface to Record of Going Easy (J. Shoyoroku ), Case 85: The Appearance of the National Teachers Monument. Much more about Wansong is available here: Going Through the Mysterys One Hundred Questions.

Its Wansong teaching about what it takes to truly go easy:

Smashing space beneath the blows of a hammer. Breaking open Flower Peak with the base of a lever. Then, for the first time, youll arrive where there is no seam or crack, where you dont see flaws or scars. Yet, who is this way?
There are positive signs of recovery in the countrys banking sector following a challenging 2022, Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Dr. Ernest Addison has revealed.



Speaking during a press briefing at the 112th Monetary Policy Committees (MPC) conclusion in Accra, he said despite the Domestic Debt Exchange Programmes (DDEP) impact and the overall difficult operating environment that affected banks financial performance, the sector witnessed a turnaround in performance during the first four months of 2023, following closure of the DDEP.



In the first four months of this year, prudential data show some turnaround in the banking sectors performance following conclusion of the DDEP, and following the consensus reached among stakeholders on the treatment of losses arising from the same, he said.



He added that banks have begun rebalancing their portfolios, shifting away from medium-to-long-term investments and increasing their focus on short-term investments and new loans.



This comes after the audited financial statements for 2022 brought to light substantial losses incurred by banks. These losses primarily stemmed from mark-to-market valuation losses on government bonds, which were a consequence of implementing the DDEP (Dynamic Discounted Expected Provisions). Additionally, the banks faced increased impairments on loans and rising operating costs  contributing further to their financial setbacks.



Positive numbers



In 2023, most banks returned to profitability; with higher operating income contributing to a 47 percent increase in profit-before-tax for April 2023 compared to the same period last year. Net income or profit-after-tax for the industry increased by 45.8 percent to GH2.8billion in April 2023.



At the previous year-end, the industry encountered significant profit-before-tax losses totalling GH8billion; which stood in stark contrast to the GH7.4billion profit recorded in the previous year of 2021.



Similarly, pre-tax losses amounted to GH6.6billion in 2022 compared to a post-tax of GH4.8billion in the preceding year. As a result of these losses, key profitability indicators such as return on assets and return-on-equity turned negative in 2022.



In the first four months of 2023, the sector witnessed positive growth with its return-on-assets increasing from 4.7 percent to 5.5 percent. Similarly, the return-on-equity experienced an upward trend, rising from 22.3 percent to 36.3 percent.



However, there was a significant decline in the capital adequacy ratio (CAR), which dropped from 21.3 percent in April 2022 to 14.8 percent in April 2023. Most banks continued to maintain CAR above the regulatory minimum of 10 percent by the end of December 2022



The year-on-year decline was attributed to the increase in risk-weighted assets caused by fluctuations in exchange rates and losses incurred on mark-to-market investments. But a bigger dip was mitigated due to temporary regulatory reliefs provided for banks to stem the impact of the DDEP, similar to the measures implemented with onset of the pandemic.



Furthermore, the non-performing loans (NPLS) ratio worsened to 18 percent in April 2023, indicating higher loan impairments and heightened credit risks. Nevertheless, the industrys liquidity indicators have improved following implementation of the revised cash reserve requirement (CRR).



Governor Addison is resolute that the sectors recovery in the first four months of 2023 demonstrates resilience and a positive outlook, but added continued efforts are needed to address remaining challenges and ensure sustained growth.



Already, it has emerged that a comprehensive strategy to revive the nations financial sector is being readied for the end of June as part of the US$3billion facility being provided by the International Monetary Fund.



Under the proposed reforms  which aim to strengthen the sector, restore market confidence and promote lending to the private sector  commercial banks, special deposit-taking institutions and other regulated entities must submit plans for recapitalisation.

Source: B&FT









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Ghana's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, had hosted a breakfast meeting in London for a section of Business and financial sector leaders with interests in Ghana.



In his opening remarks, Papa Owusu Ankomah did acknowledge the difficult times that Ghana presently finds itself in, but was quick to add that the difficult times is what makes it even more important to call for your inputs and ideas as captains of industry to enable me make recommendations to the relevant authorities in Accra.



During the open and frank discussions, Dr Theo Acheampong, an economist advised the government to be prudent with its spending as Ghana prepares to go into the 2024 elections saying Spending in election years have always been the problem when it comes to fiscal policy in Ghana and 2024 must be an exception



The purpose of the meeting was to engage the business leaders in frank discussions about the Ghanaian economy and business environment and for solutions to be suggested to the appropriate authorities in Ghana. Business and financial sector leaders present at the breakfast meeting included Mr Peter Akwaboah, a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, Lucy Quist, Managing Director also of Morgann Stanley, Hakim Abdul, of UK Investment Bank, CitiBAnk, Mr Theo Acheampong, a UK-based Ghanaian Economist, Madhan Srinivasan, Managing Director of Tullow oil PLC among other guests. The Meeting is the first in the series of business breakfast meetings aimed at getting the High Commissioner to engage the UK business community on the way forward for the Ghanaian economy.

Source: Peacefmonline com









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The Dothan Police Department is seeking the publics help in locating a missing teen and her young son.

According to police reports, Jayda Marie Butler, 16, was last seen by her mother at their residence in the 200 block of Reid Drive on the morning of Tuesday, May 23.

Butler is accompanied by her 11-month-old son Kyson Rhodes, and they are possibly in an unknown vehicle heading to South Carolina.

No clothing descriptions for either Butler or her son have been provided.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Dothan Police Department at 334-793-0215 or 334-615-3632.
The Minority in Parliament has asked government to release funds to the various Heads of the Senior High Schools in the country for effective running of the schools.



According to them, they have observed with keen interest the statement made by the International Monetary Fund regarding the poor implementation and targeting of the Free SHS programme in Ghana.



Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme in relation to a statement on the free SHS policy, deputy ranking member of the Education Committee of Parliament, Clement Apaak explained that the minority wants to put on record that since 2017 when the programme was implemented, they cautioned government about it.



"This was not heeded and was described as a propaganda," he said.



Read Statement Below





MINORITY STATEMENT ON IMF's COMMENTS ON THE FREE SHS PROGRAMME



The Minority in Parliament has observed with keen interest the statement made by the International Monetary Fund regarding the poor implementation and targeting of the Free SHS programme in Ghana.



The Minority wants to put on record that since 2017 when the programme was implemented, we cautioned government to hasten slowly so that a proper roll out of the policy would be meaningful and beneficial to Ghanaians. This was not heeded and was described as a propaganda.



The Minority again in 2019, two years after the implementation of the policy called on the government to review the policy but this request for a review was misconstrued to mean cancelation. Areas that the Minority and former President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama identified for review are exactly what the IMF has identified.



These include serious targeting of the vulnerable in the senior high schools that needed support. That was what was done by the NDC government when it introduced the progressively Free SHS in 2015.



Infrastructure remains a big challenge in the senior high schools. A large number of projects started by the President Mahama administration to provide enough space for both accommodation and academic work remains uncompleted. If government had not abandoned these projects, the infrastructure deficits would have been minimal. This was the vision of President Mahama that going into the future, enrolment into secondary schools was going to increase tremendously.



It was also observed in the report that there is a neglect of basic education. The Minority has noted this every year, especially during budget sessions, that the neglect of the basic education by this government was going to have a negative impact on the quality of education that we want for our children. We have observed the dwindling allocation of funds for basic education but government has been adamant in this direction.



The Minority wants to put on record that in the 2020 Manifesto of the NDC, we categorically stated that we would engage and involve the private senior high schools in the Free SHS programme and that remains a commitment the next NDC government will do.



In conclusion, the Minority wants the government to as a matter of urgency release money to the heads of Senior High Schools to enable them run their schools efficiently.



Additionally, the current calendar for the senior high schools must be reviewed because the first year students who reported in February this year and went on holidays during Easter are still home. This is impacting negatively on their academic work. In the end they are unable to do the three years of the secondary school programme.



It is our belief that this government which claims to be a 'listening government' will listen to what the IMF has said and give our future leaders the quality of education that they deserve so that in the next two decades the country does not suffer any human resource challenges.

Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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The most effective way to reduce nurses migration from Ghana is for the Government to invest in the sector to make it more attractive, Joseline Adjoa Enchill, a Registered General Nurse at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema, said on Monday.



She said most of the nurses in the country gave their best to save lives, but the challenges they went through kept increasing without any policy to get those addressed.



She said the reason other countries were still employing Ghanaian nurses was because they were highly intelligent and skilled in their field of work, making them stand out in their activities.



Enchill said this at the Ghana News Agencys health communication platform in Tema, dubbed: "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility.



The platform enhances the dissemination of health information to influence health choices and literacy.



Ghanaian nurses are very intelligent; hence the UK is taking them. Most of my colleagues who are outside will tell you that they see a difference, Ghanaian nurses are doing marvellously well because they are being paid wellso why will they come back? she asked.



The nursing profession was one of the most important components of the health service, and the health of Ghanaians was closely related to the quality and efficiency of nurses, Enchill said.



She said the nursing profession had different specialties and the Government could improve on their performance by intensifying investment in their training to be skilled in the various fields.



The reason most people travel outside for healthcare services is the availability of specialties in those countries due to the intensified investment in the sectorand these could be inculcated into Ghanas health service.



Enchill said Ghana must improve staffing levels so that nurses would spend more time with each patient and enhance the livelihoods of the populace.



Francis Ameyibor, the Tema Regional Manager of GNA, said everyones health was important and should be prioritized to ensure a healthy society and enhance productivity.



He said the weekly health dialogue platform created a channel of communication for experts to educate the public on important health issues.





Source: GNA









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Ugandan police have restricted night movement for Christian pilgrims travelling to Namugongo Shrine for next month's Martyrs Day celebrations, citing safety reasons.



Pilgrims from the neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan, as well as those from the furthest districts in Uganda, have started trekking on foot to Namugongo.



Police chief Okoth Ochola has directed regional commanders to ensure the pilgrims sleep in churches, schools and community centres.



No incidents of crime had so far been reported, he said, and he ordered officers to provide security for those making the pilgrimage.



On Monday, police spokesperson Fred Enanga urged the pilgrims, especially those who had not made the trip before, to be vigilant as they can often be targeted by criminals.



Ambulances were on standby on all major highways for medical evacuation and emergency response, he added.



Martyrs' Day is a national public holiday in Uganda and more than a million pilgrims are expected to make the journey to commemorate 45 martyrs, both Catholic and Anglican, who were killed between 1885 and 1887 on orders of Kababa Mwanga II, then king of Buganda, for converting to Christianity.

Source: BBC









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The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja, has given the former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the three weeks he requested for to call 100 witness to prove his case that Tinubu of the APC was not the valid winner of the presidential election.



The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel, in its pre-hearing report, on Tuesday, noted that a total of 166 witnesses would be called to testify in the matter.



It stressed that star witnesses in the petition would only be allowed to adopt their written depositions make oral submissions and identify documents where it is required.



Whereas the court gave the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, two days to present its defence, it gave the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, five days each to defend the petition.



Justice Stephen Adah, who read the pre-hearing report, equally drew attention of the parties to the fact that Atikus petition had been merged with the one that was filed by candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi and the one that was filed by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM.



The court held that consolidation of the three petitions would ensure justice in the matter, adding that the parties would adopt their final briefs of argument to enable it to fix a date for judgement.



Atiku had in his joint petition with the PDP, marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to Tinubu of the ruling APC, by INEC.



He maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the presidential election was invalid by reason of non- compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.



Atiku further argued that Tinubus election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices.



The 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the Election.



The 2nd Respondent was at the time of the Election not qualified to contest the Election, Atiku added while listing grounds he said the court should consider to nullify Tinubus election.



He prayed the court to declare him winner of the presidential election, having secured the second highest number of lawful votes cast at the election.



Besides, Atiku told the court that the President-elect had demonstrated inconsistency as to his actual date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan); his State of origin, gender, actual name; certificates evidencing Universities attended (Chicago State University).



He said: The purported degree Certificate of the 2nd Respondent allegedly acquired at the Chicago State University did not belong to him but to a female (F) described as F in the Certificate bearing the name Bola Tinubu.



The 2nd Respondent did not disclose to the 1st Respondent (INEC) his voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. D00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship. The 2nd Respondent is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports.



The former Vice President further told the court that Tinubu has record of criminal forfeiture of the sun of $460, 000. 00 for the drug related offence before the United States Judge, John A Nordberg in the 2nd Respondents First Heritage Account No. 263226700, being proceeds of narcotics-trafficking in violation of 18 U. S. C 1956 and 1947 for an offence involving narcotics.



He insisted that the APC candidate did not meet the constitutional threshold and is constitutionally disabled from contesting for office of President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.



However, in a reply he filed through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Tinubu, queried the legal competence of the petition.



Tinubu described Atiku as a consistent serial loser that had since 1993, crisscrossed different political parties, in search of power.

Source: vanguardngr









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Freddie Blay, Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has reacted to calls by a group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) calling for him to be immediately dismissed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



Blay, a former New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman in an interview with Citi FM said he would rather be fired by the appointing authority than to resign.



He also confirmed having held talks with President Akufo-Addo over a May 16 stinging letter Minister of Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh wrote in respect of a planned sale of 50% shares of government's stake in an oil field to South African firm, Petro SA.



Possibly, I could be fired, but I dont see any reason why they are saying I should resign about this issue. I have done nothing wrong. I have observed my conscience and I thought I was protecting the interest of the country, and I am convinced about it and if others think otherwise and if those who appointed me are saying otherwise, then so be it.



I have spoken to the president about it, and we havent gotten to where he will ask for his job back. It is not about convincing the president, the law will speak for itself and the law will talk and there are few documents on the agreement.



Concern of CSOs



A group of 29 CSOs on Extractive Governance on May 23, 2023 called for the immediate dismissal of Freddie Blay and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah.



The calls came on the back of recent reports and documents indicating GNPCs intention to sell 50% stake in Jubilee Holdings Limited (JOHL) in a deal with a South African oil company, PetroSA despite significant revenue potential this interest holds for the state.



Coordinator for the Economic Governance Platform, Abdul Karim Mohammed told the press that the persistent involvement of such persons associated with such deals pose significant risk to Ghanas stake and interest in the petroleum sector.



We demand the immediate removal of GNPCs CEO, Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah and the Board Chairman, Freddie W. Blay from their respective positions as they have become a threat to Ghanas interest in the petroleum sector, he said.



Abdul Mohammed further noted that Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has vehemently opposed the decision by the GNPC Board Chairman [Freddie Blay] in offering interest in Ghanas stake to PetroSA which is based in South Africa.



It is a viable field, and it is giving us a lot of money if we allow this to go forward. What it means is that PetroSA will be entitled to 50 percent of the earnings from the field, whereas they have not had any role in developing the field to the point where it is now viable," he explained.



The information we have is that the Minister for Energy has objected to this transaction but the Chairman of GNPC Board is pushing this transaction to the extent that the Minister of Energy had written to the Jubilee House over this transaction, the Coordinator added.



Meanwhile, documents in the media have suggested that Freddie Blay in his capacity as the GNPC Board Chairman is said to have written to PetroSA offering it an equal split in the interest held by GNPCs subsidiary, Jubilee Oil Holdings Limited.



The move has since resulted in backlash from the CSOs made up of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), Imani Centre for Policy and Education and 25 others.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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Veteran lawyer Sam Okudzeto has urged students of the Ghana School of Law to give serious attention to the study of diplomacy and international relations.



Speaking at the Diplomatic and Foreign Affairs Forum organized by the Ghana School of Law Students' Representative Council on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, Mr. Okudzeto emphasized that acquiring such knowledge would greatly benefit the students in their future endeavors, including the practice of law.



"There is more to law because, when you leave here, you are expected to be employed either as a lawyer, advisor, or counselor. You cannot impart what you do not know or even know how to find what you do not know. This becomes serious. Sometimes, you see lawyers in court fumbling, and it is evident that they have not done their homework and lack knowledge.



"I will conclude my address by emphasizing that international relations is a must for everybody to understand. I am not saying you have to be an expert, but it will help you in your vocation and profession as a lawyer, whether you choose to practice or work with an institution. You will realize that international knowledge is important because there are other countries out there producing goods and services that are needed. You may even consider the intellectual aspect and discover that a particular expertise is more prevalent here than elsewhere," he stated.



The Diplomatic and Foreign Affairs Forum was organized by Diplomatic Affairs TV in collaboration with the SRC of the Ghana School of Law, under the leadership of Odupong Atta-Agyapong, as part of the 63rd SRC Week Celebration.



The event, held under the theme "The Global Perspectives on International Relations and Law," was attended by several notable individuals, including the European Ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, United Nations Resident Coordinator to Ghana, Charles Ambani, the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer, and the Suriname Ambassador to Ghana, Fidelia Graand Galon.



They all took turns to deliver speeches related to the theme while commending the SRC and Diplomatic Affairs TV for organizing such an insightful forum for the benefit of the student lawyers.



Harriet Nartey, the Chief Executive Officer of Diplomatic Affairs TV, expressed delight about the potential of the forum and expressed gratitude to the dignitaries for their presence at the event.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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More than 30 schoolchildren have been admitted to hospital after they inhaled tear gas from canisters fired by anti-riot police during a morning drill in Nigerias southwestern Osun State, local media reports.



It was taking place opposite Fakunle Comprehensive School, in the city of Osogbo, but the fumes drifted over onto the campus.



The secondary school students were reportedly rushed to two different hospitals for urgent medical attention after losing consciousness.



The incident sparked panic as some parents quickly picked up their children after the school authorities were advised to close for the day.



Osun police spokesperson Yemisi Opalola apologised for the incident and said the officers would make the necessary adjustments to prevent a recurrence.

Source: BBC









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The Chief Justice of Ghana, Kwasi Anin Yeboah officially retires from active service today, May 24, 2023.



The 70-year-old served for three years after taking over from retired Justice Sophia Akuffo in 2020.



President Akufo-Addo speaking at a farewell dinner described Justice Anin-Yeboah, as an exceptional leader.



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 said.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Supreme Court has reiterated its decision that the section of the Narcotic Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019) which allows for the cultivation of weed (Cannabis) in Ghana is unconstitutional.



The Apex Court, in a majority 5-4 decision indicated that the law was unlawfully passed by parliament.



Majority was made up of Justices Jones Dotse, Prof Kotey, Mariama Owusu, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, and Emmanuel Kulendi while Justices Lovelace Johnson, Amadu Tanko, Samuel Asiedu and George Koomson formed the minority.



Justice Dotse, Presiding Judge on the case indicated that the requirements needed to be met for a party to review its own judgement has not been met.



This follows an earlier decision by the Supreme Court in July 2022, to strike out Section 43 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act.



The Apex Court held that the section of the Act which stated; [he Minister on the recommendation of the Commission, may grant a licence for the cultivation of cannabis popularly referred to as wee in Ghana, which is not more than 0.3 % THC content on a dry weight basis for industrial purposes for obtaining fibre or seed for medicinal purposes], violated Article 106 of the 1992 Constitution which details the processes a bill must go through before it is passed into law by Parliament and therefore it was null and void.



According to a myjoyonline report, Private Citizen; Ezuame Mannan who filed the case against the Attorney-General however argued that the explanatory memorandum that was laid in parliament did not adequately lay out the policy change that was being brought by the law.



He further noted that the policy change was not debated enough before passed into law by parliament, a position which the Supreme Court agreed with.



The Attorney General, represented by Godfred Dame however filed processes asking for a review of the courts decision, suggesting that the original panel of judges committed an error of the law by siding with the complainant.



Fundamental and grave errors have occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice. It is only at the beginning of the process that there must be a memorandum.



There is no requirement for a memorandum to further accompany any amendment made by Parliament. Such a reading of the law imposes a further burden on Parliament and curtails its autonomy in passing laws, Mr Dame stated.



After, lawyer for Ezuame Mannan disagreed and argued that it was the contrary.

Effiba Amihere who represented the private citizens argument was that;

No miscarriage of justice has been occasioned by the decision of the court. We will respectfully talk about the amendment which is section 43, that was sneaked in at the time that the full debate had concluded.



That it was contrary to the Constitution. The AG has said that in amending the law, there is no need for the memorandum, the issues as well as the departure from the national policy, the position do the plaintiff is that, at the time of the debate, this particular amendment that was sneaked in, was not part. The nation was not made aware of the clear change in the policy. Myjoyonline quoted her as having stated.



Following this, presiding Judge, Justice Jones Dotse, ruled that the review threshold of the court had not been met and it therefore upholds its former decision that the law remains unconstitutional.



What the law says



Section 43 of Act 1019 stipulates that the Minister on the recommendation of the Commission, may grant a licence for the cultivation of cannabis popularly referred to as "wee" in Ghana, which is not more than 0.3 % THC content on a dry weight basis for industrial purposes for obtaining fibre or seed for medicinal purposes.



Article 106 of the 1992 Constitution which is titled Mode of Exercising Legislative Powers deals with the processes a bill must go through before it can be passed into law by Parliament.



Article 106 (2) states that No bill, other than such a bill as is referred to in paragraph (a) of Article 108 of this constitution, shall be introduced in parliament unless -



(a) it is accompanied by an explanatory memorandum setting out in detail the policy and principles of the bill, the defects of the existing law, the remedies proposed to deal with those defects and the necessity for its introduction,



(b) it has been published in the Gazette at least fourteen days before the date of its introduction in Parliament



Article 106(5) of the 1992 Constitution states that where a bill has been deliberated upon by the appropriate committee, it shall be reported to Parliament, while Article 106 (6) stipulates that the report of the committee, together with the explanatory memorandum to the bill, shall form the basis for a full debate on the bill for its passage, with or without amendments, or its rejection, by Parliament.















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The simple matter of a parliamentary by-election for a seat largely considered a safe one for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has become a complex issue as four candidates appear on the ballot sheet for todays poll in Kumawu.



The Ashanti Region seat has been occupied by the NPP since 1996, but the strong showing of a former party faithful who went independent in 2020 has altered the dynamics in what has become an important contest for the NPP.



That candidate, Kwaku Duah, bears the same name as the other Independent candidate, a younger man who some political watchers have argued appears to be a mere strategic entry in the scheme of the challenge posed by his senior namesake.



Enjoying only the slimmest of advantages in numbers in the two-party Parliament, the NPP  whose members death occasioned the by-election  cannot afford to let the seat slip by, with each passing parliamentary debate set on a knifes edge on account of the nearly even numbers of the NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).



Such have been the stakes that the police yesterday issued a statement that adequate police personnel had been deployed to Kumawu for todays by-election.



We wish to assure the people of the Kumawu Constituency to go about their normal activities freely, including going out to exercise their civic duty of casting their vote, a statement issued and signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Grace Ansah-Akrofi, Director of Public Affairs, said.



We would like to urge the general public, especially the people of the Kumawu Constituency, to work with us to deliver a peaceful election and ensure the safety and security of all, the statement added.



It said the police had already met with stakeholders, including the leadership of the NPP, the NDC and one of the Independent candidates, to enhance collaboration among all stakeholders and to ensure a peaceful election.



The other Independent candidate was unable to honour the invitation to the meeting.



The NPP appears more concerned with the candidature of the senior Duah, who has a bird as his symbol on the ballot paper.



He fell out with the party and went independent in the last parliamentary election in 2020, coming second as he polled 11,698 representing 39.96 per cent of the total valid votes cast. The NPPs candidate then, the late Philip Basoah, polled 14,960 representing 51.11 per cent.



The then NDC candidate, Bernard Opoku Marfo, came third by polling 2,439 votes, representing 8.33 per cent, while Nana Amoako of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM) polled 174 votes, representing 0.59 per cent.



In the presidential race, President Akufo-Addo won with 23,502, representing 80.69 per cent of the valid votes cast, as against the NDCs John



Mahamas 5,325, representing 18.28 per cent of valid votes cast.



Campaign

The NDC and the NPP over the weekend rounded up their campaigns for todays poll, having toured, since last month, every nook and cranny of the constituency to woo voters.



All political campaign activities came to an end last Sunday, with the NPP holding what could be described as a mammoth rally that featured bigwigs, including President Akufo-Addo and Vice-President Dr Bawumia.



It followed last Saturdays movement of big shots of both the NDC and the NPP as family and friends mourned the former MP, Basoah, at his funeral.



For the NDC, the removal of Assin South MP, James Gyakye Quayson, has become the motivation to snatch any seat in sight.



A must-win seat



Even though the voting patterns in the constituency have over the years favoured the NPP, the party is not leaving anything to chance.



Even before the primary to elect a candidate to contest the by-election, the NPP had practically moved its machinery to the constituency and set up a command post in the house of the constituency chairman.



Aside from ensuring that the party retains its slim majority in Parliament, a win for the NPP would be deemed as a vote of confidence in the administration of the government and would serve as a booster for the upcoming general election in December 2024.



Addressing the party faithful last Sunday, the Majority Leader in Parliament and MP for Suame, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, admitted that the slim majority that the party has in Parliament was affecting the progress of work, and as such there was the need for the electorate to ensure that the NPP won the seat.



Surprise



Even though the NDC has not fared very well in the previous elections in the constituency, its candidate, Kwasi Amankwa, is full of confidence that he will pull a surprise.



He believes the divine forces are behind him, and that the party will come out victorious by the close of the polls today.



According to him, the party had put in a lot of work not just to increase its votes in the constituency, but to win the seat.



As a boost for his campaign, the presidential candidate of the NDC, former President John Dramani Mahama, was in the constituency last Friday where he and his entourage called on the family of the late MP to commiserate with them.



For some, todays poll is a virtual referendum on the NPPs stewardship in eight years.



Confusion



The common name being used by the two Independent candidates in the by-election could be cause for worry for some voters.



Until last Sunday, both candidates were using the same symbols on the notice of their posters and wore virtually the same kente cloth aside from bearing the same name.



However, the Electoral Commission has changed the symbol of the second Kwaku Duah, who entered the race at the last minute, from the initial dove to a hoe.



According to the EC, even though the commission asked about the similarity of their symbols and asked him to change it, he refused, thus prompting the EC to do that for him since the law allowed the EC to do that.



Machinations

Kwaku Duah, who first contested in the last parliamentary election, has accused the members of his former party for sponsoring his own family member, Kwaku Duah, to contest him just to confuse his supporters.



He has refused to align with any of the political parties and pledged to maintain his neutrality when he wins.

Source: Graphic.com.gh









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Orient Insurance, a prominent insurance firm, has partnered with Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), DP Worlds leading trade and logistics hub, to offer insurance solutions to more than 9,500 businesses and industries located in the free zone.

Under the agreement signed between Omer Elamin, Group President, Orient Insurance PJSC (Orient), and Abdulla Al Hashmi, Chief Operating Officer, Parks and Zones, DP World UAE, Orient will provide insurance solutions to tenants and occupants of Jafza through the Dubai Trade Portal.

Supporting businesses

Omer Elamin, President, Orient Group said: This will support businesses by offering adequate coverage and providing specific insurance policies tailored to the requirements set forth by the free zone. It will also empower the free zone customers with comprehensive coverage for employees, labour, capital investments, individuals, assets and liability exposure."

DCEO Xavier Arputharaj, CMO Fadi Awni, EVP Retail Subramoni JB, EVP Gaurav Bajaj, and VP Rajaneesh Mudavath from the Orient team, along with Ebtesam Alkaabi, Head of Sales, Jafza, were present during the agreement signing ceremony.

Orient Insurance, has over 40 years experience in the UAE, and it provides a comprehensive suite of solutions related to commercial, technical, life, and retail. Orient has the highest rating in the region, with the highest gross written premium, equity, technical and net profit in the Emirates.-- TradeArabia

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DSI Security will crack down on underage drinking during next months Gulf Coast Jam Festival.

The Dothan-based security company announced on Wednesday that alcoholic beverage sales at the event will be equipped with Intellichecks mobile app to validate IDs in order to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.

DSIs manager of safety and security for the event, Boyd Clark, believes Intellichecks technology is a must-have.

As industry leaders, we are committed to an unsurpassed level of safety and security for every event, and we are always mindful of the impact on the communities that host the, Clark, said in a press release. It requires that we constantly assess and respond to relevant trends to ensure we are prepared for any challenge.

Increasingly, fake IDs have become so sophisticated its impossible to spot them using the traditional visual methods we have relied upon in the past. We recognized that we needed proven technology that would spot these fakes and at the same time could be quickly and easily be used by our officers. Thats why we turned to Intellicheck.

Gulf Coast Jam takes place from June 1-4 in Panama City Beach, Florida. The event is considered to be the largest music event in the Southeast and headliners such as Kenny Chesney, HARDY, Miranda Lambert, and Kane Brown are expected to perform during the festival.

Intellichecks CEO Bryan Lewis is thrilled to work with DSI.

We understand the challenges that come with the advances in technology that are being leveraged to create high-tech fake IDs that are readily and inexpensively available to young people, Lewis said. We work with law enforcement agencies across the country addressing these very challenges every day.

Using Intellichecks cutting-edge technology, DSI officers can accurately and rapidly validate the IDs of age-appropriate customers purchasing alcoholic beverages assuring quick service and avoiding long lines and delays while deterring the potential dangers that come with underage drinking.

Intellicheck is an industry-leading identity company delivering on-demand digital and physical identity validation solutions. To learn more about Intellicheck, visit www.intellicheck.com.

DSI delivers superior security solutions including armed and unarmed officers, mobile patrols, and electronic security solutions. Now in its sixth decade, the companys more than 5,400 security personnel provide their comprehensive security services through 28 offices spanning 33 states.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Subin constituency, Eugene Boakye Antwi, has emphasized the need for President Akufo-Addo to make a decision regarding the future of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta following the closure of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.



Speaking in an interview on Joy FM, Mr. Antwi explained that the power to dismiss the Finance Minister lies solely with the President, and the role of the MPs was to highlight the Minister's shortcomings and argue for his removal from office.



Antwi stated that the 98 New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs who previously called for Ofori-Atta's dismissal in 2022 are now awaiting direction from the President.



He expressed their expectation for a meeting with either the Majority Leader or the President himself to discuss the way forward.



Antwi clarified that as an MP, he does not possess the authority to remove the Finance Minister but rather to expose any failings.



In November 2022, 98 NPP MPs demanded the immediate removal of Ken Ofori-Atta, citing economic mismanagement.



They petitioned President Akufo-Addo, threatening a parliamentary boycott if their demands were not met.



However, after a meeting, they agreed to the President's appeal to allow Ofori-Atta and Minister of State Charles Adu Boahen to remain in office until the conclusion of the IMF negotiations.



With Ghana's IMF bailout now approved, Mr. Antwi emphasized that questions about Ofori-Atta's future should be directed to the President.



He noted their support for the President and their concerns about Ofori-Atta's potential impact on electoral prospects in the upcoming year.



When asked about a potential successor, Antwi dismissed the notion of requiring prior experience, highlighting that everyone learns on the job and experience is acquired through practical engagement.



So far as we are concerned, we have demonstrated to the entire country, and the whole world that this is our decision or difficulty with the continued stay of Ken Ofori-Atta. We are waiting for the Majority Leader to come either convene a meeting or for the president to convene a meeting with the majority caucus and tell us the way forward, Mr. Antwi said.



He added: We stood with the president, and we have played our part. We demonstrated to him that the continuous stay of Ken at the Finance Ministry will not do well in electoral fortunes next year, and we continue to drum that home.







Source: graphiconline.com









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

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Audio Attachment: Listen to a report filed by Peace FM's Odehenufuor Jackson

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused an Electoral Officer of 'forcing' an old woman to vote against her will during the ongoing by-election at Kumawu in the Ashanti Region.



A woman believed to be in her 70s and 'visually impaired', according to a report filed by Peace FM's Odehenufuor Jackson, alleged that she had been made to vote for the wrong candidate at the Methodist JHS 2 polling station, Bodomoase in Kumawu, after telling an electoral officer to guide her to cast her vote.



According to the reports, she asked the officer to help her vote for the candidate with an 'Umbrella' symbol on the ballot paper, stressing the candidate is number 1 on the paper.



However, the confusion is that the candidate who is number 1 on the ballot paper is a New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate whose symbol is an 'Elephant' while the candidate with 'Umbrella' symbol is contesting on the ticket of the NDC.



She reported to NDC polling agents that the Electoral Officer supposedly tricked her to vote against the NDC candidate.



This, therefore, has resulted in serious conflict between the leaders of the NDC and the Electoral Commission.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt has admonished the electorates at Kumawu not to let the gifts they receive from candidates entice them.



The parliamentary by-election at Kumawu in the Ashanti Region is being held today with leaders and members of both the governing New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Congress hoping for their candidate to win the election.



The by-election is being held because of the vacant seat in the constituency resulting from the demise of their Member of Parliament, Philip Atta Basoah, which happened in March this year.



Four candidates including independent candidates are competing in the race to become the substantive MP for the constituency.



According to Kwesi Pratt Jnr., some candidates have been sharing cups of rice he called 'tu gyimi' to influence the votes of the electorates.



Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show, Mr. Pratt found it very amusing that a vote could be bought with what he disclosed as two cups of 'tu gyimi' rice.



"Don't let any person use 'tu gyimi' rice and others to deceive you. Cast a good vote. A good vote is the one that will bring development to your constituency and Ghana," he cautioned.



This seems to have amazed the panel on the show as they wondered if what Kwesi Pratt was saying was indeed true.



But Mr. Pratt held his ground emphasizing that there are videos showing the electorates collecting cups of the rice in exchange for their votes, hence also wondering why his co-panelists looked stunned by his comment.



"Even in the North, if you don't give them maggi cube, it will be very difficult to win elections," he claimed.



"We need more by-elections everyday. God damn it!", Mr. Pratt laughed heartily.















Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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A Senior Research Fellow of the Kumasi Technical University, Dr. Smart Sarpong has commended the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare and the Ghana Police Service for their role in the Kumawu by-election.



The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary candidate, Ernest Yaw Anim was declared winner of the by-election in the Kumawu constituency of the Ashanti Region held on Tuesday, May 24, 2023.



Per the results declared by the Electoral Commission, Yaw Anim polled 15264 representing 70.91% of the total valid votes cast as against the National Democratic Congress' Kwasi Amankwaa who had 3723 votes representing 17.29%.



Two independent candidates who contested in the race, Kwaku Duah with a bird as his symbol had 2478 votes representing 11.51% while the other Kwaku Duah with a hoe as his symbol had 62 votes representing 0.29% of the valid votes cast.



Dr. Smart Sarpong noted that the Police presence in the community played a key role in making the by-election violence-free and successful.



"They played a huge role in making Kumawu very peaceful. The Police were well-behaved, well-dressed. They handled Kumawu well," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show.



He also narrated how amazed he was to meet the IGP who he stated wasn't readily noticeable because of his humility and friendliness.













Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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Ghanaian gospel sensation Stella Conney has unveiled a mesmerizing new single titled 'Yesu Wo So,' aimed at inspiring gospel music enthusiasts.



The song, featuring collaborations with gospel minister Isaac Frimpong and Nigerian Ghana-based artist Adex Baba, has been steadily gaining traction on various music streaming platforms.



Driven by her burning desire to sing about God's goodness and favour in her life, Stella Conney, known for her hit track 'None Like You,' delivers powerful vocals that emphasize the importance of glorifying the Almighty.



In a bid to reach a broader audience and showcase her gospel principles and talent, the song incorporates a vibrant blend of Twi, Igbo, and Yoruba languages.



Produced by the talented M4SRoyal, the track's eclectic mix of musical influences ensures its appeal to a diverse range of listeners.



The uplifting composition has been resonating with fans, receiving an overwhelming response and further solidifying Stella Conney's position as a prominent figure in the gospel music scene.



In addition to her musical pursuits, Stella Conney is deeply rooted in her background.



Born on April 2, 1991, in Amokom-Kumasi within the Ashanti Region, she hails from both Nsuta in the Ashanti Region and Cape Coast in the Central Region.



As the third child out of five siblings, Stella's passion for music has been evident since her early years, supported by the confirmation of her siblings and childhood friends.



Stella Conney's educational journey took her through Saint Paul's R/C School for her primary education, followed by the completion of Junior High School at the same institution.



Subsequently, she gained admission to Workers College in Kumasi, where she pursued studies in General Arts.



In December 2021, the talented artist, who also balances her role as a businesswoman, released her debut single, 'None Like You,' which was met with acclaim from fans.



The track was produced by the skilled M4SRoyal, showcasing Stella Conney's musical prowess and dedication to her craft.



Outside of her professional endeavours, Stella Conney is happily married to Mr Martin Ayertey, and the couple is blessed with two children, a boy and a girl.



Check out the uplifting power of Stella Conney's latest release, 'YesuWo So,' below:





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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

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Legendary filmmaker, Jojo Mills-Robertson, has revealed details of an encounter he had with New York police following a friends betrayal over cash.



He said his travel and see experience happened shortly after he visited the United States where he was staying with a close friend.



Being an illegal immigrant, he said he had no proper travel documentation to process some official items he needed for his stay which included a bank account. This led him to entrust all his savings into the account of his close friend-turned-brother.



He recounted how he used to toil day and night to save up $1,200, yet all efforts to have his friend withdraw his cash for personal use were met with excuses.



Anytime I requested for my money, he would give me excuses. So one day, he called me to follow him to withdraw my money. I was so excited and I quickly hopped into his car. Unbeknownst to him, his friend had hatched a plan to have him arrested in a bid to swerve paying back the cash.



The veteran actor recounted how his friend deliberately crossed a red light and they were given a hot chase by the New York Police.



After they were sanctioned for road offences, Jojo said his friend snitched to the police that he was an illegal immigrant in New York.



He revealed that he was questioned to the point that he was almost arrested.



After everything was sorted out, the police asked him if he had anything illegal in his car and he pointed to me. The police questioned me and I was almost arrested. But from my friends demeanour, the police noticed he deliberately wanted to put me in trouble and get me deported. They pardoned me but issued a citation.



The actor, who was deeply disappointed in his friend for the betrayal, said he moved out and travelled to Virginia where he was accommodated by some relatives.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jojo Mills-robertson (@jojomills3b)









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

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Members 1st Federal Credit Union has named its next president and CEO.

The credit unions chief experience officer, Mike Wilson has been named as the organizations next president and chief executive officer as part of a planned succession and national search process.

Wilson will assume responsibilities on July 1.

This appointment highlights Members 1sts commitment to fostering growth, recognizing talent within the organization and upholding its distinct culture, Jon Kirssin, chairman of the board at Members 1st, said in a news release. With a deep understanding of the organization and a demonstrated history of leadership, Mike is well-positioned to guide our financially sound credit union toward further success.

He will take over for George Nahodil, who has worked at the credit union for 23 years including six years as president and CEO. Nahodil announced his intent to retire in September 2021.

Wilson joined Members 1st in July 2016 as a vice president of relationship management and has held a number of leadership roles within the credit union.

I am honored to continue to serve our members, associates and communities as Members 1sts next president and CEO, Wilson, said in the news release. Throughout my long-term history with this credit union, I have witnessed first-hand the positive impact we make on the lives of those we serve. I am excited to partner with George, our Board and our Leadership Team throughout this transition and work alongside our phenomenal associates as we honor an incredible legacy and plan for the next chapter in our familys history.

15 1 / 15 Members 1st Federal Credit Union new headquarters

Wilson is a graduate of Central Penn College in East Pennsboro Township and receive an MBA from Eastern University. On Thursday, he will receive an honorary doctorate from Central Penn College and will address this years graduates. He also currently serves as president of the Members 1st Charitable Foundation.

Members 1st Federal Credit Union is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial institution with more than half a million members and more than $7 billion in assets. The credit union has nearly 60 branch locations throughout Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Perry and York counties.

Last year, Members 1st moved into a brand new three-story headquarters at 5000 Marketplace Way in Hampden Township. Nahodil told PennLive last year that the organization employs about 1,700 people.

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A 26-year-old Susquehanna Township man has been charged with rape and related charges.

Alhagie Conateh was charged with rape of a child, indecent assault person less than 13 years of age, unlawful contact of with minors  sexual offenses, corruption of a minor  defendant age 18 or above, and terroristic threats with intention to terrorize another.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, the victim said the following during an interview with the Child Advocacy Center in Harrisburg:

The victim said she was raped in a mosque on South Cameron Street in Harrisburg every other weekend about five years ago by a man she knew by the name of Mohammed. The victim said the man would tell her brothers to leave the room and he would lock the school room door. The victim described being raped by the man. Mohammed told the victim not to tell anyone what he was doing to her or he would kill her. In one instance, one of the victims brothers attempted to go back into the school room to retrieve an item and Mohammed yelled for him not to come in. The brother later asked the victim what was going on in the room but she didnt tell him.

In April 2023, the victim told her mother about being raped. Mohammed was identified as Conateh. The victims mother told police that her children attended Arabic school in 2017 or 2018 for religious classes between the months of June and September and they would go for religious classes on the weekends. The mother said that when her daughter was younger she was sore in the pelvic area and had pain while urinating during the summer of 2017 or 2018. On May 17, 2023, state police received medical records in reference to the victims original exam, which was conducted on Oct. 8, 2018.

Alhagie told a case worker that he teaches his classes on Saturdays and Sundays and has never had any female students on the weekends.

Police didnt say how old the victim was, only that she was under the age of 13 in 2017 and 2018.

Alhagie is out on $25,000 bail. A preliminary hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. June 27 in front of Magisterial District Judge Paul Zozos.

More:

Missing 16-year-old central Pa. girl found in Virginia; man with her taken into custody

4-year-old located in back seat of car just hours after reported missing: reports
Owego, N.Y.  An Upstate New York man wanted on 400 counts of child sex crimes was found hiding in a hotel attic, troopers said.

Matthew J. Casterline, 47, was found hiding in the attic of a Best Western on Hickories Park Road in Owego in Tioga County on May 5, state police said in a news release on Tuesday.

Casterline worked at the Best Western, troopers said.

He was wanted for first-degree sexual abuse by New York Troopers.

In Sayre, Pennsylvania, he was wanted for 400 counts of sexually related offenses against a child, troopers said. Sayre is located in Bradford County.

He was arrested and taken to the Tioga County Jail where he will be arraigned, troopers said.

Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, photo, question or comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961, on Twitter @kirk_rylee, or rkirk@syracuse.com.
WILLIAMSPORT  A Lycoming County teenager who is serving a jail sentence for threatening to shoot up a suburban Williamsport school is headed to trial on two sexual abuse of children charges.

Dejuan Angel Rivera, 18, of Williamsport, was ordered held for court Tuesday accused of recording a sexual act with a juvenile girl and then disseminating it.

The victim, 15, testified she was unaware he recorded her giving him oral sex in late December. He then transferred the video via Snapchat to his phone.

City police Agent Brittany Alexander said others might have seen the video.

She said after the preliminary hearing she did not know if Riveras phone that contained the video was the same one he used in a Dec. 16 conference call with three Loyalsock Twp. High School students during which he threatened to shoot up the school and boom them.

Rivera is scheduled to be released from the county prison June 4 after serving the minimum of an aggregate sentence in three cases to 5 months, 13 days, to 23 months followed by two years probation.

He had pleaded guilty in March to charges of terroristic threats in the school case and possession with intent to deliver marijuana and disorderly conduct in the other two.

County Judge Nancy L. Butts prohibited Rivera, who is not a Loyalsock student, from having contact with those on the conference call. She also ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service.

District Judge Christian D. Frey denied a motion by assistant public defender Tyler S. Calkins to have Riveras $100,000 bail on the latest charges reduced.

The judge cited a concern for the safety of the community given Riveras adjudication as a juvenile on charges that include terroristic threats, defiant trespass, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief.

More:

Child sexual abuse amendment stuck in political quagmire in Pa. legislature

Missing 16-year-old central Pa. girl found in Virginia; man with her taken into custody
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PINCKARD  A running track called a true community partnership built on the South Dale Middle School campus here officially opened for business with a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning.

Town of Pinckard and Dale County Schools officials gathered with soldiers from Lyster Army Medical Clinic on Fort Novosel and a bevy of beauty queens to officially cut the ribbon for the track, which is equipped with chin up bars, leg presses, and row machines, all funded by a grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.

Calling the school the hub of the community, South Dale Middle School Principal Dr. Perry Dillard credited Dale County Schools Superintendent Ben Baker for supporting my vision for this project, and SDMS Librarian Amy Blackstock, who wrote the grant application. Blackstock said that the school submitted the grant, with assistance from the physical education teachers, and were notified in early October that they had received the Walk it off grant to fund the track.

As soon as I became principal here four years ago, Mayor Bobby Borland made it clear that he wanted to continue to partner with our school, Dillard added. And it is a great community partnership.

Borland said that in the spirit of true community partnership, the town council agreed to use town equipment and labor to help grade out the area located behind the schools gym. And this is just the start of it, Borland said. Were going to help them open up a walking trail in the woods over there.

What weve done, weve done together, Borland said, adding that the town is excited to add Lt. Col. Garrett Holt and his staff at Lyster Army Medical Clinic to the community team. Soldiers will work with physical education students teaching physical training.

What a wonderful picture this is, seeing the community come together with a common goal, said First Baptist Church of Pinckard Pastor Chris Woodall.

The Lyster Army Medical Clinic Commander agreed, adding that he was excited to partner with Pinckard and looked forward to working with the Dale County town on other projects. I am such a proponent of community and I mean that in the fullest sense of the word, Holt said, as he watched his soldiers interact with their civilian counterparts Monday morning. Community carries the day. That is the phrase I like to say because relationships matter.

One thing I know for certain is that for those of us in military medicine we have a servant heart and this partnership with Pinckard will give us the opportunity to share that, Holt said. Fort Novosel and Lyster are part the Wiregrass and you know we love the Wiregrass.
PITTSBURGH (AP)  A student was taken into custody in the shooting death of another student early Wednesday just outside a school in Pittsburgh shortly before classes were due to start, police said.

The shooting happened just before 7:30 a.m. by the front steps of Oliver Citywide Academy, police said. Officers found the victim with gunshot wounds in front of the school and gave first aid, Major Crimes Commander Richard Ford told reporters at the scene.

An officer saw another student running from the school with a gun. The student was arrested and police recovered a gun, Ford said. The victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died, he said. No other injuries were reported.

Ford said the students were minors, but didnt specify their ages or release their names. Oliver Citywide Academy is a full-time special education center serving grades 3-12, according to the city school districts website. It wasnt immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

Most students were still on their way to the school when the shooting happened, and buses were rerouted to another school building, according to city spokesperson Maria Montano. Students who were already in the school were kept in the building and classes were canceled for the day.

We believe, based on the information that we have and the video weve been able to see, that we have the actor in custody and theres no potential threat to the other schools, Ford said.

The citys new police chief, Larry Scirotto, on the job for his first full day following confirmation Tuesday, said at the scene that such violence was unacceptable.

The tragedies cannot continue unchecked, Scirotto told WTAE-TV, vowing to work to assure parents that when they send their kids to school that their kids wont become a victim of gun violence.

Mayor Ed Gainey vowed to help students affected by the shooting and said his administration would connect the family with support services.

No child should ever have to fear going to school, and no parent should ever worry about their child never coming home, Gainey said.

We have cultivated a culture of violence and death, celebrated guns, and glorified shooting, he said in a statement.  We have to cultivate a new culture, create a new path forward for our kids.

The shooting came a little more than a year after another student was gunned down at the same school. Fifteen-year-old Marquis Campbell was killed in January 2022 as he sat in a school van waiting to go home. The alleged shooters  two brothers who Campbell knew from another school  were charged earlier this year with murder and conspiracy.

The shooting also came exactly one year after 19 students and two teachers were gunned down at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
A 15-year-old boy was shot multiple times Wednesday while sitting inside an SUV that was parked in Philadelphia Wawa.

The incident occurred at 1:30 a.m along the 2500 block of Aramingo Avenue, according to reports from 6ABC and NBC10.

Police told news outlets that another driver pulled up next to the SUV and fired multiple times. The teen then ran into the Wawa to get help.

The teen was shot in his arm and torso. He was taken to a hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.

Police said they do not know if the teen was driving the SUV at the time, although surveillance video shows he did get out on the drivers side of the vehicle.

READ MORE: 2 killed in head-on motorcycle crash in Pa.
An Army veteran was sentenced to 11-and-a-half to 23 months in county prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to pulling a gun on several church members outside a Sunday morning worship service during an apparent mental breakdown last fall.

Amber Espigh received the term from Cumberland County Judge Jessica Brewbaker after pleading guilty to separate felony counts of making terroristic threats and wearing illegal body armor in the Oct. 23, 2022 incident at Bethel Assembly of God Church about one mile south of Carlisle.

Because Espigh, with a last known address in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, has been in custody since her arrest, she could be eligible for parole this fall.

Espigh, 32, also faces three additional years of supervised probation after the prison term runs out, the terms of which include ongoing compliance with any recommended courses of mental health treatment.

According to arrest documents, Espigh told police shed come to the church at 1412 Holly Pike after being notified there was a possible crime occurring there, and she said her intent was to find a priest who had been hurting people and hold him hostage.

Church member Rodney Smith was apparently one of the first to confront Espigh when she arrived about 9:50 a.m., as worshippers were still arriving for the 10 a.m. service. It was not clear how any people were in the lot at that time.

State police said Smith told them when he asked her to leave the property she grabbed her gun, chambered a round and pointed it at him and others in the parking lot.

Details of what happened from there have some blanks, but Cpl. John Boardman, patrol supervisor for the Carlisle station of the state police, said the victims were able to convince Espigh to disarm without firing a shot as troopers responded from around the county and the church was placed on lockdown.

They obviously displayed a tremendous amount of bravery, Boardman said of the church members who intervened.

By the time police arrived, Espigh had placed her gun in her car, and she quickly surrendered to troopers without further incident, Boardman noted. But, he added, It was scary for us to think how bad this could have been.

State Police said their investigation showed that, despite her belief that she was on some kind of mission, Espigh had no connection to the church or anyone there Sunday. She didnt know a single name of anyone at that facility at all, Boardman said.

Espigh likely arrived at Bethel totally randomly, after police say she broke into a fitness center in Fairview Township, York County, the night before and left that scene about 9 a.m. Sunday. She has also been charged with burglary in that case.

Espighs attorney, Bradon Toomey, and prosecutor Courtney Hair-LaRue told Brewbaker Tuesdays plea deal was reached in part because of Espighs clean prior record and their mutual acknowledgement that the October incident was part of a mental health breakdown that, according to Toomey, left Espigh suffering from mania and paranoia in that period of time.

No information was immediately available on what triggered the mental health issues, and attempts to reach Toomey after the court proceeding were not successful. But those same issues, Toomey said in court, are very well-maintained when she has active medications.

Espigh said nothing in court Tuesday, other than to admit to the facts and enter her plea.

On a LinkedIn profile page, she described herself as a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Army. In the last three years, however, she listed jobs at Amazon, PNC Bank and Mission BBQ. She had also been enrolled in an accelerated bachelors in nursing program at Widener University, and wrote about that experience here.

State police initially charged Espigh with causing or risking a catastrophe, wearing body armor in the commission of a crime, harassment, simple assault, firearms not to be carried without a license, terroristic threats and other criminal charges.

Subsequent investigation showed that Espigh was license to carry the handgun used in the incident, so the firearms charge was dropped. The risking catastrophe charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.

Because Espigh never entered the church, Bethel did proceed with its normal service that day.

In a Facebook recording of the services, Pastor Chuck Kish briefly addressed the episode at the end of worship, telling attendees we had an incident. Everybody is OK, nobody is hurt. But we did have an incident, and all the things that we had in place deflected what could have happened, but did not.

Kish said he wanted everyone to hear it from him first.
To celebrate National Dairy Month, the PA Dairymens Association is hitting the road with Milkshakes on the Moo-ve.

The Dairymen will be setting up their milkshake machines at several events with opportunities to nab free Farm Show milkshakes, which are served annually at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

We are excited to celebrate our states hardworking dairy farmers and all who help produce our delicious dairy foods and products for families across the state, said Dave Smith, the associations executive director.

The Dairymens chocolate and vanilla shakes are so popular the association operates a mobile milkshake truck.

Pennsylvania ranks second in the nation for the number of dairy farms and eighth in total milk production nationally.

The Dairymen will kick off the month-long celebration from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. June 1 with a Fill a Glass with Hope event at Weis Markets at 3440 Grandview Drive in Macungie, Lehigh County.

The Dairymen along with the American Dairy Association North East, Feeding Pennsylvania and Weis Markets along with the PA Dairy Princesses and other partners will announce how consumers can join the campaign to spread fresh milk across the state to families struggling with hunger. Milkshakes will be available for purchase.

In addition, two other events are planned that feature opportunities for free milkshakes:

LEGEN-DAIRY City of Lancaster Bureau of Police First Friday Event, from 6-10 p.m. June 2 will be held at the Ewell Plaza, 123 N. Queen St., Lancaster. The Dairymen are partnering with Lancaster City Police, PA Dairy Princesses, Star Rock Farms to share free milkshakes to the first one thousand people in attendance.

Renewal by Andersen of Central PA Days of Caring Dairy Celebration, from noon-5 p.m. June 20 will take place at the Renewal by Andersen Showroom, 4856 Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg. Renewal by Andersen of Central Pa. will host the Milkshake truck to celebrate June Dairy Month and will offer a free milkshake to the first 50 attendees. Milkshakes will be available to purchase.

READ MORE:
A pair of male sloth bear cubs born at the Philadelphia Zoo this winter ventured outside in view of the public for the first time on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, with their mom.

The cubs, born Jan. 2, had previously been outside the den but not while visible to the public.
Editors note: Welcome to the world of Paranormal PA, a PennLive series that delves into Pennsylvania-grown stories of spirits (like the ghost of a murdered girl whose cries can be heard in one of Penn States library); cryptids (Bigfoot); oddities and legends; and the unexplained. Sign up here to get our Paranormal PA newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Its always fun to see the stranger side of a region.

For Pennsylvania, this site has just been deemed one of the states most bizarre.

Trips to Discover  a travel discovery platform that seeks to inspire you to travel more  in agreeing with the weird is good mentality, decided to list out each states weirdest roadside attraction.

When it comes to Pennsylvania, that roadside attraction was found to be the Space Acorn in Kecksburg.

As covered by PennLives Paranormal PA series, it was December 1965 when a fireball was seen careening over seven states before landing with a crash in Kecksburg. Residents in the area during what would become known as the Kecksburg UFO Incident reported the objects strange movement in the sky, as well as seeing an acorn-shaped ship that was later taken away by federal agents.

Its this ship thats become memorialized by a statue that remains sitting in Kecksburg. The Westmoreland County village also hosts a UFO festival every year that commemorates the incident, and dives deep into the idea of alien lifes existence.

Other attractions included on Trips to Discovers list were the Backyard Terrors Dinosaur Park in Bluff City, Tenn., and a hot springs in Arkansas that comes complete with alligators and a merman.
The Central Pennsylvania Vietnam Round Table will meet at 7:30 p.m. June 8 at Vietnam Veterans of America, Michael J. Novosel MOH Chapter 542, 8000 Derry St., Harrisburg.

Following a brief business meeting, Russell Doc Walters, from Annville, will discuss his Army enlisted service, 1969-1975, which included consecutive tours in the Republic of Vietnam, with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) and the 196th Light Infantry Brigade (Separate).

During that time, he served as a 91T (Primary MOS) Veterinarian Specialist and as a 91B (Secondary MOS) Combat Medic Specialist, with five different infantry platoons utilizing specialized military working dogs, i.e. Scout Dogs and Combat Tracker Dogs.

Walters is a 1969 graduate of Lewistown-Granville High School, a 1975 graduate of Penn State University (BSN) and a 1991 graduate of California Pacific University (Master of Arts in Management and Human Behavior).

He enlisted in the service at age 17, attending BCT at Ft. Jackson, S.C., AIT at Walter Reed Medical Center, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Army Scout Dog School at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Returning from Vietnam, he was recruited for the Army Student Nurse Program at Penn State. After graduation he was commissioned in the Army Nurse Corps, completing the Operating Room Nursing Course, Ft. Bliss, Texas, Airborne Training, Ft. Benning, Georgia and eventually attended Air Assault School with the 3rd Infantry Division (Old Guard) at Davison Army Airfield, Virginia.

As an officer, he provided surgical support to the Marine survivors of the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983, deployed to Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989-90 and participated in Operation Desert Shield/Storm, 1990-91. He retired in 1992 at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, at the rank of major. For his service, he was awarded 18 combat-related decorations and 19 additional decorations related to his military service.

After military retirement, he continued his civilian career in the operating room and Interventional Pain Management, in both staff and supervisory positions until his retirement in 2015. His civilian military honors include the George Washington Honor Medal, from the Freedoms Foundation, Valley Forge for his essay Proud to Serve, the Warriors Medal of Valor from the Vietnam Dog Handlers Association and more recently, a Quilt of Valor from the Quilt of Valor Foundation.

In his spare time, he volunteers at the Lebanon Veterans Affairs Hospital and participates in the Patriot Guard Riders Standing for those Veterans who stood for Us.

The meeting is open to the public and as a volunteer organization, it passes a Vietnam hat. All persons interested in the history of the Vietnam War are invited to attend. For additional information contact Richard Burton at 717-545-2336 or email him at centralpavietnamrt@verizon.net.
A Kentucky man has found himself behind bars after being accused of shooting his roommate because he ate the last Hot Pocket in the home, according to media sources.

Fortunately, Louisville Metro Police Department reported that the unnamed roommate was transported to the University of Louisville Hospital and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Even though that was the case for the victim, 64-year-old Clifton Williams was arrested Sunday on one count of assault for the shooting involving his roommate during an argument over the pastry. On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to the crime, according to reports from WLKY, Fox19, WPSD, NBC News and Wave 3.

It all started when Williams became upset after he learned that his roommate ate the last Hot Pocket. In a rage, he began throwing tiles at him, police said. The roommate attempted to fight back and threatened Williams but chose to leave. As the roommate tried to leave, Williams went back inside the home, grabbed a gun, and then shot the victim in the buttocks, according to reports.

After he was shot, the roommate found help a few blocks away.

Williams was arraigned on the felony assault charge Monday morning, was ordered to have no contact with the victim, and is not permitted to possess firearms or weapons of any kind. Hes scheduled to be back in court May 30 for a preliminary hearing, according to reports.

Under Kentucky law, a person convicted of second-degree assault can be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison, NBC News reported.

Read More:
The York County Coroners office has released autopsy results of a 23-year-old man who died in a Shrewsbury Township shooting incident on Sunday evening.

The coroner office has ruled the death of Alexander Thomas of Shrewsbury, a homicide. This is the eighth homicide of the year in York County, according to the coroners office. The coroners office said that the cause of death was gunshot wounds to the torso.

Police have charged Zachary T. Piccolo, 26, of Nottingham, Maryland in the shooting that killed Thomas and injured another person. Piccolo and Thomas were co-workers.
James Litherland III is coming home 79 years after he was killed in World War II.

Isnt it amazing, Suzanne Walker said about the efforts taken by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to identify the remains of her father killed in World War II.

The agency announced Monday it had confirmed remains found where a B-17F was shot down over France in 1944 were those of the South Williamsport man.

Walker had the opportunity to have her father laid to rest in France but I wanted him to be with his family, she said.

His father and grandfather are buried in Wildwood Cemetery in Williamsport where there is a headstone for him, she said.

Litherland, 26, was the co-pilot of the Flying Fortress that was struck by anti-aircraft fire after a bombing raid on a German V-2 rocket site in Bois-Coquerel, France.

Before the plane crashed near the city of Le Translay, France, three of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other seven crew members, including Litherland, were still on board.

The plane went down Feb. 28, 1944, the same day Walker was born. I imagine the grief of my mother, she said.

The DPAA had difficulty locating her to obtain her DNA in the identification process because her last name changed twice, first by adoption and then by marriage, she said.

She is unaware of any direct descendants in the Williamsport area, she said.

The DPAA gives this account of the efforts to identify Litherlands remains:

In 1945 American investigators reviewed German documents detailing American planes and their crew during the war.

Those documents revealed six sets of remains were recovered near the crash site and were buried in the English World War I Memorial Cemetery at Abbeville, France on March 2, 1944.

In June 1945 American Graves Registration team disinterred the six sets of remains from Abbeville and buried them in the U.S. Military Cemetery at St. Andre, France.

Five of the six sets of remains were identified with the other designated as X-452 St. Andre.

Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was given the task with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater.

In March 1947 AGRC investigators identified X-452 as being associated with Litherland but were unable to identify him and the remains were transferred to Suresnes American Cemetery, France. He was declared non-recoverable Dec. 26, 1950.

James Litherland III (head circled) was the co-pilot of the Flying Fortress that was struck by anti-aircraft fire after a bombing raid on a German V-2 rocket site in Bois-Coquerel, France.

In September 2017, a DPAA investigation team traveled to Le Translay to locate the B17Fs crash site.

A DPAA recovery team recovered material evidence and bone remains that were sent to a laboratory for analysis.

A call Walker said she received in 2018 was an indication her fathers remains might be identified.

Later that year she and her husband Andrew went to a DPAA family update in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she said she was told about the progress being made to identify the remains.

Walker said she learned the recovery team used Google maps to locate the crash site and did a hand dig to find the remains. Also found was one of his dog tags that she now has.

That was the biggest surprise, she said. I never expected it. It is very rusty and she said she is concerned about trying to restore it.

Everything seemed to stop during the COVID-19 pandemic but at another family update in November 2022 in Norfolk, Virginia, she said she learned the remains believed to be those of her father were being tested.

Walker, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, got the confirmation call in March. I sort of guessed it was coming, she said. Im very pleased there was a final resolution.

In her research about her father, she said she learned he was an outdoorsman and with friends had built a toboggan slide on the side of the mountain near their South Williamsport home.

He married the former Wilma Jane Wurster of South Williamsport and Walker was their only child.

Her late mother later married a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Varre Cummins, who adopted her when she was 2. Her last name was changed to Cummins.

He served churches in Williamsport, Jersey Shore and Bloomsburg before the family moved to Potsdam, New York.

Even then Walker said she spent considerable time at her grandmothers home in the first block of West Seventh Avenue in South Williamsport.

Being married to a minister helped her mother over the years cope with marking Litherlands death and her daughters birthday simultaneously, she believes.

The remains of 2nd Lt. James Litherland III will be returned to Williamsport for burial at a future date.

Walker has little memorabilia about her father and is hoping someone comes forward with pictures or something.

Plans for his funeral still are being formulated but a date has not been set, she said. She wants to be sure her son and daughter and their children can attend, she said.

Her son, Andrew Walker Jr. lives in Great Falls, Virginia, and her daughter, Emily Walker in Strongsville, Ohio. Each has two children.

I think [about] what he may have been, she said. Her father would have been a great-grandfather, she said.

While pleased his remains have been identified, Walker said it is most important for people to understand what DPAA does.

There are 81,000 unaccounted for from World War II, Korean Conflict and Vietnam, a DPAA spokesperson said.

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During his visit to Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with business leaders from top Australian companies to discuss cooperation and opportunities for growth.

Among the topics emphasised were technology, skilling, and clean energy. One of the companies represented was Fortescue Future Industries, an Australia-based green energy and technology firm. John Andrew Henry Forrest, the companys executive chairman, expressed his admiration for Prime Minister Modis commitment to green hydrogen, stating, PM is clearly a global championto promote green hydrogen across the world.

Prime Minister Modi welcomed the plans of Fortescue Future Industries to collaborate with Indian companies in the field of Green Hydrogen, aligning with Indias ambitious renewable energy plans. The discussions centred around transformative reforms and initiatives such as the Green Hydrogen Mission.

Both Prime Minister Modi and John Andrew Henry Forrest agreed on the limited lifespan of the fossil fuel sector and the need to replace it with a fuel that causes no harm but can perform the functions of coal, oil, and gas.

Georgina Hope Rinehart, the executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting, highlighted the immense potential for business ties between Australia and India, acknowledging Indias impressive economic growth under Prime Minister Modi. She stated, Australia really needs to work harder to develop its relations with India.

Georgina Hope Rinehart emphasised the vast business opportunities between India and Australia, commending Indias growing economy and its plans to reach USD 32 trillion in the next 25 years.

In the last five years under Modi, your economy has grown to USD 3.5 trillion and the plans for the next 25 years, for your country, to grow to is USD 32 trillion, she said, adding, So, the growth recently has been huge. The growth in the future is going to be huge.

She emphasised the need for Australia to strengthen its relations with India and acknowledged Indias efforts to attract foreign investments by reducing approvals and regulations. Youre destined to look at the investments that have flowed into India and I think its from 60 different countries, she added.

Additionally, Paul Schroder, the CEO of AustralianSuper, an Australian superannuation fund, expressed interest in partnering with India, recognising it as one of the most preferred major economies for foreign investments.

India and Australia to strengthen trade relations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed optimism about the growth of bilateral trade between India and Australia during his visit to the country.

The interim free trade agreement between the two nations, implemented in December 2021, is now being expanded into a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). India is Australias largest export market for gold and chickpeas, the second-largest for coal and copper ores, and the third-largest for lead and wool.

Modi highlighted the ongoing efforts to establish a CECA and expected the two-way trade to double in the next five years. The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of building a resilient and reliable supply chain, stating that it would benefit both nations businesses.

Speaking at a community event in Sydneys Qudos Bank Arena, PM Modi highlighted the increased air connectivity between India and Australia and anticipated further expansion in the number of flights. Australia currently ranks as Indias 13th largest trading partner, with exports reaching USD 6.95 billion and imports totalling USD 19 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) is the first trade agreement that India has signed with a developed country in over a decade. It establishes an institutional mechanism to promote and enhance trade relations between the two nations.

Government data revealed that from April 2000 to December 2022, India received USD 1.07 billion in investments from Australia, further highlighting the potential for economic collaboration between the two nations.

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When Harrisburg firefighters rolled up to a working fire Monday night, they saw a resident hanging out the second-story window calling for help.

Flames and heavy smoke had trapped the man in his second-floor bedroom in the 600 block of Muench Street and the window was his only option to escape.
A Florida man who stepped outside of a bar to pee by a pond early Sunday morning has lost an arm after being attacked by an alligator.

Jordan Rivera said that he left the bar in Fort Myers because he had to go, and the lines for the bathroom were too long for him to wait. Rivera said as he walked toward the pond, something happened where I either tripped or the ground below me just went down.

I ended up in the water, he said. And thats literally the last thing I remember.

When he woke up, he was in a hospital with his right arm completely gone from his upper elbow.

It kind of feels like my arm is just there, but not there, he said. It was just the craziest thing. Its almost out of a movie.

According to USA Today, the Florida Wildlife Commission removed the gator which attacked Rivera from the pond and euthanized it. That size of the gator was not provided.

Its a terrible story, but Rivera apparently has a good perspective as he attempts to move forward.

I didnt lose my life, he said. I lost an arm. Its not the end of the world, you know. I can still move my arm around and whatnot.
A Pennsylvania man was arrested and is facing charges after he threatened to shoot up a West Virginia hospital on Friday, according to news reports.

On May 19, authorities with the Monongalia County Sheriffs Department reported to Mon General Hospital in Morgantown, W. Va., Friday morning after getting a report of an employee who threatened to shoot up the hospital if he was fired, according to reports from WBOY and WDTV.

The employee was 28-year-old Codie Holbert, of Uniontown, Fayette County. Witnesses told police he was known to carry firearms and entered the hospital with a backpack. Hospital security informed authorities that several employees reported Holberts threat.

When Holberts shift came to an end, he stayed at the hospital for more than an hour before authorities arrived. Additionally, he was seen drinking alcohol. Holbert was eventually arrested, and his vehicle and backpack were seized as part of the investigation, according to reports.

Holbert has been charged with threats of terroristic attacks and is being held in North Central Regional Jail on a $50,000 bond, WBOY reported.

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PITTSBURGH (AP)  A student shot and killed another student early Wednesday outside a school in Pittsburgh, authorities said. The alleged shooter was soon captured after a foot chase.

The ages of the students involved were not immediately clear. According to the city school districts website, Oliver Citywide Academy is a full-time special education center serving grades 3-12.

It wasnt immediately clear what spurred the shooting, which The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said happened around 7:25 a.m. on the steps outside of the school. No other injuries were reported, and police said they found a gun at the scene.

The names of the victim and the shooter have not been released, but authorities said both attended the school. Authorities said the wounded student was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

The entrance to Oliver Citywide Academy is empty after a shooting on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 in Pittsburgh. (Justin Vellucci/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via AP)AP

It wasnt immediately clear how many students and staff witnessed the shooting. Maria Montano, a city spokeswoman, said most students were still on their way to the school when the shooting happened, and buses were rerouted to another school building.

Students who were already in the school were kept in the building. Classes there were canceled for the day.

According to the Post-Gazette, another student at the school was killed in 2022: 15-year-old Marquis Campbell was shot to death in January 2022 in a school van waiting to go home. Two brothers, ages 17 and 18, were charged.

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By Veronica Young

As a 62-year-old mother and grandmother, who has dedicated 45 years of my life as a Direct Support Professional (DSP), I find myself in a distressing situation. I am highly educated, yet I cannot survive on the wholly inadequate wage funded exclusively by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. I am writing today to Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania lawmakers, pleading with you to take action for the well-being of the Intellectual Disability and Autism, ID/A, community.

Do something now.

I am deeply passionate about my work. I hold three jobs to support my three children, and despite my age, I continue to toil because I genuinely love what I do. However, it is disheartening to think that after 45 years, I am still juggling multiple jobs just to make ends meet. This should not be the reality for dedicated professionals like me.

Those who have no understanding of our profession dismiss us as glorified babysitters. But let me tell you, the responsibilities we bear are immense. I supervise and conduct daily tasks, from administering medications to ensuring personal hygiene, and I have even witnessed the passing of individuals under my care. How can anyone dare to undermine the dignity of our work?

I devote 40 hours a week to supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities and autismindividuals who have rights and deserve dignity just like everyone else. Yet, despite my commitment, I am forced to work three jobs to survive, which means my full work week can exceed 80 hours. I spend more time with the people I support than with my own family, and that is simply not acceptable in this day and age.

To the governor and members of the General Assembly, I am pleading with you to not turn a blind eye to this critical issue. The ID/A community needs your immediate attention and action. We are all just one step away from being in their shoes, requiring the compassionate care of a DSP. It is our responsibility as a society to ensure that these individuals are not neglected.

The workload placed on DSPs is unreasonable. We are often asked to work 16-hour days, only to be informed at the end that our co-worker has called off, and a substitute cannot be found. Such a heavy burden is unsustainable, and policy makers must address this pressing matter. What will you do to alleviate the immense strain we endure?

Promises of support are not enough, we really need state leaders to take concrete action. The ID/A community and the DSPs who serve them cannot be ignored any longer. Lives are at stake, and I, along with thousands of my fellow DSPs, am exhausted from the grueling 16-hour workdays while attempting to navigate two additional jobs. We deserve better, and so do the individuals we support.

I implore policy makers to comprehend the urgency of this situation. The future of the ID/A community hangs in the balance. Young workers are deterred from entering this field due to the meager wages. I possess a college degree, and yet I choose to remain a DSP because of my unwavering belief in the potential of individuals with ID/A.

Do not ignore the pleas of DSPs like me, nor the countless individuals and families affected by intellectual disabilities and autism. Our system is failing, and we need your immediate intervention. Please take real, meaningful action to invest in this community and save it from further suffering.

Today, I challenge policy makers to consider the impact they can make on the lives of so many. Stand up for what is right, for what will improve the lives of those who depend on us. DSPs are the unsung heroes who bring light and hope to people to people with ID/A and their families.

Veronica Young began her career as a Direct Support Professional (DSP) in 1979. She has worked with many populations at different agencies through the years but has spent the majority of her life supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities. She has been a DSP at Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh serving adults in community based residential homes since 2017.
A longtime former central Pennsylvania television anchor will be receiving an award recognizing his contributions to the television industry.

Former WGAL News 8 anchor Ron Martin will receive the 2023 National Association of Television Arts and Sciences Mid-Atlantic Board of Governors Award, that recognizes a persons lifetime achievements and significant contributions to the television industry.

The award will be presented to Martin at the 41st Annual Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards on Oct. 14 at the Lancaster Marriott Downtown.

Pictured from left to right are Ron Martin and Cindy DeLuca. Photo Credit: WGAL 8

Ron has been a true trailblazer in our industry and has done so with the utmost integrity as a consummate professional, with a genuinely kind heart, the intent to serve, and a grateful, humble spirit, Cindy DeLuca, WGAL 8 president and general manager, said in a news release. The incomparable legacy he left behind at WGAL 8 makes him more than deserving of this prestigious award. Nothing could make us prouder than watching Ron take his rightful place among the giants of our industry.

Martin is a six-time Emmy Award winner. He interviewed former presidents Richard Nixon and Barack Obama and covered countless events of significance during his 37-year career at WGAL 8, including the 1995 Gettysburg tourist train explosion, the Caterpillar workers strike, the machete attack at a York County elementary school, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Martin was born and raised in York and earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Howard University. He began his career as a desk assistant at NBC News in Washington DC, before joining WGAL in 1983. In 1985, he was named weekend news anchor. Two years later, he was promoted to weeknight co-anchor, a role in which he held until his retirement in November 2020.

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Liberal leader hopeful Bonnie Crombie should quit her day job as mayor of Mississauga, Ont. Crombie is exploring a bid for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal party. Crombie is photographed on the steps of the Ontario Legislature, in Toronto on Thursday May 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The short-term ceasefire in Sudan to allow for humanitarian aid has raised hopes that the fighting between warring security forces loyal to two rival generals could be brought to an end. The violence of the last several weeks has resulted in thousands of deaths. Additionally, some 840,000 people have been displaced within Sudan and another 250,000 have been forced to flee the country.

In a message to the Sudanese people, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the violence senseless and devastating.

The whole world has been united in calling for an end to this conflict and insisting on a negotiated solution, he said.

The short-term ceasefire that went into effect May 22 was arranged to allow for humanitarian assistance and repair of essential services and infrastructure. It was the result of intensive diplomacy by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. A remote mechanism, backed by the United States, is used to monitor the ceasefire. If the ceasefire is violated, well know, and we will hold violators accountable through sanctions and other means, said Secretary Blinken. We facilitated the ceasefire, but its the responsibility of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to implement it.

The United States remains the largest single donor of humanitarian aid to Sudan, and on May 23 announced $245 million in additional support to the people of Sudan and neighboring countries experiencing the impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

In his message to the Sudanese people, Secretary of State Blinken emphasized that Sudans civilians must be the ones to define Sudans path going forward:

You should lead a political process to restore Sudans democratic transition and form a civilian government. Sudans political future belongs to you, the people of your great nation. Your military should withdraw from governance and focus on defending the nation from external threats. The United States of America supports a democratic government that represents the full diversity of the Sudanese people.

Only a civilian government can succeed in delivering stability and security and fulfilling your aspirations for freedom, for peace, for justice, declared Secretary Blinken. You can count on [the United States] to remain by your side until you achieve this goal.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today (May 23) announced $34 million in funding to advance clean energy technology in 18 American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This funding will strengthen tribal communities by supercharging their access to solar power and microgrids, increasing energy security and resilience, and powering unelectrified tribal buildings. These investments bring our nation closer to the Biden-Harris Administration's goal to enhance tribal energy sovereignty and reduce energy costs for American families as we head towards a clean energy future.

"These selected projects reflect DOE's commitment to meet the climate crisis head on and guarantee tribal communities have access to electricity and clean energy technology," said Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm. "These crucial investments support President Biden's goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while ensuring American Indian and Alaska Native communities, many of whom are facing the most dire consequences of climate change, will directly benefit from these investments, resulting in stronger, more resilient tribal nations."

These projects are estimated to result in more than nine megawatts of new clean energy generation and more than 6,700 megawatt-hours of battery storage, impact 1,000 tribal buildings, and save these communities more than $100 million over the life of the systems. This investment will yield tangible benefits year after year to improve the quality of life for these underserved communities.

These cost-shared clean energy projects, valued in total at more than $49 million, are the result of two competitive funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) released November 1, 2022, one for the deployment of clean energy technology and one to power unelectrified tribal buildings. Through these FOAs and these selected projects, the Office of Indian Energy continues its efforts to strengthen tribal energy and economic infrastructure, resource development, and electrification on tribal lands.

Between FY 2010 and FY 2022, DOE invested over $120 million in more than 210 tribal energy projects implemented across the contiguous 48 United States and Alaska. Through these grants, the Office of Indian Energy continues its efforts, in partnership with Native communities, to maximize the deployment of clean energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives. See the Office of Indian Energy website for a map and summaries of these competitively funded projects.

The projects competitively selected for negotiation of award are as follows:

Alaska Village Electric Cooperative/Shaktoolik IRA Renewable Energy Joint Venture (Anchorage, AK): The project will install a grid-forming inverter, battery energy storage system (BESS), controls, and a wind-to-heat system to the village's existing diesel-wind microgrid and wind-to-heat systems. The completed system is estimated to result in 2,200 hours of "diesels-off" operation annually, increased use of wind turbine-generated power by 80%, $99,440 savings in reduced diesel fuel use, $6,160 savings in reduced maintenance and operations costs, improved power quality, and enabled use of an existing wind-to-heat system. (Award Amount: $857,570)



Atmautluak Tribal Utilities ( Atmautluak , AK): The project will install, integrate, and commission a BESS and 30 electric thermal storage units into Atmautluak's existing wind-diesel power system. The project is expected to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, save the utility more than $230,000 annually, and save households another $15,000 annually in home heating costs. (Award Amount: $597,371)



Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians (Lakeside, CA): The microgrid project will install 921.3 kilowatts (kW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and a BESS to assure autonomous power for five tribal facilities that are essential to the health, safety, and welfare of the Barona Band of Mission Indians. The project is expected to save the Tribe an estimated $394,242 the first year and $12.1 million over the life of the system, while substantially reducing the Band's dependence on grid-supplied energy. (Award Amount: $4,000,000)



Colusa Indian Community Council (Colusa, CA): The project will install two solar PV arrays, totaling 872 kW. The project will result in electric bill savings in the first year of $280,935 and more than $10 million over the life of the systems, while ensuring the Tribe's resiliency against the local utility's constantly increasing electricity rates. (Award Amount: $1,607,813)



Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians (Redwood Valley, CA): The project will install 2.25 megawatts (MW) of roof- and ground-mounted solar PV shade structures and offset an average of 96% of the largest energy consuming meters, including local businesses, hotel, wastewater treatment plant, convenience store, tribal gym, and other meters throughout the reservation. The project will save the Tribe $406,006 the first year and over $23 million over the life of the systems. (Award Amount: $3,200,000)



Galena Village aka Louden Tribe (Galena, AK): This project will connect 1.2 MW of solar PV and a 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) BESS to the City of Galena's islanded diesel electric grid. The project will provide more than 25% of the annual electric power for 186 residences and 21 tribal community facilities; create an estimated eight seasonal jobs during construction and support a permanent operation and maintenance position; reduce diesel fuel consumption by approximately 95,000 gallons per year and 2,374,000 gallons over the project life, saving more than $11 million; and achieve "diesels-off" operation for more than 862 hours annually. (Award Amount: $2,250,000)



Hopi Utilities Corporation (Flagstaff, AZ): The project will deploy a remote microgrid equipped with 400 kW of solar PV, 1,500 kilowatt-hours of battery energy storage, and a microgrid controller to provide power to four remote water pumps to provide water to the villages of Upper and Lower Moenkopi. The project will save $270,000 per year and $6.75 million over the life of the system. (Award Amount: $3,599,800)



Lummi Indian Business Council (Bellingham, WA): The project will install five microgrids to support essential governmental services in the event of an emergency. A total of 655.8 kW of solar PV is currently being installed on four of the five buildings. This project will add an additional 19.2 kW of solar PV, batteries, and control for the five buildings. Combined, these five systems will offset approximately 22% of annual electricity load, reduce electricity charges by 24% per year, and save the Tribe $88,593 in the first year and over $1.7 million over the life of the systems. (Award Amount: $2,000,000)



Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Shelbyville, MI): The project will install a 69-kW solar PV array at the Tribe's Jijak property located in Hopkins, Michigan. The project will provide 99% of the current electrical load of the three main buildings, cabins/bathrooms, sugar house, pow wow arena, auxiliary buildings, and other outdoor lights at the property, and save the Tribe over $312,000 over the life of the system. (Award Amount: $270,149)



Native Village of Port Heiden (Port Heiden, AK): This project will connect 14 unelectrified tribal buildings to the community electric grid in Port Heiden, Alaska. The buildings include the fish processing plant, vocational education center, food bank, tribal airport terminal, Meshik Farm facilities, and other housing and storage facilities. The project will increase local food production, improve and expand access to locally grown and harvested foods, increase educational space, increase tourism, increase occupiable housing, and generate local employment and revenue to the Tribe. (Award Amount: $919,897)



Nuvista Light & Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Kwethluk, AK): This project will integrate a 250-kW solar PV array into the existing Kwethluk wind-diesel-battery community power system and increase surplus power for electric thermal storage systems to heat homes. The addition of the solar PV array will save $82,800 annually, over $2 million over the life of the system, and bring the village one step closer towards its goal to reduce dependency on fossil fuels by 50% by 2030. (Award Amount: $1,553,738)



Oglala Lakota Housing Authority (Pine Ridge, SD): The Oglala Omaste Nunpa Solar Project will install 150.5 kW of solar PV to power 28 low-income homes and buildings on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The project will save the Tribe and residents $19,790 a year on energy costs and a total of $445,268 over the life of those systems. (Award Amount: $597,654)



Oneida Indian Nation (Verona, NY): The project will upgrade the Tribe's co-generation unit and install efficient lighting at their resort, thereby reducing the amount of power purchased by the Tribe and saving nearly $1.3 million over the life of those systems. (Award Amount: $549,524)



San Carlos Apache Tribe (San Carlos, AZ): The project will add 750 kW of solar PV and a 500-kW BESS to its diesel generators to serve 36 residential buildings for healthcare workers and five hospital buildings at the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation community just to the east of Peridot, Arizona. The project will save nearly $4 million over the life of the microgrid and ensure continued hospital operations during power outages. (Award Amount: $4,000,000)



Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Fort Yates, ND): The project will install a 1.7-MW community wind turbine to meet 85% of the Prairie Knights Resort annual load. This project will save the Tribe more than $15 million over the life of the system with those savings distributed to tribal elders and other disadvantaged tribal members. In addition to providing clean, low-cost energy to tribal members, the project will also provide training and short- and long-term jobs for tribal members. (Award Amount: $4,000,000)



The Navajo Nation Tribal Government - Ojo Encino Chapter (Ojo Encino, NM): The project will install 50 grid-tied solar PV systems totaling 250 kW on residential homes in the Ojo Encino Chapter located in the eastern portion of the Navajo Nation in northwest New Mexico to offset from 75% to 95% of the residents' electric utility bills, collectively saving those tribal members $2 million over the life of the systems. (Award Amount: $1,771,828)



Tule River Economic Development Corporation (Porterville, CA): The project will install 521.2 kW of solar PV for four tribal commercial facilities to offset 98% of the annual power consumed by these buildings. The project will save the Tribe nearly $6.6 million over the life of the systems. (Award Amount: $1,553,214)



Yakama Nation Housing Authority (Wapato, WA): The Wishram Gorge View Country Loop Project will install 218 kW of solar PV on 46 newly built homes on the Yakama Nation Reservation in Washington. The systems will save the low-income Wishram residents an average of $29,256 per year on energy bills. (Award Amount: $1,011,105)

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.

Media Inquiries: (202) 586-4940 or DOENews@hq.doe.go

Read the Full Announcement
Eric Persson is Bringing a Poker Room, Live-Stream to Tropicana Las Vegas

May 23, 2023 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Eric Persson, in partnership with Bally's Corporation, has revealed plans to open a one-of-a-kind poker room and live-stream at Tropicana Las Vegas, the reported future site of the Oakland A's.

Maverick Gaming, founded by Persson, will bring a poker room to the Las Vegas Strip resort for the first time since 2013. The old card room, promoted by 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Jamie Gold, closed a decade ago and was replaced by slot machines.

Poker Returning to The Trop

Poker will soon return to The Trop, although an official launch date hasn't been disclosed, and it will include more than just a standard poker room. Bally's Big Bet Poker, a televised show that originally was edited from Live at the Bike live-streams, will bring a state-of-the-art live-stream studio to Tropicana for some high-stakes games along with a new show called Live at the Tropicana.

If you're wondering why this is all taking place at the Tropicana, the answer is Bally's Corp owns the hotel and casino. Over the next few years, much of the property will be torn down to build a new stadium for the Oakland A's, who will be moving to Las Vegas in 2027.

The casino has already informed its employees job layoffs will begin over the next 18-24 months and the resort built in 1957, making it one of the longest standing casinos in Las Vegas, will be demolished. There's still some disputes between the A's and Clark County on how the stadium will be funded, but it appears the team is destined to eventually iron out the financials of the move.

When the building is demolished, it is expected that the poker room and the live-stream studio will remain in tact. Persson, who owns casinos in Northern Nevada and Washington state, gave a few details on Twitter about the future Las Vegas poker room. He wrote: "We are going to build the best 1-3 and 2-5 games on the Las Vegas Strip," and advertised low rake, hourly high hands, and daily tournaments.

Persson to Help Change the Landscape of Las Vegas Poker?

Eric Persson

Persson is one of the most active high rollers in poker these days. He's appeared numerous times on Live at the Bike and PokerGO's various shows. The casino mogul infamously lost the largest pot in US televised poker history  $1,978,000  on No Gamble No Future in February.

The high roller casino owner will compete in the Bally's Big Bet Poker live-stream games. Persson said on Twitter the Maverick Gaming Poker Room will open this coming October, but the debut of Live at the Tropicana will take place in June.

There's certainly a plethora of competition for poker in Las Vegas, and especially on the Strip. Established card rooms such as Bellagio, Wynn, and Aria have attracted large crowds and some of the biggest games for years.

That said, the aspirations of the Maverick Gaming Poker Room and the casino's future poker show are huge.

Get ready for a poker experience that will leave you breathless, invigorated, and craving more. Stay tuned for updates and prepare to embrace the Maverick spirit, Persson said in a press release.

When Ballys gave us the opportunity to expand the Ballys Big Bet Poker brand to the Tropicana Las Vegas, we immediately thought of Eric as a tremendous asset, both on and off the felt. Perssons industry expertise and proven ability to build successful poker rooms superbly aligns with Ballys omnichannel network, said Houston Curtis, executive producer of Bally's Big Bet Poker.

As for the future, Curtis elaborated: The As will happen when it happens. We plan on still being in the middle of a huge pot when the building starts to come down."

With Low rake, a live stream with players such as Persson, promotions, and a prime location  it just might be a winning combination.

Sharelines Find out details of the new poker room and live-stream at Tropicana Las Vegas.
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When abuse of power corruption begins to surface among the very entitled and very protected, the first thing they do is whine and cry: How dare the little people object. They do things like get anyone who might benefit from being near their own power to circle the wagons in the press, they get newer members to praise the niceness of individuals as if this erases the rights theyre stealing, and they wall off their place of work so no one can be heard or seen objecting.

Meet the United States Supreme Court, and in particular, Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts complained Tuesday night in Washington at the American Law Institutes annual dinner about judges being heckled at law schools and retorted like someone who definitely needs oversight that the court doesnt need Congress to patrol its ethics (even though they arent doing it themselves and arent even promising to do so). He suggested the court was considering ways for justices to adhere to the highest standards of conduct.

Judges heckled and shouted down at law school. Protesters outside the homes of Justices to the extent that martial protection is needed 24/7, Roberts said. He then said the hardest decision he had ever made was whether or not to erect fences around the court.

Roberts did erect fences and barricades around the Supreme Court, which is the perfect symbol for a court so out of touch with the populace and so high on its own corrupt power that it feels entitled to not even hear from people who disagree. While the justices are entitled to safety, the First Amendment rights of the The People shouldnt be so easily suppressed. Its also important to note that the people whose lives are threatened daily by this courts decisions prohibiting common sense gun control measures and revoking life-saving rights for women dont get to erect barriers from this court.

Roberts offered that he was committed to ensuring high levels of conduct, which is as meaningless a comment as one can manufacture, given what has already transpired under his watch. I want to assure people that I am committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment.

The very credibility of the court is at risk and the longer they wait to remedy the issue, the more corruption and erosion of our democratic process become enshrined as normal. Perhaps that is the goal. The way you can tell that Roberts doesnt actually mean much is that he segued into and this is why the court doesnt need oversight:

I am confident there are ways to do that that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government under the Constitutions separation of powers.

Thats the moment Roberts signaled that he has no intention of allowing any oversight by an outside body. The only concession he is making is rhetorical and theoretical, in that he might consider some internal mechanism run by the very people who have already betrayed the American people.

You can watch here:

LIVE: US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will speak at the American Law Institutes annual dinner https://t.co/G0cfzaGspD  Reuters (@Reuters) May 24, 2023

To put this in context, earlier this same day Nazi obsessed Clarence Thomas/Republican Party billionaire benefactor and

influencer Harlan Crow refused to cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee, which puts Roberts comments in an even more pointedly defensive reading. The Senate committee sought a list of undeclared gifts Crow has given to Clarence Thomas. Crows lawyers claimed that Congress didnt have the authority to investigate gifts to a Supreme Court justice.

Undisclosed gifts we now know about from Crow to Clarence Thomas (he has also supported Clarences wife Ginni in her hard right activism, which included texts demonstrating her rabid belief in the false claims about election fraud that were used to justify a deadly attempted coup incited by these lies) include the purchase of a Savannah, Georgia property where Thomas mother lives rent-free, luxury travel, resort stays, and schooling for Thomas great-nephew.

Is Crow just some random rich dude who surrounds himself with Nazi memorabilia and has taken a shine to Clarence Thomas? Well, no. Crow has actually had business in front of the Supreme Court upon which Clarence Thomas still sits, during his relationship with Thomas.

A month or so ago, Roberts himself refused a Judiciary Committee request on this same topic of Clarence Thomas blatant ethical corruption (at best) and refusal to comply with the statutes regarding disclosures involving trips and gifts paid for by a wealthy donor.

Experts have weighed in on Thomass refusal to disclose scandal, pointing to several applicable standards he has failed to uphold. For example, Two watchdog groups, however,here, and here explain that the Ethics in Government Act and the judicial branch regulations have always required disclosing gifts of transportation.

Its too late for promises based upon Roberts word, but even if it werent, a democratic government doesnt give lifetime power to a small body with no oversight. This country is built on three branches checking one another, not on one branch being untouchable.

This court has already been proven to be corrupt beyond our wildest imaginations and the concern as more and more stories of justices being funneled money in various ways from influential figures is: What dont we know. After all, we have also seen with our own eyes a justice being allowed to not recuse himself on matters in which his own wife is activating and lobbying.

The only reason we know any of this, some of which has been going on for the past two decades, is because stories are leaking to the surface of the murky waters of this court in the wake of their unprecedented power grab via the overturning of Roe v Wade and then subsequent opposite precedent hammer over states rights when it comes to guns. Whatever way the illiberal, far Right wants a judgement to go on abortion and guns, thats the way this court moves even when the precedents seem to clash.

The erosion and damage to our institutions is limitless and far-reaching. This court will continue to boldly and shamelessly operate corruptly and without consideration for democratic principles until the American people have had enough or until the pretense of democracy collapses.
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Guns are now the leading cause of death for young people in America, land of the free.

On the first anniversary of the Uvalde,Texas mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) condemned the inaction of the Republican caucus, saying this bloodshed is a choice, and beseeching her colleagues to have mercy on this country by turning thoughts and prayers into actions and solutions.

One year later, I rise in mourning. I mourn the souls taken from their families in Buffalo. I mourn the children and teachers murdered in Uvalde. I mourn the thousands of Americans who have been shot to death in the year since, Clark said after mentioning other mass shootings, including the white supremacist terror attack in Buffalo, New York.

Clark detailed several stories of just a few of the slain Americans whose lives were cut short by weapons of war, in an effort to humanize the numbers.

Clark condemned the inaction of the majority party, Mr. Speaker, this bloodshed is a choice. To my colleagues, have mercy on this country. If you care about public safety, lets vote to get these tools of carnage out of dangerous hands.

Lets turn our thoughts and prayers into actions and solutions. If you really care, lets put an end to this daily calamity.

Watch here:

Sometimes, its the appeal to humanity and morality that resonates more than the statistics and even the grim reality. We have tried everything else. Nothing seems to move the Republican Party off of their belief that guns should have more rights than children, than women, than human beings.

The school shooting generation has led the way on how to fight back against the entrenchment of the Republican Party on guns. March for Our Lives writes, In 2022, Gen-Z voted at historic rates in the midterms to protect our future. March For Our Lives held 450 marches worldwide, leading to 20+ new state laws to curb gun violence, and the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal legislation on guns in 30 years. This group formed by young people has as their mission what should actually be the responsibility of the people being paid to provide it, We aim to create safe and healthy communities and livelihoods where gun violence is obsolete. That should be the job of the lawmakers the people pay to represent them.

The focus on the immorality of the refusal to take meaningful action on unfettered access to weapons of war is a strong weapon because it reaches people who arent political. It can move the dial on elections.

Republicans have always understood the power of emotion and appeal to morality in moving public opinion, perhaps Democrats are catching up. But in this case, public opinion is already on the side of Democrats and its really the corruption of the political process through gerrymandering and other means that has enabled the NRA to prevail over the Republican legislative platform.

A country that allows its children to be slaughtered and traumatized while in an institution of learning is not a healthy democracy. This fact is a call to action for all citizens who want to protect our children.
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There are so many mass shootings that it is easy for Americans to become buried in the overload of senseless violence, but Vice President Kamala Harris is ensuring we dont forget Uvalde.

Vice President Harris said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA on the one-year anniversary of the shooting:

Nevaeh. Jacklyn. Makenna. Jose. Eliahna. Uziyah. Amerie Jo. Xavier. Jayce. Tess. Maranda. Alithia. Annabell. Maite. Alexandria. Layla. Jailah. Eliahna. Rojelio. And their teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles.

Nineteen children and two educators who should be here with us today. They should still have birthdays to celebrate, graduations to plan, careers and lives to look forward to. Instead, one year ago today, they were killed in their elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in a mass shooting carried out with a weapon of war.

Today, our nation continues to mourn for those lost, to pray for their families who must bear the unbearable, and to grieve for a country in which violence like this  even in elementary school classrooms  is sickeningly common. One year after Uvalde, gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in our nation. One in five Americans has lost a family member to gun violence.

Over the past year, so many Uvalde families have channeled their anguish into advocacy. Together, they demand that we act to save lives. With their help, President Biden signed the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years and implemented important executive actions in the months since. But more must be done.

Today, Doug and I pray for the people of Uvalde. And we urge leaders in Congress and in state legislatures to meet this heartbreaking moment not just with words, but with action

Many of those who watched their local and state government betray them and engage in coverups after the Texas school shooting have joined the movement calling for action on the problem of gun violence.

The horrors of the Uvalde school shooting, just like Sandy Hook, Parkland, Nashville, and too many others to fully list are a reminder that no number of dead children will make Republicans end their mass shooter enabling obsruction.

Vice President Harris is using her platform to remind the nation about the lives lost, and those who seek change should use those memories as fuel to seek change.
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A new Monmouth University Poll found that Americans agree with President Bidens position by a more than 2 to 1 margin on the debt limit.

According to the Monmouth University Poll:

Some people say the country will suffer significant economic problems if the debt ceiling is not raised. More Americans say these expectations are accurate (42%) than believe they are exaggerated (30%), although 28% have no opinion on this. Among those who have heard a lot about the current debt limit debate, a clear majority of 56% say predictions of economic turmoil are accurate while 33% say they are exaggerated. Overall, Democrats are more likely to say that expectations of economic problems from default are accurate (58%) rather than exaggerated (15%), while Republicans are more likely to have a contrary opinion (47% exaggerated and 26% accurate).

Just 1 in 4 (25%) Americans think the debt ceiling should be tied to negotiations over spending on federal programs, while half (51%) say the two issues should be dealt with separately. Among those who have heard a lot about the current debate, the number who say the two issues should be dealt with separately rises slightly to 58%. A clear majority (65%) of Democrats say the debt ceiling should be handled on its own. Republicans are evenly divided between handling the debt limit separately (37%) and tying it to federal spending negotiations (37%).

Kevin McCarthy Doesnt Have A Majority Of Republicans Agreeing With Him

Kevin McCarthy cant even get a majority of Republicans behind his position that spending cuts must be part of a debt limit increase.

House Republicans are running with glee into a slow-moving disaster for them that is unfolding for everyone to see in front of them.

If McCarthy and the Republicans insist on plunging the nation into default, the floor of support is going to fall immediately out from under Kevin McCarthy and his House Republicans.

Kevin McCarthy has been blaming everyone and everything else for the debt ceiling crisis that he and his caucus have caused.

The nightmare scenario for Republicans is that McCarthys weakness sinks the entire party. The Monmouth University Poll suggests that if they cause a default, the GOP nightmare will become a reality.
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Trumps lawyers struck a vastly different tone in a letter requesting a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland. The change in tone suggests that a Jack Smith indictment is coming soon.

Trumps letter, which he posted on Truth Social:

Per a letter he posted on Truth Social, Trump's attorneys John Rowley & James Trusty have written to Attorney General Garland requesting a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his pic.twitter.com/dWMxLIKTg4  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 24, 2023

The letter reads in part, Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly.No president of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such outrageous and unlawful fashion.

The letter is a publicity stunt. Attorney General Garland will not meet with the former presidents lawyers because doing so would undermine Special Counsel Jack Smith. Meeting with Trumps team would also give Donald Trump what he wants most. Trump has spent months trying to link the classified documents investigation to President Biden and his administration.

The appointment of the special counsel is designed to remove any conflicts of interest from the investigation.

Trump needs the perception of political motivations to discredit the indictment that is likely coming against him.

The letter would not have been sent if the former president and his lawyers did not think that Jack Smith was preparing to indict the former president soon.

The Department of Justice has long said that they seek to wrap up the classified documents investigation and the 1/6 investigation before the 2024 presidential election campaign begins.

The first Republican presidential primary debate is in August, which means that a federal criminal indictment of Donald Trump could be coming soon.
Statkraft delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2023, with solid operations in all geographies and continued strong performance in Markets. Statkraft realised a gain of NOK 1.6 billion after selling half of its offshore wind portfolio in Ireland.

Net operating revenues rose to NOK 24.5 billion from NOK 22.1 billion in Q1 2022, while underlying EBIT increased to NOK 18.5 billion (NOK 18.0 billion), Statkraft's second strongest quarter ever.

Power prices were somewhat lower in general, but prices increased in northern Norway and Sweden.

Statkraft and Skagerak Energitjenester were first to offer new and more customised fixed-price power contracts to Norwegian businesses in early May.

Statkraft signed its first long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) in the US, as well as several new PPAs and power supply agreements (PSAs) in Norway, Italy and Poland.

"High power prices, though at a lower level than last year, combined with solid operations gave very strong results from power production. Value-creation in Markets continued to be very strong," says Statkraft CEO, Christian Rynning-Tnnesen.

The Group operating revenues were significantly impacted by positive contributions from hedging and currency effects due to the weakening of the Norwegian krone.

Operating expenses increased, driven primarily by the high-price contribution in Norway, a weakening of the Norwegian krone and a higher number of employees as the company continues on its growth strategy. The underlying costs for existing operations were stable.

Net financials were negatively impacted by the weakening of the NOK. After taxes of NOK 10.4 billion, net result ended at a solid NOK 10.9 billion.

In January Statkraft sold 50 per cent of our 2200 MW offshore wind power portfolio in Ireland to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), a global leader in renewable energy investments. Statkraft realised a gain of NOK 1.6 billion from the sale. The two companies plan to invest more than NOK 40 billion in offshore wind projects in Ireland.

"The partnership with CIP demonstrates our value-creation potential within offshore wind and our ambition to pursue an industrial role in Ireland and the North Sea. We continue to develop our project portfolio and expand our organisation to support the ambitious green growth strategy to develop much needed renewable energy in Norway and internationally", Rynning-Tnnesen adds.

Statkraft's ambition is to become a leading global renewable energy producer, building 2500-3000 MW per year, increasing to around 4000 MW every year by 2030. The majority of new investments will be within onshore wind, solar and hydropower. In hydropower, Statkraft plans to start five major capacity upgrade projects in Norway by 2030 to balance the increasing amounts of intermittent wind power generation.

For further information, please contact:

Debt Capital Markets:

Vice President Stephan Skaane, tel: +47 905 13 652, e-mail: stephan.skaane@statkraft.com

Senior Financial Advisor Arild Ratikainen, tel: +47 971 74 132, e-mail: arild.ratikainen@statkraft.com

Media:

Vice President Torbjrn Steen, tel: +47 911 66 888, e-mail: torbjorn.steen@statkraft.com

Head advisor Lars Magnus Gunther, tel: +47 912 41 636, e-mail: lars.gunther@statkraft.com

or www.statkraft.com

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

About Statkraft

Statkraft is a leading company in hydropower internationally and Europe's largest generator of renewable energy. The Group produces hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas-fired power and supplies district heating. Statkraft is a global company in energy market operations. Statkraft has 5.300 employees in 21 countries.
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
A Georgia man is facing criminal sexual conduct charges stemming from a 2017 incident in North Augusta.

Andre Mortiz Hunter, 30, of Grovetown was arrested and charged May 23 with criminal sexual conduct in relation to a 2017 incident that occurred under the 5th Bridge in North Augusta, according to jail records.

On Jan. 5, 2017 police responded to the 1120 Block of 15th Street at medical building in Augusta in reference to criminal sexual conduct that occurred in the jurisdiction of North Augusta Department of Public Safety, according to a media release from North Augusta public safety.

A female victim told police the suspect pulled up beside her in a car and forced her to get in the car, the report said.

The suspect told the victim he was going to take her to the hospital for a doctors appointment, but instead took her down several streets in Augusta before crossing the 5th Street Bridge into North Augusta, the report said.

The victim begged the suspect to let her go, the report said.

The suspect forced the victim from the car and forcibly performed sexual acts on the victim, the report said.

The suspect then escorted the victim back to the vehicle and dropped her off behind a medical building in Augusta, according to the report.

Hunter is listed as an inmate in the Aiken County detention center and has no bond.
Georgia Natural Gas announced today (May 23) that its Greener Life program, which helps customers make their natural gas use carbon neutral, offset 250 million pounds of carbon emissions from the atmosphere - more than double the company's record set last year.

"Natural gas is an essential part of running the homes and businesses of our half a million GNG customers, and 25,000 of them have chosen Greener Life to help them decarbonize," said Keith Gallagher, director of mass markets at Georgia Natural Gas. "To reach 250 million pounds of carbon just one year after achieving 100 million pounds, demonstrates how much our customers care about reducing their carbon footprint and how easy the Greener Life program is for them to do so."

"Georgia Aquarium is always looking for innovative ways to reduce our environmental impact and promote a cleaner, healthier planet," said Hiroshi Okuda, senior director of strategic marketing and corporate partnerships at Georgia Aquarium. "Our partnership with Georgia Natural Gas and the Greener Life for Business program provides us the opportunity to manage our carbon footprint and continue our mission of environmental stewardship."

When customers sign up for Greener Life, Georgia Natural Gas offsets the emissions from the customer's natural gas use, making it carbon neutral. For the average customer, offsetting greenhouse gas emissions with Greener Life is equivalent to driving 10,000 miles less each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

Greener Life offers customers an easy way to be environmental stewards. Georgia Natural Gas makes it easy and affordable for customers to make their natural gas use carbon neutral by taking care of purchasing and retiring carbon offsets on their behalf for a small monthly fee. The company funds a variety of offset projects in the United States, including forestation, landfill and HFC Refrigerant Reclamation. For more information, please visit www.gng.com or www.gng.com/greenerlife.

About Georgia Natural Gas

Georgia Natural Gas is part of SouthStar Energy Services. SouthStar is owned by Southern Company Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). SouthStar also operates Ohio Natural Gas, Florida Natural Gas, Pennsylvania Energy, Grand Rapids Energy (in Michigan) and in other parts of the Southeast as SouthStar Energy Services. SouthStar's subsidiaries in Illinois operate as Illinois Energy and Illinois Energy Solutions.

About Southern Company Gas

Southern Company Gas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America's premier energy company. Southern Company Gas serves nearly 4.4 million natural gas utility customers through its regulated distribution companies in four states and more than 600,000 retail customers through its companies that market natural gas. Other nonutility businesses include investments in interstate pipelines and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. For more information, visit southerncompanygas.com.

Media Contact:

Pete Symons

c: 470.630.3093

psymons@southernco.com
The main downtown streets of Aiken and North Augusta will have some extra red, white and blue in place over the next several weeks, with Hometown Heroes banners being in place through early July. Read moreHometown Heroes banners return
Two food-and-beverage businesses are on the way to a new grocery-anchored shopping center on the edge of Charleston, and two other retail tenants have been lined up for a nearby mixed-use development.

Dulce Inc., which offers churros, craft ice cream and cocktails, recently leased 2,404 square feet in One Nexton at One Nexton Boulevard in the Nexton development near Summerville, according to Hannah Kamba and Brent Case of the real estate firm Coldwell Banker Commercial, which represented the tenant.

Dulce has another Lowcountry shop, in northern Mount Pleasant at the Market at Oakland Shopping Center.

Also coming to One Nexton is a new pizzeria.

Woodhaven Pizza recently leased 2,715 square feet in the new development, according to Mandy Coleman with National Restaurant Properties, who represented the tenant.

For both transactions, Jeff Yurfest of The Shopping Center Group represented the landlord, C4 Nexton PLX LLC, an affiliate of Charlotte-based developer Crosland Southeast, which bought the 24-acre site in 2021 for $12 million.

On the way

Nearby in Nexton, the first two tenants have been announced for another development that's under way.

Thomas Troy, president of Sharbell Development Corp., said nail salon iNails and Revive Health Studio have signed ground-floor leases in the Lofts Downtown Nexton apartment development between Brighton Park Boulevard and Sigma Drive, less than a mile east of One Nexton.

The 1,700-square-foot nail salon, which has 10 Lowcountry locations, and the 1,775-square-foot health spa are the first tenants in phase one of the Lofts complex. The first phase is expected to be completed in early 2024.

Troy also said talks are underway with a barbershop, high-end spirits shop for on-site consumption and a Mediterranean restaurant as tenants as well.

Upon completion of future phases in late 2024, the Lofts Downtown Nexton will include a clubhouse, resort-style pool, firepit, private cabanas, outdoor cafe tables and bar area, and a dog park.

Downtown Nexton also will include The Ames apartments, AC Hotel by Marriott, Atelier office campus and Daybreak Market and Fuel.

Leasing on the site is being handled by real estate firm Bridge Commercial.

Rolling in

The building that will house the future Jack's Cosmic Dogs on James Island isn't ready to begin serving customers yet, but a food truck has been set up on the site.

The galactic-themed hot dog eatery plans to open during the summer in the former Sweetwater Cafe site at 801 Folly Road.

Opening soon

A new Pakistani restaurant that's been in the works for the past two years soon will welcome diners in a former popular Charleston dining venue.

Ma'am Saab will open at 5 p.m. May 26 at 251 Meeting St., where longtime restaurant Jestine's Kitchen operated for 24 years before closing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's the third Pakistani dining site in the Charleston area from co-owners Maryam Ghaznavi, who serves as chef, and her husband, Raheel Gauba, creative director. Ma'am Saab also will serve as the flagship operation for the duo.

They also operate casual eatery Malika Canteen in Mount Pleasant Towne Centre and in The Charleston Pour House on James Island.

Ma'am Saab, which means "Boss Lady" in the Urdu language, will be open 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

What's cooking?

The burger and frozen custard business is heating up across the Lowcountry.

Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers plans to build a restaurant on U.S. Highway 17A and Carnes Crossing Boulevard next to McBride Lane in front of Bellary Flats Apartments in Goose Creek, according to a stormwater permit application filed with state environmental regulators.

Its offerings include cooked-to-order steakburgers made with lean 100 percent ground beef, Vienna beef hot dogs, shoestring fries and frozen custard in vanilla flavor or made with freshly churned chocolate.

Once developed, the 3,385-square-foot restaurant will be a couple of miles north of competitor Culver's, which opened on U.S. Highway 17A in 2019.

The new Freddy's also will be the Kansas-based chain's second Charleston-area location. The first one opened in 2021 at 4540 Ladson Road on an outparcel in front of Ladson Oakbrook Shopping Center next to Stars & Strikes bowling and arcade center.

It, too, is near Culver's, which opened a restaurant a few miles north at 3848 Ladson Road in 2022. Another Culver's opened earlier this year near Tanger Outlets in North Charleston.

Now serving

The regions newest taco destination is now welcoming customers in a former barbecue restaurant in Mount Pleasant.

White Duck Taco Shop opened May 17 at 341 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. near the base of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in the former Sticky Fingers Ribhouse space, which closed in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Owner Laura Reuss, president of the Asheville, N.C.-based restaurant business, spent several months renovating the building after she acquired the property last October for $3.8 million.

In May of 2021, Reuss, who owns the three Asheville locations and now lives in Charleston, leased the property with an option to buy it. The new restaurant is open 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

White Duck has seven franchise locations, including two in Greenville. The others are in North Carolina and Tennessee, according to the companys website.
The annual economic splash created by the S.C. Aquarium and the visitors it helps draw to Charleston and the state each year has climbed to nearly $414 million, a 46 percent increase compared to a decade ago, according to new study.

The "ripple effect" report by the College of Charleston's Office of Tourism Analysis was released May 24. It measured operations at the 23-year-old waterfront Concord Street attraction and spending by the estimated 500,000 guests who check out the centerpiece "Great Ocean Tank" and other exhibits each year.

The total statewide economic impact has grown by more than $130 million since the previous study was conducted in 2013.

Among the highlights: the aquarium drew 12 percent more out-of-town visitors last year, bringing the total to about 270,000 and increasing their spending on lodging, meals, shopping and other expenses during their stays to about $378 million.

Helen Hill, CEO of Explore Charleston, the region's tourism marketing arm, said the aquarium is an integral part" the hospitality industry.

"The increase in annual attendance and impressive economic impact reflect how its exhibits and programs continue to resonate with local and out-of-town guests, she said in a written statement. Not only is the aquarium a unique and renowned family attraction, it is a leader in education and conservation and a popular venue.

Aquarium officials said the growth reflects its status as a statewide visitor attraction. Chief advancement officer Courtenay Lewandowski said the varied programming reaches all corners of South Carolina.

For example, about 260,000 school-age children, including 113,000 from 44 of the state's 46 counties, have come to the aquarium in person through educational outreach offerings provided through corporate sponsorships. That doesn't include thousands of virtual visits from every state and 50 countries.

The growth of the ... economic impact is an important indicator of our identity as a statewide institution, not simply a Charleston attraction, Lewandowski said.

Opened in May 2000, the aquarium is home to more than 5,000 animals from South Carolina habitats stretching from the mountains to the coast. It also researches and rehabilitates injured sea turtles at its working onsite hospital, where more than 375 turtles have been treated for release back into the ocean.

Last year, the aquarium announced plans for a $7 million renovation of the city's nearby Maritime Center into a learning lab "where students of all ages will be inspired to protect our waters, wildlife and wild places," said Kevin Mills, president.

"It will be a vibrant community center where scientists can meet the public, and where area partners can convene programs and engage in dialogue," Mills said.

Also, the aquarium just commissioned a 10-year plan for its flagship building.

Attractions are a small but vital piece of the tourism industry's financial impact. A separate study by the College of Charleston released last week found that the visitor business generates $12.8 billion in annual economic impact, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
COLUMBIA  The tentative 2023-24 budget for the Richland Two school district mirrors its counterparts in Richland County, increasing spending to fund salary increases and security spending in the 28,500-student district.

The board of trustees for the largest district in the Columbia area voted unanimously May 24 to give that $359 million budget its initial approval, ahead of a final vote expected June 27.

That's an 8 percent, $26.9 million increase over the district's current $332 million budget, which will mostly go to raises, bonuses and benefits for district staff.

It includes nearly $7.8 million in new spending to fund $2,500 in raises for district teachers, as laid out in the still-in-negotiations state budget. If these budgets are approved, a new Richland Two teacher with a bachelor's degree would make $44,321 a year.

The budget would also increase spending by $1.5 million to increase salaries for instructional aids and maintenance, custodial and security staff, based on a $15/hour starting wage.

Some employees would also get signing bonuses at a $2 million cost to the district, including $3,000 for teachers and $1,500 for other employees, as approved by the board in March.

Those raises are meant to help the district's pay stay competitive with neighboring school systems that are also raising wages. But one year's worth of pay hikes won't solve recruitment and retention issues, Chief Financial Officer Harry Miley said, calling it an "ongoing issue."

"We don't fix it with this budget," he told the board May 24. "We'll be here, you'll be here next year doing the same thing, chasing other districts."

But even with the increased spending, Richland Two is not asking the county to raise the property taxes on property owners in the northeast Richland district.

The other two school districts in Richland County, Richland One and Lexington-Richland Five, are looking to increase property tax rates, as they also plan to increase spending in the 2023-24 year.

That includes spending on school security, as Richland Two sets aside $2 million in new spending to fund an expansion of its metal detector screening program.

Starting with the 2023-24 school year, the district is planning to screen all of its high school students as they enter school each day, and has also discussed a pop-up metal detector strategy at middle schools, where different schools would be randomly selected for morning screening.

Richland One's administration approved $1.6 million to fund staff for their district's expanding detector program earlier in May.

In April, the push for metal detectors came into increased focus around Columbia after a student was stabbed multiple times at Ridge View High School, a Richland Two campus, and sent to the hospital. Another student was charged with attempted murder, and the parents of the stabbing victim sued Richland Two, alleging the district failed to provide safe schools for students.

But even as most high schoolers in Richland County will walk through metal detectors when they get back to school in August, research gives little evidence that the technology effectively protects schools and students.

Richland Two's initial 2023-24 budget also includes $160,000 of additional spending to hire an internal auditor, which the state Inspector General's office recommended in its November 2022 investigative report into the district.

It's the second Richland district planning to establish an internal auditor position in 2023, after Lexington-Richland Five's board voted in January to hire one based on the recommendations from an outside procurement audit.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Richland Two is not looking for a property tax increase in their 2023-24 budget.

Click here for more news from Columbia, S.C.
A Nebraska-based, drive-thru coffee franchise opened its first Greenville location on May 20.

Scooter's Coffee, a caffeine concept out of Omaha, Neb., welcomed its first customers at its new location at 2027 Wade Hampton Blvd., next door to Huey Magoo's Chicken Tenders. The coffee shop is locally-owned by Ryan and Jessie Erickson.

There are over 600 Scooter's Coffee locations nationwide in 42 states. The group spearheading the Greenville location plans to open a Simpsonville spot within the year, Jim Mumgaard with Bean Heads, LLC said in an email.

Scooter's started in 1998. It serves a variety of hot and iced drinks along with some breakfast food and dessert options. The coffee shops are predominately drive-thrus.

Scooter's has other South Carolina locations in Columbia and Orangeburg. Other locations advertised on the Scooter's website as coming soon are on North Rhett Avenue in North Charleston, East Main Street in Duncan, Clemson Boulevard in Anderson, Peach Orchard Road in Sumter, Garner Ferry Road in Columbia and on U.S. 1 South near Camden.

Mary Black Foundation awards $850K to nonprofits

The Mary Black Foundation will be giving $850,000 to 11 nonprofits within Spartanburg County that are effectively integrating behavioral health care into their missions.

The funding is a part of the $8 million that was donated to the foundation last November by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to support the foundations mission of increasing opportunities for health and wellbeing in Spartanburg County, according to a news release.

We are committed to continued collaboration with community members and organizational partners to positively impact behavioral health access as we work to create a Spartanburg County where all residents can achieve health and wellbeing, said Molly Talbot-Metz, the foundations president and CEO in a news release.

The foundation is granting a small first cycle of funding to organizations that are making behavioral health care accessible, affordable and culturally relevant.

Organizations that will receive funding in the first phase of grants are:

Angels Charge Ministry

Birth Matters

Bloom Upstate

Childrens Advocacy Center

EMERGE

FAVOR Upstate

GoForth Recovery

Hope Center for Children

JUMPSTART

PASOs

Uplift Outreach Center

Harbor Freight opening 2nd Spartanburg County location

Harbor Freight Tools will open its second Spartanburg County location in Boiling Springs this summer.

The store on 3720 Boiling Springs Rd. is expected to bring between 25 and 30 new jobs to the area.

In addition to finding a great location, we were attracted by the availability of great associates in the Boiling Springs area, and we look forward to having them join the Harbor Freight team, said Trey Feiler, senior vice president, real estate and construction for Harbor Freight Tools in a news release.

As a leading retailer of affordable tools and supplies, Harbor Freight Tools was started in 1977 in Southern California and opened its first store in 1980. The company has over 1,400 stores across the U.S. There are currently 31 Harbor Freight stores in South Carolina.

Thats all for this week. Email your thoughts, tips, releases and newsy bits to smirah@postandcourier.com.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Showers this morning becoming less numerous during the afternoon hours. High 66F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.
Notorious ex-attorney Alex Murdaugh  already facing more than 100 state charges and convicted of murder  has been charged for the first time by federal prosecutors in a sweeping indictment accusing him of more than 20 financial crimes.

The indictment unsealed May 24 includes 14 counts of money laundering, five counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiring to commit fraud and one count of bank fraud.

The allegations largely consist of information that has long been public. Many of Murdaugh's alleged crimes have already been aired out through witness testimony and evidence presented at Murdaughs murder trial and the federal fraud trial of Russell Laffitte, the former Hampton banker accused of facilitating Murdaughs thefts.

Murdaugh, 54, is not scheduled to enter a plea on the charges until May 31, when he will appear before a judge in Charleston's federal courthouse. But his attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, hinted in a statement he wouldnt fight the charges.

"Alex has been cooperating with the United States Attorneys Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities, the attorneys said. We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial.

Separately, Murdaughs longtime friend Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming was charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with Murdaughs alleged theft of millions from the sons of his housekeeper, who died after falling on Murdaughs property. Fleming has agreed to plead guilty to the charge.

The charges mark Murdaughs first in federal court, though he faces more than 100 counts in state court related to several alleged schemes to steal more than $8 million from his clients, his former law firm and others who trusted him. Murdaugh was also sentenced to life in state prison after a Colleton County jury convicted him in March on charges that he killed his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and son Paul, 22, in June 2021.

Murdaughs alleged victims include the sons of Gloria Satterfield, the longtime housekeeper who tended to Murdaughs homes in Hampton and Colleton counties and helped raise his two sons. Satterfield died in February 2018 after falling down the brick steps at his sprawling hunting estate, called Moselle.

Shortly after Satterfields death, Murdaugh steered her sons toward Fleming, who, unbeknownst to them, was Murdaughs law school roommate and godfather to one of his sons.

Murdaughs insurance companies agreed to pay some $4.3 million after Fleming sued on the Satterfield familys behalf, but her sons never received a penny of it, their attorneys have said. Instead, the money was allegedly diverted to a fraudulent bank account Murdaugh had set up to sound like a legitimate company that helps lawyers structure large, one-time settlement checks into smaller regular payments.

The indictment charging Fleming concedes that he didnt know about the spoof bank account or Murdaughs plan to steal the Satterfields money. But it says he nonetheless took liberties that advanced the scheme by filing court documents that included a fraudulent accounting of his expenses on the case and an inaccurate listing of his attorneys fees.

Fleming, whose law license was suspended in October 2021, previously settled a civil lawsuit filed by Satterfields sons, as did his law firm, Moss, Kuhn & Fleming. And he had previously been charged with nearly two dozen counts in state court related to Murdaughs alleged schemes, including 18 charges related to the Satterfield case.

The federal charge Fleming has agreed to plead guilty to carries a maximum sentence of five years. As part of his plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend that he not serve time in state prison.

Fleming is scheduled to stand trial in state court on the Satterfield-related charges on Sept. 11.

The S.C. Attorney General's Office insists the federal charges will have no bearing on its plans to prosecute Murdaugh and Fleming on the state level.

"No action by any other entity will have any effect on our goals to ensure significant accountability in state court for any criminal conduct," said Robert Kittle, a spokesman for the attorney general. "Were moving forward with the September 11th trial of Cory Fleming and will move forward with prosecuting Alex Murdaugh whenever were able to get a trial scheduled."

Five years after Satterfield died, the details of her fall have in recent weeks become a point of contention. Murdaugh told first responders and his insurance adjuster that Satterfield told him shed been tripped by the familys dogs, which would make him legally responsible for her injuries.

But in recent legal filings, he has asserted that he made up the story in an effort to extract money from his insurance companies. Murdaugh previously entered a judgment in the Satterfields favor for $4.3 million, the total amount of the insurance settlements.

On May 16, he asked to be released from that judgment, arguing that the money was actually stolen from the insurance companies. If the insurers and the Satterfield both claim the money, Murdaughs attorneys argue, they will dilute claims by his other victims who were defrauded of funds for legitimate claims.
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Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Nevada lawmakers are reconsidering limits on how state prisons use solitary confinement after similar legislation failed to pass during the 2021 legislative session.

The bill, which defines segregation or solitary confinement as more than 22 consecutive hours in a cell, would limit the use to 15 consecutive days, after which a multidisciplinary treatment team, including a mental health clinician, would conduct a review to determine where to place the inmate.

Senate Bill 307, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Pat Spearman, requires the department to implement the least restrictive manner when separating inmates from the general population, and doing so for the shortest period of time safely as possible.

This type of segregation for prisoners is especially detrimental for those with mental illnesses, Spearman said. Were not doing any justice by them by forcing them into this kind of situation but we are also virtually ensuring their mental health will suffer from this treatment.

The Nevada Department of Corrections would be restricted from placing a person in solitary who is 90 days from their release.

Nick Shepack, the board chair of the prison advocacy group Return Strong and member of Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement, said research has shown releasing people straight from solitary to the community makes the transition back into society often nearly impossible.

There is a saying in the solitary survivor community that if you didnt not have a mental illness when you went into solitary you came out with one, Shepack said. When we place people with severe mental illness in solitary confinement, countless studies show it exacerbates that mental illness. This hinders rehabilitation.

The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 13, and was sent to the Senate Finance Committee.

An early fiscal note from NDOC said having a treatment team, which include a psychologist, at each facility would mean hiring 31 additional staff and cost an estimated $12 million over the biennium.

NDOC Director James Dzurenda, who testified in neutral at the first bill hearing, told lawmakers that NDOC doesnt have any social workers in the agency.

However, he said in April that allowing for telemedicine or video conferencing rather than in-person evaluation would alleviate the cost, and dropped the fiscal note to zero.

Dzurenda said the use of solitary and disciplinary segregation wasnt black and white.

In some cases, he said, an evaluation of an inmate who could be released from solitary shows they are homicidal and shouldnt be released from segregation.

In other instances, he said people seek segregation out of fear they could be attacked by other inmates.

Dzurenda, who worked with Spearman and the advocacy groups to amend the bill, later told lawmakers most of his concerns had been addressed, including pushing back the effective date from July 1, 2023 to Jan. 1, 2024.

The bill is scheduled to be heard by Senate Finance on Wednesday morning.

Lilith Baran, the policy director of the ACLU of Nevada, said there is no prison policy that has been studied more than solitary confinement.

The research has overwhelmingly displayed that solitary confinement takes an immense toll on a persons mental, emotional and physical well being, she said. It causes irreversible neurological damage.

A 2021 report from the Liman Center at Yale University analyzing prison data from 2018 through 2020 showed Nevada housed 1,059 people in restrictive housing, about 10% of its population at the time.

Baran said that 40% of trans people are in solitary confinement. Lawmakers are also considering legislation requiring formal policies for the housing for trans and gender diverse incarcerated individuals.

The report found 57 people had been in restrictive housing more than 10 years.

Baran said the data, which was reported by NDOC, showed that 387 people were confined for administrative reasons, 230 for safety, 99 for punishment and 274 for personal choice.

The effect of solitary will cause the individuals to feel uncomfortable around other individuals after an extreme period of isolation, she said, explaining the personal choice. They are more jumpy, scared at the sound of keys or slamming doors because theyve experienced extreme trauma.

Dzurenda told lawmakers disciplinary segregation is currently restricted to 30 days.

While its true a disciplinary sanction is a 30 day max  people will sit in solitary confinement waiting for their disciplinary hearing, Shepack said. People will get one sanction followed by another sanction followed by another extending that 30 day period at times indefinitely.

Current policy requires corrections officers tour the disciplinary segregation units every 15 minutes to check on inmates, but there arent medical or mental health workers observing people.

There is no medical or mental health tour, which I think there should be for those individuals in segregation, he said.

Lawmakers passed legislation in 2017 that put some restrictions on the practice.

Spearman brought legislation in 2021 to strengthen regulations and at the time said there was virtually no data on how the law was implemented, but the bill died.

Shepack said the state, which also received recommendations from the Vera Institute of Justice in 2019, was headed in the right direction. But those recommendations were never implemented, he said.
HUGER  A manhunt for a fugitive wanted in connection with a murder and rape in New York, and for a kidnapping in Pennsylvania, ended May 24 when the suspect was caught after a search that spread across the rural South Carolina's Lowcountry.

Michael Burham, 37, was arrested in Berkeley County around 5:15 p.m. A crowd gathered at an intersection in the Huger area that had been blocked off by the officers since about 3:50 p.m. A cheer rose as hundreds of officers from local, state and federal agencies, who had joined the search, left the scene.

"The people of Huger can rest easy tonight," Sheriff Duane Lewis said following Burham's capture.

Dehydrated and dirty from several days on the run in the woods, Burham was cleared by medical personnel and taken to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office to be questioned by the FBI. It's unclear if he will remain in the county jail or be taken elsewhere.

Burham first appeared in the Charleston area on May 21 after he allegedly kidnapped two people and drove them to North Charleston. It was later learned that Burham was a suspect in a homicide that occurred in Jamestown, N.Y., and that warrants had been issued for his arrest on charges of rape and false imprisonment in New York.

After Burham fled from Berkeley County deputies around 11 a.m. May 23, the manhunt was on.

Around 3:30 p.m. May 24, a couple reported seeing Burham in a shed behind their home off Abra Way and United Drive, hours after the search had shifted from Berkeley to Charleston County.

Less than an hour earlier, Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graizano told residents in the area to check their outbuildings, boats and trailers for anything suspicious or out of place. The FBI announced a $10,000 reward for Burhams capture.

Shortly after a late afternoon press conference ended in Awendaw on May 24, dozens of law enforcement officials in trucks, SUVS and an armored carrier flew back into Berkeley County and down Halfway Creek Road and United Avenue. The roads fork at a rural church. The area is dotted with homes and thick with wooded areas. A helicopter whirled overheard.

The search had shifted to Charleston County after Burham was reportedly seen around 11 p.m. May 23 near Broomstraw Hill Road in Awendaw, according to the FBI.

Awendaw, northeast of Charleston on U.S. Highway 17, is on the heavily wooded eastern edge of the Francis Marion National Forest.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the state spent much of the past two days searching. They started in Berkeley County after deputies, called to the area after someone reported seeing a suspicious male, made contact with a man believed to be Burham. He gave them a false name and then ran, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies gave chase. The man got away but dropped a bookbag. Items inside confirmed it was Burham, the sheriff's office said.

Authorities believed Burham may have hitchhiked or used a beachcruiser bicycle for transportation, according to the FBI, which led the search effort.

Authorities said they don't know why Burham came to the Lowcountry.

The 34-year-old is a suspect in the May 11 slaying of 34-year-old Kala Hodgin of Jamestown, N.Y., according to news reports in New York. According to the FBI wanted poster, Burham was named in a warrant issued April 27 on charges of rape and false imprisonment in New York. Another warrant has been issued in the Sheffield, Pa., kidnapping case.

Jamestown is a small town near Lake Erie and just over the New York-Pennsylvania border from Sheffield.

On May 21, North Charleston police officers dispatched to a car dealership on Rivers Avenue found two people who said they had been kidnapped from their Pennsylvania home by Burham and driven to South Carolina.

A 68-year-old woman told police that around 11:45 a.m. the day before she was in her garage when a man armed with a revolver appeared beside her car, according to an incident report. Police redacted much of what she and her 89-year-old husband told them. The couple eventually ended up on the side of Rivers Avenue, where they flagged down a driver who called the police.

Police later found the victims' vehicle parked in a Verizon parking lot  the nearest Verizon store is half a mile north of where the officers found the couple. Next to a notepad, police found the car keys and the suspect's military dog tag with his name and Social Security number imprinted on it, according to the report.
SUMMERVILLE  Dorchester County Council is requesting the town remove the countys human services building from the Midtown Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) district.

If released from the TIF district, the county will broker a fee-in-lieu of tax agreement with the prospective owner of the property at 500 N. Main Street: the owner won't have to pay property taxes, but will instead pay a flat rate to the county for a period of time.

The Midtown TIF is one of two TIF districts in Summerville, where new property tax revenues generated by development in the specified area are used to fund development-related projects in the same area, like road projects and school improvements.

Some projects included in the Midtown TIF are Dorchester District Two school improvements and the Dorchester County Coroner's Office.

The County Council voted 6-0 at a May 22 meeting  with Councilwoman Rita May Ranck absent  to formally request the town council to release the property from the TIF district.

County Council Chair Todd Friddle said the Midtown TIF did not take any redevelopment at 500 N. Main St. into account, and most of the $25 million that's bonded in the TIF has already been set aside for other projects throughout the district. In other words, it won't help with the redevelopment of the property.

Friddle said if the county building isn't removed from the TIF district, the new owner would have to be on more of a pay-as-you-go basis without the capacity to issue bonds; essentially, they wouldn't have to front funding for the project.

He added a FILOT instead of a TIF would give the county and developer more flexibility. If the developer pays a flat fee instead of property taxes, Friddle said the extra money would be able to go toward preserving the facade of the building, workforce housing, and more.

The decision comes after several Summerville residents have raised concerns to the County Council about the redevelopment of the property. Formerly the Dorchester County Hospital from 1937-1975, many people want the building  which is located in the town's Historic District  to be preserved.

Veterans have also spoken up at County Council meetings, questioning what would be the fate of the Veterans Memorial on the site if the county sells the property.

Response from Summerville

Christopher Makowski, Summervilles public information officer, said the town hasnt received an official request from Dorchester County yet. Once they do, he will add the issue to an agenda for discussion during an upcoming town council meeting.

But some town council members already told The Post and Courier they are at least considering the county's proposal.

Scott Slatton, director of advocacy and communications at the Municipal Association of South Carolina, said cities and towns across the state dont have a formal role in the fee-in-lieu of tax agreement process.

As happens frequently, a county will issue a fee-in-lieu of tax or sign a fee-in-lieu of tax agreement with a business or developer, Slatton said. The city or town could make an objection, just like anybody else in the public, but theres no statutory requirement that the city or town agree to that fee-in-lieu of tax agreement.

Town Councilman Bill McIntosh, a vocal opponent of any redevelopment in Summervilles Historic District, said he doesnt oppose the property being removed from the TIF district, but is concerned the FILOT may seal the fate of the old hospital.

The overall objective of county council is to be able to borrow (against anticipated revenues coming from the redevelopment) and spend as much money as possible. But in order to reach that objective, they need to be able to tear down the hospital building and put up higher density buildings, McIntosh said.

But not all council members agree. Town Councilmen Terry Jenkins, Bob Jackson and Russ Touchberry want more details and are waiting to hear recommendations from the town's financial advisor and bond attorney before concluding on whether the town should release 500 N. Main St. from the TIF district. They both said that it looks to be a good decision.

We may be able to benefit from the fee-in-lieu more than what we would gain out of the TIF, Jackson said.

Town Councilman Aaron Brown expressed support for the county councils efforts to remove the property from the TIF district.

I think it puts them in a better position to do some of the things they need to accomplish in the county, Brown said. If theyre able to do some things to preserve the concerns of the residents, like the Veterans Memorial and the facade of the hospital, it might work out.

Town Councilwoman Kima Garten-Schmidt did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Christopher Dixon asked for mercy.

Not for himself, but for the Summerville man who drove the getaway car during a robbery in which Dixon was shot in the back leaving him nearly paralyzed.

Joshua Washington did not shoot Dixon, but he apologized for what happened at a sentencing hearing May 23 in U.S. District Court. Earlier this year, Washington pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and testified against his co-defendant.

Dixon was an assistant manager at Tavern & Table on April 4, 2018, when the Mount Pleasant restaurant off Shem Creek was robbed. The gunman, Brandon Lloyd Daniels, shot Dixon in the back, then fled with money from the eatery's cash drawers into the car Washington was driving.

The bullet shattered Dixon's spine and pinged around his organs before lodging in his ribcage, where it remains.

"I talked earlier about how I was grateful to be home with my kids," Dixon, the father to two daughters, told Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks. "I don't want him to be taken away from his kids. That just turns things into a cycle."

Washington, 31, has three sons, his mother and grandmother told the court.

Dixon said he couldn't forgive Daniels, who was convicted of robbery using force, discharging a firearm during a robbery and possessing ammunition while a felon after a three-day jury trial in July and sentenced to 50 years in prison. But he forgave Washington.

"This was a bad situation and I'd like to see the positive come out of it," Dixon said wishing "good things" for their future.

As he made his way back to his seat, limping because the muscles in the back of his legs no longer work, Dixon embraced Joanne Campbell-Butler, Washington's grandmother, who thanked him and God.

His grandmother and mother, Sharmista Washington, both told the judge that Washington's involvement in the robbery and shooting was out-of-character. His attorney Jack Furse said he has no history of criminal behavior.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor Stout, who prosecuted the case, said Washington played only a minor role and that Daniels was the mastermind and kept the "lion's share" of the stolen cash.

A day before the robbery, Washington rented a Dodge Ram truck that matched a vehicle seen on surveillance footage, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Both defendants were 26 at the time of the robbery.

Daniels, who previously worked at the restaurant, entered the restaurant with a pistol after closing, according to Mount Pleasant police. After shooing Dixon in the lower back, Daniels fired two more stray rounds at another employee before fleeing.

"His mistake was that he went along with this," Stout said.

After spending six months in the Charleston County jail, Washington was released on bond four years ago. He's had no run-ins with the law since.

Hendricks encouraged Washington remain on his best behavior and set a positive example for his sons before sentencing him to five years of probation.

"Besides, I don't think your grandmother will let you get away with much," the judge joked from the bench.

Washington left the courthouse with his family. He was sentenced to five years on supervised release.
South Carolina's $29 billion tourism industry generates hundreds of millions of dollars in hotel taxes and for decades nearly all that money has been used to attract and serve more tourists.

Now, a change in state law signed by Gov. Henry McMaster on May 19 allows local governments to use some of that accommodations tax money for affordable housing efforts. The legislation received strong support in the House and Senate.

It's an acknowledgement of how widespread a problem housing affordability has become for renters and potential homeowners.

In counties with the most tourism the accommodations tax, or A-tax, generates tens of millions of dollars yearly. Those areas, such as Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head Island, also have intense housing affordability issues.

In the greater Charleston area, the median price of a home has increased by 55 percent in five years, to $414,000 in April, and rising mortgage rates have made them even less affordable. Rents have increased by more than a third in just the past two years.

Charleston County Councilwoman Jennie Honeycutt said the ability to use hotel tax money for housing could be a key to funding county affordable housing efforts. The county has been developing a broad housing initiative, but has struggled with the issue of annual financing.

"I'm beyond thrilled about this," Honeycutt said. "It is finally a recurring funding source that we've been looking for."

"I anticipate the county taking a lead on this," she said.

The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort. It does not provide any new funding for housing, but rather allows local governments to use up to 15 percent of their A-tax money for workforce housing efforts. For Charleston County, that could have amounted to more than $3.8 million last year. In the city of Charleston, it could have been worth up to $3.4 million.

"We're talking about a significant amount of money," said Davis. What local governments actually choose to do with it, thats up to them."

I got letters from the town councils of Hilton Head, of Bluffton, city council in Beaufort, telling me this was their number on legislative priority," he said. "The fact that we were able to get something like this passed speaks to the saliency of this (housing affordability) issue."

Hilton Head Housing

On Hilton Head, Rev. June Wilkins, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, has been a vocal advocate for affordable housing efforts. It's an issue that got lots of attention in the summer of 2022 when about 300 people were told they were being evicted from one of the few affordable apartment complexes on the island, Chimney Cove, to make way for a new development.

While the evictions did not happen and the Chimney Cove situation remains unsettled, in November the island's City Council agreed to spend $1 million annually on housing efforts. The A-tax legislation could help with financing.

"This Chimney Cove thing was a real wake-up call," said Wilkins. "I'm really happy that Tom Davis sees the need and was able to figure out something to do.

"It feels like it's just our issue, but it's everywhere," she said. "People used to say 'oh, workers can just live across the bridge in Bluffton,' but prices there have soared."

Charleston and Mount Pleasant also passed resolutions supporting the legislation and it was a top priority of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

I think well be able to see some tangible results in the very near future," said Scott Slatton, spokesman for MASC.

Municipalities had wanted more. In addition to the A-tax money, they wanted to be able to use some of the hospitality tax collected on meals and drinks to be used for housing.

That was in Davis' original Senate bill but was stripped out in the House. Davis said that was a reasonable compromise.

Greenville takes the lead

Greenville is poised to become the first South Carolina city to use A-tax money for housing efforts. Greenville's pending budget includes $1 million of hotel tax revenue for housing efforts on top of the $2.5 million the city already devotes to such efforts yearly.

Greenville Mayor Knox White said the city won't be diverting A-tax money from other purposes, because collections have been growing so quickly that there's plenty to go around.

The tourism dollar accounts have grown mightily," he said. "The pie is very large."

"We have the capacity to fund the projects we want to fund, and still address affordable housing," said White. The number of hotel rooms in Greenville used to be under 1,000 and now its more like 3,000."

Horry, Charleston and Beaufort counties collect the largest shares of the statewide A-tax money, which brought in more than $111 million last year, followed by Greenville and Richland. Each gets a share of the statewide 2 percent tax on hotel stays, which is distributed based on where it was collected, and 28 counties have a local hotel tax as well.

In Charleston the city, county and state each collect a 2 percent tax on accommodations, including hotels and short-term rentals. Many towns, cities and counties have their own A-taxes, which when combined cannot add up to more than a 3 percent tax (Charleston is a special case, with a tax that pre-dated the 3 percent limit).

Amy Wharton, Charleston's Chief Financial Officer, said the city needs more details about the pending A-tax rule change.

While 30 percent of the statewide tax money goes to tourism promotion and marketing, the rest of it and any local A-tax money supports local services  as long as there's a connection with tourism. That includes construction of facilities that might attract or be used by tourists, and local arts groups and festivals.

Is there enough pie?

As long as tax collections are growing, as in Greenville, local government could set aside some of the money for housing initiatives without taking away from other things. But if the funding pie gets smaller, affordable housing would be one more priority competing for money.

In Charleston the International African American Museum was partly funded with accommodations taxes, as was the reconstruction of Low Battery. In Greenville, Unity Park was paid for partly with tourism taxes. And in North Charleston the Coliseum & Performing Arts Center has been a beneficiary.

Marketing groups will still get their share of the statewide tax money, and some also get a portion of local tax collections.

Charleston County gave nearly $3.3 million of local A-tax money to the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau in the last budget year, but was not required to do so. The county also gives 20 percent of the county-wide tax money to the towns and cities where it was collected, but that's also at County Council's discretion.

What council could control, and change if they want to, are what the CVB gets, and municipalities, and contributions," said county Finance Director Corine Altenhein. The contributions are the more than half-million dollars distributed to local arts groups and festivals.

One challenge, Altenhein said, is that tourism tax revenues are hard to predict. They plunged by roughly half in the year the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, prompting local governments to cut funding.

If we have a hurricane, a bad one, people arent going to come," she said.

Another challenge is that local governments often use A-tax money for long-term projects that support tourism, such as construction of a museum or a road, or drainage improvements. A government might borrow millions for a project, and pay the debt with future tax collections.

That means there can be less discretionary money available for housing, unless tax collections keep going up.

I would say the majority goes to our projects," said Tammy Harness, Mount Pleasant's Deputy Chief Financial Officer, who offered a fire station and public safety training facility as examples. We typically use it on facilities and roads.

What's next?

Local governments can immediately use A-tax money for housing initiatives. That will only be allowed until 2030, because House lawmakers added a sunset clause to the bill.

If its a successful program that accomplishes what we think it will, we can stand it back up after seven years," Davis said.

Any housing initiatives financed with A-tax money must serve people earning between 30 and 120 percent of the area's median income. That broad range includes people with very low to middle incomes.

Housing initiatives could include rental housing but "must include programs to promote homeownership," under the legislation. The law also created a new state committee to examine current and potential land use planning in the state.

One thing the law does not do is take away any of the state money used to promote and market S.C. tourism.

Attempting to tap into that money would "buy you opposition," said Davis.

So, going forward the hotel tax money could be used by local governments for workforce housing, but it's certain that at least 30 percent of the statewide tax will continue to be used to attract more tourists.
COLUMBIA  A six-week abortion ban is poised to become law again in South Carolina after Republican senators defeated an attempt to keep the option legal through the first trimester.

A 27-19 vote May 23 sent the bill to Gov. Henry McMaster, who will likely quickly sign it.

The chamber's three Republican women stood firm in opposing the bill, a month after joining with Democrats to defeat a near-total ban.

Whether or how long the so-called "fetal heartbeat" law would take effect is questionable. Another lawsuit is coming from Planned Parenthood, which successfully challenged a similar law the state Supreme Court threw out in January.

Its argument to have the latest version tossed, along with a request to put the ban on hold pending a final verdict, will be filed soon after the bill is signed into law, said Vicki Ringer, a regional director with Planned Parenthood.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said he's confident changes made in the legislation will result in a different verdict.

"I feel good about where we are," the Edgefield Republican told reporters.

The bill makes abortions illegal once an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, which can happen roughly six weeks into a pregnancy.

It provides exceptions for rape or incest victims, though only through 12 weeks. It also allows abortions to prevent the mother's death or lifelong health problems, or when doctors diagnose fatal fetal anomalies.

The final vote came after senators rejected an attempt by Sen. Katrina Shealy to replace the bill with a 12-week ban that extended the rape-or-incest exception to 20 weeks.

Shealy, of Lexington, is among Republican senators who have consistently voted for a six-week ban, most recently in February.

But she said House leadership's months-long refusal to accept anything less than a ban from conception gave her lots of time to research and listen to her constituents about the real-life consequences of what she previously supported.

She offered a 12-week ban as a "real compromise."

For starters, it gives the woman time to know she's pregnant, she said, noting her mother's doctor initially thought she was a tumor.

"Dont force women to make a decision in six weeks for something they dont even know is happening," she said. "We are not the morality police, and you cannot be someone elses conscience."

It also stands a better chance of getting cleared by the courts, she said. Her proposal failed 21-25.

The six-week ban McMaster signed in 2021 took effect temporarily last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, ending a half-century of precedent and leaving the legality of abortions to state lawmakers.

But the state Supreme Court suspended it in August amid the court challenge, then tossed it out completely in January, ruling the law violated privacy protections guaranteed by the state constitution.

The ruling left South Carolina the "abortion capital of the Southeast," Massey said in arguing for passing a new version he believes addresses justices' concerns.

Abortions remain legal in South Carolina through 22 weeks, the second-least restrictive state in the Southeast behind Virginia. Data from the state's public health agency confirms abortions have risen sharply in recent months, with half of the women coming from other states.

Massey countered the suggested 12-week ban wouldn't change that. He noted that while the North Carolina Legislature passed a 12-week ban last week, it would still go further than South Carolina by requiring women to wait 72 hours after an in-person doctor's visit.

The vast majority of abortions in South Carolina occur in the first trimester anyway. The three clinics in the state don't offer them past 13 weeks. Later abortions are performed in hospitals, generally for wanted pregnancies that go unexpectedly wrong.

Sen. Mike Reichenbach, R-Florence, offered the debate's most personal, heartfelt explanation for supporting the ban.

His mother was 14 in 1971 when she became pregnant by her 15-year-old boyfriend, he said, adding he's here because she put him up for adoption.

"She was scared out of her mind" and facing ultimatums from her family, Reichenbach said she told him when they met 18 years later.

"I simply also want to put a face on that child thats not just a sesame seed or a raisin or a grape," he said about the compared size of an embryo in the early stages. "Can we also consider the opportunity were snuffing out?"

A month ago, six Republican senators helped defeat a near-total ban.

But moving the ban back to six weeks brought three of those Republicans  all male  back to a "yes" vote. Republicans also picked up a vote from April with the return of Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, from National Guard training.

Following the debate, abortion rights activists cheered as each of the five females who call themselves sister senators  three Republicans, one Democrat and one independent  walked out of the chamber. All five wore buttons that read "elect more women."
GAFFNEY  A tax increase is being considered to help offset a $1 million budget deficit for the new fiscal year beginning July in the city of Gaffney.

City Administrator James Taylor presented the proposed budget's numbers to members of the city's finance committee on May 23. Rising costs in employees' health insurance and state retirement have added additional financial burdens to the budget.

Taylor said $500,000 of the city's American Rescue Plan funds and about $900,000 of the city's cash-on-hand reserve funds could also be used to narrow the deficit gap. First reading of the $18.8 million proposed 2023-24 budget is scheduled for June 5.

A 3 percent cost of living adjustment increase has been included in the proposed budget but a 25 percent increase requested for officers' pay in the Gaffney Police Department has not been included.

The total cost to fund the full 25 percent increase for officers would be about $600,000, Taylor said.

The next finance committee will be held on May 30. Taylor plans to take another look at compensation and benefits for all employees and make a recommendation to the committee.

"The general fund has increased and revenue is not increasing nearly as fast," Taylor said. "The options we have to look at is raising taxes."

The city is allowed by state law to increase taxes up to 9 mills. Taylor said if the millage rate was increased to its maximum allowed by state law a budget deficit would likely still exist of about $70,000. If the millage rate was increased by 9 mills, it would cost an extra $36 annually on property assessed at $100,000, Taylor said.

Gaffney Mayor Randy Moss supports increasing pay for the city's police officers.

"I want to make sure in total compensation that our police officers are compensated in a similar manner as our neighbors," Moss said. "I don't want to lose a single officer to a dollar."

While some on the finance committee supported the police department's full 25 percent pay raise request, others noted it was more likely the full request would not be granted due to budget constraints.

"I do not see this happening (police officers' pay raises) unless we raise taxes," City Finance Chairman Harold Littlejohn Sr., said. "Somebody is going to have to contribute a little more to get a little more. We don't have the revenue coming in."
"The Book of Life" is a celebration of life, even as it looks back on those who died as part of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

That's what playwright and performer Odile Gakire Kiki Katese of Rwanda wanted  to move on from trauma and center on hope after her grandmother was killed with a machete and thrown into a latrine, like around 800,000 others, during the genocide.

She wanted to honor her grandmother and others' tragic deaths through celebrating their lives. And she found a powerful way to do that was by reciting a collection of letters from loved ones and survivors to those lost on stage.

"(Through this,) people have found an opportunity to talk again to the people that they have lost, to say the words they were not able to say before we had to say goodbye," said Katese.

These letters are paired with the joyful rhythms from an all-women Rwandan drumming group she founded almost a decade ago called Ingoma Nshya, which means "New Drum" or "New Power."

Her production, created alongside director and co-creator Ross Manson of Toronto, Canada, will be featured at this year's Spoleto Festival after being showcased at last summer's Edinburgh International Festival.

If you go WHAT: "The Book of Life" WHEN: 7:30 p.m. June 1, 6 p.m. June 2, 2 p.m. June 3, 7 p.m. June 4 WHERE: Festival Hall, 56 Beaufain St. PRICE: $35-$73 MORE INFO: spoletousa.org/events/the-book-of-life

Manson met Katese while working on another project called "The Africa Triology," a theatrical collaboration between six countries on three continents with writers across them all. During his time in Rwanda, Katese's name came up as someone he needed to meet. He connected with her at a local cafe, and they "hit it off," he said. A few months later, he facilitated a speaking gig for her at a festival in Vancouver. He remembers her approaching him filled with passion after seeing a show at the festival about genocide, written by a Jewish Canadian writer.

"After that show, Kiki came up and grabbed me and said, 'This has to come to Rwanda,'" said Manson.

That's how the journey of "The Book of Life" began.

In Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, Manson took notes while Katese talked about her story and about the stories of so many she hoped to in some way help resurrect through art. A play was settled upon, and the project of letter writing was formulated as one thread.

There are four threads throughout, all figured out during that week of collaborating: the reading of the letters, the sharing of personal anecdotes, the drumming and singing by Ingoma Nshya and Katese's narration of a children's story that serves as a sort of fable, describing a group of animals who want to bring their side of the world from darkness into the light.

"The show is a demonstration of what can happen," said Manson. "The joy and the energy of the drumming and the singing that the women do is a testament to the idea that life has been brought back after genocide. And that's a very powerful thing that can be felt by an audience."

When Katese created the women's drumming ensemble, she was braving a tradition that was prohibited for her gender. But that's precisely what it was about: cultural healing and female empowerment.

After the genocide, almost two-thirds of people left in Rwanda were women, so women had to take over many leadership roles. In a way, beauty came from tragedy through that, Katese said.

"This drumming group really translates to the gender revolution that is happening in Rwanda," she said. "And yes, I think that the country was rebuilt by women. I think, also personally, women and mothers, we know how to grow life. This is what I hope we are doing through the show as well."

A goal of hers while concocting "The Book of Life" was to avoid trauma for those involved.

Katese recalls, many years after her grandmother was killed, visiting memorial sites in Rwanda and needing days to recover from the grief. She wanted to create a space where remembering wouldn't be such a draining process.

"I was frustrated that there was not another place where we can find the victims not dead, but where we could meet them in life," she said. "Can we also talk about the life they had, not only talk about the death?"

That's where the letters came into play, which Katese collected from 2009 to 2015, from orphans and widows alike.

"We spent weeks crying and laughing at the same time," she said. "The chance that people had to say goodbye, to say, 'I love you.' We never say, 'I love you' until it's too late, but there were the letters, and it was not too late anymore."

While the show is specifically about the Rwandan genocide, Manson notes it's applicable to anybody who has felt traumatized or has experienced loss  "and that's everybody on the planet," he said.

The focus on life over death is simple, universal and, through the particular threads weaved on stage in this production, powerful and moving.

"It's this magic act of re-creating life as if we were small gods, as if somehow life could win over death," said Katese.
Frankly speaking

My sister Lisa passed away on May 17. Growing up right behind her in a family of eight, I was privileged to have her as an elder sibling. It w Read moreLove and life with Lisa
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang called on Tuesday for China and the Netherlands to jointly oppose decoupling, in order to avoid the risk of fragmented global trade and promote the recovery of the world economy.

The two countries have both benefited from and support economic globalization and free trade, Qin said at a joint news conference in Beijing with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, who is on a two-day visit to China.

Hoekstra's trip, which began on Tuesday, follows a series of high-level exchanges between the two countries in recent weeks. Vice-President Han Zheng visited the Netherlands earlier this month, while Premier Li Qiang spoke with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte last week, describing the Netherlands as China's "priority partner" in the European Union.

While meeting with the media, Qin expressed serious concerns over the European country's plan to ban semiconductor equipment maker ASML from exporting its products to China.

He also dismissed accusations that China is an economic "threat" to the Netherlands, asking why, if China actually was a threat, it has become the largest trading partner of the Netherlands outside the EU.

The Netherlands is China's second-largest trade partner in the EU, with bilateral trade volume reaching $130.2 billion in 2022.

The more complex the international situation becomes, countries like China and the Netherlands should remain united to safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains, which is conducive to world peace and stability, Qin said.

During the bilateral talks, the state councilor said that China hopes the Netherlands will play a role as a gateway in China-Europe cooperation and encourage the EU to focus on dialogue and cooperation in EU-China relations and jointly deal with global challenges.

China is committed to peaceful development and the strategy of mutually beneficial opening-up, Qin said. China brings opportunities and assurances to the world rather than challenges and risks, he added.

When commenting on the Ukraine crisis, Qin said that China understands the concerns of the Netherlands. He called on all parties involved to give serious thought to the historical and realistic reasons for the crisis and said China is committed to peaceful talks.

Hoekstra said the Netherlands is ready to work with China to uphold market principles, deepen cooperation in areas such as agriculture and innovation, expand people-to-people exchanges and further elevate bilateral cooperation.

The Netherlands supports strengthening EU-China dialogue and is committed to serving as a bridge to facilitate EU-China exchanges, he said.

Also on Tuesday, Qin met with Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying he hopes the IAEA will perform its duties with an objective, fair and professional attitude.

China hopes that the agency will resist practices that abuse national security as an excuse to interrupt and undermine the order of normal international cooperation, he said.

He said he also hopes that the IAEA will properly handle issues such as nuclear submarine cooperation among the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, in order to maintain the agency's authority and credibility as well as international security.

Grossi said the IAEA is committed to nonproliferation and respects the decisions of member states.
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Illumina:Originally published on Illumina News CenterAlejandro Pliego is attending Princeton, class of 2027. He is smart and poised, but Princeton was hardly a foregone conclusion. The child of immigrants from Cuernavaca, Mexico, he is the first member of his family to go to college. Pliego plans to focus his studies on molecular biology and public policy. As he puts it: He wants to fix things.Recently, Pliego visited Illumina's San Diego headquarters to meet Princeton alums and learn more about genomics. He's one of the first fellows of the yearlong mentorship program San Diego Squared (SD2) and a recipient of the Illumina SD2 STEM Scholar Award. This visit was a chance for him to celebrate his accomplishments and make academic and professional connections."I'm really interested in genomics and understanding different genes in the body to diagnose and treat disease," Pliego says. "This visit, I got to meet a lot of people who do that work and see how Illumina is such a vibrant community. I really enjoyed it." SD2 is looking for starsSD2, a grant recipient of the Illumina Corporate Foundation, connects high school students from underrepresented communities to hands-on STEM education, mentorship, and other resources."We are hyper-local, going into high schools and colleges to identify diverse, incredibly talented students who have shown excellence in STEM," says H. Puentes, co-founder, president, and CEO of SD2. "We give them front-row access to STEM opportunities and help them develop a network who can be their allies, their support, and their advocates." The organization adopts a comprehensive strategy to support the whole student, providing whatever they need to succeed-from books to transportation to food stipends. SD2 wants to build their confidence, teach them about STEM industries, and show them they belong here."We believe talent lives in all communities," Puentes says, "but historically, STEM fields haven't been looking in diverse areas. Imagine the incredible talent we will find when we go places we've never looked before. Alejandro embodies that, but he's not alone. We've got a ton more Alejandros out there." A day at IlluminaDuring his visit, Pliego toured Illumina headquarters, met with several Princeton alums-including Chief Public Affairs Officer John Frank-and chatted with Chief People Officer and SD2 Board Member Aimee Hoyt."I was really impressed with how Alejandro approached these meetings," Puentes says. "He's not intimidated at all. I don't think I could have done it at that age. Illumina has been a great partner with SD2. They've been at the table, sleeves rolled up, since day one." Pliego was impressed by how welcoming the people at Illumina were. "Being able to have these conversations, that was big," he says. "It helps me grow my confidence and see what this world is really like." He applied to Princeton through QuestBridge, a nonprofit that connects students from low-income families to elite universities, and was awarded a full scholarship. He even wrote about Illumina in one of his college essays, recounting an earlier meeting with an employee who had a similar background. Eventually, he'd like to start his own company."I want to be able to help people, specifically underrepresented minorities and underprivileged kids, get the necessities they need in life," Pliego says. "Listening to employees from different companies in this industry and understanding why they chose their career paths gives me perspective into the different missions companies have and how I might fit." Illumina is committed to inspiring the next generation of genomic leaders, and we are working to nurture a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce for the future. To do this, we collaborate with community partners like San Diego Squared that are empowering learners like Alejandro Pliego and engage our employees to reach and inspire students of all backgrounds.Learn more about Illumina's commitment to STEM education and our goal of reaching 5 million learners by 2030.Photo: SD2's H. Puentes and student Alejandro Pliego visit with Illumina Chief Public Affairs Officer John Frank at the company's San Diego HQ.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Illumina on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: IlluminaWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/illumina Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Illumina
Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

At a May 22 workshop on the citys remittance attraction and promotion, deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)s branch in the southern economic hub Nguyen Duc Lenh further said the remittances have increased continuously in the last five years, with the highest amount recorded in 2021, at more than 7.1 billion USD. The figure exceeded 2.1 billion USD in the first quarter this year, up over 19% year-on-year.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Rector of the HCM City University of Banking, said management agencies should forecast the maximum potential of remittances to the city to come up with specific attraction policies.

It is necessary for the metropolis to promote its advantages in the fields of finance, banking, logistics and tourism so that overseas Vietnamese can see that it is a livable city.

Bui Viet Khoi, Counselor of Science and Technology at the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia, said the countrys expatriate community in Australia boasts huge resources.

Policies suitable for the overseas communities in developed countries, including Australia, are needed to attract remittances, added the diplomat.

At the seminar, participants recommended the city continue capitalising on its leading position as an economic, cultural and educational center of the country, and improving its business climate to attract capital and remittances serving the local production and business development, especially in health, education, culture, technology, and green economy.

Vietjet opens series of new intl routes for summer travel boom

Vietjet is opening a series of new international routes, including Ho Chi Minh City - Kochi (India), Da Nang  Hong Kong (China), Phu Quoc  Hong Kong, Da Nang - Singapore, Da Nang - Daegu (the Republic of Korea), Nha Trang - Seoul (Incheon, the RoK), to meet travel demand in summer, reported Vietnam News Agency.

A Vietjet aircraft (Source: Vietjet)

Accordingly, the routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Kochi (India) will be launched from August 12 with six flights per week on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The flights will depart from HCM City at 7:20 pm and arrive in Kochi at 10:50 pm (local time), while those from Kochi to Ho Chi Minh City will take off at 11:15 pm (local time) and land at 6:40 am.

This summer is especially exciting than ever with the return of flights connecting Phu Quoc, Da Nang and Nha Trang with famous tourist destinations across Asia.

Specifically, on the route connecting Phu Quoc and Hong Kong, there will be three return flights per week on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while there will be four return flights per week on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on the route connecting Da Nang and Hong Kong.

Moreover, the carrier will re-operate one daily return flight on the route connecting Da Nang and Daegu (the RoK) and increase the frequency of flights between Da Nang and Singapore to two round trips per day.

Especially, it will increase the frequency to three return flights per day from July 13 on the route between the coastal city of Nha Trang and Seoul (Incheon, the RoK).

To celebrate the new international routes, Vietjet is offering millions of tickets from only zero VND, excluding taxes, fees, holidays of each market, from May 24 to 26. The promotional tickets are applied for its entire international flight network with flexible flight schedules from August 12, 2023 to March 31, 2024.

Besides, passengers will receive an additional 100,000 e-voucher (terms and conditions) to use at the next booking when successfully buying a ticket from now to August 15 this year.

Cargo through seaports nearly doubles in 7 years

Vietnams seaport throughput nearly doubled between 2015 and 2022, averaging 8.4%, Vietnam News Agency quoted the Vietnam Maritime Administration (VMA) saying that.

Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

In the period, the average growth rate of container goods handled alone was 11.9%.

In 2015, the volume of container cargo via ports reached about 126.3 million tonnes (11.5 million TEUs). In 2022, this figure hit more than 243 million tonnes, an increase of nearly 5% compared to the same period in 2021 and more than two times higher than seven years ago.

In the first quarter of this year, Vietnams seaport throughput exceeded 165 million tonnes, including close to 53 million tonnes of container cargo.

In the master plan on Vietnam's seaport system development for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, the VMA forecasts about 1,422.5 million tonnes of goods through local seaports by 2030, including 559 million tonnes of container cargo.

Vietnamese birds nests see opportunities to enter Chinese market

Vietnamese bird's nests see great potential for export to Chinese market as people in China and Chinese communities in other countries across the world spend about 5 billion USD on birds nests and products made from them, reported Vietnam News Agency.

Illustrative photo (Photo: baodautu.vn)

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the General Administration of Customs of China signed a protocol on requirements for quarantine, inspection and veterinary hygiene for birds nests of Vietnam to be exported to China.

The protocol, which took effect in November last year, is said to be a condition for Vietnamese birds nests to conquer the Chinese market after Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thai;and.

In Central Highland provinces, swiftlet farms have registered for production area codes and completing documents in line with the protocol. Authorities also support enterprises in registering for exporting birds nests to China.

Nguyen Dung, Vice President of the Vietnam Farms and Agricultural Enterprises Association, said that China opening door to Vietnamese birds nests via official channels brings opportunities to the local birds nest industry.

Exports to China and countries with big Chinese communities like the US, Australia, and New Zealand is a way to increase the value of the product.

Currently, birds nests are considered one of the most expensive foods in the world.

He said that to prosper in the business, swiftlet farmers need to connect with cooperatives and companies to obtain international certifications, which will help their products to be sold for good prices.

Individuals and units in the birds nest industry should also diversify products to better reach potential consumers.

According to the Vietnam association of swiftlet farms, almost all the farms in Vietnam harvest and process the nests by themselves and then sell in a small scale. As a result, although Vietnam has nests brands, their quality fails to meet international standards.

Illustrative photo (Source: TNO )

Currently, Vietnam mostly exports raw birds nests with low value through unofficial channels.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there were about 23,600 swiftlet farms in 42 out of 63 localities across the country.

The country sees a production of about 200 tonnes of birds nests and exports over 120 tonnes worth 450 million USD each year.

Tran Phuong Tuan, director of Vietnam Birds Nests Company (VinBirdnest) said that the protocol relating to the export of Vietnamese birds nests to China brings opportunities for the industry as China is the world's largest market for bird's nests.

When the market is activated, the bird's nest industry of Vietnam will be restructured, creating higher added value, helping to improve the income and profits for bird nest farmers and processors./.
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 23, 2023 / Applied Materialsby Julie LataAs the semiconductor industry grows in the years ahead, so too does the opportunity for technology to shape a more equitable and sustainable world.At Applied Materials, we believe that diversity and inclusion drive winning teams and innovation. And while women now complete close to 40 percent of all science, technology, engineering and math degrees in the U.S., gender gaps persist in engineering - with just 25 percent of all bachelor-level engineering degrees awarded to women and only 3 percent of all engineering degrees earned by Black, Latina or Native American women.For the past five years, the Applied Materials Foundation has supported the next generation of diverse women innovators through the Generation Girl initiative, inspiring girls to pursue their dreams. Since its creation, the initiative has focused on serving Black, Latina and Native American girls and/or girls from low-income backgrounds, to increase equitable access to high-quality STEM programs and encourage more diversity in tech.But what happens after girls moves from interest in STEM to pursuing a degree in STEM? Unfortunately, access to a strong post-secondary education doesn't always lead to degree completion as low-income students, many of whom are students of color, grapple with tight budgets. Across the United States, 40 percent of students who recently left college prior to degree completion cited financial reasons for doing so. Often the challenge is relatively small - a car repair, a root canal an increase in rent. But when 58 percent of U.S. college students report basic needs insecurity, it's no surprise that these unexpected expenses can derail a student's pathway to graduation.We want to remove financial barriers, so more women complete their engineering degrees. Through the Applied Materials Momentum Fund, a new collaboration with Last Mile Education Fund, we will provide flexible financial support to increase graduation rates for women engineers at select colleges and universities. In addition to providing grants to these rising engineers, Applied Materials will offer dedicated internships as well as opportunities for grantees to build rapport with our employees, helping them gain industry experience and grow their list of contacts in the semiconductor ecosystem.With the Momentum Fund, we are building upon the success of Generation Girl, and expanding our support from high school through college, strengthening the pathway for future women innovators.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Applied Materials on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: Applied MaterialsWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/applied-materials Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Applied Materials
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Banyan Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "Banyan") (TSXV:BYN)(OTCQB:BYAGF) is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (the "MRE" or the "Mineral Resource") prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") for the Aurex and McQuesten properties (together, the "AurMac Property")1 located in the Mayo Mining District, approximately 56 kilometres ("km") northeast from the village of Mayo, Yukon, and 356 km north of Whitehorse, Yukon. The updated MRE comprises a total Inferred Mineral Resource (as defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards for Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves incorporated by reference into NI 43101) of 6.2 million ounces of gold on the near-surface, road accessible AurMac Property.The pit constrained Mineral Resource Estimate is contained in three near/on-surface deposits: The Airstrip, Powerline and Aurex Hill. The MRE is summarized below."This Mineral Resource update is an increase of over 2 million ounces or over 50% from the 2022 MRE," stated Tara Christie, President and CEO, "This was accomplished with 50,000 metres of drilling completed in a single season. With all three deposits remaining open, Banyan continues to focus on growth and has already drilled 15,000 metres subsequent to this Mineral Resource Update in our ongoing 2023 exploration program." Table 1: Pit-Constrained Inferred Mineral Resources - AurMac PropertyDepositGold Cut-Off (g/t)Tonnage(Mt)Average Gold Grade (g/t)Contained Gold (koz)Airstrip0.2541.20.68897Powerline0.25197.40.613,840Aurex Hill0.3074.30.601,444Total Combined0.25 to 0.3312.90.616,181Notes: The effective date for the Mineral Resource is May 18, 2023.Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, changes in global gold markets or other relevant issues.The CIM Definition Standards were followed for classification of Mineral Resources. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Mineral Resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Mineral Resources as an Indicated Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource category.Mineral Resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au for the Airstrip and Powerline and 0.3 g/t Au for the Aurex Hill deposits, using a US$/CAN$ exchange rate of 0.75 and constrained within an open pit shell optimized with the Lerchs-Grossman algorithm to constrain the Mineral Resources with the following estimated parameters: gold price of US$1,800/ounce, US$2.50/t mining cost, US$5.50/t processing cost, UD$2.00/t G+A, 80% heap leach recoveries, and 45 pit slope.2The number of tonnes was rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. The number of ounces was rounded to the nearest thousand. Any discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding effects; rounding followed the recommendations as per NI 43-101.A NI 43-101 Technical Report supporting the Mineral Resource Estimate will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days of this release. The pit outline on-surface of the MRE is shown in Figure 1 below.Figure 1: Plan map showing the Resource Estimate extents, drill collar locations and extent of interpreted mineralization.Additional figures and information can be found at https://www.banyangold.com/projects/aurmac/ About the AurMac PropertyThe AurMac Property is held by the Company under earn-in/option agreements (the "Option Agreements") with StrataGold Corporation, a 100% owned subsidiary of Victoria Gold Corp. (TSE: VGCX) ("Victoria Gold"). The Company has the right to earn up to a 100% interest in the AurMac Property, subject to royalties, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Option Agreements.3  The Airstrip, Powerline and Aurex Hill deposits contained within the AurMac Property are all on and near-surface deposits and potentially open pit mineable, with low expected strip ratios. The AurMac Property is located just 40 km from Victoria Gold's open pit, heap leach mine and 10 km from Alexco's mill facility at the High-Grade silver deposits of the Keno Hills District. The AurMac Property lies on existing transportation infrastructure (Main Yukon Government Highway System) and the all-season road to Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine. The Aurex Hill, Airstrip and Powerline deposits are within 1 km of each other and within 50 metres ("m") of year-round access roads, have 3-phase powerlines and benefit from cellular communications.Airstrip DepositThe Airstrip deposit is delineated by 139 drill holes, representing an increase of eight (8) drill holes from the May 17, 2022 MRE. Topographic control was derived from a detailed LIDAR survey dataset.There are several geologic controls on gold mineralization as per the current geologic understanding of the Airstrip deposit. The Airstrip lithological model is comprised of eight (8) east-west oriented units, with six (6) of the units dipping at approximately 40 to the south. The bulk of the gold identified within the MRE are hosted within a calcareous package; a roughly 90-metre-thick east-west striking zone dipping approximately 40 to the south.The most common sampling length of the Airstrip deposit is 1.5 m accounting for approximately 45% of the sample data; all composites were constructed at this interval. Capping of high-grade outliers was based on lithological domains and varied from 3.0 g/t Au to 9.0 g/t Au.The estimation of gold grades into a block model was carried out with the Ordinary Kriging ("OK") technique on capped composites and the resultant block model comprised of a block size of 10 m (easting) x 10 m (northing) x 5 m (elevation) and sub-block size of 1 m (easting) x 1 m (northing) x 1 m (elevation). Density was calculated from a total of 418 measurements from the drill core. The average density per lithology type was assigned to the corr
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New solution, Equidox AI, makes PDFs ADA compliantLAKEWOOD, OH / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Equidox Software Company, the creator of premier PDF accessibility solutions, has developed Equidox AI, a new solution to fully automate PDF accessibility for high-volume documents. This ground-breaking technology is designed for a variety of system-generated and templated PDFs and is game-changing for making large quantities of PDFs digitally accessible."Whether you have thousands or millions of pages, Equidox AI makes them accessible with no human intervention," says David Freelan, lead data scientist for Equidox. "We train our AI models to accurately tag PDFs for fully compliant documents so that they will pass not only automated checkers like PAC 2021 and the Adobe checker but also a manual review with screen readers." Remediate PDFs without outsourcingMany industries are mandated by law to make their documents accessible. That includes high-volume, system-generated PDF documents such as customer and policy statements, healthcare directories, invoices, reports, and many more. Making an enormous volume of documents accessible can be a massive time and staff investment or an extremely costly outsourcing project. Equidox AI is a simple, easy-to-use automated process that eliminates the need to outsource or overburden internal resources."Equidox AI is the perfect fit for organizations with large quantities of mass-produced PDFs such as banks, insurance, and healthcare companies," says Tim Needles, CEO. "All those statements, ID cards, and policy documents can be made accessible at a fraction of the time and cost while meeting ADA requirements." Comply with legal requirements and defend against lawsuitsCourts have long held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires websites and digital documents, including PDFs, to be accessible for people with disabilities. Last year, the Department of Justice published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking starting in 2023 for digital accessibility regulations under the ADA. This means organizations will face increased legal pressure to make their content accessible.Existing laws, such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, clearly mandate digital accessibility for any organizations that receive money from or do business with the federal government.With the number of digital accessibility lawsuits continuing to rise, organizations need to prepare to meet those accessibility requirements. For those producing thousands or millions of PDFs, manual or outsourced PDF remediation is impractical. Equidox AI solves the problem with its cutting-edge PDF accessibility technology.About EquidoxEquidox Software Company enables PDF accessibility through intelligent, automated solutions. Equidox AI is an automated solution for remediating high volumes of system-generated or templated PDFs. Equidox also offers best-in-class, AI-powered PDF remediation software that simplifies accessibility for individual documents.Equidox is based in Lakewood, Ohio.For more information, visit www.equidox.co Contact: Pat NeedlesExecutive Vice President of SalesEquidox PDF Accessibility SolutionsEmail: pat@ equidox.co Phone: 216-529-3030SOURCE: Equidox Software Company
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RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGLONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM:HZM)(TSX:HZM) ("Horizonte" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that at the Company's Annual General Meeting held today at Rex House, 4-12 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4RG, all resolutions were voted on by way of a poll and were duly passed.For further information, visit www.horizonteminerals.com or contact:Horizonte Minerals plcJeremy Martin (CEO)Simon Retter (CFO)Patrick Chambers (Head of IR)info@ horizonteminerals.com +44 (0) 203 356 2901Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)Ross AllisterDavid McKeown+44 (0)20 7418 8900BMO (Joint Broker)Thomas RiderPascal Lussier DuquetteAndrew Cameron+44 (0) 20 7236 1010Tavistock (Financial PR)Emily MossCath Drummond+44 (0) 20 7920 3150ABOUT HORIZONTE MINERALSHorizonte Minerals plc (AIM & TSX: HZM) is developing two 100%-owned, Tier 1 projects in Para state, Brazil, the Araguaia Nickel Project and the Vermelho Nickel-Cobalt Project. Both projects are large scale, high-grade, low-cost, low-carbon and scalable. Araguaia is under construction with first metal scheduled for early 2024, when fully ramped up with Line 1 and Line 2, is forecast to produce 29,000 tonnes of nickel per year. Vermelho is at feasibility study stage and is expected to produce 24,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,250 tonnes of cobalt to supply the EV battery market. Horizonte's combined production profile of over 60,000 tonnes of nickel per year positions the Company as a globally significant nickel producer. Horizonte's top three shareholders are La Mancha Investments S.a r.l., Glencore plc and Orion Resource Partners LLP.CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATIONExcept for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, the ability of the Company to complete any planned acquisition of equipment, statements with respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the second RKEF line at Araguaia on time, or at all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the Vermelho Project on time, or at all, the success of exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration, production and development; the costs and timing for delivery of the equipment to be purchased, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; the realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates and achieving production in accordance with the Company's potential production profile or at all. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to risks related to: the inability of the Company to complete any planned acquisition of equipment on time or at all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the implementation of a second RKEF line at Araguaia on the timeline contemplated or at all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding the Vermelho Project on the timeline contemplated or at all, exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates, together with the risks identified and disclosed in the Company's disclosure record available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com , including without limitation, the annual information form of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the Araguaia and Vermelho Technical Reports available on the Company's website https://horizonteminerals.com/ . Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from tho
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RALEIGH, NC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Issuer Direct Corporation (NYSE American:ISDR), ("Issuer Direct" or the "Company"), a leading communications company, is set to exhibit and be a supporting sponsor at CIRI's 36th Annual Investor Relations Conference from Sunday, May 28 through Wednesday, May 30 at the Hilton Toronto in Toronto, Canada.The theme of this year's conference is ELEVATE: Level Up Your IR Career and Investor Relations professionals will have the chance to network and learn more about the latest in the sector.As an exhibitor (booth #6) and supporting sponsor, the Issuer Direct team will share its expertise and experience in helping companies, public and private, amplify their messaging above the noise of a crowded marketplace to connect with the media and their target audiences."We've attended CIRI's Annual Conference in the past and we're thrilled to be back this year for an in-person event to meet with some of the brightest minds in Investor Relations," said Jennifer Hammers, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Issuer Direct. "Our team's looking forward to sharing more about how our Investor Relations solutions, press release distribution services, and more can help companies maximize their moment and amplify their news." Issuer Direct offers a host of comprehensive solutions to ensure their customers' most important moments are reaching the right audiences.These offerings include:Industry-leading newswireInvestor Relations websitesWebcast and Teleconference solutionsEvent management softwareCompliance (Annual meeting/proxy and stock transfer agency)All in attendance are encouraged to visit the Issuer Direct team at booth #6 to learn more and enter its raffle to win a Montblanc pen.If you'd like to set up a private meeting during CIRI's Annual Conference, click here###About Issuer Direct CorporationIssuer Direct is a leading communications company, providing solutions for both Public Relations and Investor Relations Professionals for over 16 years. Our comprehensive solutions are used by thousands of customers from emerging startups to multi-billion-dollar global brands, ensuring their most important moments are reaching the right audiences, via our industry-leading newswire, IR website solutions, events technology, and compliance solutions. For more information, please visit www.issuerdirect.com Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") (which Sections were adopted as part of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "project," "prospects," "outlook," and similar words or expressions, or future or conditional verbs, such as "will," "should," "would," "may," and "could," are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated results, performance, or achievements for many reasons. The Company disclaims any intention to, and undertakes no obligation to, revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, a future event, or otherwise. For additional risks and uncertainties that could impact the Company's forward-looking statements, please see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, including but not limited to the discussion under "Risk Factors" therein, which the Company filed with the SEC and which may be viewed at http://www.sec.gov/ For Further Information:Issuer Direct CorporationBrian R. BalbirnieChief Executive Officer919-481-4000Issuer Direct CorporationJennifer HammersEVP Sales & Marketing919-481-4000SOURCE: Issuer Direct Corporation
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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Polaris Renewable Energy Inc. (TSX:PIF) ("Polaris" or the "Company"), a Toronto-based company engaged in the operation, acquisition, and development of renewable energy projects in Latin America, is pleased to announce that we have signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in the Dominican Republic for Canoa II. The Canoa II solar project is adjacent to the already operational 25MW Canoa I, which was acquired by the Company in July of 2022, and is inthe Province of Canoa, Municipality of Barahona, Dominican Republic. Polaris owns 100% of the project.Particulars related to the Canoa II PPA and project are:15-year PPA denominated in US$ of $82.35 per MWh;Such PPA has an annual inflator for 5 years post initial commencement, equivalent to approximately 16% of the US Consumer Price Index, at which point the price remains fixed until the end of the 15-year term;Estimated completion of construction in the third quarter of 2024;Polaris CEO Marc Murnaghan commented "I am very pleased to have signed the PPA for Canoa II. It represents a key milestone of the first internally developed project by the Company and validates a key strategic benefit of the acquisition which was completed in 2022. Moving forward with the project also enables the Company to continue to grow and diversify, both in the region and in renewable energy asset mix." About Polaris Renewable Energy Inc.Polaris Renewable Energy Inc. (formerly, Polaris Infrastructure Inc.) is a Canadian publicly traded company engaged in the development, construction, acquisition and operation of renewable energy projects in Latin America.The Company's operations are in 5 Latin American countries and include a geothermal plant (~72 MW), 4 run-of-river hydroelectric plants (~33 MW), and 3 solar (photovoltaic) projects now in operation (~35 MW).For more information, contact:Investor RelationsPolaris Renewable Energy Inc.Phone: +1 647-245-7199Email: info@ PolarisREI.com Cautionary StatementsThis press release contains certain "forward-looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to future events or future performance, management's expectations regarding the ability of the Company to continue to pay dividends in the future.Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, the inability of the Company to pay or increase dividends which may be affected by such factors as general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current geothermal, solar and hydro energy production, development and/or exploration activities and the accuracy of probability simulations prepared to predict prospective geothermal resources; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; possible variations of production rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the geothermal and hydro power industries; political instability or insurrection or war; labor force availability and turnover; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or in the completion of development or construction activities, or in the commencement of operations; the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern and general economic conditions, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers of this press release should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The information in this press release, including such forward-looking information, is made as of the date of this press release and, other than as required by applicable securities laws, Polaris assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances.SOURCE: Polaris Renewable Energy Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-24 18:00:45

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Joining the Elite Group of Six Accredited Programs in California, SUI Reinforces Its Dedication to Delivering High-Quality Healthcare EducationSACRAMENTO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Sacramento Ultrasound Institute (SUI) proudly announces the official CAAHEP accreditation of its Cardiac Sonography program, a remarkable achievement placing SUI among an elite group of six institutions in California with this prestigious recognition.SUI, known for its small classes and individualized care, is committed to offering top-tier healthcare training. Its cutting-edge, industry-grade equipment ensures students receive hands-on experience and practical knowledge. In 2022, SUI introduced the Cardiac Sonography program, the only one of its kind in the greater Sacramento area, further expanding its high-quality educational offerings.Dr. Bashir Noori, the Cardiac Program Director at SUI, expresses his pride in this accomplishment. "Our aim has always been to equip our students with the highest standard of education and training. This accreditation attests to our faculty's dedication and the quality of our program." The Cardiac Sonography program complements the already CAAHEP-accredited Diagnostic Medical Sonography program, SUI's longest-running program that has been cultivating skilled sonographers since 2001.SUI, an institution accredited by the ABHES and approved to operate by the BPPE, was recognized as the School of the Year by CAPPS in 2019 due to its dedication to providing students with industry-aligned career training and support.Hospital administrators seeking to bolster their teams with well-trained, highly skilled sonographers are encouraged to consider SUI graduates. For more information about SUI and its programs, visit https://www.sui.edu Contact InformationSamuel YarmagyanCOOsam@ sui.edu 916-877-8157Armine KocharyanCampus Directorarmine@ sui.edu (916) 888-8874Abdul NooriProgram Directorabdul@ sui.edu (916) 533-9898SOURCE: Sacramento Ultrasound Institute
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-24 22:50:18

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The Swiss-based regulated company Single Broker now allows its institutional clients to facilitate audit transactions and risk management by introducing flexible account management, including account sharing with access control, financial statements, and bank transfers for deposits/withdrawals.ZUG, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Single Broker addresses the compliance, reporting, and tax requirements institutional traders face by equipping its brokerage platform with a number of important features.Bank transfers for deposits/withdrawals are now possible on the Single Broker platform. This allows institutional investors to enter the digital assets market through traditional financial means, which is simple and convenient.Financial statements can be downloaded for tax and regulation purposes. They are exported to the Excel format and cover all financial activity and transactions in terms of user accounts.Risk management tools allow customers to delegate management rights to in-house or external teams. Access policies and restrictions are flexible in terms of trading, allocation of funds, and other platform functionality.A Customized Platform for Enterprise-Level TradingSingle Broker also offers an account-sharing feature, allowing corporations to manage their trading and investment initiatives via a single platform. By delegating some or all account management rights, enterprises can enhance the processes when dealing with clients or better manage risks when trading with their own funds.To ensure high security and prevent corporations from costly human errors and data leakage, traders can control access, customizing the permitted activity. At this time, the rights may include the following: order placement, funds transfer, portfolio view, depositing and withdrawing, DeFi tools usage, and statement download/view.It's also possible to set up a personalized workspace with a flexible UI. The module-based interface allows any trader or employee to customize the layout and enjoy a tailored user experience.About Single BrokerSingle Broker is a regulated Swiss-based company providing brokerage services for professional crypto traders and institutional clients. The company is a member of the Swiss self-regulatory organization VQF, which is supervised by FINMA. The platform provides a single sign-up for accessing centralized and decentralized exchanges, DeFi apps, and trading tools to facilitate the trading process and boost security and transparency.Single Broker:Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | FacebookPress contact:hello@ singlebroker.com Media ContactOrganization: SingleBroker GmbHContact Person: Andrew ProtasevichWebsite: https://singlebroker.com/ Email: hello@ singlebroker.com Address: CH-6340 Baar, Muhlegasse 18, Canton of Zug, SwitzerlandCity: BaarState: Canton of ZugCountry: SwitzerlandPR ContactKing NewsWireSupport@ kingnewswire.com SOURCE: SingleBroker GmbH
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-24 16:45:31

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HONG KONG, May 24, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - SmartHK, a flagship event of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation Week, drew about 2,000 business elites to Guangzhou today, boosting cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland centres of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).The conference, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and Guangdong Provincial Department of Commerce, featured an exhibition area and start-up pitching sessions as well as on-site business matchmaking to facilitate connections between companies from Hong Kong and Guangdong. Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation Week runs from today to 7 June in the GBA, accelerating collaboration and exchange among Hong Kong and Guangdong government departments, organisations, chambers of commerce and trade associations through more than 20 business and trade activities across GBA cities.Mr John Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr Wang Weizhong, Governor of Guangdong Province, and Dr Peter K N Lam, Chairman of the HKTDC, presided over the opening ceremony of Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation Week and SmartHK earlier today.Mr Lee said: "The development of the GBA, which was personally planned, deployed and advocated by President Xi Jinping, is a key development strategy for the reform and development of the country in the new era, and the best entry point for Hong Kong to better integrate into the overall development of the country." He also pointed out, "full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and Mainland China meant the flow of people between Hong Kong and Guangdong had resumed and the 'one-hour living circle' in the GBA had made same-day travel very convenient. My team and I would make frequent visits to the GBA to promote interconnection and interoperability, advancing quality development and facilitating Hong Kong's active integration into the overall development of the country." Dr Lam pointed out that Hong Kong's development had been closely tied with that of Guangdong for many years. As two core GBA cities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou had long maintained close cooperation and complemented each other's advantages in various fields, such as finance, innovation and technology and the creative sector.Mr Wang hoped the business communities of Guangdong and Hong Kong could fully leverage this forum and the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation Week to further promote high-level economic and trade cooperation and high-quality development between the two regions. He encouraged Hong Kong entrepreneurs to boost cooperation with Guangdong in areas such as technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, modernised services and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism. He also urged greater investment in Guangdong, especially in the eastern, western, and northern parts of the province, and active collaboration with Guangdong enterprises to explore international markets. Guangdong would strive to create a market-oriented, rule-of-law-based, and internationally oriented business environment, provide excellent conditions and first-class services for domestic and foreign investors, including Hong Kong enterprises. Guangdong would strongly support and actively promote high-quality development of Hong Kong and support Hong Kong's better integration into national development. Guangdong was committed to making efforts and contributions to ensure the stable, long-term implementation of the One Country, Two Systems principle.Top of FormExploring the road to high-quality developmentFollowing the opening ceremony, the thematic sharing forum discussed professional strengths of Hong Kong and other GBA cities. Mr Adam Kwok, Executive Director of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, Dr Levin Wang, CEO of Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, Mr Ronald Lam, CEO of Cathay Pacific Group and Mr Xu Shaochun, Chairman and CEO of Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited, discussed opportunities GBA development brought from four perspectives - co-constructing a sustainable city development model; creating a dual system of finance and technology innovation; developing a high-quality aviation industry and collaborating with Hong Kong for global business expansion.Subsequent forums co-organised by the HKTDC and partners, such as InvestHK, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, HKSAR Development Bureau and the Hong Kong Construction Industry Council, focused on cross-border asset management, green finance, sustainable urban living, green & smart building technologies and more.Building a talent hubTo further address the importance of fostering talents and respond to the national strategy of supporting youth development, SmartHK introduced the GBA Youth Entrepreneur Summit, exclusively sponsored by Hang Seng Bank, which assembled scientific research entrepreneurs, young entrepreneur and venture capital fund managers from the GBA. Mr Fang Xin, COO of EHang, Mr Zhan Peixun, Co-founder and CSO of Shenzhen Unity-Drive Innovation Technology Co, Ltd, Ms Edith Law, Director of Fashion Farm Foundation, and Prof Karen Chan, Executive Director of German Pool Group Co, Ltd, discussed entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges in the GBA.The successful Smart+ start-up pitching event returned and continued to focus on research and enterprise collaboration, creating opportunities for start-ups to introduce projects and thereby break into the GBA market. The 17 candidates came from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, Sino Inno Lab and the HKTDC's Start-up Express, covering AI and blockchain, medical and health, and new ESG technologies and materials.Driving complementarity with innovationThe five exhibition zones featured 70 Hong Kong companies from professional services, technological innovation, industry & academic research, creative design and other sectors introducing Hong Kong's professional services, and providing on-site business matching services and one-on-one opportunities for Hong Kong exhibitors and GBA enterprise representatives to deepen exchanges explore new partnerships.In the form of short talks, SmartHK's debut GBA Live Studio aimed to extend the event to other GBA cities and enable online participation. The conversations helped audiences to better understand the ways in which Hong Kong's professional services could help them achieve high-quality development.Tomorrow, on 25 May, an HKTDC-organised delegation will further explore Guangzhou to gain a better understanding of the latest developments in the digital economy. It will explore opportunities in innovation and technology and related industries to accelerate multi-level Hong Kong-Guangdong cooperation in the fields of economy, technology and finance between.The HKTDC has proactively advocated cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong and Hong Kong's integration in the GBA. The annual SmartHK launched in 2011 as a flagship event in mainland cities such as Chengdu, Fuzhou, Jinan and Nanjing to create business opportunities for local and mainland enterprises.Another flagship Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation Week, Chic HK, will be held from tomorrow to 28 May in Shenzhen to promote Hong Kong's professional services and fashion brands to the business community and public in the GBA.Click here https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/84141/
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-24 14:18:07

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Did you lose money on investments in Target? If so, please visit Target Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com to discuss your rights.NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the common stock of Target Corporation ("Target" or the "Company") (NYSE:TGT) between August 18, 2021 and May 17, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than May 30, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.Plaintiff alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to disclose that: (i) Target's strategy for mitigating supply-chain constraints by over-ordering inventory had severely limited the Company's ability to timely respond to evolving consumer behavior; (ii) as a result, the purported "massive influx of insights" gained from the extraordinary heightened demand during the pandemic could not be leveraged by Target to react to rapidly changing trends; and (iii) as a result of Target's inability to timely react to changes in consumer trends, Target's sales declined and the Company was left with an overabundance of inventory, forcing Target to take large markdowns, and severely impacting the Company's financial results.On the morning of May 18, 2022, Target filed a Form 8-K with the SEC attaching a press release containing the Company's financial and operating results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2022 (the "Q1 2022 Earnings Release"). The Q1 2022 Earnings Release revealed that Target had missed profit estimates widely, with cost of goods sold increasing 10% year over year and operating income declining to $1.3 billion from $2.4 billion in the prior year. In the filing, Target also revealed that its operating margin was "well below expectations, driven primarily by gross margin pressure reflecting actions to reduce excess inventory. . . ." Target further explained that the "gross margin rate reflected higher markdown rates, driven largely by inventory impairments and actions to address lower-than-expected sales in discretionary categories. . . ."On this news, Target's stock price fell $53.67 per share, or nearly 25%, to close at $161.61 per share on May 18, 2022.If you purchased or acquired Target common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Target Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2023 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoBernstein Liebhard LLP(212) 951-2030pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Qatar Airways is re-introducing a direct Doha to Auckland flight, which commences on September 1 and will operate seven times a week/departing daily at 01:50 local time.



Qatar Airways will be operating an Airbus A350-1000 on the route with 46 Business Class and 281 Economy Class seats. A key feature of the service is the Qsuite, which is available to Business Class passengers.



Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said: The direct Doha to Auckland service augments a number of new routes announced in recent weeks and enables passengers in key European markets including the UK and Ireland to save time with this direct connection. Business Class passengers on board our Auckland flights can also enjoy the enhanced privacy of Qsuite, which has been awarded the Best Business Class Seat in the World.



Travellers can begin booking flights from today for the resumption on September 1 and those previously booked for after September1 travel will be re-accommodated, due to their tickets being via Adelaide to Auckland.  TradeArabia News Service
At the meeting (Photo: thanhuytphcm.vn)

He made the statement on May 22 while receiving Ms. Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, on her business trip to Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Mr. Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City always considers Slovenia a potential partner. Although the current trade and investment relations between the two sides are still not commensurate with the wishes of the two sides, he said he believed that businesses of the two sides will take advantage of the Europe  Vietnam free trade agreement to access the mutual market, thus helping trade exchange to develop strongly in the coming time.

Introducing the potential and strengths of Ho Chi Minh City, he added that the city currently has a strategy to develop into a smart city. In addition, it has a seaports system such as Cat Lat, Hiep Phuoc and is currently investing in Can Gio port. Slovenia has achieved many successes in the smart specialization strategy, the digital national strategy in 2020 and artificial intelligence (AI). As digital transformation and creativity is an area the city is very interested in, Mr. Hoan asked Ms. Tanja Fajon to support and introduce agencies and experts for Ho Chi Minh City to exchange experiences and potential cooperation.

Regarding logistics and shipping, he said that this is a high potential field of cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and Slovenia, suggesting that businesses of the two sides meet and exploit the potential of cooperation in this field. He also committed to creating all favorable conditions for foreign businesses, including Slovenian businesses, to invest and participate in business activities in the city, and the city will make efforts to improve the investment environment to welcome Slovenian businesses to invest in Ho Chi Minh City.

On this occasion, Mr. Hoan invited Ms. Tanja Fajon to attend the 2023 Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum, scheduled to be held in September, with the theme "Green growth - A journey towards zero emissions.

For her part, Ms. Tanja Fajon emphasized that this visit was an opportunity to enhance political understanding and cooperation between businesses. Although the economic and trade relations between the two countries are still modest, Slovenia is always open to welcome Vietnamese businesses to Slovenia. This visit includes many large Slovenian enterprises, and is an opportunity for businesses of both sides to learn and promote cooperation.

Regarding the proposals of the city's leaders, she said that seaports are a potential area for cooperation between the two sides. Slovenia has many companies with experience in seaport development and has a center for artificial intelligence, which can introduce cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City./.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-24 17:16:57

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HERSHEY, PA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) shared its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, outlining progress toward its key sustainability priorities and goals. Our Shared Goodness Promise, Hershey's global sustainability strategy, guides how the company incorporates responsible and sustainable practices into every aspect of its business to drive long-term business resilience and growth. In 2022, Hershey reaffirmed its most material issues through its inaugural double materiality assessment and an update to the company's most salient human rights issues. The company remains focused on improving cocoa farming communities, ensuring human rights for people across its value chain, reducing its impact on the planet and creating a stronger and more resilient workforce.On its journey to become a Leading Snacking Powerhouse, Hershey is embedding responsible and sustainable practices into its business transformation strategy to deliver its iconic brands for consumers to enjoy."As we continue to act on the most important areas of focus for our business, including responsible sourcing, reducing our carbon footprint, and promoting inclusivity, we are continually reminded that our progress and achievements are made possible by our employees, farmers, partners and other stakeholders who share our commitment to creating a more sustainable and equitable future," said Michele Buck, CEO, The Hershey Company. "We are grateful for their input and support and look forward to continuing this journey together." Supporting Cocoa Communities and Farmer LivelihoodsBy 2030, Hershey's Cocoa For Good strategy seeks to invest $500 million to positively impact cocoa farming communities. Hershey recently launched a new Income Accelerator in Cote d'Ivoire, a five-year program based on proven poverty reduction strategies that provides cash transfers and investment in Village Savings and Loan Associations to supplement farmer income and combat poverty. Additional cocoa highlights from 2022 include:Increasing sourcing visibility: In 2022, Hershey achieved 77% cocoa sourcing visibility by volume in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and is on track to reach 100% sourcing visibility by 2025. As part of Hershey's commitment to prevent and eliminate child labor, participating farms are covered by Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS). In 2022, 72% of farmers in Cote d Ivoire and Ghana were covered by CLMRS, on track to reach 100% by 2025.Supporting farmer development: Hershey's commitment to improving farmer livelihoods is grounded in empowering and investing in cocoa communities to foster a more equitable and sustainable cocoa supply chain. This includes supporting initiatives that provide financial literacy and agricultural training to farmers. Additionally, farmers in Ghana can contribute to emissions reductions through programs like the World Bank Carbon Fund and the Nsuoekyir Apimanim's Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) and earn income as a result.Acting on Climate ChangeAcross its global operations and with the dedication of employees - including its passionate group of Energy Champions - the company is reducing its environmental impact with a goal to achieve a 50% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 against a 2018 baseline. In 2022, the company's Scope 1 and 2 emissions data received limited assurance by EY. Additional environment highlights from 2022 include:Using real-time data to monitor utility usage: Hershey's $3 million investment in reporting systems provides real-time utility usage data for electricity, natural gas and water at each of its facilities globally, aiming to reduce energy intensity by approximately 10% over the next five years. These systems were installed in U.S. facilities in 2022, with the remainder to be installed in international facilities during 2023.Leveraging biofuel to reduce carbon intensity: Hershey is taking action to limit and, when possible, remove carbon-intensive fuels from its facilities. Most recently, Hershey's India plant transitioned from using coal to rice husks as biofuel to power production.Improving energy and water conservation: Enabled by Hershey's participation in the U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry and the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings, Better Plants program, the company has improved the energy intensity of its manufacturing sites by 6.1% compared to a 2018 baseline. With support from Hershey's Energy and Water Management Steering Committee, the company improved global water intensity by 6% in 2022 with a 14% improvement in water intensity at international facilities (compared to 2021). The company also invested nearly $1.5 million in high-efficiency equipment to reduce well water usage at our company headquarters in Hershey, PA.Investing in a Resilient Supply Chain and WorkforceHershey employees help the company realize its purpose to Make More Moments of Goodness each and every day. Guided by The Pathways Project - Hershey's five-year diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) framework - the company continues to develop and invest in a pipeline that provides opportunities for all. Most recently, Hershey was named to DiversityInc's 2023 'Top Companies for Diversity' list - underscoring the company's ongoing work to create an inclusive environment that fosters innovation and growth. Additional highlights from 2022 include:Launching 'Say Hola': A strategic initiative at the company's Hazleton, Pennsylvania plant, 'Say Hola' seamlessly integrated both Spanish and English-speaking employees under one roof, equipped with bilingual trainings, managers and workplace materials. The program improved hiring and retention and reduced recruitment costs. Today, more than 90% of applicants have the desired manufacturing experience, compared to 50% before the program launch.Supporting and hiring veterans: As part of Hershey's commitment to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, veterans are an important part of the company's workforce, bringing specialized perspectives, experiences and skill sets to the business. In 2023, the company will expand its partnership with three military hiring organizations and aims to increase veteran hiring by 4%. Under the guidance of its Veteran Business Resource Group (employee resource group), Hershey joined the National Veterans Business Development Council and donated to Veterans Outreach of PA, a nonprofit that supports homeless veterans.About The Hershey CompanyThe Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is an industry-leading snacks company known for making more mom
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-24 12:00:34

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KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Tryp Therapeutics, Inc. (CSE:TRYP)(OTCQB:TRYPF) ("Tryp" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing intravenous-infused psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) for diseases with high unmet medical needs, today announced it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its planned Phase 2a clinical trial investigating the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients aged 21+ suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).The planned open label study in collaboration with Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital will evaluate the effect of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in patients with treatment-resistant IBS who experience chronic abdominal pain and other debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms. Many of these patients also suffer from fibromyalgia, anxiety and fatigue. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study will be improvement in abdominal pain. The proposed study will also explore changes in brain connectivity and responses to pain at baseline and at four weeks, six months and twelve months post the psychedelic drug sessions, along with numerous other secondary endpoints.In recognition of this important development, Jim Gilligan, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Tryp Therapeutics, said, "Tryp and our collaborators at Harvard/MGH believe there is tremendous potential for the treatment of debilitating IBS symptoms by utilizing the combined administration of psilocybin and psychotherapy. The clinical study will examine how psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may alter brain networks involved in chronic abdominal pain and gastrointestinal-specific anxiety in patients with IBS to improve their symptoms. Submission of IND 163994 is an important step in advancing our program." About Tryp TherapeuticsTryp Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing proprietary, novel formulations for the administration of psilocin in combination with psychotherapy to treat diseases with unmet medical needs. Tryp's lead program, TRP-8803, is a proprietary formulation of IV-infused psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) that alleviates numerous shortcomings of oral psilocybin including: significantly reducing the time to onset of the psychedelic state, controlling the depth and duration of the psychedelic experience, and reducing the overall duration of the intervention to a commercially feasible timeframe. The Company has an ongoing Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of Binge Eating Disorder at the University of Florida, an upcoming Phase 2a clinical trial with the University of Michigan for the treatment of fibromyalgia and a planned Phase 2a trial for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome at Mass General Hospital, all of which are utilizing TRP-8802 (synthetic, oral psilocybin) to demonstrate efficacy in these indications. Where a preliminary clinical benefit has been demonstrated, subsequent studies are expected to utilize TRP-8803 (IV-infused psilocin) which has the potential to further improve efficacy, safety and patient experience. For more information, please visit www.tryptherapeutics.com Investor & Media ContactPeter MolloyChief Business OfficerTryp Therapeuticspmolloy@ tryptherapeutics.com Forward-Looking InformationCertain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans," "targets," "expects" or "does not expect," "is expected," "an opportunity exists," "is positioned," "estimates," "intends," "assumes," "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes," or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," "will" or "will be taken," "occur" or "be achieved." In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Tryp as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors'' section of Tryp's final prospectus available at www.sedar.com . These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Tryp; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and Tryp expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPTED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.SOURCE: Tryp Therapeutics
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Dr. Ahmet Murat, a renowned hair transplant specialist, has revolutionized the industry by addressing risks and challenges, making the process safer and more effectiveISTANBUL, TURKEY / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Dr. Ahmet Murat, a hair transplant specialist, has made a revolutionary contribution to the industry. His reputation has now crossed the boundary beyond Turkey. Although Turkey currently has well-known hair transplant experts, Dr. Ahmet Murat has gained a prestigious position with his consistent effort and dedication.Forbes: Dr. Ahmet Murat, a pioneer in the hair transplant industry During the early part of the 2000s, technologies used for hair transplantation processes were not much advanced. Even there were life-threatening risks associated with hair transplants. However, Dr. Ahmet Murat identified the inadequacies and challenges faced by the surgeons during the past decades. He took the initiative to remove these challenges and bring improvement to the industry.Dr. Ahmet Murat made the hair transplantation process risk-free-Dr. Ahmet Murat took the potential risks into account while dealing with hair transplant operations. With regular practices, he planned an improvement in the hair transplantation process. The specialist focused not only on hair transplants but also on human health. He devoted his time and resources to overcoming problems and improving medical technologies related to transplantation.According to Dr. Ahmet Murat, "The overall health of humans is always a priority''. He noticed that most people consider hair transplantation to increase their quality of life and remove aesthetic issues. The doctor claimed that it is a great tragedy' if a patient loses his life while having treatment for aesthetic purposes. His realizations inspired him to make a positive transformation in the industry.Dr. Ahmet Murat added that aesthetic problems can be psychologically exhausting' for a person. Emerging and potential hair transplant surgeons have learned a clear definition of the hair transplantation process. Dr. Ahmet Murat believes that transplantation practices involve transformation. With successful hair transplantation, he aims to give the desired happiness to his patients. He puts his effort into making the process effective and flawless.More about the professional life and contributions of Dr. Murat-While talking about his own career during an interview, Dr. Ahmet Murat informed that he had engaged himself in the hair transplantation field since 2009. But, today, he is referred to as a The King of Hair Transplant' in the industry. During his professional life, he learned about different applications of hair transplants. Due to his noticeable contributions, he gained considerable popularity in Turkey.After maintaining the AISP standards, he maintained the highest success ratio and reduced potential risks. Besides, he developed sophisticated hair transplant techniques like Unique FUE. As he gained expertise in the field, he hosted seminars in various countries like Japan, France, German, and Switzerland. Dr. Ahmet Murat is still researching to make more advancements in the hair transplant sector.With genuine effort and determination, Dr. Ahmet Murat discovered the mistakes that caused risks to hair transplant candidates in the past year. He observed that often the inappropriate candidates had undergone the transplantation process. Moreover, some young hair transplant service providers used to make unrealistic promises. When the donor area's hair is not for covering baldness, it is to be notified. Furthermore, some surgeons made errors while obtaining grafts.So, by detecting these mistakes Dr. Ahmet Murat refined the hair transplantation process. It is believed that he will contribute more to the hair transplant industry.For more information please visit - https://www.hermestclinic.com Media Contact InfoOrganization - Hermest Hair ClinicWebsite URL - https://www.hermestclinic.com Name - Esra BascinEmail - info@ hermestclinic.com Phone number - +90 534 664 1515Address - Nuhkuyusu Cd. 191/2, Istanbul, TurkeySOURCE: Hermest Hair Clinic
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Travel App Visited Compiles Over 1.7 Million Users' Data to Determine the 10 Most Popular Pyramids. Luxor Las Vegas make it to the 3rd most visited pyramid in the world.TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / The travel app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 most popular pyramids in the world. The data is based on user's selection on what pyramids they visited. Other popular travel lists, include: art museums, capitals of the world, ancient sites, kid's attractions, snorkelling and diving destinations and many others.Most Visited Pyramids in the WorldVisited, available on iOS or Android, allows users to plan their dream getaways, mark off where they've been, discover bucket list destinations, and get a personalized travel map and stats.The top 10 most visited pyramids in the world, feature ancient pyramids such as Pyramids of Giza in Egypt as well as modern world pyramids such as Luxor in Las Vegas. "While we were not surprised that Louvre made it to the top of the list after all it is the most visited art museum in the world. We were surprised that Luxor in Las Vegas, made it to top 3," said Anna Kayfitz.These are the most visited pyramids in the world according to Visited users:The Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, is an iconic glass and metal structure outside the Louvre Museum that draws the most tourists of all the pyramids.Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are the second most visited pyramids.Luxor Las Vegas in the U.S. is a top tourist attraction at the Luxor Hotel and Casino that is inspired by the Great Pyramid in Egypt.Pyramid of Khufu in Giza, also known as the Great Pyramid, is the largest Egyptian pyramid and was built in the 26th century BC.El Castillo known as the Temple of Kukulcan is an ancient Mayan temple and step pyramid in Chichen Itza, Mexico.Pyramid of the Sun was built by the Aztecs around 200 AD in Teotihuacan, Mexico.Pyramid of the Moon is an Aztec pyramid in the same complex as the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico.Pyramid of Djoser is a 6-tier, 4-sided step pyramid in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt.Dahshur Pyramids were early pyramids including Senefru's Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid in Giza, Egypt.Prang Temple is a 30-meter high step pyramid with seven levels in Koh Ker, Cambodia.To browse more top travel lists, see the most popular destinations, and create a personalized travel map, users can download Visited on iOS or Android.Get the full Visited 2022 travel report for more travel stats with the most visited destinations based on U.S. and international travelers. To learn more about the Visited Map App, visit https://visitedapp.com About Arriving In High Heels CorporationArriving In High Heels Corporation is a mobile app company with apps including Pay Off Debt, X-Walk, and Visited, their most popular app.Contact InformationAnna KayfitzCEOanna@ arrivinginhighheels.com SOURCE: Arriving In High Heels Corporation
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to approve the payment of judgement debts awarded by different courts against the federal government.

The president said the judgement debts were awarded in different currencies which he summed up to $556,712,584,01; 98,526,013 and N226,280,801,801,64.

Mr Buharis request was contained in a letter read by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the Senate plenary on Wednesday.

In the letter, the president stated that the debts were awarded in litigations against federal ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government through the issuance of promissory notes.

He noted that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved settlement of the judgement debts in its sitting on 29 March.

Request for the settlement of Nigeria judgement debts secured by the federal ministries, department and agencies through the issuance of promissory notes, the letter reads.

The distinguished Senate President may wish to be informed that the Federal Executive Council FEC in its meeting on March 29, 2023 approved the settlement of top priority judgement debts secured by federal ministries, departments and agencies MDAs through the issuance of promissory notes, it added.

The judgement debts have been settled through the issuance of promissory notes which will then be reviewed over time for convinience for the federal government or of Nigeria.

In view of the forgoing, I request the Senate to kindly consider and approve through its resolution, the settlement of the total judgement debts and general judgements incurred by the following MDS In the sum of USD five hundred and sixty six million, seven hundred and twelve thousand , five hundred and eighty four dollars , thirty one cent.

British Pounds, Ninety eight million , five hundred and twenty six thousand, fourteen cents and Two hundred and twenty six billion, two hundred and eighty one million, eight hundred and one thousand, eight hundred and one naira sixty four kobo through the issuance of promissory notes.

The president urged the Senate to request for additional information on the judgement debts from the Attorney General of the Federation and financial team of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the other team of finance , budget and national planning may provide any information that will be required for the consideration of this request.

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The president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has hinted that Africa will need $2.7 trillion to upscale climate change adaptation by 2030.

Mr Adesina made this known on Monday at the AfDB annual meeting themed:Mobilising private sector financing for climate and green growth in Africa, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Africa is being shortchanged by climate finance. Africa is choking. Africa will need $2.7 trillion by 2030 to finance its climate change needs, Mr Adesina said.

He said Africa, which is the worlds lowest emitter of greenhouse gases is choking and in dire need of adequate financing to tackle the effects of climate change.

Anywhere you look in Africa today, climate change is causing havoc. In the Sahel, hotter temperatures are drying up limited water, causing water stress for crops and livestock and worsening food insecurity, he noted.

Losses

The AfDB president said Africa has recorded loss of people, loss or destruction of infrastructure.

This, he said, has also contributed to the rising numbers of what he described as climate-induced refugees.

Africa loses 7 to 15 billion dollars a year from climate change and that is estimated to rise to $50 billion by 2040 at the current trend. But Africa, which accounts for just three percent of the total cumulative emissions in the world, is now suffering disproportionately from the negative consequences of that, he said.

Mr Adesina explained that if Africa had that($2.7 trillion) money, the Sahel would have electricity and that they would recharge the Chad basin, which has provided livelihoods for millions of people in Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

Everything will change in all those countries; we will green the Sahel. We will insure every single African country against catastrophic weather events, he said.

The term adaptation describes modifications made to systems, procedures, and structures to lessen possible harm or take advantage of opportunities brought on by climate change.

In order to respond to the effects of climate change, nations and communities have been urged to deliberately create adaptation strategies and put them into practice.

African Adaptation acceleration program

Based on the aforementioned concerns, Mr Adesina said the AfDB, together with the Global Center on Adaptation, launched the African adaptation acceleration program.

The programme, he said is to mobilise $25 billion of support for climate adaptation in Africa. We devote 63 percent of our climate finance to adaptation.

He hinted that Africas climate finance from the private sector would need to increase by 36 per cent yearly, and that about $213 billion in financing is required.

There is so much gap to be filled in terms of private sector financing. The opportunities of financing climate and also financing green growth events are in Africa.Its not just infrastructure, but quality and green infrastructure. We need to prepare bankable projects for the private sector to invest in,Mr Adesina said.

Loss and damage deal at COP27

After several days of negotiations at the 27th edition of the Conference of the Parties(COP27) in Egypt last year, parties finally created a facility to respond to the devastating impacts of climate change in vulnerable communities.

In what many dubbed a historic moment, especially for Africa and other developing nations, parties at the COP27 conference agreed to establish a loss and damage fund as part of the Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan on climate change.

Loss and damage only narrowly made it into the list of the agenda for the conference for the first time after African negotiators asserted their influence.

Following the development, the new fund will see donors contribute to a global fund to save lives and livelihoods from climate change-related disasters.

The agreement saw Parties recommit to keeping the 1.5C target for global temperature rise intact and significant progress made across the board on climate issues.

This report is produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by CJID.

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The Wurkuns and the Karimjo ethnic groups of Karim Lamido Local Government of Taraba State have lived together peacefully for decades until the installation of the towns new monarch, Yakubu Kirim.

The town was turned into a theatre of violence and bloodbath on Saturday 6 May after a group of Karimjos protested the state governors installation of Mr Kirim as the new monarch.

The protesters said the governor, Darius Ishaku, should not have appointed an ethnic Wurkun as the monarch. They said his appointment was unfair to the Karimjos after the same governor recently created a chiefdom for the Wurkuns in neighbouring Bambur.

The tension created by the protests that were held in the main town and adjoining villages soon snowballed into mayhem. On 12 May, all hell was let loose when some members of both ethnic groups attacked each other.

Karimjos Accused Wurkuns Of Provoking Them to Act Violently

A former National President of the Karimjo Development Association, Samaila Zubairu, alleged that while celebrating the return of the newly installed monarch to Karim, the Wurkuns started mocking and harassing the Karimjos, calling them names. He claimed this was what triggered some Karimjo youth to attack the Wurkuns.

Mr Zubairu told PREMIUM TIMES that before the latest incidents, Karim Lamido was a peaceful local government area where the estimated 15 ethnic groups that are indigenous to the area lived in harmony. He said distrust set in after the state government created new chiefdoms in the area and sidelined some ethnic groups.

He claimed that the Karimjos, with a population of over 50,000, were not given a monarch despite being the first settlers in Karim and that was why the town was named after the ethnic group.

We are Karim by tribe but the Jo that was added was by the Fulanis who were the second settlers, meaning man of Karim.

After the Fulanis, many other tribes, including the Wurkuns came to settle with us in Karim and we have been relating well in several means.

We are the real owners of the land and all the resources in the land but we are being oppressed in our own land, he said.

For many years, the Karimjos have been yearning for liberation and emancipation over the issue of chiefdom, we have written different requests to past and present administrations in the state but to no avail, Mr Zubairu said.

We felt it was time for us to be liberated and regain our chiefdom.

Our people felt that Governor Ishaku was not fair to us for giving an additional chiefdom to the Wurkuns in Bambur and also installed another Wurkun in Karim. That triggered our anger.

Our youths when out on a peaceful protest which is a constitutional right to voice out their anger, unfortunately, some persons in high authority decided to send the army to beat and harass them.

Mr Zubairu claimed that while celebrating the return of the new monarch to Karim last Friday, the Wurkuns started mocking the Karimjo by chanting provocative statements like: Where are those who claimed to be the real owners of the land? Come out we will deal with you. They are cowards they have run away. Behold the king of Wurkun.

He accused Wukun militias of attacking Karimjo settlements and destroying their properties.

He alleged that soldiers assisted the Wurkuns during the attacks by repelling the Karimjos when they tried to retaliate.

Military that was drafted to the area were not neutral. They repelled our youths and out of anger our youths started burning the houses of the Wurkuns because they felt justice was being perverted, he said.

He said it took the intervention of elders and leaders of the Karimjos to calm the situation.

But unfortunately on Saturday the military invaded Karimjo settlements and killed more than 13 persons and many were injured.

For now, we cannot ascertain the actual number of casualties because we are still gathering our losses caused by the military. If you go to Karim now, the settlement of Karimjo is empty, the military succeeded in displacing our people.

And because the military succeeded in displacing them the Wurkun youths and militias came out in large numbers and burnt down all the settlements of the Karimjos, Mr Zubairu alleged.

Mr Zubairu said the Wurkuns are taking advantage of their political and educational advancement to oppress them.

Apart from having top political appointments and influential persons in the society, when you talk of the military they have Generals both serving and retired, they have senior serving and retired police officers, so I feel the military was sponsored to perpetrate the act, he alleged.

We fought back in self-defence  Wurkuns

Wilfred Kwanchi, the national president of the Wurkun Community Development Association, on Sunday, dismissed the claim that his people instigated the clash. He said the Wurkun youths only fought back in self-defence.

Mr Kwanchi said when the Karimjos heard the announcement of the newly installed chief, they started burning tyres in Karim protesting and when the new chief was presented with the staff of office, everywhere was initially calm. But later that night, he said, the Karimjos went on the rampage, destroying and burning the houses of the Wurkuns in Karim.

He said he could not ascertain the level of damages and the number of dead persons from the Wurkun side because the attacks were still ongoing.

Yesterday night there were villages that were attacked by the Karimjos and we were meant to understand that we lost some of our tribesmen and about six Wurkun villages were completely destroyed.

The first village that was destroyed is called Balassa. Balassa has been in existence since before the Karimjos came to settle in Karim. I dont want to give you half-baked information, we are waiting for a comprehensive report to come.

He said contrary to claims by the Karimjos of being the original owners of the throne, the Wurkun chiefdom has been in existence since 1976 when the late chief of Wurkun was turbaned as a third-class chief.

Mr Kwanchi said if the Karimjos wanted a separate chiefdom, they should have requested it with credible arguments rather than resorting to violence and laying claim over what does not belong to them.

The Karimjos were not in Karim Lamido, they were residing at the riverbank, the entire Karim Lamido was known as a Wurkun district even before the colonial era.

He said the allegation that the Wurkuns used soldiers to kill and displace the Karimjos was false and malicious.

The military responds

A spokesperson of the 63 Brigade of the Nigerian Army stationed in the state denied the allegation that the military took sides in the crisis. He said the army is not an ethnic organisation and therefore could not have taken sides or molested any group. He said the military was only in Karim to ensure that they restore peace and the situation was brought under control.

ALSO READ: Four feared killed In Taraba communal clash

The spokesperson of the police in the state, Usman Abdullahi, said the casualties were still being compiled, but normalcy had been restored in the affected areas.

LG seeks support for IDPs.

The caretaker committee chairman of Karim Lamido Local Government Area, Shehu Vocks, has asked for the support of relevant agencies, corporate bodies and individuals in alleviating the sufferings of those displaced in Karim Lamido, saying they were in dire need of basic necessities of life.

Mr Vocks told PREMIUM TIMES that over one thousand persons, mostly women and children, were displaced and were taking refuge in primary schools in the neighbouring Lau Local Government Area as a result of the attacks.

He said the hardship and confusion caused by the crisis were very painful. While commending the state governor for the proactive measures he took to ensure that the situation was brought under control, he appealed to him to assist the IDPs.

Mr Vocks said he was working with security agencies to avoid reoccurrence of the situation.

We implore our citizens to embrace peace and shun violence, in the spirit of this farming season, he said.

Communal crisis not new to Karim Lamido

Karim Lamido LGA in northern Taraba is one of the oldest settlements in the state. The area has different ethnic groups such as the Karimjo, Wurkun, Jenjo, Bambuka, Munga, Kodei, Dadiya, Bandawa and Fulani.

The inhabitants are predominantly Christians due to early missionary activities but there are also Muslims and adherents of traditional religions in the area.

Though the area has been largely peaceful in recent decades, Bala Adamu, in a presentation at the Presidential Retreat on Peace and Conflict Resolution in some central states of Nigeria, held at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos in 2002, said the conflict in Karim Lamido LGA in 1996-1997 was one of the well-known incidents of violent communal conflicts in the country.

The perpetrators of this violence, on both sides, and even the actual planners, do not appear to gain anything tangible beyond the satisfaction of eliminating an enemy. But, in many cases, this elimination has also involved the destruction of some of the key human and material assets on which the economy of the community, no matter how inequitable, rests, the late scholar said.

On 27 July 2021, a clash between farmers and herdsmen in the Jen community of Jen Ardido resulted in a large-scale displacement of people towards the neighbouring communities. According to an assessment conducted by DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) field office, the recorded displacement involved 792 individuals. A total of 20 casualties were recorded and three shelters were damaged. It said the affected population moved to neighbouring communities in search of safety.

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In Nigerias sixth transition to new governments at the federal and state levels under the Fourth Republic, news of outgoing executive officeholders awarding contracts, signing new laws, and making appointments in the twilight of their tenures is becoming routine.

While people perceive the development as booby traps for the incoming administrations, the president-elect and governors-elect have mostly shied away from voicing concerns, especially where their soon-to-be predecessors are of their parties or had helped them in the elections.

But it has become a subject of discussion on the social and mainstream media.

Some state governors have been awarding new contracts and making last minutes appointments, while their state Houses of Assembly have been passing new laws. Most of the affected governors perhaps took the cue from President Muhammadu Buhari in his decision to take an $800 million loan from the World Bank to hand out in paltry doles to some poor Nigerians as a cushion against the impacts of the planned removal of subsidy for premium motor spirit (petrol) from June.

Analysts believe such decisions will affect the incoming administrations.

They are supposed to allow the new government to make its plans. They can propose to the new government and tell them this should be the best for the state. If the new government deems it fit, they can look into it as part of their major priorities and implement it for the benefit of the state. I believe this is what the president should have done  to advise the incoming government, Jamilu Abdussalam, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science at Ummaru Musa Yaradua University, Katsina, said.

Multiple contracts

On the 10 of May, the federal government, rising from its weekly executive council meeting, announced the award of multi-million naira contracts for various ministries.

The decision generated uproar even among reporters at the State House but transportation minister, Sambo Jaji, justified the decision.

Ladies and gentlemen, without any intentions of mischief, this government was elected to function from 2019 to precisely 29th of May 2023. Should we now stop functioning one month before the next appointment because we are coming to the end of the tenure?

This government must work. We expect the next government to also work until the very last day of their tenure, Arise Television quoted Mr Jaji as saying.

The meeting approved a total of N327.34 billion for the ministries of transportation, sports, aviation, federal capital territory and for other works including Ogoni projects, IRS building in Abuja and Poet Harcourt.

President Buharis loan

Many Nigerians were surprised when the Senate read a letter from Mr Buhari seeking its approval to secure an $800m loan from the World Bank.

In the letter sent to the Senate, the president said the $800m loan facility is intended to be used to support poor Nigerians and will be disbursed to poor households across the country, PREMIUM TIMES reported.

Government is a continuous process and there is nothing wrong with the president securing loans especially if there are no harsh conditions attached to the loan. My only worry is that would the loan be utilised judiciously and for the purpose it is being secured for?, Bishir Dauda, the National Secretary of Muryar Talaka Awareness Initiative, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone.

If it is true that the poor and most vulnerable people will benefit from the loan, then there is nothing bad in it, he said.

Mr Buhari also appointed a special adviser on counter-terrorism. Garba Umar, a retired assistant inspector general of police, is expected to assist the country in its counter-terrorism fight, according to a presidential aide, Garba Shehu. who announced the appointment.

In a statement, Mr Buharis spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said the appointment was meant to enable Nigeria to complete his nationally beneficial tenure as an Executive Member of the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL).

However, many Nigerians wonder what impact such a last-minute appointment of a special adviser would make, especially since political appointees all go with the president or governors who appointed them.

If you ask me, the appointment doesnt make any sense because how sure are we that Tinubu doesnt have his own plans for counter-terrorism? What advice would he offer Buhari in these last days? Abdul Jani, a political analyst in Katsina State, said

Ishakus pension law, estate

Last week, outgoing Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku, grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons. First, he was reported to have approved N2 billion for the purchase of cars for himself and his deputy. As if that was not enough, the outgoing governor rushed to commission an uncompleted 500 units housing estate he started in 2017.

Although the commissioning was done amid fanfare, PREMIUM TIMES noticed that almost all the houses in the estate were in different stages of incompletion, this newspaper reported.

Departing executive officers often rush to commission unfinished projects in their quest to claim total credit. Though Mr Ishaku and the incoming governor, Kefas Agbu, are from the PDP, the outgoing governor seems not to want the incoming governor to complete the housing estate and take credit for it.

Deltas supplementary budget

Outgoing Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections, recently presented a N71 billion supplementary budget to the State House of Assembly. Mr Okowa sent the budget 14 days before the expiration of his two terms tenure.

The supplementary budget was made up of N5.6 billion in recurrent expenditure and N65.5 billion in capital expenditure.

Consequently, the supplementary budget has become necessary for appropriation to pay for some critical projects and activities of the government as well as fund ongoing projects across the state in the year 2023, the governor said.

Umahis loan request

The Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahis also justified his own decision to seek a N33 billion loan to complete his pending projects.

For many observers, however, it is surprising for a governor who spent close to eight years in power to be seeking a loan a few days before the expiration of his tenure in the name of completing his projects.

El Rufais last-minute demolition

In Kaduna State, Governor Nasir El Rufai is not left out. Mr El Rufai, who over the years earned the nickname Mai Rusau which means the demolisher for his demolition of illegal structures, decided to give a parting gift to residents of Kaduna State.

His decision to, 11 days before his exit, revoke the Certificate of Occupancy of properties belonging to nine companies owned by the family of a former governor of the state, Ahmed Makarfi, was criticised by several people. The companies properties have been marked for demolition and their directors confirmed receiving notice of revocation. They later appealed to Mr El-Rufai to reverse his decision.

Tambuwals appointments

Senator-elect and Sokoto State outgoing governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has also made appointments and approvals of huge sums of money after the general elections. Mr Tambuwal, who came to power in 2015, will be ending his two terms tenure on the 29 of May.

In April, he gave approval for contract variation in sums amounting to N7 billion.

This month, Mr Tambuwal also appointed 23 new permanent secretaries and 15 director-generals in the state. The civil service is a permanent institution but making such appointments especially that of the DGs is seen as a rush to compensate political allies, bequeath liability to the incoming administration and make enemies for the incoming governor because he may find reasons to sack the appointees.

On 17, May, Mr Tambuwal also announced the renaming of higher institutions and other public institutions in the state for which the opposition APC has chided him.

He renamed the Sokoto State University after Sheikh Abdullahi Fodiyo, the Sokoto State University of Education after late President Shehu Shagari, and the Sokoto State University Teaching Hospital, which is still under construction, was named after Sultan Muhammadu Saad Abubakar.

The governor also immortalised the late Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki and Sarkin Sudan Wurno and former Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador Shehu Malami by renaming Shehu Shagari College of Education and College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Wurno after them.

Also, the College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Wamakko was renamed Sheikh Haliru Binji College of Legal and Islamic Studies while the College of Nursing, Tambuwal was renamed after Balaraba Buda.

Ortoms new airport

Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, secured a licence to build a civil airport in Makurdi on the last day of March, a few weeks before his handing over.

The state Commissioner of Information, Tourism and Culture, Mike Inalegwu, said the airport would be situated 12 kilometres from the state capital, Makurdi.

The next administration can equally continue with the project but the good news is that this administration pressed for the approval of this airport and we got it, Mr Inalegwu said.

Masaris appointments

Outgoing Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, announced, on Monday 15 May, the appointments of Lawal Alhassan as the chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, Musa Nuhu-Gafia as a member of the House of Assembly Commission and Mansur Labo as member of the electoral commission. The names were sent to the State House of Assembly for confirmation.

On 19 May, Mr Masari also appointed Mustapha Abdullahi  Babi as a permanent secretary in the civil service.

However, this is not the first time such last minutes decisions were taken by outgoing executive officers. In most cases, their successors either reverse such decisions or refuse to pay attention to them.

In March 2019, Abdulaziz Yari, then outgoing governor of Zamfara State, amended the governor and deputy governor pension law to accommodate former House of Assembly speakers and their deputies. In November, however, the new state House of Assembly, backed by the new governor, repealed the law.

In Osun State, the new governor, Ademola Adeleke, reversed many of the last-minute decisions of his predecessor, including the appointment of new monarchs and the recruitment of thousands of workers.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun mass investigations of governors and their deputies, many of whom will leave office and lose constitutional immunity from prosecution in a few days time, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.

An exclusive memo obtained by this medium shows the anti-corruption agency is beaming its searchlight on at least 28 governors and their deputies. Nigeria has 36 states governed with each governed by a governor and a deputy governor.

At least 18 of the governors with their deputies targeted for investigations by EFCC are preparing to leave office when they will complete their second terms in office on 29 May.

One is leaving office on the same date after completing a term, while 10 others, who recently won their second term elections, are expected to remain in office for the next four years.

Broad range investigation

In what signals a broad range investigation of the public officers, EFCC has requested their assets declaration forms from the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), a recent official communication between the two agencies obtained by PREMIUM TIMES shows.

Details of the cases EFCC has against the officials are not immediately clear, but the commission said in its letter addressed to the chairperson of CCB, Mohammed Isah, that it needs the asset declaration documents to facilitate an ongoing investigation involving them.

This commission is investigating a case in which persons listed in the attached schedule. featured, read the EFCCs letter dated 11 April and signed by an official on behalf of the EFCCs chair, Abduralsheed Bawa.

The letter signed by Umma Sulaiman of the Proceeds of Crime Management Department of the EFCC, and exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, contains an annexure of a list of governors with their deputies who either took office in 2015 or 2019.

It requested the asset declaration forms submitted at the beginning and the end of current tenure of the governors and their deputies.

In order to facilitate the investigation, you are kindly requested to furnish the commission with the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Asset Declaration Forms filled by each of the subject for period stated against their respective names.

Also, you are to forward the Bureaus examination/verification report of the declared asset, the letter read, citing section 38(1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004, as the basis for the request.

PREMIUM TIMES cannot confirm if the CCB has responded to EFCCs letter, although the acknowledgement copy of the letter viewed by this newspaper shows the bureau received it on 11 April. CCB chair, Mr Isah did not answer our reporters calls and text message enquiry on Tuesday.

But CCB may not have received all of the forms including the end of tenure declarations of the governors and their deputies requested by the EFCC. Some of them may not submit their latest assets form until after they either leave office or begin another tenure on 29 May.

Assets declarations forms, corruption investigations

The assets declaration documents of public officers are treasured lead for investigators.

The Nigerian constitution, however, confers immunity from criminal prosecution on serving president, vice-president, governors, and deputy governors.

This implies that EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies can only carry out limited investigations of the officials while they are in office as, technically, they cannot be summoned for interrogation during their tenures in office.

All governors should be investigated at the end of their tenures, said Auwal Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), in an endorsement of the step being taken by the EFCC. We hope the EFCC has gathered enough tangible evidences against these governors so that they can do a thorough investigation in cases of diversion, misappropriation of public funds, or outright stealing.

It is important the EFCC pursue these investigations with the view to bring sanity in governance, Mr Rafsanjani said. We cannot continue to experiment with monumental tragedies of public officials using their position to loot the little resources available to states. We must also make public officials understand that there is a law and when they violate the laws they must face the consequences, he added.

Many governors control the resources of their states with minimal or non-existent checks and balances, contributing to making Nigeria one of the poorly rated in terms of corruption, according to an annual survey by watchdog Transparency International.

With the amount of resources they deploy to funding elections and extravagant lifestyles, many of the governors often come under intense suspicion of corruption.

A number of former governors who completed their tenures in the previous years are still facing investigations for alleged corruption. They include a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, and former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, both of whom are vying for Senate President of the anticipated 10th National Assembly.

In March 2022, the EFCC arrested a former Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano, shortly after he handed over to his successor, and was detained for days for interrogation over corruption allegations.

Earlier in March 2021, the EFCC similarly detained a former governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed.

They have all denied the allegations against them, while the EFCC keeps mum on the outcome of its probes.

The agency has also linked the serving governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, with ongoing investigations to some suspicious slew of assets. The governor has also denied any wrongdoing.

The governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, was charged with corruption offences he allegedly committed during his three-month stint as acting governor of the state in 2014. He was facing trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja until he was elected governor in 2019.

At least 11 former governors are under federal investigation, mostly on suspicion of corruption.

EFCC has investigated governors even though convictions are very rare. Former governors  Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Jolly Nyame of Taraba State  who governed their respective states between 1999 and 2007, were jailed for stealing public funds in 2018.

Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame didnt serve half the length of their jail terms when President Muhammadu Buhari controversially granted them pardons in 2022.

Fresh allegations

Last week, the EFCC disclosed publicly that Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, whose name appears on the anti-graft agencys list of possible corruption suspects, is being investigated over the alleged diversion of N70 billion from the states treasury.

The commission alleged that the governor, who is leaving office when he will complete his single term in about a weeks time, allegedly conspired with others to siphon public funds which, by his role, he was meant to safeguard.

EFCCs Director of Public Affairs, Osita Nwajah, said allegations against Mr Matawalle include corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion.

The outgoing governor, who lost his reelection in March, has denied wrongdoing and asked the anti-graft agency to probe officers of the presidency and members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The commission described Mr Matawalles outburst as the case of a thief saying he must not be touched until other thieves are caught.

Mr Matawalle further alleged that EFCC chairman, Mr Bawa, demanded $2 million as a bribe from him. EFCC said it dared the governor to provide evidence to back his claim. Spokesperson for the EFCC Wilson Uwujaren said the commission will not be drawn into a mud fight with a suspect under investigation for corruption and unconscionable pillage of the resources of his state.

The impunity and brazenness of the politicians are killing the country and we cant afford to continue on this trajectory, said Lanre Suraj, anti-corruption crusader. We all must support the anti-corruption agencies and ensure we get justice and recovery of our stolen wealth.

Both Mr Suraj and Mr Rafsanjani said it is desirable to have the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau equally launching the same actions on all the Politically Exposed persons.

Mr Matawalle, the Zamfara governor, and his deputy, Hassan Gusau, are among the 28 governors the EFCC is investigating.

Other governors on the longlist are Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike, Abdullahi Ganduje, Abubakar Bagudu, Abubakar Bello, Samuel Ortom, Benedict Ayade, Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Okowa, Ahmadu Fintiri, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Nasir El-Rufai, Bala Mohammed, Aminu Masari and Simon Lalong.

Read the full list of governors and their deputies below:

1. Abia State

Governor  Okezie lkpeazu

Deputy  Ude Oko Chukwu

2. Adamawa State

Governor  Ahmadu Fintiri

Deputy  Crowther Seth

3. Akwa Ibom State

Governor  Udom Emmanuel

Deputy  Moses Ekpo

4. Bauchi State

Governor  Bala Mohammed

Deputy  Baba Tela

5. Benue State

Governor  Samuel Ortom

Deputy  Benson Abounu

6. Borno State

Governor  Babagana Zulum

Deputy  Umar Kadafur

7. Cross River

Governor  Benedict Ayade

Deputy  Ivara Esu

8. Delta State

Governor  Ifeanyi Okowa

Deputy  Kingsley Otuaro

9. Ebonyi State

Governor  Dave Umahi

Deputy  Eric Igwe

10. Enugu State

Governor  Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

Deputy  Cecilia Ezeilo

11. Gombe State

Governor  Muhammad Yahaya

Deputy  Manasseh Jatau

12. Jigawa State

Governor  Muhammad Abubakar

Deputy  Umar Namadi

13. Kaduna State

Governor  Nasir El-Rufai

Deputy  Hadiza Balarabe

14. Kano State

Governor  Abdullahi Ganduje

Deputy  Nasir Gawuna

15. Katsina State

Governor  Aminu Masari

Deputy  Mannir Yakubu

16. Kebbi State

Governor  Abubakar Bagudu

Deputy  Samaila Dabai

17. Kwara State

Governor  Abdulrahman AbdulRasag

Deputy  Kayode Alabi

18. Lagos State

Governor  Babajide Sanwo-Olu

Deputy  Femi Hamzat

19. Nasarawa State

Governor  Abdullahi Sule

Deputy  Emmanuel Akabe

20. Niger State

Governor  Abubakar Bello

Deputy  Ahmed Ketso

21. Ogun State

Governor  Dapo Abiodun

Deputy  Noimot Salako-Oyedele

22. Oyo State

Governor  Oluwaseyi Makinde

Deputy  Adebayo Lawal

23. Plateau State

Governor  Simon Lalong

Deputy  Sonni Tyoden

24. Rivers State

Governor  Nyesom Wike

Deputy  Ipalibo Banigo

25. Sokoto State

Governor  Aminu Tambuwal

Deputy  Manni Dan-Iya

26. Taraba State

Governor  Darius Ishaku

Deputy  Haruna Manu

27. Yobe State

Governor  Mai-Mala Buni

Deputy  Idi Gubana

28. Zamfara State

Governor  Bello Matawalle

Deputy  Hassan Gusau

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The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the merger of the three remaining petitions challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu in the 25 February election.

The five-member court panel led by Haruna Tsammani cited time constraints as the basis for its decision.

Paragraph 50 of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2022, which the court relied on, commands that all petitions arising from the same election and return of a candidate shall be consolidated, considered and be dealt with as one petition.

The provision allows the court or tribunal to decide against it only when it considers it to be a stumbling block to doing justice or an objection against one or more of the petitions has been upheld by the tribunal or court.

Now that the Presidential Election Petition Court has ordered the merger of the three petitions relating to the last presidential poll, what does it mean in a practical sense in a situation where the petitions share both similar and conflicting features?

The petitioners in two of the cases  Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party  who came second and third in the election, respectively, both claimed to have won the poll.

They also alleged widespread irregularities and manipulation of results in states where each other recorded the most votes.

Also, they have both called on the court to declare them the election winner that can only throw up one president-elect.

Their cases, however, have shared complaints of alleged ineligibility of the president-elect Mr Tinubu to contest the election, manipulation of results in most of the 12 states he won, and his failure to secure 25 per cent of lawful votes in the Federal Capital Territory, among others.

Another point of convergence between the two petitions is their alternative prayer for outright cancellation of the election to give way for the conduct of a fresh one from which Mr Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), should be barred.

The third petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), which is primarily anchored on the alleged inappropriate nomination of the vice-president-elect Kashim Shettima as Mr Tinubus running mate, urged the court to declare Atiku, the winner of the poll.

How do the three petitioners balance their competing and shared interests under the consolidation order of the court?

Possible scenarios

Lawyers say the consolidation could mean different things, as this is the first time presidential election petitions would be ordered to be consolidated.

Drawing from their litigation experience, some lawyers said all the cases are still likely to maintain their separate identities. In that sense, the petitioners will still pursue their cases independently, while the court will give one judgement that will capture all the cases in the end.

Another legal interpretation suggests that all three petitioners will take their turns to call their witnesses, at the end of which the respondents will take their turns to present their witnesses in response. Thankfully, the respondents sued in all the cases are the same  the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Tinubu, and the APC  with APM adding Mr Shettima to the list.

If the consolidation is executed literally  the merger of all petitioners on one side and the respondents on the other side of the divide  some lawyers foresee a conflict in the camp of the petitioners that may inadvertently help the cause of their common enemies.

More clarity still needed

Two senior lawyers involved in the petitions before the presidential election court agree that the procedure to be followed is not clear-cut.

Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is one of Atikus leading lawyers, said the parties would need to hear further directives from the court but pointedly, One thing is clear, the petitions will maintain their identities.

A likely procedure, according to Mr Uche, is one that allows petitioners to take their turns to conclude their case  present their witnesses and have them cross-examined by the adverse parties.

It cannot be a full-fledged merger, he said, adding that the whole idea of the order of consolidation of the petitions is to ensure that judgements on the cases will not be contradictory.

Mr Uche, whose team was indifferent to the call to consolidate the petitions, anticipates that the court, at the end of the trial, will write three different judgments for each pending case.

But he looks forward to 30 May when the hearing resumes for the courts further guidelines.

INECs lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, whose client was also indifferent to the decision, shared largely the same views with Mr Uche on the lack of clarity in the form the next hearing phase will take.

Mr Mahmoud, a SAN and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), also hopes that the court will make further direction for the post-consolidation phase of the proceedings.

What we expect is that the petitioners will call their witnesses and the respondents cross-examine them one after the other, then after the conclusion of their case, the respondents will also call their witnesses who will also be cross-examined by the petitioners in a similar fashion, he said.

Alternatively, Mr Mahmoud said each of the petitions could be taken one after the other as separate cases, a view that tallies with Mr Uches that a full-fledged consolidation may not happen.

Like Mr Uche, his courtroom opponent, Mr Mahmoud, agreed that the court would write separate judgements on each of the three petitions at the end of the trial.

According to him, one of the judgements will address the issues common to all the petitions, and the decisions on such legal points will be binding on all other cases. This means the court will not need to repeat the full details of its decisions on such issues in the other judgements.

There could be deviations in the cases, but the general issues addressed by the court in one judgement will apply in the same manner to other cases, Mr Mahmoud said.

Uncharted path

This is not the first time multiple petitions will be filed in court to challenge the outcome of a presidential election, but the consolidation of such cases is an uncharted path for a presidential election court.

Four petitioners challenged the election of the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, but only one ran its full span.

The Coalition for Change and its presidential candidate, Geff Ojinika, withdrew their petition on the day the pre-hearing session began on 10 June 2019.

The Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), with its candidate, Aminchi Habu, also withdrew their own case weeks after.

Another of the petitions filed by the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and its presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru, was dismissed based on the preliminary objection of the respondents in the early stage of the proceedings.

Only the petition filed by PDPs Atiku, who had Mr Obi as his running mate in the 2019 election, ran the full lifespan of the court.

In the current dispensation, five petitions filed in court in the wake of the announcement of the results of the 25 February presidential election dropped to three within the first week of the pre-hearing session.

The court now faces a legal regime that sets a strict time frame of 180 days from mid-March when the remaining three petitions were filed for it to deliver its judgements.

Parties to the cases have proposed to present close to 200 witnesses to testify, with the court confronted with a 16 September deadline to conclude proceedings.

READ ALSO: Presidential election court to set rules for trial

Meanwhile, the inauguration of Messrs Tinubu and Shettima as the president and vice-present will be held on 29 May, while the petitions challenging their election will proceed in court.

It is expected that the litigation will continue at the Supreme Court, which has three months to decide on any appeal that may arise from the presidential election courts judgement.

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Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc received Mr. Vangelis Vitalis, Deputy Minister in charge of Economy and Trade, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on May 22 (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Vangelis Vitalis emphasized that Vietnam is an important factor in New Zealand's policy for the Asia-Pacific region, and expressed appreciation for Vietnam's active role in building important cooperation frameworks in the region such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand (AANZFTA), and now the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

On this occasion, Mr. Vangelis Vitalis also thanked Vietnam for its close coordination and support for New Zealand when it took up positions at multilateral mechanisms in recent times, such as the hosting of APEC 2021, or CPTPP 2023 chairmanship.

Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc thanked Mr. Vangelis Vitalis for the good feelings he has for the country and people of Vietnam, and expressed his appreciation for his contributions in the CPTPP and AANZFTA negotiation processes.

He said that in the context of the complicated situation in the region and the world, with many potential risks and challenges, and the increasingly tense competition of big countries, Vietnam and New Zealand need to strengthen the forms of cooperation to promote issues of concern, and maintain the principles, orientations and high standards of related agreements.

In the coming time, he suggested that the two countries continue to work together to promote priority cooperation contents such as e-commerce, digital economy, clean energy, climate change adaptation and women's empowerment. He also proposed New Zealand expand investment in Vietnam in areas where New Zealand has strengths, such as agriculture, education, tourism, infrastructure and transportation.

Regarding free trade agreements to which the two sides are members, such as CPTPP, RCEP, and AANZFTA, the Vietnamese Deputy Minister suggested that the two sides coordinate to more effectively exploit commitments and promote the central role of ASEAN in strengthening regional trade links./.
President Muhammadu Buhari says he is happily relocating to his farm in Daura, Katsina State, to take care of his cattle after handing over to President-elect Bola Tinubu on Monday.

The president said this while speaking at a valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council held at the State House Council Chamber, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Mr Buhari said since he became president, he has not had much time to take care of his cattle and concentrate on his business.

I will also be happy to do the many things that I have not been able to do since May 29th, 2015. One of such is my favourite pastime of taking care of my cattle.

The president expressed appreciation to his ministers for their support throughout his eight years as president, saying, I am proud to say we gave our best.

In the course of our years together, ranging from our newest addition to the oldest members of the team for the past seven and half years, we have differed on many issues. I urge that we understand that those positions were for the collective good, and no one should keep grievances or carry these differences forward, he said.

For those of us that will not directly be in government, I know that I am one of such; I ask that we continue to provide our support, in whatever way we can, if called upon by our great party, All Progressives Congress (APC), that gave us the platform to stand and we must continue to support it in every way we can, he added.

Mr Buhari urged members of the cabinet to always check on him when he finally relocates to Daura.

I look forward to a great many of you, disproving that Daura has not become too distant because I am no longer Mr President, he said.

I wish all of us the best and hope to hear good news whenever any of our names are mentioned. Thank you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The president also expressed appreciation to staff members of the State House for the support they gave him throughout his administration.

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The speakership race for the 10th House of Representatives has caused a rift between Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and his deputy, Idris Wasethe latest being an open confrontation on Wednesday over the sitting of the House.

For four years, Messrs Gbajabiamila and Wase had a harmonious working relationship since 2019 with little or no public disagreement over issues. However, that has changed since the latter announced his bid to become the speaker of the 10th House.

Mr Gbajabiamila was said to have overlooked his deputy to endorse Tajudeen Abbas, a lawmaker from Kaduna State. Since then, the relationship between them has deteriorated.

At the close of plenary on Wednesday, Mr Gbajabiamila directed the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Hassan Fulata (APC, Jigawa), to include a few items on the agenda for Thursdays plenary, citing a need to close plenary before 2 p.m. in order to attend the commissioning of the permanent site of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).

Chairman Business and Rules, lets make the Order Paper light for tomorrow because we have this NILDS commission; it is very important  the permanent site of the NILDS. It is at 2:30. So it will be good if we close by 2 p.m, he said.

But Mr Wase raised a point of order, questioning the rationale for the House to adjourn to commission a project instead of using the time to conclude the business of the 9th House ahead of the final adjournment of the House.

Mr Speaker, I am getting to see this getting so funny, and we have lost quite a number of times. For the commissioning of projects, for Gods sake, why do we have to shelve a lot of activities that we have just to go and witness the commissioning of a project of NILDS? I want to beg, sir that we should do our functions.

Those who have the interest to go, they have the right to. But our main primary function is this parliament and making the citizens a priority, he stated.

The point of order raised by the deputy speaker caused a back-and-forth between the duo.

Perhaps DS (Deputy Speaker), you dont appreciate the importance of NILDS like some of us do. I think NILDS is very important, Mr Gbajabiamila told his deputy.

Mr Wase, who was at this point on his feet, interrupted the speaker; I have every information and idea of what NILDS is.

Mr Gbajabimaila responded, It was set up by this same institution by statute. We are not adjourning the House to go to NILDS. What I said was, lets try and make it light and leave here by two (p.m.). If you want, we can resume by 10 (a.m.). We will do our work, but we will adjourn this House at 2 p.m. I will witness NILDS because it is important to me.

Once again, the deputy speaker interrupted, noting that, The parliament is about us, not about I.

The speaker was visibly vexed with the open confrontation and said no deputy speaker has ever confronted the speaker in the open since the return of democracy.

Mr Deputy Speaker, this is the first time in history  I have been in this House for many years, perhaps even longer than anybody here  this is the first time in history that a deputy speaker will be challenging what the speaker is saying, he said.

Following another bout of back and forth, the speaker moved a motion that Mr Fulata should ensure that his directive is complied with. The Leader of the House, Ado Doguwa, seconded the motion.

Mr Doguwa was also in the race for the speakership but withdrew last week to obey the partys directive on zoning and endorsed Mr Abbas.

Background into the race

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, endorsed Mr Abbas and Ben Kalu as speaker and deputy speaker.

The partys decision is currently being challenged by Mr Wase and other candidates who formed the G7 coalition. The aggrieved lawmakers in the coalition, all APC members, include Yusuf Gagdi, Sada Soli, Muktar Betara, Aminu Jaji, Miriam Onuoha and Mr Wase.

Over the past couple of weeks, the G7 members have publicly challenged Mr Gbajabiamila, accusing him of trying to impose Mr Abbas on the next House.

Regarding parliamentary business, the row between Messrs Gbajabiamila and Wase has been affecting the business of the House as Mr Gbajabiamila often adjourned the House whenever he was not available to preside.

The rules of the House allow the deputy speaker to preside in the absence of the speaker. Before the speakership tussle, Mr Wase often presided in the speakers absence.

Two weeks ago, Mr Gbajabiamila adjourned the House indefinitely, citing the ongoing induction of members-elect of the 10th House. He was equally challenged by his deputy, who stated that the induction of members was not a genuine reason for adjourning the House.

Meanwhile, there has also been speculation of an impeachment plot targeted at Mr Gbajabimaila over the power tussle.

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Female staff of Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the publisher of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, have bagged double SABRE African Public Relations Awards 2023 in Lusaka, Zambia.

The award, which recognises Superior Achievement in Branding Reputation and Engagement (SABRE) and hosted by PRovoke Media, was held on the sideline of the annual Conference of the African Public Relations Association (APRA).

The female communicators won a trophy and Certificate of Excellence for Employee Communication and West-African Categories of the awards with a gender inclusivity campaign titled Nigerian Ladies in PR

The campaign demonstrated how female interns and staff in the organisation were trained and tasked with advocacies that promote inter-ethnic relations, national unity, good governance, and gender equality.

With support from the MacArthur Foundation and Kogi State Government, the campaign involved public speaking, press releases, article writing, social media engagement, and book publishing.

Similarly, the State Security Service (SSS) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also bagged Certificates of Excellence for their campaigns that were also carried out by Image Merchants Promotion Limited.

The SSS campaign was recognised under the Public Sector/Government Category for tackling lingering fuel scarcity that threatened the Ember Months through stakeholder engagement and effective communication.

The NITDA campaign was recognised under Public Affairs/Government Relations Category for deploying mainstream and social media, as a tech regulatory agency in countering misconceptions by educating the public on the benefits of its Code of Practice for Social Media and Online Platforms.

The 2023 Africa SABRE Awards were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders who considered campaigns that demonstrate the highest levels of creativity, integrity, and effectiveness.

Speaking on the awards, the Chairman of the jury, Paul Holmes, said agencies and clients from Africa performed extraordinarily well in the SABRE competition.

He said: The quality of work from across the continent has never been higher. Robust data and smart cultural insights are informing the planning process, big bold creative ideas are driving the execution, and real business-related metrics are showing how successful these campaigns are.

Speaking on the awards, Yushau Shuaib of IMPR expressed excitement about the feat of the young Nigerian female communicators in proving their mettle in the field of Public Relations.

While we acknowledge the contributions of our clients for believing in us, we wish to remain the most gender-friendly communication outfit that promotes excellence in service delivery, Mr Shuaib added.

Nigerian delegates at the African PR Conference celebrated the PRNigeria women for making the country proud.

Some of the delegates included Boniface Obiefuna of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); Tukur Gusau, Director Defence Information; Omoniyi Ibietan, Head Media Relations Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC); Umar Mohammed, Head of Corporate Communication Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) and Lamaran Garba of Bayero University Kano among others.

Apart from Abuja-based Image Merchants Promotion Limited based, other PR firms from Nigeria, mostly Lagos-based also won various categories of the SABRE awards. They include CMC Connect, Chain Reactions Africa, LSF PR, Integrated Indigo Limited, Chenist Communications and BHM.

Leading PR firms mostly from South and East Africa also bagged multiple awards. They include APO Group, BCW, Hill+Knowlton East Africa Limited; Razor PR/M&C Saatchi Group, Ogilvy South Africa, P&L Consulting Limited, Edelman Africa, MSL, WE Communications and Retroviral PR of South-Africa.

The winning organisations and brands whose campaigns were promoted by PR firms in Africa include Lagos State Government, Ford South Africa, Mastercard Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Kenya Airways, NISSAN, Hollard Insurance Ghana

Others include Vodacom, MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Canon, Multichoice, Johnnie Walker, Warner Brothers and BetKing Nigeria, Honeywell Group Limited, Nestle, Floor Mill Nigeria, Shoprite, KFC, Nigerian Breweries, Kenya Breweries, East African Breweries, Coca Cola and Phoenix Beverage.

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Nigerias Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, has commissioned the first phase of the expanded General Aviation Terminal (GAT) and cargo terminal at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by Mr Sirikas Special Assistant on Media, James Odaudu, on Tuesday. According to the statement, the minister said the commissioned projects are worth N2.2 billion.

The statement noted that the GAT expansion, which was carried out by Messrs Glovesly Pro-Project Limited, would increase the capacity of the terminal from 254 to 1,054.

The facility also comes with the complements of three standard departure halls, three VIP Lounges, two protocol lounges, three 3 lifts, four toilets, five office spaces and five staircases and others, the statement said.

The minister explained that the projects were conceived to address the decades-long limited capacity challenge of the terminal and cargo facilities in the industry.

On the Cargo Terminal, Mr Sirika said it was part of the implementation of the Aviation Roadmap and that there were seven of them to be commissioned.

He expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done at the terminal and appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment to the development of the sector during his tenure.

Reorganisation

The Minister hinted that the reorganisation of the agencies under the ministry is ongoing and would continue until 29 May.

He reiterated that the reorganisation in the agencies received the approval of Mr Buhari, stressing that the government was a continuum, irrespective of the time of change of the Chief Executive Officers.

Those who were removed have had their time, he added.

The minister said the outgoing administration improved the sector more than it met it, and that history would judge it right.

Mr Sirika emphasised that the government doubled the number of airlines, airports and quadrupled the number of passengers in the last eight years.

He explained that the seriousness attached to the sector by the government made the industry the second in the world to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic after Colombia.

President Buhari has done extremely well in civil aviation. I dont care when you criticise me. Whether you did the criticism objectively or not. If you do it, I am humble enough to look through. If you are wrong, I look at it and shine, and if you are right, then, I shine again, he said.

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The police in Enugu State, south-east Nigeria, said they have arraigned four people, including a mother of four, who allegedly swapped an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card and withdrew N495,000 from a victims bank account in the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday night.

Mr Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, said the suspects were arrested on 6 May at about 4.30 p.m. while they attempted to escape from their hideout in Emene, a community in Enugu East Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson said the suspects were arrested by police operatives serving in Hawk Tactical Squad in collaboration with troops of the Nigerian Air Force, Enugu.

He gave the names of the suspects as Sopuruchi Michael, 36, Osinachi Godwin, 18, Moses Ani, 29, and Chika Nwoko, 29, the mother of four and the only female among them.

How they swapped ATM card, stole from victim

Mr Ndukwe said the suspects fraudulently changed the ATM card of an undisclosed 63-year-old male victim after obtaining his personal identification number (PIN) while pretending to assist him to withdraw money from a commercial Bank ATM along Ogui Road in the state.

Immediately after the switcheroo, the suspects used the card and PIN to withdraw the total sum of N495,000 from the victims account, he said.

Arraignment and remand

The police spokesperson said the suspects have confessed to the crime and that they have swapped other ATM cards in the past within Enugu Metropolis.

Four ATM cards of different commercial banks, including that of the victim, were recovered from the suspects, the police said.

Consequently, the suspects were today, 23 May, arraigned in court, where the magistrate ordered that they should be remanded in Enugu Custodial Centre, while the case was adjourned to 7th June for further hearing, Mr Ndukwe stated.

The police spokesperson said the case-file was later transmitted to the attorney-general of the state for legal advice through the Director of Public Prosecution in the states ministry of justice.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Ahmed Ammani, has commended the joint security operatives for busting the criminal syndicate and arraigning them, Mr Ndukwe said.

Mr Ammani urged bank customers, particularly the elderly and those without proper knowledge of how to use ATM cards to exercise caution and seek the assistance of banks staff while using their cards on ATM.

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A former deputy governor of Osun State, Benedict Alabi, has identified reasons for the defeat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2022 governorship election of the state.

Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the election, ending 12 years of APC rule in the state. The PDP repeated the feat when it swept the poll in the 2023 general election.

Mr Alabi said an intractable internal crisis in the state chapter of the APC caused their loss, saying it was not because the people of the state were fed up with the administration of former governor Gboyega Oyetola.

Mr Alabi, who was Mr Oyetolas deputy, stated in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.

Internal rancor is the major cause of us losing the election. No house will be divided and win. The Yoruba says that when two brothers fight to death, it is outsiders that will inherit their properties, he said.

You dont go to a battle with a divided home. It is the major reason. But I think everybody has sheathed their sword now that we know that we are all on the ground, he added.

Nobody is going to tell anybody not to fight again. Everybody has fought and they have gone home with bruises and the bruises are painful to all parties. I am sure both we that lost the election and those that said we must lose the election, nobody is a winner in these circumstances.

Reconciliation

Mr Alabi said the only way to reclaim the state from the PDP is for all the factions in the APC to come together to form a united party.

However, he said the party requires the service of a trusted individual to lead the reconciliation move that will pacify the aggrieved members of the party.

We can be together. What we need is trust. Whoever is doing the reconciliation must be somebody that all the factions will trust and believe in and they know his stand is not for personal gains or apportioning blame but he only wants the party to come together to face the common opposition, he said.

To me, it is very easy. Yes when the battle is hot it can be difficult to reconcile people. But everybody has tested their strength now. We need to call ourselves to order and chart a new course and that can be done by someone that is not factional, someone that all the factions will trust, someone who is not after personal gains, he added.

Willingness to reunite

Mr Alabi said he is willing to lead the reconciliatory move to reunite the aggrieved members of the party.

Mr Alabi said he has the qualities to reconcile the aggrieved members of the party because he does not belong to any of the factions.

If I am given the opportunity to reunite the party, it is not a difficult task. We have very large followers and our people are satisfied with little things. What they want from you is for you to carry them along in whatever you are doing and give them recognition, and wherever it is possible, give them the dividends of democracy in terms of assistance in one way or the other. That is what they require, recognitions especially, he said

If I have the opportunity of reuniting the party, I will carry all and sundry along in the decision making. I will reach out to all the factions, whatever it will take for them to come back. United we stand, divided we fall, he added.

I will be in touch with the gladiators to let them realise that we need to work together. If I am given the opportunity, I dont see any problem in coming together, now we have seen it and it will be easy and I thank God that I have the pedigree to do that.

The structures are there, I know who and who to reach out to and what button to press. If I am given that opportunity, having been a contestant for governorship before and also being the deputy governor of the state, I belong to no faction, I belong to the party and that is where I still remain till tomorrow.

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The police in Delta State, South-south Nigeria, said a motorcyclist in the state raped his female passenger inside a bush after diverting her from her route.

The alleged rapist has been identified as Abdullahi Musa, 34, while the victim is 24.

The police spokesperson in the state, Bright Edafe, who disclosed this in a statement he posted on Twitter on Wednesday, said the suspect had anal sex with the victim.

The incident happened on 28 February in Asaba. The victim had arrived at Asaba at night from Benin, Edo State, and got on Mr Musas bike to take her to her destination.

Instead of taking her to her destination, he diverted her to the bush, (and) raped her through her anus, Mr Edafe, a deputy superintendent of police, said in the Twitter post.

He posted a photo of Mr Musa and a video clip in which the suspect is heard confessing to the crime.

I had sex with her through the anus, Mr Musa said in Pidgin English in the clip.

Mr Musa went for the victims anus when he discovered that she was having her menstrual flow.

He found out that I was on my period. He gave me a cotton wool to put in my body. He said, after all, a woman has two holes. If he cannot have sex with me because I was on my period, he was going to do it through my anus, the victim said in a video in which her identity is shielded.

She said she kept quiet throughout her ordeal because her alleged assailant had threatened her.

The video was posted on Twitter by Mr Edafe.

The suspect, Mr Musa, said he used his phone to film the victim before telling her to wear her dress. He also confessed to robbing the victim of her perfume inside her bag.

It is unclear whether the suspect is a commercial motorcyclist or not.

Mr Edafe said the police began investigating the incident on 5 May and were able to track down and arrest the suspect on 20 May.

We should be careful, especially at night and in areas we dont know much. The heart of man, they say, is desperately wicked, the police spokesperson said.

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The outgoing First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has officially engaged the wife of the President-elect, Oluremi Tinubu, acquainting her with duties of the office of the First Lady of Nigeria.

Mrs Buhari, who received her successor on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, also handed over some documents to Mrs Tinubu to serve as a guide towards piloting the affairs of the office.

She also handed over the seal of the African First Ladies Peace Mission to the incoming first lady, being the chief host of all the spouses of the African heads of state.

Mrs Buhari expressed confidence in the ability of the incoming first lady to deliver on the task ahead.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event signalled the formal transition of official engagements in the office of the first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

As you are all aware, the role of the First Lady is unconstitutional, but we enjoy the goodwill of the citizens in order to carry out some basic things, like humanitarian activities.

We partner with a lot of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in order to help our citizens, and I have enjoyed that goodwill for the last eight years.

So, I have prepared a handover, just to guide you, and see the NGOs that we have worked with, Mrs Buhari said.

Responding, Mrs Tinubu appreciated the outgoing first lady for exhibiting a high sense of leadership and dexterity in handling the affairs of her office.

We are very humbled by what you have done, you have exhibited great leadership and dexterity in the way you do things.

I want to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart because you dont come into this role and say you know it all.

I know I served many years ago as governors wife for eight years, but now things have changed and are being done differently. I have been in the legislative arm for 12 years now.

We promise you that you will be proud of the work we will do, she said.

In the same vein, Mrs Buhari also received in audience the Association of Spouses of Nigerian Ambassadors (ASNA), led by the wife of the Nigerian Ambassador to Burundi, Udo Onyeagba, who were at the State House to express their support to the first lady.

(NAN)

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The Nigerian government has appointed Sani Usman as the 7th substantive Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, in Bauchi State.

The letter of appointment was, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, handed over to the new appointee by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

Until his current appointment, Mr Usman was the polytechnics Deputy Rector, a position he held from 2018 to 2022.

The appointment, according to the institutions Deputy Registrar in charge of public relations, Muhammad Rabiu, is effective from 21 May.

He succeeds Sanusi Waziri, who was appointed in February, 2018.

About Mr Usman

Mr Usman, 60, joined the service of the Polytechnic in 1989 and rose through the ranks to become Chief Lecturer in 2014.

He headed the Computer Science Department from 2004 to 2018, and was also the Dean of the School of Science and Technology from 2013-2017.

He was elected a member of the polytechnics governing council in 2017 to represent the academic board.

Mr Usman holds a Postgraduate Diploma and Masters of Science Degree in Computer Science in 1996 and 2006 respectively, at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.

He obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1987.

Born in Gombe on 18th August, 1963, the newly appointed Rector is a member of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN).

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

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Poet Thanh Phan and his wife watching his father's photo (Photo: VNA)

Poet Thanh Phan said that May 19 is a special day for his family because it is associated with the memory of his dear father who followed President Ho Chi Minh from the early days of the resistance war against French colonists.

In September 1945, in response to President Ho Chi Minhs appeal, his father, Phan Nam Anh (later called Phan Hoa Sinh), a famous silk merchant in Hanoi, and many other capitalists donated money and gold to the government during the Gold Week from September 17-24, 1945.

This event was an important turning point, changing the life of businessman Phan Hoa Sinh when he decided to respond to President Ho Chi Minh's call to follow the resistance war with aspiration to defend and liberate the nation. During the nine-year resistance war from 1946 to 1954, Sinh was honoured to live and work with Uncle Ho and many of his comrades like Pham Van Dong, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Truong Chinh in the Viet Bac base.

According to poet Thanh Phan, his father learned a lot from the President, especially in his working style and simple and humble lifestyle.

His fathers patriotism then inspired Thanh Phan who has written many poems about Vietnam, especially Hanoi.

For decades, until before the COVID-19 pandemic, poet Thanh Phan often returned to Vietnam, participating in many cultural and artistic programs and activities in the homeland./.
The Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Wale Abbas on Tuesday ordered the detention of some police officers in the command for allegedly assaulting some residents in the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Bright Edafe, who disclosed this in a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, said the officers were seen in a viral video assaulting the residents.

The incident happened in Ekredjebor community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

In the video clip posted on Twitter, a police officer is seen using a plank to beat an unidentified person while another officer holding a plank is seen chasing another, apparently a motorcyclist, according to a background voice in the video.

Mr Edafe, a deputy superintendent of police, did not disclose the identities of the officers.

He did not also disclose when the incident occurred and what led to the assault by the officers, an action he described as unprofessional.

It is not in the commands character to assault members of the public who we are supposed to protect. More so, planks are not part of police accoutrements, and it is absolutely unprofessional of them to assault members of the public in whatever guise, Mr Edafe said.

The incident came less than two months after some officers were arrested in the state for allegedly maltreating a woman after a video of the incident went viral.

The victim, a half-naked woman, could be seen in the video crying out for help as police officers held her down on the ground while using a rope to tie her hands behind her back.

An officer was seen in the video stamping on the womans foot as she struggled on the ground, this newspaper reported in March.

In the neighbouring Rivers State, the police last month demoted an officer who was filmed slapping a motorist in Emohua Local Government Area of the state.

The assault on the motorist by the officers triggered outrage on social media, prompting the police in Rivers State to order their arrest.

The three officers involved were later arrested and flown to the Force Headquarters in Abuja where they faced administrative trial.

One of the officers, Adejoh Siaka, an inspector was demoted to sergeant after the trial. A sergeant, Ndiwa Kpuebari, was reprimanded for being present at the scene of the incident while the last of the three  Friday Obaka was discharged unconditionally after the trial.

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The United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, has urged nations to transform their approaches to the fight against Climate change and Biodiversity loses by adopting climate-smart biodiversity policies and efficient resource allocation.

The UN official made the call while delivering his address on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity on Monday.

He said: As we mark this years International Day for Biological Diversity, we acknowledge the intrinsic connection between biodiversity and climate change.

The relationship is cyclical: a stable climate is the foundation for healthy and thriving biodiversity, which is critical to stabilise the climate system and ensure the long-term wellbeing of all, including nature and future generations, Mr Stiell said.

He noted that nature, agriculture, human development and society are all linked, all at risk, and all part of a self-reinforcing cycle.

Mr Stiell explained that actions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement must reinforce the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, by ensuring that measures to tackle emissions such as planting trees also support efforts to maintain and enrich biodiversity.

Likewise, he said efforts to implement the Framework must strengthen the fight against negative climate change impacts.

The parent conventions of the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are sisters, two of three conventions meant to safeguard the liveability of the planet, he added.

The Paris Agreement notes the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including oceans, and the protection of biodiversity, recognized by some cultures as Mother Earth, the official said.

Unsustainable actions and untapped opportunities

In his remarks, the UN secretary General, Antonio Guterres, emphasised that the existence of humanity is dependent on a healthy environment.

From the air we breathe and the food we eat, to the energy that fuels us and the medicines that heal us, our lives are wholly dependent on healthy ecosystems, he said, adding that Yet our actions are devastating every corner of the planet.

He said: One million species are at risk of extinction  the result of habitat degradation, skyrocketing pollution, and the worsening climate crisis.

We must end this war on nature, he added.

Mr Guterres stressed that last years agreement on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework marked an important step, but that now is the time to move from agreement to action.

This, he said, could be achieved by ensuring sustainable production and consumption patterns.

He urged nations to redirect subsidies from nature-destroying activities towards green solutions and also recognise the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities because they are the strongest guardians of our worlds biodiversity.

Also, the UN chief said sustainable environmental practices can be achieved by pushing governments and businesses to take stronger and faster action against biodiversity loss and the climate crisis.

On his part, Mr Stiell said nations have opportunities to transform the global approach to climate change and biodiversity and build mutual support between National Adaptation Plans and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans.

We can optimise co-benefits and synergies of finance targeting the biodiversity and climate crises  one of the specific targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, he noted, saying We know we can do much more  and we need to do much more.

Call for action

As nations strive to achieve global climate goals and live in harmony with nature, the UN Climate Change Head urged countries to take concrete and collective actions, such as strengthening cooperation among Parties, indigenous peoples, local communities, and other relevant entities to stabilise the climate system and reverse biodiversity decline.

Mr Stiell said nations should foster mindset change to restore and maintain the health of all ecosystems in a timely and culturally appropriate manner, and engage diverse knowledge systems and practices, including that of the indigenous peoples to transform the global approach to climate change and biodiversity.

Together, we can set ourselves on a path to build a resilient future where all life thrives, he said.

This report is produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by CJID.

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The United Nations World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), has said extreme weather events are responsible for the deaths of two million people and about $4.3 trillion in economic damages in the past five decades.

According to the new figures published on Monday, the WMO, which is the UNs authoritative voice on weather, climate and water, said 11,778 weather-related disasters have occurred from 1970 to 2021, and they have increased over that period.

Extreme weather, climate and water-related events caused 11 778 reported disasters between 1970 and 2021, with just over 2 million deaths and US$ 4.3 trillion in economic losses, according to new figures presented to #MeteoWorld.

the WMO said in a tweet posted on its official page on Monday.

Extreme weather, climate and water-related events caused 11 778 reported disasters between 1970 and 2021, with just over 2 million deaths and US$ 4.3 trillion in economic losses, according to new figures presented to #MeteoWorld.https://t.co/nghvQG67OY pic.twitter.com/UzikT8zh2g  World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) May 22, 2023

The WMO report hinted that more than 90 per cent of deaths reported worldwide due to these disasters occurred in developing countries.

The most vulnerable communities unfortunately bear the brunt of weather, climate and water-related hazards, WMO chief, Petteri Taalas, was quoted to have said in a statement.

He said Cyclone Mocha, which wreaked havoc in Myanmar and Bangladesh last week, exemplified the extreme weather reality.

Mr Taalas said the severe storm caused widespread devastation,  impacting the poorest of the poor.

Much the same was experienced in Nigeria, last year. Between September and October last year, floods disrupted many communities across 36 States of Africas most populous country. Hundreds of villages and urban centres were submerged in water.

According to official statistics, the flood disaster unsettled over 2.4 million people, and over 600 fatalities were recorded within this period.

Similarly, expansive hectares of farmlands across affected states were swept off.

While many Nigerians described the flooding incident as the worst aftermath of climate change Nigeria has witnessed since the nation recorded a similar disaster in 2012, environmentalists argued that the impact of the floods would have been minimal had the necessary infrastructures needed to control floods across zones in the country been properly maintained by the government.

The significance of early warnings

In the latest report, the WMO said improved early warning systems and coordinated disaster management had significantly reduced human casualties.

Mr Taalas noted that during disasters similar to Mocha in the past, both Myanmar and Bangladesh suffered death tolls of tens and even hundreds of thousands of people.

Although Myanmars military government has put the death toll from the latest cyclone at 145, there are fears the number is higher.

In a 2021 report covering disaster-linked deaths and losses from 1970 to 2019, the agency hinted that at the beginning of the period, the world saw more than 50,000 such deaths each year. By the 2010s, it said the disaster death toll had dropped to below 20,000 annually.

Between 2020 and 2021, the WMO said Monday that 22,608 disaster fatalities were recorded globally.

Thanks to early warnings and disaster management these catastrophic mortality rates are now thankfully history, the report said.

Early warnings save lives, it added.

It was noted that the UN has launched a plan to ensure all nations are covered by disaster early warning systems by the end of 2027. To date, only half of the worlds countries have such systems in place, the report said.

Economic losses

Meanwhile, the WMO warned that while deaths have plunged, the economic losses incurred in weather-related disasters have increased.

The agency said they had previously recorded economic losses had increased sevenfold from 1970 to 2019, rising from $49 million per day during the first decade to $383 million per day in the final one.

Wealthy countries have been hardest hit by far in monetary terms, it said

Developed nations accounted for more than 60 per cent of losses due to weather, climate and water disasters, but in more than four-fifths of cases, the economic losses for each disaster were equivalent to less than 0.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the report says.

This report is produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.

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Since the inauguration of the Dangote Refinery in Lagos on Monday, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, and his predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun, have exchanged words over why the project was not sited in Ogun State.

The $18.5 billion investment was to be sited in Ogun State but was moved to its present location in the neighbouring Lagos State.

Shortly after the inauguration of the project on Monday, some prominent indigenes of the state expressed sadness at the loss of the project to Lagos State.

Segun Showunmi, a governorship aspirant in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), blamed the relocation on bad politics and called for a law that punishes economic sabotage occasioned by bad politics.

In a statement he personally signed, Mr Showunmi said: I cannot but wonder what explanation Ogun State has for not housing that project that sits pretty within our Ogun Development Master Plan with Olokola Free Trade Zone in Ogun Waterside!

It is time to have a law that punishes economic sabotage occasioned by bad politics! No one should be allowed to set back a state on the altar of winning an election, which more than likely has queried integrity.

But in a swift reaction, Governor Dapo Abiodun said he was not responsible for losing the refinery to Lagos.

The governor, who spoke through a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, said a disagreement between Mr Amosun and Aliko Dangote cost Ogun to lose the monumental project to Lagos.

Mr Abiodun was the chairman of the committee on the Olokola Free Trade Zone projects when the project was lost to Lagos State.

But the governor said he did everything in that capacity to make sure the project saw the light of the day.

As we are all aware, the penultimate administration made appreciable and concerted efforts to ensure that the Olokola Deep Sea Port and other ancillary projects in the OKFTZ become a reality by rallying significant players in the oil and gas sector, including Dangote Group.

But, the successor government between 2011 and 2019, for reasons best known to it, killed the project and frustrated the promoter of Dangote Refinery out of the state.

The then governor, perhaps, having a personal axe to grind with the promoter of the refinery project, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, frustrated all the efforts of Governor Abiodun and his committee, the statement reads in part

Having become governor in 2019, it is on record that Governor Dapo Abiodun had always rued the missed opportunity, and hed embarked on efforts in reawakening the OKFTZ. At different forums, the governor had made it known that the Olokola project is a gold mine waiting to be tapped by the state.

Come out clean, Amosun tells Abiodun

Responding to the claims, Mr Amosun, in a 13-paragraph statement signed by his media aide, Bola Adeyemi, challenged the governor to provide evidence that he (Amosun) was responsible for losing the project to Lagos.

Mr Amosun, who accused the governor of churning out half-truths, said he had been reluctant to join issues with his successor, I am making this exception. It is my hope that this will be my final word on the Olokola Free Trade Zone and the Dangote Refinery Lagos relocation debacle.

Let me put it straight: The Olokola Free Trade Zone project was not solely owned by Ogun State. From its conception in 2007, it was a Joint Venture. The Federal Government of Nigeria owned the majority 51%, Ondo State Government (14.5%), Ogun State Government (14.5%), and strategic core investors (20%). Alhaji Aliko Dangote, according to the information availed us when we took office, subsequently bought and took over the 20% equity of the core investors. Ogun State was a minority equity stakeholder only, without proprietary strength and capacity to take sole decisions on the Joint Venture enterprise.

 I am proud to put on record for posterity that the brouhaha and misconception about the true and full ownership of the project became confused for reasons of the proactive and investment-friendly disposition of our administration. Ogun State, under my leadership, went beyond and above duty and did all we could to ensure that the project saw the light of day. As Governor at the time, I appointed two (2) carefully chosen stakeholders of Ogun East/Ogun Waterside Local Government extraction to represent Ogun States interests on the joint venture enterprise and advise the State. These were Dapo Abiodun (now Governor) and Mrs Kemi Adeosun, then Commissioner for Finance, who incidentally hailed from the host Community of the Olokola project. After Mrs Adeosun was elevated and became a minister, another son of Ogun East, Lekan Onamusi, took charge and represented Ogun State on the Joint Venture.

Based on the advice of our representatives on the project, we engaged the majority equity holder, FGN and our joint venture partner, Ondo State Government, who were very responsive and eager to have the project in Olokola Free Trade Zone. We also vigorously engaged Alhaji Aliko Dangote and did everything possible to make the enterprise take off. A total of 10,000 hectares of land was made available. As a mere holder of 14.5% equity interest, it is most uncharitable for anyone to churn out lies that Ogun State was in a position to unilaterally frustrate the project or was responsible for the logjam. With respect to all sides, it accords more with logic to appreciate the fact that Alhaji Aliko Dangote took business decisions of his own in accordance with the goals of his business strategy and risk assessment.

Our position was that, at the minimum, 500 hectares from the Ogun State portion be reserved for the host Community, Ogun Waterside, as against ceding the entire land of the Olokola Free Trade Zone. Indeed, at some point and at my instance, our revered Elders, Baba Olusegun Obasanjo and Kabiyesi Awujale, Oba Sikiru Adetona were involved, where we all met to ensure that the project was sited in Olokola Free Trade Zone.

Looking back to my time in Ogun State, I remain immensely grateful to God and the good people of our State for the opportunities availed us. Our records of achievements remain incontrovertible. We opened the State to genuine entrepreneurs and investors, which led to the influx of massive private-sector investments. We also paid serious attention to the security of lives and propertiesover 200 industries, both local and multinational, were birthed in Ogun State. In a particular year during our time, 75% of the entire National FDI in the real sector was birthed in Ogun State, so much so that President Goodluck Jonathan saw the need to visit commission significant private sector-led projects at least five (5) times. Ogun State, under my watch, was indeed investor-friendly and investors destination of choice as Ogun State literally became the Industrial Capital of Nigeria. Ogun States economy, at the time, grew faster than the national average. No amount of concocted lies, blackmail and orchestrated falsehood will blight these unparalleled facts.

It is, therefore, interesting to read that the present Ogun State governor holds me responsible for allegedly scuttling the Olokola project. For the benefit of the good people of Ogun State, Nigerians and posterity, we challenge him, particularly as he was then the chairman appointed to oversee and ensure that the project was sited in Olokola Free Trade Zone, to disclose with facts, where he or the Administration was remiss, and which might have led to the project being moved away from Ogun State.

READ ALSO: Ogun Assembly workers issue Governor Abiodun 16 days ultimatum

The only thing I can recall that the government insisted on, was that about 500 hectares must be set aside and protected for the benefit of our people in Ogun East, and in particular, the host community, Ogun Waterside.

 As Governor, I would never have knowingly let any opportunity slip past Ogun State and its people. I did my best to the satisfaction and conviction of my conscience.

 As I conclude, it is my hope that this intervention will give clarity to the vexed subject of the Olokola Free Trade Zone and the relocation of the Dangote Refinery controversy.

 Once again, I congratulate the Dangote group and Alhaji Aliko Dangote for the hard work, dedication, and commitment to the results that we all saw on Monday, the former governor said in the statement.

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The Nigerian Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies(NILDS) has commissioned a centre for security analysis.

In addition, the institute also opened a radio station known as the Democracy Radio. The station is on 104.9FM.

The radio will serve as a medium for enhancing citizens engagement, promoting political culture, values and deepening democracy and governance in Nigeria.

Also, the centre for security analysis is expected to conduct quality academic and professional research, promote and disseminate the practice of science-based methodologies of law-making to legislative assemblies and promote critical research material and policy insights as background materials for the legislature.

The institute commissioned the two-in-one organisations in Abuja, Nigerias capital city, on Wednesday.

Democracy Radio

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, the Director General of NILDS, Abubakar Sulaiman, said the outgoing 9th National Assembly approved the establishment of the NILDS Democracy Radio, which will serve as an essential medium of enhancing citizens engagement, promoting political culture and values and deepening democracy and governance in Nigeria.

Mr Sulaiman, a professor, said the medium would not only transmit legislative businesses but also serve as the voice of the Nigerian people.

It is my firm belief that when the full potential of the radio station is effectively utilised, it will serve as a national medium to provoke public debates leading to greater public participation in important decisions.

This is because democracy partly lies on the media to provide the citizens with accurate information that reflects the range of actors in the political and public space, thereby bridging the gap between the government and the governed, he said.

The DG said that considering the digitalisation era and meeting the 21st Century technological wave, the NILDS set up an audio-visual digital studio to broadcast its FM radio programming over the internet to ensure its programmes reach a broader geographical and demographic audience.

This way, audiences all over the world can stream our radio programming live from our website, www.democracyradio.ng and also have access to archived programmes at a click of a button.

This audio-visual studio is also equipped with high-performance computers, audio systems and a multi-camera set-up that will allow us to produce informative and engaging content specifically for our podcast and YouTube channels, which will help entrench civic and political culture amongst the youth, he said.

Mr Sulaiman commended the outgoing National Assembly for its support, saying, History will be kind to this same Assembly for being supportive of yet another intellectual outfit under the National Assembly but domiciled in NILDS.

Centre for Security Analysis

The Legislative Centre for Security Analysis, in line with fulfilling the mandate of the NILDS is to conduct quality academic and professional research, promote and disseminate the practice of science-based methodologies of law-making legislative assemblies and promote critical research material and policy insights as background materials for the legislature.

Mr Sulaiman, NILDS DG, said the centre was a replica of the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, which has facilitated, driven and shaped Security Sector Reform (SSR) policy and programming worldwide.

According to him, the centre is also similar to the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum (US), which hosts

regular fora for international parliamentarians and government officials to learn from experts on all security-related aspects.

Mr Sulaiman said the security analysis centre was the first on the African Continent.

The centre is well-equipped with state-of-the-art teleconferencing facilities. The 20-person conference room provides capabilities for remote collaborative meetings with local and global facilitators and partners.

Speaking further, the DG said the essence of the centre cannot be over-emphasized due to the rise in violent conflict, crime and insecurity in the country and other parts of the continent of Africa.

It is expected that the Centre will be dedicated to carrying out wide-ranging functions, which include: enhancing the security of Nigerians through primary research and studies in all aspects of security in the country to determine the causes and implications and identify areas for legislative intervention; promote understanding of the security environment, share knowledge, and use that expertise to identify legislative actions and interventions; undertake tailor-made research to advance knowledge and ability of government and security as well as intelligence agencies to counter threats and incidents; produce research reports and policy briefs on

security-related issues for consideration by the National Assembly; draft security-

based Bills, Motions and Resolutions for speedy legislative consideration; Improve security incident detection through continuous monitoring and analysis of security

data.

Mr Sulaiman, who has just been appointed for a second term in office, said the centre benefit would not have been realised without the commitment and support of the leadership of the 9th Assembly.

We hope that these two outfits, a legacy of the 9th Assembly, would be of greater relevance to deepening democracy, stimulating public interest in legislative businesses and further provide useful information to the Parliament on security related sectors.

READ ALSO: Buhari appoints security adviser

It is on this note, therefore, that I wis specially thank the President of the Senate, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, PhD., GCON, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, H.E, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, CFR and the Governing Council members of NILDS for their continuous support, dedication and commitment as true patriots and promoters of democracy who are determined to consolidate the practice of democracy in Nigeria and strengthen the legislative institution, he said.

Dignitaries at the occasion included the senate president, Ahmad Lawan; Philip Aduda, a senator; Reps members; former INEC chairperson, Attahiru Jega; and NBC DG, Bello Ilelah, among others.

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An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Wednesday threatened to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, for failure to appear for his trial.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Olubumni Abike-Fadipe frowned at the constant non-appearance of the defendant in the trial.

Mr Fani-Kayode is standing trial on a 12-count charge bordering on the use of false documents, use of fabricated evidence, procuring the execution of documents by false pretences, and fabrication of evidence.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge, on arraignment on 17 December 2021.

The judge noted that Mr Fani-Kayode appeared last for the trial on 4 November 2022.

Mrs Abike-Fadipe cited excuses that had been given by the defendant for non-appearance.

She consequently threatened to issue a bench warrant against him if he failed to show up at the next adjourned date.

The judge also showed displeasure at the lack of diligent prosecution of the case.

She said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuting the case could withdraw it if it would not prosecute it diligently.

She adjourned the case until 7 November for the continuation of trial.

The defendant was alleged to have forged medical reports which he tendered before Justice Daniel Osiagor of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he is being prosecuted by EFCC for an alleged N4.9 billion fraud.

His counsel, Wale Balogun, had on 20 February informed the court of the absence of the defendant due to health reasons and issues he had with the State Security Service (SSS or DSS) and police.

We regret to announce to your lordship that the defendant is not in court due to health reasons, and due to a running battle he has with both the DSS and the police, he said.

Mr Balogun had prayed the court to adjourn the case, promising to make the defendant available at Wednesdays proceedings.

However, when the case was called on Wednesday, Chinozo Eze, who represented Mr Balogun, told the court that Mr Fani-Kayode was not in court due to health issues.

The absence of the defendant in court is due to health issues, Mr Eze said.

Mr Eze further informed the court that a medical report and a letter seeking the leave of the court to vacate the adjourned date had been submitted to the court.

EFCC counsel, Zinat Atiku, confirmed the receipt of the said letter.

(NAN)

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The Police Command in Nasarawa State said on Wednesday that it has arrested 10 suspected kidnappers and three gun runners in the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Ramhan Nansel, said this while parading the suspects on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Maiyaki Baba, at the commands headquarters in Lafia.

He said that the feat was recorded during various operations across the state between April 30 and May 23.

Mr Nansel said that 13 suspected cultists were also arrested within the period, while three firearms and 497 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the suspects.

According to the PPRO, three of the suspected kidnappers from Doka in Kaduna state, Tunga and Awe in Nasarawa State, were arrested in Tunga village on 30 April, with 155 rounds of live ammunition.

Upon interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were sent by one Idris from Katsina State to purchase ammunition at Ibi, Taraba State before they were arrested at Tunga village.

A follow-up investigation by men of the Commands Anti-Kidnapping Unit led to the arrest of Idris, father of one of the suspects from Kankara in Katsina State, where one AK-47 rifle, one magazine and 323 rounds of live ammunition were recovered, he said.

Mr Nansel added that three members of a gun-running syndicate were arrested on 15 May, at about 2:00 p.m. in Assakio near Lafia trying to buy three AK47 rifles with the sum of N1.1 million.

He said that two of the suspects from Quanpan Local Government Area in Plateau and Assakio in Lafia were arrested in Assakio while trying to seal the deal.

The PPRO said that upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to having been contracted by another suspect in Assakio to source for the weapon.

He said all the suspects would be charged to court for prosecution upon the conclusion of an investigation.

The PPRO gave assurances that the Police Command would not relent in its onslaught against criminals in the state and called for the support of citizens.

(NAN)

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Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has given reason why he believes that President Muhammadu Buhari was complicit in the clashes between herders and farming communities in the state.

Mr Ortom spoke when he appeared as a guest on Arise TVs The Morning Show on Wednesday.

Like in other parts of Nigeria, herders and farmers have been in a prolonged conflict in Benue, with frequent attacks and killings of people.

Speaking during the TV programme, Mr Ortom insisted that Mr Buhari has been complicit in the clashes between the herders and farmers in the state.

The governor said he floated Community Volunteer Guards, a vigilante group, to assist the conventional security agencies in checking herders attacks in the state, but claimed that Mr Buhari declined the state governments request for permission to provide automatic weapons to the vigilante group.

It is unfortunate that the federal government seems to be complicit in the manner the herdsmen are killing our people. I had interfaced with the federal authorities, Mr President, I have sat with him and I brought these things before him.

The truth is that when you allow the Fulani herdsmen to carry AK-47 (rifles) and then allow the local people and even the Community Volunteer Guards to carry pump action rifles, (they cannot confront the herdsmen), he said, adding that the highest weapon used by guards is pump action rifle.

But you know that one hundred Community Volunteer Guards with pump action (rifles) cannot confront two Fulani herdsmen with AK-47 (rifles). These are automatic weapons.

And that was what led my state Executive Council to apply to the president and the federal government to also permit us to at least allow the Community Volunteer Guards to be armed with automatic weapons so that they can truly confront these herdsmen, Mr Ortom said.

The governor said herder attacks in the state would have ended if the president and the federal government had granted his request.

When we applied, we were told that those weapons are prohibited for citizens to carry. So, they cannot allow us to carry them. And the challenge I have with the federal governments response to my request for automatic weapons for the guards is why are they allowing Fulani herdsmen to carry these (AK-47) weapons? he said.

Where have they arrested these Fulani herdsmen and taken them to court and prosecuted them and dealt with them (for carrying AK-47).

He urged the federal government to quickly tackle herders attacks, which he noted, are being witnessed across the country mainly in the North-central states.

Buhari has taken us from top to bottom, but Ive forgiven him

Mr Ortom said, as a Christian, he had forgiven Mr Buhari for his failings as president and that he expects the incoming administration of Bola Tinubu to provide security for Nigerians so that the country can return to its days of glory.

For me, as a born-again Christian, I have forgiven President Muhammadu Buhari. He has taken us from top to bottom, but that does not mean we should continue to hold it on him, he said.

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The Kogi House of Assembly has lifted the suspension of eight of the nine lawmakers suspected of being involved in terrorism and electoral violence during the March 18 House of Assembly election.

The eight lawmakers are Daniyan Ranyi (Bassa), Muktar Baje (Okehi), Olusola Olumo (Ijumu), Akande Moses (Ogori/ Magongo) and Lawi Ahmed (Okene 1).

Others are Atule Egunu (Ibaji), Suleiman Musa (Idah) and Aderonke Aro (Yagba West).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lawmakers were recalled during Wednesdays plenary following a letter written to the house by Governor Yahaya Bello, requesting for their clearance against the backdrop of a report from the State Security Service.

The House, through a voice vote conducted by the Speaker, Matthew Kolawole, unanimously cleared the eight lawmakers and two council chairpersons who were also suspected of committing the crimes.

They were alleged to have breached the conduct of the March 18 House of Assembly elections in the state and were branded terrorists by the governor.

But the report of an Ad hoc Committee Chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Alfa Momoh-Rabiu, cleared the eight lawmakers except for Bello Abdullah of Ajaokuta constituency.

However, no reason was given for the non-clearance of Mr Abdullah.

The two council chairpersons cleared of the allegations are Moses Tolorunleke of Kabba/ Bunu and William Ekuwojo of Ibaji LGAs.

Meanwhile, the House has adjourned sitting until Thursday.

(NAN)

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The Zamfara State Government, on Wednesday, said it had recruited 1,793 health workers in the last year.

The Commissioner for Health, Aliyu Abubakar, stated this in Gusau at an event to celebrate the North-West Primary Health Care Leadership Challenge Award won by the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Zamfara emerged as the best-performing state in the North-West zone at the Nigerian Governors Primary HealthCare Leadership Challenge.

NAN also reports that the healthcare support programme was supported by the Nigeria Governors Forum, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, Aliko Dangote and UNICEF, to revamp the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR).

The event, held at the state Ministry of Health, was attended by health partners, NGOs, CSOs, the media and other health stakeholders in the state.

Mr Abubakar, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Aliyu Maikiyo-Maradun, described the award as a timely and welcome development to the state.

Today is a very important day, not only to the Ministry of Health but to the state in general.

This is one of the greatest achievements recorded by the state ministry of health under Governor Bello Matawalles administration.

We are proud of the State Primary Health Care Board, management of the state Ministry of Health and its parastatals for achieving this great feat, he said.

The commissioner attributed the achievements to the good policies and programmes initiated by the Matawalle-led administration.

According to him, the construction of 147 PHCs and the provision of 147 tricycle ambulances in 147 political wards across the state is one of the leading factors for achieving the award.

One of the major achievements recorded by this ministry within one year is recruitment of 1,793 health workers across the health sector in the state.

The health workers included: Nursing and Midwives Officers, Community and Dental Officers, Medical Record and Environmental Officers.

At the Hospital Services Management Board, we recruited 758 personnel, while at the State College of Nursing Sciences, we recruited 50 new staffers.

At Ahmad Sani, Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau, we recruited 205 personnel, while at the Primary Health Care Board, we recruited 780 personnel, the commissioner said.

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, State Primary Health Care Board (PHCB), Tukur Ismaila, said that the award was owing to the outstanding performance of the state in primary healthcare delivery, ahead of other states in the North-west zone.

The performance was based on adequate primary health care, health infrastructure, repositioning primary health care, work health force, data quality and utilisation and consistency in data generations and gender equality in health care service delivery, among others.

The executive secretary thanked the health partners, traditional, religious and community leaders, security agencies, media practitioners and other stakeholders for their support which contributed to the winning of the award.

The State Team Lead, WHO, Yusuf Argungu, who spoke on behalf of the health donor-partners, appreciated the award and pledged their readiness to continue to support the state in promoting health care delivery.

(NAN)

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Herdsman Palden poses with his yaks in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 17, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

Herdsmen are seen at a tent near the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 18, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

Herdsmen make tea at a tent near the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 17, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

This photo taken on May 18, 2023 shows yaks at the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

A herdsman walks yaks to leave for the Mount Qomolangma base camp in the Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 15, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

A herdsman loads the goods onto a yak at the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 12, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

Herdsmen tie up the goods at the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 18, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

This aerial photo taken on May 18, 2023 shows a yak caravan heading for the advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mount Qomolangma in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

Herdsman Palden makes tea at a tent near the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 17, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

A yak caravan heads for the advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mount Qomolangma in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 12, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

A herdsman feeds yaks in Zangpu Village of Zhaxizom Township, Tingri County, Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 20, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

Herdsmen pack the goods for yak conveyance at the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 18, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

A herdsman goes back to the tent after feeding the yaks near the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 17, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

Herdsman Palden feeds his yak in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 17, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

This photo taken on May 18, 2023 shows a yak at the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

This aerial photo taken on May 18, 2023 shows a yak caravan heading for the advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mount Qomolangma in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

This photo taken on May 12, 2023 shows a herdsman at the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

A herdsman is seen resting at a tent near the Mount Qomolangma base camp in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 17, 2023.

Due to the complicated natural conditions of the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, yak conveyance has become an essential means of transporting goods and materials for scientific expedition to Mt. Qomolangma.

Herdsmen living in Zhaxizom Township of Tingri County, the nearest administrative township in China to Mt. Qomolangma, have been providing yak services to climbers in response to demand. The herdsmen's work of yak conveyance usually starts from walking the yaks onto the Mt. Qomolangma base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then they load these yaks with goods like oxygen cylinders and tents before heading for advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters on Mt. Qomolangma.

This year, Chinese scientists have started a scientific expedition to the Mt. Qomolangma region in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Palden, a herdsman living in Zhaxizom Township, has been helping scientific research team members transport goods. A nine-day round trip would make Palden earn more than 4,000 yuan (about 569 U.S. dollars). Besides transporting goods and materials, herdsmen here also take a responsibility to pick up rubbish along their route back to the foot of the mountain. "There is only one Mount Qomolangma on the earth and it's our obligation to well protect her," said Palden. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

Editor: Zhang Zhou
Oando Clean Energy Limited (OCEL), in partnership with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), on Tuesday commenced operations of its electric mass transit buses at Lagos Bus Services Limited (LBSL) head office, Ilupeju, Lagos.

A statement released by Oando on Tuesday said the initiative is aimed at transitioning the Lagos State public transport system through the development of a pathway to a carbon-free mobility ecosystem within the state.

It noted that the buses will provide a viable, competitive, and environmentally friendly alternative to the current internal combustion engine mass transit buses.

The Managing Director of LAMATA, Abinbola Akinajo, highlighted the importance of public-private-partnerships, by saying; This initiative is a major aspect of our vision for transportation in Lagos State, we are desirous of having a clean and efficient transportation system.

Todays event is proof of our desire to involve the private sector in our activities to give the average Lagosian the ability to meet their mobility needs.

She explained that LAMATA is a multi-fuel transport regulatory agency for Lagos hence the partnership with OCEL for the use of buses in passenger operations.

From LAMATAs perspective, we are open to doing business with the private sector whilst ensuring that these partners are aligned with the vision of Lagos state, she said.

I am elated that in just over a year that Oando Clean Energy came to us to discuss the possibility of working with us in the deployment of electric buses, we have signed an MoU with a key deliverable being the implementation of a PoC that would allow us finally include electric buses in our ecosystem.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources, Lagos State, Olalere Odusote, said We had identified transportation as a major cause of pollutants and health problems in the State. For us, this initiative is another step were taking as a Government to ensure we clean up the environment in addition to ongoing initiatives in the energy sector.

In recognition of the urgent need for electric vehicles to address transportations 62 per cent contribution to Nigerias GHG emissions, the President/CEO of OCEL, Ainojie Irune, said This is an opportunity for us to revolutionize mobility in our country as well as build local capacity for the renewable and clean energy ecosystem. Whilst today these buses have come from across the world, in the very near future they will be produced here in Nigeria.

In the very near future, we will have a multitude of locally trained engineers who are capable of operating, maintaining, and servicing these buses and other renewable energy assets. We see these buses as a first step. This PoC facilitates the collection of the first sets of data points to support the development and deployment of EV for municipal and public transport on the continent.

Our ambition together with Lagos State, is to set our sights on the future and chart a path for others to follow. We have worked tirelessly to get here, and we are confident that the steps we are taking, which I must reiterate would not have been possible without the support of Lagos state, LAMATA, LBSL, Primero, and His Excellency, the Governor, who saw the vision and imperative of committing to this journey.

Mr Irune added that the company is committed to the success of the initiative and plans to expand its services through partnerships with leading players in the global renewable energy space.

He said: We believe that these electric vehicles have the potential to transform the transportation sector in Nigeria and provide a sustainable solution for the countrys growing population.

Also speaking, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, represented by the Commissioner of Transport, Frederick Oladeinde, said, We are here today to write the script for a new future.

He explained that there is abundant evidence that shows that human activities have been the main drivers of climate change primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.

This situation has given rise to affirmative actions by world leaders and environmentalists to act fast to save our world. Lagos is the only state in Nigeria that has prepared and initiated the execution of a climate action plan.

The plan outlines 26 efforts covering adaptation and mitigation actions to build a sustainable low carbon economy in the pursuit of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, he said.

Oando said that the the roll-out of the electric buses starts with a three-month proof-of-concept phase, aimed at establishing the viability of electric vehicles for mass transportation in Lagos State, and to derive key learnings for an expanded program across the country.

This, it said, will be followed by a pilot phase with an expanded fleet and bus routes, and the eventual countrywide deployment creating employment for over 30,000 Nigerians.

To support the seamless running of the buses, the statement added that OCEL has invested and deployed charging stations in bus depots to ensure the buses are always fully charged. Furthermore, extensive training has been provided to the drivers on the proper use and maintenance of the buses.

This project exemplifies Oandos commitment to supporting Nigeria in achieving her ambitious goal of becoming net zero by 2060, and indeed Lagos States commitment to net zero by 2050.

Through its strategic partnership with LAMATA, the company is actively contributing to the development of a robust EV infrastructure ecosystem in Lagos State and further underscores the importance of public and private sector partnerships in achieving being a carbon-neutral Nation.

Lagos is the most populous city in sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of over 20 million people and growing.

In the last decade, the statement said the population of vehicles on Lagos roads has quadrupled with over 3,000 mass transit buses operating in the state.

As the population continues to grow, with estimates of it increasing to as much as 100 million residents by 2100, so will the number of vehicles. Today Lagos contributes 44,000kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per day.

These, amongst others, make it a suitable development ground for sustainable technologies that can be replicated across Africa.

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This photo taken on May 23, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China.

The one-day forum, jointly hosted by the State Council Information Office and the regional government of Tibet, brought together officials, experts in various fields and representatives of enterprises and media organizations from home and abroad.

Officially called the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China," it focused on Tibet's new chapter in high-quality development and human rights protection.

Five sub-forums discussed China's whole-process people's democracy, high-quality development, and Tibet's culture and ecological civilization.

After over 70 years of development, a new modern socialist Tibet featuring political and social stability, economic prosperity, ethnic unity, religious harmony, consolidation of border defense and people living and working in peace and contentment is now presented to the world, said Wang Junzheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee, at the opening ceremony.

"People of various ethnic groups in Tibet have enjoyed a greater sense of accomplishment, happiness and security, and moderately prosperous lives along with the rest of the Chinese people," Wang said.

Colin Mackerras, a recipient of the Chinese Government Friendship Award and the Order of Australia, lauded Tibet's development over past decades, citing his experience gained during visits to Tibet.

He said that Tibet has eliminated absolute poverty, and its infrastructure and living standards have improved dramatically. 

An attendee views an exhibition outside the venue of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Attendees listen to guests' speeches at the opening ceremony of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Editor: Zhang Zhou
With $4.8 million of new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxitec will initiate development of a Friendly solution for the invasive Asian blue tick, Rhipicephalus microplus .

of new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxitec will initiate development of a Friendly solution for the invasive Asian blue tick, . Oxitec's Friendly Cattle Tick Program team has conducted a successful feasibility phase, finding that development and future application of a Friendly solution for the world's most damaging blood-feeding cattle pest is highly achievable and anticipated to deliver future benefits to the world's cattle farmers.

R. microplus spreads deadly cattle diseases, causes billions of dollars of losses to farmers across the world and is widely resistant to chemical pesticides.

OXFORD, England, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxitec Ltd, the leading developer of insect-based biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock, today announced the launch of development of a targeted, biological Friendly solution for the world's most devastating cattle pest, the Asian blue tick, or Rhipicephalus microplus.

Oxitec receives funding to advance sustainable control of the invasive Asian blue tick, which threatens cattle and food security across the world.



In a feasibility project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxitec's team validated the key methods for development of a Friendly R. microplus, and found that, for management of this dangerous tick, this biological approach is anticipated to provide a highly effective alternative to chemical pesticides. The Foundation has now committed $4.8 million to an early development phase to start to build the Friendly R. microplus solution, Oxitec's first targeting a non-insect pest.

Launched in 2021, Oxitec's cattle tick program has conducted in-depth assessments of tick biology and genetics, assessed methods for development of a Friendly tick solution, artificial production methods, cattle management practices in regions threatened by R. microplus, and modelled the impact of future implementation on target tick populations. The results of this rigorous feasibility phase demonstrated that a future Friendly cattle tick solution could deliver highly effective R. microplus population suppression and that it represents a highly promising biological future alternative to chemical pesticides. This ground-breaking program will be conducted in collaboration with leading experts at one of the world's foremost livestock research organisations, the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The R. microplus tick blood-feeds on cattle, causing major losses in productivity and animal death by spreading deadly diseases such as babesiosis. Originally native to Asia, the invasive R. microplus is now widely distributed across Africa and Southern and Central America. R. microplus is widely regarded as the world's most important arthropod pest of cattle, costing the livestock industry and farmers billions of dollars each year. In Brazil alone this tick costs an estimated $3.2 billion in losses and management costs. Management of R. microplus is highly reliant on chemical acaricides (pesticides), to which the tick is widely resistant. New, sustainable tick management solutions are urgently needed.

Grey Frandsen, Oxitec's CEO, commented, "Oxitec is committed to deliver solutions that enable sustainable food production for a growing population on this changing planet, which is needed now more than ever to protect global food security. This new program is a significant milestone for Oxitec, enabling us to start building our first Friendly product targeting a non-insect pest. The Rhipicephalus microplus tick is a dangerous pest of cattle that threatens livelihoods across the world, and it's still spreading. More chemical pesticides aren't the answer. We're focused on stopping it in its tracks by translating Oxitec's proven, biological technology platform into a Friendly solution that offers a new level of impact against this tick, without harming the environment."

Kelly Matzen, Oxitec's Chief Technology Officer, added, "We're looking forward to starting work on development of the world's most sustainable tick management solution. I'm delighted that the results of our scientific feasibility program have demonstrated the promise of our Friendly platform to deliver impact against the world's most devastating tick pest of cattle. We're grateful for the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will enable us to  in collaboration with the globally respected Roslin Institute  start to build an urgently needed Friendly tick solution to support livestock farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond."

About Oxitec

Oxitec is the leading developer of biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock. Founded in 2002 at the University of Oxford, Oxitec is led by a passionate team comprised of 15 nationalities and is supported by world-class public, private and non-profit partners.

Learn more at oxitec.com .

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2084336/Oxitec.jpg

SOURCE Oxitec
Dr. Winterbottom will serve the role of SVP, Product Development & Manufacturing Operations

RIVERDALE, Md., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Medcura, Inc. has added Dr. Neil Winterbottom to its leadership team to accelerate the spine indication approval and commercialization of LifeGel, Medcura's flagship surgical hemostat.

Medcura, Inc. is delighted to welcome biochemist Dr. Neil Winterbottom as its new SVP of Product Development & Manufacturing Operations. Dr. Winterbottom has over 20 years of experience leading research and development teams from concept to commercialization, including teams working on sealants and hemostatic agents. Dr. Winterbottom holds a doctorate degree in oral biology and biochemistry from the University of Alberta.

Biosurgery Industry Veteran Dr. Neil Winterbottom Joins Medcura's Leadership Team Tweet this

LifeGel Absorbable Surgical Hemostat is the first and only surgical hemostatic agent to receive the FDA's coveted Breakthrough Device Designation, for its important differentiating no-swelling innovation. This no-swell feature is especially important in spine surgery where current swelling hemostatic agents have been known to cause adverse events including nerve damage and paralysis.

"Medcura's primary focus is to accelerate FDA approval of LifeGel into spine surgery, where the risk of swelling hemostatic agents is the greatest and the market opportunity is the largest. Neil will play a very critical role in getting LifeGel ready for our accelerated spine indication launch. Neil has a proven track record of success in launching new hemostatic agents and surgical sealant products to the market. He brings a wealth of inciting knowledge and experience to our team." said Medcura CEO Jim Buck.

The option of having a safer, no-swell hemostatic agent is resonating with spinal surgeons. Since the announcement of the "no swell" FDA Breakthrough Designation, Medcura has attracted leading spinal surgeons and spinal surgery centers in partnership. The spinal surgical advisory board will guide Medcura's rapid clinical and market emergence.

"I am excited to join the Medcura leadership team. LifeGel is one of the most disruptive hemostasis technologies I have seen developed in decades. I look forward to helping accelerate the LifeGel spine indication approval to the market." said Dr. Winterbottom.

Medcura develops first-of-their-kind hemostatic products with proprietary technology. These revolutionary surgical gels, foams, powders, and putties quickly stop internal bleeding in surgery, trauma centers, on the battlefield, and at home. Medcura's LifeFoam  is also a recipient of the FDA's Breakthrough Device Designation and is recently cited in publications for having "significant potential" to save lives in military combat settings. Rapid-Seal  is an antibacterial wound gel that is available at major retailers.

About Medcura, Inc.

Medcura, Inc. is a commercial-stage medical device company developing versatile hemostatic products serving large surgical, medical, and consumer market opportunities. The Company's proprietary technology platform combines the use of safe, inert ingredients with patented chemistries, all aimed at introducing disruptively lower-cost products capable of safely and effectively controlling bleeding across a broad spectrum of clinical applications. Learn more about Medcura's growing product line at www.medcurainc.com .

Media Contact:

Carol Schuler

Schuler Publicity

612.281.7030

[email protected]

SOURCE Medcura, Inc.
SEATTLE, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a successful prebooking period, Holland America Line officially opened bookings to the public today, May 24, for its two newest Grand Voyages. With the Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole and Grand World Voyage both departing in January 2025, this will be the first time that Holland America Line is offering two Grand Voyages of more than 120 days simultaneously.

Holland America Line has officially opened bookings to the public for its two newest Grand Voyages. Tweet this An infographic showing the breadth and depth of the voyages Westerdam in Sydney A Holland America Line ship cruises through the Panama Canal

The Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole aboard Volendam enables cruisers to visit five continents on a journey that travels south-to-north, while the Grand World Voyage aboard Zuiderdam covers six continents on an east-to-west route, each sailing roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"We craft one-of-a-kind itineraries that resonate with our world voyage guests, as indicated by pre-bookings on these cruises," said Beth Bodensteiner, Holland America Line's chief commercial officer. "Our team put together two amazing Grand Voyages so our guests can't go wrong with either. We're excited to offer two distinctly different, yet equally bucket-list itineraries."

2025 Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole Highlights  Volendam

133 days. Departing Jan. 25, 2025 , roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale .

, roundtrip from . Follows a south-north-south route through the Panama Canal, down along the west coast of South America to Antarctica , then up along Argentina and Brazil to the heart of the Amazon River. The ship then crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Africa , sails north to Europe and up to the North Cape before heading west across the northern Atlantic Ocean via Iceland and Greenland , and finally down the eastern shores of North America .

to , then up along and to the heart of the Amazon River. The ship then crosses the Atlantic Ocean to , sails north to and up to the North Cape before heading west across the northern Atlantic Ocean via and , and finally down the eastern shores of . Pole to Pole: Down south Volendam spends four days of scenic cruising in Antarctica and up north the ship crosses the Arctic Circle to the North Cape.

and up north the ship crosses the Arctic Circle to the North Cape. 68 total ports across five continents and 28 countries.

8 overnight calls: Fuerte Amador , Panama ; Callao ( Lima ), Peru ; Buenos, Aires, Argentina ; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Barcelona, Spain ; Lisbon, Portugal ; and Reykjavik, Iceland .

, ; Callao ( ), ; ; ; ; ; and . Memorable Moments: Panama Canal transit, Cape Horn, Antarctica , Falkland Islands , exploring the Amazon River, Strait of Gibraltar , Norwegian fjords, North Cape, Iceland and Greenland .

2025 Grand World Voyage Highlights  Zuiderdam

124 days. Departing Jan. 4, 2025 , roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale .

, roundtrip from . Transits the Panama Canal and makes way to Easter Island before crossing the South Pacific to Australia . Explores the Great Barrier Reef en route to Indonesia and Sri Lanka , then sails south to Cape Town, South Africa , by way of the Seychelles , back up along the eastern coast of Africa , through the Suez Canal to Portugal before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

before crossing the South Pacific to . Explores the Great Barrier Reef en route to and , then sails south to , by way of the , back up along the eastern coast of , through the Suez Canal to before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. 46 total ports in 32 countries across six continents.

9 overnight calls: Callao (two nights); Easter Island ; Papeete, Tahiti; Sydney, Australia ; Singapore ; Cape Town ; Mombasa, Kenya ; Safaga, Egypt ; and Barcelona .

; Papeete, Tahiti; ; ; ; Mombasa, ; Safaga, ; and . 7 late-night departures: Manta, Ecuador ; Seychelles ; Cape Town and Durban, South Africa ; Aqaba, Jordan ; Civitavecchia ( Rome ), Italy ; and Gibraltar , U.K.

; ; and ; Aqaba, ; Civitavecchia ( ), ; and , U.K. Memorable Moments: Panama Canal transit, two nights at Callao allowing time to visit Machu Picchu, Easter Island , scenic cruising in the Great Barrier Reef, two full days in Cape Town , the opportunity to visit Petra from Jordan and experience Luxor from Safaga.

The combined Grand Voyages will feature more than 4,000 live performances, 1,400 shore excursions and 5,800 pickleball games  more than any two simultaneous voyages for Holland America Line. An infographic about the breadth and depth of the voyages can be found here.

Grand Rendezvous in Barcelona

On April 24, 2025, Volendam and Zuiderdam will meet in Barcelona, Spain, for a joint overnight call, bringing the two Grand Voyages together for a celebration. Special festivities involving both ships will mark the occasion of the perfectly planned dual visit.

Early Booking Bonus Benefits

Guests who book the full 133-day Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole or 124-day Grand World Voyage by June 3, 2024, receive onboard spending credits and amenities valued at up to $8,800 or $8,500 respectively, per person. New perks for all guests who book early feature complimentary Surf Wi-Fi package, a $500 air credit per person if booked through Flight Ease and complimentary roundtrip airport transfers.

Additional extras can include complimentary luggage delivery service to and from the Fort Lauderdale airport, prepaid crew appreciation and laundry and drycleaning service when booking certain stateroom categories. Terms and conditions apply. Visit hollandamerica.com for full details.

Cruise fares for the 2025 Grand World Voyage begin at $24,999, while cruise fares for the 2025 Grand Voyage: Pole to Pole begin at $26,399, both per person, double occupancy. Taxes, fees and port expenses are additional.

For more information about Holland America Line, consult a travel advisor, call 1-877-SAIL HAL (877-724-5425) or visit hollandamerica.com.

Editors Note: Photos are available at https://www.cruiseimagelibrary.com/c/or6uqew0.

Find Holland America Line on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the Holland America Blog. You can also access all social media outlets via the home page at hollandamerica.com.

About Holland America Line

Holland America Line, part of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE:CCL andNYSE:CUK), has been exploring the world for 150 years with expertly crafted itineraries, extraordinary service and genuine connections to each destination. Offering an ideal mid-sized ship experience, its fleet visits nearly 400 ports in 114 countries around the world and has shared the thrill of Alaska for 75 years  longer than any other cruise line. Holland America Line's 11 vessels feature a diverse range of enriching activities and amenities focused on destination immersion and personalized travel. The best live music at sea fills each evening at Music Walk, and dining venues feature exclusive selections from a Culinary Council of world-famous chefs.

CONTACT: Bill Zucker, Erik Elvejord

PHONE: 800-637-5029, 206-626-9890

EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE Holland America Line
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, May 19th, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) filed its sixth status report with the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska summarizing the Department's progress in the voluntary remand of the Record of Decision (ROD) on the Environmental Impact Statement for the Ambler Access Project. In the latest report, the Department indicated the release of the ROD for the project, originally planned for the end of 2023, will now occur during the second quarter of 2024  a delay of six months.

In response to DOI's update, AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro said, "The update from BLM is frustrating. This delay not only impacts AIDEA and our partners with additional costs, but it also impacts individuals, communities, and the State who would like to see the economic benefits, future jobs and revenue that come with construction and operation of the road."

After a lengthy and rigorous permitting process, the Ambler Access Project was awarded a positive ROD in 2020. In 2022, the DOI filed a motion to remand the ROD on the EIS to address areas related to Cultural Resources and Subsistence Matters.

"We are obviously disappointed to hear the latest status update from the Department of Interior. It has been a year since the court granted DOI's request for a voluntary remand of the permit, providing ample time for the Department to conduct the needed supplemental work on the EIS", said Ramzi Fawaz, President & CEO of Ambler Metals. "This unnecessary delay threatens a project that will provide much-needed jobs and economic growth for Alaskans, while also strengthening national security and expediting the transition to a clean energy economy that is supposedly a top priority of the Biden Administration. Interior needs to stop dragging its feet and complete this process and allow this road to be built, as it is already required by federal law."

"Until last week's status report, the U.S. Department of the Interior consistently promised a ROD by the end of 2023," Fawaz added "DOI now states the ROD is expected six months later, with no justification for the delay or assurances that there will be no further slippage."

The Department's next report is due on July 18.

About AIDEA:

AIDEA is a public corporation of the state whose purpose is to promote, develop, and advance jobs and economic development for Alaska. These goals are strongly supported by Governor Dunleavy and the AIDEA Board of Directors.

About Ambler Metals:

Ambler Metals is a 50:50 independently operated LLC. The South32:Trilogy Metals Partnership was formed in 2017 through a 3-year exploration option agreement. Ambler Metals was formally established February 11, 2020, including a partnership with NANA Regional Corporation for the exploration and development of the UKMP and advancing projects in the Ambler Mining District. Ambler Metals is an Alaskan Company with offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

SOURCE Ambler Metals
Inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register for its rock carvings which reflect daily life in the Dadanite Kingdom

AlUla's Jabal Ikmah contains the largest concentration of Dadanitic inscriptions in the world

ALULA, Saudi Arabia, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)'s efforts to conserve the region's documentary heritage have been acknowledged with the listing of Jabal Ikmah on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

AlUla's Jabal Ikmah recognized for its documentary heritage in chronicling the evolution of Old Arabic Languages (PRNewsfoto/The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)) AlUla's Jabal Ikmah recognized for its documentary heritage in chronicling the evolution of Old Arabic Languages (PRNewsfoto/The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)) AlUla's Jabal Ikmah recognized for its documentary heritage in chronicling the evolution of Old Arabic Languages (PRNewsfoto/The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU))

The spectacular mountain and its sandstone canyons feature more than 300 historically significant carved inscriptions, most of which date from the second half of the first millennium BCE. The site features the largest collection of inscriptions recording the ancient Dadanite Kingdom's religious rituals, daily activities, and relations with neighboring peoples.

As part of its role in delivering Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, RCU is heavily investing in the study and conservation of sites such as Jabal Ikmah, an open-air library situated in the world's largest living museum. These efforts to enhance the world's understanding of Jabal Ikmah, while improving visitors' access in a sustainable way, have contributed to this public affirmation by UNESCO of the magnitude and international significance of AlUla's documentary heritage.

Jose Ignacio Gallego Revilla, Executive Director of the Kingdoms Institute, Archaeology, Heritage Research, and Conservation Department at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said: "The significance of Jabal Ikmah's inscriptions transcends regional boundaries to reach the level of global relevance, in particular as part of the evolution of Old Arabic languages and dialects. Their authenticity and integrity, both for the information preserved about ancient societies as well as the conservation of the site, bring together the essentials that make this place unique for the Memory of the World as the chronicle of a lost time through the largest number of inscriptions in an Ancient North Arabian script."

As a crossroads on the incense and pilgrimage routes, the AlUla oasis was a hub of commercial and cultural exchange. It hosted merchants of myrrh, frankincense, and other precious commodities. This cultural richness propelled the growth of settlements, including Dadan. The Dadanite Kingdom flourished and developed its own alphabet form of the South Semitic writing system. The Dadanites then recorded their history through petroglyphs carved into the sloping red and yellow sandstone rocks of AlUla. The greatest concentration of inscriptions is sheltered in the gorge of Jabal Ikmah, which is characteristic of AlUla's jagged landscape formed by tectonic movements that date to the opening of the Red Sea 30 million years ago.

Many of Jabal Ikmah's inscriptions reflect a variety of subjects such as rituals, kings, animals and agriculture, key to the story of AlUla's past. Conservation of such landmarks is central to RCU's vision for the future of AlUla, which emphasizes the region's cultural heritage as both a beacon for tourism and a springboard for innovation and economic benefits that raise the quality of life for the community.

The listing builds on RCU's existing partnership with UNESCO. RCU's global network of partners for culture, which also includes ICOMOS, the Louvre Museum and the French Agency for the Development of AlUla (Afalula), plays a vital role in the regeneration of AlUla County as a leading global destination for cultural and natural heritage.

RCU is establishing the Kingdoms Institute as a global hub for archaeology, heritage research and conservation. Currently active as a research organisation, the institute will have a permanent base in the Dadan district of AlUla, a site that by 2035 is expected to be a prime destination for two million visitors a year attracted largely by its rich heritage.

Noted for editors:

It is always AlUla / not Al-Ula

About the Royal Commission for AlUla

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) was established by royal decree in July 2017 to preserve and develop AlUla, a region of outstanding natural and cultural significance in north-west Saudi Arabia. RCU's long-term plan outlines a responsible, sustainable, and sensitive approach to urban and economic development that preserves the area's natural and historic heritage while establishing AlUla as a desirable location to live, work, and visit. This encompasses a broad range of initiatives across archaeology, tourism, culture, education, and the arts, reflecting a commitment to meeting the economic diversification, local community empowerment, and heritage preservation priorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2084740/AlUla_Jabal_Ikmah_1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2084742/AlUla_Jabal_Ikmah_2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2084743/AlUla_Jabal_Ikmah_3.jpg

SOURCE The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Red Cross announced today a plan to double the size of its groundbreaking Aquatics Centennial Campaign by the end of 2023. The campaign aims to reduce drowning rates in locations where drowning rates are above the national average. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data, when looking at Centennial programs as a whole, counties with Red Cross Centennial programs saw an overall 10% decrease in drowning rates versus a 6% decrease nationally. As part of this expansion, the Red Cross plans to help teach 22,500 more children annually to become water competent. Additionally, each year, the campaign is expected to support the training of 900 lifeguards and 600 Red Cross Water Safety Instructor professionals.

Brevard County, Florida. Children proudly show their Learn-to-Swim completion cards that they achieved by participating in swim lessons as part of the Aquatics Centennial Campaign. Photo credit American Red Cross

The Aquatics Centennial Campaign was launched in 2014 on the 100th anniversary of Commodore Wilbert Longfellow's 33-year effort that reduced the national drowning rate by 50%. These additions will augment the already successful campaign, which has delivered more than 120,000 sets of swim lessons and 5,000 certified lifeguards and Water Safety Instructors. The expansion of this Red Cross drowning prevention work comes at a time when national data shows that drowning continues to be a problem in underserved communities.

"We are thrilled to see such positive outcomes as a result of our water safety mission," said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the Red Cross. "That's why, today, we are working to double the number of communities participating in the Aquatics Centennial Campaign to 100. Working with trusted partners such as Diversity in Aquatics and The ZAC Foundation, as well as our Red Cross training providers, we hope to further reduce the tragedy of childhood drowning."

"When looking at a range of data points, we see a marked improvement in drowning rates versus the national average in those communities being served by the Aquatics Centennial Campaign," said William Ramos, Ph.D., a member of the Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and associate professor for the University of Indiana's School of Public Health. "It's a source of pride to see our work contributing to achieving these results and to be able to extend the campaign based on our past success."

In a video explaining the importance of the program in the Miami-Dade, Florida community, Bridget McKinney, a member of the Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and president/founder of Professionals  Sharing With a Purpose, shared, "Because of the Aquatics Centennial Campaign, we now have the infrastructure in place to develop lifeguards and Water Safety Instructors  many of whom started out taking our swim lessons. This critical support has helped us reach so many more in our community than we would have otherwise."

Each year, the Red Cross trains more than 2.5 million people in swimming and water safety. The campaign builds upon this ecosystem of water safety  a focus on water safety education, CPR training for parents and community-based outreach  thereby making the water safer for everyone.

For more information, visit redcross.org/CentennialSwim.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

SOURCE American Red Cross
CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Underground Donut Tour, America's Donut Tour, has completed their search for America's Greatest Donuts. Now in its second year, America's Greatest Donuts Contest had nearly 500 shops nominated, over 200 were put up to vote and over 22,000 votes were cast, an almost 3x increase from 2022. After 2 months of nominations, voting, and winner selection  we can announce the winners of our America's Greatest Donut Contest.

D&D's Donuts - Apple Fritter Rise'n Roll Bakery - Cinnamon Caramel Donut

The Overall Fan Favorite with more votes than any other donut shop was again Rise'n Roll Bakery, based in Indiana. Their Cinnamon Caramel Donut was voted far and away the most popular donut in America. As Overall Fan Favorite winner, we will also be awarding them a $500 prize or a donation to be made to a charity of their choice. Along with winning Overall Fan Favorite, Rise'n Roll also won 7 other categories (Greatest Cake Donut, Greatest Cinnamon Sugar Donut, Greatest Cream Filled Donut, Greatest Jelly Filled Donut, Greatest Old Fashioned Donut, Greatest Unique Flavors and Greatest Unique Toppings). Congratulations to the team at Rise'n Roll!

We would also like to give a special congratulations to D&D's Donuts based in Chicago. They too won several categories including Greatest Chocolate Glazed Donut, Greatest Fritter, and Greatest Fruit Flavored Donut. Congratulations to their team along with all the other winners listed here! And to the shops who were nominated, but didn't win, there's always next year!

Below are the 22 most popular donut shops in America along with their winning category and their winning donut:

Overall Fan Favorite : Rise'n Roll Bakery - Cinnamon Caramel Donut

: Rise'n Roll Bakery - Cinnamon Caramel Donut Greatest Beignets - Dahlia Bakery

Greatest Cake Donut - Rise'n Roll - Red Velvet

Greatest Chocolate Donut - Donut King - Chocolate Coconut

Greatest Chocolate Glazed Donut - D&D's Place - Chocolate Glazed

Greatest Churros - Naked Taco - Churros

Greatest Cinnamon Sugar Donut - Rise'n Roll - Cinnamon Caramel Donut

Greatest Cream Filled Donut - Rise'n Roll - Boston Cream

Greatest Croissant Donut - Donut Star - Glazed Cronut

Greatest Fritter - D&D's Place - Apple Fritter

Greatest Fruit Filled Donut - Stans Donuts - Blueberry Cream Cheese Pocket

Greatest Fruit Flavored Donut - D&D's Place - Blueberry Glazed

Greatest Gluten Free Donut - Kane's Donuts - Chocolate Frosted Gluten Free

Greatest Jelly Filled Donut - Rise'n Roll - Lemon Jelly Filled

Greatest Maple Glazed Donut - Voodoo Doughnut - Bacon Maple Bar

Greatest Mochi Donut - Bear Donut - Toasted Coconut

Greatest Old Fashioned Donut - Rise'n Roll - Old Fashioned

Greatest Plain Glazed Donut - Krispy Kreme - Hot Original Glazed

Greatest Unique Flavors Donut - Rise'n Roll - Mocha Donut

Greatest Unique Toppings Donut - Rise'n Roll - Crunch Delight

Greatest Vegan Donut - The Doughnut Project - Cereal Milk Crunch

Greatest Yeast Donut - Rise'n Roll - Cinnamon Caramel Donut

About the Underground Donut Tour

The Underground Donut Tour started in Chicago in 2015 as a passion project and has since grown to 18 cities globally including Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami, New Orleans, Portland, Seattle, Nashville, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, London, Dublin, Vancouver, Toronto and many more cities coming soon! Tickets include all the donut samples you can eat, a beverage of your choice, and an amazing, guided tour around each city. If you're interested in booking a tour, please visit: www.undergrounddonuttour.com today.

For more information, please contact:

Jeff Woelker

[email protected]

844-366-8848

For more information, please contact:

Visit: www.undergrounddonuttour.com

SOURCE Underground Donut Tour
The National Veterinary Partner Was Recognized for Its Outstanding Work Environment and Company Culture

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AmeriVet Veterinary Partners, a national veterinary partner that offers customized support for clinics across the United States, has been named one of 2023's Best Places to Work by San Antonio Business Journal. The company was recognized in the award's Medium Category, highlighting companies with 50  99 employees who received outstanding reviews from employee surveys, showcasing strong teamwork and excellent company culture.

San Antonio Business Journal

"We have always recognized that our team is what makes us AmeriVet, so as we continue to grow, we have been committed to developing and maintaining a culture where everyone feels like family," said Thomas Thill, Chief Executive Officer of AmeriVet Veterinary Partners. "It is a very special honor to be recognized, once again, as one of the top workplaces in San Antonio, and we are extremely grateful for our hardworking team members, who undoubtedly set AmeriVet up for continued success."

Each year, the San Antonio Business Journal partners with Quantum Workplace to conduct an evaluation involving confidential employee surveys, intended to measure key areas that make up an organization's culture. The employers that make the online list will be celebrated at an awards presentation on July 20 at UIW Rosenberg Skyroom.

When it comes to workplace culture, AmeriVet operates in behaviors rather than the typical and somewhat outdated company "values" method. These behaviors, coined the "AmeriVet Way," guide the team on the kind of people AmeriVet employs and how the AmeriVet team operates. Their behaviors include Be Bold, No Jerks Allowed, Have Hustle, Take It Personally, True Partnership, and Blameless Problem-Solving. AmeriVet has found that these behaviors are easy to understand, implement, and align around, which has caused their workplace culture to flourish.

For more information on the award, visit San Antonio Business Journal's website.

About AmeriVet Veterinary Partners

For veterinarians looking to adapt and grow their practices, AmeriVet Veterinary Partners provides best-in-class resources and operational support  reducing their day-to-day burden, so they can focus on what matters most. A one-size-fits-all approach is not in AmeriVet's DNA; they want their partners to keep what makes them unique and embrace what makes them better. Unlike other consolidators, AmeriVet is the option for vets who want to remain invested in their practices, both emotionally and financially. AmeriVet's goal is to preserve the legacy of hard-working veterinarians who have spent their lives building their practices and caring for their patients. AmeriVet has built an award-winning culture and has been recognized as the 2021 Business of the Year, 2020 Fast Track Award Winner, 2021 Fast Track Award Finalist, one of the Best Places to Work in San Antonio in 2019, 2021 and 2022, one of the Top Workplaces in San Antonio in 2021 and 2022, the 2021 and 2022 ACG Outstanding Growth Award Winner for the Austin and San Antonio region, No. 49 on the Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest list, and was honored to be included on the Inc. 5000 list for the first time in 2022. They have a broad network of 199 veterinary partners across 35 states nationwide. For more information, visit AmeriVet.com.

Media Contact: Taylor Murray

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 281-692-8700

SOURCE AmeriVet Veterinary Partners
On May 22, a media meeting jointly sponsored by the Sri Lankan Embassy and the Ministry of Tourism and Lands of Sri Lanka was held in Beijing celebrating the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The meeting was attended by Palitha Kohona, Sri Lankan Ambassador to China, Harin Fernando, Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism and Lands, Chalaka Gajabahu, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Board, and Thisum Jayasuriya, Chairman of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau. Nearly 70 media outlets, exhibition companies, and travel agencies participated in the event.

Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to China, delivers a speech at a media meeting celebrating the 10th anniversary of Belt and Road Initiative and China-Sri Lanka tourism cooperation in Beijing, April 17, 2023. (Gu Siyu/Guangming Picture)

We treasure the strong bonds of friendship with our dear friend China, a relationship that goes back over 2000 years. Over time, we have stood by each other, whether confronting challenges domestically or internationally. We will never forget the solidarity demonstrated by China when we really needed international support, said Ambassador Palitha Kohona at the opening of the meeting, who also extended appreciation to the Chinese government for having included Sri Lanka in the pilot group of twenty countries identified for group travel.

Over the past decades, Sri Lanka and China have established strong economic ties. Bilateral cooperation, including infrastructure projects, has improved connectivity, making Sri Lanka more attractive to tourists from around the world, said Minister Fernando. As Sri Lankas tourism industry has been fully developed, it is ready to embrace the Chinese market, he noted.

According to Fernando, Sri Lanka has implemented specialized visa facilitation measures targeting Chinese tourists. The simplified visa process is expected to attract more Chinese tourists.

With the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Lands of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Tourism Bureau and the Sri Lankan Embassy and Consulate in China have worked hard to promote Sri Lankas tourism resources across China, he said. This meeting is expected to further facilitate tourism cooperation and exchanges between the two countries, for Sri Lanka to occupy a larger share of the Chinese outbound tourism market, and for more Chinese tourists to experience the charm of the beautiful island country.

Editor: GSY
FLEMINGTON, N.J., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Amwell Ridge Wealth Management, led by Managing Partner David Johnston, CFP has affiliated with Bleakley Financial Group.

Providing financial planning for affluent families throughout Hunterdon County, NJ, David Johnston primarily works with people aged fifty-five and older looking for ways to ensure a smooth retirement.

An industry veteran of 27 years, David Johnston said of the new affiliation, "As our clients' needs expand, regulatory landscape evolves, and technology advances, it's vital we have a robust infrastructure to support these areas. Our partnership with Bleakley Financial Group will bolster our wealth management, financial planning, and investment operations.

David Johnston added, "In short, we continue to take our fiduciary responsibility extremely seriously  aiming to provide the best client experience possible  and this new affiliation increases our scale, broadens our resources, advances our technology, and enhances the client experience."

According to Andy Schwartz, co-founder and principal of Bleakley Financial Group, "We are thrilled to partner with Dave and his team. We are confident that the great financial planning work they do today will only be enhanced by accessing the expanded support services we provide. We look forward to a successful and mutually beneficial partnership with Amwell Ridge for many years to come."

Vince Nauheimer, Managing Director at Bleakley Financial Group added, "Amwell Ridge's choice to affiliate with Bleakley reinforces how impactful our expanded advisor service model is. Dave appreciated how our responsiveness to industry trends and early adoption of advanced technology will benefit both his team as well as their clients. We're extremely excited to support Amwell Ridge's future growth."

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Bleakley Financial Group, a registered investment adviser. Amwell Ridge Wealth Management and Bleakley Financial Group are separate entities from LPL Financial. David Johnston conducts advisory business under a "doing business as" (d/b/a) name, Amwell Ridge Wealth Management; however, Bleakley Financial does not hold itself as conducting advisory business through Amwell Ridge Wealth Management.

CONTACT:

Vincent Nauheimer

Managing Director

973-575-4180

[email protected]

SOURCE Bleakley Financial Group
Liberation Technology Services (LTS) remains at the forefront of innovation, offering alternative solutions for conservative and faith-based businesses and organizations that rival those of Big Tech. Hub for Teams, an alternative to Teams 365 and Workspace, replaces up to 20+ applications, while Liberation Campaign provides email marketing with peace of mind and no de-platforming.

ORLANDO, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberation Technology Services , a leading provider of cutting-edge technology solutions, continues to show their support for conservative and faith-based businesses, entrepreneurs and organizations with a prompt to protect the data of millions of their client's customers and provide a cancel-free guarantee.

In what feels like a never-ending wave of cancel culture, conservative businesses, faith-based organizations, Kingdom entrepreneurs, Christian-founded companies and influencers face increasing threats to their online presence and fundamental first amendment right. Liberation Technology Services prides itself on the truth of American's first amendment right and the fact that freedom tech really is a win for everyone.

"We've found ourselves amidst passionate business owners and companies that shouldn't be ostracized or cancelled because of their morals or beliefs. So we've created unparalleled alternatives that compete with Big Tech solutions like Hub for Teams replacing Teams 365 and Workspace as well as our Liberation Campaign email marketing platform." Former White House Official and CEO of Liberation Technology Services Andrew Riddaugh states.

Liberation Technology provides entities with the latest technologies and solutions that protect their online platforms from censorship and de-platforming. Their freedom tech experts continue to tailor solutions that enable clients to protect their online presence, secure their data, and expand their reach.

At a time when protection and peace of mind are key, Liberation Technology Services is attending the 2023 NRB Convention , the largest annual gathering of Christian communicators.

"We must have a platform for sharing innovative ideas and technologies that aren't attached to an agenda or narrative of control and censorship. Liberation's participation in this event is a testament to our commitment to drive innovation and provide state-of-the-art solutions to clients that need alternatives. We promise to always protect our client's likeness and data online. Liberation Technology is particularly great for media, online personalities and influencers because their risk of speaking truth has put a target on their back  we can be a shield to those attacks," says Liberation Technology Services' Director of Marketing, Evie Phillips.

Amidst the tensions of technology woes there is hope and faith in Liberation Technology Services. Providing alternative solutions to conservative Christian businesses and organizations that might be fearful of what the future holds or worse already be on the journey of getting cancelled.

Even in the face of challenges, Liberation Technology Services continues to prove their industry integrity and desire to protect the data, online presence, online privacy, and freedom of speech messaging for their customers and the American public.

Learn more about Liberation Technology Services alternative offerings with Hub for Teams, and Liberation Campaign by visiting liberationtek.com and take advantage of their special NRB promotions here.

Liberation Technology Services on Social Media Twitter | Truth Social | Gettr | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

About Liberation Technology Services

Liberation Technology Services (LTS) is a full-scale provider of tech infrastructure and independent digital solutions. Liberation Technology Services advances businesses, and organizations of all sizes with private cloud hosting, web/app development solutions and a multi-layered "Iron Dome" cyber-defense system supported by zero-knowledge private data centers located throughout the United States. Liberation Technology Services proudly offers un-compromised privacy and cyber security, and a censorship free guarantee, preserving the freedom and security of businesses, and organization's data and likeness online.

Media Contact: Evie Phillips, [email protected], 917-336-2808

SOURCE Liberation Technology Services
CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Arizton's latest research report, the APAC hyperscale data center market will grow at a CAGR of 6.30% during 2022-2028.

To Know More, Download the Free Sample Report: https://www.arizton.com/request-sample/3765

APAC Hyperscale Data Center Market Report by Arizton

Browse In-Depth TOC of the APAC Hyperscale Data Center Market

54 - Tables

130 - Figures

439 Pages

The APAC region is experiencing remarkable growth in the Hyperscale data center market, making it one of the most prominent markets worldwide. Major regional data center markets include China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Hong Kong. Additionally, countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are emerging as significant players with substantial growth potential. Data center operators are now exploring opportunities in emerging markets such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, and others, driven by the region's increasing potential.

Colocation providers dominate APAC's hyperscale data center market, followed by internet and cloud service providers. Many cloud-based service providers rely on colocation providers to construct facilities and lease wholesale space for their operations.

The market is witnessing significant investments from cloud services providers such as Google, Meta, Alibaba, Tencent Cloud, AWS, Microsoft, and others. The growth in investments from cloud services providers is expected to accelerate with the growing demand for cloud shifts from businesses and government organizations across the region.

APAC Hyperscale Data Center Market Report Scope

Report Attributes Details Market Size (2028) USD 66.02 Billion Market Size (2022) USD 45.74 Billion CAGR By Investment (2022-2028) 6.30 % Market Size - Area (2028) 14.5 Million Square Feet Power Capacity (2028) 2,821 MW Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2028 Market Segmentation Infrastructure, IT Infrastructure, Electrical Infrastructure, Mechanical Infrastructure, Cooling Systems, General Construction, and Geography Geographic Analysis APAC (China, India, Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines) Market Dynamics Mergers & Acquisitions and Joint Ventures in the Market

Tax Incentives for the Data Center Market

Growing Cloud Services Adoption

Growing Adoption of Renewable Energy

Rise in Submarine Cable & Inland Connectivity in the Region

Looking for More Information? Download the Free Sample Report: https://www.arizton.com/request-sample/3765

Market Trends

Growing Adoption of Artificial Intelligence: In APAC, with the growing trend of automation and smart operations, the adoption of AI has been growing across countries. Government and business organizations across the region are taking initiatives to adopt such technologies for smart operations. For instance, the government of Hong Kong launched its initiative under which it will use AI for disaster monitoring and monitoring energy use in the market.

In April 2022, the government of Australia announced investments of around $30 million to support the transfer of AI research to small and medium-sized businesses. The government of New Zealand has launched its National Strategy to promote the adoption and use of artificial intelligence in the country. The government of India also launched its National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence under the digitalization scheme of the government. Japan is among the most technologically advanced markets, and the government has constantly worked toward supporting digitalization. For instance, the Government of Japan launched an AI strategy in 2019 to support the growth of artificial intelligence adoption in the country. The South Korean government also launched its National AI Strategy in 2020 to promote AI adoption, including nine strategies and around 100 initiatives in establishing an AI ecosystem in the country, using AI, and creating a human-centered AI by 2030.

Innovative IT Infrastructure Solutions: NVMe is the new storage access and next-generation solid-state drives (SSDs) used in consumer and business apps. It is used in advanced technologies such as AI, ML, big data, and advanced analytics apps. Some leading vendors that offer NVMe storage options include Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara, Dell Technologies, NetApp, IBM, and Pure Storage.

ARM is a chip technology firm that creates intellectual property that other firms license to create their processor chips. An ARM server is an enterprise-class computer server that employs many ARM processors rather than a traditional processor. ARM-based devices are expected to have a strong foothold in the data center market due to their low cost, high performance, small size, and energy efficiency.

Google Cloud announced it would become the latest company to run its data center workloads on chips based on IP from British designer Arm. It is the latest sign that Arm designs are gaining traction in the data center market, in which x86-based processors from AMD and Intel dominate.

Arm has been promoting this, with the latest Arm Neoverse V1 and Arm Neoverse N2 chips, designed to support their chip manufacturing partners, going up against Intel's third-generation Xeon chips.

Geographical Insights:

China has been a dominating market in the APAC region, followed by India , Australia , Japan , India , Singapore , and Hong Kong , among the other major countries for data center development in the APAC hyperscale data center market.

has been a dominating market in the APAC region, followed by , , , , , and , among the other major countries for data center development in the APAC hyperscale data center market. South Korea , Taiwan , Indonesia , and Malaysia are emerging markets in the region witnessing significant growth, especially due to digitalization and growth in connectivity. Countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have started witnessing new investments and are expected to grow as unique preferences from operators.

, , , and are emerging markets in the region witnessing significant growth, especially due to digitalization and growth in connectivity. Countries such as and have started witnessing new investments and are expected to grow as unique preferences from operators. In Southeast Asia , Singapore has been a major shareholder in the overall investments in the APAC hyperscale data center market. Although, due to the moratorium, investments in industry have slowed down. However, the industry is expected to pace slowly in the coming 2-3 years, with the expected increase in project announcements after lifting the moratorium in 2022.

Buy the Report Now: https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/apac-hyperscale-data-center-market

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10% of customization

As most APAC regions countries are on the Pacific Ring of Fire, construction operators need to focus more on the stability of the structure, which is less prone to earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural threats. Lack of land availability will require creativity from construction companies to develop hyperscale facilities to house the maximum number of racks in minimum space. Also, due to many investments, demand for local and global construction contractors will increase in the near future. Increasing investment in the APAC hyperscale data center market will also bring investment in power infrastructure and related solutions. Development of renewable energy plants across the region to supply clean power to hyperscale facilities will need a newer type of switches and switchgears which could withstand power fluctuation from these sources. The APAC hyperscale data center market has been growing with a strong presence of several local and global hyperscale operators such as AirTrunk, Digital Realty, Equinix, GDS Services, Keppel Data Centres, NTT Global Data Centers, NEXTDC, BDx, Chayora, Chindata Group, Princeton Digital Group, and SpaceDC. The growing opportunities and demand in the APAC hyperscale data center market have attracted several new entrants, including AdaniConneX, Evolution Data Centres, Data Center First, MettaDC, Hickory, Vantage Data Centers, YCO Cloud, and Yondr.

The Report Includes the Investment in the Following Areas:

Infrastructure

IT Infrastructure

Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

General Construction

IT Infrastructure

Server

Storage

Network

Electrical Infrastructure

UPS Systems

Generators

Transfer Switches & Switchgear

Power Distribution Units

Other Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

Racks

Other Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling System

CRAC & CRAH Units

Chiller Units

Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers

Economizers & Evaporative Coolers

Other Cooling Units

General Construction

Core & Shell Development

Installation & Commissioning Services

Engineering & Building Design

Fire Detection & Suppression

Physical Security

DCIM/BMS

Geography

APAC

China



India



Australia



Singapore



Japan



South Korea



Hong Kong



Indonesia



Malaysia



New Zealand



Thailand



Philippines

Major Vendors

Prominent IT Infrastructure Vendors

Arista Networks

Atos

Broadcom

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Extreme Networks

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

Hitachi Vantara

Huawei

IBM

Inspur Group

Inventec

Juniper Networks

Lenovo

NEC

NetApp

Oracle

Pure Storage

Quanta Cloud Technology

Supermicro

Wistron (Wiwynn)

Prominent Support Infrastructure Vendors

ABB

Alpha Laval

Airedale International Air Conditioning

Asetek

Bosch Security and Safety Systems ( Robert Bosch )

) Caterpillar

Condair Group

Cummins

Delta Group

Eaton

Green Revolution Cooling

HITEC Power Protection

KOHLER

Legrand

Nlyte Software

Nortek Air Solutions manufactures

Mitsubishi Electric

Rolls-Royce Power Systems

Piller Power Systems

Rittal

Schneider Electric

STULZ

Trane ( Ingersoll Rand )

) Vertiv Group

Prominent Construction Contractors

AECOM

ARUP

Aurecon

AWP Architects

BYME Engineering

Chung Hing Engineers

Corgan

CSF Group

CTCI

Cundall

DPR Construction

DSCO group

Faithful+Gould

Fortis Construction

Gammon Construction

Hutchinson Builders

Hyundai E&C

ISG

Kienta Engineering Construction

Linesight

Larsen & Toubro Construction (L&T)

LSK Engineering

M+W Group

Nakano

NTT FACILITIES

Obayashi

PWS

PM Group

Red (Engie Impact)

Rider Levett Bucknall

Sterling and Wilson

Studio One Design

Turner & Townsend

Prominent Data Center Investors

AirTrunk

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Alibaba

Apple

BDx (Big Data Exchange)

CDC Data Centres

Chayora

Chindata Group

Colt Data Centre Services

CtrlS Datacenters

Digital Realty

Equinix

Facebook (Meta)

GDS Services

Global Switch

Google

Huawei Technologies

Iron Mountain

Keppel Data Centres

LG Uplus

Microsoft

Nxtra by Airtel

NEXTDC

NTT Global Data Centers

OneAsia Network

Princeton Digital Group (PDG)

Regal Orion

Shanghai Atrium (AtHub)

SpaceDC

SUNeVison Holdings (iAdvantage)

Sify Technologies

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres

Tenglong Holdings Group (Tamron)

VNET

Vantage Data Centers

Viettel IDC

Yotta Infrastructure Solutions (Hiranandani Group)

New Entrants

Adaniconnex

Data Center First

EdgeConneX

Evolution Data Centres

GreenSquareDC

Hickory

Mantra Data Centers

MettaDC

Pure Data Centres

Stockland

Yondr

Table of Content

1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

3 RESEARCH PROCESS

4 SCOPE & COVERAGE

4.1 MARKET DEFINITION

4.1.1 INCLUSIONS

4.2 BASE YEAR

4.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

4.4 MARKET SEGMENTS

4.4.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY INFRASTRUCTURE

4.4.2 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY IT INFRASTRUCTURE

4.4.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

4.4.4 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

4.4.5 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY COOLING SYSTEMS

4.4.6 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY GENERAL CONSTRUCTION

4.4.7 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY GEOGRAPHY

5 REPORT ASSUMPTIONS & CAVEATS

5.1 KEY CAVEATS

5.2 CURRENCY CONVERSION

5.3 MARKET DERIVATION

6 PREMIUM INSIGHTS

6.1 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

6.2 KEY TRENDS IN THE MARKET

6.3 SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS

6.4 GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

6.5 KEY MARKET PARTICIPANTS

7 MARKET AT A GLANCE

8 INTRODUCTION

8.1 OVERVIEW

8.2 DATA CENTER DESIGN CERTIFICATIONS

8.2.1 UPTIME INSTITUTE TIER STANDARDS

8.2.1 LEED CERTIFICATION

8.2.2 TIA 942 CERTIFICATION

9 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES & TRENDS

9.1 GROWING ADOPTION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

9.2 RISE IN ADOPTION OF BIG DATA AND IOT SOLUTIONS

9.3 INNOVATIVE IT INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS

9.4 PROCUREMENT OF OCP INFRASTRUCTURE

10 MARKET GROWTH ENABLERS

10.1 INCREASING DIGITALIZATION IN THE REGION

10.2 GROWING M&A AND JOINT VENTURE INITIATIVES

10.3 TAX INCENTIVES FOR DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENT

10.4 ADOPTION OF CLOUD SERVICES

10.5 RENEWABLE ENERGY IN POWERING DATA CENTERS

10.6 RISE IN SUBMARINE CABLE & INLAND CONNECTIVITY

11 MARKET RESTRAINTS

11.1 SECURITY CHALLENGES IN DATA CENTERS

11.2 LACK OF SKILLED DATA CENTER PROFESSIONALS

11.3 POWER & NETWORK OUTAGES IN DATA CENTERS

12 MARKET LANDSCAPE

12.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

12.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

12.3 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

12.4 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

12.5 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

12.5.1 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS

12.5.2 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS

12.5.3 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS

12.5.4 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES

12.5.5 COMPETITIVE RIVALRY

13 INFRASTRUCTURE

13.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

13.2 IT INFRASTRUCTURE

13.2.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.3 ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

13.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.4 MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

13.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.4.2 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.5 GENERAL CONSTRUCTION

13.5.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.5.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

14 IT INFRASTRUCTURE

14.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

14.2 SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE

14.2.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

14.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

14.3 STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE

14.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

14.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

14.4 NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

14.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

14.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15 ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

15.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

15.2 UPS SYSTEMS

15.2.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15.3 GENERATORS

15.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15.4 TRANSFER SWITCHES & SWITCHGEAR

15.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15.5 POWER DISTRIBUTION UNITS

15.5.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.5.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15.6 OTHER ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

15.6.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.6.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

16 MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

16.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

16.2 COOLING SYSTEMS

16.2.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

16.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

16.3 RACKS

16.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

16.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

16.4 OTHER MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

16.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

16.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

17 COOLING SYSTEMS

17.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

17.2 CRAC & CRAH UNITS

17.2.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

17.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

17.3 CHILLER UNITS

17.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

17.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

17.4 COOLING TOWERS, CONDENSERS & DRY COOLERS

17.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

17.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

17.5 ECONOMIZERS & EVAPORATIVE COOLERS

17.5.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

17.5.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

17.6 OTHER COOLING UNITS

17.6.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

17.6.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18 GENERAL CONSTRUCTION

18.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

18.2 CORE & SHELL DEVELOPMENT

18.2.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.3 INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING SERVICES

18.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.4 ENGINEERING & BUILDING DESIGN

18.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.5 FIRE DETECTION & SUPPRESSION

18.5.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.5.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.6 PHYSICAL SECURITY

18.6.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.6.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.7 DCIM/BMS

18.7.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.7.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19 GEOGRAPHY

19.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

19.2 AREA: MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

19.3 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

20 CHINA

20.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

20.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

20.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21 INDIA

21.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

21.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

21.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22 AUSTRALIA

22.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

22.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

22.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

23 SINGAPORE

23.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

23.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

23.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

23.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

23.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

23.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

24 JAPAN

24.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

24.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

24.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

24.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

24.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

24.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

25 HONG KONG

25.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

25.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

25.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

25.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

25.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

25.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

26 INDONESIA

26.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

26.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

26.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

26.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

26.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

26.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

27 MALAYSIA

27.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

27.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

27.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

27.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

27.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

27.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28 NEW ZEALAND

28.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

28.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

28.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29 SOUTH KOREA

29.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

29.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

29.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30 THAILAND

30.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

30.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

30.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31 PHILIPPINES

31.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE

31.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

31.3 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.4 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.5 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.6 SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

32.1 ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

32.2 MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

32.3 GENERAL CONSTRUCTION

32.4 DATA CENTER INVESTORS

33 PROMINENT IT INFRASTRUCTURE VENDORS

33.1 ARISTA NETWORKS

33.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

33.1.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

33.2 ATOS

33.3 BROADCOM

33.4 CISCO SYSTEMS

33.5 DELL TECHNOLOGIES

33.6 EXTREME NETWORKS

33.7 HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE (HPE)

33.8 HITACHI VANTARA

33.9 HUAWEI

33.10 IBM

33.11 INSPUR

33.12 INVENTEC

33.13 JUNIPER NETWORKS

33.14 LENOVO

33.15 NEC

33.16 NETAPP

33.17 ORACLE

33.18 PURE STORAGE

33.19 QUANTA CLOUD TECHNOLOGY (QUANTA COMPUTER)

33.20 SUPERMICRO

33.21 WISTRON (WIWYNN)

34 PROMINENT SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE VENDORS

34.1 ABB

34.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

34.1.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

34.2 ALFA LAVAL

34.3 AIREDALE INTERNATIONAL AIR CONDITIONING

34.4 ASETEK

34.5 BOSCH SECURITY AND SAFETY SYSTEMS (ROBERT BOSCH)

34.6 CATERPILLAR

34.7 CONDAIR GROUP

34.8 CUMMINS

34.9 DELTA ELECTRONICS

34.10 EATON

34.11 GREEN REVOLUTION COOLING

34.12 HITEC POWER PROTECTION

34.13 KOHLER

34.14 LEGRAND

34.15 NLYTE SOFTWARE

34.16 NORTEK AIR SOLUTIONS

34.17 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC

34.18 ROLLS-ROYCE POWER SYSTEMS

34.19 PILLER POWER SYSTEMS

34.20 RITTAL

34.21 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC

34.22 STULZ

34.23 TRANE (INGERSOLL RAND)

34.24 VERTIV GROUP

35 PROMINENT CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS

35.1 AECOM

35.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

35.1.2 SERVICE OFFERINGS

35.2 ARUP

35.3 AURECON

35.4 AWP ARCHITECTS

35.5 BYME ENGINEERING

35.6 CHUNG HING ENGINEERS GROUP

35.7 CORGAN

35.8 CSF GROUP

35.9 CTCI

35.10 CUNDALL

35.11 DPR CONSTRUCTION

35.12 DSCO GROUP

35.13 FAITHFUL+GOULD

35.14 FORTIS CONSTRUCTION

35.15 GAMMON CONSTRUCTION

35.16 HUTCHINSON BUILDERS

35.17 HYUNDAI E&C

35.18 ISG

35.19 KIENTA ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION

35.20 LINESIGHT

35.21 LARSEN & TOUBRO CONSTRUCTION (L&T)

35.22 LSK ENGINEERING

35.23 M+W GROUP

35.24 NAKANO

35.25 NTT FACILITIES

35.26 OBAYASHI

35.27 POWERWARE SYSTEMS (PWS)

35.28 PM GROUP

35.29 RED (ENGIE IMPACT)

35.30 RIDER LEVETT BUCKNALL

35.31 STERLING & WILSON (SHAPOORJI PALLONJI GROUP)

35.32 STUDIO ONE DESIGN

35.33 TURNER & TOWNSEND

36 PROMINENT DATA CENTER INVESTORS

36.1 AIRTRUNK

36.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

36.1.2 SERVICE OFFERINGS

36.2 AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS)

36.3 ALIBABA

36.4 APPLE

36.5 BDX (BIG DATA EXCHANGE)

36.6 CDC DATA CENTRES

36.7 CHAYORA

36.8 CHINDATA GROUP

36.9 COLT DATA CENTRE SERVICES (COLT DCS)

36.10 CTRLS DATACENTERS

36.11 DIGITAL REALTY

36.12 EQUINIX

36.13 META

36.14 GDS SERVICES

36.15 GLOBAL SWITCH

36.16 GOOGLE

36.17 IRON MOUNTAIN

36.18 KEPPEL DATA CENTRES

36.19 LG UPLUS

36.20 MICROSOFT

36.21 NXTRA BY AIRTEL

36.22 NEXTDC

36.23 NTT GLOBAL DATA CENTERS

36.24 ONEASIA NETWORK

36.25 PRINCETON DIGITAL GROUP

36.26 REGAL ORION

36.27 SHANGHAI ATRIUM (ATHUB)

36.28 SPACEDC

36.29 SUNEVISION HOLDINGS (IADVANTAGE)

36.30 SIFY TECHNOLOGIES

36.31 ST TELEMEDIA GLOBAL DATA CENTRES

36.32 TENGLONG HOLDINGS GROUP (TAMRON)

36.33 VANTAGE DATA CENTERS

36.34 VNET ( 21VIANET GROUP)

36.35 VIETTEL IDC

36.36 YOTTA INFRASTRUCTURE (HIRANANDANI GROUP)

37 NEW ENTRANTS IN APAC HYPERSCALE DATA CENTER MARKET

37.1 ADANICONNEX

37.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

37.1.2 SERVICE OFFERINGS

37.2 DATA CENTER FIRST

37.3 EDGECONNEX (EQT INFRASTRUCTURE)

37.4 EVOLUTION DATA CENTRES

37.5 GREENSQUAREDC

37.6 HICKORY GROUP

37.7 METTADC

37.8 PURE DATA CENTRES

37.9 STOCKLAND

37.10 YONDR

38 REPORT SUMMARY

38.1 KEY TAKEAWAYS

39 QUANTITATIVE SUMMARY

39.1 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY

39.2 MARKET SEGMENTATION

39.2.1 IT INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.2.2 ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.2.3 MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.2.4 COOLING SYSTEMS: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.2.5 GENERAL CONSTRUCTION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY

39.3.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.3.2 AREA: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.3.3 POWER CAPACITY: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.4 CHINA

39.4.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.4.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.5 INDIA

39.5.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.5.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.6 AUSTRALIA

39.6.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.6.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.7 SINGAPORE

39.7.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.7.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.8 JAPAN

39.8.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.8.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.9 HONG KONG

39.9.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.9.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.11 INDONESIA

39.11.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.11.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.12 MALAYSIA

39.12.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.12.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.13 NEW ZEALAND

39.13.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.13.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.14 SOUTH KOREA

39.14.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.14.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.15 THAILAND

39.15.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.15.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.16 PHILIPPINES

39.16.1 INVESTMENT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

39.16.2 INFRASTRUCTURE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

40 APPENDIX

40.1 ABBREVIATIONS

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SOURCE Arizton Advisory & Intelligence
MEXICO CITY and LIMA, Peru, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Auna S.A.A. ("Auna" or the "Company"), one of the largest players in the Latin American healthcare industry and with presence in Mexico, Colombia and Peru, announced today that it is soliciting (the "Consent Solicitation") consents (the "Consents") from holders (the "Holders") of Auna's outstanding 6.500% Senior Notes due 2025 (the "Notes") as of 5:00 p.m. New York City time, May 23, 2023 (the "Record Date") to effect a certain amendment to the indenture governing the Notes (as amended from time to time, the "Indenture"), as described below, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated May 24, 2023 (as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Consent Solicitation Statement"). The Consent Solicitation will expire at 5:00 p.m. New York City time, on June 7, 2023 (such time and date, as the same may be extended from time to time, the "Expiration Date").

All capitalized terms used herein but not defined in this announcement have the respective meanings ascribed to them in the Consent Solicitation Statement.

Certain details regarding the Notes and the Consent Solicitation are set forth in the table below.

Title of Security CUSIP and ISIN

Number(s) Outstanding Principal

Amount Consent

Payment(1) 6.500% Senior Notes due 2025 CUSIP: 05151V AA5

/ P0592V AA6 ISIN: US05151VAA52

/ USP0592VAA63 U.S.$300,000,000 U.S.$1.25















(1) The Consent Payment (as defined below) for the Consent Solicitation with respect to the Notes is an amount, per U.S.$1,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes for which a Holder thereof has delivered valid and unrevoked Consents to the Proposed Amendment (on or prior to the Expiration Date). No accrued interest will be paid in connection with the Consent Solicitation. Holders who validly deliver (and do not validly revoke) their Consents on or prior to the Expiration Date will receive the Consent Payment, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement.

Auna is soliciting Consents in order to allow it to merge with or into a successor issuer, subject to certain conditions, including that the Interest Coverage Ratio (as defined in the Indenture) for the successor issuer and its restricted subsidiaries on a consolidated basis would not be lower than such ratio for Auna and its restricted subsidiaries on a consolidated basis immediately prior to such transaction (the "Proposed Amendment").

After the Supplemental Indenture (as defined below) is effective, the Company expects to redomicile to Luxembourg by way of a merger of the Company into Auna S.A., a societe anonyme (limited liability company) incorporated and existing under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ("Auna Lux"), with Auna Lux continuing as the surviving entity (the "Merger"). As part of the Merger, Auna Lux will allocate all the assets and liabilities of the Company to, and hold them through, its Peruvian branch (sucursal), Auna S.A., Sucursal del Peru, incorporated and existing under the laws of Peru ("Auna Lux Sucursal"). Accordingly, the Company expects that Auna Lux (through Auna Lux Sucursal) will be the Successor Issuer of the Notes. The Merger would further simplify the structuring of the entities through which the Company conducts its operations as it expands its regional presence throughout Spanish-speaking Americas ("SSA").

For the actual text of the Proposed Amendment, see "The Proposed Amendment" in the Consent Solicitation Statement. Except for the Proposed Amendment, all of the existing terms of the Indenture will remain unchanged.

Auna will pay (or cause to be paid) to Holders a Consent Payment of U.S.$1.25 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes in respect of which a Consent has been validly delivered and not validly revoked (the "Consent Payment"). The obligation to pay (or cause to be paid) the Consent Payment for valid and unrevoked Consents to the Proposed Amendment for the Notes is subject to and conditioned upon (i) the receipt of the Requisite Consents (as defined below) for the Notes on or prior to the Expiration Date for the Notes and (ii) the absence of any law or regulation, and the absence of any injunction or action or other proceeding (pending or threatened), that (in the case of any action or proceeding if adversely determined) would make unlawful or invalid or enjoin or delay the implementation of the Proposed Amendment, the entering into of the Supplemental Indenture (as defined below) or the payment of the Consent Payment to the Holders of the Notes or that would question the legality or validity thereof (collectively, the "Consent Conditions").

If the Holders of at least a majority of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the Notes validly deliver and do not validly revoke Consents to the Proposed Amendment (the "Requisite Consents"), Auna, the Guarantors (as defined in the Indenture) and, upon receipt of an officer's certificate and an opinion of counsel, the trustee shall execute a supplemental indenture (the "Supplemental Indenture") to the Indenture effecting the Proposed Amendment. The time and date on which the Supplemental Indenture is executed is hereinafter referred to as the "Consent Time" with respect to the Notes. Consents to the Proposed Amendment for the Notes may not be revoked at any time after the earlier of the Consent Time and 5:00 p.m., New York City time, June 7, 2023 (such time, as may be extended by Auna, in its sole discretion for the Notes, the "Revocation Deadline"), even if the Revocation Deadline for the Notes is later than the Consent Time. Although the Supplemental Indenture and the related Proposed Amendment will become effective immediately upon execution at the Consent Time, the Proposed Amendment will not be operative until the Consent Payment is paid to The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") for the benefit of the Holders on the Settlement Date (as defined below). Auna expects to pay, or cause to be paid, the Consent Payment to DTC for the benefit of such Holders who validly delivered and did not validly revoke Consents to such Proposed Amendment on or prior to the Expiration Date for the Notes within two business days of the Expiration Date and upon the satisfaction or waiver of all Consent Conditions with respect to the Notes (such date with respect to the Notes, the "Settlement Date"). Once the Supplemental Indenture is effective, any Consents given with respect to the Notes may not be revoked and all Holders, including non-consenting Holders, and their respective transferees will be bound by the terms thereof. If the Consent Time is earlier than the Revocation Deadline, then such Consent Time will be the latest time by which Holders can revoke Consents. If the Consent Conditions are not satisfied or waived with respect to the Notes, no Consent Payment with respect to the Notes will be paid to any Holder thereof. Holders who do not provide their Consent prior to the Expiration Date, or who validly revoke their Consent, will not receive the Consent Payment.

The Consent Solicitation is being made solely by the Consent Solicitation Statement and on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement. Auna may, in its sole discretion, terminate, extend or amend the Consent Solicitation at any time as described in the Consent Solicitation Statement. In particular, subject to applicable law, Auna, in its sole discretion, may extend the Expiration Date with respect to the Notes without also extending the Revocation Deadline with respect to the Notes. This announcement is for information purposes only and is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security and is not a solicitation of consents with respect to the Proposed Amendment or any securities. The Consent Solicitation is not being made in any jurisdiction in which, or to or from any person to or from whom, it is unlawful to make such solicitation under applicable state or foreign securities or blue sky laws.

Banco BTG Pactual S.A.  Cayman Branch, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Santander US Capital Markets LLC are acting as the Solicitation Agents for the Consent Solicitation. Global Bondholder Services Corporation is acting as the Information and Tabulation Agent for the Consent Solicitation. Questions or requests for assistance related to the Consent Solicitation or for additional copies of the Consent Solicitation Statement may be directed to the Solicitation Agents as follows: (i) Banco BTG Pactual S.A.  Cayman Branch at +( (212) 293-4600 or by email at [email protected]; (ii) HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. at +1 (888) HSBC-4LM (U.S. Toll-Free) and +1 (212) 525-5552 (Collect); (iii) J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at +1 (866) 846-2874 (U.S. Toll-Free) and +1 (212) 834-7279 (Collect); and (iv) Santander US Capital Markets LLC at +1 (212) 940-1442 (banks and brokers) and +1 (855) 404-3636 (all others, toll free) or by email at [email protected], respectively, or to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at +1 (212) 430-3774 (banks and brokers), +1 (855) 654-2014 (all others, toll free) or by email at [email protected]. The Consent Solicitation Statement is available at: https://www.gbsc-usa.com/auna/. Holders may also contact their broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the Consent Solicitation. Holders are urged to review the Consent Solicitation Statement for the detailed terms of the Consent Solicitation and the procedures for consenting to the Proposed Amendment.

About Auna

Founded in 1989, Auna is one of the largest companies in Latin America's healthcare industry. The Company operates 16 hospitals and 10 healthcare centers at all levels of complexity in Mexico, Peru and Colombia. Auna is the leading provider of oncology healthcare plans with a fully integrated model that services over one million members in Peru, and as of recently, 2.5 million members in dental and vision insurance in Mexico. Since 2018, Auna has expanded rapidly, not only through growth in its oncology segment and execution of organic developments, but also through the acquisition of important healthcare players in the high growth markets of Colombia and Mexico. Auna is backed by Enfoca, its controlling shareholder, and one of the leading investment firms in Latin America.

Forward-Looking Statements

Disclosures in this press release contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that management expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this press release specifically include statements regarding the consummation of the Consent Solicitation, including the timing thereof, the Proposed Amendment and the execution of the Supplemental Indenture. These statements are based on certain assumptions made by Auna based on its management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, anticipated future developments and other factors believed to be appropriate. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Auna, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements. These include risks set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement. Any forward-looking statement applies only as of the date on which such statement is made and Auna does not intend to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

For more information visit www.aunainvestors.com

SOURCE Auna S.A.A.
NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The automatic and smart pet feeder market is set to grow by USD 1236.23 million from 2022 to 2027 progressing at a CAGR of 10.89% during the forecast period. The market is driven by changing lifestyle patterns and the busy work lives of the urban populace. The changing lifestyle patterns and busy work lives of the urban populace are notably driving the automatic pet feeder market growth, although factors such as the availability of substitutes may impede the market growth. Here is an Exclusive report talking about Market scenarios with a historical period (2017-2021) and the forecast period (2023-2027). Download Sample Report in minutes!

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Automatic and Smart Pet Feeder Market 2023-2027

The report on the automatic and smart pet feeder market provides a holistic update, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis.

Automatic And Smart Pet Feeder Market 2023-2027 - Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Changing lifestyle patterns and busy work lives of urban populace

Rise in product visibility and accessibility through online retailing

Introduction of multichannel marketing strategies for effective branding

Market Trends

Smart homes augmenting demand for smart pet feeders

Introduction of electronic weighing of food in pet feeders

Built-in microphone and remote video camera for better communication

Market Challenges

Low battery life leading to low battery runtime

Availability of substitutes

Compatibility issue of smart pet feeders with Android phones and iPhones

Automatic And Smart Pet Feeder Market 2023-2027: Market Segmentation

The automatic and smart pet feeder market is segmented by distribution channel (offline and online), type (automatic and smart), end-user (dogs and cats), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa).

The automatic and smart pet feeder market share growth by the offline segment will be significant during the forecast period. The factors considered while purchasing products from offline stores are convenience, stock-keeping units, and brand variety. The offline segment was valued at USD 834.09 million in 2017 and continued to grow until 2021.

North America is estimated to contribute 55% to the growth of the global automatic pet feeder market industry during the forecast period. The pet industry in North America is majorly driven by the rising demand for pet food and advanced pet feeding solutions, pet care products, and pet services.

Insights on the market contribution of various segments, including country- and region-wise data, historic data (2017 to 2021), and forecast market size (2023 to 2027) View Sample Report

The automatic and smart pet feeder market covers the following areas:

Automatic And Smart Pet Feeder Market Sizing

Automatic And Smart Pet Feeder Market Forecast

Automatic And Smart Pet Feeder Market Analysis

Companies Mentioned

C and A Marketing Inc.

CEVA SANTE ANIMALE S.A

Dogness (International) Co. Ltd.

Encaya Corp.

Faroro

OWON Technology Inc.

Paiwang Pet APP

Petcube Inc

PetKeen

PETKIT Ltd.

Pets at Home Group Plc

Radio Systems Corp.

Shenzhen Skymee Technology Co. Ltd.

SureFlap Ltd.

Tuya Inc.

Vet Innovations Inc.

Wopet

Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Inc.

Qpets Inc.

caglobal.com- The company offers automatic pet feeder to feed food automatically to pet at regular time interval.

catspad.com- The company offers food and water dispenser for cats to feed regular meals at proper time.

webus.dogness.com- The company offers dogness cube APP feeder which is used to program and customize feeding plan for pets.

Related Reports:

Frozen and Freeze Dried Pet Food Market- The Frozen and Freeze Dried Pet Food Market is projected to increase by USD 2,468.92 million from 2022 to 2027. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 11.25% between 2022 and 2027.

Wet Pet Food Market- The wet pet food market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.61% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecasted to increase by USD 9,735.38 million.

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Automatic And Smart Pet Feeder Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 10.89% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 1236.23 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023(%) 9.89 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 55% Key countries US, Canada, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled C and A Marketing Inc., CEVA SANTE ANIMALE S.A, Dogness (International) Co. Ltd., Encaya Corp., Faroro, OWON Technology Inc., Paiwang Pet APP, Petcube Inc, PetKeen, PETKIT Ltd., Pets at Home Group Plc, Radio Systems Corp., Shenzhen Skymee Technology Co. Ltd., SureFlap Ltd., Tuya Inc., Vet Innovations Inc., Wopet, Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Inc., and Qpets Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 10: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 11: Parent market



Exhibit 12: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 13: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 14: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 15: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 17: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 18: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global automatic and smart pet feeder market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global automatic and smart pet feeder market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Distribution channel Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Distribution channel Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  End-user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 23: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.6 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 24: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 25: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 26: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 27: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 28: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 29: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 30: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 31: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 32: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 34: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

6.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 36: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 40: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 44: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Type

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 45: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 46: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 47: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Comparison by Type

7.3 Automatic - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 49: Chart on Automatic - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Automatic - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Chart on Automatic - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Automatic - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Smart - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 53: Chart on Smart - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Smart - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Chart on Smart - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Smart - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 57: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

8 Market Segmentation by End-user

8.1 Market segments

Exhibit 58: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

8.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 60: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

8.3 Dogs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 62: Chart on Dogs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Dogs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 64: Chart on Dogs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on Dogs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.4 Cats - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 66: Chart on Cats - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on Cats - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on Cats - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Cats - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.5 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 70: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million)

9 Customer Landscape

9.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 71: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

10 Geographic Landscape

10.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 72: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

10.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 74: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 75: Data Table on Geographic comparison

10.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 76: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 80: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 84: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 86: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 87: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 88: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 91: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 92: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 95: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 96: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 97: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 98: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 99: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.9 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 100: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 101: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 103: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 104: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 106: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 107: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 108: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 109: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 110: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 111: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 112: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 113: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 114: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 115: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 116: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

11 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

11.1 Market drivers

11.2 Market challenges

11.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 117: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

11.4 Market trends

12 Vendor Landscape

12.1 Overview

12.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 118: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

12.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 119: Overview on factors of disruption

12.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 120: Impact of key risks on business

13 Vendor Analysis

13.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 121: Vendors covered

13.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 122: Matrix on vendor position and classification

13.3 C and A Marketing Inc.

Exhibit 123: C and A Marketing Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 124: C and A Marketing Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 125: C and A Marketing Inc. - Key offerings

13.4 CEVA SANTE ANIMALE S.A

Exhibit 126: CEVA SANTE ANIMALE S.A - Overview



Exhibit 127: CEVA SANTE ANIMALE S.A - Product / Service



Exhibit 128: CEVA SANTE ANIMALE S.A - Key offerings

13.5 Dogness (International) Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 129: Dogness (International) Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 130: Dogness (International) Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 131: Dogness (International) Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

13.6 Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Inc.

Exhibit 132: Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 133: Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 134: Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Inc. - Key offerings

13.7 Encaya Corp.

Exhibit 135: Encaya Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 136: Encaya Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 137: Encaya Corp. - Key offerings

13.8 Paiwang Pet APP

Exhibit 138: Paiwang Pet APP - Overview



Exhibit 139: Paiwang Pet APP - Product / Service



Exhibit 140: Paiwang Pet APP - Key offerings

13.9 PetKeen

Exhibit 141: PetKeen - Overview



Exhibit 142: PetKeen - Product / Service



Exhibit 143: PetKeen - Key offerings

13.10 PETKIT Ltd.

Exhibit 144: PETKIT Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 145: PETKIT Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 146: PETKIT Ltd. - Key offerings

13.11 Pets at Home Group Plc

Exhibit 147: Pets at Home Group Plc - Overview



Exhibit 148: Pets at Home Group Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 149: Pets at Home Group Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Pets at Home Group Plc - Segment focus

13.12 Qpets Inc.

Exhibit 151: Qpets Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 152: Qpets Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 153: Qpets Inc. - Key offerings

13.13 Radio Systems Corp.

Exhibit 154: Radio Systems Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 155: Radio Systems Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: Radio Systems Corp. - Key offerings

13.14 SureFlap Ltd.

Exhibit 157: SureFlap Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 158: SureFlap Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 159: SureFlap Ltd. - Key offerings

13.15 Tuya Inc.

Exhibit 160: Tuya Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 161: Tuya Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 162: Tuya Inc. - Key offerings

13.16 Vet Innovations Inc.

Exhibit 163: Vet Innovations Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 164: Vet Innovations Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 165: Vet Innovations Inc. - Key offerings

13.17 Wopet

Exhibit 166: Wopet - Overview



Exhibit 167: Wopet - Product / Service



Exhibit 168: Wopet - Key offerings

14 Appendix

14.1 Scope of the report

14.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 169: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 170: Exclusions checklist

14.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 171: Currency conversion rates for US$

14.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 172: Research methodology



Exhibit 173: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 174: Information sources

14.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 175: List of abbreviations

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Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

Newsroom:

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, during the 4th International Tea Day, China, known as the birthplace of tea, joined hands with governments, international organizations, leading tea companies, and industry organizations to organize around 40 tea-themed events worldwide, aiming to deepen the understanding of Chinese tea culture among overseas populations.

Bama Tea Company Invited to Promote Tea Culture in Multiple Countries

As a leading chain brand of Chinese tea established by a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage 'Tie Guan Yin' craftsmanship, Bama Tea Company was invited to represent Chinese tea and made consecutive appearances in promotional events held in China, the United States, Italy, and other countries. It showcased the essence of Chinese tea culture and presented China's unique charm to guests from around the world. Its star products, such as 'Sai Zhen Zhu Tie Guan Yin' and 'The Light of East Lake' series, captivated guests from various countries with their distinctive flavors.

From May 18th to 22nd, Wang Wenli, the Chairman of Bama Tea Company and a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage 'Tie Guan Yin' craftsmanship, was invited to speak as a representative of the Chinese tea industry at the United Nations in the United States, the Chinese Embassy in the United States, and the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA. He shared the stories of China's intangible cultural heritage tea culture with Ambassador Zhang Jun, the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, Consul General Huang Ping of the Chinese Consulate General in New York, as well as representatives of more than 20 countries at the United Nations and tea culture experts, scholars, and enthusiasts from around the world. His presentations showcased China's profound cultural heritage and received praise from the representatives of various countries.

On May 22nd, at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, the Anxi Tie Guan Yin Tea Culture System was awarded the certificate of 'Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System'. Bama Tea Company, as the leading brand in Anxi Tie Guan Yin tea sales in China for 14 consecutive years, sent its chief tea fairy, Jiang Yutong, to the event to showcase the exquisite tea art from China to the world.

The exhibition area of Bama Tea Company attracted a large number of visitors who were fascinated by the stories of Chinese tea and the beauty of the East. Accompanied by live tea performances, guests from various countries enjoyed tea tasting while exploring the tea culture exhibition, fully experiencing the charm of Chinese tea culture. The atmosphere was joyful and lively, and the guests were reluctant to leave.

As a benchmark tea company in China, Bama Tea Company will be invited to hold promotional events for Chinese intangible cultural heritage tea culture in countries such as South Africa in the future. By empowering the tea industry with tea culture, it will contribute to international exchanges and cooperation among excellent Chinese tea brands, showcasing the unique charm of Chinese tea culture, and further promoting outstanding traditional culture to go beyond China and spread to the world.

SOURCE Bama Tea Company
Supporting our ongoing objective to achieve the highest environmental, social and governance standards

MONTREAL, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Bell Canada (Bell) announced today that it has entered into its first Sustainability-Linked Derivatives (SLDs). The SLDs leverage Bell's ambitious key performance indicators (KPIs) designed to measure performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets and underscores Bell's continued objective to achieve the highest ESG standards and our purpose to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world.

"We're proud to announce our inaugural Sustainability-Linked Derivatives. This new initiative, combined with the publication of our first Integrated Annual Report earlier in March, demonstrates our focus on integrating sustainability within our financial performance and aligns with our ESG objectives to make a positive difference with our investments, supporting a more sustainable and prosperous future."

 Curtis Millen, SVP, Corporate Strategy & Treasurer, BCE and Bell

The SLDs introduce a pricing adjustment that increases the derivatives' cost based on Bell's performance towards its science-based target to reduce its operational GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2) of 58% by 2030 from a 2020 base year with the Science Based Targets initiative 1 (SBTi). Bell selected this Sustainability Performance Target (SPT) to support its objective to meet its science-based targets for GHG emissions reduction by tying performance with financial costs. The SPT will be measured as of 2030 and a limited assurance review of Bell's targets will be performed by an independent third party.

The SLDs follow the announcement of BCE's Sustainable Financing Framework in April 2021, Bell's inaugural $500 million Sustainability Bond offering in May 2021 with proceeds allocated to eligible green and social investments and the conversion of its $3.5 billion committed credit facilities to a Sustainability Linked-Loan (SLL) in November 2022.

Scotiabank and TD Securities acted as Lead Sustainability Structuring Advisors and Swap Arrangers for this transaction. BMO Capital Markets acted as Sustainability Advisor. CIBC Capital Markets, Desjardins Securities, National Bank Financial Markets, RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo were Sustainability Swap Providers in this transaction.

_____________________________________ 1 Our science-based targets (SBTs) have been recalculated to reflect restated GHG emissions for our 2020 base year, in line with Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) criteria and recommendations. The SBTi has approved our targets in 2022, prior to the recalculation. The recalculated targets will be submitted to SBTi in 2023 for approval. The SBTi requires that targets be recalculated (following the most recent applicable SBTi criteria and recommendations) at least every five years, or more often if significant changes occur (e.g., business acquisitions/divestments). As a result, our SBTs may need to be adjusted again in the future.

Environmental, social and governance performance

Bell's ESG objectives aim to create social and environmental benefits by helping to build a better world, better communities and a better workplace. Our approach focuses on enhancing our environmental sustainability programs to have a positive impact, creating a workplace focused on diversity, equality, inclusion and employee well-being, and leading in mental health through our Bell Let's Talk initiative.

In 2022, Bell maintained ISO 50001 certification of its energy management system for a third consecutive year, after becoming the first communications company in North America to achieve that designation for an Energy Management System and was named the inaugural Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reductions Champion by Clean502, a national sustainability organization. We announced our goal to have carbon neutral operations3 starting in 2025 and have been recognized as one of Canada's Greenest Employers4 for the seventh consecutive year.

Information about Bell's environmental initiatives and the benefits we deliver to our customers, team and communities, including our Bell for Better investments in mental health, environmental and workplace best practices, is in BCE's 2022 Integrated Annual Report available at BCE.ca .

A copy of BCE's Sustainable Financing Framework and further information on our sustainability strategy can be found at BCE.ca .

About Bell

Bell is Canada's largest communications company5 providing advanced Bell broadband wireless, Internet, TV, media and business communications services. Founded in Montreal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca .

Through Bell for Better , we are investing to create a better today and a better tomorrow by supporting the social and economic prosperity of our communities. This includes the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and workplace initiatives throughout the country. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk

_____________________________________ 2 Bell was named the inaugural Clean50 GHG Reductions Champion for 2023, in recognition of Bell's performance between 2019 and 2022 in reducing our GHG intensity (CO2e per petabyte). Canada's Clean50 is primarily managed by Delta Management Group, a Canadian sustainability, ESG and cleantech focused search firm, and annually recognizes individuals, small teams and business for their contributions to sustainability in Canada. 3 Performance is based on operational GHG emissions (scope 1 and scope 2 emissions in tonnes of CO2e) minus GHG emissions offset by carbon credits purchased (in tonnes of CO2e). Scope 1 emissions are direct GHG emissions from sources that are controlled by Bell. Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions associated with the consumption of purchased electricity, heating/cooling and steam required by Bell's activities. 4 Canada's Top 100 Employers report is issued annually by Mediacorp. For more information, see: https://www.canadastop100.com/national/ 5 Based on total revenue and total combined customer connections.

Media inquiries

[email protected]

Investor inquiries

Richard Bengian

[email protected]

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this news release are forward-looking statements, including statements relating to our ESG objectives and commitments including, without limitation, our goal to achieve carbon neutral operations starting in 2025 and to achieve our science-based targets and SPT for GHG emissions reduction, our business outlook, objectives, plans and strategic priorities, and other statements that are not historical facts. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws and of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on several assumptions which give rise to the possibility that actual results or events could differ materially from our expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events, and we caution you against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release describe our expectations at the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this news release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Our ESG objectives and commitments, and the benefits expected to result therefrom, are subject to risks and, accordingly, there can be no assurance that our ESG objectives and commitments will be completed or that the benefits expected to result therefrom will be realized. In addition, forward-looking statements for periods beyond 2023 involve longer-term assumptions and estimates than forward-looking statements for 2023 and are consequently subject to greater uncertainty. In particular, our GHG emissions reduction and supplier engagement targets are based on a number of assumptions including, without limitation, the following principal assumptions: implementation of various corporate and business initiatives to reduce our electricity and fuel consumption, as well as reduce other direct and indirect GHG emissions enablers; no new corporate initiatives, business acquisitions, business divestitures or technologies that would materially change our anticipated levels of GHG emissions; our ability to purchase sufficient credible carbon credits and renewable energy certificates to offset or further reduce our GHG emissions, if and when required; no negative impact on the calculation of our GHG emissions from refinements in or modifications to international standards or the methodology we use for the calculation of such GHG emissions; no required changes to our science-based targets pursuant to the SBTi methodology that would make the achievement of our updated science-based targets more onerous or unachievable in light of business requirements; and sufficient supplier engagement and collaboration in setting their own science-based targets, no significant change in the allocation of our spend by supplier and sufficient collaboration with partners in reducing their own GHG emissions. For additional information on assumptions and risks underlying certain of our forward-looking statements made in this news release, please consult BCE Inc.'s (BCE) 2022 Annual MD&A dated March 2, 2023, BCE's 2023 First Quarter MD&A dated May 3, 2023, and BCE's news release dated May 4, 2023 announcing its financial results for the first quarter of 2023, filed by BCE with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities (available at Sedar.com) and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (available at SEC.gov). These documents are also available at BCE.ca.

SOURCE Bell Canada
GENEVA, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Earlier today, Bestfly announced the completion of the acquisition of Austria-based MS Aviation as part of its broader European expansion strategy. MS Aviation is an aircraft asset management company based in Austria offering end-to-end support solutions for various aircraft types. As part of the acquisition by Bestfly, MS Aviation will relocate its offices to Graz, Austria.

MS Aviation Logo (CNW Group/Bestfly)

"Bestfly has developed an expansion strategy that focuses on critical steps in the European and Caribbean markets. Leveraging our recent additions to our executive board, we are executing this expansion strategy in multiple phases. The acquisition of MS Aviation is a critical part of this growth strategy," said Nuno Pereira, Chairman & Group CEO, Bestfly. "MS Aviation gives us a further foothold in Europe from where we will expand the existing corporate aircraft management services, add another link to our current European VIP charter business, and further establish a broader structure of commercial aircraft ACMI solutions."

"We are already engaged in the evaluation of various commercial aircraft types to be added to our business aviation expertise. Coming into the Bestfly aviation group and being supported by their strong leadership team with a significant market footprint is another step to expanding the capabilities of MS Aviation," said Michael Mayer, Accountable Manager of MS Aviation. "We have good experience on Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Dassault business jets so this is yet another area of efficiency that will be added to Bestfly's operations in Europe."

About Bestfly

Bestfly was established in 2009 as an Angolan company for ground handling services and has since grown into a global aviation group with several new markets and business segments. The company has expanded its presence from Angola into Aruba, Portugal, Cape Verde, Austria, UAE, Congo, Guyana, and Senegal. Bestfly has assembled a very experienced team to ensure the highest operational standards, organizational efficiency, and commercial agility.

The group's current fleet stands at 27 aircraft based on an assortment of Bombardier, Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker and Cessna Citation business jets, Beechraft Kingair turboprops, Leonardo and Bell helicopters, Embraer commercial jets, and ATR72 turboprop aircraft. The diverse fleet is optimized to serve key commercial markets and long-term contract customers throughout Europe, Africa, Middle East, and the Caribbean.

As a founding member of the African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA), Bestfly is also a current member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

Bestfly.aero

For Further Information:

Communications Team, [email protected]

Marc Duchesne, Leliken Relations conseils, [email protected]

SOURCE Bestfly
CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The biobanking industry is expected to witness significant growth and transformation in the near future. Biobanks play a crucial role in collecting, storing, and managing biological samples and associated data for research and healthcare purposes. With the advancements in precision medicine, personalized therapies, and genomic research, the demand for high-quality biological specimens for biomedical research, drug development, and diagnostic applications is increasing. Biobanks serve as valuable resources for researchers, providing them with access to well-characterized and diverse samples for studying diseases, understanding genetic variations, and identifying biomarkers. In the near future, biobanks are likely to expand their collections to encompass a wide range of sample types, including tissues, blood, DNA, and biofluids. Moreover, the integration of biobanking with data analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies will enhance sample tracking, data management, and security. Biobanks will also focus on ensuring ethical practices, informed consent, and privacy protection to address ethical concerns and gain public trust. The collaboration between biobanks, researchers, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies will strengthen, fostering advancements in personalized medicine and contributing to improved patient outcomes. Overall, the biobanking industry is expected to play a critical role in advancing medical research, facilitating precision medicine initiatives, and driving healthcare innovation in the near future.

Biobanking Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $2.9 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $5.0 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 11.4% from 2023 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The global biobanking market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% during the forecast period. The growth of this market is driven by increasing number of private cord blood banks has led to a rise in competition among biobanks, which has driven innovation and improvements in the quality of biobanking services. This, in turn, has fueled growth in the biobanking market as more companies seek to enter this expanding field and meet the growing demand for cord blood stem cell preservation.

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Browse in-depth TOC on "Biobanking Market"

380 - Tables

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324 - Pages

Biobanking Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $2.9 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $5.0 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% Market Size Available for 20212028 Forecast Period 20232028 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered Product & Service, Storage Type, Sample Type, Ownership, Application and End User Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America (LATAM) and Middle East and Africa (MEA) Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Emerging countries to provide lucrative opportunities Key Market Drivers Growing investments and funding for biobanks

The blood products segment accounted for the largest share, by sample type in the biobanking market in 2022.

Based on sample type, the global biobanking market has been segmented into blood products, human tissues, nucleic acids, human waste products, cell lines, and biological fluids. The blood products segment held the largest share of the global biobanking market in 2022. This can be attributed to the rising incidence of blood disorders and the increasing demand for various types of blood products across the globe. With the ongoing expansion of biobanks and the increasing emphasis on precision medicine, the demand for blood products in biobanking is expected to remain strong, further propelling the growth of the global biobanking market

The manual storage segment accounted for the largest share of the storage type segment in the biobanking market in 2022.

Based on storage, the global biobanking market has been segmented into manual storage and automated storage. The manual storage segment held the larger market share in 2022. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the low cost and easy installation associated with this type of storage. Furthermore, many research centers and life science companies rely on manual processes for biological sample storage, this is further accelerating the market growth.

The North America region catered the largest share of the biobanking market in 2022.

The biobanking market in North America has experienced significant growth in recent years, showcasing a robust expansion trajectory. This can be attributed to the increasing number of biobanks and the growing investments in biobanking infrastructure. Major healthcare institutes and research organizations in North America have made substantial commitments to expanding their biobanking capabilities. Additionally, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases and the subsequent demand for personalized medicine has fueled the growth of the biobanking market in North America, with biobanks playing a pivotal role in storing and providing high-quality biological specimens for research and development purposes.

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Biobanking Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Growing investments and funding for biobanks Focus on genetic testing and precision medicine Increasing trend in preservation of cord blood stem cells from newborns Favorable funding scenario for research related to regenerative medicine

Restraints:

High cost of automated equipment Issues related to biospecimen sample management

Opportunities:

Emerging countries to provide lucrative opportunities

Challenges:

High operational cost of biobanks Storage of samples

Key Market Players:

Key players in the biobanking market include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), PHC Holdings Corporation (Japan), Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), QIAGEN N.V. (Germany), Merck KGaA (Germany), Avantor, Inc. (US), Cryoport, Inc. (US), Tecan Trading AG (Switzerland), Azenta, Inc. (US), Greiner Holding AG (Austria), Hamilton Company (US), Micronic (Netherlands), AMSBIO (UK), Bay Biosciences LLC (US), BioKryo (Germany), SPT Labtech (UK), ASKION GmbH (Germany), Cell&Co BioServices (France), Ziath Ltd. (UK), CTIBiotech (France), Cureline (US), Firalis Group (France), Sopachem (Netherlands), ProteoGenex (US), and US Biolab Corporation, Inc. (US).

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Recent Developments:

In February 2023 , PHC Corporation of North America launched the PHCbi Brand VIP ECO SMART Ultra-low Temperature Freezer with industry-leading energy efficiency.

, PHC Corporation of launched the PHCbi Brand VIP ECO SMART Ultra-low Temperature Freezer with industry-leading energy efficiency. In September 2022 , Cryoport entered into a strategic partnership with BioLife Plasma Services to offer supply chain solutions and service offerings, such as bioservices and cryo-processing, for BioLife Plasma Services.

Biobanking Market Advantages:

Valuable Research Resources: Biobanks provide researchers with access to a vast collection of well-characterized biological samples and associated data. These resources serve as a valuable foundation for conducting various types of research, including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epidemiological studies. Biobanks enable researchers to investigate diseases, discover new biomarkers, study genetic variations, and develop personalized therapies.

Accelerating Drug Discovery and Development: Biobanks play a crucial role in the drug discovery and development process. By providing researchers and pharmaceutical companies with access to diverse and representative samples, biobanks facilitate the identification of drug targets, testing of potential therapies, and assessment of drug efficacy and safety. This accelerates the drug development timeline, reduces costs, and enhances the success rate of clinical trials.

Facilitating Personalized Medicine: Biobanks contribute to the advancement of personalized medicine, which aims to provide tailored healthcare based on an individual's unique genetic makeup and other factors. By storing genetic information, clinical data, and biological samples, biobanks enable the identification of genetic markers associated with diseases, predicting disease risks, and guiding personalized treatment decisions. This helps healthcare providers deliver targeted therapies and improve patient outcomes.

Long-Term Sample Preservation: Biobanks employ specialized techniques and infrastructure to ensure the long-term preservation of biological samples. This enables the availability of high-quality samples over extended periods, allowing researchers to conduct longitudinal studies, analyze disease progression, and investigate long-term health outcomes. Long-term sample storage also enables retrospective studies and future research on emerging diseases or new research questions.

Collaboration and Data Sharing: Biobanks promote collaboration and data sharing among researchers, institutions, and industries. By establishing standardized protocols, ethical guidelines, and data sharing agreements, biobanks facilitate the exchange of samples, data, and knowledge. This collaboration fosters scientific discoveries, enables the replication of research findings, and maximizes the utility of stored samples.

Advancing Translational Research: Biobanks bridge the gap between basic research and clinical applications by facilitating translational research. By linking biological samples to clinical data, biobanks support the investigation of disease mechanisms, biomarker discovery, and the development of diagnostic tests. This enhances the translation of scientific knowledge into clinical practice, leading to improved disease diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.

Overall, the biobanking market offers significant advantages by providing researchers and healthcare professionals with access to diverse, well-preserved, and well-characterized biological samples. These advantages accelerate research, drug development, and personalized medicine initiatives, ultimately contributing to advancements in healthcare and patient care.

Biobanking market - Report Highlights:

The market size is updated for the base year 2022 and forecasted from 2023 to 2028 by studying the impact of the recession on the overall biobanking industry.

The new edition includes the impact of the recession on the biobanking market (especially the region-wise impact in the geographic analysis section) in 2022. There is a variation in the growth rate of the market due to the ongoing recession.

Additional points such as ranges/scenarios, trends/disruptions impacting customers' businesses, pricing analysis, value chain analysis, supply chain analysis, ecosystem analysis, patent analysis, key conferences and events (2022-2023), list of key regulatory bodies, regulatory landscape, Porter's Five Forces analysis, key stakeholders, the influence of stakeholders on buying decisions, and buying criteria among end users have been added in the market overview chapter.

The new edition of the report provides updated financial information till 2022 (depending on availability) for each listed company in a graphical representation. This will help in the easy analysis of the present status of profiled companies in terms of their financial strength, profitability, key revenue-generating region/country, and business segment focus in terms of the highest revenue-generating segment.

Recent developments help us to understand market trends and the growth strategies adopted by players in the market.

Tracking the portfolios of prominent market players helps analyze the major products in the biobanking market. The new edition of the report provides an updated product portfolio of the companies profiled in the report.

Key market strategies/right to win, market share analysis for 2022, revenue share analysis of key market players from 2020 to 2022, and competitive leadership mapping have been added in the competitive landscape section of the report.

The new version of the report includes competitive leadership mapping for companies operating in the market. This new section is an output of a comprehensive study of the key vendors offering biobanking products. The top 25 vendors were shortlisted from a list of 50+ vendors, and these were evaluated based on market share/ranking and product footprint, rated and positioned on a 2x2 quadrant, referred to as Company Evaluation Quadrant, categorizing them as Stars, Emerging Leaders, Pervasive Players, and Participants.

The new version of the report includes the startup/SME evaluation quadrant for 10 companies operating in the biobanking market. This updated section is an output of a comprehensive study of the key startup vendors offering biobanking products. The top 10 vendors were shortlisted from a list of 50+ vendors, and these vendors were evaluated based on their product portfolio and business strategy, rated and positioned on a 2x2 quadrant, referred to as Competitive Leadership Quadrant, categorizing them as Progressive Companies, Starting Blocks, Responsive Companies, and Dynamic Companies.

In the new edition of the report, the Rest of the World is segmented into Latin America and the Middle East and Africa . Country-level markets for Brazil and the Rest of Latin America in the Latin American region have been added.

and the and . Country-level markets for and the Rest of in the Latin American region have been added. The new version of the report includes the ownership segment, which is further segmented into national/regional agencies, non-profit organizations, universities, and private organizations.

The new version of the report includes an end-user segment, which is further segmented into pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies and CROs, academic and research institutes, and hospitals.

Related Reports:

Regenerative Medicine Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Stem Cell Therapy Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Stem Cell Assay Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Stem Cell Manufacturing Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

Biopreservation Market - Global Forecasts to 2025

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NEWARK, N.J., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCentriq, a strategic CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization) specializing in cell therapy announced today that CEO of BioCentriq, Haro Hartounian, Ph.D. will be presenting at the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) 29th annual event taking place at the Paris Convention Center in Paris, France May 31 - June 3, 2023.

Dr. Hartounian will update the industry on how BioCentriq is helping early-stage biotech companies with promising candidates get to clinic faster. During his session, Dr. Hartounian will unveil BioCentriq's new proprietary LEAP advanced therapy platform which provides a path for early-stage biotech companies to leverage proven expertise and assets to reach patients in record time.

BioCentriq has made many advances to help early-stage biotech companies with promising therapies get to clinic faster. Tweet this

"BioCentriq has made incredible advances focused on increasing the speed at which we can move to help early-stage biotech companies with promising therapeutics begin treating patients," said Haro Hartounian, Ph.D. and CEO of BioCentriq. "Sponsors who leverage BioCentriq's new LEAP platform can receive IND clearance and clinical supplies for use in human trials in as short as six months from project initiation."

Attendees at the event in Paris can see BioCentriq's presentation on Thursday June 1st, 2023, at 3:15 pm in the global showcase theater located in the exhibit hall.

Principal NK Cell Scientist Pankaj Mishra will also present a poster from BioCentriq in the process development and manufacturing category entitled Large-scale biomanufacturing platform to produce high-quality, therapeutically relevant NK cells using the LEAP-NK Platform.

The results of the study displayed in the poster suggest that BioCentriq's LEAP-NK platform utilizing propriety feeder cell lines can enhance expansion of NK cells >12,000 fold. BioCentriq's poster presentation can be viewed during Session 2 on Thursday June 1 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the poster hall.

In addition to attending BioCentriq's global showcase or poster presentation, event attendees can meet with representatives from BioCentriq at Booth #50 in the exhibit hall. Team members on site include David Smith, Ph.D., VP of Development, Alex Klarer, VP of Strategy and Innovation and Chathuranga DeSilva, Ph.D., Senior Director of Business Development.

Anyone wishing to meet with Dr. Hartounian or anyone on the team attending from BioCentriq can request a meeting directly on the BioCentriq website here.

About BioCentriq

BioCentriq is a full-service, collaborative CDMO for cell and gene therapy, focusing on all stages of process development and clinical manufacturing. It was purchased by GC of South Korea for $73M. With over 90 scientists, engineers, analysts, and manufacturing specialists, the company has established quality systems and the infrastructure required to support the release of autologous and allogeneic drug products. BioCentriq has been manufacturing drug products for use in human clinical trials since 2022. For more information, visit BioCentriq.com.

SOURCE BioCentriq, Inc.
This photo taken on May 15, 2023 shows a tissue-like cultured fish fillet at the laboratory of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Zhejiang University/Handout via Xinhua)

HANGZHOU, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Seafood is favored by many people for its taste and its richness in various proteins, omega-3 fatty acids and micronutrients. However, the increasing human population, coupled with environmental stress and climate change, has led to the overexploitation of marine food resources in recent decades.

In response to this challenge, a team of Chinese researchers has been seeking to develop tissue-like cultured fish fillets for human consumption, combining fish muscle fibers and adipocytes with 3D-printed gel.

The scientists from Zhejiang University and Dalian Polytechnic University published their findings recently in the journal npj Science of Food.

They first isolated muscle stem cells and adipose stem cells from the large yellow croaker, a warm-temperate migratory fish known for its delicious flavor and richness in nutrients.

They then promoted the myogenic differentiation of piscine satellite cells (PSCs) by regulating two related signaling pathways.

In addition, a 3D scaffold, the supporting materials for fish cell adhesion and growth, was constructed by gelatin-based gel mixed with PSCs. After proliferation and differentiation, the muscle scaffold was filled with cultured fish adipocytes until the tissue-like fish fillets were formed.

In essence, the cell culture of fish is a process of cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro through animal stem cells, explained the research team.

The process of producing the fillets took 17 days. No obvious differences were noted between the cultured meats and native muscle tissues in terms of the proportions of muscle cells and fat cells, gumminess, resilience or springiness.

However, plenty of safety assessments are needed before the cell-cultured fish can be served to humans, according to the research team.

"The research offers potential possibilities for the future supply of meat and animal protein, and has important implications for the conservation of marine fish stocks," said Liu Donghong, a member of the research team.

Editor: WXL
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Black Swan Graphene Inc. ("Black Swan") (or the "Company") (TSXV: SWAN) (OTCQB: BSWGF) (Frankfurt: R96) is pleased to provide an update on the industrial park concrete pour discussed in the Company's press release dated May 8th, 2023, and to discuss Toronto's recently announced initiative regarding limits on carbon emission for new buildings. Lastly, Black Swan anticipates sharing updates on recent progress achieved in collaboration with key customers actively engaged for polymer applications.

Concrete Pour Pictures (CNW Group/Black Swan Graphene Inc) Concrete Pour Pictures (CNW Group/Black Swan Graphene Inc) Concrete Pour Pictures (CNW Group/Black Swan Graphene Inc)

A shipment of product to Nationwide Engineering Research & Development ("NERD") was made earlier this month and is being used in a total of 180 tonnes of concrete using Concretene, NERD's graphene-enhanced admixture, for the construction of an industrial park near Redruth, Southwest England (see pictures below). This industrial park will offer 14 industrial units ranging from 2,500 and 3,500 sq ft, with the graphene-enhanced concrete being used for all external concrete aprons. The pour of 82.5 cubic meters was done with reinforced concrete designed to achieve a compressive strength of 40 to 50 megapascals (MPa) after curing, using the standard "CEM1" cementitious mix commonly used in construction.

Toronto's Building Carbon Initiative

In May 2023, Toronto, the fourth largest city in North America after Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles, became the first North American jurisdiction to require lower-carbon construction materials, limiting embodied carbon from new municipal building construction. New "City-owned" buildings must now limit upfront embodied emission intensity (emissions associated with manufacturing, transporting, and constructing major structural and envelope systems) to below 350 kilograms of CO2-equivalent per square metre of construction.1 For "non-city" buildings, this requirement is a tier 2 requirement, meaning optional, in the latest version of the Toronto Green Standard ("TGS"), but private developers should take note as tier 2 measures usually transition into tier 1, meaning they become mandatory requirements, when the next version of the TGS is implemented and the tiers are adjusted accordingly.2

Simon Marcotte, President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Swan, commented: "Similar standards initiated in California played a pivotal role in sparking the electric vehicle revolution. With the concrete industry being responsible for more than 8%3 of global CO2 emissions, it is only a matter of time before similar building codes continue to spread across the globe. This shift necessitates practical solutions which we can provide. Black Swan is part of a recently established fully integrated supply chain, including NERD and ARUP, a multinational engineering consultancy headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with 18,000 experts working across 140 countries, to provide turnkey solutions to the construction industry."

______________________________ 1 https://www.theenergymix.com/2023/05/14/toronto-limits-embodied-carbon-in-new-city-buildings/ 2 https://mantledev.com/insights/toronto-becomes-first-jurisdiction-in-north-america-to-enact-whole-building-embodied-carbon-caps-on-new-city-owned-buildings/ 3 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46455844

Corporate Matter

Black Swan announces the appointment of Ms. Deena Siblock as Corporate Secretary of the Company. Simon Marcotte commented: "One behalf of everyone at the Company, I would like to wish a warm welcome to Deena. I had the privilege to work with Deena at Arena Minerals Inc., which was recently acquired by Lithium Americas Corp., and I have seen firsthand her commitment to excellence. She will be a great asset to the Company."

About Black Swan Graphene Inc.

Black Swan is focused on the large-scale production and commercialization of patented high-performance and low-cost graphene products aimed at several industrial sectors, including concrete, polymers, Li-ion batteries, and others, which are expected to require large volumes of graphene. Black Swan aims to leverage the low cost and green hydroelectricity of the province of Quebec as well as the proximity of the province's emerging graphite industry in order to establish an integrated supply chain, reduce overall costs, and accelerate the deployment of graphene usage. On March 27, 2023, Black Swan, Nationwide Engineering Research and Development Ltd. ("NERD") and Arup Group Limited ("Arup") announced strategic partnerships, establishing a fully integrated supply chain and providing a turnkey solution for the construction and concrete industries. Arup is a multinational engineering consultancy headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with 18,000 experts working across 140 countries. Black Swan's graphene processing technology was developed by Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd ("Thomas Swan") over the last decade. Thomas Swan is a United Kingdom-based global chemicals manufacturer, with a century-long track record and has been at the forefront of graphene innovation.

For more information, please visit: www.blackswangraphene.com

Black Swan Graphene Inc. on behalf of the Board of Directors

Simon Marcotte, CFA, President & Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to the TSXV listing, risk related to the failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with the industry; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of a scoping and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity prices fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Furthermore, performance results of graphene products as additives can vary widely depending on type and the specificity of the target material, the specifics of the graphene product itself, including but not limited to, carbon purity, particle size, surface agent, dispersion behavior, and application and usage methods. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements and initial test results. These forward-looking statements and test results are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

SOURCE Black Swan Graphene Inc
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In cooperation with the Congressional Epilepsy Caucus, organizations including the Epilepsy Foundation, Epilepsies Action Network, CURE Epilepsy, Rare Epilepsy Network and DEE-P Connections hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill on May 17 to educate about the epilepsies and call for more government action and investment in the epilepsies. Congressional Epilepsy Caucus co-chairs Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. (R-NC-3) and Jim Costa (D-CA-21) spoke about their personal connections to epilepsy and the importance of the caucus.

"My son developed epilepsy when he was 14 and it took us months to get the right treatment for him," said Congressman Murphy. "While he is now 28 and his seizures are controlled, there are still millions of Americans who continue to struggle with seizures. My sister is one of those people. I am committed to elevating the community's voice in Washington to bring much-needed education and awareness about this very common yet stigmatized neurological condition."

The community spoke with one voice, delivering a letter to Capitol Hill urging Congress to support the following epilepsy programs and research in the federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget:

$10 million for the Pediatric-Onset Epilepsies Consortium jointly run by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) and National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health





for the Pediatric-Onset Epilepsies Consortium jointly run by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) and National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health $13 million for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Epilepsy Program





for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Epilepsy Program $5 million for the National Neurological Conditions Surveillance System and a report on current gaps and ways in which to expand the system to include the epilepsies





for the National Neurological Conditions Surveillance System and a report on current gaps and ways in which to expand the system to include the epilepsies $164 million for the CDC Safe Motherhood and Infant Health Program to enable more states to participate in a registry that can track Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) up to the age of 20





for the CDC Safe Motherhood and Infant Health Program to enable more states to participate in a registry that can track Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) up to the age of 20 $12 million for the Epilepsy Research Program, $175 million for the Traumatic Brain Injury & Psychological Health Research Program and $10 million for the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) Research Program all within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs





for the Epilepsy Research Program, for the Traumatic Brain Injury & Psychological Health Research Program and for the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) Research Program all within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs $23.585 million for the Veterans Affairs Epilepsy Centers of Excellence

"Epilepsy is a neurological condition that has been with us for a long time. We probably all know someone with epilepsy," said Congressman Costa. "It's critical that those living with epilepsy have a voice in Congress that advocates for their needs and supports funding for epilepsy research. I'm committed to working together with our colleagues in a bipartisan manner to improve access to care for all Americans with the epilepsies."

The briefing, which was moderated by Laura Lubbers, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, CURE Epilepsy, also included a mother who lost her 21-year-old son to SUDEP; a mother who cares for her 10-year-old son who functions at the level of a 2-month old due to his rare, genetic and severe epilepsy SCN8A; and a college student who is thriving despite her seizures and has overcome the stigma that comes with living with epilepsy. Together, the speakers explained how profoundly and differently epilepsy impacts people and families and why increased funding from Congress can help close gaps in care. The annual total healthcare burden for people living with the epilepsies and/or seizures is at least $54 billion.

"Epilepsy is considered a spectrum disorder with different causes and seizure types," said Dr. Archana Pasupuleti, pediatric neurology specialist at Children's National Hospital. "While we continue to make progress to understand the underlying causes of epilepsy, we still have 50% of patients for whom we don't know the cause and at least 30% for whom treatment is ineffective. This is where funding for research and surveillance can really make a difference in how we treat epilepsy with the goal of helping to improve the quality of life for those living with it."

About Epilepsy

According to the World Health Organization, epilepsy is the most common serious brain disorder worldwide, with no age, racial, social class, national or geographic boundaries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) estimates that 3.4 million people in the United States are affected by epilepsy, or approximately 1 in 26 people. Epilepsy is the underlying tendency of the brain to produce seizures, which are sudden abnormal bursts of electrical energy that disrupt brain functions. In addition to those diagnosed with epilepsy, one in ten people will have a single seizure in their lifetime. The annual total healthcare burden for people living with the epilepsies and/or seizures is at least $54 billion.

About Epilepsies Action Network

With the mission of advancing strategic national policies, innovative research programs, and funding to improve the lives and outcomes of ALL those living and struggling with the epilepsies, the Epilepsies Action Network was initiated in August 2022. It includes dozens of epilepsy organizations that are partners and a National Advisory Board with national experts in the epilepsies, as well as healthcare thought leaders including Dr. Chris Austin, Former founding Director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS); Dr. Howard Koh, Former Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2009-2014); Tony Coelho, Former United States Congressman from California and Primary Author and Sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and Greg Grunberg, actor and advocate. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About the Epilepsy Foundation

With a network of partners throughout the United States, the Epilepsy Foundation is leading the fight to overcome the challenges of living with epilepsy. The Foundation connects people to treatment, support, and resources; leads advocacy efforts; funds innovative research and the training of specialists; and educates the public about epilepsy and seizure first aid. For more than five decades, the Epilepsy Foundation has shone a light on epilepsy to promote awareness and understanding, and to advocate for laws that matter to people with epilepsy, while also funding epilepsy research and supporting epilepsy investigators and specialists in their early careers. In partnership with the CDC, the Epilepsy Foundation has helped to improve access to care for people with epilepsy, expanded its digital reach and online resources in homes across the country, and trained more than 600,000 people in seizure recognition and first aid. The Epilepsy Foundation has also assisted more than 140,000 people through its 24/7 Helpline, and continues to focus on innovation, new therapies, community services, advocacy and education as key priorities. To learn more visit epilepsy.com or call 1.800.332.1000. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube.

SOURCE Epilepsy Foundation
South Florida nonprofit organization honors Broward County's first responders for extraordinary acts of bravery

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council hosted its annual Tribute to Bravery Medal of Valor Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at the Lauderdale Yacht Club to honor the Medal of Valor Award recipients in Broward County.

Lauderhill Police Department receiving Medal of Valor Award from Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council at the 2023 Tribute to Bravery Luncheon Miramar Police Department Fort Lauderdale Police Department receiving Medal of Valor Award from Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council at the 2023 Tribute to Bravery Luncheon

Distinguished guests were greeted with a welcome reception from 11 am-12 pm, followed by the program from 12 pm-1:30 pm. During the ceremony, Broward County first responders were presented with the Medal of Valor Award in recognition of their acts of bravery and courage in the line of duty. This award is the Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council's highest accolade, reflecting the daily sacrifices of those who serve and protect their community. As part of the event, each heroic act was read while paying tribute to the extraordinary acts of all recipients.

"Awarding the brave men and women of Broward County was a wonderful opportunity to honor those who keep our community safe," shared Andy Mitchell, Chairman of the Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council. "We were so proud to share our gratitude and commitment to our organization's mission to protect the lives of those who protect us."

"Hosting a luncheon and award ceremony dedicated to our local heroes is one of the many ways we strive to support law enforcement, fire rescue, and other first responders in Broward County," shared Valerie Silverman, Chief of Staff of the Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council.

During the program the Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council paid homage to Pembroke Pines Police Officer Charles Herring. The Council had the great privilege to recently approve immediate funds to support the family and honor the service of the fallen officer.

Silverman added, "Making the selfless decision to put yourself at risk takes enormous courage and commitment to the oath. We honor the fallen with our deepest gratitude and thank all first responders for their daily sacrifices."

Medal of Valor Award Recipients:

Firefighter/Paramedic David Jordan, Firefighter/Paramedic Jordyne Steele ( Broward Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue Emergency Services) rescued a patient in a high-speed rollover auto accident in Boynton Beach .

Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue Emergency Services) rescued a patient in a high-speed rollover auto accident in . Lieutenant Dan Suarez ( Broward Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue, Fire Boat 6) supervised an operation to rescue individuals on a sinking vessel off Dania Beach Pier .

( Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue, Fire Boat 6) supervised an operation to rescue individuals on a sinking vessel off . Lieutenant Louis Berman (Sunrise Police Department) saved a missing elderly man from a canal bank of an apartment complex.

(Sunrise Police Department) saved a missing elderly man from a canal bank of an apartment complex. K-9 Officer Xavier Osorio ( Miramar Police Department) assisted in the apprehension of four subjects from a drive-by shooting.

( Police Department) assisted in the apprehension of four subjects from a drive-by shooting. Officer Juan Correa , Officer Corey Moore ( Fort Lauderdale Police Department) responded to an in-progress stabbing, apprehended the subject, and rendered aid to four victims.

, Officer ( Police Department) responded to an in-progress stabbing, apprehended the subject, and rendered aid to four victims. Officer Sam Ramos ( Lauderhill Police Department) assisted in the apprehension of an armed subject at a 7-11 convenience store.

( Police Department) assisted in the apprehension of an armed subject at a 7-11 convenience store. Firefighter/Paramedic Bryan Aparicio ( Broward Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue) rescued his girlfriend from a burning vehicle following a motor vehicle collision in Palm Beach County .

Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue) rescued his girlfriend from a burning vehicle following a motor vehicle collision in . Sergeant Andres Lopez , Detectives William Higuita , Christopher Komp , and Scott Kushi , Officer Erik Guy ( Pembroke Pines Police Department) assisted in the pursuit and lifesaving measures of a wanted suspect for the kidnapping of his girlfriend.

, Detectives , , and , Officer ( Police Department) assisted in the pursuit and lifesaving measures of a wanted suspect for the kidnapping of his girlfriend. Lieutenant Ryan Marken , Sergeant Dante Tanfulla, and Officer Justin Abram ( Coconut Creek Police Department) rescued a woman who drove her car into a lake at Tradewinds Park.

, Sergeant Dante Tanfulla, and Officer ( Police Department) rescued a woman who drove her car into a lake at Tradewinds Park. Deputy Sheriff Alex Ferraro , Deputy Sheriff Sean Flynn , Deputy Sheriff Christopher Anca ( Broward Sheriff's Office, North Lauderdale ) located and saved a victim from drowning in a canal after attempting to take her life.

About Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council

Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to support the first responders of Broward County. It provides injured or killed first responders and their families with financial assistance. The Council also develops and offers programs to strengthen the connection between the community and responders. It focuses on improving the community as a whole by providing it with a host of initiatives, such as specialized training courses for Broward first responders, wellness programs for first responders, and community outreach. For more information or to become a member, visit https://www.browardsheriffsadvisorycouncil.com.

Contact:

The Pontes Group / Lais Pontes Greene

[email protected]

954-960-6083

SOURCE Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council
CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- bswift, a leading provider of benefits administration services and solutions, has been recognized for exceptional creativity and innovation in employee benefits communication. It's in-house Communication Agency took home two Hermes Creative Awardsone Gold and one Honorable Mention.

"We're thrilled to be recognized by the Hermes Creative Awards," said Maria Keller, bswift's SVP of Marketing Tweet this bswift Wins Two 2023 Hermes Creative Awards

"We're thrilled to be recognized by the Hermes Creative Awards," said Maria Keller, bswift's Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communication. "As a company that's collaborative, forward-thinking, and bold, we are always striving for the most effective and creative ways to help our clients communicate with their employees. These awards are a testament to the talent and dedication of our team as well as the deep partnership and collaboration with our clients to deliver exceptional results."

bswift's winning entries include a Gold Award for their showcase communication campaign, and an Honorable Mention for the highly personalized total compensation statement created on behalf of a client.

With over 6,500 entries submitted annually, the competition for Hermes Awards is fierce. The talent on display at the Hermes Creative Awards serves as a benchmark for the industry and speaks to the high level of creativity and innovation that bswift consistently delivers.

With the goal of driving informed action, bswift's benefits showcase communications campaign helps prospective clients see how bswift tackles one of the biggest challenges of the benefits enrollment process: making it easy and straightforward. The campaign demonstrates how bswift leverages a range of communication vehicles to simplify enrollment, keep employees engaged, and drive informed action throughout the benefits enrollment process.

About bswift

bswift helps companies change the way their employees perceive and engage with their benefits through a proven blend of adaptive technology, service excellence, and compassionate service. Serving millions, bswift offers cloud-based technology and services for intuitive, personalized online enrollment, interactive decision support, ACA compliance reporting and employee engagement. For more information on bswift, please visit www.bswift.com.

About the bswift Communication Agency

The bswift Communication Agency specializes in employee benefits communication strategies that drive measurable outcomes, broaden awareness, and boost engagement. To learn more, visit communicationagency.bswift.com.

About Hermes Creative Awards

Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition that recognizes outstanding work in publications, branding collateral, websites, videos, and advertising, marketing, and communication programs. The judges are industry professionals who look for talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

Media Contact:

Maria Keller, SVP of Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE bswift
 50,000 square-foot addition allows Endeavor Air to consolidate all crew training in Minneapolis-St. Paul

MINNEAPOLIS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - (NYSE: CAE) (TSX: CAE)  CAE and Endeavor Air today inaugurated their expanded training centre in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. The training centre recently underwent a 50,000 square-foot expansion to make space for Endeavor's Flight Operations and Inflight Training departments and three additional CRJ full-flight simulators (FFS) that will allow Endeavor Air to consolidate all its pilot and cabin crew training, which previously took place in multiple locations, at the state-of-the-art centre in Minneapolis-St. Paul. With this expansion, the facility is now the largest CRJ training facility in the world.

Endeavor Air anticipates that approximately 2,000 pilots will visit the Endeavor Air Learning Center at CAE each year for training. Currently 120 instructors support the flight operations training program and 16 instructors support the flight attendant training program. Between 2,000 and 2,300 flight attendants will come through the facility for both new-hire and annual recurrent training each year.

"We are thrilled to be here today with our long-standing partner, Endeavor Air, to celebrate the growth of the CAE Minneapolis-St. Paul training centre. The expanded training centre will not only support Endeavor Air as they train and recruit pilots but will also deliver efficiencies and a world-class training experience by consolidating all training in one centre housing state-of-the-art simulators." said Michel Azar-Hmouda, Vice President, Global Commercial Aviation Training. "Our partnership with Endeavor Air is a shining example of how CAE can rapidly and effectively scale its training operations to meet the needs of its airline customers as they grow."

"This newly expanded facility, made possible by our partnership with CAE, is a tremendous asset for Endeavor Air," said Jim Graham, CEO, Endeavor Air. "Our training programs always strive to set the Gold Standard in the industry, and we are committed to providing equally outstanding resources to help our crewmembers learn in the most effective way possible. This incredible facility allows us to co-locate our training and learning teams for both pilots and flight attendants, creating greater opportunities for collaboration and joint learning between departments."

The CAE Minneapolis-St. Paul training centre was first opened in 2017, with four CRJ FFSs. Today, the centre operates eight CRJ FFSs, two B737NG FFSs, three CRJ flight training devices (FTDs) and cabin crew training equipment.

CAE operates 70+ civil aviation training centres around the world and is uniquely positioned to provide operational efficiencies to our airline customers, like Endeavor Air, and deliver an exceptional training experience for its pilots and cabin crew.

ABOUT ENDEAVOR AIR

Endeavor Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. Flying as Delta Connection, Endeavor Air operates 151 regional jets on 700 daily flights to 100 destinations in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, Endeavor Air has hub operations in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis and New York City.

www.endeavorair.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/9EAir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/endeavor-air/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/endeavorair

Contact: Katharine Tinucci, Director, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

+1-612-383-9156

ABOUT CAE

At CAE, we equip people in critical roles with the expertise and solutions to create a safer world. As a technology company, we digitalize the physical world, deploying simulation training and critical operations support solutions. Above all else, we empower pilots, airlines, defence and security forces, and healthcare practitioners to perform at their best every day and when the stakes are the highest. Around the globe, we're everywhere customers need us to be with more than 13,000 employees in more than 200 sites and training locations in over 40 countries. CAE represents 75 years of industry firsts  the highest-fidelity flight, mission, and medical simulators, and personalized training programs powered by artificial intelligence. We're investing our time and resources into building the next generation of cutting-edge, digitally immersive training and critical operations solutions while keeping positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact at the core of our mission. Today and tomorrow, we'll make sure our customers are ready for the moments that matter.

Follow us on Twitter: @CAE_Inc

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cae.inc

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cae

Hashtags: #CAE; #CAEpilot

Read our FY22 Annual Activity and Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

Contacts:

General Media:

Samantha Golinski, Vice President, Public Affairs & Global Communications

+1-514-341-2000, ext. 7939, [email protected]

Trade Media:

Jessica Shergill, Director, Integrated Marketing and New Adjacencies

+1-514-341-2000, ext. 6944, [email protected]

Investor Relations:

Andrew Arnovitz, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Enterprise Risk Management

+1-514-734-5760, [email protected]

SOURCE CAE INC.
Digital vocal biomarker innovator integrates clinical-grade technology providing real-time speech analysis on Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.

PROVO, Utah, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Canary Speech, Inc. announced today that it will apply the power of artificial intelligence (AI) voice analysis technology to address a variety of mental health challenges and enable early intervention, reduce healthcare costs, and scale remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions. As part of the collaboration, Canary Speech has become a Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare co-sell partner and will use Microsoft Azure as its cloud solution to extend its robust machine learning (ML) speech models to new customers.

The API-first platform is designed to integrate with existing solutions to enhance a users' experience and improve clinical outcomes. Partners can also configure the Canary Speech app to capture additional data points in addition to the voice recording / analysis. One way Microsoft customers can easily access and scale Canary AI vocal insights is through its integration with Microsoft Teams .

We are pleased to work with Canary to help transform care through AI technology that can make a positive impact... Tweet this

"Canary Speech continues to pioneer the path in creating, validating and commercializing speech-as-a-biomarker in a way that is transformative for patients and clinicians," said Henry O'Connell, co-founder and CEO of Canary Speech, of the newly formed collaboration. "We believe that Microsoft's world-class cloud infrastructure and global reach and scale, combined with our ML and AI expertise, creates truly next generation solutions."

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare provides trusted and integrated capabilities, connectors, workflows, data and AI models that make it easier for organizations to create personalized patient and member experiences, accelerate data driven decision-making, empower health teams with connected and secure productivity tools, and adopts data standards that are important to healthcare.

"AI is helping to empower healthcare providers by automating tasks, transforming unstructured forms of data into structured formats, gleaning patient insights, and supporting clinicians in delivering personalized patient care," said David Rhew, M.D., Global Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Healthcare, Microsoft. "Canary Speech is applying AI to enable voice to serve as a biometric, which could potentially aid in the screening and monitoring of medical conditions. We are pleased to work with Canary to help transform care through AI technology that can make a positive impact on the industry and patient outcomes."

Canary's patented technology offers a novel method for capturing and analyzing critical data. This approach involves using AI and machine learning techniques to examine speech features known as "biomarkers." By replacing subjective behavioral health measurements with a more standardized and objective approach, this technology can comprehensively measure an array of data points.

Watch the Microsoft Teams Canary plugin demo to learn more or for more information, please visit canaryspeech.com.

ABOUT CANARY SPEECH

Canary Speech is the global leader in the speech digital biomarker industry by achieving real time vocal analysis on as little as 40 seconds of speech using smart devices. Canary Speech is seeking to advance speech and language applications for the hospital, health and wellness, and pharmaceutical markets, the Utah-based company enhances patient care and outcomes by improving quality of care and quality of life with its patented AI speech technology. Canary Speech technology also provides the opportunity to enhance telemedicine and remote medical services. For more information, visit www.canaryspeech.com

Press Contact:

Caitlyn Brooksby

[email protected]

SOURCE Canary Speech
BEIJING, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 23, a celebration marking the 51st anniversary of the establishment of China-Mauritius diplomatic ties was held in Beijing.Nearly a hundred guests attended the event, including ambassadors from the African Union countries to China, heads of China offices of many countries, leaders from the African Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other institutions, and senior executives of Chinese central State-owned enterprises.

Ceremony Held in Beijing to Celebrate the 51st Anniversary of China-Mauritius Diplomatic Relations

During the event, Wu Yi, vice president of Genertec International Holding Co., Ltd. (GTI) exchanged views with other participants. GTI has been focusing on green "Belt and Road" construction, and its global business now covers a wide range of fields including energy and power, pan-infrastructure, vehicles, and green industry. Under its umbrella are CNTIC and CMC, China's earliest enterprises engaged in foreign trade and project contracting with a history of more than seven decades. Over the years, GTI has made relentless efforts to explore the African market and built a number of significant projects: the photo-voltaic power plant project in Algeria, the salt production project in Egypt, the rural communication and digital network coverage project in Ghana etc., to name just a few.

The event provided the attendees with an opportunity for in-depth exchanges in various fields such as energy and infrastructure. As the synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and the development strategies of African countries are further promoted, China-Africa cooperation will surely achieve more fruitful results and benefit more African people.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2084265/Ceremony_Held_Beijing_Celebrate_51st_Anniversary_China_Mauritius_Diplomatic_Relations.jpg

SOURCE CCTV+
With greater automatic and applicable measures, CDNetworks' WAAP Solution is poised to boost the presence of every online business.

SINGAPORE, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CDNetworks, an APAC-leading network to deliver edge as a service, is proud to announce that its comprehensive Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) solution has been enhanced with additional beyond rule-based web protection, scenario-based risk management, and other advanced features. This comprehensive solution is now available to organizations of all sizes and industries.

Highlights of CDNetworks' WAAP Solution

More Beyond Rule-based Web Protections

To help organizations address wide-ranging sophisticated cyberthreats, CDNetworks' WAAP solution supplements more capabilities of analysis. Enabling the Bot AI Analysis, WAF Intelligent Analysis Service, and other intelligent functions based on machine learning algorithms, CDNetworks' WAAP solution improves an organization's ability to mitigate cyberattacks quickly and minimize false positives while ensuring optimum user experiences for online visitors.

More Scenario-based Risk Management

To better meet the protection needs that organizations face in real-world business situations, CDNetworks has designed its WAAP solution to collect information about the methods and characteristics employed by major cyberattacks in specific scenarios that cross far-ranging industries. With this information, the solution can provide organizations with a broad spectrum of scenarios-based risk management capabilities. This allows organizations to put a stranglehold on unwanted requests in advance based on their unique business requirements and evaluate risks dynamically without relying solely on known attack patterns and manual security rules.

With E-Commerce, for example, CDNetworks' WAAP solution enables organizations to set up their own business security indicator and protection strategies based on specific logins, registrations, marketing activities, and payment scenarios. By utilizing anomaly and risk-based scoring techniques, the solution can proactively analyze and manage suspicious requests to ensure the continuity of an organization's core business. This approach has a significant positive impact on meeting various business objectives such as direct revenue, branding, and competition.

Effective Zero-day Protection Backed by a Powerful Intelligence Library

CDNetworks' WAAP solution has been designed from the ground up to ensure that organizations benefit from the highest availability and reliability possible by safeguarding their businesses from complex cyber attacks before they can occur.

CDNetworks' daily collection of massive amounts of data across 2,800 global Points of Presence (PoPs) combined with the sharing of third-party threat intelligence libraries and the machine learning capabilities of CDNetworks' WAAP platform all work in concert to produce a context- and data-aware perimeter that identifies threats efficiently, auto-updates defense rules continuously, and helps organizations patch vulnerabilities, including zero-day vulnerabilities, forming a network-wide synchronization shield that significantly improves an organization's security posture by eliminating sole reliance on perimeter-based protection.

API Full Lifecycle Management and Protection

Today's cyberthreat landscape is witnessing a year-after-year increase in network attacks initiated through vulnerabilities in application programming interfaces (APIs). CDNetworks' WAAP Solution provides full lifecycle management of API assets that helps enterprises safeguard vulnerable APIs throughout their lifecycle and effectively assists with asset management. In addition, the solution can intelligently detect sensitive data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and prompt organizations to strengthen appropriate prevention measures for data.

Professional Security Services

CDNetworks' WAAP solution also supports a range of optional robust security services, including Vulnerability Scanning Service, Business Security Analysis, Security Strategy Optimization, Professional Reporting Service, and etc. These security services provide security policy recommendations and optimized configurations aligned with an organization's security infrastructure, security mandates, and business priorities. Backed by a security team that provides proactive monitoring and alert services for major events with reliable 24/7 continuity, CDNetworks' WAAP solution provides organizations with one-stop protection for their business security needs.

"CDNetworks WAAP solution keeps a continuous eye on an organization's business. By acquiring a deep understanding of specific business scenarios, CDNetworks' WAAP solution employs machine learning technology, artificial intelligent analysis service, threat intelligent library, and the necessary risk management mechanisms to provide protection that not only fits an organization's specific business scenario, but also provides timely patches to cyber threats faced by the organization. In this way, we create true value by securing the critical business of organization as well as providing the best quality end-user experience" said Doyle Deng, Head of Global Marketing and Product of CDNetworks. "Ultimately, organizations will find that investing in security protection brings revenue growth, not just cost savings and protection."

Core Features of CDNetworks' WAAP solution

CDNetworks' WAAP solution offers a comprehensive set of features to protect web applications from various types of cyberthreats. The following list summarizes the core features of CDNetworks' WAAP solution:

CDN & DDoS Protection

CDNetworks' WAAP solution includes some features about CDN and DDoS protection, which ensures that web applications are always available, performing well, and protected against volumetric attacks:

-DNSSEC

-SSL/TLS

-Smart Routing

-Load Balancer

-Rate Limiting

-Access Control

-L3/4 DDoS Protection

-L7 DDoS Protection

WAF & API Security

The Web Application Firewall (WAF) and API security features provide protection against application-layer attacks, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting:

-Built-in Rule

-Zero-Day Protection

-API Discovery

-Sensitive Data Detection (For Notice)

Bot & Risk Management

The bot and risk management features help organizations identify and block malicious bots and other suspicious activities:

-Bot Detection

-Mobile App Solution

-Account Takeover Protection

-Fraud Protection

Advanced Technology

CDNetworks' WAAP solution also leverages advanced technologies such as machine learning, AI protection, and real-time threat intelligence to provide the most accurate and effective protection:

-Threat Intelligence

-AI Protection

-Machine Learning

Integration & Support

CDNetworks' WAAP solution offers multiple integration methods and support, such as API access, SIEM integration, alarm and notification, and expert support to ensure that organizations benefit from the highest levels of protection for their websites, applications, and APIs.

-API Access

-SIEM Integration

-Alarm & Notification

-Security Services

For those interested in trying out the latest WAAP Solution from CDNetworks, please feel free to contact us for a free trial.





About CDNetworks

As the APAC-leading network with over 2800 global Points of Presence and more than 20 years of technology experience, CDNetworks embraces the new era of Edge and takes it to the next level by using the Edge as a service to deliver the fastest and most secure digital experiences to end users. Our diverse products and services include web performance, media delivery, cloud security, zero trust security, and colocation services  all of which are uniquely designed to spur business innovation. To learn more, visit cdnetworks.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

CDNetworks Co. Ltd

[email protected]

www.cdnetworks.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1736512/LOGO_Logo.jpg

SOURCE CDNetworks
ST. LOUIS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), a leading healthcare enterprise committed to helping people live healthier lives, announced today it has named Shannon T. Susko as its Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer. Ms. Susko will be responsible for Centene's communications function, leading the development and execution of all internal and external communications, overseeing corporate reputation and advancing communications strategy in support of the company's business objectives.

Centene has named Shannon T. Susko as its Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer

Ms. Susko is a seasoned communications professional with more than two decades of strategic, corporate and crisis communications experience. She most recently served as Managing Director and Co-Head of Strategic Situations and Investor Relations and Head of Healthcare for Edelman Smithfield  the financial communications boutique within global communications firm Edelman. As a strategic advisor to boards and management teams of public and private companies, Ms. Susko guided communications strategy during both normal course and transformative situations. She previously served as Vice President of Communications at Global Strategy Group, where she advised clients on strategic communications, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism, and issues and reputation management. She was the founder of Susko & Co, a consulting firm that advised clients in the healthcare and financial services industries on strategic communications, business development and market strategy. Ms. Susko spent a decade at TriWest Healthcare Alliance, a Department of Defense managed care support contractor responsible for the administration of the military's healthcare program  TRICARE.

"Shannon is an accomplished leader with a distinguished track record in strategic communications and a deep understanding of the healthcare and financial landscape," said Centene's Chief Executive Officer, Sarah M. London. "Her background, breadth of experience and leadership will be integral as she partners with our senior management team to amplify the Centene story, highlighting our mission, vision and values to stakeholders."

Ms. Susko earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association.

About Centene Corporation

Centene Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping people live healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach  with local brands and local teams  to provide fully integrated, high-quality, and cost-effective services to government-sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance Marketplace and the TRICARE program. The Company also contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and value creation as well as the development of its people, systems, and capabilities so that it can better serve its members, providers, local communities, and government partners.

Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important information about the Company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor relations website, https://investors.centene.com/ .

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of current or historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek," "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can," "continue" and other similar words or expressions (and the negative thereof). Centene (the Company, our, or we) intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and we are including this statement for purposes of complying with these safe-harbor provisions. In particular, these statements include, without limitation, statements about our future operating or financial performance, market opportunity, value creation strategy, competition, expected activities in connection with completed and future acquisitions and dispositions, our investments, and the adequacy of our available cash resources. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments, and other factors we believe appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future, including economic, regulatory, competitive, and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. Except as may be otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date hereof. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ materially from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, variables, and events including, but not limited to: our ability to design and price products that are competitive and/or actuarially sound including but not limited to any impacts resulting from Medicaid redeterminations; our ability to maintain or achieve improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; our ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves, including fluctuations in medical utilization rates; competition, including our ability to reprocure our contracts and grow organically; the timing and extent of benefits from our value creation strategy, including the possibility that the benefits received may be lower than expected, may not occur, or will not be realized within the expected time periods; disruption, unexpected costs, or similar risks from business transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, and changes in our relationships with third parties; impairments to real estate, investments, goodwill, and intangible assets; the risk that the election of new directors, changes in senior management, and any inability to retain key personnel may create uncertainty or negatively impact our ability to execute quickly and effectively; membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting our government businesses; changes in healthcare practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs; inflation; changes in economic, political, or market conditions; changes in federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act (collectively referred to as the ACA) and any regulations enacted thereunder; tax matters; disasters or major epidemics; changes in expected contract start dates; provider, state, federal, foreign, and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; the expiration, suspension, or termination of our contracts with federal or state governments (including, but not limited to, Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE, or other customers); the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of legal or regulatory proceedings or matters, including, but not limited to, our ability to resolve claims and/or allegations made by states with regard to past practices, including at Centene Pharmacy Services (formerly Envolve Pharmacy Solutions, Inc. (Envolve)), as our pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) subsidiary, within the reserve estimate we previously recorded and on other acceptable terms, or at all, or whether additional claims, reviews or investigations will be brought by states, the federal government or shareholder litigants, or government investigations; challenges to our contract awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; the exertion of management's time and our resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for acquisitions or dispositions; any changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price, and accretion for acquisitions or dispositions; restrictions and limitations in connection with our indebtedness; a downgrade of the credit rating of our indebtedness; the availability of debt and equity financing on terms that are favorable to us; foreign currency fluctuations; and risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect our business operations, financial condition, and results of operations, in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, we cannot give assurances with respect to our future performance, including without limitation our ability to maintain adequate premium levels or our ability to control our future medical and selling, general and administrative costs.

SOURCE Centene Corporation
Play of light adds beauty to infrastructure

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Montreal architects specified channel glass from Bendheim to fulfill ambitious goals for a vital piece of public infrastructure.

When Quebec's largest city planned to build a new water intake on the Canal de L'Aqueduc, local residents expressed concern. The facility would be located right in the middle of a popular public recreation area, in full view of a residential neighborhood. Luckily, the project team at Smith Vigeant Architectes agreed that no ordinary industrial building would do.

To achieve harmony between the station and its setting, designers layered an external facade of Bendheim channel glass over an inner envelope of colored aluminum. The remarkable result of this technique succeeds in both expressing and effacing the building's utilitarian purpose.

Situated on a channel that draws water from the Saint Lawrence River, the intake operates 24 hours a day screening out debris. The combination of the inner and outer building envelopes provides proper security for the station and protects its operations from Canada's harsh winters. It also serves to create a striking "pixilated" effect on the building's exterior, as the vertical channels of glass cross the horizontal bands of aluminum to create the perception of squares.

According to architect Daniel Smith, the inner aluminum panels (in a graded range of blues) were chosen to reference the "horizontal" quality of water as it responds to gravity. The "orange peel" texture of Bendheim's Rough Cast 504 channel glass diffuses these colors while adding reflections from the sky, ground, and water nearby. The finished building, which is largely unmanned and needed no windows, glows gently by night and (as Smith described it) "participates" in the changing tones of the natural landscape by day.

Bendheim provided 352 channels of tempered, 100% heat soak tested glass for the project, in 14' 8" lengths to provide an unbroken vertical wall of glass. Totaling 4,600 square feet in area, the channels were installed with Bendheim's SF60S single glazed frame system in a clear anodized finish. "We wanted a material that would be responsive to its surroundings, like water," noted Daniel Smith. "Bendheim has a very good system, and the quality was top level. If I ever have another opportunity to use it, I will."

As Montreal enjoys a new landmark, Smith Vigeant's efforts have been rewarded with the 2022 Prize for Excellence in Architecture (Industrial Buildings Category) from the Ordre des Architectes du Quebec. "We're proud to be associated with a project that truly displays the exceptional qualities of our channel glass," noted Michael Tryon, General Manager at Bendheim. "More and more, we're seeing interest in channel glass as a highly practical material that can also make necessary infrastructure beautiful. We look forward to working on many more such projects in the public interest."

Photos of the Prise D'Eau du Canal de L'Aqueduc are available here: https://app.box.com/s/5i4rh7bxx62ilmgttc8z28ofmocm0fk8

About Bendheim:

Bendheim is one of the world's foremost resources for specialty architectural glass. Founded in New York City in 1927, the family-owned company offers a virtually unlimited range of customizable glass solutions for interior and exterior building applications. Bendheim develops, fabricates, and distributes its products worldwide. The company maintains production facilities in New Jersey and a design lab in New York City. For additional information, please visit Bendheim.com.

SOURCE Bendheim
Nobel Laureate Samuel Chao Chung Ting is interviewed with Xinhua while attending the ongoing Greater Bay Area Science Forum in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Guobao)

GUANGZHOU, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Scientists on Sunday called for heightened sci-tech cooperations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and across the globe to address common challenges from climate change to aging population.

They made the remarks at the ongoing Greater Bay Area Science Forum, which kicked off on Saturday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Nearly 100 academicians and leading experts from China and beyond are attending the event.

Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip, president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, called for maximizing the strength of the GBA as an innovation and economic powerhouse to gear up for the aging population.

Cross-disciplinary, cross-regional and cross-system cooperation must be strengthened, she said.

China has planned to build a global innovation and technology hub in the GBA, home to many tech giants and start-ups, as well as a growing cluster of scientific facilities and universities.

Nobel Laureate Samuel Chao Chung Ting said at the forum that China has world-class experimental physicists.

Ting said the Chinese physicists have imagination, and the capacity and experience to develop new technologies, lead international cooperation, and make important contributions to human knowledge.

Taking place in Guangdong's cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan, the forum will feature 15 sub-forums, with focus on marine science, nanoscience, high-energy physics, advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence.

Editor: WXL
FUQING, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 19, China-Indonesia "Two Countries, Twin Parks" Economic and Trade Cooperation & Exchange Fair was held in Fuqing City, and attended by experts and scholars, enterprise representatives, industry elites, according to Fuqing Media Convergence Center.

The attendees discussed the program blueprints & plans, cooperation opportunities, and sought common development through policy interpretation, experience sharing and round-table dialogues, etc. On the event site, the contracts of 10 key projects were signed, with a total investment of 4.55 billion yuan, involving foreign investment, health food, prefabricated dishes, aquatic products processing, foreign trade, and supply chain platform, etc., and a group of trade representatives for investment promotion were hired to provide strong support and influence for China-Indonesia "Two Countries, Twin Parks" and fully drive Fuqing to develop with high quality.

The Chinese Park is centered on the Fuqing Yuanhong Investment Zone, and the Indonesian Park takes Bintan Industrial Estate, Aviarna Industrial Estate, and Batang Industrial Park as the main carriers.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=440904

Caption: China-Indonesia "Two Countries, Twin Parks" Economic and Trade Cooperation & Exchange Fair was held in Fuqing City, Fujian province.

SOURCE Fuqing Media Convergence Center
YINCHUAN, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ningxia, China's leading wine-producing region, will host a wine-themed international conference and an expo in its capital city of Yinchuan next month, the event's organizers said Tuesday.

The International Conference on Grape and Wine Industries, as well as the third China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo, will be held from June 9 to 10, according to the Administrative Committee of Grape Industry Zone of Helan Mountain's East Foothill Wine Region in Ningxia.

The conference, themed "Nature, Innovation, Culture and Ecology", will invite experts and enterprises in the wine-making industry at home and abroad, and officials from 47 wine-producing countries and representatives of nine international organizations.

A total of 2,000 wine products of over 100 enterprises from 12 wine-producing regions across China will be displayed.

The event features forums on climate, technologies, trade and investment, as well as wine culture and tourism.

Ni Hongxing, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the global wine industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic downturn.

"We want to make contributions to sustainable global economic and social development by joining hands with other wine-producing countries, building economic cooperation platforms, tapping the potential of industrial recovery, and promoting integrated and innovative development," said the official.

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China has emerged as the country's largest wine-producing region after more than 40 years of development. It now has 228 wineries that produced 138 million bottles of wine in 2022, generating brand value of over 30 billion yuan (about 4.27 billion U.S. dollars).

SOURCE The Administrative Committee of Grape Industry Zone of Helan Mountain's East Foothill Wine Region in Ningxia
CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - CIBC is proud to announce the completion of a new affordable housing project in Geneva, IL, addressing the significant deficiency of affordable housing in the area. The project, Emma's Landing, provides 45 units of affordable housing, including seven units that have been specifically designed for low-income people with disabilities.

"At a time when affordable housing is in short supply, we are pleased to have been a part of this project," said Cheryl Wilson, managing director and head of Community Development Lending at CIBC, US. "We recognize the importance of providing safe and affordable housing for all, and we are proud to have played a role in making this project a reality."

CIBC played a meaningful role in the development of Emma's Landing, providing financing $36.4 million in debt and equity to the project. The bank also helped the property secure a $675,000 Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago Affordable Housing Program grant as a result of their involvement.

The property includes a total of 45 units, all of which are tax credit units set aside for households earning 30%, 50%, and 80% of the AMI. The Property will consist of 12 two-story townhome buildings with three and four units each and will include 15 two-bedroom/two-bathroom units and 30 three-bedroom/2.5-bathroom units. Amenities will include two-car attached garages per unit, in-unit washer/dryers, looped walking paths, dedicated visitor parking, and a playground.

"The completion of Emma's Landing marks a significant milestone for the community, and we are proud to help create much needed affordable housing options, especially in an area where they are scarce," said Wilson.

Over the last six years, CIBC has provided over $500 million in financing throughout Chicagoland, mostly focused on affordable housing. Together with their partners, they have created or rehabilitated over 3,200 units to address this critical need.

About CIBC

CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with 13 million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional clients. CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions and services in the United States, across Canada and around the world. In the US, CIBC Bank USA provides commercial banking, private and personal banking and small business banking solutions and CIBC Private Wealth offers investment management, wealth strategies and legacy planning. Visit us at cibc.com/US.

Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. Loans are subject to credit approval. The CIBC logo is a registered trademark of CIBC, used under license. Investment Products Offered are Not FDIC-Insured, May Lose Value and are Not Bank Guaranteed.

SOURCE CIBC
Highlights

Cohort 1 of the SECuRE trial has been completed in 6 participants with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who received therapy with 67 Cu SAR-bisPSMA at the lowest dose level of 4GBq.

Cu SAR-bisPSMA at the lowest dose level of 4GBq. No dose limiting toxicities (DLTs) have been reported in cohort 1.

The Safety Review Committee (SRC) has recommended that the trial continues to cohort 2.

Recruitment has opened at clinical sites in the United States (US) at the cohort 2 dose level of 8GBq and patients are currently in screening for all available slots.

(US) at the cohort 2 dose level of 8GBq and patients are currently in screening for all available slots. Additional therapy cycles of 67 Cu SAR-bisPSMA have been requested by clinicians under the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Expanded Access Program (EAP).

Cu SAR-bisPSMA have been requested by clinicians under the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Expanded Access Program (EAP). Early data from the EAP indicates positive effects of the lowest dose of 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA on lesions, demonstrated by SPECT-CT images, with reduction in Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) levels.

SYDNEY, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX: CU6) ("Clarity", "the Company"), a clinical stage radiopharmaceutical company with a mission to develop next-generation products that improve treatment outcomes for children and adults with cancer, is pleased to announce the completion of cohort 1 and advancement to cohort 2 in the therapeutic phase of its Phase I/II theranostic trial, SECuRE, evaluating 64Cu/67Cu SAR-bisPSMA in patients with mCRPC.

The SECuRE trial (NCT04868604)[1] is a Phase I/IIa theranostic trial for identification and treatment of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) expressing mCRPC using Targeted Copper Theranostics (TCTs). 64Cu SAR-bisPSMA is used to visualise PSMA expressing lesions and select candidates for subsequent 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA therapy. The trial is a multi-centre, single arm, dose escalation trial with a cohort expansion involving up to 44 patients in the US. The aim of this trial is to determine the safety and efficacy of 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The first cohort of the dose escalation, where 6 participants received a single administration of 4GBq of 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA, has been completed. The SRC, responsible for assessing safety of participants and overseeing the general progress of the trial, has assessed the data and recommended progressing the trial to cohort 2, increasing the dose to 8GBq. No DLTs have been reported in any of the patients dosed to date.

Outside of the trial, therapy cycles of 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA have also been requested by clinicians under the FDA EAP for patients who participated in cohort 1, and data from the EAP continues to be generated.

SPECT-CT images depicted below were collected 48 hours after the first and third administrations of 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA in a patient in the EAP. PET-CT images using 64Cu SAR-bisPSMA were collected prior to therapy. Images collected 48 hours following the third therapy cycle demonstrate a reduction in the intensity of product uptake at the tumour sites. A reduction of greater than 50% in PSA levels was observed in this patient following the first administration of 4GBq of 67Cu-SAR-bisPSMA. PSA decline of 50% or greater is one of the primary endpoints of the SECuRE trial and a commonly used surrogate endpoint for efficacy in this patient population.

Dr Luke Nordquist, CEO, Urologic Medical Oncologist and Principal Investigator at the Urology Cancer Center / XCancer Omaha, NE, commented, "We are excited to have successfully completed the first cohort of the SECuRE trial. We have not seen any safety issues in the patients treated so far and are already seeing clinical benefits in some patients. Outside of reductions in PSA levels and changes in tumour imaging, we have seen an improvement in quality-of-life measures such as reduction in pain and return of appetite and physical exercise. It is fantastic to see benefits at the lowest dose level, and we look forward to progressing to cohort 2 and increasing the dose of 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA."

Clarity's Executive Chairperson, Dr Alan Taylor, commented, "For this product, we went back to the drawing board. We saw the limitations of first-generation PSMA agents, with single PSMA targeting molecules, including low uptake in tumours and poor retention over time. Utilising two PSMA targeting molecules in our optimised agent, bisPSMA, and the TCT platform, we have observed two to three times the uptake of product in tumours so far in pre-clinical and clinical development and saw retention in the tumours out to 96 hours. We are excited by the results of this innovation seen to date as we work towards developing best-in-class products across both diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

"Prostate cancer is one of the largest oncology indications worldwide and based on our estimates, represents a US$5-10 billion therapy market. Radiopharmaceuticals are expected to play an increasingly important role in the management of patients with prostate cancer, however, challenges associated with the current generation of products prevail. The most recent example is a supply disruption associated with the roll-out of Novartis' US FDA-approved Pluvicto (lutetium Lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan). Despite the significant demand from patients and the product's strong initial sales, with US$211 million in revenue achieved in the first quarter of 2023, Novartis is unable to meet the demand. Manufacturing challenges have crippled the rollout and added to the suffering of patients and their families. Furthermore, reliance on a small number of ageing nuclear reactors to produce lutetium-177 also jeopardises expansion into other cancer indications and undermines the confidence of clinicians and their patients in radiopharmaceuticals.

"Clarity's TCT platform represents the next-generation platform in radiopharmaceuticals to improve treatment outcomes for children and adults with cancer as well as resolve the supply and manufacturing issues associated with the first generation of products. Because of these characteristics, TCTs are ideally positioned to enable the field to expand into the oncology market, addressing large indications such as prostate cancer and beyond. Our therapeutic products are based on copper-67, a radioisotope produced on electron accelerators, which are relatively inexpensive and infinitely more scalable in comparison to nuclear reactors. TCTs also do not require heating during the manufacturing process, minimising quality concerns and making it less costly to manufacture. Production of TCTs has favourable environmental characteristics in comparison to the current generation of theranostics, with a smaller logistical footprint and minimal radioactive waste disposal issues. In a field with too many unforeseen product outages, TCTs enable a reliable and sustainable supply of radiopharmaceuticals.

"Given the myriad of logistical and manufacturing advantages of TCTs, we are committed to completing our clinical trials and bringing this next generation of radiopharmaceuticals to patients around the world."

About SAR-bisPSMA

SAR-bisPSMA derives its name from the word "bis", which reflects a novel approach of connecting two PSMA binding motifs to Clarity's proprietary sarcophagene (SAR) technology that securely holds copper isotopes inside a cage-like structure, called a chelator. Unlike other commercially available chelators, the SAR technology prevents copper leakage into the body. SAR-bisPSMA is a TCT that can be used with isotopes of copper-64 (Cu-64 or 64Cu) for imaging and copper-67 (Cu-67 or 67Cu) for therapy.

64Cu SAR-bisPSMA and 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA are unregistered products. Individual results may not represent the overall safety and efficacy of the products. The data outlined in this announcement has not been assessed by health authorities such as the FDA. A clinical development program is currently underway to assess the efficacy and safety of these products. There is no guarantee that these products will become commercially available.

About Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in men globally and the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide[2]. The American Cancer Institute estimates in 2023 there will be 288,300 new cases of prostate cancer in the US and around 34,700 deaths from the disease[3].

About Clarity Pharmaceuticals

Clarity is a clinical stage radiopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of serious disease. The Company is a leader in innovative radiopharmaceuticals, developing TCTs based on its SAR technology platform for the treatment of children and adults with cancer.

www.claritypharmaceuticals.com

References

[1]. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04868604, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04868604

[2]. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries, https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21660

[3]. American Cancer Society: Key Statistics for Prostate Cancer, https://www.cancer.org/cancer/prostate-cancer/about/key-statistics.html

For more information, please contact:





Clarity Pharmaceuticals

Dr Alan Taylor Catherine Strong Executive Chairman Investor/Media Relations [email protected] [email protected]

+61 406 759 268

This announcement has been authorised for release by the Executive Chairman.

SOURCE Clarity Pharmaceuticals
Companies recognized on this list achieved the highest revenue growth rate from 2021 to 2022.

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Clutch, the leading global marketplace of B2B service providers, released its list of the top 100 fastest-growing companies on its platform today, with the highest revenue growth rate from 2021 to 2022. This is the third consecutive year that Clutch has recognized its top 100 companies.

Clutch 100 2023 Badge

"We are excited to showcase the incredible growth and success of the fastest-growing companies on our platform," said Clutch's CEO, Sonny Ganguly. "Business service providers play a key role in the global economy in that they also greatly contribute to their clients' growth. These 100 businesses have profound second-order impact across the world thanks to the project outcomes they've delivered for their clients. By recognizing these high-growth companies, we aim to connect businesses with the service providers that will help them reach their goals and, in turn, accelerate their own growth."

View the full Clutch 100 Fastest-Growing companies of 2023 here .

To determine the rankings, service providers on Clutch submitted verified financial data and Clutch compared absolute revenue growth rate from 2021 to 2022.The leaders of these rapidly growing companies are skilled in a wide range of services, including web development, marketing, call center services, SEO, IT services, and more.

Companies placed on the 2023 Clutch 100 are headquartered across the globe, including the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia.

About Clutch

Clutch empowers better business decisions as the leading global marketplace of B2B service providers. More than 1 million business leaders start at Clutch each month to read in-depth client interviews and discover trusted agency partners to meet their business needs. Clutch has been honored for the past 5 consecutive years as an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company and by the Washington Business Journal as one of the 50 fastest-growing private companies in the DC metro area for 2022.

Media Contact:

Deesha Laxsav

703-944-4279

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SOURCE CLUTCH
MORRISON, Colo., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The state with one of the most recognizable standard vehicle license plates in the country, featuring a green and white mountain range image, will soon offer drivers a stylized plate unlike any seen on American roadways.

New Colorado license plate option features the state fossil, a Stegosaurus.

Governor Jared Polis has approved a new special license plate sure to be all the rage with drivers who love dinosaurs. The new design pays homage to an animal that now lives only in museum exhibits, media depictions, and our imaginations. Long before the Rocky Mountains were formed, 30-foot long Stegosaurus grazed the flatlands and fought off Allosaurus attacks with its unique-to-the-species spiked tail.

Fossilized bones of this now iconic creature were first excavated in Morrison, Colorado and named by famous paleontologist O.C. Marsh in 1877 during the so-called Bone Wars. In 1982 the armored herbivore with the plated back (Stegosaurus means roofed lizard) beat out other local dinosaurs to become Colorado's official state fossil.

"This dinosaur from the Late Jurassic continues to captivate us nearly 150 years after its fossil remains were first excavated and sent by rail from Colorado to Connecticut. We are fortunate to have exposed layers of ancient rock from that time period thanks to erosion and mountain uplift," explained Dinosaur Ridge Education Programs Director Erin LaCount. "This family of dinosaurs has since been found in other states, but Colorado was the first site, and people tour that quarry location nearly every day."

The license plate was proposed by the nonprofit that provides tours and children's camps at the outdoor museum known as Dinosaur Ridge. This fossiliferous section of the Morrison Formation on Jefferson County Open Space land still contains visible bones embedded in Jurassic layers. Atop Cretaceous age layers hundreds of dinosaur footprints are fossilized in what paleontologists have ranked the #1 dinosaur tracksite in North America.

Dinosaur Ridge is part of the Morrison-Golden Fossil Areas National Natural Landmark (NNL), designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior 50 years ago in November 1973. Like all NNLs, the designation includes an agreement with landowners to preserve the site for future generations. Proceeds from license plate sales will provide financial support for efforts to protect the fossil resources at this nationally recognized site. The plate is expected to be available in January 2024.

CONTACT:

Kristen Kidd

3036816510

[email protected]

SOURCE Friends of Dinosaur Ridge
VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CMMC) (ASX: C6C) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") is pleased to announce positive results from the first four drill holes of its 2023 exploration program at the Copper Mountain Mine, located in southern British Columbia. Two of these holes were drilled at the Copper Mountain Mine main pit and two at New Ingerbelle, which is located approximately one kilometre to the west of the main pit.

Figure 1: Drill program target areas (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation) Figure 2: New Ingerbelle and Red Chris cross sections (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation) Figure 3  Location Map for holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895 (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation) Figure 4: Drill Holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895 (Cross Section) (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation) Figure 5: Drill holes CM-DD-896 and CM-DD-897 (Location Map) (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation) Figure 6: Drill hole CM-DD-897 (Cross Section) (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation) Figure 7: Drill hole CM-DD-897 (Cross Section) (CNW Group/Copper Mountain Mining Corporation)

Drill hole CM-DD-897 intersected the highest-grade and most gold-rich, copper-gold mineralization yet discovered at New Ingerbelle and extends the known mineralized zone by approximately 200 metres below the current Mineral Resource. This drill hole shows that the mineralized zone at New Ingerbelle has a vertical extent of at least 900 metres and the zone remains open both laterally and at depth.

Drilling Highlights

Drill hole CM-DD-897

191 metres of 0.66% CuEq (0.45% Cu, 0.32 g/t Au, 0.41 g/t Ag) from 722 metres

(0.45% Cu, 0.32 g/t Au, 0.41 g/t Ag) from 722 metres

Including 104 metres of 1.01% CuEq (0.65% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au, 0.53 g/t Ag) from 809 metres

(0.65% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au, 0.53 g/t Ag) from 809 metres

Including 45 metres of 1.50% CuEq (0.94% Cu, 0.83 g/t Au, 0.74 g/t Ag) from 867 metres

(0.94% Cu, 0.83 g/t Au, 0.74 g/t Ag) from 867 metres Drill hole CM-DD-896

108 metres of 0.76% CuEq (0.59% Cu, 0.23 g/t Au, 2.13 g/t Ag) from 464 metres

(0.59% Cu, 0.23 g/t Au, 2.13 g/t Ag) from 464 metres

Including 56 metres of 1.00% CuEq (0.79% Cu, 0.27 g/t Au, 3.59 g/t Ag) from 466 metres

CuEq (0.79% Cu, 0.27 g/t Au, 3.59 g/t Ag) from 466 metres Drill hole CM-DD-895

42 metres of 0.74% CuEq (0.64% Cu, 0.13 g/t Au, 1.47 g/t Ag) from 480 metres

"Our current drill program has discovered high-grade copper-gold mineralization over 200 metres below the previous deepest drill hole at New Ingerbelle and shows that the mineralizing system becomes stronger and more gold-rich at depth," commented Patrick Redmond, Copper Mountain's Senior Vice President, Exploration and Geoscience. "We have been successful in achieving the objective of our 2023 exploration program, which is designed to look for higher-grade zones below and adjacent to the current resource. What we have found is similar to the high-grade zones at Red Chris and Cadia-Ridgeway. These latest drilling results continue to demonstrate the size potential of the Copper Mountain Mine."

2023 Exploration Program

The 2023 exploration program is designed to test seven target areas within the NW-trending Copper Mountain-New Ingerbelle mineralized corridor (Figure 1), a 4 to 5 kilometre long, NW-trending zone of porphyry copper-gold mineralization. Multiple historical drill holes within this zone end in copper-gold mineralization and geophysical data strongly suggest that the mineralizing system extends well below the current known Mineral Resource, which is open both laterally and at depth.

Figure 1 provides the location map showing the 2023 target areas numbered 1 to 7, the historical Titan IP chargeability data (7 lines completed in 2007), the 2023 geophysical survey grid, and all drill holes colour-coded by copper grade. The 2023 survey comprises a 3D IP/DC resistivity survey at New Ingerbelle and to the northwest of the active mining area, plus a series of 2D IP/DC resistivity lines within and to the east of the active mining area.

The 2023 drill program consists of two phases. Phase 1 is expected to be completed mid-year and includes a large geophysical program and approximately 8,000 metres of diamond drilling. Phase 2 consists of approximately 10,000 metres of additional drilling. At New Ingerbelle, drilling is currently ongoing with three holes completed and one hole in progress. At the Copper Mountain Mine, two holes have been completed and one hole is in progress, which is a 175-metre undercut of a 2010 drill hole that intersected a 72-metre zone grading 1.86% CuEq from 452 metres at depth (Target area 5 on Figure 1).

The current drill program is focused on finding higher-grade zones of mineralization below and adjacent to the current Mineral Resource, and similar to the higher-grade zones that have been discovered at other alkalic porphyry copper-gold deposits such as Red Chris in British Columbia and Cadia-Ridgeway in New South Wales, Australia. The Copper Mountain deposit is the same geological age as the Red Chris deposit and both contain the same style of high-grade, A-quartz vein-hosted, copper-gold mineralization hosted within potassically-altered porphyry intrusions and adjacent country rock. Like Red Chris, copper and gold at the Copper Mountain deposit exhibit a strong correlation and Au/Cu ratios increase inward towards the core of the system. The discovery in hole CM-DD-897 of high-grade copper-gold mineralization, with Au/Cu ratios of >1 in the highest-grade interval, shows that the mineralizing system at New Ingerbelle becomes stronger and more gold-rich at depth. The mineralized zone has a minimum vertical extent of 900 metres and remains open at depth. For comparison, zones of high-grade mineralization at Red Chris and Cadia-Ridgeway exhibit vertical extents of over 1,000 metres. Figure 2 shows New Ingerbelle and the East Ridge zone at Red Chris at the same scale.

The Red Chris cross section is taken from "Newcrest Mining Limited - Exploration Update 10 March 2021" and shows the location of the East Ridge discovery hole, RC678. The newly discovered higher-grade copper-gold zone at New Ingerbelle has similar grades to Red Chris, and the Company believes the overall mineralizing system is comparable in size.

A large geophysical program is also ongoing and is designed to infill and extend previous induced polarization ("IP")/DC resistivity coverage. A 3D survey has been completed at New Ingerbelle and both 3D and 2D surveys have been completed at the Copper Mountain Mine. A magnetotellurics ("MT") survey is currently ongoing at New Ingerbelle and will extend the depth of investigation below the limits of the IP/DC resistivity survey. Large numbers of physical property measurements on drill core, including density, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity and chargeability have also been carried out on recent and historical drill core and will be used to constrain the geophysical modelling. These new geophysical and petrophysical data will be integrated with historical geophysical data and will be used to better define existing targets and to generate new target areas.

Drilling Results

A list of the drill holes including significant intercepts and other details are included in Appendix A. Location maps and cross sections of the four holes are shown in Appendix B. Drilling to date has tested three of the target areas shown in Figure 1 with drilling currently ongoing on a fourth target area. The strategy for Phase 1 of the program is to drill into multiple target areas and then, based on the results, prioritize target areas for follow-up drilling in Phase 2.

Drill Holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895

Drill holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895 (Target area 4 on Figure 1) were drilled 160 metres apart to test a strong IP chargeability feature (on the most westerly line from the 2007 IP/DC resistivity survey) located immediately north of the Copper Mountain Stock ("CMS") and on trend to the northwest from the current mining area in the Copper Mountain main pit shown in Figure 1. Appendix B, Figure 3 shows a location map and Figure 4 shows a cross section with drill holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895. The highest-grade intervals occur within zones of porphyry-related hydrothermal breccia, including a 42-metre zone grading 0.74% CuEq from 480 metres depth in hole CM-DD-895.

Most of the previous drilling in this area has consisted of relatively short holes. A drill hole from 2008 (08P1-22), located approximately 200 metres to the west of the current drilling, intersected a 46-metre zone grading 0.65% CuEq from 374 metres at depth. Reconnaissance mapping of the area in 2022 identified a large, approximately 300 x 300 metre, zone with porphyry-style veins and related potassic alteration and anomalous copper values. Mapping also located two historical adits in the area. Grab samples from waste piles outside these adits returned values greater than 1% Cu in rocks with A-quartz veins, chalcopyrite veinlets and Kspar-biotite-magnetite alteration.

Both holes intersected copper-gold mineralization below the current Mineral Resource, and further drilling in the area is warranted. This area of the deposit is the location of the future haul road to New Ingerbelle and a deeper reserve pit would have a positive impact on road construction costs and haul distances.

Drill Hole CM-DD-896

Drill hole CM-DD-896 (Target area 1 on Figure 1) was a 200-metre undercut of high-grade porphyry-hosted copper-gold mineralization in a number of 2021 drill holes, including drill hole 21IG-11 located in the southwest area of New Ingerbelle (See Appendix B, Figure 5 and 6). Drill hole CM-DD-896 intersected a wide zone of chalcopyrite-pyrite mineralization hosted in Nicola Group rocks, Lost Horse porphyry dykes and related hydrothermal breccias. The highest-grade interval of 56 metres at 1.00% CuEq is mainly hosted in a biotite-sulfide cemented hydrothermal breccia. The mineralization intersected in this drill hole is below the current Mineral Resource, and the mineralized zone remains open to the southwest towards the CMS contact.

Drill Hole CM-DD-897

Drill hole CM-DD-897 (Target area 2 on Figure 1) was a 200-metre undercut of the previous deepest drill hole at New Ingerbelle, 20IG01, which intersected a number of intervals of high-grade copper-gold mineralization (See Appendix B, Figure 7). Mineralization in CM-DD-897 is hosted within igneous breccias and Nicola Group country rocks and consists of a chalcopyrite-pyrite sulphide assemblage associated with potassic alteration (hydrothermal quartz-magnetite, biotite and potassium feldspar), with local pyrrhotite associated with specific lithological units within the Nicola Group. The interval is also cut by narrow Lost Horse porphyry dykes, with quartz-chalcopyrite veins, chalcopyrite-pyrite veinlets, and locally intense potassic alteration. The highest-grade interval, 8.85 metres at 5.37% CuEq, consists of a quartz-magnetite-chalcopyrite-pyrite assemblage, hosted in what appears to be intensely altered Nicola Group rocks.

QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols

Drill core was cut and sampled at the Copper Mountain Mine core processing facility. Half core samples were collected in plastic bags together with sample tags and grouped in "apple crates" for dispatch to the assay laboratory. Sample size is approximately 2 metres for HQ and 3 metres for NQ core diameters but may vary to honour geological contacts. Sample weights typically varied from 5 to 10 kilograms. Sample sizes are considered appropriate for the style of mineralization. Drill core samples were transported by road to the laboratory. Sample preparation and assay analysis was conducted at the independent ISO 9001 certified and ISO 17025 accredited MSALABS in Langley, British Colombia. All samples were dried, crushed to 70% passing 2 mm, with a 250-gram split pulverized to 85% passing 75m. All samples were assayed for 48 elements using a 4-acid digestion followed by ICP-AES/MS determination (method IMS-230). Overlimit (>10,000 ppm) copper was determined using ICP-AES (method ICF-6Cu). Gold analyses were determined by 30-gram fire assay with an AAS finish (method FAS-111). Sampling and assaying quality control procedures consisted of inclusion of certified reference material ("CRMs"), blank material and duplicates with each batch (at least 1:20). Assays of quality control samples were compared with reference samples in Excel and verified as acceptable prior to use of data from analyzed batches. Laboratory quality control data, including laboratory standards, blanks, duplicates, repeats and grind size results are captured in an Excel database and assessed for accuracy and precision for recent data. Analysis of the available quality control sample assay results indicates that an acceptable level of accuracy and precision has been achieved. Sampling, sample preparation and quality control protocols are considered appropriate for the material being sampled. There are no known issues that would materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the analytical data from the drill program presented herein.

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to exploration targets, exploration results, Mineral Resources or ore reserves is based on information compiled by Patrick Redmond, Ph.D., P. Geo. Patrick Redmond is a full-time employee of the Company and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Patrick Redmond consents to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Qualified Person

Patrick Redmond is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.

About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Copper Mountain owns 75% of the Copper Mountain Mine, which is located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Copper Mountain Mine produces approximately 100 million pounds of copper equivalent on average per year. Copper Mountain trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CMMC" and Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "C6C".

Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com.

On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION

"Gil Clausen"

Gil Clausen

President and Chief Executive Officer

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain "forward looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and Copper Mountain does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities legislation.

All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect Copper Mountain's expectations or beliefs regarding future events.

In certain circumstances, forward-looking statements can be identified by, but are not limited to, statements which use terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "forecasts", "guidance", scheduled", "target" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this news release, certain forward-looking statements are identified, including information with respect to the Company's strategy, plans and expectations in connection with its continuing exploration program, anticipated production at the Copper Mountain Mine, and expectations for other economic, business and/or competitive factors. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, achievements and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, among others, the successful exploration of the Company's property in Canada, market price, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, the Company's ability to comply with its financial covenants under its bond terms and meet its future cash commitments, extreme weather events, material and labour shortages, the protection of the Company's IT systems or a component of such systems impacting the Company's reputation and results of operations, the reliability of the historical data referenced in this document and risks set out in Copper Mountain's public documents, including the management's discussion and analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 and the annual information form dated March 27, 2023, each filed on SEDAR under the Company's issuer profile at www.sedar.com. Although Copper Mountain has attempted to identify important factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, achievements and opportunities to differ materially from those described in its forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause the Company's results, performance, achievements and opportunities not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. While the Company believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

APPENDIX A: Drill Hole Data

Table 1: Drill Hole Details

Hole ID Easting (m) Northing (m) Elevation (m) Azimuth () Dip () Total Depth (m) CM-DD-894 678804 5467470 1062 180 -55.00 605 CM-DD-895 678802 5467615 1062 170 -63.00 773 CM-DD-896 677307 5467632 1136 310 -65.00 1064 CM-DD-897 678070 5468110 875 255 -60.00 1090

Table 2: Significant Intercept Table(1,2,3)

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) CuEq% Cu% Au g/t Ag g/t CM-DD-894 59.08 95.08 36.00 0.61 0.46 0.21 0.93 including 68.83 87.34 18.51 1.04 0.79 0.35 1.62

107.18 126.00 18.82 0.22 0.17 0.07 0.32

297.39 314.14 16.75 1.91 1.65 0.35 3.02 CM-DD-895 137.10 153.45 16.35 0.60 0.50 0.13 1.19

479.54 521.13 41.59 0.74 0.64 0.13 1.47 CM-DD-896 464.20 572.47 108.27 0.76 0.59 0.23 2.13 including 465.56 521.50 55.94 1.00 0.79 0.27 3.59

597.00 619.85 22.85 0.28 0.21 0.10 0.32

690.75 713.00 22.25 0.45 0.35 0.14 0.51 CM-DD-897 24.00 88.70 64.70 0.47 0.31 0.23 0.79

Assays Pending













208.62 242.00 33.38 0.25 0.17 0.11 0.34

255.20 329.78 74.58 0.29 0.21 0.12 0.37 including 257.10 278.57 21.47 0.62 0.42 0.28 0.71

352.30 419.20 66.90 0.28 0.19 0.13 0.28

455.00 503.00 48.00 0.25 0.17 0.11 0.26

616.70 648.08 31.38 0.42 0.33 0.13 0.38

607.73 648.08 40.35 0.36 0.28 0.12 0.32

674.00 698.18 24.18 0.23 0.16 0.10 0.28

722.00 912.75 190.75 0.66 0.45 0.32 0.41 including 808.90 912.75 103.85 1.01 0.65 0.52 0.53 including 867.50 912.75 45.25 1.50 0.94 0.83 0.74 including 903.90 912.75 8.85 5.37 3.12 3.33 2.20

Notes: 1. Reporting Criteria: Intercepts reported are downhole drill width (not true width). CuEq >0.13%, minimum 15 metres downhole

length, maximum internal waste dilution of 15 metres, and a maximum consecutive waste of 10 metres. Higher-grade included

intervals are reported at CuEq >0.3%, >0.5% and >1.0%, with a minimum 5 metre downhole length for the >1.0% composites 2. Copper and gold grades are reported to 2 significant figures. Copper equivalent values (CuEq%) are calculated using metal prices

of US$3.60, US$1,650, US$21.35 and for Cu, Au, and Ag, respectively, with no metal recovery factors applied. 3. Samples are from core drilling which is HQ or NQ in diameter. Core is photographed and logged by the Company's geology team

before being cut. Half core HQ and NQ samples are prepared for assay and the remaining material is retained at site for future

reference. Each assay batch is submitted with duplicates, standards and blanks to monitor laboratory quality. Total depth (end of

hole) is rounded to the nearest metre for reporting purposes.

APPENDIX B: LOCATION MAPS AND CROSS SECTIONS

Figure 3 shows a plan map with the location of holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895. Previous drill holes are colour-coded by grade. Most of the previous drilling in this area has consisted of relatively short holes (see Figure 4). Note the location of two historical adits. C-C' shows the locations of the cross section shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 shows a cross section with drill holes CM-DD-894 and CM-DD-895 plotted on a 2D IP chargeability data. Reserve pit and Whittle Resource Shell are based on Copper Mountain's NI 43-101 technical report titled "Life-of-Mine Plan and 65 kt/d Expansion Study Update NI 43-101 Technical Report, Princeton, British Columbia" with an effective date of August 1, 2022 and dated September 30, 2022 (the "2022 Technical Report").

Figure 5 shows the location of drill holes CM-DD-896 and CM-DD-897 as well as previous drill holes at New Ingerbelle, with the drill holes colour coded by grade. Lines A-A' and B-B' show locations of cross sections shown in Figures 6 and 7, respectively. The reserve pit is based on the 2022 Technical Report.

Figure 6 provides a cross section showing drill hole CM-DD-897 and the outline of high-grade copper-gold zone (>1.0% CuEq), shown by the dashed red line and red shading. Drill hole CM-DD-897 intersected the highest-grade and most gold-rich, copper-gold mineralization yet discovered at New Ingerbelle and shows that the mineralizing system is getting stronger at depth. Drill holes 20IG-01 and 21IG-38 noted in the figure were drilled in 2021 and previously reported by the Company. The location of the cross section is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 provides a cross section showing hole CM-DD-897 looking Northeast. The location of the cross section is shown in Figure 5.

SOURCE Copper Mountain Mining Corporation
ALBANY, N.Y., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Curran Investment Management (CIM) has been awarded PSN Top Guns distinctions for their Curran SMid Cap strategy by Informa Financial Intelligence's PSN manager database, North America's longest running database of investment managers, period ending March 31, 2023.

"It's an honor to be recognized again by PSN's Top Guns. In this environment, it's challenging to outperform and maintain investment discipline." ~ Kevin T. Curran, CFA, Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Curran Investment Management

Curran Investment Management's Curran SMid Cap Equity Strategy Designation Includes:

Awarded Bull Bear Masters, ranking #10 total return for the 3-year period ending 3/31/2023 among 94 firms and 140 products in the Mid-Growth Universe.

among 94 firms and 140 products in the Mid-Growth Universe. Awarded 2-star Top Guns, ranking #8 total return for a 1-year period ending 3/31/2023 among 56 firms and 72 products in the Small-Mid Growth Universe.

Top Gun firms are awarded a rating ranging from one to six stars, with the number of stars representing continued performance over time.

Curran's SMid Cap Equity Strategy had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for a three-year period. Moreover, the strategy had an upside market capture over 100 and a downside market capture less than 100 relative to the style benchmark. The top ten ratios of Upside Capture Ratio over Downside Capture Ratio become the PSN Bull & Bear Masters.

In the 2-star category the Curran SMid Cap Equity Strategy had one of the top ten returns for the one-year period within its respective strategy.

Top Guns rankings, recognize manager achievement and outperformance measured against their benchmarks. The complete list of PSN Top Guns can be located at Zephyr's PSN Universe Database.

CIM is a Registered Investment Advisor headquartered in Albany, NY, serving both individual and institutional clients. CIM manages $490 million in assets.

For more information, visit www.curranllc.com

Past Performance does not guarantee future results. The information herein is considered to be obtained from reference sources deemed reliable. All Investments carry risks, including possible loss of principal.

Media Contact: Emma Pasquali

Firm: Curran Investment Management

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (518) 391-4235

SOURCE Curran Investment Management
Cydcor demonstrates consistent excellence as it receives client top honors.

AGOURA HILLS, Calif., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cydcor, the leading provider of outsourced sales solutions, has once again proven its ability to get results by earning the DIRECTV Revolution Award as Dealer of the Year for door-to-door sales for the seventh consecutive year. This prestigious recognition is evidence of Cydcor's exceptional sales performance and highlights the company's commitment to consistently delivering outstanding results for its clients. Additionally, Cydcor was recognized by DIRECTV as one of the top performers in sales, quality, and retention categories.

Cydcor has earned the DIRECTV Revolution Award as Dealer of the Year for door-to-door sales for the seventh consecutive year Tweet this Cydcor Earns Prestigious DirecTV Dealer of the Year Revolution Award for the 7th Consecutive Year

"Winning the Revolution Award for the seventh year demonstrates our unwavering dedication to representing DIRECTV's brand and services with the utmost professionalism," said Vera Quinn, Cydcor CEO and President. "Honoring our commitments and delivering consistently and excellently are paramount to our business. We are extremely proud to receive this award from DIRECTV once more."

"DIRECTV selected Cydcor as the Door-to-Door Dealer of the Year for the seventh consecutive time because of their commitment to growth, customer experience and standards of excellence. We truly value our relationship with Cydcor," said Eric King, DIRECTV Associate Vice President Sales and Service.

Cydcor remains dedicated to its core values of integrity, excellence, and teamwork. The company is committed to providing its clients with innovative solutions that drive growth and deliver tangible results, and it is proud to have earned the trust and loyalty of its partners.

About Cydcor: Cydcor provides customer acquisition solutions to Fortune 500 and emerging companies in a wide range of industries. Through a unique combination of in-person sales, call center, and digital marketing services, Cydcor has mastered the power of building relationships with consumers while leveraging the advantages of technology to acquire, grow, and retain customers for its clients. Founded in 1994, the privately held company is based in Agoura Hills, California. For more information about Cydcor, visit www.cydcor.com.

For more information contact:

Gail Michalak

[email protected]

805-277-5525

SOURCE Cydcor
Industry veteran to lead team in supporting the successful transition to Next Generation 9-1-1

PITTSBURGH, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DATAMARK, the public safety geographic information systems (GIS) team of Michael Baker International, today announced that the firm has named Rob Sterner Vice President and National Director, DATAMARK. In his new role, Mr. Sterner will lead all efforts to grow DATAMARK's client roster and expand its portfolio of local, regional, state and federal government entities that leverage GIS data for public safety and emergency response.

"DATAMARK is the go-to authority on GIS data for public safety, supporting addressing authorities, Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and GIS analysts in the successful transition to Next Generation 9-1-1," said Dan Kieny, President, Consulting and Technology Solutions, at Michael Baker International. "With Rob's diverse experience and proven track record in the public safety technology space, I am confident that our DATAMARK team will continue to broaden our portfolio of business and provide valuable insights, leadership and mentorship to our clients, as well as educate, advocate and innovate, to enhance emergency number services and create a faster, more resilient system."

Mr. Sterner joins DATAMARK with more than 25 years of public and private sector experience spanning public safety communications, technology and services, as well as county and state government legislation and administration. He spent the last 15 years primarily focused on Business Development in the public safety technology space.

Most recently, Mr. Sterner served as Senior Vice President, Business Development, at Mission Critical Partners, and before entering the public safety technology space, he served in various public sector roles, including as Project/Fiscal Services Manager for the County of York (Pennsylvania) Commissioners' Office, Local Government Policy Specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Executive Staff for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, and Professional Staff for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from York College of Pennsylvania.

About DATAMARK

As trusted advisors in public safety, DATAMARK brings comprehensive, real-world expertise in police, fire, EMS and 9-1-1 leadership roles to Next Generation 9-1-1 transitions. The DATAMARK team leads the industry by shaping rules and legislation, and by building a suite of products and services that ensure accurate emergency response location data in life-critical situations. DATAMARK empowers its team and stakeholder partners to foster trusted relationships and cultivate data integrity for informed decision making. DATAMARK, the public safety GIS team of Michael Baker International, has decades of proven experience in mission-critical government addressing projects. The team works with clients to solve their complex needs, from data quality checks and addressing to workflow analysis and more. Learn more about the company at www.datamarkgis.com and follow DATAMARK on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook .

About Michael Baker International

Michael Baker International is a leading provider of engineering and consulting services spanning five distinct Verticals: Infrastructure, Design-Build Services, Federal Programs and Services, Consulting and Technology Solutions (CTS) and Sustainable and Resilient Solutions (SRS). The firm's Practices encompass all facets of infrastructure, including design and civil engineering for diverse bridge, highway, water, rail and transit and aviation projects, as well as planning, architecture, environmental and construction and program management. For more than 80 years, the company has been a trusted partner to clients, providing comprehensive services and solutions, delivering expertise and quality, and embracing emerging technologies and the latest innovations  like intelligent transportation, engineered models and public safety software as a service (SaaS).

The firm's more than 3,500 employees across nearly 100 locations are committed to Making a Difference for clients and communities through a culture of innovation, collaboration and technological advancement while Reimagining Michael Baker to become a full-service engineering and consulting firm over the next five years.

To learn more, visit https://mbakerintl.com/.

Contact: Julia Covelli

[email protected]

(866) 293-4609

SOURCE DATAMARK
The European Grain Association COCERAL has denied fake information about the supply of low-quality grain by Ukraine to the EU, it is necessarily checked by government agencies and survey companies, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) reported.

According to the UGA, in a number of Eastern European countries that neighbor Ukraine and have banned the import of Ukrainian grain, rumors are spreading about the low quality of Ukrainian grain, which is contaminated with mycotoxins or even radiation. In particular, Hungary announced that it would strengthen quality control over Ukrainian grain that would cross the border.

COCERAL said its members, who trade in agricultural raw materials for food, feed, technical and energy use, closely monitor their compliance with the high safety standards in force in the EU.

"All shipments of any origin are screened and our members reject any shipments that have the potential to negatively impact human and animal health. This rigorous process is part of the daily practice of COCERAL traders as part of their risk assessment and management responsibilities," the UGA quoted the COCERAL statement.

The UGA reported that when exporting Ukrainian grain, it undergoes a thorough check by government agencies and survey companies.

COCERAL is the European trade association for cereals, oilseeds, legumes, olive oil, fats and feeds. It was founded in 1958 after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which led to the creation of the European Economic Community. It unites manufacturers, traders, importers, exporters and operators of port terminals of the specified agricultural products of the countries of the European Union.
DCI Indonesia is the leading data center provider in Indonesia and has been awarded the Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award for the fourth consecutive year because of its reliable and disruptive data center services.

SAN ANTONIO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan recently researched the Indonesia data center services industry and, based on its findings, recognizes DCI Indonesia with the 2023 Company of the Year Award. DCI Indonesia is a data center services provider that leverages cutting-edge technologies to offer pioneering, scalable, and reliable colocation services to customers throughout Indonesia. DCI Indonesia's solutions enable enterprises to optimize operations and significantly scale their businesses through automation and world-class customer support.

By leveraging the company's software, enterprises can manage their entire data center operations from a centralized location with all the necessary resources to operate safely. Moreover, the company relentlessly invests in state-of-the-art technologies that enhance its competitive positioning in the Indonesia data center services industry. For example, DCI Indonesia is investing in automation systems such as artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its data center operating system performance, optimize energy efficiency, and improve risk management and operations stability.

"Leveraging over 25 years of industry experience and commitment to innovation, DCI Indonesia cultivates its competitive positioning in data center services and infrastructure management through investment in cutting-edge technology and systems," said Rubini Kamal, Best Practices Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

DCI Indonesia continually integrates emerging technology into its ecosystem to ensure long-term sustainability while maximizing productivity and reducing costs. The company has adopted the newest environmental management initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, optimize energy use, improve waste management systems, and maximize water consumption efficiency, among others. Particularly, DCI Indonesia is exploring renewable energies such as biomass and solar energy to anticipate the shifting energy preferences of users.

In addition, the company delivers world-class customer service that includes 24/7 customer support, knowledgeable and available experts, and a genuine commitment to the success of its customers, which dramatically boosts customer satisfaction. As a result, Frost & Sullivan recognizes DCI Indonesia as Company of the Year for the fourth consecutive year, acknowledging its extensive track record of optimizing business performances with trendsetting innovations that keep up with the ever-changing market trends.

"DCI Indonesia's focus on continued expansion and strong alignment with industry trends and customer needs has enabled it to witness significant customer wins and drive growth," noted Nishchal Khorana, Vice President and Global Program Leader for ICT at Frost & Sullivan.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year Award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion .

Contact:

Tammy Chan

E: [email protected]

About DCI Indonesia

PT DCI Indonesia Tbk (DCII) is the first Tier-IV data center in Southeast Asia to provide safe and reliable data center infrastructure services by guaranteeing an SLA for colocation of 99.999% or only five minutes of downtime a year. As a carrier neutral data center, DCI is supported by 40+ network service providers. Located in an exclusive industrial area, DCI's data center is 40 kilometers from Jakarta's central business district.

With global operating procedures and standards, and by being equipped with the best data center equipment, DCI provides maximum availability to customers to access their mission-critical assets. This includes financial institutions, network service providers, e-commerce players, cloud service providers, and enterprises from other sectors. DCI has maintained a 100% uptime track record since it first started serving the market. This performance stems from its leadership team's proven experience in information technology, data center services, and infrastructure management, which spans more than 25 years.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
MINNEAPOLIS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Discover Strength, a strength training concept built on the principle that busy people don't have time to waste on exercise that doesn't work, was recognized as one of the Top New and Emerging Franchises for 2023 in the May/June issue of Entrepreneur magazine. The ranking highlights some of the strongest companies that have begun offering franchise opportunities in the last five years (since 2018). Discover Strength was ranked #116.

"It is an incredible honor to be recognized as one of 2023's Top New Franchises," said Luke Carlson, CEO of Discover Strength. "This would not be possible without the amazing Discover Strength family, and we look forward to being able to continue providing the communities we serve with evidence-based strength training with a hospitality-obsessed culture; all delivered by expert exercise physiologists."

The Top New and Emerging Franchises ranking is based on information submitted to Entrepreneur for its annual Franchise 500 and is part of the brand's continuing effort to best understand and evaluate the ever-changing franchise marketplace. Companies featured on the 2023 list have been offering a franchise opportunity for five years or fewer and were assessed across multiple data points, including unit growth, startup costs and fees, training and support, the parent company's financial stability, and brand strength."

The franchise industry is full of big new ideas, which is why Entrepreneur's Top New and Emerging list is always so exciting," said Entrepreneur editor in chief Jason Feifer. "If anyone's looking to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing, they should start with the brands we've identified  that are all full of creativity, innovation, and accessibility for aspiring entrepreneurs.

To view Discover Strength in the full ranking, visit https://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/topnew. Results can also be seen in the May/June issue of Entrepreneur, available on newsstands May 2nd.

As the brand continues its franchise expansion, it is actively seeking both single and multi-unit franchise partners looking to invest in the growing market of strength training. The initial franchise fee of Discover Strength is $49,000 with an estimated total investment of $373,000 - $611,000.

To learn more about Discover Strength's franchise opportunity, please visit: https://discoverstrengthfranchise.com/.

About Discover Strength

Founded in 2006, Discover Strength is a Minnesota-based strength training studio built on the principle that busy people don't have time to waste on exercise that doesn't work. Discover Strength delivers 30-minute strength training workouts, twice per week with exercise physiologists. They help their clients look and feel their best in a fraction of the time. Discover Strength currently has 15 locations (11 in Minnesota, one Scottsdale location, and three locations awarded in Salt Lake Valley) with more on the way. Learn more at discoverstrengthfranchise.com.

Contact: Hunter Devereux, Franchise Elevator PR, (914) 486-0330, [email protected]

SOURCE Discover Strength
Leaving a Legacy of Transformative Tech Education and a Bright Future for Dunwoody Students

MINNEAPOLIS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dunwoody College of Technology , a leader in career-focused education, today announced the upcoming retirement of its President, Rich Wagner, Ph.D. After 13 years of dedicated service, President Wagner will be stepping down in July 2024.

President Wagner's retirement marks 13 years of transformative leadership, academic excellence, and steadfast commitment to student success. Under his guidance, Dunwoody College of Technology has experienced remarkable growth, positioning itself as a trailblazer in the field of technical education.

Rich Wagner

Throughout his tenure, President Wagner spearheaded numerous initiatives to propel Dunwoody College forward. From implementing cutting-edge technology in classrooms, to expanding program offerings, to leading campus renovations, and diversifying the student body, President Wagner's visionary leadership has transformed Dunwoody into a thriving campus.

One of President Wagner's notable contributions has been his unwavering focus on ensuring financial stability. When he assumed leadership in 2009, President Wagner navigated the institution through the Great Recession, implementing disciplined financial planning tools and fostering transparency. Through his diligent efforts, Dunwoody College emerged as a fiscally responsible institution, paving the way for sustained growth and reinvestment.

Reflecting on his journey, President Wagner shared, "What I love about Dunwoody is watching how people grow through the education process. Dunwoody's education model delivers the type of education that changed my life  and has driven my passion and commitment to Dunwoody' students and employees. This is an education that matters: to our students, industries, and communities."

Wagner developed his appreciation for hands-on, applied learning while completing education programs that prepared him to serve in the Navy as an electrician on nuclear powered submarines. His personal experiences and commitment to providing transformative education have been instrumental in shaping Dunwoody's mission.

Under President Wagner's leadership, Dunwoody College demonstrated resiliency and adaptability during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it imposed. With a swift and comprehensive response, the college ensured the continuity of education through a hybrid approach that embraced both online education and hands-on learning, while prioritizing the health and well-being of students and staff.

Looking ahead, Dunwoody College is well-positioned for continued success. President Wagner has built a strong, experienced leadership and academic team, committed to upholding Dunwoody's solid foundation, and advancing its "Born to Do" culture of innovation and excellence. The College remains focused on meeting the evolving demands of the workforce, embracing emerging technologies, and preparing students for high-paying, in-demand careers.

The Board of Trustees and the Dunwoody College community express their deep gratitude to President Wagner for his exceptional leadership, unwavering dedication, and profound impact on the institution and its students. A comprehensive search process, led by Storbeck Search, a Diversified Search Group will be initiated to identify Dunwoody's next president.

Dunwoody Board of Trustees Chair Nancy Dahl noted: "President Wagner's impact on Dunwoody College, and in the broader technical education community, has been immeasurable. He has led by example, creating a legacy of transparency, innovation, compassion, and trust. His vision and leadership have not only transformed the Dunwoody of today  but ensured its continued success for years to come. The Board of Trustees is deeply appreciative of Rich Wagner's years of dedicated service to the College and the students it serves."

As President Wagner enters the final phase of his tenure, the Dunwoody College community is committed to ensuring a smooth transition and continuing the institution's legacy of excellence. President Wagner's retirement represents the closing of a chapter, but his visionary leadership and lasting contributions will forever be etched in Dunwoody's history.

"Dunwoody represents a beacon of hope. Students bring their dreams and aspirations for a better life to Dunwoody," Wagner said. "During my tenure, we kept focused on helping our students achieve their dreams by delivering a world class, hands-on education that leads to immediate jobs and great careers. Dunwoody is a gem cherished by its students, employees, alumni, and community. I was fortunate to have the opportunity for the last 13 years to serve the Dunwoody community as president and I will miss the students and employees!"

Notable Accomplishments:

President Wagner led the College through the development and implementation of two strategic plans. These plans launched new programs, including: a School of Engineering with mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering; a School of Design; and Dunwoody Online , which now offers nine online academic degrees. The strategic plans launched new initiatives, including Pathways to Careers and Women In Technical Careers, to serve more students from underserved and under-represented populations.

, which now offers nine online academic degrees. The strategic plans launched new initiatives, including Pathways to Careers and Women In Technical Careers, to serve more students from underserved and under-represented populations. During his 13 years as President at the College, Dunwoody has raised more than $125 million , which has funded: new scholarships; facility improvements; and campus renovations, including the conversion of the former gymnasium into a Learning Commons and Welcome Center, and a revitalization of the exterior facade.

, which has funded: new scholarships; facility improvements; and campus renovations, including the conversion of the former gymnasium into a Learning Commons and Welcome Center, and a revitalization of the exterior facade. Under President Wagner's leadership, Dunwoody was able to expand the campus footprint by more than 50,000 square feet through the acquisition of two spaces, converting one into the new Center for Engineering Excellence.

ABOUT DUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Founded in 1914, Dunwoody College of Technology is the only private, not-for-profit technical college in the Upper Midwest. Having provided hands-on, applied technical education to more than 250,000 individuals, Dunwoody is the college for experimenters and makers, a place where the curious and the confident learn by doing. Located in Minneapolis, Dunwoody offers a unique campus experience in dedicated labs, studios, and shops that treats students like future professionals from day one. With certificates, associate's, and bachelor's degrees in more than 46 majors - including engineering, robotics, design and other STEM-related fields - Dunwoody challenges students to come determined and graduate destined. More information on Dunwoody can be found at www.dunwoody.edu or by following Dunwoody on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and TikTok .

Contact:

Kelsey Megard

605-661-2584

[email protected]

SOURCE Dunwoody College of Technology
PHILADELPHIA, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Asendia USA, SUBTA founding member and longstanding SUBTA Resource Partner, will exhibit at SubSummit being held May 31  June 2, 2023 at the Sheraton Dallas. SubSummit is hosted by the Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA) and is the world's largest meetup of subscription, membership, and recurring revenue brands.

Asendia USA currently delivers parcels worldwide for several top brands in the subscription box industry. With over 35 years in international shipping and a trusted range of e-PAQ shipping solutions specially designed for online retailers selling globally, Asendia USA is excited to demonstrate to SubSummit attendees the many ways we can optimize international delivery costs, use our expertise and innovations to improve the shopper's experience, and reduce the time and cost of managing cross-border deliveries for subscription boxes.

Asendia USA is uniquely positioned to help subbox sellers reach more consumers around the globe. Tweet this

SubSummit is attended by many of the nation's top subscription box sellers. Asendia USA currently delivers subscription boxes worldwide for several top brands and is uniquely positioned to help subbox sellers reach more consumers around the globe. By offering shoppers a more flexible choice of options for international shipping and ensuring products reach cross-border subscribers in the same condition they left the USA, subbox sellers can increase their global subscription base.

Asendia USA's e-commerce experts will also be available at SubSummit to speak with subbox sellers that have put sustainability at the top of their priorities. International shipments through Asendia are 100% carbon neutral, making Asendia USA a perfect fit for subscription box companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

"Asendia USA has attended SubSummit in the past, and it has proved to be a very successful show for us," says Douglas Longobardi, Executive Vice President, Sales, Asendia USA. "We have made some great friends from this event and are really looking forward to catching up with everyone in person!"

Nick Agnetti, Enterprise Sales Executive for Asendia USA, says, "The subscription-based business community is tight-knit. I've been very fortunate to have been involved with SubSummit since its inception and genuinely look forward to getting in front of everyone during the 2023 SubSummit show in Dallas, TX to learn about each other's businesses and share insights related to the impact of international growth and box deliveries. It's going to be a great show!"

SubSummit attendees can learn more about Asendia USA's solutions for subbox sellers by visiting Booth #709.

SOURCE Asendia USA, Inc
TAMPA, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wisner Baum will serve as lead counsel in the upcoming trial of Jeffrey Thelen v. Somatics, LLC and Elektrika, Inc. Jury selection and opening statements begin on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, in Tampa, Florida before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Barber. The trial is expected to last until June 9, 2023.

Jeff Thelen ECT

Plaintiff Jeffrey Thelen of Nebraska filed suit in 2020 against Somatics, a Florida-based manufacturer of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) devices. ECT, often referred to as "shock treatment," is used for treating severe depression and bipolar by applying a brief intense electrical current to the patient's head to induce a grand mal seizure.

The lawsuit alleges Somatics negligently failed to adequately warn about the known risks associated with its ECT machines, including brain damage, severe permanent memory loss, permanent neurocognitive injuries, and others.

Who:

Plaintiff - Jeffrey Thelen, a resident of Nebraska, underwent 95 ECT "treatments" which he alleges caused brain injuries and other harms.

Attorneys for Mr. Thelen

Bijan Esfandiari | Wisner Baum LLP

Monique Alarcon | Wisner Baum LLP

Defendant  Somatics, LLC (Venice, Florida) is the manufacturer, labeler, promoter, and distributor of the Thymatron ECT device used on Mr. Thelen.

Attorneys for Somatics:

Sue Cole | MG+M The Law Firm

Jason A. Benkner | Poole Shaffery

What:

The case arises out of 95 electroshock treatments (ECT) Plaintiff Jeffrey Thelen received between May 16, 2014, and July 25, 2016. ECT is a procedure that sends an electric current through the brain to cause a grand mal seizure. The ECT machine used to administer electroshock to Thelen during his ECT procedures was the Thymatron System IV ECT machine, manufactured by defendant, Somatics, LLC. Thelen claims he sustained injuries, including brain injury, caused by Somatics' ECT machine. The causes of action that will be tried are: (1) Strict Liability (Failure to Warn); and (2) Negligence. Somatics denies it was negligent and further denies that the ECT machine was defective as labeled.

Case No. 8:20-cv-01724

When:

Jury selection and opening statements will take place on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 9 AM followed by Plaintiff's first witnesses.

Where:

U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division

Sam M. Gibbons United States Courthouse

801 North Florida Avenue

Tampa, Florida 33602

Media Contact:

Robin McCall

Director of Public Relations

Wisner Baum

[email protected]

SOURCE Wisner Baum
Tipalti helps financial first responder E4E Relief deliver financial support globally, including awarding more than $60M during 2022 in days instead of weeks

FOSTER CITY, Calif., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tipalti , the leading global payables automation solution, announced that charitable emergency financial relief provider E4E Relief has joined its customer base. E4E Relief selected Tipalti to help the organization support the well-being of individuals worldwide by expediting the distribution of much-needed funds during some of the hardest times of people's lives. Founded in 2001, E4E Relief offers a unique workforce solution to companies, allowing them to put their people first by delivering grants quickly and efficiently to support employees and other stakeholders during times of disaster or hardship. Serving more than 50 Fortune 500 companies, E4E Relief has distributed grants totaling more than $220 million in the past three years alone.

Nonprofit Expedites Disaster Relief with Global Payout Software

Operating on a global scale, E4E Relief was faced with a unique set of challenges and risks which required a seasoned and respected provider to join its existing network of payment solutions. In 2021, E4E Relief selected Tipalti as one of its global payments partners to scale its work internationally and continue providing relief to those in need with optimum security and efficiency.

With Tipalti, E4E Relief can now diversify its payment options and increase the speed of disbursement in all currencies, a capability that was crucial in the organization's 2022 Ukraine relief efforts. Utilizing Tipalti as the lead payments partner, E4E Relief delivered more than $1 million in relief to Ukraine in a matter of days versus weeks, profoundly impacting individuals and families. The nonprofit has since incorporated Tipalti's automated solutions into its work more broadly, and as a result, awarded a total of $60 million to individuals in need around the world in 2022.

"Disasters and hardships affect people all around the world, and in the wake of these crises, timing is everything," said Holly Welch Stubbing, President & CEO of E4E Relief. "We need to deliver relief to affected individuals efficiently and securely, all while ensuring a compassionate experience for the people we are helping. Tipalti enables us to do just that and provide vital financial support within one business day regardless of geographical location."

"Technology is more than just a useful tool. It has the power to do good and impact human lives in a meaningful way," said Jeannie Sabaroff, VP of Digital Economy at Tipalti. "Payments go beyond transactions, and it's an honor to support E4E Relief's commitment to providing relief when and where it's needed as soon as possible."

Beyond supporting individuals impacted by disaster, E4E Relief also offers charitable relief grants to those experiencing personal hardships, including short-term illness, loss of life, domestic abuse, vehicle accident, violent or non-violent crime, loss of job and unscheduled loss of child support or alimony. Furthermore, in a soon-to-be-released report, E4E Relief found a strong correlation between providing emergency financial relief and increased financial and mental well-being, productivity, engagement and loyalty among the members of a company's workforce.

To learn more about the impact of Tipalti and E4E Relief's partnership, watch this video here .

About Tipalti

Tipalti is the only company handling both Global Partner Payments and Accounts Payable workflows for high-velocity companies across the entire financial operations cycle: onboarding and managing global suppliers, instituting procurement controls, streamlining invoice processing and approvals, executing payments around the world and reconciling payables data across a multi-subsidiary finance organization. Tipalti enables companies to scale quickly by making payables strategic with operational, compliance, and financial controls. Companies can efficiently and securely pay thousands of partners and suppliers in 196 countries within minutes. Thousands of companies, such as Amazon Twitch, GoDaddy, Roku, WordPress.com, and ZipRecruiter use Tipalti to reduce operational workload by 80% and accelerate the financial close by 25%, while strengthening financial and spend controls. For more information, visit tipalti.com .

About E4E Relief

For 20 years, E4E Relief has been the leading provider of workforce solutions that provide relief to a company's key stakeholders, rapidly responding to employee disasters and hardships. We empower global companies and employees to provide, and receive, meaningful financial relief when it's needed most. In the past 5 years, E4E Relief has received more than $330 million in donations and awarded more than $230 million in charitable grants, supporting relief efforts for over 6 million people worldwide.

Media Contact

Rachelle Avila

[email protected]

408-768-4109

Mary Johnson

[email protected]

SOURCE Tipalti
ENA's annual achievement awards recognize exemplary emergency nursing professionals



SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Longtime emergency nurse and educator Cam Brandt, MS, RN, CEN, CPEN, might modestly consider herself a "basic nurse," but her accomplishments over a 40-year career prove otherwise.

Driven by a passion for caring for children, as well as teaching and mentoring ED nurses, Brandt's impact could be felt in the emergency departments where she worked and across the emergency nursing community through continual contributions as an ENA leader in Texas and key volunteer with many of the association's committees  most notably as part of the team that develops the cornerstone Emergency Nurse Pediatric Course.

ENA announced its annual achievement awards on Wednesday, including the prestigious Judith C. Kelleher Award. Tweet this

On Wednesday, ENA announced Brandt as the recipient of the 2023 Judith C. Kelleher Award, the association's most prestigious honor.

"The ED and education are where it's at for me," said Brandt, of Keller, Texas. "I'm just a basic nurse who loved sharing my passion for education and whatever my passion in pediatric emergency care was at the time. This award is surreal. I never would have dreamed of where I am today."

ENA President Terry Foster, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, FAEN, praised Brandt for her contributions to ENA and the entire emergency nursing community.

"Cam is the epitome of an emergency nurse: fierce, loyal, knowledgeable, persistent, driven and yet very caring," Foster said. "Her dedication and many years of direct emergency nursing experience speak volumes. She is a role model for many of our ENA members."

On Wednesday, ENA also announced the recipients of 12 other individual awards, as well as the annual State Council Achievement Awards and the Team Award.

Foster congratulated this year's recipients for their inspirational work amid the numerous challenges faced by emergency nurses today.

"It never ceases to amaze me how impactful ENA members are in their emergency departments and as volunteers with this wonderful organization," Foster said. "These awards are a reflection of how emergency nurses live ENA's mission every day."

The 2023 ENA award recipients and other honorees will be recognized during Emergency Nursing 2023 in San Diego Sept. 21-23:

Barbara A. Foley Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention Award: Delfa Soto, MSN, RN, CEN, of California

Behind the Scenes Award: Vicki Sweet, MSN, RN, CEN, FAEN, of California

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives of the Year Award (Individual): Anna Valdez, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, of California

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives of the Year Award (State Council): Texas ENA State Council

Frank L. Cole Nurse Practitioner Award: David T. House, DNP, RN, CEN, of Texas

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mary Ellen Wilson, MS, RN, CEN, FAEN, of Ohio

Media Award: Gary Kleeblatt, The Middletown Press, Connecticut

Nurse Manager Award: Hannah Longoria, BSN, RN, CEN, of Texas

Nursing Competency in Aging Award: Jennifer A. Noble, MSN, RN, CEN, of Texas

Nursing Education Award: Teri Diloy, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, of Virginia

Nursing Practice and Professionalism Award: Leslie Hinson, MSN, RN, CEN, of Texas

Pediatric Readiness Improvement Award: Nancy McGrath, MN, MSN, RN, CPNP, of California

Rising Star Award: Stephanie Jensen, MSN-L, RN, MICN, of California

Team Award: Cook Children's Trauma Nurse Leaders, Texas

In addition to the individual honors, nine states  Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Washington  received 2023 State Council Achievement Awards for their outstanding local efforts last year.

About the Emergency Nurses Association

The Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With 50,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines and guides emergency health care public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness, and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.

ENA Media Contact:

Dan Campana

Director of Communications

847.460.4017

[email protected]

SOURCE Emergency Nurses Association
Collaborative and innovative corporate venture platform provides capital and mentorship to innovative companies like Sotero

BURLINGTON, Mass., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotero , the leader in revolutionary data security posture management (DSPM), announced today it has been selected by Engage , the innovative corporate venture platform backed by 14 industry-leading enterprises, as a member of the most recent cohort of their Enterprise Go-To-Market Program.

Engage brings together category-leading corporations that have joined forces to support startups in building the future of enterprise, and establishing the southeast as a leading innovation hub. The platform is designed to provide startups with what they need most  access to new customers and markets. The Engage enterprise go-to-market program is designed to streamline the process for emerging companies to work with the most influential corporations in the world.

Sotero has been selected by corporate venture platform Engage as a member of their Enterprise Go-To-Market Program. Tweet this

Engage partners include Chick-fil-A, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Foundation, Georgia Tech, Goldman Sachs, The Home Depot, Honeywell, Inspire Brands, Intercontinental Exchange, Invesco, Invest Georgia, Tech Square Ventures, UPS, and Wellstar.

"We are thrilled to bring Sotero into our program," said Engage Partner Bill Nussey. "Sotero is making a huge impact in the data security space with their multi-layered centralized approach to data protection, and we are excited to be a part of their journey."

Sotero's Data Security Platform (DSP) provides a centralized way to protect data anywhere, and a multi-layered approach that reimagines security and privacy to close the critical vulnerability of unencrypted data in use. Sotero provides multinational organizations, such as those that are part of the Engage network, with a Data Security Posture Management (DPSM) solution that allows them to identify and stop security and privacy risks in real-time as data spreads throughout the organization and across geographic boundaries.

"We are pleased to be working with Engage and their corporate partners, and to have the opportunity to address their needs around data security and privacy," said Purandar Das, Co-Founder and CEO of Sotero. "Sotero's Data Security Platform is a streamlined solution that enables organizations to achieve operational security and privacy without impacting user experience, and provides security and risk leaders with a much needed DSPM solution to help them identify and mitigate risks."

For more information about Sotero Data Security Platform, visit https://www.soterosoft.com/data-security-platform/ .

About Engage

Engage is a first-of-its-kind collaborative corporate venture and innovation platform to give entrepreneurs what they need most  access to customers and markets. The Engage partners contributing capital, expertise, time, and resources include Chick-fil-A, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Foundation, Georgia Institute of Technology, Goldman Sachs, The Home Depot, Honeywell Connected Enterprise, Inspire Brands, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Invesco, Invest Georgia, Tech Square Ventures, UPS, and Wellstar Health System. Georgia Tech and Tech Square Ventures, provide tools, portfolio support and resources to companies on the platform. Engage is headquartered in Georgia Tech's Technology Square. For more information, visit engage.vc .

About Sotero

Sotero is a global innovator and leader in revolutionary Data Security Posture Management (DSPM). The Sotero Data Security Platform provides a centralized way to protect data anywhere, all the time. Sotero's multi-layered approach reimagines security and privacy to close the critical vulnerability of unencrypted data in use. Sotero encrypts and protects the data through its entire lifecycle, including in use, while preventing active threats with real-time detection and automated quarantine of malicious access. Sotero's solution is easy to deploy and manage without disrupting the user experience. Organizations rapidly gain complete control over their data privacy, compliance, auditability, and governance with 360-degree data security to protect data at the edge, IoT devices, streaming data, and data moving through collaboration systems. For more information, please visit: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

For media inquiries, please contact: Nicole Baker, [email protected]

SOURCE Sotero Corporation
BEIJING, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and ESCP Business School are proud to announce the launch of a unique Dual MBA Program that will offer students an unparalleled opportunity to study in a truly global program with key strategic differentiations. The Dual MBA, taught in English and delivered primarily in Asia and Europe, will combine the expertise of both institutions to provide students with a global perspective, introduce the latest trends in business, technology, digitalization, and to propel them to foster social innovation.

Students of the Dual MBA Program will be able to study in several locations, leveraging CKGSB' s China campuses and partner institutions in Dubai, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo, and ESCP's six campuses across Europe. The Dual MBA Program will provide participants CKGSB's deep knowledge of Asia and ESCP's long-standing reputation as the world's oldest business school and leader for international experience.

"CKGSB is one of the few schools globally that can cover digital transformation from the US, Chinese and RCEP perspectives by drawing on its world-class faculty who have deep industry experience," said CKGSB Founding Dean Xiang Bing. Students will learn about the technology and strategies that drive successful digital transformation of enterprises and economies, and how organizations can leverage mobile and internet-of-things. "The program will also offer insights for start-ups seeking to scale up and become unicorn companies. Last but not least, the program emphasizes the social purpose of business with a particular emphasis on social innovation."

ESCP Business School's Interim Dean Leon Laulusa says, "By partnering with CKGSB, we combine the best of Europe and Asia in terms of innovative management, entrepreneurial growth and business acumen. Partnering with a globally-leading business school, that is particularly strong in China and Asia, allows us to grow ESCP's presence in this key region. This is an important step in preparing our students to be global business leaders, equipped with the skills and competencies of today's and tomorrow's world."

The program is for students who want to deepen their understanding and pursue careers in global business. The curriculum covers courses, like finance, marketing and strategy, as well as a special emphasis on RCEP economies, technology and business model innovation, unicorns and social innovation. Graduates of the program will receive two MBAs and join the powerful alumni networks of both schools. Applications begin on 1 September, 2023, and the program commences in September 2024.

SOURCE Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
SHENZHEN, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EVE Energy Co., Ltd. (EVE Energy), a leading lithium-ion battery manufacturer and energy storage solutions provider, was well represented at the 4th International New Energy Vehicles and Power Battery Expo (CIBF2023), held at the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center on May 16. Company Chairman Dr. Liu Jincheng attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech, sharing the enterprise's journey toward internationalization in the battery space.

Dr. Liu Jincheng delivered a speech EVE Energy Team in Hungary EVE Energy Team in Malaysia

Dr. Liu Jincheng stated his pleasure at returning to the event in his capacity as not only EVE Energy Chairman but also as Vice Chairman of the China Chemical and Physical Power Sources Association. He accompanied leaders from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the chairman of the association in visiting the exhibition halls.

The development of China's lithium batteries has achieved a high global position, he said. Dr. Liu largely attributed this to progress made by Chinese equipment and material companies. "We visited several equipment and material exhibition halls and saw that the stacking speed can be shortened to 0.12 seconds per piece. Compared to previous production lines and stackers purchased from South Korea in the early days, the efficiency has doubled, which is very exciting to us all," he said.

"Technological progress in equipment will undoubtedly further drive the development of the lithium battery industry," Dr Liu said. "Battery companies integrate creative innovations covering equipment and material enterprises while products are sold worldwide, demonstrating the country's remarkable results."

EVE Energy has grown from a company with revenue of 200 million yuan when it listed on the Shenzhen GEM to get where it is today, achieving double growth in the two most recent years. Despite continuous changes in the market, Dr Liu still hopes to double revenue this year.

Indeed, Dr Liu was buoyed by the healthy visitor numbers at the event. "The bustling crowds at today's exhibition demonstrate the enthusiasm for the rapid growth of lithium batteries in this country, though we must remain realistic," he said. "EVE Energy participates in this year's exhibition under the theme, 'Focus on Life, Focus on Health.' Our core area of expertise is showcased with a variety of medical devices, demonstrating the company's technological progress in medical batteries."

"'New energy' and 'long life' are two major themes in the domestic market," he said. With the aging population in our country and people's pursuit of a higher quality of life, EVE Energy will pay more attention to people's health and the future. Because the essence of technological progress is to focus on a better life and support people as they strive for it."

The power battery sector exhibits different characteristics to traditional industries, such as longer order cycles of up to five or eight years, he said during the speech. Dr Liu emphasized that industry project profitability relies on process quality performance and efficiency improvement. At the beginning of this year, the domestic market became more rational amid events like changes to national standards for fuel vehicles and fluctuations in the price of lithium carbonate. Risk prediction and mitigation capabilities across the entire lithium battery industry have further deepened.

In response to this, EVE Energy has started focusing on medical batteries and health, accelerating research and development efforts for medical batteries and improving product quality. From the perspective of internationalization, EVE Energy is willing to cooperate with domestic and foreign companies, Dr Liu said.

Speaking of internationalization, the company officially announced the construction of green battery plants in Hungary and Malaysia on May 9 and May 12, respectively. "We have confidence in the construction of overseas projects, but we also face challenges. For example, some place may lack the sufficient conditions for component processing and maintenance," he emphasized.

"We have officially announced construction of green battery factories in Hungary and Malaysia," he said, adding that the team is overwhelmingly happy to get started on these projects and holds utmost confidence in the success of such overseas developments. The company aims to deepen ties with local communities and serves as their good neighbors and partners to help develop their areas. In addition, supporting local education and contributing to the local community on a cultural level is a crucial part of the internationalization process.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2082062/1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2082063/2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2082064/3.jpg

SOURCE EVE Energy Co., Ltd
In 2023, international donors will provide Ukraine with an additional grant in the amount of EUR17 million for the implementation of housing loans for internally displaced persons (IDP), the press service of the Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine has reported.

As stated in the release, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereschuk met with representatives of the State Fund for Support of Youth Housing Construction and KfW in Ukraine and discussed with them the housing loan program for IDPs.

"This is one of the most effective programs to provide IDPs with affordable housing. I thank everyone involved for helping people in difficult life circumstances. In turn, we will help attract other international donors to the grant program. This will become a powerful platform for the integration of IDPs into new communities," said Iryna Vereschuk.

The IDP Housing project is funded by a EUR25.5 million grant from the German government, provided under an intergovernmental agreement through KfW.

Since the end of 2021, more than 650 IDPs have received a loan (at a rate of 3% per annum) for a total of UAH 892.6 million.

Lending objects can be an apartment in a multi-apartment residential building or a single-family residential building, put into operation no more than 50 years ago or reconstructed no later than 25 years ago.

You can register for participation in the program through the Diia public services portal or at the regional departments of the State Fund for Support of Youth Housing Construction.
SUNNYVALE, Calif, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Figure , an AI Robotics company building general purpose humanoid robots, today announced its $70 million Series A funding round. This new funding will be used to accelerate the development of Figure 01 (the company's autonomous humanoid robot), build out Figure's AI data pipeline for autonomous operations, and drive towards commercialization. The round is led by Parkway Venture Capital and joined by participating investments from Brett Adcock, Aliya Capital, Bold Capital Partners, Tamarack Global, FJ labs, and KUKA Robotics CEO Till Reuter. This funding news comes on the heels of Figure's emergence from stealth .

Figure is building humanoid robots designed for initial deployment into the workforce to address labor shortages and to support supply chain on a global scale. In recent months, Figure made notable hires across AI, Controls, Manipulation, Perception, and Commercial Operations. Figure's latest hire, Bob Klunk, joined the team as Head of Warehouse Solutions to help bring Figure 01 into its first real world application. Bob, former SVP of Operations at Geodis, is a fulfillment operations veteran and brings over two decades of warehouse experience to the team.

"We're focused on investing in companies that are pioneers in AI technology, and we believe that autonomous humanoid robots have the potential to revolutionize the labor economy. We are impressed by the rapid progress that Brett and the team of industry experts at Figure have made in the last year and are thrilled to be a financial partner to provide resources to accelerate the commercialization of Figure 01" says Jesse Coors-Blankenship, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Parkway Venture Capital.

"Figure's near-term goal is to deploy humanoids into the workforce, and we believe that the structured, repetitive, and often dangerous tasks in warehouses are a great potential first application. This investment round will support the testing of early warehouse solutions and gives us the ability to move and iterate quickly ahead of commercial operations. I look forward to growing this strategic partnership with Parkway and all participating investors to support the success of Figure" says Brett Adcock, Founder and CEO of Figure.

In the last twelve months, Figure reached significant milestones including:

Brought on industry leading robotics experts such as Dr. Jerry Pratt as Figure's CTO, who has been involved in humanoid robotics development for over 20 years.

as Figure's CTO, who has been involved in humanoid robotics development for over 20 years. Scaled an organization of 50 employees with over 100 years of Humanoid and AI experience spanning disciplines of AI, Manipulation, Perception, Robot Controls, Software, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering.

Successfully completed the build, integration, and testing of the alpha prototype of Figure 01.

Defined commercialization efforts for Figure's first applications in industries where labor shortages are the most severe, such as manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing, and retail.

About Figure

Figure is an AI Robotics company developing autonomous general purpose humanoid robots. Our Humanoid is designed for initial deployment into the workforce to address labor shortages, jobs that are undesirable or unsafe, and to support supply chain on a global scale. Figure is a team of 50 employees based in Sunnyvale, California.

For more information about Figure, visit www.figure.ai .

SOURCE Figure AI Inc.
Firm joins LPL Financial's largest enterprise

FORT MILL, S.C., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Resources Group Investment Services, LLC (Financial Resources Group) announces their partnership with Jacobian Wealth Advisory led by Founder and President John F. Weber, CFA, CFP. Weber is registered under the nation's largest independent broker-dealer1, LPL Financial, and reported having served over $100 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets2.

President John F. Weber, CFA, CFP

"We couldn't be happier to partner with Jacobian Wealth Advisory," said J.J. Hudock, Director of Business Development at Financial Resources Group. "The professionalism and passion behind this firm is truly admirable and we very much look forward to building our partnership."

A Customized Approach

Driven by his mathematical background and passion for problem-solving, Weber founded Jacobian Wealth Advisory in 2019 to help others put together tailored financial plans for their future. Based in Lisle, IL, the firm specializes in providing affluent individuals and families with customized investment strategies and planning services.

"One key element in successful planning is to determine what is changing," said Weber. "This pertains to so much more than the stock markets. Taxes, estate law, politics, and social security are just a few, but our clients' changing goals have the biggest impact on the direction we head. Jacobian prides itself on addressing the specific needs of each client in the specific environment we are in."

Strategic Partners

Jacobian Wealth Advisory is pleased to join Financial Resources Group and LPL Financial which now allows them to access individualized business consulting, marketing, and technology solutions in an effort to expand upon their business. "We were looking to team up with a company that has a more personal approach while still being a part of a large enterprise," said Weber. "Financial Resources Group's white-glove services coupled with LPL Financial's industry leading technology is exactly what our firm was looking for and we are excited to begin our partnership."

Jacobian Wealth Advisory joins a list of over 1,000 financial professionals Financial Resources Group supports as a company dedicated to helping financial advisors grow their businesses.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jacobian Wealth Advisory to the Financial Resources Group family," said Financial Resources Group president Steve Lank. "They have such a genuine passion to serve their clients and are a wonderful asset to the firm. We are eager to help take their business to the next level."

About Financial Resources Group

Based in Fort Mill, SC, Financial Resources Group is LPL Financial's largest enterprise3, providing customized services to financial advisors and financial institutions to help them grow their programs and practices. Representatives are registered through LPL Financial as their broker-dealer. For more information on Financial Resources Group, visit https://www.financialresourcesgroup.net

About Jacobian Wealth Advisory

Jacobian Wealth Advisory provides customized investment strategies and planning services to help their clients work toward their financial goals. For more information, visit www.jacobianwealthadvisory.com

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial is a leader in the retail financial advice market and the nation's largest independent broker-dealer*. They serve independent financial advisors, professionals, and institutions, providing them with the technology, research, clearing and compliance services, and practice management programs they need to create and grow thriving practices. For more information, visit www.lpl.com

1 As reported by Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2022, based on total revenue.

2 Value approximated based on asset and holding details provided to LPL from January 2023.

3 Based on assets (brokerage and advisory), total revenue and affiliated professionals as of December 2022.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, member FINRA/SIPC. Financial Resources Group Investment Services, member FINRA/SIPC, is a separate entity.

Contact Information:

Financial Resources Group

Steve Lank

[email protected]

704-816-8018

SOURCE Financial Resources Group Investment Services
NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Veteran Ocean explorer/CEO of Tiburon Subsea, Tim Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team have discovered 84 lost US sailors and the WWII Sumner Class Destroyer "USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733)" destroyed by Super rocket powered kamikazes in Japanese waters. The accomplishment has just recently been authenticated by the US Navy.

This discovery is very personal to Mr. Taylor. His father served in the Navy as part of the lead invasion force in the battle of Okinawa and he witnessed the Kamikaze firsthand when one plowed into his ship the USS Telfair.

WWII Sumner Class Destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele multi beam sonar 4500 feet deep offshore Okinawa Japan WWII Sumner Class Destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele Bow Hull Number 733

My father came close to the same fate of the crew of the Abele just days earlier." This was a very emotive discovery for me. Connecting me to my father" states Taylor. "

April 12th, 1945, the same day Franklin Roosevelt passed, the Abele was attacked and lost off Okinawa in 3 Minutes. Survivors witnessing the sinking thought the destroyer was split into two pieces like the Titanic. The exploration team findings show that the Kamikazes did destroy the keel and the ship folded as she sank to the bottom in 1380 meters (4500 feet) of water in a heavily volcanically active area off Okinawa.

The USS Abele was serving as a radar ship positioned 90 miles offshore between Okinawa and mainland Japan as part of Operation Iceberg. Over 50,000 American casualties, including 12,500 soldiers and sailors were killed, and the greatest number of combat fatigue cases recorded of any single American battle in history.

Positioned as an early warning scout for incoming Japanese ships and aircraft, the USS Mannert Abele was the first successful attack and sinking by Japan's new Super suicide weapon the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka or "cherry blossom". Ohka was a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft deployed at the end of the war. It had an extremely short range and was carried into action by Mitsubishi G4M2e Model 24J "Betty" bomber. The pilot would release from the bomber and glide towards the target and when close enough fire the three solid-fuel rockets, one at a time or in unison, and fly the missile towards his target with devastating results.

The USS Mannert L. Abele was named after commander of the US Submarine Grunion. The Grunion was lost with all hands in a battel offshore the Aleutian Island Kiska in Alaska in 1942. Initially discovered by his sons in 2006, the Grunion's bow was discovered by the Lost 52 Project in 2018 and expansive 4D imaging was collected by Mr. Taylor and his team. It was the first US ship to be lost to a deadly new weapon born out of Japan's desperation.

The battle of Okinawa the savagery was overshadowed by the death of Franklin Roosevelt on April 12th, and Germany's surrender on May 8th, 1945. Only 5 weeks after "Operation Iceberg" was declared accomplished the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

"Lost 52 Project" has been recognized by JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) as the first and most comprehensive offshore underwater archaeological expedition in Japanese waters. Tiburon Subsea, Inc specializes in building autonomous systems to empower discovery, ocean data collection and conservation.

Media Contact

Chris Dennison

[email protected]

917.423.1369

SOURCE Lost 52 Project
FLUENT Brings New THC Dark Chocolate Bar to Medical Patients in Florida; Made with High Quality Cannabis Extract and Chocolate from the Legendary French Chocolatier, Valrhona

TAMPA, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Cansortium Inc. (CSE: TIUM.U) (OTCQX: CNTMF) ("FLUENT" or the "Company"), a vertically-integrated, multi-state cannabis company operating under the FLUENT brand, announced the launch of its new cannabis-infused Dark Chocolate Bar in Florida. The bar is made with FLUENT's high quality cannabis extract and Caraibe 66% chocolate from Valrhona, the legendary French chocolatier.

A harmonious blend of cannabis and rich cocoa, FLUENT's new, premium THC Dark Chocolate Bar is a welcomed medium for medical patients in the Sunshine State. The smooth consistency of the chocolate is matched only by the consistent dosing; each of the bar's 10 squares are infused with 10mg of THC. FLUENT's Dark Chocolate Bar is now available in all of its Florida retail locations and retails for $25.

"Infused chocolate is an exciting new direction for FLUENT that I know our patients will love," said FLUENT Cannabis Care Director of Sales Victor Bindi. "Chocolate is therapeutic by itself, so it's a great delivery method for the benefits of cannabis. We believe that cannabis can elevate experiences, so the blend of rich, velvety chocolate and the subtle, nuanced effects of cannabis are a perfect pair. The Dark Chocolate Bar represents our commitment to bringing our patients high quality craft products, and I look forward to seeing its reception."

Created in 1988, Caraibe 66% is a wonderfully balanced chocolate with a mellow, well-rounded flavor. Thanks to its great equilibrium, Caraibe 66% has become a Pastry Chef's go-to dark chocolate. Its authentically chocolatey flavor makes it a popular choice for professional kitchens. Caraibe's name pays homage to the diversity of the Caribbean islands, whose cocoa beans inspired its creation. Caraibe 66% is a subtle blend of cocoa aromatic profiles typical of the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica and Togo. These profiles are blended to obtain Caraibe's unique and consistent flavor, which is both balanced and roasted. Caraibe 66% is Non-GMO, Soy Free, Dairy-Free (made in a factory where dairy is present), Gluten Free, Triangle K Kosher, and 100% Traceability to the Cocoa Plantation.

About Cansortium Inc.

Cansortium Inc. is a vertically-integrated cannabis company with licenses and operations in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Company operates under the FLUENT brand and is dedicated to being one of the highest quality cannabis companies for the communities it serves. This is driven by Cansortium's unrelenting commitment to operational excellence in cultivation, production, distribution and retail. The Company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

Cansortium Inc.'s common shares trade on the CSE under the symbol "TIUM.U" and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol "CNTMF". For more information about the Company, please visit www.getFLUENT.com.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact:

Robert Beasley, CEO

850-972-8077

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:

Sean Mansouri, CFA

Elevate IR

720-330-2829

[email protected]

Media Contacts:

Patrick Maddox

501-680-5220

[email protected]

SOURCE Cansortium Inc
QUINCY, Mass., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FORM , the top field execution and image recognition platform for teams, today announced Bri Newhart as its new Chief Human Resources Officer. Since 2021, Newhart has led FORM's Human Resources program as Vice President of HR, fostering the rapidly-growing organization's culture and uniting its global team of over 375 employees across Boston, Denver, London, Kyiv, and Krakow.

Bri Newhart, new Chief Human Resources Officer at FORM

In 2022, Newhart and her team hired over 120 global team members, reduced time to hire by 74%, and increased retention by 15%, all feats Newhart says have helped FORM build a highly-engaged and collaborative culture that puts people first. "We are a company full of people who constantly learn from and support each other, no matter where we are," says Newhart. "Even though our team is mostly remote, we still find ways to connect. That connection is a huge contributor to attracting and retaining the world's top talentand to the success of our organization as a whole." As CHRO, Newhart will continue her 15-year career in HR by building and engaging FORM's diverse team member base. Her goals for the role include vital initiatives such as DEIB-focused Learning & Development programs and a Women in Leadership committeeall rooted in FORM's core values of integrity, teamwork, and innovation.

Ali Moosani, FORM CEO, believes the role of HR will only grow in importance as cultural trends and tech advancements continue to shape the future of work. "We are in a pivotal era; the ways in which people work and the tools they're using to do it are changing, and it's happening quickly," he says. "Bri understands this landscape better than anyone, and she knows exactly what our teams need to succeed inside and outside of work. Her role is invaluable to our position as a global leader in the industry."

Newhart's promotion is one of multiple developments FORM has planned for 2023, with more to come this summer. "With Bri as CHRO, this will be one of the strongest leadership teams I've worked with in my career," says Moosani. "2023 will be a significant year of growth, and I can't wait to see what we accomplish together."

About FORM

FORM powers the world's 2 billion mobile workers as they change companies and industries for good, with mobile technology that improves execution from the frontline. FORM's digital assistant for teams guides daily tasks, boosts communication, and provides leaders with real-time intelligence to drive faster actions and better decisions. FORM activates and connects teams in the field--with leaders, missions, and each other--so they can deliver success in the enterprise. FORM solutions have been deployed by Fortune 500 companies and customers around the world. To learn more, visit www.FORM.com .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Chrissy Priest, Marketing Director

[email protected]

479-366-8193

SOURCE FORM
Region's natural gas leader provides funding to enhance STEAM Lab and City School, making education accessible for Metro Atlanta families

ATLANTA, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gas South, a leading provider of natural gas throughout the southeastern U.S., announces their donation of $325,000 to City of Refuge to support families in Metro Atlanta transitioning out of crisis. The donation will be used to fund the expansion of City of Refuge's City School and provide continued support for the Gas South STEAM lab at the organization.

As a part of the company's ongoing mission to Be A Fuel For Good, Gas South donates 5% of its annual profits to support children in need in the communities it serves. In 2022, the company gave more than $3.2 million to help support children in need in Georgia and Florida, more than doubling the previous year's contribution. They're projected to give $4.5 million in 2023. Since 2006, Gas South has donated more than $12 million, focusing on programs that provide food, clothing, shelter, education, career development or aid for chronic and terminal illnesses, to children and young adults.

"Education is one of the most powerful tools you can give a child, and Gas South is proud to expand City of Refuge's educational programs as a part of our mission to Be A Fuel For Good,'" said Kevin Greiner, president and CEO of Gas South. "City of Refuge transforms the lives of children trying to escape poverty and thrive in the community and is extremely deserving of our support."

City of Refuge's City School provides on-site education for children fourth through 12th grade. The City School will use Gas South's donation to undergo a strategic expansion to include kindergarten through fourth grade, with fourth grade being added in fall 2023. This expansion will include additional teachers, increased curriculum capabilities and new classroom and student technology, such as laptops for personalized learning and technology interaction.

The Gas South STEAM Lab at City of Refuge provides out of school programming from 3 to 6 p.m. each school day for youth in the community.

"As we aim to improve our ability to provide quality educational resources to our community, we're excited to once again partner with Gas South as they invest in our mission," said Bruce Deel, founder and CEO of City of Refuge. "We look forward to seeing the positive impact Gas South's support will have on our organization's forthcoming initiatives."

To learn more about Gas South's mission to Be A Fuel for Good visit www.gassouth.com/giving-back . For more information on City of Refuge, visit www.cityofrefugeatl.org .

About Gas South:

Gas South is one of the largest retail natural gas providers to over 440,000 residential, business and government customers across 14 states. Gas South is an Atlanta-based subsidiary of Cobb EMC, providing simple natural gas plans and excellent customer service. Gas South upholds its mission to Be A Fuel For Good by giving back 5% of their annual profits to help children in need, prioritizing basic needs, education and health. The company has donated more than $12 million to charities since 2006, including $3.2 million in 2022, its largest year ever for corporate giving. To learn more about Gas South and its mission to Be A Fuel For Good, visit www.GasSouth.com .

About City of Refuge:

City of Refuge was founded in 1997 with the mission to transform the lives of individuals and communities in Atlanta and beyond. Today the organization resides in a warehouse that was graciously donated in the 30314 neighborhood, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden areas in the nation. Since inhabiting the "Where Good Works" center, City of Refuge has helped over 35,000 people across the country and internationally. The organization has created several programs designed to provide an impact in areas such as: housing, youth development, health & wellness, and vocation. City of Refuge is a leader in the business of social transformation and continuously works to empower and equip individuals with the tools to succeed. To learn more about City of Refuge, visit cityofrefugeatl.org or follow the organization on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter .

Media contact:

Aliya Seymour

The Wilbert Group

[email protected]

SOURCE Gas South
DUBLIN, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Exoskeleton Market Size, Segments, Outlook, and Revenue Forecast 2022-2028 by Technology, Mobility, Body Type, End-User Region" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this analysis, the Global Exoskeleton Market was valued at ~US$ 300 million in 2017. It is estimated to be ~US$ 550 million in 2022 and is expected to reach a market size of ~US$ 2,500 million by 2028 growing with a CAGR of ~20% during 2022 to 2030. The adoption of the exoskeleton in the healthcare sector for robotic rehabilitation is likely to drive market growth.



Adoption of the exoskeleton in the healthcare sector for robotic rehabilitation is driving the growth of the global Exoskeleton market.



Robotic rehabilitation means designing wearable robotic exoskeletons to improve movement in persons with impaired physical functioning. According to the Rehabilitation Council of India, a government body that regulates training programs and courses targeted at the disabled, and special education requirement communities, stated that for every 1 billion of the population the spinal cord injury rate is between 1.85% to 2.19% out of which 75% are from rural areas.



The High Cost of exoskeletons is one of the Major challenges hindering the growth of the global exoskeleton market.



Due to rapid advancements in exoskeleton technology, i.e. providing better efficiency and high payload the cost of exoskeletons rise significantly.



Furthermore, the average cost of an Exoskeleton in the healthcare sector varies from US$ 77,000 to US$ 100,000.



Scope of the Report



The Global Exoskeleton Market is segmented by Technology, Mobility, Body Type, and End-User. In addition, the report also covers market size and forecasts for the four major regions for Global Exoskeleton Markets. The revenue used to size and forecast the market for each segment is US$ million.



By Technology

Powered

Passive

By Mobility

Mobile

Stationary

By Body Type

Full Body

Upper Body

Lower Body

By End-User

Healthcare

Defense/Military

Industrial

Others

By Region

North America ( USA , Canada , Mexico )

( , , ) Europe ( Germany , UK, France , Spain , Italy )

( , UK, , , ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , South Korea , India , Australia )

( , , , , ) LAMEA ( Latin America , Middle East , Africa )

Key Players

Ekso Bionics Holdings

ReWalk Robotics

Cyberdyne Inc

Rex Bionics Ltd

Sarcos

Lockheed Martin Corporation

B-Temia

Ottobock

DIH Medical

Medi-Touch

Key Trends by Market Segment

By Technology: The Power segment by technology held the largest market share in 2021 of the Global Exoskeleton Market

The growth is primarily due to the rise in implementation of powered exoskeleton solutions in multiple industries such as military and industrial sectors, which enhance safety and increase the productivity of the user

The Power technology provides better motion of working and easy lifting decreasing the strain on the user of the exoskeleton, thus significantly increasing in the productivity and strength of the users.



By Mobility: The Mobile segment held the largest market share in 2021, and is projected to be the fastest-growing segment during the forecast period.



The growth is primarily due to an increase in demand for mobile robots, as mobile robots are able to perform tasks like material handling, transporting, and picking & placing very easily.



Furthermore, many companies are now focusing on developing mobile exoskeletons with better features, that would put less strain on the user, reducing the risk of injuries, and enhance productivity.



By Body Type: The Lower Body segment accounted for the largest market share in the Body Type segment in 2021.



Rise in lower body disabilities and the adoption of exoskeletons by paralyzing or old populations is likely to drive the lower body segment in the global exoskeleton market.



The lower body exoskeletons are also used in defense for increasing the speed of soldiers that helping them to carry heavy equipment such as ammunition and guns for a longer duration.



By End-User: The Healthcare segment accounted for the largest market share in the End-User segment in 2021.



The growth is primarily due to the adoption of the exoskeleton in the healthcare sector for robotic rehabilitation and robotic therapy.



Many Hospitals and Rehabilitation Centers use exoskeletons for the treatment of patients suffering from spinal injuries, paralysis, and stroke.



By Geography: North Americaaccounted for the largest market share among all regions within the total Global Exoskeleton Market in 2021.



The growth is primarily due to the increase in disability issues in individuals as well as continuous spending on research & development for the exoskeleton.



In August 2018, the Centers for disease control and prevention which is the public health agency of the U.S that serves under the U.S department of health and human services stated that in one of four U.S Adults i.e. around 61 Million Americans suffer from a disability that majorly impacts their life activities.



Competitive Landscape



The Global Exoskeleton Market is highly competitive with ~100 players which include globally diversified players, regional players as well as a large number of country-niche players each with their niche in Exoskeleton manufacturing. Large global players constitute ~20% of competitors, while country-niche players represent ~45% of competitors.

Most of these country players include component manufacturers and assembling companies. Some of the major players in the market include Ekso Bionics Holdings, ReWalk Robotics, Cyberdyne Inc., Rex Bionics Ltd., Sarcos, Lockheed Martin Corporation, B-Temia, Ottobock, DIH Medical, Medi-Touch, and among others.

Recent Developments Related to Major Players



In September 2020, Sarcos Robotics raised US$ 40 Million in Funding, the funding is likely to be used for the production of Guardian XO which is an industrial exoskeleton that is going to be the world's first full-body, battery-powered Exoskeleton with enhanced strength and endurance.



In February 2022, CYBERDYNE Inc. received its marketing license approved by the Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia, for Medical HAL Single Joint Type which is a "Wearable Cyborg" for the upper body exoskeleton that improves the physical function of the user.



Conclusion



The Global Exoskeleton Market is forecasted to grow exponentially with a CAGR of ~20% during the forecast period primarily driven by the adoption of the exoskeleton in the healthcare sector for robotic rehabilitation. Though the market is highly competitive with ~ 100 participants, few global players control the dominant share and country-niche players also hold a significant share. North America is the dominating region, owing to the High Purchasing power of the Users.



Note:This is an upcoming/planned report, so the figures quoted here for a market size estimate, forecast, growth, segment share, and competitive landscape are based on initial findings and might vary slightly in the actual report. Also, any required customizations can be covered to the best feasible extent for Pre-booking clients, and the report delivered within a maximum of two working weeks.



Key Topics Covered in the Report

Snapshot of Global Exoskeleton Market

Industry Value Chain and Ecosystem Analysis

Market size and Segmentation of the Global Exoskeleton Market

Historic Growth of the Overall Global Exoskeleton Market and Segments

Competition Scenario of the Market and Key Developments of Competitors

Porter's 5 Forces Analysis of the Global Exoskeleton Industry

Overview, Product Offerings, and Strategic Developments of Key Competitors

COVID-19 Impact on the Overall Global Exoskeleton Market

Future Market Forecast and Growth Rates of the Total Global Exoskeleton Market and by Segments

Market Size of Mobility/End-user Segments with Historical CAGR and Future Forecasts

Analysis of the Global Exoskeleton Market

Major Production/Supply and Consumption/Demand Hubs within Each Major Country

Major Country-wise Historic and Future Market Growth Rates of the Total Market and Segments

Overview of Notable Emerging Competitor Companies within Each Region

Fourier Intelligence

Seismic

ROAM Robotics

Trexo Robotics

Bionic Yantra

Key Target Audience - Organizations and Entities Who Can Benefit by Subscribing This Report

Exoskeleton Manufacturers

Exoskeleton Raw Material Suppliers

Exoskeleton Products Manufacturers

Government Ministries of health and rehabilitation

Government Ministries of Defense

Exoskeleton Industry Association

Exoskeleton Companies

Venture Capitalists Targeting Exoskeleton Industry

Time Period Captured in the Report

Historical Period: 2019-2021

Forecast Period: 2022E-2030F

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Study Period of this Market Report?

The Global Exoskeleton Market is covered from 2019-2030 in this report, which includes a forecast for the period 2022-2030

What is the Future Growth Rate of the Global Exoskeleton Market?

The Global Exoskeleton Market is expected to witness a CAGR of about ~20% over the next eight years

What are the Key Factors Driving the Global Exoskeleton Market?

Adoption of the exoskeleton in the healthcare sector is driving the growth of the global Exoskeleton market

Which is the Largest Mobility Segment within the Global Exoskeleton Market?

The mobile segment accounted for the largest share of the Global Exoskeleton Market in 2021

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes





Key Players

Ekso Bionics Holdings

ReWalk Robotics

Cyberdyne Inc.

Rex Bionics Ltd.

Sarcos

Lockheed Martin Corporation

B-Temia

Ottobock

DIH Medical

Medi-Touch

Fourier Intelligence

Seismic

ROAM Robotics

Trexo Robotics

Bionic Yantra

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/uczag

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Sonar System Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2018-2030F. Segmented By Product (Hull-mounted Sonar, Stern-mounted Sonar, Dipping Sonar, Sonobuoy), By Installation (Fixed, Deployable), By Platform, By Application, and By Region" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Sonar System Market is growing owing to the increase in maritime trade activities, mining, oil and gas exploration, and fisheries. Countries across the globe are expected to expand their capabilities and purchase cutting-edge sonar Systems for their naval fleets because of technological improvements, which is expected to accelerate the market's expansion during the forecast period. The market for sonar Systems is expanding owing to the purchase of new ships and submarines as well as upgrading initiatives for current navy vessels.



The technological advancement in the industry is leading countries to expand and upgrade their existing System, and many nations have water bodies surrounding them, which they also share with their neighbors. This frequently led to a rise in tensions between nations, necessitating the use of naval ships, submarines, and patrol boats to safeguard national borders.

For instance, by 2027, the Indian Navy hopes to have 170 ships in its current fleet. Similarly, many other countries are also planning to increase their fleet of warships in the coming years, so all these factors will generate new opportunities for the Global Sonar System market during the forecast period and are expected to register an impressive CAGR during the forecast period.



Submerged drones are utilized for applications, for example, transport frame assessment, wreck examination, sea floor planning, hydro warm vent discovery, submerged investigation, maritime exploration, and mining, among others. Using synthetic aperture sonar, UUVs combine acoustic signals to produce an image of the target with a high along-track resolution. Additionally, due to their capabilities in minesweeping, intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance, and submarine combat, UUVs play a crucial role in naval warfare.

For instance, Boeing received a 43,000,000 USD contract from the US Navy in 2019 to develop the Orca XLUUV (extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle). Orca is a long-range autonomous, reconfigurable UUV that can deliver payloads. To test, construct, and deliver UUVs of the Orca class, Boeing has collaborated with Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest military shipbuilding company in the United States, with its headquarters in Virginia. The market for sonar systems is anticipated to expand as a result of such initiatives and investments in UUV development.



Technical progress in sonar Systems is a prominent trend in the sonar System market. Businesses are increasingly developing to build highly superior sonar devices for the military and combat.



Rise in the Armed Forces Fleet and 3D Printing Technology.



As sonar systems are largely employed as navigational aids to track and identify hostile ships at sea and to avoid undersea hazards, this growing fleet of naval vessels is promoting further development to increase military strength and reach. Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, China, India, and Japan have all seen significant development in their naval fleets in recent years. Countries like India are focusing on building a navy of 200 vessels and 500 aircraft by 2050.

Similarly, the United States and other Western countries are expected to increase their naval fleet because of ongoing tensions due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and contracts and procurement are expected to drive the market expansion for the sonar system market globally, and the use of sonobuoy for tactical defense operations is expected to drive the global sonar system market.



The rising use of 3D printing technology by major businesses to develop a 3D printed SONAR system is a market trend. The manufacturing approach results in a system that is both light and affordable. The 3D system is a cutting-edge acoustic imaging device. Its principal duty is to give high-resolution photographs of the seabed across a large region.



Rising Demand for Sonar Systems in Fishing Activities



The Sonar system market is growing globally because of the rising demand for fishing activities. For resource management purposes, such as determining the effectiveness of fish passage structures, evaluating restoration efforts, utilizing habitat, observing migration patterns, assessing potential effects, and monitoring population status, fisheries biologists use imaging techniques to classify various fish.

It has been demonstrated that hydro-acoustic methods are useful for assessing fish populations in freshwater and marine habitats. During the forecast period, countries that are dependent on basic fish finders are anticipated to drive demand for improved sonar devices. And overall, all this will lead to the growth of the sonar system market globally in the forecast years.



Effect on Maritime Environment



The rising maritime environment concerns are expected to restrict the penetration of the sonar system market in maritime activities. Over the past ten years, there has been an increase in concern regarding the sonar's potential impact on marine life. As evidence of issues caused by seismic surveys, dredging, ship engines, military sonar, and oil drilling increases, concern on a global scale is also increasing, and the advancements in technology are leading to the rise in human reach.

To attain a thriving marine ecosystem in the future, numerous governmental bodies from all around the world have passed different legislation. For instance, the International Maritime Organization issued guidance for reducing ship noise. Manufacturers are also facing challenges in developing sonar systems, and all this is restraining the growth of the sonar system market globally.

Companies Mentioned

Sonardyne International Ltd.

Aselsan AS

Ultra-Electronics Holdings

Northrop Grumman Corporation

ThyssenKrupp AG

Western Marine Electronics Inc.

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Kongsberg Gruppen ASA

Thales Group

GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc.

Report Scope:



In this report, Global Sonar System Market has been segmented into the following categories, in addition to the industry trends, which have also been detailed below:



Sonar System Market, By Product Type:

Hull-mounted Sonar

Stern-mounted Sonar

Dipping Sonar

Sonobuoy

Sonar System Market, By Installation:

Fixed

Deployable

Sonar System Market, By Platform:

Commercial Vessels

Defence Vessels

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs)

Aircrafts

Ports

Others

Sonar System Market, By Application:

Anti-submarine Warfare

Port Security

Mine Detection & Countermeasure System

Search & Rescue

Navigation,

Diver Detection

Others

Sonar System Market, By Region:

Asia-Pacific

China

India

Japan

Malaysia

Indonesia

Thailand

South Korea

North America

United States

Canada

Mexico

Europe & CIS

& CIS Germany

Russia

France

Spain

Italy

United Kingdom

Latin America

Brazil

Argentina

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/l3vk0v

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Matthew Koster to lead Gotcha Covered of Coastal Charleston in offering premium consultation services

CHARLESTON, S.C, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gotcha Covered, a leader in custom window treatment consultation in the U.S. and Canada, has announced the opening of Gotcha Covered of Coastal Charleston. This marks the fifth location in South Carolina.

The new home-based center is owned and operated by Matthew Koster. With an emphasis on end-to-end consultations, this business will provide the best in soft and hard window treatments to homeowners in Charleston, Berkley and Dorchester counties. The center will offer a variety of blinds, draperies, smart solutions and much more.

Matthew Koster is the owner and operator of Gotcha Covered of Coastal Charleston. He is pictured here with his partner, Paige Hobart.

"At Gotcha Covered, we are the example for what a window treatment franchise should be," said Paul Linenberg, president of Gotcha Covered. "From our consultation services to the product we provide, we are a partner that homeowners and businesses can rely on when they need window treatment services. Matthew will continue that legacy by being an asset to the Charleston community, and we are excited to see his business thrive."

A veteran in the franchise industry, Koster owned and operated three Servpro franchises and a construction company for 15 years. He earned an M.B.A. in business management as well.

After deciding to sell his Servpro franchise, Gaston moved back home to South Carolina. Once he decided to look into franchise opportunities locally, he came across Gotcha Covered.

"I was searching for a franchise that offered flexibility and a work-life balance," said Gaston. "Gotcha Covered has that and much more. The franchise offers low overhead and minimal employee management as well. I also have the freedom to run the business how I like, which is a main factor for me."

Ultimately, Gaston said he wants to run his business like a mini franchise.

"I want to give others opportunities to own their own business within my business," Gaston said. "I want them to be able to have their own schedules and the ability to market themselves while maintaining the core values across the board."

Adding 40 new franchise locations in 2022, Gotcha Covered currently has over 155 total franchises across the U.S. and Canada. The franchise has been operating under the Gotcha Covered name since 2009.

To schedule an appointment with Gotcha Covered of Coastal Charleston, visit https://www.gotchacovered.com/coastal-charleston/.

About Gotcha Covered

Gotcha Covered is a leader in custom soft and hard window treatment consultation in the U.S. and Canada. Flying under their Gotcha Covered flag since 2009, they offer custom window treatments including blinds, draperies, shutters and much more. They offer end-to-end consultation with the customer's specific needs and goals in mind. The company currently has over 155 total franchises across the U.S. and Canada.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE Gotcha Covered
The iconic rum brand is giving people plenty of reasons to hit the dance floor around the world, including new global streetwear partnerships kicking off with Stadium Goods, global speakeasy style events, interactive upgrades to its renowned music festival roster, and more.

HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This summer, BACARDI Rum wants you to dance like everyone is watching. The world's most awarded rum brand is launching a series of unique activations under its "Do What Moves You" platform to encourage people to embrace community and enjoy the freedom of self-expression.

BACARDI Rum x Stadium Goods BACARDI Rum x Stadium Goods

The festivities will kick off in June with a BACARDI x Stadium Goods speakeasy pop-up, a one-of-a-kind retail and party experience created in partnership with the covetable streetwear brand. At first glance, the event will appear to take place at a traditional Stadium Goods sneaker store with custom BACARDI x Stadium Goods merch offerings. In a nod to classic speakeasy cocktail bars, the surprise will lie in a secret entrance behind the stockroom door where attendees will be immersed in a lively, Caribbean-inspired BACARDI celebration, with pop-up musical guests, exclusive BACARDI rum cocktail tastings, and more. The pop-up will be open to consumers aged 21+ on June 8th, by RSVP only at the LINK HERE.

"The spirit of BACARDI has always been one of self-expression, free of judgment, and, of course, one that is ready to dance," said Laila Mignoni, Global Head of Brand Marketing Communications for BACARDI. "We're thrilled to partner with the pros at Stadium Goods and streetwear icon, Jeff Staple, allowing consumers to embrace their individuality through touchpoints that inspire consumers to Do What Moves You. Every aspect of our partnership is designed to bring people together, embracing the connective tissue between our iconic rum and the sneaker community to inspire movement in both the physical and emotional sense."

To ensure everyone who attends a BACARDI party this summer is equipped with the perfect pair of 'dancing shoes', BACARDI will gift attendees the Dancing Shoes NFT, an exclusive digital wearable created in collaboration with creative visionary and founder of the streetwear brand STAPLE, Jeff Staple, and web3 studio, Kollectiff. Dropped into guests' digital wallets during the event, the NFT will appear with a purposefully simplistic design, allowing for individual customizations by interacting with various elements within the temporary retail store. Those who complete the NFT customizations at the event will have a chance to forge their digital creations into a one-of-a-kind physical pair of sneakerstheir one-of-a-kind Dancing Shoesthat will be delivered directly to them this summer.

Following the New York launch, the rhythm will continue through the summer, including:

The all-new BACARDI "Do What Moves You" Snap lens will first debut at the BACARDI x Stadium Goods pop-up via Snap's augmented reality mirror and will later be available to 21+ Snapchatters throughout the summer. This new-to-market technology, developed for BACARDI by Snap, features a custom augmented reality lens including a specially-commissioned music track, "Sientelo" from the brand's first-ever original EP, now available on Spotify, which will adapt based on users' movements to create a wholly new rhythm that's unique to you.





will first debut at the pop-up via Snap's augmented reality mirror and will later be available to 21+ Snapchatters throughout the summer. This new-to-market technology, developed for BACARDI by Snap, features a custom augmented reality lens including a specially-commissioned music track, "Sientelo" from the brand's first-ever original EP, now available on Spotify, which will adapt based on users' movements to create a wholly new rhythm that's unique to you. A revitalized BACARDI summer festival season, starting with Governor's Ball in NYC on June 9th and continuing through Lollapalooza ( Chicago ), Life is Beautiful ( Las Vegas ), Parookaville ( Germany ), Lowlands Festival ( Netherlands ), and more. Festivalgoers who visit the CASA BACARDI festival experience will be treated to exceptional cocktail offerings, exclusive merch drops, and further chances to customize their Dancing Shoes NFT.

The campaign will culminate in October with a final pop-up ahead of Amsterdam's biggest dance music festival, featuring exclusive merchandise and a limited-edition giveaway of collectable physical Dancing Shoes in collaboration with a world renowned Amsterdam streetwear brand. Countries all over the world including Spain, New Zealand, Germany and Austria will put on their Dancing Shoes this summer with festival activations, local retail partnerships and pop-up experiences.

For more information follow @bacardi on all social channels. For more information about BACARDI summer festival series, head over to the CASA BACARDI 2023 Festival MAP.

About BACARDI Rum  The World's Most Awarded Rum

In 1862, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, founder Don Facundo Bacardi Masso revolutionized the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum with a particularly smooth taste  BACARDI. The unique taste of BACARDI rum inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world's most famous recipes including the BACARDI Mojito, the BACARDI Daiquiri, the BACARDI Cuba Libre, the BACARDI Pina Colada and the BACARDI El Presidente. BACARDI rum is the world's most awarded spirit, with more than 1000 awards for quality, taste and innovation. Today, BACARDI rum is made mainly in Puerto Rico where it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862. www.BACARDI.com

The BACARDI brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

2022. BACARDI AND THE BAT DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS.

About Stadium Goods

Stadium Goods is the world's premier marketplace for sneakers and streetwear. Founded in 2015 by connoisseurs with a deep history in the culture of sneakers and streetwear, Stadium Goods' core mission is to bring unparalleled customer service and a luxury retail aesthetic to the aftermarket. Since being acquired by Farfetch in 2019, Stadium Goods has leveraged its unique position as the authentic home for the "new" luxury fashion of sneakers and streetwear to expand its offering to include legacy luxury fashion. Stadium Goods operates brick-and-mortar retail stores in New York and Chicago, and ships worldwide via stadiumgoods.com and its partners. For more information, please visit www.stadiumgoods.com.

Media contact: BACARDI Team, [email protected]

SOURCE BACARDI Rum
The trip to the frontline on Tuesday was the final component after many meetings and negotiations with partners that took place these days and in previous weeks, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the president said, he "was in Donbas, at our forward positions  in the area of Vuhledar and Maryinka. I had the honor to congratulate our Marines on their professional holiday of the Marine Corps of Ukraine."

"Today, it was on the front line that it was right to announce the creation of a marine corps in Ukraine. New brigades will be added to our existing units. marines  and we will supply them with modern weapons and equipment," Zelenskyy said.

"Everyone should understand this: the main task of our state and the meaning of virtually every one of our international communications is precisely to strengthen Ukraine, to strengthen our defense, to increase the capabilities of our soldiers and our state as a whole," the president said.

"Every foreign visit and almost every negotiation allows Ukraine to become stronger," he said.

Zelenskyy also thanked the various Marine Corps units performing tasks on the frontline.
Natural body care brand set to offer its signature healing salves

and Plants for Your Pits deodorants in upcoming member programs

LYONS, Colo., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Goo , the plant-based Sierra Sage Herbs body care brand, is pleased to announce that it is expanding its range of offerings with leading lifestyle membership program FabFitFun . With over a million subscribers, FabFitFun delivers seasonal subscription boxes featuring a curation of full-sized products across beauty, fashion, fitness, home, tech, DIY and more.

"Our continued relationship with FabFitFun has become a vital part of our annual consumer outreach strategy." Tweet this Green Goo Plants for Your Pits Clarity + Focus Deodorant (2.25 oz. Oval) Formulated with the bright, crisp aroma of grapefruit, a natural astringent and stimulant rich in beta carotene and lycopene, and balanced with ginger and patchouli, this formulation is fortified with a vitamin- and antioxidant-rich infusion of rosemary, sage, and ginkgo biloba to help invigorate your mind, elevate your mood, and sharpen your senses.

Having recently introduced its Plants for Your Face & Body skincare collection as part of FabFitFun's Spring Edit 2023 sale, Green Goo will feature four of its signature healing salves as part of upcoming member flash sales. These products include:

Pain Relief (1.82 oz. Large Tin) - Power-packed with arnica and enriched with peppermint, cinnamon, and ginger, it helps ease the aching of arthritis, sore muscles, and bruises by emulating hot and cold therapies to help increase circulation for rapid relief.

(1.82 oz. Large Tin) - Power-packed with arnica and enriched with peppermint, cinnamon, and ginger, it helps ease the aching of arthritis, sore muscles, and bruises by emulating hot and cold therapies to help increase circulation for rapid relief. Dry Skin (1.82 oz. Large Tin) - Botanically-infused with calendula, chamomile, elder flower, and yarrow, this daily, whole-body moisturizer helps alleviate symptoms associated with chronic skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, as well as dry, red bumps, cracked hands & feet, and windburn.

(1.82 oz. Large Tin) - Botanically-infused with calendula, chamomile, elder flower, and yarrow, this daily, whole-body moisturizer helps alleviate symptoms associated with chronic skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, as well as dry, red bumps, cracked hands & feet, and windburn. Free to Breathe (1.82 oz. Large Tin) - A natural decongestant with a high concentration of the enriching oils of calendula, eucalyptus, peppermint, and rosemary, it provides natural and soothing relief for congestion and difficulty breathing due to a cold, the flu, or allergies.

(1.82 oz. Large Tin) - A natural decongestant with a high concentration of the enriching oils of calendula, eucalyptus, peppermint, and rosemary, it provides natural and soothing relief for congestion and difficulty breathing due to a cold, the flu, or allergies. Foot Care (1.82 oz. Large Tin) - A proprietary blend of over a dozen healing herbs that naturally protects, reduces irritation, and provides relief to help heal, soften and soothe your feet.

"Our continued relationship with FabFitFun has become a vital part of our annual consumer outreach strategy," said Green Goo Co-Founder Jodi Scott. "The team at FabFitFun has done an incredible job of cultivating informed and thoughtful consumers, and we're so proud to be able to introduce our plant-based products to their conscientious subscribers."

Further, Green Goo's revolutionary Plants for Your Pits Clarity + Focus deodorant will feature in FabFitFun's Summer and Fall 2023 Refills program, which allows members to opt-in to receive curated products with each seasonal box.

Clarity + Focus Herbal Deodorant (2.25 oz. Oval) - Formulated with the bright, crisp aroma of grapefruit, a natural astringent and stimulant rich in beta carotene and lycopene, and balanced with ginger and patchouli, this formulation is fortified with a vitamin- and antioxidant-rich infusion of rosemary, sage, and ginkgo biloba to help invigorate your mind, elevate your mood, and sharpen your senses.

For more information on Green Goo and its all-natural, plant-based products, please visit www.GreenGoo.com and follow @greengoohelps .

About Sierra Sage Herbs:

Committed to making the best all-natural, plant-based skincare products, Sierra Sage Herbs is on a mission to spread goodness, empower change, and redefine natural body care. Founded in 2008 by sisters Jodi and Jen Scott and their mother, Kathy Scott, the company's natural products brands, which are cruelty free and made in the USA, include Green Goo , Good Goo , and Southern Butter . These brands are sold across more than 100,000 points of distribution around the US, including Whole Foods, Walmart, Amazon, Target.com, CVS, Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Kroger, among many others. A certified B Corp, Sierra Sage Herbs aligns and partners with charities, aid organizations, and causes both in the United States and around the world. To learn more, visit: www.greengoo.com .

About FabFitFun:

Founded in 2010 by Co-CEOs Daniel and Michael Broukhim and Editor-in-Chief Katie Echevarria Rosen Kitchens, FabFitFun is a lifestyle membership and shopping experience whose mission is to deliver happiness and wellbeing to everyone, everywhere. Its flagship product, the FabFitFun Box, delivers a curated collection of full-size products across beauty, fashion, fitness, wellness, home, and tech  each season. In addition to the Box, FabFitFun members receive access to year-round perks including the FabFitFun online Community, members-only shopping experiences, exclusive digital content, and more. Join FabFitFun by visiting fabfitfun.com.

SOURCE Sierra Sage Herbs
Firm Has Signed Lease to Operate Southfield Town Center Office

DETROIT, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gresham Smith, a top-ranked national architecture and engineering firm with more than $290 million in annual gross revenue, has expanded its operations into the Detroit metropolitan area. The firm's office is located in the Southfield Town Center.

Gresham Smith has a longstanding history of serving automotive clients. The firm is currently designing facilities for numerous premier automotive lithium-ion battery manufacturers and suppliers, including Ultium Cells, a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution; NextStar Energy, a joint venture of Stellantis and LG Energy Solution; L-H Battery Company, a joint venture between Honda and LG Energy Solution; Envision AESC; Duksan Electera America; and LG Chem.

Additionally, Gresham Smith has delivered projects in Michigan for a variety of other clients, including Gerald R. Ford International Airport, Jackson National Life Insurance Company and McLaren Greater Lansing hospital. Gresham Smith is actively hiring local professionals for architectural and engineering positions.

"Loving where you work, who you're working with, and what you're working on is important to us, which is why we strive to create a culture that fosters collaboration, innovation and inclusivity. Detroit's legacy as a center of manufacturing excellence, as well as the area's strong colleges and universities, means there is tremendous talent in the region, and we hope to attract professionals who share our values and want to design world-class projects that create healthy and thriving communities," said Rodney Chester, CEO and Board Chair of Gresham Smith.

The office will be led by Charles Poat, AIA, LEED AP, a Vice President who recently joined the firm's Industrial market. He has more than 25 years of experience advising clients on high-profile projects, including the Ford Rogue Industrial Complex; the Harley Davidson Sportster Plant and Visitor Center; automated vehicle test track facilities at M-City and Willow Run; and most recently the Ford Global Technology and Business Center Mexico. Charles is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Engineering Society of Detroit, and he previously served as former Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council Detroit Chapter.

The Detroit team also recently welcomed Henry Montague, P.E., a Senior Mechanical Engineer with more than three decades of experience designing mechanical systems for a variety of project types. His impressive portfolio of automotive research, design and manufacturing facilities includes projects for Chrysler, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes and Toyota. Henry is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers and serves on the Capstone Project Student Advisory Board at Lawrence Technological University.

Learn more about Gresham Smith's career opportunities at www.GreshamSmith.com/Careers-and-Culture.

About Gresham Smith:

Gresham Smith is a top-ranked architecture, engineering and design firm with more than $290 million in annual gross revenue and 26 offices across the United States. The firm provides full-service solutions for the built environment with a focus on the aviation, building engineering, healthcare, industrial, land planning, life and work places, transportation, and water and environment market sectors. Our team of diligent designers, creative problem-solvers, insightful planners and seasoned collaborators work closely with our clients to improve the cities and towns we call home. Consistently ranked as a "best place to work," we are committed to creating a culture that fosters diversity of experience combined with a common goal of genuine care for each other, our partners and the outcome of our work. Learn more at GreshamSmith.com.



SOURCE Gresham Smith
CALGARY, AB, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - (TSXV: GRD) (OTCQB: GRDAF) - Grounded Lithium Corp. ("GLC" or the "Company") announces our financial and operating results for the three month period ended March 31, 2023. Selected financial and operational information is set out below and should be read in conjunction with the Company's March 31, 2023 financial statements and the related management's discussion and analysis, which are available for review at www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.groundedlithium.com.

First Quarter 2023 Financial and Operational Highlights

On January 5, 2023 , the Company filed and obtained a receipt for the filing of the short-form prospectus for our non-brokered private placement of 12,000,000 Special Warrants of the Company for gross proceeds of $3,000,000 completed on November 4, 2022 qualifying 12,000,000 Common Shares and reserving for issuance 12,000,000 warrants at an exercise price of $0.50 , expiring November 4, 2024 ;

, the Company filed and obtained a receipt for the filing of the short-form prospectus for our non-brokered private placement of 12,000,000 Special Warrants of the Company for gross proceeds of completed on qualifying 12,000,000 Common Shares and reserving for issuance 12,000,000 warrants at an exercise price of , expiring ; On March 13, 2023 , the Company signed a Lithium Processing Test Work Program Assessment with Koch Technology Solutions (" KTS "), a Koch Engineered Solutions Company (" KES "), the " Koch Agreement ". Under the Koch Agreement, the Company's brine was processed using KTS's proprietary Li-Pro  technology at a KES location in Pickering, Ontario in order to determine the efficacy of Li-Pro  for direct lithium extraction (" DLE "). The Company expects to announce results of its DLE technology assessment shortly;

, the Company signed a Lithium Processing Test Work Program Assessment with Koch Technology Solutions (" "), a Koch Engineered Solutions Company (" "), the " ". Under the Koch Agreement, the Company's brine was processed using KTS's proprietary Li-Pro technology at a KES location in in order to determine the efficacy of Li-Pro for direct lithium extraction (" "). The Company expects to announce results of its DLE technology assessment shortly; On March 16, 2023 , the Company closed its acquisition of an additional 33 sections (8,498 hectares) of acreage contiguous to the Company's existing landholdings in the Kindersley Lithium Project (" KLP ") in Western Saskatchewan . The purchase price of $428,328 was comprised of cash consideration of $178,328 and the issuance of 779,557 shares at a deemed value of $250,000 ; and

, the Company closed its acquisition of an additional 33 sections (8,498 hectares) of acreage contiguous to the Company's existing landholdings in the Kindersley Lithium Project (" ") in . The purchase price of was comprised of cash consideration of and the issuance of 779,557 shares at a deemed value of ; and On March 21, 2023 , the Company signed a second Lithium Processing Test Work Program Assessment with a well-respected and industry known entity who wished to remain anonymous to conduct lithium extraction testing on brine sourced from the KLP

First Quarter 2023 Financial & Operational Results









(CAD$, except per share amounts and common shares outstanding)













Three Months Ended March 31,



2023 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS





Net comprehensive loss

1,682,288 590,451 Per share - basic and diluted

0.02 0.02







Cash flow used in operating activities

1,730,836 719,917 Per share - basic and diluted

0.02 0.02







Funds flow used in operations

1,473,056 527,012 Per share - basic and diluted

0.02 0.02







Capital expenditures





Capital expenditures

443,637 656,718







Liquidity





Working capital surplus

890,061 2,384,766







Common shares outstanding





Weighted average - basic and diluted

69,656,423 28,119,114 Outstanding, end of period

68,603,316 26,606,940

Operational and Corporate Update

The first quarter of 2023 marked another positive quarter in our evolving history, where we continue to deliver on our stated plans and goals. Over the coming quarters, our focus remains on a number of matters:

Conclusion of our DLE technology evaluation and selection;

Completion and filing of our maiden preliminary economic assessment expected by the end of the 2nd quarter 2023;

Delineation drilling, through a combination of new wells and/or re-entries of existing wells, on our land based to provide greater certainty on the lithium resources in place, the objective of which being the reclassification of a portion of the Company's inferred lithium resources to measured and indicated; and

Upon conclusion of the DLE selection process, engineer, plan, permit and construct an appropriately sized field pilot to assess long-term efficacy of the Company's selected extraction and refining process flow-sheet

Grounded continues to deliver on its short and longer-term objectives. We look forward to continue that track record and achieve milestones as we move ultimately to commercial operations and achieve our vision.

About Grounded Lithium Corp.

GLC is a publicly traded lithium brine exploration and development company that controls approximately 4.2 million metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent of inferred resource over our focused land holdings in Southwest Saskatchewan. GLC's multi-faceted business model involves the consolidation, delineation, exploitation and ultimately development of our opportunity base to fulfill our vision to build a best-in-class, environmentally responsible, Canadian lithium producer supporting the global energy transition shift. U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the Company on https://www.otcmarkets.com/.

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been prepared under the supervision of Doug Ashton, P.Eng, Suryanarayana Karri, P. Geoph., Alexey Romanov, P. Geo. and Meghan Klein, P. Eng., each of whom is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. The opinions, forecasts, projections and statements about future events of results, are forward looking information, forward-looking statements or financial outlooks (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements are made as of the date of this press release and the fact that this press release remains available does not constitute a representation by GLC that the Company believes these forward-looking statements continue to be true as of any subsequent date. Although GLC believes that the assumptions underlying, and expectations reflected in, these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions and expectations will prove to be correct. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding choosing a DLE extraction technology, validating GLC's resource base and carrying out feasibility studies with respect to commercial production, potential productivity rates, timing on results of DLE extraction testing, filing the PEA and the results of the PEA, constructing and operating an appropriately sized field pilot during 2023, and GLC's vision of becoming a best-in-class, environmentally responsible, commercial Canadian lithium producer supporting the global energy transition.

Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: GLC's expectation that our operations will be in Western Canada, unexpected problems can arise due to technical difficulties and operational difficulties which impact the production, transport or sale of our products; geographic and weather conditions can impact production; the risk that current global economic and credit conditions may impact commodity prices and consumption more than GLC currently predicts; the failure to obtain financing on reasonable terms; volatility in the trading price of the common shares of the Company; the risk that unexpected delays and difficulties in developing currently owned properties may occur; the failure of drilling to result in commercial projects; unexpected delays due to the limited availability of drilling equipment and personnel; and the other risk factors detailed from time to time in GLC's periodic reports. GLC's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE Grounded Lithium Corp
Indications of Interest due June 8, 2023

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilco Streambank (www.HilcoStreambank.com), a leading intellectual property advisory firm specializing in the valuation and monetization of intangible assets, announced that it is seeking offers to acquire the brand assets of leading off-price branded home furnishings retailer Tuesday Morning.

Indications of interest to acquire the assets are due by June 8, 2023. Interested parties can click here to learn more or contact Hilco Streambank directly.

Founded on a Tuesday morning in 1974 in Dallas, Texas as a local, recurring Tuesday morning bargain hunt, the Tuesday Morning brand expanded into a leading retail destination and experience for savvy shoppers to hunt for bargains on name-brand, quality home furnishings across a nationwide, 500-store footprint. The retailer achieved $1 billion in revenue at its peak in each of 2018 and 2019.

Hilco Streambank Executive Vice President David Peress commented, "Tuesday Morning is a beloved retail banner that continues to reach millions of customers through its nearly 200 retail stores. The Tuesday Morning brand provides a meaningful opportunity to maintain engagement with its valuable customer base and to reactivate the remainder through new channels such as e-commerce and new product categories." Peress continued, "The off-price retail sector continues to grow and the Tuesday Morning banner provides a well-loved platform to reach customers who seek the thrill of the 'bargain hunt.'"

Available assets include the Tuesday Morning trademarks, domain names including TuesdayMorning*com, customer database, social media accounts, design patents, and related digital content.

Hilco Streambank Deal Team David Peress EVP [email protected] 617.642.1909 Jordon Parker VP [email protected] 719.821.0894 Stella Silverstein Analyst [email protected] 646.651.1953

About Hilco Streambank: Hilco Streambank is a market leading advisory firm specializing in intellectual property disposition and valuation. Having completed numerous transactions including sales in publicly reported Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy cases, private transactions, and online sales through IPv4.Global, Hilco Streambank has established itself as the premier intermediary in the consumer brand, internet, and telecom communities. Hilco Streambank is part of Northbrook, Illinois based Hilco Global, the world's leading authority on maximizing the value of business assets by delivering valuation, monetization and advisory solutions to an international marketplace. Hilco Global operates more than twenty specialized business units offering services that include asset valuation and appraisal, retail and industrial inventory acquisition and disposition, real estate and strategic capital equity investments.

SOURCE Hilco Streambank
SHANGHAI and CLINTON, N.J., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HuidaGene Therapeutics (; HuidaGene), a clinical-stage genome-editing company, today announced the appointment of gene therapy industry veteran, Alvin Luk, Ph.D., M.B.A., C.C.R.A., as Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors, and Chief Executive Officer.

The founder team (from left: Dr. Linyu Shi, Dr. Hui Yang, Dr. Alvin Luk, and Dr. Xuan Yao)

On behalf of the Company and the Board of Directors, Hui Yang, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Advisor, and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) at HuidaGene, extended a warm welcome to Dr. Alvin Luk and stated, "With more than a 30-year career in biotech/biopharma industry, we're delighted to appoint an industry veteran of Alvin's caliber as the Company's co-founder and CEO. As more of our innovative medicines progress toward clinical development, Alvin's significant global drug development experience, proven leadership, passion for genetic medicine, and focus on bringing novel modalities to patients globally add tremendous values to HuidaGene. As we enter the next phase, our mission of 'answering the patients' remains the same. My team and I look forward to working closely with Alvin to ensure continuity, build on the progress HuidaGene made, and deliver value to our stakeholders."

"HuidaGene has a solid foundation and world-leading gene editing platform which is rapidly advancing its pipeline to the clinical stage," said Dr. Darren Cai, Founder and Managing Partner at Sherpa Venture Capital. "Alvin has been deeply involved in the field of gene therapy for many years and has rich multinational work experience with global vision in new drug development. His leadership and experience will help HuidaGene become a world-class gene editing company. We warmly welcome Alvin to join the HuidaGene team and provide direct guidance for the ongoing IITs, IND submissions, and international collaborations. I look forward to working with Alvin as we advance the Company into a new phase of development and start an exciting future with us."

"Alvin has a track record of repeatedly building and operating successful biotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations in China and the United States with extensive practical experience and strong leadership in the field of global drug development," commented by Mr. Tianji Zhu, Partner at CD Capital. "In the past three decades, Alvin has successfully launched impactful patient-centric therapies and driven outstanding results of championing 21 approved products; all of which will be critical to helping HuidaGene reach the next stage in its growth. We're thrilled to welcome Alvin to our growing organization, as we realize our mission of bringing next generation of CRISPR-based therapies to transform the lives of patients suffering from severe and life-threatening diseases."

Dr. Alvin Luk brings to HuidaGene over 30 years of experience in global drug development, gene/cell therapy medicines, biological drugs, and rare diseases, from bench to the beside participating in 21 approved products at different biotech/biopharma companies, including Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), Biogen, Bayer HealthCare, Shanghai Henlius, etc. Dr. Luk also has a proven track record of over 250 cumulative total of IND, BLA, and MAA submissions in North/South Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. For more information about Dr. Luk, please see recent news of 'HuidaGene Appoints New Members to the Scientific Advisory Board' (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huidagene-appoints-new-members-to-the-scientific-advisory-board-301792898.html).

"I'm impressed by HuidaGene's 'In China, For Global' and 'Answering the Patients' spirits, the quality of its science and its employees, and its drive to become a global leader in the discovery and development of novel gene therapy medicines," Dr. Luk commented. "I'm incredibly excited to be a part of this unique company putting the patients first by putting the employees first, which has made significant strides in realizing the potential of gene editing to address incurable diseases. Together with Prof. Yang, Dr. Yao (Co-Founder, President, and General Manager of China) and Dr. Shi (co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer) , we will join force to transform the platform and advance clinical trials to develop potentially life-changing medicines for people living with devasting diseases worldwide. The future of gene editing and HuidaGene are bright."

About HuidaGene -

HuidaGene Therapeutics () is a global clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on discovering, engineering, and developing CRISPR-based genetic medicine to rewrite the future of genomic medicine. Based in Shanghai and New Jersey, HuidaGene is committed to addressing patients' needs globally with various preclinical therapeutic programs covering ophthalmology, otology, myology, and neurology. We are currently advancing clinical programs in RPE65 mutation-associated inherited retinal dystrophies and our preclinical pipeline, including programs in neovascular age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, hereditary hearing loss, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and MECP2 duplication syndrome. Company's CRISPR-based therapeutics offer the potential to cure patients with life-threatening conditions by repairing the cause of their disease. HuidaGene is committed to transforming the future of genome-editing medicine.

For more information, please visit http://www.huidagene.com

or follow us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/huidagene

SOURCE HuidaGene Therapeutics
The collaboration enables free access to advanced digital learning content and aims to create over 10,000 new Adobe-certified experts globally by 2025

BENGALURU, India, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE:INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced its collaboration with Adobe to transform the digital workforce through Infosys' online learning platform, Infosys Springboard, under its Tech for Good charter. Both organizations will aim to create over 10,000 new Adobe certified experts globally by 2025.

Through this engagement, Infosys will help reskill and bridge the skill gap of aspirants by enabling free access to advanced digital learning content offered by Adobe on Infosys Springboard. Aspiring professionals as well as lifelong learners can explore their interests and access Adobe's curriculum to learn more about Adobe Experience Cloud. The collaboration will help deliver corporate learning experiences available on any device and create a pool of upskilled, aspiring professionals.

Anil Chakravarthy, President, Digital Experience Business at Adobe, said, "To succeed in today's digital economy, it is imperative that businesses focus on ensuring the ongoing readiness and success of their most important asset, their own people. Scalable training can help bridge the tech talent gap, and our collaboration with Infosys will empower the future workforce to upskill their digital proficiencies using Infosys Springboard."

Rajesh Varrier, EVP, Head Americas and Global Head of Digital Experience, Infosys, said, "Infosys Springboard is designed to empower people, communities, and society with skills to be successful in the 21st century. Together with Adobe, we will provide free access to Adobe's training program to develop digital competence at scale, create a skilled workforce and enhance employability."

Congruent with its ESG Vision 2030, Infosys aims to enable digital skills at scale and empower over 10 million people in India by 2025 through the Infosys Springboard program. Infosys Springboard continues to expand its reach to learners by growing its thriving community to more than 5 million registered users in India, since its launch.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses, and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

"Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India and the US, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law."

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Infosys
VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (the "Company") - (TSX: ITH) (NYSE American: THM) announces the results from its 2023 Annual General Meeting of shareholders held in Vancouver, B.C. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 ("Meeting").

At the Meeting, the Company's shareholders fixed the size of the board at six and elected the following individuals as directors of the Company, with all receiving a majority of the votes cast, as follows:

Director Votes For Votes Withheld

Anton Drescher 108,705,702 (91.21 %) 10,479,565 (8.79 %)

Karl Hanneman 1 18,643,698 (99.55 %) 541,569 (0.45 %)

Stuart Harshaw 109,623,895 (91.98 %) 9,561,372 (8.02 %)

Marcelo Kim 108,658,993 (91.17 %) 10,526,274 (8.83 %)

Christopher Papagianis 117,128,771 (98.27 %) 2,056,496 (1.73 %)

Thomas Weng 118,050,005 (99.05 %) 1,135,262 (0.95 %)



The shareholders re-appointed the current auditors, Davidson & Company LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditors of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023 and authorized the directors to fix their remuneration.

The shareholders approved, on an advisory non-binding basis, the compensation paid to the Company's executive officers (98.59% majority).

The detailed proxy voting on all resolutions submitted to the shareholders at the Meeting is contained in the "Report of Voting Results" for the Meeting which will be available under the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website or upon request by contacting the Company at (855) 428-2825.

About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. controls 100% of the Livengood Gold Project located along the paved Elliott Highway, 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

On behalf of

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

(signed) Karl L. Hanneman

Chief Executive Officer

This news release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

SOURCE International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.
Largest edition of the LGBTQ+ travel event will take place in June in Los Angeles

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, Internova Travel Group will be the headline sponsor for PROUD Experiences, the world's leading lifestyle and luxury LGBTQ+ travel industry event, organized by RX (Reed Exhibitions), which takes place June 5-7 in Los Angeles.

For the second year in a row, Internova Travel Group will be the headline sponsor for PROUD Experiences, the worlds leading lifestyle and luxury LGTBQ+ travel industry event, organized by RX (Reed Exhibitions), which takes place June 5-7 in Los Angeles.

LGBTQ+ travelers are a growing segment within the travel and tourism industry, representing more than $218 billion worldwide pre-pandemic. Internova is one of the world's largest travel services companies, and the more than 100,000 travel advisors it represents worldwide are rising to the challenge of creating experiences for this discerning group of travelers.

Albert Herrera, Internova's Executive Vice President, Partner Relations, said: "Partnering with events like PROUD Experiences helps us better understand the LGBTQ+ traveler. It strengthens our relationships with travel suppliers; ensures that we are planning journeys to places where members of the LGBTQ+ community will be safe and welcomed; keeps us up to date on the newest, most exciting experiences and destinations around the world; and gives the travel advisors across all of our brands the support and tools they need to provide exceptional service to their clients."

The sold-out gathering will feature more than 180 international, regional and local travel suppliers, including more than 60 new exhibitors, from seven continents. They range from brands such as 21c Museum Hotels, Six Senses and Small Luxury Hotels of the World to independent hotels like Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France, and many more. New destinations include Tahiti, Visit Buenos Aires and Santa Monica Tourism. Buyers from more than 10 countries will be at the event and take part in more than 30 one-on-one appointments.

Masterclasses, led by U.S.-based and international speakers, will cover a range of topics, including the effectiveness of authentic engagement with LGBTQ+ travelers and the importance of attracting, elevating and working with diverse voices in an inclusive environment; all-women panels highlighting the necessity of creating safe and welcoming spaces in the culinary, wellness, and sporting worlds; establishing an LGBTQ+ strategy; helping suppliers create an inclusive LGBTQ+ welcome; and suggestions for buyers who want to develop LGBTQ+ business.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is an all-too-familiar reality for those in the LGBTQ+ community. PROUD Experiences brings together leaders from the travel and lifestyle sectors to network, share knowledge and do business. The event features engaging, interactive sessions and brings all of the debate about LGBTQ+ travel to the table.

"This will be the largest gathering of industry professionals meeting to do business together in support of the LGBTQ+ traveler, and we're thrilled that Internova Travel Group is joining us once again as headline sponsor," said Simon Mayle, PROUD Experiences Event Director. "LGBTQ+ adults are leading the way in post-pandemic travel, and Internova travel advisors are vital partners in helping to meet their needs."

About Internova Travel Group

Internova Travel Group is one of the largest travel services companies in the world with a collection of leading brands delivering high-touch, personal travel expertise to leisure and corporate clients. Internova manages leisure, business and franchise firms through a portfolio of distinctive divisions. Internova represents more than 100,000 travel advisors in over 6,000 company-owned and affiliated locations predominantly in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, with a presence in more than 80 countries.

About PROUD Experiences

PROUD Experiences is an international travel trade event that brings personally curated buyers and suppliers of travel experiences together through a pre-scheduled appointment system. This event will put the spotlight on a market that now deserves its own attention, with a community that spends over $200 billion a year on leisure travel. Buyers interested in attending should go to www.proudexperiences.com and apply.

About RX (Reed Exhibitions)

RX is in the business of building businesses for individuals, communities and organizations. We elevate the power of face-to-face events by combining data and digital products to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across 43 industry sectors. RX is passionate about making a positive impact on society and is fully committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our people. RX is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.rxglobal.com

About RELX

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The market capitalisation is approximately 33bn, 39bn, $47bn.*

*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investors

CONTACT:

Elizabeth Gaerlan

[email protected]

212-944-1125

Nina Gardiner

[email protected]

Alexandra Gore

[email protected]

SOURCE Internova Travel Group
The Multi-Enzyme Mix Is Designed to Curb Symptoms From Multiple Food Intolerances, IBS, and other Digestional Disorders

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Intoleran is a Dutch health brand that has spent years specializing in the creation of clean, effective digestive enzyme supplements. From smart sourcing to an immaculate in-house production process to minimal ingredients and no unnecessary fillers, the brand has perfected the art of aiding digestion.

This has resulted in a portfolio of targeted digestive enzymes and digestive products. The company's fructase delivers a dose of Xylose Isomerase to help break down excess fruit sugar. Starchway uses Glucoamylase and Invertase enzymes to support the digestion of starches and sucrose (including for those who suffer from CSID). The company has no less than four different products to address lactose intolerance .

However, it's Quatrase Forte that has become the brand's flagship product and one of Intoleran's best sellers over the years.

"Quatrase Forte brings the concept of comprehensive digestional support into one single product," explains Intoleran owner Harmen Treep, "It provides a mixture of four key digestive enzymes that can help address a host of different digestive dilemmas."

Quatrase Forte's unique enzyme mix allows it to help the body break down lactose, fructose, sugar, starches, and other carbohydrates. This makes it a powerful tool when managing more nebulous digestive conditions, such as FODMAP intolerance or IBS.

For those concerned with taking a supplement they don't need, Treep points out that enzymes are different. "The thing is, with digestive enzymes, you don't have to worry about ingesting something your body doesn't need. As is the case with any enzymes your body creates that it doesn't need, any extra will simply pass out of the other end of your system."

Whether an individual is in the midst of diagnosing an ongoing food intolerance, dealing with unpleasant side effects from FODMAP foods, or suffering from IBS symptoms, Intoleran's Quatrase Forte offers a comprehensive and effective way to calm digestional discomfort and restore the joy of eating once again.

About Intoleran

Intoleran was founded in the Netherlands in 2008. The Dutch health brand specializes in creating enzyme-based supplements that address a variety of food intolerances, including lactose, fructose, fructans, galactans, and sucrose. Intoleran products assist the digestive system by helping to properly digest food and, consequently, avoid many of the unpleasant side effects that come from food intolerances. To preserve quality and effectiveness, Intoleran only uses ingredients necessary for the effect of the supplements and no unnecessary additives. This allows as many people as possible to use the products without unwanted side effects. Learn more at intoleran.com .

Media Contact:

Bouke Smeets

M: +31(06)23763626

[email protected]

SOURCE Intoleran
Winner to Receive $10,000 Cash Prize

MIAMI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- INVERSA Leathers, a regenerative materials company that crafts luxurious leathers out of invasive species, is thrilled to announce its title sponsorship for the 2023 Florida Python Challenge and its Ultimate Grand Prize of $10,000. The sponsorship will mark the first time a fashion company has donated to the event to fund restoration of the Florida Everglades.

Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

The Florida Everglades, a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, is home to Florida's greatest source of biodiversity. Supporting both 8 million Floridians with drinking water and a $1.2B fishing industry, the ecosystem's balance has been gravely disrupted by the invasive Burmese python, which threatens the region's native wildlife. Release of Burmese pythons, originally kept as house pets in the 1980's and 1990's, the invasive snake has since multiplied to a population of over 150,000 according to a recent US Geological Survey (USGS) report .

Created and managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), the Florida Python Challenge is an awareness campaign about the global threat of invasive species and the colossal damage Florida's delicate ecosystem has suffered because of invasive python. Participants must register for the competition as part of this event to actively remove pythons from the everglades over the course of ten days, directly contributing to the fight against the invasive constrictor snakes.

"INVERSA is proud to support the challenge and the greater conservation effort it represents in Florida. By harnessing the global power of the luxury fashion industry, we believe in the potential to rebuild ecosystems," said Carlos-Henri Ferre, Head of Development for INVERSA Leathers. "Florida is consistently ahead of the curve with invasive species management, and the Governor, FWC and SFWMD's leadership have fostered one of the most effective opportunities to participate in the revival of the Everglades. We hope to see as many participants as possible this year."

"The FWC is grateful for INVERSA's support of the Python Challenge. It's meaningful to see the private sector step up to fund conservation through innovations that benefit our ecosystems," said Commissioner Rodney Barreto, Chairman of FWC. The Ultimate Grand Prize will go to the registered participant that removes the most pythons during the 10-day competition.

Under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the FWC, SFWMD and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida host the Florida Python Challenge to raise awareness about invasive species in Florida and their impacts. The event, which runs August 4-13, 2023, encourages people to get directly involved in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal. Visit FLPythonChallenge.org to register for the competition, take the required online training, view the optional training opportunities, learn more about Burmese pythons and the unique Everglades ecosystem, and find resources for planning your trip to South Florida to participate in the Florida Python Challenge.

About INVERSA Leathers

INVERSA Leathers , a regenerative materials company, is revolutionizing fashion to heal the planet. INVERSA crafts luxurious leathers out of invasive species, harnessing the power of fashion to support the restoration of Earth's biodiversity. Starting with three of the most formidable invasive speciesthe Invasive Lionfish, Invasive Dragonfin, and Invasive PythonINVERSA introduces a stylish alternative to exotic and traditional leather. To learn more about INVERSA's inspiring journey of turning fashion into a hero for the planet's sustainability, visit www.INVERSAleathers.com and follow the story on Instagram at @INVERSAleathers.

About The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) works to manage fish and wildlife resources for their long-term well-being and the benefit of people. Biologists, law enforcement officers and other staff work together to protect and manage the state's more than 575 species of wildlife, 200 species of freshwater fish and 500 species of saltwater fish. The FWC uses scientific data to drive management decisions, balancing the needs of these fish and wildlife species, and the habitats that support them, with the needs of Florida's growing population.

CONTACT:

[email protected]

SOURCE INVERSA Leathers
The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue the defensive operation and have achieved some success on the flanks of Bakhmut, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky said.

"The defense forces continue the defensive operation and have success on the flanks of Bakhmut," he said on the Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Syrsky also spoke about another captured mercenary from a private military company. "In Bakhmut direction, another orc from the 'veteran' PMC was captured," Syrsky said. As the prisoner of war himself said, the video story about which supplements Syrsky's post, his main incentive to participate in the war against Ukraine was material interest, and he expected to remain in the support company. Nevertheless, he got to the frontline: "We were told that if we did not go to fight, then we would be loaded into Kamaz [Russian-manufactured truck] and no one else would see us."

As Syrsky noted, "he talked a lot about the attitude of the command."
NEW DELHI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Doctors at Manipal Hospital, Delhi recently performed a groundbreaking robotic-assisted Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery on a 44-year-old male patient from Iraq. The patient came to the hospital with a complaint of chest pain and upon further diagnosis, it was found that the patient was suffering from triple vessel blockage, requiring revascularization.

As the patient was already undergoing cancer treatment, looking at his condition Dr. Yugal Kishore Mishra, Chief of Clinical Services, Head of Cardiac Sciences, and Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon at Manipal Hospital, Delhi and his team decided to proceed with robotic-assisted CABG surgery. In this case, this innovative approach played a major role considering the condition of the patient and the risk factors. The procedure is aimed at ensuring a quicker recovery, smaller surgical wounds, and reduced chances of healing complications for the patient.

Unlike traditional CABG surgery, robotic-assisted CABG enables patients to experience a faster recovery time, minimal scarring, and potentially improved graft placement, thanks to its minimally invasive technique. The procedure also incorporates continuous one-lung ventilation (OLV), an advanced technique that significantly lowers the risk of complications during surgery, including bleeding, infection, and lung collapse.

Commenting on the successful surgery of this patient, Dr. Mishra said, "This was a complicated case as the patient was undergoing treatment for cancer. We opted for a robotic CABG as an open-heart surgery would have taken longer recovery time and would have created complications in treatment of his cancer. Robotic-assisted CABG offers several advantages over traditional CABG surgery, including smaller incisions, greater precision, reduced blood loss, shorter hospital stays, and faster return to daily activities. This advanced approach provides patients with a quicker recovery time and improved overall comfort. His surgery was successful and he was discharged from the hospital after five days."

Manipal Hospital, Delhi, continues to uphold its commitment to providing state-of-the-art healthcare services, offering the latest medical advancements and personalized treatment options to patients from across the globe.

About Manipal Hospitals

As a pioneer in healthcare, Manipal Hospitals is among the top healthcare providers in India serving over 4.5 million patients annually. Its focus is to develop an affordable, high quality healthcare framework through its multispecialty and tertiary care delivery spectrum and further extend it to out of hospital care. With the completion of acquisition of 100% shareholding in Columbia Asia Hospitals Private Limited and Vikram Hospital (Bengaluru) Private Limited, the integrated network today has a pan-India footprint of 29 hospitals across 16 cities with 8,300+ beds, and a talented pool of 4,000 doctors and an employee strength of over 12,000.

Manipal Hospitals provides comprehensive curative and preventive care for a multitude of patients from around the globe. Manipal Hospitals is NABH, AAHRPP accredited and most of the hospitals in its network are NABL, ER, Blood Bank accredited and recognized for Nursing Excellence. Manipal Hospitals has also been recognised the most respected and patient recommended hospital in India through various consumer surveys.

Media Contact:

Call us: +91-8376965812, +91-7303881483

Email us: [email protected]

Visit us at: https://www.manipalhospitals.com/internationalpatientcare/doctors/search/location-delhi?page=1

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1848066/Manipal_Hospitals_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Manipal Hospitals, Delhi
SHANGRAO, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), one of the largest and most innovative solar module manufacturers in the world, today announced that its majority-owned principal operating subsidiary, Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. ("Jiangxi Jinko"), has entered into an equity transfer agreement (the "Agreement") with Ziyang Major Industry Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Mr. Shihong Dong (the "Acquirors"), pursuant to which Jiangxi Jinko agrees to sell its 100% equity interest in Xinjiang Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. ("Xinjiang Jinko"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangxi Jinko, at a consideration of RMB4.3 billion (the "Disposal") to the Acquirors. Upon completion of the Disposal, Jiangxi Jinko will no longer hold any equity interest in Xinjiang Jinko. The Agreement has been negotiated on an arm's length basis and on normal commercial terms. The Disposal is expected to reduce Jiangxi Jinko's operational costs, improve its production efficiency and optimize its facility mix. The Disposal is subject to customary closing conditions, including obtaining the requisite antitrust regulatory approval and payment of the consideration.

JinkoSolar currently owns approximately 58.62% equity interest in Jiangxi Jinko.

About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is one of the largest and most innovative solar module manufacturers in the world. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and other countries and regions.

JinkoSolar had 14 productions facilities globally, 24 overseas subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Indonesia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, and global sales teams in China, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Vietnam and India, as of March 31, 2023.

To find out more, please see: www.jinkosolar.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company's operations and business outlook, contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:



In China:

Ms. Stella Wang

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Tel: +86 21-5180-8777 ext.7806

Email: [email protected]

Mr. Rene Vanguestaine

Christensen

Tel: +86 178 1749 0483

Email: [email protected]

In the U.S.:

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Christensen, Scottsdale, Arizona

Tel: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.
MOLINE, Ill., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, John Deere (NYSE: DE) has been named an honoree of The Civic 50, which recognizes the 50 most community-minded companies in the nation each year according to an annual survey.

A volunteer employee from John Deere assists in a Habitat for Humanity build.

The award is administered by Points of Light, the world's largest nonprofit dedicated to accelerating people-powered change. Now in its eleventh year, The Civic 50 is a national standard for corporate citizenship and showcases how leading companies are moving social impact, civic engagement, and community to the core of their business. The Civic 50 honorees are companies with annual U.S. revenues of at least $1 billion and are selected based on four dimensions of their corporate citizenship and social impact programs: investment of resources and volunteerism, integration across business functions, institutionalization through policies and systems and impact measurement.

"Points of Light and its Civic 50 initiative are inspirational and aspirational," said Nate Clark, John Deere's global director of corporate responsibility and president of the John Deere Foundation. "Through Points of Light, we learn how some of the world's most respected businesses fuel their success by committing to purpose and service. At the same time, we gain an understanding of how much more we can accomplish if we work together for common good."

In 2022, John Deere announced community investments totaling $55.5 million, a 30 percent increase over the prior year. This involved notable investments in its pursuit of ending hunger including over $3 million to food banks and for emergency hunger assistance, representing the equivalent of more than 13 million meals, and nearly $5 million to serve 3.8 million farmers globally to increase their food security, incomes, and resilience to conflict and climate change. Last year, Deere employees logged 174,518 hours of volunteerism and personally donated $5 million.

"Companies play a critical role in creating thriving, participatory communities," said Diane Quest, interim president and CEO, Points of Light. "Companies like John Deere set a model for others, showing how to best use employee talent, business assets and integration to create meaningful impact, and we're thrilled to uplift and celebrate their work as an honoree of The Civic 50 2023."

To view the full report and see the full list of The Civic 50 2023 honorees, visit www.pointsoflight.org/the-civic-50.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Company (www.JohnDeere.com) is a global leader in the delivery of agricultural, turf, construction, and forestry equipment. We help our customers push the boundaries of what's possible in ways that are more productive and sustainable to help life leap forward. Our technology-enabled products including John Deere Autonomous 8R Tractor, See & Spray, and E-Power Backhoe are just some of the ways we help meet the world's increasing need for food, shelter, and infrastructure. Deere & Company also provides financial services through John Deere Financial. For more information on Deere & Company, visit us at www.deere.com/en/news/.

About the John Deere Foundation

The John Deere Foundation helps bring to life John Deere's higher purpose  we run so life can leap forward  through investments that allow the people we serve to overcome the challenges they face today and create for themselves paths to a more prosperous tomorrow. The Foundation has committed at least $200 million from 2021 to 2030 to unlock economic, social, and environmental value for smallholder and resource-constrained farmers, marginalized families and youth in John Deere home communities, and our workforce. Learn more at https://about.deere.com/en-us/our-company-and-purpose/global-impact

About Points of Light

Points of Light is a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization that inspires, equips and mobilizes millions of people to take action that changes the world. We envision a world in which every individual discovers the power to make a difference, creating healthy communities in vibrant, participatory societies. Through 145 affiliates across 39 countries, and in partnership with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages 3.7 million people in 16.7 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people to bear where it's needed most. For more information, visit pointsoflight.org.

SOURCE Deere & Company
Fast Growing Poke Franchise Makes Its Debut on List Amid National Growth

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Koibito Poke was recognized as one of the Top New and Emerging Franchises for 2023 in the May/June issue of Entrepreneur magazine. The ranking highlights some of the strongest companies that have begun offering franchise opportunities in the last five years (since 2018). Koibito Poke was ranked #131.

Koibito Poke Named One of 2023's Top New and Emerging Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine Todd Stottlemyre, Co-Founder and CEO of Koibito Poke

"We are thrilled to be recognized by this leading publication in the entrepreneurial world," says Todd Stottlemyre, Co-Founder and CEO of Koibito Poke. "Inclusion on this list was made possible by our hardworking employees and franchisees who have been a crucial key in the growth of Koibito Poke across the nation."

The Top New and Emerging Franchises ranking is based on information submitted to Entrepreneur for its annual Franchise 500 and is part of the brand's continuing effort to best understand and evaluate the ever-changing franchise marketplace. Companies featured on the 2023 list have been offering a franchise opportunity for five years or fewer and were assessed across multiple data points, including unit growth, startup costs and fees, training and support, the parent company's financial stability, and brand strength.

"The franchise industry is full of big new ideas, which is why Entrepreneur's Top New and Emerging list is always so exciting," said Entrepreneur editor in chief Jason Feifer. "If anyone's looking to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing, they should start with the brands we've identified  that are all full of creativity, innovation, and accessibility for aspiring entrepreneurs."

To view Koibito Poke in the full ranking, visit https://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/topnew. Results can also be seen in the May/June issue of Entrepreneur, available now on newsstands. For more information on Koibito Poke and its franchise offerings, visit https://koibitopoke.com/franchise or follow them on social media @koibito.poke.

About Koibito Poke:

Founded in 2018, Koibito Poke is the leading Arizona poke restaurant influenced by traditional Hawaiian and Japanese flavors and ingredients. Koibito Poke (Koibito meaning "love" in Japanese) to show their bodies some love  by providing them with fresh, clean whole foods that are good for them and taste good too. Koibito Poke is co-founded by former MLB Pitcher and three-time World Champion Todd Stottlemyre who has led the brand's expansion throughout Arizona. The restaurant is expanding its concept with franchises across the country. For more information, visit www.koibitopoke.com .

Media contact:

Robyn Patterson

[email protected]

480-242-8001

SOURCE Koibito Poke
CINCINNATI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kolar Design is pleased to announce that it was selected a winner in the 2023 Indigo Awards. The firm was honored with the Silver Award for its work on the Cincinnati Children's Critical Care Building and a Silver Award for the UC Health Clifton Campus Revitalization.

Kolar Wins 2023 Silver Indigo Awards

The Indigo Award is an international awards program, honoring the best in design and creativity across the world. Participants undergo a thorough selection process, including global judges from prominent companies such as Google, Ikea, and IBM. "We are the prism through which your vision, innovation, and prodigy shine through. We are Indigo and we exist to encourage and promote your creativity," states the Indigo Award website.

As a prominent design project in the region, the Kolar team played a major role in creating a space that ultimately helps Cincinnati Children's achieve its mission to provide better outcomes for patients. They helped the Cincinnati Children's team bring to life their Critical Care Building, including extensive collaboration through 13 design events, a variety of listening sessions, surveys, and observations that included hospital staff, patients, and the community to create a healing environment that optimizes flow, assists staff in prioritizing their mental and physical well-being and provides uplifting, comfortable spaces for families to allow them to sleep, work, connect and re-charge during extended stays.

In order to create a cohesive design strategy, Kolar worked with UC Health to explore the brand's key message, "In Science Lives Hope," and how to translate that language into their physical environment. The team developed system-wide environmental guidelines, which would serve the purpose of a blueprint for the entire build. It was important for the medical center to establish a standard for their spaces to support healing, inspire confidence in the quality of care they provide, and empower staff to be their best every dayall reflective of their culture of hope and the benefits of academic medicine. The guidelines outlined everything from branding to signage and wayfinding, application, and beyond, enabling UC Health to bring forth its brand expression to create an experience true to its core values.

To learn more about the project and the Indigo Awards, visit here .

About Kolar Design

Kolar is an award-winning design strategy firm that specializes in insights, interiors, and experiential graphic design. Kolar excels in building brand experiences derived from data that delivers measurable business results using purposeful, creative, and deeply collaborative design. Kolar's best-in-class team works closely with organizations using unique design thinking methodologies to build a strategy and vision that align with business goals and desired brand experiences. Learn more about Kolar today .

SOURCE Kolar Design
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC, a Charlotte-based practice consulting firm dedicated to driving healthcare innovation for aesthetic practices, have acquired David B. Reath, MD, PLLC in Knoxville, Tennessee. As Co-Owners of Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC, Dr. Bill Kortesis and Dr. Gaurav Bharti plan to upgrade its current offerings by delivering high-value, premium-level treatments and procedures. Newly re-named, HKB Knoxville, P.A. will serve as an expansion of the H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery brand, allowing for further impact in the aesthetic space. The H/K/B brand will provide on-site support and guidance, enhancing the practice's ability provide its patients ideal aesthetic results while having an amazing experience.

"Our goal is to provide patients in the region and nation the ultimate aesthetic experience. The acquisition of David. B. Reath, MD, PLLC allows us to elevate our brand and expand into a new booming metropolitan area in the southeast. There is a clear gap in the aesthetic space, and in the future, Dr. Kortesis and I look forward to expanding further providing all practices with top-tier offerings, state-of-the-art-experiences, and an environment where patients and the HKB team thrive on a regional and national level," says cofounder Dr. Gaurav Bharti.

"Our goal is to provide patients in the region and nation the ultimate aesthetic experience." Tweet this

Dr. Kortesis and Dr. Bharti are award-winning, highly renowned aesthetic plastic surgeons who aim to make a significant impact in future of the aesthetic space. As current Managing Partners of HKB Cosmetic Surgery, PA ("H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery"), the businessmen have created a foundation for premier results with a luxury experience. The practice has experienced comprehensive growth since its inception, expanding to an 8th location, increasing from 1 to 12 surgeons, and adding multiple mid-level providers over time. The unparalleled experience and success seen at H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery is possible through knowledge, innovation, teamwork mentality, and the core principle helping people achieve their personal best. Through these new endeavors, the doctors are combining their extensive medical experience with their business acumen and innovative team focused approach to partner with existing practices and enhance their offering, improve patient experience, and allow providers to flourish.

"What makes this opportunity so exciting for us is that we are able join forces with practices, not just as businessmen, but as colleagues' physician to physician. Dr. Bharti and I want to use Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC to empower others in the field because we understand the obstacles physicians can face throughout their journey in the medical aesthetic space. Every practice should have the ability to provide the same luxury-level treatment that patients seek at H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery. We are incredibly excited about this new partnership with H/K/B Knoxville, PA." says cofounder, Dr. Bill Kortesis.

Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC strives to provide solutions to practices looking to grow, and the strategic acquisition of H/K/B Knoxville, PA is a significant step forward in increasing access throughout growing areas to premium-level services and offerings. In the future, the firm plans to expand upon its current capabilities and provide professional, actionable guidance on a regional, as well as national level.

"The sale of my practice to HKB, which feels much more like a merger than a sale, came about chiefly because of two reasons. The first is my long standing personal and professional relationship with Dr. Joe Hunstad. We have known each other for many years and have a mutual respect for each other's work. The other reason has to do with the similarities in the priorities for my practice and those of Drs. Kortesis and Bharti. We are all committed to excellence in patient care and in aesthetic outcomes, and we all have a similar work ethic. In all things, the patient comes first. Another aspect important to me was that much of how our office operates was not substantially changed since our acquisition. There have been some changes to be sure, but only changes that made sense. My office staff and I have been able to continue to care for our patients in the way that we always have and will be able to continue to do so far into the future."  Dr. David Reath

Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC

Founded in 2021 by renowned plastic surgeons, Dr. Bill Kortesis and Dr. Gaurav Bharti, offers strategic growth and consulting services to practices and providers in the medical aesthetic space. Charlotte-based with a national reach, Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC aims to facilitate the highest standard of aesthetic medicine by bridging the gap between providers, patients, and the industry. Through Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC's innovative, tactical approach, each provider has the means to thrive and deliver optimal patient experiences.

Dr. Bill Kortesis

Dr. Bill Kortesis is a Managing Partner of H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery, as well as Co-founder of Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC. As a board-certified plastic surgeon and Castle Connolly Top Doctor, Dr. Kortesis aims to foster the next generation of aesthetic medicine and improve healthcare for all. Through innovation, collaboration, and education, Dr. Kortesis believes strongly in the importance of growth of the aesthetic space allowing patients and providers to the ability to attain the ideal aesthetic outcome. H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery's yearly fellowship program allows Dr. Kortesis to further impact the future of aesthetic medicine, by training future plastic surgeons in the highest level of surgical technique.

Dr. Gaurav Bharti

Dr. Gaurav Bharti is a board-certified plastic surgeon based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and practices at H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery where he serves as a Managing Partner. Additionally, Dr. Bharti is a Co-Founder of practice growth consulting firm, Kortesis Bharti Management Group, LLC. Recognized by Castle Connolly as one of its "Top Doctors" and one of the "Best Plastic Surgeons of America", Dr. Bharti has used his expertise to further the medical aesthetics industry and deliver the highest level of patient care. As a fellow mentor to the next generation of aesthetic surgeons, Dr. Bharti believes in the importance of continued education and serves as an influential speaker on the national and international level. Ultimately, Dr. Bharti aims to utilize innovative concepts to improve patient outcomes and contribute to cutting-edge advancements in the industry.

MEDIA CONTACT:

[email protected]

SOURCE H/K/B Cosmetic Surgery
For the second consecutive year, retailer awarded the Gold Bell Seal by Mental Health America

CINCINNATI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), today announced it has been awarded the 2023 Gold Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health by Mental Health America (MHA). The Bell Seal is a first-of-its-kind workplace mental health certification that recognizes employers who strive to create mentally healthy workplaces for their associates.

"The Kroger Family of Companies is committed to creating a respectful and caring environment where our associates can thrive," said Tim Massa, senior vice president and chief people officer. "We are honored to once again receive this recognition, and we will continue our efforts to support our associates' overall well-being, including their mental, physical and financial health."

The Bell Seal recognizes employer advances in workplace mental health by awarding Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum recognition levels. Kroger underwent a rigorous evaluation of its policies and practices in four areas: Workplace culture, benefits, compliance and wellness programs. Kroger's status as a Gold Bell Seal-certified organization demonstrates its ongoing commitment to associate mental health and well-being.

Kroger earned a score of 100 percent in the wellness programs category for its offerings, programs and perks to support associates' mental health and promote a positive workplace culture. Offerings were evaluated in addition to the mental health services included in the retailer's health benefits, Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and paid time off provided to associates.

Founded in 1909, MHA is the nation's leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the overall mental health of all. MHA has spent decades researching mental health in the workplace, and in 2019, MHA introduced the Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health to recognize companies and organizations that understand the value of addressing mental health at work and implement policies and practices that support employee wellbeing.

About Kroger

At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit. We are, across our family of companies nearly half a million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.
Preclinical data demonstrated strong activity of KYV-101 derived from patients with lupus, a key prerequisite for positive outcomes

Research conducted in partnership with University of Erlangen

Data to be presented in poster session and industry-sponsored symposium about CAR T-cell therapy in B-cell driven autoimmune diseases



EMERYVILLE, Calif., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyverna Therapeutics ("Kyverna"), a cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for serious autoimmune diseases, today announced it will present new preclinical findings on KYV-101. KYV-101 is a novel anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy designed to deplete B cells, including autoreactive B cells in autoimmune disease patients. The data will be presented at a poster session and at an industry-sponsored symposium at the 2023 European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR), being held May 31-June 2, 2023, in Milan, Italy.

"These data demonstrated strong CAR-mediated activity in vitro of KYV-101 CAR T cells derived from patients with lupus, a key prerequisite for positive outcomes," said Peter Maag, Ph.D., chief executive officer (CEO) of Kyverna.

The data, generated in collaboration with scientists at the Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany, showed KYV-101 CAR T cells derived from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), SLE with lupus nephritis (LN), or rheumatoid arthritis, demonstrated strong CAR-mediated and CD19-dependent activity against autologous B cells. Of note, SLE and SLE with LN-derived KYV-101 CAR T cells produced less cytokines in response to autologous B cells compared to KYV-101 CAR T cells derived from healthy donors.

Poster details

KYV-101, A Fully Human CD19 CAR T cell Generated from Autoimmune Patient Lymphocytes, Demonstrates CAR-Mediated and CD19-Dependent Activity Against Autologous B cells

Abstract Number: 6228

Poster Number: POS0007

Session: Wednesday Poster Session

Presenting Author: Dominic Borie, M.D, Ph.D., president of R&D at Kyverna Therapeutics

Date/Time: Thursday, June 1, 2023; 12:00 p.m.  1:30 p.m. CEST

Kyverna Satellite Symposium

CAR T-Cell Therapy in B-Cell Driven Autoimmune Diseases

The company is hosting an industry-sponsored symposium featuring key thought leaders and senior leaders from Kyverna. The session will be part of the EULAR satellite symposia, and will take place on Friday, June 2, 2023, from 8:15 a.m.  9:30 a.m. CEST.

The symposium will focus on understanding the role of B cells in autoimmune diseases and the rationale for pursuing deeper B-cell depletion through CAR T-cell therapy. There will be a review of the clinical data in the use of anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy in SLE and other autoimmune diseases. Speakers and panelists will also review lessons learned from CD19 CAR T therapy in oncology and how these lessons inform the development of KYV-101 for autoimmune diseases.

Presenters include:

Georg Schett, M.D., vice president of research, chair of internal medicine III, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University, Germany

Peter A. Merkel , M.D., MPH, chief, division of rheumatology, professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology in biostatistics and epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania

, M.D., MPH, chief, division of rheumatology, professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology in biostatistics and epidemiology, David Jayne , M.D., professor of clinical autoimmunity, University of Cambridge , U.K., director of the Vasculitis and Lupus Service, Addenbrooke's Hospital

, M.D., professor of clinical autoimmunity, , U.K., director of the Vasculitis and Lupus Service, Addenbrooke's Hospital Carlotta Cacciatore , M.D., Centre de Reference des Maladies Auto-immunes Systemiques Rares d'Ile-de- France , Hopital Saint Louis , France

, M.D., de Reference des Maladies Auto-immunes Systemiques Rares d'Ile-de- , Hopital , Peter Maag , Ph.D., CEO of Kyverna

, Ph.D., CEO of Kyverna Dominic Borie , M.D., Ph.D., president of R&D at Kyverna

About Lupus Nephritis (LN)

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), more commonly known as lupus. Approximately 40 percent of adults diagnosed with lupus eventually develop LN and 60 percent of LN patients will fail standard of care and approved treatments1. Aside from modest efficacy, current treatments expose these young adults to the well-demonstrated detrimental consequences of chronic treatment with corticosteroids and other powerful immunosuppressants. Up to 10 percent of patients with LN and 40 percent with diffuse LN (class IV) will ultimately develop kidney failure, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive2.

About KYV-101

KYV-101 is an autologous version of a novel, fully human clinical-stage anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) construct with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis and other B-cell driven autoimmune diseases. In a 20-patient Phase 1/2 study in oncology, expected anti-lymphoma activity was associated with a significant reduction of cytokines released that translated into a strong reduction of cytokine-driven side effects such as the rate of immune effector cells-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS)3. The fully human anti-CD19 CAR also translated into reduced immunogenicity that favorably impacted cell persistence at one month. Kyverna recognized that these properties singled out KYV-101 as a product ideally poised for use in autoimmune disease patients, and the company obtained exclusive, worldwide licenses from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use this CD19 construct in both autologous and allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies.

About Kyverna Therapeutics

Kyverna Therapeutics is a cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The Kyverna therapeutic platform combines advanced T-cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies to suppress and eliminate the autoreactive immune cells at the origin of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Kyverna's pipeline includes next-generation chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapies in both autologous and allogeneic formats with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. By offering more than one mechanism for taming autoimmunity, Kyverna is positioned to act on its mission of transforming how autoimmune diseases are treated. For more information, please visit https://kyvernatx.com.

1E. Carter et al., Nature Reviews Rheumatology, 12, Oct. 2016, 605-620.

2Adv Chronic Kidney Dis. 2019;26(5):313.

3Brudno et al., Nature Medicine 2020; 26:270-280.

SOURCE Kyverna Therapeutics
The Lasher Family Research Acceleration program will fund cutting-edge research and education within the hospital.

TAMPA, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital today announced a generous gift from the Lasher family of Tampa, Florida, to support the TGH Foundation and infectious disease research programs. This is a collaboration between Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

The Lasher Family Research Acceleration program will fund cutting-edge research and education concentrating on advanced treatments and critical care for patients suffering with infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Tampa General Hospital today announced a generous gift from the Lasher family of Tampa, Florida, to support the TGH Foundation and infectious disease research programs. This is a collaboration between Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Tampa General Hospital is committed to becoming a recognized global leader on the forefront of infectious disease clinical care, research, and education under the direction of Drs. John Sinnott and Kami Kim. Sinnott is the Tampa General director of Epidemiology and Team Member Health at Tampa General Hospital and chair of Internal Medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Kim is Tampa General director of Infectious Disease Research and director of the Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Kim was site director at Tampa General for national clinical trials for COVID-19 therapeutics including monoclonal antibodies and the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.

"On behalf of the Lasher family, we hope this gift can serve as the catalyst in making Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine world-class leaders in infectious disease research, treatment and care," said Stuart Lasher, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Quantum Capital Partners Inc., a private investment firm based in Tampa. "The key to this success relies on training and teaching the next generation of infectious disease researchers and physicians under the direction of an internationally recognized pioneer like Dr. Sinnott."

Recognitions of Sinnott's contributions to the treatment of infectious diseases include a Service Award, "In Recognition of Volunteer Training in Recognizing Contagious Disease Threats" from the Department of Homeland Security in 2007; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the AIDS Institute in 2006; the MEDSWU Honorable Award from the Faculty of Medicine at Srinakharinwirot University and the Medical Association of Thailand and the Global Leadership Award presented by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand in 2008.

In addition to supporting current infectious disease research efforts, the Lasher family gift will accelerate Tampa General's research program, by attracting and recruiting the world's foremost infectious disease researchers who will bring their teams, intellectual property and grants to Tampa General. These combined assets will accelerate both the quality and quantity of infectious disease research at the academic health system.

The Lasher family gift also covers scholarships known as the Lasher-Sinnott Scholars. The physicians who earn these scholarships will participate in a focused, experiential program dedicated to clinical and basic research into infectious disease, working closely with Dr. Sinnott and his team. There are currently more than 20 active clinical research trials focused on infectious diseases including COVID-19, respiratory virus infections and Staphylococcus aureus sepsis underway at Tampa General Hospital. Ultimately, the Lasher-Sinnott Scholar research program is expected to result in the development of life-saving treatments for Tampa General's patients and the Tampa Bay community.

"We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Lasher family and their commitment to the future of infectious disease research, education and care," said Frann M. Leppla, Tampa General Hospital Foundation's senior vice president and Chief Philanthropy Officer. "Their support lays a strong foundation for advancing the health and well-being of humanity far beyond Florida, while helping Tampa General to drive innovation with the goal of delivering world-class care to the Tampa Bay region and beyond," Leppla said.

Tampa General Hospital was the first hospital in Florida to offer monoclonal antibody treatments to COVID-19 patients and was one of only five hospitals in the state to receive the first round of the state's COVID-19 vaccine pilot program. Tampa General Hospital is on a mission to combat many other types of infectious diseases as well, including bacterial, viral, bone and fungal infections. With a state-of-the-art diagnostic laboratory and imaging facilities and the administration of on-site immunizations, Tampa General can efficiently diagnose and treat a variety of infectious diseases, while ensuring the best outcome for patients today.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings  first nationally in the 2022 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

ABOUT USF HEALTH

USF Health's mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the Taneja College of Pharmacy, the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, the Biomedical Sciences Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs, and USF Health's multispecialty physicians' group. The University of South Florida is a high-impact global research university dedicated to student success. Over the past 10 years, no other public university in the country has risen faster in U.S. News & World Report's national university rankings than USF. For more information, visit health.usf.edu.

Media Contact: Karen Barrera

Assistant Director of Communications and Partnerships

(813) 844-8725 (direct)

(813) 928-1603 (cell)

[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
Wingie's Data Unveils Ideal Days and Times for Affordable Flight Bookings

DUBAI, UAE and BERLIN, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading Travel Marketplace Wingie determined the ideal dates to purchase the cheapest flights. According to Wingie's data, users can find the most affordable tickets on Sunday and Monday, meanwhile on Fridays the prices tend to be the most expensive. Regardless of the day, the cheapest flight tickets can be booked at 22.00 and 23.00, while the most expensive tickets are booked at 06.00 and 07.00.

Users who booked flights on Monday at 12.00 via Wingie, got tickets more than 10 % cheaper. On the other hand, Friday 07.00 is the most expensive time to book flights, as the average flight ticket is 15% more expensive than other dates.

Wingie's data reveals that flight tickets booked 9 to 15 days before departure are more than 15% cheaper

Wingie advises that users who will travel within 0-7 days, should book on Mondays at 9.00, 12.00, 21.00, 23.00, and on Sundays at 15.00, 16.00, 23.00, to find flight tickets at least 10-15% cheaper. For travelers who search for tickets more than 7 days before their departure date, the ideal date is Wednesday at 12.00, 15.00, 22.00, and 23.00, where the tickets are at least 5-7% more affordable. On the other hand, flight tickets booked 9-15 days in advance are the most advantageous being 15% cheaper than usual.

About Wingie Enuygun Group

Wingie Enuygun Group is a popular travel marketplace in the MENA region focusing mainly on flights operating under wingie.com, sa.wingie.com, wingie.ae and enuygun.com domains. The company offers a range of products including flights, bus tickets, hotels, and rental cars. Wingie Enuygun Group has been one of the most innovative players in the MENA online travel space, with the aim of pioneering technological developments and leading the transformation of the travel industry with the approach of thinking digitally. Wingie.com is a leading flight booking platform with its inclusion in the development of virtual interlining for flights, offering a diverse range of airline tickets and other travel content to enhance the user experience by providing the best options.

Wingie.com is available in 6 languages, employs over 300 people, and has around 165 million visitors to its platforms annually.

Media Contact:



Wingie

[email protected]

+1 (437) 888-3181

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2035421/Wingie_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Wingie
Reports of US weapons use by RVC, Freedom of Russia fighters are not true  US State Department

The United States is "sceptical" that the U.S. weapons provided to Ukraine were used in the course of hostilities in the Russian territory of Belgorod, U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said during a briefing.

"We've seen some of the reports circulating on social media and elsewhere making claims that U.S.-supplied weapons were used in these attacks. I will say that we're skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports," the official said.

Miller said Washington does not encourage strikes on Russian territory.

As reported, on May 22 in the Belgorod region began the so-called hostilities, for which the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Legion of Freedom took responsibility in order to create a buffer zone of security near the borders of Ukraine.

As of May 23, the formations announced that they had liberated the settlements of Kozinka and Gora-Podil, and also began an assault in Grayvoron.
Legacy Expeditions seeks to inspire individuals, raise funds for veteran causes, and promote positive stories of resilience and growth among combat veterans.

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Legacy Expeditions, a renowned, veteran-owned extreme expedition and adventure company, is thrilled to announce its upcoming Drake's Fury Expedition , following the success of its record-setting Triple 7 expedition in January. This extraordinary expedition will see a 6-man team of military special operations veterans rowing from Antarctica to Chile, crossing the treacherous Drake Passage, a 600-mile body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The primary goal of this endeavor is to inspire others to achieve more in service, resilience, and adventure while raising crucial funds for scholarships for children of fallen service members through the Folds of Honor Foundation.

Legacy Expeditions Legacy Expeditions

The Drake's Fury Expedition has two additional rows preceding Drake Passage that include a Gulf of Mexico Row in December 2023/January 2024, the Bering Strait Row in the summer of 2024, with the culmination of the expedition conquering Drake Passage in December 2024/January 2025.

At the heart of the Drake's Fury Expedition lies a mission to change the narrative surrounding combat veterans and honor the sacrifice of those who have served. Combat veterans from the Global War on Terrorism and other conflicts have an extreme capacity for resilience and capacity for "Post-Traumatic Growth", wherein combat experiences can transform individuals into kinder, more empathetic beings. This expedition aims to encourage veterans to embrace risk, live life to the fullest, and carry the memories of their fallen comrades with them.

Drake Passage is notorious for its treacherous conditions, including strong winds, towering waves, and unpredictable weather. With no resistance from landmasses and waves reaching up to 40 feet, it is widely regarded as "the most powerful convergence of seas." The Legacy team will undertake the challenging task of rowing from the Antarctic Peninsula to Chile (Cape Horn) against these daunting elements, aiming to break the current record for the fastest time to row across the Drake Passage.

To ensure the safety and support of the team, a dedicated support vessel will accompany them, providing important information, video support, and rescue capabilities. The logistics of this expedition are expected to be exceptionally demanding, given the extreme nature of the journey. Support team lead includes Mike Sarraille, retired Navy SEAL officer and co-founder of Legacy Expeditions, Dr. Kirk Parsley, former Navy SEAL physician and Drake's Fury team physician, as well as director and producer, Dan Myrick.

An integral part of Legacy Expeditions' mission is to capture and share the remarkable adventure through a world-class documentary-series. This series will not only captivate viewers with awe-inspiring visuals but also impart valuable lessons about human potential, facing fears, and overcoming trauma. The distribution of this documentary-series will serve as a means to continue to raise funds for veteran causes.

Legacy Expeditions has an impressive track record, having previously completed the record-breaking Triple 7 Expedition in January 2023. Nine former U.S. and Canadian military service members successfully completed all seven jumps on seven continents in just 6 days, 6 hours, and 6 minutes, setting multiple new world records. In total, Legacy Expeditions broke six world records and raised $900,000 for veteran causes to date. The Drake's Fury Expedition aims to break three more world records and contribute to an ambitious goal of raising $7 million for the Folds of Honor Foundation within the next five years.

Join Legacy Expeditions on this thrilling adventure as they strive to inspire and support veterans while making a lasting impact on Folds of Honor scholarships. Together, we can illuminate the path towards a brighter future by providing surviving children of fallen military members with education scholarships.

Legacy Expeditions is a renowned adventure and philanthropic organization dedicated to honoring and supporting veterans. Through extraordinary expeditions and world-class documentaries, Legacy Expeditions seeks to inspire individuals, raise funds for veteran causes, and promote positive stories of resilience and growth among combat veterans.

For media inquiries, please contact: Tamara Colbert, e: [email protected], c: 626.244.5571.

About Legacy Expeditions: Legacy Expeditions is an adventure capital firm founded to bring adrenaline-filled expeditions to life while honoring the memories and legacies of America's fallen and Allied Troops lost during the Global War on Terrorism. Previous expeditions include the Firm's recent 2023 Triple 7 Expedition, 2022 Viking Sky Expedition, and the 2021 Mt. Everest Expedition. To learn more, visit www.legacyexpeditions.net .

Sponsors: Peter M.D. , Concept2 , WHOOP , Men's Journal , Doc Parsley's Sleep Remedy , The Men's Journal Everyday Warrior Podcast with Mike Sarraille , ATTA , Talent War Group , Cleared Hot with Andy Stumpf , and Power Athlete .

About Folds of Honor: Folds of Honor is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of military members who have fallen or been disabled while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Our educational scholarships support private school tuition or tutoring in grades K-12, tuition for college, technical or trade school, and post-graduate work, including a master's degree, doctorate, or professional program. Funds for a second bachelor's degree or trade/technical program certification are also available. Since its inception in 2007, Folds of Honor has awarded over 35,000 scholarships totaling more than $160 million in all 50 states. Among the students served, 41 percent are minorities. It is rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator and Platinum on GuideStar. It was founded by Lt Col Dan Rooney, the only-ever F-16 fighter pilot (with three combat tours in Iraq) and PGA Professional. For more information or to donate in support of a Folds of Honor scholarship visit www.foldsofhonor.org .

SOURCE Legacy Expeditions
Levy Konigsberg, a NY-based civil trial practice, has filed nearly a dozen new lawsuits on behalf of former female inmates who say that they were sexually abused by prison staff.

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Levy Konigsberg has filed 10 new prison sexual abuse lawsuits on behalf of women who claim that they were sexually abused by correctional officers and prison staff while incarcerated at Taconic Correctional Facility, a women's prison in Bedford Hills, New York.

The claims were filed in the State of New York Court of Claims and are part of a growing number of cases the firm is filing for survivors who say they were abused at jails and prisons across the state.

Levy Konigsberg Attorney Anna Kull

About the Claims

The lawsuits were filed against the State of New York, which operates the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).

They claim that the women were sexually harassed, assaulted, and abused by correctional officers and other prison staff while incarcerated at Taconic, and that DOCCS knew of the abuse but failed to act.

Other claims and points of interest in the lawsuits:

Officers and prison staff used intimidation and threats of retaliation  including additional prison time, solitary confinement, and transfer to other facilities  to keep victims silent.

Prison staff routinely offered female inmates contraband or extra privileges in exchange for sexual favors.

Inmates in custody of the state cannot legally consent to sexual contact with prison staff, making any sexual acts between inmates and staff a crime.

The suits also raise allegations that the DOCCS was "aware that sexual harassment, exploitation, and assault of inmates by correctional officers was a persistent and prevalent problem in its women's prisons." Despite this knowledge, they claim, DOCCS negligently failed to protect inmates from abuse, supervise its officers, and report known or suspected abuse as required by law.

The claims are supported by evidence of investigations and documentation dating back to as early as 1982. This includes investigations which found that DOCCS women's prisons had the highest rates of staff-on-inmate sexual abuse in the nation, as well as various lawsuits and criminal proceedings against officers and other staff accused of sexual abuse in its facilities.

Claims Filed Under the NY Adult Survivors Act

These and other prison staff-on-inmate sex abuse claims were filed pursuant to the New York Adult Survivors Act, a groundbreaking law that created a temporary one-year lookback window for individuals to file claims over sexual abuse that occurred when they were adults. It applies to abusive acts that occurred at any time in the past and allows plaintiffs to sue institutions that failed to protect them.

Under the Adult Survivors Act, the temporary lookback window runs from November 24, 2022 to November 24, 2023.

Firm Says More Prison Sex Abuse Suits on the Horizon

Levy Konigsberg's recent Taconic Correctional Facility claims are just the latest in a months-long onslaught of legal filings over New York's rampant female prison sexual abuse problem.

Since last November, when the Survivors Act's one-year lookback window went into effect, the firm has filed hundreds of claims alleging abuse at other New York jails and prisons, including Bayview Correctional Facility, Riker's Island (Rosie's), Albion Correctional, Lakeview Shock Incarceration Correctional, Bedford Hills Correctional, and more.

According to the firm's attorneys, they're representing a growing number of former female inmates and plan to file additional lawsuits through the coming months before the Act's temporary window expires on November 24.

Levy Konigsberg is a U.S. News "Best Law Firms" ranked civil trial practice with a reputation for taking on some of the country's most complex and high-stakes claims. Led by award-winning trial lawyers, the firm has recovered over $3 billion in compensation in cases involving sexual abuse, asbestos and tobacco litigation, products liability, and other civil claims. For more information, visit: www.levylaw.com.

Media Contact:

Anna Kull

[email protected]

SOURCE Levy Konigsberg
CANTON, Ohio, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty HealthShare, one of the country's leading Christian healthsharing ministries, today announced that it has enhanced its Liberty Rise sharing program.

Liberty Rise was introduced in September 2022 to serve young adults who had few, if any, affordable healthsharing options available to them. The budget-friendly sharing program has proven popular with its 18-29-year-old audience.

Liberty HealthShare has enhanced its popular Liberty Rise sharing program. Tweet this

The popularity of the easy-to-use program is expected to grow as Liberty HealthShare has added features to the program to help members maintain good health and well-being.

"Liberty Rise members appreciate knowing that they can see a primary care physician and only have to pay $25 at the time of the visit," said Dorsey Morrow, Liberty HealthShare chief executive officer. "We're confident these new additions will be welcomed as well."

The program designed for young adults now includes these new features added at no additional cost:

ChooseHealthy

Active&Fit Direct

Kindly Human

The ChooseHealthy program provides savings on various specialty health and wellness services, including chiropractic care.

With Active&Fit Direct members can access more than 16,000 participating fitness centers for a low monthly fee and gain access to tools to help them get the most out of their fitness membership.

Through Kindly Human, Liberty Rise members can talk to a certified Trained Listener who will offer anonymous, nonjudgmental support on various life topics.

These new services are in addition to the other money-saving features offered free to all Liberty Rise members that provide discounts on prescription drugs, dental services, vision care and LASIK surgery. These features can save members hundreds of dollars each year.

In addition, members can utilize Liberty HealthShare's telehealth services for a small per-visit fee. Telehealth is available for non-emergency illnesses and general care as well as mental health assistance.

Liberty Rise is a low-cost alternative to health insurance for Christian individuals and married couples without children. With a monthly sharing contribution of just $119 a month, Liberty Rise offers the peace-of-mind young adults need with their healthcare expenses.

Unlike health insurance plans that have deductibles amounting to several thousand dollars before they provide coverage, Liberty Rise members can share the entire cost of an eligible expense, such as a primary care physician visit, with just a small per visit unshared amount.

Medical expenses eligible for sharing for Liberty Rise members include primary care physicians, specialist physicians, urgent care, hospital stay, surgeon fees, emergency room, CT scans and MRI scans. Learn more about Liberty Rise at https://www.libertyhealthshare.org/liberty-rise.

In addition to Liberty Rise, Liberty HealthShare has a variety of sharing programs for singles, couples and families with monthly sharing contributions as low as $159. Monthly sharing contributions for its Liberty Assist program for seniors on Medicare start at just $85.

Liberty HealthShare is a non-profit 501(c) (3) charitable Christian medical cost-sharing ministry focused on members helping each other in times of need. The faith-based program, which facilitates healthsharing for its members, is a caring community of health-conscious individuals and families who choose to support one another and agree to the Christian values of stewardship to make healthcare affordable for all.

As it is not insurance, Liberty HealthShare enrollment is available year-round with no requirement for special life events to qualify. For more information about its healthcare sharing programs visit libertyhealthshare.org or call (855) 585-4237.

SOURCE Liberty HealthShare
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or "the Company") (TSX: MND, OTCQB: MNDJF) is pleased to announce the results of its Annual and Special General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") held today virtually. All the resolutions presented at the Meeting were approved by the shareholders, with the votes cast by proxy representing 75.67% of the total shares outstanding as of the record date.

Election of Directors

The number of directors was fixed at seven members and each of the seven nominees listed in the Company's Management Information Circular dated April 11, 2023, were re-elected to the Company's Board of Directors. Abraham Jonker remains the lead independent director and Bradford Mills continues as Chair. Results of the votes cast by proxy are set out below.

Resolution Votes Cast by

Proxy For % For Votes Cast by

Proxy Withheld % Withheld Bradford A. Mills 70,224,872 99.96 25,673 0.04 Abraham Jonker 70,223,624 99.96 26,921 0.04 Amy Freedman 70,229,724 99.97 20,821 0.03 Dominic Duffy 70,224,512 99.96 26,033 0.04 Frazer Bourchier 70,231,962 99.97 18,583 0.03 Julie Galloway 70,229,924 99.97 20,621 0.03 Robert Doyle 69,340,956 98.71 909,589 1.29

Appointment of Auditors

Ernst & Young LLP was re-appointed as the auditor of the Company to hold office until the close of the next Annual Meeting of the Shareholders, or until their successor is otherwise appointed, and the directors were authorized to fix the auditor's remuneration. Results of the votes cast by proxy are set out below.

Resolution Votes Cast by

Proxy For % For Votes Cast by

Proxy Withheld % Withheld Appointment of Auditors 70,246,741 99.99 3,804 0.01

Omnibus Plan Resolution

The resolution to approve all unallocated securities, rights and other entitlements under the Company's omnibus equity incentive plan was passed. Results of the votes cast by proxy are set out below.

Resolution Votes Cast by

Proxy For % For Votes Cast by

Proxy Withheld % Withheld Omnibus Plan Resolution 69,929,152 99.54 321,393 0.46

About Mandalay Resources Corporation:

Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia (Costerfield gold-antimony mine) and Sweden (Bjorkdal gold mine). The Company is focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cashflow. Mandalay is committed to operating safely and in an environmentally responsible manner, while developing a high level of community and employee engagement.

Mandalay's mission is to create shareholder value through the profitable operation and continuing the regional exploration program, at both its Costerfield and Bjorkdal mines. Currently, the Company's main objectives are to continue mining Youle and Shepherd veins at Costerfield, both of which are expected to continue to supply high-grade ore to the processing plant, and to extend Youle's Mineral Reserves. At Bjorkdal, the Company will aim to increase production from the Aurora zone and other higher-grade areas in the coming years in order to maximize profit margins from the mine.

SOURCE Mandalay Resources Corporation
Inaugural Texas Exes listing honors top Longhorn-run businesses in the world

TYLER, Texas, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Texas at Austin's alumni organization, Texas Exes, honored Martin Walker PC in the inaugural 2023 Longhorn 100 awards, recognizing the 100 fastest-growing Longhorn-run businesses in the world.

"To be listed among some of the best and brightest UT alumni is a true honor," said trial lawyer and firm co-founder Reid Martin. "I cherish my memories and connections from my time at the University of Texas very much. I am grateful for the acknowledgment from my alma mater, while knowing it's only up from here."

Known for their success in medical malpractice cases, Martin Walker attorneys have garnered a national reputation for personal injury and appellate expertise, consistently rendering positive outcomes on behalf of plaintiffs in a wide range of practice areas, including catastrophic injury cases and commercial litigation.

To qualify for the Longhorn 100, businesses must be founded, owned, or led by a Longhorn, and in continuous operation for the past five years. Companies are ranked by percentage of compounded annual growth in sales or revenue. All financial information is processed by an independent accounting firm for the Longhorn 100.

To view the full list, click here.

"UT will always hold a special place in our hearts," said trial lawyer and firm co-founder Jack Walker. "We are so excited to be a part of this list featuring such great businesses and leaders."

Both Mr. Martin and Mr. Walker are alumni of the University of Texas, class of 1987 and class of 1988, respectively.

This is just the latest accolade for the personal injury and trial boutique. All partners were recently named to the list of the Best Lawyers in America and the Lawdragon 500 Leading Consumer Plaintiff Lawyers for 2023. The firm itself was included in the Best Lawyers-U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms listing for 2023. The firm's partners are also repeat honorees of Thomson Reuters' Texas Super Lawyers for their work in medical malpractice litigation and appellate law.

About Martin Walker PC

Martin Walker PC is a Tyler-based law firm with significant trial expertise representing individuals and businesses in high-stakes litigation, including medical malpractice, catastrophic injuries involving 18-wheeler accidents, oilfield injuries, wrongful death, and product liability.

Media Contact:

Alyssa Woulfe

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Martin Walker PC
BOSTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Policy Center for Public Health & Safety (PH&S) today announced that Massachusetts-based Lighthouse Biz Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of GFA Federal Credit Union, is the first east coast financial institution to become certified for outstanding U.S. monetary banking protocols in banking cannabis and hemp operations.

The honor is part of a financial services certification program overseen by the Policy Center for Public Health & Safety (PH&S) in collaboration with state attorneys general and endorsed by Safe Harbor Financial.

"The marijuana industry continues to expand in Massachusetts, and it is important to have banking safeguards to mitigate illicit and criminal conduct. This is an important first step in partnering with legally compliant businesses in the marketplace," said Karl Racine, former Attorney General of the District of Columbia, and current Board member of Safe Harbor Financial.

The PH&S certification brings banking and financial services transparency to ensure the safety of the monetary system for institutions banking hemp and cannabis.

"Credit unions were chartered to serve the unbanked and underserved population and with the launch of Lighthouse Biz Solutions, GFA has carefully banked the cannabis industry for the past five years.

"The cannabis industry has been unbanked and underserved for years, often resulting in adverse impacts on public safety in communities where cannabis is legal. We are honored to receive such a distinction and appreciate the support and guidance we have received from Safe Harbor Financial over the years," said Lighthouse Founder and former President of GFA Tina Sbrega.

Safe Harbor Financial has been leading the industry in developing financial systems in accord with the U.S. Department of Treasury and FinCEN. Safe Harbor's CEO Sundie Seefried is a leading expert for law enforcement and regulators issues relating to money laundering and the banking of cannabis and hemp.

"Fundamental to marketplace validation and combatting money laundering is knowing which financial institutions are following procedures and protocols that are compliant with state and federal laws. Financial institutions and their insurers are looking for guidance to 'bank' the cannabis industry," said Karen White, Executive Director of The Attorneys General Alliance.

The overall certification model is accepted by state and federal agencies as the standard of compliance and in implementing general risk mitigating strategies and focuses upon the following:

Ensuring compliance standards that will meet the expectations of BSA and the FinCEN guidelines;

Mainstreaming depository options for cannabis related entities;

Monitoring internal activities of all personnel involved in the compliance program to ensure compliance with processes that will protect GFA and Lighthouse.

GFA Federal Credit Union was founded in 1938 and offers a suite of financial products and services through its ten-branch network across Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

ABOUT PH&S: Is a 501(c)(4) company addressing the challenges facing law enforcement, regulators, cannabis investors & operators as well as financial institutions.

About Attorneys General Alliance: Is a national 501c3 nonprofit, initiating meetings, panels and discussions and serves as a host forum for bipartisan cooperation in the Attorney General community.

Contact: Monica McCafferty

(303) 903-3394

[email protected]

SOURCE Policy Center for Public Health and Safety
Leading Massage and Facial Franchise Expands Footprint in Midwest as Demand for Holistic Care Rises

CLEVELAND, Ohio, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Massage Heights, a leading massage and wellness franchise, signed a franchise agreement in the Cleveland market, offering resort-quality massage, skincare and wellness services. Already open for business at 18240 Royalton Road in Strongsville, this is the third retreat within the state.

Behind the franchise agreement is Kim Higgins, who previously served as a Franchise Business Consultant for Massage Heights Franchising for six years at the brand's headquarters in Texas. After making the transition from consultant to franchisee, she's now serving the Midwest market. Having two decades of experience working in the beauty industry and the experience of supporting franchisees in her operations role, Higgins will capitalize on her industry knowledge to create an elevated member experience and a strong culture for her 20+ massage and skin care therapists.

"I've always had a passion for the wellness and beauty industry, which is what drew me to the operations role at Massage Heights Franchising back in 2018," Higgins said. "I have had the privilege to work with so many Massage Heights franchisees over the years and supporting and guiding them through their journey in business ownership felt like the perfect next step for me."

According to the 2023 Franchising Outlook report by the International Franchise Association, service-based industries will witness higher growth than other industries with beauty, fitness, health and wellness concepts ranking high on this list. With the industry primed for increased growth, Massage Heights has identified target markets and has vast whitespace available nationwide.

"Having been a consultant for our franchisees for many years, Kim knows exactly how to best support members, massage therapists, and skin care therapists," said CEO & President Susan Boresow. "With her passion, expertise, and drive to provide personalized, therapeutic experiences, we know that the community will greatly benefit from her retreat."

Massage Heights is currently seeking single and multi-unit operators to join its growing brand. To learn about Massage Heights franchise opportunities, visit https://www.massageheightsfranchise.com/.

About Massage Heights

The massage franchise started in 2004 and has grown to more than 115 Retreats throughout North America by providing personalized wellness treatment options through therapeutic massage and skincare services. For more information about Massage Heights and its franchise opportunities, please visit MassageHeightsFranchise.com .

SOURCE Massage Heights
HOUSTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- McDermott has been awarded a project management consultancy (PMC) contract from India Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for the Maleic Anhydride (MAH) unit at the Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, located 62 miles (100 kilometers) from New Delhi, India.

McDermott's scope includes project management and consultancy services for the unit, including front-end engineering design (FEED), review of engineering activities, construction supervision services, assistance in start-up, pre-commissioning, commissioning, performance guarantee test run and project closure.

"McDermott has a long-standing relationship with IOCL and is currently executing three large-scale projects at their Barauni and Haldia refineries," said Vaseem Khan, McDermott's Senior Vice President, Onshore. "Our unrivaled project management and execution capabilities, combined with our decades of experience in India, uniquely position us to successfully execute this project."

This is India's first mega-scale MAH plant to manufacture chemical products. MAH is used to make specialty products like polyester resins, surface coating plasticizers, agrochemicals and lubricant additives. Other chemicals that will be produced from the plant include Tetra Hydro Furan (THF), which is widely used in adhesives and vinyl film, and Butanediol (BDO), which is used in engineering-grade plastic and biodegradable fibers.

Work on the project will be executed from McDermott's Center of Excellence in Gurugram, India.

About McDermott

McDermott is a premier, fully-integrated provider of engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. Our customers trust our technology-driven approach engineered to responsibly harness and transform global energy resources into the products the world needs. From concept to commissioning, McDermott's innovative expertise and capabilities advance the next generation of global energy infrastructureempowering a brighter, more sustainable future for us all. Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally-focused and globally-integrated resources include more than 30,000 employees, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels and fabrication facilities around the world. To learn more, visit www.mcdermott.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

McDermott cautions that statements in this communication which are forward-looking, and provide other than historical information, involve risks, contingencies and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the expected scope and execution of the project discussed in this press release. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Those statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous risks, contingencies and uncertainties, including, among others: adverse changes in the markets in which we operate or credit or capital markets; our inability to successfully execute on contracts in backlog; changes in project design or schedules; the availability of qualified personnel; changes in the terms, scope or timing of contracts, contract cancellations, change orders and other modifications and actions by our customers and other business counterparties; changes in industry norms; actions by lenders, other creditors, customers and other business counterparties of McDermott and adverse outcomes in legal or other dispute resolution proceedings. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. This communication reflects the views of McDermott's management as of the date hereof. Except to the extent required by applicable law, McDermott undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.

Contacts:

Global Media Relations

Reba Reid

Senior Director, Global Communications and Marketing

+1 281 588 5636

[email protected]

Local Media Relations

Barbara Knight

Senior Director, Business Line Communications and Marketing

+971 56 403 2903

[email protected]

SOURCE McDermott International, Ltd
MINNEAPOLIS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Minnesota Dental Association (MDA) successfully led a legislative effort to expand the adult dental Medicaid benefit set. The legislation, included in the 2023 Health and Human Services Omnibus, was signed by Governor Walz today.

For the first time since 2009, Minnesota's most vulnerable residents, including low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and seniors, will have comprehensive dental benefits.

All Medicaid recipients in Minnesota will receive comprehensive adult dental benefits starting in 2024, regardless of age.

In addition to providing essential dental benefits, this legislation will help to reduce unnecessary visits to our state's emergency rooms for basic dental care. Emergency room costs for non-traumatic dental care are estimated at $22 million per year.

The Minnesota Dental Association, through the HelpMNSmile campaign, initially sought the expansion of the adult dental Medicaid benefit set in 2020 and 2022. The 2023 bill, sponsored by Representative Robert Bierman (DFL  Apple Valley) and Senator Liz Boldon (DFL  Rochester), was included in Governor Walz's Budget Proposal.

"We are grateful for the efforts taken by the legislature to restore comprehensive dental benefits for adults. The Minnesota Dental Association thanks Representatives Robert Bierman and Tina Liebling, Senators Liz Boldon and Melissa Wiklund, and Governor Walz for their support. An estimated 800,000 Minnesotans will be positively impacted by this legislation," said MDA President Dr. Tim Holland.

In 2009, Medicaid dental benefits for adults were significantly reduced due to budget cuts. Minnesota has since had two different dental benefit sets for Medicaid enrollees including a benefit set for pregnant adults and children, and a benefit set for non-pregnant adults. While pregnant adults and children under the age of 21 experience extensive benefits, many of Minnesota's most vulnerable adult residents enrolled in Medicaid lack coverage of basic dental services.

A recent analysis by the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute identified Minnesota as one of several states with a limited Medicaid adult dental benefit, while 21 states, including Wisconsin, Iowa, and North Dakota, provide comprehensive dental benefits.

The Minnesota Dental Association is the voice of dentistry in Minnesota, representing practicing dentists. It is committed to the highest standards of oral health and access to care for all Minnesotans. Learn more at: www.mndental.org.

SOURCE Minnesota Dental Association
Leader in the Wellness Space Continues to Guide Individuals to Discover What Matters Most: Connection with Self, Others, and the Surrounding World

CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As a pioneer in destination wellness spa resorts for nearly 30 years, Miraval Resorts & Spas brings its core intention of empowering people to lead their best lives to the podcast space with today's launch of Miraval Life in Balance. The first podcast from the Miraval brand aims to guide audiences to cultivate wellness, intention and inspiration from anywhere in the world. Host Lauren Scruggs Kennedy, an American lifestyle and clean-living blogger, takes listeners on a virtual journey of insight and mindfulness to Miraval Resorts & Spas, where thought leaders, brand collaborators, and guests share their personal expertise on wellbeing practices and how they foster mindfulness in their everyday lives.

Miraval Resorts & Spas Launches Miraval Life in Balance Podcast Miraval Resorts & Spas Launches Miraval Life in Balance Podcast

"Miraval resorts continue to empower guests with the tools they need to re-center their body and mind, bringing mindfulness best practices home," said Susan Santiago, head of lifestyle and Miraval operations. "The Life in Balance podcast, with its guest roster of wellness industry leaders, is an exciting new layer to the impact we can make in supporting balance in people's lives."

Centered around a core pillar of mindfulness, the podcast intentionally debuts during Mental Health Awareness month, and the first six episodes focus on the connection of body, mind and spirit and how consciously exploring these connections can make life more meaningful and joyful. Guests include Lauren Landerwerlin, a Miraval Authentic Circle member and loyal guest; Dr. Alfiee Breland- Noble, a 2023 Miraval DEI brand collaborator and founder of BIPOC mental health nonprofit The AAKOMA Project, Dr. Gregory Scott Brown, a psychiatrist and mental health author of The Self-Healing Mind, Elise Banks, a psychotherapist, and Mental Health Ambassador for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Jennifer Pastiloff, a best-selling author of On Being Human.

A previous guest of the brand's flagship Miraval Arizona location, Scruggs Kennedy uses her online presence to share her expertise on healthy living, and her passions for vulnerability, style, clean beauty and nutritious recipes. She has worked with several knowledgeable individuals in the space and inspirational companies, giving her insight into the intentionality of body and soul that Miraval looks to develop through their resorts, and now through this new podcast.

This audio journey is now available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, among others.

About Miraval Resorts & Spas

The Miraval brand is a global leader in wellness resorts and spas. Miraval Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. pioneered the destination wellness spa resort category more than 25 years ago with its comprehensive program of mindfulness activities, destination-inspired experiences and spa treatments that incorporate modalities from around the globe. In 2017, Miraval Arizona joined the Hyatt portfolio bringing its in-depth approach to wellness to Hyatt guests and World of Hyatt members globally. In February 2019, Miraval Austin opened in Texas as the brand's second wellness resort. The newest resort, Miraval Berkshires, located in Lenox, Mass., opened as the brand's first East Coast destination in July 2020. Together, all three Miraval resorts inspire guests to create a life in balance, foster positivity and cultivate mindfulness. For more information, please visit MiravalResorts.com. Follow the Miraval brand on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and tag photos with #MiravalMoments.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company guided by its purpose  to care for people so they can be their best. As of March 31, 2023, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,250 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 75 countries across six continents. The Company's offering includes brands in the Timeless Collection, including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Studios, and UrCove; the Boundless Collection, including Miraval, Alila, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, Dream Hotels, Hyatt Centric, and Caption by Hyatt; the Independent Collection, including The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, and JdV by Hyatt; and the Inclusive Collection, including Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets Resorts & Spas, Breathless Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, Hyatt Vivid Hotels & Resorts, Alua Hotels & Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts & Spas. Subsidiaries of the Company operate the World of Hyatt loyalty program, ALG Vacations, Unlimited Vacation Club, Amstar DMC destination management services, and Trisept Solutions technology services. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

Media Contact: 20Two Studio

[email protected]

571-486-3382

SOURCE Miraval Resorts & Spas
The Ministry of Digital Transformation is negotiating with 10 countries regarding the export of the Diia application, including considering partnerships with Zambia and Colombia.

"The team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation is negotiating with 10 countries regarding the export of Diia, taking into account the countries supported by USAID. And we already have results  we are considering partnerships with Zambia and Colombia. This was announced during the Diia in DC event by USAID administrator Samantha Power," the ministry's press service said on Wednesday.

Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Development of Education, Science and Technology, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said on his Telegram channel that the Diia in DC event in the United States was another powerful impetus to strengthen Ukraine's image as a digital country.

"We are working to bring Diia to two more continents. We are working with Colombia and Zambia. We are exploring opportunities to share digital transformation experiences with these countries. We are negotiating Diia exports with 10 countries, several of which supported by USAID. I believe that the future is definitely ours," he wrote.

At the Diia in DC event in Washington on Tuesday, Fedorov said that after launching the mRiik application based on Diia in Estonia, Ethiopia and Zanzibar can start creating their own applications based on the Ukrainian mobile application. According to him, negotiations are also underway with other countries.

Power announced at the Diia in DC event that USAID will support partner countries that want to accelerate their own digital transformation by developing and expanding their own e-government capabilities. In particular, USAID works with Colombia, Kosovo, and Zambia.

"I am thrilled that USAID will be working with Colombia, with Kosovo, and with Zambia, for starters, to explore collaborations on everything from improving their current systems, to developing new digital citizen services, to building innovative and easy-to-use platforms with features like the ones you are about to see," Power said.

The Diia application has 14 digital documents and 30 services that can be provided in a few clicks. Some 19 million Ukrainians use the application.

As reported, USAID plans to provide about $650,000 to develop an approach to implementing an analog of the Ukrainian application Diia in other countries. In January of this year, Estonia became the first foreign state to launch the mRiik application based on Diia, a mobile application, a web portal, and a digital state brand in Ukraine developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
Google Workspace VP and GM, Aparna Pappu to discuss the impact of generative AI on professionals at MIT Technology Review's signature digital transformation event.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EmTech Next, MIT Technology Review's signature digital transformation event, returns virtually June 13-15, 2023, for three days focused on breakthrough technologies, the future of AI, and the new digital landscape featuring speakers from Walmart, NVIDIA, Johnson & Johnson, and Google Workspace VP and GM, Aparna Pappu.

Pappu leads global business across strategy, product development and engineering at Google. At EmTech Next, Aparna will unveil how generative AI will influence jobs at all professional levels, forever changing the way knowledge workers work.

This year's conference theme of transformation looks at emerging technologies through the lens of how these technologies are reimagining business today, where generative AI is taking us, and how a new digital landscape is redefining how we interact with clients and businesses. Speakers scheduled to present this year at EmTech Next include:

Dan Huttenlocher , Dean, Schwarzman College of Computing, MIT

, Dean, Schwarzman College of Computing, Pritha Mehra , CIO and Executive Vice President, USPS

, CIO and Executive Vice President, USPS Aparna Lakshmi Ratan , VP of Product, Snorkel AI

, VP of Product, Snorkel AI Rev Lebaredian , Vice President, Omniverse and Simulation Technology, NVIDIA

, Vice President, Omniverse and Simulation Technology, NVIDIA Thomas Cwik , Chief Technologist, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab

, Chief Technologist, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab May Wang , CTO, Internet of Things Security, Palo Alto Networks

, CTO, Internet of Things Security, Palo Alto Networks Srini Venkatesan , Executive Vice President, U.S. Omni Tech, Walmart

, Executive Vice President, U.S. Omni Tech, Walmart ...and more

This year's EmTech Next will be a three-day event, which hosts leading CIOs, COOs, and IT leadership and will be opened each day by a different MIT Technology Review editor, including Editor-in-chief Mat Honan, Senior Editor for AI, Will Douglas Heaven, as well as other members of the Technology Review editorial team throughout the three days.

Attendees can expect thought-provoking interviews, Q&As, and interactive deep dives; and they'll walk away with trusted strategies, ahead-of-the-curve insights, right-time resources, and emerging AI techniques. The virtual experience includes an interactive event hub featuring livestreamed sessions, videos on-demand, and networking opportunities. For more detailed information: Agenda and Registration.

Presenting Partners

The EmTech Next presenting partners are JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Siemens AG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $3.7 trillion and operations worldwide, serving millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional, and government clients. Siemens AG is a technology company focused on advancing the backbone of economies and societies through industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. For additional partnership opportunities, please contact Andrew Hendler at [email protected].

About MIT Technology Review

Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a world-renowned, independent media company whose insights, analysis, and interviews explain the newest technologies and their commercial, social, and political impacts. MIT Technology Review derives its authority from its relationship to the world's foremost technology institution and from its editors' deep technical knowledge, capacity to see technologies in their broadest context, and unequaled access to leading innovators and researchers. Our in-depth reporting reveals what's going on now to prepare you for what's coming next. Subscribe. Listen. Attend. Follow: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.

Media Contact:

MIT Technology Review

[email protected]

SOURCE MIT Technology Review
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA and the U.S. Department of Education signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, strengthening the collaboration between the two agencies, including efforts to increase access to high-quality STEM and space education to students and schools across the nation.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona participate in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The NASA and Department of Education MOU is focused on strengthening the collaboration between the two agencies, including efforts that advance STEM education across the nation. Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber

Specifically, the agreement enhances and expands the agencies' longstanding partnership that promotes science, technology, engineering, and math to students from diverse backgrounds to pursue an interest and a career in STEM and space industries. It reinforces the importance of Biden-Harris Administration and NASA priorities for STEM, climate, space exploration, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.

"The first humans who will walk on Mars and the innovators who will help humanity reach the Red Planet are students in America's classrooms today. NASA and the Department of Education know we need the whole of the Artemis Generation  young people from all parts of America and all walks of life  to achieve big goals, overcome our greatest challenges, and inspire the world through science and discovery," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "Today's signing, with the support of Vice President Harris and the National Space Council, continues NASA's collaborative efforts with the Department of Education to amplify the excitement of space to all students across our country, allowing every young person to know they are a part of the Artemis Generation  today and for decades to come."

"I am excited for this partnership with NASA that will inspire and prepare young people from all backgrounds to become our next generation of leaders in STEM fields and to propel our nation and our workforce into the future," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "From the groundbreaking Apollo mission to today's Artemis program, which will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, NASA's work has long galvanized the world to raise the bar and reach for new heights. I am proud that our agencies will continue to intentionally collaborate to enrich STEM teaching and learning in America's classrooms; expand access to high-quality, hands-on career, technical, and space education; increase the capacity and diversity of our nation's STEM educator workforce; and so much more."

Both agencies participate on the White House National Science and Technology Council Committee on STEM Education, and the White House National Space Council.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Education are currently working on upcoming collaborations which include the development of an agreement to provide NASA STEM content and technical assistance for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program. This initiative funds afterschool programming across the nation. NASA also is providing content for both U.S. Department of Education's YOU Belong in STEM initiative and Your Place in Space student challenge.

Learn more about how NASA's Office of STEM Engagement is inspiring the next generation of explorers at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stem

SOURCE NASA
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement from Eileen O'Reilly, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism institute on the killing of journalist Marco Aurelio Ramirez Hernandez early Tuesday morning in Tehuacan, in Pueblo state.

"There is an urgent problem reemerging in Mexico evident in the tragic murder of Marco Ramirez Hernandez -- the third journalist to be killed in Mexico this year. Mexico is once again one of the most dangerous countries for journalists outside a war zone. We have seen this pattern before and are very concerned for the safety of all journalists working in Mexico. Most of these crimes are not solved and charges are rarely brought against those suspected of the murders. We understand the government is actively working to protect the family of Ramirez Hernandez at this time, and we applaud those efforts, but much more must be done to solve this crime and others. We urge the government of Mexico to prioritize the protection of journalists.

"According to reporting by EFE and tweets by Article 19, Ramirez Hernandez, 69, was confronted close to his home around 1:30 am and was chased by armed men who fired on his moving car, killing him and causing the car to crash. He had worked for several media companies including Periodico Central. In 2018 he worked briefly in the mayor's office of Tehuacan. In 2022, 13 Mexican journalists were murdered, according to Reporters Without Borders. This accounted for 20 percent of the murders of journalists worldwide."

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major journalism organization and is a leading voice for press freedom worldwide.

The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. The Institute is the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club.

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

SOURCE National Press Club
WASHINGTON, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement from Eileen O'Reilly, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, on the decision by a Russian court to extend the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich until Aug. 30.

"It now seems clear the FSB investigators were not even able to manufacture their case in time to meet the May 28 deadline for pretrial detention. They had more than 50 days and brought nothing with them to court but empty briefcases. They are showing they have nothing to work with, as Evan is an outstanding journalist and was fully credentialled by Russia to report in-country. Now he is to remain in detention until Aug 30 while the FSB investigators work overtime to fabricate their case. Evan Gershkovich has done nothing wrong. He was reporting within the limits of his government provided credential. There is law in Russia and he followed it. He should be released immediately. There are no charges. There is no case. Russia is holding an innocent man. The world is watching."

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. With 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization, the Club is a leading voice for Press Freedom worldwide.

The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with the skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. The NPCJI is the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club.

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

SOURCE National Press Club
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Netenrich , the Resolution Intelligence Cloud company, today announced its participation at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit , on June 5-7, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

The company invites Summit attendees to learn how its Resolution Intelligence Cloud is building security operations at scale by applying data analytics, machine learning, and automation. The platform aligns operations to risk by providing context and intelligence-driven actions for improved efficiency.

Security professionals can also learn how Netenrich helps enterprises modernize their operations by addressing the key topics discussed at the conference:

Resolution Intelligence Cloud leverages a cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA) framework and unifies security tools and data to work together in an interoperable and open architecture. By removing silos, organizations gain a common operational view of their entire security environment from which to manage, control, and maximize effectiveness. Learn more about CSMA here.

Resolution Intelligence Cloud is mentioned as a representative vendor in a recent Gartner report, Emerging Tech: Security  Emergence Cycle for Automated Moving Target Defense1 (AMTD). The platform provides several emerging technologies essential to executing a successful AMTD foundation. Download your complimentary report here.

Company representatives will be on hand to meet and discuss your security needs during the Tech Expo at Netenrich booth #503.

Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit

When: June 5-7, 2023

Where: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland

Netenrich Booth #503

Google Chronicle Booth #522

How: Contact Netenrich to schedule a time to speak with Netenrich at the summit.

1Source: Gartner, "Emerging Tech: Security  Emergence Cycle for Automated Moving Target Defense," Lawrence Pingree, Carl Manion, Mark Pohto, Travis Lee, Rustam Malik, Ruggero Contu, Dan Ayoub, Dave Messett, 1 May 2023.

To learn more about the Netenrich Resolution Intelligence Cloud for secure data-driven operations, visit https://netenrich.com/platform .

About Netenrich

Netenrich boosts the effectiveness of organizations' security and digital operations so they can avoid disruption and manage risk. Resolution Intelligence Cloud is our native-cloud data analytics platform for enterprises and services providers that need highly scalable, multitenant security operations and/or digital operations management. Resolution Intelligence Cloud transforms security and operations data into intelligence that organizations can act on before critical issues occur. More than 3,000 customers and managed service providers rely on Netenrich to deliver secure operations at scale.

Media Contacts

Emily Ashley

[email protected] (916) 710-0950

Judy Kaneko

[email protected] (669) 600-1602

SOURCE Netenrich
In stark contrast to older physicians, the gender breakdown is equal

among physicians 44 years and younger

CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to new data released by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), more doctors than ever are certified by its Member Boards, which benefits patients and their families across the country.

The 2021-2022 ABMS Board Certification Report shows that more than 975,000 physicians are currently certified by an ABMS Member Board, representing an increase of more than 35,000 physicians (3.7 percent) over the previous year. This data is current as of June 30, 2022.

"Certification by an ABMS Member Board is the cornerstone of physician quality," stated ABMS Senior Vice President, Certification Standards and Programs Greg Ogrinc, MD, MS. "It is incredibly gratifying to see so many physicians nationwide using board certification to demonstrate their specialty expertise and commitment to provide safe, high-quality, and effective care."

The board certification process was created more than 100 years ago as a rigorous, independent evaluation of a physician's experience, knowledge, and skills. Today, certification by an ABMS Member Board supports continuous assessment and professional development activities. While doctors are required to be licensed by the state in which they practice, board certification is a higher standard that doctors choose to attain and maintain.

For more than 45 years, the annual ABMS Board Certification Report has illustrated the continued importance of board certification as a public credential. Several entities use ABMS data as the definitive guide to specialties and board certification in the U.S. For example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses ABMS certification data for its popular "Physician Compare" web site. To verify that their doctor has taken that extra step to practice at the top of their profession and deliver high-quality and safe care, patients can visit www.CertificationMatters.org.

The 2021-2022 ABMS Board Certification Report offers a variety of information about the 40 specialty and 89 subspecialty certification programs administered by the 24 Member Boards that comprise ABMS. This 62-page report also includes a snapshot of the active certificates held by ABMS Member Board certified physicians, also known as "diplomates."

The breakdown of age and gender for the diplomate population continues to change over time. The younger cohort (44 years old and younger) shows an even distribution between male (45.4 percent) and female (44.5 percent). This is in stark contrast to older cohorts, including the 6574-year-old group, which is 74.4 percent male and 24.2 percent female. Currently, 30.2 percent of all active diplomates are women, while 64.8 percent are men, with approximately five percent of diplomates' genders unknown. The median age of an ABMS board certified diplomate is 55 years old and the mean age is 56.9 years old.

Report highlights include:

In 2021, the 24 Member Boards awarded 38,901 new specialty certificates and 16,100 new subspecialty certificates.

Colorful charts and infographics that break down important data, such as the distribution of board certified diplomates by ABMS Member Board, state, age, and gender.

Published annually, the ABMS Board Certification Report can be downloaded from the ABMS website. This report reflects information reported by the 24 ABMS Member Boards and data from the ABMS certification database, which contains more than one million records. The database is updated daily with information received from Member Boards and is considered a primary source for professional certification verification. ABMS offers www.CertificationMatters.org, a free online tool that the public can use to verify that their doctors are board certified.

About ABMS

Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is responsible for the creation of standards overseeing physician certification in the United States. Dedicated to improving the quality of care to the patients, families and communities they serve, the 24 ABMS Member Boards develop educational and professional standards and programs of assessment to certify physicians and medical specialists. More than 975,000 physicians and medical specialists are certified by one or more of the ABMS Member Boards in one or more of 40 specialties and 89 subspecialties. For more information about ABMS, visit abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

SOURCE American Board of Medical Specialties
Sustained Investment in Public Health Infrastructure and Preparedness is Needed to Protect Lives During Disease Outbreaks and Natural Disasters

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As infectious disease outbreaks and extreme weather events threaten the health of more Americans, a new report shows the need for strengthened national and state public health emergency preparedness.

Ready or Not 2023: Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, released today by Trust for America's Health, measures states' readiness to respond to a spectrum of health emergencies and to provide ongoing public health services. The report gives federal and state health officials and policymakers actionable data and recommends policies to improve the nation's emergency preparedness at a time when health emergencies are increasing. During 2022, the U.S. surpassed 1 million deaths due to COVID-19 and saw decreasing rates of routine vaccinations and increasing prevalence of health misinformation. In addition, the past year was the eighth consecutive year the U.S. experienced 10 or more billion-dollar weather-related disasters.

The report tiers states and the District of Columbia into three performance levels for health emergency preparedness: high, middle, and low. This year's report placed 19 states and DC in the high-performance tier, 16 states in the middle performance tier, and 15 states in the low performance tier.

High Tier  19 states & DC

CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MS, NJ, NC, OH, PA, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI

Middle Tier  16 states

AK, AL, AR, CA, IA, ID, IL, IN, MO, ND, NE, NH, NY, RI, SC, TX

Low Tier  15 states

AZ, HI, KY, LA, MI, MN, MT, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TN, WV, WY

"Increased and sustained investment in public health infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and health equity will save lives," said J. Nadine Gracia, M.D., MSCE, President and CEO of Trust for America's Health. "Federal, state, and local officials as well as leaders in the healthcare and business sectors should use our findings to identify and address gaps in public health preparedness. Neglecting to do so will mean that the country will not be as prepared as it needs to be for the next public health emergency."

The report's findings showed both areas of strength within the nation's public health system and areas that need attention.

Areas of strong performance include:

A majority of states have made preparations to expand healthcare and public health laboratory capacity in an emergency.

Most states are accredited in the areas of public health or emergency management. Some states are accredited in both.

Most U.S. residents who received their household water through a community water system had access to safe water. However recent water system failures in Jackson, Mississippi and Newark, New Jersey demonstrate the importance of continued attention to the integrity of municipal water systems.

Areas that need attention include:

Too few people were vaccinated against seasonal flu last year despite significant improvement in flu vaccination rates in recent years. During the 2021-2022 flu season, 51 percent of Americans ages 6 months or older received a flu vaccine, well short of the 70 percent goal established by Healthy People 2030 .

. Only half the U.S. population is served by a comprehensive public health system. Comprehensive public health systems ensure that necessary health services are available to all residents.

Only 26 percent of hospitals in states, on average, earned a top-quality patient safety grade in 2022. Hospital safety scores measure performance on such issues as healthcare-associated infection rates, intensive-care capacity, and an overall culture of error prevention.

The report contains recommendations for policy actions that would create a stronger public health system at all levels, including:

The Administration, Congress, and state lawmakers should modernize public health infrastructure, including by investing $4.5 billion annually to support foundational public health capabilities. In addition, Congress should continue to increase funding for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement and public health data modernization to allow for earlier and more accurate detection of emerging health threats.

annually to support foundational public health capabilities. In addition, Congress should continue to increase funding for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement and public health data modernization to allow for earlier and more accurate detection of emerging health threats. Policymakers at all levels should act to protect and strengthen public health authorities and should prioritize rebuilding trust in public health agencies and leaders.

Congress and state legislatures should invest in effective public health communications, including countering misinformation.

Congress and states should ensure first-dollar coverage for all recommended vaccines under commercial insurance and for uninsured people. States should minimize vaccine exemptions for school children, and healthcare facilities should increase rates of vaccination for healthcare workers.

Congress and states should provide job-protected paid leave for employees due to illness or family caregiving demands.

Congress and states should invest in policies and capacity to address the social determinants of health such as secure housing, access to transportation, and access to healthy food.

Congress should fund the entire medical countermeasures (MCM) enterprise, including the distribution and dispensing of MCMs. Congress should also create incentives for new products to prevent and fight antibiotic-resistant infections.

Congress and states should strengthen readiness for climate change, extreme weather, and environmental health threats.

Read the full report at: https://www.tfah.org/report-details/ready-or-not-2023/

Trust for America's Health is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes optimal health for every person and community and makes the prevention of illness and injury a national priority.

www.tfah.org

Twitter: @healthyamerica1

SOURCE Trust for America's Health
NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new analysis led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) at the University of Florida found a 349 percent rise in seizures of illicit ketamine by drug enforcement throughout the United States from 2017 through 2022.

The study findings suggest that rising use of ketamine, a short-acting dissociative anesthetic commonly prescribed off-label to treat chronic pain and depression, can increase the likelihood that people who use recreationally or who use inadvertently may encounter an adulterated and potentially harmful version of the drug. The study publishes online May 24 in JAMA Psychiatry.

"This dramatic rise in ketamine seizures by law enforcement may be indicative of rising nonmedical and recreational use," said study author Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health and a researcher in the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU School of Global Public Health. "Unlike illegal ketamine years ago, most illegally obtained ketamine today is not pharmaceutical grade and is sold in powder form which may increase the risk that it contains other drugs such as fentanyl." He further added, "Unintentional exposure to fentanyl can lead to overdose."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government eased prescribing practices for controlled substances so that more patients could use telemedicine and retain access to vital medications. While many patients benefited, the loosened restrictions also gave rise to an industry of pop-up clinics prescribing ketamine online and off label for a variety of mental health conditions, with little oversight of side effects.

"Though the risk of overdose from ketamine alone is low, some people who use the drug report negative dissociative side effects, such as feeling dizzy or nauseous." In addition, Palamar, who has published extensively on the use of "club drugs" such as ketamine, MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy), and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), among others, warns that people who use ketamine recreationally should be concerned about more than the drug's dissociative side effects.

The fear, according to Palamar, is that any illegal powder in the U.S. may be contaminated with fentanyl, just as it is now turning up in heroin and cocaine. He also warns that media and medical promotion of prescription ketamine in recent years is fueling black-market use and availability.

In addition to describing the rapid rise in ketamine seizures from 2017 to 2022, Palamar and colleagues found that the total weight of ketamine seized in the U.S. increased from 127 pounds in 2017 to about 1,550 pounds in 2022, an increase of more than 1,100 percent. The highest numbers of seizures were reported in Tennessee, Florida, and California, but it is unclear if these states have the highest usage since the location of seizures does not necessarily reflect the final destination of the drug shipments.

Palamar hopes these latest findings will better inform prevention and harm reduction strategies to protect the public from increased exposure to illegal ketamine and possible adverse effects from use. NDEWS continues to monitor the use and effects of ketamine and many novel drugs to alert the public about alarming trends in a timely manner.

In addition to Palamar, co-investigators include senior author Linda B. Cottler, PhD, MPH, at the University of Florida in Gainesville; Samuel T. Wilkinson, at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.; Thomas H. Carr, at the University of Baltimore in Maryland; and Caroline Rutherford, at Columbia University in New York City.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under grant numbers U01DA051126 and R01DA044207. The content of this research is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Media Inquiries:

Sasha Walek

[email protected]

917-838-9607

SOURCE NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Health
New Story Schools' special education students are headed to the workforce, to postsecondary education, and beyond with the critical academic knowledge, technical and life skills they gained at New Story Schools.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New Story Schools, a leading provider of special education and therapeutic services in Ohio, is thrilled to announce the graduation of 13 students from their schools across the state. New Story Schools has impacted the lives of students and families for decades, promoting lifelong educational, workforce and post-high school success for students with autism spectrum disorder, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

In honor of the graduating class of 2023, New Story Schools hosted graduations on May 19 in Columbus and Independence, Ohio.

"We are so proud of each of our graduates and the hard work that they put in to reach this amazing milestone." said Dr. Jill Blanchard, Senior Vice President of Operations in Ohio. "Graduation is such a special time where we get to celebrate not only our students' achievements, but also the hard work of our team members and families here at New Story Schools who helped each student reach this important milestone."

New Story Schools provides students, families, and district partners with special education services supporting students ages 5-22 in grades kindergarten through 12 throughout 5 locations in Ohio. Specifically, we provide tiered levels of educational support for students with disabilities, including those associated with autism spectrum disorder and behavioral challenges.

For more information, visit our website. www.newstoryschools.com

About New Story Schools

New Story Schools are part of the New Story network of schools and clinics, a leading provider of special and alternative education and therapeutic services for children and young adults. New Story's schools and clinics serve families across Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For more information, visit www.newstory.com.

SOURCE New Story Schools
New Story Schools' special education students are headed to the workforce, to postsecondary education, and beyond with the critical academic knowledge, technical and life skills they gained at New Story Schools.

PENNSYLVANIA, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New Story Schools, a leading provider of special education and therapeutic services in Pennsylvania, is thrilled to announce the graduation of over 35 students from their schools across the state. Over the course of its two and a half decades, New Story Schools has impacted the lives of thousands of students and families, promoting lifelong educational, workforce and post-high school success for students with autism spectrum disorder, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

In honor of the graduating class of 2023, New Story Schools will be hosting celebrations across the state with guest speakers, music, refreshments and more throughout the months of May and June.

"We are so proud of the incredible growth of each of our graduates," said Christina Spielbauer, Senior Vice President of Operations in Pennsylvania. "A celebration of each of our students' success is a celebration of our educators, clinicians, therapists, administrators, and support staff, and the amazing work they do each day at New Story Schools."

New Story Schools provides students, families, and district partners with special education services supporting students ages 5-21 in grades kindergarten through 12 throughout 15 locations in Pennsylvania. Specifically, we provide tiered levels of educational support for students with disabilities, including those associated with autism spectrum disorder and behavioral challenges.

For more information, visit our website. www.newstoryschools.com

About New Story Schools

New Story Schools are part of the New Story network of schools and clinics, a leading provider of special and alternative education and therapeutic services for children and young adults. New Story's schools and clinics serve families across Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For more information, visit www.newstory.com.

SOURCE New Story Schools
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace discussed the continuation of training of the Ukrainian servicemen in the UK, as well as the main training priorities.

"We talked about the continuation of the training of our troops on the British territory, about the main priorities and emphasis on these trainings. We had the opportunity to shake hands with pilots who have studied in the UK and are already successfully using a weapon called Storm Shadow," Reznikov said during a meeting with the British Defense Secretary in Kyiv on Tuesday.

In turn, Wallace said he was pleased to be in Ukraine and communicate directly with the military.

The UK Secretary of State for Defence said he always enjoys visiting the Ukrainian capital, talking not only with his counterpart, but also with the military, discussing their plans and ambitions and how he can be more involved in helping to realize these plans.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NextRoll, the San Francisco-based marketing technology company delivering products for ambitious marketers to grow their businesses, today announced it has secured $50M in committed financing from Capital IP. The investment will be used to strategically support the next wave of innovation on NextRoll's marketing software for both its business units: AdRoll , its marketing and advertising platform for eCommerce brands, and RollWorks , its account-based marketing platform to help B2B companies grow revenue. This news follows a notable market response to the company's software offerings over the last few years.

"We are thrilled by this financing from Capital IP, which will enable us to execute strategic growth initiatives and accelerate our software transformation," says Roli Saxena, Chief Executive Officer of NextRoll. "The momentum we've seen in software adoption demonstrates our market potential and the value we deliver to our customers during a time when they need it most."

Today's complex marketing landscape and challenging economy requires brands and businesses to leverage new tools and strategies to grow revenue more efficiently. With deep data and machine learning foundations and new innovative offerings across its software platforms, NextRoll is uniquely positioned to streamline how teams identify, engage, and retain customers to achieve efficient growth at a time when every team needs to do more with less.

"NextRoll has a strong market position in not one, but two categories," said Capital IP's Managing Partner Riyad Shahjahan. "The impressive growth of their subscription software business, strong demonstrated retention and the strong foundations of their advertising heritage underscore their mission-critical product suite and the value they deliver for customers. We're excited to partner with NextRoll as they deliver on an exciting roadmap ahead and continue to drive towards being a Rule of 40 company."

About NextRoll

NextRoll is a marketing technology company delivering products ambitious marketers use and rely on to grow their businesses. Powered by machine learning and integrated data platforms, NextRoll's technology serves tens of thousands of businesses globally through its two business units: RollWorks, an account-based platform for business-to-business marketing and sales teams, and AdRoll, a marketing and advertising platform for direct-to-consumer brands. NextRoll is a privately-held, remote-friendly company headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in New York City, Dublin, and Sydney. To learn more, visit www.nextroll.com .

About Capital IP

Capital IP Investment Partners ("Capital IP" or "CapIP") is a minority co-founded specialty credit firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Our collaborative approach to investing, combined with our technology-industry expertise, allows Capital IP to assess the intrinsic value of growing technology businesses and to offer a range of novel, creative financing solutions. The Capital IP team has a long, proven history of providing flexible structured credit to companies in the technology sector, and continues to lead the industry in financial innovation. The principals of CapIP have historically invested over $1.3 billion in innovative, emerging companies. For more information on Capital IP Investment Partners, please visit: www.capitalip.com.

CONTACT: Alyssa Dowdalls, Sr. Brand Marketing Manager, NextRoll, [email protected]

SOURCE NextRoll Inc.
Through the Community Development Certification, Credit Union Will Expand Programs to Serve and Support Underserved San Diego Communities

SAN DIEGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- North Island Credit Union announced today that it is the first credit union in San Diego County to receive certification as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) by the U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund. The CDFI certification is available only to organizations that have proven they provide financial services and products in communities that have historically lacked access to traditional banking services.

"We're excited to earn this certification, which will enable us to expand on our mission to improve lives in our San Diego communities. The opportunities available to us as a CDFI will amplify our programs to invest in San Diego communities that need it most through providing critically needed access to capital and education programs," said North Island Credit Union President/CEO Steve O'Connell. "We look forward to this next step in serving and supporting our underserved communities by moving more underbanked community members to traditional financial services and providing loan programs to spark new growth and development in our service areas."

Certified CDFIs are part of a national network promoting economic growth in America's underserved communities by financing businesses, creating jobs, and rebuilding neighborhoods. The CDFI certification allows qualified financial institutions to access federal funds to provide financial products and services in low-income communities for local residents and businesses. North Island Credit Union is the first credit union to receive the designation in San Diego County; there are now 36 CDFI certified credit unions in the state, per CDFI Fund data as of May 15, 2023.

With this certification, North Island Credit Union will apply for grant funding later this year to further expand its mission-driven programs for historically underserved San Diego communities that lack access to traditional, affordable financial products and services.

CDFI certification is the latest step in North Island Credit Union's mission to meet the needs of underserved populations in its communities. Its Option Checking account was recently certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards, offering safe access to a traditional checking account, with zero fees or overdraft charges to support moving members out of a debt cycle. The credit union also has adjusted underwriting guidelines to provide easier access to funds, launched credit card products for members looking to build/restore credit, and offers a full suite of financial education and literacy resources.

In earning the certification, North Island Credit Union worked with CU Strategic Planning, a Tacoma, Washington-based firm that assists institutions with the CDFI application process.

About North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union

California Credit Union is a federally insured, state chartered credit union founded in 1933 that serves public or private school employees, community members and businesses across California. With more than 170,000 members and assets of over $4.5 billion, California Credit Union has 24 branches throughout Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The credit union operates in San Diego County as North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union. California Credit Union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking, and leading-edge online and mobile banking. Please visit northisland.ccu.com for more information or follow the credit union on Instagram or Facebook @northislandcu.

SOURCE North Island Credit Union
VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Pan Global Resources Inc. ("Pan Global" or the "Company") (TSXV: PGZ) (OTCQB: PGZFF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Corinne Smit, CPA-CA, as a Director of the Company.

Ms. Smit has almost two decades of experience working in managerial positions for publicly listed mining companies and in public accounting practice. She has extensive experience in all aspects of commercial mining operations including development of strategy, export logistics and supply chain management, marketing/sales, budgeting and forecasting, risk management, and hedging.

"We are excited to have Corinne join the Board of Pan Global. She brings a deep understanding of mining finance, marketing and product sales gained from almost two decades of industry experience," said Chairman Patrick Evans. "As Pan Global advances the Escacena and Aguilas Projects, her insight will benefit us greatly."

Ms. Smit currently serves Newmont Corporation as Senior Director, Concentrates and Dore Sales and Marketing. Her previous roles include Director, Marketing and Logistics for Nevada Copper, Senior Marketing Manager for Nevsun Resources, and Concentrate Marketing Manager for Capstone Mining Corp. She began her career in Audit and Assurance for PwC in Vancouver and Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

Pan Global has granted Ms. Smit 500,000 stock options of the Company. The stock options were granted pursuant to the Company's Omnibus Equity Incentive Compensation Plan. Each stock option entitles the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.35 per common share for a period of five years from the date of grant. The options will vest as follows: 250,000 after 12 months and the remaining 250,000 after 24 months.

About Pan Global Resources

Pan Global Resources Inc. is actively targeting copper-rich mineral deposits, given copper's compelling supply-demand fundamentals and outlook for strong long-term prices as a critical metal for global electrification and energy transition. The Company's flagship Escacena Project is located in the prolific Iberian Pyrite Belt in southern Spain, where infrastructure, mining and professional expertise, and support for copper as a Strategic Raw Material by the European Commission collectively define a tier-one jurisdiction for mining investment. The Pan Global team comprises proven talent in exploration, development, and mine operations - all of which are committed to operating safely and with utmost respect for the environment and our partnered communities.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE Pan Global Resources Inc.
SILICON VALLEY, Calif., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dechert LLP announced today that Nisha Patel Gupta has returned to the firm as an intellectual property partner based in Silicon Valley. The addition of Ms. Gupta strengthens the firm's intellectual property capabilities in California and internationally. Ms. Gupta joins from Dechert client, LinkedIn.

Nisha Patel Gupta

Ms. Gupta focuses her practice on IP litigation, with an emphasis on patent litigation matters. With a wealth of experience representing technology, medical device and pharmaceutical companies in IP litigation suits as both plaintiffs and defendants, Ms. Gupta is well-versed in handling complex cases. Her in-depth technological experience spans a diverse range of electrical and mechanical fields, such as telecommunications, Internet platforms, computer architecture, fiber optics semiconductor devices / microfabrication, medical devices and telehealth systems.

Ms. Gupta's litigation expertise encompasses all aspects of trial and appellate practice in federal courts across the United States. Additionally, she has considerable experience prosecuting patents and managing post-grant matters before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including re-examination and inter partes review proceedings. Ms. Gupta re-joins us after working in-house at LinkedIn where she managed large-scale global litigation, which now allows her to offer a fresh business perspective and an understanding of the litigation experience from the client's point of view. Ms. Gupta received a B.S. from UC Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Jeff Plies, co-chair of Dechert's intellectual property group, said: "Nisha is an excellent intellectual property lawyer, with vast experience in handling complex patent litigation matters. Her experience will further enhance the firm's IP capabilities across various industries, and we are delighted to welcome her back to Dechert."

Commenting on her arrival, Ms. Gupta said: "I am thrilled to be re-joining Dechert's outstanding IP practice. I look forward to working alongside both new and former colleagues to continue to develop the practice while delivering strategic solutions to our clients across various industries."

Ms. Gupta's return to the firm marks the eighth lawyer to return to Dechert as a partner since 2021, following Richard Pugh, Kathleen Mylod, Alon Goldberger, Sonia Gioseffi, Jon Burke, Steven Engel and Colin Sharpsmith.

Dechert's global IP practice is known for maximizing the commercial value of its clients' intellectual property. Its lawyers have extensive experience assisting companies with monetizing and extracting value from their IP portfolios, including managing strategic worldwide licensing campaigns and representing clients in both defensive and enforcement litigation around the world.

About Dechert

Dechert is a leading global law firm with 21 offices around the world. The firm advises on matters and transactions of the greatest complexity, bringing energy, creativity and efficient management of legal issues to deliver commercial and practical advice for clients.

SOURCE Dechert LLP
Bookings for the new location open soon!

RICHMOND, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- America's original party bike is coming to Richmond this summer! As the first franchise in Virginia, Pedal Pub RVA offers a unique way to take in the sites and experience Richmond with family, friends and coworkers. Bookings for the bike tours will launch soon and tours will run through Scott's Addition starting summer 2023.

Pedal Pub offers 14-seat party bikes that take tours around cities' breweries, restaurants, coffee shops and stadiums. The Richmond tour will visit popular spots in Scott's Addition like the Park RVA, Vasen Brewing, Buskey Cider, Slingshot and more. Richmond residents can head to the Flying Squirrels stadium on May 30 for the chance to win discounted tours and free giveaways from Pedal Pub RVA.

"Richmond is the perfect place for a Pedal Pub. We're an active community and enjoy socializing and exploring," says co-owner of Pedal Pub RVA Adam Seale. "Scott's Addition is particularly exciting with its extensive range of breweries, cideries, distilleries and restaurants. The city's investment and growth coming to the Diamond District in 2026 makes it a great location to make new memories with friends and family."

Pedal Pub is dedicated to creating fun and safe memory-building experiences for everyone. Every Pedal Pub Pilot is thoroughly trained, and each party bike is outfitted with numerous safety features.

Fellow co-owner of Pedal Pub RVA Matt Benoist says, "Adam and I are lifelong friends, and we wanted to go into business together. Post-COVID, we feel that investing in experiences and helping others create memories is more important than ever. We're excited to bring Pedal Pub to the Richmond community and provide a safe opportunity for friends like us to have fun."

Started in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Pedal Pub now has more than 60 locations across the U.S. and Canada. For more information and booking visit www.pedalpub.com/richmond-va .

About Pedal Pub:

Pedal Pub was founded in 2007. As a leader in the experiential tourism industry, Pedal Pub provides guests with a uniquely fun, social and exciting two-hour experience. The brand has over 60 licensed locations open and operating throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more about the brand, locations and booking a tour visit www.pedalpubpartybikes.com .

Media Contact: Anna Torrez

Phone Number: (651) 788-6701

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.pedalpub.com/richmond-va/

SOURCE Pedal Pub RVA
Top Audit Industry Leader Brings Decades of Experience to PenFed's Leadership Team

TYSONS, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PenFed Credit Union, the nation's second largest federal credit union, is pleased to welcome Terry Grafenstine as Chief Audit Executive and Executive Vice President. Grafenstine joins the executive management team and is responsible for leading internal auditing across the enterprise.

PenFed Credit Union Welcomes Terry Grafenstine as Chief Audit Executive, Executive Vice President

"Terry is a highly respected leader who has advanced the auditing and accounting profession. PenFed is proud to welcome her as part of our top-level executive team," said PenFed President and CEO James Schenck. "PenFed's Supervisory Committee was committed to searching the country for the best and brightest leader with extensive auditing expertise to support PenFed's mission and serve our 2.9 million members."

With over 25 years of experience, Grafenstine is a recognized leader in the audit profession and speaks globally on auditing, accounting, cyber security, leadership, and risk. In 2021, Security Magazine recognized her as one of the top ten security professionals. In 2019, the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) recognized her as one of the "Top Ten Audit Thought Leaders of the Decade" and inducted her into its Hall of Distinguished Practitioners. Grafenstine has helped to advance the auditing and accounting profession through her leadership roles as a member of the IIA's North American and global boards of directors, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) board of directors, and as the global chair of ISACA. She previously held leadership positions at Citi and Deloitte and served as the Inspector General for the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to 2017. Grafenstine also served on PenFed's Supervisory Committee and as chairwoman of the committee from 2014 to 2018.

"I am very excited about joining PenFed as its Chief Audit Executive," said Grafenstine. "Having been a PenFed member for over 30 years and as its former Supervisory Committee chair, it truly feels like I am returning home. I am honored to be able to support PenFed's important mission and its 2.9 million members."

Grafenstine is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

About PenFed Credit Union

Established in 1935, Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is America's second-largest federal credit union, serving 2.9 million members worldwide with $35.3 billion in assets. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading certificates, checking, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and a wide range of other financial services with members' interests always in mind. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an Equal Housing Lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org , like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter . Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on LinkedIn . We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

SOURCE PenFed Credit Union
STOCKHOLM, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV) (SSE: ALIVsdb), the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, announces that Petra Albuschus will join the company as Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Sustainability and will become a member of the Autoliv Executive Management Team. She will succeed Per Ericson who will retire.

Petra Albuschus joins Autoliv from Swedish retail company ICA Gruppen AB where she serves as Chief Human Resources Officer and a member of the ICA Gruppen executive management team. In her career, Petra has accumulated valuable leadership and logistics experience from ICA Gruppen and from Procter & Gamble.

Petra is expected to begin her employment by Autoliv no later than November 15, 2023, and will report to Mikael Bratt, President and CEO of Autoliv.

"I am pleased to welcome Petra to Autoliv. Her expertise and experience in leadership and management development from global roles in retail and consumer goods will be a valuable addition to the Autoliv management team," said Mikael Bratt, President and CEO of Autoliv.

Petra succeeds Per Ericson who will retire.

"From managing the task force that addressed the challenges related to the pandemic to the formalization and announcement of our climate targets, I would like to thank Per Ericson for his valued contributions to Autoliv," Mikael Bratt continued.

Inquiries:

Media: Gabriella Ekelund, Tel +46 (70) 612 64 24

Investors & Analysts: Anders Trapp, Tel +46 (0)8 587 206 71

Investors & Analysts: Henrik Kaar, Tel +46 (0)8 587 206 14

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/751/3773597/2077614.pdf Press release as PDF

SOURCE Autoliv
The world's largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool and outdoor living products has donated over $3M to local YMCAs.

COVINGTON, La., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As May marks the 20th Annual National Water Safety Month and the start of summer swimming season with the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, POOLCORP is once again teaming up with YMCAs across the country to help children learn life-saving swimming skills.

POOLCORP Swim Safety Program Partner, YMCA in Goodyear, AZ, holds critical life-saving swimming lessons.

POOLCORP, the leading global wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies and outdoor living products, including a vast line of pool tile, finish, and hardscapes through its network of NPT Design Centers, has donated more than $3 million to 21 YMCAs throughout the country since the program's inception in 2021. The donated funds have been critical in providing free training for 2,000 lifeguards and swim lessons for more than 30,000 children who otherwise would not have had the chance to participate.

"As an organization and a leader in the swimming pool industry, we believe that everyone should know how to swim," said Kendall Large, POOLCORP's Vice President of Strategic Marketing, "and at the center of our program is an unwavering commitment to reach children who are furthest from this opportunity."

Research shows that 79% of children in households with an income less than $50,000 have few-to-no swimming skills. In addition, just over a third of U.S. parents say they cannot afford swimming lessons for their children. POOLCORP's partnership with the YMCA is aimed at closing that gap through continued support in 2023.

This year, POOLCORP announced new partnerships with community YMCAs in California, Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Further, POOLCORP's 6,000 employees also play a significant role in the program. To guarantee children have what they need to participate in swim lessons, POOLCORP employees donate new swimsuits, towels, and other swim gear to help ensure that there are no barriers keeping kids from joining in.

"We are committed to making a difference in the communities where we live and work," said Jennifer Neil, POOLCORP's Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. "For children, learning to swim is a critical safety skill, but it's also a way to boost confidence and help pave the way for a better, happier future  and we are proud to support that pathway in every way possible," Neil added.

Gordon Wadge, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater New Orleans, has been part of POOLCORP's swim safety program since its inception and continues to see a positive impact in the community today. "POOLCORP's partnership with the YMCA saves lives. It's that important and especially as we enter the summer swim season," said Wadge. "Together, we want every child to be safe around the water  and with the YMCA being known as America's Swim Instructor and POOLCORP as one of the leaders in the swimming pool industry  what better partnership to make this happen," added Wadge.

For more information about POOLCORP's partnership with YMCAs and other charitable programs, visit poolcorp.com/splash-of-joy. Swim gear donations from the community are also welcome through the program's Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3JLJT4OQL4CE3?ref_=wl_share.

Pool Corporation (POOLCORP) is the world's largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool and related backyard products. Through its distribution networks that include SCP Distributors, Superior Pool Products, Horizon Distributors and National Pool Tile, POOLCORP operates approximately 425 sales centers in North America, Europe, and Australia through which it distributes more than 200,000 national brand and private label products to roughly 125,000 wholesale customers. For more information about POOLCORP, please visit www.poolcorp.com.

SOURCES:

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/water-safety/drowning-prevention-and-facts.html

a-splash-of-joy-infographic.pdf (poolcorp.com)

SOURCE POOLCORP
Study finds an embedded on-site genetics nurse can help reduce barriers to germline testing and improve genetic care for at-risk patients and families

LOS ANGELES, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)-funded researchers found that U.S. Veterans with cancer who receive in-person genetics counseling versus a telehealth consult are significantly more likely to complete full germline genetic testing, findings which may help address disparities in patient access to precision oncology therapies and improve early detection and screening practices for families.

The research led by 2020 Gary & Allison Lieberman-PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award recipient Kara Maxwell, MD, PhD, and her team at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center (CMCVAMC) was recently published in the journal JCO Oncology Practice. Maxwell is also the Director of the newly established Men & BRCA Program within the Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine.

"Without a doubt, telemedicine has many benefits, but this research shows that when it comes to genetic counseling and testing, in-person consults are most impactful," said PCF Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer Howard R. Soule, PhD. "PCF commends Dr. Maxwell and her colleagues and proudly supports their efforts to extend leading-edge precision oncology care to our nation's Veterans."

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care to over 9 million Veterans. Among them, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer, accounting for about a third of all VA cancer cases.

Germline genetic testing, which evaluates inherited mutations in genes, plays a large role in secondary screening for (in at risk individuals) and treatment of prostate, and several other, cancers. However, barriers to genetic testing  such as lack of access to cancer genetic services and an overall shortage of genetics service providers, both within and outside of the VA  translate to missed opportunities to diagnose cancer earlier, identify at risk family members, and offer precision oncology treatment. Telehealth genetic consults, also known as telegenetics, help expand access to genetic services, but some studies suggest that they widen racial and ethnic disparities with regard to genetic testing. The VA provides genetics care to Veterans through telegenetics as well as through on-site programs such as the racially diverse oncology practice at CMCVAMC.

To determine whether an on-site, nurse-led genetics program could address these barriers and improve cancer genetic care, Maxwell  a CMCVAMC staff physician and an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania  and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of 238 Veterans referred to CMCVAMC for genetics services. Of this cohort, 130 received consults through the VA's telegenetics service and 108 through on-site consultations. More than 50% of the patients were Black. A total of 117 underwent germline testing after the genetics consult.

Researchers found that those who were seen on-site had higher rates of genetic testing completion and lower rates of being lost to continuing follow-up care. Patients seen on-site had more than a three-fold higher likelihood of completed germline testing; and for Black Veterans, the likelihood was close to five-fold higher.

Explaining the results, the researchers point out that patients receiving on-site consults had better access to genetic testing. In the on-site program, led by advanced practice genetics nurse and study co-author Lisa Aiello, PhD, RN, AOCNS, genetic testing occurs at the time of the consult; with the telegenetics model, testing kits are mailed to the Veteran's home to be completed later, which can be a significant barrier, particularly for Veterans with unstable housing. Researchers also explain that a face-to-face interaction with a trusted health care provider may be a better forum for having psychosocially complex genetic counseling discussions than telemedicine.

Taken together, the findings suggest that an on-site genetics service can potentially mitigate barriers and disparities and increase access to germline genetic testing for all patients regardless of racial or ethnic background.

The study builds on PCF's collaboration with VA's Office of Nursing Services and Office of Research and Development and two national program offices, the VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (Salt Lake City, UT) and the National Oncology Program (Durham, NC). Experts including Lori Hoffman Hogg, MS, RN, CNS, AOCN, VHA's Office of Nursing Services National Clinical Nurse Advisor and the VHA National Program Manager for Prevention Policy at the National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and Julie A. Lynch, PhD, MBA, RN, a Clinical Research Scientist and Investigator at the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VA), identified the opportunity to enhance the delivery of precision oncology through nursing-led genetic service, research, and training programs.

In conducting this study, Maxwell was also supported by the Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine, the National Cancer Institute, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and Independence Blue Cross through the PCF New Data Nurse of the Future pilot program award, which supported Aiello and established the nurse-led genetics service program at CMCVAMC serving a catchment area of VA medical centers in Philadelphia, PA, East Orange, NJ, and Wilmington, DE. This program works in conjunction with PCF's Veterans Health Initiative, which has committed more than $50 million through a multi-year partnership with the VA to provide US Veterans with access to precision oncology care, genomics research and clinical trials. The Philadelphia CMCVAMC is the Precision Oncology Center of Excellence in honor of Jonathan and Plum Simons with funding support from Andy Astrachan of the AJA Foundation and Marc and Mindy Utay of the Utay Family Foundation in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, administrative support from the VA Non-Profit Philadelphia Research Education Foundation (PREF) and CMCVAMC. PCF's nurse-led genetics service network is further supported by Arthur Rabin and Drew and Melissa Katz of the Katz Foundation.

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's leading philanthropic organization dedicated to funding life-saving prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993 by Mike Milken, PCF has been responsible for raising close to $1 billion in support of cutting-edge research by more than 2,200 research projects at 245 leading cancer centers in 28 countries around the world. Since PCF's inception, and through its efforts, patients around the world are living longer, suffering fewer complications, and enjoying better quality of life. PCF is committed to creating a global public square for prostate cancer, in service to our mission of ending death and suffering from the disease. Learn more at pcf.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Staci L. Vernick

Prostate Cancer Foundation

[email protected]

[email protected]

610-812-6092

SOURCE Prostate Cancer Foundation
HOUSTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend to stockholders of $0.08 per share, or a rate of $0.32 per share on an annualized basis. The dividend is payable on July 14, 2023, to stockholders of record as of July 3, 2023.

Additionally, the Board of Directors, in support of management's request, has authorized a new stock repurchase program that authorizes the company to purchase, from time to time through June 30, 2026, up to $500 million of its outstanding common stock. The new stock repurchase program will become effective on July 1, 2023, upon expiration of the company's existing stock repurchase program. Under the existing stock repurchase program, which was approved in August 2020, the company has acquired approximately 1.4 million shares of its outstanding common stock in the open market for a total cost of approximately $155 million.

Repurchases may be implemented through open market or privately negotiated transactions, at management's discretion, based on market and business conditions, applicable contractual and legal requirements and other factors. Quanta is not obligated to acquire any specific amount of common stock, and Quanta's Board of Directors may modify or terminate the new repurchase program at any time at its sole discretion and without notice.

About Quanta Services

Quanta Services is a leading specialized contracting services company, delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the utility, renewable energy, communications, pipeline and energy industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements and Information

This press release (and any oral statements regarding the subject matter of this press release) contains forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the "safe harbor" from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to expectations regarding the declaration, amount or timing of any future dividends; expectations regarding Quanta's business or financial outlook; Quanta's ability to deliver increased value or return capital to stockholders; and future capital allocation initiatives, including the amount and timing of, and strategies with respect to, any future cash dividends or repurchases of our equity securities; as well as statements reflecting expectations, intentions, assumptions or beliefs about future events and other statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, involve or rely on a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict or are beyond our control, and reflect management's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements are made. We caution you that actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted by our forward-looking statements and that any or all of our forward-looking statements may turn out to be inaccurate or incorrect. Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions and by known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including, among others, market, industry, economic, financial or political conditions outside of the control of Quanta, quarterly variations in operating results, liquidity, financial condition, cash flows, capital requirements, reinvestment opportunities or other financial results; requirements relating to dividends under Delaware law and the credit agreement for Quanta's senior credit facility; fluctuations in the price and trading volume of Quanta's common stock; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Quanta's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, Quanta's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 and any other documents that Quanta files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a discussion of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, investors are urged to refer to Quanta's documents filed with the SEC that are available through the company's website at www.quantaservices.com or through the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering and Analysis Retrieval System (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are current only as of this date. Quanta does not undertake and expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Quanta further expressly disclaims any written or oral statements made by any third party regarding the subject matter of this press release.

Investors - Kip Rupp, CFA, IRC

Quanta Services, Inc.

(713) 341-7260

SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc.
Ukraine and Poland have signed a memorandum of cooperation on the inventory of cultural heritage losses caused by the Russian invasion.

"The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, represented by Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko, and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, represented by Professor Dr. Piotr Glinski, have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the inventory of architectural and archaeological losses caused by Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine," the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy said in a press release.

The goal of the Project to Save the Ukrainian Heritage initiative is to support efforts to save and preserve Ukraine's cultural heritage, which is under threat of destruction or damage, with a particular focus on UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the sites included in the Tentative List for inscription on the World Heritage List, documenting and analyzing its current state of conservation and the degree of its damage in certain administrative units, especially those affected by hostilities, and analyzing the effectiveness of the methods and procedures used today to document cultural losses in hostilities-affected territories.

According to the report, all of the above will be implemented, in particular, through the preparation of documentation on the destruction and damage of cultural heritage sites due to military operations of the Russian Federation using modern non-invasive methods. Satellite technologies and macro- and micro-spatial analysis for identifying the state of conservation of cultural heritage in territories liberated from occupation and post-conflict territories will be used. The collection of evidence of crimes against cultural heritage to investigate by an international criminal prosecution will be facilitated.

Factual support for the process of building a new system of integrated protection and management in the field of Ukraine's cultural heritage; training a group of Ukrainian specialists to document the damage caused by the war to cultural heritage, based on international and Polish experience in protecting the cultural heritage of post-conflict territories will be provided. Theoretical foundations and procedures for an updated interdisciplinary methodology for the field inventory of military damage in the cultural heritage area, adapted to the conditions of the European theater of war, will be developed.

"As part of the project implementation, Ukraine and Poland pledged to take several steps, both common and each separately, to bring the initiative to life. The project is planned to implement before December 31, 2023, with the possibility of extension with the parties' consent," the ministry said.
GENEVA, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Technologies' (NYSE: RTX) Collins Aerospace business today announced its plan to bring unlimited data to the customers of Vista, a leading private aviation group. Using Collins' LuxStream, which runs exclusively on the SES's high-throughput satellite (HTS) network, Vista customers can now enjoy fast, reliable, unlimited internet access for the duration of their flights.

Since 2019, Vista has installed LuxStream on more than 75 aircraft in its fleet. Now, LuxStream will be installed on more than 100 aircraft. The HTS hardware and solution, exclusive to Collins, allows customers to conduct video conference calls, stream videos, and send emails while inflight.

"Our relationships with Vista and SES deliver exceptional in-flight connectivity experiences to customers," said Jen Schopfer, president of Connected Aviation Solutions at Collins Aerospace. "A flat hourly rate for global Wi-Fi is a market first, but just the latest in a series of customer-centric innovations that has come from our years of collaboration."

Nick van der Meer, Chief Operating Officer of Vista, said, "At Vista, we are always looking to enhance the customer experience. Whether flying for business or leisure, we know high-speed connectivity, without data limits, is a key value proposition for our customers. Owing to the speeds, many of our customers prefer LuxStream for their in-flight connectivity, and we can now give them unlimited data simply by connecting to the aircraft's Wi-Fi."

"LuxStream is the result of a tremendous collaboration between SES and Collins Aerospace. Our network of high-throughput satellites enables Vista's passengers to experience the same kind of high-speed connectivity services they enjoy on land. This announcement marks the next step in delivering premium services and meeting the needs of business aviation providers and passengers globally," said Steve Collar, CEO of SES.

About Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace is part of Raytheon Technologies, the largest aerospace and defense company in the world. Our global team of 73,000 employees dreams, designs and delivers smarter, more connected solutions for passenger safety and comfort, mission success, space exploration, and operational efficiency and sustainability. We make the most powerful concepts in aerospace a reality. For more information, visit CollinsAerospace.com.

About Raytheon Technologies

Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) is the world's largest aerospace and defense company. Our global team of 180,000 employees pushes the limits of known science and redefines how we connect and protect our world. We are advancing aviation, building smarter defense systems and creating innovations to take us deeper into space. The company, with 2022 sales of $67 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

About Vista

Vista Global Holding's (Vista) subsidiaries provide worldwide business flight services. A global group headquartered at the DIFC in Dubai, Vista integrates a unique portfolio of companies offering asset free services to cover all key aspects of business aviation: guaranteed and on demand global flight coverage; subscription and membership solutions; trading and management services; and cutting-edge mobility technology. The Group's mission is to lead the change to provide clients with the most advanced flying services at the very best value, anytime, anywhere around the world. Vista's knowledge and understanding of all facets of the industry deliver the best end-to-end offering and technology to all business aviation clients, through its VistaJet and XO branded services and duly licensed carriers. Vista is not a direct air carrier and does not operate or charter flights. More Vista information and news at www.vistaglobal.com

About SES

SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world's only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world's leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES's video network carries ~8,000 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 369 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com

Media Contact

James Brindle

+1 317.778.5769

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Technologies
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To establish a successful small business, entrepreneurs should focus on what problem their service or product solves, according to SCORE , mentors to America's small businesses and a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Getting started

SCORE client Iyobosa Ero (right) developed the Chicago-based online travel solution Preparture with support from SCORE mentor Steven Lome.

Starting a business can be overwhelming, especially if you are the sole proprietor, and writing a business plan might not be the top priority on your to-do list. However, a business plan can do more than just outline action items and financial projections. It also demonstrates that your business should be taken seriously by funders, consumers and potential employees.

Business plan fundamentals

Every entrepreneur needs a business plan, but where do you start? Cheri Bales, a mentor with SCORE Kalamazoo/Southwest Michigan, explained that the process doesn't need to be complicated. "The important thing is to put something down on paper," said Bales. A business plan is a starting point, and it can be as simple as a few jotted-down notes at first. The most crucial part of the plan is the reason behind the business itself.

"Too often as business owners we talk about the what and sometimes we talk about the how but we don't remember to talk about the why," said Bales. "What problem or issue is your business or service going to solve?" Focusing on the "why" will allow you to set your business apart and demonstrate what you have to offer.

Entrepreneurs seeking more information on business planning can view a free, recorded webinar led by Bales during the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit held earlier this month. Co-hosted by SCORE and the SBA, the online event also featured expert advice on topics ranging from how to use AI in email marketing to what small businesses should know to prepare for a recession. Registration is free to view any of the sessions on-demand.

SCORE is here to help

The good news is you don't have to go it alone. SCORE mentoring is a free service available to any aspiring or established owner of a U.S.-based business. To find a mentor, SCORE's website lists mentor profiles that detail the mentors' areas of expertise, location and availability for online or in-person meetings. You can request an appointment with the mentor of your choosing, or if you prefer, SCORE's "Mentor Matchmaker" service will do the matching for you based on your business, preferences or specific challenge you are facing.

"When I first worked with SCORE, I had this idea for a business, but no idea where to start," said SCORE client Iyobosa Ero, owner of online travel solution Preparture in Chicago. "My mentor has been very impactful with the development and continuous development of Preparture."

About SCORE:

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 11 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at www.score.org .

Funded [in part] through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

CONTACT:

SCORE

202-968-6428

[email protected]

Visit SCORE's media resources to be connected with expert small business interview sources and news updates.

SOURCE SCORE
Rivermont's special education students are headed to the workforce, to postsecondary education, and beyond with the critical academic knowledge, technical and life skills they gained at Rivermont.

ROANOKE, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rivermont schools, a leading provider of special education and therapeutic services in Virginia, is thrilled to announce the graduation of over 50 students from their schools across the Commonwealth. Over the course of its three and a half decades, Rivermont schools has impacted the lives of thousands of students and families, promoting lifelong educational, workforce and post high school success for students with autism spectrum disorder, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

In honor of the graduating class of 2023, Rivermont campuses will be hosting celebrations across the Commonwealth with guest speakers, music, refreshments and more throughout the months of May and June.

"Graduation is such a special time of year for us at Rivermont," said Dr. Beth Ackerman, Senior Vice President of Operations in Virginia. "It is a time for us to celebrate all the hard work of our staff, students, and their families and to honor our graduates for their dedication and persistence. Our 2023 guiding theme was "One Love, One Virginia," and I truly believe celebrating the success of our students is a celebration of the work we do collectively each day across our schools."

Rivermont provides students, families, and district partners with special education and clinical therapy services supporting students ages 5-22 in grades kindergarten through 12 throughout 15 locations in Virginia. Select schools offer pre-kindergarten programming. Specifically, Rivermont provides tiered levels of educational and clinical support for students with disabilities, including those associated with autism spectrum disorder, emotional disturbance, and behavioral challenges.

For more information, visit our website. www.rivermontschools.com

About Rivermont

Rivermont schools are part of the New Story network of schools and clinics, a leading provider of special and alternative education and therapeutic services for children and young adults. New Story's schools and clinics serve families across Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For more information, visit www.newstory.com.

SOURCE Rivermont Schools
Dirk Harbecke, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Tech, states, "We want to contribute to zero-emissions and battery electric vehicles, accepting the challenge to reduce the environmental impact of our lithium hydroxide. The LCA shows that we and our partners in the market have the power to bring about this change through commercial decisions."

The renowned German Fraunhofer UMSICHT has evaluated the "cradle-to-gate" environmental impact of battery-grade LHM to be produced at Rock Tech's Guben Converter, with an emphasis on the carbon footprint. The base case carbon footprint is projected to be 10.5 kg CO2-eq/kg LHM, encompassing all upstream emissions and an assumed distance of transit from Australia to Germany.

The main sources of emissions per 1 kilogram of LHM in the LCA scenarios were attributed to energy supply for the Guben Converter with 4.3 kg CO2-eq (average grid mix electricity, natural gas, and steam, excluding transport), mining and concentration of spodumene with 3.8 kg CO2-eq, and transportation and shipping of spodumene concentrate with 0.7 kg CO2-eq.

When compared against the International Energy Agency's (IEA) special study on "The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions" (also see Table 1), Rock Tech's base carbon footprint is 30 percent lower. Furthermore, through mainly careful choice of suppliers, the Company has the ability to reduce emissions to 5.4 kg CO2-eq./kg LHM, which could be compared to the estimated carbon footprint of LHM from brine in the IEA special report.

In the base case scenario, credits of -1.0 kg CO2-eq./kg LHM are given to one by-product by applying the avoided burden approach.1 The assessment also shows different scenarios that could cut the emissions in half by commercial choice of suppliers alone, without adapting the conversion process.

Changing from an average grid mix to exclusively renewable sources might reduce the footprint by more than 20% compared to the baseline scenario. Spodumene mining also has a lot of potential for improvement. Considering of supplies from Rock Tech's Georgia Lake Project in Ontario, Canada, or reduced emissions claimed by some existing Australian mining companies, might significantly lower the footprint.

The LCA did not take into account Rock Tech's ambitions2 towards a zero-waste scenario because the exact quantification of its influence could not yet be determined clearly. Nonetheless, the targeted use of by-products remains a strategic priority that could bring additional emission-saving potential beyond the scope of the present study. The same holds true when substituting natural gas with hydrogen. These measures will provide further considerable benefits in the future.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Dirk Harbecke

Chairman & CEO

_________________________________________ 1 To effectively avoid greenwashing, credits from by-product utilization are not accounted for in the net sum emissions of Rock Tech LCA, although Rock Tech supports avoiding carbon emissions in an industry beyond the scope of the LCA. 2 See also Rock Tech's press release "Implementing Zero-Waste: Rock Tech Lithium, GP Papenburg and Schwenk Zement Collaborate for Closer Commercial Utilisation of Lithium By-Products" issued 30 January, 2023.

DATA AND CONFORMITY OF THE STUDY

The LCA takes into account several impact categories and examines the possible environmental impact of products, processes, and services throughout their lifecycle. This method ensures that all of the essential factors are assessed for a sustainable decision-making process. Secondary data is being used to calculate the carbon footprint of spodumene mining and concentration. All LHM manufacturing processes rely on primary data. The primary data originates from mass and energy flow sheets (activity data) from the Company's Bankable Project Study, which was published on November 4, 2022. Furthermore, the LCA has been critically assessed by an independent third party (DEKRA) in accordance with ISO 14071 (2016) paragraph 4.3.3 and ISO 14044 (2006) paragraph 6.2. The Company created a comparison of Rock Tech's carbon footprint to the IEA special report (see table 1), which is not subject to the LCA done by Fraunhofer or third-party verification by DEKRA.

ABOUT ROCK TECH

Rock Tech is a cleantech company with operations in Canada and Germany on a mission to produce lithium hydroxide for electric vehicle batteries. The Company plans to build lithium converters at the door-step of its customers, to guarantee supply-chain transparency and just-in-time delivery, beginning with the Company's proposed lithium hydroxide merchant converter and refinery facility in Guben, Germany. To close the most pressing gap in the clean mobility story, Rock Tech has gathered one of the strongest teams in the industry. The Company has adopted strict environmental, social and governance standards and is developing a proprietary refining process aimed at further increasing efficiency and sustainability. Rock Tech plans to source raw material from its wholly-owned Georgia Lake spodumene project located in the Thunder Bay Mining District of Ontario, Canada, as well as procuring it from other responsibly producing mines. In the years to come, the Company expects to also source raw material from discarded batteries. Rock Tech's goal: to create a closed-loop lithium production system. www.rocktechlithium.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws and are referred to herein as "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "predicts", "believes", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "projects", "forecasts", "may", "will", "should", "would", "could" or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, forward-looking statements contained in this news release include: statements and data from the LCA, including the carbon footprint calculations therein; the further potential reduction of the Company's carbon footprint and emissions; and the Company's future plans and expectations as described in the section "About Rock Tech".

Forward-looking statements by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The material factors or assumptions used to develop the forward-looking statements include: the type of mining and concentration of lithium; the distance required for transportation of concentrate; the mix of energy supply for the Guben Converter; the Company's ability to procure supplies and other equipment necessary for its business; that all required regulatory approvals and permits can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; and that financing will be available to the Company on commercial terms. There may also be other factors that cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in the Company's most recent management's discussion and analysis and annual information form filed with the applicable securities regulators.

No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, and the Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, nor does it assume any obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in assumptions, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

ATTACHMENT

Table 1 | Rock Tech carbon footprint comparison against International Energy Agency (IEA) special report.

Sources: Original IEA values are reported in lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and were converted to LiOH.H20 using a 0.88 conversion rate. Adapted from International Energy Agency (IEA) Special Report: "The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions" page 196 of revised version, March 2022: https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions; accessed 22 May 2023.

SOURCE Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
NEW YORK, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. securities between May 5, 2020 and February 21, 2023, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). 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 18, 2023.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Charles River 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 Charles River class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=12403 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 18, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Charles River had engaged in illegal activity with respect to its importation of non-human primates for research; (2) as a result, Charles River was at a heightened risk of criminal and regulatory investigation by, inter alia, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ"); (3) as a result, Charles River would be forced to suspend shipments of primates from Cambodia; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Charles River class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=12403 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- RUMOR Rose is proud to announce today that the premium rose brand will be an exclusive partner for all amfAR events this year. Intertwining the worlds of music, business, art, and international society, RUMOR Rose will be served exclusively across all amfAR events.

RUMOR

The first event the brand will be poured at is the prestigious amfAR Gala in Cannes on May 25th, hosted by Queen Latifah, with performances by Halsey, Gladys Knight, Adam Lambert and Bebe Rexha. Guests will enjoy sipping on the RUMOR Rose and signature cocktails. Additional events include the highly anticipated amfAR Venezia gala in Venice on September 3rd. These impactful events are vital to support amfAR's mission to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic through innovative research.

"We are thrilled to kick off a year-long partnership with RUMOR Rose", said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. "It was important to us to work with a brand that has a deep-rooted commitment to philanthropy. RUMOR has quickly developed a reputation for itself across the world as a high quality and discerning brand, and we are very pleased to be able to offer it to our guests this year."

In addition to having a branded RUMOR Rose bar during the alfresco cocktail hour outside the iconic steps of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a RUMOR Rose Spritz will be offered throughout the evening at each bar. "amfAR has done such tremendous work in the global fight against AIDS, that it's truly an honor to be considered a partner," said Barry Bayat, founder of RUMOR Rose.

RUMOR Rose is currently available in 11 countries and on nationwide delivery services such as Drizly , ReserveBar , Wine.com among other retailers. To learn more about amfAR please visit https://www.amfar.org and to learn more about RUMOR Rose, please visit https://rumorrose.com . Follow RUMOR Rose and amfAR on Instagram @rumorrose @amfAR .

ABOUT RUMOR ROSE:

RUMOR is an independent, premium rose chosen by consumers seeking authentic products and new experiences. With a sophisticated yet light flavor profile suitable for all occasions, RUMOR Rose has captured the imagination of the world's most experienced sommeliers and consumers alike. RUMOR Rose is entirely rooted, produced, and bottled in Cotes de Provence, a region synonymous with best-in-class winemaking.

ABOUT amfAR:

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world's leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and advocacy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $617 million in its programs and has awarded more than 3,500 grants to research teams worldwide.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jamie Warner, [email protected]

Robert Kessler, Program Communications Manager, [email protected] ; +1 (212) 806-1602

SOURCE RUMOR Rose
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The two astronauts, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni started their scientific mission AX-2 on board the International Space Station today. They will make the Kingdom's history in space and science research undertaking 14 pioneering experiments in microgravity, out of which, three will be dedicated to educational motivational purposes with the participation of 12 thousand Saudi students in 42 different locations across the Kingdom in real time via satellites. This is an epic moment, aimed at preparing future astronauts and engineers, through quality educational and training programs, participation in scientific experiments, international research and future space-related missions  all of which will contribute to servicing humanity and to achieving the goals of Vision 2030.

The team also comprise in addition to Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, two astronauts, Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner. They have all started completing their mission after the successful docking of their spaceship Dragon 2 with the International Space Station on 24 of May, where they have settled down.

To better understand the impact of being in space, in a microgravity and a high radiation environment, on the human brain and nervous system, the Saudi astronauts are conducting six experiments aboard the ISS. The research aims at evaluating the repercussions of space on human health and at evaluating the safety of such space trips on the human brain. It will utilize novel neuroscience tools including measuring blood flow to the brain and the brain's electrical activity, assess intracranial pressure by non-invasive assessment of the pupil of the eye, and monitor changes in the optic nerve over time in order to make these space trips safer for humans in the future.

The two Saudi astronauts will also do four cell science experiments to investigate the inflammatory response of human immune cells in microgravity. More specifically their research will be focused on changes in mRNA decay, a process that can turn inflammation off. In addition, response to therapy is mimicked by utilizing the same cellular model. The crew will take RNA samples for analysis on the ground, where the investigators will monitor RNA expression patterns, and excitedly thousands of mRNA half-lives will be measured. Results are expected to contribute to a better understanding of space health and uncover biomarkers or potential therapies for inflammatory diseases in both Space and Earth.

In the aim of improving researchers' understanding of rain-seeding technology, which will contribute to increasing rainfall in many countries, the two Saudi astronauts will lead an artificial rain experiment, in which water vapor will be condensed on plankton and salt atoms in microgravity that simulate the cloud seeding process that is used in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and many other countries to increase precipitation rates. Results will help scientists and researchers devise new ways to provide suitable conditions for humans - including the work of artificial rain - to live in space colonies on the surface of the Moon and Mars.

In addition to these experiments, and in order to develop further student knowledge of space science and its contribution to improving the quality of life on earth, three educational awareness experiments will be conducted aboard the ISS in real time with students across Saudi, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Mawhiba, Riyadh Schools and Misk Schools. This real-time interaction ensures that students will have access to the Saudi crew live as they perform their experiments together, one on Earth, and one in space simultaneously.

SSC has stated that the mission of the two astronauts is considered to be the cornerstone of the Kingdom's space research and development. Their trip accomplishes the ambition of the Kingdom to initiate space exploration as the first middle eastern country and to become one of the world's leaders in space programs, at the service of humanity.

This mission to the International Space Station of two Saudi astronauts, launched by the Saudi Space Commission is part of the Kingdom's program to space. SSC is confident that this trip will orient the Saudi youth into pursuing their studies in space programs, communication and satellites, and encourage them to continue their education in engineering and mathematics. Hence it aims to prepare future Saudi astronauts through quality educational and training programs, participation in scientific experiments, international research and future space-related missions  all of which will contribute to raising the status of the Kingdom in the development of space research and to achieving the goals of Vision 2030.

Notes to Editors

About The Saudi Space Commission (SSC):

The Saudi Space Commission was established by the royal order in December of 2018 (Rabi II 1440). This bold step serves a future that is innovative and looks forward to the latest technologies and opportunities in the Saudi Space Industry.

With the Kingdom moving towards a progressive quality of life, SSC demonstrates the aligned vision of creating better, secure environments for its citizens while actively enabling prospects of lucrative economic and monetary inventions.

The SSC has strategized to create primary objectives that serve national security interests against space related risks and encourage cumulative growth and advancement.

https://saudispace.gov.sa/en/about-us/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2036414/4052555/SSC_Logo

SOURCE Saudi Space Commission (SSC)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Scope Carbon Corp. (CSE: SCPE) (OTCQB: SCPCF) ("Scope" or the "Company") a carbon mapping technology provider utilizing image recognition technology, is pleased to announce that its artificial intelligence has achieved a significant milestone and is now able to process 4K video stream imagery.

"We're incredibly pleased with our progress to date on the development of the Company's proprietary technology. The raw data is now able to be processed by our neural network without preliminary processing. Our achievement has been possible by breaking the typical slow-process into smaller segments and then distributing the workload among multiple machines. This has placed us in a leadership position in delivering fast-processing of raw video and image data." said Sean Prescott, Non-Executive Chairman of the Company.

Whilst image recognition technology has seen a revolution of advancements in recent years, those models have worked with relatively low resolution images and often still frames. Scope's artificial intelligence processes real-time 4K video streams into individual frames, which is then digested through the technology's various neural networks. The ability to process video streams into frames was a key requirement for training and inference of the neural network stack that Scope has developed and is continuing to improve.

"This advancement will be beneficial for platform-wide integration as we incorporate various data from other sources, which will ultimately enhance the speed and efficiency at which our technology learns" Prescott further adds.

Scope's intention is to advance its technology to the next level with object recognition at its proprietary core-technology stack and its currently working with artificial intelligence specialists, through its product development agreement with Marsman Limited, in this respect. The Company is also working to augment generated data even further by leveraging additional AI-based sources, such as ChatGPT to generate comprehensive reporting to further provide deep insights into the generative datapoints collected throughout the read-parse-deliver process.

The Company further announces that, pursuant to its technology acquisition agreement dated February 15, 2022 (the "Agreement") with the Prescott Family Foundation, (the "Foundation") an entity directed by the Company's Non-Executive Chairman Sean Prescott, it has made the first of four anniversary issuances.

In light of the advancements to the Company's technology, Scope has elected to exercise its option to issue 250,000 common shares of the Company to the Foundation, as consideration for the rights granted under the Agreement and in full satisfaction of the first anniversary payment. The common shares issued will have a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance.

About Scope Carbon Corp.

Scope is a carbon mapping technology company located in Vancouver, British Columbia and is focused on the commercial development of its AI-driven image software, which the Company intends to use for the identification and estimation of carbon-based lifeforms and carbon emissions, both key components in the identification of carbon credits.

The Company is currently focused on the commercial development of the Scope Analysis Platform through its research and development program, to expand the capabilities of the Scope Analysis Platform and provide a one-tool solution in carbon mapping.

For more information please visit Scope Carbon Corp. or follow along on social media.

LinkedIn: @Smarter Markets

Facebook: Scope Carbon Corp.

Twitter: @scopecarboncorp

Contact Information

James Liang, Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

(604) 683 0911

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that constitute forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical statements of fact are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, future, strategy, objectives, goals and targets, capabilities of the Company's technology, competitive conditions, further development of the Company's technology, prospective sources of data collection, assistance from specialists in artificial intelligence technology, benefits of consulting with Marsman Limited and future rights of interest in the Company's technology. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable and reflect expectations of future developments and other factors which management believes to be reasonable and relevant, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "expects", "aim", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "would", "will", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and are based on assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, including, but not limited to, those risks and assumptions described in the Company's prospectus dated August 10, 2022, a copy of which is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. While Scope considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions, continued satisfaction of Canadian Securities Exchange requirements, product safety and recalls, regulatory compliance and risks associated with the Company's business. For more information on the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to differ materially, please refer to the risk factors set out in the Company's prospectus dated August 10, 2022, a copy of which is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the business of the Company and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof.

SOURCE Scope Carbon Corp.
The partnership makes LSO's trusted network an immediate option on Shipium's platform

SEATTLE, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Shipium, the premier shipping platform for e-commerce shippers, today announced a partnership with Lone Star Overnight (LSO), the leading carrier servicing the Southwest.

LSO, headquartered in Plano, Texas, has been a trusted regional carrier to the Southwest for over 25 years, and reaches over 100,000 consumers every day. Customers enjoy the speed of a courier combined with the discipline of a carrier which results in LSO being a consistently great partner.

Shipium is the leading e-commerce shipping platform for retailers and 3PLs. Customers turn to Shipium when fast, affordable, and on-time delivery becomes a business priority. The company services large shippers who transition to a multi-carrier strategy, and need reliable carrier options like LSO throughout the Southwest.

Consumer expectations have consistently shifted over the last decade, which has put pressure on businesses to evolve their shipping operations. Heightened expectations around faster speed, increased reliability, and lower costs have been passed down to carriers. LSO has benefited from this shift, with volumes increasing 50% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 due to its competitive prices and reliably fast regional service.

The technology powering Shipium's platform ensures that a great customer delivery experience is always met at affordable costs. The key component is fast carrier onboarding and enterprise-level carrier management. Shippers looking to add LSO to their network will find it easier and faster to do so with Shipium.

"Shipper's value working with a trusted partner like LSO, but legacy shipping technology can make it difficult to utilize our superior regional services," said Steve Toney, Chief Commercial Officer at LSO. "We love it when a customer uses Shipium because that means LSO can be immediately used, making the delivery experience better for everyone."

"LSO continues to be a trusted partner for shippers in the Southwest with their personal rapid delivery network," said Jason Murray, CEO of Shipium. "We are excited to be the enterprise option for LSO customers."

ABOUT LSO

Lone Star Overnight (LSO) headquartered in Plano, Texas over the last 30 years has become a leading regional parcel delivery company. LSO has a network of 30 operating locations throughout the Southwest and Central regions. Coverage area includes Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas. Tennessee, and Kansas. LSO's service area reaches approximately 40% of the USA population consisting of approximately 140 million people and potential e-commerce customers.

ABOUT SHIPIUM

Shipium is the premium enterprise shipping platform for e-commerce. It coordinates previously disconnected steps of the supply chain to help improve delivery speed and accuracy, while reducing shipping costs 12% on average. Retailers turn to Shipium when they want to make a promise they can keep with accurate delivery dates, then keep the promise that they made with modern shipping software. Learn more at shipium.com .

Media Contact

Kris Gosser

CMO

[email protected]

SOURCE Shipium
The new website, WeAreWhatWeBreathe.com, will serve as a "dynamic hub" for the importance of indoor air quality.

CHANTILLY, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA), the leader in promoting quality and excellence in the sheet metal and air conditioning industry, today announced the launch of WeAreWhatWeBreathe.com, a new website designed to raise public awareness for indoor air pollution and how indoor air quality (IAQ) improvements can help improve occupant's health.

SMACNA Launches New Website to Raise Awareness for Indoor Air Quality Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association

This comprehensive site operates as a one-stop-shop for visitors to explore how ventilation, airflow and indoor air quality impact schools, homes and office settings. Visitors can learn about the Ventilation Verification assessment, an important physical examination of a building's HVAC system made by trained and certified HVAC or Testing, Adjusting & Balancing technicians. The site also includes a guide to identifying federal and state funding opportunities to support HVAC system improvements and a locator to find a trained local HVAC professional.

"The pandemic shined a much-needed light on indoor air quality and some of the major health concerns arising in our schools, homes and workplaces," said Aaron Hilger, SMACNA's Chief Executive Officer. "As a standard-setting organization, SMACNA is proud to play a leading role in addressing the impact of poor ventilation and air quality on our lives. We are hopeful this website will be a helpful resource, while also instilling a sense of urgency for building owners and school systems to provide tenants with the clean, quality air they deserve."

The EPA's Science Advisory Board ranks indoor air quality (IAQ) among the top five environmental risks to public health. Inside our workplaces, homes and schools, exposure to air pollutants can be 2x to 5x worse than outdoors due to poor ventilation rates and underperforming HVAC systems.

To learn more about indoor air pollutants and the need for better ventilation, visit WeAreWhatWeBreathe.com.

ABOUT SMACNA:

SMACNA is an international trade association representing 3,500 contributing contractor firms and is a leader in promoting quality and excellence in the sheet metal and air conditioning industry. SMACNA members are responsible for effectively delivering the clean air Americans breathe in offices, homes, and hospitals; for many of the attractive facades you see on today's stadiums and office buildings; and for the comfortable, healthy, and safe living environments in which our citizens live out their daily lives. SMACNA has national offices in Chantilly, Va., outside of Washington, D.C., and on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit www.SMACNA.org.

SOURCE The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA)
PGO investigates possible role of Belarus in forced displacement of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories  media

Ukraine is investigating the possible role of Belarus in the forced transfer of Ukrainian children from the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) said.

In a commentary to Reuters, the PGO said Ukrainian law enforcement officers are investigating the forced transfer of more than 19,000 Ukrainian children from the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Kharkiv regions, including to Belarus.

"The fact and circumstances of taking Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the so-called 'recreational camps' in Belarus are currently under investigation in the mentioned criminal proceedings," the department said.

According to a Reuters report, the PGO informed about this in response to a report by the Belarusian opposition in exile that more than 2,000 Ukrainian children, including orphans aged 6 to 15, were sent to so-called "recreational camps" on the territory of Belarus.
Former Starbucks, Jack in the Box and ExxonMobil Executive Joins Smoothie King in Brand's Latest Personnel Hire

DALLAS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King , the world's largest smoothie chain and the first health and fitness QSR brand of its kind, today announced it has named Camille Hymes as chief operating officer, effective June 5. In her new role, Hymes will help lead the company through the next phase of its transformative national growth and drive the continued success of the brand by providing company-wide operational leadership and strategic vision.

"We're excited to have Camille Hymes join our distinguished leadership team at Smoothie King. Camille brings decades of QSR experience and her fresh, unique perspective will help our brand as we continue to expand operations in key markets nationwide," said Wan Kim, chief executive officer, Smoothie King. "We strive to hire the most qualified, experienced leaders who truly understand every aspect of the food service industry  and Camille is no exception. We know that Camille will add tremendous value to our brand leadership team and we look forward to her contributions, as we serve and support our guests, as well as franchisees."

With more than 20 years of food service and operations experience, Hymes has driven strong, sustainable sales and enhanced customer experiences for some of the world's leading restaurant titans. Prior to joining Smoothie King, Hymes served multiple roles with Starbucks including Corporate Vice President, Public Affairs, U.S. Community Impact, Partner Experience Strategy, Strategic Brand Partnerships and Vice President, Regional Retail Operations for the Mid-Atlantic.

Hymes also previously served as Divisional Vice President, Franchise Operations for Jack in the Box and Regional Manager with ExxonMobil. While at Jack in the Box, she helped transition the brand from 80 percent company owned restaurants to 80 percent franchise operated units.

"I'm eager to begin working with the exceptional Smoothie King team and feel privileged to lead company operations," said Camille Hymes, chief operating officer, Smoothie King.

"Throughout my career, I've admired Smoothie King from afar and followed the brand's mission to inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. I look forward to hitting the ground running as COO and to working closely with the brand and our franchisees to drive the customer experience and expand our presence."

Hyme's addition comes on the heels of other executive team hires as Kim and Smoothie King grow in key markets and innovate to enhance franchisee profitability. In November 2022, Smoothie King added Chief Marketing Officer Marianne Radley, Chief Information Officer Juan Salas and Chief People Officer Laura Scavone to the executive leadership team.

Additionally, Smoothie King is continuing to focus on its menu to provide more options for customers and drive franchisee revenue. Smoothie King debuted Smoothie Bowls at all U.S. locations in April and is now the largest smoothie bowl provider in the country. The brand has already sold more than one million bowls nationwide. Smoothie King also added more than 30 units to its pipeline in Q1 2023 and is on pace to open 100 locations by end of year.

Smoothie King has repeatedly been recognized as a top franchise opportunity, most recently ranked number 17 in Entrepreneur magazine's highly competitive Franchise 500 ranking of the top franchise brands. 2023 marked Smoothie King's 32nd consecutive year on the Franchise 500 list, earning it a spot in Entrepreneur's new Hall of Fame. The brand was also included in Yelp's 50 Most Loved Brands of 2023, QSR magazine's 2022 Best Franchise Deals, named "Top Brand to Buy" in the beverage category of Franchise Times' 2022 Zor Awards and selected for Franchise Times' "Top 400 Franchises" list. Furthermore, Smoothie King received the Top Franchises Satisfaction Award for 2022 from Franchise Business Review based on the brand's high franchisee satisfaction.

For more information on Smoothie King or to learn about franchise opportunities, please visit www.smoothiekingfranchise.com .

About Smoothie King Franchises, Inc.

Smoothie King Franchises, Inc., the original U.S. smoothie franchise, is a privately held, Dallas-based franchise company with over 1,350 locations worldwide, including in the United States, Korea, Grand Cayman, and Trinidad. Founded in 1973, Smoothie King has made it its mission to inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. By blending each smoothie with a purpose, Smoothie King makes it simple and enjoyable for guests to achieve their individual health and fitness goals. Smoothie King has been recognized as No. 17 overall on Entrepreneur's prestigious Franchise 500 list in 2023 and added to the outlet's new Hall of Fame. For more information about franchising with Smoothie King, visit SmoothieKingFranchise.com or follow the brand on social media @SmoothieKing.

CONTACT:

Matt Ritter

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Smoothie King
Order API allows manufacturers to shop over 3,500 suppliers without leaving their ERP/MRP

MIAMI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sourceability, a global distributor of electronic components, today announced Sourcengine Order API, an update to Sourcengine's Application Program Interface (API). The innovative tool allows enterprise resource and material requirement planning (ERP/MRP) functions to streamline the procurement process and reach thousands of suppliers globally.

The API, designed for mid-sized manufacturers with an ERP/MRP system, helps to eliminate time spent managing suppliers and procurement lists by allowing businesses to research, quote, and purchase electronic components without leaving their internal systems. Unlike its competitors, Sourcengine's API does not limit its capabilities by what it is able to stock. Its marketplace relies on the partnerships the company has established with over 3,500 suppliers worldwide.

Additionally, users benefit from third-party integrations with innovative solution providers like CalcuQuote, one of the first integrations for Sourcengine Order API. CalcuQuote offers software and supply chain solutions for the Electronics manufacturing industry. This integration provides direct access to the Sourcengine marketplace to their customers within the CalcuQuote platform.

"One of the biggest industry pain points we aim to solve is the amount of time spent searching for pricing and availability of electronic components," said Jens Gamperl, Founder and CEO of Sourceability. "This API update is the next step in digitalizing the supply chain and automates the manual process of checking multiple platforms and sending emails to sales representatives for individual quotes. This software centralizes data so that users can reduce the risk of human error and optimize the procurement process."

"The integration to the Sourcengine Order API further provides digital purchasing capabilities to the electronics manufacturing industry that are integrated through CalcuQuote solutions," said Kaitlyn Dotson, CalcuQuote COO. "The industry is continuing to push for more digitalization for ordering and this allows CalcuQuote to support more customers."

The new tool marks the next evolution of Sourcengine's innovation by making its marketplace more easily accessible to manufactures  streamlining the procurement process while still allowing users to price benchmark and quickly get pricing from multiple suppliers.

For more information on Sourceability, please visit here.

About Sourceability

Sourceability a global distributor of electronic components offering digital tools, services and data with the power of technology to meet customers' evolving demands. Sourceability combines the expertise of global distribution with the leading e-commerce marketplace in the industry, and works with the largest catalog of suppliers to provide the transparency, robust data and speed that customers need to create a seamless procurement process. The company's global distribution centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Miami are supported by regional offices to maintain a holistic understanding of customer supply chain needs. Sourceability continues to build upon its initial success since the company was founded in 2015 by harnessing innovation, customer empowerment, and integrity.

About CalcuQuote

CalcuQuote provides quoting and supply chain software for the electronics industry. With a focus on the future, CalcuQuote improves the speed, accuracy and efficiency of the quoting and supply chain process by optimizing operations and implementing sustainable digital solutions. Founded in 2014, CalcuQuote currently serves over 250 EMS companies and has a global customer base. For more information, visit www.calcuquote.com.

Media Contact

Rachel Winship

Account Director

Team LEWIS

[email protected]

SOURCE Sourceability
RICHMOND, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Andrew's School has completed a capital campaign to renovate the Grace Arents Free Library. This historic renovation will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. at the current Grace Arents Free Library building, located at 224 S. Cherry St., Richmond, VA 23220.

In 2018, the School set out to raise $5M to renovate the Grace Arents Free Library. By April 2022 the School had raised $7.4M, which included $2.4M for endowment. Although the School exceeded their original fundraising goal for the project, the cost of construction has risen significantly. The school is currently seeking an additional $2M to support the project.

The Grace Arents Free Library will house the School's library, four elementary school classrooms, administrative offices, and four preschool classrooms managed by the YWCA of Richmond's Sprout School.

"What an incredible project. I cannot wait to see the doors open," remarked Kay Mason, Head of School at St. Andrew's School.

"We are so grateful to the community for their incredible investment in this historic project," says Amanda Kennedy, Chief Advancement Officer at St. Andrew's School.

St. Andrew's School is a tuition-free, K-5 elementary school located in Oregon Hill. Their whole child programming consists of six fundamentals: academics, visual and performing arts, wellness and nutrition, family engagement, graduate support, and social emotional learning.

The school is grateful to their generous supporters including the Beirne Carter Foundation, Memorial Foundation for Children, The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation, 4G Foundation, The NewMarket Foundation, Saint Andrew's Association, the Endeavour Legacy Foundation, and many individuals.

Contact: Katelyn Turner, Director of Community Relations

About St. Andrew's School

St. Andrew's is a tuition-free school focused on the whole child.

SOURCE St. Andrew's School
Sun Protection Particularly Critical in U.S. Cities with the Highest UV Index

WASHINGTON , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A dozen U.S. cities are expected to have extreme ultraviolet (UV) index ratings (10+) this Memorial Day and throughout the summer, according to 2022 data from the National Weather Service , making sun protection especially important for all residents and visitors. National Don't Fry Day, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, encourages sun-safety awareness and serves as a reminder to protect skin from the harmful effects of the sun's UV rays.

The UV index measures the amount of skin-damaging UV rays reaching the Earth's surface when the sun is highest in the sky, serving as a helpful tool in preventing overexposure to the sun's rays. The UV index changes seasonally and can range from 0 (nighttime) to 15-16. The higher the number, the greater the exposure to skin and eye-damaging UV radiation.

Sun Protection Particularly Critical in U.S. Cities with the Highest UV Index Tweet this

0-2: No to minimal sun protection needed

No to minimal sun protection needed 3-7: Moderate to high protection needed  seeking shade during late morning through mid-afternoon; generously applying broad-spectrum SPF 30+ sunscreen on exposed skin; wearing protective clothing, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses

Moderate to high protection needed  seeking shade during late morning through mid-afternoon; generously applying broad-spectrum SPF 30+ sunscreen on exposed skin; wearing protective clothing, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses 8+: Very high to extreme protection needed  seeking shade; generously applying broad-spectrum SPF 30+ sunscreen on exposed skin; wearing protective clothing, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses

The dangers of UV rays, including premature skin aging and skin cancer, are clear and universally recognized. According to the American Cancer Society , more than five million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each year  more than all other types of cancer combined. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime, and 20 Americans die from melanoma  the deadliest form of skin cancer  every day, according to the American Academy of Dermatology .

"Skin cancer is a significant and largely preventable public health concern," said Patti Farris, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist with over 35 years of experience in research, aesthetics and clinical practice. "When going outdoors, especially when the UV index is high, individuals need sun protection to minimize their risk for skin cancer. That can be a hat and protective clothing, and broad-spectrum sunscreen with a minimum of SPF 30 for skin exposed to the sun is a must."

While skin cancer is one of the most common cancers, it is also preventable. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), four out of five cases can be prevented by following safe-sun practices, including limiting time in the sun, seeking shade, wearing protective clothing and using sunscreens regularly.

"Sunscreens are important tools for preventing and reducing the risk of skin cancer and UV-induced skin damage and should be part of your daily health and safety routine, just like brushing your teeth or using a seat belt," said Alexandra Kowcz, chief scientist, Personal Care Products Council. "Our industry provides consumers with safe and innovative sunscreen products to help protect them and their families from the harmful effects of the sun."

The U.S. cities with the highest average UV index in 2022 were:

Honolulu, Hawaii (11.8) Miami, Fla. (11.5) San Juan, Puerto Rico (11.5) Albuquerque, N.M. (11) New Orleans, La. (10.8) Phoenix, Ariz. (10.7) Tampa, Fla. (10.5) Mobile, Ala. (10.3) Jackson, Miss. (10.2) Cheyenne , Wyo. (10) Denver, Colo. (10) Los Angeles, Calif. (10)

For more information about the UV index and the importance of practicing sun safety, including using broad-spectrum sunscreen, visit PCPC's website .

Founded in 1894, the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) is the voice and advocate for 600 member companies representing the $529.3 billion global cosmetics and personal care products industry. PCPC's members represent approximately 90% of the U.S. beauty industry and are some of the most beloved and trusted brands in beauty and personal care today. As the manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of a diverse range of products millions of consumers rely on every day  from sunscreens, toothpaste and shampoo to moisturizer, makeup and fragrance  PCPC's member companies are global leaders committed to product safety, quality and innovation.

CONTACTS:

Lisa Powers, (202) 297-1232, [email protected]

Stefanie Harrington, (202) 215-6558, [email protected]

SOURCE Personal Care Products Council
ARNES, Norway, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The financial landscape in Norway is changing, today more than ever. Government policies are reshaping in accordance with global economic events. Luckily, the reputed accounting firm TECLA is now expanding its outreach in the country, offering more finance-related services than ever for both individuals and organizations. Among the services that TECLA now offers is top-to-bottom assistance in setting up, buying and selling Norwegian businesses.

"We believe that Norway today holds more business opportunities than any other country in Europe," stated Lars Herman Lindkjlen, Chairman of TECLA. "And we are here to help anyone who wishes to seize these opportunities. True, the bureaucracy can be a bit intimidating, but we know all of the ins and outs of the Norwegian tax system. Our team of financial experts have the ability to make the process intuitive, simple and worry free - and that is a guarantee."

Build your future, follow your dreams

One of the most prominent services offered by TECLA today, which not many other firms manage to successfully offer, is guidance in the process of merging or setting up cooperations between companies and/or self-employed individuals. This process can become complex, but the experts at TECLA have all of the know-how and experience in the field to make it run smoothly.

"I could start talking about the wide and diverse plethora of services and benefits that we are able to provide, but that would take too much time," added Herman Lindkjlen. "What I recommend is for each person who is in need of assistance to visit our website and find all of the relevant information there. If you have an issue related to business and finance in Norway, we have a solution."

About TECLA

Established in 2010, TECLA Accounting Norway started out as a small accounting firm, helping employees maximize the tax benefits available in Norway. Through excellence in service, the company has managed to grow into the global leader that it is today. TECLA is headquartered in Norway and holds offices outside the country as well, and its team of skilled representatives is able to provide information in eight different languages . Among the services offered by the company, one can find tax returns for employees, accounting and payroll technologies for companies, receipts and invoices, and much more.

SOURCE TECLA
NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As mentioned by P&S Intelligence, the thermoplastic polyurethane market will propel at a rate of 7.0% in the years to come, to reach USD 5,326 million by 2030. This is mainly credited to the extensive use of TPU in vehicle parts and a range of medical devices.

In the medical device sector, this polymer is used to manufacture orthodontic products & dental materials, wound care products, mattresses, medical instrument cables, catheters, compression stockings, and gel shoe orthotics.

Get the sample pages of this report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/thermoplastic-polyurethane-market/report-sample

Further, TPU has emerged as an eco-friendly alternative to the traditional polyvinylchloride. Apart from this, TPU offers biocompatibility, chemical and oil resistance, durability, and absence of plasticizers

The polyols category will grow significantly in the years to come. This will be because polyols are extensively used for the production of PU products, including rigid foams, sealants, coatings, and adhesives.

TPU made from polyols is utilized in many other industries, for example, refrigeration, automobile, construction, and furnishings.

Furthermore, the e-commerce and online business industry requires the products to be safe from damage until they reach the customer. As a result, the usage of pre-blended polyol packaging, including corrugated, plastic, and wooden boxes, is rising.

The diisocyanate category dominated the industry in 2022, and the trend will continue in the years to come. This is mostly because of the tremendously reactive nature of this chemical with polyols, which creates polyurethane. Two of the most-commonly used diisocyanates in TPU production are toluene diisocyanate and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate.

The automotive & transportation sector will grow the fastest, at a rate of 8.2%, in the years to come.

This will be owing to the fact that TPU is widely used for automotive parts manufacturing as it offers a characteristic combination of scratch and aging resistance, flexibility, extensive temperature range, and improved elasticity.

APAC had the largest revenue share, of above 55%, in 2022, and the situation will be like this in the years to come.

Browse detailed report on Thermoplastic Polyurethane Market Size, Share, Growth, Development and Demand Forecast to 2030

This is attributable to the wide usage of TPU in the automotive and medical device sectors. APAC is the largest exporter of vehicles, and most OEMs are making use of thermoplastic polyurethane for manufacturing automotive parts.

TPU consumption in North America will grow significantly in the years to come. This is credited to the existence of key players, frequent launches of cutting-edge products, and increasing necessity for TPU products in the automotive, electronics, and footwear industries. Further, North America is the largest market for luxury footwear all over the world.

Browse More Reports Published by P&S

Progressing Cavity Pumps Market Size, Share, Trends, and Demand Forecast to 2030

Green and Bio Polyols Market Size, Share, Trends, and Demand Forecast to 2030

Thermoplastic Pipe Market Size, Share, Trends, and Demand Forecast to 2030

High-Tech Paints and Coatings Market Size, Share, Trends, and Demand Forecast to 2030

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About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence provides market research and consulting services to a vast array of industries across the world. As an enterprising research and consulting company, P&S believes in providing thorough insights on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. P&S keeps the interest of its clients at heart, which is why the insights we provide are both honest and accurate. Our long list of satisfied clients includes entry-level firms as well as multi-million-dollar businesses and government agencies.

Contact:

Prajneesh Kumar

P&S Intelligence

Phone: +1-347-960-6455

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE P&S Intelligence
VANCOUVER, BC, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Thinkific Labs Inc. ("Thinkific" or the "Company") (TSX: THNC), a leading platform for creating, marketing, and selling online learning products, announced today that it has obtained SOC 2 Type 1 cybersecurity compliance certification through the successful completion of the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 audit with no findings.

The required audit was conducted by BDO Canada LLP, a leading global professional services firm, and the certification affirms that the Company's information security practices, policies, procedures, and operations meet the stringent SOC 2 standards for security.

SOC 2 is a cybersecurity compliance framework that is a widely recognized and respected compliance standard for companies entrusted with sensitive data. Thinkific's successful certification provides enterprise customers and partners with an enhanced level of confidence, affirming the Company's commitment to maintaining robust security measures in the storage and processing of client data.

With the growing reliance on external vendors for essential business activities and strategies, it has become crucial to establish high levels of trust and transparency regarding the operations and processes of cloud service providers. SOC 2 serves to validate the presence of internal controls that uphold the security principles outlined in the Trust Services Principles and Criteria for Security.

"As larger businesses put their faith in our platform to distribute their learning products and grow their business, maintaining robust security and data privacy is essential as a trusted partner," said Greg Smith, CEO of Thinkific. "The SOC 2 certification is an important independent validation of our commitment to maintaining the highest level of security and compliance for our customers."

About Thinkific

Thinkific (TSX: THNC) makes it simple for Creator Educators and established businesses of any size to scale and generate revenue by teaching what they know. Our platform gives businesses everything they need to build, market, and sell digital learning products  from courses to communities  and run their business seamlessly under their own brand, on their own site. Thinkific's 50,000 active Creators earn hundreds of millions of dollars in direct course sales while teaching tens of millions of students. Thinkific is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and has a distributed team.

For more information, please visit www.thinkific.com.

This news release includes forward-looking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Often, but not always, forwardlooking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "is expected", "expects", "scheduled", "intends", "contemplates", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes" or variations (including negative and grammatical variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Company's continued commitment and plans to protect sensitive data through enhanced corporate security and data privacy controls; and the expected benefits that this may have in support of Thinkific's continued growth as a trusted service provider. Such statements and information are based on the current expectations of Thinkific's management, and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Although Thinkific's management believes that the assumptions underlying these statements and information are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forwardlooking statements and information speak only as of the date on which they are made and Thinkific undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forwardlooking statement or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Thinkific Labs Inc.
NEW YORK, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The transparent electronics market is set to grow by USD 4355.93 million from 2022 to 2027 progressing at a CAGR of 30.71% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the increasing adoption of digital signage in numerous service sectors.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Transparent Electronics Market 2023-2027

Here is an Exclusive report talking about Market scenarios with a historical period (2017-2021) and the forecast period (2023-2027). Download Sample Report in minutes!

The report on the transparent electronics market provides a holistic update, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis.

Transparent Electronics Market 2023-2027 - Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Increasing adoption of digital signage in numerous service sectors

Advances and innovations in technology

High investment in R and D

Market Trends

Rising adoption of smart windows in the automotive industry

Innovations in display technology

Rising adoption in various end-user industries

Market Challenges

High costs associated with transparent electronics

Low adoption in developing countries

Lack of skilled labor

Transparent Electronics Market 2023-2027: Market Segmentation

The transparent electronics market is segmented by application (consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, and others), product (transparent displays, transparent solar panels, and transparent windows), and geography (North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The market share growth by the consumer electronics segment will be significant during the forecast period. The market is driven by the increasing use of touch-sensitive electronic devices that can replace traditional keyboard/keyboard and mouse devices.

North America is estimated to contribute 40% to the growth of the global transparent electronics market during the forecast period. The growth of the automotive industry, especially electric vehicles, is expected to have a positive impact on the demand for transparent displays as automakers add high-tech features to their vehicles.

Insights on the market contribution of various segments, including country- and region-wise data, historic data (2017 to 2021), and forecast market size (2023 to 2027) View Sample Report

The transparent electronics market covers the following areas:

Transparent Electronics Market Sizing

Transparent Electronics Market Forecast

Transparent Electronics Market Analysis



Companies Mentioned

BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd.

Brite Corp.

Cambrios Technologies Corp.

ClearLED Inc.

Corning Inc.

Gauzy Ltd.

Gentex Corp.

LG Electronics Inc.

OLEDWorks LLC

Onyx Solar Group LLC

Panasonic Holdings Corp.

Planar Systems Inc.

Pro Display

RavenWindow

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Shenzhen AuroLED Technology Co. Ltd.

SHENZHEN NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd.

NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. Street Communication Inc.

TDK Corp.

Ubiquitous Energy Inc.

boe.com- The company offers commercial aircraft seating which provides world-class seat systems and components that offer safety, functionality, and comfort with proven quality.

britesolar.com- The company offers commercial aircraft seating, which is used for the modern, sustainable aviation industry.

cambrios.com- The company offers commercial aircraft seating such as Autoflug Flyweight, Troop Seat AC, Jump Seat HC, and CH 53K Helicopter seats.

Related Reports:

Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) Camera Market- The shortwave infrared (SWIR) camera market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.38% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecasted to increase by USD 118.6 million.

Microprocessor Market- The microprocessor market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.83% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 38.31 billion.

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Transparent Electronics Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 30.71% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 4355.93 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023(%) 26.26 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 40% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd., Brite Corp., Cambrios Technologies Corp., ClearLED Inc., Corning Inc., Gauzy Ltd., Gentex Corp., LG Electronics Inc., OLEDWorks LLC, Onyx Solar Group LLC, Panasonic Holdings Corp., Planar Systems Inc., Pro Display, RavenWindow, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Shenzhen AuroLED Technology Co. Ltd., SHENZHEN NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., Street Communication Inc., TDK Corp., and Ubiquitous Energy Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global transparent electronics market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global transparent electronics market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 By Application Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  By Application Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 By Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  By Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Application

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Application

6.3 Consumer electronics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Consumer electronics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Consumer electronics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Consumer electronics - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Consumer electronics - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Automotive - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Automotive - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Automotive - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Automotive - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Automotive - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Healthcare - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Healthcare - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Healthcare - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Healthcare - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Healthcare - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 50: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Product

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 52: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 54: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Comparison by Product

7.3 Transparent displays - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 56: Chart on Transparent displays - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Transparent displays - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 58: Chart on Transparent displays - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Transparent displays - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Transparent solar panels - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 60: Chart on Transparent solar panels - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Transparent solar panels - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 62: Chart on Transparent solar panels - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Transparent solar panels - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Transparent windows - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 64: Chart on Transparent windows - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on Transparent windows - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Chart on Transparent windows - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on Transparent windows - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 68: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 70: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 71: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 72: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 73: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 74: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 75: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 77: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 79: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 81: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 82: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 83: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 85: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 87: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 95: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 96: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 97: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 98: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 99: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 101: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 103: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 107: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 108: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 109: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 110: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 111: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 112: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 113: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 114: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 115: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)



Exhibit 116: Data Tables on Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 117: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 118: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 119: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 120: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 121: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 122: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 123: BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 124: BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 125: BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.4 Brite Corp.

Exhibit 127: Brite Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Brite Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 129: Brite Corp. - Key offerings

12.5 ClearLED Inc.

Exhibit 130: ClearLED Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 131: ClearLED Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 132: ClearLED Inc. - Key offerings

12.6 Corning Inc.

Exhibit 133: Corning Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 134: Corning Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 135: Corning Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 136: Corning Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 137: Corning Inc. - Segment focus

12.7 Gentex Corp.

Exhibit 138: Gentex Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 139: Gentex Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 140: Gentex Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 141: Gentex Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Gentex Corp. - Segment focus

12.8 LG Electronics Inc.

Exhibit 143: LG Electronics Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 144: LG Electronics Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 145: LG Electronics Inc. - Key offerings

12.9 Onyx Solar Group LLC

Exhibit 146: Onyx Solar Group LLC - Overview



Exhibit 147: Onyx Solar Group LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 148: Onyx Solar Group LLC - Key offerings

12.10 Panasonic Holdings Corp.

Exhibit 149: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 150: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 151: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 152: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 153: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Segment focus

12.11 Planar Systems Inc.

Exhibit 154: Planar Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 155: Planar Systems Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: Planar Systems Inc. - Key offerings

12.12 Pro Display

Exhibit 157: Pro Display - Overview



Exhibit 158: Pro Display - Product / Service



Exhibit 159: Pro Display - Key offerings

12.13 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 160: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 161: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 162: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 163: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 164: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.14 Shenzhen AuroLED Technology Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 165: Shenzhen AuroLED Technology Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 166: Shenzhen AuroLED Technology Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 167: Shenzhen AuroLED Technology Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.15 SHENZHEN NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd.

NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. Exhibit 168: SHENZHEN NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. - Overview

NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. - Overview

Exhibit 169: SHENZHEN NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. - Product / Service

NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. - Product / Service

Exhibit 170: SHENZHEN NEXNOVO TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.16 TDK Corp.

Exhibit 171: TDK Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 172: TDK Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 173: TDK Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 174: TDK Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 175: TDK Corp. - Segment focus

12.17 Ubiquitous Energy Inc.

Exhibit 176: Ubiquitous Energy Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 177: Ubiquitous Energy Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 178: Ubiquitous Energy Inc. - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 179: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 180: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 181: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 182: Research methodology



Exhibit 183: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 184: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 185: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

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SOURCE Technavio
Donations to food banks in three states help fight hunger and support Unicity's Make Life Better Foundation's mission of food sovereignty and community health

OREM, Utah, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- During the first quarter of 2023, Unicity's Make Life Better Foundation donated more than 80,000 meals to six different food banks in three states where Unicity has office locations: Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah. Keeping with their mission to support food sovereignty, these meals were high in protein, nutrient dense, and culturally appropriate.

Unicity Make Life Better Foundation Food Donations

These donations followed similar donations made by Unicity in previous years to food banks in the United States, as well as meals donated to Ukraine, Thailand and the Philippines as part of other projects. While Unicity recognizes the long-term benefits of their sustainable agriculture projects, direct meal donations fill critical, immediate needs and help those in desperation to find ways forward. Upon receiving a large donation, a representative of a food bank in Wyoming said, "There are a lot of empty shelves and freezers around here and this will go a long way to helping a lot of people."

The Unicity Make Life Better Foundation works to bring nutrition to people around the world. "We work to ensure people have access to food that will nourish their health," says the foundation's executive director, Bonita Hughes. "The Unicity Make Life Better Foundation is committed to fighting the global metabolic public health emergency and increasing opportunities for marginalized populations worldwide."

About the Unicity Make Life Better Foundation: The foundation works to ensure people all around the world have access to and control over culturally appropriate and nutrient-dense food that will continue to fuel their health for generations. The Unicity Make Life Foundation is committed to fighting our global metabolic health emergency and increasing opportunities for marginalized populations worldwide.

Media Contact:

Sarah Smart

Director of MLB Foundation

[email protected]

1-800-864-2489

SOURCE UNICITY

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SOURCE Unicity International
RICHMOND, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- George C. Freeman, III, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Corporation (NYSE:UVV), announced today that the Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of eighty cents ($0.80) per share on the common shares of the Company, payable August 7, 2023, to common shareholders of record at the close of business on July 10, 2023. This increase indicates an annualized rate of $3.20 per common share and a yield of approximately 5.99% based on the $53.40 closing price on May 22, 2023.

Mr. Freeman noted, "This is our 53rd consecutive annual dividend increase. We are pleased to continue our strong record of returning value to our shareholders, and raising our common dividend every year is one of the main ways in which we do that."

The Board of Directors set the date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders as Tuesday, August 1, 2023. It will be held at 11:00 a.m. at the Company's headquarters building. The Board of Directors set the record date for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders as June 6, 2023.

Universal Corporation (NYSE: UVV), headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a global business-to-business agri-products supplier to consumer product manufacturers, operating in over 30 countries on five continents. We strive to be the supplier of choice for our customers by leveraging our farmer base, our commitment to a sustainable supply chain, and our ability to provide high-quality, customized, traceable, value-added agri-products essential for our customers' requirements. We find innovative solutions to serve our customers and have been meeting their agri-product needs for more than 100 years. Our principal focus since our founding in 1918 has been tobacco, and we are the leading global leaf tobacco supplier. Through our plant-based ingredients platform, we provide a variety of value-added manufacturing processes to produce high-quality, specialty vegetable- and fruit-based ingredients as well as botanical extracts and flavorings for the food and beverage end markets. For more information, visit www.universalcorp.com.

SOURCE Universal Corporation
The information about the transfer of Russian troops from the front line in Ukraine following the latest events in Russia's Belgorod region is being verified and monitored, Spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine Andriy Yusov has said.

"Yes, there is such information, and it is being verified and monitored. We just have to understand that the transfer of separate units, especially from the front line, is not a very fast process. The preparations and implementation take a while. That is why we are watching and, certainly, monitoring this information very carefully," he said on the air of the national telethon on Wednesday.

Also, the intelligence agency said that Russia did not return nuclear shells after the evacuation of the Belgorod-22 nuclear facility (Grayvoron, Belgorod region).

"No, they did not return them [the nuclear shells] and further operation of this facility is under question," Yusov said.

Earlier, Spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate Andriy Cherniak told Interfax-Ukraine that the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) conducted an operation in Belgorod region, which was a consequence of the aggressive policy of the Putin regime and the invasion of Russian troops of the territory of Ukraine.

"We confirm that the Freedom of Russia Legion and the RDK closely cooperate and interact with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine," he said.

As reported, at around 14:00 on Monday, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the RDK announced that they had "liberated" Kozinka of Belgorod region of the Russian Federation and entered the settlement of Grayvoron.

An appeal to Russian resident was posted on the Telegram channel of the Freedom of Russia Legion: "Residents of Russia! We are the same Russians as you. We are distinguished only by the fact that we did not want more recognition of the actions of criminals in power and took up arms to defend our freedom. But today it's time for everyone to take responsibility for their future. It's time to put an end to the Kremlin's dictatorship: the Legion is coming home."

In turn, according to Russian media, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the president of Russia was informed "about an attempt to break through of the Ukrainian sabotage group into Belgorod region."
Everspring to provide marketing, enrollment and student success services for two online graduate degree programs.

CHICAGO and IOWA CITY, Iowa, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Everspring, a leading higher education technology and services provider today announces a partnership with the University of Iowa's College of Education to support two online graduate programs: Master of Arts in Teaching, Leadership, and Cultural Competency (MATLCC) and Master of Arts in STEM Education (MA in STEM Education). The partnership will bolster Iowa's College of Education in growing enrollments and delivering outstanding student outcomes by providing marketing, enrollment and student success services.

The University of Iowa's College of Education offers an engaged community and flexible options for working professionals to pursue education and advance in their field. Iowa's programs prepare the next generation of educators with the skills to solve challenging problems, gather and evaluate data and apply critical thinking skills.

"Expanding the pool of highly qualified educators helps meet a vital need, both in Iowa and nationwide," said Beth Hollenberg, CEO and co-founder of Everspring. "Everspring is excited to partner with the University of Iowa to increase access to future educators."

As a specialized marketing solutions and student success provider, Everspring offers a full suite of brand development, performance marketing, integrated marketing communications, lead generation and enrollment management services that enable universities to cultivate awareness and deliver rapid, sustainable enrollment growth for their programs. Everspring's expert student success team helps support enrolled students in their online programs, leading to outstanding retention and graduation rates and strong student satisfaction.

About the University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is one of the nation's premier public research universities serving more than 30,000 students. Founded in 1847, it is the state's oldest institution of higher education and is located alongside the picturesque Iowa River in Iowa City. A member of the Association of American Universities since 1909 and the Big Ten Conference since 1899, the University of Iowa is home to one of the most acclaimed medical centers in the country, as well as globally recognized leadership in the study and craft of writing. Iowa is known for excellence in both the arts and sciences, offering world-class undergraduate, graduate, and professional academic programs in a wide variety of fields. For 18 consecutive years, the University of Iowa was named a "Best Buy" in the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

About the University of Iowa College of Education

As part of a Big Ten Research I institution, the University of Iowa College of Education offers a personal, affordable, and top-ranked education for more than 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students. These students hail from all 99 Iowa counties, all 50 states, and 80 different countries, including a growing number of distance learners.

In 1847, Iowa legislators created the State University of Iowa, the state's first public institution of higher education to provide teacher training for Iowa's growing population. In 1872, the UI created the nation's first permanent college-level department of education.

Today, the UI College of Education is home to many nationally recognized, highly ranked graduate programs. The college's vision is to pursue world-class outcomes in all that it pursues: leading research, engaging its communities, and preparing education and mental health professionals for innovation and impact.

About Everspring

Everspring is a leading provider of education technology and service solutions. Our advanced technology, proven marketing approach, research-backed instructional design services, and robust faculty support deliver outstanding outcomes for our university partners, powering their success online. Everspring offers a range of full-service turnkey solutions, as well as standalone single service offerings, and innovative self-service products that enable universities to establish and maintain themselves as leaders in the digital delivery of education. Based in Chicago, Everspring serves a growing number of colleges and universities, nationwide.

Visit www.everspringpartners.com for more information.

SOURCE Everspring
UNMET, in Partnership with the WA Department of Commerce, is Aiming to Improve Access for WA-Based Startups to Venture Capital.

SEATTLE, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UNMET, a mission-based organization tasked with filling an unmet need for startups raising venture capital in the US, will hold its first West Coast conference - UNMET Washington 2023, in Seattle on September 13-14.

The conference is co-hosted by the Washington State Department of Commerce and Stout Street Capital, with strong community support from Technology Alliance and WTIA. UNMET Washington 2023 will feature about 60 of the fastest-growing early-stage startups from around the country, with a majority based in Washington.

"Commerce is honored to co-host the 2023 UNMET Conference in Seattle, the heart of Washington state's booming tech industry. Our startup ecosystem has exploded beyond the Puget Sound region." Said Chris Green, Assistant Director, Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Chris added, "Companies with massive growth potential to become the next big thing are sprinkled all over the state, and this opportunity enables founders in underserved regions to connect with top early-stage investors. Thanks to events like UNMET, innovative companies that could have previously remained hidden from elite funders are getting a better shot at the spotlight."

Cumulatively, UNMET WA 2023 is set to facilitate 500+ one-on-one meetings for startup founders and help facilitate valuable peer-peer and founder-investor connections. This event aims to build better connective tissue and resilience for the WA startup ecosystem. UNMET does this by engaging Government entities and Non-government organizations such as WTIA (Washington Technology Industry Association) and Technology Alliance. "WTIA is proud to support UNMET as it hosts its inaugural West Coast conference in Seattle," said Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA. "By providing direct access to investors from across the country, our region's startups will have a chance to tell their stories to new networks. UNMET will help cement Washington's reputation as a premier startup ecosystem, bringing new talent, funding, and visibility to our state."

Laura Ruderman, CEO of Technology Alliance, said, "We're thrilled to join forces with Stout Street Capital as they put on the UNMET conference in Seattle. This event is sure to be a great boost for the Washington state innovation ecosystem!"

The selected seed/series-A stage presenting companies will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with 6-8 investors on average. The conferences will attract over 75 institutional VC funds from around the country. The companies/startups presenting at the conference are selected through a competitive application process starting May 15th; interested startups/companies can apply here.

Company: Submit your application to present here.

Investors: Register here.

Learn more at: unmetconference.com/wa-2023/.

About Stout Street Capital

Stout Street Capital is a seed-stage fund that invests in underserved markets in the middle of the country and sees an average of 5,000 deals per year and co-invests with over 250 VCs around the country. Stout Street Capital seeks to invest in early-stage companies focused on improving efficiency and generating bottom-line value in large, established sectors in the market. Stout Street Capital is focused on enhancing the Series A/B-funding ecosystem in the middle of the country. UNMET is one of its primary instruments, which will help companies in underserved regions meet investors and attract capital.

www.stoutstreetcapital.com

About Washington State Department of Commerce

The Department of Commerce is the one agency in state government that touches every aspect of community and economic development: planning, infrastructure, energy, public facilities, housing, public safety and crime victims, international trade, business services, and more. We work with local governments, tribes, businesses, and civic leaders throughout the state to strengthen communities so all residents may thrive and prosper.

About Technology Alliance

The Technology Alliance is a statewide, non-profit organization of leaders from Washington's technology-based businesses and research institutions united by our vision of a vibrant innovation economy that benefits all of our state's citizens. Through programs, events, data analysis, and policy activities, we advance excellence in education, research, and entrepreneurship to support the growth of our high-impact industries, creating high-wage jobs; and economic prosperity for our entire state.

About WTIA (Washington Technology Industry Association)

WTIA is a coalition of like-minded innovators and problem solvers who believe in harnessing the transformative potential of technology and our collective strengths to build a better, brighter world for everyone. We lead, support, and learn from our partners to create an innovative vision toward a just and equitable technology sector where all people from diverse backgrounds thrivenot simply survive.

SOURCE UNMET
DALLAS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet Travel Solutions (ITS), a leading travel technology company, is pleased to unveil its latest innovation for addressing enhanced or branded airline fares that are offered at a higher price, and include options such as an extra checked bag for no fee, refundable terms, etc.

A traveler can simply hover over any fare displayed via List Results, and they will see more flight options associated with their criteria than ever before. If a change is needed, all the traveler needs to do is move their mouse to view other fare options.

As the airline industry continues to adopt the New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard and branded fares continue to increase, ITS decided to offer these brands via its self-service booking tool, TripEasy, in a way that provides control to the client organization and visibility into the new airline bundled products.

"We've always displayed our own interpretation of the Next Generation Storefront (NGS) or 'shelf options' which allows TripEasy to feature six of the best prices, one for each shelf. The challenge was that we wanted to show fares that were not the lowest priced options on the shelf, as well," says Brian Tanis, Vice President, Product & Marketing.

That is where the concept of 'drawers' saved the day. With TripEasy airline drawers, business travelers can now access more comprehensive fare options when price is not the only consideration for planning a trip. A traveler simply hovers over any fare on the List Results page, and they'll see more flight options associated with their criteria.

If any fare, branded or not, is unique in name or as a bundle and TripEasy receives it from any one of our multiple shopping sources, it will easily be displayed for travelers. It's important to note that TripEasy airline drawers are aware of a client's company policy and highlights selection availability and fare amenities clearly.

"We're excited to answer the age-old question about what was not showing up on the shelves. Only seeing the "lowest option" sounds like a great way to save money, but it doesn't always tell the full story. We can now drill down further in the form of drawers contained within those shelves. It's another way ITS simplifies business travel and empowers our clients with the tools they need to make informed planning decisions," says Tanis.

TripEasy airline drawers are available to clients worldwide via the website and mobile app. They are primed to offer quick options given our easy, convenient hover feature upgrade.

About ITS

ITS offers travel technology solutions to the airlines, corporate travel, events and meetings, HR, energy, and travel management sectors. ITS products and services create savings and provide long-term value through ease of use and valuable integration. Our one-stop platform, TripEasy, simplifies the entire business travel process for all travel-related needs. With better fares, robust features, and more options from which to choose, TripEasy helps manage compliance and personalizes each experience. Let's get together to see how we can help up your game. Visit www.its.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to learn more.

Contact:

[email protected]

+1 417.812.6331

Media Contact:

Monica Weir

214-915-9039

[email protected]

SOURCE Internet Travel Solutions (ITS)
MATTHEWS, N.C., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Why work with Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A.? During their 40 years of experience in law, they have earned a reputation for professionalism and success. These knowledgeable family law attorneys work together to solve their clients' problems quickly and efficiently. They combine their skills to ensure their clients get the best advice, which is why they are one of the best law offices in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A. have been the go-to local lawyers for nearly 22,000 people. Because they are well-versed in the intricacies of the law and have a deep understanding of legal procedures and requirements, they are prepared to take on any case, large or small.

Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A. has experience in a wide range of practice areas, which makes the law firm even more appealing to many people. They have experience in family law, civil litigation, estate administration, estate planning, personal injury, and business law, which means they can provide valuable guidance and support to their clients during various legal proceedings.

A personalized approach is essential for lawyers and their clients, as every legal scenario is different and deserves the utmost care and attention. Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A. prioritize the needs of their clients by taking the time to understand the legal issue fully. They work closely with their clients and develop a strategic plan for the legal matter. This law office assists with anticipating potential legal hurdles, identifies risks and opportunities, and creates a roadmap to success. By choosing their legal representation, clients realize that they have an experienced advocate who is willing to fight tirelessly for their rights.

The lawyers at Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A. take a hands-on approach from the start of the legal process until the end. They pride themselves on seeing the entire operation through and sticking by their clients' sides. They provide guidance and support and give their clients objective and impartial advice. This legal team alleviates the anxiety and stresses related to the legal process.

If you are in the Charlotte area and need a family law attorney, estate planning attorney, or personal injury lawyer, Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A. may be a suitable law firm for you. Find out more at www.wbblawyers.com.

About Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A.:

Weaver, Bennett, & Bland, P.A. has been a trusted law firm since 1982. Because these lawyers have a broad range of specialties, they can provide legal representation to clients with various legal needs. They serve clients in the Matthews, NC region and surrounding areas. They pride themselves on having a culture that's based on honesty and professionalism. Find out more at www.wbblawyers.com.

Contact Information

Name: William Whittaker

Email: [email protected]

Phone Number: 704-844-1400

SOURCE Weaver, Bennett & Bland, P.A.
The innovative legal solutions were recognized under the Business Technology category as market leaders

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. today announced that its solutions Legisway and MediRegs were named finalists in the 38th annual SIIA CODiE Awards. Legisway was recognized in the Best Work Management Platform category, and MediRegs was honored in the Best Business Information or Data Delivery Solution category.

Legisway, Wolters Kluwer's AI-powered solution for managing information related to contracts, intellectual property, compliance, and key business data, streamlines a wide range of workflows for corporate law departments. The solution offers true flexible enterprise legal information management that can be customized with an industry focus, helping the corporate law department enhance collaboration with the business and minimize risk.

Wolters Kluwer's MediRegs allows users to address multiple challenges facing the industry by providing immediate access to premier content, coding tools, and calculators. The platform helps healthcare workers keep up to date on constantly changing healthcare regulations and reimbursement by providing a SaaS workflow solution, integration options, and premier healthcare reimbursement and regulatory software.

"We are committed to delivering expertise and innovating to help our customers in highly regulated areas like the healthcare and retirement space," said Atul Dubey, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. "We extend our deepest gratitude to the 2023 CODiE Awards for recognizing how innovative legal technology solutions like Legisway and hospital revenue cycle management offerings like MediRegs are increasing the effectiveness of our customers and keeping them compliant with increasingly complex and ever-changing regulations."

The CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-recognized awards program. Finalists represent the most innovative and impactful applications and products from software developers, content, media, and related technologies. CODiE Award winners will be announced during virtual celebrations on June 21 and June 22 at 1pm ET. Details about each finalist are available, here: www.siia.net/codie

Wolters Kluwer's Legisway and MediRegs were also honored as Stevie Award winners in the 2023 American Business Awards across multiple categories. The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.'s premier business awards program. More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories. Legisway won gold in the Work Management Platform category and silver in the Emerging Technology solution. Meanwhile, MediRegs won gold in the Health & Medical Information Solution category, and bronze in both the Healthcare Technology Solution and Customer Service Team of the Year categories.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (EURONEXT: WKL) is a global leader in information, software, and services for professionals in healthcare, tax and accounting, financial and corporate compliance, legal and regulatory, and corporate performance and ESG. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2022 annual revenues of 5.5 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Frank Ready

Senior Specialist, External Communications, Legal & Regulatory

Wolters Kluwer

Office: 717-205-3647

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.
Leading global nonprofit unlocks women's financial power and announces the winners of the 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge

MUMBAI, India, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Women's World Banking, a global leader in advancing financial inclusion for low-income women across the world, is bringing the Making Finance Work for Women Summit to Mumbai, India on 24-25 May 2023. Convening for the first time in person since 2019, the Making Finance Work for Women Summit will provide a space for over 300 leaders in the financial services, investor, philanthropy, policy, and technology communities to come together and discuss innovative ways to economically empower all women through financial inclusion.

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO (L) and Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head- S Asia (R) of Womens World Banking from the Making Finance Work for Women 2023 Summit in Mumbai.

"From climate change to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to face an unprecedented number of events negatively impacting the global economy  often with particularly damaging consequences for women," said Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women's World Banking. "Nearly one billion women across the world still lack access to the formal financial services that would allow them to be resilient in the face of these challenges. The Making Finance Work for Women Summit is one of the ways Women's World Banking is trying to close the gender gap in financial services. We will showcase proven solutions that can be adapted by financial services providers and policymakers around the globe."

At this year's Making Finance Work for Women Summit, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from leaders such as Stephanie Copus Campbell, Australia's Ambassador for Gender Equality; Soraya Hakuziyaremye, Deputy Governor, National Bank of Rwanda; and Rajesh Bansal, CEO, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. Panel discussions will touch on everything from finance for displaced women, to gender lens investing, to the role of the 'S' in ESG, providing attendees with a space to both better understand why financial power is vital to economic resilience and see what they can do to unshackle women's financial power.

"We are lucky to have so many thought leaders gathered with us in India, which is where Women's World Banking's story began more than 40 years ago and where we continue to do some of our most impactful work," continued Iskenderian. "With India holding the Presidency for the G20 this year, we could think of no better location for creating innovative pathways to women's financial inclusion."

Women's World Banking is excited to bring back the Fintech Innovation Challenge as a part of this year's Making Finance Work for Women Summit programming. The Fintech Innovation Challenge is a global competition to showcase solutions that tackle the persistent challenges in serving low-income women. The Challenge will culminate on the final day of the Summit where the four finalists  GajiGesa, IndiaP2P, MeraBills, and Paycode, selected from a field of 98 applications from 34 countries  will deliver their pitches to a judging panel comprised of experts from financial services, technology, innovation, and regulatory bodies. The winner will receive a priority pitch slot at the Inclusive FinTech Forum in Rwanda, powered by Elevandi. The Challenge is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ernst & Young LLP (EY US).

"Fintechs have a unique advantage in addressing the digital financial services inclusion gap for women. This year's applicant pool was full of innovative companies with exciting business models for addressing the biggest obstacles to women's financial inclusion," said Iskenderian. "All four of our finalists, three of which are led by female founders, hold enormous potential to promote women's economic security and prosperity."

Women's World Banking is committed to promoting financial inclusion and bolstering economic empowerment for women. To date, the global organization has increased access and/or usage of financial products and services to more than thirteen million women in emerging markets. In the last year alone, Women's World Banking invested eighty-eight million dollars in inclusive finance institutions, reaching over six million women.

The Making Finance Work for Women Summit is presented by Women's World Banking with support from Leading Sponsor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scaling Sponsor Ernst & Young (EY US). The event is made possible with additional sponsorship from MetLife Foundation, European Investment Bank, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and The United Nations Capital Development Fund. Women's World Banking is grateful for the ongoing support of its core funders: Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and Visa Foundation.

For more information, follow @womensworldbnkg at #MFWW2023.

A full list of speakers can be found here and the agenda for the Summit can be found here.



For media inquiries, or to arrange interview opportunities with any of the Summit speakers or Fintech Innovation Challenge finalists, contact: Elizabeth McDermott at [email protected]

About Women's World Banking

Women's World Banking designs and invests in financial solutions, institutions, and policy environments in emerging markets to create greater economic stability and prosperity for women, their families, and their communities. With a Global Network reach of 61 financial services providers in 34 countries serving more than 136 million women clients, Women's World Banking drives impact through its scalable, market-driven solutions; gender lens private equity fund; and leadership and diversity programs.

SOURCE Womens World Banking
SHENZHEN, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- X Financial (NYSE: XYF) (the "Company" or "we"), a leading online personal finance company in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

First Quarter 2023 Operational Highlights



Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 Three Months Ended December 31, 2022 Three Months Ended March 31, 2023





QoQ YoY Total loan facilitation amount (RMB in million) 15,250 21,700 24,088 11.0 % 57.9 % Number of active borrowers 889,182 1,370,496 1,523,738 11.2 % 71.4 %

The total loan amount facilitated and originated [1] in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB24,088 million , representing an increase of 57.9% from RMB15,250 million in the same period of 2022.

in the first quarter of 2023 was , representing an increase of 57.9% from in the same period of 2022. Total number of active borrowers [2] was 1,523,738 in the first quarter of 2023, representing an increase of 71.4% from 889,182 in the same period of 2022.



As of March 31, 2022 As of December 31, 2022 As of March 31, 2023 Total outstanding loan balance (RMB in million) 26,659 37,992 41,531 Delinquency rates for all outstanding loans that are past

due for 31-60 days 1.31 % 1.02 % 1.05 % Delinquency rates for all outstanding loans that are past

due for 91-180 days 3.46 % 1.93 % 2.40 %

The total outstanding loan balance [3] as of March 31, 2023 was RMB41,531 million , compared with RMB26,659 million as of March 31, 2022 .

as of was , compared with as of . The delinquency rate for all outstanding loans that are past due for 31-60 days [4] as of March 31, 2023 was 1.05%, compared with 1.31% as of March 31, 2022 .

as of was 1.05%, compared with 1.31% as of . The delinquency rate for all outstanding loans that are past due for 91-180 days [5] as of March 31, 2023 was 2.40%, compared with 3.46% as of March 31, 2022 .

[1] Represents the total amount of loans that the Company facilitated and originated during the relevant period.

[2] Represents borrowers who made at least one transaction on the Company's platform during the relevant period.

[3] Represents the total amount of loans outstanding for loans that the Company facilitated and originated at the end of the relevant period. Loans that are delinquent for more than 60 days are charged-off and are excluded in the outstanding loan balance, except for Xiaoying Housing Loan. As Xiaoying Housing Loan is a secured loan product and the Company is entitled to payment by exercising its rights to the collateral, the Company does not exclude Xiaoying Housing loan delinquent for more than 60 days in the outstanding loan balance.

[4] Represents the balance of the outstanding principal and accrued outstanding interest for loans that were 31 to 60 days past due as a percentage of the total balance of outstanding principal and accrued outstanding interest for loans that the Company facilitated and originated as of a specific date. Loans that are delinquent for more than 60 days are charged-off and excluded in the calculation of delinquency rate by balance. Xiaoying Housing Loan was launched in 2015 and ceased in 2019, and all the outstanding loan balance of housing loan as of March 31, 2022, December 31, 2022 and March 31, 2023 were overdue more than 60 days. To make the delinquency rate by balance comparable, the Company excludes Xiaoying Housing Loan in the calculation of delinquency rate.

[5] To make the delinquency rate by balance comparable to the peers, the Company also defines the delinquency rate as the balance of the outstanding principal and accrued outstanding interest for loans that were 91 to 180 days past due as a percentage of the total balance of outstanding principal and accrued outstanding interest for the loans that the Company facilitated and originated as of a specific date. Loans that are delinquent for more than 180 days are excluded in the calculation of delinquency rate by balance, except for Xiaoying Housing Loan. All the outstanding loan balance of housing loan as of March 31, 2022, December 31, 2022 and March 31, 2023 were overdue more than 180 days. To make the delinquency rate by balance comparable, the Company excludes Xiaoying Housing Loan in the calculation of delinquency rate.

First Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights

(In thousands, except for share and per share data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 Three Months Ended December 31, 2022 Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 QoQ YoY

RMB RMB RMB



Total net revenue 888,354 955,640 1,004,934 5.2 % 13.1 % Total operating costs and expenses (574,264) (681,687) (700,897) 2.8 % 22.1 % Income from operations 314,090 273,953 304,037 11.0 % (3.2 %) Net income 139,931 274,639 284,346 3.5 % 103.2 % Non-GAAP adjusted net income 153,906 277,939 306,525 10.3 % 99.2 %











Net income per ADSbasic 2.52 5.28 5.94 12.5 % 135.7 % Net income per ADSdiluted 2.46 5.16 5.82 12.8 % 136.6 %











Non-GAAP adjusted net income per

ADSbasic 2.76 5.34 6.36 19.1 % 130.4 % Non-GAAP adjusted net income per

ADSdiluted 2.70 5.22 6.24 19.5 % 131.1 %

Total net revenue in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB1,004.9 million ( US$146.3 million ), representing an increase of 13.1% from RMB888.4 million in the same period of 2022.

( ), representing an increase of 13.1% from in the same period of 2022. Income from operations in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB304.0 million ( US$44.3 million ), compared with RMB314.1 million in the same period of 2022.

( ), compared with in the same period of 2022. Net income in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB284.3 million ( US$41.4 million ), compared with RMB139.9 million in the same period of 2022.

( ), compared with in the same period of 2022. Non-GAAP [6] adjusted net income in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB306.5 million ( US$44.6 million ), compared with RMB153.9 million in the same period of 2022.

adjusted net income in the first quarter of 2023 was ( ), compared with in the same period of 2022. Net income per basic and diluted American depositary share ("ADS") [7] in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB5.94 (US$0.86) and RMB5.82 (US$0.85) , compared with RMB2.52 and RMB2.46 , respectively, in the same period of 2022.

in the first quarter of 2023 was and , compared with and , respectively, in the same period of 2022. Non-GAAP adjusted net income per basic and adjusted diluted ADS in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB6.36 (US$0.93) and RMB6.24 (US$0.91) , compared with RMB2.76 and RMB2.70 , respectively, in the same period of 2022.

[6] The Company uses in this press release the following non-GAAP financial measures: (i) adjusted net income (loss), (ii) adjusted net income (loss) per basic ADS, and (iii) adjusted net income (loss) per diluted ADS, each of which excludes share-based compensation expense, impairment losses on financial investments, income (loss) from financial investments and impairment losses on long-term investments. For more information on non-GAAP financial measure, please see the section of "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement" and the table captioned "Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this press release.

[7] Each American depositary share ("ADS") represents six Class A ordinary shares.

Mr. Justin Tang, the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company, commented, "We are very pleased to be off to a good start in 2023. We delivered solid operational and financial performance in the first quarter. The loan facilitation amount was in line with our guidance range and net revenue grew steadily both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. We also saw a decent improvement in our bottom line."

"We have seen signs of economic recovery in China, with increased consumer spending and better-than-expected GDP growth in the first quarter. However, as stated by the National Bureau of Statistics, 'inadequate domestic demand remains prominent and the foundation for economic recovery is not solid yet.' We saw increased competition in the personal finance industry with challenges in borrower acquisition. Against this backdrop, our first quarter performance is very encouraging and impressive thanks to our strong business resilience and execution."

"During the recent May 'Golden Week' holiday, Chinese tourist spending has reached pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to government figures. Although the economic recovery is still in its early stages and there are concerns about the sustainability of the growth, we remain cautiously optimistic about the steady business growth this year as the government releases various measures to stimulate domestic demand and accelerate economic growth. Meanwhile, we are keeping a close eye on the regulatory side and have been consistently cooperating with the government on the industry-wide rectification work previously scheduled to be completed by June 2023. To date, no further guidance has been released by the Chinese government, but we do not rule out the possibility that new interpretations or updated implementation details of the rectification work will be released, which could have an impact on the industry and our business."

Mr. Kent Li, President of the Company, added, "During the first quarter, our total loan amount facilitated and originated reached RMB24.1 billion, increased by 57.9% year-over-year and 11.0% quarter-over-quarter. Despite intense competition, we continued to grow our premium borrower base. During the quarter, the number of active borrowers grew by 71.4% to more than 1.5 million. In addition, our asset quality remained stable sequentially and improved significantly year-over-year. Our delinquency rate for all outstanding loans past due for 31-60 days decreased to 1.05% as of the end of March 2023 from 1.31% a year ago. We do not expect our risk performance to fluctuate significantly for the remainder of the year. In addition, with sufficient credit lines in place, we continue to negotiate funding costs with our institutional funding partners and expect to see a positive impact in the near future."

Mr. Frank Fuya Zheng, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, added, "We were pleased to deliver solid financial performance in the first quarter. Total net revenue was RMB1,004.9 million, increased by 13.1% year-over-year and 5.2% quarter-over-quarter. Our net income per basic ADS improved significantly to RMB5.94 from RMB2.52 in the same period of last year, reflecting our strong profitability and the impact of our ongoing share buyback program to enhance shareholder value. Going forward, we will continue to diversify our channels to reach more borrowers, while maintaining our strategy of profitable growth with credit risk management at its core. We expect to deliver steady quarterly improvement in both our top and bottom lines throughout the year. To create more value for our shareholders, we are taking steps to be able to pay dividends in the future."

First Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Total net revenue in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 13.1% to RMB1,004.9 million (US$146.3 million) from RMB888.4 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to an increase in the total loan amount facilitated and originated this quarter compared with the same period of 2022.



Three Months Ended March 31,



(In thousands, except for share and per share data) 2022 2023 YoY



RMB % of Revenue RMB % of Revenue

Loan facilitation service 508,703 57.3 % 580,604 57.8 % 14.1 % Post-origination service 87,344 9.8 % 121,273 12.1 % 38.8 % Financing income 231,275 26.0 % 254,056 25.3 % 9.9 % Other revenue 61,032 6.9 % 49,001 4.8 % (19.7 %) Total net revenue 888,354 100.0 % 1,004,934 100.0 % 13.1 %

Loan facilitation service fees in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 14.1% to RMB580.6 million (US$84.5 million) from RMB508.7 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to an increase in the total loan amount facilitated this quarter compared with the same period of 2022.

Post-origination service fees in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 38.8% to RMB121.3 million (US$17.7 million) from RMB87.3 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to the cumulative effect of increased volume of loans facilitated in the previous quarters. Revenues from post-origination services are recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the underlying loans as the services are being provided.

Financing income in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 9.9% to RMB254.1 million (US$37.0 million) from RMB231.3 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to an increase in average loan balances compared with the same period of 2022.

Other revenue in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 19.7% to RMB49.0 million (US$7.1 million), compared with RMB61.0 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to a decrease in technology service fees received for providing assistant technology development services.

Origination and servicing expenses in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 36.5% to RMB633.8 million (US$92.3 million) from RMB464.5 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to the following factors: (i) an increase in commission fees resulting from the increased in total loan amount facilitated and originated this quarter compared with the same period of 2022, (ii) an increase in interest expenses as a result of an increase in payable to institutional funding partners and investors, and (iii) partially offset by a decrease in insurance fee paid to insurance company.

Reversal of provision for accounts receivable and contract assets in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB0.9 million (US$0.1 million), compared with provision for accounts receivable and contract assets of RMB26.1 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to a decrease in the average estimated default rate compared with the same period of 2022.

Provision for loans receivable in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB20.4 million (US$3.0 million), compared with RMB33.7 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to a decrease in the average estimated default rate compared with the same period of 2022, and partially offset by an increase in loans receivable held by the Company as a result of the increase in total loan amount facilitated and originated this quarter compared with the same period of 2022.

Income from operations in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB304.0 million (US$44.3 million), compared with RMB314.1 million in the same period of 2022.

Income before income taxes and gain from equity in affiliates in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB330.6 million (US$48.1 million), compared with RMB317.8 million in the same period of 2022.

Income tax expense in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB52.6 million (US$7.7 million), compared with RMB181.0 million in the same period of 2022.

Net income in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB284.3 million (US$41.4 million), compared with RMB139.9 million in the same period of 2022.

Non-GAAP adjusted net income in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB306.5 million (US$44.6 million), compared with RMB153.9 million in the same period of 2022.

Net income per basic and diluted ADS in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB5.94 (US$0.86), and RMB5.82 (US$0.85), compared with RMB2.52 and RMB2.46, respectively, in the same period of 2022.

Non-GAAP adjusted net income per basic and diluted ADS in the first quarter of 2023 was RMB6.36 (US$0.93), and RMB6.24 (US$0.91), compared with RMB2.76 and RMB2.70 respectively, in the same period of 2022.

Cash and cash equivalents was RMB921.2 million (US$134.1 million) as of March 31, 2023, compared with RMB602.3 million as of December 31, 2022.

Share Repurchase Plan

On November 16, 2022, the Company announced that its board of directors authorized to increase its share repurchase program to US$30 million from US$20 million, effective through September 2023. The Company didn't repurchase shares during the first quarter of 2023.

Business Outlook

For the second quarter of 2023, the Company expects the total loan amount facilitated and originated to be between RMB25.0 billion and RMB26.0 billion.

Conference Call

X Financial's management team will host an earnings conference call at 7:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on May 25, 2023 (7:00 PM Beijing / Hong Kong Time on the same day).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States: 1-888-346-8982 Hong Kong: 852-301-84992 Mainland China: 4001-201203 International: 1-412-902-4272 Passcode: X Financial

Please dial in ten minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and provide the passcode to join the call.

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following numbers until June 1, 2023:

United States: 1-877-344-7529 International: 1-412-317-0088 Passcode: 7019207

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://ir.xiaoyinggroup.com.

About X Financial

X Financial (NYSE: XYF) (the "Company") is a leading online personal finance company in China. The Company is committed to connecting borrowers on its platform with its institutional funding partners. With its proprietary big data-driven technology, the Company has established strategic partnerships with financial institutions across multiple areas of its business operations, enabling it to facilitate and originate loans to prime borrowers under a risk assessment and control system.

For more information, please visit: http://ir.xiaoyinggroup.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement

In evaluating our business, we consider and use non-GAAP measures as supplemental measures to review and assess our operating performance. We present the non-GAAP financial measures because they are used by our management to evaluate our operating performance and formulate business plans. We believe that the use of the non-GAAP financial measures facilitates investors' assessment of our operating performance and help investors to identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of certain income or expenses that we include in income (loss) from operations and net income (loss). We also believe that the non-GAAP measures provide useful information about our core operating results, enhance the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making.

We use in this press release the following non-GAAP financial measures: (i) adjusted net income, (ii) adjusted net income per basic ADS, and (iii) adjusted net income per diluted ADS, each of which excludes share-based compensation expense, impairment losses on financial investments, income (loss) from financial investments and impairment losses on long-term investments. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and when assessing our operating performance, investors should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We mitigate these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, which should be considered when evaluating our performance. We encourage you to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP results" set forth at the end of this press release.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from RMB to U.S. dollars are made at a rate of RMB6.8676 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as of March 31, 2023.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," "targets," "guidance" and similar statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the followings: the Company's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the credit industry, and marketplace lending in particular, in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its marketplace's products and services; its ability to attract and retain borrowers and investors on its marketplace; its relationships with its strategic cooperation partners; competition in its industry; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this announcement is current as of the date of this announcement, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For more information, please contact:

X Financial

Mr. Frank Fuya Zheng

E-mail: [email protected]

Christensen IR

In China

Mr. Eric Yuan

Phone: +86-10-5900-1548

E-mail: [email protected]

In US

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Phone: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

X Financial Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets







(In thousands, except for share and per share data) As of December 31, 2022 As of March 31, 2023 As of March 31, 2023

RMB RMB USD ASSETS





Cash and cash equivalents 602,271 921,162 134,132 Restricted cash 404,689 431,666 62,855 Accounts receivable and contract assets, net 1,161,912 1,271,635 185,164 Loans receivable from Xiaoying Credit Loans and other loans, net 3,810,393 3,838,666 558,953 Loans at fair value 120,280 46,771 6,810 Deposits to institutional cooperators, net 1,770,317 1,884,712 274,435 Prepaid expenses and other current assets, net 71,082 58,228 8,479 Deferred tax assets, net 88,428 74,311 10,821 Long-term investments 495,995 504,383 73,444 Property and equipment, net 5,861 5,923 862 Intangible assets, net 36,550 36,156 5,265 Loan receivable from Xiaoying Housing Loans, net 10,061 10,061 1,465 Financial investments 192,620 180,537 26,288 Other non-current assets 67,204 63,570 9,257 TOTAL ASSETS 8,837,663 9,327,781 1,358,230







LIABILITIES





Payable to investors and institutional funding partners at amortized cost 2,627,910 2,647,753 385,543 Payable to investors at fair value 141,289 62,693 9,129 Financial guarantee derivative 107,890 61,325 8,930 Short-term borrowings 70,209 462,709 67,376 Accrued payroll and welfare 63,681 31,532 4,591 Other tax payable 255,691 265,720 38,690 Income tax payable 270,089 305,120 44,429 Deposit payable to channel cooperators 19,700 19,700 2,869 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 476,035 379,716 55,291 Other non-current liabilities 51,193 47,818 6,963 Deferred tax liabilities 722 618 90 TOTAL LIABILITIES 4,084,409 4,284,704 623,901







Commitments and Contingencies





Equity:





Common shares 207 207 30 Treasury stock (124,597) (121,504) (17,692) Additional paid-in capital 3,191,194 3,200,837 466,078 Retained earnings 1,622,851 1,907,197 277,709 Other comprehensive income 63,599 56,340 8,204 Total X Financial shareholders' equity 4,753,254 5,043,077 734,329 Non-controlling interests - - - TOTAL EQUITY 4,753,254 5,043,077 734,329







TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 8,837,663 9,327,781 1,358,230

X Financial Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income









Three Months Ended March 31, (In thousands, except for share and per share data) 2022 2023 2023

RMB RMB USD Net revenues





Loan facilitation service 508,703 580,604 84,542 Post-origination service 87,344 121,273 17,659 Financing income 231,275 254,056 36,993 Other revenue 61,032 49,001 7,135 Total net revenue 888,354 1,004,934 146,329







Operating costs and expenses:





Origination and servicing 464,499 633,809 92,290 General and administrative 45,344 45,647 6,647 Sales and marketing 4,658 2,038 297 (Reversal of) provision for accounts receivable and contract assets 26,056 (940) (137) Provision for loans receivable 33,740 20,377 2,967 (Reversal of) provision for credit losses on deposits to institutional cooperators 732 (34) (5) Reversal of provision for credit losses for other financial assets (765) - - Total operating costs and expenses 574,264 700,897 102,059







Income from operations 314,090 304,037 44,270 Interest income (expenses), net 1,027 (1,999) (291) Foreign exchange gain 955 3,018 439 Loss from financial investments - (9,514) (1,385) Fair value adjustments related to Consolidated Trusts 1,759 (553) (81) Change in fair value of financial guarantee derivative (20,133) 24,299 3,538 Other income, net 20,118 11,332 1,650







Income before income taxes and gain from equity in affiliates 317,816 330,620 48,140







Income tax expense (181,035) (52,563) (7,654) Gain from equity in affiliates, net of tax 3,150 6,289 916 Net income 139,931 284,346 41,402 Less: net income attributable to non-controlling interests - - - Net income attributable to X Financial shareholders 139,931 284,346 41,402







Net income 139,931 284,346 41,402 Other comprehensive income, net of tax of nil:





Gain from equity in affiliates 212 2 0 Foreign currency translation adjustments (3,084) (7,261) (1,057) Comprehensive income 137,059 277,087 40,345 Less: comprehensive income attributable to non-controlling interests - - - Comprehensive income attributable to X Financial shareholders 137,059 277,087 40,345







Net income per sharebasic 0.42 0.99 0.14 Net income per sharediluted 0.41 0.97 0.14







Net income per ADSbasic 2.52 5.94 0.86 Net income per ADSdiluted 2.46 5.82 0.85







Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstandingbasic 331,805,070 288,027,062 288,027,062 Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstandingdiluted 339,603,359 294,330,508 294,330,508

X Financial Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results









Three Months Ended March 31, (In thousands, except for share and per share data) 2022 2023 2023

RMB RMB USD GAAP net income 139,931 284,346 41,402 Less: Loss from financial investments (net of tax of nil) - (9,514) (1,385) Less: Impairment losses on financial investments (net of tax of nil) - - - Less: Impairment losses on long-term investments (net of tax) - - - Add: Share-based compensation expenses (net of tax of nil) 13,975 12,665 1,844 Non-GAAP adjusted net income 153,906 306,525 44,631







Non-GAAP adjusted net income per sharebasic 0.46 1.06 0.15 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per sharediluted 0.45 1.04 0.15







Non-GAAP adjusted net income per ADSbasic 2.76 6.36 0.93 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per ADSdiluted 2.70 6.24 0.91







Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstandingbasic 331,805,070 288,027,062 288,027,062 Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstandingdiluted 339,603,359 294,330,508 294,330,508

SOURCE X Financial
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Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: DGE) and their products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world.

For more information about Diageo, their people, brands, and performance, visit www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practices. Follow on Twitter and Instagram for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA.

About The Tony Awards

The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At The Broadway League, Lauren Reid is Chair and Charlotte St. Martin is President. At the American Theatre Wing, Emilio Sosa is Chair and Heather A. Hitchens is President & CEO.

Media Contacts

Jenna Kaplan / Rachael Caldwell

Bullfrog + Baum

[email protected]

Jazmine Settles

DIAGEO

[email protected]

Reid Myers

Baccarat

[email protected]

SOURCE Zacapa Rum; Baccarat
BEIJING, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhihu Inc. ("Zhihu" or the "Company") (NYSE: ZH; HKEX: 2390), a leading online content community in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

First Quarter 2023 Highlights

Total revenues were RMB994.2 million ( US$144.8 million ) in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 33.8% increase from the same period of 2022.

were ( ) in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 33.8% increase from the same period of 2022. Net loss was RMB179.0 million ( US$26.1 million ) in the first quarter of 2023, narrowed by 70.9% from the same period in 2022.

was RMB179.0 million ( ) in the first quarter of 2023, narrowed by 70.9% from the same period in 2022. Adjusted net loss (non-GAAP) [1] was RMB120.2 million ( US$17.5 million ) in the first quarter of 2023, narrowed by 67.3% from the same period of 2022.

was ( ) in the first quarter of 2023, narrowed by 67.3% from the same period of 2022. Average monthly active users (MAUs) [2] reached 102.4 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 101.6 million in the same period of 2022.

reached 102.4 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 101.6 million in the same period of 2022. Average monthly subscribing members[3] reached 14.9 million in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 116.0% increase from the same period of 2022.

"We are pleased to report a strong first quarter of 2023, with impressive revenue growth and another quarter of significantly narrowed loss. Our user growth reaccelerated during this quarter, and in March our MAUs surpassed 110 million, driven by our diverse content formats and enriched consumption scenarios. Our paid membership revenue reached the historical high while vocational training revenue continued to grow rapidly, as we extended our user coverage beyond the Zhihu community and deepened our services along the industry value chain. Our outstanding performance is a testament to our continued innovation in content community development and integration of cutting-edge AI technology." said Mr. Yuan Zhou, chairman and chief executive officer of Zhihu.

Mr. Henry Sha, chief financial officer of Zhihu, added, "We outperformed this quarter by beating market consensus in terms of both top line and bottom line. Our total revenues for the quarter increased by 33.8% year over year to RMB994.2 million, driven by robust growth in both paid membership and vocational training businesses, and our gross margin expanded to 51.5% from 45.1% in the same period last year. We also achieved RMB59.9 million operating cash flow during the first quarter. It is the first time that Zhihu generates positive operating cash flow since its initial public offering. We will continue to focus on our core business development and remain prudent in exploring potential opportunities."

First Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Total revenues were RMB994.2 million (US$144.8 million) in the first quarter of 2023, representing growth of 33.8% from RMB743.2 million in the same period of 2022.

Marketing services revenue[4] was RMB392.1 million (US$57.1 million), compared with RMB444.1 million in the same period of 2022. The decrease was primarily due to the challenging macroeconomic environment.

Paid membership revenue was RMB454.8 million (US$66.2 million), representing a 105.2% increase from RMB221.7 million in the same period of 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to the continued growth of our average monthly subscribing members which reached 14.9 million from 6.9 million in the same period of 2022.

Vocational training revenue was RMB107.0 million (US$15.6 million), representing a 170.6% increase from RMB39.5 million in the first quarter of 2022. The significant increase was primarily attributable to our further enriched online course offerings and the revenue contributions from our recently acquired businesses in the period.

Other revenues were RMB40.3 million (US$5.9 million), representing a 6.3% increase from RMB37.9 million in the same period of 2022. The year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to the increased sales of our private label products and book series.

Cost of revenues increased by 18.2% to RMB482.0 million (US$70.2 million) from RMB407.7 million in the same period of 2022. The increase was primarily due to an increase in content and operating costs to enhance our content attractiveness, as well as an increase in payment processing costs in connection with our revenue growth, partially offset by the decrease in cloud services and bandwidth costs resulting from our improved technology efficiency.

Gross profit was RMB512.2 million (US$74.6 million), representing a 52.7% increase from RMB335.5 million in the same period of 2022. Gross margin expanded to 51.5% from 45.1% in the same period of 2022, primarily attributable to our enhanced monetization efforts and the improvement of cloud services and bandwidth utilization efficiency.

Total operating expenses decreased by 25.9% to RMB729.0 million (US$106.1 million) from RMB983.7 million in the same period of 2022.

Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 12.0% to RMB445.6 million (US$64.9 million) from RMB506.6 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to more disciplined promotional spending and decrease in salaries and welfare expenses.

Research and development expenses increased to RMB183.0 million (US$26.6 million) from RMB166.5 million in the same period of 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to the increase in the salaries and welfare of research and development personnel, as well as the increased spending in technology innovation.

General and administrative expenses decreased by 67.7% to RMB100.4 million (US$14.6 million) from RMB310.6 million in the same period of 2022, primarily due to lower share-based compensation expenses recognized and the decrease in professional service fees.

Loss from operations decreased by 66.6% to RMB216.7 million (US$31.6 million) from RMB648.2 million in the same period of 2022.

Adjusted loss from operations (non-GAAP)[1] decreased by 60.7% to RMB157.3 million (US$22.9 million) from RMB400.7 million in the same period of 2022.

Net loss decreased by 70.9% to RMB179.0 million (US$26.1 million) from RMB614.3 million in the same period of 2022.

Adjusted net loss (non-GAAP)[1] decreased by 67.3% to RMB120.2 million (US$17.5 million) from RMB367.4 million in the same period of 2022.

Diluted net loss per American Depositary Share ("ADS") was RMB0.30 (US$0.04), compared with RMB1.02 in the same period of 2022.

Cash and cash equivalents, term deposits and short-term investments

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had cash and cash equivalents, term deposits and short-term investments of RMB6,257.7 million (US$911.2 million), compared with RMB6,261.5 million as of December 31, 2022.

Share Repurchase Program

The Company announced a share repurchase program in May 2022 under which the Company may repurchase up to US$100 million of Class A ordinary shares or ADSs for a 12-month period, which was approved by shareholders at the Company's annual general meeting held on June 10, 2022. As of March 31, 2023, approximately 6.9 million Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs) had been repurchased on both the New York Stock Exchange and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the program for a total price of US$17.8 million.

The board of directors of the Company has approved to extend the share repurchase program until June 10, 2024, which is subject to the shareholders' approval for granting a general mandate to the board of directors to repurchase shares and/or ADSs of the Company not exceeding 10% of the total number of issued shares of the Company as of the date of such approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting of the Company.

[1] Adjusted loss from operations and adjusted net loss are non-GAAP financial measures. For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the section of "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and the table captioned "Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this press release. [2] MAUs refers to the sum of the number of mobile devices that launch our mobile app at least once in a given month, or mobile MAUs, and the number of logged-in users who visit our PC or mobile website at least once in a given month, after eliminating duplicates. [3] Monthly subscribing members refers to the number of our Yan Selection members in a specified month. Average monthly subscribing members for a period is calculated by dividing the sum of monthly subscribing members for each month during the specified period by the number of months in such period. [4] Starting with the first quarter of 2023, we report revenues generated from advertising and content-commerce solutions collectively as "marketing services revenue" to better present our business and results of operation in line with our overall strategies. Revenues for the applicable comparison periods of 2022 have been retrospectively re-classified.

Conference Call

The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at 7:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time on May 24, 2023 (7:30 p.m. Beijing/Hong Kong time on May 24, 2023).

All participants wishing to join the conference call must pre-register online using the link provided below. Once the pre-registration has been completed, each participant will receive a set of dial-in numbers, a passcode, and a unique registrant ID which can be used to join the conference call. Participants may pre-register at any time, including up to and after the call start time.

Participant Online Registration: https://dpregister.com/sreg/10179092/f976dce55c

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.zhihu.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call, until May 31, 2023, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States (toll free): +1-877-344-7529 International: +1-412-317-0088 Replay Access Code: 1172692

About Zhihu Inc.

Zhihu Inc. (NYSE: ZH; HKEX: 2390), a leading online content community in China where people come to find solutions, make decisions, seek inspiration, and have fun. Since the initial launch in 2010, we have grown from a Q&A community into one of the top comprehensive online content communities and the largest Q&A-inspired online content community in China. For more information, please visit https://ir.zhihu.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measure

In evaluating the business, the Company considers and uses non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted loss from operations and adjusted net loss, to supplement the review and assessment of its operating performance. The Company defines non-GAAP financial measures by excluding the impact of share-based compensation expenses, amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions and the tax effects of the non-GAAP adjustments, which are non-cash expenses. The Company believes that the non-GAAP measures facilitate comparisons of operating performance from period to period and company to company by adjusting for potential impacts of items, which the Company's management considers to be indicative of its operating performance. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating the Company's consolidated results of operations in the same manner as it helps the Company's management.

The non-GAAP financial measures are not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The presentation of the non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. The use of the non-GAAP measures has limitations as an analytical tool, and investors should not consider it in isolation from, or as a substitute for analysis of, our results of operations or financial condition as reported under U.S. GAAP. For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this press release.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at a specified rate solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars were made at a rate of RMB6.8676 to US$1.00, the exchange rate in effect as of March 31, 2023 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "potential," "continue," "is/are likely to," or other similar expressions. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Zhihu Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Piacente Financial Communications

Helen Wu

Tel: +86-10-6508-0677

Email: [email protected]

In the United States:

Piacente Financial Communications

Brandi Piacente

Phone: +1-212-481-2050

Email: [email protected]

ZHIHU INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(All amounts in thousands, except share, ADS, per share data and per ADS data)



For the Three Months Ended

March 31, 2022

December 31, 2022

March 31, 2023

RMB

RMB

RMB

US$ Revenues:













Marketing services 444,104

572,387

392,137

57,100 Paid membership 221,670

402,531

454,769

66,219 Vocational Training 39,544

84,591

106,998

15,580 Others 37,909

54,456

40,316

5,870 Total revenues 743,227

1,113,965

994,220

144,769 Cost of revenues (407,684)

(485,442)

(482,001)

(70,185) Gross profit 335,543

628,523

512,219

74,584















Selling and marketing expenses (506,585)

(509,229)

(445,565)

(64,879) Research and development expenses (166,518)

(212,495)

(182,960)

(26,641) General and administrative expenses (310,632)

(123,107)

(100,438)

(14,625) Total operating expenses (983,735)

(844,831)

(728,963)

(106,145)















Loss from operations (648,192)

(216,308)

(216,744)

(31,561)















Other income/(expenses):













Investment income 20,724

5,922

6,006

875 Interest income 9,355

33,671

39,493

5,751 Fair value change of financial instruments 8,453

(4,619)

(3,582)

(522) Exchange losses (4,155)

(1,524)

(5,649)

(823) Others, net 1,930

6,099

6,333

922















Loss before income tax (611,885)

(176,759)

(174,143)

(25,358) Income tax expense (2,398)

(2,755)

(4,829)

(703) Net loss (614,283)

(179,514)

(178,972)

(26,061) Net income attributable to noncontrolling

interests -

(164)

(2,383)

(347) Net loss attributable to Zhihu Inc.'s

shareholders (614,283)

(179,678)

(181,355)

(26,408)















Net loss per share













Basic (2.04)

(0.59)

(0.59)

(0.09) Diluted (2.04)

(0.59)

(0.59)

(0.09)















Net loss per ADS (Two ADSs represent

one Class A ordinary share)













Basic (1.02)

(0.29)

(0.30)

(0.04) Diluted (1.02)

(0.29)

(0.30)

(0.04)















Weighted average number of ordinary

shares outstanding













Basic 300,483,336

304,665,906

305,245,036

305,245,036 Diluted 300,483,336

304,665,906

305,245,036

305,245,036

















ZHIHU INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (CONTINUED)

(All amounts in thousands, except share, ADS, per share data and per ADS data)



For the Three Months Ended

March 31, 2022

December 31, 2022

March 31, 2023

RMB

RMB

RMB

US$ Share-based compensation expenses included in:













Cost of revenues 4,770

3,663

4,400

641 Selling and marketing expenses 6,472

5,019

8,758

1,275 Research and development expenses 15,770

15,831

21,205

3,088 General and administrative expenses 218,055

18,032

21,555

3,138

ZHIHU INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(All amounts in thousands)



As of December 31, 2022

As of March 31, 2023

RMB

RMB

US$ ASSETS









Current assets:









Cash and cash equivalents 4,525,852

4,172,007

607,491 Term deposits 948,390

744,020

108,338 Short-term investments 787,259

1,341,687

195,365 Trade receivables 834,251

758,352

110,425 Amounts due from related parties 24,798

19,127

2,785 Prepayments and other current assets 199,249

215,087

31,319 Total current assets 7,319,799

7,250,280

1,055,723 Non-current assets:









Property and equipment, net 7,290

7,057

1,028 Intangible assets, net 80,237

76,667

11,164 Goodwill 126,344

126,344

18,397 Long-term investments -

30,000

4,368 Right-of-use assets 100,119

94,188

13,715 Other non-current assets 22,450

22,450

3,270 Total non-current assets 336,440

356,706

51,942 Total assets 7,656,239

7,606,986

1,107,665 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY









Current liabilities









Accounts payables and accrued liabilities 916,112

1,001,454

145,823 Salary and welfare payables 283,546

284,801

41,470 Taxes payables 25,975

21,293

3,101 Contract liabilities 355,626

377,637

54,988 Amounts due to related parties 24,861

21,006

3,059 Short term lease liabilities 53,190

60,639

8,830 Other current liabilities 165,531

174,400

25,395 Total current liabilities 1,824,841

1,941,230

282,666 Non-current liabilities









Long term lease liabilities 43,367

33,616

4,895 Deferred tax liabilities 11,630

11,030

1,606 Other non-current liabilities 82,133

89,154

12,982 Total non-current liabilities 137,130

133,800

19,483 Total liabilities 1,961,971

2,075,030

302,149











Total Zhihu Inc.'s shareholders' equity 5,653,696

5,479,882

797,933 Noncontrolling interests 40,572

52,074

7,583 Total shareholders' equity 5,694,268

5,531,956

805,516











Total liabilities and shareholders' equity 7,656,239

7,606,986

1,107,665

ZHIHU INC.

UNAUDITED RECONCILIATIONS OF GAAP AND NON-GAAP RESULTS

(All amounts in thousands)



For the Three Months Ended

March 31, 2022

December 31, 2022

March 31, 2023

RMB

RMB

RMB

US$ Loss from operations (648,192)

(216,308)

(216,744)

(31,561) Add:













Share-based compensation expenses 245,067

42,545

55,918

8,142 Amortization of intangible assets resulting

from business acquisition 2,400

3,490

3,490

508 Adjusted loss from operations (400,725)

(170,273)

(157,336)

(22,911)































Net loss (614,283)

(179,514)

(178,972)

(26,061) Add:













Share-based compensation expenses 245,067

42,545

55,918

8,142 Amortization of intangible assets resulting

from business acquisition 2,400

3,490

3,490

508 Tax effects on non-GAAP adjustments (600)

(600)

(600)

(87) Adjusted net loss (367,416)

(134,079)

(120,164)

(17,498)

SOURCE Zhihu Inc.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Special Representative for Ukraine Li Hui held a meeting in Berlin on Wednesday as part of a European tour, during which he discusses the Chinese plan for a peaceful settlement, European media reports.

According to the EFE news agency, the diplomat was hosted at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he held talks with the State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry Andreas Michaelis.

Details of the negotiations are not reported.

In March, China presented its plan for the Ukrainian settlement. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said earlier that it is possible only on the basis of peaceful negotiations and taking into account the concerns of all interested parties.

Last week, Li Hui visited Kyiv.
During a meeting in Ethiopia, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on Chairperson of the African Union, President of the Union of the Comoros Azali Assoumani and Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat to demand Russia to stop obstructing the work of the Black Sea grain corridor.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, food security in Africa was a separate issue for discussion between the parties. Kuleba noted that thanks to the operation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, as of early May, 123 ships with 3.3 million tonnes of agricultural products were exported to African countries.

The minister urged the African Union to demand from Russia that it stop obstructing the work of the grain corridor in the Black Sea and stop the blockade of Ukrainian ports.

"Russia should not use food as a weapon. The unimpeded export of Ukrainian grains will help African countries receive agricultural products that need them. We call on the African Union to clearly state to Russia that its destructive policy is unacceptable," Kuleba said.

The Ukrainian minister noted that, within the framework of the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian program initiated by the Ukrainian president, in December 2022 through March 2023, the Ukrainian government sent six ships with 170,000 tonnes of wheat to Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. Ethiopia received 90,000 tonnes, Kenya  25,000 tonnes, Somalia  25,000 tonnes, Yemen  30,000 tonnes.

According to Kuleba, in the near future it is planned to send ships with agricultural products to other countries.

On May 22, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba announced the start of his second tour of African countries. He plans to visit states in all parts of the continent.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal held a conversation with Prime Minister of Slovakia Ludovit Odor, during which issues of logistics and border infrastructure development, cooperation in the field of energy, further development of the air forces of Ukraine were discussed, the Uriadovy portal reports.

The Head of the Ukrainian Government thanked Slovakia for its comprehensive support, including humanitarian and financial assistance. He also thanked Slovakia for providing 13 MiG-29 aircraft. In this context, the parties discussed further development of the Ukrainian Air Force and training of Ukrainian pilots, the message posted on Wednesday reads.

"We highly appreciate the fact that since February 24, Slovakia has been among the first countries to provide comprehensive assistance to Ukraine. I am confident that our cooperation will further develop," said Shmyhal.

Also, the Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Slovakia touched upon the issue of bilateral trade, in particular the export of Ukrainian agricultural products. Shmyhal thanked the Slovak side for organizing the Solidarity Lanes.

The Head of Government of Ukraine also raised the issue of logistics development and the build-up of border infrastructure. Among other things, the parties tackled collaboration in the energy sector, as well as preparations for the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

"The construction of new and reconstruction of existing checkpoints on our common border will have a positive impact and open up new opportunities for enhanced cooperation," said Shmyhal.

For his part, Odor stressed that support for Ukraine was one of the priorities of his Government, and Slovakia would continue to provide the necessary assistance to our country.
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
Rome, May 24 : Italy's Council of Ministers have approved a wide-ranging emergency aid package to help victims of severe floods in the Emilia-Romagna region.

The package, passed a week after unprecedented rainfall in the region, is worth more than 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The Council of Ministers said on Tuesday that it was aimed at providing "relief and assistance to the population and companies affected by the flood, and to proceed rapidly to overcome the emergency phase".

The package is among the largest-ever in response to a national disaster in Italy, Xinhua news agency reported.

The package includes a temporary suspension of payments for taxes, utilities, and government loans; a payment of up to 3,000 euros for self-employed people who cannot work due to the flooding; and tens of millions of euros in subsidies and grants for businesses, infrastructure reconstruction, and health and safety inspections for severely-hit areas.

Emilia-Romagna, which is home to the cities of Bologna, Parma and Modena, began experiencing heavy rainfall on May 1. Most of the worst damage happened on May 16 and 17, when the region received six months worth of precipitation within a 36-hour period.

The flooding led to at least 14 deaths and left several thousand homeless. It is also estimated to have caused widespread damage to the region's infrastructure, industry, and agri-food sector.

On Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the aid package "the first important response to the territory affected," adding that more aid may come later.

"We need to simplify the rules for reconstruction ... to restart the region," Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia-Romagna region, said at a joint press conference with Meloni.

"There are billions of euros in damage. There have been 300 active landslides. Entire forests have come down. There are problems with the rivers ... roads and infrastructure." (1 euro = 1.08 US dollar)
Moscow, May 24 : A Russian fighter jet was scrambled to accompany two US strategic bombers over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Russian airspace control detected two targets approaching the Russian state border over the Baltic Sea and a Su-27 fighter took off in response, the Ministry said on Tuesday in a statement.

After identifying the objects as two US B-1B strategic bombers, the Russian crew escorted the foreign planes until they flew away from the Russian border, the statement added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.
Bareilly : , May 24 (IANS) Men belonging to minority community are now turning into vigilantes, preventing their daughters from interacting with men of other faiths, police said.

Four such incidents have been reported in the past few days and the police says that there may be more.

These groups have targeted unmarried interfaith couples, mainly in public places. Men of other faiths have been shamed and their pictures uploaded on social media.

In Bareilly, a 24-year-old woman and her male friend, a railway staff, were allegedly harassed by some men on May 21, following a tip-off from the manager of a local hotel, where they were putting up. They shot videos of the woman and circulated it online with messages like "save your daughters from saffron jihad" and "find a boyfriend in your own community".

An FIR under IPC sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to breach peace) and 67 of the IT Act was subsequently registered against the "activists".

In another incident on May 21, an 18-year-old girl, shopping in Moradabad's Bhojpur area with her male friend, was publicly harassed by another group. An FIR was registered after purported videos went viral.

Two similar incidents were reported on May 15 in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar.

The police spokesman said that so far, four persons have been arrested in Muzaffarnagar and one in Moradabad.

A local cleric, requesting anonymity, claimed, "Videos of right-wing group leaders asking people of their community to change the religion of our daughters by marrying them have been circulating online. Those obeying their call will get around Rs four lakh for each conversion." The cleric added: "After these videos surfaced, daughters from our community were targeted and their faith changed. We now want to stem this practice and save our daughters." Additional Director General, Bareilly zone, Prem Chand Meena, said, "Isolated incidents have been reported where interfaith couples were targeted by minority groups and we have acted in every case as per merit. So far, we have not found any concrete evidence to suggest that all these incidents are inter-connected."
Mirzapur, May 24 : Three persons have been arrested in connection with the rape of a married woman and attempt to forcefully convert her religion in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur district, police said.

The police added it was a case of 'love jihad' and the main accused deceived the woman by posing as a Hindu man and later raped her.

The accused has been identified as Arif Khan.

According to the survivor's complaint, she received a call from an unknown person identifying himself as Abhay Mishra. Despite the initial mix-up, they continued their conversation and grew closer over subsequent phone calls.

On March 24, when the woman visited her maternal home in Mirzapur, Arif also arrived there. Subsequently, he took her to Ambala.

Upon reaching Ambala, the woman discovered the true religious identity of Arif Khan, which led to a confrontation between them.

Arif then held the woman against her will for 25 days, during which he sexually assaulted her, the woman in her complaint said.

He also filmed the act and used the video footage to blackmail the woman.

According to the police, the accused also forced the woman to offer namaz, wear burqa and celebrate Eid while she was held captive.

The incident came to light when the victim managed to flee and the woman and her husband filed a complaint against Arif with the Mirzapur police.

Besides Arif, the police have also arrested his brother Imroz Khan and friend Shahabuddin.

The arrests were made after conducting raids in multiple states, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.

According to Superintendent of Police Santosh Mishra, this was a clear case of 'love jihad', and the police are actively conducting an investigation into the matter.

The official assured that appropriate action would be taken in the matter.
Brussels, May 24 : The defence ministers of the EU member states have failed to reach an agreement on new military aid to Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said here.

Borrell said after Tuesday's EU defence ministers' meeting that the overwhelming majority of member states had backed a proposal to increase the European Peace Facility budget by 3.5 billion euros ($3.77 billion), although he stressed that not all of it will be used to assist Ukraine.

"I still don't have unanimity on this, and it's still being discussed," he said, adding that he expected the remaining "hurdles" to be surmounted soon. He recalled that more than 10 billion euros in military support have already been provided to Ukraine.

Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 2,20,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March. These alone were worth 800 million euros and the EU was on track to provide one billion euros worth of ammunition, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Our aim is to provide one million projectiles over the next 12 months," he said, adding that the EU had already trained 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers and was on track to train 30,000 by the end of the year.

He said that as part of a three-pronged strategy, member states are being asked to provide ammunition from their own stocks. There is also an effort for the joint procurement of 155 mm calibre ammunition and to boost the capability of European industry to manufacture the necessary ammunition.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, attended the meeting and briefed ministers on the latest developments in the conflict in Ukraine.

Borrell welcomed the decision to initiate training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He said the training created a positive momentum that will eventually lead to the deployment of these jets in Ukraine.

"I am glad that pilot training has already started, and I hope that soon we will be able to provide this weapon to Ukraine," he added prior to the start of the meeting in Brussels.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Damascus, May 24 : A total of 50 Syrian refugees from Lebanon have reached the refugee camps in Syria's northern Raqqa province controlled by the Kurdish-led militias, a war monitor reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the refugees, mostly women, and children, reached Raqqa overnight on Monday via illegal smuggling routes carrying little belongings.

The observatory added those people were forced to leave after their homes were raided by Lebanese security forces, Xinhua news agency reported.

The report collaborates with stories emerging from Lebanon about Lebanese forces cracking down on Syrian refugees who don't have legal residency in Lebanon.

The UK-based watchdog group said there are currently 54 refugee camps in Raqqa, housing displaced Syrians from several areas. It noted that the humanitarian situation there is dire.
New York, May 24 : A New Jersey-based IT firm will have to pay $25,500 in civil penalties to the US for posting discriminatory job advertisements and seeking job applications only from India.

Infosoft Solutions Inc, an IT recruiting and contracting company operating as KForce Tech LLC, violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by posting six discriminatory job advertisements between July 2021 and August 2021.

"When employers advertise jobs only to applicants from a certain country or who need temporary visas, they discourage all other eligible workers and deny them a fair chance to be considered," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

The department's investigation determined that Infosoft's advertisements solicited applications only from non-US citizens who needed visa sponsorship, or who already had an employment-based temporary visa. One of the six advertisements also required the candidates to be from India.

In doing so, the company deterred workers with permission to work in the US without sponsorship, such as asylees, refugees, lawful permanent residents, US nationals and US citizens from applying to the job advertisements and being fairly considered for the employment opportunities.

Apart from paying the settlement, Infosoft will now be required to train its recruiters on the INA's requirements, revise its employment policies and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements.

"The Civil Rights Division will not tolerate national origin or citizenship status discrimination, and is committed to knocking down these unlawful discriminatory barriers," Clarke said.

The Civil Rights Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.

Among other things, the statute prohibits discrimination based on citizenship status and national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation; and intimidation.

The INA's anti-discrimination provision generally prohibits employers from recruiting or refusing to hire workers based on their citizenship status or national origin.
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Ayodhya : , May 24 (IANS) The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust has decided to form a team of language experts.

These experts will have the knowledge of not just Indian but foreign languages as well to address queries of devotees coming to the Ram temple from across the country and abroad.

The trust anticipates a huge footfall of pilgrims from different parts of the country and from across the border after the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

According to the temple trust, a large number of tourists come to Ayodhya from across the country, especially Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

"The trust is also carrying out its own study to figure out which foreign tourists from which country are visiting Ayodhya. In accordance with the report, the Trust will rope in foreign language experts," said a member of the Trust.

The Trust is likely to rope in experts in Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Odia and Malayalam languages.

The team formed by the Trust will be different from the one that is being prepared by the Ayodhya administration. The team prepared by the administration will work as a tourist guide.

However, the Trust has already decided to rope in a Korean language expert as a lot of people from here visit Ayodhya.

It may be pointed out that Ayodhya and the Korean peninsula share a historic relationship.

According to the legend, Princess Suriratna of Ayodhya had travelled to Korea via sea route and married King Kim Suro, and became Queen Heo Hwang-ok in 48 AD.

Many Koreans trace their ancestry to the princess.

According to the Trust, at present, around 15,000 to 20,000 devotees are visiting Ayodhya every day. The Trust is expecting this figure to go up to one lakh after the Ram temple is opened for devotees in January 2024.

"Most devotees visiting Ayodhya from outside Uttar Pradesh are from South Indian states. So, experts in South Indian languages are mostly required," said Dr Anil Mishra, a member of the Trust.
Mumbai, May 24 : Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will call on Maharashtra former CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday afternoon, officials said here.

Kejriwal will be accompanied by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Mumbai AAP leaders in their meeting with Thackeray. The duo is scheduled to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar and his team on Thursday.

The two leaders are in Mumbai to drum up support from the prominent state leaders for the AAP's fight against the Centre's Ordinance to control services in the national capital.

This will be the second meeting between Kejriwal-Thackeray, both engaged in a political battle for survival on their respective turf.

Soon after the Election Commission of India (ECI) verdict allotting the original Shiv Sena name and Bow-and-Arrow symbol to the faction led by CM Eknath Shinde, Kejriwal-Mann had come here on February 24, met Thackeray to offer their full support and discussed Opposition unity efforts.

Kejriwal on Wednesday met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata who has agreed to support the AAP stand vis-a-vis the Ordinance, along with certain other parties, though the Congress stance is not yet clear.
San Francisco, May 24 : Microsoft has announced the integration of Bing Search into OpenAI's ChatGPT in order to provide more relevant and potentially new responses.

Bing will serve as the "default search experience", allowing ChatGPT to retrieve answers from the internet and provide citations.

"I'm pleased to announce we are bringing Bing to ChatGPT as the default search experience," Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's head of consumer marketing, said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

"ChatGPT will now have a world-class search engine built-in to provide timelier and more up-to-date answers with access from the web," he added.

Moreover, the company said that this new experience is now rolling out to ChatGPT Plus subscribers and will be available to free users soon by simply enabling a plugin which brings Bing to ChatGPT.

ChatGPT previously relied solely on individual plugins to access any recent information.

The other new Bing updates are focused on plugins, such as a single platform for developers to create and submit plugins for ChatGPT, Bing, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and others.

As part of our partnership with #OPENAI, were excited to announce that we are bringing #Bing to #ChatGPT as the default search experience! https://t.co/TWwLwdBBmR pic.twitter.com/Ex5Js319e4  Yusuf Mehdi (@yusuf_i_mehdi) May 23, 2023

Bing will be adding its in-chat plugin options to include Expedia (a US-based engineering firm), Zillow (a US-based real estate company), and Klarna (a Swedish fintech company) for targeted communication on topics such as travel and shopping.

The common plugin platform will also be natively integrated into Microsoft Edge, which already has Bing built in.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Houston, May 24 : Two people were killed and seven others injured after an under construction house collapsed during a storm in Conroe, Texas, authorities said.

Two people died at the scene, Xinhua news agency quoted Conroe Assistant Fire Chief Mike Legoudes Jr as saying on Tuesday evening.

The conditions of the seven injured were unknown.

The home that collapsed was in the early stages of construction, Legoudes said.

"It looks like they were working on the second storey, no sheetrock or anything like that yet," he said.

Legoudes could not confirm if the storm was directly responsible for the collapse in the town, about 64 km north of Houston.

"We saw hail outside, sky got really black, and it rained really hard, 10 to 15 minutes," a local resident told CBS affiliate KHOU on Tuesday.

"And after that the rain kind of stopped. But around that same time we were hearing the ambulances and the fire trucks."
Thiruvananthapuram, May 24 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan turned 78 on Wednesday.

Though the official record shows his date of birth as March 21, 1945, a day before being sworn as Chief Minister in May 2016, Vijayan had shared the actual date.

As per schedule, the chief minister will chair the weekly cabinet meeting, but whether he will meet the media or not is not certain.

Incidentally, after taking over the top post in 2016, Vijayan announced to discontinue the weekly cabinet media briefing.

Vijayan has been keeping away from the media since long leading to attacks from the Congress-led Opposition, which alleged that he is avoiding media as he is under probe agencies' scanner over numerous scams.

Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan often accuses the media of being scared of Vijayan. He recollected how the media used to haunt the two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and even A.K.Antony for television bytes over some issues, every time they stepped out in public.
Hyderabad, May 24 : From farmers' day to celebrations at water bodies and from literature day to tribal festival, a wide range of activities are scheduled as part of the 21-day long decennial celebrations of Telangana Formation Day, beginning June 2.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government has planned grand celebrations to highlight the state's achievements during the last nine years.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is holding high-level review meetings with ministers and officials almost on a daily basis to personally finalise the activities during the celebrations and monitor the preparations.

Apparently with an eye on the assembly elections scheduled to be held in November-December, the KCR government is going all out to celebrate the formation day in a grand manner to highlight what it calls the rapid strides made by the state across sectors.

KCR will inaugurate the celebrations on June 2 by paying tributes to Telangana martyrs at Gun Park in Hyderabad. Later, he will unfurl the national flag at Dr. BR Ambedkar Telangana secretariat premises and address the participants. Ministers will participate in the celebrations to be held in the districts.

June 3 will be celebrated as Telangana Farmers Day. The State Agriculture department will organise several programmes at Rythu Vedikas to highlight the achievements of the state's agriculture sector, free electricity, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and other schemes. Public representatives and officials will participate in the community dine with all the farmers.

Safety Day (Suraksha Day) will be observed on June 4. The State Police department will organise programmes to explain the efforts of the police to maintain law and order in the state, friendly police policy and the efficient services.

To highlight the achievements of the energy sector June 5 will be celebrated as 'Telangana Vidyuttu Vijayotsavam'. There will be meetings at constituency level to explain the qualitative change achieved by the state in the power sector. Singareni celebrations will also be held on the same day.

Telangana Industrial growth Festival will be held the next day (June 6) to highlight progress achieved in the industrial sector.

June 7 will be celebrated as Irrigation water day. Meetings will be organised in each constituency to explain the progress achieved in the irrigation sector. The State Irrigation department will hold a state-level meeting in Hyderabad which will be attended by KCR.

According to the Chief Minister's Office, June 8 will be celebrated as 'Oorura Cheruvula Panduga' (celebrations at Water bodies in every village) Cultural programmes including Batukamma and Bonalu will be held. Fishermen will take out rallies and meetings on the embankments of the pond are planned. Leaders and people join the lunch near the ponds.

'Telangana Sankshema Sambaralu' (Celebrations of welfare programmes) will be held on June 9. Meetings will be held with the beneficiaries of Asara Pensions, Kalyana Lakshmi and other welfare schemes extended by the government at the constituency level.

Telangana Good Governance day will be celebrated on June 10. Meetings will be organised in all the district headquarters and programs will be held to convey the benefits of making government systems more accessible to the people through administrative reforms in the state.

Telangana Literature Day will be celebrated on June 11. District level kavi Sammelanams and state level programmes will be held.

Telangana Run will be held on June 12. The state police department will organise the event in all the constituency centres. Youth, students, public representatives, officials and others will participate.

Telangana Women's Welfare Day will be celebrated on June 13 to explain the programmes and welfare schemes being implemented by the government for the welfare of women. Awards will be given to the best women employees.

Telangana Medical Day on June 14 will highlight the revolutionary developments in the medical and health sector. The health department will explain to people the medical facilities provided to them by strengthening the infrastructure. The Chief Minister will lay the foundation stone for the construction of a new building of a 2,000 bed super specialty hospital and expansion of NIMS, Hyderabad.

Telangana Palle Pragathi Day on June 15 will showcase the progress achieved by Telangana villages which have become a role model for the country. This will be followed by Telangana Pattana pragathi Day on June 16 to highlight progress achieved by urban bodies.

Telangana Tribal Festival will be celebrated on June 17. Meetings will be held in the newly-formed tribal villages. Officials will explain the measures taken by the government for tribal welfare.

The government has also planned the Telangana Drinking Water Festival on June 18. As Telangana region suffered a lot due to drinking water scarcity in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh , the programme will highlight transformation of Telangana into a 100 per cent drinking water supply state through Mission Bhagiratha.

Under Telangana Green Festival (Haritha utsavam) on June 19, a large-scale plantation programme will be taken in all villages and towns across the state. The programme will explain the efforts made to increase greenery in the state by the state Forest Department and the improvement of forest cover in the state.

June 20 will be celebrated as Telangana Education Day. Meetings will be organised in all educational institutions across the state highlighting the achievements in the field of education.

Telangana Spiritual Day will be held on June 21 with various programmes at temples, mosques, churches and other places of worship.

The celebrations will conclude on June 22 with Telangana Martyrs Commemoration Day. People in villages, towns, cities and schools will pay homage to the martyrs and observe silence. A big rally will be taken out in memory of martyrs at Tank Bund in Hyderabad. KCR will inaugurate the newly-constructed Martyrs Memorial near Tank Bund.
San Francisco, May 24 : Virgin Orbit, the bankrupt rocket company founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has shut down operations after selling its business to three aerospace companies for about $36 million in a bankruptcy auction.

Rocket Lab bid $16.1 million for the company's headquarters in Long Beach, California. Stratolaunch was awarded its $17 million "stalking horse" bid for Virgin Orbit's 747 jet.

Launcher, a subsidiary of Vast Space, bought the company's facility in Mojave, California for $2.7 million, reports CNBC.

"As Virgin Orbit embarks on this path, the management and employees would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders," the company said in a statement.

In April, Virgin Orbit laid off nearly 85 per cent of its workforce -- about 675 employees -- after it failed to secure key funding.

Rocket Lab said the Virgin Orbit assets will improve its production, manufacturing, and test capabilities, especially in developing its larger Neutron rocket.

Virgin Orbit's six rockets in various stages of manufacturing assembly, and its intellectual property, are yet to be sold.

Founded by Sir Branson in 2017, the company began commercial service in 2021, and delivered commercial, civil, national security, and international satellites into orbit.

Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rockets are designed and manufactured in Long Beach, California, and are air-launched from a modified 747-400 carrier aircraft that allows Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc to operate from locations all over the world.
Chennai, May 24 : Amid concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in the state, the Tamil Nadu health department has issued an alert to contain the spreading virus.

On Tuesday, the number of fresh infections rose to 13, which was almost double the previous day's figure.

While three persons in Chennai and two in Coimbatore tested positive for Covid-19, one each tested positive in Chengalpattu, Salem, the Nilgiris, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Vellore as per the Directorate of Public Health , Tamil Nadu.

Two persons who arrived at Chennai from UAE and Singapore also tested positive.

The state public health department has directed the district health officers to tighten its vigil.

However, 16 persons recovered from the disease on Tuesday and presently 89 are under treatment.

No casualties were reported in the state due to Covid-19.

State Health Minister, Ma Subramanian while speaking to IANS said, "There is no need to worry but we are being cautious. An alert has been issued to all the district health officers for any symptoms of the cases. We are well equipped."
Mumbai, May 24 : Acclaimed actor Manoj Bajpayee has notched up another triumph with his upcoming film 'Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai,' a courtroom drama based on the real-life case of a once-revered and powerful Indian religious leader who is currently serving a life sentence for the rape of an underage girl.

In the Apoorv Singh Karki directed film, Manoj plays a prosecuting lawyer who is pitted against a slew of celebrity lawyers, reports 'Variety'.

"Usually what happens is that you spend some time with the real person. Somewhere, I realised it's a two-hour film, you have to have your own preparation away from the real guy, who is somebody who's not even known to the world. And he's achieved a feat in five years of continuous court hearings that is remarkable," Bajpayee told 'Variety'.

"Instead of just creating or imitating a real person, let's have the essence of him - the relentlessness and the courage and somebody who is stubborn about what he's doing, completely focused, and he's a good son, good father. I wanted to take all of it and make a character of my own and take a little bit of his physicality when I got to meet him before the shoot - I think it worked."

What Bajpayee found the most strenuous was understanding the legal jargon and then interpreting it in a way that a lay audience would understand.

"To make the character work, he has to be consistent, it should not leave realism at all. It cannot at any cost, just because it's a two-hour drama film, it has to be real. And as a character, and even if he's arguing in the court, it should be very real and should have that kind of an edge when people are watching it," Bajpayee said.

Another challenge was a seven-page monologue that the director wanted to shoot in a single take. Bajpayee says that after the 150th time he read the pages, he stopped counting and once he'd memorised it, he'd catch hold of anyone and begin practising the monologue on that person.

"By God's grace, the first shot, first take, it was okay. You can achieve all of these things, if you really put your mind into it, put your focus into it."

On the underlying themes of 'Bandaa,' the actor said: "You can't trust your child even with your brother in a room where there is no monitoring happening, and there's no female member there."

"So, we are talking about all of that, we are talking about child safety, we're talking about how a family is also responsible for all of this because in 95 per cent of cases, most of the predators were known to the family. So that means as parents we failed, we took it for granted."

"It is an eye opener that way and our focus is mostly on the security and safety and protection of the child, which is an issue which is very close to my heart - always been," Bajpayee added.

Bajpayee has won several acting awards, including best actor at the Asia Pacific Screen awards for 'Aligarh' and 'Bhonsle'.

The latter film, for which he also won best actor at India's national film awards, is directed by Devashish Makhija, with whom he reunited on 'Joram,' which bowed at Rotterdam this year and will next be at Sydney.

"It's a world that people have not experienced before. It's a conflict that people don't talk about anymore, a socio-environmental conflict," Bajpayee said about 'Joram'. And he's (Makhija)weaved the story so well. Really proud of him. He's been remarkable with all the things that I have done with him."

The busy actor is having a stellar year, having starred in Disney + Hotstar film 'Gulmohar' earlier this year. He has Abhishek Chaubey's Netflix comedy-drama-thriller series 'Soup' that is due in September or October and 'Pahadon Mein,' the sophomore feature from Raam Reddy, who debuted with Locarno, Shanghai and Palm Springs winner 'Thithi'.

Bajpayee is also the lead in journalism thriller "'Despatch' by Kanu Behl who's previous film 'Agra' premieres at Cannes this year. 'Despatch' has been a great experience in many ways. Kanu is one of a kind - he's not for the weak-hearted. He's a taskmaster," Bajpayee said.

"He doesn't get bothered by anything that is happening on the set. This is what I loved about him and the learnings that I've had from the workshops or through the shooting process. Yes, it was strenuous, excruciatingly hard. But, when I saw a few of the shots, I was completely dazed. He only warms up after 15 takes. So, you can imagine the grind that I've gone through. But in the end, when you respect and trust a director of that caliber, everything becomes easy. In the end, we managed to make a very good, fascinating, intriguing film. And this is going to be a totally different cinematic experience for the viewers."

And, as for what is Bajpayee's arguably most popular work to date, Prime Video's spy thriller "The Family Man," a third season will commence production imminently.

"All the commitments and understandings are in place. And now we are waiting for the contracts to start going to and fro. We are hoping that we'll start shooting November onwards," he said.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Los Angeles, May 24 : Hollywood star Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson were involved in a tense exchange with a man at the Cannes Film Festival.

The actor and his wife seemingly scolded an employee as they attended the premiere of his new movie 'Asteroid City', reports aceshowbiz.com.

On Tuesday, May 23, the pair walked the red carpet together to support the special screening of Wes Anderson's film. In photos which have circulated online, the Oscar winner was seen furiously pointing his finger at the younger man and making a stern face while his wife was also holding her hand up in front of her as she spoke to the man.

It's not clear what they were discussing, but the man was also seen gesturing at Hanks as he posed with his 'Asteroid City' co-stars on the red carpet.

Despite the apparent misunderstanding, Hanks and Wilson continued to trek down the red carpet and were all smiles as they posed together on the stairs before heading inside the venue. The two were also seen dancing together as they reunited on the red carpet after posing for the cameras separately.

Hanks cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo and matching bow tie teamed with a smart white shirt for the premiere. He completed his look with shiny black shoes.

As for Wilson, she looked glamorous in a chic black dress with a long black cloak which trailed the ground behind her. The dress was adorned with silver gems which shimmered under the spotlights. Her hair was styled in an elegant updo.

'Asteroid City' is a sci-fi romantic comedy-drama film which is set in the 1950s in a fictional American desert town that has an eerie feel to it. It follows the transformative events that occur at an annual Junior Stargazer convention in 1955.

Anderson penned the script based on a story he developed with Roman Coppola. It will be released in select U.S. theaters on June 16 before expanding to a wide release on June 23.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijan is turning into a Eurasian digital hub, Gulnara Khaidarshina. Deputy Head of Research Chief CIS Macroeconomist at Gazprombank, told Trend.

"AzerTelecom, the national Internet provider, is implementing a large-scale "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program. The program also aims to transform Azerbaijan from an importer of digital services into the largest exporter in the region, comprising a quarter of the world's population (Middle East, Central, South and Southeast Asia). This program is being implemented in partnership with the even larger Digital Silk Way project, which Azerbaijan is implementing jointly with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The implementation of the Digital Silk Way project will accelerate the transfer of data between the countries of Central Asia, China and Europe," she said.

Khaidarshina stressed that Azerbaijan pays great attention to the development of the IT sector with the assistance of state programs.

"With the support of the government, three directions for the development of the IT sector are being implemented - the creation of financial technologies, ensuring cybersecurity (the Association of Cybersecurity Organizations of Azerbaijan was established in 2022) and the development of IT outsourcing based on Azerbaijan with the involvement of foreign programmers and other industry employees. It is assumed that Azerbaijan will turn into a regional hub for outsourcing IT services, which will also help strengthen its role in the Eurasian space," she added.
New Delhi, May 24 : Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday opposed before a Delhi court Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's application seeking a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the issuance of an "ordinary" passport.

Gandhi on Tuesday moved the court seeking an NOC in order to get a fresh "ordinary" passport after he surrendered his diplomatic travel document upon his disqualification as an MP.

Opposing the plea, the former union minister said that if Rahul Gandhi is allowed to travel abroad, it may hamper the probe in the National Herald case. The case was filed by Swamy against the Congress leader and his mother Sonia Gandhi, their companies and associated persons.

Gandhi's counsel told the court that there are no criminal cases pending against him and therefore he can be granted an NOC.

However, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Mehta of Rouse Avenue Court said that Swamy has the right to file a reply to Gandhi's application and posted the matter for hearing next on May 26.

On November 1, 2012, Swamy had filed a private complaint in the court alleging that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have committed fraud and land grabbing worth Rs 16 billion by acquiring a publicly limited company called Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) through their owned private company, Young Indian.

The court had on December 19, 2015, granted bail to Gandhi and others in the case.

"The applicant ceased to be a Member of Parliament in March 2023 and as such he surrendered his diplomatic passport and is applying for a fresh ordinary passport. By way of the present application, the applicant is seeking permission and no objection from this Court for issuance of a fresh ordinary passport to him," the application read.
Jaipur, May 24 : The Pakistan Hindu migrants, who were displaced from government land in Mool Sagar village of Rajasthan's Jaisalmer, will now get 40 bighas of land.

The district administration has made this announcement in this perspective.

A few Pak migrants with relatives were living in temporary houses built on government land, which were recently removed. The BJP as well as Congress leaders protested the move.

Thereafter, District Collector Tina Dabi allotted 40 bighas of government land for these migrants. However, those with Indian citizenship will only get this land.

Earlier, the Collector arranged food, water and accommodation for them free of cost, after leaders from across the parties raised objections to their removal.

These refugees are currently living in Rain Basera. Arrangements for food have been made for them by the district administration at Indira Rasoi. All 50 families are currently settled in Rain Basera.

After allotment of land by urban improvement trust (UIT) in Mool Sagar, now very soon these migrants will go to the new place and make huts.

City Development Trust Secretary Jagdish Ashiya said that on the orders of Collector Tina Dabi, instructions were given to mark the place for Pak refugees and settle them there in seven days. Under his supervision, a committee was formed by taking Pak refugees along with them. Thereafter about 40 bighas of land in the village was reserved for them.

The UIT officer said that there was a plan to settle 250 families on about 40 bighas of land. UIT will give lease to those who have got Indian citizenship. On the other hand, those who have not yet got citizenship, their records will be kept at this place and efforts will be made for their citizenship. As soon as they get citizenship, they will also be given land pattas. At present, these 50 families will be able to build their homes in the new place.
New Delhi, May 24 : Dwayne Bravo expressed his belief that the recently introduced Impact Player rule in the IPL could contribute to the extension of MS Dhoni's tenure with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Dhoni led the Super Kings to a 15-run win over Gujarat Titans in Qualifier one of IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday. With this win, CSK have reached a record 10th IPL final.

Speaking to Star Sports, Bravo said the Impact Player rule in the IPL provides Dhoni with an opportunity to extend his IPL career, and he further highlighted CSK skipper's unparalleled skill of maintaining a calm and composed demeanor during high-pressure situations.

"Hundred per cent (will he return to play for CSK in 2024?), especially with the Impact Player rule. He can keep prolonging his career. We bat really deep. I think the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube, these guys make a huge difference. So, you don't require much from MS. But his ability to keep us calm while the team is under pressure is unmatched," Bravo said.

After the match, Dhoni shed light on his retirement plans and said "he has ample time to decide" whether he will play another edition of IPL, adding that he will remain connected to the team, whether it be as a player or as a member of the support staff.

"I don't know. I have 8-9 months to decide. The small auction will be around December. So why to take that headache right now? I have ample time to decide. But, I will always be there for CSK whether it's in the playing form or sitting somewhere outside. I don't really know," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.

Aiming for their fifth IPL title, CSK will play the summit clash at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 28.

Latest updates on IPL 2023
New Delhi, May 24 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday was conducting search operations on the premises of two associates of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and four people linked to jailed liquor businessman Dinesh Arora in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case.

The ED has not made any official statement so far.

Earlier in the day, Sanjay Singh attacked the Centre and said that the ED was conducting search operations at the premises of his close associates, Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra.

"Modi's 'gundagardi' is at its peak. I am fighting against Modi's dictatorship. I exposed the fake investigation by the ED in front of the whole country. The ED admitted its mistake. When they couldn't find anything, today ED raided the homes of my colleagues Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra.

"Sarvesh's father is suffering from cancer. This is the height of injustice. No matter how much crime is committed, the fight will continue," Singh tweeted in Hindi.

The search operation was also reportedly taking place at the Vitthalbhai Patel House in Lutyens Delhi, sources said.

So far in the case, the ED has filed four charge sheets, one main charge sheet and three supplementary charge sheets. The ED's case is based on the CBI's FIR.

The CBI has made former Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as accused number one in its FIR. The CBI's FIR has been lodged under sections 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) and 477-A (Falsification of accounts) of the IPC.

The allegation against Sisodia is that liquor businessmen were allegedly given exemption of Rs 30 crore. The licence holders were allegedly given extension according to their own will. The policy rules were made by violating excise rules. Sisodia is currently in the Tihar jail.

Businessman Dinesh Arora, accused number 11 in the CBI's FIR pertaining to the alleged scam in implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, is also behind the bars and has turned approver.
Mumbai, May 24 : The trailer of the upcoming streaming show 'School of Lies' was unveiled on Wednesday. It presents the story of a missing school boy and how the entire machinery by the school and cops is put in action to find the missing boy.

The trailer follows the RISE - the boarding school, as a 12-year-old Shakti goes missing, things start to spiral out of control, revealing the hidden skeletons in the closet of the boarding school. It shows Nimrat Kaur in the role of a school counsellor who talks to the students to uncover the mystery behind the boy's disappearance.

Talking about the series, Nimrat Kaur said, "With the shoot of 'School of Lies', I learnt about the layered complexities of children and how they can reveal a new side to them every step of the way. This unique series, inspired by real life events, brings forth mind boggling unpredictable occurrences behind the closed gates of a fictional boarding school." She further mentioned, "Playing the highly complex role of a guidance counsellor in this establishment with the dilemma of having to choose between the right and the necessary path of action in unprecedented life situations was not only tremendously rewarding but an experience that'll forever be close to my heart." The series also stars Aamir Bashir, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Sonali Kulkarni and Jitendra Joshi, and is inspired by true events. Created by Ishani Banerjee and Avinash Arun Dhaware, it has been directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware and produced by BBC Studios.

Creator and director Avinash Arun Bhaware said, "'School of Lies' is the story of a child's loneliness, disconnect and repression. Also the story of a child's freedom, magic and more. Every child, in a boarding school or otherwise, will go through these phases at some point or the other. In today's world, children are much more sensitive and exposed. 'School of Lies' is a story of the times we live in, and an attempt to look with empathy at all the forces within us that may liberate or destroy us." The eight part series will be available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar from June 2.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 24 : Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case on Wednesday appeared before a local court here in a fake degree certificate case.

In August last year, a team of Kerala Police officials arrested a person from Punjab for creating the forged and fake degree certificate for Swapna Suresh.

She used this certificate to get a plush job at the state run Space Park, with the help of her close friend M. Sivasankar and now jailed former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Swapna was arrested for gold smuggling by an NIA team from Bengaluru in July 2020. Around the same time news surfaced that Swapna has not even passed Class 10, but managed to get a degree certificate from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. It was alleged that she used this certificate along with her influence with high-ranking officials like Sivasankar to got a plush job in the IT department, which is headed by CM Vijayan.

A case was registered against her, but for long the case did not move. After she made some revelations last June that CM Vijayan, his wife and daughter were engaged in gold smuggling, the police have been digging into cases involving her. The police team reached Punjab and took into custody the person who created the certificate for Swapna.

Since then the police have been on fast track in this case which will be heard on May 29 by the local court here.
New Delhi, May 24 : There is merit in viewing the world order today as being in a state of flux. Amidst the global uncertainty caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine, India remains a powerful voice of reason and sanity. This geo-political backdrop offers an overview of the rationale for Prime Minister Narendra Modis three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The central message of these visits is that India has arrived at the global stage. Modi has done well by connecting the dots in all three countries on issues of bilateral and international concern, ensuring that India's voice resonates globally.

Additionally, the Prime Minister's meeting with the Indian diaspora everywhere is a sure sign that his message is carried forward by those who meet him in their country of residence. It is this connect which often gets missed out, but plays a very important part in the process of strategic communications.

The G7 Summit held in Hiroshima, was attended by Modi, his third such appearance as an invitee. The clarion call for dialogue and diplomacy on Ukraine, though not directly mentioned, indicated India's continuing concern over the conflict and its global fallout on energy, food and national economies.

The sanctity of respecting the territorial integrity of nations was emphasized in the context of recent incursions by China across the Line of Actual Control and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Significantly, this is also the consistent line that India has taken since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine took centre stage at the G7 Summit, what with President Volodymyr Zelensky meeting most world leaders on the sidelines of the event, including Prime Minister Modi.

In fact, the Prime Minister went a step further to say: "Today we heard from President Zelenskk. 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." This remark needs to be contextualized as Modi had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand last year that this is "not the era for war".

Pertinently, while other nations look at Ukraine as a zero-sum game, India has taken the lead in propagating a truly global perspective.

That President Zelenskk "appeared" at Hiroshima, as he did earlier at the Arab League summit in Riyadh, displayed the G7s eagerness to drum up support for Ukraine.

The scene then shifted to Papua New Guinea where Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit. Notably, India's presence at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation meeting at Port Moresby signaled New Delhi's renewed interest in the Pacific region, traditionally known for the presence of people of Indian origin.

Chinese political ingress and influence in the Pacific island countries in the last several years has created a challenge not only for neighbouring Australia, whose national security is most impacted, but also for other countries in South-East Asia and the Quad. Modi's oblique reference to China, while speaking at the Forum that even though those considered trustworthy were "not standing by our sides in times of need" will now have to matched by India and ensure that it becomes a reliable development partner.

India has a lot to offer, both in terms of technology and manpower. Lest we forget India can also ensure affordability. The only thing required is connectivity with the Pacific Islands region. It is here that Australia and the Quad come in. The former is undoubtedly perturbed by Chinese influence in the Pacific Islands. However, the collective efforts of India, Australia and Quad partners could provide a very effective platform to intervene in the region. Diaspora in this region is one prime mover, of course this is restricted mainly to Fiji, but the broader canvas can be handled by considering the requirements of each of the island nations.

Issues pertaining to development, climate change, coastal security and many other aspects of small island living can be discussed and debated. The starting point for this endeavour comes from Modi's historic visit.

James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, speaking at the Third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit, hailed Modi as the leader of the Global South and said all island nations will rally behind India at all international forums. He sought Modi's good offices to bring their narrative to the attention of platforms like G7 and G20. There is thus an opening for India, both bilaterally and multilaterally to engage with the Pacific Islands.

Modi's latest diplomatic outreach has two interesting anecdotes which highlight his personal charisma and popularity. The first was US President Joe Biden hugging him at the G7 summit and reportedly asking the latter the reasons for his popularity. Modi is scheduled to visit the US in July and apparently requests for attending his public meetings are already overflowing.

The other anecdote is from Papua New Guinea, where the Marape touched Modi's feet when he arrived at Port Moresby. Marape is younger than Modi and may have been told that in India it is a tradition to touch an elder's feet to seek blessings. But the spontaneity of the act suggests something beyond mere formality.

As the Modi juggernaut rolls on abroad, several things become clear. India has arrived on the world stage. It always was; today it is present with a bigger stake and seeks recognition. Signalling the new normal with assertive diplomacy and connect to the Indian diaspora have led to some degree of resistance within nations. Countries like the UK and Australia occasionally demonstrate anti-India sentiments by "permitting" activities which are inimical to New Delhi's interests.

At the end of the day, the Prime Minister's visits also strongly signal that engagement is not merely for the sake of it, but requires a genuine recognition of each other's security concerns. This is the key takeaway from the latest tour of Japan, and Papua New Guinea.
Amaravati, May 24 : The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will not join the Opposition parties in boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

Sources in YSRCP confirmed that the party MPs will attend the inaugural event.

YSRCP parliamentary party leader V. Vijayasai Reddy and party MPs will attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

Vijayasai Reddy has already welcomed the inauguration. "The new building is a depiction of an India that is modern, self-reliant and proud. We finally have a building that is made to serve as the Parliament of a democratic country," he tweeted.

YSRCP's decision to attend the inauguration is not surprising given the cordial relations the party enjoyed with the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Ever since YSRCP came to power in the state four years ago, it maintained friendly relations with the Modi government. It extended crucial support in passing key bills in Parliament.

It also supported crucial bills like criminalisation of triple talaq and abrogation of Article 370 which conferred special status on Jammu and Kashmir. Jagan's party also sailed with the NDA government on three controversial farm laws.

The YSRCP extended support to the NDA candidates in the elections for President and Vice-President, both in 2017 and 2022.

YSRCP has never been part of any effort by the Opposition parties to take on the Modi government on key issues.

Political analysts see this as the compulsion of Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party to check main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which is keen to revive its alliance with the BJP.

At a time when Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader Pawan Kalyan, an ally of BJP, is working to cobble together a grand alliance of TDP, BJP and JSP against Jagan government ahead of the next year's elections, the YSRCP would not like to mar its ties with the Modi government by joining ranks with the other opposition parties.

The YSRCP also needs support from the Modi government to bail out the state from financial crunch and also resolve post-bifurcation issues.

Interestingly, only a day ago the Centre released Rs 10,460.87 crore to Andhra Pradesh as compensation towards revenue deficit. This is the biggest grant to the state since bifurcation.

Vijayasai Reddy said on Wednesday that CM Jagan's persistent effort paid off in the form of the Central government releasing Rs 10,460.87 crore as compensation for revenue deficit of 2014-15.

He said that YSRCP will ensure that gradually all promises related to the AP Reorganisation Act are fulfilled.
New Delhi, May 24 : The Congress on Wednesday said that 19 like-minded parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of new Parliament House by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

A joint statement said: "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

"We will continue to fight -- in letter, in spirit, and in substance -- against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement read.

It also said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion," it said.

"However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," it added.

Referring to the Constitution's Article 79, the opposition parties said Murmu "is not only the Head of State but also an integral part of the Parliament.

"She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her," the statement said.

The joint statement by the opposition -- also targeted the government over the disqualification of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and passage of three controversial farm bills, and said, "Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India.

"MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct. The new Parliament building has been built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built," it said.

The parties that signed this statement include the DMK and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party; the latter is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra and the former in Tamil Nadu. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has reached out to opposition leaders, including Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, in efforts to unite them before the 2024 general election, is also a signatory.

Also on the list are the CPI and CPI(M), the Shiv Sena faction led by former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray (also a Congress ally), former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), and Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav (the Rashtriya Janata Dal).

Jharkhand's ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Mani), the VCK, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the National Conference of ex-Jammu and Kashmir CMs Farooq and Omar Abdullah, the MDMK, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party will also boycott the ceremony.

The Biju Janata Dal has not signed this statement or announced a boycott so far.

A war of words has erupted between the Congress and the BJP over the inauguration of New Parliament House by PM Modi on May 28.

PM Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building -- a triangular-shaped four-storey building with a built-up area of 64,500 square metres.

The construction started on January 15, 2021 and was to be completed by August 2022.

Built in an area of 64,500 square metres, the new building will house 1,224 MPs.

It has a library, multiple committee rooms and dining rooms.

Tata Projects has constructed the building at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crore.
New Delhi, May 24 : A member of the infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who was absconding for the last three years after interim bail, was nabbed in Delhi after a brief exchange of fire, a top police official said on Wednesday.

The accused identified as Yogesh alias Gogha, was previously involved in 16 criminal cases, including attempt to murder, robbery, dacoity,criminal intimidation and the Arms Act, registered in Delhi and its peripherals.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), Alok Kumar said that there was information about the presence of the absconding gangster in the North-West and Outer Delhi areas.

"Further information about his activities was gathered and after incessant efforts of over two months, a trap was laid on Monday near the Britannia Chowk flyover and Yogesh was spotted walking towards it," said the DCP.

However, when he was asked to surrender, Yogesh whipped out a pistol and fired towards the police team.

"The team members immediately responded and overpowered and disarmed the accused. A semi-automatic pistol and two bullets were recovered from his possession," said the top official.

On interrogation, it was revealed that Yogesh is an 'active Bad Character' of the Narela police station.

"The accused was also convicted for a four-year imprisonment in a case of attempt to murder in 2019 and was granted 45 days interim bail in June 2020. However, he did not surrender after that and absconded.

"He has also divulged that he is an active member of Lawrence Bishnoi-Jitender Gogi gang and provides logistic and financial help. He is an associate of one Mukesh alias Punit, who is also an active member of this syndicate," the DCP added.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. First Deputy Minister of Defense, Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev, who is on an official visit to Pakistan, has met with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan, Army General Syed Asim Munir, Trend reports via Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense.

An official welcoming ceremony was held before the meeting. After the national anthems of both countries were performed, Colonel General Valiyev passed along the guard of honor.

The sides met first in private and then in an expanded format.

General Munir welcomed the guests and expressed his satisfaction with seeing them in Pakistan.

He congratulated the Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the victory in the Second Karabakh War and ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Pakistani COAS noted that the friendly relations between the armies of Azerbaijan and Pakistan are in progress and have entered a new stage. He pointed out that Pakistan attaches special importance to military cooperation with Azerbaijan and that there are great opportunities for further development of military relations.

Expressing his gratitude for the invitation, Colonel General Valiyev noted that there are historically friendly relations between the two nations, and these relations greatly contributed to the development of bilateral military cooperation along with other fields.

Colonel General Valiyev emphasized that the development and expansion of cooperation with Pakistan in the military field as in all fields are always in the spotlight of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev.

Speaking about the provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on the conditional border, the Chief of the General Staff emphasized that this was intentionally done by Armenia with the aim of aggravating the situation, and each time a worthy response was given to them.

The importance of expanding relations between the types of troops of the armies of the two countries at the meeting, holding joint Azerbaijani-Pakistani-Turkish exercises, as well as further development of trilateral cooperation was emphasized.

The sides discussed cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan in the military, military-technical, and military-educational spheres, continuation of mutual visits, as well as other issues regarding the security and fight against terrorism.
Bengaluru, May 24 : In an apparant dig at former CM Basavaraj Bommai's statements supporting saffronisation of police force and moral policing, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday asserted that his government will not allow anyone to take law into their hands.

While interacting with reporters at Vidhana Soudha here, Shivakumar said, "The former Chief Minister had stated why not saffronisation? Why not moral policing? But we will not allow anyone to take law into their hands." "Be it a Congressman or any other political party worker, no one should take law into their hands. The law should be protected by police. What I mentioned yesterday (in the meeting of police officers) was, at three or four places, the entire staff of the police department had worn clothes representing political agenda instead of uniform and posed for photographs. This is not what the Constitution says and this is not according to the law. Police department has a big image in Karnataka," Shivakumar explained.

He, however, refused to comment on a statement by former Home Minister Araga Janendra that he has started dominating over the police officers. "People have given Araga Janendra and his government a befitting answer in the elections. I don't have time to reply to his statements," he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister recalled that cabinet minister Priyaka Kharge, who holds a big position in the party, was summoned when he raised the issue of corruption. "How many people are summoned? Why not others? Was he targetted because he is a Dalit? Congress MLA? The police have to work as per law, country comes first," Shivakumar stated.

Shivakumar, on Tuesday, rapped Karnataka police officials and questioned them that they are trying to saffronize the state police department. "Are you all set to saffronise the police department? We will not allow it under our government," he asserted.

"We know how police officers came to the police station wearing saffron shawls in Mangaluru, Bijapur (Vijayapura), Bagalkot and insulted the department," he said. "You should have come to this meeting wearing a saffron shawl," Shivakumar taunted the police officers.

If it was to be patriotism, then they should have come to work wearing the nation flag. "We will not allow saffronisation of the police department," Shivakumar reiterated.

Imagine the level the police department had stooped to if an ADGP ranked officer indulged in fabricating OMR sheets in the PSI recruitment scandal? Shivakumar questioned.

His statements drew sharp reactions from Bommai and Jnanendra.
Seoul, May 24 : South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Wednesday it has decided to fine the country's three mobile carriers a combined 33.6 billion won ($25.4 million) for their misleading advertisements on the speed of the fifth-generation (5G) network services.

The move came after SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus exaggerated the performance of their 5G network services, with their advertisements providing speeds that can only be observed in a limited environment, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).

"The three mobile carriers have delivered false or exaggerated information on their services' speeds by deceiving consumers that they can experience 20Gbps speed, which is only a target in theory for the 5G technology," the watchdog said in a statement.

The FTC said while advertisements gave the impression that users could actually enjoy the maximum speed, the three mobile carriers have failed to verify that their services can reach that level, reports Yonhap news agency.

For example, SK Telecom and KT claimed it takes only 0.8 second to download a 2GB movie file via the 5G network, with LG Uplus also claiming it takes just a second to transmit a 2.5GB file in their advertisements.

The three mobile carriers claimed themselves to be the provider of the fastest 5G service in South Korea, without offering verified test results.

"When the advertisements were aired, the average download speed of the three carriers' 5G services were between 656 and 801Mbps, which is only 3 to 4 percent of 20Gbps," the regulator said.

"Considering the oligopolistic structure of the mobile communication market, we have concluded that the three carriers' misleading advertisements can give a significant impact on the fair trade rule of the market," it added.

The recent penalty represents the second-largest fine ever imposed by the FTC for deceptive advertising. In 2017, Audi Volkswagen was fined 33.7 billion won by the regulatory body for providing incorrect information on cars' emissions.

SK Telecom, meanwhile, said the FTC's ruling was "regrettable." KT and LG Uplus also released a statement that they will review the ruling as soon as they receive relevant documents from the FTC.
Colombo, May 24 : After the recovery of 14 bodies, the Sri Lankan Navy has ended a search and rescue operation to assist the ongoing operations of a capsized Chinese deep-sea fishing vessel.

The vessel, which capsized on May 16 in the central Indian Ocean, had 39 people on board missing -- 17 Chinese mariners, 17 Indonesian mariners and five Philippine mariners.

Navy spokesman Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya told IANS that after a crucial mission, divers recovered 14 bodies trapped inside the vessel that hadcapsized over 700 nautical miles off from Sri Lanka.

"Navy divers located 12 more bodies of the crew members inside the vessel and the operation was handed over to the Chinese salvage team that arrived on MV Shandong De Long.

"Due to decomposition and the potential health hazards posed by operating in contaminated waters with limited protective gear, it was determined that retrieving those bodies would be exceedingly dangerous. Next, the decision was made to map the locations of the bodies, while prioritizing the safety of the Sri Lanka Navy divers," the spokesman said.

He said that a comprehensive briefing on the mapped locations of corpses, safe passages for divers to enter and exit the overturned vessel as well as the onward action was given to the Chinese salvage team.

The Navy launched the operation after the Chinese government sought assistance from five countries in the region including India, Australia and Sri Lanka.

Responding to Beijing request for support, the Indian Navy had deployed its "Air MR assets" in the southern Indian Ocean region.

The vessel had capsized within Australia's vast search-and-rescue region and the location was 5,000 km to the west of Perth.

Australia also sent three aeroplanes and four ships to help in the international search-and-rescue efforts.
New Delhi, May 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that he raised the issue of attacks on temples and activities of separatist elements with his Australian counterpart.

Modi said that Australian PM assured him of taking strict action.

Making a joint statement with Anthony Albanese, PM Modi said, "Regarding the attacks on temples in Australia and the activities of separatist elements, we had talked earlier as well and we have talked today also." The Prime Minister said that it is not acceptable to us that any element hurts the cordial relations between India and Australia by their thoughts or their actions.

"I want to thank PM Albanese for the steps he has taken in this regard.

"PM Albanese assured me once again today that he will take strict action against such elements in the future as well," PM Modi added.

Earlier this year, anti-social elements and alleged supporters of the separatist Khalistani movements were engaged in vandalisation of Hindu temples and other places of worship across Australia.

As part of his final leg of the three-nation tour, Modi arrived in Sydney on Monday night as a guest of the Australian government.

The Prime Minister addressed the Indian diaspora in Sydney on Tuesday at the Qudos Arena where he was accorded a rousing welcome by thousands of Indians across Australia.

At the grand event, Albanese described PM Modi as 'the boss'.

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 will be visiting Down Under.
New Delhi, May 24 : Soon after 19 like minded parties announced to boycott the inauguration of new Parliament building, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took a swipe at the government.

She said if President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar can be humiliated for PM glory, then why should the onus of protocol only be for the opposition parties to maintain.

Chaturvedi took to Twitter and shared the invitation card of inauguration of new Parliament building and said, "President and Vice President both missing at the inauguration ceremony and in the invitation too. New order minus the protocol. So if the President and VP of India can be humiliated for PM glory by the GoI, then why should the onus of protocol only be for the opposition parties to maintain?" Her remarks came soon after 19 like minded parties announced to boycott the inauguration of new Parliament House scheduled on May 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the joint statement, the 19 parties said, "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building and announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building".

A war of words has erupted between Congress and the BJP over the inauguration of new Parliament House by PM Modi on May 28.

PM Modi will be inaugurating the new Parliament building -- a triangular-shaped four-storey building with a built-up area of 64,500 square metres.

The triangular-shaped building's construction started on January 15, 2021 and was to be completed by August 2022.

Built in an area of 64,500 square metres, the new building will house 1,224 MPs.

It has a library, multiple committee rooms and dining rooms.

Tata Projects has constructed the building at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crore.
Washington, May 24 : A US college professor has been fired after she threatened a New York Post reporter and a photographer with a machete, the media reported on Wednesday.

The incident occurred as the reporter, Reuven Fenton and the photographer were trying to speak to Shellyne Rodriguez from Hunter College -- part of the City University of New York -- about an incident in which she criticised anti-abortion activists on campus, the BBC reported citing the New York Post.

Rodriguez followed them onto the street with the machete, according to video footage Hunter College has confirmed that Rodriguez had been "relieved of her duties".

Hunter College spokesperson Vince Dimiceli told BBC: "Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez and has taken immediate action.

"Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school." According to the New York Post, Fenton and the photographer went to Rodriguez's address in an effort to speak with her after a viral video showed her criticising anti-abortion students at the university.

She shouted: "Get... away from my door, or I'm going chop you up with this machete." "She held the machete to the reporter's neck" after opening the door, the BBC quoted New York Post as saying in its report.

The reporters said they left immediately but were followed by Rodriguez onto the street.

Meanwhile, a New York Police Department spokesperson confirmed an incident took place, but said it was still under investigation.
Sydney: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Australian PM Anthony Albanese during a bilateral meeting, at the Admiralty House in Sydney, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also seen. (Photo:IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 24 : In a bid to expand India-Australia business ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed top Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney and encouraged them to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts.

In a series of tweets, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Expanding India-Australia business ties! PM Modi addressed top Australian CEOs at a business roundtable in Sydney. Highlighted numerous economic reforms undertaken by the government. Encouraged the CEOs to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts." He said, "Invited them to take advantage of investment opportunities offered by India in domains of infrastructure including digital infrastructure, IT, fintech, telecom, semiconductors, space, renewable energy including green hydrogen, education, pharma, healthcare including medical devices manufacturing, mining including critical minerals, textile, agriculture & food processing." Earlier in the day, Modi also met with Australian Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton.

In a tweet Bagchi said, "A relationship enjoying support across political spectrum. PM Modi had a productive meeting with Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton in Sydney. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation for the strong bipartisan support that our partnership enjoys. Also discussed various aspects of bilateral ties, including people to people linkages, as well as regional developments." As part of his final leg of the three-nation tour, Modi arrived in Sydney on Monday night as a guest of the Australian government.

The Prime Minister addressed the Indian diaspora in Sydney on Tuesday at the Qudos Arena where he was accorded a rousing welcome by thousands of Indians across Australia.

At the grand event, Albanese described PM Modi as 'the boss'.

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 will be visiting Down Under.
New Delhi, May 24 : The UGC has taken a decision to check violations in the appointment of teachers and award of PhD degrees in higher educational institutions (HEIs).

Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) told IANS on Wednesday about the Commission's decision taken at its 568th meeting. A standing committee to monitor the appointment of teachers and award of PhD degrees in HEIs was constituted.

According to the UGC Chairman, the Committee will meet at regular intervals, select a few institutions, collect information regarding the faculty appointments and award of PhD degrees, verify documents to ascertain whether the process of appointment of teachers and award of PhD degrees are in conformity with UGC regulations, and recommend appropriate actions, in case of violations.

"As the regulations prescribe minimum standards required to be maintained by HEIs, any violation of the regulations results in the inevitable decline of higher education standards. The UGC takes such violations very seriously and intends to take appropriate measures to control violations of UGC Regulations," Kumar added.

The role of higher education institutions in nurturing intellectuals and imparting knowledge to the nation's growth is well known. The UGC, with the mandate to promote and coordinate University education, notifies, among other things, regulations to ensure the quality of the teachers and the quality of research degrees from time to time. According to the UGC the quality of higher education, to a large extent, depends on the quality of those who impart it and the way research is promoted.

The regulations, which are currently in operation are UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2018.

Another one is University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022.

"Both regulations set the conditions for determining and maintaining standards in selecting candidates for the appointment of teachers and quality of research degrees awarded in HEIs and are mandatory. However, despite the regulations, complaints from stakeholders about violations are not uncommon," Kumar added.
Ottawa, May 24 : The rape and murder case of a teenager which took place in 1975 in Canada's Montreal case has finally been solved after authorities exhumed the suspect's body and conducted DNA testing, investigators have confirmed.

Sixteen-year-old Sharron Prior disappeared after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlour near her home in the city's Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood, reports CBC News.

Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore.

The suspect, Franklin Romine, an American national from West Virginia, was living in Montreal at the time of the incident.

He had a long criminal record and encounters with law enforcement in Montreal and West Virginia, including at least one rape conviction, but was not initially a suspect in Prior's death.

He died in 1982 at the age of 36.

Romine matched the description of a suspect and his car matched tire tracks found at the scene where Prior's body was recovered.

Despite investigating more than 100 suspects over the years, police never made any arrests.

In 1975, the amount of DNA gathered at the scene was insufficient to be tested or used in court but it was kept over the years in the hope that it could someday be used to find a match for a suspect as technology improved.

The samples were sent to a laboratory in West Virginia in 2019 and later matched to Romine's relatives using data from genealogical websites, Sky News reported.

Earlier this month, police exhumed Romine's body from a West Virginia cemetery and found that his DNA was a match.

On Tuesday, Sarah Bourgoin, the director of the biology and DNA department at Quebec's national forensic laboratory, said retrieving a full genetic profile from Romine's bones was a difficult task.

"Happily, here it worked. We were able to establish a genetic profile by comparing it to the unknown profile in Sharron Prior's case. We remarked that it was identical, which confirmed that it was indeed Franklin Romine who left his DNA at the scene," CBC News quoted Bourgoin as saying.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Prior's younger sisters, Doreen and Moreen said Sharron was a kind, warm-hearted young girl who dreamed of being a veterinarian.

"She was a beautiful young lady with a heart of gold," Doreen said.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 24 : All the 1,284 registered tribal hamlets in Kerala will be digitally connected, thanks to the efforts of the BSNL and the support by the state ministry for SC/ST.

At a meeting with the top BSNL officials on Wednesday, the state Minister for SC/ST, K.Radhakrishnan assured to provide appropriate land for the purpose.

"Of the 1,284 tribal hamlets, 1,073 of them have connectivity. Another 211 do not have digital connectivity and for them also to go digital, 161 towers have to be installed by the BSNL. We have assured them that suitable land to erect these towers will be identified where they can put up their towers and we will do it before June 15th," said Radhakrishnan.

According to the figures provided by the State Planning Board, in Kerala, there are close to half a million tribal population, with Wayanad district having the highest of around 1.5 lakh and the least is Alappuzha district with close to 7,000.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The US administration has presented its proposals to the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan on resolving some of the most controversial issues within the framework of working on a peace agreement, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Dereck Hogan said on May 24, Trend reports.

According to Hogan, the negotiation process between the two countries had some progress.

As he said, in early May, the US Secretary of State received the foreign ministers of the two countries to work out some of the most controversial issues.

The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan held talks in Washington on May 1 with the mediation of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

According to Hogan, the two sides had intense diplomatic interaction at this meeting.

"We have put forward a number of proposals that may have provided both sides with some wording to overcome differences. They took them for consideration," Hogan said.

He also noted that last week he had a talk with the FMs of both countries in order to understand in which directions it is possible to move forward.
New Delhi, May 24 : In a suo motu criminal contempt case, author Anand Ranganathan on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that he is a "free speech absolutist" and that he did not comment or post any tweet on Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, S. Muralidhar.

The case pertains to when, in 2018, Ranganathan allegedly tweeted against Justice Muralidhar in respect of the judge's order quashing the order of house arrest and transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case. As a result, contempt of court proceedings were initiated against him.

Before a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh, the author's counsel advocate J. Sai Deepak said that the tweet was not with respect to the issue in question and that an affidavit will be filed making the position clear.

Ranganathan, who appeared in person, said: "I am a free speech absolutist. I am honoured to be here. I didn't comment on what the judge said." To which, Justice Mridul orally said: "So long as whatever you said is not scandalous, you are free to say anything.

"We are all for free speech. There are occasions when after we have said something, we regret saying that." The court posted the matter for hearing next on October 11 and granted four weeks to Ranganathan to file a response.

Earlier, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri had tendered an in-person apology before the high court for his tweets.

A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Vikas Mahajan subsequently recalled the show-cause notice for initiating proceedings of criminal contempt against Agnihotri and also discharged him as the alleged contemptor.

"He states that he has the utmost respect for the institution of the judiciary and didn't intend to willfully offend the majesty of the court," the court had said.

Twitter has become a source of great misery, it added.

Discharging Agnihotri, the bench had said the dignity of courts does not come from what people have to say about the judiciary but from the duties the courts discharge.

The court had, however, cautioned Agnihotri to remain careful in the future.
Tokyo, May 24 : A Japanese court on Wednesday rejected a call by local residents to halt the restart of a nuclear reactor in Miyagi prefecture on grounds they believed emergency evacuation plans were flawed.

The Sendai District Court ruled that the plaintiffs' claims to halt the planned restart of the Onagawa nuclear plant's No.2 reactor in February 2024 were not relevant as a serious accident is unlikely, reports Xinhua news agency.

"It cannot be assumed that a specific danger of an accident exists that leads to the abnormal release of radioactive materials," Presiding Judge Mitsuhiro Saito said.

He added when handing down his decision that there was no need to take into account whether the evacuation plans are effective, as there is no certainty regarding the potential danger.

The suit to halt the restart of the reactor at the plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co. was made by residents from neighbouring Ishinomaki, who said the city and prefecture's evacuation plans in the case of a severe emergency were "flawed and impractical".

The restarting of the idled reactor would mark the first in the northeastern area that was struck by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster that triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 following multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The lawsuit filed by the 17 residents, insisting the evacuation plans were flawed and insufficient, was in part based on their belief that in the case of another nuclear disaster, local residents would be unable to evacuate for an extended period of time, beyond a 30-km radius of the plant, due to traffic congestion.

As such, they argued, residents would be at high risk of being exposed to radiation in the event of a disaster.

Following the ruling, however, Tohoku Electric said it will continue with plans to restart the reactor in February.

"The court acknowledged our claim. We will continue to cooperate as much as possible to improve the effectiveness of the evacuation plans," the utility said in a statement.

But concerns remain rife among residents in the area, in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

"At the time of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident, there were fears that nobody would be able to live in the whole of the Tohoku region. I don't want nuclear reactors in the devastated areas to resume operations," one plaintiff was quoted by local media as saying.

The spokesperson for the plaintiffs following the ruling said that he would likely seek to file an appeal after consulting with lawyers.
Guwahati, May 24 : The family of former IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed, whose body was exhumed by a special team of officers for a second post-mortem following a court order, alleged that the institute has been trying to influence the investigation.

Ahmed, a mechanical engineering student was found dead in the hostel of IIT Kharagpur on October 14 last year. The authority of the institute claimed that he died by suicide, while the Ahmed's family alleged that he was killed.

The family filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court over his unnatural death.

Ahmed was a resident of Assam's Dibrugarh district.

Recently, the Calcutta High Court ordered the exhumation of the body and a second-post-mortem. After his family gave their consent, Faizan Ahmed's body was exhumed on Tuesday.

In the presence of a four-member police team from the Kharagpur Town police station in West Bengal, forensics experts from the Assam Medical College and Gauhati Medical College performed the exhumation procedure at the Amolapatty burial place in Dibrugarh town.

The family of the late student, the local police, and magistrate Gautam Priya Mahanta were also present.

The corpse was deposited in the mortuary in Dibrugarh for the night.

On Wednesday, it was taken to Kolkata by the special team officers accompanied by Ahmed's family.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that a team from IIT Kharagpur was also insistent to be present during the exhumation process, but the family of the deceased student resisted strongly.

The family members told reporters here, "IIT Kharagpur authorities have been trying to derail the investigation." Notably, the decomposed body of 23-year-old Faizan Ahmed, was found in room C-205 of the Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence in the institute premises on October 14 last year.

Two days later, his body was buried at the Amolapatty burial ground in Dibrugarh town.
Los Angeles, May 24 : Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is someone who manages to provoke a wild array of opinions. Well, now he is the reason behind a short film titled 'Killing Boris Johnson' which is likely to raise a few eyebrows.

The short film - part of Cannes' La Cinef selection - comes from director Musa Alderson-Clarke and producer Solomon Golding, recent graduates of the U.K.' s National Film and Television School, and bares the distinction of being the only U.K. student film to feature in the festival this year, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

It's also quite possibly the only film that, as the name suggests, has the death of a head of state, and a current politician who remains very much alive, as its central talking point.

"It's inspired by my own life," says Alderson-Clarke, who clarifies - maybe unnecessarily - that it's not actually based on his own life. Conceived at the height of the COVID pandemic, Killing Boris Johnson follows the inner turmoil of Kaz (Shadrach Agozino), whose emotional state has been turned upside down by the actions of Johnson's government while tough COVID restrictions were in place.

In the wake of the notorious 'Partygate' scandal, during an investigation of which it emerged that Johnson had attended illegal lockdown parties in Downing Street while others were told they couldn't even attend the funerals of their own loved ones, Kaz decides that Johnson should be held accountable and devises a plan to kill him.

"I was coming to terms with my own grief during that time," said Alderson-Clarke, quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. "I was annoyed at Boris Johnson, annoyed at the arrogance of it all and wanted to make a film that captured that feeling." As a working-class man, Alderson-Clarke said the seemingly above-the-law actions of Johnson led to a "feeling of disenfranchisement." And the Partygate revelations "put a nail in a coffin...how this man kind of just felt like he could get away with whatever he wanted and have that level of entitlement." While the film's title may be among the most attention-grabbing in Cannes, 'Killing Boris Johnson' is less about the murderous act in itself and instead, presents a thought-provoking exploration of grief, anger and accountability, seen through the eyes of the would-be assassin.

As might be expected, 'Killing Boris Johnson' has provoked some angry reactions from people who haven't yet seen the film, some even demanding legal action against its creators.
Mumbai, May 24 : Superstar Ajith Kumar, who went on a bike trip to Nepal, gifted his fellow rider a BMW superbike worth over Rs 12 lakh for orgnising it.

Ajith gave a present to his fellow rider named Sugat Satpathy by gifting him a superbike. The two got associated with Ride Sikkim in 2022.

Satpathy took to Instagram and shared that he had organised a bike tour for Ajith twice. He was recently gifted a BMW superbike.

According to bikedekho.com, the on road price for the superbike is listed at Rs. 12.95 lakh.

For the caption, he wrote: "As they say, nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the getaways that lead to new beginnings." "I got associated with Ride Sikkim in 2022. Taking myself out from my monotonous life, I knew deep inside this is what my soul craved for. New environment, super lovely people around. After a long, life seems to have a meaning." "During the end of the same year, I got super lucky. I would say privileged to get in touch with Mr Ajith Kumar, who is one of the biggest super star of Tamil movie industry. Also an avid biker, who rides Adventure bike with pure class." Satpathy added: "Later, I organised a complete north-east tour for him and was riding with him on my trustworthy years old Duke 390. Following the ride, he promised of doing one more tour of Nepal and Bhutan with me... Which we completed Recently on 6th of May." "Throughout the ride, we created many unforgettable memories, rode incredible miles, witnessed many beautiful sunsets and sunrises." "This F850gs right here, means so much to me rather than being just a motorcycle. It is gifted to me by him. YES! IT'S A GIFT. from Anna to me, with lots of love. He didn't think twice." Satpathy said that Ajith just wanted to give him the bike.

"He just wanted me to have this beautiful looking F850GS, capable enough to explore the globe. Words will fall short of the role this person has in my life but yes, we vibe the same tribe." "He made me feel more like an elder brother who wishes only and only the best for me and expecting nothing in return. You're the best, Anna."
Islamabad, May 24 : As Pakistan's political crisis deepens, the incumbent government is mulling a possible ban on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday, in light of the May 9 protests against arrest of party chief Imran Khan in the 190 million pounds settlement case, local media reported.

He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party, Geo News reported.

The move comes days amid political instability in the country by Khan's arrest on May 9 on corruption charges, before he walked free on bail as per court orders.

Responding to the leaders' call for countrywide protests, the PTI workers and supporters took to the streets, but the demonstrations turned deadly as they attacked public and private property including military installations and buildings.

They also resorted to arson and set afire the Corp Commander House, also known as the Jinnah House, in Lahore.

The armed forces have, since then, resolved to try the arsonists and those involved in anti-state activities on the day of the protests under relevant laws, including the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.

"The PTI has attacked the very basis of the state, that never happened before. It can't be tolerated", Asif said while addressing a presser in Islamabad on Wednesday, Geo News reported.

"Is there a crime that didn't happen on May 9?" he asked.

Asif said that the miscreants involved in the violent episode had nefarious motives.

Referring to the events that unfolded ahead of the no-confidence vote against Khan in April last year, Khawaja Asif said: "All the steps taken by Imran Khan after April 9 have cost him. We did not harm him. He is suffering due to his own actions."
New Delhi, May 24 : Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways on Wednesday said that the Centre was committed to enhancing the tourism sector and strengthening the country's infrastructure which were positively impacting job creation.

He was speaking at the CII Annual Session 2023 here. Under the theme 'Future Frontiers, Competitiveness, Technology, Sustainability, Internationalisation', Gadkari highlighted the significant progress made in these areas and the positive impact it has had on job creation.

Gadkari acknowledged the rapid improvement in the tourism sector and cited the feedback received from the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, who reported a notable increase in tourist numbers compared to the previous year.

Recognising the importance of efficient connectivity, Gadkari revealed plans for the construction of the Dehradun-Delhi Highway, which will significantly reduce travel time between the two destinations, as well as the ongoing projects related to the Char-Dham Yatra and the development of Masoori's tunnel.

To further bolster the tourism industry, the government has embraced 260 proposals, amounting to Rs 1,30,000 crore, focused on ropeway cable cars and funicular railways. These initiatives will be implemented through public-private investments, fostering sustainable and accessible transportation options for tourists across the country.

Emphasizing the government's commitment to improving logistics and reducing costs, Gadkari highlighted the Economic Corridor and Green Express Highways projects. He expressed his belief that these initiatives would decrease logistics costs from 14 to 16 per cent to a remarkable 9 per cent, leading to increased export opportunities and a subsequent rise in employment.

Gadkari also emphasized the importance of private sector collaboration in the development of 670 wayside amenities across the country, including charging stations, gas stations, and restaurants built to international standards.

Looking toward the future, the Minister emphasized the potential of heliports and drones in futuristic technology. He noted the development of drones capable of carrying up to 200 kg, with future models anticipated to transport four passengers simultaneously. Additionally, he highlighted plans to construct 16 tunnels in Jammu and the proposed Delhi-Katra Highway, which will allow Delhi residents to reach Katra within six hours.

In line with the government's push for sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives, Gadkari disclosed plans to invest around Rs 16 lakh crore in the ethanol vehicle market and explore the use of methanol as a substitute for diesel. The successful testing of 25 buses powered by methanol in Bengaluru was mentioned, with a projected production of 30 lakh tons of methanol in collaboration with farmers in the future. Furthermore, Gadkari underscored the potential of hydrogen-powered vehicles, aiming to transform India from an energy importer to an energy exporter.

Gadkari also addressed the burgeoning electric vehicle sector, revealing that 400 startups have emerged to manufacture electric buses, along with the introduction of e-cars, e-rickshaws, and e-buses. He acknowledged the need to improve the conditions of state transport systems and combat diesel thefts, expressing interest in implementing the London bus model in India and ultimately aiming for a fleet of two lakh buses.

Gadkari further announced plans for the Sky Bus service, connecting Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana, which will alleviate traffic congestion for the commuters.

Concluding his address, Gadkari reiterated the government's commitment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of making India a five trillion-dollar economy. He highlighted the creation of 4.5 crore jobs through the promotion of tourism, the development of top-quality roads, and the provision of opportunities for startups. Additionally, he shared the government's innovative approach to utilizing 25 lakh tons of garbage.
New Delhi, May 24 : The CBI on Wednesday contended before the Supreme Court that they have never heard of an order which cancels the bail but also allows it, while supporting a plea challenging the grant of bail to an accused in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.

"We have never heard of it that the order which cancels the bail, allows the bail. How is it possible?" Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the CBI, submitted before a vacation bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal.

"Inherently contradictory," he added.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Suneetha Narreddy, daughter of the deceased AP minister, submitted that in a cancellation of bail, how can bail be granted? Jain submitted that he is supporting Narredy's plea against the bail order and informed the bench that the investigating agency will file its counter affidavit by Thursday.

As the top court said it will pass a balanced order, Jain urged it to schedule the matter for hearing on Friday.

The top court referred to the last portion of the high court's order, directing the trial court to enlarge the accused on bail on July 1 on his executing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties of the same amount each. Jain said it annihilates the whole order.

Counsel, representing the accused, submitted that they have filed a plea challenging the order passed by the high court on April 27, cancelling the bail.

After hearing submissions, the top court said it will take up both matters together on May 26.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Suneetha Narreddy, challenging the Telangana High Court order granting conditional bail to T. Gangi Reddy alias Yerra Gangi Reddy, while allowing a plea for bail cancellation.

The court on May 18 had issued notices to the CBI and the accused on the plea against the high court order.

The Telangana High Court on April 27 cancelled the bail of Yerra Gangi Reddy, the prime accused in the murder case of former Andhra Pradesh minister Vivekananda Reddy. It directed him to surrender before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court by May 5. The court also clarified that if the accused failed to surrender, the CBI may arrest him.

It ruled that as the CBI is scheduled to complete the hearing on June 30, Gangi Reddy may be granted bail on July 1 on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.

The Supreme Court had recently extended the deadline for completing the investigation into the sensational case till June 30.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula of Kadapa district on March 15, 2019, weeks before elections. The 68-year-old was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him.

The CBI took over the investigation into the case in 2020 on the direction of Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition of Vivekananda Reddy's daughter, who raised suspicion about some relatives. The Supreme Court transferred the case to Hyderabad while observing that doubts raised by Suneetha Narreddy about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh were reasonable.
Hyderabad, May 24 : AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has made it clear that his party will not attend the inauguration of new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming it as gross violation of the theory of separation of powers.

He told reporters here on Wednesday that the building should be inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. He said if the Prime Minister comes forward to have the building inaugurated by the Speaker, AIMIM will attend the programme.

The Hyderabad MP did not agree with the view of the opposition parties that the President of India should inaugurate the new Parliament building. "Their argument that the President should inaugurate is also wrong because Article 53 (1) of the Constitution makes it clear that the executive power of the union is vested in the President. They don't read the Constitution," he said.

Owaisi said opposition parties did not contact AIMIM as 'in their view we are 'untouchables'.

Owaisi recalled that when the Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone for the new Parliament building, he had called it unnecessary interference of the executive in the legislature. He reiterated his stand when the Prime Minister inaugurated the national emblem.

"The Prime Minister should not inaugurate the Parliament building because this is a gross violation of the theory of separation of powers. The legislature is independent from the executive. The executive is interfering in legislature's domain," he said.

Stating that the Speaker is custodian of Lok Sabha and he should inaugurate the new Parliament House, Owaisi demanded that the Prime Minister Modi should step back and allow the Speaker to inaugurate if he believes in the basic structure of the Constitution.

Owaisi, whose party has two members in Lok Sabha, said that the Prime Minister wants to weaken the theory of separation of powers. "This will set new precedent and in every state the executive will interfere in the domain of the legislature," he said.

Owaisi recalled that after the 2019 elections when the Modi government had called an all-party meeting on one nation one election, all participants except he and Sitaram Yechuri had agreed to the idea of one nation one election.

The MP recalled during the meeting he had stated that the idea of one nation one election goes against basic structure of the Constitution and the Prime Minister's expression showed he was not happy.

The AIMIM President claimed that at the same meeting he suggested building a new Lok Sabha and the Prime Minister had said that he would look into it.

Owaisi said no one disputes that there was a need for a new Parliament building as there was a chock-a-block situation in the existing building and it also did not have clearance from fire service.

When asked about the plans of Karnataka's new government to lift the ban on hijab, Owaisi said it had been his consistent stand that the ban on hijab was a blatant violation of the Constitution of India.

He said those who took oath by the Constitution should ensure that the Constitution is respected and followed.
New Delhi, May 24 : Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday that there is an urgent need to enhance co-operation between corporates, government, academia, and startups so that the talent pool in the country can further innovate and build solutions to solve real-life problems.

In his address at the CII Startups Summit during a session titled "Unlocking Innovation Through Corporate Startups Engagement," the minister emphasised on empowering startups via corporate and government collaboration.

"These are great times to increase the ties between corporates, government, academia and startups to help grow the innovation capabilities of our country and the innovation ecosystem capabilities in our country," Chandrasekhar told the gathering.

He said that in the past nine years, the country has come a long distance on empowering startups.

India currently has the third largest startup ecosystem, behind the US and China.

"These are exciting time for young entrepreneurs in India as they have so many opportunities around them," the minister added.

On Tuesday, the minister said that the upcoming Digital India Act (DIA) will be an enabler for startup innovations in the country.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very clear that anything the government does should not cause difficulties for innovation in the startup space," Chandrasekhar said at a Mumbai event.

"We will be extremely sensitive to this. It is not in our intention at all to make things difficult for startups. DIA will be an enabler for startup innovations," the minister added.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The Azerbaijani delegation led by the First Deputy Minister of Defense  Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev visited the headquarters of Pakistans Global Industrial & Defence Solutions (GIDS) conglomerate, one of the largest manufacturers of products for military purposes, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend.

According to the ministry, the delegation was given detailed briefings on the purpose and activity areas of GIDS.

It was noted that the enterprises products are used on land, at sea, and in the air, including air defense and integrated systems, as well as nuclear, biological (bacteriological), and chemical defense.

The sides discussed the issues of mutual interest at the meeting with the participation of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov.

Previously, Valiyev, who has been on an official visit to Pakistan since May 23, met with the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, Army General Syed Asim Munir.
Chandigarh, May 24 : Farmers in Punjab and Haryana, the country's biggest contributors to the food basket, have been keen to enhance sustainable farming practices by adapting less water and labour-intensive mechanised technology, besides taking care of the environment, through Canada's technology of planting seed using a no-till drill.

In the last few days, winter rice seeding technology demonstrations were carried out in Khamano in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab, where farmers showed eagerness to shun the traditional method of cultivating crops by adapting no-till direct seeding technique -- a paradigm shift toward sustainable farming practices.

Now the trials are underway in Pehowa, the basmati-growing belt of Haryana's Kurukshetra, for cultivating paddy.

In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government last year announced Rs 1,500 per acre support for farmers opting for the direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique, while in Haryana, a cash incentive of Rs 4,000 per acre was offered as a pilot project for water conservation.

Likewise, Haryana set a target of one lakh acres of paddy sowing with the DSR method in 12 leading paddy-growing districts, while Punjab had aimed to bring 12 lakh hectares (29.64 lakh acres) with this technology.

To bring the MINI-MAX technology, which ensured to enhance water conservation, besides protecting soils from further deterioration caused by the extreme tilling, the company has collaborated with an Indian tractor company to provide sustainable solutions initially to farmers associated with Northern Farmers Mega, a leading organisation of 43 farmer cooperatives (FPOs) involving more than 12,000 members from four states, comprising Punjab and Haryana.

Now the company is demonstrating the technology with multipurpose solutions like managing straw and accurate seed and fertiliser placement in combination with the unique no-tillage practices to the FPOs by exhibiting Mini-Max's, an India-specific machine.

Responding to the collaboration, Consul General of Canada in Chandigarh, Patrick Hebert, told IANS that Canada has a long history of expertise and excellence in agriculture.

"The arrival of the MINI-MAX technology in India is a game-changer for farmers, including in Punjab and Haryana," he said.

Impressed with the high-tech seeding and planting tool, farmer Gurdev Singh in Khamano, who took part in a field demonstration, told IANS farmers should shun traditional farming and go for such a technology that helps reduce inputs costs by improving fertiliser effectiveness and much-needed soil recovery.

"We are ready to go for enhancing sustainable farming practices, despite our government not coming forward in support of the farmers in the form of subsidies for buying the no-till planter," he added.

With a land area of only three per cent of the net cultivated land of the country, Punjab contributes 25-35 per cent of rice and 38-50 per cent of wheat to the central pool of food grain. The state ranks fourth in the world in terms of productivity and first in India amongst all the other states.

In Haryana, the paddy is currently sown over 34 lakh acres in Haryana. Of this, 57 per cent of the area is under basmati, which matures two weeks later than the non-basmati type.

Officials with the Haryana Agriculture Department told IANS the government is mulling to provide a subsidy up to 80 per cent to the state-based FPOs and 50 per cent to a farmer to buy SMART Seeder MINI-MAX and related technologies.

Indian-origin entrepreneur Jeet Jheetey, Vice President (Operations and Product Development), Clean Seed Capital Group, told IANS that the company is demonstrating India-made smart seeders in farms of Punjab and Haryana, where there are active engagements with the FPOs.

Saying direct seeding entails many advantages for rice production too, it will also be serving as a catalyst for sustainable agriculture and surmounting diverse challenges farmers encounter.

He said by adopting no-till direct seeding techniques, the farmers could fortify the productivity of rice, besides eradicating stubble burning, boost crop production and protect agricultural soils from further deterioration caused by the overuse of chemical fertilisers.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Mumbai, May 24 : Attempting to drum up support for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called on former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray at his home here on Wednesday.

Addressing the media jointly, both leaders slammed the Centre for attempting to force the Ordinance to control Delhi services as "an Ordinance emerging from arrogance" and the need to "wake up the people of the country".

"The Ordinance decision is coming out of the arrogance. An arrogant and selfish person cannot run the country," said Thackeray, expressing support for Kejriwal's fight with the Centre.

Flanked by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal said that "we have come together to wake up the people of the country".

Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Matoshri are known for maintaining relations which go beyond politics.

"The Supreme Court verdict was necessary for Delhi and the country's democracy. But what kind of democracy is it when the Centre brings an Ordinance like this? We have to make the people aware of all this," Thackeray said.

Kejriwal said even the AAP keep good relations with all and "now we are part of the Thackeray family".

"The people of Delhi have fought a big battle for rights. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking away our authority by the Ordinance though the SC verdict came (May 11) in our favour after 8 years," Kejriwal said.

"Their politics is unethical, wrong and dangerous to the country and a threat to democracy. They are blatantly misusing power and various institutions to hound political rivals," said Thackeray.

Soon after the apex court judgement giving the powers to the state government to appoint officers in Delhi, the BJP government brought forth an Ordinance to annul the decision on grounds that Delhi does not have full statehood, and gave all the powers to the Lt. Governor.

Kejriwal has been on an all-India round of all the top Opposition parties in the country to block the Centre's Ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.

Earlier, he met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, on Tuesday he met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday Thackeray, and on Thursday he will have a sojourn with Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar.

Congress state president Nana Patole has already stated that his party would abide by the decision of the Central leadership.
Islamabad, May 24 : Former federal minister of Pakistan, Faisal Vawda, has said that ex-spymaster Faiz Hameed was the "architect" and the mastermind in the corruption case that Imran Khan is currently facing, media reports said.

Speaking to reporters in here, Vawda said, "My compulsion today was to tell the nation that when you say the beneficiary is Imran, [...] the biggest is Faiz Hameed," Dawn reported.

He added said that this was a "very small case" and that bigger crimes would be uncovered when things are probed further, the report said.

As the country's political crisis deepens, Pakistan's incumbent government is mulling a possible ban on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday, in light of the May 9 protests against party chief Imran Khan's arrest in the 190 million pound settlement case, Geo News reported.

Asif, however, said that the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party.

The move comes amid political instability in the country sparked by Khan's arrest on May 9 on corruption charges, before he walked free on bail as per court orders.

Responding to the leaders' call for countrywide protests, the PTI workers and supporters had taken to the streets, but the demonstrations turned violent as they attacked public and private properties, including military installations and buildings.

They also resorted to arson and burnt the Corp Commander House, also known as the Jinnah House, in Lahore.

The armed forces have, since then, resolved to put to trial the arsonists and those involved in anti-state activities on the day of the protests under relevant laws, including the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.
Mumbai, May 24 : With the Nationalist Congress Party also joining the Congress and the Shiv Sena-UBT on Wednesday, all the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents are now on the same page visa-a-vis the opposition move to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament House by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

A majority of the Opposition parties have decided to keep off the inaugural in New Delhi on Sunday on grounds that the government has flouted democratic traditions by not inviting President Draupadi Murmu for the event.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to undermine the country's top constitutional post by not inviting the President to inaugurate the new Parliamenta It's an insult to the democratic traditions of the country. The BJP is clearly trying to project Modi's image ahead of the 2024 elections," said NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase.

Accordingly, all the NCP MPs have voiced their displeasure and have decided to keep away from the Parliament inaugural event.

Shiv Sena-UBT chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut reiterated that his party will also show its back to the Sunday event.

"All the Opposition parties have decided to boycott the inaugural of the new Parliament building on May 28 and we shall also follow suit," Raut declared.

Tapase added that the President is the custodian of the fundamental rights of the citizens and also the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces, and hence most in the Opposition feel that the President should rightfully inaugurate the new Parliament house.
Bhubaneswar, May 24 : Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to continue the DBT mechanism for payment of pension to old age, widow and divyangjans in Odisha.

Opposing Odisha government's decision of cash payment of pension to senior citizens, widows and persons with disabilities, Pradhan wrote a letter to Patnaik on Wednesday.

In his letter, Pradhan said the Odisha Government has decided to shift the social security pension for old age and divyangjans to cash, rather than maintaining the existing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) strategy.

"This decision, unfortunately, appears to be a step backwards in our collective pursuit of corruption-free governance and efficient public service delivery," he said.

Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have strived to ensure that the fruits of government schemes reach every individual, without any pilferage, he said.

Across India, a whopping of 48.99 crore bank accounts have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, amassing savings of Rs 71.97 lakh crore. In Odisha, 2.01 crore bank accounts have been activated, saving Rs 78,751 crore for the people of the state, Pradhan said.

Under the NSAP of the government of India, about 2.99 crore beneficiaries, especially old, widow and divyangjans are being paid monthly pension through their bank accounts. Similarly in Odisha also, 20,95,695 beneficiaries are being provided with benefits through the DBT mechanism, he pointed out.

Therefore, he urged the Odisha CM to appreciate the fact that these significant numbers of beneficiaries are being disbursed directly to their bank accounts, eliminating any possibility of corruption.

Pradhan said adoption of DBT has resulted in massive savings to the exchequer, by removal of fake/ghost beneficiaries and reducing need for middlemen.

Besides, this has immensely helped in plugging leakage and diversions and has eliminated scope of corruption. It promotes transparency by cutting down discretionary decision making and opacity in processes, he added.

Due to elimination of ghost/duplicated beneficiaries by adoption of DBT, Odisha government has saved about Rs 459.96 crore in the financial year 2021-22.

He mentioned that the government of India has saved approx. Rs 2.73 lakh crore cumulative till close of FY 2021-22 due to adoption of DBT.

"These figures elucidate how the strategy has been instrumental in alleviating poverty, empowering citizens, and improving service delivery, directly benefiting crores of Indians, especially our brethren in Odisha. Considering such a substantial impact, it is disconcerting to witness the Odisha government's decision to return to cash payments for old age pensions," Pradhan wrote.

He mentioned that there are 82,261 active banking correspondents available with different banking institutions in Odisha. Apart from it, there is a wide network of 8491 post offices in Odisha which are fully capable and trained to provide financial services in remote and rural areas, India Post has a wide presence and its wide network needs to be leveraged along with DBT.

Further, 6,772 Gram Panchayats in Odisha are covered through more than 22,000 functional Common Service Centres across Odisha, their extensive presence has been used in implementation in various social security, financial services, agriculture, and farmer welfare schemes of Government of India successfully, he stated.

It would be encouraging if existing banking correspondents, wide network of India Post and Common Service Centres are fully utilised in disbursement of old age pensions, social security schemes and other financial services within the DBT framework, the BJP leader suggested.

Pradhan further said that cash payments, historically, have had tendencies to spur corruption, pilferage, and exploitation of beneficiaries by middlemen.

"The recent decision of the government of Odisha to pay out cash, I fear, may revive these grim scenarios, adding burdens to our elderly citizens, already grappling with the hardships of old age," the Union Minister said.

To maintain transparency and rooting out corruption, Pradhan urged the Chief Minister to continue the DBT mechanism for payment of pension to old age, widow and divyangjans in Odisha and review the decision of cash payout.
Bengaluru, May 24 : Janata Dal (S) Karnataka state president C.M. Ibrahim resigned from his post on Wednesday following the defeat of the party in the assembly elections.

Announcing his decision to the media, Ibrahim stated that former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has called a meeting of party leaders on Wednesday. "I took moral responsibility a day after the announcement of the results of the elections in Karnataka. Today I have submitted the resignation from my post," Ibrahim explained.

Ibrahim conveyed his wishes to the newly formed Congress government. When asked whether he could have been a minister today if he had not quit the Congress before the elections, he maintained that he won't take up posts which come without dignity. "I care about self respect," he said.

"They could have made U.T. Khader deputy chief minister. But now he can't even open his mouth," Ibrahim maintained. Khader was elected as the Speaker of the assembly on Wednesday.

Ibrahim had quit the Congress after developing differences with then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in 2022.

The JD (S) had fielded 148 candidates for the assembly polls and hoped that it would play the role of kingmaker after the results. Former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy had declared after the elections that the national parties will have to come to his doorstep. But the Congress sailed through with a clear majority.

The JD (S) only managed to win 19 seats and it was defeated on its own turf. The Congress had managed to get the Vokkaliga vote by projecting D.K. Shivakumar as one of the candidates for the post of CM. Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of H.D. Kumaraswamy, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Congress candidate in Ramnagar.
Bhopal, May 24 : After a woman lodged an FIR against her live-in partner accusing him of repeatedly raping her and forcing her to convert to Islam in Indore, post which he was arrested, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday said that it is the "impact" of the movie 'The Kerala Story'.

"The woman and accused Faizan recently went to watch the movie 'The Kerala Story' and after watching it, they had an altercation after which he assaulted her. She gathered courage and lodged an FIR against Faizan," Khajarana police station in-charge Dinesh Verma told IANS on Wednesday.

She accused Faizan of raping her, physical torture and forcing her to convert into Islam, police said.

The accused has studied till Class 12 and was jobless, while the woman was working in private firm in Indore and earning around Rs 25,000 monthly.

"As per the complainant, her live-in partner was also using her money, and because of that he was forcing her to covert to Islam to marry him," Verma added.

Faizan was booked under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code. He was arrested and produced before the court and is now in judicial custody, Verma said.

The woman had eloped with Faizan six months back and they were residing in the Khajarana area. The woman's family had then lodged a missing complaint at police station in Indore. At that time, the woman had told the police that she was residing with Faizan willingly.

Ever since 'The Kerala Story' has released at theatres, a political row has erupted. Besides Madhya Pradesh, the movie is tax free in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand.

The movie's plot is that many women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by terrorist outfit Islamic State.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government has made the controversial film tax free in the state. The Chief Miniter along with his cabinet ministers had watched the movie last week.

While, the opposition Congress maintained silence on the issue.
New Delhi, May 24 : Sukanya Mondal, the daughter of Trinamool Congress stromgman Anubrata Mondal, has approached the Delhi High Court seeking the dismissal of Enforcement Directorate's complaint and all subsequent proceedings related to the alleged multi-crore cattle smuggling scam.

The father-daughter duo is presently in judicial custody for their alleged involvement in the case.

The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma has posted the matter for hearing on August 9, after the ED's counsel argued that Sukanya's bail plea is pending before the trial court and is scheduled for a hearing on May 26.

During the hearing, Sukanya's counsel said: "This is a quashing petition aimed at dismissing the ED complaint and its consequential proceedings. I am also challenging her arrest." The counsel argued primarily on one ground citing apex court's judgement in the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary vs Union of India.

"That judgement states that if the accused is not involved in the predicate offence, they cannot be implicated in the scheduled offence," said Sukanya's counsel, while claiming that her case falls squarely within the purview of this judgement.

Sukanya's counsel also contended that in order for her to be prosecuted for money laundering under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), she must be accused of the scheduled offence.

It was also highlighted by her counsel that only Sukanya, and not her father, is accused in the ED case, as her father is accused in the CBI case related to scheduled offence.

On April 27, the ED had arrested Sukanya, a primary school teacher in West Bengal's Birbhum district, after quizzing her for her alleged involvement in the case.

Earlier, the agency had said that her custody was required to trace the proceeds of crime, establish the money trail and the modus operandi.
Hyderabad, May 24 : Hyderabad, which is emerging as the knowledge capital of the world's life sciences industry, has grabbed another big-ticket investment in the sector.

US-based StemCures is slated to establish a manufacturing lab in Telangana that will focus on stem cell therapy with the vision to create the largest stem cell manufacturing plant in India. The facility will be set up with the investment potential of around $54 million and employment potential for around 150 people in a couple of phases.

The announcement was made after Dr. Sairam Atluri, Founder, StemCures met state IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao in Boston.

The objective of the proposed plant is to capitalise on the latest technology and expertise from the US to manufacture the highest quality and affordable stem cell products for treating various serious medical conditions, according to a statement from the Minister's office in Hyderabad.

"Stem cell therapy is a promising new treatment for a variety of conditions, and I am confident that StemCures will provide high-quality care to patients in India. I look forward to working with the clinic to make stem cell therapy more accessible to patients in India," said KTR, as the minister is popularly known.

"It is so heartening to see Hyderabad, my hometown, transforming into a vibrant hub for medical innovations. Setting up an R&D facility was seamless and now we are looking forward to expanding with the manufacturing plant," Atluri said.

Currently, StemCures is culminating R&D of the stem cell line at Aspire Bionest in University of Hyderabad and is ready to embark on a phase 1 manufacturing lab.

Hyderabad already serves more than 1000 life sciences companies, including the top 10 pharma companies. Four of the top 10 global innovator companies now have a direct presence in Hyderabad through their dedicated centers. These centers drive core R&D, digital and engineering activities, thereby contributing to bringing lifesaving cost-effective therapies and devices to patients world-wide.

StemCures is a medical clinic in Ohio that specialises in stem cell therapy. It is a FDA-compliant clinic that uses only the highest quality stem cells. The clinic also has a team of experienced and knowledgeable physicians who can help patients make informed decisions about stem cell therapy.

Stem cell therapy is a non-surgical, minimally invasive procedure that uses the patient's own stem cells to treat a variety of conditions. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to become any type of cell. When injected into an injured or diseased area, stem cells can help to repair tissue, reduce inflammation, and promote healing.

Meanwhile, KTR also interacted with Nikki Haley, former UN Ambassador and Governor of South Carolina. He provided a comprehensive overview to Haley regarding the strategic significance of Hyderabad and Telangana in the broader framework of US-India relations.

Discussions encompassed various aspects, including the economy, elections, and a broad exchange of perspectives on politics. Minister KTR conveyed his best wishes to the former Governor as she runs for the office of the President of the US.
Chandigarh, May 24 : Haryana Police's Anti-Human Trafficking Unit has reunited the only son, who is still a minor, with his family in Rajasthan after a decade.

A spokesperson for the police on Wednesday said Additional Director General O.P. Singh has instructed all Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) in-charges to periodically visit children's homes of all states bordering Haryana to create a database of the missing children.

The AHTU unit in Panchkula, near here, had contacted the welfare officer at Children Home in Rajpura in Punjab's Patiala in search of the missing children. The welfare officer informed they did not have any child from Haryana, but there was a child who was living here with no family details.

During counselling, the child informed his name, parent's name and who were residents of Bihar's Samastipur. On contacting the child's address, the family said the child did not belong to them.

During further counseling, the word Dalghar came up, which was used as a basis for an Internet search, leading to information about six villages.

The spokesperson said contact was made with all states, and it was discovered that Dalghar was located in Sirohi district in Rajasthan.

The child's photo was sent to the village, and the father recognised his son. The father was also sent a photo and a video call was conducted. The father shared that his son had gone missing from their village 10 years ago in 2013 when he was only six years old.

By the order of the Child Welfare Council in Amritsar, the minor was handed over to family after required formalities.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The words of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the recognition of the territory of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh, are considered to be progress, Erin Elizabeth McKee, USAID (United States Agency for International Development) Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, said at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 23, Trend reports.

"At a four-hour press conference, the Armenian Prime Minister publicly declared recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan for the first time. This was the first item that was discussed by the parties," she said.

Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.

A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.
Kolkata, May 24 : The Governor's House in West Bengal on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to the vice-chancellors of all state universaities for 'ignoring' Governor C.V. Ananda Bose's instruction to submit weekly reports on university affairs to the Raj Bhavan.

The six state universities are Kazi Nazrul University, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University, West Bengal State University, Kalyani University, and The University of Burdwan.

On April 4, the Governor's House had instructed the VCs of all state universities to submit a weekly report to the Raj Bhavan, wherein the VCs were also asked to take prior concurrence from the Raj Bhavan in all finance-related matters.

However, taking note of the reluctance on the part of the state universities to submit the weekly report, a reminder was sent to the VCs on May 22 by the office of the special secretary to the Governor.

After failing to get any response, the Governor's House has now issued show-cause notice to the VCs of the six state universities.

The Governor, by virtue of his chair, is the chancellor of the state universities.

A cold war between the Governor's House and the state education department has already started on this issue, with the Education Minister Bratya Basu describing the move by Bose as an "action beyond his jurisdiction".

Basu had also said that his department is consulting the legal brains in this matter.

Earlier, a row between the state education department and the Raj Bhavan had broken out over the Governor's frequent spot visits to different state universities to review the activities there.

The state government had objected to Bose's visits, claiming that the Governor should not have taken such a step without prior intimation to the education department.
New Delhi, May 24 : Microsoft, along with AI4Bharat at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, has created a new generative AI-driven chatbot that is helping Indian farmers access government assistance on their mobile devices.

Called Jugalbandi, the chatbot can understand questions in multiple languages, whether spoken or typewritten. It retrieves information on relevant programmes - usually written in English - and relays it back in local language.

While the Jugalbandi chatbot is still new, it could one day offer all Indians easy access to information in the local language through a mobile phone, instead of having to head to the local community service centre and stand in line just to get basic information.

"We saw this Jugalbandi as a kind of 'chatbot plus plus' because it's like a personalised agent," said Abhigyan Raman, a project officer at AI4Bharat, an open-source language AI centre based at IIT Madras.

"It understands your exact problem in your language and then tries to deliver the right information reliably and cheaply, even if that exists in some other language in a database somewhere," Raman added.

Jugalbandi was introduced to villagers in Biwan, Haryana, in early April. It has expanded to cover 10 of India's 22 official languages and 171 of a total of approximately 20,000 government programmes, according to Smita Gupta, a lawyer who works for OpenNyAI, a collaborative whose mission is to bring greater access to law and justice through AI. It is one of several groups working on the chatbot.

The Jugalbandi AI assistant is powered by language models from AI4Bharat and reasoning models from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.

It is accessed through the mobile messaging system WhatsApp, which is widely used in India, and the duet in this case is the conversation between the user and the chatbot.

This is how it works.

A villager sends a text or audio message to a WhatsApp number, which initiates the Jugalbandi bot. That is transcribed to text using the AI4Bharat speech recognition model.

That, in turn, is translated to English by the Bhashini translation model trained by AI4Bharat.

Based on the prompt, Azure OpenAI Service's model retrieves information on the relevant government scheme. The answer is translated to Hindi. That is then synthesised with the AI4Bharat text-to-speech model and sent back to WhatsApp - and the villager's ear.

In July 2022, the Central government launched Bhashini to provide language solutions as digital public goods.

Research groups like the Indian Institutes of Technology, the International Institute of Information Technology and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing are all experimenting to augment the Bhashini platform.

AI4Bharat is one such research group. It has received funding from Nilekani Philanthropies, started by the co-founder of software giant Infosys Nandan Nilekani and his wife Rohini, as well as from Microsoft.

Pratyush Kumar, co-principal investigator at AI4Bharat and a principal researcher at Microsoft Research India, said the team initially explored how to translate legal judgments, working with the Supreme Court of India. They also worked with schools and colleges to transcribe videos and add subtitles, which can help children learn more effectively.

At the same time, organisations like OpenNyAI were thinking of applications on the ground. "We brainstormed a bit," said Kumar.

One of the results was Jugalbandi.

Jugalbandi "can really scale a lot of our work," said Aaditeshwar Seth, co-founder of Gram Vaani.
Chandigarh, May 24 : The Punjab government on Wednesday announced the release of the pending instalment of six per cent dearness allowance (DA) to government employees from July 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the decision would entail an additional financial liability of Rs 356 crore to the state exchequer.

Reiterating the government's commitment to ensure the welfare of employees, an official statement quoting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the employees were a critical segment of the administration and safeguarding their interests was the government's top priority.
Chennai, May 24 : Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK on Wednesday announced that it has decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

The event scheduled for May 28 has been condemned by the opposition political parties which say that the President was ignored and instead, the Prime Minister was inaugurating the new parliament building.

Speaking to media persons, DMK Parliamentary party leader and former Union Minister T.R. Baalu said that the party has decided to boycott the inaugural function of the new parliament building to demonstrate the party's stand against the "anti-democratic" activities of the Union government.

He said that the inauguration of the new parliament building should have been done by the President Droupadi Murmu instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Dalit party VCK's founder leader and chief Thol Thirumavalavan, in a statement, said that the party has decided to boycott the inauguration of the new parliament building as the President, who is the chairperson of both the houses of the parliament, has not been invited.

Talking to IANS, CPI's parliamentary party leader, Benoy Viswam who is a former Kerala minister, said: "How can we associate with a programme that sideline Rashtrapthi Bhavan and link with the memory of Savarkar? Those who cherish the value of democracy can keep away from majoritarian adventurism."
Dakshina Kannada, May 24 : A group of miscreants attacked a BJP worker and a Bajrang Dal activist with swords in the communally-sensitive Dakshina Kannada district on Wednesday.

The two injured persons have been identified as Mahendra, local convenor of Bajrang Dal, and Prashath Naik, a BJP worker. Both have been admitted to a private hospital in Puttur.

According to the police, the incident took place near Mani in Bantwal taluk. It is suspected that the attack was a fallout of BJP's celebrations that followed the announcement of Assembly election results in the region. The BJP won six out of the eight seats in Dakshina Kannada district.

It is alleged that the attackers belonged to the Congress.

The police said the attackers came in an Omni vehicle which they rammed into a two-wheeler on which the victims were riding. As they fell down, the attackers assaulted them with swords. Mahendra and Prashanth have suffered injuries on their head and leg.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the attack was carried out by a few residents of Mangaluru, namely Rakesh, Mani Manjunath and Mahalinga. A hunt is on to nab the accused.
Imphal, May 24 : In fresh incidents of violence in restive Manipur, a man was gunned down by the armed assailants of a different community while two others were injured in separate incidents in Bishnupur district on Wednesday, police said.

In view of the violence, district authorities have cancelled the curfew relaxation in Bishnupur, Imphal East and Imphal West districts, where curfew was relaxed from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Police officials in Imphal said that some armed youths had raided a few villages in Moirang in Bishnupur district and on hearing the commotion, some inmates of a relief camp there came out to see what was happening and a man, identified as Toijam Chandramani, 29, was hit by a bullet from behind.

He was immediately taken to a private hospital in a serious condition but succumbed to the bullet injury after some time.

As tension escalated after Chandramani's death, additional para-military and police personnel have been deployed to control the situation.

According to police, some miscreants belonging to a particular community torched three houses of different communities at Phoubakchao in Bishnupur on Tuesday night. In retaliation, some youths of another community burnt down four houses.

Since May 3, when the ethnic violence erupted in 11 of the 16 districts in Manipur, indefinite curfew was imposed and internet services were suspended while sporadic incidents of violence reported almost every day. Army, Assam Rifles and Territorial Army have been deployed in 23 most sensitive and most volatile police station areas in 11 districts.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who also holds the Home portfolio, said his government had sought more companies of central forces to deal with the recurring violence in some areas.

In the recent widespread ethnic violence in Manipur so far 71 people have been killed, 300 people injured including police personnel, nearly 1,700 houses were burnt, and more than 200 vehicles destroyed.

As the BJP government in Manipur sought more central forces in the state, the Congress leaders in Manipur were suspicions by bringing in more companies of the Central forces in the state, the government has attempted to turn to "Kashmirisation" of Manipur.

"It seems that more inflow of huge numbers of Central forces in the state might turn out to be an attempt to suppress the people just like in Kashmir," state Congress Vice President Hareshwar Goshwami said on Wednesday.

He claimed the government had failed to secure civilians in the peripheral areas of the valley, despite having sufficient Army and various central forces.

"There might be some hidden agenda of the BJP government to deal with the present conflict. That's why they sought more and more central forces," the Congress leader said.

Refuting the state government's claim of normalcy being restored, he pointed out that incidents of violence happening across the state in the last few days and the continuation of ban on internet services and curfew shows otherwise.

Compensations for victims of Kerala's boat capsize incident were given within a week after the incident, but even after three weeks, the government has not provided compensation to the victims and affected people in Manipur, Goshwami said, questioning why the state government is dealing lethargically.

The Congress had earlier dubbed the violence in Manipur "pre-planned" and demanded immediate imposition of President's Rule in the BJP-ruled state. Several party teams visited the strife-torn state and talked to the people of different communities in affected districts.
New York, May 24 : A 38-year-old Indian-origin hacker from Virginia was sentenced to more than four years in prison for hacking into computers and stealing customer credit card numbers.

Chirag Patel from Norfolk pleaded guilty to computer fraud and was sentenced by US District Judge G Murray Snow to 51 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

He also was ordered to pay $87,522.25 in restitution, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said on Monday.

According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), between August 2017 and July 2020, Patel hacked into the Phoenix-based computers of an international hospitality company on numerous occasions.

He then fraudulently transferred and redeemed customer reward points from the company's customer loyalty program.

In addition, Patel also stole credit card numbers and other personally identifying information (PII) from customers and loyalty program members, which were stored in the company's computers.

Patel took screenshots of customers' and members' information, which included credit card numbers and other PII, and saved the screenshots to a Google Drive he controlled.

In total, between August 2017 and July 2020, Patel stole and possessed more than 1,200 credit card numbers, the FBI investigation found.

He used some of the stolen credit card numbers to make unauthorized purchases and also tried to sell some of the stolen credit card numbers.
Kolkata, May 24 : The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal police probing the May 16 blast at an illegal fire-cracker unit at Egra in East Midnapore district on Wednesday arrested the widow of the deceased owner of the factory.

The explosion on May 16 had claimed 12 lives, including the owner of the illegal unit, Krishnapada Bag.

Krishnapada Bag a.k.a. Bhanu, who was injured in the blast, later died at a private nursing home in Cuttack in Odisha. On Wednesday, the CID arrested Bhanu's wife Geeta Bag.

Earlier, the CID had arrested Bhanu's son Prithvijit Bag and nephew Biswajit Bag from Odisha in connection with the case.

Police sources said that after the blast, Geeta Bag had fled to her maternal home in Odisha. On being tipped off by its sources, the CID conducted a raid on Wednesday and arrested her from there.

"Geeta Bag was also injured in the blast. However, her injuries were not that serious. She is a co-accused in the case," a state police officer said.

Although the initial police investigation has suggested that the explosion was probably caused by the raw materials stocked at the illegal fire-cracker unit, the opposition parties have claimed that the impact of the explosion proves that not fire-crackers, but crude bombs were being manufactured there.
Mumbai, May 24 : Actress Swara Bhasker, who recently tied the knot with political activist Fahad Ahmad, wrapped up shooting for her upcoming film 'Mrs Falani' in which she essays multiple characters.

The film is based on 8 different stories and will see the actress pulling off 8 different characters belonging from different regions, speaking different dialects, sporting different attires in one single movie.

Talking about the film, Swara said: "'Mrs Falani' is a really special film because it's the first time I got to essay multiple characters in one project. It was a real challenge to build 8 distinct female characters that were distinguishable and unique in their own identity but also united in their woman-hood and their experiences. It was the first time I was shooting in Chhattisgarh which was an eye opener in its beauty and diversity. Collaboration with Manish Kishore Ji and his team was a happy and fulfilling experience and I am proud to be part of this film and play various Mrs Falanis." In the film, Swara will be seen in the role of a home-maker representing different states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab and others. Reportedly, going the extra mile, Swara also got her nose pierced for the film.

Manish Kishore, director of the project, said in a statement: "It is a very compelling story, in fact it's a collection of stories from various geographies in the country defying the odds by being themselves. These stories shall inspire other women to go after what they love to do. It is rare for a director to direct 8 different stories all in a single film and am grateful for the opportunity. Special thanks to the entire cast and crew for their unwavering support. Swara's portrayals are iconically amazing. Can't wait to bring our film to the audiences.

The film has been produced by 'Three Arrows' and 'Sita Films', and the makers will soon announce the release date of the film.
New Delhi, May 24 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked news channel Aaj Tak/TV Today Network why it wants to air content like narco-analysis test and charge sheet related to Shraddha Walkar murder case alone.

Aaftab Amin Poonawala is accused of strangling his live-in partner Walkar and then chopping her body into several pieces for disposal.

Delhi's Saket court had earlier this month framed charges against Poonawala under Sections 302 (Murder) and 201 (Disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

The court was hearing TV Today's application seeking vacation of an earlier order dated April 19, wherein the court had restrained several media channels from airing Poonawala's psychological assessment, voice layered test, narco analysis and charge sheet content.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar questioned: "There are more heinous cases than this... There are 20 murders all over India daily. What is so special about this case? Was the Nirbhaya case played on TV channels? Why are you choosing this particular case?" About the recent incident of gangster Atiq Ahmed's murder, the bench raised a question whether it would telecast it the same way as Walkar's.

"Will you display Atiq Ahmed's murder also? Uska bhi jawab le ke aayiyega (Bring the answer to this query too)," the judge said and posted the matter for hearing next on August 3.

The bench also asked TV Today's counsel whether videos related to the investigation can be played on TV during the pendency of the trial.

"You can't take the charge sheet in a case and affix them on walls. Some line needs to drawn about how much these public documents (in a criminal trial) can be displayed on TV," the court said.

As counsel for India Today argued that the injunction order effectively violates their fundamental right, the court said: "This is your fundamental right? To display the matter under sub-judice on TV? How many criminal cases pending before courts are being displayed on TV?" Counsel said that the content they wanted to publish are public documents and that the only request for the court to set an early hearing date.

Counsel added that he will respond to all of the court's inquiries and that the case had acquired a special status in the public's eyes.

Justice Bhatnagar, however, said that such materials are there in every case but they are not shown on TV.

It added that no early date will be given in the application and it will be heard on the date already fixed in the main matter which is August 3.

The court has also issued notice on India Today's application.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Parliamentary Assembly (PA) is working to ensure peace in the South Caucasus, President of the OSCE PA Margareta Cederfelt said at a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on May 24, the ministry told Trend.

Cederfelt arrived in Azerbaijan with a delegation to participate in an international conference in Baku themed "The role of national parliaments in promoting security and stability through green economy, transport coordination and sustainable development".
Bhopal, May 24 : The political rift between Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and BJP MP from Guna K.P. Yadav came into the open once again ahead of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. Yadav, who had defeated Scindia in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from Guna has expressed his disappointment over not inviting him to meetings organised by Scindia loyalists in the Gwalior-Shivpuri district.

Miffed over not being invited to a meeting of the Yadav community in Shivpuri district, K. P. Yadav said, "I wasn't called to the meeting of my own community. For the first time I wasn't invited or informed about the meeting of the Yadav community. It seems a conspiracy against me, which is why I wasn't invited for the meeting," Yadav told the media in Bhopal on Wednesday.

Yadav's remarks came two days after Scindia addressed a gathering of local people (Gwalior, Shivpuri) on May 22 in Shivpuri district. Sources privy to the development told IANS that Scindia addressed two gatherings of different communities - Kewat, Majhi, Yadav, Vaisya and some others.

While addressing a gathering of the Vasya community in Shivpuri on May 22, Scindia apologised to the people with folded hands saying "I apologise for whatever mistakes occurred in the past. Please pardon me." Yadav said on Wednesday that personal rifts need to be kept aside and he should have been invited as he is an elected representative of the area. "These things send wrong messages to the society. We need to be united. I am disappointed with the development," Yadav added.

However, it is not the first time that the rift between Scindia and Yadav has come to the fore, it has happened several times in the past also. Yadav had earlier alleged he was not invited to Scindia's meeting. Later, the state BJP leadership tried to close the gap between these two leaders in an attempt to send a message that things are fine now.

Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh Congress on Wednesday shared a video on its official Twitter handle, in which Yadav can be heard saying, "Some people are trying to create problems. He should have contested the election against me again and then it would have shown how popular he (Scindia) is."
New Delhi, May 24 : Apple on Wednesday launched a new campaign to highlight the importance of health data privacy globally, including in India, as millions of people now monitor their health data online via plethora of smart devices.

The campaign will run across broadcast, social media and billboards in 24 regions around the world this summer. In India, there will be billboards present in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad.

It will include a new ad voiced by Emmy Award-winning actress and comedian Jane Lynch, a white paper offering an overview of the ways Apple helps protect data stored in the Health app on iPhone and in HealthKit, and billboards in 24 regions around the world.

To underscore the significance of health data privacy, a comedic ad tells the story of people whose health data is shared without their consent by a third party voiced by Lynch.

The ad is directed by award-winner Craig Gillespie, who directed "I, Tonya" and "Cruella", among other films.

The company also published a white paper on health data privacy.

The tech giant believes in four privacy principles: data minimisation, on-device processing, transparency and control, and security, and has built each of these four pillars into its Health features from the beginning.

iOS minimises the amount of health data sent to Apple's servers by generating health metrics on-device. For users with two-factor authentication, a device passcode, and a device running iOS 12 or later Health app data is end-to-end encrypted. As a result, data in the Health app is not readable by anyone - even Apple.

Data shown in the Health app like Trends & Highlights, resting heart rate, and Cycle Tracking predictions are calculated on-device. This on-device storage and computation helps ensure that Apple does not see this data in order to provide health metrics and summaries.

Health data is sensitive, so Apple makes sure the user is in control of what data is shared, who it is shared with, and how it is used.

Apps can request access to different types of data through HealthKit and the user can decide what data you want to share, if any.

Health and fitness data gathered from iPhone and Apple Watch is encrypted on device with a passcode, and is securely synced from Apple Watch to iPhone. As a result, data in the Health app is not readable by someone with physical access to your device unless they have your passcode.

As of August 2022, over 95 per cent of active iCloud users had two-factor authentication enabled.
New Delhi, May 24 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday deferred hearing in a petition filed by St Stephen's College against Delhi University's statement that admission to 50 per cent of the Christian quota seats would only be based on Central University Entrance Test (CUET) score, with no interviews and the addition of 15 per cent marks for interviews being allowed in the academic session of 2023.

The court had postponed the hearing until August 23 due to a related matter being pending before the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, who heads the bench also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad, also scheduled the hearing of a similar petition by Jesus and Mary College, as well as a petition filed by Sharon Ann George, a woman challenging the interview process for minority students at St Stephen's College in addition to the CUET.

The bench acknowledged that all three matters are unable to be addressed at the moment due to the pending special leave petition (SLP) before the apex court regarding the judgment concerning admissions to St Stephen's.

It granted the parties the freedom to seek relief for their grievances from the Supreme Court.
Panaji, May 24 : Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislator and Goa Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Wednesday said that the ball is in the court of Congress to withdraw permission given to Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Karnataka for the disputed Kalasa-Bhanduri project.

"There is a Congress government in Karnataka. If all Congress leaders in Goa want (to stop the diversion of Mhadei), then the DPR of Karnataka can be withdrawn along with budget provision. For this they should pressurise their party unit in Karnataka," Dhavalikar said.

"The MGP has always tried that Mhadei should not be diverted in Karnataka. But the Congress during its rule in Goa had given permission to Karnataka. Now they should speak to the Karnataka Chief Minister and demand the withdrawal of the DPR," he said.

He said that politics is taking place on this issue.

"The present situation would not have occurred if Congress had not given the letter (permitting diversion)," Dhavalikar said, adding he had a copy of the letter.

"If Karnataka Congress gives a letter to the Central government, then the DPR can be withdrawn," he said.

Asked about the statement made by Home Minister Amit Shah in Belagavi regarding Mhadei diversion, Dhavalikar said: "It is a different issue." In January, during a rally in Belagavi, Amit Shah had said: "Today, I am here to tell you that the BJP at the Centre has resolved the long dispute between Goa and Karnataka over Mhadei and allowed the diversion of the river to Karnataka to satisfy the thirst of farmers of many districts." "Today, the Congress has a government in Karnataka, and here Congress leaders are agitating. Is there need for agitation?" Dhavalikar questioned, saying political equations have now changed.

Goa and Karnataka are currently involved in a dispute over the Kalasa-Bhanduri dam project across the water of Mhadei river at a central tribunal.
Moscow, May 24 : Ukrainian armed forces' commander in chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, who has not been seen publicly for some time now, was seriously wounded some weeks ago in a Russian strike near Kherson, and is unlikely to return to service, media reports said on Wednesday.

Zaluzhny suffered a head trauma and numerous shrapnel wounds in early May, in a missile attack on a Ukrainian command post not far from the village of Posad-Pokrovskoe, RT quoted RIA Novosti as reporting.

The Russian agency, quoting a source, said that the general had undergone a craniotomy at a military hospital in Kiev after the strike, and doctors say that the 49-year-old is going to live but won't be able to execute his duties as commander anymore.

Speculations about Zaluzhny's whereabouts emerged after he refrained from participating in a high-profile NATO meeting on May 10.

The Chairman of the bloc's military committee, Rob Bauer, said that Kiev told Brussels that the Ukrainian commander couldn't attend in person nor via a video-link due to a "complex operational situation" on the ground in the conflict with Moscow.

Zaluzhny hasn't been seen in public since then, even though footage that has emerged online in recent days that suggested he was fine, turned out to have been made before his disappearance.

However, on Saturday, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Anna Malyar claimed Zaluzhny was in good health and remained in charge, and that rumours about him were being spread by Russia in an attempt to demoralise the Ukrainian forces during the battle for the strategic Donbas city of Artyomovsk, which the Ukrainians call Bakhmut. Moscow announced the "full capture" of Artyomovsk on Saturday, but Kiev has thus far been reluctant to acknowledge the loss of its key stronghold.
Patna May 24 : A man was repeatedly stabbed by a group of people for stopping them from dancing on the DJ floor with knives in Bihar's Supaul district on Tuesday night.

The deceased, Lalan Mukhiya sustained multiple stab wounds and died on the spot due to excessive loss of blood.

The incident occurred at Goriyari Tola village under Sadar police station in the district.

The police said that a wedding function was held in the village and the guests from the bridegroom's side were dancing on the DJ floor holding knives in hand.

"When some of the youths from the bride's side objected to the act, they got attacked. A person named Lalan Mukhiya was repeatedly stabbed until he died," said an officer of Supaul.

"The family members of Mukhiya took him to Sadar hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival," he said.

"We have received a complaint from the deceased's father Muneshwar Mukhiya. Efforts are on to identify them," he said.
Jaipur, May 24 : Two army helicopters had to make emergency landing on a 'kutcha' road at Khara village in Bikaner due to inclement weather caused by Western disturbance.

Both the helicopters, which landed safely, had departed from Lohawat in Jodhpur before the weather turned bad. They lost contact with the control room near Khara in Bikaner.

The pilots of both the choppers are safe. A large number of people gathered at the spot after seeing the choppers landing near their village. A team from the Army also reached the spot.

The villagers praised the presence of mind of both the pilots as the helicopters landed safely amid heavy dust storm and rain in Bikaner.
Bhubaneswar, May 24 : The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament House in New Delhi on May 28.

In a statement, BJD's national spokesperson Sasmit Patra said the President of India is the head of the state and the Parliament represents the 1.4 billion people of the country.

Both the institutions are symbols of Indian democracy and draw their authority from the Constitution of India. Their authority and stature should always be safeguarded, he said.

"BJD believes that these constitutional institutions should be above any issue which may affect their sanctity and honour. Such issues can always be debated later in the Parliament. Hence, the BJD will be a part of this momentous occasion," Patra said.

Notably, 19 Opposition parties, including the Congress and many regional parties, have issued a joint statement saying that they will boycott the inaugural event. They are demanding that President Droupadi Murmu should inaugurate the new Parliament building, and not the Prime Minister, as announced.
New Delhi, May 24 : Four days after taking oath, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is also the state Congres chief, arrived here on Wednesday to meet the top party leadership to discuss various issues including the cabinet expansion.

Shivakumar is, on Thursday, likely to meet Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence to discuss the cabinet expansion and other issues related to the state.

Interacting to media after his arrival, he said: "I am here to meet the party leadership to discuss various issues including the expansion of the state cabinet." He said that they have to fulfil the promises they had made to the people of Karnataka and also ruled out any internal rumblings in the party.

Siddaramaiah took as the Karnataka Chief Minister on Saturday, with Shivakumar as his deputy in the presence of several top Congress and opposition party leaders in Bengaluru.

Besides Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, eight more ministers took oath on Saturday, and 20 are likely to be appointed in the coming days.

Before the swearing in ceremony, the party leadership had held long discussion with both the leaders to finalise the cabinet list. A party source said that on Thursday, all issues related to cabinet expansion and how to fulfill the promises will also be discussed in the meeting.

Congress had won 135 out of 224 seats in the May 10 voting whereas the BJP was reduced to 66 and the JD-S could manage to get only 19 seats.
New Delhi, May 24 : In a case of money laundering and disproportionate assets against AAP leader Satyendar Jain, two other accused -- Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain -- had their bail application dismissed by a Delhi court on Wednesday.

Vaibhav and Ankush, who are alleged to have assisted Satyendar Jain in acquiring assets that exceeded his known sources of income, had their default bail applications rejected by Special Judge Vikas Dhull.

The accused had filed the application, arguing that they were entitled to statutory bail since the chargesheet against them was incomplete.

During the hearing, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) while opposing their application, stated that the accused were arrested on June 30, 2022, for the crime of money laundering. The prosecution complaint, equivalent to a chargesheet, was filed on July 27, 2022, well within the prescribed 60-day period.

However, the accused argued that the chargesheet, also referred to as the final report, was incomplete as the agency claimed that the investigation was still ongoing.

The judge stated that if the court is able to acknowledge and recognise the alleged offence as described in the chargesheet, then the chargesheet is considered complete.

"In such a scenario, the accused does not have the right to default bail. The judge emphasized that the content of the chargesheet regarding further investigation by the agency is irrelevant." The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2017 under Sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(e) of the PC Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, and Ankush Jain.

The CBI has alleged that Jain, while holding the office of a Minister in the Government of Delhi from February 14, 2015 to May 31, 2017, had acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

A chargesheet was filed by the CBI on December 3, 2018, against Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and other accused.

Earlier, the ED had provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to companies beneficially owned and controlled by Jain on March 31, 2022.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov's letter to the UN Secretary-General regarding Azerbaijani servicemen Agshin Babirov and Huseyn Akhundov captured by Armenian troops, has been distributed as a document of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, the ministry told Trend.

The letter expresses serious concern that Armenia, contrary to international humanitarian law, does not return the servicemen to Azerbaijan, who got lost in conditions of limited visibility due to adverse weather conditions, and who were subjected to torture.

It was brought to the attention of the UN Secretary-General that despite the presence of evidence of torture on social networks and other open sources, the Armenian side has not punished those responsible.

A trial was organized on the so-called charges against Azerbaijani soldiers and a decree was issued on the arrest of Agshin Babirov for 11 years, 6 months, and 15 days.

The letter says that the so-called "trial" organized by Armenia took place a few days after the four-day talks in Washington between the foreign ministers of the two countries on the eve of the meeting of the heads of state of the two countries with the mediation of the EU and other partners.

The letter also notes that contradictory statements were made by Armenian officials regarding the captured Azerbaijani servicemen, and this irresponsible behavior of Armenia once again demonstrates its disregard for international humanitarian law and the principles of humanism.

It is brought to attention that the Armenian side has not reciprocated Azerbaijan's measures for the return of Armenian servicemen, in particular for the immediate return of more than 10 Armenian servicemen who got lost and crossed the border, and this indicates that Armenia is not interested in measures to establish peace and trust in the region.
New Delhi, May 24 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought Delhi University's (DU) stand on a petition by the Congress student wing, NSUI's national secretary Lokesh Chugh alleging that the varsity was not accepting his PhD thesis even after the debarment order was set aside.

Chugh was debarred from taking examinations for one year over his alleged involvement in organising a screening of the banned BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notice on the petition.

Justice Kaurav had on April 27 ordered: "Impugned order is set aside. The admission of the petitioner is restored. Necessary consequences will follow." Chug's counsel Naman Joshi, informed the court that the petitioner's PhD thesis was being processed in contravention of the court's ruling due to inaction and delay.

He said no appeal was filed against the high court's order but his thesis was yet to be accepted.

In his plea he states that he was running from pillar to post in an attempt to submit his PhD thesis but there was no response from the authorities.

"The Respondents are trying to thwart the Petitioner by being vague, unresponsive, and enforcing a decision that has been set aside by this Hon'ble Court," the plea read.

"Petitioner cannot be subjected to such whimsical conduct of the Respondents, as delay in submission of PhD thesis affects the Petitioner's career prospects each day and Petitioner is prevented from applying for post-doctoral positions and teaching positions due to the Respondents' callous attitude," it added.

The DU authorities be directed to accept Chugh's thesis and notify a date for his viva-voce, the plea stated.

The matter has been posted for the next hearing on July 17.

Chugh had urged the high court on April 27 to permit him to submit his PhD thesis before the retirement of his supervisor on April 30.

Appearing for Chugh, senior advocate Kapil Sibal had apprised Justice Kaurav that the varsity will later "appoint a supervisor of its own choice" if interim relief was not granted.

However, counsel for the university M. Rupal argued that no prejudice would be caused and interference by the court will send a "wrong message".

The university had prohibited Chugh, a PhD research scholar at the Department of Anthropology, from taking any university, college, or departmental exam.
Amaravati, May 24 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has found fault with the decision of the opposition parties to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The leader of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has stated that boycotting such an auspicious event is not in the true spirit of democracy.

In a tweet on Wednesday, he appealed to all political parties to attend the event and announced that his party would attend.

"Setting aside all political differences, I request that all political parties attend this glorious event. In the true spirit of democracy, my party will attend this historic event," he wrote.

He congratulated the Prime Minister for dedicating the grand, majestic and spacious Parliament building to the nation. "Parliament, being the temple of democracy, reflects our nation's soul and belongs to the people of our country and all the political parties," he said.

Jagan Mohan Reddy's tweet came hours after 19 opposition parties including Congress announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28.

The opposition parties said that Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate it himself and completely sidelining President Droupadi insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
Colombo, May 24 : The Indian High Commission in Colombo on Wednesday denied Sri Lankan Justice Minister's claim that India demanded compensation or damages of INR 890 million from Sri Lankan government for the assistance provided during two fire incidents onboard MT New Diamond and MV Xpress Pearl in September 2020 and May-June 2021.

Issuing a statement, Indian High Commission in Colombo said that "India has not demanded any damages/compensation from government of Sri Lanka" and such reports are completely false and incorrect.

Participating in a TV talk show on Monday night, Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe had said that Sri Lanka has to pay INR 890 million to the Government of India for assisting Sri Lanka to control fires onboard MT New Diamond and X-Press Pearl in Sri Lankan waters.

Minister of Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, Rajapakshe has said that India has sought reimbursement in writing to the Sri Lankan government.

"The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and, at our request, the Indian Navy worked together to douse the flames ravaging the New Diamond ship and to minimize the environmental damage. For the contribution made by the Indian Navy in this regard, they have sought INR 400 million, approximately LKR 1,400 million. These are not rumours.

"They have asked for INR 490 million for the X-Press Pearl and INR 400 million for the New Diamond," the Minister had said.

Responding on the Minister's claim the High Commission stated that Government of India immediately deployed ships of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in response to specific requests from Sri Lanka Navy for providing expeditious assistance to fight the fire incidents onboard MT New Diamond and MV Xpress Pearl.

"Rescue operations conducted by these ships were instrumental in curtailing the hazardous effects of the two fire incidents and thereby limiting the damage on the maritime and marine environment of Sri Lanka.

"In line with 'Polluter Pay Principle' as per international norms, we have raised a claim for deployment, salvage activities and items/stores undertaken by these ships. Government of Sri Lanka has been requested to join our claims with that of the Sri Lankan side in the respective forum.

"It is emphasized that the request has been for presenting these claims to the Insurer/Owner for settlement and reimbursing the compensation received through established channels," the High Commission clarified.

The High Commissioner reiterated that India has not demanded any damages/compensation from Government of Sri Lanka and immediate deployment of ships were done in line with 'Neighbourhood First' policy and Security And Growth for All (S.A.G.A.R) doctrine.

On September 3, 2020, a fire erupted at the MT New Diamond, a tanker transporting 270,000 metric tons of crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip.

The ship was about 65 km off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka and at the time of the fire 1,700 metric tonnes of diesel required for the use of the tanker were also stored onboard.

One of the worst ever marine environmental disasters in the Indian ocean, on May 20, 2021, a Singapore-flagged container ship vessel MV X-Press Pearl, caught fire some 16km off Colombo.

The ship was transporting around 1,500 containers including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, other chemicals and low-density polyethylene pellets.

The fire that lasted for nearly two weeks caused in a massive spillage of damaged containers, microplastics, plastic pellets, chemicals and other harmful substances into the sea killing uncountable number of fishes and marine animals.

The vessel sank on June 2, 2021 while being towed away to deeper waters.

Sri Lanka has filed lawsuits demanding compensations against the owner of Press Pearl before Singapore courts.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 24 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that his state has one of the best records with respect to workers' rights and is a role model complying with the principles of International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In his address at an international conclave organised here by the ILO, he said that through this conclave, they will be commemorating the century-old history of the ILO's association with India, and Kerala's contributions in upholding its objectives and principles.

"Kerala is being exceptional in protecting and advancing workers' rights at a time when workers' rights are waning worldwide. In terms of providing decent employment, forming unions, workers' cooperatives, welfare boards and pension schemes, and ensuring inclusivity and the protection of migrant rights, Kerala has evolved as a role model. We comply with the main principles of the ILO, including the tripartite structure, in which the government, employers, and employees meet to resolve disputes," he said.

Vijayan also added that the right to work is upheld.

"Child labour has been outlawed. We affirm protection against discrimination. Social security is ensured particularly with respect to women workers. Wage protection is offered. Workers grievances are resolved. They have the right to organise and form trade unions. Collective bargaining, and management participation is also available to our workers. All these are guaranteed by the state's safety net," he added.

"Kerala is well renowned for its tripartite mechanism which operates in nearly all of its traditional sectors. The tripartite system is strengthened through the Industrial Relations Committees which are functional in not less than 12 sectors," Vijayan said.

He went on to point out that the Centre has introduced four new labour codes, and draft rules appropriate for Kerala have already been prepared for discussion in the state legislature.

"Workers' rights are part of Kerala's public discourse and ensuring them is part of our legacy. We will continue to uphold them," said Vijayan.
Patna, May 24 : A SHO and village head in Bihar's Kishanganj district have been booked on charges of raping a woman of Uttar Pradesh and extorting money from here, police said on Wednesday.

Accused SHO Niraj Kumar Nirala, of Tedhaganj police station in the district, held the woman captive at his official residence for a week and repeatedly raped her.

"We have received a complaint from the victim where she alleged that she came to Kishanganj to search of her husband. When she went to Tedhaganj police station for help, the SHO took her in the official residence for a week and repeatedly raped her. She also alleged that the alleged SHO has taken Rs 2 lakh from her husband for her release," Kishanganj's Superintendent of Police, Dr Enamul Haq Megnu, said.

"Based on her complaint, we have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a DSP rank officer to investigate this case. It was established that the accused SHO has held her captive inside his house for a week. We have registered an FIR (Case Number 39/2023) in Tedhaganj police station against SHO Niraj Kumar Nirala and Mukhiya of Dakpokhar Manoj Yadav under IPC sections of 343, 376D, 384, 385, 34," Megnu said.

"These two accused are on the run. We are making efforts to nab them. We are also ensuring that the charge sheet will be filed against them within two weeks in the court," he said.
Bengaluru, May 24 : BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Wednesday said that "unjustified" transfer of doctors of ESIC hospital in Bengaluru would be rectified by the Union Government.

Surya, a Lok Sabha member from Bengaluru South, met Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav at his office in New Delhi and requested him to look into the mass annual transfers announced by the ESIC Hospital in Bengaluru.

Recently, the ESI Corporation, which comes under the Ministry of Labour, issued mass transfer orders all over India.

As a result, about 130 doctors from ESIC Hospital, Rajajinagar, and about 27 doctors from ESI Hospital, Peenya, are transferred to various hospitals across the country.

Surya told the minister that such a large number of transfers would adversely affect the functioning of the hospitals, and hamper the delivery of the services at the ESIC. The mass transfers would also displace a large number of doctors and their families and cause disruption of the patient services.

Responding to Surya's request, the Minister assured him that the transfer orders would be examined and any transfer made in violation of the Corporation's transfer policy would be rectified. He also said that vacancies at every centre would be filled up soon, ensuring that there is no deficiency in healthcare service for the patients at the ESIC hospitals.

"It's the priority of the Government of India, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to protect and safeguard the interests of workers across different sectors. Doctors at the ESIC Hospital cater to the poorest of the labour classes, who are not well conversant in English and are mainly accustomed to regional languages.

"The Central Government stands with the doctors providing yeomen service at the ESIC hospitals across the country. It has assured to look into the transfers recently announced by the ESIC. The Minister has personally assured that any transfer order which is unjustified and in violation of any transfer policy would be rectified by the Labour ministry. Vacancies at the ESIC hospitals would also be filled up soon," Surya said after the meeting.
London, May 24 : "Game of Thrones" actress Indira Varma, whom many will remember for her steamy debut in Mira Nair's "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love", is joining the new series of "Doctor Who", the BBC hardy perennial which has been on air since 1963.

According to 'Variety', Varma will be seen as the Duchess, described by the BBC as a "mysterious new role". She was previously a part of the "Doctor Who" universe as Suzie Costello in Russell T. Davies' spin-off series "Torchwood".

Varma's recent roles include the Netflix show "Obsession" and the Disney+ Star Wars franchise series "Obi-Wan Kenobi". She won an Olivier, Britain's highest award for professional theatre, for her role in "Present Laughter", Noel Coward's luminous 1943 comedy staged at the Old Vic in 2019.

"Doctor Who" began in 1963 and follows the adventures of a Time Lord known as The Doctor, an extraterrestrial being with a human appearance. The Doctor travels the universe in a time-travelling spaceship called the Tardis, notes 'Variety'.

Jodie Whittaker, the 13th Doctor in the series, regenerated last year, revealing David Tennant, who was the 10th Doctor, as the 14th Doctor. The series returns in November, with Tennant as the Doctor and three special episodes to coincide with the show's 60th anniversary.

The next Doctor, played by "Sex Education" star Ncuti Gatwa, will take control of the Tardis after Tennant. Gatwa's first episode as the 15th Doctor will air over the festive period.

Jinkx Monsoon, winner of the fifth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" and the seventh season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars", has also been added to the cast as has "Glee" star Jonathan Groff.
Jaipur, May 24 : Advocate Poonam Chand Solanki from Jodhpur, who is said to be the 'inspiration' for Manoj Bajpayee's latest courtroom drama 'Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai', is reportedly unhappy over alleged claims that the story of the Apoorv Singh Karki-directorial is based on him.

In the courtroom drama that dropped on Zee 5 on Tuesday, Manoj plays a lawyer, who fights an infamous rape case against a self-proclaimed godman in a Jodhpur court and gets the latter convicted.

Incidentally, Solanki was the advocate who fought the 2013 Asaram Bapu rape case, and got the self-styled godman convicted.

"I have taken the legal recourse in this matter. How can it be claimed that the movie is inspired by real-life events involving me when no NOC was collected from me, nor the script was approved by me? Those who signed an agreement with me sold the rights without informing me," Solanki told IANS.

He added that the agreement signed with him was for a 'biopic'.

Contrary to what has been portrayed in the latest courtroom drama, that it is 'inspired' by real-life events, Solanki feels sad with the fact that he has been 'duped'.

Even Asaram Bapu's charitable trust, Sant Shri Asaramji Ashram Charitable Trust, has sent a legal notice to the makers of the film, alleging that it is "highly objectionable and defamatory".

Solanki said, "I have filed a case in the trial court and notices have been served to the producers and others. Imagine, in June 2021, they signed an agreement with me and in September, they sold the rights to another party... How can they do it," Solanki questioned.

He also said that in February 2022, the same party had reached out to him with an addendum.

"I was kept in the dark that the rights were sold. Even the party that bought them didn't inform me," Solanki told IANS.

"My intellectual property rights have been violated, so notices have been served to the producers and the next hearing is scheduled on May 31," he added.

Solanki also lambasted the way the advocate has been 'portrayed' as a hero in the film, saying, "I am not a hero, I simply discharged my duties as a lawyer. As the script was not shown to me, I don't know what fictional or non-fictional matters they had collected, or whether they could do it legally," Solanki told IANS.
Mysuru : , May 24 (IANS) A case was registered against Karnataka BJP MLA and former minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan on Wednesday in connection with hate speech in Mysuru district.

State Congress unit spokesperson M. Lakshman has lodged a complaint with the Devaraja Urs police station, seeking police initiate action against Ashwath Narayan over his statements of finishing off Chief Minister Siddaramaiah - then the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly - like erstwhile Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan.

The statement was made during the election campaign at Satanur village in Mandya district on February 15. The Congress leaders had lodged a police complaint in this regard on Febuary 17, but there was no action on the complaint.

Lakshman has stated in the complaint that Ashwath Narayan had given public provocation by giving a call to finish off Siddaramaiah. Earlier there was an attempt made on Siddaramaiah's life when he visited the rain-hit areas in the region.

There are possibilities of anti-social elements harming him again. The action needs to be taken against Ashwath Narayan, he demanded in his complaint.

Ashwath Narayan had stated that "the people of Mandya would achieve anything. It should begin from Mandya. Otherwise Tippu fan Siddaramaiah will come to the forefront. You decide on whether you want Tipu or Savarkar. What did Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda do to Tipu Sultan? They finished him off. Likewise Siddaramaiah should be finished off".

When it became a controversy, Ashwath Narayan sought to clarify that he made the statement to convey to the people to defeat Siddaramaiah and he never meant any harm to him.
Patna, May 24 : Bihar's Rural Development Minister Shrawon Kumar on Wednesday accused Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh of doing nothing about the welfare of common people but only being interested in dividing Hindus and Muslim in the country.

"We went to his ministry for the funds under the Indira Awas Yojana but he denied giving a single penny. I have written letters several times to Giriraj Singh. He is a MP of Begusarai and has responsibility to provide funds for the poor people of Bihar but he refused every time I requested him for the same through letters," he said.

"Giriraj Singh has nothing to do with welfare schemes of poor people. He is busy only harping on Hindus and Muslims and creating differences in the society. I want to ask him about how much fund he has released for Bihar under Indira Awas Yojana," he added.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Russia is currently considering the situation within its available mediating functions, Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said during a weekly briefing, speaking about the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Trend reports.

"We are using all tools to calm the situation both on the ground and politically. Negotiations are underway at all levels, meetings of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been held in Moscow. These contacts continue at all levels. This is the subject of our concrete work," she noted.

Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.

A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.

In January 2021, during a meeting in Moscow, the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan made a decision to create a working group at the level of the deputy prime ministers of the three countries that would focus on establishing transport and economic links in Nagorno-Karabakh, following the end of the second Karabakh war in 2020.
Guwahati, May 24 : The North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) claimed on Wednesday that the Central government has been neglecting Manipur, and demanded taking urgent steps for resolving the crisis and to end the perturbing uncertainty prevailing in the valley and hills of the state.

Pradyut Bordoloi, NECCC convener and Congress MP from Assam, and NECCC general secretary Diganta Chaudhury said that despite "double-engine" government functioning in Manipur, the situation of the state is very alarming with no Union minister bothering to visit the state to take stock of the situation since the clashes erupted on May 3.

Home Minister Amit Shah would visit Guwahati on Thursday, 'skipping' Manipur, where, according to NECCC, over 70 people have been killed in ethnic violence since May 3.

It said that despite the explosive situation in Manipur, the Union government has remained a silent spectator.

The NECCC has put forward six questions to the Central government.

These include, i) When will the Centre show accountability while innocent people are suffering? ii) When the ban on internet service will be lifted? iii) What is the stand of the government on the demand of a separate tribal state? iv) What steps have been taken for recovery of about 1,420 weapons looted from police armoury since the outbreak of the violence? v) When the peace talks between 24 Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups will resume? vi) What steps have the Union Home Ministry taken for granting adequate compensation to all those who lost their property during the conflict in Manipur? The Congress has been demanding immediate imposition of President's Rule in BJP-ruled Manipur.
Bhopal, May 24 : The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh government has approved Y-category security cover to controversial self-styled godman Dhirendra Krishna Shastri aka 'Bageshwar Dham Sarkar'.

Sources told IANS that the Madhya Pradesh Police on Wednesday wrote a letter to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as well as different state police forces across the country informing about the granting Y-category security to Shastri, and requested he be given similar security while visiting places outside his home state.

Shastri visits different states to organise "Divya Darabar", and the most recent one in Patna where controversy broke out as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his ally, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav slammed him over his continued demand for declaring India a Hindu Rashtra.

Shastri, head priest of the Hanuman temple at Bageshwar Dham in MP's Chhatarpur district, has often courted controversy, spanning from those related to his claims of possessing mysterious powers to his political statements.

However, in his home state, he has been getting equal respect from both, the ruling BJP and the prime opposition Congress, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath visiting him in Chhatarpur.

Presently holding religious discourses in MP's Maoist-affected Balaghat district, Shastri is slated to travel to PM Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat next for four days from May 26 to hold 'Divya Darbar' in three cities - Surat, Ahmedabad, and Rajkot.
Guwahati, May 24 : Taking a dig at the opposition parties for their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building in the national capital on May 28, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that there were at least five instances when the non-BJP ruled states did not invite the Governor for laying the foundation/inaugurating a new Assembly building.

He cited the example of 2014 when in states ruled by the Congress or its allies, such as Assam and Jharkhand, the Chief Ministers did not invite the Governor for the same. Sarma also said that in 2018, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had laid the foundation stone for a new Assembly building without inviting the Governor.

According to Sarma, Sonia Gandhi also laid the foundation stone for the Chhattisgarh Assembly, when the Governor did not receive an invitation.

He also gave a recent example from Telangana, where Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao did not invite the Governor and inaugurated the new Assembly premises himself.

Sarma said, "The boycott is obvious. They (opposition parties) had opposed the construction of the Parliament House. They never thought that the construction work would be completed so soon." According to Sarma, "Just to save their face, the opposition parties are now enacting the drama of a boycott, but they actually never supported the project." The Congress and 18 other opposition parties have issued a joint statement to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. The opposition parties have denounced plans by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the new building, instead of President Droupadi Murmu.
New Delhi, May 25 : A special NIA court in Guwahati awarded five-year rigorous imprisonment to one Md. Saidul Alam in connection with a case related to the formation of a module of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), a banned terrorist organisation.

According to official information, the NIA had recently filed a charge sheet on March 11 against five accused in the case.

Two accused, Md. Sahnawaj Alom alias Shahnawaj and Md. Omar Faruque alias Omar Faruk, were earlier held guilty in the case.

The NIA investigations have revealed that the convicted accused had conspired with one Kamruj Zaman to establish a HM module in Assam.

Between 2017 and 2018, they had organised a series of meetings in various mosques such as Milonpur Masjid, Islampur Masjid and Solmari Masjid, in and around Assam's Jamunamukh area.

The meetings were used to spread the banned outfit's hardcore fundamentalist ideology, with speeches about alleged atrocities and jihad. Youth attending these meetings were told about the need to raise a module of HM for committing terrorist acts in response to the alleged atrocities.

Kamruj, Shahnawaz and Omar had conspired to raise funds for procurement of arms and ammunition.

Omar, along with another accused Jaynal Uddin, provided logistic support. To keep their communications a secret, Kamruj and Saidul had also installed the Blackberry messenger App on their mobile sets.

Kamruj had used this app to stay in touch with HM cadres in Jammu & Kashmir.

"Further investigations revealed that Saidul, along with Kamruj, Sahnawaz and Omar, had also conspired to unleash bomb blasts and armed attacks on innocent civilians in the non-Muslim localities of Lumding and Hojai on Dussehra eve. They had also planned to procure arms and ammunition for these attacks," said the NIA.

The case was originally registered at Jamunamukh, Hojai district under various sections of IPC and UA(P) Act. Later, the probe of the matter was taken over by the NIA on October 5, 2018.
Jerusalem, May 25 : Israeli researchers found that within just a few months a deadly epidemic killed all black sea urchin population in the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba, Tel Aviv University said.

The researchers on Wednesday noted that this situation is unprecedented in the entire documented history of the Gulf whose shores include Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Xinhua news agency reported.

The black sea urchin disappearance threatens to destroy the gulf's coral reefs, as the urchins feed on algae and prevent them from taking over and suffocating the corals that compete with them for sunlight, they warned.

The researchers predict that the entire population of these sea urchins, in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, will shortly get sick and die, as extensive mortality has already been observed off the coasts of Greece and Turkey.

The research team has sent an urgent report describing the situation to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, calling for establishing a broodstock black sea urchins population so it will be possible to return them to nature when necessary.

The researchers assume that the source of the deadly epidemic is a pathogenic ciliate parasite that has spread from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
Damascus, May 25 : Syrians' Haj pilgrimage to the Islamic holy cities of Medina and Mecca in Saudi Arabia will be resumed in 2024 after 12 years of suspension, Syria's head of Hajj affairs said.

There will be no Haj pilgrimage for Syrians this year as the relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia have just been restored and the Haj arrangements need time and coordination, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper quoted Hassan Nasrallah as saying on Wednesday.

The Muslim Haj pilgrimage in 2023 will be observed between July 18 and 23, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the years when the Syrian-Saudi relations were severed, Syrian pilgrims who wanted to perform Haj needed to obtain visas from neighbouring countries.

Syria and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume consular services in April and restored full diplomatic relations this month.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the Arab Summit held in Saudi Arabia last week for the first time in 12 years, marking the return of Syria to the Arab fold after long years of isolation.
Jerusalem, May 25 : A brief fire exchange between Israel and Syria broke out after shots were fired at an Israeli reconnaissance drone near the disputed border.

"Shots were fired from Syrian territory toward an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) drone conducting routine surveillance activity," the Israeli military said on Wednesday in a statement.

"As a response ... IDF machine gun fire was directed toward the originating area of the shots in Syria," it added.

The Syrian fire did not damage the drone, which "successfully completed its mission," according to the statement as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The Israeli and Syrian armies have been on high alert along their shared border amid ongoing tensions, with occasional cross-border skirmishes over the past years.
Tehran, May 25 : Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that it has disbanded a "terrorist" group plotting "sabotage" in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News reported.

Acting on intelligence information, the IRGC forces tracked and busted the group in a surprise attack, foiling its attempts to plan any "terrorist" acts, the report quoted a statement by the Quds Base of the IRGC's Ground Force as saying on Wednesday.

Two "terrorists" were killed and one arrested in the operation, with a number of weapons, ammunition rounds, explosives and telecommunication devices confiscated, according to the statement.
Siassi Airport, Siassi, Papua New Guinea [ SSS / ]

If you are planning to travel to Siassi or any other city in Papua New Guinea, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Siassi Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Siassi Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Papua New Guinea. Siassi Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided.

Siassi Airport Info:

Siassi Airport IATA Code: SSS Siassi Airport ICAO Code: Latitude : -5.9 Longitude : 147.95 City : Siassi Country : Papua New Guinea World Area Code : 804 Airport Type : Small Timezone : Pacific/Port_Moresby Siassi Airport Timezone : GMT +10:00 hours Current time and date at Siassi Airport is 18:50:15 PM (+10) on Sunday, May 28, 2023

Looking for information on Siassi Airport, Siassi, Papua New Guinea? Know about Siassi Airport in detail. Find out the location of Siassi Airport on Papua New Guinea map and also find out airports near to Siassi. This airport locator is a very useful tool for travelers to know where is Siassi Airport located and also provide information like hotels near Siassi Airport, airlines operating to Siassi Airport etc... IATA Code and ICAO Code of all airports in Papua New Guinea. Scroll down to know more about Siassi Airport or Siassi Airport, Papua New Guinea.

Siassi Airport Map - Location of Siassi 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 Siassi Airport, Papua New Guinea. This page is created with the aim of helping travelers and tourists visiting Papua New Guinea or traveling to Siassi Airport. Details about Siassi Airport given here include Siassi Airport Code - IATA Code (3 letter airport codes) and ICAO Code (4 letter airport codes)

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Matsapha International Airport, Manzini, Swaziland [ MTS / FDMS ]

If you are planning to travel to Manzini or any other city in Swaziland, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Matsapha International Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Matsapha International Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Swaziland. Manzini Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided.

Manzini Airport Info:

Manzini Airport IATA Code: MTS Manzini Airport ICAO Code: FDMS Latitude : -26.5286 Longitude : 31.3078 City : Manzini Country : Swaziland World Area Code : 582 Airport Type : Medium Manzini Airport Address / Contact Details :

Matsapha International Airport (MTS), Matsapha, Swaziland Airport Type : Public Operator : Government Timezone : Africa/Mbabane Matsapha International Airport Timezone : GMT +02:00 hours Current time and date at Matsapha International Airport is 10:50:16 AM (SAST) on Sunday, May 28, 2023

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Matsapha International Airport Map - Location of Matsapha International Airport Load Map Swaziland - General Information Country Formal Name Kingdom of Swaziland Country Code SZ Capital Mbabane (administrative), Lobamba (legislative) Currency Lilangeni (SZL)

 1 SZL = 0.051 USD

 1 USD = 19.572 SZL

 1 SZL = 0.048 EUR

 1 EUR = 21.003 SZL

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Major airlines flying to Matsapha International Airport, Manzini

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MTS - Matsapha International Airport IATA Code and FDMS - Matsapha International Airport ICAO code
Added details, first version published at 15:19

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov's letter to the UN Secretary-General regarding Azerbaijani servicemen Agshin Babirov and Huseyn Akhundov captured by Armenia has been distributed as a document of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, the ministry told Trend.

The letter expresses serious concern that Armenia, contrary to international humanitarian law, does not return to Azerbaijan the Azerbaijani army servicemen who got lost in conditions of limited visibility due to adverse weather conditions and were subsequently captured by the Armenian Armed Forces, who subjected them to torture and other inhumane actions and opened a criminal case against them.

It was brought to the attention of the UN Secretary-General that despite the presence of evidence of torture and other criminal acts against them in social networks and other open sources, the Armenian side, instead of punishing those who commit these acts, is trying to use Azerbaijani servicemen as subjects of the transaction.

A trial was organized on the so-called charges against Azerbaijani soldiers and a decree was issued on the arrest of Agshin Babirov for 11 years, 6 months, and 15 days.

The letter calls for condemning this provocative activity of Armenia, accompanied by gross violations of international humanitarian law, and putting pressure on it to immediately stop such provocations, and unconditionally release the Azerbaijani servicemen held hostage, in accordance with international obligations, on the basis of the principle of respect for the dignity of the individual.

Will be updated
Globalworth has signed an agreement with eMAG, CEEs ecommerce shopping destination, to set up its headquarters as a tenant in the state-of-the-art building Globalworth Square in Bucharest, one of the highest-ranked buildings in Globalworth`s portfolio.

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The newly signed deal would be the largest new lease contract so far this year in the office real estate landscape in Romania. The space made available to eMAG measures no less than 10,000 m GLA and will benefit from the fit-out extended service provided by Globalworth`s Workplaces division. Globalworth has managed to provide its partners so far with more than 250,000 m of fited-out office spaces.



The building is part of the Globalworth District in the north of the capital and has a total leasable area of 29,000 m, spread over 3 underground levels, ground floor and 15 upper floors, plus 1 tech level, with a typical floor plan of 2,130 m.



After the conclusion of the new agreement between eMAG and Globalworth, the building has reached a 100% occupancy rate.



AG is one of the biggest players in the e-commerce sector and a company that has unlocked so many business verticals from grocery delivery and food delivery from restaurants to a marketplace for selling used phones. To be welcoming them into our business community is an inspiration on so many levels. Looking forward for this exciting new period together, a time to foster growth for our prominent new partner, said Ema Iftimie, Head of Leasing at Globalworth Romania.





eMAG has grown at a fast pace during the past years entering a new stage of development. We want what is best for our colleagues and based on their opinions voiced through our internal surveys, we know this is a desired change. We are happy to establish our head office in such a state-of-the-art building that embeds high sustainability standards. We will continue our journey and our hybrid way of working in a welcoming space that people find inspiring and enjoy working in. The new space will accede premium fit-out solutions to reflect our personality and way of doing amazing projects, added Cosmin Dodoc, VP People and Organization at eMAG.



The deal was facilitated by the real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, which was represented in transaction by Monica Vasile, Director Office Agency and Eduard Turcoman, Director Office Agency.



We are thrilled and honored to be involved in a new important lease transaction for the Bucharest market. The activity on the office market remains strong as many companies continue to determine their office space needs and to improve the workplace experience for their employees, added Monica Vasile & Eduard Turcoman, Office Agency Directors at Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.



Globalworth Square offers a great geo-positioning, with easy access to public transport and shopping areas. The iconic building in Globalworth`s portfolio features cutting-edge health and safety systems, including advanced air filtration and UV-C light disinfection. The building's eco-friendly cooling system is unique for a class A office building in Romania, ensuring very low energy consumption.



Combining smart technology with vintage accents, Globalworth Square was completed in 2021 and is the highest ranked BREEAM Outstanding building in Romania and the third in the world with this green certificate.
Dramatically increasing student retention. Providing nearly 100 percent of faculty with the foundation for delivering excellent instruction. Demonstrating an enduring commitment to the success of all students. These are just a few of the accomplishments of the seven colleges and universities that will be honored as Movement Makers at the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE)s inaugural National Higher Education Teaching Conference (NHETC), June 22-23 in New York City.

NHETC is an opportunity to explore the ways that all institutions can provide their students with high quality teaching through insightful plenary and concurrent sessions combined with the chance to have some fun and celebrate higher education leaders from around the country, said Jonathan Gyurko, Ph.D., ACUE President and Co-founder. It is fitting that these higher ed stars will be honored for their commitment to transforming the student learning experience through excellent instruction at our NHETC Awards Dinner, hosted by Tony & Grammy nominated Broadway star Max von Essen.

The 2023 ACUE Movement Makers are:



Broward College: From when it first began collaborating with ACUE in 2018, Broward College had a clear vision to certify 500 faculty in five years and that goal was accomplished. Broward College is a five-time Aspen Finalist and attributes some of its success to equipping faculty with evidence-based teaching practices. In addition, Broward College has not missed an ACUE-certification pinning ceremony  even during COVID-19 closures, hosting first a drive-through event, then a virtual one and then a back in-person celebration

California State University System: As the largest and most diverse higher ed system in the nation, the California State University shows an enduring commitment to the success of all its students and the foundational role that teaching plays in that commitment. Since 2016, individual campuses like California State, Los Angeles, and California, State, Northridge, in addition to the system as a whole, have partnered with ACUE to ensure that their faculty use the innovative, relevant, evidence-based teaching practices that place equitable student success at the forefront.

Miami Dade College: In fall 2015, Miami Dade College was an inaugural ACUE partner as one of its original pilot institutions, implementing ACUE modules with their faculty and helping to shape the experience for future colleges. In fact, theyve made ACUE a part of their facultys tenure and promotion programs. Miami Dade College was awarded the prestigious Aspen Prize in 2019.

Rutgers University-Newark: Rutgers University-Newarks investment in faculty and students impact through ACUE-certification began in 2016. Cohorts of Rutgers University-Newark faculty continue to earn their credential in effective college instruction through ACUE with transformative results.

Texas A&M System: Guided by the leadership of Associate Vice Chancellor Shonda Gibson Ph.D., the Texas A&M System is a model for how to scale instructional excellence for student success. With a clear vision and intentional implementation of ACUE programming, the Texas A&M System has engaged 1,310 faculty across its institutions. With an average faculty member teaching 120 students per year, this initiative has the potential to allow every student in the system to experience high-quality instruction. In addition, under the exemplary guidance of Dr. Laurette Foster and Dr. Shayla Wiggins, Prairie View A&M University's Teaching Center stands as an exceptional model for propelling the systemwide initiative at the institutional level.

University of Arkansas, Pulaski Tech: Under the leadership of former Chancellor Margaret Ellibee, Ph.D., and current Chancellor Summer Deprow, Ph.D., the University of Arkansas, Pulaski Tech (UAPTC), credentialed 98 percent of its faculty. The result is significantly more students passing courses, fewer receiving DFW grades, and more attaining higher average course grades when taught by ACUE-Certified faculty  with Black and Latino students experiencing even greater gains. UAPTC serves as a model for community colleges with its comprehensive approach to student success through effective teaching.

University of Southern Mississippi: In the fall of 2016, University of Southern Mississippi (USM) faculty began taking ACUE microcredential courses. Today, more than 300 have participated across the university. With one out of every three full-time faculty ACUE-certified, USM is on track to ensure every student benefits from high-quality, evidence-based instruction in every class. USM is a leader in fully embracing ACUE in its culture.

Commenting on the ACUE Movement Makers recognition of the Texas A&M University System, Shonda Gibson, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, said, I am deeply honored to accept this prestigious 'Movement Maker' award on behalf of all of the universities across the Texas A&M University System. This recognition is a testament to the unwavering dedication and tireless efforts of our leadership, faculty and staff in providing exceptional instruction and fostering student success. We believe in the transformative power of education and are committed to continuously improving the learning experience for our students. This award reaffirms our commitment to excellence and motivates us to continue pushing boundaries, embracing innovative teaching practices, and making a positive impact in the lives of our students. Together, we will continue to be agents of change in higher education and empower the next generation of leaders, teachers, and learners.

Honoree Miami Dade Colleges President Madeline Pumariega concurred, It is an honor to be named a Movement Maker by the countrys leading organization dedicated to increasing retention and access for all students. This recognition validates the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff to help students succeed and achieve their goals. Limited registration is still available to join hundreds of higher education leaders from across the country  ranging from presidents, academic affairs leaders and faculty to policymakers and philanthropists  to address the policies and practices that must be advanced to center effective teaching in the nations success and equity agenda at NHETC 2023. For more information or to register, visit https://acue.org/national-higher-education-teaching-conference/.

Media registration for NHETC is available by contacting Lisa Wolfe at lwolfe@lwolfe.com.

About ACUE

The Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) is on a mission to accelerate student success, belonging, and equity through quality instruction. In partnership with colleges, universities, higher education systems and associations, ACUE prepares and credentials faculty in the evidence-based teaching practices that lead to higher retention and achievement, deeper learning, and closed equity gaps. Numerous and independently validated studies confirm that students are more engaged, learn more, and complete courses in greater numbersmore equitably with their peerswhen taught by ACUE Certified faculty. ACUEs online, cohort-based credentialing programs are delivered through institutional partnerships and open enrollment courses endorsed by the American Council on Education.
"Vision33 looks forward to collaborating with other leading SAP partners to help customers thrive in a rapidly changing market."

Vision33, a leading global partner for SAP Business One, SAP Business ByDesign, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, has played a critical role in founding LinkedWorld, a newly formed international alliance of long-time SAP partners. LinkedWorld was established to help companies expand their operations and support their internationalization efforts. Along with five other major international SAP partners, Vision33 is a founding member of this alliance, which operates across six continents.

LinkedWorld aims to best serve each client's needs in their country, accounting for local tax rules, accounting, legislation, cultures, and languages. With a focus on expertise in the verticalization of industry solutions, LinkedWorld provides a platform for exchanging experiences and tools, with a core focus on SAP's mid-market products such as SAP Business One, S4/HANA Cloud, public edition, and SAP Business ByDesign.

Today, LinkedWorld operates over 80 service centers in 18 countries across six continents, offering valuable support to businesses seeking to expand globally.

Alex Rooney, VP of Vision33 US, explains that LinkedWorld members are local SAP experts certified in their countries. "There are more than 5,000 global projects. Were proud to be a global SAP partner representing our market leadership position in the United States, Canada, and the UK," he says, adding that the alliance also has founding members from China, Pakistan, Brazil, Singapore, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.

All member companies have extensive experience in SAP software, implementation projects, international outsourcing, systems optimization, support services, and training. Vision33 is excited to be a founding member of this SAP alliance. Were always seeking new ways to deliver the best experience for customers. With a focus on service excellence, the LinkedWorld alliance will standardize global SAP roll-out projects to ensure success. Additionally, the alliance will enable us to expand the reach of our successful automation and integration solutions for SAP, including The Saltbox Platform and iDocuments. Vision33 looks forward to collaborating with other leading SAP partners to help customers thrive in a rapidly changing market.

About Vision33

Vision33 (http://www.vision33.com and http://www.vision33.co.uk) helps growing companies deliver on the promise of technology through enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions SAP Business ByDesign, SAP Business One, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and Sage Intacct; automation; integration; and proprietary solutions iDocuments, Portals, and The Saltbox Platform. Vision33 has the people, processes, and technology to help businesses solve everyday challenges and seize new opportunities for growth and transformation.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries.

All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
Super Hi-Fis Program Director radio OS and AI powered production technology is clearly the right platform for our future plans around innovation and efficiency. We are tremendously excited for this partnership, said Enrique Calderon Gaona, CTO of Multimedios.

Super Hi-Fi, the global leader in AI-powered radio experiences for digital music services and radio broadcasters, today announced that Multimedios, the radio division of Grupo Multimedios that operates 60 radio stations in northern and central Mexico, has selected Super Hi-Fis Program Director radio platform to power their ongoing online & broadcast expansion plans. Super Hi-Fis unique and powerful capabilities will now allow Multimedios to design, build, produce, and deliver high quality music-based radio stations at a fraction of the time and cost compared to legacy tools and methods.

Were always looking for ways to improve how we operate our business, particularly around growth and opportunity, said Enrique Calderon Gaona, CTO of Multimedios. Super Hi-Fis Program Director radio OS and AI powered production technology is clearly the right platform for our future plans around innovation and efficiency. We are tremendously excited for this partnership.

Multimedios will start by powering some of its online and FM radio stations using Super Hi-Fis AI powered scheduling, automation, and rotation tools, as well as its modern playlisting and music data solutions. Super Hi-Fis Magic Stitch and Conductor technologies will be utilized for the content selection, assembly, and production of each station, daily.

Our mission is to change the paradigm for radio as we know it, one customer at a time, said Brendon Cassidy, CTO of Super Hi-Fi. From radically reducing operational costs for the creation of radio to fundamentally reimagining radio, Super Hi-Fi is designed from the ground up to support this vision of the future. We are thrilled to bring enterprise value and forward thinking to our newest customer, Multimedios.

About Super Hi-Fi

Super Hi-Fi is an AI-powered SaaS platform that enables digital music services and broadcasters to build and scale premium radio experiences. Founded in 2018, the company offers the most complete and robust AI platform in radio, delivering more than 2 billion commercial API calls per month. With patented technology capable of understanding the infinite nuances within music with the expertise of a human radio producer, Super Hi-Fi creates perfectly transitioned streams of music, interviews, news, weather, advertisements, and other audio content. The company powers the radio experiences of some of todays biggest brands, including Sonos Radio, iHeartRadio, Peloton and many others. Super Hi-Fi is based in Los Angeles, California.

About Grupo Multimedios

The most consolidated media company in northern Mexico, with more than 8,000 people contributing talent and professionalism to offer the highest quality service, which we are committed to day-by-day. Grupo Multimedios includes Television, Radio, Web, Press, Real estate Outdoor advertising. For more information, please visit https://grupomultimedios.com/.

Media Contact

Laura Morarity

For Super Hi-Fi

laura@rhymeconsulting.com
It is great to see the commitment to sustainable energy and the depth and breadth of innovation happening at Preferred Utilities. This is a great example of the core of Connecticut manufacturing. Preferred Utilities is a leader in innovation, training and a commitment to workforce development.

On May 15, Preferred Utilities Manufacturing Corporation hosted Paul Lavoie, Connecticuts Chief Manufacturing Officer, and Alexandra Daum, the states Commissioner for the Department of Economic and Community Development. The two dignitaries toured the facility to learn more about the companys innovative initiatives in green energy and alternative fuels, as well as their successful internship program.

They began their visit by reviewing Preferreds solar panel array, which offsets about 75 percent of the companys electricity. They also heard a presentation about the history of this family-owned business, which has been in operation in Connecticut for more than 100 years.

Im happy to be able to share what we do with these guests from the state, said David Bohn, President and CEO of Preferred Utilities Manufacturing. This company represents more than a century of successful manufacturing operation, and Im committed to keeping this business right here in Connecticut.

The two state officials were accompanied on their tour by Mr. Bohn and several other senior managers and engineers from Preferred. They visited the companys training facility, research and development operation, shop floor, and newly designed engineering department, where they learned about Preferreds capability to make short runs of built-to-order burners designed for higher performance and lower emissions.

Commissioner Daum and I enjoyed the tour and conversation with the team at Preferred Utilities. It is great to see the commitment to sustainable energy and the depth and breadth of innovation happening at Preferred Utilities. This is a great example of the core of Connecticut manufacturing. Preferred Utilities is a leader in innovation, training and a commitment to workforce development. We are very proud they have called Connecticut home for over 100 years, said Paul Lavoie.

They also discussed Preferreds successful internship program for workforce development. Preferred hires six to ten interns each summer, who train in a range of disciplines including electrical and mechanical engineering, data engineering, and business administration. The program has been so successful in attracting interns that the company has purchased two nearby condos to house the participants while they complete their internships.

The work we do with renewable fuels is important to the industry, and Im proud of what we accomplish every day, continued Mr. Bohn. I thank Commissioner Daum and Mr. Lavoie for demonstrating their commitment by spending the day with us, and Im especially happy to learn about the reimbursement and grant opportunities they told us about. We appreciate everything they do to support manufacturing in Connecticut.

About Preferred Utilities Manufacturing

Founded in 1920, Preferred Utilities Manufacturing Corporation is an engineering-based manufacturer of fuel oil handling systems, boiler instrumentation and controllers, high quality burners, nuclear power plant outage reduction tools, and related component parts for commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities. Preferred applies continuous research and development to existing products, helping them to lead the industry with new and innovative power plant solutions. Their manufacturing, engineering, and administrative headquarters is located in Danbury, Connecticut, with regional sales and service offices throughout the United States.
Drinkmate today announced the introduction of their Drinkmate LUX stainless-steel beverage carbonator. Designed for both home and professional use, the new LUX elevates the carbonation experience with its top-of-the-line sophistication and style while providing the versatility and functionality that is inherent to the Drinkmate brand.

The Drinkmate LUX makes pro level carbonated beverages possible with its patented Fizz infuser technology that lets users directly sparkle any cold beverage. With superior blending, stronger carbonation, no dilution, and now with the beauty and durability of stainless steel, the new Drinkmate LUX makes every drink a deluxe experience. Among higher end carbonators on the market, the LUX exclusively offers a dual wall stainless, 0.7L carbonating bottle, plus the ability to carbonate any cold drink, not just water. Additionally, the double layer of stainless steel keeps carbonated beverages colder for longer periods of time compared to competing models.

Consistently cited as the best home beverage carbonators by major media including the New York Times Wirecutter, People, and The Spruce Eats, Drinkmate enables consumers to add fizz to bottled water, tea, juice, energy drinks and even wine and cocktails.

We are excited to introduce our new top-of-the-line Drinkmate LUX that takes the customized carbonated beverage experience to a new level of sophistication, said Douglas Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Drinkmate. In recent years, we have actively expanded the reach of the Drinkmate brand globally as we maintained our focus on product development and innovation. For 2023, we will have multiple new product introductions to tell our customers about and the LUX is our high-end model that adds that extra bit of style to any kitchen or bar while elevating the carbonated beverage experience.

The new Drinkmate LUX is attractively priced at $274.99 and is compatible with all standard 60L screw-in CO2 cylinders. Available at Drinkmate.us and from select retailers.

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About Drinkmate

Drinkmates mission is to allow consumers to get creative in discovering new beverages, drink healthier and have fun, while reducing plastic bottle waste. Its proprietary technology allows the consumer to carbonate any kind of beverage safely and quickly. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the company serves as the global headquarters for the Drinkmate brand with operations in Asia, Europe and the Americas. For more information, please visit Drinkmate.us.
Using HDLs high-precision position and map information to determine collision risk

Commsignia Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced today that they have agreed to form a strategic partnership to deliver Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology combining Commsignia's V2X solution and Mitsubishi Electric's High-Definition Locator (HDL) technology in a V2X platform that will support the safety of autonomous-driving and advanced-driver-assistance systems (ADAS).

V2X is a key communication technology that is gaining growing acceptance in many countries where governments are considering allowing the installation and commercial use of V2X systems in automobiles. Through their new partnership, Commsignia and Mitsubishi Electric will aim at the early delivery of commercial V2X solutions capable of contributing to increasingly safe assisted and autonomous-driving solutions.

Commsignia's V2X solution, which integrates communication software with security functions and application software, features an optimized software structure that ensures scalability for next-generation vehicles. Mitsubishi Electric is already mass-producing HDL systems that accurately determine vehicle locations based on proprietary high-precision positioning and mapping data for roads, lanes and other physical conditions in the vicinity of moving vehicles.

The combination of Commsignia's V2X solution with Mitsubishi Electric's HDL information is expected to realize systems capable of accurately detecting dynamic conditions in vehicle perimeters and greatly improving the accuracy of warnings of potential collisions. For example, even on sharp curves where vehicles ahead cannot be detected visually or by on-board sensors, the envisioned solution will use the precise positions of a driver's vehicle and other nearby vehicles to confirm their respective lanes and accurately identify any risk of collision. In particular, the solution is expected to help reduce the incidence of false alarms and provide more timely valid warnings that give drivers additional time to react.

The two partners will also develop a separate solution, called Day2, that would enable nearby vehicles to share data from their on-board sensor (cameras, etc.), and another solution, called Day3, that would facilitate cooperative control between nearby vehicles, both aimed at realizing increasingly advanced V2X safety features.

About Commsignia Ltd.

Commsignia was founded by industry experts in 2012, as one of the pioneer companies to focus fully on research and application of V2X technology. Commsignia develops end-to-end V2X solutions to enable the latest smart city deployments and autonomous vehicle functions with its state-of-the-art sensor data sharing middleware and applications. The company supplies OBU and RSU systems as well as OEM integrated software to support functions related to V2X Connectivity, Security and Applications helping to build the next generation of autonomous vehicles and smart mobility ecosystems that will make driving safer while reducing congestion and lowering emissions.

About Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

With more than 100 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and building equipment. Mitsubishi Electric enriches society with technology in the spirit of its Changes for the Better. The company recorded a revenue of 5,003.6 billion yen (U.S.$ 37.3 billion*) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. For more information, please visit http://www.MitsubishiElectric.com

*U.S. dollar amounts are translated from yen at the rate of \134=U.S.$1, the approximate rate on the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2023

Media Enquiries

Commsignia Ltd. Director of Marketing

andrea.schenk@commsignia.com

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Public Relations Department

prd.gnews@nk.MitsubishiElectric.co.jp

Customer Enquiries

Commsignia Ltd. Director of Marketing

andrea.schenk@commsignia.com

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Automotive Equipment Group

https://www.MitsubishiElectric.com/bu/automotive/
Hannes Holzer, Technical Director "By leveraging advanced AI technology, Review Master empowers organizations to gain deep insights, uncover hidden opportunities, and optimize their customer experience strategies."

ISC-CX, a leading provider of customer experience solutions, is proud to introduce Review Master, a groundbreaking AI-powered reporting solution designed to transform unstructured customer experience data into actionable insights. With Review Master, businesses gain unparalleled access to critical information, enabling C-level executives to make data-driven decisions that drive company growth and enhance the overall customer experience.

Review Master is a cutting-edge tool that takes customer experience data from any source and converts it into immediate insights, presenting negative, neutral, and positive impact indicators. With its user-friendly interface, executives at all levels can easily navigate through the data and drill down into each result, uncovering valuable insights to refine strategies and drive performance.

What sets Review Master apart is its ability to facilitate real conversations between users and an AI analyst chatbot. This advanced AI capability allows customer experience leaders to ask deep questions about the data and receive expert insights, simulating a conversation with a human analyst. The combination of AI technology and human-like interactions elevates the level of analysis and understanding, enabling businesses to make informed decisions based on comprehensive insights.

At ISC-CX Review Master's capabilities are used to analyse data from mystery shopping programs, voice of customer initiatives, and audits. By leveraging the wealth of customer experience data captured through Review Master, businesses can gain a holistic understanding of their customers' perspectives and make informed improvements to their products, services, and operations.

"Our team is excited to unveil Review Master, a game-changing AI-powered reporting solution that unlocks the true potential of customer experience data," said Hannes Holzer, Technical Director at ISC-CX. "By leveraging advanced AI technology, Review Master empowers organizations to gain deep insights, uncover hidden opportunities, and optimize their customer experience strategies. We believe this tool will revolutionize the way businesses harness data to drive success."

ISC-CX continues to be at the forefront of innovation in customer experience solutions, providing businesses with the tools they need to thrive in a data-driven world.

ABOUT ISC-CX: ISC-CX is a leading provider of in-store and omni-channel customer experience analysis programs for global retailers based around the world. The multilingual, local teams on the ground in over 120 countries collect and analyze many millions of data sets per year. ISC-CX's customers include brands such as Shell, McDonald's, Nespresso, and Lindt.

For more customer stories and CX solutions, see http://www.isc-cx.com.
Top-Content-Providers-for-Custom-eLearning-2023-commlabindia

CommLab India, the leading provider of rapid eLearning solutions for corporate training, is proud to announce its participation at the ATD 2023 Conference  Booth #1046  where it is showcasing its expertise in the design and development of eLearning solutions. The event takes place from May 21 to May 24, 2023, in San Diego, California.ATD (Association for Talent Development) Conference is a highly anticipated global event for professionals in the talent development industry, offering a unique opportunity for networking, knowledge sharing, and exploring the latest trends and technologies in workplace learning. With approximately 2,000 members of the global talent development community participating in the ATD International Conference and Expo each year, it is considered the industrys largest expo. CommLab India is honored to represent the eLearning services category alongside 60 other organizations at this prestigious event.

We are super excited to be a part of ATD again, said Dr. Ayesha Habeeb Omer, COO and Co-Founder of CommLab India. Considered to be one of the Training industrys most prestigious conferences, this event offers a fantastic platform to connect with industry leaders, share our innovative solutions, and learn from the best in the field. We look forward to showcasing our expertise in creating impactful and engaging eLearning content.

Dr. RK Prasad, the CEO and Co-Founder of CommLab India, and Dr. Howard B. Lewis, the Chief Learning Architect of CommLab India, will be joining Dr. Ayesha Habeeb Omer at the conference. They will be available at booth #1046 until May 24 to provide insights into the companys wide range of eLearning services and discuss how CommLab India can help organizations effectively and sustainably meet their training goals.

In a remarkable coincidence, on the first day of the expo, CommLab India was recognized as one of the leading content providers for custom eLearning solutions globally in 2023 by eLearning Industry. This recognition is a testament to CommLab Indias commitment to delivering exceptional learning experiences. Earlier this year, CommLab India also received three major awards from eLearning Industry for 2023, ranking first for Rapid eLearning and second among the top Microlearning and Mobile Learning solutions providers for corporate training.

We are honored to be recognized as one of the leading content providers for custom eLearning solutions in 2023, commented RK Prasad. Being consistently listed as a top content provider by eLearning Industry reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence and our ability to deliver outstanding learning experiences. This recognition further solidifies our position as a trusted industry leader in designing and developing customized eLearning content. It is a testimony to the dedication and expertise of our team. We are committed to delivering high-quality, customized eLearning solutions that empower organizations to enhance their training programs and drive performance.

During day one of ATD 2023, CommLab India had the perfect platform to showcase its expertise and engage with industry professionals. The team from CommLab India met talent development experts from around the world, fostering knowledge exchange and highlighting the latest trends and technologies in eLearning.

CommLab India is a global eLearning solutions provider with 22 years of rich experience, added Ayesha Habeeb Omer. With a team of skilled instructional designers, graphic designers, and multimedia and subject matter experts, CommLab India has successfully delivered thousands of hours of customized eLearning content to clients across various industries, including Fortune 500 companies. Our expertise lies in creating engaging, interactive, and effective eLearning solutions that guarantee performance improvement.

To learn more about CommLab Indias custom eLearning solutions and meet their team in person, visit booth #1046 at ATD 2023 in San Diego, California, from May 21 to May 24, 2023. Dont miss the opportunity to collect some cool freebies!

About CommLab India:

CommLab India, with more than two decades experience in the learning industry serving 100 International customers in 30+ countries, is one of the most sought-after global leaders for rapid eLearning solutions. It has been among the top providers of Rapid eLearning and Blended Learning Solutions since 2020 by eLearning Industry.

With its formidable authoring tool expertise and decades of experience in corporate training and instructional design, CommLab India offers rapid eLearning solutions for speed, scale, and value with any authoring tool for: - Converting of ILT material into instructionally sound, visually appealing, engaging eLearning curriculums, virtual sessions, and other digital learning formats


The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa gives a taste of Southern California Luxury "Our collaboration with owners, Kelly and Duane Roberts, sets the stage for a new era of hospitality at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa" - Michael George, President and Founder of Crescent Hotels & Resorts

Crescent Hotels & Resorts, the award-winning operator of over 120 hotels and resorts, announced the addition of The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa to its Latitudes: Lifestyles by Crescent portfolio. The iconic AAA Four-Diamond hotel evokes the graceful ambiance experienced by its very first guests in 1876.

"We understand that our community, our guests, and our employees are the heart of The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, shared Kelly and Duane Roberts, owners of the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. It's their affection and dedication to this landmark that has made it more than just a hotel. It's a shared piece of our collective history. With this in mind, we took great care in selecting a partner who respects and cherishes our legacy as much as we do. Crescents proven dedication to maintaining the unique character of their portfolio hotels, combined with their commitment to exceptional service, ensures that the magic of The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa will not only continue but flourish. Were simply embarking on a new journey, and were confident that it will be just as extraordinary as the last.

A National Historic Landmark and member of the prestigious Historic Hotels of America, The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa represents the perfect balance of bygone grandeur, as evidenced by its magnificent archways and impressive towers, coupled with stylish accommodations and event venues that showcase every service detail and modern amenity todays travelers expect.

Our collaboration with owners, Kelly and Duane Roberts, sets the stage for a new era of hospitality at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, said Michael George, President and Founder of Crescent Hotels & Resorts. We couldnt be more excited to partner with The Roberts to elevate the unmatched elegance of this historic property to a new audience of contemporary travelers.

The propertys distinctive architecture is mirrored in its 238 unique guest rooms including 27 suites. Striking elements such as fireplaces and window seats have been preserved to honor the hotels storied past and seamlessly combined with contemporary amenities including luxurious bedding, high-definition flat-screen televisions, and comfortable workspaces.

As The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa embarks on this new journey with Crescent Hotels & Resorts, it continues to extend a warm welcome to all its guests and the community. The promise is not just to meet expectations but to exceed them, preserving the past while embracing the future.

Guests are invited to indulge in the propertys luxurious oasis, Kellys Spa at The Mission Inn Hotel. Ranked among the top ten on Conde Nast Travelers Top 50 Hotel Spas in the United States, Kellys Spa is inspired by Spanish architecture and the serene ambiance of an ancient Tuscan wellness retreat and features a high-quality, paraben- and cruelty-free in-house skincare line developed by founder, Kelly Roberts.

Dining at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is an equally inimitable experience with six award-winning restaurants to select from, each with its own unique ambiance and style. The Mission Inn Restaurant is recognized as one of the "Top 100 Best Outdoor Dining Restaurants in America" by OpenTable Diner's Choice Award and offers indoor and al fresco dining options on the spectacular Spanish Patio. Duanes Prime Steaks & Seafood is a proud recipient of the AAA Four Diamond Award since 1996, the Golden Baccus Award, and the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence offering an expansive selection of the worlds best wines.

The California Lounge is the newest dining option at the property, offering craft cocktails, and expertly curated beer and wine selections to complement shareable plates. Las Campanas Mexican Cuisine & Tequila Bar is known for authentic Mexican cuisine, as well as their signature Tequila Bar with over 100 fine tequilas. Bella Trattoria Italian Restaurant provides an elegant European cafe setting with delicious pasta, Napoli-style pizza, and other Italian delicacies. Paying tribute to the 10 U.S. Presidents who have visited The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, The Presidential Lounge reflects the prominence of these esteemed guests with exquisite and lavish architecture.

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa has hosted not only Presidents but also European royalty, media celebrities, and illustrious corporate magnates. Today, the hotels 20,000 square feet of flexible event space can accommodate memorable weddings, executive meetings, and company-wide conventions.

To learn more about The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa or to make a reservation, please visit the hotel website or call 951-784-0300.

About Crescent Hotels & Resorts

Crescent Hotels & Resorts is an award-winning, nationally recognized, operator of hotels and resorts with over 120 properties in the United States & Canada. Crescent is one of the few elite management companies approved to operate upper-upscale and luxury hotels under the brand families of Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. Crescent also operates a collection of independent and lifestyle properties under the Latitudes Collection umbrella. These properties include PGA National Resort, Horseshoe Bay Resort, and The Opus Westchester, Autograph Collection. Powered by innovative, forward-thinking experts, Latitudes is a modern management platform for lifestyle hotels and resorts where creative concepts connect with modern travelers from urban boutique hotels to oceanside luxury resorts.

Crescents clients include premiere REITs, private equity firms and major developers. For more information, please visit http://www.crescenthotels.com and http://www.latitudesbycrescent.com or connect with Crescent on LinkedIn.
First version published on 15:19

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov's letter to the UN Secretary-General regarding Azerbaijani servicemen Agshin Babirov and Huseyn Akhundov captured by Armenian troops, has been distributed as a document of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, the ministry told Trend.

The letter expresses serious concern that Armenia, contrary to international humanitarian law, does not return the servicemen to Azerbaijan, who got lost in conditions of limited visibility due to adverse weather conditions, and who were subjected to torture.

It was brought to the attention of the UN Secretary-General that despite the presence of evidence of torture on social networks and other open sources, the Armenian side has not punished those responsible.

A trial was organized on the so-called charges against Azerbaijani soldiers and a decree was issued on the arrest of Agshin Babirov for 11 years, 6 months, and 15 days.

The letter says that the so-called "trial" organized by Armenia took place a few days after the four-day talks in Washington between the foreign ministers of the two countries on the eve of the meeting of the heads of state of the two countries with the mediation of the EU and other partners.

The letter also notes that contradictory statements were made by Armenian officials regarding the captured Azerbaijani servicemen, and this irresponsible behavior of Armenia once again demonstrates its disregard for international humanitarian law and the principles of humanism.

It is brought to attention that the Armenian side has not reciprocated Azerbaijan's measures for the return of Armenian servicemen, in particular for the immediate return of more than 10 Armenian servicemen who got lost and crossed the border, and this indicates that Armenia is not interested in measures to establish peace and trust in the region.
"Now, with LegalConnect Payments, our partners will be able to save money on payment processing transactions and gain next-day funding, which is the timeliest receipt of payment from their customers than ever before.

Rapid Legal Inc., dba LegalConnect, a premium legal services and technology company, today announced its new payment processing and gateway solution, LegalConnect Payments. This fully integrated, seamless solution consolidates payment processing fees and provides all the tools litigation support service firms need to collect and process online customer payments. Even better, LegalConnect Payments helps litigation support service providers save money on payment processing transactions and receive next-day funding for better cashflow. It also enables them to maintain compliance with credit card company regulations, reducing their risk and protecting their business.

LegalConnect Payments features include:



All the tools needed to process online customer payments

Clear, transparent financial reporting and analytics

Next-day funding on both credit card and ACH payments

Direct support for payments-related questions and issues from the LegalConnect Partner Success team instead of a third party

Underwriting process period of 48 hours, with merchants allowed to begin processing within the same day of being approved

Bank-grade data security and regulations compliance

More features and flexibility in the future

Ability to charge pro per or new and small customers on order submission

Ability for LegalConnect partners customers to use multiple credit cards and ACH bank accounts on file

Costly payment processing fees, which are oftentimes a blind spot for busy business leaders, can erode profit margins, said David Nill, CEO of LegalConnect. And litigation support services firms experience a bigger cash flow challenge than your typical business because of the extraordinary volume of fees they pay out to courts for their clients. Now, with LegalConnect Payments, our partners will be able to save money on payment processing transactions and gain next-day funding, which is the timeliest receipt of payment from their customers than ever before. Were excited to offer LegalConnect Payments to our partners which will strengthen their financial position and minimize their business risk.

Larry Swain, VP of Platform Integrations added, With LegalConnect Payments, the solution can flex with our partners needs today and well into the future. Our partners have been asking for greater payment flexibility for their law firm clients. Soon, partners can allow their clients to store and use multiple credit cards and ACH numbers in their accounts, as well as be able to charge non-recurring customers on submission of an order. This charge on submit feature will further improve cash flow and reduce risk when doing business with these types of customers, enhancing their business.

About LegalConnect

LegalConnect is a premium legal technology company that automates the processing of legal documents for law firms. Headquartered in Chino Hills, California, the company is a leading certified eFiling Service Provider to courts in 33 California counties, with more on the way, and has over 22,000 law firms using its platform. Combining deep industry expertise, innovative technology, and a robust channel partner network, LegalConnect is transforming the way the legal community exchanges electronic documents, information, and payments, to streamline how law firms manage work, and for the effective and expeditious administration of justice. To learn more, please visit https://legalconnect.com/.
Small gestures can go a long way to prevent worker burnout and the negative consequences that come with it. - Express CEO Bill Stoller

Note: If you would like to arrange for an interview with a local Express franchise owner on this topic, please go to ExpressPros.com to find the nearest location.

Gaps caused by high turnover at U.S. companies are straining the workforce as 79% of employed Americans say they have felt burnt out in their careers, including 35% who say they are currently experiencing this mental and physical exhaustion.

And these workers arent alone. Nearly 9 in 10 jobseekers say the same with 45% reporting they are currently burnt out.

This is according to a recent survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.

Nearly all full- or part-time employed Americans who have ever felt burnt out at work say there is something their company could do to help prevent them from feeling this way (96%).

Allowing flexible work schedules (53%), providing incentives/bonuses (52%), recognizing employees for a job well done (46%) and encouraging time off (46%) are among the top actions employees feel companies could take to help counteract employee burnout. Jobseekers, specifically, also mention prioritizing the health and safety of employees (46%).

Ensuring positions available at companies offer more than a salary and standard benefits package may also help in these efforts, as a strong majority of hiring managers agree that todays candidates are looking for jobs that can provide more fulfillment in their lives (88%) or are more meaningful (86%).

Notably, companies appear tuned in to the needs of their employees. Ninety percent of hiring managers report their company is taking actions to prevent employee burnout, such as recognizing employees for a job well done (46%), allowing flexible work schedules (39%), prioritizing the health and safety of employees (38%), encouraging small breaks throughout the workday (35%) and encouraging time off (34%).

Increasing Trend

Burnout has exploded in the last year, according to Greg Sulentic, an Express franchise owner in Nebraska. I believe this is the result of employees returning to work post-pandemic with new duties, greater responsibilities and a new or different team around them. There has been massive turnover, causing stress on the existing workers as they are left to carry the load for their job, along with the need to train and develop new employees.

Sulentic also believes employees are promoted to higher responsibility levels without the training or knowledge to take on their new duties.

The pay is higher, but so are the expectations and hours, he said. Off-the-charts stress ultimately results in burnout.

In Virginia, Express franchise owner Chris Cary says employee burnout has increased exponentially in the last few years for several reasons.

With quiet quitting, the great resignation and people just leaving companies in general for better work/life balance for the past couple of years, it has left more work for fewer people which has caused an increase in burnout, he said. It is a vicious cycle.

Burnout increases employee absences, results in lower productivity and causes higher turnover, all of which will affect a company's bottom line.

Burnout Prevention

To help ease employee burnout, Sulentic says employers have several options such as keeping hours in check, increased training and mentoring on the job, hiring additional workers and enforcing time off.

Flexibility is key, Cary adds. Allow workers four-day weeks or an option to work from home a day or two a month. These types of perks seem to invigorate the workforce. As best as possible, have them take their vacation and do your best to have it uninterrupted. Talk to employees frequently before it is too late.

Employees can also have a role in preventing burnout by discussing it with their supervisors and human resources professionals.

A lot of times, the company is unaware of the issue until its too late, Cary said.

Turnover is costly and time-consuming, which means companies should make every effort to retain top talent, according to Bill Stoller, Express Employment International CEO.

The fatigue of the labor shortage affects almost every area of business, but there are steps business owners can take to keep their most important assetstheir employeeshealthy, he said. Small gestures can go a long way to prevent worker burnout and the negative consequences that come with it.

Survey Methodology

The Job Insights survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, 2022, among 1,002 U.S. hiring decision-makers (defined as adults ages 18+ in the U.S. who are employed full-time or self-employed, work at companies with more than one employee, and have full/significant involvement in hiring decisions at their company). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 3.2 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

The omnibus survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from Dec. 13-15, 2022, among 2,041 adults ages 18 and older. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, household income and propensity to be online, to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 2.8 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.

***

If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 579,000 people globally in 2022 and more than 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.


A quick photo of the BARE Europe team, just before welcoming international colleagues and client partners at the opening of their new office in Madrid, Spain! This opening marks the beginning of several initiatives aimed at expanding the presence of the BARE team not just in Spain, but throughout the European Union.

BARE International Europe has established a new office in Madrid to better serve its expanding clientele in Spain and nearby areas. This new office serves as a central location for many of the companys latest client partnerships and reinforces its dedication to delivering top-notch customer experience solutions and intelligence to global enterprises.

After Antwerp and Budapest, the opening in Madrid represents the desire for BARE to look more at the Mediterranean area and all the opportunities that are arising here, states Europe Director of Business Development Antonio Maiorano. This opening marks the beginning of several initiatives aimed at expanding the presence of the BARE team not just in Spain, but throughout the European Union."

On May 22, 2023, BARE International Europe hosted a grand opening event led by Maiorano and other key members of the company, including President Michael Bare, General Manager Jeno Zsiga, and Business Development Manager Giovanni Fiore. The event welcomed clients and industry professionals, emphasizing the company's commitment to building strong relationships and providing exceptional services.

Mike Bare, the President of BARE International, expressed his excitement in welcoming and hosting various client partners and colleagues during the inaugural week. "Our goal is to strengthen our presence in Spain through a more direct approach, says Bare. We look forward to further supporting our clients' success in this region."

The grand opening featured insightful discussions on customer experience trends, interactive demonstrations of BARE International's innovative solutions, and networking opportunities for attendees. It was an excellent platform for businesses to explore partnership possibilities and gain valuable industry insights from BARE International's seasoned experts.

About BARE International:

BARE International is a global provider of customer experience research and evaluation services, helping businesses improve their service quality and enhance customer satisfaction. They have over 35 years of experience and operate in over 150 countries, making them a trusted choice for businesses worldwide. Their services include mystery shopping, surveys, audits, and data-driven solutions to help businesses create exceptional customer experiences. For more information about BARE International and its services, please visit http://www.bareinternational.eu.
The cloud, remote work, and mobile devices have boosted collaboration and productivity but have also broadened the attack surface. Keeping your organization safe from attack requires combining a layered security approach with cyber security classes.

A NYC area cyber security expert explains the benefits of cyber security classes in a new article. The informative article first asserts that no security strategy will succeed without engaging and empowering the people involved.

The author then provides links to classes that help protect against Wi-Fi threats and resources to build trusted and secure environments to support remote and hybrid work. After a brief discussion of classes to strengthen endpoint security, she introduces resources to build security awareness for employees. She concludes by urging preparation for current cyber threats and lists five tools and strategies to help security teams protect their organizations.

The cloud, remote work, and mobile devices have boosted collaboration and productivity but have also broadened the attack surface, stated Jennifer Mazzanti, CEO, eMazzanti Technologies. Keeping your organization safe from attack requires combining a layered security approach with cyber security classes.

Below are a few excerpts from the article, Cyber Security Classes Take Preparedness to the Next Level.

Tools such as firewalls, email filters and encryption play an essential role in cyber security. But no security strategy will succeed without engaging and empowering your best defense: your people. eMazzanti offers a library of free security workshops and other resources to help ensure that users at all levels have the training they need to keep your company secure.

Protect Against Wi-Fi Threats

Employees depend on Wi-Fi, expecting constant access. However, left unsecured, Wi-Fi offers hackers a rich environment for attack. Through a series of on-demand workshops, learn about six major Wi-Fi threat categories targeting your business.

Strengthen Endpoint Security

Effective endpoint detection and response (EDR) combines traditional anti-virus with next gen technology like threat hunting and machine learning. Learn how to close this critical security gap through a free workshop on endpoint security.

Prepare for Current Cyber Threats

The cyber threat landscape evolves rapidly. Successful security plans begin with an understanding of current threats. When security teams know what types of attack to defend against, they can design appropriate prevention strategies.

Cyber Security Education Experts

The cyber security experts at eMazzanti make it their business to stay on top of the threat landscape and available security solutions. They know the dangers, and they help organizations navigate them, beginning with a menu of cyber security classes from experts in the field.

Business leaders can sign up to attend one of the regularly scheduled master classes on topics such as Microsoft 365 Security or Microsoft Azure. They can also watch earlier sessions on demand or take advantage of the dozens of resources available through a downloadable Cyber Security Awareness Kit.

Have you read?

Tackle Cyber Threats Head on with Affordable, Scalable Cyber Security Solutions

Employee Cyber Security Training  5 Essential Elements

About eMazzanti Technologies

eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver increased revenue growth, data security and productivity for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers, expertly providing advanced business cyber security, retail and payment technology, digital marketing services, cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring, and support.

eMazzantis consistent growth landed them on the Inc. 5000 list 9X. Recognized as a 4X Microsoft Partner of the Year, the #1 ranked NYC area MSP, NJ Business of the Year, and 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year, the company excels as a trusted outsourced IT partner! Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info@emazzanti.net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies.


...this cements our reputation as a trustworthy and reliable data security platform and sets us apart from our competitors.

Immuta, a leader in data security that empowers teams to safely unlock their data to get the most value from their cloud investments, today announced that it has successfully earned its ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications.

The ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 security standards comprise widely accepted and broadly applicable frameworks for establishing, managing, and assessing an organizations information security management system. Being ISO 27001/27701 certified demonstrates to clients that an organization is taking a proactive approach to mitigating its cybersecurity risk.

Immutas ISO certifications are a testament to our relentless commitment to data security and privacy, and they validate our mission to secure the worlds most sensitive data, said Immutas Chief Information Security Officer, Mike Scott. These certifications impact the way we conduct business, especially with large enterprises and global organizations, by demonstrating our extensive understanding of the security and compliance needs of modern businesses. We believe this cements our reputation as a trustworthy and reliable data security platform and sets us apart from our competitors.

Immuta worked with 360 Advanced, Inc., a cybersecurity and compliance firm, to assist with the demanding process of achieving the demanding ISO certifications.

Read more about Immutas ISO certification on their blog.

About Immuta

Immuta enables organizations to unlock value from their cloud data by protecting it and providing secure access. The Immuta Data Security Platform provides sensitive data discovery, security and access control, and data activity monitoring and has deep integrations with the leading cloud-data platforms. Immuta is now trusted by Fortune 500 companies and government agencies around the world to secure their data. Founded in 2015, Immuta is headquartered in Boston, MA. To learn more about Immuta, click here. Immuta worked with 360 Advanced, Inc., a cybersecurity and compliance firm, to assist with the demanding process of achieving the demanding ISO certifications. Read more about Immutas ISO certification on their blog. About Immuta Immuta enables organizations to unlock value from their cloud data by protecting it and providing secure access. The Immuta Data Security Platform provides sensitive data discovery, security and access control, and data activity monitoring and has deep integrations with the leading cloud-data platforms. Immuta is now trusted by Fortune 500 companies and government agencies around the world to secure their data. Founded in 2015, Immuta is headquartered in Boston, MA. To learn more about Immuta, click here.

Contacts: Tucker Hallowell, Immuta@inkhouse.com

About 360 Advanced

360 Advanced is Making Better Businesses through their cybersecurity and compliance offerings. For nearly 20 years, 360 Advanced has delivered integrated compliance solutions to a global base of clients in a wide range of industries, from tech startups to the Fortune 500. Their cybersecurity and compliance offerings include ISO 27001, HITRUST, SOC, Penetration Testing, Risk Assessments, and more. To learn more about their services, visit 360 Advanced.

For more information on 360 Advanced compliance solutions, please contact Patrick Tolliver

ptolliver@360advanced.com

Media Contact:

Julie Butterfield

jbutterfield@360advanced.com

248-416-2034


KCD PR, an award-winning, integrated communications agency, announced the unveiling of its revamped brand identity, including a new website and visual brand logo. The company has rebranded to a cleaner, more vibrant look to reflect the growth of its team and increased success in tech-enabled businesses in financial, blockchain and fintech sectors. The agency has a national reputation for working with motivated leaders in these verticals and building award-winning digital PR campaigns that engage and excite. KCD PR wants its new branding to reflect its evolution as one of the countrys top fintech PR firms.

Companies need to do more to stand out across all mediums in an age of visual content creation and artificial intelligence (AI). KCD PR has updated its look to better represent how the brand of a modern PR firm should appear. The company has established a new logo with updated brand colors, a new website and an enhanced social media presence. Additionally, the firm has switched from a more muted color palette to a sleek design reflexive of the caliber of clients it serves.

Im excited to lead our agency into the next great chapter of servicing clients with a strong and diverse digital PR toolkit, said CEO Kevin Dinino. Weve been working on this rebrand for the past year, and I couldnt think of a better time to unveil our new branding than on the heels of expanding our team and embracing the virtual agency model that works so well with our clients across the country.

The boutique agency opened its doors in 2009 and developed a foothold in the Fintech sector. It went on to attain a slew of awards and successes, including being named one of Forbes Best PR Agencies in 2022 and, more recently, winning a Silver Stevie Award for Communications PR Campaign of the Year. Additionally, KCD PR has driven results and brand awareness for its clients across the media landscape, including placements in top-tier outlets, including Bloomberg, CNBC, Fortune, Forbes, Inc., and many high-profile fintech, finance and blockchain publications.

We have a niche for finding the best ways to connect with our clients intended audience and effectively transforming their vision into voice, Dinino said. Thats been a hallmark of KCD PR since it was founded, embracing the future and applying next-generation digital PR strategies into memorable client campaigns.

Visit the new KCD PR website to learn about the agency and meet its team and clients.

About KCD PR, Inc.

KCD PR is an integrated communications agency with deep roots serving clients in the financial services, fintech and blockchain technology industries. The firm is recognized by Forbes as one of the Top PR Agencies in America and delivers award-winning strategic communications, content development and digital activation and engagement campaigns for clients across the world. KCD PR has cultivated a diverse client list, from fast-moving technology startups to well-established Fortune 500 brands. For more information on client results and case studies, please visit https://www.kcdpr.com/.


Gen Z consumers will not show loyalty to a brand that does not espouse their values, emphasizing the belief that, for Gen Z, brands should be more than just about profits.

Keypoint Intelligence recently published a Buyer Persona Analysis of Gen Z consumers for OEMs looking to market to this audience. The report looks at what channels this demographic interacts with, values as it relates to brand selection and loyalty, and what marketing tools can be effective in reaching a Gen Z audience.

Social media as a marketing tool is well established as a means of reaching vast audiences and converting sales. Most brands in a variety of verticals successfully use channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more recently TikTok to deliver their message to their target audience in the hope of building a long-lasting, transactional relationship.

Recently, print and imaging OEMs have been considering adapting their social media marketing strategies to appeal to younger audiences. Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012, is their target. Gen Z is now the worlds largest population cohort, with 2.5 billion people and a collective income forecast to reach $33 trillion by 2031. This trajectory will mean Gen Z will long surpass millennial earning potential by that time, and that how companies will interact and message to this demographic will have a greater importance on the communication strategy OEMs have.

Eighty-five percent of Gen Z in the US believe brands should be about more than just profit, says Mark Davis, an Editorial Analyst at Keypoint Intelligence. Gen Z consumers will not show loyalty to a brand that does not espouse their values, emphasizing the belief that, for Gen Z, brands should be more than just about profits.

The Buyer Persona and Social Media Strategy analysis can be purchased separately or as part of a subscription to other research provided by Keypoint Intelligences Customer Communication Advisory Service. To receive more information about the report click here.

About Keypoint Intelligence

For 60 years, clients in the digital imaging industry have relied on Keypoint Intelligence for independent hands-on testing, lab data, and extensive market research to drive their product and sales success. Keypoint Intelligence has been recognized as the industrys most trusted resource for unbiased information, analysis, and awards due to decades of analyst experience.


From now through July 4, 2023, Mighty Spark and Harris Teeter are partnering to provide nutritious meals to the 1 in 9 people who face food insecurity in the Southeast. Through this partnership, Mighty Spark is donating the monetary equivalent of one meal for every Mighty Spark product purchased at a Harris Teeter store from April 1 through July 4, 2023. The donations will be distributed to Feeding America food bank partners to help people experiencing hunger.

At Mighty Spark, were fortunate to partner with great retailers, like Harris Teeter, our consumers and Feeding America to make a meaningful impact to provide meals to people experiencing hunger, said Kristy Welker, Brand Marketing Director, Mighty Spark. We take pride in providing consumers with flavorful chicken and turkey products, but were also incredibly proud to make an impact with our one million meals donated annually, so were thankful to the community for their support.

Meal donations generated from Mighty Spark purchases made at Harris Teeter will be donated to Harris Teeters 16 Feeding America-member food bank partners throughout Harris Teeters market areas. All donations will benefit the local food bank to the store in which the product is purchased.

Harris Teeter is proud to partner with Mighty Spark to help eliminate hunger in our communities, said Danna Robinson, Director of Corporate Affairs for Harris Teeter. Through this unique partnership and the support of our generous shoppers, nutritious meals will be donated to help families thrive.

According to Feeding America, $1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of network food banks.

Our neighbors across the country need our support now more than ever. Feeding America is grateful for our partnership with Mighty Spark and their commitment to help end hunger, said Lauren Biedron, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Feeding America.

Mighty Spark Assortment at Harris Teeter

Mighty Sparks all-natural chicken and turkey made with simple, clean ingredients and sourced in the U.S. is a great solution for consumers seeking lean protein with flavor. Mighty Sparks high-quality seasoned ground chicken and burgers are the perfect pairing for bringing creativity into the kitchen for weeknight meals. Mighty Sparks assortment at Harris Teeter stores includes:



About Mighty Spark

Mighty Spark is an all-natural protein brand that delivers exciting flavors for healthy snacks and meals that are easy to prepare. Mighty Spark has committed to donating one million meals annually  with more than 15 million donated to-date  to help be a spark for good and help people in need. For more information, visit Mightysparkfood.com.

About Harris Teeter

For more than 60 years, Harris Teeter, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), has enriched lives  one meal, one family, one associate, and one community at a time. Headquartered in Matthews, North Carolina, Harris Teeter employs 36,000 valued associates across more than 250 stores and 60 fuel centers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, and the District of Columbia.

About Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 6.6 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit http://www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
National Forklift Safety Day serves as an opportunity for manufacturers and the industry to highlight the safe use of forklifts, the value of operator training, and the need for equipment checks.

The 10th Anniversary of National Forklift Safety Day will take place both in person and virtually on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 from 9:00  11:00 a.m. (Eastern) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

National Forklift Safety Day serves as an opportunity for forklift manufacturers and the industry to highlight the safe use of forklifts, the value of operator training, and the need for daily equipment checks.

Open to the public, National Forklift Safety Day will be available virtually by visiting the Industrial Truck Associations website. The format for 2023 will include presentations from government representatives, safety experts and industry representatives.

The speakers for National Forklift Safety Day 2023 include:



Brian Feehan, President, Industrial Truck Association

Chuck Pascarelli, ITA Chairman of the Board and President, Americas, Hyster-Yale Group

Douglas Parker, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Michael Wood, Senior Vice President for Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE), TEAM Industrial Services

Ed Stilwell, Innovation Chief Technologist, Hyster-Yale Group

Information about National Forklift Safety Day is available on ITAs website.

About ITA: For more than 70 years, the Industrial Truck Association has been the leading organization of industrial truck manufacturers and suppliers of component parts and accessories that conduct business in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Based in Washington, D.C., ITA maintains an influential voice in international standards development for the industry. The organization also advances engineering practices to promote safe products, disseminates statistical marketplace information, and provides industry forums for learning and networking. Visit http://www.indtrk.org.
Were excited to see a great collection of new and interesting restaurants opening in Costa Mesa, said Anne-Marie Schiefer, Vice President of Marketing for Travel Costa Mesa. The new dining continues to raise the bar for our city in terms of being a top dining destination.

Boasting an incredible arts scene, world-class shopping and proximity to Californias best beaches, Costa Mesa also continues to be recognized as the culinary capital of Orange County, California. Costa Mesa offers Orange Countys only Michelin-starred restaurants  three of them, to be exact. A slate of new dining destinations are popping up around the city, adding to its already robust varieties of cuisine.

Were excited to see a great collection of new and interesting restaurants opening in Costa Mesa, said Anne-Marie Schiefer, Vice President of Marketing for Travel Costa Mesa. The new dining continues to raise the bar for our city in terms of being a top dining destination.

Some of Costa Mesas new dining experiences in 2023 include:

Blossoms & Brass

Costa Mesas exclusive culinary collective inside South Coast Plaza, Collage Culinary Experience is a global dining collective that offers the best international and local cuisine. Blossoms & Brass debuted inside Collage recently with a curated menu of artisan cocktails and decadent bites with old-world European influence, yet whimsically featuring Japanese ingredients and flavor profiles. An exciting example is the beet salad with bok choy and their rissoto, a saffron rice dish with Spanish sausage that also includes shichimi-togarashi, nori and sesame oil.

K Soul Food, a new Korean seafood restaurant, is also now open at Collage. Boasting an impressive array of the freshest seafood available, K Soul Food offers a diverse menu of sushi, succulent crab legs, savory shrimp - and Korean soul food like cold noodles and bibimbap.

Other new spots inside Collage include Cha Redefine and PhoHolic.

The Plot

Restaurateurs Devin and Jessica Waite are bringing exciting plant-forward eating to OC with the opening of a second location of The Plot at The CAMP this summer. The Plot's menu features creative and sustainable plant-based dishes with a zero-waste ethos business model. They say their mission is to make plant-based food irresistible, and to give back more than they take.

HoleSmokes

HoleSmokes is owned by Ian Bason, a second-generation restaurateur who grew up working for his familys Mexican restaurant Hole Mole, and Chef Dan Ramon, a Texas native and BBQ enthusiast. Designed with Basons experience and Ramons desire to find the best Texas barbecue, HoleSmokes will offer smoked ribs, chicken and beef brisket smoked in house daily using pecan and oak wood imported from Texas and Oklahoma. Adhering to a strict brisket recipe and boasting made-from-scratch sauces, sides and spice rubs, HoleSmokes will bring the Lone Star States barbecue traditions to Costa Mesa this summer.

Milligram Coffee at Paseo 17

Milligram Coffee + Kitchen is the newest addition to Paseo 17, a Spanish courtyard-style retail, dining and gathering plaza. Serving breakfast, lunch and happy hour, Milligrams large wooden deck blends into Paseo 17s relaxing courtyard and will be home to a range of events from vinyl Sundays on the first Sunday of each month, to wine tastings highlighting wines from a variety of countries. Milligram Coffee + Kitchen owner, Ed Moffatt, saw the need for a casual location offering food and coffee, and serving as a relaxing community hub as well.

An extensive list of Costa Mesa restaurants can be found in the Eat section of the Travel Costa Mesa website. To turn the visit into an Eatcation, Costa Mesa hotels have special offers for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend; visit their hotel specials and discounts page to see all offers.

Travel Costa Mesa also lists upcoming events in the city in its calendar.

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Located in the heart of Orange County in Southern California, with a population of approximately 113,000, Travel Costa Mesa was established in 1995 with the primary goal of promoting tourism to the city and to fund programs and activities that benefit the hotel and motel businesses within the city of Costa Mesa. For more information on travel to the city of Costa Mesa, visit http://www.travelcostamesa.com or follow @travelcostamesa on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Travel Costa Mesa is a 501(c)(6).
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has met with Senior Adviser of the US State Department for Negotiations in the Caucasus Louis Bono, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan told Trend.

The sides discussed the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the current state of negotiations on the "On peace and building interstate relations" agreement project, the results of recent meetings held in this context, and prospects for negotiations during the meeting.

Azerbaijani FM also drew attention to Azerbaijan's position on the opening of communications and the delimitation process.

Louis Bono said that the US is ready to support the peace process by all means, noting that it is necessary to ensure peace and tranquility for the development of the region.

The sides exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, Louis Bono will travel to the South Caucasus region May 23-25, the U.S. Embassy spokesperson told Trend.

Mr. Bono plans to meet with key stakeholders to support the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process. He will visit both Azerbaijan and Armenia. This will be an opportunity for Bono to build on recent talks hosted by the United States and others. We are encouraged by recent efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage productively on the peace process and Bono hopes to build on that momentum, said the spokesperson.

Reportedly, Bono will emphasize that the United States is committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region.

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
W. Andy Tao, professor of biochemistry at Purdue, led a team with Anton Iliuk of Purdue spinoff Tymora Analytical Operations to apply the companys EVtrap technology to early testing for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. (Purdue University Agricultural Communications photo/Tom Cambpell)

EVtrap technology identifies proteins from brain cells in urine samples

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  A team led by researchers at Purdue University and Purdue spinoff company Tymora Analytical Operations has developed a technique that may reveal signs of Parkinsons disease in urine samples.

The technique gives researchers a chance to see if LRRK2 (leucine-rich repeat kinase 2) proteins, which are linked to Parkinsons disease, and their downstream pathways are altered in samples from Parkinsons patients. The method could eventually lead to widespread noninvasive testing for other neurodegenerative conditions as well as cancer.

We believe this is a logical and rational approach to move forward for diagnosing Parkinsons disease, said W. Andy Tao, professor of biochemistry at Purdue. Diagnosis for this type of neurodegenerative disease is difficult. Cognitive and movement testing can take a year or more to confirm the diagnosis, so molecular tests for early diagnosis and intervention can help people with Parkinsons faster, he explained.

Tao and eight co-authors from Purdue, Tymora, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research, and Columbia University published their findings in the Communications Medicine journal.

Its going to be a big new area in diagnostic development, predicted co-author Anton Iliuk, Tymoras president and chief technology officer, especially for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

Parkinsons disease alone affects an estimated 1% of the over-60 population. Up to a million Americans live with the disease, while 90,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.

The papers co-authors include Marco Hadisurya, a doctoral student in biochemistry; Kananart Kuwaranancharoen, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering; Xiaofeng Wu, who received his doctorate in chemistry at Purdue in 2022; Li Li, Tymora Analytical Operations; Zheng-Chi Lee, West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School; Roy Alcalay, MD, Columbia University; and Shalini Padmanabhan from The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which funded the work.

The project began several years ago after Padmanabhan read some of Iliuk and Taos work on the EVtrap (Extracellular Vesicles total recovery and purification) method for urinary analysis and proposed a collaboration.

When I reviewed the data from their previous publication, Padmanabhan said, it was interesting to note the expression of an important Parkinsons disease-linked protein, LRRK2. This piqued my interest since this approach provided us with an opportunity to determine if LRRK2 proteins or the downstream pathways they impact are actually altered in urinary samples from Parkinsons patients who harbor a mutation in the gene.

In 2017, Tao led a team that developed a blood test that could feasibly detect breast cancer. In that work, Tao and his colleagues compared samples taken from breast cancer patients and a healthy control group.

We identified phosphorylated proteins, which are a typical hallmark of cancers, Tao said. And within those proteins, the team found extracellular vesicles, small packages that cells use as their molecular delivery system. The finding demonstrated that a blood sample yielding phosphoproteins could serve as a potential marker for early cancer diagnosis or for monitoring disease progression.

The team was able to rapidly isolate the vesicles from urine samples, using the EVtrap method developed by Tymora.

We have used the method for a number of indications, primarily focusing on different cancers for biomarker discovery and validation, said Iliuk, who received his doctorate in biochemistry at Purdue in 2011. Iliuk and Tao co-founded Tymora Analytical, which specializes in technology and services for detecting disease biomarkers in biofluids.

This kind of analysis opens a new frontier in noninvasive diagnostics development. Its showing that biomarkers previously thought to be undetectable have become uncovered and do a really good job of differentiating disease from non-disease state, Iliuk said. Its not obvious that urine would be a source of brain-based chemicals or signatures, but it is. These EVs can penetrate the blood-brain barrier quite easily.

After export from the brain into the bloodstream, they become concentrated or filtered into urine. But sampling such biomarkers from the brain via spinal tap is a highly invasive procedure.

Especially for early diagnosis that is not the preferred sampling method, Tao said. Urine samples contain proteins that could be disease markers, but many perform housekeeping functions that are unrelated to disease.

Extracellular vesicles provide a way to focus on disease markers because they are released by certain types of cells, he said.

Among the many ways to study the impact of LRRK2 is to track its biological pathway, which can be done by analyzing urine, blood and cerebrospinal fluid. The EVtrap method provided an easy way to track changes in urine, which is collected for many clinical studies.

The LRRK2 Biobanking Study at Columbia University has a large bank of urine samples available for meaningful Parkinsons disease research. Columbia University co-author Alcalay, who provided many of the samples, also helped correlate EVtrap data with the clinical data. For the Communication Medicine study, the team studied samples from people with and without the LRRK2 gene mutation, and patients with and without the disease.

Padmanabhan noted, This study also highlighted that changes in urinary proteins could serve as a proxy for changes in protein signatures that occur in brain diseases like Parkinsons disease.

The study follows a 2021 paper published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine by an international team of researchers showing a connection between LRRK2 and brain proteins in urine samples. That study, led by Matthias Mann of Germanys Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, included Padmanabhan and Columbia Universitys Alcalay as co-authors.

Writer: Steve Koppes

Media contact: Maureen Manier, mmanier@purdue.edu

Sources: W. Andy Tao, taow@purdue.edu; Anton Iliuk, anton.iliuk@tymora-analytical.com; Shalini Padmanabhan, spadmanabhan@michaeljfox.org

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu

Agriculture News Page
Purdue University researchers in the colleges of Agriculture and Engineering have created agrivoltaic structures that optimize the amount of electricity generated by solar farms. The modules are mounted lower than traditional solar structures and rotate to form a near-vertical structure when farm equipment needs to pass. (Purdue University photo/Mitch Tuinstra)

Innovative modules created at the College of Agriculture and College of Engineering are mounted low and rotate to allow farm equipment to pass

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue University researchers have improved upon traditional solar energy structures used in agrivoltaic farming, a sustainable system that generates electricity from the sun while row crops like corn, rice, soybeans and wheat concurrently grow on the same land.

The patent-pending Purdue structures and software optimize food production for farmers and maximize solar energy production. Research about the improved agrivoltaic panels was published in the January 2023 issue of the peer-reviewed IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. It also has been published in the Journal of Photovoltaic Technology and Nature Sustainability and presented at IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists conferences.

Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering from Purdues Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, said farmland in the United States already is used to generate energy from wind.

But wind farms depend on the availability of wind energy and are limited to certain regions of the world, Agrawal said, whereas sunlight is available at most locations where farming is done, and photovoltaics, or PV, can be deployed at a much larger scale. However, use of PV panels on agriculture farmland requires sharing solar photons between food and energy that must be carefully optimized.

Traditional agrivoltaic structures cast shadows, which decrease crop yield. Mitch Tuinstra is a Purdue University professor of plant breeding and genetics, the Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research and scientific director of the Institute for Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture. He said traditional structures are incompatible with large-scale agriculture because they are mounted high to allow farm equipment to freely move around them.

The increased height requires a deeper foundation for the structures, which dramatically increases the cost of the solar farms, Tuinstra said. Our modules are mounted much lower, comparable to traditional solar farms, which makes our system more affordable and decreases the time needed for a return on investment.

The Purdue agrivoltaic structures use a dual, off-axis rotation system and sensors to optimize the amount of electricity generated and the amount of light that crops receive.

The key idea is that when farm equipment needs to pass, the modules will rotate to form a near-vertical structure, Tuinstra said. At other times, the modules will track the sun as usual.

Muhammad Ashraful Alam, the Jai N. Gupta Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said the Purdue agrivoltaic structures can be implemented for full-scale farming and use current farm equipment.

The system is designed with row crops in mind like corn, soybeans, wheat and rice, Alam said. The dimensions of these structures have been fine-tuned to allow sunlight, rain and shadows to reach plants as needed. They also withstand harsh weather conditions including heavy rain and strong wind.

Agrawal, Alam and Tuinstra created the structures and software and disclosed them to the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization, which applied for a patent on the intellectual property. Industry partners seeking to further develop the inventions should contact Will Buchanan, wdbuchanan@prf.org about 2020-AGRA-68784 and 2021-AGRA-69267.

The next steps to bring these improved agrivoltaic structures to market include partnering with a solar energy developer.

This is translational research. An industrial partnership or partnership with solar farm installation companies, preferably in Indiana, is the next step, Tuinstra said.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last five years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://stories.purdue.edu.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the universitys academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. In fiscal year 2021, the office reported 159 deals finalized with 236 technologies signed, 394 disclosures received and 187 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

Writer/Media contact: Steve Martin, sgmartin@prf.org

Sources: Rakesh Agrawal, agrawalr@purdue.edu

Muhammad Ashraful Alam, alam@purdue.edu

Mitch Tuinstra, mtuinstr@purdue.edu
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. A delegation led by the Chief of the Medical Supply Department of the Uzbek Defense Ministry, colonel Nosirjon Fozilov visited the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry's Medical Department, Trend reports.

Chief of the Medical Department of the Ministry of Defense, Medical service Major General Firudin Nabiyev greeted the guests.

Nabiyev informed the delegation about the organization of medical service in the Azerbaijani army, as well as the activities of military medical personnel in field conditions and extreme situation during the second Karabakh war.

At the meeting, the sides exchanged their views on the prospects for the development of cooperation in the field of military medicine, as well as on other issues of mutual interest.

Then the guests from Uzbekistan got familiar with the Main Clinical Hospital, Central Military Polyclinic, Central Dental Polyclinic, Sanitary-Epidemiological Control Center, Forensic-Medical Expertise and Pathological Anatomy Center of the Ministry of Defense, and observed the activities of doctors serving in the field of military medicine.
45596 Bahamas will be back on the mainline this Thursday as it heads to Bristol in preparation for this weekend's tour.

The locomotive is set to depart Southall WCRC at 09:47 and will pass through Southall (09:57), Slough (10:09), Twyford (10:22), Reading (10:33), Didcot Parkway (10:53), Swindon (Wilts) (11:49), Bath Spa (12:42), and Bristol Temple Meads (13:11), before heading to St Philips Marsh Depot.

If you would like to track the train on Thursday, you can view timetables here.

Would you like to know if Bahamas is due to pass through your local station? As a RailAdvent Plus member you can do just that with out Station News And Tours page!

If you do go out and see 45596, why not sign up to LocoStop. This is our railway community, and allows you to share your photos from your adventures! Click here to sign up.

As always, please respect the dangers of the railway. Please do not trespass on the railway to see this iconic locomotive  stay to public access spots.
The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PardeeRAND.edu) is home to the only Ph.D. and M.Phil. programs offered at an independent public policy research organizationthe RAND Corporation.
Four decades ago, Leonid Brezhnev led the USSR into what many Soviets called the era of stagnation. Vladimir Putin is taking Russia down a similar path. The USSR tried to recover by turning to reform-minded leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, but too late. The USSR collapsed. Could Russia?

There are differences. When Brezhnev died in office at age 75, he was unpopular and visibly ill. Putin at 70 is more popular and, as CIA Director William Burns has said, he may be entirely too healthy. Brezhnev led an established political organization, the Soviet Communist Party. Putin and his inner circle, mostly KGB veterans, are more narrowly grounded.

Putin-Brezhnev parallels are more striking.

Both leaders waged wars against neighbors, turning their countries into outcasts and inflaming ties with the West. In 1979, tens of thousands of Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Nine years later they withdrew in failure. This may have helped bring down Soviet rule. In invading Ukraine in 2014 and last year on a larger scale, Russian forces gained control of one-fifth of its territory. But they now face Ukrainian counteroffensives, powered in part by modern Western arms.

Leonid Brezhnev led the USSR into what many Soviets called the era of stagnation. Vladimir Putin is taking Russia down a similar path. Share on Twitter

The United States raised the price of aggression. President Carter suspended detente and slashed economic cooperation with the Soviet Union. President Reagan boosted military aid to Afghan rebels and cut off access to sophisticated technology. President Biden has helped Ukraine forge a modern professional army. Others are pressuring Putin. China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi have warned him not to go nuclear in Ukraine.

The USSR in the 1970s and Russia in the 2010s secretly deployed missiles against Europe, the latter contrary to the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Despite Soviet scare tactics claiming Reagan would fight a nuclear war in Europe, European allies responded by deploying U.S. missiles. In 2018, Putin boastfully displayed an animated nuclear-powered cruise missile landing in Florida. This did not stop the United States from withdrawing from the INF Treaty or modernizing aging strategic nuclear forces.

Repression defines both leaders. In the 1980s, dissidents Vasyl Stus and Anatoly Marchenko died in the gulag. Others faced torture in the notorious Serbsky Institute ( PDF ). Putin's poison failed to kill oppositionists Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Muza. They may face Stalinist-like long prison terms. The United States has given priority to human rights. Carter wrote to dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov, and Biden has called out Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine.

Under Brezhnev and Putin, living standards increased at first. But absent economic reforms, families faced tougher times. The Brezhnev era was dogged by food shortages and lines for consumer goods. While today many Russians feel confident about their economic future, Putin's Kremlin may be unable to sustain high war spending and social payments given rising budget deficits and a drop in energy earnings.

Under both leaders, public morale declined. As Brezhnev's economic promises went unfulfilled and he and his cohort grew more decrepit, popular support for Soviet rule eroded. The current outrage over stupendous corruptionhighlighted by Alexei Navalny's video of Putin's billion-dollar palace in Sochiand concern about the war in Ukraine have helped to build public anxiety and stoke elite dissatisfaction. Opposition to Putin's war might be a minority, however, with more Russians conforming and looking away or fearful of harsh repression.

Putin's policies profoundly alienate Russia from the West and propel Ukraine even faster toward a European and Euro-Atlantic future. Share on Twitter

Taken together, these parallels hint that Putin's presidency is at risk of spiraling downward as did Brezhnev's. Both seemed to become more out of touch. Putin's isolation during the COVID-19 crisis might have exacerbated this. Hyper-centralized decisionmaking increased the risks of making poorly informed choices. Finally, a misguided fear of Western geopolitical aimssuch as viewing NATO as an aggressive, not defensive, alliancemay have helped spur both leaders to launch costly and ill-fated wars while neglecting living standards.

For Ukraine and the West, these parallels offer hope that Russia might lose the war in Ukraine or someday dial down its hostile stance. But this could be unpredictable or take time. The Soviet-Afghan War continued after Brezhnev's death. Only years later did Mikhail Gorbachev relax tensions with the West and pull out Soviet troops.

Putin's policies profoundly alienate Russia from the West and propel Ukraine even faster toward a European and Euro-Atlantic future. As in the USSR, mounting stresses in Russiamilitary setbacks, wartime budgets, public pessimismcould at some point lead to the emergence of a government that seeks to relax tensions. It may be too late for Putin's Russia.

William Courtney is an adjunct senior fellow at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia. Mark Stalczynski is a policy analyst at RAND.

This commentary originally appeared on The Hill on May 22, 2023. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Over the past decade or so, America has undertaken a radical experiment with criminal justice reform. The consequences have been devastating.

The number of people arrested in America each year has fallen sharply over the past two decades. Public prosecutors now prosecute significantly fewer cases. Those that are convicted can generally expect shorter sentences. The combined effect of all this is that Americas prison population is now 25 percent lower than it was in 2011.

Part of the reason for this policy change has been pressure from the far left. Ever since the death of George Floyd in 2020, left-wing activists have pursued an explicitly anti-police and anti-prison agenda. But even before that, there were plenty of well-meaning conservatives who signed up for criminal justice reform, too. Everyone needs a second chance, right?

Five years ago, it was conservatives in Washington DC that passed the First Step Act, which explicitly sought to reduce the prison population. Here in my own state of Mississippi, those elected as conservatives have for the past decade been formulating policy in the belief that there are better ways of preventing crime than filling up our jails. Our states incarcerated population decreased from over 21,000 in January 2014 to 16,931 by January 2022, a decrease of 19.4 percent.

Reducing the number of people arrested, prosecuted, and jailed might sound like a good thing, but it has helped lead to a sharp spike in crime  including violent crime  in specific parts of the country.

In 2013, the year before Mississippi conservatives decided to go soft on sentencing laws, 28 people were murdered in our state capital, Jackson per 100,000 residents. By 2021, almost four times that number were being murdered, with 101 homicides per 100,000.

Saying you want to give convicted felons a second chance might make believe you are one of the good guys in your low-crime neighborhood. In Jackson, Mississippi, and thousands of similar communities across America, releasing convicted felons means more murder.

Crime, according to Rafael Mangual, a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute who was in Mississippi last week to talk to policymakers, is highly concentrated geographically. Two percent of counties in America see something like 50 percent of the murders each year. Half the counties in the country wont typically see any murder in certain areas in America.

Manguals brilliant new book on the consequences of naive criminal justice reform, Criminal (In)Justice, spells out some even more uncomfortable facts about crime.

Not only is crime geographically concentrated, it is demographically concentrated, too. The victims of violent crime are disproportionately African American. The increase that there has been in violent crime in America in recent years has disproportionately impacted African Americans, too.

Conversely, Mangual shows, when the police, prosecutors and the courts do decide to get tough on violent offenders, and crime rates fall, the beneficiaries are overwhelmingly African American. In other words, the communities that have borne the cost of this unsuccessful experiment in criminal justice reform have largely been those communities that many reformers claimed to want to help.

In recent years, many on the left have made the claim that Americas police and criminal justice system is systemically racist. This Mangual suggests is dangerous nonsense.

It is nonsense because as the evidence shows, different outcomes in the criminal justice system do not reflect supposed biases of the criminal justice system, but are reflective of offender behavior. It is dangerous because by undermining the moral authority of law enforcement certain communities in America, such as Jackson, Mississippi, are made effectively lawless.

When state officials, as has happened in Mississippi, then try to step in to try to ensure that there is basic law and order in communities devastated by crime, they face the inevitable, and asinine, accusation that they are being racist. The absurdity would be comic if the consequences were not so murderous.

A curious coalition between prison abolitionists on the left and what one might call conservative rehabilitationists on the right has significantly cut the US prison population. Rather than lock people up, so the reformers tell us, shouldnt we rehabilitate them? Would it not be better if former criminals became useful members of society instead?

There is, alas, precious little evidence that releasing felons from prison leads to redemption. The average released state prisoner in the United States has approximately five prior convictions. A second chance? It sounds like five chances.

The narrative of redemption is powerful. But often it turns out to be fiction. Approximately 80 percent of released state prisoners will be rearrested at least once over a 10-year period after their release.

Rehabilitation is a noble goal, but it should never detract from the reality that prisons primarily exist to lock up bad people so that they cannot do bad things to good people.

Manguals book should make uncomfortable reading for those conservatives that have gone along with the criminal justice reform agenda in recent years. There is nothing good or kind  or indeed conservative - about misplaced criminal justice reform.

Douglas Carswell is the President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25. Al-Jaber Twin Towers in Doha, Qatar are illuminated with the colors of the national flag of Azerbaijan in honor of May 28 - Azerbaijan's Independence Day, Trend reports.

The words "Happy Independence Day" are projected on the building. The projection also depicts a kharibulbul flower, which has become one of the symbols of the liberation of Karabakh from the Armenian occupation.
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Price: $ 100 Seller State of Residence: Florida Property Address: ramblerbrook st @ 27.934169, -80.592905 Type: Vacant Zip/Postal Code: 32949 Zoning: Residential City: Melbourne State/Province: Florida Location: , Florida

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This is the perfect investment property for anyone looking to get into buying a flipping homes. This house sits on a descent amount of land in an upcoming community. On May-25-23 at 07:30:55 PDT, seller added the following information: I will I be be accepting wire transfers,cash app ,venmo or btc as forms of payment no checks or money orders.On May-25-23 at 07:36:35 PDT, seller added the following information: Also to all scammer because there are so many on eBay I am fully aware of how all ...

Price: $ 2,026 Seller State of Residence: Maryland For Sale by: Owner Property Address: 219 S Cliff Finch Avenue Property Type: House Number of Bedrooms: 3 Sale Type: Existing Homes Number of Bathrooms: 2.5 Setting: Suburban Zip/Postal Code: 38778 State/Province: Maryland Location: 387**, Sunflower, Mississippi

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Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort Carlsbad, California "All images in this listing are general images of the resort and do not necessarily reflect the actual resort or units. Please perform your own due diligence Item Description_________________________________European charm meets California cool at this beachfront resort in Carlsbad Village. The inns courtyard serves as an expansive outdoor living roomthe perfect place to relax while your kids frolic in the grass. As the sun sets, unwind in t...

Price: $ 99 Seller State of Residence: Florida Property Address: 3075 Carlsbad Blvd Number of Bedrooms: 1 Number of Bathrooms: 1 Zip/Postal Code: 92008 City: CARLSBAD State/Province: California Location: 920**, Carlsbad, California

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Joe Amabile / Instagram

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/23/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

alum Joe Amabile has dished details about his big upcoming wedding celebration with Serena Pitt Serena and Joe already got married in a quickie courthouse wedding in New York in October, but they have plans for a bigger wedding -- so family and friends can be included -- in September 2023.Serena and Joe are currently deep into their weddings plans, with the help of wedding planner Christina Janda.The New York-based couple will be tying the knot at The Cedar Room in Charleston, SC.During the May 18 episode of the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast, Joe -- a co-host of the podcast -- answered listeners' questions about his wedding.When asked to reveal which part of the wedding he's most excited about, Joe revealed that he's looking forward to exchanging personal, self-written vows with Serena."I think the vows are going to be special and I think they're going to be fun," Joe shared."That, in my opinion, is going to be where I am the most nervous... I'm excited and nervous for them. But once those are over, it's like, 'Alright, let's go have a party!' Because that's what we're all doing. We're there to have fun... It's going to be great, can't wait!"Joe also has yet to purchase a gift for his bride to open on the morning of their wedding."I didn't know we had to get each other gifts," Joe sheepishly admitted."We have to get each other gifts for a wedding?! I know we're exchanging rings. I guess that's something I'll have to talk to Serena about. But as of now, I don't have anything in mind that I'm getting her. But I mean, I guess I'll get her a gift."But Joe noted how he and Serena will be going on a honeymoon to Italy, adding, "That's going to be a lot of fun, so maybe we'll get each other gifts out there."As far as their wedding hashtag goes, Joe said he doesn't think that's "still a thing," and so the couple doesn't have one.Joe and Serena also apparently never checked in with fellow couples to make sure their weddings wouldn't overlap or be planned for the same weekend."That's actually a great question," Joe replied."No. At least we didn't. None of us are getting married on the same day, but there are a lot of Bachelor Nation weddings, mostly Paradise couples, who will be getting married all around the same time, and yeah, none of us checked with each other. Maybe some who are closer did? We did not, but luckily none are getting married on the same day."The couples tying the knot this year are Caelynn Miller-Keyes and Dean Unglert Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour , and Mari Pepin and Kenny Braasch Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs are also currently planning their wedding, but they have yet to share their date. The couple is also expecting their first child , which may delay their nuptials.Before Joe and Serena's big day, they'll be celebrating their bachelor/bachelorette parties in Las Vegas, "even though it's a little cliche," according to The Bachelor alum.Joe said his bachelor party, which will include about 15 friends, is set for the third week of June this year.In addition, Joe disclosed that pro dancer Alan Bersten , whom Joe met during his stint on Dancing with the Stars, wants to choreograph a big dance moment for the newlyweds at their wedding."I don't know if I'm going to let him, but he will be at my bachelor party," Joe said. "Maybe I'll talk to him about it there."While Joe was open and honest about his wedding plans, he declined to answer a question about whether he and Serena will be doing a first look or seeing each other for the first time at the altar."I actually do know the answer to this, but I do not feel comfortable saying right now," Joe coyly said. "You will have to wait to find out. I would tell you, but I'm pretty sure Serena doesn't want that information out there."Joe and Serena, who fell in love on 's seventh season in 2021, revealed in January how their wedding must-haves include good food, drinks and music.In November 2022, Joe and Serena said they had no desire to televise their wedding and share it with Bachelor Nation fans.Joe looked at Serena in a YouTube video and said, "Anything in this world can change, but I highly doubt it."The pair had initially intended to keep their first wedding a secret and only share the news with close family and friends, but a person apparently spotted them at the courthouse and so Serena and Joe were worried the story may get leaked.Serena and Joe therefore posted a sweet video of their union on Instagram late last year, announcing their marriage in their own special way.The 7 finale, which featured Joe's marriage proposal to Serena, aired in October 2021.Serena told Us Weekly in September 2022 that she'd love to marry Joe exactly one year later -- even though she believed wedding venues would be limited -- and so she's going to achieve her goal.Serena admitted at the time she was "very overwhelmed by the planning process" but felt ready to dive in."Joe will start off saying, 'Whatever you want,' but he is an opinionated guy. He has a vision for the wedding, for sure," Serena shared in September."I think it's actually gonna be very 50/50. I want it to feel like our wedding, not my wedding. And if anything, I would say he's probably more opinionated than I am about this stuff... It'll be a team effort."As far as her wedding gown goes, Serena didn't have a dream dress in mind as of last year."I think once we see the venue and where we pick to get married, I'll be able to start envisioning a mood board for the dress and the hair and the makeup," Serena explained."But I don't wanna, like, look or feel like anyone else on that day. You know, I love my neutral, glowy bronzed makeup and that's probably what I'm gonna do on my wedding day even though that's what I do every day because that's what I love."She added, "For my wedding dress, I want it to be comfortable. If I have to wear it all night, I want to be comfortable in it."Serena and her fiance celebrated their engagement party in July 2022, and that's when their parents met each other.Serena and Joe believe they established a strong relationship foundation while filming .Serena, for instance, never let the fact Joe's ex-girlfriend of nearly two years, Kendall Long , was on the beach get in the way of her connection with Joe.Serena kept her eye on the prize, avoided jealousy, and trusted Joe as Kendall sought closure.Prior to appearing on 7, Joe got eliminated very early from Becca Kufrin 's season of The Bachelorette and met Kendall on Season 5 of Paradise.Despite being happy and in love, Joe and Kendall broke up because they couldn't agree on whether to live in Chicago or Kendall's home city of Los Angeles long-term.Joe gave Los Angeles a chance during and after his stint on Dancing with the Stars in 2018 and wanted to move back to Chicago to be with his friends and family, but Kendall apparently wouldn't even consider relocating and trying out a life in Chicago. (Kendall is now engaged and living with her fiance in Germany).And Serena dumped Matt James on his The Bachelor season that aired in early 2021 after her hometown date.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/23/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

Former star Joy-Anna Duggar and husband Austin Forsyth have welcomed their third child together.The couple announced their big news this past weekend in two Instagram postings."Gunner James Forsyth. 5/17/23 -- 8lbs 14oz," Joy-Anna captioned a photo of the couple's newborn son. "Soaking up every moment. He is the sweetest lil man."In a follow-up post, Joy-Anna uploaded a photo with Austin and Gunner."He's here!" Joy-Anna wrote, along with a blue heart emoji. "Thank you all for praying... Mama and baby are recovering well."Joy-Anna and Austin announced in early October 2022 they had another baby on the way In addition to posting an ultrasound photo on Instagram at the time, writing, "Baby #3 is on the way," Joy-Anna also shared the news in a YouTube video that showed her and Austin learning about the pregnancy during a trip to Alaska and then visiting the doctor for a checkup."We have been trying and we're both ready to have No. 3," Joy-Anna said in the video. "We're at a really good spot right now. We love our family and we're ready to expand."She captioned her video at the time, "We are ECSTATIC and cannot wait to hold this sweet baby in our arms in May, 2023! We would appreciate your prayers these next 7 and half months for a safe pregnancy and delivery."The couple's first-born child, son Gideon Martyn Forsyth, is four-years-old and was born on February 23, 2018. Their daughter, Evelyn, is two-years-old and was born in August 2020.Joy-Anna revealed in July 2019 she had suffered a miscarriage , before getting pregnant again with Evelyn."Although we don't understand why, God has given us unexplainable peace and comfort during this very difficult time. Yes, it still hurts and we have cried countless tears, but we know that we can trust the Lord," Joy-Anna shared on social media while mourning her baby girl Annabell's loss."In the words of King David after the loss of his baby, 'I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me' (2 Sam 12:23). We don't grieve as those who have no hope because we trust that we will see this little one again."Joy-Anna and Austin were friends for nearly 15 years before they entered into a courtship in November 2016, according to Us Weekly.Austin proposed marriage to Joy-Anna in March 2017, and they got married soon afterward in May 2017 at Cross Church in Rogers, AR.The Duggar family came to fame on the TLC series 19 Kids & Counting and .
Gabby Windey / Instagram

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/23/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

alum Gabby Windey has revealed that she once slid into former The Bachelor star Ben Higgins ' DMs on Instagram.Before Gabby starred on 's nineteenth season last year, she apparently reached out to Ben and made a move, according to Us Weekly."I know Ben Higgins is somewhere on the premises and I need to tell everybody that I slid into his DMs," Gabby, 32, said in a teaser clip for an upcoming episode of the "Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast."Gabby added in her joint interview with Rachel Recchia , "I've got to get it off my chest."Ashley posted a preview of Gabby and Rachel's podcast appearance, which included Gabby's juicy confession, via Instagram Stories on Saturday, May 20.Ben -- who starred on The Bachelor's 20th season but is currently happily married to a woman outside of Bachelor Nation, Jessica Clarke -- has yet to share his reaction to Gabby's revelation.It also remains unclear when exactly Gabby had sent Ben a private message on social media.Gabby, Rachel and Ashley reunited this past weekend in California along with former The Bachelor host Chris Harrison and his fiancee Lauren Zima, Season 16 star Clare Crawley and her husband Ryan Dawkins, Season 27 The Bachelor star Zach Shallcross and his fiancee Kaity Biggar , and The Bachelor alum Andrew Firestone "Wonderful weekend reconnecting with old friends and making new ones," Chris reportedly wrote via his Instagram Stories on Saturday. "And recording a few podcasts... @iheartradio @themostdramaticpodever."Gabby and Rachel got dumped simultaneously by Clayton Echard on The Bachelor's 26th season after they both slept with him in the Fantasy Suites and met his family.Clayton ultimately chose Susie Evans -- a "once-in-a-lifetime woman," as he called her -- as his winner, but Susie was hurt by his actions on the show and didn't begin dating him until after the show taped in the real world.After Susie and Clayton announced they were dating on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose in March 2022, Gabby and Rachel both went on to star on , hoping to find true love.Gabby got engaged to Erich Schwer on 's Season 19 finale, which aired in September 2022, but they called off their engagement , in an alleged amicable manner , less than two months later.News of Gabby and Erich's split surfaced on November 4, and then Gabby revealed while she was competing on Dancing with the Stars' 31st season later that month how she and her former fiance weren't "in sync" or "the best match" for each other.When asked if she'd be star again, Gabby revealed on the April 25 episode of the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe " podcast, "I would honestly be the Bachelorette again -- for the right price ."After Gabby and Erich broke up, Gabby set her sights on her Dancing with the Stars Season 31 competitor, Vinny Guadagnino Gabby admitted she had a "crush" on Vinny and would "of course" go on a date with him if he asked.The pair flirted on social media for months beginning in November 2022 and spent a lot of time together on the Dancing with the Stars tour earlier this year, but Vinny confirmed in January that he and Gabby weren't dating."It takes a lot more for me than just, like, a couple Instagram comments to be dating someone," Vinny explained to Us, adding, "I would actually go to dinner with Gabby. It's just that we just met, you know what I mean? It's not like anything serious."Vinny, however, gushed about how he has "great chemistry" with the brunette beauty."We're both, like, comedians. So, that's why we get along and that's also why we flirt so much on Instagram because we have that same banter with each other," Vinny shared at the time.Gabby told Kaitlyn on "Off the Vine" that she and Vinny still talk all the time and he likes her, however, she said dating would be difficult since she lives in Los Angeles and he lives in New York.Gabby also confirmed she has no romantic interest in Dancing with the Stars pro Alan Bersten , whom she was spotted on a dinner date with in March. Gabby said they're "just friends" and she also feels he brings "little-brother energy" to their relationship.Erich, meanwhile, recently shared how his mental health struggled during and after .Erich announced in mid-February he was in a new relationship with model and social media influencer Elizabeth Turner. Elizabeth's Instagram account shows they've been hanging out all the time and are still going strong as a couple.For Rachel's part, she is currently single after her engagement to Tino Franco fell through. She is checking out the dating scene after undergoing a breast reduction procedure.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The head of the Main Department of Military-Technical Supply of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has been appointed, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan told Trend.

Deputy Minister of Defense for Military-Technical Support Agil Gurbanov was appointed Head of the Main Department of Military-Technical Support by the decree of February 27, 2023 of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

Agil Gurbanov was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense for Military-Technical Support at the end of last year.
Aviation regulator DGCA will conduct an audit of Go First's preparedness before approving resumption of flights by the crisis-hit carrier, according to a communication.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Cash-strapped Go First stopped flying from May 3 and is undergoing voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings.

On Tuesday, a senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the airline has submitted its response to the regulator's show cause notice indicating that it is working on the details of a plan to resume flights at the earliest.

In a communication to the staff on Tuesday, the airline said, "DGCA will be conducting an audit to check our preparedness in the coming days. Once approved by the regulator, we would be soon commencing operations."

The government has been very supportive and has asked the airline to commence operations as soon as possible, it added.

Besides, the communication, sent out on Tuesday night to the staff, said the CEO has assured that salaries for the month of April will be credited to their accounts before the commencement of operations.

"Further, from the coming month, the salary will be paid in the 1st week of every month," it added.

The communication was sent out by Go First's head of operations Rajit Ranjan.

On May 8, DGCA issued a show cause notice to the budget carrier under the relevant provisions of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, for its failure to continue the operation of the service in a safe, efficient and reliable manner.

The airline has submitted its reply to the show cause notice.

Go First, on May 2, announced filing the plea for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings as well as suspension of flights, initially for two days -- May 3 and 4.

At that time also, DGCA had issued a show cause notice to Go First for cancelling flights for May 3 and 4 "without any prior intimation".

The airline has cancelled all its flights till May 26.

On Monday, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld NCLT's decision to admit Go First's plea for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings.

The ruling had come on petitions filed by four lessors opposing the insolvency resolution proceedings of the airline.
Exports to Indias key markets  the US, the United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Germany  witnessed a sharp decline, resulting in a 12.69 per cent contraction in outbound shipments during the first month of the current financial year, commerce department data showed.

Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Indias biggest export market  the US  with 17 per cent share witnessed 17.16 per cent contraction at $5.9 billion in April.

This was followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that saw 22.09 per cent decline at $2.23 billion exports.

These two countries exported goods worth $8.13 billion, indicating a share of over 23 per cent in April.

While these six countries out of Indias top ten export destinations saw contraction, shipments to Saudi Arab, the Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK) and Italy saw 8.38 per cent, 23 per cent, 20.69 per cent and 3.59 per cent, growth respectively.

These 10 countries comprise 48 per cent of the value of goods exported in April.

Exports to the UAE contracted even as the West Asian and India have signed a free trade agreement.

This is because many consumer goods for which the UAE acts as a channel for commonwealth of independent states (CIS) and Gulf nations have got impacted resulting in lower imports, government officials said.

Apart from that, deflationary pressure on petroleum prices resulted in lower value oil imports, which has also affected re-exports of the commodity.

On Monday, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi had said the demand scenario did not look very optimistic for the next two-three months, though the situation was expected to improve September onwards.

Demand has not been good from the US and Europe, some of Indias biggest export markets.

The sharp contraction in exports has been mainly due to an economic downturn in key destinations, easing commodity prices, as well as the lingering impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which according to the government was now making a very active impact.

Country-wise imports

Of Indias top 10 merchandise import destinations in April, only shipments from Russia and Japan grew, as the same declined to a 20-month low at $49.9 billion, down 14 per cent, the data showed.

Imports from the two nations saw 200 per cent and 6.33 per cent rise, respectively.

The remaining eight nations that saw contraction include China (-5.56 per cent), the UAE (-34.08 per cent), the US (-24.67 per cent), Saudi Arabia (-20.72 per cent), Iraq (-35.13), Indonesia (-22.76 per cent), Singapore (-17.23 per cent), and South Korea (-4.22 per cent).

These 10 countries comprise 61.64 per cent of the value of goods imported in April.

China remained the top import destination, although the countrys share of imports from the neighbouring nation rose to 15.03 per cent in April from 13.68 per cent during the same period a year ago.
The India personal computer (PC) market shipment, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, dropped by an overall 30.1 per cent in the first quarter of CY2023 over the previous year, to only 2.99 million units, according to the latest data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker released on Tuesday.

Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

In Q1CY23, while the demand for desktops was positive, the notebook category witnessed another weak quarter as it declined by 40.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y).

The consumer segment declined by 36.1 per cent y-o-y primarily due to slowing demand and weak market sentiment.

The commercial segment declined by 25.1 per cent y-o-y due to reduced/delayed procurement by enterprises and SMEs.

The continuous decline in shipments of PCs comes at a time when the government has just announced a revamped Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for IT products with better financial incentives.

The aim is to enhance domestic production of PCs and laptops, which are currently mostly imported  that too, from China  and to transform India into an export hub.

The hope is that global companies like HP, Dell, Acer, Asus, and Lenovo will move their production to India by giving contracts to EMS players.

Experts expect the lower figures to be a temporary blip and that demand will pick up enough to make production in India attractive.

According to the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) estimates, the PLI scheme in IT hardware envisages a cumulative production in six years of Rs 3.35 lakh crore, which is not even half of the cumulative demand in the domestic market for the same period.

But the reality at the moment is that the decline in shipments in Q1CY23 would have been even sharper had it not been for demand from the government and education segments.

Procurement from government bodies propelled the segment to grow by 25.2 per cent y-o-y while fulfilment of the Gujarat education order helped the education segment grow by 65.6 per cent y-o-y.

The biggest hit was in premium notebooks (>$1,000); these saw shipments decline by 65.8 per cent y-o-y in the commercial segment and 59 per cent y-o-y in the consumer segment.

The IDC said that significant inventory correction of Apple MacBooks and low demand from enterprises led to a slump in the shipment of premium notebooks.

"The online channel struggled for the second consecutive quarter, declining by 42.4 per cent y-o-y in Q1CY23.

Channel partners across tiers for almost all vendors have been carrying heavy inventory for the last two quarters.

Hence, shipments in the consumer segment decreased significantly in Q1CY23 as they focused on clearing off aging inventory.

The consumer market is expected to gradually recover from June-July with the back-to-college demand and then aggressive online sales expected during the festive months in Q3/Q4, said Bharath Shenoy, senior market analyst, IDC India.

In terms of the companies, HP was the leader with a market share of 33.8 per cent despite an overall decline in shipments.

Lenovo was second in the pecking order with less than half of HPs market share at 15.7 per cent and it saw its shipments decline by 37.5 per cent.

While it was second in the consumer segment with a share of 14.2 per cent, it was marginally behind Dell in the commercial segment as it held third place with a share of 16.8 per cent.

The vendor struggled in the government segment even though this quarter was driven by government orders.

For the rest, Dell stood at number three followed by Acer and Asus.
After reports of contamination in cough syrups sent from the country, India is considering a system to test them before exporting.

Image used for representative purpose only. Photograph: Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters

It is learnt that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has sent a proposal to the Union health ministry on this.

The idea is to test the medicines at government labs before exporting.

No decision on the matter has yet been taken, said sources.

There are five Central Drugs Testing Laboratories under the CDSCO -- in Kasauli, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Mumbai -- and two regional drug testing laboratories -- in Guwahati and Chandigarh.

Apart from this, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission Laboratory may also be used.

Industry sources said reports of labs accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) may be considered a valid certificate of analysis (CoA) by manufacturers and exporters.

There are over 2,300 medical-testing laboratories accredited by the NABL as of January last year.

A pharma industry veteran said the government might consider making glycol testing compulsory for all manufacturers of syrups and solvents.

Right now the Indian Pharmacopoeia does not require a mandatory glycol testing certificate.

"CoAs are provided by the manufacturing entity.

"Making the glycol test part of the other mandatory tests required for a CoA will eliminate the root of the problem of contamination, the person said.

At present, the manufacturer of a pharmaceutical product obtains a certificate of pharmaceutical product (CoPP) from the state Food and Drug Administration.

A CoPP is given after due inspection, and manufacturers are supposed to submit CoAs with their consignments, whether they are for domestic market consumption or export.

Another industry source said India exported to 200 countries, and it would be impossible to test every batch of cough syrup before sending out.

Countries like Nigeria have their own testing facilities in the countries of origin of consignment.

"European countries test them at the point of entry and the US do tests randomly at the port of entry.

"The Indian government agency has so far not been involved in testing export batches.

"This can be time-consuming if done only at government labs, the person said.

The move comes at a time when cough syrups and eye-drops from India have come under fire from several countries including the Gambia and Uzbekistan.

These incidents have harmed the image of India as an exporter of drugs to the globe, the industry said.

The Centre is thus contemplating measures to curb medicines of compromised quality entering the global supply chain, the person said.

The UP drug controller has cancelled the manufacturing licence of Marion Biotech, whose cough syrup Dok-1 was linked to the deaths of 18 children in Uzbekistan.

The Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) has suspended memberships of Marion Biotech and Maiden Pharmaceuticals, making them ineligible for incentives under the Market Access Initiative Scheme.
Our focus is not on substance, but communicating how we did not shake hands and how we made angry faces.

This is what India's foreign policy has become, notes Aakar Patel.

IMAGE: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar with Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers' meeting in Goa, May 5, 2023. Photograph: Rahul Singh/ANI Photo

We hosted the foreign minister of Pakistan, a young dynast of the sort India is familiar with.

His mother, who was prime minister, was assassinated by extremists, his grandfather, who was prime minister, was assassinated by the judiciary and the army.

His uncles were assassinated, one by the police.

This is a person who has first hand experience of the dangers and problems of the sort of State Pakistan has formed itself into.

The story in Goa, of course, was the rude body language we apparently displayed to him, the apparent refusal to shake hands (and do namaste instead) and so on.

It was as if we were hosting someone unwelcome, which we were, and someone who had been forced on us with whom we had personal enmity.

He on the other hand though young appears to have acquitted himself well, going by some of the messages on social media, though I did not see the interviews he did.

He exposed himself to questioning by our journalists which our leaders do not do.

Let us turn to the issue, which is how we can improve relations with our neighbour.

The first question to ask is: Do we have any agency or do only they have it? This is worth considering because our position is that we can have no normalcy till they stop doing what they do.

Meaning that according to us, they are the ones who are in control of normalcy.

I have written before about the data on deaths in Kashmir from terrorism, which peaked two decades ago at over 4,000 and then fell each year under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh to go under 200 in a decade and remain there more or less in the years since.

Our government's view appears to be that all violence in Kashmir is externally induced and there is no local catalyst.

I say appears to be because it is not clear if we are saying this.

But if we are, then what we mean is that since there is no local component, we will only act on normalisation if violence becomes zero.

This is worth considering while we go through the options we have.

Former diplomat Satinder Lambah published recently a book called In Pursuit of Peace: India-Pakistan Relations Under Six Prime Ministers.

In it he lists the four point normalisation formula of then president Musharraf.

These were demilitarisation through phased withdrawal of troops, no change in the borders of Kashmir, free movement of Kashmiris across the Line of Control without independence and joint supervision in Jammu and Kashmir involving India, Pakistan, and Kashmir.

This did not go through. After this, under Manmohan another set of guidelines was produced by India.

These repeated all four of Musharraf's points and added more.

Three of these additional points were on trade: encourage meaningful across the LoC, removal of non-tariff barriers (meaning delays, inspections, red tape) for all locally produced goods, take measures to increase it and open more routes.

This did not go through either, of course, but it sounds like normalisation of the sort that would not only address our concern of violence against civilians and the armed forces but also be beneficial to our economy.

India produces goods that Pakistan (or for that matter Bangladesh) does not, but we cannot sell them these products because of trade barriers and reluctance to normalise.

Half of all manufacturing in India is in the automobile sector and the cars and motorcycles and tractors and rickshaws we have are cheaper than the ones sold there.

It would be in our interest to push for normalisation or at least to segregate normalisation on Kashmir from other issues like trade so that our economy benefits.

There appears to be no such desire, at least on the part of this government, as there was in the previous one.

And so in Goa, again we repeated our position, as we were expected to and this will continue into the future.

What Lambah said the government was considering in that period is no longer our thinking.

The other thing to consider is whether there is a second way of looking at the problem, and if the issue to be resolved is primarily in Kashmir rather than in Pakistan.

To go there we have to accept or at least have to consider the idea that if we resolve the problem inside then external mischief has limited efficacy.

This does not appear to be our understanding.

We assume that if Pakistan were to stop acting against us or were to somehow vanish from the face of the earth today, then from tomorrow there would be no need to maintain a heavy military and paramilitary presence in Kashmir.

This is either touchingly innocent or bafflingly stupid. However it is the position of the government, and not only this one.

So long as this line of thinking continues, and it is not difficult to see that it will, there will be no movement on our relations with our neighbour.

We have told ourselves that the key to the solution is with them and they are refusing to use it and because they are refusing to use it we will not talk to them.

Having thrown away our agency, our focus is not on substance, but communicating how we did not shake hands and how we made angry faces. This is what India foreign policy has become.

Aakar Patel is a columnist and writer and you can read Aakar's earlier columns here.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'As Rana is not an Indian citizen, our leverage on the US system -- whether it's their judiciary or the executive -- is very limited in that sense.'

IMAGE: The iconic Taj Mahal hotel burning during the infamous Mumbai terror attack of November 2008. Photograph: Arko Dutta/Reuters

Former Intelligence Bureau Officer Avinash Mohananey, who spent a considerable time in Pakistan on security assignments, discusses with Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com the challenges India could face in her efforts to seek the custody of the 26/11 planner Tahawwur Rana back to India after a Chicago court cleared his extradition to India on May 18.

Now that a Chicago court has approved the extradition of 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana, what will the Indian government do to expedite his extradition to India?

What steps will India follow now to have Rana back in India?

Can Rana go in appeal against this extradition?

He can certainly go in appeal because this is the first step towards (Rana's) extradition (to India).

The issue is that extradition by and large is an apolitical issue to be settled by the (governments of) two countries.

Since Tahawwur Rana is not an Indian, the Americans would not be bound to send him back here.

While he is a Canadian (citizen) he was prosecuted in the United States. So it is now for the US government and the judiciary to take a call (on Rana's extradition to India) whether he can be sent (back to India to face trial here).

If we go by his culpability in the 26/11 terror attacks in India, there is no doubt that he is involved.

Our intelligence and investigation agencies have proved that he was working in close tandem with David Coleman Headley (born Dawood Gilani in Washington in 1960 and the terrorist who prepared the blueprint for 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and is currently serving 35 years in a US prison after he turned approver and admitted to having recced the terror attack targets in Mumbai: Read more on David Coleman Headley here), whose visits he facilitated to India.

Headley, in turn, was regularly in touch with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (the terrorist organisation based out of Pakistan and the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks).

Tahawwur Rana worked as a doctor in the Pakistan army, and he had connections with Major Abdur Rehman of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (the ISI). Major Abdur Rehman could be a nom de guerre (an assumed name or alias) as these ISI officers use several names.

What steps could the Indian government take for Tahawwur Rana's quick extradition to India?

The legal process (related to his extradition and gathering of evidence and filing of chargesheet) has been completed in India.

A supplementary chargesheet can come when he is arrested (after his extradition to India). Then a supplementary chargesheet can come. From our side, the legal processes have been completed for this extradition.

Now whatever documents the higher courts in the US require, when he goes for appeal or the US government requests, then that can be supplied from our side.

Obviously, he has challenged it (his extradition by the Chicago court) and the case now could go all the way up (to the highest judicial body in the US); like major democracies the US judicial system also involves at least two to three layers of appealing.

So it (Rana's extradition to India) is not going to be resolved very soon. It's not such an easy matter. We may wish that it happens fast, but we are not sure that it will happen.

IMAGE: Tahawwur Rana. Photograph: ANI Photo

So should India at least pat itself on the back that we have got a US court to clear a terrorist's extradition to India?

Yes. It (the Chicago court approving rana's extradition to India) definitely is an endorsement of the fairness of investigations carried out by our investigation agencies.

In fact, the main investigations were done against Tahawwur Rana by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US.

They arrested him almost a year after the 26/11 (terror attacks in Mumbai), after a thorough investigation which neither Headley nor Rana could get away with.

Headley had plea bargained -- whose terms and conditions nobody knows, and which we may never know because nobody discloses that -- but Headley during the FBI investigations clearly implicated Tahawwur Rana.

Why was Rana running an immigration service despite in the US being a doctor?

What if Tahawwur Rana also goes for a plea bargain?

His sentence is almost going to be completed now. He was arrested in 2009 and sentenced for 14 years. So it's coming to a close (in 2023).

Now, the US has to decide whether to release him or extradite him.

With the Chicago court clearing his extradition and Rana appealing against it, the case could through at least two more layers of court proceedings for his extradition to go through.

Even if there is a final judicial order for his extradition, the final order has to come from the (US) government.

Remember, he is a Canadian national, not an Indian national that his extradition would become as smooth and easy as Abu Salem's (a henchman of alleged gangster and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim who was wanted in several criminal cases in India) extradition from Portugal (in November 2005). He could be sent back to India because he (Salem) was an Indian citizen.

The moment his (Abu Salem's) passport was revoked he had no option but to return to India, unless he was granted asylum in Portugal.

As Rana is not an Indian citizen, our leverage on the US system -- whether it's their judiciary or the executive -- is very limited in that sense.

The US system has to listen to the Canadians also. A Canadian national cannot be easily deported to India to face trial by Americans. This is the complication.

Could then Tahawwur Rana's actual extradition to India likely remain a pipe dream?

As of now, yes.

IMAGE: Ajmal Kasab, the lone 26/11 terrorist captured alive during his interrogation.

How big a boost will Rana's actual extradition be for India's fight against terrorism?

If that happens then the collaborators (and the masterminds of 26/11 terror attacks hiding in Pakistan), who believe that they are on the periphery and outside the bounds of any penal action, and who believe that they have not perpetrated the main act, would also get a message that even if you are not direct perpetrator, like Ajmal Kasab (one of the 10 Pakistani terrorists who was caught alive, faced trial in India and was hanged) but if you are the facilitator, the planners, if you are part of the gang that carried out this massacre, then someday the law will catch up with you also.

That indeed will be a big boost. There is no doubt about it.

Could Rana's extradition help India to get the main masterminds of 26/11 terror attacks who are hiding in Pakistan currently?

We may not be able to catch hold of them, but every arrest in the case will strengthen our case against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, whose trial is still going on in Pakistan.

Could you please trace the actual role Rana played in the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai?

Rana facilitated the travel of David Coleman Headley to India. He (Rana) personally visited the Taj hotel, where the attack took place a few days before the actual incident (Nov 26, 2008).

There is (documentary) evidence because he (Rana) travelled to India in his own name and Canadian passport. He gave his own name. He didn't hide it. So that way, his arrival, presence and stay in Mumbai is confirmed. He stayed in one of the targets (the Taj) of the attack.

Is there any evidence to prove that when Rana was in India, he coordinated with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba or with David Coleman Headley discussing the plan to launch terror attacks in Mumbai?

There is no such evidence available because he was not under surveillance (at that time before the 26/11 terror attacks when he stayed in Mumbai). Nobody knows whom he met or whom he talked to; it's very difficult to find out.

The entire 26/11 attack was masterminded, carried out by actors from across the border. There was no Indian actor involved except for Abu Jundal (Zabiuddin Ansari), the fellow who is now in our custody, who was deported by the Saudis and then arrested at Delhi airport.

He was part of the conspiracy and planning to attack Mumbai, but he was not the actual perpetrator.

What legal and penal consequences could Tahawwur Rana be subjected to once he is extradited to India and he faces a trial here?

He will face the charge of a co-conspirator and according to the Indian Penal Code, he will be held equally liable for what happened in India (for the deaths of more than 166 people in the 26/11 terror attacks).

He knew that it (the 26/11 terror attacks) was going to take place so he can't absolve himself from that act of terror. Like Ajimal Kasab, he could even face the death penalty.

IMAGE: David Coleman Headley aka Dawood Gilani.

Is there any way that India could get the masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks back in India to face trial?

It's not possible.

If you closely analyse what (Pakistan foreign minister) Bilawal Bhutto (Zardari, the son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari) recently said in Goa (to attend the meet at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation council of foreign ministers) then that surely won't happen.

He (Bhutto Zardari) said that there are some legal processes still to be completed and before that they (the Pakistani investigators) can't even complete the investigation and the chargesheeting of the perpetrators of Mumbai attack in Pakistan.

There's no way then that India could reach to the top leadership of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba?

No. Not through the legal way. It's very difficult.

We will be following the legal process and only when the government of Pakistan agrees we can have access to them.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. As a result of measures taken by the Lankaran border detachment of the Border Troops of the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan, the smuggling of narcotic drugs from Iran to Azerbaijan was stopped on May 22, at 22:00 (GMT+4), the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan told Trend.

As a result of operational measures, 10 kilograms of 470 grams of narcotic drugs (9 kilograms of 955 grams of marijuana, 515 grams of heroin) were identified and seized.

Operational and investigative measures are continuing.
In a show of unity, 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Left and Trinamool Congress, on Wednesday announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they find no value in a new building when the soul of democracy has been sucked out.

IMAGE: An aerial view of the new Parliament House in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo

Noting that the inauguration of the Parliament building is a momentous occasion, the opposition parties in a joint statement said, "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion".

However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, "completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response".

Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

The opposition parties said the president is not only the Head of State in India, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it.

"In short, Parliament cannot function without the president. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the president, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the parties said.

The Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam, the Janata Dal-United, teh Aam Aadmi Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the CPI, the Samajwdi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Indian Union Muslim League, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the National Conference, the Kerala Congress-Mani, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Rashtriya Lok Dal are the signatories of the joint statement.

The decision to boycott came amid a war of words on the matter between the government and the opposition, which has been demanding that the president should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister.

In their joint statement, the opposition parties said the new Parliament building has been built at "great expense" during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built.

"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building," the parties said.

"We will continue to fight  in letter, in spirit, and in substance  against this 'authoritarian' prime minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the opposition parties said.

The opposition parties said Article 79 of the Constitution states, There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.

Slamming the prime minister, the parties said, "Undemocratic acts are not new to the prime minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament."

"Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct," the parties said.

The Congress said the prime minister's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building is a "direct attack" on democracy.

"Completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu ji on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament House is not only an insult to Her Excellency but also a direct attack on democracy," the Congress said in a tweet in Hindi

"When the very spirit of democracy has been expelled from Parliament, we see no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building," it said.

RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said President Murmu should have inaugurated it as this would be in line with constitutional propriety.

"However, the prime minister made a choice. He does not listen to others," Jha said.

The opposition parties had boycotted the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the building by Modi in December 2020, citing concerns about its timing amid farmer protests, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic distress due to a lockdown.

The grand opening of the new building, it is learnt, will be marked by the chanting of hymns, a "havan" and a "puja". The rituals will start in the morning and the main programme is scheduled to be held in the afternoon.

Besides Modi, the Lok Sabha Speaker will be present at the opening ceremony.
A cheetah cub, born at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh two months back, died on Tuesday, the forest department said.

The latest fatality took the death toll of cheetahs in KNP to four in the last two months, including three felines translocated from African countries.

Prima facie, the cub died of weakness, a Forest department release said.

The monitoring team found that one of the four cubs of feline Jwala' was lying at the spot where they were spotted earlier while three other cubs were roaming with their mother.

The team alerted veterinarians who rushed to the spot and gave necessary treatment to the cub, but it died, the release said.

It seems the cub died because of weakness as it was weak since birth, said the release.

Cheetah Jwala, earlier known as Siyaya, was brought from Namibia to KNP in Sheopur district in September 2022. She gave birth to four cubs in the last week of March this year.

Cheetahs were reintroduced in India, 70 years after the species was declared extinct.

One of the Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, succumbed to a kidney-related ailment on March 27, while another cheetah, Uday, from South Africa, died on April 13.

Daksha, a cheetah brought from South Africa, died of injuries following a violent interaction with a male during a mating attempt on May 9.

Siyaya's four cubs were born in the wild on Indian soil after the last cheetah was hunted in the Korea district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947.

This fastest land animal was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

The relocation of cheetahs from Africa is part of an ambitious plan to revive their population in India.

Eight Namibian cheetahs  five female and three male  were released into enclosures at the KNP on September 17 last year at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In February this year, 12 more cheetahs arrived at KNP from South Africa.

Of the 24 cheetahs, including four cubs born in India, KNP now has 17 adults and three cubs. Some of them are yet to be released into the wild.
The Uttar Pradesh government has expedited infrastructure works in Ayodhya, including expansion of its airport and railway station, as the city prepares for the opening of the Ram temple in January next year, according to a statement.

IMAGE: Construction work of Ram temple underway in full swing, in Ayodhya, May 13, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Work is also in progress on the Ram Path, a 13-km road from Sahadatganj to Naya Ghat, it said.

The outline for the construction of the Ramjanaki Path and the Bhakti Path is also ready, the statement issued in Lucknow said.

The airport and the railway station are also being expanded, it added.

These road corridors are important as these will facilitate the movement of devotees to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and the Hanuman Garhi temple, the statement said.

The width of the Ram Janmabhoomi Path will be 30 metres and the width of the Bhakti Path will be 14 metres, it said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has invited people to come for the Ram temple's opening, it said and added that he is reviewing the progress of different works regularly.

Supporting the government's initiative to develop Ayodhya, shopkeepers, without any resistance, have given the land of their shops for the construction of the "grand" temple and its other facilities, the statement said.

In Uttarakhand's Haridwar, Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Nyas general secretary Champat Rai said no date has been fixed yet for the inauguration of the Ram temple but its construction is in full swing and it is likely to be inaugurated by January next year with the permission of seers.

"The temple Trust has not yet discussed the dates. However, construction of the temple is going on fast and its inauguration can be done any time from December 31 to January 15," Rai said.

Ram Lalla may be installed in the temple by December and it may be inaugurated by January 2024, he said.

The temple is 380-feet-long from east to west, 250-feet-wide from south to north and 161 feet high. Its platform, made of pure granite, is 16-feet-high and there are 392 pillars or columns on its three floors, said Rai, who is in Haridwar to attend a meeting of the VHP's Margadarshak Mandal on Thursday.

Iron and concrete have not been used anywhere in its construction, he said.

The statement said supporting the Uttar Pradesg government's initiative to develop Ayodhya, shopkeepers, without any resistance, have given the land of their shops for the construction of the "grand" temple and its other facilities.

There has been no complaint of any irregularity in disbursement of compensation under this project, it said.

Those evicted have been allotted shops in newly developed complexes, while many shopkeepers were rehabilitated to their old places with the cooperation of owners, the statement said.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought to know from news channel Aaj Tak why it wanted to telecast the recording of narco analysis conducted on Aaftab Amin Poonawala, the man accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and dismembering her body.

IMAGE: Aaftab Amin Poonawala being brought to the Mehrauli forest area, in New Delhi, November 15, 2022. Photograph: PTI Photo

Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar's poser came while hearing an application by the news channel seeking vacation of its April 19 order by which all media channels were restrained from displaying or telecasting any material connected with the case.

The high court issued notice and sought the response of the Delhi police on the application and listed the application for further hearing on August 3, the date already fixed in the main petition.

The application was filed in a pending petition of the Delhi police in which they have sought restraining media houses from publishing, printing and disseminating confidential information contained in the charge sheet and other such material collected during the course of investigation.

Special public prosecutor Amit Prasad, representing the Delhi police, opposed the channel's application and said he will file a reply.

During the hearing, the high court said there are more heinous cases than this and 20 murders take place all over India daily. "What is so special about this case?" asked the bench.

Was the Nirbhaya case played on TV channels? Why are you choosing this particular case? it asked and wondered whether the channel would similarly display the developments in the Atiq Ahmed murder case investigation.

The court asked the channel's counsel to respond to the queries on the next date of hearing on August 3.

You cannot take the charge sheet in a case and affix them on walls. Some line needs to be drawn about how much these public documents can be displayed on TV, the judge said.

The channel's counsel submitted its fundamental rights were being violated due to the injunction on dissemination of information in the Shraddha Walkar murder case.

Responding to the counsel's assertion, the court asked sharply, This is your fundamental right? To display the matter that is sub-judice on TV? How many criminal cases pending before courts are being displayed on TV?

The court refused to give an early date for hearing the application and said it will be heard on the date already fixed in the main matter.

In its April 19 order, the high court had also directed the Centre to ensure that no news channel displays such material till the disposal of the petition filed by the Delhi police.

Prasad had earlier submitted that Aaj Tak has got access to a video of the narco analysis of the accused and it was restrained by the trial court from showing it or any such content till April 20.

However, he said, an order needs to be passed against all other channels also as the video might have been shared with others and, if telecast, it would prejudice the right of the accused to fair trial.

The high court had also issued notices to the Centre, through the ministry of information and broadcasting, Aaj Tak and Poonawala on the Delhi police's petition.

Poonawala is accused of strangling his live-in partner Walkar and chopping her body into pieces here in Mehrauli on May 18 last year. He stuffed the body parts into a refrigerator before scattering them across multiple places in the national capital over several days to avoid detection.

The Delhi police had filed a 6,629-page charge sheet in the case on January 24.

It had earlier filed an application before the trial court seeking direction for restraining Aaj Tak from utilising in any form the material related to the charge sheet.

The media houses have no vested right to use the material of investigation inasmuch as the charge sheet is not a public document and is not to be used for the purpose of advancing its business to the detriment of larger public interest of affording fair trial to the accused.

"Hence, the trial court should have completely restrained the respondent no. 2 from using any part of the charge sheet, the police said in its plea before the high court.

It said the right to fair trial includes the right to be tried in an atmosphere free from prejudice or else the trial itself may be vitiated on this ground alone causing irreparable, irreversible and incalculable harm and damage to the criminal justice delivery system.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said the government is mulling a possible ban on Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after the former prime minister's arrest.

IMAGE: Imran Khan. Photograph: Reuters

On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of 70-year-old Khan by paramilitary Rangers. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander house, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10.

Talking to the media in Islamabad, Asif said that Khan was still reluctant to condemn the attacks by his supporters on military and civilian installations.

"A decision (to ban PTI) has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway, he told reporters.

He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party.

The minister said that the former premier considered the army as his adversary. "His (Khan's) entire politics was done in the lap of the army and today he has suddenly decided to stand against it," Asif said.

The minister said that Khan's own leaders who had quit the party were saying the same thing. "Whatever I am saying is being said by all the people leaving PTI," he said. They have said that everything happened with planning. In fact, they were facilitated.

He also criticised Khan for not condemning the attacks on the military facilities.

"Till now, he (Imran) has not condemned [the violence] in clear words. He says that he did not know, he was [in custody]. He had his phone, he repeated that this reaction was expected and will happen again if he is arrested, said Asif.

Asif claimed that the vandalism of military installations across the country on May 9 was coordinated attacks" planned by Khan.

"There is a lot of evidence and their people are telling themselves that they were briefed about this beforehand, he said. "I feel that his struggle of a year -- all his plans failed and this was his last move against the armed forces.

The minister said that Khan's party challenged the foundation of the State by challenging the defence installations on May 9.

"Is there any crime that was not committed on May 9? The ISI office was attacked, they tried to enter the Cantonment in Sialkot but that attack was repulsed -- they also set fire to the Lahore Corps Commander's house, he claimed.

However, PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar said that the party would challenge the ban in the court as a political party cannot be banned. He told the media that when a ban was imposed on the Jamaat-i-Islami in the 1960s, it was set aside by then-chief justice Alvin Robert Cornelius.

"Efforts were made to put a ban on Jamaat-i-Islami long ago. The SC had said that you cannot ban a political party and it is everyone's right to form a political party, Zafar said.

He further said that vandalism was an individual act and a political party cannot be banned.

The defence minister also said that the coalition government would take every such step to prevent others from targeting the armed forces in the future. He also said that May 25 will be celebrated to pay tribute to the country's slain soldiers.

Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said the orders and legislations enforced under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime like school textbook revision and anti-conversion laws, which are against the state's interest, would be revised or withdrawn by the new Congress government after reviewing them.

IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: PTI Photo

Amidst demands to overturn the "hijab ban" from various quarters, the minister, without making any direct comment on the issue, maintained that the government will be having a look at all the policies of the previous government which are against the Constitution, against the spirit of building the society, and against the inclusiveness of the society.

"We will relook at every policy matter that the previous government has brought in," he said.

Kharge said the new government would withdraw all the legislations and orders that hamper the state's economic progress and prosperity, and go against the interests of Kannadigas.

"Previous government had decided to observe certain jayantis (birth anniversary of prominent figures) and left out others. Not only jayantis, their orders, whether it is regarding textbooks, anti-cow slaughter, anti-conversion bills (laws), all of them will be revised," he said.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said: "All those bills (laws) and orders that hamper the economic progress of Karnataka, its prosperity, and will affect Kannadigas, will be withdrawn. Making Karnataka once again the number one is our intention, and we will take steps in that direction."

Kharge, the son of AICC President Mallikarjun Kahrge, is one among eight ministers inducted into the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led cabinet last week.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday claimed the ordinance issued for control of services in Delhi implies the Narendra Modi government does not believe in the Supreme Court.

IMAGE: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal meets Shiv Sena-UBT head Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. Photograph: @AamAadmiParty/Twitter

After meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) national convener Kejriwal said state governments were being toppled by using the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thackeray said they have come together to defeat forces that are against democracy.

Kejriwal met Thackeray to seek support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. He said the Shiv Sena has promised to support the people of Delhi when the ordinance comes to the Rajya Sabha in the form of a bill.

This will be like a semi-final in the Rajya Sabha. If the bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, then the Modi government will not come back to power in 2024, Kejriwal claimed.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has three members in the Rajya Sabha.

During the meeting with Thackeray, Kejriwal was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, AAP Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, as well as Delhi minister Atishi.

This was Kejriwal's second visit this year to 'Matoshree', the private residence of Thackeray in suburban Bandra.

Addressing a joint press conference with Thackeray, Kejriwal accused the Centre of using central agencies to topple state governments, and referred to the collapse of the Thackeray government in Maharashtra last year.

The ordinance on control of services in Delhi means the Modi government doesn't believe in the Supreme Court. The ordinance implies that how can the Supreme Court give a judgment against us (the Centre), Kejriwal said.

Backing the AAP leader, Thackeray said the Supreme Court's order was important for democracy.

We have come together to defeat those against democracy. If we miss the train this time, then there will be no democracy in the country. We have come together to save the country and the Constitution, Thackeray said.

Kejriwal said the Centre, through the ordinance, took back all the powers given by the Supreme Court.

In a democracy, power should vest in the elected government as it is accountable to people, he said.

Kejriwal claimed the BJP neither believes in democracy nor the Supreme Court.

The BJP resorted to 'Operation Lotus' in Delhi and when it failed, the Centre brought the ordinance, he said.

They have become arrogant. When one becomes very arrogant, he becomes very selfish. Such a person, who lives with such arrogance and selfishness, cannot run the country, Kejriwal said without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This is not the fight for Delhi alone, but it is for democracy, the Constitution and federalism, he said.

Slamming the BJP, Kejriwal claimed, Their leaders and ministers abuse judges. They run campaigns against judges and call retired judges anti-national. They have given a message that we will bring an ordinance and overturn the Supreme Court's decisions."

Mann said democracy was in danger as some selected people were running the government instead of those elected.

Raj Bhavans have become head offices of the BJP and governors have become star campaigners, the Punjab CM claimed.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance.

The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court..
Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera on Wednesday met the top brass of the Indian military, and discussed issues of mutual interest and ways to enhance existing bilateral relations between the defence forces, officials said.

IMAGE: Chief of the naval staff, Admiral R Hari Kumar and Sri Lanka's Navy Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera (right) pose for a picture during the Guard of Honour ceremony, at the South Block Lawns, in New Delhi, May 24, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Vice Admiral Perera is on an official visit to India from May 23-27.

His visit comes amid China's increasing forays in the Indian Ocean Region.

Vice Admiral Perera called on chief of defence staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Army chief Gen Manoj Pande.

He also called on defence secretary Giridhar Aramane, officials said.

"Vice Adm Priyantha Perera, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy called on Gen Anil Chauhan, #CDS. Discussion focussed on augmenting the strong historical defence relationship, enhancing #defencecooperation by identifying new avenues and regional maritime situation," @HQ_IDS_India tweeted.

It also tweeted pictures of the meeting between the two leaders.

"General Manoj Pande #COAS interacted with Vice Admiral UVMP Perera, Commander of the #SriLanka Navy at #NewDelhi today. #COAS discussed issues of mutual interest & ways to enhance existing bilateral relations between both the Defence Forces," the Army tweeted.

He also called on Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar here and held discussions on collaborative mechanisms towards ensuring peace and security in the region, officials said.

He was received with a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the South Block lawns.

Earlier in the day, he paid homage to bravehearts at the National War Memorial, a senior official said.

During the visit, he will be presiding over the Passing Out Parade of the Spring Term 23 at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, he said.

Vice Admiral Perera on Wednesday called on Admiral Kumar and "held discussions on collaborative mechanisms towards ensuring peace and security in the region," the official said.

India and Sri Lanka share a close and "historically significant" relationship, and both the countries have engaged closely towards reinforcing the existing relations, officials said.

Both countries have enhanced their interactions in the maritime domain substantially in accordance with India's 'Neighbourhood First Policy' and the maritime outlook of 'Security and Growth for All in Region', they said.

The Indian Navy cooperates with the Sri Lanka Navy through various initiatives which include operational interactions such as the bilateral naval exercise SLINEX, hydrography and training.

In addition, warships from both the navies regularly make port calls at each other's ports, the officials added.

The visit by the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy is "symbolic of increasing naval cooperation" between the two navies, they said.

It has renewed the sense of commitment of two friendly maritime neighbours to enhance the security and tackle the maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean Region, the officials said.
The health condition of former Maharashtra chief minister and ex-Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi is critical and he continues to be in a semi-comatose state, a city-based private hospital, where he was admitted two days back after suffering from brain haemorrhage, said on Wednesday.

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde meets veteran Shiv Sena leaders Manohar Joshi in Mumbai. Photograph: Courtesy @mieknathshinde/Twitter

His son Unmesh Joshi also said his father continues to remain unconscious.

Manohar Joshi (85), a veteran Shiv Sena leader, was admitted to PD Hinduja Hospital in a "semi-coma state" on Monday.

In a statement, the hospital said, "Joshi is critical and semi-comatose. His brain haemorrhage is stable. He continues to be in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), being managed medically, and his condition is being closely monitored."

In a medical emergency, Joshi was admitted to the hospital on May 22 in a semi-coma condition. He was breathing on his own and was not on a ventilator, it said.

Talking to PTI, his son Unmesh said his father is unconscious and doctors treating him have asked him to "wait and watch".

"He is unconscious after suffering from brain haemorrhage," he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his wife Rashmi Thackeray visited the veteran leader at the hospital on Tuesday to enquire about his health.

Manohar Joshi was the first Shiv Sena chief minister of Maharashtra after the coalition of his party and the BJP came to power in March 1995.

He has been member of the Shiv Sena since its inception in 1966.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker had also served as the Mumbai mayor, leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, and Union heavy industries minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet.
What was the locus standi of Sonia Gandhi when she along with the then prime minister Manhoman Singh inaugurated legislative buildings in Manipur and Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party asked on Wednesday while countering the Congress's criticism over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Congress's hypocrisy knows no limits," BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla charged as he reminded the opposition party that former prime minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament House Annexe and her successor Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the Parliament Library building in 1987.

As many as 20 parties, including the Congress, have announced a boycott of the ceremony on May 28, demanding that President Droupadi Murmu and not PM Modi do the inauguration.

Accusing the government of "completely sidelining" President Murmu, 19 parties have, in a statement, said they find no value in a new building when the "soul of democracy has been sucked out".

The BJP spokesperson alleged that the Congress had no problem when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the Assembly building and complex in Manipur in 2011.

PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi inaugurating the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly building complex is ok, he said on Twitter.

What was locus (standi) of Sonia Gandhi at these inaugurations? Poonawalla asked.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had inaugurated the central hall in Bihar legislature, Poonawalla said on Twitter.

In these five instances were the President, governors insulted? Poonawalla said, calling the Congress the mother of hypocrisy.

The Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party are among the parties that have announced a boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

Noting that it is a momentous occasion, the 19 parties in a joint statement said, "Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion."

However, Prime Minister Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, "completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," they said.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Janata Dal-United, Communist Party of INdia-Marxist, CPI, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Union Muslim League, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, National Conference, Kerala Congress-M, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Marumalarchi DMK and Rashtriya Lok Dal are the other signatories of the joint statement.

Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad and All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi said his party will also skip the ceremony.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that it was mere "drama" as these parties had never supported the project.

He also maintained that another reason for the boycott might be that the inauguration will be held on a day associated with Veer Savarkar.

The boycott is obvious. They had opposed the construction of the Parliament building in the first place, Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.

The BJP leader claimed that the Opposition had never thought the construction of the new Parliament House would be completed so soon and it came to them like a bouncer.

So, just to save their face, they are enacting a drama of boycott. But the point remains that they never supported the project from day one... We never expected them to be in the function, he added.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi urged the parties to reconsider their decision to boycott the ceremony.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC) will hold an international conference themed "Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Integration: Energy, Economy, Environment and Equality", the NGIC told Trend.

The conference in scheduled to be held in Shusha, Azerbaijan on June 6-7, 2022.

Meanwhile, NGIC annually holds Global Baku Forum, which has already become the premier event in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East, providing an opportunity for distinguished leaders and thinkers to discuss the ways and means to overcome some of the worlds most pressing challenges.
It is all work and no rest when it comes to the action-packed schedule in the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as he emplanes for Delhi from Sydney at the end of his three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, May 24, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Upon his return, the PM is slated to get a gala welcome from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The party workers will accord a grand welcome outside Palam Airport Technical Area for his unprecedented visit to Japan, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

In the last few days, Modi has travelled across three countries holding multiple meetings only to return home for what looks like a packed day at work

Modi will be in Delhi in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

Immediately upon reaching the national capital work beckons for Modi.

Top sources in the prime minister's office told ANI that his first official meeting is scheduled to be held as early as 9 am on Thursday, within a couple of hours of his return to the capital city, his residence since 2014.

At 11 am on Thursday Modi will flag off the inaugural run of Vande Bharat Express from Dehradun to Delhi via video conferencing.

Amongst the other meetings throughout the day, the PM will declare open Khelo India University Games 2022 at 7 pm via video conferencing tomorrow evening.

His recently concluded visit across three countries has been action-packed, to say the least.

Throughout his visit, the PM held meetings with more than 12 global leaders. He participated in three summits and participated in more than 50 engagements.

Modi left Delhi for Japan last Friday, May 19 for Japan. From there he reached Papua New Guinea on Sunday and then went on to his final destination Sydney in Australia.

This was an eventful visit through all of its legs in all three nations,

In Japan, Modi met several world leaders during the G7 Summit and discussed various issues with them. This included US President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Zelenskyy and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak amongst others.

The PM also participated in the third in-person Quad Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan on May 20, 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. PM Modi also unveiled the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima

Unprecedented scenes panned out as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea came to the airport to receive PM Modi and was seen touching the feet of India's PM as a mark of respect.

Two top honours followed as PNG conferred the Companion of the Order of Logohu to PM Modi for championing the cause of unity of Pacific Island countries and spearheading the cause of Global South. Very few non-residents of PNG have received this award, including former US President Bill Clinton.

It's a big honour for India.

PM Modi was also conferred the highest honour of Fiji by the PM of Fiji: Companion of the Order of Fiji in recognition of his global leadership. Only a handful of Non-Fijians have received this honour to date.

Apart from his meetings with the PM of Australia and Modi met leaders from industry and investment firms in Sydney. But the highlight was the grand reception by the Indian community for PM Modi which was also attended by Australian PM Anthony Albanese, who heaped huge praises on PM Modi for his leadership qualities.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday urged 19 opposition parties to reconsider their decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building.

IMAGE: A view of Rajya Sabha in the new Parliament building. Photograph: Courtesy centralvista.gov.in

It was unfortunate that the opposition parties were making an issue out of a non-issue as prime ministers had inaugurated buildings in Parliament premises on earlier occasions also, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday.

The opposition parties contend that President Droupadi Murmu should do the honours as she was not only the Head of State, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it.

"I would like to tell them that this is a historical event. This is not the time for politics. Boycotting and making an issue out of a non-issue is most unfortunate. I appeal to them to reconsider their decision and join the function," Joshi told reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of a national workshop on National e-Vidhan Application.

Home Minister Amit Shah said invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building were sent to all political parties who were free to act according to their wisdom.

"The Lok Sabha Speaker is the custodian of Parliament and the Speaker has invited the prime minister," Joshi said.

The minister said the inauguration of the new Parliament building was an historical event and it was not good to politicise every event.

"After almost a century a historical thing is happening," Joshi said.

Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe building on October 24, 1975 and her successor Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation of the Parliament library on August 15, 1987.
Haryana's home minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi violated the security rules by travelling in an unknown truck allegedly without informing the state police.

Photograph: / Rediff.com IMAGE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi takes a ride in a truck while traveling from Delhi to Chandigarh, Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

According to his party, Rahul Gandhi travelled in a truck from Delhi to Chandigarh to listen to the problems faced by truck drivers.

"Rahul Gandhi travelled in an unknown truck without informing the Haryana police, which is a big violation of security rules," Vij said.

Vij, according to a statement, said if Gandhi wanted to take a "truck tour", he should have informed the state authorities.

"I would have sent a truck with proper security from here, in which he could have roamed as much as he wanted," the senior BJP leader, who is MLA from Ambala Cantonment, further said.

Gandhi undertook the journey Monday night and in visuals and videos, the former Congress chief, donning his trademark white T-shirt, is seen sitting inside a truck, travelling with a driver and speaking to drivers at a dhaba.

"Leader of the people @RahulGandhi ji reached among the truck drivers to know their problems. Rahul ji travelled with them from Delhi to Chandigarh," the Congress said in a tweet in Hindi.

Gandhi also stopped near a gurdwara in Ambala City along the Ambala-Chandigarh national highway early Tuesday morning and paid obeisance there.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday evening, where they are expected to meet the Congress high command and discuss cabinet expansion, and allocation of portfolios to existing ministers.

IMAGE: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar greet each other during the state assembly session in Bengaluru. Photograph: ANI Photo

As per the Chief Minister's official schedule, Siddaramaiah will be leaving for Delhi by a special flight at 6:30 pm, and will halt in the national capital tonight.

According to Shivakumar's office, the Deputy CM will accompany Siddaramaiah.

Details of the Delhi visit has not been shared with media, but party sources said they are expected to meet Congress leadership to discuss allocation of portfolios to Ministers and cabinet expansion.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively along with eight legislators as Ministers on May 20. Portfolios have not been allocated to the Ministers since then.

According to Congress sources, the party high command approved the first list of eight ministers, against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of legislators into the cabinet, as there were allegedly differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over some names, during the discussions held in New Delhi last week, ahead of swearing-in.

Allocation of portfolios to the new Ministers and expanding the cabinet with the right combinations that will strike a balance in having representatives from all communities, regions, factions, and also from among the old and new generation of legislators, is the daunting task ahead of Siddaramaiah.

With the sanctioned strength of the Karnataka Cabinet being 34, there are too many aspirants for ministerial berths.
Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday withdrew from the Delhi high court his interim bail pleas in cases related to alleged irregularities in formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, saying the medical condition of his wife was stable.

IMAGE: Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia arrives to appear before the Rouse Avenue Court in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, in New Delhi, May 23, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma allowed Sisodia to withdraw the interim bail applications.

The senior Aam Aadmi Party leader is being probed by Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate over alleged corruption and money laundering.

Sisodia is lodged in Tihar jail in judicial custody.

He had filed both regular and interim bail pleas on various grounds including his wife's poor health.

Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, representing Sisodia, said since the order on the main bail plea in the Central Bureau of Investigation case is already reserved and the condition of the AAP leader's wife is now stable, he does not wish to press for interim bail.

However, additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the CBI and ED, said it was not a simple case of withdrawal of bail applications.

Raju said the move has come after he accused Sisodia of deliberate suppression of facts by not mentioning in court about the discharge of his wife from hospital.

The high court took note of the law officer's submission regarding suppression of facts and said without going into any such contention, the application is dismissed as withdrawn.

Sisodia's wife is suffering from multiple sclerosis, a potentially disabling disease of the brain and central nervous system. She was hospitalised after her condition worsened but was later discharged.

Sisodia's counsel also briefly argued on his regular bail plea in the money laundering case lodged by ED, and said bail is the general rule and not an exception.

The high court will continue hearing the arguments on his bail plea in the money laundering case on May 26.

The court had earlier directed the Tihar jail superintendent to allow video calls between Sisodia and his ailing wife for an hour every alternate day.

It had said the interim direction shall remain in force till the time it decides Sisodia's regular and interim bail pleas.

The CBI had arrested Sisodia for alleged corruption in formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 on February 26, following several rounds of questioning.

On March 31, the trial court had dismissed Sisodia's bail plea, saying he was "prima facie the architect" of the "scam" and had played the "most important and vital role" in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of Rs 90-100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to licence holders.

The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021 but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
To the editor: Vermont is known as the "Brave Little State." We pride ourselves on being pioneers of forward thinking and for setting an examp
You are the owner of this article.
Zaaina Asra Mahvish-Jammeh,38, of Brattleboro, appears in Windham County Superior Court/Criminal Division on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, for a first-degree murder charge. Mahvish-Jammeh was charged in the death of Leah Rosin-Pritchard, the coordinator of Morningside House which is run by Groundworks Collaborative.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Matin Karimli has been appointed Chief of the staff of the Ministry of Science and Education of Azerbaijan, the ministry told Trend.

Karimli graduated from the Faculty of International Relations and Economy of Baku State University in 1999.

He received an interdisciplinary diploma in European sciences from the University of Strasbourg in France and in 20012002 his master's degree in European sciences.

Moreover, in 2012, he graduated from Harvard University with a Master's degree in Public Administration.

Karimli was Vice President of the National Council of Youth Organizations of Azerbaijan, an officer of the International Partnership Secretariat at NATO's Defense Policy and Planning Division, and the second secretary of the NATO mission of the country.

In addition, he held various positions in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Taxes.

Karimli was Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population in 2014-2020, and since January 2020 - Director of the International Labour Organization Office for Pacific Island Countries.

The chief of the staff speaks English, French, Russian, and Spanish. He is married and has three children.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  A poem written for President Joe Biden's inauguration has been placed on a restricted list at a South Florida elementary school after one parent's complaint.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, poet Amanda Gorman vowed to fight back. Her poem, The Hill We Climb was challenged by the parent of two students at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, along with several books.

I'm gutted, she wrote. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech."

Gorman, who at 17 became the countrys National Youth Poet Laureate, said she wrote the poem The Hill We Climb, so all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, and that shes received countless letters and videos from children who were inspired to write their own poems.

She became an international sensation at Bidens inauguration, where she was the youngest poet to read at the ceremony since Robert Frost was invited to John F. Kennedys in 1961.

In The Hill We Climb, Gorman references everything from Biblical scripture to Hamilton, and at times echoes the oratory of Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. With urgency and assertion she begins by asking, Where can we find light/In this never-ending shade? and used her own poetry and life story as an answer.

She said she planned to share a message of hope for Bidens inauguration without ignoring the evidence of discord and division. She had completed a little more than half of the poem before Jan. 6 and the siege of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

The poem and books are still available in the media center for middle school-aged children, Ana Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade school district, said in a statement.

While book bans are not new, they are happening much more frequently, especially in Florida  where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has championed policies that allow the censorship of books some have deemed inappropriate for children in schools, causing national uproar.

DeSantis, who entered the 2024 presidential race Wednesday, has leaned heavily into cultural divides on race, sexual orientation and gender as he gains support from conservative voters who decide Republican primary elections.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the decision to ban Gormans poem, saying Biden and his administration stands with her.

The President was proud to have Ms. Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet, speak at his inauguration, she said.

Banning books is censorship, period, she added. "It limits American freedom  Americans freedom  and we should all stand against that type of act.

Yecenia Martinez, principal of the K-8 school, which is part of the Miami-Dade public school system, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the poem's ban. The school is named after Bob Graham, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator from Florida.

Daily Salinas, the parent who objected to the poem and books, told the Miami Herald she's not for eliminating or censoring any books. Salinas said she wants materials to be appropriate. It was not immediately clear what she objected to in Gorman's poem.

After her complaint, a materials review committee made up of three teachers, a library media specialist, a guidance counselor and the principal, determined one of the books in question was balanced and age appropriate, and would remain available for all students, the newspaper reported.

The other four were deemed better suited or more appropriate for middle school students. The books were to remain in the middle school section of the media center, the review concluded.

And lets be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on the bookshelves," Gorman's post said. "The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices."
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UPDATE: State officials visited Seaside Park Wednesday and are looking into "potential violations pertaining to prohibited beach raking with motorized equipment." New story here. Original story continues below.

BRIDGEPORT  Horseshoe crabs are survivors, predating the dinosaurs by over 200 million years, according to state data.

But when these seemingly armored creatures meet modern-day heavy duty equipment, it is no contest.

That was the case last weekend. Municipal parks staff using a tractor to clean and rake a section of Seaside Park beach for the summer ran over several of the creatures with the large rounded shells and long tails that mate/reproduce from now through June.

"I think I saw at least nine or ten crushed, total, which is a lot," kHyal, a Bridgeport resident, designer, artist and writer who has made a daily habit of walking Seaside to monitor the crabs, recalled in an interview Tuesday. "And they feel pain. To crush anything is terrible. They're animals, right?"

She said she found and photographed the carcasses by the jetty around 6 a.m. Friday and also early Sunday morning.

"I care about them, so it was terrible," kHyal said.

She is hardly alone. As word spread, the incident alarmed other environmental advocates because of the already steep decline in Long Island Sound's horseshoe crab population.

Paul Copleman, a spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said that agency will probe what happened at Seaside Park.

"Horseshoe crabs are an ecologically-important species of conservation concern due to the depleted state of regional populations," Copleman told Hearst Connecticut Media in an email Tuesday evening. "DEEP is concerned with any negative impacts on horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound and will fully investigate the reported mortality events at Seaside Park."

State Rep. Joseph Gresko, D-Stratford, has been trying for the last few years, including the current legislative session, to pass a bill banning the harvesting of horseshoe crabs because of the loss of the population. Some fishermen use them as bait.

Gresko also works part time for Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim focusing on environmental issues. When he learned about the incident at Seaside, Gresko said he got in touch with Chadwick Schroeder, whom the mayor hired last year as his full-time sustainability coordinator.

kHyal and Madeline Dennis Raleigh, another local environmental activist, had also reached out to Schroeder and parks department staff.

"Look, these 'living fossils' have been around for millions of years," Gresko said Tuesday. "It makes no sense to devastate a population to the point of extinction." He said it is a matter of educating parks crews on the need to safeguard the horseshoe crabs.

Tiadora Josef, Ganim's communications director, in a statement Tuesday evening, wrote, "We conducted a thorough review and engaged in discussion with our park staff to understand the circumstances and take appropriate action."

Josef did not provide additional details of what happened Friday and Sunday mornings, but continued, "We recognize the importance of training our staff in wildlife protection strategies to ensure the well-being of not only mating horseshoe crabs but also other vulnerable species that inhabit our beaches and surrounding ecosystems."

"In the coming weeks and for the remainder of the horseshoe crab mating season, we will work diligently to implement these initiatives and enhance our commitment to protecting threatened animals," Josef concluded.

Bridgeport Parks Commission Chairman Banjed Labrador on Tuesday said that, as far as he is aware, this is the first time people have made an issue about horseshoe crabs at Bridgeport's main beach. He said given the early morning hours that parks personnel rake the sand, it may be difficult for them to even spot the creatures in order to avoid them.

"How do you see a horseshoe crab in the sand and coming off the water?" Labrador said.

Bill Lucey is the Long Island Soundkeeper with the New Haven-based Save the Sound nonprofit. He praised kHyal for drawing attention to the issue and both the city and DEEP for their respective responses to the killing of the crabs at Seaside Park.

"It's good to see people caring," Lucey said.

But, he added, it is not only crucial to protect the mating crabs, but the eggs and hatchlings, by cordoning off the mating areas along the shoreline, similar to what is done to keep the public away from nesting birds.

According to the state, of the potential 90,000 eggs a female horseshoe crab may produce each season, only about 10 will ever reach adulthood.

"I think people have forgotten that we have to share the coastline with a lot of other creatures," Lucey said. "We should look at areas where the crabs are coming up to spawn and mark those. Don't rake them, don't walk on them. Leave them alone as crab nurseries and that will be a great way to rebuilt the population."

kHyal suggested the city at least install signs at Seaside Park to raise public awareness during this time of the year.

"I cannot save animals that are dead. What is the most practical and useful thing I can do as a next step? Prevention and education," she said. "I don't want to point fingers at people or harm people in their jobs. I just want to help resolve a problem I feel is quite serious."
NEW CANAAN  Four years after the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, questions remain as her family and friends continue to mourn her death and await justice.

"We continue to grieve the loss of her loving devotion to her children and family, her friendship, courage, brilliance, humor and singular ability to touch the lives of the people she encountered," said Carrie Luft, a close friend who has acted as a spokesperson for the family since the disappearance on May 24, 2019.

To mark the day, the family is asking the public to donate to the Black and Missing Foundation, an organization that raises awareness for missing persons of color who receive less attention from the media, Luft said.

"Intimate partner violence cuts across gender, economic and racial/ethnic lines and it disproportionately affects women of color," Luft said in a statement issued Wednesday. "In Jennifers honor, we wish to turn the publics attention to the many victims and survivors of intimate partner violence whose stories do not receive widespread media coverage."

Her family and friends are awaiting the trial process as the investigation remains open, Luft said.

While the 50-year-old mother of five has never been found, she has been presumed dead based on evidence of a serious assault that occurred in the garage of her New Canaan home on May 24, 2019.

At the time of the disappearance, Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were embroiled in a heated two-year divorce and custody dispute. Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020 while facing murder, kidnapping and other charges in the case.

His former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with the death and disappearance.

Fotis Dulos longtime friend and former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the case.

The two remaining defendants are free on bond and Mawhinney has opted to take his case to trial. Troconis' case, however, has been stalled amid a dispute over evidence her attorney submitted to prosecutors.

Jennifer Dulos was reported missing around 7 p.m. on May 24, 2019, after friends, including Luft, became concerned that she missed appointments that day in New York City, police said.

Jennifer Dulos was last seen on a neighbor's security video returning home around 8 a.m. that day after dropping off her five children at nearby New Canaan Country School, according to police.

Around the same time that night, police said Troconis was seen on surveillance video in Fotis Dulos pickup truck as he made a series of stops in Hartford. Police said Fotis Dulos was dumping trash bags in bins along Albany Avenue. Police said they later recovered some of the bags, which contained Jennifer Dulos blood and clothing.

Here's what we still don't know about the case:

Where is Jennifer Dulos?

Despite searches in Connecticut and New York that have spanned years, the remains of Jennifer Dulos have not been found. But the investigation is considered active, according to Connecticut State Police, Luft and prosecutors.

The Stamford States Attorneys Office is committed to prosecuting those responsible for the murder of Jennifer Farber Dulos and seeking justice for her family members and friends," Paul J. Ferencek, States Attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk, said in a statement Wednesday. "As the cases against Michelle Troconis and Kent Mawhinney progress in court, we continue to work closely with police on any and all leads related to the case.

Who disposed body?

Troconis and Mawhinney are accused of conspiracy to commit murder, but court documents have not indicated if either of them participated in the disappearance or disposing of Jennifer Dulos' body.

According to court documents, Troconis told investigators she was helping Fotis Dulos clean a home he was preparing to sell in Farmington the afternoon of the disappearance. During the interviews with investigators, Troconis said she thought a blood stain in the pickup truck of an employee of Fotis Dulos indicated the body of Jennifer Dulos had been in the vehicle, court documents show.

Police said they believe Fotis Dulos used the employee's pickup truck to drive to and from New Canaan the day his estranged wife was killed.

Mawhinney has been accused of trying to establish an alibi for Fotis Dulos the morning of the disappearance. Police said Mawhinney was also connected with an East Granby gun club where hunters found what they believed was a shallow grave that was later refilled around the time Jennifer Dulos vanished. Police said a search of the area revealed no signs Jennifer Dulos' body was ever at the site. Police have also not said if they believe Mawhinney may have been involved in the disposal of the body.

Will debate over sweatshirt impact the case?

Troconis' case is next slated to be heard in state Superior Court in Stamford on Friday.

It is unclear if the hearing will focus on the criminal proceedings against Troconis or on the issue of a sweatshirt and some tools her attorney Jon Schoenhorn turned over to prosecutors through another attorney, who is now a judge.

Schoenhorn contends the sweatshirt could cast doubt on whether his client was involved in the killing. Schoenhorn has claimed he may use the item in his client's defense since it contained a hair with the DNA of Pawel Gumienny, a former employee of Fotis Dulos.

Gumienny has not been charged with a crime. He has acknowledged that Fotis Dulos was using his truck on the day of the homicide and told investigators he believed his boss may have been trying to frame him for the crime.

Police believe Fotis Dulos used Gumienny's Toyota Tacoma pickup truck to drive to New Canaan on the morning of May 24, 2019, and then biked to his estranged wife's home where he attacked her when she returned from dropping off their children at school, arrest warrants stated.

Has anyone been offered a plea deal?

Courtroom proceedings have not indicated whether Troconis or Mawhinney have been offered a deal to resolve the case. But it is possible they have been offered a plea agreement to testify against each other.

Weeks after Mawhinney spoke with state police in August 2020, his bond was reduced and he was freed from prison. Discussions in the courtroom have indicated that Mawhinney would likely testify against Troconis if she takes her case to trial.
A Virginia woman who left the United States for more than a decade with her child to avoid sharing custody of her daughter with her former partner says her lawyer suggested she flee.

In a document filed May 19 in federal court in Vermont as part of a long-running civil case, Lisa Miller outlined what led her to leave the country in September 2009 with her then 7-year-old daughter when it was becoming clear she would lose custody of the girl to her former partner Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven, Vermont.

The filing is the latest chapter in a more than two-decade-long legal saga that began in 2000 when Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union, the first statewide legal recognition of same-sex couples.

Their daughter, Isabella, was born to Miller in 2002. The couple split up in 2003. The Vermont family court gave custody of Isabella to Miller, but gave Jenkins regular visitation. Over the years Miller wouldnt comply with the court ordered visitations. There were a series of legal decisions as Miller sought full custody that went against her in favor of Jenkins.

Miller said in her statement that during a summer 2009 meeting with attorney Rena Lindevaldsen to discuss upcoming appeals in the legal case, Lindevaldsen said something like I am going to take my lawyer hat off now and put on my friend hat.

Lindevaldsen then asked Miller about leaving, telling me that if Isabella was her child then she would leave," Miller said in the statement. She pressed the issue, and I told her that I was leaving if plans would solidify but that no date was set.

At the end of the meeting Miller said Lindevaldsen offered to take care of her financial needs after she left using proceeds from a book about the case Lindevaldsen was planning to write. The book, Only One Mommy, was published in 2011.

Lindevaldsen, who describes herself as a defender of traditional marriage, is a law professor at the Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Virginia. Lindevaldsen's biography on the school website says she served as the senior litigation counsel to Liberty Counsel, which had provided legal representation to Miller until her disappearance.

The counsel describes itself as a Christian ministry that is known for promoting conservative causes.

In September 2009, Miller left the United States by crossing the Peace Bridge at Buffalo, New York. Miller and her daughter were picked up on the Canadian side and taken to the Toronto airport where they flew to Nicaragua.

Horatio G. Mihet, who is one of Lindevaldsen's attorneys and vice president of legal affairs and chief litigation counsel at Liberty Counsel, denied in an email on Tuesday that the conversation Miller recounted took place.

Ms. Lindevaldsen and Liberty Counsel consistently advised Lisa Miller that she had an obligation to comply with the court orders, Mihet said. Lisa Millers decision to leave the country was without the knowledge of Ms. Lindevaldsen or Liberty Counsel. Any suggestion to the contrary is outright false.

Miller's attorneys didn't respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Sarah Star, the Vermont attorney who represents Jenkins in the civil case, declined comment Wednesday when asked about the filing.

The document signed by Miller and submitted to court last week was part of a settlement to a civil case filed against Miller and others by Jenkins in 2012. Miller agreed to outline her version of events that led her to flee the country. The civil suit also names Lindevaldsen, the Liberty Counsel and others.

The settlement agreement and the proffer were both signed by Miller on March 21. It was included as part of a motion by Lindevaldsen and the Liberty Counsel on May 19 to have the civil suit against them dismissed. The agreement was marked confidential, but a footnote in the motion to dismiss said Miller's attorney provided it to them with Jenkins' consent, without any agreement to restrict its use, and without first seeking any protective order.

In the proffer, Miller outlined what she would say during an upcoming deposition planned for later this summer. She offered details of her flight that had not previously been made public.

In 2009 she was handed a slip of paper during a service at a Virginia church that had a name and a phone number, Miller said. Two days afterward, and before meeting with Lindevaldsen, she called the number and ended up meeting with two men who later helped her flee. Those twomen and a third person eventually served prison sentences for helping Miller.

Lisa Miller voluntarily returned to the United States from Nicaragua in January 2021 after her daughter had turned 18. She was arrested on arrival. In February 2022 Miller pleaded guilty to a single charge of international parental kidnapping. She was later sentenced to time served and has since been released.

In 2021, Miller indicated in a court filing that Isabella Miller now 21, was living in Virginia and working on a farm north of Charlottesville owned by a Mennonite family.
One-China principle is prerequisite for Taiwan to participate in foreign economic cooperation: commerce ministry

Xinhua) 08:51, May 24, 2023

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the one-China principle is the prerequisite for Taiwan to participate in foreign economic cooperation, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

The comments came after the United States announced that it would sign the first agreement with the Taiwan region of China under the "U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade."

China always firmly opposes countries that have diplomatic relations with it to conduct any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including the negotiation and signing of any economic and trade agreement with sovereignty implications and official nature, said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson urged the United States to adhere to the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, fulfill its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence," and carefully handle economic and trade relations with Taiwan.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. As many as 99.9 million manat ($58.76 million) was spent on mine clearing operations from the 2022 state budget funds allocated for the reconstruction and restoration of the liberated territories in the amount of 4.3 billion manat ($2.5 billion), Trend reports.

This issue is reflected in the "Annual Report on the Execution of the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022", discussed at today's meeting of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, and Entrepreneurship.

Last year, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action was allocated 370,000 manat ($217,650) to clear the liberated territories, as well as other territories of Azerbaijan affected by war and hostilities from mines, unexploded ordnance and explosive devices.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan was allocated 4.9 million manat ($2.8 million) for the purchase of GCS-200 demining complexes, spare and auxiliary parts to them in order to accelerate and improve the quality of demining work in the liberated territories.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States.

The nuclear-powered ship USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed personnel on board. The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometer (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was.

Described as the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the vessel will stay in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday. It is then expected to take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces, reportedly in the Arctic.

The ship's first foreign call was broadcast live on Norwegian public television. Onlookers, some using binoculars, were seen on land watching as the large aircraft carrier glided deeper and deeper into the fjord and eventually reach the city of Oslo.

Laila Wilhelmsen, who stood along the route in Droebak, said that she grew up in the small town about halfway through the fjord during the Cold War in the 1950s and "there were warships here all the time.

I dont know, but now we have teased (Russian President Vladimir) Putin even more. Its scary, I think, she told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

The Scandinavian countrys prime minister, Jonas Gahr Stre, told Norway's news agency NTB that there will come predictable reactions from Russia to this, adding that Oslo was continuing the line we have had in recent years of wanting allied exercises in Norwegian waters.

The Russian Embassy in the Norwegian capital said that such demonstrations of power look illogical and harmful.

Ties between Oslo and Moscow have been tense since Russias invasion of Ukraine. Norway and Russia have a 198-kilometer-long (123-mile-long) border in the Arctic.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration said two of its pilots were onboard to navigate through the more than 100-kilometer (62-mile) long fjord, and that the depth of the 76-meter (250-feet) tall vessel was the big challenge.

The aircraft carrier stays marginally within the maximum depth in the sailing regulations for the Oslo fjord, the administration said.

Later Wednesday, the aircraft carrier anchored off the island of Ormoeya in the inner part of Oslofjord, NTB wrote.

In early May, the U.S. Navy said that the ship had departed from Norfolk, Virginia, on its first combat deployment, following a shorter two-month deployment in the autumn of 2022.

The vessel is the first of the U.S. Navys new Ford class of aircraft carriers. Two more Ford-class carriers are under construction.

The vessel houses about 2,600 sailors, 600 fewer than the previous generation of aircraft carriers.

___

A previous version of this story corrected that the name of the aircraft carrier is the Gerald R. Ford, not General Ford.
PRAGUE (AP)  The Czech government approved a Defense Ministry plan on Wednesday to acquire 246 CV90 armoured combat vehicles as part of a massive modernisation of the military amid the Russian war against Ukraine.

Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said the deal to get the infantry fighting vehicles made by Sweden's BAE Systems Hagglunds AB is worth 59.7 billion Czech crowns ($2.7 billion).

The ministry signed the deal with the Swedish side on Wednesday.

Cernochova said the first CV90s should be delivered in 2026 and all of them by 2030.

In a statement, Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson said he was convinced that combat vehicle 90 is the right choice for the Czech Republic.

According to the website of BAE Systems Hagglunds, there are currently 15 variants of the CV90 in service in seven countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands.

Czech authorities also announced they would negotiate with the German government over a possible deal to acquire German-made Leopard 2A8 tanks.

The Czech military has been using modernized versions of the Soviet-era T-72 tanks and will receive 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany as compensation after they gave Ukraine dozens of T-72 tanks.

The Czech have been also negotiating with the U.S. side to acquire 24 F-35 fighter jets but no deal has yet been approved.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The deficit of the state budget of Azerbaijan was 55.4 percent less than predicted in 2022, Trend reports.

This was noted in the "Annual Report on the Implementation of the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022", which was discussed at the meeting of the Committee of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan on Economic policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship.

Although the upper limit of the state budget deficit for 2022 was approved in the amount of 3.1 billion manat ($1.8 billion), the actual deficit amounted to 1.3 billion manat or $764.7 million (by 1.7 billion manat ($999.9 million), or 55.4 percent less than the projected figure).

The state budget deficit is 1.0 percent of the actual GDP of 2022, which is 2.8 percentage points less than the projected limit. Financing of the budget deficit was carried out at the expense of attracted external loans under signed projects (259.7 million manat o $152.7 million), internal and external debt (976.3 million manat or $574.2 million), privatization of state property (115.4 million manat or $67.8 million) and the balance on the single treasury account (33.6 million manat or $19.7 million).

A significant reduction in the deficit compared to the projected indicators occurred due to tax and customs revenues to the state budget, which significantly exceeded the projected amount, as well as due to the economical execution of state budget expenditures.
Fawad Chaudhry, a key ally of Imran Khan and a significant contributor to his victory in the 2018 elections, has stepped down from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Chaudhry previously served as the minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan in Imran Khan government.

"Ref. My earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan," Chaudhry wrote in tweet.

The continuous pattern of arrests followed by subsequent re-arrests has significantly impacted the morale of PTI members, resulting in their departure from the political scene. Dr. Shireen Mazari, a prominent senior leader of PTI, who had endured five rearrests, ultimately succumbed to the toll it took on her resilient spirit. On Tuesday evening, she officially declared her decision to withdraw from the political arena.

Another notable individual who parted ways with PTI was Fayyazul Hasan Chohan, the former Punjab information minister. He made a sensational declaration of his resignation from the party during a highly charged news conference on the same day.

As reported by The Tribune Express, a total of 24 PTI leaders have publicly announced their separation from the party as of Tuesday.

The mass exodus in PTI follows immense chaos in Pakistan triggered by the arrest of Imran Khan. This led to widespread protests and violence across the country. Imran Khan was eventually granted bail, but that hasn't stopped his leaders from facing arrest.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, on Wednesday, stated that the Pakistan government is contemplating banning Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the political party led by former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan.

The cash-strapped nation has witnessed political instability after the recent arrest and subsequent release of Imran Khan on bail. Imran Khan, who firmly denies the corruption charges, finds himself entangled in a standoff with the current government and state institutions.

"It is under consideration to ban PTI," Asif told reporters. "The PTI has attacked the very basis of the state, that never happened before. It can't be tolerated".

The arrest of Imran Khan triggered widespread violent protests across the nation, resulting in attacks on military facilities and the incineration of government buildings. As a consequence, the individuals involved in the riots are currently undergoing trials in military courts, while leaders of the PTI party face recurring arrests and raids.

As the unrest unfolded, over 7,000 individuals were apprehended, and at least 19 high-ranking PTI officials were arrested, with some taken into custody during overnight raids conducted at their residences. These officials faced allegations of inciting violence.

"This terrorism and mobbing was all pre-planned and this was done by Imran," Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said.

Furthermore, amidst a perplexing political landscape characterised by a cycle of arrests, releases, and subsequent rearrests, PTI leaders find themselves trapped in a revolving door, often resigning from both the party and politics, causing confusion among the public and political analysts alike.

The relentless cycle of arrests and subsequent rearrests has taken a toll on the morale of PTI members, ultimately leading to their departure from the political arena. Senior PTI leader Dr. Shireen Mazari, after enduring five rearrests, finally relinquished her resilient spirit and announced her withdrawal from the political stage on Tuesday evening.

Another significant departure from the PTI came from former Punjab information minister Fayyazul Hasan Chohan, who made a dramatic announcement of his resignation from the party during an explosive news conference on the same day.

According to The Tribune Express, as many as 24 PTI leaders have now publicly parted ways with the party.
During his address in Jakarta, Iran President Ebrahim Raisi signed many agreements to enhance trade ties between Tehran and Indonesia. During his speech, he sharply criticised the US government. The US government's claims that it works to advance democracy abroad are merely "fake," according to the Iranian President who made the statement on Tuesday.

During an official visit to Indonesia, Raisi reportedly stated, "The United States and [some] Western countries are not after democracy, but domination and plundering of other countries wealth. With the rise of emerging powers, the era of US domination has ended, said Iran's chief executive, according to the Islamic Republic New Agency.

Let the Yemeni and Afghan people decide for themselves: Raisi

Raisi argued that Western powers could begin by ensuring Palestinians' ability to determine their own fate if they genuinely want democracy and self-determination. He continued by saying: "Let the Yemeni and Afghan people decide for themselves. Why are you interfering in their affairs?"

The remarks were made by Raisi while he was on his first official visit to Indonesia and were made during a speech he gave promoting Muslim solidarity at an Islamic centre in Jakarta. The strengthening of connections between the Islamic Republic and Indonesia "holds great promise for the progress of the two nations, the region, and the broader Muslim community," Raisi reportedly stated during a meeting with Indonesian House Speaker Puan Maharani, according to state media.

Threats and sanctions against Iran 'unjust': Raisi

Despite the unjust threats and sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made significant progress and has achieved capabilities that have created good opportunities for the development of bilateral relations, Raisi is quoted as saying. Presidents and senior officials from the two nations met on Tuesday, May 23 to approve 11 cooperation agreements.

The agreements concern "preferential trade, visa waivers, cultural exchanges, cooperation on supervising the production of pharmaceutical products, collaborations in scientific, technological, and innovative arenas, and bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sectors," according to media reports.
Flight attendants fired after they commented about passengers who dont speak English or Cantonese

Hong Kong leader John Lee on Wednesday called on the city's flagship Cathay Pacific airline to "retrain" staff after they were reported for alleged discrimination against mainland Chinese passengers on a weekend flight who couldnt speak English or Cantonese.

Cathay said it had fired three flight attendants after a passenger complained about comments from a flight attendant on flight CX987 from Hong Kong to the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Sunday.

Cathay CEO Ronald Lam said the company had carried out an internal investigation after a complaint on social media attaching a recording claiming to be of the flight crew joking about passengers who couldn't ask for a blanket in English wouldn't be given one.

"If you can't say 'blanket' in English, then you can't have one," says one flight attendant on the recording.

According to the post, an announcement also warning people to return to their seats before take-off was only made in Cantonese  and not in Mandarin, the dominant tongue on the mainland  meaning that passengers might have missed crucial safety information.

"I feel deeply indignant and disappointed that these vile remarks and actions took place on a Hong Kong flight," Lee told the opening ceremony of Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation Week in the southern city of Guangzhou.

"These disrespectful remarks and actions have hurt the feelings of both Hong Kong and mainland compatriots, and damaged Hong Kong's reputation for being respectful, courteous and inclusive," Lee said in comments reported by government broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong.

Lee's comments came after the airline was denounced by the People's Daily, the official paper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

"Cathay Pacific has issued an apology, saying that it has suspended the flight missions of the flight attendants and immediately launched an internal investigation," the paper said in a recent commentary. "However, responsibility for the incident obviously cannot just be shifted to the small number of employees involved."

"What Cathay Pacific needs to reflect on is its own management system and corporate culture."

Sense of superiority

The opinion article said the airline was founded by foreigners with British roots, and had "an inexplicable sense of superiority" over mainland Chinese.

"In Hong Kong, China, the countercurrent of worshiping English and looking down on Mandarin will soon be lost in the tide of history," the paper said.

Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Ronald Lam, seen in this file photo, says the company had carried out an internal investigation after a complaint on social media attaching a recording claiming to be of the flight crew joking about passengers who couldn't ask for a blanket in English, saying they wouldn't be given one. Credit: Reuters





Lee called on Cathay to take prompt action to rebuild its public image following the incident, including reviewing its staff training program.

Lam had earlier said: "Cathay Pacific takes a 'zero tolerance' approach to serious violations of company rules and ethics by individual employees and will not tolerate them," Lam said.

He pledged to lead a task force in a total review of service processes and staff training.

"We must ensure that all Cathay Pacific staff respect passengers from different backgrounds and cultures and provide professional and consistent service in all areas served," Lam said.

Hong Kong Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said he was "deeply saddened by the inappropriate remarks made by some crew members" at Cathay Pacific.

"I hope that the review will be completed as soon as possible, and can fundamentally improve the company's system and employee attitudes negative to Hong Kong's reputation as an international aviation hub and a city of hospitality," he said.

Decolonized

The row shows that Beijing is keen to stamp out the legacy of foreign influence in Hong Kong, said current affairs commentator Sang Pu.

"This whole thing has been escalated to show how Hong Kong hasn't been properly decolonized, and how it's still dancing to Britain's tune, by remaining nostalgic for English and Cantonese [rather than Mandarin]," Sang said.

"They are using it to show that Hong Kongers are incapable of respecting non-Cantonese Chinese, particularly mainlanders," he said. "They are escalating it by bringing out the big guns, so people in Hong Kong will be intimidated and then 're-educated' to be more obedient."

"They've made this tiny incident an excuse to target all Hong Kongers, claiming that they're insufficiently decolonized," Sang said. "[They want] Hong Kongers to install their own miniature party committee in their own heads, and then self-censor all of their speech and actions."

Beijing has blamed the 2019 protests and other recent pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong on "hostile foreign forces" trying to foment a revolution in the city, imposing a draconian national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 that criminalizes criticism of the authorities.

In October 2022, social media platform Douyin pulled the plug on a live-stream host broadcasting in Cantonese, a regional Chinese language that is also the lingua franca of Hong Kong.

In 2010, thousands of people took part in mass protests in Guangzhou in support of the Cantonese language after a mainland Chinese political body called for cuts in Cantonese-language broadcasts.

However, fewer recent migrants to Hong Kong are now able to speak Cantonese, amid fears that a growing emphasis on Mandarin could threaten the city's indigenous culture.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The US will be able to avoid default, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said at the Qatar Economic Forum, Trend reports.

"History shows us that the US will fight the threat of default. Everything is decided at the eleventh hour, and I have confidence that we will see this game again," Georgieva said.

The Qatar Economic Forum is being held in Qatar's capital Doha from May 23 through May 25.

The event, organized by the Bloomberg global financial media company, is one of the largest platform in the Middle East where the problems of the global economy are discussed.

The US exceeded the statutory debt limit of $31.4 trillion in January, after which the Department of the Treasury of the country was forced to use emergency measures to continue its financial operations.

At the same time, the US administration has been calling on Congress in recent months to raise the debt limit.

Republicans controlling the House of Representatives agreed to raise the debt limit, but were subject to significant budget cuts, while the White House rejected these demands, saying it was ready to discuss spending cuts, but lawmakers should raise the debt limit without any conditions.

In turn, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen warned Congress that the administration could exhaust emergency measures in connection with reaching the debt limit as early as June 1.

In this case, Yellen repeatedly emphasized, the country will face a default on the federal debt, which will lead to an economic catastrophe in the US, and cause turmoil in the global economy.

So, in order to prevent this, the US president and the leaders of the Republican party have agreed to hold regular consultations.

The debt limit is a limit on the total amount of money that the federal government has the right to borrow with the help of Treasury securities in order to fulfill its financial obligations.

Since the US has a budget deficit, it is forced to borrow a significant amount of funds for the corresponding payments. Raising the debt limit does not lead to the approval of any new expenditures, but allows the government to fulfill financial obligations already approved by the congress and the president.
Report found more than 1,400 airstrikes since the 2021 coup, including almost 500 just this year.

A dog runs past the burning remains of a building after airstrikes and mortar attacks struck a village in Doo Tha Htoo district in Myanmar's eastern Kayin state, May 3, 2022.

Myanmars junta is increasingly relying on airstrikes in its war against groups opposed to its rule, according to tallies compiled by Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, an independent local research group, because its troops have faced fierce resistance on the ground.

The military carried out 1,427 airstrikes across Myanmar since taking power by force in a coup detat on Feb. 1, 2021, the group said in a report released Monday.

During the first four months of 2023, the junta launched 454 airstrikes  a rate that puts it on track for double the 2022s total of 820, the group said.

Most of the attacks have taken place in Kayin state and the Sagaing region  areas where junta forces have struggled to maintain control.

Even former military officers have criticized the armys reliance on airplanes.

The military uses its air power depending on the need for ground operations, said Thien Tun Oo, executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, which is made up of former military officers.

Its funny to say that the military has to use its air power, as its ground troops cannot handle the battles, he said. Thats our opinion.

The number of people killed by junta airstrikes is also increasing every year, said Moe Htet Nay, a research and political adviser for Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica. In 2021, 74 civilians were killed; in 2022, 168 civilians were killed; and during the first three months of 2023, 192 have been killed, he said.

Civilians hide in a cave after airstrikes and mortar attacks on their village in Doo Tha Htoo district in Myanmars eastern Kayin state, May 3, 2022. Credit: Free Burma Rangers/AFP





Civilians targeted indiscriminately

The airstrikes are intended to bring chaos to anti-junta forces and to separate them from villages and civilian populations, Moe Htet Nay said.

The most deadly airstrike came last month when 188 people were killed in Kanbalu township of Sagaing region on April 11.

Political analyst Than Soe Naing believes the junta will continue to target airstrikes at civilian populations, in addition to the Peoples Defense Forces, made up of ordinary citizens who have taken up arms against the military.

The military first used the air forces to relocate its ground troops, he said. But later, the air forces started attacking every possible target of the PDFs. Now, the junta launches airstrikes at any populated place indiscriminately.

Radio Free Asia reached out to a junta spokesman to ask about the airstrikes, but there was no response.

Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica collected data on the airstrikes from reports in more than 40 news outlets, including RFA, Voice of America and Myanmar Now, and through the social media sites of more than 1300 PDFs.

Burned remains of buildings cover the ground in a village in Doo Tha Htoo district in Myanmars eastern Kayin state, May 3, 2022. Credit: Free Burma Rangers/AFP





Some villagers afraid to dig bomb shelters

Kyaw Zaw, spokesman for the presidents office of the shadow National Unity Government, told RFA in early May that they are constructing a system that can notify the public in advance of incoming junta air strikes. The project also includes a proposal to build bomb shelter bunkers.

But many villagers wouldnt dare dig bomb shelter trenches because junta forces believe that families with bomb shelters are aligned with PDFs, according to a resident of Kanbalu township who refused to be named for security reasons.

How can we protect ourselves against the danger of their airstrikes during the battles? Their ground troops destroy our bomb shelters as they raid our places, the resident said.

Debris and soot cover the floor of a middle school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Myanmar the day after an airstrike hit the school, Sept. 17, 2022. Credit: Associated Press





Chinese and Russian entities have sent more than US$660 million in weaponry and other arms-related equipment to the junta since the coup, according to the United Nations special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews.

That includes Russian-made Mi-35 military helicopters, MiG-29 and Yak-130 planes and Chinese-made K-8 jet fighters that have been used by the military to target and destroy civilian homes and buildings, Andrews said in a report last week.

Pro-democracy activists, including NUG acting President Duwa Lashi La, have called on the international community to stop the junta from purchasing military equipment and technology, and to cut off its sources of jet fuel.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
A Catholic church destroyed by arson is seen in Hpruso township in Myanmars Kayah state in this undated photo.

In Myanmar, junta troops arent just terrorizing villages and committing atrocities  theyre looting and destroying historical sites and cultural artifacts, villagers say.

Ever since soldiers set fire to scores of houses and church buildings in Thantlang, in the northern Chin region, in late 2021 and early 2022, theyve been raiding homes to steal jewelry, shaman ropes, handwoven bags and drums, said Yaw Maung, from the civilian administration office in Mindat thats linked to the anti-junta opposition.

Soldiers knew they were significant and precious, he said.

Wildlife preserves and national parks are also being destroyed as a result of the fighting.

Nationwide, over 132 religious buildings have been destroyed by arson and gunfire, and others have been looted and designated construction projects by the regime. The pace of destruction has increased this year, residents say.

The looting and destruction appears to be part of military efforts to break the spirits of locals, terrorize areas with strong resistance forces and destroy ethnic culture. In the midst of the juntas land grabbing in liberated areas, valuable sites are among the hardest hit.

As culturally significant areas around the country face damage from gunfire, airstrikes and raids, the shadow National Unity Government  made up of former political leaders ousted by the military in the 2021 coup and other opponents  has taken measures to designate them as heritage sites.

Protecting treasures

Toward that end, the NUG established the Interim Board for Heritage Administration last June. It has coordinated with consultative councils, resistance groups and Peoples Administrative offices across Chin, Sagaing, Magway and Kayah States to try to protect these areas. Some strategies include PDF groups driving fighting away from these sites, guarding historical monuments and educating these local administration offices on conservation techniques.

So far, the board has designated 59 heritage sites across Magway and Sagaing regions, including already recognized UNESCO sites like Hanlin and the Pyu archeological site of Beikthano, as well as others, like pagodas and schools. The board says that they have proposed around 100, though.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Kayan Tharyar (South) village, Loikaw township, in Myanmar's Kayah state, was severely damaged by artillery shells fired by junta forces, May 24, 2021. (Citizen journalist)





Hanlin, a village and archeological site with UNESCO recognition, was among the first to be designated as a protected heritage site in late 2022. But in January, 100 soldiers based in the ancient Pyu village set fire to one monastery and 50 houses the neighboring Kan Gyi Taw village.

This is a war crime, Interim Board for Heritage Administration spokesperson Soe Thura Tun said. Its against the Geneva Convention and other conventions our government signed.

Since the coup, Hanlin has been subjected to several types of culture destruction, including the torching of villages and the theft of artifacts. Despite being listed under the boards recognized sites, the area has remained a battleground.

We dont have enough forces for things like [full-time protection]. Its our problem until now. Even in Hanlin, they attack it frequently. Our resistance forces try to protect it, but its not successful every time, Soe Thura Tun said.

Threatening wildlife

The fighting and disruptions have taken a toll on wildlife habitats as well.

Mount Victoria, a sprawling national park located in northern Chin State, was lauded by both ASEAN and UNESCO for its biodiversity and decade-long conservation.

But as the Burma Army attacked surrounding villages, displaced people and villages within the park have taken a toll as theyve needed to supplement their livelihood. This has threatened the wildlife the state had worked for a decade to preserve, Yaw Maung said.

Yaw Maung said hes heard reports of people killing up to 200 birds a day, hunting large bears and other endangered animals in the park. He says the farmland has expanded into the park by 10 hectares (1,000 acres) and rampant timber trade also threatens the area.

Its headed for something way worse because of the war thats going on everybody is fighting for survival, said.

Smoke rises from explosions of heavy weapons used by Myanmar junta near a Pagoda in Lay Kay Kaw town in Karen State, Dec. 19, 2021. (Citizen Journalist)





In the northern region of Sagaing, similar concerns are surfacing.

One of the hardest-hit areas is Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, where illegal logging is shrinking forest land, according to satellite images, said Henry, an expert for the heritage board and as a technical advisor for the opposition Nation Unity Governments Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

While educating peoples administrative offices on how to best preserve these regions, he says reports of complications on the ground continue to surface, including airstrikes, security while monitoring the areas and working with peoples defense forces that are not under the National Unity Government.

There is so much damage to the natural heritage sites compared with the cultural heritage sites, he said, requesting to use a pseudonym to protect his identity.

In some areas, its very remote, so its very difficult to control and reach the resources. So those kinds of limitations are always heard from the local administrative bodies. They report so many challenges.

Seeking refuge

Civilians often seek shelter in places that hold cultural and historical significance, believing that they would be safe from attack there, Soe Thura Tun said.

They like to stay in such kinds of places because they will be protected. People do not like to attack such kinds of areas, pagodas, churches, everything. he said. Its simple. Were anxious for our people.

Administrators and advocacy groups report these attacks are on the rise. In Karenni State, four church buildings were burned in 2021, killing four villagers who were sheltering in one.

Over 2022, the number of damaged and destroyed churches rose from 12 to 36, with attacks on Buddhist temples also growing, according to Banyar, director of the Karenni Human Rights Group.

This is part of the strategy of the junta. When they approach the area, they went to three particular areas. The first area is the temple or church, he said.

He added the military takes these, along with schools and community centers, as bases because theyre often centrally located in the town with a fence and strategic vantage points. The troops take those buildings mainly by force, so theyre shelling those areas first.

For many, the concern with fading culture and heritage is intertwined with the loss of livelihood and increased demands of international humanitarian assistance. Both UNESCO and the Myanmar Archeology Association declined to comment, citing a lack of ongoing cultural projects in the country.

These kinds of ethnic cultures are not being documented, not being recorded, not being encouraged, not being preserved, Yaw Maung said. Then they are just evaporating into oblivion, like they never existed.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.






Locals say the 5 were members of the civil disobedience movement.

Agape Hospital, Hakha township, Chin state in a photograph taken in May, 2023.

Junta troops have raided a hospital in Myanmars northwestern Chin state, arresting a doctor and four nurses, according to a local resident.

The local identified the five women as Dr. Ci Ci Lia and nurses Henny Zivalem, KhupSian Lun, San Hniang Sung and Van Niang Mawi, all ethnic Chin.

They were arrested at midnight [Sunday] and informed they would be questioned, said the resident who declined to be named for security reasons.

Many soldiers came to the hospital at the time of the arrest.

Agape Hospital is a privately-run medical facility, set up by the Presbyterian Church in Myanmar, which said it wanted to provide basic healthcare to a state with insufficient facilities.

The doctor and four nurses all joined Myanmars civil disobedience movement soon after the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, the local told RFA although they said the junta had not given a reason for the arrest.

The five are being held at the local police station in Hakha township and have been allowed to see their families.

Other residents told RFA troops arrested at least 15 people in Hakha township on Sunday evening when they checked lists of visitors staying overnight.

Sundays raid follows a similar one on April 2 when troops arrested two doctors and a staff member at Agape Hospital.

Locals say the three were freed in exchange for the release of junta officials who had been detained by the Chin Peoples Defense Force in Hakha, suggesting the latest arrests may also be part of a planned prisoner exchange. RFA has not been able to confirm this independently.

The Chin Peoples Defense Force confirmed Sundays arrest of the five medical workers but did not comment on any possible prisoner swap.

RFA called Chin states junta spokesman and social affairs minister Thant Zin Wednesday, seeking comment on the latest arrests, but the calls went unanswered.

Last week the junta revoked the business licenses of three private hospitals in Myanmars central Mandalay region.

Palace, City and Kant Kaw hospitals had already been told to stop accepting patients because they were using staff belonging to the civil disobedience movement.

According to Myanmars parallel National Unity Government, the junta has attacked hospitals and clinics 188 times since the coup.

They damaged 59 ambulances and seized 49 more, the NUGs Ministry of Health said, adding that 71 medical workers were killed and 836 arrested in the past 27 months.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
A guard stands in a watchtower of Kashgar Prison in Kashgar, northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, May 3, 2021.

A Uyghur motorcycle repairman detained in a Xinjiang prison since 2017 for making a religious pilgrimage abroad died in jail and his body was delivered to his family in late April, people with knowledge of the situation said.

Memettursun Metniyaz, a resident of Maralbeshi county in Kashgar prefecture, was jailed in early 2017 for completing the hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, years before.

He was 55-60 years old at the time of his death in April, according to a local residential committee member who oversaw the delivery of his body to his family.

Though the length of his sentence is unknown, Metniyazs detention occurred amid a larger crackdown on Uyghurs beginning in 2017 during which Chinese authorities arbitrarily detained both ordinary and prominent Uyghurs in re-education camps and prisons.

While researching information suggesting the release of prisoner corpses from Tumshuq Prison in Maralbeshi before the Eid al-Fitr holiday in late April, RFA learned that authorities discharged the body of Metniyaz about 40 days ago.

He passed away due to diabetes while in prison, the residential committee member said. He was serving time in Tumshuq Prison for performing the hajj pilgrimage.

Prison authorities transferred the prisoners bodies to police stations in various Maralbeshi townships, including Seriqbuya, about one week prior to Eid, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, said a source in Maralbeshi.

The residential committee employee contacted by RFA said she visited Metniyazs family about 40 days ago to monitor his funeral.

The delivery of the body created a stir in Seriqbuya town, witnesses said.

Police cars suddenly emerged and armed officers assigned to maintain security did not provide any explanation for their presence, prompting bewildered local merchants to clear the streets and enter their shops, a shopkeeper said.

They told us not to stay outside, the shop owner said. Police cars were everywhere telling us not to gather in crowds and to go inside.

The following day, residents learned that police had transferred Metniyazs body to a family living in the area.

A police officer in Maralbeshi said authorities distributed several prisoners bodies before Eid al-Fitr, though he did not know the number, the source or the cause of death.

Translated by the Uyghur Service. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcom Foster.
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
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what I've been following during the past week and what I'm watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has appointed Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). Ahmadian replaces Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, an ethnic Arab who had served as secretary of the key policy-shaping body since 2013 and recently signed a China-brokered agreement aimed at mending ties with Saudi Arabia.

Shamkhani had come under scrutiny over his ties to British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari, who was hanged in January after being convicted of spying for the United Kingdom. Shamkhani, a former defense minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, has also faced allegations of corruption, which he denies.

He was appointed to the SNSC by former relative moderate President Hassan Rohani. According to conservative political activist Mansoor Haghighatour, the hard-line Raisi had sought to replace Shamkhani since taking over as president in 2021, but had not been able to find a suitable replacement.

Raisi settled on the 62-year-old Ahmadian, a dentist and a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War who rose through the ranks of the IRGC and headed the IRGC's Strategic Center. Ahmadian also previously served as chief of the IRGC's Joint Staff and as commander of the IRGC's naval forces.

Unlike Shamkhani, who served under various governments, Ahmadian does not have any political experience, and he's virtually unknown to the public.

Why It Matters: Ahmadian's appointment comes at a critical time for the Islamic republic, which faces an ailing economy crushed by U.S. sanctions as well as widespread anti-regime sentiment following the recent wave of nationwide antiestablishment protests. It also comes amid speculation about who might succeed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 84 and who underwent prostate surgery in 2014.

What's Next: Analysts believe the reshuffling in the SNSC is unlikely to have an immediate impact on state policies in the Islamic republic, where the supreme leader has the last say in all state matters.

"I don't think there will be a change in domestic policies, state repression, and foreign and regional policies," Paris-based analyst Reza Alijani told RFE/Rl's Radio Farda.

Alijani noted that Shamkhani was replaced with "a military figure who had been until now active behind the scenes" and who does not carry any political baggage, unlike his predecessor.

Sina Azodi, a lecturer of international affairs at George Washington University, told me that Ahmadian's appointment highlights the increasing control of the IRGC over the country's affairs.

"I think that Shamkhani's departure -- who was close to the reformists, he was Khatami's defense minister, and to pragmatic forces, he was appointed to the SNSC by Rohani -- is yet another sign of the growing influence of IRGC forces in Iran's security establishment and decision-making," Azodi said. "Shamkhani remains the highest-ranking Iranian naval officer and is being replaced by an IRGC commander of lower rank, which in itself is interesting."

Azodi also suggested that Ahmadian's nomination to the SNSC could have an impact on the succession process by giving the IRGC more influence.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Prominent photojournalist Yalda Moayeri has protested the sharp rise in executions in Iran, where over 200 people have been hanged so far this year.

The family of Mahsa Amini has accused Iran's security forces of vandalizing the grave of the young woman, whose death while in police custody in September 2022 ignited nationwide protests that turned into one of the biggest threats to the Islamic republic's leadership since it took power in 1979.

What We're Watching

Iran's judiciary has announced that two imprisoned journalists who helped break Amini's story -- Elhahe Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi -- will go on trial next week. A judiciary spokesman said on May 23 that Mohammadi's preliminary hearing will be held on May 29, while the hearing for Hamedi will be held on May 30.

The two journalists face a number of charges, including "collaborating with the hostile government of America, conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against national security, and propaganda against the establishment."

Hamedi's husband, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlu, was quoted by domestic media as saying on May 23 that the lawyers of the two imprisoned journalists have not yet been able to meet with them.

Why It Matters: Mohammadi from the Sharq daily and Hamedi from Hammihan have been in prison since September for doing their jobs: covering Amini's September 16 death while in the custody of the morality police and the ensuing several months of nationwide antiestablishment protests in Iran.

Hamedi reported from the Tehran hospital where Amini was taken following her arrest for allegedly violating Iran's hijab rule, while Hamedi reported from Amini's funeral in her hometown of Saghez. Their plight highlights the dire situation of press freedom in Iran, which is listed 177th out of 180 nations ranked in Reporters Without Borders' 2023 press freedom index.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.

Until next time,

Golnaz Esfandiari

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
Russian forces targeted Kyiv with multiple waves of air strikes early on May 28, Ukrainian officials said, describing the air raid as the "largest" drone attack on the city since the start of the war.

The strikes came on the last Sunday of May when the Ukrainian capital celebrates Kyiv Day, the anniversary of the city's official founding 1,541 years ago.

The Tavberidze Interviews Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vazha Tavberidze of RFE/RL's Georgian Service has been interviewing diplomats, military experts, and academics who hold a wide spectrum of opinions about the war's course, causes, and effects. To read all of his interviews, click here.

Ukrainian defense systems downed at least 40 drones, with falling debris killing one person and wounding two others, the officials said.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said Russia used the Iranian-made Shahed drones in the pre-dawn attacks on Kyiv, the largest Ukrainian city with a population of around 3 million.

"Today, the enemy decided to 'congratulate' the people of Kyiv on Kyiv Day with the help of their deadly [unmanned aerial vehicles]," Popko wrote on Telegram.

"The attack was carried out in several waves, and the air alert lasted more than five hours," he added.

Falling debris set a three-story warehouse on fire in the Holosiyivskiy district in the southwestern part of Kyiv, destroying 1,000 square meters of building structures, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Falling drone debris also caused a fire in the Solomyanskiy district, a busy rail and air transport hub in the city's west.

The roof of a nine-story building was set on fire by debris in the Pecherskiy district, and a shop was damaged in the Darnytskiy district, military administration officials said on Telegram early on May 28.



Russia has intensified missile and drone strikes on Ukraine after a lull of nearly two months, targeting military facilities and supplies with waves of attacks several times a week.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group have reportedly begun relocating from some of their positions in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to some senior Ukrainian officials and British intelligence.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the mercenary group that has spearheaded the attack on Bakhmut, on May 25 said his fighters were starting to leave the city and would be replaced by regular Russian troops.

Prigozhin claimed his fighters had captured Bakhmut, an assertion rejected by Kyiv officials who said Ukrainian forces still control parts of the devastated city.

At the same time, the Ukrainian side confirmed "certain rotational movements" of Russian forces in Bakhmut.

"Indeed, they are replacing [forces], but how massively, how much [Prigozhin] will really withdraw the units of this criminal group -- it will take a little time to verify," Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatiy told state television on May 27.

Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a statement on Telegram that Russian forces were continuing to attack Bakhmut but that overall offensive activity had decreased in recent days.

"The decrease in the enemy's offensive activity is due to the fact that troops are being replaced and regrouped," Maliar said on May 27. "The enemy is trying to strengthen its own capabilities."

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, also told the BBC in an interview published on May 27 that Wagner mercenaries were leaving Bakhmut but cautioned they were "regrouping to another three locations" and "it doesn't mean that they will stop fighting with us."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
As spring comes to an end in the landlocked Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, local cowboys must drive their horses high into the mountains in search of greener pastures. During the three-day journey, the men hardly get a moments rest as they guide over 150 horses along busy highways and up the sides of ridged mountain slopes. The grueling trek takes the riders through stunning scenery and to remote locations that evoke the rich nomadic history of the Kyrgyz people.
Russian mercenaries from the private Wagner Group have reportedly begun relocating from some of their positions in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the war in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, according to senior Ukrainian officials and British intelligence.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the mercenary group that has spearheaded the attack on Bakhmut, on May 25 said his fighters were starting to leave the city and would be replaced by regular Russian troops.

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.

Prigozhin claimed his fighters had captured Bakhmut, an assertion rejected by Kyiv officials who said Ukrainian forces still control parts of the devastated city.

At the same time, the Ukrainian side confirmed "certain rotational movements" of Russian forces in Bakhmut.

"Indeed, they are replacing (forces), but how massively, how much he (Prigozhin) will really withdraw the units of this criminal group -- it will take a little time to verify," Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatiy told state television on May 27.

Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a statement on Telegram that Russian forces were continuing to attack Bakhmut but that overall offensive activity had decreased.

"Yesterday and today there have not been any active battles -- neither in the city nor on the flanks," she said on May 27, adding that Moscow's troops were instead shelling the outskirts and approaches to Bakhmut.

"The decrease in the enemy's offensive activity is due to the fact that troops are being replaced and regrouped," Maliar said. "The enemy is trying to strengthen its own capabilities."

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, also told the BBC in an interview published on May 27 that Wagner mercenaries were leaving Bakhmut, but cautioned that they were "regrouping to another three locations" and "it doesn't mean that they will stop fighting with us."

British military intelligence said in its daily report on May 27 that Wagner fighters "have likely started to withdraw from some of their positions" in and around Bakhmut.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said on May 27 that fighting has continued in and around Bakhmut, as Russia pounded the devastated city and its surroundings with air strikes.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram on May 27 that Russian forces have continued attacking but "overall offensive activity has decreased."

WATCH: Civilians caught near the front line in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region continue to be evacuated. Serhiy Siryak and his wife, Tamara, from the town of Stepnohirsk, finally decided to leave when their house was destroyed by Russian shelling.

Malyar said Ukrainian troops "firmly hold" the heights north and south of Bakhmut.

Earlier, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its daily report on May 27 that Ukrainian forces repelled 25 Russian assaults on their positions in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Two people were killed and five others were wounded by Russian shelling in Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on May 27. One person was killed in Chasiv Yar district and one in Vasyukivka, Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.



Fighting has been under way also around Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region, where Russian forces are attempting to consolidate their tactical position, the Ukrainian military said.

A missile strike also hit a village in the eastern Kharkiv region overnight, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said on May 27, adding that the missile caused some material damage but no victims.

Meanwhile, authorities in Russian-occupied Berdyansk, in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhya region, reported several explosions on the outskirts of the city that they blamed on Ukrainian drones. The information could not be independently verified.

Russian officials also reported drone attacks on oil installations in two regions.

In Pskov, not far from the border with Latvia and Belarus, at least one administrative building of an oil pipeline was damaged early on May 27 in an explosion caused by the attack of two drones, regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on Telegram, without saying where the drones came from. The explosion occurred near the village of Litvinovo. Vedernikov said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, the local council reported that a drone attacked a station that serves the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline near Erokhino, some 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Druzhba is one of the world's longest and densest networks of oil pipelines.

According to the Baza telegram channel, which is linked to Russian security services, drones also attacked the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.

In the Kursk region, the local governor said shelling from Ukraine killed a construction worker near the Ukrainian border.

None of the reported attacks inside Russia could be independently verified.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
LEIPZIG, Germany, May 24. The UK aims to affirm commitment to strengthen global efforts to achieve zero life-cycle GHG emissions from international shipping by 2050 at the latest, Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport of the United Kingdom, said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at the International Transport Forum's Annual Summit on 24 May 2023 in Leipzig, Germany.

"In order to keep 1.5C alignment alive, we further commit to work to agree interim international reduction targets for 2030 and 2040 and to ensure that mid-term measures to reduce emissions are adopted by 2025. We recognize that the public and private sectors will both have an important role in delivering on our ambitions. We commit to collaborating with private sector partners to advance decarbonization solutions," he said.

Harper pointed out that to it is important to align decarbonization solutions with the needs of transport users.

"To this end we will develop policies to facilitate sustainable travel choices. We will ensure that our decarbonization policies capture widespread co-benefits for our health, our economies and the places in which we live and work," he added.
Roman Anin is a Russian investigative journalist who worked for Novaya gazeta and was among the founders of the independent iStories outlet in 2020.

He has taught journalism in Moscow and worked with international networks including the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in addition to his work investigating millions of documents leaked among the so-called Panama Papers. He has also reported deeply on the leadership within Russias Federal Security Service (FSB).



In 2021, Russian authorities labeled him a foreign agent. He resides abroad.



Anin spoke with RFE/RLs Georgian Service recently about potential risks to Vladimir Putin stemming from the Russian leaders decision to invade Ukraine, the current maneuvering for power by men like Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and National Guard head Viktor Zolotov, and whether a possible Russian defeat in Ukraine could spell a new Time of Troubles.



RFE/RL: Many Western experts are skeptical of a scenario in which Putin is challenged or ousted inside Russia and the Kremlin. If the title of your piece (on iStories in January) is anything to go by -- A Clan War For Putin's Throne Has Begun -- you dont share that skepticism. Why not?

Roman Anin: I believe that the war of clans for his throne has begun. It doesn't mean that they will overthrow him. Putin is 70-something years old; hes not a young man. That means that his circle understands that sooner rather than later he will die or he will step down. They realize that they need to work on the different scenarios after his death. And the problem of his circle is that its so split, they have been constantly fighting against each other for dozens of years now, for access to him, for the opportunity to influence his decisions, for power. These fights were sometimes not cold but fought.



There are plenty of examples. Take [Security Council member and National Guard (Rosgvardiya) Director Viktor] Zolotov, for example, who is very close to Putin -- or rather used to be very close to Putin. He used to be his bodyguard, a guy who spends most of his time together with Putin.

Zolotov hates [Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Aleksandr] Bortnikov, and Bortnikov hates Zolotov; theyre constantly fighting. That makes it very difficult for them to agree about a possible successor. And thats why I think that it actually increases the chances that one of them, or a coalition of them, will start acting even before Putins death or before he loses power -- just because they will realize that they don't want to lose time.

RFE/RL: When you write that a battle for Putins throne is already raging, what do these people want: to replace Putin or to get closer to the tsar, to whisper in his ear?



Anin: It's even simpler. They want to save their lives, assets, the lives of their relatives. They understand that after Russia loses the war -- because nobody among them believes in the victory anymore -- they understand that it will be the starting point of this battle for the throne. And the one who loses the battle will lose everything -- power, assets.

Imagine that the next president of Russia is somebody from [Nikolai] Patrushevs clan, who is the head of the National Security Council of Russia, one of the major governmental bodies of the country. That means that people who were fighting against him during all these years will not be able to save their assets, and even [their] lives or maybe freedom, and they understand that. And thats what I believe will make a war really be fought. They will be fighting for their lives.



Because the other problem is that they're stuck on this boat -- because of the sanctions, because of their involvement in various crimes. They can't leave the country. They can't just say, OK, let's betray Putin and go somewhere. Theyre stuck there. And imagine snakes stuck in the same bottle and they just hate each other.



RFE/RL: Whats the take of Putin himself on this power struggle? One interpretation is that hes trying to set his underlings against each other so as to remain strong while theyre being weakened.



Anin: Before the war, that really was a part of his strategy. He loves to behave as judge in those battles of the inner circle. Today, it's obviously not the case, because those public clashes between [former bodyguard and Wagner Group founder Yevgeny] Prigozhin and [Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu, between Prigozhin and [Chechen Republic head Ramzan] Kadyrov, they definitely don't make Putin's power stronger. It's vice versa; they're making it weaker.

Putins problem is hes a politician who is constantly afraid of making decisions, who would rather sit and do nothing and wait until the problem somehow solves itself.



RFE/RL: Thats a strange assessment of a man who made a decision to invade his neighbor.



Anin: But these are different types of decisions. Because he believed, when he made this decision, that it would be a very easy war; they believed they would conquer Ukraine in three days. So, he wasnt actually risking anything.

[Putin] will remain as a near-Hitler, as one of the worst dictators, one of the persons who started one of the cruelest wars in in Europe. He wanted to live on in the history of Russia and the world somewhere in between Peter I and Catherine the Great. But he will be somewhere between Hitler and [former Libyan leader Muammar] Qaddafi."

The decision to do something inside his clan [is different] -- and actually he doesnt have that many choices, Putin. If you read public statements of Prigozhin, of many other opinion leaders, so-called patriots, they have already started criticizing him. They have already started saying that he is betraying the country.

These are very serious accusations, and either Putin acts himself -- meaning he starts repressions against his former allies -- or it will become too late. And that's a very difficult decision. Its ridiculous that such a kind of decision for him is more difficult than the decision to invade Ukraine. And he hasn't made this decision. But I believe that as we are approaching the presidential elections, the more he will have to act, and I believe that we will witness repressions against his former allies.



RFE/RL: Another decision he could have made, but hasnt, is to appoint some kind of successor-in-waiting. Why hasnt he done that?



Anin: I believe because he doesn't have a good figure. He knows that his clans are separated, and it's very difficult to find somebody who will serve all the clans. And simultaneously because he's really afraid for his freedom and life. He's afraid of losing power. I think the biggest regret he must have these days is that he doesnt have a son who could become a natural successor.

Five years ago, I did a story about his bodyguards -- how they started getting positions in different agencies, especially in secret services. And I asked one of the bodyguards, Why is Putin doing that? And the answer was really simple: Because he trusts these people. These people for 20 years stood behind his back with a gun and they didn't kill him, you know?

Finding a successor is a really risky decision, because how can he be sure that the successor will not betray him the next day after he becomes the president? That is why he's afraid, and I'm sure that Putin will go for another presidency.



RFE/RL: What does this power or succession struggle spell for his legacy, which he's so obsessed with?



Anin: I think it has become clear these days what his legacy is and what his historical role will be. In the history of Russia and the world, it is clear today, he will remain as a near-Hitler, as one of the worst dictators, one of the persons who started one of the cruelest wars in in Europe. He wanted to live on in the history of Russia and the world somewhere in between Peter I and Catherine the Great. But he will be somewhere between Hitler and [former Libyan leader Muammar] Qaddafi.



RFE/RL: Lets discuss those who are vying for his throne, and lets begin with the most notorious one -- thats definitely Prigozhin. Who is the happy grandpa that Prigozhin was mocking in his recent videos? Is it [Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces General Valery] Gerasimov, as he later claimed, or the bunker grandpa, as Putin has been repeatedly been called since the war?



Anin: Im absolutely sure that it's Putin, not Gerasimov. First of all, Grandpa is the nickname of Putin, and everybody knows it. Prigozhin chose that nickname not accidentally. Then, of course, he realizes that Gerasimov is officially in charge of what they call the special military operation, but all the major decisions are, of course, made by Putin. And the decision whether to provide weaponry and ammunition to Wagner is made not by Gerasimov but by Putin.

[Prigozhin] sees Wagner as this kind of military group that represents the interests of the majority of Russians, and if Russians need it, they will be ready there. Thats a very dangerous statement and nobody noticed. But I believe that Putin and his people in the Kremlin really read between the lines."

And what is also really important and interesting in the framework of this war of clans and Prigozhin himself was his public statement [in the same video]...that they are going to leave Bakhmut on the 10th of May. And everyone paid attention only to the first part of this statement. But, in my opinion, the last part was more important. What he said was that we will leave on the 10th of May, and we will wait until the Russian people need us, which we believe is going to happen really soon if you look at how our leaders are acting.

It was obvious that he was referring to some kind of revolution, coup, or whatever. So he sees Wagner as this kind of military group that represents the interests of the majority of Russians, and if Russians need it, they will be ready there. Thats a very dangerous statement and nobody noticed. But I believe that Putin and his people in the Kremlin really read between the lines.



RFE/RL: If so, can Putin really afford for Prigozhin to get away with this? There was also this other statement where he said something to the effect of, We should cut our losses, consolidate our gains, and freeze the war in Ukraine. People have been thrown into jail in Russia for much less.



Anin: Absolutely. Again, these statements weaken Putins power. Its very interesting, because theyre very dependent on each other. Prigozhin is in charge of 50,000 people at the most important section of the front lines. If they leave, you know, that will be the end of the war -- or at least that will be a very serious defeat of the Russian Army.

Prigozhin is dependent on Putin because they cant fight without ammunition, without weapons. So I believe that Putin is dreaming more than [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy that Prigozhin dies there -- that would be the best solution of his problem.



RFE/RL: What does it say about Russia itself that a former strangler of women, a bandit, and now a guy who prances around with a sledgehammer is vying for the top spot in power? We do have historical analogues here, the precedent of Stalin being a bank robber. But still.

When [Putin] became president, Russia was one of the most developed, elite countries of the world. Where is it today? Its such a tragedy, of course, first of all for Ukraine, but [look at] what Putin also did to Russia: He threw his country dozens and dozens of years back, and I don't know how much time it's actually going to take to recover or whether the recovery is possible at all.

Anin: I actually dont think there were examples, at least in recent history, of such a country. Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine that I am somewhere in 2007, and a screenwriter from Hollywood comes to me and says, Look, here's an amazing book or script which says that Russia starts a war against Ukraine, Putin is sitting in his bunker for two years, the main military guy is an ex-criminal who was beating women and robbing them. He is recruiting tens of thousands of prisoners and they're being killed on the front line without anything, and Russia is becoming the most isolated country, somewhere between Iran and North Korea. I would have told the screenwriter that he's crazy. But this is the reality.

We were talking about Putin's legacy. When he became president, Russia was one of the most developed, elite countries of the world. Where is it today? Its such a tragedy, of course, first of all for Ukraine, but [look at] what Putin also did to Russia: He threw his country dozens and dozens of years back, and I don't know how much time it's actually going to take to recover or whether the recovery is possible at all.



RFE/RL: If Prigozhin, indeed, has some sort of big game plan in mind, what would be his selling pitch to the Russian people?



Anin: We have to admit that he's very talented PR guy, and he was already selling this idea that, Look at these fat cats from Rublevka, the wealthiest part of Russia. They betrayed the country. They're sending your sons to the front line without anything. They stole everything. Your sons are dying there. I know how to win the war, but these traitors don't allow me. They don't allow us to win.

The Tavberidze Interviews Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vazha Tavberidze of RFE/RL's Georgian Service has been interviewing diplomats, military experts, and academics who hold a wide spectrum of opinions about the war's course, causes, and effects. To read all of his interviews, click here.

And Russians are buying that. He's becoming more and more popular. Because hes actually saying the truth, or he is saying something that resonates with Russians. Because, unfortunately, the majority of Russians do support the war, or at least maybe not the war itself but they think these days that if we started the war, then there is no way for us to lose it. We've got to go until the end. And Prigozhins ideas resonate with Russians.



RFE/RL: Hes also the only one who can, to some extent, claim some sort of success in Ukraine, compared to others.



Anin: Exactly. Thats what Ukrainians say. Thats what Western experts say. And thats what people in Russia say: That his private army is more effective than the official army.



RFE/RL: With all that in mind, who do see coming out on top in this Prigozhin versus Shoigu and Gerasimov duel?



Anin: It really depends on what's going to happen after and during any Ukrainian counteroffensive. Things can start changing and developing really quickly, and I'm afraid that we are a step before the start of the real chaos in Russia -- unless Putin decides to withdraw the troops, close the country, proclaim a military dictatorship, arrest all his enemies, and transform the country into really a North Korea.



RFE/RL: If he decides to do such things, will he be able to do that?



Anin: Thats the thing; I think he's not ready to do that, and he's hoping for a miracle. He's not doing anything. He's kind of stuck in his bunker. And that's why he's criticized, you know. If you read the most popular Z channels, they're saying, Where is our leader? What is our plan? Are we going to win? He's afraid to do that, and thats why I think that he will not do that. And on the one hand, I am afraid; on the other hand, I hope that the successful [Ukrainian] counteroffensive will start this hot fight between elites, this chaos.

Imagine a situation where this coalition of clans brings the head of Putin to the International Criminal Court and promises that 'we will withdraw all the troops from Ukraine on the borders of 1999, we give security guarantees to Ukraine, and in return the West guarantees our safety -- ours and our assets -- cancels all sanctions, and let's start from the beginning.'"

But I am afraid that somebody even worse can win this battle. And that will be the real challenge for the West. How is the West going to act? Because imagine Prigozhin wins the battle, and now the country with the second-biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons is in the hands of a notorious criminal, a criminal who is even worse than Putin, a crazy criminal, a sadist, a guy who loves torturing people and killing them.

And I hope the West has a plan for how its going to act if somebody like Prigozhin or [Igor] Girkin (aka Igor Strelkov, who played a role in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and supported armed separatists in eastern Ukraine) or anybody else wins the war [for power].



Unfortunately, there are no reasonable people within the elite, those with power. Liberals are very weak. There are some liberals within the Putin circle  people like [longtime Kremlin strategist Sergei] Kiriyenko, people like [Aleksei] Kudrin, people like [Anatoly] Chubais -- but these people don't have physical power. In a failed state -- and in my opinion Russia has become a failed state -- the one with the biggest gun wins. Those liberal forces, both within Putins circle and in general in Russia, unfortunately dont have this power; they cant use it.



RFE/RL: Another colorful figure is Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the notable Chechen academic, as you dubbed him in your article, who was ready to replace Wagner troops with his own Akhmat detachment in Bakhmut. What realistic or unrealistic ambitions might Kadyrov have in this power struggle?



Anin: I think that actually the majority of experts kind of exaggerate his ambitions. I don't think that he has any kind of presidential ambitions or even more. If you look at what he's doing in his republic, he has been putting his relatives in major posts within the republic. It's ridiculous. I think he has appointed more than 25 or 30 members of his family in the most important posts in Chechnya.



RFE/RL: A monarchic approach?



Anin: Exactly. In my opinion, he just wants to be where he is right now: the leader of Chechnya, the king of Chechnya, a guy who can do whatever he wants in Chechnya and continue receiving federal money. Its an amazing state within the state thats being financed by all Russians. Chechnya, I think, is more than 90 percent dependent on money from the federal budget. So, I don't think that he has any other ambitions rather than to just stay there in power and die on his throne and give his power to one of his relatives.



RFE/RL: Let's move on to the less colorful figures then. We have this myriad of clans, like [Security Council Secretary Nikolai] Patrushev, the [billionaire Yury] Kovalchuk, the [oligarch Igor] Sechin, and so on. How would you assess their chances of coming out on top?



Anin: Well, of course, all of them are different. It is believed -- well, I think its a fact -- that Kovalchuk is the second [most powerful] person in the country. He's one of the closest to Putin, and definitely he was the one who knew about the invasion, and maybe he was the one who influenced this decision. We dont know, but thats what the majority of experts think.

Simultaneously, those people who are considered to be the oldest friends of Putin -- like Sechin, [Rostec defense conglomerate CEO Sergei] Chemezov, Kovalchuk -- there are a lot of fights between them as well. For instance, [Transneft head Nikolai] Tokarev, who used to serve with Putin in the KGB in Germany, is constantly fighting with Sechin, whos also an old-time friend of Putin. In some cases, theyve even resulted in criminal cases against people. People within the inner circle cant start criminal cases against each other, so what they do is that second or third people, subordinates [do it], and it hasnt changed.

And sources are telling me that those fights have intensified in the last year because the pie is becoming smaller. They understand that the risks are higher, and, of course, they want to protect their clan in the best way, and they want to weaken other clans. Its all going on behind the curtain. But the most important, the majority of them, we dont see them.



RFE/RL: In your piece, you kind of partitioned those into three major camps. One of them was bloodthirsty, which contained people like Prigozhin and so on; then we had the privileged, which included Putins inner circle, more like oligarchical, finance-minded persons; and then there was this dark horse of patriots, people who want to remove the upper echelons of Kremlin power because of corruption and incompetence, but they also want to win the war. How is this race shaping up?



Anin: The best option for Russia -- and not only for Russia, but for Ukraine and the whole world -- would be if the clan of the privileged wins. What I mean by that is that within this inner circle of Putin -- I mean, there are no good people, all of them are corrupt, all of them are involved in different crimes -- but there are some people who are more reasonable than Prigozhin or Strelkov.

And if the coalition of these people realizes in the end that they can stop the war and can change everything in Russia really quickly -- imagine a situation where this coalition of clans brings the head of Putin to the International Criminal Court and promises that we will withdraw all the troops from Ukraine on the borders of 1999, we give security guarantees to Ukraine, and in return the West guarantees our safety -- ours and our assets -- cancels all sanctions, and let's start from the beginning.

I believe that the West, which is really already tired of the war, will agree to that, because it will mean the victory of Ukraine, the end of the war, and the start of a new relationship with Russia. It actually would be the best-case scenario. And I really hope that the coalition of what we call the privileged, will sooner rather than later understand it; otherwise, Russia will be stuck somewhere in between Prigozhin and Strelkov. And this is not a very good option.



RFE/RL: What happens if Ukraine wins the war on the battlefield?



Anin: We all hope that it will happen, that Ukraine will win on the battlefield. It would mean the start of chaos in Russia and the start of this war of clans that weve discussedthe start of Smuta (the so-called Time of Troubles in Russian history from 1598 -1612.) And then well see who wins this war.

We cant predict the scenarios afterwards. The range is so wide -- from complete chaos and the transformation of Russia into a kind of African state with gangs and constant fighting on the streets to a transformation into a democratic country in 20 years or 50 years. I dont know. It will depend on whos going to win this war for the throne.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, during a surprise visit to Kyiv on May 24, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called in a video address for allies to speed delivery of promised F-16 fighter jets.

The visit comes a day ahead of a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), which consists of dozens of countries that have supported Kyiv in its fight against Russia's invasion.

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.

"We talked about the ongoing training of our servicemen on British territory, about the main priorities and importance of this training. We had the opportunity to shake hands with pilots who trained in Britain and are already successfully using the Storm Shadow weapon," Reznikov said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

Wallace noted that the long-range Storm Shadow missiles supplied by Britain to Ukraine were the first of this type, the statement said.



"We provided this kind of weapon because of Russia's continued use of its long-range missiles, which it uses to harm civilians and critical civilian infrastructure," Wallace was quoted as saying.



Reznikov on May 23 held a phone call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who provided his Ukrainian counterpart with an update on recent U.S. security assistance efforts for Ukraine.



The UDCG virtual meeting is to discuss ways to sustain Ukraine's armored maneuver capabilities and bolster its air defenses against Russia's continued attacks, the Pentagon said.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said the providing of U.S.-made F-16s to Kyiv is a clear sign that Russia is destined to lose the war in Ukraine.



"The very first Ukrainian F-16 will be one of the strongest signals from the world that Russia will only lose because of its aggression. It will be weaker and further isolated," Zelenskiy said.



"The main thing is speed in training and in supply, meaning the time between decisions in real protection for our skies," he added.



Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said three Ukrainian remote-controlled surface vessels had attempted to attack a Russian warship in the Black Sea.



The ministry said in a Telegram post that the Russian craft had been protecting the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines that transport gas from Russia to Turkey but that no damage was done to it and that all attacking vessels were destroyed.

Kyiv did not immediately comment on the claim, which could not independently be verified.



On the battlefield, Russian shelling of Ukraine's Kherson region has killed two civilians and wounded three others, a regional official said on May 24.

"Russia targeted residential quarters of civilian-populated areas, and infrastructure objectives in [Kherson's] Beryslav district," the head of Kherson's regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram.

Prokudin said Russian forces carried out 64 shellings of the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government in Kherson, using heavy artillery, Grad missiles, tanks, and drones.



After Ukraine recaptured parts of the Kherson region last fall, Russian forces have been shelling the region and the city of Kherson almost daily from across the Dnieper River.



In eastern Ukraine, fighting for control of Bakhmut and its surroundings is still under way, with Ukrainian defenders repelling 26 assaults by Russian forces over the past 24 hours, Ukraine's General Staff reported on May 24.



Russia's main directions of attack concentrate around the Bakhmut-Avdiyivka-Maryinka front line, which remains at the epicenter of hostilities in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.



Russian forces have also been launching attacks on Lyman, north of Bakhmut, and Kupyansk, in the Kharkiv region, the military said in its daily report from the front.



Both Russia and Ukraine have recently claimed success in Bakhmut.



Russia claims it has the city under its control after months of fighting that is estimated to have claimed thousands of casualties, but the Ukrainian military says it has been advancing on the northern and southern flanks of the city, aiming to encircle it.

WATCH: A Ukrainian spokesman said on May 22 that Russian forces walked straight into a "trap" in Bakhmut, with Ukrainian troops advancing on the flanks of the town poised to encircle them.

Meanwhile, fighting appeared to cease around Russia's Belgorod region a day after armed fighters allegedly coming from inside Ukraine launched one of the largest cross-border incursions since the start of the war.



Pictures purporting to show abandoned or damaged Western military vehicles, including U.S.-made Humvees, have circulated on social media.



The Ukrainian government has denied any role in the events, while the U.S. State Department voiced skepticism about Russian claims that U.S. military equipment had been used in the alleged incursion.



"We've seen some of the reports circulating on social media and elsewhere making claims that U.S.-supplied weapons were used in these attacks. I will say that we're skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told a media briefing on May 23.

"As a more general principle, as we've said, as Ive said yesterday, we do not encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia, and we've made that clear. But as we've also said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war," Miller added.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Hungary is interested in developing a partnership with Azerbaijan, Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said, Trend reports.

He made the remark during the meeting with Minister of Agriculture of Azerbaijan Majnun Mammadov.

Mammadov informed in detail about the main directions of the strategy of agrarian development in Azerbaijan, state support of the agricultural sector, implemented innovative projects at the meeting.

"Cooperation between the two countries in all spheres is developing dynamically. We support initiatives to strengthen cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary in all spheres. There is a reliable and favorable business environment in Azerbaijan," he said.

Mammadov urged Hungarian entrepreneurs to evaluate investment opportunities in Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Nagy pointed out that Hungarian entrepreneurs are interested in investing in Azerbaijan. He also noted that incentive measures will be taken in this direction.

The possibilities of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary in the agricultural sector were discussed at the meeting. The sides emphasized that Azerbaijan and Hungary have great potential for expanding partnership in the field of agriculture.

The transfer of modern technologies in the field of agriculture, the training of specialists in the agricultural sector and the export of agricultural products can become the main areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary in the field of agriculture.

The parties agreed to involve young Azerbaijani specialists in the practice programs operating in Hungary, to continue cooperation in the field of animal husbandry, to study Hungary's experience in the field of poultry farming and to start cooperation in this field.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. A regular meeting of the Economic Council of Azerbaijan has been held, the Cabinet of Ministers told Trend.

The agenda of the meeting held on May 24, 2023, and chaired by Prime Minister Ali Asadov, Chairman of the Economic Council, considered the economic situation over the past period of this year, global and regional economic projections, forecasts of socio-economic growth in the country for 2023 and the medium term, including forecasts for the oil and gas sector.

The draft amendments related to improving tax administration, stimulating investments and ensuring greater transparency in the economic sphere were also considered.

Moreover, the work done and activities to be implemented according to the indicators of World Bank Group's "Favorable Business Environment" project and other current issues were also discussed.

At the same time, the report of Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and the report of Commission on Business Environment and International Rankings were presented at the meeting.

Following the meeting, decisions were made on the issues discussed, and instructions were given to the relevant authorities.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. A delegation of Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency (AREA) under the Ministry of Energy headed by Deputy Director of AREA Kamran Huseynov took part in the 25th meeting of the Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in UAE's Abu Dhabi, Trend reports.

Huseynov took part in high-level panel discussions on such topics as "The path to COP28: Energy transition based on renewable energy sources and critical materials", "Global state of the market and geothermal energy technologies", "Financing of projects in the field of renewable energy sources".

He also took part in meetings of the program and strategic, as well as administrative and financial committees.

Moreover, during the speeches, information was provided about the energy transition of Azerbaijan and projects implemented in the field of renewable energy sources, geothermal energy potential and prospects of the country in this area.

Bilateral meetings were held related to cooperation with the Global Geothermal Alliance, the exchange of experience in the field of green hydrogen, the use of existing platforms and supporting mechanisms of IRENA in green energy projects implemented in the country.

A number of meetings related to the expansion of future cooperation were held between AREA and IRENA representatives.

At the event, which was attended by representatives of 113 countries and the EU, Azerbaijan was elected a member of the administrative and financial committee for the next two years.

According to the decision adopted at the 13th session of the IRENA Assembly which took place on January 14-15, 2023, Azerbaijan is a member of the IRENA Council for 2023-2024.
SOUTH Yorkshire is one of the top three burglary hotspots in the UK, according to research by a security firm  but the regions police force lead says local problem-solving plans are in place to tackle the awful crime.

Research by alarm company ADT looked at government and ONS data to determine the rates of all burglary types for different police force areas across the UK.

South Yorkshire Police had the third highest rate of burglary offences, recording 8.10 incidents per 1,000 people from 2021 to 2022 just behind Greater Manchester, which took the top spot with 8.22, and Cleveland in second (8.13).

The West Midlands was ranked fourth with a figure of 7.28 offences, while London in fifth with just over six.

The research also looked into what time of year burglaries occur the most in the UK with more than 282,200 in quarter three to quarter four  an increase of more than 5,000 incidents compared with the previous quarter.

The study follows recent ONS figures for recorded crime, reported by the Advertiser earlier this month, which revealed an increase in almost all categories in South Yorkshire.

Among the rising statistics, the ONS found residential burglaries had increased 16 per cent from January to December last year compared with January to December 2021, although police stressed the 2021 figures were lower due to the effects of the pandemic lockdowns.

Commenting on the ADT research into all burglary types, Supt Peter Thorp  South Yorkshire Polices force lead for burglary, said: We are aware of how traumatic it is to be a victim of burglary, especially in your own home.

People should feel safe and secure in their homes and this type of offending is particularly invasive and distressing.

As a force, we recognise the need to continue the significant work underway to tackle the rise in burglaries we see at certain times of year, and we remain steadfastly committed to providing an excellent, victim-led service.

Prevention activity in our neighbourhoods remains the backbone for our long-term delivery of burglary reduction.

As part of this, our force analysts identify areas with emerging issues and officers then apply an evidence-based policing approach to develop local problem-solving plans which are tailored to those communities.

The force reviews this crime type in detail on a monthly basis, ensuring responses and investigations are progressed effectively.

We have been working proactively to increase patrols as well as our use of preventative and enforcement tactics to protect potential victims of this crime type and reassure residents.

We continue to encourage the public to report any burglary incidents to us, along with any information that may assist us in identifying those who commit these awful crimes.
Amit Shah

Historical 'Sengol' to be installed in the New Parliament Building: Amit Shah

NEW-DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that the historic 'Sengol', a symbol of power handed over to India by the British rule, will be installed in the new Parliament House. The Home Minister said, a historical tradition will be revived in the inauguration ceremony, which has a tradition behind it for ages. It is called Sengol in Tamil, the word meaning full of wealth.

Home Minister Amit Shah said, on 14 August 1947, a unique incident took place. After 75 years, most of the citizens of the country are not aware of this. Sengol has played an important role in our history. This Sengol became a symbol of the transfer of power. When PM Modi got this information, a full investigation was conducted. Then it was decided to put it before the country. The day of the inauguration of the new Parliament building was chosen for this.

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'Sengol' is now in a museum in Allahabad. The country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took 'Sengol' as a symbol of the transfer of power from the Britishers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28. Amit Shah said that the purpose of establishing 'Sengol' was clear even then and is still the same. He said that transfer of power is not just about shaking hands or signing a document and it should be integrated with local traditions keeping in mind the modern needs.

He said, "Sengol today represents the same spirit that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947." The Union Home Minister said that the new Parliament Building is an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foresight.

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He said, "In a way, the new Parliament House is a proof of Prime Minister Modi's foresight. It is a beautiful attempt to combine our cultural heritage, tradition and civilization with modernity in building a new India."

He said that on the occasion of the inauguration, the Prime Minister will also honor the 60,000 workers who contributed to the construction of the Parliament Building. Shah said that invitations have been sent to all political parties for the inauguration of the new Parliament building.




Asmit Dorjee

Asmit Dorjee Commenced her Journey on April 3

JHARKHAND: Scripting History, the Senior Instructor of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) Asmita Dorjee has conquered Mt.Everest (29,002 feet) on Tuesday. Asmit Dorjee commenced her journey on April 3 and reached the Everest base camp on April 14 following an 8-day trek through the Khumbu region. She reached the top of Everest and hoisted the Indian tricolor and Tata Steel flag.

Notably, Asmita reached Kathmandu from Delhi on April 6. From there they started the arduous journey to Everest on April 14. After reaching the base camp they completed the rotation process. After this, on May 18, she left for Camp-3. On May 22, she started climbing Everest from Camp-4 at around 10 pm and successfully completed her journey at 8:20 am. Last year, Asmita went on the Everest expedition without oxygen supplement but just before 100 meters, she fell unconscious.
Australia

Federation University in Victoria & Western Sydney University in New South Wales had Banned Admissions of students from India

MELBOURNE: In a major setback for Punjabis who are going to study in Australia. Two other universities in Australia have banned admissions of students from Punjab, Haryana and some other states due to the increase in fake visa applications.

Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales wrote to education agents last week instructing them not to admit students from Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh as well as the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

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"The University has observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications refused by the Department of Home Affairs from certain Indian regions," the letter to Federation University agents said.

"We had hoped that this would prove to be a short-term issue but it is now clear that a trend is emerging," a published paper wrote. Last month, Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, Torrance University and Southern Cross Australian universities, and many more had banned students from some Indian states in the country.
German stocks tumbled on Wednesday after another round of U.S. debt ceiling talks ended without an agreement.

If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. government will be unable to pay its bills and will default on its debt.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously warned lawmakers that a default in early June is "highly likely."

Following recent hawkish talk from several Federal Reserve officials, investors also waited for the minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting earlier in May for additional clues on the Fed's rate hike path.

The benchmark DAX dropped 216 points, or 1.3 percent, to 15,936 after losing 0.4 percent in the previous session.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
The debt limit deadlock in the U.S. which continued with no resolution in sight dampened market sentiment across asset classes and regions. Monetary policy uncertainties were heightened amidst inflation in the U.K. falling less than expected and anxiety ahead of release of the FOMC Minutes.

European benchmarks are trading lower. Wall Street Futures are trading in negative territory. Asian stocks finished trading with deep losses.

Dollar is firm near the flatline. Bond yields are moving mixed. Crude oil prices rallied amidst falling inventories in the U.S. and speculation about further output cut by the OPEC. Gold edged higher. Cryptocurrencies plunged again.



Here is a snapshot of the world at this hour across stocks, currencies, bonds, commodities and cryptocurrencies.

Stock Indexes:

DJIA (US30) at 32,935.80, down 0.36%

S&P 500 (US500) at 4,131.60, down 0.34%

Germany's DAX at 15,876.15, down 1.71%

U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 7,623.55, down 1.80%

France's CAC 40 at 7,245.74, down 1.80%

Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,266.15, down 1.76%

Japan's Nikkei 225 at 30,693.50, down 0.85%

Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 7,213.80, down 0.63%

China's Shanghai Composite at 3,204.75, down 1.28%

Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 19,077.00, down 1.82%

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.0751, down 0.18%

GBP/USD at 1.2374, down 0.32%

USD/JPY at 138.51, down 0.05%

AUD/USD at 0.6568, down 0.62%

USD/CAD at 1.3555, up 0.38%

Dollar Index at 103.52, up 0.03%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 3.686%, down 0.27%

Germany at 2.4325%, down 1.24%

France at 3.010%, down 0.99%

U.K. at 4.2700%, up 2.67%

Japan at 0.408%, up 0.62%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (Jul) at $78.29, up 1.89%

Crude Oil WTI Futures (Jul) at $74.42, up 2.07%

Gold Futures (Jun) at $1,977.55, up 0.15%



Cryptocurrencies:

Bitcoin at $26,746.52, down 1.97%

Ethereum at $1,816.61, down 2.14%

BNB at $308.71, down 1.51%

XRP at $0.4549, down 1.44%

Cardano (ADA) at $0.3676, down 0.57%

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The Pentagon has said the United States will be involved in providing training to Ukrainian fighter pilots on the F-16 aircraft.

At a Pentagon news conference, Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said training on the F-16 might begin in the next few weeks or months, though he couldn't yet say exactly who would be doing the training.

Last week in Japan during a meeting of G7 leaders, including those from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, President Joe Biden said the U.S. will support an effort with partners and allies to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on how to use the aircraft.

Tuesday, Gen. Ryder explained in further detail that the training, and any eventual transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine is meant to support mid- and long-term defense needs, rather than defense in the short term for an expected counter-offensive against Russian forces.

Currently, no number of F-16s, any indication of where those aircraft will come from, or when they will be delivered, has been revealed.

"The training will take place outside of Ukraine at sites in Europe. But in terms of ... when that training will begin, how those jets will be provided, who will provide them, we're continuing to work with our international partners on that front," Ryder told reporters.

For some time, F-16s were not on the table for Ukraine. But recently, the U.S. agreed that partner nations can train Ukrainians on use of the aircraft. At the last Ukraine Defense Contact Group in April, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin received several requests from countries who wanted U.S. permission to train Ukrainians on the F-16.

"He subsequently introduced that matter to the U.S. National Security Council policy process, and there was unanimous agreement that this was something that we should and need to support," Ryder said.

The F-16 aircraft is an American weapon system, and nations who want them must work with the U.S. to acquire it. Foreign military sales agreements also mean that those who own the F-16 must seek permission from the U.S. before they transfer those aircraft to other nations.

Since the very first meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in April 2022, the DOD has said the focus is not just on Ukraine's immediate defense needs  but its long-term defense needs. Ryder made it clear that the F-16 training and any eventual transfer of aircraft to Ukraine will be part of that long-term support plan.

The F-16 is a single-engine, supersonic, multirole tactical fighter jet plane that can outmaneuver most other warplanes, while also carrying almost any bomb or missile in the U.S. Air Force's arsenal.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has been saying that Ukraine is badly in need of F-16 fighters to counter increasing pressure from Russian attacks.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijan's social expenditures have increased by 4.4 billion manat over the past 5 years, the Head of the Parliamentary Committee of Azerbaijan Tair Mirkishili said at the meeting of the committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship, Trend reports.

According to him, only last year 36.1 percent of budget expenditures, or 11.5 billion manat ($6.7 billion), were social expenditures, which is 1.2 billion manat ($705.8 million), or 12.4 percent more in comparison with a year earlier.

"The share of social expenditures in budget expenditures increased by 4.4 percentage points compared to 2018, and in total amounted to 4.3 billion manat," Mirkishili said.

Labor costs related to socially oriented expenses amounted to 7.4 billion manat or $4.3 billion (970.7 million manat ($570.9 million), or 14.9 percent more than in 2021) in 2022, social benefits expenses - 3.5 billion manat or $2 billion (309.6 million manat ($182.1 million), or 9.6 percent more than in 2021 year), 94.1 million manat ($55.3 million) were allocated for the purchase of medicines," he added.
Delta Air Lines leads among U.S. air carriers in on-time arrival rates, according to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Delta Air Lines recorded the highest on-time arrival rate of 79.2 percent for March, followed by Alaska Airlines (78.1 percent) and United Airlines (76.9) percent.

Hawaiian Airlines has the worst record of On-Time Arrival Rate, 59.5 percent.

Delta Air Lines also leads in cancellation of flights.

The Atlanta-based airliner and Spirit Airlines share the highest rate of 1.7 percent canceled flights in March.

Hawaiian Airlines leads in least number of cancellation with 0.7 percent.

For the first three months of 2023, cancellations have stayed below 2 percent and are far lower than last year's 2.7 percent cancellation rate. The Department of Transportation said it is currently investigating several domestic airlines to ensure that they are not engaging in unrealistic scheduling of flights.

In March, airlines reported 13 tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights, and one tarmac delay of more than four hours on international flights.

The Department said it received a high volume of air travel service complaints and inquiries against airlines and ticket agents in recent months.

The Department's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection is working diligently to process the large number of complaints and inquiries received, it said in a press release.

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Universities should be in the business of fostering understanding. Goodboy Picture Company/Getty Images.

By Professor Pedro Tabensky, Director: Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics.

Most philosophers of education or philosophically inclined scholars of education in the past century and a half would agree with the claim that, ideally, education should be the practice of freedom. That is, it ought to cultivate the ability to intelligently decide how we want to shape our lives. The aim of education should be to foster human autonomy.

Im thinking here of a diverse array of scholars. Among them are some of the most influential philosophers of education and educational theorists of the 20th century: the American John Dewey, Brazilian Paulo Freire and Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Yet theres little evidence that their views have played any significant role in shaping the global contemporary education sector, including the tertiary sector.

If these scholars are correct, universities and educational institutions too often dont understand what they are doing. Its a shocking indictment on the higher education sector. After all, educational institutions are in the business (or should be) of fostering understanding.

I am the director of the Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics, located in Rhodes Universitys Department of Philosophy in South Africa. I have for many years been trying to make sense of educations purpose and wondering why there is such a great discrepancy between what scholars of education have been telling us and what happens in the classroom.

What the big thinkers have had to say

The aforementioned authors believe that education should help to shape well-adjusted individuals who can contribute to the common good  as opposed to merely lending a hand to what is already there. Merely lending a hand is expressive of a limited understanding of the norms guiding professional work, and hence distorts autonomy.

Dewey thought that education should promote intelligent growth, the sort that defines an autonomous agent. In Deweys own words:

Impulses and desires that are not ordered by intelligence are under the control of accidental circumstances. It may be a loss rather than a gain to escape from the control of another person only to find ones conduct dictated by immediate whim and caprice; that is, at the mercy of impulses into whose formation intelligent judgement has not entered. A person whose conduct is controlled in this way has at most only the illusion of freedom. Actually he is directed by forces over which he has no command.

An educated person can adapt to lifes challenges by critically and sensitively engaging with what is given. The alternative is what Dewey describes as someone whose conduct is controlled  by forces over which he has no command and hence lacks freedom. This is a subject who is unable to develop a proper understanding of the forces that undermine freedom.

Sadly, it is this sort of existence that very many contemporary universities promote. Universities aim to produce efficient professionals rather than autonomous agents who are able to adapt to lifes challenges and understand the forces that impinge on their formation.

The reality

Universities follow on from primary and secondary education by training students to be uncritical servants of the status quo, to apply their intelligence in specific spheres of life and not to ask too many questions beyond the narrow scope of their engagements.

It is this approach that the American philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky describes in an interview when speaking about the contrast between indoctrination and genuine education.

This sort of narrowly circumscribed thinking lacks the expansiveness of the critical mind  a mind able to stand back, consider and influence autonomous action.

Intellectual subordination

In an interview which forms part of the 2012 documentary The Lottery of Birth, Jeff Schmidt, a physicist and the author of Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-battering System That Shapes Their Lives, says:

Professionals are deliberately produced to be intellectually and politically subordinate.

He illustrates this idea with the anecdote of two young nuclear weapons designers working in a nuclear weapons design laboratory. When asked by a journalist what the worst part of their job was, they rejoined that it was dealing with unstable computers lacking sufficient capacity.

They were not, it seems, able to consider the higher purposes they were blindly serving. The scope of their concerns was subordinated to the aims of others in power  their employers.

Education as freedom

There are ways in which this approach to education can be challenged. For instance, at the Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics, weve developed a programme called IiNtetho zoBomi (isiXhosa for conversations about life).

It aims to complement the current university offering to foster the educational ideals propounded by the scholars Ive discussed here. Service-learning activities are a core part of the programme. Students are encouraged to take the course only if they are interested in understanding how your life  including your inner life  is formed by the world you inhabit.

Is it working? I hope so. But the growth we aim to foster is hard to measure.

What I can confidently say, however, is that the effect of such programmes at any university would be far greater if there was more institutional buy-in than there currently is.

The idea that education is the practice of freedom cannot be separated from the idea that education should aim to equip students to critically and creatively engage with reality to transform it for the better.

Source: The Conversation
Weather Alert

...National Weather Service Cold Water Safety Message... ...Please check with state and local authorities regarding guidelines for allowed activities... * The warm air temperatures this weekend in the mid 80s may cause people to underestimate the dangers of the cold water temperatures which are currently only in the lower 50s across Lake Champlain, and in the regions smaller lakes and rivers. * The cold water temperatures can quickly cause hypothermia to anyone immersed in the water. When the water temperature is below 60 degrees, the average submerged person could loose dexterity within minutes and be unable to accomplish simple tasks. Anyone on small boats, canoes or kayaks should plan accordingly if recreating this weekend and use extreme caution to avoid this threat. Paddle smart from the start and always wear your life jacket!
Melody Bathaee is an editorial intern and production assistant at San Diego Magazine. She is currently studying journalism at SDSU where she acts as the social media editor for The Daily Aztec and hosts her radio show, "Beyond The Melody." If she's not climbing a rock somewhere or fueling her coffee addiction at a local cafe, you'll find her brainstorming ideas for future creative projects in media.

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Marine Capt. John Watkins, his wife Jayshree Watkins, and their son Kaden, 5, sit in their Oceanside home with a small urn that contains the ashes of their 11-month-old daughter Amelia, who died last June, just eight days after she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer.

This month, Marine Capt. John Watkins is training for the race of his life.

On April 7, the 32-year-old Oceanside resident will lead a team of friends and family in the Ironman 70.3 Oceanside race. Its not the goal of finishing his first half-Ironman that makes the stakes so high for Watkins. Its the reason why hes racing in the first place.

Watkins will be competing in his infant daughters memory to raise money for the Childrens Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation. Last June, 11-month-old Amelia Millie Watkins died in an Arizona hospital just eight days after she was diagnosed with the disease.

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Watkins wife, Jayshree, said their daughters death came so suddenly and unexpectedly that they needed to find some meaning in their loss.

When we were saying goodbye to her in the hospital, I told her we have to do big things in your name. Thats how the idea for the Ironman was born, said Jayshree, 30.

Since launching the Millie Mae Strong fundraising account last month on Crowdrise (crowdrise.com, search JohnWatkins7), nearly $6,000 has been raised.

The money will go toward research on the deadly and rare disease that primarily affects children under the age of 5. According to the foundation, of the 13,000 or so new cases of childhood cancer in the U.S. each year, fewer than 700 are neuroblastoma. Because these patients are too young to describe their symptoms, most, like Millie, are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Less than 40 percent of these advanced-stage patients live five years.

They call it the great masquerader because the symptoms mimic other childhood illnesses, especially with babies because they cant talk. A lot of pediatricians arent looking for cancer in a baby so they dismiss it, said Pat Tallungan, the foundations founder and president.

She started the Illinois-based organization in 2000 after her 10-year-old son, Nick, died following a four-year battle with neuroblastoma. She got to know the Watkins last June after the couple asked friends and family to donate money to the foundation in lieu of memorial flowers.

After she died, we didnt want to have a memorial service for Millie because she was never sad. It wasnt who she was. Instead we had a Millie-bration, and thats how we met Pat and began working with her to raise money, Jayshree said.

Millie was the youngest of the Watkinses two children. Their oldest is 5-year-old Kaden, who carries around a pair of teddy bears, one with angel wings, that he calls Millie Bears.

John Watkins grew up in an Air Force family in Chandler, Ariz. He studied mechanical engineering before enlisting in the Marines in 2009. The year before he joined the service he met Jayshree, an Indiana native who moved to Arizona to attend college.

In 2010, they moved to his first duty station at Twentynine Palms, where she worked as a case manager in behavioral and mental health for grade-schoolers. Not long after Kaden was born, they moved to Watkins next post in Quantico, Va., where Millie was born on July 11, 2016.

The Watkinses describe Millie as a happy, plump baby who loved to laugh, loved to eat and never let her mom out of her sight. They now suspect the abdominal tumor that would eventually take her life may have been growing inside from the day she was born.

When the family got orders to Camp Pendleton last May they loaded up the family truck with their bags and pet bulldog for a cross-country road trip.

Jayshree Watkins, her husband Marine Capt. John Watkins and their 5-year-old son, Kaden, talk about losing 11-month-old Amelia at their Oceanside home. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Before they left, Millie had a persistent ear infection that antibiotics had failed to kick. She was cranky, sleepy and had little appetite. But her pediatrician hadnt found anything wrong besides the ear infection, so the family felt safe hitting the road.

When her condition hadnt improved by the time they reached Fort Worth, Texas, they visited an urgent care clinic where a doctor diagnosed Millie with a double ear infection and prescribed even stronger antibiotics.

From there they drove to Albuquerque, N.M., where another doctor found her dehydrated and possibly suffering pneumonia. Worried that shed need more extended care, the family drove seven hours to Phoenix where Watkins had family who could care for Kaden and the dog.

Over the next few days, they took Millie to a series of hospitals and specialists who found she had cloudy lungs, oral thrush, a distended stomach, anemia and a black eye. On May 27, she was admitted to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where she was diagnosed three days later with an advanced stage 4 case of neuroblastoma.

She had a large tumor in her abdomen and the disease had spread to her kidneys, bone marrow and eye sockets. The Watkinses wanted to fly her to Rady Childrens Hospital in San Diego for treatment but her health was so fragile that her heart stopped beating during an MRI. Instead, on June 1, they started her on a 7-day course of chemotherapy.

Tallungan said neuroblastoma grows so aggressively that the treatment is extreme. Children who survive the mix of chemo, radiation and immune therapy  Millie was looking at a two-year regimen  often end up with hearing loss, pulmonary and kidney damage and severely damaged teeth.

But Millie never had the chance to fight. On the day she finished her first chemotherapy session, June 6, her kidneys failed and her other organs started shutting down. The Watkinses brought Kaden to the hospital to say goodbye. She died that day at 4:15 p.m.

Jayshree said they couldnt imagine being without Millie, so they had her body cremated. Her ashes now rest in a tiny urn painted with poppies, which were Millies favorite flower.

Jayshree said shes learning to to forgive herself for not recognizing her daughters illness, but the loss still weighs heavily on her heart.

I felt guilty, she said, fighting back tears. How did I miss this? Why didnt I see this? As a parent its your job to take care of your kids. How do you tell a kid (like Kaden) that nothing is going to happen to them when something like this did?

With the support of friends and the Marine Corps the family took time to grieve with family and then moved to Oceanside last June.

Before everything happened last year, Watkins had been wanting to train for a triathlon. Now, with the desire to raise money for the foundation, they saw an opportunity.

Tallungan agreed to sponsor the team fees for the Ironman 70.3 and the Watkinses started their campaign. Jayshree is in charge of organizing, fundraising and cheerleading. John is concentrating on getting himself in shape with his team, which includes his sister Brittany McCright from Texas and three fellow Camp Pendleton Marines: Capt. William Brown, Major William Soucie and 1st Lt. Ken Vingua.

Besides raising money through Ironman, Jayshree said she hopes to continue spreading awareness about the diseases hidden symptoms. Her fondest dream is to appear on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show to serve as an example of how families can survive a devastating loss.

We went through this horrible situation but we still get up every morning and we are living a life. If we can get through this, then so can others, she said. Our daughter was always happy and she wouldnt have wanted us to be sad. Yes, Im mad that my kids not here. I cant change that. But I can change how I move forward in this life.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
Justine Panian, San Marcos service leader for Girls Scouts San Diego, talks with new Junior Girl Scouts during a meeting April 13 at San Marcos Elementary School. With her mom, Kassie, Justine recruited 43 bilingual college students to lead nine new troops.

Girl Scouts of the USA has been tackling two big challenges in recent years: How to keep in touch with former scouts during their college and pre-parenting years, and how to recruit troop leaders in underserved and minority communities.

This spring, a mother-daughter team of volunteers in San Marcos have been working to solve both problems at the same time.

In February, 24-year-old Justine Panian and her mom, Kassie Panian, recruited 43 Cal State San Marcos students  most of them bilingual and many of them former scouts  who are now helping to lead nine new troops of Brownies, Daisies and Junior Girl Scout troops in San Marcos and Vista.

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The Panians all-volunteer pilot program has caught the attention of Girl Scout officials both in San Diego and at the organizations headquarters in New York, where Justine now serves on the national alumnae volunteer committee.

This is right on target with our focus area, said Susan Swanson, Girl Scouts of the USAs vice president of strategic initiatives, alumnae. I do think this is part of an unleashing something bigger thats happening across the USA  This is the beginning of some really exciting work.

New Junior Girl Scout leaders who are Cal State San Marcos students watch a presentation during a meeting of Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts at San Marcos Elementary School on April 13. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

The seeds for the Panians pilot program were sewn nearly six years ago, when Justine went away to college at the University of Alabama. She missed her family, she missed her hometown of San Marcos and she missed Girl Scouts.

I didnt realize until I was in college how much Girl Scouts prepared me for life in seemingly intangible ways, like communications, leadership and planning events, said Justine, whos now a clinical research coordinator at the Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla.

From Brownies up through the Senior Scout level, Justine was passionate about Girl Scouts. Thats thanks in large part to her mom and longtime troop leader, Kassie Panian.

Kassie, 53, also grew up in a scouting family. Her mom was den mother to her brothers Boy Scout troops and was Kassies first Girl Scout troop leader in their native Alabama. She said scouting offered opportunities she couldnt find elsewhere.

Where I grew up, girls leadership was not encouraged. Girls Scouts gave girls voices, Kassie said. Girl Scouts was the best experience I had as a girl, bar none, and I wanted that for my daughters.

Volunteer Kassie Panian, North County service units director for Girl Scouts San Diego, hands out snacks during a meeting of Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Girl Scouts at San Marcos Elementary School last week. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

Once Justine arrived at the University of Alabama, she found a way to continue her Girl Scout journey. She and another volunteer started a campus student organization to do scouting outreach to underserved girls in the Tuscaloosa area. Their most successful event was a free all-day science and math camp that drew more than 100 girls.

After graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, Justine came home in 2016 eager to carry on helping Girl Scouts. She joined her mom, who never stopped serving as a Girl Scouts volunteer, even after her two daughters aged out of the program as teens (daughter Jaymee, 22, is an aerospace engineer).

Last year, Justine replaced her mom as Girl Scouts San Diegos San Marcos service unit manager. (Her mom went on to serve as service units manager for all of North County.) Justines first goal was to create a new super troop for all the San Marcos girls whod been on a waiting list for months.

As luck and timing would have it, Cal State San Marcos senior Holly Isaacs stepped forward to help. Isaacs had been a scout from ages 5 to 10, but when her family moved to a new town, the local troop wouldnt accept new members, so she was forced to give up scouting. She didnt want other girls to experience the same heartache.

I wanted to volunteer with Girl Scouts because I wanted to make sure no girls were stuck on the wait list and potentially never getting placed in a troop, said Isaacs, a speech-language pathology major.

Last October, the Panians helped Isaacs and fellow volunteer Jessica Harlow start the San Marcos super troop, which cleared the citywide wait list. Isaacs said she has loved the experience but has been shocked to learn of the desperate need for volunteers in the area.

Cal State San Marcos senior and Girl Scouts troop leader Holly Isaacs, center, holds the hand of Natalia Romero, right, a Daisy Girl Scout, as Kahlo, an aplomado falcon, is perched on her forearm during a citywide troop meeting at San Marcos Elementary School. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

Encouraged by her initial success, Justine decided to mine Cal State San Marcos for more student volunteers. The first person she contacted was Alice Quiocho, a lecturer in the Human Development Department. Quiocho also spent many of her childhood years in scouting.

Girl Scouts have been kind of ignored in our society but I can tell you that I learned a lot of leadership in the scouts and I would like other girls to have the same exposure, Quiocho said. Girl Scouts train strong members.

Through Quiocho, Justine got several professors on board and in early February, Kassie made classroom visits to recruit volunteers. The goal was to find bilingual students who could lead new troops and help at scout camps.

Although young Latino girls interested in scouting speak English, many of their mothers do not, and many of their mothers have no experience in Girl Scouts, so they rarely volunteer to serve as troop leaders.

To the Panians surprise, 43 CSUSM students volunteered and since March theyve been leading 96 girls in nine troops at Alvin Dunn, San Marcos and Joli Ann Leichtag elementary schools.

Gloria Vargas, regional membership recruitment manager for Girl Scouts San Diego, said the Panians pilot program has been a big success.

This is an outstanding example of innovative Girl Scouting, Vargas said in an email. We applaud Justine and Kassie for creating a successful and replicable volunteer-led model for expanding Girl Scouting in our communities.

Swanson with Girl Scouts of the USA in New York said the Panians project is one of several similar grassroots programs that are now being introduced by alumni in cities nationwide.

Theres a pent-up enthusiasm across the country to help connect our passionate Girl Scout alumni with one another to help girls and women, Swanson said.

Justine said shes been gratified at how fast the program has grown, the enthusiasm of the girls and their troop leaders and the unexpected benefits of these new mentoring relationships.

These troop leaders are closer in age to the girls, so theyre more relatable, and because theyre college students, theyre the coolest people ever. Theyre role models and they serve as a direct connection for these girls to the university, Justine said.

Next, the Panians hope to recruit MiraCosta College students to lead troops in Oceansides underserved neighborhoods, followed by Palomar College students to work in Escondido. Justine is also looking for ways to raise money for these new scouts uniforms, since cookie season is over for the year and many of their families are low income.

Justine recently applied for medical school and she doesnt know where that path will lead her. But wherever she goes, she plans to be a Girl Scout volunteer.

This journey has taught me leadership, confidence and investment in bettering the world and the next generation of women leaders, she said.

Falconer Adam Chavez, right, holds Mr. Bojangles, a Eurasian eagle-owl during a Girl Scouts meeting at San Marcos Elementary School on April 13. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
Recently some Carmel Valley residents have been making noise about the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar jetswhile some call it the sound of freedom, others lament that it is a nuisance that seems to have increased in frequency and volume over their homes.

Carmel Valley Community Planning Board Chair Frisco White invited representatives from MCAS Miramar to discuss the issue at the boards Aug. 23 meeting. As the previous item was being heard, a jet roared over the Carmel Valley Library, causing a presentation to take a moment and pause.

Historically we wouldnt have flights over the library so lets talk about that flight, said planning board member Ken Farinsky.

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Farinsky said the bases departures and arrivals flight paths are meant to be along the I-15 corridor and out over the ocean via the beach route, south of Carmel Valley. However, air traffic seems to be more routinely flying over the community.

We have noticed an uptick on noise complaints, said Captain Matthew Gregory, director of communications for Miramar. We do listen to community concerns and we try to adjust some things as best we can, however, we are very limited in what we can do because the FAA controls the aircraft once they get into the air.

Gregory said the Marine Corps hasnt changed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight patterns since they took over the base from the Navy in 1997. The flight paths for all aircraft are meant to get fighters in and out of the area as quickly as possible.

San Diego has one of the most congested airspace in the country and were very limited in the ways that we can get in and out of that base, Gregory said.

He said both of Miramars flight paths are intentionally very wide in order to get aircraft safely through. While Carmel Valley is not inside the wide air spaces, the FAA can redirect aircraft outside the space, which can happen if there is, for example, a plane from Gillespie Field in the wrong path or a paraglider off course from the Torrey Pines Gliderport.

Marine pilots have very specific instructions on where they should go and what they should do. When the FAA tells them to do something theyre going to do it because ultimately safety is our number one priority. When the plane went down in UTC, that was a huge, huge tragedy, Gregory said, referencing the 2008 incident when a F/A-18 crashed into a University City neighborhood and killed four civilians on the ground. We do not want to see something like that happen again. Its really about safety, thats our biggest concern.

Gregory said when it comes to jet noise, there are many ebbs and flows, sometimes it can seem louder and sometimes it can seem more frequenthe said there are a couple of reasons for this.

He said one reason why residents might have seen or felt an uptick is due to a different aircraft on base. Every aircraft has a different pitch and while residents may be used to the lower pitch pattern of the F/A-18, they may not be used to the higher-pitched Air Force F-16 that has been flying in and out of Miramar for the last six months.

Higher pitches have higher frequencies and they travel further distances, theyre not necessarily louder but they do travel further so youll hear an F-16 at a further distance than you will the F/A-18 which has a lower pitch, Gregory said.

Air temperature also plays a role, Gregory saidif air is warmer, the sound travels farther and faster meaning residents may hear a jet that is farther away in the summer months.

Another reason for the increased noise may simply be the increase in aircraft on the base, Gregory said.

Iraq has come and gone. Afghanistan has wound down so a lot of those fighter squadrons that for decades were out doing operations elsewhere are home and theyre training, Gregory said, noting that there may be more aircraft at the base now than there was five to 10 years ago.

In 2020, the base will have the F-35 which Gregory said has a five-decibel difference than the F-16. He said the single engine jet will sound very different with a higher pitch and while it will be noticeable, it wont be necessarily louder.

As Ive lived here two years, it seems like every single jet flies over my house, said board member Don Billings.

Billings said he has ringing in his ears from the noise, its often impossible to have a phone conversation and that the jets are extremely loud, routinely over 90 decibels over his Carmel Valley home.

He asked how it was possible when he lives outside the flight path included in the Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ), the program devised to guide land use planning in proximity to air installations, flight corridors and military operating areas. He said Miramar should have a more formally adopted understanding with parameters on location and decibel levels.

There isnt a clear cut way to say This is how were going to operate 100 percent of the time because were always going to have variations within the airspace, said Kristin Camper, community liaison for MCAS Miramar.

While Billings requested that those variations be monitored, Camper said the Department of Defense does not do monitoring and it is not in general practice for military installations. She said as they did with the plan to bring F-35s to Miramar, they conduct studies of noise levels, accident potential and take public input.

Standards are meaningless unless you operate within those standards, Billings said. Theres a perception in the community that the base operations dont have a great deal of respect for the community. I think any effort you can make to communicate transparently with the community would be very helpful because the perception is the Marines are routinely violating the flight corridors and the sound impact.

Gregory said he understands the concerns, he receives about five noise complaints a week (mostly from the UTC area), and hes lived under the flight paths but It is a reality of where we live.

MCAS Miramars geographic location in San Diego is vitally important due to its close proximity to both the open water and desert training areasthose distances over the ocean cant be replicated anywhere else over land.

The southwestern region of the U.S. has 67 percent of the military airspace in the United States and 85 percent of the Marine Corps live fire ranges, making Miramar a critical asset for the Marine Corps and entire Department of Defense, Camper said.

Vice Chair Barry Schultz said he did not want the Marines to walk away from the meeting thinking that the board disrespects the military or that the military disrespects the community.

There are times when its an annoyance but for the things that you guys do for this country? Ill suck it up, Schultz said.

Several board members concurred, including Vic Wintress, a former Naval aviator.

I would like to say the military is very sensitive to the community. They operate by a very strict set of rules, Wintress said. These guys are doing the best job that they absolutely can and they respond to us the best they can.

We still want to be good neighbors, Gregory said. I understand how annoying and loud it can be, but we are happy to listen.

To make a noise complaint, call MCAS Miramar Operations Duty Officer at (858) 577-4277/4279 or e-mail miramarmcas.odo@usmc.mil

While he encouraged everyone to attend the upcoming Miramar Air Show Sept. 28-30, Gregory did caution that there will be increased air and airfield operations from Sept. 23 through Oct. 1. This years show will honor 100 years of women serving in the Marine Corps. For more information, visit miramarairshow.com
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijan has supplied 611.8 million cubic meters of natural gas to Europe in March 2023, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, told Trend.

The value of exports during the reporting period stood at 595 988 162 euros, the Eurostat data shows.

The statistical data from Azerbaijans energy ministry reveals that in the first quarter of 2023, gas production in the country increased by three percent, to 12.2 billion cubic meters. The country exported over half, or 6.5 billion cubic meters, of natural gas to foreign markets.

From January through March 2023, Azerbaijan exported natural gas to Europe (2.9 billion cubic meters), Turkiye (2.7 billion cubic meters), and Georgia (0.9 billion cubic meters). During the reporting period, 1,4 billion cubic meters of gas were exported to Turkiye via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline.

Azerbaijan exports gas to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the final leg of the Southern Gas Corridor. The initial capacity of TAP is 10 billion cubic meters expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. World oil prices are showing an increase of 1 percent or more after the release of data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on an unexpected drop in weekly stocks of this raw material in the US, Trend reports.

According to trading data, the price of July futures for Brent Crude Oil is rising by 1.03 percent to $77.6 per barrel, and July futures for WTI  by 1.18 percent to $73.7.

API publishes an assessment of the dynamics of commercial oil reserves in the US. The indicator fell by 6.8 million barrels in the week to May 19, although an increase of 0.5 million was forecasted.

The official statistics will be published by the US Department of Energy in the evening. Analysts now predict an official decrease in inventories, although so far only by 0.9 million barrels.

Investors are also paying attention to the statements of Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman a day earlier at the Qatar Economic Forum, who on the eve of the OPEC+ meeting advised speculators in the oil market to be careful.

Representatives of OPEC+ member countries will meet on June 4 in Vienna to decide on their further actions.
Rising material prices, labour shortages, interest rate hikes and rainy weather have created a perfect storm for the construction industry in the past 12 months, sending many builders to the wall.

Of all these factors, weather is the one that most people would cite as being beyond human control. However, a new study out of the UK and Australia suggests this may not be the case.

Engineers from Aston University, Birmingham, and the University of South Australia (UniSA) have calculated the potential cost savings for builders using modular production techniques where much of the construction happens offsite in controlled conditions.

Buildings are produced in modules in a factory, using the same materials and building codes, but completed in about half the time, with less waste and no building delays due to poor weather.

The researchers produced a cost model that estimated the impact of weather by season on each building activity, including portions of the build (such as bathroom pods) up to the entire structure.

The savings come in at approximately AUD$40,000 (21,000) on a build worth $6.4 million (3.4m). This 0.6% saving may initially seem minor but takes on significant meaning in the current climate where average construction profit margins are just 4.2%.

The findings are published in the International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development.

Co-author of the paper Dr Ki Pyung Kim, a senior lecturer in STEM at UniSA, says weather is often identified as one of the top causes for delays and subsequent cost increases in the building industry, affecting 45% of projects worldwide.

"By removing many of the onsite activities and replacing them with modules built offsite, builders can minimise construction delays caused by weather, thereby keeping the costs from blowing out," Dr Kim says.

Incessant rain in Australia's eastern states throughout 2022 led to construction costs ballooning, according to the Property Council of Australia, exposing builders to unbudgeted increases and heavy losses.

However, rainfall is the not the only key weather pressure for the construction industry.

Global warming is expected to push temperatures up worldwide, including in Australia, making working conditions more difficult on construction sites, the study authors point out.

"There are many pressures on the construction industry right now, including lack of skilled labour, reductions in profit margins, lack of sustainable materials and low productivity. The financial implications of weather are rarely considered except in extreme cases as the client normally bears the cost," Dr Kim says.

While modular construction techniques have several benefits -- including faster builds and a more controlled working environment which protects high-quality materials from the weather -- there are some drawbacks: a limited supply chain and lack of flexibility in both design and supply. The upfront costs of modular components are also expensive, but this needs to be weighed up against losses incurred by weather holdups.

"The global housing sector is dominated by traditional construction methods, but the industry is approaching a crisis point -- particularly in relation to a skills shortage -- that may force a change to modular and other offsite techniques," Dr Kim says.

"The Federal Government has set a target of delivering one million affordable homes over five years from 2024. To ensure this target is met, Infrastructure Australia has mandated modular construction for 80% of social housing projects by 2030."

Construction costs are typically between 43 and 46% of overall costs, which is why much of the existing research focuses on this area.

"When working in a factory environment there is a more protected and controlled atmosphere, and this will improve worker welfare, productivity and reduce health and safety costs, with fewer loss of workdays due to ill health and accident."

Dr Kim says that the potential cost saving will vary, depending on where the project is built, when the project is started and how long the build is.
A new greenhouse gas budget shows coastal ecosystems globally are a net greenhouse gas sink for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) but emissions of methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) counteract some of the CO 2 uptake, according to international researchers led by Australia's Southern Cross University.

The new findings of the coastal greenhouse gas balance (CO 2 + CH 4 + N 2 O) in ten world regions and globally are outlined in the paper, Coastal vegetation and estuaries collectively are a greenhouse gas sink, published today in Nature Climate Change.

From tropical lagoons to polar fjords, from coastal mangrove forests to underwater seagrass communities, many coastlines around the world show high diversity in greenhouse gas sinks and emissions.

"Understanding how and where greenhouse gases are released and absorbed in coastal ecosystems is an important first step for implementing effective climate mitigation strategies," said lead researcher, Dr Judith Rosentreter, Senior Research Fellow at Southern Cross University.

"For example, protecting and restoring mangrove and salt marsh habitats is a promising strategy to strengthen the CO 2 uptake by these coastal wetlands."

Other activities to curb human impact, like reducing nutrients, organic matter, and wastewater inputs into coastal waterways, can reduce the amount of CH 4 and N 2 O released to the atmosphere.

The global team of scientists looked at ten different world regions: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Russia, West Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia (see Figure 1).

They found the strongest coastal greenhouse gas (GHG) sink was in Southeast Asia because of its extensive and productive tropical coastal wetlands that take up CO 2 . A second sink hotspot is North America, with its large areas of coastal wetlands but also CO 2 -uptaking fjords.

"Our new research shows that fjords around the world take up ~40% of CO 2 that would otherwise be released from tidal systems, deltas and lagoons. Most (86%) of this important CO 2 uptake by fjords comes from the North America region, mostly Greenland," said co-author Professor Bradley Eyre, Professor of Biogeochemistry at Southern Cross University.

Dr Rosentreter added: "Other coastal habitats are sources of greenhouse gases. For example, coastal wetlands such as mangrove forests, coastal salt marshes and seagrasses, release more than three-times more CH 4 than all estuaries in the world."

At the same time coastal wetlands, also called coastal 'blue carbon' wetlands, can be strong sinks of CO 2 and some also take up N 2 O, which, on balance, makes them a net GHG sink for the atmosphere when all three greenhouse gases are considered.

"In our new study, we show that when we consider all three greenhouse gases (CO 2 + CH 4 + N 2 O), eight out of the 10 world regions are a coastal net greenhouse gas sink," Dr Rosentreter said.

The findings will inform the efforts of the Global Carbon Project's RECCAP2.

"The research was initiated by the Global Carbon Project to establish greenhouse gas budgets of large regions covering the entire globe, and for which the contribution of these coastal ecosystems remained unaccounted for," said co-author Pierre Regnier, Professor of Earth System Science at Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

Snapshot: coastal greenhouse gas sinks and sources around the world

A dataset of observations from 738 sites from studies published between 1975 and 2020 was compiled to quantify CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O fluxes in estuaries and coastal vegetation in 10 global regions.

Special coastal features (climate, hydrology, abundance) in each region around the world drive the GHG uptake and/or release from coastal systems.

Strongest coastal greenhouse gas sinks:

Top: the archipelagic region of Southeast Asia, because of its extensive and productive tropical mangrove forests and seagrasses that take up large amounts of CO 2 .

. Next: North America because of its large areas of salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses but also CO 2 -uptaking fjords.

-uptaking fjords. Third: Africa with large CO 2 uptake by mangroves and seagrasses that is moderately reduced by estuarine GHG emissions.

Moderate coastal greenhouse gas sinks:

South America: moderate CO 2 uptake by coastal wetlands, especially mangroves, and some estuarine GHG emissions.

uptake by coastal wetlands, especially mangroves, and some estuarine GHG emissions. Australasia: long stretches of coastal wetlands that take up CO 2 , but this region also has a large number of estuaries along its coasts, many of which are a source of CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O.

, but this region also has a large number of estuaries along its coasts, many of which are a source of CO , CH and N O. West Asia: weak estuarine GHG source and moderate CO 2 uptake by coastal wetlands, mostly seagrasses.

Weak coastal greenhouse gas sinks:

East Asia and South Asia: the moderate coastal wetlands CO 2 sink is largely reduced by estuarine GHG emissions.

Weak coastal greenhouse gas sources:
A team of researchers at Duke University and their collaborators have uncovered the atomic mechanisms that make a class of compounds called argyrodites attractive candidates for both solid-state battery electrolytes and thermoelectric energy converters.

The discoveries -- and the machine learning approach used to make them -- could help usher in a new era of energy storage for applications such as household battery walls and fast-charging electric vehicles.

The results appeared online May 18 in the journal Nature Materials.

"This is a puzzle that has not been cracked before because of how big and complex each building block of the material is," said Olivier Delaire, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke. "We've teased out the mechanisms at the atomic level that are causing this entire class of materials to be a hot topic in the field of solid-state battery innovation."

As the world moves toward a future built on renewable energy, researchers must develop new technologies for storing and distributing energy to homes and electric vehicles. While the standard bearer to this point has been the lithium-ion battery containing liquid electrolytes, it is far from an ideal solution given its relatively low efficiency and the liquid electrolyte's affinity for occasionally catching fire and exploding.

These limitations stem primarily from the chemically reactive liquid electrolytes inside Li-ion batteries that allow lithium ions to move relatively unencumbered between electrodes. While great for moving electric charges, the liquid component makes them sensitive to high temperatures that can cause degradation and, eventually, a runaway thermal catastrophe.

Many public and private research labs are spending a lot of time and money to develop alternative solid-state batteries out of a variety of materials. If engineered correctly, this approach offers a much safer and more stable device with a higher energy density -- at least in theory.

While nobody has yet discovered a commercially viable approach to solid-state batteries, one of the leading contenders relies on a class of compounds called argyrodites, named after a silver containing mineral. These compounds are built from specific, stable crystalline frameworks made of two elements with a third free to move about the chemical structure. While some recipes such as silver, germanium and sulfur are naturally occurring, the general framework is flexible enough for researchers to create a wide array of combinations.

"Every electric vehicle manufacturer is trying to move to new solid-state battery designs, but none of them are disclosing which compositions they're betting on," Delaire said. "Winning that race would be a game changer because cars could charge faster, last longer and be safer all at once."

In the new paper, Delaire and his colleagues look at one promising candidate made of silver, tin and selenium (Ag 8 SnSe 6 ). Using a combination of neutrons and x-rays, the researchers bounced these extremely fast-moving particles off atoms within samples of Ag 8 SnSe 6 to reveal its molecular behavior in real-time. Team member Mayanak Gupta, a former postdoc in Delaire's lab who is now a researcher at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in India, also developed a machine learning approach to make sense of the data and created a computational model to match the observations using first-principles quantum mechanical simulations.

The results showed that while the tin and selenium atoms created a relatively stable scaffolding, it was far from static. The crystalline structure constantly flexes to create windows and channels for the charged silver ions to move freely through the material. The system, Delaire said, is like the tin and selenium lattices remain solid while the silver is in an almost liquid-like state.

"It's sort of like the silver atoms are marbles rattling around about the bottom of a very shallow well, moving about like the crystalline scaffold isn't solid," Delaire said. "That duality of a material living between both a liquid and solid state is what I found most surprising."

The results and, perhaps more importantly, the approach combining advanced experimental spectroscopy with machine learning, should help researchers make faster progress toward replacing lithium-ion batteries in many crucial applications. According to Delaire, this study is just one of a suite of projects aimed at a variety of promising argyrodite compounds comprising different recipes. One combination that replaces the silver with lithium is of particular interest to the group, given its potential for EV batteries.

"Many of these materials offer very fast conduction for batteries while being good heat insulators for thermoelectric converters, so we're systematically looking at the entire family of compounds," Delaire said. "This study serves to benchmark our machine learning approach that has enabled tremendous advances in our ability to simulate these materials in only a couple of years. I believe this will allow us to quickly simulate new compounds virtually to find the best recipes these compounds have to offer."

This work was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021B1515140014), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52101236, U1732154, T2125008, 52272006), the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science (E15154U110), the Open project of Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (2021-05), the U.S. National Science Foundation (DMR-2119273), the "Shuguang Program" from the Shanghai Education Development Foundation and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the Australia Research Council (DP210101436).
Though prescribed burns reduce wildfire threats and even improve habitat for some animals, new research shows these fires also spread stinknet, an aptly named weed currently invading superblooms across the Southwestern U.S.

Stinknet, also called globe chamomile, is native to South Africa, but is commonly seen in photos of California's colorful superblooms. "Not all flowering plants are indicative of a healthy ecosystem," said Loralee Larios, UC Riverside assistant botany professor and study co-author. "This one isn't."

In addition to its unpleasant odor, each of its tiny yellow ball-shaped flowers can hold hundreds of seeds. While expanding across entire parks, it crowds out native plants on which endangered local animals rely.

The invader also reduces the overall health of the soil. In some cases, if an invasive plant changes the composition of the landscape enough, the soil can release stored carbon into the atmosphere, accelerating the negative effects of climate change.

For these reasons, the researchers looked more closely at how stinknet spreads. They found that after a prescribed burn, many unburned patches of stinknet remain in what is otherwise bare ground, free of competition from other plants. "In fact, patches of stinknet left over after a burn create focal points for more invasions," Larios said.

This finding is detailed in the journal Restoration Ecology. To obtain it, the researchers observed plant behavior on a burned plot of land in Southern California's Lake Perris State Park. Over two years, starting in 2020, they saw that the unburned stinknet patches had double the number of viable seeds, as compared to the areas that were completely burned and had no leftover stinknet.

It appears that singed patches create favorable microclimates for stinknet, creating soil temperature, light, and moisture conditions that help it spread.

Additionally, they found that adding native plant seeds back into the burned area did not significantly increase the presence of native species. "Stinknet likely releases chemicals through its roots that kill soil fungi essential for native plant growth," said Stuart Schwab, a doctoral candidate in plant sciences at UCR and lead study author.

Because prescribed burns offer so many benefits for the landscape, including removing highly flammable invasive grasses, the researchers are not suggesting that land managers end the practice. Rather, they are calling for more targeted, secondary stinknet treatments after burns.

"Options could include pulling patches of remaining stinknet out of the ground by hand, or doing something called solarizing, where you put a dark tarp on an area to heat and kill any remaining seeds underneath," Schwab said. "As a last resort they could use herbicides."

Going forward, the research team would like to conduct similar studies to understand how fire impacts the spread of other invasive species.

In the meantime, hikers and nature lovers can do a lot to help stop stinknet spread. "Clean your boots if you go on hikes. That's a major vector," Schwab said. "The seeds are less than a millimeter wide. They're tiny specks and easy to miss. Just brushing your shoes periodically can really minimize how far they travel."

Finally, the researchers want non-scientists to feel empowered in the fight to minimize the impact of plants like stinknet on local ecosystems.

"The majority of invasive plants were originally discovered by non-scientists. UC Riverside undergraduates were the first to find stinknet," Larios said. "Sharing with others through sites like iNaturalist is so important! Researchers can't cover that much space by themselves."
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The average price of a barrel of Azeri Light oil on the world market was $103.6 in 2022, Head of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, and Entrepreneurship Tahir Mirkishili said at today's meeting of the committee, Trend reports.

According to Mirkishili, this is 44.7 percent more than the average price in 2021 and 21.8 percent more than the indicator taken as the basis for the revision of the Azerbaijani state budget for last year.

Amid uncertainty prevailing in the global economy and commodity markets, oil and natural gas prices were higher than forecasted. The high energy prices were driven mainly by the armed conflict in Ukraine, the imposition of sanctions [against Russia], export and price restrictions due to the conflict, as well as the achievement of agreement between OPEC+ countries to reduce oil production," he added.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Turkiye intends to expand oil and gas exploration areas at the expense of the southeastern shelf of the Black Sea, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said, Trend reports.

"We will conduct exploratory drilling both on the shelf of Ordu city and on the shelf of Rize city by the end of 2023. We expect to find natural gas in Ordu and oil in Rize," Donmez said.

Both cities are located in the north-east of Turkiye on the Black Sea coast.

Donmez said that the oil found in the south-east of Turkiye is of high quality.

"The oil from the Esma-Cevik field is of extremely high quality and similar to Brent. Our production there amounted to 80,000 barrels per day, and we increased it to 100,000 last year," he said.

According to him, it is planned to open dozens more wells and bring the total oil production to 200,000 barrels per day in the future, which will cover 22 percent of domestic consumption.

However, Donmez said that drilling in mountainous regions is difficult and requires the preparation of complex and expensive infrastructure.

He also added that it was decided to name the Turkish oil as Turkish Delight after the well-known brand of Turkish locum.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Azerbaijani gas will not be able to enter Europe in large volumes if the European Union does not provide financial assistance in the modernization of the pipeline system in the southeast of the continent, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary Peter Szijjarto said at a press conference in Chisinau after talks with his Moldovan counterpart Nicolae Popescu, Trend reports.

Hungarian FM noted that Azerbaijan and the European Union agreed to expand gas trade, which will be supplied, in particular, to Hungary and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, there is a "very important condition" for this - the preparation of an appropriate infrastructure in the region, the capacity of which is not yet sufficient for pumping large volumes of fuel.

"We demand that Brussels allocate funds from the EU budget for the development of infrastructure for gas supplies in South-Eastern Europe," he said. He noted that "Brussels has been passive" so far, and without him it would be impossible to finance such large-scale work.

FM recalled that earlier an agreement was reached between Budapest and Baku on the supply of 1-2 billion cubic meters of gas per year under a long-term contract. Back in February, the Hungarian government announced that by the end of this year it expects to receive the first 100 million cubic meters. m of fuel from Azerbaijan.
Michigan Farm to Family: CSA boxes at Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor.

A Farmers Market Food Navigator assists shoppers at the Fulton Street Market in Grand Rapids.

Over the years, Michigan Fitness Foundation (MFF) has been developing and delivering programs to help all Michiganders eat healthy and move more. Most recently, MFF has been working with Michigan farmers and farmers market managers to reduce barriers to accessing fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables for families on tight budgets.MFFs innovative Michigan Farm to Family: CSA (MF2FCSA) program addresses the gap between local farmers and consumers by partnering with local farms and community organizations to provide affordable access to nutritious, locally grown produce to residents in their communities. By creating a customized community supported agriculture (CSA) model, the MF2FCSA program makes it possible for families to join a local CSA, pay with SNAP, and strengthen their local food systems. The program is made possible through MFFs grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program with support from Michigan CSA farmers, non-profit community organizations, and grant match funding partners."The Farm to Family: CSA program makes becoming a member of a community supported agriculture program or CSA to receive weekly boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables grown locally accessible and affordable," says Jane Whitaker, MF2FCSA program manager. "For many families, it is cost prohibitive to join a CSA upfront. CSA partners in our program waive that requirement for people using SNAP and accept weekly payments instead. Our program also pays 75% of the price of the CSA share or farm box, which means participants that join our program can purchase a CSA box of delicious, locally grown fruits and vegetables for just $5 to $7 a week and our program pays the difference to the CSAs."MF2FCSA helps Michigans local farmers too."Now the farmers have a whole new market for the fruits and vegetables they grow," Whitaker says. "Another important goal and benefit of our program is that we're investing in the local farms and local food systems that supply our food in Michigan, which also provides commerce and employment.In addition to a new revenue stream, the farmers also develop deeper community relationships. The first year of the program had seven participating farms and organizations. In just two years the program has tripled to include 22 participating farms and organizations across the state.To support consumption of the fresh fruits and vegetables people receive in their CSA farm box, and make the program stronger, nutrition education offered at the distribution sites is rooted in a customized version of MFFs Farmers Market Food Navigator (FMFN) program.The FMFN program is made possible through MFF Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) funding. MFF is a State Implementing Agency of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for the education component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP-Ed is an education program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that teaches people eligible for SNAP how to live healthier lives. MFF offers grants to conduct SNAP-Ed programming throughout the state of Michigan.MFFs FMFN program embeds SNAP-Ed nutrition educators as Farmers Market Food Navigators (Food Navigators) at farmers markets to assist shoppers using food assistance programs. Food Navigators help shoppers understand how to use food assistance programs like SNAP, Double Up Food Bucks, WIC, Senior Project FRESH/Market FRESH coupons, Prescription for Health, etc., and how to stretch their food dollars. Using an experiential nutrition education approach, Food Navigators provide market tours; introduce shoppers to the farmers who grow their food; share strategies to help them select, store, and prepare fresh fruits and veggies; provide recipe tastings; and share recipes with people to make at home.We developed the Farmers Market Food Navigator program in collaboration with the Michigan Farmers Market Association ," says Teresa Zwemer, MFF interim director of resources and training. "Our program supports farmers market programming as part of our overall SNAP-Ed programming in Michigan. And our Food Navigators are there to ensure everyone using food assistance feels welcome at the market, gets the support they need, and has a positive experience that inspires them to add more nutritious fruits and vegetables to their plates.""Were helping shoppers to maximize their food dollars and understand all the different programs, Zwemer says. "Lots of people don't know that Double Up Food Bucks is available in Michigan, or understand how the food assistance process works in farmers markets, especially when you're doing multiple transactions with different vendors. It can be confusing and feel overwhelming. Our Food Navigators help reduce the confusion and stress that can arise for shoppers using food assistance."MFF took components from the FMFN program as the basis for nutrition education programming to meet the needs at MF2FCSA distribution sites. While they didnt need to give market tours or explain how to use different types of food assistance, they carried over the experiential nutrition education components, such as nutrition education information, recipe tastings, take-home recipes, and tips about how to select, prepare, and store the produce participants receive in their farm boxes each week.On a typical CSA pickup day, MFF SNAP-Ed nutrition educators work as Food Navigators in conjunction with the local CSAs to set up a space where they serve the MF2FCSA participants picking up their farm boxes. Kelly Voelker, a nutrition educator with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District Healthy Habits Start Now program, says this is her favorite part of the job."Our MF2FCSA Food Navigator program is at Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor. It is a little bit different than other locations because its not just one farm but a store. Different farmers are contributing to the box each week," says Voelker. "People get such fresh produce  it's traveled a few miles at most  so it tastes great and more nutritious. They really get more bang for their buck in this program, and they are supporting the community as well.""Last year, we saw the same people every week. I got to know them by name. Their kids would come in with them too. The kids would try this stuff and tell their mom how they liked it. It was really fun," Voelker says. "People really weren't familiar with some of the fruits and vegetables that I thought were pretty common. They really didn't know what to do with them. It was actually very helpful to have someone like me there that wasn't trying to sell them anything, just offering a chance to talk about the food  what you like and what you can do with the stuff in your box."An unexpected benefit of having Voelker at the location was that other people became curious about the MF2FCSA program during the CSA farm box pickups, and learned they were qualified to join because they used SNAP too."I just opened up my farm box of fresh produce and showed people what was in it," she says. "Being there was a win-win for everyone."The customized FMFN program has proven to be a valuable asset to the MF2FCSA program, and more farms and organizations will be hosting SNAP-Ed nutrition educators as MF2FCSA Food Navigators at their distribution pickup sites this year.Being able to have a Food Navigator provide the information and resources people need to store and prepare the food once they bring it home ensures success for the growers and the families that are purchasing fresh food, says Jane Whitacre, MF2FCSA program manager. By reducing the struggle to create healthy meals affordably, people have an opportunity to live healthier lives.By looking at their programs and customizing them to fit community needs, MFF is breaking down some of the barriers to healthy eating that lower-income families face."We have created programs to support people using food assistance, and at the same time are supportive of the farmers, farmers markets, vendors, market managers, and organizations who are running the programs," Zwemer says. "We want our programs to be valuable community assets. It is important for us to look at how we can influence behavior change as well as the bigger-picture policy, systems, and environmental change work that can make lasting change where people live, work, and play. We want to inspire people to make the healthy choice because it is the easy choice."
Politics

spotlight

They wanted to marry, but California lawmakers said no way

Courtesy of Roldan Family Los Angeles County denied Marjorie Rogers and Salvador Roldan a marriage license in 1931. Roldan family The Roldan family at the California Assembly in Sacramento for the passing of the state resolution honoring Salvador Roldan and Marjorie Rogers.

She was an aspiring actress from England. He was a young man from the Philippines who came to America in search of a better life. They fell in love and wanted to marry.

But she was white and he was not. California legislators said No way.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of a stunning chapter in California history. The love story of Salvador Roldan and Marjorie Rogers was a legal battle that featured heated debates on racial categories and legislative power. And what happened to them helped shape California and the nations struggle against prejudice.

Roldan family Salvador Roldan and Marjorie Rogers in undated photo.

Roldan was born in the Philippines when it was still a U.S. colony. He moved to California in 1925, one of tens of thousands of Filipinos who sought a better life in America. He worked as a houseboy who cooked, cleaned and served as a chauffeur for a white family in Pasadena. Rogers was an aspiring actress who moved from England to California in 1931 hoping to become a movie star.

They met at a tennis court in Pasadena that year. They started dating and fell in love. In June, they decided to get married. Roldan recalled the day in a diary: My day off going to L.A. to get a marriage license.

But he failed.

Salvador wrote: I asked for an application required by law and they asked me whether I was Filipino and I stated I am a Filipino. They asked me whether I was white, or yellow, or brown, or red. They asked me also whether she was an American, and I told them that she was an English girl. I did not tell them anything further about her. They did ask me if she was white and I said yes. Then they told me that I could not have a license.

The rejection was based on a California law barring interracial marriages which said, no license must be issued authorizing the marriage of a white person with a negro, mulatto, or Mongolian.

The Los Angeles County clerk didnt bother to explain all this. They did not tell me why and I didnt ask them, Roldan wrote. They merely denied me the license and I walked away.

But he didnt just walk away. With the help of Gladys Root, an up-and-coming lawyer, he and Marjorie decided to challenge the rejection of their application. Their lawsuit focused on what turned out to be a flaw in the racist law: the ban didnt specify Filipino.

Salvador and Marjorie sued LA County  and won. In January 1933, a superior court judge ruled that Filipinos were Malay and clearly not covered by the state law against interracial marriages. The county filed an appeal, but the state Supreme Court declined to review the case.

On April 10, Salvador and Marjorie finally got their license. In his diary, Salvador wrote, This is a very happy day in my life.

But the story didnt end there.

California, in the 1930s, was hostile to communities of color. In January 1930, a mob of about 500 mostly white people attacked Filipino farmworkers in Watsonville. The reason: The Filipinos had been seen dancing with white women in a newly opened dance hall.

The Watsonville riot was still fresh in the minds of Californians when Salvador and Marjorie fought for the right to marry. In many ways, it was a very dangerous decision, said Susie Ling, a professor of history and Asian American studies at Pasadena City College.

This was during the Depression, Ling, who collaborated with Bryan Roldan in a 2022 article about his familys story, told The Examiner. There was severe violence. But they felt that it was their right to marry. It was their family. It was their story.

But their story quickly morphed into a sad chapter in California history.

When word went out that a Filipino man was trying to marry a white woman in a case that could potentially prevail before the state Supreme Court, California lawmakers scrambled to change the law.

In March 1933, the state senate passed two bills: one added Malay to the list of racial categories in the law banning interracial marriages, and another invalidated all marriages between whites and nonwhites.

The state assembly approved the bills a month later. Only one assembly member voted against them  Frederick Roberts, the first Black member of the California legislature.

The bills were quickly signed into law by California Gov. James Rolph.

The broader ban took effect in August 1933. Four months after Salvador and Marjorie said their vows, their marriage was essentially rendered null and void in the eyes of the law. But the changes in California didnt really have any meaningful impact on the couple.

At that point, there were no legal repercussions for them living together, Bryan Roldan, the couples son, told The Examiner. There was nothing done about it.

Roldan said his parents didnt dwell too much on what happened to them as they settled into a quiet life, raising him and his older sister Janet: Its like, OK, we went through that. Now I gotta go to work.

Meanwhile, the debate over interracial marriage continued.

Fifteen years after Salvador and Marjorie challenged Californias interracial marriage ban, another couple  Andrea Perez, a Mexican American who listed her race as white, and Sylvester Davis, an African American  were also denied a marriage license based on the states interracial marriage ban.

They also challenged the law. This time, it led to a major change: Californias ban on interracial marriages was ruled unconstitutional in the state in 1948.

Nineteen years later, another interracial couple  Richard Loving, who was white, and Mildred Loving, who was Black  challenged a similar law in Virginia. The Loving case led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled all interracial marriage bans unconstitutional.

Salvador Roldan died in 1975, and Marjorie Rogers followed in 2005.

Bryan Roldan said he grew up not knowing much about what happened to his parents  and the significance of what they tried to accomplish.

They didnt complain, he said. They didnt say they were bitter over what happened. They never sat me down and said, Life stinks and this is why. It was, We just move on.

Bryan, who lives in San Luis Obispo, was already in his 50s when he grew curious about their case in the 1990s. He found his dads diary, which his mom kept after Salvador died. That led him to dig deeper, eventually going over government records and news accounts of what happened to his parents.

I was just really excited, he said. As I learned more about our family history, I thought, Oh my gosh. The things that I sort of heard on the periphery was actually a big deal.

His research led him to write an essay with photos of his parents and newspaper clippings of their case. Bryan made photocopies, which he passed on to family and friends.

In 2016, Bryans sister, Janet, threw a Fourth of July party for family and friends. One of the guests was then-

Assemblymember Mike Gatto, whose niece was married to Bryans nephew.

Bryan said they were sitting around talking about independence and freedoms and that kind of thing, when his brother-in-law suggested that Janet show Gatto Bryans essay.

Gatto said he was moved by what he read. It really made me realize that theres a lot of important history here in California that people might not realize and we should pause to actually mark, he told The Examiner.

Gatto shared what he learned with fellow lawmakers, who he said were pleasantly surprised. Everybody had heard about Loving v. Virginia which, of course, was the landmark United States case in the 1960s, he said. But people dont realize that you know, there was a lot of history here.

I believe that all aspects of American history should be taught, he said. We cannot possibly begin to understand the present unless we know about the past and that includes all different aspects of the past.

This becomes even more important at a time when there are efforts to downplay or deny what happened in the past, underscored by campaigns in some states to ban books and restrict the way history is taught.

We cant necessarily engage in what its called presentism, putting our values onto people who lived hundreds of years ago, he said. At the same time, when people do something courageous that shapes the world as we know it, which the Roldan family did  their fight paved the way for others here in California who were in love  celebrating them is the right thing to do.

Thats exactly what Gatto set out to do.

Roldan family The California Assembly resolution honoring the Roldan resolution on Aug. 11, 2016.

A month after the party, Bryan got a call from his nephew who said they were being invited to Sacramento. The California Assembly was issuing a resolution honoring their family and acknowledging the wrong done to Salvador and Marjorie.

On August 11, 2016, Bryan, his sister Janet and other family members traveled to the state capital to receive the resolution which praised the Roldans for their unwavering commitment to promoting civil rights.

It was a memorable ceremony, said Gatto, who is now an attorney in the Los Angeles area. I had tears in my eyes, and I know lots of people did as well, he said. We had several big hugs. We sort of looked into each other's eyes and you could see the tears developing. It was just deeply moving.

Bryan Roldan, who turns 80 in November, said: I just wish mom and dad could have been there to see that.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Kazakhstan and the US are negotiating the launch of direct flights, Timur Tlegenov, Deputy Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan said during the 1st Kazakhstan Aviation Talks forum, Trend reports.

"On Monday, we had a video conference meeting with the Embassy to discuss the establishment of air connections. The US has set forth stringent and high requirements for flights," he said.

According to the deputy chairman, currently, joint work with the country's aviation administration in this direction is underway. It is expected to launch these flights by 2025.

It was previously reported that Kazakhstan signed an agreement with the US at the end of 2020, allowing Kazakh airlines to have a flexible flight system.

Additionally, Tlegenov mentioned that the possibility of resuming direct flights to Japan's Tokyo is being considered. The decision will be made after evaluating passenger traffic.

The initiation of direct flights between Kazakhstan and the US would significantly enhance travel and business opportunities between the two countries, fostering closer ties and facilitating easier movement of passengers and goods.
German business sentiment deteriorated in May, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Ifo Institute.

The business climate index fell to 91.7 from 93.4 in April, coming in below consensus expectations for a reading of 93.0.

The expectations index declined to 88.6 in May from 91.7 the month before and the current situation index printed at 94.8, down from 95.1.

The manufacturing index slumped to -0.3 in May from 6.3 a month earlier, while the service sector gauge ticked down to 6.8 from 6.9. The index for trade was -19.1 versus -10.7 in April and the construction gauge fell to -18.2 from -16.6.

Ifo Institute president Clemens Fuest pointed out that it was the first decline in the business climate index after six increases in a row.

"Driving this development are the significantly more pessimistic expectations," he said. "Managers are somewhat less satisfied with their current situation. German companies are sceptical about the upcoming summer."

Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, said: "The first drop in the Ifo index after a six-month rally is further confirmation of fading optimism and new growth concerns.

"We are not saying that the German economy will be stuck in recession for the next couple of years, but with several short and long-term challenges, growth will remain subdued at best."
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23. Turkmenistan and Slovenia discussed a wide range of topical issues of comprehensive cooperation, Trend reports.

According to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, these issues were discussed between the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Vepa Hajiyev and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Samuel Zbogar.

Noting the effective development of bilateral partnership, the sides exchanged views on the prospects for further expansion of relations in the political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural, and humanitarian spheres.

Taking into account the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year, the parties discussed the possibility of organizing a number of events dedicated to this date in 2023.

Furthermore, the heads of delegations noted the fruitful cooperation between Turkmenistan and Slovenia on international platforms, primarily within the framework of the UN.

In order to expand bilateral economic cooperation, the parties noted the importance of the activities of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation and also agreed to intensify business contacts, regularly participate in joint business forums, and exchange views on improving the bilateral legal framework.
European shares were lower on Tuesday as talks on the US debt ceiling continued and survey data showed a slowdown in eurozone factory activity, while shares in Julius Baer fell on a poor update.

"With the clock continuing to tick down towards the US debt ceiling deadline of 1st June, and US policymakers no nearer to a deal, European markets are finding little inclination to move higher, with the DAX and CAC40 sliding back for the second day in a row," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

The pan-European index was down 0.60% at 466.10, alongside a dip of 0.40% to 16,152.86 on the German Dax while Spain's 0.41% to 9,267.0.

Overnight, US President Joe Biden and House of Representatives leader Kevin McCarthy held constructive talks.

Debt ceiling talks are inching forward, but its slow progress, and with uncertainty hanging in the air, gains on equity markets are being held back, said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

In economic news, the eurozone composite PMI output index fell from April's reading of 54.1 to 53.3 (consensus: 53.5), mainly driven by services as manufacturing stagnated.

The services sector Purchasing Managers' Index dipped from 56.2 to 55.9, while that for manufacturing fell from 45.8 to 44.6.

"In particular, we are inclined to see strength in the services PMIs partly as a reflecting of strong nominal activity, which does not necessarily reflect strength in real GDP," said Claus Vistesen, chief Eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Separately, Eurostat reported that the euro area's current account surplus jumped from 24.3bn in seasonally adjusted terms in February to 31.6bn for March.

In equity news, Swiss private bank Julius Baer fell 7% in early trade after its quarterly results missed expectations.

Vivendi fell 4% on news that controlling shareholder Vincent Bollore sold shares in the French media group.

RS Group - formerly Electrocomponents - fell after it said trading over the first seven weeks of 2023/24 reflected "a slowing" in industrial growth, and pointed to continued weakness and aggressive competition in electronics.
Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, will permanently cease operations, just months after a major mission failure. The California-based firm, which had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in early April, has auctioned off its main assets, recovering just over $36m. That figure is barely 1% of the value the company reached in late 2021 on Wall Street, when it was valued at $3.5 billion.  Guardian

Office workers in central London are spending on average 2.3 days a week in the workplace, according to a report that warns against a wholesale switch to working from home. The thinktank Centre for Cities carried out polling of office workers in the capital and found they were spending 59% of the time in their workplace compared with pre-Covid levels.  Guardian

Sadiq Khan should slash tube fares on Mondays and Fridays to entice more people back to the office, according to a leading think-tank. The Centre for Cities said the work from home "experiment" risked destroying London's status as Britain's growth engine and hurting younger workers.  Telegraph

Tesla will strongly consider building its next gigafactory in England, Elon Musk has said. Mr Musk said his electric car company was preparing to look for a location to build a new battery factory later this year and would assess England as an option.  Telegraph

Asked if he would take his online used car retailer public back in the autumn of 2020, Alex Chesterman was unresolved. Well think about it at some point in future, he replied, but not for the time being. But plans accelerated. Cazoo listed in the United States just ten months later as part of a $7 billion blank-cheque merger, at the height of the boom around special purpose acquisition companies, or Spacs.  The Times
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. During the 70th plenary meeting of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly on May 16, 2023, a resolution was adopted on the initiative of Turkmenistan to proclaim the day of the inaugural Global Conference on Sustainable Transport in Ashgabat on November 26, 2016 as World Sustainable Transport Day, Trend reports.

According to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, when presenting this resolution, the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN, Ambassador Aksoltan Atayeva stressed that the operative part of the document provides for the holding by the Chairman of the UN General Assembly in cooperation with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to convene the High-Level Meeting on Sustainable Transport at the UN headquarters in New York during the 78th session of the General Assembly.

Special attention was paid to the fact that the World Sustainable Transport Day will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the benefits of sustainable transport and mobility, promote low-emission vehicles, use alternative fuels and energy-efficient vehicles, strengthen interconnections at the regional and global levels, as well as play an important role in the systematic consideration of best practices and unresolved problems, challenges faced by the international community in achieving the sustainability and reliability of the global transport system.

The upcoming high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly will contribute to the achievement of the transport goals that were set within the framework of the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the New Urban Agenda and the Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety.

The resolution World Sustainable Transport Day was adopted by consensus with the co-sponsorship of 67 states.
Tarun holds a bachelors degree and a masters degree from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, and MBA from The Wharton School. He has been associated with Triveni Engineering for over two decades now, and is currently also the Trustee at Tirath Ram Shah Hospital, New Delhi and Chairman of Indian Sugar Exim Corporation Limited (ISEC). Additionally, he was also the chair of the National Task Force on Sugar, Ethanol & Bioenergy and is an active member of the CII.

Siliconindia recently got a chance to interact with Tarun, wherein he shared his insights on various facets of the current sugar manufacturing industry. Below are the key pointers from the exclusive interaction

What are your thoughts on the current Sugar manufacturing industry in India?

The sugar industry has been a major economical contributor to our country for the last many decades and is now becoming a major contributor to the sustainable development of the country  be it making ethanol for sustainable mobility or using bagasse (a renewable fuel) to generate electricity. Also, the sugar industry h, s been the flag bearer of Make in India, which has enabled us to leapfrog towards becoming one of the worlds major ethanol producers.

Currently, the Indian Government and the sugar sector are collaborating to meet the objective of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26. This is a very important development towards the countrys energy independence, achieving its sustainable development goals, reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels and thus saving precious forex. Additionally, the sugar industry is also creating long-term value for farmers by enhancing resource efficiency, rejuvenating ecosystems and employment generation. Overall, the sugar industry continues to play a crucial role in the socio-economic growth of the country.

What are some of the latest technologies disrupting the sugar manufacturing space?

Advancements in technology have enabled the sugar manufacturing industry to undergo complete metamorphosis. From producing ethanol from sugarcane derived feedstocks, the industry is now moving towards multi-feed distilleries, which enables sugar manufacturers to produce ethanol from feedstocks like rice, grains and maize, in turn decreasing its dependency on sugarcane-based feedstocks. Also, sugar manufacturers are now leveraging biotechnology to produce high-yielding, high sucrose, disease resistant sugarcane varieties

With the help of digital solutions such as IoT, data analytics, and machine learning, sugar manufacturers can monitor and optimize the sugar production process in real-time by improving production efficiency, reducing costs and improving product quality. Energy-efficient technologies are being used to reduce the energy consumption at sugar manufacturing facilities. Also, significant reduction in process steam requirements is being achieved through extensive vapour bleeding by revamping evaporators, utilizing vertical continuous pans, automation of process and optimised under B-heavy & syrup diversion processes. Overall, the sugar industry is adopting several technologies to improve its sustainability and efficiency.

How can sugar manufacturing companies ensure the quality of their products?

Sugar companies must follow a rigorous quality control process that encompasses every stage of the sugar production cycle  right from sourcing raw materials to selecting the sugarcane varieties that are best suited for production process. Sugar mills then conduct multiple quality checks to ensure that it meets the required quality standards. During the sugar production process, it is important to use advanced technologies and equipment to maintain high levels of hygiene and ensure that there is no contamination in the sugar during its manufacturing processes. There must be a dedicated quality control team that conducts regular tests and inspections at every stage of the production process to ensure that the sugar meets all regulatory and customer requirements.

At Triveni Engineering & Industries, we understand the paramount importance of delivering superior quality products. Our robust quality management system allows us to promptly identify and address any issues in real-time, ensuring consistent product quality and customer satisfaction. With certifications for refined sugar meeting International EEC II grades and pharmaceutical-grade sugar with ICUMSA below 45, conforming to IP/BP specifications, we demonstrate our commitment to delivering top-notch products. Furthermore, we reinforce our dedication to quality through adherence to the FSSC 22000 certification. These certifications, combined with our advanced technologies and comprehensive quality control measures, solidify our commitment to delivering high-quality sugar products to our customers.

Tell us about a few factors that consumer must be aware of while purchasing sugar for their diverse use cases?

The quality of sugar is of utmost importance. Consumers must ensure that the sugar they buy is free from impurities and meets high-quality standards. This is particularly crucial for those who use sugar in food and beverage production since substandard sugar can affect the taste and overall quality of the final product. It is also essential to ensure that the sugar they purchase is produced in sustainable way. Furthermore, when buying sugar for their various needs, consumers should consider factors such as quality, packaging hygiene, type, price and sustainability. By doing so, they can make informed decisions and ensure that the sugar they purchase meets their requirements while also contributing to a better world.

How do you expect the industry to evolve in the future?

Going forward, the sugar industry will undergo significant changes driven by shifts in consumer demand and the need for sustainable production methods. While traditional sugar production will continue to play a crucial role in the industry, producers will need to focus on increasing their efficiency, and adopting sustainable practices. Advancements in technology, such as automation and data analytics, are transforming the way sugar is produced. By adopting these technologies, producers can increase their efficiency and reduce their costs. Additionally, automation can help improve the efficiency, safety and quality of the sugar production process. Another area of focus for the industry is sustainability. With the Government focussing on sustainability and consumers becoming increasingly environmentally conscious, sugar producers must invest in sustainable production methods and water conservation measures.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is on a week-long two-nation tour of Singapore and Japan, met industrialists and business groups in Singapore and pitched his state as a safe investment destination.

He is visiting the two countries to woo investments for the state as a prelude to the Global Investor Meet to be held in Chennai in January 2024.

Stalin, in a series of tweets, said: "Had discussions and productive engagement with the heads of financial and industrial institutions from Singapore. Held talks with Dilhan Pillai Sandrasegara, Executive Director and CEO of Temasek, Kim Yin Wong of Sembcorp and Sanjeev Dasgupta of Capital and reaffirmed the long standing relations between Singapore and Tamil Nadu.

"They expressed their keen interest in investing in our Tamil Nadu and partner with us in our journey towards becoming a trillion- dollar economy".

He also said that the two sides had discussions on possibilities of increasing investments in renewable energy projects that are presently in existence in the state.

Stalin, according to a Tamil Nadu government statement, also pitched for investments in the state in sectors like fishing, food processing and industrial parks and claimed that Tamil Nadu was a safe destination for investments.

He thanked Temasek for the wind power investment the company has made in Tamil Nadu and also invited the company to expand its investment in the state.

Stalin wanted CapitaLand's expertise and its contribution towards research and developmental facilities in Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister also informed Wong of Sembcorp about the simplification in the pumped hydro storage products and called upon the company to explore a PPP model investment model in Tamil Nadu.

Stalin will leave for Japan on May 25 after a few meetings with Singapore-based investors and is planning a more professional approach in Japan.

The first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to be visiting Japan, he will go to Osaka, the industrial and business town, besides capital Tokyo.
Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants typify that intensity. Both teams have galloped and tumbled sinusoidally. Both were uncertain of a place in the playoffs going into their final league games. Both got in by the skin of their teeth. While LSG sealed the deal with the narrowest of margins against the Kolkata Knight Riders, MI had to bank on a Shubman Gill masterclass that stole Virat Kohli's thunder and nudged Rohit Sharma's men into the top four.

The topsy-turvy rides thus far would have battle-hardened both sides, and they would need to find calm in the chaos as they head into the Eliminator. LSG have the advantage of playing at a home strip somewhat similar to the one they will get here, and hold the edge in recent head-to-head encounters they prevailed in the only match-up this season and twice last year but all that could come to nought against MI's power-packed batting line-up.

Skipper Rohit's form was the only hurdle to Mumbai's big-hitting juggernaut, and with him firing in the previous game, they will have the confidence to take on the Chepauk challenge. After overcoming a slight blip, Suryakumar Yadav is back to being the T20 batter oppositions fear most on any given day. Length, line and stadium dimensions cease to matter when Surya is on song, for he can dismantle bowling attacks like nobody's business. But Chepauk is a different kettle of fish. The dry surface invariably aids spinners, and often renders across-the-line slogs treacherous.

To add to that, LSG's spin trio of Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi and Krishnappa Gowtham are proficient in stifling run-flow and are likely to relish the conditions here. In such a scenario, it will be fascinating to see the kind of approach that Surya adopts. Does he bite the bullet and wait for rank bad balls, or does he place the belief in his abilities over everything else Like Surya, when Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis get going, there are very few T20 bowlers in the world who can stop them. Both batters can hit sixes almost at will, and can elevate a middling total to a formidable one with their pyrotechnics. MI's bowling has looked vulnerable all season, and in the absence of proven yorker specialists like Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer, has leaked runs at crucial stages.

Akash Madhwal has looked to shoulder that responsibility for the side and done reasonably well so far, but it remains to be seen whether he can replicate that success in a knockout game against the world-class duo of Pooran and Stoinis. He will need support from the other end, be it from all-rounder Cameron Green or veteran leggie Piyush Chawla.

The role of dew in day-night games at the MA Chidambaram Stadium has been unpredictable this season. Given the importance of spin here and considering how hard it gets for spinners to grip the ball when dew takes over, the ability to assess the conditions quickly and act accordingly will be paramount. In case there is a lot of dew, the toss becomes vital too, and whoever wins it would prefer bowling first.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The deadline is approaching to apply for civil service exams open in May with the New York State Department of Civil Service (DCS).

The open-competitive exams are an opportunity to start a career with New York State. These tests are open to anyone who meets the qualifications listed on the examination announcement.

Four exams are available to apply online until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31. Candidates are required to complete an online exam by June 14.

Visit www.cs.ny.gov/examannouncements/types/oc to apply for exams.

The application period opened for the following exams with a deadline of May 31: associate director training 1 (instructional design); associate director training 2 (instructional design); training specialist 1 (instructional design); training specialist 2 (instructional design).

Salaries range from $61,270 to $95,056.

According to the state, an application must be submitted online or postmarked by the last date to apply. An application will not be accepted after the application filing deadline has passed.

Application fees range from $35 to $45 for the exams this month.

To be considered for appointment for any state civil service exam, you must pass the written test. The Department of Civil Service may administer tests either online or with paper booklets and answer sheets.

All positions offer benefits, including paid leave, health benefits and retirement plans. In addition, telecommuting options may be available to employees who meet certain criteria.

To learn more about working for the State of New York, visit the Department of Civil Service website and follow the department on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Military planes are scheduled to fly over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge during the morning rush hour on Wednesday.

The flyover is in connection with Fleet Week activities that include a parade of ships.

An E-2 aircraft and three F-18 planes are expected to cruise at about 1,500 feet between the span and the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge starting around 9:30 a.m., according to a statement from the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

PARADE OF SHIPS ON WEDNESDAY

Fleet Week is returning to Staten Island for the 35th year, with a week-long celebration starting on Wednesday 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.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A woman who previously skipped a court appearance for alleged felony retail theft was brought to court Monday by a warrant squad for arraignment.

Egypt Orr, 42, of West Brighton, was charged with grand larceny, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and additional misdemeanor counts in connection with an incident at a local Target on the evening of April 26.

The district attorneys office submitted an offer of a fine, in addition to the woman being banned from the store in exchange for a guilty plea in the case. Orrs lawyer respectfully declined.

Attorney Rebecca Rosenfeld, a public defender with the Legal Aid Society, said her client is experiencing economic hardship.

Could we go down to a minimal fine of $50? asked Rosenfeld. Shes on a fixed income, she receives SSI for a major disability. She has a number of diagnosis and is unable to work. Im not sure how she would pay the fine.

Her client, she continued, is married with five children and her husband works two jobs while supporting her at home.

Were not reducing it to a misdemeanor, replied prosecutors.

Judge John McPadden weighed in, saying that given the fact she was arrested on felony charges, hes leaving it up to the district attorneys office to indict or not.

Im putting it in for grand jury action, he said.

An adjournment date was set for July 6.

Im ordering you to come back July 6, instructed McPadden, who went on to explain that if she doesnt appear, the case could proceed without her and/or she could be brought in by force. I dont think your gonna do that mam, but I need you to understand that. Do you understand?

Yes, she replied.

Citywide, retail thefts have spiked by 77% over the past five years, according to reports.

Earlier this month, authorities alleged a different 42-year-old woman repeatedly shoplifted at stores at Empire Outlets even though she was prohibited from entering those locations. Just a few weeks ago, a woman was spotted in the gallery of a criminal courtroom in the Staten Island Courthouse with a security tag still attached to her sweater.

City Hall in response has launched a multi-pronged plan.

The NYPD will keep a list of the citys most persistent thieves to curb rampant shoplifting in the Big Apple, Mayor Eric Adams said last week as the city unveiled its long-awaited city retail theft strategy plan.

Thats just one of several proposals laid out in a 33-page Combating Retail Theft report, which focuses on intervention programs for first-time shoplifters and would-be offenders while also targeting the serial retail thieves responsible for most heists.



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One of the hottest comedians going  and one of the most famous dudes in the world  is going to Alabama to work on new stand-up material.

Pete Davidson has scheduled a four-night run at Huntsville comedy club Stand Up Live, from July 13-16.

There will be two performances each night, at 6 and 8:15 p.m.

Six of those eight Davidson shows in Huntsville are already sold-out, according to the venue website. However, tickets remain for the late shows on the opening and closing nights, July 13 and 16.

Tickets are $43 (plus fees) via huntsville.standuplive.com. As is standard at many comedy clubs, theres also a two-item minimum for those attending, meaning each ticket holder must order at least two drinks and/or food items while at Stand Up Live for the show.

Davidson is mostly known for his excellent run on Saturday Night Live, from 2014 to 2022.

The New York native has also starred in films like 2022 black comedy/horror romp Bodies Bodies Bodies and semi-autobiographical 2020 Judd Apatow dramedy The King of Staten Island.

Davidson is currently starring in the Peacock streaming services show Bupkis, a stylized version of Davidsons life, a la Larry Davids HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Besides being a talented comedian, actor and writer (his writing credits include Bupkis and King of Staten Island), Davidsons dated more than his share of, as Cobra Kai character Johnny Lawrence would say, super-hot babes.

A lanky 6-foot-3, Davidson has emerged as the Tommy Lee of his generation. Hes romanced the likes of popstar Ariana Grande, actors Margaret Qualley, Kate Beckinsdale and Chase Sui Wonder, the model Kaia Gerber, and, most famously, reality TV superstar Kim Kardashian.

His Huntsville stand-up performances, billed as Pete Davidson---Working Out New Material With Friends, will be a phone-free experience, according to Stand Up Lives website.

Use of phones, smart watches and accessories, the website states, will not be permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, all phones, smart watches and accessories will be secured in individual Yondr pouches that will be opened at the end of the event.

Performers ranging from rock musician Jack White to comedian Chris Rock have previously utilized similar phone-free policies for their own live performances/tours.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The United Staten Island Veterans Organization, Inc. (USIVO), a not-for-profit organization, announced that the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps will join the Coast Guard, dignitaries, military vehicles, Rolling Thunder, classic cars, schools, Boy Scouts, marching units  and bands and floats for this years Memorial Day Parade Monday.

Back by popular demand is the Gettysburg Civil War Canon and the Mirrored Sanitation truck.

James Haynes, CEO of USIVO said, This years parade commemorates the 20 anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as we also honor all those who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice serving in our Armed Forces.

Scenes from the 103rd annual Staten Island Memorial Day Parade, held on Forest Avenue, which began at Hart Boulevard and ended at Livermore Avenue. May 30, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Derek Alvez) - Staten Island 103rd annual Memorial Day ParadeStaten Island Advance

The parade will step off at noon from the intersection of Forest Avenue and Hart Boulevard in Randall Manor.

Courtesv of Peter Lisi from of the Paramount Theater will be a Parade Float, and a live feed of the 2023 Memorial Day Parade on Facebook.

Scenes from the 103rd annual Staten Island Memorial Day Parade, held on Forest Avenue, which began at Hart Boulevard and ended at Livermore Avenue. May 30, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Derek Alvez) - Staten Island 103rd annual Memorial Day ParadeStaten Island Advance

Scenes from the 103rd annual Staten Island Memorial Day Parade, held on Forest Avenue, which began at Hart Boulevard and ended at Livermore Avenue. May 30, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Derek Alvez) - Staten Island 103rd annual Memorial Day ParadeStaten Island Advance

GRAND MARSHAL

The 2023 Memorial Dav Parade Grand Marshal is Sgt. Michael Sulsona, a member of the Marine Corps League, Staten Island Detachment, and Service Officer for the Fleet Reserve Association.

Sgt. Michael Sulsona will be Grand Marshal of the 2023 Memorial Day Parade.

Sulsona is a disabled combat Vietnam veteran who was wounded in action on Jan. 15, 1971. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with *V awards for his sacrifice.

Sulsona also is a playwright/screenwriter who has written 23 plays and 30 productions in Manhattan.

Hes also received national awards including the Kennedy Center NBC Award for playwriting and the Mixed Blood Theatre Award for non-traditional casting.

He has worked with Christopher Reeve, Richard Thomas and William Hurt, and appeared in Oliver Stones Born on Fourth of July and Hearts and Minds, a documentary.

PARADE CHAPLAIN

The Memorial Day Parade Chaplain is Carmela Montella of New Springville, an associate member of the Marine Corps League, Staten Island Detachment who also was appointed the first female chaplain. She represents the League at wakes and funerals, and at Memorial Day services and parades. She also offers Invocations on behalf of the league, and each November looks with anticipation toward chairing the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

Montella worked for 45 years at UBS Financial Services. In 2012, she and her husband Frank, a Vietnam veteran, joined the Marine Corps League and she became Detachment Chaplain in 2013.

Carmela Montella. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel)

Montella is a 2019 Advance Woman of Achievement, and has been recognized by the St. George Theatre, Staten Island Friends of Hospice Care, The Chapel of the Four Chaplains and is a devoted volunteer during the Marine Corps Leagues annual Toys for Tots Campaign.

MISS USIVO

Miss USIVO, Mirelle E. Hiscock of Westerleigh, is a 2008 graduate of The College of Staten Island with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology. Presently, Hiscock works with learning disabled or with behavioral and emotional disorder as a paraprofessional in Markham Intermediate School. She also does volunteer work with the Marine Corps League, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Seton Foundation for Learning.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Staten Island, are you ready for Fleet Week 2023?

Nine ships are parading into New York Harbor on Wednesday as they kick off the 35th annual Fleet Week, including one each from Italy, the United Kingdom and our neighbor to the north, Canada. The schedule for the ships entering the harbor is:

USS WASP (LHD-1) : an amphibious assault ship from Norfolk, Va.;

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, Mass.;

U.S. Naval Academy Yard Patrol Craft : Annapolis, Md.;

USS Oak Hill (LSD-51) : a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship from Norfolk, Va.;

USNS Newport (T-EPF) a spearhead class fast transport from Norfolk, Va.;

USCGC Legare (WMEC-912): a medium endurance cutter from Portsmouth, Va.

If youd like to get a birds eye view of the massive ships coasting through the waters of the Hudson River, any place from Battery Park to the south of the George Washington Bridge would be your best bet. Its not every day you see the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Naval Academy Yard Patrol and NATO allies cruise past One World Trade Center, Fort Hamilton or the Statue of Liberty.

If you dont happen to catch the arrival, dont fret  the USS Oak Hill (LSD-51), the USNS Newport (T-EPF), and the USCGC Legare (WMEC-912) will make Stapletons homeport pier their home until Tuesday, May 30.

Want to head into the city for a day on the vessels? Thats cool, too: Ship tours are scheduled from 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, as well as the homeport pier on Staten Island. The tours are free and open to the public.

If you want to explore more than just a ship  say, a museum on a ship  then you can check out the ship tours on the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum at Pier 86. Tours will be hosted daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but keep in mind that the museum will close earlier on Thursday, May 25. Last entry for tours will be at 2 p.m., and the museum will close at 3 p.m.

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 tristate area.

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 Fleet Week, 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.

Note that while the ships are not handicap accessible, the pier facilities in Manhattan and Staten Island  including the exhibit areas  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.

For up-to-date information on all things Fleet Week New York, including events, visit the official Fleet Week New York website at www.fleetweeknewyork.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Steady rain was an uninvited guest at the Benjamin Prine Way street co-naming ceremony that took place at the corner of Forest and Livermore avenues in Port Richmond this past weekend, but the weather didnt dampen the historic celebration.

Dozens -- including more than 20 descendants of Benjamin Prine, some traveling from as far away as Cincinnati -- gathered for the event, which honored the life of a formerly enslaved Staten Island resident who is buried at the intersection.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. A nuclear power plant (NPP) of Russian design will be built in Uzbekistan, Trend report.

This is a flagship project of bilateral economic relations between Russia and Uzbekistan. The agreement on the main terms of the general contract is almost ready, Russian MFA commented.

An agreement was signed in 2018 between Uzbekistan and Russia on the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Jizzakh region near Tuzkan Lake.

Meanwhile, it became known in early 2023 that both countries are actively working on a contract for the construction of a nuclear power plant. It is expected that the power plant will consist of two units using Russian-type reactors.
CITY HALL  Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday evening that his administration had taken legal action against the mandated right to shelter as the migrant crisis grows in the five boroughs.

New York Citys right to shelter for all homeless people stems from a 1979 lawsuit and subsequent legal action, but Adams said modern circumstances warrant change to the decades-old mandate.

From the start, let us be clear, that we are in no way seeking to end of the right to shelter. Todays action will allow us to get clarity from the court and preserve the right to shelter for the tens of thousands in our care  both previously unhoused individuals and asylum seekers, Adams said. Given that were unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border. Being dishonest about this will only result in our system collapsing, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their share.

While Adams wouldnt characterize the called-for change as an end to the right to shelter, the city Law Departments legal action brought before the New York Supreme Court, if successful, would bring fundamental changes to the current system.

Specifically, the citys right to shelter for adults would be lifted in situations when the citys shelter system has been stretched beyond its capacity, like the current crisis brought on by the influx of migrants, mostly from the southern border. Children and their families would not be impacted by the proposed change.

The Adams administration, as of May 15, has seen more than 65,000 migrants come into the five boroughs, and more than 44,000 remain in the citys care.

Those 44,000 when summed with the existing shelter population totals more than 93,000 people being provided shelter by the city, 81,000 of whom are in the care of the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). The prior capacity record for the DHS system was 61,000 according to the city.

Despite the citys call for legal relief, the administration faces an uphill battle. The Coalition for the Homeless, which brought the original 1979 lawsuit that led to the right to shelter, vowed to oppose the attempted change to the right to shelter.

A Coalition co-founder, attorney Robert Hayes, brought the original suit on behalf of Robert Callahan, a homeless man suffering from alcoholism who Hayes discovered sleeping on the street in Manhattan, according to the Coalition.

In a settlement, the city and state agreed to provide shelter and board to all homeless men who met the need standard for welfare or who were homeless by reason of physical, mental or social dysfunction. Women and children were added later through further legal action, according to the Coalition.

For more than 40 years, Callahan has served as a lifeline for countless New Yorkers seeking shelter and critical services, the Coalition wrote in their joint statement made with the legal aid society. The Administrations request to suspend the long-established State constitutional right that protects our clients from the elements is not who we are as a city. New Yorkers do not want to see anyone, including asylum seekers, relegated to the streets. We will vigorously oppose any motion from this Administration that seeks to undo these fundamental protections that have long defined our city.

For months, Adams had led up to a legal challenge of the right to shelter. Humanitarian Emergency Relief Centers, which city officials calls HERCs, were criticized as an insufficient approach to the right to shelter, and an executive order Adams issued last week rolled back some of the legal shelter requirements.

EMERGENCY RESPITE SHELTERS

Those rollbacks allowed the city to set up what officials call emergency respite shelters at city-owned buildings around the five boroughs, including the former site of the Richard H. Hungerford School in Clifton.

Most of those sites, which were set up in school buildings, have since been shuttered, after receiving pushback from local communities and criticisms about the lack of basic services they provided, including a dearth of showers. The site at the former Hungerford school remains open.

While Adams has immediately received pushback about his legal challenge, hes also received support from conservatives in the city, who have long called for changes to the right to shelter. Borough President Vito Fossella issued a statement supporting Adams legal challenge.

We agree with the mayor that the city does not have the resources to manage the influx of tens of thousands of migrants indefinitely. As we cautioned New Yorkers last fall when the migrant crisis began, this matter is unsustainable. We ask all New Yorkers to get behind Mayor Adams in this effort, as the migrant issue affects every one of us, Fossella wrote in the statement. Mayor Adams has been under a tremendous amount of pressure managing a situation we did not create, and I give the mayor a great deal of credit. The fault all lies squarely with our federal government, which has allowed the crisis at the border to spin out of control. It is unconscionable for the federal government to leave this matter for state and local governments to handle.

MORE NYC NEWS

NYC has no plans to shutter migrant housing at Staten Island school

NYC Mayor Adams launches crackdown on retail theft in the 5 boroughs

Staten Island pols: Vacant public schools not a solution for migrant housing

Have a scheduling conflict with NYCs new trash takeout times? DSNY says youre on your own

Two more Staten Island hotels are now sheltering migrants, local pols say
A 15-year-old girl was apparently injured when she was bitten by shark at a New Jersey beach while she was surfing, authorities said.

Emergency personnel respond to the 109th Street Beach in Stone Harbor on Sunday after a report of an individual injured in a possible shark attack, according to a news release from Stone Harbor officials.

Maggie Drozdowski told WPVI that she was on her surfboard with her body in the water when she felt something on her leg.

I thought it was just a crab pinching my foot, but it felt bigger than that, Drozdowski said. My whole foot was in its mouth. I was shaking my foot as hard as I could. It was hard. It was really heavy.

Drozdowski said the encounter lasted seconds and she was able to paddle back to shore. She suffered several lacerations to her left foot and calf, and was taken to Cape Regional Medical Center, where she received six stitches, WPVI reported.

While the injured teen didnt see what bit her, a local medical examiner determined that her injuries were consistent with those typically associated with a shark of unknown size and type, according to a press release from the New Jersey State Southern Regional Medical Examiner.

Beachgoers are being advised to be cautious in the waters, to avoid wearing reflective jewelry and to stay out of fishing areas.

Stone Harbor remains a beloved and popular destination for beachgoers from near and far,' said Stone Harbor Mayor Judy Davies-Dunhour in a statement released to the media. The local police and fire departments are fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of both residents and tourists.








The first-place winners artwork will hang in the United States Capitol for one year, along with other winners from across the country. The students who placed second and third will have their artwork displayed in Congressman Meusers District offices.



2023 Congressional Art Competition Winners:

First Place: Majestic by Kasie Troch from Blue Mountain High School

Second Place: Anne Frank by Alexei Armusik from PA Cyber Charter School

Third Place: Wolfhound Phantoms of Vietnam by Kaylee Meeker from Northwest Area School District I was impressed with the incredible detail of Kasies work and am happy that her painting will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for the next year, Meuser said. Competitions like this are a wonderful way to highlight the artistic talents of students across Pennsylvanias Ninth District. I applaud the efforts of all the young artists who entered this years contest. Everyone should be very proud of their submissions.



The Office of Congressman Meuser hosted an art show at the Walk In Art Center in Schuylkill Haven on May 3, 2023. Nineteen students from seventeen various schools across Pennsylvanias Ninth District participated in the event. I was impressed with the incredible detail of Kasies work and am happy that her painting will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for the next year, Meuser said. Competitions like this are a wonderful way to highlight the artistic talents of students across Pennsylvanias Ninth District. I applaud the efforts of all the young artists who entered this years contest. Everyone should be very proud of their submissions.The Office of Congressman Meuser hosted an art show at the Walk In Art Center in Schuylkill Haven on May 3, 2023. Nineteen students from seventeen various schools across Pennsylvanias Ninth District participated in the event.

1st Place: Majestic by Kasie Troch - Blue Mountain High School





2nd Place: Anne Frank by Alexei Armusik from PA Cyber Charter School

3rd Place: Wolfhound Phantoms of Vietnam by Kaylee Meeker from Northwest Area School District









On Wednesday, Congressman Dan Meuser (PA-09) announced the winners of the 2023 Congressional Art Competition.
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The Sydney Opera House sails have been lit in honour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just weeks after the Minns government controversially blocked their illumination for the coronation of King Charles III.

Australias trading interests won out in an ongoing debate over the sails illuminations when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday afternoon confirmed he had requested a projection of the Indian flag on the building in the evening to mark Modis two-day visit to Sydney.

Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese outside the Opera House with the sails lit up with the Indian flag. Credit: James Brickwood

We had a decision to make about [the Modi lighting], he told 2GB host Chris OKeefe. It wasnt our decision to make about the coronation. I was in the UK when that occurred so I wasnt a party to any of those decisions.

Albanese did not dispute an assertion from OKeefe that the Opera House would have been lit for the coronation had it been his decision as prime minister.
Playwright David Finnigan was in the audience at a science conference just outside of Canberra when he heard an idea that blew his mind. A scientist was talking about their research into whether it would be possible to create a whole new ecosystem to replace coral reefs.

That gave me vertigo: the idea that we might need to construct something brand-new, says Finnigan.

Playwright David Finnigan isnt trying to change anyones mind with his new play. Credit: Sarah Walker

Ideas like these form the basis of Scenes from the Climate Era, a collection of about 30 stories about climate science, policy and activism, which opens at Sydneys Belvoir St Theatre next week, starring Charles Wu (Doctor Doctor), Brandon McClelland (Totally Completely Fine) and Harriet Gordon-Anderson (Bell Shakespeares Hamlet).

In one scene, set at the corporate headquarters of a bank, a junior associate is dressed down by their senior manager for not telling them that they had leaked sensitive information about a contentious gas field project to Greenpeace.
A year into Anthony Albaneses reign, we have witnessed a rare phenomenon. Unlike his most recent predecessors, Albanese has not turned into the incredible shrinking prime minister. He has actually grown in the job.

Initially his favourable reception sprung from relief and surprise. He was not Scott Morrison and he performed better than most people expected.

Labors honeymoon continues. Credit: Dionne Gain

Now, enjoying a seemingly never ending, ever expanding honeymoon (which will eventually expire because political love affairs always do and always badly), Albanese is being judged favourably in his own right as well as in comparison to the alternative  Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Dutton and the dominant conservative Liberals have sought refuge on the outer fringes of the right, struggling for relevance as mainstream opponents steal their clothes, their real estate and their supporters. This has left moderates like Simon Birmingham in an excruciating, untenable position, straddling a barbed wire fence, neither condemning nor defending their leader.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas might have felt like he was walking into hostile territory on Wednesday at the Victorian Chamber of Commerces annual post-budget lunch event at Crown Southbank, what with the reaction of the business lobby to the Treasurers budget and more bloody state taxes as one corporate politely described it.

With plenty of corporate leaders in attendance  including Crowns Ciaran Carruthers, the University of Melbournes Duncan Maskell and Saul Cannon from the Port of Melbourne  whose outfits will pay plenty under the budgets COVID-19 debt, temporary payroll tax surcharge, Pallas had good reason to be a little trepidatious.

Treasurer Tim Pallas said he handed down his most difficult budget on Tuesday. Credit: Eddie Jim

But it wasnt so bad in the end, although Tim might have taken some of the sting out of the room by talking 10 minutes over his allotted time, and even managed a few decent zingers.

But the biggest laugh of the day was arguably one of Pallas many PowerPoint slides, the one hoping to refute Victorias title as the highest taxing state, by claiming that West Australians were paying more taxes to their state government than Victorians courtesy of the mining powerhouses resource royalty charges.
Australias drug watchdog ignored its own experts and submissions from pharmaceutical and poisons organisations when it removed restrictions on ivermectin, the controversial drug debunked as a treatment for COVID-19.

The NSW Poisons Information Centre warned in a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) that dropping restrictions on ivermectin would likely lead to more people using it to treat COVID-19, while the Pharmacy Guild called for restrictions to remain as a matter of public safety.

GPs will once again be allowed to write scripts for Ivermectin for COVID-19. Credit: Bloomberg

But the TGA said in making the ruling this month that it was satisfied that the risks to public health  are now otherwise mitigated.

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug used to treat scabies and river blindness. There is strong evidence ivermectin, commonly used to de-worm horses, cannot treat or prevent COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, a team of Australian scientists discovered it could stop the growth of COVID-19  in high concentrations in a Petri dish.
Miller says many of the industry submission authors excluded or misrepresented evidence that didnt support their view, a practice known as evidential landscaping. (To go with the landscaping metaphor, its a bit like topiary: you can trim a bush into the shape of a hippo, but its still a bush.) Loading For example, the Australian Wine Research Institute said one to two drinks per day had a cardioprotective effect but left out the conclusion of the paper it quoted, which stated: the picture is clear: alcohol consumption should be as low as possible, no amount of consumption is safe. The Brewers Association of Australia, which described the draft National Alcohol Strategy as bereft of scientific rigour and intellectually dishonest, refuted strong evidence that links drinking and violence by citing a 25-year-old meta-analysis (outdated) and an industry-funded review (prone to bias). Alcohol Beverages Australia (ABA) criticised a study that found increasing the average minimum price of all alcoholic beverages reduced alcohol-related hospital admissions. The ABA claimed researchers had manipulated data. But Miller says the researchers had actually adjusted their data for underlying trends, policy changes and regional differences, and adjusting for confounding factors is just good science.

ABAs critique shows an inherent misunderstanding of best scientific practice  however, if taken on face value, their argument might be convincing because of this mimicked attempt at scientific critique, Miller says. The Brewers Association of Australia described the draft National Alcohol Strategy as bereft of scientific rigour and intellectually dishonest. Credit: iStock In response to Millers criticism, a spokesperson said ABA is an evidence-based organisation and cited ABS data that shows Australians are drinking at the lowest average level in 50 years. The success that we have had in Australia in tackling harmful alcohol consumption has been achieved by governments, the industry and other stakeholders working together and we believe this should continue, the spokesperson said. The other organisations mentioned were also approached for comment. Should we be sipping shiraz from shot glasses?



Associate Professor Louise Mewton studies the impact of drinking on brain health across peoples lifespan, and particularly how alcohol increases dementia risk. The gold standard for establishing risk would be a randomised control trial. But its not feasible or ethical to ask people to drink heavily over 50 years of their life, the University of Sydney health researcher says. So we are relying on observational data. These studies bring together huge amounts of data from hundreds of thousands of people and use statistical tools to zero in on one factor in peoples lives  e.g. alcohol intake  and estimate how much that impacts health issues, such as dementia risk. The idea that a drink or so a day could be beneficial to health originated from observational studies. But many of these studies have been skewed because they failed to gather data on the drinkers level of wealth, which is a predictor for better health outcomes.

Some findings were also muddied because the alcohol abstainers in the studies were people who quit drinking because they became unwell, which made it seem like people who didnt drink were more unhealthy than those who drank modestly, according to a systematic review. Loading Its important to keep in mind that when you summarise all the evidence out there, that protective effect is at a really low dose of alcohol, says Mewton. The lowest risk occurs at about six grams of alcohol per day. Thats about 60mls of wine, a quarter of a cup. Were not talking about one to two drinks per day, Mewton says. (Thats about two shot glasses of wine.) For people aged under 40, there is no safe level.

Should WHO skip drinks with Big Alcohol? Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education chief executive Caterina Giorgi wants the World Health Organisation to stop its annual two-day meeting with alcohol companies and says the industry should be as tightly controlled as tobacco. Loading Theres a global Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and governments like Australia have agreed to not involve tobacco companies in policy development, Giorgi says. This doesnt exist when it comes to alcohol. The ABC reported that after the alcohol industry was consulted on the National Alcohol Strategy, the line Australia does not support any ongoing role for industry in setting or developing national alcohol policy was removed.
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 Dennis Glover has pinned Peter Duttons doublespeak to the door of the Manor House (Duttons unequal reading of Orwell, May 24). In a time of deceit and dissembling about the Voice its good to be reminded of the power of literature to speak up for equality, despite the egregious attempts of Dutton to misuse it. As a noted expert on Orwell, I wish Glover could visit all our public high schools. Deb McPherson, Gerringong Illustration: Dionne Gain Credit: Glover presents an excellent teachable moment as he destroys Duttons distortion of the great Orwellian novel Animal Farm. Duttons developing stance is further evidence of the desperation of the Coalition as it risks creating massive divisions in society in an attempt to gain a political advantage. Just as Donald Trump dog whistled extreme white supremacy groups during the Charlottesville riots, Dutton (consciously or sub-consciously) is creating a vehicle, a platform and opportunity for those harbouring racially bigoted views to come out of the shadows and use the No campaign to legitimise their violent and destructive ideology. What started from Dutton as a justifiable conservative yapping and nipping at the PMs heels, has now become an extreme and deafening dog-whistle. Warren Marks, Hill Top Duttons interpretation of Orwells sayings to mean the opposite of what Orwell intended has earned him Glovers Animal Hero First Class award. Indigenous Australians dictators? What piffle. I dont believe Dutton understands what the word equality means. John Nelson, Mudgee The headline was a good prompt for me to revisit Animal Farm. And Glovers interesting historical comments were an added blessing. Peter Dutton, read the book or sack your speechwriter. Grahame Ellis, Narraweena Dutton told parliament that the Voice will have an Orwellian effect where all Australians are equal, but some Australians are more equal than others. He went on: For instead of being one, we will be divided  in spirit, and in law. The opposition leader knows very well that since 1788 we have been truly divided in spirit and in law. The least equal of all, our First Nations peoples, have long been the most marginalised and the most underprivileged in the country. One only has to consider Indigenous standards of housing, health, education, and life expectancy. The Voice proposes to create a practical mechanism by which Indigenous advice can finally produce better policies for closing that gap. Grahame Hackett, Bowral When you attack the man and not his argument you have lost the debate (Letters, May 24). Letter writers attack on Dutton has nothing to contribute to the debate. The argument is that the Voice will divide the nation. How could it not? Andras Hidas, Arcadia

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Could Dutton please explain the difference between Canberra lobbyists and the Canberra Voice? On one hand, we have a group of elitist, white, Australian ex-politicians representing the needs and desires of multinational businesses for personal gain, as opposed to a group of Indigenous Australians representing a disenfranchised community for the benefit of all. Neil Kendrick, Waverley The next decisive step in the referendum campaign on the Voice is up to non-Indigenous Australia. Prominent Indigenous Australians have done the hard work and made a simple and generous request. It is time that non-Indigenous Australia to take over the campaign to tell our countrymen why this referendum is necessary and is good for all Australians. It is up to non-Indigenous Australia to win this vote  our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters have done all that they can. Now it is up to us. Dale Bailey, Five Dock Memo to the new government: How much can a koala bear? I have yet to learn how not to raise my expectations when a change of government occurs (Logging plans for key koala habitat in proposed refuge, May 24). The Great Koala National Park promised by the NSW Labor Party could go a long way to ensuring the survival of this species listed as vulnerable to extinction. However, I am bitterly disappointed that one fifth of the state forests that are to be incorporated in the reserve are to be logged. While I fully appreciate that preliminary assessment of the project is required, surely that does not mean there is a green light for accelerated logging in the interim. Roger Epps, Armidale Mark Graham of the Bellingen Nature Company at the Ellis State Forest, south-west of Grafton, where critical, old-growth koala habitat is being logged. Credit: Wolter Peeters / Dean Sewell How can we expect koala populations to survive, let alone rebuild, when politicians equivocate and waiver on taking decisive action to halt logging in native forests? Despite promises by the incoming state Labor government to address logging in key koala areas, we see the Environment Minister Penny Sharpe vacillating about ceasing the logging, preferring to consult with stakeholders. Meanwhile, the Forestry Corporation continues its destructive rampage through key koala habitats. How is this still happening? Surely the minister should demand the immediate cessation of logging and then do some consultation, in the hope that just a few koalas may escape the terrible fate that logging assures. Stuart Laurence, Cammeray In my 40 years of living on the mid north coast of NSW (Dorrigo and Nana Glen) I witnessed old-growth forest and state forest logging on an unprecedented scale. It is a sad indictment of both sides of politics that this was allowed and even encouraged. A blind eye was turned to loss of habitat and spelled disaster for native species. The bushfires of 2019/2020 further exacerbated this loss. But for a few caring landholders who refuse logging on their properties many species would be facing extinction. But the Forestry Corporation isnt the only bogeyman here, farmers have clear-felled hundreds of hectares and polluted creeks with chemical run-off. Platypus, water dragons and various species of fish lived in Bucca Creek, which ran past my property. Alas, no more - the water is so polluted that its devoid of wildlife. Poor fella, my country. Christine Tiley, Albany Creek (Qld)

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Ive the pleasure of living in a forest surrounded by thousands of hectares of logged state forest. In 45 years, Ive seen just four koalas. In a healthy forest system I should have seen hundreds. My words are impartial: I have a 35-year-old plantation and a licence to log. I base my observations on a working opinion. Warren Tindall, Bellingen Senior highs boost teens into adulthood St Marys Senior High School accepts students moving from the private school system (Private pupils flock to public school doing it differently, May 24). Senior high schools foster a more mature approach to study. Calling teachers by their first names and wearing casual clothes makes students feel like they are being treated like adults not children. The results are outstanding. Maybe we need more of them. Another benefit is troubled Year 9 and 10 students are then the seniors of the junior high school and step up to the challenge with fewer behavioural issues. Judith Rostron, Killarney Heights At last, an article about the value of public schools, their teachers and their learning environments.

I was delighted to read of the students praise of the mix of cultures at St Marys Senior High School. This is what will keep us as an independent, thriving, multicultural nation. Beth Hansen, Alstonviille Double negative Your correspondents affection for negative gearing of residential property ignores the fundamental issue of fairness: first home buyers pay higher interest than investors (Letters, May 24). A portion of the tax they pay subsidises investors bidding against them. Removal of this Australian peculiarity would also redirect investment towards more economically productive options. Michael Britt, MacMasters Beach

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Profit and loss Without any hint of embarrassment, Qantas announces a profit of $2.5 billion (Qantas flags $2.5 billion record profit, May 24). Over recent years, passengers and the community at large have witnessed Qantas abandonment of its historical standards of respect and support and the traditional values that made the airline unique and the first choice for most Australians. The existing domestic duopoly and the mismatch between supply and demand on international routes means Qantas does not need to rely on loyalty or pride in the flying kangaroo rewarding passengers with greatly inflated prices and diminished service. To the distressed regret of a great many, Qantas has repositioned itself to be just another airline. Its sole focus appears to be maximising profits at any cost, along the way trashing any efforts to be representative of our special national characteristics that Australians hold dear. Ross Butler, Rodd Point Now that Qantas looks like posting a $2.5 billion profit, should they not repay the government and taxpayers the money they were gifted during the pandemic? We recently flew Qantas to London return and while the staff were good, many things werent. My screen did not work on the second leg of the flight and the attendant was able to put a movie on, but I was not able to stop and start it. The food was disgusting and there were two toilets out of operation for the entire leg. So using the toilet took 30 minutes because of the line-up. I missed 30 minutes of the movie I was watching and nothing could be done. They are obviously cutting corners as the passengers expense. Pauline Fawkner, Camperdown Kids need protection Hard core porn is not sexy or safe (Protecting kids from porn is simple Its time to act, May 24). Because I am writing a play on gender inequality featuring abuses such as domestic violence and sexual assault, a friend alerted me to hard core porn as a contributing factor. He warned me to forget any preconceived notions of the erotica of the seventies. He teaches in an all-boys private school and hears the boys commentary as they watch on their phones. In two clicks I was on a HCP site with no filtering. My granddaughter could access it, and she is just 10. This must be a major contributor to new perpetrators joining the violence against women brigade. It is a violent, degrading, misogynistic portrayal of sex. This stuff is watched mostly by boys, some as young as nine. For some it is presumably their first exposure to sex and sets up a very worrisome picture of normal sex. It is uncensored and access to the site is unmonitored. We have an e-Safety Commissioner charged with overseeing tech-facilitated abuse, but who is watching the transmission of hard core porn on the internet? Controlling this scourge needs to be an urgent priority. Gillian Levett, Greenwich Coronation clangers

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I objected to the ABCs coronation coverage for another reason (Letters, May 24). I had no issue with muting the audio while carrying vision of the BBC pre-ceremony feed to broadcast a local panel discussion dominated by republican and reconciliation voices, including the powerful and passionate polemic from Stan Grant. The vision at that point was merely of dignitaries arriving, and while the BBC narration may have been interesting, it was valid to give a platform to dissenting views in Australia in its stead. Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: My fury began only at the point where the vision showed that the pre-ceremony concert had begun, more so because by that time the panel discussion had ended with the ABC merely giving precedence to Kathy Lette quips. In muting the entire concert and talking over it, while showing the silenced musicians in the vision, I missed the great John Eliot Gardiner conducting The Coronation Orchestra, the performance of a new work commissioned especially for the occasion from British composer Judith Weir, exquisite organ playing, and other musical treats including the music of William Walton. I condemn ABC TV, not for its amplification of progressive voices, but for this philistinism in violation of its Charter. Mark Isaacs, Bonnet Bay Dread force I am old enough to remember when there were police on the beat, when there were police boxes in strategic positions in the suburbs, when the local policeman came to school and gave us talks that made us feel the policeman was our friend (Letters, May 24). Recent happenings suggest that is not the case today and, I, whose grandfather was a well-respected member of the police, would dread any interaction, however trivial, with any member of the force today. Patricia Slidziunas, Woonona Dignity denied

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Tony Eggleton with Zara Holt at her Toorak home on December 27, 1967, 10 days after Harold Holts disappearance. Credit: Age archives Hurst rang again 10 minutes later to say the rumours were stronger that it was Holt. Eggleton then rang D24 (as police headquarters were then known), to be told they were investigating Holts suspected disappearance. Eggleton tracked down Holts wife, Zara, who was catching up with a long-time friend visiting from Queensland, to tell her the media were reporting that the prime minister was in trouble. She told Eggleton that Holt often swam out to the rocks and stayed there, sunning himself. Eggleton rang Holts private secretary, Peter Bailey, told him what was going on, and arranged for a Mystere, one of the smaller planes in the VIP fleet, to be put on standby. Bailey rang John Bunting, the head of the prime ministers department, who was at his holiday house at Dalmeny on the NSW south coast. For those who complain about the effect of social media and 24-hour news cycles, think about this: Bunting did not have a phone at his house. Bailey had to ring the local post office, whereupon the postmistress got on her bike, rode to Buntings house to tell him there was an important call for him, and he went back to the tiny weatherboard structure on a hill overlooking the beautiful Yabbara beach to take the call, which informed him his boss had disappeared into the ocean. Zara became more anxious as time passed with no news. She rang Eggleton to tell him she would pick him up in 15 minutes in the Bentley to drive to the airport and fly to Melbourne. With her was her friend Allison Busst and Holts GP, Marcus Faunce. The pilot asked her if she wanted a helicopter to pick them up to take them to Portsea. She refused, saying she would rather the helicopter be used to find Harold.

When they landed, Eggleton saw Zara, Busst and Faunce into one car. He deliberately chose to travel in the other because he wanted to listen to the radio to get a handle on what was happening. Of course, the car did not have a radio. Not all cars did back then. Fortunately, the driver had a little transistor radio, which they dangled from the rear-vision mirror. Eggleton took the time on the drive to think about how he would handle such an extraordinary situation. Above all, he wanted to be open with journalists, to provide as much information as he was able to. What struck him on the drive to Portsea was the number of people in the small seaside towns along the way who lined the streets in their beachwear as Zara drove by, their heads bowed. Tony Eggleton with a portrait of Harold Holt in his Canberra home in 2003. Credit: Andrew Taylor Anyone old enough to remember that time remembers Eggletons composure. He says the journalists were fantastic. Maybe, but he was brilliant: calm, articulate, sombre, informative and altogether impressive. Marjorie Gillespie had been with Holt when he went swimming. He immediately asked her to dictate her recollections, and gave a section of the transcript to an ABC reporter, who asked Eggleton about it at one of his briefings so that Eggleton could respond.

As well as the worldwide media interest, and the sheer human tragedy of it, there was politics to consider, too. Bunting told Eggleton that, as the man on the spot, he would have to deal with all of it, but gave him one piece of advice  not to declare on that first day that Holt was gone. Declaring a prime minister dead at sea was a big deal. So was the succession. It would buy more time before the governor-general had to swear in an acting prime minister. This would be Jack McEwen. Eggletons life changed on that day. He became what most political staff strive not to be: a national figure. But it had happened for all the right reasons, and he had managed it in the best way possible. Gorton, Gotto and Geraldine Frank Packer rang to offer him a replacement job, but when Holts successor, John Gorton, asked him to stay on, he agreed. Eggleton had interviewed him for the Bendigo Advertiser when Gorton was first elected to the Senate. They got along well. Eggleton also got along very well with Gortons young personal secretary, Ainsley Gotto.

Eggletons relationship with Gorton was sorely tested on the night of November 1, 1968. It was the annual press gallery dinner, with Gorton as the guest speaker. Eggleton accompanied Gorton to the dinner. They arrived late, so there was not much mingling beforehand. Eggleton saw Gorton talking to one young woman, but thought nothing of it; it was not unusual for Gorton to make a beeline for attractive females. Eggleton rustled up the car to leave, and went to tell the prime minister it was time to go. Gorton began to walk out with the young woman, Geraldine Willesee  sister of Mike, and journalist with Australian United Press  in tow. Following them were the male journalists, with their jaws hanging somewhere around the floor. Then prime minister John Gorton and his family watch the broadcast of a Gorton speech on October 13, 1969, with Tony Eggleton (standing, left) and Ainsley Gotto (seated, second from left). Gortons wife Bettina is seated third from left. Credit: Age archive Eggleton thought  hoped  that when they got to the car, Gorton would turn and bid her goodnight. No such luck. Eggleton saw a look in Gortons eye that told him the prime minister was determined on a certain course of action. He was taking her with him. Eggleton told him that was not a good idea. He insisted. Eggleton opened the rear car door for Willesee. She slid across, and Eggleton jumped in beside her. Gorton was furious. He wanted to sit in the back with her. He grumbled that, as the prime minister, he should be sitting in the back. He glumly sat in the front, then slid his hand around between the front bucket seats towards the back, so he could hold her hand.

Geraldine Willesee in 1974. Credit: Age archive When Eggleton talks about it now, he laughs loud and long. Not so much back then. Gorton was insisting on taking Geraldine to the Black and White Ball at the Canberra Rex Hotel. Eggleton told him that was not a good idea, and besides, the US ambassador, Bill Crook, wanted to see him. Gotto had told Eggleton to take the prime minister to the embassy residence after the gallery dinner. Gorton insisted on taking Willesee with him. Eggleton got out of the car, knocked on the ambassadors door, and forewarned him that the prime minister had brought a friend. They walked in, and who should be there but Gotto. She was looking daggers at Gorton and Willesee. Eggleton thinks Gotto was both jealous and furious  jealous because he was with another younger woman, and furious because of the impropriety. Eggleton does not believe Gorton had an affair with Gotto, although Gorton did admit years later that he loved her. I asked Eggleton how Gortons wife, Bettina, felt about all this. Eggleton remembers Bettina as a remarkable lady who behaved with considerable dignity. One day, Eggleton visited her at the Lodge. She was a bit upset. She said she did not mind the friendship between her husband and Gotto, but she was disappointed she no longer had an opportunity to work with him as she used to. Eggleton reassured her by saying her constant support of John was invaluable, but prime ministers inevitably became surrounded by a bevy of personal staff and departmental advisers. Eggleton says he spent a lot of time with both Gorton and Gotto, and saw nothing to suggest an affair.

But Gortons wayward ways were his undoing. Not even Eggletons consummate media skills could save him from the retribution of his colleagues. Tony Eggleton on the steps of Old Parliament House in 1997. Credit: Andrew Meares The wrong number Then there was November 11, 1975. Before he left to go to Government House that morning, Malcolm Fraser told Eggleton he wanted him to wait in his office in the Old Parliament House until he got back so they could decide, depending on the meeting, what to do next.

Eggleton, by then federal director of the Liberal Party, was sitting in Frasers office, on his own, waiting, when the phone rang on Frasers desk. He answered it. A mans voice at the other end asked if he was John Menadue (then head of the prime ministers department). Eggleton said no, he wasnt, and identified himself. The male caller, who did not identify himself, except to say he was from Government House, said Oh, I am ringing the wrong number. Then he told Eggleton to walk out the front of the building, wait for Fraser to get back, shake his hand as he got out of the car, and say, Welcome, Prime Minister. Malcolm Fraser and Tony Eggleton in London for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1977. Credit: AP That is how Eggleton was first alerted  by an anonymous caller to the wrong number  of one of the most momentous events in Australian political history. When Fraser drove up, Eggleton did as suggested. Fraser did not skip a beat. He told Eggleton to immediately call a meeting of the shadow cabinet. When they assembled, they sat there quietly, waiting for Fraser to speak. He appeared solemn, then kept silent for a few moments, before finally suddenly announcing: Doug, you are deputy prime minister. (Doug Anthony was the leader of the Country Party.) Reg, get the supply bills through the Senate instantly. (Reg Withers was the leader of the opposition in the Senate.)

Whitlam had gone to the Lodge for lunch, having neglected to tell his Senate colleagues what had happened, so they voted along with the Coalition for passage of the bills. Eggleton immediately set about planning the campaign, including getting campaign headquarters ready before unions shut down services such as phones and telex. Yes, it was a different era. An important piece of advice Eggleton gave to Fraser was that he should go into the campaign not as prime minister, but as leader of the Liberal Party. Eggleton knew it would be a willing campaign, and he didnt want to inflame it more than necessary. When it was over, once he was elected prime minister, Fraser never mentioned the circumstances surrounding Whitlams dismissal to Eggleton again. They worked together closely for 40 years, including in the aid organisation CARE for many years. Not once over a meal or in any meeting did Fraser raise it with Eggleton, nor did Eggleton raise it with him. Eggleton does not hold with the view that Fraser spent the rest of his life trying to make amends for the Dismissal. Fraser simply got on with the rest of his life, doing things that he had always been interested in. The tragic drowning of Harold Holt  is much more often in my mind than the confronting events of November 11, 1975, Eggleton told me. The Dismissal day was traumatic and agonising, but the sad, incredible, and untimely death of a prime minister and friend was profound and personal.
Final-year teaching student Molly loves working in schools but is not sure if she can afford to finish her degree.

Molly usually stays afloat by waitressing 20 hours a week and careful spending. But four weeks into her unpaid teaching rounds, the 23-year-old finds herself in financial stress.

Teaching students are asking for paid placements. Credit: iStock

As the state calls for more teachers and the cost of living soars, Molly is part of a growing number of teaching students struggling with the demands of lengthy unpaid placements.

A petition from the Australian Education Union, calling on the Victorian government to pay teaching students for compulsory placements, has attracted close to 5300 signatures. Teaching students in post-grad courses are required to do 60 days of unpaid teaching rounds. For undergraduate courses, its 80 days.
Four people charged with murder over the death of Indigenous teenager Cassius Turvey as he walked home from school in October last year will fight their charges at trial.

Jack Steven Brearley, 22, Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 21, Mitchell Colin Forth, 24, and Brodie Lee Palmer, 28, pleaded not guilty in Stirling Gardens Magistrates court on Wednesday.

Cassius Turvey was 15 years old when he died after being attacked in Middle Swan last year.

The group have all been charged over the fatal bashing of 15-year-old Cassius in Middle Swan on October 13.

Cassius had been walking home with friends when Brearley, Gilmore, Forth and Palmer allegedly pulled up in a car to confront the teenagers.
Loading McGowan congratulated the school and police for their quick responses during the incident. He said Atlantis Beach, like all schools in the state, was prepared for the situation and conducted drills twice a year, but it was not something he wanted to see in WA. This was extraordinary stuff, the sort of thing you see occurring in the deep south of America that you dont expect to occur in Western Australia, and it shouldnt occur in Western Australia, he said. Gun reform in governments sights

McGowan said the government would move as quickly as possible to reform gun laws in the state to prevent future incidents, including reducing the number of guns in the state and bolstering storage requirements. He said while he wanted to avoid commenting directly on the incident, gun owners needed to ensure their weapons were stored safely and correctly. Whether its kids or your own children or anyone else, they should not be able to get access to any firearms, he said. But in any event, were going to have a major rewrite of the gun laws of the state. The premiers pledge to get tough on guns echoed Police Minister Paul Papalia, who told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday night there were still too many licensed firearms in WA.

Papalia promised reforms to the Firearms Act after reflecting on a shooting at a school in Perths northern suburbs on Wednesday. Loading There are 360,000 or so licensed firearms in Western Australia. That is too many. They are too easily accessed, he said. Papalia said the act was being completely rewritten as the current laws did not elevate public safety. The question to ask with respect to todays incident is: why do the current laws allow it? They did. The current laws allow for the proliferation of licensed firearms, he said.

In the last 13 years, there has been a 60 per cent growth in licensed firearms in Western Australia with no justification such as the demand for vermin eradication or for participation in competitive shooting. Around 60 per cent of the firearms are in the city. Students, teachers, police praised for quick action in face of terror After Wednesdays incident, Nine News Perth spoke to students who had been locked down for hours after hearing the gunshots. They had the curtains over the windows and we couldnt see, but they didnt block off the door so we could see all the police coming and the ambulance, one girl said. Another girl said she heard a big bang before her teacher told them to hide under their desks. Another student said they hid in a storage room.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch praised teachers and students at the school, revealing a 12-year-old boy was among those who called triple zero to alert police. In a statement, Atlantis Beach Baptist College board chair Mike Smith said the school would remain closed on Thursday and reopen on Friday under a modified teaching program with support staff and counselling services on site. Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Two Rocks was thrown into lockdown on Wednesday after a 15-year-old boy allegedly fired at buildings from the schools car park. Credit: Nine News Perth The college will reopen in full capacity on Monday. The College Board would like to thank the staff, administration team and the Western Australian Police for the way in which this incident was managed, Smith said.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Iran's power in the nuclear industry is no longer undeniable, Vice President of Iran and Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at the forum of heads of diplomatic representatives of Iran abroad on May 21, 2023.

Eslami emphasized that no one can ignore Iran's potential to produce nuclear fuel.

The vice president added that currently, the entire production process of nuclear fuel, starting from mining, discovery, extraction, processing, enrichment, production of fuel, and its use in reactors, is carried out entirely domestically and by the country's specialists.

Iran ranks among the main world countries in various sub-industries of the nuclear industry, including in the field of radioisotopes, the chief noted.

According to him, before the coronavirus pandemic, Iran was exporting radioisotopes to 9 countries. With the normalization of the situation related to the pandemic, the export of radioisotopes will be resumed.

Eslami also pointed out that diplomatic representatives of Iran should convey to the world the facts about the peacefulness of the country's nuclear program.

In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.

On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.

Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5. On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.

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Green urged the government to reconsider, warning that the 112 independent schools expected to be subject to the tax will either have to cut programs, services or staff, or increase fees. Loading The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria said the tax would probably apply to 25 Catholic secondary schools  potentially wiping up to $1 a million a year from their operating budgets. The commission said it would seek further discussions with the state government as a matter of urgency. A government spokesperson declined to confirm the $7500 threshold but said it had an established process for separating low-fee from high-fee schools and would provide more detail before July.

School principals began to write to their communities on Wednesday, warning parents that the tax change could force them to make cuts to educational programs in areas including child mental health. Mark Robertson, principal of Oakleigh Grammar, which charges about $12,000 for year 12s, said he had been blindsided and was greatly concerned by the new tax. Bacchus Marsh Grammar principal Andrew Neal says his school doesnt have capacity to pay the tax without raising fees. Credit: Justin McManus That will mean for us approximately a $700,000 cost to the school. So before we even start our budget for 2024, were starting off with $700,000 less money than what we should have, and thats very concerning to us and should be concerning to the parents, he said. The payroll tax would flow on to school fees, he said.

The fact that Oakleigh Grammar is considered a high-fee school  that is any school over the $7500 threshold, and therefore subject to payroll tax  just defies any logic, he said. A school like ours, both parents are working very hard to send their children to our schools so any incremental fees that unnecessarily goes up causes hardship for many parents. Bacchus Marsh Grammar  one of the states largest schools  charges $13,215 in year 12. Principal Andrew Neal said it was being hit the same way as those that charge more than twice as much. Governments of both extractions seem to think that independent schools have an infinite ability to deal with their smart tweaks  we dont, he said.

This will result in higher fees and more pressure on government school places, if indeed they were actually building enough in our part of the world. Loading Professor Jillian Blackmore, an Alfred Deakin Professor at Deakin University, defended the move, arguing that most schools on the list were wealthy enough to absorb the increased tax. If the state can forestall their building program, so can the schools I think. They can just redirect their resources, Blackmore said. They have assets. The schools that are going to be impacted Im sure have significant capacity to call on funds.

Australian secondary school prices have almost tripled in the past 20 years, the third-biggest price rise behind only tobacco and gas and other household fuels. The principal of Caulfield Grammar  one of Melbournes largest private schools  wrote to parents on Wednesday, slamming the unfair and arbitrary tax change and warning it will cost the school an estimated $6 million to $7 million a year. Ashleigh Martin said it was difficult to comprehend that the government would impose the tax without consulting schools, in the midst of a teacher shortage and a mental health crisis among students. Caulfield Grammar has more than 3300 students and more than 500 staff. This would also make it liable to pay mental health and COVID recovery levies  each worth 1 per cent  on top of the 4.85 per cent payroll tax that non-government schools had been exempted from before Tuesdays budget.

Martin said it was presumptive to assume that families can foot the bill for this poorly planned tax and levy increase. To ensure we are doing whats best for our students and educators requires careful investment and targeted initiatives, Martin wrote. This unforeseen material cost increase will impact independent schools ability to deliver on initiatives, which take years of planning and implementation. Caulfield Grammar principal Ashleigh Martin says the school could have a payroll tax bill of $6 to 7 million. Jewish schools have also raised the alarm about the new tax, warning that it could put the cost of a Jewish education out of financial reach for many families. There are eight independent Jewish schools in Melbourne, most of which charge high fees.

Australian Council of Jewish Schools executive director Leonard Hain said the tax would force schools to raise their fees by at least 4 per cent a year. Loading This is on top of the annual fee increases already imposed on our parents to cover the escalating cost of power, utilities, and materials and increases in staff salaries and wages, Hain said. Hain said that a third of families enrolled in Jewish schools receive fee assistance and that requests for fee assistance had been rising. Many of our parents are already under considerable financial strain, trying to cope with escalating housing costs and cost of living pressures, and are making enormous sacrifices to provide their children with a Jewish education, he said.

Hain predicted that any further fee rises would force some of those parents into the state school system. Loading Tuesdays budget said the exemption would be cancelled for about 110 schools that comprise the top 15 per cent most expensive schools in the state. The minister for education and the treasurer will have discretion to exempt schools from the list. The change will raise a forecast $422.2 million over three years, beginning on July 1, 2024. Southern Cross University adjunct associate professor David Zyngier said private schools were not charities and should pay payroll tax like everyone else, including government schools.
Scammers often pick up the phone and call their victims and read out a carefully worded script requesting personal information or a payment, or ask for similar information via text message.

However, the good news is that a growing number of victims are reporting their experiences to authorities, the ABS reports.

About one-third reported to a bank or financial institution, which remains the most common authority scams are reported to. However, theres also been a notable increase in reporting to the police as well.

A digital identity

Digital services have blended seamlessly into our everyday lives, but major companies need to catch up by improving their digital checks and balances, Mastercards Vice President of cyber and intelligence and digital identity Mallika Sathi says.

Slowly but surely, major companies are introducing new measures to verify the identity of their customers digitally to securely verify online interactions, Sathi says.

These new measures can be used to manage a variety of services, from opening a bank account to shopping for goods and services, or booking online travel.

The need for digital identity verification tools has been growing for years, particularly in Australia with the uptake of digital services like telehealth appointments, online learning and applying for government benefits online, Sathi says.

Digital identity verification is more important now than ever before. Credit: iStock

The good thing about digital identity is that when managed well, reliably and securely, users would have full control over their own information on their devices and be able to exchange minimal data to unlock access to goods and services, she says.

They can share only the data needed for verification, without having to provide any other personal details, or traditional identification documents such as a drivers license. This helps to ensure more control, privacy and safety for personal data.

Securing your digital identity

Mastercard is combatting identity fraud with its digital identity service, ID, a network that allows individuals to create a secure, verified and reusable digital identity to verify themselves in both digital and physical environments.

ID uses encryption and facial biometric authentication to protect personal identifying information, keeping identities safe and secure on users on devices. At the same time, it allows people to remain in control of their own data, enabling them to choose what information to provide, to which organisations, and when.

Last year, Mastercard became the first private sector organisation to be accredited for three roles under the Australian Governments Trusted Digital Identity Framework.

The accreditation demonstrates that the service is trusted and built to the standards set by the Australian Government. ID is designed to support a range of services now and in the future, and since launching ID in Australia, Mastercard has worked with Optus, Samsung and Service NSW and Tipple, with several new partnerships to be announced during this year.

This accreditation will support Mastercard to better partner with local businesses to provide seamless, secure and convenient identity verification here in Australia, Sathi says.

Its another step in the journey to keep consumers safe. People want to know that they are in control of their own data so they can choose what information to provide to organisations, and when.

Sathi explains: Rather than having to present a physical drivers licence or your identity card when youre trying to access services, you can use ID to securely and privately share your information, with your consent and control. That means a more frictionless experience overall.

Mastercards ID solution helps business reduce the amount of customer data on file, and allows individuals to create a secure, verified and a reusable digital identity.

To learn more about how ID can help businesses and individuals, visit:

www.mastercard.com.au/en-au/vision/who-we-are/innovations/digital-id.html
Alemayehu died at 18 from pleurisy, a lung condition. At Victorias request, he was buried at St Georges Chapel, in Windsor. His epitaph reads: I was a stranger and ye took me in. Loading But such a narrative of colonial kindness has been challenged in recent years, particularly in the context of a bloody war. While the expedition of 13,000 British army soldiers was initially intended to rescue European hostages held by Tewodros II, it also led to mass plundering and looting after Britain won, much of which ended up in London museums, including the British Museum. Many Ethiopians now describe Alemayehu as a prince who was stolen from his home country as a child. The Ethiopian government has since made formal requests for the return of Alemayehus remains, as have descendants of his family. We want his remains back as a family and as Ethiopians because that is not the country he was born in, his great-great-cousin Fasil Minas told the BBC this week. The fact that he was buried there is meaningless and it was not right.

Ethiopian-American author Maaza Mengiste has described Alemayehus predicament as a kidnap that resulted from imperialist arrogance. There is no viable reason to continue to hold his remains hostage. He has become, like the sacred and valuable objects still in British museums and libraries, a possession, she said. Prince Dejatch Alemayehu became a ward of Queen Victoria. Credit: The Royal Photographic Society Collection / Victoria and Albert Museum Buckingham Palace this week formally refused another request for the remains, this time from the princes family, saying any movement was likely to affect other bodies at the burial site. It is very unlikely that it would be possible to exhume the remains without disturbing the resting place of a substantial number of others in the vicinity, it said in a statement.

Loading It said chapel authorities were very sensitive to the need to honour the memory of Prince Alemayehu, but had to balance that with a responsibility to preserve the dignity of the departed. It added that on previous occasions it had accommodated requests from Ethiopian delegations to visit the chapel and will continue to do so. Ethiopias Foreign Ministry called Alemayehu a prisoner of war in a statement to The Washington Post. We believe Prince Alemayehu deserves a decent burial in his home country, it said, adding that the Government of Ethiopia remains committed to redouble efforts to realise the repatriation of the remains  as well as several looted items from Magdala, which are of great historical, cultural and religious significance to Ethiopians. For many Ethiopians, Buckingham Palaces words do little to make up for Britains colonial past and what they say their prince suffered. Kearyam Agegnehu Yideg, an accountant from Addis Ababa, said she was devastated by news of the refusal, as were many fellow Ethiopians.

He died of a broken heart, she continued, calling it unforgivable that even in death hes being kept like a keepsake. Loading Even Queen Victoria, in a diary entry in 1879, appeared to acknowledge the lonely situation Alemayehu was caught in. Very grieved & shocked to hear by telegram, that good Alamayou had passed away this morning. It is too sad! All alone, in a strange country, without a single person or relative belonging to him  Everyone is sorry, she wrote, after she learnt of his death. The request for repatriation comes at a time when many Western countries and institutions are grappling with how to address their colonial-era actions.
Dear Editor,

Several months ago, I wrote an article about the local banks ripping off cardholders on this island. The world, including St. Martin, is rapidly doing away with cash transactions and going over to electronic transactions. So, I have decided to bring up this topic again, in the hope that as elections are less than a year away, somebody who is desirous of being elected, or re-elected, (including the minister of finance) will eventually do something about it.

Cardholders with US Dollars bank accounts are at the mercy of some of the banks on this island. When WIB Bank cardholders use their US Dollars WIB card at an establishment that uses a machine from RBC Bank, FCIB, or Republic Bank, (formerly BNS), the transaction is processed in US Dollars and converted to NAF and subsequently re-converted back to US Dollars, which causes the cardholder to pay a higher amount than what the transaction was approved for. And in some cases, the transaction is processed in NAF and converted to US Dollars because the cardholder has a US Dollars account.

For example; a cardholder with a US Dollars card goes to an establishment and processes a transaction for US$100, swipes the card, and gets authorization for US$100. The transaction is converted to NAF at 1.82 (a rate that includes the 1% license fee, which is applicable only when withdrawing US Dollars cash or sending funds abroad) thus NAF182. As the cardholder maintains a US Dollars account the transaction is re-converted to US Dollars using the rate 1.78 and the cardholders account is charged US$102.25 while authorization was obtained for US$100. The transaction was approved/authorized for US$100. The cardholders bank charges the cardholders account US$102.25 which is illegal because the transaction was approved/authorized for US$100.

The next example pertains to a situation where the transaction is processed in guilders. If the cardholders bill amounts to US$100 the establishment converts this amount to guilders using the rate of 1.80 The cardholders card is swiped and approved for the guilder amount NAF180 As the cardholder maintains a US Dollars account the transaction is converted to US Dollars at 1.78 and the cardholder is charged US$101.12

Let me be clear, the merchants are not the ones doing the conversions. This is done via the banks system. In the first case, the bank used the rate of 1.82 which includes the 1% license fee, to convert the US Dollars to NAF. The bank cannot remit the collected funds to the government because the reason for charging the 1% is not valid. So, the bank keeps those funds, which is illegal.

The conversions do not occur when a WIB cardholder uses the card at a WIB Merchant. So, my question is, why does it occur when the WIB card is used at another banks merchant?

In the near future, we will be compelled to use the banking system for all transactions, so I am pleading with the Minister of Finance to please look into this illegal practice now. This illegal rip-off system must be stopped.

Fernando Clark
PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- The Colorado State University (CSU) Department of Atmospheric Science said early April in its extended range forecast is predicting 13 named storms of which six to become hurricanes and two to reach major hurricane strength (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater.



The Office of Disaster Management (ODM) which falls under the Fire Department (Ministry of General Affairs) headed by Fire Chief/Disaster Coordinator Clive Richardson, appeals to all residents and businesses to plan ahead and lets Be Prepared for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season which opens on Thursday, June 1 and runs through November 30.



ODM calls on residents to review the content of their Disaster Kit and to start restocking it with the essentials that are necessary to ride out the hurricane season.



Every households Disaster Kit should be able to support members of the household for a minimum of seven days after the hurricane has passed.



The Disaster Kit should contain non-perishable food, water and medicine (fill prescriptions before the storm); non-electric can opener; first-aid kit; extra cash (ATM machines and credit cards wont work if there is no electricity); a battery powered radio and flashlights as well as extra batteries; make sure cell phones are all charged prior to the arrival of the hurricane; fill up your car/truck with gas; check if your home and automobile insurance are up to date; put ID cards, passports and drivers license, insurance papers in a waterproof bag along with other important documents.



If you are a parent with an infant or young child (ren), you also need to have essential items as part of your disaster supply kit: baby formula; diapers; bottles; powdered milk; medications; moist towels; and diaper rash ointment.



Your Disaster Kit must also include hand sanitizer, a soap bar or liquid soap; two cloth face coverings for each person; disinfecting wipes, or general household cleaning supplies to disinfect surfaces.



Now is the time to trim back tree branches from your home; cut all dead or weak branches on any trees on your property; clean-up your yard and put away items that could blow away during the passing of a hurricane; check your roof and storm shutters to make sure they are secure, and the latter are working.



For those whose homes are not yet storm/hurricane ready, you should make alternative housing arrangements to stay at family or friends.



The community is urged to learn more about hurricane hazards and how to prepare for a storm/hurricane strike by visiting the Government website: www.sintmaartengov.org/hurricane where you will be able to download your Hurricane Season Readiness Guide and Hurricane Tracking Chart.



Listen to the Government Radio station  SXMGOV 107.9FM - for official information and news before, during and after a hurricane.



For official weather-related information, check out the website of the Meteorological Department of St. Maarten (MDS): www.meteosxm.com or visit their social media page Facebook.com/sxmweather/



Remember, it only takes one hurricane to make it a bad season. Be prepared!
 Only around 20 percent of World Health Organization (WHO) Member States have followed through on their 2017 National Dementia Plan (NDPs) promise ahead of the looming 2025 deadline

 Alzheimers Disease International (ADI) is calling for an extension to the Global Action Plan on the public health response to dementia at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, as progress has gone backward in some WHO Member States, including England and France

 Over 100 new NDPs need to be created in two years to reach Global Action Plan goals, a feat ADI says is impossible

 Dementia prevalence is on the rise with 55 million people living with the disease, and up to 85 percent of them not receiving treatment

CARIBBEAN  24 May 2023: Three-quarters of World Health Organization (WHO) Member States have failed on their promise to prioritise dementia, leading to an urgent call for an extension on the Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva today by Alzheimers Disease International (ADI).

The call for an extension follows the disappointing findings from ADIs latest report From Plan to Impact VI, which found that only twenty percent (39 out of 194) of all World Health Organization (WHO) Member States have followed through with their 2017 promise to create a National Dementia Plan (NDP) by 2025.

Were deeply disappointed that theres a need to call for an extension. People living with dementia and their carers deserve the urgent action they were promised back in 2017, says ADI Chief Executive Officer, Paola Barbarino. Six years after the creation of the Global Action Plan, its now impossible to meet the targets set out in 2017 because progress has been too slow globally. Over 100 new plans would need to be created in two years to reach the target.

In 2017, all 194 WHO member states unanimously agreed to address the growing risk and threat of dementia and adopted the Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017 - 2025 which aimed to improve the lives of those living with dementia as well as their carers while mitigating the impacts of the neurological condition on wider communities.

However, the number of NDPs implemented by WHO member states has remained unchanged since 2022. Unfortunately, even some G7 countries, such as France and England, two nations that formerly led the way with their development of NDPs have this year, regressed.

We know hard work goes into creating and upholding NDPs, but people living with dementia worldwide are the ones who pay the price when governments turn a blind eye to their situation, says Barbarino.

In the Caribbean region, 2019 figures showed over 291 thousand estimated cases of dementia. This is expected to increase by 155 percent by 2050 to 744 thousand cases.

Disappointingly, only 16 percent of Caribbean countries have made progress on developing an NDP, most, having inadequate funding.

Drug breakthroughs demand better preparedness from governments

The recent publication of positive phase three results for amyloid-targeting drugs has shown promise in creating safe treatments that slow the trajectory of Alzheimers disease.

Barbarino says these medical breakthroughs risk becoming void if the systems to roll out treatments are not ready.

Time is of the essence with these emerging treatments. Early detection is the key, and healthcare systems are ill-prepared says Barbarino. What good is having treatment if people cant access it? Urgent planning is required to roll out these critical dementia therapies for people living with dementia.

As the population ages and more people are diagnosed, there is a pressing need for governments to adopt a plan that makes diagnosis and treatment accessible for all. Around 75 percent of those living with dementia are undiagnosed, and 85 percent of those living with dementia are not getting the care they need, meaning accessibility is already a major issue that needs to be addressed.

139 million people: The number of people with dementia increasing yet global National Dementia Plan progress is stagnant

Dementia is the seventh leading cause of death in the world and is increasingly, the leading cause of death in some countries. As the population ages, the condition will only become harder to ignore.

Emily Ong, who was diagnosed with fronto-temporal dementia at age 51 l, says that progress has been too slow worldwide as dementia prevalence continues to skyrocket.

Member States cannot delay acting any longer. Dementia is a progressive degenerative condition, and every minute of delay is one minute too many, says Ong. It is my hope that more Member States will wake up to the need to act.

The number of people living with dementia worldwide is forecast to rise to 139 million by 2050 according to the WHO. Yet, the number of National Dementia Plans implemented hasn't changed since 2022.

After years of working in this field, our feeling is that some countries either dont value enough their senior citizens to invest in their wellbeing or are too scared of the costs of dementia care to put in place any plans, says Barbarino. We must not let perfect be the enemy of good. We encourage all governments to start from somewhere. Even a small initiative, such as enabling carers to stay at work for longer, is better than nothing and at the end of the day it makes economic sense.

Dementia is growing every day and the next six years must be used wisely by governments to shore up their response to dementia before its too late, says Barbarino. Time is running out to tackle dementia, one of the greatest public health threats of our time.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On May 26, 2023, at the American University of the Caribbean, the Integrity Chamber will host its first Integrity Symposium. This symposium, with the theme: Building Integrity to Build a Nation, will aim to stimulate a national discussion and offer new ideas about the foundational elements of integrity for building a stronger Sint Maarten. The symposium is invite-only, however, the public can participate virtually via the Integrity Chambers Facebook and YouTube pages.

The symposium will include an official opening by the Prime Minister, an address by the president of the Integrity Chamber, Mrs. H.W. (Rian) Vogels, and keynotes by Mr. Dion M. Abdool of Transparency International and Professor Emeritus Trevor Munroe of National Integrity Action.

One of the highlights of the Integrity Symposium is its panel discussion. Participants, both in person and online, will have the opportunity to ask relevant questions to the panelists, which include the keynote speakers and members of the Integrity Chamber, Mr. Rafael Boasman and Mr. Hans Lodder.

The event will be streamed on the Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/IntegrityChamberSXM and the YouTube page at www.youtube.com/@integritychambersintmaarten<br< a=""> />More information about the Integrity Symposium can be found on the website at www.integritychamber.sx/symposium.</br<>
Heliostar Drills 53.2 m Grading 11.0 g/t gold and 44.5 m Grading 11.0 g/t gold at Ana Paula Project, Mexico

Highlights:

Hole AP-23-292

1 metres @ 8.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold including;

2 metres @ 11.0 g/t gold

Hole AP-23-291

5 metres @ 5.4g/t gold including;

5 metres @ 11.0 g/t gold including;

0 metres @ 48.5 g/t gold

These first drill results confirm our drilling thesis, which we believe will lead to a larger and higher grade core within the Ana Paula deposit

Heliostar Metals Ltd. (TSX.V: HSTR, OTCQX: HSTXF, FRA: RGG1)  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/heliostar-metals-ltd/  A (aHeliostara or the aCompanya  ) is pleased to report its first drill results from the Ana Paula project in Mexico. These two holes are the first drilled into the property by Heliostar, with the on-going drill program targeting the High Grade Panel at the core of Ana Paula that Heliostar believes has the potential to host a high margin, underground gold mine development opportunity.

Heliostar CEO, Charles Funk, commented, aWe are thrilled with the first holes at Ana Paula. Drill results like this are rare anywhere in the world.A Ana Paulaa?s high grade and consistently wide intervals of gold mineralization demonstrate the underground mine potential. Heliostar will continue the 16-24 hole program designed to increase the Ana Paula resource, with a focus on infill and expansion of the High Grade Panel.A Both holes exceeded expectations based on the current resource model.A Hole AP-23-291 is particularly encouraging as it returned a 30% increase relative to the current resource model, at a >5 g/t cut-off grade.A This builds confidence that infill drilling can increase ounces and potentially lift the overall grade of the deposit.a

Ana Paula is an advanced gold project with an open pit mine permit, a prefeasibility study1 and over US$75M in recent exploration and development expenditures.A These results are the first in a re-scoping of the asset with a view to underground mining.A The re-scoping program includes drilling, underground mine design, geometallurgical optimization studies and a resource update, all of which will be delivered in 2023.A The company believes this program will deliver a technically simpler and materially improved Net Present Value (NPV) for the project.

Drill Details

The Companya?s drill program centres on resource and reserve growth, a key priority of the effort to re-evaluate the project as a high-grade underground mine.A The Company expects the drilling data will improve resource estimation and allow the Company to evaluate potential expansion of the High Grade Panel.A In addition, the drilling also generates the geotechnical data required for engineering evaluations and metallurgical test work for flow sheet optimization.

Presently, the High Grade Panel is approximately 250 metres long by 100 metres high by 60 metres thick. It begins at surface and plunges 40 to 45 degrees to the west.A Previous operatorsa? drill holes across the panel returned intercepts including 63.4 metres at 15.3 g/t gold and 57.6 metres at 18.6 g/t gold.A A The panel is hosted primarily in a polymictic breccia unit, although it extends outward into the surrounding granodiorite and limestone.A Gold mineralization is directly associated with the proportion of sulphide minerals in the rock.A This provides a valuable visual key to the presence of gold mineralization.

There are two key opportunities to increase the resource, reserve, and grade of the High Grade Panel. Firstly, volume increase is possible both up- and down-dip of the current plunging mineralized panel (Figure 1).A Secondly, the High Grade Panel is inadequately defined by historic drilling.A The High Grade Panel contains areas of closer spaced drilling, less than 25 metres apart, and other gaps with greater than 40 metre spacing.A In these greater than 40 metre gaps, despite consistent geology and mineralization in the nearby holes, the resource model has conservatively reduced the grade with increasing distance from data points (Figure 1).A The two infill holes reported here, particularly hole AP-23-291, demonstrate this upside, with a significant increase in high grade (greater than >5 g/t) than predicted by the resource model.

Drill Results

Drill holes AP-23-291 and AP-23-292 (Heliostar has continued the historic drill hole naming conventions) targeted the east and west margins of the greater than 10 g/t gold core of the High Grade Panel. A The goal was to infill gaps in the drilling and expand areas of existing high-grade. Holes have been oriented perpendicular to the strike of the polymictic breccia. These holes are designed to grow the resource and improve the resolution of the north and south boundaries of mineralization.

The drilling program utilized PQ-sized core to provide larger sample volumes for metallurgical testing.A

Results from both drill holes show the grade, consistency, and widths that typify Ana Paula.A Hole AP-23-292 intersected 101.12 metres at 8.35 g/t gold including 53.2 metres at 11.0 g/t.A Hole AP-23-291 intersected 118.55 metres at 5.4 g/t gold including 44.5 metres at 11.0 g/t.A These holes improve the drill data resolution and should grow the resource, due to the grades and width of the gold encountered.

Gold mineralization is remarkably consistent within the High Grade Panel.A The 53.2 metre interval at 11.0 g/t gold in hole AP-23-292 contains only 1 sample out of 56 with less than 2 g/t gold.A The 44.5 metre interval at 11.0 g/t gold in hole AP-23-291 contains only 6 samples out of 48 with less than 2 g/t gold.

As gold mineralization is widespread and disseminated in nature, estimating representative true dimensions from the drill results can be done in multiple directions.A Vertically, the true height of the intercepts is estimated in the range of 60-80% of the drill intervals and in a north-south direction the true width is in the range of 30-50% of the drilled intervals.A Holes were drilled from north to south, into the hillside to reduce the total drill metres required for each intercept (Figure 2).

Drill Results Impact

The potential impact of the drill results on future resource models can be demonstrated by comparing the current results to the existing model (as reported in the 2023 prefeasibility study1).A Drilling that outperforms (i.e., is higher grade or wider than) the model may be expected to improve the grade and size of future resource and reserve estimates.A Using a 5 g/t cut-off grade provides a useful benchmark to the most financially impactful ounces in an underground mining scenario.

At a 5 g/t cutoff, hole AP-23-291 has a 30% increase when compared to an expected intercept calculated from the existing resource model.A Using the same criteria, AP-23-292 has a 2% increase compared to the expected intercept from the resource model.

Drill Progress

Drilling is ongoing, with six holes completed to date.A Hole AP-23-293 is approximately 20 metres west of hole AP-23-291 and has returned a similar length interval with strong sulphide mineralization.A Holes AP-23-294, AP-23-295 and AP-23-296 (not shown in Figure 1 as it is off-section toward the north) were completed shallower and further west than AP-23-293 and intercepted narrower zones of mineralization as expected at the top and above the High Grade Panel.A The drill rig has been moved and commenced testing the up-dip growth target with hole AP-23-297 (See Figure 1 for locations).

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Core samples were shipped to ALS Limited in Santiago Queretaro, Queretaro for sample preparation and for analysis at the ALS Laboratories in North Vancouver. A The ALS Queretaro and North Vancouver facilities are ISO/IEC 17025 certified. A Gold was assayed by 30-gram fire assay with atomic absorption spectroscopy finish and overlimits were analysed by 50g fire assay with gravimetric finish.

Control samples comprising certified reference samples and blank samples were systematically inserted into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Companya?s quality assurance / quality control protocol.

Statement of Qualified Person

Stewart Harris, P.Geo., a Qualified Person, as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101 a Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (aNI 43-101a), has reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein.A Historical information contained in this news release cannot be relied upon as Stewart Harris has not prepared nor verified such information.

About Heliostar Metals Ltd.

Heliostar is a junior mining company with a portfolio of high-grade gold projects in Mexico and Alaska.

The Company is focused on developing the 100% owned Ana Paula Project in Guerrero, Mexico. In addition, Heliostar is working with the Mexican federal and local government to permit the San Antonio Gold Project in Baja Sur, Mexico. The Company continues efforts to explore the Unga Gold Project in Alaska, United States of America.

The Ana Paula Project deposit contains proven and probable mineral reserves of 1,081,000 ounces of gold at 2.38 grams per tonne (ag/ta) gold and 2,547,000 ounces of silver at 5.61 g/t silver.A Ana Paula hosts measured and indicated resources of 1,468,800 ounces of gold at 2.16 g/t gold and 3,600,000 ounces of silver at 5.3 g/t silver.A The asset is permitted for open-pit mining and contains significant existing infrastructure including a portal and a 412-metre-long decline.

References

An updated prefeasibility study titled aAna Paula Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Preliminary Feasibility Study Updatea was filed on SEDAR on April 6, 2023, with an effective date of February 28, 2023, prepared for the Company by Daniel H. Neff, PE, Art S. Ibrado, PhD, PE, Richard K. Zimmerman, RG, SME-RM, Craig Gibson, PhD, CPG, Andrew Kelly, P.Eng., Gordon Zurowski, P.Eng., Paul Daigle, P.Geo., Gilberto Dominguez, PE and James A. Cremeens, PE, PG.

For additional information please contact:

Charles Funk

Chief Executive Officer

Heliostar Metals Limited

Email: charles.funk@heliostarmetals.com

Rob Grey

Investor Relations Manager

Heliostar Metals Limited

Email: rob.grey@heliostarmetals.com

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger & Marc Ollinger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release includes certain \ForwardaLooking Statements\ within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and \forwardalooking information\ under applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words \anticipate\, \believe\, \estimate\, \expect\, \target\, \plan\, \forecast\, \may\, \would\, \could\, \schedule\ and similar words or expressions, identify forwardalooking statements or information. These forwardalooking statements or information relate to, among other things: the exploration, development, and production at the Companya?s properties; permitting at the San Antonio project; the release of exploration results; and future resource and reserve estimates.

Forwardalooking statements and forwardalooking information relating to any future mineral production, liquidity, enhanced value and capital markets profile of the Company, future growth potential for the Company and its business, and future exploration plans are based on management\-s reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on management\-s experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the price of metals; no escalation in the severity of public health crises or ongoing military conflicts; costs of exploration and development; the estimated costs of development of exploration projects; and the Company\-s ability to operate in a safe and effective manner and its ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms.

These statements reflect the Company\-s respective current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of other assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forwardalooking statements or forward-looking information and the Company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: precious metals price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Company\-s mining activities in foreign jurisdictions; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to reliance on the Company\-s management team and outside contractors; risks regarding exploration and mining activities; the Company\-s inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; the ability of the communities in which the Company operates to manage and cope with the implications of public health crises; the economic and financial implications of public health crises, ongoing military conflicts and general economic factors to the Company; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; the Company\-s interactions with surrounding communities; the Company\-s ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; litigation risk; and the factors identified under the caption aRisk Factorsa in the Companya?s public disclosure documents. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forwardalooking statements or forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forwardalooking statements or forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Full localization of opportunities in Iran's nuclear industry allows to completely eliminate any threat to the country in this direction, Deputy Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at the forum of heads of diplomatic representatives of Iran abroad on May 21, 2023.

Kamalvandi noted that everyone should already know that it is impossible to get these opportunities from Iran. Of course, one of the criteria of power for a country is technology, especially nuclear technology. Iran's nuclear industry works as a powerful engine, as in other industries.

The deputy added that at present, the development of Iran's nuclear industry is such that it can include the production of medium-level reactors in its program. In addition, the prospect of building the nuclear power plant by the country's local specialists is also being considered.

According to him, undoubtedly, the correct communication of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities to the world at the political level will help a lot in solving this issue.

In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.

On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.

Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5. On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@BaghishovElnur
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. Iran is working in accordance with the norms of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vice President of Iran and Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami told reporters after the meeting of the Cabinet of Iran in Tehran, on May 24, 2023, Trend reports.

According to Eslami, when Iran wants to start any activity, it obtains an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and takes steps on this basis.

The vice president noted that recently, some media have made claims about Iran building a nuclear facility at the foot of the Zagros Mountains. This claim does not reflect reality.

Reportedly, footage related to Iran's construction of a nuclear facility at the foot of the Zagros Mountains has been recently published in various media around the world.

In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.

On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.

Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5. On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@BaghishovElnur
Satellite launch firm Virgin Orbit shuts operations



New York, May 23 (AFP) May 23, 2023



Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, announced Tuesday it is permanently ceasing operations, just months after a major mission failure.

The California-based firm, which had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in early April, auctioned off its main assets, recovering just over $36 million.

That is barely one percent of the temporary worth it reached in late 2021 on Wall Street, when it was valued at some $3.5 billion.

In a statement announcing it is selling its assets to four winning bidders and then folding, Virgin Orbit thanked its employees and stakeholders and said the company will be remembered for its "groundbreaking technologies."

"Throughout its history, Virgin Orbit has been at the forefront of innovation and has made substantial contributions to the field of commercial rocket launch," the company said.

Virgin Orbit was created in 2017 by splitting from Virgin Galactic, Branson's space tourism company.

Its goal was to provide swift and adaptable space launch services for the growing small satellites market, by air-launching mini rockets from a modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

The company suffered a crippling setback earlier this year when an attempt to launch the first rocket into space from British soil ended in failure.

jum/led-mlm/ec

Virgin Orbit

Virgin Galactic
Frigid US city becomes haven in climate change era



Duluth, United States, May 24 (AFP) May 24, 2023



Standing on the frigid coast of Lake Superior, thawing ice glistening in the northern Minnesota sun, Christina Welch recalls what made her trade the temperate vineyards of northern California for the notoriously chilly city of Duluth.

In 2017, a wildfire got dangerously close to her neighborhood in Sonoma County. Then, two years later, while she was on a visit to Duluth on the advice of a colleague, another fire forced her parents to evacuate their home.

That "was the straw that broke the camel's back," Welch, 40, told AFP.

Duluth, in the far northern reaches of the United States, is known for bitterly cold and snowy winters, fueled by powerful winds blowing off Lake Superior.

But despite its tough environment, this Midwestern city of 86,000 is starting to make a name for itself as a refuge of sorts -- for those fleeing the effects of climate change.

Wildfires, which scientists say have been made more frequent and powerful by climate change, also persuaded John Jenkins to ditch California's beaches for Duluth's icy shores.

"The air smells cleaner. The water is some of the best water in the world. It's just very clean, it's pristine, it's beautiful," 38-year-old Jenkins said, speaking to AFP from the restaurant he bought and renovated.

Even on winter days that drop below -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 degrees Celsius) Welch and Jenkins don't regret their decisions.

And Jenkins' family has only grown. Since moving here with his wife, he has had two kids, and several family members have come to join them.

Around the world, climate change has already displaced thousands involuntarily. But Jenkins and Welch could be considered "climate migrants" as well.

They're part of a small but potentially growing group of people for whom climate change -- along with traditional factors like quality of life, job opportunities and housing prices -- are influencing where they settle down.



- 'The new oil' -



Jesse Keenan, an associate professor of sustainable real estate at Tulane University, is responsible for much of the buzz surrounding Duluth these days.

A specialist in urbanism and climate adaptation, a few years ago Keenan started examining where climate-minded Americans might want to live.

He identified multiple cities, including Buffalo, in northern New York state, and Detroit, Michigan.

But Duluth, a historically industrial town with plenty of high-quality and cheap housing in stock, has benefited "from many years of investment from the state of Minnesota in trying to promote a sustainable economy," he said.

The shores of Lake Superior offer another advantage.

"Fresh water is the new oil," Keenan said.

So far, plenty of residents seem open to having more neighbors -- if the newcomers can handle it, that is.

"I think it's wonderful," said Lezlie Oachs, a 65-year-old retiree. "But they would have to get used to the fact that it's cold almost all the time."



- 'Climate optimists' -



Local authorities have struck a noticeably different tone on the city's growing popularity.

"I thought it was terrifying" when Duluth's name started circulating, Mayor Emily Larson said at a recent conference. "I still do."

"It feels like we're still putting our oxygen masks on. We're not ready to kind of help the passenger next to us, and yet, climate is calling us to do that. And so it's a lot."

In addition, Larson said, it would feel "predatory" to run a "marketing strategy" based on climate shocks in California or elsewhere by saying "I'm really sorry... but you can come here because it's cooler by the lake."

Keenan argues this is the wrong way to look at things.

"People are going to come one way or the other, no matter what you do," he said.

Larson's office declined to speak to AFP.

The challenge facing Duluth "is quite a simple one," Keenan said.

Either the city can "promote sustainable urban development," with the investments in housing and transport that requires, or growth -- wanted or not -- will come in the traditional way, with car-dependent sprawl and poorer residents being priced out in a form of "climate gentrification."

Duluth is a place for "climate optimists," people who "believe that we can do this, that we can decarbonize the world."

But even he has his worries.

"It's a beautiful part of the country. And it has a very sensitive ecological domain," Keenan said.

A booming Duluth, "if it's not done well, it could make things worse."
Germany gets tough with climate activists



Berlin, May 24 (AFP) May 24, 2023



German police on Wednesday raided homes of climate activists known for their controversial street blockade protests that Chancellor Olaf Scholz has blasted as "completely nuts".

The raids were ordered in an investigation targeting seven people aged 22 to 38 of the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) group, as Germany toughened its stance against their eye-catching action.

Gluing themselves to roads, flinging mash at masterpieces and blocking airstrips -- the activists have in recent months split public opinion with their protests to push authorities to do more to combat climate change.

Wednesday's raids were part of a probe over suspicions that the activists were "forming or supporting a criminal organisation", said a joint statement by Bavaria's police and prosecutors.

Fifteen properties were searched, two bank accounts seized and an asset freeze ordered.

The suspects are accused of "organising a fundraising campaign to finance further criminal acts" for the group via its website.

At least 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) had been collected, said the authorities, adding that "these funds were, according to current information, mostly used for the commission of further criminal acts by the association".

The authorities did not specify the "criminal acts" to which they were referring but said two of the suspects are alleged to have tried to sabotage an oil pipeline between Trieste, Italy, and Ingolstadt, Germany, deemed "critical infrastructure" in Bavaria.

The group's spokeswoman Carla Hinrichs, described the moment when she found police storming her apartment and an officer "wearing a security vest pointing a weapon at her".

"I'm afraid that this state is sending its civil servants with weapons drawn to storm my apartment. But I'm even more afraid that it is letting us speed into this (climate) disaster without doing anything," she said in a clip on Twitter.

The group vowed to continue with its tactics, announcing protests in several cities later Wednesday.



- 'Irritate people' -



Many climate activists have been put before the courts in recent weeks over their traffic blockade actions.

Most have received fines for disrupting traffic or obstructing police but some courts have also begun to hand down jail time.

Scholz and his coalition partners including the Greens have expressed frustration at the activists.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens has said the street blockades were "not a helpful contribution to climate protection" because they don't win consensus but they "irritate people".

Angry motorists shouting at the glued activists or dragging them off the streets have been a feature of many of the blockades.

Police across the country have registered more than 1,600 criminal offences -- most involving Letzte Generation street blockades -- by climate protesters over the last year, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Funke media group.

"I don't have the slightest understanding of these actions and the crimes committed," said Faeser.



- 'A warning' -



The activists argue that their protests are vital in the face of inadequate action taken by the government and society to prevent catastrophic global warming.

"We, who are alive today, are the last who can still hinder the irreversible collapse of the climate," the group said.

The UN has warned that the world will cross the key 1.5 degree Celsius global warming limit in about a decade, with devastating impacts of climate change in turn hitting faster than expected.

Berlin has relatively ambitious climate targets, including plans for carbon neutrality by 2045. It is also aiming to produce 80 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

But Letzte Generation believes those goals are not ambitious enough to stop Earth from tipping into irreversible warming.

Besides Letzte Generation, Germany has seen a host of other climate activist groups carrying out audacious protests.

Another group, Scientist Rebellion, hurled cake at Volkswagen bosses at the German carmaker's annual shareholders' meeting earlier this month.

Across Europe, dramatic action has also become more frequent.

On Tuesday, protesters disrupted air traffic at Geneva airport while dozens of activists blocked a business jet convention nearby.

On Sunday, activists turned Rome's famous Trevi Fountain black, saying deadly floods in the country's northeast were "a warning".

hmn/dlc/
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. A fight broke out between Armenian MPs from the opposition and the ruling Civil Contract party in the local parliament, Trend reports.

According to Armenian media, the brawl followed the speech of the MP from the "Armenia" opposition bloc Artur Sargsyan, who stood up in front of Judge Armen Danielyan and MPs from the ruling party and urged them to look into his eyes.

Previously, Danielyan issued a decision to arrest Sargsyan. Subsequently, he was acquitted by a higher authority.

Sargsyan, in particular, complained that his position during the judicial investigation wasnt heard. According to the MP, this was not the first time for Danielyan.

As a result, all this resulted in swearing, verbal skirmish, and brawl. The employees of the internal security of the parliament intervened. They were called to the session hall by the President of the Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan.
Swiss fine climate activists after flights disrupted



Geneva, May 24 (AFP) May 24, 2023



More than 100 climate activists arrested in protests that disrupted flights at Geneva airport this week have been charged with a range of offences and fined, Swiss prosecutors said Wednesday.

The activists broke into Europe's biggest private jets sales fair on Tuesday, significantly disrupting flights at the adjoining airport.

Police arrested 103 people, and had handed all but one minor over to prosecutors and to a juvenile court, Geneva prosecutors said.

They are "all guilty of trespassing, property damage and coercion," according to the prosecution, which said it had handed out suspended fines to all those with no prior convictions.

One of the arrested had injured a police officer and was guilty of violence or threats against authorities, the prosecutors said.

All of those detained had been released, or would be shortly, the prosecutors said.

Geneva Airport, Switzerland's second-biggest, said several dozen activists "broke and entered three different locations on the tarmac" before midday Tuesday.

The activists penetrated a surrounding fence and infiltrated the adjoining space of the three-day European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE).

Several people chained or handcuffed themselves to the aircraft on display and other objects, "causing damage and preventing the event from proceeding," prosecutors said.

"For security reasons, air traffic was halted for an hour," they added.

Images published on Twitter Tuesday showed activists camped out around the aircraft on show, brandishing colourful banners reading "Ban private jets" and "Private jets burn our future".

Groups involved in the protest included Greenpeace, Stay Grounded network, and Scientist Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion, which voiced concern Wednesday at reports of "excessive use of force against the peaceful protesters", demanding that all those detained be immediately released.

"This is one of the largest private jet fairs in the world -- a world that is heading towards climate breakdown," said Stay Grounded's Mira Kapfinger.

"It was totally legitimate to disrupt these business people. While buyers are shopping for ever bigger and polluting jets, others are suffering severe consequences from heat waves and floods."
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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.
Award-winning actress Indira Varma is crossing galaxies as she joins the new series of Doctor Who. First entering the world of Doctor Who as Suzie Costello in Russell T Davies spin-off series Torchwood, Indira now steps aboard the TARDIS in her new mysterious role as the Duchess.Indira has made her mark onscreen, from her recent role as Ingrid in the thriller series Obsession to her shining performance as Ellaria Sand on the multi award-winning Game of Thrones. She now joins Doctor Who from across the galaxy after recently starring in Disney+s record-breaking Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi.Indira has also been celebrated onstage, winning an Olivier Award for her portrayal of Liz Essendine in Present Laughter as well as starring other major theatre productions including the acclaimed Man and Superman and Jamie Lloyds production of Chekhovs The Seagull.Speaking of joining Doctor Who, Indira Varma says: "Im thrilled to be in Doctor Who and particularly excited to be crossing cosmic paths with Ncuti, as the Doctor, and look forward to creating interplanetary mischief with him. I loved playing Suzie Costello for Russell T Davies in Torchwood so am thrilled to be entering this world again."Showrunner, Russell T Davies says: "Im overjoyed to be reunited with Indira after our Torchwood days, and this part is truly spectacular! A whole new audience will be hiding behind the settee when the Duchess unleashes her terror."
Voters in Turkey returned to the polls Sunday to decide whether the countrys longtime leader stretches his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade or is unseated by a challenger who has promised to restore a more democratic society.
R iders for Deliveroo protested against deteriorating working conditions and low pay as the takeaway delivery giants shareholders met in London.

Outside the companys annual general meeting (AGM) at 100 Bishopsgate in London, riders also raised frustrations with the bumper pay package of founder and chief executive Will Shu.

Demonstrators outside the venue held banners reading Shame on Shu and chanted: Deliveroo, youre no good, pay your riders like you should.

It comes amid long-running concerns from delivery riders over their pay levels and worries related to their independent worker status.

Joe Durbidge, 31, who has worked for Deliveroo for four and a half years, told the PA news agency on Wednesday he has worked 50-hour weeks and been paid around as little as 2.90 per delivery.

Conditions are deteriorating constantly but my fees have never gone up since I started, he said.

Nobodys satisfied with the job. Its crazy.

Its very hard work, it takes a lot out of you and its hard to make a living.

Its very physical, its very mental because youre just constantly trying to work. Everyones pushing themselves 1,000 miles an hour.

Another rider, father-of-two Carlos Gomes, 41, said he works more than 12 hours a day for Deliveroo, Uber and Stuart.

Mr Gomes told the PA news agency: Its hard to make enough money. If you want more than 100, its 14 hours a day.

The salary is bad, we need to claim benefits, with our two boys, who are eight and three. Its no money.

Campaigners at ShareAction and IWGB (Independent Workers Union of Great Britain) also co-ordinated so riders could confront bosses at Deliveroo inside the companys AGM.

It comes a month after the IWGB launched a challenge at the Supreme Court in a bid to secure collective bargaining rights for the firms couriers.

Last year, Deliveroo formed a partnership with the GMB union but faced criticism from the IWGB.

Riders also criticised the pay deal for bosses at the company, with founder and chief executive officer Will Shu receiving a 600,000 salary for the past year  and total pay package worth 625,000  despite the company posting a 245.6 million loss for 2022.

Ahead of the AGM, a Deliveroo spokeswoman said: Deliveroo offers riders flexible work, attractive earning opportunities and security while they work. We see thousands of applications from people wanting to be riders each week, high satisfaction rates and very strong retention rates of those who sign up.

We work closely with riders to make sure the work we offer reflects what they tell us they value.
S ecurity guards at Heathrow Airport will launch a three-day strike on Thursday in a dispute over pay.

Members of Unite have already held 15 days of industrial action, including over the busy Easter period.

Heathrow said it has contingency plans in place to keep the airport open and operating as usual, adding that passengers can expect to have a smooth half-term getaway.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: Passengers should not be concerned about strike action by Unite over the half-term getaway.

The 15 days of strike action over the Easter peak and coronation weekends have had no impact on the smooth running of the airport, and passengers have not noticed any difference from the normal great service they expect at Heathrow.

These strikes are completely unnecessary. When I speak to colleagues the overwhelming message is that they just want to vote on our pay offer, but Unite wont let them.

We made a generous 10% offer early on, to make sure colleagues got a substantial increase when they needed it most. Unites delays mean non-union colleagues, as well as the majority of colleagues who are union members, who voted to accept our previous offer are losing out.

May half-term is always a very busy time for travel, and Heathrow said it may take a little longer than usual to get through security, but added this will be well-managed and kept flowing.

Unite said Heathrow security officers are paid less than workers at other major airports in London and the South East.

Regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: There is absolutely no justification for security officers at Heathrow being paid far less than comparable officers at other London airports.

Heathrow regularly trumpets how successful it is as the UKs premium airport so there is no defence in it paying bargain basement wages.

Heathrow can clearly meet a cost-of-living increase for our members; theyre deliberately choosing not to, pushing our members deeper into financial difficulties.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: While it is positive to see Heathrow has put contingency plans in place to minimise disruption during the forthcoming strike action, those with flights booked over half term will no doubt still have concerns that their trips could be impacted.

Its essential that airlines and airports work together to keep travellers updated during this period of industrial action, and fulfil their legal obligations to passengers in the event of cancellations or delays.

Travellers should also ensure they have travel insurance from the date they book their trip and always check the policy carefully, to ensure it covers all the eventualities you would expect  in particular, not all policies will cover travellers in the event of strikes by airline or airport staff, for example.
O xford Street landlords have been urged to do all that you can to throw out American candy stores from their properties.

The leader of Labour-led Westminster council Adam Hug has written to 19 freeholders and long leaseholders of premises where a US candy store, vape store or souvenir shop operates and has named and shamed owners that did not respond.

The letter, seen by the Standard, says: The recent rise of these shops is diminishing the value of our local high streets both financially and reputationally  they risk the recovery of the West End, and the value of your property. We have spent over a year disrupting the activities of the stores, seizing over 1 million in illegal goods, and working with HMRC and others to investigate these businesses further.

This damaging situation has gone on long enough, and we are asking you to do all that you can to bring it to an end.

The letter, sent out in March, continues: We are keen to be as constructive as possible but if we do not hear from you further to this letter by the 21st April 2023, we will be considering what further publicity is needed around landlords failing to take any action on this.

The council said it has seen an encouraging response with six landlords serving notice on tenants or bringing in different retailers. But 10 that did not respond positively were named by Westminster on Wednesday.

Mr Hug said high-end retailers were queuing up to return so it feels like an auspicious moment to call time on the tawdry tat shops.

There are 26 sweet and souvenir shops in Oxford Street which collectively owe about 9 million in unpaid business rates. The council has recovered hundreds of thousands of pounds in arrears through court action, but the ownership structure of the shops is often secretive.

Trading standards have also seized goods including illegal vapes and counterfeit designer brands.
S SEs operating profit has climbed to 2.53 billion, as the energy company laid out plans to spend billions upgrading its infrastructure.

The FTSE 100 firm, which is based in Perth, reported on Wednesday its adjusted operating profit had increased from 2021/22 as it announced plans that could see it invest up to 40 billion over the next decade, with more than half of that set for Scotland.

Chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said the figures were profits with a purpose and enabled SSE to deliver record investment, far in excess of our earnings, in vital low-carbon energy infrastructure.

In the companys annual results for 2022/23 it announced adjusted profits of 1.8 billion after tax and that in the same year it had invested 2.8 billion.

As a Scottish-headquartered business, we are incredibly proud to be one of the biggest investors in Scotland, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and helping the country accelerate progress towards net zero

SSE is behind the worlds largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank, which is off the Yorkshire coast.

The company said the investment programme will see SSE ramp up its deployment of renewable energy, the network infrastructure needed to connect and transport it around the country, and the power sources needed when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.

As part of its investment programme, the firm said, more than 21 billion could be spent in Scotland.

And across the UK, SSE said, it would create more than 1,000 green jobs every year.

Mr Phillips-Davies said: As a Scottish-headquartered business, we are incredibly proud to be one of the biggest investors in Scotland, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and helping the country accelerate progress towards net zero.

The company on Wednesday reported its adjusted earnings per share increased 75% year-on-year to 166p, which it said was supported by a strong performance from the groups flexible generation and gas storage assets.
L ondons tech unicorns generate the highest number of startup spinouts in Europe, new data shows, in signs the capitals biggest firms are laying the groundwork for the UKs long-term success in the sector.

As many as 185 startup spinouts have been created from 27 London unicorns, according to a report released today by venture capital firm Accel, 20 more than that produced in Berlin and nearly 50 more than the number made in Paris.

Fintech Revolut tops the London list with 26 spinouts, followed by takeaway app Deliveroo with 24 spinouts and money transfer service Wise with 22.

Accel partner Harry Nelis told the Standard: For every big company now you can create the seeds of seven other companies. That is a flywheel that should both sustain the ecosystem but should grow it as well.

Were at a point where the European ecosystem now has the same benefits that Silicon Valley has had for decades.

The report comes amid a turbulent time for the tech sector that has seen scores of layoffs, falling valuations and difficulties for startups seeking access to funding. Nearly 200,000 people have been laid off at tech companies globally since the start of the year, according to tracking site layoffs.fyi.

Yes its more tough today than it was two or three years ago but that was the outlier, not today, Nelis said.

The startup game has always been a game full of adventure, and the hard reality is that many of the companies that we finance end up not working, and thats ok because were supposed to take risk.

Rob Lincolne, CEO of London fintech Paydock, which recently secured a 25 million funding round, said it had become more difficult to secure funding amid a fall in fintech valuations but that investors are continuing to back tech firms with a strong business case.

Were seeing the capital markets drift towards B2B and infrastructure investment  that is a message to the market that orchestration is here to stay, he told the Standard.

We feel really pleased about the choice we made to be in London. Its still a great hub for fintech.
O ctopus Group has announced the launch of a new money-focused brand, which will partner with UK employers to provide budgeting support through workplaces.

The group said Octopus Money is the companys second flagship consumer brand, alongside Octopus Energy.

People will be able to receive ongoing one-to-one support, as well as personalised investment and pensions advice, Octopus Group said.

People want to be good with money

The brand will focus primarily on providing services through UK employers, the group said.

Simon Rogerson, founder and CEO of Octopus Group, said: Like eating healthily or working out, people want to be good with money.

Octopus Group will invest 50 million to help grow the new business.
C ontrary to expectations, Sadiq Khans book, Breathe, is quite the page-turner.

Part memoir, part justification for his anti-pollution policies (such as the Ulez), it includes the revelation that he probably had a minor heart attack at a COP26 meeting 18 months ago.

But what else do we learn about the Mayor? Here are a dozen choice nuggets:

1) He plans to replace the Ulez and congestion charge with a more comprehensive road-user charging system, by the end of the decade at the latest.

2) When he was a lawyer, he drove a huge, gas-guzzling Land Rover Discovery.

3) As children, he and his brother Tariq would play on their dads (No 44) bus  sitting on the front seat upstairs pretending to drive, and peering through the periscope at their father below.

4) He is unable to drink cold milk to this day after downing four pints in two minutes to win a childhood competition with his brothers.

5) He knew London was going to be the focus of my career after then Labour leader Ed Miliband appointed him shadow Minister for London in 2013. By 2014, he wanted to become Labours mayoral candidate.

6) He ignored aides and shook hands with Extinction Rebellion activists invited to City Hall  despite fears they would Superglue themselves to him.

7) One of his biggest mistakes in the 2016 mayoral campaign was saying in interviews and on my website that I would plant two million trees by 2020  it was impossible to deliver.

8) Lockdown took a toll on his mental health. He stopped shaving and would wear worn-out old T-shirts and a grey tracksuit. His wife Saadiya said he dressed like a prison inmate.

9) After buying an electric Brompton bike, he became a Mamil  a middle-aged man in linen (suit).

10) It was a big mistake to propose a Greater London boundary charge. The policy  since scrapped  was dubbed Checkpoint Chigwell by Tory MP Paul Scully, which irritated him further because it was quite funny.

11) On election day in 2021, it was a good omen when a doughnut featuring his face outsold those featuring his rivals at Dunns bakery in Crouch End.

12) At COP26 in Glasgow, he met Leonardo DiCaprio at a party and tried a joke: I would have shared that life raft with you, Leo. He didnt laugh.
F lorence Pugh has reflected on Hollywoods beauty standards, recalling the time she was told that she needed to lose weight for an acting role.

The British actress, 27, stars on the cover of Time magazines Next Generation Leaders issue and spoke about being drawn back to Los Angeles for the WWE film Fighting With My Family opposite Dwayne Johnson, after a producer for a pilot show that never aired had allegedly criticised her physical appearance the last time she had been in Hollywood.

Speaking about the role, she said: The person I came back to was a female wrestler with muscles and big thighs who made her own name as a champion.

I quite liked that, because the last time Id been there (Hollywood) I was told I needed to lose weight, it was just so not the person I wanted to be.

Pugh also said that after signing on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring as Yelena Belova in 2021s Black Widow, people in the independent film community were really pissed off.

She said: They were like, great, now shes gone forever. And Im like, no, Im working as hard as I used to work. Ive always done back-to-back movies.

Its just people are watching them now. You just have to be a bit more organised with your schedule.

She later made an appearance in the Disney+ show Hawkeye, but before Marvel, Pugh made her name in Hollywood with acclaimed independent films including Midsommar and Lady Macbeth, as well as more recent projects including The Wonder and A Good Person.

Pugh said she can sense when a film will succeed, saying: A whole film set, its everybody making a huge effort because they want to be there. And if someone doesnt want to be there or if someone isnt pulling their weight, you can feel it. The film feels wrong.
F ew make films with such painstaking precision and poise as Wes Anderson, and none share quite the same obsession with symmetry.

From his 1996 debut Bottle Rocket to most recent movie Asteroid City, via fan favourites The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson has enchanted film fans with his work for more than 20 years.

There are dozens of idiosyncrasies in his films, which he returns to time and again  many of which have also been mimicked in a new trend that has been sweeping TikTok.

But one of the most recognisable is Andersons passion for vibrant cinematography. No other director lavishly splashes swathes of pastel colour onto the screen like he does, bringing his scenes to life with vibrant yellows, blues and pinks.

Now Anderson fans are just weeks away from getting even more fantastically colourful sequences, as Andersons latest film, Asteroid City, will be released in the UK on June 23.

This week the film, which stars Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie, premiered at Cannes. Most critics couldnt praise it enough.

With Asteroid City, Anderson has rekindled his old magic, offering something new without renouncing any of his distinguishing features, said The Standard.  This film has a different energy and  despite retaining the usual charming whimsy we are so accustomed to  feels more solid and tangible.

Andersons latest is a story about a group of students and parents who gather in an American desert town in 1955 for a junior stargazing convention. But after a major disruption the parents and kids get cordoned off by the army, and then the real fun begins.

While the project promises to be a little more weighty than his more recent offerings, it has all the delectable Anderson touches: a cast literally jam-packed full of stars, exquisite costumes, stylish screen muses, and a zig-zagging and zany plot.

To celebrate the directors latest film, flick through the gallery above to see 50 of Andersons most stunning shots from his major releases.

Asteroid City is set to be released in the UK on June 23
S tormzy has been announced as the winner of the prestigious O2 Silver Clef Award.

The grime star will be celebrated at the ceremony in June, held in association with music therapy charity Nordoff and Robbins.

The gong is awarded for outstanding contribution to music and has been won by the likes of David Bowie, Ed Sheeran, Roger Waters, Sir Paul McCartney, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Dame Shirley Bassey, Kylie Minogue, The Rolling Stones, Oasis and Coldplay.

It has also been announced that indie rock group Wet Leg will receive the New Music Award, while Biffy Clyro will win Best Live Act.

Pop star Neneh Cherry will be given the Outstanding Achievement gong, while Mark King of Level 42 will receive the Icon Award, and Ayanna Witter-Johnson wins the Classical Award.

Winners of Best Male, Best Female, Best Group, International and Innovation will be announced in June, ahead of the ceremony.

The O2 Silver Clef Awards are held to recognise and celebrate the talent of artists who touch the lives of people through their music, and the event helps to raise vital funds ensuring Nordoff and Robbins is able to continue to deliver its brand of music therapy to support vulnerable people across the UK.

Wet Leg said: To the hunnies at Nordoff and Robbins, tysm (thank you so much) for choosing us for Best new music award!?! Were blushing red as lobsters.

Were so stoked to be supporting Nordoff and Robbins to bring music to those who need it most!

Through their work, they provide music therapists to isolated children and adults which allows them to break down barriers whilst making real connections with other people.

Scottish band Biffy Clyro said: Were so pleased to receive the Best Live Act Award. Some of our favourite memories have been created on stage and nothing compares to the response from a live audience.

Music brings us together in such a unique way all people  from non-verbal children to older people with dementia can really respond and communicate in the music therapy sessions, which is why Nordoff and Robbins work is so incredibly important.

The awards will be given out at a lunchtime ceremony on June 30 at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Londons Park Lane.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, expressed the government's keenness to increase British investments in Egypt on Tuesday, during his meeting with Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the British Minister of State for the Middle East, in Cairo.

Shoukry praised the level of British investments in Egypt, citing the UK's position as the countrys largest single foreign investor.

British investments in Egypt reached $21 billion according to statements by the UK ambassador to Egypt, Gareth Bayley, in early March.

According to the UK Department of Trade and Business in late March, the total amount of goods and services traded (bought and sold) between the UK and Egypt was worth 4.5 billion in 2022. This is 43 percent higher than in 2021an increase of 1.4 billion.

The discussion centered on joint economic and trade cooperation, with Shoukry expressing the Egyptian government's keenness to involve British companies in major national development projects.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the two officials discussed the need to prepare for the second meeting of the Egypt-UK Association Council, scheduled in Cairo this year and to be chaired by both foreign ministers.

Minister Shoukry and Lord Ahmed also exchanged views on various regional and international matters of mutual interest, including the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, recent escalations in the occupied Palestinian territories and developments in Libya, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.

Both Shoukry and Ahmed agreed to continue working together to further advance bilateral relations between Egypt and the UK.

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A teenage boy has been rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds after reports of a shooting outside a north-west London Tube station.

Metropolitan Police officers were called to the junction of Watling Avenue and Orange Hill Road, near Burnt Oak station, just before 3.30pm on Tuesday.

A boy, aged 17, was found with suspected gunshot injuries and treated on scene by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service.

A rescue helicopter was dispatched and the teenager was rushed to a major trauma centre as a priority.

His condition has since been assessed as not life-threatening.

Another boy, 17, was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and taken into custody at a north London police station.

Burnt Oak station was closed on Tuesday while a scene investigation was carried out but has since reopened.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: We sent multiple resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer. We also dispatched Londons Air Ambulance.
P olice have cracked down on a suspected gang of teenage moped phone robbers thought to be behind a crimewave targeting City workers and tourists.

A 19-year-old man suspected of carrying out a spate of knifepoint snatches and handling stolen handsets was arrested at the home he shares with his mother in Camberwell at 4am.

A boy aged 15, who officers believe carried a Rambo blade, was seized in south London and two male youths, 17 and 18, were detained nearby.

City of London and Metropolitan Police detectives launched the crackdown on Wednesday ahead of a feared rise in robberies by thieves on bikes and scooters over the summer. Last year, recorded offences shot up 266 per cent in the six months between February and July.

Acting Inspector Dan Green, in charge of Operation Verditer, said some perpetrators could carry out 15 to 20 muggings in the space of a few hours.

Since January, his squad has recovered 400 mobiles  150 of them returned to their owners.

He said: If you come to the City to carry out this type of offence, you can expect a robust response. Every robbery has a significant impact on victims and leaves long-term implications.

We know when there is nicer weather, more visitors come to London. They have their mobiles in their hands to seek directions or hire rides. Unfortunately, we know opportunistic criminals will target victims with phones.

People need to remain vigilant and be aware of their surroundings when taking devices out in public spaces.

The City force, which polices Londons Square Mile, is deploying uniformed and plain-clothes officers in hot spots as offenders prey on restaurant-goers and commuters.

Two dressed as Deliveroo riders were wrestled to the ground by the team outside Bloombergs headquarters last Thursday. The pair, aged 25 and 26, have been charged with 11 thefts in total and will appear at Westminster magistrates court on June 19.

Superintendent Bill Duffy urged anyone who has their phone stolen to report it immediately via 999.

He said: This is a force priority. If you call us, we can get officers straight to the scene and look at CCTV to find them and deploy other tactics.

These criminals are highly skilled. They know how to mount pavements on mopeds and bikes and theyll take your phone in seconds. By the time you look up, theyve gone. Our vision is to target perpetrators now and therefore reduce crime over summer months because they wont be in circulation.

Police are spraying criminals and their mopeds with a DNA spray in a bid to link them to crimes if they race away. Shop owners suspected of buying stolen handsets were also being raided.
T he most senior judge in England and Wales has told lawyers how the latest Lord Chancellor is the seventh he has worked with during just under six years in office.

Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, who is due to retire in the autumn, said he hoped Alex Chalk would be my last.

He was speaking as Mr Chalk  a barrister and Conservative MP for Cheltenham  was formally sworn in as Lord Chancellor on Wednesday.

Judges and lawyers welcomed Mr Chalk, who was appointed Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary on April 21, to his new role at a traditional ceremony in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

You are my seventh in just under six years, albeit one twice, said Lord Burnett, who became Lord Chief Justice in October 2017.

I hope you are my last.

Since October 2017 Britain has had four Conservative Prime Ministers  Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Members of Mr Chalks family were at the ceremony to see him swear an oath of office.
P olice have named a man stabbed to death outside a Croydon pub.

Lucas Sutton, 22, was knifed repeatedly in a fight in Mayo Road about 7.45pm on Tuesday.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

The air ambulance and police were scrambled to the scene and paramedics fought to save the victims life.

A post-mortem examination carried out on Thursday gave a preliminary cause of death as stab wounds.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, who is leading the investigation, said: This is a devastating time for Lucas family and my thoughts are with them. We will do everything we can to bring those responsible for his death to justice.

We believe Lucas was stabbed during an altercation in Mayo Road involving a number of black males who were later seen running away from the area.

We are making good progress with our investigation and an arrest has been made, however we need to hear from anyone with information about what happened.

A witness told MyLondon: He ran into the pub and took his jacket off outside and he had two massive stab wounds to his back.

He cried out help me help me and then collapsed.

The boys mum came later and was just screaming, its so sad.

Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain, local policing commander for south London, said: First of all, I want to express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of this young man. Our officers are supporting them during this awful time and I want to reassure them, and the local community, that we are committed to bringing those responsible to justice.

A lot of work has taken place overnight and detectives will remain at the scene throughout the day as they continue to piece together what happened. Local neighbourhood officers will also be in the area to respond to any concerns you may have.

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD 6826/23May. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 to remain anonymous.
A modern-day Jack the Ripper who boasted he got away with it after murdering a young woman and going on to kill again is now facing the rest of his life in prison.

David Smith, 66, brutally killed and then mutilated 33-year-old Sarah Crump after hiring her for sex at her bedsit in Southall in 1991.

He was identified as the prime suspect in the horrific killing but, to the horror of Ms Crumps family, he was found not guilty by an Old Bailey jury in 1993.

Smith  who gained the nicknamed Lurch and the Honey Monster due to his hulking 6ft 3ins frame  went on to kill again after walking free from court.

A second woman, Amanda Walker, 21, was murdered and her body mutilated in a similar way to the attack on Ms Crump.

Smith was put on trial again and convicted of Ms Walkers murder, and sentenced to life in prison in 1999.

While behind bars awaiting trial for Ms Walkers murder, Smith boasted to a fellow inmate that he had previously been accused of murder and walked.

He said that they got no evidence on him and that he got away with it, the prisoner said.

Metropolitan Police officers kept Ms Crumps murder case under review, and in March last year a second murder trial was ordered by the Court of Appeal.

Detectives and prosecutors presented a compelling case that Smith had been wrongly acquitted of murder in 1993, including the eerie similarities between the killings of the two women, his escalating pattern of sexual offending towards women, and his obsession with escorts.

Advanced in forensic testing also helped to wipe out a key plank of Smiths defence from the first trial, proving that a second man whose fingerprint was in Ms Crumps flat could not have been the killer.

At Inner London crown court on Wednesday, Smith was found guilty of murder by a jury.

He will be handed a second life term at a sentencing hearing on Friday by Mr Justice Bryan, and is now set to spend the rest of his days behind bars.

After Smiths not guilty verdict in 1993, Ms Crumps mother Pat Rhodes issued a warning  that was to come true  that he would kill again.

After todays verdict, Ms Crumps older sisters Joanne Platt and Suzanne Wright said in a short statement: At long last justice for our lovely Sarah. If only mum and dad were here with us today to share this momentous occasion.

Ms Crump was a secretary in the chiropody department in Wimbledon Hospital, south-west London and had a previous career as a psychiatric nurse.

But she also worked occasionally as an escort to earn extra money.

Smith, who lived with his parents in Hampton, Middlesex, and made local deliveries for a firm in Heathrow, regularly used sex workers, the court heard.

Prosecutor William Boyce KC said the intensity of his use of the service increased in the weeks before Ms Crumps murder.

He was someone who developed fascinations and obsessions with some of the women he met in this way, said Mr Boyce.

David Smith murdered Sarah Crump and he had visited her flat on August 28 to use her services as an escort girl.

He used a false name, Duncan.

He was the last person known to be inside Ms Crumps flat before she was discovered to be dead.

He was there as a paying visitor. For such a visitor, she would have taken off her clothes and lain on the bed where she was found.

The court heard Ms Crumps naked body was found brutally mutilated with the incisions similar to the surgical scars of a woman Smith had become obsessed with and rejected his attentions.

Details of Smiths offending were put before the jury, including the 1976 knifepoint rape of a woman in front of her children, an attempted rape of an escort on August 18 1991, and Ms Walkers murder where her body suffered substantial mutilation after death.

The murder of Ms Crump was one part in a timeline of escalating violent and sexual offending against women by the defendant, which stretched from his teenage years in the mid-1970s, until his commission of the murder of another sex worker in 1999, said Mr Boyce.

To overcome Smiths previous defence case, police tracked down the previous owner of the flat and conclusively linked him to fingerprints in Ms Crumps flat which had been unidentified at the first trial.

Smith had been able to argue that a second man could have come to the flat after he left and carry out the murder.

Smith has been remanded into custody until sentencing on Friday.
J ust Stop Oil (JSO) protests have cost police more than 3.5 million and nearly 11,000 officer shifts in the past month.

The Metropolitan Police revealed the figures as nine more JSO supporters were arrested on Wednesday during the groups latest batch of road-blocking marches.

Campaigners have been staging protests every day since April 24, sparking confrontations with members of the public who are caught in traffic as the activists walk slowly in the road.

The 3.5 million is on top of the 7.5 million spent by the force dealing with JSO action between October and December last year.

Police now have powers to force them to move onto the pavement, but arrested the nine JSO supporters on Wednesday for allegedly failing to do so.

So far since April 24, 45 JSO supporters have been detained by police across 78 marches, with frustration for some drivers bubbling over into heated confrontations.

Met Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the time between officers arriving at each scene and imposing conditions to move protesters out of the road is between 13 and 19 minutes.

He said: A short period of engagement and assessment after officers first arrive at each scene is unavoidable, but where we conclude that serious disruption is occurring we are intervening without delay to get traffic moving again.

One man was handcuffed by police after appearing to push two JSO supporters out of the road on Blackfriars Bridge on Tuesday.

The group said a motorcyclist tried to drive through the demonstrators, and in a separate incident a van crashed into a bus stop as the driver tried to get past the activists.

Other members of the public were said to have grabbed banners.

On Friday a man approached JSO protesters as they marched slowly in front of traffic on Mansell Street, near the Tower of London, before snatching their banners and pushing a woman to the ground.

Mr Twist said: We absolutely understand why those who are caught up in traffic delays will be frustrated.

I would urge the public not to intervene or take matters into their own hands, but to call the police, let us know where the incident is and we will get there quickly.

I know that a widely shared video of a member of the public confronting protesters on May 23 has reignited the strongly held public feelings about this protest tactic and how we are responding to it.

But we must recognise that short clips of individual incidents dont tell the whole story of a much larger policing operation which, as we have shown, is ensuring that our response times are effective and that our interventions are seeing roads cleared with minimal delays.

JSO is staging what it calls an indefinite campaign of civil resistance to end all new oil, gas and coal projects in the UK.
T he head of an under-fire NHS trust will publicly apologise to victims of a maternity scandal as the chair of a review into the episode said the trust has a lot of learning to do.

Nick Carver, chairman of the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, will apologise on its behalf to parents who were affected by poor maternity care at its annual public meeting on July 10, the trust said on Wednesday.

It comes after families demanded a public apology in a closed meeting held on Tuesday, chaired by Donna Ockenden, who is leading a review into its care.

Families also said that the review should be changed to automatically allow all affected families to be included, rather than asking them to reply to an invitation to share their story.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms Ockenden said that it was absolutely crucial that families came forward to ensure the trust learns in the way that it should.

Following the meeting, Anthony May, the Trusts chief executive, said: We are absolutely committed to open dialogue with the families and last night we listened very carefully to all they had to say. We will now take time to reflect and make sure we can follow up all the points raised.

I continue to learn a great deal from meeting women and their families and last night was an important opportunity for me to say sorry for any harm and distress caused by failings in our services.

We continue to support Donna Ockendens independent review because we know how important it is for our learning and local people. We are in regular dialogue with Donnas team and we are determined to improve our services. I know this is an unsettling time for women and families using our maternity services.

If anyone has concerns or questions about their care, I encourage them to speak to their midwife or consultant.

Ms Ockenden said that since September 1, 1,266 families have shared care concerns with the review, including Sarah and Gary Andrews, who in January were awarded record damages in court following the death of their daughter, Wynter, 23 minutes after she was born at the citys Queens Medical Centre in September 2019.

A total of 663 staff have also made contact, with many requesting to be seen individually, which Ms Ockenden said speaks volumes about low levels of trust between staff and their employer.

But Ms Ockenden, who previously led a similar review at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, raised concerns that the method that we have used to date to reach out across the communities just doesnt seem to be working, adding that there were stark differences in responses to the review between different ethnic groups.

Ms Ockenden said, under the current system, only about a quarter of white women eligible to take part in the review into the NUH Trust had done so, and only about 10% of black women and about five per cent of Asian women.

The NUH Trust has been responsible for finding and contacting families who could be eligible to take part in the review, meaning families have to contact the trust, which then has to contact the review.

But families want this opt-in method to be changed to opt-out, which would see all affected families automatically eligible to be involved and, when used in the Shrewsbury review, this yielded a 95% response rate.

They will be writing to Ms Ockenden to offer their support for the change, but the final decision will be made by NHS England.

Women feel that they're not listened to, their needs aren't met, and interpreting services are very poor

Ms Ockenden said that hearing the views of women from ethnic minorities was vital and that women who had already come forward had shown that it is really, really clear that the Trust have a lot to do to build back trust with so many of their local communities.

She said: I cant stress enough how absolutely vital that the ethnicity and rich diversity we see in Nottingham is represented. Its absolutely crucial.

We cannot have another review where sections of our community here in Nottingham say, here we go again, another review has happened, our voices havent been heard, what we have to say has not been considered important, and the trust is improving but not with our needs in mind.

We cannot allow that to happen.

She added: Women feel that theyre not listened to, their needs arent met, and interpreting services are very poor.

Ms Ockenden said that as recently as last month, one woman who was in labour had to ring her mother in Pakistan, who then had to contact another relative back in the UK, who then helped translate instructions from caregivers.

Women tell us, because none of the trust information is available in any other language other than English, for processes such as induction of labour or any other processes that might need to happen, theyre not able to make informed consent, she said.

She also acknowledged that while some issues were still active within the trust, changes were being made on a daily basis and feedback was being given to the trust in real time.

The trust also has its own maternity improvement plan, which the reviews concerns are fed into, but she reiterated Mr Mays call for women to speak to health professionals if they have concerns.

If local women feel that they have concerns, they must speak out, she said.

I would hope that it would put womens minds at rest that changes are happening as we speak, but ultimately if women want to make a choice to go elsewhere, then that choice is theirs to make.

Clinical reviews began last month, with Ms Ockenden adding that it was very likely the review would need to be extended to ensure it was of the highest standard.

No date has yet been fixed for when the final report will be released.
S adiq Khan was heckled and sworn at by a small group of protesters during an appearance at the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday evening.

Between four and six men and at least one woman, who appeared to be protesting about the Ulez expansion, shouted and interrupted the mayor during a ticketed event to promote his book, Breathe.

They were sat in the middle of the 2,600-capacity hall, about 30 yards from the mayor on stage.

The audience tried to drown out the shouts and called for the protesters to leave as they encouraged the mayor to continue reading extracts from his book.

At one stage, one of Mr Khans brothers, who was sat with his wife near the protesters, stood up and told them to be quiet. One man approached him, threatening a fight.

LBC presenter James OBrien, who was questioning the mayor on stage, warned they would be evicted if the protests continued.

When one man shouted that it was a lie that schoolgirl Ella Kissi-Debrahs death had been caused by air pollution, he was removed by the venues security staff.

A second man was evicted shortly before 9pm after shouting obscenities at Mr Khan. The rest of the group then left.

Mr Khan, asked about the protests and the level of abuse he has faced as mayor, said more people supported him than objected to his policies. To applause from the audience, he said his attitude was: Dont let the bullies win.

Royal Festival Hall staff speak with some of the protesters at Sadiq Khans book event / Ross Lydall

The Royal Festival Hall had been closed in advance of the event for three hours this afternoon to allow a security sweep. There were bag checks on entry but the protesters, some of whom were drinking, were able to sit in the hall.

Mr Khan is planning to expand the Ulez from August 29 to cover all London boroughs, although a High Court hearing which could potentially derail that timeframe is planned for July.

The mayor has insisted expansion is necessary to prevent the contribution air pollution makes to the premature death of thousands of Londoners every year.

The issue was thrown into sharp focus by the death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah after an asthma attack. She became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death in 2020.

However, opponents of the Ulez expansion say it will have little impact on overall pollution levels but will hit peoples pockets during a cost-of-living crisis.

Drivers of vehicles that do not meet minimum emissions standards are charged a 12.50 daily fee for entering the zone.

In March, Mr Khan was heckled by some members of the crowd over the measure at a Peoples Question Time event at Ealing Town Hall.
Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry is heading to Geneva, Switzerland, to consult with several international organizations on bilateral cooperation and regional issues, read an official statement on Wednesday.

Shoukry is set to meet with UN Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffith, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, as well as Amy Pope, the new director-general of the International Organization for Migration, the statement added.

Discussions will address ways to enhance cooperation on pressing regional and international issues.

The agenda of Shoukry's meetings will encompass the Sudanese crisis and its repercussions, and means of providing urgent humanitarian support to the Sudanese people.

Shoukry will also meet with UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen to coordinate on the Syrian crisis.

Discussions are meant to boost international endeavours to end the crisis and alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people," the statement noted.

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F resh concerns have been raised about the strip searching of children by the Met Police, as the force revealed it had mistakenly misreported the scale of the tactics use.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said officers have overused and misused the power in the past, but are now focused on being much more careful about only using it when its necessary.

The issue has been repeatedly raised by Green London Assembly Member Caroline Russell, who has called for more transparency on the number of searches, where they are being carried out, and whether an appropriate adult is present.

In a written question lodged with City Hall in July 2022, Ms Russell asked for location data in relation to what the Met had said was a total of 99 strip searches of children carried out in 2021.

In an answer issued on Monday, Ms Russell was told that the Met has established that the figure of 99 searches was incorrect, which they said was due to a data transmission error.

They clarified that the figure was in fact 271, including two searches logged in error but still captured in the data.

Of that number, 57 per cent of searches were carried out at police stations, 21 per cent at home addresses, and 21 per cent at other locations.

Commenting in response, Ms Russell said: Almost a year after I asked for Met data on the strip searching of children, the Met cannot even provide the location of a fifth of those that took place.

This data from 2021 had not been recorded properly, leading to almost a year of delay in answering my question on locations of strip searches and the correction of a previous answer, which now shows three times more children were being strip searched by police.

She added: Each strip search means another child traumatised by an interaction with the Met.

Caroline Russell, a Green member of the London Assembly / London Assembly

The Met must stop the use of this invasive policing tactic to protect young people from the deep distress of intimate searches and guarantee proper transparency about its deployment in the meantime.

Speaking at a City Hall meeting on Wednesday, Kenny Bowie - a director at the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime - said the Mets data systems needed improvement and that he was pretty horrified by the data transmission error mentioned in response to Ms Russells question.

The Met publishes dashboards on its website relating to the number of strip searches carried out, both as part of stop and search, and for those in custody.

They show that the use of the power in both situations, among both children and adults, was significantly reduced in 2022.

Among children, the reduction in strip searches conducted as part of stop and search between 2021 and 2022 was 45 per cent.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has previously said there is still a place for the strip searching of children in very exceptional circumstances.

The issue was recently scrutinised by Dame Rachel de Souza, the Childrens Commissioner for England, who found that across the country, there were systemic problems with transparency, scrutiny and non-compliance with guidelines when children were being strip searched under stop and search powers.

Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza during an interview with PA Media on College Green, in Westminster, London, following the release of her findings into child strip-searches by police in England and Wales. / PA

A Met spokesman said the cause of the error has now been recognised and all analysts who compile data are aware of this.

On the issue of strip searching children, he said the Met had made several improvements to the way it carries out the tactic.

More Thorough Searches that expose Intimate Parts (MTIP) form 1.3% of all searches and the Metropolitan Police Service recognises that it is the most intrusive tactic involved in stop and search and of concern to our communities, he said.

Criminality is detected in 53% of MTIP searches and that figures rises to 60% for under 18s.

We have ensured our officers and staff have a refreshed understanding of the policy for conducting a further search, particularly around the requirement for an appropriate adult to be present.

We have also given officers advice around dealing with schools, ensuring that children are treated as children and considering safeguarding for those under 18.

We have reviewed the policy for more thorough searches for those aged under 18 to assure ourselves the policy is appropriate and recognises that a child in these circumstances may well be a vulnerable victim of exploitation by others involved in gangs, County Lines and drug dealing, or at risk of self-harm.

An inspector must now give authority prior to the search taking place to ensure appropriate oversight.

We will also ensure a Merlin report is submitted for all such searches, to ensure safeguarding the child is the priority.

We have made significant steps in the training of our officers, consulting with our communities and ensuring the correct oversight of stop and search, but we are not complacent, we know there is more to be done and we will listen and act on what we hear.
T he head of Britains armed forces has defended plans to cut the size of the Army.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, told the London Defence Conference: I think we are slightly stuck in some of the numbers game.

The numbers are important, I dont want to deny that, but the numbers arent quite as totemic and as golden as people say. They can be a bit lazy as the arbiter of describing an armed force.

The Army currently has 76,000 regular soldiers, down from 97,000 in the past decade, and is set to see troop numbers fall further to 73,000.

Labour has called for the Government to halt the planned cuts, with shadow defence secretary John Healey calling them perverse at a time of increasing international threats, but the Prime Minister told the conference on Tuesday that he would not second guess military chiefs.

Speaking at the conference, hosted by Kings College London, on Wednesday, Admiral Radakin said the British Army had benefits beyond simple mass.

He said: The way that we describe mass, its only through humans and the UK as an armed forces has rarely been a major contributor in mass.

We provide an operational advantage, whether thats because of fantastic intelligence services, fantastic special forces, nuclear submarines, amazing soldiers that are prepared to fight and lay down their lives.

Thats what our partners look for, but its rarely mass.

He added: In the future our mass will be provided by technology much more than it is now.

But Admiral Radakin suggested that troop numbers were unlikely to fall below 73,000 when Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, publishes updated plans in a defence command paper in June.

We keep our nation safe by adopting collective security and being in the worlds largest and most powerful military alliance ever.

He said: I dont think, with the defence command paper, that we anticipate that the Armys going to be smaller.

Reflecting on the lessons of the Ukraine war, Admiral Radakin said the conflict was an affirmation of the Western way of war and underlined the importance of Nato to UK security.

He said: Natos got bigger by the addition of Finland. Nato will get even bigger again by the addition of Sweden. Nato has invested 350 billion additional in terms of all of those countries putting more money into defence.

Those are far bigger impacts than the conversations were having about our domestic armed forces.

And so this fixation, I see sometimes some newspapers, they portray a Russian Orbat (order of battle) against the UK, and yet we tell you as a policy that if we were to go to war with Russia it would be the whole of Nato and suddenly that Orbat is 3 million people in uniform, its a couple of thousand ships and submarines, its 15,000 tanks, its thousands of fast jets.

He added: The affirmation is we keep our nation safe by adopting collective security and being in the worlds largest and most powerful military alliance ever, and the affirmation is further enhanced by being a nuclear power and being part of a nuclear alliance.

Those are the foundations of why the UK is safe.

Asked about the importance of tanks, Admiral Radakin said integration into Nato might mean they became less of a focus for the UK.

The last defence command paper, published in 2021, set out plans to cut the number of tanks in the British Army by a third, from 227 to 148.

Boris Johnson defended the policy, claiming that the days of big tank battles were over, but was criticised for these comments following the outbreak of war in Ukraine three months later.

Admiral Radakin, however, said tanks were not a silver bullet and the UK could rely on other Nato nations with stronger tank capabilities.

He said: When you look at the UKs armed forces you have to then put them into where do we fit into Nato, where do we have particular capabilities that strengthen Nato, where do we rely on other countries that might have capabilities that we dont have.

And then are there some things that we might not be super strong in that capability, we want to have a modest element, and well expect others to be stronger.

And the tank is an obvious one. There are other nations within Nato that are stronger tank nations. That doesnt necessarily mean that we dispense with tanks, it just means that in a balanced force, as part of a balanced international force, you then take those decisions as to how much do you need.

He added: This notion that these are cliff-edge decisions and if you havent got them suddenly youre naked and youre no longer safe, its nonsense.
T he Cabinet Office was on Wednesday accused of holding back evidence relating to Boris Johnson's handling of the Covid pandemic.

The official UK Covid Inquiry threatened legal action over the refusal to supply the then-Prime Minister's unedited WhatsApp messages with dozens of Government figures, including Rishi Sunak, and 24 notebooks.

Baroness Heather Hallett, who is leading the probe, said the content should not have been redacted before it was handed to her team.

She issued a Section 21 notices on April 28, demanding the full documents.

In a letter to the Cabinet Office, she warned that the Government is required to supply these materials to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry by the dates set out.

Failure to comply with this Notice without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence, punishable on summary conviction with a fine not exceeding 1,000 and/or imprisonment for a maximum of 51 weeks.

The Cabinet Office argued that the materials requested were sensitive and the inquiry had no entitlement to them.

The more senior the Government Minister, official or advisor targeted by the Inquirys disclosure requests, the more likely it is that their communications will address, in particular, policy matters of particular sensitivity which are unambiguously irrelevant to Covid-19 and which should not be disclosed outside of Government without it being strictly necessary to do so, the Cabinet Office said in its reply.

But Baroness Hallett said it was for the public inquiry to decide what was relevant.

She asked for unredacted WhatsApp messages from Mr Johnson and a senior Number 10 advisor between January 1, 2020 and February 24, 2022. Unredacted diaries for the former Prime Minister covering the same period were also requested.

It comes as Mr Johnson was referred to the police by the Cabinet Office over fresh claims he broke lockdown rules.

The Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP has severed ties with his Government-appointed lawyers and is now seeking new legal representation.

In a letter to Baroness Hallett, Mr Johnson said the process is well underway but is in the hands of the Cabinet Office to agree funding and other practical arrangements.

I have no control over the timing of that process, he said. I am unrepresented and my counsel team have been instructed not to provide me with any advice.

In regard to the Section 21 Notice, he told the Covid Inquiry chairwoman: I have never seen the Notice, I was not party to nor have seen the Cabinet Offices representations under s21(4), and I am not allowed to see your ruling before it is published.

This is highly prejudicial to me given that I believe your ruling may directly and/or indirectly suggest that I have failed to provide documents to the Inquiry.

Any such suggestion or implication would be unfair and untrue. The Notice was issued before the deadline had passed for me to provide material to the Inquiry. I have always sought to comply with all disclosure requests from the Inquiry and I have already disclosed over 5,000 pages of documents and over 300 pages of emails.

More than 55,000 documents and 24 personal witness statements have also already been sent to investigators.

Downing Street said it has no duty to disclose unambiguously irrelevant material.
N eil Coyle has had the Labour whip restored following his suspension after he used abusive language with racial overtones in one of two drunken encounters on the parliamentary estate.

Opposition chief whip Alan Campbell told the MP that drinking does not in any way excuse his behaviour but the party recognises his efforts to address his problematic conduct, Labour sources said.

Mr Campbell told a Parliamentary Labour Party committee meeting on Wednesday that Mr Coyle has undertaken two programmes regarding managing alcohol since his suspension and stopped drinking entirely.

The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark had the whip removed last year following an incident in a Commons bar during which he was said to have made racist comments towards political journalist Henry Dyer.

Mr Dyer, who is British-Chinese, said the MP had made Sinophobic remarks which made him feel uncomfortable.

The Independent Expert Panel, which reviews complaints of bullying and harassment made against MPs, later recommended he face a five-day suspension.

Its published report found he broke the rules in two drunken encounters  in one with foul-mouthed and drunken abuse of another MPs assistant and in another with abusive language with racial overtones targeted at Mr Dyer.

Both incidents investigated under Parliaments Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) occurred in the Strangers Bar in the Commons.

On February 1 last year, Mr Coyle and a group including the reporter were discussing Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who received donations from a woman later revealed by MI5 to be a Chinese spy.

Mr Coyle suggested his colleague was being paid by Fu Manchu, a fictional Chinese supervillain, before Mr Dyer explained he is half-Chinese.

Mr Coyle told the journalist he could tell from how he looked that he had been giving renminbi, the Chinese currency, to Mr Gardiner.

Later, leaving the bar, Mr Dyer sought to defuse the situation by waving goodbye to Mr Coyle.

Mr Coyle was found to have put two fingers up at the reporter in response.

Mr Coyle, who has spoken about quitting alcohol for a year and has pleaded for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to readmit him to the parliamentary party, accepted he was drunk on both occasions.

In an apology in the Commons, Mr Coyle said he was ashamed of his behaviour and said the intervention had quite possibly saved my life by compelling him to stop drinking.

I wish to specifically apologise to the two complainants who were subject to my drunk and offensive behaviour and attitude, he said.

I cannot apologise enough for the harm and upset caused, and Im ashamed of my conduct frankly. It should not have happened.
T he police officers pursuing two teenagers riding an electric bike minutes before they were killed in a crash were the first to arrive at the scene of the collision, a senior police chief has confirmed.

Harvey Evans, 15, died alongside his best friend Kyrees Sullivan, 16, when the Sur-Ron bike they were riding crashed in the Ely area of Cardiff on Monday evening.

Their deaths sparked rioting after video footage of a marked police van following the teenagers quickly circulated on social media.

South Wales Police said the collision had already occurred when the first officers arrived at the scene in Snowden Road.

Alun Michael, the local Police and Crime Commissioner, said he had been assured and I am still assured youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident.

Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Bacon said the police van, which had been following the boys, was the first to respond to the collision.

Our thoughts are with the families and friends of Kyrees and Harvey and everyone affected by this terrible incident, she told a press conference.

We can only begin to imagine the grief they are experiencing at this time. The families continue to be supported and updated by family liaison officers.

She told reporters the pursuit began on Frank Road when the bike turned around after seeing the police van and was then followed by the officers who did not turn on their lights or sirens.

They turned into Stanway Road, which is closed to traffic at one end, and local residents believe Harvey and Kyrees carried on to pass through the bollards to avoid the police  forcing officers to turn into Howell Road and onto Grand Avenue to loop around the estate.

Ms Bacon said that at the time of the collision the van was in Grand Avenue  half a mile away from Snowden Road  and when officers learned of the collision they were on Cowbridge Road West and turned on their blue lights and headed to the scene.

There was no police vehicle in Snowden Road at the time of the collision and we believe there were no other vehicles involved in the incident, she said.

We have made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to ensure the matter receives independent scrutiny.

We will provide them with all the information we have, and they will undertake an independent investigation.

Ms Bacon confirmed no police officers have been questioned under caution since the incident.

It didnt go as any of us would have wanted on the night of the incident. It is a tragic outcome that two young men have died and we want to understand why, she said.

Meanwhile, the family of Harvey Evans pleaded for peace within the community as they paid tribute to our much-loved son, grandson, brother, nephew, friend and boyfriend.

They said in a statement: He lived life to the full, he had a big heart and deep down he truly cared. He was a best friend to Kyrees and our thoughts and prayers are with his family also.

We ask for peace within the community and request that people leave the investigation to the police so we can get the answers we so desperately need to lay Harvey to rest.

Kyrees Sullivans family also paid tribute and thanked the local community for their support since his death.

Kyrees was a loving, caring, handsome young man, a loving son to Belinda and Craig, little brother to Aleah and Jordan and a special uncle KyKy to Myra, they said.

He was loved so much by his grandparents and aunties and uncles, and his many cousins.

Him and Harvey along with Niall were best friends since they were young and went everywhere together, they both had so many friends and were very well liked doing many things together, having fun and laughs.

Hundreds of bunches of flowers have now been placed at the scene and floral tributes have also been taped the entire length up one lamppost on the street.

Community members and young people continue to gather at the scene and say there is still a strong feeling of anger at the police among those who knew the teenagers and their families.

One young man at the scene who came to pay his respects said: They (the police) are trying to hide what really happened. The video is as clear as day.

A woman at the tributes, who did not give her name, told journalists that young people are always targeted by police around here.

A vigil and balloon release has been planned to pay tribute to the boys on Friday evening.
T he Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has requested a king's counsel (KC) to conduct an impartial investigation into the numerous accusations made against its chair, Kishwer Falkner.

It comes after EHRC staff have gathered a file with more than 40 allegations against Falkner.

The watchdog has not disclosed the specifics of the allegations, but it issued a statement in which it stated that it treats "allegations of bullying and harassment with the utmost seriousness, following the proper process, and instructing independent investigators where appropriate, in order to provide assurance to all parties concerned".

On Wednesday, May 24, in protest of the EHRC's stance on single-sex spaces, transgender activists held a demonstration with big bottles of urine at the group's London headquarters.

What is the EHRC?

EHRC is Great Britains national equality body which keeps an eye on human rights and promotes equality on nine different bases: age, sex, colour, gender, religion, and belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnerships, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment.

As a statutory non-departmental public body established by the Equality Act 2006, the Commission operates independently.

The funding is provided by the Government Equalities Office and they often work with the government to influence progress on equality and human rights.

They do not carry out government business or perform its functions.

What is their stance on trans rights?

In a letter to the UK women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch on the potential amendment to the Equality Act 2010, EHRC stated that changing sex to biological sex would bring greater legal clarity in several areas.

Following comments Falkner made in May 2021 to The Times, in which she stated that women had the right to question transgender identity without fear of abuse, stigmatisation, or loss of employment, Falkner and the EHRC under her leadership have come under fire from trans and other LGBTIQ+ organisations.

David Isaac, her predecessor as EHRC chair, claimed that during her leadership, the commission became politicised by the Conservative Party.

Additionally, EHRC came under fire for having secret meetings with anti-trans organisations like LGB Alliance and Fair Play for Women.

Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson, deputy chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT+ Rights in the UK Parliament, said: "Sadly the EHRC appears now to be working against, not for, LGBT rights. Our community no longer see it as our friend but as our opponent. It's yet another organisation tainted by Boris Johnson and his appointees."

Who is Kishwer Falkner?

Falkner is a politician and life peer who is a non-aligned member of the House of Lords, and was the chairman of the EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee in the House of Lords from 2015 to 2019.

The 68-year-old is currently a member of the Bank of Englands Enforcement Decision Making Committee. She is also a Visiting Professor at The Policy Institute at Kings College London and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

In December 2020, she became chair of the EHRC. Her appointment led to criticism both from her predecessor and staff members who said EHRC had become politicised and transphobic during her tenure.

In terms of her political career, she joined the Liberal Democrats in the mid-1980s and worked for the party in several posts till 1999. Falkner contested Kensington and Chelsea in the 2001 General Election and was on the Liberal Democrats list for London in the 2004 European elections.
S adiq Khan revealed plans to offer free school lunches to all primary school students in London next academic year.

The 270,000 students who are not already receiving free meals and 100,000 of whom are believed to live in poverty will be supported by the 130 million programme.

The change, which will be paid for by higher-than-anticipated business rates revenues, will save families in the capital about 440 per child over the course of the year.

The remaining students who dont meet the eligibility for free school meals, such as those in secondary school whose parents earn above a certain amount, will have to pay. Here is a reminder on eligibility for free school meals and how to apply if you do qualify.

Who is eligible for free school meals?

Your child may be eligible for free school meals if their parent or guardian receives any of the following benefits:

Universal Credit

Income Support

Income-based Jobseekers Allowance

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

The guaranteed element of Pension Credit

Child Tax Credit (provided youre not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than 16,190)

Working Tax Credit run-on

Free school meals are also available to children who receive these benefits directly, as opposed to through a parent or guardian.

All children in reception, year one, and year two receive free school meals, known as the Universal Infant Free School Meal Programme.

How to apply for free school meals?

A claim must be submitted by the student, their parent, or another responsible adult through their local council.

Once you submit the application, you will be notified right away if you are qualified.

If the outcome is uncertain, you will be asked to upload additional proof of your benefit(s) before completing the application form. This will be reviewed, and you will find out within 15 working days whether you are eligible for free school meals or not.

You will then be emailed to confirm the start date of your child's free school meals, usually the next working day.

Your child will be eligible for the Holiday Activity and Food Programme if they are also eligible for free school meals. There may be food coupons offered by the Household Support Fund as well.

In order to apply for free school meals in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, you must follow different procedures.

When is the next free school meals payment?

In England, free school meal payments are made directly to your childs school.

How much are school dinners?

Schools set their own prices for school meals. For additional information, get in touch with your child's school.

In terms of paying for school dinners, typically, pupils in primary schools are required to make a weekly or termly payment to the school administrator.

There are cashless systems in use in secondary schools. You can learn more about the system that each school employs by contacting them directly.
K ing Charles III is set to celebrate his official birthday as Sovereign with the annual Royal celebration event - Trooping the Colour.

The colourful display of pageantry is set to take place to mark the monarchs birthday - the first of his reign - with the historical parade through the streets of London later next month.

King Charles and his Queen Camilla will be back on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the centuries-old tradition, which is expected to yet again see thousands of royal fans lining the streets to cheer on the newly-crowned king.

But what is Trooping the Colour actually all about? Here is everything you need to know:

What is Trooping the Colour?

Trooping the Colour is an annual event, always taking place in summer, to celebrate the reigning monarchs birthday.

A King or Queen has two birthdays a year - one in June and their other, personal, date of birth. King Charles IIIs actual birthday is on November 14, and last year he turned 74.

The annual summertime celebration to mark a monarchs birthday has taken place since 1748 when it started with King George II.

The Trooping the Colour event takes place in June, due to more favourable weather, and is a parade through the streets of the capital.

Military personnel including more than 1,400 soldiers, 200 horses and hundreds of army musicians will march in the parade under the watchful eye of the reigning King this year.

But this is not the first time King Charles will take the salute from the British Army fanfare. Last year, he - then as the Prince of Wales - took the salute and watched the parade alongside his mother - the late Queen Elizabeth on the balcony.

Then, more than 1,500 officers and soldiers along with 350 horses from the Household Division took part in Trooping the Colour, which was the first time the parade had been staged in full since the Coronavirus pandemic.

More than 70 aircraft - including Spitfires from World War Two and the Red Arrows - took part in a flypast, with several jets flying together to form the number 70 in honour of the Queens reign.

This year, there will also be a RAF flypast featuring a number of military aircraft.

When is Trooping the Colour?

The event will take place on Saturday, June 17 and will be done by the Regiment of the Household Division.

Each year, a different Regiment is paraded at the Trooping the Colour - and each Regiment has a Colonel at the helm, who is normally either a member of the Royal Family or a senior officer within the British Army.

The Colonel of the Regiment for the Household Division is King Charles III.

King Charles III announced in December that he had appointed three new Colonels following being made monarch.

The Princess of Wales - Catherine - was made Colonel of the Irish Guards and replaced her husband William, and Queen Camilla replaced Prince Andrew as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

Prince William was made Colonel of the Welsh Guards - the role previously held by King Charles when he was prince.

There were no other changes to the existing Colonels of the other Regiments within the Household Division:

Where is the parade route?

The parade is the same every year and first will see King Charles travel down The Mall from Buckingham Palace by carriage.

The King then rides back to the Palace and watches the parade from the balcony alongside other working royals.

Troops march past, with the route going from Buckingham Palace along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, and back again.

People can apply for tickets in a ballot to be in the seated stands each year, but this has sold out for 2023.

Those without tickets are advised to choose a spot on The Mall or on the edge of St Jamess Park overlooking Horse Guards to watch the parade from the sidelines.

The event is scheduled to start around 10am, with the fly-past at 1pm.

The parade is also broadcast live on the BBC.
A 95-year-old woman who was Tasered by police at an Australian care home has died.

Clare Nowland, who had dementia and weighed just 43kg, was critically injured after police responded to reports she was wandering her care home with a knife at about 4am last Wednesday.

She fractured her skull in a fall after the officer shot her with a stun gun in her retirement home in an incident which sparked a national outcry.

It is with great sadness we confirm the passing of 95-year-old Clare Nowland in Cooma tonight," New South Wales police said in a statement.

Mrs Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7 p.m. this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time."

The state's Police Minister, Yasmin Catley sent her condolences and said her sympathies were also with the people of Cooma and the residents and carers at the home.

We will continue to offer support to the Nowland family as they mourn this loss," she added in her statement, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The force launched an investigation and on Wednesday said a senior constable would appear in court next week to face charges of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

The officer could now face upgraded charges.
Egypt has called on Ethiopia to stop the "tendentious invocation" of what it falsely describes as "colonial agreements" to evade both its legal obligations on the GERD as well as its moral duty not to harm downstream countries Egypt and Sudan.





In a detailed response on Wednesday to an Ethiopian statement released earlier in the week on the GERD dispute, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of foreign Affairs Ahmed Abu-Zeid said that what Addis Ababa refers to as "colonial agreements" were agreements signed when Ethiopia was a sovereign state.

On Monday, Ethiopia called on Egypt to abandon what it described as the "unlawful claim to monopoly over the Nile River based on defunct colonial agreements."

Ethiopia has on many previous occasions accused Egypt and Sudan of basing their legitimate disagreements over the filling and operation of the GERD on what it described as "colonial agreements."

Ethiopia's new round of accusations came two days after the Arab League (AL) Summit voiced its serious concerns over the lack of progress on negotiation over the GERD due to Ethiopias intransigence, urging Addis Ababa it to refrain from the unilateral filling and operation of the dam.

The Ethiopian statement claimed that the position taken by the AL echoed hostile Egyptian rhetoric on the GERD and represents "an affront to the African Union (AU)" and "the cherished history shared between Africa and the Arab world."

The last round of AU-sponsored GERD talks collapsed in April 2021 and all attempts to revive the negotiations have since failed.

On Wednesday, the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson said the Ethiopian statement was "misleading and rife with inaccuracies."

The statement of the Ethiopian ministry twisted facts in a desperate attempt to drive a wedge between Arab and African countries by portraying Arab support for Egypt's just and responsible position as an Arab-African dispute, Abu Zeid added.

Egypt's history of supporting national struggle movements and liberation from colonialism in Africa as well as its efforts and the resources it allocates to support economic and social development and peace-building programmes in the African continent, - all flies in the face of these baseless allegations that Egypt mobilizes Arab countries against African interests, he added.

Abu Zeid said that Addis Ababa does not have the right to speak in the name of African nations simply because it the host of the headquarters of the AU.

This cannot be used by Ethiopia to conceal its violations of the rules of international law and the principles of good neighbourliness  or to fulfil its moral duty not to harm downstream countries Egypt and Sudan," Abu Zeid noted.

The foreign ministry spokesperson expressed disappointment over what he described as the baseless claim made in the Ethiopian statement that the three countries have already reached an agreement on the water storage volume and filling duration of the GERD's reservoir.

Seeking AL support legitimate

Abu Zeid explained in the statement that Egypt and Sudan seeking Arab support does not represent a violation of the Declaration of Principles that was signed by the three sides in 2015.

Abu Zeid also refuted Ethiopias repeated claim that Addis Ababa has taken into account the concerns of Egypt and Sudan during the construction of the GERD.

This claim contradicts the reality that the negotiations have been going on for over a decade without any tangible progress or sincere consideration for the rights of the downstream countries, Abu Zeid said.

He called on the Ethiopian side to stop placing the blame on the other parties who are simply demanding that Addis Ababa commits to reach a legally binding agreement through negotiations, an agreement which takes into account the existential concerns of the downstream countries and achieves the development aspirations of the Ethiopian people.

Against all concerns expressed by Egypt and Sudan over the filling and operation of the GERD and in the absence of a comprehensive and legally binding agreement between the three sides, Ethiopia has carried out the first three phases of the filling of the dam over the past three years and is preparing to carry out the fourth phase of filling in July of 2023.

Moreover, Ethiopia started generating electricity from the GERD in 2022 without reaching a comprehensive agreement with both downstream countries.

Egypt has maintained that these Ethiopian actions violate international law and the Presidential Statement of the UN Security Council issued in September 2021.

Egypt has repeatedly emphasised that it supports development in Africa and is not against the construction of dams on the Nile, including the GERD.

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P olice in Germany have raided 15 properties across the country in connection with protests by climate activists from the Last Generation group.

The group - called Letzte Generation in German - have been causing large-scale disruption across the country in recent months by glueing themselves to roads and blocking rush-hour traffic.

German authorities on Wednesday searched 15 properties across seven different states in connection with an investigation into the protests, police said.

Prosecutors in the city of Munich are investigating seven suspects aged between 22 and 38 on suspicion of forming or supporting a criminal organisation, a police statement said.

No arrests have been made.

The suspects are believed to have been raising funds to finance further crimes on behalf of Last Generation, collecting at least 1.4 million (1.2 million) in donations, according to police.

Two of the defendants are suspected of sabotaging the Trieste-Ingolstadt oil pipeline - considered critical infrastructure and therefore subject to special protection - in April last year.

The searches took place in Hesse, Hamburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria, Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein.
C anoe fraudster John Darwin has been filmed being serenaded in his second wifes social media videos.

Darwin faked his own death in a canoeing accident in 2002 so that his then wife could cash in his life insurance policy.

He then lived abroad in Panama before returning to the UK in 2007, claiming amnesia, only for the story to quickly unravel.

He is now appearing in videos created by his second wife, Marcy Darwin, who describes herself as a digital creator, reports the MailOnline.

In one video, Ms Darwin, 49, serenades the father-of-two and dances around him.

The 72-year-old can be seen as she sings to him and rubs his chest, while he is sat wearing shorts and a white t-shirt.

Another video shows the couple with a hot water bottle pressed between their heads as music plays.

A source told the paper: The pair of them are obviously still keen for attention despite everything that happened.

John Darwins ex-wife Anne Darwin / AFP via Getty Images

Darwin hit headlines around the world when he turned up at a central London police station in December 2007, claiming not to remember who he was.

But suspicions were quickly aroused when it was uncovered that he was 700,000 in debt when he went missing.

A photograph taken by an estate agent in Panama also later emerged which showed John with his then wife Anne in 2006 - at a time when he was presumed dead.

The couple had bought a 200,000 property in Panama in 2007 using Johns life insurance money.

However, that same year, Panama changed its visa rules, meaning checks taken on a passport used by John under the name John Jones would not have passed scrutiny.

The Darwins two sons were not informed by their mother and father of the fraud - leading them to believe their father really had died.

Police later arrested Darwin at his son house in Basingstoke.

He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison while ex-wife Anne received six years and six months.

The story was dramatised last year in the ITV series The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, starring Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan in the title roles.
A Zoo Miami official has apologised for offending the nation of New Zealand over the mishandling of its national bird, the kiwi.

US zoo staff were seen placing the nocturnal bird in bright light for around five minutes a day during public encounters in videos shared on social media, outraging New Zealanders and conservation experts.

Zoo Miami hatched the male kiwi, named Paora, in 2019, a first for the state of Florida. Kiwi are flightless birds native to New Zealand.

But Paora appeared frightened while being petted by members of the public as frequently as four times a week, New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) staff who anaylsed the footage told local media.

Videos show a Zoo Miami staff member lifting the lid of a darkened enclosure that the kiwi retreated to, plunging him into light. Paora was also seen being placed under bright lights inside while being petted by staff.

An employee can be heard telling visitors: He loves being pet, hes like a little dog and he loves his little head being touched.

But the kiwi is seen as a taonga or a national treasure to the people of New Zealand, who were left upset by the treatment of this male.

One expert told Radio New Zealand (RNZ) that kiwis should never be handled and people need to be extremely careful while touching their head and beak.

Kiwicoasts Ngaire Sullivan said: We would never be allowed to do that anywhere in New Zealand.

DOC guidelines state that kiwi must not be regularly taken out of their burrows.

In response to the backlash, Zoo Miami said it was profoundly sorry and has scrapped the weekly public encounters, effective immediately.

Goodwill ambassador Ron Magill told Newshubs AM Show on Tuesday: We were really not as sensitive as we should be to the fact that this bird is a symbol, its a national treasure.

There is no excuse.

I cannot tell you how painful it is for me to think that we have offended people, we have offended a nation, [through] something that we have done, certainly not intentionally, he added.

Mr Magill said Paora was the first kiwi hatched in the state of Florida in 2019 and the public had been able to touch and pet him since 2020.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Zoo Miami said concerns over Paroas treatment have been taken seriously.

The development of the Kiwi Encounter was, in hindsight, not well conceived with regard to the national symbolism of this iconic animal and what it represents to the people of New Zealand, especially the Maori.

Plans are presently underway to build a special habitat for him that will continue to provide him with the shelter that he needs while respecting and supporting his natural instincts. It will be developed in such a way that we can teach our guests about the amazing kiwi without any direct contact from the public.

Zoo Miami feels extremely privileged to be the first facility in the state of Florida to successfully hatch a kiwi as part of a partnership with the Smithsonian National Zoo.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told local reporters: I think the zoo has immediately taken steps to address concerns that were raised.

Thats all we can really ask of them.
P olice searching in and around a Portuguese reservoir in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are reportedly looking for scraps of her clothing.

Reports say officers have been instructed to search for pieces of the pink pyjamas the three-year-old was wearing on the night she went missing in 2007.

The fresh searches at the Barragem do Arade  around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing in the Algarves Praia da Luz resort  is allegedly linked to photographs of the reservoir found at the hideout of German man Christian Brueckner.

PA

A convicted child abuser and prime suspect in Madeleines disappearance, Brueckner reportedly spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017.

The 45-year-old is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve from where Madeleine went missing.

Investigators believe he killed Madeleine after abducting her from the Algarve holiday apartment at which she was staying with her family.

Police are combing the banks of the reservoir with the help of sniffer dogs, rakes and pickaxes.

Tuesday saw officers concentrate their search at one area of the reservoir. White tents were erected on a hill on the banks, while officers were seen removing a number of large bags from the zone.

PA

Uniformed and plain-clothed officers spent hours scouring the banks  hammering away at the ground with pickaxes and combing through small rocks with rakes and spades.

Further around the water, emergency services and officials from Portugal, Germany and the UK were seen holding briefings near blue police tents.

Emergency service divers were seen entering the water on a rigid-hull inflatable boat early on Tuesday morning.

A no-fly zone has been put in place over the water and media and other onlookers are being kept a mile back from the site of the search.

Portuguese police confirmed on Monday that they are co-ordinating searches in the Algarve at the request of German police and in the presence of British officers.

The Metropolitan Police said officers will be there in order to inform Madeleines family if there are any developments.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell said: The Met continues to work with and support colleagues in Portugal and Germany, with their investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

AFP via Getty Images

Met officers will be in Portugal and I am grateful to the Policia Judiciaria and Bundeskriminalamt for allowing us to be present whilst their work is ongoing, so that we can inform Madeleines family of any developments.

A brief statement from the prosecutors office in the German city of Braunschweig confirmed the search, but did not reveal why it was taking place.

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters told reporters that investigators were acting on the basis of certain tips but would not give further details.

Four teams of officers from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria are involved in the operation, along with at least 20 of their German counterparts, Portuguese news outlet SIC said.

It is not the first time the reservoir has been searched.

In 2008, Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to scour it after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleines body was there.

AFP via Getty Images

The most recent search in Portugal in relation to her disappearance took place nine years ago in 2014, when British police were given permission to examine scrubland near where she vanished.

Earlier this month, her parents Kate and Gerry McCann posted a short statement on their Find Madeleine Campaign website to mark the anniversary of her disappearance.

Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleines abduction, they wrote. Still missing still very much missed.

It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel.

The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough.

The search continues.
A fire in a school dormitory in Guyana that killed 19 children was lit by a student angry her mobile phone had been confiscated, police said today.

Nineteen people - mostly female students - were killed in the blaze in the South American country in the early hours of Monday.

The dorm was reportedly locked and had covered windows which trapped victims.

The teenage suspect, whose phone police said was taken away by school authorities, is currently in hospital with burns.

"A female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm's mother and a teacher," police said in a statement.

David Adams, the mayor of Mahdia, the town where the school is located, earlier confirmed the student's alleged involvement to Reuters and said she was not injured in the fire.

Some students told investigators they were awakened by screams and saw fire and smoke in the dorm's bathroom area, police said.

The government pathologist who conducted post-mortems on six bodies late on Monday listed their cause of death as smoke inhalation and burns, police added.

Thirteen sets of remains had been moved to the capital Georgetown for DNA identification. Nearly 30 other children were hospitalised.

Asked about allegations that the dormitory was not outfitted with a modern fire alarm system and that students were not trained in fire drills, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand told Reuters "all of that is under investigation and a report will be issued once that is done. What must come of this is improvement across the sector."

Burn specialists, psychiatrists and other medical staff were attending to injured children and their families, she added.

The youngest of the fatalities was the five-year-old son of the dormitory's caretaker. All other victims were girls, and included several siblings and at least one set of twins.

President Irfaan Ali met with some parents of the dead on Monday after visiting Mahdia's hospital, and declared three days of national mourning.
A Russian court has extended the detention of an American journalist arrested in March on espionage charges.

Wall Street Journal reporter and US citizen Evan Gershkovich was arrested by the FSB security service on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, accusing him of collecting secrets about Russias military industrial complex.

Both Mr Gershkovich and his employer deny the charges.

He was initially ordered held for two months, until May 29. But on Tuesday a court extended his pre-trial detention by three months until August 30, Russian state-run news agency RIA reported, citing the court.

US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller in a briefing said representatives from the US embassy in Moscow attended the hearing although they were unable to speak with the reporter.

A CNN reporter tweeted that Gershkovichs parents were at the Lefortovo court in Moscow for the hearing. Mr Miller said the State Department was aware that they visited Moscow, adding that the department did not help arrange their visit.

He shouldnt be detained at all, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on CNN. Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately.

US officials were pressing directly with Russia for consular access to Mr Gershkovich, Mr Kirby said.

There is no grounds for denying consular access, he said.

If Mr Gershkovich is convicted, the charges carry a possible 20-year prison sentence.

The Kremlin has said that Mr Gershkovich, the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, was caught red-handed but has provided no further details.

The Wall Street Journal repeated on Tuesday that accusations against him are demonstrably false.

While we expected there would be no change to Evans wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed... We continue to demand his immediate release, the newspaper said in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for additional comment.

Gershkovich is being detained at a time when relations between Washington and Moscow are at the lowest point since the Cold War due to Russias invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The United States has called him wrongfully detained, a term used by the State Department to deem the charges bogus and the arrest politically motivated.

Roger Carstens, the special US envoy for hostage affairs, has said the administration would do whatever it takes to repatriate Mr Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine who was convicted of spying charges in Russia in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in jail.

Mr Whelan, who had visited Russia previously and was working for a US-based international auto parts maker at the time of his arrest, has denied the charges.
R ussian private armyWagner lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, according to its leader.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about 20% of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the 15-month war died in the eastern Ukrainiancity.

The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it has lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89.

Ukraine has not said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

Prigozhin claimed to have captured Bakhmut on Saturday, but Kyiv says it still controls parts of the city.

The Ukrainian General Staff said on Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Newly released photos show devastation in Bakhmut | May 2023 1 / 8 Newly released photos show devastation in Bakhmut | May 2023 Armed Forces of Ukraine/AFP via Armed Forces of Ukraine/AFP via Armed Forces of Ukraine/AFP via Armed Forces of Ukraine/AFP via Armed Forces of Ukraine/AFP via Armed Forces of Ukraine/AFP via

Russia's invasion goal of "demilitarising" Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv's military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Mr Prigozhin said in an interview published late on Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Mr Prigozhin also said the Kremlin's forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Mr Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster - often spiced with obscenities - and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day.

He claimed the Russian Defence Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesday's interview it was possible that Kyiv's anticipated counter-offensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

"A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counter-attack," he said.

"They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war."

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last autumn and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyiv's forces "are continuing their defensive operation" in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified "successes" on the city's outskirts.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, / AP

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

"But now we don't need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it," Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should 'sweep' it. This is more appropriate, and that's what we are doing now."

Meanwhile, Russian forces have shot down "a large number" of drones in the southern Belgorod region, a local official has claimed.

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

He said that no one had been hurt but administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Russia said the previous day that its forces beat back one of war's most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defence Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in Belgorod that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that local troops, air strikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion that began on Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs.

Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spill-over violence from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
V ladimir Putins army chiefs will have to send more troops to shore up borders after anti-regime soldiers launched several attacks inside Russia, military experts said on Wednesday.

The deployments would be needed as Ukrainian generals seek to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps in the defences of Putins forces ahead of a major counter-offensive by Kyiv expected within weeks.

As well as part of efforts to battlefield shape, the attacks also deal a psychological blow to Putins military by rattling their soldiers, according to the analysts.

Though Kyiv has denied any role, the biggest cross-border raid from Ukraine since Russia invaded 15 months ago was almost certainly coordinated with Ukraines armed forces as it prepares to attempt to recapture territory, the experts added.

The Ukrainians are trying to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps. The Russians are forced to send reinforcements, said Neil Melvin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Ukraine says it plans to conduct a major counter-offensive to seize back occupied territory, but Russia has built sprawling fortifications in its neighbours east and south in readiness.

The incursions took place far from the epicentre of fighting in Ukraines eastern Donbas region and around 100 miles (160 km) from the front lines in the northern Kharkiv region.

Theyll have to respond to this and put troops there and then have lots of troops all along the border area, even though that may not be the way the Ukrainians are coming, Melvin said.

Russias military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked its western Belgorod region with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 Ukrainian nationalists and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

The rebel groups dispute that they have been defeated.

Kyiv has said the attack was carried out by Russian citizens, casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife.

Two groups operating in Ukraine - the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion - have claimed responsibility.

The groups were set up during Russias full-scale invasion and attracted Russian volunteer fighters wanting to fight against their own country alongside Ukraine and topple Putin.

Mark Galeotti, head of the London-based Mayak Intelligence consultancy and author of several books on the Russian military, said the two groups comprised anti-Kremlin Russians ranging from liberals and anarchists to neo-Nazis.

Theyre hoping that in some small way they can contribute to the downfall of the Putin regime. But at the same time, we have to realise that these are not independent forces ... They are controlled by Ukrainian military intelligence, he said.

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak repeated Kyivs position that it had nothing to do with the operation.

The United States says it does not enable or encourage Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, but that it is up to Kyiv to decide how it conducts military operations.

Several similar incursions into Russia have occurred in recent months, and although this weeks was the largest known so far, it is still tiny when compared to frontline battles.

Alexei Baranovsky, a spokesperson for the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion, said he could not disclose the number of troops involved in the operation, but that the legion had four battalions in total.

Baranovsky denied there had been heavy losses, and he dismissed Russian reports of large casualties as disinformation.

He said the unit was part of Ukraines International Legion and therefore part of its armed forces, but denied the incursion was coordinated with Ukrainian authorities.

These are the first steps in the main objective of overthrowing Putins regime through armed force. There are no other alternatives, he said.

Galeotti said the incursion looked like a Ukrainian battlefield shaping operation ahead of Kyivs planned counter-offensive.

This is really a chance to do two things. One is to rattle the Russians, make them worried about the possibility of risings amongst their own people. But secondly, force the Russians to disperse their troops, he said.

Melvin noted that the operation also served to boost morale in Ukraine.

Kyiv officials have mimicked the Kremlins rhetoric surrounding Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014 when it initially denied the troops involved were Russian.

Podolyak blamed the Belgorod incursion on underground guerrilla groups comprising Russian citizens and said: As you know, tanks are sold at any Russian military store.

The remark appeared to echo Putins response in 2014 when asked about the presence of men wearing Russian military uniforms without insignia in Crimea: You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform.

On social media, Ukrainians made reference to what they called the Belgorod Peoples Republic - a nod to events in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russia-backed militias declared peoples republics in Ukraines Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainians also circulated a video of President Volodymyr Zelensky delivering his famous I am here video address from Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion in February 2022. But instead of the presidential office in Kyiv, the background showed the welcome sign to the city of Belgorod.
Careers education left Abigail Obisesan with the impression that choosing anything other than a traditional degree would mean being broke and living off your parents.

At 16, we just did not get to explore the spectrum of things that you could do, she says. We werent exposed to things.

It was pure luck that the teenager heard about the London Screen Academy, a state sixth form in north London which trains young people for behind the camera roles in film and TV.After a course in film production, the 19-year-old is now working as a camera trainee on the hit BBC series Call the Midwife, as part of a Prime Video-funded training workshop.

Keira Todd had a similar experience. For her, careers education at school was no way enough and too focused on A-levels and going to university. At 17, Keira secured off her own bat an apprenticeship at the Allegis Group. There was no big exposure on apprenticeships at school, she says. Id assumed that they were about the trades, plumbing or construction or just really low paid jobs.

Abigail and Keiras perceptions of careers education are not unusual. According to Ranulf Kinlock Jones, a former teacher whose TikTok channel Beyond the Blackboard gives advice to young people taking their next steps at 16 and 18, many teenagers feel set adrift at crucial transition points.

Theres a lot of confusion out there and a lot of clarification needed, he says. Not many 16 year olds know what specific job they might want to do; pathways criss-cross and young people feel a bit at sea. What you end up doing is likely to be through a haphazard process.

Kinlock Jones is one of an array of experts speaking at the Evening Standards Step Up event on 30 June - 1 July at London Olympia. The UKs First Expo for Teens Education, Careers & Life Choices, it will help inform and inspire young Londoners - and their parents - to think about their futures and help them make their next move.

Specialist staff from a host of schools, sixth forms, further education colleges, universities, training and apprenticeship bodies, careers organisations and potential employers will be on hand to answer questions. Inspiring speakers and panellists will discuss the topics that are affecting young people right now, including mental health and wellbeing, careers in tech and how to make your university or job application stand out.

Clearing up the confusion: Ranulf Kinlock Jones is one expert on call at our event /

Careers advice and guidance is currently receiving high level attention; MPs on the education select committee and the Lords 11-16 education committee are both in the midst of inquiries covering the subject.

Dan Keller, CEO of Unifrog, the universal destinations platform for schools, is delighted to see the spotlight shone on this vital part of the curriculum.

At Unifrog, our mission has always been to make sure every student finds their best next step after school, he says. We believe good careers education is vital - for young people and society as whole. We make sure young people have impartial guidance on all the pathways.

Schools and colleges are working hard to fulfil a new duty to inform students about alternatives to academic study at 16 and 18. And as employers interest in school leavers grows, teenagers following in the footsteps of Abigail Obisesan and Keira Todd should benefit from a much fuller picture of the world of opportunities waiting for them.

The Evening Standard Step Up Expo takes place from 30 June 1 July 2023 at London Olympia - for more information and tickets click here
L ondon is a city replete with good sandwiches. One might have a decent one every day of the year. Even a simple bacon number in Cafe Verona, Moorgate, is worth eating, the meat crisp, grease settling nicely into sliced white.

There are the avant garde, too, and many have earned fame well beyond what some may come to expect of a sandwich shop. Below is a list of 12 fine places to find a great lunch. All manner of excellent fillings are slipped between baguettes, sourdough, pita breads and more.

Maxs Sandwich Shop

Ham, egg n chips / Maxs Sandwich Shop

Maxs Sandwich Shop in Crouch Hill has been afforded cult status for a while. It is not only owner Max Halleys inventive combinations that lure diners, but his zesty persona, charismatically centred on such things as ducks. Those fortunate enough to visit when Max is in town will be greeted happily by a sort of Willy Wonka of sandwiches before choosing from a precise but explosive menu. The must-try is the ham, egg n chips, where in thick white bread ham hock is accompanied by a fried egg, comforted by piccalilli and vinegar mayonnaise and plumped up with shoestring fries. Theres a reason supermarkets copy Max, a man who was most probably the first to use gravy mayo in a commercial capacity.

19 Crouch Hill, N4 4AU, maxssandwichshop.com

Miznon

Fluffy pitas / Miznon/Lachlan Falconer

Unless youve spent the last year lost at sea, youll be well aware of Miznon, the Tel Aviv-born restaurant group founded by a man obsessed with tomatoes. Owner Eyal Shani ensures pillowy (yes) pita breads are stuffed with all manner of fillings, each listed on a ridiculously worded menu written in Comic Sans. One dish is called Roasted cauliflowers inner parts, another is dubbed Deep satisfaction. In the latter, slow-cooked brisket, melted cheddar, pickled green chillies and ribbons of gherkin are draped lusciously in garlic sauce. The dish lives up to its name. A more classic falafel number is equally affirming, while the long, thick and juicy lamb pita is gratifying too.

8 Broadwick Street, W1F 8HW. For more information, visit miznon.co.uk

I Camisa

Italian design / Josh Barrie

Last year, celebrities and regulars clamoured to I Camisas defence after news broke that the near-hundred year-old Italian deli was to close. The shop, which in its original site on Berwick Street dates back to 1929, was saved, and its sandwiches  among countless other delights  given a new lease of life. One of the foremost pleasures is the blanket price of 5. It is perhaps impossible to find a more affordable lunch in Soho, at least one that uses such quality ingredients. At Camisa, choice is all  salumi, cheeses, and salads might be selected, slipped inside a chewy ciabatta and devoured before another Guinness at the myriad pubs nearby.

61 Old Compton Street, W1D 6HS, icamisa.co.uk

Banh Mi Aha

Banh mi, a French-Vietnamese fusion / Banh Mi Aha

A banh mi is one of the worlds great fusion foods, marrying Vietnamese freshness and flavour with French indulgence. At Banh Mi Aha, the go-to is simply called Aha!. In a soft baguette goes homemade pate, three types of spiced Vietnamese sausage, ham, and the much-loved Kewpie mayo. Topped with pickled carrots, daikon, spring onion and coriander, and here is a dish of canon, epitomising a sandwichs ability to be efficient. It is worth having a papaya salad on the side, and if the weather is warm, the shop makes for a perfect place to dine al fresco and watch the world go by.

39 Lambs Conduit Street, WC1N 3NG, banhmiaha.co.uk

Mondo

Mondo sandwiches / Mondo website

There are numerous places for remedial subs in London. Doms, in Hackney, is one. Another is Mondo, which operates out of the White Horse pub in Peckham. There, among the pints and the pool, is a menu inspired by the food in Hidetaka Miyazaki films, Redwall novels, and Beano comics. Options change regularly. Right now is a sausage sandwich elevated by gumbo mayo, a Cajun-style corn salad, cheese, butter lettuce  called shrettuce by the brand  and American mustard. Another combines pastrami with sausage-seasoned chickpeas, charred broccoli, fried onions and pickles. Order the house-made hot sauce for dipping and a portion of moo krob pork belly on the side.

20-22 Peckham Rye, SE15 4JR, whitehorsepeckham.co.uk/mondo-sando

Sons + Daughters

Sons + Daughters cut prices last year / Sons + Daughters

Another commonality in London today is the mortadella sandwich, constructed in numerous ways and paraded on social media. Hackney outpost Ombra, one of the citys best modern Italian restaurants, crafts them excellently, as does Sons + Daughters, which recently shifted from chunky sliced white to more affordable rolls, marginally reducing the size of its sandwiches but cutting the price in half in turn (from around 12 to 6.50). Sons + Daughters is a fine place to find an egg mayo sandwich, sprucing up the cress-studded classic with a miso element and truffle crisps. But by far the best is the mortadella, where the Bolognan staple is paired with taleggio, tomato relish  not too sweet  rocket, Thai basil, and a tempering cider vinaigrette.

Unit 119a Coal Drops Yard, N1C 4DQ, sonsanddaughterslondon.com

Beigel Bake

A legendary London location / Beigel Bake/Facebook

The best time to visit Beigel Bake is after the pub. There will be queues but theres something faintly thrilling about the wait. A camaraderie. Indeed its rare that queueing for food is worth it. At Beigel Bake, the salt beef that flies the flag, a New York-level bagel where the bread is chewy, the meat fall-apart tender, the soft mustard a guiding force. This is the messiest of food and all the better for it - a legendary shop and one of the few times the word institution might be bestowed properly.

159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB, bricklanebeigel.co.uk/london/beigel-bake

Dusty Knuckle

With exceptional sourdough / Dusty Knuckle website

Dusty Knuckle bread has become synonymous with Londons hip sourdough culture. That is a conversation best avoided. The point is, the bread is among Londons finest, and although there is argument to had that bacon sandwiches are most agreeable when made with sliced white, it would be foolish to ignore Dusty Knuckles version, where smoked back bacon is squeezed into traditional, flavourful sourdough and partnered with ketchup (correct) or brown sauce (the connoisseurs choice, and therefore wrong). Go with a friend, hungover, for breakfast, and share. Because there will also be an egg chilli cheese sandwich  fried egg, spring onions, pickled green chillis and coriander  in focaccia, which is stunning.

Abbot Street Car Park, E8 3DP, thedustyknuckle.com

Lisboeta

The bifana at Lisboeta / Lisboeta/Facebook

Over the last few years, it seems like almost everyones been hanging out in Portugal. Lisbon mostly. Its the way of things, and understandable given British proclivity to heartening, sloppy sandwiches. A bifana is one  strips of pork, marinated in white wine, garlic, paprika, doused in chilli sauce and mustard, all inside a bread roll. Those who arent able to make it over for whatever reason should head to Little Portugal in Stockwell and savour one of Londons coolest neighbourhoods. At Sintra Deli, the bifanas are well put together and accessible, and ideal with a Sagres or a Super Bock. Those seeking out the higher-end need not look beyond Lisboeta, Nuno Mendes lustrous shrine to the cooking of his hometown. There on the specials board is where customers might find a bifana.

30 Charlotte Street, W1T 2NG, lisboeta.co.uk

Panadera

One of the hottest tickets in town / Panadera website

If there is one sandwich that typifies Instagram in London, its the sando. Some of the best are dainty, like the wagyu one at Taka, Marylebone. Such juicy, juicy meat. But the first port of call must be the big-time creations at Panadera, Camden, a Filipino bakery from Florence Mae Maglanoc and Omar Shah. There is an egg sando of spectacular design, and another of American-style corned beef, which is made in house. First, brisket is brined for three days, then shredded, but loosely, so as to deliver a resourceful texture. The meat is then made into a croquette with potatoes and a rich bechamel sauce before the whole thing is fried, placed into Filipino milk bread  or pandesal  and jazzed up by lettuce and aioli.

83 Kentish Town Road, NW1 8NY, panaderabakery.com

Chets

An inventive club / Chets/Instagram

Apparently the club sandwich originated at Saratoga Club House in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the late 1800s. Early recipes are simple, with turkey or chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and lots of mayonnaise between three slices of white bread. Today, slices of egg make an occasional appearance, as does cheese from time to time; ham has been known to replace crisp bacon. Anyway, at Chets, the club sandwich is a canny take on the New York classic: fried chicken, bacon, papaya slaw, jalapenos and red cabbage are dressed in ranch. It comes with a great number of French fries, as a club sandwich must. Crisps? No.

65 Shepherds Bush Green, W12 8QE, chetsrestaurant.co.uk

Amols

Classic Indian street food / Amols/UberEats

The vada pav, where a deep-fried potato dumpling sits on chutney and green chilli and served in a burger bun, has not yet fully made it into central Londons food hype arena, instead mostly cavorting around the periphery. Still, this is Indian street food (more specifically, Mumbai and wider Maharashtra) at its best  vegetarian, cheap, and filling. One prime location that serves classic vada pav is Amols near Alperton station in northwest London. Some recommend adding cheese. More central is Curry On NaanStop, a food stand with sites in Seven Dials, and a delivery site in Herne Hill. Of course, the vada pav has been enjoyed by communities across London for decades. It would be fun to see it get a little more mainstream limelight.

181 Ealing Road, HA0 4LW, amolsvadapav.com
A Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on charges of rape and sexual coercion, finding no evidence against the former Oxford University professor.

The academic was also awarded around 151,000 Swiss francs ($167,000) in compensation from the Swiss canton of Geneva over the case.

After the verdict was read in the Geneva Criminal Court, the 60-year-old Swiss preacher smiled and was hugged by one of his daughters.

Ramadan's 57-year-old accuser, identified under the assumed name of "Brigitte", left the courtroom before the end of the verdict.

Her lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the ruling.

Prosecutors had last week called for a three-year sentence against Ramadan. The case was the first time he has been tried for rape, although he risks facing a trial in France on similar charges.

The Swiss trial presented two diametrically opposed versions of what happened in a Geneva hotel room in October 2008.

The lawyer representing Brigitte, a convert to Islam, said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to "torture and barbarism".

Ramadan, a charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, rejected the charges, insisting there was no sexual activity between him and Brigitte, and saying he was the victim of a "trap".

Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault in 2008. She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed in France.

Both parties agreed that Ramadan and Brigitte spent the night together in the hotel room, which she left early the following morning.

Ramadan insisted that Brigitte invited herself up to his room, before quickly ending the encounter.

The indictment accused Ramadan of sexual coercion and of committing rape three times during the night.

During the trial, the defence insisted on Ramadan's innocence and stressed there was no scientific evidence in the case.

His lawyers also accused Brigitte and the women who have brought charges against him in France of forging links to bring down the Islamic scholar, citing "Ramadanphobia".

During his final statements in court last week, Ramadan asked not to be tried on his "real or supposed ideology" and urged the judges not to be "influenced by the media and political noise".

"Forget I'm Tariq Ramadan!" he said.

Controversial among secularists who see him as a supporter of political Islam, Ramadan obtained a doctorate from the University of Geneva, with a thesis focused on his grandfather, who founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford until November 2017 and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take a leave of absence when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the "Me Too" movement, over suspected attacks between 2009 and 2016.

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A weekend (or longer if you can spare the annual leave days) spent in a field, listening to great music with your best mates, trying not to let a cold pint trickle down your fingers - what could be better?

Up and down the country, festival goers are preparing for some of the summers greatest parties, from Glastonbury, Bestival, Leeds or Reading, or smaller affairs like Noisily in Leciestershire, theres one thing youll need above all else: a lightweight but robust festival tent.

Because even if youre not planning on doing much sleeping, youll need somewhere to put your stuff.

How to shop for the perfect festival tent

If youve never shopped for a tent before, much less one for a festival, there are a couple of crucial things to remember.

Size is key: for one, whatever number of people the tent claims it can fit - halve it immediately. The figure never seems to take into account bulky bags, sleeping bags or having any room at all aside from lying completely still, side-by-side, like sardines wedged inside a tin.

Weight matters too: whether youre planning to drive or get public transport, youre going to have to carry everything yourself to the best pitch you can find. While your chosen tent may not feel so heavy on its own, once you factor in a full backpack, camping chair, and various totes carrying wellies, food and cans of drink, youll soon feel every kilo.

Of course, you can split the burden if youre planning on sharing, but a bigger tent naturally will mean more weight.

Weve rounded up the best festival tent options below to help you choose.

Leave no trace

But before we get into the in-tents world of festival camping, a quick note on responsibility. According to the Association of Independent Festivals, some 250,000 tents are left abandoned at the end of British music festival every year. Although organisers employ teams to collect them and theyre recycled where possible, thats a hell of a lot of unnecessary waste, not to mention money squandered.

Tents are a great investment and with care will serve you a good few festival-filled summers. With landfills at tipping point and avoiding single use plastic high on everyones agenda, do yourself and the planet a favour, and stick by the age-old festival motto: leave no trace.

See our selection below

NEMO Equipment Dagger Ridge Porch 2 Tent NEMO One of the best tents weve pitched, the size and dimensions of this ultra-compact and super lightweight tent will have you worried when you take it out of the delivery box. Its twice as tall and wide as a pint glass (the only instrument we had to hand) - 53 x 17cm packed. But have faith, and you shall be rewarded; it opens into a tent with an entryway so generous that we, at 56 tall, were able to stand up straight. Quite remarkable when you consider it weighs just 2.44kg packed. Unusually, the inner sleeping compartment needs to be built first; its held up using intuitive multi-bar colour-coded poles that slot into each corner of the compartment with minimal grunting on your part. Once thats been pegged down, slip the 15D ripstop nylon flysheet over the top, attach one more pole to the top of the porch, et voila! An unbelievably spacious tent thats big enough for two, but comfier with just one sleeper. Cons are few and far between, but one clanger is the lack of groundsheet in the living area - still, its absence is one of the reasons why this NEMO tent is so light and packs down so small. Take a spare groundsheet or piece of tarp if you dont want to roll out of your sleeping bag straight into grass, but if it rains, you may be better off without. Given its size, double entry doors, and abundance of helpful pockets for lights and essentials, this is an incredibly well-designed tent for all uses, in almost all seasons barring the coldest of winters. We tested it during 40mph winds and hard rain, and it held its own against the elements triumphantly. Its pricey but if you camp often, its a winner. For a weekend break, the NEMO Dagger Ridge Porch tent left us one happy camper. Buy now  400 , Snow+Rock {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Vango Omega 250 tent Vango Weighing a sprightly 4.15kg, the 2018 Omega 250 basecamp tent may be designed for expeditions but it serves perfectly well as your festival HQ too. Average pitch time is just 12 minutes, and for once the listing as a two-man lives up to the hype - thanks to the compartment design. The zipped sleeping compartment is separated from the large living area giving you dedicated spaces to sleep and change clothes so you always look your festival best. Its a necessary addition if you want to keep the mess to a minimum and sleep in a mud-free zone. Buy now  228 , Cotswold Outdoor {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Vango Galaxy 300 Vango It takes just 18min to pitch this "three-man" tent, and you can actually house that quantity of people inside. The tunnel design's spacious outer chamber means you could indeed fit snuggle up with two friends in the 210 x 180cm sleeping compartment. Breathable yet 100 per cent waterproof, it weighs 5.55kg and packs down to 55 x 22cm, which feels remarkably small when you realise how spacious it is once fully set up. A good choice for all sorts of outdoor activities, the ability to stand up at the entryway makes it a winner for us. We also liked the thoughtful cable entry point, which allows you to charge your phone and devices from outside the sleeping compartment. Buy now  380 , Vango {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Decathlon 2 Person Blackout Pop-Up Tent Decathlon Best for: easy set up and take down Pop up tents seem like a good idea at the time - practically set up in two seconds flat, whats not to like? Well, well tell you. The pack up can be like wrestling with a demon made of tarpaulin or requiring a masters degree in origami. No such trouble with Decathlons time-saving design, which promises easy dismantling as well as construction. Its an eco-design too, thanks to the greige and rope dyeing processes (leaving them in their raw state sidestepping the need for harmful chemicals). A handy thing to have in the cupboard for hiking and fishing trips as well as weekends away, the single internal chamber has space for two but we think itll be more comfortable for one sleeper - and it should be easy to carry solo at 4.7kg. Best of all, if youre trying to get a few hours kip between bands, the blackout fabric means you can expect 99 per cent darkness inside, even in broad daylight. Buy now  129.99 , Decathlon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Eurohike Teepee Tent Eurohike Dont underestimate the glorious ability to stand upright in your tent: weve been bent double trying to change in our fair share of tents over the years to know that this feature is priceless. Teepee-style tents, while offering plenty of glamping vibes, are notorious for their weight - which is why this one, at just 4.7kg, is such a find. Why so light? Its down to the single support pole and light fabrics rather than heavy canvas as seen on other tepee tents. Ideal for a couple or a pair of friends, you should have no trouble splitting the weight until you find the perfect festival pitch. Its an old school tent with plenty of modern features: waterproof fly and groundsheets and a hydrostatic head to keep the elements from your living quarters. Buy now  105 , Blacks {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Regatta Malawi 2 Pop-Up Tent Regatta Best for: lightweight option This 2.5kg is an attractive proposition for first-time festival-goers; but make sure you watch the instructional video in our intro showing you how to fold it away after use. The design is kept lightweight thanks to a single skin and fibreglass poles. While this style of tent claims to sleep two people, from experience, we say its more of a single-berth situation - especially when you factor in clothes, shoes, wellies and your other festival bits. The single-skin means this is an option best kept for warmer weather only. There are internal pockets to help you organise essentials like your toothbrush, wallet and contact lens kit, and plenty of mesh panels to allow air to circulate without letting rain in. Hydrafort fabric on the flysheet acts as a further shield to stormy skies. It packs down to 75 x 10cm. Buy now  69.99 , Very {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Coleman Unisex Adult, Darwin 2 Tent Coleman Weight: 2.8kg Packed dimensions: 46 x 15.5 x 15.5cm If youre looking for a roof over your head for just a few days, Colemans Darwin tent is an attractive option - thanks mostly to the fact that, when packed, it weighs just 2.8kg and measures 46 x 15.5 x 15.5cm, only slightly bigger than a 10-inch iPad. Once constructed though, the spacious interior has enough room to insert a double airbed. It has plenty of other magic tricks up its sleeve, from a roomy porch area to store your stuff and shoes, as well as a place to sit and relax before you head out to the festival. Pitch time, its not as fast as a pop-up tent but its still fairly quick, using a ring and pin pole attachment to get the extended dome structure up and ready to party. Buy now  94.92 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Clostnature Waterproof Camping Tent Clostnature Weight: 2.72kg Packed dimensions: 40 x 17 x 17cm To claim this tent can sleep six is a stretch of the imagination, unless youre counting your childhood set of Sylvanian Families. It does, however, offer plenty of space for two but with no outside area of porch, youll have to pack light or store your stuff elsewhere to be comfortable inside. That said, it has lots going for it, from the fast set-up time of 10min (even on your own) and just 2.72kg in packed weight. Its also waterproof and has factory-sealed seams to protect against the infamous British weather. The inner tent is the star of the show here, with a shorter second layer, the flysheet, protecting the mesh panels from the elements. Also available in forest green. Buy now  49.99 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Easy Camp Moonlight Yurt - 6 Person Easy Camp Sure, a yurt may seem a little OTT for the festival experience, but this one can comfortably sleep at least four, including luggage so if youre only going with a few pals and want to cut down on bags - this may be a worthy option for you. Its heavier than the other options on our list (10.6kg), but thats pretty much the only drawback. Pros include a hydrostatic head, waterproof to 3000mm, 220cm of full head height and plenty of mesh inserts to keep airflow at a pleasing level. It packs down to 69 x 21cm and comes with a 100 per cent polyethylene groundsheet to protect against the damp ground if its been raining before your arrival. Buy now  225 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Naturehike Mongar Ultralight 20D Silicone Backpacking Tent Naturehike In a world where all tents seem to be a variation of green or blue, opt for something that stands out - if only to help you spot your temporary home in the festivals sprawling tent city. Available in a vibrant violet hue (although white and two shades of green are also available), this lightweight tent is low and wide, offering enough space for one to sleep or sit cross legged inside with a max height of 100cm. Its dinky at just 1.8kg and the flysheet offers great wraparound, keeping your inner tent protected from the weather, whatever the conditions are like outside. Buy now  139 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}}
S trictly Come Dancing professional dancer Amy Dowden has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Caerphilly-born Dowden, who joined the BBC dance competition show in 2017, shared the news on Instagram, telling fans that she is determined to return to the dance floor as soon as she can.

The 32-year-old wrote: Hey all, Ive got some news which isnt easy to share.

Ive recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but Im determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it.

Dowden added a pink love heart, signing off with Welsh love Amy with a kiss.

She said she found a lump in her breast in April, the day before going to the Maldives on her honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones, and hopes to raise awareness of the disease.

Dowden said after realising the lump had grown after her holiday, she went to the GP before being sent for an emergency referral.

She told Hello magazine: Everything happened so fast within that day. I went on my own and didnt tell anybody, but when I was there, the nurse said to me You need to have somebody here and thats when Ben found out.

They told me it was looking very suspicious and to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They did the biopsy and then we had a wait.

Last week Dowden was told she had grade three breast cancer.

She said: My doctor explained to me that there are three grades, and three is the most aggressive, but they feel like theyve caught mine early and to not be too alarmed because grade 3 would be expected in somebody of my age.

It comes after she revealed she was suffering from Crohns disease in 2019, in a bid to help other sufferers.

She said: With what Ive done for Crohns, I want to do the same here. If I can try and turn this negative into a positive, its going to help me get through this.

You just dont ever think its going to happen to you. I hadnt thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age.

My mum has had breast cancer, but she had it at a later age, in her 50s.

The Welsh dancer said her former Strictly dance partner and member of British boyband McFly Tom Fletcher, and his wife Giovanna offered her support after discovering the news.

She said: Tom and Giovanna got straight in the car and came to see me when I told them the news, and we went for a walk.

Giovannas encouragement has been central to my decision to share my story in the hopes of helping others.

Dowden married Jones in a star-studded Welsh ceremony last July, after becoming engaged on New Years Eve in 2017.

The occasion featured a performance by Fletcher and an array of Strictly stars were in attendance, including fellow professional Dianne Buswell, who served as bridesmaid.

Sharing messages of support on social media, Buswell said on hearing the news: Our Welsh dragon is going to fight this !!!! and I can not wait for the moment you are back on that dance floor with us. We love you so much Amy.

Meanwhile other Strictly stars including Johannes Radebe, Karen Hauer, Gorka Marquez and Nadiya Bychkova also sent their well-wishes.

Strictly judge Shirley Ballas said: My precious girl. Nanny and I are thinking about you at this time. You are a strong example to so many of resilience which Ive witnessed first hand.

A beautiful kind and funny young lady who will face things head on. You are sooo loved. Ill see you soon my darling friend hugs and lots of warm cuddles.

Fellow judge Motsi Mabuse also said: We love you amy, sending all my love and will definitely keep you in my prayers.

While former Strictly professional dancer and two-time winner Oti Mabuse said: Sending you love and power and all the strength  youre such an incredible woman, love you Amy! Take care of yourself.
L ove Island winner Ekin-Su Culculoglu has said she has lost almost every friend she had before she went on the show and has found it hard to trust people.

The star, 28, won the ITV2 show alongside partner Davide Sanclimenti in 2022 and the couple were popular in the polls, winning 63.7% of the public vote.

In spite of this, Culculoglu said she does not have a lot of friends, telling Cosmopolitan UK: Ive lost every friend I had.

I dont have any friends. I have one friend and thats it.

Unfortunately, with the fame, you see peoples true colours.

People just want to be your friend because of your status, and its a hard industry to trust.

No, I dont actually have friends left.

People Id known for 10 years who were in my life Selling stories is not very nice. I wouldnt do that to someone.

Ekin-Su Culculoglu - In pictures 1 / 28 Ekin-Su Culculoglu - In pictures ITV Matt Frost/ITV/Shutterstock Ekin-Su Culculoglu/Instagram Ekin-Su Culculoglu/Instagram ITV Ekin-Su Culculoglu/Instagram ekinsu310822.jpg Ekin-Su Culculoglu/Instagram Ekin-Su Culculoglu /Instagram ITV ITV PA ITV ITV ITV ITV PA Wire ITV ITV PA PA ITV

If they were happy, I would support them.

Unfortunately, I had that coming out of the villa, I had to delete people out of my life.

But I am happier this way.

Sometimes keeping your circle small is the best, and you dont always need friends.

So long as you know who you are, thats fine.

Culculoglu also revealed she struggled with her mental health while competing on Dancing On Ice earlier this year, but had to pretend everything was fine.

She said she found work commitments mentally draining and needed to take some time out for herself by going to the Maldives with partner Sanclimenti, where she could forget about the stuff online.

She told the magazine: There have been things in my life that I cant mention now that have affected my mental health for a while.

I had to keep smiling and pretend everything was fine.

This was during Dancing On Ice when there were things in the background  not relationship related, by the way  (they were) work related that was very hard.

I couldnt say anything. It was mentally draining. That was one of the tough times.

It took me a while to get back out of it Your mental health is your priority.

After my trip to the Maldives with Davide, we turned off our phones, we didnt check the internet.

He was helping me forget things (and) the stuff online.

Culculoglu was the third celebrity eliminated from Dancing On Ice 2023, and had said she pulled a muscle on her left leg shortly before the week she had to skate for her survival.

You can read the full interview with Culculoglu on the Cosmopolitan website.
T he Government will warn parents against allowing children to use Meta apps Facebook and Instagram if the company introduces encrypted messages.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat has urged Meta to avoid a significant risk to child safety by introducing safety measures before extending end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct later this year.

In a speech to the Policing Institute for the Eastern Regions annual conference on Tuesday, Mr Tugendhat said: Meta will no longer be able to spot grooming  on their platforms, leaving tens of thousands of children in the UK, and around the world, beyond our help and in danger of exploitation.

So what is encryption and why is the security minister concerned?

What is end-to-end encryption?

Encryption is a security feature that protects users privacy by allowing only the people in the conversation to access their messages.

Encryption scrambles data into a code that can only be unscrambled by people who have the decryption key. It takes plain text and scrambles it into cipher text, which can only be translated back into the original plain text when it reaches the desired recipient.

It is already used in Metas WhatsApp messaging service, which requires users to have each others phone numbers before messaging.

Why is the Government concerned about encryption?

There are concerns that introducing encryption to Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct would prevent police and Meta from identifying child abuse.

The security minister said that Facebook and Instagram currently account for more than 80 per cent of global referrals of suspected child abuse to the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

He said this means that 20 million cases could go unreported due to encryption.

Its not acceptable for tech executives to make vast profits from their youngest users, only to pass the buck when it comes to protecting them from the dangers on their own platform, Mr Tugendhat said. Faced with an epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse Meta have decided to turn a blind eye, and are choosing to allow predators to operate with impunity.

The Times reported that should Meta go ahead with encryption, the Government will issue adverts warning parents that the apps will be unsafe for their children to use.

What is the Government doing about encryption?

The Governments proposed Online Safety Bill has been criticised by tech companies, which said it could undermine encryption.

WhatsApp was among the messaging platforms that signed a letter calling on the Government to urgently rethink the proposed bill.

The co-founder and chief executive of Element, Matt Hodgson, said: (The Online Safety Bill) is outright dangerous. Its the cyber equivalent of Britain decommissioning its nuclear deterrent.

However, the Government reportedly responded by saying: The Online Safety Bill in no way represents a ban on end-to-end encryption, nor will it require services to weaken encryption.
F acebook owner Meta is to make approximately 490 full-time employees redundant across its Irish operations.

The roles are being cut from a number of teams including finance, sales, marketing, analytics, operations and engineering.

Employees at Meta Ireland were notified on Wednesday they were potentially impacted by a global restructuring which was announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year.

In March, Meta revealed it plans to cut about 10,000 jobs globally, just four months after it axed 11,000 workers.

The company said it will comply with Irish legal requirements in relation to redundancy timelines and processes.

Meta, which is also the parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, said the decision does not impact its commitment to Ireland, adding it will continue to be the international headquarters and base for several important company functions.

The final number of redundancies will be determined by a collective consultation processes.

There's actually more people working in that sector than there was this time last year.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said his thoughts are with the affected staff and their families.

I want to assure them that well engage with the company to make sure that theyre given a decent severance package or redundancy package which wed expect all employers to do.

However, he said while there are job losses across the tech sector, there are lots of job opportunities too.

Theres actually more people working in that sector than there was this time last year, he said.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said the announcement of any job losses is a concern and deeply regrettable but added that the sector appears to have grown in recent months.

When I look at it in the round, and I look at the results of the labour force survey published this morning just in the past few minutes, it does show quarter on quarter, the number of people working in ICT and the tech sector in Ireland has grown by about 4,500.

So we have a sector now that is considerably bigger than it was pre-pandemic, so thats good news.

But obviously there have been announcements in recent months, some of them have yet to take effect, so those numbers may not yet be reflected in the official statistics but we are also seeing jobs being created in the tech sector.

He said Government is working with individual companies and keeping the issue under review.

Mr McGrath said the support will be there to provide help to people losing jobs but added that many of them could find alternative employment very quickly.

It does come at a time when the labour market is really tight.

He added that the skills and experiences that many of those in the tech sector who have lost their jobs have are highly valued and highly sought after.
N ow that Netflix has begun clamping down on password sharing in the UK , it may be time to familiarise yourself with the companys revised policy.

Under the new regime, Netflix will restrict viewership of its programming to people living in the same household. Customers signed up to Netflixs Standard or Premium plans  which cost 11 and 16 respectively in the UK  can pay 5 per month to give additional viewers access to their account.

Netflix started enforcing the rules in the UK on May 23 after gradually implementing them in other markets, including Latin America, Spain and Canada, in 2022. The clampdown on password sharing marks a U-turn for the company that turned a blind eye to the practice for years amid a rise in viewers.

How does Netflixs password-sharing clampdown work?

As part of the new rules, you are allowed to stream Netflix from only one location. While it is flexible enough to let you use your account in a hotel while on holiday, or on the go through your phone, extended use in homes other than your own will be blocked.

Nevertheless, if you want to keep sharing your account, you can add an extra member by paying a monthly fee of 5 on top of your subscription. Standard members can add up to one extra person to their account who resides in the same country, while Premium members can add two people.

Although this costs less than paying for a new ad-free Netflix plan, the cheapest of which costs 7 per month, it does have its setbacks compared with some of the other subscriptions.

Chiefly, extra members can stream and download on only one device at a time, instead of multiple devices on the Standard and Premium tiers. Although you can transfer existing profiles when you create an extra member slot, you can not set up a kid's profile on these additional accounts.

What is a Netflix household?

Netflix households form the crux of the new policy.

To catch rule-breakers, Netflix is essentially counting the internet-connected devices you use to view Netflix at your main address. This includes virtually any device with a screen that can play Netflix, including TVs, phones, tablets, laptops, and computers.

Netflix says it uses information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether the people watching are part of your household.

Netflix says it will automatically confirm your household unless you choose to do so manually. If you want to set up a household, you can do so through the Netflix help menu on your TV. Netflix will then send you an email or text for verification.

If you dont watch Netflix on a TV, the company says you dont need to set up a household.

How many people share Netflix passwords?

Netflix said in 2022 that more than 100 million households worldwide used the video-streaming service without paying, by using a shared account.

Tackling password sharing is Netflixs strategy to reinvigorate the services growth. This was fantastic at the start of the Covid pandemic, but has all but flatlined. Analysts from Ampere Analysis have predicted Netflix would lose 200,000 UK subscribers in 2023.

Netflix addressed this slowed growth in a letter to its shareholders early in 2022. Account sharing as a percentage of our paying membership hasnt changed much over the years but, coupled with [slow broadband and connected TV adoption], means its harder to grow membership in many markets  an issue that was obscured by our Covid growth, the letter said.
H ere is a very Labour conundrum. Two-thirds of respondents, according to the latest Ipsos poll, think it is more likely that a centre-Left Opposition will be in Downing Street after the next election than the Tories. The requirement is then to behave more like a government-in-waiting, which means not only doing heart-stringy interviews on how you grew up suffering from decades of Conservative rule.

In the case of Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, you then do something oddly rare for a party which claims to like the EU but hardly ever goes there and wants to sell Britain in the world but seldom leaves SW1 either. Reeves embarked on a fact-finding (aka contact-making) trip to the US, leaving in her wake a a soulful message behind about economic dignity.

Students of irony will guess what transpired. Discovered by this papers Diary (and then everyone else) to have travelled Club World to New York on BA, which in normal-speak is Business Class and can cost up to 4,000 for a return ticket for a lie-back seat and an edible meal, Labour comms then get the response all wrong. Reeves deleted the tweet (which is already a matter of record, so that was a waste of time and deletions make matters worse). Busy bodies asked who paid for the flight, to which the answer is a donor whose identity is not revealed but will in the fullness of time  in which case, reasonable folk will ask, Why not now?

What a palaver. The net effect is jejune, ham-fisted and, worst of all, guilty where no actual guilt had been incurred.

And all for what? Because an aspiring chancellor, who has a good shot at running the economy within a year and a half, got into a tizz about a lie-back seat on BA and did not have the confidence to make sure her team respond that it is absolutely fine for people in very senior and demanding jobs to have a proper sleep and one of those dinky meals before arriving for a full schedule of work in one of the most powerful cities on earth.

Worse, Reeves knows from her time in an economic brief in the British Embassy that the US is where the big global trade decisions get made. In other words, just own it.

I know the turn left option these days on a decent carrier costs an arm and a leg. I say this having suffered row 29C on a British Airways flight from Rome this week which delivered me 21 hours late to Heathrow and whose customer services operation is now so meagre that even reaching it to vent ones fury is a major enterprise.

This is pretty grim for an airline which is akin to being the national carrier and certainly a major British brand globally, for all its flaws. But even in my advanced state of BA ire, I dont expect the shadow chancellor to have to fly in a part of the plane where they run out of water and are served with a dolls size nasty pretzel. Thats my job.

What is sauce for the goose, however, must be a mini-tray sauce for the gander. If we want our politicians to focus on the job, hounding them about how they handle speed-awareness courses (see Suella Bravermans ongoing mini-series) and airline seat envy is a road to nowhere.

It is, in the French Revolution analogy, the gap between Danton, who wants to tear down autocracy and still have some joie de vivre, and Robespierre, who is all about the rules and the punishments. In our own reactive times, we can reinvent this prurience at scale.Labour needs to learn a lesson from this saga of putting one of its most prominent figures in row 4. If it really is the government-in-waiting, it will have to lose the hair shirt  because being in power, even if responsibly held, means shedding some aspects of an existence which is just like everyone elses.

The MPs expenses scandal in many ways was a turning point which demanded accountability from a group of people who had set their own terms. Its backwash, however, was a public mood in which any professional leeway has become an unfair target. Because Labour has been on the outside looking in and the Conservatives have been cast as spendthrift offenders, the Opposition has forgotten that this stentorian mood can swiftly turn on it too.

The closer it gets to power, the more Labour will be reminded of a fundamental truth of politics  throwing stones is a lot easier than living in a glass house.

Anne McElvoy is Executive Editor at Politico
M ore than thirty years ago, Sir Tim Berners-Lee revolutionised life as we know it by changing the way we communicate and consume information.

On March 12, 1989, the London-born computer scientist submitted a proposal for an information management system to help his colleagues at CERN share information amongst themselves.

Impressed by the proposal, Sir Tim's boss allowed him time to work on the idea and by 1991 the World Wide Web was up and running.

Today, there are nearly two billion websites online and it is hard to imagine life without the web. This is all thanks to the genius of Sir Tim.

Today, youll often find him on a mission to save the world wide web from the power of new technologies and their creators.

Speaking at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon last year, he said: Some people thought that tech people would save the world then. Now, were in a situation where there are a lot of things wrong with the Web.

His solution is a mid-course correction to take it back, which he calls Web 3.0.

In addition, Sir Tim has spoken out about the dangers of cryptocurrency, calling it a form of gambling which people get a kick out of.

Its only speculative. Obviously, thats really dangerous, he told CNBCs Beyond The Valley podcast.

Investing in certain things which are purely speculative isnt where I want to spend my time.

Sir Tim is also set to be one of the speakers explaining How Web 3.0 Technology and Data Policy Combine to Promote Data Sovereignty, Privacy, and Trust. The event will be hosted by the Data Science Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science on Thursday, May 25.

Here's everything you need to know about Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Who is Sir Tim Berners-Lee?

Warning: Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said the impact of fake news is increasingly concerning / PA

Born in London on June 8, 1955, Sir Tim's parents worked on the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially built computer, and he went on to study physics at the University of Oxford between 1973 and 1976.

After working for companies in Dorset, in 1980 he found work as an independent contractor at CERN in Geneva, where he first proposed a project based on the concept of hypertext.

He returned to Dorset at the end of 1980 before rejoining CERN as a fellow in 1984.

It was at CERN, in 1989, where he first proposed his "big idea to create a common language that would open hyperlinks between all the various networks and by the early 1990s had created the World Wide Web.

The first ever website and web server, info.cern.ch, was put online on August 6, 1991, and the first webpage address was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.

He created the World Wide Web Consortium in 1994 and Sir Tim decided to make the Web available for free.

Since his landmark creation, Sir Tim worked with the Government to make data more accessible and open, and also launched the World Wide Web Foundation in 2009.

Sir Tim also co-founded the Open Data Institute, is working with the Alliance for Affordable Internet to get more people around the world online and is the project lead for the web decentralisation project Solid.

When did Tim Berners-Lee invent the World Wide Web?

Famous Retro Websites - In pictures 1 / 16 Famous Retro Websites - In pictures Ask Jeeves Friends Reunited Yahoo Facebook Myspace Google lastminute.com Microsoft Match.com Napster MSN Play.com

His initial proposal, to create a system to allow CERN colleagues to share information, was submitted in 1989 after he reportedly grew frustrated at having to log onto different computers to gain access to information.

It took another few years of work on the project before the first page was put online, but by the end of 1991, info.cern.ch was launched.

The World Wide Web software was put into public domain in 1993 and it was later made available with an open licence, making it free for everyone.

How much is Tim Berners-Lee worth?

Reports about Sir Tim's wealth vary wildly, but it's safe to say he isn't poor.

The Wealth Record has his net worth at $60 million - or more than 45.5 million.

According to The Richest, his personal wealth is valued at $50 million while Celebrity Net Worth reckon he is worth $10 million.

How does Sir Tim feel about the World Wide Web now?

Sir Tim is a vocal supporter of the concept of net neutrality and of free Internet.

He previously told the Standard that he feels the concept of a free Internet is threatened by big companies.

"I used to say it was either government controlling the Internet, in countries like China, or big companies controlling the Internet, in countries like America," he said at the time.

"It actually turns out to be more subtle than that. In America, the big companies fund congressmen and election campaigns. Theres a popular bumper sticker in Washington, Invest in America, buy a Congressman. So you could say big companies control the government anyway. The biggest threat is for any large powerful force to take over the Internet."

One of his ideas is a decentralised Internet  a hive network where no one has overall control and believes monopolies are dangerous. He is also wary of the amount of private data and information people share online, and how the Web has been abused by companies.

He has also said the impact of fake news is increasingly concerning and has unveiled plans to tackle "unethical" political advertising and the harvesting of data.

Best Tim Berners-Lee quotes

There are people working in the lab trying to imagine how the Web could be different. How society on the Web could look different. What could happen if we give people privacy and we give people control of their data? We are building a whole ecosystem.  Interview with Vanity Fair

Data is a precious thing and will last longer than the systems themselves.  A Framework for Web Science

"The Web was not a physical 'thing' that existed in a certain 'place'. It was a 'space' in which information could exist.

"The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information.

"The fact that we're all connected, the fact that we've got this information space  does change the parameters. It changes the way people live and work. It changes things for good and for bad. But I think, in general, it's clear that most bad things come from misunderstanding, and communication is generally the way to resolve misunderstandings  and the Web's a form of communications  so it generally should be good We need to look at the whole society and think, "Are we actually thinking about what we're doing as we go forward, and are we preserving the really important values that we have in society? Are we keeping it democratic, and open, and so on?"  Interview with developerWorks

"When I invented the web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going to end in the USA.  Democracy depends on freedom of speech." - Berners-Lee T., Net Neutrality: This is Serious

We demonstrated that the Web had failed instead of served humanity, as it was supposed to have done, and failed in many places  Interview with Vanity Fair

The biggest threat is for any large powerful force to take over the Internet. Evening Standard

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.  W3.org
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the efforts of the 6 + 6 Joint Committee to start preparing election laws for the countrys long-awaited parliamentary and presidential polls.

Egypt looks forward to the continuing of the efforts of the 6 + 6 Joint Committee, which was formed by the House of Representatives, the High Council of State, to prepare the legislative framework for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible in a way that allows the Libyan people to achieve their aspirations and build their future, read a statement released on Wednesday by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

On Tuesday, the Libyan House of Representatives and the High Council of State reached an agreement to start finalizing election laws to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, which had been postponed more than once in the last five years.

The 12-member 6+6 Committee was formed in March, comprising an equal number of representaives from parliament and high council of state, with the task of formulating legislation to regulate elections in the country.

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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.

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St. Catharines Legion Branch 24 will be holding its annual Armed Forces/Decoration Day ceremony at Victoria Lawn Cemetery on June 4. In the photo is Barbara Earle, secretary and public relations officer.



Military personnel past and present will be honoured June 4 at Victoria Lawn Cemetery.

Continuing a long-standing tradition, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 24 will once again be inviting the public to take part in its Armed Forces/Decoration Day ceremony at the Queenston Street cemetery. The branch will hold a short parade service and laying of wreaths.

Every day they sacrifice in big and small ways to keep Canada and Canadians safe, said Barbara Earle, secretary and public relations officer for Branch 24.

We express our gratitude and appreciate their valour, bravery, dedication and commitment.

The ceremony takes place at the legion cenotaph on the west gate at 1:15 p.m. It will be contained within the cemetery grounds and conclude with the laying of the wreaths at 1:30 p.m. A reception hosted by the ladies auxiliary follows at Branch 24, which is located at 15 George St.

To help prepare for the event, legion members are inviting volunteers out on Saturday, June 3 to decorate the graves of veterans with Canadian flags. It starts at 8 a.m. and should last a couple of hours.

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Industrial experts and officials at the National Dialogue discussed Tuesday formulating a clear manufacturing policy and eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy to reverse the decline in the role of industry in the economy.

During the second meeting within the dialogue's economic axis, the participants discussed reviving the industrial sector.

They stressed the need to achieve the localization of industry by removing obstacles facing investors.

The participants also held a session to discuss the opportunities available to local and foreign investors and the challenges facing the investment climate in Egypt in light of the international indicators.

Eliminating bureaucracy

The cost of bureaucracy in Egypt is higher than the cost of taxes, and investors add what they incur as a result of bureaucracy to the price of the goods, Alaa El-Saqty, head of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) federation, said during the National Dialogue session.

El-Saqty urged the state to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy to increase the competitiveness of industrial products.

The participants in Tuesday's session discussed, too, increasing the level of industry's contribution to the economy.

Bahaa Dimitri, the rapporteur of the Industry Committee in the National Dialogue, highlighted that, in Egypt, the industry contributes to only 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP)  a meagre contribution compared to several countries.

Dimitri added that the industry's contribution to the GDP should be around 33-35 percent.

He noted that achieving such a goal requires a sincere political and economic will to establish a sound investment environment that encourages investors to add to the national economy.

During the session, the participants called for a clear policy and vision that outlines the state's industrial priorities.

They also called for a quick implementation of the State Ownership Policy Document, in which the state has pledged to withdraw from many industrial sectors.

There must be a clear plan for the state to focus on specific industries, El-Saqty said during the session, adding that the absence of such a plan baffles the investors.

Localizing industry

Localizing industry ranked highly on the agenda of the session.

Hossam El-Khosht, a member of the Justice Party, affirmed that the programmes and plans set by the government to localize industries overlook the requirements to do so.

Therefore, El-Khosht called for reviewing and activating several laws and decisions to promote local industries, including decision 3265/2021 on localizing industries.

Several participants have also called for integrating raw materials into local industries instead of exporting them unprocessed.

Mohamed Khalil, a member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, stressed the importance of limiting the exportation of raw and intermediate materials.

We should export raw materials only after they undergo a manufacturing process, and we should provide opportunities to exploit them, Khalil stated.

He also affirmed that intermediate materials should be exported only after meeting the local demand.

Moataz Mahmoud, head of the House of Representatives Industrial Committee, said that using the country's raw materials in manufacturing rather than exporting them should relieve the import bill.

Implementing State Ownership Policy Document

Ahmed Fikry Abdel-Wahab, an industry expert and member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), noted that the State Ownership Policy Document contains neither a specific timeframe nor a list of the investments that the state will withdraw from.

Abdel-Wahab added that investors need to see these parts of the document.

Obstacles facing investors

He also stated that one of the major obstacles facing investors is the unpredictability of the exchange rate, which makes investors uncertain about the future of their investments in the Egyptian market.

Moreover, Abdel-Wahab maintained that though the state has a clear policy on the automotive industry, the means of implementing such a policy still needs to be clarified.

Mahmoud Essam, a Reform and Development Party representative, called for the state to quickly and efficiently provide lands for industrial investors and ensure a fair price for these lands.

On the other hand, Mohamed Khalil of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party called for developing a mechanism to allocate lands for industrial sectors.

For his part, El-Saqty described the issue of allocating the industrial lands as thorny.

He added that the state needs around EGP 10 trillion to increase industrial lands  and industrial production  twofold.

El-Saqty noted that Egypt currently needed more resources to achieve such an increase.

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Police are investigating a Welland bank robbery that involved a man with a gun.

On Wednesday shortly after 12:30 p.m., Niagara Regional Police responded to the CIBC branch at 200 Fitch St.

Upon arrival, officers determined a man entered the bank, brandished a handgun and demanded cash from the employees.

The suspect received an undisclosed amount of Canadian currency before running off.

No employees received any physical injuries, said a police news release.

The suspect is believed to have fled eastbound toward the Steve Bauer Trail that runs adjacent to Prince Charles Drive.

The suspect is described as white, about 5-foot-4 and about 40 years old.

Police said he has grey hair or was possibly wearing a grey wig.

Police are encouraging area residents and businesses to review their CCTV footage for imagery that may assist in their investigation.

Anyone with information is asked by police to contact the lead detective at 905-688-4111, option 3, ext. 1008980.

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Remember 2018? In December of that year, Canadian authorities arrested Huaweis chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, to be extradited to the United States. China responded by detaining two Canadians and by changing a drug smuggling sentence against a third Canadian to the death penalty. Ottawa expressed serious concerns about these actions taken by China, but agriculture was not spared either, as trade between China and Canada slowed significantly. Canadian exporters had to find other routes to get to China.

Some experts suggest that was the moment when the Second Cold War started and that it will last a while, perhaps as long as the last one. Canada needs to be ready for this. Unlike the First Cold War, agri-food trades can be weaponized since we now have massive economic involvement between nations. Knowing more about your enemy is much, much easier now. Our economies have provided open access to people and data. This is not at all reassuring.

According to Farm Credit Canada, after canola and wheat, crustaceans such as lobster, crab and shrimp were Canadas third-largest agricultural export to China last year, with a value of over $1 billion. Canadas agriculture and agri-food products worth more than $8 billion were consumed by China, which happens to be the second-largest export market for Canada. In contrast to numerous other trading partners, exports to China have been on a continuous rise and were not affected by the global economic crisis. But that relationship also comes now with some significant diplomatic baggage. Canada essentially feeds China, and has done so for a few decades now. But China has also grown, and has increased its capacity to feed itself.

Despite having less than 10 per cent of the worlds arable land available for cultivation, China manages to produce one-fourth of the worlds grain and feed one-fifth of the worlds population. And the country is only getting more efficient.

Some may argue that China is not worthy of our democracy and no such relationship is warranted. Its hard to argue with that. Still, making a statement now will always come with a response, and China is in a powerful position to hurt many nations through trade sanctions.

Global food geopolitics arent what they used to be. During the First Cold War, you just picked a side. Canada picked the side which won in the end. With the Second Cold War, its China on the rise against a weakening United States, along with Europe, South America, the Middle East and everything else in between, including Canada. Its not that simple.

Picking the side of the U.S. this time will come with great risks. Canadas relationship and proximity with the United States is a growing problem for our country, no matter whos in power. Many agri-food trade groups like the Lobster Council of Canada, the Canadian Meat Council and the Canola Council are fully aware that the writing is on the wall, and have already made efforts to open new markets in the Asian-Pacific region. Ottawa just opened an office in the region for that exact purpose. India is certainly an underdeveloped market for Canada. Increased export market diversity, beyond the United States and China, is more critical than ever.

Long gone are the days of prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeaus love affair with China in the 70s. The America buys while China sells paradigm is ending as China is no longer cheap and an afterthought; it aims to dominate. With significant holdings of Americas debt and control over many parts of Africa, a new world order is well underway.

SC Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.

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Warning: Contains graphic content

An Ontario correctional officer has been convicted of sexual assault and breach of trust in an incident involving an inmate at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton.

Guard Dwayne Jason Thomas was at times completely unbelievable and his evidence intentionally vague, while his victim, a female inmate, was credible in recounting what she said happened in the shower area of the provincial jail on March 5, 2021, Ontario Court Justice Jennifer Campitelli found.

The inmate, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified she refused to provide oral sex to Thomas in the shower area, where the two were alone, then froze and did not say anything before Thomas pulled down her pants and penetrated her vaginally, Campitelli wrote in a judgment delivered in Halton court last week.

At trial, Thomas pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations, arguing that the inmate wasnt credible  though he did not dispute that semen found on the inmates pants was his.

Thomas, who had been a correctional officer with the Ministry of the Solicitor General since December 2016 and started working at Vanier in 2020, testified that the inmate was the initiator, that there was no penetration and that the sexual encounter was consensual.

He testified the inmate started making out with him in the shower area and that she wanted sex, to which he said, not without a condom.

In summarizing the case, Campitelli in her judgment wrote that Thomas contended the inmate lured him into the shower area, and began touching him sexually and Thomas eventually allowed (the inmate) to masturbate him manually to ejaculation.

Thomas account of what happened in the shower area, Campitelli found, was inherently implausible, and available video surveillance outside the shower supported the inmates version of events.

Court heard from a jail sergeant that is against policy for a correctional officer to enter a shower area while it is in use, unless there was a medical or other sort of emergency. The inmate told the sergeant about the incident with Thomas three days after it happened.

Initially, the inmate was an unco-operative witness on the stand, refusing to answer the Crowns questions. But after getting legal advice, she was responsive and while the initial refusal to co-operate was troubling, Campitelli found it did not impact her credibility. Nor did a history of drug abuse and past crimes which relate to dishonesty.

The inmate testified Thomas asked her if she was comfortable going to the shower area, to which she told him, No. She recalled that after Thomas entered the shower area, he asked her to give him oral sex and she told Thomas she did not want to do that, according to the judgment.

Thomas did not respond in any way verbally, said the inmate, who testified she then turned around, Thomas pulled down her pants, and inserted his penis into her vagina, followed by intercourse lasting 30 seconds.

Asked about the nature of the incident, the inmate testified she was not OK with it, but said Thomas didnt force it and that she couldnt for some reason say no. She explained Thomas was a guard who had authority over her, and she said she felt awkward.

The inmate testified she collected Thomas semen from the floor with her pants, feeling no one would believe her. After telling a cellmate and worrying word would get out, she decided to tell a sergeant she trusted and provided the sergeant with the pants.

Campitelli found that the sexual assault represented a serious marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in (Thomass) position of public trust.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General did not answer a question about how often correctional officers are accused and convicted of sexually assaulting inmates. A ministry spokesperson said Thomas had been fired prior to the guilty findings.

Correctional officers are essential to community safety, law and order in our society, and the administration of justice. Incidents like this are completely unacceptable, and all corrections staff are expected to uphold the highest ethical standards both on and off duty, ministry spokesperson Greg Flood said in an email.

Lawyer Selwyn Pieters, who represents Thomas, declined to comment on the case.

A date for sentencing has yet to be set, with Thomas due back in court on June 12.

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ARADE DAM, Portugal (AP)  Police searching for clues regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child who went missing in 2007 in Portugal, were concentrating operations Wednesday in several areas around a dam, including one where media reports say a lead suspect in the case often stayed.

The latest search for clues regarding the disappearance started Tuesday following a request by German authorities. Some 30 Portuguese, German and British police are taking part in the operation at the Arade dam, which is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort of Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old girl was last seen 16 years ago.

In Germany, Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR, We have indications that we could find evidence there. I dont want to say what that is exactly, and I also dont want to say where these indications come from.

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesnt come from the suspect  so we dont have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search,  Wolters said, adding that it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.

But Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.

Police on Tuesday were studying an area where Portuguese and Spanish media say the suspect stayed around the time that Madeleine went missing.

Officers could be heard using a motor saw to clear trees and bushes in the zone, which is located on the far side of the reservoir from the base camp that police set up Monday.

Police have given no details on the progress of the searches so far, but leading Portuguese daily Expresso said Wednesday that the first day ended with no significant results, adding that police had collected some objects including fabrics and garments. It said that in places where the sniffer dogs signaled, the soil was dug up, possibly indicating that biological traces were also being sought.

The search is expected to end Wednesday or Thursday.

Detectives from the three countries are still trying to figure out what happened on the night when the toddler disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007. She was in the same room as her twin brother and sister, who were 2 at the time, while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Portuguese media say this is the fourth search for McCann, following the initial one in 2007 in the Algarve area and further efforts in 2013 and 2014. Another search was held in Germany in 2020.

In mid-2020, German officials said that a 45-year-old German citizen, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who was in the Algarve in 2007, was a suspect in the case. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation in the McCann case, but hasnt been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of Madeleines disappearance.

The reservoir is currently less than half full owing to a drought affecting Portugal and neighboring Spain. Much of the area being searched would be below water level in years of normal rainfall.

Madeleines parents arent commenting because of the active investigation, according to an email response from the website set up for the search for the child, findmadeleine.com.

___

Ciaran Giles in Madrid, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.

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OTTAWA - The Bloc Quebecois on Wednesday joined the Conservatives in rejecting a chance to look at secret information that led a watchdog to recommend against a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference.

Both party leaders said they do not want to be caught in a situation where they are forced to keep such knowledge quiet.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged his colleagues to open their eyes to facts over partisanship  taking particular aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Pierre Poilievre is choosing to sit behind a veil of ignorance, Trudeau told reporters during an event in Winnipeg.

David Johnston, appointed by Trudeau in March as a special rapporteur to look into the foreign interference allegations, delivered his first report Tuesday which recommended Trudeau not call a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

The allegations have embroiled the government for months after reporting by Global News and the Globe and Mail newspaper, which cited leaked national security documents and anonymous sources.

Johnston also recommended the government provide the necessary security clearances so other party leaders could look at the full report, including a confidential annex of materials he used to arrive at his conclusions.

The NDP, Conservatives and Bloc have all called on the Liberals to trigger a public inquiry into the matter, and Johnston added that at the start of his review he thought he would arrive at the same conclusion.

However, Johnston, a former governor general said the intelligence he was able to review must stay secret, given it deals with national security. As such a formal inquiry would have to be held largely behind closed doors. Instead, Johnston promised to hold his own public hearings to discuss the issue of foreign interference  but not the specifics of allegations.

Johnston has acknowledged the difficulty of being unable to divulge the information he reviewed publicly and wrote while he understands opposition leaders do not want to be constrained by security laws  which stipulate such material cannot be shared  the issue is too important for potential future leaders of the country to intentionally remain ignorant.

Trudeau said he accepted Johnstons findings and wrote letters to Opposition leaders, inviting them to begin the process of obtaining the necessary security clearances. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said on Tuesday he intends to do that.

Poilievre however said that he would not be muzzled and panned the offer, vowing instead to call a public inquiry if the Conservatives form the next government. On Wednesday, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet joined suit, calling the opportunity a dumb trap.

Its for those who are not very careful, he said. They want to say, We offered you to see everything, you saw everything, you cannot say a word  this is a secret.

Then they will tell everybody, Everything is fixed because the leaders of the Opposition parties have seen something, which they can do nothing about.

Trudeau says opposition leaders should review the substance of Johnstons report, given the gravity of the situation and singled out Poilievre.

He doesnt want the facts to get in the way of a good political argument or a personal attack, the prime minister said of Poilievre.

Is that a serious leader?

Poilievre told reporters in Toronto Wednesday that Johnston is nothing more than a Trudeau insider, given the former governor generals friendship with the prime ministers father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and his involvement in the foundation bearing the former prime ministers name.

Johnston said when he released his report that he found questions about his impartiality troubling and defended his work as well as his relationship with the current prime minister, saying their families went skiing together decades ago.

Poilievre said a judge with experience handling national security cases should be the one to decide what information needs to remain secret and what could be made public if an inquiry were called.

Justin Trudeau has something to hide, he said Wednesday.

Despite rejecting his own chance to take a closer look at the report, he said he will not stand in the way of review by Conservative MPs who sit on the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

Two Conservatives sit on the committee alongside colleagues of other political stripes, and Johnston has said they will be provided with the additional information and be able to say whether they challenge his conclusion.

NDP, Conservative and Bloc MPs on the House of Commons procedure committee all signed a letter Wednesday asking for Johnston to appear before them to answer questions about his decision not to recommend a public inquiry.

The letter, shared by Conservative MP Michael Cooper on social media Wednesday, called Johnstons decision a slap in the face to diaspora groups who are subject to abuse and intimidation by hostile foreign governments.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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OTTAWA - More than a dozen MPs in the Canada-Pakistan friendship group are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call out Pakistans arrest of its former prime minister.

Imran Khan, who is now the opposition leader in Pakistan, was arrested earlier this month on corruption and terrorism charges triggering violent protests.

The countrys supreme court ordered Khan released saying the arrest was illegal.

Khan was ousted as prime minister last year in a non-confidence vote he claims without proof was part of an illegal plot orchestrated by Washington and his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Sixteen Canadian MPs say in a letter to Trudeau they are gravely concerned about the violence unfolding in Pakistan, and the illegal arrest of civilians and journalists.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told the House of Commons last week she was very preoccupied with the political crisis in Pakistan but did not specify how Canada was engaging on the issue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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President of the National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) Horia Constantinescu announced on Wednesday having signed 11 orders to stop deceptive practices by banks, and that another 8 banks would be sanctioned in the next period.

"The relevant ANPC documents are being challenged in court and this is the only way by which, perhaps, they can be debated, after they have been signed and lodged based on the control documents drawn up, including at the proposal of our colleagues. Yesterday I signed the 11 orders to cease deceptive commercial practices and we will definitely send them to the media as a sui generis body of documents, because we cannot send each of the orders issued to the press, but everything they contain, with certainty yes," Horia Constantinescu told a debate organized at the institution's headquarters.

In his turn, ANPC general director Paul Anghel said that the rest of the orders will be signed in the next period.

The ANPC recently fined eleven banks operating in Romania for applying misleading commercial practices in the installment calculation method.

"ANPC has identified misleading commercial practices in the way the banking economic operators were calculating installments, due to the fact that on the repayment schedule, in the first years, the installment was 25 percent principal and 75 percent interest. Due to this method of calculation, the borrowers were in fact paying mainly interest. For the contractual balance to be restored, in addition to the sanction, i.e. 11 fines in the amount of 550,000 RON, the ANPC commissioners proposed the issue of new repayment schedules for both loans in progress, and future ones, where the principal amount of the loan shall be repaid in equal installments, over the entire lending period, calculated against the loan interest," Anghel stated for AGERPRES.

The 11 banks are: ING Bank, First Bank, Credite Europe Bank, OTP Bank, Alpha Bank, Banca Transilvania, Raiffeisen Bank, BCR, Patria Bank, Unicredit Bank, BRD Groupe Societe Generale.
Ciuca: PNL has vocation of being at forefront of good governance.

The National Liberal Party (PNL) has the vocation of being at the forefront of good governance, PNL Chairman Nicolae Ciuca said at the Florica Villa in Arges, on Wednesday, at the event marking the 148 years of existence of the liberal party, told Agerpres.

"The PNL has the vocation of being at the forefront of good, sustainable governance for Romania. Its history so far proves it and I want to assure you that we will do everything, including maintaining this status through a responsible and constructive attitude within the governing coalition. (...) I would also like to underline that the National Liberal Party, the liberals have never been afraid of difficulties and have taken them on responsibly, wisely and have shown that they can be solved, can be brought to a good end," said Ciuca.

He added that the PNL will continue to assume its responsibilities.

"The moral obligation and political mission of the National Liberal Party is to modernise and develop Romania, to make it stronger and more dignified. That is why we are in government today. For this reason, we will remain and we will continue to assume all our responsibilities. We are the party that has demonstrated in difficult conditions that we can attract record amounts of European funds and private investments, that we have the will to implement reforms that will change the state and make it more efficient, such as the education laws voted these days, that we manage to ensure a significant economic growth, that we modernise roads and hospitals, that we care for those in need," Nicolae Ciuca said.

The PNL leader underlined that this is the way the PNL should go.

"This is the road we must continue to follow. The major objective we must pursue in the coming years is to make Romania an equal member of the European family. Therefore, economic development and the recovery of the differences that still separate us from the developed countries of Europe will have to be a priority of our actions in government," said Ciuca.
Cyber attacks on critical infrastructures can have devastating consequences, affecting not just the economy, but everyday life as well, general director of the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI Bucharest) Adrian-Victor Vevera told the CyberCon Romania 2023 conference.

"Critical infrastructures, telecommunications, transport, financial and health systems, are at the heart of the functioning of modern society. Cyber attacks on these infrastructures can have devastating consequences, affecting not just the economy, but everyday life as well. In this context, cyber diplomacy has a crucial role in protecting these infrastructures through international cooperation for the development of common standards and rules in the digital environment, the strengthening of strategic partnerships and the exchange of information for the prevention and response to cyber threats," Vevera said.

ICI Bucharest coordinated the section "Cybernetic diplomacy. Protection of critical infrastructures" of CyberCon Romania 2023, an event organized by the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (ARASEC) in partnership with the U.S. Embassy to Romania.

According to an ICI Bucharest statement, the event was a forum for debates and exchange of experience among cyber security professionals, addressing topical issues such as cyber diplomacy and the protection of critical infrastructures.

The first panel of the specialist conference included discussions on cyber diplomacy, while the second debate panel focused on discussions about the protection of critical infrastructures.

CyberCon 2023 enjoys the support of the National Cyber Security Directorate (DNSC), the Cyberint National Center, the Romanian Police, the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Center, the National Institute of Magistracy (INM), the European Institute of Romania (IER) and the Institute for Financial Studies (ISF). AGERPRES
In a dynamic session of the National Dialogue centered on Local and Foreign Investments, Egypt's investment landscape took center stage as participants engaged in discussions to tackle obstacles hindering the country's investment growth. The session, held on Tuesday, focused on legislative measures and initiatives aiming to attract both local and foreign investors to the country.

During the second week of the National Dialogue, a diverse group of attendees, including economic experts, party representatives, and businessmen, unanimously agreed that Egypt holds immense potential to attract increased investments. However, they also acknowledged the existence of significant hurdles that impede the realization of this potential.

Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, chairman of the General Authority of Investment and Free Zone, noted that the session did not bring forth any new problems or issues regarding investments in Egypt, as these issues had been previously discussed. He emphasized the critical importance of successful implementation rather than merely coming up with promising policies and strategies.

Abdel-Wahab drew attention to the availability of abundant land for industrial purposes in Egypt, including numerous industrial zones. However, the focus shifted to the effectiveness of land utilization and the returns on investment it generates.

Concerns were raised regarding the efficiency and skills of the young workforce and whether the education system adequately prepares them for the work environment. Furthermore, he highlighted regulatory and executive factors as crucial facilitators for the advancement of the industrial sector.

MP Hani Abaza, representing the Wafd Party, highlighted the lack of significant progress in improving the industrial sector, despite the existence of supportive political will. Citizens have yet to witness substantial advancements, he said.

He stressed the need to address obstacles in industrial production through tangible solutions, as previous recommendations had often lacked effective implementation.

Another participant from the Al-Wafd Party emphasized the urgency of reaching a consensus on a new scientific approach and mechanisms to tackle high-energy costs for industries in Egypt. Additionally, currency mismanagement, which discourages investors, was flagged as an area that requires attention.

Adel Hanafy, vice chairman of the General Union of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia, shed light on the substantial number of Egyptians residing in Saudi Arabia and the significant amount of remittances they send back to Egypt, amounting to nearly $31 billion.

He called for the establishment of an Egyptian joint-stock company to prevent illegal external remittances. Hanafy also advocated addressing lengthy licensing procedures through radical solutions, similar to the reforms implemented in the field of medicine.

He further proposed the activation of customs privileges for companies, and the organization of an investment forum to attract investors from various countries following the conclusion of the National Dialogue.

Ali Abdel-Qader, secretary-general of the Egyptian Exporters Association, stated that Egypt has a golden opportunity to redirect its economy toward exports and investment, considering the dramatic changes occurring in supply chains.

He noted that European companies seek new investment opportunities, and are moving away from Chinese dominance, and that Egypt has several key advantages in this regard. He highlighted the presence of giant European companies looking for markets close to them, which Egypt can provide.

Abdel-Qader stressed that both foreign and local investment requires a stable political environment and a strong economy that fosters investment growth. He mentioned the successful experience of the Supreme Council for Investment, headed by the president, and the important decisions recently made.

He emphasized that implementing these decisions on the ground would be a significant milestone for Egypt.

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Minister of National Defence Angel Tilvar met on Wednesday with the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Bucharest, Andrew Noble, and the discussions included the security situation in the Black Sea region, in the context of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

The two also discussed cooperation within the North Atlantic Alliance in view of the forthcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius and current and future issues related to cooperation between the two armed forces, with a focus on the development of the defence industry, a press release of the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) reads.

On this occasion, Angel Tilvar stressed the importance of ensuring security in the Black Sea region in the context of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and the strategic importance of the Black Sea as a key region for European and Euro-Atlantic security. The UK's contribution to strengthening the Allied posture on the Eastern flank, particularly in the Black Sea region, was also deemed as concrete proof of Allied solidarity and unity.AGERPRES
President Klaus Iohannis signed, on Wednesday, the decree decorating his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, with the Star of Romania National Order in the rank of Collar.

The head of state conferred the order on the German counterpart as a sign of "high appreciation for the exceptional contribution to the promotion of democracy and regional security, for the development of friendly and collaborative relations between our country and the Federal Republic of Germany".

Also, as a sign of "high appreciation for the exceptional contribution to the development of friendly and collaborative relations between our country and the Federal Republic of Germany", president Iohannis conferred the Star of Romania National Order in Grand Cross rank to Elke Budenbender, the wife of president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The head of state also decorated other representatives of the German state.

Thus, as a sign of "high appreciation for the exceptional contribution to the development of bilateral relations between our country and the Federal Republic of Germany", president Klaus Iohannis conferred the Star of Romania National Order in the rank of Grand Officer to the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Romania, Peer Gebauer, the Star of Romania National Order in the rank of Grand Officer to the minister of State for Europe and Climate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anna Luhrmann, and the Star of Romania National Order in the rank of Grand Officer to the head of the Directorate for Foreign Policy - Federal Presidential Administration, Wolfgang Silbermann.

As a sign of "high appreciation for the exceptional contribution to the development of Romanian-German relations of friendship and collaboration, for the understanding and interest shown towards Romanian civilization and culture", the head of state conferred the Star of Romania National Order in the rank of Knight to the consul of the Federal Republic Germany in Sibiu, Kerstin Ursula Jahn, and the consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Timisoara, Regina Lochner.

The president of the Federal Republic of Germany is paying a state visit in Bucharest, Sibiu and Timisoara until Friday. He was received on Wednesday at the Cotroceni Palace by President Klaus Iohannis.AGERPRES
German President Steinmeier: We've believed for a long time that Romania's place is in the Schengen Area.

Germany has "long believed that Romania's place is in the Schengen Area," President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier is on a state visit to Romania, which he described as "a visit to friends."

Regarding Romania's accession to Schengen, he assured that Germany will support this demarche.

He also mentioned the current security situation, in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine.

"Our unity is an asset in these challenging times, as it has never been in recent decades. We will face these challenges together," the German president said, according to the official translation.

He praised the way Romania welcomed the Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war and its handling of grain transit from Ukraine.

The German president also mentioned the struggle of Romanian citizens against communism. "Romania is a country with a great culture, with a rich history," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
Germany's President Steinmeier pays a state visit to Romania; official meetings in Bucharest, Sibiu, Timisoara.

Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is paying a state visit to Romania from Wednesday to Friday, at the invitation extended by President Klaus Iohannis, told Agerpres.

The federal president will be welcomed by President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. The two of them will have one-to-one and official discussions, followed by joint press statements.

The Presidential Administration showed that the talks of the two heads of state will focus on developing and deepening the Romanian-German cooperation in all topical areas, at political, security and economic level. The two presidents will convey a message of solidarity and support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people against the brutal aggression of the Russian Federation. Moreover, within the talks, also tackled will be the two countries' strong support and endorsement for the Republic of Moldova.

The two heads of state will also exchange views regarding the development of the security situation and further consolidation of the forward defence posture on the Eastern Flank of NATO, in preparations for the Summit in Vilnius.

In Bucharest, the German president will have meetings with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Acting Senate President Alina Gorghiu and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu. President Steinmeir is also scheduled to meet with representatives of the business community.

On Thursday, presidents Klaus Iohannis and Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be in Sibiu, where they will go to the City Hall and meet with representatives of the German community in Romania and tour the "Samuel von Brukenthal" National College and the Fortified Evangelical Church in Cristian commune.

Germany's president will end his visit in Timisoara, on Friday. He will be the host a concert at the Timisoara Philharmonic, in the context of the city being the European Capital of Culture in 2023, and will visit the city centre alongside Mayor Dominic Fritz. The German official will also tour the "Nikolaus Lenau" High School and meet with representatives of the German and Jewish minorities.

According to the German Embassy in Bucharest, the federal president will be accompanied on his visit to Romania by the Minister of State for Europe and Climate within the Federal Foreign Office Anna Luhrmann, as well as a delegation of MPs, business representatives and cultural figures.
Germany's President welcomed at Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

President Klaus Iohannis welcomed at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Wednesday his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is paying a state visit to Romania until Friday, told Agerpres.

The Federal President was welcomed with military honours.

President Klaus Iohannis' delegation includes Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, presidential advisors Luminita Odobescu, Diana Paun, Daniela Barsan, Delia Dinu, Cosmin Marinescu.

The two presidents will have head to head and official talks, followed by joint press statements.

The Presidential Administration said that the talks of the two heads of state will focus on the development and deepening of Romanian-German cooperation in topical political, security and economic matters. The two Presidents will convey a message of solidarity and support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of brutal aggression by the Russian Federation. The talks will also address the strong support and endorsement of both countries for the Republic of Moldova.

The two heads of state will also exchange views on the development of the security situation and the further strengthening of the forward defence posture on NATO's Eastern Flank in preparation for the Vilnius Summit.

The President of Germany will meet with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Senate interim President Alina Gorghiu, and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu. President Steinmeier has also planned a meeting with representatives of the business community.

On Thursday, Presidents Klaus Iohannis and Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be in Sibiu. The President of Germany will end his visit to Romania in Timisoara on Friday.
Gov't rotation/PM Ciuca: Any formula is open; we are cutting down the number of ministries.

Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday, at Florica Villa, in Arges county, regarding the coalition negotiations on the ministries of the new Government, that "any formula" is open, from keeping the current version of the protocol to its modification and the resumption of ministries by the parties, told Agerpres.

However, he underscore that a decision has been taken to cut down the number of ministries, secretaries of state and advisers at the level of their cabinets.

"At the moment there are discussions, negotiations so that either there is the option of protocol, or negotiations and reassumption of ministries at the level of each party," the prime minister said, when asked about the chances that the Ministry of Development remains with the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR).

Nicolae Ciuca also stated that there is a certain procedure according to which each ministry is negotiated and it is normal to have a hierarchy according to the weight of each party in the coalition.

The prime minister mentioned that the number of ministries, secretaries of state and their respective bodies will be reduced.

"The decision has been made so that the future Government has 18 ministries. We are not just talking about 18 ministries. You know very well that we have given a very clear signal about what it means to cut down the number of staff in the first phase, at the level of the government apparatus and dignitaries. We have reduced by 50pct the number of advisors at the level of dignitaries, we are reducing the number of ministries, we will cut down the number of secretaries of state and the apparatus related to each," Nicolae Ciuca said.

Asked if he carried out talks with President Klaus Iohannis lately and if he wants the coalition protocol to be observed, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca responded that a discussion with the president is to take place after the negotiations are completed, and the president is not involved in this process.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the National Liberal Party (PNL) chairman, attended on Wednesday, at Florica Villa in Stefanesti, Arges county, the event marking the 148th anniversary of the Liberal party.
HealthMin Rafila participates in 76th World Health Assembly.

A Romanian delegation, led by Health Minister Alexandru Rafila, is currently attending the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, told Agerpres.

"Alexandru Rafila had interventions in the plenary and during the assembly, in which he praised the remarkable efforts of health professionals during the pandemic, the main problems they face and supported the need to adopt concrete measures at the international community level, in order to achieve the objectives assumed by the Bucharest Declaration on Human Resources for Health," informs a press release.

According to the quoted source, during the works of the meeting the important topic of non-communicable diseases will be discussed, the Romanian delegation having the opportunity to exchange examples of good practice with other member states and to promote initiatives such as the National Strategy for Combating Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases and policies in the area of combating cancer and patient access to diagnosis and treatment, development of prevention, in correlation with the European Plan.

The Romanian delegation will also participate in a series of technical meetings aimed at contributing to the development of "concrete" projects for Romania.

Representatives of the 194 member states of the WHO will participate in the World Health Assembly. Member states take decisions on global health policy and participate in bilateral meetings with other countries and international health organisations.
HealthMin Rafila: Use of biosimilars is essential, improves access to treatment for more patients.

The use of biosimilar medicines is essential because it improves access to medicines and produces money savings that can be used to expand existing programmes and give more patients access to treatment, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

Health Minister Alexandru Rafila spoke via a recording at the roundtable "Patients in Romania will have increased access to biological medicines" organised by the Association of Generic Medicines Producers and the Romanian Chronic Patients Alliance.

"Biosimilars are nothing more than generic products in the area of biological products that show safety and efficacy, and the studies which their authorisation is based on have proven this thing. The use of these products in Romania, as well as in other countries in the European Union, is essential because it improves access to medicines in our case biosimilars, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, it produces savings of money that can be used to expand existing programmes and give more patients access to the programmes run by the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance House," minister Rafila said.

The President of the Romanian Society of Hematology, Daniel Coriu, said that great progress has been made in the area of biotechnology, and doctors prescribe biosimilars "without any problem."

"There have been enormous advances in biotechnology, a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms, advances that have allowed first of all the development of very refined diagnostic tools and also targeted therapy. (...) They are the first users [in the hematology area] of modern, innovative therapies. (...) Today, we have the same innovative molecules as in Western Europe. We don't have big differences. We use the same molecules, the same therapeutic schemes as our colleagues in France, Germany, Spain. (...) I have not heard a hematologist or oncologist who is against biosimilars. (...) We use biosimilars without any problem. (...) It's cheap and we can afford it. (...) We totally agree with this decision to introduce biosimilars and generic medicines to allow access to new molecules," Coriu said.
Iohannis: Parliament is required to take on ECHR ruling on same-sex unions.

President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday with regard to the European Court of Human Rights ruling of May 23 on the legal recognition in Romania of same-sex relationships that Parliament should tackle the issue and declared himself convinced that in a reasonable time, the best solutions will be found, told Agerpres.

"Regarding the ECHR ruling, this is a complicated topic for Romania, we know that, we have already seen the public reactions, but this is a topic Parliament is required to take on and I am convinced that formats will be found for this topic to be responsibly debated in Parliament, and in a reasonable time I believe that the best solutions will be found," Iohannis declared at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday ruled against Romania for failure to legally recognize same-sex unions.

In its ruling in the case of Buhuceanu and Others vs. Romania, the Strasbourg-based court decided by a vote of five to two that there was a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which provides "the right to respect for private and family life".

Twenty-one same-sex Romanian couples who were refused registration of their union by their local civil registry offices on the grounds that such marriages are prohibited by the Civil Code, filed complaints with the ECHR in 2019 and 2020, explaining that they were unable to have access to quite a number of rights recognized by law for married couples.

The ECHR found that Romania had a duty to provide adequate recognition and protection of same-sex relationships, although it had discretion as to the form and type of protections afforded.
Prime minister Nicolae Ciuca welcomed, on Wednesday, at the gov't venue, the Victoria Palace, the president of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on the occasion of the latter's state visit to Romania, the discussions being focused on the continued development of bilateral cooperation and in the context of the EU and NATO.

According to a gov't press release, the two dignitaries highlighted the privileged, strategic nature of Romanian-German relationships, based on a consistent political dialogue and a solid economic component.

"These relations are facilitated and enhanced by the strong interpersonal ties, especially through the contribution of the growing Romanian community in Germany and that of the ethnic Germans in Romania," the release states.

During the meeting, president Steinmeier and prime minister Ciuca also emphasized the importance of maintaining European and Euro-Atlantic unity in ensuring support for Ukraine.

At the same time, the head of the Romanian Executive appreciated the activity of the over 25,000 companies with German participation in Romania and which make Germany the first investor in the Romanian economy, with a presence in leading sectors.

Also, prime minister Ciuca appreciated federal president Steinmeier's reiteration of Berlin's support for Romania's accession to the Schengen Area.

As elements of context, the press release highlights that the state visit of the federal president to Romania, between May 24-26, takes place against the background of increased dynamics of Romanian-German political and diplomatic contacts at the highest level.

"This will contribute to the consolidation of the special partnership, with strategic valences, built between Romania and Germany. At the same time, it will boost effective cooperation in the most diverse fields of interest for our countries - European and foreign policy, the economic, energy, military, educational fields, work and social affairs," the quoted source also specifies.AGERPRES
A Russian official in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine said Wednesday that the territory was targeted by numerous drones overnight, following an armed incursion into the territory from Ukraine.

"The night was not entirely calm. There were a large number of drone attacks. Air defence systems handled most of them," governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on social media.

"The most important thing is that there are no casualties," he added.

The statement came a day after Moscow announced it had deployed jets and artillery to destroy the armed group that penetrated its border from Ukraine and the Kremlin ordered its military to prevent any repeat attack.

Members of two anti-Kremlin groups, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, claimed responsibility while Kyiv denied official Ukrainian involvement.

The border region of Belgorod has been targeted by attacks since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine but the days-long skirmish was the most significant since Russian began large-scale hostilities in Ukraine last year.

Gladkov said the drone barrage overnight had damaged several private homes, offices and vehicles but that the full extent of the damage was still being assessed.

He added that a gas pipeline was damaged in the Graivoron district and that "a small fire is burning".

Gladkov said that several settlements that lost power as a result of fighting between the armed incursion group and the Russian security forces, would be reconnect by the end of Wednesday.

"Nine people are hospitalised: three are in intensive care in a serious condition and six people are already in wards," he added, as a result of the border assault.

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Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had, on Wednesday, a telephone conversation with his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, during which he highlighted the fact that the special relations between Romania and Canada are based on traditional collaboration in the field of energy and the common values we share as members of the North Atlantic Alliance.

According to a Government release, the Prime Minister of Romania appreciated the support offered by Canada for the rehabilitation project of Unit 1 at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, an important contribution to the energy security of our country and the entire region, including the Republic of Moldova.

"The Government of Romania continues to rely on cooperation with Canadian companies for the development of the civilian nuclear program and the provision of energy from clean and safe sources, as well as the constant support of the United States of America", Ciuca was quoted as saying in the press release.

The Romanian Prime Minister also emphasized the collaboration at NATO level and the important role of Canada in the context of the war in Ukraine and the support offered both to the Ukrainian people and to the Republic of Moldova.

In this context, he added that Romania and Europe need reliable partners with similar opinions for the consolidation of the Eastern Flank, for the development of supply chains and economic cooperation.

Prime Minister Ciuca mentioned that bilateral relations have new opportunities for consolidation in the economic and social field and invited Prime Minister Trudeau to pay a visit to Romania. AGERPRES
PM Ciuca: PNL aims to solve issues raised by unions in education; we had an open dialogue.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca stated on Wednesday, at the Florica Villa in Arges, that the National Liberal Party (PNL) aims to solve the issues raised by the unions in education, told Agerpres.

The prime minister underscored, in this context, that he had an open dialogue, and he shall further have it and believes that the issues of the teaching staff are justified.

Ciuca underscored that he hopes to reach an outcome "so that children and parents are not the victims of this demarche."

The Liberal leader added the PNL will continue on the path of "right-wing and justice."

"The history of the National Liberal Party has always been a fair one, fair to Romania, fair to all its citizens, regardless of their political choices. On this road of the right-wing and justice, we shall go further. Happy birthday to the National Liberal Party! Happy birthday, dear Liberals," Ciuca conveyed at the event marking the 148th anniversary of the PNL.
President Iohannis: Romania's place is in Schengen.

President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday conveyed to his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier his appreciation for Germany's firm support for Romania's accession to Schengen and voiced the hope that the steps taken to support the joint European effort to strengthen internal security and the protection of the European Union's external borders will complete the accession of our country to the free movement area, told Agerpres.

"We also discussed the topic of Romania's accession to the Schengen area and I conveyed to the president our appreciation for Germany's firm and active support in this file. I hope that through our steps taken to support the common European effort to strengthen internal security and the protection of the external borders of the European Union we will succeed in completing Romania's accession to Schengen, because our place, without any doubt, is in Schengen," said the head of state, after the meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The President of Germany is paying a state visit to Romania until Friday.
The government submitted for approval at its Wednesday meeting a memorandum for the initiation of negotiations for the establishment in Romania of a Transnational Crime Investigation Unit (TCIU), the Ministry of the Interior informs.

The planned structure, which will be created after the necessary legal framework is set in place, will be a hub tasked with monitoring the entire South-Eastern European region, with the aim of reducing crime in this area.

The mission of the TCIU will be to dismantle criminal organizations by the joint efforts of the operative teams that take action for arresting and probing offenders and by facilitating the exchange of information and the development of bilateral investigations into crimes related to Romania, the U.S. and other states in the South-Eastern European region.

"The Center's activity will greatly contribute to strengthening cooperation on the combat of drug and human trafficking, financial fraud, economic crime, as well as to intensifying the exchange of data with the American authorities regarding illegal migration. I am convinced that this Center will contribute to solving a much larger number of cross-border crime cases and will be a true hub for cooperation with neighboring states," Minister of the Interior Lucian Bode said, as cited in the release. AGERPRES
Round 80,500 persons enter Romania on Tuesday, including 9,400 Ukrainians.

The General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPR) informs that on Tuesday, 80,542 people entered Romania through the border crossing points, including 9,406 Ukrainian citizens, told Agerpres.

According to a press release sent on Wednesday to AGERPRES, about 166,700 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, with about 47,200 means of transport, went through the control formalities at the border points throughout the country, both on the entry and on the exit ways.

As of 10 February 2022 (pre-conflict period), 4,313,436 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania.

In the areas of jurisdiction, crossing points and "green border", the police found 72 illegal acts (42 offences and 30 contraventions) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, and the amount of fines imposed amounted to 58,300 lei.

Goods worth approximately 796,300 lei were seized for confiscation.
President Klaus Iohannis signed on Wednesday the decrees for the decoration of several WWII veterans, of French Gedarmerie Director-general, General Christian Rodriguez, and of the Dublin-based Romanian Community of Ireland, the Presidential Administration announced.

The head of the state conferred the 'Military Virtue' Order in the rank of Knight with peace insignia for military staff to retired war veteran, Major Tudor Ilie Ciocan as a sign of "appreciation for the important military services rendered to Romania during the Second World War, for the moral uprightness shown throughout his professional career, as well as for his exemplary civic conduct."

Also, on the occasion of Heroes' Day, as a sign of "appreciation for the important military services rendered to Romania during the Second World War, for the moral rectitude shown throughout their professional career, as well as for their exemplary civic conduct", WWII veterans Dumitru Traian Molie - Colonel (retired), and Majors (retired) Gheorghe Neculai Amariei-Vieritei, Gheorghe Emil Moisii and Ilie Ioan Scarlii are bestowed with the 'Military Virtue' Order in the rank of Knight with peace insignia for military staff.

The head of the state also decorated French National Gendarmerie General Director Gen. Christian Rodriguez with the National Order 'For Merit' in the rank of Knight, with insignia for military staff, as a sign of "appreciation for the development of collaborative and friendly relations with Romania, and for the constant support provided to our country."

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the organization Romanian Community of Ireland (RCI) was decorated by President Klaus Iohannis with the Cultural Merit Order in the rank of Knight, Category F - Promotion of culture, as a sign of "appreciation for the social, cultural, educational and legal activity in the service of the Romanian community in Ireland, contributing to the reinforcement of its national identity in the country of residence." AGERPRES
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NEW YORK  Target, which rolled out its Pride Collection at the start of May, is pulling some products from its stores after facing customer backlash, saying it was acting to protect employee safety, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.

Target Corp. is offering more than 2,000 products, including clothing, books, music and home furnishings as part of its Pride Collection. The items include gender fluid mugs, queer all year calendars and books for children aged 2-8 titled Bye Bye, Binary, Pride 1,2,3 and Im not a girl.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and wellbeing while at work, Target said in a statement.

Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior, the Minneapolis-based retailer said.

Target has been celebrating Pride Month for more than a decade. But this years collection has led to an increase in confrontations between customers and employees and incidents of Pride merchandise being thrown on the floor, Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda said.

Targets action comes on the heels of a conservative backlash against Bud Light, after brewer Anheuser-Busch promoted the beer on social media last month with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The products Target is withdrawing are being removed from all its U.S. stores and from its website, Castaneda said.

While various Pride Collection products are under review, the only ones now being removed are the LGBTQ brand Abprallen, which has come under scrutiny for its association with British designer Eric Carnell.

Carnell has faced social media backlash for designing merchandise with images of pentagrams, horned skulls and other Satanic products.

A search for Abprallen merchandise on Target.com on Tuesday showed 0 results.

Screenshots and posts on social media show that Target previously sold a $25 slogan sweater with the words cure transphobia not trans people and an $18 too queer for here tote bag.

Target is also reviewing certain transgender swimsuits and childrens merchandise, Castaneda said, but no decision on those products has yet been made.

For example, a swimsuit sold in the womens section has come under scrutiny for the way its fit was described, as tuck friendly, highlighted its ability to supposedly tuck male genitalia.

A Fox News report earlier on Tuesday said that some Target stores in Southern states were shifting Pride-related merchandise away from the front of stores. An employee at a Target store in Arkansas told Reuters that they had shifted Pride-related swimsuits deeper into the store.

We had swimsuits in the front.... but now they are in a random area in the back now, the employee, who did not wish to be named, said. We started shifting the merchandise on Sunday.
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When John Mestas ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they hit paradise, he said.

There was so much water, they thought it would never end, Mestas said of the agricultural region at the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Now decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, are making the valley desperately dry  and appear to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

Like a third of people who live in this high alpine desert, Mestas relies on a private well that draws from an aquifer for drinking water. And, like many farmers there, he taps an aquifer to water the alfalfa that feeds his 550 cows.

Water is everything here, he said.

Mestas, 71, is now one of the hundreds of well owners participating in a study that tackles the question: How does drought affect not just the quantity, but the quality, of water?

The study, led by Kathy James, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, focuses on arsenic in private drinking wells. Arsenic, a carcinogen that occurs naturally in soil, has been appearing in rising levels in drinking water in the valley, she said. In California, Mexico, and Vietnam, research has linked rising arsenic levels in groundwater to drought and the overpumping of aquifers.

As the West grapples with a megadrought that has lasted more than two decades, and states risk cutbacks in water from the shrinking Colorado River, the San Luis Valley offers clues to what the future may hold.

Nationwide, about 40 million people rely on domestic wells, estimated Melissa Lombard, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Nevada, Arizona, and Maine have the highest percentage of domestic well users  ranging from about a quarter to a fifth of well users  using water with elevated arsenic levels, she found in a separate study.

During drought, the number of people in the contiguous U.S. exposed to elevated arsenic from domestic wells may rise from about 2.7 million to 4.1 million, Lombard estimated, using statistical models.

Arsenic has been shown to affect health across the human life span, beginning with sperm and eggs, James said. Even a small exposure, added up over the course of a persons life, is enough to cause health problems, she said.

In a previous study in the valley, James found that lifetime exposure to low levels of inorganic arsenic in drinking water, between 10 and 100 micrograms per liter, or g/L, was linked to a higher risk of coronary heart disease. Other research has tied chronic exposure to low-level arsenic to hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Pregnant women and children are at greater risk for harm.

The World Health Organization sets the recommended limit on arsenic in drinking water at 10 g/L, which is also the U.S. standard for public water supplies. But research has shown that, even at 5 g/L, arsenic is linked to higher rates of skin lesions.

I think its a problem that a lot of people are not aware of, Lombard said. Climate change is probably going to impact water quality, she said, but more research is needed to understand how and why.

A Hotbed of Hope

The San Luis Valley, which has hosted a wealth of research and innovation, is the ideal place to explore those questions  and potential solutions.

Known for its stunning mountain views and the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, the valley spans a region roughly the size of Massachusetts, making it North Americas largest alpine valley. Rich in Indigenous, Mexican, and Spanish heritage, the valley contains 500,000 acres of irrigated land producing potatoes, alfalfa for hay, and beer barley for Coors. Its home to nearly 50,000 people, many of them farmworkers and about half of them Hispanic. Its also a challenging place to live: Counties here rank among the poorest in the state, and rates of diabetes, kidney disease, and depression run high.

Since it rains very little, about 7 inches a year on average, farmers rely on two large aquifers and the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which continues on to Mexico. Snowmelt from the looming Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges recharges the supply each spring. But as the climate warms, theres less snow, and water evaporates more quickly than usual from the ground and crops.

This entire community, this culture, was built around irrigated agriculture, said state Sen. Cleave Simpson of Alamosa, a Republican and a fourth-generation farmer. But since 2002, the valleys unconfined aquifer has lost 1 million acre-feet of water  or enough to cover 1 million acres of land in water 1 foot deep  due to persistent drought and overuse. Now the communities in the valley face a deadline to replenish the aquifer, or face a state shutdown of hundreds of irrigation wells.

Were a decade ahead of whats happening in the rest of Colorado because of the intensity of water scarcity, said Simpson, who manages the Rio Grande Water Conservation District.

This is not drought anymore  this is truly the aridification of the West, Simpson said. Thats how scientists are describing a long-term trend toward persistent dryness that can be stopped only by addressing human-caused climate change.

James, who is an epidemiologist and engineer, has been studying links between climate and health in the valley for the past 15 years. She found that during dust storms in the San Luis Valley, which have been growing more frequent, more people visit the hospital for asthma attacks. And she has surveyed farmworkers on how drought is affecting their mental health.

In the domestic well study, James is focusing on arsenic, which she said has been gradually increasing in valley drinking wells over the past 50 years. Arsenic levels in San Luis Valley groundwater are markedly higher than [in] many other areas of the U.S., according to James. She is also investigating ethnic disparities, as one study there showed Hispanic adults had higher levels of arsenic in their urine than non-Hispanic white adults did. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)

James now aims to test 1,000 private wells in the valley to explore the connections between drought, water quality, and health. So far, she said, a small proportion of wells show elevated levels of heavy metals, including arsenic, uranium, tungsten, and manganese, which occur naturally in the soil. Unlike public water supplies, private domestic wells are not regulated, and they may go untested for years. James is offering participants free water testing and consultation on the results.

In Conejos County, John Mestas daughter, Angie Mestas, jumped at the chance for a free test, which would cost $195 at a local lab. Angie, a 35-year-old schoolteacher, said she used a lifetime of savings to drill a drinking well on her plot of land, a wide-open field of chamisa with sweeping views of the San Luis Hills. But she wont drink from it until she tests for arsenic and E. coli, which are common in the area. As she awaits test results, she has been hauling 5-gallon jugs of water from her fathers house each time she spends the weekend at her newly constructed yurt.

A Colorless, Odorless Threat

Meanwhile, Julie Zahringer, whose family settled in the valley from Spain nearly 400 years ago, has been watching water-quality trends firsthand. Zahringer, 47, grew up driving a tractor on her grandfathers ranch near San Luis, Colorados oldest town  and hanging out in the lab with her mother, a scientist.

As a chemist and laboratory director of SDC Laboratory in Alamosa, Zahringer tests private and public drinking water in the valley. She estimated that 25% of the private wells tested by her lab show elevated arsenic.

Its colorless, its odorless, Zahringer said. Most families dont know if theyre drinking arsenic.

To Zahringer, the link to climate seems clear: During dry periods, a well that usually hovers around 10 g/L of arsenic may easily double or triple in concentration, she said. One possible reason is that theres less water to dilute the natural contaminants in the soil, though other factors are at play. The arsenic levels used to be fairly stable, she said, but after 20 years of drought, theyre fluctuating wildly.

Now, more and more rapidly, Im seeing the same well that I just tested three years ago  it doesnt even look like the same well because levels of contaminants have risen so much, said Zahringer, who also serves as a member of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission. At her own drinking well, the arsenic level jumped from 13 to 20 g/L this year, she said.

Zahringers observations are important firsthand anecdotes. James aims to explore, in a rigorous scientific study with a representative sample of wells and extensive geochemical data, the prevalence of arsenic and its connection to drought.

Research is still in the early stages, but scientists have several hypotheses for how drought could affect arsenic in drinking water.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a major agricultural hub in California, research led by hydrologist Ryan Smith linked rising arsenic in groundwater to land subsidence, a phenomenon first documented in Vietnam.

Land subsidence  when the ground sinks due to aquifer overpumping  appears to release arsenic from the clay into the water, said Smith, an assistant professor at Colorado State University. In California, the overpumping was strongly correlated to drought, he said.

However, other factors, such as how deep a well is, also play a role: Another study of the same California aquifer system found that while arsenic increased in deeper groundwater, it decreased in shallower water due in part to oxidation.

Smith is now working with James in the San Luis Valley study, where he hopes a wealth of geochemical data will offer more answers.

Meanwhile, community leaders in the valley are adapting in impressive and innovative ways, James said.

Zahringer said if arsenic shows up in a private well, she encourages clients to install reverse osmosis water filtration at the kitchen sink. The equipment costs about $300 from an outside supplier, though filters costing less than $50 may need to be changed every six to 18 months, she said. People who treat their water for arsenic should continue to test every six months to make sure the filters are effective, said Zahringer. SDC Laboratory offers an arsenic test for $25.

People dont want to test their water because it tastes good and their grandpa drank it, she said. But the cure for it is so easy.

A water-quality campaign in 2009, led by the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, also found elevated arsenic in wells across the valley. As part of its outreach, the nonprofit worked with real estate agents to make sure that domestic wells are tested before someone buys a home.

Thats what Sally Wier did when she bought a house five years ago on an 8-acre plot in Rio Grande County surrounded by fields of barley and alfalfa. The first time she tested her well, the arsenic level was 47 g/L, nearly five times the EPAs limit. Wier installed a reverse osmosis water filtration system, but she said the arsenic level rises before she changes the filters every few months.

It makes me really anxious, said Wier, 38. Im probably ingesting arsenic. That is not good for long-term health.

Wier is one of many people working on innovative solutions to the water shortage. As a conservation project manager for Colorado Open Lands, she worked on a deal by which a local farmer, Ron Bowman, was paid to stop irrigating his 1,800-acre farm. The deal marks the first time in the country that a conservation easement has been used to save groundwater for aquifer replenishment, Wier said.

Funneling Money Toward a Solution

In Costilla County, the Move Mountains Youth Project has been paying local farmers, through a government grant, to convert a portion of their land to grow vegetables instead of water-intensive alfalfa. Farmers then train youth to grow crops like broccoli, spinach, and bolita beans, which are sold at a local grocery store. The project aims to nurture the next generation of farmers, and beat diabetes by providing locally grown food, said executive director Shirley Romero Otero. Her group worked with three farmers last summer and plans to work with seven this season, if enough water is available, she said.

In another effort, farmers like the Mestas are taxing themselves to draw water from their own irrigation wells. And Simpson, of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, recently secured $30 million in federal money to support water conservation. The plan includes paying farmers $3,000 per acre-foot of water to permanently retire their irrigation wells.

Since arsenic is not limited to private wells, public agencies have responded, too: The city of Alamosa built a new water treatment plant in 2008 to bring its arsenic levels into compliance with federal standards. In 2020, the state of Colorado sued an Alamosa mushroom farm for exposing its workers to arsenic in tap water.

At the High Valley Park mobile home community in Alamosa County, a well serving 85 people has exceeded legal arsenic levels since 2006, when the Environmental Protection Agency tightened its standard from 50 to 10 g/L. At the most recent test in February, the concentration was 19 g/L.

On an April afternoon, four children bounced on a trampoline and chased one another up a tree.

Uncle, Im thirsty and theres no bottled water left, said one child, catching her breath.

The well serves 28 households. But tenants from five homes said they havent been drinking the water for years, not because of arsenic  which some said they were not aware of  but because the water often comes out brown.

Eduardo Rodriguez, 29, who works in excavation, said he buys two cases of bottled water every week for his wife and five children.

It needs to be fixed, he said.

The water sucks, agreed Craig Nelson, 51, who has lived in the mobile home park for two years. You dont drink it. Because the well serves at least 25 people, it is regulated by the state.

Landlord Rob Treat, of Salida, bought the property in February 2022 for nearly half a million dollars. Getting arsenic within federal standards has been difficult, he said, because arsenic levels fluctuate when nearby farmers tap the aquifer to irrigate their crops. Treat was using chlorine to convert one kind of arsenic into a more treatable form. But if he added too much chlorine, he said, that created its own toxic byproducts, which have also drawn regulators attention.

Under pressure from the state, Treat began upgrading the water treatment system in May, at a cost of $150,000. To cover the cost, he said, he aims to raise the monthly rent from $250 to $300 per lot.

If the state would stay out of it, he grumbled, we could supply affordable housing.

Meanwhile, John Mestas is still awaiting results on his drinking well.

When he returns from traveling to manage his cattle herd, the first thing I do whenever I walk in the house is drink me two glasses of this water, Mestas said. Thats the one thing I miss, is my water and my dogs. Theyre jumping all over me while Im drinking my water. I dont know whos happier, me drinking the water or them jumping on me.

This article was supported by The Water Desk, an independent journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado-Boulders Center for Environmental Journalism.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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WATERVILLE, Maine (AP)  Firefighting foam used in battling a fatal fire in an apartment building entered the public water system, prompting the water district to temporarily order thousands of residents not to drink the water.

The do-not-drink order went into effect Monday for about 9,000 Kennebec Water District customers in Waterville, Winslow, Benton, Fairfield and Vassalboro, and was lifted Tuesday afternoon following testing. People were advised to flush their water lines by running taps for 3 to 5 minutes  or longer if odors or foaming was present.

The foam used by Waterville firefighters is presumed to contain PFAS chemicals, a group of compounds that are widespread, dangerous and expensive to remove from drinking water, but the foam is advertised as being free of fluorine, a toxic element sometimes used in firefighting foam, said fire Capt. Edward Moult.

While the extent of the contamination is unclear, out of an abundance of caution, Kennebec Water District is issuing a system-wide Do Not Drink Order, the water district announced Monday.

The foam entered the public water distribution system as firefighters battled a blaze in an apartment building for seniors. One person was killed and several others were injured Monday.

Officials didn't say how the foam entered the public water supply. Newer buildings have a special valve to prevent firefighters' water or foam from flowing back into the public water system, Moult said. The status of such a system on the seven-story apartment building, constructed in 1972, was unclear.

Water samples that were taken Tuesday morning were being delivered to a lab in southern Maine for analysis, and the water district consulted with state health officials before lifting the do-not-drink order.
WHO member states voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn the devastating health impacts triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, exactly 15 months into the war.

Related Strike on Ukrainian maternity hospital kills newborn

A resolution adopted at the World Health Organization's annual decision-making assembly in Geneva demanded that Moscow immediately cease all attacks on hospitals in Ukraine and voiced concern for wider health impacts in the region.

Member states backed the text by 80 votes to nine, with 52 abstentions.

The assembly voted "to condemn in the strongest terms the Russian Federation's continued aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on health care facilities... as well as widespread attacks on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure".

The resolution was brought forward by Ukraine and 42 other states.

All 27 European Union countries co-sponsored the text, except Hungary, which was absent from the vote.

Besides Russia, the countries voting against the draft resolution included Algeria, Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea and Syria.

The resolution voiced "serious concerns over the continued health emergency in Ukraine and refugee-receiving and -hosting countries, triggered by the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine".

These concerns included the "risks of radiological, biological and chemical events and hazards" and the exacerbation of the global food security crisis.

The resolution urged Russia to "immediately cease any attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities" and called for unhindered access to people in need of assistance.

Russia and Syria brought forward a draft resolution of their own concerning the "health emergency in and around Ukraine".

It voiced "grave concerns over the ongoing health emergency resulting in conflict-related trauma and injuries" but did not mention Russia in the text.

It was rejected by 62 votes to 13, with 61 abstentions.

The votes were an indicator of international levels of support for Kyiv and Moscow 15 months into Russia's full-scale invasion.

Ukraine's ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko said the backing for Kyiv's resolution was "a sign of hope for more than 14 million Ukrainians in need of health assistance" and a show of solidarity with the country's health workers.

She said the vote showed Moscow that "attacks on health care on a massive scale are not tolerated".

Russia's representative Vera Khutorskaya told the assembly that the adopted resolution was "full of lies".

"We are against lies and the politicisation of the work of the WHO," she said.

The WHO has verified 974 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since the invasion, resulting in 101 deaths and 136 injuries. Some 873 of those attacks impacted on facilities; 821 involved heavy weapons.

The WHO's surveillance system for attacks on healthcare does not attribute responsibility.

British ambassador Simon Manley said Russia's invasion had caused "immense damage to Ukraine's health system".

US ambassador Sheba Crocker said that "under the thoroughly disingenuous veneer of neutrality, Russia's resolution attempted to absolve the Russian Federation of all responsibility", saying Moscow alone had triggered the health emergency in Ukraine.

Moscow's ally Syria said it "deplores the adoption of this unilateral decision that is motivated by politics and double standards that are sponsored by complicit Western states who created the crisis in Ukraine".

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Oklahoma lawmakers on Tuesday signed off on a $1.05 million settlement with the family of a state prison inmate who died of appendicitis in 2018 despite five visits to the prison's medical staff in the week before his death.

Attorneys for Joshua England's family say the 21-year-old citizen of the Choctaw Nation reported severe abdominal pain and classic appendicitis symptoms that worsened during his five separate visits with medical clinic staff in May 2018.

England's mother, Christina Smith, filed a federal lawsuit against prison officials in 2019, alleging that medical staff at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, Oklahoma, also falsified records after his death. Despite rapid weight loss and worsening symptoms, England was given acid reflux medicine and a laxative but was never given a proper abdominal exam or sent to a nearby medical facility for a surgical evaluation, the lawsuit alleges.

England was to be released in a few months, and he died alone in agonizing pain on the concrete floor of his cellblock, caused by an entirely treatable and preventable condition, Smith's attorneys said in a statement on Tuesday.

Kay Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation. In response to the lawsuit, attorneys for the state claimed the defendants were acting within the scope of their employment and were therefore improper parties to the claim.

England had been sentenced to 343 days in prison after convictions in 2017 on multiple charges, including taking oil field equipment, fourth-degree arson, contributing to the delinquency of minors and conspiracy, prison records show. England and another man, along with a juvenile, damaged oil field equipment and set some hay bales on fire after a night of drinking, court records show.

If the state of Oklahoma is intent on locking up so many of its citizens for nonviolent offenses, the state needs to devote far more resources and attention to its correctional system to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide basic medical care for people in its custody, Smith's attorneys said.

The Oklahoma Senate approved a resolution on Tuesday authorizing the settlement agreement. That measure now heads to the House for final approval. Such approval is required under state law for any litigation settlement expenditures of more than $250,000.

Follow Sean Murphy on Twitter: @apseanmurphy
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Abortion will soon be severely restricted in one of the last bastions for legal access in the U.S. South.

The South Carolina Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would ban most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy  before most people know they are pregnant  and sent it to the Republican governor who has promised to sign the bill into law as soon as possible.

The proposal restores a 2021 ban that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The ban was overturned by the states highest court because it violated the state Constitutions right to privacy.

South Carolina reported increasing numbers of abortions following that decision, which left abortion legal through 22 weeks of pregnancy, while other Southern states enacted stricter laws.

Abortion is banned or severely restricted in much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, its allowed only in the first six weeks.

Most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the states Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governors veto last week.

A legal fight is widely expected in South Carolina. Vicki Ringer, the director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said Tuesday evening that her organization would file a request for a temporary restraining order after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signs the measure.

Any challenge that reaches the South Carolina Supreme Court would also face a new bench, as the lone woman who authored the leading opinion in the abortion case had reached the courts retirement age.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey expressed confidence the law would stand.

It has been a long and bumpy road but it was an important debate to have," Massey, a Republican, told reporters Tuesday. "Im glad we finally got a resolution on it. Its something thats going to make South Carolina not the abortion destination state of the Southeast and I think thats important.

The move marks the end of a monthslong impasse between the two Republican-led chambers. The South Carolina House backed off a proposal to ban abortion almost entirely at conception and passed the new restrictions last week after nearly 24 hours of debate split across two days. Senators had tried three times to muster the votes necessary for the near-total ban over the past year.

The latest attempt failed last month after the only five women in the 46-member chamber successfully filibustered the proposal. Members of the coalition known as the sister senators  three Republicans, one Democrat and one independent  again fought the new bill.

In blistering speeches, the three Republican women said the six-week ban did not give women enough time to make a decision. They urged other members of their party to adopt a 12-week abortion ban instead in what Sen. Katrina Shealy called a real compromise."

We in the South Carolina Legislature are not God. We do not know whats going on in somebody elses life. We do not have the right to make decisions for someone else, Shealy said.

Shealy and Republican Sen. Penry Gustafson had voted for an earlier version of the six-week ban but said they could not support changes inserted by the House. Shealy criticized a new requirement that biological fathers make child support payments beginning at conception as ridiculousness. House Republicans also axed a provision expressly allowing minors to petition the court for an abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Republican Sen. Sandy Senn denounced new sections permitting civil lawsuits against doctors who violate the proposal and mandating that patients sign an additional form attesting that they had the chance to view the ultrasound. She called the latter requirement an intimidation tactic that is piling up the paperwork on women.

Massey insisted the differences were not significant and largely technical changes necessary to satisfy one South Carolina Supreme Court justice who previously voted with the court's 3-2 majority to strike the last ban.

The bill includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patients life and health, and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. Doctors could face felony charges carrying up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Senates 15 Democrats, unified against both abortion bans, have largely let the Republican majority debate the issue among themselves. As they have before, Democrats suggested Tuesday that voters should decide the matter. Opponents have also argued that South Carolinas high maternal mortality rates  with even poorer outcomes among Black patients  would grow worse under the new restrictions.

The three Republican women joined every Democrat in voting against the bill.

I'm conflicted because I want to reduce abortions but I don't want to eliminate women's and mother's rights, Gustafson told reporters after the vote.

Just like when they first entered the state House on Tuesday, the women of the Senate were greeted with rousing applause from the dozen remaining abortion rights supporters as they exited the chamber. All five donned buttons that read elect more women.

Independent Sen. Mia McLeod said she was disheartened that a male-dominated chamber voted on a bill that would have a "devastating impact on women and girls for generations.

We should be initiating the discussions because we're the only ones who have firsthand knowledge about what it takes not only to give birth but to raise a child, she told The Associated Press.

While those discussions may be over this session, some of the most ardent abortion opponents in both chambers are already looking ahead to the 2024 elections.

Republican Sen. Richard Cash acknowledged the Senate's current makeup lacked the votes for a stricter proposal but vowed that the fight will continue to outlaw all abortions. If he wins reelection, he said there's going to certainly be a renewed effort to protect life at an earlier point in time.

Shealy, a Republican who rejected assertions that she is a baby killer in her floor speech, cited conversations with real people in her conservative district as the impetus for her decision.

I didnt get elected to get reelected. I got elected to do the right thing," said Shealy.

This story version substitutes the 12th paragraph to correct that the Republican women senators argued against a six-week ban as not giving women enough time to make a decision, not 12 weeks.
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TUESDAY, May 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Social media presents a profound risk to young brains, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned on Tuesday.

In a report, Murthy warned about the risks of social media use for young people and called on policymakers, tech companies, researchers and parents to urgently take action."

There are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, Murthy said.

The full effect of social media isnt well understood, he noted.

Adolescents are not just smaller adults, Murthy told The New York Times. Theyre in a different phase of development, and theyre in a critical phase of brain development.

Among the concerns are that if kids are using social media frequently they may actually be altering their developing brains, specifically in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. These are important for emotional learning, emotional regulation, impulse control and social behavior. This could increase sensitivity to social rewards and punishments, the report stated.

Reaction to the report was enthusiastic.

Todays children and teens do not know a world without digital technology, but the digital world wasnt built with childrens healthy mental development in mind. We need an approach to help children both on and offline that meets each child where they are while also working to make the digital spaces they inhabit safer and healthier. The Surgeon Generals Advisory calls for just that approach, Dr. Sandy Chung, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a news release from Murthy.

The report comes at a time when there is an ongoing mental health crisis among U.S. teens. The American Psychological Association has recommended that parents monitor teen social media usage, the Times reported.

Social media can have both positives and negatives for teens, including connection with others on the plus side and extreme, inappropriate and harmful content, including self-harming behavior, as a clear downside.

In early adolescence, when identities and sense of self-worth are forming, brain development is especially susceptible to social pressures, peer opinions and peer comparison, the report stated.

As many as 95% of teens use at least one social media platform, according to the report. More than one-third use it almost constantly, the Times noted.

Most platforms limit usage to age 13 and up, but nearly 40% of kids aged 8 to 12 use social media, according to the report.

Our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment, Murthy wrote in the report. It is critical that independent researchers and technology companies work together to rapidly advance our understanding of the impact of social media on children and adolescents.

Meanwhile, the burden has fallen largely on kids and parents, Murthy said.

Thats a lot to ask of parents  to take a new technology thats rapidly evolving and that fundamentally changes how kids perceive themselves," and ask parents to manage it, Murthy told the Times. So, weve got to do what we do in other areas where we have product safety issues, which is to set in place safety standards that parents can rely on, that are actually enforced.

More information

The American Psychological Association has more on adolescents and social media.

SOURCES: "Social Media and Youth Mental Health," U.S. Surgeon Generals Advisory, May 23, 2023; The New York Times
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(CNN)  The man accused of crashing a U-Haul truck into a security barrier near the White House Monday night praised Adolf Hitler to investigators after his arrest and said that he aimed to kill the President, according to court documents.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, is in custody and has been charged in federal court with one count of depredation of property of the United States in excess of $1,000. US Park Police originally arrested Kandula on several charges, including threatening to kill or harm a president, vice president or family member. Its possible that prosecutors add additional charges as the case progresses.

Kandula, in handcuffs and wearing a t-shirt and shorts, appeared in DC Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, US Park Police told CNN, and was held in custody without bail. He has not yet entered a formal plea in federal court  where his case is expected to continue with an initial appearance on the single charge Wednesday  and a lawyer for him in that case has not yet been named publicly.

The Secret Service said no agency or White House personnel were injured in the incident.

The truck, which carried a Nazi flag among other items, crashed into security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square at 16th Street just before 10 p.m. ET, the US Secret Service said. A preliminary investigation revealed the driver may have intentionally struck the barrier, the agency later said.

Kandula made threatening comments regarding the White House at the scene, including that he wanted to kidnap and harm President Joe Biden, law enforcement sources told CNN.

In court documents unsealed Tuesday, investigators said that a US Park Police officer saw Kandula drive up onto the sidewalk and into metal barriers, sending several pedestrians running. When the truck failed to go through the barriers, Kandula allegedly backed up before striking the barriers a second time.

After the crash, Kandula allegedly removed the flag from a black backpack he was carrying.

In an interview after the arrest, investigators asked Kandula about the Nazi flag he displayed after the crash. The 19-year-old said he bought the flag because Nazis have a great history, adding that he admires their authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order, according to court documents. Investigators wrote that when asked if he looks up to any leaders, Kandula answered Hitler, because he was a strong leader.

Kandula told officers that he had been planning the attack for six months and had flown to Washington from St. Louis earlier that evening, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said Kandula also told officers that he aimed to get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation, and was prepared to kill the President if thats what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.

The White House said Biden was not in danger during the incident. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNNs Kate Bolduan that it was difficult to know for sure what the suspects motivations were and that the incident was still being investigated.

Video taken by a witness showed the 26-foot moving truck stopped on the sidewalk near Lafayette Square before the driver accelerates and crashes into a set of security bollards that ring the White House complex to prevent unauthorized vehicular traffic.

After the crash, the truck was searched by bomb technicians and no explosives or incendiary devices were found, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Video from CNN affiliate WUSA shows a remotely operated police robot approaching the rear of the truck and lifting the cargo door, followed by an FBI bomb technician who inspected the vehicle. A Park Police officer was later seen taking inventory of the U-Haul truck, packing up several pieces of evidence.

The incident prompted road closures as authorities investigated the crash, and the nearby Hay-Adams hotel was evacuated at the request of the Secret Service, a hotel employee told CNN. The hotel guests and employees were allowed back in when police deemed it safe a short time later.

The FBIs National Capital Response Squad is assisting Park Police and the Secret Service in the investigation.

Agents from the US Secret Service and the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force Tuesday executed a federal search warrant at Kandulas Missouri home, according to a federal law enforcement official. They searched for notes, computers or any evidence of planning that led up to or motive behind Mondays events.

Former high school classmates of Kandula described him as quiet and someone who didnt get into trouble.

Errion Barfield, a former classmate of Kandulas at Marquette High School, described him as a good dude who never got in trouble and never made a scene in school.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

The-CNN-Wire

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WASHINGTON  The Chesterfield teen accused of an attempted attack on the White House earlier this week will remain jailed without bond for at least a few more days.

Police say Marquette High School grad Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, intentionally smashed a U-Haul truck into a barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square around 10 p.m. Monday in an effort to seize power and be put in charge of the nation. The truck stopped about 800 feet from the White House.

Kandula was arrested on multiple charges including threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a president, vice president or member of their family; assault with a dangerous weapon; reckless driving; destruction of federal property; and trespassing.

The teenager appeared in front of a federal judge Wednesday afternoon, according to court records. His lawyer is federal public defender Diane Shrewsbury.

Judge Robin Meriweather ordered Kandula held without bond until a detention hearing next Tuesday.

Police said Kandula outlined his plans in an interview with authorities. He said he admires Nazis authoritarian nature, eugenics, and their one-world order, according to court documents, and he pulled a red and white swastika flag out of his backpack after the crash.

He told investigators he admired Adolf Hitler because he was a strong leader and he believes Nazis have a great history, according to the affidavit. Kandula said hed been planning for six months to take over the nation, and would kill the president if thats what I have to do and hurt anyone that would stand in my way.

Authorities said the teenager flew into Washington, D.C., from St. Louis with a one-way ticket Monday evening and rented the truck before the attempted attack.

Kandulas family lives in a new subdivision near Wild Horse Creek Road in Chesterfield, in a two-story brick home on a street named Patchwork Fields overlooking a private lake and a playground.

On Wednesday, the house was quiet and no one answered the door for a reporter. Three SUVs with men inside sat outside the home.

Five pairs of shoes waited on the familys front porch Tuesday. On Wednesday, just one pair of sandals sat outside the front door.
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UPDATED with name of victim

ST. LOUIS  The man was shot to death Tuesday in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis has been identified as 39-year-old Nichalaus Kaznoch.

Kaznoch was shot about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday at the Toronto Apartments, 4398 West Pine Boulevard. He lived at that address.

Kaznoch was shot in the chest and taken to a hospital, where he died.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man in the killing.

The scene on West Pine is west of North Boyle Avenue and between Forest Park Avenue and Lindell Boulevard.

St. Louis has already had 61 homicides this year, as of Monday.

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ST. LOUIS  A man shot and killed in a Central West End apartment hallway on Tuesday identified the shooter's apartment number before he died, according to charging documents.

Kevin Smallwood, 23, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 39-year-old Nichalaus Kaznoch.

Kaznoch was shot in the chest about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday in a common hallway of the Toronto Apartments, 4398 West Pine Boulevard, where both he and the suspect lived.

A witness told police he heard the shots and went into the hallway, where he saw someone running away. The witness said Kaznoch told him the shooter lived in a nearby unit before Kaznoch died at a hospital.

Smallwood was spotted on surveillance video running from the building. Police eventually found him in a different unit in the same building and arrested him.

He had a backpack that held a bag with what police suspected to be heroin and a gun with blood on the barrel.

The complex on West Pine is west of North Boyle Avenue and between Forest Park Avenue and Lindell Boulevard.

Smallwood was denied bail on Tuesday.

Learn about homicide victims and regional trends with this database Learn about homicide victims and regional trends with this database from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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ST. LOUIS  St. Louis Lambert International Airport planners have received initial federal approval for an estimated $2.8 billion plan to consolidate its two terminals into one new, single passenger concourse and replace the parking garage with a larger version, among other improvements, officials announced Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the airports master plan laying out changes designed to meet an anticipated increase in air travel demand, plus stakeholder and public input calling for a more streamlined passenger experience, more parking space, a simpler roadway, and more concession and retail offerings.

The master plan reaches through 2040, when airport officials predict serving about 21 million passengers a year  an increase of roughly 34% over 2019, the most recent peak year for travel before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Construction is far off, however, as are more detailed designs. The FAA approval is conditional on an environmental review over the next year and the airport will have to negotiate leases with airlines. If successful, Lambert officials could issue a request for proposals for a firm to begin drawing up architectural designs in 2024, Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said Wednesday.

The changes are not a done deal, but airlines have been supportive of the plan for a new, more efficient terminal with gates better suited to modern aircraft, she said.

They see the need, Hamm-Niebruegge said.

The plan calls for turning the existing Terminal 1 into a new, larger concourse for all passenger traffic with 62 gates instead of the 54 scattered across Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

The current ticketing area, a hallmark since the terminal opened in 1956, would be reconfigured and connect to the new concourse with one, large security checkpoint that would replace the current two. The four iconic domes atop the ticketing area would be renovated.

Terminal 2, which opened in 1998, would be repurposed for another use to be decided at a later date. The terminal is currently used by Southwest Airlines, Lamberts dominant carrier.

The plan also calls for a new, larger parking garage in place of the existing garage and road improvements around the airport and off Interstate 70.

The new terminal could increase space for concessions and retail by about 60%; the new parking garage could have as many as 8,000 spaces, up from the current 2,000 spots, Hamm-Niebruegge said.

The estimated $2.8 billion cost would be offset with a combination of bond sales repaid by airline fees, increased revenues from the additional parking, concession and retail sales, federal grants and existing passenger facility charges tacked on to airline tickets.

The FAA requires every airport to develop a master plan and update it every eight to 10 years.

Switching to a single terminal also was recommended in a 2012 Lambert master plan and in 2019 by a group of consultants hired by a city panel that explored leasing Lambert to private companies and using some of the revenue to upgrade the airport.

Then-Mayor Lyda Krewson in late 2019 abruptly stopped that process, citing a lack of broad support, including from the business community. Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is a longtime opponent of privatizing Lambert.
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JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Mike Parsons administration is easing training guidelines for nursing aides in an attempt to address a labor shortage in Missouri hospitals.

An emergency rule change posted Wednesday by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services would double the time unlicensed assistive personnel have to undergo training in hopes of drawing more aides into the workforce.

This emergency amendment is necessary to address significant labor shortages in the hospital industry to ensure the continued provision of safe, effective care, the rule notes.

Nursing aides are a key component of the health care industry. They take vital signs, perform minor first aid, help with cleaning, bathing, feeding and clothing patients. And, because they are not full-fledged nurses, they are less expensive to employ.

The training change is based partly on a 2022 Missouri Hospital Association report that said turnover among nursing assistants is among the top 10 hospital professions with the highest employee vacancy rate and turnover rate.

The vacancy rate for registered nurses, who make up the largest percentage of hospital employees in Missouri, was 17.4% in 2022, up from 11% in 2020.

Nationally, the COVID-19 pandemic also worsened shortages across the country as an estimated 420,000 nursing home workers left the workforce since 2020, according to a report by the National Council on State Legislatures.

At the same time, the demand for care is growing as the population ages and as medical advancements allow providers to do more for their patients.

In response, St. Louis-area health systems are working with nursing schools to add faculty and establish scholarship programs. Hospitals also are attempting to attract workers by offering more flexible schedules and shifting some patient care tasks from nurses to nursing aides.

The rule, which goes into effect June 6 and will run through the end of 2023, would give unlicensed nursing aides 180 days to complete a training program, up from the current 90 day requirement.

It follows a similar waiver that was put in place during the pandemic in an attempt to address crowded hospitals that had fewer workers.

The department is not aware of any negative events resulting from the waiver of the ninety-day completion requirement, the rule said.

Part of the extension is tied to an increase in training programs that offer college credit for courses meeting the requirements, which take longer than 90 days to complete.

The rule change could have an impact on the states rural areas, where a recent report found that there are 80 nurses per 10,000 residents in rural counties, compared with 166 nurses per 10,000 residents in metropolitan counties. Thats up from rates of 77 and 156 per 10,000, respectively, in 2020.

In the recently completed legislative session, lawmakers sent Parson a proposed change in law aimed at addressing a health care shortage in rural areas.

The measure allows an advanced practice registered nurse to practice with a doctor in a larger geographic area. Currently, an APRN must stay within a 75-mile radius of their attending doctor. The law would expand that to 200 miles.

The proposed state budget also earmarks $3.9 million to address health care staffing shortage by increasing the number of certified nurse assistant training programs in colleges and technical schools.
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NORMANDY  A new state-of-the-art laboratory on the site of what was a nearly 150-year-old convent will house dozens of U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists now based at an aging federal complex on Goodfellow Boulevard.

Officials with the USDA and the federal General Services Administration held a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday to kick off construction on the future Midwest Laboratory for the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service. The site, at 7626 Natural Bridge Road, is the former Immaculate Heart Convent, which had been owned by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd since 1874.

The convent began winding down in 2018 due to the age of the building and the nuns who lived there. Last year, the Roman Catholic order sold the property to Kansas City-based U.S. Federal Properties Co., a firm that specializes in developing and leasing properties to the federal government.

The federal GSA, which manages federal properties and provides other business services for the government, signed a 20-year lease worth $115 million for the new laboratory on behalf of the USDA Food Safety service.

At GSA, we want all federal spaces to empower employees to do their best work, bolster the missions of agencies like USDA, and support the local community, GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, a former Missouri Secretary of State appointed by President Joe Biden to run the GSA in 2021, said in a statement. This partnership with USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service and the community of Normandy is going to help ensure that federal employees have a safe, state-of-the-art, and sustainable facility where they can continue to provide great service to the American people.

Carnahan was scheduled to appear at the groundbreaking along with USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service Administrator Paul Kiecker and Normandy Mayor Mark Beckmann.

The Food Safety Inspection Services roughly 60 employees at its St. Louis-based Midwest Laboratory are expected to move to the new facility in mid-2025.

The Midwest Laboratory is currently housed in the nearby Goodfellow Federal Center in north St. Louis. GSA officials are in the process of winding down operations at the 23-building campus built in 1941 after a damning 2019 federal audit substantiated concerns about lead and asbestos health hazards at the complex and prompted complaints from union leaders.

GSA in 2020 signed a 20-year lease to move 1,000 workers  about half of the workforce at the Goodfellow complex  to the Metropolitan Square building downtown. About 1,500 of the Goodfellow workers were USDA employees, though employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Social Security Administration also worked from the site.

More than 1,000 government workers from contaminated Goodfellow Federal Complex will move to downtown St. Louis The move comes after concerns about exposure to lead, asbestos, and other hazardous substances have gone ignored for decades at the Goodfellow site.

The St. Louis Food Safety and Inspection Service lab is one of just three in the country, and the new lab will sit next to the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus and a MetroLink station.

This is the first FSIS laboratory construction in recent years where we have been able to participate in the top-to-bottom design process to specifically meet our needs, Kiecker, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service administrator, said in a statement. This new facility will advance FSIS operational excellence, increase our overall efficiency because of our close proximity to a major airport, and enable us to recruit the next generation of talented employees from St. Louis colleges and universities.

Federal Properties Co. tapped Des Peres-based McCarthy Building Companies for the construction project. McCarthy has experience building federal facilities including the under-construction western headquarters of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in north St. Louis.

The building is currently in design and expected to begin construction next year.
Lebanon's public prosecutor Monday summoned the country's embattled central bank governor for questioning following an international arrest warrant issued against him in France over corruption charges, judicial officials said.

Riad Salameh is to answer the summons later this week, although no specific date was given.

France, Germany and Luxembourg are investigating Salameh and his associates over myriad alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on May 16 issued an international arrest warrant, or Interpol red notice, for the 72-year-old Salameh after he failed to show up in Paris for questioning.

Officials in Beirut said that Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat will formally ask France to hand over the governor's case files to decide on future measures against Salameh.

Asked whether it is possible to hand the former governor over to France, the officials  who spoke on condition of anonymity  said Lebanon does not hand its citizens to foreign countries and the case will be overseen in Lebanon. They added that once Oueidat receives the case files from France, he will decide whether Salameh should face justice in Lebanon or elsewhere.

In 2020, the Lebanese prosecution received two Interpol red notices for tycoon Carlos Ghosn, who faced financial misconduct charges in Japan. Ghosn remains in Lebanon.

Salameh has repeatedly denied all corruption allegations, saying he made his wealth from his years working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, inherited properties, and investments. He said he would only resign if convicted of a crime. He also said last week he plans to appeal the Interpol red notice.

The officials said French authorities have set May 31, as the day to question Salamehs brother, Raja, in France and the governors close associate Marianne Hoayek on June 13.

Reports have circulated that the Lebanese central bank had hired Forry Associates Ltd., a brokerage firm owned by Raja, to handle government bond sales from which the firm received $330 million in commissions.

Riad Salameh, a Lebanese-French citizen, has held his post for almost 30 years, but says he intends to step down after his current term ends in July.

The three European governments in March 2022 froze over $130 million in assets linked to the probe. During a visit to Lebanon in March, the European delegation questioned Salameh about the Lebanese central banks assets and investments outside the country, a Paris apartment  which the governor owns  and his brothers brokerage firm.

Once hailed as the guardian of Lebanons financial stability, Salameh since has been heavily blamed for Lebanons financial meltdown. Many say he precipitated the economic crisis, which has plunged three-quarters of Lebanons population of 6 million into poverty.

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JEFFERSON CITY  As Missouri attorney general and candidate for U.S. Senate, Eric Schmitt pursued an aggressive strategy targeting the Biden administration and local governments.

He filed 25 lawsuits against the federal government in 20 months, sued dozens of Missouri school districts in his crusade to stamp out masking rules, and took the unusual step of using the Sunshine Law to mine records associated with forces at odds with his administration.

But many of the people who worked behind the scenes to advance Schmitts agenda have bolted in the first five months of new Attorney General Andrew Baileys tenure, raising questions about Baileys approach as he seeks a full term in 2024.

Bailey, like his predecessor, has pushed himself into the news, leading the charge to oust St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner and to cut off medical care for transgender people. Results have been mixed. While Gardner was forced out earlier this month, Baileys legal team lost several preliminary court decisions and withdrew the transgender medical restrictions before further action in the case.

But even as Bailey serves up red meat to the Republican base, he has yet to clear the GOP primary field in 2024. A challenger is looking to make the case that Bailey has departed from Schmitts approach, and that Baileys headline-grabbing actions mask less-popular decisions that havent generated as much notice.

Former federal prosecutor Will Scharf, who announced in March he was seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general, has hired Axiom Strategies, which has a long history of working for Schmitts campaigns, and has netted donations from conservative heavy-hitters such as Federalist Society founder Leonard Leo and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey.

While some of Baileys moves have been widely publicized, others havent, such as his decision to no longer represent the Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety in an illegal gambling lawsuit.

Two companies suing the Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety  Torch Electronics and Warrenton Oil  gave thousands of dollars to political action committees, which then gave to Baileys election effort.

Taxpayers are now paying a private attorney to represent the Highway Patrol.

Scharfs campaign criticized the move, with a spokesman calling it ridiculous that taxpayer dollars will now have to be spent on hiring private lawyers to defend the public interest due to the attorney generals decision to accept campaign contributions from parties adverse to the state and from their lobbyists.

Another action that has caught the attention of Republican observers includes Baileys pledge that he did not intend to use the Sunshine Law as an offensive tool like Schmitt, the Warren County Record reported March 16.

Departures

Since Bailey took over in January, the attorney generals office has seen several high-profile departures, including Solicitor General John Sauer, Deputy Solicitor General Michael Talent, and Deputy Solicitor General Charles Capps.

Sauer and Talent declined interviews for this article; Capps did not respond to a request for comment.

Sauer, hired by the attorney generals office in 2017, left and formed a St. Louis County-based law firm with Justin Smith, who worked as chief of staff to Schmitt.

Talent, son of former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri, now works for the Tennessee attorney general.

Scharf took note of the separations. It is disappointing and worrying that so many good conservatives have left that office in just a few short months, he said.

But a spokeswoman for Bailey dismissed any notion that the departures of Sauer, Talent and Capps had negatively affected the offices ability to pursue original litigation against the Biden administration.

All of the individuals who left their positions had decided to before Attorney General Bailey took office, said Madeline Sieren, spokeswoman for Bailey.

In the last few months alone, we have obtained a preliminary injunction against Bidens overreaching Waters of the United States rule, argued at the United States Supreme Court to halt Bidens unconstitutional student loan bailout, and will be asking the Court for an order to block Bidens blatant violation of the First Amendment in his collusion with Big Tech social media companies to censor speech, the statement said.

But in the cases Sieren mentioned, Missouri was not leading the legal effort or it was spearheaded under Baileys predecessor, Schmitt.

 Missouri is not leading the lawsuit challenging the Waters of the United States rule. West Virginia is leading the case. Missouri was one of 24 states to sign on to the lawsuit.

 The Missouri attorney generals lawsuit challenging the Biden administrations student loan relief was filed during the Schmitt administration and lists Talent as Missouris lead counsel.

 Legal action regarding the Biden administration and social media was initiated in May 2022 under Schmitt and the Louisiana attorney general. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday in Monroe, Louisiana, Sieren said.

In one high-profile case against the Lees Summit School District, both Talent and Capps withdrew as counsel in March and April, respectively, as they were headed out the door.

The Lees Summit School District wants a judge to rule on the attorney generals power over school districts, the Missouri Independent reported.

With Talent and Capps gone, Deputy Solicitor General Maria Ann Lanahan is now representing the state in the case.

Our office has not asked for a single continuance on account of these departures, Sieren said May 8.

The new attorney general has brought on his own staff: former Enterprise Holdings executive Ray Wagner, former St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bill Corrigan, and new Solicitor General Josh Devine.

Sieren highlighted Devines appointment as solicitor general, noting he graduated from Yale Law, clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and served as chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Devines first high-profile court appearance ended in a big loss.

When he tried to move a case challenging Baileys transgender rules to federal court, U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey lectured him on standing instead and denied the motion.

You cant just file something in federal court because you want to be in federal court, Autrey told Divine. There is this little thing called jurisdiction.

Sieren also pointed to a letter Bailey sent to CVS and Walgreens in February that resulted in Walgreens opting not to send abortion pills in the mail. Nineteen other attorneys general signed onto the letter.

Bailey also authored a court brief against the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations decision to permanently allow abortion pills in the mail.

But instead of signing on to Baileys brief, 22 other Republican attorneys general signed on to a similar brief led by Mississippi. Missouri did not sign on to Mississippis brief.

Attorney General Bailey has sufficient staff to have accomplished an incredible amount in his first 130 days in office, Sieren said.
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People facing lifes biggest challenges  from homelessness to hunger  may now seek help from social workers based at five St. Louis County Library branches.

They are the first St. Louis-area libraries to provide social workers, the library says.

Theres little I can think of that we will say no we cant help with that, says Katie Lappe, the new programs lead social worker.

From her office at the Natural Bridge library branch, she will work with social workers at four other libraries: Florissant Valley, Weber Road, Lewis & Clark and Rock Road.

The county library announced Wednesday that the social workers will provide free assistance to connect people with resources and referrals regarding things like child care, health care, parenting resources, housing, food insecurity, substance abuse and jobs. People seeking assistance do not need to live in the county nor do they need a library card.

The library is working in partnership with the countys Childrens Service Fund and Epworth Children & Family Services, which will provide the contracted workers.

Although many library employees may be able to look up a phone number or website for patrons, they also have other responsibilities. The hope is that social workers can spend more time focused on a library users personal challenges, Lappe said.

A social worker may even help a patron call Missouri offices and stay on the line to help answer questions. The worker could also suggest the best places to seek help for a person in crisis or with multiple needs.

We will have the ability and the time to pull someone into an office or quiet room and maybe call a service provider together, Lappe says.

Sometimes we will need an action plan, she said, giving as an example that a birth certificate might be necessary before accessing a service.

The county library, like many libraries, is a gateway for community help in addition to offering books, DVDs for checkout and computers and Wi-Fi services.

The county has provided food, lunches and diapers along with tax assistance, notaries, programs for high school diplomas and classes in endless topics from business start-ups to yoga.

Kristen Sorth, library director and CEO, said one of the librarys goals has been eliminating barriers to social services.

Now, like Book a Genealogist or Book a Librarian, the library website actually offers Book a Social Worker.

The two-year pilot program is financed by grants from St. Louis Countys Childrens Service Fund, the Berges Family Foundation, Incarnate Word Foundation and the St. Louis County Library Foundation. The total cost for two years is $683,035.

The five workers will have masters degrees in social work or a related field.

Sorth said social workers are based in many libraries across the country, usually in big cities such as Denver and Philadelphia. But even rural libraries are seeing more people with high needs and unhoused individuals, she said.

The county library chose to place workers in branches in school districts with high numbers of students who receive free or reduced lunches.

Office hours for the social workers will be Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with limited hours on select Saturdays. Individuals needing assistance can drop in, but if the worker is already busy, the patron can make a later appointment. Voicemails will be answered within 48 hours and hopefully sooner, Lappe said.

Appointments may be requested by completing a form at slcl.org or by calling 314-994-3300.

This is brand new so well have to learn as we go, Lappe said. The realities of need in the community wont be eradicated, of course, but hopefully were providing extra support.
All Things New timeline: Reshaping the Archdiocese of St. Louis

2022

January 2022: Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski unveils the All Things New 18-month initiative to reshape the blueprint of Catholic parishes and schools across the St. Louis region in response to declining numbers of worshipers and priests. After restructuring, the number of parishes is expected to be cut from 178 to about 100.

February: A group of Catholics launches Save Rome of the West to protest All Things New.

March: More than 70,000 Catholics fill out the Disciple Maker Index survey about their worship habits.

August: About 220 local priests gather to discuss initial models of parish restructuring plans.

September: The models are shown to 1,000 lay parish representatives from throughout the archdiocese, who give their feedback. Financial data on each parish is released, offering clues as to which parishes are at risk of closure. The archdiocese announces that St. Marys and Rosati-Kain high schools in St. Louis will close at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

October-November: Hundreds of listening sessions are held at each parish to introduce the draft models to the laity. Bigger-than-expected cuts are floated at the meetings, suggesting the 178 parishes could be cut to between 71 and 90.

November: Decisions on widespread Catholic grade school closures are postponed to the 2024-2025 school year.

December: St. Marys and Rosati-Kain reach deals to lease their buildings from the archdiocese and stay open as independent Catholic high schools. The archdiocese hosts a listening session for Black Catholics to discuss All Things New and the impact on their communities.

2023

January: St. Mark School in south St. Louis County announces its closure prior to the 2023-2024 school year for financial reasons.

February: Second draft models of the restructuring plan show 88 pastorates  groupings of parishes that will share a pastor, Mass times and ministries. The largest consolidations are shown in St. Louis city and rural counties, while many parishes in west St. Louis County will remain standalone or independent.

March: Priests are asked to weigh in on the viability of their parishes, and whether a merger or closure is merited.

April: More than 3,100 Catholics sign petitions calling for the suspension of the All Things New downsizing plan. Families vow to fight the announced closure of Good Shepherd School in Hillsboro. Third draft models of the restructuring plan are released based on feedback from a planning committee made up of priests, deacons, parish staff and lay leaders from across the region.

May: Catholic church leaders are told to prepare for a variety of emotional responses to the release of the parish reorganization plan.

Archbishop Rozanski is scheduled to release the final plan, expected to include dozens of parish consolidations and priest reassignments, on Saturday, May 27.
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FESTUS  Days after videos spread online of a rare cinnamon-colored black bear wandering through Festus, likely the same bear was hit by a car and found dead on Interstate 55.

The crash happened about 9 p.m. Tuesday in an area just south of I-55 north of Festus, according to Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Dallas Thompson.

Troopers found the bear lying dead in the highway, Thompson said. Investigators dont know what type of vehicle hit the bear because the driver left the scene, he said.

The crash happened hours after videos and photos of what appears to be the same bear spread online and were featured by St. Louis TV stations. The footage showed the bear wandering through residential yards in Festus and poking around trash cans as shocked residents filmed.

Dan Zarlenga, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said department staff believes the bear found dead on I-55 was likely the same one. Both had reddish-tinted cinnamon fur, an uncommon color for the species.

Department staff suspects the bear was about 2 or 3 years old and male. The department will take the bears remains to its Wildlife Health Veterinary Lab in Columbia for a complete necropsy and genetic sampling, Zarlenga said in an email.

Festus resident Christina Johnson recorded a video of the bear wandering through her neighborhood early Tuesday just hours before the crash.

So sad. I wish they had just relocated it, Johnson said Wednesday. She said the bear wandered around the area near her house for hours.

In June 2022, another bear found its way into Jefferson County neighborhoods before it, too, was struck and killed on I-55 between Herculaneum and Festus.

I just didnt want it to end up like the last one, and it, unfortunately, came to the same fate, Johnson said. He was just hungry looking for food.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis war on Disney justly blew up in his face last week as the theme-park giant announced it was scrapping an almost $1 billion planned new corporate campus in Orlando, in part because of DeSantis relentless punishment of the company for criticizing his dont say gay policy.

The First Amendment problems with DeSantis cynical vilification of one of his states largest employers have long been obvious. Now it has also cost his state about 2,000 jobs. Its the latest evidence that virtually everything the GOP once stood for, including an unfettered free market, is being sacrificed on the altar of populist pandering.

DeSantis, whose presidential aspirations are now official, has based his coming campaign largely on pushing culture-war buttons in hopes of drawing over supporters of former President Donald Trump. Hes hardly been subtle about it. From undermining and belittling pandemic precautions, to sending southern-border migrants to blue states, to declaring Florida a place where woke goes to die, hes been using his office for a performative appeal the worst instincts of Americas political right.

A key component to that scheme has been DeSantis championing of state legislation to ban discussion in Florida schools of topics that touch on LGBTQ issues. As if, with all the genuine dangers facing young people today (including endemic gun violence that DeSantis and his party refuse to confront), a top priority should be ensuring that students have no exposure whatsoever to this societal fact of life.

Disney did what big corporations have always done: It reflected todays mainstream societal values, for economic self-preservation if nothing else. Its criticism of DeSantis demagoguery was relatively mild but was enough for DeSantis to launch a frontal assault that included attempting to strip the company of the special property rights Florida has long provided. DeSantis accompanying rhetoric  including a musing threat to build a prison near Disney property  left no doubt that this was outright punishment for the companys expression of opinion. Disney is suing on First Amendment grounds and, with any fair reading the situation, should win.

But far more damaging to DeSantis should be Disneys yanking of those potential Florida jobs, for what the company called the states changing business conditions.

Former President Donald Trump is largely responsible for the GOPs abandonment of so many of its once-core principles  family values, law and order, national security  but DeSantis has now undermined an arguably more key one: respect for unfettered free enterprise. He kneecapped that principle in order to push messages of intolerance and grievance that he thinks he needs to win his partys nomination  and he did it at a significant cost of employment to his state. That should make an interesting campaign bumper sticker.
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Few people who support the death penalty have been personally responsible for sanctioning specific executions. Robert Bentley and Don Siegelman have both been in that situation. Both are former governors of Alabama, which currently fills its death row more prodigiously than any other state. Both have allowed executions to go forward that they, and no one else, had the power to stop.

And both now say, in a compelling opinion piece on Thursdays Post-Dispatch op-ed page, that in hindsight, they were often wrong. Its valuable testimony in the case against continuing this barbaric ritual anywhere in America.

The U.S. remains one of the few advanced countries that still allows execution of its own citizens. Most of the advanced world has already figured out what decades of research confirms: The death penalty isnt a deterrent to crime. Its impossible to apply without the inevitable warping of justice based on the race and class of defendants and victims. And, most distressingly, theres no death-penalty system that can completely avoid the execution of innocent people.

That innocent executions have happened in the U.S., probably many times, is beyond serious debate today. The sheer number of death-row inmates who have been exonerated by DNA evidence in recent decades renders ridiculous the proposition that the executioner never gets it wrong. Which, apart from any debate about justice-versus-mercy, should be the end of the discussion. To suggest that vengeance via the death penalty is such an imperative that innocent Americans must die for it isnt who Americans are.

There is no acceptable number of executions of innocents. Period.

Siegelman, a Democrat, was Alabamas governor from 1999 to 2003. Bentley, a Republican, was governor from 2011 to 2017. In their joint op-ed, they outline why they both have come to believe that at least 146 of the 167 people currently on Alabamas death row dont belong there.

Their essay focuses on three especially egregious factors: In some states, the death penalty can still be imposed with less than a unanimous jury recommendation. Until recently, judges could override juries to impose the death penalty even when the jury hasnt approved that sentence (Alabama was the last state to end this practice, but not retroactively, so more than 30 Alabamans are still scheduled to die under this now-outlawed process). And a 1976 Supreme Court decision granted prosecutors absolute immunity from civil liability for overzealous prosecution.

Zeroing in on these specific shortcomings in capital punishment is useful in terms of spotlighting how the system goes wrong. But the overarching theme of regret from these two ex-governors gets at the broader point: Capital punishment as an institution is irredeemable.

We missed our chance to confront the death penalty and have lived to regret it, they write, but it is not too late for todays elected officials to do the morally right thing.
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GOP, NRA have taken away Americans rights with violence

The framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution enumerated certain rights. They included the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The National Rifle Association, the Republican Party and conservative judges have endeavored to weaken gun laws and erode our rights. They have created a reign of fear and made America a killing field. Where is the right to life for a child mutilated by an AR-15 bullet? Where is our domestic tranquility when our children are not safe in school or in their front yard? Where is the pursuit of happiness when we bury loved ones victimized by gun violence? The carnage must stop. Start by voting out those who put gun rights over all else.

Bob McKay  St. Louis

The scourge of fentanyl and other drugs is destroying families

I recently received the news that a dear family friend had lost a child to a drug overdose. Another one of our children and an entire family destroyed due to a corrupt, money-driven, evil system that is ignored by many and too shameful for others to talk about.

Why cant some of the $790 million won from the Rams lawsuit or from the other millions allocated in pandemic funds for St. Louis and surrounding cities be used to provide mental health and rehabilitation services for victims of drugs?

How about life sentences without parole given to heroin, fentanyl, meth and crack drug dealers? Wouldnt that change the dynamics a bit?

This tragedy could happen to any one of us in a heartbeat. I think we should do something today and start saving lives and families so that none of us have to wake up with such gut-wrenching news again.

Laura Roodman-Ray  Chesterfield

Dont let debt-ceiling talks put peoples health care at risk

Included in discussions our leaders are having in Washington on avoiding defaulting on the nations debt are some concerning provisions that would directly impact lung health here in Missouri.

Many Missourians rely on Mo HealthNet to access quality, affordable health care. One provision under discussion would add work requirements to health care benefits. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 91% of individuals in the Medicaid expansion group are either workers, caregivers, students or are unable to work due to illness. These requirements arent about work; they are about adding burdensome paperwork that results in people losing coverage due to red tape.

Other provisions under discussion would repeal tax incentives for clean energy or open the door for building more polluting energy sources like coal and gas while weakening the publics right to engage in those permitting decisions. More than one in three Americans live with unhealthy air. Adding more pollution will exacerbate health challenges.

As a senior manager of advocacy with the American Lung Association, I know firsthand the importance of health care and clean air for people living with chronic lung disease. If these provisions go into effect, many more people could face poor air quality or the loss of their health care coverage, leaving them unable to manage their chronic lung disease, which would result in more dire, costlier care down the road. Missouri Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt should reject the work requirement policy for Medicaid and the build-out of additional polluting energy to better protect the health of all Missourians.

Laura Turner  St. Louis

Try removing the earphones and interacting with other peopleWalking the trails and parks in Chesterfield and the St. Louis area, its amazing to me how many people you walk by who dont even acknowledge you and, heaven forbid, say, Hello. Try taking those things out of your ears and listening to nature  the birds and animals, brooks and streams  and interacting with people. It may even make you happy.

Babs Nolfo  Chesterfield

Republican leaders are creating fake issues, ignoring real ones

Missouri state leaders focus on fake enemies  drag shows and trans children  harms the youth of our state. One party is attacking citizens constitutional rights and freedoms through coordinated lies and punitive legislation. Meanwhile, our children are killed with military-style weapons. People with legal and illegal guns are killing others in road rage or disputes with family or neighbors. Depressed children or adults are killing themselves on impulse, and kids are killing themselves or siblings by accident with unlocked guns.

Legislators should write laws to protect all these people, instead of creating fake enemies in order to strengthen one partys centralized state control of Missourians daily lives.

Arlene Kohut  Richmond Heights

Killing is killing, whether by abortion or school mass shootings

Which is worse: A school shooter or an abortionist? Each kills. It is a real tragedy to end a life because it is inconvenient. The New Age philosophy is in violation of my religious beliefs and, I believe, is resulting in the ruination of America.

Rich Huck  Wildwood

Read letters online at STLToday.com
Norinco (North Industries Group Corporation) is one of the largest arms manufacturers and exporters in the world, with annual sales of about $80 billion. Norinco specializes in land-based systems for the Chinese military as well as a growing list of export customers. While some high-tech components are reserved for Chinese military versions, export customers can get anything else and even receive equipment modified so that specific non-Chinese components can be installed. Norinco will do just about anything to get a sale or please a customer. Norinco doesnt sell much to Western countries, except for commercial grade hunting and police weapons and accessories. In this market Norinco quality is competitive and their prices even more so. All this has enabled Norinco to become one of the top ten arms manufacturers in the world and the first Chinese firm to join a list dominated by American and Western multinational firms.

Norinco is often the supplier of high-tech weapons to nations that are first-time users of these systems. Such was the case with Nigeria, which purchased some Norinco VT-4 tanks. This is a popular export item based on the Russian T-72 design and a very capable system costing about $5 million per vehicle. In 2022 Norinco received user dissatisfaction reports about VT4 tanks sold to Nigeria. The Nigerian tank crews reported that in combat it took them 30 minutes to load and fire a 125mm shell. The problem turned out to be lack of training and poor maintenance. These two items have long been a problem for complex exports like tanks, artillery and warplanes. Some VT4 (also known as MBT3000) users reported problems that did not involve poor maintenance or poorly trained crews. China said it would take care of any problems, even training and maintenance. The recent discovery of a major design flaw in all T-72 type tanks was another matter.

Norinco export tanks are often less capable (and cheaper) versions of the ones China builds for its own forces. In some cases, the export models lack new features China considers secret and not for export. In most cases export models simply get less advanced and cheaper tech. Such was the case with the VT series of tanks. These are exported and not used by Chinese forces. The VT4 (also known as MBT2000) was the export version of the Chinese Type 90 tank. Actually, the Type 90 was not accepted by the Chinese army, which instead went with the 54-ton Type 99, a superior T-72 variant that entered service in 2001, underwent a major upgrade (the 58-ton Type 99A) in 2011 and is still in production with over 1,200 in service so far. The Chinese have over 6,000 tanks, with 2,500 of them modern designs. The rest of them are based on the Russian T-54/55. China developed many variations on this 1950s design and built them under license as the Type 59. In addition to the Type 99 there are 1,500 of the earlier Type 96, which began as the Type 88 in the 1980s as China began to develop and build variations of the Russian T-72. The Type 96 and 99 are, like most current Russian tanks, further upgrades of the successful T-72 design. By adding better engines and other mechanical and electronic components, improved armored protection and 125mm main guns, the Chinese have managed to create a force of modern tanks superior to what the Russians have. China now has more modern tanks in service than Russia, which has had to put a lot of its most modern tanks in storage because it cannot afford to maintain and operate them. Unknown to the Chinese was the fact that T-72-type tanks have a fatal flaw that was only discovered during combat with a foe equipped with Western anti-tank weapons. This was the case recently in Ukraine. The fatal design flaw was due to the use of an autoloader for the 125mm gun. This led to the total destruction of Russian tanks hit by a top-attack ATGM (Anti-Tank-Guided Missile). None of the Russian ATGMs used top-attack because of the additional cost and the fact that Western tanks did not use autoloaders, were not automatically destroyed by top-attack ATGMs, and were often equipped with features that defeated top-attack.

Most Chinese tanks use an autoloader. Only the older T-54/55 clones dont. The fix for this is a new turret that includes the design features found in Western tanks and require an additional crew member to load the shells. A new turret would store the 125mm ammunition in an armored area behind the main gun. That storage area would have blow-out panels. This means that if the ammo storage area is penetrated by a shell or top attack ATGM, the crew would survive because the force of the explosion would be outwards, away from the crew because the armor between the storage area and the crew is much sturdier. The new turrets would cost more but how much more depended on whether the auto-loader was retained or the turret had the more conventional (and safer) manual loader and four man crew. Most Western tanks retained the four-man crew and installed more safety features in the turrets and their tanks in general. One of the few exceptions is the French Le Clerc, which uses an autoloader that is less vulnerable to the top-attack vulnerability.

China has always tried to keep the price of its tanks cheap, for its own troops as well as export customers. China would have built more Type 99s were the tank not so expensive ($3-4 million each). That is why so many of the cheaper (less than $2 million each) 43-ton Type 96 tanks remain in service. In addition to being cheaper, the Type 99 and the Type 96 are considered adequate for most potential battlefield opponents. Western tanks tend to cost about 40 percent more ($7 million each) and continue to defeat T-72 type tanks regularly.

The top-attack problem was a surprise to the Russians and turned out to be a fatal and largely unknown flaw in Russian tank designs. It presented a major problem to most users of T-72 -type tanks. There are many variants of the T-72 design and what makes them different is the quality of the components used. The T-72 was the most successful Russian post-World War II tank design and the basic model was, in theory, pretty solid and reliable. The T-72 also proved to be a good platform for variants that added new (or more) armor, better electronics and improved engines. This resulted in some impressive tank models. The most outstanding of these has been the Russian 46-ton T-72B3. As proof, consider that most of the new tanks the Russian army has received since 2000 have been refurbished and much upgraded T-72B3s. At the end of 2021 the Russian Army had about 2,600 tanks in service and most (65 percent) were T-72B3s, which you hear little about. The new breakthrough design, the T-14, never worked properly, never entered production and probably never will because of design flaws and a need for new tech that has not been perfected yet. The T-14 is mostly about publicity. The T-90 has been produced in large quantities, but not for Russia. The T-90 was a 1980s project that was to incorporate T-80 features into many upgrades of the T-72. Originally it was designated the T-72BU but when Russia finally began production in 1993 it was renamed the T-90. That succeeded in making the tank an export success and most (84 percent) of those produced were for export. In fact, India and Algeria each have more T-90s in service than Russia. Worse, Russia has quietly put over a third of its nearly 550 built T-90s into a reserve. While the T-90s were loudly proclaimed to be the next big thing, the Russian army preferred the refurbished T-72s in the form of the T-72B3. These proved to be more reliable, something that got little publicity. While all the upgrades (new engine, gun, fire control and protection) made it nearly as expensive as the T-90, it was preferred by the troops and the older officers quietly agreed that it was a better tank than the new T-90/T-72BUs.

The best Chinese T-72 mod is the Type 99, which is 25 percent heavier than the T-72B3 and even more expensive to build. Thats because the Type 99 has better armor protection and electronics. The Chinese can afford this while the Russians cannot, its as simple as that. Chinese manufacturing capabilities are, on average, superior to what the Russians had when the Cold War ended and this makes a big difference for tank design and production. India and Pakistan have not been able to match Russian or Chinese production standards or development capabilities, which is largely due to corruption and government regulations that make it difficult to innovate and excel. Most of the best South Asian (India and Pakistan) design and production talent moves to the West. A glance at the design and development stars in the West, especially the United States, shows a lot of these South Asians playing leading roles. China managed to keep more of this talent at home and even attract some that had settled in the West to return. In the end high-tech, like everything else, is about the people creating it. Because of this Norinco can modify a VT4 to eliminate the autoloader and add a Western style 12omm smooth-bore tank gun in a VT4. Brazil asked for this and Norinco said they could do it. Its unclear if Norinco is doing something similar for the Chinese army tanks.
by Austin Bay May 24, 2023

Memorial Day emerged from America's most deadly and destructive war: the Civil War.

Agreed, social, political and moral divisions are wracking and weakening contemporary America. But no external or internal challenge quite compares to the Civil War -- at least not yet.

Measured by soldiers and civilians killed in combat and by war's derivative killers -- starvation, disease and exposure -- the Civil War has no rival.

Physical, economic and social destruction are more relative terms and comparing them in different historical eras is tricky.

The Union's best generals, Grant and Sherman, targeted Confederate economic productivity. They knew the South's ability to supply its armies prolonged the war. Sherman's vow to "make Georgia howl" expressed the strategy succinctly.

Blue and Gray armies burned farms and factories. The Confederate and border states (Kentucky, Missouri, even Maryland) suffered terrible devastation from both armies. This assertion is debatable, but I think it has merit. It took the Deep South 90 years (and the unifying effects of two world wars with international enemies) to overcome its economic backwardness, in comparison to the Yankee Northeast and Midwest.

Yet the social-political Civil War lingered... and lingered.

The 1950s and 1960s desegregation movement was a Civil War battle, hopefully the last battle. Circa 1957 my father said that in just about those very words. (We were in an old Plymouth station wagon.)

My mother, a movement civil rights activist advocating individual rights and a society disregarding creed and color, outright riled segments of 1958 Midland, Texas, society. She went public with her views on author James Baldwin's instructive rage and why Dr. Martin Luther King's nonviolent crusade was politically and spiritually healing and just totally American.

Mom said she fought a "just war."

OK. 1959, 1960. Hundredth anniversary of the Civil War approaching; no kid could miss it. I remember thinking that if Mom fought a just war, then the Union soldiers who fought and died certainly did. Roughly 360,000 Union soldiers died. Fact: Their blood ended slavery.

No matter what those young men of 1863 believed, their sacrifice should silence the race-hustling anti-American bigots of 2023.

Unfortunately, there's money and media fame in hating America. Examples of contemptible self-serving disregard: 1619 Project (this outfit banks on a big lie, told often: America was founded on slavery); Black Lives Matter (a grift operation; its leaders buy mansions off their take); and despicable media jaws like Joy Behar who presume to tell Justice Clarence Thomas (who grew up in the Jim Crow South) he doesn't know what it's like to be a black man in America.

Since 2009 the civil rights battle has certainly changed. The Neo-Civil War is a political war in psycho-sexual drag. Basic tactic: If you disagree with me, you're violent!

The armed services have recruiting problems and many of these problems have roots in these very curious internal divisions. The worst are highly neurotic and narcissistic individual demands for "rights" that challenge human chromosomes and common sense.

On the macro level these demands undermine social cohesion: Parents are investigated for terrorism because they wish to protect their kids from mental and physical harm.

In the micro level of a military unit, these demands -- which are always in flux, they change; very "trans," so to speak -- this self-righteous selfishness destroys the trust and discipline it takes to win in combat.

This is a Memorial Day column. Decoration Day was a Union observance. Union survivors set aside a day in May for "decorating" the graves of dead soldiers with flowers. The website usmemorialday.org notes that Southern states "refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after WWI." Yes, a unifying effect. After WWI the day changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.

Memorial Day became a national day, a healing day of remembrance to say "thanks," no matter an individual's personal history.

Memorial Day became a moment to reflect and to remember, to reflect and to respect the special gift of those who did their duty.

Military service is the most difficult duty in a democracy. Military sacrifice protects rights -- the real rights to life and liberty.
Security forces recently seized shipments of weapons and explosives found hidden in containers containing largely legal cargo. One such shipment was seized at the port of Mogadishu and the other at the air freight section of the international terminal. Both shipments were meant for the al Shabaab Islamic terrorist group. An investigation led to the arrest of ten men who were operating the smuggling operation. Somalia is still under an international arms embargo. That was partially lifted in 2013 to allow the government to legally buy and import small arms for the police and army but no heavy weapons or military-grade explosives. Arms smugglers have long done business in Somalia, which was one reason these two shipments were detected and the smugglers arrested.

Neighboring Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda also suffer from al Shabaab violence and work with Somalia to detect and disrupt arms smuggling. The smugglers still bring goods in via Somalias 3,000 kilometer coastline. That has become more difficult to do without being detected. Widespread cell phone use in Somalia initially made it more difficult for al Shabaab to operate because people who opposed them could alert the security forces, or local militia, when al Shabaab or arms smuggling activity was spotted. Shutting down the cell phone systems was a common tactic for Islamic terrorists but al Shabaab saw opportunities. Cell towers and other cell phone assets were only attacked if the cell phone companies would not pay a tax to operate in an area where al Shabaab was active and able to make good on threats. With control of the cell phone service providers, al Shabaab was able to communicate, especially with their informants. Al Shabaab paid for useful information and becoming an al Shabaab informant was a good way to make some extra cash, as well as stay off the al Shabaab hit list.

Al Shabaab isnt the only group in Somalia that uses cell phones like this. Powerful clans maintain armed militias and an informant network among clan members. This is why the media regularly report the government or peacekeepers consulting clan elders, negotiating with al Shabaab (or another clan). Often al Shabaab will have to deal with the clan elders because al Shabaab has found that making an enemy of a powerful clan is bad for business. An example occurs in the south, on the Kenyan border, where al Shabaab has found its operations disrupted because of disputes with the powerful Marehan clan. Most situations where al Shabaab have problems doing business is because they have run afoul of a powerful (and usually heavily armed) clan. Al Shabaab tries to intimidate clans into cooperating but failing that al Shabaab must either fight, make a deal or move somewhere else. Somalia is a patchwork of areas which al Shabaab tries to avoid because of these powerful clan organizations. These clans are usually the ones with clan elders who can negotiate with al Shabaab. Government security forces have also been more successful in coming to the aid of clans threatened by al Shabaab.

The government feels it has achieved enough political stability and security to enable Persian Gulf nations Qatar and the UAE to establish trading and shipping facilities in Somalia. Qatar and the UAE have often been rivals when it comes to establishing trading operations in Somalia. Turkey has also been involved, but to a lesser extent because Turkey is far away while Qatar and the UAE are regional neighbors. The continuous violence in Somalia since the 1990s has kept trading relationships out of reach.

May 23, 2023: In the north (Las Anod, on the border between Somaliland and Puntland) foreign aid groups continue treating victims of the factional fighting that has been going on since February. About 200,000 civilians have fled their homes to avoid the gun battles between various factions. While many foreign aid groups reduced their operations in the area, few shut down completely. Most of the foreign personnel were withdrawn because kidnapping foreigners for ransom is more common in an area subject to lots of fighting. Some foreign aid groups had enough trained local workers to keep operations going. Medical aid was limited because all hospitals depend on foreign specialists for surgery and other complex treatments. That means those needing surgery or other complex care must be transferred to Mogadishu. That is something the foreign aid personnel in Las Anod can arrange.

Months of fighting in the area between rival clan militias has left over a thousand dead so far and many more wounded. The local hospital has been damaged and some aid has not arrived because of the fighting. In Somalia, aid groups often have to shut down operations and withdraw because local groups refuse to halt their battles that disrupt the aid efforts. This self-destructive behavior is one reason that Somalia continues to be a mess.

May 21, 2023: Kenya is building 14 small military bases along its border with Somalia. This will reduce cross border attacks by al Shabaab and reduce police losses while responding to reports of al Shabaab men crossing the border.

May 20, 2023: In the southwest (385 kilometers from Mogadishu) an American missile-armed UAV carried out an airstrike against al Shabaab forces occupying the town of Jilib. The town was under attack by Somali soldiers. The Islamic terrorists were defeated and al Shabaab lost control of a town they had occupied for years. American UAV attacks are usually reserved for Islamic terrorist leaders or key technical personnel. These was one such individual in Jilib; Osman Mohamed Abdi. He was wounded. Abdi is responsible for making arrangements so foreign Islamic terrorists can get into Somalia and join al Shabaab.

May 18, 2023: The annual Monsoon rains were heavier than usual and caused extensive and damaging floods in many parts of the country. Over 200,000 Somalis were driven from their homes. While the monsoon rains occur annually, drought conditions are a more persistent problem in many parts of the country.

May 17, 2023: The government expelled two EU (European Union) aid officials for taking photos of a Somali prison. This is a problem because Somalia treats its prison inmates more harshly than is the case back in Europe. None of the 36 prisoners involved were Somali and most were Iranian. All had been caught fishing illegally in Somali waters and were imprisoned until the nations they were from could agree on suitable restitution.

May 2, 2023: Somali troops carried out an operation north of Mogadishu that left 67 al Shabaab gunmen dead and the destruction of large quantities of explosives just landed from a boat and being loaded into a truck. The Somali troops fired RPG rockets at the explosives, which killed all but two of the al Shabaab men present. The army was alerted to the al Shabaab presence by a local militia that often fought al Shabaab. Operations like this are becoming more common and the heavy al Shabaab losses are leading many to believe the Islamic terrorist group will be largely wiped out within a year. Al Shabaab is not getting any reinforcements and is losing a lot of its income sources from smuggling and extortion. This trend is having positive results with the Kenyan government where three border crossings in Garissa, Mandera and Lamu counties are being reopened. These crossings were closed in 2011 because of the increased al Shabaab activity along the border.

May 1, 2023: Northeast of the capital soldiers ambushed two trucks carrying al Shabaab gunmen and killed sixty of the Islamic terrorists.

April 25, 2023: The army and peacekeepers launched an offensive against al Shabaab presence in areas south of Mogadishu. This is a continuation of an earlier five month operation that ended in January 2023 that cleared al Shabaab from over 70 towns and villages north of the capital.

April 23, 2023: The AU (African Union) has agreed to again delay the withdrawal of the AU peacekeeper force for another year. The peacekeepers have played a crucial role in defeating al Shabaab and reducing areas where the Islamic terrorists could freely operate. This enabled Somalia to create its own army and police forces. Peacekeeper duty in Somalia was much more dangerous than anywhere else. During the 16 years the peacekeepers have been active, at least 3,500 have been killed. The EU (European Union) and United States pays for the peacekeeping force and has paid out nearly $200 million for death benefits and payments for medical care of those with disabling injuries.

Thats in addition to the $200 million a year cost of operating the peacekeeper force. That is provided by the UN via contributions by the U.S. and EU (European Union). The UN approves the size and duration of the peacekeeper force annually. The peacekeepers have been in Somalia since 2007 at a cost of over three billion dollars. So far about 3,500 peacekeepers have been killed and at least as many permanently disabled from their wounds. The AU pays for medical care, including long term care for some of the wounded. For years the AU played down the high casualty rates in Somalia, reporting less than a third of the actual deaths. The growing number of corruption scandals involving missing death benefits and other compensation led to the actual loss statistics being revealed. There are sometimes problems with soldiers not being paid during peacetime in their home countries. Too much of this sometimes sparks a rebellion or insurrection over missing pay and other grievances. Despite this there was never a problem obtaining peacekeepers for duty in Somalia, paid for by the AU and a long list of African and Western donors.

Somalia is the most dangerous peacekeeping duty in the world. About 300,000 men served as peacekeepers in Somalia, receiving an average annual compensation of $9,100 each. Officers, NCOs and privates all receive different amounts and peacekeeping duty pays better than their regular pay when back home. In most countries, peacekeeping duty is relatively safe. This was not the case in Somalia, where about three percent of peacekeepers were killed or badly (disabled) wounded.

The first AU peacekeepers (from Uganda) arrived in March 2007 and these 8,000 troops were supposed to be gone within six months. That force did not disappear by the end of 2007 but kept growing and quickly reached 22,000, most of them soldiers plus a few thousand police, trainers and administrators. Uganda and Burundi supplied most of them with most of the rest coming from Kenya and Ethiopia. The peacekeeper force made a difference, but in the face of massive corruption in the Somali government and various Somali communities that demanded help, the operation proved far more expensive and time-consuming than expected. Peacekeepers are due to leave because the best they can do is reduce the violence and disunity, while UN donors are not willing to waste money on that when there are other disaster zones that can make better use of the limited foreign aid. Because of this the UN extends the Somali peacekeeping force on a yearly basis. Currently there are about 20,000 peacekeepers in Somalia and they remain there because the UN believes Somalia would quickly regress back to a disaster zone without them. That one reason by most of the current peacekeeper force are troops from Uganda, Ethiopia and Burundi.
Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers Wednesday morning stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, under heavy protection from Israeli police, said the Islamic Waqf, responsible for administering the site.

The Waqf said that settlers, divided into groups, raided the holy Islamic Mosque from Al-Maghariba gate and took provocative tours in its compounds, according to Palestinian News Agency WAFA.

The extremist settlers performed rituals in the eastern part of the Mosque, the agency reported.

This comes at a time when Israeli forces are intensifying measures against Palestinians coming from Jerusalem to enter the mosque, such as inspecting their IDs and briefly detaining them.

Such repeated provocations have escalated since the assumption of office by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra-extremist cabinet earlier this year, blatantly disregarding the agreement reached with Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem since the city's occupation in 1967.

The agreement with Jordan explicitly emphasizes the importance of maintaining the status quo in Al-Aqsa, recognizing it as a Muslim holy site and allowing non-Muslims to visit the compound at specific times but prohibiting any form of worship by non-Muslims.

On Sunday, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque for the second time since becoming a member of Israels government. Both times generated global condemnation and concern.

Arab activists in Jerusalem called for a congregating at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday to oppose the alleged Temple Groups who are calling for an invasion of the mosque during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, reported the Palestinian News Agency SAFA.

The activists emphasized the importance of converging at the Al-Aqsa and praying within its courtyards, and intensifying presence inside the mosque to thwart the extremist settlers plans.

Palestinians also called for widespread participation in popular events in the occupied West Bank on Friday to confront the settlers plans, SAFA added.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold Wednesday an emergency meeting in Jeddah to discuss the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa compound.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces raided several homes in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, arresting 12 individuals, including two children.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces confiscated a piece of land and demolished a wall, belonging to a Palestinian family, in the town of Sur Baher in Jerusalem, SAFA said.

Several military vehicles and bulldozers from the Israeli occupation army moved southeast of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip and conducted sweeping and combing operations amid intermittent shooting, which resulted in no injuries, according to German Press Agency DPA.

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First Look: New Canon PTZ Cameras & Cinema Lenses

Marc Franklin of Franklin Creative Media talks with two Canon tech repsabout their new PTZ camera innovations and cinema lenses in this interview from NAB 2023.

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Marc Franklin, Franklin Creative Media, Contributing Editor Streaming Media Producer, dives into the details of Canons new PTZ camera innovations and cinema lenses with two Canon technical representatives in this interview from NAB 2023.

One of the highlights of these cameras that differentiates it is it has a face tracking feature similar to the autofocus and many of their cameras that tracks faces, Franklin says. But this will actually pan and tilt and zoom the camera as needed. Within that, there's some programmable ranges or things that you can tell it to do.

Michael Kearns, Senior Technical Specialist, Canon, further highlights the camera features and gives examples of its flexibility in specific use cases. You can set a lot of configurations, he says, such as how far you want the camera to pan right or left, up or down. Additionally, he says, You can set the zones of where you want to track and where you don't want to track, and you can also set exclusion areas, that if people enter [them], you don't want to start tracking. So in the case of a classroom, you may have a teacher on a stage, and you want to track the stage area, but if any students stand up in front of them, you don't want to track that area. So it has a lot of lot of flexibility in that. Furthermore, he highlights that the auto-tracking is high-speed and precise because it runs on the camera. It doesnt require an external processor to tell the camera to move, he says.

What is the sensor size in these cameras? Franklin asks.

For the CR-N700, it's a one-inch sensor, Kearns says. We have two other indoor cameras. The CR-N500 is a one-inch sensor, and then we have a CR-N300, which is 1/2.3" camera. The CR-N300 and the CR-N500 will also get the TR auto tracking, but that won't be until August.

Okay, so it will be a software upgrade, Franklin says.

It'll be a firmware update that will update the camera to allow add-on application systems, and then the user would download the application to the camera, and then basically from there, you just activate it, Kearns says. These are paid applications, though. I will say that there is a free demo that comes with the download package, and if they do like it, they can purchase it through Canon.

Now, is it a subscription, or is it a Buy it, and you own it? Franklin asks.

It's a one-time fee, Kearns says. It's sold either through Canon or through all of our many dealers and distributors. They all have SDR or HDMI and an IP output as well. In the case of the CR-N700, it has a 12G SDI and a 3G SDI, while the CR-N300 and 500 have a single 3G SDI. He mentions the range of environments that are great fits for these cameras. Some of the key ones are houses of worship, education live events, corporate events, and also other places where you need to install a camera where you normally can't fit a whole camera system.

And as far as the switching, Franklin says, is there a Canon switcher that you use, or can you just use any switcher?

Yes, you can use them on almost any switcher, Kearns says. We don't really have a switcher, per se. We do have our camera control app that allows you to basically look at all your cameras and switch between them and move them independently. But as far as a video switcher, you would use any of the third party switches that are out there.

Franklin then interviews Canon Senior Product Specialist Ryan Snyder about their newly introduced cinema lenses. Im here with Ryan, who's going to tell us a little bit more about their new cinema lenses that were introduced recently, he says.

So these are the Flex Zoom lenses from Canon, Snyder says. And about a year ago, we introduced the full-frame versions of the 20 to 50 wide angle and the 45 to 1:35 telephoto lens. Both lenses were 8K resolution, edge-to-edge, our first in the cinemas line, and we have a very fast T2.4 speed on these lenses. This year, we just introduced our super 35 versions of the lenses. So we now have the 14 to 35 and the 31.5 to 95 super 35 versions. Both are T1.7 lenses, so they're incredibly fast, with 8K resolution. Now, all of these lenses in the Flex Zoom line can be swapped from EF to PL or vice versa without having to send them into a factory service center for Canon. And now, with the introduction of the super 35 lenses, we have relay kits available for the lenses to be able to switch them from their full-frame to super 35 counterparts back and forth as well. Again, that could be done without having to send the lenses into a factory service center. The full-frame lenses are available now, but the super 35 [light angle] versions will be available around June. And the telephoto version will be coming out later in the year, as well as both the relay kits.

Learn more about live video production at Streaming Media Connect 2023.

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ST. PAUL, MN and CHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / 3M (@3M) and Discovery Education (@DiscoveryEd) today announced the 10 recipients of the inaugural 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network Alumni Grants Program. Launched in 2023, the program supports past participants and future scientists as part of the 3M Young Scientist Challenge ( #YoungScientist).

As the nation's premier middle school science competition, the annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge invites students in grades 5-8 to compete for a mentorship with a 3M scientist, a $25,000 grand prize, and the chance to earn the title of "America's Top Young Scientist." The new Alumni Network and Alumni Grants Program offers previous participants networking opportunities, resources, events, and funding for existing science projects. Former finalists must be registered members of the 3M Young Scientist Alumni Network to apply.

The Alumni Grants Program awarded a total of $25,000 in funding to ten 3M Young Scientist Challenge alumni. The 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Grants Program recipients across three funding areas are as follows:

Braeden Benedict is a 26-year-old from Missouri and a 2011 finalist. Braeden received $1,000 for the project The Health Career Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis that provides mentorship, engaging health curriculum, and exposure to health careers to high school students from low-income, underrepresented minority communities.

is a 26-year-old from Missouri and a 2011 finalist. Braeden received $1,000 for the project The Health Career Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis that provides mentorship, engaging health curriculum, and exposure to health careers to high school students from low-income, underrepresented minority communities. Leanne Fan is a 15-year-old from California and 2022 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Leanne received $1,000 for the project Teaching Science to Kids Through Expos! that introduces young students to science.

is a 15-year-old from California and 2022 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Leanne received $1,000 for the project Teaching Science to Kids Through Expos! that introduces young students to science. Reshma Kosaraju is a 17-year-old from California and a 2019 finalist & Improving Lives Award Winner. Reshma received $1,000 for the project Eco Quest: An environmental conservation board game that teaches students about climate change.

is a 17-year-old from California and a 2019 finalist & Improving Lives Award Winner. Reshma received $1,000 for the project Eco Quest: An environmental conservation board game that teaches students about climate change. Kathryn Lampo is a 20-year-old from Colorado and a 2017 finalist. Kathryn received $1,000 for the project NYC Model Rocketry Initiative that makes space science and engineering accessible to underserved middle schoolers across New York City through engaging STEM resources.

is a 20-year-old from Colorado and a 2017 finalist. Kathryn received $1,000 for the project NYC Model Rocketry Initiative that makes space science and engineering accessible to underserved middle schoolers across New York City through engaging STEM resources. Viraj Pandey is a 14-year-old from California and a 2021 finalist. Viraj received $2,500 for the project Enhancing Crop Yields and Minimizing Crop Diseases Using Graphene Quantum Dots to Combat Overpopulation and Adverse Climate Changes that will help sustainably increase crop yield.

is a 14-year-old from California and a 2021 finalist. Viraj received $2,500 for the project Enhancing Crop Yields and Minimizing Crop Diseases Using Graphene Quantum Dots to Combat Overpopulation and Adverse Climate Changes that will help sustainably increase crop yield. Sarah Park is a 15-year-old from Florida and a 2021 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Sarah received $5,000 for the project Spark Care+: Personalized Music Therapy App using a Mobile and AI that provides accessible and affordable music therapy for emotional wellbeing.

is a 15-year-old from Florida and a 2021 America's Top Young Scientist & Grand Prize winner. Sarah received $5,000 for the project Spark Care+: Personalized Music Therapy App using a Mobile and AI that provides accessible and affordable music therapy for emotional wellbeing. Samvrit Rao is a 15-year-old from Virginia and a 2020 finalist. Samvrit received $1,000 for the project STEMForU Innovation Bootcamps that inspires underrepresented minorities to pursue STEM by providing innovative learning experiences and resources to help develop STEM critical thinking skills.

is a 15-year-old from Virginia and a 2020 finalist. Samvrit received $1,000 for the project STEMForU Innovation Bootcamps that inspires underrepresented minorities to pursue STEM by providing innovative learning experiences and resources to help develop STEM critical thinking skills. Moitri Santra is a 13-year-old from Florida and a 2021 finalist. Harini received $2,500 for the project Novel Phyto-Nano Drug Delivery System that investigates the potential of medicinal phytochemicals at the nano-scale for reducing adverse drug reactions.

is a 13-year-old from Florida and a 2021 finalist. Harini received $2,500 for the project Novel Phyto-Nano Drug Delivery System that investigates the potential of medicinal phytochemicals at the nano-scale for reducing adverse drug reactions. Daniel Thomas is a 15-year-old from Texas and a 2022 finalist. Daniel received $5,000 for the project ClearWTR Portable: A Novel Water Disinfection and Purification Device that creates safe and clean drinking water.

is a 15-year-old from Texas and a 2022 finalist. Daniel received $5,000 for the project ClearWTR Portable: A Novel Water Disinfection and Purification Device that creates safe and clean drinking water. Harini Venkatesh is a 15-year-old from New Hampshire and a 2022 Improving Lives Award Winner & finalist. Harini received $5,000 for the project The Comptometrist: A Novel Method to Efficiently and Effectively Calculate Optical Power Current that calculates eye prescriptions.

Learn more about the 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network Alumni Grants Program recipients here.

"It's incredibly inspiring to see how the 3M Young Scientist Challenge alumni have continued their scientific innovations," said John P. Banovetz, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Environmental Responsibility at 3M. "Congratulations to each of the recipients of the inaugural alumni grants program! 3M is proud to support these inspiring students as they apply their passion for science to make the world a better place."

The 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network brings together a growing community of former Challenge finalists and mentors to connect over shared experiences, celebrate, and promote innovations and STEM as a whole. America's Top Young Scientists have gone on to give TED Talks, file patents, found nonprofits, make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and exhibit at the White House Science Fair. These young innovators have also been named Time Magazine's first Kid of the Year, featured in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, and Business Insider, and have appeared on national television programs such as Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and more.

"The new Alumni program is designed to nurture growth and support ongoing science opportunities for prior participants as they tap into a network of innovators. These are innovative ideas that will change the world and we could not be prouder," said Amy Nakamoto, General Manager of Social Impact at Discovery Education.

The award-winning 3M Young Scientist Challenge supplements the 3M and Discovery Education program - Young Scientist Lab - which provides no-cost dynamic digital resources for students, teachers, and families to explore, transform, and innovate the world around them. All the resources are also available through the Young Scientist Lab Channel and in the Social Impact Partnerships channel on Discovery Education's recently enhanced K-12 learning platform.

###

About 3M

3M (NYSE: MMM) believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas and science to reimagine what's possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet. Learn how we're working to improve lives and make what's next at 3M.com/news or on Twitter at @3M or @3MNews.

About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

Contacts

Robert Brittain | 3M | [email protected]

Grace Maliska | Discovery Education | [email protected]





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Discovery Education on 3blmedia.com.

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Email: [email protected]

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Illumina:

Originally published on Illumina News Center

Alejandro Pliego is attending Princeton, class of 2027. He is smart and poised, but Princeton was hardly a foregone conclusion. The child of immigrants from Cuernavaca, Mexico, he is the first member of his family to go to college. Pliego plans to focus his studies on molecular biology and public policy. As he puts it: He wants to fix things.

Recently, Pliego visited Illumina's San Diego headquarters to meet Princeton alums and learn more about genomics. He's one of the first fellows of the yearlong mentorship program San Diego Squared (SD2) and a recipient of the Illumina SD2 STEM Scholar Award. This visit was a chance for him to celebrate his accomplishments and make academic and professional connections.

"I'm really interested in genomics and understanding different genes in the body to diagnose and treat disease," Pliego says. "This visit, I got to meet a lot of people who do that work and see how Illumina is such a vibrant community. I really enjoyed it."

SD2is looking for stars

SD2, a grant recipient of the Illumina Corporate Foundation, connects high school students from underrepresented communities to hands-on STEM education, mentorship, and other resources.

"We are hyper-local, going into high schools and colleges to identify diverse, incredibly talented students who have shown excellence in STEM," says H. Puentes, co-founder, president, and CEO of SD2. "We give them front-row access to STEM opportunities and help them develop a network who can be their allies, their support, and their advocates."

The organization adopts a comprehensive strategy to support the whole student, providing whatever they need to succeed-from books to transportation to food stipends. SD2wants to build their confidence, teach them about STEM industries, and show them they belong here.

"We believe talent lives in all communities," Puentes says, "but historically, STEM fields haven't been looking in diverse areas. Imagine the incredible talent we will find when we go places we've never looked before. Alejandro embodies that, but he's not alone. We've got a ton more Alejandros out there."

A day at Illumina

During his visit, Pliego toured Illumina headquarters, met with several Princeton alums-including Chief Public Affairs Officer John Frank-and chatted with Chief People Officer and SD2 Board Member Aimee Hoyt.

"I was really impressed with how Alejandro approached these meetings," Puentes says. "He's not intimidated at all. I don't think I could have done it at that age. Illumina has been a great partner with SD2. They've been at the table, sleeves rolled up, since day one."

Pliego was impressed by how welcoming the people at Illumina were. "Being able to have these conversations, that was big," he says. "It helps me grow my confidence and see what this world is really like."

He applied to Princeton through QuestBridge, a nonprofit that connects students from low-income families to elite universities, and was awarded a full scholarship. He even wrote about Illumina in one of his college essays, recounting an earlier meeting with an employee who had a similar background. Eventually, he'd like to start his own company.

"I want to be able to help people, specifically underrepresented minorities and underprivileged kids, get the necessities they need in life," Pliego says. "Listening to employees from different companies in this industry and understanding why they chose their career paths gives me perspective into the different missions companies have and how I might fit."

Illumina is committed to inspiring the next generation of genomic leaders, and we are working to nurture a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce for the future. To do this, we collaborate with community partners like San Diego Squared that are empowering learners like Alejandro Pliego and engage our employees to reach and inspire students of all backgrounds.

Learn more about Illumina's commitment to STEM education and our goal of reaching 5 million learners by 2030.

Photo: SD2's H. Puentes and student Alejandro Pliego visit with Illumina Chief Public Affairs Officer John Frank at the company's San Diego HQ.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Illumina on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Illumina

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/illumina

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Illumina

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Near-mine resource potential at Flat Chance and Forks-9800 Zone

High-grade vein targets at Alpine now ready for drilling

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Blue Lagoon Resources Inc. (the "Company") (CSE:BLLG)(FSE:7BL)(OTCQB: BLAGF) is pleased to provide a thorough interpretation of exploration results from recent work conducted at its 100% owned Dome Mountain Project, a short 50-minute drive from Smithers, British Columbia and accessible year-round.

Potential of the Dome Mountain Project

Interpretation of recent exploration results from Dome Mountain by the company's geologic team suggests the following:

There is strong potential for defining 1M+ oz of gold along the Boulder Vein through systematic infill drilling.

The recently discovered Flat Chance vein system and historic Forks-9800 Zone provide possible opportunities for significant near-mine resource additions.

Historical assays from the Alpine area indicate good prospects for discovery of new high-grade veins.

Dome Mountain Project

The Dome Mountain Project covers an historical area of precious metal bearing veins centred on the past-producing Dome gold-silver mine which exploited the Boulder Main vein (1989-1992). The Project area is predominantly underlain by the Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group Island arc assemblage. The Telkwa Formation, at the base of the Hazelton Group, is the thickest and most extensive formation. The Nilkitkwa Formation conformably to unconformably overlies the Telkwa Formation and is an important host for mineral occurrences.

Almost 90,000 meters of drilling in 596 drill holes have been completed on the Property since 1985. Since 2020, the Company has completed 48,974 meters of drilling in 187 drill holes).

Figure 1: Location of key areas of the Dome Mountain property

Boulder Vein System Resource

The Boulder Main Vein, as well as its subsidiary veins (Figure 2), are characterized by quartz with lesser carbonate and sulphide mineralization. Past deposit models considered the veins as mesothermal, but some characteristics of the deposit style suggest a quartz carbonate hosted base metal rich gold-silver vein system. Quartz-carbonate veins lacking sulphides are typically barren with respect to gold and silver. Quartz occurs both as white and massive or as clear and translucent and associated with higher gold grades. Carbonate minerals (ankerite, siderite and calcite) occur as cream to beige crystals. Small scale folds in the veins attest to continued movement after their formation. Sulphide minerals in the Boulder Vein constitute approximately 10% of the vein mineralogy but can range to over 50%. In decreasing order of abundance, the sulphide minerals are pyrite (6%), sphalerite (2.5%), chalcopyrite (1%), and galena-tetrahedrite-arsenopyrite ( Figure 2: Map showing various veins that comprise the Boulder Vein System. Note that veins are not to scale and represent approximate surface expression of the vein traces.

To date the Company has drilled 94 drill holes (25,275 meters) into the Boulder Vein System since 2020. The current resource estimate includes drilling from the 2020 and 2021 Phase 1 infill campaigns (Table 1) as well as historical drilling.

Table 1: Summary of drilling by the Company on Boulder Vein System since 2020.

Year / Phase No. Drill Holes No. Meters 2020 26 3,786 2021 Phase 1 28 6,839 2021 Phase 2 1 509 2022 Phase 1 10 4,149 2022 Phase 2 19 7,083 2023 Phase 1 10 2,909

Through the initial programs of infill drilling the Company was able to increase the total gold ounces in the indicated category by 145%, or 102,582 ounces. In addition, 45,000 ounces of gold were moved into the measured category, which was a first for the project. The current mineral resource statement  (see News Release, February 3, 2022) discloses a mineral resource of:

Table 2: Mineral Resource Statement at 3.5 g/t cut-off, Dome Mountain Project, British Columbia, October 15, 2021

Class Tonnes Au cap (g/t) Ag Cap (g/t) Au Oz Ag Oz Measured 136,000 10.32 57.31 45,000 250,000 Indicated 662,000 8.15 41.19 173,000 876,000 Inferred 85,000 6.02 26.13 16,000 71,000

1) Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

(2) The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.

(3) The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.

(4) The Mineral Resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.

 Arseneau, G. 2022. Mineral Resource Estimate for the Dome Mountain Gold Project, Smithers, British Columbia, Canada, prepared for Blue Lagoon Resources Inc. by Arseneau Consulting Services, effective date, October 15, 2021, report date January 31, 2022.

The two principal goals of the Company for the Boulder Vein System were:

to infill drill in the previously reported inferred resource in order to increase the defined resource into an indicated and/or measured category and;

to explore for more Boulder Style mineralization on strike and down dip from the resource and outline the potential for a Blue Sky 1M+ ounce resource there.

Both goals have been met.

Boulder Main Vein Size Potential

The Boulder Main Vein resource has a strike length of 530 meters and 200 meters down dip. Drilling to date has tested strike in both directions and down dip another 200 meters and has successfully shown the Boulder Vein mineralization continues for at least another 550 meters along strike (200+ meters west and 350+ meters east) and, 200+ meters down dip. Though sufficient infill drilling has not yet been completed to define the much larger resource, company geologists conclude that the drilling outlines potential for at least 1 million ounces gold and over 4 million ounces silver. In addition, deep holes at depth such as DM-22-273 showing increasing significance of copper mineralization (5.73 g/t Au, 80.9 g/t Ag and 1.21% Cu over 16.55 meters; including 5.65 meters returning 11.02 g/t Au, 115.8 g/t Ag and 2.31% Cu (see News Release dated January 16, 2023).

The next phase(s) drilling will focus on expanding the known mineralization further along strike and at depth. The identification of zones of wide, well-mineralized veins in all directions indicates the ability to continue to grow the resource quickly (Figure 3, yellow). Successful on-strike and down-dip drilling in the next phase(s) would indicate the potential of an additional resource of 1M+ ounces Au resulting in a total potential deposit resource of 2M+ ounces Au. Infill drilling would commence and be paid for by funds generated from production of the Boulder Vein (currently in permitting) in order to upgrade the resource estimate.

With systematic drilling the Company will show that the Boulder Main Vein resources can be successfully improved to a world class gold resource (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Long section showing Current Boulder Main Vein resource in Black, dashed line shows extent of Boulder Vein Mineralization identified by recent drilling. Yellow bands are 100 meters step outs for further drilling targeting expanded Boulder Vein mineralization along strike and at depth. White circles are targeted pierce points. Figure also shows the existing resource with locations of both portals and already mined out portions.

Flat Chance Vein System Provides Opportunity for Near-Mine Resource Expansion

The Flat Chance vein was discovered in the Chance Structural Zone. This area is located less than a kilometer north of the Dome mine site (see Figure 1). Drilling to date has defined a shallow-dipping, gold (silver) vein-hosting structure approximately 100 meters below surface (see News Release dated September 19, 2022). A strike length of 400 meters and a down-dip extent of 400 meters has been defined by drilling (44 drill holes, 8,519 meters). Thickness of the vein and structural zone can vary from

Within this area, another vein of different orientation was intersected at shallow depth ( Figure 4: Cross section of Flat Chance structure and vein and newly discovered high-grade vein

Plans for Step-Out Drilling and Infill Drilling at Flat Chance

Additional drilling is required in this area to fully assess the resource potential of the Flat Chance vein as well as additional veins in the area. A series of relatively short drill holes could expand and infill the area at 50 meter spacings or better as well as test the on-strike continuation of mineralization (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Plan map of Flat Chance drilling with position of the underground workings on the Boulder Main vein shown at lower left. Yellow dots represent proposed drilling layout for Flat Chance vein.

Forks-9800 Zone Provide Further Resource Growth Opportunity

The Forks vein was the first identified mineralization in the Dome Mountain area and was explored and mined utilizing a shaft and several adits (ca. 1923). Drilling in 1985 by Noranda defined an historical resource of 20,000 tons at 23.6 g/t Au (EMPR Fieldwork 1986, page 212). The mineralization in the 9800 Zone demonstrated strong gold and silver grades and was briefly mined with 50.8 tonnes of ore shipped grading 30.17 g/t Au and 771.4 g/t Ag. These prospects are located approximately 500 meters southwest of the 1290 portal of the Dome mine (see Figure 1).

Drilling throughout the area, both historically and recently, indicates a flat-lying, relatively shallow precious and base metal enriched horizon occurring at the same stratigraphic level within the lower portion of the limy argillaceous siltstones of the Nilkitkwa Formation (Figure 6). This horizon is recognized over a minimum of 250 meters length and 200 meters width. The horizon is variable in thickness with mineralized intersections ranging from 0.25 meters to 5 meters. It appears that the mineralization may be related to the Forks mineralization, which is hosted in a large breccia up to 12 meters thick, dipping shallow to the northeast. Sulphide mineralogy and lithology is also comparable to the Argillite Vein, a splay off the Boulder Main Vein, although no direct connection has been established yet between these occurrences.

Figure 6: Interpretative cross section of Forks-9800 Zone.

Plans for Drilling at Forks-9800 Zone

Additional drilling is required in this area to fully assess the resource potential. A series of short ( Figure 7: Location of Forks-9800 Zone with respect to Dome mine site at upper right. Yellow dots indicate proposed drill pattern

Alpine Vein Targets

In the Alpine area to the northwest of the Dome mine, numerous veins were identified in the early 1900's and developed by prospectors but limited to surface work or shallow adits. (see Figure 8). These veins are parallel to sub-parallel to each other and strike north-northwest with dipping moderately to steeply west. Veins are primarily quartz or quartz-carbonate veins hosted in volcaniclastics of the Hazelton mineralized with pyrite and variable assemblages of arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite. No drilling is recorded on any of these veins other than the Hawk vein. Multiple high-grade samples are reported from surface rock and trench samples collected along the extent of the veins.

The Ptarmigan and Gem veins have been traced on surface for over 300 meters and 400 meters, respectively. Chip sampling on the Ptarmigan vein has returned gold grades from 1 to 111 g/t Au from pyrite over widths of 0.08 to 0.50 meters. A grab sample also returned 119 g/t Au. Chip sampling on the Gem vein returned 4.30 to 47.10 g/t Au over sample widths of 0.25 to 1.20 meters. A grab sample on the vein returned 185 g/t Au and 408 g/t Ag.

Further south, on the immediate north flank of Dome Mountain, the Raven vein has been traced for approximately 200 meters. This vein is narrower than the other veins, from 0.10 to 0.15 meters. Grades from chip sampling returned up to 15 g/t Au.

No historical results have been located for the Eagle vein.

The Hawk vein has been drilled with limited success. From the surface the vein exposure narrows with depth into a series of smaller sulphide bearing quartz veinlets and stringers. Surface sampling of sulphide-rich (5% to 35%) vein material graded 27.1 g/t Au and 43.2 g/t Ag Drilling in 1987 returned the best intersection was 13.95 g/t Au over 0.30 meters. A series of short drill holes was undertaken by the Company in the fall of 2022, primarily as a test for use of a hand portable drill rig. A 1.00 meter intersection of vein returned 11.60 g/t Au.

Some 12 kilometers to the northwest of the Dome mine site, the McKendrick vein has been traced over 500 meters by surface trenching and rock sampling. Drilling in 1991 intersected 2.50 meters at 11.64 g/t Au and 36.9 g/t Ag. The Company has not yet followed up on this target.

Table 3: Historical surface vein sampling results. All samples collected by Noranda geologists (1985).

Vein Sample ID Sample Type Width (m) Description Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Ptarmigan 14664 Chip 0.50 Quartz vein and sulphides 1.00 5.8 14665 Chip 0.50 Quartz vein and sulphides 3.30 12.0 14667 Chip 0.15 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite, arsenopyrite 26.50 72.0 14668 Chip 0.25 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena 21.30 102.0 14669 Chip 0.25 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena 111.00 110.0 14675 Grab Quartz vein and sulphides 119.00 113.0 15662 Grab Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite, tetrahedrite 16.40 11.6 15663 Grab Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite, sphalerite 4.90 13.6 15664 Chip 0.08 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 21.60 15.8 15665 Chip 0.20 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 1.84 8.0 Gem 12048 Chip 1.20 Schist, sericite, quartz veining 4.30 3.4 12049 Chip 0.25 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 5.60 3.8 14662 Grab Quartz vein and sulphides 57.30 93.3 15269 Grab Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 5.10 19.0 15271 Chip 0.50 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 28.40 109.0 85601 Chip 0.30 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 47.10 103.0 85602 Grab Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 185.00 408.0 92574 Chip 0.30 Quartz vein and sulphides; pyrite 39.90 134.0 Raven 11813 Grab Quartz vein 1.84 16.2 11814 Grab Foliated rhyolite 0.60 6.4 12045 Chip 0.14 Quartz vein 14.00 100.0 14651 Chip 0.60 Foliated rhyolite 0.01 0.6 14652 Chip 0.15 Quartz vein 15.00 46.0 14653 Chip 0.10 Quartz vein 0.40 14.0 14654 Grab Quartz vein 15.00 100.0 14655 Grab Quartz vein 1.60 22.0

Plans to drill here will require helicopter access, which is being added to the drill permit. The Gem vein represents the most interesting target as it is a closely spaced pair of veins, both of which are well-mineralized. Two to three drill sites spaced along the known strike, testing to 50 and 100 meters down-dip will quickly ascertain the viability of these veins. A similar plan is proposed for the Ptarmigan vein. The Raven and Eagle veins should be field examined to determine the suitability for testing with a drill.

Figure 8: Location and surface expression of the Dome Mountain alpine veins with selected rock and chip sample results

The scientific and technical disclosure in this news release was approved by William Cronk, P.Geo, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and a consultant to the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Rana Vig

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 604-218-4766

Email: [email protected]

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Blue Lagoon Resources Inc. (the "Company") expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include results of exploration activities may not show quality and quantity necessary for further exploration or future exploitation of minerals deposits, volatility of gold and silver prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, permitting and other approvals, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

SOURCE: Blue Lagoon Resources Inc.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Ericsson

Originally published by Ericsson

Register Now!



By 2028 mobile data traffic per smartphone is expected to increase by 21 percent and 5G subscription penetration will exceed 90 percent in North America-the highest globally. As the demand for mobile networks continues to grow, without action, network energy use and related carbon emissions will too.

As Communications Service Providers (CSPs) set science-based climate targets to reach Net Zero and look to monetize their 5G networks, they will need to collaborate closely with telco vendors to reduce network energy consumption and minimize their environmental impact.

ABI Research has analyzed the global telco vendor ecosystem to provide an in-depth view of companies that can best support CSPs in their drive toward Net Zero. Join this webinar, Collaborating for Net Zero: Insights and strategies for sustainable telco networks, where Kim Arrington Johnson, Principal Analyst, ABI Research and Mike Murphy, CTO, Ericsson North America will discuss the fundamentals of Net Zero strategies and share key insights, including:

ABI Research's analysis to identify the "Most Sustainable Telco Vendor"

Key strategies to achieve Net Zero in network operations and supply chain

Actions CSPs can take to reach Net Zero goal

Join us to learn more on how we are redefining the best network as energy efficient, sustainable, and high performance.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Ericsson on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Ericsson

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/ericsson

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Ericsson

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / We released our 2022 Sustainability Report , which details the tangible progress Enbridge is making on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals we announced in late 2020.

This is our 22nd annual report -reflecting our long-standing commitment to public disclosure, accountability and continuous improvement.

At Enbridge, we're taking a practical approach to the energy transitions happening in North America and around world-providing the energy needed today, while simultaneously advancing solutions for tomorrow. The 2022 report offers a comprehensive examination of our sustainable business strategy, ESG approach and performance.

"In 2020, we set ambitious goals across all aspects of E, S and G with clear pathways to achieving them," says Pete Sheffield, Enbridge Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer. "This year's report highlights progress against these goals, aligned with a sustainable growth strategy and our mission to be the first-choice provider of energy for our stakeholders."

The 2022 report includes:

a detailed overview of sources of methane emissions from Enbridge operations along with company, industry and policy actions to better monitor and mitigate emissions.

progress on the company's Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan , released last September.

, released last September. engagement with key suppliers regarding their emission profiles as well as sector-leading Scope 3 emissions disclosures.

additional trade association policy reviews and lobbying disclosures, including a specific climate-related lobbying report .

. an updated analysis, aligned with Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, of Enbridge's businesses under different climate-related scenarios.

As a leader in ESG performance among energy companies, we're proud that every part of our business is now systematically engaged in our work to meet our GHG reduction targets. We've established specific plans within and across businesses and importantly, aligned our compensation and financing costs to ESG performance.

Our approach to business has always been grounded in respect for people, communities and the environment, and focused on delivering value for our stakeholders over the long term. These principles will continue to guide us and create value for our business now and into the future.

"World events in 2022 were a powerful reminder that energy reliability, affordability and access remain critical considerations alongside climate," says Sheffield. "At Enbridge, we're focused on addressing all of these societal needs, and to fostering engagement, inclusion and awareness across communities and throughout the company. This year's report conveys our deep commitment to this mission."

The report is available online , interactive and for the second consecutive year includes a user-friendly ESG dashboard.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Enbridge on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Enbridge

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/enbridge

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Enbridge

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The Swiss-based regulated company Single Broker now allows its institutional clients to facilitate audit transactions and risk management by introducing flexible account management, including account sharing with access control, financial statements, and bank transfers for deposits/withdrawals.

ZUG, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Single Broker addresses the compliance, reporting, and tax requirements institutional traders face by equipping its brokerage platform with a number of important features.

Bank transfers for deposits/withdrawals are now possible on the Single Broker platform. This allows institutional investors to enter the digital assets market through traditional financial means, which is simple and convenient.

Financial statements can be downloaded for tax and regulation purposes. They are exported to the Excel format and cover all financial activity and transactions in terms of user accounts.

Risk management tools allow customers to delegate management rights to in-house or external teams. Access policies and restrictions are flexible in terms of trading, allocation of funds, and other platform functionality.

A Customized Platform for Enterprise-Level Trading

Single Broker also offers an account-sharing feature, allowing corporations to manage their trading and investment initiatives via a single platform. By delegating some or all account management rights, enterprises can enhance the processes when dealing with clients or better manage risks when trading with their own funds.

To ensure high security and prevent corporations from costly human errors and data leakage, traders can control access, customizing the permitted activity. At this time, the rights may include the following: order placement, funds transfer, portfolio view, depositing and withdrawing, DeFi tools usage, and statement download/view.

It's also possible to set up a personalized workspace with a flexible UI. The module-based interface allows any trader or employee to customize the layout and enjoy a tailored user experience.

About Single Broker

Single Broker is a regulated Swiss-based company providing brokerage services for professional crypto traders and institutional clients. The company is a member of the Swiss self-regulatory organization VQF, which is supervised by FINMA. The platform provides a single sign-up for accessing centralized and decentralized exchanges, DeFi apps, and trading tools to facilitate the trading process and boost security and transparency.

Single Broker:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

Press contact:

[email protected]

Media Contact

Organization: SingleBroker GmbH

Contact Person: Andrew Protasevich

Website: https://singlebroker.com/

Email: [email protected]

Address: CH-6340 Baar, Mhlegasse 18, Canton of Zug, Switzerland

City: Baar

State: Canton of Zug

Country: Switzerland

PR Contact

King NewsWire

[email protected]

SOURCE: SingleBroker GmbH

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX:SKE)(NYSE:SKE) ("Skeena" or the "Company") today announced the closing of the previously announced bought deal offering of 10,005,000 common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") at a price of C$7.35 per Common Share (the "Offering Price") for gross proceeds of C$73,536,750 (the "Offering"), and which includes the exercise in full by the underwriters of their over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 1,305,000 Common Shares at the Offering Price.

Randy Reichert, Skeena's President & CEO commented "We are very pleased to have successfully closed this C$73.5 million financing. These funds strongly position Skeena with the proceeds being used to complete key development milestones at the Eskay Creek Project including an on-site assay lab, earthworks and detailed engineering. We look forward to the work planned this summer as it represents a significant step in the advancement of Eskay Creek toward production."

The Common Shares are offered by way of a prospectus supplement to the Company's base shelf prospectus in all of the provinces of Canada, except the province of Qubec, and by way of private placement in the United States.

BMO Capital Markets acted as sole bookrunner for the Offering, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters which includes CIBC World Markets Inc., Raymond James Ltd., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Clarus Securities Inc. and SCP Resource Finance LP (collectively, the "Underwriters").

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for the continued advancement of the Company's Eskay Creek gold-silver project and for general corporate purposes.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any province, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such province, state or jurisdiction.

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in Tahltan Territory in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company released a Feasibility Study for Eskay Creek in September 2022 which highlights an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 50% IRR, and a 1-year payback at US$1,700/oz Au and US$19/oz Ag.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,

Walter Coles

Executive Chairman

Randy Reichert

President & CEO

Contact Information

Investor Inquiries: [email protected]

Office Phone: +1 604 684 8725

Qualified Persons

In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo., Senior Vice President, Exploration & Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated, and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting the exploration activities on its projects.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements and information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or our future performance. The use of words such as "anticipates", "believes", "proposes", "contemplates", "generates", "targets", "is projected", "is planned", "considers", "estimates", "expects", "is expected", "potential" and similar expressions, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "might", "will", "could", or "would" be taken, achieved, or occur, may identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Feasibility Study, processing capacity of the mine, anticipated mine life, probable reserves, estimated project capital and operating costs, sustaining costs, results of test work and studies, planned environmental assessments, the future price of metals, metal concentrate, and future exploration and development. Such forward-looking statements are based on material factors and/or assumptions which include, but are not limited to, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and the assumptions set forth herein and in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022, its most recently filed interim MD&A, and the Company's Annual Information Form ("AIF") dated March 22, 2023. Such forward-looking statements represent the Company's management expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances on the date the statements are made, and are necessarily based on several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein, and are subject to significant operational, business, economic, and regulatory risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including permitting and other government approvals; changes in economic conditions, including changes in the price of gold and other key variables; changes in mine plans and other factors, including accidents, equipment breakdown, bad weather and other project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of the Company; environmental risks and unanticipated reclamation expenses; and other risk factors identified in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022, its most recently filed interim MD&A, the AIF dated March 22, 2023, the Company's short form base shelf prospectus dated January 31, 2023, and in the Company's other periodic filings with securities and regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States that are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and the Company does not undertake any obligations to update and/or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Skeena Resources Limited

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SGQ)(HK:1878) ("SouthGobi" or the "Company") announces that reference is made to (i) the announcement of the Company dated March 26, 2023 ("March 26 Announcement") in relation to the March 2023 Deferral Agreement; and (ii) the announcement of the Company dated April 26, 2023 ("April 26 Announcement", together with March 26 Announcement, the "Announcements") in relation to the date of the Annual and Special Meeting and the Record Date. Capitalized terms used in this announcement shall have the same meaning as those defined in the Announcements unless otherwise defined.

BACKGROUND

As disclosed in the April 26 Announcement, the Annual and Special Meeting was originally scheduled to convene on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, Vancouver time (i.e., Wednesday, June 21, 2023, Hong Kong time) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a Record Date of Thursday, May 11, 2023, Vancouver and Hong Kong time.

POSTPONEMENT OF SPECIAL MEETING

Due to the additional time required to prepare for and finalize the management proxy circular setting out the details of the March 2023 Deferral Agreement (the "Special Meeting Circular"), the Company expects a delay in despatch of the Special Meeting Circular. As a result, (i) the date of the special meeting of the Shareholders to approve the March 2023 Deferral Agreement (the "Special Meeting"); and (ii) the record date for the determination of the Shareholders who are entitled to receive the notice of, and to attend and vote at, the Special Meeting will be postponed to dates to be fixed and announced by the Board at a later date.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the annual general meeting of the Company (the "Annual Meeting") will continue to convene on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, Vancouver time (i.e., Wednesday, June 21, 2023, Hong Kong time) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the record date for the determination of the Shareholders who are entitled to receive the notice of, and to attend and vote at, the Annual Meeting remains the originally announced record date, being Thursday, May 11, 2023, Vancouver and Hong Kong time.

A notice of the Annual Meeting which contains, amongst other things, the detailed agenda of the Annual Meeting, along with a management proxy circular concerning matters to be considered at the Annual Meeting, will be dispatched to the Shareholders on May 30, 2023.

About SouthGobi

SouthGobi, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China.

Contact: Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Mr. Ruibin Xu Chief Executive Officer Office: +1 604 762 6783 (Canada) +852 2156 1438 (Hong Kong) Website: www.southgobi.com

SOURCE: SouthGobi Resources Ltd.

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PENSACOLA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Join Step One Automotive Group for an unforgettable experience at the Festival of Speed on Saturday, June 24, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Five Flags Speedway (7451 Pine Forest Rd, Pensacola, FL 32526). This riveting event features exclusive meet-and-greet opportunities with professional racing drivers, thrilling high-speed Hot Laps, interactive motorsport games, and much more.

The exclusive meet-and-greets with Chris Walsh, GT4 America Porsche and 718 Cayman GT4 Driver, and Juan Manuel Correa, Formula 2 and WEC Driver, are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Afterwards, the thrilling high-speed Hot Laps with Step One Motorsports' professional race car drivers will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Attendees can also enjoy interactive motorsport games and other exciting activities throughout the event.

Festival of Speed is free to the public, but registration to attend is required. RSVP at https://steponefestivalofspeed.rsvpify.com/?securityToken=SszIRiQTj0jmwRImS1MUtruN7V6PtVSCT5L7ITJIzs13jioaCQyrNHVRUxR36Sa3bMDObEu1vdmUlBl6fOHaXp74DIVE9KBMBjwvNomKtys5mZZMmsgawoKebCNqEdrb

About Step One Automotive Group

Step One Automotive Group is an American company based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, built on a singular dedication to empowering lives through smarter and easier ways of accessing mobility. Step One Automotive Group owns 20 new car dealerships in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, representing 17 brands, including Chrysler, Dodge Jeep, Ram Fiat, Volkswagen, Subaru, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, Genesis, Ford, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati. Step One Automotive Group also owns two standalone pre-owned operations, three wholesale parts operations, and one rental car operation. Out of 18,000 dealerships in the United States, Step One ranks in the top 90 dealer groups in the United States and the top 10 in Florida. Step One employs 787 team members across three states and six cities.

For more information, please visit https://www.steponeautomotive.com.

Contact Information

Shantelle Dedicke

President, Frances Roy Agency

[email protected]

307-631-7644

SOURCE: Step One Automotive Group

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The head of Irans nuclear program insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any new activities. His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehrans new underground tunnel system near a nuclear enrichment facility.

The AP outlined this week how deep inside a mountain, the new tunnels near the Natanz facility are likely beyond the range of a last-ditch US weapon designed to destroy such sites.

The report sparked wider conversation across the Middle East about the construction, with Israels national security adviser saying Tuesday the site would not be immune from attack even if its depth put it out of range of American airstrikes.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to describe the interest in the site as a case of Israel feeling pressured.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly, Eslami said, using an acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA did not respond to questions from the AP about the construction at Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.

Satellite photographs of the piles of dirt from the digging and experts who spoke to the AP suggest the new tunnels will be between between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) deep.

Such underground facilities led the US to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military.

US officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the US and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy remains stalled as it has for months over Irans tattered nuclear deal, sabotage attacks may resume.

Iran says the new construction will replace an above-ground centrifuge manufacturing center at Natanz struck by an explosion and fire in July 2020. Tehran blamed the incident on Israel, long suspected of running sabotage campaigns against its program.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / GoDaddy



Photo: GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani celebrates signing the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge with GoDaddy employee resource group members.

Originally published on Entrepreneur

BY ENTREPRENEUR PARTNER STUDIO STAFF

These days, business leaders are thinking about a lot more than generating revenue. They gauge success not only by profits but also by the culture within their business and its impact on the community.

This is where topics like inclusivity and sustainability take precedence. For many companies, inclusivity is about ensuring opportunity and empowerment are accessible to all employees. Meanwhile, sustainability efforts help ensure that what enables everyone to live well and succeed lasts for the long haul.

"Inclusivity and sustainability must be prioritized together when we want to create and sustain change for our employees, customers, and communities," explains Kristy Lilas, Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at GoDaddy , the company that helps entrepreneurs thrive.

GoDaddy recently released its 2022 Sustainability Report , highlighting the progress the company made toward inclusivity, sustainability, and much more.

"Organizations have a responsibility to make their employees feel empowered and supported, which is not only paramount to creating an inclusive culture, but also a necessary ingredient to drive innovation and develop the best products and services for customers," Lilas says. "For these reasons, at GoDaddy, we prioritize inclusivity and sustainability together as they are both at the core of our mission to make opportunity more inclusive for all, no matter a person's identity, background or circumstance."

Here are the three business pillars GoDaddy identified as most critical to creating an inclusive, sustainable future-and tips for how you can do the same at your organization or business.

1. Customers

GoDaddy aims to do more than just offer domain registry, website hosting, and commerce solutions. It positions itself as a company that "empowers entrepreneurs everywhere, making opportunity more inclusive for all." In its 2022 Sustainability Report, GoDaddy says it believes that "inclusive entrepreneurship helps fuel local economies globally, increases generational wealth, decreases wealth gaps, and ultimately improves lives."

Prioritizing inclusive entrepreneurship for GoDaddy means providing equitable resources that support and empower everyone, including entrepreneurs in and from underserved communities. Through its social impact program, Empower by GoDaddy , the company offers in-person and virtual educational workshops, technology tools, mentorship opportunities, and peer networks to thousands of small- and micro-business owners across the U.S., Europe, and Canada. In 2022, GoDaddy provided more than 9,700 learning engagements for entrepreneurs around the world through Empower by GoDaddy.

What you can do: Kami Hoskins, Director of Legal Operations and Training and Head of Corporate Sustainability & Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) at GoDaddy, recommends that businesses engage customers directly to find out what they need to succeed and offer meaningful solutions. For instance, GoDaddy launched Venture Forward , a multi-year research initiative that quantifies the impact of more than 20 million online U.S. microbusinesses on their local economies. Venture Forward research indicates that for every one microbusiness per 100 people in a community, two new jobs are created (not including the business owner). Further, for every additional microbusiness founded, the median household income in the immediate area rises $195 over a one-year period. GoDaddy uses insights like these to better serve its customers, including Empower by GoDaddy participants.

"When designing and building your offerings, it is particularly important to engage customers who are underserved and underrepresented," Hoskins says. "Otherwise, they may not be adequately supported, and you may miss valuable opportunities."

2. Employees

"Authentically serving a diverse customer base starts with cultivating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce," GoDaddy says in its 2022 Sustainability Report. To do this, the company says it made a deliberate effort to recognize and reduce unconscious bias in its recruitment and employee practices and systems, including performance reviews and promotions.

Last year, GoDaddy said it achieved gender pay parity (global) for the eighth year in a row and ethnicity (in the U.S.) pay parity for the sixth year in a row. These findings were also included in the release of GoDaddy's 2022 Diversity and Pay Parity Annual Report.

GoDaddy additionally says that its employee resource groups (ERGs) play a critical part in fostering its culture of inclusivity. These are employee-led groups formed around common missions, identities, affinities, or interests. ERGs provide a space for employees to develop relationships, support professional development, engage in corporate projects and programs, learn from each other, and participate in fun activities, the company says.

What you can do: To get a fresh perspective and truly understand where your business can improve workplace culture, Lilas recommends partnering with and learning from a research-driven third party.

Through a partnership with Stanford University's VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab, GoDaddy learned in detail how traditional performance evaluations "often contain biases that hold women to a higher behavioral standard than men," Lilas says. "This led to us creating processes to remove ambiguity from both recruitment practices and performance reviews and ensuring that we assess both the work that people complete and how they complete it in alignment with our inclusive values. It also includes focusing on action and outcomes as opposed to style and personality, ensuring consistency in feedback, and requiring equal evaluation time."

3. Operations

How can we ensure the longevity of our business in the face of dynamic and shifting forces like climate change and social change?

That's the question GoDaddy's leadership team asks itself when setting its operational objectives and standards. The company takes a multi-pronged approach to accomplish goals related to corporate governance, social impact, and the environment.

"We know that global organizations like GoDaddy have a responsibility to protect the environment for future generations," Hoskins says. "For this reason, we're proud to have reduced GoDaddy's scope 1 and 2 emissions by 35% from a 2019 baseline. To achieve this result, we focused on decreasing the impact of our data center operations, as well as our workspaces, on the environment."

In 2022, the company also reduced its active global real estate footprint by approximately 105,000 square feet, thanks in part to a hybrid work model with reduced office requirements, according to the report.

What you can do: To achieve big environmental, social, and corporate goals, leadership needs a clear strategy, focused intention, and a plan for prioritization, Hoskins says. "This requires dialog and education among stakeholders across diverse aspects of the business," she says.

"I like to think that everyday consumers want to do business with companies they believe in and that are making a positive impact on the world," Hoskins adds. "We hope that part of the reason why our customers continue to come back to us and build businesses with us is because of our relentless commitment to sustainability and inclusivity."

Click here to learn more about GoDaddy and here to download GoDaddy's 2022 Sustainability Report .

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from GoDaddy on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: GoDaddy

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/godaddy

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: GoDaddy

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The New York-based tech company was named twice as a national Best and Brightest Companies to Work For winner and once in the New York region.

NEW CITY, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / The Lifetime Value Company (LTVCo.) has been named in three Best and Brightest Companies to Work For programs by The National Association for Business Resources (NABR), including the Spring 2023 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation, Top 101 Highest Scoring Winners and the 2023 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in New York. The winning companies were assessed by an independent research firm which reviewed a number of key measures relative to other nationally recognized winners. The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For winners are not ranked.





LTV Logo

The Lifetime Value Company Logo





With a portfolio of consumer brands including BeenVerified, Bumper, Ownerly and more, LTVCo. is a fast-growing technology organization that builds exciting data products, from web-based services to best-in-class apps. Within LTVCo., a culture of excellence is nurtured through mentorship, a shared commitment to success, and the flexibility to establish a work-life balance model that supports the overall well-being of all team members.

"We're thrilled to be honored with these three Best and Brightest Companies to Work For awards! This recognition is a testament to the exceptional talent, dedication, and passion of our incredible team," Josh Levy, CEO and co-founder of LTVCo. said. "LTVCo. promotes a culture of continuous learning, where testing and innovation are deeply ingrained in our DNA-team members are encouraged to take risks and embrace failure as an opportunity to learn. By fostering a diverse and inclusive environment, we encourage our team to question everything respectfully, bringing their unique perspectives and experiences to the table to drive innovation and improvement to our products and to our workplace."

LTVCo. was also awarded the same three prestigious awards in 2022: Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation, Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in New York and included in the Top 101 Highest Scoring Winners.

The Best and Brightest Companies To Work For in the Nation offers different timelines of applications throughout the year: spring, summer, fall, and winter. The spring Best and Brightest National winners honored 195 winning organizations from across the country out of 1,300 nominations and also honored some of the Top 101 Highest Scoring Companies in the Nation. The summer, fall, and winter application process is still currently open.

With over 20 years of experience conducting the Best and Brightest competitions, the National Association for Business Resources have identified numerous best Human Resource practices and provided benchmarking for companies that continue to be leaders in employment standards.

"Those companies that made the list of Best and Brightest Companies to Work For as well as those companies that continue to make the list are truly remarkable. Given today's need for talent, retention of talent, and the further issues related to the pandemic, these companies have proven they are superior to market conditions. They are elite thinkers, and this honor demonstrates their commitment to excellence," said Jennifer Kluge, President and CEO of NABR and Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.

All 2023 companies that will be selected to be recognized nationally as a Best and Brightest Company to Work For will be featured in the online edition of Corp! Magazine and in the Wall Street Journal.

About the Best and Brightest Programs

The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For competition identifies and honors organizations that display a commitment to excellence in operations and employee enrichment that lead to increased productivity and financial performance. This competition scores potential winners based on regional data of company performance and a set standard across the nation. This national program celebrates those companies that are making better business, creating richer lives and building a stronger community as a whole. There are numerous regional celebrations throughout the country such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Houston, Milwaukee, San Diego and San Francisco. Nominations are now being accepted for all programs. Visit thebestandbrightest.com to nominate your organization.

About The Lifetime Value Company

The Lifetime Value Company is a tech company with a culture of innovation and passion for data. We build and ship best-in-class apps and web-based products and tools that put the power of information into the hands of our customers. Our mission is to help people discover, understand and use data in their everyday lives. Learn more at www.ltvco.com and on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

WE'RE HIRING!

Looking to grow your career at a company that puts its people first? Visit our careers page at: https://www.ltvco.com/careers

Media Contact: [email protected]

Contact Information

Press LTV Co.

[email protected]

SOURCE: The Lifetime Value Company

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Aflac Incorporated:

Photo: Phoebe has taught us plenty of things. She is a pit mix, which tends to carry a certain stigma, but if they only knew what a pushover she is! I'm amazed every day at just how much she loves people and other dogs. - Jason Pearce and dog, Phoebe

Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

The tail that wags when you walk in the door. The purrs that provide comfort and love. The neighs, bleats, barks and meows that make you laugh. There is no denying that pets bring so much joy to life's everyday moments. In fact, multiple studies indicate that there are correlations between pet ownership and benefits for mental wellness1 and cardiac health.2

At Aflac, we love our four-legged family members, so much so that there is an entire page on our intranet dedicated to the Pets of Aflac. In honor of National Pet Month, the pet owners of Aflac share their stories and tips for celebrating and caring for their pets during this special month and all year long.

Show them lots of love, and give them your time and attention - every day.

Pets need regular exercise and engagement. Go for plenty of walks and let your pets explore new environments occasionally. You can also play games - indoor and/or outdoor - that offer both mental and physical engagement, like fetch, treat or treasure hunts, toy chases and obstacle courses. There are also pet day care facilities and professionals that specialize in giving your pets plenty of engagement outside of the home. And of course, lots of playtime, snuggles and special treats for pets are all great ways to spoil them.

Pet ownership is a big commitment - something to always consider is your schedule and ability to stick to a routine - but what it requires in responsibilities, it more that pays off with unconditional love and comfort.

Invest in training.

When you bring a pet into your life, you are building a relationship with a creature that does not speak the same language as you, which is why a quality and regular training regimen is critical.

In the training process, not only will you be able to teach your pet how he or she can communicate with you, but you'll also learn how to understand what your pet is trying to tell you. By paying attention to their body language and how they act around other people, you'll pick up on important cues that your pet is trying to signal to you.

Put in the time to train when they are young, and it will pay off in the long run. And remember to be patient, as they are always learning.

Protect them.

Our pets rely on us to take care of them and to protect them. Start with the basics: quality food, access to fresh water, grooming, dental care, routine veterinary visits - including exams, vaccinations, etc. - and pay attention to any behavioral changes that could indicate health issues. It's also important to establish a relationship with and stay close to your veterinarian, as they can help you find the best ways to care for your pet and ensure his or her wellness.

Expect the unexpected from your pet.

With video calls still a part of daily life, many pet owners know the cute chaos that ensues when their pets sneak up on the screen. It may not be what we usually mean when we say that Aflac practices diversity and inclusion, but isn't it just the cat's meow when your pet unexpectedly joins hybrid team meetings?

Want to see more Pets of Aflac? Read the full story on Aflac's Newsroom.

1 Depression, anxiety, and happiness in dog owners and potential dog owners during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. PLOS ONE. Accessed April 20, 2023.

2 Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association. Accessed April 20, 2023.

Confidential and Proprietary. For Internal Use Only. Do Not Distribute. This content contains proprietary information and material that is owned by Aflac and/or its licensors, and is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws, including but not limited to copyright. This content is provided to you for informational purposes. You further agree not to modify, loan, sell, distribute, or create derivative works based on this content. Any use not specifically permitted herein is strictly prohibited.

Z2300451 EXP 5/24

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Aflac Incorporated on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Aflac Incorporated

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/aflac-incorporated

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Aflac Incorporated

View source version on accesswire.com:
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2023 / Theralase Technologies Inc. ("Theralase" or the "Company") (TSXV:TLT) (OTCQB:TLTFF), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of light-activated Photo Dynamic Compounds ("PDCs") and their associated drug formulations, used to safely and effectively destroy various cancers, bacteria and viruses, is pleased to announce that Roger DuMoulin-White, B.Sc., P.Eng., Pro. Dir. has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of the Company.

Dr. Arkady Mandel, MD, PhD, DSc has tendered his resignation as Interim CEO, but will continue to serve as Chief Scientific Officer ("CSO") and as a member of Theralase's Board.

Mr. DuMoulin-White is the founder of Theralase and it's former President and CEO. He stepped down as President and CEO in 2018 and has since served in a non-executive business development role.

Mr. DuMoulin-White was the subject of a voluntary Settlement Agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission ("OSC") dated February 16, 2018 and an OSC Order dated February 26, 2018 which required, among other things, that he resign as a director and officer of Theralase and refrain from holding those positions for a period of five years. That period has expired and Theralase has obtained the approval of the Toronto Stock Venture Exchange ("TSXV") to appoint Mr. DuMoulin-White as President and CEO of the Company and to nominate him for election to the Company's Board of Directors at the Company's Annual Meeting on June 29, 2023.

Matthew Perraton, PFP, FMA, FCSI, Pro. Dir., Chairman of the Board of Theralase, stated, "As Theralase's founder and visionary, Roger built the Company from scratch, imparting ideals and a vision that remain the foundation of the Company today. The Board has unanimously agreed that it is in the best interests of Theralase and its shareholders that Roger resume the roles of President and CEO.

Mr. Perraton continued, "We wish to thank Arkady for his dedication and support as the Interim CEO of the Company. Under his leadership, Theralase has made great strides in our Phase II Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ("NMIBC") clinical study ("Study II"), whose strong interim clinical data verifies that light-activated RuvidarTM is a potent PDC that is capable of destroying bladder cancer and providing a durable response to the disease. Theralase has an exceptionally bright future and we look forward to having Roger lead us on the path to becoming a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company."

About Study II

Study II utilizes the therapeutic dose of RuvidarTM (0.70 mg/cm2) activated by the proprietary TLC-3200 (90 J/cm2) medical laser system. Study II is focused on enrolling and treating approximately 100 to 125 BCG-Unresponsive NMIBC CIS patients in up to 15 clinical study sites located in Canada and the United States.

About TLD-1433 (RuvidarTM)

TLD-1433 is a patented PDC with over 12 years of published peer reviewed preclinical research and is currently under clinical investigation in Study II. The trade name RuvidarTM was selected by the Company, as Ru is the element symbol for Ruthenium, a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group, which the Theralase PDC is based upon, vita is Latin for life and dar is Russian for gift; hence, roughly translated, "Ruthenium, the gift of life".

About Theralase Technologies Inc.

Theralase is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to the research and development of light activated compounds and their associated drug formulations with a primary objective of efficacy and a secondary objective of safety in the destruction of various cancers, bacteria and viruses.

Additional information is available at www.theralase.com and www.sedar.com

This news release contains Forward-Looking Statements ("FLS") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Such FLS include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's proposed development plans with respect to Photo Dynamic Compounds ("PDCs") and their drug formulations. FLS may be identified by the use of the words "may, "should", "will", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "expects", "estimate", "potential for", similar expressions and their negatives; including, statements related to the current expectations of the Company's management for future preclinical research, clinical development, commercialization strategies and regulatory approvals of the Company's PDCs and their drug formulations.

These statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions; including, the ability of the Company to: adequately fund and secure the requisite regulatory approvals to successfully complete a Phase II NMIBC clinical study in a timely fashion and to implement its development plans. Other risks include: the ability of the Company to successfully commercialize its drug formulations, that access to sufficient capital to fund the Company's operations may not be available on terms that are commercially favorable to the Company or at all, the Company's drug formulations may not be effective against the diseases tested in its clinical studies, the Company fails to comply with the term of license agreements with third parties and as a result loses the right to use key intellectual property in its business, the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property, the timing and success of submission, acceptance and approval of regulatory filings and the impacts of public health crises, such as COVID-19. Many of these factors that will determine actual results that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict.

Readers should not unduly rely on these FLS, which are not a guarantee of future performance. There can be no assurance that FLS will successfully come to fruition, as such FLS involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results or future events to differ materially from the FLS.

Although the FLS contained in the press release are based upon what management currently believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective investors that actual results, performance or achievements will be consistent with these FLS.

All FLS are made as of the date hereof and are subject to change. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update such FLS.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchanges) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For More Information:

Kristina Hachey, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

1.866.THE.LASE (843.5273) x224

416.699.LASE (5273) x224

[email protected]

www.theralase.com

SOURCE: Theralase Technologies Inc.

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How a Former Professor Grappled With Depression, Found Clarity in the Mountains, and Launched a Thriving Hiking Apparel Company

PROVO, UT / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2023 / Timpanogos Hiking Co. will officially launch its first brick-and-mortar store in Downtown Provo this Thursday, May 25, 2023, just a short drive from its namesake, Mount Timpanogos. Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi is expected to attend the ribbon cutting at 3 p.m.

Timpanogos Hiking Co. in Provo, Utah

Sign outside Timpanogos Hiking Co.'s first brick-and-mortar location in Downtown Provo

A Utah native, Timpanogos Hiking Co. founder and owner Joseph Vogel started the business as a side project while still living in Massachusetts, where he was a professor. "It was a way for me to kind of reconnect with home," Vogel explains. "I'd been away for 15 years, first for grad school in Rochester, New York, then for my career."

Around the time of the pandemic, Vogel was grappling with serious depression following what he describes as a series of "tough, life-changing blows."

He began returning to Utah more often in part to help with his mother, who suffered a major brain injury in 2020. During those trips, he also began hiking in the canyons and mountains he grew up in. "It was nice," he says. "I liked the movement. I liked just sweating and not looking at my phone and being surrounded by all that beauty."

Prior to starting the business, Vogel had reached the pinnacle of his profession in higher education, earning tenure as a professor of American literature and film, and publishing bestselling books on pop icons Michael Jackson and Prince. He also participated in two documentaries by legendary filmmaker Spike Lee. But "success," Vogel says, "isn't everything."

The idea for Timpanogos Hiking Co. came one sleepless night in Massachusetts. "I saw the name and logo in my mind, and the tagline: escape the noise."

A few months later, he launched an online store on the Shopify platform. "It was exciting," Vogel says. "I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun and challenging and I could see the potential." Rather than focusing on hiking gear, Vogel decided to highlight unique hiking-inspired designs - specifically for T-shirts and hoodies. "It was great," Vogel says, "because you could tell very quickly what was working and what wasn't." In the beginning, Vogel used print-on-demand services to keep inventory costs low and offer as many designs as possible.

In just over six months, the business made over six figures in revenue.

In February 2023, he decided to take a leap and sign the lease for Timpanogos's first physical store. The buildout and inventory required dipping into his retirement account. For the past few months, he says, he has been "bouncing back and forth" between Massachusetts and Utah while his kids finish the school year, but he has no regrets.

"For me, it's about something bigger. Something personal, obviously, but something others can relate to." Vogel says he has taken inspiration from other purpose-driven businesses, including fellow outdoor apparel brand Cotopaxi. "Obviously, you want your business to be successful. But you also want to 'do good,' as Cotopaxi puts it, and I thought one thing we could do in addition to making cool designs is bring awareness to mental health and how good hiking can be for people struggling with mental health."

Timpanogos Hiking Co. has customers in all 50 states and has quickly become one of the hottest outdoor apparel brands in the Mountain West.

Contact Information

Joseph Vogel

Founder/Owner

[email protected]

801-300-7072

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SOURCE: Timpanogos Hiking Co.

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Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating on Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and raised their 12-month price target ...

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Investing.com -- Weakening U.S. consumer spending on higher-priced items may limit growth outperformance at Shopify Inc (NYSE: SHOP), analysts at BNP Paribas Exane said in a note on Wednesday downgrading their rating of the Canadian e-commerce group to underperform from neutral.

Earnings from American retail chains like Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowes (NYSE: LOW) have been interpreted as a possible sign that cost-of-living pressures are leading shoppers in the world's largest economy to rein in discretionary expenditures in favor of essential items.

The BNP Paribas analysts warned that this trend could impact Shopify, which offers its clients tools and services to set up their own online stores.

The company saw demand surge during the pandemic, leading it to invest heavily in its order-fulfillment network. However, that boom has since waned, forcing Shopify to divest its logistics business and announce a wave of staff cuts.

Shopify's results remained resilient in the first quarter as a suite of new tools helped justify an uptick in its subscription fees. Revenue and adjusted income both beat estimates.

However, the BNP Paribas analysts said they expect the current quarter to be "noisy," with the sale of the logistics arm causing a slight step down in revenue.

Shares in Shopify were lower in early U.S. trading.
Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the Data Cloud company, today announced the appointment of Steve B. Burke to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. John McMahon will step down from the Snowflake board after the companys annual meeting on July 5. Snowflake thanks Mr. McMahon for his 10 years of service on the Board.

Were delighted to have Steve join Snowflakes Board of Directors, said Frank Slootman, Snowflake Chairman and CEO. Steves highly respected leadership tenure in the media industry combined with his credentials as an accomplished executive will bring valuable perspective to the Snowflake Board.

Mr. Burke had a long career in the media business, most recently serving as CEO of NBCUniversal. Prior to that he was President of Comcast Cable and Chief Operating Officer of Comcast Corporation. Mr. Burke currently resides in Bozeman, Montana where he runs a private investment firm named Madison Valley Partners. Mr. Burke currently serves on the boards of directors of J.P. Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway.

Snowflake has established itself as a transformative force for businesses across industries and around the world, said Burke. I am honored to join the Snowflake Board of Directors and look forward to leveraging my experience and insights to help guide the company as it continues to innovate and deliver for its customers."
GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of phage-based therapies to combat bacterial infections, is pleased to announce a collaboration and license agreement with the Israeli Phage Therapy Center (IPTC) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical Center. Researchers at the IPTC have discovered several phages that have exceptionally broad coverage against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Under the agreement, Hadasit and Yissum, the technology transfer companies of Hadassah and the Hebrew University, grants APT exclusive rights to make, use, and sell licensed phages for human therapy, with the right to sublicense through multiple tiers. APT also has the first right to evaluate additional phages discovered by IPTC researchers for inclusion in APTs phage bank. As consideration for the license and first right of refusal, APT made an upfront payment and will pay royalties from net sales on any therapeutic composition comprising a licensed phage.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005291/en/

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Notably, the licensed phages have already been used in emergency compassionate-use treatments for numerous patients for whom antibiotic options had been exhausted. In April 2023 the IPTC reported that 78% of compassionate-use bacteriophage treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections given since 2018 to patients at the Hadassah Medical Center and other hospitals in Israel have resulted in favorable outcomes. The center has received 159 requests for compassionate use of phage therapy for previously failed infections from Israel, the US, Finland and Germany. The most common indications for phage requests were bone and respiratory infections, with the most common bacteria being Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus aureus. Of the 18 patients who received intravenous phage therapy, 14 (78%) achieved clinical remission, and four (22%) were classified as treatment failure. No major side effects were reported.

Over the past several years, we have built a mutually beneficial relationship with the scientists and clinicians at the Israeli Phage Therapy Center, said Greg Merril, CEO of APT. We are thrilled to enter into this collaboration and license agreement and to continue our work with Dr. Nir-Paz, Dr. Hazan, and the impressive group of phage scientists at Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center. We believe that phage-based therapies have the potential to revolutionize the treatment of bacterial infections, particularly in patients who have exhausted all other options, and this collaboration will enhance APTs phage bank and enable us to bring these therapies to more patients in need.

"We are excited to announce our collaboration and licensing agreement with the foremost phage therapy biotech firm, Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, said Ronan Hazan, PhD, Head of the Israeli Phage Therapy Center and the Israeli Phage Bank and Head of the Institute of Biomedical and Oral Research (IBOR) of the Dental Medicine Faculty of the Hebrew University. This partnership is a significant milestone in our mission to combat antimicrobial resistance using phage therapy. It is our conviction that phage therapy holds enormous potential to transform the way infectious diseases are treated, and this collaboration will help us bring these innovative treatments to patients in need. We look forward to working together to advance the field of phage therapy and develop new solutions to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance."

"As an infectious disease doctor, I recognize the urgent need for new solutions in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. I am thrilled to see the Israeli Phage Therapy Center entering into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, the leading phage therapy biotech firm, said Ran Nir-Paz, MD, Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Medicine at the department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center and co-founder of the Israeli Phage Therapy Center. Phage therapy holds great promise in addressing this global crisis, and this partnership is a crucial step forward in bringing these innovative treatments to patients in need."

The emergency clinical use of the phages licensed under this agreement have led to several published case studies and other manuscripts currently being prepared for publication, including:

About The Israeli Phage Therapy Center (IPTC)

The IPTC was operating since 2018, by the Hadassah Medical Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The center has received 159 requests for compassionate use of phage therapy for previously failed infections from Israel, the US, Finland and Germany. The most common indications for phage requests were bone and respiratory infections, with the most common bacteria being Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus aureus. Of the 18 patients who received intravenous phage therapy, 14 (78%) achieved clinical remission, and four (22%) were classified as treatment failure. No major side effects were reported.

About The Hadassah Medical Center

The Hadassah Medical Center was established in 1912 and is a world-class facility. For more than a century, Hadassah has set the standard of excellence for medical care and research in Israel. Every year, Hadassah provides nearly one million people with hospital services, and in keeping with worldwide trends, the Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel is moving toward day care and day hospitalization to reduce costs and risk of infection. Our doctors and scientists are on the frontlines, uniquely positioned to pinpoint ever-evolving medical needs. Their experience and ingenuity have yielded new ideas with huge potential in all areas of medicine, including therapeutics, diagnostic medical devices, and digital health. For more information about the Hadassah Medical Center, please visit https://www.hadassah.org.il/en/

About the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's leading academic and research institution. Serving 24,000 students from 80 countries, it produces a third of Israel's civilian research and is ranked 12th worldwide in biotechnology patent filings and commercial development. Faculty and alumni of the Hebrew University have won eight Nobel Prizes and a Fields Medal. For more information about the Hebrew University, please visit http://new.huji.ac.il/en.

About Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc. (APT)

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) is a clinical-stage company advancing therapies to treat multidrug-resistant infections based on a phage bank concept originally initiated at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by APT co-founder Carl R. Merril, M.D., Capt. USPHS (ret). APT phage bank is being steadily expanded with new phage discoveries and collections from a variety of sources, including the biodefense labs of US Department of Defense, internal phage discovery initiatives at APT, and academic phage research labs collaborators around the world.

APT is the sponsor of ongoing clinical trials in Prosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) and Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis (DFO), addressing notable unmet patient needs in those bacterial infection indications. APTs phage bank has also been used in over 70 compassionate cases under FDA emergency Investigational New Drug allowance in which standard-of-care antibiotics had failed.

APT phage bank is paired with a phage susceptibility test (PST) that matches each patient bacterial isolate to specific lytic phage within APTs collection  analogous to an antibiotic susceptibility test for matching antibiotics. The APT PST will be commercialized worldwide in collaboration with Mayo Clinic Laboratories.

APTs clinical development program has attracted substantial financial support from The Defense Health Agency (DHA), NIAID/NIH, The Mayo Clinic, the AMR Action Fund, Deerfield Management, and other VC funds and healthcare systems. For more information, visit www.aphage.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005291/en/

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics

Investor Relations:

Gilmartin Group, LLC.:

Laurence Watts

[email protected]

619-916-7620

Source: Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc.
Saudi Arabia and Canada will restore full diplomatic relations, the kingdom said Wednesday, following a 2018 dispute over human rights that saw Riyadh expel Ottawa's ambassador and freeze new trade.

The decision, also announced by Canada's foreign ministry, came after talks last year between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok.

"It has been decided to restore the level of diplomatic relations with Canada to its previous state," Saudi's foreign ministry said in a statement.

In 2018, the Saudi government expelled Canada's ambassador and recalled its own envoy to Ottawa, while freezing all new trade over vigorous calls for the release of activists jailed in the kingdom.

On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the two countries will "appoint new ambassadors". A Canadian foreign ministry statement named Jean-Phillipe Linteau as Ottawa's new envoy to the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia made no mention of its pick for ambassador.

The reconciliation was based on "the desire for both sides to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interests," Canada's foreign ministry said.

Saudi Arabia is the world's leading crude exporter.

In 2021, Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to $2.2 billion and imports represented $2.4 billion, according to official figures from the Canadian government.

Canadian imports consisted almost entirely of oil and petrochemicals, the government said.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online

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MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of bbb (Good) of Aseguradora General, S.A. (AGen) (Guatemala). The outlook of the FSR is stable while the Long-Term ICR outlook is positive.

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect AGens balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its marginal operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The positive outlook on the Long-Term ICR reflects AM Best's expectation that the drag on AGens ratings will be eliminated as the financial leverage at the holding company continues to improve.

AGen was established in 1967 and is the fourth-largest insurer operating in Guatemala. As of year-end 2022, the company reported USD 91 million in direct premium, with a market share of 6.9%. The company underwrites a mixed portfolio of life and non-life business, with its retained premium distributed among major medical expenses (60%), auto (15%), property/casualty (P/C) (13%), group life (8%) and universal life (4%). The companys business profile is assessed at neutral, supported by its importance within its domestic market, but limited by its geographic and product concentration.

The companys majority shareholder is Luensi, S.A. (Luensi) (Guatemala), a pure holding company with investments in insurance, real estate and banking. Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. previously owned AGen, but Luensi and a group of investors bought a 51% stake in May 2017.

As of December 2022, Guatemalas USD 1.3 billion insurance market ranked as the third largest in Central America, with good growth prospects for the countrys economy given its macroeconomic stability.

AM Best considers AGens balance sheet strength to be at the strongest level. The companys well-structured reinsurance program supports its capital base by properly limiting its exposure to catastrophe events. In previous rating assessments, Luensis debt obligations placed negative pressure on AGens ratings by limiting its financial flexibility due to substantial dividend payments; however, debt has shifted to more manageable levels with good interest coverages, partially mitigating AM Bests concern. AM Best considers AGens ERM practices to be appropriate as its management capabilities are sufficient to meet its risk appetite.

AM Best views the companys operating performance as marginal. The result posted for 2022 reflects the companys improved underwriting in particular lines, while challenges still persist in its competitive insurance segments. AM Best also recognizes the positive development of AGens P/C lines of business; nevertheless, it has not been sufficient to generate a favorable trend in its underwriting results in consideration of its operating performance assessment. Net income has remained positive for the past five years, strongly supported by revenue coming from deferred premium and premium issuance rights predominantly from the companys major medical expenses offerings.

Positive rating actions could take place if the holding company continues to keep its debt at manageable levels, relieving pressure on AGens cash flow. Negative rating actions could take place if the companys business profile limits its operating performance in terms of quality of underwriting and bottom-line results.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005872/en/

Eli Sanchez

Director, Analytics

+52 55 1102 2720, ext. 122

[email protected]



Alfonso Novelo

Senior Director, Analytics

+52 55 1102 2720, ext. 107

[email protected]



Christopher Sharkey

Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]



Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
Ameriprise plans to tap into Charlottes highly skilled workforce and hire approximately 400 employees for a range of positions

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) today announced it is opening a new corporate office in Charlotte, North Carolina, to support the ongoing needs of the company. Ameriprise has signed a two-story lease at the Barings Building, located at 300 South Tryon in Uptown Charlotte, where it plans to gradually fill approximately 400 positions from departments across the enterprise. Ameriprise remains headquartered in Minneapolis and maintains corporate sites in multiple locations across the U.S. and globally.

Charlotte is a vibrant and growing city with a strong, diverse and talented workforce  and were thrilled to bring fulfilling and rewarding career opportunities to the market, said Joe Sweeney, President  Advice & Wealth Management, Products and Service Delivery at Ameriprise. The location, layout, and many amenities of the Barings Building make it a perfect fit. It will be an engaging and energizing office setting where employees can connect, collaborate, and continue to advance our 129-year legacy of serving clients.

Ameriprise has an excellent reputation as an employer and is known as a firm that makes positive, lasting impacts for the clients and communities we serve, added Kelli Hunter Petruzillo, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Ameriprise. We encourage qualified candidates to explore career opportunities in Charlotte and the many other locations where we operate.

Ameriprise expects to open the Charlotte office this fall.

About Ameriprise Financial

At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for more than 125 years. With extensive investment advice, asset management and insurance capabilities and a nationwide network of approximately 10,000 financial advisors, we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of individual and institutional investors' financial needs.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

 2023 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Kathleen McClung, Media Relations

612.678.1069

[email protected]

Source: Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
Auctane signals start of new era of growth as global e-commerce shipping leader

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Auctane, the leading global delivery experience company that operates trusted brands such as ShipStation, Stamps.com, ShippingEasy, ShipEngine, ShipWorks, Metapack, and Endicia, today announced the appointment of Albert Ko as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective June 12, 2023. He succeeds Nathan Jones as CEO and will join the Companys Board of Directors.

Ko joins Auctane from Early Warning Services (EWS), where he served as CEO. During his four-year tenure leading EWS, best known for the Zelle payments network, he oversaw 20X growth in financial institutions and 5X growth in volume while building a strong culture of employee engagement.

Al has deep expertise in bringing organizations together to achieve large-scale growth and transformational change. His proven track record of empowering employees around a shared vision will serve Auctane well as we accelerate momentum across our portfolio of brands, said Gene Austin, Chairman of Auctanes Board of Directors. I look forward to working alongside Al as he brings this expertise to bear at Auctane.

Auctane operates an ecosystem of brands within the mailing and shipping industries. Beginning with the introduction of online postage through Stamps.com and expanding into the booming global ecommerce market through ShipStation, ShipEngine, and Metapack, Auctane has a long history of pioneering technology aimed at improving the delivery experience for both senders and recipients.

With extensive experience delivering product innovation and operational excellence at large-scale organizations, Al will help Auctane usher in a new stage of growth, said Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo, which acquired Auctane in October 2021. Under his leadership, Auctane will continue to drive innovation in the expanding ecommerce shipping market, where increasing expectations around shipping speed, complexity, and globalization present enormous opportunity.

Prior to his time at EWS, Ko spent more than 13 years at Intuit, where he served in various executive leadership roles, including Chief Transformation Officer, General Manager of Mint, and Head of Product for QuickBooks, where he was instrumental in its global expansion. He is passionate about helping businesses save time and money by simplifying complex tasks.

Ko said, Auctane has been on the forefront of innovation in shipping since its inception. I look forward to joining a team of passionate innovators dedicated to bringing solutions to merchants around the world to help grow their businesses.

About Auctane

Navigating the complex landscape of global shipping and logistics presents new challenges for startups and fast-growing brands every day. At Auctane, we serve and champion these businesses in everything we do. We are a team of shipping and software experts with a passion for helping merchants move their ideas, dreams, and innovations around the globe. Our software solutions power billions of shipments every year and enable businesses to manage complex logistic channels with ease, optimizing their time, energy, and resources. Auctane brands include ShipStation, Stamps.com, Packlink, ShippingEasy, ShipWorks, ShipEngine, Endicia, Shipsi, GlobalPost, and Metapack, with offices located globally in El Segundo, Austin, London, Madrid, Zielona Gora, and Atlanta. For more information, please visit https://auctane.com/.

About Thoma Bravo

Thoma Bravo is one of the largest software investors in the world, with more than US$120 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2022. Through its private equity, growth equity and credit strategies, the firm invests in growth-oriented, innovative companies operating in the software and technology sectors. Leveraging Thoma Bravo's deep sector expertise and strategic and operational capabilities, the firm collaborates with its portfolio companies to implement operating best practices and drive growth initiatives. Over the past 20 years, the firm has acquired or invested in more than 435 companies representing over US$240 billion in enterprise value.1 The firm has offices in Chicago, London, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. For more information, visit Thoma Bravo's website at thomabravo.com and Twitter @ThomaBravo.

1 Includes control and non-control investments.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005284/en/

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (512) 806-0297

Source: Auctane
CELAYA, Guanajuato., Mexico--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Industrias Bachoco, S.A.B. de C.V. ("Bachoco") (NYSE: IBA; BMV: BACHOCO). A national leader in the production and marketing of poultry products and other food products, informs that its Board of Directors, with the abstention in the deliberation and voting, and without the presence of, directors who are members of the Robinson Bours Family, has resolved, considering, mainly, that, to date, approximately 2.5% of the shares representing its outstanding capital stock are held by the investing public, and, therefore: (i) the costs of maintaining such shares registered in the National Securities Registry (Registro Nacional de Valores) maintained by the National Banking and Securities Commission (Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores), and listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, S.A.B. de C.V.), exceed its benefits, and (ii) Bachoco is not in compliance with the requirements to maintain the listing of shares representing its capital stock on the Mexican Stock Exchange, pursuant to rule 4.033.01 and others applicable, of the Internal Regulations of said stock exchange, and it does it have a program aimed at correcting the lack of compliance, in accordance with the aforementioned Regulations, which, in turn, in accordance with the Mexican Securities Market Law, may cause the suspension of the listing of the shares representing the capital stock of Bachoco and/or the cancellation of its registration before the Mexican National Securities Registry; that Bachoco initiates, in the near future, the processes to promote the cancellation of the registration of the shares representing its capital stock in the National Securities Registry and its delisting from the Mexican Stock Exchange, including without limitation, convening an Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting to propose the aforementioned actions, and initiating the processes before the National Banking and Securities Commission, so that the issuer itself. or a third party, may carry out a tender offer acquisition in Mexico, of the shares representing its capital stock that, as of the start date of said offer, are held by public investors, in terms of article 108 of the Mexican Securities Market Law, at a price determined in accordance with said article.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION.

Industrias Bachoco is a leader in the poultry industry in Mexico and one of the largest poultry companies in the world. The Company was founded in 1952, and began trading on the Mexican Stock Exchange and the New York Exchange in 1997. Corporate offices are located in Celaya, Mexico. Bachoco is vertically integrated; its main business lines are: chicken, eggs, balanced feed, pork, among other products. It has more than 1,000 facilities organized into 9 production complexes and more than 100 distribution centers in Mexico and a production complex in the United States. It currently generates more than 34,000 direct jobs. Bachoco has the following ratings: "AAA (MEX)", the highest rating assigned by Fitch Mexico, S.A. de C.V.; and "HR AAA", which means that the Issuer or the Issue is of the highest credit quality and was granted by HR Ratings de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

DISCLAIMER

The document contains information that could be deemed forward-looking statements regarding expected future events and results of the Company. The statements reflect management's current beliefs based on currently available information and are not guarantees of future performance and are based on our estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Annual Information form, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. These risks and uncertainties include risks associated with ownership in the poultry industry, competition for investments in the poultry industry, shareholder liability, government regulation, and environmental matters. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, Industrias Bachoco, S.A.B. de C.V. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

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IR contact information:

[email protected]

[email protected]

T. +52 (461) 618 3555



Source: Industrias Bachoco, S.A.B. de C.V.
CITI TO RESUME SHARE BUYBACKS THIS QUARTER

BUSINESS WILL RETAIN BANAMEX NAME AND CONTINUE TO SERVE AS ONE OF MEXICOS LEADING BANKING PARTNERS FOR CONSUMER, SMALL AND MID-SIZED BUSINESS OWNERS

CITI TO RETAIN AND CONTINUE TO GROW MARKET-LEADING INSTITUTIONAL CLIENTS BUSINESS IN MEXICO

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Citi today announced it will pursue an initial public offering (IPO) of its consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations in Mexico (the Business) following the planned separation of its leading institutional business that will remain part of Citi. As previously disclosed, Citi had been pursuing a dual process to exit the Business, including preparation for a possible IPO, with a commitment to deliver maximum value to its shareholders.

The Business will retain the Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex) brand and will remain one of the leading financial groups in Mexico. Banamex will continue offering a full suite of financial services to consumers and small and mid-market business owners through an extensive distribution network of ~1,300 branches, ~9,000 ATMs, ~12.7 million retail banking clients, ~6,600 commercial banking clients and ~10 million pension fund customers.

Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi said, After careful consideration, we concluded the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business. Citi has operated in Mexico for over a century, and we will further invest and grow our industry-leading institutional franchise in this critical global hub, delivering the full power of Citis global network to our institutional and private banking clients in this priority market.

Banamex will retain credit cards, retail banking, consumer loans, residential mortgage lending, insurance, annuities, pension assets management, deposits and a full suite of commercial banking products. The approximately 38,000 employees currently supporting these businesses, as well as Banamexs art collection and historical buildings, will remain part of Banamex.

Over the last two decades, Citis investments have significantly transformed Banamex into a state-of-the-art bank, fully focused on delivering a richer, smarter, more intuitive experience for clients and customers. Citi has invested US$2.5 billion to enhance Banamexs digital and mobile banking capabilities. This investment strengthened Banamexs technology infrastructure, deepened its national branch and ATM networks and relationships with key customer segments, and advanced financial inclusion in Mexico.

Citi will continue to operate a locally-licensed banking business in Mexico through its Institutional Clients Group (ICG), which provides an unrivaled global network of banking and advisory services to private and public institutions, financial sector clients and investors, as well as through Citi Private Bank for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. Citi has been pursuing the carve out of the ICG business since announcing its plan to separate Banamex. This work, including obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals, is ongoing. Citi expects that the separation of the businesses will be completed in the second half of 2024 and that the IPO will take place in 2025.

Mark Mason, CFO of Citi said, This decision demonstrates our commitment to choose the best outcome for our shareholders and allows us to resume a modest level of share buybacks this quarter. Given the uncertainty regarding regulatory capital requirements, we will continue to assess buybacks on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

The Business will continue to be reported as part of Citis continuing operations until ownership falls below a 50% voting interest, at which point the business will be deconsolidated.

Since announcing intentions to exit consumer banking across 14 markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico as part of its strategic refresh, Citi has signed sales agreements in nine markets and has closed sales in seven markets, including Australia, Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The firm is progressing its previously announced wind-downs of Citis consumer businesses in China and Korea, and its overall presence in Russia.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, which will be made only by prospectus.

About Citi

Citi is a preeminent banking partner for institutions with cross-border needs, a global leader in wealth management and a valued personal bank in its home market of the United States. Citi does business in nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions, providing corporations, governments, investors, institutions and individuals with a broad range of financial products and services.

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/company/citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on managements current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. These statements are not guarantees of future results or occurrences. Actual results and capital and other financial conditions may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors. These factors include, among others, (i) timely completion of the separation of Citis Institutional Clients Group and Private Bank businesses in Mexico from the Business, including separation and migration of the relevant technology platform; (ii) macroeconomic and local market conditions, including those related to the banking sector; (iii) timely satisfaction and receipt of required regulatory approvals; (iv) political, legislative, regulatory, labor, tax or social conditions in Mexico, including changes in government officials and at government agencies; and (v) the precautionary statements included in this release. These factors also consist of those contained in Citis filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the Risk Factors section of Citis 2022 Form 10-K. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Citi speak only as to the date they are made, and Citi does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005455/en/

Media Contact:

Danielle Romero Apsilos

212 816 2264

[email protected]

Investor Contact:

Jennifer Landis

212 559 2718

[email protected]

Source: Citigroup Inc.
TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CyberLink (5203.TW), a leading manufacturer of AI facial recognition technologies, has strengthened its presence in the smart IoT market. The company has announced that its FaceMe facial recognition engine has been integrated with MediaTeks Genio 700 next-gen smart IoT platform, dramatically increasing AI performance.

While it continues to integrate with numerous other IoT platforms, CyberLink FaceMe has significantly improved performance on MediaTeks latest Genio 700 processors. Running on a Genio 700, the FaceMe engine is accelerated by MediaTeks AI Processing Unit (APU). Performance tests show that, in comparison to running exclusively via CPU processing, the APU hardware / software integration increases performance by 6.5X, with a 24% reduction in CPU usage.

The new MediaTek processor provides faster, more efficient, and reliable AI facial recognition processing, meeting the complex, high-speed edge computing needs of smart retail and smart security and access control operations. The strong alliance between CyberLink and MediaTek, with its Genio IoT products, will provide FaceMe users with faster, more convenient, and powerful facial recognition edge computing products, said Jau Huang, Chairman and CEO of CyberLink, enhancing the security and dependability of deployed facial recognition services.

MediaTeks Genio 700 is a high-performance AI computing IoT platform. This system-on-chip (SoC) provides powerful CPU, GPU, and AI modules, designed for smart home, smart retail and industrial IoT devices. By integrating the latest AI cores and accelerators, the Genio 700 greatly enhances the smart computing power of edge devices, and significantly increases the number of image frames that can be processed per second. MediaTeks platform can also support real-time AI facial recognition from multiple simultaneous video streams, improving the identification efficiency for implementation scenarios such as smart retail, and access control.

CyberLink FaceMe not only recognizes faces but can also identify gender, age, and emotions. These features enable the turnkey FaceMe Smart Retail customer analytics solution to obtain insight into guest demographics, behaviours, and trends.

FaceMe Security strengthens on-site security, with a more complete intelligent security control system.

About CyberLink

Founded in 1996, CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW) is the world leader in multimedia software and AI facial recognition technology. CyberLink addresses the demands of consumer, commercial and education markets through a wide range of solutions, covering digital content creation, multimedia playback, video conferencing, live casting, mobile applications and AI facial recognition. CyberLink has shipped several hundred million copies of its multimedia software and apps, including the award-winning PowerDirector, PhotoDirector, and PowerDVD. With years of research in the fields of artificial intelligence and facial recognition, CyberLink has developed the FaceMe Facial Recognition Engine. Powered by deep learning algorithms, FaceMe delivers the reliable, high-precision, and real-time facial recognition that is critical to AIoT applications such as smart retail, smart security, and surveillance, smart city and smart home. For more information about CyberLink, please visit the official website at www.cyberlink.com.

Learn more about MediaTeks Genio 700 by visitingwww.mediatek.com/products/iot-genio/mediatek-genio-700

All companies and product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and are the sole property of their respective owners. Copyright  2023 CyberLink Corp. All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005107/en/

Press Contacts

[email protected]

Source: CyberLink Corp.
Free cyber training programme to meet the growing demand for cyber security professionals launches its second phase.

New research conducted by SANS on the UK workforce reveals that 25% of career switchers rank a lack of knowledge as a significant deterrent in considering a career in the cyber security sector

12.5% of the UK workforce identified the need for sector-specific qualifications as the main factor preventing them from pursuing a career in cyber security.

SWANSEA, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- More UK residents will soon be able to secure fulfilling, highly skilled jobs in the cyber security industry, as a scheme to address the shortage of cyber security experts launches its next iteration.

HM Government and SANS have partnered to launch the Upksill in Cyber training programme to help UK professionals make a career change into cyber security. The programme, lasting 14 weeks, offers training, career advice and interview training to help UK workers change careers into cyber security roles.

So far, it has trained over 200 students with non-cyber backgrounds. Many have gone on to secure guaranteed job interviews upon successful completion of the training programme.

Andrea Csuri, a recent graduate of the Upskill in Cyber programme has successfully switched from the retail industry to a cyber security analyst role. She said, The programme was incredibly comprehensive, covering a vast array of topics related to cyber security. I was able to connect with mentors who work in the cyber security field, which was of great interest to me. Additionally, the live sessions with a recruiter were a fantastic resource, providing me with insights and advice on how to navigate the job market in this field. I now work as an Analyst for a company that helps organisations manage their IT and cyber security risks.

Recent research by SANS Institute found that 44% of the UK workforce have considered a career change in the last year. However, only 6% have taken an interest in pursuing a career in cyber security despite ranking better pay, career advancement opportunities, and flexible working as the top three benefits of pursuing a career in cyber security. This is due to a lack of understanding about the industry, roles available or the skills needed to even consider pursuing a career in cyber security

To tackle this, SANS and HM Government are now launching the second iteration of the programme, to power stronger growth and better jobs by upskilling more individuals into cyber security.

Minister for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Viscount Camrose, said, The UK is rapidly establishing itself as a world leader in cyber security, and ensuring people have the skills they need to access jobs in the industry is key to cementing and expanding that reputation.

The Upskill in Cyber programme lets us do exactly that  removing knowledge and skills barriers for aspiring cyber security professionals, and supporting them into the exciting new careers which fuel innovation, drive growth and protect our economy.

Stephen Jones, Managing Director of SANS Institute added, We have found that certain businesses lack the incident response and governance cyber security skills needed to face up to the realities of a challenging threat landscape. Our training programme helps to eradicate these skills gaps, breaking down barriers to facilitate the transition into a career in cyber. Individualised training equips candidates with both a solid theoretical foundation and hands-on practical skills, enabling them to tackle the most pressing security threats that organisations face today.

The Upskill in Cyber programme opens up the dynamic world of cyber security to people from all walks of life, said Ciaran Martin, Director of CISO (Chief Information Security Officers) Network at the SANS Institute. Our training approach will equip and empower candidates with the skills and experiences they need to make them deployable in the cyber security workforce in just a matter of weeks. Throughout the programme, candidates will receive world-class training and support, gaining first-hand access to key industry representatives to better understand rising threats, roles, and responsibilities. In our 2022 programme, 100% of the candidates were provided with multiple opportunities to interact with hiring organisations. We are excited to witness the programme's continued growth and success this year, as it unlocks new career opportunities in a diverse, dynamic, and forward-thinking industry brimming with potential.

Jumpstart your cyber security career by learning more about the Upskill in Cyber programme and applying at https://www.sans.org/mlp/upskillcyber/

About the Research

The SANS Institute commissioned a piece of research in April 2023 to coincide with the launch of its government-backed Upskill in Cyber programme. A survey conducted by 3Gem, targeted 2,000 workers across the UK to examine employees attitudes towards cyber security and the factors which might encourage them or prevent them from considering career switching to the profession.

About SANS Institute

The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organisation. Today, SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals in government and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach more than 60 courses at in-person and virtual cyber security events and OnDemand. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates practitioner skills through more than 35 hands-on, technical certifications in cyber security. www.sans.org

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005480/en/

[email protected]

+44 7739571634

Source: The SANS Institute
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE: DEI), a real estate investment trust (REIT), announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend on each share of its common stock of $0.19, or $0.76 on an annualized basis, to be paid on July 18, 2023 to shareholders of record as of June 30, 2023.

About Douglas Emmett, Inc.

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (DEI) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), and one of the largest owners and operators of high-quality office and multifamily properties located in the premier coastal submarkets of Los Angeles and Honolulu. Douglas Emmett focuses on owning and acquiring a substantial share of top-tier office properties and premier multifamily communities in neighborhoods that possess significant supply constraints, high-end executive housing and key lifestyle amenities. Please visit our website at www.douglasemmett.com for more information about Douglas Emmett.

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for the historical facts, the statements in this press release regarding Douglas Emmetts business activities are forward-looking statements based on the beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to us about known and unknown risks, trends, uncertainties and factors that are beyond our control or ability to predict. Although we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, they are not guarantees of future performance and some will inevitably prove to be incorrect. As a result, our actual future results can be expected to differ from our expectations, and those differences may be material. Accordingly, investors should use caution in relying on forward-looking statements to anticipate future results or trends. For a discussion of some of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2022, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005923/en/

Stuart McElhinney, Vice President  Investor Relations

310.255.7751 [email protected]

Source: Douglas Emmett, Inc.
OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- VIAS Campus Management, an edtech software company offering a comprehensive student information system (SIS) for higher education institutions, has completed its Series A funding round, securing a $3.3 million investment from Arthur Ventures.

With its innovative approach to campus management, VIAS helps higher education institutions streamline their operations. The funding round unlocks the next phase of development for VIAS. "Our Series A is an exciting catalyst for our growth," said Tyler Caldwell, CEO of VIAS. "The round will enable us to accelerate product development, expand our team, and better serve our customers."

Founded in 2020, VIAS emerged from one college's unmet needs for a modern SIS that integrates campus operations into a single platform. Recognizing the limitations of existing solutions, including outdated technology, limited functionality, and prohibitively high costs, the college operators sought to create a transformative SIS built by industry professionals, leading to the creation of VIAS.

Since its inception, VIAS has been overwhelmed with demand, clearly meeting an underserved market need for a new type of SIS. VIAS now serves campuses across the country and the Series A funding round will propel the companys reach even further.

Commenting on the investment, Arthur Ventures added, "As the global education market continues to thrive, we recognize the disruptive potential of edtech. We are impressed by VIAS' innovative platform and are excited to support the company's growth. By investing in VIAS, we are investing in the future of higher education and the limitless potential of tomorrow's leaders."

VIAS is also pleased to announce the addition of two accomplished board members, Ryan Kruizenga and Amanda Greene. Ryan, a Partner at Arthur Ventures since 2016, brings extensive experience from his previous roles at Mainsail Partners, Summit Partners, and Piper Jaffray. Amanda is Oyster's SVP of Customer Experience and Operations and previously served as Head of Global Operations Strategic Planning at Airbnb.

"We warmly welcome Amanda and Ryan to our board," said Caldwell. "Their expertise in scaling startups will be invaluable as we continue to grow."

VIAS' achievements demonstrate its growing prominence in the edtech industry as it leads advancements in campus management systems with technological breakthroughs.

For more information about VIAS, please visit www.getvias.com.

About VIAS Campus Management

Founded in 2020, VIAS offers a comprehensive student information system, streamlining operations and increasing operational efficiency across the student lifecycle, including admissions, financial aid, accounting, accreditation, and career services. Visit online at www.getvias.com or follow VIAS on LinkedIn.

About Arthur Ventures

Arthur Ventures is a Minneapolis-based early growth capital firm that leads investments in B2B software companies. Since 2013, they have partnered with 50+ companies across the United States and Canada. Arthur Ventures manages $1.1 billion and is actively investing out of its $300 million fifth fund. For more information, visit www.arthurventures.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005587/en/

Ashley Howard, MAEd, President & CEO of DevMar Strategies

Phone: (858) 869-4681 | Email: [email protected]

Source: VIAS Campus Management
Selection marks eGrowcerys expansion into Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico & BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Freshmart, a leading natural food products retailer with seven stores in Puerto Rico, is deploying online sales and fulfillment solutions from eGrowcery, developer of the leading retail food industry eCommerce platform. The customized Freshmart system features a focus on prepared and fresh foods, and fulfillment options that include store pick-up and integrated delivery to start.

We needed an eCommerce solution that offers a wide variety of items and speaks to our customers clearly. eGrowcery provides us everything we require to operate a vibrant experience that meets the demands of our existing shoppers and will attract new ones, said Jorge Machado, President of Freshmart.

Freshmart selected eGrowcery because of the solution flexibility, integration with their point of sale and eGrowcerys custom payments integration approach to support the Puerto Rican market.

eCommerce continues to expand in Puerto Rico where we are seeing demand for more robust tools from retailers. eGrowcery is well-positioned to support retailers like Freshmart in providing all of the best-in-class capabilities for a unique shopping experience," said Patrick Hughes, CEO of eGrowcery.

The addition of a presence in Puerto Rico is a milestone for eGrowcery. We are committed to expanding our operations within the country and bringing forward emerging and innovative technology.

About Freshmart

Founded in 1995, Freshmart is the first supermarket fully dedicated to natural products and supplements. We are a Puerto Rican company committed to the search for fresh, whole and pure products. We take care of your health by offering food and products free of artificial preservatives, colors and flavors. Our goal is your well-being through a healthy and healthy life. We achieve it with each product that we bring to your hands. We also promote our commitment to the environment and the planet, which, like Freshmart... is for everyone.

About eGrowcery

eGrowcery is the market-leading, white-label, SaaS based eCommerce solution designed to service grocery retailers. The eGrowcery platform is a true end-to-end, omnichannel solution that integrates with back-office/point of sale systems while enabling retailers to personalize their own shopper experience. Serving companies in the US and abroad, eGrowcery empowers retailers with the ability to personalize their shopping experience while providing the most efficient in-store fulfillment solution in the industry.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005772/en/

Media

Ron Margulis

RAM Communications

+1 908.337.0020

[email protected]

Source: eGrowcery
Saudi Arabia and the US blamed warring sides in Sudan for violating the ceasefire agreement signed recently in Jeddah, urging both the Sudanese army and its paramilitary rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to adhere to their commitments.

The Saudi and US facilitators noted that neither side observed its commitment not to seek military advantage during the 48-hour period after the agreement was signed and before it went into effect, the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.

Over the past weeks, the US and Saudi Arabia have been mediating in talks between the warring sides, held in the kingdom. A new truce was announced over the weekend  the seventh attempt so far to stop the deadly violence in the east African nation. It went into effect on Monday night.

All previous ceasefires were violated.

While fighting in Khartoum appeared to be less intense than in recent days, the facilitators have conveyed to the parties reports indicating that both sides violated the ceasefire, including offensive operations in Khartoum and El-Obeid, airstrikes, and use of artillery, the Saudi statement added.

The statement also revealed that: "Representatives of the Follow-up and Coordination Committee today in Jeddah engaged in constructive discussions about humanitarian aid and its delivery, and worked to include the leaders of the two sides to talk about allegations of violations of the ceasefire, and to work to deliver humanitarian aid to provide relief to the needy.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday warned Sudan's rivals to abide by the latest ceasefire or face possible sanctions, as residents reported sporadic fighting between the two sides in the capital Khartoum and a northern city.

In a video message posted by the US embassy on social media early Tuesday, Blinken said the fighting has been tragic, senseless, and devastating.

The truce, he said, is to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance and restore essential services and infrastructure destroyed in the clashes.

If the ceasefire is violated, well know and we will hold violators accountable through sanctions and other means, Blinken said, adding, We facilitated the ceasefire, but its the responsibility of the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF to implement it.

A remote mechanism, backed by the US, has been established to monitor the truce, Blinken added  a 12-member monitoring committee consisting of three representatives from the warring sides, three from the US, and three from Saudi Arabia.

Sudan descended into chaos after fighting erupted in mid-April between the country's military, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The fighting has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the Doctors Syndicate, which tracks civilian casualties. The toll could be much higher, the medical group said.

The conflict has also turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields. Early on, foreign governments raced to evacuate their diplomats and nationals as thousands of foreign residents scrambled to get out of Sudan.

More than a million Sudanese were forced from their homes by the fighting, including over 840,000 who have sought shelter in safer parts of the country, and another 250,000 who crossed into neighbouring countries, according to the UN figures.

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GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

GeNeuro (Euronext Paris: CH0308403085 - GNRO), a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the severe neuropsychiatric consequences of COVID-19 (post-COVID or Long-COVID), informs its shareholders that the 2023 Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday June 14, 2023 at 3.00 pm at its head office, 3, chemin du Pre-Fleuri, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland.

The notice for the meeting, including the agenda of the day as well as the motions put to the vote, has been published today in the Feuille Officielle Suisse du Commerce.

The documents and preliminary information concerning this meeting are being made available to the shareholders and can be consulted on the website of the Company: www.geneuro.com, under the section Investors / Documentation / Shareholders meeting.

It is also possible to consult the documents at the Companys headquarters, chemin du Pre-Fleuri 3, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates. Each shareholder has the right to request a hard copy of those documents.

About GeNeuro

GeNeuros mission is to develop safe and effective treatments against neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, by neutralizing causal factors encoded by HERVs, which represent 8% of human DNA.

GeNeuro is based in Geneva, Switzerland and has R&D facilities in Lyon, France. It has rights to 17 patent families protecting its technology.

For more information, visit: www.geneuro.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005426/en/

GeNeuro

Jesus Martin-Garcia

Chairman and CEO

+41 22 552 48 00

[email protected]

NewCap (France)

Louis-Victor Delouvrier /

Mathilde Bohin (investors)

+33 1 44 71 98 52

Arthur Rouille (media)

+33 1 44 71 00 15

[email protected]

Source: GeNeuro
TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GO Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Hiroshi Nakajima; hereinafter, the Company) has resolved to raise 10.0 billion yen (Approx. 75 million US dollars) by increasing capital through the third-party allotment of shares to Goldman Sachs (the Companys Series D funding round). In addition, it has concluded commitment line agreements with MUFG Bank, Ltd., and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank totaling 4.0 billion yen (Approx. 30 million US dollars). With the mission of Empowering Happiness through Mobility, the Company aims to solve various societal issues with a focus on the mobility sector.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006124/en/

GO Inc. Raises JPY 10B Series D led by Goldman Sachs (Graphic: Business Wire)

Overview of the fundraising

Equity financing (Series D) by capital increase through third-party allotment of shares

Goldman Sachs: 10.0 billion yen (Approx. 75 million US dollars*)



Throughout Japan GO Inc. provides a taxi-hailing application GO, whose number of downloads has reached 14 million. The Company plans to use the funds raised to expand the system infrastructure and improve the functionality of its application, as well as to develop next-generation businesses stemming from the mobility industry for the resolution of various societal issues, all to achieve its mission of Empowering Happiness through Mobility.



* Calculated by monthly average exchange rate in April 2023

About Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities, and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals. Playing a key role in its investment activities is Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), which carries out a broad range of alternative investments including private equity, growth equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure. In Japan, Goldman Sachs has invested over 60.0 billion dollars since 1997 in corporations, real estates and credit.

Stephanie Hui, Global Co-head of Growth Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management:

Mobility is an integral part of our everyday life, and GO Inc. is well-positioned to lead digitalization and innovation of Japans taxi market. With its excellent IT expertise, deep industry knowledge, and strong management team, GO Inc. can solve pressing market-wide issues while establishing itself as a transformative mobility platform.

Hiroshi Nakajima, President of GO Inc.:

We are glad to welcome Goldman Sachs, a firm that invests globally in numerous growing companies, as our new stakeholder. We really appreciate their decision to invest in GO Inc. despite the challenging market conditions that prevail for start-ups around the world. We believe this round of fundraising is highly significant, indicating that we have gained high social credibility. Driven by the trust and responsibility, we will push ahead to achieve our mission of Empowering Happiness through Mobility.

Reference

About GO Inc.: Empowering Happiness through Mobility.

GO Inc. offers various IT services that update Japans mobility industry.

Notes:

All websites listed are in Japanese.

The company names and product names listed are the trade names or registered trademarks of the relevant companies (including those that are pending).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006124/en/

Public Relations, GO Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Source: GO Inc.
Appointment of veteran KKR real estate investor bolsters KRESTs senior leadership team to capitalize on the opportunity in private real estate

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced that the Board of Directors of KKR Real Estate Select Trust Inc. (KREST or the Fund) has appointed Julia Butler to the newly created role of Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of KREST. A veteran real estate investor and Managing Director at KKR, Ms. Butler is now on KRESTs dedicated senior leadership team. She will oversee investment management for the Fund as it continues to scale its high-quality global portfolio of private real estate equity and credit investments and seeks to capitalize on opportunities in the current environment to create long-term value for investors.

We have built KREST to provide individual investors access to the full breadth of KKRs global real estate platform with a dynamic investment strategy designed to deliver attractive yield and long-term performance across different macroeconomic environments, said Ralph Rosenberg, Chairman of KREST and Global Head of KKR Real Estate. We are committed to building a best-in-class management platform as KREST continues to scale. Julia is a senior leader of our real estate business with two decades of experience investing across the real estate capital structure as both an equity and credit investor. She has played an integral role in scaling KKRs real estate business to over $65 billion in assets under management and she will be a key contributor to the continued commercial success of KREST.

KREST is designed to provide individual investors with access to income-oriented private real estate equity and debt investments managed by KKR. The Fund seeks to deliver on its objective of providing investors with stable, tax-efficient income and long-term appreciation in the private real estate asset class by focusing on three complementary strategy pillars: stabilized real estate, prime single tenant and real estate credit. As market conditions have evolved, KREST has utilized its flexible strategy to seek to optimize its portfolio across high-quality, income-oriented real estate equity and credit exposures.

Billy Butcher, Chief Executive Officer of KREST and Chief Operating Officer of KKR Global Real Estate, said: We believe we are entering a once-a-decade real estate investing environment with the debt capital markets pullback creating potential attractive new investment opportunities for KREST. The addition of Julia to the team positions KREST ideally to take advantage of these opportunities to continue to deliver exceptional performance for our investors.

I am thrilled to join the KREST leadership team and look forward to working with Ralph, Billy and my colleagues across KKR to position the Fund for continued success, said Ms. Butler. We see significant opportunities on the horizon for private real estate investors with a long-term outlook, and expect 2023 to be a strong vintage for private real estate. I look forward to continuing to build on our thematic investing, rigorous portfolio management and investment discipline that leverages KKRs global platform to deliver on further downside-protected growth.

Ms. Butler joined KKR in 2017 and is a Managing Director on the Real Estate team. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Butler was an Executive Vice President at iStar, a publicly-traded REIT, where she was responsible for sourcing, managing and executing on new investment opportunities in the US and Europe. Earlier in her career, Ms. Butler worked in the Treasury Department of The Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles, CA. Ms. Butler graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. in Government. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Women in Need (WIN), NYCs largest homeless organization for women and children, and is involved with several real estate organizations, such as the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where she serves as a council leader, the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC), WX and others.

About KREST

KKR Real Estate Select Trust Inc. ("KREST") is a continuously offered, 1940 Act-registered closed-end fund with REIT taxation that thematically invests in high quality, stabilized, income-oriented commercial real estate equity and debt. The fund is open to all investors with daily subscriptions and its primary investment objective is to provide attractive current income, with a secondary objective of long-term capital appreciation. KREST is managed by KKR Registered Advisor LLC, an affiliate of KKR & Co. Inc., and utilizes the experience and reach of KKR's global real estate team and the resources available through the KKR platform. For additional information about KREST, please visit its website at www.krest.reit.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKRs insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKRs investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKRs website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005477/en/

Media Contacts

Miles Radcliffe-Trenner and Julia Kosygina

+1 212-750-8300

[email protected]

Source: KKR
The seed-to-sale software has been successfully implemented, significantly reducing batch completion time, removing spreadsheets & streamlining processes among departments

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Leaf Infusions, the advanced manufacturer of infused cannabis products, has selected and successfully implemented Elevated Signals manufacturing software at its state-of-the-art production facility in New Westminster, British Columbia.

Leaf Infusions transforms raw cannabis materials into THC and CBD vape, edible and topical cannabis products, helping licensed producers take new products to market exponentially faster, cheaper, and easier.

With a complex manufacturing process, the company could not rely on spreadsheets and paperwork to keep track of operational and inventory data. This would place a heavy administrative burden on the team, slowing down the time it took to bring products to market and ultimately impacting the companys ability to be profitable.

Leaf Infusions evaluated multiple seed-to-sale systems and chose Elevated Signals for its ability to meet its specific needs for vendor management, inventory, processing and quality/compliance checkpoints.

After successfully implementing Elevated Signals in Q1 2023, Leaf Infusions has seen significant improvements to its operations, including:

A reduction in batch completion time from multiple hours to just 35 minutes

Streamlined processes among production, QA and compliance teams for batch review, tracking and release

A central source of truth for all inventory data, instead of a complex network of spreadsheets

Braeden Calyniuk, Co-Founder of Leaf Infusions Inc., said, We cant say enough positive things about Elevated Signals. The team has been fantastic, from implementation and onboarding to ongoing support.

We needed highly customizable software that could be tailored to our specific needs, and the system delivered beyond our expectations. Our production team is now paperless leading to streamlined efficiencies across departments. Weve seen a significant reduction in time spent on admin, communication is better among teams and we can get products in the hands of customers much faster.

Amar Singh, Co-founder & CEO of Elevated Signals, said, "We fully understand the challenges faced by complex manufacturers, which is why we made sure our software is agile and capable of addressing very specific needs. Weve loved working with the Leaf Infusions team and are excited to continue supporting them on their journey towards enhanced efficiency, profitability, and accelerated product delivery.

About Elevated Signals

Elevated Signals provides advanced manufacturing software for the cannabis industry. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, it is used by some of the largest cannabis operations in North America, as well as mid-sized and craft cultivators and processors worldwide. By replacing fragmented systems of spreadsheets, paper, and outdated seed-to-sale software with a fully-digital central platform, Elevated Signals unlocks supply chain visibility, operational productivity, and yield optimization, ultimately increasing profitability. More information: https://www.elevatedsignals.com/

Find out more about Leaf Infusions: https://leafinfusions.com/about-us/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005269/en/

Libby Cutress / Dana Baranovsky

Elevated Signals

[email protected]

Source: Elevated Signals
To drive expansion of fiber network and service offerings for business clients

BOSTON & RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- M/C Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on the digital infrastructure and technology services sectors, is excited to announce a significant growth investment in celito. The company, established in 1999 and based in Raleigh, is a trusted, local communications and managed services provider to businesses leveraging its fully owned fiber network.

The investment marks an important milestone in celito's journey as it accelerates its expansion plans. The partnership continues M/C's commitment to investing in promising companies to drive growth and build long-term value. The investment will provide celito with the necessary resources and capital to expand its fiber network and service offerings in Raleigh and beyond.

"I am delighted with the M/C partnership and the new opportunities it will provide celito and our outstanding team," said Sharat Nagaraj, Founder and President. "With their investment, we will confidently grow our business to meet the evolving needs of our clients. The expertise M/C Partners brings to the table will play a crucial role in taking celito to the next level."

"This investment in celito is the perfect combination of our two investment pillars, digital infrastructure and technology services," said Ryan Carr, Partner at M/C Partners. "celitos continually growing fiber network, commitment to exceptional client experience, and deep understanding of the local market are the foundation to create the preeminent service provider in the region."

Sharat will work alongside Danny Bottoms who has joined celito as CEO. Danny is a telecommunications industry veteran who has led several private equity backed companies. Dannys experience in successfully scaling fiber businesses and his familiarity with M/C as the CEO of Cavalier Telephone and GTS Central Europe makes him the perfect fit for this role said Gillis Cashman, Managing Partner at M/C Partners.

The partnership between M/C Partners and celito represents a shared vision to drive innovation, empower businesses, and contribute to the vibrant growth of the North Carolina business community. The same values and dedication to community that brought the company to this extraordinary milestone will continue to guide the future growth of celito.

About M/C Partners:

M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused on small and mid-size businesses in the digital infrastructure and technology services sectors. For more than three decades M/C Partners has invested $2.4 billion of capital in over 140 companies, leveraging its deep industry expertise to understand long-term secular trends and identify growth opportunities. The firm is currently investing its ninth fund, partnering with promising companies and leadership teams to support, scale, and improve operations and maximize value. For more information, please visit https://mcpartners.com/

About celito:

celito, established in 1999, is a communications and managed service provider serving businesses in the Raleigh, North Carolina region. Leveraging an owned fiber network, we elevate clients from the desktop to the cloud with our internet, voice, data center and IT consulting services. Through its commitment to exceptional client experience and strong community presence, celito empowers businesses with reliable and scalable solutions. For more information, please visit https://celito.net/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005841/en/

Media: Erika Corey / celito / (919) 852-1238 / [email protected]

Source: M/C Partners
NORMAN, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PCI Energy Solutions, the leading provider of enterprise software solutions, announced its continued collaboration and advances with clients in the Southwest Power Pools (SPPs) Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS). Three clients have recently joined WEIS by leveraging multiple PCI applications for their optimized participation in the energy imbalance market.

Were thrilled to have supported our valued clients, the Platte River Power Authority, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, and Xcel Energy, in their successful entry into SPP WEIS, said Shailesh Mishra, vice president of Commercial and Customer Success at PCI Energy Solutions.

As a reliable partner, PCI is committed to delivering innovative solutions and exceptional customer service. Our team's dedication to customer success and our robust platform have allowed us to provide our clients with the services they need to optimize their energy resources and navigate the upcoming advances in the various Western energy markets, including the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) and the RTO+.

The WEIS is designed to balance electricity supply and demand on a frequent and near-instantaneous basis across multiple entities within the Western Interconnection. By going live, these customers are actively engaging in the energy market, leveraging the system's capabilities to optimize their energy resources, manage imbalances, and potentially benefit from cost savings and improved grid reliability.

When creating the WEIS, SPP used existing structures in the Western region and their experience from running their own energy trading system. This builds on their current Integrated Marketplace, which includes services like planning ahead for energy needs and more.

Meanwhile, PCI Energy Solutions continues to empower energy organizations with its fit-for-purpose and secure-cloud software platform, enabling seamless market participation and supporting clients in achieving their operational and commercial objectives. With a focus on delivering value and driving customer success, PCI remains dedicated to assisting its clients in maximizing their potential in the evolving energy landscape.

About Platte River Power Authority

Platte River Power Authority is a not-for-profit, community-owned public power utility that generates and delivers safe, reliable, environmentally responsible, and financially sustainable energy and services to Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont, and Loveland, Colorado, for delivery to their utility customers. Platte River's generation portfolio includes coal, wind, hydro, solar, and gas resources. Learn more at prpa.org.

About Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska

The Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN) is a public power joint action agency serving 67 municipalities across Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming. MEAN's mission is to provide reliable, low-cost electricity and related services to member communities. They use a diverse portfolio of power supply resources, including hydro, natural gas, coal, and wind. MEAN is committed to delivering sustainable and affordable energy solutions while fostering economic development in their member communities. Learn more at nmppenergy.org.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc. is a leading energy-efficient utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.3 million electric customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. Xcel Energy was the first major U.S. electricity provider with a vision to serve customers with 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050 and to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2030 company-wide from 2005 levels. Learn more at xcelenergy.com.

About PCI Energy Solutions

We empower energy companies to continuously optimize all aspects of energy production, trading, transportation, and consumption. Were a tight-knit team of 300 diligent product experts, engineers, business analysts, and more, implementing software solutions in close partnership with energy companies from across the world  our customers literally keep the lights on for everyone. Were based in Norman (Oklahoma) with offices in Houston (Texas), Raleigh (North Carolina), Mexico City (Mexico), Lima (Peru), and Sydney (Australia). Learn more at pcienergysolutions.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005274/en/

Morgan Day

PCI Energy Solutions

405.447.6933

[email protected]

Source: PCI Energy Solutions
Led by Moxxie Ventures with participation from Thomson Reuters and others, Spellbook uses generative AI to accelerate lawyers, without changing their habits

TORONTO & ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Spellbook, the AI copilot for lawyers, today announced $10.9M in funding led by Moxxie Ventures, with participation from Thomson Reuters Ventures, Inovia Capital, The LegalTech Fund, Bling Capital, N49P, Concrete Ventures, Good News Ventures, Venture Newfoundland & Labrador and others, as well as a formal rebrand from Rally to Spellbook. This capital will power Spellbooks mission to expedite the most banal parts of legal work through AI, while supporting hiring, R&D and expansion.

Spellbook leverages OpenAIs GPT-4 and other fine-tuned large language models to enable legal practitioners to draft and review contracts up to four times faster. With this increased efficiency, lawyers are able to serve an estimated 30% higher client load. Meeting lawyers where they are, Spellbook integrates with Microsoft Word, freeing up lawyers from mundane, tedious tasks to focus on what matters most  providing effective legal representation and achieving the best possible outcome for their clients.

Spellbook is focused on empowering lawyers with AI tools that effortlessly assist them throughout their normal course of work, said Scott Stevenson, co-founder and CEO of Spellbook. Its clear that AI will fundamentally transform every industry, and the explosive demand weve seen for Spellbook made it obvious that our approach has caught on. This round of funding is further proof of our thesis  were excited to give lawyers more time to focus on thoughtful work and avoid drudgery, all while reducing errors and increasing accuracy.

As a lawyer, I found that the career wasn't as gratifying as I had envisioned, as I frequently spent long hours on tedious drafting tasks, said Daniel Di Maria, co-founder and COO of Spellbook. Spellbooks technology gives lawyers an ever-present AI copilot to help them make everyday decisions while requiring almost no habit change. They can practice the way they always have, but now with an AI partner to help them think and write faster.

We think that chat-based interfaces like ChatGPT are just the tip of the iceberg, said Matt Mayers, co-founder and Chief Experience Officer at Spellbook. We think of Spellbook like a tailwind for the lawyer, swooping in to help them with their work before they even know they need a hand. This keeps the lawyer in the drivers seat, but helps them move much faster.

At Thomson Reuters Ventures were committed to investing in technology to help accelerate innovation in the applications of generative AI. Were excited to invest in Spellbook and support its work driving productivity in the legal sector. Thomson Reuters plans to explore the application of Spellbooks generative AI technology to our industry leading, authoritative content to deliver customer value, said Tamara Steffens, Managing Director at Thomson Reuters Ventures.

"Spellbook delivers a platform that fundamentally transforms and accelerates processes for over 600 legal teams globally. They impressed us with their speed to market and explosive growth, in addition to their leadership in legal workflow automation with their Rally platform," said Alex Roetter, General Partner at Moxxie Ventures. "We're excited about what generative AI will mean for legal and how Spellbook is meeting this moment, shipping features, onboarding customers and delivering value at a relentless pace."

Today, more than 600 legal teams are actively utilizing Spellbook, and an additional 53,000 customers have signed up for the waitlist globally. With this round of funding, Spellbook grows in its ability to provide automated legal assistance to customers around the world.

Spellbook was originally launched by Rally in 2022. The rest of Rallys product suite will remain active and be combined with Spellbooks AI to create a holistic, AI-driven legal management platform. For more information, please visit www.spellbook.legal or www.rallylegal.com.

About Spellbook

Spellbook is a legal software company which launched the first generative AI contract drafting tool in September 2022. The technology, powered by large language models like OpenAIs GPT-4, is optimized using legal datasets for superior contracting performance. More than 600 customers across the legal industry use Spellbook to support their lawyers with the resources to make more accurate and efficient legal decisions when drafting contracts and supporting documents.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005233/en/

Cole Garry

[email protected]

Source: Spellbook
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sprinklr (NYSE: CXM), the unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform for modern enterprises, today announced that Manish Sarin, Sprinklrs Chief Financial Officer, will be participating in a Fireside Chat at the following event:

Stifel 2023 Cross Sector Insight Conference

Presenter: Manish Sarin, Chief Financial Officer, Sprinklr

Date: June 6, 2023

Location: The InterContinental Boston

Time: 10:55am ET

Individuals may access the live webcast of the presentation here.

The live webcast will also be accessible on the investor relations section of the Sprinklr website at https://investors.sprinklr.com/events-presentations/ir-calendar and archived on the Sprinklr site for a period of 90 days.

About Sprinklr

Sprinklr is a leading enterprise software company for all customer-facing functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr's unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform helps companies deliver human experiences to every customer, every time, across any modern channel. Headquartered in New York City with employees around the world, Sprinklr works with more than 1,400 of the worlds most valuable enterprises  global brands like Microsoft, P&G, Samsung and more than 50% of the Fortune 100.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005603/en/

Investor Relations

[email protected]

Media

Austin DeArman

[email protected]

Source: Sprinklr
IRVING, Texas & ABERDEEN, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that Stork, a Fluor company, has been awarded a five-year contract, plus five one-year extension options with London-based Harbour Energy. The contract extends Storks asset integrity services in the North Sea on Harbour Energys Armada, Everest, Lomond and Erskine (AELE) hub, and also extends services to Solan, the J-Area and the Great Britannia Area.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005707/en/

Stork, a Fluor company, has been awarded a five-year contract, plus five one-year extension options with London-based Harbour Energy. The contract extends Storks asset integrity services in the North Sea on Harbour Energys Armada (pictured), Everest, Lomond and Erskine (AELE) hub, and also extends services to Solan, the J-Area and the Great Britannia Area. (Photo: Business Wire)

Under the new contract, Stork will deliver asset integrity planning, inspection, fabric maintenance, access solutions, hot bolting and composite repair applications. In addition, Stork will provide deck crew services across the AELE hub.

Our client has clearly recognized the value and dedication that our people bring and see Stork as a long-term partner for the future of their assets on the UK Continental Shelf, said Taco de Haan, president of Stork.

The new contract is scheduled to commence in the second quarter.

About Stork

Stork, a Fluor company, continually improves the performance of its clients assets through a wide range of integrated, innovative and data-driven solutions, from operations and maintenance to turnarounds and modifications. Stork is committed to growing its clients business sustainably and successfully by setting new standards of excellence in asset management. Underpinned by its core values  Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Client Focus and Excellence  Stork aims to be the industry reference, every day, everywhere. For more information, please visit www.stork.com or follow us on Twitter @StorkTS, LinkedIn.

About Fluor Corporation

Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) is building a better world by applying world-class expertise to solve its clients greatest challenges. Fluors 40,000 employees provide professional and technical solutions that deliver safe, well-executed, capital-efficient projects to clients around the world. Fluor had revenue of $13.7 billion in 2022 and is ranked 259 among the Fortune 500 companies. With headquarters in Irving, Texas, Fluor has provided engineering, procurement and construction services for more than 110 years. For more information, please visit www.fluor.com or follow Fluor on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

#stork

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005707/en/

Brett Turner

Media Relations

864.281.6976

Jason Landkamer

Investor Relations

469.398.7222

Source: Fluor Corporation
TYSONS, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) today announced it has been named a 2023 honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light and the Telecommunications Sector Leader. The Civic 50 honors the most community-minded companies in the United States. 2023 marks TEGNAs fourth consecutive year on the list, and the third year as Telecommunications Sector Leader.

Our local stations remain dedicated to making a positive impact in our communities, establishing multiyear collaborations with local nonprofit organizations to tackle crucial community issues, said Dave Lougee, president and CEO, TEGNA. From promoting education and sustainability to combating hunger and supporting mental health, our colleagues exemplify our mission to serve the greater good and uplift our communities.

Today, the TEGNA Foundation also announced it has awarded 144 Community Grants in 35 local markets in partnership with its stations. A summary of 2023 TEGNA Foundation Community Grants to date is available here.

The majority of Round 1 TEGNA Foundation Community Grants support the following UN Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) areas: 51% Good Health & Well-being; 28% Quality Education; 11% Zero Hunger; 5% No Poverty; and 5% Decent Work & Economic Growth. Within these categories, several causes stand out as areas particularly significant to the communities where TEGNA does business, including:

KUSA (Denver): Nine grants supporting at-risk youth, including educational programs, equine therapy, and emergency food assistance.

WTIC (Hartford): Seven grants, including a grant to Hartford Interval House to support programs dedicated to ending domestic violence.

WGRZ (Buffalo): Three grants supporting youth and children in need, providing support to Boys & Girls Clubs of Buffalo, Childrens Rehabilitation Foundation of Variety Club of Buffalo, and Kids Escaping Drugs.

WTHR (Indianapolis): Three grants supporting equity in healthcare and emergency support services for those in need, including a grant to Pink-4-Ever aimed at eliminating breast cancer care disparities for Black women.

TEGNA Community Grants are vetted by a committee of employees at each station, including the station general manager, and approved by the TEGNA Foundation Board of Directors. Stations also amplify the impact of the TEGNA Foundations charitable contributions through reporting and employee volunteerism.

The TEGNA Foundation Board of Directors also approved 18 additional Foundation Grants:

We are proud to announce the recommendations made by our DE&I Grant Committee, comprising nine grants aimed at promoting Environmental Justice, said Grady Tripp, chief diversity officer, TEGNA. These grants encompass diverse programs, such as interactive STEM education, the preservation of watersheds, city-wide reforestation initiatives, and efforts targeting lead reduction in households. Through these grants, we are actively contributing to fostering equity and ensuring every individuals access to a safe and sustainable environment.

More information about TEGNAs Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives and reporting can be found in the social responsibility section of TEGNAs website, including our 2022 Key Highlights. To learn more and/or apply for a TEGNA Foundation Community Grant, visit TEGNAfoundation.org.

About TEGNA Foundation

The TEGNA Foundation is a corporate foundation sponsored by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA), an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. Through its programs, TEGNA Foundation helps to improve lives in the communities served by TEGNA Inc., invests in the future of the media industry, encourages employee giving and contributes to a variety of charitable causes. For more information visit TEGNAfoundation.org.

About TEGNA

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) is an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. Across platforms, TEGNA tells empowering stories, conducts impactful investigations and delivers innovative marketing solutions. With 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA is the largest owner of top 4 network affiliates in the top 25 markets among independent station groups, reaching approximately 39 percent of all television households nationwide. TEGNA also owns leading multicast networks True Crime Network, Twist and Quest. TEGNA offers innovative solutions to help businesses reach consumers across television, digital and over-the-top (OTT) platforms, including Premion, TEGNAs OTT advertising service. For more information, visit www.TEGNA.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523005931/en/

For media inquiries, contact:

Anne Bentley

Vice President, Corporate Communications

703-873-6366

[email protected]

For investor inquiries, contact:

Julie Heskett

Senior Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis

703-873-6747

[email protected]

Source: TEGNA Inc.
Egypt is seeking concessional loans from regional and international development partners to ensure sustainable spending on healthcare, education and food security programs, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Wednesday.





During a meeting with senior executives from Citibank on the sidelines of the African Development Bank's (AfDB) annual board meetings in Sharm El-Sheikh, Maait explained that Egypt is coping with the consequences of the global crises by boosting production and supporting activities with the most exposure to internal and external shocks.

The finance minister noted that Egypt is also expanding its social safety net with programs that are more focused on the most vulnerable groups.

In April, Egypt increased earmarks for various subsidies and social protection programs from EGP 358.4 billion in FY2022/2023 to EGP 529.7 billion in FY2023/2024, an increase of 48.8 percent.

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Best in America brings shoppers a new and unique sensory experience

GREENSBORO, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Fresh Market, Inc. opened its 160th store in Carmel, IN., now totaling five locations in the state and marking the second in Carmel, an Indianapolis suburb. As a destination for epicurean discovery, The Fresh Market differentiates itself from the competition with an unmatched assortment of hard-to-find delicious specialty fresh foods and ingredients sourced locally and from around the world.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005577/en/

On Wednesday, May 24, The Fresh Market opened its 160th store in Carmel, IN. Company and store leaders, along with dignitaries from the City of Carmel, took part in a bread breaking ceremony to officially open the store to guests. (Photo: The Fresh Market)

To celebrate the grand opening, a celebration featuring a bread breaking ceremony, vendor sampling, specialty presentations, giveaways, drawings and more was held on May 24 to officially welcome Carmel guests to The Fresh Market. The store will be offering special deals and promotions throughout Memorial Day weekend.

The store, located at 1392 S. Rangeline Rd., offers a wide selection of fresh produce, meats, seafood, and bakery items, as well as a variety of prepared foods, a large gourmet cheese selection, and wines. It features a full-service floral department and a special sensory experience for its guestsa center store culinary kitchen called The Square. Guests now have a made-to-order station featuring hot soups, customizable burrito bowls and wraps, torta and Cuban sandwiches, and build your own fresh salad. Guests can also choose from an assortment of fresh hot foods including roasted salmon, in-house slow roasted pulled pork with signature sauce, Yukon gold mashed potatoes, in-house fried chicken, hot sides and much more. All items are created with distinct flavors, fresh ingredients, and recipes uniquely developed by The Fresh Market. Coffee lovers can also check out The Fresh Markets $0.99 Coffee by the Cup, which offers a wide array of unique and curated flavors, including seasonal blends.

Were proud to expand in the Carmel community and provide guests with an inspired, unique shopping experience that will pique the interest of food lovers, stated Jason Potter, CEO of The Fresh Market. Our team has worked hard to create a store that not only offers the freshest and highest-quality products, but also provides a warm and welcoming atmosphere for our guests.

Guests will also be able to sign up and start saving with The Fresh Markets The Ultimate Loyalty Experience thats free to join and takes seconds! Members of the program can take advantage of automatically loaded and curated member-only loyalty offers, digital coupons and The Club Hub purchase frequency programs, which allow guests to earn free items or dollars off favorite items (for example, cheese and coffee clubs), and a free Slice of Ultimate Birthday Cake during the Members birthday month.

The new store is open seven days a week, from 8am to 9pm. Customers can also shop online and enjoy curbside pickup or home delivery through The Fresh Market's website or mobile app.*

In addition, The Fresh Market is committed to supporting the communities it serves through Feeding America food banks. The new store in Carmel has partnered with the Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana to donate food to people in need.

*Apple and the Apple Logo are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.

About The Fresh Market, Inc.

Voted as the Best Supermarket in America by USA Todays 10 Best Readers Choice Awards 2022 and 2021, Americas Best Customer Service 2021 by Newsweek and Statista and a top 5 most trusted grocery retail brand for specialty and natural/organic foods in the 2022 BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards, The Fresh Market helps guests discover the best with time-saving meal solutions, unique ingredients, and delicious food for any occasion. From fresh produce and exceptional meat and seafood to signature baked goods and thousands of organic options, the specialty grocer has something to please every palate. The Fresh Market currently operates 160 stores in 22 states across the U.S., inspiring guests to discover new flavors and cook with confidence. For more information, please visit www.thefreshmarket.com or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005577/en/

Patrice Molnar

[email protected]

Source: The Fresh Market, Inc.
Prosecution will not bring back the deceased workers but offers hope of determining what happened and preventing future tragedies, union says.

BEAUCEVILLE, Quebec--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The United Steelworkers union (USW) welcomes the decision of Quebecs Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions to pursue criminal charges related to the Sept. 20, 2021, explosion at the Bois ouvre Beauceville wood-processing facility that killed three workers.

Our thoughts are with the families of the victims, as this decision must certainly be stirring up deep emotions, said Francois Cardinal, a staff representation of the Steelworkers union, which represents workers at Bois ouvre Beauceville.

This prosecution will not bring back the three deceased workers, but it nevertheless brings hope that we will get to the bottom of what happened so that such tragedies are avoided in the future," Cardinal said.

On the morning of Sept. 20, 2021, Mario Morin, Jean Lachance and Martin Roy tried to extinguish a fire that broke out while work was being done on the facilitys roof. An explosion occurred, taking their lives and injuring five other workers. Beauceville is located approximately 85 kilometres south of Quebec City.

Every one who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task.

Quebecs Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions has launched criminal negligence proceedings under section 217.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada, also known as the Westray Law, which imposes a legal duty on employers regarding the safety of workers. The law requires all organizations and individuals who undertake or have the authority to direct how others work or perform a task, to take all reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to the person performing the work or task, and to any other person.

The Westray Law was enacted in 2004, after more than a decade of lobbying that was led by the United Steelworkers, in the aftermath of the 1992 Westray Mine explosion in Nova Scotia that killed 26 miners.

"While the Westray Act allows employers to be prosecuted for criminal negligence, it has been very rarely invoked. Unfortunately, the authorities do not always investigate workplace incidents through a criminal lens, noted Dominic Lemieux, United Steelworkers Quebec Director.

We salute the rigour of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions of Quebec in this case and we hope this will open the door to a systematic analysis of cases based on the Westray Law, when the circumstances lend themselves to it," Lemieux said.

Too many employers across our country are not held accountable for practices and negligence that result in workers being killed or injured on the job, said Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada.

We welcome these criminal proceedings and we will continue to advocate and campaign across the country to demand greater enforcement of the Westray Law and other Criminal Code provisions intended to hold employers accountable and to prevent workplace deaths and injuries, Warren said.

The USW leads a national campaign, Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law, which calls on governments at all levels to ensure greater training, direction and co-ordination among workplace safety and law enforcement authorities to ensure greater enforcement of the law. The campaign has support from municipalities across the country, law enforcement officials and professional associations.

For more information on USWs campaign, see www.usw.ca/stopthekilling.

The USW represents 225,000 members in nearly every economic sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

Each year, thousands of workers choose to join the USW because of our strong track record in creating healthier, safer and more respectful workplaces and negotiating better working conditions and fairer compensation  including good wages, benefits and pensions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005951/en/

Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada, 416-544-5951

Shannon Devine, USW Communications, 416-938-4402 (cell), [email protected]

Source: United Steelworkers
25% of workers are very worried their job will be replaced by AI in the next year

20% of work has already been automated

AI has potential to automate 40% more

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A new global study of more than 1,000 employees shows artificial intelligence (AI) transformation of the workplace is in full swing, with 40% of the current work day ripe for automation. While AI presents significant opportunities for employees to become more productive and strategic, it also raises fears about job replacement.

Valoir Report: Assessing the Value of AI and Automation

The analysis, by independent analyst firm Valoir, found about 20% of manual tasks have already been automated by AI and other technologies over the past two years. While the level varied by geography, industry and job role, nearly every respondent experienced some level of automation. ChatGPT and similar solutions are accelerating automation with more than half of respondents saying theyve experimented with generative AI.

Despite all the dire warnings and calls to slow AI development, the genie is out of the bottle. The question is not if companies should leverage AI technologies, but how. Every department, from IT to HR to the boardroom to individual employees, will need new strategies to maximize the positive impact of AI on their organization, said Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of Valoir.

North America leads on AI adoption, followed by APAC and LatAm with EMEA trailing. By industry, aerospace, manufacturing, life sciences and healthcare outpace others in AI adoption with government and nonprofit lagging behind.

How AI is Shaping Our Future

Valoirs analysis finds that 40% of the average work day can be automated with AI and other technologies, effectively enabling a 3-day work week, with some job roles more primed for automation than others. IT and finance have the most potential for AI automation of the work day, as high as 48%. Marketing and HRtwo functions that have already automated significant processespresent fewer opportunities for further AI transformation.

Other key findings:

Employees believe 48% of their co-workers will be replaced by AI over the next two years.

Four out of 10 believe AI developments should be paused until better policies and regulations can be developed to manage the potential risks of AI.

Three out of 10 workers are very worried that AI will take over.

One in four are very worried that AI will start a world war.

Three out of 10 workers are also very worried that AI will commit a crime or support criminal activity.

One in four workers are very worried that their job will be replaced by AI in the next year; those most concerned about being replaced were workers in the 26 to 41 age group and those in finance and IT roles.

The full report is available at https://valoir.com/blog-1/assessing-the-value-of-ai-and-automation .

About Valoir

Valoir is a technology analyst firm providing research and advisory services to leaders with a focus on the value of people and technology. With deep expertise in CRM, HCM, customer and employee experience, and enterprise applications, Valoir helps clients understand and maximize the value of technology. For more information, visit Valoir.com or follow us on Twitter @ValoirView.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005614/en/

Chris McManus

[email protected]

Rebecca Wettemann

[email protected]

Source: Valoir
INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Williams Comfort Air, a leading home services provider in the Midwest and a Wrench Group company, was recently named to the 2023 list of Central Indianas Top Workplaces, sponsored by the Indianapolis Star.

Williams Comfort Air, part of MAX Service Group, was ranked #23 in the category for companies with between 150-399 employees on this years list.

"This award is particularly meaningful for us because it is based on our direct team member feedback," said Greg Wells, President of Williams Comfort Air and the other MAX Service Group companies. "We have put significant effort into offering meaningful benefits, perks and incentives to our team. We are a people-based business, so our success is completely reliant on our people. Thankfully, our people are incredible, and it is an honor to know they are as happy to work here as we are to have them here."

Williams Comfort Air and MAX Service Group leadership is committed to offering benefits, incentives, perks, and a company culture that make people want to work for the company long-term. Providing broad, meaningful benefits and a diverse, inclusive workplace which promotes employee happiness and longevity are top priorities. Among the benefits offered to team members are ongoing employee referral bonuses, an employee assistance program that offers mental health support such as complimentary therapy sessions, the MAX Cares initiative (which provides financial assistance to team members experiencing an unexpected bill), paid training opportunities, and more.

The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage LLC. The confidential survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few. The research-backed engagement survey is driven by the industrys most robust benchmarks built on data captured from over 27 million employees at more than 70,000 organizations across the past 16 years, according to Top Workplaces.

This is the fifth time Williams Comfort Air has received a regional Top Workplaces award.

About MAX Service Group

MAX Service Group operates five leading heating, cooling and plumbing companies that serve the Midwestern portion of the United States. With industry-leading brands including Williams Comfort Air and Mr. Plumber in central Indiana, Thomas & Galbraith Heating, Cooling and Plumbing in southwestern Ohio, Buckeye Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in greater Columbus, Ohio and Jarboes Heating, Cooling and Plumbing in greater Louisville, Kentucky, MAX Service Group provides home services for hundreds of thousands of customers each year. Owned by Wrench Group, a national leader in home repair, replacement and maintenance services, MAX Service Group is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Wrench Group, LLC

Wrench Group is a national leader operating in 26 markets across 14 states. The locations provide home repair, replacement and maintenance services specializing in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing, water, electrical and related services. The company collectively serves more than 2 million customers annually with more than 6,900 team members in the Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Fort Myers-Naples, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville-St. Augustine, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Francisco Bay Area, Sarasota, southern Maryland, Tampa Bay, and Tucson metropolitan areas.

The locations have developed strong reputations with brands that date back to the 1940s. For more information, please visit us at www.wrenchgroup.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005836/en/

Shawn Malayter

Greenhouse Partners

872-267-2636

[email protected]

Nikki Trojanowski

MAX Service Group

317-730-3335

[email protected]

Source: Williams Comfort Air
The BBC reports Wednesday that Tata Motors, parent company to Jaguar Land Rover Automotive, is set to pick Britain for a multi-billion dollar electric vehicle battery plant. A plant some have described as the most significant investment in UK automotive since Nissan came to Britain in the 1980s.

A Tata chairman is expected to fly to London next week to meet the prime minister and finalize the deal to build the battery factory, which could employ 9,000 people in Somerset, southwest England.

According to the BBC report, citing sources familiar with the matter, although the deal has yet to be signed, engagement has moved from negotiations to drafting and choreography of how the landmark agreement will be presented.

A decision by Tata to choose Britain over Spain represents a significant victory for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who faces mounting pressure to enhance the country's appeal to automobile manufacturers.

Just recently, Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt alluded to a potential advancement in Britain's electric vehicle battery production capabilities, intriguingly stating "watch this space" when questioned about it during an event.

In recent days, Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), one of the largest global automakers that includes renowned brands like Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, and Fiat, issued a cautionary statement. They indicated that unless the government reopens negotiations on the Brexit deal, they might be compelled to shut down their factories in the UK. Stellantis had previously made a commitment to manufacture electric vehicles within the country, but it is now casting doubts on the viability of this decision.

Many industry insiders are hopeful that Tata's battery investment will encourage more battery investments in the UK. Currently, the UK only has one plant in operation next to Nissan's Sunderland factory, and another one that is still in the early stages of planning in Northumberland. By contrast, the European Union already has 35 battery plants that are open, under construction, or in the works.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), one of the largest and most innovative solar module manufacturers in the world, today announced that its majority-owned principal operating subsidiary, Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. ("Jiangxi Jinko"), has entered into an equity transfer agreement (the "Agreement") with Ziyang Major Industry Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Mr. Shihong Dong (the "Acquirors"), pursuant to which Jiangxi Jinko agrees to sell its 100% equity interest in Xinjiang Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. ("Xinjiang Jinko"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangxi Jinko, at a consideration of RMB4.3 billion (the "Disposal") to the Acquirors. Upon completion of the Disposal, Jiangxi Jinko will no longer hold any equity interest in Xinjiang Jinko. The Agreement has been negotiated on an arm's length basis and on normal commercial terms. The Disposal is expected to reduce Jiangxi Jinko's operational costs, improve its production efficiency and optimize its facility mix. The Disposal is subject to customary closing conditions, including obtaining the requisite antitrust regulatory approval and payment of the consideration.

JinkoSolar currently owns approximately 58.62% equity interest in Jiangxi Jinko.
Mercedes-Benz held their annual North American dealer meeting last week where the automaker emphasized its transition into the electric era. To maintain and further accelerate their progress, Mercedes informed dealers about the exciting array of electric vehicles (EVs) they have in store. Among the upcoming additions in 2024 are an electric CLA sedan and a GLC crossover, both contributing to the expanding lineup of EVs.

In the first quarter, the U.S. vehicle sales of the German luxury brand skyrocketed by 251%, reaching an impressive total of 7,341 units. Demonstrating their commitment to electric mobility, the automaker has successfully launched five fully electric models, with at least one in every category.

The Mercedes-Benz EV lineup includes the EQS sedan, EQS SUV, EQB, EQE Sedan, and the EQE SUV. Dimitris Psillakis, the President and CEO of Mercedes Benz USA, highlighted the substantial impact of the recently unveiled EQ models on sales performance during the first quarter, adding: We expect to further strengthen our position in the luxury SUV segment with the all-new EQE SUV, our second fully-electric SUV built in Alabama, and the upcoming all-electric Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV.

At its North American dealer meeting, Psillakis told dealers fresh products and improved supply should help boost sales by 5% to 10% this year.

According to a report by Electrek, citing unnamed sources, Mercedes is gearing up to take on Teslas Model 3 with an electric CLA sedan. The CLA EV is expected to get 400 miles of driving range and will arrive in the US next year. Their sources describe the electric sedan as larger than the ICE version but with a sleeker design.

The brand is also expected to launch an electric GLC as a successor to the EQC electric crossover, the brands first mass-market EV for the US.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
Shanghai wants General Motors (NYSE: GM) to increase the companys investment in research and development and bring in more products and advanced technologies to this year's China International Import Expo, according to the city government.

During a meeting with GM's chairwoman Mary Barra, Shanghai's Communist party secretary Chen Jining expressed excitement about their participation.

Barra's visit to Shanghai, her first since the COVID-19 outbreak, comes at a time when the American automaker is facing a decline in sales in China, which is the largest auto market globally. This slump is primarily due to their slow release of new electric vehicle (EV) models.

SAIC Motor Corp, GM's major joint venture partner for Cadillac and Chevrolet cars, reported an 11% drop in sales during the first four months, according to SAIC's filing.

In November, GM announced plans to introduce over 15 new EVs in China and establish EV production capacity exceeding 1 million units by 2025.

Shares of GM are down 0.87% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
HOUSTON, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amplify Energy Corp. (Amplify or the Company) (NYSE: AMPY) announced today that the Company will be participating in the 2023 Louisiana Energy Conference on Wednesday, May 31st at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans, LA.



Amplifys President and Chief Executive Officer, Martyn Willsher, will be participating in a panel discussion regarding the topic of U.S. Onshore E&P  Multi Basin Approach Reduces Portfolio Risk. In addition, Mr. Willsher and Jim Frew, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be available to meet with investors during the conference.

About Amplify Energy

Amplify Energy Corp. is an independent oil and natural gas company engaged in the acquisition, development, exploitation and production of oil and natural gas properties. Amplifys operations are focused in Oklahoma, the Rockies (Bairoil), federal waters offshore Southern California (Beta), East Texas / North Louisiana, and the Eagle Ford (Non-op). For more information, visit www.amplifyenergy.com.

Investor Relations Contacts

Jim Frew  Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

(832) 219-9044

[email protected]

Michael Jordan  Director, Finance and Treasurer

(832) 219-9051

[email protected]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Silver Corp. (Apollo or the Company) (TSX.V:APGO, OTCQB:APGOF, Frankfurt: 6ZF0) announces it has applied to the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) to reprice and the extend the expiry date of 35,266,667 common share purchase warrants (the Warrants) issued to subscribers under the Companys private placement that closed on July 6, 2021. The Company proposes to extend the Warrant expiry date from July 8, 2023, to July 8, 2026, and reprice the Warrant exercise price for the third, fourth and fifth year of the amended Warrant term at $0.79 (the Amended Terms). All other terms of the Warrants will remain unchanged. The Amended Terms are subject to acceptance by the TSXV and approval of the Warrant holders by extraordinary resolution, as detailed below.

The Warrants are subject to a Warrant Indenture dated July 6, 2021 (the Warrant Indenture), between the Company and Endeavor Trust Corporation (the Warrant Agent). Pursuant to the Warrant Indenture, Warrant holders may by extraordinary resolution agree to amend the terms of the Warrants. An extraordinary resolution means a resolution proposed at a meeting of Warrant holders duly convened for that purpose at which there is at least two Warrant holders present in person or by proxy representing at least 25% of the aggregate number of the outstanding Warrants, and passed by affirmative votes of Warrant holders representing not less than 662/3% of the aggregate number of all the then-outstanding Warrants represented at the meeting and voted on the poll for such resolution. The Company has requested the Warrant Agent to convene a meeting of the Warrant holders to vote on an extraordinary resolution approving the Amended Terms.

Please visit www.apollosilver.com for further information.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tom Peregoodoff Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Tom Peregoodoff Chief Executive OfficerTelephone: +1 (604) 428-6128 [email protected]

About Apollo Silver Corp.

Apollo Silver Corp. has assembled an experienced and technically strong leadership team who have joined to advance world class precious metals projects in tier-one jurisdictions. The Company is focused on advancing its portfolio of two significant silver exploration and resource development projects, the Calico Silver Project, in San Bernardino County, California and Silver District Project in La Paz County, Arizona.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, potential, target, budget and intend and statements that an event or result may, will, should, could or might occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this news release include the application for repricing and an extension to the expiry time for certain common share purchase warrants.

Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis, and opinions of the management of the Company made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may have caused actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: risks associated with mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of the Companys projections and estimates; realization of mineral resource estimates, interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; contests over title to properties; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred mineral resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the price of silver, gold and barite; the demand for silver, gold and barite; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective matter; and the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Companys expected financial and operational performance and the Companys plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Source: Apollo Silver Corp.
During this week's National Dialogue sessions, the focus was on the future of political parties in Egypt.

Most participants agreed on the urgent need to revive the role of political parties and address the financial and administrative problems that impede their performance.

Wafd Party representative Tarek Abdel-Aziz said the dialogue should be used to introduce amendments to political parties Law 40/1977 which has made it difficult for the majority of political parties  particularly opposition ones  to act freely and compete in fair elections.

He argued that the laws stipulation that new parties have at least 5,000 members from 10 governorates limited the formation of new parties which, until relatively recently, were only required to have 1,000 members.

Abdel-Moneim Imam, head of the Justice Party, also wants the minimum membership quotas to be changed, from 5,000 to 3,000. He argues amendments to the law should allow political parties with similar ideological backgrounds to merge in order to compete in parliamentary elections and gain seats.

Abdel-Aziz and Imam want the stipulation that new parties open a bank account with LE2 million to secure a licence to be cancelled.

Imam called for a committee to be set up with the power to license political parties, solve their financial affairs and help resolve internal political disputes, arguing that since president Anwar Al-Sadats 1977 decision to transform Egypt from a single-party to a multi-party system nothing concrete has been done to facilitate an environment in which political parties can act freely and positively.

The restrictive policies of the last 50 years have allowed extremist religious forces like the Muslim Brotherhood to exploit the obstacles standing in the way of secular parties and spread their radical ideologies, he said.

The Civil Democratic Movement  an alliance of liberal and leftist forces  has drafted a new political parties law which Imam says includes the provision that political parties with representatives in parliament or local councils receive financial support from the state.

Abdel-Aziz and Imams arguments were echoed by the dialogues General Coordinator Diaa Rashwan who said the regulations need to be changed in order to revitalise political life and create a competitive democratic atmosphere ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2025.

Under Article 8 of the current law, a committee  headed by the deputy chairman of the Court of Cassation and comprising six judges from the State Council and the Appeal Court  oversees the licensing of political parties.

We have to replace this judicial committee with another that can take charge of regulating political parties from A to Z. Rashwan also said he supported Imams proposal that political parties receive financial support from the government, and argued that political parties should be able to receive donations, invest in commercial activities, receive tax and custom exemptions, be allowed to publish newspapers and own television channels and online websites to present their political positions.

One reason for the ineffectiveness of most licensed political parties, according to Rashwan, is that they lack the resources to publicise their platforms.

Thirteen party-based newspapers have been closed due to lack of funding, he said.

Reform and Development Party representative Ahmed Amro argued that after a new constitution enshrining a multi-party system was passed in 2014, the 1977 political parties law has become irrelevant. He called for a completely new law rather than a re-tweaking of existing legislation.

Representative of 6 April Movement Amr Adel said the lack of trust between the state and opposition parties was responsible for the hegemony of loyalist parties over the nations parliamentary and political life, an argument Wafdist politician Yasser Al-Hawari echoed by pointing out that while leaders of opposition parties do not appear on television channels or in newspapers, the leaders of pro-government political parties are allowed to organise public rallies and are accorded blanket coverage on television channels.

The state should deal with all political parties on an equal footing, argued Al-Hawari.

We have more than 100 licensed political parties but most of them are ineffective because of legislative and funding obstacles, said Alieddin Hilal, rapporteur of the dialogues Political Committee. We need to remove all the obstacles so democracy, which requires strong political parties, can take root.

Announcing an extension to the scheduled debates, Rashwan said amendments to the political parties law require more sessions so that a package of legislative recommendations can be agreed and then presented to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for consideration and implementation.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 May, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited (BlackRock Canada), an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK), today announced the final May 2023 cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF. Unitholders of record on May 25, 2023 will receive cash distributions payable on May 31, 2023.

Details regarding the final per unit distribution amounts are as follows:

Fund Name Fund Ticker Cash Distribution Per Unit ($) iShares Premium Money Market ETF CMR 0.181

Further information on the iShares ETFs can be found at http://www.blackrock.com/ca.

About BlackRock

BlackRocks purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate | Twitter: @BlackRockCA

About iShares

iShares unlocks opportunity across markets to meet the evolving needs of investors. With more than twenty years of experience, a global line-up of 1300+ exchange traded funds (ETFs) and US$3.07 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2023, iShares continues to drive progress for the financial industry. iShares funds are powered by the expert portfolio and risk management of BlackRock.

iShares ETFs are managed by BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with investing in iShares ETFs. Please read the relevant prospectus before investing. The funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. Tax, investment and all other decisions should be made, as appropriate, only with guidance from a qualified professional.

Contact for Media: Reem Jazar Email: [email protected]

Source: BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited (iShares)
Washington, D.C., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Dutch Embassy, the U.S. Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Netherland-American Foundation presented Dutch hotel and lifestyle brand citizenM with the 2023 Holland on the Hill Freddy Heineken Award in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Klaas van Lookeren Campagne, CEO of citizenM, accepted the award on behalf of the company. citizenM was recognized for its work to strengthen the Dutch-US relationship while being an inclusive employer that is also committed to Dutch design. The hotel and lifestyle brand is known for its distinct design aesthetic and innovative business model that has transformed the hospitality industry.

As he presented the award to Mr. van Lookeren Campagne, Ambassador Andre Haspels said, As someone who has traveled the globe as a diplomat, I can tell you the importance of a comfortable hotel to rest and recharge. The recipient of the Freddy Heineken Award must demonstrate, over a significant period of time, dedication to strengthening the economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States. citizenM has done just that as it disrupts the hospitality industry and redefines what it means to be a modern hotel.

Launched in 2008, citizenM provides travelers with affordable luxury hotels that are centrally located in major cities around the world. The companys portfolio has 31 hotels filled with art and modern design in 18 cities including: London, Amsterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Rotterdam, Geneva, Zurich, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, and Taipei.

At the ceremony, CEO Klaas van Lookeren Campagne gave insight into citizenMs business model. We really focus on the global business traveler and try to do the best for them, he stated. citizenM is a place to stay and sleep, that is the most important product we can deliver. Its a human business, its the service you give to that exhausted traveler or inspired traveler and those are our ambassadors. We have hundreds in America. If you know the customer better, you can serve them better.

citizenMs business model is undergirded by a commitment to its ESG vision: to influence positive change in a world where we are simply guests.

The company is recognized for its distinct design and award-winning app, which allows guests to adjust room controls (including lights, blinds, and temperature), view food and beverage menus, access art information at each property, explore their surroundings via curated city guides, and more, all from their smartphone. citizenM illustrates how Dutch design and business innovation can result in entrepreneurial success.

The award ceremony took place in the Rayburn House Office Building and was attended by several members of Congress including Members of the Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Representative Derek Kilmer (D, WA-6) and Representative Bill Huizenga (R, MI-4), co-chairs of the caucus, provided remarks. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11) gave closing remarks and spoke of how citizenM helps to strengthen the economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States. One of the newest members of the caucus, Representative Hillary Scholten (D, MI-3) also attended the event.

The Holland on the Hill Freddy Heineken Award, named for Freddy Heineken, honors an entrepreneur or organization that has made a substantial and positive impact on the economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States. Freddy Heineken came to the US in the 1940s to expand Heinekens market. With his Dutch entrepreneurial spirit and American marketing know-how, Heineken increased sales by 260 percent, laying the foundation for the global brand.

Previous recipients include: Richard DeLuca Jr., of Merck in 2022, Peter Oosterveer, of Arcadis in 2021, Michelle Browdy of IBM in 2020, Alexander R. Wynaendts of Aegon in 2019, David Hyman of Netflix in 2018, Dick Boer of Ahold Delhaize in 2017, Victoria B. Mars of Mars Inc. in 2016, Paul Polman of Unilever in 2015, and Werner Vogels of Amazon.com in 2014.

###

About citizenM

citizenM was launched in 2008 with a purpose  to disrupt the traditional, stale hotel industry. Rattan Chadha  the founder of the global fashion brand Mexx  was inspired by his employees to create a hotel for todays frequent travellers, giving them everything they need and nothing they dont. This means central locations in the worlds most exciting cities, but at an affordable price. Not just a place to sleep, but somewhere to work, relax and play  just like home. Somewhere with superfast free Wi-Fi, tech that makes life easy, and world-class art that isnt hotel art. A room with an ultra-comfortable XL bed to crash in, and a powerful rain shower to wake-up in. Rattan Chadha called this affordable luxury for the people.

The first citizenM opened at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport in 2008. As of March 2023, citizenMs portfolio has 31 hotels in 18 exciting cities: London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur.

www.citizenM.com @citizenM

Attachment

Carla Bundy Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands 202-413-9786 [email protected] Ron Linker Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands 202-725-9743 [email protected]

Source: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Santa lucia, Italy, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Cogito protocol provides a framework that creates "tracercoins", which are digital assets with low volatility. These tracercoins are an entirely new asset class  AI-powered, Fiat Independent and have the potential to become the dominant form of exchange and value storage mechanism.

These digital assets are designed to offer stability without being directly correlated to traditional currencies or commodities. Instead, they are linked to non-financial indices that represent human progress, with an example of a GCOIN being pegged to an environmental Green Index.

The Important Details to Know About CGV

The Cogito Protocol is launching the CGV Token Generation Event (TGE) on June 2nd 2023. Sales will start from 29th May 2023 across the various platforms mentioned below. The Cogito Protocol's governance and utility token, CGV, will enable the community to directly contribute to the roadmap of the project and influence various parameters of tracercoin.

The total supply of CGV will follow a predetermined distribution

More detailed information about the TGE and Cogito Tokenomics can be found here.

Disrupting the Crypto Sector with Tracercoins

Cogito is transforming the crypto sector with its innovative tracercoin concept. Tracercoins are digital assets pegged to non-financial indices and maintain their stability through soft pegging.

The system consists of a data layer and an AI tool layer, which generate a Green Index. This index tracks positive progress towards a net-zero economy with roughly 1-2% appreciation.

GCOIN is the first tracercoin coming from Cogito, and it traces the Green Index on a 1:1 basis.

To maintain the peg, Cogito has implemented a mechanism known as the 'Capital Adequacy Ratio' that works as a foundation for a number of underlying functions.

Extensive financial modeling ensures that the tracercoins offer users stable deposit rewards and are financially stable over the long term.

The team's paper on Academia.edu provides more information and simulations. Through its tracercoins, Cogito is disrupting the crypto sector and providing a much-needed solution to the challenge of price volatility. Check here for more information on the team behind Cogito Protocol.

About Cogito

Cogito Protocol is a spin-off of SingularityNET, a renowned AI-oriented company. Cogito offers a framework for creating tracercoins, which are a new class of assets that range from low to medium-volatility growth assets. This approach helps attract a diverse, global investor base with a low to medium risk appetite.

Cogito applies the highest standards of risk management schedules for regulatory compliance, asset protection, and market integrity. The roadmap has five phases: ecosystem integration, extended portfolio, risk-weighted reserve, multi-chain presence, and use cases outside crypto.

By employing SingularityNET's AI technology, Cogito offers users unparalleled capital deployment and risk management opportunities. Anyone wishing to discover this upcoming project can visit the team's website. The social media pages below are also a more than valid source of information.

Twitter | Telegram | Linkedin | Medium | Discord

Enquiries related to Marketing/ Business/ PR, do contact us here.

Cloris Chen team(at)cogitoprotocol.com

Source: Cogito
TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Uranium Inc. (CUR, the Company or Consolidated Uranium) (TSXV: CUR) (OTCQX: CURUF) is pleased to announce the creation and planned spin-out (the Spin-Out) of Premier American Uranium Inc. (PUR), currently a majority-controlled subsidiary of CUR focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of uranium projects in Wyoming and Colorado. (Figure 1).

On May 24, 2023, the Company entered into an arrangement agreement with PUR (the Arrangement Agreement), pursuant to which among other things the Company has agreed to transfer ownership of certain indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries which hold eight U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) leases and certain patented claims located in Colorado (the CUR Assets) to PUR in exchange for 7,753,752 Class A common shares of PUR (PUR Shares), a portion of which will be distributed to the Companys shareholders on a pro rata basis (the Arrangement). PUR intends to apply to list the PUR Shares (the TSXV Listing) on the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV). The TSXV Listing will be subject to PUR fulfilling all of the requirements of the TSXV.

In addition, CUR and PUR have entered into a purchase agreement (the Premier Agreement) with, among others, Premier Uranium Inc. (Premier), a privately held U.S. uranium focused project acquisition vehicle which owns a 100% interest in the Cyclone project in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming (the Cyclone Project) and various mining claims in the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado (collectively, the Premier Assets), pursuant to which PUR has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Premier.

Separately, PUR has also staked 368 unpatented mining claims, covering approximately 6,940 acres in key areas of the Uravan Mineral Belt.

To view a summary of todays news delivered by Philip Williams, Chairman and CEO of CUR, and Tim Rotolo, Chief Executive Officer of Premier and planned Chief Executive Officer of PUR, click here.

Transaction Highlights:

Stable, Long-term Shareholder Base Ahead of Public Market Listing  Backed by Sachem Cove Partners, CUR and with additional institutional investor support, PUR is working toward a public listing on the TSXV.

Backed by Sachem Cove Partners, CUR and with additional institutional investor support, PUR is working toward a public listing on the TSXV. Extensive Land Holdings in Two Prominent Uranium-Producing Regions in the U.S.  PUR plans to explore and develop its large land position in the Great Divide Base of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado.

PUR plans to explore and develop its large land position in the Great Divide Base of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado. Rich History of Past Production and Historic Uranium Mineral Resources with Strong Discovery Potential  The Cyclone Project, in Wyoming is an In Situ Recovery ( ISR ) project comprised of ~25,500 acres with past work supporting an exploration target with a range of 6.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (7.9 million lbs. U3O8) to 10.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (12.6 million lbs. U3O8).1 See below for additional details. The Colorado projects include multiple past producing mines with historic uranium mineral resources and exploration potential.

Well-Timed Opportunity with Strong Market Fundamentals and Need for U.S. Domestic Supply  Uranium fundamentals are the strongest in a decade with a large supply deficit as forecasted by industry and financial analysts. Security of supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine is driving long-term contracting, a key feature leading up to the previous uranium price rally in 2005 to 2007. PUR presents an attractive opportunity to participate in the anticipated resurgence and advancement of the U.S. uranium industry.

Uranium fundamentals are the strongest in a decade with a large supply deficit as forecasted by industry and financial analysts. Security of supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine is driving long-term contracting, a key feature leading up to the previous uranium price rally in 2005 to 2007. PUR presents an attractive opportunity to participate in the anticipated resurgence and advancement of the U.S. uranium industry. Unparalleled Experience in the U.S. Uranium Sector across the Team, Led by Disciplined Capital Allocators  PUR will be led by Tim Rotolo, co-founder of Sachem Cove Partners and Founder of Lloyd Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Together, the PUR board of directors, management and technical team will have deep technical, operational, and permitting expertise in the U.S. with a track record of financing and advancing uranium companies and significant institutional investment experience in the uranium sector.

PUR will be led by Tim Rotolo, co-founder of Sachem Cove Partners and Founder of Lloyd Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Together, the PUR board of directors, management and technical team will have deep technical, operational, and permitting expertise in the U.S. with a track record of financing and advancing uranium companies and significant institutional investment experience in the uranium sector. Initiating Work Programs to Advance Portfolio in 2023  Cyclone Project Exploration  Airborne radiometric survey completed in Q4 2022 in preparation for exploration and permitting activities planned for the remainder of 2023 and subsequent drilling expected in 2024. Uravan Mineral Belt Exploration  Monogram Mesa  Full data review for on trend exploration targets with subsequent drilling. Atkinson Mesa  Historical data review in preparation for planned drilling program to delineate the extent of mineralization in the central and northern parts of the properties. Additionally, PUR intends to look to further increase its land position both in Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado.



______________________1 The potential quantity and grade of this exploration target is conceptual in nature and based on the geologic interpretation that mineralization is Sandstone Type mineralization, aerial radiometric anomalies, and indications of the presence of oxidation reduction interfaces with mineralization from available drill data. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if a mineral resource will be delineated.

Philip Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CUR, commented We are very excited to announce the spin-off of PUR, in partnership with Sachem Cove. At CUR, our focus in the U.S. has been squarely on readying our past-producing Tony M, Daneros and Rim mines in Utah for production once market conditions warrant. This inherently meant our Colorado DOE leases, with a history of production and strong exploration potential, have received little attention. At the same time, in Premier, Tim and Sachem Cove have assembled a portfolio of projects in Colorado, which complement ours, as well as a compelling land package in the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming with large-scale ISR potential. CURs strategy has been to realize value in our portfolio, either directly by advancing projects to production, or through spinouts/divestures where a compelling strategic rationale could be identified, similar to our Labrador Uranium transaction last year. In PUR, we are convinced that this is a case where one plus one could equal much more than two and we believe CUR shareholders will be the ultimate beneficiaries when we complete the planned TSXV listing and direct distribution of PUR Shares in the coming months.

Tim Rotolo, Chief Executive Officer of Premier and planned Chief Executive Officer of PUR commented, The U.S. was once the global leader in uranium production at over 40 million pounds per year, enough uranium to supply nearly its entire nuclear fleet - the largest in the world and provider of 20% of U.S. electricity. Today, the U.S. produces almost none of its own domestically consumed uranium as U.S. utilities have turned to buying nearly half of their uranium needs from former Soviet states Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. We believe we are on the precipice of a resurgence in domestic production. For the first time in decades, a large supply deficit, which may push uranium prices higher, has converged with a global nuclear renaissance and newfound bi-partisan political support to safeguard our domestic nuclear fleet from geopolitical risk of a former Soviet-bloc dominated nuclear fuel cycle. In respect of this, we started Premier to capitalize on the U.S. uranium resurgence, accumulating projects and waiting for the right time to bring them to market. That time is now, and our partnership with CUR whose projects are complementary, sets up an exciting and well-timed launch for PUR.

The Arrangement Agreement

Pursuant to the Arrangement Agreement, among other things, CUR has agreed to transfer certain indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries which hold the CUR Assets to PUR in exchange for 7,753,752 PUR Shares. Under the terms of the Arrangement, CUR intends to distribute 50% of the PUR Shares it receives to its shareholders on a pro-rata basis based on the number of CUR Shares held at the effective date of the Arrangement. There will be no change in CUR shareholders proportionate ownership in CUR as a result of the Arrangement. In addition, holders of options and warrants of CUR as of the effective date of the Arrangement will have such securities adjusted in accordance with their terms as a result of the Arrangement.

The Arrangement will be effected by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario). The Arrangement will be subject to regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSXV for the Arrangement and the TSXV Listing, court approval, as well as approval by not less than two-thirds of the votes cast at the annual general and special meeting (the Meeting) of the CUR shareholders, anticipated to be held in the third quarter of 2023. Full details of the Arrangement will be included in the management information circular to be sent to CUR shareholders in connection with the Meeting.

It is anticipated that the Arrangement and the TSXV Listing will be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

The Premier Agreement

On May 24, 2023, the Company and Premier entered into the Premier Agreement with PUR, among others, pursuant to which PUR has agreed to acquire all the outstanding shares of Premier in exchange for 12,000 Class B common shares of PUR (Compressed Shares). Each Compressed Share carries the right to 1,000 votes per share and is convertible into 1,000 PUR Shares, with each PUR Share carrying the right to one vote per share. Completion of the Premier Transaction is subject to certain closing conditions including, among other things, completion of the Arrangement and the conditional approval of the TSXV for the TSXV Listing.

About PUR

Proposed Management and Board of Directors

Tim Rotolo, Chief Executive Officer 15+ years as an investment professional with background in fund management. Co-founder of Sachem Cove Partners and Founder of Lloyd Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Founder of North Shore Indices, Inc., which launched URNM, a uranium mining ETF in 2019 and raised over $1 Billion before selling to NYSE listed, Sprott Asset Management.

Greg Duras, Chief Financial Officer 25+ years in the resource sector in corporate development, financial management and cost control.

Marty Tunney, Chairman Mining engineer with significant technical and capital markets experience. Current President and Chief Operating Officer of CUR.

Michael Harrison, Director 25+ years of executive, financial and technical experience in the mining industry. Current Managing Partner at Sprott Inc.

Daniel Nauth, Director Lawyer with a specialty in U.S.-Canada cross-border capital markets, M&A and corporate and securities transactions and regulatory compliance.



Technical Advisors

Ted Wilton 50+ years as a Senior Geologist in the mining industry, including 25+ in the uranium sector. Involved in discovering 8 deposits containing more than 10 million ounces gold in the U.S. and Australia.

Mike Neumann 40+ years in environmental and regulatory affairs, specialized in uranium mine permitting in the U.S. and Kazakhstan. Gained regulatory approval for expansion of Daneros, compliance for Tony M, and Rim Mines in Utah.

Tyler Johnson 14+ years formerly with Denison and Energy Fuels Inc. Geologist specializing in exploration, mine development, and resource estimation on uranium and vanadium projects.



The Projects

Figure 1: PUR Project Portfolio located in the States of Wyoming and Colorado

Wyoming  Great Divide Basin

Wyoming is one of the leading jurisdictions for U.S. uranium production and produced approximately 230 million lbs of U3O8 since the first discovery in the 1950s.1 The State ranked 11th of 84 jurisdictions in the Public Policy Perception Index of the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2021.2

The Great Divide Basin is also one of the least exploited of the Wyoming Basins known to contain significant deposits of uranium, including the Crooks Gap mining district, Sweetwater deposit, Lost Creek ISR mine. Nearby property owners include Uranium Energy Corp. and UR-Energy Inc.1

_____________________1 Source: Wyoming State Geological Survey; Critical Minerals in Wyoming; https;//www.wsgs.wyo.gov/minerals/critical-minerals.aspx

2 Source: www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/annual-survey-of-mining-companies-2021.pdf

Cyclone Project

The Cyclone Project is located approximately 45 miles northwest of Rawlins, Wyoming and 15 miles from the Sweetwater Uranium Mill. The project covers 25,500 acres comprising: 1,061 claims totaling 21,220 acres and 7 state leases covering 4,280 acres.

The uranium deposits in the basin are hosted in flat-lying sandstones of the Battle Spring Formation, with a widespread alteration of host sandstones and numerous roll-front uranium deposits associated with altered rocks. Exploration potential remains high on the project with drilling required to follow up on historic work and delineate mineralized zones.

Previous exploration on the project includes ~80 holes drilled during 2007-2008, with mineralization showing typical grades and thicknesses to uranium deposits found elsewhere in the Great Divide Basin. Intersections from exploration on the Rim Target include hole UT-8 which intersected 8.0 ft. averaging 0.092% eU308 (0.02% cut-off) or 5.5 ft. @ 0.121% eU308 at 200 feet from the surface and hole UT-44 which intersected 7.5 ft. averaging 0.081% eU3O8 (0.02% cut-off grade) or 5.5 ft. averaging 0.104% eU308 at a 0.05% cut-off grade.

Sufficient historical exploration data is available for the North and East claim blocks to define an exploration target, which shows a range of 6.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (7.9 million lbs. U3O8) to 10.5 million short tons averaging 0.06% U3O8 (12.6 million lbs. U3O8). The potential quantity and grade of this exploration target is conceptual in nature and based on the geologic interpretation that mineralization is roll-front sandstone  type mineralization, and that mineralization is present as indicated by airborne radiometric anomalies, indications of the presence of oxidation reduction interfaces with associated uranium mineralization as depicted in available historic drill data. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if a mineral resource will be delineated. For the definition of the exploration target, the following criteria based on direct knowledge and experience in the area and similar sandstone hosted uranium deposits in the Great Divide Basin and other areas of Wyoming was used: (i) a minimum cut-off grade of 0.02% U3O8 and a grade thickness product (GT) of 0.10, (ii) a radiometric disequilibrium factor of 1, and (iii) a bulk density of 16 cubic feet per ton.

A detailed review of the historical drill data is planned with permitting underway in preparation for drilling in 2024.

Colorado  Uravan Mineral Belt

The Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado has a rich history of uranium exploration and production and produced nearly 80 million lbs of U3O8 and more than 400 million lbs of V2O5 since 1945.3 Colorado ranked 5th of 62 jurisdictions in the Investment Attractiveness Index of the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2022.4 PURs projects in Colorado are in the heart of the Uravan Mineral Belt, in proximity to significant infrastructure. Mineralization is hosted in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation.

_______________________3 Source: Chenoweth, William L., 1981, "The Uranium-Vanadium Deposits of the Uravan Mineral Belt and Adjacent Areas, Colorado and Utah. In New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook 32, Western Slope, Colorado" and Goodnight, Craig S., William L. Chenoweth, Richard D. Davyault and Edward T. Cotter, 2005: "Geologic Road Log for Uravan Mineral Belt Field Trip, West-Central, Colorado" Rocky Mountain Section of the Geologic Society of America.

4 Source: www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/annual-survey-of-mining-companies-2022.pdf

Monogram Mesa

The Monogram Mesa project covers approximately 7,431 acres and consists of 361 mining claims.

The property includes multiple historic mines on the northeast and the West (Bull Canyon) sides of Monogram Mesa. The historic mines are generally stable and dry, with numerous mineralized zones exposed. The property is strategically located within several miles of a paved highway with mine roads and power lines crossing the property. Historical drilling data indicates presence of numerous exploration targets.

Historic Production1 Tons (short) Grade (%U3O8) Pounds U3O8 Grade (%V2O5) Pounds V2O5 MonogramMesa Mines 840,761 0.30 4,992,179 1.19 20,001,113

As disclosed in Nelson-Moore, James L, Donna Bishop Collins, and A. L. Hornbaker, 1978; Radioactive Mineral Occurrences of Colorado, Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 40, 1,054 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, 12 plates.

An exploration drilling program to confirm and potentially expand currently known mineralization is planned with the potential to acquire surrounding properties, further consolidating the area.

Atkinson Mesa Project

The Atkinson Mesa project covers 5,863 acres, including 128 unpatented lode mining claims, 4 DOE leases. The project also includes approximately 2,702 acres, and 18 patented (fee simple) mining claims spanning 360 acres. Several past producing mines are present on the property, including the King Solomon mine, a large-scale underground mine that was one of the most significant uranium producers in the entire Uravan Mineral Belt.5 The property is situated within one of the most substantial uranium-vanadium production areas within the entire Uravan Mineral Belt.5

Historic Production1 Tons (short) Grade (%U3O8) Pounds U3O8 Grade (%V2O5) Pounds V2O5 King SolomanComplex 1,230,000 0.21 5,160,000 1.11 26,540,000

Goodnight, Craig S., William L. Chenoweth, Richard D. Davyaault, and Edward T. Cotter, 2005; Geologic Road Log for Uravan Mineral Belt Field Trip, West-Central Colorado; Rocky Mountain Section of Geological Society of America, 2005 Annual Meeting.

_______________________5 Source: Goodnight, Craig S., William L. Chenoweth, Rochard D. Davyault and Edward T. Cotter, 2005; Geologic Road Log for Uravan Mineral Belt Field Trip, West-Central Colorado; Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America.

Outlaw Mesa & Slick Rock Projects

The Outlaw Mesa and Slick Rock projects are located at the northern and southern ends of the Uravan Mineral Belt, respectively. Outlaw Mesa covers 5,759 acres with 2 DOE leases and Slick Rock covers 1,226 acres with 2 DOE leases.

Both projects include historic production from multiple mines, including the well-known Spud Patch mines in the Slick Rock area and the Calamity Mesa mines in the Outlaw mesa-Calamity Mesa area. All leases contain uranium and vanadium mineralization. In January 2020, a new 10-year lease was signed with the DOE, providing long-term potential for the project.

Historic Production1 Tons (short) Grade (%U3O8) Pounds U3O8 Grade (%V2O5) Pounds V2O5 Slick Rock 434,300 0.34 2,953,600 1.30 11,333,800 Outlaw andCalamity Mesas 423,500 0.34 2,917,200 1.29 10,994,500

As disclosed in the above and by Nelson-Moore, James L, Donna Bishop Collins and A. L. Hornbaker, 1978; Radioactive Mineral Occurrences of Colorado, Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 40, 1,054 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, 12 plates.

Technical Disclosure and Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dean T. Wilton: PG, CPG, MAIG, a consultant of CUR who is a Qualified Person (as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects).

The data disclosed in this news release is related to historical drilling results. CUR has not undertaken any independent investigation of the sampling, nor has it independently analyzed the results of the historical exploration work in order to verify the results. CUR considers these historical drill results relevant as the Company is using this data as a guide to plan exploration programs. The Company's current and future exploration work includes verification of the historical data through drilling.

About Premier American Uranium Inc.

Premier American Uranium Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Uranium Inc. (TSXV:CUR), is focused on the consolidation, exploration, and development of uranium projects in the United States. One of PUR's key strengths lies in the agreements it has to acquire extensive land holdings in two prominent uranium-producing regions in the United States: the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado. With a rich history of past production and historic uranium mineral resources, PUR is initiating work programs to advance its portfolio in 2023.

Backed by Sachem Cove Partners, CUR, additional institutional investors, and an unparalleled team with U.S. uranium experience, PUR's entry into the market comes at a well-timed opportunity, as uranium fundamentals are currently the strongest they have been in a decade.

PUR intends to apply to list its shares on the TSXV, cementing its position as a leading U.S. uranium player. Listing will be subject to PUR fulfilling all of the requirements of the TSXV.

For more information, please visit www.premierur.com.

About Consolidated Uranium Inc.

Consolidated Uranium Inc. (TSXV: CUR) (OTCQX: CURUF) was created in early 2020 to capitalize on an anticipated uranium market resurgence using the proven model of diversified project consolidation. To date, Consolidated Uranium has acquired or has the right to acquire uranium projects in Australia, Canada, Argentina, and the United States each with significant past expenditures and attractive characteristics for development.

Consolidated Uranium completed a transformational strategic acquisition and alliance with Energy Fuels Inc., a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company, and acquired a portfolio of permitted, past-producing conventional uranium and vanadium mines in Utah and Colorado. These mines are currently on stand-by, ready for rapid restart as market conditions permit, positioning Consolidated Uranium as a near-term uranium producer.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Philip WilliamsChairman and CEO[email protected]Toll-Free: 1-833-572-2333

Twitter: @ConsolidatedUr www.consolidateduranium.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information.

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the timing and outcome of the Arrangement, the Premier acquisition and the Listing, including required shareholder, regulatory, court and stock exchange approvals; the anticipated timing of the Meeting; the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement; the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set out in the Arrangement Agreement and the Premier Agreement; the exploration activities anticipated for the remainder of 2023 and 2024; the anticipated management team and board of directors of PUR; the final approval of the Arrangement and Listing by the TSXV; anticipated strategic and growth opportunities; expectations regarding the U.S. uranium industry; any expectations with respect to defining mineral resources or mineral reserves on any of the projects and any expectation with respect to any permitting, development or other work that may be required to bring any of the projects into development or production and other activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward- looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved or the negative connotation thereof. Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, completion of the Arrangement, the Listing and the Premier acquisition, including the ability of the parties to receive, in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms, the necessary regulatory, court and shareholder approvals; the ability of the parties to satisfy, in a timely manner, the other conditions to the completion of the Arrangement, the Listing and the Premier acquisition; that the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement will be realized; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, and that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Companys planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others: the failure to obtain shareholder, regulatory, court or stock exchange approvals in connection with the Arrangement, the Listing and the Premier acquisition; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement or implement the business plan for PUR; the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; expectations regarding negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of additional financing, no known mineral reserves or resources, reliance on key management and other personnel, potential downturns in economic conditions, actual results of exploration activities being different than anticipated, changes in exploration programs based upon results, and risks generally associated with the mineral exploration industry, environmental risks, changes in laws and regulations, community relations and delays in obtaining governmental or other approval and the risk factors with respect to Consolidated Uranium set out in Consolidated Uraniums annual information form in respect of the year ended December 31, 2022 which has been filed with the Canadian securities regulators and is available under Consolidated Uraniums profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.

A graphic accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0fd6e6e6-004b-4c8c-9ba2-dbd43db21572

Figure 1 PUR Project Portfolio located in the States of Wyoming and Colorado

Source: Consolidated Uranium Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crosschq, the world's first Hiring Intelligence platform purpose-built to increase Quality of Hire, announced today the expansion of Crosschq Insights and Crosschq Voice along with a new brand identity. Combining these expanded solutions provides talent leaders with a single operating platform from which to manage all aspects of Hiring Intelligence.

Recent research from Deloitte indicates 83 percent of talent acquisition teams feel they have low maturity when it comes to their analytics capabilities, said Michael Fitzsimmons, co-founder and CEO of Crosschq. "After years of working closely with talent leaders to solve this massive problem, we are excited to reintroduce Crosschq in a new way with Crosschq Insights and Crosschq Voice, a robust, end-to-end hiring intelligence solution."

Crosschq Insights: Advanced Analytics Across the Entire Hiring Funnel

The powerful Crosschq Insights solution set is built specifically for data-driven talent teams with hundreds of customizable reports that include benchmarking and easy shareability. Crosschqs flagship Quality of Hire Analytics product connects an organizations pre-hire data with business outcomes, providing on-demand access to detailed Quality of Hire metrics. Once unleashed, Crosschq Insights can help organizations better understand critical variables such as the ROI of hiring sources, which departments and hiring managers are making the best hires, and how to match the skills and competencies of top performers to new candidates.

TalentWall, acquired last year by Crosschq and now fully integrated into its suite of solutions, is also part of this powerful insights engine. This capability brings an organizations ATS data to life with immediate visibility into the companys most important hiring metrics and KPIs around critical topics like DEI, time to hire and cost per hire.

End-to-end hiring intelligence is liquid gold for talent acquisition teams, said William Tincup, president and editor-at-large of Recruiting Daily. When I say that, I'm thinking from source of hire to the onboarding experience and everything in between.

Crosschq Voice: Integrated Listening and Survey Tools Across Candidate Journey

The Crosschq Voice solution set offers advanced, powerful feedback that enables talent leaders to gather real human insights at every stage of the hiring process. These AI-driven surveys are optimized for mobile as well as other communication channels such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Crosschqs candidate experience surveys allow recruiters to maintain a pulse on candidate sentiment, listening at every step of the hiring process. From the point of job application through to the offer, Crosschq enables talent leaders to gather real-time insights from candidates, interview teams, and hiring managers throughout the hiring journey.

Moving down the funnel, the Crosschq 360 reference-checking solution gives users access to comprehensive human feedback about candidates to support a competency and skills match with the company and role.

Crosschq Insights and Crosschq Voice are available now to current customers, as well as through the company's 40+ API integrations with partners, including Workday, SAP, Greenhouse, SmartRecruiters, Lever and many others.

Were proud to support hundreds of companies like Pinterest, Deloitte, WPP, Allegis and HubSpot, added Fitzsimmons. They trust Crosschq to improve their quality of hire, drive team collaboration and optimize the entire hiring process. Through our broader range of tools and solutions, were able to help clients like these and others more effectively identify top talent, streamline hiring processes, and foster a culture of collaboration and productivity within their teams.

Introducing a New Look & Logo for Hiring Intelligence Operating System

To demonstrate the companys evolution from point solutions to a fully integrated suite of solutions, Crosschq also revealed a new brand identity. In our unwavering commitment to establishing Hiring Intelligence as a stand-alone solution set, it was important to refresh our logo and overall positioning, said Brandon Redlinger, vice president of marketing at Crosschq. "Our brand evolution perfectly illustrates our dedication to being hiring intelligence trailblazers in the growing talent analytics market category.

To see the latest from Crosschq, please visit crosschq.com.

About CrosschqCrosschq is the world's first operating system purpose-built for Hiring Intelligence. The company provides talent-driven organizations with an integrated data and listening platform to optimize all aspects of hiring and continuously improve Quality of Hire. Powered by the Crosschq Intelligence Cloud, which uses AI and machine learning to rapidly process millions of pre-hire and post-hire data points, Crosschq gives enterprises a reliable, on-demand solution for collaborating and taking action on hiring insights. Crosschq's customers and partners include Deloitte, WPP, Allegis, Pinterest, HubSpot, Saks Fifth Avenue, Workday, SAP, and Greenhouse, among others. Crosschq is backed by GGV Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Tiger Global, SAP, Okta and Salesforce. To learn more, visit crosschq.com.

Note to editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts: Elena Arney [email protected] Kate Achille The Devon Group for Crosschq [email protected]

Source: Crosschq
Paris, 24 May 2023

Release of documents and information

regarding the Combined Shareholders Meeting of EDF of 14 June 2023

The annual Combined Shareholders Meeting of EDF will be held on Wednesday 14 June 2023 at 10 a.m. French time at Salle Pleyel, 252 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, 75008 Paris and will be broadcasted live by audio conference on the Companys website1www.edf.fr/agm-june2023.

The notice comprising the agenda and the text of the resolutions was published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires n56 of 10 May 2023. The final version of the draft resolutions to be submitted to the Shareholders Meeting are set out in the notice of meeting published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires n 64 of 29 May 2023.

Conditions for participation and voting at the shareholders Meeting are described in these notices as well as on the Companys website.

Documents and information regarding the Shareholders Meeting will be made available on the Companys website at the following address: www.edf.fr/agm.

WARNING - Simplified public tender offer and squeeze-out for EDF's shares

As of the date of publication of this notice of meeting, the shares and OCEANEs of the Company are the subject of a simplified public tender offer initiated by the French State (the "Offer") (see in particular AMF notice D&I 222C2537 of 23 November 2022). All information relating to the Offer is available on the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and EDF (www.edf.fr/finance).

The Offer closed on 17 May 2023. On 23 May 2023, the French State sent a request to the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) to implement a squeeze-out on the Company's shares and OCEANEs, since the legal and regulatory conditions for such implementation are met.

Depending on the date of implementation of the squeeze-out, the modalities for holding the Shareholders Meeting may be adjusted. If the squeeze-out is implemented before 14 June 2023, the shareholders of the Company whose shares will have been subject to the squeeze-out will not be able to participate in the Shareholders Meeting.

1 Unless technical reasons make it impossible or seriously disrupt this retransmission.

Attachment
WABASH, Ind., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FFW Corporation (OTC PINK: FFWC) (05/23/23 Close: $39.54), parent corporation of Crossroads Bank, has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.28 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable June 30, 2023, to shareholders of record on June 16, 2023.

The book value of FFW Corporation stock was $42.86 per share as of April 30, 2023. The last reported trade of stock at the close of business on May 23, 2023, was $39.54 per share and the number of outstanding shares was 1,126,857 as of the same date. On April 30, 2023, the corporation had assets of $546.9 million and shareholders' equity of $48.3 million. The Board of FFW Corporation and Crossroads Bank will continue to evaluate the payment of a dividend on a quarterly basis.

Crossroads Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of FFW Corporation, providing an extensive array of banking services and a wide range of investments and securities products through its main office in Wabash and six Indiana banking centers located in Columbia City, North Manchester, Peru, South Whitley, Syracuse, and Warsaw. The Bank also provides leasing services at each of its banking centers. Insurance products are offered through an affiliated company, Insurance 1 Services, Inc. The Corporations stock is traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol FFWC. Our website address is www.crossroadsbanking.com. Crossroads Bank, Member FDIC.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Kirsten PendarvisTreasurer(260) 563-3185

SOURCE: FFW Corporation

Source: FFW Corporation
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arbor Metals Corp. (Arbor or the Company) (TSXV: ABR, FWB: 432) is pleased to announce that the recent commitment made by Ford Motor Company to secure lithium from Quebec has been seen as a resounding endorsement of Arbor 's vision for the lithium market in the region. The automaker's announcement, which highlights their proactive approach in securing lithium production for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing, aligns with Arbor 's mission to be a major player in the Quebec lithium market.



Arbor fully supports the vision of automakers like Ford who are dedicated to driving the global electrification revolution. By proactively securing the essential metal required for the transition, namely lithium, these automakers are taking a significant step towards sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation solutions. The commitment to sourcing lithium from Quebec further strengthens Arbor 's confidence in the immense potential of the region and the pivotal role it will play in the EV industry.

Ford's decision to secure lithium production from Quebec serves as a strong validation of Arbor 's strategic focus and underscores the Company's dedication to being at the forefront of the lithium market. With its rich lithium deposits, Quebec has emerged as a key player in the global supply chain, and Arbor plans to capitalize on this opportunity.

Arbor is actively advancing its lithium projects in Quebec, including the flagship Jarnet Lithium project. The Company's experienced team, coupled with its commitment to responsible and sustainable resource development, could position Arbor as a part of the lithium supply chain.

We are excited to see major automakers recognizing the importance of securing lithium supply for their EV production. Ford's commitment to Quebec's lithium production reinforces our belief in the immense potential of this region, commented Mark Ferguson, CEO of Arbor .  Arbor Metals is determined to play a significant role in meeting the growing demand for lithium and supporting the global electrification efforts.

Arbor will continue to pursue its exploration and development activities in Quebec with a strong commitment to sustainable practices. The Company anticipates to be a key contributor to the lithium supply chain, helping to meet increased demand from automakers and driving the transition to a cleaner and greener future.

Arbor Metals Corp. is a mining exploration company specializing in the development of high-value, geographic significant mineral projects around the world. As an industry leader, it is paving the way for advanced mineral exploration as it oversees world-class mining projects. Arbor believes quality projects, combined with proven strategies and a professional team, will deliver superior results. The company holds three exceptional mineral projects.

The Jarnet lithium project , located in the James Bay region of Quebec, comprises 47 map-designated claims, covering an area of approximately 3,759 hectares. The Jarnet project is contiguous to the Corvette-FCI property, where diamond drilling has confirmed significant lithium mineralization, and represents one of the highest-profile lithium exploration projects in the sector.





For further information, contact Mark Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer, at [email protected] , or visit the Companys website at www.arbormetalscorp.com .

On behalf of the Board,

Arbor Metals Corp.

Mark Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain certain Forward-Looking Statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When or if used in this news release, the words anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, target, plan, forecast, may, schedule and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the development of the Jarnet Lithium Project, the assessment of samples from that Project, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Contact Data

CONTACT:

MRKT360 INC

https://mrkt360.com

Alex Zertuche

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours, Call 1 416-477-0587

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3618b042-01cc-4fdc-9dc6-19987e9bc55d
PARSIPPANY, New Jersey, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Technologies, Ltd. (OTC Pink: GTLL) (the Company), a holding corporation, which, through its subsidiaries, has operations engaged in e-commerce and as a portal for entrepreneurs to provide access to live shopping, announces the appointment of Fredrick Cutcher as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective as of May 17, 2023.

As a seasoned executive, Mr. Cutcher has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and a keen strategic mindset throughout his career. He possesses a deep understanding of the intricate dynamics of the financial industry, coupled with a remarkable ability to identify emerging opportunities and drive change.

With his appointment as CEO of Global Technologies, Mr. Cutcher will spearhead the Company's strategic initiatives, focusing on expanding its footprint including exploring opportunities in the real estate and insurance sectors.

"I am honored to join Global Technologies as its CEO and excited to embark on this journey," said Mr. Cutcher. "Our aim is to redefine the boundaries of innovation by leveraging our strengths and capitalizing on opportunities. I look forward to keeping the market updated as we identify and communicate our long-term vision."

Effective upon the appointment of Mr. Cutcher as an officer and director of the Company, Jimmy Wayne Anderson resigned in his role as an officer and director.

The Companys new corporate office address is 8 Campus Dr., Suite 105, Parsippany, NJ 07054 and its new telephone number is (973) 233-5151.

About Global Technologies, Ltd.:

Global Technologies, Ltd, based in Parsippany, NJ, is a holding corporation, which, through its subsidiaries, has operations engaged in e-commerce and as a portal for entrepreneurs to provide access to live shopping. For further information, please visit the Companys website at www.globaltechnologiesltd.info.

Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer

Statements made in this press release that express the Company or management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or predictions of future events, are forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "will" and similar expressions are intended to further identify such forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Those statements are based on many assumptions and are subject to many known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual activities, results or performance to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in such forward-looking statements. The Company cannot guarantee future financial results; levels of activity, performance or achievements and investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. No information contained in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's future financial performance, future revenues or its future stock price. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of the Company as of the date of this press release, and the Company expressly disclaims any intent, obligation or undertaking to update or revise such forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's future revenues or results of operations.

Contact:

Global Technologies, Ltd(973) 233-5151[email protected]

Source: Global Technologies, Ltd
IRVINE, Calif., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Habit Burger Grill, the California-based restaurant company renowned for its award-winning Charburgers grilled over an open flame, signature sandwiches, fresh salads and more, announced today, the launch of the Rainbow Shake in celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and allies during Pride Month. Making its first appearance as a limited-time offer (LTO), the Rainbow Shake will be sold in the vast majority of its restaurants beginning May 31 and running throughout the month of June, while supplies last.

The creamy, flavorful Rainbow Shake features vanilla ice cream blended with rainbow cereal, topped with strawberry puree, passion fruit puree, blue raspberry syrup and finished with whipped cream sprinkled with crunchy rainbow cereal.

In honor of Pride Month, $1 for every Rainbow Shake sold (up to $50,000 total) will be donated to the It Gets Better Project, whose mission is to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth around the globe.

In 2021, The Habit Burger Grill Facilities Manager Jorge Guevara had the idea to create a signature shake for Pride Month in an effort to raise awareness for those, like himself, who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Although hes a facilities manager and not on the food and beverage team, he drew the shake on a piece of paper and not long after, found himself in the test kitchen creating the shake alongside chefs. He named the shake, The Rainbow Shake and this June, the shake will debut with Jorge serving as the official spokesperson.

What has struck me most about the Rainbow Shake is that when I spoke up, my company listened. I told them that we need to show our support to the LGBTQ+ community, colleagues and allies by creating a menu item that speaks to the celebration of our community. And they did. They allowed me into the test kitchen to create something that meant something to me, said Jorge Guevara. In my opinion, we have launched a shake thats reflective of the vibrant flavor of the LBGTQ+ community. And I cant wait for people across the nation to try it.

The It Gets Better Project was selected by Jorge, as he wanted to do more than just create the shakehe wanted to empower and support LGBTQ+ youth. And the It Gets Better Project was a natural fit, reaching millions of young people each year through inspiring media programming, educational resources, and international affiliates in 19 countries.

Were here to bring everyone a taste of California feel-good, and we are honored to support the It Gets Better Project as its an organization that aligns with what we stand for, said Jack Hinchliffe, Chief Marketing Officer at The Habit Burger Grill. Its our mission to create a warm environment free of prejudice and bias where everyone is equally welcomed, respected, and celebrated for their authentic selfbecause at Habit Burger Grill, everyone has a seat at our table.

The It Gets Better Project is also thrilled to partner with Habit Burger Grill. As a proud family of storytellers and community builders currently spanning four continents, they align with like-minded companies who share in the message of inclusivity and empowerment of the LGBTQ+ community, especially in young people.

The It Gets Better Project continues to positively impact the LGBTQ+ youth experience by connecting LGBTQ+ youth with resources and community, said Jimmy Ancheta-Tilley, Jr., Director of Development at the It Gets Better Project. We are thrilled to join forces with companies like The Habit Burger Grill to elevate the power of storytelling through the Rainbow Shake.

The Habit Burger Grill is California's best-kept secret, named in Thrillist's list of "Underrated Burger Chains that Need to be in Every State!" Guests at The Habit Burger Grill can always count on freshly-made, handcrafted quality, served up with genuine hospitality. By continually pushing innovation across their new menu items, these latest additions are what make The Habit, a habit.Connect with The Habit Burger Grill on social media at facebook.com/habitburgergrill, instagram.com/habitburgergrill, twitter.com/habitburger, tiktok.com/@habitburgergrill, and youtube.com/habittube.

About The Habit Restaurants, Inc.Born in Santa Barbara, California in 1969, The Habit Burger Grill is a burger-centric, fast-casual restaurant concept that specializes in preparing fresh, cooked-to-order chargrilled burgers and handcrafted sandwiches featuring grilled tenderloin steak, grilled chicken and sushi-grade ahi tuna cooked over an open flame. In addition, it features fresh handcrafted salads and an appealing selection of sides and shakes. The Habit Burger Grill was featured in Newsweeks Americas Favorite Restaurant Chains 2023; its Tempura Green Beans was named as the top green bean dish in The Daily Meals Ranking Green Bean Dishes From 11 Chain Restaurants in 2023; and it was named in Thrillists list of Underrated Burger Chains that Need to be in Every State! The Habit Burger Grill has since grown to over 350 restaurants in 14 states throughout Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Washington as well as 12 international locations, five in China and seven in Cambodia. More information is available at www.habitburger.com.

About the It Gets Better Project

The It Gets Better Project is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that strives to uplift, empower and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe. Created in 2010 as the result of one of the most successful viral video campaigns in YouTubes history, the It Gets Better Project provides critical support and hope to LGBTQ+ youth around the world by leveraging the power of media to reach millions of people each year. The project has expanded its origins in storytelling and media to include educational resources through It Gets Better EDU and reaches 19 countries outside of the U.S. through It Gets Better Global.

The project has garnered support from President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with numerous celebrities, including Kelly Clarkson, Gabrielle Union, Chris and Scott Evans, Jojo Siwa, Zachary Quinto, Mj Rodriguez, Hayley Kiyoko, and Gigi Gorgeous. More than 750,000 people have taken the It Gets Better pledge to share messages of hope and speak up against intolerance. Please visit www.itgetsbetter.org for more information, and join the conversation on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter at @ItGetsBetter; Facebook.com/ItGetsBetterProject; and YouTube.com/ItGetsBetterProject.The Habit Burger Grill Press Contact: [email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8d687024-6e3e-4de6-9de7-fc2309c3173f

The Habit Burger Grill's Jorge Guevara & The Rainbow Shake The Habit Burger Grill Facilities Manager Jorge Guevara had the idea to create a signature shake for Pride Month to raise awareness for those, like himself, who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. He named the shake, The Rainbow Shake, and this June, the shake debuts.

Source: The Habit Burger Grill
The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 men in the drawn-out battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut



The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 men in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city being Russian convicts recruited to fight in the 15-month-old war.

The figure stood in stark contrast to the widely disputed claims from Moscow that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone has killed tens of thousands of soldiers, among them Russian convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also said Russias invasion goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin added that Russian forces had killed civilians  something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin said in Tuesday's interview that it was possible Kyivs anticipated counteroffensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel that has only 50,000 followers, wasnt picked up by Russias largest state-run or pro-Kremlin media and is unlikely to be widely seen. Nor did it appear to get any mentions among military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and had achieved unspecified successes on the citys outskirts. He gave no further details.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians had a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid in the area from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post, and another one was shot down Wednesday just outside the local capital, also called Belgorod. He said that no one had been hurt, but there was unspecified damage to property.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Gladkov said Tuesday he had questions for (Russias) Defense Ministry following the attack that reportedly sowed alarm among locals and embarrassed the Kremlin.

During a Q&A session with residents on social media, Gladkov agreed with a participant who said that the Russian militarys actions in Belgorod raised some questions.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks.

On Tuesday, Russia said it had beaten back the cross-border raid, one of the most serious of its kind in the war. The Defense Ministry said more than 70 attackers were killed in the battle, which lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that local troops, airstrikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved or comment on why it took so long to put down the assault.

The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spillover from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

At least three civilians died and 18 others were wounded in Ukraine on Tuesday and overnight, the Ukrainian presidential office reported Wednesday, including in the southern Kherson region, where two elderly people died in airstrikes.

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CALGARY, Alberta, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CE Brands Inc. (TSXV: CEBI; CEBI.WT) (CE Brands, we, our, or the Company), a strategic brand partner of Motorola Mobility, announced today the availability of the moto watch 70 at Best Buy Canada Ltd, a device perfect for everyday use. This new smartwatch arrives as an addition to the Best Buy Canada portfolio, which already includes the moto watch 100.

Designed as a great everyday wear smartwatch for those with an active lifestyle, the moto watch 70 features a large 1.69 LCD, a thin metal and glass body, and is surrounded by a smooth bezel. The moto watch 70 comes with a crystal clear screen so every time you raise your wrist, you get a clear view of whats most important to you. The moto watch 70 features a stylish metal case and a hard-wearing silicone band thats interchangeable to suit any occasion. Plus, you can customize your watch face in hundreds of different ways with custom photos and layouts.

Tracking vitals is easy with the new moto watch 70 including advanced sleep tracking with nightly REM, deep, and light sleep updates. With active heart rate monitoring, youll always have a clear understanding of your pulse throughout the day and during your activities. Weather on your wrist. Get a 7 day weather summary every morning, so you can better plan your day.

Integrated with Google Fit, the #1 Android health platform, you can now easily send your daily effort, vitals and activities directly to Google Fit health, for integration with dozens of other health focused apps.

With a long battery life of up to 10 days under normal usage conditions, charging is the last thing on your mind. You can now wear your watch day in and day out for accurate tracking. When its time to charge, your watch will notify you, and it only takes 25 minutes to bring it back up to full charge.

Receive smart notifications from your favorite apps on your moto watch 70, silence apps that you dont want to see, and enable your favorite apps to notify you on your wrist.

The moto watch 70 is an economical watch and is a must-have for visibility on your wellness journey. It comes in a sleek design and has multiple health and lifestyle features, hundreds of customizable watch faces and an impressive battery life - all at an amazing price point of C$99.99 MSRP.

Availability

The moto watch 70 will be available for sale on the Best Buy website: www.bestbuy.ca.

About CE Brands

CE Brands Inc. specializes in developing products that transform the way people connect and live, working with brands they trust. By identifying key market opportunities and partnering with leading manufacturers and solution partners CE Brands is driving growth and innovation globally, with sales in over 70 countries.

About Motorola Strategic Brand Partnerships

For over 90 years, the Motorola brand has been known around the world for high quality, innovative and trusted products. Motorolas Strategic Brand Partnership program seeks to leverage the power of this iconic brand by teaming up with dynamic companies who offer unique, high-quality products that enrich consumers lives. Strategic brand partners work closely with Motorola engineers, while developing and manufacturing their products, ensuring that their products meet the exacting safety, quality, and reliability standards that consumers have come to expect from Motorola.

To learn more about Motorola strategic brand partnerships, follow us @ShopMotorola

*Not a Medical Device. The moto watch 70 is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition. The moto watch 70 is intended to provide users with information to encourage an active and healthy lifestyle. The data and information provided by the moto watch 70 is intended to be a close estimation of your activity and metrics tracked, but may not be precisely accurate. The data provided by the moto watch 70 is not intended to be utilized for medical purposes and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your doctor before engaging in any exercise routine.

MOTOROLA, the Stylized Motorola Logo and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC, and are used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  2023 Motorola Mobility LLC.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. In general, forward-looking information refers to disclosure about future conditions, courses of action, and events. The use of any of the words anticipates, believes, expects, intends, plans, will, would, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information. More particularly and without limitation, this press release includes forward-looking information with respect to the anticipated availability, performance and appeal of the moto watch 70 and the Companys expectations related thereto.

The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions, including the timing of the resumption of manufacturing operations at the Companys partner factories in Asia and the timing of product shipments and deliveries.

Although CE Brands believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because CE Brands cannot give any assurance that they will prove to be accurate. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this press release. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the impact of the evolving Covid-19 pandemic on the Companys business, operations and sales; reliance on third party manufacturers and suppliers; the Companys ability to stabilize its business and secure sufficient capital; the Companys available liquidity being insufficient to operate its business and meet its financial commitments, which could result in the Company having to refinance or restructure its debt, sell assets or seek to raise additional capital, which may be on unfavorable terms; the inability to implement the Companys objectives and priorities for 2023 and beyond, which could result in financial strain on the Company and continued pressure on the Companys business; risks associated with developing and launching new products, including the moto watch 70; increased indebtedness and leverage; the fact that historical and projected financial information may not be representative of the Companys future results; the inability to position the Company for long-term growth; risks associated with issuing new equity including the possible dilution of the Companys outstanding common shares; the value of existing equity following the completion of any financing transaction; the Company defaulting on its obligations, which could result in the Company having to file for bankruptcy or undertake a restructuring proceeding; the Company being put into a bankruptcy or restructuring proceeding; and the risk factors included in CE Brands continuous disclosure documents available on www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date of this press release, and to not use such forward-looking information other than for its intended purpose. CE Brands undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

Further Information

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]For full information and specifications of the moto watch 70, visit www.motowatch.com/products/moto-watch-70/ For more information about the CE Brands, please visit www.cebrands.ca.

Kalvie LegatInterim CEO855-770-2324[email protected]

Source: CE Brands Inc
SMITHFIELD, N.C., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KS Bancorps Board of Directors announced leadership transitions effective May 19, 2023.

The Board of Directors has appointed Earl W. Worley, Jr., President and CEO of KS Bancorp, Inc., the holding company of KS Bank, Inc. Mr. Worley currently serves as President and CEO of KS Bank and has thirty-one (31) years of bank management experience. He has served in his current role since January 2022. Prior to being named President and CEO of KS Bank, Mr. Worley served as Chief Operating Officer of the bank from 2010 until 2022. Mr. Worley has been employed with KS Bank since 1992 in various roles.

Harold T. Keen, who has been President and CEO of KS Bancorp, Inc. since July 1990, has retired from the Board of Directors. Mr. Keen has been appointed President Emeritus of both KS Bancorp, Inc. and KS Bank, Inc. and has entered into a consulting agreement with the Board of Directors. Prior to becoming President Emeritus, Mr. Keen served as President and CEO of KS Bancorp, Inc. and Executive Vice Chairman of KS Bank.

Mr. Keen stated, It has been my honor to serve as President and CEO of KS Bancorp for the past thirty-two and a half years. As President Emeritus, I look forward to consulting with the Board and continue to concentrate my efforts toward customer acquisition and service to the community organizations of which I am a part of.

James C. Parker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated, We are pleased to promote Earl to the position of President and CEO of KS Bancorp, Inc. as part of our continued leadership plan of transition. In addition, we are grateful to Mr. Keen for his years of service, and we look forward to working with him on a consultative basis as President Emeritus.

About KS Bank: For over 99 years, KS Bank has served the Triangle East region of North Carolina. KS Bank, a state-chartered savings bank, is a community-oriented financial institution offering a broad array of competitive and pro-growth financial services to businesses, professionals, individuals, and families. KS Bank offers retail and commercial lending and deposit services, mortgage products, and wealth management services through its Trust Division. KS Bank corporate office is located in Smithfield, NC and operates nine financial centers in Johnston, Wake, Wilson, and Wayne Counties. A Loan Production Office is located in Dunn, NC. To learn more about KS Bank call 919.938.3101, visit ksbankinc.com or connect with them on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Contact:

Earl W. Worley Jr.President and CEO of KS Bancorp919-938-2650

Regina J SmithChief Financial Officer(919) 938-3101

Source: KS Bancorp
CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New official road signs are being installed across the province encouraging the public to call 911 to report suspected impaired drivers, thanks to a new collaborative initiative by MADD Canada and the Government of Prince Edward Island.

MADD Canadas Campaign 911 is a community mobilization program that encourages the public to help make roads safer by alerting police to suspected impaired drivers before potentially deadly crashes occur.

Now, MADD Canada and its local Chapters  MADD Central, MADD Charlottetown and Eastern PE, and MADD West Prince  are expanding the Campaign 911 message with:

30 Campaign 911  Report Impaired Drivers road signs (10 per Chapter area);

75 Impaired Driver Caught Here. lawn signs (25 per Chapter area) to mark locations where impaired drivers were detected and taken off the roads;

90 lamp post signs (30 per Chapter area) to raise awareness of the Campaign 911 message;

4 Campaign 911 car decal kits, which will be used to brand vehicles in MADD Canadas Crashed Car community displays.

The project is being made possible with support and funding from the Government of Prince Edward Island, as well as partial funding through Public Safety Canadas Drug Impaired Driving Contribution Agreement.

It is great to see this campaign expanding throughout the province because it will improve safety on our roads and in our communities, said PEI RCMP Cst. Stephen Duggan, who is a member of MADD Canadas National Board of Directors. The Campaign 911 message is a simple, yet powerful one. If you see a driver you suspect is impaired, call 911. The call you make could save a life.

Sign installation is already underway, including one sign on westbound Route 2 towards Kensington, past Sherwood Road in Winsloe (Queens County) which was unveiled today by Cst. Stephen Duggan, Zack Bell MLA for Charlottetown-Winsloe, and PEI RCMP Criminal Operations Officer Kevin Lewis. (See photo.)

Driving impaired is a dangerous and senseless crime, which is why campaigns such as this are so important  so that we can spread this message and keep our Island roads safe, said the Government of PEIs Deputy Premier, Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General Bloyce Thompson. We are pleased to support Campaign 911 and continue our great partnership with MADD Canada to increase Islanders awareness to report impaired driving across our Province.

MADD Canada launched its Campaign 911 program approximately 15 years ago to educate and empower the public to report suspected impaired drivers to police. At that time, many people did not feel they could call 911 to report suspected impaired drivers because they were not sure it was an emergency situation. Campaign 911 has changed perceptions by reinforcing the fact that impaired driving is indeed an emergency situation and 911 is the appropriate number to call.

In the last couple of years, MADD Canada Chapters around the country have also started other related initiatives, such as the Impaired Driver Caught Here signs, and Crashed Car displays. The goal of these initiatives is to remind people that impaired driving can happen anywhere, at any time, and often has devastating consequences.

These programs work. More and more, we are seeing reports of suspected impaired drivers being taken off the road thanks to public tips to police and 911.

For more information on Campaign 911 (including a list of the signs of an impaired driver and tips on what to do if you spot one), visit our Campaign 911 pages.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9a6ae71c-b810-4f33-a494-d4b24bae4083

For more information: Shayla Morag Steeves, MADD Canada Atlantic Regional Manager, 1-866-798-6233 or [email protected] Kip Ready, Senior Communications Officer (PEI Department of Justice and Public Safety), [email protected]

MADD Canada and PEI Government Unveil Campaign 911 Signage MADD Canada and the Government of Prince Edward Island are teaming up to encourage the public to call 911 to report suspected impaired drivers to police. Pictured here (left to right): PEI RCMP Criminal Operations Officer Kevin Lewis, MLA for Charlottetown-Winsloe MLA Zack Bell, and PEI RCMP Cst. Stephen Duggan unveil a new Campaign 911 sign on westbound Route 2 towards Kensington, past Sherwood Road in Winsloe (Queens County). It is one of 30 signs going up across the province.

Source: MADD Canada
Nextech3D.ai shareholders of record set to receive a 4,000,000 share stock dividend

The company will trade under the ticker symbol: TGGL

TORONTO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via IBN -- Nextech3D.AI (formally "Nextech AR Solutions Corp'' or the "Company") (OTCQX: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE: EP2), a Generative AI-Powered 3D model supplier for Amazon, P&G, Kohls and other major e-commerce retailers is thrilled to announce the eagerly anticipated spin-off of Toggle3D.ai. The expected trade date for Toggle3D.ai (CSE:TGGL) is June 13, 2023 (subject to approvals) of the Canadian Securities Exchange. Nextech shareholders of record will be issued an exclusive dividend of 4,000,000 newly issued shares in the revolutionary Toggle3D.ai, on a pro-rata basis.

Toggle3D.ai is a groundbreaking SaaS solution that utilizes generative AI to convert CAD files, apply stunning 4K texturing, and enable seamless publishing of superior 4K 3D models, serving various industries within the $160 billion CGI market. With its Augmented Reality-based rapid prototyping web app, Toggle3D.ai empowers designers, artists, marketers, and eCommerce owners to effortlessly convert, texture, customize, and publish high-quality 3D models and experiences, regardless of technical or 3D design expertise.

After the IPO spin-out Nextech3D.ai is going to retain 13 million shares or about a 50% ownership stake in Toggle3D.ai. The Company is selling about 8,400,000 shares at $0.25 per unit (including a $0.50 warrant). The Company has raised $2.1mill dollars giving Toggle3D.ai a $7.1 million post money valuation.

The spin-out of Toggle3D.ai follows Nextech's successful spin-out on 10/26/2022 of ARway.ai, currently trading on the CSE as ARWY and on the OTCQB as ARWYF.

Toggle3D.ai is emerging as a standalone public company, initially trading on the CSE as TGGL, with plans to expand its presence to the Frankfurt and OTC markets in the near future. This strategic move not only drives innovation but also unlocks substantial shareholder value, reflecting Nextech's commitment to driving the industry forward.

Timeline to IPO:

Annual General and Special Meeting (AGSM) is scheduled to take place on June 5, 2023 The final court hearing to approve the plan of arrangement is scheduled for June 9, 2023 The expected trade date for Toggle3D.ai (CSE:TGGL) is June 13, 2023 on the Canadian Securities Exchange

Toggle3D.ai Platform Improvements and Updates

As of May 17, 2023, the Toggle3D.ai platform had a total of 2,204 sign-ups representing a 1533% increase. Since the Beta launch, Toggle3D.ai3Dai has attracted a variety of users such as designers, developers, 3D artists, entrepreneurs and creators, reaching thousands of users on the platform within a few months.

As of May 17, 2023, the Toggle3D.ai platform had a total of 3334 active projects representing a 1664% increase since Beta launch

Toggle3D.ai is expected to launch out of Beta in June 2023

Sign-ups from major enterprise brands including LG, Honeywell, VIZIO and more

Toggle3D.ai recently launched breakthrough generative AI technology that facilitates the generation of 3D materials from text prompts. In the text-to-3D Material Pipeline, users can input a text prompt into the AI generator, and the system creates multiple image variations of that prompt. The generated images are then layered with texture maps to create a 3D material.

Toggle3D.ai has recently increased the converting power of its CAD to POLY importer by over 10X, and is now able to convert manufacturing files over 1000mb. These new features will allow the company to close new revenue opportunities for enterprise-level manufacturers looking to unleash their CAD files for usage on the web.

In March, Toggle3D.ai launched new machine learning (ML) and computer vision technology for the Toggle3D.ai platform. These powerful ML and computer vision tools simplify and speed up production pipelines for web and XR developers who need high-fidelity 3D models, but who often have limited resources available due to large file sizes or hardware limitations.

The rapid adoption of this technology is continuing and positions Toggle3D.ai to become an industry leader in the estimated $160 Billion Global GGI Application Software market.

Toggle3D.ai, introduced in September 2022, is a cutting-edge standalone web application that combines augmented reality (AR) technology with user-friendly features, allowing product designers, 3D artists, marketing professionals, and eCommerce site owners to effortlessly create, customize, and publish top-tier 3D models and immersive experiences, even without prior technical or 3D design expertise. The Company strongly believes that Toggle3D.ai represents a groundbreaking solution, being the first platform of its kind, with the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing and design industry. It offers an affordable and scalable approach to converting large CAD files into lightweight 3D models, making it a game changer for businesses in this sector.

Toggle3D.ai Benefits Over 3D Legacy Software

NO Learning Curve

Toggle3D.ai stands out from legacy 3D design software by eliminating the learning curve and making 3D design accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical background. Unlike traditional systems that require months of learning, Toggle3D.ai simplifies the process by humanizing design terminology, providing guided templates, and using machine learning to make the tools user-friendly.

Web-based Collaboration

Being web-based, users can access Toggle3D.ai instantly on their browsers without the need for downloads, updates, or system compatibility concerns. Additionally, the platform offers advanced in-app collaboration features, enabling multiple users to work together on the same project in real-time, facilitating quick feedback, decision-making, and cross-department collaboration. These collaborative tools empower businesses to adopt 3D design organization-wide, enhancing workflow efficiency and unleashing the potential of group iteration.

Recent Toggle3D.ai News

Nextech3D.ai Achieves Major Generative AI Breakthrough In Text to 3D Material Generation Livestream: Toggle3D.ai Generative AI Technology Demo & Presentation Nextech3D.ai Announces Conditional Listing Approval & Updates on Generative-AI IPO Spin-Off SaaS Platform Toggle3D.ai Nextech3D.ai AI-Powered CAD Design Studio Toggle3D.ai Achieves 10X File Reduction Opening Up The platform to New Large Enterprise Customers Nextech3D.ai Announces Its AI-Powered SaaS Platform Toggle3D.ai Experiences A +963% Jump in Users in 60-Days Crossing Over 1000 Users

Further Details of the Arrangement

The Directors and Officers of Toggle3D.ai on closing of the Arrangement are anticipated to be as follows:

Evan Gappelberg - Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Gappelberg, the dynamic Director and CEO of Nextech, is a seasoned entrepreneur renowned for his ability to launch and lead successful start-ups. With expertise in funding, operations, and public markets, he brings a wealth of experience to the table. As the visionary behind over 500 popular apps on Apple's iTunes and Google Play stores, Gappelberg's entrepreneurial journey began even before his impressive Wall Street career as a hedge fund manager and Senior VP of Finance. With a remarkable track record and deep knowledge of capital markets, he is a driving force in managing Nextech's growth as a public company.

Belinda Tyldesley  Director and Corporate Secretary. Mrs. Tyldesley is the President of Closing Bell Services, a consulting company that provides corporate secretarial services. Mrs. Tyldesley has extensive experience across all sectors of the economy with regulatory compliance in all Canadian jurisdictions and reporting issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and the NEO Exchange (NEO), as well as providing legal assistance and secretarial services. Mrs. Tyldesley holds an Associate Diploma in Business Legal Practice from Holmesglen College in Melbourne, Australia. She currently serves as the Corporate Secretary and a director of Nextech and Arway.

Andrew Chan  Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Chan has over 20 years of experience across finance, accounting, business analytics, and strategy, focusing on the technology and financial services sectors with half of his career serving high-growth, public technology companies. After over a decade in public accounting (including 9 years at Ernst & Young), Andrew moved into senior finance positions with Real Matters Inc. and goeasy ltd.  both offering technology solutions for the financial services industry  where he was involved in several financings, transactions and acquisitions with an aggregate value of well over a billion dollars. Mr. Chan has successfully integrated and led finance-related functional groups including treasury and banking, corporate reporting and budgeting and was instrumental in forging strong relationships with business unit leaders to enable successful revenue forecasting and delivery. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Nextech and Arway. Mr.Chan is a Chartered Public Accountant (CPA, CA) and also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree specializing in accounting and finance from the University of Toronto.

Jeff Dawley  Director. Mr. Dawley is President and Co-Founder of Cybersecurity Compliance Corp., a cybersecurity company, and previously served as the Principal and Chief Financial Officer of BridgePoint Financial Group, a litigation finance group of companies. Mr. Dawley currently serves as a director of Nextech and Arway.

The Arrangement is subject to court and shareholder approval of the Arrangement, and standard closing conditions. The Arrangement cannot close until the required shareholder and court approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Arrangement will be completed as proposed, or at all. Further details about the proposed Arrangement will be provided in a disclosure document to be prepared and filed in connection therewith. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the disclosure document to be prepared in connection with the Arrangement, any information released or received with respect to the foregoing matters may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon.

About Nextech3D.ai Nextech AR Solutions Corp (OTCQX: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE: EP2) is an augmented reality and AI technology company that harnesses cutting-edge proprietary AI to create engaging 3D experiences for ecommerce brands. With a focus on developing disruptive technologies, Nextech spins them out as independent public companies, rewarding shareholders with stock dividends while retaining a substantial ownership stake in each spin-out.

In October 2022, Nextech3D.ai successfully spun out its spatial computing platform, ARway, as a standalone public company. Nextech AR maintained control with 13 million shares (50% stake) and distributed 4 million shares to its shareholders. ARway Corp. is revolutionizing the augmented reality wayfinding market with its no-code, no-beacon spatial computing platform driven by visual marker tracking. The company is listed on the CSE (ARWY), OTCQB (ARWYF), and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (E65).

In another groundbreaking move, Nextech announced on December 14, 2022, the upcoming spin-out of Toggle3D.ai, an AI-powered 3D design studio set to rival Adobe. Anticipated to go public in the first half of 2023, Toggle3D.ai promises to reshape the industry and captivate investors with its innovative approach to AI-powered design. To learn more, please follow Nextech3D.ai on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, or visit our website: https://www.Nextechar.com.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact Lindsay Betts [email protected] 866-ARITIZE (274-8493) Ext 7201

Nextech3D.ai Evan Gappelberg CEO and Director 866-ARITIZE (274-8493)

Forward-looking Statements The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the completion of the transaction are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Nextech will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Wire Service Contact InvestorWire (IW) Los Angeles, California www.InvestorWire.com 212.418.1217 Office [email protected]

Source: Nextech3D.ai
SAO PAULO, Brazil, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nozomi Networks, the leader on OT & IoT security, today announced Gerdau, the leading steelmaker in Brazil, has chosen the Nozomi Vantage platform to safely monitor its technological advancements in Industry 4.0. Vantage supports business continuity and reduces operational risk in a sustainable way.

As Gerdaus industrial environment becomes hyperconnected, features such as process visibility, asset inventory, anomaly control, and cloud-based scalability have become essential to achieve the companys aggressive business innovation goals without compromising either resiliency or Gerdaus strict requirements for cybersecurity.

To meet these needs, Gerdau chose Nozomi Networks Vantage platform. The cloud-based solution provides an added layer of cybersecurity. It offers flexible options for implementation that promote economies of scale and reduce operational cost. Plant operators and security professionals have access to risk management resources and reports in an easy, secure manner, with privacy, agility, and accessibility from anywhere at any time. Because it is a SaaS model, Vantage allows Gerdau to create unlimited virtual machines (VMs) and have the flexibility to distribute monitoring resources where they are needed within the company's architecture to get the best possible visibility of the environment.

Vitor Sena, global CISO at Gerdau, sees the OT cybersecurity approach as a point that needs to be worked on very carefully, because it is not the same as the IT approach. He points out that the cost of not protecting an OT environment will always be higher. "For critical infrastructure, the main security aspect is availability, so we can't apply the standard IT security concept to OT because it simply won't work. The configuration needs to be customized to allow for quick detection of any incident. Nozomi Networks' Vantage brought us the clarity we needed in our environment and the scalability and flexibility that we wouldn't have with a traditional security model," concludes Sena.

Asset inventory and control of operational and cyber anomalies is quickly becoming a priority in industrial environments like Gerdaus, as they are strongly associated with operational risk reduction, business continuity, and cyber and physical security. In addition, asset inventory also assists in predictive maintenance on machinery, reducing the chances of downtime and failure.

Nycholas Szucko, Nozomi Networks LATAM Regional Director, says it is gratifying to see Gerdau and other large Brazilian companies increasingly prioritizing security in their innovation initiatives. "The asset inventory, for example, is fundamental to mapping the connected devices and, from there, apply the necessary security controls. After all, it is only possible to protect what can be seen. When decision makers understand this importance and we are part of projects like Gerdau's, we know that we are on the right path and that the cybersecurity maturity of the companies in LATAM are evolving," explains Szucko.

About Nozomi NetworksNozomi Networks accelerates digital transformation by protecting the worlds critical infrastructure, industrial and government organizations from cyber threats. Our solution delivers exceptional network and asset visibility, threat detection, and insights for OT and IoT environments. Customers rely on us to minimize risk and complexity while maximizing operational resilience. www.nozominetworks.com

Press Contacts:Jil Backstrom[email protected] - 303.913.1650Follow the Nozomi Networks BlogFollow @nozominetworks on TwitterVisit and follow the Nozomi Networks Corporate Page on LinkedIn

Source: Nozomi Networks
MIAMI, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Opus EHR, a complete clinical solution that empowers providers to customize, measure, and assess clients treatment, has joined forces with Saisystems Health, an outpatient billing software, to provide real-time analytics and reporting for Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Centers.

The partnership will enable treatment centers to seamlessly capture critical data and analytics to drive operational efficiency, enhance revenue cycle management, and improve client outcomes. With Saisystems Health's robust billing software and Opus EHR's clinical solution, centers can easily monitor their insurance mix by filtering transactions and claims by source, forecasting, and strategizing operations.

"We are excited to partner with Saisystems Health to offer a comprehensive clinical and billing solution to Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Centers," said Trey Wilson, CEO of Opus EHR. "Our combined expertise and innovative technologies will enable centers to achieve optimal performance and deliver high-quality care to their clients."

The partnership's benefits include real-time data analytics and customizable reporting, increased revenue capture, easy connectivity to any database, and enhanced operational efficiency. These benefits enable centers to understand their revenue cycle better and streamline their workflows, leading to more effective treatment and better client outcomes.

Saisystems Health has been providing billing services to the post-acute long-term care space for over 30 years and proudly entered the Behavioral Health market in its partnership with Opus EHR. With expertise in billing, and coding for outpatient facilities, Saisystemss partnership with Opus will help behavioral health professionals reduce administrative burdens while improving overall collections. Optimal revenue performance depends on monitoring key performance indicators.

"Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Centers face unique challenges when it comes to revenue cycle management and operational efficiency," said David Lane, Vice President of Customer Success at Saisystems Health. "Our partnership with Opus EHR will enable centers to capture data in real-time, and our billing software will allow industry centers to connect to any database and easily monitor their insurance mix to optimize their operations."

Saisystems Health offers the most advanced set of revenue tools for greater efficiency and quicker, more consistent reimbursements. With a concierge service, transparency to data, reporting, and analytics, and their specialized back-office team can be a powerful addition to behavioral health practices.

The partnership between Opus EHR and Saisystems Health is a significant step towards improving revenue cycle management and operational efficiency in Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Centers. The collaboration will enhance client care, streamline workflows, and drive financial performance. To learn more about the integration benefits and more information, download the Data Insights for Higher Profits E-Book here: https://www.opusehr.com/data-insights-ebook

About Opus EHROpus EHR is a complete clinical solution specifically built for behavioral health, SUD, mental health, Substance Abuse, and addiction treatment centers to provide solutions for both inpatient and outpatient centers. With innovative technologies and expertise in healthcare, Opus EHR helps providers deliver high-quality care and achieve optimal outcomes.

With everything in one place in one secure, Opus helps customize treatment workflow and optimize the clinical and operational continuum of care intake, including intake, admissions, documentation, billing, revenue cycle, clinical, and medical management processes  all in a secure and HIPAA-compliant environment. Opus consistently serves its client needs through customization and added innovative feature requests that come inproviding a solution for facilities to increase efficiency and quality of care in a complex and ever-changing healthcare environment. As a result, the care team stays in sync to achieve higher reimbursements and better outcomes. Centralization results in more time with your clients and less on your systems, leading to higher profits for your organization. For more information, visit www.opusehr.com

About Saisystems HealthSaisystems Health is a leading provider of healthcare technology solutions, including outpatient billing software. With expertise in revenue cycle management, Saisystems Health helps healthcare providers optimize their operations and improve financial performance. Saisystems Health product and service offerings were designed by and for PALTC professionals and now service both markets, including Behavioral Health clients, to deliver the benefits of a back office without the overhead burden.For more information, visit www.saisystemshealth.com

Media ContactAshley GerchikovDirector of Marketing[email protected]www.opusehr.com

Source: Opus EHR
NEW YORK and LONDON, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) announced today it has added Finland-based Ellun Kanat Oy to its global network. The addition raises the number of member agencies in the network to 55.







Ellun Kanat showcases the creativity and dynamism of Finlands public relations industry. Our members were impressed with the firms experience, expertise and talent pool, said PRGN President Andy See. The worldwide client base of PRGNs members will benefit greatly from Ellun Kanats broad experience across communications fields. Im delighted to welcome them to the PRGN family of companies.

The newest PRGN member, Ellun Kanat, is a full-service strategic change agency with a focus on helping clients build a strong, change intelligent strategy and culture. Using communication, culture, data and insights as a compass, Ellun Kanat helps its clients navigate the world and embrace opportunities presented by change.

Founded in 2008, Ellun Kanat handles a wide range of clients from diverse industries and provides a number of services, including brand and design, crisis communication, strategy and change management, strategic communication, public relations and social media. Ellun Kanat Oys key clients include Valmet Automotive, Wing Aviation and several ministries. Lately Ellun Kanat has won global design awards for Best Caravan, Rooty, Rakettitiede and the City of Kerava in Finland.





We are a strong player in the Finnish market. Our clients are increasingly looking for world-class communications that reach audiences globally. PRGN is a great partner to support the success of our clients, said Taru Tujunen, CEO & partner, Ellun Kanat.

About the Public Relations Global Network

Founded in 1992 by a group of visionary public relations leaders, PRGN is one of the worlds largest international networks of independent public relations and communications agencies, with approximately 800 professionals in more than 70 locations.

PRGN partners are independent, local, owner-operated public relations and marketing communications firms that share expertise and resources, while providing broad-based comprehensive communications strategies to clients worldwide.

Companies or organizations interested in the services of PRGNs local agency network can visit the Agency Directory for more information.

Independent agencies interested in joining the network can visit the member recruitment section of the PRGN website for more information.

About Ellun Kanat Oy

Ellun Kanat is a creative change agency that helps organizations navigate their ways through turbulence and instability  and helps them find inspiring opportunities and enjoy the ride! Ellun Kanat creates value through communications, business, PA and PR consulting, design, and brand building. The company was founded in 2008 and now employs 60 consultants and designers.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/261ab531-4ea7-4d1f-817a-6a1452d509ec

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8587b400-14f5-456f-9d11-b2c192b257e4
San Antonio, Texas, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inspired by 10-year-old Uvalde survivor Mayah Zamora and the 1-year anniversary of the school shooting, superintendents and top administrators from San Antonio and surrounding areas gathered to donate blood at South Texas Blood & Tissue on Tuesday.We all exist in this world together; we have to help one another, said Sean Maika, Superintendent of North East Independent School District. This is a small, simple little task to help someone, and youll never know who it is.Twelve school district executives donated blood in solidarity with the Uvalde community and were able to meet Mayah, who has become an advocate for blood donation after her life was saved in part thanks to several blood transfusions after being injured in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in May 2022.It was just an honor and a pleasure to meet Mayah and her family, said Kenneth Thompson, Deputy Superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District. This is our sister school district, so I want to support them. At times like these, its important for districts to come together and support one another.Christina and Ruben Zamora, Mayahs parents, have met and thanked everyone from emergency medical technicians to trauma surgeons involved in the care of their daughter. They wanted to meet and encourage the school leaders to donate as well, they said.San Antonio has been pushing to help in this tragedy and something beautiful is coming out of it - saving lives, said Ruben Zamora about the blood donations.School blood drives supply more than 20% of the blood South Texas Blood & Tissue collects each year. In addition to donating, the school leaders also wanted to encourage those eligible and their school communities to donate.One of the blood donors whose donation went on to save Mayah was Adrianna Garcia, who was a student at the time she donated at her high schools blood drive.A 17-year-old helped to save a life and thats something that will stay with her forever, Christina Zamora said. Adrianna is an example of that, of the hero you can be at such a young age.The district leaders who participated in donating blood were:

Alamo Heights ISD - Dr. Dana Bashara, Superintendent

- Dr. Dana Bashara, Superintendent North E ast ISD  Dr. Sean Maika, Superintendent

 Dr. Sean Maika, Superintendent Somerset ISD  Dr. Jose H. Moreno, Superintendent

 Dr. Jose H. Moreno, Superintendent South San Antonio ISD  Henry Yzaguirre, Superintendent

 Henry Yzaguirre, Superintendent East Central ISD  Roland Toscano, Superintendent and Shane McKay, Executive Director of Student and Community Engagement

 Roland Toscano, Superintendent and Shane McKay, Executive Director of Student and Community Engagement Harlandale ISD  Gerardo Soto, Superintendent; Dr. Juan Hinojosa, Executive Director of Operations; and Richard Hernandez, Assistant Superintendent of Finance

 Gerardo Soto, Superintendent; Dr. Juan Hinojosa, Executive Director of Operations; and Richard Hernandez, Assistant Superintendent of Finance San Antonio ISD  Dr. Ken Thompson, Deputy Superintendent, and Lt. Rene Cano, SAISD Police Department

 Dr. Ken Thompson, Deputy Superintendent, and Lt. Rene Cano, SAISD Police Department Southwest ISD  Dr. Jeanette Ball, Superintendent, and Jenny Collier, Chief Communications Officer

 Dr. Jeanette Ball, Superintendent, and Jenny Collier, Chief Communications Officer Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD  Dr. Clark Ealy, Superintendent

 Dr. Clark Ealy, Superintendent Judson ISD  Teresa Ramon, Chief of Police

 Teresa Ramon, Chief of Police Edgewood ISD  Olga Moucoulis , Chief of Staff, and Lauren Blevins, Marketing and Communications Director

 Olga Moucoulis , Chief of Staff, and Lauren Blevins, Marketing and Communications Director Northside ISD  Dr. John Craft, Incoming Superintendent, and Dr. Brian Woods, Superintendent

Jeanette Ball, Superintendent of Southwest Independent School District, spent five years as the superintendent of Uvalde ISD and said since the tragedy, school leaders have been doing everything they could think of to help and encourage the community in South Texas. Donating blood is one huge way to give back, she said.

More than ever, I want to encourage people to do this, she added. Theres so much tragedy, sadness, and negativity every day in our world, weve got to start to make a difference and be more positive. Weve got to bring back humanity and helping people.For more information, donors can call 210-731-5590 or visit SouthTexasBlood.org.

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About South Texas Blood & Tissue: South Texas Blood & Tissue (STB&T) is a nonprofit community blood center that provides blood, plasma, platelets and other blood components to 100 hospitals in 48 South Texas counties. It is the largest blood supplier in our region. In addition, STB&T supports the development of advanced therapies, including those derived from donated human cells and tissues used in research and in new therapies and cures for cancers and degenerative diseases. Through the generous life-legacy gifts of human tissue, STB&T also supports development of tissue allografts for patients in need of reconstructive surgery, repair or tissue regeneration. South Texas Blood & Tissue has a 49-year history serving the South Texas community and is part of the BioBridge Global family of nonprofit organizations, which offers services in regenerative medicine and research including blood banking and resource management; cellular therapy; umbilical cord blood collection and storage; donated human tissue recovery and distribution for transplant; and testing of blood and plasma to help patients in the United States and worldwide. STB&T has nine donor centers in South Texas and conducts hundreds of mobile blood drives each year. Learn more at SouthTexasBlood.org.

About BioBridge Global: BioBridge Global (BBG) is a San Antonio-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit regenerative medicine enterprise that offers diverse services through its subsidiaries  South Texas Blood & Tissue, QualTex Laboratories, GenCure and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation. BBG provides products and services in blood resource management, cellular therapy, donated umbilical cord blood and human tissue, as well as testing of blood, plasma and tissue products for clients in the United States and worldwide. BBG is committed to saving and enhancing lives through the healing power of human cells and tissue. It enables advances in the field of regenerative medicine by providing access to human cells and tissue, testing services and biomanufacturing and clinical trials support. Learn more at BioBridgeGlobal.org.

Attachments

Roger Ruiz BioBridge Global 210-296-9026 [email protected]

Source: BioBridge Global
Fort Lauderdale, FL, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Low libido is a common issue. It affects as much as a fifth of the male population alone and can stem from a variety of short- and long-term concerns. While a struggling sex drive is common, the solution often is simple.

Too often, those with a sputtering sex drive go straight to strong pharmaceuticals for help, explains Tim Torfs, creator of Male Plus, They amp up on excessively overpowered chemical stimulants like Viagra and Cialis when often all they need is a little hormonal support.

In response to this imbalance, Torfs created Male Plus. Known by his customers as the blue pill, Male Plus is a libido enhancer with 100% natural active ingredients. These consist of three key elements. Tribulus Terrestris is a well-known libido enhancer. Siberian Ginseng helps balance hormones and destress the mind, paving the way for more enjoyable intimacy.

The third ingredient is Maca. The plant originates in the Andes Mountains, where it has been used for medicinal purposes for generations. Along with being a nutritional powerhouse, Maca powder has long been hailed as an effective way to encourage arousal. It stimulates sexual desire and fuels fun in the bedroom through amped-up energy.

Often, all thats needed to get that sexual pep in your step is a little bit more energy, declares Torfs, With Maca in the mix, Male Plus doesnt just set the stage. It gives men the energy to truly engage with their partners and have fun while theyre at it.

About Male PlusMale Plus is an herbal supplement that naturally reduces stress and supports libido. The Belgian brand was developed by Tim Torfs, a serial entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience in the health and wellness industry. Torfs has spent time as a male beautician, opened a wellness center, and created his own slimming concept and line of nutritional supplements.

In September of 2021, Torfs released Male Plus, which combines three 100% natural active herbal ingredients (Maca, Tribulus Terrestris, and Ginseng) as an alternative to chemical ED and libido-enhancing solutions. Male Plus is vegan, allergy-free, and is for men over 21. Consult with a doctor if youre over 60 years old or are using hypertension or antidiabetic treatments.

Tim Torfs 32 11724424 [email protected]

Source: Male Plus
Available in the App Store and Google Play, Thumzup Enables Virtually Everyone to Earn Cash Rewards for Posting on Social Media about the Brands They Love

Los Angeles, CA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thumzup Media Corporation ("Thumzup" or the "Company") (OTCQB: TZUP) is thrilled to exhibit at Mainopoly, taking place on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 1pm to 5pm PT, along Main Street near The Victorian at 2640 Main St. Santa Monica, CA 90405.

At Mainopoly visitors are encouraged to stop by the Thumzup booth to discover how they can use the Thumzup app to their benefit. With dozens of advertisers in close proximity, attendees of Mainopoly have a unique opportunity to get paid on Thumzup for simply sharing content about the app with their friends on Instagram. The Thumzup street team will be on hand to demonstrate the ease and convenience of using the app, as well as to answer any questions festival goers may have.

The Thumzup mobile app, which is available for download in the App Store and Google Play, incentivizes virtually everyone to become social media advocates for the brands they enjoy by paying them cash for approved posts.

As a long-time patron of Main Street businesses, we look forward to being part of this renowned event hosted by The Main Street Business Improvement Association (MSBIA) to promote and market the Main Street Business Improvement District (BID) as a vital, safe, unique place for shopping, dining, and cultural experiences, stated Robert Steele, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Thumzup. We look forward to spreading the word about Thumzup while enjoying a day full of shopping, networking, great bites, tasty drinks, and good sounds. Hope to see you there!

For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com/ and https://mainopolysm.com/.

About Mainopoly

Celebrate Memorial Day weekend and experience the best restaurants, bars & eateries by joining us for the 8th Annual MAINopoly: A Taste of Main Street in Santa Monica on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 1-5pm. This all ages community event is a fun take on the classic board game, giving players access to tastings at over 20 participating locations. Stop at every location for a chance to win a Taste of Main Street Prize Package. Monopoly themed attire is encouraged! For more information see https://mainopolysm.com/.

About Thumzup

Thumzup Media Corporation (Thumzup) is democratizing the multi-billion dollar social media branding and marketing industry. Its flagship product, the Thumzup platform, utilizes a robust programmatic advertiser dashboard coupled with a consumer-facing App to enable individuals to get paid cash for posting about participating advertisers on major social media outlets through the Thumzup App. The easy-to-use dashboard allows advertisers to programmatically customize their campaigns. Cash payments are made to App users/creators through PayPal and other digital payment systems.

Thumzup is a publicly traded company (OTCQB stock ticker: TZUP). For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements about its potential growth, impacts on the advertising industry, and planned expansion. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contact Info:800-403-6150[email protected]

Attachment

Thumzup Media Corporation The Thumzup mobile app

Source: Thumzup Media Corporation
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Australia for an official visit. Talks with the Australian government are expected to focus on defense, trade and renewable energy.

Modi last visited Australia in 2014. Much has changed in the bilateral relationship since then. Defense and security ties have become stronger. Last year, the two nations signed an interim trade deal. Formal negotiations on a full pact are expected to begin shortly.

About 20,000 people are expected at a rally Tuesday at Sydney Olympic Park for an address by Modi. His Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, also will attend as Australia approaches a milestone of 1 million people of Indian origin. Members of the Indian diaspora will travel from around Australia for the event.

A group of Greens party senators in Canberra have urged Albanese to raise human rights violations against minority groups in India during talks with Modi.

Activists have said that dozens of rights campaigners are in jail across India following politically motivated prosecutions. Indian government officials have had no response to the allegations so far.
Staten Island, NY, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is honoring the memory of 30 American heroes by delivering forever homes to the families they left behind.

Tunnel to Towers provided 21 Gold Star families and nine fallen first responders families with prior military service, with a mortgage-free home, or paid-off the mortgage on their existing home.

To all of the families who know the true meaning of Memorial Day, I thank you for your service and sacrifice. We know that no service member serves alone. It is our honor to support these families who have sacrificed so much so we can all enjoy the freedoms America has to offer, said Frank Siller Chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

The 30 families are located in 17 states stretching to every corner of this country:

US Navy Petty Officer First Class Robert Vetter - Oceanside, CA

USMC Sergeant Miguel Ortiz - Vista, CA

USMC Corporal Robby Reyes - Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Border Patrol Agent Alejandro Flores-Banuelos - Indio, CA

US Army Private First Class Brian Bates Jr - Hammond, LA

US National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andre Chenevert - Greenwell Springs, LA

USMC Sergeant Germany Vargas Silvestre - Hampstead, NC

USMC Captain Steven Torbert - Jacksonville, NC

US Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Harris - Clarksville, TN

US Army Sergeant John Castro - Clarksville, TN

Dickson County Sheriffs Office Sergeant Daniel Baker - Columbia, TN

USMC Sergeant Jay Hoskins - Powderly, TX

Carrollton Police Officer Steven Nothem II - Carrollton, TX

Double Oak Police Officer John Mestas - Burleson, TX

US Army First Lieutenant Jonathan Rozier - Katy, TX

US Army Private First Class Christopher McCloud - Killean, TX

Fountain Police Officer Julian Becerra - Colorado Springs, CO

US Army Staff Sergeant Micah Walker - Fountain, CO

US Army Sergeant Jameel Freeman Sr. - Odenton, MD

Frederick County Sheriffs Office Deputy First Class Kenneth Olander - Frederick, MD

Hernando County Sheriffs Office Deputy John Mecklenburg - Brooksville, FL

US Army Sergeant Major Samuel Baidoos - New Windsor, NY

USMC Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum - Pelzer, SC

USMC Lance Corporal Ronald Freeman - Warner Robins, GA

US Army Specialist Simone Robinson - Oak Forest, IL

US Army Staff Sergeant - Christopher Moudry - Port Allegany, PA

US Army Sergeant Dash Cheatham - Cottonwood, AZ

US Airforce Tech Sergeant Wesley Kubie - Tecumseh, KS

Washington Township Firefighter Charles Swank - Butler, OH

US Army Staff Sergeant Stephen Sutherland - North Pole, AK

Outside Chicago, in the village of Oak Forest, Tunnel to Towers gathered to welcome the family of Army Sargent Simone Robinson into their new mortgage-free home. SGT Robinson was five months into her deployment when an IED detonated near her security post in Kabul Afghanistan. She died weeks later on March 1st. The 21-year-old left behind her mother, Regina Byther, and her daughter, Nyzia Wilson, who was just two years old when her mother was killed.

On April 11, 2012, USMC Corporal Robby Reyes was killed in a helicopter crash while serving as the crew chief on the aircraft on deployment in Morocco. Cpl Reyes enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2007 and graduated from flight school in 2009. He left behind his wife, Candice, and their young daughter. Tunnel to Towers paid off the mortgage on their home in Rancho Cucamonga.

Having a mortgage-free home provides the comfort and security of knowing this will be the permanent home my daughter will grow up in. She will graduate from the same high school her parents graduated from. When she leaves for college this home will always be here for her to come home to, said Candice Reyes.

The Tunnel to Towers Gold Star Family Home Program honors the legacy of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country by paying off the mortgage or providing the surviving spouses and young children with mortgage-free homes. The Tunnel to Towers Fallen First Responder Program pays off the mortgages for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty or pass away from 9/11-related illnesses, and leave behind young children.

Join us on our mission to provide mortgage-free homes to the families these heroes leave behind by donating $11 per month please visit T2T.org.

About the Tunnel to Towers Foundation

Born from the tragedy of 9/11, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation carries out its mission to do good, by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and by building specially-adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. Tunnel to Towers is also committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America Never Forget September 11, 2001.

Visit T2T.org to learn more and follow Tunnel to Towers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Attachments

Trevor Tamsen Tunnel to Towers Foundation 718-987-1931 [email protected]

Source: Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation
CALHOUN, Ga., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mohawk Industries, the worlds largest flooring manufacturer (NYSE: MHK), has earned a place among Americas Climate Leaders presented by USA Today. Mohawk was the only flooring manufacturer among the businesses recognized for making the greatest reductions in their carbon footprint.

To be ranked as one of Americas Climate Leaders is a great honor and reflects the great work being accomplished by thousands of our associates across our global operations, said Malisa Maynard, Mohawks vice president of sustainability. We are continuing to identify new and innovative ways to lower greenhouse gas emissions while creating sustainable products that improve homes and public spaces in approximately 170 countries.

Mohawk is recognized as a worldwide leader in sustainability with one of the most comprehensive collections of environmentally sensitive products for residential and commercial spaces. Mohawks portfolio encompasses the industrys best-known brands across all product categories, including carpet and rugs (Mohawk, Mohawk Group, Karastan, Mohawk Home, Godfrey Hirst), ceramic tile and countertops (Daltile, American Olean, Marazzi) and premium laminate, luxury vinyl tile, sheet vinyl and wood (Mohawk, Mohawk Group, Pergo, Quick-Step). All Mohawk Group commercial flooring products are carbon neutral plus a five percent offset.

USA Today is Americas largest national newspaper with an average daily readership of 2.6 million and 133 million unique monthly visits to its website. The newspapers climate leadership rankings are presented in collaboration with Statista, Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

Americas Climate Leaders were determined by evaluating thousands of U.S.-based public and private companies with revenues of more than $50 million. Companies that achieved the highest year-over-year reduction in emissions intensity (compound annual reduction rate) from 2019 through 2021 were included in the list published in USA Todays May 24 print and digital editions.

The entire list of Americas Climate Leaders 2023 can be viewed at Climate change needs carbon emissions cut. Which companies do it best? (usatoday.com). Mohawks complete sustainability report can be viewed at mohawksustainability.com. The Company updates its report each September in conjunction with its participation in NYC Climate Week.

ABOUT MOHAWK INDUSTRIES

Mohawk Industries is the leading global manufacturer of flooring products that enhance residential and commercial spaces around the world. Mohawks vertically integrated manufacturing and distribution processes provide competitive advantages in the production of carpet, rugs, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone and vinyl flooring as well as chipboard, melamine board, high pressure laminate decorative panels and insulation products. Mohawks industry leading innovation has yielded products and technologies that differentiate its brands in the marketplace and satisfy all remodeling and new construction requirements. Mohawks brands are among the most recognized in the industry and include American Olean, Daltile, Durkan, Eliane, Elizabeth, Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, Karastan, Marazzi, Mohawk, Mohawk Group, Mohawk Home, Pergo, Quick-Step, Unilin and Vitromex. During the past decade, Mohawk has transformed its business from an American carpet manufacturer into the worlds largest flooring company with operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

Source: Mohawk Industries, Inc.
PRESS RELEASE

Paris, May 24, 2023

Valeo General Shareholders' Meeting 2023

Valeo's Annual Shareholders' Meeting was held today under the chairmanship of Gilles Michel, Chairman of the Board of Directors. All the resolutions were adopted.

The shareholders approved the 2022 financial statements as well as a dividend distribution of 0.38 euro per share. The ex-dividend date is set at May 29, 2023, and the record date at May 30, 2023. The dividend will be paid on May 31, 2023.

The shareholders renewed the term of office of Stephanie Frachet and Patrick Sayer as Directors for a period of four years.

They also ratified the co-optation of Alexandre Dayon as Director, replacing C. Maury Devine for the remainder of her term of office, i.e., until the end of the General Shareholders Meeting called to approve the financial statements for the financial year ending December 31, 2024.

The General Shareholders' Meeting also approved the compensation paid or awarded to Directors and Executive Officers for the 2022 financial year (ex post votes) and the compensation policies applicable to Directors and Executive Officers for the 2023 financial year (ex ante votes).

In addition, the shareholders renewed the authorizations and financial delegations granted to the Board of Directors to carry out share buybacks and to issue shares and securities, and granted a new authorization to allot free shares to employees and corporate officers. This authorization replaces the one given at the General Shareholders Meeting of May 26, 2021.

Finally, the articles of association have been amended notably to organize the representation of employee shareholders at Board level.

Attachment
By Tatiana Bautzer, Saeed Azhar and Isabel Woodford

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc scrapped a $7-billion sale of its Mexican consumer unit and will list it instead, in a surprise move that delays the bank's overhaul and will likely feed into investor anxiety about the country's leftist president.

Citi said it plans to list the business, called Banamex, in 2025 and resume a "modest level of share buybacks" this quarter.

The bank is considering a dual stock listing, possibly in Mexico City and New York, for the unit, two sources familiar with the matter said.

New York-based Citi had been in talks to sell Banamex to Mexican billionaire German Larrea's conglomerate Grupo Mexico, with sources saying in recent months the sides were close to a deal.

But tensions between the conglomerate and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which had been rising, flared up after the latter moved on Friday to expropriate part of one of the company's rail lines.

The spat between Grupo Mexico and Citi as well as other government demands on Banamex - including that it remained in Mexican hands and that any new owner not be allowed to cut costs through layoffs - led the two sides to abandon the deal, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

A spokesperson for the president did not respond to requests for comment.

Lopez Obrador has previously said there "was no problem" with Grupo Mexico buying the business. After Citi's announcement, he said the Mexican state could participate in a deal, adding the government could have up to $3 billion at its disposal.

Citi shares sank more than 3% on Wednesday and are down about 1.7% this year. Shares in Grupo Mexico, some of whose investors had been mystified about the synergies a mining group could obtain buying a bank, were up more than 8%.

Citi first bought Banamex in 2001 for $12.5 billion. The lender announced in January 2022 that it would exit Mexico, ending its 20-year retail presence in the country.

The sale was part of a broader overhaul at the U.S. No.3 bank, which has struggled for years to gain scale and profitability from a myriad of businesses worldwide. Chief Executive Jane Fraser decided to exit consumer businesses in 14 markets, while focusing on multinational companies and wealthy clients to boost profitability.

Fraser, who had met Lopez Obrador in February, said in a statement on Wednesday that the bank had decided an IPO would be the best path to "advancing our goal to simplify our firm."

It remains unclear what investor appetite would be for such a deal, however, especially given the Mexican government's opposition to layoffs that could be needed to make the unit more competitive.

"The good news is that Mexico's stock market may have another listed bank, although Citi's ability to pull off an IPO of its Mexican consumer banking operations at a decent price remains to be seen," said Damian Fraser, CEO of communication agency Miranda Partners, who previously ran UBS's operations in Mexico and is not related to the Citi CEO. "The bad news is that in the end no one wanted to buy Banamex."

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Saeed Azhar in New York and Isabel Woodford in London; Additional Reporting by Yasmin Mehnaz and Niket Nishant in Bangalore, Valentine Hilaire, Dave Graham and Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Nick Zieminski, Christian Plumb and Lananh Nguyen)
FILE PHOTO: Smartphone is seen in front of Microsoft logo displayed in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) -Microsoft filed an appeal on Wednesday of Britain's decision to block its $69 billion takeover of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard, a company spokesperson said.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Britain's antitrust regulator, vetoed the deal in April, saying it could hurt competition in the nascent cloud gaming market.

Microsoft lodged its promised appeal with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), which handles appeals against CMA rulings, on Wednesday, the deadline for it to file. A spokesperson for the CAT declined to comment

"We can confirm we have filed our appeal," Microsoft communications director Robin Koch said.

The CMA's shock decision to block the biggest ever deal in gaming drew a furious response from both companies, with Microsoft saying it had shaken confidence in Britain as a destination for tech businesses.

The EU's competition authorities approved the deal earlier this month after they accepted remedies put forward by Microsoft that were broadly comparable to those it proposed in the UK.

Microsoft has also appealed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's action seeking to block the deal on the grounds that, the agency said, it would suppress competition.

The CAT makes a judgment on the merits of the CMA decision. The appeal is not an opportunity for Microsoft to submit new remedies.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle in London and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
13M @ 4.24 G/T AU

11M @ 3.99 G/T AU

6M @ 4.97 G/T AU

Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Alpha Exploration Ltd. (TSXV: ALEX)("Alpha" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from recent drilling in 2023 at its Aburna Gold Prospect, which consisted of ten (10) Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes totalling 1,188m, from the Northeast Target Area. We have also received assay results from a single RC hole (ABR068 to 100m) in the Dasharna Target Area but, this had no significant results. We are also announcing assay results from 10 channels sampled at Aburna in 2023. Aburna is located in the southwest part of Alpha's large (771 km), 100% owned, Kerkasha Project. Drilling is ongoing and further information will be released when available and interpreted.

TABLE 1: NORTHEAST TARGET AREA DRILL HOLE HIGHLIGHTS - MAY 2023

TARGET AREA HOLE FROM (M) TO (M) INTERVAL (M) AVERAGE G/T GOLD Northeast Area ABR044 120 133 13 4.24 Northeast Area ABR043 67 78 11 3.99 Northeast Area ABR069 90 96 6 4.97 Northeast Area ABR041 45 57 12 1.24 Northeast Area ABR040 104 114 10 1.37 Northeast Area ABR042 100 108 8 1.50 Northeast Area ABR043 55 64 9 0.92 Northeast Area ABR041 25 36 11 0.51 Northeast Area ABR042 118 119 1 4.34 Northeast Area ABR040 117 118 1 3.96 Northeast Area ABR042 111 112 1 3.58

Note:

At this early stage of exploration, the true width of the mineralisation is uncertain, but it is estimated to be 80% of reported intervals. Intervals were calculated with a start and finish value of no less than 0.2 g/t gold, a minimum width of 2m and maximum internal dilution of 2m at >0.2g/t gold.

Michael Hopley, Alpha President & CEO said, "The significant drill results returned from the Northeast Target Area (see Table 1 and Figure 1) within the Aburna Prospect have extended the mineralisation in drilling along strike from 90m to 185m. The mineralisation remains open along strike in both directions and down dip. The Northeast Area is 1.3kms north-northeast of the Central Area, where Alpha has also retuned significant drill results (see press release on 22 May 2023). Alpha will need to drill test the area between Central and Northeast to see if they merge. Significant potential also exists northeast of the current drilling at the Northeast Target Area, as demonstrated by the 2.5km long soil anomalies in this area (see Figures 3 & 4). Further drilling is warranted in the Northeast Target Area."

FIGURE 1: NORTHEAST TARGET AREA DRILL HOLE PLAN WITH SECTION 3880 & ASSAYS PROJECTED TO SURFACE

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8361/167273_a2a1a4c9f467693d_001full.jpg

TABLE 2: NORTHEAST DRILL HOLE INFORMATION - MAY 2023

Target Area Hole Depth (m) Comment Northeast Area ABR040 150 Northeast Area ABR041 108 Northeast Area ABR042 144 Northeast Area ABR043 90 Northeast Area ABR044 150 Northeast Area ABR045 84 Northeast Area ABR046 108 Northeast Area ABR047 90 Northeast Area ABR048 114 Northeast Area ABR069 150 Total 1,188

FIGURE 2: SECTION 3880 - NORTHEAST TARGET AREA



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8361/167273_a2a1a4c9f467693d_002full.jpg

TABLE 3: CHANNEL SAMPLING HIGHLIGHTS - MAY 2023

TARGET AREA CHANNEL FROM (M) TO (M) INTERVAL (M) AVERAGE G/T GOLD Saddle Workings ABCHAN077 5 11 6 5.26 Saddle Workings ABCHAN077 33 34 1 1.01 Saddle Workings ABCHAN078 0 7 7 0.24 Dasharna ABCHAN068 50 51 1 2.02 Dasharna ABCHAN075 36 41 5 0.29 Aburna South ABCHAN079 0 5 5 0.28

Michael Hopley, Alpha President & CEO said, "The significant result returned from channel sampling in the Saddle Workings Target Area (6m @ 5.26 g/t gold) warrants follow up drilling. The Alpha process of soil sampling followed up with traverses of trench and channel sampling (1m intervals) is proving to be an effective method to locate drill holes that can intersect significant mineralisation."

FIGURE 3: CHANNEL & TRENCH SAMPLING TO DATE AT ABURNA WITH LATEST CHANNELS IN PURPLE



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8361/167273_a2a1a4c9f467693d_003full.jpg

The gold anomalies from soil, channel and trench sampling that define the Northeast and Dasharna Target Areas cover a strike length of approximately 2.5kms. This 2.5km anomalous area is part of a much larger 7.2km long gold anomalous zone from soil, channel and trench sampling that has seven Target Areas in total (Aburna Colonial Gold Mine, Saddle Workings, Celebration Hill, Hill 52, Central, Northeast and Dasharna) that define the Aburna Prospect as a whole (see Figures 3 & 4).

FIGURE 4: SOIL GEOCHEMISTRY FOR GOLD WITH THE SEVEN CURRENT TARGET AREAS AT ABURNA



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8361/167273_a2a1a4c9f467693d_004full.jpg

Michael Hopley, Alpha President & CEO said, "The Aburna Prospect is continuing to demonstrate it has the potential to return a multi-million ounce gold deposit. The Hill 52, Central, Northeast and Celebration Hill Target Areas drill tested to date (see Fig 5) , have all returned widths and grades (see Table 4) that could conform to an economic deposit."

To date, Alpha has completed a total of 5 Diamond drill holes for 881.1m and 76 Reverse Circulation drill holes for a total of 9,209m at Aburna.

TABLE 4: DRILL HOLE HIGHLIGHTS FROM 4 TARGET AREAS DRILLED TO DATE

Target Area Year Drilled Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Average g/t Gold Northeast Area Drilled in 2022 ABR037 14 30 16 14.07 Northeast Area Drilled in 2023 ABR044 120 133 13 4.24 Northeast Area Drilled in 2023 ABR043 67 78 11 3.99 Northeast Area Drilled in 2023 ABR041 45 57 12 1.24 Northeast Area Drilled in 2023 ABR040 104 114 10 1.37 Northeast Area Drilled in 2023 ABR042 100 108 8 1.50 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABD001 89 112 23 6.74 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2023 ABR018 50 69 19 5.19 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABR005 6 21 15 5.85 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABD001 64 72 8 4.65 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2023 ABR039 87 92 5 6.31 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABD002 105 109 4 7.86 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2023 ABR056 55 67 12 2.12 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABD002 56 77 21 1.08 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2023 ABR059 34 55 21 1.04 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABR021 33 50 17 1.21 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABR002 0 7 7 2.69 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABD001 44 60 16 0.99 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABR001 32 46 14 1.01 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2023 ABR059 0 23 23 0.58 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABD002 80 81 1 12.85 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABR023 71 80 9 1.38 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2022 ABR024 1 8 7 1.72 Hill-52 Area Drilled in 2023 ABR058 84 96 12 0.92 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR064 38 72 34 1.50 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR031 130 148 18 2.27 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR034 101 131 30 1.23 Central Area Drilled in 2025 ABR069 90 96 6 4.97 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR034 148 156 8 3.67 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR032 118 147 29 0.98 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR060 42 87 45 0.60 Central Area Drilled in 2022 ABR031 69 104 35 0.69 Central Area Drilled in 2022 ABR015 17 24 7 3.40 Central Area Drilled in 2022 ABR032 33 38 5 3.80 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR061 69 92 23 0.70 Central Area Drilled in 2022 ABR032 53 59 6 2.21 Central Area Drilled in 2022 ABR015 95 114 19 0.64 Central Area Drilled in 2023 ABR063 39 58 19 0.60 Celebration-Hill Area Drilled in 2022 ABR008 49 63 14 3.79 Celebration-Hill Area Drilled in 2022 ABR027 126 152 26 1.36

Note:

At this early stage of exploration, the true width of the mineralisation is uncertain, but it is estimated to be 80% of reported intervals. Intervals were calculated with a start and finish value of no less than 0.2 g/t gold, a minimum width of 2m and maximum internal dilution of 2m at >0.2g/t gold.

FIGURE 5: ALL DRILL HOLE LOCATIONS TO DATE AT ABURNA WITH TARGET AREAS ON GEOLOGY

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Aburna Gold Prospect

The Aburna gold prospect is located on the western side of the Company's Kerkasha Exploration License. Gold was mined at Aburna in the 1920s by Italian Colonial Miners and more recently by local Artisanal Miners. Soil and rock-chip sampling by Alpha identified gold mineralisation over a large area (7.2 km x 2.2 km) northeast of the Colonial Mine. Gold mineralisation at Aburna is orogenic type associated with a major (2km wide) SW-NE oriented shear zone. Work by Alpha has included regional rock chip sampling, 100m x 100m soil sampling, lithological and structural mapping, with 1m traverse-channel-trench sampling. Results from all the above work identified seven prospective sub-areas that warranted drill testing namely: Aburna Mine, Saddle Workings, Celebration Hill, Hill 52, Central, Northeast and Dasharna. Drilling has returned significant intercepts for gold from the Hill 52, Northeast, Celebration Hill and Central Areas. No significant results were returned from 2 drill holes at Saddle Workings and 1 drill hole at Dasharna. The Aburna Colonial Mine is yet to be drill tested. Petrographic studies are underway along with a ground magnetic survey. An induced polarisation survey is due to commence in late May 2023 and preliminary metallurgical test work is expected to commence on drill samples in Q3 2023.

Sampling, Sub-sampling and Analysis

Geological consultants from RSC were responsible for the design of a strict QA/QC program consistent with industry best practice. Drilling of the reported intervals was by both reverse-circulation (RC) and diamond drilling. RC samples were split at the rig using a Metzke splitter, before being transported to a secure location for logging. Diamond drill core was cut in half longitudinally at site using a diamond saw and half of the core (in 1-meter intervals) was transported to a secure location for logging.

All samples were submitted to Nabro Laboratories Limited (Nabro), Asmara, Eritrea, for sample preparation. Samples were crushed (to 90% passing 2.8 mm) and pulverised (to 85% passing 75 m). Two scoop samples were taken from the pulveriser bowl: approximately 120 g for laboratory analysis and approximately 100 g for portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis. The coarse and pulp rejects were stored at a warehouse in Asmara. The Company inserted certified reference material from OREAS (www.ore.com.au) into the sample stream, while Nabro inserted barren granodiorite material into the sample stream as a blank. Drill samples were shipped to ALS Geochemistry (ALS), Loughrea, Ireland, for analysis. ALS analysed all drill samples for gold by method Au-AA26 (50 g charge fire assay, AAS finish). ALS is independent of the Company and its quality management systems framework is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2005or certified to ISO 9001:2015standards.

About Alpha

Alpha is an exploration company listed on the TSX-V exchange under the symbol ALEX that has made three important discoveries in two years at it's Kerkasha Project in Eritrea:

Aburna orogenic gold

Anagulu porphyry gold-copper

Tolegimja volcanogenic-massive-sulphide (VMS)

The company is managed by a group of highly experienced and successful professionals with many years of experience carrying out exploration and resource development programs in Eritrea and Sudan and is focused on the discovery of world class economic gold and base metals deposits in the highly prospective Arabian-Nubian shield, on either side of the Red Sea. Alpha currently holds a 100% interest in the large (771 km2) Kerkasha Exploration License in southwest Eritrea, located 135 km west-southwest of the capital city of Asmara. Since acquiring the property in January 2018, the company has spent ~CAD$16 million on exploration and identified 20 prospects of which six have been drilled to date.

For further information go to the Alpha webpage at www.alpha-exploration.com or contact:

Michael Hopley

President and Chief Executive Officer

Alpha Exploration Ltd.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 207129 1148

Qualified Person

All scientific and technical information in this press release, including the results of the Aburna drill program and how these results relate to the ongoing exploration at the Kerkasha Project has been reviewed, verified, and approved by Michael Hopley, President, Chief Executive Officer of Alpha and a "qualified person" for the purposes of national Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Cautionary Notes

This press release is intended for distribution in Canada only and is not intended for distribution to United States newswire services or dissemination in the United States.

ForwardLooking Statements

Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to future dataset interpretations, sampling, plans for its projects (including the Anagulu prospect), surveys related to Alpha's assets, and the Company's drilling program. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, Alpha has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions and the price of gold and other minerals. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.

Although management of Alpha believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to: risks relating to Alpha's financing efforts; risks associated with the business of Alpha given its limited operating history; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage, grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; changes in laws (including regulations respecting mining concessions); risks related to the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 including, but not limited to, its impact on general economic conditions, the ability to obtain financing as required, and causing potential delays to exploration activities; those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Final Prospectus; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time. Alpha does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167273
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Dynasty Gold Corp. (TSXV: DYG) (FSE: D5G1) (OTC Pink: DGDCF) ("Dynasty" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that preparation for this year's drill program on the Thundercloud property has begun. The property is situated 47 kilometers southeast of Dryden in northwest Ontario. Thundercloud is an orogenic gold system in a greenstone belt of Archean age. The upcoming drilling will follow up on the high-grade gold hits late last year to test the orogenic gold system.

Last year's drill program discovered a number of high-grade gold intervals in the eastern Pelham Zone. Hole DP22-02 returned 3m of 64.95 g/t gold, including 1.5m of 115 g/t gold. Hole DP22-03 returned 51m of 11.1 g/t gold, including 3m of 151 g/t gold and 1.5 m of 246 g/t gold. Hole DP22-04 returned 1.5m of 25.2 g/t gold. All of the high-grade intercepts are less than 200 meters from the surface. Please see press releases of January 10, January 16 and February 13, 2023, for additional details.

Ivy Chong, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, states, "We are encouraged by our 2022 remarkable drill results. These are the deepest holes that were drilled into the orogenic gold system at Thundercloud. Recently, we completed a significant private placement with a lead order from Rob McEwen. Now we are well funded to further test the gold system to follow up on last year's drilling, to expand on the system at depth and test for the potential of stacked zones of high-grade gold. Final preparation is underway for our 2023 drill program that will start soon."

The geological team is on the property to prepare for the upcoming drilling and to complete the follow-up sampling of the 2022 drill core sections that were not sampled. The first batch of forty-three samples has been delivered to the ALS Global laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for processing.

As part of the 2023 program, some of the historical drill core will be re-logged to look for consistency in lithology, alteration and mineralization as well as for unsampled mineralization. Three-dimensional modeling of mineralization and geophysical data indicates many areas with potential for resource expansion. A new geophysical program will be considered to add clarity and detail to the historical data.

Dynasty has inherited more than $10 million worth of valuable historical data from Teck Resources Limited and others. Recent reviews of the historical drill data found intercepts with gold grades between 20 g/t to 106 g/t in a number of core holes that require additional follow-up.

The geological team will include geologists with decades of experience working in similar geological environments, and members of the local First Nations communities. The program is expected to run until the fall, and will be extended as weather permits. The Company anticipates drilling of up to 5,000 meters, and follow-on drilling of an additional 5,000 meters if results warrant.

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by Peter Holbek, P.Geo, M.Sc., an independent consultant and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Dynasty Gold Corp.

Dynasty Gold Corp. is a Canadian exploration company currently focused on gold exploration in North America with projects located in the Manitou-Stormy Lake greenstone belt in Ontario and in the Midas gold camp in Nevada. The Company is currently advancing its Thundercloud gold resource in northwest Ontario. A NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report, September 27, 2021 can also be found on the Company and SEDAR websites. The 100% owned Golden Repeat gold project in the Midas gold camp in Elko County, Nevada, is surrounded by a number of large-scale operating mines. For more information, please visit the Company's website www.dynastygoldcorp.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DYNASTY GOLD CORP.

"Ivy Chong"

_________________________________

Ivy Chong, President & CEO

For additional information please contact:

Vancouver Office:

Ivy Chong

Phone: 604.633.2100. Email: [email protected]

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167258
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - First Hydrogen Corp. (TSXV: FHYD) (OTC Pink: FHYDF) (FSE: FIT) ("FIRST HYDROGEN" or the "Company") announces its hydrogen-powered light commercial vehicle (LCV) has received praise from award-winning fleet management provider, Rivus, for its "smooth and pleasant" driving experience. Rivus drivers noted the Company's LCV's capability to manage greater ranges and refuel much faster than battery electric vehicles (BEV), which will help fleets using this vehicle class to switch to meet zero emissions targets. Following initial journeys on roads in Birmingham, the West Midlands and South Yorkshire, Rivus' drivers have complimented the vehicle for its "effortless" and "comfortable" driving. Drivers were particularly impressed with the LCV's automatic transmission, which they appraised as "easier than a petrol or diesel van to operate" as it does not require gear changes and the vehicle is much quieter to run.

Rivus, which manages approximately 120,000 vehicles, including approximately 85,000 LCVs, is the first fleet management company to test drive the first-of-its-kind hydrogen vehicle on UK roads. During the month-long trial, Rivus is taking the vehicle through duty cycles, where the van is being driven on planned routes over different terrain at varying speeds unladen, transporting different payloads and with heating, air conditioning and other ancillary vehicle functions turned on and off. Fleet management specialists Rivus will use data gathered by First Hydrogen's onboard telematics to make direct performance comparisons between similar BEV and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that have undertaken the same duty cycles.

Part of a series of vehicle trials co-ordinated through the UK Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium (AHFC), the trials will see major fleets from industries including grocery, delivery, utilities, and healthcare, use First Hydrogen's LCV in real-world operations.

Steve Gill, CEO Automotive at First Hydrogen, comments: "We are pleased to hear the positive initial reactions from Rivus' drivers, especially around driving experience. The team has great insight into the needs of our potential customers commercial fleet managers and their drivers who value a comfortable and easy driving experience without the range and payload concerns often associated with other zero emission vehicle technologies. Their feedback is helping us to improve the deployment of our demonstrator vehicles and development for the vehicles we plan to bring to market."

Thomas Maerz, Chief Development Officer at Rivus, says: "It is no surprise that commercial drivers spend most of their day behind the wheel; therefore, vehicles must be easy to drive and a provide a pleasant working environment. Our team has been impressed with the First Hydrogen vehicle's handling, how comfortable it is and how smoothly it drives. We are very much looking forward to analysing the data collected during their journeys to understand how vehicle performance matches driver experience."





Allan Rushforth, First Hydrogen CCO Mobility and Rivus drivers

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About First Hydrogen Corp. ( FirstHydrogen.com )

First Hydrogen Corp. is a Vancouver and London UK-based company focused on zero-emission vehicles, green hydrogen production and distribution and supercritical carbon dioxide extractor systems. The Company has designed and built hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered light commercial demonstrator vehicles ("LCV") under two agreements with AVL Powertrain and Ballard Power Systems Inc. The LCV will have a range of 500+ kilometres. These vehicles are currently being trialed with an initial 16 fleet operators in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the company has launched its bespoke vehicle design phase which will develop its fleet of proprietary zero-emission vehicles. First Hydrogen is also developing refueling capability working with FEV Consulting GmbH, the automotive consultancy of FEV Group of Aachen Germany. The Company is also pursuing opportunities in green hydrogen production and distribution in the UK, EU and North America.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

FIRST HYDROGEN CORP.

"Balraj Mann"

Chairman & Group CEO

Contact:

Balraj Mann

First Hydrogen Corp.

604-601-2018

[email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains information or statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking information may include, without limitation, statements regarding the operations, business, financial condition, expected financial results, performance, prospects, opportunities, priorities, targets, goals, ongoing objectives, milestones, strategies and outlook of First Hydrogen, and includes statements about, among other things, future developments and the future operations, strengths and strategies of First Hydrogen. Forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results.

The forward-looking statements made in this news release are based on management's assumptions and analysis and other factors that may be drawn upon by management to form conclusions and make forecasts or projections, including management's experience and assessments of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Although management believes that these assumptions, analyses and assessments are reasonable at the time the statements contained in this news release are made, actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. Examples of risks and factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from forward-looking statements may include: the timing and unpredictability of regulatory actions; regulatory, legislative, legal or other developments with respect to its operations or business; limited marketing and sales capabilities; early stage of the industry and product development; limited products; reliance on third parties; unfavourable publicity or consumer perception; general economic conditions and financial markets; the impact of increasing competition; the loss of key management personnel; capital requirements and liquidity; access to capital; the timing and amount of capital expenditures; the impact of COVID-19; shifts in the demand for First Hydrogen's products and the size of the market; patent law reform; patent litigation and intellectual property; conflicts of interest; and general market and economic conditions.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of First Hydrogen as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. First Hydrogen undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICE PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167174
"Young workers are more concerned about protecting their privacy, but businesses appear to lag behind them in awareness."

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 141 fines were slapped on employers from 2021 to March this year, and cases are steadily increasing -- 26 cases in 2021 to 60 in 2022 and 55 in just the first three months of this year.

Violators face fines of W3 million to W5 million, but the offense is hard to prove and the law seems to have no teeth (US$1=W1,313).

Labor laws prohibit employers from asking jobseekers discriminatory questions about things like their height, marital status, assets and professions of family members, but many still do.

The rise is probably due to more young people reporting intrusive questions, rather than more employers asking them, but the reported cases are likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

Asking jobseekers about things like their religion and blood type is not even covered by the law, even though a widespread superstition in Korea links blood type to character traits.

One jobseeker downloaded an application form for a software developer in Seoul last September and found that he had to write down his height, weight, blood type and religion, which seemed to be beside the point.

A nurse recently sat down for a job interview in a hospital and was asked by the employer what her parents do for a living, where she lives, what her husband does for a living and how much he earns. Interviewed in another hospital, she was asked if she lives in her own house or is renting. None of those questions were relevant to her job, but there are no regulations barring them.

Gender discrimination also persists in job ads. The ministry checked 14,000 ads on employment portals since September 2022 and found that 5.8 percent contained discriminatory terms, such as "looking for men 172 cm or taller who are easy on the eye" or "we favor women."

A ministry official said, "We want to drastically strengthen regulations to root out improper private questions in the recruitment process."
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - First Lithium Minerals Corp.(CSE: FLM) (OTC Pink: PGPXF) (FSE: X28) ("First Lithium Minerals" or the "Company")is pleased to announce priority drill targets and commencement of the next phase of its exploration program at its 100% owned OCA project ("OCA Project") in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile.

Following completion of a priority drill targets assessment the Company is planning to proceed to its inaugural brine resource exploration program in the northeastern property areas at the salar de Ascotan (approx. 1,775 ha), which display promising geophysical characteristics based on the Transient Electromagnetic ("TEM") and Magneto-Telluric (MT) geophysical surveys conducted in Q4/22 and Q1/23.

The initial exploration program will consider up to five boreholes to depths of up to 500 meters. Depending on lithology and hydrogeological conditions encountered, it is envisaged that the holes will be drilled with a combination of PQ and HQ core sizes using plastic liners to facilitate core recovery for geological assessment and drainable porosity analysis. Brine sampling is planned at 12m intervals using bailer, packer, or other suitable methodology depending on lithology and hydrogeological conditions.

Figure 1. OCA lithium project. Salar de Ascotan northeastern exploration concessions prospect area. Planned exploration drill targets sectors.



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Rob Saltsman, CEO and Director of First Lithium Minerals commented: "We are very pleased to have completed the assessment work for priority drill targets which we believe show the hallmarks of hydrogeological conditions typical of brine deposits in northern Chile. The drilling contractor has been contacted with the objective to commence a drilling program in the second half of the year. We also welcome the Chilean government's recent announcements to develop a plan for the development of lithium projects in a partnership format, where environmental sustainability and social licencing play key roles. We believe our project fits the criteria and have engaged with related parties to explore opportunities of forming a potential partnership that can expedite the development of our project."

The Company is expecting to commence a drilling program in H2/23, conditional upon obtaining required government permits, licences, and agreements.

About First Lithium Minerals

First Lithium Minerals is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company. The Company is currently focusing on exploring for alkali metals at its 100% owned OCA project comprised of approximately 9,000 ha of mineral exploration concessions located in the salars of Ollague, Carcote, and Ascotan in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. In Q4/22 and Q1/23 the Company conducted two property-wide geophysical surveys, identified two priority exploration targets for potential brine mineralization, and is currently planning an inaugural drilling program at the Salar de Ascotan pending obtaining required drilling permits and licences.

Additional information about the Company is available on the Company's website: www.firstlithium.ca.

Qualified Person

Frits Reidel, Consulting Hydrogeologist, CPG, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

For further information please contact:

First Lithium Minerals Corp.

77 King St. W Suite 3000

Toronto, ON M5K 1G8

Tel: 416-402-2428 Email: [email protected]

Rob Saltsman, CEO and Director

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "contemplates", "believes", "projects", "plans", and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: exploration activities, geophysical and geochemical surveys, its results and interpretation, drill target definition, permitting, licences, environmental laws and regulations, changes in government regulations and laws, obtaining social licence to explore and operate, community engagements, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, general business, economic, competitive, reliance on third parties, the actual results of operations, and other risks of the resources industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167148
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. (TSXV: GMG) ("GMG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that GMG has signed distribution agreements with four separate distributors ("Distributors") to buy GMG's THERMAL-XR and resell in their respective countries in the Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC-R) markets. The Distributors are focused on the following geographical markets: Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea.

GMG and certain of the Distributors have successfully completed several THERMAL-XR HVAC-R projects in South East Asia to provide case studies that illustrate the product's local benefits and customer value proposition in these countries.

GMG's Managing Director and CEO, Craig Nicol, commented: "We are excited to be signing up our initial distributors in Asia to build revenue in Energy Savings - one of our key objectives for 2023. We look forward to continuing to work with the Distributors - each a valuable partner for the sale of THERMAL-XR going forward."

Guy Outen, GMG's Chair, commented: "I am very pleased to see these first distributor agreements in Asia - they display confidence in the potential benefit of TXR to existing and new customers of our new distributor partners. I commend the GMG team led by Mark Lock the General Manager of Energy Savings and Senior Business Development Manager Arthur Yen for their leadership."

GMG's 4 critical business objectives are:

Produce Graphene and improve/scale production process Build Revenue from Energy Savings Products Develop Next-Generation Battery Develop Supply Chain, Partners & Project Execution Capability

About GMG

GMG is a clean-technology company which seeks to offer energy saving and energy storage solutions, enabled by graphene, including that manufactured in-house via a proprietary production process.

GMG has developed a proprietary production process to decompose natural gas (i.e. methane) into its elements, carbon (as graphene), hydrogen and some residual hydrocarbon gases. This process produces high quality, low cost, scalable, 'tuneable' and low/no contaminant graphene suitable for use in clean-technology and other applications. The Company's present focus is to de-risk and develop commercial scale-up capabilities, and secure market applications.

In the energy savings segment, GMG has focused on graphene enhanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning ("HVAC-R") coating (or energy-saving paint), lubricants and fluids. In the energy storage segment, GMG and the University of Queensland are working collaboratively with financial support from the Australian Government to progress R&D and commercialization of graphene aluminium-ion batteries ("G+AI Batteries").

For further information, please contact:

Craig Nicol, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Company at [email protected] , +61 415 445 223

, +61 415 445 223 Leo Karabelas at Focus Communications, [email protected] , +1 647 689 6041

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends", "expects" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or will "potentially" or "likely" occur. This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forwardlooking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding the viability of completed THERMAL-XR HVAC-R projects in South East Asia to serve as case studies which demonstrate the value of GMG's products, that additional distributors in Asia will enter into Distribution Agreements , the impact of the Distributor Agreements on revenue in Energy Savings, the influence of the partnerships with the Distributors on the sale of THERMAL-XR, and the business objectives of the Company in 2023 and beyond.

These forwardlooking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, risks related to the deployment of the Company's resources, that the case studies will not convey the benefits of the Company's products in South East Asia, that the effect of the Distributor Agreements on revenue in Energy Savings with differ from management's current expectations, that GMG's objectives in 2023 and beyond will diverge from its current objective, that no additional Distribution Agreements will be reached, and that the value of the partnerships with the Distributions will not align with management's expectations.

In making the forward looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the market demand for the Company's products, that case studies will demonstrate the benefits of the Company's products, that additional Distributors will enter into Distributor Agreements, that Distributors will have a direct impact on the Company's revenue in Energy Savings, and that the partnerships with the Distributors will impact the sale of THERMAL-XR going forward.

Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. We seek safe harbor.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167274
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Interra Copper Corp. (CSE: IMCX) (OTCQB: IMIMF) (FSE: 3MX) ("Interra" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced drill and crew mobilization at its Tres Marias Copper Project (the "Project"), located approximately 40 km southwest of the city of Calama in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. Close to other major mining operations like Codelco's Chuquicamata mine and BHP's Spence mine, the Company has easy access to infrastructure, services, and labour to simplify the program. Sociedad Perforaciones E Inginiera Chile Limitada ("PerfoChile"), a local business and experienced drilling contractor that services many of the large producing mines in Chile, has been contracted to perform the first phase of the Reverse-Circulation ("RC") drilling campaign, designed to test several high priority geological and geophysical anomalies located on the 16,250 ha Project.

Chris Buncic, Interra Copper's President and CEO, commented, "With drill pad construction complete and contractors now on site, we look forward to seeing the results of our efforts thus far at Tres Marias. Drill hole evidence, coupled with our geophysical and geological interpretations, suggest a potential copper porphyry system to the west-southwest of historical work. Our geological team theorize that the Guacate East and Guacate West faults may have allowed for the transfer of mineralizing fluids from a deeper intrusive target, and the location of geophysical anomalies and surface alteration support this idea."

Investors are encouraged to visit our website at www.interracoppercorp.com, Press Releases of April 17, 2023 and May 4, 2023, and our corporate presentation for a more detailed summary of the drilling program and expectations.

Technical Disclosure/Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans (P.Geo., PhD, PMP), Principal Geoscientist and Managing Director at Caracle Creek Chile SpA and an independent consultant and Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About Interra Copper Corp.

Interra Copper Corp. is focused on building shareholder value through the exploration and development of its portfolio of highly prospective/early-stage exploration copper assets located in Chile and Northern British Columbia.

The Company's portfolio includes three copper projects located the Central Volcanic Zone, within a prolific Chilean Copper belt: Tres Marias and Zenaida in Antofagasta Region, and Pitbull in Tarapaca Region. The Company now holds a significant land package covering an area of 20,050 ha with the projects situated amongst several of the world's largest mines owned by the largest global mining companies including Glencore, Anglo American, Teck Resources and BHP among others. The Company also owns two exploration projects in Northern British Columbia: Thane and Chuck Creek. The Thane Project is located in the Quesnel Terrane of Northern BC and spans over 20,658 ha with 6 high-priority targets identified demonstrating significant copper and precious metal mineralization.

Interra Copper's leadership team is comprised of senior mining industry executives who have a wealth of technical and capital markets experience and a strong track record of discovering, financing, developing, and operating mining projects on a global scale. Interra Copper is committed to sustainable and responsible business activities in line with industry best practices, supportive of all stakeholders, including the local communities in which we operate. The Company's common shares are principally listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the symbol "IMCX". For more information on Interra Copper, please visit our website at www.interracoppercorp.com.

On behalf of the Board and Interra Copper Corp.

Chris Buncic

President & CEO, Director

For further information

Katherine Pryde

Investor Relations Contact

[email protected]

Twitter

LinkedIn

Forward-Looking Information

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to exploration on the Company's Tres Marias Copper Project, and the potential results of exploration work on the project. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans, and the risk of regulatory or legal changes that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the Company's website. We seek safe harbor.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167278
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - K9 Gold Corp. (TSXV: KNC) (FSE: 5GP) (OTCQB: WDFCF) ("K9" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive share exchange agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire 1415322 B.C. LTD. ("141 BC") from the shareholders of 141 BC in exchange for an aggregate of 3,000,000 common shares (the "Company Shares") in the capital of the Company issued to the shareholders on a pro-rata basis (the "Transaction"). On closing of the Transaction, the Company will add 64 claims (3304 Ha) to its JB lithium project in the James Bay region of northern Quebec. This will bring the total project holdings to 5418 Ha in 105 claims. An aggressive summer exploration is now planned and is fully funded.

The Lac Joubert-Tilly (LJ-T) property (the "Property") is located approximately 60 km due east of the previously announced Rivire Salomon (RS) property on the JB Li Project. The LJ-T property is located approximately 400 km east-southeast of Radisson, Quebec, and is immediately adjacent to Winsome Resources recently announced Tilly Project (Winsome company release April 19, 2023). Other projects in the area include Allkem's James Bay lithium project, which recently received federal approval for development, Patriot Battery Metals Corvette project located 50 km to the west and Winsome Resources Lithium Adina project located approximately 40 km to the west. The LJ-T property is underlain by a package of Archaean rocks that is similar to the geological setting of the Corvette and Adina projects, and includes outcrops of Tilly pegmatites, a known host of lithium in the James Bay region.

About JB Lithium Project

The JB Lithium Project is located in the La Grande sub-province of the Archaean Superior Province in Quebec, and comprises two units, the Riviere Salomon property (see Company release November 15, 2022 for property details) and the newly acquired Lac Joubert - Tilly property.

Lac Joubert-Tilly (LJ-T) property

The LJ-T property is underlain mainly by the Archean Joubert Suite and the Salomon River formation. Where the Joubert Suite occurs on the property, it consists of a package of foliated, banded or gneissic biotite-tonalite and granodiorite. The Salomon River formation in the area consists mainly of paragneisses that have undergone moderate partial melting, with 10% or more mobilisate.

Within the property boundaries, the Salomon River formation has been intruded by at least five zones of Tilly Pegmatites which comprise pegmatitic granite with biotite-muscovite-tourmaline-magnetite-garnet assemblages. These pegmatites are a significant lithium target for other explorers in this area. They are in close proximity to the Joubert Suite tonalites which are believed to be the source of lithium in regional discoveries. A 2015 Quebec Government geological mapping program located at least six outcrops of pegmatitic granite, consistent with the Tilly Pegmatites. In addition, one outcrop of an ultramafic intrusive returned an assay of 77 ppm Li, along with 0.10% Ni and 0.30% Cr.

Riviere Salomon (RS) property

The Trieste Formation, which hosts lithium mineralization on the adjacent Adina property, transects the RS property. Within the property boundaries, this Meso-Archaean age formation is mainly an ensemble of mylonites and banded amphibolites derived from basalt, which have been intruded by various intermediate rocks. A significant band of tonalite, part of the Meso-Archaean age Kamusaawach Intrusion, cuts through the centre of the property. Also cutting through the claims is a band of the Neo-Archaean Richardie Suite, an intrusive biotite-magnetite-hornblende granodiorite. The northern portion of the property is underlain by the Neo-Archaean Sauvolles Pluton, which is mainly of granitic composition. There is also a prominent Paleoproterozoic-age mafic dyke (Senneterre dyke system) cutting through the north of the property with a NE-SW orientation.

During a regional mapping program in 2013 by Government geologists, one outcrop was collected sample from the property, reported in the Quebec Government's online geological database, SIGEOM, an returned a value of 65 ppm Li.

K9 has recently completed a helicopter-borne magnetometer and VLF survey on this property. Results will be reported on completion of data interpretation.

Lac Joubert - Tilly acquisition terms

Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company will acquire from the shareholders of 141 BC (collectively, the "Shareholders") all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the capital of 141 BC, in exchange for 3,000,000 Company Shares, issued to the Shareholders on a pro-rata basis. Following the closing of the Transaction, 141 BC will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

141 BC is a party to an option agreement (the "Option Agreement") whereby, pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement, 141 BC may acquire a 100% interest in the Property upon the completion of certain expenditures and cash payments.

The Transaction is subject to the review and approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). The Company anticipates closing the Transaction shortly after the approval of the TSXV.

About K9 Gold Corp

K9 Gold Corp has assembled a highly-experienced and dynamic team to explore its JB Lithium Project. K9 also operates the Stony Lake Gold Project in central Newfoundland. The project has been acquired from District Copper Corp by an option agreement, whereby K9 can earn up to a 100% interest in the project (see Company release dated July 30, 2020). The Company also owns a 100% interest in the Desert Eagle Vanadium-Uranium project located in the historic Henry Mountains Mining District in SE Utah. The area has seen extensive historic vanadium and uranium mining and is close to Anfield Energy Inc's Shootaring Canyon mill.

To ensure a safe workplace environment that protects the health and safety of employees and contractors, K9 Gold follows all federally and provincially mandated and recommended guidelines regarding Covid 19.

Chris M. Healey, P. Geo, Chief Geologist and a Director of K9 Gold Corp., is the qualified person under NI 43-101 guidelines who is responsible for the technical content of this release and approves its release.

Toll Free Number: (833) 434-GOLD (4653)

Kosta Tsoutsis

Director

K9 Gold Corp.

email: [email protected]

Telephone: 604 808-9134

Brian Morrison

Chief Financial Officer and Director

K9 Gold Corp.

email: [email protected]

telephone: 604 312-6910

The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management regarding K9's intention to continue to identify potential transactions and make certain corporate changes and applications. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits K9 will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect managements' current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including K9's inability to identify transactions having satisfactory terms or at all and the results of exploration or review of properties that K9 does acquire. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and K9 assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167245
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 23, 2023) - OBSIDIAN ENERGY LTD. (TSX: OBE) (NYSE American: OBE) ("Obsidian Energy", the "Company", "we", "us" or "our") is pleased to provide an update on the status of our operations impacted by recent Alberta wildfires.

Widespread rain over the weekend in Alberta helped to slow wildfire spread, bringing relief to some local communities. As a result, we have restored or are currently restoring approximately 5,650 boe/d of operated and non-operated production that was temporarily shut-in due to wildfires, evacuation orders and third-party constraints in Peace River and Pembina.

Most of the production being brought back online came from the Harmon Valley South field in Peace River, adding back approximately 4,500 boe/d of temporarily shut-in heavy oil production, with the remaining 1,250 boe/d light oil weighted production in Pembina. We anticipate the remaining approximate 1,750 boe/d of production to be restored as access to well pads permit, and power is regained to certain sites, subject to changes in the wildfire situation. At this time, we believe there has been no damage to the Company's key assets or infrastructure.

"While we are pleased to see the impacted production come back online, our number one concern has been with the health and safety of our employees, their families and the local communities," said Stephen Loukas, President and CEO. "We would once again like to express our gratitude and thanks to all those that worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone is safe - our staff, industry partners and emergency responders. Our thoughts are with our neighbors and the communities still being affected by the wildfires during this difficult time."

The Company will continue to closely monitor the situation as it evolves and provide an update when appropriate.

ADDITIONAL READER ADVISORIES

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements or information (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "forecast", "budget", "may", "will", "project", "could", "plan", "intend", "should", "believe", "outlook", "objective", "aim", "potential", "target" and similar words suggesting future events or future performance. In particular, this document contains forward-looking statements pertaining to, without limitation, the following: when we expected certain production to be restored; our believe that there has been no damage to the Company's key assets or infrastructure; and that we will continue to monitor the situation and provide an update when appropriate.

With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this document, the Company has made assumptions regarding, among other things: our ability to restart production; that there has been no damage to key assets and infrastructure; that we are able to monitor the situation by getting accurate and timely information; that we will be able to get power back to our sites in a timely manner; our ability to execute our plans as described herein and in our other disclosure documents and the impact that the successful execution of such plans will have on our Company and our stakeholders; our ability to execute our capital programs as planned without significant adverse impacts from various factors beyond our control, including extreme weather events, such as wildfires and flooding, infrastructure access and delays in obtaining regulatory approvals and third party consents; our ability to conduct an investigation to better understand the situation; and our ability to obtain equipment and staffing in a timely manner to carry out plans and the costs thereof.

Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this document, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements included in this document, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the forward-looking statements contained herein will not be correct, which may cause our actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: whether the Company will receive timely and accurate information regarding the wildfires; that there is damage to the Company's key assets and infrastructure; that production will be shut-in longer than expected or have to be shut-in again as wildfires return; whether the Company is in compliance with all regulatory requirements; the possibility that we change our 2023 capital plans in response to internal and external factors, including those described herein; the possibility that the Company will not be able to continue to successfully execute our business plans and strategies in part or in full, and the possibility that some or all of the benefits that the Company anticipates will accrue to our Company and our stakeholders as a result of the successful execution of such plans and strategies do not materialize; and unanticipated operating events or environmental events outside these wildfires that can reduce production or cause production to be shut-in or delayed (including extreme cold during winter months, wildfires and flooding in other areas). Additional information on these and other factors that could affect Obsidian Energy, or its operations or financial results, are included in the Company's Annual Information Form (See "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements" therein) which may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com), EDGAR website (www.sec.gov) or Obsidian Energy's website. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

Unless otherwise specified, the forward-looking statements contained in this document speak only as of the date of this document. Except as expressly required by applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Obsidian Energy shares are listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and the NYSE American in the United States under the symbol "OBE".

All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

CONTACT

OBSIDIAN ENERGY

Suite 200, 207 - 9th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 1K3

Phone: 403-777-2500

Toll Free: 1-866-693-2707

Website: www.obsidianenergy.com;

Investor Relations:

Toll Free: 1-888-770-2633

E-mail: [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167209
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Radio Fuels Energy Corp.(CSE: CAKE) (OTCQB: CKEFF)(the "Company")is pleased to announce the appointment of Collin Kettell to the board of directors of the Company. Mr. Kettell is a co-founder of New Found Gold Corp. and of Palisades Goldcorp Ltd. As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Found Gold Corp., a Canadian resource investment company, Mr. Kettell is responsible for developing the strategic plan for the discovery, financing and continued exploration of the Queensway Project. In his role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Palisades Goldcorp Ltd., Mr. Kettell has been the driving force behind its inception, leading to its current stature as a multi-hundred-million-dollar investment company, while incubating and developing several companies under the Palisades Goldcorp Ltd. umbrella. Mr. Kettell is an active participant in the resource sector as an investor and company builder, focused on the discovery of mineral deposits both in Canada and the United States. He is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nevada King Gold Corp., founder of Radio Fuels Energy Corp., co-founder of EarthLabs Inc. (previously Goldspot Discoveries), and co-founder and director of Golden Planet Mining Corp.

About Radio Fuels Energy Corp.

The Company is a junior natural resource company focused on providing exposure to uranium and other commodities through the investment, acquisition, exploration, and development of projects and companies.

For further information, please contact:

Cejay Kim

President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (778) 886-1826

Email:[email protected]

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167314
The newly launched Smoky Lake Tourism Company is a regional partnership between the Municipally Controlled Corporation for the Smoky Lake Development Corporation and Metis Crossing Ventures Ltd.

Smoky Lake, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Representatives from the Town of Smoky Lake, Smoky Lake County, and Mtis Crossing officially launched the Smoky Lake Tourism Company (SLTC) at Metis Crossing on May 19th. The creation of this new corporation represents a collaborative regional approach to destination development and economic development. The SLTC will invest in regional tourism initiatives, promote regional tourism projects, and support economic development opportunities.

"As an Indigenous tourism destination, Metis Crossing strives to share our distinct Indigenous story with the world," said Juanita Marois, CEO of Metis Crossing. Adding, "We continue to work collaboratively with our regional partners, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to increase visitation to the Smoky Lake region as a catalyst for reconciliation, tourism, and economic development in northeast Alberta."

"Smoky Lake County has long benefited from the reciprocal relationship of being the home of many cultures, including at Metis Crossing and the Metis Nation, and from innovative collaborations and partnerships with our neighbors," said Lorne Halisky, Reeve and Division 4 Councillor for Smoky Lake County. "Former Reeve and Chief Administrator Cory Ollikka knew that an undertaking of this scope and caliber will bring us even closer together."

"The Town of Smoky Lake is excited about this major milestone, which has required the hard work and vision of many people in our community to realize," said Amy Cherniwchan, Mayor, Town of Smoky Lake. "We are eager to see the Smoky Lake Tourism Company be a vehicle contributing to our growth and sustainability through investment in the storytelling of this landscape and of our people. This day is the beginning of the next chapter of investment in tourism development across the region, and our continuing to be and become a destination."

The SLTC was developed with the goal of supporting population growth in the region, creating employment opportunities, attracting regional investment, and equalizing services and infrastructure in the Smoky Lake region.

- 30 -

About Metis Crossing

Metis Crossing is the first major Metis cultural destination in Alberta and the premier place for Alberta Metis cultural interpretation, education, gatherings and business development. Sitting on 688-acres of land, comprised of river lot titles from the original Metis settlers to the region in the late 1800s, the Crossing is designed to engage and excite visitors through an exploration of Metis cultural experiences.

The Metis Crossing site was purchased by the Metis Nation of Alberta (MNA), with support from Canative Housing Corporation and the Belcourt Brosseau Foundation, more than 20 years ago. Metis Crossing continues to operate as an affiliate of the MNA, and today boasts over $25 million in community infrastructure. Established in 1928, the MNA is the democratically elected government of the Metis Nation within Alberta that seeks to advance the socio-economic and cultural well-being of the Metis people of Alberta.

To learn more about Metis Crossing, visit: www.metiscrossing.com

About the Municipally Controlled Corporation

Municipal controlled corporations are for-profit corporations that are controlled by a municipality or group of municipalities for the purposes of providing a regional municipal service or facility. Municipal controlled corporations are regulated by the Municipal Government Act, Business Corporations Act, Control of Corporations Regulation, and the Debt Limit Regulation. Approval from the Minister of Municipal Affairs must have been obtained by the municipalities that want to establish a municipal controlled corporation prior to the establishment of the corporation. Municipal controlled corporations are incorporated under the Business Corporations Act with the Corporate Registry Office (Service Alberta). A municipal controlled corporation is a separate legal entity from its municipal shareholders. This means that they can hire staff, administer payrolls, own property and raise capital independent of the municipalities involved. Unless imposed by the Minister, there are no geographic restrictions on where a municipal controlled corporation can operate within Alberta.

Media Contact:

James Falls

[email protected]

(403) 473-7705

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167128
Mexico City, Mexico--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - Veterinary Ophthalmology For The World (VOFTW), a leading provider of veterinary education, is set to transform the field of veterinary ophthalmology with the launch of its groundbreaking course for the year 2023.

Veterinary Ophthalmology Education, led by Dr. Gustavo Adolfo Garcia

Dr. Gustavo Adolfo Garcia, a distinguished ACVO Veterinary Ophthalmologist from Mexico, will spearhead this initiative, hosted on the newly developed Canvas platform. This platform offers an interactive and user-friendly interface that provides 24/7 access to valuable veterinary ophthalmology content.

Dr. Garcia's course is designed to cater to the growing demand of veterinary ophthalmology and is expected to make significant contributions to the industry. Canvas platform's expansion ensures that the course will soon be available in English and Portuguese, specifically targeting the Brazilian and American/Canadian markets.

"I am thrilled to introduce this innovative course on veterinary ophthalmology in collaboration with the Canvas platform," said Dr. Gustavo Adolfo Garcia. "We aim to provide an accessible and enriching learning experience for veterinary professionals worldwide. By expanding the course to the Brazilian and American/Canadian markets, we hope to make a significant impact on the global veterinary community."

The course on veterinary ophthalmology aims to equip participants with the in-depth knowledge and practical skills required to diagnose and treat various eye conditions in animals.

Dr. Garcia adds, "The Canvas platform has gained immense popularity due to its transformative content-based business model. Users can access diverse resources, including lectures, articles, research papers, and discussions, all focused on veterinary ophthalmology. The platform's 24/7 availability ensures that participants can learn at their convenience, accommodating busy schedules and international time zones."

Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate of completion from Dr. Gustavo Adolfo Garcia, validating their newly acquired expertise in veterinary ophthalmology. This certification will undoubtedly enhance their professional profiles and open doors to exciting career opportunities.

To learn more about VOFTW and Dr. Gustavo Adolfo Garcia's veterinary ophthalmology course, interested individuals can visit the official website at www.voftw.com.

About VOFTW

VOFTW is a leading provider of veterinary education specializing in ophthalmology. They offer comprehensive courses and resources to veterinary professionals and enthusiasts, aiming to enhance their knowledge and skills in the field. With a commitment to innovation and excellence, VOFTW is dedicated to advancing veterinary ophthalmology and improving animal eye health globally.

Contact Information

Name: Dr. Ana Laura Tapia

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +52 55 7938 8038

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167071
ScottHall.co, a digital content marketing agency, has released an insightful guide on the impact of AI software for content curation aimed at marketers looking to achieve greater levels of content marketing success for their clients.

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - May 24, 2023) - ScottHall.co's latest guide has been compiled for marketers seeking to elevate their online campaign strategies with the help of the latest AI marketing software.

Further information is available at https://scotthall.co/the-impact-of-ai-for-content-curation-in-marketing

ScottHall.co Announces New Guide On AI Content Curation For Digital Marketers

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/167094_efe4ca3bf4e75b24_001full.jpg

In the newly published guide, ScottHall.co delves into the intricacies of content marketing and the impact AI is having on this fast-paced industry. "In today's digital world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming integral to marketing," the agency founder, Scott Hall, explains. "Using AI tools for content curation can help marketers save time and money while also allowing them to produce more personalized content that resonates with their audiences."

ScottHall.co has extensively researched and explored AI marketing tools and how businesses can get optimal value through their use. This new guide, however, turns the focus back on to marketers and how AI impacts their daily work life.

According to the report, AI can both automate and streamline formally time-consuming tasks, such as searching for, adapting, and creating relevant content for a broad spectrum of online channels. The guide also explains that data-driven AI software can also analyze customer behavior and preferences to build brand credibility and create more engaging content, faster.

ScottHall.co suggests that as the future of AI content curation looks promising, their guide offers practical tips and strategies to help marketers navigate the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing and gain a competitive edge for their clients.

"There's a lot of pressure on marketers to stay abreast of current trends, as well as keeping content fresh and optimized for peak audience engagement. AI is changing how we achieve that," says Scott Hall. "By using AI effectively, marketers can shift the burden of content quantity and deploy their creative talents to quality, which is what really drives sales."

Concerns, challenges, and the debate around the legal practicalities of AI are also addressed in the guide. Covering topics such as data security and privacy, cost efficiency, and intellectual property rights, Scott Hall's guide is a comprehensive toolkit for any marketer navigating the ever-changing digital content world.

Interested parties can access Scott Hall's guide to The Impact of AI For Content Curation In Marketing at https://scotthall.co/the-impact-of-ai-for-content-curation-in-marketing

Contact Info:

Name: Scott Hall

Email: [email protected]

Organization: ScottHall.co

Address: 60 West 23rd St. Suite 638, New York, NY 10010, United States

Website: https://scotthall.co

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167094
Korea inked a deal to sell 18 homegrown FA-50 light combat aircraft worth US$920 million to Malaysia.

The deal was signed by Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, according to the Defense Ministry here.

Korea Aerospace Industries and Malaysian officials signed the letter of agreement in February and have been honing the details since.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 23, 2023) - Seabridge Gold (TSX: SEA) (NYSE: SA) has published its 2022 Sustainability Report and its inaugural Climate Change Strategy Report. These two reports go hand in hand to provide transparency on our actions and the progress we have achieved towards meeting our Sustainability and Climate Change goals. The Sustainability Report captures the 2022 calendar year and highlights our ongoing effort to be effective partners with our communities, stakeholders, and investors. The Climate Change Strategy Report showcases our commitment to understanding and managing our climate risks and the carbon emissions tied to our business activities. The report and supporting data tables can be found at https://www.seabridgegold.com/sustainability.

Seabridge Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk stated, "We began 2022 with a Sustainability Strategy to achieve specific goals. Today, we are building out our sustainability program to encompass not only Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) but also climate-related concerns and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). We have focused our entire organization on this work and developed clear business goals that tie compensation to successful implementation of these programs."

The 2022 Sustainability Report highlights our exceptional work in community development funding and engagement, ongoing commitment to our Indigenous and First Nations partners, gender diversity at all levels of the organization and programs to support effective inclusion at the workplace, among so much more. The report was prepared with select disclosures and guidance from the Sustainability Standards Accounting Board (SASB) Metals and Mining Industry Standards and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD, Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) as well as metrics designed specifically for Seabridge.

The Seabridge Gold Climate Change Strategy Report is the Company's inaugural effort at communicating our understanding of our short-term and long-term climate risks. This report is aligned to the TCFD and also details our Scope 1, 2 and material components of Scope 3 carbon emissions.

Seabridge holds a 100% interest in several North American gold projects. Seabridge's assets include the KSM and Iskut projects located in Northwest British Columbia, Canada's "Golden Triangle", the Courageous Lake project located in Canada's Northwest Territories, the Snowstorm project in the Getchell Gold Belt of Northern Nevada and the 3 Aces project set in the Yukon Territory. For a full breakdown of Seabridge's Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources by category please visit the Company's website at http://www.seabridgegold.com.

None of the Toronto Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, or their Regulation Services Providers accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Rudi Fronk"

Chairman & C.E.O.

For further information please contact:

Rudi P. Fronk, Chairman and C.E.O.

Tel: (416) 367-9292 " Fax: (416) 367-2711

Email: [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/167182
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (PRWEB) May 24, 2023

Furia Rubel Communications, Inc., is proud to announce that its CEO & General Counsel Gina Rubel, and vice president of strategic development, Jennifer Simpson Carr, have again been recognized among the Lawdragon Global 100 Leaders in Legal Strategy and Consulting. Based in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Rubel and Carr work with a team of law firm marketing and public relations experts as well as a wide range of U.S.-based and international clients.

"I am proud to receive this recognition," said Rubel. "Over more than 20 years of counseling lawyers in strategic communications, public relations, crisis communication, and law firm marketing, I have remained committed to innovation. I am thrilled to be included alongside other global leaders who are staying on the cutting edge of the industry." Rubel has received this recognition six years in a row.

A lawyer, leader and entrepreneur, Rubel is called on by law firms and their clients for high-stakes communications including high-profile litigation media relations. She is a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management and with the American Bar Foundation, and serves as a co-chair for the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) Advocacy Committee. She recently published her fourth book, Everyday PR: Harnessing Public Relations to Build Relationships, Brands & Businesses. A graduate of Drexel University and Widener University School of Law, Rubel and her family live in Bucks County, Pa.

Carr is a business development and digital marketing expert. She leads relationship management and tracks market and emerging trends. She supports the agency and its clients with establishing competitive advantage, winning new business, and implementing strategies that impact long-term business objectives. In addition, Carr serves as the executive producer for the firm's widely acclaimed and award-winning podcast, On Record PR.

"I am honored to be named among Lawdragon's Global 100 Leaders list for the fourth year in a row," said Carr. "I am passionate about identifying innovation solutions to support our clients worldwide to remain leaders in their respective markets, and it is gratifying to receive this recognition for my efforts in crafting successful client strategies."

A recognized source for legal industry trends, Carr is a frequent speaker at national events and a regular contributor to legal publications. As an active member of the LMA, Carr has served in several leadership positions. Carr received her bachelor's degree in communication studies from East Stroudsburg University, a Graduate Certificate of Marketing from The University of Texas at Dallas, earned a Mini-MBA in Digital Marketing from Rutgers Business School, and completed an Executive Education Program at Columbia Business School. She and her family reside in New Jersey.

Lawdragon, a legal media company, showcases and recognizes the nation's leading lawyers and legal service providers. The 100 leaders recognized by Lawdragon are among the world's most valued management, marketing, communication, and recruiting professionals by law firm leaders. The list is compiled from submissions and journalistic research, and selections are vetted by a board of their peers.

Furia Rubel Marketing and Public Relations is a corporate communications and crisis management agency serving clients internationally. The certified woman-owned agency provides strategic planning, +marketing, public relations, crisis management, business development, content marketing, and social media services to a wide array of professional service clients. Furia Rubel represents law firms and legaltech organizations, financial, banking and accounting companies, governments and municipalities, and behavioral health and elder care organizations. For more information, visit http://www.furiarubel.com.

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KUALA LUMPUR, May 24, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - - Alphaus Inc. (https://alphaus.cloud/en/), the market leader in cloud financial management (CFM) solutions in Japan with a growing regional presence in Southeast Asia, is extending its suite of SaaS solutions to cater to SMEs and large enterprises running on cloud infrastructure.

Having successfully delivered huge cost savings to companies in Japan and Southeast Asia through its proven solutions for managed service providers (MSP), the company is now globally introducing OCTO, a SaaS-based FinOps platform for any business that uses cloud infrastructure for its operations. Beyond cost savings, OCTO enables finance, FinOps and DevOps teams to work together effectively to achieve the best outcomes for the business. Moreover, OCTO integrates effectively with a multitude of third-party solutions, acting as the connecting hub that brings them all together. This seamless integration enhances user experience, solidifying OCTO as an essential tool for end-users.

Companies interested in minimizing wasted cloud spend, saving costs and maximizing their ROI are now invited to sign up for the waitlist to experience the many benefits of OCTO.

OCTO enables cost aggregation by account, service, or tags with centralized account management for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Smart visualization through project-specific dashboards provides a clear view and understanding of all cloud costs. With advanced tag management, OCTO then intelligently distributes project costs and allocates credits and savings through its optimization capabilities. It helps businesses with a comprehensive cost optimization cycle covering numerous daily operations and enabling auto-pilot cost optimization, together with detailed metrics for gauging success of plans and actions.

"Due to the growing complexity of cloud technologies, most businesses find it a significant challenge to track cloud usage and associated costs across the organization. This lack of clear visibility and understanding of cloud costs negates the potential benefits and savings for companies by using the cloud," said Hajime Hirose, CEO of Alphaus. "We aim to solve this problem at scale with a versatile, comprehensive, and user-centric solution like OCTO, and help any business- whether it is a SME or a large-enterprise- to fully realize the benefits of using the cloud. Beyond understanding cloud spend, we want to empower businesses to seamlessly manage and optimize that spend with appropriate allocation, generate savings, and make a tangible impact on their bottom line."

Don't miss out on the opportunity to save on cloud costs and maximize your ROI. Sign up for the waitlist today and be among the first to experience the many benefits of OCTO. Visit: https://lp.alphaus.cloud/

About Alphaus Inc.

Alphaus (https://alphaus.cloud/en/), a VC-backed tech start-up on a mission to simplify cloud computing for everyone, specializes in Cloud Financial Management (CFM) solutions. The company enables cloud services partners and other businesses to understand, manage and optimize complicated cloud spend, billings and resource allocation for maximizing ROI on their investments in the cloud. Alphaus provides a suite of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for multi-cloud management supporting AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Founded in 2015, Alphaus Inc. is backed by reputed investors like DNX Ventures, NTT DoCoMo Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Archetype Ventures, Accord Ventures, and 500 Global. The company's roster of clients includes NTT Data, Nomura Research Institute (NRI), and ISI-Dentsu. Headquartered in Japan, Alphaus has a rapidly growing Global Delivery Centre and Regional Headquarter in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to support its rapid expansion in the Asia Pacific and Oceania regions.

Media Contact:

Hajime Hirose, CEO

Tel: +81.70.3173.7354

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Collaboration Opens Prestigious Pathway for Students to Complete Culinary Arts Degree at Ecole Ducasse in France

PARIS and CHICAGO , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecole Ducasse and Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (Escoffier) announced today a new academic partnership offered to Escoffier students interested in pursuing their culinary arts degree with immersive study abroad program at Ecole Ducasse campuses in France .

The partnership is an academic collaboration between Escoffier, the largest culinary school brand in the U.S. , and Ecole Ducasse, Culinary School founded by renowned multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse . As a result of the partnership, qualifying students now have the unprecedented opportunity to expand their education and techniques and learn alongside Ecole Ducasse's renowned instructors at the Paris -based campuses' state-of-the-art facilities.

"We welcome Escoffier's next generation of talented students and designed these dedicated pathways to inspire and enhance their educational experiences by learning from our chef instructors, Meilleurs Ouvriers de France , craftsmen, and hospitality experts" said Elise Masurel , managing director, Ecole Ducasse.

Escoffier students who have completed their associate degree or diploma program in culinary arts at Escoffier's Austin or Boulder campuses, including online distance learning programs, are eligible to enter the second year of Ducasse's three-year bachelor's degree in culinary arts and graduate from the prestigious culinary school in Paris, France .

"This is a partnership Auguste Escoffier himself would be proud of," stated Kirk Bachmann , Escoffier's Boulder campus president and provost. "This joint effort is an homage to Auguste's legacy of chefs supporting one another and always striving to learn and hone techniques," added Bachmann.

The Ecole Ducasse and Escoffier partnership also includes a wide range of eight to nine-week long study-abroad educational programs for qualifying Escoffier students. Led by Ecole Ducasse's culinary and pastry chef instructors, the immersive programs are designed to enhance core culinary programs and bring famed chef Alain Ducasse's culinary vision and French gastronomy to life for students during their stay in France .

For more information about the Ecole Ducasse and Escoffier Study Abroad program, visit https://www.escoffier.edu/french-culinary-school/

About Auguste Escoffier College of Culinary Arts

Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is the largest culinary school brand in the U.S. (based on comparable student population data currently reported in IPEDS). It is the only U.S. accredited institution, available through its Boulder campus, to offer 100 percent online culinary degrees which include culinary classes and real-world industry externships. Ranked in the top 10 culinary schools in the United States by USA Today and number one in the world by Chef's Pencil, the school's professional programs offer the proven combination of a classic and contemporary approach to modern industry skills training as well as sustainability-centered and business-focused curriculum. Escoffier offers Diploma programs for Culinary Arts, Pastry Arts, Food Entrepreneurship and Plant-Based Culinary Arts as well as Associate of Applied Science Degrees in Culinary Arts, Pastry Arts and Associate of Occupational Studies Degrees (AOS) in Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry, Plant-Based Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management, Holistic Nutrition and Wellness and Food Entrepreneurship. Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colorado is nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET). Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Austin, Texas is nationally accredited by the Council on Occupational Education (COE). Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is a Great Place to Work-Certified institution, a Newsweek Top Online Learning School and its Boulder (includes online programs) and Austin campuses are designated as Military Friendly Schools. For more information: https://www.escoffier.edu/

About Ecole Ducasse

Ecole Ducasse is a network of schools founded in 1999 by multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse , dedicated to the transmission of outstanding French expertise and excellence in culinary and pastry arts.

Ecole Ducasse runs three schools in France  Paris Studio , Paris Campus and the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie  as well as international schools with Manila Campus in the Philippines , Gurugram Campus in India , and Nai Lert Bangkok Studio in Thailand . All are united by a desire to share a passion for gastronomy with seasoned professionals as well as food enthusiasts, career changers and students. This broad portfolio of programs aims to meet all training needs: from short programs for experts or food enthusiasts to intensive two, four or six-month programs, to three-year undergraduate programs and bachelor's degree in culinary and pastry arts.

Ecole Ducasse is part of Sommet Education, a worldwide leader in hospitality education. For more information: https://www.ecoleducasse.com/en

Media Contacts:

Ecole Ducasse

Mrs. Anouck Weiss

Chief Communication Officer

Email: [email protected]

Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts

Patti Thomas

[email protected]

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SOURCE Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts
Popular Community Outreach Program Expands to Speedway Stores

IRVING, Texas , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The chill is on this summer as 7-Eleven, Inc. kicks off another year of Operation Chill, the company's signature community outreach program. Now in its 28th year, Operation Chill allows law enforcement officers to create positive connections by awarding a coupon to kids they see doing good deeds or exhibiting positive behavior  which can be redeemed for a free small Slurpee drink at any participating 7-Eleven, Speedway, or Stripes store. With the program new to Speedway, this summer will mark the first time kids will be able to redeem their Slurpee drink coupons at their local Speedway store.

"By bringing local law enforcement officers and neighborhood kids together, we are helping to create positive long-term relationships that are key to building thriving communities," said Marissa Jarratt , Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer at 7Eleven. "And with Speedway stores now participating in Operation Chill, we are thrilled to be bringing this popular community engagement program to even more neighborhoods than ever this summer."

This year, 7-Eleven will issue nearly 500,000 coupons to more than 1,300 participating law enforcement agencies across the country, that will, in turn, be rewarded to children in their local communities. Although the reasons for kids being rewarded vary  wearing a helmet while riding a bike, picking up litter, helping a neighbor or holding the door open  the result is the same: a FREE Slurpee drink and encouragement for being a great citizen. What's more, this summer, kids can use their coupon for new Slurpee drink flavors like Fanta Dragon Fruit Zero Sugar.

"Building relationships with the people we serve is integral to our role as law enforcement officers and a free Slurpee drink coupon is an easy and effective way for officers to build positive engagement with youth," said Officer Scott Peck , Columbus Division of Police. "We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in and support this great program. Programs like Operation Chill are key to helping us build stronger, safer communities and we are excited that Operation Chill will now be available at Speedway stores throughout our local communities."

Law enforcement agencies wishing to participate in the Operation Chill program can visit www.7-ElevenOperationChill.com where they can easily register online, request Slurpee drink coupons, and access best practices, tools and tips for making Operation Chill a success in their local communities.

The Operation Chill program was founded in Philadelphia with a goal to give law enforcement officers a positive way to interact with children and teens. Since its inception in 1995, Operation Chill has expanded to hundreds of cities across the country, donating more than 24 million coupons to U.S. law enforcement agencies in 7-Eleven, Inc. communities.

For a full list of law enforcement agencies participating in the Operation Chill outreach program, reach out to [email protected]11.com.

About 7Eleven, Inc.

7-Eleven, Inc. is the premier name in the U.S. convenience-retailing industry. Based in Irving, Texas , 7-Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada . In addition to 7-Eleven stores, 7-Eleven, Inc. operates and franchises Speedway, Stripes, Laredo Taco Company and Raise the Roost Chicken and Biscuits locations. Known for its iconic brands such as Slurpee, Big Bite and Big Gulp, 7-Eleven has expanded into high-quality sandwiches, salads, side dishes, cut fruit and protein boxes, as well as pizza, chicken wings and mini beef tacos. 7-Eleven offers customers industry-leading private brand products at an outstanding value. Customers can earn and redeem points on various items in stores nationwide through its 7Rewards and Speedy Rewards loyalty programs with more than 80 million members, place an order in the 7NOW delivery app in over 95% of the convenience retailer's footprint, or rely on 7-Eleven for other convenient services. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com.

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SOURCE 7-Eleven, Inc.
GREENWICH, Conn. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AdminaHealth, the leading provider of employee benefits billing solutions for the healthcare, insurance, and voluntary benefits marketplace, is pleased to announce the promotion of Christopher Arcoleo to the position of Vice President of Sales.

"[Arcoleo's] proven success in the industry has been a key contributor to our growth."

With over three decades of successful sales leadership, national account management, and channel development, Arcoleo brings unique expertise to help clients with the digital transformation of their enrollment, benefits administration, and premium billing processes. He has worked with a variety of companies, from startups to large enterprises such as Centivo, Zywave, Liazon, bswift, Benergy and Decisely, to help them achieve their sales and revenue goals.

As VP, Arcoleo will be responsible for leading sales growth; developing consultative relationships with brokers, carriers, employers, and third-party administrators; and helping to implement customized SaaS billing solutions. Brokers and TPAs especially appreciate the significant value-add that AdminaHealth brings, along with the opportunity to increase renewals and new business. Arcoleo's experience and leadership play an important role in ensuring that AdminaHealth continues to deliver exceptional service to its clients.

"We are thrilled to promote Chris to Vice President of Sales," said Robert A. Bull , CEO and Founding Member of AdminaHealth. "His proven success in the industry has been a key contributor to our growth. We are confident that his skills and expertise will help us continue to expand our business and deliver outstanding value to our clients."

Arcoleo added, "I'm excited to take on this larger role and more responsibility. I have the privilege of working with this remarkable team of professionals who are committed to delivering an exceptional customer experience and look forward to working closely with the sales team to drive AdminaHealth's reach even further."

About AdminaHealth

AdminaHealth is the leading provider of patented billing and payment solutions for the insurance industry. The company's innovative platform simplifies the administration of benefits and streamlines payment processes for brokers, carriers, employers, and third-party administrators. Founded in 2014, AdminaHealth is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut , and serves clients throughout the United States .

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SOURCE AdminaHealth
SHANGHAI , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative brought together businesses from Africa and China at the SNEC 16th International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference as part of its mission to deliver a green industrial revolution in Africa .

In a new show of South-South cooperation, the roundtable united leadership from 9 African and 14 Chinese energy businesses, as well as financiers and energy sector experts, to identify opportunities and strategies for increasing Africa's renewable energy manufacturing and export capabilities. There was a specific focus on the potential for investment, and knowledge and technology transfer between Africa and China .

This opportunity for African businesses to directly express their needs for scaling up operations to Chinese counterparts was organized by Sustainable Energy for All and the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association. Both are partners in the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative, along with the African Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and ClimateWorks Foundation.

"African countries can benefit greatly from local renewable energy manufacturing in terms of economic development, climate change mitigation and energy security," said Damilola Ogunbiyi , CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. "But they need support to grow these industries and make them competitive, which calls for international collaboration with global leaders in renewables development."

A report published earlier this year by the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative identified opportunities for solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery materials refining and assembly across a series of African countries. The report found that South-South collaboration, such as strategic partnerships with China , India and ASEAN countries, will be key to realizing this potential.

These international partners require a range of pull factors, such as local market potential, availability of necessary infrastructure, favourable enabling environment, and a strong local supply chain to be in place before they will consider investment opportunities in Africa . The roundtable today sought to address some of these key barriers.

Xiaohua Zhang , China Country Director of ClimateWorks Foundation, said: "Strengthening international cooperation on renewable power is key to advancing the global clean energy transition, addressing the climate crisis, supporting economic development, and benefiting people in their daily lives. As a global leader in renewables, China can play a pivotal role in promoting clean power worldwide. ClimateWorks Foundation is proud to support this South-South cooperation, and we hope to foster greater dialogue and partnerships among institutions and experts to help scale global green recovery and sustainable development."

Okenwa Anayo, CEO and Technical Director of Nayo Tropical Technology Limited, was one of the African representatives who attended the session in Shanghai . "We at Nayo Tropical Technology see the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative partnership as a great platform to leverage in our new drive for growth, particularly through integration and scaled-up production in partnership with more advanced manufacturers from Asia and other parts of the world," he said.

With a sharp focus on facilitating South-South cooperation, the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative is planning additional roundtables to be held throughout the coming year as it continues to drive investment and mobilize action for Africa's green industrial development.

About Sustainable Energy for All

Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is an international organization that works in partnership with the United Nations and leaders in government, the private sector, financial institutions, civil society, and philanthropies to drive faster action towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7)access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030in line with the Paris Agreement on climate. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2084337/Sustainable_Energy_for_All.jpg

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SOURCE Sustainable Energy for All
SEATTLE , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a successful prebooking period, Holland America Line officially opened bookings to the public today, May 24 , for its two newest Grand Voyages. With the Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole and Grand World Voyage both departing in January 2025 , this will be the first time that Holland America Line is offering two Grand Voyages of more than 120 days simultaneously.

Holland America Line has officially opened bookings to the public for its two newest Grand Voyages.

The Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole aboard Volendam enables cruisers to visit five continents on a journey that travels south-to-north, while the Grand World Voyage aboard Zuiderdam covers six continents on an east-to-west route, each sailing roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida .

"We craft one-of-a-kind itineraries that resonate with our world voyage guests, as indicated by pre-bookings on these cruises," said Beth Bodensteiner , Holland America Line's chief commercial officer. "Our team put together two amazing Grand Voyages so our guests can't go wrong with either. We're excited to offer two distinctly different, yet equally bucket-list itineraries."

2025 Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole Highlights  Volendam

133 days. Departing Jan. 25, 2025 , roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale .

, roundtrip from . Follows a south-north-south route through the Panama Canal , down along the west coast of South America to Antarctica , then up along Argentina and Brazil to the heart of the Amazon River . The ship then crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Africa , sails north to Europe and up to the North Cape before heading west across the northern Atlantic Ocean via Iceland and Greenland , and finally down the eastern shores of North America .

, down along the west coast of to , then up along and to the heart of the . The ship then crosses the to , sails north to and up to the North Cape before heading west across the northern via and , and finally down the eastern shores of . Pole to Pole: Down south Volendam spends four days of scenic cruising in Antarctica and up north the ship crosses the Arctic Circle to the North Cape.

and up north the ship crosses the to the North Cape. 68 total ports across five continents and 28 countries.

8 overnight calls: Fuerte Amador , Panama ; Callao ( Lima ), Peru ; Buenos, Aires, Argentina ; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Barcelona, Spain ; Lisbon, Portugal ; and Reykjavik, Iceland .

, ; Callao ( ), ; ; ; ; ; and . Memorable Moments: Panama Canal transit, Cape Horn , Antarctica , Falkland Islands , exploring the Amazon River , Strait of Gibraltar , Norwegian fjords, North Cape, Iceland and Greenland .

2025 Grand World Voyage Highlights  Zuiderdam

124 days. Departing Jan. 4, 2025 , roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale .

, roundtrip from . Transits the Panama Canal and makes way to Easter Island before crossing the South Pacific to Australia . Explores the Great Barrier Reef en route to Indonesia and Sri Lanka , then sails south to Cape Town, South Africa , by way of the Seychelles , back up along the eastern coast of Africa , through the Suez Canal to Portugal before crossing the Atlantic Ocean .

and makes way to before crossing the to . Explores the Great Barrier Reef en route to and , then sails south to , by way of the , back up along the eastern coast of , through the to before crossing the . 46 total ports in 32 countries across six continents.

9 overnight calls: Callao (two nights); Easter Island ; Papeete, Tahiti; Sydney, Australia ; Singapore ; Cape Town ; Mombasa, Kenya ; Safaga, Egypt ; and Barcelona .

; Papeete, Tahiti; ; ; ; Mombasa, ; Safaga, ; and . 7 late-night departures: Manta, Ecuador ; Seychelles ; Cape Town and Durban, South Africa ; Aqaba, Jordan ; Civitavecchia ( Rome ), Italy ; and Gibraltar , U.K.

; ; and ; Aqaba, ; Civitavecchia ( ), ; and , Memorable Moments: Panama Canal transit, two nights at Callao allowing time to visit Machu Picchu , Easter Island , scenic cruising in the Great Barrier Reef, two full days in Cape Town , the opportunity to visit Petra from Jordan and experience Luxor from Safaga.

The combined Grand Voyages will feature more than 4,000 live performances, 1,400 shore excursions and 5,800 pickleball games  more than any two simultaneous voyages for Holland America Line. An infographic about the breadth and depth of the voyages can be found here.

Grand Rendezvous in Barcelona

On April 24, 2025 , Volendam and Zuiderdam will meet in Barcelona, Spain , for a joint overnight call, bringing the two Grand Voyages together for a celebration. Special festivities involving both ships will mark the occasion of the perfectly planned dual visit.

Early Booking Bonus Benefits

Guests who book the full 133-day Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole or 124-day Grand World Voyage by June 3, 2024 , receive onboard spending credits and amenities valued at up to $8,800 or $8,500 respectively, per person. New perks for all guests who book early feature complimentary Surf Wi-Fi package, a $500 air credit per person if booked through Flight Ease and complimentary roundtrip airport transfers.

Additional extras can include complimentary luggage delivery service to and from the Fort Lauderdale airport , prepaid crew appreciation and laundry and drycleaning service when booking certain stateroom categories. Terms and conditions apply. Visit hollandamerica.com for full details.

Cruise fares for the 2025 Grand World Voyage begin at $24,999 , while cruise fares for the 2025 Grand Voyage: Pole to Pole begin at $26,399 , both per person, double occupancy. Taxes, fees and port expenses are additional.

For more information about Holland America Line, consult a travel advisor, call 1-877-SAIL HAL (877-724-5425) or visit hollandamerica.com.

Editors Note: Photos are available at https://www.cruiseimagelibrary.com/c/or6uqew0.

Find Holland America Line on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the Holland America Blog. You can also access all social media outlets via the home page at hollandamerica.com.

About Holland America Line

Holland America Line, part of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE:CCL and NYSE: CUK), has been exploring the world for 150 years with expertly crafted itineraries, extraordinary service and genuine connections to each destination. Offering an ideal mid-sized ship experience, its fleet visits nearly 400 ports in 114 countries around the world and has shared the thrill of Alaska for 75 years  longer than any other cruise line. Holland America Line's 11 vessels feature a diverse range of enriching activities and amenities focused on destination immersion and personalized travel. The best live music at sea fills each evening at Music Walk, and dining venues feature exclusive selections from a Culinary Council of world-famous chefs.

CONTACT: Bill Zucker , Erik Elvejord

PHONE: 800-637-5029, 206-626-9890

EMAIL: [email protected]

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SOURCE Holland America Line
Report to Congress summarizes pandemic-era data on school enrollments, learning recovery strategies and challenges, and difficulty hiring K12 teachers

WASHINGTON , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2023 Report on Condition of Education released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical center within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), presents the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in every dimension of American education from prekindergarten (preK) and elementary school through college and beyond.

"Blending data from over a dozen sources, the 2023 edition of the Report on the Condition of Education contributes to our understanding of the challenges and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic," said NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr . "These challenges include declines in math and reading scores during the pandemic and greater numbers of students seeking mental health services. This is happening against the backdrop of difficulties hiring teachers and changes in enrollment patterns, for example a drop and partial rebound for public preK and kindergarten enrollment. Our understanding of these issues will grow as NCES continues to collect and report data in the coming months and years."

The annual Report on the Condition of Education is mandated by the U.S. Congress and is designed to serve as a useful resource to families, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. Topics range from preK through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. This report offers a summary of findings from a series of online indicators. A selection of these indicators will be released today alongside the report, with more to follow later this summer.

As part of the 2023 release, NCES is making available several enhancements today to the Condition of Education system. One of these enhancements includes the release of two new indicators spotlighting challenges faced by schools during the coronavirus pandemic. The first focuses on teacher openings and finds that generally, among public and private schools with open teaching positions in particular subject-matter fields, higher percentages reported having difficulties filling these openings in 202021 than in 201112. The second features a closer look at pandemic-era challenges and public school strategies for pandemic recovery.

Additional enhancements for 2023 include new reporting for Puerto Rico in the areas of family characteristics, public school enrollment, public school revenues and expenditures, and measures of achievement in mathematics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

NCES is also releasing today the latest set of Digest of Education Statistics tables. These 184 Digest of Education Statistics tables provide more a more detailed look at the topics discussed within the Condition of Education system.

The Condition of Education system, including the full report and indicators can be accessed at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe. Today's release also includes a national dashboard (At a Glance), a Reader's Guide, and a Glossary.

The Report on the Condition of Education is a compilation of statistical information collected and assembled from other statistical products. For more information on the data sources, please visit https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/sources.

Key Findings

Teacher Openings During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Challenges and Strategies For Recovering from the Pandemic

Among public schools with at least one open teaching position, the percentage of schools that found it difficult or were unable to fill these positions was higher in 202021 than in 201112 across 12 reported subject areas. This was also true of private schools in 10 of 12 reported subjects.

Among public schools hiring for open teaching positions in special education, 40 percent reported having difficulties filling the opening in 2020-21, compared with 17 percent in 201112.

Between 201213 and 201920, the number of persons enrolled in traditional teacher preparation programs decreased by 30 percent, and the number of persons completing traditional teacher preparation programs decreased by 28 percent.

In April 2022 , some 70 percent of public schools reported that the percentage of students who sought mental health services from school had increased since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Overall, only 12 percent of schools strongly agreed, and 44 percent moderately agreed, that their school was able to effectively provide mental health services to all students in need.

Preprimary, Elementary, and Secondary Education

In fall 2021, more than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, school enrollments generally remained lower than their pre-pandemic levels.

The percentage of 3- to 4-year-olds enrolled in school in 2021 (50 percent) was 10 percentage points higher than 2020 (40 percent) but remained lower than 2019 (54 percent). Some 86 percent of 5-year-olds were enrolled in school in 2021, compared with 91 percent in 2019.

Between fall 2010 and fall 2019, total public elementary and secondary school enrollment increased by 3 percent, from 49.5 million to 50.8 million students. Total enrollment then dropped by 3 percent to 49.4 million students in fall 2020 and remained at a similar level (49.4 million students) in fall 2021.

From fall 2020 to fall 2021, enrollments in preK and kindergarten both rebounded somewhat (increasing by 14 and 5 percent, respectively), while enrollment in grades 18 decreased by 1 percent. However, preK and kindergarten enrollments in 2021 remained lower than 2019 levels.

Between fall 2010 and fall 2021, traditional public schools and public charter schools experienced different trends in enrollment. During this period, public charter school enrollment more than doubled, from 1.8 million students in fall 2010 to 3.7 million students in fall 2021an overall increase of 1.9 million students.

Postsecondary Education

In 2021, the overall rate for male students who immediately enrolled in college (55 percent) was lower than the rate for female students (70 percent).

Patterns of enrollment over time differed between male and female students. While the immediate college enrollment rate for male students was lower in 2021 than in 2010 (55 vs. 63 percent), the rates for female students in these two years were not measurably different from each other.

Between fall 2010 and fall 2021, total undergraduate enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions decreased by 15 percent (from 18.1 million to 15.4 million students). Drops in undergraduate enrollment during the coronavirus pandemic (i.e., between fall 2019 and fall 2021) accounted for 42 percent of the total decline during the period between fall 2010 and fall 2021.

Total enrollment in postbaccalaureate programs increased by 5 percent between fall 2010 and fall 2019 (from 2.9 million to 3.1 million students) and continued to increase by another 5 percent during the pandemic (to 3.2 million students in fall 2021).

Among students who began at 2-year institutions in 2013,

completion rates 8 years after entry were higher among full-time students (45 percent for non-first-time students and 37 percent for first-time students) than among part-time students (24 percent for non-first-time students and 19 percent for first-time students); and



transfer rates 8 years after entry were higher among non-first-time students (38 percent for part-time students and 26 percent for full-time students) than among first-time students (25 percent for part-time students and 22 percent for full-time students).

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

In general, greater percentages of high school graduates had completed mathematics and science courses in 2019 than in 2009, including courses in algebra II (85 vs. 80 percent), precalculus/mathematical analysis (40 vs. 36 percent), and all three subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics (35 vs. 30 percent). However, the percentage of graduates who had completed calculus was lower in 2019 than in 2009 (16 vs. 18 percent).

In 2019, at grade 8, both the U.S. average mathematics score (515) and the U.S. average science score (522) were higher than the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scale centerpoint (500 for both assessments). In mathematics, 10 education systems had higher average mathematics scores than the United States , 7 had scores that were not measurably different, and 28 education systems had lower average scores. In science, 10 education systems had higher average science scores than the United States , 9 had scores that were not measurably different, and 26 education systems had lower average scores.

average mathematics score (515) and the average science score (522) were higher than the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scale centerpoint (500 for both assessments). In mathematics, 10 education systems had higher average mathematics scores than , 7 had scores that were not measurably different, and 28 education systems had lower average scores. In science, 10 education systems had higher average science scores than , 9 had scores that were not measurably different, and 26 education systems had lower average scores. Of the degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions in 202021, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields made up 8 percent of associate's degrees, 21 percent of bachelor's degrees, 17 percent of master's degrees, and 15 percent of doctor's degrees. The percentage of degrees conferred in a STEM field varied by student race/ethnicity and was highest for Asian students at all degree levels except for doctor's degrees, which was highest for students of Two or more races and White students.

In 2022, the average 4th-grade NAEP mathematics score (236) was lower than the score in 2019 (241), but it was higher than the score in 1990 (213). Similarly, for 8th-grade students, the average mathematics score in 2022 (274) was lower than the score in 2019 (282), but it was higher than the score in 1990 (263). Compared to 2019, the score gap between the highest-performing (90th percentile) and lowest-performing (10th percentile) students in 2022 was larger at grade 4 but not measurably different at grade 8.

Population Characteristics and Economic Outcomes

Between 2010 and 2022, educational attainment rates among 25- to 29-year-olds increased at different levels of attainment. In general, educational attainment rates increased for both male and female 25- to 29-year-olds as well as for most racial/ethnic groups. However, attainment gaps between some groups persisted in 2022.

In March 2022 , the employment rate of 25- to 34-year-olds was higher for those with higher levels of educational attainment.

, the employment rate of 25- to 34-year-olds was higher for those with higher levels of educational attainment. At all levels of education attainment, the employment rate of 25- to 34-year-olds in March 2022 was higher than the rate in March 2021 .

was higher than the rate in . For 25- to 34-year-olds who worked full time, year-round, higher educational attainment was also associated with higher median earnings. This pattern was consistent for each year from 2010 through 2021.

The National Center for Education Statistics, a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, is the statistical center of the U.S. Department of Education and the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition and progress of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally.

Follow NCES on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube and subscribe to the NCES Newsflash to receive email notifications when new data is released.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent and nonpartisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Its mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public.

CONTACT:

Josh Delarosa , National Center for Education Statistics, [email protected]

James Elias , Hager Sharp , [email protected]

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SOURCE National Center for Education Statistics
NEW YORK , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, during the 4th International Tea Day, China , known as the birthplace of tea, joined hands with governments, international organizations, leading tea companies, and industry organizations to organize around 40 tea-themed events worldwide, aiming to deepen the understanding of Chinese tea culture among overseas populations.

As a leading chain brand of Chinese tea established by a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage 'Tie Guan Yin' craftsmanship, Bama Tea Company was invited to represent Chinese tea and made consecutive appearances in promotional events held in China , the United States , Italy , and other countries. It showcased the essence of Chinese tea culture and presented China's unique charm to guests from around the world. Its star products, such as 'Sai Zhen Zhu Tie Guan Yin' and 'The Light of East Lake ' series, captivated guests from various countries with their distinctive flavors.

From May 18 th to 22nd, Wang Wenli , the Chairman of Bama Tea Company and a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage 'Tie Guan Yin' craftsmanship, was invited to speak as a representative of the Chinese tea industry at the United Nations in the United States , the Chinese Embassy in the United States , and the China General Chamber of Commerce- USA . He shared the stories of China's intangible cultural heritage tea culture with Ambassador Zhang Jun , the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, Consul General Huang Ping of the Chinese Consulate General in New York , as well as representatives of more than 20 countries at the United Nations and tea culture experts, scholars, and enthusiasts from around the world. His presentations showcased China's profound cultural heritage and received praise from the representatives of various countries.

On May 22 nd, at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy , the Anxi Tie Guan Yin Tea Culture System was awarded the certificate of 'Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System'. Bama Tea Company, as the leading brand in Anxi Tie Guan Yin tea sales in China for 14 consecutive years, sent its chief tea fairy, Jiang Yutong, to the event to showcase the exquisite tea art from China to the world.

The exhibition area of Bama Tea Company attracted a large number of visitors who were fascinated by the stories of Chinese tea and the beauty of the East. Accompanied by live tea performances, guests from various countries enjoyed tea tasting while exploring the tea culture exhibition, fully experiencing the charm of Chinese tea culture. The atmosphere was joyful and lively, and the guests were reluctant to leave.

As a benchmark tea company in China , Bama Tea Company will be invited to hold promotional events for Chinese intangible cultural heritage tea culture in countries such as South Africa in the future. By empowering the tea industry with tea culture, it will contribute to international exchanges and cooperation among excellent Chinese tea brands, showcasing the unique charm of Chinese tea culture, and further promoting outstanding traditional culture to go beyond China and spread to the world.

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SOURCE Bama Tea Company
An opinion piece that you describe, praises or criticizes, on the whole or partly, to cultural or entertainment work. It must be written by an expert on the matter

Fallen Leaves could be a silent film, although that would deprive us of all its songs (tangos, mambos, Finnish pop) and its other soundtrack: the dire news about the war in Ukraine coming through radio broadcasts. The conflict has slipped into the 76th Cannes film festival thanks to the most romantic film on the program, directed by the charismatic and laconic Finnish genius Aki Kaurismaki. His new movie is the simplest, saddest and most perfect in the entire competition. It is the favorite in terms of the star ratings it has received and the first  and so far the only  film in competition that has attracted an enthusiastic ovation from the critics.

Fallen Leaves runs for 81 minutes and tells the story of two lonely beings, an alcoholic and a woman without much luck, who cross paths one day. On their first date they go to the movies together to see Jim Jarmuschs zombie film The Dead Dont Die. Kaurismaki unpretentiously displays his cinematographic references: the couple says goodbye at the end of their date in front of a poster of Brief Encounter, the David Lean classic.

But the true beacon of this film is Charles Chaplin, who is still the best ever, said Kaurismaki at the press conference. He created cinema as it is today and he kept it simple. There is an amusing reference to Chaplins incomparable 1931 classic City Lights in the final scene. As was the case with Chaplin, the Finnish director is guided by emotions, but also by the architecture of spaces that are everything in a film about a worker, Holappa, played by Jussi Vatanen a kind of Nordic James Stewart and a supermarket employee, Ansa, played by Alma Poysti.

One of the central themes of the film is alcohol, but when the filmmaker was asked about it at Cannes, he replied with his usual sarcasm: I chose it because it is so unfamiliar to me. Kaurismaki, who has lived in Portugal for years, has created a beautiful declaration of intent about his new film: Although until now I have created my dubious reputation by making mostly unnecessary violent films, I finally ended up, oppressed by all the pointless and criminal wars, writing a story about the subjects through which humanity might have a future: the longing for love, solidarity, hope and respect for other people, nature [...] In the film, I tip my too-small hat to my own film gods Bresson, Ozu and Chaplin, but I am still solely responsible for this catastrophic failure!

According to his actors, Kaurismaki doesnt like rehearsals and is a man of the old school, said Poysti. Looking somewhat the worse for wear at his 66 years of age, this shy filmmaker with a somewhat surly sense of humor admitted that he included his own dog in the cast. The animal, which was abandoned near his home in Portugal, deserves the Palme dDog.

When Kaurismaki was asked by a Ukrainian journalist if he was not afraid to include echoes of a war that already seems to bore everyone in Europe, the filmmaker, who rejects Finlands membership in NATO, replied: Unfortunately, Europe no longer exists, at least in philosophical terms. I, as a Finn, couldnt shoot a movie now without remembering what is happening. Slava Ukraine! [Glory to Ukraine!].

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GENEVA , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Earlier today, Bestfly announced the completion of the acquisition of Austria -based MS Aviation as part of its broader European expansion strategy. MS Aviation is an aircraft asset management company based in Austria offering end-to-end support solutions for various aircraft types. As part of the acquisition by Bestfly, MS Aviation will relocate its offices to Graz, Austria .

"Bestfly has developed an expansion strategy that focuses on critical steps in the European and Caribbean markets. Leveraging our recent additions to our executive board, we are executing this expansion strategy in multiple phases. The acquisition of MS Aviation is a critical part of this growth strategy," said Nuno Pereira , Chairman & Group CEO, Bestfly. "MS Aviation gives us a further foothold in Europe from where we will expand the existing corporate aircraft management services, add another link to our current European VIP charter business, and further establish a broader structure of commercial aircraft ACMI solutions."

"We are already engaged in the evaluation of various commercial aircraft types to be added to our business aviation expertise. Coming into the Bestfly aviation group and being supported by their strong leadership team with a significant market footprint is another step to expanding the capabilities of MS Aviation," said Michael Mayer , Accountable Manager of MS Aviation. "We have good experience on Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Dassault business jets so this is yet another area of efficiency that will be added to Bestfly's operations in Europe ."

About Bestfly

Bestfly was established in 2009 as an Angolan company for ground handling services and has since grown into a global aviation group with several new markets and business segments. The company has expanded its presence from Angola into Aruba , Portugal , Cape Verde , Austria , UAE , Congo, Guyana , and Senegal. Bestfly has assembled a very experienced team to ensure the highest operational standards, organizational efficiency, and commercial agility.

The group's current fleet stands at 27 aircraft based on an assortment of Bombardier, Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker and Cessna Citation business jets, Beechraft Kingair turboprops, Leonardo and Bell helicopters, Embraer commercial jets, and ATR72 turboprop aircraft. The diverse fleet is optimized to serve key commercial markets and long-term contract customers throughout Europe , Africa , Middle East , and the Caribbean.

As a founding member of the African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA), Bestfly is also a current member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

Bestfly.aero

For Further Information:

Communications Team, [email protected]

Marc Duchesne, Leliken Relations conseils, [email protected]

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SOURCE Bestfly
TORONTO , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Black Swan Graphene Inc. ("Black Swan") (or the "Company") (TSXV: SWAN) (OTCQB: BSWGF) (Frankfurt: R96) is pleased to provide an update on the industrial park concrete pour discussed in the Company's press release dated May 8 th, 2023, and to discuss Toronto 's recently announced initiative regarding limits on carbon emission for new buildings. Lastly, Black Swan anticipates sharing updates on recent progress achieved in collaboration with key customers actively engaged for polymer applications.

A shipment of product to Nationwide Engineering Research & Development ("NERD") was made earlier this month and is being used in a total of 180 tonnes of concrete using Concretene, NERD's graphene-enhanced admixture, for the construction of an industrial park near Redruth, Southwest England (see pictures below). This industrial park will offer 14 industrial units ranging from 2,500 and 3,500 sq ft, with the graphene-enhanced concrete being used for all external concrete aprons. The pour of 82.5 cubic meters was done with reinforced concrete designed to achieve a compressive strength of 40 to 50 megapascals (MPa) after curing, using the standard "CEM1" cementitious mix commonly used in construction.

Toronto 's Building Carbon Initiative

In May 2023 , Toronto , the fourth largest city in North America after Mexico City , New York and Los Angeles , became the first North American jurisdiction to require lower-carbon construction materials, limiting embodied carbon from new municipal building construction. New "City-owned" buildings must now limit upfront embodied emission intensity (emissions associated with manufacturing, transporting, and constructing major structural and envelope systems) to below 350 kilograms of CO2-equivalent per square metre of construction.1 For "non-city" buildings, this requirement is a tier 2 requirement, meaning optional, in the latest version of the Toronto Green Standard ("TGS"), but private developers should take note as tier 2 measures usually transition into tier 1, meaning they become mandatory requirements, when the next version of the TGS is implemented and the tiers are adjusted accordingly.2

Simon Marcotte , President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Swan, commented: "Similar standards initiated in California played a pivotal role in sparking the electric vehicle revolution. With the concrete industry being responsible for more than 8%3 of global CO2 emissions, it is only a matter of time before similar building codes continue to spread across the globe. This shift necessitates practical solutions which we can provide. Black Swan is part of a recently established fully integrated supply chain, including NERD and ARUP, a multinational engineering consultancy headquartered in London, United Kingdom , with 18,000 experts working across 140 countries, to provide turnkey solutions to the construction industry."

Corporate Matter

Black Swan announces the appointment of Ms. Deena Siblock as Corporate Secretary of the Company. Simon Marcotte commented: "One behalf of everyone at the Company, I would like to wish a warm welcome to Deena. I had the privilege to work with Deena at Arena Minerals Inc., which was recently acquired by Lithium Americas Corp., and I have seen firsthand her commitment to excellence. She will be a great asset to the Company."

About Black Swan Graphene Inc.

Black Swan is focused on the large-scale production and commercialization of patented high-performance and low-cost graphene products aimed at several industrial sectors, including concrete, polymers, Li-ion batteries, and others, which are expected to require large volumes of graphene. Black Swan aims to leverage the low cost and green hydroelectricity of the province of Quebec as well as the proximity of the province's emerging graphite industry in order to establish an integrated supply chain, reduce overall costs, and accelerate the deployment of graphene usage. On March 27, 2023 , Black Swan, Nationwide Engineering Research and Development Ltd. ("NERD") and Arup Group Limited ("Arup") announced strategic partnerships, establishing a fully integrated supply chain and providing a turnkey solution for the construction and concrete industries. Arup is a multinational engineering consultancy headquartered in London, United Kingdom , with 18,000 experts working across 140 countries. Black Swan's graphene processing technology was developed by Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd ("Thomas Swan") over the last decade. Thomas Swan is a United Kingdom -based global chemicals manufacturer, with a century-long track record and has been at the forefront of graphene innovation.

For more information, please visit: www.blackswangraphene.com

Black Swan Graphene Inc. on behalf of the Board of Directors

Simon Marcotte , CFA, President & Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to the TSXV listing, risk related to the failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with the industry; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of a scoping and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity prices fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Furthermore, performance results of graphene products as additives can vary widely depending on type and the specificity of the target material, the specifics of the graphene product itself, including but not limited to, carbon purity, particle size, surface agent, dispersion behavior, and application and usage methods. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements and initial test results. These forward-looking statements and test results are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

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SOURCE Black Swan Graphene Inc
 50,000 square-foot addition allows Endeavor Air to consolidate all crew training in Minneapolis-St. Paul

MINNEAPOLIS , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - (NYSE: CAE) (TSX: CAE)  CAE and Endeavor Air today inaugurated their expanded training centre in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota . The training centre recently underwent a 50,000 square-foot expansion to make space for Endeavor's Flight Operations and Inflight Training departments and three additional CRJ full-flight simulators (FFS) that will allow Endeavor Air to consolidate all its pilot and cabin crew training, which previously took place in multiple locations, at the state-of-the-art centre in Minneapolis-St. Paul . With this expansion, the facility is now the largest CRJ training facility in the world.

Endeavor Air anticipates that approximately 2,000 pilots will visit the Endeavor Air Learning Center at CAE each year for training. Currently 120 instructors support the flight operations training program and 16 instructors support the flight attendant training program. Between 2,000 and 2,300 flight attendants will come through the facility for both new-hire and annual recurrent training each year.

"We are thrilled to be here today with our long-standing partner, Endeavor Air, to celebrate the growth of the CAE Minneapolis- St. Paul training centre. The expanded training centre will not only support Endeavor Air as they train and recruit pilots but will also deliver efficiencies and a world-class training experience by consolidating all training in one centre housing state-of-the-art simulators." said Michel Azar-Hmouda, Vice President, Global Commercial Aviation Training. "Our partnership with Endeavor Air is a shining example of how CAE can rapidly and effectively scale its training operations to meet the needs of its airline customers as they grow."

"This newly expanded facility, made possible by our partnership with CAE, is a tremendous asset for Endeavor Air," said Jim Graham , CEO, Endeavor Air. "Our training programs always strive to set the Gold Standard in the industry, and we are committed to providing equally outstanding resources to help our crewmembers learn in the most effective way possible. This incredible facility allows us to co-locate our training and learning teams for both pilots and flight attendants, creating greater opportunities for collaboration and joint learning between departments."

The CAE Minneapolis- St. Paul training centre was first opened in 2017, with four CRJ FFSs. Today, the centre operates eight CRJ FFSs, two B737NG FFSs, three CRJ flight training devices (FTDs) and cabin crew training equipment.

CAE operates 70+ civil aviation training centres around the world and is uniquely positioned to provide operational efficiencies to our airline customers, like Endeavor Air, and deliver an exceptional training experience for its pilots and cabin crew.

ABOUT ENDEAVOR AIR

Endeavor Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. Flying as Delta Connection, Endeavor Air operates 151 regional jets on 700 daily flights to 100 destinations in the United States , Canada , and the Caribbean . Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN , Endeavor Air has hub operations in Atlanta , Cincinnati , Detroit , Minneapolis and New York City .

www.endeavorair.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/9EAir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/endeavor-air/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/endeavorair

Contact: Katharine Tinucci , Director, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

+1-612-383-9156

ABOUT CAE

At CAE, we equip people in critical roles with the expertise and solutions to create a safer world. As a technology company, we digitalize the physical world, deploying simulation training and critical operations support solutions. Above all else, we empower pilots, airlines, defence and security forces, and healthcare practitioners to perform at their best every day and when the stakes are the highest. Around the globe, we're everywhere customers need us to be with more than 13,000 employees in more than 200 sites and training locations in over 40 countries. CAE represents 75 years of industry firsts  the highest-fidelity flight, mission, and medical simulators, and personalized training programs powered by artificial intelligence. We're investing our time and resources into building the next generation of cutting-edge, digitally immersive training and critical operations solutions while keeping positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact at the core of our mission. Today and tomorrow, we'll make sure our customers are ready for the moments that matter.

Follow us on Twitter: @CAE_Inc

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cae.inc

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cae

Hashtags: #CAE; #CAEpilot

Read our FY22 Annual Activity and Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

Contacts:

General Media:

Samantha Golinski , Vice President, Public Affairs & Global Communications

+1-514-341-2000, ext. 7939, [email protected]

Trade Media:

Jessica Shergill , Director, Integrated Marketing and New Adjacencies

+1-514-341-2000, ext. 6944, [email protected]

Investor Relations:

Andrew Arnovitz , Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Enterprise Risk Management

+1-514-734-5760, [email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cae-and-endeavor-air-celebrate-major-expansion-to-minneapolis-st-paul-training-centre-301833749.html

SOURCE CAE INC.
Through the Community Development Certification, Credit Union

Will Expand Programs to Serve and Support Underserved Communities

GLENDALE, Calif. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- California Credit Union announced today that it has been certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) by the U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund. The CDFI certification is available only to organizations that have proven they provide financial services and products in communities that have historically lacked access to traditional banking services.

"We're excited to earn this certification, which will enable us to expand on our mission to improve lives in the communities we serve. The opportunities available to us as a CDFI will amplify our programs to invest in local Southern California communities that need it most through providing critically needed access to capital and education programs," said California Credit Union President/CEO Steve O'Connell . "We look forward to this next step in serving and supporting our underserved communities by moving more underbanked community members to traditional financial services and providing loan programs to spark new growth and development in our service areas."

Certified CDFIs are part of a national network promoting economic growth in America's underserved communities by financing businesses, creating jobs, and rebuilding neighborhoods. The CDFI certification allows qualified financial institutions to access federal funds to provide financial products and services in low-income communities for local residents and businesses. With California Credit Union's designation, there are now seven CDFI certified credit unions in Los Angeles County and 36 in the state, per CDFI Fund data as of May 15, 2023 .

With this certification, California Credit Union will apply for grant funding later this year to further expand its mission-driven programs for historically underserved communities that lack access to traditional, affordable financial products and services in its service areas.

CDFI certification is the latest step in California Credit Union's mission to meet the needs of underserved populations in its communities. Its Option Checking account was recently certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards, offering safe access to a traditional checking account, with zero fees or overdraft charges to support moving members out of a debt cycle. The credit union also has adjusted underwriting guidelines to provide easier access to funds, launched credit card products for members looking to build/restore credit, and offers a full suite of financial education and literacy resources.

In earning the certification, California Credit Union worked with CU Strategic Planning, a Tacoma, Washington -based firm that assists institutions with the CDFI application process.

About California Credit Union

California Credit Union is a federally insured, state chartered credit union founded in 1933 with assets over $4.5 billion , more than 170,000 members, and 24 retail branches. The credit union serves community members and businesses in the California counties of Los Angeles , Orange , Riverside , San Bernardino , San Diego , and Ventura as well as school employees throughout the state. The credit union operates in San Diego and Riverside Counties as North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union. The credit union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking, and leading-edge online and mobile banking. Visit ccu.com for more information or follow the credit union on Instagram or Facebook @CaliforniaCreditUnion.

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SOURCE California Credit Union
Special Musical Guests include James Fortune , Pastor Mike Jr . and Travis Greene

STONECREST, Ga., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Senior Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant will convene some of the globes most prolific ministry leaders for a three-day conference on June 27 through June 29 . Bishop Noel Jones , Pastor YPJ and Dr. Dharius Daniels joins a worldclass lineup at this year's NOV8 (Innovate) Conference at New Birth's Stonecrest campus, located at 6400 Woodrow Road . Award-winning artists James Fortune , Pastor Mike Jr . and Travis Greene will serve as special musical guests during the event.

"We are living in an incredibly defining moment in history when we are tasked with navigating a redefined world that has been turned upside since the pandemic and is opening doors for people to walk in their purpose in ways we could not imagine," said Bryant. "These incredible men and women of God are anointed to help us recalibrate our minds as we work to innovate spiritual calling and ignite our purpose like never before. This is a once in a lifetime event that will profoundly impact the lives of everyone in attendance."

The multi-day conference is designed with plenary sessions as well as breakout sessions led by national and international speakers. "I'm excited to join this powerful movement as we explore success, stumbling blocks, and God's inevitable and unimaginable plan for your lives," said Pastor YPJ. "Sometimes your success can speak much louder than words. So don't always tell people about what you're doing. Let what you're doing tell people about you."

Additional conference speakers include Dr. Jermone Glenn , Anthony ONeal , Benaisha Watson, Kezia M. Williams , Pastor Tiffany Wilson . Additional guests include Dr. Jermone Glenn , Gia Moron and Effect Fitness.

Registration for the conference is free but is not required for entry. With nearly 5,000 registered attendees, business vendor opportunities are available but are filling up quickly. For additional information, speaker bios, or to register, visit www.inov8conference.org.

ABOUT DR. JAMAL BRYANT

Visionary. Civil rights activist. Community organizer. Dr. Jamal - Harrison Bryant combines sound Biblical teaching, business acumen and political insight to propel the Body of Christ to action and greater levels of faith.

Since his youth, Dr. Bryant has prevailed against the odds  rising from G.E.D. to Ph.D. Prior to pastoring, he served as the national youth and college director of the NAACP for six years, where he helped to mobilize over 70,000 youth worldwide in non-violent campaigns.

Dr. Bryant , a third-generation minister, was the founding pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland , acclaimed as the fastest-growing African Methodist Episcopal church in the denomination's 200-year history.

With an undeniable gift to bridge generations from the Civil Rights movement to the Black Lives Matter era, Dr. Bryant incites change in the faith community. His ability to reach across social, economic and political barriers has helped people to not only experience the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ , but to activate success in their everyday lives. His ministry has become an incubator for

entrepreneurs, homeowners, and the like. Additionally, programs under his guidance have aimed to spread the Gospel, develop strong leaders, empower the economically disadvantaged, and challenge social injustices.

In December 2018 , Dr. Bryant was appointed the Senior Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia . His leadership efforts have already begun to strengthen the multi-generational bond among members, expand community outreach, cultivate families and expand the church's cultural significance.

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SOURCE New Birth Missionary Baptist Church
This award commends companies that foster a positive workplace culture

CHICAGO , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Echo Global Logistics, Inc. ("Echo"), a leading provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, has again been recognized as a great place to work by Chicago's 2023 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. This award program, hosted by the National Association for Business Resources, honors companies that demonstrate a steadfast commitment to their employees, identifiable in their human resources practices. This is the 10th time Echo has received this award.

"Our workplace culture fosters success within our dedicated team and across our business," said Doug Waggoner , Chief Executive Officer at Echo. "Cutting-edge technology combined with collaboration from our talented employees allows Echo to provide exceptional transportation management services for our clients and carriers and thriving careers for our team members."

"Through continuous training, guidance, and support, Echo employees drive our business and boost each other up with our wins," said Paula Frey , Chief Human Resources Officer at Echo. "We're proud to be recognized for the 10th time as a Best and Brightest company along with so many equally outstanding organizations. I'm appreciative of all the Echo team members who work hard and carry the load together every day."

Echo cultivates a positive and productive workplace environment by ensuring employees are supported with extensive training, robust benefits, mentorship and development opportunities, time off for volunteering, team-building events, and recreational clubs such as its own softball league. In addition to team member support programs, Echo remains dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion and offers a variety of business resource groups (BRGs) that foster inclusivity and encourage the amplification of diverse voices.

About Echo Global Logistics

Echo Global Logistics, Inc. is a leading, Fortune 1000 provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services. Headquartered in Chicago with more than 30 offices around the country, Echo offers freight brokerage and Managed Transportation Solutions for all major modes, including truckload, partial truckload, LTL, intermodal, temperature-controlled shipping and warehousing, and warehouse services. Named one of Newsweek's Most Trusted Companies in America, Echo leverages its proprietary web-based and mobile app technology, analyzing data from its network of more than 50,000 transportation providers to help its 35,000 clients simplify the critical tasks involved in transportation management. For more information on Echo Global Logistics, visit: www.echo.com.

ECHO: Corporate

MEDIA CONTACT:

Christopher Clemmensen

SVP of Marketing

Echo Global Logistics

312-784-2132

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SOURCE Echo Global Logistics, Inc.
Awards Celebrate Innovation and Achievement in Computer Vision and Edge AI

SANTA CLARA, Calif. , May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Edge AI and Vision Alliance today announced the 2023 winners of the Edge AI and Vision Product of the Year Awards . The Awards celebrate the innovation and achievement of the industry's leading companies that are enabling and developing products incorporating edge AI and computer vision technologies.

"With the accelerating pace of innovation in visual and edge AI, the number of new products being introduced using these technologies is growing exponentially and across virtually every industry," said Jeff Bier , Founder of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance. "Our annual awards program recognizes products that are exemplary in terms of innovation and potential industry impact. We applaud this year's winning companies and their teams for their innovation and dedication."

Entries are judged by an independent, expert panel on innovation, impact on customers and the market, and competitive differentiation.

The winners and their reactions to their awards include:

Best Edge AI Processor: SynopsysARC NPX6 NPU IP

"We are honored to be recognized by the Edge AI and Vision Alliance with the 2023 Product of the Year Award for Best Edge AI Processor. The Synopsys ARC NPX6 NPU IP delivers unmatched power-performance efficiency and support for the latest neural network models, such as transformers, to meet the data-intensive demands of AI-enabled systems requiring real-time compute," said John Koeter , Sr. Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for IP at Synopsys.

Best Camera or Sensor: QualcommCognitive ISP

"On behalf of Qualcomm's entire camera and AI engineering teams, I would like to thank the Edge AI and Vision Alliance for awarding the Qualcomm Cognitive ISP the 2023 Product of the Year Award for Best Camera or Sensor," said Judd Heape , VP of Product Management for Camera, Video and Computer Vision, Qualcomm. "The Cognitive ISP in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is a breakthrough for photo and video capture  it's the world's first ISP that can apply AI photo and video editing techniques based upon Semantic Segmentation in real-time. We're so excited to be recognized and already see many developers and OEMs harnessing the Cognitive ISP to create next-generation camera experiences."

Best Edge AI Software or Algorithm: OutsightSHIFT LiDAR

"The entire Outsight team is very proud that our 3D LiDAR processing software, SHIFT, was awarded as the 2023 Product of the Year Award for Best Edge AI Software or Algorithm by the Edge AI and Vision Alliance's panel of independent industry judges. This is not only a milestone for our company, but for the whole LiDAR industry as well. Originally developed for the automotive industry, LiDAR technology can gather extremely precise spatial data but needs proper processing software to generate real-time actionable information. Our 3D LiDAR processing software is agnostic to the manufacturer, meaning that it can extract data from any type of LiDAR. This offers a unique opportunity for operators to deploy a cost-effective solution that outperforms traditional imaging technology such as cameras or radar in a wide range of different industries," said Cedric Hutchings , Co-founder and CEO of Outsight.

Best Edge AI Developer Tool: DeciDeep Learning Development Platform

"Deci is honored to be recognized as the winner of 2023 Product of the Year Award for Best Edge AI Developer Tool. Our mission at Deci is to empower AI teams with tools to eliminate development bottlenecks and reach efficient inference performance, faster," said Yonatan Geifman , CEO and co-founder, Deci. "We are proud to be serving leading enterprises which deploy on edge devices across verticals and allowing them to achieve unparalleled inference performance while also significantly reducing their development time and compute costs."

Best Enterprise Edge AI End Product: Piera SystemsCanaree Air Quality Monitor

"Indoor air pollution has a significant impact on human health and productivity and our unique ability to classify pollution sources while saving energy will lead to healthier spaces everywhere. We are honored to receive the 2023 Product of the Year Award for Best Enterprise Edge AI End Product from the Edge AI and Vision Alliance in recognition of this unprecedented marriage of highly accurate air quality data with the latest in AI/ML techniques," said Raj Seelam , VP of Marketing and Customer Success, Piera Systems.

Best Consumer Edge AI End Product: Conservation X LabsSentinel Smart Camera

"The Sentinel team at Conservation X Labs is thrilled to accept the 2023 Product of the Year Award for Best Consumer Edge AI End Product from the Edge AI and Vision Alliance. The Sentinel is an end-to-end smart camera and monitoring system to better understand and protect wildlife and the people in contact with them," said Henrik Cox , Head of Product, Conservation X Labs. "Through the use of onboard AI, we can address the greatest threats on the frontlines of the biodiversity crisis, including but not limited to, poaching and wildlife trafficking, invasive species, zoonotic diseases, and changing animal behavior. This robust technology gives conservationists real-time information on events in the wild and the ability to respond to these threats through smart, data-driven decisions."

For more information on the Awards, please visit https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/edge-ai-vision-product-year-awards/ .

About the Edge AI and Vision Alliance

The Edge AI and Vision Alliance is a worldwide industry partnership bringing together technology providers and end-product companies who are creating and enabling innovative and practical applications for computer vision and edge AI. Membership is open to any company that supplies or uses technology for edge AI and vision systems and applications. For more information on the Alliance, visit https://www.edge-ai-vision.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Dino Brusco

Mob: +1 (650) 339-9892

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Edge AI and Vision Alliance
ENA's annual achievement awards recognize exemplary emergency nursing professionals



SCHAUMBURG, Ill. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Longtime emergency nurse and educator Cam Brandt , MS, RN, CEN, CPEN, might modestly consider herself a "basic nurse," but her accomplishments over a 40-year career prove otherwise.

ENA announced its annual achievement awards on Wednesday, including the prestigious Judith C. Kelleher Award.

Driven by a passion for caring for children, as well as teaching and mentoring ED nurses, Brandt's impact could be felt in the emergency departments where she worked and across the emergency nursing community through continual contributions as an ENA leader in Texas and key volunteer with many of the association's committees  most notably as part of the team that develops the cornerstone Emergency Nurse Pediatric Course.

On Wednesday, ENA announced Brandt as the recipient of the 2023 Judith C. Kelleher Award, the association's most prestigious honor.

"The ED and education are where it's at for me," said Brandt, of Keller, Texas . "I'm just a basic nurse who loved sharing my passion for education and whatever my passion in pediatric emergency care was at the time. This award is surreal. I never would have dreamed of where I am today."

ENA President Terry Foster , MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, FAEN, praised Brandt for her contributions to ENA and the entire emergency nursing community.

"Cam is the epitome of an emergency nurse: fierce, loyal, knowledgeable, persistent, driven and yet very caring," Foster said. "Her dedication and many years of direct emergency nursing experience speak volumes. She is a role model for many of our ENA members."

On Wednesday, ENA also announced the recipients of 12 other individual awards, as well as the annual State Council Achievement Awards and the Team Award.

Foster congratulated this year's recipients for their inspirational work amid the numerous challenges faced by emergency nurses today.

"It never ceases to amaze me how impactful ENA members are in their emergency departments and as volunteers with this wonderful organization," Foster said. "These awards are a reflection of how emergency nurses live ENA's mission every day."

The 2023 ENA award recipients and other honorees will be recognized during Emergency Nursing 2023 in San Diego Sept. 21-23 :

Barbara A. Foley Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention Award: Delfa Soto, MSN, RN, CEN, of California

Behind the Scenes Award: Vicki Sweet, MSN, RN, CEN, FAEN, of California

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives of the Year Award (Individual): Anna Valdez, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, of California

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives of the Year Award (State Council): Texas ENA State Council

Frank L. Cole Nurse Practitioner Award: David T. House , DNP, RN, CEN, of Texas

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mary Ellen Wilson , MS, RN, CEN, FAEN, of Ohio

Media Award: Gary Kleeblatt, The Middletown Press, Connecticut

Nurse Manager Award: Hannah Longoria, BSN, RN, CEN, of Texas

Nursing Competency in Aging Award: Jennifer A. Noble, MSN, RN, CEN, of Texas

Nursing Education Award: Teri Diloy, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, of Virginia

Nursing Practice and Professionalism Award: Leslie Hinson , MSN, RN, CEN, of Texas

Pediatric Readiness Improvement Award: Nancy McGrath, MN , MSN, RN, CPNP, of California

Rising Star Award: Stephanie Jensen, MSN-L, RN, MICN, of California

Team Award: Cook Children's Trauma Nurse Leaders, Texas

In addition to the individual honors, nine states  Arizona , Illinois , Louisiana , Maryland , Minnesota , North Carolina , South Carolina , Texas and Washington  received 2023 State Council Achievement Awards for their outstanding local efforts last year.

About the Emergency Nurses Association

The Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With 50,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines and guides emergency health care public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness, and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.

ENA Media Contact:

Dan Campana

Director of Communications

847.460.4017

[email protected]

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SOURCE Emergency Nurses Association
NEW YORK , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Veteran Ocean explorer/CEO of Tiburon Subsea, Tim Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team have discovered 84 lost US sailors and the WWII Sumner Class Destroyer "USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733)" destroyed by Super rocket powered kamikazes in Japanese waters. The accomplishment has just recently been authenticated by the US Navy.

This discovery is very personal to Mr. Taylor . His father served in the Navy as part of the lead invasion force in the battle of Okinawa and he witnessed the Kamikaze firsthand when one plowed into his ship the USS Telfair.

My father came close to the same fate of the crew of the Abele just days earlier." This was a very emotive discovery for me. Connecting me to my father" states Taylor. "

April 12 th, 1945, the same day Franklin Roosevelt passed, the Abele was attacked and lost off Okinawa in 3 Minutes. Survivors witnessing the sinking thought the destroyer was split into two pieces like the Titanic. The exploration team findings show that the Kamikazes did destroy the keel and the ship folded as she sank to the bottom in 1380 meters (4500 feet) of water in a heavily volcanically active area off Okinawa .

The USS Abele was serving as a radar ship positioned 90 miles offshore between Okinawa and mainland Japan as part of Operation Iceberg. Over 50,000 American casualties, including 12,500 soldiers and sailors were killed, and the greatest number of combat fatigue cases recorded of any single American battle in history.

Positioned as an early warning scout for incoming Japanese ships and aircraft, the USS Mannert Abele was the first successful attack and sinking by Japan's new Super suicide weapon the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka or "cherry blossom". Ohka was a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft deployed at the end of the war. It had an extremely short range and was carried into action by Mitsubishi G4M2e Model 24J "Betty" bomber. The pilot would release from the bomber and glide towards the target and when close enough fire the three solid-fuel rockets, one at a time or in unison, and fly the missile towards his target with devastating results.

The USS Mannert L. Abele was named after commander of the US Submarine Grunion. The Grunion was lost with all hands in a battel offshore the Aleutian Island Kiska in Alaska in 1942. Initially discovered by his sons in 2006, the Grunion's bow was discovered by the Lost 52 Project in 2018 and expansive 4D imaging was collected by Mr. Taylor and his team. It was the first US ship to be lost to a deadly new weapon born out of Japan's desperation.

The battle of Okinawa the savagery was overshadowed by the death of Franklin Roosevelt on April 12 th, and Germany's surrender on May 8 th, 1945. Only 5 weeks after "Operation Iceberg" was declared accomplished the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan .

"Lost 52 Project" has been recognized by JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) as the first and most comprehensive offshore underwater archaeological expedition in Japanese waters. Tiburon Subsea, Inc specializes in building autonomous systems to empower discovery, ocean data collection and conservation.

Media Contact

Chris Dennison

[email protected]

917.423.1369

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SOURCE Lost 52 Project
THOMASVILLE, Ga. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO) is voluntarily recalling certain Tastykake Chocolate Kandy Kakes due to undeclared peanuts. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product.

The product being recalled was distributed on May 11, 2023 to retail customers in Pennsylvania , Delaware , Maryland , New Jersey , Virginia , and West Virginia . The packages have an "Enjoy By" date of June 5, 2023 on the side of the package, and UPC 0 25600 00225 4.

The recall was initiated after the firm discovered that certain packages of Tastykake Chocolate Kandy Kakes contained Tastykake Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes . The ingredient statement for the Chocolate Kandy Kakes does not declare that peanuts are in the product. No related illnesses or incidents have been reported to date.

Following is information about the product involved in the recall. People allergic to peanuts should not consume this product if the "Enjoy By" date, UPC and/or Product Code below are printed on the package.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION UPC # "ENJOY BY" DATE Tastykake Chocolate Kandy Kakes 0 25600 00225 4 June 5, 2023

Affected product should be discarded or may be returned to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may call Flowers' Consumer Relations Center at 1-866-245-8921. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time . Consumers also may contact the center via e-mail by visiting www.flowersfoods.com/contact/consumers.

FLO-CORP FLO-PRO

About Flowers Foods

Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO) is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States with 2022 sales of $4.8 billion. Flowers operates bakeries across the country that produce a wide range of bakery products. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse , and Tastykake. Learn more at www.flowersfoods.com.

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SOURCE Flowers Foods, Inc.
Sparked by the emergence of the chatbot ChatGPT, AI fever is spreading fast  despite the ethical doubts that artificial intelligence throws up, and warnings from authorities such as the World Health Organization over its potentially harmful effects if used improperly. Indeed, Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT creators Open AI, last week acknowledged in testimony before a U.S. Senate committee: I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. Among the range of sectors in which AI is gaining in influence, one particularly sensitive area stands out: defense. To make battlefield operations more efficient, governments and companies are going to great lengths to explore ways of making the most of this technology. Its a goal that Peter Thiel has made it his mission to achieve and, judging by the way investors are reacting, he is well on his way to doing just that.

Thiel is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist whose net worth was estimated at around $8 billion by Bloomberg at the end of March. One of the founders of PayPal, he showed a keen eye for an opportunity when, in 2004, he used his cut from the $1.5 billion sale of the payment platform to become the chief investor in a nascent company called Facebook. Thiel remained on the board at the social media giant for years, until he left in 2022 to support Trump-aligned candidates ahead of the U.S. midterms, having in 2016 become one of the first figures to sponsor Trumpism.

Within the already peculiar universe that is Silicon Valley, Thiel has made himself a particularly controversial figure. He orchestrated a campaign to bring down the news portal Gawker, which in 2007 published reports about his sexual orientation. As Forbes Magazine outlines, although he lost his lawsuit against the media outlet, Thiel then spent years funding the legal action that others brought against it.

One of these suits against Gawker, to which Thiel contributed $10 million in legal fees, was filed by Hulk Hogan over the publication of a sex tape involving the wrestler. Hogan won the case, and Gawker was ordered to pay him $140 million in damages  an amount that took the website to bankruptcy and forced it to close. In an interview with the New York Times, Thiel described his crusade against Gawker as a bid to help those attacked by a singularly terrible bully, declaring it one of my greater philanthropic things that Ive done. Stubborn and persistent, the billionaire also has another notable entry on his resume: hes the co-founder of Palantir.

Created in 2004, Palantir is a company that has grown on the back of contracts with government agencies. Specializing in sensitive big data, its products focus on offering a better understanding of the data and executing analysis and predictions based on it, according to its website. Its an explanation that fails to lift the shroud of mystery surrounding its activities. Palantir received funding from the CIA in its early stages, and has since regularly worked for the intelligence agency. As a contractor not only for the CIA, but also the FBI and other government branches such as the Pentagon and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Palantir has become a hugely important ally to the U.S. administration.

Embracing AI on the battlefield

Earlier this month, the company released its financial results for the first quarter of 2023. That day, its shares rose in value by 23.39%, taking Palantirs overall market worth over $20 billion. In addition to announcing that the firm had turned a quarterly profit for only the second time  and predicting that it would remain profitable throughout the year  Palantirs other chief founder, CEO Alex Karp, discussed Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), the software at the center of the companys efforts to take AI into the arena of warfare.

Conceived as a system that offers decision-making assistance in combat scenarios, AIP is unlike anything ever previously created, judging by the information that the company has released about the software so far. Although we have already witnessed the use of artificial intelligence in warfare  for example, in drones such as those built by the Turkish company Baykar, and in automated turrets manufactured by the South Korean firm Dodaam  there is no known precedent for a tool that can harness AI to provide all-round management of what happens on the battlefield.

In a promotional video on its website, Palantir explains that the platform, which is still being rolled out, is capable of recognizing the enemy, organizing automatic responses with the relevant authorization, and suggesting courses of action by calculating the variables involved in each one. In a meeting with analysts to present the companys financial results, Karp said demand for AIP had exceeded all expectations, mentioned the term AI or a synonymous phrase more than 50 times, and summed up Palantirs strategy in this field: Just to take the whole market. Since the company announced the creation of the platform, its shares have continued to rise in value. So far this year, their worth has increased by 80%.

In a report on Palantir, the analysts Mizuho Securities describe the software as unique and capable of creating significant operational value for its customers. We expect ongoing global disruptions can help to further catalyze adoption [of AIP], Mizuho said. However, growth across both its government and commercial businesses has slowed significantly, and an uncertain macro environment makes meaningful near-term reacceleration much more difficult.

In its most recent results, Palantir said that $282 million of the $525.2 million it accrued in quarterly revenue came from the U.S. government.

A new world

Artificial intelligence has undeniable potential on the battlefield. In a document published by Spains Joint Center of Concept Development, a body that belongs to the countrys Ministry of Defense, experts reached the conclusion that the use of AI in the military arena opens up a new world of possibilities.

The amount of information it can have at its disposal is immense, and it can help in decision-making, the report says. Among many other possibilities, it offers the potential to increase the security of soldiers, to improve humanitarian aid in terms of the tracking of catastrophic areas [and] the search and rescue of people in danger, and to study the enemy to mitigate its attacks. However, it is a double-edged sword: with such intelligent systems, it is possible to develop weapons with a limitless destructive capacity. The Joint Center of Concept Development adds: It will not be long before these new systems are autonomous; in other words, they will be capable of making their own decisions, as long as ethics allow it.

It is the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in war that raise suspicions among experts in both fields. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has created a section on its website specifically dedicated to AI. It outlines the organizations commitment to carrying out research into the risks and opportunities, the impact its arrival has from the point of view of legislation, and the effects that it could have on traditional combat scenarios, cyber warfare and the management of nuclear arms (a function that it is destined to take on, experts predict, much to the unease of anyone who has seen Terminator). However, on top of the implicit risk of adding a new innovation to warfare, theres also the question of who is using it.

For example, Lucia Ortiz de Zarate, a researcher in AI ethics and governance at the Autonomous University of Madrid, notes that the Chinese governments efforts in the field of artificial intelligence are well documented. In the U.S. and elsewhere in the West, it is the private sector that is taking the initiative. There are certain consequences if it is companies that are developing the technology, according to Marta Galceran, a lead researcher at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs. Galceran explains that this makes the development process faster, but it comes at a cost of shorter trial periods and reduced transparency.

Are we headed for increased cruelty in warfare?

Ortiz de Zarate warns that the use of artificial intelligence on the battlefield has serious potential repercussions. From an ethical point of view, warfare was already complex; now, AI introduces new moral dilemmas.

The expert lists some of them. Accountability issues; who is responsible for those systems  whether they work well or not, she notes. Privacy problems: remember, for these systems to work precisely, they need an enormous amount of data. Armed conflicts are situations in which human rights are violated to a huge degree, because they are chaotic and unstable contexts. So in these types of scenarios, the collection and use of personal data that violates civilians privacy is highly likely. Whats more, nobody can be sure that AI wont confuse a civilian with a soldier, and there are also major issues when it comes to de-humanization. AI doesnt feel empathy; it could lead to an increase in violence if there is nobody there to supervise each and every one of its actions. Tying in closely with this last point is the rise in the cruelty and frequency of armed conflicts. The introduction of AI on the battlefield would be the starting gun for a potential arms race. In fact, it may well have already started, because in the Ukraine war there is speculation about China giving Russia weapons that use AI.

Asked if the world is doomed to witness such an arms race, Ortiz de Zarate replies: As I say, I think that race is already underway. We know that China and the United States have been developing AI technologies for defense and for warfare for a while now. What isnt clear is whether or not these types of weapons have already entered into combat. But theres no disputing that work is underway on them.

Galceran offers a more cautious take, explaining that a good way to see whether such a race is taking place is to analyze the flow of investment. When you look at what governments are investing in AI for military purposes, the amounts arent that high, she says. We tend to focus our attention on robots and those types of things, but often its more general AI-based tools that also have military applications.

When it comes to analyzing investment in AI for military use, Precedence Research estimates that in 2023 the global market in this field will be worth $8.81 billion. In 2025, $10.86 billion. By 2032, this amount will have grown to $22.62 billion, the market-insights firm predicts. Its calculations are in line with the forecast offered by MarketsAndMarkets, which estimates that military AI will be a $11.6 billion-a-year industry by 2025. If Karps words are to be taken literally, Palantir aims to have complete control over this figure.

Speaking at the Spanish International Defense and Security Exhibition in Madrid last week, the Palantir CEO perfectly summed up the atmosphere that surrounds the development of military AI. Although Karp admitted that it is very dangerous, potentially, adding that extreme caution must be observed at every step, he warned that China and Russia have established an advantage in the field of AI  and that the West simply cannot afford not to invest in such technology.

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FLUENT Brings New THC Dark Chocolate Bar to Medical Patients in Florida ; Made with High Quality Cannabis Extract and Chocolate from the Legendary French Chocolatier, Valrhona

TAMPA, Fla. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Cansortium Inc. (CSE: TIUM.U) (OTCQX: CNTMF) ("FLUENT" or the "Company"), a vertically-integrated, multi-state cannabis company operating under the FLUENT brand, announced the launch of its new cannabis-infused Dark Chocolate Bar in Florida . The bar is made with FLUENT's high quality cannabis extract and Caraibe 66% chocolate from Valrhona, the legendary French chocolatier.

A harmonious blend of cannabis and rich cocoa, FLUENT's new, premium THC Dark Chocolate Bar is a welcomed medium for medical patients in the Sunshine State. The smooth consistency of the chocolate is matched only by the consistent dosing; each of the bar's 10 squares are infused with 10mg of THC. FLUENT's Dark Chocolate Bar is now available in all of its Florida retail locations and retails for $25 .

"Infused chocolate is an exciting new direction for FLUENT that I know our patients will love," said FLUENT Cannabis Care Director of Sales Victor Bindi . "Chocolate is therapeutic by itself, so it's a great delivery method for the benefits of cannabis. We believe that cannabis can elevate experiences, so the blend of rich, velvety chocolate and the subtle, nuanced effects of cannabis are a perfect pair. The Dark Chocolate Bar represents our commitment to bringing our patients high quality craft products, and I look forward to seeing its reception."

Created in 1988, Caraibe 66% is a wonderfully balanced chocolate with a mellow, well-rounded flavor. Thanks to its great equilibrium, Caraibe 66% has become a Pastry Chef's go-to dark chocolate. Its authentically chocolatey flavor makes it a popular choice for professional kitchens. Caraibe's name pays homage to the diversity of the Caribbean islands, whose cocoa beans inspired its creation. Caraibe 66% is a subtle blend of cocoa aromatic profiles typical of the Dominican Republic , Ecuador , Jamaica and Togo . These profiles are blended to obtain Caraibe's unique and consistent flavor, which is both balanced and roasted. Caraibe 66% is Non-GMO, Soy Free, Dairy-Free (made in a factory where dairy is present), Gluten Free, Triangle K Kosher, and 100% Traceability to the Cocoa Plantation .

About Cansortium Inc.

Cansortium Inc. is a vertically-integrated cannabis company with licenses and operations in Florida , Pennsylvania and Texas . The Company operates under the FLUENT brand and is dedicated to being one of the highest quality cannabis companies for the communities it serves. This is driven by Cansortium's unrelenting commitment to operational excellence in cultivation, production, distribution and retail. The Company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida .

Cansortium Inc.'s common shares trade on the CSE under the symbol "TIUM.U" and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol "CNTMF". For more information about the Company, please visit www.getFLUENT.com.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact:

Robert Beasley , CEO

850-972-8077

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:

Sean Mansouri , CFA

Elevate IR

720-330-2829

[email protected]

Media Contacts:

Patrick Maddox

501-680-5220

[email protected]

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SOURCE Cansortium Inc
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gardiner Healthcare Acquisitions Corp. (the "Company") announced today that it intends to deposit into the Company's trust account the amount of $100,000 in order to extend the period of time the Company has to consummate its initial business combination by an additional one month, from the current deadline of May 27, 2023 to June 27, 2023 (the "Extension"). In connection with the Extension, the Company intends to deposit the additional funds into the trust account on or before the current deadline of May 27, 2023 . None of our insiders, including our officers, directors or stockholders, is required to provide any financing to us in connection with the intended deposit of the required funds into the trust account in relation to the Extension or otherwise in relation to any prospective initial business combination. If we do not fund the Extension, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) redeem 100% of the public shares; and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our Board of Directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

The Company is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. While the Company may pursue an initial business combination target in any business or industry, it intends to focus its search on the healthcare or healthcare related industries. The Company is sponsored by the Gardiner Sponsor, Chardan Gardiner LLC, and CCMAUS Pty Ltd.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Securities Act"). This announcement is being issued in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act.

Contact: Marc F. Pelletier , PhD

[email protected]

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SOURCE Gardiner Healthcare Acquisitions Corp.
Region's natural gas leader provides funding to enhance STEAM Lab and City School, making education accessible for Metro Atlanta families

ATLANTA , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gas South, a leading provider of natural gas throughout the southeastern U.S. , announces their donation of $325,000 to City of Refuge to support families in Metro Atlanta transitioning out of crisis. The donation will be used to fund the expansion of City of Refuge's City School and provide continued support for the Gas South STEAM lab at the organization.

As a part of the company's ongoing mission to Be A Fuel For Good, Gas South donates 5% of its annual profits to support children in need in the communities it serves. In 2022, the company gave more than $3.2 million to help support children in need in Georgia and Florida , more than doubling the previous year's contribution. They're projected to give $4.5 million in 2023. Since 2006, Gas South has donated more than $12 million , focusing on programs that provide food, clothing, shelter, education, career development or aid for chronic and terminal illnesses, to children and young adults.

"Education is one of the most powerful tools you can give a child, and Gas South is proud to expand City of Refuge's educational programs as a part of our mission to Be A Fuel For Good,'" said Kevin Greiner , president and CEO of Gas South. "City of Refuge transforms the lives of children trying to escape poverty and thrive in the community and is extremely deserving of our support."

City of Refuge's City School provides on-site education for children fourth through 12th grade. The City School will use Gas South's donation to undergo a strategic expansion to include kindergarten through fourth grade, with fourth grade being added in fall 2023. This expansion will include additional teachers, increased curriculum capabilities and new classroom and student technology, such as laptops for personalized learning and technology interaction.

The Gas South STEAM Lab at City of Refuge provides out of school programming from 3 to 6 p.m. each school day for youth in the community.

"As we aim to improve our ability to provide quality educational resources to our community, we're excited to once again partner with Gas South as they invest in our mission," said Bruce Deel , founder and CEO of City of Refuge. "We look forward to seeing the positive impact Gas South's support will have on our organization's forthcoming initiatives."

To learn more about Gas South's mission to Be A Fuel for Good visit www.gassouth.com/giving-back . For more information on City of Refuge, visit www.cityofrefugeatl.org .

About Gas South:

Gas South is one of the largest retail natural gas providers to over 440,000 residential, business and government customers across 14 states. Gas South is an Atlanta -based subsidiary of Cobb EMC, providing simple natural gas plans and excellent customer service. Gas South upholds its mission to Be A Fuel For Good by giving back 5% of their annual profits to help children in need, prioritizing basic needs, education and health. The company has donated more than $12 million to charities since 2006, including $3.2 million in 2022, its largest year ever for corporate giving. To learn more about Gas South and its mission to Be A Fuel For Good, visit www.GasSouth.com .

About City of Refuge:

City of Refuge was founded in 1997 with the mission to transform the lives of individuals and communities in Atlanta and beyond. Today the organization resides in a warehouse that was graciously donated in the 30314 neighborhood, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden areas in the nation. Since inhabiting the "Where Good Works" center, City of Refuge has helped over 35,000 people across the country and internationally. The organization has created several programs designed to provide an impact in areas such as: housing, youth development, health & wellness, and vocation. City of Refuge is a leader in the business of social transformation and continuously works to empower and equip individuals with the tools to succeed. To learn more about City of Refuge, visit cityofrefugeatl.org or follow the organization on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter .

Media contact:

Aliya Seymour

The Wilbert Group

[email protected]

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SOURCE Gas South
The iconic rum brand is giving people plenty of reasons to hit the dance floor around the world, including new global streetwear partnerships kicking off with Stadium Goods, global speakeasy style events, interactive upgrades to its renowned music festival roster, and more.

HAMILTON, Bermuda , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This summer, BACARDI Rum wants you to dance like everyone is watching. The world's most awarded rum brand is launching a series of unique activations under its "Do What Moves You" platform to encourage people to embrace community and enjoy the freedom of self-expression.

The festivities will kick off in June with a BACARDI x Stadium Goods speakeasy pop-up, a one-of-a-kind retail and party experience created in partnership with the covetable streetwear brand. At first glance, the event will appear to take place at a traditional Stadium Goods sneaker store with custom BACARDI x Stadium Goods merch offerings. In a nod to classic speakeasy cocktail bars, the surprise will lie in a secret entrance behind the stockroom door where attendees will be immersed in a lively, Caribbean -inspired BACARDI celebration, with pop-up musical guests, exclusive BACARDI rum cocktail tastings, and more. The pop-up will be open to consumers aged 21+ on June 8th , by RSVP only at the LINK HERE.

"The spirit of BACARDI has always been one of self-expression, free of judgment, and, of course, one that is ready to dance," said Laila Mignoni , Global Head of Brand Marketing Communications for BACARDI. "We're thrilled to partner with the pros at Stadium Goods and streetwear icon, Jeff Staple , allowing consumers to embrace their individuality through touchpoints that inspire consumers to Do What Moves You. Every aspect of our partnership is designed to bring people together, embracing the connective tissue between our iconic rum and the sneaker community to inspire movement in both the physical and emotional sense."

To ensure everyone who attends a BACARDI party this summer is equipped with the perfect pair of 'dancing shoes', BACARDI will gift attendees the Dancing Shoes NFT, an exclusive digital wearable created in collaboration with creative visionary and founder of the streetwear brand STAPLE, Jeff Staple , and web3 studio, Kollectiff. Dropped into guests' digital wallets during the event, the NFT will appear with a purposefully simplistic design, allowing for individual customizations by interacting with various elements within the temporary retail store. Those who complete the NFT customizations at the event will have a chance to forge their digital creations into a one-of-a-kind physical pair of sneakerstheir one-of-a-kind Dancing Shoesthat will be delivered directly to them this summer.

Following the New York launch, the rhythm will continue through the summer, including:

The all-new BACARDI "Do What Moves You" Snap lens will first debut at the BACARDI x Stadium Goods pop-up via Snap's augmented reality mirror and will later be available to 21+ Snapchatters throughout the summer. This new-to-market technology, developed for BACARDI by Snap, features a custom augmented reality lens including a specially-commissioned music track, "Sientelo" from the brand's first-ever original EP, now available on Spotify, which will adapt based on users' movements to create a wholly new rhythm that's unique to you.





will first debut at the pop-up via Snap's augmented reality mirror and will later be available to 21+ Snapchatters throughout the summer. This new-to-market technology, developed for BACARDI by Snap, features a custom augmented reality lens including a specially-commissioned music track, "Sientelo" from the brand's first-ever original EP, now available on Spotify, which will adapt based on users' movements to create a wholly new rhythm that's unique to you. A revitalized BACARDI summer festival season, starting with Governor's Ball in NYC on June 9th and continuing through Lollapalooza ( Chicago ), Life is Beautiful ( Las Vegas ), Parookaville ( Germany ), Lowlands Festival ( Netherlands ), and more. Festivalgoers who visit the CASA BACARDI festival experience will be treated to exceptional cocktail offerings, exclusive merch drops, and further chances to customize their Dancing Shoes NFT.

The campaign will culminate in October with a final pop-up ahead of Amsterdam's biggest dance music festival, featuring exclusive merchandise and a limited-edition giveaway of collectable physical Dancing Shoes in collaboration with a world renowned Amsterdam streetwear brand. Countries all over the world including Spain , New Zealand , Germany and Austria will put on their Dancing Shoes this summer with festival activations, local retail partnerships and pop-up experiences.

For more information follow @bacardi on all social channels. For more information about BACARDI summer festival series, head over to the CASA BACARDI 2023 Festival MAP.

About BACARDI Rum  The World's Most Awarded Rum

In 1862, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, founder Don Facundo Bacardi Masso revolutionized the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum with a particularly smooth taste  BACARDI. The unique taste of BACARDI rum inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world's most famous recipes including the BACARDI Mojito, the BACARDI Daiquiri, the BACARDI Cuba Libre , the BACARDI Pina Colada and the BACARDI El Presidente . BACARDI rum is the world's most awarded spirit, with more than 1000 awards for quality, taste and innovation. Today, BACARDI rum is made mainly in Puerto Rico where it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862. www.BACARDI.com

The BACARDI brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda . Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

2022. BACARDI AND THE BAT DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS.

About Stadium Goods

Stadium Goods is the world's premier marketplace for sneakers and streetwear. Founded in 2015 by connoisseurs with a deep history in the culture of sneakers and streetwear, Stadium Goods' core mission is to bring unparalleled customer service and a luxury retail aesthetic to the aftermarket. Since being acquired by Farfetch in 2019, Stadium Goods has leveraged its unique position as the authentic home for the "new" luxury fashion of sneakers and streetwear to expand its offering to include legacy luxury fashion. Stadium Goods operates brick-and-mortar retail stores in New York and Chicago , and ships worldwide via stadiumgoods.com and its partners. For more information, please visit www.stadiumgoods.com.

Media contact: BACARDI Team, [email protected]

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SOURCE BACARDI Rum
SHANGHAI and CLINTON, N.J. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HuidaGene Therapeutics (; HuidaGene), a clinical-stage genome-editing company, today announced the appointment of gene therapy industry veteran, Alvin Luk , Ph.D., M.B.A., C.C.R.A., as Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors, and Chief Executive Officer.

On behalf of the Company and the Board of Directors, Hui Yang , Ph.D., Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Advisor, and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) at HuidaGene, extended a warm welcome to Dr. Alvin Luk and stated, "With more than a 30-year career in biotech/biopharma industry, we're delighted to appoint an industry veteran of Alvin's caliber as the Company's co-founder and CEO. As more of our innovative medicines progress toward clinical development, Alvin's significant global drug development experience, proven leadership, passion for genetic medicine, and focus on bringing novel modalities to patients globally add tremendous values to HuidaGene. As we enter the next phase, our mission of 'answering the patients' remains the same. My team and I look forward to working closely with Alvin to ensure continuity, build on the progress HuidaGene made, and deliver value to our stakeholders."

"HuidaGene has a solid foundation and world-leading gene editing platform which is rapidly advancing its pipeline to the clinical stage," said Dr. Darren Cai , Founder and Managing Partner at Sherpa Venture Capital. "Alvin has been deeply involved in the field of gene therapy for many years and has rich multinational work experience with global vision in new drug development. His leadership and experience will help HuidaGene become a world-class gene editing company. We warmly welcome Alvin to join the HuidaGene team and provide direct guidance for the ongoing IITs, IND submissions, and international collaborations. I look forward to working with Alvin as we advance the Company into a new phase of development and start an exciting future with us."

"Alvin has a track record of repeatedly building and operating successful biotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations in China and the United States with extensive practical experience and strong leadership in the field of global drug development," commented by Mr. Tianji Zhu , Partner at CD Capital. "In the past three decades, Alvin has successfully launched impactful patient-centric therapies and driven outstanding results of championing 21 approved products; all of which will be critical to helping HuidaGene reach the next stage in its growth. We're thrilled to welcome Alvin to our growing organization, as we realize our mission of bringing next generation of CRISPR-based therapies to transform the lives of patients suffering from severe and life-threatening diseases."

Dr. Alvin Luk brings to HuidaGene over 30 years of experience in global drug development, gene/cell therapy medicines, biological drugs, and rare diseases, from bench to the beside participating in 21 approved products at different biotech/biopharma companies, including Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), Biogen, Bayer HealthCare, Shanghai Henlius, etc. Dr. Luk also has a proven track record of over 250 cumulative total of IND, BLA, and MAA submissions in North/ South Americas , Europe , Asia , and Australia . For more information about Dr. Luk , please see recent news of 'HuidaGene Appoints New Members to the Scientific Advisory Board' (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huidagene-appoints-new-members-to-the-scientific-advisory-board-301792898.html).

"I'm impressed by HuidaGene's 'In China , For Global' and 'Answering the Patients' spirits, the quality of its science and its employees, and its drive to become a global leader in the discovery and development of novel gene therapy medicines," Dr. Luk commented. "I'm incredibly excited to be a part of this unique company putting the patients first by putting the employees first, which has made significant strides in realizing the potential of gene editing to address incurable diseases. Together with Prof. Yang , Dr. Yao (Co-Founder, President, and General Manager of China ) and Dr. Shi (co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer) , we will join force to transform the platform and advance clinical trials to develop potentially life-changing medicines for people living with devasting diseases worldwide. The future of gene editing and HuidaGene are bright."

About HuidaGene -

HuidaGene Therapeutics () is a global clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on discovering, engineering, and developing CRISPR-based genetic medicine to rewrite the future of genomic medicine. Based in Shanghai and New Jersey , HuidaGene is committed to addressing patients' needs globally with various preclinical therapeutic programs covering ophthalmology, otology, myology, and neurology. We are currently advancing clinical programs in RPE65 mutation-associated inherited retinal dystrophies and our preclinical pipeline, including programs in neovascular age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, hereditary hearing loss, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and MECP2 duplication syndrome. Company's CRISPR-based therapeutics offer the potential to cure patients with life-threatening conditions by repairing the cause of their disease. HuidaGene is committed to transforming the future of genome-editing medicine.

For more information, please visit http://www.huidagene.com

or follow us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/huidagene

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SOURCE HuidaGene Therapeutics
Winner to Receive $10,000 Cash Prize

MIAMI , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- INVERSA Leathers, a regenerative materials company that crafts luxurious leathers out of invasive species, is thrilled to announce its title sponsorship for the 2023 Florida Python Challenge and its Ultimate Grand Prize of $10,000 . The sponsorship will mark the first time a fashion company has donated to the event to fund restoration of the Florida Everglades .

The Florida Everglades , a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, is home to Florida's greatest source of biodiversity. Supporting both 8 million Floridians with drinking water and a $1.2B fishing industry, the ecosystem's balance has been gravely disrupted by the invasive Burmese python, which threatens the region's native wildlife. Release of Burmese pythons, originally kept as house pets in the 1980's and 1990's, the invasive snake has since multiplied to a population of over 150,000 according to a recent US Geological Survey (USGS) report .

Created and managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), the Florida Python Challenge is an awareness campaign about the global threat of invasive species and the colossal damage Florida's delicate ecosystem has suffered because of invasive python. Participants must register for the competition as part of this event to actively remove pythons from the everglades over the course of ten days, directly contributing to the fight against the invasive constrictor snakes.

"INVERSA is proud to support the challenge and the greater conservation effort it represents in Florida . By harnessing the global power of the luxury fashion industry, we believe in the potential to rebuild ecosystems," said Carlos-Henri Ferre , Head of Development for INVERSA Leathers. " Florida is consistently ahead of the curve with invasive species management, and the Governor, FWC and SFWMD's leadership have fostered one of the most effective opportunities to participate in the revival of the Everglades. We hope to see as many participants as possible this year."

"The FWC is grateful for INVERSA's support of the Python Challenge. It's meaningful to see the private sector step up to fund conservation through innovations that benefit our ecosystems," said Commissioner Rodney Barreto , Chairman of FWC. The Ultimate Grand Prize will go to the registered participant that removes the most pythons during the 10-day competition.

Under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis , the FWC, SFWMD and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida host the Florida Python Challenge to raise awareness about invasive species in Florida and their impacts. The event, which runs August 4-13, 2023 , encourages people to get directly involved in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal. Visit FLPythonChallenge.org to register for the competition, take the required online training, view the optional training opportunities, learn more about Burmese pythons and the unique Everglades ecosystem, and find resources for planning your trip to South Florida to participate in the Florida Python Challenge.

About INVERSA Leathers

INVERSA Leathers , a regenerative materials company, is revolutionizing fashion to heal the planet. INVERSA crafts luxurious leathers out of invasive species, harnessing the power of fashion to support the restoration of Earth's biodiversity. Starting with three of the most formidable invasive speciesthe Invasive Lionfish, Invasive Dragonfin, and Invasive PythonINVERSA introduces a stylish alternative to exotic and traditional leather. To learn more about INVERSA's inspiring journey of turning fashion into a hero for the planet's sustainability, visit www.INVERSAleathers.com and follow the story on Instagram at @INVERSAleathers.

About The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) works to manage fish and wildlife resources for their long-term well-being and the benefit of people. Biologists, law enforcement officers and other staff work together to protect and manage the state's more than 575 species of wildlife, 200 species of freshwater fish and 500 species of saltwater fish. The FWC uses scientific data to drive management decisions, balancing the needs of these fish and wildlife species, and the habitats that support them, with the needs of Florida's growing population.

CONTACT:

[email protected]

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SOURCE INVERSA Leathers
Preclinical data demonstrated strong activity of KYV-101 derived from patients with lupus, a key prerequisite for positive outcomes

Research conducted in partnership with University of Erlangen

Data to be presented in poster session and industry-sponsored symposium about CAR T-cell therapy in B-cell driven autoimmune diseases



EMERYVILLE, Calif. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyverna Therapeutics ("Kyverna"), a cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for serious autoimmune diseases, today announced it will present new preclinical findings on KYV-101. KYV-101 is a novel anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy designed to deplete B cells, including autoreactive B cells in autoimmune disease patients. The data will be presented at a poster session and at an industry-sponsored symposium at the 2023 European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR), being held May 31-June 2, 2023 , in Milan, Italy .

"These data demonstrated strong CAR-mediated activity in vitro of KYV-101 CAR T cells derived from patients with lupus, a key prerequisite for positive outcomes," said Peter Maag , Ph.D., chief executive officer (CEO) of Kyverna.

The data, generated in collaboration with scientists at the Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlagen-Nurnberg, Germany , showed KYV-101 CAR T cells derived from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), SLE with lupus nephritis (LN), or rheumatoid arthritis, demonstrated strong CAR-mediated and CD19-dependent activity against autologous B cells. Of note, SLE and SLE with LN-derived KYV-101 CAR T cells produced less cytokines in response to autologous B cells compared to KYV-101 CAR T cells derived from healthy donors.

Poster details

KYV-101, A Fully Human CD19 CAR T cell Generated from Autoimmune Patient Lymphocytes, Demonstrates CAR-Mediated and CD19-Dependent Activity Against Autologous B cells

Abstract Number: 6228

Poster Number: POS0007

Session: Wednesday Poster Session

Presenting Author: Dominic Borie , M.D, Ph.D., president of R&D at Kyverna Therapeutics

Date/Time: Thursday, June 1, 2023 ; 12:00 p.m.  1:30 p.m. CEST

Kyverna Satellite Symposium

CAR T-Cell Therapy in B-Cell Driven Autoimmune Diseases

The company is hosting an industry-sponsored symposium featuring key thought leaders and senior leaders from Kyverna. The session will be part of the EULAR satellite symposia, and will take place on Friday, June 2, 2023 , from 8:15 a.m.  9:30 a.m. CEST .

The symposium will focus on understanding the role of B cells in autoimmune diseases and the rationale for pursuing deeper B-cell depletion through CAR T-cell therapy. There will be a review of the clinical data in the use of anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy in SLE and other autoimmune diseases. Speakers and panelists will also review lessons learned from CD19 CAR T therapy in oncology and how these lessons inform the development of KYV-101 for autoimmune diseases.

Presenters include:

Georg Schett, M.D., vice president of research, chair of internal medicine III, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University , Germany

, Peter A. Merkel , M.D., MPH, chief, division of rheumatology, professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology in biostatistics and epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania

, M.D., MPH, chief, division of rheumatology, professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology in biostatistics and epidemiology, David Jayne , M.D., professor of clinical autoimmunity, University of Cambridge, U.K. , director of the Vasculitis and Lupus Service, Addenbrooke's Hospital

, M.D., professor of clinical autoimmunity, University of , director of the Vasculitis and Lupus Service, Carlotta Cacciatore , M.D., Centre de Reference des Maladies Auto-immunes Systemiques Rares d'Ile-de- France , Hopital Saint Louis , France

, M.D., de Reference des Maladies Auto-immunes Systemiques Rares d'Ile-de- , Hopital , Peter Maag , Ph.D., CEO of Kyverna

, Ph.D., CEO of Kyverna Dominic Borie , M.D., Ph.D., president of R&D at Kyverna

About Lupus Nephritis (LN)

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), more commonly known as lupus. Approximately 40 percent of adults diagnosed with lupus eventually develop LN and 60 percent of LN patients will fail standard of care and approved treatments1. Aside from modest efficacy, current treatments expose these young adults to the well-demonstrated detrimental consequences of chronic treatment with corticosteroids and other powerful immunosuppressants. Up to 10 percent of patients with LN and 40 percent with diffuse LN (class IV) will ultimately develop kidney failure, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive2.

About KYV-101

KYV-101 is an autologous version of a novel, fully human clinical-stage anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) construct with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis and other B-cell driven autoimmune diseases. In a 20-patient Phase 1/2 study in oncology, expected anti-lymphoma activity was associated with a significant reduction of cytokines released that translated into a strong reduction of cytokine-driven side effects such as the rate of immune effector cells-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS)3. The fully human anti-CD19 CAR also translated into reduced immunogenicity that favorably impacted cell persistence at one month. Kyverna recognized that these properties singled out KYV-101 as a product ideally poised for use in autoimmune disease patients, and the company obtained exclusive, worldwide licenses from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use this CD19 construct in both autologous and allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies.

About Kyverna Therapeutics

Kyverna Therapeutics is a cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The Kyverna therapeutic platform combines advanced T-cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies to suppress and eliminate the autoreactive immune cells at the origin of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Kyverna's pipeline includes next-generation chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapies in both autologous and allogeneic formats with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. By offering more than one mechanism for taming autoimmunity, Kyverna is positioned to act on its mission of transforming how autoimmune diseases are treated. For more information, please visit https://kyvernatx.com.

1 E. Carter et al., Nature Reviews Rheumatology, 12, Oct. 2016 , 605-620.

2Adv Chronic Kidney Dis. 2019;26(5):313.

3Brudno et al., Nature Medicine 2020; 26:270-280.

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SOURCE Kyverna Therapeutics
Papa Murphy's Raw Cookie Dough Linked to Illnesses

SEATTLE , May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Marler Clark, Inc., PS, The Food Safety Law Firm, is investigating the recently announced Salmonella outbreak linked to Papa Murphy's Cookie Dough and an earlier CDC announced Salmonella Outbreak linked to Gold Medal Flour.

"Cookie Dough has been an ongoing Salmonella risk to consumers," said William Marler .

"Cookie Dough has been an ongoing Salmonella risk to consumers," said William Marler . "However, in recent years the suspected contaminated ingredient has turned from eggs to flour, which to most consumers is both unsettling and unusual," added Marler.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Salmonella bacteria cause approximately 1.35 million human infections and 26,500 hospitalizations in the United States every year.

As of May 23, 2023 , the CDC has reported 18 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis have been reported from Washington , Oregon , California , Idaho , Utah and Missouri . Illnesses started on dates ranging from February 27, 2023 , to May 2, 2023 . Epidemiologic data show that Papa Murphy's raw cookie dough may be contaminated with Salmonella and may be making people sick. Sick people range in age from 14 to 68 years, with a median age of 47, and 83% are female. Of 14 people with race or ethnicity information available, all reported non-Hispanic white. Of 14 people with information available, 2 have been hospitalized.

Papa Murphy's has temporarily stopped selling their raw chocolate chip cookie dough and raw S'mores bars dough. CDC is advising people to check their refrigerator and freezer for these raw doughs and to throw any away. CDC always advises people not to eat raw cookie dough, unless it has a label indicating that it is safe to be eaten raw.

In another potentially related outbreak, on May 1, 2023 , the CDC announced that 13 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Infantis have been reported from 12 states  including Oregon . Illnesses started on dates ranging from December 6, 2022 , to March 1, 2023 . State and local public health officials are interviewing people about the foods they ate in the week before they got sick. Of the eight people interviewed, seven (88%) reported eating raw dough or batter. Of six sick people with brand information, all six (100%) reported buying Gold Medal brand flour. The only brand reported was Gold Medal.

About Bill Marler: An accomplished attorney and national expert in food safety, William (Bill) Marler has become the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America and a major force in food policy in the U.S. and around the world. Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm , has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life altering injury and even death. Bill has been profiled in the best-selling book, "Poisoned," that chronicles the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli outbreak and is subject of the upcoming Netflix documentary of the same name. To contact Bill, reach out to [email protected] .

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SOURCE Marler Clark, The Nation's Food Safety Law Firm
New Law Enhances Warehouse Safety, Free Speech on the Job

ST. PAUL, Minn. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Teamsters are commending Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the state legislature for including critical pro-worker provisions in a $1.37 billion jobs bill. The new law protects warehouse workers from unrealistic and dangerous work conditions by requiring transparency on worker quotas and performance metrics. It also prevents all workers from being forced to sit through anti-union propaganda sessions on the job known as "captive audience meetings."

"This legislation is critical to curtailing the abuse and rapacity of Amazon," said Tom Erickson , Teamsters Central Region International Vice President, Warehouse Division Director and President of Joint Council 32. "This is a company that writes off the millions of dollars in taxes that it spends on union busters every year, all while maintaining the highest on-the-job injury rate in the industry  by far. Amazon does not have the interest of Minnesotans in mind, and I for one applaud everyone in our state government who is holding it accountable."

Amazon has been cited by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) multiple times in 2023 for conditions at their warehouses across the country, where workers are expected to reach unrealistic performance metrics that are never disclosed to them and can change by the hour, leading to massively high injury and employee turnover rates. As one recent OSHA report said, "each of these inspections found work processes that were designed for speed but not safety, and they resulted in serious worker injuries."

In addition to enhancing warehouse safety and workers' freedom of association rights, the omnibus bill strengthens prevailing wage protections for construction workers, provides additional needed funding to the State's Department of Labor, and updates protections for packinghouse workers. Minnesota is the latest in a slew of states that are considering laws to protect occupational safety in the supply chain and the right of workers to be free from anti-union propaganda. Washington, California , and New York have all passed warehouse quota bills, and Connecticut has passed legislation restricting captive audience meetings. Similar legislation is pending in 13 other states with support from local Teamsters.

Teamsters Joint Council 32 represents 40,000 Teamsters in Minnesota , Iowa and the Dakotas. For more information, go to teamstersjc32.org/

Contact:

Matt McQuaid , (202) 624-6877

[email protected]

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SOURCE Teamsters Joint Council 32
TOKYO , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nippon Express (India) Private Limited (hereinafter "NX India"), a group company of NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, INC., has constructed a school building and toilets for a government high school in Thoranagatte Village , Davanagere District , Karnataka State. The donation to the school and a handover ceremony took place on March 17 .

Logo: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202305195751-O1-B469Bkc6

Photo: Exterior view of school building

https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M103866/202305195751/_prw_PI2fl_I120DT0Z.jpg?_ga=2.92911453.1973532706.1684111330-1430758024.1637027940

Photo: With students at handover ceremony

https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M103866/202305195751/_prw_PI3fl_97LXNz9q.jpg?_ga=2.186822888.1973532706.1684111330-1430758024.1637027940

NX India has been actively involved in CSR efforts to promote education in various regions in India . The donation of the school building to the government high school in Thoranagatte Village is also intended to support the development of human resources who will lead India in the future and to contribute to social development by providing children in rural areas with better educational opportunities and environments.

This government high school corresponds to a junior high school and high school in Japan , and 276 children attend the school. The donated school building is a one-story structure with three classrooms, offering these children a hygienic and clean learning environment.

The Nippon Express Group will continue fulfilling its social development responsibilities by connecting people, companies, and communities, and will actively engage in further social contribution activities to help bring about sustainable societies.

Name of school: Government High School in Thoranagatte Village

Location of school: Thoranagatte, Jagalur Taluk, Davanagere District , Karnataka State, India

Nippon Express website: https://www.nipponexpress.com/

Nippon Express Group's official LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nippon-express-group/

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SOURCE NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, INC.
When Yekaterina Maksimova cant afford to be late, the journalist and activist avoids taking the Moscow subway, even though its probably the most efficient route. Thats because shes been detained five times in the past year, thanks to the systems pervasive security cameras with facial recognition. She says police would tell her the cameras reacted to her  although they often seemed not to understand why, and would let her go after a few hours.

It seems like Im in some kind of a database, says Maksimova, who was previously arrested twice: in 2019 after taking part in a demonstration in Moscow and in 2020 over her environmental activism. For many Russians like her, it has become increasingly hard to evade the scrutiny of the authorities, with the government actively monitoring social media accounts and using surveillance cameras against activists.

Even an online platform once praised by users for easily navigating bureaucratic tasks is being used as a tool of control: Authorities plan to use it to serve military summonses, thus thwarting a popular tactic by draft evaders of avoiding being handed the military recruitment paperwork in person.

Rights advocates say that Russia under President Vladimir Putin has harnessed digital technology to track, censor and control the population, building what some call a cyber gulag  a dark reference to the labor camps that held political prisoners in Soviet times.

Its new territory, even for a nation with a long history of spying on its citizens.

The Kremlin has indeed become the beneficiary of digitalization and is using all opportunities for state propaganda, for surveilling people, for de-anonymizing internet users, said Sarkis Darbinyan, head of legal practice at Roskomsvoboda, a Russian internet freedom group the Kremlin deems a foreign agent.

Rising online censorship and prosecutions

The Kremlins seeming indifference about digital monitoring appeared to change after 2011-12 mass protests were coordinated online, prompting authorities to tighten internet controls.

Some regulations allowed them to block websites; others mandated that cellphone operators and internet providers store call records and messages, sharing the information with security services if needed. Authorities pressured companies like Google, Apple and Facebook to store user data on Russian servers, to no avail, and announced plans to build a sovereign internet that could be cut off from the rest of the world.

Many experts initially dismissed these efforts as futile, and some still seem ineffective. Russias measures might amount to a picket fence compared to Chinas Great Firewall, but the Kremlin online crackdown has gained momentum.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, online censorship and prosecutions for social media posts and comments spiked so much that it broke all existing records.

According to Net Freedoms, a prominent internet rights group, more than 610,000 web pages were blocked or removed by authorities in 2022 - the highest annual total in 15 years  and 779 people faced criminal charges over online comments and posts, also a record.

A major factor was a law, adopted a week after the invasion, that effectively criminalizes antiwar sentiment, said Net Freedoms head Damir Gainutdinov. It outlaws spreading false information about or discrediting the army.

Human Rights Watch cited another 2022 law allowing authorities to extrajudicially close mass media outlets and block online content for disseminating false information about the conduct of Russian Armed Forces or other state bodies abroad or for disseminating calls for sanctions on Russia.

Social media users shouldnt feel safe

Harsher anti-extremism laws adopted in 2014 targeted social media users and online speech, leading to hundreds of criminal cases over posts, likes and shares. Most involved users of the popular Russian social media platform VKontakte, which reportedly cooperates with authorities.

As the crackdown widened, authorities also targeted Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram. About a week after the invasion, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were blocked in Russia, but users of the platforms were still prosecuted.

Marina Novikova, 65, was convicted this month in the Siberian city of Seversk of spreading false information about the army for antiwar Telegram posts, fining her the equivalent of over $12,400. A Moscow court last week sentenced opposition activist Mikhail Kriger to seven years in prison for Facebook comments in which he expressed a desire to hang Putin. Famous blogger Nika Belotserkovskaya, who lives in France, received a nine-year prison term in absentia for Instagram posts about the war that the authorities claimed spread fakes about the army.

Users of any social media platform shouldnt feel safe, Gainutdinov said.

Rights advocates worry that online censorship is about to expand drastically via artificial intelligence systems to monitor social media and websites for content deemed illicit.

In February, the governments media regulator Roskomnadzor said it was launching Oculus  an AI system that looks for banned content in online photos and videos, and can analyze more than 200,000 images a day, compared with about 200 a day by humans. Two other AI systems in the works will search text materials.

In February, the newspaper Vedomosti quoted an unidentified Roskomnadzor official as lamenting the unprecedented amounts and speed of spreading of fakes about the war. The official also cited extremist remarks, calls for protests and LGBT propaganda to be among banned content the new systems will identify.

Activists say its hard to know if the new systems are operating and their effectiveness. Darbinyan, of the internet freedom group, describes it as horrible stuff, leading to more censorship, amid a total lack of transparency as to how the systems would work and be regulated.

Authorities could also be working on a system of bots that collect information from social media pages, messenger apps and closed online communities, according to the Belarusian hacktivist group Cyberpartisans, which obtained documents of a subsidiary of Roskomnadzor.

Cyberpartisans coordinator Yuliana Shametavets told AP the bots are expected to infiltrate Russian-language social media groups for surveillance and propaganda.

Now its common to laugh at the Russians, to say that they have old weapons and dont know how to fight, but the Kremlin is great at disinformation campaigns and there are high-class IT experts who create extremely effective and very dangerous products, she said.

Government regulator Roskomnadzor did not respond to a request for comment.

Eyes on  and under the streets

In 2017-18, Moscow authorities rolled out street cameras enabled by facial recognition technology.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities were able to trace and fine those violating lockdowns.

Vedomosti reported in 2020 that schools would get cameras linked to a facial recognition system dubbed Orwell, for the British writer of the dystopian novel 1984, with his all-seeing character, Big Brother.

When protests over the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny erupted in 2021, the system was used to find and detain those attending demonstrations, sometimes weeks later. After Putin announced a partial mobilization for Ukraine last year, it apparently helped officials round up draft evaders.

A man who was stopped on the Moscow subway after failing to comply with a mobilization summons said police told him the facial recognition system tracked him down, according to his wife, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation.

In 2022, Russian authorities expanded their control over peoples biometric data, including by collecting such data from banks, and using facial recognition technology to surveil and persecute activists, Human Rights Watch reported this year.

Maksimova, the activist who repeatedly gets stopped on the subway, filed a lawsuit contesting the detentions, but lost. Authorities argued that because she had prior arrests, police had the right to detain her for a cautionary conversation  in which officers explain a citizens moral and legal responsibilities.

Maksimova says officials refused to explain why she was in their surveillance databases, calling it a state secret. She and her lawyer are appealing the court ruling.

There are 250,000 surveillance cameras in Moscow enabled by the software  at entrances to residential buildings, in public transportation and on the streets, Darbinyan said. Similar systems are in St. Petersburg and other large cities, like Novosibirsk and Kazan, he said.

He believed the authorities want to build a web of cameras around the entire country. It sounds like a daunting task, but there are possibilities and funds there to do it.

Total digital surveillance

Russias efforts often draw comparisons with China, where authorities use digital surveillance on a vast scale. Chinese cities are blanketed by millions of cameras that recognize faces, body shapes and how people walk to identify them. Sensitive individuals are routinely tracked, either by cameras or via their cellphones, email and social media accounts to stifle any dissent.

The Kremlin seems to want to pursue a similar path. In November, Putin ordered the government to create an online register of those eligible for military service after efforts to mobilize 300,000 men to fight in Ukraine revealed that enlistment records were in serious disarray.

The register, promised to be ready by fall, will collect all kinds of data, from outpatient clinics to courts to tax offices and election commissions, political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya said in a commentary for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

That will let authorities serve draft summonses electronically via a government website used to apply for official documents, like passports or deeds. Once a summons appears online, recipients cannot leave Russia. Other restrictions  like suspension of a drivers license or a ban on buying and selling property  are imposed if they dont comply with the summons within 20 days, whether they saw it or not.

Stanovaya believes these restrictions could spread to other aspects of Russian life, with the government building a state system of total digital surveillance, coercion and punishment. A December law mandates that taxi companies share their databases with the successor agency of the Soviet KGB, giving it access to travelers dates, destinations and payment.

The cyber gulag, which was actively talked about during the pandemic, is now taking its real shape, Stanovaya wrote.

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Through the Community Development Certification, Credit Union Will Expand Programs to Serve and Support Underserved San Diego Communities

SAN DIEGO , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- North Island Credit Union announced today that it is the first credit union in San Diego County to receive certification as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) by the U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund. The CDFI certification is available only to organizations that have proven they provide financial services and products in communities that have historically lacked access to traditional banking services.

"We're excited to earn this certification, which will enable us to expand on our mission to improve lives in our San Diego communities. The opportunities available to us as a CDFI will amplify our programs to invest in San Diego communities that need it most through providing critically needed access to capital and education programs," said North Island Credit Union President/CEO Steve O'Connell . "We look forward to this next step in serving and supporting our underserved communities by moving more underbanked community members to traditional financial services and providing loan programs to spark new growth and development in our service areas."

Certified CDFIs are part of a national network promoting economic growth in America's underserved communities by financing businesses, creating jobs, and rebuilding neighborhoods. The CDFI certification allows qualified financial institutions to access federal funds to provide financial products and services in low-income communities for local residents and businesses. North Island Credit Union is the first credit union to receive the designation in San Diego County ; there are now 36 CDFI certified credit unions in the state, per CDFI Fund data as of May 15, 2023 .

With this certification, North Island Credit Union will apply for grant funding later this year to further expand its mission-driven programs for historically underserved San Diego communities that lack access to traditional, affordable financial products and services.

CDFI certification is the latest step in North Island Credit Union's mission to meet the needs of underserved populations in its communities. Its Option Checking account was recently certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards, offering safe access to a traditional checking account, with zero fees or overdraft charges to support moving members out of a debt cycle. The credit union also has adjusted underwriting guidelines to provide easier access to funds, launched credit card products for members looking to build/restore credit, and offers a full suite of financial education and literacy resources.

In earning the certification, North Island Credit Union worked with CU Strategic Planning, a Tacoma, Washington -based firm that assists institutions with the CDFI application process.

About North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union

California Credit Union is a federally insured, state chartered credit union founded in 1933 that serves public or private school employees, community members and businesses across California . With more than 170,000 members and assets of over $4.5 billion , California Credit Union has 24 branches throughout Los Angeles , Orange and San Diego counties. The credit union operates in San Diego County as North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union. California Credit Union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking, and leading-edge online and mobile banking. Please visit northisland.ccu.com for more information or follow the credit union on Instagram or Facebook @northislandcu.

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SOURCE North Island Credit Union
HONG KONG and SHANGHAI , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- China is with great potential and very open for high standard players, says Jacqueline Zhang , Deputy General Manager of Ping An Asset Management Co., Ltd. ("Ping An AMC"), during a panel at the Future of Asset Management Asia event, hosted by the Financial Times in Singapore on May 11 .

Ping An AMC, a member of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE: 601318), provides professional asset management service for institutional investors, including both China and foreign asset owners, who are investing in China for the long-term.

"The China market is of great potential and very open for high standard players. We welcome capable top players to work together on the high quality of the market," said Ms. Zhang . "There will be more collaborations rather than competition, because the market is big enough for everyone."

Pension market a "great opportunity" for asset management industry

In terms of onshore investment, China's rapidly aging society is a huge growth opportunity for China's asset managers, Ms. Zhang said. By 2035, the share of China's population over age 65 will exceed 20%, according to government projections. It only took 22 years for China's over-65 population to grow from 7% to 14%, which is in acceleration. People need to think about their own financial security for retirement, Ms. Zhang said. "That indicates a great opportunity for the asset management industry."

In November 2022 , China announced the implementation of private pension plans for individuals, in addition to government pensions and employer programs. More than 24 million individual pension accounts have since been opened, but there is a gap in public understanding of the products. "I think there's a lot of room and great potential for asset managers to do the client education and to promote the pension products," Ms. Zhang said.

Investor education and post-investment service, a new focus for China's asset managers

Last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission released guidelines to accelerate the "high quality development" of the mutual fund industry, encouraging long-term investment behaviors rather than short-term ones. "It is a very important signal that client education and post-investment services will be the new focuses for asset managers in China ," Ms. Zhang said.

The aligns with Ping An AMC's investment focus on managing long-term, large-scale funds for asset owners and investors. Its client education services include regular market views, insight reports, account performance reviews and investment forums to help investors understand the latest developments in China's capital market.

Ping An AMC is one of the largest and most influential institutional investors. As one of the leading asset managers in China , the company provides professional asset management solutions to domestic and international institutional investors, such as sovereign wealth funds, pensions, insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions. In terms of assets under management, it is the third largest asset manager in Asia and among the top 50 global asset management companies, according to Investment & Pensions Europe. As the end of 2022, Ping An AMC had RMB4.37 trillion ( USD637 billion ) in assets under management.

About Ping An Group

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An" or the "Group") strives to become a world-leading integrated finance and healthcare services provider. With nearly 227 million retail customers and 693 million internet users, Ping An is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. Under the technology-driven "integrated finance + healthcare" strategy, Ping An provides professional "financial advisory, family doctor, and elderlycare concierge" services. Ping An advances intelligent digital transformation and employs technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of its financial businesses and enhance risk management. The Group is listed on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai . As of the end of 2022, Ping An had RMB 11,137,168 million in total assets. The Group ranked 17th in the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2022 and ranked 25th in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2022.

For more information, please visit www.group.pingan.com and follow us on LinkedIn - PING AN .

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SOURCE Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.
The world's largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool and outdoor living products has donated over $3M to local YMCAs.

COVINGTON, La. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As May marks the 20th Annual National Water Safety Month and the start of summer swimming season with the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, POOLCORP is once again teaming up with YMCAs across the country to help children learn life-saving swimming skills.

POOLCORP, the leading global wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies and outdoor living products, including a vast line of pool tile, finish, and hardscapes through its network of NPT Design Centers, has donated more than $3 million to 21 YMCAs throughout the country since the program's inception in 2021. The donated funds have been critical in providing free training for 2,000 lifeguards and swim lessons for more than 30,000 children who otherwise would not have had the chance to participate.

"As an organization and a leader in the swimming pool industry, we believe that everyone should know how to swim," said Kendall Large , POOLCORP's Vice President of Strategic Marketing, "and at the center of our program is an unwavering commitment to reach children who are furthest from this opportunity."

Research shows that 79% of children in households with an income less than $50,000 have few-to-no swimming skills. In addition, just over a third of U.S. parents say they cannot afford swimming lessons for their children. POOLCORP's partnership with the YMCA is aimed at closing that gap through continued support in 2023.

This year, POOLCORP announced new partnerships with community YMCAs in California , Texas , South Carolina , Ohio , and Massachusetts . Further, POOLCORP's 6,000 employees also play a significant role in the program. To guarantee children have what they need to participate in swim lessons, POOLCORP employees donate new swimsuits, towels, and other swim gear to help ensure that there are no barriers keeping kids from joining in.

"We are committed to making a difference in the communities where we live and work," said Jennifer Neil , POOLCORP's Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. "For children, learning to swim is a critical safety skill, but it's also a way to boost confidence and help pave the way for a better, happier future  and we are proud to support that pathway in every way possible," Neil added.

Gordon Wadge , President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater New Orleans, has been part of POOLCORP's swim safety program since its inception and continues to see a positive impact in the community today. "POOLCORP's partnership with the YMCA saves lives. It's that important and especially as we enter the summer swim season," said Wadge. "Together, we want every child to be safe around the water  and with the YMCA being known as America's Swim Instructor and POOLCORP as one of the leaders in the swimming pool industry  what better partnership to make this happen," added Wadge.

For more information about POOLCORP's partnership with YMCAs and other charitable programs, visit poolcorp.com/splash-of-joy. Swim gear donations from the community are also welcome through the program's Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3JLJT4OQL4CE3?ref_=wl_share.

Pool Corporation (POOLCORP) is the world's largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool and related backyard products. Through its distribution networks that include SCP Distributors, Superior Pool Products, Horizon Distributors and National Pool Tile, POOLCORP operates approximately 425 sales centers in North America , Europe , and Australia through which it distributes more than 200,000 national brand and private label products to roughly 125,000 wholesale customers. For more information about POOLCORP, please visit www.poolcorp.com.

SOURCES:

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/water-safety/drowning-prevention-and-facts.html

a-splash-of-joy-infographic.pdf (poolcorp.com)

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SOURCE POOLCORP
Training A.I. For Good: Panel of Seasoned Journalists is Helping Seekr Engineers Develop a Highly Refined Understanding of the Role Journalistic Standards Have on the Quality and Reliability of News

VIENNA , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seekr, a leading artificial intelligence company specializing in transparent content evaluation, today announced the launch of an independent Journalist Advisory Board. The Board, which comprises accomplished journalists with diverse experiences and areas of expertise, will play a critical role in helping to inform the technology.

"At a time when readers are being inundated by a torrent of information  sometimes reliable, sometimes not  journalism standards are more important than ever," said Richard Osborne , a member of Seekr's Journalist Advisory Board. "This technology helps the average reader pierce through the clutter of false and misleading information and differentiate between high-quality journalism that is governed by standards, and news that is less than credible. As journalists, we believe we have a role in shaping this technology, and ultimately, our profession has a stake in its success."

Seekr welcomes the Board's collective expertise and counsel to gain a nuanced and textured understanding of journalistic standards  which is foundational to the technology's ability to analyze news stories for quality and bias using natural language processing and machine learning.

The Board will also provide objective evaluation of the efficacy of Seekr's technology. It will do this by conducting periodic manual evaluations of dozens of randomly selected news reports to determine whether  and to what extent  each individual report adheres to or departs from relevant journalistic standards. These human-conducted analyses will be compared to Seekr's AI-generated evaluations to determine how well the technology performs.

Members of the advisory board include:

Christina Bellantoni : Director of USC Annenberg's Media Center, and a former reporter, editor, producer, and analyst.

Director of USC Annenberg's Media Center, and a former reporter, editor, producer, and analyst. Shira Toeplitz Center: General manager for newsroom initiatives at Boston Globe Media Partners , and a former reporter, editor, and analyst.

General manager for newsroom initiatives at , and a former reporter, editor, and analyst. Michael McCarter : Interim Editor in Chief at USA Today and its national network, previously Managing Editor of Standards, Ethics, and Inclusion at USA Today .

Interim Editor in Chief at and its national network, previously Managing Editor of Standards, Ethics, and Inclusion at . Richard Osborne : Veteran newspaper and magazine journalist who has been honored with dozens of regional, state, and national journalism awards.

Veteran newspaper and magazine journalist who has been honored with dozens of regional, state, and national journalism awards. Jeremy Peters : Correspondent for The New York Times who currently writes about the media and its intersection with politics, culture, and law.

Correspondent for who currently writes about the media and its intersection with politics, culture, and law. Ray Suarez : Former correspondent and anchor at The PBS NewsHour and host of NPR's Talk of the Nation.

"The Seekr platform is a transparent and objective content rating system applied in a uniform way, at a massive scale, across all news articles, in real time," said Seekr founder and chief executive Pat Condo . "By applying principles of high-quality journalism in combination with the identification of bias, Seekr's AI algorithmic scoring restores trust in high quality journalism while exposing reporting that is inauthentic."

For more information on the advisory board and Seekr's first-of-its-kind technology, visit Seekr.com.

About Seekr Technologies Inc.

Seekr is a privately held artificial intelligence company that specializes in transparent content evaluation and objective ratings. Its AI technology is designed to rate all content, both authentic content created by humans, and synthetic, machine-generated content. Seekr empowers user choice and control by streamlining access to reliable information. The centerpiece of Seekr's technology is an independent search engine that is powered by proprietary AI and employs natural language processing (NLP) to generate a Seekr Score and Political Lean Indicator. Seekr is committed to building a web that people can trust by giving everyone access to technology that makes it easy to find reliable content in context.

Media Contact for Seekr:

Ed Patru , Direct Communications Co.

(202) 360-7063

[email protected]

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SOURCE Seekr Technologies
Agency will bring paid media, data strategy excellence to bear for portfolio of consumer fitness, health & wellness brands

WOODBURY, Minn. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Self Esteem Brands (SEB), the parent company of a global portfolio of fitness, health and wellness franchise brands with more than 5,500 locations around the world, has named Wpromote, the top independent marketing agency, as its new digital Agency of Record. Effective immediately and in partnership with marketing leadership across the portfolio, Wpromote delivers all paid media and data strategy and management for Anytime Fitness, Basecamp Fitness, The Bar Method, Stronger U, and Waxing The City.

"The successful track record of Wpromote with clients of all sizes, combined with its data-driven approach and deep consumer curiosity, made it clear it's the right partner for us," said April Anslinger , global chief marketing officer, Self Esteem Brands. "We look forward to collaborating and building impactful campaigns that drive our business growth."

The Wpromote team is charged with powering SEB's overall goal to disrupt the global fitness industry by leveraging a full suite of digital media channels, from search and social to programmatic and CTV, to connect with customers and drive business outcomes.

SEB chose to work with Wpromote thanks to the agency's deep bench of best-in-class full-funnel media experts and the innovative power of Polaris, its award-winning proprietary tech platform, as the company seeks to grow its market edge and take its brands to new levels of consumer consideration and conversion. The combination of strategy, tech and data will help SEB unlock stronger media performance for each brand while analyzing insights at the different stages of marketing maturity across the portfolio and accelerating profitability as a whole.

"We knew right away that we speak the same language as SEB, from cultural values to our approach to the business," said Mike Stone , chief relationship officer, Wpromote. "We outlined a fresh approach to give every brand and franchisee the tools to tackle the challenges and capitalize on opportunities at the national and local level. We're excited to show the world what this partnership with SEB will accomplish: together, we will find and scale new paths to profitability and growth for each and all of the brands."

About Wpromote

Wpromote is a digital marketing agency that helps our clients Think Like A Challenger: from enterprise brands to fast-growing digital disruptors, we believe that the right media strategy can help every business connect with customers. We combine best-in-class expertise and proprietary technology to drive profitable growth for leading brands like Whirlpool, Quickbooks, Samsung, Spanx, and TransUnion. For additional information, visit http://www.wpromote.com. Contact: Jessica Brunner , [email protected]

About Self Esteem Brands

Headquartered in Woodbury, Minnesota , USA, Self Esteem Brands is the world's largest health and wellness franchisor, and is the parent company to Anytime Fitness, Basecamp Fitness, The Bar Method, and Waxing the City. With the mission to improve self-esteem around the globe, Self Esteem Brands, through its suite of health and wellness brands, has more than 5,500 operating locations across all seven continents. Additionally, Self Esteem Brands is the owner of Stronger U Nutrition, Healthy Contributions, and Provision Security. For more information on Self Esteem Brands and its various franchise opportunities, please visit https://sebrands.com/.

Contact:

Kelly Groehler

[email protected]

612-669-8602

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SOURCE Self Esteem Brands
Talent Acquisition innovator recognized for creative, client-focused solutions

TORONTO , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - TalentNet, a leader in the Direct Sourcing space, is excited to announce the company has been honored with the distinguished 2023 HR Tech Award in the Talent Acquisition category for Best Frontline-Focused Solution.

These awards recognize innovative technology in the HR space, focusing on companies who create seamless, intuitive platforms to help connect candidates with the right positions.

"In a world of scarce talent, TalentNet is bringing the power of Direct Sourcing to employers looking for contingent and full-time staff," said Ben Eubanks , Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory. "Candidates for frontline roles can apply in as little as 60 seconds, and employers can see immediate and significant cost savings versus other traditional hiring methods. Very impressive."

TalentNet is proud to be highlighted along with the industry's top tech companies, and will continue to focus on creating positive candidate experiences using cutting edge technology.

"We are thrilled to receive this honor from the 2023 HR Tech Awards. This recognition shows how important frontline solutions are in the talent acquisition sphere," said Jonathan Prothero , TalentNet's President. "TalentNet is focused on building a One Doorway platform that helps companies attract and manage all worker types through a single, branded entry point building a diverse talent community."

TalentNet's platform allows hiring managers and curators to smoothly build and manage their candidate pipelines. Users can easily organize candidates and quickly send email and text communications, as well as create messaging templates to make reaching out to top talent as intuitive as possible.

"As the originator of the Direct Sourcing space, TalentNet utilizes our vast experience, ongoing customer feedback and the latest innovations in AI to constantly evolve our product to create a seamless talent acquisition experience." said Prothero.

To learn more about TalentNet's solution, book a demo here .

About TalentNet :

TalentNet introduced the world to a better way of sourcing in 2013 with the launch of the TalentNet contingent labor Direct Sourcing platform. Today, Direct Sourcing is one of the fastest-growing trends globally in talent acquisition. As the technology pioneer in Direct Sourcing, we empower some of the world's leading brands to provide job candidates with a seamless hiring experience while simplifying supply chain complexity and reducing cost. Our mission is to transform how organizations engage and acquire talent.

Visit us at TalentNet.com

Follow us on LinkedIn

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SOURCE TalentNet
Multi-week summer initiative provides fans and air conditioning to those in need

IRVING, Texas , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TXU Energy today announced the launch of its signature Beat the Heat program, celebrating 25 years of helping Texans in need. This year's multi-week, $125,000 initiative includes distributing new air conditioning units and fans in partnership with social service agencies across the state.

"For 25 years, through some of the hottest Texas summers on record, our Beat the Heat program has continually met critical needs in our communities," said Scott Hudson , president of TXU Energy. "What started in Dallas , with a single call center to provide people with resources like fans and A/C units, has grown exponentially. We've built valuable partnerships with social service agencies across the state and connected with thousands of Texans who face the dangerous reality of being unable to keep cool. This year, like the 25 before it, our message is this: no matter what this summer brings, TXU Energy is here to help."

TXU Energy's $125,000 Beat the Heat contribution directly supports nearly 20 social service organizations across Texas , and for the first time, in Lubbock . Highlights for the 2023 summer giving campaign include:

Dallas  The Senior Source: $25,000 will fund the purchase of new window A/C units for older adults. This donation helps The Senior Source achieve its goal of giving away at least 400 A/C units.

Houston  BakerRipley: $20,000 will fund the purchase of hundreds of fans and A/C units for neighbors across the Houston area.

Lubbock  Love the Hub and Meals on Wheels: $25,000 will help purchase hundreds of box fans and A/C units for Lubbock families. Distribution begins June 22 .

Tarrant County  Meals On Wheels: $7,500 will help purchase fans and A/C units for seniors and homebound Meals On Wheels clients across Tarrant County.

Waco  Caritas and The Salvation Army: $6,000 will fund the purchase of 300 fans. Caritas will host a distribution event for community members on June 6 .

Corpus Christi  Mission 911: $5,000 will purchase 200 box fans for neighbors in need. Fans and box lunches will be distributed at a Mission 911 event on July 25 .

In addition to these efforts TXU Energy continues to provide bill-payment assistance to its customers through TXU Energy Aid. For 40 years, these funds, donated by employees, customers, and the company, have been distributed by TXU Energy Aid partner agencies. For information on which social service agencies are providing assistance, Texans should call 211 or visit 211Texas.org and type "electricity bill assistance" in the search box.

About TXU Energy

More Texans trust TXU Energy to power their homes and businesses than any other electricity provider. We're passionate about creating experiences and solutions tailored to fit the needs of our customers, including electricity plans, online tools to help save, renewable energy options and more. TXU Energy is also committed to cultivating a dynamic and enjoyable workplace where all our people can succeed. Visit txu.com for more. TXU Energy is a subsidiary of Vistra (NYSE: VST). REP #10004

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SOURCE TXU Energy
Everspring to provide marketing, enrollment and student success services for two online graduate degree programs.

CHICAGO and IOWA CITY, Iowa , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Everspring, a leading higher education technology and services provider today announces a partnership with the University of Iowa's College of Education to support two online graduate programs: Master of Arts in Teaching, Leadership, and Cultural Competency (MATLCC) and Master of Arts in STEM Education (MA in STEM Education). The partnership will bolster Iowa's College of Education in growing enrollments and delivering outstanding student outcomes by providing marketing, enrollment and student success services.

The University of Iowa's College of Education offers an engaged community and flexible options for working professionals to pursue education and advance in their field. Iowa's programs prepare the next generation of educators with the skills to solve challenging problems, gather and evaluate data and apply critical thinking skills.

"Expanding the pool of highly qualified educators helps meet a vital need, both in Iowa and nationwide," said Beth Hollenberg , CEO and co-founder of Everspring. "Everspring is excited to partner with the University of Iowa to increase access to future educators."

As a specialized marketing solutions and student success provider, Everspring offers a full suite of brand development, performance marketing, integrated marketing communications, lead generation and enrollment management services that enable universities to cultivate awareness and deliver rapid, sustainable enrollment growth for their programs. Everspring's expert student success team helps support enrolled students in their online programs, leading to outstanding retention and graduation rates and strong student satisfaction.

About the University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is one of the nation's premier public research universities serving more than 30,000 students. Founded in 1847, it is the state's oldest institution of higher education and is located alongside the picturesque Iowa River in Iowa City . A member of the Association of American Universities since 1909 and the Big Ten Conference since 1899, the University of Iowa is home to one of the most acclaimed medical centers in the country, as well as globally recognized leadership in the study and craft of writing. Iowa is known for excellence in both the arts and sciences, offering world-class undergraduate, graduate, and professional academic programs in a wide variety of fields. For 18 consecutive years, the University of Iowa was named a "Best Buy" in the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

About the University of Iowa College of Education

As part of a Big Ten Research I institution, the University of Iowa College of Education offers a personal, affordable, and top-ranked education for more than 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students. These students hail from all 99 Iowa counties, all 50 states, and 80 different countries, including a growing number of distance learners.

In 1847, Iowa legislators created the State University of Iowa, the state's first public institution of higher education to provide teacher training for Iowa's growing population. In 1872, the UI created the nation's first permanent college-level department of education.

Today, the UI College of Education is home to many nationally recognized, highly ranked graduate programs. The college's vision is to pursue world-class outcomes in all that it pursues: leading research, engaging its communities, and preparing education and mental health professionals for innovation and impact.

About Everspring

Everspring is a leading provider of education technology and service solutions. Our advanced technology, proven marketing approach, research-backed instructional design services, and robust faculty support deliver outstanding outcomes for our university partners, powering their success online. Everspring offers a range of full-service turnkey solutions, as well as standalone single service offerings, and innovative self-service products that enable universities to establish and maintain themselves as leaders in the digital delivery of education. Based in Chicago , Everspring serves a growing number of colleges and universities, nationwide.

Visit www.everspringpartners.com for more information.

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SOURCE Everspring
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) announced today that it has been recognized by USA Today as one of America's Climate Leaders for 2023. This inaugural award recognizes U.S. -based companies with the most significant year-over-year reductions in scope 1 and scope 2 emissions relative to revenue.

"We are proud to be named one of America's top climate leaders of 2023 in recognition of our ongoing commitment to reduce our climate impact and achieve our Net Zero goals," said Pam Klyn , Whirlpool Corporation's executive vice president of corporate relations and sustainability. "This progress has been made possible through the prioritization of energy retrofits, the use of offsite and onsite renewable energy, and continuous process improvements, which have all underpinned our environmental sustainability strategy that is focused on improving life at home and on the planet."

In 2003, Whirlpool Corporation was the first appliance manufacturer to set an emissions reduction target and has continued to make progress through ongoing investments. In 2022, the company achieved an approximately 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and scope 2) in its global plants and operations. Whirlpool Corporation activated two virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) that are expected to yield renewable energy to match 100 percent of Whirlpool Corp.'s electricity consumption by its U.S. manufacturing plants.

This past year, as part of the company's longstanding commitment to sustainable operations, Whirlpool Corporation achieved Zero Waste to Landfill Gold or Platinum status (a greater than 95 percent diversion rate) at all 29 of its large manufacturing sites worldwide and has continued to invest in plant efficiency and waste reduction by working closely with recyclers and sustainability vendors to find new, innovative ways to eliminate waste and contribute to the circular economy.

Over the past several months, Whirlpool Corporation received several awards for its ongoing commitment to environmental and social sustainability, including being named to Forbes 2023 Best Brands for Social Impact list as well being recognized as one of America's Most JUST Companies for 2023.

To create the inaugural list, USA Today partnered with Statista Inc, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider, to calculate the year-over-year reduction in emissions intensity (compound annual reduction rate). Companies headquartered in the United States that achieved the greatest reduction in their core emissions intensity  that is, their scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions relative to revenue  between 2019 and 2021 were included in the list.

About Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. In an increasingly digital world, the company is driving purposeful innovation to meet the evolving needs of consumers through its iconic brand portfolio, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, Indesit, Yummly and InSinkErator. In 2022, the company reported approximately $20 billion in annual sales, 61,000 employees and 56 manufacturing and technology research centers. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com.

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SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation
The premium sipping rum and the legendary French house will host a VIP speakeasy at the ceremony taking place at the historic United Palace in New York City

NEW YORK , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Zacapa Rum - the ultra-premium Guatemalan rum steeped in craft and heritage - and Baccarat - renowned French luxury house and symbol of art de vivre - are pleased to announce their partnership of the 76th Annual Tony Awards. Together, Zacapa Rum and Baccarat will raise a toast to the artistry of Broadway , champion community, and bring elevated moments of joy and celebration to Tony Award nominees, presenters, and spirits enthusiasts with an exclusive series of first-ever cocktail experiences at the awards ceremony and beyond.

For the first time, the Tony Awards will be presented at the historic United Palace in Washington Heights on June 11th , paying homage to the rich culture, dynamic talent, and groundbreaking impact of the community. To celebrate the occasion, Zacapa Rum and Baccarat - with their shared emphasis on joy, craft, and celebration - will create an evening centered around the timeless craft of stage acting and the community-driven spirit of Broadway . A VIP experience - named Zacapa XO x Baccarat Speakeasy - will offer an evening like no other.

"Community is the lifeforce of Zacapa Rum and as a brand we're focused on uplifting those who make our product possible," says Sam Salameh , Vice President Breakout Growth Brands, Diageo. "Our rum is made in the heart of Guatemala and forged by the local community, where we regularly employ 700 female artisans to provide viable pathways towards economic growth. And, like Baccarat, we place the highest emphasis on craftsmanship and attention to detail. We're proud to partner with like-minded organizations like Baccarat and the Tonys to celebrate the craft and incredible community that is Broadway in such a cultural cornerstone as Washington Heights ."

The exclusive Zacapa XO x Baccarat speakeasy will be a lavish lounge for the stars as they enjoy an evening of peer celebration. Artfully incorporating dazzling lighting, decor and glassware from the House of Baccarat, the space will nod to the heritage and craftsmanship of Baccarat's 260-year history, alongside the signature experience of Zacapa XO, the brand's most luxurious expression. Zacapa Rum will work with Master Mixologist Lynnette Marrero and a supporting cast of talented local mixologists to craft bespoke cocktails inspired by the culture and community of Washington Heights . Those in attendance will have a choice of two original cocktails featuring Zacapa XO, crafted a la minute and presented in delicate crystal; each a trophy on its own.

"At Baccarat, we partner only with the best, and we pride ourselves on our pioneering spirit and our ability to bring light and joy to any occasion," said Adam Banfield , President and CEO of Baccarat North America. "Our partnership with Zacapa in support of the 76th Annual Tony Awards will honor the spirit of Washington Heights , the city of New York , and the timeless nature of Broadway and the craft of stage acting - bringing them together with all that Baccarat represents, to elevate each moment into one of celebration."

In addition to the Zacapa XO x Baccarat speakeasy that is exclusive to Tony Awards VIP guests, Zacapa Rum will have a presence at the official Tony Awards after party, complete with three additional Zacapa No. 23 serves to round out Lynnette Marrero's collection. The Zacapa Rum Tony Awards Cocktail Collection includes:

XO on a Cloud - A decadent serve combing Zacapa XO, Guatemalan Cold Brew, Pimento Bitters, and Spiced Cacao Simple Syrup, topped with a whisper of smoke

- A decadent serve combing Zacapa XO, Guatemalan Cold Brew, Pimento Bitters, and Spiced Cacao Simple Syrup, topped with a whisper of smoke Zacapa Gold Fashioned - A tropical take on an Old Fashioned using Zacapa XO, Cinnamon Infused Agave Syrup, Banana Liqueur, and Mole Bitters, garnished a gold gilded banana leaf

- A tropical take on an Old Fashioned using Zacapa XO, Cinnamon Infused Agave Syrup, Banana Liqueur, and Mole Bitters, garnished a gold gilded banana leaf Zacapa Piraguas - A twist on a Piragua - shaved ice topped with Zacapa No. 23 and a choice of three refreshing flavors - coconut, passion fruit, or pineapple

- A twist on a Piragua - shaved ice topped with Zacapa No. 23 and a choice of three refreshing flavors - coconut, passion fruit, or pineapple Palace Sparkler - A bracing, effervescent offering made with Zacapa No. 23, Lime Juice, Simple Syrup, Aromatic Bitters, and topped with Champagne

- A bracing, effervescent offering made with Zacapa No. 23, Lime Juice, Simple Syrup, Aromatic Bitters, and topped with Champagne Showstopper- An herbaceous classic featuring Zacapa No. 23 with Oloroso Sherry, Simple Syrup, Yellow Chartreuse, aperitivo, and lemon juice

Consumers can follow along on Instagram @ZacapaRumUSA and @Baccarat to learn more, along with recipes and tips for recreating the Zacapa Rum x Baccarat Tony Awards Cocktails at home on Tonys night. For more information, please visit ZacapaRum.com and Baccarat.com .

The American Theatre Wing's 76th Annual Tony Awards, presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will air LIVE on Sunday, June 11, 2023 , from the historic United Palace in Washington Heights , in New York City from 8:00-11:00 PM, ET / 5:00-8:00 PM, PT on the CBS Television Network, and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+.

Follow @TheTonyAwards on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook.

RON ZACAPA Rum. 40% Alc/Vol. Imported by The Ron Zacapa Co., New York, NY . Enjoy responsibly. Only share with those 21+.

About Zacapa Rum

Crafted in Guatemala , Zacapa Rum is a work of art and an expression of patience, richness, quality and master blending. The Zacapa story embodies the heart and soul of the powerful female artists behind it. Zacapa belongs on the tables of friends and communities, gathered to savor simple pleasures and strengthen connections. Zacapa's Master Blender of over 36 years, Lorena Vasquez is one of only a few female leaders in a traditionally male-dominated industry. She brings her expressive character and special approach to blending, harnessing the best ingredients from Guatemala to create one of the world's best-tasting rums. Zacapa has the honor of being the first brand to be inducted into the International Rum Festival's Hall of Fame. Zacapa No. 23, Zacapa Edicion Negra and Zacapa XO are available at fine liquor stores, bars and restaurants around the world. For more information, visit https://www.zacaparum.com/ .

About Baccarat

Founded in 1764, Baccarat, alchemist of joy and creator of enchanting worlds, is the fruit of a group of daring artisans who have transformed the four elements of nature  earth, air, fire and water  into crystal of unparalleled purity. By crafting true masterpieces, Baccarat has never ceased to surprise the world, garnering numerous awards at World Fairs and international exhibitions. This is how the name of a small town in eastern France , Baccarat, has over time become a symbol of the art of celebration and French joie de vivre. From Paris to Moscow , New York , Tokyo , Miami or Hong Kong , the unique experience of Baccarat's art de vivre can be found within its Houses, boutiques, restaurants, bars, hotels and lounges. Ahead of its 260th anniversary, Baccarat continues its international development, firmly anchored in its roots, and driven by the ambition to always fly higher. Discover the captivating world of Baccarat on www.baccarat.com and on www.instagram.com/baccarat

About Diageo North America

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker , Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan , Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: DGE) and their products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world.

For more information about Diageo, their people, brands, and performance, visit www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practices. Follow on Twitter and Instagram for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA.

About The Tony Awards

The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At The Broadway League, Lauren Reid is Chair and Charlotte St. Martin is President. At the American Theatre Wing, Emilio Sosa is Chair and Heather A. Hitchens is President & CEO.

Media Contacts

Jenna Kaplan / Rachael Caldwell

Bullfrog + Baum

[email protected]

Jazmine Settles

DIAGEO

[email protected]

Reid Myers

Baccarat

[email protected]

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SOURCE Zacapa Rum; Baccarat
Said Shamia was eight years old when Egyptian troops hastily withdrew from Hamama, the Palestinian town they were defending, due to the Israeli advance. They told us they were leaving and that we should too. The adults thought: if they leave, how are we going to stay? he recalls today from his home in the capital, Gaza, on the 75th anniversary of what Palestinians know as Nakba  the catastrophe in Arabic. The term refers to the mass expulsions of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. It is the reason why Shamia and another almost six million Palestinians are now refugees and why the more than 400 Arab towns in Israel, including Hamama, lie in ruins.

Shamia cant remember when the Egyptian forces retreated, but it happened in October 1948, halfway through the first Arab-Israeli war. Hamama, with 6,000 inhabitants, had been filling up with displaced people from nearby towns. And Israeli military leader Yigal Allon  who would end up becoming a prominent minister in the Israeli Labor Party  took over Hamama in Operation Yoav, just as he had every other Palestinian town in previous offensives, his goal being to ensure that there was no Palestinian population to the rearguard of the Israeli troops.

Like so many other families, Shamias thought that they would be back in a matter of days. Thats why they loaded a camel with all the food that could fit, but did not take any goods. He headed with hundreds of other Palestinians towards nearby Al Maydal, today the city of Ashkelon. But the aerial bombings convinced them to continue south, to Hiribya, another town that has been wiped from the maps today, and from there to Gaza. We rested a couple of days at each site in the hope that the Arab armies would return, and we would go back to our town. Some men went to Hamama to get more food and never returned. Its not it is like now, where there is television. We didnt know what was happening, he says.

Said Shamia in his home in Gaza on Tuesday. Antonio Pita

What was happening is that the Israeli forces  which were better organized and fighting what they considered an existential battle three years after the Holocaust continued to rack up victories. In 1949, they signed armistices with the Arab countries and Shamia remained a refugee in Gaza, which was then in Egyptian hands.

Some 750,000 Palestinians  two-thirds of those living in the territory that had just become Israel  suffered the same fate. They ended up in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank. In 1948, the U.N. General Assembly issued Resolution 194, which stated that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date. But hundreds of Palestinians were killed when they clandestinely crossed the border, and Israel partially or totally destroyed the more than 400 towns in which they lived. Today, national parks, agricultural cooperatives and municipalities stand where they once were. In cities such as Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem and Ramla, their homes were nationalized and were used to house the Jews who arrived  in many cases, under duress  from North Africa and the Middle East to the fledgling state of Israel. The largest and most elegant houses are now being sold as luxury residences.

The 750,000 Palestinian refugees now number close to six million, if their descendants are taken into account. And the word Awda  meaning the right to return  appears at the entrance of their camps next to the image of a key, which is another symbol of their lost homes.

But collective will is one thing, and political reality another. The question of the right to return has only been raised in the peace negotiations for a symbolic number of refugees. Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. that he has the right to return to his hometown Safed, but a decade ago, he opposed the idea of the right to return, arguing that it was illogical to ask Israel to receive even a million refugees. Israel believes that the return of the refugees would be political suicide for the Jewish state, as it would lose its demographic majority. Israel also argues that the Nakba is simply the consequence of the Arab worlds refusal to support the U.N. partition plan for Palestine under the British Protectorate. Between November 1947  when the plan was presented, and hostilities between Jewish and Arab forces began to rise  and the formal start of the war, in May 1948, up to 300,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled.

Shamia recounts that he harbored hopes of returning to Hamama until Israels overwhelming victory in the Six-Day War (1967), when his father burned his property deed in a rage. He later visited the ruins of his village several times. This was back at a time when thousands of Israelis and Palestinians crossed daily from one side of Gaza to the other. He wanted to feel the smell again and show it to his children. I remember picking up a fig and feeling like I had stolen it. Can you imagine that? he asks.

Intisar Muhna also lived through the Nakba. She is 95 years old, and symbolizes a more recent and political concept called Al Nakba Al mustamirra  the Nakba continues. The same thing is happening again. They bombed the school in my town, they killed my brother, and now they follow us wherever we go, she says, standing in front of the rubble of her house in the Yarmouk neighborhood of Gaza City. It had just been destroyed in an Israeli bombing during the latest escalation of violence with Islamic Jihad. She is alive because the Israeli army warned her by phone to leave before the strike.

Muhna talks more about the past than the present. She likes to recall that her father was the mayor of her hometown, Al Masmiya Al Kabira, and that he had money, and he hid militiamen during the war. We heard so many attacks that were so close to us that he came to the conclusion that we had to leave, she recalls. As they were a wealthy family, they did not escape by donkey or on foot, but in a car that they used to keep for weddings or special occasions. We were so naive to think that we would be returning soon, she says.

Identity

The Nakba is the episode that has most defined Palestinians identity as a dispossessed people. It is buttressed by the fact that while Palestinian refugees cannot return to their homes, anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent has an almost automatic right to settle in Israel and obtain nationality. For this reason, the Nakba is also alive in the minds of young people, who can only see the lost homes of their elders online and are aware of the Israeli military strength 75 years later.

Thats the case for Shahd Raed Al Wahidi, a 17-year-old who posts videos on social media about the beautiful side of Gaza. As she grew up in the Gaza Strip under the blockade, she has never been able to visit Ramla, the city in Israel where her grandfather comes from. She says her grandfather still keeps the key to his house in Ramla in a special box. It is true that I was born here, but I know that originally I am not from here. And when someone says the word Nakba, it reminds you of where you come from, she explains. Even so, she believes that the elderly think more about the past and the young, like her, are more concerned about the current situation.

Shahd Raed Al Wahidi in Gaza City on Tuesday. Antonio Pita

Wassim Abu Nada, Rami Algaramar and Firas Al Khatib also have refugee status. They are in their twenties, and coming from their mouths, the right to return sounds like the conquest of a lost paradise  particularly given the reality they face in Gaza, a territory that is overcrowded, impoverished and has been under a blockade for almost two decades. Two thirds of the 2.1 million inhabitants in Gaza are refugees.

As they drink coffee in a park in front of the Islamic University, the three say that they believe that one day Israel will be defeated, that it will disappear from the face of the Earth, and they will return to the towns of their grandparents, even if only rubble is left. This is the kind of irredentism that Israel says is proof that the Palestinians think that the Jewish state is just a mere parenthesis in the history of the Middle East  and not a reality that is here to stay.

Since we were little, we have grown up knowing that we are refugees, we have lost our land and we will return one day, says Abu Nada, whose grandmother keeps the key to her house in Dimra in a box of chocolates. Kibbutz Erez rises above that village today, barely a mile from the ultra-protected border crossing that has made it impossible to reach what is just a stones throw away.

Firas Al Jatib, Wassim Abu Nada and Rami Algaramar in a park in Gaza City on Tuesday. Antonio Pita

The stories are passed from generation to generation. Al Khatib recounts that, when he was a teenager, he would listen to his grandfather talk about Arab Suqrir, a small village that existed on the shores of the Mediterranean, and he would think: Here he goes again with his little war stories. He told me everything: about the neighbor lived in such-and-such house and the other that lived in one a house away... Now I record it all down, as a personal and historical record, he says.

Algaramar is the most political and least personal of the three. He wears the typical red and white kufiya, which identifies militant Marxists, and quotes George Habash, the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. I dont want money or apologies from Israel. I want my land and to move as I please: to have breakfast in Jerusalem and dinner in Acre. Someday we will be stronger than them.

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By Melanie Burton

MELBOURNE (Reuters) -The Aboriginal group whose rock shelters Rio Tinto Ltd destroyed for an iron ore mine three years ago said remediation efforts have begun at the site under a co-management model that gives them more agency over mine development.

The destruction of the culturally significant site at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia which sheltered the group's ancestors over 46,000 years triggered a public outcry and the exit of Rio's CEO, chairman and two senior executives.

It also set off a government inquiry, paving the way for stronger legal protection and more of a say for Indigenous groups over how their traditional lands are impacted by mining.

"The events of May 24, 2020 ... were distressing to the PKKP community and will remain that way for their lifetimes," the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation (PKKP) said in a statement.

To ensure the devastation does not occur again, the group is working towards a co-management process of land development with mining companies, land committee chair Burchell Hayes said. As well as Rio Tinto, the world's fourth largest iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals Group mines on PKKP land.

Rio Tinto said it had made many changes to deliver better outcomes for the PKKP including moving to a co-management model and signing a remedy agreement to develop cultural and social projects but there was more to do to build trust.

Fortescue said it was working towards a co-management model with PKKP and that discussions were well-advanced.

The committee has asked Rio Tinto to rehabilitate areas surrounding the two impacted rock shelters to a pre-mining landscape and seeding and replanting the area with native plants has begun.

The PKKP said new laws in Western Australia better protected their heritage sites, but miners still need to gain the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous groups with which they work.

"As Traditional Owners, the PKKP People can coexist with companies that wish to impact our traditional country but the best path forward for these mining companies is stepping up to the co-management agreement."

(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

By Arriana McLymore

NEW YORK, NY (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc investors voted against all 18 shareholder-led proposals during the e-commerce giant's annual meeting on Wednesday, a preliminary tally by the company showed.

The total exceeded Amazon's 2022 record of 15 as environmental, social and governance (ESG)-focused investors pushed for changes ranging from warehouse workers rights, union rights, gender and racial pay and animal welfare standards.

Proposals need more than 50% of shareholder votes to win, but Amazon is not required to adopt them. Amazon will provide the final tally an upcoming U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Activist investor Tulipshare, which owns about $7,000 in Amazon shares, proposed an independent audit of the retailer's warehouses after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited violations.

Tulipshare CEO Antoine Argouges said in an emailed statement that his firm would continue to request meetings with Amazon.

According to Amazon's proxy statement, the company has "engaged with" at least 70 of its 100 largest unaffiliated investors and "numerous other shareholders."

(Reporting by Arriana McLymore in New York City; Editing by Richard Chang)
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union plans to increase protections for consumers of financial services are reigniting a long-simmering power battle between national and EU regulators that could hamper how the tougher safeguards will be enforced.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, on Wednesday proposed stricter rules on selling financial products, such as mutual funds and insurance, to increase consumer trust in investing, and deepen the bloc's capital market as it faces competition from Britain since Brexit.

Retail financial services are typically regulated by national rather than EU watchdogs and some market participants are predicting clashes, particularly on the transfer of greater supervisory powers to the securities and insurance watchdogs, ESMA and EIOPA.

The plans, known as the retail investment package, propose an EU layer of "value for money" safeguards for products and tougher EU rules for financial advisors.

Firms would also have to report to the watchdogs on their cross-border services to "identify areas where supervision should focus on and where stronger cooperation may be needed", the plans say.

"The question for me is does the retail investment strategy get bogged down into an institutional power sharing question before you even start to talk about the substance?" said Victor van Hoorn, head of the Brussels office at the Investment Company Institute, a global funds industry body.

ESMA and EIOPA would devise cost and performance benchmarks that about 30,000 mutual funds and other products would have to comply with, or be withdrawn.

ESMA, which would need an extra 11 staff to exercise its new powers, has also proposed fining asset managers who charge "undue" costs to customers.

The division of power between state and EU-level financial regulators has long been politically fraught, with countries rejecting the notion of a centralised counterpart to the powerful U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The European Central Bank already regulates the biggest banks in the EU, while insurers comply with pan-EU solvency rules, leaving retail-product markets among the few areas where countries have discretion.

The finance ministers of Luxembourg, a major EU investment funds centre, and Poland told the Financial Times in a letter last week that further centralisation of supervisory powers in the EU would be counterproductive to deepening the capital market.

But Better Finance, which campaigns for investors, said existing value for money rules were never properly enforced by member states, and bolstering EU-level watchdogs would help to change this.

"It is therefore vital to thoroughly improve the effectiveness and consistency of the supervision of the European investor protection rules, and to provide the EU supervisory authorities with the tools to achieve that," the campaigner said.

EU consumer group BEUC echoed this, saying that for the proposed protections to work they would need to be enforced at the European level in a unified way.

Member states' opposition has already led to the substance of the EU proposals being watered down before publication.

The Commission's initial intention was to ban commission paid by banks and insurers to brokers and advisors who favour their products over potentially cheaper rivals, a step Britain and the Netherlands have already taken.

But Germany, France, Italy and Poland, along with banks and insurers, had lobbied hard against such a broad ban, arguing it would upend a widely-used business model that relies on commission-based sales.

To avoid "significant and sudden impacts", a ban is now only proposed for products where no advice is provided.

An insurance industry official said even this could end up becoming a broad ban in practice because of the tougher safeguards advisors would have to meet under the proposals, pushing customers towards advice-free products.

EU states and the European Parliament have the final say on the plans, with changes likely, including attempts to reintroduce a full ban on commission.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Sinead Cruise and Sharon Singleton)
FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Arab League summit, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS

By Samia Nakhoul and Aziz El Yaakoubi

(Reuters) - Once labelled a pariah, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took centre stage as master of ceremonies last week when Arab states readmitted Syria to the Arab League, signaling to Washington who calls the regional shots.

His effusive greeting of President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit with kissed cheeks and a warm embrace defied U.S. disapproval at Syria's return to the fold and capped a turnabout in the prince's fortunes spurred by geopolitical realities.

The prince, known as MbS, seeks to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power by using his place atop an energy giant in an oil-dependent world consumed by the war in Ukraine.

Shunned by Western states after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad, the prince has now emerged as a player whom Washington can neither disregard nor disavow, but must deal with on a transactional basis.

Skeptical of U.S. promises on Saudi security and tired of its scolding tone, MbS is instead building ties with other global powers and, regardless of Washington's consternation, remaking his relations with their shared foes.

His blithe confidence on the world stage was not only visible in his reception of Assad. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the Jeddah meeting and MbS offered to mediate between Kyiv and fellow oil producer Moscow.

To be sure Saudi Arabia still depends militarily on the United States, which saved it from possible invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1990, monitors Iranian military activity in the Gulf and provides Riyadh with most of its weapons.

Still, with Washington seemingly less engaged in the Middle East and less receptive to Riyadh's anxieties, MbS is pursuing his own regional policy with less apparent deference to the views of his most powerful ally.

"This is a strong signal to America that 'we're reshaping and redrawing our relations without you'," said Abdulaziz al-Sager, Chairman of the Gulf Research Center, of the summit.

"He is not getting what he wants from the other side," Sager added, saying Saudi Arabia's ententes with regional foes were based on Riyadh's approach to regional security.

DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE

MbS' position strengthened last year when Western economies turned to Saudi Arabia to help tame an oil market destabilized by the war in Ukraine. It created the opportunity for MbS to launch a diplomatic offensive that included high profile summit appearances.

That effort was aided when Washington declared MbS immune from prosecution for Khashoggi's killing despite his being directly implicated in it by U.S. intelligence.

A visit by U.S. President Joe Biden last July had already demonstrated Riyadh's returning influence: The American leader left empty handed while the prince enjoyed a public display of U.S. commitment to Saudi security.

The Saudi pivot away from reliance on the United States was meanwhile evident when China mediated this year a settlement between Riyadh and its arch regional foe Iran after years of hostility.

The deal was not made from a position of Saudi strength: Iran's allies had come out stronger than those of the kingdom in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and held most of the populated territory in Yemen.

Still, it showed Riyadh was able to cut its losses and work with U.S. rivals and foes to shore up its regional interests such as cooling the Yemen war where Saudi forces have been bogged down since 2015.

Meanwhile the prince has improved ties with Turkey and ended a boycott of Qatar, a neighbour he considered invading in 2017 according to diplomats and Doha officials.

"Over the past three years, the hatchet was buried and relations were repaired," said Saudi columnist Abdulrahman Al-Rashed in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

TRANSACTIONAL RELATIONSHIP

A Gulf official said the new, more directly transactional, relationship with the United States had replaced the old oil-for-defence model because of what Riyadh saw as a shakier security umbrella after the Arab revolts of 2011.

A senior State Department official said the relationship is "an important eight-decade one that spans generations, across administrations in our own country and across leaders in Saudi Arabia".

"We have multiple interests when it comes to our relationship with Saudi Arabia...Our policy and engagement will seek to ensure that our relationship remains sound and able to meet our shared challenges of the future."

Riyadh thought Washington had abandoned old allies during the revolts and might abandon the Al Saud dynasty too. At the same time it believed the U.S. pursuit of a nuclear deal with Tehran had led Washington to ignore the growing activity around the region of Iranian proxies seen by Riyadh as a threat.

That impression has strengthened. A Saudi source close to the ruling inner circle pointed to what he saw as lax enforcement of sanctions on Iran and a drawdown in Syria, where a small U.S. contingent has denied territory to Iran's allies.

"I think countries in the region, as a consequence, will do what is best for them," he said.

Meanwhile, Riyadh was annoyed that the U.S. pulled its support for Saudi operations in Yemen, launched after Washington repeatedly urged the kingdom to take responsibility for its own security.

Without direct American intervention or support for its own military efforts, Riyadh had little choice but to strike a deal with Iran even if that annoyed Washington, the source said.

"This is a consequence of the U.S. action," he added.

Each side has a list of requests that the other is not willing to grant, the Gulf official said.

However both sides may have little choice but to put aside their grudges.

The kingdom may see the U.S. security umbrella as weakened, but still views it as crucial to Saudi defence. Western states have meanwhile remembered that Riyadh's influence in a volatile oil market requires them to banish their qualms and deal with its de facto ruler and future king.

(Writing by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Angus McDowall)
FILE PHOTO: Leon Black, Chairman, CEO and Director, Apollo Global Management, LLC, speaks at the Milken Institute's 21st Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apollo Global Management Inc billionaire co-founder Leon Black of defaming a woman by falsely claiming she tried to extort him after accusing him of rape.

Justice David Cohen said the accuser, Guzel Ganieva, could not pursue her claims after receiving $9.5 million from Black under a nondisclosure agreement that followed their six-year relationship, which ended in 2014.

Black, 71, has denied raping or behaving inappropriately with Ganieva, who is about three decades younger. Black left Apollo in 2021.

Cohen said Ganieva's acceptance of Black's payments and decision not to contest the nondisclosure agreement barred her from claiming she signed it under duress.

The Manhattan judge also found no proof that Ganieva, a single mother and former Russian model, did not understand the agreement.

"The NDA clearly and unambiguously covers all claims arising out of the parties' relationship, past or future," Cohen wrote.

Ganieva fired her law firm in March and chose to represent herself, court records show. She did not immediately respond to a message left at a phone number listed for her Manhattan home.

"From the very beginning, I've made clear that Ms. Ganieva's allegations against me were false," Black said in a statement. "I am gratified that the truth has come out and justice has been finally done."

The lawsuit stemmed from a March 2021 interview in which Black said he had "foolishly had a consensual affair" with Ganieva, and that she extorted him based on threats to go public.

He was responding to posts on Twitter where Ganieva accused him of having sexually harassed and abused her for years.

Black is worth $8.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

He still faces a lawsuit by another woman, Cheri Pierson, who has accused him of raping her two decades ago in the late financier Jeffrey Epstein's mansion in Manhattan.

Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, in an interview following Cohen's decision said Pierson's lawsuit, like Ganieva's, had no merit and "will likely be dismissed."

The case is Ganieva v. Black, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 155262/2021.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Boris Johnson cut ties with his government-appointed lawyers on Wednesday after he was referred to the police over more potential breaches of COVID-19 lockdown rules, a move the former prime minister's aides have portrayed as a "stitch up".

The Cabinet Office, which is responsible for overseeing the operation of government, said on Tuesday it had made a new referral to police based on information discovered while preparing submissions for a public inquiry into the pandemic.

In a letter, Johnson told the chair of the COVID inquiry, who is pressing to gain access to additional information from the former prime minister via the Cabinet Office, that "as of today, I am unrepresented".

"You may be aware that I am currently instructing new solicitors to represent me in the inquiry," he wrote in the letter.

The letter did not specify why he had stopped working with his previous legal team, appointed by the government to address questions from the COVID inquiry. His supporters said he had lost faith in the Cabinet Office.

The Times newspaper, which first reported the referral, said Johnson's diaries showed visits during the pandemic by his friends to Chequers, a rural country mansion used as a residence by sitting prime ministers.

Johnson's new referral to the police, less than a year since he was ousted from power in part over COVID lockdown-breaking parties, threatens to further deepen divisions in the governing Conservative Party before an election expected next year.

The Cabinet Office, a department of government, said it had made the referral in line with the civil service's code of behaviour.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said "ministers played no role in deciding whether the information should be handed over to the police. The police were first contacted on 16th May prior to any Minister being made aware."

Some of Johnson's supporters cast doubt over the neutrality of the Cabinet Office, saying officials there, with the cover of politicians, are pursuing a "witch-hunt" by referring to the case to the police.

Since the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, some Brexit-supporting Conservative lawmakers have argued that officials in the civil service were bent on thwarting Britain's departure from the bloc and some said this was their revenge.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
FILE PHOTO: SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) logo is seen in this illustration taken March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

(Reuters) - The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) is exploring legal options after the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp seized deposits held at Silicon Valley Bank's branch in the territory, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a government official.

Cayman Islands minister of financial services and commerce Andre Ebanks met with some of SVB's depositors in Hong Kong last week and told them financial regulator CIMA has retained lawyers and is looking for ways to help them, the report said, citing meeting attendees.

CIMA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

California regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank in March and First Citizens BancShares purchased the bank with the help of FDIC in a deal that drained $20 billion from an insurance fund financed by banks and run by the government.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Shinjini Ganguli)
BEIJING (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific region does not welcome NATO's plan to open a liaison office in Japan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Wednesday, after Japan acknowledged NATO's plan.

"We want to say that the Asia-Pacific does not welcome group confrontation, does not welcome military confrontation," Mao said.

She also said Japan should be "extra cautious on the issue of military security" given its "history of aggression".

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier in the day the country had no plans to become a NATO member, even though the U.S.-led military pact was planning a Tokyo office, its first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Ethan Wang; Writing by Albee Zhang and Liz Lee; Editing by Jason Neely and Conor Humphries)
FILE PHOTO: Analog Devices' logo is pictured on a smartphone in this illustration taken, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/

(Reuters) -Analog Devices Inc said on Wednesday that a turbulent economy would weigh on its third-quarter results, sending the chipmaker's shares down nearly 8%.

The company forecast third-quarter revenue of $3.10 billion, plus or minus $100 million, the midpoint of which was lower than analysts' estimates of $3.16 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Analog Devices also said it expects current-quarter adjusted profit of $2.52 per share, plus or minus 10 cents, below estimates of $2.65 per share.

The dour forecast mirrors the weakness seen at peer Texas Instruments Inc last month, with the chip industry struggling to shake off a slump that has led to a pile-up of inventory.

"Looking to the second half, we expect revenue to moderate given the continued economic uncertainty and normalizing supply chains," Analog Devices Chief Executive Vincent Roche said on Wednesday.

Resilient demand from the industrial and automotive sectors helped the company's second-quarter revenue rise 10% to $3.26 billion, beating estimates.

Revenue at the company's industrial segment, which accounts for more than half of Analog Devices' revenue, rose 16%, while the automotive segment's revenue increased 24%.

The company earlier in May said that it would invest 630 million euros ($678.8 million) in a new research and development and manufacturing plant in Ireland, as it looks to boost its production capacity in Europe.

Analog Devices said last week Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah would step down as finance chief at the end of the fiscal year.

The company's shares were down 7.9% at $173.04 on Wednesday.

($1 = 0.9281 euro)

(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
Moderator Jake Tapper of CNN speaks to the audience before the start of the second night of the second 2020 Democratic U.S. presidential debate in Detroit, Michigan, July 31, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

(Reuters) - CNN will host Republican U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley for a live town hall in Iowa on June 4, which will be hosted by the network's anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper, CNN said on Wednesday.

CNN is getting more Republicans on the air as it seeks political diversity, the chief executive of parent company Warner Bros Discovery said earlier this month, just after the network took heat for its broadcast of a May 10 town hall with former Republican President Donald Trump.

(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru)
Sudanese, who had been stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, arrive at Port Sudan airport, on May 11, 2023.

The fighting between Sudans military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday. The International Organization for Migration said the clashes have forced over 1 million people to leave their homes to safer areas inside Sudan. Some 320,000 others have fled to the neighboring countries of Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

The fighting erupted on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the countrys fragile transition to democracy, which was disrupted by a military coup led by the two generals in October 2021.

The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate  which mainly tracks civilian casualties. It has also pushed the East African country to near collapse, with urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and its neighboring city of Omdurman turning into battlegrounds.

Egypt is hosting the largest number of those who fled, with at least 132,360 people, followed by Chad with 80,000 and South Sudan with over 69,000, the agency added.

Sporadic fighting continued Wednesday in several areas, despite a cease-fire reached this week. Residents reported hearing gunshots and explosions in central Khartoum as well as areas close to military facilities in Omdurman.

The weeklong cease-fire, which was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, took effect Monday night. It was the latest international effort to push for humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-torn country.

A joint statement from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia late Tuesday warned that neither the Sudanese military nor the Rapid Support Forces observed the short-term cease-fire.

The Sudanese people continue to suffer as a result of this devastating conflict, the statement said. It called on both sides to fully abide by their commitments and to implement the temporary cease-fire to deliver urgently needed humanitarian relief.

Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned both parties of possible sanctions if the latest cease-fire was not adhered to.

The fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Sudan. According to the U.N., the number of people who need assistance this year has increased by 57% to reach 24.7 million people, more than half the countrys population. The international body said it would need $2.6 billion to provide them with much-needed humanitarian assistance.

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FILE PHOTO: CV90 combat vehicles seen during the Aurora 23 military exercise at Rinkaby firing range outside Kristianstad, Sweden May 06, 2023. TT News Agency/Johan Nilsson via REUTERS

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech government on Wednesday approved a plan to buy 246 infantry fighting vehicles for the country's army, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said.

The CV90 armoured tracked vehicles, which are made by a Swedish unit of Britain's BAE Systems, will cost 59.7 billion crowns (2.52 billion euros) and be delivered from 2026 until 2030, Defence Minister Jana Cernochova told reporters.

The long-awaited order was announced as the NATO country accelerates increases in defence spending in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with a goal of reaching the alliance's minimum of 2% of GDP from next year.

The vehicles will be used to equip an armoured brigade the Czechs have pledged to build up by 2026 as part of the country's NATO commitments.

It includes at least 40% participation by Czech industry, Cernochova said.

The country will also start talks on joining the German government in buying Leopard 2A8 tanks from German arms manufacturer KMW, Cernochova said.

The Czech army may buy around 70 tanks with delivery by 2030, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

A joint order with Germany and possibly other countries could lead KMW to raise capacity, cut the unit price and speed up delivery, the ministry said.

The German government welcomed the move. "The Czech Republic's entry into a German contract is a big step," German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.

Earlier, Germany's parliamentary budget committee approved the purchase of 18 Leopard 2 tanks and 12 self-propelled howitzers to replenish stocks depleted by supplies to Ukraine.

(Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers; Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Toby Chopra, Paul Simao and Jan Harvey)
Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen speaks at a kick-off event for the Huginn space mission in Copenhagen, Denmark, May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Tom Little

By Johannes Birkebaek

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Europe is at risk of falling behind in the global space race and missing out on key technologies, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen said ahead of his second trip into space onboard Elon Musk's next SpaceX mission in August.

Mogensen, who will be the first non-American pilot to steer the SpaceX Crew Dragon shuttle to the International Space Station (ISS), hopes to one day fly into space on an independent European mission.

"It would be a big honour to fly on a European spacecraft," Mogensen told Reuters in an interview.

The European Space Agency is currently only capable of carrying out manned European missions in space through international cooperations.

Western Europe meanwhile faces a gap in access to space for satellite launches after the Ukraine conflict severed access to the Russian Soyuz launcher, Italys Vega-C encountered a launch failure and Europes upcoming Ariane 6 was hit by delays.

Europes last Ariane 5 launch takes place next month.

"I think it certainly would be a big benefit to Europe and the space industry in Europe if we were capable of sending European astronauts into space on a European spacecraft," Mogensen said.

"I think especially the last year or so has shown that there are some critical technologies that we as a continent have to master so we are not dependant on foreign countries that could then use our lack of capabilities to pressure us," Mogensen said.

Sensitive technologies include secure communications, precise satellite navigation and Earth observation including monitoring of natural and man-made disasters.

In November last year the ESA asked its 22 member nations to back a 25% boost in space funding in an effort to remain a valued partner of the United States.

The United States is currently leading the "race for space" with the budget of the space agency NASA rising since the White House in 2020 called for the biggest NASA budget in decades to reach the moon.

Since then, NASA's budget has risen yearly, amounting to $32 billion in budgetary resources in 2023, according to the government's official spending website.

(Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek, Editing by William Maclean)
FILE PHOTO: The black flag of the Ansar Dine Islamic group is posted on a road sign in Kidal in northeastern Mali, June 16, 2012

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Lawyers for a Malian Islamist rebel accused of war crimes told his trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday that their client was a just a small fish within the rebel group that took over Timbuktu.

Defence lawyer Melinda Taylor did not deny that Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz was a member of the Ansar Dine Islamist group which controlled every aspect of daily life in Timbuktu after its 2012 takeover.

However, she painted him as someone trying to maintain order in a chaotic situation after the rebel takeover and who did not contribute in a meaningful way to any of the charged crimes.

Prosecutors told judges on Tuesday that Al Hassan headed an Islamic police force that terrorized the population of Timbuktu, especially women, who were subjected to rape, forced marriages and sexual slavery.

Al Hassan has pleaded not guilty to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Earlier prosecutors and lawyers for the over 2,000 victims who are parties in the case described Al Hassan as "indispensable" to the Ansar Dine and victims' lawyers said he was a "cold-blooded monster" who took part in a "tyrannical regime".

After Ansar Dine took over Timbuktu it tried to impose sharia Islamic law.

The al Qaeda-linked fighters also used pick-axes, shovels and hammers to shatter earthen tombs and centuries-old shrines reflecting Timbuktu's Sufi version of Islam in what is known as the "City of 333 Saints".

The ICC, the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, has been examining events in Mali since 2012. French and Malian troops pushed the rebels back the following year.

The court is expected to hand down a verdict in Al Hassan's case before the end of the year.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
FILE PHOTO: Fabio Panetta is seen in his office ahead of his appointment to the European Central Bank's executive committee, in Rome, Italy September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

BERLIN (Reuters) - A digital euro could be launched in three or four years but banknotes will be available as long as there is demand for them, Fabio Panetta, a member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board, told Les Echos.

To make the digital euro interoperable with other central bank digital currencies, the ECB was working closely with the central banks of the U.S., Britain, Switzerland, Canada, Japan and Sweden.

"We are in a preliminary stage where we compare notes on our progress," Panetta said in an interview published on the ECB website on Wednesday, adding that more work was required.

"While interoperability is desirable, different national rules on confidentiality would make it more challenging."

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
EU flag and Meta logo are seen in this illustration taken, May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Meta Platforms suffered a setback on Wednesday as Europe's second-top court ruled as legitimate the EU antitrust watchdog's requests for information related to its investigation into Facebook's data and online marketplace.

A spokesperson for the U.S. tech giant, which had compared the European Commission to a fishing super trawler vacuuming up data over the requests, said it was "considering its options" over the court decision.

"The General Court finds that Meta Platforms Ireland has not successfully demonstrated that the request to provide documents to be identified by search terms went beyond what was necessary," the Luxembourg-based General Court said.

The court added in its ruling that Meta had also not shown that "establishing a virtual data room failed to ensure that sensitive personal data was sufficiently protected".

Meta can appeal on points of law to Europe's highest court, the EU Court of Justice.

"We also welcome the Court-established virtual data room, which recognised that purely private information - including personal medical files - has no relevance to any competition investigation," the Meta spokesperson said.

Meta said it handed over more than a million documents since 2019 even as it questioned the necessity and proportionality of the data requests. An increasing number of companies have criticised such requests.

The cases are T-451/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission & T-452/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) -The European Union set out plans on Wednesday to cut how much retail investors pay banks and insurers for financial products to encourage investment and make its capital market deeper and more efficient.

The retail investment package toughens up existing EU investment laws by including a ban on banks and insurers paying commission on sales of their products by brokers who gave no advice to customers, the EU's executive arm, the European Commission said.

Only 17% of EU household assets were in the form of stocks and bonds in 2021, well below the U.S. level, as consumers prefer to keep their money in a bank. Retail investor fees are 40% higher than those institutional investors pay, the commission said.

Most retail investment products are sold through a commission-based model with customers not always getting the best deals, the commission said.

After heavy opposition from Germany, Italy, France and industry to a full ban on commission, the EU executive said it would take a "staged approach".

It proposes that the limited ban on commission is accompanied by a tougher tests on how suitable the products are for the buyer, where advice is being offered. Products would also have their "value for money" measured against new cost and performance benchmarks from EU regulators.

"Evidence shows that there are some products on the market that provide little, if any, value for money to the retail client, in particular due to high costs of products," the commission said.

EU Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness told reporters that a full ban on commission was still on the table in three years time when there will be a review to see if retail participation in markets has increased, value for money improved, and costs cut.

Consumer campaigner BEUC said despite the lack of a full ban on commission, the plans have the potential to limit costs for consumers, but will not be enough.

The U.K. is also introducing tougher protections for financial consumers from July to draw a line under a string of mis-selling scandals.

ICI Global, a funds industry body, said it seems unlikely that constructing granular cost benchmarks against all 30,000 EU-regulated mutual funds that would be evaluated can be done fairly across a diverse range of asset classes to avoid reducing innovation and choice.

EU states and the European Parliament will have the final say on the package with changes likely. The main centre-left party in parliament said it would push for a full ban on commission-based sales.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
FILE PHOTO: EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton looks on during a news conference after a visit in an ammunition factory in Nowa Deba, Poland, March 27, 2023. Patryk Ogorzalek/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Alphabet and the European Commission aim to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) pact involving European and non-European companies before rules are established to govern the technology, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Wednesday.

Breton earlier met Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, in Brussels.

"Sundar and I agreed that we cannot afford to wait until AI regulation actually becomes applicable, and to work together with all AI developers to already develop an AI pact on a voluntary basis ahead of the legal deadline," Breton said in a statement.

He also urged EU countries and EU lawmakers to finalise details of the Commission's proposed AI rules before the end of the year. Both groups have yet to start negotiations to iron out their differences.

Concern is mounting about fast-developing AI's potential to upend the way society and businesses operate. Governments are scrambling to find a way to rein in negative consequences without losing the benefits, or stifling innovation.

EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, who also met Pichai, underlined the need to act together.

"We need the AI Act as soon as possible. But AI technology evolves at extreme speed. So we need voluntary agreement on universal rules for AI now," she said in a tweet.

The European Union and the United States plan to step up cooperation on artificial intelligence to establish minimum standards before legislation enters force, Vestager said on Tuesday.

Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said she voiced her concerns to Pichai about the spread of pro-Kremlin war propaganda and disinformation on Google's products and services and the risks of disinformation in EU and national elections.

Pichai agreed to look into problems faced by independent Russian media in monetising their content in Russia on YouTube, Jourova said.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sharon Singleton; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi arrives ahead of the 11th Summit of the Regional Oversight Mechanism (ROM) of Addis-Ababa Framework Agreement, in Bujumbura, Burundi May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Evrard Ngendakumana

By Sonia Rolley

(Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo aims to boost its stake in a cobalt and copper joint venture with Chinese firms to 70% from 32%, on concerns the deal gives away too much of Congo's resources with little benefit to the country.

The plan to boost Congo's stake and have greater control in managing the Sicomines venture - currently dominated by the Chinese firms - was detailed in a document seen by Reuters, that outlined Congo's demands ahead of talks to overhaul a $6 billion infrastructure-for-minerals agreement.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who is set to visit China, instructed his government on May 19 to move ahead with the talks after Congolese stakeholders "consolidated their position" on the 2008 deal.

The lopsided pact, Congo says, leaves it little means to control the operations of the venture, and the resources and revenue that are leaving the country.

He ordered the creation of an ad hoc commission in March to harmonise the negotiating positions of the Congolese institutions in charge of supervising the execution of the deal.

The commission included representatives of the presidency, the government, state auditor, the General Inspection of Finance (IGF), the Agency for Supervision, Coordination and Monitoring of Collaboration Agreements signed between the Democratic Republic of Congo and private partners, state miner Gecamines, and civil society.

'AUTHENTIC'

Two members of the commission, who were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed the authenticity of the document and the conclusions, which have not been reported before.

The sources said the conclusions would serve as the basis for Congo's talks with the Chinese companies.

Congo's government and the presidency did not respond to requests for comment.

The commission said Congo should seek a greater share in Sicomines because the 2008 agreement did not take account of an estimated $90.9 billion worth of reserves that Gecamines brought to the deal, according to the document seen by Reuters.

Chinese companies Power Construction Corporation of China, also known as Sinohydro, and China Railway Group Limited, did not respond to requests for comment.

Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Group Limited had agreed to build roads and hospitals in exchange for a 68% stake in Sicomines, the cobalt and copper joint venture with Congo's state mining company Gecamines.

Congo is the world's largest producer of battery material cobalt, and a major copper producer.

The commission said Congo should seek a 60% stake in Sicomines for Gecamines and its subsidiary, a non-dilutable 10% stake for the state, and 30% for the Chinese companies, to make the joint venture deal fairer for Congo.

COMPENSATION SOUGHT

It said the amount earmarked in the previous deal to finance infrastructure, around $3 billion including interests, was insufficient compared with the value of mineral reserves given up by Gecamines.

"We estimated that the loan envelope for infrastructure should increase from $3 billion to $6 billion," one of the sources said.

In the initial deal, $3 billion had been earmarked for developing the Sicomines joint venture, and another $3 billion for infrastructure in Congo.

In the renegotiation talks, compensation would be brought up, the source said.

"We are going to ask for a lump sum compensation of $2 billion, among other things because Sicomines sold the minerals at half price to the Chinese companies ... well below the market price," the source said, adding that the fine will be for all damages Congo has suffered.

"It is estimated that 90% of the Congo's mining exports go to China, but its contribution to GDP does not exceed 30%," said Jean-Pierre Okenda, director of extractive industries for Resource Matters, an NGO which is calling for greater transparency in the negotiations.

Tshisekedi is expected to raise the issues during his trip to Beijing. However, "the real negotiations with the Chinese side will only start when the president returns," one of the sources told Reuters.

(Reporting by Sonia Rolley; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
FILE PHOTO: A Shein logo is pictured at the company's office in the central business district of Singapore, October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Chen Lin

By Krystal Hu and Arriana McLymore

(Reuters) - Online fashion giant Shein is exploring plans to build a factory in Mexico as one of its manufacturing hubs outside China, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the company faces increased scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and looks to expand its Latin America footprint.

The factory, which will make Shein products and is part of the retailer's push to localize production, could shorten shipping time and cut distribution costs for customers in Latin America. In April, Shein said it would build a manufacturing network in Brazil to serve as a global customer base.

Shein was founded in China and manufactures most of its products there, but is seeking to diversify. The company sells $10 dresses and $5 tops and has taken market share from other affordable fashion retailers.

Now based in Singapore, Shein competes with PDD Holdings' Temu, which sells low-priced items ranging from clothing to electronics from China in the U.S.

Shein and Temu face growing scrutiny from the U.S. Congress over what some lawmakers describe as their exploitation of U.S. trade laws. Shein also has come under fire in markets including India and Brazil for its supply-chain links to China.

A final location for the Mexico site has not been decided, said the sources, who requested anonymity as the discussions are private.

Shein will use funds from its recent capital raise of $2 billion from investors including Mubadala and Sequoia China for the expansion, as it eyes a U.S. initial public offering. Despite a valuation cut to $66 billion in its latest funding round, the retailer still posts annual revenue growth of 40%, one of the sources added.

Shein declined to comment on the expansion, but said it is committed to localization as it adds new markets.

"SHEIN's localization strategy allows us to shorten delivery times to customers while expanding product variety and supporting local economies," Marcelo Claure, chairman of SHEIN Latin America, said in an emailed statement.

Shein is "continuing to explore nearshoring options," he added, referring to manufacturing closer to the point of sale.

Shein recently offered an online marketplace platform in Brazil, allowing third-party merchants to sell their own goods on the Shein app and website. A similar marketplace would be launched next in the U.S. before rolling out globally.

The upcoming Mexico factory will not house items from third-party vendors, sources said. Claure confirmed that Shein is considering bringing its "marketplace model to other markets across Latin America."

In April, a federal commission released a report criticizing Shein and Temu for their use of de minimis, a trade exemption that allows the companies to avoid tariffs by shipping packages valued at less than $800 directly to U.S. customers. The report also criticized Shein for sourcing cotton from China's Xinjiang region, which is banned in the U.S. due to ties with Uyghur forced labor.

Shein has denied that it ships from the Xinjiang region. Temu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

A bipartisan group of two dozen U.S. representatives in May called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to halt Shein's IPO until the company verifies it does not use forced labor, Reuters reported.

A separate bipartisan group of U.S. representatives also sent a letter to Shein citing forced labor concerns and its use of de minimis.

"We are voluntarily cooperating with the Committee and are committed to working together on this matter," a Shein spokesperson said, adding that the company is "committed to respecting human rights and adhering to local laws and regulations in each market we operate in."

Shein has previously said it has "zero tolerance" for forced labor and requires suppliers to follow the International Labour Organization's core conventions.

Rights groups and governments have accused China of forced labor and internment of the mainly Muslim ethnic minority in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any rights abuses.

(Reporting by Krystal Hu and Arriana McLymore in New York; Additional reporting by Kate Masters in New York City and by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Richard Chang)
The struggle between the great powers of the 21st century is being played out on a battlefield measuring nanometers. This minuscule and almost unimaginable unit of length, which is equivalent to one billionth of a meter, is the reference in the development of microchips, a fundamental sector in the modern technology race. The worlds governments know that advances in areas such as artificial intelligence or supercomputing will be decisive in shaping the future global balance of power, as the source from which economic and military strength will flow.

Microchips are essential for all electronic technological progress. And they are at the center of a geopolitical tug-of-war whose importance is difficult to overestimate. The decision made in October by the Joe Biden administration to activate restrictive measures to prevent China from having or being able to produce high-end microchips  alleging the desire not to contribute U.S. technology to the advances of an adversary considered a threat  has taken this battle to a level of extremely high tension.

Microchips are electronic circuitry embedded in small, flat pieces of silicon about the size of a human fingernail. The most sophisticated ones can accommodate tens of billions of tiny transistors on that surface. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that most viruses have a diameter of between 20 and 400 nanometers. IBM announced in 2021 that it is developing transistors that measure two nanometers. The transistors work like switches connected in hyper-complex patterns inside silicon chips that, in the most advanced models, can make up over 200 superimposed infinitesimal layers. Silicon is essential for its quality as a semiconductor: depending on the circumstances, they can be conductors or insulators. These devices can have various roles, the two main ones being logic  information processing to carry out tasks  and memory  information storage. They are necessary for practically everything in modern life, from the simplest household appliances to the most sophisticated supercomputing activities, artificial intelligence and military applications.

Monopolies and bottlenecks

The geopolitical struggle is mainly being waged around the latter. To understand it, one must first understand the extraordinary complexity of the ecosystem involved in the design and manufacturing of these products. Silicon is abundant in nature, but after that, the process from design to production is a chain that requires impressive technological capabilities and in which there are multiple bottlenecks with companies in a dominant  or even monopolistic  position in key segments.

This industrial reality determines political actions. A standard way to manufacture a high-end microchip involves the design and software offered by just a handful of companies, among which there are a few American firms as well as Arm, a U.K.-based, Japanese-owned company. In the manufacturing phase, ultra-sophisticated machinery is essential and this is where the Dutch company ASML stands out, functioning as a monopoly in certain types of devices that develop photolithography, one of the processes necessary to form high-end microchips; Japans Tokyo Electron and the U.S. companies KLA and LAM Applied Materials produce other types of relevant equipment. After that, manufacturing plants with ultra-clean conditions are necessary, much higher than those of operating rooms, since any tiny particle could spoil the product. It is estimated that starting a plant costs around $20 billion. This sector is led by Taiwans TSMC, followed by South Koreas Samsung.

This simplified description shows an international production chain, but not a global one. No country has or is even close to being able to autonomously feed the entire production chain. But the U.S. has several decisive capacities in the high-end process, with a group of large companies active in different areas of the sector  such as Apple, Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm and others  and close alliances with countries that are home to key operators in this market.

It is by emphasizing these strengths that the U.S. is trying, through export control measures launched in October and subsequent diplomatic efforts, to stop China from accessing the most advanced microchips  not those that are used for refrigerators, televisions, cars or normal computers. Washington alleges that Beijing is moving towards increasingly repressive attitudes at home and assertive ones abroad, and that it does not want to allow China to use its technology to fine-tune systems that will reinforce these actions by giving greater capabilities to its military and security apparatuses. The U.S. argues that in China, the public and private military sectors are indistinguishable and therefore, these restrictions must be applied across the board. China sees these arguments as excuses that camouflage the intention of containing the Asian giant.

Microchips are sets of electronic circuitry installed on small, flat pieces of silicon. In the image, a semiconductor factory in Hai'an (China). CFOTO (Future Publishing / Getty Images)

Washingtons strategy envisions four interconnected steps, outlined in a report by Gregory C. Allen published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies: 1) strangle Chinas artificial intelligence industry by restricting access to high-end microchips ; 2) prevent China from designing high-end chips autonomously by cutting off its access to U.S. design software for those models; 3) prevent China from manufacturing high-end chips by preventing access to U.S.-built equipment; and 4) hinder the creation of Chinese machinery to manufacture these types of chips by vetoing access to U.S. components.

The U.S. is trying to make its policy more effective by getting foreign countries and companies to join its efforts, partly through regulations that require the application of Washingtons restrictions to foreign companies that, at some point in their production processes, have used U.S. technology. Elsewhere, through political dialogue with the governments of countries where key companies are established. The initiative is extremely complex because, of course, China is a reference customer in this sector, and restrictions mean loss of revenue. Things are further complicated by the fact that some foreign companies have factories in China, while some Chinese-owned companies have plants abroad. This sets up a very complex execution scenario. In any case, the move is of tremendous significance.

The microchip sector is sizable in terms of turnover, but not immense. Industry data suggests that turnover in 2022 was about $570 billion, roughly equivalent to the GDP of countries such as Thailand or Norway, but lower than what Walmart made that same year. Rather, the relevance of the sector resides in the fact that it is the irreplaceable pillar of the entire modern economy, and especially of all strategic technologies. For this reason, although they do not stand out as much in terms of their earnings, two companies in the sector, TSMC and Nvidia, are among the largest in the world by market capitalization.

The geopolitical struggle around microchips goes far beyond the restrictive measures enacted by the U.S. against China. The Covid pandemic and growing geostrategic tensions have developed a strong awareness of the risks of depending on others in matters of high strategic relevance. Thus, the main global players have been making moves to reinforce their autonomy in this sector. Acquiring full independence  that is, having all the necessary elements to make these products  would require unimaginable investments and the results would be far from guaranteed. A more modest, realistic objective is therefore to strengthen ones position in parts of the process to reduce dependence, even if it is not possible to eliminate it altogether.

The race in numbers

China is promoting a major industrial development plan, Made in China 2025, which was launched in 2015 and has earmarked a significant chunk of investments for this sector. The Asian country has undoubtedly taken steps forward, but its technological capabilities are still many years behind the leading companies in advanced democracies. The U.S. and the European Union, which until recently had opted for laissez-faire policies, have made a sharp turn towards interventionism in recent years. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, launched the vision for a EU initiative on this matter in the 2021 State of the Union address. The EU has begun to take the first real steps towards improving its manufacturing capacity. The Biden administration promoted an investment package and got it approved by Congress in the summer of 2022. The plan foresees around $50 billion in public support, most of it in incentives for the start-up of manufacturing centers, and to stimulate R&D. The overall figure is similar to what the EU wants to mobilize.

Other leading countries such as Japan and India are also taking steps in a similar direction. These movements are unleashing a competition between democratic countries seeking to attract relevant business projects. Companies are analyzing where they can get the greatest subsidies or tax breaks before launching new initiatives. But, at the same time, there are cooperative movements. The U.S. is promoting an alliance with Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to improve the efficiency of production chains. The circle of advanced democracies has a clear advantage in this area over the authoritarian regimes with which it is in competition or confrontation, such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Taiwan is the epicenter of this enormous geopolitical tension. Concerns about the possibility of Beijing taking action to bring the island under its control is of course largely linked to its capacity to produce these tiny pieces. It is estimated that more than 90% of the most sophisticated microchips are currently produced by TSMC. For this, Taiwan depends on designs, software and machinery produced in other countries. But its manufacturing capacity is extraordinary, and replicating it elsewhere would be expensive and arduous. When, decades ago, the islands leaders decided to focus on this sector, one of the calculations was to reinforce its strategic position as a producer of an essential good, consolidating the interests of the United States in defending it against a possible attack. The evolution of technology and the economy proved them right, and the island has become a key player in the microscopic battlefield of the great powers: nanometer-sized transistors packed into chips that build the power of the future.
The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington, U.S., April 6, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

By Jarrett Renshaw and Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The central pillar of any debt-ceiling agreement between President Joe Biden and House Republican Kevin McCarthy is shaping up to be "discretionary spending" - the chunk of the United States' roughly $6 trillion annual federal budget that is set annually by Congress.

Talks are fluid as Biden and McCarthy work towards a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avoid a default as soon as June 1. But cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs that eat up most of the U.S. budget are already off the table.

Instead, funds for programs from education to rail safety to law enforcement could be cut, trims that economists warn will slow U.S. economic growth.

WHAT IS THE US DISCRETIONARY BUDGET?

Congress sets funding levels for discretionary spending every year, which powers a wide swath of military and domestic programs.

In 2022, discretionary spending reached $1.7 trillion, accounting for 27% of the overall $6.27 trillion spent, according to federal figures.

Military spending typically accounts for roughly half of that total, though the amount varies from year to year.

The other half is devoted to domestic programs like law enforcement, transportation, housing and scientific research.

Discretionary spending as a share of U.S. gross domestic product peaked in the late 1970s, and cuts have served as the backbone for several landmark budget deals since the 1980s.

HOW COULD DISCRETIONARY CUTS WORK?

Biden and Democrats have offered to hold discretionary spending flat from the current 2023 fiscal year, a cut from Biden's 2024 budget, and then cap spending in future years.

House Republicans passed a plan last month that would save $3.2 trillion by capping growth at 1% annually for 10 years.

Republicans say they will not accept a deal unless it results in the government spending less money than it did in the last fiscal year, and are pushing for cuts to 2022 levels.

Both sides are also at odds over how long any spending caps should last, with Republicans now offering caps for six years, and the White House only two.

Negotiators are avoiding the main driver of U.S. debt: rising retirement and health costs, driven by an aging population.

The Social Security pension program is projected to increase by 67% by 2032, and the Medicare health program for seniors will nearly double in cost during that period, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Together, these programs account for roughly 37% of current federal spending.

MORE BATTLES AHEAD

If they can hammer out a general agreement on these levels and caps, if could help the United States avoid default, but would likely set up another series of budget battles, as lawmakers would still have to agree on funding levels for everything from fighter-plane construction to border enforcement.

Republicans have said they do not want to cut spending on national defense and veterans' care, which would require other programs to shoulder steeper cuts.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee has unveiled legislation that would boost spending on veterans' care, border security, and other priorities next year.

That would likely require cuts of more than 13% in other areas like scientific research and environmental protection if they want to keep overall spending at the same level as this year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank.

The Democratic-controlled Senate is not likely to accept those figures - which could lead to a government shutdown if the two sides do not reach agreement by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

POLITICS OF CUTS

While Republicans on the federal level have generally pushed for funding cuts to these discretionary items and Democrats to increase them, Republican-leaning states tend to benefit more from federal domestic spending, according to a Reuters analysis.

"Spending restraint always sounds good in the abstract and sounds less good when you're talking about specifics," said Jan Moller, head of the Louisiana Budget Project, a nonpartisan think tank.

Even if Biden and McCarthy agree to spending caps in the years ahead, Congress might not stick to the agreement.

In 2011, Democratic President Barack Obama reached a deal with Republicans to save $1.8 trillion over 10 years through discretionary spending caps. But lawmakers opted to bypass those caps in the years that followed.

In the end, the agreement only saved $1.3 trillion, according to Brian Riedl, a fellow with the conservative Manhattan Institute.

(Reporting by Jarret Renshaw and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Heather Timmons and Andrea Ricci)
FILE PHOTO: Protesters gather inside the South Carolina House as members debate a new near-total ban on abortion with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest at the state legislature in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. August 30, 2022. REUTE

By Gabriella Borter and Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) - State legislatures are wrestling with how much to restrict or expand abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Here is a snapshot of pending and passed legislation seeking to restrict or protect access in 2023.

RESTRICTIONS

FLORIDA: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in April signed a six-week abortion ban, which includes exceptions for rape, incest, human trafficking and the life and health of the mother. It cannot take effect until the state Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the 15-week ban that is currently in place.

IDAHO: Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law a bill in April that makes it illegal to help a minor cross state lines to get an abortion without the permission of a parent or guardian. Offenders would face two to five years in prison. The Republican-led state is currently enforcing a near-total abortion ban, with exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother.

MONTANA: Montana Governor Greg Gianforte in May signed into law several bills limiting abortion access, including one that aims to overturn a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that found the state constitution protected a right to abortion.

Another new law bans most second trimester abortions by prohibiting a common surgical procedure. Planned Parenthood has asked a state judge to temporarily block the measure.

NEBRASKA: Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen on Monday signed into law a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors that was amended to also prohibit abortions for pregnancies beyond 12 weeks. Abortion was formerly legal in the state up to 22 weeks.

The same law also bans "gender-altering surgery" and places restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs for transgender people under 19.

NORTH CAROLINA: Republican lawmakers in May overrode Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto to enact a law limiting most abortions to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest, life-limiting fetal anomalies and the life of the mother. Abortion was formerly legal up to 20 weeks in the state. The measure also requires doctors to be present when abortion medication is given and requires those seeking medical abortions to have an in-person consultation with a doctor 72 hours before the procedure.

NORTH DAKOTA: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum in April signed a bill that bans abortion with exceptions for cases where the mother's life or health are at serious risk. The law, which took immediate effect, also makes exceptions for rape and incest victims, but only during the first six weeks of pregnancy.

The measure passed despite the state Supreme Court's decision not to revive a previous version of the near-total ban, after finding that the state constitution protects abortion rights in some cases.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A South Carolina judge on Friday temporarily blocked a new "fetal heartbeat" law enacted this week that would ban abortions about six weeks into pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant. The judge granted reproductive rights groups' motion to block the legislation one day after Republican Governor Henry McMaster signed it, ruling that it should be considered by the state Supreme Court before taking effect.

A similar six-week ban passed last year was ruled unconstitutional in a 3-2 decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court in January. One of the justices in the majority has since retired, leaving it unclear how the court will rule on the new measure.

TEXAS: While abortion is completely banned with very limited exceptions in Texas, Republican state representatives have introduced legislation that would compel internet providers to block websites that supply abortion pills or provide information on how to obtain an abortion.

UTAH: Republican Governor Spencer Cox in March signed legislation to prohibit the licensing of abortion clinics, which abortion rights advocates say would effectively eliminate access in the state. Abortion is currently banned after 18 weeks in Utah.

WYOMING: The Republican-led state legislature passed a bill in March banning the use or prescription of medication abortion pills, and Republican Governor Mark Gordon signed it into law. It is due to take effect July 1. Abortion is currently legal until viability, about 24 weeks, while a state court is reviewing a challenge to a near-total "trigger" ban, which took effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned.

PROTECTIONS

CALIFORNIA: A Democratic state senator has introduced a bill to protect doctors who prescribe medication abortion pills to patients in other states.

MICHIGAN: Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation in April repealing a 1931 bill that criminalized abortion.

ILLINOIS: Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker in January signed a law protecting abortion providers and out-of-state patients from legal attacks waged by other states.

MINNESOTA: Democratic Governor Tim Walz in January signed legislation passed by the Minnesota legislature's new Democratic majority that codifies abortion rights in state law, as well as a right to contraception and fertility treatment. The Democratic-led House passed a bill to shield abortion providers and patients from other states' legal attacks, and the Senate is considering it.

OHIO: Abortion rights supporters are trying to collect enough signatures by July to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2023 ballot that would assert a right to abortion. Abortion is currently legal up to 22 weeks.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington and Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California; Additional reporting by Julia Harte in New York; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Berkrot)
OSLO (Reuters) - Russia has informed neighbouring Finland that it will terminate a bilateral agreement on mutual visits to military installations, the Finnish defence ministry said late on Tuesday.

The bilateral agreement, signed in 2000, provided for one annual Russian assessment visit to Finland and a similar visit by Finland to the Leningrad Military District in north-west Russia, the Finnish ministry said in a statement.

Finland last month joined the NATO military alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of "counter-measures."

The bilateral agreement, last applied in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, was among several post-Cold War measures taken to improve East-West relations.

The broader Vienna Act, agreed within the framework of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which also provides for mutual inspection and evaluation visits, would not be affected by the termination, Finland said.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Conor Humphries)
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Saint Petersburg City Court after a hearing in the case of Siberian physicist Anatoly Maslov who was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of treason, in Saint Petersburg, Russia May 24, 2023. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - The first of three Russian hypersonic missile scientists to be arrested on suspicion of treason will go on trial next week, the court handling the case said on Wednesday.

The criminal case against Anatoly Maslov, 76, will open in St Petersburg's city court on June 1, the court said on its website.

He and two colleagues at the same Siberian institute, the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), have all been arrested on suspicion of treason in the past year.

All three are specialists in hypersonics - a field of key importance to the development of Russia's next generation of missiles, capable of flying at 10 times the speed of sound.

The case is marked as "top secret" and will be closed to the media and public, the court said. It said Maslov's custody was extended until Nov. 10 in a closed hearing on Wednesday.

Maslov was detained last June in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and one of Russia's main science hubs. Soon afterwards he was sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow, a former KGB interrogation site.

In St Petersburg, he has been placed in the FSB security service jail on Shalernaya Street where many Soviet dissidents were once held by the KGB, Maslov's lawyer Olga Dinze told Reuters.

She declined to comment on the case, saying that "the situation is extremely difficult."

Details of the accusations against the three men are classified, but the news portal of the science city where they are based said Maslov was suspected of handing secrets to China.

Two sources have told Reuters that Alexander Shiplyuk, the director of ITAM, is suspected of passing secrets to China at a conference there in 2017. They said he denies the charge, saying the information in question was publicly available online.

ITAM has extensive international links, and says on its website that it is registered as part of Russia's military-industrial complex.

Colleagues of Maslov, Shiplyuk and the third arrested man, Valery Zvegintsev, last week published an open letter in their defence, warning that the prosecutions threaten to damage Russian science.

The Kremlin has said the three face "very serious accusations." Last month the Russian parliament voted to increase the maximum penalty for treason to life imprisonment, up from 20 years.

(This story has been refiled to add the first names of Shiplyuk and Zvegintsev in paragraphs 10 and 12)

(Reporting by Reuters reporters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
FILE PHOTO: French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne leaves following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, the leaders of the French Employers' association (MEDEF), the CPME and the Union of local businesses, after he signed into law the pension

By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) - The French prime minister was accused of "censorship" at a court hearing on Wednesday reviewing her decision to sue the publisher of a new biography mentioning intimate details of her private life.

Elisabeth Borne, the 62-year-old former technocrat President Emmanuel Macron named last year to lead his cabinet, was little known to the public before being promoted to the job after five years as a second-tier minister.

The case has reopened a debate in France over whether the private life of politicians should remain outside the public eye.

In the book "La Secrete" (The Secretive One), written by the French journalist Berengere Bonte and published on May 4, the author mentions rumours about Borne being a lesbian, which the French prime minister has denied several times.

In the chapter entitled "The Cover", the journalist, who interviewed Borne twice for the book, reveals the name of the man presented as her companion in the press and says he was another woman's civil partner as recently as 2021.

Asked by Reuters, Borne's lawyer declined to comment on why the man was in a civil partnership with another woman and whether he was her current companion. Her office declined to comment.

The book also mentions the suicide of her father, a Jewish-born Holocaust survivor. It also describes Borne as a workaholic prone to outbursts and recounts that she had lost so much weight under stressful situations in previous jobs that it prompted concerns about her health among family members.

In breaking with precedent by other French prime ministers who refrained from suing journalists, Borne has asked judges to force the L'Archipel publishing house to cut about 200 lines in future editions of the book, which is already sold out.

"When a journalist describes in detail the conditions of my father's suicide, when she has intrusive comments about my intimate life, my relationship with my son, my ex-husband, when she spreads allegations on my health or sexual orientation, how can she pretend that was done with my consent?" she said.

"At some point, one just wants to say: 'enough is enough," she told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview.

At the court hearing on Wednesday, the defendant's lawyer, Olivier d'Antin, said this was nothing less than "censorship".

As recently as the 1980s and 1990s, French media often refrained from publishing aspects of politicians' private lives, a form of self-censorship that was criticised after it emerged former French President Francois Mitterrand had kept secret the existence of a daughter taken care of by public money.

On Wednesday, Borne's lawyer said her client had always refused the "tyranny of transparency".

"Elisabeth Borne knows there is no democracy without freedom of the press," lawyer Emilie Sudre told judges. "She is asking for a measure which is not disproportionate."

"She arrived in the prime minister's office and nobody knew her," Bonte, the author, told Reuters. "So much the better if people discover who she is thanks to this."

A verdict is expected on June 30.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of mining and infrastructure firm Grupo Mexico is pictured at its headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico, August 8, 2017. REUTERS/Ginnette Riquelme

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday his government aims to reach an agreement with mining and transport company Grupo Mexico after taking over a part of its railway last week, but said the compensation deal will not include cash.

"Not money. What we are looking at is compensation. That is to say, let's see, we are going to restructure the concession," the president said during a regular press conference.

The Mexican government issued a decree last Friday ordering a "temporary" takeover of around 120 kilometers (75 miles) of the firm's network in the area around the Gulf coast due to its importance to a major infrastructure project.

News of the seizure last week sparked alarm among analysts over Lopez Obrador's polices, and raised questions about whether the decision would impact Grupo Mexico's bid to acquire U.S. Citigroup Inc's retail banking arm in Mexico known as Banamex.

Citigroup announced on Wednesday it was pursuing an initial public offering of its Banamex unit instead of a sale, arguing it is the optimal path to maximizing value for shareholders.

Lopez Obrador said shortly afterwards in a news conference that the change of plans is a matter between the companies and that the government is open to buying a part of the unit.

(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Isabel Woodford)
FILE PHOTO: Caterpillar logo is pictured at the 'Bauma' Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines, Construction Vehicles and Construction Equipment in Munich, Germany, April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

By Aishwarya Nair

(Reuters) - A failure to break the deadlock on raising the U.S. debt ceiling before the deadline could pose a challenge to capital-intensive businesses such as industrial suppliers, a body representing construction and farm equipment makers said.

The U.S. government could fall behind on its bills next month, and even default on its debt, if Congress does not raise a $31.4 trillion cap on government borrowing, a failure that could trigger economic calamity and panic on global financial markets.

A U.S. debt default would also spike borrowing costs, leaving the suppliers of parts and components to manufacturers such as Deere Co and Caterpillar Inc scrambling to fund their operations, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) said on Tuesday.

"If we were to see a default or a financial crisis as a result of an impasse, I do not see them (suppliers) being able to weather this storm," said Kip Eideberg, AEM's senior vice president of government and industry relations.

The industrial body represents more than 1,000 companies, which make construction and farm equipment, as well as their suppliers.

Negotiators for Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy reconvened at the White House on Wednesday, but both sides remain deeply divided on how to move forward.

Higher borrowing costs have already pushed 236 companies into bankruptcy in the first four months of the year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Of these, 23 are from the industrial sector.

The industry is currently living off the strength of its 2023 and 2024 order books as customers replace ageing machines.

"If this crisis continues to linger, then those replacement orders will be delayed further, which will have a negative impact on our industry," Eideberg said.

Eideberg added that the equipment manufacturing industry is expecting a hit of about 6% to its profit margin in 2023 amid rising borrowing costs.

Earlier this month, farm equipment maker Deere said stocks for critical components are still low, impacting production in the back half of the year.

Deere declined to comment and Caterpillar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel retaliated against shots fired from Syria at a surveillance drone, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

"IDF Machine Gun fire was directed towards the originating area of the shots in Syria," a statement from the military said. "The drone successfully completed its mission and no damage was caused."

Israel has for years been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

The Israeli military also said on Wednesday that it convicted two soldiers of abusing a Palestinian man, along with additional soldiers. One other soldier was convicted of exceeding his authority to the extent of endangering life or health, it said.

Human rights groups accuse Israel of not taking strong action against soldiers who abuse their authority, particularly in the occupied West Bank.

According to the indictments, the soldiers took a Palestinian man in a military jeep and drove to a distant location, a military statement said. During the drive and afterwards, the man was abused and then left in the remote location, it said.

A group of about 50 settlers set fire to a barn belonging to Palestinians in the village of Burqa, just outside the West Bank city of Nablus, a local official said.

Sheep sheds were set on fire, houses were attacked, and settlers opened fire on Palestinians, causing two minor injuries, the official said.

The regional council representing Jewish settlers said Palestinians from Burqa attacked IDF forces and Israeli vehicles with stones and fireworks, injuring one Israeli. The military did not immediately respond to request for comment.

(Reporting by Emily Rose, Ali Sawafta Editing by Grant McCool)
This artist's concept of lightning distribution in Jupiter's northern hemisphere incorporates a JunoCam image from the NASA spacecraft Juno with artistic embellishments. Data from NASA's Juno mission indicates that most of the lightning activity on Jupite

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hidden below the brownish ammonia clouds blanketing Jupiter are clouds that like on Earth are made of water. And like on Earth, lightning often is generated within these clouds - an eerie sight spotted by various spacecraft that have visited our solar system's largest planet, including NASA's Juno probe.

Data obtained by Juno is providing fresh information on how the lightning processes on Jupiter are similar to those on Earth despite the dramatic differences between the two planets, according to scientists.

Earth is a relatively small rocky world. Jupiter, whose namesake ancient Roman god flung lightning bolts, is a gas giant so immense that all the other planets in our solar system could neatly fit inside it - including more than 1,300 Earths.

Tapping into five years of high-resolution data acquired by Juno's radio receiver as the spacecraft orbits Jupiter, the researchers found that the planet's lightning initiation processes pulsate with a similar rhythm to that observed inside clouds on our planet. The pulses observed on Jupiter as flashes of lightning were initiated with time separations of about a millisecond, similar to thunderstorms on Earth.

Lightning is the most powerful naturally occurring electrical source on Earth.

"Lightning is an electric discharge which is initiated inside thunderclouds. The ice and water particles inside the cloud get charged by collisions and form layers of particles with the charge of the same polarity," said planetary scientist Ivana Kolmasova of the Czech Academy of Sciences' Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Prague, lead author of the study published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

"By this process, a huge electric field is established and the discharge can be initiated. This explanation is somewhat simplified because scientists are still not completely sure what is exactly happening inside thunderclouds," Kolmasova added.

The existence of lightning on Jupiter was confirmed when telltale radio emissions at audible frequencies were recorded in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft as it ventured through the solar system.

The solar system's other gas planets - Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - also have been shown to have lightning. There is some evidence for lightning in the clouds of the rocky planet Venus, though it is still a matter of debate.

Other studies have detailed other similarities in the lightning processes on Jupiter and Earth. For instance, lightning rates on the two planets are similar though the distribution of lightning on Jupiter differs from Earth.

"On Earth, the tropical regions are the most active ones. The majority of Jovian lightning occurs in mid-latitudes and also in polar regions. We have nearly no lightning activity close to the poles on the Earth. It means that conditions for the formation of Jovian and terrestrial thunderclouds are probably very different," Kolmasova said.

"There were some attempts to compare the power of lightning based on optical measurements and it was concluded that lightning on Jupiter might be comparable with the strongest terrestrial lightning," Kolmasova added, while noting that more analysis is planned.

Jupiter is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, with traces of other gases. Stripes and a few storms dominate the colorful appearance of Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun with a diameter of about 88,850 miles (143,000 km).

Juno has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, obtaining information about its atmosphere, interior structure, internal magnetic field and the region around it created by its internal magnetism.

(Reporting by Will Dunham, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears on screen as he addresses the members of Dutch parliament via video link, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in The Hague, Netherlands, March 31, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw/File Photo

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands wants to give Ukrainian pilots F-16 training as soon as possible, Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on Wednesday in a letter to parliament.

The training would be coordinated with Belgium, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, and other countries could join, Ollongren added.

On Tuesday, NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg said training Ukrainian pilots on Western F-16 fighter jets would not make NATO a party to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

A day earlier, senior Russian diplomats said the transfer of F-16 jets to Ukraine would raise the question of NATO's role in the conflict.

Last Friday U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy assured Biden that the planes would not be used to cross into Russian territory.

The West says it wants to help Ukraine defeat Russia but has repeatedly insisted it does not want to trigger a direct confrontation between the U.S.-backed NATO military alliance and Russia.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, is calling for immediate action by tech companies and lawmakers to protect kids and adolescents mental health on social media.

But after years of middling and insufficient action by both social media platforms and policymakers, parents and young people still bear most of the burden in navigating the fast-changing, often harmful world of secretive algorithms, addictive apps and extreme and inappropriate content found on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

So what can parents and young people do now? The surgeon general has some tips.

Our children and adolescents dont have the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social medias impact, Murthy said in an advisory released on Tuesday. Their childhoods and development are happening now.

Tips for young people

Reach out for help: If you or someone you know is being negatively affected by social media, reach out to a trusted friend or adult for help. Check the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on social media.

Create boundaries: Limit the use of phones, tablets, and computers for at least one hour before bedtime and through the night to make sure you get enough sleep. Keep mealtimes and in-person gatherings devicefree to help build social bonds and engage in twoway conversations with others. Connect with people in person and make unplugged interactions a daily priority.

Be cautious about what you share: Personal information about you has value. Be selective with what you post and share online and with whom, as it is often public and can be stored permanently. If you arent sure if you should post something, its usually best if you dont.

Dont keep harassment or abuse a secret: Reach out to at least one person you trust, such as a close friend, family member, counselor, or teacher, who can give you the help and support you deserve. Visit stopbullying.gov for tips on how to report cyberbullying. If you have experienced online harassment and abuse by a dating partner, contact an expert at Love is Respect for support. If your private images have been taken and shared online without your permission, visit Take It Down to help get them removed.

Tips for parents and caregivers

Create a family media plan: Agreed-upon expectations can help establish healthy technology boundaries at home  including social media use. A family media plan can promote open family discussion and rules about media use and include topics such as balancing screen/online time, content boundaries, and not disclosing personal information

Create tech-free zones: Restrict the use of electronics at least one hour before bedtime and through the night. Keep meal times and other in-person gatherings tech-free. Help children develop social skills and nurture their inperson relationships by encouraging unstructured and offline connections with others.

Model responsible behavior: Parents can set a good example of what responsible and healthy social media use looks like by limiting their own use, being mindful of social media habits (including when and how parents share information or content about their child), and modeling positive behavior on your social media accounts.

Empower kids: Teach kids about technology and empower them to be responsible online participants at the appropriate age. Discuss with children the benefits and risks of social media as well as the importance of respecting privacy and protecting personal information in age-appropriate ways. Have conversations with children about who they are connecting with, their privacy settings, their online experiences, and how they are spending their time online.

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Finance Minister Christian Lindner attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany May 24, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Finance Minister Christian Lindner didn't commit to a timetable for resolving a budget dispute between the three coalition partners on Wednesday, exposing cracks in the government and casting uncertainty over spending plans.

"We want to present plans for the budget soon," Lindner said before answering questions in the Bundestag's budget committee.

According to participants in the meeting, the finance minister only sketched out a rough plan in the 90-minute committee session.

Germany's three-party government - comprising Lindner's Free Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Greens - had been due to vote on the budget on June 21 after Lindner postponed the presentation of the final draft in March.

Lindner has since said that the June 21 deadline is no longer feasible.

The budget needs to be agreed after massive increases in spending during the coronavirus pandemic and higher energy costs as a result of the Ukraine war.

At the same time, several ministries have registered new projects that require financing. Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed last year to ramp up defense spending in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sending weapons to Kyiv and modernizing its own military.

Sources told Reuters that the plan is to have a budget agreement between the coalition parties before the parliamentary summer break, with a first proposal ready by the first week of July and a detailed draft sent to the Bundestag by mid-August at the latest.

In the first week of September, the Bundestag could then discuss the budgetary proposal in a plenary session for the first time.

Lindner has said that more savings must be made and new spending should only come from existing funds.

According to government sources, there is a gap of around 20 billion euros ($22.02 billion) in the plans for 2024.

Germany's finance ministry updated its tax estimates this month. It expects 148.7 billion euros less in tax revenues for the German state in the 2023-2027 period compared with previous forecasts published in the autumn of 2022.

Lindner has said on several occasions that Germany should adjust to the new budgetary realities but on Wednesday, before entering the budget committee session, he said there would be no blanket spending cuts in the 2024 budget.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Martinez; editing by Matthias Williams, Friederike Heine and Christina Fincher)
FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrencies are seen in this illustration, August 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top U.S. regulator said on Tuesday there is no way to police all cryptocurrency fraud because there is so much, though her agency is working on several big cases.

Christy Goldsmith Romero, one of five commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said cryptocurrency cases account for about 20% of the agency's portfolio, including recent civil cases against the exchanges Binance and FTX.

"There's just a lot of fraud in the space," Goldsmith Romero said at a white collar crime conference at the New York City Bar Association. "There's just no way we can police all the fraud, but we've got to do something."

CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam has sought greater authority from lawmakers for the agency to oversee spot crypto markets.

Goldsmith Romero pushed back on the idea there was a "turf war" between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission over regulating crypto, but acknowledged that many of the industry's products are new and the agencies were "still trying to figure it out."

She also said crypto companies should not view the CFTC as a potentially friendlier regulator than the deeper-pocketed SEC.

"I don't like the idea that somehow the CFTC is light touch," Goldsmith Romero said. "'Light touch regulator' would never be written on my tombstone."

In March, the CFTC sued Binance and Changpeng Zhao, its founder and CEO, for allegedly operating a sham compliance program.

Zhao has called the complaint an "incomplete recitation of facts."

The CFTC case against now-bankrupt FTX accuses the exchange and founder Sam Bankman-Fried of causing the loss of more than $8 billion in customer deposits.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to related criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
FILE PHOTO: Norway's Air Force F-16 fighter patrols over the Baltics during a NATO air policing mission from Zokniai air base near Siauliai, Lithuania, May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway will support training programmes for Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, Norwegian Defence Minister Bjoern Arild Gram said on Wednesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday endorsed training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy assured Biden that the aircraft would not be used to go into Russian territory.

"The government backs this initiative and is considering how Norway can contribute together with allies and partners," Gram said.

The Norwegian government has not decided whether Norway will give any of its F-16 jets to Ukraine, the minister separately told public broadcaster NRK.

Russia, whose forces invaded Ukraine 15 months ago, has said any transfer of the U.S.-made F-16s to Ukraine would be pointless and raise the question of NATO's role in the war.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Grant McCool)
FILE PHOTO: AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Noel Randewich and Sinead Carew

(Reuters) -Stocks related to artificial intelligence surged in extended trade on Wednesday, adding almost $300 billion in market capitalization after chipmaker Nvidia Corp forecast strong revenue growth and said it was boosting production of its AI chips to meet surging demand.

Nvidia's stock zoomed as much as 28% after the bell to trade at $391.50, its highest level ever. That increased its stock market value by about $200 billion to over $960 billion, extending the Silicon Valley company's lead as the world's most valuable chipmaker and Wall Street's fifth-most valuable company.

"With all the enthusiasm around AI and the fact Nvidia delivered a huge beat for first-quarter results and second-quarter estimates, this gives some actual evidence AI is for real," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust in Atlanta. Morgan said Synovus owns Nvidia shares.

Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue more than 50% above Wall Street estimates, with Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang saying in a statement the company is "significantly increasing our supply to meet surging demand" for its data center chips.

Shares of other corporations related to AI rallied on the back of Nvidia's strong report, adding another nearly $100 billion in stock market value after the bell.

Rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc jumped 10%. Microsoft Corp and Google parent Alphabet Inc, which are both rushing to incorporate generative AI into their Web search platforms, each rose about 2%.

AI software maker C3.ai and Palantir Technologies, which recently launched its own AI platform, both soared about 8%.

Interest in AI surged this year after startup OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, attracting over a million users within a week. Using past data, generative AI can create new content like fully formed text, images and software code.

Ahead of Nvidia's report on Wednesday, optimism around AI had already fueled a 109% surge in its stock so far in 2023, making the chipmaker the S&P 500's top performer year-to- date. That rally left Nvidia trading at about 60 times expected earnings, approaching its peak of 68 times expected earnings in 2021, according to Refinitiv data.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California, and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Chris Reese)
By Anirban Sen and Saeed Azhar

(Reuters) -PacWest Bancorp has sold its property lending division to real estate financing firm Roc360 for an undisclosed amount, in a bid to bolster investor confidence amid concerns about the finances of U.S. regional lenders.

Roc360 said on Tuesday it agreed to acquire PacWest's Civic Financial Services ("CIVIC") unit, which is known for extending loans to landlords and investors interested in purchasing homes for renovation and resale.

Previously originated loans and loan-servicing operations will not be part of the deal, Roc360 said, adding that it would use the brand name CIVIC.

PacWest is one of the several U.S. regional lenders whose shares were hit by investor concerns over the financial health of the sector following the collapse of three regional banks in the United States since March.

However, PacWest and other regional U.S. banks have rallied in the past two weeks as investors increasingly believe the worst of the crisis is largely over and that many lenders are fundamentally sound.

On Monday, the Los Angeles-based bank said it would sell $2.6 billion worth of its loan portfolio to bolster its finances, a move that helped the stock surge by about 20%.

Earlier this month, PacWest had said it was exploring strategic asset sales to sharpen focus on its core business segments as the regional banking sector grapples with its biggest crisis since 2008.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the Roc360-CIVIC deal on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Anirban Sen, Shivani Tanna and Akriti Sharma; Additional reporting by Urvi Dugar and Gursimran Kaur; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Subhranshu Sahu)
BIRZEIT, West Bank (Reuters) - Candidates linked to the Islamist group Hamas won the largest share of seats on a university student council on Wednesday, in a ballot that offered a rare test of voter sentiment for Palestinians, who had their last parliamentary elections almost two decades ago.

In a campus festooned with green, red and yellow political banners, the Hamas-affiliated list won 25 seats on the 51-seat Birzeit University student council, against 20 for the group associated with Fatah, the party of President Mahmoud Abbas.

With no parliamentary elections since 2006, the process is also a check on the political pulse of a geographically and politically divided Palestinian nation as speculation mounts over the future of its octogenarian president.

Abbas was elected in 2005 and has ruled by decree for some 14 years since his mandate expired.

Recent polls show almost 80% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign and growing support for armed groups. But with both the Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority curbing political activity, students say university campuses are among the few places in the West Bank that remain relatively open for organising.

"It is the only place where we can exercise our democratic right and vote," said Anan Safi, a 20 year-old graphic design student, who voted for the list associated with the socialist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). "We don't have presidential or national elections."

Iyad Tomar, head of the election committee and dean of students at Birzeit said the elections were an opportunity to strengthen democratic values among the young. The elected council will represent student interests.

"What makes the election at Birzeit University significant is that it reflects the different political perspectives in Palestinian society," he said.

For 20 year-old computer science Loor Azem, family affiliations helped persuade her to vote for Fatah, which has historically dominated at Birzeit. In recent years however, as the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority has seen its popularity dive, the student branch of the party has also struggled against the Hamas-affiliated Islamist bloc.

The Islamist group, which doesn't allow elections in Gaza universities, has used the student polls across the West Bank as an opportunity to consolidate its presence in the West Bank.

Earlier this month, the Islamist list won student elections at An-Najah University in Nablus, the largest in the West Bank.

Palestinians exercise limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, which they want as the core of a future independent state.

(Reporting by Henriette Chacar; Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is seen on a board at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum , Russia, June 6, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

By Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Australian Treasury has referred a confidential document leak scandal involving professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to police, Secretary to the Treasury Steven Kennedy said on Wednesday.

The government, a PwC Australia client, has accused the firm of using confidential information about new anti-tax avoidance measures to win more business, in what it has called a major breach of trust.

PwC Australia's CEO stepped down this month and the firm has said it is "committed to learning for our mistakes".

The firm's former head of international tax, Peter Collins, improperly used confidential Commonwealth information, and emails tabled in parliament earlier this month revealed "a wide range of individuals" at the firm were privy to the information, said Kennedy.

"In light of these recent revelations and the seriousness of this misconduct, the Treasury has referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police to consider commencement of a criminal investigation," he said.

The Australian Federal Police is investigating the alleged misuse of confidential government information, a spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

PwC Australia will continue to cooperate fully with any investigations into this matter, a spokesperson said.

PwC said this month that former Telstra and Optus CEO Ziggy Switkowski will lead an independent review into the leak and will report his findings and recommendations in September.

Amid calls to ban the firm from government work, Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday foreshadowed steps to crack down on similar behaviour but declined to provide specifics.

Australian Senators Deborah O'Neill and Andrew Bragg plan to raise the issue and demand more information during scheduled parliamentary hearings next week, spokespeople told Reuters.

(Reporting by Lewis Jackson, Additional reporting by Chandni Shah; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)
FILE PHOTO: Recruits of the Swiss army Tank School 21 perform an attack exercise with the Leopard 2 tank in Bure, Switzerland May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

(Reuters) - The Swiss government on Wednesday backed the decommissioning of 25 advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks with a view to selling them back to Germany, a step that could allow Western countries to send more military aid to Ukraine.

Germany had in February asked Switzerland to sell some of the tanks back to arms maker Rheinmetall, which would allow the company to backfill gaps in the armaments of European Union and NATO members.

Germany, Poland, Portugal, Finland and Sweden are among countries sending Leopard tanks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian attack, creating gaps in their own arsenals.

The issue is sensitive for the Swiss authorities. Under its neutrality laws and a separate arms embargo, Switzerland is prohibited from sending weapons directly to Ukraine.

The Swiss military currently has 134 Leopard 2 tanks in service and a further 96 in storage.

Switzerland's own military needs would remain covered, a government statement said. The Swiss parliament would now have to decide on the issue, it added.

Bern has previously blocked requests from Germany, Spain and Denmark to allow Swiss-made munitions they have previously bought to be re-exported to Ukraine.

But the issue is becoming increasingly divisive in Switzerland, with a pro-Ukraine shift in the public and political mood putting pressure on the government to end a ban on exports of Swiss weapons to war zones.

(Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Friederike Heine and Alex Richardson)
FILE PHOTO: Twitter logo is seen through broken glass in this illustration taken, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) -Twitter crashed repeatedly on Wednesday during a highly anticipated live audio chat between Elon Musk, Twitter's owner, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, hampering the politician's announcement he is running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Since Musk took over the social media platform in October, he has laid off thousands of employees including many engineers who were responsible for fixing software bugs.

Current and former Twitter employees previously told Reuters the steep layoffs would put the platform at risk of crashing during times of high traffic.

"We've got so many people here that I think we are kind of melting the servers, which is a good sign," said David Sacks, a venture capitalist and close friend of Musk, while attempting to start the event on Wednesday.

Musk attributed the problems to the number of listeners and his large Twitter following.

About 678,000 people tuned in to listen as Twitter suffered repeated crashes.

The Spaces session eventually resumed, reaching about 304,000 listeners.

About 3 million people listened to Musk's interview with the BBC on Twitter Spaces last month.

"Failure to Launch", "Crashed" and #DeSaster were among the trending Twitter topics in the U.S. during the chat session.

Twitter outages have been more numerous under Musk's ownership. In March, thousands of users reported problems accessing links posted on the platform.

Internet observatory NetBlocks said the March incident was Twitter's sixth major outage since the year began, compared with three in the same period last year.

In between crashes on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden poked fun at the shaky rollout of DeSantis' presidential bid by tweeting out a fundraising appeal: "This link works."

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Leslie Adler, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast)
By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali prosecutors have charged 30 people, including two former cabinet ministers, with corruption in a case involving faking documents for Nepali nationals to enter the United States as Bhutanese refugees, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, former Energy Minister Tope Bahadur Rayamajhi and Tek Narayan Pandey, a former home secretary, the most senior bureaucrat in the ministry, were among 16 people detained earlier this month who have since been charged.

Police are searching for 14 others who were charged in absentia.

Lakshman Upadhyay Ghimire, a spokesman for district attorney's office, said 30 people including the former ministers had been charged with "cheating, organised crime, document forgery and state offence".

The case was registered at Kathmandu district court after police investigated allegations that they had collected huge amount of money from hundreds of Nepali nationals promising to send them to the United States for resettlement as Bhutanese refugees.

"If found guilty they could be jailed for up to more than 15 years," Ghimire told Reuters.

None of the accused could be reached for comment. Some have denied wrongdoing in the past.

About 120,000 Bhutanese nationals of Nepali origin have fled the neighbouring Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan to Nepal since the early 1990s, demanding more political freedom in the majority Buddhist country of about 800,000.

Nearly 113,000 of them have been resettled in several Western countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia, under a third-country resettlement programme after the two South Asian neighbours failed to repatriate them.

Washington has taken about 100,000 refugees from Nepal. Several thousand are still living in camps in eastern Nepal saying they want to go back to Bhutan.

It was not immediately clear if any Nepali nationals had been sent to the United States as fake Bhutanese refugees.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Nick Macfie)
In the more than 200 years that have passed since its invention, no one has been able to prove that homeopathy is actually capable of curing anything with its alleged medicines that have no active ingredients. However, its reputation has changed a lot in that time. It has been financed by public health services in countries such as France  although it stopped doing it in 2021. At the beginning of this century its use was growing among those who sought alternative medicines, but years of scientific activism against this pseudoscience, as well as a somewhat more rigid regulation, have contributed to a collapse in sales.

To understand this phenomenon, EL PAIS reached out to some of its main promoters, such as the pharmaceutical company Boiron, leader in the sector; the Spanish Association of Homeopathy Pharmacists and the Spanish Society of Homeopathic Doctors. In the absence of a response from all three, the explanations are given by experts who are more critical of the discipline.

In general, it dates back to the beginning of the last decade. A skeptical movement with growing prominence worked to denounce that the principle on which homeopathy is based not only had neither head nor tail, but it had never produced any solid evidence of improving anything. This was reflected in an editorial entitled The end of homeopathy that appeared in The Lancet magazine in 2005, which suggested society should stop wasting time and money trying to prove the effectiveness of a therapy that had not been able to do so in two centuries. The more dilute the evidence for homeopathy becomes, the greater seems its popularity, the editorial stated, ironically.

The authors were referring to the very foundations of this pseudoscience, which postulates that what produces symptoms of something can cure that same thing if it is highly diluted in water. For one thing, this has not been proven (except, in a certain way, for allergies). Additionally, the preparations they sell are so diluted that they are the equivalent of throwing a drop of a substance into all the oceans of the planet. There is simply no trace of active ingredients in homeopathic medicines.

Many people who used to consume homeopathy were not even aware that this was the case. Fernando Frias, one of the activists who worked to undermine the disciplines remaining prestige, recalls that people did not believe them when they were told that compounds with diluted Berlin Wall were sold to overcome the feelings of oppression and anxiety. This was actually commercialized under the premise that like cures like: if the Berlin Wall oppressed, a piece of it diluted in water should remedy it. Many were under the impression that it was just a natural therapy and that we were making things up to attack it, says Frias. He and other disseminators took part in homeopathic suicides, which consisted of ingesting alleged sedatives in enormous quantities without suffering any effect.

Despite everything, the sale of homeopathic remedies is widespread. They can be found in drugstores, health food stores, and online retailers. The law allows it. There has been a lot of debate about how to regulate an alleged drug whose only effect is, in truth, the placebo effect. In 2001, the European Parliament issued a directive that covered its use in countries with a homeopathic tradition; sources explain that this happened due to the pressure exerted by both the industries and the governments of countries where pseudoscience is deep-rooted, such as France (where Boiron is headquartered) or Germany, where its consumption is much higher than in others, such as Spain.

Having regard to the particular characteristics of these homeopathic medicinal products, such as the very low level of active principles they contain and the difficulty of applying to them the conventional statistical methods relating to clinical trials, it is desirable to provide a special, simplified registration procedure for those homeopathic medicinal products which are placed on the market without therapeutic indications in a pharmaceutical form and dosage which do not present a risk for the patient, states the directive.

In its more than two centuries of history, this is not the first time that homeopathy loses ground. Still, Frias warns, it cannot be ruled out that at some point something will come up that will make it fashionable again. Look at the example of chemtrails [the condensation trails left by airplanes that some conspiracy theorists believe are a way of poisoning the population from the air]. It seemed that no one remembered them anymore, but now theyre back, he says. Frias cites the astrophysicist and disseminator Javier Armentia, who states that beliefs are like a rubber duck: no matter how much they sink, they always resurface. Especially if there is money behind, he adds.

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FILE PHOTO: Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the bosses of leading AI companies OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic will work together to ensure society benefits from the transformational technology, they said in a statement after meeting on Wednesday.

Sunak and the tech leaders - OpenAI's Sam Altman, Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and Anthropic's Dario Amodei - discussed the risks AI poses, from disinformation and national security to existential threats, according to the statement.

They also discussed safety measures, voluntary actions that labs are considering to manage the risks, and the possible avenues for international collaboration on AI safety and regulation, it added.

Britain said in March it would split responsibility for governing AI between its existing regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than creating a new body dedicated to the technology.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Sonali Paul)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Ukraine will not be able to join NATO as long as the war against Russia rages on, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

"To become a member in the midst of a war is not on the agenda," he said at an event organized by the German Marshall Fund of The United States in Brussels. "The issue is what happens when the war ends."

In September, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a bid for fast-track membership of NATO after Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed four partially occupied regions of Ukraine as annexed Russian land.

NATO allies have not acceded to Zelenskiy's request, with Western governments wary of moves that they fear could take NATO closer to entering an active war with Russia.

However, both Kyiv and some of its closest allies in eastern Europe have been pushing for NATO to at least take concrete steps to bring Ukraine closer to membership at the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July.

"It is time for the alliance to stop making excuses and start the process that leads to Ukraine's eventual accession," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in an op-ed for Foreign Affairs in April. "What we need is a clear written statement from the allies laying out a path to accession."

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said Russia would start a conflict all over again unless Ukraine was allowed to join NATO after the end of the war.

"To have ... lasting peace, we will need Ukraine, (an) independent, free and liberated Ukraine, as a part of the NATO alliance," he said after meeting Stoltenberg.

In a rare visit to Kyiv in April, Stoltenberg underscored that Ukraine's future lies in NATO, a strong reaffirmation of a 15 year-old decision. But he did not give a timeline.

NATO agreed at its 2008 summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance.

However, leaders have since stopped short of taking any steps such as giving Kyiv a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing the country closer to NATO.

At the Brussels event, Stoltenberg acknowledged there were differences among NATO members over how to address Kyiv's membership ambitions.

"There are different views in the alliance and, of course, the only way to make decisions in NATO is by consensus. There are consultations going on now," he said.

"No one is able to tell you exactly what will be the final decision of the Vilnius summit on this issue."

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Andrew Gray and Charlotte Van Campenhout, editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Mark Heinrich)
FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of shipping containers and freight railway trains at the Union Pacific Los Angeles (UPLA) Intermodal Facility rail yard in Commerce, California, U.S., September 15, 2022. REUTERS/Bing Guan

(Reuters) - Union Pacific Corp and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen on Wednesday reached a tentative deal for the U.S. railroad operator's locomotive engineers.

Union Pacific, which employs around 5,600 locomotive engineers represented by BLET, said that the tentative agreement provides locomotive engineers to work for 11 days and take off for four days.

The deal comes about a week after its peer Norfolk Southern also reached an agreement, offering additional five days of paid sick leave per year for its engineer.

U.S. rail unions representing conductors and engineers have been in a tussle with the railroad operators demanding better sick leave and attendance policies.

"This significant change in scheduling not only will make life better for locomotive engineers and their families, it also should help Union Pacific retain and recruit employees," BLET National President Eddie Hall said in the joint statement.

(Reporting by Amna Karimi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Michael Martina and Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department's top China policy official Rick Waters is set to step down at a time of fraught relations between Washington and Beijing.

Waters, deputy assistant secretary of State for China and Taiwan who leads the department's recently created China House policy division, will leave his role on June 23 and remain a member of the senior foreign service, according to a State Department spokesperson.

Waters announced his intention to leave his post at a staff meeting earlier on Wednesday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

"We thank him for his two years of skillful service on China and Taiwan issues, to include his standing up the Office of China Coordination and his leadership over the Office of Taiwan Coordination," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Waters did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Reuters reported two weeks ago that the State Department delayed human rights-related sanctions, export controls and other sensitive action to try to limit damage to the U.S.-China relationship after an alleged Chinese spy balloon traversed the United States in February.

The report referenced an email Waters sent to staff that relayed instructions to postpone some actions so the department could focus on a "symmetric and calibrated response" to the balloon.

Relations between the world's two largest economies are at their worst in decades, according to many analysts, as the strategic rivals clash over issues ranging from Taiwan to trade.

"China House is already strengthening the administrations work to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific and out-compete China," said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink.

"There are few people in the U.S. government who understand the PRC (People's Republic of China) better than Rick Waters, and standing up China House under his leadership will be a lasting legacy. Rick is a strategic thinker who has skillfully advanced U.S. policy on China," said Kritenbrink, adding that the State Department is in the process of choosing Waters' successor.

President Joe Biden's administration has sought high-level meetings with China in an effort to keep ties from veering toward conflict, particularly since the diplomatic crisis over the balloon's flight past sensitive U.S. military sites.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned February trip to China after the balloon incident, but the White House has said efforts are continuing to facilitate visits by Blinken, as well as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Waters has led China House  officially the Office of China Coordination  since it was launched in December as a reorganization of the department's China desk to sharpen policies. He has served as deputy assistant secretary for about two years.

Some Biden administration critics have questioned U.S. overtures to China, arguing that past decades of engagement have failed to change its line on a range of trade, security and human rights issues.

Congressman Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the House of Representative's Foreign Affairs Committee, cited the Reuters report in a letter he sent to Blinken dated May 19, demanding information related to actions toward China.

"For the U.S. to succeed in its strategic competition with the PRC, it is essential that it be willing to unflinchingly hold the PRC accountable for its aggression and malfeasance, and that it be well-organized and effective in doing so," McCaul wrote.

The Biden administration has recently seen other changes among senior officials focused on China.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who has driven much of the department's approach toward China, announced on May 12 that she is retiring.

And a former top official for China on Biden's National Security Council, Laura Rosenberger, stepped down this year to head a U.S. government-run nonprofit that manages unofficial relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and Humeyra PamukEditing by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)
false 0000083350 0000083350 2023-05-23 2023-05-23

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

Commission File Number 000-08157

THE RESERVE PETROLEUM COMPANY

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware 73-0237060 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

6801 Broadway Ext., Suite 300

Oklahoma City , Oklahoma 73116-9037

( 405 ) 848-7551

(Address and telephone number, including area code, of registrants principal executive offices)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered None

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 

Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

(a) Annual Meeting. On May 23, 2023, The Reserve Petroleum Company (the Company) held its 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

(b) Matters Voted Upon; Voting Results. The following matters were submitted for a vote of the Companys stockholders:

1.  Election of Eight Directors

Nominee For Against Abstentions Broker Non-votes James L. Tyler 91,890 --- 420 11,465 Robert L. Savage 91,390 --- 920 11,465 Marvin E. Harris, Jr. 92,091 --- 219 11,465 Eddy R. Ditzler 92,149 --- 161 11,465 William M.(Bill) Smith 91,987 --- 323 11,465 Doug S. Fuller 91,990 --- 320 11,465 Cameron R. McLain 91,890 --- 420 11,465 Kyle McLain 91,887 --- 423 11,465

2.  Ratification of the Selection of HoganTaylor LLP as the Companys Independent Registered Public Accountants for 2023 91,399 20 12,356 ---

All eight nominated Directors were elected to serve for terms of one year each and the selection of HoganTaylor LLP as the Companys Independent Registered Public Accountants for 2023 was ratified.

For additional information on these proposals, please see the Companys definitive proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 9, 2023.

Item 8.01 Other Events

On May 23, 2023, the Companys Board of Directors approved a $10.00 per share cash dividend to be paid June 20, 2023 to the Companys common stockholders of record at the close of business on June 7, 2023.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

THE RESERVE PETROLEUM COMPANY (Registrant) Date: May 23, 2023 /s/ Cameron R. McLain Cameron R. McLain, Principal Executive Officer

2

ATTACHMENTS / EXHIBITS

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13D

(Rule 13d-101)

(Amendment No. 17)

INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN STATEMENTS FILED PURSUANT

TO RULE 13d-1(a) AND AMENDMENTS THERETO FILED PURSUANT TO

RULE 13d-2(a)

ZYNEX, INC. (Name of Issuer) Common Stock, $0.001 Par Value (Title of Class of Securities) 98986M 103 (CUSIP Number) Thomas Sandgaard

9655 Maroon Circle

Englewood, CO 80112 (Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications) May 10, 2023 (Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of  240.13d-1(e), 240.13d-1(f) or 240.13d-1(g), check the following box. 

Note: Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See  240.13d-7 for other parties to whom copies are to be sent.

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

CUSIP No. 98986M 103

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Thomas Sandgaard 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (See Instructions) (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS (See Instructions) PF 5 CHECK IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(D) OR 2(E)  6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION United States NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 7 SOLE VOTING POWER: 14,906,318(1) 8 SHARED VOTING POWER: 1,425,105 (2) 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER: 14,906,318(1) 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER: 1,425,105 (2) 11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 16,331,423 (1) 12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (See Instructions)  13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 44.6%(3) 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (See Instructions) IN

(1) Includes 1,985 unvested restricted shares which vest within 60 days of May 10, 2023 and options to purchase 213,400 shares of common stock that are exercisable within 60 days of May 10, 2023. Also includes 14,690,933 shares of common stock.

(2) Represents 1,425,105 shares of common stock held by Sandgaard Holdings LLC of which Mr. Thomas Sandgaard is the sole manager, and, in such capacity, has voting and dispositive power over the securities held by this entity, except with respect to 213,766 shares of common stock which Sandgaard Holdings LLC will vote as directed by the trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust, RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited.

(3) Percentage ownership is determined based on shares owned together with securities exercisable or convertible into shares of common stock within 60 days of the date of this statement, for each stockholder. Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC and generally includes voting or investment power with respect to securities. Furthermore, the percentage set forth is based on 36,366,021 shares of the Issuers common stock issued and outstanding as of May 10, 2023.

CUSIP No. 98986M 103

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Sandgaard Holdings LLC Tax ID: 83-0997050 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (See Instructions) (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS (See Instructions) WC 5 CHECK IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(D) OR 2(E)  6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION United States NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 7 SOLE VOTING POWER: 0 8 SHARED VOTING POWER: 1,425,105 (1) 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER: 0 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER: 1,425,105 (1) 11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 1,425,105 (1) 12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (See Instructions)  13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 3.9% (2) 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (See Instructions) OO

(1) Represents 1,425,105 shares of common stock held by Sandgaard Holdings LLC of which Mr. Thomas Sandgaard is the sole manager, and, in such capacity, has voting and dispositive power over the securities held by this entity, except with respect to 213,766 shares of common stock which Sandgaard Holdings LLC will vote as directed by the trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust, RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited.

(2) The percentage set forth is based on 36,366,021 shares of the Issuers common stock issued and outstanding as of May 10, 2023.

CUSIP No. 98986M 103

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust U/A/D 4/1/19 Tax ID: n/a (held under Thomas Sandgaards personal social security number) 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (See Instructions) (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS (See Instructions) OO 5 CHECK IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(D) OR 2(E)  6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Island of Jersey NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 7 SOLE VOTING POWER: 0 8 SHARED VOTING POWER: 213,766 (1) 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER: 0 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER: 0 11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 213,766 12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (See Instructions)  13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 0.6% (2) 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (See Instructions) OO

(1) Pursuant to a side letter, Sandgaard Holdings LLC will vote the number of shares of common stock of the Issuer held by Sandgaard Holdings LLC that are attributable to The Sandgaard Family Trust as directed by the trustee, RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited.

(2) The percentage set forth is based on 36,366,021 shares of the Issuers common stock issued and outstanding as of May 10, 2023.

Explanatory Note

Thomas Sandgaard, Sandgaard Holdings LLC and RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust make this joint filing on Schedule 13D to update the information regarding the beneficial ownership of shares of common stock of Zynex, Inc.

Item 1. Security and Issuer

The title and class of equity securities to which this Amendment No. 17 to the Schedule 13D relates is the common stock, $0.001 par value, of ZYNEX, INC., a Nevada Corporation (the Issuer). The principal offices of the Issuer are located at 9655 Maroon Circle, Englewood, CO 80112.

Item 2. Identity and Background

(a) This statement is being filed by (collectively, the Reporting Persons): (i) Thomas Sandgaard; (ii) Sandgaard Holdings LLC; and (iii) RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited, in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust.

(b) Mr. Sandgaards business address is 9655 Maroon Circle, Englewood, CO 80112. Sandgaard Holdings LLC business address is 9655 Maroon Circle, Englewood, CO 80112. The business address of RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited, in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust, is Gaspe House, 66 - 72 Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3QT.

(c) Mr. Sandgaard is currently employed as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Issuer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Issuer. The Issuer has a business address at 9655 Maroon Circle, Englewood, CO 80112 and is primarily engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and marketing medical devices that treat chronic and acute pain among others.

(d) During the last five years, the Reporting Persons have not been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors).

(e) During the last five years, the Reporting Persons have not been a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction and as a result thereof were or are subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws.

(f) Mr. Thomas Sandgaard is a citizen of the United States. Sandgaard Holdings LLC was formed in the State of Colorado. RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited, in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust, is organized under the laws of the Island of Jersey.

Item 3. Source and Amount of Funds or Other Considerations

All shares held were purchased with the Reporting Persons personal funds or working capital, or, in the case of RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited, in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust, the interest in the respective shares was transferred to it pursuant to Mr. Sandgaards estate planning transactions, as described in Amendment number 16 of the Schedule 13D.

Item 4. Purpose of Transaction

The information set forth in Item 5(c) hereof is incorporated by reference in its entirety into this Item 4.

Item 5. Interest in Securities of the Issuer

(a) The Reporting Persons beneficially owns 16,331,423 shares or 44.6% of the Issuers common stock, including (i) 14,690,933 shares of common stock, 1,985 unvested restricted shares which vest within 60 days of May10, 2023 and options to purchase 213,400 shares of common stock that are exercisable within 60 days of May 10, 2023 and (ii) 1,425,105 shares of common stock held by Sandgaard Holdings LLC of which Mr. Thomas Sandgaard is the sole manager, and, in such capacity, has voting and dispositive power over the securities held by this entity, except with respect to 213,766 shares of common stock which Sandgaard Holdings LLC will vote as directed by the trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust, RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited.

(b) Mr. Sandgaard may be deemed to hold sole voting and dispositive power over 14,906,318* shares of common stock of the Issuer and shared voting and dispositive power over 1,425,105 shares of common stock of the Issuer.

(c) 1. On May 10, 2023, Mr. Sandgaard reported the completed sale to the Issuer of 300,000 shares of Common Stock of the Issuer, in an exempt transaction pursuant to Rule 16b-3. The sale price per share was the closing price of the Common Stock on May 10, 2023. The transaction was approved by the Audit Committee and the disinterested members of the Board of Directors of the Issuer.

2. On May 5, 2023, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 2,495 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

3. On March 15, 2023, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 5,902 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

4. On October 29, 2022, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 7,464 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

5. On August 5, 2022, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 8,012 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

6. On March 24, 2022, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 9,973 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

7. On January 21, 2022, pursuant to a dividend distributed by the Issuer, Mr. Sandgaard received 1,361,788 shares of Common Stock and Sandgaard Holdings LLC received 129,555 shares of Common Stock, of which 19,433 shares are attributable to the voting and dispositive power shared with The Sandgaard Family Trust.

8. On November 5, 2021, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 2,992 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

9. On October 6, 2021, Mr. Sandgaard reported the completed sale of 177,320 shares of Common Stock of the Issuer at a weighted average purchase price equal to $15.1693. These shares were purchased in multiple transactions at prices ranging from $15.00 to $15.535 per share.

10. On July 29, 2021, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 4,106 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

11. On May 5, 2021, Mr. Sandgaard reported the issuance of 1,754 shares of Common Stock (restricted stock award), issued to him pursuant to the Issuer's 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

Upon request by the Commission, the Issuer or the Reporting Person shall provide full information regarding the various transactions disclosed above.

(d) To the best knowledge of the Reporting Persons, except as set forth in this Amendment No. 17 to the Schedule 13D, no person other than the Reporting Persons has the right to receive, or the power to direct the receipt of, dividends from, or the proceeds from the sale of the 16,331,423 shares of common stock reported in Item 5(a).

(e) Not applicable.

* Includes 14,690,933 shares of common stock, 1,985 unvested restricted shares which vest within 60 days of May 10, 2023 and options to purchase 213,400 shares of common stock that are exercisable within 60 days of May 10, 2023.

Item 6. Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships with Respect to Securities of the Issuer

Other than as described herein, there are no contracts, arrangements, understandings or relationships (legal or otherwise) between the Reporting Person and any other person with respect to any securities.

Item 7. Material to Be Filed as Exhibits

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Dated: May 24, 2023 /s/ Thomas Sandgaard Name: Thomas Sandgaard Dated: May 24, 2023 Sandgaard Holdings LLC By: /s/ Thomas Sandgaard Name: Thomas Sandgaard Title: Manager Dated: May 24, 2023 RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited in its capacity as trustee of The Sandgaard Family Trust U/A/D 4/1/19 By: /s/ Alison Patrick Name: Alison Patrick, as authorized signatory of RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited By: /s/ Ian Ritchie Name: Ian Ritchie, as authorized signatory of RBC Trustees (Jersey) Limited

ATTACHMENTS / EXHIBITS

EXHIBIT 99.1
U.S. Marines and Australian and Indonesian troops wrapped up three weeks of disaster relief training Wednesday in Indonesia and northern Australia, according to the Marines commander.

Exercise Crocodile Response was the first of several drills for Marine Rotational Force  Darwin during a seven-month training mission Down Under, Col. Brendan Sullivan, the rotational force commander, told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday.

During the exercise, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy flew over the Northern Territory May 17 with Sullivan in an MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor during a visit to the rotational force.

Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, a World War II veteran who commanded a patrol torpedo boat in the Pacific, is becoming a frequent flier. She also flew on Feb. 28 over the Australian state of Victoria in a two-seat Australian air force F/A-18F Super Hornet.

Crocodile Response allows Australia, the US and Indonesia to cooperate effectively in times of natural disaster, Australian navy Capt. Mitchell Livingstone, commander of the Australian Northern Command Headquarters, said in a May 16 statement.

The 2,500 Marines of the rotational force, the 12th contingent since 2012, began arriving in Darwin in March.

A force of 200 Marines, 70 Australian soldiers and 30 Indonesian troops spent the past week at the Mount Bundey Training Area, south of Darwin, practicing skills they would need coming to the aid of an island hit by a typhoon, he said.

That involved coordinating with international partners and government agencies, producing clean water, clearing transportation routes and establishing camps for displaced people, he said.

Indonesian and Australian forces do more international disaster relief than the Marines, Sullivan said, but added that such operations are the rotational forces most likely real-world mission.

The Marines Osprey aircraft were essential to disaster relief training, he said. The twin-engine craft flies long distances like a conventional fixed-wing plane but hovers, ascends and descends like a helicopter.

It creates incredible reach, Sullivan said. We can get to places fast with the Ospreys.
The first woman to lead a Navy aircraft carrier successfully completed her command tour May 18.

Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt was relieved by Capt. Pete Riebe as commanding officer of USS Abraham Lincoln during a change of command ceremony held on the flight deck. The carrier is home-ported at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego.

Bauernschmidt, who took command of Abraham Lincoln in August 2021, has been nominated for the rank of rear admiral, the Navy announced in February. She received the Legion of Merit during the ceremony and will report to the commander of 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, for her next tour of duty, a Navy news release said.

There remain complicated challenges around the globe, Bauernschmidt said during the ceremony. We must remain steadfast in doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. I know under Capt. Riebes leadership you will continue to strive for excellence in daily tasks and cohesion across Lincoln Nation, addressing obstacles, remaining ready and continuing your development into the most effective, powerful and trusted fighting force.

Under Bauernschmidts command, the sailors of Abraham Lincoln completed a seven-month deployment to the 7th and 3rd Fleet area of operations in the Pacific, culminating in the Lincoln serving as the flagship for the largest Rim of the Pacific exercise to date with 32 coalition partners, according to the release.

Milwaukee native Bauernschmidt is a 1994 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. She earned a masters degree from the Naval War College and was designated a pilot in 1996. She has 3,000 flight hours and has served as commanding officer of the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego, according to her Navy biography.

Riebe previously served as commanding officer of USS Anchorage, and executive officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt. He completed the Aviation Nuclear Officer training pipeline in 2018 and has accumulated more than 3,800 flight hours, according to the Navy release.

We are a critical cog for the United States to maintain our maritime superiority and military dominance, Riebe said. We will ensure that we are ready and focused on maintaining the warfighting advantage needed to win.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of women flying in the Navy. Bauernschmidt was one of the first women to be assigned to a combat squadron after the combat exclusion policy for women was lifted in 1993, according to the release.

Over the course of her CVN command tour, Capt. Bauernschmidt has shown herself to be an immensely impactful leader, said Rear Adm. Kevin Lenox, commander of Carrier Strike Group 3, who presided over the ceremony. She did this job as well I as I have ever seen it done, by anyone.
(Tribune News Service)  The Defense Department says it will give General Dynamics-NASSCO $736 million to build a ninth Lewis-class fleet oiler for the Navy, which will help the Barrio Logan shipyard maintain its workforce at roughly 3,500.

The news comes as NASSCO's neighbor, BAE Systems, is struggling to secure ship repair contracts. The company recently notified the state that it will eliminate 285 jobs at its yard on San Diego Bay, reducing its workforce to about 860. BAE had twice as many workers less than a decade ago.

NASSCO has thrived in recent years by landing a combination of ship construction and repair work. Prior to Tuesday, the yard had built, started or won contracts to build eight Lewis-class oilers. The yard is currently nearing completion on one of those ships  the Robert F. Kennedy  which will be launched this fall.

The new contract brings NASSCO's total haul in Lewis oiler program work to $5.5 billion.

"NASSCO is proud of our ongoing dedication to deliver these ships to the fleet," Dave Carver, NASSCO's president, said in a statement. "We are committed to working with our Navy partners to ensure the continued success of the John Lewis-class fleet oiler program."

The ship construction and repair business is highly cyclical. Over the years, NASSCO and BAE have each gone through expansion and cutbacks. BAE was so committed to its San Diego operation in 2015-16 it invested about $100 million to improve its facility and add a large floating dry dock.

Local shipyards have since been hurt, to varying degrees, by the Navy's decision to send some of their vessels elsewhere for repairs and modernization. Earlier this year, the Navy announced that the San Diego-based destroyers Zumwalt and Michael Monsoor will undergo upgrades in Mississippi.

The ship repair industry also is being roiled by Congress, which has decommissioned some littoral combat ships early, eliminating a lot of future repair work. Other ships face an uncertain future, including San Diego-based littoral combat ship Jackson, which only began going on deployment two years ago.

Such downturns eliminate prized jobs. Dozens of welders, sheet metal fitters, machinists and electricians are among the people who will lose positions at BAE in San Diego.

2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Visit sandiegouniontribune.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Keelung, Taiwain, Nov. 29, 1965: Steve McQueen and Candice Bergen chat during a lull in shooting The Sand Pebbles, comfortably seated on their bicycles.

Read the interview Candice Bergen gave to Stars and Stripes Pacific, and see additional photos from the film set here. https://www.stripes.com/history/2022-07-25/sand-pebbles-movie-set-taiwan-1966-6764179.html
On a hot August afternoon last summer, Susana Thakur, 38, and Amaya, 39, danced, drank and celebrated at a friends wedding. Neither of them knew it at the time, but they were both pregnant. A few months later, when their respective doctors told them that they had miscarried, they both looked back on that night and wondered if perhaps they had done something wrong: if they had had one drink too many, jumped too hard. Or perhaps it that ham canape or the unpasteurized cheese. They knew it was a masochistic thing to do  to blame themselves  but they did not know how common a mindset it truly was.

According to a study by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women who miscarry tend to blame themselves, which leaves them feeling isolated and alone. Having suffered a miscarriage, the chances of suffering from depression and anxiety are multiplied by two and the risk of suicide by four.

After searching for blame in the recent past, Amaya and Susana looked back even further. They questioned their entire lives and sank into depression. I thought it was too late, that I shouldnt have waited so long to get pregnant, explained Amaya, who does not give her last name for fear that it will adversely affect her in her job search. I felt like a failure, like it was my fault, Susana added. These two ordinary middle-class women from Madrid have known each other for 15 years. They consider themselves friends. But they didnt tell each other what they were going through. For months whenever they saw each other, they would ask how are you? and answer fine, thanks. You? They smiled and talked about trivial things while they were broken inside.

Every year, 23 million miscarriages occur worldwide, which is equivalent to 44 lost pregnancies every minute. It happens all the time. And yet it never appears to happen, its almost always buried in silence. Between 15% and 25% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. When the doctor told me that, I was shocked, Susana said. I thought this was something that only happened in 0.5% [of all pregnancies]. And, to tell you the truth, I never thought it could happen to me, she admitted.

Susana believed that a miscarriage was a tragic exception. When it happened to her, she began to understand the reality: it happens to one in four women who are pregnant. The same thing happened to Amaya. As they shared their experience, other similar stories surfaced around them, like mines in a calm sea. Its mind-boggling how many cases there are around you, how many people go through this and dont talk about it, Susana said.

Having a miscarriage gets you into a secret club that no one wants to belong to. And it is only when you become a member that you realize how many others there are. There is a kind of social mandate that pressures you to keep silent about it, explained Pilar Gomez-Ulla, a psychologist specializing in perinatal bereavement. It is based on the idea that, if you lose it [the pregnancy], it is better not to have made a big show of it, better not to have said anything. But, in that case, it also means that youre on your own, she added.

The silence surrounding the first months of pregnancy has been codified in medical recommendations and popular wisdom. Every woman knows that she should not talk about her pregnancy openly until after the first 12 weeks. This has a clear benefit: Amaya explained that when she found out about her miscarriage, she had to retrace a difficult and painful path: Its very hard, calling the person you had given the good news to, and say that no, its bad. You feel like an asshole, and you know the other person is going to feel sorry for you, and youre going to talk for half an hour about how hard it all is. Thats when you say okay, I totally understand why people keep quiet about it.

But this is not the only reason behind the silence surrounding miscarriages. Talking about pregnancy loss is difficult. Its tough. The bloody and untimely end of a pregnancy lies at the intersection of three uncomfortable themes: sex, death and menstruation. This discomfort prevents conversation and encourages isolation and stigmatization of the sufferer. It shrouds in mystery a subject about which very little is known.

Doctors usually explain, as they did with Amaya and Susana, that miscarriages just happen. During the first months of pregnancy, during chromosomal division and duplication, genetic errors can occur, which are sometimes incompatible with life and cause a miscarriage. Most of these errors are random and of unknown origin.

Seventy-one percent of women who miscarry are not given a reason, according to a 2019 survey by the U.K. charity, Tommys. Most of them leave the doctors office disoriented, without understanding what has happened or why it happened to them. Without answers, many end up drifting in a sea of recommendations from forums and pseudoscientific books promising formulas to improve egg quality, or going to private doctors, nutritionists and herbalists. There are thinkers such as Linda L. Layne, author of the essay Breaking the Silence: An Agenda for a Feminist Discourse on Pregnancy Loss (JSOTR), who advocate the need to start an honest, public discussion about pregnancy loss as a form of feminist empowerment.

Amaya, left, and Susana, have been friends for 15 years. Andrea Comas

But Gomez-Ulla believes that this idea should be qualified and that women should not always be forced to always share their pregnancies and losses: The important thing is to foster a climate in which we can make these decisions more freely. And this climate is being created little by little. In 2009, she herself suffered a miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy. Previously, she had suffered the deaths of two babies who were born prematurely. Since then, she admitted, the change has been enormous: Enormous in terms of health care, enormous in terms of the visibility of the issue in the media and in movies, [TV] series, and books. There are lots of women sharing their experiences. But there is still some way to go.

Talking about it in the public sphere is reflected in the private sphere. According to a Boston University School of Public Health study, Twitter conversations about miscarriage have increased in recent years. The study analyzed how women talk about miscarriage online, seeking community. And the investigators found that the revelations of celebrities like Michelle Obama, sharing her own personal story, encouraged others to do the same. The study highlighted the role of celebrities in this issue: The disclosure of miscarriage experiences by celebrities led other women who had similar experiences to disclose them, explained Kadija Ferryman, one of the authors of the study. For example, the revelation of Michelle Obamas miscarriage generated more than 3,000 tweets.

The childbearing years coincide with the years when you are trying to grow like crazy, establish yourself at work, fight for job security, get access to housing, and so on. Pilar Gomez-Ulla, psychologist

This helps to better manage grief, according to Gomez-Ulla. This is a process you need to do through dialogue, she explained. If there is no other person around to talk to, it is a mourning that is not finished. And that other is, first of all, your partner, your closest friends, your co-workers. But its also the society you live in, the political system and the laws.

One of the possible reasons why miscarriages are more talked about is that they simply occur more. The risk of miscarriage is 12% for women between 20 and 29 years of age and increases with age to almost 65% in women over 45 years of age. On average, motherhood in Spain  and in many other countries around the world  has been postponed. The average age for the first pregnancy is 31.5 years.

This causes many women to blame themselves when their pregnancy goes wrong, pointing to their age as a key factor. This is an important issue, the psychologist said. Because I question whether this is an individual decision. It is a collective drift. There is a whole society that is configured in a way that has caused motherhood to be delayed. The childbearing years coincide with the years when you are trying to grow like crazy, to establish yourself in the workplace, to fight for job security, to get access to housing, and so on.

A positive result in a pregnancy test does not necessarily mean you are going to have a baby. Susana, who suffered a spontaneous miscarriage

This analysis fits with Susanas situation, who only in her late thirties has found the financial and emotional stability to start a family. Amaya has neither one nor the other, but after 35, the biological clock works more like a countdown. It is only now that both have realized how complicated this process is. A positive pregnancy test does not necessarily mean that you are going to have a baby, explained Susana. Its not just the little picture on Instagram announcing youre pregnant, its a long process that doesnt always go well, she added.

It is a difficult thing to go through, but its easier with company. After six months, Susana took the first step. She sent a WhatsApp audio to Amaya that led to a difficult but healing conversation. I think sharing your experience helps, even if its traumatic and painful. It makes you realize that you are not alone, explained Susana. I ultimately decided to talk about it openly, even with people who at the time didnt know about my pregnancy. Because I think my story can help other women if the same thing happens to them, she said. And she added: If we talk more openly about painful issues, if we tell each other, there will be much more support. It will become more normal.

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa  The South African government was under more pressure Wednesday for declining to release cargo documents relating to the visit by a Russian ship that the United States alleges collected a consignment of weapons for Moscow.

Separately, a top official in South Africa's ruling party added to the scrutiny of the country's relationship with Russia by saying the party would "welcome" a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

The comments by African National Congress Secretary General Fikile Mbalula regarding Putin were made in an interview with the BBC and in the context of the Russian leader attending a summit of the BRICS economic bloc in South Africa in August. The bloc is made up of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

"If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here, even tomorrow, to come to our country," Mbalula said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the ANC's social media channels on Tuesday. "We will welcome him to come here as part and parcel of BRICS."

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court treaty, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he enters the country. The South African government has indicated it will not carry out the arrest warrant if Putin does travel for the summit, although it hasn't said that explicitly.

"Do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere?" Mbalula, a former Cabinet minister who is now the ANC's top administrative official, said in the BBC interview.

He told the BBC interviewer there was hypocrisy on the part of the West related to the arrest warrant for Putin because, he said, Britain and other Western nations committed crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and no heads of state were arrested.

Mbalula last month referred to the United States as one of the countries "messing up the world."

There has been increasing anti-U.S. and anti-West rhetoric in the ANC and sometimes in parts of South Africa's government since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, despite South Africa maintaining it has a neutral stance on the war.

The trend is troubling for the U.S. and other Western partners of South Africa because of its status as an influential democracy in the developing world, and Africa's most developed economy.

South Africa has a historical relationship with Russia connected to the old Soviet Union's military and political support for the ANC when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the racist apartheid regime that oppressed the country's Black majority. The West appears concerned that the ANC's old ideological ties to Russia are now pulling South Africa into Moscow's political orbit amid burgeoning global tensions. There are also growing economic ties between Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, and China.

The concerns were laid bare by the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa earlier this month when he accused it of providing weapons to Russia via a cargo ship that docked at a naval base near the city of Cape Town in December. Ambassador Reuben Brigety said "I would bet my life" that weapons were loaded onto the Russian-flagged Lady R, which is under U.S. sanctions for alleged ties to a company that has transported arms for the Russian government.

The South African government has denied it made any arms transaction with Russia, although it hasn't categorically ruled out the possibility that another entity did so secretly. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry.

On Wednesday, South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, challenged the government to come clean if it had nothing to hide and release a cargo manifest for the Lady R's visit to the Simon's Town naval base.

A DA lawmaker also asked Defense Minister Thandi Modise to release the documents during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Modise refused to do so while also using an expletive to repeat the government's denial that any weapons were loaded onto the ship.

Modise has said that the Russian ship was visiting to deliver an ammunition shipment to South Africa that was ordered in 2018 but delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modise's refusal to make public the cargo manifest was supported by fellow ANC lawmakers, who said the documents were "classified." Modise said they would be handed over to the inquiry into the incident.
BEIJING  China's foreign minister pressed his Dutch counterpart Tuesday for access to advanced chipmaking technology that has been blocked on security grounds and warned against allowing what he said were unfounded fears of Beijing to spoil relations.

Chinese frustration with curbs imposed by the Netherlands, Washington and Japan on chip technology has added to political strains at a time when Beijing is threatening to attack Taiwan and is increasingly assertive toward other Asian neighbors.

There was no indication the Netherlands changed its restriction on the supply of lithography machines available only from a single Dutch company that use ultraviolet light to etch tiny circuits on next-generation processor chips. Lack of that tool is holding back Chinese efforts to develop chips for smartphones, artificial intelligence and other advanced applications.

"As for the issue of lithography machines, China has serious concerns about this," Qin Gang said at a joint news conference. "We should work together to jointly protect the normal trade order between us, the international trade rules and to jointly keep the global industrial and supply chains stable."

The Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands earlier threatened possible unspecified retaliation, but the ministers gave no indication they discussed that in their 2 1/2-hour meeting.

"We have shared our national security concerns," said the Dutch minister, Wopke Hoekstra. "I've, of course, clearly listened to his, and this is typically an issue where we will continue our dialogue."

Beijing appears to be trying to improve relations with European governments and possibly split some away from alliances with Washington.

Political analysts have suggested that is part of the motivation behind Beijing's decision to send an envoy to discuss a possible settlement of the Ukraine war. Analysts see little hope of peace but say the initiative gives Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government a chance to deflect Western criticism of its friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Qin appealed for patience while the envoy, Li Hui, visits European governments to discuss a possible "political settlement."

Hoekstra, who also is the Dutch deputy prime minister, said he and Qin "talked extensively about the war" but gave no details.

"Russia's aggression against Ukraine must stop and Europe and Netherlands will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and whatever necessary," Hoekstra said.

Qin tried to downplay security fears about Beijing.

"What China exports is opportunity, not crisis," he said.

The Chinese minister complained about the "abnormal phenomenon" of what he said was fears about China being exaggerated by unspecified "intelligence departments."

"Then their accusations are being exaggerated by the media," Qin said. "The result is that it erodes the popular support for the friendship between our two countries."
BEIJING  Pressure from the West is strengthening Russia's ties with China, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing Wednesday.

Mishustin's visit comes as Russia is increasingly turning to China for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over its invasion of Ukraine.

In opening remarks at his meeting Wednesday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mishustin did not mention the 15-month-old war that China, in deference to Moscow, has refused to criticize, focusing instead on economic cooperation between the neighbors that have partnered in challenging the U.S. lead in global affairs.

Relations between the two countries are "at an unprecedented high level," influenced by the "pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West," Mishustin said.

China says it is a neutral party between Russia and Ukraine and wants to help broker an end to the conflict. But it has blamed the West for provoking Moscow and has maintained strong diplomatic and trade ties with Russia in opposition to sanctions against it.

China's special envoy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other government officials during talks in Kyiv this month. The visit followed a phone call last month between the Ukrainian leader and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Zelenskyy described as "long and meaningful" and which marked the first known contact between the two since the Russian invasion began.

Beijing released a peace plan in February but Ukraine's allies largely dismissed it, insisting that Putin must withdraw his forces. Zelenskyy's own 10-point peace plan includes a tribunal to prosecute war crimes committed by Russia.

While sidestepping the conflict, Mishustin emphasized Russia's role as a provider of oil and gas to China and their bonds formed as initial allies among communist nations.

"The peoples of Russia and China cherish their history, rich culture and traditions. We support the further development of our culture, exchanges and communication," Mishustin said.
(Tribune News Service)  Chinas new ambassador to the U.S. said the relationship between the worlds two biggest economies is facing serious difficulties and challenges.

We hope the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences and also to expand our cooperation, Xie Feng said after his arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Tuesday.

Xie, who earlier in his career had served in several roles at the embassy in Washington and was Beijings top representative in Hong Kong, fills a key post that had been vacant for five months. His predecessor, Qin Gang, left in early January after being promoted to foreign minister.

The appointment comes as Washington aims to stabilize ties between the two global competitors. Relations were derailed in recent months amid disputes over spying allegations, Taiwans sovereignty and U.S. technology export controls.

During his brief remarks Tuesday, Xie said he intended to engage extensively with Americans and learn about the country, as well as properly handling sensitive and important issues, like the Taiwan question.

The relationship remains on edge thanks to Washingtons aggressive efforts to curb Chinas technology ambitions, which includes banning the sale of semiconductor equipment. Beijing showed its limited ability to retaliate by targeting imports of Micron Technology Inc., a memory chip company that is relatively easy for China to replace.

President Joe Biden voiced optimism Sunday at the close of the Group of Seven summit that relations would thaw very shortly. That message was mixed with a G-7 resolution to fight what it called Chinas economic coercion, while officials in Beijing said they questioned Bidens sincerity.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinas top diplomat Wang Yi in Vienna earlier this month, while Chinas Commerce minister Wang Wentao is scheduled to meet this week with both U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Detroit.

Top support

Xies career path signals he has the trust of the countrys President Xi Jinping.

Xie, 59, was serving in Hong Kong in 2019 when the city was beset by historic and sometimes violent protests. At a forum that year, he said the true motive of the opposition in Hong Kong and the foreign forces behind them is to mess up the city, overthrow the legitimate government.

The fighting spirit Xie displayed in the former British colony won him the approval of senior leaders in Beijing, helping advance his career, the Sing Tao Daily reported in 2021, just before Xie was promoted to vice foreign minister.

Xie is a veteran of the Foreign Ministry whose promotion likely owes to his ability to adjust his work to reflect the shifting demands of Chinas top leadership, Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institutes Center for China Analysis, said before Xie was named to the post. When Xi wants him to be pragmatic, Xie will be pragmatic. When Xi wants him to be aggressive, Xie will be aggressive, he said.

In his most recent post, as vice foreign minister, Xie has met with several representatives from U.S. companies and groups, including Ford Moto Co.s chief policy officer and general counsel Steven Croley and Blackstone Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman, as well from the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and The Julliard School, according to the ministrys website.

Xie is also a vice director of a research center dedicated to Xis thinking on how diplomacy should be handled. On Oct. 14, he gave a lecture to the nation of 1.4 billion people on state broadcaster China Central Television that focused on Xi diplomacy, saying its ultimate aim was to care for the people.

Xie was also involved in negotiating a deal that led to China releasing two Canadian citizens and the return of Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou to Beijing, according to the Wall Street Journal.

With assistance from Jacob Gu.

___

2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Visit bloomberg.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The population of Guam, military and civilians alike, hunkered down in homes or emergency shelters Wednesday afternoon as the eye of Typhoon Mawar loomed just off the islands eastern coast.

At 4 p.m., the typhoon was just 30 miles from Guam moving northwest between the island and Rota with 138 mph sustained winds and gusts of 167 mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The typhoon is projected to pass 7 miles northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, on the northern edge of Guam, between 6 and 8 p.m.

Heavy winds there knocked down trees by 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and portions of the base were without power by 2 p.m., several base residents told Stars and Stripes by Facebook Messenger.

Were feeling pretty fortunate to live in a concrete box, said Kimberly Jones, referring to the reinforced concrete homes that constitute Andersens base housing.

Photos and videos of the storms impact submitted by members of the Guam Military Spouses Facebook group to Stars and Stripes showed fierce winds, heavy rain and fallen trees throughout the island, including at Andersen, Naval Base Guam, and elsewhere.

Staci Hutto, another Andersen resident, reported water leaking through the bottom of her front door.

Taylor Dubuisson, a suicide prevention coordinator for the Guam National Guard, said she was expecting the weather to worsen.

The storm is really just now starting to pick up speed compared to what its been most of the day and will continue to worsen for the next few hours, she said through Facebook around 4 p.m.

Mawar, downgraded Wednesday morning from super typhoon status, is the strongest storm to approach the island since Typhoon Pongsona passed the U.S. territory with gusts of 173 mph in December 2002.

Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero at 3 p.m. offered words of comfort to her constituents, whom shed ordered to evacuate low-lying areas and to shelter on higher ground Tuesday. About 170,500 people live on the island, at 210 square miles about the size of Chicago.

Many of us right now are feeling the full strength of Typhoon Mawar, and although it is a frightening experience that hasnt been felt for over two decades  we want you to know that we are here for you, Leon Guerrero wrote Wednesday on Facebook. Even as the typhoon makes its initial landfall, we have multiple agencies coordinating response efforts and relaying helpful information to those in need.

The governor on Tuesday mobilized the Guam National Guard to assist with evacuation efforts; later that day, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the island, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

The military bases likewise made multiple efforts to protect their assets. Ships from Naval Base Guam were sent to sea, while aircraft at Andersen were either sent away from the island or sheltered in hangars, spokespeople told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.

At Marine Corps Camp Blaz, service members, civilians and their families were urged over the weekend to stockpile food and water and preparations were made to protect electronic equipment and offices, according to base spokeswoman Maj. Diann Rosenfeld.

Our biggest concern is the safety of all our personnel and their families, she told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday. For many, this is their first typhoon, and we wanted to ensure they had all the information and resources needed to safely ride out the storm.

Blaz is expecting a level of destruction from the typhoon, but Rosenfeld said she was optimistic well come back stronger as a community.

Check Stars and Stripes Pacific Storm Tracker for frequent updates on Mawar.
KATHMANDU, Nepal  The first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest returned from the mountain on Tuesday pledging to dedicate the rest of his life to helping people with disabilities.

Hari Budha Magar, a former Gurkha soldier who lives in Britain, reached the peak of the world's highest mountain last week.

"My main aim for the rest of my lifetime is going to be working to bring awareness about disability," Magar said on his return to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

As a soldier in a Gurkha regiment in the British army, Magar lost both his legs in Afghanistan when he accidently stepped on an improvised explosive device in 2010.

Hundreds of supporters and officials, including Nepal's tourism minister, greeted him at Kathmandu's airport and offered him garlands.

He was taken from the airport in an open truck decorated with flowers and waved at people along the way.

"We all have our own weaknesses and disabilities, but instead of the weaknesses we should be focusing on our strength, and only then we can all lead a better and meaningful life," he said.

He said the climb up the 29,032-foot mountain was not easy and he thought several times about quitting because of his family.

"I had made the promise that I will have to return for the sake of my son," he said.

On the way to the summit he ran out of oxygen in the tank he was carrying.

"This was the first time I experienced what it is to be deprived of oxygen. I had the tingling sensation, my hands and feet were cold and I was gasping for breath," he said.

He was able to get more oxygen from his climbing partners, but then battled with bad weather as he approached the summit, which he reached late in the afternoon because of his slow pace. Most climbers try to reach the top in the morning because conditions become dangerous later in the day.

He said he saw rescuers pulling the bodies of two dead climbers along the way.

After his successful climb, "I hugged all the Sherpas and cried like a baby, I was so happy," Magar said in a video released by his press office. "My lifetime goal is to change the perceptions people have of disability. My life changed in a blink of an eye. But whatever happens, you can still lead a fulfilling life."

"If a double above-knee amputee can climb Everest, you can climb whatever mountain you face, as long as you are disciplined, work hard and put everything into it," he said.

Magar was born in a remote mountain village in Nepal and later was recruited by the British army as a Gurkha. He now lives with his family in Canterbury, England.

Hundreds of Nepalese youths are recruited every year to work as Gurkha soldiers, who are known for their fighting skills and bravery.

In addition to dealing with his own disabilities, Magar also had to battle with legal issues because Nepal's government had banned disabled people from climbing high mountains. A case was filed in the Supreme Court, which overturned the ban, allowing Magar to continue his plan to climb Everest.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the government halted mountaineering, further delaying Magar's plan.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  A collision with an eagle caused a South Korean F-35A Lightning II fighter to crash last year, and talks are underway with the manufacturer over scrapping or repairing the stealth aircraft, the South Korean air force said Tuesday.

An investigation determined the bird struck the F-35As landing gear, which failed, forcing the pilot to make an emergency belly landing Jan. 4, 2022, at a South Korean air force base in Seosan, about 50 miles southwest of Seoul, according to an air force email Tuesday.

The pilot exited the plane without serious injuries, according to the air force.

South Koreas air force and Lockheed Martin, the F-35 manufacturer, assessed the damaged aircraft to determine whether repairs would prove too costly or compromise the fighters safe operation.

The air force did not provide an estimate for the repairs and said discussions with Lockheed Martin are still ongoing.

South Korea purchased 40 F-35As from Lockheed Martin in 2014 in a deal worth $7 billion, or roughly $175 million each, and began taking deliveries in 2019.

The Ministry of National Defense announced in March that it will spend nearly $2.9 billion for another 20 F-35As by 2028. The additional F-35As are meant to stave off North Korean threats and fill a power vacuum caused by maintaining the existing fleet, the ministry said at the time.

The United States and South Korean air forces conducted their first joint combat air drill with F-35As in July.

South Korean F-35As have also flown with American aircraft in shows of force following North Korean missile launches. On March 19, less than three hours after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile, a U.S. B-1B Lancer bomber flew over the Korean Peninsula with South Korean F-35As as part of the 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, according to the National Defense Ministry.
SEOUL, South Korea  South Korea canceled its planned launch Wednesday of its first commercial-grade satellite due to a technical issue, days after rival North Korea reaffirmed its push to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.

The cancellation was announced about two hours before South Korea's homegrown Nuri space launch vehicle carrying eight satellites  including the main, commercial-grade one  was scheduled to lift off from a southern launch facility.

Oh Tae-seok, the first vice-minister of science, told a televised news conference a communication anomaly between the launch control computer and the launch pad control computer was found during the launch preparation process. He said South Korea will consider rescheduling the launch as soon as Thursday, if authorities fix the technical problem early.

South Korea's satellite launch plan has been closely watched by outsiders. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed a finished spy satellite and approved a future action plan on its launch. During his visit to the country's aerospace agency, Kim also mentioned the strategic significance of a spy satellite while vowing to defend against "confrontational moves" by South Korean and U.S. forces, according to state media.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula remain high.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles  some of them nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike South Korea and the U.S.  in what it called efforts to respond to the expansion of military drills between the United States and South Korea. Analysts say the North's testing spree was likely meant to pressure its rivals to scale back their military training and relax economic sanctions on the North.

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said the recent North Korean push for a spy satellite launch suggests it cares greatly about the South Korean satellite launch program.

South Korean officials say their commercial-grade satellite launch has no military purpose. But many experts say it will eventually help South Korea acquire technologies and knowhow required to operate military surveillance satellites and build more powerful missiles.

South Korea already has missiles that place all of North Korea within striking distance. But Jung said South Korea needs longer-range missiles to prepare for future security threats that can be posed by potential adversaries like China and Russia.

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that the use of the Nuri rocket as a missile isn't militarily meaningful as it uses a type of liquid fuel that requires much longer fueling time than solid fuel.

But he said there is "enough possibility" that the launch will support South Korea's efforts to build a space-based surveillance system, as its commercial-grade satellite is to be placed on a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used by reconnaissance satellites.

South Korea currently has no military reconnaissance satellites of its own and depends on U.S. spy satellites to monitor strategic facilities in North Korea. South Korea seeks to launch its own surveillance satellites soon.

Some experts say the North Korean spy satellite disclosed in its state media doesn't appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery that can meaningfully boost the country's surveillance capacities.

But Lee said the North Korean satellite is still likely be capable of monitoring the deployment of incoming U.S. strategic assets like an aircraft carrier and the movements of South Korean warships and fighter jets.

After its first spy satellite launch, Lee predicted North Korea will try to send several more satellites into space, likely more advanced ones. "With three to five satellites, North Korea can have an almost real-time monitoring on the Korean Peninsula," he said.

Lee said the North's first spy satellite launch could happen in June. Other experts say the launch will more likely happen in the latter half of this year.

Wednesday's canceled launch of South Korea's satellite would have been the third of its kind involving Nuri.

In its second launch last year, South Korea successfully put what it called a "performance verification satellite" into orbit, becoming the world's 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology. The launch was mainly designed to examine the Nuri rocket's capabilities.
RIGA, Latvia  Russia now effectively controls Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers died in the wars longest and bloodiest battle. But it is unclear that Moscows disjointed forces will be able to hold the decimated city amid a Ukrainian counterattack that has already begun.

For now, Russia appears to control whats left of the city, once home to some 70,000 people, though Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Military Command, insisted Tuesday that Kyivs troops still held small positions on Bakhmuts southwestern edge and were fighting Russian forces on the outskirts.

In any case, Russias victory celebration may be brief, military analysts said, with Bakhmut potentially following the fate of Izyum, Lyman, Kherson and other cities occupied by Russia only to be retaken by Ukraine. Moscows fighting forces are stretched thin after months of significant losses and riven by internal rivalries.

The story of Bakhmut is not yet finished. There are a lot of Ukrainian forces that are still on the outskirts, and Russias position in Ukraine is not particularly stable right now, said Dara Massicot, a senior researcher at the Rand Corp. Right now, the situation is they do control it, but this is not set in stone.

The next two to three weeks will be crucial for Moscows claim to Bakhmut, Massicot noted, as Russia allocates forces to defend against a widely expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. Holding the city  which is of limited strategic importance but is hugely symbolic for both sides  would require Moscow to pull reinforcements from previously occupied territories, possibly creating new areas of vulnerability.

The Russians dont exactly know where the counteroffensive is going to start, and based on where the majority of their forces are, they seem particularly concerned about Zaporizhzhia and the land bridge being cut, Massicot said, referring to the land bridge Russia established earlier in the war to link Crimea, illegally annexed in 2014, to mainland Russia.

So its going to be a balancing act between moving additional assets into place around Bakhmut and making sure that their ability to reinforce other areas of the front if the counteroffensive begins in a different place remains intact, she said.

Another potential curveball is the withdrawal of mercenaries from the Wagner Group, who led the onslaught against Bakhmut for months but whose founder, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, announced Sunday that his soldiers would start withdrawing Thursday.

From June 1, not a single Wagner fighter will be at the front until we undergo reorganization, re-equipment and additional training, Prigozhin said.

Wagner has served as the main assault force near Bakhmut since fighting intensified in the fall, sending waves of poorly trained men  mainly recruited convicts with little to no military experience  to overwhelm Ukrainian forces. Telegram channels close to Wagner showed the group awarding its own medals to those who took part in the Bakhmut meat grinder.

About 10,000 Wagner fighters, mostly prisoners, have been killed in the Bakhmut region since the end of last year, with thousands more injured, according to the most recent U.S. estimates.

Prigozhins claims of withdrawal were met with skepticism by military experts. This is the third time he has vowed to pull his troops out of Bakhmut  previously threatening to abandon the city if the Russian military didnt give his fighters more ammunition  but has yet to follow through.

The situation has changed as the goal Prigozhin himself declared  the capture of the city  has been completed, and no one can reproach him for not going through with it, so there is a chance they may leave, said Ian Matveev, a Russian military analyst. But the timing is doubtful  most likely, it will be difficult for the Russian army to find a replacement in such a short time, and Wagner wont leave the positions empty.

The Russian units closest to Bakhmut are probably not in a position to fill Wagners front-line role, Massicot said. They are a mix of recently mobilized men and those drafted from the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics armies, part of the ragtag separatist forces the Kremlin has been backing since 2014. These groups have been ill-equipped and poorly trained throughout the war, and have struggled at times to maintain defensive positions.

Another option for Moscow would be its airborne forces, which have fared better in the war, but committing them to Bakhmuts defense may result in the loss of experienced troops that could be more useful elsewhere.

The initial claim that Russia had gained control of Bakhmut came from Prigozhin, who preempted an announcement from the Russian Defense Ministry, the latest example of the Wagner chiefs ongoing public battle with the countrys top military brass.

The operation called Bakhmut meat grinder began in October in order to let the battered Russian army recover, Prigozhin said Saturday in a nine-minute video that appeared to be filmed in the eastern parts of Bakhmut. Thank you to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who gave us this opportunity and the high honor of protecting our motherland.

The Defense Ministry had to follow up with a more subdued statement hours later. Prigozhin has repeatedly accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, of incompetence and treason  alleging they were intentionally depriving Wagner forces of ammunition and stealing their battlefield victories to claim as their own.

The Defense Ministry issued a rare public rebuttal to Prigozhins claims about the lack of ammunition but has ignored his bitter, profanity-laden personal attacks.

Privately, Russian military officials debated launching a public-relations campaign of their own but ultimately decided they wouldnt stand a chance against Prigozhins small but vocal network of news websites and Telegram channels unless he was banned by the Kremlin from speaking out.

Along with the official Defense Ministry statement about the capture of Bakhmut came a congratulatory message from Putin, who has mostly refrained from commenting on the wars course in recent months.

The head of state congratulated the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all the servicemen of the units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk, the message read, referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name. All distinguished ones will be presented for state awards.

Putins first formal acknowledgment of Wagners contributions alongside the regular army will only add more fuel to the rivalry between the two forces, experts predicted.

I think Putins statement is a recognition that both parties played a role here, Massicot said. That being said, there is tension between Prigozhin and the [Defense Ministry] that is still very high. . . . Both parties are resentful as they have to share a platform with the other for Bakhmut.
PRAGUE  The Czech government approved a Defense Ministry plan on Wednesday to acquire 246 CV90 armored combat vehicles as part of a massive modernisation of the military amid the Russian war against Ukraine.

Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said the deal to get the infantry fighting vehicles made by Sweden's BAE Systems Hagglunds AB is worth $2.7 billion.

The ministry signed the deal with the Swedish side on Wednesday.

Cernochova said the first CV90s should be delivered in 2026 and all of them by 2030.

In a statement, Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson said he was "convinced that combat vehicle 90 is the right choice for the Czech Republic."

According to the website of BAE Systems Hagglunds, there are currently 15 variants of the CV90 in service in seven countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands.

Czech authorities also announced they would negotiate with the German government over a possible deal to acquire German-made Leopard 2A8 tanks.

The Czech military has been using modernized versions of the Soviet-era T-72 tanks and will receive 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany as compensation after they gave Ukraine dozens of T-72 tanks.

The Czech have been also negotiating with the U.S. side to acquire 24 F-35 fighter jets but no deal has yet been approved.
Sudden paralysis. Feeling like youre outside your body, not being able to control your arms or legs or feet. Freezing, not because of cold but because of fear, in order to survive. Women all over the world who have survived a rape recall this sensation. But the experience is often used in judicial processes to assume that if the victim did not resist, they gave their consent, or to blame them for their lack of reaction, following a common myth that dictates how a victim ought to behave while being assaulted. To counter that idea, Ebani Dhawan and Patrick Haggard, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, published an article in Nature Human Behaviour: Neuroscience evidence counters a rape myth.

In it, they explain that neuroscience research suggests fear and threat can block cortical neural circuits for action control, leading to involuntary immobility. Understanding that brain process can help improve comprehension of the crimes and the realities of victims experiences and suffering, to counter rape myths, correct social errors about gender violence and guarantee justice.

Over email, Haggard says that the article came up while he worked on a project about the importance of willfulness for judicial concepts of responsibility: We were interested in special situations in which the loss of control over voluntary action can lead to trials of reduced responsibility. We realized that immobility can be involuntary, so that, in appropriate circumstances, society should be prepared to give the same concept of reduced responsibility to the absence of actions as to the presence of actions. And the cases of victims who involuntarily freeze during a rape or a sexual assault are an example.

In reality, he adds, women are blamed for freezing, or it is implied that their immobility is not completely involuntary, but indicates consent. He hopes that focusing on the brain mechanisms can help to counter the rape myth expressed by the inappropriate question of why didnt she fight back? To understand why a victim did not fight, we must understand how humans operate when threatened: the response, both neural and behavioral, depends on the severity and proximity of the threat and the perceived capacity to escape, write Dhawan, a former University College student, and Haggard, a Cognitive Neuroscience professor and researcher at the university.

Fight, flight or freeze

When a threat appears, the brain reacts. The amygdala, a small, bean-sized part of the brain that manages emotional reactions, is the first to receive the stimulus. When the amygdala has processed the emotion, it sends a message to the brain stems motor nuclei, which then communicate with the muscles.

Humans and other vertebrates then can have one of several responses. If the threat is mild, they may go into fight or flight responses. However, sudden, serious threats, like physical restriction, can cause a different kind of response, known as tonic immobility (prolonged immobility in a fixed posture) or collapse immobility (characterized by the loss of muscle tone) in animals.

The researchers hypothesis is that the chain of messages that the different parts of the brain send to react to danger are paralyzed somewhere along the way. That causes the blockage of neuronal circuits that give voluntary control over the bodys movements. That process occurs in an instant, as the brain understands that the best way to survive the threat is to stay still. It has been seen to occur in other circumstances, such as airplane pilots who face emergencies while in flight.

Indirect but substantial evidence

For now, they explain, it is still a hypothesis, because it is not possible to carry out experimental studies on humans facing sudden grave threats like sexual assaults, for obvious ethical reasons, Haggard adds. The studies carried out are limited to mild threats, and the evidence is indirect. They are limited to victims testimonies and studies of animals, with which humans share a lot of response patterns, which reflect cerebral circuits that have been conserved through evolution for threat processing. Even so, they add, the evidence, though indirect, is substantial and convergent.

The testimonies are abundant in the jurisprudence of many countries. A 1992 case from the United States, which was included in the article, explains that there was proof that the victim had said no on several occasions, but no evidence that it would have been effective to resist any more. When she was asked why she had frozen, she answered, I dont know, Id said, stop and he wasnt stopping so I [thought] that if he just did what he had to do, then  he would just leave. In another case included in the study, from Australia in 2018, the victim was asked if she said anything. No, she said. Did she do anything? No. I just I didnt do anything.

In the article, Dhawan and Haggard point out that 70% of women who visit an emergency center after experiencing sexual violence recount having experienced tonic mobility. Until now, they note, neurosciences contributions to debates about sexual assault has been limited. As a result, myths about rape remain common in the legal sphere. They offer another statistic: Between September 2021 and September 2022, the police in England and Wales registered more than 70,000 rapes. However, charges were only pressed in 3% of them.

Neuroscience can contribute to justice

The researchers argue that the justice system should recognize that the absence of action can sometimes be voluntary, that the obligations and responsibilities in assaults are the fault of the aggressor, not the victim, and they believe that neuroscience can contribute to justice.

They cite a recent study that demonstrated that teaching police officers how the brain mechanism works reduces the acceptance of rape myths. It also improved victims willingness to continue with legal procedures, suggesting that training police could potentially improve legal and judicial results. They say that greater awareness could benefit victims themselves by reducing their feelings of guilt.

As an example of how to apply the perspective to the law, they talk about Spains only yes is yes law. Consent, as Haggard emphasizes via email, is a crucial starting point to organize the relationships between people: it allows us to live without fear of the other and to reach our best potential as rational and willful beings.

Why victims' stories are sometimes "disjointed" Researchers Ebani Dhawan and Patrick Haggard point out in the article published in Nature Human Behaviour a "second problem" that occurs in court proceedings with victims who have suffered paralysis: that their accounts "are often disjointed and lack conventional explanatory terms." And "defense attorneys often exploit this fact and direct attention to the victim's inability to articulate and justify her behavior during the assault." This also implies a blaming of them, "diverting attention from the aggressor's behavior to the allegedly bizarre behavior of the victim." Which, they explain, is not bizarre, but characteristic "of traumatic memories in general," fragmented and incoherent. The law, they say, "already recognizes in guidelines on probative evidence that trauma can affect the ability to remember and explain events, including one's own behavior. But this point often seems to be ignored in legal discussions where immobility is given during an assault."

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KYIV, Ukraine  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasn't said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhin's comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russia's goal of "demilitarizing" Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv's military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In Washington, Kirby speculated Wednesday on Prigozhin's motives.

"And it's possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever they've been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military."

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.

In what it says is likely a low estimate, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

"A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war."

Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.

Russia's largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhin's interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that "heavy fighting" was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyiv's forces "are continuing their defensive operation" in Bakhmut, with unspecified "successes" on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut said Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

"Now we don't need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it," Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should 'sweep' it. This is more appropriate, and that's what we are doing now."

Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down "a large number" of drones in Russia's southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond "promptly and extremely harshly" to such attacks.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 45 miles north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the war's front lines, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.

Kozlowska reported from London. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Andrew Katell in New York contributed.

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A Russian fighter jet intercepted two B-1B Lancers from Texas over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday as the bombers began a deployment in the European theater.

The Lancers from Dyess Air Force Bases 7th Bomb Wing conducted a NATO mission with allies and partners in the Baltic Sea region on their way to a routine deployment at RAF Fairford in the U.K., U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa officials said in a statement Tuesday announcing the bombers arrival.

The Defense Department downplayed the intercept, calling it a safe and professional interaction.

Nothing significant to report on that front, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Tuesday.

The Lancers remained in international airspace, a spokesman for U.S. European Command said Wednesday. Two more B-1Bs are expected to arrive Thursday, USAFE said.

The Kremlin scrambled a Su-27 fighter to intercept the bombers as they approached the Russian border, the Russian news agency Tass reported Tuesday, quoting a Russian National Defense Operations Center statement.

U.S. military officials in Europe did not specify exactly where the encounter occurred. However, the Russians said their border wasnt violated, according to Tass.

Consistent surveillance of the international waters and airspace of the Baltic Sea, which serves as a critical economic corridor, preserves safe and secure passage for all, USAFE said in a statement.

Such encounters are not uncommon over the Baltic and Black seas, where NATO aircraft routinely patrol the skies.

In April, allied aircraft intercepted three Russian military planes flying without transponders over the Baltic Sea, according to Germanys air force. The incident came about one month after a Russian fighter jet collided with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea, causing the unmanned aircraft to crash into international waters.

The latest intercept comes as tensions over the Russian war in Ukraine continue to simmer.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, a reversal after months of White House messaging that the costs and time involved in doing so were prohibitive.

In response, Russia said the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine would raise the question of NATOs role in the war, Reuters reported Monday.

USAFE did not say how long the B-1Bs will remain at Fairford, where they arrived after a 12-hour mission from North America.

They are part of a steady rotation of bombers in support of EUCOM and NATO deterrence initiatives, the command said.
GENEVA  Switzerland's executive branch on Wednesday threw its weight behind a proposal to decommission 25 out-of-service Leopard 2 battle tanks that Germany's government wants returned to the German manufacturer to help plug gaps in Berlin's arsenal after it shipped tanks of its own to Ukraine.

The Federal Council, the Swiss seven-member executive body, said it backs a proposal from a key parliamentary security-policy committee to decommission the tanks and re-export them to Germany. Defense Minister Viola Amherd is expected to endorse the plan a speech to the lower house of the legislature next month.

Any such re-export would also require the backing of the upper house at its session in September, and a subsequent go-ahead from the Swiss economy minister. The tanks would be sent only on condition that they would be returned to manufacturer Rheinmetall  and not go to Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led Switzerland to grapple with its longtime, constitutionally-mandated adherence to neutrality, which among other things bars the export of Swiss-made or Swiss-owned weaponry or war material to combatants in active conflicts.

Switzerland, however, has lined up with European Union sanctions targeting Russian individuals and businesses in the wake of the invasion.

The Swiss army currently uses 134 renovated Leopard-2 A4 WE tanks, and holds another 96 that have not been renovated and have been mothballed.

Germany's economy and defense ministers reached out to Swiss authorities in February seeking the re-sale of the tanks to Rheinmetall, Swiss officials say. The ministers committed to keeping the tanks in Germany or among NATO or EU partners to complement their arsenals.

Germany has delivered 18 of its Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine.
RIGA, Latvia  Fresh off his claim of victory in capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russian mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin warned that Moscow's brutal war could plunge Russia into turmoil similar to the 1917 revolution unless its detached, wealthy elite become more directly committed to the conflict.

In a lengthy interview with Konstantin Dolgov, a political operative and pro-war blogger, Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the Wagner mercenary group, also asserted that the war had backfired spectacularly by failing to "demilitarize" Ukraine, one of President Vladimir Putin's stated aims of the invasion. He also called for totalitarian policies going forward.

"We are in a situation where we can simply lose Russia," Prigozhin said, using an expletive to hammer his point. "We must introduce martial law. We unfortunately ... must announce new waves of mobilization; we must put everyone who is capable to work on increasing the production of ammunition," he said. "Russia needs to live like North Korea for a few years, so to say, close the borders ... and work hard."

Citing public anger at the lavish lifestyles of Russia's rich and powerful, Prigozhin warned their homes could be stormed by people with "pitchforks." He singled out Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was spotted vacationing in Dubai with her fiance, Alexei Stolyarov, a fitness blogger.

"The children of the elite shut their traps at best, and some allow themselves a public, fat, carefree life," Prigozhin said in the interview, which was recorded on video and published Wednesday. "This division might end as in 1917, with a revolution  when first the soldiers rise up, and then their loved ones follow."

Prigozhin, who earned a fortune and the nickname "Putin's chef" off government catering contracts, seized a central role in the war in Ukraine, first by deploying his mercenaries on the front lines and later by recruiting heavily from prisons to bolster Moscow's depleted forces with convicts desperate for pardons. In the interview, Prigozhin said that he was never a chef and doesn't know how to cook, suggesting that journalists should've called him "Putin's butcher" instead.

Wagner fighters led the bloody, months-long onslaught in Bakhmut, which culminated this week in Putin declaring the city to be fully under Russian control. It was Putin's first significant territorial victory since last summer. Ukraine's military insists it is still fighting for the city but admits being pushed to its outskirts.

But while Prigozhin's role in Bakhmut has given him a major platform, he has been engaged in a nasty running feud with Shoigu and other commanders of the Russia's regular military, repeatedly accusing them of denying Wagner forces needed ammunition. He also repeatedly threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut.

In the interview with Dolgov, Prigozhin professed to be guided by love for the Russian motherland and loyalty to Putin. But he also delivered blistering criticism of the war, which the Kremlin refers to as a "special military operation," describing it as having abjectly failed both militarily and politically.

Instead of demilitarization, he said, the invasion turned "Ukraine's army into one of the most powerful in the world" and Ukrainians into "a nation known to the entire world."

"If they, figuratively speaking, had 500 tanks at the beginning of the special operation, now they have 5,000," he said. "If they had 20,000 fighters who knew how to fight, now they have 400,000. How did we 'demilitarize' it? Now it turns out that we militarized it  hell knows how."

Prigozhin this week once again said that his fighters would leave Bakhmut, potentially in an effort to leave Shoigu and the Russian military responsible for holding the city, which Kyiv insists it will retake.

In the interview, he had special venom for the children of the elite and for the many wealthy Russians who have tried to avoid letting their lives be disrupted by the war. Prigozhin, however, did not comment on the fact that this effort to shield Russians has been a central strategy of Putin's since the invasion started.

Prigozhin said that down the line, the individual grief of "tens of thousands of relatives" of killed soldiers might reach a boiling point, and the Russian government will have to contend with a broader outburst of anger and discontent, exacerbated by the economic disparity.

"My advice to the Russian elites  get your lads, send them to war, and when you go to the funeral, when you start burying them, people will say that now everything is fair," Prigozhin said in the interview.

Prigozhin's rants in many ways undermine the official Moscow line and almost certainly would result in harsh punishment for anyone else. The country has effectively outlawed any criticism of the military, the war and its leaders, and many ordinary citizens have been prosecuted and sentenced to prison for such remarks.

While regular Russian military officials keep a lid on the number of casualties in Ukraine, Prigozhin said that 20,000 Wagner fighters had died in the battle for Bakhmut. Even if an undercount, the figure eclipses the last official number given by Moscow in September, when Shoigu claimed that 5,937 soldiers had died.

Military experts attribute such a high death toll among Wagner fighters to its commanders' brutal tactics of sending waves of poorly trained convicts to exhaust Ukrainians, at times threatening the prisoners with death if they retreat.

Private military companies are technically illegal in Russia, but Prigozhin has been allowed to operate with impunity, deploying his fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa, and then last year to Ukraine, where some have been accused of atrocities. The group is especially active in Africa, where Wagner mercenaries often leave a bloody trail. The United Nations called for an independent investigation into Wagner's activities in Mali, where its soldiers are suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity, following a slew of reports about horrific executions, torture, rape and abductions.

Prigozhin's public attacks against Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, and the Wagner chief's evident desire to become the face of the war have poisoned his relationship with the military brass and the Kremlin administration. Prigozhin has complained that he is now rarely mentioned on state-controlled television.

Putin, who is known for pitting one fief against another to ensure a tighter grip on power, even set up a meeting in hopes of defusing the tension, but a serious rift remains between the factions of Russia's forces, with both the Defense Ministry and Prigozhin disgruntled over sharing the spotlight for Bakhmut.

While Prigozhin has sought to cultivate an image of himself as a fighter, appearing in full battle gear on the front lines in countless videos, he falls squarely among the Putin cronies who have become billionaires off their government connections and contracts. Like his fighters, however, Prigozhin is also an ex-convict: He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for robbery and other crimes, and spent most of the 1980s in jail.

So far, Prigozhin remains unmatched in publicity, succeeding where some regular commanders have stumbled, in some cases in humiliating fashion.

Military experts, for example, pointed to a staged clip of Gen. Col. Alexander Lapin that emerged Tuesday, showing him commanding a small group of troops to fight off a mysterious two-day incursion in the Belgorod region, a staging area for Russian forces that borders Ukraine.

The clip, in which Lapin is seen walking alongside a convoy of armored vehicles shouting, "Go forward, guys! For the motherland," was ridiculed by some Russian pro-war bloggers as "embarrassing" and "laughable." Local officials, meanwhile, fought off questions from civilians alarmed about a breach in the border.

"I have even more questions for the Defense Ministry than you have," Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a live question-and-answer session with local residents after militias made up of Russians fighting on Ukraine's side in the war stormed a checkpoint in Grayvoron district and infiltrated nearby villages.

Gladkov said Tuesday that one woman died while being evacuated during the attack, and eight others were injured. Russian officials claimed to repel the attacks, while the militias responsible said they were still actively fighting inside Russian territory.

"We are living in a very difficult period," Gladkov said in a separate statement. "But I am proud that the residents of the Belgorod region are courageous people; they didn't just get used to it but learned to act quickly."

The disruptions in Belgorod continued Wednesday, with multiple drones targeting a gas pipeline and residential buildings, Gladkov said.

Meanwhile, the Russian-built Crimean Bridge, Putin's prized project connecting mainland Russia with the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula, was temporarily shut Wednesday due to what local officials called "exercises." It was unclear what exercise took place around the bridge, which carries heavy civilian traffic. Local media outlets posted videos showing plumes of white smoke over the span.

The bridge was hit by an explosion last year in an attack Moscow said was orchestrated by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has never officially claimed responsibility.

Incidents such as the incursion in Belgorod dominate the news in border regions, undermining Putin's goal of trying to lead the war while making it invisible to the general public.

In his interview, Prigozhin said there was an "optimistic scenario" for Russia's war: Western support for Ukraine wears out, and China brokers a peace deal, allowing Russia to keep occupied Ukrainian lands.

"I don't have much faith in the optimistic scenario," he said, adding that instead Ukraine could partially succeed in a highly anticipated counteroffensive, pushing Russian troops closer to the borders that existed before hostilities began in 2014. They could also attack Crimea and continue pressing on in the east, armed with more Western weapons, he said.

"Most likely this scenario will not be good for us," Prigozhin said. "So we need to prepare for a difficult war."
JERUSALEM  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.

While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel's most hard-line ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.

The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition.

"We have received the tools, we're rolling up our sleeves and going to work," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote."

The new budget has been criticized for allocating nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds, much of it for ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties.

That will include increases in controversial stipends for ultra-Orthodox men to study full time in religious seminaries instead of working or serving in the military, which is compulsory for most secular males.

It also includes more money for ultra-Orthodox schools, which are widely criticized for not teaching students skills like math and English needed in the modern workplace.

The funds also include tens of millions of dollars for hard-line pro-settler parties to promote pet projects through the ministries they control.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader, has said he hopes to double the population of West Bank settlers in the coming years.

The government's composition and agenda have deeply divided the country. On Tuesday, several thousand flag-waving Israelis protested outside the parliament building against the budget.

That smaller demonstration over the budget followed months of sustained mass protest against a series of proposals by Netanyahu's government to overhaul the country's judicial system while he is on trial for corruption.

Proponents say the measures are needed to rein in an overzealous Supreme Court, but critics say the plan would destroy the country's system of checks and balances and compromise Israeli democracy.

That plan has raised concerns overseas but is now on hold. Now that the budget has passed, however, Netanyahu may face renewed pressure from his allies to bring it back before parliament.

Following the budget vote, Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 14 that it was the "dawn of a new day" and said that the judicial overhaul plan would be revived.
MIR ALI, Pakistan  A suicide car bomber targeted a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing two soldiers, a policeman and a civilian, the military and security officials said.

It was the second militant attack to hit Pakistan in as many days.

The bombing happened in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

A number of civilians were also wounded in the attack, according to Rehmat Khan, a local police official.

The military in a statement also confirmed the car bombing and the casualties. It said the attacker wanted to target a nearby public gathering but security forces "prevented a major catastrophe" by immediately intercepting the car bomber.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban.

Separately, security forces killed six militants in a raid on their hideout in South Waziristan, a district also bordering Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday. It did not provide any details about the slain insurgents, but such operations are usually carried out against the TTP. In the last six months, the group has stepped up its attacks since it unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the Pakistani government, brokered by neighboring Afghanistan last year.

Also on Wednesday, the TTP claimed responsibility for an attack the previous day on an oil and gas plant in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the border with Afghanistan. Four security troops and two private guards were killed in the attack on the facility run by a multinational European company, MOL Pakistan Oil and Gas.

Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally to the Afghan Taliban, who took over Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from the country after two decades of war. The takeover some say has emboldened the TTP in Pakistan.

Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Miran Shah, Pakistan.
WASHINGTON  Debt ceiling talks showed few signs of outward progress Tuesday as negotiators for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traded more budget-cutting ideas but Republicans warned of a "lack of urgency" at the White House to resolve the standoff in time to avert a potentially chaotic federal default.

With barely a week to go before a deadline as soon as June 1, the Democratic president and the Republican speaker were staring down a financial crisis. Failure to strike a deal would be unprecedented, and certain to throw U.S. financial markets into turmoil, inflicting economic pain at home and abroad. Markets lowered Tuesday with no deal in sight.

"We're not there yet," McCarthy said at the Capitol, reiterating he won't bring any bill forward "that doesn't spend less than we spent this year."

Behind closed doors, McCarthy urged his slim House Republican majority to "just stick together" despite their own factions as he negotiates the strongest deal possible for conservatives, said lawmakers exiting the private session.

But McCarthy did not expect a deal by day's end. He told reporters the teams are eyeing "creative" ways of rolling back spending that all sides can accept.

"I believe we can still get there  and get there before June 1," McCarthy, R-Calif., said.

Dragging into a third week, the negotiations over raising the nation's debt limit, now at $31 trillion, were never supposed to arrive at this point  a crisis in the making.

From the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was "ridiculous" to suggest Biden wasn't acting with urgency. "He wants to see this done as soon as possible," she said.

The White House insisted early on it was unwilling to barter over the need to pay the nation's bills, demanding that Congress simply lift the ceiling as it has done many times before with no strings attached.

But the newly elected speaker urged the president at an Oval Office meeting in February to come to the negotiating table on a budget package that would reduce spending to reduce ballooning deficits in the post-COVID era in exchange for the vote to allow future debt.

Both men said after a crucial meeting late Monday at the White House  after the president returned from the Group of Seven summit in Japan  that talks were productive.

But with time short to strike a deal, frustrations emerged as negotiators labored to come up with a compromise that could be approved quickly by the Republican House and the Democratic Senate and be signed into law.

Negotiations are focused on finding agreement over a 2024 budget year limit. Republicans have set aside their demand to rollback spending to 2022 levels, but say that next year's government spending must be less than it is now. But the White House instead is offering to freeze spending at current 2023 numbers.

Agreement on that topline spending level is vital. It would enable McCarthy to deliver spending restraint 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.

"We are holding firm to the speaker's red line," said a top Republican negotiator, Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana. "Which is that we will not do a deal unless it spends less money than we're spending this year."

With talks perhaps done for the day, Graves said there were still "significant gaps" between his side and the White House.

The Republican team worked late at the Capitol engaging in late night phone conversations with the White House team. But as they left, Graves said those gaps remain.

The White House continues to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president at their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes is off the table.

The negotiators are now also debating the duration of a 1% cap on annual spending growth going forward, with Republicans dropping their demand for a 10-year cap to six years, but the White House offering only one year, for 2025.

Typically, the debt ceiling has been lifted for the duration of a budget deal, and in this negotiation the White House is angling for a two-year agreement that would push past the presidential elections.

Another main Republican negotiator, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who joined the speaker at the Oval Office Monday evening, said, "What I sense from the White House is a lack of urgency."

But on the Senate side, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said, "Look, I think everybody needs to relax."

Traveling in his home state of Kentucky, McConnell said of the back and forth, "This is not that unusual."

However, time is growing short. The House speaker promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the weekend  just days before the potential deadline. The Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden's desk to be signed.

McCarthy faces a hard-right flank in his own party that is likely to reject any deal, and that has led some Democrats to encourage Biden to resist any compromise with the Republicans and simply invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own, an unprecedented and legally fraught action the president has resisted for now.

On Tuesday, the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus Rep. Scott Perry said: "We all want to stick together. But again, it's sticking together around the right thing."

He and others are skeptical of the June 1 deadline that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said is when "it is highly likely" the government will be unable to pay all the nation's bills.

Treasury said Tuesday it is keeping in close contact with federal agencies on their planned spending as it monitors cashflows.

As the negotiators focus on the $100 billion-plus difference between the 2022 and 2023 spending plans as a place to cut, other priorities Republicans are pushing as part of the deal remain on the table.

Republicans also want to beef up work requirements for government aid to recipients in the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage.

The GOP additionally wants new cuts to food aid by restricting states' ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. But Democrats have said any changes to work requirements are nonstarters.

GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS funding 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 to ease federal regulations and speed energy project developments. They are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially lifted.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick, Chris Megerian, Darlene Superville and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
KILLEEN, Texas  Margie Taylor walked the halls of Congress for three days in February to speak with every member of the House Armed Services Committee and every lawmaker who represents Texas.

Her feet were tired and blistered, but she was determined to advocate for a change that she believes would have saved her sons life.

This gives my tragedy purpose, said Taylor, who lives outside of Houston.

Her son, Spc. Joey Lenz, was a generator mechanic assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Cavazos when he died Feb. 1, 2022, of a heart attack. The medical examiners report on his autopsy showed his heart was enlarged three times the normal size for a man his age, Taylor said. Lenz was 32.

In the year since his death, Taylor has begun to advocate in Congress for all service members to have an annual physical exam that includes blood tests. She thinks if this were already a requirement, Lenzs heart condition would have been noticed and his life saved.

The Defense Department requires service members participate in a periodic health assessment, which is conducted through an online questionnaire that troops fill out on their own. Its then reviewed by a health care provider and face-to-face visits are only done if needed, according to Defense Health Agency regulations.

Taylor said she was shocked when she learned of the self-reported medical assessment after sons death. He had not had an in-person physical since he enlisted in 2017, she learned.

School-aged kids have to get physicals, some employment requires you to have annual physicals, and as we get older, we get annual physicals, she said. Why wouldnt we do this for our service men and women who volunteer to serve our country?

Taylor hosted a rally for support Tuesday at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, about 9 miles from Fort Cavazos, where she read the names of soldiers who have died at the Army post since 2016. The list was not complete, but she read roughly 160 names of service members provided by families, friends or she discovered herself.

After each name, Brian Tally, a former Marine sergeant, rang a bell. Talley, who led the way in 2021 for medical malpractice reform at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities, told the crowd that he supports Taylors efforts for change.

Most of our military is currently being cared for, or lack thereof, by online medical self-assessments, he said. My question is, how would anybody ever know they had underlying and potential life-threatening conditions by simply checking the box, thinking everything is OK because you may not be posing any symptoms at that given moment?

Taylors proposal has support in Washington from the Navy veteran who represents her in Congress, Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee. He encouraged her to visit Capitol Hill in February and speak directly to lawmakers.

She made a spreadsheet, mapped out her visits by building and by floor, stopping at 53 offices. At each, she left a copy of her proposal printed on the heaviest cardstock that she could find.

Luttrell got the proposal into the pending National Defense Authorization Act of fiscal 2024, which begins Oct. 1.

The annual bill outlines defense priorities and spending and the committee is expected to begin discussions on the bill in the coming months. The process will shape what is included in the bill that the committee presents to the House for a vote.

Through an NDAA submission, Im working to increase understanding and transparency for the routine medical screening and treatment of our service members, Luttrell said in a statement. As a veteran myself, I am forever grateful to all those who serve and sacrifice for our country, and I will continue to work to improve the lives of our service members.

Its not guaranteed Taylors proposal will make it through what is called the mark-up phase of the NDAA, and she knows the cost of performing an in-person physical with blood tests on all 1.3 million active-duty military members is her biggest enemy. A cost analysis hasnt been conducted, Taylor said.

Luttrells office declined to comment on the defense authorization bill until the committee releases it later this year.

Ill probably cry, Taylor said about the possibility of failure in this legislative session. But I'm not stopping.

She also filed a $32 million wrongful death claim in December against the Army, arguing the service medical staff overprescribed Lenz medications when his records showed they had detected issues with his heart. Medical tests conducted at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Cavazos showed signs of a heart attack in March 2021, Taylor said.

However, her son wasnt even informed about the heart attack and received no follow-up testing or treatment, she said.

The claim is still pending with the Army, which recently required Taylor to prove she was Lenzs mother  something they did not require when he died and she was contacted as his next-of-kin.

In making her visits to Congress, Taylor said shes also come to embrace the term, Gold Star Mom. Just saying the phrase still chokes her up. She recently joined Texas/Oklahoma Gold Star Mothers, an organization for mothers who lost their child in military service. As she was installed as the groups second vice president last month, she said she finally understood the full breadth of her new identity.

[My son] made an oath to serve our country and [he wasnt] able to finish it. It is [my] obligation now as American Gold Star mother to fulfill that obligation, Taylor said.
(Tribune News Service)  There is growing evidence that the use of social media by kids and adolescents could be detrimental to their mental health, according to the U.S. surgeon general.

Dr. Vivek Murthy is sounding the alarm about the negative effects of social media on the mental health and well-being of young people, amid what he calls a national youth mental health crisis.

In a new advisory issued Tuesday, Murthy highlighted the significant public health challenge posed by the use of social media by U.S. youth  specifically those between the ages of 10 to 19, who are undergoing a highly sensitive period of brain development.

Nearly every teenager in America uses social media, and yet, we do not have enough evidence to conclude that it is sufficiently safe for them, especially at such a vulnerable stage of brain, emotional, and social development, Murthy said in a statement.

While theres still not enough evidence to determine whether social media is safe for kids, Murthy warned theres reason to be deeply concerned about its possible harmful effects.

He urged policymakers and tech companies, as well as families of young people in the U.S., to take immediate action to maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of social media platforms and create safer and healthier environments for young users.

The technology does have some positive effects on children and adolescents, the advisory notes. It can provide access to a virtual space where users can express themselves and connect with others with whom they identify  which is especially important for youth who are often marginalized, including racial, ethnic, and sexual and gender minorities.

However, for too many children, their social media habits are negatively affecting how much they sleep and how they interact with family and friends.

Around 95% of young people ages 13 to 17 say they use social media platforms  with about a third of them reporting they use it almost constantly. Murthy expressed concerns about the harmful content to which they are constantly exposed. That includes violent and sexual content, bullying and harassment.

A recent study of U.S. adolescents ages 12 to 15 found that those who spent more than three hours per day on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes including symptoms of depression and anxiety.

That is especially concerning since U.S. teens spend an average of three-and-a-half hours per day on social media, the 25-page advisory says.

Among the known issues linked to excessive and problematic use of social media among adolescents are sleep problems, attention problems, and feelings of exclusion.

Different children are affected by social media in different ways, including based on cultural, historical, and socio-economic factors, Murthy said in the report.

And while more research is still needed to determine the full impact of the use of social media by U.S. youth, we dont have the luxury of waiting years until we know (its) full extent, he added while offering recommendations stakeholders can take to ensure the safety of young social media users:

 Policymakers should take steps to strengthen safety standards.  Tech companies should be more transparent and develop products that prioritize safety and health of kids.  Parents should play a more active role in teaching kids about responsible online behavior, and establish tech-free zones that better foster in-person relationships.

2023 New York Daily News.

Visit at nydailynews.com.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (Tribune News Service)  Abortion will soon be severely restricted in one of the last bastions for legal access in the U.S. South.

The South Carolina Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would ban most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy  before most people know they are pregnant  and sent it to the Republican governor who has promised to sign the bill into law as soon as possible.

The proposal restores a 2021 ban that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The ban was overturned by the states highest court because it violated the state Constitutions right to privacy.

South Carolina reported increasing numbers of abortions following that decision, which left abortion legal through 22 weeks of pregnancy, while other Southern states enacted stricter laws.

Abortion is banned or severely restricted in much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, its allowed only in the first six weeks.

Most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the states Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governors veto last week.

A legal fight is widely expected in South Carolina. Vicki Ringer, the director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said Tuesday evening that her organization would file a request for a temporary restraining order after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signs the measure.

Any challenge that reaches the South Carolina Supreme Court would also face a new bench, as the lone woman who authored the leading opinion in the abortion case had reached the courts retirement age.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey expressed confidence the law would stand.

It has been a long and bumpy road but it was an important debate to have," Massey, a Republican, told reporters Tuesday. "Im glad we finally got a resolution on it. Its something thats going to make South Carolina not the abortion destination state of the Southeast and I think thats important.

The move marks the end of a monthslong impasse between the two Republican-led chambers. The South Carolina House backed off a proposal to ban abortion almost entirely at conception and passed the new restrictions last week after nearly 24 hours of debate split across two days. Senators had tried three times to muster the votes necessary for the near-total ban over the past year.

The latest attempt failed last month after the only five women in the 46-member chamber successfully filibustered the proposal. Members of the coalition known as the sister senators  three Republicans, one Democrat and one independent  again fought the new bill.

In blistering speeches, the three Republican women said the six-week ban did not give women enough time to make a decision. They urged other members of their party to adopt a 12-week abortion ban instead in what Sen. Katrina Shealy called a real compromise."

We in the South Carolina Legislature are not God. We do not know whats going on in somebody elses life. We do not have the right to make decisions for someone else, Shealy said.

Shealy and Republican Sen. Penry Gustafson had voted for an earlier version of the six-week ban but said they could not support changes inserted by the House. Shealy criticized a new requirement that biological fathers make child support payments beginning at conception as ridiculousness. House Republicans also axed a provision expressly allowing minors to petition the court for an abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Republican Sen. Sandy Senn denounced new sections permitting civil lawsuits against doctors who violate the proposal and mandating that patients sign an additional form attesting that they had the chance to view the ultrasound. She called the latter requirement an intimidation tactic that is piling up the paperwork on women.

Massey insisted the differences were not significant and largely technical changes necessary to satisfy one South Carolina Supreme Court justice who previously voted with the court's 3-2 majority to strike the last ban.

The bill includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patients life and health, and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. Doctors could face felony charges carrying up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Senates 15 Democrats, unified against both abortion bans, have largely let the Republican majority debate the issue among themselves. As they have before, Democrats suggested Tuesday that voters should decide the matter. Opponents have also argued that South Carolinas high maternal mortality rates  with even poorer outcomes among Black patients  would grow worse under the new restrictions.

The three Republican women joined every Democrat in voting against the bill.

I'm conflicted because I want to reduce abortions but I don't want to eliminate women's and mother's rights, Gustafson told reporters after the vote.

Just like when they first entered the state House on Tuesday, the women of the Senate were greeted with rousing applause from the dozen remaining abortion rights supporters as they exited the chamber. All five donned buttons that read elect more women.

Independent Sen. Mia McLeod said she was disheartened that a male-dominated chamber voted on a bill that would have a "devastating impact on women and girls for generations.

We should be initiating the discussions because we're the only ones who have firsthand knowledge about what it takes not only to give birth but to raise a child, she told The Associated Press.

While those discussions may be over this session, some of the most ardent abortion opponents in both chambers are already looking ahead to the 2024 elections.

Republican Sen. Richard Cash acknowledged the Senate's current makeup lacked the votes for a stricter proposal but vowed that the fight will continue to outlaw all abortions. If he wins reelection, he said there's going to certainly be a renewed effort to protect life at an earlier point in time.

Shealy, a Republican who rejected assertions that she is a baby killer in her floor speech, cited conversations with real people in her conservative district as the impetus for her decision.

I didnt get elected to get reelected. I got elected to do the right thing," said Shealy.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, Monday, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho.

A judge entered not guilty pleas Monday for a man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, setting the stage for a trial in which he could potentially face the death penalty. The Nov. 13, 2022, killings stunned the rural community of Moscow, Idaho, and prompted many students to leave campus early, switching to remote learning for the remainder of the semester.

Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested late last year and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the slayings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus.

Kohberger declined to enter pleas in Latah County District Court, with his defense attorney Anne Taylor telling the judge that they were going to stand silent at this time. In response, 2nd District Judge John Judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohbergers behalf.

Its uncommon but not unheard of for defendants to stand silent in criminal cases. Sometimes it is done because defendants and their attorneys feel they need more time to weigh the ramifications of entering a plea of guilty or not guilty; other times it can be part of a broader legal strategy or simply a defendants personal choice.

Kohberger declined to waive his right to a speedy trial, so the judge scheduled it to begin Oct. 2. Its still possible that the trial, expected to last six weeks, could be delayed or moved to a different location.

Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at nearby Washington State University when the University of Idaho students were killed, but prosecutors have not released any information about how they believe he may have chosen the victims or whether he had met any of them previously.

Police released few details about the investigation until after Kohberger was arrested at his parents home in eastern Pennsylvania early Dec. 30, 2022. Court documents detailed how police pieced together DNA evidence, cellphone data and surveillance video that they say links Kohberger to the slayings.

Investigators said traces of DNA found on a knife sheath inside the home where the students were killed matches Kohberger, and that a cellphone belonging to Kohberger was near the victims home on a dozen occasions prior to the killings. A white sedan allegedly matching one owned by Kohberger was caught on surveillance footage repeatedly cruising past the rental home around the time of the killings.

Kernodle, Chapin, Mogen and Goncalves were friends and members of the universitys Greek system, and the three women lived together in the rental home just across the street from campus. Chapin  Kernodles boyfriend  was there visiting on the night of the attack.

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson now has 60 days to inform the court whether he will seek the death penalty in the case.

The small courtroom was packed for the arraignment, with some members of the news media and other onlookers lining up outside three hours before the proceeding was set to begin, Boise television station KTVB reported. Family members of Goncalves were among those who attended, one of them weeping as the charges were read.

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(Tribune News Service)  A former Army Ranger will spend at least five years in federal prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Robert Morss, of Glenshaw, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to 66 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. He must also pay $300 in fines and $2,000 in restitution.

Morss was convicted in August of obstructing an official proceeding, assaulting police with a weapon and robbery. Two other defendants, Geoffrey Sills, 31, of Virginia, and David Judd, 36, of Texas, were also convicted on various counts.

All three men entered the Capitol after attending the Trump rally and violently confronted police in the lower terrace tunnel. Morss joined the crowd on the West Front of the Capitol grounds about 2 p.m., authorities have said. He was wearing a vest designed to hold body armor and carrying a knife sheath and scissors.

He moved to the front of the line of rioters skirmishing with police and tried to steal a police baton, authorities said. He took part in a "heave-ho motion" with other rioters, rocking the mob against the police line. Morss also took a riot shield and passed it to others who then created their own line against the police.

At one point, he yelled to fellow rioters, "Take a look around. We are going to take our Capitol back." Later, he climbed through a broken Capitol window and passed a chair outside.

Morss served three tours in Afghanistan and then worked briefly as a substitute teacher in the Shaler Area district.

(c)2023 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Visit at www.post-gazette.com

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BEERSHEBA, Israel (Tribune News Service)  Emerging from the desert expanse in Israels arid south is the tech oasis of Beersheba, a university center and research hub that has quickly become the nations cybercapital.

The trade delegation led by Gov. Brian Kemp traveled here Tuesday to explore how government officials transformed this Negev Desert boomtown into a cutting-edge cybersecurity center  and how Georgia could enhance its own burgeoning cyberindustry.

Then-Gov. Nathan Deal in 2017 created a state-owned facility to combat cyberwarfare near the U.S. Armys Cyber Command in Augusta. The $100 million center on the Savannah River became the largest U.S. investment in a cybersecurity facility by a state government.

As state officials try to recruit high-paying cybersecurity jobs to Georgia, they aim to learn how Israel made the desert bloom with Fortune 500 companies, military intelligence officers and government researchers centered on a sand-encrusted Beersheba.

Kemp, state House Speaker Jon Burns and Senate GOP leader John Kennedy peppered officials from Ben-Gurion University and other Israeli experts with questions as they outlined public-private partnerships that have helped jump-start the industry.

And they marveled at the heavily fortified Israeli Cyber Emergency Response Team, a cybersecurity complex that seems lifted from a blockbuster movie. Aides work around the clock to track hundreds of cyberattack attempts daily as a digital map displays an unceasing stream of threats emanating from across the globe.

Beersheba didnt become a magnet for the industry by accident. Government leaders decided to turn the city into the front line of the worlds cyberwars about a decade ago by offering generous subsidies and relocated tens of thousands of military analysts from the megacity of Tel Aviv.

Soon, private-sector firms and government agencies followed, creating a magnet for research. Now an anchor of the Israeli economy, the cyberindustry raised more than $8 billion in capital in 2021. Many of the startups that helped give Israel the startup nation moniker are in the cybersecurity industry.

At a sleek Ben-Gurion University lab, officials showed Kemp and other delegation members haunting examples of how easily a computer or smartphone can be hacked  even if theyre not connected to the Internet  and the innovative ways that Israeli firms are working to detect and prevent threats.

And they warned of a new wave of artificial intelligence attacks that can be deployed against governments, businesses or individuals that could wreck an economy, stir up dissension or compromise political leaders.

As one Israeli senior official put it to Kemp, If you want to be able to defend cyberattacks in 10 years, you need to start preparing today.

Though Israel isnt a major trading partner with Georgia, both governments hope to capitalize on the high-growth cybersecurity field. Business leaders hope the visit can jump-start partnerships between Israel and Georgia in the burgeoning industry.

Aaron Kaplowitz of the United States-Israel Business Alliance noted a recent five-day joint operation between Israeli cybersecurity officials and their American counterparts at Fort Gordon in Augusta.

Joint exercises such as this one build stronger defense and intelligence relationships, and they also will inevitably create economic development opportunities in the near and distant future, Kaplowitz said. This means more revenue, more jobs and safer communities.

Georgia is far from the only U.S. state engaged in the high-stakes competition for cyberjobs. Other states have stepped up their efforts to lure cybersecurity business, and Georgias universities are struggling to keep pace with demand for the skilled workers that the firms seek.

State officials are developing plans, and potential legislation, to make Georgia more attractive to the industry, though its not immediately clear what that could look like. Kemp said it was a tantalizing chance to forge a deeper relationship between the two countries.

Theres certainly a lot of opportunities to grow trade and investment, Kemp said. And thats good for both the nation of Israel and for the state of Georgia.

2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Visit at ajc.com.

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NEW YORK  A New Jersey software developer who prosecutors say once photographed landmarks in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., for possible terrorist attacks was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison by a federal judge who said it seemed he no longer was a danger.

In fact, Judge Paul G. Gardephe noted, Alexei Saab, 46, has become a model prisoner since his 2019 arrest, helping others incarcerated at New York City's federal jails to get high school equivalency certificates, learn English and find relief from psychological problems.

Gardephe called Saab's 2005 exit from his relationship with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Islamic Jihad Organization and the "peaceful and productive" life he lived in the New York City area afterward among "inconvenient facts" that made it impossible to grant the government's request that Saab be incarcerated for 20 years.

A jury at a trial last year heard prosecutors portray Saab as a highly trained terrorist who scoped out landmarks in the U.S., France, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Prosecutors said Saab was a sleeper cell waiting to activate if Iran was attacked by the United States.

But the jury was unable to reach a verdict on a material support for a terrorist group charge. It convicted him of receiving military-type training from the Hezbollah organization, conspiring to commit marriage fraud and making false statements. It acquitted the Morristown, New Jersey, resident of three other charges.

At sentencing, the judge also noted that Saab cooperated fully with FBI agents when they asked to interview him in 2019. He was interviewed 11 times over four months, and each time was allowed to go home, the judge said. He finally was was informed of his rights and arrested after his 12th session. He has been jailed ever since.

Gardephe said the "facts and circumstances" suggest Saab was no longer a danger to the community and there was little risk he would commit new crimes.

The judge said there were also "inconvenient facts" against defense arguments that Saab serve no more than a decade in prison.

He noted that Saab, born in poverty-ridden Yaroun, Lebanon, and raised by middle-class parents who were public school teachers, did not stop his affiliation with the Hezbollah organization after he came to the United States in 2000.

Saab took photographs of and researched weak points in U.S. landmarks and provided the information to "one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world," Gardephe said.

Prosecutors said the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, and airports, bridges and tunnels were among over 40 locations that Saab surveilled in New York alone.

Defense attorney Marlon Kirton wrote in a presentence brief that his client went through a transformation after arriving in America as he "began to experience the feeling of true freedom."

He said Saab was 23 years old and "loved how Americans lived passionately and fearlessly" and he decided he wanted that for himself. The lawyer portrayed his client as a victim of Hezbollah.

By 2005, he became a U.S. citizen and obtained two master's degrees. He decided that "while he still feared Hezbollah, he felt safe in the United States, knowing that the organization could not touch him," Kirton wrote.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday asserted that the country was not on the verge of a financial crisis and will absolutely not default.

Dars remarks comes amid growing fears of default, propelled by the countrys declining remittances and foreign exchange reserves, as well as a prolonged delay in reaching an accord with the International Monetary Fund for the release of a $1.1 billion tranche out of a $6.5bn loan package.

Addressing the fears during a gathering at the Federal Board of Revenue in Islamabad, the finance minister commended his economic team for its efforts and hard work, pointing out that the country had recorded a current account surplus for the months of March and April at $750 million and $18m, respectively.

Regarding the ongoing negotiations with the IMF for release of the long-awaited bailout tranche, Dar said his team had completed all the technical work and prior actions required for the completion of the ninth review.

He stressed that there was a sincere effort on his and his teams part to complete the IMFs ongoing programme and said they delay was unfortunate.

The review should have been completed earlier, he added.

Dar said the country had repaid $5.5 billion of its commercial loans. Of those, he said China had rolled over $2bn once it understood that Pakistan had completed its requirements for the release of funds by the IMF.

Regarding the rest of the $3.5bn from non-Chinese commercial banks, Dar said: We are expecting that a substantial part of that [loan] facility will be returned once the [IMF] staff level agreement or board meeting is completed because it is always renewed and they (banks) are always there to do business.

Delay in IMF accord

A staff-level accord to release a $1.1bn tranche out of a $6.5bn IMF package has been delayed since November, with over 100 days gone since the last staff-level mission to Pakistan. That is the longest such gap since at least 2008.

The international money lender said earlier this month that Pakistan needed significant additional financing for a successful completion of the long-stalled ninth review of the IMFs bailout package.

Obtaining commitments of significant additional financing is essential before the IMF approved the release of pending bailout funds that are crucial for the country to resolve an acute balance of payments crisis, it added.

So far, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and China have come to Pakistans assistance in March and April with pledges that would cover some of the funding deficit.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said Wednesday he is ready to speak to "anyone who is in power" after his party's top leaders began jumping ship following the May 9 riots.

"I am forming a committee. It will talk to 'anyone who is in power' on two things  if it helps the country according to 'them', I will leave politics. Second, how is it beneficial for the country if elections are held in October," Khan said while addressing his supporters.

"Convince us on these two things. If they believe and satisfy the committee that my leaving politics will benefit the country, I will step back and leave politics," he said.

A slew of leaders has been leaving the PTI after party workers ransacked and burnt military installations, including the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, following Khan's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case earlier this month.

The latest setback the party suffered was earlier today when outspoken PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said he was parting ways with Khan, just a day after Shireen Mazari, who held the same post, quit.

As many as 30 PTI leaders  from all four provinces  have left and more are expected to follow suit, with thousands of workers behind bars for their alleged involvement in the vandalism.

Without specifying, the former prime minister said "they" have benefitted from the arson at the Lahore Corps Commander House (Jinnah House) and used it to crack down on his party.

"[Such] a crackdown has never been seen in the history of the country, he said.

"They have jailed the entire leadership and even those who are not even a part of the party. There is only one way out, that they utter the magic words of I am leaving PTI'."
Former president Donald Trump, left on screen, appears by video before a hearing begins in Manhattan criminal court, in New York, on May 23, 2023.

Donald Trump made a video appearance in a New York courtroom on Tuesday where the judge tentatively scheduled the former presidents trial for March 25, a date that would fall in the heat of the presidential primary season. Trump had pleaded not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

At Tuesdays hearing, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan reviewed an order barring Trump from publicly disseminating certain evidence turned over by prosecutors.

Trump was spared a personal appearance at the courthouse, avoiding the mammoth security and logistical challenges that accompanied his arraignment last month. Instead, the Republican was connected by video conference, with his face beamed onto courtroom TV monitors.

Trump is allowed to speak publicly about the criminal case, according to Merchans order, but he risks being held in contempt if he uses evidence turned over by prosecutors in the pretrial discovery process to target witnesses or others involved in the case.

Trump pleaded not guilty on April 4 to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments his company made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Prosecutors say those payments were intended to reimburse and compensate Cohen for orchestrating hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. Trump denies having had extramarital flings and says the prosecution is politically motivated.

Merchans protective order bars Trump and his lawyers from disseminating evidence to third parties or posting it to social media, and it requires that certain, sensitive material shared by prosecutors be kept only by Trumps lawyers, not Trump himself.

Prosecutors sought the order soon after Trumps arrest, citing what they say is his history of making harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements about people hes tangled with in legal disputes.

Merchan, noting Trumps special status as a former president and current candidate, has made clear that the protective order shouldnt be construed as a gag order and that Trump has a right to publicly defend himself.

Trumps lawyers are seeking to have his criminal case moved to federal court. It will continue in state court while that plays out.

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The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a knife and public drunkenness

A drunken man caught with a hunting knife in his pocket had bought it on special offer in Lidl and was going to use it for fishing, a court heard.

Vadim Egorov (52) was found with the knife after gardai were called because he was drinking on a tram in Dublin city centre.

Judge Bryan Smyth fined him 200 when he appeared in Dublin District.

Egorov, with an address at a city hostel, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a knife and public drunkenness.

Dublin District Court heard gardai were called to a city centre Luas stop where security said Egorov had been on the tram without a ticket and was drinking vodka.

He was intoxicated and gardai found a hunting knife in his jacket pocket and arrested him.

The accused had bought the knife on special offer in Lidl and was going to use it for fishing, his solicitor Donal Quigley said.

However, he was homeless and had nowhere else to leave it. It was in a pouch when gardai found it but he accepted he was not fishing at the time.

Judge Smyth said he was going to take a benign view of the offence on this occasion but warned Egorov not to do it again.
Butler insisted she was not part of a group who were drinking, playing loud music and causing a nuisance.

A mother-of-four kicked a garda in the genitals when officers were dealing with anti-social behaviour in a city centre park.

Sarah Butler (32) kicked the garda after dragging out of another as he arrested her then-partner in the incident.

Butler insisted she was not part of a group who were drinking, playing loud music and causing a nuisance.

She was acquitted of breach of the peace and failing to follow garda directions in the incident at Wolfe Tone Park beside the Jervis Centre.

However, Judge Bryan Smyth found her guilty of obstruction and gave her a three-month suspended sentence.

Butler, of Kilcronan View, Clondalkin, had denied all charges.

Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at 5.25pm on April 25, 2021.

Gardai told the court they were dealing with a large group of people who were drinking, playing loud music, causing a nuisance and being rowdy.

The accuseds then partner was being arrested when Butler pulled and dragged out of the garda.

As another garda got her away, Butler fell onto a bench and hit out at him, kicking him in the genitals and shouting.

Butler maintained she was not with the group the gardai were dealing with and was not drinking.

It was a sunny day and she was just sitting in the sunshine, her solicitor Yvonne Bambury said.

Her boyfriend was arrested, they had not done anything and the accused was only remonstrating with the gardai, Ms Bambury said.

Ms Bambury said there was no evidence of the accused connecting with the garda who was kicked.

Judge Smyth said it was not an assault charge and there did not have to be. He found the facts proven on the obstruction charges.

Butler had previous public order convictions. The judge gave her two concurrent three-month sentences.
The court was told both alleged bites punctured the skin of the alleged victim.

A woman has appeared in court charged with biting a security guard during an altercation at holiday resort giant, Center Parcs.

Forty-year-old Ann Marie Roche, of Baskin Lane, Cloughran, Swords, Dublin came before a sitting of Longford District Court yesterday charged with two counts of assault causing harm following an incident on June 10 last year.

Garda Vincent O'Leary gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He said Ms Roche made no reply after caution before handing her a true copy of the charge sheet.

Sgt Conor McShane, on behalf of the State, asked for bail to be extended from previous charges of intoxication and using threatening and abusive behaviour which Ms Roche had initially been charged with.

He said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented for summary disposal on two section 3 assaults, meaning the case could be heard and disposed of at District Court level.

Those alleged offences took place the day after the two assault charges before the court.

Judge Bernadette Owens, in deciding jurisdiction, was told while there were no medical reports to hand, the allegations centred on two separate bites to the thumb area and palm of a security guard's left hand.

The court was told both alleged bites punctured the skin of the alleged victim.

Ms Roche, who stood impassively in the body of the court throughout today's brief hearing, gave no indication of how she would plead.

Her defence solicitor Anthony Feeney requested the full disclosure of all statements and evidential documentation relevant to the case.

Judge Owens acceded to that request and remanded Ms Roche on bail to a sitting of Longford District Court on June 20.
During a raid on Anne Darcys Newry home, 80k worth of diamonds were uncovered, as well as 245 fake designer handbags

A pensioner suspected of smuggling and selling counterfeit items and diamonds for more than 16 years is to have her case elevated to the Crown Court in July.

During a brief mention of the case against 66-year-old Anne Roseleen Darcy on Wednesday, a prosecuting lawyer told Newry Magistrates Court that papers for a preliminary enquiry were being prepared and the case would be ready to proceed to the Crown Court in the coming weeks.

Darcy, from Windsor Bank in Newry, is on bail facing five charges arising from police seizures at her home on September 1 last year.

She faces charges of fraud by false representation, possessing items in breach of registered trademarks, possessing articles in connection with a fraud or cheat, selling suspect counterfeit goods and possessing criminal property.

The charges allege that Darcy possessed and sold various suspected counterfeit items which bore, or the packaging of which bore a sign identical to make a gain for yourself or another or to cause loss to various fashion houses.

According to a police statement, the charges follow a search where nearly 500 items of suspected counterfeit designer goods and a BMW car were seized.

During a bail variation application last month, a detective outlined that when cops raided Darcys home, they seized 245 fake designer handbags, and with the pensioner admitting she makes 200-250 on each bag, the minimum profit would be 49,000 on that seizure alone.

The detective claimed that in addition to a room filled with allegedly counterfeit handbags, belts, shoes and purses, they also uncovered 80,000 worth of diamonds wrapped in paper, as well as a diamond grading report from a business in Dubai dated January 1, 2011.

When Darcy was questioned, she made full admissions that she had been travelling back and forth to Dubai and also that the items in her house were all fake.

Since Darcy was initially interviewed, the court heard she had been further questioned for further offences including money laundering, tax evasion and VAT fraud.

An officer also outlined that they have restrained a couple of banks accounts.

In court today, the PPS asked for a four-week adjournment as papers are prepared and defence solicitor Gerard Trainor confirmed his office could take delivery of them.

Granting the application, District Judge Eamon King put the case back to June 24.
The incidents started when Paul Hendrick, of Ballyfermot, was vice-principal at CBS Westland Row

A retired school principal and former Christian Brother will be sentenced later this year after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting one of his pupils over 40 years ago.

Paul Hendrick (75) of Croftwood Grove, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecently assaulting Kenneth Grace on dates between May 1980 and July 1984 at locations including in Dublin, Tipperary and Waterford.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today that Mr Grace had waived his anonymity to allow Hendrick to be named.

Garda Detective Enda Dowling told Monica Leech BL, prosecuting, that the incidents started when the victim was aged 13 and a first-year student at CBS Westland Row. Hendrick was second-in-command at the school and later became principal. He has no previous convictions.

The court heard the complainant also received extra tuition from Hendrick and was asked to help with jobs around the school for which he received sweets and cans of Coke. As he got older, he was given cigarettes and allowed to use the school van.

The court heard that the abuse took place in a number of locations including the furnace room of the school, which the victim would be asked to clean. This room contained some gym equipment and the abuse started with Hendrick challenging the victim to see who could do more pull ups.

This progressed to wrestling while initially fully clothed, though later they would both be in their underwear. Hendrick would restrain the victim during these incidents and Mr Grace recalls feeling Hendrick's erect penis against his back during these incidents.

The abuse escalated to include Hendrick stripping to his underwear and getting the victim to whip him or whipping the victim. The court heard Mr Grace's sister saw the marks on his back on one occasion. He told her Hendrick had done it.

These incidents also took place in a reception room of the priest's residence beside the school.

Paul Hendrick

The court heard the abuse continued over the summer months as Mr Grace would be brought to the school to carry out chores. Hendrick also indecently assaulted the victim during attended camping trips to a farm managed by the Christian Brothers in Co. Waterford and a house owned by the order in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

The court heard Mr Grace's father passed away when he was very young. He was afraid to tell anyone as he didn't understand what was happening.

The abuse continued until Mr Grace was around 17 when he could fight back and realised Hendrick's actions were wrong.

The garda detective said Mr Grace was isolated from his classmates during his time in the school. Hendrick would also shout at him during classes.

Mr Grace made a statement to gardai in 2018.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Grace said he doesn't consider himself to be a survivor of historic sexual abuse, but as someone who is trying to survive on a daily basis.

He said he had been a happy child with happy memories before he started at the school and Hendrick became the father figure he'd never had. He said the betrayal he had experienced had made it difficult for him to trust others.

Your actions turned my childhood and adult life into a battlefield, he said.

He said he hoped to see justice served and intended to live his life without guilt or shame.

I'm not to blame. It wasn't my fault, it was your fault, he added.

Philip Rahn SC, defending, said his client wished to offer a full apology to Mr Grace.

His client attended CBS as a child and joined the Christian Brothers when he was 14. He joined the teaching staff at CBS Westland Row in 1978 and became principal in 1981, a post he held until his retirement in 1994.

His client had a leadership role within the order, which was lost when these allegations came to light. Mr Rahn said Hendrick had suffered a long fall from grace.

Mr Rahn handed in a number of testimonials from family and past pupils and a report from a forensic psychologist. Defence counsel said the report outlines that Hendrick had a poor understanding of sexuality and relationship matters at the time of the offending, but now recognises that he engaged in grooming behaviour which had a significant impact on the injured party.

He asked the court to take into consideration his client's guilty plea, age, lack of previous convictions and the passage of time since the offending occurred.

Judge Pauline Codd adjourned the case for finalisation and remanded Hendrick on continuing bail to appear again on July 10.

Paul Hendrick

Mr Grace said he suffered with his mental health including depression, anxiety and PTSD, due to the abuse. This has had an impact on his family life, but he said he vowed one night that the abuse had taken my childhood, but would not take my family.

He said he had been a particularly vulnerable child who knew no one and had no friends when he joined the school. Hendrick made his life at school a living hell and none of the other pupils would sit beside him in classes.

He said Hendrick's actions had made him feel worthless, when he should have had hope for the future.

Hendrick attended the garda station voluntarily with his solicitor on December 13, 2018. He was interviewed on six occasions, during which he denied the allegations but accepted the victim had been one of his pupils.

Mr Rahn told the court Hendrick helped to set up the Life Centre charity in 1996 and carried out community work in Cherry Orchard in later years.

Hendrick is now retired and lives with other members of the order.

His client has had a number of health setbacks and has been treated for cancer.

Defence noted that Hendrick will be placed on the sex offenders register, which will also be a punishment in itself.
The reckless attack is just the latest in a long line of incidents

A father of an 11-month-old baby has told how his daughter was lucky to escape with her life after thugs smashed a rock through a car window.

The reckless attack is just the latest in a long line of incidents where young thugs have thrown rocks and stones at cars from the railway bridge on Childers Road in Limerick.

Nikola Radojcic, who lives in Ballyneety around 10km from the city, told the Sunday World that he was driving with his 11-month-old daughter when the young gang threw rocks and stones at his car around 10.30pm last Friday.

Nikolas smashed car and his little girls baby seat

One of the rocks smashed his windscreen and another smashed through a side window in the car leaving his infant daughter covered in glass in her baby seat.

Thankfully, Nikola and his daughter escaped without any injury but he said had the rock hit her in the head the consequences could have been dire.

You can see the amount of glass around the childs car seat. I checked to see if she had any cuts or blood or anything and thankfully she didnt. Imagine that got in her eyes or she swallowed some or worse if the brick hit her in the head.

Shes under two so her skull hasnt fully formed. Her head is basically open, Nikola told the Sunday World. It could have been much worse.

The bridge has become so notorious for such incidents that Irish Rail installed higher fencing to try and stop the vicious young thugs from accessing it to throw stones.

Nikolas smashed car and his little girls baby seat

However, gardai have been forced to step up patrols in the area after a string of incidents last weekend, including the attack on Nikolas car.

He told the Sunday World that he believes the youths involved range in age from about 10 to their early teens.

Nikola doesnt think some of the young thugs realise the consequences of what could happen when they carry out the attacks.

He said he had heard gardai had previously approached the mother of one of the youths believed to have been involved in similar incidents.

I heard they knew who one of the kids involved was and the garda went to talk to their mother but she didnt care at all. She didnt want to talk to the garda at all, said Nikola.

Hes only a child but if that is his mothers attitude, its not good. Thats a much deeper issue.

Nikola said he contacted gardai about it and they told him they werent going to call to the scene but instead advised him to travel to the Garda station himself to make a complaint.

He said he had to get someone to pick up his daughter before he went into the Roxboro Road garda station to make his complaint.

Gardai received several other reports from motorists over the weekend that they had been targeted in similar attacks at the same spot, including four in the space of an hour on Saturday.

Nikola said it has been happening for years.

Its been going on for years. I knew it was happening there but didnt think it would happen to me.

Ive come up to that bridge before and seen 10 different cars all pulled in with their hazard lights on because rocks has been thrown. That was just on one occasion.
Lawyers for Fetty Wap, who is believed to have made $5 million with his music, have requested the minimum sentence of five years in prison

A one-eyed hip hop star who claims he sold cocaine to provide for his nine children he has with seven different women should spend more time in prison, prosecutors in New York have said.

Lawyers for Fetty Wap, who is believed to have made $5 million with his music, have requested the minimum sentence of five years in prison.

But prosecutors say he didn't need to traffic drugs to supplement his income and should serve at least seven years and three months behind bars.

Fetty Wap, whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

Maxwell took part in a massive drug trafficking organization that flooded Long Island, as well as the surrounding areas, with a tremendous amount of controlled substances, prosecutors said in a letter to the judge.

Ahead of his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday, prosecutors have outlined multiple reasons they believe that Maxwell deserves a longer sentence.

They say that the fact that he had a successful music career means he didn't need to deal drugs in the first place and is unlike many defendants who turn to drug trafficking for financial reasons.

"He had a lucrative career as a rap artist and the ability to make an honest living and provide for himself and his family," a sentencing memo reads.

"Indeed the defendant told the Probation Department that he made $5 million during his music career. Nevertheless, this defendant chose to supplement his income by trafficking large quantities of drugs  drugs he knew would ruin lives."

But Maxwell's lawyer has argued in her sentencing memo that Maxwell only got into drug dealing to help family members, who had become dependent on him.

Attorney Elizabeth Macedonio said her client, who is the father of nine children by seven different women, had financially supported his dependents and other family members.

But when the pandemic affected his ability to perform, Macedonio said Maxwell became desperate to start making money again to support others.

"Suddenly it felt like his life was going in reverse and he became ashamed when he began to struggle to keep up the lifestyle he had created for so many," Macedonio wrote.

Macedonio said Maxwell now understands that he "does not have to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders" and is not likely to deal drugs again, leading her to recommend a lower sentence.

She also said he had a hard life, between getting bullied for having only one eye and growing up poor in his crime-plagued hometown, that led to him do drugs and live out of a car before he made it in music.

Since his arrest, he has worked extremely hard to set money aside for his child support obligations, Macedonio said, adding hes taken all the gigs he could to save and prepare for time in jail.

Three years has passed since this crime was committed and Mr. Maxwell realizes the terrible mistake he made, Macedonio said. He is truly sorry for the loss and hurt he has caused.

However, prosecutors allege that he admitted to the probation department that he had dealt drugs previously in 2014. They also say that his hit song, Trap Queen, is an "ode to a former girlfriend" who assisted him in distributing cocaine in New Jersey.

Maxwell was arrested in October 2021, and was initially released on bail but this was revoked two months later when he was caught on FaceTime calling a person a rat and threatening to kill him.

He faces a minimum of five years and a maximum 40 years at his Wednesday sentencing.
Matthew Smith (34) is the former deputy head at the first school attended by British Prince George and Princess Charlotte

A teacher at a school that had been attended by children of the royal family has been charged with an additional 17 counts of child sexual abuse.

Matthew Smith (34) is the former deputy head at the first school attended by Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Smith was arrested by NCA officers at his home in East Dulwich in November 2022. He was later charged with five counts, including causing the sexual exploitation and abuse of a child under 13, distributing indecent images of children (IIOC) in category A, and three counts of making IIOC in categories A-C.

Smith pleaded guilty to those charges days after his arrest and has been remanded in custody since.

On Tuesday, he appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with a father 17 counts, including encouraging the rape of a child under 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and arranging the sexual abuse of a child.

The charges relate to the suspected commissioning of the sexual abuse of children in India via the internet between 2017-2022 when Smith was living in Nepal and working at a school for the majority of this time.

After moving back to the UK in July 2022, he began working at the primary school in London, where he was a deputy head teacher and head of pastoral care.

The investigation has found no evidence of offending by Smith against children based in Nepal or the UK.

Smith also faces six counts of making and distributing over 120,000 child sexual abuse images, including 10,944 in the most serious category, which were found on a laptop, SD card, and iPhone.

He is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on 20 June 2023.

Helen Dore, Senior Officer at the National Crime Agency, said: Child sexual abuse committed online and across borders is a substantial threat to the UK, and its one the NCA is committed to tackling.

We are dedicated to pursing the most dangerous offenders and to protecting any child who may be at risk, in the UK and across the globe.

In a previous statement, Thomass prep school said: The safety and wellbeing of our pupils is, and always will be, our top priority.

As there are ongoing criminal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time other than to say that there is no suggestion that the offences relate to Mr Smiths employment at Thomass or to any current or former pupils of the school.

The children of the Prince and Princess of Wales attended the school, where fees are up to 25,000 a year, until July 2021 before switching to Lambrook School near Ascot.
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The all-new EV version of Volvos XC90 is the EX90, and its right up there with the class leaders in terms of style and comfort

Its back! It must be that seasonal disorder that affects my brain because I can finally remember things again now that the sunshine has finally arrived.

Since its return, I can remember vividly back to 2012 when I attended my very first Motor Show in Geneva.

One of the motors from the show that will forever be etched on my mind was Volvos XC90.

It was like nothing I had ever seen before and was definitely the showstopper for me that year in Geneva.

Volvo EX90 Excellence

Then, last week, I was invited to Gothenburg in Sweden to see the all-new electric version of the XC90  the EX90.

The first thing that struck me when I saw the full-electrified version of the premium brands flagship model is how quickly things have changed in just over 10 years.

Back in 2012, the big focus was on producing cleaner diesel engines and smaller and more economical petrol ones.

But now, for 2023, the Swedish boffins are looking to the future with its all-electric version in the shape of the EX90.

Unfortunately for me, this was only a static launch and I didnt get to drive it, but the first thing that struck me when I saw it in the showroom was the sheer size of it  this thing is enormous.

It is fair to say that this monster SUV is a proper seven-seater, with the third row not just an added extra for the smaller rugrats.

On the outside, the EX90 is stunning to look at. It is absolutely enormous in the flesh and the designers have done a brilliant job on the exterior by making it both extremely stylish and modern.

Unlike some other brands, Volvo has opted to make it look different from its XC90 sibling.

One of the highlights of the all-electric version is at the front end, where the main headlights perform a laser-light show on start-up.

Volvo EX90 Excellence

The front grille is now enclosed although the panels below can open and close when needed to provide additional airflow if the battery needs cooling at any stage.

Another nice feature on the exterior are the flush door handles, which also make the EX90 more aerodynamical while driving.

The rear-end too is very tidy to look at and the designers have done an excellent job to keep it clean and simple.

One thing that did stick out a bit like a sore thumb was a small box-like bump which sits above the front windscreen. It sort of reminded me of one of those old taxi signs from the black London cabs.

However, this box houses Volvos latest LiDAR technology which is able to see in very poor conditions for very long distances and is an extra layer of advanced driver aids to help prevent collisions

On the inside, the all-electric EX90 can match, if not top, all of the other premium brands for its stylish interior.

Volvo C40 Recharge

The centrepiece features an enormous 15-inch diagonal centre screen and a very neat nine-inch slender instrument screen.

It all uses Google-based infotainment systems and you can customize what features show up.

After a short while it will also predict what features you use frequently and start bringing up shortcuts as it becomes familiar with you and your driving habits.

We will bring you more about the EX90 when it finally arrives in Ireland. However, Volvo Ireland has already opened the order books for it, with prices starting from 117,910.

Meanwhile, in other Volvo news the Swedish brand has given its entry-level SUV  the XC40  and its electric C40 an update for the upcoming year.

Possibly sticking with the ethos if it aint broke, dont fix it, the exterior changes are hard to find.

They have come up with a new colour though and some new wheel designs, which they claim will help improve efficiency.

What Volvo has done is installed a new battery pack with a larger capacity now producing faster charging speeds and enhanced certified range figures when compared with the outgoing versions.

Volvo claim that, in the case of the revised all-wheel-drive (AWD) Twin Motor variants of both XC40 and C40 Recharge models, the certified range has increased by 100km to 538km and 550km.

On top of that, charging power has been improved as the larger battery pack allows for charging at a higher maximum rate of 205kW DC (up from 150kW).

The 82kWh battery packfound in the single motor extended range and Twin Motor models benefit from a five per cent increase in power.

What this actually means is that you can pull into you nearest charge point and boost up from 10-80 per cent in approximately 28mins or so they say.

Another big change Volvo is making in both models is the fact that it is switching from front-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive in the single-motor variants.

It has been more than 25 years since Volvo last used rear-wheel drive in one of its models.

In total, three new powertrains are offered that include a new all-wheel drive variant along with two rear-wheel drive variants in standard range and extended range.

The technical gurus tell me that the switch gives both electric models a lower centre of gravity and optimal weight balance between front and rear axle.

What I did notice is how well both models handled on all types of Swedish roads last week.

Prices for the new XC40 Recharge RWD Extended Range start at 61,715, while prices for the C40 Recharge RWD Extended Range start at 62,515.
Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters told reporters that investigators were acting on the basis of certain tips but would not give further details.

Portuguese search teams and German police at Barragem reservoir in Portugal yesterday, around 30 miles from where Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007. Photo: Solarpix

Police have combed the banks of a reservoir in Portugal with the help of sniffer dogs, rakes and pickaxes as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Emergency service divers were seen on a rigid-hull inflatable boat early yesterday morning at the Barragem do Arade  around 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old went missing in 2007.

Officers concentrated their search at one area of the reservoir, erecting white tents on a hill on the banks.

Further around the water, emergency services and officials from Portugal, Germany and the UK were seen holding briefings near blue police tents.

In the search area, uniformed and plain-clothed officers spent a number of hours scouring the banks  hammering away at the ground with pickaxes and combing through small rocks with rakes and spades.

German prosecutor confirms search is "connected with Madeleine McCann proceedings"

Read more Algarve reservoir on lockdown as police prepare to search for Madeleine McCann

A track leading to the search area was cordoned off with police tape and marked vehicles from Portugals National Republican Guard.

Portuguese police confirmed on Monday that they are co-ordinating searches in the Algarve at the request of German police and in the presence of British officers.

Britains Metropolitan Police said officers will be there in order to inform Madeleines family if there are any developments.

Detective chief inspector Mark Cranwell said: The Met continues to work with and support colleagues in Portugal and Germany, with their investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Met officers will be in Portugal and I am grateful to the Policia Judiciaria and Bundeskriminalamt for allowing us to be present while their work is ongoing, so that we can inform Madeleines family of any developments.

A brief statement from the prosecutors office in the German city of Braunschweig confirmed the search, but did not reveal why it was taking place.

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters told reporters that investigators were acting on the basis of certain tips but would not give further details.

Four teams of officers from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria are involved in the operation, along with at least 20 of their German counterparts, Portuguese news outlet SIC said.

It has been reported that the prime suspect in Madeleines disappearance, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017.

Investigators believe he killed Madeleine after abducting her from a holiday apartment. Brueckner, who has denied involvement in Madeleines disappearance, was first identified as a suspect by German investigators. The Sun reported that the search was sparked after they discovered video and photos of Brueckner near the reservoir.

A no-fly zone has been put in place over the water. Media and other onlookers are being kept a mile back from the site of the search.

Brueckner is facing charges in Germany over a number of separate sex offences allegedly committed in Portugal during that time.

It is not the first time the reservoir has been searched. In 2008, Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleines body was there.

The most recent search in Portugal in relation to her disappearance was in 2014, when British police were given permission to examine an area near where she vanished.

Earlier this month, Madeleines parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, posted a short statement on their Find Madeleine Campaign website to mark the anniversary of her disappearance.

They said: Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleines abduction. Still missing... still very much missed. It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel.

The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough.
Its official. Florida Governor Ron De Santis entered the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown with former President Donald Trump. DeSantis revealed his decision in a filing with the Federal Election Commission. On Wednesday afternoon he publicly announced his candidacy in a conversation with tycoon Elon Musk on Twitter, which started with some technical issues but was quickly restarted, and later in an interview with a former Republican congressman on Fox News.

DeSantis candidacy has been a long time coming. He emerged as a strong contender within the GOP in last Novembers elections, when he was reelected governor of Florida by a landslide. His success contrasted with the disappointment of more Trump-aligned candidates across the country, who flopped in key elections. Trump, who announced his candidacy last November, was the first Republican to enter the race and has since been trying to dissuade DeSantis from running against him.

The two had a very good relationship in the past. Trump feels, with good reason, that DeSantis was elected governor of Florida in 2018 because of his support, so now he feels betrayed. As a result, the former president and his army have criticized DeSantis, calling him names and going so far as to airing negative publicity against him before he was even a candidate. Clearly, Trump sees DeSantis as his most fearsome rival. In the hours leading up to DeSantis announcement, Trumps team tried to denigrate him, attacking even the format he chose to announce his candidacy, saying that he only opted for doing it on Twitter so that he did not have to interact with a live audience.

Despite the clear rivalry between the two, DeSantis successfully implemented in Florida a kind of Trumpism without Trump. He is a fierce combatant in the culture wars against progressive ideology and has enacted very conservative and controversial policies on issues such as sexual orientation, gender identity or racial discrimination. However, he has not had to deal with the backpack of scandals and legal scrutiny Trump has had to shoulder, especially in the last few months. Thus, DeSantis has the advantage of being able to offer a project for the future of the nation without all the baggage of the former president.

At the age of 44, DeSantis contrasts with Trump (76) or President Joe Biden (80) in a race in which age has become an important factor for voters. DeSantis is expected to hold fundraisers this week ahead of a rally next week in Dunedin, the west Florida town where he spent his childhood, outside Tampa.

The race for the Republican presidential nomination is getting quite crowded. The GOP hopefuls include South Carolina senator Tim Scott; former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley; Arkansas governor Asa Hutchison; billionaire biotech entrepreneur and scourge of the so-called woke ideology, Vivek Ramaswamy; fellow businessman Perry Johnson; political commentator Larry Elder; and politician and businessman Rolland Roberts, son of the West Virginia senator of the same name. Trumps former vice president, Mike Pence, is also expected to launch a campaign.

According to the latest poll released just Wednesday by CNN, Trump leads the 2024 GOP field: he is the first choice of 53% Republican and Republican-leaning voters in the primary, roughly doubling DeSantis 26%. But the poll also reveals that wide swaths of Republican-aligned voters are willing to consider either, as well as other candidates. More than 8 in 10 either support or say theyre open to considering Trump (84%) and DeSantis (85%), and smaller majorities say they support or would consider former UN ambassador Nikki Haley (61%), Scott (60%) and former Vice President Mike Pence (54%). Haley and Pence are currently the first choice of 6%, according to the poll, with Scott at 2% along with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and five other candidates hold 1% support or less.

However, U.S. presidential primaries are filled with twists and turns. Back in 2020, Biden started behind in the Democratic Party race and ended up winning. Now he has no strong rivals for 2024. Meanwhile, Trump is facing an array of scandals and investigations that may very well drag on during the height of the primaries. A New York judge has set his criminal trial for March 25, 2024, in which the former president will face 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in a case stemming from hush-money payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the 2016 campaign. Additionally, he faces other open investigations.

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Christchurchs Air Force Museum of New Zealand is about to celebrate 100 years since the birth of New Zealand military aviation at Wigram itself.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force as we know it today dates back to 1937, but the full history of military aviation in New Zealand goes back further than that.

Museum Research Curator Simon Moody says it all began just before the First World War when local businessman and former Mayor of Christchurch Sir Henry Wigram visited Europe and witnessed the huge strides taking place in aviation.

Keenly aware of the potential of both military and civilian aviation, in 1915 Sir Henry, also a long-serving member of the Legislative Council, opened the Canterbury Aviation Company, New Zealands second flying school, on land he bought at Sockburn.

Sir Henry was one of the individuals instrumental in promoting New Zealands understanding of the part air power would play in future combat.

Sir Henry Wigram (centre, with bowler hat) with Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Bettington, from the British Air Ministry at Sockburn Aerodrome in 1919.

The New Zealand Permanent Air Force was established on June 14, 1923, and a week later the New Zealand Government purchased a large portion of Sockburn Airfield from Sir Henry Wigram, at a much subsidised price, which would subsequently be renamed Wigram in his honour.

Wigram is now the site of the Air Force Museum and a centenary exhibition entitled NZPAF100: The Origins of New Zealand Air Power will open to the public on 9 June at the museum.

It will tell the story of how New Zealand went from no standing air force, to the formation of the NZPAF, then on to the foundation of the RNZAF as it is today.

Air Force Museum Research Curator Simon Moody looks through a scrapbook of images compiled by Wing Commander Ralph Cochrane during his service stay in New Zealand from 1936-1939. He was the first Chief of Air Staff for the RNZAF.

Simon has extensively researched the formation of NZPAF and says it's a complicated tale with lots of twists and turns, victories and setbacks.

This exhibition is about the story of how, 100 years ago, the first steps towards the RNZAF we know today were taken. It looks at what caused the NZPAF to be formed in 1923 at Wigram as part of the Army, and how military aviation developed over the next 15 years.

While the anniversary of the creation of an independent Air Force - the RNZAF in 1937 - remains our official birthday, this centenary is the basis of that milestone 86 years ago. It marks the founding of our first air base, at Wigram, where the museum stands today.

The exhibition will acknowledge the experience of around 800 New Zealanders who served in the air or as ground staff for Britain and Australia in the First World War.

It shows that some of those individuals were integral to the development of military aviation in New Zealand during the 1920s and 30s.

Personnel re-oiling an Avro 504k at Wigram aerodrome, circa 1930s.

Simon says this part of history for the RNZAF was important as it helps in understanding how the RNZAF became a separate service.

The contributions of the pioneering aviators who preceded and then often led it in the early years help us appreciate the context in which military aviation developed in New Zealand between the World Wars.

It also bridges the gap between those few New Zealanders who served in the British military air services in the First World War and the creation of the citizen RNZAF in time for the Second World War.

The NZPAF100: The Origins of Military Air Power exhibition will run for six months.

The Museum will celebrate the centenary with a public Gala Day on June 17 at the Air Force Museum.

For more information visit: www.airforcemuseum.co.nz
Yassin Kanjaa, who carried out the attack in January in which the sacristan Diego Valencia was killed, suffers from psychosis and at the time had no control over his behaviour, according to two prison doctors

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Two doctors at a Seville prison have concluded that the Moroccan man Yassin Kanjaa, who carried out a jihadist attack last January in Algeciras, in which the sacristan Diego Valencia was killed, suffers from psychosis with probable schizophrenic filiation" and that at the time of the attack he had no control over his behaviour.

According to legal sources, the doctors report has been sent to the High Court and supports the thesis of the first provisional report by the experts of the Madrid court, dated 20 February. That report also determined that Kanjaa, 25, suffered from a mental problem "compatible with a delusional disorder".

In that review, the accused told the psychiatrists that in prison he was "surrounded by demons", and said he did not regret having stabbed to death the 65-year-old sacristan of the Church of Our Lady of Palma in Algeciras.

Kanjaa's defense focuses its strategy on seeking the complete exoneration of their client for serious personality disorder and that the case be transferred from the High Court, competent to investigate crimes of terrorism, to an ordinary court in Algeciras. In short, the express radicalisation of Kanjaa was not so much due to the consumption of jihadist propaganda as to the alienation he suffers, according to his defence.

However, Judge Gadea has already taken a position on this matter in an order based on the report prepared by the judicial police. "There does not have to be a direct link between the actor and a member of the organisation. It is he who decides the extent of his commitment, the duration of the process and who takes the final decision to commit an attack," he stated in one of his resolutions to determine that the suspect was fully aware of his actions.

This decision was appealed before the Supreme Court, which is pending a decision on the competence of the court to continue investigating the case.

Behavior was "normal" until a month before attack

Yassine Kanjaa was born in October 1997 in the small Moroccan town of Oued el Marsa, near Ceuta. Until his arrest, he had been living for months in a substandard housing in Calle Ruiz Tagle in Algeciras, very close to the centre and barely 90 metres from the church where he committed the attack. He shared a house with four other people of North African origin. When they were interrogated, both by the police and by the judge, they confirmed that Kanjaa's behavior was "normal" until a little more than a month before the attack.

His flatmates pointed out that the detainee used to drink alcohol and smoke hashish, but then he began to listen assiduously to verses from the Koran through his mobile phone and that he reproached them for their lifestyle.
Sophie Wilkinson is supporting Mari Carmen Galvez Guerrero, number one on the list, who has been a close friend and neighbour of the family since they arrived in the village

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Sophie Wilkinson is originally from Cheshire in England, but has lived in Alcaucin in the Axarquia for eight years. Her parents were already living in the village when, as Sophie explained, during a sabbatical year from her job as a legal PA, she came to visit them, fell in love with the village and Spain and never returned. She lives with her partner and their three-year-old and five-year-old daughters.

Sophie, 33, is number eight on Alcaucins PP list and she said her decision to stand was to support Mari Carmen Galvez Guerrero, who is number one on the list, because she is a wonderful person inside and out, and extremely passionate about Alcaucin.

Mari Carmen and her husband Roman, along with their children were the first people Sophie met when she arrived in Alcaucin. They are neighbours and Sophie said that they family have always been there for us and included us.

Some of the PPs proposals that Sophie supports include improvements and an extension to the school facilities, the Alcazar, as well as creating new jobs.

What Sophie said that she would like to change in Alcaucin is for derelict and abandoned buildings to either be finished if legally sound and turned into housing or demolish them to create more green areas, particularly the large construction site which is the entrance to Alcaucin, it is an eye sore, Sophie explained.

She would also like to see a walkway between Alcaucin and Vinuela because currently many people use this route and it can be dangerous and she would like to convert the Alcazar natural park area, which is one of the access points to La Maroma mountain into a beautiful picnic area. It is completely derelict and abandoned, she said.

Sophie added that this is the first time that she is directly involved in politics but said she is passionate about Alcaucin, where I live and where my daughters were born and go to school.
Marco G. R. made the startling confession about the disappearance of Sibora in 2014 while being investigated by police for the stabbing to death of his recent ex-partner, Paula, earlier this month

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The Italian partner of Sibora Gagani, Marco G. R. (45), has made a spontaneous confession that he was responsible for the death of the young Italian-Albanian woman who was his partner until 2014 and who has been missing since then.

It came after he had refused to make a statement before officers of the homicide group of the National Police, who were investigating him for stabbing to death Paula, 28, with whom he had been romantically involved until March this year.

As SUR has been able to confirm, Marco verbally told the police that Sibora's body was hidden between the walls of the apartment in which they lived together in Torremolinos. He even offered to take the investigators to the exact place where he had hidden her body.

Confession

His confession is now a key piece in the investigation, though Marco did not ratify the statements either before the police, in the presence of a lawyer, or in court. At the moment, the only version that investigators have is his testimony in the corridors of the police station. The judge investigating the disappearance of Sibora has opened proceedings against Marco and ordered the search of the apartment where both lived between 2011 and 2014.

In the early afternoon of Monday, May 22, about twenty officers, accompanied by a judicial commission, entered the house, an apartment divided into two floors in the centre of Torremolinos, and inspected each partition wall in search of Sibora's body or any clue to clarify her whereabouts.

The investigators used detectors and then drilled into different areas of the apartment into which they introduced cameras to check if inside there were human remains hidden between the walls. They also inspected the bathroom and other rooms. The search ended after 8 pm without finding the woman's body.

On Tuesday morning, specialists from the forensics department returned to the house and carried out new investigations in different rooms with the same objective, although, for now, without finding the body.

Missing woman's partner

Sibora was 22 years old when she disappeared from Torremolinos. During these almost nine years, all efforts to find the whereabouts of the young woman had not led to anything. Until last week, when the police found that Marco, following his arrest for Paula's crime, had also been the missing woman's partner.

He was the last person Sibora had contact with before the earth swallowed her up. On 7 July 2014 they had a WhatsApp conversation and she was never heard from again. The crime against Paula, a 28-year-old mother of three children  the youngest, the result of her relationship with Marco , has been the connecting thread that has helped to unravel the case of the missing woman.

Just before she was lost track of, Sibora, who was in Spain with a forged Italian document, broke up with her ex-partner and moved to a small apartment in Calle Hoyo street, in Torremolinos. The police, from the beginning, considered it a "high risk" disappearance. The young woman had vanished without taking her mobile phone, without clothes and left all her belongings at home.

Sibora's mother contacted Marco shortly after she had no news of her daughter, with whom she used to talk daily. According to those around her, the woman called him to ask him if anything strange had happened or if he knew her whereabouts. He denied having any connection with her disappearance. The only thing he told them was that they had had a fight a few days before and that he had not heard from her since.

The young Italian-Albanian woman, like Paula, worked in the hospitality business in Torremolinos. She began her relationship with Marco in Nettuno (Rome, Italy) in 2009 and apparently everything was going well. Both her family and friends knew him and never suspected anything wrong with her partner. In fact, Sibora had even talked about plans to marry him and in 2010 they moved to the Costa del Sol in search of work.

Ended relationship

Paula had also ended her relationship with the suspect two months before he allegedly murdered her on Wednesday, 17 May, in her apartment in La Carihuela, in Calle San Gines. Marco, according to the sources consulted, refused to leave the house where the two continued to live together, despite the fact that the young woman asked him to do so on numerous occasions.

At about 11.30am, the victim's cries for help alerted the neighbours. They immediately went to the house, but apparently the only one who responded was her ex-partner. According to SUR sources, without opening the door, the man tried to convince them that nothing serious had happened. He fled, closing the door behind him, as the residents called the emergency services.

Suspicions

In light of what happened with Paula, the family of the missing woman began to suspect that something serious must have happened as early as 2013, when Sibora returned to Italy, to her mother's house, with a suitcase full of clothes and announced that she had left Marco. She spoke of quarrels and disagreements, but never of episodes of abuse.

Sibora ended up returning with her boyfriend to Torremolinos, where they continued to live together for the next few months until she broke up with him for good, shortly she disappeared without a trace.

The alleged murderer, as SUR has learned, has a history of gender violence, although neither Sibora nor Paula ever filed a complaint against him. In the case of her first partner, her relatives now fear that he had assaulted her.

Italian authorities

Paula, who had been dating Marco for at least three years, used to tell her closest friends about the beatings that her partner allegedly gave her.

Her only goal was to get her children back, whom social services had taken away from her. Her friends warned her that Marco, a drug user (it was almost the only thing he admitted to the judge), could drag her down the wrong path. The young woman had been attending check-ups for weeks to prove she was clean, hoping to start the process of getting her children back in the following months.

As soon as Sibora disappeared, officers began to work in collaboration with the Italian authorities, as her family had also reported these facts in Italy. The investigation began by taking statements from all the people close to the young woman in Torremolinos. None of them offered any information that could lead to locate her or to find out what had happened.

Then last week the alarms went off after it became known that Paula's alleged murderer had been Sibora's boyfriend. Marco was arrested on 17 May at around 5pm, in the area of La Carihuela. Paula died in her apartment earlier that morning, after she received 14 stab wounds. Her ex-boyfriend allegedly killed her with a knife that he stole six days earlier from the restaurant where he worked and from which he was fired.
Malaga province and Costa del Sol weather will remain cool and wet into June Spains state weather agency Aemet is forecasting storms and heavy downpours at the weekend, coinciding with voting in the local election campaigns

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"Do not put your coats away until 40th May," the head of Aemets weather centre in Malaga has advised. His use of this traditional Spanish saying was never more appropriate. The unstable weather, which has set the tone in the second half of this month, is on track to extend to the first third of June, according to the state weather agencys forecasts.

For now, what remains of this week will be similar to the previous one. The isolated depression at high altitude (Dana) that is affecting Malaga province and the Costa del Sol now will move away between today (24 May) and Thursday, which will give rise to a small lull. But only for a short time, as another Dana will enter from the north starting Friday, and it threatens to bring more rain during the weekend.

"Actually, we will continue having instability in the weather, the showers will be present almost every day of the week," confirmed Jesus Riesco, director of the city's meteorological centre.

Today, Wednesday, these will generally be less frequent and intense, and the same will happen tomorrow, isolated and light showers could still fall anywhere in the province although they are more likely inland. On Thursday, the depression will retreat late in the day to the east.

Soggy elections

On Friday another new Dana will be formed in the Atlantic, which will influence the southern part of the Spanish mainland. This will continue having an effect during all that remains of May and may even continue at the start of June - the gateway of summer - which will start with turbulent weather and temperatures below normal for the time of year, according to the meteorologist.

Therefore, this weekend, when Spains local elections will be held, it will be wet in large areas of the province. According to the weather models, on Saturday rain will be quite likely, while on Sunday, which is when the voting will take place, there are still some doubts about the amounts and distribution (since it is still some time away), although the weather will generally be unstable in the province.

In addition, weather models determine that next week (between May and June) and the week after (5-11 June) will both be cooler and wetter than normal. "Do not put your coat away until 40th May," said the director of Aemet in Malaga. The maximum temperatures will be around 24C (16-18 degrees minimum). Therefore, the weather will not stabilise at least until the second half of June.

Jose Luis Escudero, responsible for the Storms and Lightning weather blog on SUR, agreed that almost all the weather models agree that on Saturday there will be precipitation, and the best news is that this time they give more probability of rain and significant accumulations in the area of the Guadalhorce reservoirs, where for now they have gone almost unnoticed. "The entire province will be affected," he specified. Before however, Thursday and Friday will be calmer days, and on Sunday Escudero does not believe that it will rain in Malaga city, but it will rain inland.

Where did it rain yesterday?

Malaga city was not affected yesterday by the storms, which did leave some accumulations in other parts of the province. According to data from the Junta de Andalucas Hidrosur network, the Ojen rain gauges stood out and recorded 14.5mm; Los Reales de Sierra Bermeja (11mm); Guadiaro river (8mm); Ronda (5mm) and Guadalteba reservoir (4mm).

The bad news, again, is that the storms have largely passed by almost all the large reservoirs in the province (with the exception above, and with a token amount), so they still have not managed to score a net gain since the current wet May episode began.
The Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, holds the unfortunate distinction of being the third deadliest school shooting in the United States. It ranks as the ninth deadliest mass shooting in the country, serving as a harrowing example of gun violence. The incident sparked extensive discussions about American gun culture, political gridlocks, and the failure of law enforcement to intervene during the attack. These issues continue to be subjects of controversy and ongoing investigations. Despite the families of the victims seeking justice and advocating for changes in gun laws, the governments lack of interest remains a point of frustration.

Today, the school remains closed and scheduled for demolition, while the city pays tribute to the victims. Various murals throughout the streets of the town commemorate the students and teachers, showcasing aspects of their lives. Notably, the perpetrators name is omitted, as if erased from memory. However, the pain and anger persist among the victims families, many of whom are still pursuing justice.

Gun control

On June 25, 2022, a month after the shooting, President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law, marking the most significant federal gun reform legislation in nearly three decades. The act introduced changes to the mental health system, school safety programs, and gun safety laws. It focused on implementing extended background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21, considering that the shooter was 18 at the time. However, in Texas, Republican officials have avoided addressing the issue of gun control.

On April 19, 2023, Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the mother of one of the victims, urged Texas lawmakers to pass proposed gun restrictions, such as raising the age requirement for purchasing AR-15 rifles, similar to the one used in the shooting. This marked the first time the issue received a hearing, though no vote was taken. Republican leaders also did not express any intentions to consider or vote on such proposed measures before the sessions end in May.

Since the shooting, several officials have resisted the notion of implementing more comprehensive gun control measures. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has stated that stricter gun regulations are not a real solution. Instead, several Senate Republicans have advocated for increased security in schools, including limiting entryways and arming teachers and other school officials. In Uvalde, some schools have implemented single entrances monitored by guards, while parents are prohibited from approaching the campus after dropping off their children. Additionally, drills simulating a shooters entry have become part of the students routine.

Lawsuits

Lawsuits have become another route pursued by affected families. Mayah Zamoras family filed a lawsuit against the store that sold the gunman his AR-style rifle, as well as the gun manufacturer, Daniel Defense, citing dangerous marketing practices. Other families have taken similar legal actions. However, these lawsuits are still in their early stages, and families may face challenges, particularly when it comes to holding gun makers liable due to federal protections.

Investigations into the police conduct during the shooting are ongoing, with separate inquiries being conducted by the Texas Ranger division and the United States Department of Justice. On July 17, 2022, the Texas House Investigative Committee released a 77-page report that highlighted systemic failures, poor decision-making, and criticism directed at local police, as well as state and federal officials and agencies. While 376 law enforcement officials responded to the shooting, it was only Border Patrol officers who confronted the gunman, bypassing UCISD officers an hour after the first responders arrived. Parents attempts to enter the school to rescue their children were met with police resistance, leading to violent conflicts.

Several police officers have been fired, government officials have been dismissed, and school district officials have taken early retirements. Nevertheless, there are still individuals associated with the incident whom the families of the victims are urging to be removed from their positions. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has faced criticism for renewing contracts of employees and administrators accused of mishandling parent communications on the day of the shooting. Parents have reported being silenced during school board meetings and being banned from school district property.

Survivors

The survivors of the shooting have each embarked on their own paths of recovery. Arnulfo Reyes, the sole survivor from Classroom 111, recently spoke to NBC news, expressing a sense of abandonment by the district in the year since the tragedy. He revealed that the district had not provided adequate support, stating, Theyve never really given support... They just forgot us. Some parents have sued the school district for its handling of the shooting, but Reyes chose a different route. Along with other plaintiffs, he filed a civil claim against the shooter, his family, and the companies that provided security and communications equipment used in the response. Reyes continues to heal from his injuries.

Mayah Zamora, the 11-year old survivor of the attack, recently attended the San Antonio food bank with her family. Christina Zamora, her mother, says she has been looking for ways to make a difference with the life she almost lost that May 24. From the time she was discharged from the hospital, has shown a need to help.

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Syracuse, N.Y. -- Top officials from Syracuse and Onondaga County visited Boise, Idaho, this week to meet with their counterparts and take a look at Micron Technologys operations at the company headquarters.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, and county industrial development director Bob Petrovich spent a couple of days in the city, where Micron was founded in the late 1970s.

Walsh said they met with Boise Mayor Lauren McLean and top Micron officials, toured Microns research and operations headquarters, and got a first-hand look at the site where Micron plans to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant that will be smaller but similar to the one the company plans for the town of Clay.

The purpose was to see the facilities with our own eyes and continue to build relationships between our community and Micron and the Boise community, he said.

Walsh said he flew to Boise Sunday night and returned Tuesday night.

Micron has said it will spend up to $100 billion building a massive fabrication plant, or fab, on farmland in the town of Clay over the next 20 years. That could create 9,000 direct jobs and 40,000 more in spinoff industries.

Walsh said Microns facilities in Boise and Central New York will be deeply intertwined. Chips will be designed in Boise and then produced in the fabs in Boise and Clay, he said. Employees will move back and forth between the fabs, especially in the beginning as both are getting ramped up for production, Walsh said.

Walsh said they also met with leaders in Boises housing and workforce development sectors -- two areas Central New York will have to pay close attention to as Micron opens and expands. Onondaga County could see 100,000 new residents if Microns plans pan out.

Just as Im developing a relationship with the mayor of Boise, we want all of our local organizations to get to know their counterparts in Boise and learn from their experiences, Walsh said.

Unlike Syracuse, which has lost population over the past few decades, Boise is booming -- it added about 30,000 residents in the past decade. Walsh said he hopes the growth of Micron reverses the declining trend for Central New York.

The first thing I noticed (in Boise) was the number of cranes in the air, Walsh said. I expect that the Syracuse skyline is going to look very similar in the coming years.
Ulysses, N.Y.  One Syracuse man is dead and one is hospitalized after a group from Syracuse went swimming at Taughannock Falls near Ithaca Tuesday, troopers said.

The four boys and men -- between 16 and 26 years old -- went for a swim at the base of the falls, according to a news release from the State Police Wednesday. It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny with a temperature in the upper 70s.

In the cold water, they all started to struggle, troopers said.

One man - Leo M. Nolasco-Cruz, 26 - disappeared beneath the water, troopers said.

Troopers and area fire departments were called to the falls at about 4:30 p.m. to assist New York State Park Police, troopers said.

One of the men, Isael C. Perez, 19, was taken by LifeNet helicopter to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse for hypothermia and water ingestion, troopers said. He is in stable condition, troopers said.

The State Police dive team recovered Nolasco-Cruzs body in the water, troopers said.

The area in the state park at the base of the falls is marked with signs that say, no swimming.

Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, photo, question or comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961, on Twitter @kirk_rylee, or rkirk@syracuse.com.
KYODO NEWS - May 24, 2023 - 23:55 | World, All

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin agreed Wednesday to boost their economic ties as they apparently showed unity in Beijing in countering pressure from the Group of Seven nations, which displayed a tough stance against them during their recent summit.

Xi told Mishustin that Beijing and Moscow should continue to tap their potential and "improve the level of economic, trade and investment cooperation," China's official Xinhua News Agency said.

The Chinese leader also emphasized that Beijing is willing to continue working with Moscow on issues that concern their respective core interests and to strengthen cooperation under China's signature Belt and Road infrastructure project, Xinhua said.

The Russian premier said his country is "willing to work with China to promote the process of multi-polarization of the world and consolidate the international order," it added. The two met at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital.

Earlier in the day, Mishustin told Chinese Premier Li Qiang that Moscow-Beijing relations are "at an unprecedentedly high level" and urged that the two nations jointly tackle challenges brought about by Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The premiers oversaw the signing of memoranda of understanding, including one on promoting service trade cooperation.

Mishustin said challenges faced by Moscow and Beijing are "associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West" and referred to a Chinese saying that "unity makes it possible to move mountains."

Li noted that pragmatic collaboration between China and Russia has shown "a good development trend" and expressed Beijing's willingness to work with Moscow to expand cooperation in various fields to "take it to a new level."

Western nations introduced a price cap in December on Russian crude oil to squeeze Russia's key source of revenue as economic punishment for its ongoing war in Ukraine, but China has opposed the sanctions and continued to buy energy from the neighboring country.

When Xi visited Moscow in March for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Chinese leader called for regular meetings between the Chinese premier and the Russian prime minister, inviting Mishustin to visit China.

The prime ministers of Russia and China will hold a meeting at the end of the year to compare notes, Mishustin said in his meeting with Xi, according to Russia's Tass news agency. The regular dialogue mechanism encompasses five intergovernmental commissions and more than 80 sector-specific working groups, it added.

Mishustin, who is making his first trip to China since becoming prime minister in 2020, vowed Tuesday to deepen bilateral economic ties at a China-Russia business forum in Shanghai. Li called for more bilateral economic and trade exchanges in his message sent to the forum, according to Chinese and Russian media reports.
Rainbow Kitten Surprise has canceled its 2023 tour dates, including two concerts in Upstate New York.

The alternative rock band was scheduled to play a sold-out show at the Artpark in Lewiston on June 7, plus a June 10 concert at Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette.

Our band has come to the decision to put our health as our only priority right now. One of our members is in a medical crisis, Rainbow Kitten Surprise said in a statement. To make sure they have the time to get the proper treatment, we have decided to take down the entire year of shows and turn off the lights for now. We do not make this decision lightly, and we know that it will result in a lot of disappointment and concern, but we are a family, and we know that the most important thing we can do right now is to help get everyone healthy.

The North Carolina-based group, which also canceled a Syracuse concert at the Landmark Theatre last fall, said it would not put a timeline on a return.

We have learned the hard way that treating illness during breaks in a bands schedule isnt always effective, the statement continued. We will return when we are sure that our dear friend and collaborator is in good health and that we can confidently and consistently show up for you the way you have always shown up for us.

Ticket holders will receive refunds from the point of purchase, the band added.

Additional details were not disclosed, but RKS said it appreciated all of its fans personally impacted by our music and we do not take this passion lightly. We see you. We hear you... We are hopeful that one day soon Rainbow Kitten Surprise can return in full glory and pick up where we left off. We know not to take your enthusiasm for our music for granted. So, for now, we bid you farewell and when we meet again soon, we hope that you will give us another chance.



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Summer concerts in Upstate NY: 60 cant-miss shows in 2023 (tickets, more info)
Fans of the supernatural will finally get a peek inside the Upstate New York outdoor adventure bed and breakfast featured on this weeks episode of TVs Ghost Hunters.

Tune in this week to see The Claire House in Ogdensburg on the Ghost Hunters episode titled Diocese of the Dead. It will air as the shows season finale at 9 p.m., May 25 on The Travel Channel and stream on discovery+.

The historic home was once a Catholic rectory and convent of French Canadian nuns. During the pandemic it was purchased by Hal and Rachel Kench of Long Island after it caught Rachels eye during one of their visits to Hals hometown.

Once they moved in the flickering lights, strange noises, and things that go bump in the night began to happen. Hal reached out to Ghost Hunters, and after an initial visit, the television show decided to film a full episode.

They showed up with their whole crew and were there for a whole week. We cant talk much about what they found until show it on TV. I was pretty shocked, but I also felt good and a little validated that this is a real thing, Hal previously told a reporter.

Setup as an outdoor adventure bed and breakfast, guests can visit the North Country, the ghosts, and take full advantage of what the area has to offer. To book a stay at The Claire House, visit their website.

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Somedays it feels like the Covid-19 pandemic that brought the entire world to its collective knees was a lifetime ago. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday.

The palpable fear and paranoia. The anxiety. The unknown.

Over three years have passed since the first wave of the shutdown began and, while public health officials continue to admonish the public that the pandemic is ongoing, for many people the cataclysm has passed into history.

The collective historical experience, which will be studied and written about by historians for generations, will pivot around the roll-out of the various vaccines.

The politicization of the vaccinations and their concomitant mandates that allowed for a return to normalcy, to steal a phrase from Warren G. Hardings 1920 presidential campaign, will be central to those narratives.

- A tank respirator, or the Iron Lung, was used to treat polio in the early stages of the disease. Onondaga Historical AssociationOnondaga Historical Association

These conflicts exacerbated the polarization, deep fissures and distrust that have come to characterize the politics of this era.

They also offer a stark historical contrast to another era where fear and anxiety over a deadly virus wreaked havoc on the lives of generations of Americans.

Appropriately, Central New York was at the epicenter of this monumental victory for public health almost 70 years ago.

The always welcome spring thaw of 1955 brought with it an unfamiliar sense of hopefulness for thousands of Central New York families.

On May 17th, Syracuse became the very first city in New York State to deploy Dr. Jonas Salks newly released Polio vaccine, to nearly 1,000 students from the citys six parochial schools.

Between 1950 and 1953, Syracuse had seen the highest number of cases in its history.

After an unprecedented national trial in 1954, wherein 1.8 million American children took part, including 3,902 in Onondaga County, yielded incredible results (an 80-90% success rate), parents had a reason to be optimistic.

Hope and optimism. This was a welcome change from the fear and general uneasiness families had lived with for decades during Polio season.

For more than 50 years, Infantile Paralysis (Polio) crippled and killed hundreds of thousands American children.

Here in Central New York, the specter of Polio led many parents to drastically limit their childrens activities and interactions.

This was an especially difficult situation considering Polio season coincided with warmer weather and the end of the school year. Not exactly the time kids want to be cooped up indoors.

In 1916, a Polio pandemic struck on both sides of the Atlantic.

In Syracuse, there were 229 cases and 64 deaths, which was the highest Polio mortality rate ever recorded in the city. In late August, Dr. Fredrick Sears, the citys top public health official, promulgated an enforceable quarantine for infected families.

- Students taking therapy session in one of the pools in 1935. Onondaga Historical AssociationOnondaga Historical Association

Many citizens voiced concerns about the economic fallout, as the State Fair was set to begin. Much of the fear and confusion came from a lack of understanding of the disease itself.

Though most scientists agreed that Polio was not genetic there was still a great deal of uncertainty as to the cause, the spread, and the treatment of the disease among the general public. A cure was a long way off.

Here in Syracuse, the Board of Education thought it prudent to build a new school to serve the large numbers of crippled children, many of whom were affected by polio.

Named in honor of Dr. Percy Hughes, the former Superintendent of Syracuse City Schools who died in 1928. Dr. Hughes had been a long-time advocate for a school like this. The $300,000 project ($5.2 million in 2023) was designed with the needs of the students in mind and included a pool for therapy, adjustable desks, ramps, and railings throughout and completed in 1929.

It was among the very first schools of its kind in country and its construction symbolized a growing public readiness to try and take on the challenges posed by the horrible disease.

The real game changer in this fight came in the form of former New York Governor and President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had been all but crippled by Polio in 1921 and he refused to be seen or photographed in public wearing his leg braces.

FDR devoted himself to raising awareness and funding. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (The March of Dimes) to raise money for treatment and research. Chapters organized across the country, including here in Onondaga County. Dr. Salks groundbreaking research was funded in large part by the March of Dimes.

The public reception to Salks vaccine was overwhelmingly positive, as parents and children alike had been yearning for a solution for decades.

In February 1956, Syracuse Health Commissioner, Dr. David Bigwood, reported that 20,516 had been inoculated, with their parents permission.

Many of the shots were paid for in large part by the local chapter of the March of Dimes. In 1958, Dr. A.C. Silverman, director of the citys Bureau of Communicable Diseases, reminded citizens that there is no way to protect the public unless individuals cooperate.

In August 1961, Syracuse again found itself on the vanguard of Polio treatment as 150,000 doses of Dr. Alfred Sabins brand-new Type 1 oral vaccine were flown into Hancock Airport to combat an alarming re-emergence of the disease.

Vaccinations programs continued unabated. The popularity and effectiveness of the two vaccinations was undeniable.

The last case of polio in Onondaga County was reported in 1962. In 1965, the State of New York passed a law making the vaccine mandatory for any student entering public school.
Gold.

For generations of Americans the excitement produced by that word caused them to leave the safety and comfort of their homes for a chance to make their fortunes.

In 1923, decades after the rushes to California and the Klondike, there were rumors of another gold discovery, this time in Labrador, an inhospitable piece of Canada between Quebec and the southern tip of Greenland.

The gold fever has struck again in a big way, The New York Times reported on May 13, 1923. Thousands of men are expected to pour into the gold region when the summer thaw comes.

Reporter Lloyd Roberts wrote that Labrador was about to see the biggest gold rush the world has ever seen.

The gold had been discovered by two men, Henry C. Bellow of Montreal and Richard W. Edwards of Jordan, N.Y., a suburb of Syracuse.

Roberts called the story of their discovery a romantic tale. But really it was a lie, one that started what the Syracuse Herald would call the biggest gold hoax in history.

A gold miner's pan sparkles with a few bits of gold in it in 1916. Gold seekers who rushed to Labrador in Canada in 1923 to seek their own gold would not be so fortunate.Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Richard Edwards lived on South Hamilton Street in Jordan.

He worked as a representative for a national tobacco concern, and as a lumber cruiser, which involved taking inventories of forests for timber and lumber businesses.

This brought him into contact with Henry Bellow, a Montreal lumber dealer.

In 1921, Bellow had signed a contract with a Dutch lumber company to supply them with 60,000 cords of pulpwood. Hearing that there was 140,000 acres of land for sale in Labrador, Bellow enlisted Edwards to go north with him and look around.

The trip was a disaster.

It rained the entire time, their boat ran aground, and they found only rocks and tundra.

Bellow lost $31,000 on the deal and felt pretty glum about it, the New York Times reported.

(In 1921, $31,000 was just more than $525,000 today.)

On their trip back to Stag Bay on the Big Brook River, though, their prospects brightened. Bellow, who was a veteran gold miner in the Yukon, saw something sparkle along the riverbank.

I called to my partner and said, Thats gold, he said later. Edwards thought it was mica, but I knew better.

They collected 25 pounds of dirt and gravel to have it analyzed. The results were astounding.

A Certificate of Analysis, dated Aug. 19, 1921 from Ledoux and Company in New York City, was delivered to Edwards in Syracuse:

The sample of gravel, weighing 25 pounds, 3 oz., from R.W. Edwards marked Labrador, and submitted to us for analysis contains five ounces of gold, it read.

The wildest dreams of California and the Klondike fell short of such a mark, Lloyd Roberts wrote. It was scarcely believable.

Edwards and Bellow returned to Labrador, staked out their claims and started raising capital. Bellow made himself president of a new company, Labrador Goldfields LLC.

I think this is the greatest gold find ever made, he told the New York Times, adding that Labrador was rotten with gold.

I expect to see 100,000 people there by September, he predicted.

This headline from the Syracuse Herald reported that there was an "army of fortune hunters" on their way to Labrador in northeastern Canada after gold had been discovered there by Richard W. Edwards of Jordan and business partner Richard Bellow of Montreal. This page is from May 6, 1923.Courtesy of World Archives

There were 645 claims staked out around Stag Bay and, on May 6, 1923, the Syracuse Herald called Edwards and his wife Mary part owners of the richest claim in the richest gold field the world has ever known.

But when a reporter pleaded with the couple for a photograph, Mary refused.

We dont know yet what will come of this, she said. It will be time enough when the gold begins to come, if it does. I see no use in building high expectations without more to go upon.

There was good reason for her hesitancy. Her husband and his business partners stories were about to fall apart.

After Albert Ledoux, of Ledoux and Company, began noticing newspapers and magazines mention the assayers certificate his business had allegedly sent to Edwards and Bellow, he investigated.

I became convinced that we had made no such report and that the soil in question never had been submitted to us, he told the Herald on June 14.

He invited Edwards and Bellow to New York City for a meeting, and the pair could not show him their certificate and admitted that the whole thing was a mistake.

I admit I did not have the vision of millions being involved or of outsiders becoming interested, so I just took the sample and had a friend wash it out for me and then reported to Mr. Bellow we had gold and in abundance, Edwards wrote in a letter to Ledoux, and that this had been proven by your assay, which I can see should not have been done.

J. Lambert Payne, first vice president pf Labrador Goldfields LLC, also wrote to Ledoux and expressed that the blame for misrepresentation rests entirely on Mr. Bellow and Mr. Edwards.

Bellow resigned as president of the Labrador Goldfields LLC.

"Is the Labrador gold field a fake?" asked the Syracuse Herald on June 15, 1923. It appeared that the assayer's certificated obtained by Richard Edwards and Henry Bellow was a fraud.Courtesy of World Archives

A further blow came in December.

W. Morley Ogilvie, a mining engineer, was sent north to ascertain if there was any gold in any of the leases sold by the Labrador Goldfields.

He came back empty-handed.

In my investigations, I did not observe a single specimen of the rocks associated with the gold formation, he said. And I am informed that all of the others who have prospected these creeks have reported in the same manner.

Finally, in December, an embarrassed Payne admitted there was no gold in Labrador.

This is to me a bitter disappointment, he said. I believed in the thing, and, to the extent that I influenced some of my personal friends, I feel humiliated and discredited. I was deceived along with many others, and I am a loser as well as they.

For his part, Richard Edwards returned to his normal life on Hamilton Street in Jordan.

He died there in 1952.

Read more

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This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle: Email | 315-416-3882.
Salina, N.Y. -- Mike Branca had been sitting in the pavilion outside the Candlewood Suites hotel since midafternoon Tuesday, watching and waiting. People filtered in, sat for a bit with him, drank a beer, and left.

When was the bus coming, they all asked?

No one knew.

They were waiting for Central New Yorks first bus of migrants to arrive from New York City.

The down-on-its luck airport hotel this week became a microcosm of the nations border debate. Anger was plentiful. Answers were elusive.

Hotel guests and government officials were left to sift through the little they had been told to find clues about what was to come.

No one was talking about when the bus was coming.

The question

The question was born May 18 in two places: the Salina hotel and the Syracuse office of Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon.

It started at the Candlewood Suites in the morning. Hotel management knocked on the doors of dozens of hotel guests, telling them theyd have to be out by the end of this week.

Long-term guests occupied 79 of the 123 hotel rooms. They said they asked why, but were told nothing, or that there was a renovation, which seemed unlikely.

Then they overheard the migrant bus plan. It seemed like it could be true, they said. More corporate people began to arrive in the hotel.

Some of those guests called town Supervisor Nick Paros office and McMahons office, they said. They wanted help. They were angry. Their calls mostly went unanswered. It could just be a rumor, after all.

Later that same day, McMahon issued an executive order banning migrant transfers to Onondaga County from New York City. McMahon said he decided to issue that order after seeing that DocGo was advertising job openings in Syracuse.

DocGo is a company that has largely operated below the radar, but was awarded New York Citys contract for handling the migrant crisis. They are in charge of moving, housing and caring for the asylum-seekers that are overwhelming New York City.

A DocGo car in the parking lot of the Candlewood Suites Tuesday May 23. The company has a contract for moving migrants out of New York City, housing them and feeding them.

The end of pandemic border restrictions sent a flood of asylum-seekers to New York City, which guarantees shelter. But the city has struggled to deal with the numbers, leaving people who fled other countries for the safety of the U.S. to have doors slammed in their faces.

Two days after McMahons executive order, the question became more urgent with a call from New York City.

Paro, the Salina supervisor, was called by an aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The aide, Chris Ellis, told Paro that a bus was coming to the town, bringing migrants from New York City.

The call was not a request. It was a courtesy.

It also begged the question: When? When is the bus coming?

When is the bus coming?

Maybe it will be Wednesday, Ellis, the aide, told Paro. But it could be Monday or Tuesday.

Now the clock was ticking. Both sides were scrambling.

When was the bus coming?

At the Candlewood Suites, there were new workers no one had seen before. They were cleaning out rooms. A recently arrived Dumpster was piled high with chairs, TVs, couches and other furniture. Maybe they were moving it out so there was room for more people.

On Monday morning, a town code enforcement officer visited the hotel. It was their first inspection in years.

The officer noted a table in the laundry room with 100 packets holding keycards, waiting for new guests.

Still, the town had received no more word from New York City.

Asaf Fligelman, a developer with the company that owns the Candlewood Suites, declined repeated requests for comment about what his company was doing with the hotel.

It felt like they were hiding something, guests said.

Earlier today, outside security guards began patrolling the Candlewood Suites in Salina. The hotel is expecting a busload of migrants to arrive from New York City.

The hotel had more corporate workers roaming the floors, watching the doors.

One threatened to call police on a Syracuse.com reporter and photographer, who were talking with residents.

Some residents said their electronic keys no longer worked. If they left and no one was in their room, theyd be locked out. Evicted.

If the hotel residents had been there for more than a month, they were actually tenants, and the hotel could not legally kick them out without filing for eviction, said Susan Griffith, managing attorney with Legal Services of Central New York.

The county and town pushed back against the bus with lawsuits.

Onondaga County filed one Monday night.

As that volley went out, the residents of the hotel and long-time workers watched the parking lot:

Was the bus coming tonight?

It did not. They went to bed.

An answer

The town filed its lawsuit to stop the bus at 9:30 a.m.

Around the same time, new security workers from a private company set up in the hotel lobby.

People who lived in the hotel were now hiding out in their rooms, peeking out to catch glimpses, but afraid of being kicked out if they left their rooms.

Every time Eddie Lenton opened his door, more people were swarming the floor, clearing out rooms.

Making way for the people on the bus?

Around lunchtime, vans and SUVs began unloading. These were not regular guests. Reservations were shut off until mid-October.

One of the SUVs was labeled DocGo, the company handling the citys plan to move migrants. Justin Sayles, a spokesman for Onondaga County, said that company is the one that was handling the bus the Candlewood Suites was expecting.

Ahron Weiner, a spokesman for the company, texted a Syracuse.com reporter Tuesday afternoon: Ahron from DocGo here. I understand youre working on a story about the Candlewood Suites hotel. Glad to connect and help you clarify some points.

But then Weiner did not respond to the reporter at all Tuesday.

At the same time DocGo workers were unloading dozens of boxes of food at the hotel. There were crates of milk. Boxes labeled Tuesday lunch, Tuesday dinner, Wednesday lunch, Wednesday dinner.

Unused food fills a Dumpster outside of Candlewood Suites after workers wheeled carts of it out from the lobby. The food was labeled for lunch and dinner Tuesday and Wednesday, and appeared to be for migrants the hotel appeared to be expecting to come Tuesday on a bus from New York City May 23, 2023. N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com

The boxes sat in the lobby. The hotel has no restaurant or food service, and does not provide any breakfast to its guests.

Security began to patrol the parking lot.

Was the bus on its way?

It seems like something is happening, Lenton said in a text.

Something did: At 3:11 p.m., Judge Robert Antonacci approved the towns request for a temporary restraining order. The countys temporary retraining order also was approved.

The court had said the bus could not come.

Was the bus still coming? Sheriff Toby Shelley said he wasnt sure he could enforce the courts order if the bus did come. It was a civil matter, not a criminal one.

Nicole Sinda and her husband, Josh Williams, waited in the pavilion with Branca. She smoked a cigarette in the dark by the Dumpster.

It was around 8:30 p.m. Workers began bringing those boxes of food out to the Dumpster. Tuesday lunch. Tuesday dinner. Wednesday lunch. Wednesday dinner.

The hotel guests waited for a while. Maybe there was a mistake.

Sinda, her husband and some others loaded all the boxes into the back of their minivan and dropped them off at the Rescue Mission just before 1 a.m.

The bus did not come.

Was a bus ever coming? No one in Onondaga County government or Salina knows. The sheriff says he does not know.

Weiner, the spokesman for DocGo, the company that would have sent the bus, today denied a bus was ever on its way to Salina Tuesday.

What about all that food? What about the workers set up at the hotel?

He referred all other questions to New York City.

Reporters Mark Weiner, Fernando Alba, N. Scott Trimble and Anne Hayes contributed to this story.

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people and public affairs in Central New York. Contact her anytime email | Twitter| Facebook | 315-470-2246.

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Around nightfall on May 20, a hiking party of three activated an emergency beacon on Phelps Trail, east of Little Marcy in the Adirondacks.

Unable to make phone contact with the party, two New York State Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers set out to find them. Around 1 a.m., after six miles of slogging through rain and four feet of snow, the rangers found the disoriented hikers on the trail.

After treating the hikers for mild hypothermia, rangers helped carry their gear down the mountain. By morning, the group had reached the Johns Brook outpost, where rangers continued to warm the hikers before continuing on to the trailhead. No further medical treatment was required.

The hikers were on a three-day trip, but they didnt check the weather forecast or turn around when they encountered more snow than they could handle. As Memorial Day weekend approaches and more people head outdoors, DEC encourages hikers to check weather forecasts and know their limitations before venturing outdoors.

The following reports are excerpted from DEC:

A ranger ticketed three suspects with dumping on state land in Suffolk County and forced to clean up the debris.

A ranger discovered several piles of debris in Rocky Point State Forest, Suffolk County, on May 17. Due to the frequency of illegal debris dumping, this area is monitored by both the Suffolk County Pine Barrens Law Enforcement Council and forest rangers. The ranger identified three suspects, charged them with dumping on state land, and forced to clean up the mess.

On the evening of May 18, a 27-year-old angler from Amsterdam fell into Great Sacandaga Lake after his rowboat capsized. He managed to climb onto the overturned boat and waited for rescue. A ranger borrowed a kayak, secured a throw bag on shore, and paddled out to the man, securing him with a life ring. Volunteer firefighters pulled the marooned man ashore using the throw bag as the ranger, assisted by good Samaritans, pulled the capsized boat ashore. The mans friend took him to the hospital.

On the afternoon of May 20, a dog bit a 29-year-old who was hiking the Northville Placid trail with her mother and two dogs, including the pooch who bit her. A ranger arrived to find the womans hand bleeding profusely, as the bite went straight through. The ranger administered first aid and assisted the pair back to their vehicle where the dog-bitten woman sought medical attention on her own.

Rangers dealt with many wildfires last week, including this one-acre fire in Blenheim. Some of the wildfires were caused by burning debris, others were sparked from sources unknown. All have been extinguished.

Rangers also dealt with many wildfires last week. A 30-acre fire in Black Brook that took days to contain; a two-acre fire in Neversink; a one-acre fire in Blenheim; a 4.6-acre fire in Berne; and a 9.7-acre fire in Forestburgh. Some of the wildfires were caused by burning debris, others were sparked from sources unknown. All have been extinguished.

Two campers went for a hike on May 21 at around 2 p.m. near Little Pond Campground, failing to return later that night. Furthermore, they hadnt shared their plans with anyone. Rangers searched for the pair overnight. At 9 a.m., the wandering campers came out of the woods on their own. Rangers spoke to the pair, who said theyd lost the trail and decided to stay in the woods until daylight. They were in good health.

On the evening of May 21, hikers in the Hannacroix Preserve discovered a person face down in Hannacroix Creek and called 911. Rangers assisted Greene County Sheriffs Office and the New Baltimore Volunteer Fire Department with extracting the deceased 55-year-old man from the creek before transferring him to a UTV, which drove about three-quarters of a mile to the trailhead. The body was turned over to the coroner.



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Rangers rescue ADK angler with broken leg - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers search for body of Clarkson University student who jumped from bridge, rescue injured hikers - syracuse.com

Rangers rescue ADK climber severely injured in 40-foot fall - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers find body of missing Upstate NY man, squelch brush fires - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers assist rescue efforts in two Upstate NY drownings, nab sap stealers - newyorkupstate.com

Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.
New York City has agreed to abide by a court order that temporarily blocks the transportation of migrants to a hotel in Onondaga County, the countys attorney said today.

The city will suspend its plan to send up to 200 migrants to the Candlewood Suites Syracuse Airport Hotel in Salina, said County Attorney Robert Durr.

New York City committed to not bringing migrants to Onondaga County until after the issue is resolved in court, Durr said.

The asylum seekers had been expected to arrive by today at the hotel, according to Salina Supervisor Nick Paro.

Durr told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that New York City officials notified the county of their intent to put those plans on hold after a judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday afternoon.

State Supreme Court Judge Robert Antonacci granted separate orders that temporarily prohibit the Salina hotel from housing migrants and New York City from transporting asylum seekers to Onondaga County to relieve overcrowded shelters in the city.

New York Citys lawyers, who took part in a private conference with the judge and county lawyers Monday, did not disclose whether buses transporting migrants were on the way to the hotel prior to the court proceeding, Durr said.

He said the lawyers also did not reveal whether New York City was planning additional migrant transfers to Onondaga County or had contracts with other local hotels.

Fabien Levy, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, said in a statement that the city is reviewing its legal options over how to respond to the temporary restraining order.

New York City is out of space and were asking Onondaga County to manage less than 1% of the asylum seekers who have come to New York City, with New York paying for shelter, food, and services, Levy said. Many elected officials, community groups, and faith institutions have been overwhelmingly supportive and enthusiastic about welcoming these new New Yorkers to their cities and towns.

Lawyers for New York City, Onondaga County and the hotel owners are due in court Friday to make their case of why the temporary restraining orders should be made permanent or lifted.

At that hearing, Antonacci is expected to set deadlines for New York City and the hotel to submit their responses to the lawsuit and supporting affidavits.

RELATED STORIES

Onondaga County judge issues 2 temporary orders blocking hotel from housing migrants

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Onondaga County sues New York City to keep migrants out of Salina hotel

Central NY hotel expecting busload of migrants has been kicking out long-term residents

NYC to send first bus of migrants to Onondaga County, town official says

Sheriff wont enforce order to stop migrants coming to Onondaga County

Ryan McMahon issues emergency order banning migrant transfer to Onondaga County

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
While many officials are attempting to block asylum seekers from being bused in from New York City, at least one Upstate New York county says it will welcome them with open arms.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Tuesday that an unknown number of people who have been forced out of their own countries by authoritarian rulers or for other serious life-threatening reasons are expected to arrive soon in the Buffalo area. And none of them will be turned away, he said.

These individuals are all legally in the country seeking asylum, have been vetted by federal authorities prior to arriving here and will be coming from New York City. While we do not yet know where they will be housed, I have been assured the costs associated with their housing, food, and other supportive services will be paid for by either New York State or New York City. The asylum seekers coming here are enduring the most difficult situation of their lives, something we should all consider, and are deserving of our respect, compassion and dignity as they work to start a new life in our country, Poloncarz said in a statement.

Thats a very different approach from other counties, including Onondaga County, Broome County, Cayuga County, Dutchess County, Monroe County, Niagara County, Oneida County, Rockland County, Saratoga County and Suffolk County, that issued emergency orders or filed lawsuits to block migrants from being transported to and/or housed in their counties. (In Albany County, an emergency order doesnt ban migrants from coming, but does block any businesses, including motels, or people from bringing migrants or asylum seekers to the county without the countys permission.) An attorney for Onondaga County said Wednesday that New York City agreed to abide by a court order temporarily blocking a plan to transport up to 200 migrants to a hotel in Salina.

More than 70,000 migrants have arrived in NYC from the southern border in Mexico over the past few months, including 5,800 new arrivals last week after Title 42 ended and 4,200 the week before that. Migrants were expected to start being bused to the citys suburbs and other parts of the state this week, when most counties pushed back largely due to concerns over a lack of available housing.

Poloncarz, a Democrat, said Erie County has welcomed approximately 12,000 refugees over the past decade without the ridiculous fears stoked by xenophobic and ill-informed community members.

Some stay here and some move on but all of these people come here seeking to build their own American dream, provide for themselves and their families, and become productive members of our society, Poloncarz said. These people are not a threat to our community and are only looking for the opportunity to pursue their dream of living in a free, democratic society. Our country is a light to the world and they have followed that light here to Erie County and beyond.

Erie County has always been a welcoming community and will continue to be one for these asylum- seekers and others as they come here on their journey to a better life. Unless we are Native Americans, our relatives all came to America from somewhere else, hoping to take part in the promise of America. That promise is alive and well in Erie County today.

Poloncarz isnt alone in his optimism. The Ithaca Times reports there are no plans to move migrants to Tompkins County, but leaders said they may be in a position to welcome asylum seekers.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, however, told WGRZ that hes had no communication with Poloncarz or New York City officials about where migrants will potentially be housed in Erie Countys largest city.

I have no places set up at this point, Brown said. No one has said that any migrants are going to come here. So we would look for guidance from the federal government from the state government, wed want that communication.

In the meantime, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYC Mayor Eric Adams have asked the federal government to help with speeding up work permits for migrants, hoping it can reduce the need for temporary shelters and help the state of New York with a labor shortage.

When I speak to the asylum seekers, they state clearly We dont want your free room and board. We want to work, Adams said Monday.

Hochul also said shes considering using some SUNY campuses to house asylum seekers. Specific locations have not been named, but many college dorms are emptying as the spring semester ends.

Reactions to county migrant ban: disheartening, a travesty (Your Letters)

NY GOP leaders lash out at Biden, Hochul over migrant crisis
KYODO NEWS - May 24, 2023 - 10:35 | World, All

China's new ambassador to the United States arrived Tuesday in New York, the Chinese Embassy said, shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden said he believes heightened bilateral tensions will "thaw very shortly."

Xie Feng, a former vice foreign minister and a specialist in China-U.S. relations, fills the post vacated by Qin Gang, who became foreign minister last December.

Sino-U.S. relations are facing "serious difficulties and challenges," Xie told reporters at a New York airport.

But he added the two countries should work together to "manage differences" by properly handling sensitive issues such as Taiwan, while expanding dialogue and cooperation to return bilateral ties to the right track, according to the embassy.

At the conclusion of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima on Sunday, Biden expressed optimism over U.S.-China relations at a press conference, although he did not provide a reason.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press briefing Tuesday that Washington "welcomes the arrival" of Xie and looks forward to working with him.

"We remain committed, as we've said on a number of occasions, to maintaining channels of communication" with China "to responsibly manage competition," he said.

Tensions between the world's two largest economies have been running high over Taiwan and an incident in February that saw a Chinese balloon fly over sensitive areas of the continental United States, in what Washington claimed was a surveillance operation.

Communist-led China regards the self-ruled democratic island as a renegade province to be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Beijing sharply reacted to a meeting between Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and then U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi last August and her talks with Pelosi's successor Kevin McCarthy in April.

U.S. political news website Politico reported Monday that Xie was selected as ambassador over Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying, a former spokeswoman known for her sharp-tongued pushback against foreign critics.

Earlier this month, Biden's top security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's chief diplomat Wang Yi held more than eight hours of what both governments called "candid, substantive and constructive" talks in Vienna, suggesting that nascent efforts to ease the countries' diplomatic stalemate are under way.

Later this week, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is scheduled to visit the United States and hold talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

Related coverage:

Biden says U.S.-China tensions to "thaw very shortly"

FOCUS: Biden leaves Hiroshima with slight change in tone on China

U.S., Papua New Guinea sign defense pact amid competition with China
NiInJa BHPian



Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Pune Posts: 995 Thanked: 3,277 Times

Re: Work From Home (WFH): Is this the future for many? Quote: nettooran Originally Posted by As a family man, I see a lot of benefits in WFH. I am able to spend more than enough time with my kid. ....I have great flexibility in my work timing.



But that said, WFH has been a disaster for me professionally. I became very complacent with my work. I stopped being competitive.



So, would I change jobs or change location to start working from office? I do not know. Sometimes I feel I should do that ... For one year in 2016, I did join a company where I had to waste time commuting, left that work in order to save my career (different story) but since then, I've decided to not join a company where mandatory office for 5 days is absolutely necessary, unless I run out of options. I've learnt and experienced that one can go to office for five days and still be complacent and less competitive if he is not motivated enough. I can safely say that I am as productive working from home as I would be if working from office.



WFH has its benefits, but there are some real risks as mentioned above. I think I have overcome most of them. I have been following some basic discipline religiously since last 6 years and have worked out well so far. Do note that it took a lot of time to master this, and I did struggle to get it right during the covid years when my kid was a year old and no domestic help was available.



If you are billing your client for 8 hours of work, you HAVE to make yourself available for 8 hours of the day. I don't mix other activities with the 8 hour slots I have for the day. These 8 hours are not fixed, I have to keep them flexible based on my project and how people working from other time-zones are available. For example, Currently, I make myself fully available from 9.30 to 11 AM. Then again from 2.30PM to 9.30PM



So during those 8 work hours:



1. No playing with the kid. Have kept a nanny to look after him now. I've conditioned him to understand that he should not disturb me during office hours and he follows it.

2. No gossip with wife, friends or parents. They get irritated sometimes that I have no time for conversations, but I can't help it. Talking with office colleagues of teams is allowed

3. No parallel whatsapp chatting, the only time I check them is during lunch or dinner or during non working hours. I've deliberately not kept my phone charger in my office room, so for the most part it stays away from my hands, and its always silent. I don't wear smartwatch during work hours so no irritating notifications.

4. No urban-company scheduling of cleaning or fixing anything, everything is kept for weekends.

5. No delivery of non-essential items during office hours. I literally had to fight with my better half on this, as she would order anything and everything online and the door-bell would constantly ring, every 1 or 2 hours, breaking my train of thought or disrupting my work momentum.

6. No going out for chores or to have coffee just because I have light day at work. It turns into a habit, and then becomes a 'normal' behaviour.

7. No eating (this took longest time to adjust, but we simply stopped stashing unhealthy food items at home). Breakfast, snack time , lunch are all excluded from these work hours.

8. Office room door remains closed and no TV or web-series (missed out on lot of live IPL action due to this, but again, can't help )

9. Reading and posting content is limited only to team-bhp.com. Bigger posts like these are kept for after office hours. Reading content does not consume time the way watching videos does. It still can waste a lot of time though, so it boils down to self control.



Apart from these points, I have kept the hybrid model of work active. When I need absolute undivided attention for 8 hours in a stretch, I go to a shared workspace for which my current office happily pays. My previous office used to meet up for one day mandatorily after every 15 days.



A clear and strict self-imposed distinction in work hours and non office hours has made a lot of difference. I have my personal targets automatically set and achieved due do this. For example, If I miss the usual morning run before breakfast and and before 9.30AM, the day is gone for me, I don't use any other slot for my run. So that automatically forces me to wake up and get going. After 9.30PM, I can waste my time guilt-free watching reels on Instagram. Similarly, I have my timings conveyed to all team members (it is mentioned in my team's status bar), people don't ping me during those times nor do I respond immediately to mails or chats during my non work hours.



Lastly, nothing motivates more than strict deadlines and being asked to report about it by another person. I make a point to tell my boss to diligently follow up on my tasks so there is no room for complacency. I have been working from home since 2014For one year in 2016, I did join a company where I had to waste time commuting, left that work in order to save my career (different story) but since then, I've decided to not join a company where mandatory office for 5 days is absolutely necessary, unless I run out of options. I've learnt and experienced that one can go to office for five days and still be complacent and less competitive if he is not motivated enough. I can safely say that I am as productive working from home as I would be if working from office.WFH has its benefits, but there are some real risks as mentioned above. I think I have overcome most of them. I have been following some basic discipline religiously since last 6 years and have worked out well so far. Do note that it took a lot of time to master this, and I did struggle to get it right during the covid years when my kid was a year old and no domestic help was available.If you are billing your client for 8 hours of work, you HAVE to make yourself available for 8 hours of the day. I don't mix other activities with the 8 hour slots I have for the day. These 8 hours are not fixed, I have to keep them flexible based on my project and how people working from other time-zones are available. For example, Currently, I make myself fully available from 9.30 to 11 AM. Then again from 2.30PM to 9.30PMSo during those 8 work hours:1. No playing with the kid. Have kept a nanny to look after him now. I've conditioned him to understand that he should not disturb me during office hours and he follows it.2. No gossip with wife, friends or parents. They get irritated sometimes that I have no time for conversations, but I can't help it. Talking with office colleagues of teams is allowed3. No parallel whatsapp chatting, the only time I check them is during lunch or dinner or during non working hours. I've deliberately not kept my phone charger in my office room, so for the most part it stays away from my hands, and its always silent. I don't wear smartwatch during work hours so no irritating notifications.4. No urban-company scheduling of cleaning or fixing anything, everything is kept for weekends.5. No delivery of non-essential items during office hours. I literally had to fight with my better half on this, as she would order anything and everything online and the door-bell would constantly ring, every 1 or 2 hours, breaking my train of thought or disrupting my work momentum.6. No going out for chores or to have coffee just because I have light day at work. It turns into a habit, and then becomes a 'normal' behaviour.7. No eating (this took longest time to adjust, but we simply stopped stashing unhealthy food items at home). Breakfast, snack time , lunch are all excluded from these work hours.8. Office room door remains closed and no TV or web-series (missed out on lot of live IPL action due to this, but again, can't help9. Reading and posting content is limited only to team-bhp.com. Bigger posts like these are kept for after office hours. Reading content does not consume time the way watching videos does. It still can waste a lot of time though, so it boils down to self control.Apart from these points, I have kept the hybrid model of work active. When I need absolute undivided attention for 8 hours in a stretch, I go to a shared workspace for which my current office happily pays. My previous office used to meet up for one day mandatorily after every 15 days.A clear and strict self-imposed distinction in work hours and non office hours has made a lot of difference. I have my personal targets automatically set and achieved due do this. For example, If I miss the usual morning run before breakfast and and before 9.30AM, the day is gone for me, I don't use any other slot for my run. So that automatically forces me to wake up and get going. After 9.30PM, I can waste my time guilt-free watching reels on Instagram. Similarly, I have my timings conveyed to all team members (it is mentioned in my team's status bar), people don't ping me during those times nor do I respond immediately to mails or chats during my non work hours.Lastly, nothing motivates more than strict deadlines and being asked to report about it by another person. I make a point to tell my boss to diligently follow up on my tasks so there is no room for complacency.
Through the looking glass: Samsung unveiled new projects and upcoming foldable screens at SID Display Week 2023. The company is trying to make portable screens more mobile, increase the flexibility of foldable-screen devices, and explore the health-sensing potential of OLED technology. A new tool will also help customers navigate Samsung's OLED selection.

Samsung Display showcased a range of unique prototypes in Los Angeles this week. The exhibit included a screen that can roll like paper, an OLED that can sense a person's health, and more.

The Samsung Rollable Flex can stretch by a factor of five, from about two inches to around 10 inches. The demo unit rolls the tablet-sized screen like a scroll into a form factor similar to a phone, which could likely fit in a user's pocket. It's unclear what the Rollable Flex's maximum size might be, but the technology could make larger displays like monitors and TVs easier to transport and install.

The company also demonstrated its other flexible screen technologies it unveiled at CES, like the Flex In & Out, Flex Hybrid, and Slidable Flex Solo. Unlike conventional foldable phones that only fold inward, the Flex In & Out uses 360-degree rotation to fold inward and outward. The tech will possibly feature in the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and could lead to thinner and lighter phones.

Samsung's Flex Hybrid combines folding and sliding functionality to let one device fill multiple roles with various form factors. In January, the company demonstrated one that switched from 10.5 inches in a 4:3 aspect ratio to 12.4 inches in 16:10.

The other major exhibit was Samsung's Sensor OLED Display, which uses the unique properties of the light from OLED screens for multiple health-related and biometric functions. The technology incorporates a light-sensing organic photodiode embedded in the panel, which detects reflected OLED light.

The new tech can offer a new way to measure health-related functions. For example, the contraction and relaxation of blood vessels in the finger affect how OLED light reflects. So by touching the screen with two fingers, the device can measure heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels.

A 77-inch Samsung QD-OLED TV and a 49-inch QD-OLED ultra-wide monitor also appeared at the event. Additionally, the company promoted its OLED Finder service, a website with accessible information about Samsung's range of OLED panels.
A hot potato: Dr. Timnit Gebru, the former Google AI researcher who was fired from the company in December 2020 after she tried to speak out against unethical AI, has once again warned about where artificial intelligence is heading. She said that because of the current AI "gold rush," companies won't self-regulate unless they are pressured.

Gebru's firing from Google (the company claims she resigned) as co-leader of its ethical AI team came after she co-authored an academic paper that warned of the inherent biases within AI. Gebru said senior managers at Google demanded the paper be withdrawn, or her name and those of her colleagues be removed from it. Gebru refused the demands, and the paper ultimately led to her departure. The decision caused outrage among Google's workers and was one of the incidents that led to 225 employees forming a union.

Gebru spoke about her experiences to The Guardian. She also had a warning about the current race among companies to introduce better, more powerful AI systems. "It feels like a gold rush," says Gebru. "In fact, it is a gold rush. And a lot of the people who are making money are not the people actually in the midst of it. But it's humans who decide whether all this should be done or not. We should remember that we have the agency to do that."

The AI specialist added that the rush to be the top artificial intelligence company means that many are ignoring safety precautions. "Unless there is external pressure to do something different, companies are not just going to self-regulate," Gebru said. "We need regulation and we need something better than just a profit motive."

It's fair to say that 2023 is becoming the year that AI really takes off. But the technology brings with it plenty of fears. Job losses are an especially contentious area; Wendy's, IBM, and Bluefocus Intelligent Communications Group have announced plans to replace human jobs with AIs. These systems are often used to replace HR positions, too, something that most people don't want to see.

Beyond job losses, there are others who share Gebru's fears about where AI could lead without regulation. Warren Buffett compared its advancement to the development of the atomic bomb, and over two-thirds of Americans believe it could threaten civilization.

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI, left Google recently over the risks of emerging artificial intelligence tech. He warned that as companies take advantage of more powerful AI systems, they're becoming increasingly dangerous. Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called for more regulation, though some say this plea is only to stifle innovation and help his company stay on top rather than for the good of humanity.

Masthead: TechCrunch
A hot potato: Windows 365 Cloud PC is Microsoft's offering for the modern hybrid workspace, as paying Redmond $20 per month to access an always-on, secure custom Windows installation is seemingly better than using a cheap laptop you buy yourself. Now, Windows in the cloud is even easier thanks to a new remote boot feature.

Microsoft is improving its Windows 365 Cloud PC service with Windows 365 Boot, a Windows 11 exclusive feature designed to boot a local machine directly into a remote Windows 365 Cloud PC virtualized image. The company thinks this cloud approach to computing provides better security to users that need their own custom system while being on a shared device.

With Windows 365 Boot, Microsoft engineer Andrew Miyasato explains, when a worker logs in with their "unique" user identity, they can enter their own personal and secure Cloud PC. Users could achieve exactly the same result by creating (or asking the IT admin to create) a new user in a local Windows installation, but Microsoft doesn't seem particularly keen about this simpler, more traditional solution as local users don't need to pay every month to access their Cloud PC account.

Microsoft thinks Windows 365 Boot and Windows 365 Cloud PC are the right answers for organizations employing shift workers in customer support, healthcare, or other frontline roles. The idea is for a worker to log in to their cloud PC account for eight hours, then give room to their colleague during the next shift and so on. Again, this scenario could also be easily managed with a multi-user setup, a feat Windows has been capable of since the NT 3.1 days.

Windows 365 Boot seemingly is a "much-anticipated" feature Microsoft is now introducing in public preview for eligible customers. Cloud boot requirements include Windows 11-based endpoints (Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise), enrollment in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program, Microsoft Intune Administrator rights, and of course a Windows 365 Cloud PC license.

Users need to follow a convoluted process to push the Windows 365 Boot components to their Windows 11 (22H2) endpoint machine. After Windows 365 Boot activation, Microsoft explains, the lock screen will be the Windows 11 screen. From there, users can log in with their Microsoft account to seamlessly connect to their Cloud PC virtualized OS.

Microsoft has yet to provide any final date for when the Windows 365 Boot preview tech will become generally available. For now, the Redmond corporation is inviting its most passionate fans to join the upcoming Windows in the Cloud episode scheduled for June 7. The podcast will provide all the info needed to learn how to properly deploy the Windows 365 Boot feature.

Microsoft seems to be incredibly fond of this cloud PC idea. Besides Windows 365 Cloud PC and Windows 365 Cloud Boot, the company is also working on yet another Azure service designed for developers: Microsoft Dev Box is a pre-configured, Windows-based cloud space that programmers can customize to manage specific code projects.
Why it matters: The CHIPS Act was designed to boost American chip manufacturing, while export rules were imposed on Chinese companies to prevent them from catching up with the rest of the global industry. At the same time, American companies like Nvidia are worried that shutting down access to China has the potential to damage the very industry that regulators are trying to protect.

Earlier this week, the Chinese government banned the use of Micron chips on critical infrastructure. The move is widely seen as a retaliation against US sanctions affecting many Chinese chipmakers looking to upgrade their lithography equipment. After all, Beijing regularly complains about semiconductor export curbs that restrict its ability to keep its local chip industry running.

China's chipmaking ambitions are also hampered by CHIPS Act requirements, and we've written at length about their impact on the global supply chain. A side effect of those rules is that American companies which are still operating in China now have to deal with an additional layer of uncertainty as well as the possibility of losing out on government subsidies.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told the Financial Times during an interview that he believes the tech industry faces a serious risk from the escalating trade war between China and the US. Huang explained that US sanctions against Chinese chipmakers have dealt an indirect blow to American counterparts, leaving them with "our hands tied behind our back" and limiting their ability to sell chips to Chinese customers.

Of course, the Nvidia executive is referring to the fact that China is a big market that can't simply be ignored, regardless of geopolitical tensions. Just like in the US, there is a large appetite in the region for things like GPUs and AI accelerators, so companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Intel stand to lose billions in revenue if they aren't allowed to sell their high-end products to Chinese enterprises.

Huang called on US lawmakers to be more "thoughtful" about escalating the trade war with China as it also has the potential to harm the ambitions behind the CHIPS Act. The idea is to build more chip fabs on American soil for supply chain resilience, but if demand drops as a result of trade restrictions, the US could end up with more capacity than it needs.

South Korean chipmakers like Samsung and SK Hynix share the same concerns, and they're also calling on US lawmakers to review criteria for chip subsidies. The two companies believe the CHIPS Act provisions impose harsh restrictions on building new facilities in countries like China, and they're asking for the limits to be raised from five percent of total capacity to 10 percent for applicants to CHIPS Act subsidies.

In related news, Mike Gallagher  chairman of the US House of Representatives committee on China  called on the Commerce Department to respond to the Micron ban by adding ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to the Entity List. He believes "the US must make clear to the PRC that it will not tolerate economic coercion against its companies or its allies."
Singapore may just be capitalizing on the ongoing tech rivalry between the United States and China, particularly in the field of semiconductor sales, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Recent data from Chinese Customs reveals that China imported chipmaking machinery worth US$407 million (S$548 million) from Singapore in April, marking the highest value since August 2022. This represents a 9.6% increase from March, contradicting the overall trend of declining semiconductor exports to China.

In contrast, China's total imports of chipmaking equipment in April decreased by 27% compared to the previous year.

Additionally, Singapore witnessed a 3.5% growth in its shipments of integrated circuit chips to China in April when compared to March.

Positive Development

This positive development sets Singapore apart from other major Asian chip suppliers, as they experienced a decline in their chip exports to the world's second-largest economy, aligning with the trend observed in chip fabrication machinery, according to Bloomberg's report.

In February, during an interview, Dr. Beh Swan Gin, the former chairman of Singapore's Economic Development Board, expressed Singapore's objective of securing a proportionate portion of investments in semiconductor assembly and integrated circuit design.

This goal arises from the growing interest of leading global tech and electronics companies in seeking geographical diversification.

By exploring options beyond China and the chipmaking hubs of Taiwan and South Korea, these companies are opening up significant opportunities for places such as Singapore to leverage and benefit from.

Noteworthy players in Singapore's semiconductor industry include Applied Materials, which manufactures chipmaking machinery locally, and chipmakers such as Soitec, GlobalFoundries, and STMicroelectronics.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is reportedly contemplating the construction of a fabrication plant in Singapore to produce 12-inch silicon wafers. This decision comes as Singapore offers attractive tax incentives and subsidies on utility costs, as reported in Taiwan.

Furthermore, suppliers to ASML Holding are also considering establishing plants in Southeast Asia instead of China, according to Reuters.

Read Also: US Blacklists Chinese Entities Linked to Beijing's Aerospace Programs Following Spy Balloon Takedown

US-China Tech War

As tensions between the US and China continue to rise, Singapore expresses its readiness to mediate and foster a constructive dialogue between the two economic powerhouses.

A complex interplay of various factors drives the tech war between the US and China. One significant aspect is the trade imbalances between the two countries, particularly in the technology sector.

The US has long accused China of engaging in unfair trade practices, such as intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer. These practices have fueled concerns about protecting American companies' innovations and losing economic advantage.

Related Article: China's Semiconductor Industry Sees Huge Demand in Chip Industry for 2024: Here's What The Nation is Doing to Solve it

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CEO Elon Musk revealed that automaker Tesla is planning to reveal the next location for its newest addition of Gigafactory by the end of 2023. This follows the Mexican facility, announced earlier this year.

(Photo : Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - APRIL 04: General view of Gruenheide Tesla Gigafactory production plant on April 04, 2023 near Gruenheide, Germany. Tesla produced a record 440,000 cars in the first quarter of 2023. The company is scheduled to release first quarter financial results on April 19.

Revealing New Plant's Location

Telsa would probably pick the location for its newest addition of manufacturing facility by the end of this year. According to a report from Reuters, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk revealed this when Wall Street Journal's Thorold Barker asked the question during an interview for WSJ CEO Council Summit.

Twitter is reinventing itself as a private company. Tesla continues to lead the electric vehicle revolution amid rising competition. SpaceX is commodifying space access. We speak with @elonmusk about whats next for his business empire. https://t.co/3oJixQPxJy  WSJ Live Journalism (@WSJLive) May 23, 2023

This confirms months of speculation has several locations across the global spar in an attempt to win over the next manufacturing plant of Tesla. Currently, the automaker is operating several production facilities across the world, including Fremont, California, Austin, Texas, Berlin, Germany, and Shanghai, China.

No confirmations yet from the company as to where the next plant could end up. But Tesla is serious about its plan to establish its next plant in a different location outside the United States, as an effort to expand its global output. This includes India and France, which follow the Mexican plant announced by the company and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last March.

India Gigafactory or France Gigafactory?

Teslarati reported that among the several countries that are rumored to be Tesla's next location for its new Gigafactory, India might be the chosen one as it has seemed favorable to the company. When Musk was asked if he is interested in India being its next location, the CEO responded, "Absolutely."

However, Musk recently met with France President Emmanuel Macron along with other business chiefs a few weeks ago, in an effort to urge companies to invest in the country. Musk revealed he becomes hopeful with the discussion to make a significant investment in the future.

He was impressed with the government's outlook and how they are welcoming the EV industry. Meeting with the French president comes at perfect timing as Tesla has been wanting to secure a deal for an additional factory outside the United States, especially in Europe.

This meeting comes just days after the announcement of France's first step towards countering US President Joe Biden's Buy American green subsidies package. As per Macron, he would alter existing measures and restrictions as a way to encourage green vehicle purchases to reward companies by the end of the year.

Also Read: Elon Musk's Optimus Prediction: Demand for Tesla Bot Could Reach 20 Billion Units!

As of the moment, Tesla is already on a good track to achieve its 1.8 million unit production bogey for this year. However, Musk stated that the company has the capacity to produce 2 million units per year. Facilities in Fremont and Shanghai already produce vehicles at max capacity, hence Musk's interest to build a new facility.

Related Artice: Tesla to Build its Sixth Gigafactory in Mexico

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KYODO NEWS - May 24, 2023 - 18:20 | All, Japan

Police arrested a Kyoto resident on Wednesday on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly poisoning his aunt with thallium in a financially motivated crime in 2020.

Kazuki Miyamoto, 37, is already under indictment for the poisoning murder last year of Hinako Hamano. The 21-year-old Ritsumeikan University student died after ingesting thallium, a highly toxic substance once widely used in rat poison.

Miyamoto's 61-year-old aunt was hospitalized due to the alleged poisoning in mid-July 2020 and remains unconscious, the Osaka prefectural police said.

Following her incapacitation, he became the head of a real estate firm she owned in October of the same year.

According to the police, Miyamoto's aunt began complaining of stomach pain in July 2020. Tests of her urine and blood serum showed traces of thallium.

The suspect has remained mum over the allegation of poisoning his aunt, the police said.

Miyamoto stepped down from his post at the firm after he was arrested and indicted in March this year over the alleged murder of Hamano.

According to the indictment in the case of Hamano, then a third-year student at the private university in Kyoto, Miyamoto got her to ingest the toxic substance while at her home in Kyoto around Oct. 12.

The thallium poisoning caused her to die of acute respiratory distress syndrome, which prevents the lungs from providing sufficient oxygen to vital organs.

The police said lethal amounts of thallium were found in her vomit and urine.

Related coverage:

Kyoto man allegedly murdered female univ. student with poison
A new target has caught the attention of Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old college student who gained notoriety after being banned from Twitter for tracking Elon Musk's private jet. This time, Sweeney is looking to track the aircraft of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, according to a report by AP.



Using the Twitter account @DeSantisJet, Sweeney recently posted his first tweet, which aims to track the movements of the official Florida jet of Governor DeSantis for state business.



Similar to his previous tracker for Musk's jet, Sweeney's DeSantis tracker relies on publicly available flight information mandated by aviation authorities.

Extending Tracking Capabilities

During an interview with The Associated Press, Sweeney revealed his plans to extend his tracking capabilities to include other private aircraft used by Governor DeSantis once he can identify them.



Similar to Sweeney's updated version of his Elon Musk tracker (@elonjet), the DeSantis Twitter tracker operates with a 24-hour delay in reporting flight movements.



This adjustment aligns with a rule modification implemented by Twitter shortly after suspending Sweeney's original Musk tracking account in December.

It is worth noting that the suspension occurred not long after Elon Musk acquired the social media platform for a staggering $44 billion. Eventually, Sweeney's Twitter account was reinstated.

By exclusively relying on publicly available data, Sweeney's tracker effectively circumvents a recently enacted Florida law, according to AP.

Governor DeSantis signed this law on May 11, which mandates state law enforcement agencies to keep the governor's travel records confidential.

Aside from tracking Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis, Sweeney, he also monitors the movements of various private jets used by politicians, technology moguls, and celebrities. This extensive list includes former President Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos as well as Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian.



In addition to Twitter, Sweeney's DeSantis tracker can be found on various social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. He has also expanded his presence to smaller sites like Telegram, Mastodon, and Nostr.



Notably, his Musk tracker utilizes accounts on BlueSky, an emerging alternative to Twitter, and Truth, a social network founded by Donald Trump. However, it is only the Twitter-based trackers that has the 24-hour delay in reporting.

Read Also: Elon Musk: Twitter Blue Subscription Now Allows 8GB Video Uploads! Fans Share How They'll Use It

Person of Interest

According to Sweeney, Governor DeSantis has become an individual of interest, stating that "people want to know about him."



This is due to the fact that the Florida Republican has shown indications of preparing for a potential presidential run in the 2024 election, putting him in competition with Donald Trump and other declared candidates.



According to two individuals familiar with the matter, as reported by The AP, Governor DeSantis is set to kick off his presidential campaign with a Twitter Spaces chat alongside Elon Musk on Wednesday.

Related Article: Majority of US Twitter Users Took Break After Elon Musk's Take Over-Pew Research Reveals

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California is urging the Biden administration to expedite the electrification of vehicles by 2035, requiring all new vehicles sold in the state to be electric or plug-in electric hybrids.



This proposal, aimed at accelerating the transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles, was detailed in a letter obtained by Reuters.



The California Air Resources Board (CARB), which granted approval to the plan in August, has formally requested the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act.



This waiver would enable the implementation of new regulations, setting progressively increasing requirements for zero-emission vehicles starting in 2026 and ultimately phasing out the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035.

Phasing Out Gasoline-only Vehicles

According to CARB Executive Officer Steven Cliff, the introduction of these vehicles will effectively replace emissions generated by traditional vehicles. Cliff emphasized that motor vehicles and other mobile sources play a substantial role in California's overall emissions.



The Biden administration has yet to endorse a specific date for phasing out gasoline-only vehicles, but the EPA has assured that California's request will undergo a thorough and transparent evaluation, following the established public process.



According to an EPA proposal released in April, automakers are projected to manufacture 60% electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030 and 67% by 2032 to fulfill emission requirements.



These figures stand in stark contrast to the mere 5.8% of vehicles sold in the United States in 2022 that were electric.



California's ambitious regulations on zero-emission vehicles aim to achieve a 25% reduction in smog-causing pollution from light-duty vehicles by 2037.



According to the regulations, starting from 2026, a minimum of 35% of newly sold cars must be plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV), EVs, or powered by hydrogen fuel cells. This percentage will gradually increase, reaching 68% by 2030 and ultimately reaching 100% by 2035.



The comprehensive waiver request submitted by California spans 60 pages and projects a cost of $210.35 billion for the implementation of the zero-emission rules until 2040.

However, the estimated total benefits are expected to surpass the costs, amounting to $301.41 billion.

Read Also: NIO Suggests Unique Approach to Replace EV Batteries, Swapping Depleted Batteries for New Ones

Several States Follow Suit

Several states have embraced California's stringent electric vehicle regulations, surpassing the proposals put forth by the Biden administration.



In recent weeks, Rhode Island aligned with Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington by adopting the California requirements.



By 2035, CARB's regulations would grant automakers the flexibility to sell a maximum of 20% PHEVs, provided they meet the minimum requirement of a 50-mile all-electric range label. This approach facilitates a transitional phase while encouraging the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

The electrification of vehicles is a crucial step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change.

California's bold push to fast-track the electrification of vehicles sets a precedent and could serve as a catalyst for similar actions across the country.

By phasing out gasoline-only vehicles and promoting zero-emission alternatives, California aims to create a cleaner and more sustainable transportation future.

Related Article: Lexus Unveils First All-Electric RZ 450e, Beginning Transforming Into All-electric Brand: Here's What it Offers

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California-based startup, Figure has achieved a tremendous feat by securing a substantial $70 million in its initial round of external funding.

Reuters reports that this successful endeavor, led by Parkway Venture Capital, will propel the development of Figure's versatile humanoid robots.

According to the same report, the primary focus of this investment will be to expedite the manufacturing and production processes as Figure prepares to unveil its first autonomous humanoid in the coming months.

While the exact valuation of the one-year-old company remains undisclosed, insiders estimate it to surpass an impressive $400 million.

Read Also: Microsoft Store to Bring AI Tab Featuring All Apps with It, AI-Generated Reviews to Summarize Insights

Among the roster of investors participating in this funding round, founder and CEO Brett Adcock made a personal investment of $20 million, showcasing his unwavering belief in the company's potential.

Other notable contributors include Aliya Capital and Bold Ventures, underscoring the widespread confidence in Figure's groundbreaking endeavors.

What is Figure?

Figure's humanoid robots are purposefully designed to excel in various environments and carry out various tasks, from warehouse operations to retail settings.

Figure claims that it will help fill 10 million vacant jobs in the United States, particularly in warehouses, transportation, and retail.

The company asserts its ultimate objective is to deploy autonomous humanoid employees to support global business operations.

With an eye toward commercialization, Figure has already entered into discussions with retailers to explore potential collaborations for their innovative robots.

The Humanoid Robot Market

Setting itself apart from industry giants like Boston Dynamics and Amazon Robotics, Figure's CEO Adcock emphasizes the development of robots capable of tackling general-purpose tasks.

Additionally, the ultimate objective is to imbue Figure's robots with the ability to learn and interact with their surroundings, granting them even greater flexibility and adaptability.

"Our firm belief is that general-purpose humanoid robots hold far greater potential than their single-purpose counterparts," Adcock asserts.

"By integrating these robots into the workforce, we can effectively address labor shortages and eventually eliminate the need for hazardous or undesirable jobs."

Commercially Viable Humanoid Robots

The quest for commercially viable humanoid robots has ignited a competitive race, attracting both established tech giants and ambitious startups.

Tesla, under the leadership of CEO Elon Musk, unveiled a prototype of its humanoid robot, affectionately named 'Optimus,' last year.

Musk expressed confidence that Tesla would be capable of accepting orders for the robot within the next three to five years, with an expected price tag of under $20,000. He also recently forecasted that demand for robots could reach 20 billion units.

The burgeoning interest in humanoid robots stems from their potential to revolutionize industries by automating tasks traditionally reliant on human intervention.

From manufacturing to customer service, these versatile robots have the power to significantly enhance productivity, efficiency, and safety across many sectors.

Moreover, deploying humanoid robots solves labor shortages, particularly in physically demanding or repetitive jobs. By replacing humans in these roles, companies can reduce the risk of work-related injuries while streamlining operations and optimizing resource allocation.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

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Archaeologists from the University of Alicante have made an intriguing discovery that unveils the rich artistic history of Spain's Penaguila region.

Through the use of cutting-edge technology, they have identified Neolithic cave paintings dating back 7,000 years, reported first by Heritage Daily.

Neolithic Cave Paintings

The team's remarkable find was made during a drone survey of the Castellet-Barranc del Salt ravine and Port de Penaguila, providing unprecedented access to previously inaccessible mountain shelters.



The researchers employed small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with cameras to capture detailed photographs and record videos of the walls within 18 shallow cavities. Within two of these shelters, the team stumbled upon cave paintings that offer a fascinating glimpse into the past.



The del Salt ravine, in particular, features captivating depictions of anthropomorphic archers alongside images of deer and goats. Notably, some of the animals appear wounded, struck by arrows, yet immortalized by the ancient artists.



These cave paintings also include representations in a schematic style that pose challenges in interpretation. However, dedicated study and analysis of this unique art form will undoubtedly contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the Neolithic period and the evolution of cave art in the region.



Molina Hernandez, an archaeologist and skilled drone pilot involved in the project, expressed enthusiasm about the significance of their findings.



Hernandez stated that the utilization of drones had yielded a significant finding -a previously unknown site showcasing prehistoric cave paintings of diverse styles.

The team has ambitious plans for the future, intending to conduct a comprehensive project focused on archaeological prospecting and documentation of these invaluable paintings.

Read Also: 2,000-Year-Old Cave Art May Suggest that Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers Were the First to Use a Calendar - New Study

Most Prominent Rock Art Site

The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated. It ranks among the most prominent Neolithic rock art sites ever documented in the Valencian Community, according to the research team.



It is anticipated that this extraordinary find will serve as the catalyst for numerous future discoveries in the region, hidden away in remote shelters that have remained unnoticed for centuries due to their challenging accessibility.

The General Directorate of Culture and Heritage of the Generalitat Valenciana has received official notification regarding this remarkable archaeological discovery.



The credibility and importance of the discovery have been substantiated through the thorough exploration of the cave, made possible through the collaborative efforts of climbers Alex Mora i Monllor and Natxo Gomez Ors.

This remarkable discovery not only provides a glimpse into the artistic prowess of our Neolithic ancestors but also underscores the crucial role of advanced technologies in archaeological research.



Drones have proven to be invaluable tools in unveiling hidden treasures and unraveling the mysteries of our past. The newfound cave paintings stand as a testament to the richness of human history, sparking a renewed interest in exploring and preserving cultural heritage.

Related Article: Archaeologists Find an Extremely Rare 1,300-year-old Gold and Gemstone Necklace From a Medieval Woman in England

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Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is set to impose stricter regulations on digital asset companies operating within its borders starting June 1, Reuters tells us in a report.

The shift comes as Hong Kong aims to protect retail investors and bring order to the rapidly expanding crypto industry following the 2022 collapse of crypto platform FTX.

A Closer Look at the New Regulations

All trading platforms and exchanges will be required to acquire a license under the new regulations; failure to do so may result in fines and possible imprisonment for the operators.

Additionally, operators must conduct thorough checks on their clients to ensure compliance with the ban on accepting retail traders from China, where crypto trading is prohibited.

Establishing Safer Crypto Environments

Keith Choi, interim director of intermediaries at the SFC, emphasized the significance of operators abiding by the laws and rules of the jurisdictions in which they operate. This initiative seeks to create a secure environment for investors and prevent illegal activity in the cryptocurrency space.

The SFC recently concluded a consultation on digital asset trading, receiving 152 submissions. Consequently, various measures have been proposed to enhance investor protection.

One such measure involves setting an exposure limit for retail investors. In contrast, retail trading will only be permitted for highly liquid tokens that have been in circulation for at least one year.

These measures minimize risks associated with highly volatile and less established cryptocurrencies.

Read Also: How to Improve Your Crypto Career with New Tools in 2023?

Moreover, the new regulatory system will tackle the issue of unlicensed platforms marketing their services. Elizabeth Wong, head of the SFC's fintech unit, emphasized that promoting services of unlicensed platforms through advertisements, including those endorsed by social media influencers targeting Hong Kong investors, will be deemed an offense.

Global Crypto Regulation

Hong Kong's SFC is aligning its efforts with the global trend of regulating the crypto industry.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) recently introduced the first worldwide standard for holding crypto assets.

The collapse of FTX last year raised concerns about the lack of consumer protection in the industry, prompting regulators worldwide to take action.

Latest in the Crypto Market

Despite facing regulatory challenges, the leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has demonstrated remarkable resilience.

Reuters reports that the coin's price has recently surged by 75% since the collapse of FTX, reaching $27,431 earlier this week. Even amidst the banking turmoil witnessed in the United States and Europe in March, bitcoin has consistently maintained a value above $26,000.

Starting June 1, the Hong Kong SFC will accept license applications from digital asset companies. This represents a significant milestone in Hong Kong's efforts to establish a strong regulatory framework for the crypto industry.

The primary objectives of this framework are to protect investors and foster responsible growth within the digital asset realm.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: How Copy Trading Saves Time and Effort for Crypto Traders

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A Chinese fraudster has pulled off an alarming feat of technological deception, employing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to scam a wealthy businessman out of millions of yuan.

The victim, known as Mr. Guo, became ensnared in an intricate scheme that revolved around the use of AI-generated impersonation, as confirmed by authorities.

How Scammer Used AI to Swindle Huge Sums

The Straits Times reports that the scam unfolded in April when Mr. Guo received an unsuspecting video call from an individual bearing a striking resemblance to one of his closest friends, both in appearance and voice.

Little did he know that the person on the other end of the line was a sly con artist leveraging cutting-edge AI technology to alter their facial features and vocal characteristics. These details emerged from a report published by a government-affiliated media portal in the southern city of Fuzhou.

The imposter quickly assumed the guise of Mr. Guo's trusted confidant and orchestrated an elaborate scam. Employing various manipulative tactics, the fraudster convinced Mr. Guo to transfer an astonishing sum of 4.3 million yuan (equivalent to approximately $823,000).

The fraudster concocted a compelling narrative, claiming that an acquaintance urgently required the funds to be withdrawn from a corporate bank account to secure a guarantee related to a public tender.

Read Also: Cybersecurity Expert Warns Public About Android TV Boxes Infected with Stealthy Malware

To facilitate the deception, the scammer cunningly extracted Mr. Guo's personal bank account details. Subsequently, they presented a falsified payment record, cunningly indicating that an equal amount had been wired to Mr. Guo's account.

Placing unwavering trust in the authenticity of the transaction, Mr. Guo, without verifying the actual receipt of the funds, obediently transferred two payments from his company's account, totaling the requested amount.

Only after reaching out to his friend, who had absolutely no knowledge of the transaction, Mr. Guo realized the gravity of his mistake. "I verified the face and voice of the person video-calling me, so I let down my guard," Mr. Guo ruefully lamented.

AI-Related Voice Scam On-the-Rise

Fortunately, Mr. Guo wasted no time and swiftly contacted the police, who sprang into action by promptly notifying a bank situated in a different city.

As a result of their intervention, a significant portion of the ill-gotten funds, amounting to 3.4 million yuan, was successfully recovered.

The article did not disclose the identities of the perpetrators behind this sophisticated scheme but mentioned that efforts to recoup the remaining funds were underway.

This is not the first time this modus operandi has been made public; weeks ago, we reported that a McAfee analysis disclosed that 77% of AI voice scam victims lose money because of the same gimmick. Aside from this, many US residents have also found vocal recordings on social media, becoming open targets for scammers.

While ChatGPT remains inaccessible within China's borders, Chinese users have reportedly sought alternative means, employing virtual private networks (VPNs) to access this AI-powered chatbot.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

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The Kyoto Shimbun - May 24, 2023 - 16:43 | All, Japan

A mosaic recreating "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa," an iconic woodblock print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai, has been certified by Guinness World Records for the largest number of photographs used to make the artwork.



Preschoolers, primary school students and junior high school students from Kameoka were among children nationwide who sent 40,954 photos to organizers of the project.



The children were photographed holding up paper cards on which they had written their own personal aspirations, with the photos arranged like tiles to form the mosaic.

The event to create the mosaic was organized by the Tokyo-based Kokorozashi Art Project and was co-sponsored by Kameoka City.



Organizers asked for photos to be submitted in the hope of starting a "big wave toward world peace."



A total of 3,141 Kameoka nursery school children and elementary and junior high school students took part in the project and their pictures were arranged on a computer.

A ceremony was held at Galleria Kameoka on May 5 to hand over to Kokorozashi Art Project a certificate recognizing the work as a Guinness World Record.



The mosaic as a digital photo collection of vows and oaths was approved by Guinness World Records on Dec. 29 last year.



The mosaic was printed on a two-by-three meter piece of cloth and unveiled at the site of the certification ceremony. Participants in the project approached the work and searched for their own image in the waves.

Hikaru Deguchi, chairman of the Kokorozashi Art Project, drew applause as he accepted the certificate from the Guinness World Records certifying officer at the ceremony.



A female junior high school student who wrote about her hopes of becoming a schoolteacher, said, "To become connected with so many people I don't know through the mosaic was touching."



Organizers are considering making the mosaic into a ceramic tablet and displaying it at Kyoto's Sanga Stadium Kyocera.

The Kyoto Shimbun

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KYODO NEWS - May 24, 2023 - 19:02 | All, Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is making arrangements to attend a NATO summit scheduled for July, government sources said Wednesday, as the Asian country has deepened ties with the trans-Atlantic alliance amid global security concerns.

On the sidelines of the summit in Lithuania, Kishida is expected to hold bilateral talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's plan to open a liaison office in Tokyo, the sources said.

Kishida and Stoltenberg are also likely to map out a new Japan-NATO security cooperation document, called the Individually Tailored Partnership Program, to work closely with each other in areas such as space and disinformation response, the sources said.

In 2022, Kishida became the first Japanese prime minister to join a NATO summit, as the security environment has become more complex in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has dragged on for well over a year now, and China's growing military power and assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the summit in Spain last year, Kishida expressed eagerness to update a partnership document with NATO to boost cooperation, as the Western military alliance now views Japan as a partner nation.

Kishida's attendance at the NATO gathering in Lithuania, a former part of the now-defunct Soviet Union, would come around two months after he hosted the Group of Seven summit in his constituency of Hiroshima, devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945.

Russia's war on Ukraine is certain to top the upcoming NATO summit's agenda, as the three-day G-7 meeting through Sunday, in which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in person, focused primarily on the crisis.

At the invitation of Stoltenberg, Zelenskyy is also set to take part in the NATO summit. It will be the first time for Lithuania to host the summit since joining the 31-member security alliance in 2004.

In addition to Ukraine's possible accession to NATO, the alliance's leaders are poised to exchange views on the importance of bolstering security cooperation between the Indo-Pacific region and Europe, with China in mind.

In another development, a peace summit that Zelenskyy proposed during the G-7 gathering in Hiroshima may be convened before or after the NATO event somewhere in Europe, the sources said.

A plan to set up an office of the Brussels-based NATO in Tokyo, meanwhile, was unveiled earlier this month by Japan's ambassador to the United States. However, Kishida appears to be carefully exploring the timing in consideration of its neighbors, including China and Russia.

At a parliament session on Wednesday, Kishida said he is unaware whether NATO has made an official decision to open the liaison office, with China saying the move could undermine trust among nations and harm peace and stability in the region.








KYODO NEWS - May 24, 2023 - 14:16 | All, Japan, 3/11 Fukushima

A Japanese court on Wednesday rejected local residents' calls to halt the restart of a nuclear reactor in northeastern Japan, ruling their concerns about flaws in emergency evacuation plans are not relevant as it cannot be assumed a serious accident is likely.

The Sendai District Court ruling came as Tohoku Electric Power Co. aims to resume operations at the No. 2 unit of the Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture in February 2024, becoming the first in the area hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to restart.

"It cannot be assumed that a specific danger of an accident exists that leads to the abnormal release of radioactive materials," said Presiding Judge Mitsuhiro Saito.

Given the uncertainty over the potential danger, the judge also said there is no need to take into account whether the evacuation plans are effective when handing down his decision.

The lawsuit was filed by 17 residents of the city of Ishinomaki. The plaintiffs argued the evacuation plans prepared by the city and prefectural governments are insufficient.

If an evacuation order is issued following a nuclear accident, residents will be unable to escape a 30-kilometer radius of the plant for an extended period due to traffic congestion, posing a high risk of radiation exposure, they argued.

They also claimed the traffic situation would make it unlikely that utility and local government officials could establish an inspection site for Ishinomaki residents to test whether they have been contaminated with radiation before they head to evacuation centers outside the 30-km zone.

Nobuo Hara, the 81-year-old spokesperson for the plaintiffs, told reporters they will "consult with lawyers with a view to filing an appeal."

Mitsuko Obata, a 73-year-old resident of Sendai who supported the plaintiffs, was disappointed.

"At the time (of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident), there were fears that nobody would be able to live in the whole of the Tohoku region. I don't want nuclear reactors in the devastated areas to resume operations."

Tohoku Electric sought a dismissal of the lawsuit on the basis that emergency responses, including the evacuation plans, had been approved by the country's nuclear disaster prevention council.

Following the ruling, the utility said it remains committed to pursuing the restart of the reactor in February 2024 as planned.

"The court acknowledged our claim," the company said in a statement. "We will continue to cooperate as much as possible to improve the effectiveness of the evacuation plans."

The three nuclear reactors at the Onagawa plant shut down after the plant was hit by the massive earthquake on March 11, 2011. The No. 2 reactor cleared national safety screening in February 2020 and later won local consent to resume operations.

Related coverage:

Court rejects residents' call to halt western Japan nuclear reactor

Japan court rejects halt of Kansai Electric's aging nuclear reactor
SEOUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign currency deposit fell for the fourth consecutive month last month due to a sharp decline in the U.S. dollar deposit, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

The deposit, denominated in foreign currencies, amounted to 91.39 billion U.S. dollars at the end of April, down 6.1 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It came as local companies withdrew foreign currencies from banks for import settlement payments and overseas investment.

The deposit, denominated in the U.S. dollar, dropped 5.13 billion dollars from a month earlier to 79.2 billion dollars at the end of April.

The Japanese yen and the euro deposits shrank to 5.32 billion dollars and 4.45 billion dollars each, and the Chinese yuan deposit slipped to 1.23 billion dollars.

Foreign currency deposit, owned by companies, dipped 5.41 billion dollars to 77.54 billion dollars in the cited month, while the individuals-possessed deposit reduced 0.69 billion dollars to 13.85 billion dollars. 
State Representative Danny McCormick (District 1) brings up HB 37 for a motion to consider after 82nd Day as the Louisiana Hose of Representatives work to finish up before the end of the session on Sunday, June 5, 2022 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
On Tuesday, the Australian boss of Rupert Murdochs media empire batted away suggestions that his organisation had played a major role in contributing to Stan Grants decision to take indefinite leave from the ABC through a sustained campaign of criticism.

ABC director of news Justin Stevens has made a raft of unsubstantiated claims about News Corps reporting of how the ABC covered the coronation, and the ensuing fallout that Stan Grant says contributed to his decision to stand down as host of Q+A, News Corp Australias executive chairman Michael Miller told his own masthead, The Australian.

Stan Grant stood down from hosting Q+A over the racial abuse directed at him on social media. Credit: Chris Hopkins

The ABC needs to stop passing the buck and blaming others for its own internal problems, he said. His comments were a response to direct criticism from Stevens that News Corp had fanned the flames of abuse targeting Grant.

In a similar vein, Janet Albrechtsen  a regular contributor to The Australian and a former member of the ABC board  and Tom Switzer, executive director of the right-leaning Centre for Independent Studies and a presenter on ABCs Radio National, wrote on Wednesday that so far the ABC is using the Grant affair to blame News Corp for highlighting the public broadcasters editorial fiascos and increasing on-air activism, instead of recognising ABC managements failure to enforce the division between news and opinion.
Pandore 

SBS, Tuesday, 11.30pm and all episodes on SBS on Demand

Powers ability to distort and corrupt is revealed at the very start of this Belgian crime drama. An investigative judge, Claire Delval (Anne Coesens, also a co-creator), is midway through a speech celebrating the birthday of her father, a leading conservative politician, when she receives a call: his name is on an offshore account connected to a vast bribery case shes investigating, and a search warrant is about to be served. Claire says nothing, withdraws from the case, and tries to comfort her parents; nothing helps, nothing lifts the sudden burden.

Anne Coesens and Noureddine Farihi in Pandore. Credit: SBS

As an examination of Belgian society, the pinpoint incidents of this 10-part thriller quickly accumulate. Sometimes the failings are quietly incremental or blandly institutional, but others are horrifying. After a public protest at the conservative partys offices by a group of feminist activists, one of the young women  Ludivine Gilson (Salome Richard)  ends up in a parking garage where a drug deal is taking place, and she is raped by a group of young men, egging on one another in the face of her vulnerability and then torment.

Coesens and her female co-creators, the shows two directors Savina Dellicour and Vania Leturcq, thread together a complex plot in the opening episodes. A younger conservative politician, Mark Van Dyck (Yoann Blanc) accidentally witnesses the gang rape, but is too scared to intervene. He records part of it as evidence, then takes the abandoned, traumatised Ludivine to hospital, where the case becomes Claires new assignment. I did what anyone would have done, he replies when praised for rescuing Ludivine, and slowly that line becomes a damning confession that informs the entire show.
The barrister for Olympic boxer Harry Garside, who is charged with domestic violence, claims a video of the alleged incident shows her clients former partner as the aggressor.

Garside was arrested at Sydney International Airport on May 2 as he returned from filming the Network 10 reality TV series Im a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in South Africa.

Boxer Harry Garside arrives at Downing Centre Local Court with barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, (right) and lawyer Rebekah Giles (left). Credit: Kate Geraghty

The 25-year-old was taken to Mascot police station and charged with domestic violence-related common assault, following an investigation into an alleged incident involving a 32-year-old woman.

Court documents, which list an address for Garside in the Melbourne suburb of Mooroolbark, allege the assault happened between 4pm and 7pm on March 1 in Bellevue Hill, in Sydneys eastern suburbs.
I feel pretty reads the label on a pink pot with ceramic bows at the Museum of Brisbane.

Another sitting beside it has been created with colours reminiscent of confetti, while ceramic birthday candles entice art lovers with the message Welcome to the party.

The exhibition Clay: Collected Ceramics is on at the Museum of Brisbane until October. Credit: Claudia Baxter

An even smaller blue pot bearing smiley faces and rainbows gives off attitude with the words A bit much.

These are just some of the pots that are part of the collection of vibrant contemporary ceramics in the exhibition Clay: Collected Ceramics that showcases stories of Brisbane through the art form.
Two men have been pulled from the water after a boat went up in flames in Port Phillip Bay, creating plumes of black smoke that were visible from Melbournes bayside shoreline before the vessel sank.

Victoria Police confirmed it was called to a boat fire off St Kilda about 12.10pm on Wednesday.

Fire Rescue Victoria said the 13-metre-long vessel was ablaze around three kilometres off the St Kilda shoreline in Port Phillip Bay.

Crews extinguished the blaze, but the boat had suffered a significant amount of damage, and eventually sank below the waterline, a spokesman said.
A Melbourne council will rip out 160 trees it recently planted to provide shade on a barren trail after residents complained they would obstruct their coastal views.

The City of Hobsons Bay will remove every second tree of the 320 yellow boxes  eucalyptus melliodora  planted last year along the Skeleton Creek and Bay Trail at Altona Meadows in Melbournes south-west.

The view across Skeleton Creek and Bay Trail in Altona Meadows, where the yellow box trees were planted. Credit: Jason South

The decision follows a 365-signature petition from residents who complained the council didnt consult those whose homes backed onto the trail, and forecast the trees  once they matured to a height of 10-15 metres  would block their views.

The council admitted it did not speak directly to those residents  who argue that the unimpeded view adds value to their homes  before planting the trees.
HARBIN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- More than 30 cubs have been born so far this year at a major breeding center for Siberian tigers in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The feline breeding center in Hengdaohezi is estimated to see some 100 new cubs in total this year, according to the center's management authorities.

The peak breeding season for Siberian tigers is from April to June every year, said Liu Dan, deputy director of the breeding center.

The Siberian tiger is one of the world's most endangered species. China has implemented captive breeding programs as part of its efforts to conserve the species. 
A fierce dispute has broken out at a Victorian hospital over the death of an elderly woman who reportedly suffered in pain while waiting days to undergo surgery for a fractured femur.

An independent expert recently backed the opinion of a group of doctors at Bendigo Hospital who have insisted the patient should have been operated on earlier and that the death was unexpected.

The woman died after being taken to hospital last November. Credit: Stuart Layt

The woman, who was aged 87 but still living independently, was admitted to the emergency department of the hospital in late November last year after a fall, according to records of the case seen by The Age.

These records said she was scheduled to undergo surgery the next day, a Saturday, but this was delayed due to logistics.
More than 1 million visitors have flocked to The Lume in Melbournes South Wharf to walk through an immersive experience of the works of Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. Now the digital exhibition will showcase lesser-known Indigenous artists.

The digital gallerys new exhibition launching next month will feature giant projections of the work of 120 First Nations artists including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Yannima Tommy Watson.

Jess Peterson of The Lume explores the new exhibition of First Nations artists. Credit: Simon Schluter

Its a change of pace for The Lume, which is one of a booming number of multi-sensory immersive experiences around the world, which use high-definition projectors to beam a continuous loop of images of artworks onto the ceilings and walls of a room.

In New York, theres Gustav Klimt: Gold in Motion and Monets Garden: The Immersive Experience, while London is showing Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, Dali Cybernetics: The Immersive Experience and David Hockney: Bigger & Closer.
More changes have been flagged for Western Australias troubled driving test booking system on the back of claims recently implemented measures had failed to address the problem.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti announced sweeping changes to the booking system in March, blaming lengthy waits on bots bypassing rules against booking multiple tests, and on some driving instructors who were advertising guaranteed tests for those willing to pay to skip the queue.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti.

But during a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday, opposition transport spokesman Shane Love said no government action had resulted in meaningful improvement to people booking driving tests.

There are people who are going to great lengths to try to find driver assessment slots, he said.
Australia and its fellow Five Eyes security partners have called out China for a major state-sponsored hacking operation targeting critical infrastructure networks in the United States.

Technology giant Microsoft, which uncovered the hack, said the campaign had been active since the middle of 2021 and targeted critical infrastructure assets in Guam, an island in the west Pacific Ocean that is home to some of Americas most important military bases.

Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil said the government was not going to be shy about calling out state-sponsored hacking campaigns. Credit: Alex Ellinghuasen

Guam would be expected to play an important role in any future conflict between the US and China over the self-governing island of Taiwan.

Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil said: The Australian government has joined with a number of other security agencies from around the world to advise that there have been evidence-based attacks on critical infrastructure associated with the United States and that the origin of those attacks has been the Chinese government.
Anthony Albanese received a free crash course on Indian politics when he appeared on breakfast television on Wednesday, fresh from his rally the night before with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Appearing before a crowd of around 20,000 Modi devotees at Sydney Olympic Park, Albanese heaped praise on his counterpart, dubbing him the boss because he had apparently attracted a bigger crowd to the arena than rock star Bruce Springsteen.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Credit: Janie Barrett

Having done some reading on Modi, the host of Sunrise was less complimentary.

Hes sort of reduced press freedoms, he discriminates against minorities, hes accused of watering down democracy, David Koch asked. Hes sort of, he seems a bit of a tyrant?
Senator Lidia Thorpe has walked out of a parliamentary hearing after being called a disgrace to the Indigenous community by Labors assistant minister for Indigenous Australians.

Thorpe and Malarndirri McCarthy, who is also Indigenous, shouted over one another during a Senate estimates conversation about the National Indigenous Australians Agencys funding of Northern Territory police.

Thorpe repeatedly asked the federal bodys bureaucrats whether what she called black money was being spent on police at the same time youth organisations in the territory lacked funding.

When told about $14 million provided to police to administer community safety programs, Thorpe said: Disgusting. I am so violated from that answer, I am so disgusted.
Remember the workers

There is joy in environmental community groups following the governments announcement that native forest logging will end six years earlier than planned. I share that joy. Our threatened species will be spared the destruction of their habitat and our water catchments will provide the pristine water we have become accustomed to.

In logging communities there will be shock and despair that jobs will be lost and the viability of small towns put at risk. We must hold the government to account on its promise to provide for displaced workers and fund projects to make sure logging towns do not die.

No logging workers or their families should be worse off as a result of this early cessation of native forest logging.

Graeme Lechte,

Brunswick West Vale to an industry

Vale to the small rural communities that were dependent on the native hardwood timber industry. Vale to the carbon that will no longer be sequestered in the resultant timber products and the regrowing forest. Vale to the opportunity to adorn our houses and buildings with these beautiful Victorian timbers. Vale to our native hardwood forests which would have been saved from fire by the people, expertise and resources no longer there. Vale to the world-class sustainable timber industry in Victoria.

Peter Farrell, Point Lonsdale A fair tax

In criticising the state budget, much is made of the increased land tax on rental properties and holiday homes. If the average increase in land tax on rental properties is $1375, at an income tax rate of 45 per cent, the net increase in land tax is only $755. The federal government will take away some of the pain.

If one has a holiday home (I do), be grateful and be prepared to contribute a tiny amount to the running of the state for the great privilege of owning a second home. I have also heard commentary that investors are negatively gearing properties now to be self-funded retirees with their investments paid off, and not be a burden on the taxpayer in retirement, so the land tax increase is unfair.

Those negatively geared properties are, in fact, creating a burden on the taxpayer now. There may be much to criticise in the state budget, but the increase in land tax on residential investment and holiday homes is fair.

Louise Kloot, Doncaster Or is it?

The new land tax scale neglects the fact that bracket creep caused by the huge increases in property values has already more than doubled land tax on many properties.

While it is fair that second properties should be taxed, raising taxes still further creates a huge impost on property owners who have inadvertently become asset rich but cash poor.

The real effect will be that rents will increase even more, meaning that those least able to afford housing will really be the ones paying the tax intended to be on landlords.

Another effect may be that owning extra properties will become uneconomic, causing a glut in sales, which may reduce property values, thus reducing land tax revenue.

Michael Meszaros, Alphington Hello, real world

The article There will be job losses (23/5) reports: The principal of one large, high-fee school said the new tax bill would force the school to choose between raising fees significantly or cutting back on staff and programs. Welcome to the real world.

Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn

Better than nothing

It is not the state governments fault that building costs have skyrocketed. Who could have predicted the extent of that? Nor is it its fault that interest rates have risen and drastically increased the cost of having debt. At least, unlike other governments, it is doing something that will have enormous future benefits for our children and our grandchildren.

Better doing it and copping the constant criticism than doing nothing.

Ken Nailon, Carnegie Other side of India

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to Australia in an obsequious display that would stick in the craw of any observer who is alarmed at Modis cruel politics. For decades, Modi has waged a campaign of persecution against Muslims in India. This invites little commentary in a world that is distracted by China and Russia and entranced by the economic strength of India itself.

Amanjit Gill, Narre Warren Fare thee well? No

Are Melbourne taxis allowed to charge what they like? I was attempting to catch a cab from the Flinders Street Station cab rank to Collingwood at 9.45 on a recent weeknight. There was a huge line of cabs. The first driver quoted me a $35 flat rate, meter off, for what is usually a sub-$20 fare.

I refused, and walked down the line of cabs. Drivers told me to insist the first driver took me. Youre kidding  a lone woman with an angry cab driver? Right at the back of the queue, a driver said hed take me, meter on. Cab fare: just under $18.

His advice: I should have photographed the licence plate and reported the driver to the Taxi Services Commission. My conclusion: is this how we treat visitors to our city? Potentially rip them off for nearly double the metered fare?

Pam Kershaw, Collingwood Keep children safe

We rightly do not expect that parents should have a 24/7 responsibility to stop their children from being able to buy a beer in a pub, buy tickets to a movie with sexually explicit content or gamble on the pokies. Businesses that provide adult products are primarily responsible for preventing access to the products to children.

However, we have allowed online platform corporations to be the exception. They have largely not had to take responsibility for the harm their products have caused children. So in response to Chloe Shorten (Comment, 24/5), our primary focus should be to require online corporations to provide products that are safe by design.

Research has shown that parents attempts to police their childrens online activity often just drive children to be more secretive about their activity.

Mark Zirnsak, senior social justice

advocate, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia You can keep the banjo

Your correspondent (Letters, 23/5) is right on the money. I am a 70-year fan of the ABC and its classical music programs  who could forget Dr A.E. Floyds gentle presentations and clear analysis on a Sunday evening  but my present interest is fading. I struggle with many of the current programs, potpourris of film scores, ethnic collections and orchestrated pop music  the banjo and tin whistle really doesnt cut it in the realm of Albinoni, Bach, Chopin et al.

James Reiss, Abbotsford

Room for all

As an expat in Bali, I support the imposition of suitable sanctions, including deportation, for foreigners acting illegally. However, it would be a mistake to consider as anything other than a thought bubble, Governor Wayan Kosters recent comments on restricting tourism to only the wealthy.

The Balinese economy depends on mass tourism, and even the lowly backpacker still has to find food and lodgings, providing income for many. Top end tourists frequently remain ensconced in their expensive resort and spend little or no money in villages and towns. There is room for all law-abiding tourists across the financial spectrum.

Keith Fletcher, Bali, Indonesia Give booing the boot

Its ironic that we condemn booing, and rightly so, at the football but nothing is done about the booing in Victorian parliament as well as the slanging matches between members.

Is this not double standards? It takes a lot before unruly members are asked to leave. Would you put up with this behaviour in your workplace or at home?

Robyn Ward, Sandringham Legacy of excitement

Part of Damien Hardwicks legacy is the chaos style that brought three magnificent premierships. It was so exciting to watch: apply great pressure, force a turnover and then counterattack, running in waves, the crescendo building, the crowd roaring as they scored. In my modest opinion, eminently more watchable than the kick, mark, stand style.

Tim Douglas, Blairgowrie AND ANOTHER THING Forests

At last, the Victorian government can see the forest for the trees.

Robin Jensen, Castlemaine

With an end date for native forest logging, the ledger has done what the lead beater couldnt.

Joan Segrave, Healesville Hello, possums! Bringing forward the halt to native forest logging in Victoria is the best news we have had for years.

Brigid Krohn, Romsey All responsible Victorians (including Green ones) should be pleading with the government to reintroduce selective logging before it is all burnt again.

Mick Leeming, Pigeon Ponds The budget

How do we know that the state budget is fair? The wealthy private schools are up in arms and so are the Property Council and big business.

Mick Hussey, Beaconsfield Lots of whinging from those who own multiple properties. Unless I missed it, I didnt hear complaints about massive capital gains in recent years.

Peter Randles, Pascoe Vale South
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 Picture Thailand. No doubt your mind fills with visions of white-sand beaches ringed by resort villas and bungalows. Perhaps you see the enormity of Bangkok, or the bustle of Phuket. You can probably conjure images of spectacular limestone karsts rising from calm, clear waters. Thats fine. Thats great. But what youre thinking of is southern and central Thailand. Theyre understandably popular destinations among travellers who want their hit of culture with a side of affordable, beachy idyll. Turn your gaze north from Bangkok and you find a whole different world. Credit: iStock The south and central regions of Thailand are Bangkok and Phuket, theyre Koh Samui, Koh Pha-Ngan and Koh Phi-Phi. Theyre Krabi, Khao Lak, Koh Tao and Koh Lanta. Theyre all brilliant. But still, theres more to this country. Turn your gaze north from Bangkok and you find a whole different world, one that defies the stereotypes of the traditional Thai holiday. Northern Thailand is a group of 17 provinces, beginning from Nakhon Sawan, about three hours drive north of Bangkok, stretching all the way up to the Golden Triangle at the tip of the Chiang Rai province. Its different up here to the southern and central regions in almost every way: geographically, culturally, linguistically, climatically. The north is a diverse area of lush mountains and rushing rivers, a formerly independent kingdom that has taken influence over millennia from China, Myanmar and Laos, while forging an identity very much its own (and yet still being a heartland for ethnic minority groups such as the Hmong, Karen, Akha and Lisu). Wat Mahathat temple, Sukhothai Historical Park. Credit: iStock

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The pace is different up in the north, its slower. The tourists are fewer, its far easier to get away from it all. The food is sensational, the people are friendly, and history is fascinating and the landscape is nothing short of stunning. Though hotspots such as Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai attract their fair share of crowds, this is by and large a region that is undiscovered and unappreciated by the masses, and yet one that has so much to offer those prepared to forsake the island bliss of the south. Here, then, Traveller presents what we trust is a compelling case - and an essential guide - for travelling north. The culture This is a little misleading  in Northern Thailand its not so much the culture as the cultures. Though predominantly you will be coming into contact with those descended from the Lanna Kingdom, ethnic Thais who share a similar culture across the north, there are plenty of minority groups who call Northern Thailand home. Hmong girls in traditional dress. Credit: iStock For a crash course in many of these cultures, visit Mae Sai Market, a shopping area in the Chiang Rai province right up in the Golden Triangle. Here youll find crafts and other souvenirs made in Myanmar, Thailand and China, with plenty of ethnic minority groups also represented.

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In the Chiang Mai province, Doi Pui is a major base for the Hmong people, while there are similar settlements in Nan, Phrae and Phayao provinces. To come into contact with the Karen people  originally from Tibet  pay a visit to Mae Hong Son, a remote town in the mountainous far north. The Nan province, meanwhile, was once its own kingdom, and retains a culture distinct from its neighbours. The history As with culture, theres no one history of Northern Thailand. There are, however, plenty of places in which to learn more about the former kingdoms here, particularly the Lanna (with its strong Burmese ties), though also the Sukhothai Kingdom, thought to be Thailands first, the Ayutthaya, Thonburi and Rattanakosin kingdoms. Chiang Mai, of course, is the most famous historic city, with its intact city walls and moat. However, history buffs should certainly visit Sukhothai, home to Sukhothai Historical Park: the extensive ruins of Si Satchanalai and Chaliang, twin cities whose remains will remind many visitors of the Temples of Angkor, though with a fraction the number of visitors. Elsewhere, Kamphaeng Phets ancient walls date back to the Sukhothai Kingdom, while there are several ancient temples and pagodas to view in Phitsanulok. The cities

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Northern Thailand is not really about big-city life. This is a region in which to get away from the endless skyscrapers of Bangkok, and take a break from the touristy rush of the likes of Phuket. Still, there are urban centres here to enjoy, and the largest and best-known of those is Chiang Mai. This 700-year-old city was once the capital of the Lanna Kingdom, and it retains strong links to that proud history. Loading The sprawling Old Town, still surrounded by a moat and 13th-century city walls, features the perfect mix of old and new Thailand, where wats, or temples, sit near boutique hotels, and traditional markets share city blocks with stylish, modern restaurants. The next city of note in this region is Chiang Rai, an even more laidback version of its etymologically similar neighbour. This is another city with more than 700 years of history, and one that makes a perfect base from which to explore the Chiang Rai province, filled with opportunities for adventure. Elsewhere, Lampang has an excellent food scene (and great coffee), and Phitsanulok is a thriving ancient capital on the Nan River. The towns

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Now were talking. Though the cities of Northern Thailand are well worth experiencing, this is a region in which to explore further than the major centres, to discover the small-town charms of this largely rural area. The most famous town in Northern Thailand, at least among foreign travellers, is surely Pai, once a secret among in-the-know travellers, now a touristy hub in a gorgeous location in Mae Hong Son, the province to the north of Chiang Mai. Pai is a great base for those hoping to do some long-distance hiking through the mountains, or who just want to relax in salubrious surrounds. Stunningly beautiful: Phu Langka. Credit: iStock Elsewhere, Phayao is a lovely lakeside town that also allows access to Phu Langka, a stunningly beautiful area of rice-paddy fields surrounded by rugged mountains. Theres also Mae Sot, a bustling, diverse border town in the Tak province, where youre as likely to find people of Burmese or Hmong background as you are the more familiar Thais. Sukhothai is a former capital of the Sukhothai Kingdom, with a swathe of 13th-century ruins, while Kamphaeng Phet has a similarly rich heritage. The food Forget what you know about Thai cuisine, particularly if youve been eating it in Australia. The Lanna food of the north presents a whole new set of dishes to learn  though, the basic Thai passions for incredible amounts of chilli, and balances of sweet, salty, spicy and umami flavours in every bite certainly remain.

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My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes also.

Written in a letter by Lakota leader Chief Henry Standing Bear to sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski in 1939, these words started an audacious 75-year project to create the worlds largest mountain carving.

Crazy Horse famously refused to have his image taken so its fair to assume he might not have been thrilled to discover hes being immortalised in a 195-metre-long sculpture. Credit: Getty Images

At the time, 31-year-old Ziolkowski was working on Mount Rushmore, the iconic memorial to four US presidents, which is located in the Lakotas spiritual heartland, the Black Hills of South Dakota. Standing Bear had already petitioned Mount Rushmores lead sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, to include the revered Lakota leader Crazy Horse in the memorial to no avail.

So he figured hed create his own, making use of a majestic granite cliff 27 kilometres to the south-west. Ziolkowski accepted the challenge and devoted the remaining 35 years of his life to the quest. Painstakingly chipping away at the exposed bluff, the aim was to create a striking 172-metre-high image of the great Lakota warrior astride his horse, arm outstretched pointing towards the lands of his people.
In an interview published late on Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism, questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putins rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarising Ukraine had backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training. Loading In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russias security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased. In Washington, Kirby speculated on Prigozhins motives. And its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defence further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscows vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians. In what it says is likely a low estimate, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured. Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked. Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defence Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counter-offensive that Ukrainian officials have said theyre planning, and in the interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyivs forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea. A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack, he said. They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge [to the Russian mainland], cut off [our] supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war. Prigozhins admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraines strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed. Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls. The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didnt elaborate. A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians. Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now. Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down on Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. In Moscow, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks. Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometres north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the wars front lines, are unclear. Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.
BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Guests from home and abroad gathered here on Tuesday at a forum on Tibet's development, and hailed China's efforts in the conservation and development of the Tibetan traditional culture.

The one-day forum, hosted by the State Council Information Office and the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, gathered 150 officials, experts in various fields, and representatives of enterprises and media organizations from home and abroad.

"There are different approaches to human rights protection. Cultural protection is also an important part of human rights protection and China has done a lot to respect and protect the cultural heritage of Tibetan people," said Alexander Birle, chief representative of Hanns Seidel Stiftung in China.

Since 2006, the central government has spent more than 200 million yuan (about 28.35 million U.S. dollars) on the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Tibet, according to the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC).

The region now has three items (Gesar, Tibetan opera, and Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa) included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. There are 106 items on the national intangible cultural heritage list with 96 state-level representative bearers, data from the CTRC shows.

The use and study of the Tibetan language is protected by law, and the language has been widely used in fields including justice, health, communications, transportation, finance, science and technology, said Zheng Dui, director-general of the CTRC.

The preservation and inheritance of fine traditional culture is also about facilitating better lives for people of all ethnic groups, according to Zheng.

Zheng's view echoes with Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji to China Manasa R. Tagicakibau, who visited the region recently. "They keep this culture alive by showcasing their culture and tradition to the tourists. They keep the culture traditionally, and they earn some money from it," he said.

Tagicakibau was also impressed by how local people managed to retain their traditional culture, especially their way of living and dressing, while achieving rapid economic development.

"These are things that can be lost easily during development processes. So, I am very impressed with the way Tibet has preserved its culture," he said. 
CARACAS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government on Tuesday repudiated U.S. questioning of its commitment to the fight against terrorism.

In a statement, Caracas rebutted Washington's "questioning of Venezuela's commitment to the fight against terrorism, which has been demonstrated by the fulfillment of all its obligations year after year."

The declaration, broadcast on state television, came after the U.S. State Department certified before Congress that Cuba, Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Syria and Venezuela were not "cooperating fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts."

Underscoring U.S. "cynicism," the statement said, "there are plenty of examples of terrorist practices against our region that have been protected and encouraged from Washington."

For example, the use of unilateral coercive measures as a foreign policy "constitutes, in itself, a true form of terrorism," it added.

Venezuela also blamed the United States for the fact that one-third of the planet suffers from "economic, political and financial terrorism," which impedes development and world stability.

Caracas again urged Washington to respect international law. 
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- China hopes that the United States will provide support and facilitation for Xie Feng, the new Chinese ambassador to the United States, as he carries out his duty, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a press conference when answering a relevant question.

Xie arrived in the United States on Tuesday to assume his post, and he spoke to Chinese and foreign reporters and people from various sectors at the airport.

Mao said that Ambassador Xie has arrived in the United States to take on his new mission. "Ambassadors are an important bridge and bond between China and the United States. We hope the United States will provide support and facilitation for Ambassador Xie as he carries out his duty."

Noting that China-U.S. relationship is vitally important to both countries and the world, Mao said that China views and grows its relations with the United States in accordance with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, while remaining committed to defending its sovereignty, security and development interests.

Mao said that China hopes that the United States will bear in mind the shared interest of people in the two countries and the world, work with China to enhance dialogue, manage differences and boost cooperation and bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track of sound and steady growth. 
An attendee takes photos at the launch event for Huawei new products in Tokyo, Japan, on May 24, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market. Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)

TOKYO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market.

Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode.

The watch, designed for outdoor adventures as well as business use, is priced at 135,080 yen (about 974 U.S. dollars).

Along with the Huawei Watch Ultimate, a range of other wearables, including the Huawei Watch D focused on blood pressure measurement and wireless earbuds Huawei FreeBuds 5 were also rolled out in the Japanese market.

"We will stay committed to the field of health and fitness, while actively working with local partners to offer better experience and services for Japanese consumers," said Yang Tao, head of Huawei's device segment in Japan and South Korea, at the presentation.

The launch came as Huawei's smartwatches are gaining increasing popularity in the Japanese market.

Japan's smartwatch market is projected to almost double from the fiscal 2021 level to 6.39 million units in fiscal 2026, Nikkei Asia reported, citing data from MM Research Institute. 

A visitor tries wireless earbuds at the launch event for Huawei new products in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market. Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)

A visitor tries smartwatch at the launch event for Huawei new products in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market. Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)

A visitor tries smartwatch at the launch event for Huawei new products in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market. Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)

A visitor takes picture of Huawei Watch Buds at the launch event for Huawei new products in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market. Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)

This photo taken on May 24, 2023 shows a scene at the launch event for Huawei new products in Tokyo, Japan. Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday launched a lineup of wearables including smartwatches and wireless earbuds in Japan, looking to strengthen its presence in the expanding market. Huawei Japan unveiled its flagship smartwatch Huawei Watch Ultimate in Tokyo, with upgraded health and fitness features that also offers a 100-meter scuba diving mode. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)
Gina Clingerman of the Wyoming BLM will be presented with the IMCC Award by DEQ Director Todd Parfitt.

Todd Parfitt, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Director, will present the IMCC Public Outreach Award to Gina Clingerman of the Wyoming/Lander Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for her ongoing efforts in the Abandoned Mine Land Divisions (AML) Native Plants Project, providing sagebrush habitat restoration in Wyoming.

The Interstate Mining Compact Commission (IMCC) is a multi-state governmental organization supporting natural resources and environmental protection related to mining. The 26 member states are represented by their governors.

This national award recognizes Ms. Clingerman's development of the many partnerships in the program, most notably with the Lander Middle School, Wyoming Honor Farm, Institute for Applied Ecology, and The Nature Conservancy, among others.

The Lander Middle School will also be awarded the IMCC Mining Awareness Educator Award at the same presentation for the science teachers and students participating in the Sagebrush Steppe Educational Classes and Sagebrush Planting Activities.

Wyoming DEQ Abandoned Mine Land Division's valued partnership with BLM continues to address legacy mining safety and reclamation issues throughout the state. The AML Native Plants Project is an outgrowth of our shared goal of native plant habitat restoration on former mine sites.

When: Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Time: 1:45 PM

Location: Lander Middle School, 755 Jefferson St., Lander, WY
NEW YORK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil futures prices advanced on Tuesday as Saudi energy minister's latest comments drove up expectations of another production cut by oil producing countries.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July delivery gained 86 cents, or 1.19 percent, to settle at 72.91 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery moved up 85 cents, or 1.12 percent, to settle at 76.84 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Oil prices nudged higher on Tuesday following the warning from Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman that short-sellers will be "ouching" as they did in April, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, a supplier of online multi-asset trading services.

"Watch out" was the message ahead of the next meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners early next month in what may be a sign that the group is considering cutting output once more amid a bleaker global economic outlook, according to Erlam.

Moreover, U.S. commercial crude and gasoline inventory should have decreased by 500,000 barrels and 800,000 barrels last week, according to a survey by S&P Global.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is scheduled to issue weekly oil inventory data on Wednesday. 
JUBA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Wednesday called on South Sudanese parties to step up efforts to advance transitional security arrangements, so as to hold elections as scheduled.

The president and other parties of South Sudan are encouraged to step up efforts to fully implement outstanding issues such as enactment of the permanent constitution, enactment of electoral laws and establishment of electoral institutions, said Nicholas Haysom, the special representative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and head of UNMISS.

Under a road map to complete South Sudan's transition to elections and a new government, which was extended in August 2022, the parties agreed to hold elections after 24 months in December 2024.

The constitutional-making process is 10 months behind schedule and the elections' planning is eight months behind schedule, Haysom said, adding that several aspects of the transitional security arrangements remain incomplete.

Much of the regional and international attention has shifted to neighboring Sudan, and yet South Sudan's peace process is at a critical moment where it could either make progress or retard, he said.

Haysom said he met recently with President Salva Kiir to discuss developments in South Sudan and the implications of the Sudan crisis on South Sudan.

"We agreed that the longer the Sudanese conflict continues, there will be significant security, economic and humanitarian consequences for South Sudan," he told journalists in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

The UN official said the UN Security Council has specifically requested an inquiry into whether the country will be ready for elections, and it has asked those in the UNMISS who are supporting the elections to render their support on a factual basis.

Haysom also said if the ongoing conflict in Sudan lasts for a longer period, it definitely would impact South Sudan's security and economy, and also worsen the already dire humanitarian situation.

"On security, economic and humanitarian challenges more generally, we have emphasized that the nation will have to grapple with multiple challenges, including the effects of the Sudanese situation without losing sight of the critical need to address its own internal security challenges," he said. 
Local students visit a booth of the Chinese publishing delegation during the 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on May 23, 2023. A large Chinese publishing delegation is showcasing 1,151 copies of exquisite books in 736 types at the annual 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair that opened on Monday, the delegation told Xinhua. (Xinhua)

ABU DHABI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A large Chinese publishing delegation is showcasing 1,151 copies of exquisite books in 736 types at the annual 32nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair that opened on Monday, the delegation told Xinhua.

The books being exhibited at the week-long fair held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center cover popular Chinese publications of various categories, including Chinese language education, traditional culture, literature, economics, and children's books published in the past two years, according to the Chinese delegation.

As a member of the delegation, China Education Publishing & Media Group Ltd., the overseas operator of the international edition of The Three-Body Problem, highlighted popular Chinese science fiction works, such as The Wandering Earth, The Stars and The Solid Ocean, to promote a better understanding of the development of Chinese science fiction among Arab publishing institutions and readers.

Also on Monday, the Chinese delegation held a cultural forum for in-depth exchanges with the United Arab Emirates publishing and management institutions to promote mutual learning and cooperation between the two sides.

Established in 1991 and organized by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair is one of the largest and most influential book fairs in the Western Asian and North African region. 
200 Albanian Prisoners Sent Back to Homeland to Serve out Sentences

Family of victim would be allowed to veto transfer of killer

An undated image of Koci Selamaj, who was jailed for life for the murder of Sabina Nessa at the Old Bailey in London on April 8, 2022. (Metropolitan Police)

Around 200 Albanian nationals serving sentences in overcrowded prisons in England and Wales will be sent back to Tirana to serve the rest of their sentences in their home country.

The Epoch Times understands Koci Selamajwho was jailed for a minimum of 36 years for the September 2021 murder of Sabina Nessa in south east Londoncould be eligible for the scheme, but only if her family agree to him being transferred.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said Albanian nationals serving sentences of four years or more will be sent back but last year The Epoch Times reported how Hekuran Billawho was convicted of murder in London in 2008 and ordered to spend 34 years in prisonhad been released in 2019 by an Albanian judge. He was subsequently murdered in Tirana.

The MoJ said the funding would not be paid up front but on a results basis and it is understood this is designed to ensure convicts serve out their full sentence and are not released early.

The Epoch Times understands that upon arriving in Albania, each prisoner would undergo a sentencing exercise which would convert their British sentences to the equivalent terms under Albanian law.

Will Save Taxpayers Money

On Wednesday Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: Today we announced a new partnership with Albania that will return 200 foreign national offenders to their home country. This landmark package will speed up removals and save the taxpayer money while improving Albanian prisons.

Some of the money saved on housing the prisonersestimated at 46,696 per yearwill be spent helping Albania to modernise its prison system.

The cost of housing prisoners in Albania is around a third of the cost of housing an inmate in England or Wales.

The MoJ said the deal would free up space in prisons in England and Wales and double the number of offenders without UK citizenship removed annually.

Around 14 percent of the foreign nationals in English and Welsh prisons are Albanians, making them the biggest contingent.

Earlier this week justice minister Lord Bellamy, KC, told Parliament jails were at 99 percent capacity and getting quite tight.

Chalk said: The public expects that foreign criminals should serve their sentences overseasnot in our prisons at the expense of the taxpayer. This deal will speed up the removal of these offenders and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice and spend the remainder of their sentence behind bars. Collaboration with our international partners is an essential part of making this possible, he added.

Albanians to Serve Sentences Near Their Families

The Albanian justice minister, Ulsi Manja, said: At its core, every Albanian convict in the United Kingdom shall be given the opportunity to serve the remaining sentence in Albania, near their families, while we also increase our efforts to ensure the modernisation of the Albanian penitentiary system.

The MoJ said the Albanian deal would cost them 8 million over two years, equating to 32 per prisoner per day, compared to 109 per day to house them in prisons in England and Wales.

The 1984 Repatriation of Prisoners Act allowed for inmates in British prisons to be sent back to their home country and also for British nationals abroad to be returned to the UK to serve out their sentences.

Under the act, the UK has to sign a separate Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) with each countrys government.

Between April 27, 2021 and April 27, 2023, the government repatriated 112 inmates under PTAs.

In 2007 Hansard listed all the countries which Britain had a PTA with and it included Albania, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, Nicaragua, Thailand, Ukraine, Hong Kong, and the United States.

The most notable omissions were Russia, Iran, and China.

Undated image of Hekuran Billa, who was convicted in 2008 of a murder in London. (Metropolitan Police)

Last year the Prison Service revealed, following a Freedom of Information Act request from The Epoch Times (pdf), that 435 foreign nationals were given life sentences between 2011 and 2019, all but seven of which were for murder.

In 2006, Billa shot dead a fellow Albanian, Prel Marku, at a social club in Park Royal, west London.

He fled to Denmark but was extradited and in 2008 he was convicted and jailed for life with the judge stipulating he should serve at least 34 years in prison, meaning he was not eligible for release until 2042.

Billa was sent back to Albania to serve the rest of his sentence, but in February 2019 he was released by a judge.

The following year Billa, by then 40, was shot dead at the office of his car rental business in Tirana, Albania.

Two men, Viktor Markuwhose brother Prel was murdered by Billaand Sebastian Mali, who is also understood to be a relative of Prel Marku, were accused of his murder but charges were dropped in 2021.
2,000 Children Sexually Abused by Illinois Catholic Clergy, Report Finds

The cross atop of the Archdiocese of Chicago is seen on Jan. 2, 2019, in Chicago, Ill., following a press conference by advocates for clergy abuse victims. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

The Illinois office of Attorney General has released a report on Catholic Clergy engaging in child sex abuse. Its investigation found nearly 2,000 children have been abused by clergy in the state.

Decades of Catholic leadership decisions and policies have allowed known child sex abusers to hide, often in plain sight. And because the statute of limitations has frequently expired, many survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clerics will never see justice in a legal sense, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote in the introduction to the 696-page report.

They may never be held accountable in court, he said, but naming them is meant to provide a public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence.

It is not the first time such news has come to light.

Former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a report in 2018 detailing abuse in the church. Raoul continued the investigation.

In April, the Maryland Attorney Generals office released an interim public report about child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, listing the names of 146 clergy abusers dating back from the 1940s-2002. In this case, over 600 children are known to have been abused.

The Baltimore report says it uncovered Pervasive and persistent abuse by priests and other archdiocese personnel. It is also a history of repeated dismissal or cover-up of that abuse by the Catholic Church hierarchy.

A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report found 300 Catholic priests had abused more than 1,000 children over the course of 70 years.

The Boston Archdiocese has a webpage listing more than 100 clergy members who sexually abused children.

Thousands of Documents

In Illinois, attorneys and investigators examined thousands of church files, reviewing more than 100,000 pages of documents. They interviewed diocesan leadership and representatives and received more than 600 confidential contacts from victims through email, letters, voicemail, and phone calls.

Before this investigation, the Catholic dioceses of Illinois publicly listed only 103 substantiated child sex abusers. By comparison, this report reveals names and detailed information of 451 Catholic clerics and religious brothers who abused at least 1,997 children across all of the dioceses in Illinois, the report said.

The report is broken into the six dioceses of Illinois: the Archdiocese of Chicago, dioceses of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield. Through the investigation and church disclosures, more clerics and religious brothers were identified as substantiated child sex abusers:

Archdiocese of Chicago  275

Diocese of Joliet  69

Diocese of Belleville  43

Diocese of Peoria  51

Diocese of Rockford  24

Diocese of Springfield  32

Abuse Affected Lives

Victims told investigators they suffered from drug and alcohol addiction, had attempted suicides, or served time in prison. They reported depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, anxiety, trust issues, and feelings of guilt.

Others said the abuse they suffered as children prevented them from living up to their full potential, the report said. Many followed the movements of their abuser, as the cleric was transferred from parish to parish to abuse again.

Some tracked their abuser through retirement and death.

Victims were glad their stories would be told.

The truth and the reality of the trauma that I, as well as the other victims and our families, have suffered with for so many decades is finally going to be shown for all to see, one victim is quoted in the report.

Evidence shows the Catholic Church covered up abuse for years, but in recent years, the church has become supportive of disclosing the names of abusers.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has pledged that the first obligation of the Church with regard to [survivors of child sex abuse by clerics] is for healing and reconciliation. In keeping with that mandate, leaders of the Catholic Church in Illinois acknowledge that publicly disclosing abusers is an important source of healing, the report said, adding that Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago said disclosure is considered best practice by the Archdiocese [and] means a great deal to victims.

Within each diocese report, readers will find the parishes and related churches where named the abusers were assigned in Illinois; date and location of reported abuse; the date the diocese reports first receiving a child sex abuse claim or claim of inappropriate behavior with a child; and steps the church took after disclosure.

Recommendations

Across the country, the church now publicly discloses the names of clergy who are substantiated child sex abusers, although it is under no legal obligation to make those disclosures, the report notes. And, many dioceses now fund certain emotional supports for survivors. But the attorney general recommends more from the Illinois dioceses in five areas: survivor care and communications; investigations and determinations; disclosure and transparency; mediation and compensation; and religious orders.

Some specific actions include:
Appeals Court Overturns Ruling Against Elite Virginia High School, Dismisses Racial Discrimination Claims

A federal appeals court has upheld the admissions policies at Virginias top public high school, ruling that the school district didnt discriminate against students of Asian ethnicity by trying to reduce their presence in the student body.

The decision, issued Tuesday by a panel of three judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, overturns a lower court ruling last year that found it illegal and unfair for Fairfax County School Boards to try to balance the racial makeup of student population at the Thomas Jefferson (TJ) High School for Science and Technology.

The school, which is regularly named one of the best in the country, has long had a highly competitive race-blind, merit-based admissions system. For decades, students of Asian immigrant families made up an overwhelming 70 percent majority of TJs student body.

In 2020, in the wake of a nationwide discussion of racism sparked by the death of Georg Floyd, the school board overhauled TJs admissions process, eliminating the high-stakes standardized test and guaranteeing a certain number of seats for each middle schools 8th-grade class across Fairfax County, among other changes.

With the new standard, the district admitted to TJ significantly fewer Asian students, who accounted for 54 percent of the Class of 2025, in contrast to 73 percent of students admitted to the Class of 2024 under the old rules.

At the same time, the percentage of black students increased from 1 percent to 7 percent and the percentage of Hispanic students increased from 3 percent to 11 percent. The percentage of white students also increased from a little less than 18 percent to 22 percent.

The changes prompted a federal lawsuit, with parent organization Coalition for TJ arguing that the school district has engaged in racial discrimination against Asian Americans.

However, Tuesdays majority opinion dismissed the Coalitions discrimination claim, saying that increasing the racial diversity at TJ is a legitimate cause.

Under the challenged admissions policy, Asian American applicants to TJ enjoy far greater success in securing offers of admission than do prospective students from any other racial or ethnic group. Thus, the Coalitions remarkable efforts to twist TJs admissions statistics and to prove a disproportionate, adverse impact on Asian Americans students fall flat, Circuit Judge Robert King, a Clinton appointee, wrote in the opinion.

By the same token, the Coalitions contention that the Boards aim to expand access to TJ and to enhance the overall diversity of TJs student population constitutes per se intentional racial discrimination against Asian American students simply runs counter to common sense, he added.

In a separate concurring opinion, Biden-appointed Circuit Judge Toby Heytens wrote that the Coalition failed to show any evidence that could decisively prove the school board revamped the policies with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian students.

The Coalition did show text messages sent in the fall of 2020 between school board members, including one that read will whiten our schools and kick ou[t] Asians. How is that achieving the goals of diversity? and one that read there has been an anti [A]sian feel underlying some of this, hate to say it lol.

However, Heytens said those messages either reflect concerns about plans that ended up being scrapped or reveal frustration with certain Anti-Asian remarks by the superintendent, who is not a board member.

None of these conversations contain any hint that any Board member intended or desired to create a policy that would adversely affect Asian American students, he wrote.

Circuit Judge Allison Jones Rushing, a Trump appointee and the sole dissenter on the case, argued that it was no accident that the enrollment of Asian students at TJ dropped while that of every other racial group increased.

The majority, however, refuses to look past the Policys neutral varnish, Rushing wrote in her dissenting opinion, arguing that the evidence shows both an undisputed racial motivation and an undeniable racial result.

The twelve-member Board plainly stated its intention to craft an admissions policy for TJ that would reform the racial composition of the student body to reflect the racial demographics of the district, she noted, adding that the board repeatedly requested and received detailed racial data throughout the policy-making process.

Then, in the final Policy, the Board allocated seats at TJ by middle schoolspecifically, the school applicants attend, not the school to which they are zonedknowing that choice would significantly reduce the number of students admitted from feeder schools, which historically sent large percentages of Asian students to TJ.

Rushing also argued that those border members private text messages were convincing enough proof that they did understand that the new admissions process discriminates against Asian students.

The evidence leaves no doubt about the Boards discriminatory purpose, Rushing wrote.

The Coalition has vowed to bring the legal battle to the nations highest court.

Across Fairfax County, parents of current and former TJ students are cheering the decision as a necessary step on the path to ultimate victory for all Americans in the U.S. Supreme Court, the group said in a statement.

Our commitment to upholding the principles of equal opportunity, meritocracy, and diversity remains unwavering, said Asra Nomani, an immigrant from India and the mother of a TJ graduate. She is also a frequent guest of EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program.

We will absolutely win in the U.S. Supreme Court, and our case, Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, will be as historic as Brown v. Board of Education in fighting racism and protecting equal rights for all, she continued. We look forward to defeating the UnFairfax County School Board in the U.S. Supreme Courtfor all Americans.
Arizonas Kari Lake Announces Plans to Paint the State Red, Appeal Election Ruling

Arizona Republican Kari Lake is launching a grassroots ballot-chasing operation to boost Republican turnout in future Arizona elections and paint the state red.

Were going to start rolling up our sleeves and playing by the same rules [Democrats] play by, Lake said while surrounded by supporters at a May 23 press conference in Phoenix.

And when you get a fed-up mom who plays by those rules, watch out, because were not letting this happen again, she added.

Noting that nearly 90 percent of Arizona voters are on the permanent early voter list, Lake explained that her team, led by Strong Communities Action Chairwoman Merissa Hamilton, would be doing everything in their power to sway those voters and take back Arizona.

If weve got to work in their rigged system, well work in their rigged system, she said.

As part of the new initiative, Lake said volunteers would be ramping up their door-knocking and voter registration efforts and assisting voters with getting to the polls.

We are going to contact every voter, make sure that if they have a ballot sitting on their counter, we help them get that ballot to where it needs to go, she said. And were going to register  everybody we can to vote, and were going to turn our state around. Were going to take it back because this government belongs to we the people.

Election Lawsuit

Lakes new operation comes on the heels of an Arizona judges May 22 decision to toss her lawsuit challenging the results of the states 2022 gubernatorial election, which she maintains she rightfully won.

Lakes initial lawsuit cited several election administration problems in Maricopa County as evidence that the election was fixed, including misprinted ballots, the comingling of counted and uncounted ballots, and a lack of proper signature verification for mail-in ballots.

Although the candidates claims were rejected by the lower courts, the Arizona Supreme Court revived a portion of her case in March, finding that the Court of Appeals had erred in its dismissal of her signature verification claims.

Among the claims Lakes legal team made in arguing her case was that the signatures on hundreds of thousands of Maricopa County ballots were reviewed in less than three seconds by election workersa fact she said proved they were not properly verified.

It takes a full second for the ballot image to pop up on the screen, she noted at her press conference, adding that some workers were approved to verify signatures remotely without any observers present.

And while she acknowledged that the latest ruling was not what she was hoping for, she added that she was not giving up the fight.

There is going to be an appeal. And Im not prepared to tell you right now exactly what our path is because we are looking at several pathsnot one, not two, several. But youve not seen the last of our case.

Political Future

Despite her continued focus on her election challenge, when asked if she was considering running for another office, Lake advised that she had not ruled the possibility out.

One potential path that she has previously expressed interest in is running for U.S. Senatespecifically, the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

In December, Sinema made waves in Washington when she left the Democratic Party. Rather than switch parties to become a Republican, however, she chose to register as an Independent and continue caucusing with the Democrats. And earlier this month, she doubled down on her determination to remain Independent, stating that she was absolutely done with both parties.

As of yet, Sinema has not declared whether she will seek another term in 2024, though she may have a fight on her hands if she does, with Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego vying for the Democratic vote and Lake a possible contender on the Republican side.

I am seriously considering a run for Senate, yes absolutely, Lake told One America News in April. Just because they stole an election, were so dangerous to them, Im so dangerous to the status quo and this rotten swamp that theyre willing to steal an election to stop me and our movement.

Im not letting them get away with that, she added. Were not going away. And so, I am seriously considering a run for Senate.

Earlier this month, Lake further fueled the speculation of a potential Senate bid by meeting with six Republican senators.

At the May 23 press conference, Lake noted that she felt it was important that the voters felt accurately represented by their elected officials in Washington.

Im really worried about our people here in Arizona and having representation, having somebody who is a  public servant representing them here and making sure that we are doing everything we can to fight for our state, not fighting for special interests, not fighting for some lobbying firm back in D.C.

We need people who are fighting for Arizonans, and so its on the back of my mind. Ill be honest, I am considering it.
What Elon Musk did is, by buying Twitter, he severed ties between Twitter officials and some very privileged journalists who had exclusive or premier access to Twitter, says Paul D. Thacker, an investigative reporter and Twitter Files journalist.

Thacker recently revealed a number of relationships between Twitter staff and certain journalists, pharmaceutical companies, and government officials that dealt with censoring content and have national implications for the First Amendment.

In late 2021, Twitter had a meeting up in New York with a bunch of journalists, and afterwards, they profiled what these reporters wanted and what Twitter could expect in return, explains Thacker. And they said that what this meeting was about was to solidify relationships for intel sharing, and they called it for our trusted partners.'

Having allegedly received hundreds of millions in advertising revenue from big pharma, social media companies were under tremendous pressure during the pandemic to censor even true content related to the COVID-19 genetic vaccines.

They didnt care about whether [what Tucker Carlson] had written was right or not. What they were concerned about was that people might begin to think that maybe these vaccines were not safe, says Thacker.
Australia Has 41,000 Modern Slaves: Report

Former slave Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos demonstrates how he clears brush with his sickle on a piece of land in Monsenhor Gil, Brazil, on April 8, 2015. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Australia currently has around 41,000 modern slaves, which is twice the figure recorded five years ago, a human rights report has shown.

Walk Free, an international human rights group based in Perth has released the 2023 Global Slavery Index, raising the alarm about the state of modern slavery worldwide.

Modern slavery refers to situations in which individuals are subject to exploitation and cannot refuse or escape because of threat, coercion, violence, deception and abuses.

It includes forced labour, forced marriage, debt bond, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, exploitation of children and so on.

According to the report, 50 million people around the world lived in modern slavery on any given day in 2021, up 10 million from the previous report.

While North Korea topped the list of nations with the highest prevalence of modern slavery, around two in three people trapped in slavery lived in six G20 countries: India, China, Russia, Turkiye (formerly Turkey), Indonesia and the United States.

Walk Free also estimated that US$468 billion ($709 billion) worth of products imported by G20 was at risk of coming from forced labour.

The State of Modern Slavery in Australia

The report found that Australia had an estimated 1.6 cases of slavery per 1,000 people, which was the second lowest rate in the Asia-Pacific region and behind Japan.

However, it still trailed behind other advanced European economies such as Belgium, Denmark and Germany.

In terms of government response, Australia ranked second among the countries taking the most action against modern slavery, just one step behind the United Kingdom and slightly ahead of the Netherlands.

Pakistani labourers load bricks onto trollies at a brick kiln factory in Hyderabad, India, on Nov. 10, 2014. (Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)

While Australia has a low risk of slavery, Walk Frees founding director Grace Forrest said it was shocking to see the number of victims in Australia had doubled since 2018.

Were looking at 41,000 people living in modern slavery on our shores, she said in comments obtained by AAP.

The director said the abuse of migrant workers in the country mostly occurred in rural areas, pointing to the example of Moe Turaga, a 54-year-old Fiji native who was enslaved in a rural Australian town when he was 17.

However, Forrest noted that slavery was also present in large cities and industries like hospitality, cleaning services and prostitution.

The Shadow of Slavery Behind Australian Imports

As a country that relies heavily on imports to meet domestic demand for goods and services, Australia is not immune from imported products with dubious origins.

The report estimated that around US$17.4 billion worth of products imported into Australia every year were potentially made by forced labourers, with half of them coming from China.

This includes fast fashion and the garments we wear, Forrest said.

It includes the phones were speaking on, and for the first time, it includes solar panels.

She warned Australian businesses and consumers that the made-in-China solar panels they purchased could be crafted by the Uyghurs and other minority groups who were subject to forced labour by the Chinese communist regime.

Meanwhile, seafood was another major imported product at risk.

A really simple thing for Aussies to think about is where does the food on my plate come from, Forrest said.

Were a country that marks ourselves on a fair go, and that fair go is completely fake if its built up off the exploitation of others in our country and in our supply chains.

The modern slavery report comes as the Grattan Institute has released a study showing Australian migrants were twice as likely to be underpaid compared to long-term residents.

The institute also found that up to 16 percent of migrants were paid less than the minimum wage and that many temporary visa holders had to endure mistreatment due to fears of having visas cancelled.
Australian Authorities Made 4,000 Requests to Big Tech to Censor COVID-19 Content

Twitter Files reveal micro-management of COVID-19 dissent

People queue to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at a Bunnings hardware store in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 16, 2021. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

The Australian Home Affairs Departmentnormally responsible for dealing with terrorism and border securitymade over 4,000 requests to U.S. tech giants to review COVID-19-related content during the pandemic years.

The revelations come after a Freedom of Information request (pdf) from Senator Alex Antic and highlight the extent to which government authorities attempted to control public discourse around issues like vaccine efficacy, lockdowns, and mask mandates.

Between Jan. 1, 2017, to Dec. 15, 2022, the Home Affairs Department made 4,213 COVID-19-related content referrals to digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter to review content against their own terms of servicethe height of the pandemic was from 2020 to 2021.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social networks on a smartphone in an undated file photo. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Home Affairs also made 9,423 terrorist and violent extremist-related referrals over the same period.

Yet further information was made unavailable or heavily redacted.

Centre-right Liberal Senator Antic said the fact that the Australian government was working with overseas social media companies to censor the views of citizens should be of concern to us all.

The system used by Home Affairs was created for the purposes of seeking removal of terrorist-related material, however, the mission creep into matters of public health proves that we need to be vigilant at all times with the power given to bureaucracies, he told The Epoch Times in an email.

Antic called for a full Royal Commission investigation into the handling of the pandemic by all levels of government.

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan (R), Liberal Senator Alex Antic (C) and Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick (L) at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Nov. 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Who is to say that the same powers will not be used to curate and censor matters relating to the [Indigenous] Voice to Parliament or to censor posts challenging climate alarmism? he added.

It is also concerning that this seems to be a pattern being adopted in many parts of the Western world (as we saw from the Twitterfiles scandal in the United States).

The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

Twitter Files Reveal Extent of Discourse Management

Australian journalist Andrew Lowenthal found Twitter had worked closely with the Home Affairs department on censoring dissenting content.

Lowenthal, who is trawling through the Twitter files in collaboration with U.S. journalist Matt Taibbi, discovered 18 emails requesting 222 Twitter posts be removed.

One such email contained a signature from a senior analyst working on Extremism Insights and Communication within the Home Affairs Social Cohesion Division, according to Racket News.

The posts targeted for removal included a meme featuring Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews wearing a mask with the words, This mask is as useless as me.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews wears a face mask as he walks in to the daily briefing in Melbourne, Australia on July 19, 2020. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

While another targeted account had only 20 followers and one post was targeted for claiming that then-Health Minister Greg Hunt had used emotionally manipulative language.

With the wind-down of the War on Terror, the intelligence community has switched its attention to Countering Violent Extremism. This, in turn, provided broader cover for the censorship of disfavoured internal groups, like for instance vaccination skeptics or even just anti-lockdown activists, wrote Lowenthal.

The [Department of Home Affairs] rarely provided evidence for their counter-claims and where they do, they rely on fact-checking organizations like Yahoo! and USA Today, rather than on Australias own scientists.

Big Tech a Control Point for Authorities

The Twitter files were released after the takeover of the social media giant by tech billionaire Elon Musk, revealing the platform had suppressed or removed content on a range of issues including irregularities in the 2020 elections, Hunter Bidens laptop, and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August last year, 50 officials in the Biden administration were found to have pressured Big Tech firms to crack down on alleged misinformation, according to released documents.

Similar efforts have been underway in Australia to punish health professionals speaking out against the official narrative.

For example, North Brisbane-based Dr. William Bay was suspended after interrupting a national Australian Medical Association conference in late July 2022 and telling attendees to stop forcing vaccines on people.

Dr William Bay (left) is seen talking to supporters and media outside the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane, Australia, on Nov. 30, 2022. (AAP Image/Darren England)

In September 2021, anaesthetist Dr. Paul Oosterhuis was suspended after two anonymous complaints were lodged regarding his social media activity, where he questioned the efficacy of lockdowns and PCR tests.

While in June 2022, a nursing student successfully overturned a decision by her university lecturer to suspend her after she expressed doubts about the vaccine during a casual conversation at a work placement.

To question the scientific evidence for the safety of a vaccine, so long as it is done rationally, could hardly, if ever, be regarded as contravening [the nursing Code of Conduct]. Nor would pointing to the possibility of long-term effects or the possibility of adverse effects in some clinical situations, wrote Justice Guy Parker in his judgement.
Australian Housing, Services Cant Support 130,000 New Zealand Migrant Surge, Says Think Tank

A billboard advertises a home for sale in Melbourne, Australia, on Sep. 6, 2022. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

The current state of Australias infrastructure, housing, and services cannot support the surge of New Zealand migrants in the next four years, says the Melbourne-based think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).

New analysis by the IPA shows that around 130,000 additional New Zealanders are expected to move to Australia between 2023 and 2027.

It follows the announcement in April by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of a new direct citizenship pathway for New Zealanders.

From July 1, New Zealand citizens who arrived in Australia from 2001, have lived in the country for four years and meet the standard citizenship criteria will be eligible to apply directly for citizenship, skipping permanent residency.

Daniel Wild, the IPAs deputy executive director, said this softening of citizenship rules will add even more pressure on Australias schools, roads, hospitals, and housing.

Australians pride themselves as welcoming and tolerant, however, they recognise infrastructure and housing has not kept pace with a rapid and unsustainable expansions to migration, he said.

Australia has opened the gates for migration after isolating during the COVID years, however, modelling has shown that the country cannot meet their housing needs.

Data by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), a federal agency tasked with improving housing outcomes, found that Australia is expected to fall short of 106,000 dwellings by 2027 as a result of supply issues.

An analysis of this data by the IPA suggests that, even before taking into account the influx of people from New Zealand, the shortfall could end up as much as 212,800 dwellings by 2028.

The Federal governments migration review missed an opportunity to support getting more Australians into work and looks set to continue the short-sighted and lazy approach of plugging Australias worker shortage simply with more migration, Wild said.

Any proper, comprehensive review of migration should have considered the impact tax and red tape barriers have on stopping Australian pensioners, veterans, and students from re-entering the workforce, and the contribution they can make to alleviating the worker shortage.

While migration continues to play an important role in the countrys story, Wild said the federal government has allowed huge waves of migration to occur without any planning for housing or vital services.

Our leaders have the tools to tackle Australias unprecedented worker shortage crisis via simple and effective reforms, such as cutting red tape to allow our pensioners, veterans, and students to work, rather than relying on migration, which will stretch our already failing infrastructure.

With this further rapid expansion of our migration settings, Australian pensioners, veterans, and students miss out again, he said.

Signs of a Housing Crisis

Meanwhile, an analysis by KPMG Australia revealed that developers in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria are putting a hold on approved residential housing projects because of surging construction costs.

By the end of March, there were almost 16,400 housing projects in NSW that had been approved but not yet commenced, while in Victoria, this number stood at about 10,000.

The majority of the shelved dwellings are medium to high-density townhouses and apartments, which are more sensitive to cost increases.

Property developers are shelving projects because of soaring costs and lacklustre property prices. Some are even going bust, KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said.

Rawnsley believes that this trend is unlikely to reverse anytime soon, despite a slowdown in construction cost hikes.

At the same time, the Albanese government has met with endless walls while trying to pass its Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which was designed to address the lack of social and affordable housing across the country.

The government hopes the fund will allow the building of 30,000 homes over five years.

However, both the Coalition and the Greens have banded together to block the legislation.

The Greens have previously said that the federal government needed to stay at the negotiating table on HAFF, which the Greens believe does not contain any plans for renters and people who need public and affordable housing.

Victoria Kelly-Clark contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A burial cave with 1,850-year-old decorated coffins was discovered in the Galilee region in northern Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Tuesday.

The burial cave and the ancient coffins, known as glosskamas, were discovered by the IAA and the Israel Police in a private lot in the town of Mashhad, where extensive infrastructure works were being carried out.

The works had caused the destruction of eight of the nine burial niches in the ancient rock-cut cave.

Three decorated rectangular coffins, made of soft limestone, along with matching flat lids, were found in the cave entrance.

The coffins, used by the Jewish population in Galilee, were carved with models from the Jewish burial world with the influence of Greek culture.

A mausoleum-like model appears on top of one of the coffins, and on the other side, a circular wreath with holes is carved to symbolize the victory of the deceased over death.

The use of such coffins was mainly in the Jerusalem area and became common in the Galilee area following the failure of the Third Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire in 136 AD. 
Australian Senate Told ABC Coronation Coverage Saw 1,800 Complaints

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Managing Director David Anderson speaks during Senate Estimates at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 14, 2023. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The ABC coronation coverage that led to Stan Grant stepping away as the host of the Q&A program sparked about 1800 complaints from the public, according to the broadcasters managing director.

Hundreds of the comments sent to ABC consisted of racist attacks, David Anderson told the Senate estimates hearing in Canberra, while other complaints said the coronation discussion was worthwhile but poorly timed.

Some of it was in good faith, quite a lot of it was not in good faith, Anderson said.

Stan Grant made the decision to leave Q&A last week after racism against him intensified following his involvement in a panel discussion about the Kings coronation.

The veteran correspondent was invited to participate in the televised discussion on coronation day, during which he pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land.

Anderson said he was worried about the ABCs public-facing staff and flagged a review of whether the organisation was doing enough to support its employees.

Were coming to a precipice here, particularly the discussion around how we can protect our people, he said.

Threats to the personal safety of staff have escalated, with the ABC referring more incidents to the police, according to Anderson.

Online trolling has also intensified, and the broadcaster is increasingly withdrawing from Twitter in response, he said.

Anderson also said he was especially worried about the Indigenous staff at the voice referendum approach.

News Director Justin Stevens read out several headlines attacking ABCs coronation coverage that had been published and broadcast by commercial media.

There is a link between coverage of the ABC and its staff in commercial media and the abuse they were subjected to online, he said.

While ABC management did not want to give oxygen to media outlets that targeted Stan Grant, according to Anderson, that was no excuse for lack of support.

I think the time for dignified silence is over. I think for our people we need to be certainly more publicly supportive of them as well as what we do internally, he said.

Stevens explained that Stan Grant had been subjected to relentless racism for a long time for doing his job, but the coronation coverage led to a particular spike in racial vitriol.

Were talking about a really large volume and torrent of racial abuse and threats to Stan and his family over the course of a number of days, he said.

He also flagged that the organisation would change how it supported staff who were subjected to vitriolic abuse.
Biden Administration Focuses on Equity in New Artificial Intelligence Efforts

The Department of Education in Washington on July 22, 2019. (Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images)

The federal Department of Education on May 23 released an Insights and Recommendations report on artificial intelligence in education, part of a suite of Biden administration announcements that stress what they see as the need for equity in AI.

The department holds that biases in AI algorithms must be addressed when they introduce or sustain unjust discriminatory practices in education, the report reads.

It doesnt clarify whether the agency believes theres such a thing as a just discriminatory practicefor example, affirmative action that may discriminate against groups in educational admissions, the focus of a major upcoming Supreme Court decision.

The reports authors highlight what they characterize as some positive opportunities opened up by AI.

Those include strategies to make up for pandemic learning loss and greater adaptivity and personalization in digital tools for learning for students with disabilities, multilingual students, and others.

Volunteer art teacher Bojana Coklyat, teaches blind students at the School for the Blind in Jersey City, N.J., on April 23, 2012. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/GettyImages)

Yet, when detailing an example of potential algorithmic discriminationdefined somewhat vaguely as systematic unfairness in the learning opportunities or resources recommended to some populations of studentsthe authors sound more skeptical of some forms of personalization.

If AI adapts by speeding curricular pace for some students and by slowing the pace for other students [based on incomplete data, poor theories, or biased assumptions about learning], achievement gaps could widen, the report reads.

Equity and related fears about disparate outcomes between groups arent the only concerns mentioned in the report, which covers student surveillance and worries over teacher job security, among other areas.

The department firmly rejects the idea that AI could replace teachers, the report reads.

Yet, it also characterizes algorithmic discrimination as an AI risk of the highest importance.

The authors state that their analysis grew in part out of four 2022 listening sessions involving more than 700 attendees.

Issues related to racial equity and unfair bias were at the heart of every listening session we held, the report reads.

Citing the feedback theyve received from educational constituents, the authors conclude that AI systems and tools must align to our collective vision for high-quality learning, including equity.

The authors also describe the potential for bias as a motivator for another imperative: Educational systems must govern their use of AI systems.

In an early disclaimer, they note that the contents do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public.

The Department of Education report comes weeks after another slate of AI announcements from the Biden administration that also emphasized racial equity.

At the time, an official told reporters the president thinks Congress should act on algorithmic discrimination in the private sector.

Vice President Kamala Harris went on to meet with leaders at Microsoft, OpenAI, Alphabet, and Anthropic on responsible AI use in their products.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 18, 2023. (Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

On May 23, Microsoft announced a new AI content moderating service, Azure Content Safety.

It can detect hateful, violent, sexual, and self-harm content in images and text, and assign severity scores, allowing businesses to limit and prioritize what content moderators need to review, Microsoft stated.

Other Biden administration AI announcements on May 23 include changes to the National AI R&D Strategic Plan, first developed under the Obama administration in 2016 and modified under President Donald Trump in 2019.

Equity is central to the plan, as detailed in its executive summary.

One listed strategy for AI: Develop approaches to understand and mitigate the ethical, legal, and social risks posed by AI to ensure that AI systems reflect our nations values and promote equity.

In addition, the administration launched a Request for Information (RFI) for its National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy.

Questions in the RFI also show the Biden teams interest in equity in AI.

One question asks: What additional considerations or measures are needed to assure that AI mitigates algorithmic discrimination, advances equal opportunity, and promotes positive outcomes for all?

Another queries: How might existing laws and policies be updated to account for inequitable impacts from AI systems?

People can comment on that RFI until 5 p.m. (EST) on July 7, 2023 at regulations.gov.
Boris Johnson Referred to Police Over New Lockdown Breach Claims

Boris Johnson giving evidence to the Privileges Committee at the House of Commons, London, on March 22, 2023. (House of Commons/UK Parliament via PA Media)

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been referred to police by the Cabinet Office after his ministerial diary reportedly revealed visits by friends to Chequers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cabinet Office has passed its concerns to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police, according to The Times of London.

The trips by friends to the Chequers country residence and new allegations about Johnsons behaviour in Downing Street were highlighted during the preparation for a public inquiry into the pandemic.

The inquiry is being led by the Privileges Committee that is examining whether Johnson may have misled Parliament in statements that he made in the Commons about alleged breaches of lockdown rules in Downing Street.

A Cabinet Office spokesman told The Times of London that information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the COVID inquiry and was passed to the relevant authorities.

On Tuesday, Thames Valley Police confirmed that on May 18 they had received a report of potential breaches of the Health Protection Regulations between June 2020 and May 2021 at Chequers, Buckinghamshire.

We are currently assessing this information, police said.

The Cabinet Office is using taxpayers money to foot the bill for Johnsons legal advice in relation to the inquiry.

Labour Party Chair Annelise Dodds told Sky News that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should not be enabling British taxpayers to fund the legal bill of a disgraced former prime minister.

She suggested that given that Britons are faced with a cost-of-living crisis, the moral argument is very clear and Sunak seems to be too weak to stand up.

Johnson is entitled to the government funded legal representation for the inquiry, as it relates to his time and conduct as a prime minister.

A spokesman for Johnson told The Times of London that some abbreviated entries in Mr. Johnsons official diary were queried by the Cabinet Office during preparation for the COVID inquiry.

Following an examination of the entries, Mr. Johnsons lawyers wrote to the Cabinet Office and Privileges Committee explaining that the events were lawful and were not breaches of any COVID regulations, the spokesman added.

Partygate

Johnson was fined in March 2022 for attending his birthday party on June 19, 2020 at Downing Street, in breach of lockdown rules.

In November 2020, the second national lockdown came into force in England, followed by a third lockdown in January 2021.

A number of gatherings took place at Downing Street during the pandemic, breaking the rules in place at the time.

Giving evidence to the Privileges Committee in March 2022, Johnson denied he lied to Parliament over the partygate scandal.

In a dossier he presented to the committee, Johnson accepted that he misled MPs when he said there had been no parties at 10 Downing Street in breach of lockdown rules.

But he insisted that he did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the House and that he made the denials in good faith based on the information he had at the time.

You have found nothing to show that I was warned in advance that events in Number 10 were illegal, in fact nothing to show that anyone raised anxieties with me about any event, whether before or after it had taken place, he told MPs.

Following the scandals that engulfed his office, Johnson resigned as prime minister in July 2022.

If the Privileges Committee concludes that Johnson misled Parliament and it constituted contempt, he could face a number of possible sanctions, including suspension from the House of Commons.
Canada, Saudi Arabia Restore Full Diplomatic Ties, Appoint Envoys After 2018 Spat

Canada and Saudi Arabia are normalizing diplomatic relations and appointing ambassadors five years after the Liberal governments public comments on womens rights led Riyadh to expel the Canadian ambassador.

In 2018 Global Affairs Canada tweeted that it wanted Saudi Arabia to immediately release human rights activists.

Both countries maintained their embassies but Saudi Arabia downgraded its presence in Ottawa and halted trade talks with Canada, saying it was unacceptable for Canada to weigh in on Saudi Arabias justice system.

Global Affairs Canada says in a statement today that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed during a chat last November during an international summit that they wanted to restore diplomatic relations.

The department says the two countries are putting their ties back to where they were in five years ago on the basis of mutual respect and common interests.

Canadas new ambassador will be Jean-Philippe Linteau, a career diplomat who was most recently consul general in Dubai.
CCP Presents Grave Threat to the US Homeland: DHS Official

Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaks at the podium during the meeting between members of the standing committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th CCP Central Committee and Chinese and foreign journalists in Beijing on Oct. 23, 2022. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Chinas communist regime presents a unique threat to the U.S. homeland and is actively working to undermine U.S. security and damage U.S. economic standing, a senior Homeland Security (DHS) official says.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, seeks to leverage the whole of the Chinese nation against the United States, according to Iranga Kahangama, assistant DHS secretary for cyber, infrastructure, risk, and resilience.

Beijing presents an especially grave threat to the homeland, he told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence during a May 23 hearing.

We must match our adversaries determination through a whole-of-government response, with DHS playing a leading role on the front lines of that defense every day.

Kahangama said the CCP regime operates globally and is using all instruments of national power to target the United States in its quest for global hegemony.

The United States, in response, must mobilize a whole-of-nation defense against such aggression, he said. The methods employed by the regime to undermine U.S. influence are just too varied to warrant any other response.

[China] continues to employ both overt and clandestine methods to undercut U.S. national security and economic security interests, such as stealing advanced and sensitive technologies using traditional and non-traditional collectors, amplifying narratives that sow doubt in U.S. institutions, and messaging against U.S. politicians it deems hostile, he said.

CCP Is Trying to Undermine US

Subcommittee Chair August Pfluger (R-Texas) painted the growing competition between the CCP and the United States as one between democratic norms and values and rampant authoritarianism.

The CCPs overarching goal, he said, isnt merely to do better economically than the United States, but to destroy the very foundations of the republic as a whole and to dismantle the international system built upon those foundations.

This conflict is not with the individual citizens of [China], Pfluger said.

This conflict is with the CCP, an authoritarian regime that commits genocide against its own people, censors free speech across the globe, and aims to end democracy as we know it.

While offering the example of the recently closed CCP police station, which operated in New York City as an extension of the regimes ministry of public security, Pfluger said the CCP seeks to infiltrate and influence state and local governments to compel the United States to adopt policies that favor China from the ground up.

The ranking Democrat member Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) concurred, saying that the CCP is aiming to systematically destroy the United States economic advantage through illicit means.

Each year, the CCPs economic espionage against American business costs between $225 billion and 600 billion, he said.

It is indisputable  that the CCP is actively trying to undermine the economy and security of the United States. More alarming, the intellectual property stolen by the CCP [does] not just include commercial products, designs, and trademarks for cheap knockoff and counterfeit products. It [includes] blueprints for fighter jets, helicopters, missiles, pharmaceuticals, and large-scale technologies.

China Is Greatest Long-Term Threat

FBI Deputy Assistant Director Jill Murphy testified that such illicit activities are part of a broader push by authoritarian powers cooperating with one another to erode the system of governance espoused by democratic nations.

We see nations such as China, Russia, and Iran becoming more aggressive and more capable in their nefarious activity than ever before, Murphy said.

These nations seek to undermine our core democratic values, our economic and scientific institutions. They employ a growing range of tactics to advance their interests and to harm the United States.

To that end, Murphy said, the CCP remains the foremost threat to the United States, and its leeching of American intellectual property and other espionage activities are an integral part of its strategy to displace the United States.

The greatest long-term threat to our nations ideas, innovation, and economic security is the foreign intelligence and economic espionage threat from China, Murphy said. Its a threat to our economic security and, by extension, to our national security.

The threat from China is complex and vast.

Murphy said the regimes goal of undermining and, ultimately, displacing the United States and the rules-based international order that it leads requires the regime to attempt to subvert and turn U.S. corporate interests against the United States.

The [CCP] aspires to equal or surpass the United States as a global superpower and influence the world with a value system shaped by undemocratic, authoritarian ideals, she said.

To pursue this goal, China uses not only human intelligence officers, co-optees, and corrupt corporate insiders, but also sophisticated cyber intrusions, pressure on U.S. companies in China, shell-game corporate transactions, and joint-venture partnerships that are anything but a true partnership, she said.

Pfluger questioned the FBIs willingness to actually confront such challenges, however, noting that the bureau hasnt returned multiple congressional letters regarding such issues nor answered fundamental questions as to its intelligence on the CCP.

We have multiple letters that we have sent to you that have gone unresponded to.
Chief Justice Roberts Says Supreme Court Is Trying to Address Court Ethics

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 31, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTONThe Supreme Court is working to address concerns about justices ethics, Chief Justice John Roberts told a gathering of lawyers in the nations capital on May 23 in a speech that was short on specifics.

Robertss comments came at a dinner hosted by the American Law Institute at the National Building Museum. His colleague, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, presented Roberts with the groups Henry J. Friendly Medal. Roberts previously served as a law clerk to Friendly, who was an influential judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit; Friendly died in 1986.

Roberts was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

While allegations against Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative jurist appointed by the late President George H.W. Bush, have received intense media coverage, Roberts didnt address issues that have been raised against specific justices.

Highest Standards of Conduct

Thomas has recently been the focus of Democratic lawmakers who have criticized himsometimes in scathing termsfor, among other things, accepting gifts from his friend, wealthy GOP donor Harlan Crow, without publicly disclosing those gifts, which have largely taken the form of lavish vacations.

Crow, Thomas, and the justices wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, have been friends for decades. Justice Thomas said he was previously advised that he didnt have to report such gifts, although he says he will do so going forward.

Legal experts say theres no conflict of interest because Crow hasnt had any business before the Supreme Court and because its not illegal for justices to have wealthy, generous friends.

However, Democrats and left-wing activists accuse Thomas of corruption and are pressuring Congress to impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court, which legal experts say Congress has no power to do under the Constitution.

Roberts told the gathering that hes personally focused on maintaining good ethics.

I want to assure people that Im committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct, he said.

We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment, and I am confident there are ways to do that that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government and with the Constitutions separation of powers.

Roberts didnt elaborate on what he or other justices may be doing on the ethics front.

Roe v. Wade

Roberts also said he was disappointed that public discourse has taken a turn for the worse.

Supreme Court justices have required 24/7 security because of protests outside their personal residences, and judges have been shouted down in public, he said.

Roberts seemed to be referring to an event at Stanford Law School in March at which Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, was silenced when he was aggressively heckled by radical students.

The chief justice said it bothered him to have to order stricter security measures outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill.

Because the court is such an important symbol, the hardest decision I had to make was whether to erect fences and barricades outside the Supreme Court.

I had no choice but to go ahead and do it, he said.

The fencing went up in May 2022 after an early draft of the courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organizationwhich overturned Roe v. Wadewas leaked to the media, in a major breach of court protocol. Protests intensified after the leak. The fencing was removed months later. Supreme Court officials have investigated the leak but no culprit has ever been identified.

Most Controversial Issues

Despite these challenges, the justices spirits remain high, Roberts suggested.

There is cause for optimism inside the court, he said.

I am happy that I can continue to say that there has never been a voice raised in anger in our conference room, Roberts said, referring to the chamber in which justices discuss and vote on pending cases.

Our court consists of nine appointees by four presidents. We deal with some of the most controversial issues in the country, yet we maintain collegial relations with each other, he said.

When I wander down the halls and see a colleague, I am always happy to have the chance to chat, Roberts said.

Now, to be fair, there are many days where I dont feel like walking down the halls, he quipped.

Kagan, who criticized some of her colleagues after the Dobbs decision, which she dissented from, praised Roberts in glowing terms during remarks introducing the chief justice. In Dobbs, Roberts voted to uphold a state law restricting abortion but voted not to strike down Roe v. Wade.

The chief is incapable of writing a bad sentence, said Kagan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

His writing has depth, intelligence, crystal clarity, grace, humor, and understated style. That writing is, in my humble opinion, the best writing in law. He is a consummate legal craftsman.
IN-DEPTH: China Is Both Supplier and Saboteur of Americas Electric Grid, Experts Say

Bidens green energy transition has left America captive to Chinese cartels

Simultaneous with efforts by the Biden administration to green Americas energy infrastructure, Chinese companies have become key suppliers of hardware to the U.S. electric grid that analysts fear could give China the ability to crash the grid if hostilities were ever to escalate.

Americans have become so used to an uninterrupted supply of electricity that our degree of dependence on the grid for the most basic necessities, like food, water, heat, medical care, communication, and increasingly, transportation, often goes unnoticed. But experts say that Americas electric grid is an Achilles heel.

If theyre able to knock the grid out, basically modern society is going to fall, Joe Trotter, director of the Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Counsel, told The Epoch Times. The modern grid runs our whole infrastructure and without power, we dont have refrigeration, our food supply goes down, our water supply goes down.

If the power went out across the entire United States for a month, people would die. Thered be widespread looting. Two-to-three months and you might actually have a full societal collapse.

Workers repair infrastructure in a power station that was damaged by a Russian air attack in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, on Nov. 04, 2022. (Ed Ram/Getty Images)

Attacking power grids has been a tactic of warfare since World War II, including the destruction of electric grids by the United States during wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Most recently, Russia has employed similar tactics during its invasion of Ukraine.

But there have also been numerous examples of clandestine sabotage by countries like Russia, China, and Iran on Americas infrastructure over the past two decades. Despite these risks, however, American electric utilities have increasingly been installing essential hardware components, like transformers, that are made in China into the U.S. grid.

Department of Energy building is seen in Washington, on July 22, 2019. (ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images)

Testifying before the U.S. Department of Energy in December 2021, Michael Mabee, retired U.S. Army Sergeant Major, stated: It is of great concern that the Peoples Republic of China, and its controlling Chinese Communist Party, is marketing equipment or systems to the same U.S. critical infrastructures that multiple U.S. government agencies have confirmedfor yearsare the target of Chinas past and present cyber-espionage, probing, and cyberattacks.

A 2020 report by the Atlantic Council found that in the past decade, China has exported more than 200 large power transformers for use in the U.S. power grid, though other estimates (pdf) go as high as 300. Given that there are approximately 2,000 transformers throughout Americas grid, Chinese-manufactured systems represent about 1015 percent of the total. And while cyber warfare can come from many foreign sources, the threat from hardware is unique to China.

There are other countries that can be sources of potential energy grid compromise, like Iran or Russia, but they dont supply components at the same volume as China, the report states.

Part of the power grid of Florida Power and Light at a distribution center in Miami, Fla., on Nov. 8 2006. (ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP via Getty Images)

In a December 2022 report, Trotter stated that although electrical operators are continually working on building redundancy and security into our electrical infrastructure, the fact remains that if a relatively small percentage of the nations 2,000+ high-power transformers are taken offline all at once, most of the country could lose power for weeks, if not months.

What a transformer does is it simply raises or lowers the voltage, Joseph Weiss, a control systems engineer and partner in Applied Control Solutions, told The Epoch Times.

Transformers are installed at power plants to step up the voltage to hundreds of thousands of volts so it can be rapidly distributed along the transmission grid. They are installed along the grid to compensate for friction and energy loss along the way, and they are installed near end users so that electricity can be stepped down to 440, 220, or 110 volts to power machines and appliances.

Trump Orders Ban on Chinese Technology, Biden Rescinds Order

In a 2021 report to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Weiss stated that one of the first nation state cyberattacks against the U.S. grid was the Chinese cyberattack of the California Independent System Operator in 2001. Weiss cited numerous other Chinese efforts to sabotage Americas grid since then.

Outside of the electric grid, most Chinese cyberattacks have been to steal data, Weiss stated, but the transformer hacks were different. There was no data to steal, only access to the operation of the transformers.

Donald Trump speaks to the press in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, on Nov. 24, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In May 2020, former President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13920, which declared a state of emergency over the state of the power grid and banned the imports of Chinese equipment in its construction. Immediately upon taking office in January 2021, President Biden rescinded that order.

Speaking at a Senate Energy Committee hearing on March 23, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) stated: The director of the U.S. cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency warned us just a few weeks ago about China; she said that in the case of an invasion of Taiwan, China would likely launch cyber attacks against Americas critical energy infrastructure.

The Biden administration has, wrongly, prioritized greening of the grid over the reliability of energy production and delivery, he said. This is a dangerous mistake.

Hardware Backdoors

In addition to software hacks, China has been shown to be increasingly adept at using hardware to essentially leave networks vulnerable, Trotter said. Computer hacking is done using code, he said, but on the hardware side they literally put something on the chip that leaves it vulnerable to manipulation  and then these chips have wound up in energy infrastructure.

While software hacks can often be blocked and vulnerabilities plugged using code, removing physical hardware embedded in chips is much more difficult. Among the concerns with Chinese hardware is that backdoors can be built into computer chips that allow the Chinese Communist Party to control their performance remotely. According to Trotter, there are a number of ways the grid could be impaired through these backdoors, one of which is to misdirect the computer chips that control the flow of electricity.

They can essentially create a second pathway to allow the chip to believe that theyre acting normally, while actually ramping things up, he said. The chips on the monitors for the amount of electricity going across the transformers can [register] that its within normal parameters, when whats actually happening is the electricity output is so high that the cables are on the verge of melting.

Chinese companies have become competitive in the construction of equipment like transformers from the experience they gained building out Chinas electric grid, which is operated by the monopoly State Grid Corporation of China, the worlds largest utility. They are competitive on cost and on access to the materials necessary to build the components.

Transformers are generally custom-made, at a cost of millions of dollars, with delivery times between several months and more than a year. Two European engineering companies that manufacture transformers, Siemens in Germany and ABB in Switzerland, often use Chinese components.

A Con Edison power plant stands in a Brooklyn neighborhood across from Manhattan in New York, on March 15, 2018. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In May 2020, U.S. federal officials seized a 500,000-pound transformer that had just been imported from China on its way to the Western Area Power Administration, a utility in Colorado. The confiscated transformer was then transported under guard to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. to a laboratory operated by Honeywell International Inc., which was under contract with the U.S. Energy Department to investigate national-security threats.

According to Latham Saddler, former director of intelligence at the National Security Council under the Trump administration, They found hardware that was put into that [transformer], that had the ability for somebody in China to switch it off.

America Is Captive to Chinese Cartels

A May 20 report by energy analyst Robert Bryce stated that two years ago, about 40 environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, 350 Action, Earthworks, Sunrise Movement, and Union of Concerned Scientists, signed a letter urging Congress and the Biden Administration to work with China on a new internationalism. They called on Biden and Congress to eschew the dominant antagonistic approach to U.S.-China relations and instead prioritize multilateralism, diplomacy, and cooperation with China to address the existential threat that is the climate crisis.

China is the world leader in industrial capacity across a number of clean energy industries, the environmentalists wrote, according to Bryce, and working together could speed the transition away from dirty energy economies.

Between 2002 and 2021, in addition to transformers, American utility companies imported more than 171 million inverters from China, Thomas Waller, CEO of the Center for Security Policy, told The Epoch Times. During the same period, the United States imported more than three million electricity meters from China.

In an April 14 report, Brien Sheahan, who served on the board of directors for the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners, stated that the U.S. and allies have allowed themselves to become captive to Chinese cartels that control production of electronic components, high-powered magnets, printed circuit boards, computers, drones, rare earth metals, wind turbines, solar cells, cellular phones, and lithium batteries at a time when the integration of renewables and electric vehicles at scale will require ever more sophisticated technologies to manufacture and manage.

In fact, Sheahan said, nearly every element of the technology-based digital smart grid is dependent on Chinese-made components with murky provenance.

Puesh Kumar, director of cybersecurity at the U.S. Energy Department stated at the Senate hearing that domestic manufacturing is not going to address the short-term issues; its going to address the medium and long-term issues.

Kumar said the administration has been discussing allocating money from the 1950 Defense Production Act to start to incentivize building transformers here in the United States.

EVs, Solar Panels Create New Threats for the Grid

So-called green laws and regulations from both the Biden administration and liberal states like California, New York, and Washington, are pushing things like cars, home heating, and stoves onto the electric grid, and energy experts warn that the grid is being pushed beyond its capacity. But cyber experts are concerned that some of these products carry security risks for the grid, as well.

A worker installs solar panels during the completion phase of a 4-acre solar rooftop atop AltaSeas research and development facility at the Port of Los Angeles, in the San Pedro neighborhood, in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 21, 2023. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Americans are purchasing rooftop solar panels and electric vehicles at a rapid rate, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) said at the March 23 energy hearing. While experts are still determining the degree of risk, there is concern that these new resources can serve as additional entry points for cyber adversaries to target the grid and could have the possibility to cause major disruptions and cyber attacks on our energy system.

A February report in the Wall Street Journal cited cyber security experts who claimed that, because EVs are controlled by web-based technology, they are vulnerable to hacking, not only in terms of controlling the car itself but also affecting charging stations and the power grid.

Electric vehicles are packed with chips and software that control everything from their batteries and motors to cruise control and braking, the report stated. They also are plugged into chargers almost daily, sending information back and forth over charging networks or the internet, and they communicate wirelessly with the companies that made them, EV dealers, cellular and home Wi-Fi networks and apps on their owners phones.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) criticized the Biden administration for forcing the rapid adoption of technology that is inherently more vulnerable to cyber attacks and exploitation.

According to leading cybersecurity experts, electric vehicles offer orders of magnitude more targets for cyber attacks than standard internal combustion engine engines, orders of magnitude greater risk, Barrasso said.

And while utilities across the United States invest in upgrades and new technology, this modernization in some respects also adds to the grids vulnerabilities and puts ever larger segments of the grid at risk.

A Tesla Model S sedan is plugged into a Tesla Supercharger electrical vehicle charging station in Falls Church, Va., on Feb., 13, 2023. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

According to a 2020 report (pdf) by Ridge Global, a systems security firm, Americas power grid is undergoing a growing convergence of the Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) environments within the industry, and the advent of the Smart Grid including the evolution of key technologies that support local power distribution.

While the U.S. grid had formerly been characterized by a patchwork of regional and local systems, featuring a wide variety of equipment and technology, today our grid is becoming more uniform and more dependent on management systems that are directly connected to the internet.

Speaking at the March Senate hearing, Robert Lee, CEO of Dragos, a cybersecurity firm, said that the industrial threat landscape has shifted irreversibly this past year.

The heterogeneous nature of our industrial infrastructure made it difficult for adversaries to create repeatable attacks that cause disruption or physical damage, Lee said. For good reason, the industry has moved towards homogenous infrastructure with common software packages, network protocols, facilities, designs, training, and so forth. I warned that one day an adversary would take advantage of this, though, and in 2022 that adversary emerged.

Lee described the recent threat of malware called pipe dream, which was developed by a highly capable strategic state adversary and designed to sabotage industrial infrastructure. Pipe dream has the capability of spreading far and wide throughout Americas electrical network.

Biden Administration Takes Holistic View on Grid Risks

During the hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) stated that the risk of malicious hardware implants was sufficiently high that the [Trump] administration seized some Chinese transformers back in 2020. Hawley asked Kumar what percentage of Americas transformers are made in China today.

Senator Josh Hawley, R-MI, asks questions to witnesses as they testify before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, in Washington, on Sept. 21, 2021. (Ken Cedeno-Pool/Getty Images)

Kumar replied that were doing that analysis right now to see what pieces of equipment have some of these concerning areas.

It sounds like you dont know, Hawley said. When do you think you might know?

Im happy to get back with you on that answer, Kumar replied.

I find this really quite baffling, Hawley responded. This leads me to ask why it is that this administration suspended the last administrations executive order that restricted the procurement of foreign electric equipment.

Why would we allow China, a country thats suspected of numerous cyber attacks against the U.S., to supply major components for our electric grid? Hawley asked.

Kumar replied that We have to take a more holistic view of supply chain security. Just having an approved list is not the only way to secure our supply chains.

Bidens executive order is under review, Kumar said, but know that this is an area thats a priority for us at the department.

The electric grid is one of the greatest engineering marvels thats ever been done, Weiss said. But you lose transformers and things like that, you cannot run the grid, period.

Weve got a lot of really critical equipment, and the people, quote-unquote, protecting it dont understand how that equipment works, he said. Thats a recipe for disaster.

We should not depend on China for anything that sustains life in the United States of America, but particularly the backbone of our most critical infrastructure, Waller said. In our nation, that backbone is high voltage transformers; the grid doesnt operate without them.

It plays right into what Sun Tzu, the Chinese philosopher thousands of years ago, said: The supreme art of war is to subdue your enemy without fighting, Waller said.
Chinas New Ambassador to US Arrives in New York, Acknowledges Serious Challenges in Relations

Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the U.S., arrives at JFK airport in New York on May 23, 2023. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Xie Feng, Chinas new ambassador to the United States, arrived in New York on May 23, at a time when both nations have indicated the desire to thaw frosty relations.

Xie addressed the media in English at John F. Kennedy International Airport, stating that he is aiming to enhance U.S.China relations at a time of serious difficulties and challenges.

We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences, and also to expand our cooperation so that our relationship will be back to the right track, he said.

Xie takes his new post in Washington at a time when U.S.China relations are at a decades-low point, marked by fierce disputes over competition in trade, technology, South China Sea sovereignty, Taiwan Strait issues, and a spy balloon incident in February that led to the suspension of high-level diplomatic contacts.

A Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the Atlantic Coast near Surfside Beach, S.C., on Feb. 4, 2023.; a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies over the debris field during recovery efforts on Feb. 4, 2023. (Randall Hill/Reuters); U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Jerry Ireland)

Xies predecessor, Qin Gang, left Washington in January to become Chinas new foreign minister. During his tenure as ambassador, Qins aggressive diplomacy style wasnt able to stop the worsening of U.S.China relations.

The U.S. State Department welcomed Xies arrival.

We look forward to working with the ambassador designate and his team, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing.

In recent weeks, there have been indications that the tensions between China and the United States might be cooling. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with top Chinese official Wang Yi in Vienna, and the regimes commerce minister may meet with top U.S. commerce and trade officials in the coming weeks.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in Japan during the G-7 summit last weekend that the Chinese spy balloon incident changed everything, but I think youre going to see that begin to thaw very shortly.

The appointment of Xiewho has been viewed as an intermediary between the United States and Chinaas ambassador to the United States may signal Beijings desire to de-escalate bilateral disputes.

In November 2022, Xie helped arrange a high-profile summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden. He also played an important role on the Chinese side in the negotiation of a prisoner exchange agreement in 2021. Under that deal, Beijing released two Canadian citizens in exchange for the United States giving up an extradition request for Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei, who had been detained in Canada.

Targeting US Strategic, Business Circles

Xie, 59, joined Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1986. He had years of experience in diplomacy, especially with the United States. From 2000 to 2003, he served as attache and spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy to the United States. In 2008, he served as consular to the United States. In 2010, he was promoted to director of the North American and Oceanian Department of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2014, he was appointed ambassador to Indonesia.

In June 2017, Xie became commissioner of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong. In 2021, he returned to Beijing to serve as vice minister of foreign affairs.

Then-Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in the HKSAR Xie Feng gives a speech at a press conference in Hong Kong on Feb. 7, 2020. (Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images)

Xie has extensive contacts with strategic and business circles in the United States. In October 2022, he said at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies that he hopes the experts at the think tanks in both nations can play an active role in bringing U.S.Sino relations back on track.

On Jan. 16, Xie delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the China Think Tank International Influence Forum in Beijing. He reiterated the importance of the roles played by people in the Chinese and American strategic circles and business circles in the U.S.Sino dialogue and cooperation, according to mainland Chinese media outlet The Paper.

Wang Weizheng, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of political science at Adelphi University in New York, told reporters earlier this year that U.S. affairs are the top priority of Chinas diplomacy. He said Xie is a relatively down-to-earth person who could help ease tensions between the United States and China.

However, he said Chinas foreign policy wont change in major ways just because of personnel changes in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

CCPs [Chinese Communist Party] leader Xi Jinping defines SinoU.S. relations and Chinas overall diplomatic form as he wishes, Wang said. Whether it is the foreign minister or the ambassador to the U.S., they are all tools to implement Xis policies.
Chinas Waning Global Prestige

Especially in Asia, China is losing friends and admirers

Commentary

China is diminishing in the eyes of most of the rest of the world, especially with other Asians. That is a key conclusion to emerge from a massive global survey conducted by the famous Pew Research Center.

Pews weighing of a range of global opinions on China makes clear that Asians, in particular, but also Americans and, to a lesser extent, Europeans, have become increasingly wary of dealing with China. Though the Pew studys most recent figures stem from 2019, more recent updates, though less complete, indicate strongly that the deteriorating trend documented by Pew has continued in more recent years (here and here).

Despite these negative opinions, the survey discovered no anti-Chinese prejudice or animus. This is evident in the universal wish across the globe for China to prosper. Wherever Pew went, people believed that Chinese growth was a good thing, to use the surveys language, in general, and for the rest of the world. Even in Asia, most respondents welcome Chinese economic advances.

In Australia, for example, although the tension between Beijing and Canberra has become intense at times, some 65 percent of respondents still welcome Chinas prosperity, and only 30 percent do not. Japan and other Asian nations are less skewed on this question but generally welcome Chinese growth. The only exception is India. There, only 20 percent of respondents see Chinese growth as a good thing, while fully 61 percent see it as negative for them and their country as well as the world generally. Considering that Indian and Chinese armed forces have engaged in sometimes violent border disputes, Indias outlier opinion mix is understandable.

The tone changes, however, when the questions move from general opinions to specifics on contact with China. When Pew asked people if Chinese investment in their country is a good or a bad thing, the percentages, at least in Asia, flipped. Some 66 percent of Australians, for example, resist Chinese investment, while only 30 percent embrace it. That is a perfect mirror image of Australian attitudes toward Chinas economic success generally. Japan changed even more radically. There, only 16 percent of respondents welcome Chinese investment, while 75 percent reject it. The rest of Asia is more moderate but still shows a less positive attitude than in Pews more general question. The rest of the world is more positive than the Australians and the Asians but less enthusiastic when asked the general question about Chinese growth.

Strangely, given the mostly positive attitudes toward the benefits of Chinese growth, most of the world generally shows a negative feeling about China. The negative views are not about Chinese culture or Chinese people. That was not Pews question. The negative feeling is about the Chinese nation as it is currently organized. Latin America is the least critical. Its respondents rate about evenly divided, with half telling Pew they are positive on China generally and half telling Pew that they are negative.

Further north, however, in the United States and Canada, the positive falls to about 26 percent, about where it is in India. Europeboth east and westis only slightly more positive, with an average of about 35 percent. Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines offer figures similar to Europes. Aside from Russias understandably strong 71 percent positive, the most positive views are in Africa and the Middle East, with some 6070 percent in the positive camp.

What is most striking about Pews work is how things have changed over time. It seems that Chinese leader Xi Jinpings authoritarian drift and Beijings bullying strategieseconomic, diplomatic, and militaryhave turned what was a welcoming world against China.

The biggest turn has emerged in Asia, which is hardly surprising since that is where China has been most active. In Japan, for example, positive percentages have fallen some 41 percentage points from a 55 percent positive 20 years ago to todays 14 percent. South Koreas positive percentage has fallen to 32 percent from some 66 percent some 20 years ago, a drop of 34 percentage points. Indonesia has dropped 37 percentage points from 73 percent positive 20 years ago to only 36 percent presently, and the Philippines has seen a 21 percentage point drop from 63 percent positive to 42 percent presently.

Although much of Pews elaborate work dates back to before the pandemic, updated material, though not nearly as thorough as the original survey, shows continued distrust of Beijing. That further deterioration certainly stands to reason. Suspicions about the origin of COVID-19 have hurt Chinese prestige, as China, during the pandemic and in its aftermath, showed itself a less reliable trading partner than previously thought.

Beijing has not helped its image with its high-handed attitude toward other nations, especially in Asia and among Belt and Road participants, as well as its use of its armed forces to intimidate neighbors. Its image no doubt has further suffered from how Beijing has used trade as a weapon, threatening, for example, to cut Japan off from rare earth elements, blocking Australian goods simply because Canberra questioned the origins of COVID-19, and blocking South Korean goods because of military purchases from the United States.

It is not a pretty picture and no doubt a disconcerting one to the leadership in Beijing.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Chinese Police Order Parents to Immediately Delete Encrypted Apps From Their Childrens Smartphones

Expert: "They fear people accessing uncensored information"

The icon of the Telegram messaging app in an undated image. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images)

Police in at least seven cities around China have issued notices since last week, demanding parents immediately uninstall encrypted messaging apps from their childrens mobile phones.

This is one of the most recent attempts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to censor information and control the Chinese people, according to Chinese dissidents.

The apps banned include foreign apps such as Telegram (known in Chinese as Paper Plane as per the logo of Telegram), WhatsApp, and Twitter, according to reports of several Chinese state-run mouthpieces.

Domestically developed apps of Seagull, Miliaomao, Shimida, and Batchat are also on the list of apps banned by Chinese police.

A notice from Nanjing police authorities in Chinas east on May 19 warned that these apps are used by criminals to coax youngsters to provide private information, thus becoming accomplices of the criminals and even assisting internet crimes.

The police claimed that the encryption function and the delete after reading function of these apps have increased the difficulty of investigation of these online scam cases.

They also warned in the notice that these crimes are subject to a maximum of three years of imprisonment and/or fines.

According to online information viewed by the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, police authorities in various locations such as Fujian Province in the east, the provinces of Sichuan and Guangxi in the southwest, Hainan Prefecture in the south, Qinghai and Gansu provinces in the northwest, and Inner Mongolia in the north have issued similar warnings.

Dawu workers clash with riot police in Langwuzhuang in Hebei Province, China, on Aug. 4, 2020. (Courtesy of China Change)

Chinas state-run news outlet The Paper reported that parents are required by some local authorities to take the child to the nearest public security agency to find out whether the child has engaged in a crime.

CCP Fears Youngsters Awakening: Chinese Dissidents

Dissidents in China believe that Chinese police are attempting to further tighten their grip over Chinas internet and are particularly targeting young people.

The CCP regime under Xi Jinping has been stricter than his predecessors, said Zeng Jieming, a former Chinese journalist now based in the United States, told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on May 23.

Restricting freedom of speech, the CCP fears that its indoctrination of elementary school students may be undermined by encrypted chat software. Under Xi Jinping, the CCPs authoritarianism is even more stringent than that of his predecessors. It strives to close off any areas beyond its control, said Zeng.

A Chinese rights lawyer still living in China only gave his family name Chen in the interview with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times yesterday. He expressed a similar view.

The CCP sets up the Great Firewall to ensure the public remains uninformed and confined, who resemble frogs in a well and have no knowledge of whats happening outside. The CCPs greatest fear is young individuals utilizing techniques to circumvent the firewall and employing secure software to communicate, exchange ideas, and foster intellectual clashes among themselves. This is precisely what the CCP dreads the most, said Chen.

He said that he is happy to see youngsters in China are wakening up.

Many junior high school and high school students are now circumventing the Great Firewall, which is a positive phenomenon, said Chen, repeating that this is what the CCP fears.

What is sad is that many Chinese people dont realize the CCP is the true hostile force of the Chinese people.

The CCP is really cheating and deceiving the people and the nation, he said.

CCPs Suppression Is Illegal: Chinese Official

There is no legal basis for [the police] to punish and suppress elementary and middle school students who use these software applications, said Wu, a pseudonym, in an interview with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times yesterday. Wu is a graduate of Chinas prestigious Peking University and is working in a government institution in China.

In China, any app must be registered with the CCPs cyber and police authorities before it is put into operation. Three of the four Chinese apps have public network security numbers, which indicates that they have passed the regimes stringent registration processes.

Only Miliaomaos public network security number is not available on its website.

Wu said that the communist authorities have mandated the installation of the so-called anti-fraud apps on peoples cell phones. They claim that the apps are to prevent crimes and scams. But in reality, they use the apps to monitor people, because they fear people accessing uncensored information and taking actions beyond their surveillance.

Riot police deploy pepper spray toward journalists on the 23rd anniversary of the citys handover from Britain to China as protesters gathered for a rally against the new National Security Law in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. (Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images)

Wu said that the CCP targets the youngsters out of its fear that the young generations will stand up against the CCP.

He noted that young people used Telegram for communication in multiple protests in the past four years, including the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and the White Paper Movement in 2022.

Essentially, the suppression [of dissidents] is to maintain the rule of the [CCPs] authoritarian regime, said Wu.

Outcries From Netizens

Netizens have blasted the Chinese authorities on the internet where they can.

A netizen using the Twitter name Answer posted in a May 22 tweet: This article mentions minors, even elementary school students. This indicates that students are breaking through [CCP] information censorship. The netizen said that if people are circumventing the CCPs Great Firewall on a large scale, then it is of no use now.

If minors are capable of bypassing the firewall, then college students would be even more adept at it, the netizen added.

Doesnt this indirectly acknowledge that the CCP is unable to decrypt this end-to-end encrypted communication method? another netizen asked on a Chinese social media platform.

Looks like they are good stuff. Let me download one, still another netizen wrote.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Nanjing Police Bureau for comment and has not received a reply as of press time. Chinese social media app Seagull could not be reached by The Epoch Times.

Xia Song and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
KABUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police have destroyed more than 160 hectares of poppy farms and arrested six persons on their involvement in drug trafficking in recent weeks, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said Wednesday.

The counter-narcotics police made the arrests and destroyed the poppy farms in operations conducted in Kabul, Wardak, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Herat, Bamyan, Ghor and Kapisa provinces over the past couple of weeks, the ministry said in a statement.

Afghan authorities have intensified the crackdown on illicit drugs and people involved in the underground drug business. In recent moves, security personnel arrested six alleged drug smugglers in Kabul, Kandahar and Parwan provinces on Tuesday, police said.

In an April raid on illicit crops, Afghan police destroyed about 360 hectares of poppy farms in the northern Badakhshan province.

Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, supreme leader of Afghanistan's Taliban-run caretaker administration, issued a decree in April last year that bans poppy cultivation, its processing into drugs and drug trafficking in the war-torn country. 
Comedian and Youtuber Uncle Roger Cancelled on Chinese Social Media After Joking About CCP

Nigel Ng in a comedy show in New York, U.S, on April 19, 2022. (Screenshot/ Facebook of Nigel Ng)

A popular standup comedian and YouTube personality has been blacklisted in Chinese social media after he made fun of the Chinese communist regime.

Uncle Roger, a Youtube character played by British-Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng, revealed over the weekend that he lost his Bilibili and Weibo accounts, where he had 400 thousand followers.

Ng suggested that it was the result of a video he posted on Twitter on May 16 in which he mocked Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinas social credit system, Huawei and the One China policy.

In the video, which lasts for one minute and 16 seconds, Ng asked an audience member where he came from. The person said he was originally from Guangzhou, to which Ng replied, Guangzhou, China. China, okay, China, good country, good country, before making a face.

The audience burst out in laughter before Ng continued: We have to say that now. Correct? All the phone listening.

This nephew got a Huawei phone. They all listening. All our phone tap into it.

Ng then looked down and tapped the phone in his trouser pocket, saying, Long live President Xi.

Uncle Roger, social credit score going up, nice, he said, joking about Chinas dystopian social credit system, which uses big data, extreme surveillance, and documentation to assign each citizen a score that either rewards or punishes them.

Designed to track every Chinese citizens social and economic behaviour, the system is the CCPs attempt at total control over its citizens lives, so if someone is classified as a political dissident by the CCP, that person is blacklisted, possibly keeping family members from essential activities in order to survive in society.

Ng later asked if anyone from the audience member was from Taiwan; when they wooed in response, he gagged, [Taiwan is] not a real country.

I hope one day you rejoin the motherland. One China.

Dont clap too hard, this is not a political show, he added jokingly. Uncle Roger gonna get cancelled after tonight. Go write a good report for Uncle Roger, okay? Dear CCP, Uncle Roger good comrade. Dont make him disappear, please.

Comedy Special Released on the Anniversary of 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre

The standup comedian, who had 7.8 million subscribers on Youtube, rose to popularity in 2020 for his portrayal of Uncle Roger, a stereotypical middle-aged Asian man reviewing an egg fried rice video in an exaggerated and pronounced accent.

He has so far garnered a combined following of over 20 million across his social media platforms and collaborated with famous figures such as British chef Gordon Ramsay and Australian musician duo Two Set Violins.

Ng reposted the video three times on his Twitter under the captions Uncle Roger about to get cancelled, For some reason this clip got a ton of views this past weekend. I wonder why, and If you support free speech and comedy go buy The HAIYAA Special.

His HAIYAA Special show is set to be released on Moment World on June 4th, which, coincidentally, is the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

On Monday, Ng said his account was suspended for violating relevant laws and regulations.

He also posted a video on Youtube on May 23, saying, Uncle Roger talked **** about everybody, no matter you are BBC, CCP or Jamie Oliver. Nobody safe.

However, while Ng has been applauded by audiences for his jokes about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its surveillance state, the comedian has previously been criticised for pandering to the communist regime when he censored a video featuring an outspoken CCP critic two years ago.

Strictly Dumpling Controversy

In 2021, Ng collaborated on a video with Mike Chen, a US-based YouTuber famous for his food channel Strictly Dumpling and his travel food blog, Mikey Chen.

The video, titled Uncle Roger Disgusted by Ugly Dumplings, shows the pair reviewing a New York chefs dumplings and does not have any political element in nature.

However, Ng deleted the video one day later and apologised on Chinese social media for having Chen on his platform, saying he was not aware of Chens political thoughts and incorrect comments about China in the past.

Chen is openly critical of the CCPs policies and human rights abuse, including its repression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

He has also uploaded a video of himself supporting a public demonstration of Falun Gong, an ancient Chinese spiritual practice rooted in the Buddhist tradition.

The practice, which consists of five meditative exercises and follows the tenets of Truth, Compassion and Forbearance, is famous for its positive impact on health and spirituality. However, adherents in China have been subject to severe persecution under the Chinese communist regime.

In an Instagram post on Jan. 14, 2021, Chen said he held no animosity towards Nigel for what he did, because its hard to stand up to the [Chinese Communist Party]s tactics.

I do hope that he learns more about the human rights abuses that the CCP has committed because he lives in a free country where he can do that.

The CCP uses many tactics to silence those who disagree with them or challenge them  And I think thats whats happening here.

I have always said that I love China and the kind-hearted Chinese people. They are my people. The CCP, however, is not China and certainly should not be equated to the Chinese people, he added.

Many social media users also expressed disappointment in Ngs actions at the time.

I was one of the early followers in your channel and always supportive of your work. Now I am unsubscribing, @Raytso790211 wrote in a reply to one of Ngs tweets.

Another person on Twitter wrote: Taste of RMB (Chinese money) is much better than MSG (a flavour enhancer commonly used in Asian dishes). Isnt that right, Uncle Roger?

Meanwhile, many Chinese netizens were still puzzled by what happened.

One person commented: Uncle Rogers political sensitivity is so high, we still dont know what happened.
Wallkill Councilman Neil Meyer Runs for Town Supervisor

Neil Meyer in front of a welcome sign along Route 211 in the Town of Wallkill, N.Y., on May 19, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Democratic Wallkill Councilman Neil Meyer said hes running for town supervisor to improve town financial practices for more informed decision-making and better stewardship of taxpayer money.

He faces incumbent Republican Supervisor George Serrano in November.

As an accounting professional, Meyer says he has the expertise to guide the town as its financial practices are being audited by the New York State Comptrollers Office.

While Meyer acknowledges the progress made under Serrano, he deems it insufficient.

Proper internal controls, he said, are about putting sound policies in place and making sure they are adequately followed to guard against potential mismanagement of taxpayer money.

At the end of the day, it is the taxpayers money, and it is your money, Meyer told The Epoch Times.

Serrano disputes Meyers claims, arguing that town finances are in good shape.

Since he came into office in January 2022, he has improved several town financial practices, based on a third-party report, and more changes are on the way, Serrano told The Epoch Times.

He said if the state audit identifies any defects, he will follow recommendations to fix them.

Accounting Background

Born and raised in Scotchtown, Meyer attended the Middletown School District and fell in love with accounting as a high school student.

Once, his teacher handed out an accounting assignment to be worked on over the semester, but Meyer stayed up all night and completed it in one sitting.

Numbers tell a story, and I like reading that story, Meyer said. If you read the story correctly, it can provide a lot of predictive measures about the future of a business and where that business could go.

Neil Meyer in front of Route 211 in the Town of Wallkill, N.Y., on May 19, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

He studied accounting at Pace University and worked at big accounting and investment firms, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Goldman Sachs, before going into consulting and executive search work.

About 10 years ago, Meyer moved back to Scotchtown and soon got on a town committee administering the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program.

As a committee co-chair, he worked with other members to utilize the $3 million state stormwater mitigation grant in the wake of Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.

Town Board Work

In 2015, he ran for town councilman in the Third Ward and won.

I liked being involved with my community, and I thought I could do a lot of good, Meyer said. I didnt have a lot of ideas as to what a councilman did at the time. I ran, and ever since, Ive just been learning.

As a councilman, he worked with the town police department to start the Wallkill Cares program, where officers sent people struggling with addictions to care centers for help.

I would get calls: My loved one has a substance abuse problem. What resources are available? Meyer said. In fact, we have a lot of resources in the Hudson Valley, but a lot of people just dont know.

Later, the town police department partnered with the nonprofit Tri-County Community Partnership to run a similar program called Hopes Not Handcuffs.

Squad cars parked outside Wallkill Police Department in N.Y. on Dec. 27, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Meyer also supported converting the former Holiday Inn hotel on Crystal Run to an inpatient detoxification and rehabilitation center.

There was some hesitation with bringing a rehab in town and a lot of stigmas associated with that, he said. I rallied the public to go to the planning board meetings so that we could bring that to town.

In December 2019, the Resource Recovery Center opened the door on the former hotel site.

On a lighter note, Meyer said he was pleased to have brought the fireworks to Orange County Fairgrounds for a few years so that residents in his ward could watch them in their own backyards.

Meyer also donates his time to nonprofit organizations such as the Orange County Mental Health Association, the Town of Wallkill Girl Scouts, and Jewish Family Services.

Town Finance and Supervisor Run

When Meyer first became a councilman in 2016, he said he received almost no town financial reports.

Several years in, he began to receive monthly budget-to-actual reports, which compared town spending to budgeted amounts, but they fell short of revealing underlying town financial practices, he said.

In 2021, former Supervisor Frank DenDanto, a Democrat, pushed for a risk assessment of town financial practices by the third-party accounting firm PKF OConner Davisa move supported by Meyer.

The report identified nine substantial internal control weaknesses, including lack of segregation of duties, untimely bank account reconciliations, and financial reports that lack details and are hard to read, such that they affect the town boards ability to spot trends and correct wrongs before they become big problems.

Several accounting mishaps were also observed during the risk assessment, including a part-time employee being paid at full-time rates and two employees getting onto payroll without the town boards approval.

The firm offered 13 recommendations to improve the towns financial practices.

Town government center in the Town of Wallkill, N.Y., on Dec. 27, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

As a result, new invoice review and payroll policies were enacted by the town board under DenDanto.

After Serrano, a former police officer, became the supervisor, the town board passed several new policies governing practices in procurement, credit cards, and fund balance.

Another cash management policy is still in the works, Serrano said.

He said that he and the town board managed to do all this despite the sudden departure of the former comptroller at the beginning of the budget season last year.

However, Meyer argued that more policies and procedures must be implemented, and more must be done to ensure they are being followed adequately.

That is why I am running for supervisor, he told The Epoch Times.

He said he wants to follow through on all recommendations in the OConner Davis report and tackle additional problems identified by the State Comptrollers Office.

A spokesperson for the State Comptrollers Office declined to give details about the audit.

Meyer said he also wants to improve the towns hiring policy, encourage more public participation in town affairs, and enhance town communications on social media.
Debt Ceiling Negotiations Stall on Spending Cuts as Deadline Nears

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) speaks to the press after meeting President Joe Biden to discuss the debt limit at the White House on May 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Talks over raising the U.S. debt limit ahead of the June 1 deadline have stalled over the issue of 2024 limits on federal discretionary spending.

White House negotiators Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, have been meeting with Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) to work out an agreement.

In exchange for raising the debt limit, Republicans are seeking to enact the provisions of their Limit, Save, Grow Act, which was approved by the House in April.

The bill aims to limit the total of 2024 federal discretionary spending to the 2022 level, limit spending increases to 1 percent annually, increase work requirements for some recipients of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), claw back unspent COVID-19 funds, and loosen permitting requirements for oil and gas.

On May 23, McHenry and Graves emerged from negotiations saying the two sides remained far apart.

There are fundamental disagreements on spending, Graves told reporters. This administration thinks they can continue the same trajectory, and weve made it clear that thats a non-starter.

McHenry theorized that the White House negotiators may be hamstrung by boundaries laid down by the president.

The talents of the people that the administration sent in the room, they know how to do this. If they have the constraints from the administration and the directive that you cant spend less, thats coming from the top level of the White House, he said.

And if theyre making that as a play call, theyre completely misreading the situation in a very dangerous way.

June 1 is the earliest date on which the government could lack the funds to pay all of its bills on time without additional borrowing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress again on May 22.

Some Republicans, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), have questioned whether Yellens prediction is accurate, even wondering whether the White House is working from a different assumption.

However, McHenry said he trusts the June 1 estimate and also expressed confidence in Yellens word.

I followed her service in government. She has the most varied economic experience of any living American and [has held] the most important economic positions in our government, he told reporters on May 23. She said June 1, and she is in charge of cash management. Theres a whole bureaucracy within the Treasury. They dont play games.

She has enormous experience, and shes a straight shooter. And so I dont think theres any wiggle room for us.
Debt Limit Default Could Cost California More Than 840,000 Jobs: Analysts

A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 6, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

With the debt limit debate raging in Washington, D.C., some experts are projecting significant impacts on regional economies if no deal is reached before the June 1 deadline, with more workers in California expected to lose their job than in any other state if the breach is prolonged, according to a recently released report from Moodys Analytics.

The timing could not be worse for the economy; even without the specter of a debt limit breach many CEOs and economists believe a recession is dead ahead, the authors wrote.

Based on a summary report released by the White House on May 3 detailing various debt ceiling scenarios, the Biden administration agrees with the dim assessment.

An actual breach of the U.S. debt ceiling would likely cause severe damage to the U.S. economy, the report declared.

If default occurs, and the debt breach cannot be resolved within a week, analysts expect California to be the hardest hit of all states by number of jobs lost totaling more than 840,000, with Texass 562,000 a distant second.

Analysts project the economic downturnwhich would follow a lengthy delay in resolving the debt crisiswould be like the turmoil experienced during the financial crisis of 2008. Unemployment rates could more than double to 8 percent nationally, and $10 trillion of household wealth could be lost, according to Moodys.

The blow to the economy would be cataclysmic, the report said. The federal government would have no option but to slash its outlays  As these cuts work through the economy, the hit to growth would be overwhelming.

If the deadline passes, a quick resolution could help mitigate the losses, but peripheral damage will already have been done, with the Golden State losing more than 130,000 jobs, according to Moodys.

A debt limit was created by Congress in 1917 setting a cap on the maximum amount of debt the federal government can incur, and the amount has been raised 78 times since 1960, with the limit suspended seven times over the last 10 years.

While the threat of default is not unprecedentedthe government was in a similar crisis in 2011the risk to financial markets is concerning, according to economists.

Weve had these moments flirting with disaster before, Robert Eyler, professor of economics at Sonoma State University, told The Epoch Times. This is not necessarily brand-new territory. We just dont like to be here.

Some federal jobs would become furloughed in the event of a default, in what Eyler described as an initial shock, and when overall spending is subsequently reduced with less cash flow in the economy, it has a ripple effect on local business.

Economists agree the severity of the impact will depend on the duration of the impasse, with all eyes on lawmakers and the president.

If this issue lasts for months, there will be large, additional problems on the financial side of the economy, Eyler said. My biggest concern is we have significant volatility in the financial markets.

Such have remained relatively stable throughout the negotiations, but economistsincluding Eylerbelieve that as the June 1 deadline approaches, sentiment could change abruptly, and if the deadline passes without a resolution, managing public perception will be crucial to calming market volatility.

The most important thing is not to panic, Eyler told The Epoch Times. Its going to be harder for some people not to do this.

With less than two weeks before the deadline, tempers are running short in Washington, with both sides taking barbs at the other over varying approaches to managing the debt.

Before cutting his trip short and flying back to the White House from a trip to Japan, President Joe Biden criticized Republicans with remarks to reporters when questioned about the lingering crisis.

I cant guarantee that they will not force a default by doing something outrageous, Biden said at the press conference in Hiroshima.

Republican leaders refuse to raise taxes and are suggesting budget cuts to non-defense spending.

Democrats are opposed to their plan and resistant to reductions, with counteroffers reportedly including a temporary spending freeze.

After meeting with Biden at the White House on May 22, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters a freeze is not enough: reductions are necessary.

Its very important that we spend less next year than this year, McCarthy said during the nearly 22-minute impromptu press conference following his meeting with the president. We owe more than our entire economy is.

The meeting was described as productive, but not progress, and when pressed about the possibility of raising the debt ceiling to address the problem, the Speaker was adamant that it was not an option.

No, were never putting a clean debt ceiling on the floor, McCarthy said. Its like giving a credit card to a child.

A warning letter sent on May 22 from Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, to members of Congress advised lawmakers that if the issue is not resolved soon, the government risks default as early as June 1.

It is highly likely that [the] Treasury will no longer be able to satisfy all of the governments obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit, Yellen wrote in the letter. We have learned from past debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm.

Consumer confidence and a reluctance for businesses to invest in volatile climates are exacerbated by the increased cost of borrowing when the U.S. credit rating is impacted, according to Yellen.

While the nation has never surpassed its self-appointed debt ceiling, it has been precariously close on several occasions, the last being in 2011 when the prospect of default led leading credit agency Standard & Poors to downgrade the U.S. debt ratingthe first such occurrence in the countrys history.

The treasury department leader is warning of the dangers a debt default would pose on the national economy, families, and the security of the nation with a pointed statement demanding the debt limit be raised.

If Congress fails to increase the debt limit, it would cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position, and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests, Yellen wrote to legislators.

Following McCarthys Monday meeting with the president, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who is involved in the negotiations, described what he said was a lack of urgency from the White House.

I dont want brinkmanship, he told reporters. Its not in Americas interest.

But McCarthy worked to alleviate concerns and noted that deliberations will continue on a daily basis.

I actually believe at the end of the day we can come to an agreement, he said. Were getting closer. Dont give up on us.
DeSantis Files Paperwork to Run for President in 2024

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to guests at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner annual fundraiser in Rothschild, Wis., on May 6, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 24 filed a formal notification with the Federal Election Commission that he is running for president.

DeSantis, whose entry into the race has been awaited for months, is expected to publically announce his candidacy tonight at 6 p.m. on the Twitter social media platform with Elon Musk.

Today, DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7050, an elections bill that exempts state officials from having to resign their office if they run for president or vice president. While the legislative session, during which the bill passed, ended May 5, the bill reached the governors desk only yesterday.

Polls show DeSantis significantly behind former President Donald Trump for the nomination, but suggest hes by far the leading challenger at the moment.

In an average of polls maintained by RealClearPolitics, Trump held the lead on May 23 with 56.3 points. DeSantis trailed in a distant second with 19.4 points. Other major candidates include entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and conservative talk show host Larry Elder.

DeSantis, 44, was reelected in November to a second term as the governor of the third-largest state.

Unofficial Campaign

The governor filed as speculation has heated up in recent days that an announcement was imminent. His spokesman Bryan Griffin resigned from his position with the governors office to move to his political operation a little more than a week ago.

DeSantis has been campaigning unofficially for months. The book tour for his recently published The Courage To Be Free: Florida Blueprint for Americas Revival allowed him to tour around the country, including to the key early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and tell crowds how his leadership has been successful in Florida.

An international trip in late April, to the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Israel, allowed him to raise his profile internationally.

He deflected questions about his candidacy throughout the spring, noting he wouldnt have any announcement until after the legislative session. It was a strong one for him and Florida Republicans, giving DeSantis even more of a record to run on. One legislative leader said they did two years worth of work in one.

DeSantis has signed, or soon is likely to sign, bills on a host of issues hes led on, including medical freedom from mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and vaccine passports, school choice, banning transgender surgery and treatment for minors, fighting political indoctrination on college campuses, and use of woke ideology in pension investment and other financial vehicles.

The state bucked a decades-long trend to limit capital punishment to first-degree murder, by instituting it for child rape, and has made a death sentence easier to get after conviction for a capital crime. Other bills toughen penalties for human trafficking and fight illegal immigration, requiring E-Verify, the system confirming a persons eligibility to work, for businesses with more than 25 employees.

Messaging

DeSantis has positioned himself as a strong conservative who has delivered on the state level and who doesnt back down from a fight. His tangle with the Disney company, which began after its leaders publicly opposed the Parental Rights in Education bill he passed last year, has drawn some criticism, particularly as Disney recently shelved a $900 million project in Florida some employees had already moved in state for.

But each of Disneys movesan 11th-hour deal with its outgoing governing body, a lawsuit filed against the governorhave drawn a strong DeSantis response, including lawsuits and investigations.

The giant entertainment companythe states largest private employerrecently offered what might be seen as an olive branch, saying it still plans to invest billions in Florida and would be building affordable housing on its property for its workers, an issue DeSantis and state Republican leaders like Senate President Kathleen Passidomo have made a priority not just for Disney but elsewhere in the state.

DeSantiss campaign just now being rolled out highlights his roots as a working-class kid in Florida with Rust Belt roots, descended from steelworkers, one who worked his way through Yale and Harvard Law, and served his country during the Global War on Terror, as a Navy officer.

DeSantis in his book says he absorbed the values of his blue-collar family and those in their community, and went through culture shock when he went to Yale and then to Harvard Law. There, he first came up against what he described as left-wing elitismprofessors and students who seemed to hold average Americans in contempt.

Around campus, there was nothing wrong with flying Soviet flags, wearing Che Guevara shirts, and paying homage to Mao Zedong, he wrote. This revolutionary chic was even commonplace in some quarters.

What jarred me about leftism that I saw on campus was that it was not simply a matter of advocating certain positions on matters of tax policy, welfare programs and criminal justice. It was not just a matter of Republican versus Democrat or liberal versus conservative, he wrote.

Instead, the strident leftism represented a wholesale rejection of the basic principles that constituted the foundation of the American experiment: the Judeo-Christian tradition, the existence of Creator-endowed rights, the notion of American exceptionalism. This leftism also represented a morality playthose who dissented from leftist ideology were not just wrong but immoral.
DOE Pulls Plug on Chinese-Owned Companys Grant Application Months After Alarm Raised

A workers reflection on a mirror framing a lithium ion battery production line at a plant in Huzhou, China, owned by Microvast Holdings, whose Texas-based subsidiary qualified to negotiate for a $200 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to build lithium batteries in the United States. (Stringer/Reuters)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was never quite clear on why it allowed a Texas subsidiary of a Chinese-owned battery manufacturer to qualify as a grant applicant, even after the companys links to the Chinese Communist Party were revealed during the departments own vetting process.

The DOE was equally opaque in curtly announcing on the evening of May 22 that it had reversed its decision and that Microvast Holdings is no longer qualified to apply and negotiate for grants under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

As responsible stewards of American taxpayer dollars, the Department of Energy maintains a rigorous review process prior to the release of any awarded funds, and it is not uncommon for entities selected to participate in award negotiations under a DOE competitive funding opportunity to not ultimately receive an award, the DOE said in a May 21 statement that raised more questions than it provided answers.

The department responded to an emailed request by The Epoch Times for elaboration with a statement clarifying that Microvast was never approved to actually receive a grant, only to begin preliminary negotiations to apply for one.

One important note of clarification is that DOE did not cancel a grant, the DOE stated. The company was selected for an award and going through contract award negotiations. No money has gone out the door. It would be inaccurate to say DOE canceled a grant or that DOE pulled back an award as no award has been provided.

Microvast didnt respond by press time to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.

Also seeking answers, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) told the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that she invited the DOE to the panels May 23 meeting, but no one showed.

The departments refusal to participate in the hearing is even more concerning in light of this development, she said, facing empty chairs before her. Im concerned that the department may be entertaining other problematic awards and only decided not to proceed with this after our congressional scrutiny.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the subcommittee chair, praised the DOE for its increased scrutiny of the Microvast award and said he had invited DOE Office of Manufacturing Director Steve McKnight to testify at the hearing so he could have delivered the good news in person.

But, alas, no dice, he said, nodding to the empty seats.

Unfortunately they refused to come before us, citing inadequate notice despite receiving an invitation to testify on May the 9th, Lucas said.

Microvast Holdings was seeking a $200 million grant to build electric vehicle batteries at this General Motors plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. (Harrison McClary/Reuters)

A Saga Ends, but Questions Linger

The Microvast saga began last year, when it was qualified to apply for grants following the November 2021 adoption of the $1.2 trillion BIL, which offers $62 billion in federal money for companies to participate in 72 research and development programsincluding 60 new onesdesigned to foster domestic energy independence.

Among those new DOE programs is a $7 billion initiative to develop the nations lithium battery materials processing and component manufacturing capacity. China currently controls about 90 percent of the global market in raw lithium and batteries.

During a two-hour Feb. 2 discussion on the status of BIL programs with DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee questioned whether the DOEs vetting process was adequate, not only to prevent fraud and reduce waste, but to ensure that U.S.-based subsidiaries owned by Chinese companiesand other adversarial nationsare not cashing in on the taxpayer-funded bonanza.

The case in point for senators was Microvast Holdings, founded in 2006 in Houston and now headquartered in Stafford, Texas, which makes lithium ion batteries for electric vehiclesmostly busesand energy storage systems.

The company operates manufacturing plants in Germany and Texas. It also has a research and development office in Orlando, Florida, but most of its presence is in China, where its corporate headquarters is in Huzhou.

In October, the DOE announced that Microvast was among 20 companies selected from more than 200 applicants to apply for a $200 million grant to manufacture lithium batteries at a plant it wants to build in Tennessee, sparking alarm and criticism from congressional Republicans, including Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the energy committee.

During the February hearing, Barrasso grilled Turk about how deep the DOEs scrutiny goes when open source financial data show that 69 percent of Microvasts income is in the Peoples Republic of China, with its U.S. operations accounting for about 3 percent of its total revenue.

This companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveal very troubling connections to the communist Chinese government, Barrasso said. One filing states, The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and may intervene at any time and with no notice.

The company goes on to state, We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights in the PRC. Now we know the DOE has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to a company that publicly admits it is at the beck and call of the Chinese government.

Microvast was selected to negotiate an award, Turk said, but there are no taxpayer funds going to Microvast or to any of the other 20 companies right now that were selected to be considered for the program.

They were selected to participate in a negotiation for an award, he said, explaining that the selection is essentially a preliminary first round that starts an extended process of looking into a companys details and verifying the accuracy of the information it provides.

Turk said the DOE is trying to quickly allocate money to get needed projects off the ground while developing oversight guardrails. [These measures are] to make sure we are doing it right, to make sure we are being smart and [with] eyes wide open, he said.

He said before the Senate panel in February that the competitive bid process has been enhanced by a realignment to enhance oversight that includes an extensive merits review process done by civil servants with industry experts to provide guidance in analyzing companies bidding for federal money.

[The DOE is] continuously improving that process to ensure our civil servants have that geo-strategic perspective of what we are trying to do here, Turk said, adding that the department also involves intelligence officials in the vetting.

To qualify for federal funding, a company must be a domestic entity incorporated in the U.S., with a majority domestic ownership and control, with a physical place of residence in the U.S., he said. The other specific requirement is any person participating in a foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment program [is] prohibited from participating in any federal funded program.

Turk said that under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the DOE can hire an additional 500 staffers. The department has thus far hired 400 new staff with contracting expertise to more quickly and intensively review contracts and bids.

A sign outside the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington. (Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images)

DOE: Cant Say Why

In its May 23 statement to The Epoch Times, the DOE further elaborated on its grant selection process.

In determining whether to proceed to final award with a selectee, the Department evaluates a great number of factors, including but not limited to: the fitness of the applicant to carry out the scope of its responsibilities under the financial assistance award; applicant past performance including audit reports; applicant financial management; accounting systems; and duplication of funding, it stated.

The DOE stated that the vetting process requires grant applicants to disclose a significant amount of sensitive information to the Department during the application and negotiation process.

The Department cannot comment publicly on the specific factors that inform a decision to cancel negotiations with any particular applicant, the DOE stated.

Congressional representatives in both parties have raised issues with the Microvasts grant application for more than a year, gaining in volume and concern after the company was placed on the SECs watchlist in April 2022 for its China entanglements.

But until earlier this year, the DOE contended that the company was a U.S. business and that its grant vetting process would uncover any worrisome connections to China or elsewhere.

Which, apparently, it did, but long after most had reached that conclusion, and withoutat least not yetexplaining how the vetting process confirmed that Microvast may not be suitable to receive U.S. taxpayer money.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm testifies before a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources about the 2023 budget for the Department of Energy in Washington on May 5, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Congressional Reps Push for Answers

Lucas, in a series of May 23 statements posted on Twitter, called the DOEs reversal a huge win for taxpayers and American businesses.

These funds are intended to strengthen Americas battery production and supply chain, not to tighten Chinas stranglehold on these supplies, he wrote.

But the story isnt over, he said, at least not until the DOE speaks.

Im pleased with DOEs decision, but incredibly frustrated that it took the Department six months and multiple letters from our Committee to come to such an obvious conclusion, Lucas wrote. Well continue to hold the Administration accountable for its funding decisions and ensure that American taxpayer dollars are protected from exploitation by the [Chinese Communist Party].

I stood with my colleagues against [the DOE] awarding Microvast $200M in grant funding  thats now canceled. This is a MAJOR win for our hardworking taxpayers, Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) wrote on Twitter.

Barrasso, in a statement, said he felt vindicated but frustrated by the DOEs lack of communication and the Biden administrations dithering over something that should have been resolved quickly.

The Department of Energy has finally retreated from sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to Microvast, an electric vehicle battery company with close ties to Communist China, he said in a statement.

Im stunned it took the Biden Administration this long to admit the obvious: No company beholden to Communist China should be considered for U.S. government grants or loans. The administration should immediately reject other applicants with similar ties. It should also overhaul its grant making process and conduct due diligence before issuing press releases.

For Microvast, the news didnt get any better the morning after the DOEs evening announcement, as the publicly traded companys stock declined by 24.1 percent as trading opened on May 23.

The company has an Investor Day planned for May 25 in New York, where several people are expected to speak, including Microvast founder Yang Wu; Chief Revenue Officer Sascha Kelterborn; Energy Division President Zach Ward; Chief Operating Officer Shane Smith; Chief Technology Officer Dr. Wenjuan Mattis; and Chief Financial Officer Craig Webster.
Election Watchdog Group Settles Drop Box Lawsuit in Arizona

Fences surround the Maricopa County Tabulation and Elections Center to help prevent incidents and pressure on voters at the ballot drop box, as a voter submits their ballot in Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 25, 2022. (Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)

A lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Arizona related to a ballot drop box surveillance effort during the 2022 midterm election has been settled.

The terms of the settlement are private, the parties stated.

Inspired by the film 2,000 Mules, Melody Jennings, founder of Clean Elections USA, and others organized citizens to watch for anyone stuffing multiple ballots into drop boxes, take their photos, and report their vehicle license plates to police. Some box watchers carried guns, which is allowed under Arizonas law.

Calling the action voter intimidation, the league went to federal court in October 2022, seeking to stop the drop box surveillance.

Two armed people dressed in tactical gear were sighted at a ballot drop box in Maricopa County, Ariz., on Oct. 21, 2022. (Courtesy of Maricopa County Elections Department)

In addition to Jennings, the case initially involved the Arizona groups Lions of Liberty and Yavapai Preparedness Team, who were similarly watching drop boxes. Soon after the case began, those groups agreed to end the monitoring effort and were dismissed from the case.

This case is about freedom of expression and assembly and protecting the rights of folks to express their displeasure and their security concerns about drop boxes, by engaging, allegedly, in drop box monitoring, Alexander Kolodin of Davillier Law Group in Phoenix, an attorney representing Jennings, told The Epoch Times.

The claims were amicably resolved. Both parties, as part of that resolution, reaffirmed their commitment to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, as well as their disapproval of any sort of voter intimidation, which from our perspective, our client didnt engage in.

He couldnt speak in detail about the terms of the settlement because of the confidentiality agreement.

Discrediting 2,000 Mules

True the Vote, the group behind 2,000 Mules, provided financial support for Jenningss legal defense.

I am happy to have had the opportunity to stand up for the Constitution and assert my rights on behalf of all Americans, Jennings said in a statement.

In 2,000 Mules, True the Vote investigators used geotracking and local government video surveillance to show mules carrying multiple ballots and visiting multiple drop boxes in the 2020 election.

There were constitutional issues of great consequence raised in this case. Today was a win for free speech and the right to assemble peaceably. Today, freedom won, Catherine Engelbrecht, president of True the Vote, said in a statement after the settlement.

The film touched nerves in the political sphere in the wake of the 2020 election and some tried to discredit it. In its court filing, represented by a team of six attorneys, the League of Women Voters of Arizona called the film debunked.

This campaign of intimidation is predicated on lies. Defendants have promoted and fixated on a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that so-called ballot mules illegally stuffed ballots in drop boxes during the 2020 election, the organization said in its court complaint.

The theory arises from a widely viewed 2022 disinformation film, 2000 Mules, which falsely claims to show evidenceincluding surveillance footageof the so-called mules illegally depositing ballots in drop boxes. In reality, the filmwhich has been roundly discredited by experts for its flawed analysispresents images of innocent voters lawfully casting their ballots and uses their images to peddle a dangerous conspiracy theory that has done untold damage to those voters, their families, election workers, and trust in the electoral process.

True the Vote stands by the accuracy of its findings.

Issues Are Nonpartisan

Pinny Sheoran of Scottsdale, Arizona, president of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, testified that the group is nonpartisan.

The Leagues mission is to empower voters and defend democracy. And we vision a democracy where any citizen who is eligible to vote is informed, educated, votes with confidence, and is unafraid to vote in any election to which they wish to participate, Sheoran said. The League is not a partisan organization. We are a political organization, and we do stand up for issues. We believe that issues are nonpartisan. We do not support/oppose any party or candidates.

The League focuses on three actions, she said. The first is educating voters, which includes registering voters, informing voters about upcoming elections, helping voters know how to navigate the election process, and answering questions about where they can vote.

Our second principle is to advocate on issues that the league has taken as important for the communities in which we live, and that advocacy could involve some lobbying, Sheoran said.

Advocacy is the third action.

The League of Women Voters currently advocates for several left-leaning issues, according to its website. It favors a national health insurance plan financed through general taxes in place of individual insurance premiums and is also pro-abortion.

Without the ability to make reproductive decisions for ones own body, women and those who can become pregnant cannot participate equally in our democracy, the website reads.

The league is also urging Congress to protect the $20 billion in spending on climate-smart agriculture and conservation technical assistance initiatives, including incentive-based conservation programs that encourage farmers to sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Ex-LAPD Officer Charged With Lewd Acts on Young Boys Dies in Custody

LOS ANGELESA former Los Angeles Police Department officer who was charged with committing lewd acts on four young boys at his Covina-area home has died while in custody, officials said Monday.

Sheriffs department officials said only that Paul Razo, 46, died of medical complications, but no further information was released.

Razo was arrested May 10, five days after he was charged by prosecutors with eight counts of lewd acts on a child. He was scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on multiple days last week, and again on Monday, but the hearing was repeatedly delayed for unspecified reasons.

He was being held in lieu of $2.5 million bail at the sheriffs Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles, according to inmate records.

According to the District Attorneys Office, Razo allegedly committed the lewd acts at his home, which sheriffs officials said was in the 4800 block of Brightview Drive in an unincorporated area bordering Covina. Prosecutors said two of the alleged victims were related to Razo, while two others are related to a woman Razo dated.

The children ranged in age from roughly 9 to 13 years old when the alleged abuse began, prosecutors said. The alleged crimes occurred between 2006 and 2017, according to the District Attorneys Office.

Following his arrest, the LAPD released a statement saying it is aware of the criminal case involving former Police Officer Paul Razo. The Los Angeles Police Departments Internal Affairs Division initiated an administrative investigation, which is being conducted simultaneously with the pending criminal case. The administrative investigation will include reviewing his past work history for similar behavior.

Chief Michel Moore is deeply disturbed by these allegations as they are in direct opposition to the Departments Core Values and expectations of a Los Angeles Police Officer. Officer Razo has been employed by the Los Angeles Police Department for approximately 24 years and was last assigned to Hollywood Area as a training coordinator. He separated from the Department in March 2023, the LAPD statement said.

In 2018, Razo received an LAPD Medal of Valor for pulling a man out of a burning car that he saw crash in July 2016 in Glendora while off-duty.
Federal Aviation Administration Invests Over $100 Million to Prevent Runway Accidents

An American Airlines plane takes off from Miami International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it had slowed the volume of airplane traffic over Florida due to an air traffic computer issue in Miami on Jan. 2, 2023. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is spending more than $100 million to help reduce runway incursions at airports across the country.

The funding will go to 12 airports across the United States, including Miami International Airport, San Diego International Airport, and Bellingham International Airport in Washington, among others, according to a statement.

Funding will be used to construct taxiways, rebuild runways and install airfield lighting, among other things.

Some airfields have complex layouts that can create confusion for pilots and other airport users, said FAA Associate Administrator Shannetta R. Griffin, P.E. This funding will reconfigure complex taxiway and runway intersections to help prevent incursions and enhance the safety of the National Airspace System.

The announcement comes after several near misses at U.S. airports this year, including a recent collision at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, during which a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 was reportedly damaged after hitting another plane, causing significant damage to its nose and fuselage.

According to the FAA announcement, the top beneficiaries of the latest investment are Tucson International Airport, which will be awarded $33.1 million to construct a taxiway and shift and rebuild runway to be further away from a parallel runway, and San Diego International Airport, which will receive $24 million to construct a new taxiway.

The FAA says funding will eliminate the need for aircraft to back-taxi on the runway.

Funding Specifics

Harry Reid International Airport will be awarded $13.4 million to reconfigure four taxiways, meet safety standards, move two runways, and install runway status and guard lights, the FAA said, noting that runway status lights alert pilots and others if it is not safe to enter the runway.

Republic Airport will also be awarded $12.4 million.

San Jose International Airport will receive $10.8 million. Prescott International Airport will receive $7.4 million, as will Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

Miami International Airport will get $6 million; Bellingham International Airport $1.3 million; and Pensacola International Airport $1.17 million.

Additionally, Waverly Municipal Airport will receive $223,000 to construct a parallel taxiway, and Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport will be awarded $844,000 for two parallel taxiways, which will remove the need for aircraft to back-taxi on the runway, the FAA said.

The agencys Runway Incursion Mitigation Program, launched in 2015, is being used to fund the annual grant money.

The program identifies airports where risk factors, such as airfield layouts and complexity, might contribute to a runway incursion. On Twitter, the FAA said it had seen a 78 percent reduction in the incursion rate at 93 airports since the program was implemented.

Serious Runway Incidents Declining

There were 18 serious runway incursions in the United States in 2022, according to FAA data cited by Flying Magazine, up from the five serious incursions reported in 2010 but down from the high of 32 reported in 2007.

A serious incursion is defined by the FAA as an incident in which a collision was narrowly avoided or in which there is significant potential for a collision.

While serious runway incidents have generally declined over the past 20 years, data for 2022 shows that there were at least 1,633 runway incursions at U.S. airports, up from the 1,372 reported in 2012.

Data for April shows there were 0.44 serious incursions per 1 million takeoffs and landings in April, down from nearly 1.0 per 1 million takeoffs in January.

In its announcement Tuesday, the FAA noted that it had introduced several new technologies aimed at preventing incursions and bolstering situational awareness among pilots and controllers, including improved Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE)a surveillance system using radarand ASDE-X Taxiway Arrival Prediction to help predict when a pilot lines up to land on a taxiway.

Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said officials are seeing early and preliminary indications that the level of severe runaway incursions is coming closer to the norm, adding that while the department is placing significant investments in increasing situational awareness among pilots and controllers, sometimes the best technology is concrete.

Thats why some of what youre seeing are the construction of these end-around taxiways that mean one less potential conflict point where a plane lines up.
Foreseeable Cyberattack on NL Health Network Hit Majority of Province: Report

Sean Murray, shown in St.John's on May 24, 2023, is the director of research and quality assurance with Newfoundland and Labrador's office of the information and privacy commissioner. (The Canadian Press/Sarah Smellie)

The ransomware attack that hit Newfoundland and Labradors health-care IT systems in 2021 was almost an inevitability and likely resulted in the theft of personal data from the vast majority of the provinces population, says a report released Wednesday.

Health officials also broke provincial privacy laws by not disclosing key information within a reasonable time frame about the nature of the attack and whether information had been stolen, concludes the 115-page report from the office of the provinces information and privacy commissioner.

We understand that sometimes mistakes happen and accidents happen  in our estimation, that is not what happened here, Sean Murray, the reports author, told reporters. It was pretty clear that we did not have in this province appropriate cybersecurity measures in place in our health-care system prior to the cyberattack. And that was the major contributor to the cause of the cyberattack.

The report also said the hackers triggered alerts within the computer systems before they deployed their attack, which were not properly investigated. A proper investigation may have stopped the attack, or lessened its impacts, Murray wrote.

Widespread IT outages hit the provinces health-care system beginning Oct. 30, 2021, forcing doctors and nurses in a major St. Johns hospital to resort to pen and paper to keep track of patients. Thousands of appointments were cancelled, including cancer care, as officials scrambled to figure out what happened and get systems up and running.

The government has been tight-lipped about what happened, and it didnt reveal until March that the attack involved ransomwarea type of malicious software used by hackers to encrypt or steal data until victims pay a ransom.

The Hive ransomware was behind the hit, Justice Minister John Hogan said at the time, adding that he could disclose the culprit because the group had been dismantled in January by the FBI and no longer posed a threat. Until then, officials had said that disclosing the nature of the attack would have compromised security.

The report said the delay in that disclosure was concerning and the rationale given by authorities to justify it was insufficient.

Hogan has also said that the hackers broke into the IT system of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information through a virtual private network that they had accessed with stolen login information. The report says an email phishing scam is most likely to blame.

Last December, provincial health officials said a review of a network drive accessed by the hackers showed that more than 58,000 people in the province had their data breached.

But Tuesdays report says the perpetrators also stole personal and health information from data repositories belonging to three of the provinces four health authorities. Though the exact number of victims is unknown, the report says the information stolen includes at least nine years of data from each authority as well as information belonging to everyone in the province who had a COVID-19 test before 2021.

The total number of privacy breaches caused by the cyberattack is unknown but it is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands, Murray wrote. In other words, it is likely that the vast majority of the population of the province had some amount of personal information or personal health information taken by the cyberattackers.

Problems aside, the report also notes that the provinces response to the attack was by and large carried out well. It also notes that an impressive amount of work has been done to implement proper cybersecurity measures to avoid a future attack.

The provincial Justice Department issued a statement Wednesday after Murrays news conference to say it was reviewing the reports 34 findings and six recommendations.

This was a complex cybersecurity incident, but we are confident that reasonable security steps have already been takenand are being takento mitigate the risk of a potential future incident, Hogan said in the release.
Villagers display freshly-harvested rice in Dali Village of Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Oct. 12, 2018. South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, home to the country's largest ethnic minority population, has lifted all its 54 poverty-stricken counties including Rongshui Miao Autonomous County out of poverty. (Xinhua/Huang Xiaobang)

Though the West tried to portray China and its governance as negatively as possible and tarnish its achievements, Nair said the country's success, such as lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty in record time, has spoken for itself.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Designed to harm China's position on the global stage, the anti-China narrative peddled by the West to global audiences exposes the ignorance of those seeking to undermine the country's peaceful rise, a Malaysian observer has said.



Unable to understand or accept China's economic and social achievements in recent decades, the West, through its extensive media dominance, has turned to attacking China and its peaceful developments, Chandran Nair, founder and CEO of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, told Xinhua in an interview.

Since moving to Hong Kong in the 1990s, Nair has traveled to most regions in China and witnessed the profound changes and rapid development of the country over the past few decades.

"This outrageous narrative is annoying. They don't know China well, so the characteristics of these attacks on China are very cliche," he said, adding that by labeling China as a threat and continuing to demonize it, the West is using indiscriminate means to contain China's rise.

Since the Western narrative cannot zero in on any issue with China, Nair said, Western media have turned to a "blame China" game instead, criticizing the country's history, economic management, political structure, society, technological advancements, anti-corruption, and religious freedom, grasping at straws that simply do not exist.

The observer suggested they "look at the statistics of development" and then answer "Who governs better?"

"If you're saying it's because the Chinese economy is going to be bigger and bigger... then I don't see why that's going to be a problem," said Nair.

China has not only contributed greatly to many nations emerging from the shadow of Western colonialism but also promoted progress and prosperity through cooperation, especially the Belt and Road cooperation, the observer said, adding that China has been welcomed by these countries, which have enthusiastically formed partnerships with China to expand cooperation in trade, economic, investment and infrastructure construction for the benefit of their peoples.

A girl and a staff member of the China-Laos Railway pose for photos in Luang Prabang, Laos, April 24, 2022. (Photo by Yang Yongquan/Xinhua)

Though the West tried to portray China and its governance as negatively as possible and tarnish its achievements, Nair said the country's success, such as lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty in record time, has spoken for itself.

Recalling what he saw when he first arrived in China, Nair expected then it would take a long time to deal with the poverty. "But in the next years, I saw very rapid changes in all aspects," he said.

Despite the slander and other toxic rhetoric being created against China, he is positive that the shift of global gravity from the West to the East will continue to accelerate while urging a powerful response to Western media.

"The idea that Western media are run by impartial people who are independent and speak only truth to power is an illusion. We need more non-Western sources and readers more informed about global issues so they don't fall prey to the current propaganda war," Nair said.
Former MP Says Victorian Budget a Disaster for Local Businesses

The 2023-2024 Victorian Budget papers are seen at the Budget Lockup in Melbourne, Australia, on May 23, 2023. (AAP Image/James Ross)

Former Victorian Liberal MP Neil Angus has criticised the Labor government for introducing a new round of taxes targeting large businesses and landowners in the 2023-2024 state budget to repay COVID-19 debts.

The new taxes are part of the measures introduced by the Victorian Labor government to address the $31.5 billion (US$20.9 billion) debt incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The massive debt was the result of Labors pandemic policies, which plunged the capital city of Melbourne into the worlds longest lockdown and devastated local businesses.

Despite Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas saying the governments COVID debt repayment plan would be a responsible one, large businesses and landowners appear to be the biggest losers under the tax reforms.

Angus said the new budget was a typical Labor budget, with record levels of taxation and spending.

It is a disaster for Victorian businesses  It provides no incentive for businesses to stay or start-up in Victoria. Why would a company set up in the highest taxing environment? he told The Epoch Times.

After years of reckless spending and budget blowouts on infrastructure projects, the government appears to have only now realised that its debt has to be repaid.

Details of Victorian Governments COVID Debt Repayment Plan

At the heart of the plan is a COVID deb levy on large businesses and landowners, which will last until 2033.

The treasure believed it was a fair move, citing a 24 percent increase in business profit in the past three years and an 84 percent increase in land values in the past ten years.

We know some did better out of the pandemic than others. And its only fair that those that did well contribute to the repayment effort, Pallas said in his budget speech.

Under the plan, enterprises with national payrolls above $10 million a year will have to pay additional payroll tax from July 1.

The tax rates would be 0.5 percent for businesses with national payrolls above $10 million and one percent for those with payrolls above $100 million.

People dine in a cafe in Melbournes central business district in Melbourne, Australia, on May 11, 2021. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

At the same time, the Victorian government will lower the tax-free threshold for general land tax rates from $300,000 to $50,000 from July 1, 2024.

An additional fixed charge starting at $500 will be imposed on landholdings between $50,000 and $100,000, while landholdings above $100,000 will attract a $975 fixed charge.

Furthermore, general and trust taxpayers with holdings above $300 000 and $250 000 will need to pay an additional 0.1 percent tax.

However, family homes will be exempted from this land tax scheme.

The Victorian government hoped to raise $8.6 billion with the debt levy over four years to offset the COVID debts.

Apart from the debt levy, the state government planned to restore the public service back towards pre-pandemic levels by slashing 3,000-4,000 jobs and cutting down on consultants and labour hire, which was expected to bring about $3.6 billion in savings.

It would also use the returns from the Victorian Future Fund to pay off part of the debts in the next ten years.

The fund was established in the 2022-2023 budget using proceeds from privatising Vicroads, an agency responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration in the state.

With the new measures in hand, the Victorian government forecasted that the budget would achieve a $1.2 billion surplus by 2026-2027.

However, the governments net debt was expected to balloon to $171.4 billion by 2026-2027, up from $116.7 billion in 2022-2023.

Economists Weigh in on the Budget

Gene Tunny, the director of the economic consulting firm Adept Economics, said that while Victoria could attain a surplus by 2026-2027 if the budget were disciplined, the state governments performance in recent years probably did not give Victorians much confidence in that regard.

Also, its extremely difficult forecasting a few years out, given all the things that can change, such as the expected state of the economy, public sector wages growth, et cetera, he told The Epoch Times.

The upper house of the Victorian state parliament in Melbourne, Australia, is seen on April 23, 2020. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Robert Carling, an economist at the Centre for Independent Studies, also remained sceptical about whether the Victorian government could reach its surplus goal, saying a lot could go wrong to derail the plan.

They are relying on slowing the growth of operating expenses from what has been six, seven or eight percent a year since about 2014 to an average of less than one percent in the next three years, he told The Epoch Times.

They should be able to do it given all the over-spending thats happening, but I dont know whether they have the willpower and consistency over a period of time to achieve it.

Regarding the tax increases, Carling said it had a detrimental impact on the local business environment.

Victoria has become the highest taxing state as well as the most heavily indebted state, and this is not conducive to the business investment and economic growth the state needs, he said.

These tax increases will deter business investment and employment. They are relying more on tax hikes than on expenditure cuts, and I would say that is not a sustainable mix.

Governments cant just keep coming up with new levies whenever they think they need more money.
Gavin Newsom Criticizes Target For Selling Out LGBT Community

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on May 2, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Targets response to an ongoing customer backlash has drawn ire from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on Tuesday accused the retail chain giant of selling out the LGBTQ+ community by pulling some transgender-themed merchandise from its shelves.

Target has recently come under fire as many social media users reacted with disgust to its promotion of an LGBT Pride collection, which appeared to include items intended for children, such as bathing suits with tuck-friendly construction and extra crotch coverage.

Amid an outrage faced by Bud Light because of its disastrous marketing campaign featuring Transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney, Target first relocated Pride month displays to less prominent corners and then reportedly yanked some of the controversial merchandise altogether, particularly in stores in the rural South.

Newsom, who positioned himself as a champion of LGBT causes, called out Targets chief executive over the way he handled the crisis.

CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage, the Democrat governor wrote on Twitter. This isnt just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country.

Wake up, America, he continued. This doesnt stop here. Youre black? Youre Asian? Youre Jewish? Youre a woman? Youre next.

Target, whose Pride Collection has been on sale since the beginning of this month, claimed that it has to make adjustments to its sales and marketing plans because its employees are feeling unsafe.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and well-being while at work, the company said Tuesday in a statement to media outlets. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.

Newsom vs. Retail Chain

This is not the first time Newsom has had trouble with a national retailer for prioritizing business over progressive social goals.

In March, Newsom declared that his state would not renew a $54 million contract with Walgreens because the pharmacy chain decided not to distribute abortion pills in 21 Republican-led states where it may face legal action, only to take back that statement a month later.

California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom, Newsom said on March 8 after ordering his general services department to review all state contracts with Walgreens. California is on track to be the fourth largest economy in the world, and we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose.

Newsoms attempt to stop California from doing business with Walgreens has crashed into a legal wall. It turned out that federal law regarding Medicaid recipients prevented him from doing so, as it allows beneficiaries the option to choose healthcare providers, including where they get medical prescriptions. This would also have contradicted a central part of Newsoms own platform, which is to have as many Californians get Medicaid coverage as possible.

California has no intention of taking any action that would violate federal Medicaid requirements or that could undermine access for low-income individuals, Tony Cava, a spokesperson for the California Department of Health Care Services, said in April.

San Francisco Target Went Viral

Prior to the Pride Month merchandise controversy, Target had already gone viral on social media because of anti-shoplifting measures a store in Newsoms California took.

In a widely-circulated TikTok video, the personal care and beauty aisle of a Target in San Francisco can be seen almost fully locked behind the security glass cabinets that only cashiers can open. Items, including toothpaste, lotion, razors, and womens sanitary products, are all under lock and key.

This is what my Target in SF looks like now, TikTok user srdreamtorch wrote in the text overlaying the video. The video has generated 1.6 million views on TikTok alone since its initial upload on April 20.

A Target spokesperson told media outlets at that time that placing items in locked cases is just a part of the effort to deal with rising theft at the store.

Were taking proactive measures to keep our teams and guests safe while deterring and preventing theft. These mitigation efforts include hiring additional security guards, adding third-party guard services at select locations, and using new technologies and tools to protect merchandise from being stolen, the spokesperson said.

We are working with legislators, law enforcement, and retail industry partners to support public policy that would help achieve our goals of creating a safe environment in our stores and keeping our doors open in communities across the country, they added.
High-Level California Gang Leaders Convicted in Drug, Racketeering Case

LOS ANGELESTwo members of the transnational gang MS-13, including a one-time shot-caller for the notorious criminal organization, will face 10 years to life in federal prison when they are sentenced later this year for their convictions in downtown Los Angeles on racketeering and drug charges.

Jose Balmore Romero, 49, and Erwin Alexander Melgar, 45, were convicted May 19 of single counts of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Melgar was also convicted of two counts of distributing methamphetamine.

Federal prosecutors said Romero was a leader, or shot-caller, for the overall gang in Los Angeles in 2013-14, overseeing the gangs drug-trafficking activities and collection of extortion taxes and rent, which was distributed in part to members of the Mexican Mafia. He also issued gang orders such as the initiation of new members and assault of those who were in bad standing, prosecutors said.

Melgar, meanwhile, was a shot-caller for the Normandie clique of the gang based in Koreatown, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. In addition to overseeing that cliques drug and other activities, he oversaw the operation of illegal after-hours clubs, or casitas.

U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II scheduled sentencing for Oct. 16.

Federal prosecutors said they have secured 28 convictions so far in the case targeting leaders of the gang in Los Angeles.
House China Panel Calls for US to Surge Missiles, Troops to Taiwan

Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) presides over the first hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington on Feb. 28, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTONA congressional committee tasked with overseeing U.S.-China competition is recommending that the United States surge weapons to Taiwan and provide the island with military-to-military training to help prevent an invasion by Chinas communist regime.

The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on May 24 approved a report including a tranche of 10 policy recommendations that it says will help deter the CCP from invading Taiwan, if adopted by Congress.

Select Committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) said the results of a committee wargame last month demonstrated the urgent need to better fortify Taiwan against Chinese communist predation.

80,000 [Chinese] troops on Taiwan. U.S. warplanes vaporized. Global trade frozen. At the Select Committees wargame, members saw the terrifying result of what happens when deterrence fails, Gallagher said in a statement shortly after the vote.

To ensure this scenario remains fictional, today Select Committee members voted to overwhelmingly adopt 10 policy recommendations that can pass in this Congress, which will surge hard power across the international dateline and strengthen deterrence in the Taiwan Strait.

US Must Provide Missiles, Troops to Taiwan

The Select Committee report, titled Ten for Taiwan, includes 10 policy recommendations to strengthen U.S. efforts to deter a CCP invasion of Taiwan.

The CCP claims that Taiwan is part of its territory, though the regime has never actually controlled the island. CCP leadership has likewise vowed to unite Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary, and its frequent acts of military intimidation against the democratic island have drawn international condemnation.

The report most notably recommends sending U.S. troops to Taiwan to train local forces and implement wide-ranging mechanisms for defense coordination and cooperation between the two powers.

The United States has historically refrained from sending troops to Taiwan as part the Sino-American arrangement to avoid unilaterally seeking to promote or terminate Taiwan independence from China.

In 2021, however, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen acknowledged that there were a limited number of U.S. troops on the island to train Taiwanese forces.

Likewise, the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) called on the State Department to create or expand training programs for Taiwans defense.

The Select Committee report notes that U.S. training of Ukrainian troops since 2014 helped to prepare the eastern European nation for its ongoing defense against Russias attempted conquest. The lack of similar arrangements for Taiwan, it says, severely limits the combat effectiveness of the United States and Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific.

As such, the Select Committee recommends that Congress move to vastly expand the NDAAs mandate to create training programs for the Taiwanese military, as well as to integrate military planning across both nations forces.

This expanded training should build towards shared tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as improved communications and data sharing, the document says.

A combined planning group would improve the ability of the United States to understand Taiwans defense needs and build familiarity between the two militaries. Standing up this type of liaison group prior to any crisis would allow U.S. and Taiwanese planners to build trust and develop procedures for working together.

The report also recommends that Congress move to streamline the process for approving and delivering extant weapons systems to Taiwan, given the fact that some $14-19 billion in missiles and other weapons bought by Taiwan in 2019 have yet to be delivered.

Gallagher described the backlog as an embarrassment, and said it would need to be cleared as quickly as possible to prevent a global conflict.

If we want to have a hope of stopping World War III, we need to arm Taiwan to the teeth right now, Gallagher said.

Proposals Criticized for Overemphasizing Military Issues



Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) was the sole member of the bipartisan Select Committee to vote against passing the 10 policy recommendations.

The report was solid in its recommendations, Kim said, but failed to adequately take into account the committees wide-ranging mandate to consider all aspects of the U.S.-China competition and how that competition affects Taiwan.

I support a number of the issues and recommendations in this report but I dont think it takes into account the kind of comprehensive approach we can be doing on this front, Kim said.

Theres so much more to unpack, and presenting something that has nine out of ten of the recommendations being security focused and not diving in deeper gives the impression that these are sort of the top recommendations and doesnt go into enough of what we can be doing in terms of economic deterrence, diplomatic deterrence, and other capacities that we know are so important in building that global coalition [to defend Taiwan].

To that end, both Kim and Gallagher said that they would have liked to have more meaningful discussions with the State Department on how to best leverage diplomatic and economic power to defend Taiwan.

The State Department refused invitations by the Select Committee to contribute its expertise to the policy proposals, however, Gallagher said.

Still, Kim expressed some optimism for the Select Committee, and said that he hoped the bipartisan group would continue to knit together a strategic approach to the China challenge, and look beyond strictly security-focused policy recommendations.

In that way, Kims comments echoed similar sentiments made earlier in the year by former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, who said the United States needed to do much more to leverage the non-military elements of national power to deter a conflict with China.

I believe with the Chinese threat, the way to approach that is a very subtle and indirect approach  irregular warfare, Miller said at an April 4 talk with the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank.

Lets go ahead and use a little more  diplomacy, information, and economics, and lets go ahead and back off on the military for a little while, because we have time. If were wrong, we can spin things up.
House Ethics Committee Concludes Probe Into Rep. Eric Swalwells Associations With Alleged Chinese Spy

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) listens as Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) speaks during a news conference on the introduction of their Protection from Abusive Passengers Act at the U.S. Capitol Building on April 6, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A two-year investigation into Rep. Eric Swalwells (D-Calif.) associations with a Chinese national and suspected spy has concluded, the bipartisan House Ethics Committee stated on May 22.

The Committee announced the news in a private letter (pdf) to Swalwell in which Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and ranking Democratic member Susan Wild (D-Pa.) explained that no further action will be taken against the California Democrat.

Swalwell published the letter on his official website.

As you are aware, on April 9, 2021, the Committee on Ethics (Committee) informed you that it had determined to investigate allegations raised in the complaint that you may have violated House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct in connection with your interactions with Ms. Christine Fang, the letter reads.

The Committee will take no further action in this matter.

Despite the committees conclusion, Guest and Wild urged Swalwell to remain cautious and conscious of the possibility of improper influence by foreign agents and governments who they said may attempt to secure improper influence through gifts and other interactions.

We encourage you to contact the Office of House Security for any guidance on steps you can take to prevent or address such attempts, the letter reads.

Christine Fang with then-Dublin, Calif., City Council member Eric Swalwell at an October 2012 student event. (Screenshot/Social media)

Political Intelligence, Influence Operations

Swalwell has been embroiled in the Chinese spy saga since 2020, when reports emerged that he had been targeted by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative known as Fang Fang or Christine Fang.

According to a December 2020 report by Axios, Fang, who enrolled as a student at California State UniversityEast Bay in 2011, had targeted Swalwell and other political figures between 2011 and 2015 after meeting him in Dublin, California, when he was a city council member.

Fang also reportedly took part in a fundraising activity for Swalwells 2014 reelection campaign.

A year later, in 2015, Swalwell was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee, at which time federal investigators alerted him that they were concerned by Fangs suspicious activity and behavior and suspected that she was gathering political intelligence and conducting influence operations in the Bay Area.

The Democrat immediately cut ties with Fang, who promptly left the country, according to the report.

Swalwell has maintained that he did nothing wrong and fully cooperated with the FBI.

Swalwell Blames MAGA GOP

However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) removed Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee in January amid the ongoing investigation, citing concerns over security.

At the time, Swalwell called the decision an act of political vengeance.

He welcomed the conclusion of the investigation in a statement on May 23, declaring that its time to move on from the case.

Nearly 10 years ago, I assisted the FBI in their counterintelligence investigation of a campaign volunteer. The case and my assistance were briefed to Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, and two years later, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan re-appointed me to the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell said.

Neither speaker questioned my actions nor politicized my cooperation. Despite the FBI repeatedly saying I was nothing but helpful and never accused of wrongdoing, this complaint was filed by a House Republican.

Its time to move on. The bipartisan House Ethics Committee had this case for over two years. They had the power of subpoena. They received answers from me in response to requests for information. Today, they are closing this matter and did not make a finding of any wrongdoing. If the intent in bringing this complaint and leveling false smears was to silence me, that is not going to happen. I will continue to be a voice on behalf of my constituents and a passionate defender of democracy.

In a separate statement on Twitter, he also accused the MAGA GOP of having falsely smeared him to silence him.

McCarthys office didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
House Foreign Affairs Leaders View Afghan Dissent Cable; McCaul Wants All Committee Members to See It

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), speaks at a bipartisan news conference, on the Afghanistan evacuations, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 25, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), a ranking member of the committee, viewed on May 23 a dissent cable from the time of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The two viewed the dissent cable at the State Department, said McCaul.

Although I cannot discuss the classified information in the cable, I can say the dissenters were rightand the administration should have listened, said McCaul in a statement.

The committee subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March for the cable, which, as The Wall Street Journal first reported, shows the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warning the State Department about the Taliban quickly gaining ground and the Afghan forces falling apart. They gave suggestions on how to expedite an evacuation and alleviate the situation.

The cable, dated July 13 [2021], also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with its contents.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed on Aug. 30, 2021.

McCaul called on the State Department to let other committee members view the cable as well and will decide what course of action to take were the department to say no.

I am going to speak with Ranking Member Meeks and my Republican and Democrat colleagues on the committee to discuss our next course of action if the State Department continues to block all committee members from seeing this cable as the subpoena requested, he said.

The cable was written by 23 State Department officials in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which no longer is in operation. Blinken has repeatedly refused to hand over the cable, even amid the subpoena. The department had repeatedly cited security and privacy concerns with the State Departments dissent channel system as the reason that it would not hand over the cable to the committee.

On May 17, McCaul announced a markup holding Blinken in contempt of Congress for not handing over the cable. The markup was postponed. That same day, the State Department announced it had offered McCaul and Meeks the opportunity to view the cable at the department.

In a letter the following day, McCaul accepted the offer.

McCaul also wrote that he will pause efforts to enforce the committees subpoena pending my review of the documents even though the subpoena remains in full force and effect, and the acceptance of this accommodation does not waive any of the Committees rights regarding the subpoena.
House Republican Speechless After Senior FBI Official Admits Not Reading Durham Report

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) speaks remotely as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on The Biden Administration's Priorities for U.S. Foreign Policy on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 10, 2021. (Ken Cedeno-Pool/Getty Images)

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) said he was speechless when he learned that a senior FBI official had not read the Durham report, which was released more than a week ago.

Pfluger, chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, questioned Jill Murphy, deputy assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI, during a hearing on May 23.

Special Counsel Durham assesses that neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Pfluger said. Crossfire Hurricane is the FBI codename for the agencys 201617 FBI investigation into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia.

Pfluger continued, The bureau subsequently discounted or willfully ignored material that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between [former President Donald] Trump and Russia.

As the deputy assistant director for the FBI Counterintelligence Division, are you familiar with this report? Pfluger asked.

In response, Murphy said, I have not read that report.

Im honestly speechless at this point in time, Pfluger said in reply.

When pressed on why she had not read the report, Murphy said, I just havent had time.

This is a sincere question. Does election collusion worry you? Pfluger asked Murphy, who said it obviously worried her.

I would highly recommend reading that because we spent four years discussing that. There was uncorroborated evidencethe Durham report specifically outlines the outcome of that. Its very disappointing to hear this.

Special counsel John Durham arrives at federal court in Washington on May 18, 2022. (Teng Chen/The Epoch Times)

Durham Report

John Durham, appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr in October 2020 to review the 201617 FBI investigation of alleged ties between Trump and Russia, found that the FBI relied on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence for its investigation.

The objective facts show that the FBIs handling of important aspects of the Crossfire Hurricane matter were seriously deficient, Durham added in the report.

Following the reports release, the FBI acknowledged mistakes in its investigation of the Trump campaign, while Trump said in a statement that the American Public was scammed.

The Durham Report spells out in great detail the Democrat Hoax that was perpetrated upon me and the American people. This is 2020 Presidential Election Fraud, just like stuffing the ballot boxes, only more so, Trump added.

Other Republicans at the hearing shared Pflugers astonishment that Murphy had not read the report.

I also was surprised at your answeryou havent read the Durham report, said Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.). Why is that not a matter of such import that you would want urgently to understand what the special counsel concluded about the work of the counterintelligence division? In such a grave case?

Murphy replied, Sir, if youd like a brief on the Durham report from the counterintelligence division, Im happy to take that back.

Wow, that sounds almost contemptuous, Bishop said in response. Do you intend to read it?

I do intend to read it, Murphy told Bishop.

China

During the hearing, Pfluger also revealed that the FBI has not responded to a letter he and House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) sent on April 24. The letter, sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, requested information on the Chinese regimes clandestine police stations in the United States, including New York City.

Its now been over two weeks past that deadline that we asked for. So I would ask you, please, to respond to that letter in writing, Pfluger said.

On April 17, the FBI arrested two individuals on charges of operating a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They allegedly took orders from the regime in order to track down and silence Chinese dissidents living in the United States, prosecutors said.

A balloon is held at a press conference and rally in front of the America ChangLe Association highlighting Beijings transnational repression, in New York City on Feb. 25, 2023. A now-closed overseas Chinese police station is located inside the association building. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

In their letter, Pfluger and Green wanted answers to multiple questions, including when the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were notified of the Chinese police station in New York.

In addition to the Chinese police station operating in Manhattan, New York, there are allegations of these illegal organizations operating in a separate location in New York, NY, Los Angeles, California, San Francisco, California, Houston, Texas, as well as cities in Nebraska and Minnesota, the letter says. What is DHS and the FBI doing to combat the malign influence occurring in these additional locations and across the homeland?

In response, Murphy told Pfluger that the FBI would provide a fulsome response probably in a classified setting.

The threat from China is complex and vast, Murphy added. So when we talk about universities, or researchers, or academics, or innovation, China proliferates all those spaces to include in our communities where Chinese Americans live as a way to influence those communities. And we work actively to identify those and investigate that.

Would you say that theyre using every available tactic, technique, and procedure to infiltrate American national security interests and interests writ large? Pfluger asked about China.

In response, Murphy said, I would say that their attack surface is large, and they are using all the tools in their toolbox to gather information, whether its classified, intellectual property, sensitive, unclassified, anything that they consider [of] value.
House Votes to Overturn Bidens Student Loan Forgiveness Program

President Joe Biden arrives for a bilateral meeting with Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister, ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 18, 2023. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool/Getty Images)

The House voted to pass the Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the Biden administrations student loan transfer program by a vote of 218 to 203 on May 24. The resolution passed with two Democrats joining 216 Republicans in favor of the measure.

The one-time student loan forgiveness program by the Biden administration faced a challenge from House Republicans who believed it was an irresponsible fiscal policy.

The resolution, H.J. Res. 45, is an official disapproval by Congress of the administrations Waivers and Modifications of Federal Student Loans, which would be the fulfillment of President Joe Bidens campaign promise to offer student loan debt relief.

President Bidens student loan transfer scheme shifts hundreds of billions of dollars of payments from student loan borrowers onto the backs of the American people, Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the resolutions sponsor, said in a press release sent to The Epoch Times.

I am proud to lead the fight against President Bidens reckless, unilateral, and unauthorized action that would unfairly penalize those who worked hard to pay off their loans or who never took them out in the first place. I am pleased that my Republican colleagues overwhelmingly supported my legislation on the House Floor.

The vote came while the administration is still awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on whether the proposal can be implemented. Lawmakers voted on the resolution to halt the forgiveness program and terminate the pandemic-related suspension of federal student loan payments.

The White House announced just days ago that if the measure made it to the presidents desk, he would veto it, supporting his own loan forgiveness program.

In a Statement of Administration Policy released on May 22, the White House expressed its disapproval of H.J. Res. 45.

If Congress were to pass H.J. Res. 45, the President would veto it, the White House statement said. The administration asserts that the measure would weaken Americas middle class.

In the policy statement, the administration outlined its justification for the student loan forgiveness program, saying: Nearly 90 percent of the relief provided by the Department of Education would go to Americans earning less than $75,000 per year, and no relief would go to any individual or household in the top 5 percent of incomes.

Good told The Epoch Times in response to the news that the administration planned to veto the resolution, Given his fiscal track record, it is no surprise that President Biden would oppose any action to undo his unlawful and unfair executive actions to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars worth of burdensome student loans onto the backs of American taxpayers.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a letter (pdf) in September 2022, detailing the estimated budgetary effects of the student loan forgiveness program, saying they estimate the total cost of cancellation at about $400 billion over the 2023-2033 period on a net-present-value basis.

The Congressional Budget Office conducted a cost estimate (pdf) for the impact of H.J. Res. 45, saying it would reduce direct spending, on a net-present-value basis, by $319.6 billion in 2023, and by $315.6 billion over the 2023-2033 period.

The White House responded to The Epoch Times request for comment, referring to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierres comments to reporters when she said Republicans plan to block the debt relief demonstrated the rights values.
Hungarys Prime Minister Says He Wants Trump to Return to Win 2024 Election

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban looks on during the EU-Western Balkans leaders' meeting in Brussels on June 23, 2022. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)

Hungarys Prime Minister Viktor Orban again publicly declared his support for former President Donald Trumps return to the White House in the 2024 Presidential Election. Described as a staunch nationalist and a defender of Western Christian values, the Prime Minister is one of the most prominent conservative leaders in the European Union and a harsh critic of its public policies. As Europes longest-serving prime minister, with 17 years in office, Orban first served as the head of Hungarys government from 1998 to 2002 before returning to office in 2010. He has frequently been at loggerheads with Brussels regarding illegal migration to Europe, traditional family values, domestic policy, and policy decisions surrounding the war in Ukraine. For years, Orban has been in the spotlight over his conflicts with the countrys judiciary, media, and foreign-backed NGOs allegedly controlled by critics like the controversial Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros. Brussels is currently continuing to withhold billions in funds from Hungary, despite an agreement with Budapest in December to support an EU aid package to Ukraine in exchange for the release of the money. Orban Reiterates His Support for Trump but Refuses to Criticize Biden At an appearance at Bloombergs Qatar Economic Forum on May 23, reporters asked Orban if he would like to see Trump win the next election. He replied, I hope so, reported CNBC. He reiterated his previous support for Trump, with whom he formed a close bond during his presidency. During Orbans visit to the White House in 2019, Trump said, Youre respected all over Europe. Probably, like me, a little bit controversial. But thats OK.

The Prime Minister was also asked about his opinion of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to challenge Trump in the U.S. presidential primaries for the Republican nomination in 2024. He is also a very good leader, but I belong to the club of the veterans, and the veterans support each other, Orban said.

The Hungarian leader refused to criticize President Joe Biden when asked, telling reporters that it is not my job to criticize the head of the United States. It is not a good business idea, anyway.

American Democrats are far more ideologically-led than the Republicans. And the Democrats always like to convince you and sometimes force you how to liveand I dont like it. We have our own culture  dont interfere, please, Orban responded.

However, leaders in Brussels and in Berlin have barely disguised their contempt for the former president and have been quite open in their support of Biden.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told students in Berlin that he preferred that Biden got reelected, reported Reuters.

Scholz said in reference to Trump, If all people are only against each other, then there cannot be a good future, and that is why the former president certainly stands for a great division in the country.

Meanwhile, in Qatar, the Hungarian leader told Bloomberg that both sides in the Ukraine conflict need to agree to an immediate ceasefire and return to the negotiating table to save lives and that Kyiv has no chance at winning the war against Moscow.

However, EU defense ministers in Brussels are continuing to discuss plans to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly American-made F-16 fighter jets in the near future.

Im absolutely confident that Ukraine has the capacity, the will, the courage to win the war, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in response to Orbans statement.

Both Conservative Leaders Continue to Battle the Left

Both conservative leaders share common ground over populism, national sovereignty, and immigration policy, earning them intense hatred from the left.

After the 2020 U.S. election, they continued to mutually praise one another in support.

In his first statement after joining Twitter in late 2022, Orban tweeted, Where is my good friend, Donald Trump?

The former American president endorsed the Hungarian prime minister last year when he ran for his fourth successive term and beat his liberal opposition with 54 percent versus 34 percent of the vote.

Viktor Orban of Hungary truly loves his country and wants safety for his people, Trump said in a press release.

He has done a powerful and wonderful job in protecting Hungary, stopping illegal immigration, creating jobs, trade, and should be allowed to continue to do so in the upcoming election.

Orban sent Trump words of encouragement earlier this month by telling him to keep on fighting in a tweet after Democrats continued their legal attempts to prevent his return to Washington.

At a May 4 speech at CPAC Budapest, Orban described his Central European nation as an incubator where we experiment with the future of conservative politics.

He called out the radical lefts global campaign to promote transgenderism, illegal immigration, and the removal of conservative leaders worldwide, like Trump and former President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.
IN-DEPTH: Government Policies Can Stimulate or Stop Illegal Immigration: Experts

Migrants from Central and South America take part in a caravan attempting to reach the Mexico-US border, while carrying out a viacrucis to protest for the death of 40 migrants in a fire at a detention center in the northern city of Juarez, in Tapachula, Chiapas state, southern Mexico, on April 23, 2023. (STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Potential illegal immigrants watch U.S. policy changes and will not risk embarking on a dangerous and expensive trip if they will not be able to stay in the United States or be detained and deported, experts say.

Policies that allow migrants to cross the border and stay long term inside the United States will encourage them to undertake a hazardous journey, even if it makes them indebted to smugglers, said Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

During the week leading up to the end of Title 42, Bensman was filming migrants illegally crossing the border in Matamoros, Mexico, over the Rio Grande River into Brownsville, Texas.

It was probably the hottest of the red hot zones along the border, with thousands and thousands of Venezuelans crossing with no resistance or opposition on the U.S. side, Bensman said in an interview for EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program.

He recorded footage of huge groups of migrants swimming across the Rio Grande and going right over the razor wire fence into the United States unimpeded, where they were processed.

End of Title 42

Title 42 was a Trump-era public health policy that allowed the United States to deny entry to migrants trying to enter the country illegally on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The policy expired just before midnight on May 11.

Before Title 42 ended, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety and a special Tactical Border Force of the National Guard in the area to stay there day and night, Bensman said.

Armed with pepper balls and pepper ball guns, the soldiers were positioned along the razor wire fence and effectively prevented migrants from entering the country, Bensman said.

Migrants tried several times to cross using different tactics, but the outcome was always the samethey were unable to get in, so they had no choice but to turn around and swim back to Mexico, he added.

According to Bensman, since the deployment of the Texas special forces and even during the day after the end of Title 42, the border area around Brownsville was dead quiet, but he heard that the migrants were going to move to another area on the border and try to cross there.

In the two and a half years that I have been watching this, recording and documenting this mass migration crisis  I have never seen immigrants turned away, Bensman said. They are always red carpeted.

But in this case, it took the Texas state government to shut this thing down, he said.

The special border forces were also deployed to hotspots all along the border to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally, the governors office said.

How to Stop Illegal Immigration

While admitting that the action taken by the Texas governor against illegal immigrants was effective, Bensman called this response crude and brutish.

Even though it works, its unnecessary, Bensman said.

Instead, policies that would remove the entry and stay benefit for illegal immigrants should be implemented to stop illegal border crossing, Bensman explained.

Any policy that makes entry into the country unlikelyand long-term stay in the country even more unlikelyis going to keep the potential immigrants home, he said.

They wont come on the journey if they know that the $10,000 in smuggling fee that they have to beg, borrow, or indenture themselves for, is going to come to naught, Bensman explained.

The immigrants come when they know they will be able to stay in the United States, and they will not come when they know their money will be wasted, he added.

He complimented former President Donald Trumps Remain in Mexico policy as being incredibly effective. The policy directed illegal immigrants and some asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico while awaiting their U.S. court dates.

If potential immigrants know that they are going to have to wait in Mexico, or that Mexico or Costa Rica will deport them at their own southern borders, they are not going to come, Bensman said.

They want to wait inside the United States so they can disappear, he said. Nobody is coming for the great Mexican dream.

In an interview for EpochTVs Crossroads program, border expert and war correspondent Michael Yon said that its absolute nonsense to say that illegal immigration cant be stopped.

It can definitely be stopped, or at least it can be cranked down to like, 1 percent, he said.

The Remain in Mexico policy was suspended by President Joe Biden the day after taking office and officially terminated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in June 2021.

US Immigration Centers in Latin America

On April 11, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas visited the Darien Gap in Panama, an immigration route taken by migrants from Latin America heading north to the United States, where he announced a deal with Panama and Colombia.

The Darien Gap is a region that spans the ColombiaPanama border where many migrants start their journey to North America through the roadless jungle, exposing themselves to danger from natural hazards and hostile groups controlling the region.

The trilateral deal aims to stop the transfer of immigrants through the Darien Gap to prevent their exploitation by smugglers, open new lawful pathways for tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, and launch a plan to reduce poverty and create jobs in communities on the PanamaColombia border partnering with international organizations and private sector, Mayorkas said.

During another visit to Panama at the end of April, Mayorkas announced the creation of regional immigration centers in Colombia and Guatemala to process immigrants, the State Department said.

Potential immigrants will be interviewed at these centers before traveling to the United States and, if approved, will be processed rapidly for lawful pathways to the United States, Canada, and Spain, the statement said.

Mayorkas said at a press conference in Panama during his visit that in order to screen immigrants very quickly, the staff of the regional immigration centers would be surged to work with two international organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM is part of the U.N. system as the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. The UNHCR is the United Nations agency for refugees.

Both organizations operate aid stations all along the immigration trails in South America and Central America that provide various services and supplies, including some financial support to refugees and immigrants on their journey to North America, Bensman told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the same press conference that the United States accepted six times more refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022 than during the previous year and planned to more than double the number in 2023.

Yon, who reports on the ground about illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border and the Darien Gap, said he believes these new measures are preparations for flying illegal immigrants directly from places like Colombia, and Guatemala, straight to the United States.

Also, Yon said that he monitors the situation in the Darien Gap very closely and observes that the flow of immigrants in the region had been increasing despite Mayorkas announcement that it would be stopped.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Weaponization of Illegal Immigration

The bottom line is the border is still open, Yon said.

In the Darien Gap, the flow of immigrants has not decreased after Title 42 expired, Yon said in an interview from El Paso, Texas.

Texas has been sending buses of illegal aliens to Chicago, Washington, and other cities, but Yon said that it is just clearing the decks so that more can come through. This does not stop the illegal immigration, he said.

Yon warned that illegal immigration would be weaponized, but not with guns.

Its just showing up and taking over the schools, taking over the elections, Yon said. But many of the migrants that are coming here, the aliens that are coming here, clearly will be weaponized later, I mean, with real weapons.

Yon said that he saw weaponized migration when he was reporting in Tibet and when he was covering protests in Hong Kong against the rule of the Chinese Communist Party in 2019.

Amid his ongoing coverage of the protests, Yon was barred from entering Hong Kong and deported in February 2020.

Immigrants React to US Policy Changes

Bensman said that prospective illegal immigrants are constantly monitoring U.S. policy changes and immigration cases in the courts.

If theres a change, theyre looking for the way around it, he said.

The switch in immigration policies from Title 42 to Title 8 was closely watched by immigrants in two camps located on the Mexican side of the border, said Bensman, who visited these camps and talked to immigrants there.

Title 8 allows for the expulsion of illegal immigrants who do not qualify for asylum and bars expelled immigrants from reentry for at least five years.

Theyre looking to see if the Americans are going to let the first brave ones who test it in, Bensman said.

If the first migrants successfully gain entry and find a loophole allowing them to stayand Bensman says there are plenty of loopholesthose illegal immigrants will immediately contact others who are waiting in the camps to tell them how its done, he said.

It may take it takes a few days or weeks to propagate the message to the camps and immigrant home countries, but eventually, immigrants will surge through the border and swamp processing facilities that have already been operating over capacity, Bensman said.

Jack Phillips and Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
DAMASCUS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Two pro-government fighters were killed during an Islamic State (IS) attack on a military site in the desert region in eastern Syria overnight into Tuesday, pro-government Sham FM radio reported Wednesday.

The IS militants attacked a position of the pro-government fighters in the desert region of al-Sukhneh in the eastern countryside of the central province of Homs, said the report.

The attack triggered a confrontation between the two sides, resulting in the killing of the two fighters, it added.

The casualties of the IS militants are not yet known.

Since the beginning of 2023, 161 government and pro-government fighters and 148 civilians have been killed by IS attacks in the Syrian desert region, with only 14 IS militants killed during such attacks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based war monitor.

Following its defeat in major Syrian areas in 2018, the IS militants fled to the desert region and started attacks on roads linking the central provinces of Hama and Homs with the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. 
Japans PM Rules Out Joining NATO Amid Alliances Plan for Asia Office

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence, in Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo, File)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ruled out Japans membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) while leaving open the possibility of allowing the security alliance to set up a liaison office in the country.

At a parliament session on May 24, Kishida acknowledged that NATO was planning to open an office in Japan but said he was not aware of any decision the bloc had taken about the matter, Reuters reported.

Japanese envoy Koji Tomita said the country is working toward opening a NATO liaison office, the first of its kind in Asia, to allow the U.S.-led alliance to consult with its regional partners.

I really havent heard any final confirmation, but we are working in that direction, Tomita told reporters in Washington this month, according to The Japan Times.

The office would help NATO to facilitate consultations with its key Asia-Pacific partners (AP4)Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Koreaand act as a point of contact with other nations in the region.

Nikkei Asia reported that the proposed plan is to open a one-person office in Tokyo next year. The idea was first discussed during NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenbergs visit to Tokyo on Jan. 31.

Commenting on the matter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing will closely monitor NATOs continual eastward expansion in the Asia-Pacific.

NATO Accuses China of Bullying

During Stoltenbergs visit to Tokyo, he and Kishida agreed to strengthen NATOJapan cooperation.

Stoltenberg said, No NATO partner is closer or more capable than Japan in the region.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Jan. 31, 2023. (Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)

We agree that transatlantic and Indo-Pacific security [are] deeply interconnected. What happens in this region matters to NATO. And what happens in Europe matters to you, he said at a joint press conference.

Japan approved three key defense documents last year, including the National Security Strategy, which refers to China as its greatest challenge. The country seeks to have the ability to counterattack, a move widely seen as a departure from its post-war constitution.

Stoltenberg welcomed Japans National Security Strategy and pledged to help Japan realize its vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Your strategy recognizes that Chinas behavior is a matter of serious concern. NATO agrees, he said, criticizing the Chinese Communist Party for bullying its neighbors and threatening Taiwan.

Kishida announced that Japan plans to regularly attend high-level council meetings and chiefs of defense meetings to promote closer communication between Japan and the alliance.

According to a joint statement (pdf), both sides agreed to advance ties in areas such as cyberspace, space, disinformation, and critical and emerging technologies.

With regard to Chinas rapid strengthening of its military capabilities and expansion of military activities, we strongly encourage China to improve transparency and to cooperate constructively with international efforts for arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation, the statement reads.

The Danish ambassador to Japan, Peter Taksoe-Jensen, said the geopolitical landscape had changed drastically since NATOs 2010 Strategic Concept, which prompted the organization to bolster its relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

At the time, Russia was considered a potential partner, and there was no mention of China. In 2022, at the Madrid Summit, allied leaders decided that Russia was no longer a partner but a foe and that there was also an acknowledgment that Chinas rise would and could have an impact on trans-European security, he told Nikkei Asia.

This is why it is important for NATO to keep up relations with our partners in this region.

Rebecca Zhu and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Jewish Groups Urge White House to Reject Progressive-Backed Antisemitism Definition

President Joe Biden departs a celebration marking Jewish American Heritage Month in the East Room of the White House in Washington on May 16, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Biden administration is expected to release as soon as this week its strategy to combat antisemitismbut possibly at the expense of reversing U.S. policy on a widely accepted definition of hatred toward Jews and their homeland, the State of Israel.

Progressives have been pressuring the White House to abandon the U.S. adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, according to the publication Jewish Insider.

The Obama State Department adopted the IHRA definition in 2016 before the Trump administration adopted it government-wide in 2019. In addition to the United States, dozens of other countries have adopted it.

The administrations latest draft includes the IHRA definition but also an alternative one, called the Nexus Document, that was created by left-wing scholars, reported Jewish Insider.

The IHRA definition states: Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

The issue at play for progressives is that the definition encompasses instances of animosity toward Zionism, which is the Jewish belief and right to their ancestral homeland, the State of Israel. This hostility is known as far-left antisemitism.

Examples of anti-Zionism under the IHRA definition include, but are not limited to, denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor; applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation; and using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Kenneth Marcus, the founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which combats antisemitism, called the IHRA definition the single international standard by which we can distinguish what is antisemitic from what is not.

Marcus, who led the Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration, warned that the Nexus Document makes it easier for antisemites to disguise what theyre doing as extreme anti-Zionism and insulates extreme anti-Zionism from criticism, including when it leads to the exclusion and marginalization of Jewish Americans.

Jewish and pro-Israel groups, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), have called on the Biden administration to keep the IHRA definition.

The Endowment for Middle East Truth very strongly supports the IHRA definition, citing that it protects Jewish students on college campuses, said its leader, Sarah Stern. She noted that anti-Zionism has become the most prevalent form of anti-Semitism on college campuses and that Jewish and pro-Israel students have come under attack under the guise of free speech.

Stern said that her organization supports free speech but said that Jews should be afforded the same protections that other minorities get in accordance with the Civil Right Act of 1964. She called for the Biden administration to keep the IHRA definition.

Zionist Organization of America President Mort Klein said, [President Joe] Biden refusing to invoke the IHRA powerful and comprehensive antisemitism definition proves his claims to fight antisemitism is a lie.

Any national strategy to combat Jew-hatred that excludes the IHRA working definitionthe most authoritative and widely accepted delineation of all forms of contemporary antisemitism globallywould be severely compromised from the start, said Combat Antisemitism Movement CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa. It is the worlds gold standard definition and a key pillar in government strategies to combat all forms of antisemitism.

StopAntisemitism, another group that combats hatred against Jews, called on the administration to buck the far-left pressure campaign and adopt the IHRA definition.

Antisemitism has to be defined to be fought, and StopAntisemitism believes that adopting the IHRA definition should be a key part of the Biden administrations antisemitism strategy, said Liora Rez, StopAntisemitisms executive director. Responses to antisemitic incidents are too frequently bogged down by semantic debates, and its important to have a clear standard by which to assess potential Jew-hatred.

StopAntisemitism blasted the progressives seeking for the IHRA definition to be dumped.

StopAntisemitism is not surprised that bad actors are attempting to coerce POTUS into not adopting IHRA, or to use it alongside other competing definitions, said Rez. IHRA is by far the most widely recognized definition of antisemitism in the world, and equating it with less comprehensive or specific definitions would muddy the waters, hampering Americas efforts to fight antisemitism.

Bryan Leib, a Republican who is the head of CASEPAC, which supports federal office candidates dedicated to fighting antisemitism, echoed Rezs sentiment.

President Biden shouldnt allow radical fringe groups such as JStreet and the New Israel Fund to influence his decision on this matter, Leib said. Jewish groups from all stripesDemocrats and Republicans from the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movementsall support the IHRA working definition of antisemitism that clearly states, amongst other items, that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, blasted the Biden administration and said that the progressive pressure is part of an ongoing trend by the White House.

We see this time and time again that this administration and these individuals, our colleagues on the left, like to change definitions to fit their narrative, Miller said. Thats exactly what theyre doing.

In 2022, the number of antisemitic incidents was 36 percent greater than the previous year, an all-time record since the Anti-Defamation League reported that statistic. Jews are the leading target of hate crimes among religious groups annually in the United States, according to the FBI.

In a letter to the American Zionist Movement shortly after Biden took office, Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote that the administration enthusiastically embraces the IHRA definition.

Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism in the House, supports the IHRA definition. She touted the upcoming report as historic and noted that it is unprecedented that there has been a national strategy to combat hatred toward Jews. She cited Germany and the United Kingdom as having a national strategy to combat antisemitism.

Manning, who is Jewish, expressed hope and assumed that the soon-to-be-released report will include the IHRA definition.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a progressive, said that while he is not an expert on the IHRA definition and therefore could not say whether the White House should have it in its strategy to combat hatred toward Jews, We have to keep our focus on fighting antisemitism in the world as people understand and see it. And we dont need anything that would divide the community of goodwill.

Raskin, who is Jewish, warned against entering into definitional or semantic combat and would rather maintain our focus on antisemitism as common sense has it.

Marcus said that were the Biden administration not to do what it has promised to do with respect to the Trump executive order on combatting antisemitism, Congress may have to step in and codify the IHRA definition as the law of the United States.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the strategy and whether it will include the IHRA definition.
IN-DEPTH: Job Prospects for Chinas Rural Migrant Workers Worsen as Labor-Intensive Industries Decline

Migrant workers standing near signs advertising their skills as they wait by a street to be hired in Shenyang, in northeastern China's Liaoning Province on Feb. 6, 2023. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinas labor-intensive industries were hit hard by extreme zero-COVID measures, with business woes continuing this year, leaving the employment outlook bleak for rural migrant workers.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping on April 29 stressed in a Central Political Bureau economic meeting of the need to expand employment channels.

Xi also emphasized the need to stabilize the employment of critical populations such as college graduates and rural migrant workers.

Wang Pingping, director of the Bureau of Statistics Population and Employment Statistics Department, summarized the countrys employment situation for 2022 in a Jan. 18 working report.

The surveyed unemployment rate of migrant agricultural household labor force is still high  job market has not yet fully recovered, said Wang.

The migrant agricultural household labor force, or rural migrant worker, refers to rural citizenswhose household origin (Hukou in Chinese) is classified as an agricultural residencywho enter cities to work.

Wang admitted that it will take some time for the recovery of labor demand, pointing to some industries and small and medium-sized enterprises prolonged resumption of regular operations.

A migrant worker crosses a road after arriving on a long-distance bus in Beijing on March 10, 2021. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Zhuge Mingyang, an independent writer, told The Epoch Times on May 15, If they [peasants] have no work and have no fields to plant on their land, it will create a hugely destabilizing factor for the CCP, so that is why it [Xi] proposes to stabilize the employment of rural workers.

Official Report on Rural Migrant Workers

Chinas Bureau of Statistics released on April 28 a rural migrant worker monitoring report, showing that in 2022, the number of rural workers with education below the high school level accounted for 86.3 percent of the total.

Regarding age structure, 47 percent of rural migrant workers are aged 40 and below, 24 percent are 41-50 years old, and 29 percent are 50 or above.

In terms of job distribution, 27.4 percent of rural migrant workers engaged in the manufacturing industry, 17.7 percent in the construction industry: the two industries cover more than 45 percent of the total rural migrant workers; Other sectors are wholesale and retail trade (12.5 percent), transportation, warehousing, and postal services (6.8 percent), accommodation and catering (6.1 percent), and other services (11.9 percent).

Distorted Unemployment Data

Migrant workers planting trees at a park in Beijings middle-class neighbourhood of Shangdi on July 1, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite unpromising employment prospects, the Bureau of Statistics claimed on May 16 that China had an overall stable employment status in April, citing the unemployment rate of the rural migrant labor force dropped to 5.1 percent that month, compared with 5.5 percent, 6 percent, and 5.3 percent in first three months of the year.

Zhuge Mingyang believes these official figures are over-conservative, and the reality may be worse.

The number of unemployed rural migrant workers has long been grossly underestimated, elaborated Cai Fang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in the fifth issue of the International Economic Review 2022.

Cai said this is partly because, for a long time, rural migrant workers are more or less in a state of irregular employment, such as lower wages or less favorable working conditions and unstable staff turnover. For example, they may return to their hometowns when they cannot hold on to their job, Economists 50 Forum cited on Feb.22.

One of the main negative macroeconomic impacts caused by the COVID pandemic is the impact on employment, especially irregular employment, according to Cai.

Frontline jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors, which gather more rural migrant workers, have experienced waves of layoffs, and some COVID-induced social and economic factors have imposed permanent job losses, Cai said.

Manufacturing and Construction

Chinese migrant laborers work at a ceramic factory in Foshan, Chinas Guangdong Province, on Feb. 22, 2008. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP via Getty Images)

Official data showed that in 2022, Chinas Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which reflects manufacturing sentiment, was below 50 for eight months and fell to a record low of 47 at the end of last year, indicating a contraction of the manufacturing industry.

The PMI fell to 49.2 in April, following an above-50 between January and March. Aprils manufacturing new orders index dropped to 48.8, and the new export orders index fell to 47.6.

Meanwhile, several manufacturing bases in China have reduced production or shut down.

On April 26, Wistron, a Taiwanese electronics foundry, announced the closure of its plant in eastern Jiangsu Provinces Taizhou city, leaving nearly 1,000 employees to cease their jobs. The company said, The Taizhou plant had been losing money for years.

Wistron invested $1 billion, according to Chinese financial media, in 2009 to build the Taizhou factory as a production base for liquid crystal display modules (LCDs).

Sunf Pu Technology, a Taiwanese company dedicated to manufacturing wire and cable products, declared a production stoppage at its 12-year-old Shenzhen factory end of April due to severe business losses and an operational crisis. The factory had about 1,500 employees at its peak.

With 9,000 employees, one of the largest companies in the mobile component industry, Dongguan Chi-Wing Technology, issued a notice on Feb. 20 informing some of its technicians to take a three-month leave of absence as the companys orders plummeted sharply as a result of the ongoing economic slump, Chinese portal site Sina reported.

Santis Substrates, which has been operating in Nansha, Guangzhou, for nearly 30 years, had decided to cease operations from the end of February for the concerns over a steady shrinkage in orders and tight capital that were impacted by the the epidemic and the deteriorating economic environment, as reported by Chinese news media eet-china.com.

A migrant worker walks through the Evergrande City in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on Sept. 24, 2021. (Getty Images)

In the real estate sector, according to the Bureau of Statistics, Chinas investment in real estate development dropped by 10 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year; construction areas decreased by 7.2 percent year-on-year, and new housing construction areas plunged as high as nearly 40 percent.

The downward trend in the real estate sector has continued into this year, with May 16 official data showing that Chinas real estate development investment fell by 6.2 percent year-on-year in the first four months. Construction and new housing areas fell by 5.6 percent and 21.2 percent year-on-year, respectively.

A diminution in industry production and business operations has resulted in a growing unemployment population in China. Employment has been a pressing task for the CCP, said Zhuge Mingyang. But as for whether the employment can be stabilized or not, Im afraid it [the CCP] has no way to control it.
Johnston Report Notes Systemic Obstacles in Getting Intel to Policy-Makers

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thumbs through the First Report by David Johnston, special rapporteur on foreign Interference, during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 23, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Special Rapporteur David Johnston says the Liberal government didnt negligently fail to act on intelligence regarding the threat of foreign interference, but he highlighted problems surrounding the dissemination of intelligence within the state machinery.

There are serious shortcomings in the way intelligence is communicated and processed from security agencies through to government, he wrote in one of the five conclusions of his first report on May 23.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed the former governor general as special rapporteur in March amid calls for a public inquiry into Chinese interference on Canadian soil, giving him the mandate to determine whether an inquiry was needed.

Johnstons most consequential conclusion from his report was to recommend against that option, citing the need to protect classified information.

Although Johnston found that the government had not been negligent in tackling the threat of foreign interference, he says it could have acted more quickly to counter it. One of his main points of criticism was about the way crucial classified information is passed from security agencies to government departments and ministers.

He notes that reports produced by the countrys two main intelligence collection agencies, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), are sent to departments at large with no clear recipient.

It is rare for specific names to be mentioned, so specifically who at these departments received these memos cannot be determined from the documentary sources, the report says.

Johnston says that even after conducting numerous interviews with stakeholders, the picture remains cloudy as to the dissemination process, with no accountability on who specifically received or consumed the intelligence product.

He also looked at the consumption of intelligence at the political level and found serious problems that could presumably lead to policy-makers not being informed of key developments, whether locally or internationally.

He says staffers in the Prime Ministers Office are provided a larger binder full of intelligence products in a secure room with only a short time to review it and no context or prioritization of the material provided.

The binder may have a significant mix of topics from around the world, and no one says, you should pay attention to this issue in particular. If staffers are away, they may not see the binder that day, says the report.

Public Scandal

The lack of accountability in the dissemination of potentially high-impact classified information turned into a public scandal in early May when The Globe and Mail reported on a leaked CSIS assessment from 2021 noting that the Chinese regime sought to retaliate against MPs who had taken critical stances against Beijing.

A source told the Globe one of the MPs was Conservative Michael Chong.

When Trudeau was asked whether he was briefed on that information, he initially said he wasnt and that the information never left CSIS, noting that the agency decided it wasnt a significant enough concern to raise to higher levels.

This was incorrect on both counts, and it was only part of the failure of the system to bring the intelligence to the political level.

The CSIS assessment was shared with other departments, including the National Security and Intelligence Adviser (NSIA), who advises the prime minister on security and intelligence matters.

But the NSIA role was in flux at the time due to a changeover from one adviser to the next, and none of the individuals who held the position during the relevant time frame said they recalled seeing the CSIS assessment.

Johnstons report also notes that along with the CSIS assessment having been shared with relevant stakeholders, the agency had sent an issues management note in May 2021 to then-minister of public safety Bill Blair, his chief of staff, and his deputy minister.

The note said there was intelligence that the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] intended to target Mr. Chong, another MP, and their family in China (if any), according to the report, and added that CSIS would provide a defensive briefing (without specific details on the threat) to Chong and the other MP.

The note never made it to the minister or his chief of staff, who both told Johnston they didnt have access to the Top Secret Network email through which it was sent.

It is certainly the most prominent, but not the only, example of poor information flow and processing between agencies, the public service and Ministers, Johnston wrote in relation to the Chong case.

Blair reportedly told Johnston that normally when CSIS wanted to transmit sensitive information, the agency would request a briefing and provide the information in a secure facility, and not by email.

When testifying before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on May 16, Chong described the fact that he wasnt briefed on the possible threat to his family as a systemic breakdown in the machinery of government.

Looking for Information

Johnston addressed the details of Chongs case as first reported by the Globe, after having reviewed the intelligence files.

There are indications that PRC officials contemplated action directed at both Chinese-Canadian MPs and their family members in China, and sought to build profiles on others, he wrote.

This includes Mr. Chong in both cases. There is no intelligence indicating that the PRC took steps to threaten his family. There is intelligence indicating they were looking for information.

The Globe reported that a Chinese spy service and a Chinese diplomat in Canada were working on Chongs case. The diplomat, consular officer Zhao Wei in Toronto, was declared persona non grata on May 8.

After the revelation came to light about crucial security information not being briefed up to higher levels of government, Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino issued a directive to CSIS on May 16 to increase its focus on threats to parliamentarians.

This followed Trudeau saying on May 3 that he had advised the agency to brief up such threats even if the information collected doesnt meet the usual threshold.

Johnstons report also notes that other measures are being taken to improve communication between CSIS and Public Safety, with the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency reviewing the process.
LA City Council Approves Robot Dog Donation for LAPD Despite Concerns Over Surveillance

A Spotbot 3.0.0, a four-legged mechanical canine, is seen during a demonstration at Central High School in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 13, 2022. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

The Los Angeles City Council on May 23 voted to accept a donation of a dog-like robot for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), despite growing concerns among residents that they could be used for surveillance.

The council voted 84 to approve the Los Angeles Police Foundations donation of the robot, valued at $277,917.80, according to the office of the city clerk.

Officially known as a Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle (QUGV), the robot is manufactured by the engineering and robotics company Boston Dynamics, which refers to it as Spot.

At nearly 28 inches and weighing 70 pounds, Spot can be controlled via a tablet application and built-in cameras, and can carry and power up to 30 pounds of inspection equipment while moving across loose gravel, grass, curbs, and stairs, according to its makers.

The robot also uses in-built sensors to collect 2D and 3D information which is then relayed to police via 5G/LTE, according to Boston Dynamics.

While the LAPD has said the robot will be used for reconnaissance in situations involving active shooters or hazardous materials, members of the public and council members have raised concerns that the QUGVs could be misused to monitor black and Latino communities in the city.

This item is being painted as merely an acceptance of a donation, but it really represents an expansion of the current boundaries around policing and surveillance, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said during Tuesdays vote, before voting not to accept the donation, the Los Angeles Times reported. This is not the vision of the community that I believe Los Angeles should be, Soto-Martinez added.

Constituents Raise Concerns

One member of the community, Emerald Johnson, urged council members to make the right decision and strike the robot dog off the agenda, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

We, your constituents, do not want the robot dog. Its not just a donation, and this will cost us a lot more in the long run, Johnson said.

Responding to concerns from members of the public, David Kowlaski, deputy chief for the LAPD, stressed that the LAPD has clearly defined situations for use with a strict approval process.

In a news release after the vote, the LAPD said the robot will serve as a tool to enhance public safety efforts, noting that it is versatile and agile and can navigate challenging terrain while performing a variety of tasks.

The robot, according to police, will only be deployed in a limited number of scenarios such as in cases involving active shooters, hostage situations, natural disasters, or in situations where explosives need to be assessed.

It will also be used to assess hazardous materials, for rescue missions, and in cases where suspects are barricaded, according to police.

The QUGV shall not be equipped with any weapon systems including any non-lethal or less-lethal weapon technology, shall not be equipped with or use any facial recognition software or analysis capabilities, and the QUGV shall not be used for routine patrol duties or covert surveillance operations, LAPD said.

Robots Will Help Police Better Protect Community

Police officials added that the robot uses secured radio frequencies to transmit encrypted data that is not accessed by third parties. Any data, including photographs, video, or audio, captured by the robots cameras during deployment will be recorded and archived in accordance with current department policy, they noted.

The LAPD plans to begin using the QUGV robot in the coming months after officers have undergone training and testing, officials said.

I am appreciative of the approval today by the majority of the City Council in accepting the donation of the Los Angeles Police Foundation in acquiring this state-of-the-art mechanical robot, said LAPD Chief Michel Moore. This technology will allow us to better protect our officers and the community allowing us to use modern technology to deescalate dangerous situations.

Amid criticism over the vote, the City Council stated Tuesday that it will closely monitor police use of the robot and may suspend the program at any time in the future.

Additionally, the LAPD must provide quarterly reports about the use of the QUGV, including information about where and why it was used and the results of its deployment as well as any problems that occurred, according to local reports.

The latest decision in Los Angeles comes after the New York City Fire Department used robot dogs to help search for survivors or possible victims after a four-story parking garage partially collapsed in New York Citys Financial District on April 18. The department has been using robot dogs for search and rescue missions since last year.
Madeleine McCann Search Focuses on Portugal Reservoir, 16 Years On

A photo of Madeleine McCann outside Glenfield Hospital where Madeleine's father Gerry McCann works, in Leicester, England, on Nov. 1, 2007. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

SILVES, PortugalPolice deployed heavy equipment and sniffer dogs on Wednesday, the second day of a search at a remote reservoir in Portugal for evidence linking a German suspect to the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann 16 years ago.

Emergency services brought in a remote-controlled tractor-mounted tree cutter to clear what appeared to be a new search area, a few hundred meters (yards) away from a temporary camp set up on Tuesday on the shores of the Arade reservoir by Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts.

Dozens of officers focused their search on the reservoirs shoreline and a hill above, and it was unclear if they would use divers to search the water.

Portuguese and German police search teams and vehicles at the site of a remote reservoir near the area where British girl Madeleine McCann went missing in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007, in Silves, Portugal, on May 24, 2023. (Luis Ferreira/Reuters)

McCann was three years old in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. The reservoir is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) inland.

Hopes for Closure

I hope they will find something, so the parents can have peace, said Gert, 49-year-old Dane who lives in the same building from which McCann disappeared.

Other Praia da Luz residents and holidaymakers shared the hope Madeleines parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, will have closure at last.

Hopefully this time, unfortunately, they will find some remains, allowing the situation to close. Must be torture, 16 years of uncertainty, said 74-year-old Rodney from Manchester.

Citing a source close to the investigation, Portugals Expresso newspaper said the German Federal Criminal Police Office acted on a tip-off from an informer, whom German police consider very credible and who provided them with details that the investigators are taking very seriously.

Prosecutor Christian Wolters in Braunschweig, Germany, told broadcaster NDR the information did not come from the suspect and there was no confession or anything similar, and police were not necessarily looking for McCanns remains at the Arade.

We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching, he said.

CNN Portugal said the operation would continue at least for one more day on Thursday.

Portuguese police in charge of the search declined to comment.

German prosecutors last year named Christian Brueckner an official suspect in McCanns disappearance. The convicted child abuser and drug dealer is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing.

He has denied any involvement in the disappearance.

The McCann case remains a mystery as no body has ever been found. It sparked a media frenzy in Britain, with developments also followed by outlets around the world, with celebrities joining appeals to help find Madeleine.

By Mariano Valldolid and Marco Trujillo
Maine to Consider Bills Allowing Firearms at Schools and Lawsuits Against Gun Makers

A roadside sign in Maine bearing one of the New England state's slogans (Source: Maine: The Way Life Should Be Facebook group)

Maine legislative committees are scheduled to consider bills LD 1557, to allow concealed weapons on school property, and LD 1696, which would allow lawsuits against the gun industry from persons harmed by abnormally dangerous firearms.

While he supports one bill but not the other, John Merrill, president of the Pine Tree State Rifle and Pistol Association, doesnt trust the legislature to address Second Amendment issues adequately.

Most of the legislators cant explain what an assault weapon is, Merrill told The Epoch Times.

LD 1557 would allow holders of valid concealed weapons permits to carry firearms on school grounds. The Maine Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs will consider the bill on May 24.

State Rep. Reagan Paul, a Republican, sponsored the bill. Paul did not return a text message seeking comment.

Signage at Hargrave High School in the Huffman Independent School District in Texas warns those who may enter school property with ill intent that open carry is prohibited and that staff may be armed and will use whatever force is necessary to protect students. (Courtesy of the Huffman Independent School District)

According to the Maine Legislature website, 86 people have submitted written testimony about LD 1557. More than half are not in favor. The Maine Education Association, the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Maine Principals Association, and the Maine Childrens Alliance oppose the bill.

Most of the written opposition reviewed by The Epoch Times cited child safety. Merrill said that, based on recent events, safety would likely be enhanced by the presence of armed adults. Merrill said controls such as designating schools as gun-free zones and depending on school personnel to keep doors locked have not stopped attackers.

Referencing school shootings in Texas and Tennessee, Merrill said allowing concealed carry on school property should be only one part of an overall security plan, including hardening facilities and training school personnel.

We can train teachers, he said. Weve tried everything else in schools so far, and it hasnt worked.

The Maine Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary will consider LD 1696 on May 25. State Rep. Rebecca Millett, a Democrat, sponsored the bill to allow lawsuits against businesses in the firearms industry for damages from the sale of abnormally dangerous firearms.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) (R) joins other Democrats to condemn WEE1 Tacticals JR-15 rifle being marketed to children. Also pictured at the Capitol press conference in Washington on Jan. 26, 2023, are (L-R) Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

According to the bill, firearm-related products are considered abnormally dangerous if they are most suitable for assaultive purposes instead of lawful self-defense, hunting, or other legitimate sport and recreational activities.

The definition includes products designed or marketed to promote the conversion of legal products into illegal products or those marketed to minors or other individuals who cannot legally access the products.

On May 23, 11 people submitted written testimony to the committee; 10 opposed the bill.

Millett did not return a call seeking comment on LD 1696.

Merrill opposes the bill for several reasons. He said the term abnormally dangerous is not clearly defined. He agreed with the National Rifle Association that the bill is an attempted end run around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

The PLCAA was written to protect the firearms industry from lawsuits designed to hold gun makers accountable for crimes committed with guns.

Merrill said people hurt by defective guns can still sue gun makers for their injuries. He said Milletts bill would hold gun makers responsible for damages they did not cause.

According to Merrill, the proposed law is an emotional response to real tragedies. He said this law would set a precedent to punish other industries for the criminal misuse of their legal products.

We could do the same thing with automobiles and liquor. We need to pass intelligent laws, not emotional laws, Merrill said.

They put too much emphasis on the gun and not the loose nut behind the trigger.
Mandatory Identity Check for Postal and Proxy Votes in UK Elections

People leave after casting their vote at the polling station in Bridlington Priory Church, Yorkshire, England, on May 4, 2023. (Danny Lawson/PA Media)

An identity check will be introduced for all applications for a postal or proxy vote in UK elections under the governments plan to bolster election integrity.

In a written statement to Parliament published on Tuesday, Communities Minister Baroness Scott of Brybrook said the government is introducing appropriate safeguards to reduce the opportunity for individuals to exploit the absent voting process and steal votes.

At present, voters do not need to show ID if they are voting by post. But under the new measures, voters will have to go through an online identity check when they apply for absentee voting, which covers both postal and proxy voting.

The current rules allow someone to vote on behalf of an unlimited number of close family members. But under the new rules, people will only be able to act as a proxy for a maximum of four people, including a maximum of two UK-based voters.

Currently, people can hold their postal vote indefinitely and only need to provide a fresh signature every five years. But the new rules will require voters to reapply for a postal vote every three years.

Scott said: The changes set out in these regulations deliver on our manifesto commitment to protect the integrity of our democracy, as legislated for by Parliament through the Elections Act 2022. It is paramount that we preserve trust in our electoral processes and ensure elections remain secure well into the future.

Voter ID

The changes follow the governments introduction of voter ID requirements, which was put into practice for the first time in the English local elections earlier this month.

Under the Elections Bill passed in April 2022, those turning up at polling stations must show a valid photo ID before being given a voting slip.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak departs 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Ministers Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 24, 2023. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Media)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the rule change would help make sure voting is a high-integrity process.

Voter ID is not entirely a novelty for the UK, as it has been a requirement in Northern Irelanda British provincefor nearly 40 years.

Voter ID requirements were introduced in Northern Ireland after the 1983 general elections following concerns about the extent of voter fraud in the British province. Since 2003 photographic ID has been required.

According to a briefing paper for the House of Commons, There has been no evidence that the ID requirements in Northern Ireland have affected turnout.

Since 2014 the Electoral Commission has recommended that photo ID should be required in the rest of the UK.

Opposition

Much like in the USA, voter ID checks have become a hot topic in the UK, with the opposition Labour Party calling the new ID requirement a discriminatory policy that will disenfranchise millions of voters.

Labour also encouraged voters to register for a postal vote, which was not subject to the same voter ID regulations.

The new measures on absentee voting will apply to UK Parliamentary elections and other elections, referendums, and recall petitions administered by the UK government.

First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford shakes hands with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at the Welsh Labour Conference at Venue Cymru, in Llandudno, Wales, on March 11, 2023. (Jason Roberts/Getty Images)

The measures will not be applicable to local elections in Scotland, and local elections in Wales apart from Police and Crime Commissioner elections, which are administered by the devolved local governments.

The Labour-controlled Welsh government has said it will not require voter ID in Wales.

Earlier this month, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford claimed voter fraud doesnt exist and claimed the Conservative Party is using far-right tactics from the United States to make it more difficult for people to vote.
Women vaccinated with the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are at higher risk of vaginal bleeding, according to a new study.

One or more doses of the messenger RNA shots increased the risk of the bleeding in women aged 12 to 74, Swedish researchers reported in the study, published on May 3 by the British Medical Journal.

Adjustments to the data resulted in the removal of some of the heightened risks, but even after adjustments, younger women were still more likely to experience bleeding after the first and third doses and older women were more likely to suffer from the issue after the first, second, and third doses.

A number of studies, primarily based on self-reporting of symptoms, have identified menstrual irregularities and bleeding as potential side effects of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. People have also filed reports to various reporting systems, such as the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, and Israeli officials found signs that Pfizers vaccine causes menstrual issues.

The Swedish researchers sought to examine the risks among the vaccinated by examining national data that covers every woman aged 12 to 74 in the country. After excluding women who had a history of certain conditions such as menstruation disorders and women living at special care facilities, the study population was 2.94 million. Cases were only included if they were diagnosed at a hospital or another health care facility.

Researchers plugged the data into a model that compared the person-time among the unvaccinated, including individuals who later received a vaccine, to the vaccinated. The top-level results were reported, as were numbers broken down by dose and age group, with the population divided into younger women (aged 12 to 49) and older women (50 to 74).

The study covered Dec. 27, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2022.

Increased Risks

Prior to adjustment, women of all ages in the population were found to be at higher risk of vaginal bleeding following vaccination. The younger women were also at a heightened risk of menstrual disturbance, defined as being diagnosed with absent, scanty and rare menstruation or excessive, frequent and irregular menstruation.

After adjusting for covariates such as marital status and days in the hospital, the risks were removed for some doses and diminished for others.

Adjustments almost entirely removed the menstrual disturbance risk, for example, though women were still found at increased risk within seven days of dose one. The risks of bleeding for the younger women were also reduced, though still present within seven days of doses one and three.

An increased risk of bleeding was still present for older women following the adjustments, with a hazard ratio of 1.28 within seven days of a third shot and 1.25 between eight and 90 days following a third dose.

Hazard ratios of one mean theres no evidence of a negative effect or benefit, while ratios above one indicate an increased risk of an adverse effect. The adjusted results mean vaccinated older women were about 25 percent more likely to experience the bleeding after a third dose, and about 15 percent more likely after any dose.

The increased risk was seen with both Pfizer and Modernas vaccine, according to a stratified analysis of the data.

Pfizer and Moderna did not respond to requests for comment.

Conclusions

Dr. Rickard Ljung of the Swedish Medical Products Agency and his co-authors acknowledged the increased risks among the vaccinated but downplayed the findings.

We observed weak and inconsistent associations between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and healthcare contacts for postmenopausal bleeding, and even less consistent for menstrual disturbance, and premenstrual bleeding, they wrote. SARS-CoV-2 is a name for the COVID-19 virus.

Extensive adjustment for confounding attenuated most risk estimates. The patterns of association are not consistent with a causal effect. These findings do not provide any substantial support for a causal association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and healthcare contacts related to menstrual or bleeding disorders, the researchers added.

Ljung told The Epoch Times in an email that the increased risk of vaginal bleeding within seven days was most likely an already prevalent bleeding where the woman got vaccinated before appointment with a health care professional.

Dr. Shelley Cole, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Texas, told The Epoch Times via email after reviewing the paper: There was a 26% increase in menstrual disturbances in the 1-7 day timeframe. Yet, they cannot draw any conclusions about a causal relationship with the vaccine? Maybe they need to think just a little bit harder.

Dr. Harvey Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, who was also not involved in the research, said that the study did not include enough events to provide definitive conclusions about increased risks of menstrual disturbances or unexpected menstrual bleeding.

Too many variables were examined with respect to risks, in comparison to the limited amount of data. That having been said, the rates of bleeding events do not seem dramatically larger for vaccinated than for unvaccinated women, Risch told The Epoch Times via email. However, some caution in interpretation is warranted, because the degree to which menstrual disorders were detected by the medical care system in Sweden during this period is unclear, as the authors note.

Limitations of the paper included its reliance on observational data. The research received funding from the Swedish government and researchers, including Ljung, reported conflicts of interest such as funding from Pfizer.
Microsoft Integrating AI Personal Assistant Into Windows 11

A phone is seen in front of a Microsoft logo displayed in this illustration taken on July 26, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Microsoft is adding its centralized AI-assisted feature Copilot to Windows 11, the company announced on May 22.

In a blog post, Panos Panay, Microsofts chief product officer, said the new chatbotwhich like Chat GPT-4 is powered by artificial intelligence that uses large language models (LLMs)will help assist users to complete complex tasks.

Such tasks will be performed in conjunction with Bing Chat, and include summarizing or explaining content that users are viewing and providing information.

Copilot will be integrated directly into Windows 11, and familiar and easy to use, with customers simply opening the feature via a button in the taskbar across all apps, programs, and windows, according to Panay.

Once open, the Windows Copilot sidebar stays consistent across your apps, programs, and windows, always available to act as your personal assistant, Panay explained.

It makes every user a power user, helping you take action, customize your settings and seamlessly connect across your favorite apps, he added.

Along with summarizing content, Copilot will also answer simple and complex questions, such as the time in another time zone, and search for flights and accommodations.

AI is going to be the single largest driver of innovation for Windows in the years to come, Panay said in an interview with Engadget Tuesday. Its going to change the way you work, change your interaction models to make it easier. Its going to understand so much about what you need.

Windows Copilot will be available to preview in June, according to Microsoft.

Open AI Execs Warn of Superintelligence

Microsoft has already invested $13 billion in OpenAI, the San Francisco-based business behind ChatGPT; the chatbot that has raised concerns due to privacy issues and misuse, particularly with regard to plagiarism in education.

In a blog post published on May 22, Open AI executives including CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that AI poses other threats too, including that it will likely exceed human expert skill level across most domains within the next 10 years, rendering hundreds of thousands without a job.

They also noted that superintelligenceAI that possesses intelligence that far surpasses the brightest human mindscould become the most powerful technology that humanity has had to contend with.

We can have a dramatically more prosperous future but we have to manage risk to get there. Given the possibility of existential risk, we cant just be reactive, Altman and other executives noted.

However, the executives said they ultimately believe that with the correct approach to advancing technology, AI could create tremendous value in the world.

The latest announcement from Microsoft comes just days after co-founder Bill Gates said personal AI agents could drastically impact the way consumers shop and search online.

Speaking at the AI Forward 2023 event in San Francisco on May 22, Gates said AI developers are currently racing to develop a personal AI agent that could perform everyday tasks for users, including reading and conducting online searches.

Whoever wins the personal agent, thats the big thing, because you will never go to a search site again, you will never go to a productivity site, youll never go to Amazon again, Gates said.

Gates also noted that he would be disappointed if Microsoft wasnt among the developers to create an AI assistant but said he believes theres a 50 percent chance the technology will be made by either a startup or a tech giant.
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, head of the Central Auditing Commission under the 20th CPC Central Committee, on the afternoon of May 23, presided over the commission's first meeting. In an important speech delivered at the meeting, Xi stressed that audit work is an important mission on the new journey of building China into a great modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation. Audit work must base its major endeavors on the supervision of economic issues and focus on performing its own responsibilities and doing its own work well to better play its unique role in promoting the Party's self-reform, Xi said. To do a good job in its work, the new auditing commission must uphold as its guide the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly study and implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, fully and accurately carry out the new development philosophy on all fronts, place focus on issues of overall, long-term and strategic nature, strengthen strategic planning and top-level design in auditing field, and facilitate the high-quality development of audit work in a new era, so as to serve and safeguard the overall work of the Party and the country with strong and effective auditing supervision.

Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the Central Auditing Commission, attended the meeting and so did Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, and also deputy head of the commission.

The office of the Central Auditing Commission made reports to the meeting on auditing of the execution of central budgets and other fiscal expenditures in 2022, and suggestions on promoting high-quality development of audit work in the new era.

It was stressed at the meeting that audit work is an integral part of the Party's and national supervision system, and plays a major role in promoting the modernization of national governance systems and capacities. Since the 19th CPC National Congress, under the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Auditing Commission has promoted restructuring of auditing institution in a systematic and holistic manner, developed a new auditing institution in line with China's conditions, and as a result made historic achievements and achieved historic transformation. First, the reform of the audit management system has been further promoted, and the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee over audit work has been constantly refined, substantiated and institutionalized. Second, our understanding of the regularity of the audit work under socialism with Chinese characteristics has been deepened. Third, the consciousness has been raised that audit work must serve and dovetail with the overall work of the Party and the country, and as a result audit work's unique supervisory role has become even more manifest. Fourth, the overall paradigm of audit rectification is taking shape, and the general application and coordination of audit results has become more smooth, authoritative and efficient.

It was noted at the meeting that to improve audit work in the new era and on our new journey, the general requirement is that more efforts must be made in building a centralized and unified, authoritative and efficient audit oversight system covering all areas, and in allowing audit work to play a greater supervisory role. Just like arms employ fingers without any difficulty, we should enhance the political nature and functions of audit work, and do a good job in accurately and thoroughly understanding and implementing the arrangements of the CPC Central Committee. Audit supervision must cover all local governments, departments, and institutions that manage public funds, state-owned assets and resources without exception, so as to produce a normalized and dynamic deterrent effect. Audit work must be law-based and supported by research efforts. All auditors should carry forward fighting spirit and build up the capability to grapple with tough challenges, so as to form a "special task force" in the supervision of economic work. The meeting also calls for cooperation and coordination with other forms of supervision to create a synergy in this regard.

Solid audit work was urged at the meeting for this year, which should highlight intensified auditing of prominent issues, and facilitate the implementation of the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee. With focus on the top tasks of high-quality development, supervision on the implementation of major projects, major strategies and major measures should be strengthened. With emphasis placed on keeping economic growth, employment and prices stable, government funds must be placed under tight oversight, and the auditing must be intensified over the implementation of the package of policies to stabilize the economy. We must focus on the development of the real economy, step up auditing of financial support for it and the implementation of relief and support policies for enterprises, and ensure efforts to unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector and to unswervingly encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector.

It is essential to ensure that the basic living needs of all residents are met, focus on the pressing and realistic issues that concern them most, and encourage the implementation of policies that benefit them. We need to coordinate development with security, pay close attention to key areas such as local government debt, finance, real estate, food and energy, so as to prevent systemic risks. We will concentrate on the proper exercise of power, give full play to the important role of audit work in combating corruption, and resolutely crack down on corruption where political and economic problems are intertwined, on graft in areas with concentrated power, intensive capital and rich resources, and on corrupt officials that directly affect the people's livelihood.

It was stressed at the meeting that rectification of problems identified during the second stage of auditing is as important as its first stage of detecting problems, and both stages must be carried out in a coordinated manner. The oversight of rectification in auditing should be handled as pivot for daily supervision, and audit results should be used as an important reference for assessment of officials' performance, as well as their promotion or removal, and reward or punishment. Those who fail to deliver, are perfunctory or cheat in this regard must be strictly held to account.

It was noted at the meeting that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the National Audit Office. The CPC Central Committee expects much of audit work. Those working in this sector must carry forward the fine traditions and conduct of auditing, build professional ethics and become more competent. It is imperative to strictly govern the Party and audit work in an all-round way, carry out extensive theoretical study program and the education and rectification of the audit team, so as to build a team of high-quality and professional auditors who are loyal to the Party, clean and responsible.

Party committees at all levels are required to earnestly shoulder their political responsibilities and improve their leadership over audit work. Leading officials must take care of audit work themselves and give full play to the role of the Central Auditing Commission in taking the lead in overall planning and coordination.

Members of the Central Auditing Commission attended the meeting, and leading officials of the relevant central Party and government departments were also present. 
Nearly 90 Koi Fish Go Missing in Maryland Community: Police

Koi carps swim in a pond at the zoo in Heidelberg, southwestern Germany, on July 19, 2010. (Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty Images)

Three burglaries have been reported by residents in Columbia, Maryland, who believe that at least 88 of their Japanese koi fish have been stolen from their backyard pond, according to local law enforcement.

The earliest report of koi fish thefts was made on Feb. 15 from a resident of Glenwood, an unincorporated community in Howard County, who reported approximately 18 missing koi fish.

The other two reports were made by residents in the Hobbits Glen neighborhood of Columbia. They reported 50 and 20 missing fish on March 30 and April 7, respectively.

All of a sudden, Im asleep one night, and someones out here stealing all my fish? You feel so secure, and all of a sudden, youre vulnerable, Steven Steurer, one of the victims in Hobbits Glen, told WUSA9.

Another victim, Mary Helen Sprecher, told the outlet that the ponds are protected by sturdy security netting that showed no evidence that it had been chewed or torn through.

They would totally leave evidence, and they would not nicely peel back the net, take the fish, and then replace the net, Sprecher told WUSA9.

Steurer and others affected say they have reason to believe theft because of many factors, including the large number of fish taken at one time.

Hoffman said it is rare for koi fish to be stolen, but it is not unheard of. Cases have been reported nationwide, and the fish can sell for thousands of dollars.

The Howard County Police Department has not announced any suspects at the time of publication.

Information about the missing koi fish can be reported to the Howard County Police Department via phone at 410-313-STOP or by email at HCPDcrimetips@howardcountymd.gov.

A koi pond with a waterfall feature can transform a dull backyard into a tranquil, relaxing refuge. (Shutterstock)

In 2013 in Fairfax County, Virginia, The Washington Post reported that police responded to a report of 400 stolen koi fish worth around $20,000 at a pond that was part of the landscaping outside a business building. The stolen fish were part of an organized heist in which two men claimed they were part of an aquatic care company and were there to treat sick fish.

More recently, across the country, on May 3 in San Jose, California, $4,000 worth of koi fish were reported missing from a public park, The Mercury News reported.

Koi fish is a species of fish that are commonly kept in outdoor ponds. They are a colorful variety of Amur carp, a Eurasian fish species found in lakes and rivers throughout Europe and Asia.

Valued for their colors and size, these ornamental fish can cost from about $10 to tens of thousands of dollars. The most expensive koi sold at auction was $1.8 million in Japan at the 2017 All Japan Koi Show.

In Japanese culture, koi fish are often kept since they symbolize luck, prosperity, and good fortune, according to PetMD.

Koi were originally raised in Japan in the 1700s when rice farmers first began breeding them for their distinct colors and patterns, according to Business Insider. Japanese koi have become one the most popular decorative freshwater fish in the world.

The average lifespan of a koi fish is around 40 years, while those in the wild have been known to live past 100. The longest-living Koi ever recorded lived for 226 years.
Netflix Seeks to Limit Password Sharing in US

Streaming giant Netflix is cracking down on the practice of subscribers sharing passwords with non-household members in the United States.

Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live withyour household, the company said in an email posted to a blog on May 23. Netflix gives two options for subscribers looking to share the streaming service: transferring the account to a new membership or paying $7.99 per month for an extra member.

Netflixs decision comes as the company blamed password sharing for negatively affecting its business. In a January letter to shareholders, Netflix claimed that widespread account sharing (100M+ households) undermines our long term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business.

According to Netflixs pricing plans for the United States, the $15.49 per month Standard plan allows subscribers to add one extra member who does not live with them.

The higher Premium plan, costing $19.99 per month, allows two extra members. The Basic and Standard With Ads plans do not list any ability to add extras.

The 100 million-plus households that share accounts make up roughly 43 percent of the streaming giants global user base.

Tapping Into Non-Paying Users

In a letter (pdf) to shareholders in April last year, Netflix called the 100 million-plus households using passwords from other households a massive business opportunity.

This is a big opportunity as these households are already watching Netflix and enjoying our service. Sharing likely helped fuel our growth by getting more people using and enjoying Netflix. Though the company may not be able to monetize all of this potential, it does present a large short to mid-term opportunity.

The company kicked off its paid sharing option in 12 countries in February, with the option coming now to the United States.

UBS media analyst John Hodulik earlier said that the password-sharing crackdown could fuel Netflixs advertising business as password sharers opt for lower-priced plans that come with ads. By the end of this years first quarter, Netflix had 231 million paid memberships globally.

Netflix has said that its subscriber growth was affected in nations where it rolled out such initiatives in the first quarter. In Latin America, there was a spate of cancellations after Netflix introduced extra payments for non-household members.

However, the streaming platform discovered that people who used to borrow passwords would later activate their accounts, which drove up revenue.

Performance Below Expectations

Netflixs crackdown on password sharing comes as the companys financial performance failed to meet expectations. Though revenue and earnings for the first quarter were roughly in line with analyst estimates, the streaming platforms subscriber growth disappointed investors.

Between January and March, Netflix only added 1.75 million subscribers, missing analyst expectations of 2.06 million additions.

During the first quarter of 2022, the company had lost 200,000 subscribers, its first decline in subscriber base in over a decade.

For the entirety of 2022, Netflix added almost 9 million subscribers, which is only half of the 18 million it had added in the previous year. Since much of the growth came from nations in Asia and Latin America, the revenue per average user is said to have been impacted.

Netflix is also taking action to make itself more tolerant of diverse viewpoints. Last year, the platform was criticized for allegedly pursuing a left-wing agenda and censoring varying opinions.

The company then issued a memo reminding employees that it is up to viewers to decide whats appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices. It told employees who may not be comfortable with this stance that Netflix may not be the best place for you.

The memo came after some employees had protested Netflixs decision to host a stand-up special featuring popular comedian Dave Chappelle.
NY College Professor Fired After Trashing Pro-Life Student Display, Chasing New York Post Reporters With Machete

Hunter College of The City University of New York in New York on April 10, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

An art professor at Hunter College in New York City has been relieved of her duties after accosting students hosting a pro-life booth on the school campus, before waving a machete at New York Post reporters who approached her for a subsequent interview.

Until recently, Shellyne Rodriguez had been an adjunct assistant professor in Hunter Colleges Art & Art History Department. Her departure from the university came after she was involved in an altercation with members of Students for Life, a pro-life organization that hosted a booth at the college.

Last week, Students for Life shared a video of Rodriguez confronting the students hosting the pro-life display.

Youre not educating [expletive]. This is [expletive] propaganda, she said to the students. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next? Is that what youre going to do next?

I mean, no. Were talking about abortion, the male student replied.

This is [expletive]. This is violent. Youre triggering my students, she continued.

As the confrontation escalated, Rodriguez uttered more profanities as she vandalized the booth by flipping over some of the students materials before pushing some of the materials off a table the students were using.

Hunter College reprimanded Rodriguez after the initial incident.

Hunter does not tolerate such conduct by faculty. The Provost has completed an investigation and the faculty member has been appropriately disciplined, Hunter Colleges Communications Department told Breitbart earlier this week. In addition, the faculty member has been warned that if the behavior reoccurs, there will be further consequences.

Armed Encounter With New York Post

After her altercation with the pro-life students, a New York Post news crew tracked Rodriguez down to her home for an interview. The publication reported that Rodriguez approached their reporters with a machete and held the blade to one reporters neck after the news team knocked on her door on Tuesday.

A video of the encounter indeed showed a woman holding a large blade to reporter Reuven Fentons neck and telling him get the [expletive] away from my door, before stepping back inside the apartment and shutting the door. Though the news crew left the apartment building after the encounter, Rodriguez appeared to follow the team onto the street before chasing a photographer while holding the knife.

Dashcam footage from the news crews vehicle showed a woman in a black hoodie holding a machete while chasing the photographer around the vehicle before eventually walking away.

Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez, and has taken immediate action. Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school, the colleges communications department said in an emailed statement to NTD News on Wednesday.

Hunter College did not respond to additional questions about the incidents involving Rodriguez.

A New York City Police Department spokesperson said the encounter involving the machete is under ongoing investigation, but that the police department could offer no additional comments about the case.

Rodriguezs Political Activism and NYPD Lawsuit

In addition to her work in the arts and academia, Rodriguez is a self-described black Marxist, a community organizer, and an active member of radical grassroots collective Take Back the Bronx.

Rodriguez was also involved in protests against police after George Floyd, a black man, died while being arrested by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020. Rodriguez is currently suing the NYPD in federal court, alleging police brutality at an FTP4 protest event in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx on June 4.

According to her civil complaint (pdf), FTP stands for many things, including Free the People, Feed the People, and, in the context of certain anti-police protests, [expletive] the Police.'

Rodriguez was arrested at the protest event and charged with violating a curfew. The curfew charges were dropped on Sept. 4, 2020.

The lawsuit identified Rodriguez as an artist who teaches at Hunter College. The complaint alleges that NYPD officers shoved her into a fence, pulled her hair, squeezed the back of her neck, flipped her around such that her back was against the gate, and then repeatedly punched her in the stomach. Her complaint states that officers also applied zip tie-style flex cuffs that were too tight, causing her nerve damage.

The injuries to Ms. Rodriguezs wrists continue to cause her pain. and to interfere with her ability to make art, the lawsuit states.

Following the June 4 Mott Haven arrests, NYPD officials said some of the marchers were screaming and yelling at officers, throwing plastic bottles with unknown liquids, and acting in a disorderly manner, the New York Daily News reported. NYPD officials also claimed they recovered hammers, wrenches, gas masks, and additional items that could be used to cause injuries from among the protesters they arrested.

In a June 2020 interview with the Mott Haven Herald, Rodriguez acknowledged protesters also brought helmets and goggles because we had seen the violence perpetrated against protesters.

New York City recently settled with plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit stemming from the June 4, 2020 Mott Haven clash. Rodriguezs lawsuit is set to continue in July.

NTD News reached out to lawyers for Rodriguez for additional comment after her employment with Hunter College was terminated. Her lawyers did not respond by the time this article was published.

From NTD News
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Asks to Suspend Right to Shelter Rule, Citing Illegal Immigrant Influx

Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference near the site of a parking garage collapse in New York on April 18, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams is arguing in court for the suspension of the citys Right to Shelter requirement, citing the ongoing influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the city.

Following a 1984 court decision known as the Callahan consent decree, New York City has had to provide shelter for virtually all homeless people who apply. Adams has been seeking a suspension or modification of this Right to Shelter rule and on Tuesday his office formally requested (pdf) that a New York City judge pause the shelter rule.

The Adams administration has been feeling a strain on its shelter capacity as a result of a prolonged influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. The Mayors office has estimated more than 65,000 illegal immigrants and asylum have arrived in New York City since last year and more than 44,000 continue to use city shelters. In total, New York City is currently supporting 93,000 individuals in its shelter program; a number that far exceeds the Citys previous highest-ever-recorded population of 61,000 individuals.

Adams is seeking to modify the shelter rule by adding a provision that states: The obligations to provide shelter to both homeless adults and to adult families shall be stayed when the City of New York acting through the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter.

Adams defended his calls to suspend the Right to Shelter requirements in a Tuesday press statement.

We are in no way seeking to end the right to shelter. Todays action will allow us to get clarity from the court and preserve the right to shelter for the tens of thousands in our careboth previously unhoused individuals and asylum seekers, Adams said. Given that were unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border.

Illegal Immigrant Bussing Straining NYC Shelters

In his petition to the court to suspend the shelter rule, the Adams administration noted much of the strain on the citys shelter system is a result of other states deliberately bussing illegal border crossers to New York City.

The main driver of this increase was an influx of asylum-seekers arriving here from the southern border of the United States, in large part orchestrated by out-of-State actors seeking to score political points by exporting the responsibility and attendant fiscal burdens of caring for this population out of their state and, by political calculation, to the City of New York, the court petition states.

Last year, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began bussing people who illegally crossed the U.S. southern border into Texas over to other states. Abbotts bussing strategy has primarily targeted so-called sanctuary cities, which do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities that might arrest or deport illegal immigrants. New York City is one such sanctuary city.

Abbott has said his bussing strategy has shone a spotlight on the hypocrisy of sanctuary cities that balk at the prospect of having to actually take, and share responsibility for, illegal immigrants.

Adams and mayors in other predominantly Democratic sanctuary jurisdictions have bristled at Abbotts bussing program.

Abbott revamped his busing strategy earlier this month, in the final days of Title 42a pandemic-era authority that allowed border officials to turn away and expel migrants from the United States for public health reasons. The end of the immigration policy had federal border officials and local leaders in border communities bracing for a potential surge in border crossings.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the number of migrants encountered at the southern border fell by about 50 percent in the first three days after Title 42 expired compared to the traffic in the days leading up to the end of the policy.

Last week, DHS Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nunez-Neto said its still too early to draw firm conclusions about post-Title 42 immigration and border security trends.

Adams Decompression Strategy

While Adams has criticized Abbott for bussing illegal border crossers to his sanctuary city, he has begun his own decompression strategy of relocating illegal immigrants from New York City to neighboring areas of New York State. Officials in Rockland County and Orange County, who were due to receive some of these relocated individuals, issued emergency declarations in an effort to block Adamss plan.

Adams has also considered converting up to 20 different school gyms into new shelter sites. The idea of using school gyms as shelters sparked protests from parents.

At least one school in Coney Island was briefly used as a shelter, but ABC 7 reported those people were relocated to a campus once used by Touro College.

Adams has also called on President Joe Bidens administration to provide New York City with federal support to address the influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. In a Sunday interview with CBS News, host Margaret Brennan noted the federal government has pledged about $30 million in assistance to deal with the influx.

Were projected to spend close to $4.3 billion, if not more, Adams replied. This estimate was based on a number of migrants coming to the city, and those numbers have clearly increased. We received, in several days last week alone, over 900 migrants on days  over two weeks ago, approximately 4,200 in one week. When you look at the price tag, $30 million comes nowhere near what this city is paying for a national problem.

From NTD News
Opposition MPs Want to Hear From Johnston After He Decided Against Foreign Interference Inquiry

David Johnston, special rapporteur on foreign interference, presents his first report in Ottawa on May 23, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Opposition members of Parliament on a House committee seek to hear the testimony of Special Rapporteur David Johnston, a day after he recommended against holding a public inquiry into the Chinese regimes interference in Canadas elections.

David Johnstons decision is a slap in the face to diaspora groups who are subject to abuse and intimidation by hostile foreign governments and all Canadians rightly concerned about foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections and future elections, says a May 23 letter written by six opposition MPs on the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC).

Further to the letter, addressed to committee Chair Liberal MP Bardish Chagger, PROC will be meeting on May 25 to debate and potentially vote on a motion to call former governor-general Johnston to testify.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Johnston as special rapporteur on foreign interference on March 15, amid a flurry of national security leaks in the media and calls from all opposition parties to hold a public inquiry.

Trudeau said Johnston would investigate interference and the countrys response while providing recommendations, which could include holding a public inquiry.

Johnston delivered his first report on May 23 and said holding an inquiry would not be appropriate due to the nature of the information involved.

A public inquiry examining the leaked materials could not be undertaken in public given the sensitivity of the intelligence, he said in a press conference in Ottawa. In reacting to Johnstons report, Trudeau said he would follow his recommendations.

Opposition party leaders have all criticized the decision, with Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre calling it a cover up.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thumbs through the First Report by David Johnston, independent special rapporteur on foreign interference, as he holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 23, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The letter from the MPs from the three major opposition parties notes that PROC passed a motion calling on the government to launch a public inquiry, and a majority of MPs in the House of Commons supported the motion.

PROC has been conducting a study on foreign interference since November 2022, and its work picked up after allegations of widespread Chinese regime interference started appearing in the media.

Johnston says that some of the information reported by media has been misconstrued and his report, based on a review of intelligence files and interviews with officials, cast doubts on the veracity of some claims.

PROC was also tasked by the House to investigate the targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong by Beijing. Ministers, senior security officials, and experts are slated to testify on the matter.

Conservatives have also tabled a motion to obtain the relevant documents on the issue, including the 2021 assessment from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) on the issue and the records pertaining to its distribution.

The prime minister and the minister of public safety have said they were not made aware in 2021 about Beijings targeting of MPs critical of the regime. The CSIS assessment made it to the office of the National Security and Intelligence Advisor but was never briefed up.

Johnston said he found serious shortcomings in how intelligence is communicated and processed within the government. He also said despite having found no evidence the government made a conscious decision to downplay the threat of foreign interference, it didnt act quickly enough to face a growing problem.
Orange County Stocks 4,000 Trout in Local Streams

Orange County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs volunteer Bud Flotard empties a bucket of trout into the Neversink River in Cuddebackville, N.Y., on May 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

After working with the state on trout stocking for months, Orange County Federation of Sportsmens Clubs volunteers are now onto the county fish.

On May 23, the first day of county-funded trout stocking, more than 1,200 fish were tossed into the Neversink River, Shawangunk Kill, and Rutgers Creek.

A total of about 4,000 trout are planned for the three-day county operation, according to the federation chairman and longtime fishermen Jack Michulski.

Orange County Federation of Sportsmens Clubs Chairman Jack Michulski (R) keeps count of trout stocked in Otisville, N.Y., on May 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

He handpicked the dozen or so stocking sites based on fishing spots favored by locals for decades; most are close to bridges for easy access by volunteers.

In the old days, we used to carry them all the way down, but we all get old now, Michulski told The Epoch Times. These fish have instincts. As soon as we put them in, they can smell the water and are going to go where they want.

Michael Torelli, the special assistant to County Executive Steven Neuhaus, joined volunteers on May 23 and emptied several buckets of trout into local streams.

We do this every year with the Orange County Sportsmens Federation to help restock the population of the trout in the area, Torelli told The Epoch Times. It allows people to bring their kids to fish and do stuff in the outdoors; it is also great for the environment.

Mike Torelli empties a bucket of trout into the Neversink River in Cuddebackville, N.Y., on May 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Fishing is also a tourism draw for the area, as fly fishing was born in Hudson Valley with a rich history preserved in several local museums, he said.

Torelli said the county trout stockings would help replenish areas overfished or not touched by the state operation.

The fish were supplied by Beaver Trout Hatchery, a five-generation family business based in Livingston Manor, New York; each cost about $3.65.

Before the county operation, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released about 30,000 trout into streams and lakes in the county.

Major stocking sites were along Moodna Creek, Neversink River, Ramapo River, Shawangunk Kill, and Walton Lake.

Statewide, nearly 1.9 million trout were planned for stocking this year.

Tyler Shaver (L) prepares trout to be released into the Neversink River in Cuddebackville, N.Y., on May 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

The trout season officially kicked off in New York state on April 1 and runs through Oct. 15.

Catch-and-release trout fishing is still allowed between Oct. 16 and March 31 with artificial lures only.

Different daily catch limits and fish length requirements can apply depending on the kind of streams one fishes in.

A license is required for most freshwater fishing activities in the open areas.
Oregon Governor Wants Authority Over States Public Defender Agency

State lawmakers are considering moving agency into the governor's office

Oregon Democrat gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek speaks with members of the media at a rally near the Broadway Bridge in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 8, 2022. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek made a request for changes to a state Senate bill that would overhaul Oregons public defender system, according to a letter she sent to the state Senate Committee on Rules.

Kotek is requesting changes to Senate Bill 337 (pdf), which addresses the issue of leaving individuals accused of crimes without public defense attorneys.

Senate Bill 337 would move the Office of Public Defense Servicesthe state agency responsible for public defendersout of the judiciary department and into the executive branch. It would also change how Oregon provides lawyers to people who cant afford them. Instead of contracting with private defense firms, the state would hire its own public defenders, who would be state employees.

No single person or entity would have the authority to hire and fire the people in charge of the public defense agency, according to the bill.

Kotek is against this rule, saying that if the office is in the executive branch, the governor must have the authority to hire and fire the agencys head and to remove its commissioners to achieve true accountability.

She said that if public defense is in the executive branch, its leaders must be treated the same as other agency heads who serve under the governor.

Jon Mosher, deputy director of the Sixth Amendment Center, told Oregon lawmakers at a May 11 informational hearing that U.S. Supreme Court case law calls for public defense to be independent of government interference, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) reported.

National standards point governments toward how best to implement structures to answer that question, he said. Number one is creating an independent commission.

In a May 19 letter to the state lawmakers, the Public Defense Services Commission said it would oppose the bill if Koteks requested amendments were approved.

Oregon must not move backward and erode the core tenet that public defense remains independent from political pressures, the commissions letter stated, so that it is empowered to appropriately and zealously advocate against the government.

Issues for Years

Oregons system for providing lawyers to criminal defendants who cant afford them has shown cracks for years, but case backlogs significantly worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. The public defender shortage has overwhelmed the courts, frustrated defendants, and affected crime victims, who experts say experience added trauma when cases are dismissed or take longer to be resolved.

In 2019, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Sixth Amendment Center completed a report that the Oregon Legislature funded. It found Oregons public defense system, housed within the states judicial branch, was unconstitutional and structurally flawed.

While running for governor, Kotek praised the Sixth Amendment Centers work, but she is now moving against some recommendations in the report.

Democrat state Rep. Paul Evans, who co-chaired the public defense work group with Democrat state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, said he introduced the latest amendments because, even before her letter, the governors staff was clear with him and other lawmakers that Kotek did not want to add public defense to her offices responsibilities.

The governor has enough messes that shes trying to work on, and she didnt want this in the executive branch, Evans said. Because it has been such a challenge, she wants a little additional capacity to be able to push people to do their jobs.

Evans told OPB that hes become frustrated with the bills proposed changes after working on the bill for months, and is disappointed with the number of people charged with crimes going without a public defender.

I am angry, very angry, Evans said, we cant even make sure that the justice system is providing defense for people when were charging them with crimes. There are very few things that are more fundamental to trust in government.

Public Defense Services Commission member Jennifer Nash told fellow commissioners on May 18 to oppose any move that would put the agency under the governors office, OPB reported.

My feeling is we ought to oppose the move, period, Nash said. We know the governor doesnt want us, so lets grant her wish.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
PM to Meet Modi at Kirribilli After Huge Welcome

Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of a bilateral meeting at Admiralty House in Sydney, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Sydney for a state visit. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due to welcome his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to Admiralty House ahead of official talks after the pair enjoyed a rockstar welcome at a stadium event at Sydney Olympic Park.

Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley will meet with Modi at Kirribilli ahead of bilateral talks on May 24.

The prime ministers are expected to discuss trade, defence and renewable energy as both nations seek to strengthen relations.

Business leaders and delegates will also meet with Modi during his first visit to Australia in 10 years and the two prime ministers sixth meeting in 12 months.

But the Australian government is being pushed to take a more hardline approach towards Indias reluctance to openly criticise Russia for invading Ukraine and human rights abuses.

Albanese said Modi was certainly a popular prime minister but didnt please everyone as its a democracy.

Australia always stands up for human rights, anywhere in the world, he told ABC TV.

But he wouldnt confirm whether the issue would be raised, saying he engaged with world leaders one-on-one and would not leak messages.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia maintained a consistent approach to human rights and democratic principles and we articulate that appropriately with friends and partners and well continue to do that.

She said India was an important strategic relationship for Australia as both democratic nations were pushing for a strong and stable Indo-Pacific region.

But Senator Wong added she wouldnt pre-empt what would be discussed during the bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers as Modi pushes to have alternative Indian medicine accessible through Medicare.

The foreign minister was also pressed on whether Australia would bring up Indias ties with the Kremlin and import Russian arms.

New Delhi has also been criticised for not expressly condemning Russia for its invasion.

Senator Wong said Modis meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend where he signalled support for the nations sovereignty sent an important message.

I thought that was a very important meeting and sent a very important signal about the opposition to Russias illegal and immoral war against Ukraine, she told Sky News.

Albanese added that India is responsible for its own international relations, referring to Indias history of non-alignment.

India is a great supporter of peace and security and stability in our region, he said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham will also meet the Indian prime minister.

Pressed on what issues he would raise, Senator Birmingham said he wanted to see an expansion of the free trade agreement and boost economic and defence ties.

On human rights, he said Australia should always be consistent and predictable when it comes to where and to how we apply our values in the world.

Senator Birmingham said while Australia couldnt control what happens in other nations, the government needed to convey how it thought democratic principles should be upheld.

He said he would try and raise Indias support for Ukraine during what he expected to be a relatively short meeting with many topics on the list to encourage in terms of our bilateral relations.
NR | 1 hr 59 min | Drama | 1941

Handsome newspaper reporter Roger (Cary Grant) marries pretty Julie (Irene Dunne), who works in a shop selling music records. His job takes them from America to Japan, but they return after she, expecting their first child, miscarries following an earthquake. He quits his job so he can run a neighborhood newspaper, helped by common friend Applejack (Edgar Buchanan). Meanwhile, she copes with the emptiness of now being unable to bear children.

When they decide to adopt, adoption agent Miss Oliver (Beulah Bondi) explains how serious a responsibility adoption is: They cant simply walk off with a baby they fancy unless they demonstrate, not just willingness, but competence to put the childs welfare first.

Eventually, adopted baby Trina becomes the center of their merry world before fate strikes again, and she succumbs to illness. Emptiness returns, as the once-inseparable couple drift apart.

At times, producer-director George Stevenss characters are looking at something or someone through a window or a half-open door. At other times, audiences are doing that, just like window-shoppers; a lot seems within grasp, but a lot else is out of reach.

Newspaper reporter Roger (Cary Grant) marries pretty Julie (Irene Dunne), and they soon want to share their love with a child. (Public Domain)

Roger and Julie first notice each other through a record-shop window. Later, a half-open train-cabin doorway through which we spy them appears to warn that theyre plunging into marriage without fuller sight of their contrasting temperaments. Whenever they open the glitchy dining-room door in their marital home, its abrupt shudder bangs their window shut, comically symbolizing trade-offs theyre forced to make.

When Applejack bemoans the fact that theyre even considering divorce, Julie replies through a half-open door, We dont need each other anymore. When that happens to two people,  theres nothing left. Achingly, she looks through a half-open door at a babys doll on the bed.

Quite realistically, for all their romantic banter, the couple seldom discuss what matters most; they raise the idea of adoption with Applejack but not with each other. Off key, though, is how an otherwise doting Roger alienates Julie instead of drawing closer to her in grief.

Not a Contract of Convenience

Screenwriter Morrie Ryskinds narrative isnt just about marriage and children. It goes further, defining love as a joy that bubbles over when shared, and sputters when it isnt. The couple learns that marriage isnt a contract of convenience but a chance to mature, to grow beyond self-centeredness and the merely necessary.

Bursting with talent and ambition, Roger could stay a bachelor, yet he cant bear to take a step without sharing it with Julie. Once united, they cant wait to share their now-common journey with a child. As the story unravels, you recognize how that bubbling over is hard to contain.

Ryskind is saying that sharing isnt a means to an end, but an end in itself. It isnt a tactic to have something shared back; its the whole point of love. Despite his meager earnings, Roger wants to get Julie better furniture, clothes, car, and house. Julie, too, draws her joy from Rogers, rushing to Japan to be with him or hiding her yearning for an adopted child because she fears that he prefers his own.

Their longing for a child is an extension of this desire to share their ups, their downs, and to surrender their space, their little freedoms for a greater freedom: to love more.

Newspaper reporter Roger (Cary Grant) marries pretty Julie (Irene Dunne) find their life becomes fuller when they adopt a baby. (Public Domain)

At the agency, Roger sheds his preference for a boy the instant he sees Julie cradling a girl as her own; her wordless expression is enough. They give up traveling the world, so they can lavish even the little they have on Trina. They rejoice in creating anticipation and delight around a birthday; their smiles grow bigger because they see anothers smile.

Denied the typical costume and makeup transitions that allow actresses to portray the passage of time, Dunne subtly depicts shades of womanhood; shed adopted her real-life daughter a few years before filming began.

Grant occasionally stutters over dialogue, lending Roger an endearing spontaneity. His six-minute sequence before a judge who is to decide whether his dwindling income makes him an unfit parent helped secure his first Oscar nomination.

As Dunne fumbles, fearing shell drown the baby, watch Grant and Dunne look on with barely disguised admiration as Buchanan, in a single take, steps in to give baby her first bath.

Penny Serenade

Director: George Stevens

Starring: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne

Not Rated

Running Time: 1 hour, 59 minutes

Release Date: April 24, 1941

Rated: 3 stars out of 5
PwC Facing Potential Criminal Charges

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) offices stand in More London Riverside in London, England, on Oct. 2, 2018. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The Australian government is considering taking criminal action against one of the worlds largest consulting firms PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) following revelations the company used confidential treasury information to create a system that enabled large companies to avoid paying Australias newly devised taxes.

Australias Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephan Jones has confirmed that the Australian Treasury Department is investigating whether criminal charges should be referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Were all appalled (with) whats gone on with PwC, he told ABCs The Business program.

We want to send a very clear message to them and anyone else who is providing services to the government: that you cannot breach the trust of the government or the Australian people.

So if criminal charges or other charges can be laid, were looking forward to the outcomes of that investigation from Treasury.

The comments from the assistant treasurer follow remarks from Treasurer Jim Chalmers, which signalled that the federal government would be taking further action on May 22.

Weve already taken some steps to change the way the Tax Practitioners Board operates. I think the PwC experience has been deeply, deeply troubling. And weve already taken some steps, but we will be taking further steps, he said.

I will have more to say about how we crack down on this behaviour, which is inexcusable, frankly, particularly when you consider that corporate Australia, for the right reasons, wants to be consulted on changes that impact them, and I want to do that too.

But in order to do that, youve got to be able to trust the process. That trust is broken down here, we need to fix it.

How the Scandal Unfolded

The tax scandal surrounding PwC was revealed after the federal Tax Practitioner Board (TPB) disqualified a former PwC government consultant, Peter-John Collins.

According to the TPB, Collins had been employed by the federal government as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Tax Advisory Group to advise the government on legislation and policy positions intended to give effect to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development BEPS provisions, including the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law, the Diverted Profits Tax, and Hybrid mismatch rules.

As part of his role, he received confidential information and documentation. However, Collins shared the secret knowledge within PwC and with overseas partners, allowing the firm to create a system that enabled large companies to avoid paying the newly devised taxes.

Following a 2022 parliamentary inquiry into the management and integrity of the government consulting services, internal emails from the PwC allegedly revealed that company executives had bragged about the system and utilised it as a selling point for its services.

PwC was reported by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) to have received $537 million (US$358 million) in federal government contracts during the past two years.

The Chief Executive Office of PwC, Tom Seymour, stepped down on May 9 effective immediately, PwC told ABC in a statement.

We have appointed our Assurance Leader, Kristin Stubbins, to serve as acting CEO, the statement read. In the coming months, a new CEO will be elected by the Partners. We agreed with Tom that this is in the best interests of the firm and our stakeholders.

PwC To Be Referred to Anti-Corruption Commission

The possibility of criminal charges being pursued by the treasury department follows a decision by the Australian Greens party to refer the matter to Australias Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

This is a serious matter of misconduct involving a company that has multiple government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, said Senator Barbara Pocock.

Pocock, who initiated the senate inquiry into the PwC behaviour, said that the Greens party room had approved her decision to refer the matter to the NACC and that the party will also be looking at the procedures to make this happen as quickly as possible.

Corruption on this scale is what NACC is for. This matter should be top of its agenda when it opens for business on 1st July, she said.

This company has made millions selling secret Government information to help its multinational clients minimise tax. If thats not corruption, I dont know what is.

Under the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (also known as the NACC Act), the heads of federal government agencies and parliamentarians are obliged to refer potential corruption issueswhich does include the misuse of informationto the NACC for potential investigation.
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Quebec Police Identify Killer in 1975 Cold Case Murder of Sharron Prior

Yvonne Prior, centre, reacts with her daughters Moreen, left and Doreen during a press conference as police confirm the identity of the killer in the 1975 murder of her daughter Sharron on May 23, 2023 in Longueuil, Que. (The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi)

Montreal-area police say they are working with law enforcement agencies in Canada and the United States to determine whether a man newly linked to a 1975 cold case may have been responsible for other unsolved murders.

Investigators in Longueuil, Que., south of Montreal, said Tuesday that DNA evidence establishes with certainty that Franklin Maywood Romine raped and murdered 16-year-old Sharron Prior nearly 50 years ago.

Now police say theyre trying to find out whether Rominea career criminal who died in 1982 at the age of 36may have had other victims.

We are already working on it, but not only in Canada, were also working with the FBI to see if theres any link with other cold cases in the U.S., Longueuil police Sgt.-Det. Eric Racicot, who investigated the Prior cold case, told reporters.

Priors younger sister, Doreen, said the confirmation that police identified her sisters killer brought a long and difficult journey to an end.

That journey began over the Easter Weekend in 1975, as she, her twin sister and their brother looked through a window in the family home in Montreals Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood hoping to see Sharron Prior return home.

The solving of Sharrons case will never bring Sharron back, Doreen Prior said Tuesday. But knowing that her killer is no longer on this earth and cannot kill anymore brings us to somewhat of a closure.

Moreen Prior, Doreens twin sister, thanked Racicot and Lt.-Det. Sophie Tougas for never giving up on the case.

Without your skill, dedication and countless hours of investigation, we would not be here today, she said. You pushed new technology to its boundaries and brought us answers we have been waiting 48 years to hear.

The rape and killing of Prior had gone unsolved since she disappeared on March 29, 1975, after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlour near her home. Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil.

Police investigated 122 suspects, but Romine was not among them.

In 2015 scientists sequenced a complete DNA profile from a shirt used to restrain Prior  but that specimen was only a partial match with a sample found on her jeans.

But by 2022, technology had improved, allowing scientists to amplify small samples of DNA for study. That year Racicot sent the shirt and the jeans to Quebecs legal science laboratory for retesting, and for the first time a complete and matching sample was found on both clothing items.

It was at that point that the legal science laboratory suggested a new technique: analyzing the Y chromosome in the DNA sample.

Passed down unchanged from father to son, the Y chromosome can be compared with DNA samples in databases containing thousands of profiles collected from people through commercial testing kits from companies such as 23andMe or AncestryDNA.

The Y chromosome found on the jeans and the shirt was compared with profiles in an American database and it matched with a family name: Romine.

As Quebecs legal science lab reconstructed a Romine family tree, Racicots police work led him to determine that a Franklin Maywood Romine had been living in Montreal at the time of the killing and that other evidence pointed to him. Romines appearance corresponded with a witnesss physical description of the suspect; Romines car was compatible with the tire tracks at the site where police found Priors body 48 years ago.

Meanwhile, Quebec scientists traced the Romine DNA to four brothers from West Virginia. And on May 2, Racicot and several colleagues were present as local authorities in West Virginia exhumed Romines remains for DNA testing to confirm his link to the crime.

The resolution of this cold case is based on new investigative techniques but also on advances in forensic biology, Racicot told reporters. These are new tools that we didnt have a few years ago and its a powerful one.

The DNA is like a guiding lead, he said. It still needs to be confirmed by classic investigation techniques.

Romine, whose criminal record began when he was a child, was on the run from the law in West Virginia at the time of Priors death. On parole since 1973, he was facing new charges of breaking and entering and rape.

He fled to Montreal, where he lived until around seven months after Priors murder, when he was arrested by Montreal police and extradited to the U.S. But by 1982, he was back in the city. He died there of unknown causes, but his body was buried in his hometown of Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia
Rep. McCaul Presses Blinken for Answers on Reported Pause of China Sanctions

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) arrives to a caucus meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is demanding details from the State Department over its reported decision to withhold actions aimed at confronting threats from communist China.

In a letter made public on May 24, McCaul cited a recent Reuters report saying the State Department held back human rights-related sanctions, export controls, and other sensitive actions to try to limit damage to the U.S.-China relationship.

The report quoted Rick Waters, deputy assistant secretary of State for China and Taiwan, telling staff in an email that Guidance from S (Secretary of State) is to push non-balloon actions to the right so we can focus on symmetric and calibrated response. We can revisit other actions in a few weeks. The email was dated Feb. 6, two days after the United States shot down the Chinese spy balloon and three days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned trip to Beijing over the balloon episode.

Some of the postponed actions include export controls targeting Chinese telecom supplier Huawei and sanctions against Chinese officials for human rights, according to the report.

The Reuters report, citing unnamed sources, also said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was eager to move on from the balloon incident and reschedule the Blinken trip.

To McCaul, who advocates for a stronger position on China, such instructions are deeply troubling and demonstrate the State Departments continued weakness and passivity in the face of Chinese aggression.

Congress has empowered the executive branch with national security tools such as sanctions and export controls for the express purpose of protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, but the Department apparently refuses to implement them, he wrote in the letter to Blinken, noting that the report is consistent with information his committee has received in recent months. This undermines not only the basis for these tools but also diplomatic efforts to secure coordination among partners and allies.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L), accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink (C), speaks during a meeting with Vietnams Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son at the Government Guest House in Hanoi on April 15, 2023. (Luong Thai Linh/AFP via Getty Images)

Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, remained evasive when Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) repeatedly questioned him whether Sherman refused to approve or requested any delay in implementation of congressionally-mandated Uyghur Human Rights Policy sanctions.

We continue to take a number of steps and we will take a number of steps to hold accountable, replied Kritenbrink, as Huizenga interrupted him.

Thats a yes or no kind of question though, Huizenga said.

Kritenbrink responded by reiterating his previous statement. I support making sure that we take steps to ensure that we hold to account those in China, he said when Huizenga asked him whether Kritenbrink himself supported any delay in Uyghur human rights-related sanctions.

McCaul said that the policy of weakness at the State Department has apparently damaged morale at the Office of China Coordination, the office tasked with coordinating China policies under Waters also known as China House, citing the Reuters report saying the office has a vacancy rate as high as 40 percent in part due to staff resistance to the policy directions.

For the U.S. to succeed in its strategic competition with the PRC, it is essential that it be willing to unflinchingly hold the PRC accountable for its aggression and malfeasance, and that it be well-organized and effective in doing so, said McCaul.

McCauls requested documents include communications relating to the Chinese regime and its entities that involve Blinken or other key State Department officials since last October; information relating to staffing arrangements at China House; top State Department officials engagements with their Chinese counterparts, and other documents detailing department policy with China following the Chinese spy balloon incident.

Asked by The Epoch Times about McCauls letter, a State Department spokesperson said that the department has coordinated with the interagency on a record-setting number of sanctions, export controls, and other competitive actions regarding China since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

Without commenting on specific actions, this work is sensitive and complex, and obviously sequencing is essential to maximize impact and make sure our messaging is clear and lands precisely, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

We carefully coordinate both the substance and timing of actions with our partners to ensure the actions have the intended effect. And under this administration, weve seen greater alignment than ever with close partners in Europe, Asia, and around the world in our approach to the PRC.

This article has been updated with a response from the State Department.
Reporters Pushed Twitter to Change System, Shared Intel on Competitor: Twitter Files

CNN reporters Oliver Darcy and Donie O'Sullivan in Washington on April 29, 2023. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for CBS News)

Reporters helped Twitter develop products and shared intelligence on a major competitor, according to newly released internal Twitter files.

Reporters from NBC, Fox News, the New York Times, and Reason, including NBCs Ben Collins, helped Twitter develop its Birdwatch fact-checking tool, according to one of the files.

Collins and a slew of other reporters later met in closed sessions with Twitter officials, with one official saying the goal was to solidify key relationships, encourage intel sharing, and, more broadly, help to reinforce comms network of trusted reporters.

Summaries of the 2021 meetings showed CNN reporters pushed Twitter to change their system to help prevent abuse, including calling for a new read only mode that would not allow people who have been blocked to see that theyve been blocked.

Multiple reporters shared intelligence with Twitter about Facebook, one of Twitters top competitors.

"Twitter was able to use these reporters almost as their sort-of secret spies. And then in late 2021, Twitter had a meeting up in NY w/ a bunch of journalists. And afterwards, they profiled what these reporters wanted." @thackerpd WATCH on @AmThoughtLeader! pic.twitter.com/NEio2mVh2n  Jan Jekielek (@JanJekielek) May 24, 2023

Donie OSullivan, another CNN reporter, shared intel about upcoming hearings and Facebook reporting, one summary stated. Emily Glazer, a Wall Street Journal reporter, described a story she was working on about Facebook trying to recruit a Democrat lobbyist and Facebooks struggles to retain and recruit staff.

Fox News producer Amy Fenton and reporter Brooke Singman, meanwhile, conveyed information about internal Fox issues.

Fenton, producer for Dana Perino, said that Dana often feels isolated and on a bit of an island at Fox News, but that she really, genuinely enjoys the show, according to a summary of the meeting. Singman shared about some tension between the Tuckers of the organization and everyone else.'

Tucker Carlson, Foxs most popular host, recently left Fox.

Requests for comment sent to the news outlets went unreturned.

Paul Thacker, a journalist and former U.S. Senate investigator, obtained the files during a visit to Twitters headquarters in California.

Thacker said he noticed how news outlets quickly began reporting negatively on Elon Musk after the billionaire bought Twitter in 2022 and when he was given access to the internal documents, he found that journalists had exclusive or premier access to Twitter.

In one email that I uncovered, Twitter referred to some reporters, they call them our journalists,' Thacker told EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program.

I was trying to understand exactly who these reporters are and why they seem to have such exclusive and sort of unique relationships with Twitter, he added. And I think this explains why they were so upset when Elon Musk bought Twitterthey lost access.

Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz in Anaheim, Calif., on July 13, 2019. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Reporter Sought to Ban Users

Taylor Lorenz, a Washington Post reporter who has penned multiple articles critical of Musks strategies, asked Twitter to take action against multiple accounts, including Stanford professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, other files obtained by Thacker show.

Bhattacharya received an inquiry from reporter Walter Bragman and posted it on Twitter. The email included Bragmans phone number.

Lorenz flagged the post, and Bragman made his account private in an indication that it was causing unwanted attention, a Washington Post partner informed Twitter. Could you please review this tweet.

Bhattacharya said the inclusion of the number was inadvertent.

I regret inadvertently posting without cropping that bit. I didnt realize a journalists work email & phone they sent to me was secret, he wrote on Twitter at the time.

Bhattacharya, a prominent critic of the governments response to COVID-19, was blacklisted by Twitter after offering the view that children were harmed by the harsh lockdowns imposed during the pandemic, previously released files show. The trends blacklist made sure that whenever I did a tweet, the broader Twitter audience wouldnt see it, Bhattacharya told EpochTV.

Lorenz wrote in one article that Musks plans to bring back banned accounts was alarming activists and online trust and safety experts.

What Musk is doing is existentially dangerous for various marginalized communities, Alejandra Caraballo, a male who identifies as a woman, instructs at Harvard University Law Schools cyberlaw clinic, and has called for harassing federal judges, told Lorenz. Its like opening the gates of hell in terms of the havoc it will cause.

Caraballo had also pushed to ban certain users, including the Libs of TikTok account. Caraballo did not respond to a request for comment.

Lorenz was also involved in getting another account, which had posted purported details about her history, banned, Thacker reported.

She was working behind the scenes to ban people. She banned one account, which was this really odd, really small follower account, Thacker told The Epoch Times. They did this long thread on her; Twitter looked at it and said that they couldnt find any problems with it with the account, but they ended up suspending it anyway.

The Washington Post did not respond to a request for comment.

An inquiry to Twitter returned an auto message of a poop emoji and no further reply.
Richard Bransons Virgin Orbit to Cease Operations After Failed Rocket Launch

Sir Richard Branson speaks after he flew into space aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel in New Mexico on July 11, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Richard Bransons rocket company Virgin Orbit will cease operations after its failed rocket launch out of the United Kingdom, officials announced.

The company said in a May 23 statement that it will sell its assets and equipment to four winning bidders in a comprehensive sale process and competitive auction and cease operations.

The announcement comes just months after the company filed for bankruptcy and laid off roughly 85 percent of its workforce.

As Virgin Orbit embarks on this path, the management and employees would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders, including customers, partners, investors, and employees, for their support and dedication over the years, the company said in a statement.

It is through their collective efforts that the Company has been able to achieve significant milestones and make lasting contributions to the advancement of satellite launch in the United States and the United Kingdom, it continued.

Virgin Orbits legacy in the space industry will forever be remembered. Its groundbreaking technologies, relentless pursuit of excellence, and unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of air launch have left an indelible mark on the industry, the statement added.

In a separate statement, rival start-up Rocket Lab said it had purchased Virgin Orbits headquarters, rocket factory, and equipment for $16.1 million.

The company said the purchase includes the lease to Virgin Orbits 144,000+ square foot headquarters and manufacturing complex in California as well as certain production assets, machinery, and equipment located there.

It does not include Virgin Orbits Boeing 747 aircraft, launch vehicles or mobile launch assets for its rockets, or other Virgin Orbit facilities, inventory, and assets.

Rocket Lab CEO and Founder Peter Beck said the transaction represents a capital expenditure savings opportunity to augment our production capability to bring Neutron to the launch pad quickly to serve our customers and their future success.

Securing the lease to the Conant Facility adds to our existing presence in Long Beach and provides co-located engineering, manufacturing, and test capabilities for our Neutron team, Beck added.

The Virgin Orbits LauncherOne rocket at Spaceport Cornwall, at Cornwall Airport in Newquay, England, in an undated photo provided on March 16, 2023. (UK Space Agency via AP)

Failed Rocket Launch, Layoffs

The companys modified Boeing 747, called Cosmic Girl was also sold to aerospace firm Stratolaunch for $17 million, Reuters reports.

A spokesperson for Stratolaunch told CNBC that the company plans to share more news about the sale as it becomes available.

Rocket engine and spacecraft startup Launcher Inc bought Virgin Orbits launch site and lease in the Mojave desert for $2.7 million, court filings show.

The deals, which amount to $35.8 million, are subject to bankruptcy court approval. A hearing to seek Court approval is scheduled to take place on May 24.

Virgin Orbit, which developed rockets to carry small satellites into space, was founded by Richard Branson in 2017 and went public through a blank-check merger in 2021 after raising $255 million less than expected from investors.

The company was once valued at $3.7 billion but announced in March that it would lay off around 85 percent of its 750-strong workforce after failing to raise sufficient investment to continue operating.

While we have taken great efforts to address our financial position and secure additional financing, we ultimately must do what is best for the business, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said in a statement on April 4.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April shortly after its failed LauncherOne rocket launch from Cornwall in the UK in Januaryits sixth mission.

Despite a successful takeoff, the system experienced an anomaly during the firing of the rockets second-stage engine while it was traveling at a speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, preventing it from reaching orbit.

Branson also owns the airline Virgin Atlantic and the space tourism company Virgin Galactic.
Roger Stone Predicts Trumps 2024 Top Democrat Rival

President Donald Trump (2nd-L) First Lady Melania Trump (L), former President Barack Obama (2nd-R) and former First Lady Michelle Obama walk together following the inauguration, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

High-profile political consultant Roger Stone discussed the potential of Michelle Obamas presidential run in a recent interview with The Epoch Times.

Joe Bidens increasing unpopularity combined with the various investigations into corruption by himself, his brother, and his son, as well as his increasing erratic performance in public, may convince Democrats that he is a weak general election candidate, Stone told The Epoch Times.

According to recent polls, despite facing several politically driven inquiries, former President Donald Trump would prevail over Biden if the election were to take place today.

I believe that the change in the Democrat primary schedule benefits the potential candidacy of Michelle Obama. It is clear that Barack Obama continues to control the machinery of the National Democrat Party. It is also clear that South Carolina holding the first Democrat primary where a plurality of primary voters is African-American, is potentially beneficial to a Michelle Obama candidacy, as is their decision to hold their convention in her hometown of Chicago, Stone said.

The more Michelle Obama denies an interest publicly, the more I am convinced that she will be their candidate. She is not out doing a book tour and voter registration drives because she needs the money or the publicity.

The framework of the Democrat Party would only allow the party to bypass Kamala Harris for the more popular Michelle Obama, who will be an extraordinarily formidable candidate for the Democrats, Stone asserted.

The Epoch Times reached out to Michelle Obama for comment.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama encourages the University of Miami community to vote in the midterm elections, in Miami, Fla., on Sept. 28, 2018. (Shutterstock)

According to Roger Stone, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may have the financial backing to present a viable challenge to Trump in the 2024 election due to his ability to secure funds. However, Stone raises several concerns about DeSantis as a candidate, stating:

Hes probably the only one with the war chest to pose a plausible challenge. But I still think that he has a lot of problems as a candidate. I dont think hes ready. I dont think theres anything likable about him. You take the CNN town hall, in which I thought Trump did a very, very good job under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Ron DeSantis could never do any of that. He cant do anything that isnt scripted, hes very scripted, everything is practiced, and everythings polished, everything is scripted. So I dont think he can perform and I think a lot of things hes done are going to come back to bite him.

Roger Stone at the Trump Doral in Miami, Florida, on May 13, 2022 (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

He further questioned DeSantiss positions on Social Security, Medicaid, and the Ukrainian war. According to Stone, he is being inconsistent on these issues which could be problematic for his campaign. He predicts that not only will DeSantis lose the election, but his political career may also be permanently damaged. Stone highlights the lack of endorsements from Florida congressmen and senators, indicating a lack of support from his colleagues. Despite his criticisms, Stone acknowledges DeSantiss right to run for the presidency but believes he will ultimately be defeated.
Russia Extends Arrest of US Journalist Evan Gershkovich by 3 Months

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow on April 18, 2023. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

MOSCOWA Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months in a closed-door hearing emblematic of the secrecy that has marked the case against the first United States correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges.

Gershkovich, a 31-year-old American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He was arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer, and the U.S. government have denied the charges.

Tuesdays pre-trial hearing wasnt announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.

Russian authorities havent detailed what evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.

Various legal proceedings in the case have been closed to the media. No details immediately emerged about what was said at Tuesdays hearing. State news agency Tass said the session was closed because the reporter was accused of possession of secret materials.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that Gershkovichs parents, Soviet emigres living in New Jersey, were visiting Moscow and saw their son during the short hearing.

I dont know how to describe this happiness and this sadness at the same time, the newspaper quoted the reporters mother, Ella Milman, as saying. She said Gershkovich looked relaxed and well, and that they communicated through smiles.

The U.S. State Department said at least one U.S. Embassy official also attended the hearing.

The U.S. government declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release. Hes being held in Moscows Lefortovo prison.

U.S. Embassy officials were allowed to visit Gershkovich once in prison since his arrest in Yekaterinburg on March 29, but Russian authorities have denied two more recent requests to see him.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington, We once again call on Russia to comply with their obligation to provide consular access to him. He added that the charges against Gershkovich are baseless and we continue to call for his immediate release as well as for the immediate release of Paul Whelan.

Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, is serving a 16-year espionage sentence in a remote Russian prison. The retired U.S. Marine was detained in 2018. Whelan and Washington deny he spied in Russia.

In a statement after Tuesdays hearing, the Wall Street Journal said: While we expected there would be no change to Evans wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release.
Safety Protocols to Be Reviewed Following Attack of Woman on Metro Train

LOS ANGLESLos Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn May 22 called for a full accounting of security protocols in the aftermath of a recent attack on a woman on a Metro A Line train in Long Beach by two suspects who are being sought.

We have multi-million-dollar law enforcement contracts, Metro security, and 300 Metro Ambassadors who have been hired to ride our buses and trains, Hahn said in a statement Monday.

Hahn, who chairs the board of supervisors, is also a Metro director. According to Hahn, the alleged attack occurred on Wednesday on a northbound A Line (formerly Blue Line) train.

But where were they when this woman was beaten up on the Blue Line last week? asked Hahn. With this many layers of security, why didnt anyone come to this womans aid? This is far from the first time there has been an attack on our trains in recent months. I will be asking for a full accounting of where our transit ambassadors, Metro security, and Long Beach Police officers assigned to Metro were at the time of this attack.

Enough is enough, Hahn said. Our trains need to be safe for our residents.

Los Angeles Supervisor Janice Hahn speaks at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The victim, a 53-year-old woman, told her story to ABC7 but did not share her name. She said she was beaten up by a woman who also used racial slurs.

I thought I was going to die, the woman told ABC7.

An eyewitness on the train, Twila Mahone, told ABC7 that the victim was on the phone with police while trying to get the conductor to stop the train for 11 minutes.

It was a brutal attack, Mahone said. A very, very brutal attack that should never happen. According to Mahone, the train finally stopped at the Artesia station.

A statement from the Long Beach Police Department reads the following:

On May 17, 2023, at approximately 5:38 p.m., officers responded to the Metro Rail-Compton Station  Upon arrival, officers contacted a female adult victim with minor injuries to her upper body. The preliminary investigation indicates the victim was riding the train when a female adult suspect confronted her and hit her multiple times. When the victim left the train, a male adult suspect knocked her phone out from her hands. The suspects fled the scene before police arrived.

The victim told ABC7 that she doesnt take the train every day, but after this attack, she says she might never ride the Metro train again.

Hahn said she will also ask Metro to explain the protocol of what happens if a rider needs to ask a train operator to stop the train and whether that protocol was followed in Wednesdays incident.
San Diego Housing Commission Applying for Funds for Additional Affordable Housing

The San Diego Housing Commission approved a motion 40 during their May 12 meeting to apply for up to $18 million in state funding to purchase another vacant hotel to transform into housing for the homeless.

The city already has purchased three hotels for such housing. If it receives the funding, part of it would be used to purchase a fourth in Ocean Beach, specifically a 62-room Ramada Inn on Midway Drive.

Im in [that] area frequently and I know the community has lots of concerns with encampments that have popped up in recent years, Vice Chair Ryan Clumpner said. Any step in the direction of providing resources and housing for the homeless in the Midway area is a step in the right direction.

According to Clumpner, the area used to be a thriving, multi-racial residential community for lower-income workers after World War I, until many were pushed out for commercial development. He said he is supportive of returning the community and correcting that historical wrong.

The hotel is within walking distance of a grocery store and bus stops.

The new location will also offer mental health, healthcare and substance use services, life skills training, education, employment assistance, and transportation for residents.

Rooms will be available to those currently homeless, in and out of homelessness, and those between 16 and 25 transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Fifteen will be set aside for homeless veterans.

The grant the commission is applying for is the states Department of Housing and Community Development Homekey Programwhich was created to more rapidly provide shelter for those experiencing homelessness.

Currently, $34 million from the state is set aside in the Homekey program for San Diego. However, the commission can compete for additional funding from the annual $736 million statewide pool of funds offered by the department.

Commission officials said once the application is submitted, they would hear back about the funding in August.

If approved, the city would acquire the property in September and occupants could move in by November 2024, after remodeling.
Schools Using Facial Recognition Creating Out of Control Surveillance Society: Campaigners

Calls for immediate ban on facial recognition after privacy group finds 60 schools using the technology

A pupil eats her cooked hot dinner during her lunch break in the canteen at St. Luke's Church of England Primary School in east London, on Sept. 3, 2020. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)

Over 60 schools are using facial recognition in what privacy campaigners say is making Britain a surveillance society growing out of control.

A new report (pdf) on the lawless gathering of facial data, published by Big Brother Watch, reveals how schools are investing huge sums of money in the technology despite calls for the practice to be banned completely in the UK.

Biometric Britain: The Expansion of Facial Recognition Surveillance lays out in detail how some schoolsalong with police, retailers, and tech companiesare expanding facial recognition while the European Union is legislating to restrict its use.

The civil liberties group has now called for immediate government action on use of the technology, warning that Britain is at great risk of following in the footsteps of China and Russias high-tech surveillance states.

The NGO said the use of biometrics in schools to perform relatively straightforward taskssuch as as paying for canteen foodhas now become a significant threat to childrens data rights and privacy.

Researchers found that in some schools, parents who opted their children out of using the technology were penalised financially by being told they would have to pay for a different type of swipe card, despite offering the facial recognition model for free.

Facial recognition technology in use in Leicester Square, London, in an undated file photo. (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Cameras in Canteens

Secondary schools identified as using facial recognition technology (FRT) span right across the UK, according to Big Brother Watch.

Large numbers also use fingerprint-based systems to identify pupils in the school canteen, or for cashless payments and other purposes such as library access.

Parents use the technology to top up their childs account online, which is charged by the school for meals they purchase in the canteen.

Swipe cards, fingerprints, and, increasingly, facial recognition are used to identify the correct account on the school system so the right person is charged for the meal.

Facial recognition systems operate by capturing a reference image of a child and associating it with their account.

A camera in the canteen then takes an image of the child as they purchase their food, and the software matches the biometric faceprint of this image against the school database to identify the child. A cashier then charges the account.

According to Big Brother Watch, schools that have adopted facial recognition systems cite several different reasons for processing biometric data for the simple task of facilitating lunch payments.

The pressure group said the growing number of facilities using the technology suggest that facial recognition is becoming worryingly widespread and normalised in the UK education system.

It said that around 85 percent of pupils using fingerprint readers were enrolled on the system, however similar statistics for children enrolled in facial biometrics are not yet known.

Artificial intelligence security cameras with facial recognition technology are seen at the 14th China International Exhibition on Public Safety and Security at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing on Oct. 24, 2018. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images)

Bias Risks

According to Big Brother Watch, Leverhulme Academy Trust (LAT)which runs two high schools and a sixth form in Boltonuses facial recognition in its canteens.

It reports that LAT was swayed into rolling out the technology owing to benefits that include it being contactless, speeding up the lunch service, saving students from carrying around a card, and being secure.

According to the Frequently Asked Questions section on the trusts website, a parent who has already permitted their childs fingerprint to be used in the cashless canteen, automatically permits the use of facial recognition as both are forms of biometric processing.

According to the privacy group, this is incorrect in law and contradicts previous guidance from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) around consent to biometric processing.

The ICO says consent must specify the nature of the special category data and must also be specific for each type of processing.

The report states: In addition to the biometric faceprint the school also stores a photo of a child on the system for added verificationraising questions over whether facial recognition is necessary at all given that an ordinary photograph is subsequently used to identify the childas it could be with a swipe card system.

Big Brother Watch suggests that the facial recognition system is little more than a shortcut for staff to search the database to identify the correct account to charge.

It said the most alarming of the Leverhulme Trusts policy is the fact that opting out of facial recognition is not free.

It states parents or children who opt out of facial recognition must purchase a card as an alternative method of identification.

ICO guidance states that for consent to be freely given, refusing consent must not come with a detriment.

In 2021, nine schools in Scotland were forced to halt a roll out of FRT in canteens following a significant pushback from Big Brother Watch, which led to an ICO inquiry.

The commissioner stated that schools could only rely on explicit consent as a legal justification to process the biometric data involved in facial recognition, under Article 9 of the GDPR Act, and clarified that other justifications such as public task would not be sufficient as biometric data processing is unlikely to be deemed necessary for school catering purposes.

The guidance also pointed out that FRT poses risks in terms of bias and, given that childrens biometric data is being processed, additional protection of their rights may be merited.

FRT Search Engines

Other key findings from the civil liberties groups FRT report include police use of the technology. It states that 89 percent of live facial recognition matches on deployments by the Metropolitan and South Wales Police have been wrong since they introduced the technology.

Trials of mobile phone-based facial recognition in South Wales saw people of colour being four times as likely to be subject to a biometric scan than their white peers.

Victims, suspects, people thought to pose a risk of harm to themselves, and associates of any of those people, can be placed on police watchlists, meaning that a huge section of the public could be at risk from being added to facial recognition watchlists.

Over 11 years since the High Court ruled that holding mugshots of innocent people was unlawful, no police force has made serious progress in deleting these photos, but millions more images have been added to databases, which amounts to 2.5 a minute, Big Brother Watch found.

Five police forces have spent large sums on retrospective facial recognition tools, which identify people in photos or videos, while the Home Office has allocated 50 million for a centralised facial matching platform that will bring together law enforcement and immigration databases on one system.

The use of FRT in the private sector appears to be more chilling, according to the group.

The report exposes the growth of online face search engines where cyberstalkers can search anyones photosincluding childrenwithout consent, using facial recognition technology.

The NGO claims the sites have been used by individuals to search explicit images of women they know, while women caught on video in the street have had naked photos tracked down on the facial recognition platform.

Orwellian Surveillance

In a statement on Tuesday following the launch of the report, Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo said the shocking scale of facial recognition in Britain points to a surveillance society that is growing out of control.

The UK has fallen completely out of step with the rest of Europe and the democratic world by opening the floodgates to facial recognition cameras, which are scanning the faces of millions of people across the country, she said.

This Orwellian surveillance tech treats innocent members of the public like suspects in a police line-up.

Police forces, and even supermarkets and clothes shops, are now using ever more intrusive facial recognition technologies that often wrongly flag people as criminals, disproportionately misidentifying black people.

Carlo urged the government to urgently stop live facial recognition surveillance, while Parliament has a careful review of the regulations needed for the UK to adopt biometric technologies more safely and responsibly.

Parliament is yet to pass any law banning or regulating the use of live facial recognition, despite widespread concerns about the technologys accuracy, biases, and impact on the right to privacy.
Shame Behind a National Border

Commentary

People thought that the first Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) exam subject drawing public attention should be Liberal Studies, as it would mark the end of Liberal Studies education in Hong Kong.

No one had expected that on the very first day of the exam period, English Language would cause a big fuss, with candidates flooding to the archived Instagram of Michelle Obama, using racist language to complain about the exam question that included an extract from her memoirs and was regarded as too difficult by the candidates.

After I wrote about the Liberal Studies exam, I thought I would be sitting around to wait for the History exam that would take place on the last day of the exam period, for anomalies that were quite certain to happen. However, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) never disappoints. Before History, another subject caused public attention.

Geography had a question about Chinas weather and climate. An isobaric map of China shows a cold front north of Hong Kong. This is an ordinary question of natural geography, free of controversies or issues of political correctness. However, contrary to established practice, the HKEAA opted to politicize the question by adding the controversial nine-dash line on the map.

The nine-dash line represents Chinas unilateral assertion of its national boundary in the South China Sea. Vietnam refers to it as cow tongue, a term that vividly describes Chinas territorial claim far into its Southeast Asian region. In 2013, the Philippines applied to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague for a ruling on the legality of the nine-dashed line in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Intriguingly, during the three-year arbitration process, China repeatedly excused itself from joining by saying that it would not accept or participate in any arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.

However, the Convention provides that the absence of a party or failure of a party to defend its case shall not constitute a bar to the proceedings. Finally, in 2016, the Court resolved that there was no evidence that China had historically exercised control over the waters of the South China Sea.

Here, it is important to note how the Court phrased its award: To the extent China had historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea, such rights were extinguished to the extent they were incompatible with the exclusive economic zones provided for in the Convention; although Chinese navigators and fishermen, as well as those of the other States, had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources.

In other words, if we are to abide by international law, the nine-dash line is, at best controversial, if not a fake. The HKEAA always stresses that exam papers must not contain controversies. From the perspective of professionalism, including this controversial information in the exam paper does not help answer the question. This is just another piece of evidence that the HKEAA, as a professional assessment body, has been using public exams for years to assert loyalty to the communist Chinese government at the sacrifice of professionalism.

While it is shameful to use exams as a political tool, the HKEAA may have provided clues to an even bigger shame. At the bottom of the map, the legend states that the nine-dash line is Chinas nation boundary, a term that is obviously ungrammatical. The eagle eyes of the HKEAA proofreading team, which performs its tasks way before the paper drafts are sent to the printer, could have spotted such a minor mistake in no time. The fact that the mistake remains there gives an important message: this low-level mistake might have been made way after the proofreading stage, probably one or two days before the printer deadline, in response to instructions outside the HKEAA, so urgent that another proofreading was simply impossible. In other words, this grammatical mistake can be a trace of political interference.

Whether this grammatical mistake was inadvertent or was intentional as a hint of political interference is difficult to infer.

Starting in 2020, HKEAA exams serve obvious political purposes, and people are surprised to note that sometimes such corrupted exams become oracular, with exam questions characterized by political propaganda prophesying misfortune. For example, in 2021, a question in History boasting about the Shenzhen speed of construction was followed by the mysterious shaking of a Shenzhen skyscraper in the same month; a question in Liberal Studies of the same year boasting about Chinas energy efficiency and reliability was followed by a nationwide power outage in the summer that year. Given these successful oracular readings in the past, some wonder whether the isobaric map and the cold front prophesize extraordinary weather in China this summer.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
JERUSALEM, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A brief fire exchange between Israel and Syria broke out on Wednesday after shots were fired at an Israeli reconnaissance drone near the disputed border.

"Shots were fired from Syrian territory toward an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) drone conducting routine surveillance activity," the Israeli military said in a statement.

"As a response ... IDF machine gun fire was directed toward the originating area of the shots in Syria," it added.

The Syrian fire did not damage the drone, which "successfully completed its mission," according to the statement.

The Israeli and Syrian armies have been on high alert along their shared border amid ongoing tensions, with occasional cross-border skirmishes over the past years. 
Shooting at San Diego Central Library Leaves One Dead, Another Wounded

SAN DIEGOA shooting in front of San Diego Central Library left one person dead and another wounded May 23, authorities said.

The gunfire in the 300 block of Park Boulevard erupted about 12:15 p.m., according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).

One of the victims died at the scene. Paramedics took the other to a hospital for treatment of injuries of undetermined severity, SDPD Officer Sarah Foster said.

Officers fanned out through the busy downtown area near Petco Park in search of the shooter, with help from personnel aboard a patrol helicopter circling overhead. The perpetrator remained at large in the early afternoon, according to police.

It was not immediately clear what led to the deadly gunfire, which prompted a closure of the library for the remainder of the day.
Sichuan Soybean Farmers Have Zero Harvest From Authorities Seeds

Multiple farmers in Xichong County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province file a complaint on May 14, 2023, to county government regarding the zero harvest from the 2022 summer soybean seeds provided by local authorities. (Courtesy of Mr. Wang)

Multiple farmers in Sichuan had zero harvests from the soybean seeds provided by local governments. While farmers intended to have the seeds verified and protected their rights, police intervention also took place.

Last year, Sichuan provincial government announced the plan to procure seeds from local seed suppliers in response to the national soybean revitalization plan.

Nanchong City, for instance, issued 2,000+ tons of seeds to local farmers and encouraged alternating rows of corn and soybean planting.

Mr. Wang, a local farmer, received 1,323 pounds of soybeans last year from the agricultural service center of Xichong County.

He was very happy with the idea, and his workers all had high hopes for the seeds. However, the yield was zero. At least five farms suffered the same outcome, he said to the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times.

Fake Seeds Are Suspected

Wang explained the seeds distributed by the government were summer soybean seedsNan-seed. He said, Previous years grain was 30 grams per 100 grains, round and even.

Mr. Fan also had zero harvests from the seeds distributed by the local authorities. He changed his career path from home remodeling to agriculture a few years ago in response to the national agricultural initiative. He had a family farm in Shuangfeng.

He said: The government arranged the seeds last year. I have no idea what kind of seeds they were. They did not work and didnt look like seeds from local areas.

Last year Fan had plenty of harvest from seeds he bought on his ownseveral hundred pounds.

He indicated the bad seeds cost him nearly 300,000 yuan ($42,500), including labor and land rent for an area of 45.8 acres.

Mr. Liu, a family farm owner in the neighboring village of Fans, also had the same problem. They sprouted, but theres no grain. Our own seeds planted at the same time grew well, though, he said. Its common in the areas, not just a few farmers. He believed the seeds were fake.

Workers are seen next to a truck unloading harvested soybeans at a farm in Chiping County, Shandong Province, China, on Oct. 8, 2018. (Reuters)

Farmers Joint Appeal

Farmers of Xichong County filed a joint complaint on May 14 to the local governmentholding the seed companies Sichuan Hechuang Seed and Sichuan Kemao Seedaccountable for all losses in the soybean seeds failure.

Wang was the first farmer who brought a bag of seeds to local authorities, from county to town, asking for verification of the seeds.

On May 15, local police disrupted his plan to visit the provincial agriculture department. He said: I wanted to verify if the seeds were fake. I wasnt going to the petition office. They have no right to restrict my will.

Fan also indicated their wish to claim their rights. We are also worried about the seeds the government provided this year. With so much cost in labor and rent, the earning is zero. What can we do? Agriculture is a scary business.

Farmers generally suspected that local governments were attracting national subsidies in the name of soybean revitalization. Fan said, Maybe the local finances have been difficult, but they shouldnt rip us off with seeds.

The calls to the two seed companies, Sichuan Hechuang Seed and Sichuan Kemao Seed, went unanswered. The service desk at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Xichong County answered the inquiry about the seeds complaint and said the problems could be the seeds or the farmers planting methods. She indicated the seeds were procured by the city. She also provided two contact persons in charge of county-level seed stations. One hung up on The Epoch Times, and the other did not answer the call.

Gu Xiaohua contributed to this report.
South Carolina Approves 6 Week Abortion Ban

The Republican-led South Carolina Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to one of the countrys strictest abortion bans after a fetal heartbeat is detected at six weeks.

The House-amended bill, which reduces the current 22-week abortion ban, is now awaiting the signature of Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican. The House passed the bill last week.

McMaster said on Twitter that he looks forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible.

Critics, including some female Republican South Carolina senators, argued that most women are unaware of their pregnancies at six weeks.

Once McMaster signs the law, it is anticipated that it will be challenged in the state Supreme Court, which previously invalidated a 2021 six-week ban earlier this year on the grounds that it violated the state constitutions right to privacy.

Nevertheless, Republican lawmakers believe this new version will withstand legal challenges.

The bill passed in the Senate mostly along party lines, with 27-19 vote. Three female Republican senators voted with Democrats.

State Sen. Katrina Shealy, a Republican who opposed a total ban, unsuccessfully proposed an amendment suggesting a ban after 12 weeks would be a real compromise.

Dont force women into making a decision in six weeks for something they may not even know thats happening, Shealy said.

Healy emphasized that men are fertile at all times and called for them to acknowledge their role in preventing unintended pregnancies.

However, Republican state Sen. Richard Cash objected to the amendment, claiming it would allow abortions on demand up to 12 weeks.

Cash questioned the justification for drawing a legal line to determine when human life can be terminated, suggesting that the bill was flawed for not protecting life from the beginning.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said it was necessary to pass the bill in order to safeguard the lives of unborn babies and prevent individuals from other states from seeking abortions in South Carolina.

Massey cited data from the states Department of Health and Environmental Control, which reported that more visitors to the state were receiving abortions than residents.

The abortion landscape has changed considerably even from our last debate on the issue just last month, Massey said, referring to the previous Senate vote in April. South Carolina has become the abortion capital of the southeast, and theres really no other way to say that.

Although the Senate had previously passed its own six-week ban, it had to vote again owing to amendments made by House Republicans to address legal challenges.

The previous state Supreme Court decision, which ruled against the ban, was written by the courts sole female justice, who retired shortly after the ruling owing to reaching the mandatory retirement age. She was replaced by a male justice, who is supported by the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus.

The Bill

The bill includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the life and health of the mother, and cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks.

Doctors found in violation of the law could face felony charges, carrying a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Under House modifications, the bill also includes several new requirements, such as mandating that the biological father provide child support from the date of conception. This provision is seen by opponents as an attempt to indirectly establish personhood laws in the state.

The additional modifications also include allowing a judge to decide if a minor can have an abortion should a parent or guardian be unavailable.

South Carolina lawmakers have repeatedly attempted and failed to pass abortion restrictions, with disagreements between the House and Senate on where to set the limit.

The House sought to ban abortions from conception, but it was unsuccessful three times owing to filibustering by the Senates five women, three of whom are Republicans, one a Democrat, and one an independent.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a leading pro-life group, praised the bills approval.

We thank SC House members for their persistence last week as Dems introduced 1,000 amendments as a stall tactic in their effort to continue late-term abortions, the organization said in a statement.

In further comments to Life News, the organizations Caitlin Connors said: South Carolinas heartbeat protection reflects the will of the people and the science. A heartbeat is one of the key vital signs of life, and once that heartbeat is detected, a baby has more than a 90% chance of surviving to birth. This measure will save thousands of individuals each year who will enrich the lives of others and the state of South Carolina.
South Korean Civil Groups Demand Expulsion of CCPs Confucius Institutes

Civic groups "Confucius Institutes Movement Headquarters" and "CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Out!" hold a press conference in front of Dongseo University in Busan and demanded the expulsion of the Confucius Institute on May 5, 2023. (The Epoch Times)

Two civil groups in South Korea are demanding the CCP-backed Confucius Institutes be expelled from the country.

South Korean civil society organizations Citizens for Unveiling Confucius Institute (CUCI) andCCP (Chinese Communist Party) Out held a press conference on Monday local time in front of Gyemyung University in Daegu and Dong-A University and Dong-A University in Busan to call for the expulsion of Confucius Institute.

The global movement to expel Confucius Institutes has been accelerating, especially in the United States and Europe, as it has been gradually revealed that, contrary to the Chinese regimes claims that it is a Chinese language and culture institution, it is actually an overseas propaganda arm of the CCP.

Korea was the first country in the world to establish Confucius Institutes, and it has the third-highest number globally and the highest in Asia. However, the Ministry of Education and each university have remained silent, said Han Min-Ho, president of CUCI.

Keeping Confucius Institutes in existence despite the fact that their true identity has been exposed is an act of treason and a betrayal of students by cooperating with the Chinese Communist Partys operations, he added.

The groups have been touring Confucius Institutes at 22 universities nationwide, starting with Jeju National University and Halla University in Jeju on April 18, and holding press conferences calling for their expulsion.

In particular, on May 10, the group visited the Ministry of Education in Sejong City, expressing grave concerns about the ministrys neglect in overseeing Confucius Institutes.

According to the CUCI, as public opinion heated up with calls for Confucius Institutes to be expelled, the Chinese Embassy in Seoul and Confucius Institutes have been desperately trying to calm down the agitation quietly by visiting all 24 Confucius Institutes across the country, while avoiding public confrontation.

The Confucius Institute openly acts as a platform to spread the CCPs propaganda in South Korea. During a Dec. 9, 2022, forum for directors of the Confucius Institute of Korea hosted by the Confucius Institute of Korea and organized by Honam University, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming praised CCP leader Xi Jinping and said China will provide more opportunities for countries around the world, including Korea, and make greater contributions to the progress of all mankind.

The groups called for a public debate with the Confucius Institute Association, a CUCI official said.

They plan to conclude their three-day nationwide press tour with visits to Hankuk University of Foreign Studies on May 24 and the Confucius Institute in Seoul on May 31.
State Legislature in Louisiana Considering 4th Constitutional Carry Bill Since 2020

Art and Diana Ramirez of Austin with their pistols in custom-made holsters during and open carry rally at the Texas State Capitol on Jan. 1, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted 70 to 29 to send a so-called Constitutional Carry bill to the Senate on May 23.

Louisiana Shooting Association (LSA) president Dan Zelenska is taking a wait-and-see attitude on the bills future.

Time is its biggest enemy, Zelenska told The Epoch Times.

HB 131, sponsored by Republican State Rep. Danny McCormick, would allow anyone 18 and older who can legally own a firearm to carry a gun concealed.

This restores the Second Amendment in Louisiana, McCormick said as he introduced the bill on the House Floor.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards speaks in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 15, 2018. (Reuters/Jonathan Bachman)

McCormick said he had pushed the legislation since 2020 because he finds asking the governments permission to exercise a constitutional right insulting.

There is nothing more unjust than making a citizen pay for a right they already have, he said.

Republican Rep. Debbie Villio offered an amendment to raise the age to carry from 18 to 21. She said she didnt believe most 18-year-olds are mature enough to carry a weapon. Other representatives agreed, citing the prevalence of gun crime among young males in New Orleans and other places.

McCormick agreed that crime is a problem. But he said selectively denying law-abiding 18-year-olds their rights would not solve the crime problem. He pointed out that 18-year-olds can vote and serve in the military. He said they are even prosecuted as adults when charged with serious crimes.

I cant understand why we would take this right away from law-abiding citizens, he said.

18-Year-Olds Can Carry

The bill passed without Villios amendment. Villio also offered an amendment that placed the same restrictions on where a firearm could be carried on those carrying without a permit as those with a concealed carry license. She said the amendment was meant to eliminate the possibility of confusion between the two laws.

The House adopted that amendment.

This is the fourth time McCormick has sponsored the bill.

According to Zelenska, permitless carry has enjoyed widespread support, but it is reportedly opposed by law enforcement. The bill has been vetoed or died in the legislature yearly since 2020. Zelenska said it could face the same fate this go round.

He pointed out that the legislative session ends on June 8. If senators take their time on other bills, letting the clock run out would be easy. On the other hand, Zelenska said, this is an election year.

They may just want to dump it on the governor, he said.

In 2022, the bill made it to Gov. John Bel Edwards desk, where it was vetoed. Zelenska said three Republicans who supported the measure changed course, removing the majority needed to override the governors veto.

If the bill is signed into law, Louisiana will become the 28th state to allow permitless carry.
Student Lit Deadly Fire at Guyana School After Phone Confiscated: Police

People stand inside the remains of a burnt secondary school dormitory after several children died after a fire gutted the building overnight, in Mahdia, Guyana, on 22 May, 2023. (Guyana Presidency/Handout via Reuters)

GEORGETOWNA fire in a school dormitory in Guyana that killed 19 children was lit by a student after school authorities confiscated her cell phone, police said on Tuesday.

The children, mostly Indigenous girls, died around midnight on Monday, most at the scene.

A female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorms mother and a teacher, police said in a statement.

David Adams, the mayor of Mahdia, the town where the school is located, earlier confirmed the students alleged involvement to Reuters and said she was not injured in the fire.

He added he could not confirm whether the student was in government custody. The police statement did not mention an arrest.

Some students told investigators they were awakened by screams and saw fire and smoke in the dorms bathroom area, police said.

The government pathologist who conducted post-mortems on six bodies late on Monday listed their cause of death as smoke inhalation and burns, police added.

Thirteen sets of remains had been moved to the capital Georgetown for DNA identification. Nearly 30 other children were hospitalized.

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand earlier declined to discuss the students alleged involvement.

Asked about allegations that the dormitory was not outfitted with a modern fire alarm system and that students were not trained in fire drills, Manickchand told Reuters all of that is under investigation and a report will be issued once that is done. What must come of this is improvement across the sector.

Burn specialists, psychiatrists, and other medical staff were attending to injured children and their families, she added.

The youngest of the fatalities was the five-year-old son of the dormitorys caretaker. All other victims were girls, and included several siblings and at least one set of twins.

President Irfaan Ali met with some parents of the dead on Monday after visiting Mahdias hospital, and declared three days of national mourning.

By Kiana Wilburg
Sunak: Uncontrolled Legal Migration Leads to Unmanageable Pressure on Communities

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference following the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Issei Kato - Pool/Getty Images)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stressed the need to curb legal immigration, saying it can lead to unmanageable pressures on communities when it is too high and too fast.

The government has been under pressure to cut not only illegal immigration but also legal migration numbers.

Writing in The Telegraph, Sunak reaffirmed his determination to stop illegal immigration in the English Channelone of the top five priorities of his premiershipsaying, We cannot allow people to come here illegally at the whim of criminal gangs.

He went on to say: But its not just a question of legality. We cant have uncontrolled legal migration either. Thats unfair too.

It leads to unmanageable pressures on housing, schools and hospitals in many of our communities. And when it is too high and too fast, it can make it difficult for communities to integrate new arrivals.

Student Visa Crackdown

Sunaks comments come after the government announced new visa restrictions on dependents of international students.

According to the Office of National Statistics, a significant factor behind the rise in net migration numbers in recent years has been an increase in foreign students and their dependents arriving.

A general view of a graduation ceremony in England on Oct. 19, 2015. (Chris Radburn/PA Media)

Sunak wrote that the number of dependents arriving alongside international students is staggering.

We have seen a more than eight-fold increase between 2019 and 2022, from 16,000 to 136,000the vast majority of which accompany taught masters students, he said, adding, The numbers suggest this might be being used by some as a loophole so we will close it.

On Tuesday, the government said that overseas students will be banned from obtaining visas for their dependents unless they are on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes.

International students will also be prevented from switching out of the student visa route into work before their studies have been completed.

In addition, the government said it will review the funds students must have to demonstrate they can look after themselves and their dependents in the UK, as well as clamp down on unscrupulous international student agents who may be supporting inappropriate applications.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the House of Commons on Tuesday, This package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK.

Simply Too High

In his article, Sunak emphasised that the new measures are not about being anti-immigrant.

He wrote: No one could be prouder of our history of legal migrationfrom our place in the world as a sanctuary for the most in need to the generations of families who have come here, contributed here and made their home here. Its a basic question of fairness and control. And I will always do what is fair and right. To me it is clear and unarguable: net migration is simply too high. I will bring it down.

Commenting on student visas, Alp Mehmet, chairman of campaign group Migration Watch UK, said the current policy of allowing foreign postgraduate students to stay in the UK for two years after graduating is a nonsense.

He told Talk TV, When we have the number of people who are looking for work or out of work, why dont we try to persuade those back to work, rather than relying on this simply to help out struggling universities?

Mehmet added that the governments new measure is sensible but not enough.

He said: Of course, it will help, and its the sensible, useful way of starting the whole process of reducing immigration, but its only part of the story. Im afraid that foreign students, many of them, are using it as a means of coming to this country, working in this country and settling in this country, and thats got to stop.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Target Removes Controversial Kids LGBT Products From All Stores After Boycott Threats

Target has removed a range of controversial LGBT-themed childrens products from all of its U.S. stores and its website after calls to boycott the retailer spread on social media.

The retail giant cited employee safety concerns and angry backlash in some stores as motivating the move. It comes after calls spread on social media to boycott Target over its 2023 Pride Collection, which included LGBT-themed products for children as young as infants.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and wellbeing while at work, a statement from Target reads. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.

Products for infants, including onesies with pro-LGBT slogans and content, were part of the collection. One onesie includes the text Bien Proud, and another features what appear to be LGBT rainbows and hearts along with the transgender flag colors.

The Minneapolis-based retailer was offering a range of child-oriented LGBT books in its inventory, such as Bye Bye, Binary and What Are Your Words? These books instruct children on the use of transgender pronouns. Some products for kids also appear to feature drag queens, according to products sold on the companys website.

The Bien Proud onesie for infants, sold via Targets website. (Target.com screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Target spokeswoman Kayla Castaneda said the company has been actively celebrating Pride month for more than 10 years. However, this year has seen an escalation in confrontational behavior by customers whove taken actions such as throwing some LGBT products onto the floor.

Targets recent decision to remove certain products from its stores and website comes shortly after the beer brand Bud Light saw its sales plummet after featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a social media campaign in April.

Castaneda clarified that the withdrawn products will be taken off shelves and removed from all Target stores across the United States and from the companys website.

While Target is currently reviewing various items from the Pride Collection, the specific products being removed are those associated with the LGBT brand Abprallen. This brand has faced scrutiny owing to its association with British designer Erik Carnell, who has encountered backlash on social media for creating merchandise that features pentagrams, horned skulls, and other Satanic imagery.

Calls to Boycott

After the LGBT-themed products from Target gained attention on social media, conservative influencers began to call for a boycott, reminiscent of the recent Bud Light controversy.

Candace Owens, a conservative commentator, said of the company, Target has been an openly perverted company for a long timemany million times worse than Bud Light and worthy of being boycott out of existence.

She previously urged all people with a moral conscience not to shop at Target, saying its the most pro-transgenderism company.

Conservative commentator Steven Crowder simply stated, Boycott Target.

Broadcaster Megyn Kelly expressed concern about children being exposed to such products at Target, saying, We dont need our kids seeing this [expletive] when we walk down the aisle at Target.

One of many items found among the Pride merchandise now sold by Target stores. (Alice Giordano/The Epoch Times)

Among the alleged childrens products that stirred controversy was a line of female swimsuits that featured a tuck-friendly label, indicating that it would have enough fabric to cover male genitals, according to videos posted online from inside a Target location.

Did you know @Target also sells tuck-friendly bathing suits for children in the Pride section? Well, now you do, reads one social media post.

A spokesperson for Target told The Associated Press that the tuck-friendly swimsuits are only offered for adults and the childrens line of clothing doesnt feature that label.

The tuck-friendly swim suits are for adults only, the spokesperson said.

Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh said he found the controversy more egregious than Bud Lights partnering with Mulvaney.

What Target is doing is far worse than anything Bud Light did, he said. They are selling chest binders and tuck-friendly bathing suits for children.

Last week, Target CEO Brian Cornell defended woke companies on Fortunes Leadership Next podcast.

I think those are just good business decisions, and its the right thing for society, and its a great thing for our brand, he said.

The things weve done from a [diversity, equity, and inclusion] standpoint, its adding value, Cornell said, referring to left-wing training materials. Its helping us drive sales, its building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for our business today.

When we think about purpose at Target, its really about helping all the families, and that all word is really important, Cornell added. He also said that the focus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of the companys growth over the past nine years.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Texas AG Ken Paxton Accuses Speaker of Being Drunk on House Floor, Calls for His Resignation

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has called on House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign, accusing the lawmaker of being drunk while overseeing proceedings on the House floor.

After much consideration, it is with profound disappointment that I call on Speaker Dade Phelan to resign at the end of the legislative session, Paxton said in a statement posted on Twitter on May 23. Texans were dismayed to witness his performance presiding over the Texas House in an apparent debilitating intoxication. His conduct has negatively impacted the legislative process and constitutes a failure to live up to his duty to the public.

Phelan, a Republican lawmaker from Beaumont, Texas, appeared to slur his words while speaking on the House floor on May 19 in videos that are circulating online. Videos of the May 19 sessions can also be viewed on the Texas House of Representatives website.

Phelans behavior appeared normal during most of the two-part session that lasted approximately 14 hours. None of the other lawmakers appeared to question his conduct in the second video. The lawmaker is the 76th Speaker of the Texas House and is serving his fourth term as a state representative.

The speakers office said Paxtons call for Phelans resignation was motivated by the House Ethics Committees investigation of a $3.3 million whistleblower settlement the attorney general reached with four former employees who accused him of corruption.

The House has been conducting an investigation related to your request for $3.3 million dollars of public money to pay a settlement resolving litigation between your agency and terminated whistleblowers, reads the letter from the Committee to Paxton.

The letter is dated May 23.

The committees inquiry has reached the stage where they have directed the issuance of a preservation letter to you and your agency, the letter said.

Paxton Investigation

Revelation of the committees letter came hours after Paxtons call for Phelans resignation.

This afternoon, the Texas House General Investigating Committee directed the issuance of a preservation letter to the Office of the Attorney General, the state agency that is the subject of Matter A, to ensure that all evidence relevant to the committees inquiry is not destroyed or concealed, Cait Wittman, spokesperson for Phelan, told The Epoch Times in a statement.

The letter orders the attorney general to preserve and retain all documents, electronic or magnetic data, and any other items related to the case.

The failure to preserve and retain this information may constitute spoilation of evidence and subject you to legal claims for damages or monetary sanctions, the letter continued.

Wittman said Paxtons statement about Phelan amounts to little more than a last-ditch effort to save face.

Wittmans statement did not confirm nor deny Paxtons accusations regarding Phelans behavior on the House floor on May 19.

A mass text of the video of Phelan from the May 19 floor session was sent to journalists by an unidentified advocacy group, according to KXAN-TV.

House Fails to Pass Land Bill

Paxton pointed to the failure of Senate Bill 147, which the Senate passed in late April. If adopted in the House, the bill would have banned the purchase of Texas farmland, timberland, and oil and gas rights by entities with ties to China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

Texans were relying on the House to pass critical conservative priorities including protecting the integrity of our elections and preventing Chinese spies from controlling Texas land, Paxton said in his statement about Phelan.

The bill was authored by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst.

Texas is rich in its natural resources and is home to invaluable strategic military bases and installations. With SB 147, we can protect our Texas food supply and energy resources as well, Kolkhorst wrote.

The bill had undergone several revisions but failed to pass out of the House committee over the weekend, essentially killing it for the regular legislative session, which ends on May 26.

A few minutes after Paxton posted the statement calling for Phelans resignation, he shared on Twitter a screenshot of a letter he sent to Republican Rep. Andrew Murr, chair of the General Investigating Committee.

Based on a review of Speaker Dade Phelan presiding over the House of Representatives in an obviously intoxicated state, I am calling upon the Committee to open an investigation into Speaker Phelan for violation of House rules, state law, and for conduct unbecoming his position, the letter said.

Earlier in May, Republican Rep. Bryan Slaton resigned following an investigation by the committee into allegations that the lawmaker, 45, had supplied alcohol to a 19-year-old aide and had sexual relations with her at his Austin apartment.

The committee of three Republicans and two Democrats found that Slaton, a married father and former youth minister, had violated multiple rules through an inappropriate relationship with the woman, according to the May 6 report (pdf).
Texas Winery Owner Sentenced to Nearly 7 Years in Prison for Jan. 6 Actions

Christopher Grider supplied the helmet used in rioting outside the Speaker's Lobby where Ashli Babbitt was shot

Christopher Grider (at right with yellow flag draped in front) just before he hands a riot helmet to Zachary Alam outside the Speaker's Lobby at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Sam Montoya/For The Epoch Times)

The man who supplied the helmet used by a rioter to break the windows of the House Speakers Lobby entrance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 83 months in federal prison on May 23.

Christopher Ray Grider, 41, who owns a winery in Eddy, Texas, was also placed by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on 36 months of supervised release, fined $812, and ordered to pay $5,055 in restitution.

In a December bench trial, Grider was found guilty on seven charges, including obstructing an officer during civil disorder; obstructing an official proceeding; injuring, damaging, or destroying government property; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building.

Grider earlier pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a restricted building or grounds.

Grider was in the center of the Speakers Lobby hallway when rioting erupted at about 2:35 p.m. on Jan. 6.

Christopher Grider (right) shouts at police after the shooting of Ashli Babbitt outside the Speakers Lobby at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Sam Montoya/For The Epoch Times)

He handed a black riot helmet to Jan. 6 suspect Zachary Jordan Alam, 31, of Centreville, Virginia, who used it to bash in the door windows of the entry to the Speakers Lobby. Alam is charged with 11 Jan. 6-related crimes and has a July 31 trial date.

Shortly after Alam smashed the final window, Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, 35, was shot and killed by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd when she tried to climb through the broken window.

Just before Babbitt was shot, Grider moved away from the doors after Jan. 6 suspect John Sullivanwho was filming the sceneshouted, Gun!

Grider stayed in the area after other protesters exited the building, using his phone in an attempt to record Babbitt lying on the ground bleeding, according to court records.

In his sentencing memorandum, Grider said prosecutors and the probation department have portrayed him as someone he is not.

Christopher Grider (draped in yellow flag) watches as Zachary Alam smashes windows at the Speakers Lobby entry on Jan. 6, 2021. (JaydenX/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Griders actions on January 6 stood in stark contrast to his usual character both before and after that fateful day, wrote defense attorney T. Brent Mayr.

Although Grider picked up the black riot helmet, he clearly did not intend to use it as a weapon or an implement for causing damage, Mayr wrote.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly rejected Griders attempts to quash the sentencing enhancements sought by prosecutors. She accused the defendant of lying on the stand during his trial about his mental state on Jan. 6.

The judge wrote in a May 23 ruling, The number and speciousness of defendants lies during his testimony compels the conclusion, by clear and convincing evidence, that defendant willfully provided false testimony regarding the requisite mental states for the charged offenses.




*This year, BMW will go all out to go electric.

*In China, BMW Group has built its largest production base in the world and established its largest R&D and innovation network outside Germany.

*China's development in new-energy vehicle production has opened up new growth space for foreign auto companies.

SHENYANG, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Liu Yifang, a resident in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, replaced his compact car with a BMW sedan in 2012, as he believed that the German brand had become affordable for more Chinese families.

The employee of a foreign-funded company with a family income of more than 300,000 yuan (about 42,718 U.S. dollars) a year is considered as a member of China's fast growing middle-income consumers.

Previously deemed as luxuries, brands such as BMW and Tesla have gained popularity among Chinese consumers, as they match the consumers' needs for consumption upgrading.

BMW i3 electric cars are pictured at Plant Lydia of BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) in Tiexi District of Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, June 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

BMW has witnessed China's journey of becoming the world's most active automobile producer and market. Its primary customer group has shifted from company buyers to ordinary Chinese families.

Twenty years ago, when the company first set foot in China, the country's automobile industry had just started to build momentum with production and sales exceeding 4 million vehicles for the first time.

At that time, BMW adopted a light asset investment strategy of renting production lines with China's Brilliance Auto Group. Now in China, BMW Group has built its largest production base in the world and established its largest R&D and innovation network outside Germany.

"Over the 20 years, we have developed to a significant site here in Shenyang, the largest production site worldwide," Milan Nedeljkovic, member of the board of management of BMW AG, told Xinhua in an interview upon the BMW Group's celebration of the 20th anniversary of its joint venture in China, BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA), on May 18.

He said last year, BBA had two significant extensions of Dadong and Tiexi production sites in Shenyang, and based on them, the company is expanding the electro-mobility fleet coming from the iX3, which is locally produced for the international market.

As of February this year, BBA has rolled off 5 million vehicles.

The 5 millionth vehicle of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA) is seen in Tiexi District of Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, in February of 2023. (BBA/Handout via Xinhua)

An Liang, section leader in BBA's Plant Dadong, recalled that when he started to work in the plant in 2003, there were few robots in the factory. "Now robots exist in almost every production link in the plant."

In 2022, BMW delivered 41,886 pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market, up 91.6 percent year on year.

Jochen Goller, president and CEO of BMW China, said this year, BMW will go all out to go electric, presenting 11 pure electric products for Chinese customers.

As the world's largest new-energy vehicle (NEV) production and sales market, China's development in the sector has opened up new growth space for foreign auto companies.

Mechanical arms conduct welding work in a workshop of the Tiexi Plant of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA) in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Feb. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

The U.S. carmaker Tesla announced in April the construction of a new mega factory in Shanghai, which will be dedicated to manufacturing the company's energy-storage product Megapack. The new plant is scheduled to break ground in the third quarter of this year and start production in the second quarter of 2024.



Established in 2019, the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai is the carmaker's first Gigafactory outside the United States. It delivered 710,000 vehicles in 2022, an increase of 48 percent from 2021.

The vehicle export terminal of the port of Dalian, Liaoning, provides logistics services for BMW, Volvo, FAW and other car exporters. "Since the beginning of this year, we have been busy delivering cars every day," said a worker at the terminal.

"The Chinese market is very strong. It's dynamic and resilient. There is a significant opportunity for investments of foreign companies, which gives the win-win situation for both China and the investors," said Nedeljkovic in the interview. 

(Video reporters: Gao Ming, Xu Yang, Wang Bingkun, Yu Yetong, Wang Nan; video editors: Zhang Li, Wei Yin)


Under a gray sky, a heavily armed Dutch cargo ship powers through the choppy waters of the North Sea, in Hendrick Cornelisz Vrooms painting A Fleet at Sea. Wind fills the ships sails. Sailors work hard, ensuring that the ship stays on course. High on the mast a golden flag with a red lion motif flutters in the breeze, announcing that this ship comes from the province of Holland, and that it likely was the Roode Leeuw (Red Lion) that set sail for the Caribbean and South America in 1597.

At the heart of the red, white, and blue Dutch flag that flies on the stern pole is Rotterdams municipal crest, hinting at the ships home port.

The port of Den Briel, in the west Netherlands, can be seen in the distance, where the Maas River widens to the North Sea.

We may recognize the ships silhouette as similar to the Mayflower, which brought the Pilgrims to Cape Cod on Nov. 21, 1620. Both ships were fluyts, Dutch cargo ships. Fluyts are pear-shaped like Spanish galleons, and have square rigs with two or three masts. The fluyt design originated in the 16th century and was created to maximize cargo space and crew efficiency.

Marine Painter Extraordinaire

In October 2022, the National Gallery of Art acquired Vrooms A Fleet at Sea painting.

As the first Dutch painter to specialize in seascapes, Vroom deftly painted ship portraits and epic sea-battle scenes teeming with action. Indeed, he popularized such paintings. And, according to the gallerys press release, Vroom paved the way for later 17th-century marine painters.

Ship owners, captains, and shareholders of the Dutch East and West India Companies commissioned Vrooms paintings, many of which glorify the Dutch Golden Age, showing Dutch naval and merchant might.

Some of Vrooms paintings highlight Englands maritime might, such as when the lord admiral commissioned him to create a series of cartoons (preparatory drawings), for the now-lost tapestries, celebrating Englands victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588. The tapestries were displayed in the House of Lords until a fire destroyed the textiles in 1834.

The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets, 1739, drafted by Clement Lempriere and Hubert Francois Gravelot after Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom. Engraved by John Pine. Etching and engraving; 21 3/16 inches by 14 15/16 inches. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1963; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Public Domain)

Vroom managed to create harmonious paintings even when depicting battles or powerful sea surges.

Dutch Ships Ramming Spanish Galleys off the English Coast, 3 October 1602, 1617, by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom. Oil on canvas; 46 1/4 inches by 57 3/8 inches. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. (Public Domain)

Sailor Vroom

Born in Haarlem in the province of North Holland, Vroom first became a pottery and faience (tin-glazed pottery) painter, loosely following in the footsteps of his father, who was a sculptor and ceramic artist.

When he was 19 years old, he boarded a ship to Spain, then to Italy. Of note, in Florence between 1585 and 1587, the Medici family became his patrons. Traveling through Italy and France, he painted pottery, studied under Flemish landscape painter Paul Bril, and met artists such as Haarlem painter Jan Kraeck, (a court painter for the House of Savoy in Turin, Italy), gaining much inspiration for his art.

Vroom also had some adventures. On one voyage, he became shipwrecked near Lisbon, in Portugal. The natives wanted to kill the crew, thinking them to be pirates. After Vroom showed the natives some of his small religious paintings, the natives were convinced that the crew were Christians and spared their lives.

As a seasoned sailor, Vroom understood the sea elements: how the wind, water, and sunlight behaved in all kinds of weather. Having spent countless hours on the water, he knew how to render every last detail of a sailors work and the ships architecture.

His lively, vibrant seascapes remain as testimonies of when the sails ruled the high seas and distant lands were sailors dreams.
The Victorian State Budget Targeting Big Business, Housing Investors and Private Schools

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas delivers his budget speech in the Legislative Assembly at Victorian State Parliament in Melbourne, Australia on May 20, 2021. (AAP Image/James Ross)

The Victorian state government will target big business, housing investors and private schools as the main drive to collect tax revenues as outlined in its new budget report released on May 23.

But despite the targeted taxes, Treasurer Tim Pallas has denied the state budget is steeped in class warfare.

Nobodys engaging in a terminology of class warfarethat is not whats motivating us, he told reporters on May 23.

While Victorians must face a decade-long of tax pain via the new COVID-19 levies, which do target big employers and property owners, state debt is still set to skyrocket to $171 billion (US$112 billion) by 2026-27 almost $70,000 for every household.

Handing down his ninth budget emblazoned with Labors Doing What Matters election slogan, Tim Pallas defended his 10-year, two-part levy to help repay $31.5 billion in COVID-19 debt.

Under the new budget policy, from July this year, Victorian businesses with national payrolls above $10 million, which roughly represents five percent of the states employers, will pay an additional 0.5 percent in the payroll tax.

Businesses with a national payroll over $100 million must pay one percent in additional tax, which would raise $3.9 billion over the forward estimates.

In addition, another $4.7 billion will be collected from nearly 860,000 Victorian investment, holiday home or business property owners under land tax changes.

Budget forecasts indicate interest payments to service the staggering debt will hit $22 million a day by 2026-27 while tax revenue will jump to $40 billion  double what it was in 2015-16.

The other major target group is the 110 high-fee-paying private schools which will no longer enjoy the payroll tax exemptions and will thus generate $422 million over the next four years for the state.

In the meantime, about 4,000 public sector employees will lose their jobs so that the state government can save another $2.1 billion.

Industry And Advocacy Groups United In Condemning The Measures

Industry and advocacy groups stand united in condemning the measures to stabilise the states worsening debt situation.

Paul Guerra, Chief Executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told reporters that the Victorian state government is simply using the large business and property owners as an ATM to pay off its debt.

Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra implies that the new and increased taxes would mean job losses and increased prices for customers, which would add more living pressures to ordinary Victorians.

The 2023-2024 Victorian Budget papers are seen at the Budget Lockup in Melbourne, Australia, on May 23, 2023. (AAP Image/James Ross)

Real Estate Institute of Victoria Chief executive Quentin Kilian said the new tax would only make the current rental crisis worsen: This is a tax on families not the big end of town.

The decision to reduce the land tax-free threshold to $50,000 will now capture almost everyone, and the fixed charge on top of that was a tax on a tax, reported Herald Sun.

CPA Australia senior tax policy manager Elinor Kasapidis said, Make no mistake, renters will end up footing the bill. This will exacerbate Victorias rental stress.

Independent School Victorian chief executive Michelle Green said the removal of the tax-free exemption would create a damaging impact on usual operations for many schools and, as a result, cause disruption for students.

Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto believes that, although the state government needs to do something to reduce the debt, targeting employers, private schools, and property owners is not the right way. His recommendation is to cut the big spending on infrastructure.

These are not Ferrari-driving property investors, he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that he was confident Premier Daniel Andrews could rein in Victorias mounting debt without the help of his federal government.

They have done an enormous amount to invest in infrastructure. The Victorian economy is growing again, he told Sevens Sunrise.
Trump Rips Disloyal DeSantis Amid Launch of Rivals Presidential Bid

Former President Donald Trump (L) addresses the crowd during a 2024 election campaign event in Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 28, 2023. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) speaks to guests at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas on Nov. 19, 2022. (Logan Cyrus, Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Hours before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was set to officially announce his candidacy for president, his top rival for the Republican nomination unleashed a fury of criticism via social media, targeting everything from the governors electability to his personality and character.

Ron DeSanctus cant win the General Election (or get the nomination) because he voted to obliterate Social Security, even wanting to raise the minimum age to 70 (or more!), voted to badly wound Medicare, and fought hard and voted for a 23% tax on everything sales tax, former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on May 24.

He was, and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention, Trump added. Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!

In several other posts, Trump criticized DeSantiss character, noting that the former congressman had come to him in 2018 seeking his endorsement for governor.

Look, Rob DeSanctimonious came to me asking for help, he wrote in one post. He was losing badly, by 31 points, to popular Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. He was getting ready to drop out of the raceRan a terrible campaign!

Ron told me he had one last chance, my Support & Endorsement, which Putnam, and everyone else, wanted also. I gave it to Ron, and the race was over. In one day, he went from losing badly, to winning by a lot. With 3 large Trump rallies, he won the general election in an upset. Disloyal!!!

When reached for comment about Trumps remarks, Bryan Griffin, a DeSantis spokesperson, pointed to his previous assertion that Trump views the governor as a threat.

These are the largest ongoing expenditures against a non-candidate in Republican primary history, and thats all you need to know to draw the obvious conclusion, Griffin wrote in a May 22 tweet, sharing financial reports from Trumps Make America Great Again, Inc. super PAC showing more than $15 million in ad buys opposing DeSantis.

@RonDeSantis presents the greatest threat to Donald Trump.

Campaign Launch

After months of mounting speculation over whether DeSantis would enter the race, a spokesperson confirmed to The Epoch Times on Tuesday that he would announce his presidential bid Wednesday during a Twitter Spaces interview with the social media platforms owner, Elon Musk.

DeSantis is scheduled to announce his campaign at 6 p.m. ET, joining a growing field of Republican contenders in which Trump holds a commanding lead.

As of May 24, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, 56.3 percent of Republican primary voters preferred Trump to DeSantis, who came in a distant second at 19.4 percent.

Other official Republican candidates include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, conservative talk show host Larry Elder, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who officially announced his candidacy on Monday.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu have also been floated as potential challengers but have not made any formal announcements to that effect.

Citing unnamed sources, CNN reported Wednesday that the Trump camp was planning to upend DeSantis campaign launch with a social media blitz and gathering of Trump surrogates in Miami, where the governor was set to meet with donors from May 24-26.

When reached for comment, Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, told The Epoch Times, We will not get ahead of what may or may not happen.

Joining the Fray

While the 45th president has been vocal in denouncing his one-time ally, DeSantis has largely refrained from criticizing Trump, opting instead for an above-the-fray stance.

In March, however, the governor departed from that approach when asked to comment on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs pursuit of criminal charges against Trump relating to hush money payments that were made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

DeSantis, while condemning Braggs efforts, also appeared to slight Trump in his response.

Youre paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affairI cant speak to that, he said. What I can speak to is you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in your jurisdictions, and youre choosing to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush money payments. Thats an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. And I think thats fundamentally wrong.

The subtle dig at Trumps alleged infidelity may have been a test shot for DeSantis, who now faces the challenge of positioning himself as a better candidate than Trump without losing support from Trumps devoted base, which currently holds significant sway in the Republican Party.

And given that DeSantis was elected governor with the help of that same base, he may be facing an uphill battle.

According to a poll conducted April 13-14 by Florida Atlantic University, 59 percent of registered Republican voters in Florida chose Trump as their preferred presidential nominee, while 31 percent chose DeSantis.

Additionally, the vast majority of respondents in the poll indicated they had already made up their minds as to who would get their vote.

Nonetheless, the governor received endorsements from 51 New Hampshire state representatives on Tuesday, according to the DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down, and has also been backed by former Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, and seven sitting members of Congress, among others.

New Hampshire wants a leader with a winning conservative record that will bring new energy and economic growth to our country. They know that leader is Governor Ron DeSantis, said Never Back Down Communications Director Erin Perrine in a statement.

Under Governor DeSantiss leadership, Florida has become the fastest growing state in the country, and hes secured historic tax cuts for Floridians, including eliminating the states sales tax on baby items to support Florida families. New Hampshires leaders know his success should serve as a blueprint for our nation and are excited to support him because he can defeat Joe Biden in 2024 and put our country back on track.
US Seals Agreements With Micronesia in Bid to Counter Beijing

A view from a U.S. plane as it makes its landing approach at Pohnpei International Airport in Kolonia in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) on Aug. 5, 2019.

The United States struck three agreements with the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) on May 23 to sustain cooperation at significant levels amid ongoing rivalry between the U.S. and China in the Pacific region.

The accords were signed by Alissa Bibb, the charge daffaires of the U.S. embassy in Pohnpei, and Micronesian negotiator Leo Falcam Jr. as part of the Compact of Free Association (COFA), the State Department said.

Both sides agreed to extend COFA-related assistance at significant levels that recognize our special relationship, support economic development, bolster resilience to tackle challenges such as climate change, and assist in building a sustainable future.

The agreements encompassed the amendment of the COFA, a new fiscal procedures accord, and a new trust fund agreement. Washington hailed them as a major milestone in its relationship with FSM.

Congressional approval is necessary before the agreements can be brought into force, and we are engaged with Congress on this matter, the State Department said.

Under the COFA, established in the 1980s, the United States is obligated to provide economic aid to FSM, Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands in exchange for permission to operate defense bases there. These three Pacific nations are called the Freely Associated States.

Speaking to reporters in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had signed an agreement with Palau and hoped to conclude negotiations with the Marshall Islands soon.

As part of these agreements, the United States will commit $7.1 billion to the Freely Associated States over the next 20 years, Blinken said at a joint press conference with the PNG leader on May 22.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Papua New Guineas Defence Minister Win Bakri Daki shake hands after signing a security agreement as Papua New Guineas Prime Minister James Marape (center) looks on at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation at APEC Haus in Port Moresby on May 22, 2023. (Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images)

Blinken also signed a defense cooperation deal with PNG in place of President Joe Biden, which he said would enable the United States to support PNG in boosting its defense capacity, tackling illegal fishing, and providing disaster relief.

I just want to stress this point: It wasnt shoved down on our throat. It wasnt forced upon us; it was a mutual agreement, PNG Prime Minister James Marape told reporters.

The ongoing debt limit talks in Washington prompted Biden to cancel his planned trip to the Pacific island nation, which would have been the first by a sitting U.S. president to PNG.

Micronesia Plays Key Role

The United States has sought to boost its engagement in the Pacific region after Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, which many countries in the region fear could allow Beijing to station troops, weapons, and naval ships on the strategically important island.

In March, former FSM President David Panuelo exposed the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to his nation in a leaked 13-page letter to the FSM Congress.

Panuelos four-year term ended earlier this month and he was succeeded by Wesley Simina.

He alleged the CCP was attempting to undermine FSMs sovereignty to ensure that the Pacific nation would side with the CCP or remain neutral in a potential conflict over self-ruled Taiwan.

We further know that the FSM has a key role to play in either the prevention of such a conflict or participation in allowing it to occur, Panuelo wrote.

It is on this basis that Political Warfare and Grey Zone activity occur within our borders; China is seeking to ensure that, in the event of a war in our Blue Pacific Continent between themselves and Taiwan, that the FSM is, at best, aligned with the PRC instead of the United States, and, at worst, that the FSM chooses to abstain altogether, he added.

Panuelo said the CCPs political warfare in the FSM included overt activitysuch as political alliances and economic measuresand covert activity, such as bribery, psychological warfare, and blackmail.
US Tech Sector Continues Laying Off Large Number of Employees

A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is seen in front of the displayed Google logo in this illustration taken on Nov. 2, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

American tech firms have announced thousands of layoffs this year so far, with reasons for these terminations ranging from over-hiring during the pandemic, worries about a potential recession, and efforts to cut costs.

Salesforce set the tone for the tech industrys layoffs this year in January when it announced that 8,000 employees would be terminated. PayPal announced 2,000 layoffs, Microsoft 10,000, IBM 3,900, Amazon 18,000 jobs, and Alphabet 12,000 employees. Other major companies like Meta, Yahoo, Dell, and GoDaddy, among others, followed with more job cut announcements. More recently, Soundcloud has announced it is laying off eight percent of its global staff.

A report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. found the tech sector to have made the most job cut announcements so far this year. Between January and April, the tech industry announced 113,944 layoffs, which is 34 percent of all job cuts announced in 2023, it said.

There are multiple reasons why the tech sector accounts for the bulk of the layoffs. The COVID-19 pandemic created a situation where people had more time at home as well as cash in hand. People sat at home, buying groceries, food, and other stuff online while streaming their favorite shows.

Demand for IT solutions expanded and tech companies went on a hiring spree, with Meta almost doubling its head count. But as things got back to normal, demand for tech services dropped and IT firms found themselves with excess employees, triggering layoffs.

Companies are also worried about a potential recession. A probability model from the New York Federal Reserve found the odds of the United States falling into a recession over the next 12 months to be at 68.2 percent, the highest in 40 years.

Some tech firms are cutting jobs in a bid to cut down costs and improve profitability. When Amazon announced in March that they were eliminating 9,000 jobs, CEO Andy Jassy said, Given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount.

Hiring Foreign Workers

While tech companies are laying off domestic employees, they are hiring more foreign workers, according to investigative journalist Lee Fang.

In a May 16 analysis at his website, Fang cited data from the Department of Labor to reveal that thousands of recent H1-B foreign worker visas requested by firms that just underwent massive layoffs this year. Such companies include Meta, SalesForce, Microsoft, Zoom, Amazon, and Palantir.

Microsoft has a long history of internal outsourcing to lower wages. Heres Bill Gates in 2008 testifying in Congress, asking policymakers to increase the cap on H-1B visas, Fang said in a May 16 tweet while posting the video of the testimony.

Google sent an emotional email announcing 12k layoffs in Jan. Just one month later, Google filed for foreign visa high tech workers at lower pay, Fang said in another tweet.

H-1B visas are usually used by the tech industry to hire foreign software workers and have been criticized for being used to undercut American citizens. They are issued for three years and can be extended for an additional three years.

This year, there were 780,884 H-1B visa applications, which is up by 61 percent compared to 2022. Every year, up to 85,000 people are selected for these visas.

Despicable Policy

On May 18, public charity America First Legal (AFL) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with multiple government agencies to obtain records related to Microsofts efforts to hire foreign workers instead of American employees.

AFL claimed that the H-1B visa program is being misused by employers frequently to cut costs by hiring cheaper foreign workers, according to a May 18 post. Employers do not have to pay payroll taxes on such workers due to special agreements that Washington has signed with the home nations of these foreign workers.

It is despicable for a company to fire its own workers and then turn around and hire foreigners as replacements, all just to save a few dollars. The letter and the spirit of the law forbid such practices, said James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel.

American companies that engage in this appalling behavior need to be held accountable. Its time for them to start following the law and respecting the rights of American workers.

The organization criticized the Biden administration for rolling back many of the critical H-1B reforms that were put in place under the Trump administration.

For instance, Trump eliminated the practice of allocating H-1B visas through a lottery system and instead instituted a process of giving these visas by wage level.

This was a crucial reform that made it virtually impossible for companies to hire low-wage foreign workers to replace their American employees, AFL stated. Biden revoked this rule entirely.
Washingtons First Equity Director Fired by Governor Inslees Office

Governor Jay Inslees administration has fired Washingtons first Office of Equity director, Dr. Karen A. Johnson.

Johnsons last day was Wednesday after being appointed by Governor Inslee in March of 2021 to help promote equity in state government.

According to the governors office, Jonsons firing comes after concerns over a lack of stability and budgetary concerns.

The office has experienced a lack of stability in agency operations and the work environment, including high vacancy rates, high employee turnover, and budgetary concerns, Mike Faulk, Press Secretary for the Governors Office, said in an email statement to local King5 news. We remain committed to the work and the success of this office moving forward. We determined this will require new leadership.

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and other leaders speak to the press in Seattle, Wash., on March 28, 2020. (Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

Faulk added that Johnson was provided the opportunity to resign and chose separation instead.

She launched this groundbreaking office and contributed greatly to starting this important work, Faulk said in a statement. We remain committed to the work and the success of this office moving forward. We determined this will require new leadership.

In an interview with local KING 5 news, where her firing was first reported on Monday, Johnson told the outlet that she was not aware of Faulks concerns and that her office was planning to hold public agencies accountable if they failed to make equity a priority.

Faulk states that Johnsons departure had nothing to do with her plan to hold the agencies accountable.

The governor has been incredibly supportive of the Office of Equitys work, Faulk said in an email statement. The next director will be expected to provide accountability, implement the governors executive orders on equity, and help agencies reduce disparities. We want the Office of Equity to be an effective and transformative force in government.

Inslee signed legislation creating the office in April 2020, and at the time of her appointment, Johnson was the equity and inclusion administrator for the state Department of Corrections.

Governor Inslee has boldly announced Washingtons historic commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism, and I am excited to join his team at this time, Johnson said in a statement at the time. We will work to develop a new state culture that centers equity in all of its work and provides all Washingtonians with an opportunity to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Office of Equity was set up to examine all state facets through the equity guidelines.

The Washington State Office of Equity exists to facilitate policy and systems change to promote equitable policies, practices, and outcomes to streamline our service delivery and improve the customer experience through, Agency decision making, Community involvement, Technical assistance and training to agencies, Maintaining data and establishing performance metrics, and Accountability, according to the offices website.

Inslees Chief of Staff Jamila Thomas thanked Johnson for her work and said the equity office remains a priority for the governors office.

Weve seen how important this agencys work is and how we all play a role in achieving our shared goal of helping everyone in Washington flourish and achieve their full potential. I applaud your leadership and commitment to ensuring we center equity across the enterprise, Thomas said. We all have a responsibility to promote access to equitable opportunities and resources that will reduce disparities and improve outcomes for all Washingtonians.

Johnson told MyNorthwest that the office needs new leadership going forward and only wants the best for the office to continue its work in the name of equity.

I am blessed that I got to do this job, and I stand by what I did, and I stand by the community that I was trying to help in my tenure at the Office of Equity, Johnson said. I would hope that [Gov. Inslee] continues to provide employees across the state the opportunities that they deserve and continue the work of accountability to make everyones lives better.
What Johnstons Report Says on MP Han Dong, Michael Chan, and Key Interference Allegations

David Johnston, Independent Special Rapporteur on Foreign Interference, presents his first report in Ottawa on May 23, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Special rapporteur David Johnstons first report comments on some of the Chinese interference allegations that have been reported in media based on intelligence leaks. This includes allegations against MP Han Dong, former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Chan, and the Chinese consulates interference in past federal elections.

Heres what the report says on these key allegations.

11 Candidates Being Funded by Consulate

In a November 2022 article, the Global News revealed that Canadian intelligence officials had provided briefings and memos to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several cabinet members in January of that year. These briefings highlighted concerns about a foreign interference scheme orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which involved the funding of a covert network consisting of at least 11 federal candidates who participated in the 2019 election.

Johnston acknowledged that China had employed proxy agents and attempted to influence various Liberal and Conservative candidates in subtle ways. However, he disputed the allegation that a network of 11 federal candidates had allegedly received CCP funding.

According to Johnston, there was no evidence to suggest that these 11 candidates were collaborating as a cohesive network or that they fully comprehended the intentions of the proxies involved. Some of the candidates are well-integrated with Chinese Canadian community organizations. There is nothing inherently suspicious about this, as it is common for political candidates to rely on community support, he wrote.

My conclusion is that there was no evidence presented to any Minister or the Prime Minister that any of the 11 candidates or any group of candidates were working together as part of a network. No recommendation about a network of candidates was made as no network was known to exist. No recommendation was ignored.

He also criticized the politicization of the issue, saying in his report that all parties engaged in posturing and disregarded facts in favour of slogans, many of which he said turned out to be inaccurate.

During a press conference on May 23, when asked if the Liberal Party was also involved in this alleged posturing, Johnston didnt answer the question, stating that many of the accusations lacked a full panoply of information.

Chinese Funding

Leaked information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), as reported by Global News, indicated that the Chinese consulate in Toronto funneled approximately $250,000 in funding to the 11 candidates involved in the 2019 election. The funds were allegedly channeled through an Ontario MPP and a staff member of a federal election candidate, whose identities were not disclosed.

A subsequent Global report citing additional intelligence sources identified Vincent Ke, a former member of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, as the MPP in question.

Johnstons report questioned the validity of this allegation, describing it as most inflammatory.

There is uncertainty about whether there was money, if it actually went to staff or the provincial MPP, and there is no intelligence suggesting any federal candidates received these funds, he wrote.

The Chinese Consulate in Toronto is seen on April 25, 2023. (Andrew Chen/The Epoch Times)

Johnston also defended Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus previous claims that he had never been briefed by the intelligence establishment about any federal candidates receiving money from China.

The Prime Minister pointed out that he is not briefed on matters that are not supported by reliable intelligence. No recommendations were made to any Minister or the Prime Minister about this allegation, and therefore no recommendations were ignored, he wrote.

Ke, who resigned from the PC Caucus to sit as an Independent following the Global News report, was not mentioned by name in Johnstons report. Ke is suing Global News for defamation. He has not responded to inquiries from The Epoch Times.

Han Dong

MP Han Dong was caught in the centre of the Chinese interference allegations when Global News named him as one of the 11 candidates who received funding from CCP agents in the 2019 election, citing national security sources. He departed the Liberal Caucus to sit as an independent shortly after the media outlet reported about his conversations with the Chinese consul general in Toronto, allegedly advising Beijing to hold off on the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were arbitrarily detained in China.

Johnston concluded that this allegation about Dongs advice to Beijing about the two Canadians was false, though he acknowledged that the MP continued to maintain close relationships with PRC [Peoples Republic of China] consular officials at least through the 2021 [federal election].

Dong has denied the allegations and is suing Global News for libel. He issued a statement on May 23, expressing gratitude for Johnstons support of his stance.

I feel vindicated by Mr. Johnstons report, he wrote. With respect to the allegation that I advised the Chinese consulate to extend the detention of Mr. Michael Kovrig and Mr. Michael Spavor, Mr. Johnston found that the allegation is false.'

David Mulroney, who had served as Canadas ambassador to the PRC from 2009 to 2012, said it was unusual and questionable for Dong to have any contact at all with the Chinese Consulate at a time when two Canadians were detained. Kovrig and Spavors imprisonment was widely regarded as Beijings hostage diplomacy in retaliation for Ottawas arrest of Meng Wangzhou, the senior executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei, on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Han Dong (R), then a provincial Liberal candidate, on the stage with Justin Trudeau (2nd L) and then-Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne (3rd L) in Toronto on May 22, 2014. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Apart from Dongs close relationship with the Chinese consulate in Toronto, Global News also alleged that Dong was a close contact of Michael Chan, now the deputy mayor of Markham, Ontario, who was reportedly a target of CSIS due to his ties to Beijing. According to Global, Chan orchestrated Dongs replacement over his predecessor, former Liberal MP Geng Tan, in the Ontario riding.

While Johnston said there were irregularities involving Dongs nomination in 2019, he argued that Dong himself was unaware that there was anything out of the ordinary.

Irregularities were observed with Mr. Dongs nomination in 2019, and there is well-grounded suspicion that the irregularities were tied to the PRC Consulate in Toronto, with whom Mr. Dong maintains relationships, Johnston wrote. In reviewing the intelligence, I did not find evidence that Mr. Dong was aware of the irregularities or the PRC Consulates potential involvement in his nomination.

Notably, Johnston said Trudeau was briefed about those irregularities, but argued that the prime ministers decision not to displace Dong as the Liberal candidate in 2019 was not an unreasonable conclusion based on the intelligence available at the time.

Meanwhile, Johnston acknowledged Chans close relationships to the Chinese consulate in Toronto, citing the deputy mayors own public statements, but said the Liberal Party officials have dismissed the allegation that he orchestrated the ouster of Tan and the installation of Dong.

Chan also has a close relationship with the PRC Consulate in Toronto, which he has admitted publicly, and which was cited in Johnstons report. Chan has publicly stated that CSIS has never spoken to him about these allegations.

The recommendations made to the Prime Minister and other Ministers about Mr. Chan are confidential and are included as part of the confidential annex. I have seen no evidence that any recommendation has been ignored, Johnston wrote.

Dong and Chan have not responded to multiple inquiries from The Epoch Times.

No Intelligence of Threats Against MP

While serving as the special rapporteur investigating foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, Johnston was also tasked with examining the recent media reports of Chinas threats against the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong, who holds the position of foreign affairs critic within his party.

According to a May 1 Globe and Mail report, Chongs family became targets due to his proposal of a parliamentary motion in 2021 which sought to condemn the CCPs treatment of Uyghur Muslims. In response to a growing outcry, the Canadian government declared Zhao Wei, a consul at the Chinese consulate in Toronto, persona non grata for instigating the intimidation. In retaliation, Beijing expelled Canadian diplomat Jennifer Lynn Lalonde on May 9.

Trudeau said on May 5 that CSIS information on Chinas threats against Chong never reached his office. Similarly, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said earlier this month that both he and the prime minister became aware of the intimidation by Beijing through media reports.

Johnston supported Trudeau and Mendicinos claims, despite criticisms from Chong and the other members of the opposition about the governments failure in protecting elected officials.

There is evidence that significant communications problems contributed to the intelligence failing to reach the Minister of Public Safety relating to the Honourable Michael Chong and other MPs with family in China, but there is no reason to believe it was intentional, he wrote in the report.

Johnston said while there are indications that Beijing contemplated action directed at Chinese Canadian MPs and their family members in Chinaboth of which which occurred in Chongs casehe found no intelligence indicating that the PRC took steps to threaten Chongs family.

Noe Chartier and Peter Wilson contributed to this report.
Join us for this live Q&A with Joshua Philipp!



Budweiser has taken a major hit in the market through its relationship with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney. Other companies such as Miller Lite, Ford, and Target have likewise faced criticism recently over their apparent support for woke culture. Yet what does this say about the popularity of wokeism in the United States, and does it tell us anything about where the country is heading?

Also, President Joe Biden was criticized by Republicans recently for saying that the United States is not looking to decouple from China. He also referenced the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States before the military shot it down, and said he wouldnt let the silly balloon damage his communications with the Chinese Communist Party.

In this episode of Crossroads, well discuss these stories and others.
Russian propaganda has influenced conservative thinking regarding the war in Ukraine. This episode explains why conservatives in America should support Ukraine in the effort to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin and how the issue will be weaponized in the upcoming election.

Thomas Cromwells book Why Ukraine Must Win addresses the most common arguments surrounding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, including preventing World War III and concerns regarding NATO and the border crisis. The book also explains how President Joe Biden is not helping Ukraine but prolonging the war while assisting Russia to profit. Finally, Trevor Loudon argues for the necessity of defeating evil to create a better world, not just for Americans but Russians and Ukrainians alike.
Woman Possibly Kidnapped From Bus at Gunpoint in East Los Angeles

A woman was possibly kidnapped while boarding a bus in East Los Angeles, authorities said May 23.

The incident occurred about 8:40 p.m. Monday in the 3800 block of East Third Street where a man confronted the victim from behind as she attempted to board a Montebello Transit bus, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.

The incident was captured on surveillance cameras, and the suspect was seen driving a white vehicle, possibly a 2022 Honda Civic, the sheriffs department said.

Video also shows the bus driver and another passenger trying to intervene during the confrontation, but the suspect broke a window on the bus and retrieved a handgun from a nearby vehicle, according to the sheriffs department.

The suspect pointed the handgun at the bus driver and appeared to coerce the female into the nearby vehicle, driven by the male suspect, officials said.

The man then drove away toward the eastbound 60 freeway and out of view, the sheriffs department said.

The woman is described as Hispanic in her mid-20s, approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall, about 130 pounds, with brown hair. The man was also described as Hispanic in his mid-20s, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, and between 170 to 190 pounds, according to the department.

Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the sheriffs tipline at 562-946-7893; the East Los Angeles Sheriffs Station at 323-264-4151; or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
DAMASCUS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Syrians' Hajj pilgrimage to the Islamic holy cities of Madinah and Mecca in Saudi Arabia will be resumed in 2024 after 12 years of suspension, Syria's head of Hajj affairs said Wednesday.

There will be no Hajj pilgrimage for Syrians this year as the relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia have just been restored and the Hajj arrangements need time and coordination, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper quoted Hassan Nasrallah as saying.

The Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in 2023 will be observed between July 18 and 23.

In the years when the Syrian-Saudi relations were severed, Syrian pilgrims who wanted to perform Hajj needed to obtain visas from neighboring countries.

Syria and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume consular services in April and restored full diplomatic relations this month.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the Arab Summit held in Saudi Arabia last week for the first time in 12 years, marking the return of Syria to the Arab fold after long years of isolation. 
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 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 highlight 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?
Commentary

By Sylvain Charlebois

Chinas recent expulsion of a Canadian diplomat in response to a similar action taken by Canada has raised concerns about the future of the two countries' bilateral relationship.

This tit-for-tat exchange is nothing new, especially when dealing with China, but it has left many commodity groups apprehensive about the potential consequences for Canadas agricultural sector.

Remember 2018? In December of that year, Canadian authorities arrested Huaweis Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wenzhou, to be extradited to the United States. China responded by detaining two Canadians and changing a drug smuggling sentence against a third Canadian to the death penalty.

Chinas actions and Ottawas expressed concerns led to a significant slowdown in trade between the two countries. Canadian exporters had to seek alternative routes to reach the Chinese market. Some experts suggest that was when Cold War II started and that it will last a while, perhaps as long as the last one.

The current situation again raises uncertainties about various exports, including lobster, canola, wheat, pork, beef, and even the popular coffee chain Tim Hortons, which operates over 800 stores in China.

Canada needs to be ready for this. Unlike Cold War I, agri-food trades can be weaponized since we now have massive economic involvement between nations. Knowing more about your enemy is much, much easier now. Our economies have provided open access to people and data. This is not at all reassuring.

According to Farm Credit Canada, after canola and wheat, crustaceans such as lobster, crab, and shrimp were Canadas third-largest agricultural export to China last year, with a value of over $1 billion. Canadas agriculture and agri-food products worth more than $8 billion were consumed by China, which happens to be the second-largest export market for Canada.

In contrast to numerous other trading partners, exports to China have continuously risen and were not affected by the global economic crisis. But that relationship now comes with some significant diplomatic baggage. Canada essentially feeds China and has done so for a few decades now. But China has also grown and has increased its capacity to feed itself. As a nation obsessed with control, China wont hesitate to compromise its own food security to take a stand. But food insecurity is much less of an issue now than just a few years ago.

Despite having less than 10 percent of the worlds arable land available for cultivation, China manages to produce one-fourth of the worlds grain and feed one-fifth of the worlds population. Chinas agricultural output is the largest globally, yet only 10 percent of its total land area can be used for farming. And the country is only getting more efficient. It is building hog farms that can produce one million pigs annually. China has more options than before.

Its hard to argue with the statement that China is not worthy of our democracy and that no such relationship is warranted. Still, taking a stand will always come with a response, and China is in a powerful position to hurt many nations through trade sanctions.

Global food geopolitics arent what they used to be. During the Cold War I, you just picked a side. Canada picked the side which won in the end. But choosing sides in the current geopolitical landscape is not as straightforward as it was during the Cold War I.

With Chinas ascent and a weakening United States, Europe, South America, the Middle East, and Canada find themselves in between. Aligning solely with the U.S. carries significant risks.

Canadas relationship and proximity with the United States is a growing problem for our country, no matter whos in power: Trump, Biden or anyone else for that matter. Many agri-food trade groups like the Lobster Council of Canada, the Canadian Meat Council, and the Canola Council are fully aware that the writing is on the wall and have already made efforts to open new markets in the Asian-Pacific region. Ottawa just opened an office in the region for that exact purpose.

India is undoubtedly an underdeveloped market for Canada. Increased export market diversity beyond the U.S. and China is more critical than ever. Canada exports more than $85 billion of agri-food products a year now, supporting our economy. That cant be underscored enough.

Long gone are the days of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeaus love affair with China in the 70s. The world has changed. Chinas President Xi Jinpings tenure is set to outlast many U.S. Presidents and Prime Ministers. The America buys while China sells paradigm is ending as China is no longer cheap and an afterthought; it aims to dominate.

With significant holdings of Americas debt and control over many parts of Africa, a new world order is well underway.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.

Top Food-Producing countries

Food is a major economic commodity, but only a few countries actually outshine food production. Most agricultural products require a lot of land, which only the largest countries have in abundance. In fact, the worlds four dominant food-producing countries all rank in the top five for total geographic size.

1. China

China is the worlds biggest producer, importer, and consumer of food. Much of Chinas land is too mountainous or too arid for farming, but the rich soils of the eastern and southern regions are remarkably productive. China also has the worlds largest food workforce, with some estimates as high as 315 million labourers. To put this number in viewpoint, the U.S. is the worlds third most populous country with 329 million people, as of 2019

2. India

In terms of total calorie content, India is the second-largest food producer in the world. When measured by the total value of agricultural production instead, India drops to fourth place and produces less than half of Chinas total output. Farm productivity in India is also far lower than in China, the U.S. or Brazil.

3. The United States

No country produces food as efficiently as the U.S. Despite having a significantly smaller workforce than China, the total U.S. agricultural produce is almost as high. Food production is spread across much of the country, but the largest food-producing states include California, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, and Illinois.

4. Brazil

The Brazilian economy has historically centred on agriculture, particularly sugarcane, dating back to its time as a European colony. At least 31% of Brazil is used as cropland, largely to produce coffee, sugarcane, soybeans, and corn. Brazil is also a major producer of oranges, pineapples, papaya, and coconuts thanks to its warm, fruit-friendly environment. The country also ranks second (behind the U.S.) in total beef output.
J&K part of India, Pak has no right to talk about it





SRINAGAR,

JAMMU and Kashmir is a part of India, and Pakistan has no right to talk about it and should rather pay attention towards its own people, Union Tourism Minister G K Reddy said here on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the third G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here, Reddy said Pakistan was battling a crisis and should focus on its own plight. Whatever we do is for the benefit of our people. Who is Pakistan to say anything? What right does it have? J&K has been a part of India since Independence. This is our land, these are our people, and thousands of people have sacrificed their lives for it. Who is Pakistan to say anything, the Union Minister asked. Pakistan should pay attention to itself and do something for the betterment of its people. Provide them employment, food... Why are you talking about us? You have no right. Pakistan is battling a crisis, people are dying of hunger, they do not get rice or gas, so it should focus there, Reddy said. He asserted that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were happy. The Centre was doing everything for them and would continue to do so in the future as well, he added.

There is no need to give importance to what Pakistan says. Pakistan is finished. We do not have to think about Pakistan. We have to think about the people of J-K, the minister said. Talking about the Centres initiatives on tourism, Reddy said India will hold a tourism summit to discuss the investments in popular tourist states like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand. We have to project India as the number-one destination globally. Private investment is necessary and without it, a huge country like India with such a huge population and lakhs of destinations cannot increase tourism, he said.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government wants people from across the world to come and invest in tourist destinations to make them world-class, the minister said. Referring to the ongoing G20 meeting here, Reddy said such meetings would take place in the capitals of all states. He said 250 meetings will take place in 56 cities under the presidentship of India. It was decided to organise this meeting in Srinagar, which is a historic city. However, some precautions had to be taken because it is after so many years that such an event is taking place here. J&K has seen many incidents, there were different problems in J&K, but now, the atmosphere is great here.

People want development in J&K, they want infrastructure, employment generation at par with the rest of India. That is what the common people of J&K hope and expect. That is why we are taking J&K on the path of progress under the vision of PM Modi, Reddy said. He said the meeting will deliberate on the steps to be taken in order to double tourisms contribution to Jammu and Kashmirs GDP.
All unauthorised colonies built till Dec 31, 2022, will be legalised: CM





Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that all unauthorised colonies built by December 31, 2022, will be made legal. Necessary funds will be made available for development of these colonies. All arrangements related to infrastructure will be made. Along with water and electricity, other arrangements will be ensured. Development fee will not be charged from the poor residents of these colonies. The built houses will be accepted and given permission in the same condition. He said that now if the illegal colony comes up, it will be the responsibility of the concerned officials. Officers must keep a close watch on this. Illegal colony should not come up at all. Chief Minister Chouhan made these announcements in the programme of regularisation of unauthorised colonies and civil infrastructure development and building permission grant at Chief Ministers residence. The programme began with Kanyapujan.

Chief Minister said that the aim of the Government is to make life easier for the people. He gave necessary instructions for this to the Urban Development and Housing Department. Now the citizens of legalised colonies will be able to get bank loans. The amount of MLA and MP fund can be released for development. He said that resident associations should also be formed in the colonies. A public campaign should be started with the intention to ensure that the colonies do not lag behind in cleanliness. After the house is built, it is our duty to keep the entire environment clean. All citizens should take care of cleanliness and hygiene.

Urban bodies should extend necessary co-operation to the resident association Chouhan said that unauthorised colonies are being made legal. Here all the urban bodies should provide necessary co-operation to the resident associations. Attention should be paid to making the colonies clean and beautiful. The Chief Minister said that our home is the most beautiful. It is the dream of every person to have a house of his own in life. Food, clothes and shelter are the basic needs of life. Life cannot be spent without a house. A house is not a building made of bricks and mortar, it is a holy temple. A house is a dream home for our children. In Indian culture it is believed that it is necessary to build a house for our children. Lower middle class families live in cities, people coming from their native places for work and childrens education wish to have their own house. The saving of the whole life is invested in the house by adding every penny. Sometimes they take such plots which are unauthorised. After the house is built on it, it comes to notice that it is illegal. This is not justice to the citizens. The stigma of being unauthorised has to be removed. It is not illegal to build your own house. The state government is running the Chief Ministers Residential Land Rights Scheme in the villages. Years old patta holders are also being made owners in the cities. Similarly, those who build houses by spending their hard-earned money throughout their life cannot be considered as unauthorised. Colonisers should not mess up, control is also necessary on this.

Poor will get meals in cities for Rs 5: He said that poor people coming to the city for work should be provided meals for Rs 5 under the Deendayal Rasoi Yojana. No person should sleep hungry in the state. He said that action should be taken to remove the encroachments but keep a balance in it. There should not be any crisis on the livelihood of the hand cart pushers. Chief Minister Chouhan gave token permission certificates to some citizens. Urban Development and Housing Minister Bhupendra Singh said that action is being taken to legalise 6077 unauthorised colonies of up to December 31, 2016. Singh has urged the Chief Minister that if a decision is taken to legalise unauthorised colonies of up to December 31, 2022, then residents of 2,500 colonies will be additionally benefitted. He said that the maps of such houses built in these colonies, which are coming within the limits of compounding, should be passed. Singh said that if the provision of charging development fee from poor residents is abolished, lakhs of poor people would be benefitted by it. If offline process is adopted to pass the maps of these colonies, then it will be convenient. Singh said that now the residents will be able to get all building permissions, sanctions and eligibility for bank loans. Development works will be possible from regular schemes like Amrit Yojana, infrastructure head and MP and MLA fund etc. Valid connections of drinking water, sewer and electricity will be given.

Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing OPS Bhadauria said that todays programme is to give hope and respect to about 20 lakh families. He said that those who are deprived of basic facilities will now get all the necessary facilities. Principal Secretary of Urban Development and Housing Neeraj Mandloi said that initial publication of 6,77 eligible colonies has been done. Out of these, preliminary publication of the layout of 1,662 colonies, final publication of the layout of 1,336 colonies and the work of granting building permission is being started in 1,122 colonies. Today, 500 building permission certificates are being distributed. The process of regularisation of all eligible colonies will be completed by June 30. Programmes were organised in all the districts. The live telecast of the main programme was done in the urban bodies. Mayor of Municipal Corporation Bhopal Malti Rai proposed a vote of thanks. Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang, Water Resources Minister Tulsiram Silawat, MP Pragya Singh Thakur, MLAs Rameshwar Sharma and Krishna Gaur, Chairman of Municipal Corporation Kishan Suryavanshi, former Mayor Alok Sharma, corporators, public representatives, Commissioner Urban Administration and Housing Bharat Yadav and residents of newly-legalised colonies were present.
Coal India concludes wage revision pact with non-executive workers; agrees to 25 pc hike in allowances





Business Bureau

STATE-OWNED Coal India Ltd (CIL) on May 22 said it has reached an agreement with its 2.38 lakh strong non-executive workers over the revision of wages. Under the agreement reached, a 19 per cent minimum guaranteed benefit from July 1, 2021, on emoluments (basic, VDA, SDA & attendance bonus) and a 25 per cent increase in allowances have been granted, Coal India said in a filing to exchanges.

The Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry (JBCCI)-XI consisting of representatives of CIL management, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), five central trade unions i.e. BMS, HMS, AITUC, CITU and Indian National Mine Workers' Federation (INMF) on May 20, 2023, recommended and inked National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA)-XI for the period of five years w.e.f. 01.07.2021,

the miner said. Around 2.81 lakh employees of CIL and SCCL who were on the rolls of the company as on July 1, 2021, would be the beneficiaries post-implementation of the agreement. Further, Coal India Limited has made a provision of Rs 9,252.24 crore for a period of 21 months effective July 1, 2021, to March 31, 2023, for this effect. The final impact of the 25 per cent increase in allowances will be intimated shortly which is not likely to be significant.
Contribute to boost India-Aus relationship: PM to prominent public figures





SYDNEY,

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi interacted with prominent Australian public figures working in diverse fields like science, Artificial Intelligence, social work and art and music and encouraged them to contribute to strengthening the India-Australia relationship.

Modi arrived in Sydney on Monday for the third and final leg of his three-nation tour. The prominent public figures Modi met included Nobel laureate Brian Paul Schmidt, Toilet warrior Mark Balla, artist Danielle Mate, rockstar Guy Sebastian and celebrity chef and restaurateur Sarah Todd. Other influencers included Professor Toby Walsh, chief scientist, Artificial Intelligence Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney and Salvatore Babones, sociologist, researcher and author.

Furthering - cultural & people to people ties. PM @narendramodi interacted with prominent public figures of Australia, working in diverse fields of science, artificial intelligence, humanities, social work, gastronomy, art and music, the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted. Congratulated them on their achievements and encouraged them to contribute to strengthening the India-Australia relationship, it said.
Cotton prices crash below Rs 7,000 per quintal level





Business Bureau

The raw cotton prices have crashed below the Rs 7,000 per quintal mark due to lower demand in the mandis of Vidarbha region. Farmers who stocked cotton in anticipation of higher prices are selling in panic, said Rohit Rander, a leading cotton trader while talking to The Hitavada. Rander further said that there is an overall recessionary trend in the global markets. The spinning mills and traders are also maintaining lower stocks and inventory this season.

Currently, in the raw cotton prices are being quoted at Rs 6,900 to Rs 7,000 per quintal, depending on the quality. When the raw cotton supply started this season in October-November 2022, the prices were at their highest level at Rs 9,000 to 9,500 per quintal. Farmers expectations were shattered when the cotton prices did not rise above the Rs 10,000 per quintal level like last year. At present there is excess supply in the mandis and prices are crashing. Last season in the month of April-May 2022, the raw cotton prices touched a record high of Rs 13,000 to Rs 14,000 per quintal.

Rander said that the raw cotton prices in India were on the higher side when compared to international prices due to which there was fewer exports. Indian raw cotton prices have to be at least 10 per cent lower than prices in US to make export favourable. India exports raw cotton mainly to Bangladesh, China and Vietnam. Taking stock of the situation, it is expected that the prices could fall by another Rs 200 to Rs 300 per quintal, he added.
A forum on the development of Tibet opened Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for further development of the autonomous region in southwest China.

The one-day forum, jointly hosted by the State Council Information Office and the regional government of Tibet, brings together officials, experts, and representatives of enterprises and media organizations from home and abroad.

The forum focuses on Tibet's new chapter in high-quality development and human rights protection.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Govt fails to promote lac cultivation leading to underpaid farmers in MP





By Ashish Rajput

Lac cultivation is the best alternative source for doubling the income of farmers but the Government is yet to take necessary initiative for facilitating and promotion of Lac cultivation in the State. Even after being the third largest Lac producing State, around 75,000 Lac households in Madhya Pradesh are underpaid for its cultivation.

It may be noted that Madhya Pradesh is the third largest Lac producer of India which produced 2,235 tonnes Lac annually. The major Lac producing districts in Madhya Pradesh are Balaghat, Seoni, Mandla, Chhindwara, Dindori, Narsinghpur in Jabalpur Division and Hoshangabad and they contribute about 80 per cent of the Lac production in the State.

State Forest Research Institute (SFRI), Jabalpur, Scientist, Dr Aniruddha Majumdar, while talking to The Hitavada, informed that Lac has multiple uses in making of jewellery, pharmaceutical industry, furniture industry etc. Madhya Pradesh has tremendous potential for providing additional source of income to farmers through Lac cultivation. He informed that around 10,000 Lac cultivators exist only in Nainpur development block in Mandla district while Seoni and Balaghat districts are hub of Lac cultivation as there is only Lac processing unit at Barghat development block in Seoni district.

Dr Majumdar added that during a survey it has been found that majority of the tribal households of Lac growing regions carry out Lac cultivation. As a subsidiary occupation to agriculture, it is a very remunerative crop, paying high economic returns to farmers and also earns foreign exchange through its export. Lac cultivation generates employment opportunities, particularly in the off-agricultural season. Currently, Lac farmers are getting Rs 100 to 150 per kilogram for raw Lac through middlemen against its actual market price of Rs 400 to Rs 500 while the market price of processed Lac is Rs 1,600 per kilogram. He, along with his team, is working for training and awareness of farmers for proper cultivation and processing of Lac to provide its better cost in the market. Dr Majumdar informed that establishing Lac processing units in the State will definitely prove fruitful for providing additional source of income for farmers in tribal dominating districts.
Ishita Kishore tops civil servicesexam, women bag top four ranks





NEW DELHI :

Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi N, Smriti Mishra get 2nd, 3rd and fourth ranks respectively

WOMEN bagged the top four ranks in the civil services examination 2022 with Delhi University graduate Ishita Kishore securing the first spot, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced on Tuesday. Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi N and Smriti Mishra secured the second, third and fourth ranks respectively in the examination, results of which were declared on Tuesday. Lohia and Mishra are graduates of the University of Delhi, while Harathi N is a B.Tech degree holder from IIT-Hyderabad. This is the second year in a row when women candidates got the top three ranks in the prestigious exam. Shruti Sharma, Ankita Agarwal and Gamini Singla had secured the first, second and third positions respectively in the civil services examination 2021. As many as 933 candidates -- 613 men and 320 women -- have qualified the civil services examination 2022, the commission said.

The top 25 candidates comprise 14 women and 11 men, it said. The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- by the UPSC to select officers of IndianAdministrative Service(IAS),IndianForeign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. Kishore qualified the examinationwith political science and international relations as her optional subject. She has graduated in Economics (Hons.) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. Lohia, a graduate in Commerce from Kirorimal College, University of Delhi, secured the second rank with Commerce and Accountancy as her optional subject. HarathiN,aB.TechinCivil Engineering from IIT, Hyderabad stood third with Anthropologyasheroptional subject. Mishra, a graduate (B. Sc.) from Miranda HouseCollege, Universityof Delhi, stood fourth with Zoologyasheroptional subject. Educational qualifications of top 25 successful candidates rangefromgraduation inEngineering;Humanities; Science; Commerce and Medical Science from premier institutions of the country such as IIT, NIT, University of Delhi, Gujarat National Law University, Jadavpur University and Jiwaji University among others,the UPSC said.

Top 25 successful candidates have opted for subjects like Anthropology, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Law, History, Mathematics, Political Science & International Relations, Philosophy, Sociology and Zoology as their optional choice in the written(main)examination, it added. The recommended candidates include 41 Persons with Benchmark Disability(14Orthopedically Handicapped,sevenVisually Challenged, 12 Hearing Impaired & 8 Multiple Disabilities). Out of the total qualified candidates this time, 345are from General category, 99 from Economically Weaker Section (EWS), 263 Other BackwardClasses(OBC),154 ScheduledCaste(SC)and72 from Scheduled Tribe (ST). A total of 178 candidates have been put in the reserve list as well, it said. Therewere1,022vacancies reported by the Centre to be filled through the civil services examination. It included 180 IAS officers, 38 IFS, 200 IPS, 473 in GroupA central services and 131 in Group B services, the UPSC said. UPSC has a Facilitation Counter near Examination Hall in its campus. Candidates can obtain any information/clarification regarding their examinations/recruitments on the workingdaysbetween10AM to5PMinpersonorovertelephone nos. 011- 23385271/23381125/230985 43, it said. Result will also be available on the UPSC website i.e.Http//www.Upsc.Gov.In. Markswillbeavailableon the website within 15 days from the date of declaration of result, the UPSC said. The civil services preliminary examination 2022 was conductedonJune5lastyear. A total of 11,35,697 candidates applied for this examination,outofwhich5,73,735 candidates actually appeared in it. A total of 13,090 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (main) examination which was held in September, 2022. A total of 2,529 candidates qualified for the personality test of the coveted examination. VERY EXCITING TIME TO BE SERVING NATION: PM MODI: PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday congratulated the successful candidates in the civil services examination, and said it is a very exciting time to be serving the nation and bringingapositivedifference in the lives of people.
LEADER-ROLE





PRIME Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is perfectly playing the leader-role in the Asian neighbourhood -- which came to fore during his summit meeting with leaders of Pacific Island nations at Port Moresby when he appealed to them to consider India as their reliable development partner. Though most of those island nations are small in every which the way, each holds a special place in the global strategic map. That is the core reason why India attaches so much value to the partnership with them. During COVID time, India became a willing pharmacy of the world, and most of the Pacific Island nations took advantage of Indias aid in different forms. At the Port Moresby summit, Mr. Narendra Modi recalled those tough times and reiterated Indias continued partnership for developmental causes with them. The importance of this summit is contextually immense -- which Mr. Modi understands fully well.

This tour of Mr. Modi to Far East came after much internal contemplation and planning and pre-event contacting which is an integral and important part of diplomacy. The narrative the Prime Minister tried to set at the Port Moresby summit, therefore, was heard and watched by the world with much interest. For, what is involved in Indo-Pacific is not just a limited territorial issue that may have been forced upon the world due to continued Chinese overtures in different ways, but also the issue of a rules- based world order in which each nations territorial integrity and sovereignty are of utmost importance. At the Port Moresby summit, all those issues were underlined directly or indirectly, statedly or unstatedly, thanks to the leader-role India sought to play in the region.

This stand of Indias is fully consistent with its commitment to the purpose and process of the four-nation grouping it has forged with Australia, Japan and the United States, defined as Quad. Though some sections of the global opinion described this Quad as an anti-China grouping, Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar cleared the air by stressing that it was an independent exercise not framed by one-sidedness of purpose. That clarification may or may not have served its real purpose, but it did highlight what India wanted to achieve in Indo-Pacific -- a region with due multi-dimensional respect for every nation, small or big. That purpose was highlighted once again by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modis address at the summit.

The Prime Ministers visit also brought rare and highest honours for him in Papua New Guinea and Fiji Island. Those honours indicated once again the position Mr. Modi has earned for himself and for India in the heads and hearts of countless numbers of countries across the globe. That is so because of the evolution of Indias foreign policy in the past one decade as an approach to issues of growth and development as essential elements in the sense of self-worth of nations. As a geographically big and strategically important nation, India has its own importance in the global scheme of things, But in the past one decade, what has made all the difference is Indias economic growth and the manner in which the Indian leadership has handled various internal and international issues.

The biggest point that has earned much international respect for India is its strong democracy that has given Mr. Narendra Modi two continuous terms as Prime Minister and is about to give him the third as well. This message of political stability has its own importance in international relations -- which Mr. Modi often highlights in his domestic addresses to the people. At Port Moresby summit, statedly or unstatedly, all these issues formed a healthy mix for India as a leader in the Asian and Pacific neighbourhoods.
Navys latest destroyerintercepts supersonic target





NEW DELHI :

INDIAN Navys latest indigenous guided missile destroyer INS Mormugao successfully carried out an engagement of sea-skimming supersonic target.The Navy said, The missile accurately hit its target. The missile is capable of hitting its target up to a distance of 300 kilometres. Sea-skimming refers to a missile that flies as close as possible to the sea surface. It stays at a height of less than 10 feet. INS Mormugao measures 163 meters in length and 17 meters in breadth. It is a warship constructed in India with a displacement of 7,400 tonnes. INS Mormugao is equipped with missiles such as BrahMos and Barak-8.

This modern Indian-made warship is equipped with Israels MF-STAR radar, which can detect long-range air targets. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had dedicated MormugaototheIndianNavy in December last year. OnMay14,INSMormugao successfullyhitthetargetduring its maiden Brahmos Supersoniccruisemissilefiring. Mormugao has been designedbytheIndianNavys Warship Design Bureau. It is the worlds most advanced missile carrier armed with weapons.Thewarshipcanhit targets fromadistanceof 300 km. INS Mormugao was named afterthe historic port city of Goa. The warship undertook its first sea sortie on Dec 19, 2021, when Goa celebrated 60 years of liberation from Portuguese rule.
Now, tribal and forest deptt staff are friends: CM Baghel





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel praised the Narwa Development Scheme and various other initiatives of State Forest and Climate Change Department for their positive impact on fostering harmony and brotherhood between tribal communities and the Forest Department staff. CM made these remarks during the inaugural programme of a 3-day national-level consultative workshop held at Mayfair Lake Resort in Nava Raipur. Baghel revealed that within the span of four years under his government, 1.19 crore Narwa structures had been constructed in Chhattisgarh, significantly transforming the lives of forest dwellers by providing them with livelihood opportunities. He emphasised that the Narwa scheme was widely recognised by tribal communities as the best programme implemented by the Congress government. The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction with the improved relationship between forest villagers and forest guards, highlighting the peaceful and friendly coexistence they now enjoy. He acknowledged that previously, tribal communities faced difficulties in sustaining their livelihoods as they relied on gathering wood from the forests for domestic fuel and other needs.

However, with the introduction of the NGGB scheme, a positive change has occurred in Chhattisgarh. Baghel stressed the importance of planting beneficial trees in forest areas, particularly fruit trees, to enhance the income of forest dwellers, preserve greenery, and protect the forests. He mentioned the establishment of a mechanism, called C-Mart, by the Chhattisgarh government, which facilitates the sale of forest produce. The Chief Minister highlighted the dual role of the Forest Department as not only the protector of forests but also the guardian of people residing in forest areas. Forest and Climate Change Minister Mohammad Akbar commended the excellent work carried out by the State Forest Department, particularly in utilizing the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) fund effectively.

Chandra Prakash Goyal, the Director General and Special Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, praised Chhattisgarhs scientific approach to soil and water conservation efforts. The objectives of the workshop included sharing best practices for soil and moisture conservation, discussing the application of technologies like remote sensing and GIS for forest resource planning and management, exploring the role of minor forest produce in livelihood generation, promoting agro-forestry and tree planting outside forest areas, and creating market linkages through the Chhattisgarh Mukhyamantri Vriksh Sampada Yojana. The event also aimed to facilitate the adoption of the Mission for Lifestyle for Environment proposed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and to share experiences of forestry best practices from different states in the country. The workshop was attended by forest officials from 17 states, two Union Territories, and four institutes. Various activities took place during the event, including the launch of a field manual and exhibition on Soil and Moisture Conservation for the Rejuvenation of Streams (Narwa Vikas Yojana), the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between IIFM Bhopal and the Department of Forest and Climate Change, Government of Chhattisgarh, and the screening of a documentary film on soil and moisture conservation and Minor Forest Produce in Chhattisgarh. Technical sessions featuring the sharing of best practices from all states are scheduled for the following day. Additionally, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), CAMPA CEOs, and field officials will visit soil and moisture conservation sites in the Dhamtari forest division. The workshop is jointly organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, and the Department of Forest and Climate Change, Government of Chhattisgarh.
PM Modi meets top Australian business leaders; invites investments in India





SYDNEY,

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met business leaders of top Australian companies here and called for enhancing cooperation with the Indian industry in areas such as technology, skilling, and clean energy. Modi arrived in Sydney on Monday. Modi held bilateral meetings with Hancock Prospecting Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart, Fortescue Future Industry Executive Chairman Andrew Forrest, and AustraliaSuper CEO Paul Schroder. During his meeting with Rinehart, the Prime Minister highlighted the reforms and initiatives being undertaken in India and invited her to partner in technology, investment and skilling in the mining and minerals sector, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said. In a meeting with Schroder, he said that India is one of the most preferred major economies for foreign investments in the world and invited AustralianSuper to partner with India, it said.

AustralianSuper is an Australian superannuation fund headquartered in Melbourne. Similarly, during his meeting with Forrest, he welcomed the Groups plans to work with Indian companies in the field of Green Hydrogen.

Emphasising Indias ambitious renewable energy plans, the Prime Minister highlighted the transformative reforms and initiatives being taken by India, such as the Green Hydrogen Mission, it added. Forrest briefed the Prime Minister on Fortescue Future Industries plans and projects in India. After the meeting, Schroder said that Australian super does invest in India and in particular in the National Indian Infrastructure Fund. Plane traces Welcome Modi message in Sydney: WELCOME Modi spelt by a recreational aircrafts contrails posed a mesmerising sight in the clear blue sky over Sydney ahead of the community event organised to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Australia. A video of the skywriting has since then gone viral on social media.
Raipur Smart City Ltd gets international recognition





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

Raipur Smart City Limited, has achieved international recognition at the prestigious The Asset Triple-A Awards organised by The Asset Group in Hong Kong.

The citys innovative Digital Door Number (DDN) project has been honoured as the best in the Best Payment and Collection Solution category. The award was presented to Raipur Smart City Limited by Daniel Y U, Editor & Chief of The Asset Group, during a ceremony. Mayank Chaturvedi, Managing Director of Raipur Smart City Limited, conveyed his good wishes to the officers, employees of the Municipal Corporation, the Smart City team, and the project partner bank associated with the DDN project. He also urged citizens to make full use of this facility and motivate others to do the same. The Asset TripleA Awards organised by The Asset Group is an annual international event where significant projects from various countries in the Middle East and Asian continent are showcased to a jury. The projects are evaluated based on their quality and public utility, and awards are presented accordingly. The DDN project, implemented by Raipur Smart City Limited in collaboration with project partner IndusInd Bank, involves the installation of DDN plates in 3,11,000 households across the city.

These plates allow landlords to scan a QR code and conveniently pay property tax, water tax, and other taxes. Additionally, residents can easily access 26 essential and emergency services, such as door-to-door garbage collection and tap connections, from the comfort of their homes. Raipur Smart City Limiteds DDN project has been recognised as the best project in the Best Payment and Collection Solution category at the Digital Awards ceremony. The project was presented on the international stage by the project partner, IndusInd Bank. To date, 155,000 houses in Raipur have been equipped with DDN plates through the efforts of the Municipal Corporation, and installations are currently underway for an additional 55,000 houses. Once all houses are equipped with these plates, every household in Raipur city will have access to the online tax payment system and various municipal facilities.
Shah to distribute 44,703 job letters in Assam tomorrow





GUWAHATI,

UNION Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a day-long visit to Guwahati on Thursday during which he will attend the biggest-ever appointment letter distribution ceremony in Assam. Shah will also lay the foundation stone for the National Forensic Sciences University at Changsari, about 20 kms from Guwahati, which will be its ninth campus in the country, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday. The university will provide forensic training to scientists from South East Asia, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, besides offering undergraduate and Post-Graduate courses in various forensic subjects.

The Union Home Minister also distribute 44,703 appointment letters during the visit, which will be the biggest-ever distribution of jobs in the state under one roof, Sarma said. This is part of the Governments promise of providing one lakh jobs. So far, 41,920 jobs have already been provided and recruitment for another 22,776 posts will be underway soon. We will ensure that even if there is any overlapping of appointees, one lakh jobs are ensured as promised, he added. Sarma, whose BJP-led coalition Government completed two years in office this month, had promised of providing one lakh Government jobs within a year of coming to power before the 2021 Assembly polls.

He said the Government will come up with an ordinance so that the new recruits can be posted in any department as per the need of the Government. Sarma said Shah will ceremonially hand over the appointment letters at a programme at Veterinary College Field in Khanapara area of the city. It is not a public meeting. We are inviting only the qualified candidates to attend the programme. We are not erecting any pandal there as a lot of Government money gets spent on it. But we will arrange for drinking water, etc. the CM said. On allegations of candidates obtaining fake certificates of being physically disabled to qualify for jobs under reservation, Sarma said an enquiry is on into several such instances.

We will act against the candidates who had got the fake certificates as well as the authorities who had provided those to them, he added.
When it comes to New Haven's economic development fortunes, growth in biotech jobs continues to be accompanied by a surge in new apartments, according to developers, business leaders and a city official speaking Tuesday at a regional forum on real estate and construction.

John Bourdeaux, president and head of business development for AdvanceCT, told an audience of about 200 business people at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Real Estate & Construction Forecast that the New Haven area is benefiting from "an affordability, a livability" that can't be matched in the Boston and New York areas. AdvanceCT is an nonprofit that works to recruit businesses to Connecticut and retain those companies that are already here.

"The livability, the affordability and the visibility of Connecticut as a place to do business is not top of mind," Bourdeaux said. Following Tuesday's meeting, Bourdeaux said he was headed to a gathering with about a half dozen corporate site selectors to show them what Connecticut and New Haven area have to offer.

The redevelopment of the former New Haven Coliseum site illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the well-paying jobs created by the biotech sector and the largely high-end apartment units that follow that kind of employment growth.

The first of what will eventually be 200 rental apartment units being built on the former arena site by Spinnaker Real Estate Development will be ready for occupancy during the second quarter of 2024, said Frank Caico, vice president of development for the Norwalk-based company. When asked who the tenants of the new apartments will likely be, Caico said, "To some extent, it's going to be people who work at Yale and (Yale New Haven) hospital."

Another element of the Coliseum site redevelopment is the construction of a multistory, 255,000-square-foot life sciences building at 265 South Orange St. The building, which is expected to be completed by early 2025, is being developed by North Carolina-based Ancora Partners, which acquired the development rights for that portion of the project from Spinnaker Real Estate, according to Caico.

Laura Brown, executive director of New Haven's planning office, acknowledged that the success of the biotech cluster is a factor in why the city leads the state in housing permits, which are considered a measure of economic growth.

For years, the conventional wisdom about New Haven's biotech sector was that it was being hobbled by a lack of lab space. But with the development of 265 South Orange and Winstanley Enterprises' expected completion of a10-story, 525,000-square-foot biotech lab building at 101 College St. later this year, that school of thought may be changing.

"Biotech space is beginning to loosen up," said Anne Benowitz, vice president of economic development and workforce initiatives for the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. "Where we are out of space now is industrial space, for warehousing and manufacturing."

Benowitz said expansion in biotech employment has been a factor in the job growth the Chamber has seen. In the past year, she said, companies that the Chamber has worked with added 548 jobs to the region's economy.
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SHREVEPORT, La. (AP)  The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nations largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping addictive painkillers for nearly four years despite a judges recommendation to strip its license for turning a blind eye to thousands of suspicious opioid orders.

The case has drawn attention to the involvement of a high-profile consultant the company had hired to stave off punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgrams top deputy.

Here are the key takeaways from AP's investigation.

WHATS AT STAKE?

A federal administrative law judge in August 2019 found that Morris & Dickson failed to flag thousands of suspicious, high-volume orders from pharmacies and recommended that it lose its license.

Failure to follow DEA rules by Morris & Dickson and other major distributors has been blamed for leading to more than 700,000 American overdose deaths in the past two decades..

The company said it overhauled its compliance system, canceled suspicious orders and sent daily emails to the DEA spelling out its actions. But Judge Charles W. Dorman said it was too little, too late, and issued a ruling to deter similar actions by other companies.

Acceptance of responsibility and evidence of remediation are not get-out-of-jail-free cards that erase the harm caused by years of cavalier disregard, Dorman wrote in a 159-page ruling obtained by The Associated Press.

But since Dormans 2019 recommendation, neither Milgram nor two DEA administrators who preceded her have taken any enforcement action. Former DEA officials told the AP that a nearly four-year delay is highly unusual, and that most such cases are resolved in half the time.

WHO IS MORRIS & DICKSON?

Shreveport, Louisiana-based Morris & Dickson is the U.S.' fourth-largest drug distributor, with annual sales of more than $4 billion. But it trails a trio of pharmaceutical distributors known as the Big Three, all of whom agreed to pay the federal government more than $1 billion in fines and penalties for similar violations.

Morris & Dickson officials have repeatedly said in court filings that the loss of its license would be a virtual death sentence.

Among the more than 12,000 suspicious orders that Dorman said Morris & Dickson should have reported to the DEA were several placed by the Wilkinson Family Pharmacy in suburban New Orleans.

In one month, March 2014, 42% of all prescriptions filled by Wilkinson were for controlled substances such as painkillers and 38% of those were paid for in cash.

Anybody with half a brain couldve seen something wasnt right, said Dan Schneider, a retired pharmacist whose fight to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid crisis was featured in a Netflix documentary series.

WHO IS LOUIS MILIONE?

Louis Milione was named DEAs principal deputy administrator in 2021. He had previously retired from the agency in 2017 after a storied 21-year career that included two years leading the division that controls the sale of highly addictive narcotics. Among his earlier achievements was running the overseas sting that in 2008 nabbed Russias notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

Morris & Dickson brought Milione as part of a $3 million contract after the DEA accused the company in 2018 of failing to flag thousands of suspicious, high-volume orders.

Testifying in 2019 before federal Administrative Law Judge Charles W. Dorman, Milione argued that Morris & Dickson deserved to keep its license because it spared no expense to overhaul its compliance systems.

WHAT DOES DEA SAY?

The DEA did not respond to repeated questions about its handling of the Morris & Dickson case or Milione's involvement.

But a person familiar with Miliones work said he recused himself from issues related to Morris & Dickson after returning to the DEA in 2021. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about DEA officials recusals.
UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday urged upholding promise to protect civilians caught in conflict.

"Civilians have suffered the deadly effects of armed conflict for too long. It is time we live up to our promise to protect them," Guterres told the UN Security Council debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

The world is failing to live up to its commitment to protect civilians during wartime, the top UN official said, urging greater respect for international humanitarian law.

Last year, civilians accounted for 94 percent of victims of explosive weapons deployed in populated areas, he said.

More than 117 million people worldwide also faced acute hunger in 2022, primarily because of war and insecurity, which he described as "an outrage."

Guterres pointed to recent action towards alleviating the impact of conflict on civilians. For example, some warring parties have taken steps to protect children and allow humanitarians to access people in need.

Addressing food security, he mentioned measures such as the Black Sea Initiative to export grain from Ukraine amid the ongoing war, as well as a memorandum of understanding on bringing Russian food and fertilizer to global markets.

Last November, states adopted a political declaration on restricting or refraining from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, which he urged all countries to join.

The council also adopted a resolution the following month which aims to prevent UN sanctions from harming civilians and obstructing humanitarian action.

"These modest steps are welcome. But the terrible truth is that the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect civilians; commitments enshrined in international humanitarian law," said Guterres, referring to the Geneva Conventions.

"We need action and accountability to ensure it is respected. That depends on political will," he added.

The secretary-general urged the international community to intensify efforts to prevent conflict, protect civilians, preserve peace and find political solutions to war.

"Where war continues, all countries must comply with international humanitarian law and members of this council have a particular responsibility," he said.

Additionally, countries that export weapons should refuse to do business with any party that fails to comply with international humanitarian law, said the UN chief. 
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TOLLAND  The town manager wants a review of how the state police handled a street takeover last weekend when officials say as many as 200 people drove recklessly, blocked an ambulance and surrounded, kicked and jumped on a woman's car.

Connecticut State Police troopers were aware of at least three takeovers that occurred Sunday night and watched as the car stunts were pulled off in Vernon, Manchester and Tolland, according to a report obtained Tuesday by Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

There were no reports of injuries, but Tolland Town Manager Brian Foley is calling for a review of how the troopers handled the situation.

I was informed today that the Connecticut State Police made a decision to stand down and not respond directly to the street takeover, Foley, a former Hartford deputy police chief who was also a spokesperson for the state police, wrote in a Facebook post. I completely understand how hard these decisions are for police commanders. Our citizens need to know that when they call 911 for help, help is on the way. ... I am hoping for a review of how this incident was handled."

Foley said the police response was inadequate. Tolland does not have its own police force, so it relies on a resident state trooper and state police at the Troop C barracks in town for protection.

Sgt. Christine Jeltema from the state police media relations office said troopers responded to the takeover in Tolland, but there weren't enough of them to shut it down.

"There were uniformed troopers in close proximity," she said. It takes time to get enough troopers to deal with such a large number of people, she added.

Foley also acknowledged on Monday there is not much a few troopers can do when faced with hundreds of people and cars.

In the arrest report for one of the suspected ringleaders, state police noted that at previous street takeovers, their patrol cars have been boxed in and vandalized and a rioter armed with a gun once jumped on the hood of a cruiser.

According to the report for the arrest of Norwalk resident Jefferson Duron, who faces rioting and other charges, troopers were conducting undercover surveillance as they watched up to 200 reckless drivers block streets in at least three towns.

State police said they knew about the planned street takeovers from social media posts. Members of the Troop H barracks in Hartford worked with the Bureau of Special Investigations of the Connecticut State Police to conduct the operation.

The first car meetup was planned for 8 p.m. Sunday. About 8:30 p.m., Troop H received calls from motorists reporting 100 to 200 cars speeding eastbound on Interstate 84.

Troopers and detectives from the bureau followed them to a commuter lot at Exit 67 in Vernon, where they drove recklessly, performing burn outs, donuts and shooting illegal fireworks off, according to the report.

The trooper who wrote the report said he saw a gray, 2005 Ford Mustang GT being driven recklessly inside a circle of spectators, skidding sideways and performing other stunts, the report stated.

The Mustang, whose driver state police later identified as Duron, left the Vernon lot and headed farther east to Route 195, or Merrow Road, in front of the Tolland shopping plaza, Fieldstone Commons, the report said. The other cars followed and blocked the plaza entrance and, according to Foley, also blocked the ramps leading to and from I-84 East.

Police witnessed the cars blocking the path of an ambulance headed to a call with its lights and sirens on, the report stated.

The ambulance turned around and left in the opposite direction, the report stated.

We then observed vehicles doing burn outs and donuts with people hanging out the windows of the vehicles while the vehicles are being operated in a reckless manner, the trooper wrote in the report, adding that the 100 to 200 cars were there for several minutes. Foley said Monday the incident lasted a half-hour.

The report does not refer to the mob of people who surrounded a womans car, and were seen on video kicking and jumping on the vehicle. The woman was not injured, but the car was damaged, according to Foley, who talked to a witness.

The witness was terrified, Foley said Monday, and when he got home, he was shaking.

Foley also posted photos of the damaged ambulance on Facebook.

When the mob left Tolland, the drivers drove west on I-84 to the commuter lot on Buckland Street in Manchester, where two people were fatally shot during a similar car meetup in 2020. The undercover state troopers followed, watching 100-200-plus vehicles gathering and performing stunts using their cars. The cars included the gray Mustang, which was doing donuts and burn outs around light poles and nearly striking the spectators, according to the report.

The undercover troopers noticed the Mustang was the first to leave a meetup spot and the first to arrive at a new location, indicating the driver was organizing the illegal events, the report stated.

Later that night, the undercover troopers followed the Mustang as it was traveling on Interstate 91 with four other cars. A uniformed trooper pulled over the vehicle and arrested Duron.

Duron was charged with inciting to riot, first-degree riot, first-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving and other traffic offenses, all misdemeanors.

During his arraignment Monday in state Superior Court in Manchester, a judge ordered Duron to be fitted with electronic monitoring and not to drive a car without the courts permission, according to judicial records.

The judge did not find probable cause for the charge of inciting to riot, the court records show.

State police said they continue to investigate.

As far as Foley is concerned, he hopes the situation will be handled differently if it happens again.

Moving forward, we're hoping there are some lessons learned on the response Sunday night, but also more importantly ... let's start looking at a plan to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Anyone with information about anyone involved in the street takeovers may call the Troop H barracks at 860-534-1000.
NEW YORK (AP)  Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and 70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping "What's Love Got to Do With It," has died at 83.

Turner died Wednesday, after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, according to her manager. She became a Swiss citizen a decade ago.

Few stars traveled so far  she was born Anna Mae Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital and spent her latter years on a 260,000 square foot estate on Lake Zurich  and overcame so much. Physically battered, emotionally devastated and financially ruined by her 20-year relationship with Ike Turner, she became a superstar on her own in her 40s, at a time when most of her peers were on their way down, and remained a top concert draw for years after.

"How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?" Angela Bassett, who played Turner in the 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do With It, said in a statement.

"Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.

With admirers ranging from Mick Jagger to Beyonce to Mariah Carey, the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll was one of the world's most popular entertainers, known for a core of pop, rock and rhythm and blues favorites: "Proud Mary," "Nutbush City Limits," "River Deep, Mountain High," and the hits she had in the '80s, among them "What's Love Got to Do with It," "We Don't Need Another Hero" and a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."

Her trademarks included a growling contralto that might smolder or explode, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and the muscular, quick-stepping legs she did not shy from showing off. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021 ) and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005, with Beyonce and Oprah Winfrey among those praising her. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.

Until she left her husband and revealed their back story, she was known as the voracious on-stage foil of the steady-going Ike, the leading lady of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Ike was billed first and ran the show, choosing the material, the arrangements, the backing singers. They toured constantly for years, in part because Ike was often short on money and unwilling to miss a concert. Tina Turner was forced to go on with bronchitis, with pneumonia, with a collapsed right lung.

Other times, the cause of her misfortunes was Ike himself.

As she recounted in her memoir, I, Tina, Ike began hitting her not long after they met, in the mid-1950s, and only grew more vicious. Provoked by anything and anyone, he would throw hot coffee in her face, choke her, or beat her until her eyes were swollen shut, then rape her. Before one show, he broke her jaw and she went on stage with her mouth full of blood.

Terrified both of being with Ike and of lasting without him, she credited her emerging Buddhist faith in the mid-1970s with giving her a sense of strength and self-worth and she finally left in early July 1976. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was scheduled to open a tour marking the countrys bicentennial when Tina snuck out of their Dallas hotel room, with just a Mobil credit card and 36 cents, while Ike slept. She hurried across a nearby highway, narrowly avoiding a speeding truck, and found another hotel.

I looked at him (Ike) and thought, You just beat me for the last time, you sucker, she recalled in her memoir.

Turner was among the first celebrities to speak candidly about domestic abuse, becoming a heroine to battered women and a symbol of resilience to all. Ike Turner did not deny mistreating her, although he tried to blame Tina for their troubles. When he died, in 2007, a representative for his ex-wife said simply: Tina is aware that Ike passed away.

Ike and Tina fans knew little of this during the couple's prime. The Turners were a hot act for much of the 1960s and into the 70s, evolving from bluesy ballads such as A Fool in Love and Its Going to Work Out Fine to flashy covers of Proud Mary and Come Together and other rock songs that brought them crossover success.

They opened for the Rolling Stones in 1966 and 1969, and were seen performing a lustful version of Otis Reddings Ive Been Loving You Too Long in the 1970 Stones documentary Gimme Shelter. Bassett and Laurence Fishburne gave Oscar-nominated performances in Whats Love Got to Do with It, based on I, Tina, but she would say that reliving her years with Ike was so painful she couldnt bring herself to watch the movie.

Ike and Tinas reworking of Proud Mary, originally a tight, mid-tempo hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival, helped define their sexual aura. Against a background of funky guitar and Ikes crooning baritone, Tina began with a few spoken words about how some people wanted to hear songs that were nice and easy.

But theres this one thing, she warned, you see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy.

We always do it nice  and rough.

But by the end of the 1970s, Turners career seemed finished. She was 40 years old, her first solo album had flopped and her live shows were mostly confined to the cabaret circuit. Desperate for work, and money, she even agreed to tour in South Africa when the country was widely boycotted because of its racist apartheid regime.

Rock stars helped bring her back. Rod Stewart convinced her to sing Hot Legs with him on Saturday Night Live and Jagger, who had openly borrowed some of Turners on-stage moves, sang Honky Tonk Women with her during the Stones 1981-82 tour. At a listening party for his 1983 album Lets Dance, David Bowie told guests that Turner was his favorite singer.

She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous," Jagger tweeted Wednesday. "She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.

More popular in England at the time than in the U.S., she recorded a raspy version of Lets Stay Together at EMIs Abbey Road studios in London. By the end of 1983, Lets Stay Together was a hit throughout Europe and on the verge of breaking in the states. An A&R man at Capitol Records, John Carter, urged the label to sign her up and make an album. Among the material presented was a reflective pop-reggae ballad co-written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle and initially dismissed by Tina as wimpy.

I just thought it was some old pop song, and I didnt like it, she later said of Whats Love Got To Do With It.

Turners Private Dancer album came out in May 1984, sold more than eight million copies and featured several hit singles, including the title song and Better Be Good To Me. It won four Grammys, among them record of the year for Whats Love Got to Do With It, the song that came to define the clear-eyed image of her post-Ike years.

People look at me now and think what a hot life I must have lived  ha! she wrote in her memoir.

Even with Ike, it was hard to mistake her for a romantic. Her voice was never pretty, and love songs were never her specialty, in part because she had little experience to draw from. She was born in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939 and would say she received no love from either her mother or father. After her parents separated, she moved often around Tennessee and Missouri, living with various relatives. She was outgoing, loved to sing and as a teenager would check out the blues clubs in St. Louis, where one of the top draws was Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Tina didnt care much for his looks the first time she saw him, at the Club Manhattan.

Then he got up onstage and picked up his guitar, she wrote in her memoir. He hit one note, and I thought, Jesus, listen to this guy play.

Tina soon made her move. During intermission at an Ike Turner show at the nearby Club DLisa, Ike was alone on stage, playing a blues melody on the keyboards. Tina recognized the song, B.B. Kings You Know I Love You, grabbed a microphone and sang along. As Tina remembered, a stunned Ike called out Giirrlll!! and demanded to know what else she could perform. Over her mothers objections, she agreed to join his group. He changed her first name to Tina, inspired by the comic book heroine Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and changed her last name by marrying her, in 1962.

In rare moments of leniency from Ike, Tina did enjoy success on her own. She added a roaring lead vocal to Phil Spectors titanic production of River Deep, Mountain High, a flop in the U.S. when released in 1966, but a hit overseas and eventually a standard. She was also featured as the Acid Queen in the 1975 film version of the Whos rock opera Tommy. More recent film work included Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and a cameo in Whats Love Got to Do with It.

Turner had two sons: Craig, with saxophonist Raymond Hill; and Ronald, with Ike Turner. (Craig Turner was found dead in 2018 of an apparent suicide). In a memoir published later in 2018, Tina Turner: My Love Story, she revealed that she had received a kidney transplant from her second husband, former EMI record executive Erwin Bach.

Turners life seemed an argument against marriage, but her life with Bach was a love story the younger Tina would not have believed possible. They met in the mid-1980s, when she flew to Germany for record promotion and he picked her up at the airport. He was more than a decade younger than her  the prettiest face, she said of him in the HBO documentary  and the attraction was mutual. She wed Bach in 2013, exchanging vows at a civil ceremony in Switzerland.

Its that happiness that people talk about, Turner told the press at the time, when you wish for nothing, when you can finally take a deep breath and say, Everything is good.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that Turner died Wednesday.

___

Associated Press Writer Hilary Fox contributed to this report.
NEW CANAAN  New Canaan appears to have lost its fight to extend a moratorium on affordable housing that lapsed in 2021.

Connecticuts housing department late last week issued a ruling rejecting New Canaans pitch for a state-sanctioned moratorium from the law known as 8-30g. The town was appealing an initial rejection in October, which found the town had not built enough affordable housing in the preceding four years to receive another exemption.

The 8-30g law allows developers to take towns to court if they deny applications to build deed-restricted affordable housing in municipalities where the overall housing stock is less than 10 percent affordable. A moratorium presses pause on those developments for four years  if a town obtains a requisite number of points from building affordable housing.

New Canaans most recent moratorium ended in June 2021. As of last year, approximately 3 percent of the town's housing stock could be deemed affordable.

The town has yet to decide on whether it will challenge the decision, attorney Nicholas Bamonte said in an email.

"At this point, the Town is determining whether it intends to continue to challenge the decision and is considering the several legal options for doing so," Bamonte said.

In October 2021, New Canaan completed 60 units of affordable housing at Canaan Parish  an apartment complex at 186 Lakeview Ave.  with 40 more units planned. In February 2022, Housing Authority Chairman Scott Hobbs said the project was delayed by "Connecticut state budget issues and COVID/supply chain issues," leading to the moratorium lapse.

The absence of a moratorium has meant increased pressure on the towns Planning & Zoning Commission to approve more housing, particularly from local developer Arnold Karp. Over the past year, Karp has proposed three multifamily developments that would include affordable units  about 30 percent of tenants in each development would have paid reduced rent. The town rejected all of them.

The rejected moratorium stemmed from a disagreement over affordable units at Millport Apartments, an affordable housing complex at 57 Millport Ave. In New Canaan's 2017 moratorium request, which was approved, town officials only claimed two of 33 affordable units toward their application. "(The Department of Housing) noted that ... the remaining 31 units 'will be claimed in a future Application,'" the ruling said.

Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media

But according to 8-30g, units may only be counted for relief if "completed after a moratorium has begun." In July 2022, when applying for another moratorium, New Canaan officials counted 31 Millport units that were finished before the previous moratorium started.

DOH said that was actually not allowed, adding that 8-30g is "unambiguous" in how it counts finished units toward moratoriums.

"The inability to utilize holdover points does not create an absurd or unworkable result for municipalities; rather, it supports the policy rationale underlying Section 8- 30g that, in order to benefit those in need of affordable housing, a municipality should continually develop affordable housing over time and should not be permitted to use a single development to justify successive moratoria over the course of many years," the ruling said.

New Canaan officials also argued that they relied on the state's word about holdover units to their own detriment. DOH rejected that claim as well, saying that building more affordable housing, in fact, benefits the town and its residents.

Still, as the state mulled the moratorium appeal in recent months, the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission has aimed to prove the contrary: that Karp's three proposals do pose harm to the town and its residents.

In order to deny 8-30g proposals, local planning and zoning officials must demonstrate that they are doing so because of reasons related to public safety, which outweigh the need for affordable housing. The commission rejected Karps proposals on the grounds that they would negatively impact the town's well-being.

According to the Planning & Zoning Commission, a 102-apartment complex at 751 Weed St lacked a third stairwell and didnt adequately capture stormwater. A 93-unit building at 17 and 23 Hill St. was said to have too narrow of a driveway and endanger nearby wetlands. And officials said a 20-unit proposal at 51 Main St. was out-of-character with the historic neighborhood in which it was proposed.

DOH's Friday ruling included comments and evidence from Karp's companies, though the state rejected the companies' requests to be third parties in the matter.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Brian Anthony Keeling, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Rolf Quam, Binghamton University, State University of New York

(THE CONVERSATION) Homo sapiens, our own species, evolved in Africa sometime between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. Anthropologists are pretty confident in that estimate, based on fossil, genetic and archaeological evidence.

Then what happened? How modern humans spread throughout the rest of the world is one of the most active areas of research in human evolutionary studies.

The earliest fossil evidence of our species outside of Africa is found at a site called Misliya cave, in the Middle East, and dates to around 185,000 years ago. While additional H. sapiens fossils are found from around 120,000 years ago in this same region, it seems modern humans reached Europe much later.

Understanding when our species migrated out of Africa can reveal insights into present-day biological, behavioral and cultural diversity. While we Homo sapiens are the only humans alive today, our species coexisted with different human lineages in the past, including Neandertals and Denisovans. Scientists are interested in when and where H. sapiens encountered these other kinds of humans.

Ourrecent reanalysis of a fossil jawbone from a Spanish site called Banyoles is raising new questions about when our species may have migrated to Europe.

Homo sapiens fossils found in Europe

The first documented discoveries of human fossils were in Europe, just before Darwins 1859 publication of The Origin of Species. Ideas of evolution were being actively debated within European universities and scientific societies.

Many of the earliest fossil findings were Neandertals, a species that evolved in Europe by 250,000 years ago and became extinct around 40,000 years ago. They are also our closest evolutionary relatives and, because of ancient interbreeding, the genomes of people today include Neandertal DNA. Because of their early historical presence, Neandertal fossils had a big influence on how early researchers thought about human evolution.

The first fossil evidence of Neandertals was found in 1856 during quarrying activities from the Neander Tal (Neander Valley) in Germany. Paleontologists took the hint and started to search for human fossils in other caves and exposed areas that preserved ancient sediments.

More than a decade later, in 1868, paleontologists uncovered H. sapiens fossils at the site of Cro-Magnon in southern France. For much of the 20th century, the 30,000-year-old Cro-Magnon fossils represented the earliest fossil evidence of our species in Europe.

More recently, evidence for an earlier H. sapiens presence in Europe has come from two sites in Eastern Europe, including a partial skull from Zlaty kun Cave in Czechia dating to 45,000 years ago, as well as more fragmentary remains from Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria dating to around 44,000 years ago. Ancient DNA analysis has confirmed that the fossils from these sites represent H. sapiens. Additional, potentially earlier, evidence is represented by a single tooth dating to 54,000 years ago from the Grotte Mandrin Cave in France.

This is where the human fossil from Banyoles comes into the story.

Reinvestigating a Neandertal mandible

Over a century ago in 1889, a fossil human lower jaw, or mandible, was found at a quarry near the town of Banyoles, in northeastern Spain. Pere Alsius, a prominent local pharmacist, first studied the mandible, and the fossil has been curated by his family ever since.

A number of anthropologists have studied the fossil over time, but it has not usually been included in discussions about H. sapiens in Europe. Most researchers instead argued it represented a Neandertal or showed Neandertal-like features, in part because the Banyoles fossil lacks a feature considered typical and diagnostic of our own species: a bony chin on the front of the mandible.

Researchers did not have a good idea of how old the Banyoles mandible was, with most believing it likely dated to the Middle Pleistocene (780,000-130,000 years ago). That age made it seem too old to represent H. sapiens. Thus, with the absence of a chin and the presumed early date, the designation as a Neandertal seemed to make sense.

Based on recent modern uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating, researchers now believe the Banyoles mandible is between 45,000 and 66,000 years old. This younger estimate overlaps with the early H. sapiens fossils from Eastern Europe.

Working with Spanish paleoanthropologists and archaeologists, we took another look at what species the fossil might represent. We relied on a CT scan to virtually reconstruct damaged or missing portions of the mandible and generated a 3D model of the complete fossil. Then, we studied its overall shape and distinctive anatomical features, comparing it to H. sapiens, Neandertals and other earlier human species.

In contrast to earlier analyses, our results revealed that the Banyoles jawbone was most similar to H. sapiens fossils  not Neandertals.

When we examined the mandibles bony features where muscle tendons and ligaments would have attached, it most closely resembled H. sapiens. We also found no unique bony features shared with the Neandertals. Additionally, when we used sophisticated 3D analysis techniques, we found that Banyoles overall shape was a better match with H. sapiens than with Neandertal individuals.

While nearly all of our evidence suggests this prehistoric human was indeed a member of our species, the lack of a chin remains puzzling. This feature is present in all human populations today and should be present in Banyoles if it is a member of our species.

Figuring out the closest match

How do we reconcile our results showing that Banyoles is a modern human with the fact that it lacks one of the most distinctive modern human features? We considered several possible scenarios.

When the mandible was discovered, it was still encased in a hard travertine block and only partially exposed. During initial cleaning and preparation of the specimen, it was accidentally dropped and the chin region was damaged. The fossil was subsequently reconstructed, with the damaged fragments aligned in their correct anatomical position, and the current state of the fossil does seem to accurately reflect an original chinless shape. Thus, the lack of a chin in Banyoles cannot be attributed to this initial incident.

Could the lack of a chin in the Banyoles fossil be a result of interbreeding with Neandertals, who also lacked a chin? Genetic evidence suggests that H. sapiens most likely interbred with Neandertals between 45,000 and 65,000 years ago, making this a possibility.

To assess this hypothesis, we compared Banyoles with an early H. sapiens mandible dating to about 42,000 years ago from a Romanian site called Pestera cu Oase. Ancient DNA analysis has revealed that the Oase individual had a Neandertal ancestor between four and six generations back, making it close to a hybrid individual. However, unlike Banyoles, this mandible shows a full chin along with some other Neandertal features. Since Banyoles shared no distinctive features with Neandertals, we ruled out the possibility of this individual representing interbreeding between Neandertals and H. sapiens.

Were left with two possibilities. Banyoles may represent a hybrid individual between H. sapiens and a non-Neandertal archaic human lineage. This scenario might account for the absence of the chin as well as the lack of any other Neandertal features in Banyoles. However, scientists havent identified any such non-Neandertal archaic group in the fossil record of the European Late Pleistocene (129,000-11,700 years ago), making this hypothesis less likely.

Alternatively, Banyoles may document a previously unknown lineage of largely chinless H. sapiens in Europe. Possible support for this hypothesis comes from the fact that early H. sapiens fossils from Africa and the Middle East show a less prominent chin than do living humans.

Additionally, ancient DNA research has shown that H. sapiens populations in Europe before 35,000 years ago did not contribute to the modern European gene pool. Thus, we believe the least unlikely hypothesis is that Banyoles represents an individual from one of these early H. sapiens populations.

Our study of Banyoles demonstrates how new discoveries about our evolutionary past do not solely rely on new fossil discoveries, but can also come about through applying new methodologies to previously discovered fossils. If Banyoles is really a member of our species, it would potentially represent the earliest H. sapiens lineage documented to date in Europe. Future ancient DNA analysis could confirm or refute this surprising result. In the meantime, the 3D model of Banyoles is available for other researchers to study and form their own conclusions.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/enigmatic-human-fossil-jawbone-may-be-evidence-of-an-early-homo-sapiens-presence-in-europe-and-adds-mystery-about-who-those-humans-were-196555.
STAMFORD  A Norwalk man charged in what police called a very dangerous daytime shooting near a downtown hub in Stamford could face as much as 10 years in prison under an offer made by state prosecutors.

Kenneth Jeffries, 27, faces two counts of attempt to commit first-degree assault and a single count each of first-degree reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a firearm in connection to a Sept. 7, 2021, shooting near a busy intersection on Summer Street.

On Tuesday, Assistant States Attorney Elizabeth Moran said that Jeffries has two offers on the table.

Both deals would involve Jeffries pleading guilty to two counts of attempt to commit first-degree assault and criminal possession of a firearm. However, one offer gives Jeffries a proposed prison sentence between seven to 10 years, while the second would give him a flat eight-and-a-half years in prison.

Both offers also include five years of probation, Moran said.

Criminal defense attorney Daniel Ford, who represents Jeffries, asked on Tuesday for time to discuss the offers with his client.

Jeffries has until his next court date on Aug. 8 to decide whether to accept or reject the offers, Judge Gary White said.

Jeffries was arrested by Connecticut State Police on Dec. 10, 2021, after a monthslong investigation into a shooting in September that year.

Police said identified Jeffries as the person who fired five gunshots at two men walking in the parking lot at 920 Summer St. around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 7.

Jeffries showed a callous disregard for the community, Assistant Police Chief Richard Conklin said at the time. That is a very, very busy intersection at the end of the summer. At that time, you have a line of people stretching down the street at Dairy Queen, people waiting at the bus stop and pedestrians in the area.

Conklin said Jeffries allegedly stalked the two targets of the shooting to the corner, where he parked his car and let off multiple shots at the men after shouting something at them, Conklin said.

Conklin said no one was struck by the bullets.

Conklin said a squad of Stamfords Major Crimes Unit, under the leadership of Sgt. Jennifer Lynch, pinpointed Jeffries as the suspect after months of collecting video surveillance from the area and interviewing witnesses.

Police do not know what led to the shooting, Conklin said.

Jeffries was taken into custody by state troopers after they pulled him over on Dec. 10, 2021, for allegedly speeding in Bethany.
NORWALK  Democrat Tom Livingston has stepped down from the Common Council to serve as the mayor's interim chief of staff.

Livingston announced his resignation during Tuesday's Common Council meeting and starts his first day on Wednesday. He will replace Laoise King, who is leaving for a job with the state Department of Transportation.

Tom is uniquely qualified to help lead the City of Norwalk as my Interim Chief of Staff, Mayor Harry Rilling said in a statement. His institutional knowledge of city operations from his nearly eight years on the Common Council, along with his team-oriented and problem-solving attitude, has earned him a great deal of respect at city hall.

King, who has served as the mayors chief of staff since 2016, announced earlier this month that she had accepted a job as deputy commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Her last day for the city is May 31.

With Laoise King leaving behind big shoes to fill, Im confident that Toms impressive background and skill set, combined with his passion for serving the residents of Norwalk, will allow us to continue making great progress on behalf of the community, Rilling said.

Livingston has lived in Norwalk for 36 years and has served on the Common Council since 2015 representing District E residents in Brookside, Harbor View, Rowayton, Village Creek and West Norwalk. He served as Common Council president from 2018 to 2019.

Im incredibly honored to have the opportunity to serve the residents of Norwalk as Interim Chief of Staff to Mayor Rilling, Livingston said in a statement. Over the past eight years, I have dedicated my time to public service because I truly believe that Norwalk is a special place filled with wonderful people. Under Mayor Rillings leadership, he has taken the Citys operations to a new level, enhancing city services, investing in our parks and green spaces and proactively addressing the threats of climate change. Im excited to work with the remarkable team he has assembled to continue delivering results to the residents of Norwalk that enhance their quality of life and contribute to a more sustainable city and livable future for all.

Livingston earned his law degree from Cornell Law School and attended Hamilton College for his undergraduate degree. He previously worked at vice president and secretary of applied biosystems at PerkinElmer Corportation.

From 2010 to 2022, Livingston served as an adjunct at the University of Connecticut School of Law, teaching contract drafting and helping students develop counseling, negotiation, and other legal skills. Livingston also volunteered as a venture mentor, working closely with student and faculty ventures at Yale Entrepreneurial Institute and elsewhere.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  An Israeli military court has sentenced three soldiers to prison time for abusing a Palestinian and obstructing an investigation into the incident, the army said Wednesday, in a rare punishment against army forces.

Two soldiers were convicted of abuse and a third was additionally convicted of exceeding his authority and endangering the man's life or health, the army said. Military police investigators served up the indictment after the men were arrested last month.

The indictments said the three soldiers, as well as a fourth, took the Palestinian man in a military jeep and drove to an unidentified distant location." During the drive and afterward, violence was used against the victim and he was left in a remote location, the statement said.

The soldiers, whose identities were withheld, then hid the details of the incident from their commanders in an attempt to prevent (military officials) from opening an investigation and coordinated their versions regarding the details of the incident, the statement said.

The soldiers reached plea agreements. The court sentenced the two soldiers convicted of abuse to 60 days of prison, a suspended sentence and a reduction of their ranks. The third soldier, convicted of exceeding authority and endangering life or health, was sentenced to 40 days in prison, a suspended prison sentence and a reduction of rank.

The fourth soldier, indicted for assault, abuse under aggravated circumstances, threats and additional offenses, is still pending trial.

The military court barred the soldiers' identities, the statement said.

Human rights groups accuse the Israeli military of rarely punishing soldiers for offenses against Palestinians.

Between 2017 and 2021, the Israeli military received 1,260 cases of alleged offenses by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, including 409 cases involving the killing of Palestinians, according to military data obtained by the group Yesh Din and released in December after a freedom of information request.

The Israeli military opened 248 criminal investigations into instances of possible misconduct in response to those complaints  just 21.4% of the total, Yesh Din said. Only 11 investigations during that five-year period have yielded indictments.

The Israeli military contended there had been more charges filed against soldiers than Yesh Din had reported, with a total of 31 indictments lodged during the five-year period for offenses also involving the use of weapons, property damage and violence against Palestinians.
UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- With a continuing emergency response to the heavy rains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the official toll has reached 443 dead, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that hundreds of people were injured and many are missing from the early May rains that triggered deadly flooding and landslides. Rescuers and responders urgently call for heavy equipment to excavate and bury bodies, mainly in the Kalehe territory of eastern South Kivu province.

"Other top priorities are shelter and relocation of survivors, food assistance and fixing roads and bridges so we can reach people affected," OCHA said.

More than 3,000 houses and schools serving more than 9,000 children were damaged, the humanitarian office said.

At least 17,000 people received assistance since May 10, including food, health care, shelter and psychosocial support, OCHA said. Humanitarians provided more than 50,000 liters of clean water daily to affected communities.

The UN humanitarian coordinator in the DRC, Bruno Lemarquis, allocated 3 million U.S. dollars from the Humanitarian Fund to strengthen continuing operations, the humanitarian office said. 
Courtesy of Madison Communications

STAUNTON  Local telecommunications engineers snagged more than a dozen awards, including first-place overall honors, last week in international competition.

Madison Communications Technicians Bryan Huffstutler, Daron Verbais, Greg Crabill and Tanner Pieri attended the 2023 SCTE Gateway Chapters Cable-Tec Games in St. Charles, Missouri, on May 18.



The SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) is an international organization that is split among 68 chapters. The technicians represented Madison Communications and the SCTE Gateway Chapter competing against four other teams consisting of technicians from Mediacom and Charter.



Madison Communications took home the first place team overall for the 11th straight year along with Huffstutler taking home the overall first place solo award and Crabill taking home the second-place solo award.
NEW YORK (AP)  A New Jersey software developer who prosecutors say once photographed landmarks in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., for possible terrorist attacks was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison by a federal judge who said it seemed he no longer was a danger.

In fact, Judge Paul G. Gardephe noted, Alexei Saab, 46, has become a model prisoner since his 2019 arrest, helping others incarcerated at New York City's federal jails to get high school equivalency certificates, learn English and find relief from psychological problems.

Gardephe called Saab's 2005 exit from his relationship with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Islamic Jihad Organization and the peaceful and productive life he lived in the New York City area afterward among inconvenient facts that made it impossible to grant the government's request that Saab be incarcerated for 20 years.

A jury at a trial last year heard prosecutors portray Saab as a highly trained terrorist who scoped out landmarks in the U.S., France, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Prosecutors said Saab was a sleeper cell waiting to activate if Iran was attacked by the United States.

But the jury was unable to reach a verdict on a material support for a terrorist group charge. It convicted him of receiving military-type training from the Hezbollah organization, conspiring to commit marriage fraud and making false statements. It acquitted the Morristown, New Jersey, resident of three other charges.

At sentencing, the judge also noted that Saab cooperated fully with FBI agents when they asked to interview him in 2019. He was interviewed 11 times over four months, and each time was allowed to go home, the judge said. He finally was was informed of his rights and arrested after his 12th session. He has been jailed ever since.

Gardephe said the facts and circumstances suggest Saab was no longer a danger to the community and there was little risk he would commit new crimes.

The judge said there were also inconvenient facts against defense arguments that Saab serve no more than a decade in prison.

He noted that Saab, born in poverty-ridden Yaroun, Lebanon, and raised by middle-class parents who were public school teachers, did not stop his affiliation with the Hezbollah organization after he came to the United States in 2000.

Saab took photographs of and researched weak points in U.S. landmarks and provided the information to one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world, Gardephe said.

Prosecutors said the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, and airports, bridges and tunnels were among over 40 locations that Saab surveilled in New York alone.

Defense attorney Marlon Kirton wrote in a presentence brief that his client went through a transformation after arriving in America as he began to experience the feeling of true freedom.

He said Saab was 23 years old and loved how Americans lived passionately and fearlessly and he decided he wanted that for himself. The lawyer portrayed his client as a victim of Hezbollah.

By 2005, he became a U.S. citizen and obtained two master's degrees. He decided that while he still feared Hezbollah, he felt safe in the United States, knowing that the organization could not touch him, Kirton wrote.
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MEXICO CITY (AP)  Towering a couple of hours from one of the world's largest cities, the Popocatepetl volcano has been coating nearby towns with ash and disrupting flights at Mexico City's airport, the busiest in Latin America.

Hundreds of explosions have spit lava from the snow-tipped peak of the 17,797-foot Popocatepetl (puh-puh-ka-TEH-pet-tl). Approximately 25 million people live within 60 miles of the mountain. Volcanologists say that, while a massive eruption doesn't appear imminent, eruptions are likely to continue, as they have for three decades.

WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE POPOCATEPETL VOLCANO?

There has been a surge of activity since 1994 at the volcano affectionately known as Popo," which is being tracked by scientists at Mexicos National Autonomous University (UNAM).

It has had periods of intense activity between 2000 and 2003, and again between 2012 and 2016. In 2000, that activity triggered a red alert and evacuations before the volcano calmed down again.

In past weeks, the volcano entered another one of those periods. Spewing ash, gas and lava, authorities have increased the alert to the yellow, second level on a stoplight-style scale, but not yet to red.

Previous surges in activity date back centuries. Pre-Hispanic writings speak of intense activity at Popocatepetl at the beginning of the 16th century.

In Guatemala, the Volcano of Fire claimed the lives of hundreds of people in a 2018 eruption. It has recently prompted evacuations for heightened activity as well.

IS A MAJOR ERUPTION IMMINENT?

Scientists and Mexican authorities say there's no sign that the current waves of small eruptions at Popocatepetl will turn into anything more destructive, said Servando de la Cruz Reyna, a senior geophysics researcher at the UNAM in Mexico City, adding that is there nothing new or surprising" about recent movements.

The probability that this continues as it has previously is far higher than the probability that this grows to much higher levels, he said.

Popocatepetl has been active for a half-million years. Its last major eruption happened more than a thousand years ago.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING?

Authorities have closed schools in dozens of municipalities across three states, put troops on alert, prepared shelters and checked evacuation routes. Other than that, they are encouraging people to remain calm.

On Monday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in his morning briefing that the movements of the volcano are being monitored 24 hours a day.

WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN?

Popocatepetl's recent activity is not necessarily a bad thing, said Robin Campion, a volcanologist at the Institute of Geophysics. The scientist explained that small explosions alleviate pressure from magma inside the mountain, and likely mean that it wont lead to a buildup and larger eruption.

The good thing is that  its constantly releasing energy, Campion said. Hopefully, itll continue being as constant and moderate as it is, so it doesnt all erupt at once, like it did in prehistoric times.

As it continues puffing, ash could eventually become a problem in surrounding areas, particularly in the 7.5 miles surrounding the volcano, but also in Mexico City.

While the ash is not toxic, Carlos Valdes, head of UNAMs National Seismological Service, said it could affect breathing and air quality, and also continue to affect flights to and from Mexico Citys international airport.

While the ash continues to billow toward southern Mexico, he and other scientists monitoring the volcano expect winds to shift and blow ash into the capital in June.

Already on Saturday, volcanic ash carried in by shifting winds forced the citys airport to temporarily shut down. Others expressed worries that the weight of ash building up could collapse precariously constructed homes in poorer areas of Mexico.

He and other scientists recommended residents wash their eyes and wear face masks.

It has had important consequences. The only danger were really entertaining right now is the ash, he said. People shouldnt be scared, more than anything they should take precautions.
What has happened to some Christians? Did they miss the New Testament? When did Turn your other cheek become open carrying of guns?

When did Love one another turn into hating people who arent like you? When did racism and bigotry replace love and brotherhood?

I understand that some so-called Christian denominations like to turn to the Old Testament (Torah, Five Books of Moses) for their inspiration to hate others, and I am no Bible expert so forgive my amateur understanding, but I thought the New Testament was a new covenant between the people and their God.

I recently had a conversation with such a person and was informed that slavery was not as bad as living on government assistance. Really?! When did the government rape or whip SNAP recipients or force them to work in the fields from dawn until dusk?

He further explained that slaves were treated well by their owners and slavery existed in the biblical times and continues to exist today. How does that make it right to hate African Americans and others and treat them as second-class citizens?

If you are going to be a cafeteria Christian and pick scripture that supports your nihilistic opinions, can you at least pick and choose from the Christian part of the Bible?

I am guilty of this as well. We are all sinners, right?

I pick John 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. I do not think there is any way to misunderstand the message in that passage unless you think it only applied to Hebrews.

I also pick Matthew 5:3-10, also known as the Beatitudes. They are as follows:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice for they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As reasonable people we can argue about the exact wording of the scripture, which is why I picked from the KJV and the Catholic Bibles respectively.

But the point is that they can be generally understood to invoke love, peace, justice and kindness toward each other.

So why all the hate?

As Christians  I was raised Catholic, which is a Christian denomination if you didnt know  we need to return to the fundamental meanings of the words of the New Testament.

If you want to use the Old Testament and ignore the messages in the New Testament, I would encourage you to read the Stone Edition of the Chumash, which includes the Torah and Five Megillos with rabbinic commentary. I have. It is what Jesus was taught and from which he derived his teachings.

Yes, there is much, much more to the New Testament. Parables abound with different messages and I have read it in its entirety. Yes, there are contradictions but life is full of them.

As a nation, I fear we are heading toward a kind of authoritarianism that promotes theocracy. Members of Congress openly state that religion should supersede government.

My question to them is, Whose religion? Yours? Mine?

Here is a link to the top 25 Christian denominations in the U.S. https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/bridges/workshop12/187545.shtml

I searched to find the number of branches of these denominations and sources could not agree on the number. The point being, religion cannot even agree on what to believe, so how could it credibly supersede government?

How could they do a better job of agreeing on matters of law than elected officials held to account to the people every few years?

We are divided today because we have wandered far from the teachings of Christ. I hope we can remember them and return to the basic message of love, peace and justice.

Jim Grandone is a long-time resident of Edwardsville. Grandone holds a bachelor's in political science from the University of Illinois at Springfield and was a Coro Fellow and serves on a variety of boards. He lives in Leclaire with his wife, Mary.
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Linkedin Aditya Hadi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 24, 2023

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif has expressed his disappointment over the slow progress of Shell's withdrawal from the Abadi liquified natural gas (LNG) project in the Masela oil and gas block in Maluku.

The London-based oil and gas company announced its plan to withdraw from the project in 2020, by selling its 35 percent participation interest in the project.

State-owned energy firm Pertamina has declared its interest and agreed to buy the stake, with participation from Malaysia's Petronas. However, the transfer of shares has been slow.

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Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang  Wed, May 24, 2023 07:01 4 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc70e934 1 Archipelago Central-Java,Papua,crime,Central-Java-Police,police Free

Semarang Police have named a 22-year-old college student a murder suspect in relation to the death of a 16-year-old girl, the daughter of Papua Highlands acting governor Nikolaus Kondomo, on Thursday.

Semarang Police chief Sr. Comr. Irwan Anwar said the suspect had been detained for questioning.

The girl died at St. Elisabeth Hospital in Semarang, Central Java, after having convulsions in a room rented by the suspect in a rooming house for the night on Jl. Pawiyatan Luhur.

Irwan said the girl and the man had only known each other for two weeks after chatting on Instagram. They had met each other for the first time on the day of the incident.

Police said a bottle of alcoholic beverage was found in the rented room. Nine other witnesses, who stayed in other rooms on the property, had also been questioned.

Irwan said that according to the suspects statements, they met, drank alcoholic beverages and had sexual intercourse prior to the incident.

The police are still waiting for further microbiology, pathology and toxicology reports, Irwan said.

He said the suspect was charged with violating Article 81 of the 2014 Child Protection Law on the sexual abuse of children and Article 338 of the Criminal Code on murder, and is facing at least five years in prison and a maximum of 15 years. (dre)
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Linkedin Nina A. Loasana and Yerica Lai (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 24, 2023

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has launched an investigation into the Social Affairs Ministry, which is currently led by Tri Risma Rismaharini of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), in connection to an alleged corruption related to the distribution of the government-funded rice assistance.

Investigators came to the ministry in Jakarta on Tuesday without prior notice and raided the office of social empowerment director general for eight hours to seize documents and electronic devices, ministry spokesperson Don Rozano Sigit said.

We welcomed them and we cooperatively complied with requests made by the KPK team of investigators," Don said on Wednesday, adding that, as instructed by Risma, the ministry would continue to fully cooperate with the KPK.

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Linkedin Yerica Lai (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 24, 2023

Gerindra Party politician Desmond Mahesa has downplayed a planned meeting between chairman Prabowo Subianto and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) counterpart Megawati Soekarnoputri, saying that talks with the ruling party would be pointless unless the latter would be willing to settle for the vice presidential seat.

"Megawati has already announced Ganjar [as the presidential candidate]. So, what are the odds that Ganjar would settle as Prabowos running mate when Prabowo has been declared by Gerindra as its presidential candidate," Desmond said on Tuesday.

Prabowo and the National Awakening Party (PKB) chair Muhaimin Iskandar previously said they had been expecting a sit down with the PDI-P matriarch following her party's nomination of its own politician, the popular Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo. Prabowo and Muhaimin noted that plans had been underway to realize the meeting.

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Linkedin Tenggara Strategics (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 24, 2023 07:00 4 8c59b90329e48fb699327dfce97b0e53 4 Academia the-brief Free

Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), a subsidiary of banking state-owned enterprise (SOE) Bank Mandiri, was a victim of extortion, by criminal hacker group LockBit, of data that allegedly belonged to the sharia banking SOE, including employee data, records of about 15 million of its customers and 1.5 terabytes (TB) of internal data. The data breach created by the hacker group after BSI did not cede to LockBits demanded ransom over said data could make the bank liable for lawsuits.

The alleged data breach first surfaced on May 11 when BSI CEO Hery Gunardi told a press briefing the bank had found indications of a cyberattack that caused disruptions to the sharia banking SOEs services from May 8, including its mobile banking, automated teller machines (ATMs) and branch offices. But all of BSIs services were recovered as of May 11, and he assured BSI clients their funds and data remained safe.

Dark Tracer, an intelligence platform that monitors malicious activities in cyberspace, revealed the data breach on Twitter on May 13. LockBit used the LockBit 3.0 ransomware that blocks user access to computer systems to obtain the alleged BSI data, which included contact details, financial documents, card details and passwords. The hacker group demanded the bank management contact them to negotiate before 4:09 a.m. on May 16; otherwise, they would release all the data on the dark web.

Dark Tracer also posted a screenshot on Twitter of chat logs allegedly related to a negotiation between LockBit and BSI in which the group demanded a ransom of US$20 million. After the negotiation collapsed, LockBit proceeded to publish some samples of the data they claimed to have stolen from BSI on the dark web on May 16 while keeping those the criminal hacker group judged to be the most interesting for further exploitation.

A probable factor contributing to LockBit and BSI failing to achieve an agreement in the alleged negotiation is the fact there was no guarantee the criminal hacker group would honor the agreement and refrain from leaking the data on the dark web nevertheless. Either way, the sharia banking SOE must contend with the fact that a criminal group has irreversible access to sensitive data. Moreover, the leaked data means BSI clients are under greater threat from cyberattacks and scams.

The data breach made BSI potentially liable for a lawsuit by violating Law No. 27/2022 on Personal Data Protection. Although BSI could avoid paying a potential administrative fine stipulated by the regulation at 2 percent of firms annual revenue due to the laws two-year grace period, as stipulated by Article 70 of Law No. 27/2022, it could still be forced to pay up to 10 times the fines charged for the criminal offense for failing to protect its clients data.

Whats more

BSIs business initiatives could be at risk due to the data breach. It previously had established a representative office in Dubai to attract United Arab Emirates (UAE) investors, serve Indonesians working and traveling to the Middle East and take advantage of the strong bilateral trade relationship between the UAE and Indonesia. The effort to attract global investors could be hurt by the data breach.

BSIs server trouble, caused by the data breach, particularly affected the province of Aceh. It the only other bank alongside Bank Aceh Syariah, the special autonomous provinces regional development bank (BPD), that was allowed to operate in the province by Qanun No. 11/2018 on Sharia Financial Institutions. The trouble thus prompted the People's Representative Council of Aceh (DPRA) to plan for a revision of the local regulation that will allow conventional banks to operate in Aceh.

What weve heard

Several sources in the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry revealed that the management of BSI has known from the beginning that their IT system was compromised by a hacker. However, they intentionally kept the hacking incidents secret.

BSI is concerned that information about the hacking will affect BSI's valuation. Currently, BSI is still exploring the possibility of cooperation with investors from the United Arab Emirates. There are three investors being approached, and they are said to become the new shareholders of BSI after BNI and BRI withdraw from BSI. That's why the management of BSI has been trying to limit the discussion to just ongoing modifications and upgrades in their IT system.

To identify the source of the leak and the validity of the leaked data, the internal audit team of BSI has requested assistance from the IT team of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and other state-owned banks to conduct digital forensic audits.

Sources in the government reveal that the leakage of customer data is suspected to be from one of BSI employees' computers. It is suspected that an employee's computer accessed the BSI intranet from outside the office and did not log out properly.

Disclaimer

This content is provided by Tenggara Strategics in collaboration with The Jakarta Post to serve the latest comprehensive and reliable analysis on Indonesias political and business landscape. Access the latest edition of Tenggara Backgrounder to read the articles listed below:

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Linkedin Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, May 25, 2023 04:27 3 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc71cc64 1 Editorial US,Papua-New-Guinea,defense-agreement,Papua,border,China,rivalry,separatism,FreeportIndonesia Free

The newly signed defense and maritime cooperation agreement between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the United States will not only exacerbate the ongoing great power rivalry in the Asia Pacific region but also give us a cause for concern because we share a border with PNG.

Depending on the details of the deal, sooner or later the bilateral agreement will affect our national security, for better or worse.

Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had no objection to such a form of cooperation, but quickly added, "What we need to be vigilant about is engaging in geopolitical games in the name of cooperation, and we also believe that no cooperation should target any third parties."

Beijing has shown a growing interest in Pacific Islands. Last year, then-Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands as part of his trip to eight Pacific Islands states that badly need financial funding to mitigate the risks of climate change.

Australia, the most prominent neighbor of the Pacific nations, is losing its grip on the region since China offers more lucrative deals.

As a part of the strategy to contain China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the US established a military pact, AUKUS, which allows Canberra to possess nuclear-powered submarines to protect its sovereignty. The US also formed another strategic alliance, the Quad, with Australia, Japan and India with rising China in mind.

After attending the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, last week, Biden was initially slated to visit PNG. He canceled the trip due to domestic politics and sent his state secretary, Antony Blinken, instead.

The US-PNG agreement was signed by Blinken and PNG's Defense Minister Win Bakri Daki on the sidelines of the summit of the Pacific Islands Forum in Port Moresby on Monday. No details are available regarding the deal, but a leaked draft document suggests it gives US personnel and contractors legal immunity; allows aircraft, vehicles and vessels operated by or on behalf of the US to move freely within its territory and territorial waters and exempts US staff from all migration requirements.

The Associated Press quoted the US State Department as saying the new agreement provides a framework to help improve security cooperation, enhance the capacity of PNGs defense force and increase regional stability.

PNG, the most populous Pacific Island nation, saw fierce battles during World War II.

Indonesia may choose to closely monitor the developments of the US-PNG deal and assess how it may impact its national security interests, although the full extent of the repercussions of the agreement will depend on various factors, including the specifics of the deal and the reactions of other regional powers, including China, whose influence in the region is growing.

Due to the possibility of the deal bringing about a shift in regional power dynamics, especially because it can increase the presence of the US and its allies like Australia and Japan, Indonesia should engage in diplomacy with both the US and PNG to ensure its concerns are heard and addressed.

Papua, which abuts PNG, is rich in natural resources but has for over a few decades been beset by a separatist movement. The rebel group has been holding a New Zealand pilot hostage in its stronghold of Nduga highland regency since February.

Papua is also home to the US valuable asset in PT Freeport Indonesia, one of the worlds largest copper and gold mines, which in 2018 was acquired by Indonesia. Under nationalist-leaning President Joko Jokowi Widodo, Indonesia increased its shares in Freeport to 51.23 percent in a divestment deal worth US$3.85 billion.

The PNG-US security pact amounts to a national security interest for Indonesia. Jakarta must communicate with both Washington and Port Moresby to prevent unwanted implications of any increase in the US military presence in our neighboring country.
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Only by embracing the essence of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation and with genuine sincerity, as New Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng has pointed out, could China-U.S. relations be brought back to the right track.

The Chinese envoy's Tuesday arrival in the United States to take up the ambassadorship comes at a time when the China-U.S. relationship is at its lowest ebb in decades.

Xie's landing, in the wake of a string of recent high-level meetings and exchanges between the two countries, is widely viewed as a sign of detente that is pulling the strained relationship from the brink.

In recent years, hawkish Washington decision-makers have got ever tougher on China, bringing already heightened tension to a head. These warmongers, oblivious to the interdependence and complementarity of the two economies, have chosen to turn a blind eye to the win-win nature of their cooperation, attempted to define the immensely significant relationship with "zero-sum" paranoia, and wilfully trod China's red line by manipulating the Taiwan question.

At this critical juncture, both in bilateral and global terms, great political wisdom and sensible judgment are needed more than ever to fathom the big picture of China-U.S. relations, and to choose mutual benefit over zero-sum game or the I-win-you-lose approach.

The three principles, set forth by Chinese President Xi Jinping in handling China-U.S. relations, represent the fundamental and right way for the two countries to get along with each other in the new era.

The two countries should respect each other's social systems and development paths, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and respect each other's right to development.

That entails treating each other as equals, properly handling their differences, and seeking common ground while reserving differences.

Washington has lately been bent on toxic demagoguery, not least by peddling the so-called "democracy versus autocracy," a fallacious and deceptive narrative only to stir up ideological confrontation and hostilities between the two sides.

Also an imperative is for both sides to work together with genuine sincerity to ensure their peaceful coexistence. With their interests deeply intertwined, China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.

In fact, over the decades, cooperation in various sectors has generated great dividends for the two peoples. And despite heightened tensions and the ill-willed decoupling rhetoric, two-way trade in goods hit a record 690.6 billion U.S. dollars last year.

And in this age of hyper-interdependence, a sound and stable China-U.S. relationship would serve as a bulwark in the world's collective fight against climate change, an existential challenge that concerns the very survival of humanity.

Now that the two sides have kept their lines of communication open, the United States needs to take cognizance of the fact that talk for the sake of talk will do little to remove the obstacles in the path of a sound relationship. It should also be aware that Beijing will not buy its double-dealing ploy of seeking cooperation and communication while containing China in the name of "competition."

Bringing China-U.S. relations back onto the right track of sound and steady development is an arduous task that brooks no failure. What the future holds for the two countries and the world at large hinges on whether Washington will, with enough sincerity, refrain from damaging mutual trust, avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation, and take concrete steps to deliver on its promises. 
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Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 24 2023

My current pet peeve is the recent trend of people saying, Siap!, which literally means Ready! but in Indonesia is how military subordinates respond when their superior officer gives them a command. In English it would be Yes sir!, while clicking ones heels and giving a military salute, raising the arm and touching the side of the forehead or cap with the tip of the forefinger.

Lately, all and sundry  young and old, women and men, activists, intellectuals, lay people, Muslims and non-Muslims  say siap, when in the past they would have said oke (okay), baik (fine), or sip, which possibly derives from the English word safe, meaning all clear, for sure, guaranteed or very nice, depending on the context. Oke, baik and sip are just as short and snappy as siap, so I am not sure why people started to pick it up. Is militarism secretly embedded in our collective unconscious?

This trend irritates me, as I associate it with the New Order military authoritarian regime. It lasted from 1966 to 1998, which means I spent 32 years of my life, from age 12 to 44 in it. The adult part of these 32 years were spent fighting it, mainly through my writings, which were critical of the regime. Risky business that, as in the New Order, dissidents could be blacklisted, taken in, interrogated or even disappeared.

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Linkedin Reuters Tokyo, Japan  Wed, May 24, 2023 16:45 3 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc717e2b 2 Asia and Pacific China,geopolitics,membership,Japan,NATO,Fumio-Kishida,defense Free

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday the country had no plans to become a NATO member but acknowledged the security alliance's plan to open a liaison office in Japan.

Kishida's comments came after the Japanese ambassador to the United States said earlier this month that the US-led military pact was planning a Tokyo office, the first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region.

"I am not aware of any decision made" at NATO regarding the establishment of the office, Kishida told a Wednesday parliament session, adding his country was not planning to join NATO as a member or semi-member state.

In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called Japan's move something the Asia-Pacific region "does not welcome," saying Tokyo should be "extra cautious on the issue of military security" given its "history of aggression".

Japan hosted the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima over the weekend, where the leaders of rich democracies agreed to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with China and reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Kishida is arranging to attend a NATO summit scheduled to be held in Lithuania in July, Kyodo news agency reported later on Wednesday, citing Japanese government officials.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 24, 2023

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to discuss a number of issues on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA).

In a statement released by Anwar's office, the pairs discussion included strengthening defense cooperation between Malaysia and Indonesia.

"The two spent about an hour discussing issues of mutual interest, including bilateral and regional relations," the statement said.

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Pictured is some of the food like omelets that will be available at Dandelion Cafe, which is renovating the old Kraftsmen Baking spot at the Heights Clock Tower for a new location. (Photo from Facebook)
Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE:ENV  Get Rating) insider Matthew Majoros sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.74, for a total value of $218,960.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,574.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Envestnet Stock Performance

NYSE ENV traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $54.21. The companys stock had a trading volume of 302,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 435,804. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.47. Envestnet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.72 and a 52 week high of $69.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of -25.10 and a beta of 1.22.

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Envestnet (NYSE:ENV  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.07). Envestnet had a negative net margin of 8.90% and a positive return on equity of 7.31%. The business had revenue of $292.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $296.27 million. Equities research analysts predict that Envestnet, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Envestnet

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ENV. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Envestnet from $40.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Envestnet from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Envestnet in a research note on Monday, March 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Envestnet in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a sell rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Envestnet from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Envestnet has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $63.75.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Envestnet by 13.1% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 504,173 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $29,580,000 after buying an additional 58,231 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Envestnet by 48.2% in the first quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 13,788 shares of the business services providers stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 4,484 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its holdings in shares of Envestnet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 220,515 shares of the business services providers stock worth $12,937,000 after buying an additional 2,679 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Envestnet by 49.5% during the first quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 43,945 shares of the business services providers stock worth $2,578,000 after buying an additional 14,547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Envestnet by 5.0% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,034,347 shares of the business services providers stock worth $60,685,000 after buying an additional 49,603 shares in the last quarter.

About Envestnet

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Envestnet, Inc engages in the provision of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. It operates through Envestnet Wealth Solutions and Envestnet Data and Analytics segments. The Envestnet Wealth Solutions segment provides unified wealth management software and services to empower financial advisors and institutions.

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Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF (BATS:NULV  Get Rating) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,383 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 16,074 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLCs holdings in Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF were worth $7,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NULV. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF by 50.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 32,442 shares of the companys stock worth $1,111,000 after acquiring an additional 10,869 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $93,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 71,074 shares of the companys stock worth $2,433,000 after acquiring an additional 12,459 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 44,146 shares of the companys stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,908 shares during the period. Finally, Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC now owns 186,701 shares of the companys stock worth $6,393,000 after acquiring an additional 17,561 shares during the period.

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Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF Price Performance

Shares of NULV traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.35. The company had a trading volume of 111,248 shares. Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF has a twelve month low of $25.49 and a twelve month high of $30.70. The companys 50-day moving average is $33.67 and its 200-day moving average is $34.53. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 0.92.

About Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF

The Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF (NULV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI TIAA ESG USA Large Cap Value index. The fund tracks an index of US large-cap value stocks that score highly on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. The fund is weighted using a multi-factor optimizer.

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Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG  Get Rating) and Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC  Get Rating) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Mizuho Financial Group has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Truist Financial has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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Profitability

This table compares Mizuho Financial Group and Truist Financials net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Mizuho Financial Group 9.53% 6.26% 0.22% Truist Financial 22.81% 12.37% 1.22%

Dividends

Earnings and Valuation

Mizuho Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Truist Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Mizuho Financial Group pays out 27.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Truist Financial pays out 46.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Truist Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Truist Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

This table compares Mizuho Financial Group and Truist Financials revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Mizuho Financial Group $42.77 billion 0.86 $4.11 billion $0.33 8.82 Truist Financial $25.36 billion 1.62 $6.26 billion $4.49 6.85

Truist Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Mizuho Financial Group. Truist Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mizuho Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.5% of Mizuho Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.5% of Truist Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Mizuho Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Truist Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Mizuho Financial Group and Truist Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Mizuho Financial Group 0 1 2 0 2.67 Truist Financial 1 9 7 0 2.35

Truist Financial has a consensus price target of $46.24, indicating a potential upside of 50.36%. Given Truist Financials higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Truist Financial is more favorable than Mizuho Financial Group.

Summary

Truist Financial beats Mizuho Financial Group on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mizuho Financial Group

(Get Rating)

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. operates as a holding company which engages in the provision of financial services such as banking, trust banking, securities, and others. It operates through the following segments: Mizuho Bank Ltd. (MHKB), Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. (MHTB), and Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. (MHSC). The Mizuho Bank Ltd. segment includes personal, retail, corporate, international banking, financial institutions, public sector, and trading services. The Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. provides services related to trust, real estate, securitization, structured finance, pension and asset management, and stock transfer agency. The Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. offers security services to individuals, corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Truist Financial

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Truist Financial Corp. is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses, and municipalities. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth, Corporate and Commercial Banking, Insurance Holdings, and Other, Treasury & Corporate. The Consumer Banking and Wealth segment consists of Retail Community Banking, National Consumer Finance, Services, Payments, Wealth Management and Banking Products and Professional Services and Mortgage Banking. The Corporate and Commercial Banking segment consists of Corporate and Investment Banking, Commercial Community Banking and Commercial Real Estate. The Insurance Holdings segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits and life insurance to businesses and individuals and also provides small business and corporate services, such as workers compensation and professional liability, as well as surety coverage and title insurance. It offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer fi

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Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,215 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the period. Southern makes up about 0.8% of Bison Wealth LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Bison Wealth LLCs holdings in Southern were worth $2,644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Southern by 127.6% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 421 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 192.0% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 511 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. 61.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 27,426 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total value of $2,059,966.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,119 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,712,898.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 27,426 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total value of $2,059,966.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,119 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,712,898.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares of the companys stock, valued at $63,705,014.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,917 shares of company stock valued at $6,889,527 over the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of SO stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $70.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,402,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,155,838. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.95. The company has a market cap of $77.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $58.85 and a 12 month high of $80.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.08. The business 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%. Southerns quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. Southerns dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. VNET Group reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Southern from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Five 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $73.07.

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.

See Also

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Get Rating).

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Cavalier Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of VanEck VietnamETF (BATS:VNM  Get Rating) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 339,260 shares of the companys stock after selling 17,803 shares during the period. VanEck VietnamETF accounts for about 1.4% of Cavalier Investments LLCs holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Cavalier Investments LLCs holdings in VanEck VietnamETF were worth $4,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in VanEck VietnamETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its stake in VanEck VietnamETF by 104.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 53,885 shares of the companys stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 27,473 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VanEck VietnamETF by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 247,925 shares of the companys stock worth $2,933,000 after acquiring an additional 10,923 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of VanEck VietnamETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $359,000. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VanEck VietnamETF by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 170,700 shares of the companys stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 77,950 shares during the last quarter.

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VanEck VietnamETF Stock Performance

Shares of VNM traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.34. The companys stock had a trading volume of 268,357 shares. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $12.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $502.24 million, a PE ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.95.

About VanEck VietnamETF

The VanEck Vietnam ETF (VNM) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MVIS Vietnam index, a market-cap-weighted index of Vietnamese stocks VNM was launched on Aug 14, 2009 and is managed by VanEck.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday in Beijing.

Xi asked Mishustin to convey his sincere greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Xi said that during his successful state visit to Russia in March, he and Putin drew a blueprint for the future development of China-Russia relations and cooperation in various fields.

It is the aspiration of the people and the trend of the times to consolidate and develop China-Russia relations, Xi said.

He expressed his hope that both sides will continue to take advantage of the great potential, broad prospects and strong impetus of China-Russia ties to advance cooperation in various fields and enrich their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era.

China and Russia should continue to firmly support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests, and strengthen coordination on multilateral arenas such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS and the G20, Xi stressed.

The two sides should further tap the potential to raise the levels of economic, trade and investment cooperation, improve bilateral cooperation institutions and mechanisms, consolidate and expand energy and connectivity cooperation, and create more new growth points, Xi said, adding the people-to-people and cultural exchanges should be expanded.

China is willing to work with Russia and Eurasian Economic Union members to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union to facilitate the formation of a more open, large regional market, ensure the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chains, and bring tangible benefits to countries in the region.

Mishustin, who is on an official visit to China, extended Putin's sincere greetings and best wishes to Xi. He said Xi's historic state visit to Russia in March was a great success, which has inaugurated a new era for the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.

Russia is ready to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and make full use of the regular premier-level meetings and relevant mechanisms to deepen practical cooperation in various fields, Mishustin said.

He said that Russia is willing to work with China to promote the multipolarization of the world and consolidate the international order based on international law. Russia looks forward to further strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges with China so that their friendship will be passed on from generation to generation. 
Dividend Assets Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI  Get Rating) by 40.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,804 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 1,877 shares during the period. Dividend Assets Capital LLCs holdings in S&P Global were worth $939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in S&P Global during the first quarter worth $1,969,000. Markel Corp grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 149,790 shares of the business services providers stock worth $61,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,239 shares of the business services providers stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in S&P Global by 115.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the business services providers stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 736 shares of the business services providers stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI traded down $6.64 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $355.55. The stock had a trading volume of 294,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,280,645. The company has a market cap of $114.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.12. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.32 and a 1 year high of $395.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $348.71 and a 200 day moving average of $350.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

S&P Global ( NYSE:SPGI Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The business services provider reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.23. S&P Global had a net margin of 23.50% and a return on equity of 10.06%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.89 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. S&P Globals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.81, for a total transaction of $297,504.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,148 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $779,315.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.96, for a total value of $2,692,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,786,879.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 820 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.81, for a total value of $297,504.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,148 shares in the company, valued at $779,315.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,020 shares of company stock valued at $5,013,375 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. They issued an overweight rating and a $415.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on S&P Global from $398.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $403.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $434.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $395.71.

About S&P Global

(Get Rating)

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions. The Market Intelligence segment provides multi-asset-class data and analytics integrated with purpose-built workflow solutions.

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Eli Lilly and (NYSE:LLY  Get Rating) had its target price boosted by research analysts at UBS Group from $447.00 to $498.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage presently has a buy rating on the stock. UBS Groups price objective points to a potential upside of 16.89% from the stocks current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LLY. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and from $400.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Eli Lilly and in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and from $375.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, SVB Securities boosted their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and from $410.00 to $458.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eli Lilly and has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $422.19.

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Eli Lilly and Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LLY stock traded up $2.83 on Wednesday, hitting $426.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,789,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,190,751. Eli Lilly and has a twelve month low of $283.11 and a twelve month high of $454.95. The firm has a market cap of $404.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.69, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $382.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $361.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Eli Lilly and ( NYSE:LLY Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Eli Lilly and had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 61.42%. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.62 EPS. Eli Lilly ands quarterly revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Eli Lilly and will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 600 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.29, for a total value of $261,174.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,978 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,602,163.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 194,354 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $442.62, for a total transaction of $86,024,967.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 101,473,810 shares in the company, valued at $44,914,337,782.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 600 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.29, for a total transaction of $261,174.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,978 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,602,163.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,303,605 shares of company stock valued at $497,320,473 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Eli Lilly and

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oxler Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and by 0.4% during the first quarter. Oxler Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,050 shares of the companys stock worth $2,078,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and by 3.2% during the first quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 774 shares of the companys stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and by 0.6% during the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the companys stock worth $1,487,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Cora Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and by 2.8% during the first quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 956 shares of the companys stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake in Eli Lilly and by 2.7% in the first quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the companys stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 82.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eli Lilly and Company Profile

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Eli Lilly & Co engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of pharmaceutical products. The firms products consist of diabetes, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and other products and therapies. The company was founded by Eli Lilly in May 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN.

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EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG  Get Rating) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $142.00 to $141.00 in a research report issued on Monday, The Fly reports. Stifel Nicolaus price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.27% from the stocks previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on EOG. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on shares of EOG Resources from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of EOG Resources in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $152.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $158.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Scotiabank raised shares of EOG Resources from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of EOG Resources from $171.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, May 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $149.33.

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EOG Resources Stock Performance

EOG opened at $113.46 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $66.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.10, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.53. EOG Resources has a 1-year low of $92.16 and a 1-year high of $150.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

EOG Resources ( NYSE:EOG Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The energy exploration company reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 30.34%. The companys revenue was up 51.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.00 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that EOG Resources will post 11.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in EOG Resources by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 9,118 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Hallmark Capital Management Inc. increased its position in EOG Resources by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hallmark Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,197 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Bollard Group LLC increased its position in EOG Resources by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 10,569 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. PAX Financial Group LLC increased its position in EOG Resources by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in EOG Resources by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,018 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.40% of the companys stock.

EOG Resources Company Profile

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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.

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GoldMining Inc. (NYSEMKT:GLDG  Get Rating) major shareholder Goldmining Inc. purchased 18,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.97 per share, with a total value of $287,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,848,552 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $157,281,375.44. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a companys stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Goldmining Inc. also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Wednesday, May 10th, Goldmining Inc. purchased 5,000 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.87 per share, for a total transaction of $69,350.00.

On Friday, May 5th, Goldmining Inc. bought 4,300 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $10.00 per share, for a total transaction of $43,000.00.

On Wednesday, May 3rd, Goldmining Inc. purchased 4,783 shares of GoldMining stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.60 per share, with a total value of $45,916.80.

On Monday, May 1st, Goldmining Inc. bought 4,822 shares of GoldMining stock. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.61 per share, with a total value of $46,339.42.

On Thursday, April 27th, Goldmining Inc. purchased 11,503 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.01 per share, for a total transaction of $103,642.03.

On Tuesday, April 25th, Goldmining Inc. acquired 25,001 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.04 per share, with a total value of $226,009.04.

On Friday, April 21st, Goldmining Inc. purchased 44,136 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.98 per share, for a total transaction of $396,341.28.

On Wednesday, April 19th, Goldmining Inc. purchased 122,490 shares of GoldMining stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,224,900.00.

GoldMining Price Performance

Shares of NYSEMKT GLDG remained flat at $1.01 during trading on Tuesday. The companys stock had a trading volume of 311,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,090. The companys fifty day moving average is $1.10 and its 200-day moving average is $1.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Institutional Trading of GoldMining

Separately, HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on shares of GoldMining from $5.25 to $5.00 in a report on Friday.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GLDG. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of GoldMining by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,298,728 shares of the companys stock valued at $11,251,000 after acquiring an additional 871,961 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of GoldMining by 765.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 710,475 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 628,376 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in GoldMining in the 4th quarter valued at $188,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in GoldMining by 930.3% during the second quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 180,769 shares of the companys stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 163,223 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in GoldMining during the first quarter worth $235,000. 7.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About GoldMining

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GoldMining Inc, a mineral exploration company, focuses on the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold assets in the Americas. It also operates a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. The company's principal projects include La Mina Gold Project and Titiribi Gold-Copper Project located in Colombia; Whistler Gold-Copper Project located in Alaska, United States; and Sao Jorge Gold Project located in the State of Para, northeastern Brazil.

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High Peak Royalties Limited (ASX:HPR  Get Rating) insider David Croll bought 652,595 shares of High Peak Royalties stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of A$0.08 ($0.05) per share, with a total value of A$48,944.63 ($32,629.75).

High Peak Royalties Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.47.

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About High Peak Royalties

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High Peak Royalties Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition of royalty and exploration interests in oil and gas assets. It has royalties over 20 oil and gas permits in Australia and over 2,000 wells in the United States. High Peak Royalties Limited was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Sydney, Australia.

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Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HPP  Get Rating) shares dropped 7.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $4.62 and last traded at $4.63. Approximately 1,570,677 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 3,310,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HPP has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Hudson Pacific Properties from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a sell rating for the company. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Hudson Pacific Properties in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. They set a sell rating and a $5.50 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Hudson Pacific Properties from $10.00 to $6.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.63.

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Hudson Pacific Properties Price Performance

The companys 50-day moving average is $5.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $655.19 million, a P/E ratio of -11.82 and a beta of 1.09.

Hudson Pacific Properties Dividend Announcement

Insider Activity at Hudson Pacific Properties

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 20th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 17th. Hudson Pacific Propertiess dividend payout ratio is -249.99%.

In related news, CIO Drew Gordon bought 25,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.96 per share, for a total transaction of $149,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 116,958 shares of the companys stock, valued at $697,069.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Arthur X. Suazo bought 10,000 shares of Hudson Pacific Properties stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.86 per share, for a total transaction of $58,600.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $510,417.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CIO Drew Gordon purchased 25,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.96 per share, for a total transaction of $149,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive now owns 116,958 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $697,069.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 38,975 shares of company stock worth $232,523 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.95% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HPP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties during the 4th quarter worth $101,242,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Hudson Pacific Properties by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,812,665 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $249,799,000 after buying an additional 5,516,360 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Hudson Pacific Properties by 265.6% in the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 5,690,962 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $37,845,000 after buying an additional 4,134,472 shares during the period. PGGM Investments bought a new position in Hudson Pacific Properties in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,154,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Hudson Pacific Properties in the 1st quarter worth about $10,723,000. 95.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hudson Pacific Properties Company Profile

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Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc is a real estate company, which acquires, repositions, develops, and operates sustainable office and state of-the-art studio properties in high-barrier-to-entry submarkets in California, the Pacific Northwest, Western Canada, and Greater London, United Kingdom. It operates through the Office Properties and Studio Properties segments.

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IMS Capital Management lessened its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) by 34.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,035 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 3,242 shares during the period. IMS Capital Managements holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Financial Mangement LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 15,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 15,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 10,053 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 13,686 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.51% of the companys stock.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

Shares of BMY traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $65.54. The stock had a trading volume of 3,115,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,023,981. The company has a market cap of $137.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.44. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $68.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $65.14 and a fifty-two week high of $81.43.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

Bristol-Myers Squibb ( NYSE:BMY Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $11.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.50 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 51.75% and a net margin of 15.95%. The businesss revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 10th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 6th. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BMY shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. 51job reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $78.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Atlantic Securities increased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $79.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Rupert Vessey sold 50,385 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $3,378,818.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,751 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,202,182.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.08% of the companys stock.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

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Bristol Myers Squibb Co engages in the discovery, development, licensing, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of biopharmaceutical products. It offers chemically-synthesized drugs or small molecules and products produced from biological processes called biologics. The company was founded in August 1933 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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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).

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Shares of iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF (BATS:IAGG  Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $48.58 and last traded at $48.87, with a volume of 598936 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.89.

iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Performance

The stocks 50-day moving average price is $48.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.79.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of IAGG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF by 68.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,255 shares of the companys stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF by 4.6% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,592 shares of the companys stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF in the first quarter valued at approximately $665,000. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF in the first quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF by 30.8% in the third quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 44,040 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,128,000 after buying an additional 10,371 shares during the period.

About iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF

The iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF (IAGG) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks an index composed of global non-U.S. dollar denominated investment grade bonds, hedged against currency fluctuations for USD investors. IAGG was launched on Nov 10, 2015 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Oncolytics Biotech (TSE:ONC  Get Rating) has been given a C$9.00 price target by equities research analysts at Jonestrading in a research note issued on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a buy rating on the stock. Jonestradings price target suggests a potential upside of 233.33% from the companys current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ONC. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a C$9.00 price target on shares of Oncolytics Biotech in a research note on Monday, March 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating on shares of Oncolytics Biotech in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of C$6.75.

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Oncolytics Biotech Stock Performance

TSE:ONC traded up C$0.29 on Wednesday, reaching C$2.70. 188,582 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 48,402. The firm has a market cap of C$173.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.29 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 13.88 and a quick ratio of 8.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$1.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$2.10. Oncolytics Biotech has a 52 week low of C$1.06 and a 52 week high of C$3.10.

About Oncolytics Biotech

Oncolytics Biotech ( TSE:ONC Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 3rd. The company reported C($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C($0.07) by C($0.07). As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oncolytics Biotech will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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Oncolytics Biotech Inc, a development-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cancer. Its lead product is pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immunotherapeutic agent for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies.

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Mongolia Growth Group Ltd. (CVE:YAK  Get Rating) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as C$1.05 and last traded at C$1.12, with a volume of 46518 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$1.21.

Mongolia Growth Group Trading Down 5.8 %

The company has a market cap of C$31.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$1.37 and a 200 day moving average price of C$1.47.

Mongolia Growth Group Company Profile

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Mongolia Growth Group Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides property management, leasing, renovation, and development services in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It operates through three segments: Investment Property Operations, Corporate, and Subscription Products. The company's investment portfolio consists of residential, office, retail, and land and redevelopment sites.

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BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with a delegation of the Bangladesh Awami League on Wednesday.

The delegation was led by Muhammad Faruk Khan, presidium member of the Bangladesh ruling party and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The Chinese and Bangladeshi sides exchanged views on strengthening institutionalized communication between the two parties, promoting nation-building, safeguarding regional peace and stability and the common interests of developing countries. 
Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA  Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.50.

A number of analysts have weighed in on MWA shares. Seaport Res Ptn restated a buy rating on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. TheStreet upgraded Mueller Water Products from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com started coverage on Mueller Water Products in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Mueller Water Products from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Mueller Water Products from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th.

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Mueller Water Products Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MWA opened at $13.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 3.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $13.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.67. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $9.90 and a 52-week high of $14.98.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

Mueller Water Products ( NYSE:MWA Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $332.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $332.45 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.67 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 10th were paid a $0.061 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Mueller Water Productss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 42,021 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 21,454 shares during the period. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 88,146 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 18,255 shares during the period. Pendal Group Ltd grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Pendal Group Ltd now owns 346,556 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $3,729,000 after purchasing an additional 89,761 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 29,204 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 5,684 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,200,300 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $53,408,000 after purchasing an additional 17,773 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.75% of the companys stock.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

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Mueller Water Products, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of products used in the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water. It operates through the Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions segments. The Water Flow Solutions segment includes iron gate valves, specialty valves, and service brass products.

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Shares of Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW  Get Rating) have been assigned an average rating of Hold from the fourteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.64.

Several research firms recently issued reports on PNW. StockNews.com lowered Pinnacle West Capital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $69.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Pinnacle West Capital from $74.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised Pinnacle West Capital from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pinnacle West Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PNW. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,980 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 30,693 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 5,768 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its holdings in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 31,722 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Pinnacle West Capital by 6.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,515 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $38,620,000 after buying an additional 31,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Pinnacle West Capital by 7.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 135,551 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $10,571,000 after purchasing an additional 9,777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.21% of the companys stock.

Pinnacle West Capital Stock Performance

PNW opened at $77.65 on Wednesday. The firms 50-day moving average price is $79.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Pinnacle West Capital has a twelve month low of $59.03 and a twelve month high of $81.63.

Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.06). Pinnacle West Capital had a net margin of 10.33% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The firm had revenue of $944.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $808.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pinnacle West Capital will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pinnacle West Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.865 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 28th. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. Pinnacle West Capitals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.60%.

About Pinnacle West Capital

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Pinnacle West Capital Corp. is a holding company, which engages in providing energy and energy-related products. It offers regulated retail and wholesale electricity businesses and related activities, such as electricity generation, transmission and distribution through its subsidiary, Arizona Public Service Co The company was founded on February 20, 1985, and is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ.

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Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (TSE:AEM  Get Rating) (NYSE:AEM)  Equities researchers at Raymond James cut their Q3 2023 earnings estimates for shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, May 18th. Raymond James analyst F. Hamed now anticipates that the company will post earnings per share of $0.50 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.54. Raymond James currently has a Outperform rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Agnico Eagle Mines current full-year earnings is $2.60 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Agnico Eagle Mines Q4 2023 earnings at $0.40 EPS.

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AEM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$89.00 to C$91.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$95.00 to C$98.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$90.00 to C$84.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Barclays started coverage on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research note on Friday, February 17th. They issued a buy rating and a C$62.00 target price for the company. Finally, National Bank Financial lifted their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$95.00 to C$98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of C$79.31.

Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Down 1.2 %

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

TSE:AEM opened at C$72.16 on Monday. Agnico Eagle Mines has a fifty-two week low of C$48.88 and a fifty-two week high of C$82.90. The stock has a market capitalization of C$35.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.55, a P/E/G ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.70, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 2.32. The companys 50-day simple moving average is C$74.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$70.75.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.541 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. This is a boost from Agnico Eagle Miness previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. Agnico Eagle Miness payout ratio is presently 31.29%.

About Agnico Eagle Mines

(Get Rating)

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Canada, Mexico, and Finland. It operates through Northern Business and Southern Business segments. The company primarily produces and sells gold deposits, as well as explores for silver, zinc, and copper deposits.

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Seven & i (OTC:SVNDF  Get Rating) and Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize (OTCMKTS:AHODF  Get Rating) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Dividends

Seven & i pays an annual dividend of 57.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 123.5%. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize pays an annual dividend of C$0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Seven & i pays out 28.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize pays out 60.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Seven & i is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

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Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Seven & i and Koninklijke Ahold Delhaizes gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Seven & i N/A N/A N/A 197.96 0.23 Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N/A N/A N/A C$0.66 50.93

Institutional & Insider Ownership

Seven & i is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

19.6% of Seven & i shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.4% of Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Seven & i and Koninklijke Ahold Delhaizes net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Seven & i N/A N/A N/A Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N/A N/A N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Seven & i and Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Seven & i 1 0 0 0 1.00 Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize 0 2 2 0 2.50

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize has a consensus price target of C$31.10, indicating a potential downside of 8.07%. Given Koninklijke Ahold Delhaizes stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize is more favorable than Seven & i.

Summary

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize beats Seven & i on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seven & i

(Get Rating)

Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. engages in retail, food, financial, and IT businesses in Japan, North America, and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Domestic Convenience Store operations, Overseas Convenience Store Operations, Superstore Operations, Department Store Operations, Financial Services, Specialty Stores Operations, and Others. The company's Domestic Convenience Store Operations segment operates convenience stores comprising directly managed corporate stores and franchised stores. Its Overseas Convenience Store Operations segment engages in convenience store operation and gasoline retail businesses. The company's Superstore Operations segment operates retail business that provide daily life necessities, such as food and other daily necessities. Its Department Store Operations operates department stores that provide various merchandise products. The company's Financial Services segment offers banking, leasing, and credit card services. Its Specialty Store Operations segment operates specialty retail stores. The company's others segment engages in real estate and other businesses. It operates approximately 22,500 stores in Japan and 71,800 stores internationally. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize

(Get Rating)

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV engages in the management and operation of supermarkets and e-commerce business. It operates through the following segments: The U.S., Europe, Other Retail, and Global Support Office. The U.S. segment includes Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant & Martins, Hannaford, Giant Food and Peapod. The Europe segment is consisted of Albert Heijn, Etos, Gall & Gall, bol.com, Delhaize operations in Belgium and Luxembourg.The Other Retail segment handles the firms joint ventures. The Global Support Office segment represents global support office operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Zaandam, the Netherlands.

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Trilogy Metals Inc. (TSE:TMQ  Get Rating)s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as C$0.67 and last traded at C$0.67, with a volume of 68847 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$0.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Trilogy Metals from C$2.25 to C$1.75 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th.

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Trilogy Metals Trading Down 9.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 5.25 and a current ratio of 2.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$0.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$0.78. The company has a market cap of C$103.74 million, a PE ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 1.23.

About Trilogy Metals

Trilogy Metals Inc, a base metals exploration company, explores for and develops mineral properties in the United States. It principally holds interests in the Upper Kobuk mineral projects that include the Arctic, which contains polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits; and Bornite that contains carbonate-hosted copper  cobalt deposits covering an area of approximately 426,690 acres located in the Ambler mining district in Northwest Alaska.

Further Reading

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Nigerias outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday in Abuja commissioned the new headquarters of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) built at the cost of N19.6 billion.

The building, known as Customs House, is located in the Maitama area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The building has a 12-floor tower with five floors on both wings of the tower.

The project was conceived in 2002 to provide a comfortable and conducive working environment for staff and authorised visitors to the building.

While delivering his keynote address at the event, the President said that the policies taken by his administration were deliberately made for the development of the country.

Buhari said that such policies became legacy programmes because they later became the delight of the people and the country.

He said the ban on the importation of foreign rice, for instance, was one such policy.

I deliberately closed the borders. I said it is either you eat what you grow or you grow what you eat and later Nigerians appreciated it, he said.

On corruption, Buhari said he had nothing to hide.

He said, Those who are following Nigerian leaders to condemn them for misappropriation and misbehaviour will have a problem with me.

The outgoing President emphasised the need to maintain cordial relationship with neighbouring African countries.

When I became the President, my first visit was to Niger, Chad and Cameroon because if you do not secure their confidence, you will be in trouble, he said.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said the new customs headquarters was a symbol of the present governments commitment to effective service delivery.

She said the Customs Board under her leadership prioritised staff welfare, ensured regular promotion of personnel and training.

She thanked President Buhari for signing the Nigeria Customs Act 2022, saying it would go a long way in enabling the service to meet up with international best practices.

Earlier, Comptroller of Customs, Hameed Ali, said he ensured the building was completed to create a conducive environment for personnel to effective perform their jobs.

When I assumed office in 2015, I was resolute on implementing the three Rs  reform, restructure and raise the revenue profile of the service. In view of this, I was not in doubt that a conducive environment is important and that is why I ensured the completion of the new corporate headquarters, he said.

Ali said the building was technologically friendly with the necessary facilities to monitor activities at the different borders and commands across the country.

Ali said the building, which sits on approximately 25,000 square meters, was designed and constructed by indigenous firms.

He said although there were challenges of variations in the course of the project, the service was proud to erect one of the most cost-effective edifices in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.
In the vast landscape of our countrys politics, a phenomenon known as the "Ghost Presidency" has shrouded our secrecy and misinformation. This hidden reality reveals a complex web of power dynamics, raising concerns about transparency, accountability, and the overall democratic health of Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the phenomenon gained significant attention during the prolonged absence of President Umaru Musa YarAdua, who battled with a severe illness from 2009 until his unfortunate demise in 2010. The narrative also gained traction during the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015 and reelected in 2019. That President Buharis prolonged absences from public view and limited communication raised doubts about his ability to govern effectively.

During this period, we saw how power was effectively wielded by a small group of influential individuals, which led to governance challenges and a lack of clarity in decision-making. The long absence of our actively involved president had far-reaching consequences on governance and the people. Decision-making processes at some point became centralized, leaving little room for transparency and inclusive policy formation.

This situation further lead to power struggles and a concentration of power in the hands of a select few, called the cabals. Our country faced other numerous challenges, including economic instability, security threats, and social unrest, the absence of strong leadership exacerbated these issues, further fueling public frustration.

The lack of effective leadership at that point resulted in policy paralysis, bureaucratic inefficiency, and the inability to address pressing issues facing the nation. It is worthy to note and bring to the attention of incoming administrations that, one of the pillars of a healthy democracy is the concept of accountability.

In the absence of an active president, it becomes challenging for citizens to hold their government accountable for its policies and actions. This erosion of democratic accountability undermines the trust between the people and their elected representatives.

Also, this vulnerability can be exploited by external threats or internal actors seeking to undermine our nations stability. A lack of consistent leadership and decision-making in the security domain can have severe consequences for the safety and well-being of the Nigerian people.

The existence of a ghost presidency in Nigeria reveals a troubling reality in the past, one that challenges the democratic ideals upon which our nation was built. To safeguard the democratic process and promote stability, it is imperative for incoming administrations to address the underlying issues and take steps towards constitutional reforms, institutional strengthening, and greater transparency in Nigerian politics. Only through these measures can the ghost presidency be exorcised, allowing our beloved country Nigeria to move forward on a path of inclusive and accountable governance.
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- In 2023, the Chinese central government will finance the study of 6,150 medical college students who will work in the country's less-developed central and western regions, the Ministry of Education announced Wednesday.

The ministry cited a circular of its general office, saying that the central government will provide financial support to offer five years of free undergraduate education at the country's medical colleges and universities.

Free education is predicated on the condition that when the students finish their studies, they serve in township clinics in the central and western regions.

According to the circular, such a program is open only to students from rural areas, and the candidates also need to attend the national college entrance exam of the year. 
NEW DELHI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen opposition political parties in India, including the main opposition Indian National Congress (INC) party, on Wednesday announced a boycott of the inauguration ceremony of a new parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

The opposition parties demanded the inauguration be presided over by President Droupadi Murmu.

In a joint statement issued by "like minded opposition parties", they said the planned inauguration is an "undignified act" without the presence of the Indian president, which "insults the high office of the President," and violates the letter and spirit of the Indian constitution.

The opposition leaders, citing Article 79 of the Indian constitution, said: "In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President."

India's current parliament building has been in use since August 1947 when the South Asian country gained independence from the British rule. It is planned to be preserved as a national archaeological asset after the new building is inaugurated.

According to media reports, the new parliament building's construction cost around 12 billion Indian rupees (around 145 million U.S. dollars). It is said to be more spacious, with an enhanced seating capacity for legislators compared to the old one. 
Blood bank at Vachira Phuket Hospital celebrates 56th anniversary

PHUKET: The blood bank at Vachira Phuket Hospital celebrated its 56th anniversary yesterday (May 23) with a formal ceremony at Phuket Provincial Hall chaired by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew and joined by 337 guests.

Community

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 24 May 2023, 05:49PM

Boonwandee Woonciew, who as Governor Narongs wife currently serves as President of the Phuket Red Cross, explained that May 23 marked the day that King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit officially opened the blood bank at the Lert Pokarak Building at Vachira Phuket Hospital in 1967.

It was the first blood bank on Phuket, Ms Boonwandee noted.

It has been highly beneficial for all local Phuket people, people who live in provinces nearby as well as visitors or travelers in Phuket, Ms Boonwandee said.

The blood bank at Vachira Phuket Hospital has pursued the vision of HM The King and The Queen by providing sufficient blood and blood components for patients. In the past year, 40,000 units of blood have been provided for patients in need, she added.

Campaigns to promote awareness of the blood bank  and the constant need for blood donations  will continue, Ms Boonwandee noted.

She also expressed gratitude to all people who have donated blood.

As part of the celebrations yesterday, the Phuket Red Cross handed out special plaques to people who had made 200, 150 or 100 blood donations.

Souvenir brooches were handed out to people who had made 96, 84, 72, 60 or 48 blood donations

Certificates were also handed out to government offices that have supported blood donations, campaigns and mobile donation blood clinics, and souvenirs were given to volunteers at the blood bank of Vachira Phuket Hospital as a thank you for their efforts.

JOIN THE EFFORT

People can donate blood at the Blood Bank on the 4th floor of Vachira Phuket Hospital and at the blood bank at the offices of the Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society(Phuket RBC) in Phuket Town. For more details, click here.

The Phuket RBC invites donors to visit various locations across the island throughout May. The Phuket Red Cross outreach campaign schedule for the remainder of the month is as follows:

May 26  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang

May 26  9am-1pm  CU Bank Phuket

May 27  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass

May 29  noon-6pm  Central Floresta

May 29  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass

May 31  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang

May 31  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass

Vachira Phuket Hospital conducts its own outreach campaign, with the remaining outreach clinics to be held as follows:
Move Forward MPs-elect tackle Phuket taxi drivers, corrupt police, landslides

PHUKET: Move Forward MPs-elect for Phuket have started tackling critical issues facing tourists and island residents, including police corruption and intimidation by Phuket taxi drivers allegedly operating as mafia.

tourismSafetycorruptionpolicetransportviolence

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 24 May 2023, 02:20PM

Phuket MP-elect for Constituency 2 Chalermpong Saengdee (centre) presents his formal request for the landslide risk in Kamala to be resolved at the Phuket Highways Office yesterday (May 23). Photo: Chalermpong Saengdee / Facebook

Phuket MP-elect for Constituency 2 Chalermpong Saengdee (centre) presents his formal request for the landslide risk in Kamala to be resolved at the Phuket Highways Office yesterday (May 23). Photo: Chalermpong Saengdee / Facebook

Phuket MP-elect for Constituency 2 Chalermpong Saengdee (centre) presents his formal request for the landslide risk in Kamala to be resolved at the Phuket Highways Office yesterday (May 23). Photo: Chalermpong Saengdee / Facebook

Phuket MP-elect for Constituency 2 Chalermpong Saengdee (centre) presents his formal request for the landslide risk in Kamala to be resolved at the Phuket Highways Office yesterday (May 23). Photo: Chalermpong Saengdee / Facebook

Phuket MP-elect for Constituency 2 Chalermpong Saengdee (centre) presents his formal request for the landslide risk in Kamala to be resolved at the Phuket Highways Office yesterday (May 23). Photo: Chalermpong Saengdee / Facebook

Phuket MP-elect for Constituency 1 Somchart Techathavorncharoen (3rd from right) stands beside Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong (centre) yesterday (May 23). Photo: Somchart Techathavorncharoen / Facebook

Move Forward won all three Member of Parliament seats in Phuket by strong margins in the national election on May 14.

However, despite the Phuket office of the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT Phuket) recognising the victories, the vote counts are still technically unofficial as the ECT head office in Bangkok has yet to confirm its tally of the votes cast.

Regardless, following the announcement of the unofficial results, all three Move Forward MPs-elect vowed to do their best for the island.

Following up on that promise, even before being officially installed as a Phuket MP, Somchart Techathavorncharoen, MP-elect for Constituency 1, yesterday (May 23) paid a visit to Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong to raise key issues involving police.

Also present for the meeting was Phuket City Police Chief Col Pratuang Ponmana.

INTIMIDATION BY TAXI DRIVERS

Mr Somchart in a Facebook post yesterday explained that he raised the issue of Phuket taxi drivers operating with Phuket-issued green licence plates verbally abusing fully legal taxi drivers using legally approved taxi apps to pick up customers.

The main concern was ongoing conflicts between taxi drivers and he expressed concern about mafia behaviour by prohibiting other taxis from picking up passengers in their own queue area, Mr Somchart noted.

The behaviour destroys the reputation of the provinces tourism [industry], he said.

Mr Somchart provided links to reports of a woman taxi app driver recently being accosted as she picked up a young woman passenger in front of Malin Plaza in Patong at night.

The green plate taxi driver abused the taxi app driver, Ms Thitima, who explained she was fully legal. She even has the correct official stickers issued by the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) attached to each door to publicly show that her car is registered correctly and operating fully legally as a taxi with permission from the PLTO.

The PLTO has yet to even publicly recognise the incident. Since early March, the PLTO has strongly defended green plate taxi cooperative drivers on the island while conducting a sustained campaign against illegal taxi app drivers. (See stories here and here.)

The PLTO has even warned tourists that they may be required to stay in the country to attend court if they are caught using an illegal taxi.

The incident at Malin Plaza was just the latest in a series of incidents of violent and aberrant behaviour by Phuket taxi cartel drivers against taxi app drivers. In at least one incident, a taxi app driver struck back.

Efforts by senior Phuket officials, including Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, to curtail the ongoing behaviour by Phuket taxi drivers have yet to prove effective.

Phuket Provincial Police Chief Maj Gen Sermphan confirmed that no taxi drivers or co-operatives have any legal right to attempt to enforce exclusive rights to pick up passengers at a taxi rank in a public area, Mr Somchart reported.

Such behaviour is not supported by the law. And in the past, there has been prosecution under the Criminal Code, Section 309, Maj Gen Sermphan said.

Mr Somchart, as MP-elect for Phuket Constituency 1, which comprises Phuket Town (Talad Yai and Talad Neua subdistricts), Koh Kaew and Ratsada, urged any people who experienced such problems with taxi drivers in his constituency to take audio and video clips of the offending taxi driver and report the incident to Phuket City Police Station.

He also urged people to send the same reports to him.

CORRUPT POLICE

Mr Somchart also raised the problem of corrupt police  or imposters presenting themselves as police officers  extorting, soliciting or defrauding money from people.

Of note, the issue raised included complaints about being extorted by the police to collect tribute on a monthly basis.

The police confirmed that the police department does not extort monthly tribute. So I proposed setting up an ambush to arrest them together so that they would know which agency they came from or if they were just imposters, Mr Somchart said.

Phuket City Police Chief Col Pratuang agreed with the suggestion, he added.

Other issues discussed yesterday included the prevalence of drugs in local communities, about which Mr Somchart said he had received many complaints from local residents.

Also discussed were leaky police accommodations, Mr Somchart added.

KAMALA LANDSLIDE RISK

Chalermpong Saengdee, MP-elect for Constituency 2, which comprises Wichit, Chalong, Rawai, Karon, Patong and Kamala, yesterday kept his promise to raise the issue of risk of dangerous landslides on the main road through Kamala.

Mr Chalermpong yesterday submitted a formal request to solve the problem of risk of landslides on Kuan Na Yak on the Patong-Kamala Road.

Present in person to receive the formal request was Phuket Highways Office Director Yutthana Pitak.

Mr Yutthana said he was aware of the problem and plans were already underway to resolve the issue, Mr Chalermpong reported.

We have laid out a solution to this problem. This will be done in the same way as Kuan Sator. [on Kata Hill, between Chalong and Kata], Mr Yuttana said.

Right now there is a budget jam. It will take a total of B50 million for the project. Therefore, the project will be included in the fiscal year 2024 [which begins on Oct 1], he added.

Specifically, two large boulders dangerously beside the road cannot be removed, Mr Yuutana continued.

The boulders are holding the soil in place on the steep slope beside the road, he explained. Removing them will only let the soil collapse onto the road, he said

Mr Chalermpong also discussed other problems, including the recent flooding of the Darasamut Underpass. (See stories here and here.)

The Phuket Highways Office is currently in the process of applying for budget approval to make the necessary repairs to ensure the underpass does not flood with each heavy downpour, Mr Chalermpong said.

In the meantime, a temporary pump provided by the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO) has been installed to help cope with any flooding issues, he said.

Mr Chalermpong also discussed the prospect of improving the street lighting at Kalim Beach. There are only two teams of maintenance personnel that take care of that area, he said.

He will also submit a formal request to open a U-turn in front of Muang Phuket School, located just south of Chalong Circle, to help prevent and reduce accidents, he added.
Prayut allays fears over transfer of power

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday (May 23) assured the nation of a smooth transition from the caretaker government to the new government, adding that sufficient measures are being maintained to shore up the economy during the process.

politics

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 24 May 2023, 11:38AM

Curtain call: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha leaves a cabinet meeting yesterday (May 23), where he promised a smooth transition to a new government. Photo: Chanat Katanyu

As the country will have to move forward, we have to continue working to take care of people while still waiting for the new government to come, Gen Prayut said.

The PM also urged all sides to refrain from scaremongering by creating frightening scenarios about the political situation that could upset the public, reports the Bangkok Post.

Please dont create more problems. I myself normally have no problem with any sides, and I do respect the [ongoing] democratic process, he said.

As for concerns over the need to keep driving the countrys economy during the transition from the caretaker government to the new one, Prayut said sufficient measures are in place to support and drive economic growth.

Asked about the recent massive sell-off of Thailands bonds by global funds over concerns about the countrys political uncertainties, he said it was impossible to stop those funds from selling Thailands bonds.

However, Prayut said that Thailand still has a good financial status despite some political uncertainties, and all sides should join hands in preventing them from developing into more serious problems.

Prayut also said the only thing he expects to see happening is peace in the country, and as he is the caretaker prime minister, he will try his best to perform his duty until the new government takes over.

Asked if he had ever recently discussed with Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon their political future, Prayut said he had not talked to Gen Prawit about anything other than their remaining responsibilities as the caretaker cabinet.

As for an online movement where supporters of the Move Forward Party (MFP) are being encouraged to join a rally to pressure the Senate to support the MFP-led bid to form a new government, Prayut said the security authorities would ensure any rally stays within the boundaries of the law.
Registered charity Anishnabeg Outreach (AO), supporting Indigenous people in the Region of Waterloo, Guelph-Wellington and neighbouring areas, has introduced a virtual donations program in collaboration with Miss Dixies Foundation, a federally registered non-profit based in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The idea just came about through partnership, recounted Caitlyn McComb, director of operations at AO, of their connection with Miss Dixies Foundation to expand the items available through the charitys Spirit Bundle program, which started as a COVID-19 emergency response in April 2020 with 30 families and has now grown to support 450.

The Spirit Bundle program has highlighted that needs go much deeper than food or essential items; they are intersectional and layered and continue to expand as we navigate the world during the pandemic," said McComb.

McComb said partnerships such as the one with Miss Dixies Foundation enable AO to operate their Spirit Bundle Program, which increases opportunities and removes barriers such as lack of transportation or financial stress within Indigenous communities in the region.

Miss Dixies Foundation started as a pet food and supplies distributor for animal shelters, rescues and food banks throughout Southwestern Ontario, but expanded its reach to all food rescue after witnessing how so much food would often end up in the landfill.

The foundations founder, Chrissy McKenty, said that all too often food, house supplies or appliances end up in the landfill because of timing issues  maybe not enough items get sold, or there is not enough space to keep stock due to demand and supply.

The Foundation has many distributor partners like Amazon, expanded McKenty, that bring manufacturer returns, or excess food, that we then give to local organizations assisting the community.

On the other hand, in the non-profit sector, which operates under stricter budgets, explained McKenty, some items will still end up in the landfill because organizations may not be able to afford extra storage, or transportation like dock-level trucks.

We want nothing in the garbage when people can use it, especially during the pandemic, McKenty emphasized. So with the help of a good friend, McKenty learned to drive a dock-level truck to deliver extra food and other items to organizations in the region.

To make the delivery of these items accessible, Anishnabeg Outreach also partnered with HubSpot, a company that provides customer relationship management software for companies and organizations, to create an online shopping website containing items that Miss Dixies Foundation has received from distributors or other community partners.

These items can range from the essentials like house supplies, house linens, clothing, vacuums and small kitchen appliances, or light fixtures, to non-essentials like photography and social media content creation equipment like ring lights, which can be expensive but vital in making a living in the digital age.

According to Statistics Canada, about half (48 per cent) of working Canadians worked virtually during the pandemic, with seven per cent using the web to earn income. This included a rise in social media use by Indigenous Peoples, reported CTV News in 2020.

This trend has not slowed down. In February 2023, Macleans unveiled The Power List, its annual issue highlighting prominent Canadians, which this year included TikTok and Instagram star @notoriouscree, Edmonton-based Cree and worldwide-acclaimed traditional hoop dancer James Jones.

Like Jones, many Indigenous youth have taken to social media to voice their lived experiences with colonialism to nationwide and international audiences, which has been documented by recent studies on Indigenous language preservation and cultural reclamation on social media by Jeffrey Ansloos, assistant professor of Indigenous mental health and social policy at the University of Toronto. These examples highlight how an item like a ring light can also lead to autonomy.

To learn more about each of these organizations, visit missdixiesfoundation.com and aocan.org.

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HAVANA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Argentine tourist Valentina Fernandez was on her dream vacation after landing in Cuba's capital Havana for the first time with a group of friends.

The 33-year-old was fascinated by the beaches and the island's revolutionary history, including Che Guevara's stay in the Caribbean country.

"This island is wonderful. Its beaches are fantastic and the people are very kind. We are having a great time here," she told Xinhua as she headed towards the Malecon, Cuba's most famous seafront promenade.

Cuba also draws repeat visitors, such as Spanish tourist Juan Gonzalez, who along with his wife, two sons and a grandson, was waiting for a bus to the seaside resort of Varadero, some 140 km east of Havana.

The 57-year-old, who has visited Cuba three times, said he and his family like the Cuban cuisine, music and countryside, as well as the country's cultural heritage.

"We went on a guided tour of the city center to see the influence of Spain on the Cuban architectural style," he said. "We have also talked with many people."

In the first four months of 2023, Cuba received more than 1.2 million foreign visitors, up by 190 percent from a year earlier, according to the Cuban Ministry of Tourism and National Statistics and Information Bureau.

Canada tops the list with some 495,000 visitors, followed by the United States and Russia with 54,000 and 44,000 respectively.

"The rise in fuel prices and the U.S. blockade against the island have impacted the flow of European tourists toward the island," said Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia.

Cuba's government hopes to see about 3.5 million foreign visitors this year as the tourism sector gradually recovers to pre-pandemic levels of more than 4 million annual visitors.

In 2022, Cuba welcomed approximately 1.7 million foreign visitors, less than the 2.5 million the government had projected.

Cuban business owner Mario Abreu believes a thriving tourism industry can considerably improve living standards in Cuba.

"Tourism is crucial for our economy. It benefits people who rent houses to tourists, taxi drivers, and those who work in the hospitality sector," he said. "We need more tourists to come." 
Waterloo Regional Police are investigating a long weekend break-and-enter at a west Galt residence.

The break-in occurred sometime between May 20 and 22, police said, when a unknown suspect or suspects allegedly gained entry to a residence in the area of Brant Road North and Blenheim Road and stole personal property.

Police are asking residents in the area to check their security camera footage for any suspicious activity or persons over the weekend.

Police reminded members of the public to keep all residential doors and windows locked, even when home, and to report any suspicious activity or individuals to police immediately.

Anyone with information can call police at 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Anonymous tips can also be submitted at www.waterloocrimestoppers.com.

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It is time to restock the shelves.

With a shortage of doctors across Canada, and Cambridge deemed underserviced, according to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the resumption of the Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP) is coming at a critical point.

The five-day ROMP week, from May 29 to June 2, where 10 first-year medical students come to the city to receive hands-on experience with doctors and specialists and get an introduction to the community, has been a successful tool in the past to recruit doctors. Two participants in 2017 are now doctors in Cambridge.

It is the first ROMP week  this time with Queens University students  since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a presentation to city council on May 9, Donna Gravelle, the recruitment co-ordinator for Doctors4Cambridge, said her group has recruited more than 120 family physicians to the city since 1999. ROMP week is one tool in the tool box to bring in doctors.

Right now, she said, there are 88 full-time primary care physicians practicing in the city and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care stated, based on population, the ideal number should be 108.

Gravelle noted since January 2020, 12 physicians in the Family Health Organization model left their practice and four have not been replaced, leaving orphaned patients. As well, three physicians will be leaving their practices in Cambridge in 2023, with a potential for three additional retirements on top of that.

She said physicians are leaving for a variety of reasons, including retirement, early and unexpected retirements, a switch from family medicine for another scope of medicine, leaving the field completely and, in one case she claimed, a new physician faced racism in the community.

Gravelle added Cambridge has been considered high needs for physicians, going back prior to the pandemic.

We still desperately need doctors, Gravelle said.

Everyone is suffering and there's more recruitment efforts going on in towns and cities that there never was before. It has certainly increased the competition.

Gravelle said the ROMP week will help boost Cambridges profile when it comes to being in the running with other municipalities for doctors. She admits, in the beginning, Cambridge was not at the top of the list for ROMP week by schools.

Now it's number 1, because medical students who've been here before say that they have a really wonderful week here, a really immersive experience. So, it's definitely one of the top ones for students to pick now to do their one-week rotation.

The week is not all work for the students, with a tour of Langdon Hall and the Gaslight District, canoeing the Grand River with the Ancient Mariners, and participating in a downtown scavenger hunt. In their field, however, they will shadow family physicians and a Cambridge Memorial Hospital specialist, and participate in a suturing clinic.

Gravelle said the city does a good job of selling itself to potential doctors, whether it be for immediate or future physicians.

I think the reason we do is because of what we have to offer: the size of our community; the fact we only have one hospital, so the family doctors get to know the specialists; its a brand new hospital, Gravelle said.

One thing I know a lot of doctors coming from out of province are looking for is higher education for their children. So being so close to Conestoga and all the universities is very much a selling feature, and also being close to Toronto and the 401. So definitely, I think we have a lot of advantages over other communities.

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KITCHENER  Police have charged a Kitchener man in connection to a child pornography investigation.

Waterloo Regional Police said officers began the investigation involving the online sharing of child pornography in February.

On Wednesday, police completed a search warrant at a Kitchener residence.

A 26-year-old Kitchener male was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of making available child pornography.

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WATERLOO REGION  A Waterloo man is facing additional charges after police say the man travelled around the region, using an axe to damage vehicles.

On May 11 at around 1:45 a.m., police received a report of a robbery at a business near South Field Drive and Union Street in Woolwich Township. A man had broken into the business and stolen property.

When employees approached the thief in the parking lot, the man pulled out an axe and then drove off, police said.

From there, he drove throughout Waterloo Region damaging vehicles with an axe, police said. Around 20 vehicles in Kitchener, Waterloo, Wilmot Township and Wellesley Township were damaged. The total damage estimate is more than $50,000.

While driving from place to place, the man was heard uttering threats to some of the people he came across, police said.

No physical injuries were reported.

At around 7:25 a.m., the OPP arrested a suspect in Perth County. The 47-year-old faces 14 charges related to offences outside Waterloo Region, including theft, break and enter, flight from police, driving while impaired, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

As a result of the local investigation, Waterloo Regional Police have charged the same Waterloo man with robbery with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, mischief over $5,000, utter threats to cause property damage, three counts of utter threats to cause death, and assault with a weapon.

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KITCHENER  Whether Ager Hasan intended to kill his ex-girlfriend was a focus of closing statements at his murder trial on Tuesday.

Hasan, 30, of Hamilton is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Melinda Vasilije, 22.

He stabbed her 47 times on April 28, 2017, in her apartment on Country Hill Drive near Block Line Road in Kitchener less than a month after she ended the relationship.

The jury will likely begin deliberations on Wednesday.

Ager Hasan was an obsessed, jealous ex-boyfriend who refused to accept the end of the relationship, Crown prosecutor Ashley Warne told the jury.

He suspected that Melinda had moved on with someone else and for that reason she was disloyal. This is what caused Ager Hasan to kill Melinda Vasilije.

Hasan intended to kill her and should be found guilty of second-degree murder, Warne said.

Hasan testified he did not intend to kill Vasilije. He said he stabbed her after she came at him with a knife.

He said he recalls stabbing her only twice  in the face and shoulder  before blacking out.

Hasan also bit Vasilije on the hand, defence lawyer Scott Reid told jurors.

That is a man out of control in a frenzy, he said.

Reid said Hasan was provoked and should be found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Provocation is not a licence to kill with impunity, Reid said. Provocation is about loss of control.

The prosecutor said the end of the relationship filled him with rage.

The Crown may say 47 stab wounds sounds like rage, Reid said. Thats not rage. Thats loss of control.

Vasilije agreed to meet Hasan on the night of April 27, 2017, so he could get closure, Crown prosecutor Brendan Thomas said in an opening statement to the jury.

Hasan testified they reconciled that night. But he said that when he told Vasilije he cheated on her when they were dating, she came at him with a knife.

Hasan lost control and acted in the heat of the moment, Reid said.

I swear to God I had no control over it, Hasan testified. I swear to God I blacked out. The whole thing I did is (expletive) up  but dont ever try and say I did this in the right mindset because I swear to God I blacked out.

I didnt do this out of anger.

Warne read several texts Vasilije sent Hasan in the weeks leading up to the killing.

Ive made up my mind and I cant turn back now, she wrote 25 days before she was killed.

She later wrote, You honestly need to let me go.

The location of many of the stab wounds  27 in the neck, six in the chest  suggests he intended to kill Vasilije and did not lose control, the prosecutor said.

Vasilije also had defensive wounds, Warne said

When the blade of one knife got bent, Hasan used another knife to continue the attack, Warne said.

She said the jury should reject Hasans version of how the killing transpired.

Ager Hasan was not stabbed, Warne said. Ager Hasan was the only aggressor that night.

She said he wasnt provoked.

Hasan recalls details of the night of the killing except the most important part  the other 45 stab wounds, Warne said.

You should not believe him when he says he blacked out.

Hasan often lied to Vasilije and never disclosed his cheating before, she said.

So ask yourself: Why would he do it now? It defies common sense because it did not happen.

Reid asked jurors to put themselves in Hasans shoes.

Hasan came to Canada from war-torn Iraq, Reid said. He was attacked by a group when he was 14. One of the assailants had a metal pipe. He had nightmares and worried he would be attacked again.

Hasan said he was good friends with Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian Army reserve soldier shot to death in 2014 while on ceremonial sentry duty at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

He said another friend killed himself by jumping off a ferry into Lake Ontario.

Hasan had mental health issues while dating Vasilije, Reid said. He spent a lot of time in his room alone.

Just before she ended the relationship, Reid said, Hasan texted her to say he had a dream about her trying to hurt me.

The Crown previously rejected Hasans guilty plea to manslaughter, saying it believes the evidence will prove murder.

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WATERLOO  The construction of detached houses collapsed last year in Waterloo while apartment and condo construction surged, another sign of how fast the housing market is changing.

Eight years ago, detached houses accounted for half of development charges collected by the city of Waterloo for new residences. In 2022 this fell to two per cent of such fees, new data shows.

Last year, apartments or condos accounted for more than three-quarters of development charges collected for new residences. This compares to one-third of such fees eight years ago.

Waterloo has run out of land for new suburbs and has to grow higher to accommodate people who want to live there, a city planner explains. Its a maturing market. Thats how I think of it, said Adam Lauder, who helps manage Waterloos growth.

This means if you dream of living in a new, detached house, you will likely have to look outside Waterloo. The city of 121,400 has open space for just one more suburb planned in its northwest corner.

In Kitchener and in Cambridge as well as some townships, theres quite a bit of supply available for ground-oriented units, Lauder said. Waterloo provides a market thats a little bit different.

Waterloo released a report this month tracking eight years of residential development charges that cost builders just over $90 million in constant 2022 dollars. It shows:

Fees on the construction of detached houses fell by more than half after 2018 compared to the four prior years.

Residential construction trended down between 2017 and 2020 but is now rising.

City fees on new home construction hit $15 million last year, the second-highest amount since 2015.

Waterloo aims to build 15,232 more homes by 2033. This will require it to boost housing construction by almost one-third compared to the past decade.

The biggest housing projects launched last year for which Waterloo collected development charges include:

Highrise towers at 464 Columbia St. W. that paid just over $2 million in city development charges.

Eight more storeys at the Barrel Yards at 110 Erb St. W., a project that paid almost $2 million in charges.

Five more storeys at 145 Columbia St. W., generating almost $1 million in charges.

City hall levies development charges to help pay for roads, pipes and other infrastructure. Builders pay the fees but may then pass costs on to homebuyers. Regional government and school boards levy development charges as well.

Fee data shows office and commercial construction has plunged in Waterloo, the historic office capital of the region.

Lauder points to offices emptied by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise of remote work has left employers and developers unclear about demand for more space.

Were hearing from folks that the office market is certainly unsure, Lauder said. I think the market is still trying to figure out: what does the new work model look like? And whats the role of the office?

He said online retailing may be dampening demand for new retail space.

City hall collected just $320,000 in development charges for new office and business construction last year. This compares to almost $3 million collected in 2016.

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KITCHENER  The fate of Ager Hasan is now in the hands of the jury.

Deliberations began Wednesday afternoon.

Hasan, 30, of Hamilton is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of his ex-girlfriend, Melinda Vasilije, 22.

He stabbed her 47 times on April 28, 2017, in her apartment on Country Hill Drive near Block Line Road in Kitchener, less than a month after she ended the relationship.

Vasilije agreed to meet Hasan so he could get closure, Crown prosecutor Brendan Thomas said in an opening statement to the jury.

Hasan testified they reconciled that night. But he said that when he told Vasilije he cheated on her when they were dating, she attacked him with a knife. He said he then grabbed a knife.

Hasan testified he recalls stabbing her only twice  in the face and shoulder  before blacking out. He said he did not intend to kill her.

I swear to God I had no control over it, Hasan testified. I swear to God I blacked out. The whole thing I did is (expletive) up  but dont ever try and say I did this in the right mindset because I swear to God I blacked out.

I didnt do this out of anger.

Hasan had injuries to his hands.

After killing Vasilije, Hasan sent her a text: Nice seeing you tonight. Glad we worked things out. See you soon.

The location of many of the stab wounds  27 in the neck, six in the chest  suggests he intended to kill Vasilije and did not lose control, prosecutor Ashley Warne told the jury.

The Crown previously rejected Hasans guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Ager Hasan was an obsessed, jealous ex-boyfriend who refused to accept the end of the relationship, Warne told the jury.

He suspected that Melinda had moved on with someone else and for that reason she was disloyal. This is what caused Ager Hasan to kill Melinda Vasilije.

Hasan intended to kill her and should be found guilty of second-degree murder, Warne said.

Hasan also bit Vasilije on the hand, defence lawyer Scott Reid told jurors.

That is a man out of control in a frenzy, he said.

Reid said Hasan was provoked and should be found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Provocation is not a licence to kill with impunity, Reid said. Provocation is about loss of control.

The prosecutor said the end of the relationship filled him with rage.

The Crown may say 47 stab wounds sounds like rage, Reid said. Thats not rage. Thats loss of control.

Hasan lost control and acted in the heat of the moment, Reid said.

Warne read several texts Vasilije sent Hasan in the weeks leading up to the killing.

Ive made up my mind and I cant turn back now, she wrote 25 days before she was killed.

She later wrote, You honestly need to let me go.

Warne said the jury should reject Hasans version of how the killing transpired.

Ager Hasan was not stabbed, Warne said. Ager Hasan was the only aggressor that night.

When the blade of one knife got bent, Hasan used another knife to continue the attack, Warne said.

She said he wasnt provoked.

Hasan recalls details of the night of the killing except the most important part  the other 45 stab wounds, Warne said.

You should not believe him when he says he blacked out.

Hasan often lied to Vasilije and never disclosed his cheating before, she said.

So ask yourself: Why would he do it now? It defies common sense because it did not happen.

Vasilije was described by her sister, Christina, as a selfless, giving person.

Reid asked jurors to put themselves in Hasans shoes.

Hasan came to Canada from war-torn Iraq, Reid said. He was attacked by a group when he was 14. One of the assailants had a metal pipe. He had nightmares and worried he would be attacked again.

Hasan said he was good friends with Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian Army reserve soldier shot to death in 2014 while on ceremonial sentry duty at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

He said another friend killed himself by jumping off a ferry into Lake Ontario.

Hasan had mental health issues while dating Vasilije, Reid said. He spent a lot of time in his room alone.

Just before she ended the relationship, Reid said, Hasan texted her to say he had a dream about her trying to hurt me.

After killing Vasilije, Hasan fled to the United States.

He seemed obsessed with the notion that Vasilije had cheated on him. While he was on the run, Hasan wrote an email to a Waterloo Regional Police detective.

My first question is, Did Melinda ever sleep with anyone else in the course of our relationship (cheat) or not? Hasan wrote on June 18, 2017.

After we broke up on April 3, did Melinda ever go on a date between then and April 28? Also, did she ever sleep with anyone during the course of that time?

Hasan said in the email he would turn himself in if police answered the questions.

The U.S. Secret Service arrested him, on July 11, 2017, more than two months after the killing, in San Antonio, Texas, on a tip that he might have been involved in counterfeit money.

It took more than five months to extradite Hasan back to Canada. He was denied bail.

Ager Hasans failure to turn himself in to police is irrelevant with respect to whether the Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ager Hasan committed murder rather than manslaughter, Justice Gerry Taylor instructed the jury.

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WATERLOO REGION  Developers are looking for a more streamlined approval process after the provincial government opened up 3,459 hectares of land for new housing and jobs in Waterloo Region.

The size of the expansion was surprising, said Paul Britton, the vice-president at MHBC Planning, during a detailed presentation Wednesday to the Waterloo Region Home Builders Association.

When the provincial government approved the Region of Waterloos official plan, it added 280 hectares of land in Kitchener for new developments, 802 hectares in Cambridge and 1,845 hectares in Woolwich Township, 303 in Wilmot, 220 in North Dumfries and 91 in Wellesley. No additional development lands were added to Waterloo.

Expansion creates the opportunity to comprehensively plan Ayr, Baden and Elmira as more complete communities, Britton said.

I think what is important to remember is that not all lands can or will be developed immediately, said Britton. The planning process is long and arduous. This is the first step.

Developers and municipalities must first decide what lands will be set aside as employment lands for business parks, factories and warehouses, and which will be for new housing. Housing lands must be further zoned for single-family homes, duplexes, townhouses and apartment buildings.

Some 2,200 new apartments were built within existing homes since 2016. Homeowners should have the right to add a rental unit to their properties, and Britton likes the provincial legislation that enshrines the practice.

The region does not need more apartments right now, but it does need more affordable single-family homes with three bedrooms, he said.

That is what is missing, said Britton. However, what we must be doing is planning for a complete range of housing.

Demand for single-family homes has seldom been higher, but there is a bias against them that equates single-family homes with urban sprawl, he said.

Expanding urban boundaries created a single contiguous urban area open for development. The idea was first promoted by the City of Kitchener in 1964.

That is a significant achievement, and also it presents a big opportunity in terms of planning and governance reform, said Britton. Will we achieve governance reform led by land-use planning?

The expansion of urban boundaries occurred as the province is making big changes to regional municipalities. Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon will become independent cities instead of the urban anchors of Peel Region.

More change is expected among other regional municipalities, including Waterloo Region.

It is in the public interest to have a more streamlined approval process for new housing, said Britton, and the current two-tier system, where approvals are needed at both the local municipality and the Region of Waterloo, does not come close to whats needed, said Britton.

It can take 20 to 30 years for some big plans to be approved, and several years for a plan of subdivision to get final approval, he said.

In many respects these timelines are reflective of the complex web we have woven in terms of our two-tier planning system, said Britton.

The Rubiks cube that is two-tier planning has spawned a lucrative business in private-sector consultants, like Britton, who help developers navigate the approval process in this region, he said.

He is a veteran urban planner with experience in both the public and private sectors, and hes assessed virtually every piece of land available for development in Waterloo Region.

Prior to the provincial expansion of the urban boundaries, 75 per cent of the land that was zoned for new residential development was constrained or otherwise unavailable, said Britton.

When the pandemic struck, and the demand for single-family homes spiked, prices hit record levels and are on the way back up again.

It was a perfect storm, said Britton. While a more refined approach to affordable housing is necessary, the objective should be to make housing of all types more affordable.

Housing the homeless requires a different response than building affordable housing for a single person who is working or a couple where both are working, he said. In 2020, the average net income of a single-person household in this region was $46,760, and for households with two more people it was $108,800.

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Forum on Tibet's development held in Beijing

Xinhua) 08:52, May 24, 2023

This photo taken on May 23, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China.

The one-day forum, jointly hosted by the State Council Information Office and the regional government of Tibet, brought together officials, experts in various fields and representatives of enterprises and media organizations from home and abroad.

Officially called the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China," it focused on Tibet's new chapter in high-quality development and human rights protection.

Five sub-forums discussed China's whole-process people's democracy, high-quality development, and Tibet's culture and ecological civilization.

After over 70 years of development, a new modern socialist Tibet featuring political and social stability, economic prosperity, ethnic unity, religious harmony, consolidation of border defense and people living and working in peace and contentment is now presented to the world, said Wang Junzheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee, at the opening ceremony.

"People of various ethnic groups in Tibet have enjoyed a greater sense of accomplishment, happiness and security, and moderately prosperous lives along with the rest of the Chinese people," Wang said.

Colin Mackerras, a recipient of the Chinese Government Friendship Award and the Order of Australia, lauded Tibet's development over past decades, citing his experience gained during visits to Tibet.

He said that Tibet has eliminated absolute poverty, and its infrastructure and living standards have improved dramatically.

An attendee views an exhibition outside the venue of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Attendees listen to guests' speeches at the opening ceremony of the "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China" in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on the development of Tibet was held on Tuesday in Beijing to pool wisdom for the continued development of the autonomous region in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the United States, delivers brief remarks to the media upon his arrival at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, on May 23, 2023. Xie Feng on Tuesday urged Washington to work with China to enhance dialogue, manage difference and promote cooperation, so as to bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track. (Xinhua/Li Rui)

NEW YORK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the United States, on Tuesday urged Washington to work with China to enhance dialogue, manage difference and promote cooperation, so as to bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track.

"I am greatly honored to be appointed by President Xi Jinping as the 12th Chinese Ambassador to the United States," said Xie in his brief remarks to the media upon his arrival at the John F. Kennedy International Airport Tuesday afternoon.

"As a representative of the Chinese people, I have come here to safeguard the interests of China, and I take this as my sacred responsibility. As an envoy of the Chinese people, I have come here to enhance China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation, and I take this as my important mission," said Xie.

"At present, the China-U.S. relationship is faced with serious difficulties and challenges. My appointment means to me not only honor, but also enormous responsibilities. My colleagues and I will carry out our responsibilities and live up to our mission with diligence and fortitude," Xie said.

President Xi Jinping has put forward the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, which represent the fundamental and right way for the two countries to get along with each other in the new era, said Xie.

"We hope that the United States will move in the same direction with China, and act in the common interests of the two peoples and the world, properly handling important and sensitive issues, such as the Taiwan question in accordance with the principles in the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques," he added.

"It's been 13 years since I last worked in the United States. Over the past 13 years, the world has gone through great changes, and so has the United States," Xie said.

"During my posting, I look forward to engaging extensively with the American people from all walks of life, observing and hearing about the country at a close distance, and exploring ways to deepen exchanges and cooperation," he said.

"I also look forward to making friends with the media and people from other sectors. Let us work together to contribute to China-U.S. relations with insights and actions and courage and grit," said the ambassador. 
Status and prospect of Mithun farming in NE India

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Vivek Joshi, Kamni Paia Biam, JK Chamuah, R Vikram and MH Khan

The northeast region of India is a hotspot for a rare bovine species, Mithun or Gayal (Bos frontalis). It is an important endemic species mainly found in forests of northeastern hilly states and neighboring countries like Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Yunnan (China), Thailand and Malaysia. In India, mithun is considered not just an animal but a matter of pride, status, taste, values and preference.

It is exclusively reared by indigenous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur. Mithun is popularly known as Cattle of Mountain and needs a habitat of dense and evergreen hilly forest to thrive. With a narrow geographic range and small population, at present, mithun is considered a species vulnerable to extinction. Mithun plays a central role in socioeconomic and cultural life of tribal people. It is the state animal of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The official emblem of Nagaland government depicts a majestic mithun standing on a green hilly landscape.

In this insignia, mithun is a symbol of health and wealth of Nagas. In Assamese, mithun is called Methon, it is called Eso or Hoho or Sebe in Arunachal Pradesh, the Mizos call it Sial, it is called Sandong in Manipur and Wei and Seizang in Naga tribes. Mithun farming is an important activity intrinsically linked to sustainable livelihood in northeast India.

Origin of mithun

This is quite complex and ambiguous. It is believed that approximately 6-8 thousand years ago, mithun originated in India-Myanmar frontier areas, however, no information is available on its domestication for the first time. At present, there are three major but conflicting hypotheses on origin of mithun.

In the first hypothesis, it has been postulated that mithun originated from direct domestication of wild gaur (Bos gaurus). This is the most widely accepted assumptionand is well supported by similar appearance of mithun and gaur. The second hypothesis presumes mithun is a hybrid originating from cross-breeding between wild gaur and domestic cattle (B. indicus or B. taurus). The third hypothesis assumes that mithun originated from a wild bovid which is now extinct. However, till today, none of the hypotheses has been proven conclusively. A recent study at ICAR-National Research Centre on Mithun, Nagaland revealed a common origin of mithun and wild gaur from an ancient and extinct bovine species based on mitochondrial genome sequencing.

Population of mithun in India

According to 20th livestock census (2019), mithun population has shown a growth rate of 26.66% over the preceding census (2012). Currently, total mithun population in the country is 0.38 million. Between 2012 and 2019, male population of mithun grew at a faster rate (30.76%) than female population (23.52%). In India, total male and female mithun population is 0.17 and 0.21 million respectively. Arunachal Pradesh (0.35 million) has the highest mithun population followed by Nagaland (0.023 million), Manipur (0.009 million) and Mizoram (0.004 million).

Behavioral and morphological characteristics of Mithun

Mithun is a majestic ruminant inhabiting hilly forests at an altitude of 1000-3000 m. It is a mammalian species belonging to family bovidae and order ungulate (hoofed mammal). This large herbivore is capable of browsing efficiently even in steep hilly slopes and does not require pasture land like other bovine species. The farmers rear mithuns in forests under free grazing system where they eat a variety of grasses, tree leaves and young plants. They do not offer other feed and fodder to mithuns, however, occasionally feed salt to mithuns especially when they need to be restrained. Mithun has a greatliking for salt feeding. In general, mithuns are reared in forests in community herds where mithuns of different owners graze together.

The forest areas are often fenced and few herdsmen are appointed by village council for supervision of mithuns in the forests during daytime and bringing them back to the village at night. Mithun is a selective browser, travels for long distance in forests in search of fodder and consumes up to 30 kg day-1.

(To be contd)


Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. High 71F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 48F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Some clouds and possibly an isolated thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 76F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Its nine oclock, better go to bed ... sometimes it feels like there are few options for food and fun late at night in Hamilton.

Even Wimpys Diner  once a bright star on Main Street West 24 hours a day  has gone dim, now closing after suppertime. Those big-city ambitions fading into the night.

But wait, there are still some delicious late-night food possibilities for hungry Hamiltonians:

Tall Tree Sandwich Company

The Stipley neighbourhood sammy shop recently announced extended hours, bucking the trend of restaurants cutting late-night service.

Starting May 6, Tall Tree extended its hours to 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday and until 12:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

The King Street East takeout spot between Sherman and Gage avenues offers artisan sandwiches, soups, salads and sides. The fried chicken sammy is $11, the cod poboy is $16.

Tall Tree is open for delivery and pick up at 1000 King St. E. Order online at talltreesandwich.com.

Tall Tree Sandwich Company recently announced extended hours. Courtesy of Tall Tree Sandwich Co.

Toronto Pho

Get a special pho or a tofu pad Thai  both $16.95 for dine in and takeout*  at the Stone Church Square location of this four-site Vietnamese chain until midnight seven days a week.

Toronto Pho offers online ordering for pickup or delivery on its site torontopho.com. *Delivery costs more at the 1070 Stone Church Rd. E. spot.

Tracies Place

Belt out Return of the Mack in the style of Mark Morrison after eating the Big Mac Daddy nachos or fries at this everyday karaoke bar near the central Mountain brow.

Tracies Place stays open late at 592 Upper James St. and the kitchen is open until 12 a.m. every day. The Big Mac-style nachos are $22 and fries are $15. Check out the rest of the eat in/takeout menu at traciesplace.ca

Ajio Sushi

Find Korean-Japanese eats at Ajio in the International Village until 11 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. The Ajio special  an app, a special roll and two orders of sushi or sashimi for $27  is quite special.

Order through delivery apps until 10 p.m. or dine-in/pick up at the 161 King St. E. restaurant. ajiosushi.com

Brassie Pub

The Brassie offers British/American-style fare late into the evening in Ancasters Town Plaza. Open weekdays and Sunday until midnight and to 2 a.m. Thursday until Saturday.

Try a Brassie Burger, topped with a beer-battered apple ring, among other things, for $21.50 or get a taco on Taco Tuesday for $3. The Brassie is at 73 Wilson St. W. brassiepub.com

The Brassie offers British/American-style fare late into the evening in Ancaster's Town Plaza. The Hamilton Spectator file photo

The Capitol

Home-cooked meals are available daily until 11 p.m. at this King and Barnesdale bar. Try a cheeseburger for $16 or go on burger day (Wednesday) for a $18 burger and pint, tax included.

The 973 King St. E. bar stays open until 2 a.m. thecapitolbar.com

The Flames Indian & Pakistani Cuisine

Find the flavours of India and Pakistan in downtown Stoney Creek until late in the evening. The Flames is open until 11 p.m. every day at 81 King St. E.

An order of butter chicken is $13, two veggie samosas are $5. theflamesindianpakistanicuisine.com

The Ship

Augusta Street ahoy! There are a bunch of late-night spots on the strip and nearby on James Street South. The Ship is a good one.

The kitchen at the 23 Augusta St. burger and seafood joint closes at 11 p.m. weekdays and Sunday and closes at 1 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Try the Sweet Cheezus burger with a quinoa and black bean patty for $22  meat eaters can sub in an eight-ounce beef patty. theship.ca

BAB Korean

Find delicious Korean eats at three locations in the city until 10 p.m., and 9 p.m. on Sunday. BABs hours are the same at 387 Barton St. E., between Victoria and Wentworth; at 1467 Main St. W., near Cootes Drive; and at 570 Upper Wellington St., near Queensdale, but the menus are slightly different.

The Korean fried chicken is fantastic at the Barton location  $15 for an appetizer order, $35 for the big order  or for a healthier option, try the kimchi bibimbap for $16.

BAB Korean Food & BBQ has three locations in the city. Jeremy Kemeny/Spectator staff

The Mule

Tacos are available every night of the week at this trusty taco and tequila spot. The Mule restaurant and bar is open until 2 a.m. daily and takeout is available seven days a week until 11 p.m.

Try the DIY fish taco kit from the 41 King William St. restaurant. It makes four fish tacos for $24. themule.ca

Odds

What are the odds this James Street South bar makes the list? Diners looking for modern pub food  like a vegetarian mushroom melt for $18  can find it here. Takeout is available until 10 p.m.

Hungry Hamiltonians can hit up the 164 James St. S. pub on toonie Tuesday for $2 pieces of southern fried chicken. oddsbar.ca/

Remember: though a kitchen may be open until 11 p.m., trying to place an order at 10:59 p.m. may not be possible  and is not cool.

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BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for taking the 30th anniversary of China-Eritrea diplomatic relations as an opportunity to strengthen all-round cooperation and push forward the China-Eritrea strategic partnership to a new level.

Xi made the remarks when exchanging congratulatory messages with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki to celebrate the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

Xi pointed out that over the past 30 years, China-Eritrea relations have withstood changes in the international landscape, and the two sides have always been sincere and friendly to each other, made progress together, and firmly supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns.

Noting that President Isaias paid a successful state visit to China not long ago, Xi said they had an in-depth exchange of views on further deepening bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of common interest and reached many important consensuses.

Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of bilateral ties and stands ready to work with President Isaias to take the 30th anniversary of China-Eritrea diplomatic relations as an opportunity to consolidate mutual support, strengthen all-round cooperation, and push forward the China-Eritrea strategic partnership to a new level.

For his part, Isaias said Eritrea and China enjoy a time-honored friendship, and China had provided moral and material support to the Eritrean people in their struggle for national independence.

Eritrea-China relations have continued to develop over the past 30 years, he said, noting that he paid a successful state visit to China not long ago and had in-depth talks with President Xi.

Isaias said he is glad to see that the friendly cooperative relations between the two countries have been elevated to a higher level, covering all-round cooperation and coordination in various fields.

Isaias stressed that he would like to once again express his firm confidence in and best wishes for the prospects of the Eritrea-China strategic partnership at this festive moment. 
Lena Bassford started Comfort Bears to reach out to children in need.



For terminally ill children or youngsters experiencing trauma, they are a fury bit of happiness they can hold tightly during a difficult time.

About 19 months ago, Ancaster resident Lena Bassford started Comfort Bears to reach out to children in need.

The organization started when I was executive director of Hamilton Food4Kids. I was speaking to one of our first responders, and he had to cut our conversation short because he was going out to buy a teddy bear because there were two children at his last call and he only had one teddy bear, Bassford said. I thought I could do that; I could ensure that first responders consistently have teddy bears for children that are either terminally ill or dealing with a serious illness or suffering from trauma.

After a year of organizing and acquiring charitable status, Comfort Bears began with two initial partners, Hamilton Police Services victim services branch and McMaster Childrens Hospital.

Bassford said they now have 26 partners in Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, London and elsewhere who have distributed 3,100 Comfort Bears.

It brightens their day, Bassford said. One of our hospice partners has told us that theyve inserted into the bear a recording of the childs heartbeat and upon their passing they give the bear to the family and they are able to hold the bear and feel the heartbeat of the child after theyre gone.

In some cases, Bassford said, the children are buried with their bear.

She said the organization purchases the $50 bears from area suppliers at wholesale, $25 each and for safety reasons, all their bears are purchased new, they do not take donations of stuffed animals.

Since Comfort Bears began, Bassford said they have collected about $100,000 in donations from individuals, groups and businesses.

A team of 25 volunteers drive the bears to the partner organizations.

Bassford said no one gets paid, not even gas money.

There is something special about a teddy bear, Bassford said, A lot of things we dont remember in life, but we can remember that teddy bears that we had as a kid.

The group recently dropped off 100 bears to the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice will be given to children of parents or other relatives receiving end-of-life care at the Mountain facility.

This is a beautiful gift to the children we serve, said Kemp Hospice CEO Danielle Zucchet. Stuffed animals represent compassion and comfort. It is heartwarming for the kids to know that these came as a gift from friends in our community. It is a reminder that we are not alone.

The bears are also given to children arriving with their mothers at Interval House of Hamilton on the west Mountain.

Through Lena's Comfort Bears program, children who have arrived at Interval House of Hamilton have been welcomed by a Comfort Bear, said Interval House executive director Sue Taylor. Too often, children who come to stay at Interval House arrive without or with only essential belongings they packed in a hurry. Lena's group means that Interval House provides every child with a special and essential friend who can support their transition to shelter and journey ahead. This program means a lot to Interval House and the children and families who are fleeing very difficult circumstances.

Tracy Akitt, a child life specialist at McMaster Childrens Hospital, said the bears mean a great deal to their patients.

These teddy bears help support patients of all ages at McMaster Childrens Hospital and the Juravinski Cancer Centre through some of the hardest times during their care journeys, Akitt said. Were very grateful for the partnership with Comfort Bears. We know our families appreciate the extra little bit of comfort each bear provides.

See comfortbears.ca for more information.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Hamilton Community News wanted to find out more about how Comfort Bears and what the organization does to support youngsters with serious illnesses or experiencing trauma.

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Elizabeth Ertsenian is far from alone in objecting to a plan by local builder Losani Homes to redevelop the Glen Echo school property after buying it from Hamiltons public school board in March for $6.75 million.

Nearly 50 neighbours joined the longtime Loyalist Drive resident when she arranged to meet with a reporter by the school, voicing mostly common concerns.

We were expecting luxury townhomes or something that makes sense for this community, Ertsenian said, citing the redevelopment of the former Woodward Avenue school site with townhomes as an example.

Losani Homes is instead proposing 310 housing units in two buildings of up to eight storeys high on the 1.25-hectare property, located on a block of land that is also home to Glendale and Viola Desmond schools and Glendale Park.

Ertsenian said the development is not only out of place with the areas single-family homes, but will overwhelm streets already congested with traffic and parking, especially during the two schools start and finish times.

She also questions the impact on other infrastructure like sewers, noting the school board had to dig a large stormwater pond when it built Viola Desmond Elementary School, which opened in 2021, replacing Glen Echo and Glen Brae schools.

Our system is already at capacity when it rains, Ertsenian said, also expressing concern about the electricity grid.

Ive lived here for 20 years. Were on transformers. They blow constantly, so how do they account for 310 units going in with all that electricity and the amenities theyre going to put in without affecting the current homes that are here?

Yu Zhao, who lives across the street from the property, asked where students who live in the development will go to school because Viola Desmond, built on the former Glen Brae school site, already has six portable classrooms.

He said he also wonders if allowing an eight-storey building height will spur others in the neighbourhood to try to follow suit.

Its essentially the centre of the community, Zhao said, questioning why Losani Homes didnt consult neighbours before submitting the plan to city hall. Does it mean everybody else can build the same kind of thing?

Losani Homes has declined to comment publicly on the plan, but is hosting a neighbourhood meeting at the school at 6:30 p.m. on June 1.

A notice for the meeting states the session offers a chance for residents to learn about the proposed redevelopment options and provide feedback about the design options, suggesting a conceptual plan submitted to the city on March 29 isnt set in stone.

It calls for two L-shaped buildings. One with 53 units would have three stories along Glen Echo Drive and four storeys in the perpendicular portion.

The other building, with 257 units, would start at three storeys in the perpendicular part facing Glen Echo Drive and rise in steps to eight storeys at the back. Parking for all but eight visitor spots would be underground.

While the conceptual plan didnt specify the number of parking spaces, Coun. Matt Francis, who represents the area, said Losani Homes has since confirmed to city staff it will meet the citys requirement of 1.25 spaces per unit  about 388 spots.

Rainbow Drive resident John Hussey said he could live with townhouses on the property but is skeptical Losani will listen to residents.

They dont care, he said. At the end of the day, its just money to them.

Vera Court resident Tanya Laurens said she worries the plan will go to the Ontario Land Tribunal, which usually sides with developers, if the city turns it down.

For me, it genuinely is not a NIMBY thing, she said of her opposition. We understand that more housing has to go in, but just make it make sense.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: We arranged to meet with residents after Elizabeth Ertsenian contacted us after reading our story on the plan.

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Hamiltons public school board is poised to increase rental rates for child-care operators by up to 64 per cent, a jump some say is unaffordable.

Several child-care operators say Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board rates would jump by between 16 and 17 per cent for before- and after-school programs, and by 64 per cent for infants, toddlers and preschool care.

In addition, operators would be charged for 365 days a year, instead of what they use  weekdays from September to June. That concern, as well as others, was raised by Hamilton Child Care Advocates, a group associated with longtime former trustee Judith Bishop that has members on child-care boards throughout the city.

Absolutely astronomical, is how YWCAs Sandra Parker describes the proposed increases.

It will very much limit the number of spaces that can be made available within schools, said the organizations director of child, youth and developmental services.

Meanwhile, the new Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement has promised thousands of new spaces across the province, lower fees for families at $10 to $12 a day, and increased wages for early-childhood educators.

We dont know how we can accomplish those things if we have to swallow a (nearly 64) per cent rental increase, Parker said. Those things dont add up.

In an email, school board spokesperson Shawn McKillop declined to share details, but said the board is in conversation with child-care agencies and is working with trustees as they deliberate on the budget, which includes a review of child-care rental costs.

This plan contemplates an increase, he said.

The YWCA, which operates six of its eight Hamilton locations out of Hamilton-Wentworth public schools, currently pays $30,297.85 in rent for full-day child care and before- and after-school programs. Should rates increase as anticipated, they would pay $48,440.15 for the same services, representing an increase of more than $18,000.

Rates have also increased at other boards YWCA partners with, but not to this magnitude, Parker said.

Last year, before- and after-school rates at the Grand Erie District School Board and the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board increased by 2.5 per cent. For full-day child care at the Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Catholic board, rates increased by 5.7 per cent.

McKillop said the review is based on recovering costs and engaging in our annual review process that has been paused for a number of years due to the 2019 strike and the pandemic.

But operators say they havent been told what those costs are.

Is it toilet paper and hand soap thats being used? Is it the caretaking? Is it utility bills? wonders Duane Dahl, executive director of BGC Hamilton-Halton.

Dahl said operators had actually requested the board reduce already unaffordable rates before they became aware of the proposed increase. And it did  sort of. The board has also proposed a 50 per cent decrease in summer rental fees for programs like camp.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

Hamilton Child Care Advocates (HCCA) say the school board should not solve its problems by increasing revenue at the expense of child-care organizations.

Besides, child care and schools are funded through the Ministry of Education, and support the same children. Its robbing Peter to pay Paul, the coalition said in an email.

The school board has a funding problem ... and rentals of property would seem like an easy picking, said Bishop, a member of the HCCA. Theyre thinking of child care purely as renters.

In the past, agencies could boost revenue by raising fees, Bishop said, but under the new agreement, fees are frozen. Unless the ministry offsets increasing costs, operators will be forced to reduce services to families.

HCCA says operators are prepared to pay costs that are solely attributed to their use, and recommend future rents reflect true costs and are adjusted yearly for the cost of living index.

They also recommend trustees review the boards partnership model with agencies.

Our budgets are finite, and these costs are just something that we think is going to put us in a difficult situation to decide where we operate and how we operate, said Brenda Ferguson, CEO of Todays Family. If we cant afford to pay the rent, we have to decide what were going to do. Ferguson said this situation isnt in the spirit of the national agreement Ontario signed last year.

Were trying to to grow services for children and families in our community because theres already not enough child care, she said.

Operators say they want to be in public schools, which are required to have before- and after-school care. Families benefit from programs that are both affordable and accessible.

Schools are hubs within communities ... its convenient for parents, especially if they have older children who are going to the school, she said. Its a good model, but its not cost efficient.

Dahl said BGC would rather not shop around for better rates.

Wed rather be in the school, he said. But if its an unaffordable contract thats being presented to us for the next school year, difficult choices may have to be made.

A report including potential rate increases will be brought to the school boards finance and facilities committee on June 8.

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ArcelorMittal Dofasco has been fined $175,000 over a workplace incident that amputated a steelworkers fingers.

The fine was imposed after the Hamilton steelmaker pleaded guilty in virtual court last Thursday to one charge under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act. A second workplace safety charge was withdrawn.

The victim in the workplace incident, a mill operator at the plants No. 2 tube mill, lost four fingers when her left hand was pulled into a pinch point by a steel tube moving along the production line on June 26, 2021, according to an agreed statement of facts.

The steelmaker said in a statement to The Spectator the company has since introduced enhanced guarding on the tubular line and updated operating procedures to prevent similar injuries in future.

It is difficult to reflect on this accident and to comprehend the impact of this injury on our colleague and their family, the company said in the statement. The safety, health and well-being of everyone working on site is a core value and this incident and the resulting impact of the serious injury our colleague suffered is regrettable.

The $175,000 penalty is a rather high fine for the injuries involved, said provincial prosecutor David McCaskill at the hearing.

But he told justice of the peace Robert Munro, who accepted the joint submission, that the fine amount takes into account aggravating factors, including previous convictions for workplace injuries at Dofasco.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco is Canadas largest flat-rolled steelmaker and the biggest private employer in Hamilton, with close to 5,000 workers.

The steelmaker was most recently fined $290,000 in 2020 over two separate injury incidents, including workers exposed to carbon monoxide gas and another employee whose hand was caught in a pinch point of equipment.

Dofasco was also fined $60,000 after a worker was overcome by gas fumes and lost consciousness in 2014.

ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada, a subsidiary in the sprawling steelmaking family of companies, was also fined $75,000 in 2018 after a steel coil fell on a worker.

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A hooting owl lamented the nights passage, the moons reflected farewell through a break in the clouds paling against the eastern horizons crimson promise.

A diverse avian salute greeted impending dawn: a cardinals two-tiered schaweet, schaweet, tut, tut, tut, tut, the killdeers distinctive self-promoting cry piercing low-hanging mist, rhythmic wingbeats of a pair of honking geese.

And then to the northwest, the throaty thunder of an eastern wild turkey toms gobble rolled through the darkness. Enough to raise the hair on the back of ones neck, its inherent declaration of dominance containing open invitation to hens within earshot, arrogant challenge to rivals near and far.

The operatic song and dance resulting from a wild turkeys spring fancy turning to thoughts of love was a feature of pre-settlement Ontario forests. It had been missing from the province since the early 1900s due to habitat loss and unregulated overhunting.

A jake "swipes right" on a hen decoy, hoping to establish an intimate connection. Jeff Tribe

American experience proved reintroduction was possible, however. A provincial heritage plaque along 3rd Concession Road in Norfolk north of Port Rowan marks the initial March 3, 1984, release into the Backus Woods for 11 hens sourced from southern Missouri. Twenty-two hens and five toms were released that month, most fitted with radio collars for monitoring, the vanguard for 274 birds at six different locations by 1987. A cumulative flock of 4,400 eastern wild turkeys was eventually released at 275 Ontario sites.

Provincial population estimates reached 48,000 by 2002 and 70,000 by 2007, with range expanding well past pre-settlement norms of north to Lake Simcoe and eastward between Toronto and Trenton. Contemporary forestry and agricultural conditions and a milder climate are cited, along with the fact hens may lay, hatch and raise double-digit broods.

The restoration of eastern wild turkey to Ontario is considered one of our greatest conservation success stories, says Patrick Hubert, senior wildlife biologist/policy advisor with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF). This is a credit not only to the many people and organizations involved in pushing for the return of the species and working together to make it happen, but also the adaptability of the bird.

A richly bearded tom turkey in full strut approaches jake (upright) and hen (rolled) decoys. Jeff Tribe

Hunting potential was part of reintroduction, the first legal season held during the spring of 1987.

Spring season hunters must only harvest birds with beards, by great majority adult (tom) or juvenile (jake) males. One of either sex may be harvested in the fall.

Hubert says the 2019 implementation of mandatory reporting provided tools to understand population trends from harvest and disease pressure, including pox virus, West Nile virus and avian influenza.

While wild turkeys continue to thrive in Ontario, we have to continue to manage populations and harvest carefully.

Beyond harvesting, processing and consuming game, the classic spring morning hunts parameters lend themselves to an intimate and potentially addictive immersive natural experience. Turkey breeding season features aggressive prosecution of dominance, among hens to attract the largest, strongest males, and among the latter to establish themselves as the most attractive option. Doing so features a stunning audiovisual combination of gobbling and strutting, orienting their body, wing and tail feathers to make themselves appear loud, large and impressive  in short, a toms version of sexy.

Being present during this ritual means viewing an impressive if potentially vicious balletic courtship. There is a definite pecking order  large, dominant mature birds ready to attack rivals with beak, wings and sharply pointed spurs; mid-range contenders challenging the big boys; and juvenile jakes inexperienced or enthusiastic enough to take risks. And boss hens prepared to do the same with other females to maintain status.

Siblings Ian and Kelli Rettie sit behind a camouflaged screen during the spring hunt. Using a blind is an alternative for those seeking more freedom of movement against their sharp-eyed quarry. Jeff Tribe

Tactically, hunters attempt to avoid detection while heading out to a promising, ideally pre-scouted position. Legally, the days hunting closes at 7 p.m., but many choose pre-dawn darkness. Camouflaged or inside a blind, they attempt to imitate the call of an amorous hen convincingly enough to bring a tom within range. Often, decoys will be employed with either a hen or combination of hens along with a juvenile (jake) positioned over an apparently willing hen, which may enrage dominant toms to the point of attacking.

In practice, this approach can work out very well, be successful over time with varying call-and-response technique, or be frustratingly ineffective even with birds in full view.

Transplanted Mississauga native Stephen Lem understood the latter scenario only too well after embracing the heartland of Ontarios wild turkey resurgence in conjunction with Norfolk County employment. His transition included joining Fire Station 9 in Port Rowan while giving turkey hunting a try. Able to laugh now at his sodden debut in the pouring rain and his second season with a crank radio, a frustrated Lem gave up for several years before returning with modestly upgraded technical advice combined with enhanced understanding a turkey can virtually see and hear forever.

Transplanted Mississauga resident embraces life in Norfolk County, including the spring turkey hunt.

Lem had several close calls, one tom on the edge of ethical range, another pair of juveniles surprising him with camera, rather than firearm, in hand. Despite years of supping on tag soup (a euphemism for an unfilled tag), he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Youre not there just to kill, youre there to harvest the bounty, be appreciative of what you got and also learning the whole experience of start to finish. Stephen Lem Turkey hunter

What I really appreciated is nature, and listening to all the sounds first thing in the morning and the wildlife coming to life first thing as the sun comes up. And just being still and being by yourself, its just a tranquil experience.

Being out here and being still and knowing what to look for, the senses just awaken. The vision gets sharper, the hearing gets crisper, its just nice.

As a city person, Lem admits he had a skewed view of hunting as something simple that anyone could do.

Its an art form on its own, he countered, educated through his gun ownership, licensing and turkey hunting courses, experience and interaction with other hunters. Each year there is something I pick up.

Stephen Lem moved from Mississauga to Norfolk County for work. He has embraced the "experiences" turkey hunting has provided. Jeff Tribe

Eventually it turned out to some bounty.

On this morning, two passing deer and a series of gobbles 10 minutes after setting up elevated Lems excitement along with the rising sun. Going soft  a single series of gentle yelps and purrs  proved effective as two birds circled behind the blind, appearing roughly 100 metres to to the north in an open field. A second series of calls, including more aggressive cuts, turned indecision into action. The lead bird pivoted and essentially sprinted toward the decoys. Larger birds may come in slowly, spitting, giving interlopers the option to decamp, but these two juveniles rushed in to lay an avian beating on the jake. Lem calmly waited for three full minutes until the larger of the two presented a stationary target.

Excited, adrenalin, total happiness, he summed up, looking forward to a variety of culinary options and back on his journey as much as this notable destination.

Youre not there just to kill, youre there to harvest the bounty, be appreciative of what you got and also learning the whole experience of start to finish.

There was investment in time, effort and money, Lem concluded, and many very early mornings. But it had proven worthwhile in the broadest sense, a long-term quest checked off his bucket list.

At the end of the day its the experience.

Turkey tags

In 2022, 53,637 tags were sold to 46,415 hunters for the spring (April 25 to May 31, a hunter can fill two tags) shotgun or bow season. An additional 6,297 tags were sold to that same number of hunters for the fall (Oct. 1 to 31 for bow hunters, the Tuesday following Thanksgiving Monday to the second following Sunday for shotgun and bow hunters, Oct. 10 to 22 in 2023, for example). Success rates are slightly below one-third for spring hunters and just above 13 per cent in the fall. Sales from tags ($26.33 each) generated in excess of $1.5 million in revenue, along with associated economic spinoff.

Perfect pairing: turkey curry and Norfolk asparagus

A perfect pairing: eastern wild turkey red curry and fresh, local Norfolk County asparagus. Jeff Tribe

Eastern Wild Turkey Red Curry

12 ounces of eastern wild turkey breast, cut into small pieces

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 to 6 tablespoons red curry paste, depending on heat preference

2 teaspoons minced garlic or two large cloves, minced

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 cup chicken broth

1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

Brown chicken in a large saucepan with a generous dollop of oil, adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove and place aside in a bowl.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in the saucepan, adding red curry paste, garlic and ginger, frying at higher heat for 3 to 5 minutes.

Add chicken broth, coconut milk, brown sugar and fish sauce, bring to a boil and simmer heartily for 10 to 15 minutes until it thickens slightly of its own volition.

Add fully cooked chicken and vegetables (which have been simultaneously placed in bowl in microwave on high for the same 10 to 15 minutes) and heat through.

Add between 3 to 3 1/4 cups of rice to sauce/chicken/vegetables and mix thoroughly. Consider cooking the rice with chicken broth or pineapple juice for additional flavour.

Broiled Norfolk County asparagus

Trim and place your required number of fresh, local Norfolk County asparagus spears  conveniently in season during turkey season  on a baking sheet. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and season with garlic salt and pepper. Cook in a 400-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until interior is soft and outside has slight caramelization.

Enjoy.

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Hamilton firefighters performed a high angle rope rescue at the Devils Punchbowl Tuesday night, rescuing three girls who became trapped while hiking.

The three girls, two aged 14 and one 11, decided to hike from the bottom up and reached a point of no return about half way up the gorge, said deputy fire chief Dan Milovanovic.

Hamilton Fire received a 911 call to rescue the distressed girls around 6:48 p.m. on Tuesday. Firefighters set up for retrieval and descended down to the girls, who were not hurt.

All three were brought safely to the top shortly after 9 p.m.

Reach The Spectator newsroom at 905-526-3420 or news@thespec.com

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TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (20,146.01, down 205.05):

Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC). Finance. Down 55 cents, or 2.10 per cent, to $25.59 on 14.0 million shares.

Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up 52 cents, or 1.34 per cent, to $39.35 on 12.2 million shares.

Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Down 50 cents, or 1.00 per cent, to $49.57 on 12.0 million shares.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE). Energy. Up 24 cents, or 1.08 per cent, to $22.53 on 6.7 million shares.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ). Energy. Up $1.39, or 1.80 per cent, to $78.45 on 6.5 million shares.

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX:SU). Finance. Down 28 cents, or 0.42 per cent, to $66.90 on 6.3 million shares.

Companies in the news:

Dye & Durham Ltd. (TSX:DND). Technology. Down 26 cents, or 1.56 per cent, to $16.39. Dye & Durham Ltd. has signed a deal to buy South African legal software company GhostPractice Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. GhostPractice provides cloud-based software designed to help manage law firms, organize cases and collaborate with clients.

NuVista Energy Ltd. (TSX:NVA). Energy. Up four cents, or 0.34 per cent, to $11.66. NuVista Energy Ltd. said it was able to restart most of its operations over the weekend as more favourable winds and weather helped ease the wildfire situation near its operations in Alberta. Light rain and cooler temperatures slowed down wildfire activity in Alberta over the long weekend and more rain is in the forecast. NuVista said it shut in operations at several of its fields on May 5 as a precautionary measure due to the fires. However, the company said daily production has returned to about 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from an average about 35,000 from May 5 to 22. If the rain and favourable winds occur as predicted, NuVista said it expects to return to full production of about 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day or more as soon as the situation stabilizes fully.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23,2023.

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Janet Jackson

May 23 at Budweiser Stage, Toronto

What has she done for you lately?

If her name is Janet Jackson, there was the two-hour, 37-song, career-spanning extravaganza that kicked off the summer concert season at Budweiser Stage on Tuesday night, where the Gary, Indiana-born superstar exercised supreme control of her talents and her faithful fans repeatedly lost it.

Hard to believe that for the Together Again tour  where she pulled a Neil Young and performed the theme song three times over the evening, including the encore  the divine Ms. Jackson is celebrating her 50th year in the spotlight, which considering shes 57 is no mean feat.

Part of the hit-making Jackson Family legacy that includes the Jackson 5 and, of course, her late brother Michael, who appeared with her onscreen via their duet video Scream, Janet pulled out all the stops with a visual and aural bombardment that kept the crowd of over 16,000  aged eight to 80  on their feet from the moment the lights dimmed.

Following an introductory video subtitled 50 Years of Me that revealed a glamorous celebrity life of family, fashion, fame and frolic, Jackson appeared in a purple hooded robe and introduced herself to the masses via Damita Jo, the title track from her 2004 effort, before doffing the robe to reveal a gold lame bodysuit with a purple bow belt, and being joined by four male dancers for the first rendition of Together Again.

Also backed by a methodical five-piece band, pre-recorded harmonies, four video screens and a two-tiered hydraulic stage, Jackson, occasionally stroking her waist-long ponytail, kept the funk/pop momentum going with a medley of memories that included a full breast grope during Feedback from one of her dancers; another dip into her Discipline album with a few minutes of So Much Betta, a detour into a healthy segment of If, followed by a portion of No Sleeep; a segment of Got Til Its Gone before really slowing it down for the romantic ballad Thats The Way Love Goes, culminating the first act of the concert with Enjoy as she disappeared backstage for the second of four costume changes.

That was a preview of things to come, as Jackson revealed her many personas ranging from hopeless romantic and sexually suggestive vixen to social advocate and serious feminist.

If youre a Janet Jackson fan, you were probably attending the show for two reasons: the music and the precise choreography that helped catapult her into the stratosphere.

Regarding the latter, Jacksons choreography for the majority of the evening wasnt as strenuous as past tours, consisting of a lot more upper body movement than the bordering-on-militaristic meticulousness of such influential albums as Control and Rhythm Nation 1814.

There were occasional flashes of the old Janet  especially during the Rhythm Nation concert concluder  but, for the most part, she left the heavy lifting to her four core menfolk: a somewhat economical entourage for the woman who often carries a small armada of hoofers with her on tour.

A more serious point  and admittedly, this reviewer sitting in Section 203 could have been experiencing one of the venues sonic dead spots  is that the sound was horribly loud and distorted such that the band, especially the bass player, drowned out the superstar to the point of being indecipherable.

The bass pretty much sounded like a thud through the majority of the evening.

If you knew Jacksons songs by heart or were captured by the exhilaration of sharing rare proximity with the superstar, perhaps the flaws became less detectable. But for many songs in the first half of the show, her voice was simply buried by the band.

On the rare occasion Jacksons vocals broke through, she sounded in fine form and the sound imbalance seemed to be somewhat handled by the third chapter of her four-act set.

Of course, Jackson has a considerable legacy of wall-to-wall hits, but that didnt stop her from shoehorning in some rarities. She once recorded Diamonds for Herb Alpert; Girlfriend/Boyfriend with Blackstreet and a duet with Luther Vandross: whether it was for a few bars or a few minutes, they all made it into the mix.

The outfits Jackson wore for the concert were all conservative, including a black and white gown to start off What Have You Done For Me Lately that was detached to reveal a smart pantsuit; a rather questionable red and plaid ensemble that didnt quite mesh and perhaps the crowds favourite: a throwback to the T-shirt and jeans of the Rhythm Nation era, which included a generous run of songs from that album to finish the main body of the show on an emotional, nostalgic high.

In short, Janet Jackson delivered the goods for the dedicated flock that has steadfastly supported her for half a century and is no doubt salivating over the prospect of her artistic output for the next five decades.

And if the Together Again tour is, as rumoured, the swan song of her concert trek, then she fully embodied the definition of The Pleasure Principle with her dynamic performance.

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A crib is being recalled after failing to meet the testing for structural integrity, posing a risk for entrapment and injury, Health Canada said.

The Alex Baby Crib, manufactured in Canada, was distributed by Bebelelo Inc. between October 2022 and May 2023.

The recalled product is described as a convertible four-in-one designthat comes in white, and also a light grey and white combination.

Health Canada said the recall comes after the federal agency determined the furniture didnt meet regulations for cribs, cradles and bassinets.

The cribs failed to meet the testing for structural integrity as the mattress support broke, Health Canada said. Additionally, the crib slats can break.

Bebelelo Inc. reported to Health Canada that 25 Alex baby cribs were sold in Canada. The federal agency said the company has not yet received any reports of injuries in Canada.

Consumers can identify the recalled product by looking for a sticker on the bottom of the cribs with its model name  Alex Baby Crib, Convertible 4 in 1 White or Alex Baby Crib, Convertible 4 in 1 Light grey and white  UPC  686175952933 or 686175952957  and model  BEB-ALPINE-BLANC or BEB-ALPINE-GPB.

Consumers who have purchased the recalled products should immediately stop using the cribs and return them to a Bebelelo Inc. store for a refund. For more information, consumers can contact the company at 450-667-2626, Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits recalled products from being redistributed, sold or even given away in Canada, the federal agency added.

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HALIFAX - A 32-day fundraising campaign to preserve a huge and historic Acadian church in western Nova Scotia has raised only a fraction of the funds needed to save the building.

The chairman of Nation Prospere Acadie, a non-profit group leading the campaign  which ended Tuesday  says about $116,000 of the $2.5-million goal has been donated toward repairing Saint Bernard Church and creating a trust fund to preserve it.

Michel Cyr says the money raised is not enough to purchase the building from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, or for the roof repairs and other upgrades required.

He says its expected the fundraising effort will continue for several more weeks, as his group approaches government officials and other potential donors more directly to save the building from being listed for sale and potentially demolished.

The second phase of the campaign would be more direct, he said in an interview Wednesday. Its not one where its passive and were expecting people to give us donations, but rather were going door to door to ask for donations.

The 1,300-square-metre landmark southwest of Digby, N.S., which opened in 1942, was constructed with 8,000 blocks of concrete hauled into the town of St. Bernard over three decades. But the years have taken a toll on the building, and the number of people attending mass has shrunk to the point where the church was closed and deconsecrated.

The original goal of the campaign was to raise the money to buy the land and building from the diocese and to install a metal roof, repair water damage and upgrade the heating system. All of this was to occur in time for the World Acadian Congress, scheduled in the nearby Clare and Argyle region in August 2024.

Cyr said that despite the emotional attachment some feel toward the structure, raising money is challenging in an era when people prefer donating to local recreational facilities rather than to the restoration of religious landmarks.

In addition, Acadian communities  which in earlier generations often struggled economically  seldom have long-established trust funds and foundations dedicated toward the preservation of historic sites, he added.

Cyr said he didnt think the slow pace of fundraising was due to any hostility to the Roman Catholic Church itself, noting his organizations goal is to eventually develop an alternative use for the building.

Donations will continue to be accepted, he said, adding that if the fundraising goal isnt met, the money will go to Saint Bernard Heritage Society, a non-profit group in the community.

In its original news release announcing the campaign, Nation Prospere Acadie said the building had been a central part of the local landscape for more than 80 years, and it is incumbent upon all of us, as heirs to this proud heritage, to safeguard it today.

To succeed with this endeavour is one of the greatest tributes we can pay to the Acadian people of Nova Scotia.

The construction of Saint Bernard Church began in 1910 under the leadership of Rev. Edouard LeBlanc, who in 1912 became the first Acadian bishop.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the United States, has urged Washington to work with China to enhance dialogue, manage difference and promote cooperation, so as to bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
REGINA - The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is lifting a fire ban across the province after recent rainfall and cooler temperatures helped crews battle wildfires in the northern region.

But the agency says some parks in the north may still retain a local ban as some communities continue to experience high fire risk.

Steve Roberts, the vice president of operations, says municipalities in the region are to continue to monitor and restrict fire activities.

Roberts says some rain and humidity over the last day allowed crews to better suppress the fires, noting they havent significantly grown.

The agency reports its battling 24 wildfires in northern Saskatchewan, including five that arent contained and three requiring crews to protect property.

Many evacuees are still unable to return home, though 20 people are heading back to Ile-a-la-Crosse.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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WHITEHORSE - As improved weather in British Columbia eases flood concerns, Yukon has launched a tactical evacuation of a small community threatened by the rising waters of the Klondike River.

The Yukon Emergency Co-ordination Centre says the evacuation of about 20 properties in Rock Creek, about 500 kilometres north of Whitehorse, was ordered as a flood warning for the Klondike River was issued due to snowmelt and recent rain.

A statement from the centre says levels in Rock Creek and at the Trondek Hwechin Farm are similar to previous ice jam flooding and might rise more before peaking late Wednesday.

The main road through the area is closed for at least the next 24 hours while localized downpours around Mayo, coupled with rapid snowmelt, have submerged the only road in and out of that community of about 200.

This comes as most flood watches and high streamflow advisories in British Columbia were lifted Wednesday.

The River Forecast Centre is maintaining flood watches for a portion of the middle Fraser River and its tributaries east of Quesnel as well as for the South Thompson and Shuswap rivers and numerous tributaries through the Shuswap region.

It says warmer and drier conditions are anticipated in B.C., through the rest of this week and flood hazards have diminished as snowmelt and rainfall runoff has eased.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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A photo of mayoral candidate and former police chief Mark Saunders smiling alongside a line of uniform auxiliary volunteers at a police event this weekend has reignited concerns over Toronto cops posing with candidates mid-election despite a prohibition on engaging in political activity.

Saunders  whose photo was taken at a community barbeque at a North York police station Saturday, then shared on his campaign Twitter account  is one of four mayoral candidates to snap pics alongside police members at community events in recent days.

Brad Bradford, Ana Bailao and Olivia Chow all took photos with uniformed police in the past week; Bradford and Bailao then shared the photos on their official mayoral campaign Twitter accounts.

The photos prompted criticism this weekend that the images inappropriately implied an endorsement by the officers.

In a tweet on Saturday, former Toronto police board chair Alok Mukherjee called out Saunders photo as unacceptable and improper.

In an interview, Mukherjee  who has publicly sparred with Saunders  said candidates should know better and stressed the police officers must be cautious of deliberately or unknowingly becoming tools in a political campaign.

The images have raised questions about whether the photos amount to participation in political activity, which is prohibited under Ontarios Police Services Act. The ban is also outlined in a Toronto police board policy that states endorsement or opposition of political candidates by municipal police officers is prohibited.

Saunders should have been especially wary of posing with uniform officers mid-campaign, said Toronto lawyer Jack Gemmell  who in 2015 lodged a complaint against then-chief Saunders for attending a Bill Blair campaign event and posing for a photo with him, launching a probe that found Saunders had contravened Ontarios ban on political activity.

Posing for a picture with a candidate is political code for showing your support, Gemmell said in an email to the Star.

This is blindingly obvious where the candidate is the ex-Chief of Police, he added.

Asked about it at a campaign stop Tuesday, Saunders defended the photo, saying he wanted to show support for law enforcement and there is never an issue for me going to the police station in the area in which he resides.

As a candidate for mayor Im going to be all over the place, Saunders said, insisting the intent was not to make it look like an endorsement from police and noting he didnt hand out campaign literature.

In an email, his campaign manager said she viewed the photo as a signal of support FOR the police; not a signal of support FOR Mark.

On Tuesday, both Bailao and Chow  who appeared together in a photo with uniformed police at last weeks Dragon Boat Festival  said that they attend multiple events where there are public employees, including police officers.

In general, our campaign avoids posting any photos that are taken by event organizers or anyone else that include city employees, said a spokesperson for Chows campaign. (The photo of Chow with police was posted on Bailaos Twitter account).

Stephanie Smyth, a spokesperson for Bradford  who tweeted a shot Saturday shaking hands with police at Woodbine Beach  said Bradford went to thank the citys first responders. Smyth noted the tweet was from Bradfords councillor account; it was later reshared by his mayoral account.

According to the Toronto police board policy, the police chief is required each time an election campaign commences to send a reminder to employees that they cant use their status as police officers to endorse or oppose candidates.

Asked by the Star Tuesday morning if that had happened, a spokesperson said Chief Myron Demkiw had sent the reminder out Tuesday.

That timing is consistent with the timing of similar reminders in recent previous election campaigns, said Toronto police board chair Ann Morgan.

Stephanie Sayer, a spokesperson for the Toronto police, defined the political activity officers are banned from participating in as including publicly expressing their political views or canvassing for a candidate, while in uniform or on duty.

Nothing in the (Police Services Act) or the Board policy prohibits officers from taking photos with candidates, Sayer said.

Mukherjee, the former board chair, said it is critical that the important separation of policing and politics be upheld.

In 2017, after Gemmell filed his complaint, Ontarios Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) found Saunders violated the provincial legislation prohibiting officers from participating in political activity when he attended a campaign event for federal Liberal candidate Bill Blair. At the event, which Saunders helped facilitate, he posed for a photo with Blair, though he was not wearing his uniform at the time.

Saunders was later ordered to attend a counselling session... designed to reinforce the chiefs awareness of the principles underlying the political activity regulation, according to a letter sent by the Toronto police board to Gemmell.

Speaking to the Toronto Sun shortly after the Blair event, Saunders said he didnt intend to blur the distinction between my responsibilities as police chief and private citizen... I will be more careful in the future.

Toronto police were also under fire in 2018, when a handful of officers posed for a group photo with far-right mayoral candidate Faith Goldy.

Toronto police did not take any action against the officers, who had no idea she was running for mayor and who regularly pose with members of the public, a police spokesperson said at the time.

With files from David Rider and Alyshah Hasham

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis

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Toronto police are asking for the publics assistance to locate a suspect after an assault in the downtown core left a man with life-threatening injuries on Victoria Day.

Officers responded to an aggravated assault call on May 22 near Yonge-Dundas Square, at Yonge and Elm streets.

It is alleged a 42-year-old man assaulted another man, who was taken to a hospital. Theres no further information on the victims state at this time.

Police said they are looking for Robert Dewitt of Toronto.

He is described as six feet tall, with curly blond hair. He was last seen wearing a dark leather coat, grey pants, and light coloured New Balance shoes. Dewitt was also seen riding a purple e-bike.

If located, do not approach; call 9-1-1 immediately, the press release reads.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact police at 416-808-5200 or anonymously via Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

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A three-year-old child drowned in Ajax north end Tuesday evening.

Durham Regional Police said officers responded to a drowning call in a residential neighbourhood near Rossland Road West and Harwood Avenue at around 5:15 p.m.

The child was rushed to the hospital but was later pronounced dead.

Our thoughts are with the family and all emergency personnel, police said.

Police said no further information is being released and requested privacy for the family.

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TORONTO - Advocacy groups, teachers unions and food banks are calling on the Ontario government to provide a free breakfast and lunch program in schools across the province to address food insecurity among students.

In a letter sent to Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Children Minister Michael Parsa on Wednesday, the collection of organizations said many children in Ontario are forced to rely on food banks for their nutritional needs.

The groups, including the Toronto Youth Cabinet, Food Banks Canada and the provinces four major teachers unions, said current student nutrition programs in Ontario are seeing increased demand but are not meeting the needs of students.

The organizations said Ontario should provide a universal free school breakfast and lunch program to all students and guarantee that schools have sufficient infrastructure, resources and funding to deliver the meals.

Stephen Mensah, executive director of the Toronto Youth Cabinet  the citys official youth advisory body  said the benefits of providing universal school meals to students include increasing their school achievement, reducing absenteeism and promoting good health.

No child should go to school hungry, Mensah said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The childs right to food is not a luxury that should be experienced by few, but a necessity deserved by all.

Mensah said food insecurity has a profound effect on the health and well-being of children and on the education they receive.

We cannot expect a hungry student to do good in school, be focused and attentive, happy and ready to learn, he said.

It is unacceptable to have children be deprived of their right to food and adequate nutrition.

Having a universal school meal program removes the stigma thats associated with the notion that only those who are experiencing poverty receive food at school, Mensah said.

And implementing such a program guarantees nutritional benefits for all students, he said.

Not everyone who even brings food to school is getting the right nutrients, Mensah said. A universal free breakfast and lunch program will ensure that all of our students receive the equivalent nutrients that they need.

Henry Chiu, director of development and marketing at the North York Harvest Food Bank in Toronto, said an unprecedented number of people have been relying on food banks in recent months, including many families with children.

With our network of 37 agencies, were serving more than 20,000 (people) each month, he said. This is the highest number weve seen in our 36-year history.

Chiu said about 36 per cent of families that use food bank services in Toronto have children in their households.

We are at a crisis level, he said.

We need everybody to work together to make sure that our youth are able to go to school with a full stomach. Not only enough food, but enough quality food.

Hunger harms health and can have a serious effect on the health system, Chiu said. A universal school meal program can help address that issue.

It helps lessen the load on our health care system, he said It is an investment not only now but in our future as well.

The Ontario government didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the calls for a universal school meals program.

Feed Ontario, a collective of 1,200 direct and affiliate food banks and other organizations that work to address food insecurity, said in a report in November that 587,000 adults and children visited the provinces food banks a total of 4.3 million times between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

It said about 30 per cent of food bank clients were under the age of 18.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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Canadian super-champion Mattea Roach has advanced to Wednesdays final of Jeopardy! Masters.

Roach tied with Andrew He after the last game on Tuesdays show, earning a spot in the final round for having answered five correct responses more than He in the semifinals.

The last category was Opera & History, to which none of the contestants obtained the right answer to the clue: appropriately, the last performance at the Vienna State Opera before it was destroyed in 1945 by allied bombs was this opera from 1876.

The correct question was What is Gotterdammerung?

Matt Amodio wagered zero and moved on to the final in second place with three match points. James Holzhauer had already secured his place in the final.

The tournament features the top six Jeopardy! contestants in a battle over who is the ultimate Jeopardy! Master.

Earlier this month, Roachs father died of a brain aneurysm in his home in Halifax. Philip Henry Roach was 57, according to his obituary.

On Tuesday, Roach paid an emotional tribute to their father during the show, Hes a huge part of the reason why Im here. He and my mom instilled in early love of geography, and my dad taught me all about Turner Classic Movies and old music and all sorts of things.

I wanted to, in what might be my last game of the series, really recognize the impact that he had on my life, they said.

Roach was on the shows set when they found out about their fathers passing, I could not have asked for better support going through what is the worst day of my life, they said emotionally.

The 24-year-old from Halifax is the most successful Canadian to compete in Jeopardy!, winning $560,983 (U.S.) in 23 consecutive games last year. Outside of the world of trivia, Roach is a podcaster at Canadalands The Backbench.

Last November, Roach came back to the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions but lost in the semifinals to He.

Canadians can watch the final on CTV2 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

With files from The Canadian Press

Ana Pereira is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @anabpereiraa

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The debate around what to name a new centre aimed at promoting Black student success is coming to a head at the Peel public school board, with members of the community saying they feel betrayed and blindsided by trustees.

Local activists say they had hoped to see it named the Kola Iluyomade Centre of Black Excellence, in memory of the late community leader who was an instrumental figure in the boards ongoing work to dismantle anti-Black racism.

But trustees with the Peel District School Board adopted a motion at a committee meeting in early May to simply call it The Centre of Black Excellence. That motion is now on the agenda scheduled to go before all trustees at a Wednesday night board meeting for final approval.

The decision follows a wider cultural reckoning over who our institutions, landmarks and buildings are named after. Broader insight into the controversial pasts of notable individuals has led to universities being renamed and to policies being passed to prevent this from happening again.

A recent amendment to a board policy, approved in late April, attempts the latter. Policy 27 prohibits using identifiable individuals when naming and renaming schools and facilities. Acceptable names include, for instance, the name of the local community or street where the school is located, or the Indigenous name of the area.

Community members say the boards motion to remove Kola Iluyomades name distorts the intent of the policy.

According to community advocate Idris Orughu, the new policy was well-intended, but what is happening now is a perversion of the ministrys directive.

I understand why (Policy 27) came about and what theyre trying to do  but right now I think its being perverted against a Black man, he said.

This was a great betrayal, Orughu continued. The centre was our initiative and the name was ours. Now (the PDSB) takes the centre and dumps the name because its backdating a policy that came way after we agreed on a name.

During its extensive consultations with the community, the board never indicated there would be an issue naming the centre after Iluyomade, Orughu said. The name Kola Iluyomade Centre of Black Excellence was specifically recommended by a steering committee composed of Peel staff and members of the Black community, according to a recent staff report presented to trustees.

Iluyomade was a founding member of Advocacy Peel, an independent multiracial coalition working to combat discrimination in education and helped sound the alarm about racism in the board. He died in June 2021.

The province took control of the board in 2020 after a review found serious concerns related to systemic discrimination, specifically anti-Black racism and Islamophobia, and other troubling issues. Education Minister Stephen Lecce issued 27 orders to the board, but after little progress was made, a supervisor stepped in to lead the board and stayed at the helm until January 2023, when trustees regained control. (One of the ministrys directives  a comprehensive diversity audit of schools, looking at things such as names, mascots and library material  led to the PDSB recently amending its policy on naming schools.)

Trustee David Green, whos also the chair of the PDSB, says naming the centre after Kola Iluyomade was never promised to the community and that its a small group pushing for that request.

There was nothing promised, said Green. There was a discussion while we were still under supervision  I guess the supervisor did not feel this is something that would be supported and he did not act on it.

Even if the name was recommended in a staff report and based on community feedback, Green says decisions around the naming of a school or facility must be approved by the board of trustees. That final vote could come on Wednesday or may be postponed to a later date since the board has recently received a handful of requests by members of the public to delegate on this topic, both in support of and against naming it after Iluyomade.

Delegations are no longer heard at board meetings, so members of the public wanting to make presentations will need to wait until a future committee meeting.

Parent David Bosveld, who ran for trustee in the last municipal election, said the last-minute name change felt like a betrayal.

This was a real conciliatory gesture on behalf of the Peel District School Board, he told the Star. Its something that meant a lot to Kolas (family), but also all the people that worked alongside Kola.

While Bosveld acknowledges the name was changed in accordance with Policy 27, he also points out the hypocrisy of stripping the name of a Black activist while leaving buildings named after white supremacists and others with questionable pasts.

If Iluyomades name must be dropped, then in my view, youd have to go back through every (school) that youve named after a person and remove them, Bosveld said.

Similarly, parent Danielle Dowdy said the new policy was intended to prevent schools from taking on the names of controversial figures who caused harm to communities  not local heroes many in the community looked up to.

The board did not consult the local community before making its decision, Dowdy continued, and its decision completely blindsided her and the many parents who fought against anti-Black racism in the PDSB.

We thought we were making all this progress (with the board) only to find out that it hasnt been an honest partnership, Dowdy said. I feel like were back in the same spot.

Orughu, Bosveld and Dowdy plan to attend Wednesdays meeting, hoping the board will change its position.

They need to honour the voices of staff and students and parents and community members whove been working towards this for the last two years, said Dowdy. To uproot the work that was done so easily, its such a disrespect to the community.

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It was a wild turkey that caught his attention.

Earlier this spring, in a patch of woods in one of the parks along the west Don River, Steven Shpak, decked out in camouflage clothing, got down on the ground to capture photos of the big bird at eye level. The lumbering turkey grew steadily larger through his camera lens.

Im just looking at this turkey walking up to me, closer and close, making me nervous, but I had to get those shots, he said with a laugh. Suddenly, I could hear a little cracking in the sticks. The cracking got louder and louder, and my viewfinder blackened out, like there was something in front of it.

When he looked up, one deer stood directly in front of him and three or four were emerging from the bush behind it. They started coming from all sides, out of nowhere, eating the grass, enjoying themselves, he said. Before I knew it, there were probably 15 deer, if not more, all just enjoying life as if I wasnt even there.

For Shpak, a 42-year-old nature photographer, this was one of his most memorable encounters with the wildlife that flourishes in the ravines running through the city.

I know Im in Toronto, he said. I look up and I can see buildings. And yet Im down here (in the valley) surrounded by the biggest animal that Toronto has to offer, and you can just feel the beauty of that moment.

A long-time resident of Thorncliffe Park on the edge of the Don Valley, Shpak has traversed the trails for years, cataloguing the birds and other animals he has observed, including generations of white-tailed deer. Three years ago, shortly after the initial COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, he began taking pictures.

Those photos led to Beauty of the Don, a Facebook group he created in 2020, which now boasts more than 10,000 members (theres also an Instagram page). Along with photographs (which are available for purchase), Shpaks posts often include facts about the species he comes across and descriptions of their habits, based on online research and his own observations.

Shpak calls the variety of wildlife he sees in the Don River system mind-boggling, but he is concerned about how the animals habitat might be threatened by upcoming bridge construction.

Were talking (about) deer, muskrats, coyotes, foxes, beavers, mink  and very recently, even the river otter, which was long thought to be extinct in the city of Toronto, he said. Weve got golden eagles, bald eagles, owls, herons, great egrets  anything you can imagine.

After initially photographing birds and other animals with his Samsung phone, Shpak was encouraged by his husband to acquire more pro-level camera gear, and quickly learned to master it.

A chance encounter with a crying woman on a bench early in his exploration of the Don River trails drove him to want to share his work.

Recognizing that she was in distress  she told him she had recently lost an uncle to COVID  Shpak sought to cheer her up with recent images of the doe he calls Eva, nuzzling and cavorting with her fawn. The womans face lit up, he said, and she hugged him in gratitude.

There are many people, Shpak said, who cant walk (the ravine trails), who cant get out and enjoy this, who now send me messages about how first thing in the morning, they get their coffee and go through the (Facebook) photos, and it brightens their day. He has invited others to contribute their photos and stories to the page and has expanded the pages purview to include nearby areas such as the Leslie Spit.

Shpak also seeks to educate his audience about the importance of respecting any animals they may encounter, urging people not to approach them. And he never posts information identifying locations of deer, owls or other vulnerable species.

You always have to remember that youre in their home, he said. So you have to keep your distance. You have to do everything you can to protect it and preserve it.

Shpak says he is greatly relieved by Metrolinxs recent decision to abandon plans to build a new GO train yard in the lower Don Valley, but hes concerned about the impact that construction of the new Ontario Line subway extension will have on the area. New bridges are planned to span the valley in two different locations, one west of Flemingdon Park and the other near the existing Leaside Bridge (at Millwood Road).

Because the environment is so unstable right now with all the development, we could lose what we have as the construction progresses, he says. Education is the key to preservation. If you love what youre seeing, you have to do the right things to protect it at the same time.

Bob Reid is a corporate communications specialist, broadcaster and freelance writer.

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Torontos leading mayoral candidates will cap off a debate-filled Wednesday with the third and final discussion in Scarborough this evening.

In the evening, some of the leading mayoral candidates will participate in the debate focusing on issues affecting Scarborough. The event, moderated by veteran journalist Cynthia Mulligan, begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on CityNews. Star reporter Alyshah Hasham will be live-tweeting the event.

Earlier in the afternoon the Residential Construction Council of Ontario hosted a housing debate in partnership with George Brown College and several organizations in the sector. It was moderated by former Toronto councillor Joe Cressy, a senior vice president at the college, and two media experts, including the Stars real estate reporter, Tess Kalinowski. The debate ran from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

On Wednesday morning, an arts and culture debate was held, produced by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts and hosted at Young Peoples Theatre, covering topics such as funding for the arts and culture sector, affordable workspace and housing, cost of living, and community engagement.

The byelection to replace former mayor John Tory, who resigned in February after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a junior staffer, is set for June 26.

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The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum is held in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Heads and representatives of media outlets from China and five Central Asian countries on Tuesday gathered at a media forum in Beijing, where they had in-depth discussions and reached broad consensus on strengthening media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit, was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency.

The participating media outlets included the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency.

Speaking at the forum, Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, said that the China-Central Asia Summit has established a platform for cooperation between the two sides and opened up new prospects, bearing milestone significance in the history of the development of relations between China and Central Asian countries.

The relations between the two sides are marching toward a new era, which presents new opportunities for media cooperation among the six countries, Fu said.

Xinhua is ready to work with media outlets in Central Asian countries to expand exchanges, deepen collaboration, and enhance understanding and mutual trust, he said.

Fu called for greater efforts in news reporting in various fields to inject new momentum for relations between China and Central Asian countries, and bring positivity to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations as well as world peace and development.

Foreign attendees at the forum spoke highly of the China-Central Asia Summit. Tlegen Abishev, deputy head of the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said the summit has opened a new chapter in cooperation between Central Asian countries and China.

The various documents and cooperation agreements passed during the summit have outlined a new blueprint for comprehensive and in-depth cooperation between the two sides in the future, said Mederbek Shermetaliev, head of the Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan.

During the forum, the Russian version of a think tank report on Xi Jinping's economic thought was released for audiences from Central Asian countries. The video version of the report was also unveiled.

As an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi Jinping's economic thought is formed through the Communist Party of China's unremitting efforts to explore the path of socialist economic development, said Lyu Yansong, editor-in-chief of Xinhua.

The economic thought is the key to understanding the theory and practice of Chinese modernization, Lyu said, adding that the release of the Russian-version report will provide authoritative interpretation for further understanding of the thought.

"The report allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the essence of Xi Jinping's economic thought, which is scientific and forward-looking," said Bekdurdy Amansaryyev, head of the Media Turkmen News Agency.

Subhiddin Shamsiddinzoda, head of the Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, said the report can help him gain a deeper understanding of Xi Jinping's economic thought, and learn from China's development experience and apply it to the development of his own country.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was also highlighted by participants at the forum, as this year marks the tenth year since President Xi put forward the initiative.

They believed that over the past decade, the initiative has created new opportunities for the development of countries around the world, including China and Central Asian countries. As the initiative is being carried forward, various countries' demand for economic information has been growing even stronger.

Abdusaid Kuchimov, head of the Uzbekistan National News Agency, lauded that in the process of BRI development, China has always been committed to bringing real benefits to the people of all countries.

In June 2019, Xinhua initiated an information-sharing platform called Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership (BREIP). Jointly established by Xinhua and its partners both at home and abroad, it has provided economic information for governments and enterprises of BRI countries over the past years.

During the forum, media institutions from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan signed up for the BREIP, bringing the total number of members of the network to 53 covering 36 countries and regions. Kyrgyzstan's Kabar News Agency is a founding member of the network.

Abishev held that against the backdrop of an increasing number of countries and international organizations joining the BRI, the establishment of the unified platform for economic information exchange is timely and has broad prospects.

Also at the forum a consensus was reached among the participating media outlets, which vowed to further strengthen their cooperation by elevating the scope and creating more avenues of collaboration and to achieve new outcomes in the practical media cooperation. 

The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum is held in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum is held in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum is held in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, delivers a speech while presiding over the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, delivers a speech while presiding over the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

Lyu Yansong, editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, presides over the launch ceremony of the Russian version of a report on Xi Jinping's economic thought, during the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. The video version of the report by New China Research, the think tank of Xinhua, was also unveiled Tuesday. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

Mederbek Shermetaliev, head of the Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, speaks at the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Abdusaid Kuchimov, head of the Uzbekistan National News Agency, speaks at the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Subhiddin Shamsiddinzoda, head of the Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, speaks at the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Bekdurdy Amansaryyev, head of the Media Turkmen News Agency, speaks at the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Tlegen Abishev, deputy head of the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, speaks at the China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. A forum on strengthening collaboration among media outlets in China and Central Asian countries was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The China-Central Asia News Agency Forum, themed on "boosting media cooperation to promote the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future," was one of the achievements of the recently concluded China-Central Asia Summit. The forum was initiated and hosted by China's Xinhua News Agency and attended by heads and representatives of media outlets from five Central Asian countries, namely, the Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kabar News Agency of Kyrgyzstan, Khovar News Agency of Tajikistan, Media Turkmen News Agency and Uzbekistan National News Agency. During the forum, a consensus was reached among media outlets in China and the five Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand cooperation further, aiming to elevate its scope and explore additional avenues of collaboration. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)
Anh Chiem, who ran over and killed Toronto lawyer Scott Rosen in a rented U-Haul pickup truck, received a mandatory life sentence Wednesday two weeks after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder.

During a six-week trial, jurors heard Chiem grew to hate Rosen while he represented her former son-in-law in antagonist civil proceedings against her, costing her thousands of dollars and potentially her mothers house.

Chiem testified she didnt kill Rosen but offered no cogent explanation why she sat for days in the pickup near his office, before striking and driving over him in an indoor parking lot of his office at 234 Eglinton Avenue East. An eyewitness saw her driving the badly damaged truck minutes later on Bathurst Street.

Wednesdays sentencing hearing was delayed for hours because the 64-year-old refused to leave Miltons Vanier Centre for Women, leaving the victims family, friends and jurors  invited by the judge to return  waiting in the downtown courthouse. After declining a defence request to adjourn the proceedings, Justice Peter Bawden issued an extraction order authorizing correctional officers to use whatever reasonable force was necessary to bring her to court.

By mid-afternoon, Chiem appeared placid in the prisoners box as Rosens loved ones shared how their lives were ripped apart Dec. 18, 2020.

His mother, Frima Rosen, described her son as a brilliant lawyer who sought justice for the little guy. He loved the law, adored his family, and had so much to live for, she said tearfully. Even though he was 52, he was still my baby.

Ian Rosen called his brother an excellent athlete who loved to play guitar. His (two) sons must now move forward with their lives without the guidance and mentorship of their father. He thanked prosecutors Bev Richards and Corie Langdon for their unwavering effort during this trial, and praised Toronto homicide Det.-Sgt. Amanda Thornton and her team for their fantastic work and professionalism.

Rosens wife, Elise Middlestadt, said the couple felt they had lucked out meeting mid-life in July 2011. They merged their lives, and confronted serious health challenges, but did so as a team. After his death, she was forced to sell their dream house, along with his boat and motorcycle, while struggling to maintain the will to go on.

Not an hour goes by that I dont miss Scott  he was the person I couldnt wait to spend the rest of my life with, she told court.

Cameron Smith, Rosens law clerk for a decade, said his mentor exposed him to how the legal system is a framework of solving intense disagreements and problems without the need for violence. What happened to Rosen is inconceivable, Smith said, because he didnt send people to jail  he didnt free violent, convicted criminals, he didnt break families apart or incite vicious fights over inheritances. Nothing we did was a matter of life or death, nothing we did was worth killing over.

On the night Chiem ran Rosen over, Smith and other co-workers still in the office heard a heavy metallic thud of that first impact, the building literally shook.

When it came to pass the obligatory life sentence, the judge hailed prosecutors for mounting an unbending, unassailable wall of evidence, and credited the eyewitness who saw her driving the pickup. Bawden said whatever a pathological liar is, Chiem fits the bill.

Before being led out of court, Chiem, between sobs, and through a Vietnamese interpreter, repeated what she testified to: that she had no reason to kill Rosen.

Betsy Powell is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and courts for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @powellbetsy

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Jennifer Stride describes her experience in Ontarios civil justice system as having a wound that keeps getting injured every time its almost healed.

Thats the best way I can describe it, she said.

The Toronto woman has been waiting years for her lawsuit alleging wrongful dismissal and discrimination to finally come to an end. But her attempts at accessing justice have so far been in vain.

On the eve of a one-day trial in April, Stride was told the case would be pushed to September  although theres no guarantee it will be heard then either. It was the second time this year the short trial had been adjourned, for a lawsuit filed in October 2019.

The reason? Insufficient judicial resources  no judge was available to hear the case.

When the first adjournment happened, Stride said she was understanding. The second time, its like Whats going on? What am I doing wrong?

It makes you relive the same thing over and over again, she said. When you think youve dealt with it, suppressed it, put it where you want it to be  pow, punch in the face, here we go again.

Ontarios Superior Court of Justice, which hears all civil cases, some family matters and the most serious criminal cases, has been grappling with dozens of empty judicial positions.

Filling those jobs is the responsibility of federal Justice Minister David Lametti, who is facing renewed criticism for the governments slow pace in appointing judges.

The effect of the vacancies in Ontario is being felt especially on the civil side, which deals with lawsuits, including personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful dismissal.

The court has acknowledged the need to prioritize family matters and criminal cases, which have also been affected by delays. The latter cases must be completed within strict timelines, otherwise, they risk being tossed for violating a persons constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time.

There is no such constitutional guarantee to deal with a civil case in a timely fashion. The result is litigants losing faith in the system as they wait years for justice. They repeatedly go through witness preparation for trials that end up getting pushed, while the costs of legal representation and expert evidence pile up.

This all comes down to access to justice, said Strides lawyer, Tara Vasdani. Ontarians should have an avenue to achieve justice and to achieve peace of mind.

She pointed out the bulk of civil cases dont actually go to trial, with many ending up settled out of court. But there are times when the courts intervention is absolutely necessary and Ontarians should be able to have faith in the system.

There are now almost 90 judicial vacancies across Canada in federally appointed courts, 24 of which are in Ontarios Superior Court. The situation has become so dire that the Chief Justice of Canada, Richard Wagner, recently called for the speedy appointment of more judges in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, obtained by Radio-Canada.

The Liberal government revamped the process for appointing judges in 2016 to make it more transparent and ensure greater diversity. It has received praise for its appointments, but the process has been slow.

The independent committee responsible for screening judicial applicants for Greater Toronto Area courts is also presently vacant after its members terms expired, with the federal government saying it will be reconstituted in due course.

In the wake of Wagners letter, Lametti told reporters in Ottawa that he understands the problem posed by the vacancies and said, Im working very hard with people across the country to make this system work.

He referred to racialized lawyers saying in the past that they felt their applications didnt get looked at, and he hopes hes dispelled that notion through his judicial appointments. Im working hard to build the application pool so that we then have really good candidates to choose from, he said.

Lametti has appointed one judge so far this month to the Superior Court, as well as elevated one of the courts judges to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, as the federal government leaves dozens of spots empty on the bench, Ontarians looking for justice are left to deal with the impact.

Jennifers story

Stride was the superintendent of a Toronto apartment building and alleges in her statement of claim she was terminated suddenly and without cause while on medical leave, despite performing her duties faithfully, diligently and with competence for almost five years. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Shes suing for wrongful dismissal and a declaration she was discriminated against on the basis of sex, and is asking for more than $2 million in damages. Defendants include the buildings property management company and property manager, as well as two tenants.

Stride alleges that she was sexually harassed by a tenant, and threatened and bullied by another. Both tenants were convicted of sexual assault and harassment. She says she was diagnosed with conditions including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, leading to her medical leave, and alleges the company failed to provide a safe workplace.

In a statement of defence, the company alleges that Strides employment became frustrated when she did not come back to work, even though the company said it was prepared to offer accommodations.

The company also alleges it was Stride who harassed and threatened several tenants, and has brought a counterclaim against her, claiming damages in the amount of $500,000.

We are frustrated as well by the delays in the system, lawyer Colin Pye, who represents the company and its employees, told the Star. We have a meritorious defence, we would like to have this matter dealt with in a timely manner, and it frustrates us to no end that lack of judicial resources are tying this up.

Stride said the lengthy process has taken its toll. Why do I have to keep reliving something over and over again because your system is broken?

Johns story

The day before a seven-day trial was set to begin in John Baazs case on May 8, he found out it had been adjourned for a second time, and is now not expected to be heard until February 2024.

It puts your whole life on hold, he told the Star.

Baaz is the defendant  and plaintiff by counterclaim  in a property dispute that was set down for trial in March 2021. The allegations have not been tested in court.

He and the plaintiff are former business associates, suing each other for a declaration that one of them is the rightful owner of the house in dispute. While Baaz is on the title to the home, the plaintiff claims the home, in which he lives with his family, is rightfully his. He alleges that Baaz was holding the home in trust for him and that he is the one making the mortgage payments.

Baaz claims the plaintiff is a tenant who has failed to pay his rent and refuses to vacate the house, one that Baaz says he wants to live in. He argues in court filings that he paid the entire purchase price for the house.

Its difficult to afford the trial, the expenses, and not even knowing if it will happen or not  Because based on what Ive experienced in the past few years, its very hard to count on those dates that they give you nowadays, he said.

Its hard to trust the system anymore, to tell you the truth, he continued. They should have an answer to citizens as to why its taking that long and why they cant fill all those vacancies.

His lawyer, David Milosevic, said the judges and court staff are overwhelmed and doing the best they can, but the delays and mounting number of vacancies are chipping away at the publics confidence in the justice system.

At what point do we erode public confidence in our institutions so much that people begin to turn to other methods of resolving their disputes?

A long-standing problem

Senior judges, lawyers and advocacy organizations have been calling out the federal government for years on its leisurely approach to filling vacancies.

We consider the needs of the court, said Lamettis spokesperson, Diana Ebadi. We also are looking for a judiciary that reflects the country it serves. Merit is our guiding principle.

While several advisory committees across the country remain vacant, including the one for the GTA, Ebadi said in the meantime, we are fortunate to have a good list of screened applications in most jurisdictions.

The Superior Court said reforming the civil system is a priority for Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz, but, in the absence of filling judicial vacancies, it is a challenge.

The court is planning to conduct a virtual mini-blitz of civil cases in the provinces southwest region in November and December, in which judges from any region will be able to conduct civil trials and pretrials to help clear some of the backlog.

The initiative will, unfortunately, be of no help to Stride, who can only hope that her September trial will actually go ahead on time.

I understand now why people dont follow through and give up, because its like our feelings arent being put at the forefront and were the ones who have to relive it, she said.

Sometimes its almost better to throw in the towel so you dont have to keep ripping that scab off.

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering courts, justice and legal affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant

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After more than three years, the global COVID-19 emergency is officially over. Yet its still killing at least one person every four minutes and questions on how to deal with the virus remain unanswered, putting vulnerable people and undervaccinated countries at risk.

A key question is how to handle a virus thats become less threatening to most but remains wildly dangerous to a slice of the population. That slice is much bigger than many realize: COVID-19 is still a leading killer, the third-biggest in the U.S. last year behind heart disease and cancer.

Unlike with other common causes of death such as smoking and traffic accidents that led to safety laws, though, politicians arent pushing for ways to reduce the harm, such as mandated vaccinations or masking in closed spaces.

The general desire in the world is to move beyond the pandemic and put COVID behind us, but we cant put our heads in the sand, said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri. COVID still infects and kills a lot of people. We have the means to reduce that burden.

Even before the World Health Organization declared earlier this month that COVID no longer constitutes an emergency, most governments had already relaxed lockdowns and guidelines. After spending heavily in earlier phases of the pandemic, global leaders have dialed back efforts and are reluctant to pursue preventative measures for which the public no longer has much patience.

Meanwhile, the infection that caused at least 20 million deaths worldwide continues to evolve, leaving the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions at the mercy of luck, uneven access to medicine and little protection from others without face masks or recent vaccinations.

A global, long-term plan to protect the vulnerable and to keep a resurgence at bay hasnt materialized, partly because of how difficult it is to forge any consensus around COVID. From the start, polarized political discourse overshadowed official guidelines on masking and vaccinations.

Even in developed countries where the vaccine became available in less than a year into the pandemic, many people refused to take it. Lack of immunization led to more than 300,00 excess American deaths, or one out of every two from Covid, throughout 2021. Globally, it could have saved half a million more, studies show.

We know that politicizing public health is one of the tragedies of the pandemic, Al-Aly said. Political leaders leveraged their responses not only to advance public health but to advance their own narrative and drum up support for themselves.

Global coordination has also been hampered by politics. Chinas refusal to allow independent experts unfettered access to a wet market thought to be a crucible for Covid or to the Wuhan Institute of Virology added to diplomatic tension and mistrust. Today, Chinese representatives arent participating in many global preparation efforts, said Linfa Wang, a virologist and director of the emerging infectious diseases program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

Its hindering academic collaboration, and China/US collaboration is almost zero, Wang said. With these two superpowers, if they dont collaborate, how can we say the world is ready for the next disease?

A waning sense of emergency has also meant the surge of investment in COVID vaccines and therapeutics has also cooled. While companies including Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. are still updating their shots, trying to make them easier to manufacture and store, many of the hundreds of novel approaches that were initially conceived have fallen by the wayside.

In the U.S., experts are due to meet in June to advise on what strain of the virus vaccines should target for the remainder of the year. Those vaccines will launch only in the fall, with just 100 million doses expected in the U.S. according to Modernas estimates, far less than in previous years.

Long COVID, estimated to affect around 10% of infected people, is considered one of the biggest post-pandemic medical challenges. The economic costs are also significant.

In the U.S., long COVID was estimated to cost around $50 billion a year in lost salaries as of late 2022. In the U.K., the Institute for Fiscal Studies last year estimated that about one in 10 people with long COVID have to stop working as a result. The number of people with those symptoms, including brain fog, breathing difficulties and fatigue, are rising even as infections are decreasing.

Its particularly scary for high-risk people, whove had to return to work and public spaces where masks are sparse and the dangers are invisible. A family wedding can still turn into a super-spreader event, and a flight can be catastrophic.

Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee is painfully aware of this. Her husband, Tom, survived a drug-resistant infection with a rare superbug in 2016, but was left with scarred lungs and other medical issues. They understood the potential risk if he contracted COVID, so they were vigilant, limiting travel through the pandemic. Both were fully vaccinated and avid maskers.

But a recent visit to their son in Canada led to an infection. In the hospital, where Tom was treated with acute respiratory distress, she was taken aback by how cavalier some younger staff were about contracting COVID as they considered themselves low-risk, even though they could transmit it to patients.

Its not mild for everybody and we know repeated exposures increase your risk, said Strathdee, also associate dean of Global Health Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.

While people with active health issues may know to take precautions, some will learn that theyre vulnerable only after an infection lands them in the hospital. Repeated bouts can add to damage, and that applies to everyone, not just those with pre-existing conditions.

The silver lining is that the world now has vaccines and better treatments. Tests can uncover infections in minutes, and new outbreaks can be quickly spotted.

Health experts say immunization is the best way to protect against it. Only about 16% of Americans have gotten a bivalent booster, according to Pfizer Inc., compared with almost 70% vaccinated in the first inoculation drive. Increased out-of-pocket costs and vaccine fatigue could cause uptake rates to fall further. Longer term, the hope is that innovative new shots or nasal sprays will provide better protection.

There are other improvements that could help, ranging from ventilation and air quality testing to better masks. There needs to be more investment in surveillance systems so threats can be caught early, experts said.

The US is also planning to spend $5 billion on a new project aimed at developing advanced vaccines and treatments for coronaviruses in concert with drugmakers. The goal is to make medicines available quickly as the virus mutates, so the targeted strain isnt ebbing when they hit the market.

Even if governments are tired, we have to face the reality that the virus is still evolving, said Duke-NUSs Wang.

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP)  Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is urging African countries to abandon their stances of neutrality towards his countrys war with Russia.

Many African countries have refused to take sides in the European conflict, with several abstaining from votes at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russias invasion. Ethiopia is one of them.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Wednesday, Kuleba said Ukraine was very upset that some African countries chose to abstain and called them to lend Ukraine diplomatic support in the face of Russian aggression.

Neutrality is not the answer, he told reporters. By being neutral towards Russian aggression against Ukraine, you project neutrality to the violations of borders and mass crimes that may occur very close to you.

Russia has built a substantial presence in several parts of Africa, where Russian private military contractor Wagner is active, and recently held joint military drills with South Africa. Russia plans to hold an Africa-Russia summit in July.

Kuleba also called on African countries to endorse the ten-point peace formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in December and emphasised Ukraines wish to build mutually beneficial relations with Africa, based on trade in energy, technology and pharmaceuticals.

We have to remind each other of the importance of Africa to Ukraine and the importance of Ukraine to Africa, Kubela said, admitting that Ukraines previous attitude towards the continent was characterised by inertia.

Both Ukraine and Russia supply a significant amount of grain to Africa.

Kubela is currently on an African tour that also includes visits to Morocco and Rwanda. In Ethiopia, he held discussions with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat and Azali Assoumani, the president of the Comoros and current chair of the continent-wide body.

Kubela made his first trip to Africa in October when he visited Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya. The trip was cut short after Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.

His Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, has also been active in shoring up ties with African countries since the Ukraine war broke out, touring the continent once in 2021 and making at least two visits so far this year.

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)  Three Cambodian land rights activists who were arrested on charges of plotting against the government planned to provoke a peasant revolution by teaching farmers about class divisions between rich and poor, an official said Tuesday.

Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, and his colleagues Nhel Pheap and Than Hach were charged Monday by a court in the countrys northeast with plotting against the state and incitement to commit a felony, said Am Sam Ath of the local rights group Licadho.

He said plotting against the government carries a possible prison term of five to 10 years, while incitement to commit a felony is punishable by six months to two years. He described the charges as sending a message of intimidation to civil society groups.

The three suspects were not available for comment and their lawyers were not immediately reachable.

A senior government official likened their nonviolent activities to what the communist Khmer Rouge taught peasants five decades ago before carrying out their bloody revolution.

The arrests in Ratanakiri province came as Cambodia prepares for a general election in July that is certain to return to power the governing Cambodian Peoples Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has led the country for 38 years with little tolerance for dissent. The opposition Candlelight Party, the sole group posing a credible challenge to the governing party, was not allowed by the National Election Committee to contest the polls and expects a ruling this week on its appeal of that decision.

The three activists were arrested on May 17 after hosting a workshop in Ratanakiri province about land rights and other issues affecting farmers. The police detained 17 of the workshops 39 participants but released all but the three, who were charged and placed in pre-trial detention on Monday.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Gen. Khieu Sopheak said the three were arrested because their activities violated the law and were outside the main goals of their organization, which he said were to teach farmers more productive agricultural techniques.

He said the workshop instead discussed political issues such as the division between rich and poor and how to incite farmers to hate the rich.

Their lecture was to teach about peasant revolution, about the class divide in society, Khieu Sopheak said. He said such language mirrored the ideology taught by the communist Khmer Rouge to poor farmers, especially in Ratanakiri province, in the early days of their revolutionary struggle before taking power in April 1975.

The brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which was ousted in 1979, is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians from starvation, illness and killing.

Hun Sen joined the Khmer Rouge in 1970 when it was fighting against a pro-American government but defected from the group in 1977 and allied himself with a resistance movement backed by neighboring Vietnam.

Fabricating these bogus charges against prominent civil society leaders shows how far the government is willing to go to silence critics in advance of the Cambodia elections in July, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement issued Wednesday. There needs to be a chorus of international condemnation targeting Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government to demand an end to these intimidating tactics.

Land grabs by wealthy and influential people have been a major problem for many years in Cambodia. Land ownership was abolished during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and land titles were lost, making ownership a free-for-all when the communist group lost power. Under Hun Sens government, much land that had been resettled was declared state land and sold or leased to wealthy investors, many of whom critics said were cronies of the governing party. Security forces have been employed to help evict tenants from such areas.

Khieu Sopheak said the three land activists admitted their crimes during police interrogation and that the authorities had found evidence of their activities on a computer and in documents from the groups training workshop.

However, according to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, They were initially denied access to legal representation, before their lawyer was eventually allowed to be present as they were being interrogated by the prosecutor on May 22.

A statement on Theng Savoeuns Facebook page said, In this life, we have tasted all sorts of flavors, but we remain firmly strong because our daily work is not what they have accused of us, rather we work at basic humanitarian tasks, helping the victims, helping farmers, helping the community, to make them understand their rights and obligations, and to help them find a solution.

Farmers from other provinces who support the three activists have defied official harassment to travel to Phnom Penh to stage protests in front of the Interior Ministry demanding their release.

Rights worker Am Sam Ath expressed his concern that the three face such serious charges for working for the benefit of farmers and their communities. He said it might make it harder to help farmers in the future.

___

Peck reported from Bangkok.

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP)  Prosecutors filed a case in a Nepal court on Wednesday against 30 people, including a former deputy prime minister, a former home minister and a prominent rights activist, for allegedly taking money from Nepalese citizens in exchange for promises to provide fake documents identifying them as Bhutanese refugees eligible for relocation overseas.

The case has shaken Nepals political world because the arrested politicians belong to both the governing coalition and the opposition.

Prosecutors filed the case at Kathmandu District Court after weeks of investigation.

It was unclear whether anyone has gone abroad using the fake refugee documents.

The defendants include former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand. They also include Tek Nath Rizal, who campaigned for the rights of minority ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan and was jailed for years by the Bhutanese government and later exiled to Nepal.

Sixteen of the defendants have been arrested and police are searching for the others.

More than 100,000 ethnic Nepalis  a Hindu minority in Bhutan for centuries  were forced to leave the country in the 1990s and lived as refugees in eastern Nepal until most were resettled in Western countries.

Many of those resettled went to the United States, which is a dream destination for many Nepalese who hope to migrate for better education and employment opportunities.

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TALLINN, Estonia (AP)  Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski has been transferred to a notoriously brutal prison in Belarus and hasnt been heard from in a month, his wife said Wednesday.

Natalia Pinchuk told The Associated Press that Bialiatski, who is serving a 10-year sentence, has been kept in an information blackout since his transfer to the N9 colony for repeat offenders in the city of Gorki, where inmates are beaten and subject to hard labor.

The authorities create unbearable conditions for Ales and keep him in strict informational isolation. There is not a single letter from him for a month, nor does he receive my letters, Pinchuk said by telephone.

In March, a court convicted 60-year-old Bialiatski  Belarus top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize  and three of his colleagues on charges of financing actions violating public order and smuggling.

It was the latest move in a years-long crackdown on dissent that has engulfed the country since 2020.

Bialiatski has spent 20 months behind bars since his arrest in 2021, and Pinchuk is concerned his health is deteriorating.

In the most recent letters I see how his penmanship has changed and I see how the situation is worsening for him, both in terms of his health and his eyesight, and I am very, very worried about it, she said. She urged the United Nations to intervene.

The harsh punishment of Bialiatski and three of his colleagues was a response to massive protests over a 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a further term in office.

Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who backed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994. During the protests in 2020, the largest ever in Belarus, more than 35,000 people were arrested, and thousands were beaten by police.

All four activists have maintained their innocence, according to the Human Rights Center Viasna, which was founded by Bialiatski. He shared the 2022 peace prize with Memorial, a prominent Russian human rights group, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

Viasna has counted 1,516 political prisoners in Belarus to date. Human rights advocates say authorities deliberately create unbearable conditions for many of them.

For 28 days, there has been no information about the fate of the imprisoned former presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka, who was reportedly beaten up in his cell and transferred to a hospital. No one has heard from Nikolai Statkevich, a prominent opposition figure serving a 14-year sentence, for 100 days.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The Polish ruling party is pushing for the creation of a commission which it says would investigate Russian influence in Poland. Critics view it as an attempt to create a powerful and unconstitutional tool that would help the party continue to wield power even if it loses elections this fall.

Some fear the right-wing ruling party could use the planned commission to eliminate opposition leader Donald Tusk from political life. Tusk is the greatest threat to the ruling party, Law and Justice, as it seeks a third consecutive term in the vote expected in October.

Opposition senators dubbed it Lex Tusk, using the Latin term for law, and rejected it earlier this month in the upper house, where they hold a majority.

It now returns to the more powerful lower house of parliament, the Sejm, where the ruling party can usually muster a slim majority. A vote is expected on Friday.

However, in an unexpected development, a parliamentary commission making recommendations for that ballot voted Wednesday to uphold the Senates rejection. It was a show of unity by the opposition but lawmakers are under no obligation to reject the bill.

The bill foresees the creation of a state commission with the powers of prosecutor and judge. It could impose punishments, including 10-year bans on officials from positions that have control over spending public funds.

Critics say it violates the democratic separation of powers by giving the proposed commission the powers of a court. Polands ombudsman has said some of its provisions violate the constitution.

The proposal comes amid the backdrop of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Polands eastern neighbor, and with both sides of the political spectrum accusing the other of allowing the Kremlin to exert influence in Poland, particularly through the energy sector.

It is a sensitive issue in a country that was under the control of the Soviet Union for the Cold War decades, but threw off communism in 1989.

The bill would create a State Commission for the Study of Russian Influences on the Internal Security of the Republic of Poland in the Years 2007-2022 which would continue even if there is a change of power in the fall.

That time period covers governments led by Tusks centrist Civic Platform party, from 2007-2015, and the current ruling party, Law and Justice, since 2015.

Law and Justice accuses Tusk of having been too friendly toward Russia during his years as prime minister and making gas deals favorable to Russia  before he went to Brussels to be the president of the European Council.

Critics of Polands current government accuse it of acting in ways that help Russia, for instance by increasing coal imports from Russia before the full-scale war in Ukraine and bickering with Germany and other Western allies, leaving the West more fractured as it faces Russian aggression in the region.

The idea of establishing a tool for investigating the influence of Russia on Polish authorities was originally put forward by Tusk himself last year.

He argued that it was important to investigate Russias alleged role in a wiretapping scandal that helped pave the way for Law and Justice to win power in 2015 and in an increase in Russian coal imports to Poland.

The ruling party ran with that idea, announcing in November its own plans for such a commission, but seeming to turn it against Tusk.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the commission was needed to verify the past and also remove any remaining Russian influence for the future.

This matter must be very thoroughly clarified. We have absolutely nothing to hide here, so the entire period up to the present time should be verified, Morawiecki said.

But many opposition figures fear a witch-hunt against themselves, particularly after right-wing lawmaker Janusz Kowalski admitted that he hoped the commissions work would bring Donald Tusk before the State Tribunal.

The spokesman of the opposition Polish Peoples Party, Milosz Motyka, said this is to be only a whip against the opposition on the basis of made-up accusations.

If the bill passes in parliament, it would go next to President Andrzej Duda, whose role is to sign bills into law or veto them.

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GENEVA (AP) 

Switzerlands executive branch on Wednesday threw its weight behind a proposal to decommission 25 out-of-service Leopard 2 battle tanks that Germanys government wants returned to the German manufacturer to help plug gaps in Berlins arsenal after it shipped tanks of its own to Ukraine.

The Federal Council, the Swiss seven-member executive body, said it backs a proposal from a key parliamentary security-policy committee to decommission the tanks and re-export them to Germany. Defense Minister Viola Amherd is expected to endorse the plan a speech to the lower house of the legislature next month.

Any such re-export would also require the backing of the upper house at its session in September, and a subsequent go-ahead from the Swiss economy minister. The tanks would be sent only on condition that they would be returned to manufacturer Rheinmetall  and not go to Ukraine.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has led Switzerland to grapple with its longtime, constitutionally-mandated adherence to neutrality, which among other things bars the export of Swiss-made or Swiss-owned weaponry or war material to combatants in active conflicts.

Switzerland, however, has lined up with European Union sanctions targeting Russian individuals and businesses in the wake of the invasion.

The Swiss army currently uses 134 renovated Leopard-2 A4 WE tanks, and holds another 96 that have not been renovated and have been mothballed.

Germanys economy and defense ministers in February reached out to Swiss authorities in February seeking the re-sale of the tanks to Rheinmetall, Swiss officials say. The ministers committed to keeping the tanks in Germany or among NATO or EU partners to complement their arsenals.

Germany has delivered 18 of its Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine.

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BEIRUT (AP)  Lebanese authorities Wednesday briefly detained a prominent Egyptian blogger and human rights activist, his lawyer and sister said, but the reason for his arrest was not immediately clear.

The first word about the arrest of Abdul-Rahman Tarek, also known by his nickname Moka, came from his sister, Sara Tarek. She posted on her Facebook page that her brother was detained by plainclothes policemen Wednesday afternoon from his apartment. She called for his release saying he had spent seven years in jail in Egypt until his release last year.

Tarek was taken to police intelligence headquarters in Beirut where he spent about five hours and was later released, his lawyer, Farouk Moghrabi. The reason behind the arrest was not immediately clear, Moghrabi said.

Sara Tarek later wrote that her brother was released and he is at home.

Security officials did not immediately confirm Tareks arrest and later release.

Mary Lawlor, the U.N.s independent expert on human rights defenders, tweeted: I hear extremely disturbing news that an Egyptian human rights defender in exile in Lebanon was arrested today with no warrant. She tagged Lebanons foreign ministry in her tweet.

A group of Lebanese activists had planned to hold a protest outside police headquarters to demand Tareks release but it was called off after he was set free.

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Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to the press after a high-profile debt ceiling meeting in Washington, D.C., the United States, May 9, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

Debt ceiling debate in the United States is creating rampant uncertainty and risks an immediate economic recession, financial crisis, and hardships for American families and businesses.

by Xinhua writers Liu Yanan, Yang Shilong

NEW YORK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The debate over the debt ceiling in the United States is creating rampant uncertainty and risks an immediate economic recession, financial crisis, and hardships for American families and businesses, according to U.S. experts.

Despite reaching the 31.4 trillion U.S. dollar debt limit in January, discussions between the White House and congressional leaders only began on May 9, less than a month before the estimated date of a U.S. government default on its debt obligations.

Political calculations from both sides will likely hinder an early agreement with the June 1 deadline looming.





DEBT CEILING AS POLITICAL LEVERAGE

The lifting of the debt ceiling, initially introduced during World War I, was a routine vote in Congress. Today, the issue is political theater amidst a growing partisan divide.

"We've raised the debt ceiling almost 80 times since 1960," said Ben Harris, former assistant secretary for economic policy in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The notion that Congress would approve spending and then refuse to pay for that authorized spending is absurd, said Harris at a panel discussion organized by think-tank the Center for American Progress on Thursday.

U.S. partisan democracy never worked perfectly, or the way it was intended, and the parties cooperate on fewer and fewer things than in the past, given the extreme polarization, according to David A. Super, professor of law and economics at Georgetown University Law Center.

"Now, any member of either party can get in a lot of trouble if they are seen cooperating with the other party on almost anything," Super told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

What's more worrying is that both parties may think that if this crisis comes to pass, the other side will be hurt politically, according to Wendy Edelberg, senior fellow on economic studies with the Brookings Institution.

"My guess is that those sorts of political calculations will always be with us," said Edelberg at the panel discussion.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy exits the White House after a high-profile debt ceiling meeting in Washington, D.C., the United States, May 9, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)





HUGE UNCERTAINTY

The brinkmanship creates enormous uncertainties around the ongoing debt ceiling talks between the White House and Republican members of Congress, although the U.S. government could default on its debt obligation as early as June 1.

As Democrats aren't going to support deficit reduction measures to pay for tax cuts that drive back up the deficit and Republicans are not willing to agree to anything that limits tax cuts, there's no basis for an agreement, said Super.

House Republicans intend to force a default intolerable to Wall Street. Super added that the financial industry would then pressure President Biden into giving them everything they want.

Super also noted that a short-term debt limit extension is overwhelmingly likely. "A deal is possible, but I think there's a good chance we won't get a deal, and there's also a good chance that U.S. House Speaker (Kevin) McCarthy agrees to a deal and then his members reject it," he added.

"Ultimately, there are a lot of uncertainties about what's going to happen," said Peter Cohan, associate professor of management practice at Babson College, a private business school in Massachusetts.

There's also a possibility that the June 1 deadline, called the X-date, could be extended based on some machinations within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, said Cohan in an interview with Xinhua on Friday.

Possible workarounds, such as invoking the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional, would also add uncertainty to the outcome.

There will be enormous uncertainty in lawsuits if the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is invoked, and "once things get wrapped up in the Supreme Court, all bets are off," said Edelberg.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, stressed the importance of maintaining optionality because "we don't know what the scenarios are going to be like in the future."

U.S. House Speaker McCarthy recently said a bill to raise the debt ceiling could be ready on the floor next week, which was followed by a brief pause of talks on Friday.

Moreover, the planned recess of the U.S. Senate until May 29 also adds uncertainty to whether Congress could pass the potential deal in time.

This photo taken on Jan. 20, 2023 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)





POTENTIAL RISK UNIMAGINABLE

The U.S. government default on its debt obligations, even a short-term breach, will bring unimaginable risks and damage to financial markets, U.S. families and the economy, experts warned.

According to Edelberg, there are 4 million disabled veterans whose payments are scheduled for June 1, and those payments are now uncertain because the United States runs a deficit and the Department of the Treasury needs to increase the federal debt to meet its obligations.

"Even if the crisis only lasts a few days, the damage could be lasting ... we're seeing concerns in financial markets for treasury bills that are scheduled to mature in June," Edelberg said.

If both sides don't reach a deal a week later, "we'll start to see the impacts on financial markets," warned Zandi, suggesting that the equity market could plunge 15 percent to 20 percent.

A breach of debt obligation for a few days would be enough to push the United States into recession as the U.S. economy is already fragile, said Zandi.

Zandi noted that a prolonged breach of a few weeks would mean a severe economic downturn. "Once you go down that path, it puts such pressure on the financial system and economy. Things break that we're not even anticipated ... there would be the financial crisis itself."

The damage from a prolonged breach also goes beyond economics and could erode U.S. geopolitical or reserve currency status, Zandi said.

If the credit rating of treasury debt is downgraded, there will be a widespread downgrade for any entity backed up by the federal government, explicitly or implicitly, according to Zandi.

"The chaos that we create would be incalculable. We immediately go to a very severe financial crisis and economic downturn," Zandi said.

Harris shares a similar perspective to Zandi, emphasizing that the current situation could make the markets no longer regard U.S. treasuries as free of credit risk. The U.S. dollar would depreciate in addition to a pretty acute shakeup of global trade patterns.

(Hu Yousong and Zhang Juan also contributed to this story.)
DOVER, Del. (AP)  Members of the Delaware legislatures budget-writing committee began marking up Gov. John Carneys spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year on Tuesday by approving across-the-board pay raises of up to 9% for state employees.

The Joint Finance Committee approved Carneys plan to give state workers pay raises ranging from 3% to 9%, depending on their pay grades. Employees making less than $50,000 a year would see their pay increase between 7% and 9%, with the lowest pay grades receiving the highest percentage increases. Employees making roughly $100,000 or more annually would see a 3% pay raise.

Public school employees also would receive a 3% raise, with teachers getting an additional 6% pay hike for a total salary increase of 9%.

The average state employee salary of $52,033 per year would increase 6%.

The pay increases approved Tuesday follow pay hikes ranging from 2% to 9% that government workers received this year. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

As we responsibly did last year, were targeting working Delawareans who most need a raise, committee co-chair Rep. William Carson, a Smyrna Democrat, said in a news release.

By continuing to use a sliding scale for raises, we are ensuring all employees receive a raise, but were preventing those on the lower end of the pay scale from falling further behind, Carson added, noting the rising costs of goods and services.

The committee also Carneys recommendation of establishing a $15 minimum wage for full-time state employees.

Panel members also added millions of dollars and several new positions to Carneys recommended budget to reflect passage of a marijuana legalization bill that the Democratic governor allowed to become law without his signature.

The committee added more than $2.2 million and 34 new positions to Carneys recommended budget to begin implementing a state-licensed and regulated marijuana industry. On Wednesday, the panel is expected to approve another $1.9 million in one-time costs for the marijuana program.

The funding approved Tuesday includes money to staff a new Office of the Marijuana Commissioner and add 14 new positions in the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement to administer and enforce Delawares Marijuana Control Act. Lawmakers also approved funding for new marijuana tax auditors in the Department of Finance, new investigators in the Division of Public Health, as well as pesticides and weights and measures personnel in the Department of Agriculture.

Im just getting high just sitting here, Rep. Stephanie Bolden, a Wilmington Democrat, quipped at one point.

Carney announced last month that he would allow bills legalizing recreational marijuana use by adults in the state and authorizing the establishment of a state-licensed and regulated cannabis industry to become law without his signature. The move marked a turnaround from last year, when he vetoed a legalization bill championed by fellow Democrats. That led to a failed veto override attempt by House Democrats.

Budget committee co-chair Sen. Trey Paradee, a Dover Democrat, expressed confidence that Delaware will make money off its new marijuana industry, despite economic problems experienced in the legal marijuana industry in many West Coast states.

Make no mistake, we will see a return on the investment we are making here today, both in terms of the jobs that will be created and the lives that will be spared as we bring an end to the failed criminalization of marijuana, Paradee said in a news release.

Currently, recreational marijuana use is permitted in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

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IONIA, Mich. (AP)  A western Michigan man who pleaded no contest to shooting an 84-year-old woman campaigning against abortion rights at his home was sentenced to community service Tuesday.

Richard Harvey, 75, was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger also gave him a suspended jail sentence of two months and a delayed sentence of one year on probation.

Harvey pleaded no contest last month to felonious assault, careless discharge of a firearm causing injury and reckless discharge of a firearm.

Kreeger also must pay $347.19 in restitution and cannot have any contact with the woman he shot, 84-year-old Joan Jacobson.

Jacobson was shot Sept. 20 at Harveys home in Odessa Township, a community about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. Jacobson told investigators that she was asking a woman at the home to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion in the state when she was told to leave. The amendment later passed.

Harvey has said the shooting was accidental, but Jacobson has maintained she believes it was intentional after she had argued with Harveys wife, Sharon Harvey.

Jacobson was treated at a hospital for a shoulder wound.

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  A tally of the homeless population in New Mexico shows an abrupt jump in the number of people living without permanent housing or with no shelter at all, according to the legislative agency focused on budgeting and accountability.

A spot-count commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on a winter night in January identified about 3,850 homeless people, 48% more than a year earlier, a report released Tuesday found.

The count reflected many more unsheltered people  mostly in Albuquerque, where authorities are grappling with encampments on sidewalks and riverside parks.

The change interrupts a gradual, decade-long decline in homelessness in New Mexico, which has the highest poverty rate in the western U.S., according to the nonpartisan research agency.

Poverty rates are high, labor participation is low. There is high substance abuse rates, Kathleen Gygi, a program evaluator, told a legislative panel at the state Capitol. These are all things that compound the problems.

About half of available shelter beds were being used when surveyed, but some shelters were full and others were hard for people to reach.

The study highlighted a decline in affordable housing as rent increases vastly outpaced personal income growth. Average rents statewide have risen by about 70% since 2017, versus a 15% increase in incomes.

Legislators and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham are searching for the best ways to spend $84 million in new state funding to reduce homelessness and boost affordable housing. The governor commissioned an investment plan Tuesday that might help address housing shortages.

The Legislatures analysis of homelessness and housing found that people in New Mexico stay in shelters and transitional housing for relatively short periods, about half the national average.

But New Mexicos largest city, Albuquerque, faltered when it came to successfully transitioning people into permanent housing. About 20% of people in the citys shelters or temporary housing successfully make the leap into permanent housing each year, far below the national average and the 40% transition rate for Phoenix.

A dire struggle with homelessness amid soaring real estate prices was on prominent display Monday at an emergency shelter for men near downtown Santa Fe, just across the street from the citys thriving Railyard district of art galleries, restaurants, bars and a boutique movie theater.

Scott Snyder, a 67-year-old with limited use of his hands because of a childhood accident, moved into the facility run by St. Elizabeth Shelters in January after his truck broke down and he could no longer sleep in it. He said cheap rental apartments and spare rooms were plentiful when he moved to Santa Fe in the 1980s.

The affordable rentals are almost nonexistent, theyve all dried up, Snyder said.

St. Elizabeth Executive Director Eduard Archuleta oversees two shelters in Santa Fe along with publicly subsidized apartment complexes that support chronically homeless people, disabled adults and low-income families with a variety of support services. The facilities are consistently filled to capacity, he said.

Archuleta says he has been astonished to see professionals with modest incomes but no place to call home turn up in droves to apply for space at the the organizations 120-unit affordable housing complex that opened in 2021.

It was a deluge of people and most of them you never would have guessed that they were homeless, he said.

At Tuesdays hearing, housing analysts warned that commitments to subsidized rent at hundreds of units may expire without intervention over the next decade. However, the states financing authority for affordable housing does support a robust pipeline of multifamily units for low- and moderate-income families.

Isidoro Hernandez, CEO of the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, said more than 50 multifamily projects with 4,300 units are under development or construction across the state.

Native Americans were overrepresented in New Mexicos homeless population  accounting for 17% of the homeless population and just 11% of the overall population, the study found. That often translates into overcrowded housing.

We dont see the homeless because we dont allow people to be homeless. We will take them in, said Democratic state Rep. Derrick Lente, a tribal member of Sandia Pueblo.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  An Arkansas man who propped his feet on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office in a widely circulated photo from the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in prison.

Richard Bigo Barnett became one of the faces of the Jan. 6 riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said in announcing that sentence that Barnett seemed at times to enjoy the notoriety.

All the folks who follow Bigo need to know the actions of Jan. 6 cannot be repeated without some serious repercussions, Cooper said, alluding to the media attention and social media following Barnett attracted after the riot.

The 54-month sentence for Barnett, a retired firefighter from Gravette, Arkansas, comes after he was convicted at trial on eight counts, including felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, in this case a Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress to certify Joe Bidens victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

The photos of Barnett lounging at a desk in Pelosis office made him one of the most memorable figures from the riot. Barnett, 63, testified he was going with the flow and struck a pose after news photographers told him to act natural.

He told the judge that joining the riot was an enigma my life that he regretted, but said prosecutors wanted him to be remorseful for things I did not do.

Jan. 6 was a traumatic dey for everyone, not just law enforcement, he said. He has vowed to appeal his conviction. He testified at trial that he was swept along with the crowd into the Capitol, and was looking for a bathroom when he unwittingly entered Pelosis office and encountered two news photographers.

Cooper, though, said he did not believe Barnett played such a passive role.

It was established at trial that Barnett brought into the Capitol a stun gun with spikes, concealed within a collapsible walking stick. Barnett also took a piece of Pelosis mail and left behind a note that said, Nancy, Bigo was here, punctuating the message with a sexist expletive.

Before leaving Capitol grounds, Barnett used a bullhorn to give a speech to the crowd, shouting, We took back our house, and I took Nancy Pelosis office! according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors also said Barnett has since posted falsehoods on social media about Jan. 6 and downplaying his role. The defendant still believes he can say or do whatever he wants and if someone else is threatened by it, thats their problem, prosecutor Alison Prout said.

Defense attorney Jonathan Gross said Barnett didnt hurt anyone or damage property, and was being singled out because the photo had made him famous.

Mr. Barnett should not be punished because the government thinks hes a symbol, he said.

Coopers sentence fell short of the approximately seven years prosecutors sought, though it was more than defense attorneys request for a 12-month term.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced. More than half have received prison terms ranging from a week to over 14 years.

Also on Wednesday, a Pennsylvania man was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of assault and other charges in the riot. Prosecutors say Robert Morss, of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, dressed in fatigues and tried to take a baton from an officer, and stole a riot shield from another, while working to organize members of the crowd to push past Capitol guards. He yelled to officers: Take a look around. We are going to take our Capitol back, prosecutors say.

An attorney for Morss, 29, declined to comment after his sentencing. His lawyer, Nick Smith, noted in court documents that his client saw three tours of duty in Afghanistan as a member of the Army and has already served two years behind bars. Morss alleges he was abused by guards in jail.

This case has already turned Morsss life upside down. The governments suggestion that these heavy blows are insufficient to deter the one-time, situational crimes Morss committed is nonsense, Smith wrote.

____

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  As families and loved ones mourned the unimaginable loss of 19 children and two teachers shot dead last year in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden said from a solemn White House memorial Wednesday that too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields.

The town released butterflies during a ceremony and held a candlelight vigil. The Texas legislature paused for a few moments of silence at 11:30 a.m. CDT, the moment the shooter entered Robb Elementary School last year, touching off the nations deadliest school shooting in a decade.

Biden delivered remarks in front of a display with 21 candles, one for each victim, with a white rose and satin ribbons in school colors that displayed each victims name and age. All the students killed were between the ages of 9 and 11 years old. Before the president spoke, he and first lady Jill Biden, who is a teacher, stopped to look at the names of the dead.

I realize this is a really tough day for all the families, Biden said quietly. Remembering is important, but its also painful.

Biden spoke of how he stood in Uvalde a few days later, staring at 21 crosses outside the school with the names of victims. He said they spent hours with the grieving families.

We know one year later, this is still so raw for you, he said. Youll miss birthdays and holidays, school plays, soccer games. Just that smile. A year of everyday joy, just gone forever.

The killings, along with another mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, prompted bipartisan legislation that passed through a divided Congress just a month later. It was the most significant gun safety law in decades.

The law toughened background checks for the youngest gun buyers, and sought to keep firearms from domestic violence offenders and to help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons away from people adjudged to be dangerous.

Too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities across America. And in each place, we hear the same message: Do something. For Gods sake, just do something, Biden said. We did something afterwards, but not nearly enough.

Those laws havent stopped mass shootings or gun deaths of children. And Uvalde is still managing the fallout from the botched emergency response to the shooting. An investigation is still ongoing into how the days after the attack were marred by authorities giving inaccurate and conflicting accounts about efforts made to stop a teenage gunman armed with an AR-style rifle. It was the worst shooting in a school since 2012, when 20 children between 6 and 7 years old and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

A damning report by Texas lawmakers found nearly 400 officers had been on the scene, from an array of federal, state and local agencies. The findings laid out how heavily armed officers waited more than an hour to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman. It also accused police of failing to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.

In Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, read the names of the 21 victims who were murdered as the entire chamber paused in remembrance.

Each victim was memorialized with a speech, describing who they were and the loved ones they left behind. I pray that in all of our differences, we aspire to our better angels, perhaps remember those moments when we were little, Gutierrez said. Look at the pictures of these children and remember our better angels.

Throughout Texas biennial legislative session, which began in January and ends Monday, a group of the victims family members made the three-hour drive to Austin every Tuesday, with few exceptions, to lobby lawmakers in hopes of raising the legal age requirement to own certain semiautomatic weapons  like the one used by the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter  from 18 to 21.

But in the GOP-controlled Texas Capitol, Republicans this year rejected it and nearly all other proposals to tighten gun laws.

Several months in, the new federal law has had some success: Stepped-up FBI background checks have blocked gun sales for 119 buyers under the age of 21, prosecutions have increased for unlicensed gun sellers and new gun trafficking penalties have been charged in at least 30 cases around the country. Millions of new dollars have flowed into mental health services for children and schools.

Yet since that bill signing last summer, the tally of mass shootings in the United States has only grown. Five dead at a nightclub in Colorado. Eleven killed at a dance hall in California. Three 9-year-olds and three adults shot and killed at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Seven shot dead in rural Oklahoma.

As of May 24, there have been at least 25 mass killing incidents in the U.S. so far in 2023, leaving at least 127 people dead, not including perpetrators who died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

That puts the country on a faster pace for mass killing incidents than in any other year since 2006, according to the database, which defines a mass killing as an incident in which four or more people are killed, not including the perpetrator, within a 24-hour period.

There have been at least 556 incidents in all since 2006 in the U.S., according to the database, leaving at least 2,892 people dead.

Firearms are the No. 1 killer of children in the U.S. and so far this year, 85 children younger than 11 have died by guns and 491 have died between the ages of 12 and 17. As of 2020, the firearm mortality rate for children under 19 is 5.6 per 100,000. The next comparable is Canada, with .08 per 100,000 deaths.

Its time to act, Biden said. Its time to make our voices heard. Not as Democrats or Republicans. But as friends, as neighbors, as parents  as fellow Americans.

I know for a long time its been hard to make progress, Biden said. But there will come a point where our voices are so loud, our determination so clear, that it can no longer be stopped. We will act.

___

Coronado reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press Writer Chris Megerian in Washington and Scott Stroud in Nashville contributed to this report.

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Two weeks ago, Toronto City Council reaffirmed the reconstruction of the Gardiner Expressway. This means we are going spend more than $1 billion dollars rebuilding 1950s infrastructure. At the same time, Metrolinx has cancelled buses because downtown traffic is so bad they cant get to Union Station.

Urban highways like the Gardiner make traffic, air quality and climate change worse. We should modernize this old car-based infrastructure to be as useful as possible in the 21st century by building a dedicated busway on the Gardiner. And, at least then some percentage of the $1 billion would be invested in the future rather than the past.

Proposing anything other than the status quo raises objections about the imagined traffic nightmare that would follow. But, the new Gardiner as planned wont do anything to improve traffic. Current complaints about traffic near the Gardiner are focused on construction, but the highway has moved slowly for decades. This is because of the physics of cars. A highway lane can carry 2,000 vehicles an hour (moving about 2,300 people in the GTA). Hundreds of thousands of people come into Toronto daily; there just isnt enough space for cars to be the main way we get around.

Torontos overreliance on cars was why we were famous for having the worst commutes in the North America before COVID and is the reason were facing frustrating congestion again now. Highways are also terrible for air quality and health. We might think that is a problem of the past but while newer cars emit less exhaust emissions, they are heavier and make up for it with more pollution from brake, tire, and road surface wear. Air quality near highways is four times worse than in downtown on average. In the U.K., road and highway projects are being cancelled for being incompatible with a livable future, a clear-eyed reality check we should heed.

The debate for the past decade around rebuilding the Gardiner has largely focused on the expense and the reasonableness of building a highway in the era of austerity and environmental sustainability. However, all the original options on the table in 2015 were focused on moving cars. None of the three  a fully elevated replacement, the hybrid option, which is a shorter elevated replacement with fewer exits (the 2015 winner and what we are building today), or an eight-lane-wide road at surface  are very appealing.

While the current mayoral byelection has featured many platform announcements about the Gardiner, they are mostly relitigating the 2015 debate. Whether or not the decision to rebuild was the right one, we are now half a billion dollars into construction. So heres a free platform suggestion for any of the 102 candidates. Investing in public transit instead would help congestion, improve air quality, and make for a much better use of money. We should build a dedicated busway on the Gardiner.

A busway lane can carry 20,000 people an hour. Building a busway lane on the Gardiner would also be cheap and fast as a busway isnt structurally that different than a road lane. It would support speedy GO and TTC buses and rapidly move people from the west into downtown Toronto. Metrolinx could restore and even improve on the routes it has recently cancelled due to traffic. This would be great for commuting, for downtown businesses and attractions and even for getting to Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays games.

It is too late to go back to the 1950s and not give our Waterfront over to a highway. It is too late to go back to 2015 and not invest half a billion dollars in rebuilding the elevated expressway. It is not too late to make sure we get functional mobility and as much value as possible from our investment. We get the future we build, for the Gardiner there is still time to look forward rather than back.

Shoshanna Saxe is an associate professor in the University of Torontos Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, and Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Infrastructure.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has consistently shown poor judgment. From his blackface performances in his youth  remember that was in the 1990s not the 1950s  to believing that no one could object to his using the Aga Khans helicopter to take his family to a private island, to his decision to duck a public inquiry on unacceptable interference with the lives of Canadians and their democracy by the egregious Chinese Communist Party.

Friends and advisers often try to warn him off his more bizarre failures of judgment  but fail too often. Having gotten away with his staggering lack of responsibility so often, he thinks he will get away with it one more time.

I am doubtful. There are perhaps four escalating reasons why this time may be different.

David Johnston the wrong choice

First, his foolish decision to choose David Johnston. Johnson is not unqualified by virtue of his character, as our hooligan of an Opposition Leader likes to bellow. No, it is because he is as pure a product of the Canadian establishment as one could imagine. A leader and defender of Canadian academic, bureaucratic and political institutions would find it impossible to propose a way out of our China mess that was certain to impugn the competence and complacency of the entire Canadian system of government. His choice was always going to be a means of saving the reputations of the people and agencies involved.

Just trust us

Second, Trudeaus triumphant claim that we should accept his and Johnstons word, and some minor fixes and tweaks will ensure we do even better next time. Why, exactly, would the Canadian people do that? Trust a prime minister whose behaviour has skated over ethical red lines time and again? Trust a counsellor whose loyalty to the institutions of the Canadian establishment is such that he would defy a gun to his head in their defence.

Dogged by political scandal

Third, his choice will mean he will be dogged by a political scandal from today until the end of his term, which he may yet have drawn to a close to sooner than he thinks. No look over here strategy will prevent the collective opposition parties harrying him day after day until he folds. Canadians may appropriately be more concerned with his failures on climate, housing and health, but the stench from this scandal will, over time, become irreparably damaging.

Patriotic Canadians will not stay quiet

Fourth, he has fallen for a strategic blunder that Johnston set for him. Johnston has had little experience of determined and well-armed critics shooting back. He, and his client, are now in for a serious surprise. Johnston excoriated the security establishment leakers as essentially traitors; their journalistic fellow travellers as fools and incompetents. So now the most powerful media institutions in the land will take their licking in silence and sullenly retreat? The patriotic Canadians who put their careers on the line to warn the nation that its security was being threatened by incompetent officials and complacent politicians will accept their condemnation of their courage quietly?

Perhaps Johnston has forgotten Daniel Ellsberg, a similar essential traitor who helped save the United States from the consequences of similar incompetence. Or the still unknown American patriots who revealed the torture chambers and secret prisons run by the CIA? People who have crossed the personal ethical Rubicon that their loyalty to their nation must always trump the crimes of those to whom they have given their pledge of secrecy, never remain quiet. They double down.

So the additional stupidity that Johnston and Trudeau have walked into is the reality that there will now be more leaks from more sources. They will contain even more galling tales of Chinese crimes on Canadian soil.

Having spent many of the past 30 years on Canada/China relations, I know some of the tales that have yet to be told. They will leech public support for this prime minister and his government inexorably, until it throws in the towel and accepts the inevitable inquiry, or until it faces defeat in the House.

Robin V. Sears was an NDP strategist for 20 years and later served as a communications adviser to businesses and governments on three continents. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. @robinvsears

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Its a rule urban dog owners break everyday: when there is no off-leash dog park nearby, they let their dogs roam free on any patch of public grass they can find, be it a park, a ravine, a beach, or a school yard.

If no one else is around this seems like a victimless crime. But often, someone is around: other dogs, other people and most critically, children.

Earlier this month while roaming a park located on a Toronto school, an unaccompanied dog bit a 14-year-old boy in the face. The boy was taken to hospital with injuries that required surgery. Fortunately, he will recover, but the disturbing incident is reflective of a widespread problem in Toronto and elsewhere.

According to the Star, data from Toronto Animal Services shows that complaints about off-leash dogs have been steady since 2014 at around 500 a year. However, complaints about dogs biting people have doubled since 2014, spiking at 1,316 in 2022.

Between 2019 and 2022, the City of Ottawa saw calls relating to aggressive dog behaviour jump more than 16 percent.

Its possible that this spike is at least partially attributable to a pandemic-era pet buying frenzy. Dog adoptions and sales soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, but some owners werent prepared for the onus of ownership. According to dog trainers, many dogs adopted or purchased during the pandemic were not properly socialized; others are suffering extreme separation anxiety, the result of being perpetually at home, attached to their owners throughout the pandemic.

There is also the issue of green space, or rather, a lack of it. Its understandable that dog owners who live in densely populated urban areas are tempted to let their dogs off leash when they come upon a rare patch of grass. The lack of public green space is a legitimate problem in Toronto, and specifically in the west end neighbourhood where the dog attack occurred.

According to the Star, the Toronto District School Board has a limited ability to fund the security required to keep dog owners in check on school property.

This puts schools and the families that use them in a terrible position whereby the local schoolyard is the unofficial dog park of the neighbourhood. This is dangerous for both the health of school grounds and the safety of the people who frequent them. And it puts parents in the position of serving as park warden to tell dog owners to put their animals on a leash.

This frames the challenge for municipal politicians and bureaucrats to help curb these potentially dangerous incidents.

, whether that is building more off-leash dog parks or finding a way to enforce city rules on school property.

It does underscore the importance of green space in dense, urban areas and the need to increase these parks to serve a variety of uses, including dog walking.

More urgently in the interim, frustrated dog owners must not use a lack of green space as an excuse to put young people at risk. Public space is for everyone. But playgrounds and school properties are for children first and foremost.

Residents who cant find child-free green zones in which to let their dogs run off leash should do the responsible thing and keep their dogs on the leash. Every owner thinks their dog doesnt bite until it does.

Though some dog owners may not like to hear it, the needs and safety of children come before the needs of pets. More green space in Toronto and beyond is needed, yes. But until it arrives and even if it never does, owners must leash their dogs where kids play.

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Renaming Dundas Street: Inside the fiery debate that led to the decision, and why its back in the public eye, May 21

My 16-year-old daughter picked up the Insight section and said, I dont know anything about this Dundas guy. I told her to read the article and then wed have a chat.

After reading, we had a conversation as long and winding as Dundas Street itself. We covered the history of slavery in the British Empire and the complexities of studying history and those involved. We then imagined ourselves as public policymakers trying to balance triggering events of the past with city building of the future.

Dundas Street should not be erased. It should be used as a medium to educate our community and spark critical conversations. Installations could be curated from the 427 to Kingston Road not only to teach us about Henry Dundas himself, but to acknowledge who was on this land before the British. The contributions of Black Canadians who have made Toronto the vibrant city we all like to boast about should also be recognized.

Spending millions of dollars to erase any discussion of our dark history is irresponsible. Both Great Britain and Germany have taken such an approach to addressing historical atrocities. They have not buried their dark history under the rug, but have invested in public installations to educate, in hopes to avoid repeating it.

Aaron Duncan, Guelph

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Lets face it, Torontos mayoral election has become an international joke and a disgrace to the lofty ideals of the democratic process.

The reasons are clear:

First, a dog  yes, a rescue dog named Molly  is one of the 102 candidates running to be Torontos next mayor. (The dogs owner Toby Heaps is the actual candidate whose name is on the ballot).

Its the most crowded field in history because in the name of fairness the city allows anyone  and I mean anyone  with a few dollars and a few friends to enter the race.

Second, the next mayor may win the backing of less than 30 per cent of voters. If that happens it would raise serious doubts about the mayors credibility when it comes to being seen as governing on behalf of all residents.

Combined, these two issues create an election nightmare and make a mockery of the mayoral race.

But there are easy fixes for both problems.

Under current rules, it takes just $200 and 25 signatures on an entry form to become an official candidate. The policy was well-meaning, adopted to encourage residents with little money and no ties to political groups to enter. But it also opened the door to nuisance candidates who see their entry as a lark, spending more time disrupting the process than enhancing it.

Toronto can fix this problem simply by raising the entry fee, maybe to $1,000, and requiring 500 or 1,000 signatures. Those arent onerous requirements and would weed out most frivolous candidates.

Fixing the second issue is also doable  hold a runoff election between the leading two candidates if no contestant gets at least 50 per cent in the first round of voting.

Two-round systems operate effectively around the world. Runoff mayoral elections were held this spring without hitches in Chicago, Denver and elsewhere in the U.S. As well, runoff elections are staged in presidential elections in France, Finland and other countries.

In Toronto, its quite conceivable the eventual winner will get barely 1-in-4 votes. Thats not much of a mandate to govern!

Currently, Olivia Chow is the front-runner, averaging around 30 per cent of decided voters in polls taken since she entered the race. Five other candidates have hit 10 per cent or more in at least one poll, including former police chief Mark Saunders, former Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter and councillors Ana Bailao, Brad Bradford and Josh Matlow.

There are many advantages to a runoff election, according to John Courtney, political science professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan and an expert on electoral systems.

In an in-depth report he prepared for Elections Canada, Courtney said a runoff election between two candidates produces majority winners, which increases the perceived legitimacy of the eventual winner.

He also said runoff elections create coalitions that encourage inter-candidate bargaining and trade-offs that can be healthy in socially and ethnically diverse communities. In addition, such elections tend to discriminate against extremist candidates, he added.

Critics argue a runoff election held, say two weeks after the first round, would cost extra money.

True, but a runoff election would not be required in most mayoral contests. In the eight mayoral races since Toronto amalgamation in 1997, five produced a majority winner. The lowest support for a winner was in 2014 when John Tory got 40.3 per cent of the vote, Doug Ford 33.7 per cent and Chow 23 per cent.

Opponents also claim runoff elections lead to voter fatigue and lower turnout in the second round. However, that didnt happen in Chicago where 52,000 more voters cast ballots in the runoff election than did in the first round.

Importantly, runoff elections are a better alternative for electing a mayor than a ranked-ballot system. That system, which requires voters to rank their top few choices, sometimes eliminates the candidate who was the top choice on the first round.

Its time, Toronto, to make up your mind  not just on who will be mayor, but on how to clear up this election mess.

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BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang has signed a State Council decree unveiling the revised regulations on the management of commercial cryptography, effective from July 1.

The revision is made to the 1999 version of the regulations and provides details of relevant mechanisms stipulated in China's Cryptography Law effective since 2020.

The revised regulations aim to improve the management system of commercial cryptography, advance innovations and standardization, and foster a testing and recognition system for commercial cryptography.

The revision also seeks to strengthen management over the use of cryptograms in electronic verification services as well as the services related to e-government affairs.

Management over commercial cryptography import and export will be better regulated, and the application of commercial cryptography will be promoted, according to the revised regulations. 
Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited. (BFIL), a 100% subsidiary of IndusInd Bank, launched its latest consumer awareness campaign in Odisha, in the presence of Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal on Tuesday.

The campaign aims to create awareness around financial products, conducting financial transactions safely, avoiding financial frauds, leading to overall financial well-being, through relatable bite-sized videos.

The campaign comprises of a series of five animated videos, featuring a fictional character Bharati Didi and two independent videos that starring the renowned Ramayana actor, Arun Govil. Bharati Didiand Arun Govil educate consumers about important financial aspects that advise them on increasing savings, and other investment products such as fixed deposits and recurring deposits, throw light on safe cash withdrawals and avoiding bio-authorization frauds.

J. Sridharan, Executive Vice Chairman said-  With over two decades of experience in the industry, and connecting on ground every week, with underserved customers who are predominantly women micro-entrepreneurs, we have a higher understanding of their pain points. This campaign aims to empower the consumers through knowledge-driven messaging and relatable videos which will empower them to be responsible users of financial products as well as safeguard them against frauds, eventually achieving financial freedom.

The program is a pilot project in Odisha and the company plans to expand this initiative to other parts of the country throughout this year.
Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF),the CSR arm of Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) on Tuesday inaugurated Telemedicine clinic in Humma, Rambha, Pattapur, Raj Ranpur and Godipara villages in the Ganjam and Nayagarh districts of Odisha.

A total of 5 telemedicine clinics are now operational in the state. The telemedicine clinics are an extension of HMIFs social outreach initiative Sparsh Sanjeevani that emphasizes making quality and affordable medical services accessible to rural India through technology.

Puneet Anand, AVP &Vertical Head  Corporate Affairs, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. said, Sparsh Sanjeevani telemedicine clinics, connect specialists in metro cities to the rural population, making quality consultations accessible right at the doorstep of the rural population. It aims to improve the overall health index of the community over a period of time, while positively impacting the economy through improved attendance and better economic activity.

The 5 new telemedicine clinics in the state of Odisha will add to the existing network of 20 telemedicine clinics under Sparsh Sanjeevani already operational in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana taking the total number to 25.

The telemedicine clinics are nurse assisted clinics where the patient is first assessed by the nurse who understands the concern and then connects him/her to the right empanelled specialist, over a videocall. Post consultation, the nurse writes out the prescription and dispenses the medicines. The system allows for follow-ups as well.

The entire service inclusive of medicines is available for just Rs 100. The clinics are linked with labs where basic pathology and blood tests can be conducted. Serious cases will be referred to hospitals in Odisha.

The clinics are run in association with Karma Health care a leading social enterprise in this field.
The state government is apprehending an ulterior motive behind the consecutive incidents at illegal cracker manufacturing units, including explosions, which have claimed at least 16 lives in the past one week ahead of the rural elections.

Minister for women and child development and social welfare department Dr Shashi Panja, minister of state for finance (independent charge), health and family welfare, land and land reforms; refugee and rehabilitation departments, Chandrima Bhattacharya, today said investigations will reveal whether there were provocations and a conspiracy to disturb the state. Two persons died in a fire at a firecracker shop in Malda today.

Bengal is closely connected to the borders of some states, and we have to keep an eye on whether there is an ulterior motive behind these incidents. The reason may be political or otherwise, but to disturb the state, Dr Panja said at the last day of the 32-hourlong sit-in of the Trinamul Women Congress against the Centre at Mallaguri today.

Minister of state for North Bengal Development Department Sabina Yasmin and Lok Sabha MP Mala Roy were among others present at the protest site. The dharna ended at 6 pm.

Everything is happening after the 2021 Assembly elections after one political party had faced defeat. There is always the possibility of a conspiracy, which you cannot rule out. Investigations have started and they will unearth the truth. Nobody will be spared if found guilty, Dr Panja said. Her colleague, Ms Bhattacharya, has sensed a conspiracy.

The explosions occurred at four-five places consecutively. Whether a conspiracy is being hatched or whether there were provocations ahead of the rural polls, investigations will bring out the truth. The apprehension is always there. People are also expressing their doubts, she said.

An explosion at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit at Khadikul in East Midnapore district had claimed 11 lives on 16 May. Three persons, including a minor, died when an explosion triggered a fire at an illegal firecracker godown at Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas district on 21 May.

Opposition parties have alleged that in the garb of manufacturing firecrackers, illegal bombs were being manufactured in villages.

Another explosion occurred at a residence of a Trinamul Congress worker at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district on 22 May.

The state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday set up a committee headed by chief secretary HK Dwivedi and comprising home, fire, urban development, panchayat, environment and micro, small and medium enterprises department secretaries to look into the possibilities of setting up clusters of green cracker units in the districts. The administration and the police are more vigilant and they are conducting regular raids, Dr Panja said.

She also observed that people had to risk their lives working in the illegal firecracker unit to earn livelihood as they were denied wages under the 100 days rural job scheme whose funds in Bengal have been halted by the Centre.

They are jumping for the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Their attitude is that the NIA investigation is only held in Bengal, but the agency is acting in other states too. The mandate of the NIA is that it will cooperate with the state police, Dr Panja said.

In response to comments of the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari that the situation in West Bengal was far worse than the situation in Ukraine, and there was not much explosion happening in Ukraine as it was happening in Bengal, she said the intention of Mr Adhikari had been to malign the state and spread a smear campaign against the state.

He has no love for Bengal. He is far from all, he has become insensitive.The way he is addressing the issues, he came down to personal attacks. His political views are not important to us, does not make any sense, Dr Panja said.
The 251st birth anniversary of social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who had played a role in stopping the tradition of Sati during the British era in India, was celebrated at the Premchand Gramin Library in Mirik yesterday.

The programme was organised by the Mirik Subdivision Library Employee Association and chaired by eminent litterateur Rajbahadur Rai. In her address, Mirik town Librarian Shila Gurung said that Raja Ram Mohan Roy, just like he ended the practice of Sati, liberated women from the contemporary conservative tradition. Roys contribution to the construction of a civilized and modern society is unforgettable, she said.

According to her, she has been making continuous effort to increase the number of readers in the library and emphasized on the need to generate an interest for libraries among the people.

Litterateur Rajbahadur Rai talked about Roys life and his contribution in ending Sati. We have knowledge of living independently in modern society because of his contributions, he said.

In the programme, Sobhan Ghising, the chief of the Premchandra Smarak Gramin Library, highlighted the dignity of the library, its importance and the need for its preservation, while seeking cooperation from all sides. He urged students to take advantage of the programme to gain knowledge.

The programme was attended by various representatives from different libraries in the Mirik area, including B Gurung, DP Gurung, Madhukar Moktan, Dalim Dutraj, PB Gurung, Durga Samba, PK Pradhan, and teacher Kesang Lama.
A major fire that broke out in a firecracker shop killed two persons at the Netaji Market in English Bazaar in Malda this morning.

The dead have been identified as Raju Rishi, alias Manglu, 48, of Dilalpur in English Bazaar, and Ganesh Karmakar, 48, of Bagbari, Bahannabigha, in English Bazaar.

Police sources said an FIR is being lodged over the incident and some persons have been detained for questioning.

One fire fighter fell ill due to suffocation as he fought the flames, sources said.

Eight fire engines were pressed into service and they brought the situation under control after a fourhour long battle, it is learnt. Around 20 other shops nearby were also damaged in the fire, sources said. According to eye witness accounts, the incident took place when some containers of carbide were being the unloaded.

The fire broke out when one of the containers exploded in the shop run by one Somnath Saha, a source said. Sources said the fire spread from the godown where the firecrackers were stored. Police said they have detained the owner of the godown for interrogation. English Bazaar Municipality chairman Krishnendu Narayan Choudhary and president of the Malda Merchant Chamber of Commerce Jayanta Kundu rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Police were also present under the leadership of DSP Prashana Debnath to tackle the situation.

Malda Superintendent of Police Pradeep Yadav said a thorough investigation will be conducted to unearth the reason behind the incident.

Ganesh Karmakar and Raju Rishi were taken to the Malda Medical College and Hospital where both of them were declared broughtdead, a source said, adding that the bodies have now been handed over to the family members after post-mortem examination and proper identification.

Requisition has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata, for an expert team to visit the site to ascertain the actual cause of the fire, the source added.
Girls have once again outperformed boys in the results of Class 12 state board examinations declared by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) on Wednesday.

Besides securing top three positions, the girls with 95.14 pass percentage have done better than the male counterparts. The pass percentage for the boys stood at 90.25.

Sujan Kaur of Dashmesh Convent Senior Secondary School Sardulgarh secured the first position in humanities group by scoring 500 marks out of 500 (100 per cent).

Shreya Singla of MSD Senior Secondary Public School Bathinda secured the second position with 498 marks (99.06 per cent) while Navpreet Kaur of BCM Senior Secondary School Jamalpur Colony in Focal point Ludhiana stood third with 497 marks (99.4 per cent).

According to the results announced by the board today, the science subject recorded 98.8 pass percentage, commerce 98.30 per cent, humanities 90.62 per cent and vocational 84.66 per cent.

This year, 6.25 per cent of the compartments have been recorded.

A spokesman of the department said this time 2, 96, 709 students appeared for the examinations, out of which 2, 74, 378 students have passed while 3637 students have failed.

He said while the pass percentage was 92.90 per cent in urban areas, the same was 92.17 per cent in rural areas. The passing percentage in government schools was 91.86 per cent, and private schools recorded 94.77 per cent while government-aided schools recorded 91.03 per cent.
Nineteen Opposition parties led by the Congress on Wednesday announced boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament Building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28th May.

In a joint statement, the parties said: When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

We will continue to fight  in letter, in spirit, and in substance  against this authoritarian prime minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India, the statement read.

The further parties said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion. Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion, it said.

However, Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but also a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response, it added.

Referring to the Constitutions Article 79, the parties said Murmu is not only the Head of State but also an integral part of the Parliament.

She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the prime minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her, the statement said.

The joint statement by the Opposition also targeted the government over disqualification of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and passage of three controversial farm Bills, saying, Undemocratic acts are not new to the prime minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India.

MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct. The new Parliament building has been built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built, it said.

The parties that signed this statement include the DMK and Sharad Pawars Nationalist Congress Party; the latter is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra and the former in Tamil Nadu. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has reached out to opposition leaders to unite them before the 2024 general election, is also a signatory.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said there was a need for course correction with the entire Parliament Building inauguration.

Also on the list of the signatories are the CPI and CPI (M), the Shiv Sena faction led by former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray (also a Congress ally), former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), and Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Jharkhands ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Mani), the VCK, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the National Conference of ex-Jammu and Kashmir CMs Farooq and Omar Abdullah, the MDMK, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party will also boycott the ceremony.

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury accused PM Modi of bypassing the President. Modi bypassed the President when the foundation stone for the new Parliament building was laid.

Now too at the inauguration. Unacceptable. Constitution Art 79: There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses Yechury tweeted.

Only when the President of India summons the Parliament can it meet. The President begins, annually, Parliamentary functioning by addressing the joint session. The first business Parliament transacts each year is the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents Address, Yechury tweeted.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP K Keshava Rao said that though the party has not decided yet, it is unlikely to attend the ceremony.

TMC MP Derek OBrien took to Twitter earlier to announce the partys decision. Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules  it is the foundation of Indian democracy. PM Modi doesnt get that. For him, Sundays inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out, he tweeted.

Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the new building of Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha Chamber.
Li Xiangkai, a professor with the environmental microbiology group under Lanzhou University, checks the status of probiotic at a laboratory of Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, May 24, 2023. An international research team has developed a new method to treat celiac disease, according to Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu Province.(Xinhua)

LANZHOU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- An international research team has developed a new method to treat celiac disease, according to Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu Province.

The study conducted by Chinese, Pakistani and other overseas researchers has been published in the journal Food Research International.

Aman Khan, leader of the study and a Pakistani postdoctoral fellow at Lanzhou University, has been engaged in research related to the treatment of celiac disease for several years.

According to Aman, the disease, an immune disorder triggered by gluten ingestion, is quite common in Asian countries including Pakistan, as they eat lots of food made of flour, which contains gluten. He hopes to use his knowledge to help people affected by this disorder.

Inspired and supported by his advisor -- Li Xiangkai, a professor with the environmental microbiology group under Lanzhou University, Aman has been isolating probiotic bacterial strains from Pakistani fermented sourdough bread so as to use them in preventing the occurrence of celiac disease.

According to Aman, the celiac disease treatment idea was taken from a previous study conducted by their group. The previous study isolated a probiotic strain from "Jiangshui," a traditional Chinese fermented food, which could degrade uric acid and upregulate gut microbiota. They then made yogurt with the strain and conducted a two-month human trial on 120 volunteers with hyperuricemia. Results showed that the Jiangshui-yogurt exhibited high degradation capacity for uric acid.

Guided by his advisor, Aman and his team members have successfully isolated probiotic bacterial strains called LZU-GM from Pakistani fermented sourdough bread and finished a series of experiments on mice.

"According to our experiment results and integrative analysis, isolated LZU-GM provides evidence that it can relieve adverse effects of gluten additive food and balance gut microbiota in mice," said Aman, adding that further clinical trials will be needed to determine the safety and efficacy of probiotics in fermented sourdough bread as a treatment for celiac disease.

Li Xiangkai said they will make yogurt with LZU-GM strains isolated from Pakistani sourdough bread and continue to conduct related experiments. "We are confident that the new solution will be a therapeutic adjunct agent in treating celiac disease," added Li. 

Aman Khan (L), leader of the study and a Pakistani postdoctoral fellow at Lanzhou University, reports the growth status of the isolated probiotic to his advisor Li Xiangkai, a professor with the environmental microbiology group under Lanzhou University, at a laboratory of Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, May 24, 2023. An international research team has developed a new method to treat celiac disease, according to Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu Province.(Xinhua)
Ahead of the Kharif season, Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y) in a bid to expansion is targeting to bring additional 30,000 Acre under natural farming in 2023-24 in Himachal Pradesh.

Agriculture Secretary Rakesh Kanwar on Wednesday asked the officials to engage with farmers to work on area expansion under natural farming ahead of Kharif season.

He said this should primarily include the existing farmers practicing natural farming, whose number has risen to 1.59 lakh farmers in the state.

The total area under natural farming in the state is around 50,000 Acre so far. The target is to bring additional 30,000 Acre under natural farming in 2023-24, he said.

Chairing the review meeting of the Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana here, Rakesh Kanwar asked the officials to reach out to the farmers with millet production plan as well for the kharif season and said they must do necessary arrangements for the same, including timely availability of seeds of millets to the farmers.

The officials must organize regular interaction of trained farmers with new farmers for experience sharing for awareness on the natural farming technique, he added.

He said the ATMA officials should identify some areas, where people are willing to go for natural farming on their own, and work out a strategy to declare them a natural village, panchayat or at any level.

The Secretary said the PK3Y should aim at assessing the production of the natural apples so that it could be well advertised in advance to see the response among buyers.

This would add to the marketing linkages for the natural produce, he said.

State Project Director, PK3Y Naresh Thakur said around 52,000 farmers have so far been certified for natural produce through a self certification method devised under PK3Y.

He said there was a target to certify all the existing farmers.

Thakur asked the officials to devise a method so that the NGOs or Farmer Producer Organisations can also be brought under certification for agriculture and horticulture produce.

A mechanism should also be there to certify the processed products like ghee of a desi cow, fruit jam etc for better marketing, he said.
Congress and 18 other opposition parties on Wednesday issued a joint statement to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28.

The joint statement of the opposition parties said: Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. The statement further said MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct. The new Parliament building has been built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built, the opposition parties said.

When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the statement added.

Amid the oppositions objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said that the party will boycott the ceremony slated to take place on May 28.

All opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 and we will also do the same, said Sanjay Raut.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) announced that it would also boycott the inauguration ceremony.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said that there is a need for course correction with the entire Parliament Building inauguration.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav double-downed the oppositions stand on the boycott.

We will boycott this (the inauguration of the new Parliament building), said Tejashwi Yadav.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP K Keshava Rao said that though the party has not decided yet, it is unlikely to attend the ceremony.

We have not taken any decision yet, we are yet to take a call. It is unlikely that we will attend but we will announce our decision tomorrow, said BRS MP K Keshava Rao.

A senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that the party will stand with other like-minded opposition parties regarding the inaugural function of the new parliament building.

NCP will not attend the inaugural function of the vew Parliament Building, the party has decided to stand with other like-minded opposition parties on this issue, said Spokesperson, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the NCP leader said.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) will also boycott the new Parliament building inauguration.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Tiruchi Siva confirmed that the party will boycott the inauguration.

Dmk also to boycott parliament inauguration, Tiruchi Siva confirms to ANI.

Invitations for the inauguration of the new Parliament building slated on May 28 have been sent to various leaders across the country including the former Speakers and Chairmen of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, sources said on Tuesday.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced a boycott of the ceremony.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Dr John Brittas confirmed the news to ANI.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury accused PM Modi of bypassing the President.

Modi bypassed the President when the foundation stone for the new Parliament building was laid. Now too at the inauguration. Unacceptable. Constitution Art 79: There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted.

Only when the President of India summons the Parliament can it meet? The President begins, annually, Parliamentary functioning by addressing the joint session. The first business Parliament transacts each year is the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents Address, he tweeted.

Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building by PM Modi.

Aam Aadmi Party will boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building on 28th May. AAP has taken this decision in view of the questions being raised regarding the matter of not inviting the President to the inauguration ceremony, AAP said.

TMC MP Derek OBrien took to Twitter to announce the partys decision.

Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules  it is the foundation of Indian democracy. PM Modi doesnt get that For him, Sundays inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out, he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Congress sources said, Congress is likely to boycott the inauguration programme of the new Parliament building to be held on May 28.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28.

Invitations have been sent in both physical and digital forms to the MPs of both Houses.

President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar are likely to release congratulatory messages on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, sources said.

The present building of the Parliament was completed in 1927, and is now going to be almost 100 years old. The lack of space was being experienced in this building as per the present requirements. In both Houses, there was also a lack of convenient arrangements for the sitting of the MPs which was affecting the efficiency of the work of the Members.

Considering the above, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed resolutions urging the government to construct a new building for the Parliament. Consequently, on 10 December 2020, the foundation stone of the new building of Parliament was laid by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The newly constructed Parliament building has been built in record time with quality construction.

Now the newly constructed building of Parliament, which will work to further enrich Indias glorious democratic traditions and constitutional values, is also equipped with state-of-the-art facilities which will help the Members to perform their functions in a better way.

The new Parliament building will enable 888 members to sit in the Lok Sabha.

In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha Chamber.
The Delhi government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the National Green Tribunals (NGT) decision to appoint the Lieutenant Governor (LG) as the Chairman of the High-Level Committee on Yamuna.

The Delhi government has told the apex court that the NGT decision violates the Constitutional scheme of governance in Delhi as well as the 2018 and 2023 orders of a constitution bench of the court.

The NGT had established the committee through an order dated January 9, comprising various authorities in Delhi, to address the issue of Yamuna River pollution, with the LG, a mere figurehead of the state, as its chairman.

The committee includes the chief secretary of Delhi, secretaries of the Irrigation, Forest and Environment, Agriculture, and Finance Departments of the Delhi government, the chief executive officer of Delhi Jal Board, the vice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority, a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture, government of India, director-general of Forests or his nominee from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC), a representative from the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) or MoEF & CC, the Director-General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and the Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Delhi government said in the statement on Wednesday.

In its petition, the Delhi government has recognised the need for interdepartmental coordination to address Yamunas pollution and implement remedial measures, but it has strongly objected to the executive powers granted to the LG through the NGTs order. These powers encroach upon areas exclusively under the competence of the elected government of Delhi.

In its appeal, the Delhi government contended that according to the administrative structure in Delhi and the provisions of Article 239AA of the Constitution, the LG serves as a nominal figurehead, except in matters pertaining to land, public order, and police, where the LG exercises powers delegated by the Constitution. The Delhi government acknowledged the importance of a coordinated approach, but it asserted that the language used in the NGT order sidelines the elected government. The plea explains that granting executive powers to an authority that lacks the constitutional mandate to possess them undermines the elected governments rightful jurisdiction.

According to Article 239AA of the Constitution, the Lieutenant Governor is bound to act solely based on the aid and advice of the council of ministers, led by the Chief Minister. It has been a well-established constitutional principle for the past 50 years that the powers vested in a nominal and unelected head of state should only be exercised under the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

The Delhi government also highlighted that a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in its judgement in the case of State (NCT of Delhi) v. Union of India (2018) 8 SCC 501, established that the elected government of NCT of Delhi possesses exclusive executive powers over all subjects in the State and Concurrent List, with the exception of public order, police, and land.

To this end, para 284.17 of the Supreme Court order issued on July 4, 2018 states, The meaning of aid and advise employed in Article 239-AA(4) has to be construed to mean that the Lieutenant Governor of NCT of Delhi is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers and this position holds true so long as the Lieutenant Governor does not exercise his power under the proviso to clause (4) of Article 239-AA. The Lieutenant Governor has not been entrusted with any independent decision-making power. He has to either act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers or he is bound to implement the decision taken by the President on a reference being made by him.

Further, para 475.20 of the same judgement reads that in a Cabinet form of Government, the substantive power of decision-making vests in the Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head. The aid and advice provision contained in the substantive 38 part of Article 239-AA(4) recognises this principle. When the Lieutenant Governor acts on the basis of the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, this recognises that real decision-making authority in a democratic form of Government vests in the executive. Even when the Lieutenant Governor makes a reference to the President under the terms of the proviso, he has to abide by the decision which is arrived at by the President There is no independent authority vested in the Lieutenant Governor to take decisions.

Furthermore, a 5-judge Constitution Bench, in its order dated May 11 in Civil Appeal 2357 of 2017 (the Services judgment), upheld this position. It reiterated that, in light of Article 239AA and the 2018 SC Constitution Bench judgement, *the LG is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of NCTD in matters falling within the legislative scope of NCTD

In its appeal, the Delhi government has further contended that the NGTs proposed remedial measures, such as utilising treated water for agriculture, horticulture, or industrial purposes, preventing waste discharge and dumping, protecting floodplain zones, maintaining dredging flow, implementing plantations, and desilting drains, require budgetary allocations that are approved by the legislative assembly. Consequently, the role of the elected government becomes crucial in overseeing these measures. The appeal points out that the elected government is committed to addressing the issue of making Yamuna a clean river free from pollutants and allocating the necessary funds. However, the current scheme outlined in the NGT order establishes a committee led by an unelected figurehead, sidelining the elected and accountable government of NCTD. While an inter-agency committee is desirable for coordination purposes, it should be overseen by the elected head of government, the Chief Minister in this case, the plea says.

In conclusion, the Delhi government has requested the apex court to set aside the final order dated January 9 passed by the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, in Original Application No. 21 of 2023.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday called on villagers to run joint campaigns with the Gram Sabhas to tackle drug menace in the state.

Addressing a Jan Samvad programme at village Balaha Kalan in the Mahendragarh district on Wednesday, the chief minister said, If someone is selling drugs in the district, it should be immediately brought to the notice of the administration.

Khattar said a special campaign for drug prevention should be initiated in Mahendragarh district as this district is close to the Rajasthan border. He directed superintendent of police, Vikrant Bhushan, to take action under the NDPS Act against those who were involved in this illegal drug trade.

The CM also said that preparations are underway to ensure basic amenities and services to the people at their doorstep.

In the last eight and a half years, unprecedented effort has been done to provide water to the tail end in southern Haryana, and during the present state governments tenure constant efforts have been made to eliminate the water crisis situation in southern Haryana, he added.

In an appeal to the locals, Khattar said everyone should store water in order to boost the water level. He informeda canal would be built as needed in the region to alleviate the water situation.He said state government plans to build a four-kilometre canal, provided if the villagers of Goad, Balaha Kalan, and Khurd agree upon making the land available.

The CM said the government is completely focused on the advancement of education and that quality education is being offered to children coming from rural areas in government schools. If there is a need to update schools, schools would be upgraded in accordance with the regulations, he said.
Special investigation units (SIUs) of the J&K Police in the Ramban and Kishtwar districts of Jammu on Wednesday raided houses of terrorists operating from Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Cracking down on the terrorists settled in POK and their sympathisers, the SIUs of Ramban Police carried out raids at multiple locations in the district Ramban in the houses of terrorists and their relatives, who are operating from Pakistan occupied kashmir.

While divulging details of the operation, SP Ramban Ms Mohita Sharma said that the houses of the terrorists and their sympathisers who are settled in POK and Pakistan and are continuously trying to revive the militancy in the Chenab Valley were raided.

During the course of searches, a lot of incriminating digital and non digital evidence was collected which shall be analysed so as to subject these sympathisers of terrorists to judicial determination for their involvement in anti-national activities and perpetuation of terrorism.

SP Ramban further disclosed that all those supporters and associates of terrorists whose involvement surfaces during investigations shall also be prosecuted.

The SIU of Kishtwar also conducted similar raids in the district.

SSP Kishtwar Khalil Poswal said the raids were conducted in houses of four terrorists.

The evidence collected shall be investigated so as to subject the accused persons to judicial determination for their involvement in anti-national activities and perpetuation of terrorism.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) held a dharna in Abohar on Wednesday against an alleged Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) conspiracy to trade off Punjabs river waters to Rajasthan to secure votes in the desert state in the upcoming Assembly polls there. Countering the charge, AAP accused Akali dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal of lying on the issue.

AAPs Punjab chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the Bhagwant Mann Government will not give even a drop of extra water to Rajasthan. An irrigation water crisis is being faced by farmers in the Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan which borders Punjab.

He said Punjab is already acutely short of water, so there is not even a possibility of giving more water to other states. There has never been any talk of giving more water than what is going to Rajasthan for the last 60-70 years. Rajasthan will not get even a drop of extra water than that, he said accusing Badal of deliberately spreading lies to defame Punjab CM and AAP.

Addressing party workers at Abohar, the SAD chief, however, said the very fact that the CM did not denied news reports about the assurance given by him to Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) chief Hanuman Beniwal and Rajasthan farmers that the AAP government would increase water share flowing from the Sirhind Feeder to Rajasthan was proof of a diabolic plot to rob Punjab of its river waters.

The chief minister has given a specific assurance to increase the water share from the present 700 cusecs to 1250 cusecs which strikes at the very livelihood of lakhs of our farmers, he added.

Badal said Punjab was bleeding from the discrimination meted out to the state by the Congress party. In 1955, the Congress government at the Centre allocated eight million acre feet of the total 15.85 maf of the Ravi-Beas waters to Rajasthan.

Asking farmers to remain vigilant against the conspiracies of AAP and its boss Arvind Kejriwal, the SAD leader recalled that a year ago, Kejriwal had assured the people of Haryana in front of Bhagwant Mann that AAP will get Satluj Yamuna Link waters to Haryana if elected to power in the state.

He the SAD would continue to stand by the Riparian Principle. We will not allow one drop of extra water to go to Rajasthan nor will we allow any water to go to Haryana from the SYL canal, he added.

This follows claims by RLP chief and Member of Parliament (MP) from Nagaur, Hanuman Beniwals meeting with the Punjab CM at Bathinda on Sunday over the irrigation water crisis being faced by farmers in the Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan which borders Punjab.

Punjab chief minister and my friend Bhagwant Mann will soon take a positive decision as per the demand of the farmers with regard to the agitation that has been going on over 1250 cusecs of water, Beniwal said in a tweet after the meeting.
Citing the Theory of Separation of Powers, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday pointed out that neither the president nor the prime minister should inaugurate the new Parliament Building, instead the task should be left to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla since it is in the domain of the Legislature and.

Owaisi said the AIMIM will participate in the official function only if Om Birla is allowed to inaugurate it.

I am opposing the inauguration of the new Parliament building by the prime minister because this is a gross violation of the Theory of Separation of Powers. This would be an instance of the executive interfering in the domain of the Legislature, said Owaisi, adding that this would be a precedent which will be followed in every state leading to the loss of independence of the Legislature.

Differing from the Opposition parties, Owaisi cited Article 53 (1) of the Constitution reading The executive power of the Union shall be vested with the President and said, These people (Opposition) dont study. This is why I am saying the Speaker is the custodian of Lok Sabha and I demand that the Prime Minister should back off. Your name is already on the foundation stone. Let Speaker Om Birla inaugurate the new building and give a message to the entire nation that you go by the Theory of Separation of Powers, the Constitution and its basic structure.

He further said that the Opposition parties did not contact him since they consider him to be a political untouchable. It may be pointed out that Owaisis ally the BRS is also not part of the 19 Opposition parties but is likely to skip the programme too.

He added that undoubtedly there was a need for a new Parliament Building since the old building was unsafe and a fire hazard.

Asked about the historic sceptre  the Sengol which will be installed in the Parliament, Owaisi said India has no official religion and pointed out that the historic manuscript of the Constitution, illustrated by Nandalal Bose not only contained illustrations of Ram-Sita, Gautam Buddha but also of Akbar and even Tipu Sultan and it is still there in the Parliament library.

He also said that bringing the Ordinance on Delhi Services after the Supreme Courts ruling was ethically wrong but slammed the AAP reminding the party that it had supported the abolition of the Article 370 which robbed Jammu and Kashmir of its statehood.
Rajasthan has achieved the works on new investment proposals worth Rs.10,245 cr in the petroleum sector.

At a review meeting of the Petroleum Department on Wednesday, Additional Chief Secretary of Mines, Petroleum, Industries and MSME Veenu Gupta said out of Rs 22,838 crore investment proposals in the petroleum sector in Rajasthan, work has been done on new investment proposals worth Rs.10,200 crore, and the four investors were doing their work on the said proposals.

She said in the Invest Rajasthan Summit last year, CAIRN VEDANTA signed the MoU with the state government worth Rs 20,000 crore, Oil India of Rs. 663 crore, ONGC for Rs 1,050 crore and Focus Energy for Rs 1,125 crore in the petroleum sectors.

She further informed that the rapid implementation of investment proposals in the state by all the four investor companies were going on and Rs 10,245 Investment works have been done so far.

ACS told the review meeting that the maximum investment in the petroleum sector was being made by Cairn Vedanta in Barmer and Jalore districts. Against the investment agreement of Rs 20,000 crore, till now exploration and other development works were being done in Barmer and Jalore districts at a cost of Rs 9,450 crore in PML and PEL blocks

Director Mines and Petroleum Sandesh Nayak said the new investment has opened the way for direct and indirect employment for thousands of people. He informed that today Rajasthan has become the largest producer of mineral crude oil in the country, Nayak said.

Deputy Secretary Mines Neetu Barupal, OSD MP Meena, Additional Director Mines BS Sodha, Additional Director Petroleum Ajay Sharma, Additional Director Geology Alok Prakash Jain, MSE Jaipur Pratap Meena are among others who attended the meeting.
As part of the opening of the new Parliaments building on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will place a significant golden sceptre close to the Speakers chair, according to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah said this sceptre was given to the nations first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The name sengol, which is derived from the Tamil word semmai meaning righteousness, is given to this sceptre.

A simple query from Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India, to prime minister Nehru, set off a series of events that led to the creation of the sengol. History books and news articles claim that Mountbatten questioned the incumbent prime minister about the transition of power when India gained independence.

The nations governor general, C. Rajagopalachari, was consulted for guidance at that point by prime minister Nehru. Rajagopalachari, better known as Rajaji, informed Nehru of the Tamil custom of the high priest presenting the sceptre to the new king upon his accession to the throne. According to accounts, Rajaji said that this custom was upheld during the Chola era and indicated that it might signify Indias independence from the British Empire. Rajaji was subsequently given the task of preparing a sceptre for the momentous occasion.

Rajaji called Thiruvaduthurai Atheenam, a well-known mutt in modern-day Tamil Nadu, when faced with the enormous task of organising the sceptre that will commemorate Indias Independence. The mutts seer at the time accepted responsibility. Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a goldsmith in Madras at the time, created the sengol. It measures five feet in length and is topped with a nandi bull, which stands for justice.

The sceptre reportedly was first given to Mountbatten by a senior priest of the sect before being taken back. When India gained independence, it was purportedly given to Prime Minister Nehru 15 minutes before midnight after being gangajal-sprinkled and carried to him in a procession. During Prime Minister Nehrus reception of the sceptre, a unique song was written and performed.
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday made an appeal to all state governments, particularly border states, to be sympathetic and sensitive to the Border Security Force (BSF).

Noting that BSF personnel face immense challenges in guarding Indias long, complex and porous borders, he wanted all the states to take all affirmative steps and sensitise their mechanism so that the morale of the BSF remains ever high.

Delivering the Rustamji Memorial Lecture during the 20th Investiture Ceremony of BSF at Vigyan Bhawan here, the vice president also asked the citizens in border areas to be an extension of BSF and to support the force. He also called for generating a mechanism to take care of cattle seized by BSF from smugglers.

Commending the BSF soldiers for their devotion to duty, he said that each one of them reflected sublime commitment and nationalism which everyone needed to emulate. The brave men and women of the BSF exemplify courage, valour and dedication in service of the nation, he added.

Lauding the never-say-die spirit of BSF personnel, he noted that they unflinchingly defended Indias borders even in difficult geographic conditions such as the Thar desert, the Rann of Kutch, snow-clad mountains and dense forests of the Northeast. He also expressed his gratitude to the families of BSF Jawans for sustaining their morale despite many hardships.

The vice-president said that India was rising like never before, and an important factor contributing to this rise was the countrys safe and secure borders.

Describing Rustamji as a charismatic leader, Dhankhar said that he not only set up the BSF but also laid the firm foundations of Public Interest Litigation in the Indian Judicial System. Under his guidance, BSF evolved into a modern, disciplined and capable force, he noted.
People visit the 133rd session of China Import and Export Fair, also known as Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, April 15, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

GUANGZHOU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The trade volume between south China's Guangdong Province and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) exceeded 65.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, up 9.5 percent year on year, according to the China-CELAC Private Sector Forum held on Wednesday in Dongguan, Guangdong.

With the active participation of private enterprises, Guangdong has continuously strengthened its friendly exchanges, economic cooperation and trade cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries in recent years. The province and CELAC have paired 18 cities with sister cities, and 11 Latin American countries have established consulates general in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.

In 2022, the added value of Guangdong's private economy was 6.98 trillion yuan (about 989.23 billion U.S. dollars), and the total import and export value of the province's private economy was 4.87 trillion yuan, according to the provincial government.

Guangdong will continue steadfastly promoting high-level opening-up, and building a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment to deepen its private economic cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries. 
Asserting that the construction of a new Parliament building was necessary, Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said that it is good that it has been constructed but the idea was mooted when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.

He further refrained from commenting on the issue of which political party would be attending or boycotting the inauguration event of the new Parliament building. This is a technical issue. Parliamentarians who want to boycott this event or want to attend it is up to them. It is their point of view on how they want to perceive this event. Those parliamentarians will have to explain the reasons why they are boycotting the event. I dont want to comment on who will be attending or boycotting the inauguration event, Azad, Democratic Progressive Azad Party chief, told to ANI.

He also recalled the conversation related to the need for a new Parliament building between him and then Speaker Shivraj Patil when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.

At the time when PV Narasimha Rao was the PM, Shivraj Patil was the Speaker and I was the Parliamentary Affairs minister, Shivraj ji had said to me that a new and bigger Parliament building should be constructed before 2026. The construction of a new building was necessary, its good that it has been constructed now, he said.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the countrys highest constitutional post. Parliament is not made of bricks of ego but of constitutional values.

Congress and eighteen other opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building and stated that it insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Ministers decision to inaugurate the building by himself is a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response. The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28.

When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight  in letter, in spirit, and in substance  against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India, the statement said.

The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are  Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion.

Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response, it said.

The opposition parties said that Article 79 of the Constitution states that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.

The President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President, the statement said.

The statement alleged that the ruling party at the Centre has sought to suppress the voice of opposition parties in Parliament.

Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct, the statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction.

In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha.

Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber.
The Uttar Pradesh government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has accelerated the process for the opening of the grand temple in Ayodhya in the first week of January next year.

The airport and railway station at Ayodhya are being expanded whereas work is in progress on Ram Path, a 13 kms road from Sahadatganj to Naya Ghat. Besides, the outline for the construction of Ramjanaki Path and Bhakti Path is also ready, officials here said on Wednesday.

These corridors are very important as they will facilitate the passage of devotees to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and Hanuman Garhi Temple respectively. The length of these corridors will be 566 meters and 700 metres. Various types of civic facilities will also be constructed along these roads. The width of Ram Janmabhoomi Path will be 30 meters and the width of Bhakti Path will be 14 meters. The State Government has chalked out a strategy to deal with the various challenges faced in the construction of these roads.

The Yogi Government is determined to make Ayodhya the most beautiful city of the world. As the completion of Shri Ram temple draws near, CM Yogi himself is inviting people to visit the temple on the occasion of its opening wherever he goes. Along with this, Yogi is also reviewing progress of construction regularly.

According to this intention of the CM, work is being done on a war footing for the construction of the temple and providing infrastructural facilities in Ayodhya. Rampath, Ramjanaki path and Bhaktipath will become a powerful medium to take the devotees to their place of worship. The roads will be smart and water-logging free.

The state government is making every effort to make the opening of the temple a grand and spectacular affair. The district magistrate is holding regular meetings with shopkeepers and residents to address the challenges emerging from construction of roads. It is noteworthy that Revenue teams and PWD engineers conducted door-to-door surveys and established regular dialogue with the shopkeepers. Compensation was also given after assessing the properties. Along with this, arrangements are also being made for their rehabilitation.

The Yogi Government has done remarkable work in the construction of roads. For example, all the sale deeds were completed within two months. Supporting the Yogi governments initiative to develop Ayodhya, all the shopkeepers, without any resistance, dedicated their shops themselves for the creation of a grand temple and infrastructure facilities.

Besides, there is no complaint of irregularity in distribution of compensation in this project also. Those evicted were allotted shops in the newly developed complexes. Most of the shopkeepers were also rehabilitated at their old places with the cooperation of owners.
Just by remembering the name of his village helped a 16-year-old boy reunite with his family after a decade. The boy had gone missing from his village in Haryana in 2013.

The Haryana Police were able to zero in on Dalghar village in Rajasthan as no boy was missing in five other villages with similar names in other states.

The boy, a lone child of his parents, was staying at Children Home at Rajpura in the Patiala district of Punjab. The Haryana Police Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) in Panchkula established contact with the child welfare officer of the childcare centre in Rajpura to find out if any child from Haryana was staying there. But the officer told the AHTU that they did not have any child from Haryana, but a boy was living there who was found on a train. They were facing problems in tracing out his family as he was not able to give the required information.

During counseling by the AHTU, the child disclosed his name and the names of his parents, but claimed to be a resident of Samastipur in Bihar. However, when inquiries were made in the location, it was discovered that no child was reported missing from there.

A Haryana Police spokesperson said the breakthrough came when the word Dalghar emerged during the counseling. A search on the internet led to the discovery of six villages with similar names in India. Contact was made with all the states, and eventually, it was found that Dalghar was located in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan. Father of the missing boy recognised his son from a photo sent by the police, and a video call was made to confirm their relationship. After necessary formalities, the boy was reunited with his family.

In another case, the AHTU received an email from the chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, informing about two children who seemed to have connection with Haryana based on their language.

Through counseling sessions over the phone, the AHTU determined that one of the children was familiar with the language spoken in the Jind area. The local police in Jind were contacted, and the childs family was traced to Bhiwani Road, Jind. Similarly, the other childs family was located in Kalka, Panchkula. Both boys were successfully reunited with their families.
Microsoft on Tuesday announced to bringcthe power of AI to Windows 11, unlocking a new era of productivity for customers and developers.

The tech giant at its annual Build 2023 conference introduced Windows Copilot, making Windows 11 the first PC platform to announce centralised AI assistance to help people easily take action and get things done.

We are extending Bing Chat plugins to Windows, enabling developers to integrate their apps within Windows Copilot to better serve their customers and increase engagement on native Windows applications, said Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer, Windows and Devices at Microsoft.

The company also introduced new Hybrid AI loop to support AI development across platform, and across Azure to client with new silicon support from AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm.

We are introducing Dev Home designed to help every developer become more productive on Windows. We are also introducing new AI features and experiences in the Microsoft Store on Windows, Panay added.

With Bing and ChatGPT plugins in Windows Copilot, people will not only have access to augmented AI capabilities and experiences, but you as developers will also have new ways to reach and innovate for our shared customers.

Windows Copilot will start to become available in preview for Windows 11 in June.

Invoking Windows Copilot is familiar and easy the button is front and centre on your taskbar simple to find and use. Once open, the Windows Copilot side bar stays consistent across your apps, programmes and windows, always available to act as your personal assistant, Microsoft added.

Just like you would with Bing Chat, you can ask Windows Copilot a range of questions from simple to complex, the company informed.

It also announced a new home for developers on Windows called Dev Home.

Dev Home is a new experience in Windows 11, now available in preview, that gets you back in the zone and streamlines your workflow with features such as WinGet configuration for easier and faster setup, Dev Drive for enhanced filesystem performance and a new customizable dashboard to track all your workflows and tasks in one place.
The White House has said the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep, close partnership between US and India.

PM Modis visit will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of the family and friendship that link America, Americans and clearly, Indians together. And so thats very important to the (US) President, said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre on PM Modis state visit to the US. Pierre further said: The President and the First Lady are looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for the official state visit which is going to happen on June 22.

The White House Press Secretary said the visit will also strengthen US-India shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to evaluate strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy and space.

Once we get closer to the 22nd, surely well hold background calls and have more information and more details, Pierre said.

Recently, highlighting the partnership between the US and India, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, said that they are looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the country.

We very much look forward to hosting PM Modi and members of the Indian Government. We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. This state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities, Vedant Patel said.

He said that India and US have an important partnership, and are looking forward to deepen that.

We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. And this next state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities, including addressing the climate crisis, addressing trade issues, deepening our security cooperation, and a number of other areas as well, added Patel.

Earlier, the White House in a statement announced that US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit next month.

The statement released by the White House read, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Republic of India for an Official State Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on June 22, 2023.
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Well-known businesswoman shot dead in CDN parking lot

Joel Ceausu / Facebook Iacono was owner of popular west-end salon

A well-known 39-year-old businesswoman was shot dead in a west-end parking lot last Tuesday afternoon May 16.

Claudia Iacono was shot at 4:30 p.m. while driving in the lot off Jean Talon where her popular Salon Deauville Coiffure Spa is located. Iacono was the mother of three.

SPVM officers arrived on the scene and found the victim in her vehicle, which crashed into the building, pronouncing her dead at the scene. Police say a shooter fired multiple shots and fled on foot, and witnesses reported seeing the victim covered in blood.

Iacono is the wife of Anthony Gallo, son of Moreno Gallo, a prominent Montreal organized crime figure who was killed in Mexico in 2013. Iaconos business was also targeted by a Molotov cocktail attack in 2015, which was reported as a warning to her husband and other family members.

But the brashness of this crime, assassinating a woman not known to have participated in any criminal activities  at point-blank range in broad daylight outside her business, shocked many. That includes police and other organized crime observers, noting it broke the long-unspoken rule of keeping hands off families of enemies, especially women, and may be a harbinger of a bloody battle between rival gangs. The commercial building where the shooting took place during afternoon rush hour is also home to a synagogue and community centre, and a jewelry wholesaler.

SPVM chief Fady Dagher insisted the city is still very safe and reminded Montrealers that it was a targeted attack, telling reporters last week that retaliation is expected. For many, the March 15 shooting attack on Leonard Rizzuto in Laval signalled the end of the calm between factions. Rizzuto was driving his SUV on Highway 440 when someone in another car opened fire, striking his car several times. Rizzuto survived the attack but was injured and taken to hospital.

Across multiple social media platforms, the popular local entrepreneur and mother is being praised as a brilliant businesswoman, a passionate entrepreneur who was dedicated to her craft, and someone who made her friends and colleagues feel seen and heard.

In her obituary, Iacono was described as the pillar of her family, the sunlight of our lives and now has become our Guardian Angel, and her family is asking in lieu of flowers that donations be made to a cause that was close to Iaconos heart, the Miriam Foundation Art Auction for Autism.
Saint-Laurent, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Abundant sunshine. High 87F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 55F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.
People visit the exhibition area of China's BOE Technology Group during the Display Week 2023 in Los Angeles, the United States, on May 23, 2023. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

"We hope to take the opportunities of participating in the Display Week to demonstrate our innovative technologies, provide customers with more competitive products, and further expand overseas markets," said Eben Yang, vice president of Visionox.

by Xinhua writer Tan Jingjing

LOS ANGELES, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese brands gained a strong foothold at a world's leading show of the display industry held this week in Los Angeles, U.S. state of California, attracting lots of attention and winning recognition for their innovative technologies and products.

The Display Week 2023, hosted by the Society for Information Display (SID), is held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from May 21 to 26.

From Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), auto tech, organic light-emitting diode (OLED), micro-OLED and microdisplays to wearables, digital signage and e-Paper, the Display Week showcases the latest and greatest technology and advancements from the global electronic display and visual information technologies industries.

BOE Technology Group, one of the world's largest manufacturers in the semiconductor display industry and an Internet of things (IoT) company, brought a slew of cutting-edge technologies to the exhibition, including many new launches under its technology brands of ADS Pro, f-OLED and -MLED (mini LED), as well as brand-new innovative applications such as smart in-vehicle display, glasses-free 3D and the metaverse.

BOE's newly released 110-inch 16K UHD display, which adopted the company's cutting-edge oxide TFT technology and features high charge carrier mobility and an ultrahigh resolution, drew lots of visitors.

Its 10-inch 8K LCD display, which is tailored to 3D printing, was selected as the "Display Application of the Year."

"It was one of the many state-of-the-art technologies BOE exhibited at the event, giving a glimpse of an even smarter, more fantastic and more power-efficient future of the semiconductor display industry," BOE Chairman Yanshun Chen told Xinhua.

In addition to showcasing its display technologies and smart interactive experiences, BOE hosted an innovation ecosystem forum at the Display Week, in a bid to explore new pathways to the innovation-driven development of the global industry ecosystem jointly with SID and global partners.

Louis Lazar, a senior consultant at Newry Corp, an innovation and growth strategy consulting firm based in Lakewood, Ohio, showed great interest in BOE's 16K UHD display. Lazar said he expects to learn the latest technologies and trends in the display industry at the Display Week, and was amazed by a wide array of China-made innovative products.

"China has been pushing innovations in the display industry, and has been leading the way, which was really impressive," he told Xinhua.

A man visits the exhibition area of China's Visionox during the Display Week 2023 in Los Angeles, the United States, on May 23, 2023. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

Visionox, a Chinese high-tech company with OLED display technology, brought innovative display technologies and applications to the Display Week, including self-aligned pixelization technology, portable and rollable laptops, visual medical kits, and transparent car displays.

Eben Yang, vice president of Visionox, told Xinhua that North America is one of Visionox's most important overseas markets. Currently the company is cooperating with many American clients to provide display solutions for VR devices, wearable devices, mobile phones and other products.

"We hope to take the opportunities of participating in the Display Week to demonstrate our innovative technologies, provide customers with more competitive products, and further expand overseas markets," Yang said.

People visit the exhibition area of China's TCL during the Display Week 2023 in Los Angeles, the United States, on May 23, 2023.(Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

TCL CSOT, a Chinese company focused on new technologies and innovations in the display industry, unveiled over 30 of its latest products and advanced technologies at the Display Week, including more than ten firsts in the world.

The company offered display technology solutions across a range of sizes, categories, and forms -- spanning Mini LED, Micro LED, medical displays, vehicle-mounted displays, light field displays, as well as consumer electronics displays.

"Driven not only by a commitment to building a display industry ecosystem, but also to supporting a healthy and more sustainable planet for all through low-carbon, energy-saving, and eye-friendly products, we look forward to driving progress and uncovering more innovations to further accelerate the development of high-end display technology," said Jun Zhao, CEO of TCL CSOT. 
FILE - Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee delivers his policy address at the chamber of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, on Oct. 19, 2022. Lee condemned an unusual rise in the number of withdrawal requests to the citys organ donation system, saying Tuesday, May 23, 2023 that police would investigate suspicious cases.
NED BRISTOL is a retired editor of The Sun Chronicle who writes occasional columns for the newspaper. Drop him a line at news@thesunchronicle.com .
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ST. LOUIS  Improvements in the four ports and port districts serving the St. Louis region highlighted recently-completed and planned improvements Tuesday as part of FreightWeekSTL.

St. Louis Regional Ports Investing for the Future was one of two featured events for the conference on Tuesday.

It featured a panel discussion by Dennis Wilmsmeyer, executive director of Americas Central Port in southern Madison County; Ed Weilbacher, port director for Kaskaskia Regional Port District; Susan Taylor, port authority director for St. Louis Development Corporation; and Jim McNichols, executive director of Jefferson County Port Authority.

The four talked about recently completed or started projects, ranging from harbor improvements to new or refurbished roads.

According to Mary Lamie, executive vice president of multi modal enterprises for Bi-State Development and head of the St. Louis Regional Freightway, improvements will help support continued growth in traditional barge services and intermodal operations on what they refer to as the Ag Coast of America. In addition, she said the projects will help prepare the area for new Container-on-Vessel service from the Port of New Orleans.

Wilmsmeyer said much of the recent emphasis at Americas Central Port has been improving road and rail facilities.

He noted that much of the port had been a U.S. Army base, the Charles Melvin Price Support Center, and many of the roads were oil-and-chip dating from the 1940s, and unsuitable for modern trucks.

When the base closed in 2002, the Tri-City Regional Port District, which eventually became Americas Central Port, took control of the base. Today it includes 2.1 million square feet of warehousing, 70,000 square feet of office space, and approximately 130 apartments inherited from the propertys use as a military base.

In addition, the port has two harbors, the Granite City Harbor above Lock and Dam 27, and the more recently-built Madison Harbor below the lock and dam. Wilmsmeyer said the two ports handle approximately 3.1-3.2 million tons of cargo via barge annually.

Wilmsmeyer said they have recently completed a reconstruction of Fourth Street, and are starting to work on a similar project for First Street.

The project will replace the old First Street and it will create a sixth entrance into the port from Illinois 3.

Both projects were partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is also partially funding construction of a new W. Seventh Street Road, which will complete the loop at the main industrial park.

He also noted the port will soon begin a $3 million rehabilitation of a 1940s era, 50,000 square-foot building that was originally used as a locomotive repair shop for the U.S. Army and is now being upgraded for manufacturing purposes.

As part of a $15.8 million U.S. Department of Transportation BUILD grant secured for Americas Central Port in 2020, other upgrades coming to the port include 2,050 linear feet of new railroad track, a new product receiving belt system from barge to rail, barge loading system replacement, rail car load-out upgrades, multi modal transfer equipment modernization and safety upgrades.

Grants were also recently secured for a truck calling and staging center, and expansion of the cargo dock at the Granite City Harbor.

All this funding that's been coming for our port facilities has just been tremendous, and I just can't thank enough those who are now realizing the importance of ports throughout the country, said Wilmsmeyer. The Port District, like many other ports in the region and throughout the country, are economic development generators. We are here for the purpose of creating jobs, and we do that through a lot of investment in our property that tries to attract companies.

The other speakers also gave updates about projects at their facilities.

FreightWeek continues through May 26 and will feature a number of presentations. To learn more or to register for the remaining panel sessions or view past sessions for FreightWeekSTL 2023, visit www.freightweekstl.com.
Simmons Hanly Conroy

ALTON  Simmons Hanly Conroy has announced the National Law Journals (NLJs) 2023 Elite Trial Lawyers Awards has selected shareholder Jayne Conroy as one of the Elite Women of the Plaintiffs Bar. This marks the second year that Conroy has received this honor.



Simmons Hanly Conroy also was selected as finalist for this years Elite Trial Lawyers Awards in the Pharmaceutical Litigation category. Conroy and other awards winners and finalists will be recognized at a ceremony July 13 in New York City.



We congratulate Jayne as a finalist for the National Law Journals 2023 Elite Women of the Plaintiffs Bar, said Larry Nassif, managing shareholder of Simmons Hanly Conroy. We are most proud of Jaynes continued success and achievements as one of the preeminent litigators of the nations plaintiffs bar and a leader among women practicing in this area of the law.



The Elite Women of the Plaintiffs Bar are singled out as having demonstrated repeated success in cutting-edge work on behalf of plaintiffs. Started in 2015, the Elite Trial Lawyers Awards overall recognize lawyers and law firms outstanding plaintiffs work in high-stakes bench or jury trials or in major settlements. Elite Trial Lawyers Awards winners must have scored a significant win during the contest period and demonstrate an impressive track record of wins over the last three to five years. Finalist firms also must have devoted at least 50 percent of their litigation resources to plaintiffs work and shown innovative approaches to case resolution.



Conroy oversees practice areas in Simmons Hanly Conroys Complex Litigation Department. Under her leadership, Simmons Hanly Conroy has become one of the countrys largest plaintiff law firms dedicated to helping those injured by corporate wrongdoing. Conroy has helped secure billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for thousands of individuals, families, and communities across the country. With more than three decades of legal experience, she focuses her practice on helping plaintiffs exclusively in mass torts, class actions, product liability, pharmaceutical and sexual abuse litigation.



Conroy serves or has served on dozens of court-appointed leadership committees in complex legal actions of national scope. Her most recent multidistrict litigation (MDL) appointments include:

 The Plaintiffs Steering Committee Leadership in the In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, which alleges social media platforms encourage addictive behavior in adolescents, and
EDWARDSVILLE  An assistant principal at Edwardsville High School is accused of criminal sexual assault involving a 17-year-old victim.

According to Madison County Court records, Erin L. Hamilton-Foley, 50, of Edwardsville was arrested Tuesday by Edwardsville Police.

The Madison County State's Attorney's office stated in a press release that the Edwardsville Police Department received information Monday alleging that an assistant principal at EHS had a relationship with a juvenile who was younger than 18.

The ensuing investigation led to Foley's arrest Tuesday. She was charged Wednesday with two counts of criminal sexual assault, both Class 1 felonies.

Bond was set at $250,000 by Associate Judge Ronald Slemer.

Foley was teen's 'assigned mentor'

The Wednesday afternoon press release from States Attorney Tom Haine and Edwardsville police Chief Michael Fillback stated the charges allege that Foley held a position of trust, authority or supervision in relation to the 17-year-old victim, being that she was an assistant principaland his assigned mentor.

Police ask that anyone with information about this case or the possibility of any additional victims contact Detective Sgt. Matt Senci of the Edwardsville police at 618-656-2131.

It is a crime when adults in positions of trust, authority and supervision over our youths  let alone their own students  manipulate that power dynamic for sex, Haine said. We take such crimes seriously, and prosecute them accordingly.

"Such actions undermine confidence in our schools and teachers while causing a great disruption in many personal relationships and throughout our community," he added. "The safety and well-being of children and vulnerable youths will always be a primary concern of this office.

Also Wednesday afternoon, Edwardsville school District 7 released the following statement:

"We are aware that a District #7 employee has been criminally charged. There is no greater priority than the health, safety, and welfare of our students. To that end, District #7 fully cooperates with local law enforcement anytime there is an investigation which may involve a District #7 student or staff member. District #7 cannot comment further on personnel matters."

Longtime educator

District 7's website lists Foley as in charge of 11th-grade students, with responsibilities of curriculum: math; CASTLE/FLS/PAES; Tiger Den, Sophomore Class Officers 2023; and Senior Awards Night.

According to her teaching license, Foley has endorsements as a school social worker, issued in 2002, grades pre-kindergarten through age 22; for general administrative, issued in 2005, for grades kindergarten through 12; and for superintendent duties, issued in 2020, for pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

According to court records, the first count against Foley alleges that she "committed an act of sexual penetration" on the victim "between her sex organ and (the 17-year-old's) sex organ." The second count alleges that Foley "committed an act of sexual penetration" on the victim "between her mouth and (his) sex organ."

Haine commended the work of police and prosecutors, including Assistant States Attorney Ali Foley, who is the head of the Childrens Justice Division. This specialized unit within the States Attorneys Office fights for justice for child victims, working closely with the children and families throughout the process, to ensure that these types of cases are resolved in a way that allows them to begin the healing process, according to the state's attorney's press release.
CARROLLTON  The Greene County Broadband project reached a major milestone after four grant requests were filed that would provide funding to allow construction of a fiber-optic network that would cover virtually all of the county.

Frontier Communications, with support from the Greene County Broadband team, filed four grant applications in late April with the Connect Illinois Grant Program, according to an announcement from the Greene County Economic Development Group.

The broadband team has been working with Frontier Communications for more than a year to develop plans to install reliable fiber-optic network internet service to homes and businesses across Greene County.

The decision process for the grant applications will likely take several months for review through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

With $350 million appropriated for multiple rounds of competitive broadband matching grants, the Connect Illinois Program is offering the largest-ever state broadband matching grant program. It will provide the kind of funding needed to ensure widespread state-driven broadband equity.

The applications for the Greene County broadband grants have been supported by Illinois' state and federal legislators, the Greene County Board, as well as municipal and township leaders.

The fiber services in Greene County would be provided by Frontier. The projected rate for the lowest level of 100 megabits per second service would be $29.99. Service for up to five gigabits per second is available.

Fiber-optic internet is delivered by cables that use thin strands of glass or plastic fiber called "optical fiber" that transmits data as pulses of light across long distances. It uses light-based technology, capable of delivering data at high rates of speed. Fiber has been used for 40-plus years and is a reliable means of supplying internet.
EDWARDSVILLE  Two zoning requests  including a new request to continue placement of a mobile home on the site of a slaughterhouse near Pocahontas that was recently denied a special use permit  were approved at Tuesdays Madison County Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.

A request for a setback variance was voted down because of opposition by neighbors.

Approved was a request by owner Fata Celebic for a special use permit to allow continued placement of a mobile home at 13712 Meffert Road, Pocahontas.

Also approved was a request for a special use permit to have a Type B home occupation to operate a plumbing business at 13162 Michael Road, Highland.

Celebics request was approved by a 4-2 vote, with Thomas Ambrose and Cedric Irby voting no.

Voting yes were Nicholas Cohan, George Ellis, Mary Goode and Sharon Sherrill.

In February the Madison County Board overwhelmingly denied a request to rezone the property to allow a Hallal slaughterhouse to operate on the site.

Celebic had asked for a zoning map amendment to rezone approximately 8.27 acres from A Agricultural District to PD Planned Development District in order to continue operating the existing slaughterhouse on the site. It had been operated by Celebics husband, Alan Merdzic.

There were two letters of opposition read at the hearing. One said operations were continuing at the site, but Merdzic said that one of the people living in the mobile home sometimes took a work vehicle home, and occasionally animals were gathered there before being moved to another location for slaughter.

The other approved request was by Nicholas Sparlin to operate a home plumbing business. The business has one additional employee, and no customers coming to the residence.

One neighbor spoke against the request, saying it could lower the value of his home.

The ZBA unanimously approved the request.

One request, by Todd and Lisa Harman, for a setback variance allowing construction of a pole barn four feet from a property line instead of the required 15 feet, was denied 5-0, with Nicholas abstaining because he had done business with Todd Harman.

Several neighbors had submitted letters objecting to the request.

All the requests now go to the Building and Zoning Committee, set for 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 6 in the County Board Room of the Administration Building.
This photo taken on May 24, 2023 shows the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at the UN headquarters in New York. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, called on Israel to stop encroaching on Palestinian land and resources.

"We urge Israel to immediately halt these actions and stop encroaching upon the land and resources of the Palestinian people," Geng told the Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

The ambassador underscored that the illegal expansion of settlements on the occupied territories "must stop."

"Settlement activities violate international law and Security Council Resolution 2334. Since the beginning of this year, Israel has continued to advance unilateral actions on approving returns, building new settlements, and legalizing settlements," he said.

On the religious holy sites, Geng said that the historical status quo of religious holy sites in Jerusalem must be respected and upheld.

On May 21, a senior Israeli security official entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for a second time this year and caused renewed tensions.

"On the issue of religious holy sites, Israel must stop its provocations, guarantee the right to worship of Muslim worshipers, uphold the peace and tranquility of religious holy sites, and respect the custodianship of Jordan," said the envoy.

The ambassador underscored the importance of upholding international humanitarian.

Since the beginning of this year, over 100 Palestinians, including children, have lost their lives in conflict. Israel also suffered civilian casualties. Geng said that "all parties concerned should stop all violence against civilians and stop targeting schools, hospitals, and other public infrastructure."

"The plight of Palestinian refugees should be alleviated and the economic and livelihood needs of Palestine should be met. Israel should lift the blockade on Gaza as soon as possible. The flow of people and reconstruction supplies in and out of Gaza should be kept unhindered," he added.

The envoy stressed that upholding the historical status quo of religious holy sites, ceasing expansion of settlements, and respecting international humanitarian law are the fundamental requirements for preventing the repeated escalations of tensions between Palestine and Israel.

"The parties concerned are duty-bound to implement them and should not use them as bargaining chips. The international community has the responsibility to ensure their implementation and should not be indifferent," he said.

"Honoring these three requirements is also a fundamental step towards reviving the two-state solution. The international community should not just talk the talk in its support for the two-state solution, or take the support for direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations as an excuse for shirking one's own responsibilities," Geng said, adding that the country with major influence on the parties concerned should make concrete efforts to advance the Middle East peace process and "should not unjustifiably prevent the Security Council from arriving at the minimum consensus on the Palestine-Israeli issue."

Geng reiterated China's position, indicating that the country "will continue to firmly support the Palestinian people and their just cause to restore their legitimate national rights, and support the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital." 
WASHINGTON (AP)  Donald Trump speaks about his legal woes in a way that would make most defense attorneys wince.

A recent sampling: In a March interview on Fox News Channel, the Republican former president said he had the right to take classified documents with him to his Florida resort and wouldnt say he hadnt looked at the records since leaving office. During a CNN town hall this month, he said he told a Georgia elections official you owe me votes in the 2020 election.

At the same town hall on May 10 he insulted a female writer as a wack job  only a day after that same woman, E. Jean Carroll, won a $5 million judgment against him in a civil suit alleging defamation and sexual assault. On Monday, Carroll amended a lawsuit to hold him liable for the town hall remarks.

Trump, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has never hesitated to offer his opinion or joust with his antagonists. The problem, legal experts say, is that the former president is under intensifying scrutiny from state and federal prosecutors, and those same prosecutors can use the former president's statements against him in a variety of ways.

Any utterances by a defendant, whether they are confessions, denials, observations, nonsensical gibberish, or just plain goofy are nothing but pure gold for prosecutors," said Julieanne Himelstein, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington.

Trump has found himself under investigation by prosecutors stretching from New York to Georgia.

He was indicted in March by a Manhattan grand jury on charges related to hush-money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. On Tuesday, a New York judge set the trial to begin on March 25, in the midst of the primary contests. Trump, appearing via video conference, threw his hands up in frustration at the timing of the trial and glowered at the camera.

A local prosecutor in Georgia is investigating whether the former president and his allies broke the law in seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis suggested last week that indictments could come in August. Meanwhile, a Justice Department special counsel is probing the former presidents role in the Jan. 6., 2021, insurrection and the discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Largo, Trumps Florida home and resort.

In recent media appearances and during rallies, Trump has made comments that could be seen as incriminating or, at the very least, complicate his legal teams ability to beat back charges. He seemed to get into particular trouble during a May 10 town hall hosted by CNN.

The former president spent nearly an hour discussing a range of issues while also commenting on the investigations in ways that run counter to generally accepted legal advice. Not only did he re-insult Carroll and provide Fulton Countys prosecutor more fodder for her probe but he also gave the Justice Department an opening by claiming he couldnt recall whether he had shown classified documents to anyone.

Joyce Vance, a law professor who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama under President Barack Obama, opined on Twitter: There were prosecutors and agents taking notes tonight.

Trump also suggested that he was personally involved in taking records to Mar-a-Lago  I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified, he said. That statement is at odds with arguments made by his own lawyers, who as recently as last month suggested in a letter to Congress that the document removal was the result of haphazard records-keeping and packing rather than an intentional decision by Trump.

The statements are being made as the documents investigation shows signs of winding down and as Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith zeroes in on the question of potential obstruction, drilling into the failure by Trump and his representatives to return the classified records in his possession despite being issued a subpoena to do so.

Trumps penchant for public statements was on display in the last special counsel investigation he faced. He famously told an interviewer in 2017 that he was thinking of this Russia thing when he fired former FBI director James Comey. His lawyers sought to explain away that statement by noting that he had also said that he knew that firing Comey would prolong, rather than shorten, the Russia probe.

Legal scholars said that prosecutors might not be able to use some of Trumps comments if they are not relevant to the charges or might be deemed prejudicial by a judge.

They also may not need to play them to jurors because other evidence is much stronger. While Trump said on CNN that he told Brad Raffensperger you owe me votes, he was also tape recorded asking the Georgia elections official to find him more votes. The call came in January 2021 as Trump was desperately trying to overturn Georgias election result.

Its not inculpatory any more than the fact that we already have a recorded phone call, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University. It might be more damning had we not had the actual recording of the phone call.

Former prosecutors and defense attorneys say a clients public comments can hamstring how they present their cases to a jury. It can reveal their strategy and lock them into certain lines of attacking the prosecutions case. Such comments might also encourage them to do everything they can to keep their client from taking the witness stand.

For example, they said, Trump may have admitted to taking classified documents from the White House but his lawyers wrote, The purpose of this letter is not to opine about whether these documents are actually classified or have been declassified.

If Trump were to ever testify, prosecutors could use such contradictory statements to poke holes in his story, making it harder for his defense team to tell the jury a coherent narrative.

It could well be that what Trump is doing is making it impossible for him to testify because hed be so damaged were he to testify, said Richard Klein, a criminal law professor at Touro University in New York.
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TALLINN, Estonia (AP)  Russia alleges that dozens of Ukrainian militants crossed into one of its border towns in its Belgorod region, striking targets and forcing an evacuation, before over 70 of the attackers were killed or pushed back by what the authorities termed a counterterrorism operation.

One group claiming responsibility for the strike, the Russian Volunteer Corps, denied Wednesday it had lost any men and said its action had exposed Russian border weaknesses.

The conflicting versions of events reflect the role of disinformation and propaganda in the 15-month war.

Ukraine denied any involvement in the skirmishes Monday and Tuesday. It blamed two Russian groups, including the RVC, that claim to be volunteers fighting in coordination with Kyiv's forces in an uprising against the government of President Vladimir Putin.

While neither version could be independently verified, whatever happened appears to have sent Moscow scrambling to respond to one of the most serious border incursions since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said an elderly woman died in the chaotic evacuation, and 12 people were wounded in the attack and shelling.

A look at what's known about the attack and the murky groups who say they carried it out:

WHO'S CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY?

Two groups  the RVC and the Freedom of Russia Legion  claimed responsibility for the attack and announced an ambitious goal of liberating the Belgorod region. Little is known about them beyond what they say about themselves.

In early March, the RVC claimed responsibility for an incursion in Russias Bryansk region, another border area.

The website of the Freedom of Russia Legion says it was formed last spring out of Russians desire to fight against Putins armed gang and is officially recognized by Kyivs military. We are fighting in full cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and under the leadership of the Ukrainian command, the website says.

The website said it fought last summer in small battle groups, and now was involved in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Denis Nikitin, a well-known Russian far-right figure, described himself as commander of the RVC when he met reporters Wednesday in Ukraines northern Sumy region bordering Russia.

He described the group as a right-wing, conservative, military, semi-political organization, saying its fight is against Putin and his state apparatus.

He declined to say how many soldiers were involved in the Belgorod raid.

Nikitin said that inside Ukraine, the RVCs actions are planned with the knowledge and assistance of Ukraines military, but anything outside the countrys borders is our decision.

The RVC sources its own military equipment, he added.

In August 2022, an announcement posted there said: We, Russian volunteers living in Ukraine, decided to take up arms and create a military formation, the Russian Volunteer Corps, in order to together with our Ukrainian comrades defend their homeland which gave us shelter, and then continue the fight against the criminal Putin regime and his henchmen.

Other posts claimed the group was fighting in southeastern Ukraine, or as volunteers serving elsewhere in the country, including in Kyiv's suburbs of Bucha and Irpin.

WHAT DOES UKRAINE SAY?

Ukrainian officials have never confirmed any ties with either group. The government in Kyiv denied involvement in this week's Belgorod incident, calling it an act by disgruntled Russians.

When they did talk about it, officials were vague. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said patriots of Russia and people who actually rebelled against Putins regime were behind the attack. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak blamed underground guerrilla groups that are composed of Russian citizens.

In remarks to the news outlet Suspilne, Ukraine intelligence official Andrii Yusov said it was the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Andrii Cherniak, another intelligence representative pointed to the fact that the two groups claimed responsibility. "This is the consequence of aggressive politics of Putins regime and Russias invasion of Ukraine, he told The Associated Press.

WHAT DOES RUSSIA SAY?

Russia calls it an incursion by saboteurs deployed by Kyiv, with officials and state media using various epithets ranging from militants to terrorists.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Belgorod attack was a diversion, meant to draw attention away from Russia's victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Moscow claimed to have captured over the weekend after months of bloody fighting.

Asked Tuesday about claims that the invaders were ethnic Russians, Peskov insisted that these are Ukrainian militants from Ukraine.

There are lots of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, but these are still Ukrainian militants, Peskov said.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said more than 70 Ukrainian terrorists were killed in Russias operation. He also referred to the attackers as nationalists.

Russian state TV reported the invaders were from Ukraine's armed forces. One report alleged the attackers used U.S. military equipment despite Washingtons assurances its weapons won't be used for attacks on Russia.

WHAT'S THE TRUTH?

It's hard to know. Analysts and commentators say both Russia and Ukraine would likely benefit from its own version of the events.

The British Defense Ministry tweeted Tuesday that Russia will almost certainly use these incidents to support the official narrative that it is the victim in the war.

Russian state media coverage appears to support this notion, with its allegations that U.S. weapons were used in the attack and the general tone of some reports that overlaid video from the region with tense, dramatic music.

For Kyiv, it's beneficial to take up the position of an observer and not admit its involvement, said Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov.

The fact is that the war is happening on Russian territory, the Kremlin is being clearly indicated that Russians are not the only ones who can employ hybrid (warfare) methods, Zhdanov told AP.

The involvement of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion should serve as signs that there are forces inside Russia who can resist Putins regime, he said.

At the same time, the Belgorod attack showed Russias helplessness," Zhdanov said.

Russia turned out to be completely unprepared - neither its security forces, nor border guards, nor special services were prepared for hostilities on their own turf. The myth that Russia keeps its border locked has been busted, he added.

Some Russian voices echoed that sentiment. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military contractor, used the incident as yet another chance to bash the Russian Defense Ministry for not adequately protecting the border.

Alexander Kots, military correspondent with the pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, also raised questions on his Telegram page.

Whats with our technical equipment of the border, surveillance systems, motion detection systems?" he asked. "Whats with mining of the potentially dangerous areas? Whats with anti-tank equipment? Why did an enemy armored group breach deep into our territory?

These are the questions to which there are no answers, Kots said. To be more accurate, there are, but theyre very unpleasant.

___

Karmanau reported from Tallinn and Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
ADDIS ABABA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- African ministers of finance, planning and economic development have called for reforms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) system to strengthen the global financial safety net and make more liquidity available to developing countries.

The call for reforms was made during a meeting of the Africa High-level Working Group on the Global Financial Architecture on the margins of the 2023 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said in a statement late Monday.

Coordinated by the UNECA, the high-level working group comprises African ministers of finance, planning and economic development, the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank (AfDB), African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), and the World Bank, and includes the participation of IMF staff and executive directors.

The UNECA said the group serves as a forum to develop reform proposals for the global financial architecture and strengthen the African voice on the global stage.

During the meeting, Hanan Morsy, UNECA's Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist, delivered a presentation on reforming the SDR allocation and re-channeling mechanism.

Morsy emphasized that when SDRs are allocated, they tend to disproportionately benefit countries that are less in need of them.

"This is because SDRs are distributed in proportion to existing IMF quotas, which are primarily a function of an economy's size and relative position in the world economy," she said.

She said during the 2021 general SDR allocation of 650 billion U.S. dollars, high-income countries, which are least likely to require or utilize SDRs, received approximately 450 billion U.S. dollars, constituting almost 70 percent of the total allocation.

Africa, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, received fewer SDRs than Germany, a country with a population of only 83 million, according to Morsy.

The ministers emphasized the need for SDR allocation decisions to be made in a rule-based analytical manner to reduce the discretionary and political nature of the allocation process.

They underscored the importance of ensuring that SDRs are directed to countries that require them most. They advocated for the re-channeling of SDRs to multilateral development banks, such as the African Development Bank, as a means to achieve this goal.

The ministers further called for reforming the SDR re-channeling mechanism to promote greater utilization. Suggestions were made to reform the SDR intermediation system. The ministers also recommended that the IMF Executive Board could consider updating the SDR's reserve asset characteristic to align with the wide-ranging and unconditional contemporary use of reserve assets.

They called for increased measures by the IMF to promote transparency in the SDR market. They also urged for a reform of the SDR allocation formula to take into account countries' liquidity needs in addition to IMF quotas. 
Job Title: Political/Economic Office Management Assistant

Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Salary: USD $36,195 /Per Year

Position Number: Kampala-2023-032-RA1

About US Embassy:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: The Political/Economic Office Management Assistant is a key member of the 12-person POL/ECON Section. The positions direct supervisor is the deputy Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs. The position is primarily responsible for supporting the POL/ECON Counselor and Deputy Counselor, but also assists the other officers in the section as requested and time permits. S/he performs a full range of office management, administrative, records, logistics and protocol duties. The incumbent backs up the Human Rights Officer on overseeing all Leahy vetting functions in his/her absence.







Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

NOTE: All applicants must address each selection criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensive information supporting each item.

The applicants for the United States US Embassy Political/Economic Office Management Assistant job opportunity should have completed Secondary School. R

At least three years of clerical, administrative, office support, event or travel management in an office setting is required.

The incumbent must become aware of pertinent U.S. government regulations and Embassy policies, understanding and correctly applying them. The incumbent must also quickly grasp the basics of the sections substantive work enough to provide needed support for those functions. Must understand how businesses/restaurants arrangements are made and confirmed in Uganda, and how to set up events in Uganda.

Excellent analytical, problem-solving and interpersonal skills, tact, and diplomacy are required.

The incumbent should also possess good managerial skills, and a personality that inspires confidence in Locally Employed Staff and permits the maintenance of effective working relationships with employees and supervisors.

Proven ability to forecast needs for resources, and to plan and assess problems and develop realistic solutions; anticipate all scheduling and logistical needs for the Counselor and the Deputy Counsellor to ensure the smooth functioning of their schedules;

Ability to tactfully and efficiently work with American officers and Locally Employed Staff so that the Pol/Econ section provides the highest quality support to the Mission;

Proven ability to tactfully manage other sections contributions to the Leahy Vetting process in order to process requests in a timely fashion;

Able to work constructively with Washington-based administrators of the Leahy Vetting process in order to gain the maximum amount of leeway and receptivity for Missions nominees in the most timely fashion; and the ability to create and maintain a good working climate in order to ensure maximum productivity in a service-oriented fashion.

Basic typing skills required.

Must be able to use Microsoft Office Suites and. Numerical skills required.

Language: Level IV (Fluent) speaking/reading/writing of English is required.

How to Apply:

All those interested in working with the United States Embassy, US Mission in Kampala should send their applications online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 6th June 2023

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Amazon workers in Seattle are planning to stage a walk-off on May 31 in an act of retaliation over layoffs and return-to-office mandates. At least 1,000 employees will participate in the walkoff, according to a Washington Post report. The walk-off was announced over emails and Slack.



Were really walking out to show leadership is taking us in the wrong direction and employees need a say in the decisions that affect our lives, one of Amazons Seattle-based software engineers told the Seattle Times.

The one-day walk-off is to show power and to get the company to address the back-to-work directive and the company's impact on climate change. The walk-off will take place during lunch.

"We respect our employees' rights to express their opinions," Amazon spokesperson Rob Munoz told Business Insider. Amazon, in January, cut 18,000 roles and in March it announced that it is cutting 9,000 jobs. Amazon, in April, faced backlash after it passed a mandate stating employees must be back in the office for at least three days a week starting in May.

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said failures on the carbon front and greenwashing are the reasons its members are participating in the walkout. Amazon must keep pace with a changing world, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) wrote in a Twitter thread Tuesday calling for the walkout next week. To cultivate a diverse, world-class workplace, we need real plans to tackle our climate impact and flexible work options.
Even as most of the opposition parties decided to stay away from the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building scheduled on May 28, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh said they will attend the event.

As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, have issued a joint statement stating that they would boycott the inauguration, with the primary reason being Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to inaugurate the new building by himself by allegedly completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu.

In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanti said both the President of India and the parliament are symbols of Indian democracy and their authority and stature should always be safe guarded.

The BJD believes that Constitutional institutions should be above any issue which may affect their sanctity and honour. Such issues can always be debated later in the august house. Hence the BJD shall be a part of this momentous occasion, Mohanti said.

Earlier in the day, the Odisha Congress had asked Patnaik to exert pressure on the Centre to allow the country's first tribal President, Murmu, who is from Odisha, to inaugurate the new Parliament building.

YSRP leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said his party will attend the ceremony and also noted that boycotting such an auspicious event is not in the true spirit of democracy.

"In the true spirit of democracy, my party will attend this historic event," tweeted Reddy, congratulating the prime minister for dedicating a grand, majestic and spacious parliament building to the nation.

Being the temple of democracy, parliament reflects the country's soul and belongs to the people and all political parties, Reddy said while urging the opposition parties, who decided to boycott the event, to set aside the political differences.

The Congress and other opposition parties maintained that Modi inaugurating the new parliament building, instead of President Murmu, is an insult to the highest constitutional office.

NDA's counterattack

The National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday issued a statement, saying the opposition's decision to boycott the event is a "blatant affront to democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation".

In the statement, leaders of 14 parties of the ruling alliance also implored the opposition parties to reconsider their decision and said the people of India will not forget their "egregious insult to our democracy and to their elected representatives" if they go ahead with their stand.
HARARE, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will stage the voters' roll inspection on May 27-31 ahead of this year's general elections, ZEC's chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana said in a notice on Tuesday.

Silaigwana said that 11,289 inspection centers had been set up in all the 10 provinces.

"Those who registered on or before 28 April, 2023, are encouraged to inspect the voters' roll at their ordinary polling stations which have been designated as inspection centers for purposes of this voters' roll inspection exercise," Silaigwana said.

He added that voters who do not see their names at the inspection centers can either inspect their details using their mobile phones quick code or approach provincial elections officers.

There are more than 5.8 million registered voters who are expected to cast their ballots in the forthcoming general elections set for July or August. 
Joining the list of major political parties that will stay away from the new Parliament building inauguration are the Indian National Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NC) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) have already announced the boycott of the event.

This comes a day after the opposition parties demanded that the new building be inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



A statement issued by 'like-minded opposition parties' said the collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building was made as the "soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament."



While stating their disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, the opposition parties said they were open to sinking their differences. "However, Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," the statement said.



"We find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight  in letter, in spirit, and in substance  against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India," the statement added.



The statement added that the President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. "She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President," the statement added.



Besides the above-mentioned parties, the Shiv Sena (UBT), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), National Conference (NC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (United), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal too announced their decision to stay away from the event.



On Tuesday, the TMC, the CPI and the AAP announced they will skip the inauguration ceremony.



However, few other political parties like Telangana's ruling BRS and Sukhbir Singh Badals Shiromani Akali Dal are yet to decide. Andhra Pradesh's ruling party Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) too hasn't made its stance clear.



BRS MP K Keshava Rao said, "We have not taken any decision yet. It is unlikely that we will attend but well announce our decision on Thursday."



Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new building on Sunday.


The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh has been hit by a flurry of dissent and internal strife, with many leaders openly issuing statements against the party and its state chief V.D. Sharma while others are said to have lodged complaints against fellow leaders and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Close on the heels of former minister Deepak Joshi, son of BJP bigwig late Kailash Joshi, joining the Congress, many other leaders have come out with statements that underscore the fact that they are being sidelined within the saffron party, especially by Sharma. While some have retracted after meeting with senior leaders, others have given indications that they might join the Congress.

Former minister Harendrajit Singh Babbu went to the extent of saying he was facing a threat to his life from Sharma, while former Vijayraghavgarh (Katni district) MLA Dhruv Pratap Singh issued a video statement saying he might be forced to join Congress as he was being sidelined. Anuppur district general secretary of the BJP Akhilesh Dwivedi resigned from his post and primary membership of the party saying he was constantly insulted and ignored and that to find relevance in the party one had to have an ABVP (RSS-affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) certificate (as Sharma was a former president of the state unit of ABVP).

Complaints against Scindia and his supporters who left Congress in March 2020 to facilitate the formation of the BJP government in the state have also started to find a stronger voice in the ruling party as elections near.

The latest in the series was a video of Guna MP K.P. Yadav, released by the state Congress unit on its Twitter handle on Wednesday. In the video, Yadav reportedly called Scindia a fool who considers himself an intellectual and who does not know what to speak from a dais.

In the attached video, Yadav alleged without naming anyone that a person is backstabbing the party (BJP) that gave him respect by saying it was a mistake that a BJP MP was elected in 2019. Yadav had defeated Scindia, who was then with the Congress, from Guna by almost 1.25 lakh votes in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and his animosity with the Union minister is well known despite them now being in the same party. In the video, Yadav also says if the person he is referring to has problems with the BJP, he should have stayed back in his old party.

Congress national general secretary-in-charge Jairam Ramesh quote-tweeted the MP Congress post with a comment gaddari ka natija  na ghar ke rahe na ghaat ke (the result of betrayal  neither remains here nor there). Despite repeated attempts, THE WEEK could not get a response from Yadav on the issue.

Meanwhile, there are rumours that senior minister Gopal Bhargava and Govind Rajput  both from Sagar district - met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with some local MLAs and party office bearers on Tuesday to air grievance against another senior minister Bhupendra Singh. Singh is considered close to Chouhan and the ministers and MLAs allegedly threatened to resign if Singhs interference in every work in the district was not curbed.

Another version of the rumoured meeting said Gopal Bhargava had complained against Govind Rajput, who is a Scindia supporter. Bhargava, however, released a video denying the rumours and said he had met the chief minister regarding poll preparations and strategy and added that the party will fight in a united manner to get two-thirds majority in assembly polls and all 29 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.

BJP seeks to downplay the situation

The state BJP sought to underplay the issue. State spokesperson Dr Hitesh Bajpai told THE WEEK that statements against the party and state president Sharma were politically motivated and made by people who were positioning themselves ahead of the assembly polls according to their electoral aspirations.

He also added that the allegations against the party and the president were unsubstantiated and thus had little value on the ground.

The elections are just 180 days away and some leaders of different levels and ages are trying to position themselves so that they could get a pie in the electoral process (ticket to contest). Some of them give contentious statements in a bid to get attention and in an attempt to attain their goal. In a nutshell, this is political positioning. The party is keeping eyes on all such statements and developments and will deal with them in a political manner.
Deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar has warned police officers against trying to saffronise the police department.

Addressing a high-level meeting of senior police officers which was chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday, Shivakumar took the cops to task saying, the Congress government would not allow saffronisation of the police department.



"Have you set out to saffronise the police department? Our government will not allow it. I know how you shamed the uniform by flaunting saffron shawls in Mangalore, Bijapur and Bagalkot. You should have worn saffron for this meeting too. If you had respect for the country, you should have donned the tricolour," Shivakumar taunted the police.



Launching an offence over the state police, Shivakumar charged that the police force had spoilt the good reputation and honour of the Karnataka police through their behaviour.



"An ADGP tampering with the OMR sheet in PSI recruitment only goes to show the extent of rot in the police department. You harassed the person who exposed the scam and also Priyank Kharge. There is a demand for bribes across the board. But all this should be cleaned up under our rule as people expect big changes from us. The clean-up act should begin with the police department," said Shivakumar.



Stating that the Congress government does not encourage corruption or bribing, the deputy CM said, "We don't want a penny from you (collected as a bribe). You must function in such a manner that the common man does not suffer. Your past behaviour will not be tolerated."



The KPCC chief also alleged that past behaviour of the police was hostile towards the Congress leaders.



"I know how you treated me and Siddaramaiah during the PayCM campaign. You slapped a case against me and filed false cases against our party workers. I don't believe you will spare the common man as did not spare us. You joined hands with the BJP and did not book a case even when someone gave a call to "murder Siddaramaiah just like they had Tipu Sultan."



Further, the DCM stated that he had proof of all that the police had done in the previous regime. "We are watching you. You must change your behaviour. Else, we will replace you. We are not vindictive. You must start afresh. We are with officers who work sincerely and who protect the interests of the people," he added.



Siddaramaiah directed the police officers to control cybercrime in the state. "You must mercilessly take action against those who put content that disturbs peace and harmony in society on social media. Crackdown on posts that are provocative or indulge in character assassinate people," said Siddaramaiah, adding that moral policing will not be tolerated by his government.



Siddaramaiah who was chairing the meeting also directed the cops to take tough action against rowdyism, drug mafia and crack down on illegal clubs.



"We will not tolerate any inaction and dereliction of duty by the police. Hoysala (patrol) police should be vigilant at all times and help prevent crimes. Senior officers should regularly visit police stations and ensure that the staff is courteous to people coming in with their grievances," said the chief minister who also sought better traffic management to ease traffic.



A separate meeting would be convened soon to discuss ways to tackle the traffic menace in the state capital.


A day after he ensured the backing of West Bengal chief minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee in his bid to defeat the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has arrived in Maharashtra to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.

The AAP chief is also scheduled to meet NCP leader Sharad Pawar on Thursday.



Though the Kejriwal-Thackeray meeting was earlier scheduled for 4 pm, reports say it has been postponed to 12:30 pm on Wednesday. Kejriwal will also be accompanued by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, AAP MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chaddha and AAP Minister Atishi.



Kejriwal's attempt to garner the support of all major opposition parties comes as the Union Government on May 19 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 AAP hopes to defeat the bill at Rajya Sabha, as it terms the ordinance "unconstitutional" and an insult to the apex court. 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.



On Tuesday, Kejriwal visited Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal seeking her support. Banerjee assured Kejriwal that her party would support him in his fight against the central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats in Delhi.



"We support AAP in the fight against the Central ordinance, Banerjee said after a nearly hour-long meeting. She said that a forthcoming vote in Rajya Sabha on the bill to convert the central ordinance into law will be a semi-final before the 2024 elections. The Trinamool Congress leader also took a sarcastic jibe at the Narendra Modi government, saying "The double engine (BJP rule in both state and centre) has become a troubled engine."


The Shiv Sena (UBT) has promised support to Delhi government's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday.

Kejriwal, along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, AAP Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, and Delhi minister Atishi, met Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. Senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut was also present at the meeting.

Addressing a joint press conference with Thackeray after the meeting, Kejriwal said the BJP was trying to topple the state governments using CBI and ED.

The AAP leader claimed that the Sena has promised to support the party to defeat a bill which the Centre is likely to bring in to ratify the ordinance, in Rajya Sabha. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has three members in the upper house.

This will be like a semi-final in the Rajya Sabha. If the bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, then the Modi government will not come back to power in 2024, Kejriwal said.

Further targeting the Centre, the chief minister alleged that the BJP government, through the ordinance, has taken back all the powers given by the Supreme Court. In a democracy, power should vest in the elected government as it is accountable to people, but the BJP neither believes in democracy nor the Supreme Court, he said.

Extending support to the AAP leader, Thackeray said they have come together to defeat forces that are against democracy.

We have come together to defeat those against democracy. If we miss the train this time, then there will be no democracy in the country. We have come together to save the country and the Constitution, he said.

The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

Kejriwal met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday and the latter has promised support to the Delhi government's fight against the ordinance.

The Delhi CM is likely to meet NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Thursday.

Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had met in Kejriwal in Delhi and assured his support to the AAP over the issue. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, too, have extended support to Kejriwal in his fight against the Centre's ordinance.

With PTI inputs
The Ecuadorian Congress, dominated by leftist parties tried to impeach the centre-right President Guillermo Lasso last month on corruption charges. But the amount involved was insignificant and the alleged crime did not warrant impeachment. It was clearly a Congressional coup attempt to remove the president, democratically elected by millions of voters for a four year term from May 2021 to May 2025.

The Congress wanted to get rid of him because they had the power to do so. It was an attempt to undermine the presidential mandate and abuse of power causing unnecessary political instability.

This was the second impeachment attempt of the Congress. They tried one earlier but could not manage the two third majority. But this time they got the numbers. Faced with this congressional threat, President Lasso resorted to "Muerte Cruzada" (mutual death) provision of the constitution and dissolved the Congress on May 17, before they could pass the impeachment resolution. After this, he is obliged to leave the office at the end of six months and new elections are to be held within six months both for the presidency and the congress. The newly-elected Congress and President will stay in office for the remaining period of the original mandate upto 2025 when the next regular elections are due. The elections are likely to be held on August 20.



The popularity ratings of President Lasso, a centre-right businessman is very low, given the ongoing crime wave, economic problems and protests of indigenous communities. He had held a referendum earlier to push through some reforms. But the referendum was defeated and his party lost seats in the local elections. Lasso has announced that he would not stand for reelection.

In recent years, the Ecuadorian Congress had tasted blood by impeaching two presidents. It had impeached President Abadalla Bucaram in 1997 for mental incapacity within six months after his assumption of office in August 1996. He was a colourful and loud leftist. But he did not commit any serious crime warranting impeachment. In 2005, the Congress had impeached President Lucio Gutierrez for abandoning his position. He had stayed in power for just two years.



Since 1979, when democracy was restored after military dictatorship, five presidents of Ecuador had their terms cut short. In view of this history, President Rafael Correa had got the constitution amended in 2008 with the new provision of 'Muerte Cruzada' to empower the presidency against a hostile congress. President Lasso was the first one to exercise this power.



Some other Latin American countries have also witnessed unfair and unjustifiable impeachment of presidents by rogue congresses.



The Paraguayan Congress impeached the leftist President Fernando Lugo in 2012 on a trivial charge when a few protestors were killed by police during a protest. It was a hurried 24-hour express impeachment. The real reason for the removal of President Lugo was that the rightist oligarchic Colorado party which has been ruling Paraguay continuously for the last seven decades wanted to nip in the bud emerging Leftists seeking social justice with pro-poor policies. Lugo was the first and last leftist president in the last seventy years of one party dictatorship.



Brazilian President Dilma was impeached unjustly because she refused to bail out Eduardo Cunha the president of the Lower House who was caught red-handed with several million dollars of illegal deposits in a Swiss bank account. She thought she had the moral right to let him face the law while the crooked Cunha had exercised his right to gang up his corrupt Congressional colleagues to pass the impeachment resolution. Rouseff was naive and arrogant and refused to follow the established system of presidential deals with congressional leaders. Cunha was later convicted and jailed for corruption.



Pedro Castillo, the Leftist President of Peru was removed from power in December 2022 by the rightist Congress when he had just completed 18 months of his four year term. The rightwing Congress was gunning for him from day one. Frustrated by the machinations of the Congress, he made an amateurish and feeble attempt to dissolve the Congress. But the Congress was faster and removed him from power before he could dissolve it. He has been imprisoned for his constitutional crime of attempt to dissolve the Congress. Poor Castillo was naive and did not have the skills to deal with the corrupt and crooked law makers. He was played and trapped into a wrong decision and punished. He was a mere victim of the Congressional coup.



Before Castillo, three other Peruvian presidents have been impeached: Billinghurst, Fujimori and Vizcarra. Of course, the authoritarian and abusive Fujimori was the most suitable candidate for impeachment. The Congress had many other unsuccessful impeachment attempts against other presidents..



In the presidential system of the Latin American countries, Congress becomes the biggest challenge for presidents who do not have their own party with majority in Congress. With the fragmentation of political parties in the region, very few Presidents have their own parties in majority in the Congress. In such cases, the Congressional members start blackmail and extortion from day one. They threaten impeachment and refuse to pass bills unless they are given back room deals. So most presidents make deals with influential Congress members and let them indulge in corruption. In the notorious Petrobras corruption scandal, it was revealed that all the major political parties and leaders had got their share of the loot, besides the ruling Workers Party of Lula. In fact, President Lula had introduced during his first term under-the table monthly payment to Congressional members to get their agreement to pass legislation needed for the country. This was called as the Mensalao scandal. But when this became a public scandal, Lula managed to come out of it with more bribing of the Congress.

The Brazilian Congress should have impeached President Bolsonaro who had committed serious crimes by subverting democracy and causing thousands of deaths by not taking action during the Covid crisis. He mocked and imposed obstacles against vaccination. But the Congress loved him because he gave them a free pass for corruption.



"Muerte Cruzada could be a solution to other Latin American countries where presidents had become victims of the rogue congresses abusing their power for impeachment. It will deter the impeachment-trigger-happy Congresses from undermining democracy by unjust impeachment of duly elected presidents. It will bring back the balance between president and the congress, prevent political instability and strengthen democracy.

The author is an expert in Latin American affairs






The Sri Lanka Navy has recovered 14 bodies from a capsized Chinese fishing vessel after conducting a search and rescue (SAR) operation in the multinational search effort, an official statement said.



The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) here, responsible for coordinating and facilitating maritime search and rescue operations in its designated region as well as neighbouring regions conducted the search operations, a Sri Lanka Navy statement said on Tuesday.

The Chinese fishing vessel had 39 people on board, including 17 Chinese, 17 Indonesian and five Philippine mariners. The vessel overturned on May 16 in the central Indian Ocean.

Sri Lankan Navy divers meticulously searched for air pockets within the upturned vessel and recovered 2 bodies from the Captain's cabin and accommodation area.

The bodies were handed over to the Chinese authorities. However, the fate of the remaining crew is not known.

In addition, the Navy divers further located 12 more bodies of the crew from various compartments of the vessel, the statement said.

Several countries including Australia, India, Indonesia, the Maldives and the Philippines have extended emergency assistance to China.
Taiwan's last known comfort woman has died at the age of 92. Known as 'grandma', she was one of the last known survivors of Japans wartime sexual slavery. 'Comfort women' refers to women who were forced into sex work in the Japanese army's wartime brothels between 1932 and 1945.



The woman had died on May 10 said activists. The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation said her family had permitted the news of her death to be known after a private funeral, BBC reported.

Over 200,000 were sexually enslaved in Japanese brothels between 1932 and 1945. While most of them were from South Korea, a lot of them were from Taiwan, China, and Indonesia. Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 to 1945-- over the years about 60 women came forward as survivors. According to Taipeis Womens Rescue Foundation, which estimates there were at least 2,000.



Who were the comfort women

The term 'comfort women' comes from the Japanese word ianfu, a combination of the Chinese characters comfort or solace (i-an) and woman (fu). Brothels with 'comfort women' were found wherever the Japanese army was based. Japan, reportedly had brothels for its military since 1932. But, it became more widespread after the troops rampaged the Chinese city of Nanking and raped between 20,000 and 80,000 Chinese women.

After this incident, Emperor Hirohito ordered an increase in such military brothels to prevent such incidents from being repeated, prevent the outbreak of diseases and satiate the appetite of Japanese troops.

The military set up brothels, where initially there were adult prostitutes, mainly women from poor Japanese families, but, later the troops kidnapped and tricked many women and girls into working in the brothels, where conditions were inhumane. It was only in the 1990s that the women started coming forth and voicing their trauma. And lawsuits were filed against Japan seeking accountability and financial compensation.

"We will continue to keep records of the comfort women and hope the truth about the sexual violence does not disappear with their deaths," The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation said. "We will continue to demand that the Japanese government apologise and compensate these women and their families," it added.

There are numerous memorials dedicated to the Japanese contribution to Taiwan during the colonial period. However, it was only in 2018 that the first memorial to 'comfort women' was erected in Tainan.

The issue of 'comfort women' has been a sore point in Japan's relations with its neighbours.
Capping months of speculation, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will officially announce his bid for the White House on Wednesday. The Naval officer-turned-right-wing leader is expected to declare his candidacy on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET (IST 3:30 am Thursday) during a conversation with entrepreneur Elon Musk on Twitter.

As he enters the fray for the 2024 White House race, DeSantis will face a formindable enemy in the primary race, none other than former President Donald Trump. Though the poll figures still put him below Trump, DeSantis hopes to win over right-wing influencers and conservative voters by marking his presence on Twitter. His move is viewed as a swipe at the traditional media, which many conservatives tag as left-leaning.



Now that the battleground is set, Trump supporters have targetted DeSantis, mocking DeSantis for using Twitter to annouce his candidacy. "Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis," a Trump adviser told Fox News. "This way he doesnt have to interact with people and the media cant ask him any questions."



Three decades younger than Trump, DeSantis was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2012. Interestingly, the Florida Governor was the former protege of Trump, having won his first Gubernatorial election with the former President's backing.



DeSantis was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1978 and went on to study history at Yale University. He also graduated from the Harvard Law School. During his second year at Harvard, he was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy and was assigned to its legal arm, the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps. He was honourably discharged from the military in 2010, although he continues to serve in the US Navy reserve.



A stern Obama critic, DeSantish campaigned on a platform of "small government" and reduced taxes. A report by BBC quotes DeSantis earlier speech about how his "mission was largely to stop Barack Obama."



He has also been instrumental in making Florida a red state, thanks to his dissent against Biden government's coronavirus pandemic restrictions and propogation of "anti-woke" agenda.



DeSantis's conservative policies, including a controversial six-week abortion law, tougher immigration laws, curbs on gender and diversity issues in schools and green-lighting the ability to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, have often found him at the receiving end of liberal critics.



His conservative stance has also landed DeSantis in legal trouble, recently with Disney. The corporation has criticised a Florida law that stops public school teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity in the classroom. The law called Parental Rights in Education Act, referred to by critics as the 'Dont Say Gay' bill, banned classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in certain elementary school grades.



Disney's criticism of the law did not go down well with DeSantis, who said "if Disney wants to pick a fight, they chose the wrong guy."



The mega corporation reacted by announcing that it would cancel $1 billion office campus plan, thereby depriving Florida natives of thousands of employment oppurtunities.


NEW DELHI, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Timex Group India Ltd, a leading watch manufacturer, has announced its financial results for the financial year 2022-23 and quarter ended March 2023. The company witnessed significant growth, owing to huge growth in Timex as well as Licensed Brands in its portfolio and evolving consumer shopping behavior.



Financial Result Highlights:



Net profit after tax (PAT) for the year grew over 14 times, reaching INR 46.52 crore in FY 2022-23, compared to INR 3.2 crore in the previous financial year. PAT for the quarter grew 895% over Q4'2022, closing at INR 22.39 crore. One-time recognition of deferred tax assets of INR 16.84 crore in Q4 has positively impacted these results for the quarter and fiscal year.



Revenue for the financial year 2022-23 saw a growth of 45% over last year, closing at INR 383.78 crore, up from INR 265.54 crore in the previous year. For the quarter ended on March 31, 2023, revenue grew by 5% from INR 79.81 crore to INR 83.35 crore.



Expressing his enthusiasm, Mr. Deepak Chhabra, Managing Director, said, "We are delighted to announce our strong results for Financial year 2022-23, which showcase Timex's remarkable growth and success in India. Our commitment to innovation, customer delight, and strategic expansion has propelled us forward in the industry. We take immense pride in our core Timex portfolio growth and huge strides into the e-commerce sector, which has allowed us to reach a wider customer base and achieve exceptional sales figures. This achievement is a testament to our dedicated team, loyal customers, and unwavering focus on delivering exceptional products and experiences. We remain committed to pushing boundaries, embracing change, and maintaining our position as a leading force in the watch industry."



Timex has emerged as one of the largest watch brands in the country, with a global legacy of around 170 years. The global brand is known for its disruptive collections like Marlin, Waterbury, and Q globally, as well as Fria in India. Timex fashion range as well as TMX have also contributed to the growth.



Channel Expansion



Timex India channels have expanded to over 5000 offline stores across trade and key accounts. This is further supported by remarkable progress in the e-commerce space, with addition of marketplaces like Ajio Luxe, Nykaa and Myntra being added to existing presence on Amazon, Flipkart and Tata Cliq Luxury.



Fashion Brand Expansion & Luxury Demand Surge:



Timex India boasts a robust licensed brand portfolio that caters to diverse consumer preferences in lifestyle and luxury segments. The brand line-up includes Guess, GC, Versace, Nautica, Adidas Originals, Furla, Ted Baker, Philipp Plein, Ferragamo and more.



Timex India capitalized on new etail platforms through licensed fashion and luxury brands such as Versace and Guess, responding to favorable consumer behavior towards e-commerce. Versace watches achieved a remarkable over 2X growth, driven by increasing indulgence and affinity for luxury watches in the Indian market. Known for their refined look, classic and sporty designs, sophisticated functionalities, and flawless style, Versace watches are gaining significant traction in India's authentic-driven Swiss watch market.



Addition of Guess to the portfolio, with presence over 600 stores, has further strengthened the company's market position. Guess watches experienced substantial growth, thanks to their youthful and daring product offerings. The brand's expanding network and impressive performance on e-commerce platforms played a pivotal role in its success.



Partnerships and Associations:



Timex recently collaborated with Gujarat Titans, launching three special edition watches to strengthen its association with the defending champions of IPL. This collaboration, in conjunction with Gujarat Titans, aims to expand Timex's consumer base nationwide. With a diverse product portfolio, Timex focuses on becoming a beloved brand for generations, from millennials to Gen Zs. Signaling its strong retail ambitions, Timex Group has also expanded its consumer reach in the country by recently acquiring Just Watches, a Mumbai based reputed Premium Watch Retail brand.



About Timex Group:



Timex Group designs, manufactures, and markets innovative timepieces around the world. Timex Group is a privately held company headquartered in Middlebury, Connecticut with multiple operating units and over 3,000 employees worldwide. As one of the largest watch makers in the world, Timex Group companies produce watches under a number of well-known brands, including Timex, Nautica, Guess, GC, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Philipp Plein, Ted Baker, Missoni and Furla.



Join Timex on social media: @timex.india



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(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR

PWR
TUNIS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian Justice Minister Leila Jaffel on Tuesday stressed the need to develop a comprehensive international strategy to combat all forms of terrorism and money laundering, reported the Tunis Afrique Presse.

In a speech at a regional symposium on the topic of Combating Terrorism and Arms Smuggling in the city of Hammamet in eastern Tunisia, the minister said, "terrorist threats directly affect the security of the targeted countries, and undermine the foundations of their economic and social balance."

Addressing this "requires a broad international consensus to combat these threats, by developing a comprehensive and effective strategy and a wide-ranging plan in order to confront and prevent the phenomenon of violent extremism and all forms of terrorism, within the framework of the law and the international, regional and bilateral agreements that have been ratified," she said.

Jaffel called for "drying up the sources and methods of illegal arms transfer in confronting terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, as an enabler of armed violence and a source of financing for terrorist groups, especially with the emergence of cross-border criminal networks to facilitate the transfer and trafficking of arms." 
Chandigarh, May 24 (PTI) The Punjab government Wednesday said it will release the pending installment of 6 per cent dearness allowance (DA), from July 2015 to December 31, 2015, to employees. A spokesperson of the chief minister's office said it will entail an additional financial liability of Rs 356 crore to the state exchequer.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the government employees were a critical segment of the state administration and safeguarding their interests was the government's top priority.
Lahore, May 24 (PTI) The granddaughter of Pakistan's former Army Chief Asif Nawaz Jangua was arrested as a "key instigator" in the attack on the Corps Commander House here following former prime minister Imran Khan's arrest on May 9, police said on Wednesday.

Khadija Shah, a fashion designer by profession, is among the several women arrested for their alleged involvement in attacks on military installations on May 9 that erupted in the wake of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief's arrest in a corruption case. Khan, 70, was later freed on bail.

Lahore police said in a statement that Shah, the daughter of former finance minister Salman Shah, was one of the key instigators of the May 9 attack on the Lahore Corps Commander House, also known as Jinnah House. She has been arrested under terrorism charges and might be tried under the Army Act, police said.

Shah, an active PTI supporter, had gone into hiding since police started carrying out raids for her arrest.

"Ms Shah was produced before the anti-terrorism court Lahore which was sent to jail for an identification parade," police said.

The government declared that the identification of more than 500 women, wanted for the May 9 incidents, has been completed and 138 cases have been registered against them.

Law enforcement agencies arrested around 8,000 people across the country, mostly party leaders and workers of the PTI for their alleged involvement in the violence that erupted in the wake of Khan's arrest by paramilitary Rangers in Islamabad.

Khan's party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander's 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.

Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has placed the names of 700 PTI leaders and activists on a no-fly list.
Tokyo, May 24 (AP) The head of a South Korean team of experts said Wednesday they saw all of the facilities they had requested to visit at Japan's tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and Japanese officials had carefully answered their questions about a contentious plan to release treated but still slightly radioactive water into the sea, a sign of a further thawing of ties between the countries.

During their two-day visit, which was closed to the media, officials from the Japanese government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, showed the 21-member delegation facilities related to treatment, safety checks, transport and dilution of the waste water.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighbouring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.

The water release has particularly been a sensitive issue between Tokyo and Seoul, which are now repairing long-strained ties to address bigger challenges such as security threats from China and North Korea.

We saw every necessary facility that was included in the initial plan, said Yoo Guk-hee, the chairperson of South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission who heads the delegation. His government has studied the water release plan since August 2021 and submitted a list of facilities it wanted to see, he said.

The delegation also received data showing levels of radioactivity of the water before and after treatment which they still need to analyse and confirm, Yoo told reporters. He did not give his evaluation of the water release plan.

His team will hold talks with Japanese officials in Tokyo on Thursday before returning home Friday.

Japanese officials say the water will be treated to legally releasable levels and further diluted with large amounts of seawater. It will be gradually released into the ocean over decades through an undersea tunnel, making it harmless to people and marine life, they say.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposures to radionuclides is unknown and the release should be delayed.

Historical disputes have strained ties between Tokyo and Seoul but their relationship has thawed rapidly in recent months as the two US allies, under Washington's pressure, share a sense of urgency to mend ties amid growing regional security threats.

A massive March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt, releasing large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the reactor cores accumulated in about 1,000 tanks at the plant which will reach their capacity in early 2024.

Japanese officials say the water stored in the tanks needs to be removed to prevent accidental leaks in case of another disaster and to make room for the plant's decommissioning. (AP)



GRS
Islamabad, May 24 (PTI) In another blow to ousted Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, his close aide and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday resigned from his party which is under pressure from the government over the May 9 violence.

Chaudhry's resignation came a day after former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari quit 70-year-old Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and condemned the actions of the former prime minister's supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9.

My earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan, he tweeted.

Chaudhary served as the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the minister for science and technology during his government. He was the PTI's senior vice president and the party spokesman.

Mazari, 72, announced her resignation and retirement from active politics after she was released following her arrest for the fourth time since May 12 when she was picked from her residence by police and sent to jail in connection with the violence on May 9.

She served as the minister for human rights from 2018 to 2022, under Khan's regime.

On May 9, violent protests erupted after paramilitary Rangers arrested Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises.

His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander's House, the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khan's arrest.

The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also stormed 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.

Several top PTI leaders, including Chaudary and Mazari, were arrested in the wake of the unrest.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that those involved in attacks on military installations would be tried in the military courts while those charged with attacks on civilian targets would be prosecuted under civilian laws.

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday the government was mulling a possible ban on Khan's PTI party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after the former prime minister's arrest.

Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
Colombo, May 24 (PTI) The Indian High Commission here on Wednesday has termed certain media reports as "completely false and incorrect" that claimed New Delhi demanded compensation from Colombo over its assistance extended to the two recent maritime disasters in Sri Lanka's waters.

The mission clarified that it has only submitted the cost to be claimed from insurers based on international practice.

On September 2020, the MT New Diamond was engulfed in flames near the eastern coast of Sri Lanka.

The tanker was transporting 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip at the time of the incident.

On May 2021, Sri Lanka witnessed one of its worst marine environmental disasters after the Singapore-flagged container vessel MV X-Press Pearl, caught fire 16km off Colombo.

The High Commission of India has come across media reports which suggest that Government of India has demanded compensation/damages from Government of Sri Lanka towards the assistance provided during the fire incidents onboard MT New Diamond and MV Xpress Pearl in September 2020 and May-June 2021. Such reports are completely false and incorrect," the Indian High Commission said in press release.

The Indian government immediately deployed ships of the Indian Coast Guard in response to specific requests from the Sri Lanka Navy for providing expeditious assistance to fight the fire incidents onboard MT New Diamond and MV Xpress Pearl, it said.

Rescue operations conducted by these ships were instrumental in curtailing the hazardous effects of the two fire incidents and thereby limiting the damage on the maritime and marine environment of Sri Lanka," it said.

In line with "Polluter Pay Principle" as per international norms, we have raised a claim for deployment, salvage activities and items/stores undertaken by these ships, the press release said.

"India has not demanded any damages/compensation from Government of Sri Lanka and Government of Indias immediate deployment of ships were in line with Neighbourhood First policy and Security And Growth for All (S.A.G.A.R) doctrine," it added.

India has extended multi-pronged assistance to Sri Lanka during the peak of its economic and humanitarian crisis in line with its "Neighbourhood First" policy and as an earnest friend and partner of Sri Lanka.

Till date, lines of credit worth over USD 4 billion have been extended to Sri Lanka in diverse sectors including supply of essential items, petroleum, fertilisers, development of railways, infrastructure, defence sector and renewable energy, according to the Indian High Commission here.

On March 20, the IMF extended a nearly USD 3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka that would help stabilise the country's economy after it was jolted by a devastating economic crisis last year.
Washington, May 24 (AP) Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and public servants who fled the mob's attack told a judge on Wednesday that they are still haunted by what they endured, as the judge prepares to hand down sentences in a landmark Capitol riot case.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta heard victim impact statements a day before he's expected to deliver the first Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy sentences to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and an associate convicted of plotting to block the transfer of power from President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors are seeking 25 years behind bars for Rhodes, which would be the longest sentence by far handed down among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens crossed paths with Oath Keepers members in Senate hallways as rioters invaded the building, shouted insults and threw projectiles at police. Owens recalled his wife bursting into tears when she saw the blood and bruises on his arms and legs after the riot.

We experienced physical trauma, emotional trauma and mental trauma, Owens said during the hearing in Washington's federal court . The traumas we suffered that day were endless.

Rhodes scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad as he listened to the statements.

Terri McCullough, who was chief of staff to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said rioters were trying to hunt down the California Democrat as her staffers hid in a conference room for hours, hearing chants and threats.

The defendants violated our workplace, our government and our democracy, McCullough said, adding, Democracy succeeded.

Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who was assigned to Pelosi's security detail, said some of his co-workers have quit because of what they experienced.

Lives and careers have been ruined and will never return to normal, he said.

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who encountered Oath Keepers in the Rotunda, said rioters turned the citadel of American democracy into a crime scene. Dunn said he is a shell of his former self and dreads coming to work every day.

While he still feels scarred by Jan. 6, Dunn said he found a little relief from the jury's conviction of Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, adding that he is profoundly grateful that, in this case, justice has been done.

The judge also heard statements from Virginia Brown, who was a Senate chamber assistant and helped carry a box of electoral votes across the Rotunda on Jan. 6. As the mob breached the Capitol, Brown kicked off her shoes so she could run faster. She recalled fearing for her life and praying that she wouldn't encounter any insurrectionists.

I constantly relive the memories of that day, said Brown, who was a college sophomore at the time.

I cannot measure how many hours of sleep I've lost.

Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November alongside Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs after prosecutors spent weeks making the case that Rhodes and his extremist group followers had plotted an armed rebellion to keep Biden, a Democrat, out of the White House in favor of Trump, a Republican.

Rhodes, who didn't go inside the Capitol, took the witness stand at trial and told jurors that there was never any plan to attack the Capitol and that his followers who did went rogue.

Meggs will also be sentenced on Thursday, followed by two Oath Keepers on Friday who were acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other crimes. Another four Oath Keepers convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial in January will be sentenced next week.

Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for the Oath Keepers besides Rhodes.

The judge canceled the sentencing scheduled this week for one defendant, Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia, as he weighs whether to overturn the jury's guilty verdict on obstruction and a documents tampering charge.

Prosecutors are urging the judge to apply enhanced penalties for terrorism, arguing the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through intimidation or coercion.

Judges have so far rejected the Justice Department's request to apply the so-called terrorism enhancement in the handful of Jan. 6 cases it has sought it in so far, but the Oath Keepers case is unlike any others that have reached sentencing to date.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a week to over 14 years.

The sentences for the Oath Keepers may signal how much time prosecutors will seek for leaders of another far-right group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial this month. Those defendants include former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is perhaps the most high-profile person charged in the sprawling Jan. 6 investigation. The Proud Boys are scheduled to be sentenced in August and September.

Over seven weeks of testimony, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to defend Trump, discussed the prospect of a bloody civil war and warned that the Oath Keepers may have to rise up in insurrection to defeat Biden if Trump didn't act.

On Jan. 6, Rhodes' followers shouldered their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. The Oath Keepers had stashed weapons at a Virginia hotel for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if needed. The weapons were never deployed.

Rhodes' lawyers are urging the judge to sentence him to the roughly 16 months behind bars he has already served since his January 2022 arrest.

In court papers filed this month, Rhodes' attorneys argued that all of Rhodes' writings and statements were protected political speech.

None of his protected speech incited or encouraged imminent violent or unlawful acts, nor were any likely to occur as a result of his speech, they wrote. (AP)

VM
Mumbai, May 24 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said his party will join other opposition parties in boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

President Droupadi Murmu is the head of Parliament, and the Narendra Modi government was ignoring her by not inviting her to the function on May 28, he told reporters here.

All opposition leaders are boycotting the event as the government has not invited the president, an adivasi woman, Raut said.

Both the prime minister and the president can remain present for the event, he said

The Sena (UBT) leader also reiterated his stand that there was no need for a new Parliament building in the first place, as the existing one could have lasted for another 100 years.
Indore, May 24 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday announced that the government would disclose the identity of those persons, who bail out drug peddlers, by displaying their names on boards in their localities.

The exercise will begin from Indore, he said.

Talking to reporters here, Mishra said, "During a meeting of police officers with public representatives, it was decided that the names of people who deposit the surety (bail out) for the drug peddlers, will be made public by putting up boards in their localities. The first phase will start from Indore."

In the next phase of this campaign, displaying the names of the associates of the drug peddlers on such boards will be considered, he said.

Mishra is the minister in-charge of Indore district, where cases of drug-related crimes are being reported.

In the meeting of the District Planning Committee, it has been decided on the proposal of Indore Development Authority that the auditorium being constructed in the city's Rajendra Nagar area will be named after late singing legend Lata Mangeshkar.

Mangeshkar was born on September 28,1929 in Indore and breathed her last on February 6, 2022 in Mumbai.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday hit out at the central government, asking that if the government wanted to withdraw the Rs 2,000 currency note, why was it introduced in the first place.

Reacting to the statement, Mishra said, "It is just like asking why a person was born if he had to die."
Mumbai, May 24 (PTI) Amid the boycott call by 19 parties of the upcoming inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday said this boycott is disrespectful not only to the citizens but to the Constitution as well.

Nineteen opposition parties, including the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), announced boycott of the inauguration ceremony scheduled to be held on May 28. They insisted that the building should be inaugurated by the president and not the prime minister.

In a statement, Narwekar said the new Parliament House is a symbol of freedom, progress and democracy in India.

"It reflects the work of our leaders and citizens. The new Parliament House is more than bricks and stones, it is a promise of this government and every government hereof that we shall protect India, its citizens and the Constitution," he said.

The opposition leaders must set aside these petty political attempts at gaining attention and come together as one country. It is their moral and constitutional responsibility to do so, he said.

"Boycotting the inaugural event of the new Parliament House is disrespectful not only to the citizens, but to the Constitution as well," he said.

Narwekar said he hopes wisdom will prevail and members of the opposition parties will attend the event for the sake of the country and their constituents.
Chandigarh, May 24 (PTI) The BJP government has made unprecedented strides in addressing the water shortage in southern Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday.

"In the last eight-and-a-half years, the state government has made unprecedented efforts to provide water to tailend areas in southern Haryana and eliminate the water crisis there," a statement quoted Khattar as saying.

Addressing a 'Jan Samvad' programme at Balaha Kalan village in Mahehdragarh district, Khattar said the state government has worked hard to ensure that water reaches every Haryana village.

The previous lift irrigation system was upgraded at a cost of Rs 143 crore to provide water from the Yamuna to southern Haryana, he said.

As a result, water supply has reached 300 tailend areas in the state, said Khattar, who is on a three-day visit to Mahendragarh.

Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh and Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav were also present at the 'Jan Samvad', the fifth such programme this year.

Khattar shared the government's plan to build a four-kilometre canal with the villagers.

It will be possible only if the villagers of Goad, Balaha Kalan and Khurd agree on making land available, he added.

The chief minister said the government is focused on improving health and educational facilities.

A new medical college is being built in the Khariyawas village and Mahendragarh will also get one by next year, Khattar said.

A logistics centre will also be established in Mahendragarh's Basirpur and a new industrial sector will be developed in Khudana village, creating possibilities for jobs, he said.

Inaugurating a primary health centre built at a cost of Rs 5.31 crore, Khattar said it will enable better health services delivery for the residents of Balaha Kalan and surrounding areas.

The chief minister also said a special campaign for drug prevention should be initiated in Mahendragarh and called on police to take action against those involved in illegal drugs trade.
NAIROBI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Wednesday launched its first charging station for public electric buses in an effort to boost the country's transition toward green mobility.

Jit Bhattacharya, CEO of BasiGo, a Kenyan startup, said the high-power DC fast charging station which has the capacity to charge six electric buses simultaneously was developed with the support of state-owned power utility, Kenya Power.

"The charging station is the first to be connected to Kenya's new e-mobility tariff that was approved in March this year that provides low-cost power for electric vehicle charging during night-time hours when the country has a surplus of renewable energy supply," Bhattacharya said.

Joseph Siror, managing director and CEO of Kenya Power, said the transport sector in the country currently contributes to 12 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

"Emissions of the transport sector are projected to rise to 17 percent in 2030, and in order to combat this trend, the e-mobility sector ought to be supported to grow and take off in the country," he added. 
Lucknow, May 24 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has given liberty to the CBI for carrying out investigation in the alleged illegal possession of canal land by a private developer in Ahimamau area of the state capital.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court said the CBI does need any permission from any authority for undertaking the probe.

The bench of justice Dinesh Kumar Singh fixed July 6 as the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the court was apprised that the land of a canal was illegally occupied by Ansal properties in connivance with state government officials and the Lucknow Development Authority.

A portion of it was allegedly given to the City Montessori School where a grand building was raised. The bench had directed the CBI to conduct preliminary enquiry into the matter.
Noida, May 24 (PTI) A doctor working with a government hospital in Greater Noida was found dead at his official residence, police said on Wednesday suspecting it to be a case of suicide.

The doctor, aged around 32 years, hailed from Lucknow and worked at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida, they said.

His body was found hanging from a noose at his residence in the Gautam Buddh University around 10 pm Tuesday, a police spokesperson said.

"Upon receiving the information, officials of the local Ecotech 1 police station and the forensic department were sent to the spot. The family members of the doctor were also informed and they have reached Greater Noida," the police spokesperson said.

It is suspected that the doctor was grappled with tension, even as a local police official told PTI that they have found no suicide note from the spot.

The body was sent for post-mortem and then handed over to the family, the official said.

Further legal proceedings in the case are being carried out, the police added.

Meanwhile, GIMS in a statement said the deceased doctor worked in the radiology department of the state-run hospital and condoled the death.

"There is a wave of mourning in the institute due to his sudden demise," the GIMS said.
Amritsar, May 24 (PTI) A villager was shot dead by four unidentified people in a village in the Sathiala village, 40 kilometers away from here, on Wednesday, police said.

The assailants pumped 15 to 20 bullets into Jarnail Singh, Superintendent of Police Jugraj Singh said.

Jarnail, an agriculturalist, was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, police said.

The entire episode was captured on CCTV cameras.

The SP said police have procured vital clues about the assailants.

Singh said various police teams have been dispatched and asserted that the assailants would soon be arrested.
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.

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President Joe Bidens decision to allow allies to train Ukrainian forces on how to operate F-16 fighter jets  and eventually to provide the aircraft themselves  seemed like an abrupt change in position but was in fact one that came after months of internal debate and quiet talks with allies.

Biden announced during last weeks Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that the U.S. would join the F-16 coalition. His green light came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent months pressing the West to provide his forces with American-made jets as he tries to repel Russias now 15-month-old grinding invasion.

Long shadowing the administrations calculation were worries that such a move could escalate tensions with Russia. U.S. officials also argued that learning to fly and logistically support the advanced F-16 would be difficult and time consuming.

But over the past three months, administration officials shifted toward the view that it was time to provide Ukraines pilots with the training and aircraft needed for the countrys long-term security needs, according to three officials familiar with the deliberations who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Still, the change in Bidens position seemed rather sudden.

In February, Biden was insistent in an interview with ABCs David Muir that Ukraine doesnt need F-16s now and that I am ruling it out for now. And in March, a top Pentagon policy official, Colin Kahl, told U.S. lawmakers that even if the president approved F-16s for Ukraine, it could take as long as two years to get Ukrainian pilots trained and equipped.

But as the administration was publicly playing down the prospect of F-16s for Ukraine in the near term, an internal debate was heating up.

Quiet White House discussions stepped up in February, around the time that Biden visited Ukraine and Poland, according to the U.S. officials.

Following the trip, discussions that included senior White House National Security Council, Pentagon and State Department officials began on the pros and cons and the details of how such a transfer might work, officials said. Administration officials also got deeper into consultations with allies.

In April, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin heard from defense leaders from allied countries during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group who were looking for U.S. permission to train the Ukrainians on F-16s, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Austin raised the matter during the NSC policy discussions and there was agreement that it was time to start training.

Austin also raised the issue with Biden before the G7 summit with a recommendation to proceed with approving allies to train the Ukrainians and transfer the aircraft, the department official said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also was a strong advocate for pushing forward with the plan during the U.S. policy talks and conveying to Biden increasing European urgency on the issue, officials said.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to London on May 8 for talks with British, French and German allies on Ukraine, and F-16s were high on the agenda. They got into the nitty gritty on how to go about provide training and which countries might be willing to transfer jets to Ukraine. It was agreed that the focus would be on training first, according to one of the officials.

Sullivan, before leaving London, spoke by phone with his counterparts from the Netherlands and Poland, both countries that have F-16s and would be essential to any efforts to provide Ukraine jets for any future use. Denmark also could potentially provide the jets, the official added.

Biden and Sullivan discussed how the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima could provide a good opportunity for him to make the case to key allies on the administrations shifting stance on fighter jets.

They also discussed Biden backing allies providing jets to Ukraine  a line he had previously appeared not to want to cross out of concern that it could draw the West into what could be seen as direct confrontation with Moscow.

Biden, in private talks with fellow G7 leaders on Friday, confirmed that the U.S. would get behind a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 and that as things went on, they would work together on who would provide them and how many would be sent.

State, Pentagon and NSC officials are now developing the training plan and when, where and how to deliver F-16s to Ukraine as part of the long-term security effort, the official said.

U.S. officials say it will take several months to iron out details, but the U.S. Air Force has quietly determined that the actual training could realistically be done in about four months. The Air Force based the far shorter estimate on a visit by two Ukrainian pilots to a U.S. air base in March, where they got to learn about the F-16 and fly simulators. The training, officials say, would take place in Europe.

White House officials have bristled at the notion that Bidens decision amounted to a sea change.

The administration had been focused on providing Ukraine with weapons  including air defense systems, armored vehicles, bridging equipment and artillery  that were needed for a coming counteroffensive. There also were concerns that sending F-16s would eat up a significant portion of the money allocated for Ukraine.

What changed, the official added, is that other allies got to a point where they were willing to provide their own jets as part of a U.S.-based coalition.

The Biden administration is still examining whether it will directly provide its own F-16s to Ukraine. Regardless, it needed buy-in from other allies because the U.S. wouldnt be able to provide the full fleet of jets Zelenskyy says is needed.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the F-16 will give Ukraine a key capability for the long term but it wont be a game changer.

Kendall told a gathering of reporters on Monday there has been an awareness that we needed to go there at some point, but we didnt have a sense of urgency about this. I think were at a reasonable place to make that decision now.

Another potential wrinkle in the F-16 conversation involves Turkey.

Turkey wants to buy 40 new F-16s from the U.S., but some in Congress oppose the sale until Turkey approves NATO membership for Sweden, which applied to join the alliance in the aftermath of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has objected to Swedens perceived support of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the leftist extremist group DHKP-C and followers of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara claims was behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Erdogan is facing opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff election on Sunday. If Erdogan wins, as expected, White House officials are increasingly hopeful that the Turkish leader will withdraw his opposition to Swedens membership, according to the U.S. official.

If Erdogan drops opposition to Sweden joining NATO, it could lead to Turkey getting its long desired F-16s and may eventually add to the number of older F-16s in circulation, which could benefit Ukraine.

(AP)




Authorities say theyve foiled an elderly businessmans plan to escape a Florida jail and return to France where he had previously fled in an attempt to avoid child exploitation charges.

A tip from outside the jail sparked a two-month investigation of John Manchec, 78, and people he had enlisted in his escape plan, Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said Monday during a news conference.

Essentially, the plan comes down to this, Sheriff Flowers said. These folks that are on the outside are going to wait until Manchec has a doctors visit, and they are going to take out our corrections staff while hes out at the medical facility.

The plan called for Manchecs employees to pepper-spray prison guards and take him to his private plane in nearby Fort Pierce, so that he could fly to France, Flowers said.

Manchec is a multimillionaire with dual U.S. and French citizenship, Flowers said.

Manchec was arrested in 2014 on 49 child pornography charges. Flowers said he left the country to avoid prosecution after posting a nearly $500,000 bond, and moved to his medieval estate in southern France, the Chateau Pechrigal.

France denied U.S. attempts to extradite him, but he was even but he was eventually arrested in the Dominican Republic in 2020, and returned to Florida, according to the sheriff.

Manchec requested permission to leave jail in January, saying he suffered from chronic medical conditions, and because he broke his hip and wrist late last year, the sheriff said. The request was denied.

The escape plot centered on an April 12 medical appointment, Flowers said. But at least one of the people involved tipped off law enforcement, allowing investigators to unravel the plot.

An examination of Manchecs jail phone records discovered he used the code words paint job while talking with his employees about the plot.

They were to prepare his plane, his 140-foot (42-meter) yacht, a black utility van and other vehicles purchased just for the escape attempt, Flowers said. Manchec even paid the bail for a cellmate, and then allowed them to live in his home. That person helped prepare for the escape, down to packing a suitcase, and his favorite liquor, the sheriff said.

Flowers said the plan was to go back to his castle in France and never have to face the charges.

Manchec remains in the Indian River County Jail, with additional charges related to the escape. Two inmates and two employees were also arrested and charged with conspiracy in the escape plot. A lawyer listed on Manchecs court records did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the new charges.

Manchec was originally arrested in December 2014, following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

(AP)




A Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported.

Gershkovich, a 31-year-old American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the U.S. government have denied the charges.

Tuesdays pre-trial hearing wasnt announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.

Russian authorities havent detailed what  if any  evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.

Various legal proceedings have been closed to the media. No details immediately emerged about whether Gershkovich or U.S. Embassy representatives attended Tuesdays hearing or what was said. Tass said the session was closed because the reporter was accused of possession of secret materials.

One Russian news agency, Interfax, quoted a court official as saying Gershkovichs parents  themselves Soviet emigres living in New Jersey  were visiting Moscow and had been admitted to the court building but not into Tuesdays hearing.

Gershkovich is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges. His arrest rattled journalists in the country and drew outrage in the West.

The U.S. government has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release. Hes being held in Moscows Lefortovo prison. U.S. Embassy officials were allowed at least one prison visit to Gershkovich since his arrest in Yekaterinburg on March 29, but Russian authorities have denied permission for other visits.

In a statement after Tuesdays hearing, the Wall Street Journal said: While we expected there would be no change to Evans wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release.

(AP)




Living in New York City, working full time and without a car, Jessica Ray and her husband have come to rely on deliveries of food and just about everything else for their home. It has meant more free time on weekends with their young son, rather than standing in line for toilet paper or dragging heavy bags of dog food back to their apartment.

I dont even know where to buy dog food, said Jessica Ray of the specialty food she buys for the familys aging dog.

There are millions of families like the Rays who have swapped store visits for doorstep deliveries in recent years, meaning that contentious labor negotiations now underway at UPS could become vastly more disruptive than the last time it happened in 1997, when a scrappy upstart called Amazon.com became a public company.

UPS delivers millions more packages every day than it did just five years ago and its 350,000 unionized workers, represented by the Teamsters, still seethe about a contract they feel was forced on them in 2018.

In an environment of energized labor movements and lingering resentment among UPS workers, the Teamsters are expected to dig in, with the potential to cow a major logistical force in the U.S.

The 24 million packages UPS ships on an average day amounts to about a quarter of all U.S. parcel volume, according to the global shipping and logistics firm Pitney Bowes, or as UPS puts it, the equivalent of about 6% of nations gross domestic product.

Higher prices and long wait times are all but certain if there is an impasse.

Somethings got to give, said Thomas Goldsby, logistics chairman in the Supply Chain Management Department at the University of Tennessee. The python cant swallow the alligator, and thats going to be felt by all of us.

In other words, brace yourself for Supply Chain Breakdown: The Sequel.

In the second half of 2021, the phrase global supply chain began to enter casual conversations as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses struggled to get what they needed, raising prices and wait times. Automakers held vehicles just off the assembly line because they didnt have all the parts.

Some of those problems still linger and a strike at UPS threatens to extend the suffering.

Those who have come to rely on doorstep deliveries for the basic may have to rethink weekly schedules.

We finally reached a point where we finally feel pretty good about it, Ray said. We can take a Saturday afternoon and do a fun family activity and not feel the burden of making everything work for the day-to-day functioning of our household.

UPS workers feel they have played a part in the transformation of how Americans shop since the last contract was ratified in 2018, while helping to make UPS a much more valuable company.

Annual profits at UPS in the past two years are close to three times what they were before the pandemic. The Atlanta company returned about $8.6 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks in 2022, and forecasts another $8.4 billion for shareholders this year.

The Teamsters say frontline UPS workers deserve some of that windfall.

Our members worked really hard over the pandemic, said Teamsters spokesperson Kara Denize. They need to see their fair share.

Union members rejected the contract they were offered in 2018, but it was pushed through by union leadership based on a technicality. The acrimony over the current contract was so fierce that last year workers rejected a candidate to lead the Teamsters favored by longtime union head James Hoffa, instead choosing the more combative Sean OBrien.

OBrien went on a nationwide tour of local Teamsters shops preparing frontline workers ahead of negotiations.

In addition to addressing part-time pay, and what workers say is excessive overtime, the union wants to eliminate a contract provision that created two separate hierarchies of workers with different pay scales, hours and benefits. Driver safety, particularly the lack of air conditioning in delivery trucks, is also in the mix.

A win at UPS could have implications for the organized labor outside the company.

Teamsters are attempting to organize Amazon workers and dozens of company delivery drivers and dispatchers in California joined the union last month.

This has just huge implications for the entire labor movement in the United States, said John Logan, the director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, referring to labor talks at UPS. Theres greater assertiveness and militancy on the part of a lot of young labor activists and some sectors of the labor establishment. Sean OBrien is representative of that.

When dozens of UPS locals met with Teamsters leadership early this year, OBrien delivered a message of urgency.

Were going into these negotiations with a clear message to UPS that were not going past August 1, OBrien told the gathering.

It would be the first work stoppage since a walkout by 185,000 workers crippled the company a quarter century ago.

UPS CEO Carol Tome has remained optimistic publicly, telling investors recently that the company and the Teamsters were not far apart on major issues.

While we expect to hear a great deal of noise during the negotiation, I remain confident that a win-win-win contract is very achievable and that UPS and the Teamsters will reach agreement by the end of July, Tome said.

If Tome is wrong, Americans may need to put aside more time to shop like they used to do.

It has the potential to be significantly impactful, Ray said. My husband and I have invested a lot in figuring out how to remove the burden of just making sure we always have toilet paper.

(AP)




Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk on Wednesday, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.

DeSantis, who has long been seen as Donald Trumps leading rival for the Republican nomination, will reveal his plans in an audio conversation with the owner of Twitter, according to the two people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss the announcement publicly.

The 44-year-old Republican governor, who has declared a war on woke, liberal policies, will enter a crowded Republican presidential field as the GOP decides who to run against Democratic President Joe Biden. DeSantis has cast himself as a younger and more electable version of Trump.

In choosing Twitter, DeSantis is taking a page out of the playbook that helped turn businessman-TV celebrity Trump into a political star.

The timing of DeSantis long-expected announcement has been shrouded, with various iterations of plans being leaked over the past few days. Some close to him suspected that he was providing conflicting information about the timing and location to root out leakers. Others believe he changed his initial preparations after news reports came out about them.

Musk, speaking at The Wall Street Journals CEO Council Summit event in London on Tuesday, seemed to confirm the Wednesday event, saying DeSantis would be making quite an announcement on Twitter the next day. The first time something like this is happening on social media, he said, with live questions and answers.

He added that he is not endorsing any particular candidate at this time.

While it is common for campaigns to publicize their announcements in videos shared on social media, it is far more unusual  and perhaps unprecedented  to hold a campaign announcement in a live social media forum.

Big if true DeSantis wife, Casey, posted Tuesday on Twitter, linking to a Fox News story on the announcement and adding a smiley face.

Earlier Tuesday, the Florida governor gave no hints of his 2024 plans during a short Cabinet meeting in Tallahassee where he discussed state business with agency heads. The media was barred from covering a subsequent bill signing ceremony.

DeSantis has emerged as a national star in Republican politics as an unapologetic leader on controversial issues.

The governor sent dozens of immigrants from Texas  by way of Florida to a small island off the Massachusetts coast to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the Southern border. He signed and then expanded a Parental Rights in Education bill which bans instruction or classroom discussion age-inappropriate issues in Florida public schools for all grades.

More recently, he signed a law banning abortions at six weeks. And he removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Floridas new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

Trumps allies lashed out Tuesday at DeSantiss plan.

This is one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history. The only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter, is DeSantis after party at the uber elite Four Seasons resort in Miami, said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trumps super PAC.

In choosing to announce with Musk, DeSantis is linking his presidential announcement to one of the worlds richest men, who has emerged as a conservative cult hero of sorts.

Since buying Twitter last October, Musk has reinstated the accounts of prominent Republicans including Trump and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who had been removed. Popular conservative broadcasters have flocked to Twitter, with ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the podcast hosts of The Daily Wire announcing they will start streaming on the platform.

Twitter was once Trumps most important megaphone  one he used to dominate his rivals in the 2016 primary and to command the news cycle for years. Trump was barred from the platform after Jan. 6, 2021. Though his access was reinstated shortly after Musk took over, he has yet to tweet.

(AP)




A judge on Monday dismissed the only remaining legal claim in Republican Kari Lakes challenge of her loss in last years race for Arizona governor, affirming the election of Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter A. Thompson said Lake failed to prove her claim that Maricopa County did not verify signatures on mail ballots as required by law.

Lake was among the most vocal of last years Republican candidates promoting former President Donald Trumps election lies, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. She has built a loyal following among Trump supporters and is openly considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Kyrsten Sinema, an independent and former Democrat. Lake is also often mentioned as a potential vice presidential pick for Trump.

While most other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake did not. She has touted her legal battle in fundraising appeals and speeches around the country.

Lake did not immediately comment on the ruling.

She filed suit after losing to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes, asking the courts to install her as governor or order a new election. Thompson dismissed the case, but the Arizona Supreme Court revived a claim that challenges how signature verification procedures were used on early ballots in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the states voters. County officials had defended the signature verification efforts and said they had nothing to hide.

Lakes signature verification claim was the subject of a three-day trial. Her lawyers argued that there was evidence that lower-level screeners who found inconsistencies in signatures ran them up the chain of command, where they were neglected by higher level verifiers.

She did not contest whether voters signatures on ballot envelopes matched those in their voting records.

The former TV anchor faced a high bar in proving not only her allegation over signature verification efforts but also that it affected the outcome of her race.

Thompson, who was appointed to the bench by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, said she did not meet that high bar.

The evidence the Court received does not support Plaintiffs remaining claim, he wrote.

Earlier in her lawsuit, Lake had focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines were backed up in some areas amid the confusion. Lake alleged ballot printer problems were the result of intentional misconduct.

County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted because those affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at election headquarters.

In mid-February, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected Lakes assertions, concluding she presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling places were unable to vote.

The following month, the state Supreme Court declined to hear nearly all of Lakes appeal, saying there was no evidence to support her claim that more than 35,000 ballots were added to vote totals.

Earlier this month, the court sanctioned Lakes lawyers $2,000 for making false statements when saying that more than 35,000 ballots had been improperly added to the total count.

(AP)
MOGADISHU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Severe drought, recurrent conflict and devastating floods have forced more than 1 million people in Somalia to flee their homes in just 130 days, two aid agencies said Wednesday.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said the record rate of displacement in Somalia in less than five months is very alarming.

The data recorded by the UNHCR and NRC show that conflict was among the main causes of displacement between Jan. 1 and May 10, while more than 408,000 people were displaced by floods sweeping across their villages and another 312,000 people were displaced by ravaging drought.

UNHCR Representative in Somalia Magatte Guisse said the humanitarian needs in Somalia continue to grow as a result of displacements.

"We are working together with humanitarian agencies to respond as best we can, but with new displacement climbing by the day, the needs are overwhelming," Guisse said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. "It's a great tragedy to witness the impact on Somalia's most vulnerable. They are the least responsible for the conflict and the climate crisis but are the hardest hit."

According to the two agencies, most of the displaced fled to the regions of Hiran in central Somalia and Gedo, in southern Somalia.

NRC Somalia Country Director Mohamed Abdi said these are alarming figures of some of the most vulnerable people forced to abandon the little that they had to head for the unknown. "With 1 million people displaced already in less than five months, we can only fear the worst in the coming months as all the ingredients of this catastrophe are boiling in Somalia," Abdi said.

The two agencies said many of those forced to flee are arriving in overcrowded urban areas and sites already hosting internally displaced people, placing immense strain on already overstretched resources and exposing vulnerable people to increasing protection risks such as evictions.

Over 3.8 million people are now displaced in Somalia, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation where some 6.7 million people are struggling to meet their food needs. According to the UN, more than half a million Somali children are severely malnourished, but aid agencies have so far received only 22 percent of the resources required to deliver much-needed assistance this year. 




In a dramatic incident in Queens on Tuesday, multiple students were successfully rescued after a raging fire consumed an entire school bus. The authorities were alerted to the scene at 65-44 Saunders Street in Rego Park when they received a distress call around 3:45 p.m., reporting several vehicles on fire.

Approximately six units and 30 firefighters promptly responded to the emergency, working diligently to extinguish the fire  which had spread to numerous vehicles  and ensure the safety of all involved.

According to officials from the FDNY, the school bus carried six students, all of whom attended a Jewish private school in Fresh Meadows. The heroic bus driver, identified as Manny, swiftly executed the evacuation plan, successfully removing the students from the bus before the situation escalated further.

FDNY Battalion Chief Brian Hanrahan commended the bus driver, stating, The bus driver did a great job, again there were six kids still on the bus and as soon as ignited was able to get them off quickly and get them safe and out of the way, and none of the kids were hurt. The swift and efficient response by the bus driver ensured the students safety and prevented any injuries.

Although the exact cause of the blaze is yet to be determined, initial assessments suggest that the fire originated from the buss engine. Further investigations will be conducted to ascertain the precise circumstances leading to the ignition.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about 20% of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone have cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.

Russias invasion goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Prigozhin also said the Kremlins forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims, some of which he later backtracked on.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition and threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

He also said in Tuesdays interview it was possible that Kyivs anticipated counteroffensive in coming weeks, given continued Western support, might push Russian forces out of southern and eastern Ukraine as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack, he said. They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore, we need to prepare for a hard war.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting is continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said that it completely captured the devastated city.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, and have attained unspecified successes on the citys outskirts. He gave no further details.

Ukrainian officials have insisted the battle for Bakhmut isnt over.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians have a plan to push the Russians out of all occupied territory.

But now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut, we need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid in the area from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post. He said that no one had been hurt, but unspecified administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Russia said the previous day that it beat back one of wars most serious cross-border attacks, with the Defense Ministry saying that more than 70 attackers were killed in a battle in the Belgorod region that lasted around 24 hours. It made no mention of any Russian casualties.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that local troops, airstrikes and artillery routed the attackers.

Twelve local civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said, and an older woman died during an evacuation.

Details of the incident in the rural region, lying about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the front lines of the almost 15-month war, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.

The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spillover from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

At least three civilians died and 18 others were wounded in Ukraine on Tuesday and overnight, the Ukrainian presidential office reported Wednesday, including in the southern Kherson region where two elderly people died in air strikes.

(AP)




The head of Irans nuclear program insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any new activities. His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehrans new underground tunnel system near a nuclear enrichment facility.

The AP outlined this week how deep inside a mountain, the new tunnels near the Natanz facility are likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites.

The report sparked wider conversation across the Middle East about the construction, with Israels national security adviser saying Tuesday the site would not be immune from attack even if its depth put it out of range of American airstrikes.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to describe the interest in the site as a case of Israel feeling pressured.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly, Eslami said, using an acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA did not respond to questions from the AP about the construction at Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.

Satellite photographs of the piles of dirt from the digging and experts who spoke to the AP suggest the new tunnels will be between between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) deep.

Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the U.S. and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy remains stalled as it has for months over Irans tattered nuclear deal, sabotage attacks may resume.

Iran says the new construction will replace an above-ground centrifuge manufacturing center at Natanz struck by an explosion and fire in July 2020. Tehran blamed the incident on Israel, long suspected of running sabotage campaigns against its program.

(AP)




Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former presidents handling of classified documents shows signs of winding down.

In the letter, which Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty asserted that Trump is being treated unfairly and asked for a meeting to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors. The language echoed some of Trumps own complaints in recent months about the investigations being led by special counsel Jack Smith.

It was not immediately clear what specifically prompted the letter, but the yearlong documents probe appears to be nearing an end. Agents and prosecutors have interviewed a broad cross-section of witnesses, including attorneys for Trump, former White House officials and other close aides.

The investigation is seeking to determine whether Trump illegally retained hundreds of classified documents taken with him from the White House to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, after the end of his tenure and whether he sought to obstruct government efforts to get the records back.

It is not uncommon for defense lawyers to seek meetings with senior Justice Department officials to argue against potential indictments of their clients, though it is unusual for such meetings to include the attorney general.

Special counsels enjoy broad autonomy within the Justice Department, and officials have repeatedly signaled that the recommendation on whether to pursue charges against Trump or anyone else in the investigation belongs with Smith and his team. Garland did not move once to overrule any of the actions taken in the recently concluded probe by another special counsel, John Durham, into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016.

Trumps lawyers and a Trump spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

In addition to the documents investigation, Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.

(AP)




During a recent concert in Berlin, Germany, Roger Waters  the Pink Floyd rockstar infamous for being anti-Israel and arguably antisemitic  caused controversy by donning an SS officers uniform and drawing a comparison between Nazi victim Anne Frank and Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was erroneously shot by IDF forces during an anti-terrorist raid.

At the beginning of his show, Waters displayed a message saying, on a matter of public interest: a court in Frankfurt has ruled that I am not an antisemite, and Just to be clear, I condemn antisemitism unreservedly.

He then went on to walk, talk, and act like an anti-Semite, undermining the very message he insisted on just moments earlier.

Once the show began, a crucific-shaped screen hung above the stage with speech bubbles on it reading, They must think were [expletive] stupid! and Who do you mean by they?

Them, up there in the penthouse, the [expletive] oligarchy, the speech bubbles continued. Ah, you mean the powers that be.

Throughout the remainder of the show, Waters displayed humanoid pigs and sleazy businessmen who were pulling the strings.

He then displayed Abu Aklehs name right before Anne Frank, insinuating that Aklehs death is somehow comparable to Franks.

Afterwards, the screen said they are brutal because they want to crush our resistance and keep ruling the world.

Following a break, Waters made a striking entrance on stage adorned in an SS uniform, accompanied by an inflatable pig featuring illuminated eyes, adorned with words, symbols, and banners reminiscent of the Third Reich style. Notably, instead of a swastika, the banners displayed crossed hammers. To further captivate the audience, Waters simulated firing a fake machine gun towards them.

Shame on Frankfurt authorities and Mercedes Benz arena in Berlin  a place from where Jews were deported by the Nazis  for providing antisemite #RogerWaters this venue for his concert with no concern/care for the Jewish community, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




I was surprised that BJX now has close to fifty public high school students from Murrow, Madison, Midwood and Brooklyn Tech attending weekly Torah classes. Eight young men in public high school are putting on Tefillin each morning. Clearly, unbeknownst to many Brooklyn residents, there is a miraculous renaissance taking place. This past Shabbos, BJX celebrated the Aufruf of a public high school graduate from Edward R. Murrow, who is now on fire with his Yiddishkeit. I wondered, can another community or kiruv organization duplicate these numerous unexpected spiritual gains? What is hidden behind the success of the BJX Kiruv movement? Why are secular Jews, astoundingly, coming back?

I decided to visit BJX for a Shabbos- and I picked the right one! While this past Shabbos should have been like any other in Flatbush, it was truly exceptional. For me, it was personally, indescribable being inside the holy walls of the BJX Kiruv Beis Midrash. I was overjoyed to bear witness to such incredible (and unexpected) Yiddishe growth in Flatbush. On Shabbos morning, the Beis Medrash was filled with young men, graduates from the Edward R Murrow public high school located just blocks away, on Avenue L and East 17th street.

A few years back, these men were your typical public-school students. I imagine it would have been hard to identify them as Jewish. They ate non-kosher, didnt keep Shabbos- they lived a non-Jewish lifestyle. These same young men now stood in BJX, adorned in Shabbos attire, celebrating the Aufruf of their classmate who not only keeps Shabbos today, but even made a Siyum on an entire Masechta! The Rav, Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer delivered a heartfelt and beautiful Shabbos drasha scintillating with Torah depth and sophistication- with a very poignant message for the Choson and his friends about creating a successful marriage. The Rav extolled the Chosons sacrifice to go against the tide and become observant. He applauded his commitment to build a Torah home. Famous Chazan, Reb Shelly Lang, magnificently called up the Chosson for Maftir. It was truly impressive, hearing this young man recite the Birchos HaTorah and then the Haftorah Berachos. His voice rang with sincerity and Ahavas haTorah. Then it struck me- while that this may be unique in Flatbush -this isnt unique in BJX. I learned that almost every Shabbos a new recruit receives his first Aliyah, or first Hagbah or first Pesicha. I then began to wonder how does this kind of grand and exquisite renewal of becoming a Baal Teshuvah happen? Why are people changing their lives here?

To the onlooker it appears unexpected and chutz mederech hatevah  because our students come from secular parents and are attending public school and secular colleges- but once you invest your full heart and spiritual kochos into them, you experience the dividends and watch them climb in their level of observance, said Rabbi Moshe Fingerer, Director of BJX. BJX energizes me and pushes me to reach and expand beyond my current beliefs and opinions, Michael, a Brooklyn College student, told me. Basically, I learned that I make my life more meaningful, moment by moment, he shared.

I was impressed by all these young individuals fired up for Yiddishkeit. I continued to wonder, how they learned how to daven and become Shomer Shabbos? Does BJX have a formula that generates a spiritual awakening among secular public high school students and college students? How did a formerly unaffiliated young secular professional who was also davening that Shabbos in BJX begin his spiritual ascent? Sam, who was not raised religious said, When Rabbi Fingerer talks, you just declutterer mentally and feel special in his presence. You feel that he is speaking to your heart. Brian had his first Aliyah. Its a lifestyle choice that imbues you with fulfillment, he said.

Just as a magnet draws iron, BJX draws Neshamos closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. With great Mesiras Nefesh and Ahavas Yisroel, they are bringing more and more Jews of all backgrounds closer to Yiddishkeit. Those young men who went off the derech, now have a place where they feel nurtured and loved.

Dov, a middle aged, frum mispallel explained why he regularly davens in BJX, Happiness is finding purpose where you already are. When you walk into BJX, you find yourself  and by extension your happiness. Theres a freshness and excitement for davening and Mitzvos that I havent seen anyhwhere else.

As a result of our outreach efforts to the public schools and colleges, we Baruch Hashem have local public high school students beginning Torah classes, college students eager to join us for Shabbos, and young professionals seriously exploring their heritage, said Rabbi Moshe Fingerer.

BJX is a great storehouse of treasures and is a blessing for the Flatbush community- and beyond. Torah quenches the thirst that underlies all thirst. It was an honor and inspiration to spend Shabbos with BJX in Flatbush.




In honor of Yom Yerushalayim last week, the IDF Archives at the Defense Ministry published rare photos of the battles to liberate Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, 56 years ago.

In 1967, Israel was attacked by its neighbors, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and miraculously overpowered all three powerful countries in just six days.

On June 7, after fierce battles with Jordanian soldiers, Israeli paratroopers liberated the Old City of Jerusalem and gained control of Har HaBayis and the Kosel. The war ended on June 10, after Israel conquered the Golan Heights.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




IDF Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi said on Tuesday that negative developments in Irans nuclear program could lead Israel to attack the Islamic Republic.

Iran has made more progress in enriching uranium than ever before, Halevi said at a conference of the Institute for Policy and Strategy of Reichman University. Were also closely examining their other pathways to nuclear capability. Without going into details, there are possible negative developments on the horizon that could prompt action. We have the capabilities to do so and other countries also have the capabilities.

We have the ability to harm Iran. Were not indifferent to what Iran is trying to build around us and it is difficult for Iran to be indifferent to the line we are taking.

Halevi also spoke about Hezbollah, saying: Hezbollah is very deterred from an all-out war against Israel but it thinks it understands how we think. This thought brings it to brazenly challenge us in scenarios where it will not lead to war. I see this as a good way to create surprises if necessary.

We have good preparedness in the northern arena but a campaign will be difficult on the homefront. Well know how to deal with it but it will be difficult. It will be seven times harder for Lebanon, and even more so for Hezbollah.

Moving on to Syria, Halevi said: Iran uses Syria as a potential war zone with Israel. We are not indifferent to this. I would remind Bashar al-Assad of one very interesting fact: the countries that stayed close to Iran failed. If he wants to rebuild after the civil war, let him take that into account.

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi also spoke at the conference, addressing the reports on Monday that Iran is building a new underground nuclear facility that is likely beyond the range of US bunker-buster bombs.

Were aware of the Iranians attempt to move their facilities underground, Hanegbi said. This limits the ability to attack  but there is no place that cannot be reached in an attack.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Israels defense minister said on Monday that the current government has greatly increased the number of strikes on Iranian targets since taking office late last year.

Yoav Gallant did not provide an exact number of airstrikes. But the address, delivered at a security conference, marked rare public comments on Israeli military activity in Syria.

Since I took office, the number of Israeli strikes against the Iranians in Syria have doubled, Gallant said.

As part of this campaign, we are working methodically to strike the Iranian intelligence capabilities in Syria, he said. These strikes inflict significant damage to the attempts by the Revolutionary Guard to establish a foothold a few kilometers from the Israeli border.

Gallant also accused Iran of converting civilian ships into military vessels armed with weapons such as drones, missiles and intelligence-gathering capabilities. He said Iran hopes to station these ships at long distances from Iran.

Iran aims to expand its reach to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and even the shores of the Mediterranean, he said. This is a structured plan designed to threaten trade and flight routes  both military and civilian  and to create a permanent threat in the maritime arena.

(AP & YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




It was released for publication on Wednesday that an Israeli-Arab was arrested several weeks ago for planning to carry out a bus-bombing attack in the city of Hadera.

The operation was carried out with the cooperation of the Shin Bet and the elite counterterrorism Gideonim Unit (Unit 33) of Israel Police.

The suspect, Muhammad Nadir Mahajana, a 20-year-old resident of Umm al-Fahm, was arrested after being recruited to carry out the attack by the Hamas terror organization. He was found with media used to communicate with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in his possession.

The Shin Bet investigation revealed that the terrorist compiled information about possible locations to carry out an attack, with a focus on crowded areas and defense facilities, and sent the information to Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip.

He was ultimately ordered by Hamas to carry out a deadly bombing attack on the 921 bus line in the Hadera area and had already carried out several steps to prepare for the attack prior to his arrest.

A statement from a Shin Bet said: The investigation of the incident once again reveals the efforts of Hamas to promote terrorist activity within Israel, while trying to publicly distance its involvement, at the same time as falsely presenting that it wants to promote the regularization of the Gaza Strip. This, while cynically exploiting Israeli citizens and recruiting them for the benefit of terrorist activity.

The responsibility for such activities lies with the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, headed by Yahya Sinwar.

The Shin Bet, together with the Israel Police, will continue to work to thwart terrorist activity and take all the measures at its disposal in order to protect the security of the State of Israel and its citizens and bring all suspects to justice.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
COLOMBO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will secure over 300 unprotected level crossings across the country's rail tracks that cover 1,610 km, a government minister said here on Wednesday.

Minister of Transport and Highways Bandula Gunawardena told parliament that it will be done in two months, and it will cost 1 million rupees (3,280 U.S. dollars) to secure each level crossing.

The minister said that a large number of people are killed or seriously injured each year in accidents that take place on unprotected level crossings.

There are 1,177 level crossings in the country, among which 437 crossings have been secured with a color light system and 434 have been secured with a bell and light system, with 306 crossings being unprotected, Gunawardena said.

Around 200 people died from train accidents in Sri Lanka in 2022, according to official statistics. 




National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi on Tuesday addressed reports that Iran is building a new underground nuclear facility that is likely beyond the range of US bunker-buster bombs.

Hanegbi made the comments in response to an Associated Press report that said the new facility appears to be as deep as 100 meters (328 feet) below ground.

Hanegbi, speaking at a security conference near Tel Aviv, said he was not surprised by the report, noting that Iran has other underground facilities. While he acknowledged the location would complicate any potential military strike on the facility, he said there are still solutions to the challenge.

What is possible to say about this matter is that there is no place that cant be reached, he said.

He declined to say whether Israel had the ability to do this on its own.

We hope we wont get to a situation where the solution to the story of a nuclear weapon in Iran is a kinetic solution, a solution involving an attack, he said, adding that Israel prefers to see the international standoff with Iran resolved through diplomatic means.

Photos and videos of Irans new facility from Planet Labs PBC show Iran has been digging tunnels near the Natanz nuclear site, which has come under repeated sabotage attacks over the years. Excavation mounds at the site suggest the facility could be between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) under the ground, according to experts and APs analysis.

The Islamic Republic denies it is seeking nuclear weapons, though officials in Tehran now openly discuss their ability to pursue one.

With Iran now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers, the installation complicates the Wests efforts to halt Iran from potentially developing an atomic bomb as diplomacy over its nuclear program remains stalled.

Uranium enrichment is a key element of producing a nuclear bomb. Israeli experts believe Iran would need additional time, up to two years, to develop the means to deliver and detonate a warhead.

Addressing the same conference, Israels military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Israel is closely monitoring Irans nuclear program and reiterated that the military is prepared to take action.

There are possible negative developments on the horizon and that can bring about action, he said. We have capabilities. Others have capabilities, and this is a very significant and important matter.

(AP & YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




The IDF said on Wednesday that soldiers found what they called a dummy rocket launcher in an Arab town in the Shomron.

The soldiers found the launcher in the town of Nazlat Zayd, near the Jewish yishuv of Shaked, after a videos circulated online on Palestinian social media of Arabs attempting to launch a rocket at Shaked.

One video shows a note attached to the rocket that says the date of the launch and a statement that the next rocket will be bigger. The members of the rocket cell were arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning along with the rocket launcher itself.

Shaked residents received a message on Wednesday afternoon: Dear residents  in the last few hours a video was published on the Arab networks in which a small missile with an inscription in Arabic on it is allegedly shown aimed at Shaked. The site has been identified and the incident is currently being investigated by the IDF.

It is important to remember that the terrorists who are less successful in the field against the IDF make efforts to undermine our security in the easiest way  spreading propaganda in the media. As we know, unlike the situation in Gaza, the IDF is in all of Shomron, controlling the areas of the villages around us and preventing the possibility of a situation similar to the one in the Gaza envelope. As mentioned, the specific incident is being investigated and handled by the forces on the ground.

Earlier this month, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar revealed that Israeli security forces thwarted a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist cell that had begun manufacturing rockets in the Jenin refugee camp in an attempt to duplicate terrorist rocket launches in Gaza to the Shomron.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Christine Amanpour, CNNs international anchor long criticized for being blatantly anti-Israel, apologized for her characterization of the murder of a mother and two daughters as a shootout rather than a terrorist attack  but only after being threatened with a $1.3 billion lawsuit.

Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee were killed earlier this year when the vehicle they were driving in came under fire from Palestinian terrorists. Amanpour described the attack on air as a shootout, implying that there was some sort of back-and-forth exchange of fire between the parties. There was not.

On a video call during an anti-antisemitism event at The Carlebach Shul in New York City, Rabbi Leo Dee, the husband and father of the terror victims, said that Amanpour had written him an apology via email, but he replied demanding that she make a public apology. She ignored him, leading Rabbi Dee to consider a massive lawsuit against CNN if she didnt apologize publicly for Amanpours mischaracterization.

The threat of such a lawsuit broke the camels back.

On April 10, I referred to the murders of an Israeli family: Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee, the wife and daughters of Rabbi Leo Dee. I misspoke and said they were killed in a shootout instead of a shooting. I have written to Rabbi Leo Dee to apologize and make sure that he knows that we apologize for any further pain that may have caused him, Amanpour begrudgingly said on air.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
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An unknown historical affair, which made waves at the time  now, the original letter is up for sale at the Meyuchasim auction of the Tiferet Auction House

When the Rebbe of Spinka corresponded simultaneously with the White House and the King of Britain





An old document, an official letter by Chakal Yitzchak of Spinka, which was kept for several generations by an important family, and reached the Tiferet Auction House, opened a wide window to a forgotten historical affair that at the time stirred great interest.

It turns out that the Holy Rebbe of Spinka, Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac, the Chakal Yitzchak, one of the leading rabbis of Hungary before the World War, corresponded with the kings of Great Britain, especially with King George V and at the same time with the White House in Washington.

The correspondence, which began as a seemingly regular one, in which the Rebbe sent a greeting to King George V during his illness, deeply moved the British king, and despite the famous reticent of the British royal family, the king responded very warmly to the greetings and blessings and asked to continue the correspondence.

Next week, the Tiferet Auction House is holding a Meyuchasim auction  an auction of the most important items in the world of Judaica and Judaism. One of its highlights are fascinating letters that reveal how the Rebbe used his connections with the British royal family for his brothers and family members, and for the Jews of Hungary and Romania during the difficult times of the terrible Holocaust.

The Rebbe suggests to his sisters grandson that he turn to the British royal family  and by the way, reveals an unknown detail: that the Rebbe was also in contact with the White House of Roosevelt, the President of the United States.

Until now, it was not known that the Chakal Yitzchak of Spinka was in close contact both with the royal family and the White House; researchers of the Spinka court and historians also did not know that the Rebbe used his extensive contacts with the British royal family and the White House to help the Jews.

Now, some of the efforts made by the Rebbe for Jews who were in trouble, and for his nephew  the Tzaddik Rabbi Yosef Meir Kahana, eventually, the Rebbe of Spinka in Jerusalem, are revealed.

The Tiferet Auction House, which discovered the letter and shed light on this unknown affair, points out that the Chakal Yitzchak of Spinka, son of the Imeri Yosef of Spinka, was the Rav of many thousands of Jews in Romania, Hungary, Transylvania and even in Ukraine, Poland and Galicia, and many, many people flocked to him and attended his Tishen,.

The Rebbe himself perished in Auschwitz, refusing to escape; but his strength and merits helped many Jewish families to be rescued and rehabilitated.

The Meyuchasim auction of Tiferet, the leading auction house for Judaica, ancient holy books and items of Tzaddikim, will be held on 6.4.23 and you can find its details on the

Click to Bid: tiferet-auctions.co.il
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A TEAR-JERKING UNION: Rosh Yeshiva Embraces Kidney-Stricken Bochur, Eliciting a Flood of Emotion, Sweeping the Room!

Life is a complex tapestry woven with unexpected challenges and unforeseen blessings. Each thread intertwines to form a unique journey, and sometimes, our paths cross with remarkable individuals who leave an indelible mark on our souls. I, a desperate Bochur in need of a kidney transplant, was fortunate enough to experience such a profound encounter. Meeting with the esteemed Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yeruchem Olshin, not only offered me renewed hope but also revealed the true depths of compassion that reside within our community.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE & DONATE

As a young Bochur immersed in the study of Torah, my life was dedicated to the pursuit of spiritual growth and Dvakus BaHashem. However, fate had thrown me an unexpected curveball  a diagnosis that shattered my world. A chronic kidney disease had taken hold of my body, draining my energy and diminishing my hope for the future. The ticking clock echoed in my mind, emphasizing the urgency of finding a compatible kidney donor to give me a second chance at life.

Word traveled swiftly through the Yeshiva community, reaching the ears of Rav Yeruchem Olshin. Known for his wisdom, kindness, and unwavering commitment to his Talmidim, the Rosh Yeshiva possessed a reputation that preceded him. A meeting was arranged, and as I entered his office, I was overcome by a mix of trepidation and anticipation.

Seated across from Rav Olshin, I felt a profound sense of awe. His eyes, adorned with wisdom and compassion, seemed to see into the depths of my soul. As I shared my struggles and fears, the Rosh Yeshiva listened intently, his gentle presence offering solace amidst my storm.

Please join this campaign and help me to get the kidney that Im desperately awaiting.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE & DONATE



With empathy and understanding, Rav Olshin spoke words that resonated deep within me. He reminded me that our lives are not solely in our hands but in the hands of a Higher Power. He assured me that even in the darkest moments, there is always a flicker of light, and it is our duty to hold onto that light with unwavering faith.

News of my meeting with Rav Olshin soon spread through the yeshiva. Students, faculty, and community members alike gathered to offer their support and prayers. It became clear that this encounter had touched the hearts of many, instilling in them a renewed sense of unity and compassion.

The support only grew stronger. Kind souls came forward, ready to be tested as potential donors, their selflessness and willingness to sacrifice astounded me. The power of Rav Olshins words had ignited a fire within the hearts of our community, compelling them to extend a helping hand to a fellow Jew in need.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE & DONATE





CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE & DONATE



The atmosphere was charged with emotion. Tears flowed freely, for the collective realization of our shared humanity and the depth of our communitys compassion overwhelmed us.

The meeting with Rav Yeruchem Olshin was an encounter that transcended the bounds of a simple conversation. His words breathed life into my weary spirit, rekindling hope and inspiring others to extend their hands in support. The impact of that meeting radiated throughout the community, fostering unity and compassion where there was once despair.

Rav Olshins wisdom, kindness, and unwavering faith serve as a guiding light, illuminating our paths and reminding us of the boundless potential within each of us to make a difference in the lives of others. Through this experience, I discovered that when we open ourselves to the power of unity, miracles can unfold, leaving not a single dry eye in the room.

Please join this campaign and help me to get the kidney that Im desperately awaiting. May Hashem Bentch you and your family with health, happiness, Dvakus BaHashem, and Parnassa BRevach!
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Bestselling parenting book Raising a Loving Family  Essential guidance from the talks and wisdom of Rabbi Shimon Russell recently written and published by Zalman Goldstein, was chosen as the Gold winner among the finalists in the category of Psychology at the 35th annual Benjamin Franklin Awards ceremony on May 5th in California. One of the highest national honors for independent publishers in the United States, the prestigious award recognizes leading books across the marketplace by highlighting the best titles and trends in major publishing categories each year. Judged by more than 150 secular librarians, booksellers, design, and editorial experts, who this year weighed and evaluated more than 1,800 submissions in over 50 categories, the winners are books that exemplify professional standards, high-quality content, and innovative design.

Already a Benjamin Franklin Award Gold winner for his bestselling books Talking Divorce($24.95, ISBN 978-1891293535), Going Kosher in 30 Days! ($22.95, ISBN 978-1891293238), and a four-time Silver winner for his other popular titles, The Sultans Trap ($19.95, ISBN 978-1891293641), Jewish Living Simply Explained ($19.95, ISBN 978-1891293290), The Silly World of Chelm ($24.95, ISBN 978-1891293047), and Abi Gezunt! ($12.95, ISBN 9781891293023), Goldstein is no stranger to acclaim for his works.

Its truly a delight to be part of the kiddush Hashem of having another of our titles nominated as top among so many secular submissions, said Goldstein, who over the past 25 years has independently published over a dozen bestselling titles in areas of Jewish interest. I hope that the publicity of being nominated for this award helps raise awareness about the important topics the book raises and discusses, and also encourages others to write and publish on meaningful topics as well.

Raising a Loving Family ($29.95, ISBN 978-1891293320, distributed by Feldheim Publishers) is a practical, down-to-earth parenting book that has catapulted to becoming the top parenting book of the year and has already been reprinted to meet growing demand. Drawn from more than 30 years of research, talks, and wisdom of the world-renowned parenting, marriage, and educational expert Rabbi Shimon Russell, LCSW, its a rich repository of foundational parenting psychology and practical down-to-earth guidance that helps set parents on the path to creating loving and enduring bonds with their children. Applicable for those parenting all ages and stages, it helps parents navigate the challenges of raising children in todays turbulent times, maintain clear emotions and sound reasoning when their family needs them most, and create a deeply loving marriage from which to do so. Vignettes and personal experience draw the reader in, bringing Rabbi Russells wisdom from the abstract to the practical.

Without the amazing influence and lifelong work of Rabbi Russell, this book would not have come to be, continues Goldstein. He really gets the credit for bringing so much awareness and practical guidance to so many on many of the vital parenting issues of our times. His knowledge and wisdom is truly is endless!

Among the many therapist and rabbis whove shared praise for the book, renowned psychologist and expert on parenting, marriage, and families in crisis, Rabbi Dr. Benzion Twerski, Ph.D., wrote, This book reads just like Rabbi Russell speaks, with clarity, direction, and tender loving care. In a world that boasts a groundswell of books on parenting, Raising a Loving Family is as much a textbook for the professional as for the layperson, and should be in every home, school, and professional practice.

Others prominent endorsements for the book include those from Rabbi Daniel Kalish, Rosh Yeshiva, Mesivta of Waterbury; Rabbi Shais Taub, renowned lecturer, mentor, and author, known for his work in the field of family and parenting, and teaching Jewish mysticism; Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson, renowned lecturer, Torah scholar, and founder of TheYeshiva.net; Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, and noted author; Rabbi Paysach Krohn, prolific author and lecturer on ethics and spiritual growth; David J. Lieberman, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling author and international expert on interpersonal relationships; Akiva Perlman, Ph.D., Professor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Director at ODAs Wellness Center, Williamsburg, N.Y.; Sarah Chana Radcliffe, M.Ed., C.Psych., author of Better Behavior Now! and Raise Your Kids Without Raising Your Voice; Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox, Ph.D., Forensic and Clinical Psychologist; Director of Chai Lifelines Crisis and Trauma Services; David H. Rosmarin, PhD, ABPP., Founder of Center for Anxiety in New York, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School; Professor Ari Wasserman, Esq., Harvard attorney, author and noted Jewish lecturer; and many more.

RAISING A LOVING FAMILY IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.RAISINGALOVINGFAMILY.COM AND AT JEWISH BOOKSTORES

Also available on Audible, Amazon Kindle, and Apple Books.




Kotel Connections is an organization that aims to connect Jews who visit the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem to their local Jewish community outside of Israel.

The organization recognizes that many Jews who visit the Kotel are not actively involved in Jewish life when they return to their home countries. Kotel Connections seeks to bridge this gap and help these individuals connect with their local Jewish community, allowing them to continue exploring and engaging with Judaism.

The organization has a team stationed at the Kotel who actively approach and engage with visitors who are inspired but not currently connected to Jewish resources in their hometowns. By doing so, Kotel Connections aims to help these individuals channel their experiences and emotions from the Kotel into a more meaningful and lasting Jewish experience in their daily lives.

Kotel Connections has made an impact on numerous individuals since its establishment and is seeking support to further its mission. They encourage donations to fund their efforts, allowing them to continue connecting Jews worldwide to their Jewish roots and facilitating a lasting Jewish experience for them.

Please donate and join our mission today

https://causematch.com/kotelconnections/75095/

For more information or if you have any questions please call 952-843-3033

The organization emphasizes the urgency of support and the importance of investing in the future of Jewish outreach.

Their team in Jerusalem works diligently to capture and nurture visitors moments of inspiration, while their global network of over 650 mentors provides ongoing support and guidance to individuals, enabling them to continue their transformative journey rooted in Torah values.

Hear from our Director: Rabbi Berel Simpser
Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motors is gearing up to select Britain for a multi-billion pound electric car battery plant, claiming the Indian firm would choose it over Spain.

Tata's boss is expected to fly to London next week to finalise the deal to build the battery factory, which would employ around 9,000 people in Somerset, in the South West, the BBC report reported, without citing sources.

The Government's business department declined to comment.

Site: JLR is expected to pick a site near Bridgwater in Somerset (pictured) for its new car battery gigafactory

Tata Motors and its parent Tata Sons did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

A decision by Tata to choose Britain over Spain would represent a major win for Rishi Sunak who is under pressure to make the country more attractive to carmakers.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last week hinted at a development on Britain's EV battery making capacity, saying 'watch this space' when asked about it at an event.

Such an investment would also give a boost to the British car industry, days after major automakers including Vauxhall owner Stellantis and Ford warned that looming post-Brexit trade rules risked making it unviable.

Britain has fallen behind in the global race to build local battery capacity, threatening the future of its electric vehicle sector which requires heavy batteries to be built near car manufacturing plants.

New EV battery plant: Such an investment would also give a boost to the British car industry, experts and industry insiders have said

A lack of a home-grown battery sector would also risk tariffs on British cars under post-Brexit rules that are due to come into force from next year.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: 'A decision by Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata to locate a gigafactory in the UK looks like proof that UK car manufacturing is down but not out.

'After years in the post-Brexit wilderness there had been signs that the sector was doomed to decay and disappointment, with warnings from Vauxhall-maker Stellantis that without changes to the Brexit deal it would be forced to relocate current EV factories.

'Electric battery production is crucial to the future of the sector, especially as the relationship between China and the US continues to get frostier.'

She added: 'Whilst many have taken Elon Musks dangled cherry of a similar UK gigafactory for Tesla with a pinch of salt, there had been real expectation that JLRs natural home is the UK, so anything other than plumping for Britain would have been a body blow.

'There will be plenty of questions about exactly what kind of sweetener may have been offered to ensure the UK government didnt suffer the ignominy of seeing the plant go elsewhere in Europe, but for all those who rely on the sector for their livelihoods, there will simply be relief.'
TORONTO, May 23, 2023  Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI), a global content and technology company, today brings forward its vision to redefine the future of professionals through generative artificial intelligence (AI). At a time of rapid global innovation, Thomson Reuters is at the forefront, helping its customers unlock the potential to automate workflows, provide powerful insights, and drive efficiencies with content-driven AI technology.

Following Thomson Reuters announcement that it intends to invest more than $100 million annually on AI capabilities at its Q1 FY23 results, the company also today announces a new plugin with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsofts advanced AI experiences across its productivity suite. This integration will bolster efforts for redefined professional work starting with legal research, drafting, and client collaboration.

Generative AI empowers professionals to redefine their work and discover innovative approaches, said Steve Hasker, president and CEO, Thomson Reuters. With our customers in the drivers seat, Thomson Reuters AI technology augments knowledge, helping professionals work smarter, giving them time back to focus on what matters. We are very proud to partner with Microsoft, leading the legal profession towards unlocking the value from Microsoft 365 Copilot for our customers, and their clients.

Redefining work with Generative AI

Todays announcements further cements Thomson Reuters as a leader in leveraging new technologies, including AI and machine learning (ML). For over 30 years Thomson Reuters has leveraged increasingly sophisticated AI and ML capabilities to improve search and expand advanced analytics for its customers. In addition to integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot, Thomson Reuters today shares plans to incorporate new generative AI capabilities across its product suite including:

Westlaw Precision - With generative AI, customers can find answers to complex legal questions in seconds, based on proprietary, expert content.

- With generative AI, customers can find answers to complex legal questions in seconds, based on proprietary, expert content. Practical Law - Smarter, faster access to the expertise of more than 650 attorney editors combined with the power of generative AI.

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A demonstration of the integration between Thomson Reuters Legal Drafting, powered by its legal products and content, and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word will be shown during this weeks Microsoft Build event in Seattle. In the demo, Copilot creates a draft contract with help from a Thomson Reuters plugin that surfaces intelligence and content from Westlaw, Practical Law, and Document Intelligence - delivering in minutes work that used to take hours directly into Microsoft Word.

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SEOUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Sentiment among South Korean manufacturers over the economic situation rose this month due to expectations for economic recovery, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

The business survey index (BSI) for manufacturers stood at 73 in May, up 3 points from the prior month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It reflected expectations for the earnings recovery of major manufacturers later this year, which offset the continued worry about economic uncertainty.

The BSI among non-manufacturers increased 4 points from a month earlier to 78 in May.

Outdoor activities increased in springtime, also affected by the lifting of measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BSI in all industries advanced 4 points to 76 in the cited month.

The index below 100 indicates pessimists outnumbering optimists. It was based on a survey of 1,675 manufacturers and 1,137 non-manufacturers conducted between May 9 and 16.

Manufacturers picked economic uncertainty, domestic demand slump and commodity price hikes as key barriers to doing business, while non-manufacturers selected uncertain economic situations, domestic demand slowdown and higher labor costs.

The economic sentiment index (ESI), which reflects sentiment among both businesses and consumers, stood at 94.2 in May, up 0.4 points from the previous month. 
Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF  Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $41.00 to $35.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 17th.

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Insider Transactions at Synchrony Financial

In other news, insider Bart Schaller sold 11,071 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.25, for a total value of $401,323.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,664 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,597,820. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Alberto Casellas sold 39,460 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $1,426,084.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 70,040 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,531,245.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bart Schaller sold 11,071 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.25, for a total transaction of $401,323.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,664 shares in the company, valued at $2,597,820. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.65% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SYF. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 8.0% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 16,251 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,337 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,160,000 after buying an additional 7,753 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 69,748 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,428,000 after buying an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 101,114 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,520,000 after buying an additional 2,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in Synchrony Financial by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 962,162 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $33,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,110 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of NYSE:SYF opened at $30.67 on Friday. Synchrony Financial has a 52 week low of $26.59 and a 52 week high of $40.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.02). Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 21.68% and a net margin of 14.93%. The firm had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 1st. Synchrony Financials payout ratio is 16.20%.

Synchrony Financial declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 25th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the companys leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Synchrony Financial

(Get Rating)

Synchrony Financial engages in the provision of consumer financial services. The firm is also involved in managing credit products through the following sales platforms: Home and Auto, Digital, Diversified and Value, Health and Wellness, and Lifestyle. The company was founded on September 12, 2003 and is headquartered in Stamford, CT.

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HRT Financial LP purchased a new stake in International Paper (NYSE:IP  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 161,979 shares of the basic materials companys stock, valued at approximately $5,609,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its stake in International Paper by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 6,081,825 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $210,614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099,100 shares in the last quarter. Cowa LLC increased its holdings in International Paper by 13,649.1% during the 1st quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 1,002,172 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 994,883 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in International Paper by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,591,552 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $73,450,000 after purchasing an additional 860,180 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in International Paper by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,160,141 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $191,991,000 after purchasing an additional 557,451 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in International Paper by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,506,475 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $300,274,000 after purchasing an additional 450,484 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.64% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on IP. Argus upped their price target on International Paper from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded International Paper from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and cut their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. 51job restated a maintains rating on shares of International Paper in a report on Friday, April 28th. 58.com reiterated a maintains rating on shares of International Paper in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on International Paper from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $38.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

International Paper Trading Up 0.7 %

In other International Paper news, CEO Mark S. Sutton sold 85,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.58, for a total transaction of $2,939,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,944,940. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink . In other news, SVP Joseph R. Saab sold 1,705 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.35, for a total value of $60,271.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,671 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $59,069.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . Also, CEO Mark S. Sutton sold 85,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.58, for a total value of $2,939,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,944,940. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NYSE:IP opened at $31.96 on Wednesday. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $34.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.89. The company has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. International Paper has a 52-week low of $30.69 and a 52-week high of $49.31.

International Paper (NYSE:IP  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.04. International Paper had a return on equity of 14.87% and a net margin of 6.28%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that International Paper will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

International Paper Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be given a dividend of $0.4625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $1.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.79%. International Papers payout ratio is 51.25%.

About International Paper

(Get Rating)

International Paper Co engages in the manufacture of paper and packaging products. It operates through the following segments: Industrial Packaging, Global Cellulose Fibers, and Printing Papers. The Industrial Packaging segment is involved in manufacturing containerboards, which include linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturating kraft.

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Coastal Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,110 shares of the medical technology companys stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stryker by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 25,970 shares of the medical technology companys stock worth $6,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 1,956 shares of the medical technology companys stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Stryker in the 4th quarter valued at $262,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Stryker by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 51,721 shares of the medical technology companys stock valued at $10,474,000 after buying an additional 1,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resources Investment Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Stryker by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 3,955 shares of the medical technology companys stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.10% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SYK. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Stryker from $320.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Stryker from $288.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Stryker from $287.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Stryker from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a hold rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $300.86.

Stryker Stock Down 4.2 %

SYK opened at $274.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.91, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $286.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $262.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.73. Stryker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $188.84 and a fifty-two week high of $306.56.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The medical technology company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.56 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 13.86% and a return on equity of 22.17%. Strykers quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Strykers payout ratio is 43.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In related news, Director Srikant M. Datar sold 1,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.00, for a total transaction of $286,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,967 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,706,562. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Stryker news, Director Srikant M. Datar sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.00, for a total value of $286,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,967 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,706,562. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 5,459 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.27, for a total transaction of $1,437,190.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,537 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,563,885.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stryker Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Stryker Corp. is a medical technology company, which engages in the provision of innovative products and services that help improve patient and healthcare outcomes. It operates under the MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine segments. The MedSurg and Neurotechnology segment includes surgical equipment and navigation systems, endoscopic and communications systems, patient handling, emergency medical equipment, intensive care disposable products, clinical communication, workflow solutions, products for the treatment of acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, traditional brain, and open skull based surgical procedures, orthobiologic, and biosurgery.

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HANOI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- State utility Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) will ramp up its electricity imports from the neighboring countries of China and Laos in a bid to ease imminent power shortages over the summer months, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

"We are consistently operating without power plant backup reserve," said EVN General Director Tran Dinh Nhan. "The EVN has utilized all available energy sources, including costly options such as diesel and fuel oil, to ensure power system stability and safety."

A part of the northern province of Quang Ninh is set to start using electricity entirely provided by a Chinese company in south China's Guangxi from Wednesday until at least July.

It is not the first time Vietnam has bought electricity from China to cope with a lack of electricity in the Southeast Asian country.

The state-run utility EVN will also increase power imports from Laos through the Nam Kong and Nam San hydropower plant clusters.

Vietnam's sole electricity distributor has warned of electricity shortages this summer as a result of extremely hot and dry weather, with reduced output for its hydro plants and coal-fired generators that keep breaking down due to recurring technical errors.

As the northern provinces in the country enter the hot season during the May-July period, power consumption in the area is forecast to increase 15 percent from a year ago, causing an electricity shortage of between 1,600 and 4,900 megawatts, the EVN said.

The state utility group has come up with a series of measures which would come into effect should there be a serious lack of electricity.

The group called for more supplies of coals and gas for power generation and made appeals to the public to reduce electricity use with certain restrictions, such as turning off advertising lighting during the night.

The EVN seemed to turn to rotating outages in order to maintain the stability of the grid but with efforts made to avoid any impact on critical infrastructure, and emergency services.

People living in the central districts of the southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh City have reportedly endured power cuts of up to six hours per day and twice a week, according to the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper.

In the latest attempt to avert an energy shortage, the EVN has just concluded negotiations with some wind and solar power generators to put a total of 1.15 gigawatts of clean electricity on the national grid at a temporary price equal to 50 percent of the ceiling price in the bracket set by the trade ministry.

However, as of May 21, only 85 megawatts or 7.4 percent of the capacity in the interconnection queue lines was put on the national power grid. 
by Xinhua writers Liu Yanan, Yang Shilong

NEW YORK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The debate over the debt ceiling in the United States is creating rampant uncertainty and risks an immediate economic recession, financial crisis, and hardships for American families and businesses, according to U.S. experts.

Despite reaching the 31.4 trillion U.S. dollar debt limit in January, discussions between the White House and congressional leaders only began on May 9, less than a month before the estimated date of a U.S. government default on its debt obligations.

Political calculations from both sides will likely hinder an early agreement with the June 1 deadline looming.

DEBT CEILING AS POLITICAL LEVERAGE

The lifting of the debt ceiling, initially introduced during World War I, was a routine vote in Congress. Today, the issue is political theater amidst a growing partisan divide.

"We've raised the debt ceiling almost 80 times since 1960," said Ben Harris, former assistant secretary for economic policy in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The notion that Congress would approve spending and then refuse to pay for that authorized spending is absurd, said Harris at a panel discussion organized by think-tank the Center for American Progress on Thursday.

U.S. partisan democracy never worked perfectly, or the way it was intended, and the parties cooperate on fewer and fewer things than in the past, given the extreme polarization, according to David A. Super, professor of law and economics at Georgetown University Law Center.

"Now, any member of either party can get in a lot of trouble if they are seen cooperating with the other party on almost anything," Super told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

What's more worrying is that both parties may think that if this crisis comes to pass, the other side will be hurt politically, according to Wendy Edelberg, senior fellow on economic studies with the Brookings Institution.

"My guess is that those sorts of political calculations will always be with us," said Edelberg at the panel discussion.

HUGE UNCERTAINTY

The brinkmanship creates enormous uncertainties around the ongoing debt ceiling talks between the White House and Republican members of Congress, although the U.S. government could default on its debt obligation as early as June 1.

As Democrats aren't going to support deficit reduction measures to pay for tax cuts that drive back up the deficit and Republicans are not willing to agree to anything that limits tax cuts, there's no basis for an agreement, said Super.

House Republicans intend to force a default intolerable to Wall Street. Super added that the financial industry would then pressure President Biden into giving them everything they want.

Super also noted that a short-term debt limit extension is overwhelmingly likely. "A deal is possible, but I think there's a good chance we won't get a deal, and there's also a good chance that U.S. House Speaker (Kevin) McCarthy agrees to a deal and then his members reject it," he added.

"Ultimately, there are a lot of uncertainties about what's going to happen," said Peter Cohan, associate professor of management practice at Babson College, a private business school in Massachusetts.

There's also a possibility that the June 1 deadline, called the X-date, could be extended based on some machinations within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, said Cohan in an interview with Xinhua on Friday.

Possible workarounds, such as invoking the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional, would also add uncertainty to the outcome.

There will be enormous uncertainty in lawsuits if the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is invoked, and "once things get wrapped up in the Supreme Court, all bets are off," said Edelberg.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, stressed the importance of maintaining optionality because "we don't know what the scenarios are going to be like in the future."

U.S. House Speaker McCarthy recently said a bill to raise the debt ceiling could be ready on the floor next week, which was followed by a brief pause of talks on Friday.

Moreover, the planned recess of the U.S. Senate until May 29 also adds uncertainty to whether Congress could pass the potential deal in time.

POTENTIAL RISK UNIMAGINABLE

The U.S. government default on its debt obligations, even a short-term breach, will bring unimaginable risks and damage to financial markets, U.S. families and the economy, experts warned.

According to Edelberg, there are 4 million disabled veterans whose payments are scheduled for June 1, and those payments are now uncertain because the United States runs a deficit and the Department of the Treasury needs to increase the federal debt to meet its obligations.

"Even if the crisis only lasts a few days, the damage could be lasting ... we're seeing concerns in financial markets for treasury bills that are scheduled to mature in June," Edelberg said.

If both sides don't reach a deal a week later, "we'll start to see the impacts on financial markets," warned Zandi, suggesting that the equity market could plunge 15 percent to 20 percent.

A breach of debt obligation for a few days would be enough to push the United States into recession as the U.S. economy is already fragile, said Zandi.

Zandi noted that a prolonged breach of a few weeks would mean a severe economic downturn. "Once you go down that path, it puts such pressure on the financial system and economy. Things break that we're not even anticipated ... there would be the financial crisis itself."

The damage from a prolonged breach also goes beyond economics and could erode U.S. geopolitical or reserve currency status, Zandi said.

If the credit rating of treasury debt is downgraded, there will be a widespread downgrade for any entity backed up by the federal government, explicitly or implicitly, according to Zandi.

"The chaos that we create would be incalculable. We immediately go to a very severe financial crisis and economic downturn," Zandi said.

Harris shares a similar perspective to Zandi, emphasizing that the current situation could make the markets no longer regard U.S. treasuries as free of credit risk. The U.S. dollar would depreciate in addition to a pretty acute shakeup of global trade patterns. Enditem

(Hu Yousong and Zhang Juan also contributed to this story.)
Phnom Penh: An official revealed on Tuesday that three land rights activists in Cambodia who were detained on suspicion of conspiring to overthrow the government had intended to incite a peasant uprising by educating farmers about the wealth and poverty divides.

According to Am Sam Ath of the local rights organisation Licadho, Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, and his associates Nhel Pheap and Than Hach were charged on Monday by a court in the nation's northeast with plotting against the state and inciting to commit a felony.

According to him, inciting someone to commit a crime is punishable by a six-month to two-year prison sentence while conspiring against the government carries a five- to ten-year prison sentence potential. He stated that the accusations were "a message of intimidation" to civil society organisations.

Also Read: Police were notified about potential violations of the new COVID-19 rule by Boris Johnson

The three suspects were unavailable for comment, and it was impossible to reach their attorneys right away.

Their nonviolent actions were compared by a senior government official to what the communist Khmer Rouge taught peasants fifty years ago before waging their bloody revolution.

The arrests in the province of Ratanakiri came as Cambodia was preparing for a general election in July that would almost certainly bring Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian Peoples Party, which has ruled the nation for 38 years with little tolerance for dissent, back to power.

The National Election Committee refused to permit the opposition Candlelight Party, the only group posing a credible challenge to the ruling party, to contest the results. The Candlelight Party expects a decision on its appeal of that decision this week.

Following a workshop about land rights and other issues affecting farmers in the province of Ratanakiri, the three activists were detained on May 17. 39 people attended the workshop, and while the police detained 17, they all were released except for the three who were charged and put into pre-trial detention on Monday.

The three were detained, according to Gen. Khieu Sopheak, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, because their actions broke the law and went against the main objectives of their group, which were to instruct farmers in more effective agricultural methods.

Instead, he claimed, political topics like the gap between the rich and the poor and strategies for inciting farmers to despise the wealthy were covered at the workshop.

According to Khieu Sopheak, their lecture focused on the peasant revolution and the gap between classes in society. In the early stages of their revolutionary struggle, prior to assuming power in April 1975, the communist Khmer Rouge taught poor farmers, particularly in the province of Ratanakiri, their ideology, according to him.

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The brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which was overthrown in 1979, is held responsible for the starvation, disease, and murder of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians.

When the Khmer Rouge was fighting a pro-American government in 1970, Hun Sen joined the group. However, in 1977, he defected and sided with a resistance movement supported by the nearby Vietnamese government.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said that the government's fabrication of these false accusations against well-known civil society figures "shows how far the government is willing to go to silence critics in advance of the Cambodia elections in July." To demand an end to these intimidating measures, there needs to be a chorus of international condemnation directed at Prime Minister Hun Sen and his administration.

Land grabbing by powerful and wealthy individuals has long been a serious issue in Cambodia. When the communist Khmer Rouge regime fell from power, ownership became a free-for-all because land ownership had been abolished during their rule and land titles had been lost.

Much of the land that had been relocated under Hun Sen's administration was declared state land and sold or leased to wealthy investors, many of whom the opposition claimed were cronies of the ruling party. Tenants in these areas have been assisted in being evicted by security forces.

According to Khieu Sopheak, the three land activists confessed to their crimes to police officers during questioning, and they had left behind computer records and training workshop materials that contained proof of their deeds.

However, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights claims that "They were initially denied access to legal representation, before their lawyer was eventually allowed to be present as they were being interrogated by the prosecutor" on May 22.

According to a statement on Theng Savoeun's Facebook page, "In this life, we have experienced a variety of flavours, but we have remained firmly strong because our daily work is not what they have accused us of being; rather, we work at basic humanitarian tasks, helping the victims, farmers, and the community, to help them understand their rights and obligations and to help them find a solution."

To protest in front of the Interior Ministry in Phnom Penh and demand the release of the three activists, farmers from other provinces have defied official harassment.

Also Read: Families of detainees from Tunisia petition an African court for their release

Am Sam Ath, a rights activist, expressed his concern that the three were charged with such serious offences for helping farmers and their communities. He claimed that it might make future assistance to farmers more challenging
Once labelled a pariah, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took centre stage as master of ceremonies last week when Arab states readmitted Syria to the Arab League, signaling to Washington who calls the regional shots.

His effusive greeting of President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit with kissed cheeks and a warm embrace defied U.S. disapproval at Syrias return to the fold and capped a turnabout in the princes fortunes spurred by geopolitical realities.

The prince, known as MbS, seeks to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power by using his place atop an energy giant in an oil-dependent world consumed by the war in Ukraine.

Shunned by Western states after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad, the prince has now emerged as a player whom Washington can neither disregard nor disavow, but must deal with on a transactional basis.

Skeptical of U.S. promises on Saudi security and tired of its scolding tone, MbS is instead building ties with other global powers and, regardless of Washingtons consternation, remaking his relations with their shared foes.

His blithe confidence on the world stage was not only visible in his reception of Assad. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the Jeddah meeting and MbS offered to mediate between Kyiv and fellow oil producer Moscow.

To be sure Saudi Arabia still depends militarily on the United States, which saved it from possible invasion by Saddam Husseins Iraq in 1990, monitors Iranian military activity in the Gulf and provides Riyadh with most of its weapons.

Still, with Washington seemingly less engaged in the Middle East and less receptive to Riyadhs anxieties, MbS is pursuing his own regional policy with less apparent deference to the views of his most powerful ally.

This is a strong signal to America that were reshaping and redrawing our relations without you, said Abdulaziz al-Sager, Chairman of the Gulf Research Center, of the summit.

He is not getting what he wants from the other side, Sager added, saying Saudi Arabias ententes with regional foes were based on Riyadhs approach to regional security.

DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE

MbS position strengthened last year when Western economies turned to Saudi Arabia to help tame an oil market destabilized by the war in Ukraine. It created the opportunity for MbS to launch a diplomatic offensive that included high profile summit appearances.

That effort was aided when Washington declared MbS immune from prosecution for Khashoggis killing despite his being directly implicated in it by U.S. intelligence.

A visit by U.S. President Joe Biden last July had already demonstrated Riyadhs returning influence: The American leader left empty handed while the prince enjoyed a public display of U.S. commitment to Saudi security.

The Saudi pivot away from reliance on the United States was meanwhile evident when China mediated this year a settlement between Riyadh and its arch regional foe Iran after years of hostility.

The deal was not made from a position of Saudi strength: Irans allies had come out stronger than those of the kingdom in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and held most of the populated territory in Yemen.

Still, it showed Riyadh was able to cut its losses and work with U.S. rivals and foes to shore up its regional interests such as cooling the Yemen war where Saudi forces have been bogged down since 2015.

Meanwhile the prince has improved ties with Turkey and ended a boycott of Qatar, a neighbour he considered invading in 2017 according to diplomats and Doha officials.

Over the past three years, the hatchet was buried and relations were repaired, said Saudi columnist Abdulrahman Al-Rashed in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

TRANSACTIONAL RELATIONSHIP

A Gulf official said the new, more directly transactional, relationship with the United States had replaced the old oil-for-defence model because of what Riyadh saw as a shakier security umbrella after the Arab revolts of 2011.

A senior State Department official said the relationship is an important eight-decade one that spans generations, across administrations in our own country and across leaders in Saudi Arabia.

We have multiple interests when it comes to our relationship with Saudi ArabiaOur policy and engagement will seek to ensure that our relationship remains sound and able to meet our shared challenges of the future.

Riyadh thought Washington had abandoned old allies during the revolts and might abandon the Al Saud dynasty too. At the same time it believed the U.S. pursuit of a nuclear deal with Tehran had led Washington to ignore the growing activity around the region of Iranian proxies seen by Riyadh as a threat.

That impression has strengthened. A Saudi source close to the ruling inner circle pointed to what he saw as lax enforcement of sanctions on Iran and a drawdown in Syria, where a small U.S. contingent has denied territory to Irans allies.

I think countries in the region, as a consequence, will do what is best for them, he said.

Meanwhile, Riyadh was annoyed that the U.S. pulled its support for Saudi operations in Yemen, launched after Washington repeatedly urged the kingdom to take responsibility for its own security.

Without direct American intervention or support for its own military efforts, Riyadh had little choice but to strike a deal with Iran even if that annoyed Washington, the source said.

This is a consequence of the U.S. action, he added.

Each side has a list of requests that the other is not willing to grant, the Gulf official said.

However both sides may have little choice but to put aside their grudges.

The kingdom may see the U.S. security umbrella as weakened, but still views it as crucial to Saudi defence. Western states have meanwhile remembered that Riyadhs influence in a volatile oil market requires them to banish their qualms and deal with its de facto ruler and future king.

SOURCE: REUTERS
London: On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace announced that it had rejected a request for the return of the remains of an Ethiopian prince who died in the 19th century.

Having lost his mother en route, Prince Alemayehu was taken to England by the British Army when he was seven years old and arrived as an orphan.

He spent the following ten years in Britain, where Queen Victoria was kind to him and helped to arrange for his education before he passed away from pneumonia at the age of 18 in 1879.

Also Read: Police were notified about potential violations of the new COVID-19 rule by Boris Johnson

He was interred in the catacombs of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, the royal residence west of London, reportedly at the request of Queen Victoria.

His family recently told the BBC that they had also asked for the return of his remains, which had previously been requested by Ethiopian leaders to the British royal family.

One of his descendants, Fasil Minas, told the British broadcaster, "We want his remains back as a family and as Ethiopians because that is not the country he was born in."

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The prince's burial in the UK, he claimed, "was not right."

In contrast, Buckingham Palace issued a statement regretting that it had not been possible to grant the request due to the need to "preserve the dignity" of others interred at the chapel.

The statement read, "The Dean and Canons of Windsor are very sensitive to the need to honour Prince Alemayehu's memory.

Also Read: Families of detainees from Tunisia petition an African court for their release

However, they have been informed that it is extremely unlikely that the remains could be exhumed without disturbing the resting place of a significant number of other people nearby.

According to the statement, officials had recently complied with requests from delegations from Ethiopia to visit St. George's and "will continue to do so.
[May 23, 2023] Leopard Imaging and Intel to Showcase Intelligent Embedded Solutions at Embedded Vision Summit 2023

FREMONT, Calif., May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leopard Imaging Inc. (Leopard Imaging), a global leader in intelligent embedded camera design and manufacturing, is going to showcase its latest state-of-the-art camera LI-ADL-ADP-IMX415-MIPI-081H . The camera is powered by Intel Atom processors x7000E Series, Intel Core i3 processors, and Intel Processors N-Series, providing cutting-edge performance. Leopard Imaging is going to showcase its latest state-of-the-art camera LI-ADL-ADP-IMX415-MIPI-081H. Leopard Imaging has been providing advanced imaging solutions ince its establishment in 2008. With its experienced engineering teams, high-quality manufacturing capabilities in both the US and overseas, and quality management certifications such as IATF16949 for the automotive industry and AS9100D for the aerospace industry, Leopard Imaging has supported thousands of well-known companies.



The company has designed and manufactured cameras, developed camera driver software, and provided image tuning for global customers in robotics, edge AI, industrial machine vision, and autonomous machines applications, all powered by Intel processors. Intel Atom processors x7000E Series, Intel Core i3 processors, and Intel Processors N-Series are groundbreaking in the 6W to 15W base processor power range. They are equipped with Efficient-cores and Intel UHD Graphics, and support Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel AVX2) and Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) for accelerated deep learning inference and media processing.

"We are thrilled to showcase our latest camera with Intel," said Bill Pu, the president and co-founder of Leopard Imaging. "It is a great opportunity for us to show the demo to our partners and customers who are seeking advanced image solutions at the Embedded Vision Summit 2023." Leopard Imaging will be showcasing its imaging solutions at Embedded Vision Summit, Booth 1003, Santa Clara Convention Center, May 23rd - 24th. To set up a meeting with Leopard Imaging at the event, please email [email protected]. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. About Leopard Imaging Inc. Leopard Imaging is a global leader providing high-definition embedded cameras and AI-based imaging solutionsfocusing on core technologies that improve image processing in automotive vehicles, aerospace vehicles, drones, IoT, and robotics. A partner of Intel, an elite member of the NVIDIA Partner Network, and a member of the AWS Partner Network, Leopard Imaging works closely with the most established sensor companies in producing advanced camera solutions for global customers. With original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and original design manufacturer (ODM) services, Leopard Imaging provides camera solutions for the most established organizations. Company Mission: Intelligent Vision for a Better World. Company Vision: To Be the World Leader in Intelligent Vision. Press Contact

Cathy Zhao

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leopard-imaging-and-intel-to-showcase-intelligent-embedded-solutions-at-embedded-vision-summit-2023-301831860.html SOURCE Leopard Imaging Inc.

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[May 23, 2023] Habu Announces Collaboration With Microsoft Azure to Deliver Zero-Trust Data Clean Room

Habu, a global innovator in data clean room software, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft Azure to integrate its Data Clean Room applications with Azure confidential computing enabling businesses to unlock insights from sensitive data without sacrificing security, privacy, or performance. Habu is a pioneer in creating data clean room software designed to make data collaboration safe and easy. The solution embraces the dual requirements of flexibility, multi-cloud infrastructure and automated intelligence and provides end-to-end applications that drive the business outcomes that companies desire. The combination of the Habu and Azure technologies can deliver a highly secure environment for multiple parties to work with sensitive data, helping ensure confidentiality and protection while enabling customers to share data between partners without revealing any sensitive information. With this relationship, Habu's fully interoperable hybrid clean room pattern has been upgraded to support Azure confidential computing. Collaboration partners can now participate in cross-cloud, cross-region data sharing with protections against unauthorized access to data across partners, cloud providers, and even Habu. With the added protection of confidential computing and secure key release, Habu customers can perform complex data analysis and machine learning tasks without compromising data security. "We are thrilled to partner with Microsoft and Habu and be among the first to leverage this game-changing technology and next level of privacy through Azure Confidential Computing," said Mark Risis, VP Strategy and Ecosystem for PepsiCo Data & Analytics, a division of PepsiCo Strategy & Transformation. "As part of PepsiCo's digital transformation, we are harnessing the power of emerging technologies to reshape the way consumers engage with our brands. Achieving zero-trust at rest, in-transit, and now in-use, through confidential computing, allows us to accelerate our use of data collaboration to fuel insights and outcomes at scale without compromising privacy." Key features of the solution ensure: Data is fully protected and encrypted from end-to-end: at rest (using AES or RSA), in transit (using TLS), and in use (with confidential computing).

Data is safeguarded using the customer's data encryption key (DEK) and key encryption key (KEK), further enhancing security and privacy throughout the collaboration process.

An extra layer of security with a secure key release (SKR) through either Azure Key Vault (AKV) or Azure Managed Hardware Security Module (mHSM) and Microsoft Azure Attestation (MAA), allowing customers to safely store and manage cryptographic keys, certificates, and other secrets used for encryption and authentication.



"Microsoft is a leader in confidential computing and Habu and Microsoft, together, offer a tightly integrated solution that empowers companies to securely unlock collaborative intelligence across decentralized data," said Matt Kilmartin, Co-founder & CEO of Habu. "We're proud to be at the forefront of this innovation with Microsoft and are committed to supporting our customers in their journey to protect and analyze their most valuable information." Habu's platform is designed for high-performance computing while maintaining the highest confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data. This is particularly beneficial for organizations that handle large volumes of confidential information and need secure computing environments for effective analysis. This collaboration also allows Habu's innovative CleanCompute capabilities to run on Azure confidential computing, providing a secure environment to run any containerized code for machine learning model training and inference.

"Data cleanrooms running on confidential computing infrastructure are an important requirement for customers with sensitive data, such as those in regulated industries," said Vikas Bhatia, Head of Product, Azure confidential computing, at Microsoft. "Our collaboration with Habu will help customers achieve their data privacy needs while running in Habu clean rooms on Microsoft Azure confidential computing." LinkedIn is also collaborating with Habu to bring the benefits of cleanroom technology to B2B. "As the advertising industry faces even greater pressure to deliver business impact, the significance of measurement solutions built in a privacy-enhancing way cannot be overemphasized," said Abhishek Shrivastava, vice president of Product Management, LinkedIn. "We look forward to continuing our work with Habu and other companies to pioneer clean room technology for B2B advertising." Through privacy and governance safe data collaboration, brands leverage Habu to drive private segmentation and activation, journey analysis, measurement & experimentation, and distributed machine learning. Habu and Microsoft will be co-presenting at the upcoming Microsoft Build conference, May 23-25. Register now to learn more about this collaboration and how the Habu + Azure solution can drive business growth for companies. To learn more about confidential computing and our joint solution, visit habu.com. About Habu Habu is a global leader in data clean room software, enabling companies to benefit from the value of data without the risk. Habu connects data internally and externally with other departments, partners, customers, and providers in privacy safe and compliant ways for better collaboration, decision making and results. The company is headquartered in San Francisco CA. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523005491/en/

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[May 23, 2023] Shareholder Alert: Robbins LLP Informs Investors of First Horizon Corporation (NYSE: FHN) of Class Action Against The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD)

Robbins LLP informs investors that a shareholder filed a class action against Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired securities of First Horizon Corporation (NYSE: FHN) between February 28, 2022 and May 3, 2023. For more information, submit a form, email Aaron Dumas, Jr., or give us a call (800) 350-6003. What is this Case About: The Toronto-Dominion Bank's (TD) Deficient Controls Over Anti-Money Laundering Prevented its Acquisition of First Horizon Corporation (FHN) According to the complaint, on February 28, 2022, Toronto-Dominion Bank announced it had entered into an agreement to purchase First Horizon Corporation for $13.4 billion in cash. The transaction was expected to close in the first quarter of TD Bank's 2023 fiscal year. On March 1, 2023, First Horizon revealed that TD Bank had informed First Horizon that it "does not expect that the necessary regulatory approvals will be received in time to complete the Pending TD Merger by May 27, 2023." On this news, the price of First Horizon shares fell 10.6% to close at $22.14 per share on March 1, 2023. Then, on May 4, 2023, First Horizon and TD Bank revealed that "TD Bankand First Horizon Mutually Agree to Terminate Merger Agreement." The press release explained that "TD informed First Horizon that TD does not have a timetable for regulatory approvals to be obtained for reasons unrelated to First Horizon. Because there is uncertainty as to when and if these regulatory approvals can be obtained, the parties mutually agreed to terminate the merger agreement." On this news, First Horizon's share price fell another $4.99 per share, or 33%, to close at $10.06 per share on May 4, 2023.



Within days, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Bloomberg News all reported that TD Bank's inability to obtain regulatory approval for the First Horizon acquisition was due to TD Bank's deficient anti-money-laundering practices. During the class period, defendants failed to disclose material adverse facts about TD Bank's operations, the risks associate with the timing for the closing of the First Horizon acquisition, and TD Bank's ability to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose that: (1) TD Bank had deficient controls over Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and suspicious transaction reporting; (2) that the lack of controls posed a significant risk to the closing of the First Horizon acquisition; and (3) that the deficient AML controls actually caused delay in obtaining the regulatory approvals for the First Horizon acquisition.

What Now: Similarly situated shareholders may be eligible to participate in the class action against The Toronto-Dominion Bank. Shareholders who want to act as lead plaintiff for the class must file their papers by July 21, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. You do not have to participate in the case to be eligible for a recovery. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. For more information, click here. All representation is on a contingency fee basis. Shareholders pay no fees or expenses. About Robbins LLP: Some law firms issuing releases about this matter do not actually litigate securities class actions; Robbins LLP does. A recognized leader in shareholder rights litigation, the attorneys and staff of Robbins LLP have been dedicated to helping shareholders recover losses, improve corporate governance structures, and hold company executives accountable for their wrongdoing since 2002. Since our inception, we have obtained over $1 billion for shareholders. To be notified if a class action against Toronto-Dominion Bank settles or to receive free alerts when corporate executives engage in wrongdoing, sign up for Stock Watch today. Attorney Advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006111/en/

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Yext to Announce First Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results on June 6, 2023

Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Answers Company, today announced that its first quarter fiscal year 2024 results will be released on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, after the close of the market. The company will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. (ET) / 2:00 p.m. (PT) to discuss its financial results with the investment community.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006116/en/

(Graphic: Yext)

A live webcastof the event will be available on the Yext Investor Relations website at http://investors.yext.com. A live dial-in is available domestically at (877) 883-0383 and internationally at (412) 902-6506, passcode 5963523.







A replay will be available domestically at (877) 344-7529 or internationally at (412) 317-0088, passcode 4573363, until midnight (ET) June 27, 2023.

About Yext

Yext (NYSE: YEXT) helps organizations answer every question about their business. Yext's Answers Platform collects and organizes content into a Knowledge Graph, then leverages a complementary set of products - including Listings, Pages, Reviews, and Search - to deliver relevant, actionable answers wherever customers, employees, and partners look for information. For over 15 years, thousands of companies worldwide have trusted Yext to create seamless content-driven experiences at scale across search engines, websites, mobile apps, and hundreds of other digital touchpoints. Learn more at yext.com.

SOURCE Yext, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006116/en/
[May 23, 2023]

The Top Contact Center as a Service Software Providers to Elevate Customer Experience Revealed in SoftwareReviews' 2023 Data Quadrant Report

In SoftwareReviews' latest Data Quadrant report, the firm highlights the top-performing Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) software solutions. Users have identified these CCaaS providers as the best at streamlining their support operations and scaling to accommodate increasing customer volumes.

TORONTO, May 23, 2023 /CNW/ - The new 2023 Contact Center as a Service Data Quadrant report from SoftwareReviews, a leading source for insights on the software provider landscape, reveals the top eight customer experience management solutions in the enterprise and midmarket spaces for the year.

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a cutting-edge cloud-based solution that empowers IT leaders to revolutionize customer experience. By leveraging a provider's robust software suite through a flexible hosted subscription model, organizations can seamlessly manage incoming support and efficiently respond to consumer inquiries. With CCaaS, IT leaders can embed powerful communication features into core business processes, which can help transform customer service operations and drive enhanced efficiency for both employees and customers.

Without CCaaS, organizations may face challenges such as disjointed customer support processes, inefficient resource allocation, and limited scalability. Manual handling of support requests across multiple channels can lead to inconsistent service quality and frustrated customers. Resource allocation becomes complex and time consuming, resulting in inefficiencies and increased costs. Without the scalability offered by CCaaS, organizations may also struggle to meet growing customer demands, leading to missed business opportunities.

SoftwareReviews' survey data from 697 end-user reviews was used to identify the top CCaaS software providers for 2023. These insights are intended to support organizations seeking to streamline their customer experience strategies. The top enterprise and midmarket providers in the firm's Data Quadrant have been identified as Gold Medalists for their excellence in the space and high scores based on user feedback.

The 2023 Enterprise Contact Center as a Service Software Gold Medalists are as follow:







Five9 Intelligent Cloud, 8.5 CS, ranked high for knowledge management.

NICE CXone, 8.4 CS, ranked high for skill-based routing.

The 2023 Midmarket Contact Center as a Service Software Gold Medalists are as follows:

User assessments of software categories on SoftwareReviews provide an accurate and detailed view of the constantly changing market. SoftwareReviews' reports are informed by data from users and IT professionals who have intimate experience with the software throughout the procurement, implementation, and maintenance phases.

The full report is now ready to access on the firm's website, which is updated in real time to reflect new reviews and ratings.

For more information about SoftwareReviews, the Data Quadrant, or the Emotional Footprint, or to access resources to support the software selection process, visit softwarereviews.com.

About SoftwareReviews

SoftwareReviews empowers organizations with the best data, insights, and advice to improve the software buying and selling experience.

For buyers, SoftwareReviews' proven software selection methodologies, customer insights, and technology advisors help maximize success with technology decisions. For providers, the firm helps build more effective marketing, product, and sales processes with expert analysts, how-to research, customer-centric marketing content, and comprehensive analysis of the buyer landscape.

SoftwareReviews is a division of Info-Tech Research Group, a world-class technology research and advisory firm.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-top-contact-center-as-a-service-software-providers-to-elevate-customer-experience-revealed-in-softwarereviews-2023-data-quadrant-report-301832808.html

SOURCE SoftwareReviews
China ready to promote political settlement of crisis in Ukraine, Chinese official says 24 May, 12:46 PM Mao Ning (Photo:Video frame from MizzimaTV channel/Youtube)

China is committed to promoting talks for peace and facilitating a political settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, said at a briefing on May 23.

Ning was commenting on Denmarks offer to host Ukraine peace talks in July.

The proposed peace conference would require engagement from countries like India, China, and Brazil, the Danish foreign minister has said.

We dont know exactly yet how this meeting is being planned, Ning said.

We stand ready to work with the international community and continue to play a constructive role in facilitating a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

Video of day

Chinese diplomatic envoy Li Hui arrived in Kyiv on May 17 to pursue peace efforts to end Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The diplomats discussed bilateral cooperation between Kyiv and Beijing and within international organizations, as well as ways to stop Russian aggression.

At the same time, Kuleba stressed that Ukraine categorically rejects any proposals that involve the loss of its territory or freezing its ongoing defense efforts against Russian aggression.

Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on May 18, citing Hui as saying that there is no panacea in resolving the crisis.

On the same day, Ukrainian presidential chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak held a briefing in which he revealed the details of Huis meeting with the Ukrainian leadership.

During the meeting, Yermak emphasized that Ukraine seeks to establish a sustainable and just peace, and restore its territorial integrity, as envisaged by the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

The diplomats also discussed the situation at the front, the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian invaders and their forced adoption in Russia, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and Russian military actions at Ukraines Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

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[May 23, 2023] Westinghouse Welcomes Students from Central and Eastern Europe to U.S. for Expanded Nuclear Internship Program

Westinghouse Electric Company is pleased to announce the hiring of university students from Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine for its second Central and Eastern European summer internship program. This program provides a unique learning experience with industry-recognized professionals in the design and support of operating reactors worldwide. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006092/en/ The representatives of Westinghouse with the Rector of the Czech Technical University in Prague. L to R: Jing Zhang, Julie Gogemans, Vojtech Petracek, Petr Brzezina (Westinghouse President for Czech Republic and Slovakia) (Photo: Business Wire) Westinghouse worked with engineering universities in all three countries to provide these internship opportunities. Fifteen students from Poland, five from the Czech Republic and four from Ukraine will travel to the U.S. for positions at engineering hub locations in Pennsylvana and South Carolina. Last year, Westinghouse offered full-time positions in Poland to all students who were finished or close to finishing their degrees.



"Westinghouse is very invested in developing the next generation of nuclear energy professionals and we do that by providing hands-on opportunities, side-by-side with our world-class team," said David Durham, President, Westinghouse Energy Systems. "This growing internship program builds the future pipeline of talent to deploy and support these important clean energy initiatives in the region and globally." In November, Poland selected Westinghouse for its first-ever nuclear energy program as the country seeks to decarbonize its electricity grid and enhance its energy security. Westinghouse has a firm commitment from Ukraine for nine AP1000 reactors, the most advanced Gen III+ technology available, and the company is pursuing additional opportunities for new reactors in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in the region.

Westinghouse Electric Company is shaping the future of carbon-free energy by providing safe, innovative nuclear and other clean power technologies and services globally. Westinghouse supplied the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957 and the company's technology is the basis for nearly one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. Over 135 years of innovation makes Westinghouse the preferred partner for advanced technologies covering the complete nuclear energy life cycle. For more information, visit www.westinghousenuclear.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006092/en/

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[May 23, 2023] EcoFlow to Showcase Power Kits at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show 2023 in Australia

The premier trade show will also feature EcoFlow's latest smart devices and RIVER 2 Series portable power stations SYDNEY, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EcoFlow, a leading eco-friendly energy solutions company, will attend the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show from 25-28 May 2023, featuring the world's first highly integrated modular, plug-and-play energy solutions for boats, RVs and tiny homes  the EcoFlow Power Kits. The show will also see EcoFlow's GLACIER portable fridge-freezer, WAVE 2 portable air conditioner and heater, and RIVER 2 Series portable power stations. "The Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show presents a great opportunity for EcoFlow to connect with and introduce our automotive energy solutions to the boating community and outdoor enthusiasts," said Joy Wu, Head of LAMEA&APAC at EcoFlow." With its compact and plug-and-play nature, the Power Kits can provide the most comprehensive and simplistic energy solutions for boats, custom cars and recreational vehicles." Especially designed for marine, tiny houses, campervans, and other off-grid living, te EcoFlow Power Kits simplify the demanding installation process of existing custom power solutions, allowing users to tailor their own settings that best fit their power needs with compact and smart modules.



The Power Kits come with two basic modules  the EcoFlow Power Hub, which acts as the central node for all inputs and outputs, and EcoFlow's 2KWh/5KWh LFP Batteries. Based on users' actual power needs, the EcoFlow Power Hub can connect to up to three LFP Batteries, which together offer from a base capacity of 2KWh to 15KWh. In addition, by pairing the EcoFlow Power Kits with solar panels, users can achieve a maximum 4800W solar input which can fully charge a 15KWh capacity in about three hours, and enjoy a sustainable lifestyle on the boat. For visitors who are interested in gears for better marine and camping living, they can closely experience the performance of the WAVE 2 portable air conditioner and heater, which can lower or raise the temperature of a 10? space by 10C in 5 minutes; as well as the GLACIER portable fridge-freezer featuring a built-in ice maker and removable battery, which can make 18 ice cubes in 12 minutes. More excitingly, EcoFlow will present its latest RIVER 2 Series portable power station, an affordable 3-product line of best-in-class entry-level portable power stations, which are designed to meet the needs for power on the go.

For more information, visit us at stand 153 in the pavilions at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, or visit EcoFlow's official website: https://www.ecoflow.com/au Event Detail Date: 25 to 28 May, 2023

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m, GMT+10

Location: The Pavilions Booth 153, Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, Sanctuary Cove Queensland 4212, Australia About EcoFlow EcoFlow is a leading eco-friendly energy solutions company with the vision to power a new world. Since its founding in 2017, EcoFlow aims to become a reliable and trusted energy companion for individuals and families across the world, providing accessible and renewable power solutions at home, outdoors, and in mobile spaces. Today, with operational headquarters located in the USA, Germany, and Japan, EcoFlow has empowered more than 2.5 million users in over 100 markets worldwide. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/ecoflow-to-showcase-power-kits-at-the-sanctuary-cove-international-boat-show-2023-in-australia-301831796.html SOURCE EcoFlow

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[May 23, 2023] Point Zero Forum 2023 in Zurich: Programme Published - How Can Digital Assets, Technology for ESG, and Generative AI Make Financial Markets More Efficient and Sustainable?

ZURICH and SINGAPORE , May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- High-ranking decision-makers made up of policymakers, regulators and business leaders from the financial world will discuss the use of artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) technologies for sustainable and efficient financial services at the second Point Zero Forum in Zurich from 26-28 June. The Forum will be jointly opened by Swiss Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Finance, Karin Keller-Sutter, and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, Heng Swee Keat. The recent turmoil in the financial markets has shown the importance of trust and stability to enable continued innovation and sustainability in the financial sector. The second edition of the Point Zero Forum will provide a unique opportunity for an exchange of views on future challenges facing the financial sector, with the presence of around 1,000 high-level decision-makers from central banks, policymakers and regulators, as well as innovative financial companies. The programme has now been published on www.pointzeroforum.com/programme covering three main topics: Digital Assets: Stocktake on the use cases for adopting digital assets, asset tokenisation and distributed ledger technology

Technology for ESG: Showcasing the technologies and solutions that can accelerate the fair transition towards climate neutrality

Generative AI: Deep-dive into generative AI, the potential use cases in financial services and the roadmap towards adoption Prominent speakers This year's Point Zero Forum will feature a number of prominent speakers. Confirmed speakers include: Adrienne A. Harris , Superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services

, Superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services Alessandra Perrazzelli, Deputy Governor, Bank of Italy

Alison Martin , Chief Executive Officer EMEA & Bank Distribution, Zurich Insurance Group

, Chief Executive Officer EMEA & Bank Distribution, Zurich Insurance Group Professor Amir Yaron , Governor, Bank of Israel

, Governor, Bank of Ashley lder , Chair, Financial Conduct Authority

, Chair, Financial Conduct Authority Bill Winters , Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered

, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Brad Garlinghouse , Chief Executive Officer, Ripple

, Chief Executive Officer, Ripple Cecilia Skingsley , Head of BIS Innovation Hub, Bank for International Settlements

, Head of BIS Innovation Hub, Bank for International Settlements Christian Mumenthaler , Group Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Re

, Group Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Re Clara Durodie, Chief Executive Officer, Cognitive Finance Group

Cornelia Andersson , Group Leader, Sustainable Finance & Investments, London Stock Exchange Group

, Group Leader, Sustainable Finance & Investments, London Stock Exchange Group Hon. Caroline D Pham, Commissioner, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Daniela Schackis, Deputy Director General, European Central Bank

Daniela Stoffel , State Secretary, State Secretariat for International Finance

, State Secretary, State Secretariat for International Finance Dante Disparte , Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy, Circle

, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy, Circle David Newns , Head, SDX

, Head, SDX Emma Butterworth , Head of FMI Innovation and Payments Policy, Bank of England

, Head of FMI Innovation and Payments Policy, Bank of Professor Fabian Schar , Professor for DLT and FinTech, University of Basel

, Professor for DLT and FinTech, University of Jorge Familiar, Vice President and Treasurer, World Bank

Karmela Holtgreve , Director General Strategy and Innovation, Deutsche Bundesbank

, Director General Strategy and Innovation, Deutsche Bundesbank Mary Schapiro , Vice Chair for Global Public Policy, Bloomberg

, Vice Chair for Global Public Policy, Bloomberg Mathias Imbach , Co-Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer, Sygnum Bank

, Co-Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer, Sygnum Bank Dr Mirjam Staub-Bisang , Country Head, Switzerland , BlackRock

, Country Head, , BlackRock Ondrej Kovarik, Member of the European Parliament, European Parliament

Dr Prag Sharma, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence, Citigroup

Ravi Menon , Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore

, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Ronadol Numnonda, Deputy Governor, Financial Institutions Stability, Bank of Thailand

Sandra Ro , Chief Executive Officer, Global Blockchain Business Council

, Chief Executive Officer, Global Blockchain Business Council Sergio P. Ermotti, Group Chief Executive Officer, UBS Group AG

Professor Thomas J. Jordan , Chairman of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank

, Chairman of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank Professor Thomas Puschmann , Executive Director, Global Center for Sustainable Digital Finance, University of Zurich , Stanford University , University of the Fraser Valley

, Executive Director, Global Center for Sustainable Digital Finance, University of , , University of the Fraser Valley Umar Farooq , Chief Executive Officer of Onyx by J.P. Morgan & Global Head of Financial Institution Payments, J.P. Morgan



Industry workshops and networking opportunities Innovation tours will take place on the final day of the Forum in and around Zurich, allowing participants and other guests to visit leading companies and innovation labs. Providers include ETH Zurich's Quantum Center, Google, BIS Innovation Hub, the University of Zurich's Blockchain Center, CV Lab in Zug and Home of Blockchain.

Cooperation between Switzerland and Singapore The Point Zero Forum is jointly organised by the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF) and Elevandi, a company set up by MAS. Daniela Stoffel, State Secretary for International Finance at the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, said: "The upcoming forum in Zurich will bring together all stakeholders and show concrete ways in which technological innovation can help achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals while strengthening the competitiveness of the financial sector." Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS and Chairman of the Board, Elevandi, said "The financial sector is undergoing an interesting shift. Emerging financial technologies are moving from the experimental stage to either leapfrog, as in the case of AI, or get repositioned in areas like digital assets. This transition brings regulatory and policy choices to the forefront, which must be made as the sector scales. The Forum is a timely gathering to navigate the policy considerations affecting this shift." Those who are interested in joining may register now at www.pointzeroforum.com . Complimentary passes are available for policymakers, regulators, think tanks, and academics. Founders of technology companies (incorporated for less than 3 years), may apply for a discounted Founder's Pass. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/point-zero-forum-2023-in-zurich-programme-published---how-can-digital-assets-technology-for-esg-and-generative-ai-make-financial-markets-more-efficient-and-sustainable-301832814.html SOURCE Elevandi

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[May 23, 2023] TARGET SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Target Corporation - TGT

NEW ORLEANS, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 30, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), if they purchased the Companys shares between August 18, 2021 and May 17, 2022, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Get Help Target investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-tgt-1/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Target and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material informationduring the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.



On May 18, 2022, the Company announced its Q1 2022 financial results, disclosing among other things, a decrease in operating income to $1.3 billion from $2.4 billion in the prior year, a 40% drop in adjusted earnings, and a decrease in gross margin of nearly 4.3%, with approximately 3% of that due to the combined impact of impairments, markdowns, and other actions taken to rightsize our inventory position in categories that were too heavy, as well as a decrease in full-year 2022 operating margin guidance to a range centered around 6% from a margin rate of 8% or higher. On this news, shares of Target plummeted nearly 25% or $53.67 per share, or from a closing price of $215.28 per share on May 17, 2022, to a closing price of $161.61 per share on May 18, 2022.

The case is Perez v. Target Corporation, et al., No. 23-cv-00769. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.



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[May 23, 2023] Excellon Software Celebrates 3 Years of Successful Partnership with Ather Energy for Dealer Network Management

NAGPUR, India, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Excellon Software, a leading dealer network management system (DMS) software solutions provider, is proud to announce its successful 3-year partnership with Ather Energy in implementing and supporting the DMS platform for their business operations. Since Ather Energy adopted Excellon's DMS platform, the two companies have worked closely together to optimize Ather Energy's operations, streamline workflows, and increase efficiency across their dealership network. Additionally, Excellon Software integration with various systems enabled unified data architecture. "We are thrilled to celebrate three years of a successful partnership with Ather Energy," said Vinod Tambi, Co-Founder & President, Excellon Software. "Our dealer management system was designed to help dealerships optimize their operations, and we are proud to have supported Ather Energy in achieving their goals." Ather Energy, India's leading two-wheeler EV manufacturer, is renowned for their customer centric approach and high-quality products. Their partnership with Excellon Software has further enhanced their offerings and built a strong foundation for continued success. "We appreciate Excellon's commitment to our partnership. The quick implementation and efficiency of their software solutions have proven helpful and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with them," said Swapnil Jain, CT and Co-founder, Ather Energy.



As the automotive industry continues to evolve, Excellon Software remains committed to providing innovative and customized software solutions to its clients to help them achieve their business objectives and stay competitive. About Excellon Software

Excellon Software with its award-winning software is recognized among the most innovative software product companies in India. The company's product portfolio includes complete dealer network management, sales & distribution management, and service management software. Excellon Software is a user-friendly, feature rich DMS platform used by thousands of users in over 13,000+ locations worldwide. Excellon boasts some of the largest deployments in the world for dealer & service chains, consisting of large blue-chip enterprises that run Excellon for their mission-critical business. Excellon's robust and proven platform processes the sale of One New Vehicle every 15 sec and services a vehicle every 5 seconds. About Ather Energy Ather Energy, India's first intelligent electric vehicle manufacturer was founded in 2013 by IIT Madras alumni, Tarun Mehta, and Swapnil Jain. Backed by founders of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal, Hero MotoCorp, and Tiger Global. Ather Energy launched India's first truly intelligent electric scooter  The Ather 450 in 2018, followed by their flagship offering Ather 450X, in 2020 followed by the new Gen3 of the 450X in 2022. Ather has also installed a comprehensive public charging network, Ather Grid, designed and built in India. With 1300+ charging points across India, Ather Grid is one of the country's largest fast-charging networks for electric vehicles. Ather completed the Series E round of funding by signing investment agreements amounting to $128 million with NIIFL and Hero MotoCorp. The company's product line has won 37 awards in the design, automotive, and technology categories. With 58 Indian and international patent applications, 109 trademarks, and 118 Indian and International design registrations to its name, Ather Energy aims to provide consumers with the best possible ownership experience. Ather Energy currently operates in 87 cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Mysore, and Hubli. Contact: Shingita Kumar, [email protected] Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1958920/Excellon_Logo_500x500_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/excellon-software-celebrates-3-years-of-successful-partnership-with-ather-energy-for-dealer-network-management-301831667.html

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[May 24, 2023] Chile Fintech Forum -- Sunflower Technology Platform Expands Industry Connections and Explores Fintech Landscape in Chile and Latin America

SINGAPORE, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunflower Technology Platform, a leading fintech company, sent representatives to attend the prestigious Chile Fintech Forum held at the InterContinental Hotel in Santiago. The forum, considered the most significant fintech event in Chile, provided a platform for industry experts, members, and technology finance professionals to come together and discuss the latest advancements in the financial technology sector. Sunflower Technology Platform is deeply committed to knowledge-sharing and collaboration, exemplified by the deployment of its local representatives at the esteemed event. The company's resolute emphasis on shaping the future of Web 3.0, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and other groundbreaking initiatives is unwavering. Throughout the forum, Sunflower Technology Platform's representatives actively fostering an exchange of ideas and insights with fellow attendees. They showcased the company's innovative solutions and presented their visionary outlook for the future of fintech. The event served as a platform for Sunflower Technology Platform to strengthen its industry alliances and further solidify its position as an industry frontrunner committed to driving innovation and propelling the fintech landscape forward. The Chile Fintech Forum covered a wide range of topics, including fintech regulations, open finance and open data, digital wallets, payments and remittances, digital finance, investment and digital savings, DeFi, cryptocurrencies, and metaverse, embedded finance, venture capital, and fintech talent. The discussions revolved around the latest trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities within the fintech landscape, encompassing technological advancements, regulatory frameworks, and business models. Sunflower Technology Platform, a leading advocate of digital transformation and technological innovation, reaffirms its commitment to actively participate in fintech forums across Latin America. These foums provide an invaluable opportunity for in-depth discussions, facilitating the exchange of industry knowledge and fostering meaningful connections with esteemed experts, thought leaders, and fellow fintech professionals. With a forward-thinking approach, Sunflower Technology Platform is poised to leverage its expertise in cutting-edge domains such as Web 3.0, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing. By showcasing innovative solutions and sharing future development plans, the company aims to drive the advancement of the fintech industry. Embracing its role as a catalyst for technological progress, Sunflower Technology Platform remains steadfast in its mission to promote collaboration within the fintech ecosystem and foster a climate of continuous innovation.



Sunflower Technology Platform, an ardent supporter of innovation and collaboration within the fintech industry, aims to drive and facilitate advancements through its communication in fintech forums across Latin America. By actively engaging with industry experts, the company has gained valuable insights into the fintech landscape in Chile and Latin America. Through knowledge-sharing initiatives and collaborative efforts with various institutions, Sunflower Technology Platform has made significant contributions to the development of Web 3.0 and the overall progress of the fintech sector. The company firmly believes that by forging strong partnerships, it can accelerate industry advancements and provide users in Chile and Latin America with enhanced security, inclusivity, and personalized financial services and experiences. Sunflower Technology Platform utilizes blockchain technology and smart contract technology to analyze credit debt data and algorithm technology, providing users with accurate information and personalized credit debt solutions. This technology can better help individuals and businesses understand their credit situation, and help investors better assess their credit risks.

Sunflower Technology Platform, a dynamic force in the fintech industry, is dedicated to actively engaging in future fintech-related events. The company recognizes the pivotal role of these gatherings in driving industry innovation and collaboration. With its visionary approach, Sunflower Technology Platform is poised to make significant contributions to the advancement of the fintech sector by leveraging its expertise in cutting-edge domains such as Web 3.0, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing. The company is committed to fostering partnerships and knowledge-sharing initiatives that will ultimately benefit users by providing them with cutting-edge and personalized financial solutions, enabling them to thrive. Through its participation in the Chile Fintech Forum, Sunflower Technology Platform has identified the immense market potential in the region, further reinforcing its dedication to driving innovation and fostering cross-border collaboration. Company: Sunflower technology Contact Person: Amy Email: [email protected] Website: https://sunflowersfi.com/ City: Singapore View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/chile-fintech-forum----sunflower-technology-platform-expands-industry-connections-and-explores-fintech-landscape-in-chile-and-latin-america-301833082.html SOURCE Sunflower technology

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[May 24, 2023] Shine the Light - Atlantis CSR Event

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hisense prides itself on being a Proudly South African brand and embodies the ethos of love, care and looking after the South African people, particularly the community surrounding our factory in Atlantis Special Economic Zone, Cape Town. To date, Hisense has made a robust investment into driving community upliftment, with a dedication to creating jobs for the local community. The company's largest investment, which encompasses all social projects, has been the establishment of the Hisense South Africa Factory. The Hisense South Africa Factory was established in Atlantis, in the Western Cape in 2013, a community in South Africa stricken by numerous social issues, with unemployment creating a massive hindrance in alleviating these issues. The factory is responsible for manufacturing, assembling, and distributing the highest quality, which include TVs, refrigeration appliances and B2B screens into Africa and Europe. With the 10th anniversary of the factory coming in 2023, we have seen the manufacture of our millionth TV and refrigerator. Due to high production volumes, the factory has created more than 100 direct emploment opportunities for the local community and indirectly created more than 5,000 employment opportunities for local vendors across several supporting industries.



The resilience of the Hisense South African Company opens opportunities for further innovation and growth, which is a cornerstone of the Hisense Group. Solar Lamp Distribution and Rice Donation

With the country experiencing rolling blackouts brought on by South Africa's energy crisis, Hisense redirected the use of their branded solar-powered lamps for from a Sales to CSR purpose. Hisense SA management chose to donate the lamps to students in schools surrounding Atlantis. Lamp distribution will be focused on four government schools located in Atlantis Special Economic Zone, Cape Town. Grade 11 and 12 students, who are in the process of studying for final exams and making career decisions, were also invited to experience a factory tour. According to the students, the factory visit was exciting and broadened their knowledge of the various jobs available at Hisense South Africa Company. Additionally, Hisense will also be donating rice in conjunction with Wanbao Africa Agriculture Development LDA, to the surrounding schools and churches. Through, both the solar lamp project and rice distribution drive to pupils at schools, Hisense continues to guarantee their commitment to enriching the lives of the people in Atlantis. In attendance at the CSR event was Mr. You and Mr. Shen from the Embassy of the People Republic of China; Mr. Johnson from Standard International Trade Classification (SITC); Mr. Wessel from Durban Logistics; Mr. Vaughan Murray from Robinvale High Principal; Councilor Allister Lightburn from City of Cape Town, Dr Brett Lyndall Singh accredited professional as well as Ms. Guo from CCTV Media. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/shine-the-light---atlantis-csr-event-301833201.html SOURCE Hisense SA Sales Holdings (Pty) Ltd

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[May 24, 2023] Foldable Smartphone Shipments Expected to Soar by Over 50% YoY, Reaching 19.8 Million Units in 2023, Says TrendForce

According to TrendForce's "AMOLED Technology and Shipment Tracker," the continuing global economic downturn continues to exert pressure on the smartphone industry, with this year's projected market size falling short of 1.2 billion units. Concurrently, advancements in both software and hardware of new devices have plateaued, shifting the market focus toward foldable smartphones. TrendForce estimates that shipments of foldable smartphones will reach 19.8 million units in 2023, marking an impressive YoY growth rate of 55% compared to 12.8 million units last year. Relatively high prices have been a significant barrier to the wider adoption of foldable smartphones. However, devices with exorbitant price tags akin to the Huawei X2 (USD 2,000+) launched in 2021 are no longer commonplace as brands and module markers continuously develop new technologies to optimize costs. For instance, OLED organic materials currently account for approximately 23% of the cost of foldable smartphone OLED panels. As more suppliers enter this competitive landscape, prices are forecasted to fall. Similarly, the price of hinges-another critical component-used to range between CNY 800-1200, but are now adjusting downwards, alleviating the overall cost pressure of foldable smartphones and boosting consumer acceptance. Samsung, the earliest entrant into the foldable smartphone market, maintains its lead over other brands in research and production technologies It's rumored that its next-generation Fold/Flip 5 will be unveiled late July and hit the market in August. The new design is expected to feature a significantly larger cover display, setting it apart from the previous generation. Samsung currently commands around 70% of the overall foldable smartphone market, shipping approximately 13 million units.



Chinese brands like Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor have all joined the race for foldable smartphones. Huawei's Pocket S, released in 2022, has seen a warm reception in the consumer market, thanks to its appealing design and competitive pricing, despite being equipped with a 4G processor. Last year, Huawei's market share stood around 10% and is expected to approach 20% this year. Other Chinese brands hold around 3-5% market share in the foldable smartphone sector. If they can extend their foldable devices into global channels, their sales volumes are expected to rise even further. At present, the market is focused on the recently released Google Pixel Fold, which features a 7.6-inch 2208x1840 resolution OLED panel and a 5.8-inch 2092x1080 resolution OLED panel for the cover display. Transsion, a company with a longstanding presence in the African market, introduced its first foldable smartphone, the Phantom V Fold, earlier this year. With an increasing number of brands expected to venture into foldable smartphone production, TrendForce estimates the market penetration of foldable phones to be around 1.7% in 2023. With continuous improvements in cost and design, this figure is expected to surpass 5% by 2027.

For further details of this press release, including the accompanying tables and figures, please visit: https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20230524-11684.html For additional insights from TrendForce analysts on the latest tech industry news, trends, and forecasts, please visit our blog at https://insider.trendforce.com/ About TrendForce (www.trendforce.com) TrendForce is a global provider of the latest development, insight, and analysis of the technology industry. Having served businesses for over a decade, the company has built up a strong membership base of 500,000 subscribers. TrendForce has established a reputation as an organization that offers insightful and accurate analysis of the technology industry through five major research departments: Semiconductor Research, Display Research, Optoelectronics Research, Green Energy Research, and ICT Applications Research. Founded in Taipei, Taiwan in 2000, TrendForce has extended its presence in China since 2004 with offices in Shenzhen and Beijing. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005395/en/

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[May 24, 2023] Vertiv Names Anand Sanghi President of the Americas Region

Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions today announced that Anand Sanghi has been appointed President, Americas effective July 1, 2023. Sanghi currently serves as President, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and India (ASI) and will continue to serve in this role until the end of June. As President, Americas, Sanghi will have responsibility for the Americas business, leveraging his success in Asia Pacific and vast experience in technology and engineering to further enhance the performance of Vertiv's Americas region. With 29 years across Emerson and Vertiv, Sanghi brings with him extensive industry knowledge and a proven track record of driving top- and bottom-line growth as well as expanding Vertiv's manufacturing footprint in ASI. In connection with Sanghi's appointment to the President, Americas role, Giordano Albertazzi, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and current President, Americas will step down from the President, Americas role. Albertazzi will remain the Company's Chief Executive Officer and a director on the Company's Board of Directors. Sanghi joined Vertiv's forerunner, Emerson, in 1994 and has held senior Asia Pacific leadership positins at Vertiv since 2017. He was named President, ASI in 2021.



"Anand brings tremendous experience, a keen understanding of the business and a relentless focus on operational excellence to our Americas business, which is in the midst of a rapid turnaround with organic revenue growth over 60% and adjusted operating margin more than doubling in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the prior year quarter," said Giordano Albertazzi, Vertiv CEO. "He is the right person to continue to drive the Americas' ongoing transformation and further advance our progress in creating a high performance culture." For more information on Vertiv and its complete portfolio of digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, visit Vertiv.com.

About Vertiv Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers' vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today's data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries. For more information, and for the latest news and content from Vertiv, visit Vertiv.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523006102/en/

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[May 24, 2023] Crosschq Expands Hiring Intelligence Capabilities, Unveils Integrated Insights and Listening Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crosschq , the world's first Hiring Intelligence platform purpose-built to increase Quality of Hire, announced today the expansion of Crosschq Insights and Crosschq Voice along with a new brand identity. Combining these expanded solutions provides talent leaders with a single operating platform from which to manage all aspects of Hiring Intelligence.

Recent research from Deloitte indicates 83 percent of talent acquisition teams feel they have low maturity when it comes to their analytics capabilities, said Michael Fitzsimmons, co-founder and CEO of Crosschq. "After years of working closely with talent leaders to solve this massive problem, we are excited to reintroduce Crosschq in a new way with Crosschq Insights and Crosschq Voice, a robust, end-to-end hiring intelligence solution." Crosschq Insights: Advanced Analytics Across the Entire Hiring Funnel The powerful Crosschq Insights solution set is built specifically for data-driven talent teams with hundreds of customizable reports that include benchmarking and easy shareability. Crosschqs flagship Quality of Hire Analytics product connects an organizations pre-hire data with business outcomes, providing on-demand access to detailed Quality of Hire metrics. Once unleashed, Crosschq Insights can help organizations better understand critical variables such as the ROI of hiring sources, which departments and hiring managers are making the best hires, and how to match the skills and competencies of top performers to new candidates. TalentWall, acquired last year by Crosschq and now fully integrated into its suite of solutions, is also part of this powerful insights engine. This capability brings an organizations ATS data to life with immediate visibility into the companys most important hiring metrics and KPIs around critical topics like DEI, time to hire and cost per hire. End-to-end hiring intelligence is liquid gol for talent acquisition teams, said William Tincup, president and editor-at-large of Recruiting Daily. When I say that, I'm thinking from source of hire to the onboarding experience and everything in between.



Crosschq Voice: Integrated Listening and Survey Tools Across Candidate Journey The Crosschq Voice solution set offers advanced, powerful feedback that enables talent leaders to gather real human insights at every stage of the hiring process. These AI-driven surveys are optimized for mobile as well as other communication channels such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Crosschqs candidate experience surveys allow recruiters to maintain a pulse on candidate sentiment, listening at every step of the hiring process. From the point of job application through to the offer, Crosschq enables talent leaders to gather real-time insights from candidates, interview teams, and hiring managers throughout the hiring journey. Moving down the funnel, the Crosschq 360 reference-checking solution gives users access to comprehensive human feedback about candidates to support a competency and skills match with the company and role. Crosschq Insights and Crosschq Voice are available now to current customers, as well as through the company's 40+ API integrations with partners, including Workday, SAP, Greenhouse, SmartRecruiters, Lever and many others. Were proud to support hundreds of companies like Pinterest, Deloitte, WPP, Allegis and HubSpot, added Fitzsimmons. They trust Crosschq to improve their quality of hire, drive team collaboration and optimize the entire hiring process. Through our broader range of tools and solutions, were able to help clients like these and others more effectively identify top talent, streamline hiring processes, and foster a culture of collaboration and productivity within their teams. Introducing a New Look & Logo for Hiring Intelligence Operating System To demonstrate the companys evolution from point solutions to a fully integrated suite of solutions, Crosschq also revealed a new brand identity. In our unwavering commitment to establishing Hiring Intelligence as a stand-alone solution set, it was important to refresh our logo and overall positioning, said Brandon Redlinger, vice president of marketing at Crosschq. "Our brand evolution perfectly illustrates our dedication to being hiring intelligence trailblazers in the growing talent analytics market category. To see the latest from Crosschq, please visit crosschq.com . About Crosschq

Crosschq is the world's first operating system purpose-built for Hiring Intelligence. The company provides talent-driven organizations with an integrated data and listening platform to optimize all aspects of hiring and continuously improve Quality of Hire. Powered by the Crosschq Intelligence Cloud, which uses AI and machine learning to rapidly process millions of pre-hire and post-hire data points, Crosschq gives enterprises a reliable, on-demand solution for collaborating and taking action on hiring insights. Crosschq's customers and partners include Deloitte, WPP, Allegis, Pinterest, HubSpot, Saks Fifth Avenue, Workday, SAP, and Greenhouse, among others. Crosschq is backed by GGV Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Tiger Global, SAP, Okta and Salesforce. To learn more, visit crosschq.com . Note to editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts: Elena Arney [email protected] Kate Achille The Devon Group for Crosschq [email protected]

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Russia remains committed to Belarus security, Peskov says 24 May, 10:58 PM Dmitry Peskov (Photo:Kremlin)

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlins Press Secretary, has indicated that Russia would intervene militarily in Belarus if new protests were to arise and threaten Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

Peskov said as much in a comment on May 24, responding to reports that some in the Polish military expect an uprising in Belarus in foreseeable future.

General Waldemar Skrzypczak, former commander of the Polish Land Forces, told Polsat News that Belarusian citizens currently serving with Ukraines Armed Forces could ultimately use their expertise and weapons to topple the dictatorial regime in their home country.

Video of day

We are preparing for an uprising in Belarus, because it is coming, said Skrzypczak.

"We need to be ready to support the units that will carry out operations against Lukashenko. Preparing for an uprising in Belarus is crucial. We have reason to help them, just like we help Ukrainians."

In response, Peskov called Poland a "hostile state" and accused it of Russophobia. He also falsely claimed that Poland is planning to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus.

"Belarus is our partner, ally, and fraternal state," Peskov said.

"Naturally, Russia has an obligation to guarantee the security of Belarus, which we will do if an obvious threat emerges."

Lukashenko flew to Moscow on May 24 to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, to attend the Eurasian Economic Forum.

Franak Viacorka, advisor to Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, stated that Russia already exerts control over virtually every aspect of the Belarusian state. According to Ukraines State Border Guard Service, approximately 2,800 Russian military personnel were deployed in Belarus as of early May.

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[May 24, 2023] Huawei Launches New Products and Solutions at Asia Pacific Partners Conference 2023 to Capture Digitalization Opportunities with Partners

SHENZHEN, China, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- From May 17 to 18, 2023, the Huawei Asia Pacific Partners Conference 2023 was held in Shenzhen. The Conference championed an open mindset, bringing together Huawei's partners and customers in the ICT industry from across the Asia-Pacific region. During the event, Huawei launched a series of new products and solutions for the region, such as intelligent cloud network and storage products. Huawei also expressed its commitment to working with partners for a future of shared business success, and helping customers go digital. Intelligent cloud-network: Growing together in the digital economy Connectivity is crucial to digitalization, and networks are critical to connectivity. Huawei is committed to building intelligent cloud-networks that feature cloud-network synergy, simplified architecture, and energy saving. Working to achieve these goals, Huawei has joined forces with partners in Asia Pacific to build next-generation network infrastructure that will better serve all industries. Kevin Hu, President of Huawei's Data Communication Product Line, stated, "Huawei Datacom will continue to innovate and leverage the best-in-class products and solutions to achieve success alongside partners in the Asia-Pacific digital economy." He added, "Specifically, we will work with partners and top customers in Named Account (NA) markets to carry out joint innovation and build market benchmarks through flagship, intelligent cloud-network products. We will also offer 'lightweight yet powerful' scenario-based solutions for commercial markets, helping partners expand their market presence. Furthermore, we will deliver best-selling products for distribution business and work with our partners to tap into new growth opportuities."



Kevin Hu, together with Nicholas Ma, President of Huawei APAC Enterprise Business Group and Vincent Liu, President of Huawei Enterprise Network Marketing & Solution Sales Dept, launched Huawei's all-new intelligent cloud-network offerings for NA markets, commercial markets, and distribution business. These came in the form of the new flagship CloudEngine 16800-X and CloudEngine S16700 switches, which are tailored to NA markets, stand out from the competition, and help build showcases with partners. In addition, in terms of commercial markets, Huawei released high-quality and cost-effective product portfolios, each of which is purpose-built to drive partners' sales revenue to record levels. Furthermore, regarding the distribution business, Huawei unveiled 18 all-new competitive and cost-effective products, helping partners grow alongside Huawei Datacom. Storage: Building reliable data infrastructure in the multi-cloud era

Data, as a strategic resource of the digital economy, requires sufficient storage, free mobility, and full utilization in the multi-cloud era. Huawei Storage is dedicated to working alongside partners to help enterprises build an IT architecture that features centralized data sharing and multi-cloud application deployment, thus maximizing the sharing and flow of data resources. Dr. Peter Zhou, President of the Huawei IT Product Line, said: "The Asia Pacific market presents huge opportunities for storage. To seize these opportunities, Huawei enables its partners in five key areas: products and solutions, tools, documentation platforms, compatibility certifications, and capability development. Together, we will start a new chapter of storage in the region." At the conference, Huawei also unveiled its primary and backup storage offerings  OceanStor Dorado 2000 All-Flash Storage and OceanProtect X3000 Backup Storage  for the commercial market. These offerings will help partners build storage systems that feature simple storage, easy backup, and fast deployment for small- and medium-sized enterprises. F5G evolution: Unleashing green digital In the gigabit era, the core competitiveness is providing an unrivalled experience. Huawei actively explores F5G application practices, employs F5G Intelligent OptiX Network to help various industries build a network foundation, and develops more application scenarios alongside enterprise customers and industry partners. Gu Yunbo, President of the Enterprise Domain of Huawei Optical Business Product Line, said: "Huawei has developed more than 50 'F5G+industry' scenario-based solutions to promote constant F5G evolution. Furthermore, Huawei cooperates with HOLOWITS to provide end-to-end F5G+intelligent sensing solutions for various industries. In the Asia Pacific region, these competitive solutions will help our partners penetrate industry scenarios and achieve a win-win future in industries." Portfolio Solutions: Empowering partners and accelerating digital transformation Since 2022, to support partners and accelerate the construction of customers' digital infrastructure, Huawei has launched a series of Portfolio Solutions for Data Center, Campus, Digital Site, and Wide Area Network (WAN). Michael Ma, Corporate Vice President & President of ICT Product Portfolio Management & Solutions of Huawei, said, "To address the common requirements of high-value scenarios across multiple industries, Huawei has combined the needed ICT products into Portfolio Solutions, which are pre-integrated and pre-verified. This helps Huawei work more efficiently with partners to develop industry solutions. Portfolio Solutions facilitate partners' R&D, marketing, sales, and service by making R&D more efficient, integration simpler, and delivery easier, helping partners achieve business success in an all-round way. At the Conference, Huawei launched a number of upgraded Portfolio Solutions, including High-Performance Resource Pool, Simplified Office Network, and Smart Pole Site. Su Baohua, CEO of Huawei Campus Team, He Weizhi, Vice President of Huawei Asia Pacific Enterprise Business, Daniel Shen, General Manager of Omdia, and Ivy Sun, Head of Omdia's Intelligent Campus Business, jointly released the 2023 Future Intelligent Campus White Paper for Asia Pacific, sharing insights into the development trends of intelligent campuses and exploring more effective ways to chart the future of intelligent campuses in Asia-Pacific. Technological innovation is driving industry digitalization. Staying true to its commitment to build innovative digital infrastructure, Huawei and its partners work tirelessly to accelerate industry digitalization and share in the dividends of the digital economy in Asia-Pacific. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/huawei-launches-new-products-and-solutions-at-asia-pacific-partners-conference-2023-to-capture-digitalization-opportunities-with-partners-301833359.html SOURCE Huawei

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[May 24, 2023] Experlogix Adds Digital Commerce to Its Product Suite

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Experlogix, whose revenue acceleration solutions simplify the most complex business processes, has brought Aphix Software, the premier digital commerce platform for frictionless customer ordering into the Experlogix suite of solutions. Aphix an its products will join the Experlogix suite as Experlogix Digital Commerce, alongside best-in-class Experlogix CPQ and Experlogix Document Automation.



"Aphix and Experlogix have the same goal  to provide solutions to our clients that make it easier for their customers to buy from them," said Bill Fox, CEO at Experlogix. "With Experlogix Digital Commerce, clients now have the opportunity to bring their business completely online for real-time ordering, no matter how complex their product is, all within the systems they already use." As the newest addition to Experlogix's suite of revenue acceleration solutions, Experlogix Digital Commerce will soon integrate to Microsoft Dynamics and natively integrates with ERP systems including SAP, Sage, Intacct and others, creating the fastest, simplest digital commerce experience for businesses and their customers. The new offering uniquely leverages real-time product information, pricing, stock availability, customer account information and more to seamlessly power multi-channel sales, through automated web stores and streamlined procurement processes.

Graham O'Rouke, CEO at Aphix Software, said, "Businesses are scrambling to meet customer expectations for intuitive and easy digital buying experiences  a challenge that usually requires stringing together multiple solutions, which leaves gaps in data and creates risk for business continuity." "For businesses to move faster than ever before, companies need a digital commerce solution that is purpose-built to seamlessly integrate with and simplify even the most complex ordering needs," O'Rouke said. "Experlogix Digital Commerce, combined with Experlogix CPQ and Experlogix Document Automation, brings businesses the technology and expertise to exceed customer expectations, completely out of the box." About Experlogix The Experlogix suite of business applications offers purpose-built digital solutions that make it easier for your clients to buy from you. No matter how complex your business or its products, our seamless integrations and low-code/no-code configurability create outstanding digital experiences for your buyers, clients, distributors, and dealers. Headquartered in the United States and the Netherlands, we've worked with thousands of customers across a wide range of industries over the past two decades to engage clients and achieve business growth with Configure Price Quote (CPQ), Document Automation, and Digital Commerce solutions. Experlogix  simplifying the complex. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/experlogix-adds-digital-commerce-to-its-product-suite-301833160.html SOURCE Experlogix

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[May 24, 2023] Lumos to Invest Over $50 Million for 100% Fiber Optic Internet Expansion in Johnston and Harnett County

Lumos, a leading 100% Fiber Optic Internet and Total Home Wi-Fi service provider in the Mid-Atlantic, today announced an investment of over $50 million in Johnston and Harnett County, North Carolina, to bring its 100% Fiber Optic Internet services to residents and businesses in the area. These expansions mark the company's fourth and fifth new market announcement in 2023. Lumos will provide fast, reliable internet to portions of the Johnston County communities of Benson, Clayton, Four Oaks, Selma and Smithfield, as well as those in Harnett County, including areas of Dunn, Angier, Coats, Erwin and Buies Creek. Lumos will be the first fiber internet provider for some homes in these communities, changing the lives of many families with affordable access to a network advanced enough for their current and future digital needs. Lumos is committed to bringing best-in-class fiber internet technology to underserved communities. Fiber internet provides communities with life-changing speeds, offering customers up to 385 times faster upload speeds and 30 times faster download speeds. "Lumos is changing the definition of internet connection in communities across North Carolina," said Brian Stading, Lumos CEO. "We believe that all towns, not just the big cities, should have access to a fast and reliable broadband connection. With our Lumos network available in parts of Johnston and Harnett County, families and individuals will be able to seamlessly connect to online learning, telehealth and remote working opportunities." Lumos 100% Fiber Optic Internet is built to deliver the best Wi-Fi experience for families, homes, and businesses with scalable plans to fit your budget and your needs. In today's digital age, a fast and reliable internet connection isn't a nice to have; it's a necessity. "We woud like to thank Lumos for their investment in fiber optic internet for our Harnett County residents," said Desiree Patrick, Harnett County Community Relations Director. "This announcement is great news for Harnett County. One of our strategic actions is to increase the availability of high-speed broadband throughout the County - this investment allows us to do just that. We look forward to residents and businesses in the County having faster and more reliable internet."



Through partnerships, the company plans to be a premier corporate citizen in the community, bringing economic development and connectivity to residents. Lumos' expansion will not only change the landscape for homeowners, schools and businesses, but it will also bring job opportunities. For more information, please visit www.lumosfiber.com/careers. Engineering work will begin in 2023. Residents will receive communication by mail when engineering and construction begin. To enroll in email updates, please visit http://www.lumosfiber.com/builtforthefuture.

About Lumos: Lumos provides 100% Fiber Optic Internet, whole-Home Wi-Fi, voice and streaming services to more than 200,000 homes and businesses across North Carolina and Virginia. We believe that the possibilities of tomorrow cannot be built on the infrastructure of yesterday. That's why we're building a 100% Fiber Optic network from the ground up for families, small businesses and communities, backed by local, expert customer service. An Internet built for that most hopeful of all things - the future. Because whatever the future holds, we make it faster. Learn more at www.lumosfiber.com. Twitter: @LumosFiber LinkedIn: @LumosFiber View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005353/en/

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[May 24, 2023] CoreLogic Ranks Riskiest US Housing Markets Based on Natural-Disaster Probability

CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, has announced the results of its riskiest places to live for natural disasters study. With exposure to hurricanes and inland floods Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, emerged as the riskiest place for property owners due to damages from natural disasters. Areas on or near the U.S. Gulf Coast are particularly vulnerable to potential catastrophe damages, both currently and in the future. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005180/en/ Top 10 Places Most at Risk for Property Damage from Natural Disasters - 2023 (Graphic: Business Wire) CoreLogic's Climate Risk Analytics: Composite Risk Score (CRA Composite Risk Score) identifies U.S. areas that are currently at risk and stress-tests natural disaster risks over the next 30 years across various future climate scenarios. These scenarios include a base where conditions do not change; a progressively worsening climate is noted as "Scenario 8.5," RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) and is an example of what could happen in the future. The RCP 8.5 projections in this report include climate-related risks to residential properties, assuming that carbon-dioxide emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century. CoreLogic analyzes natural perils and applies the company's analytics to its extensive property data to provide deep insights into natural hazards, climate risks and the resulting impacts on the property landscape. As a result, the top 10 places most at risk for property damage from natural disasters in 2023 are: Plaquemines, Louisiana - (Primary Risks: Hurricane, Inland Flood) Jefferson, Louisiana - (Primary Risks: Hurricane, Inland Flood) - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) McMullen, Texas - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood) Orleans, Louisiana - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Lincoln, West Virginia - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood) Camas, Idaho - (Primary Risk: Wildfire) Van Buren, Iowa - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood) Crockett, Texas - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood) Carter, Missouri - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood)



Plaquemines, Louisiana - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Jefferson, Louisiana - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Monroe, Florida - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Orleans, Louisiana - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Camas, Idaho - (Primary Risk: Wildfire) Saint Bernard, Louisiana - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) McMullen, Texas - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood) Cameron, Louisiana - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Hancock, Mississippi - (Primary Risk: Hurricane) Lincoln, West Virginia - (Primary Risk: Inland Flood) Methodology:

This analysis considers the impactful environmental risks to 154 million properties across the U.S. and is built on CoreLogic's comprehensive data that details the physical characteristics of those homes, including construction year, first-floor height, number of stories and square footage. Although historic events provide some indication of where natural hazard risks may be high, evolving climate change necessitates comprehensive, forward-looking data to clearly identify where such risks are the highest. The county-level CRA Composite Risk Scores were used for this study. These scores represent the reconstruction cost value-weighted Composite Risk Scores for the single-family residences within each county. More insights can be found here. Source: CoreLogic The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient's parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or website. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data contact Robin Wachner at [email protected]. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permission of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy is dependent upon these sources. About CoreLogic CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com. CORELOGIC and the CoreLogic logo are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005180/en/

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[May 24, 2023]

AirFuel Alliance Announces Certified Engineer Training for RF Wireless Charging Standard

AirFuel Certified Engineer (ACE) training and an RF Workshop kick-off industry education for the recently released AirFuel RF wireless power standard

BEAVERTON, Ore., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AirFuel Alliance , a global standards organization, working to advance next-generation wireless power technology and standards, announces upcoming learning opportunities for engineering professionals interested in deploying AirFuel RF, the new global interoperable standard for RF wireless power transfer, in products.

AirFuel RF uses Radio Frequency waves to transfer energy wirelessly from a few centimeters up to a few meters, enabling charging and powering of multiple devices simultaneously within a three dimensional range. RF wireless power technology eliminates the need for wires and the hassle and e-waste associated with batteries. It is ideal for integration into small devices, such as electronic shelf labels, wearables and IoT sensors.

The first training workshop for AirFuel RF will be hosted at IEEE's Wireless Power Technology Conference & Expo (WPTCE) , the largest event in the world for wireless power research and industry engagement. WPTCE 2023 will be held in San Diego, California from June 4th-8th.

For engineers and product designers, there will be a half day training program on AirFuel RF technology to lean how to integrate AirFuel RF wireless power technology in their products.







Date: Thursday, June 8th

Time: 1-5 pm

Location: Westin Bayview in Downtown San Diego, CA

Register for RF Workshop at WPTCE

Closely following the Sensors Converge conference in Santa Clara, California from June 20-22, AirFuel will host a second educational opportunity for AirFuel RF - a full day AirFuel Certified Engineer (ACE) course. This training is designed for product managers and engineers looking to build with RF wireless power and fast-track product development.

Date: Friday, June 23rd

Time: 9-5 pm

Location: Hosted onsite at Energous headquarters in Silicon Valley

Register for ACE RF Course on June 23rd

To learn more about joining AirFuel Alliance and accessing the AirFuel RF standard, please visit airfuel.org/membership .

About AirFuel Alliance

AirFuel Alliance is a global coalition of innovative companies who are committed to a world where we can power up without plugging in. The Alliance develops universal standards for leading-edge wireless power technologies and accelerates their adoption by building a global, interoperable wireless power ecosystem supported by eco-friendly infrastructure through approved specifications and testing protocols. AirFuel Resonant and AirFuel RF technologies enable rapid charging of multiple devices simultaneously and free of cords. For more information visit www.airfuel.org .

Media Contact:

Trish Thomas

Global Head of Marketing, AirFuel Alliance

+1 720-224-4923

[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/airfuel-alliance-announces-certified-engineer-training-for-rf-wireless-charging-standard-301832830.html

SOURCE AirFuel Alliance
[May 24, 2023] AM Best to Join Panel Discussion at Casualty Actuarial Society Seminar on Reinsurance

AM Best Senior Director Carlos Wong-Fupuy will participate in a panel discussion at the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Seminar on Reinsurance, which will be held at the Westin Philadelphia in Philadelphia, PA, from June 5-6, 2023. Wong-Fupuy will participate in a session, titled, "Property/Casualty Industry Outlook - An Analyst View," which is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, June 6. The panel will discuss and analyze the drivers of recent industry results and the future trends that will shape the property/casualty industry, including shrinking reinsurance capacity, hard-market pricing and heightened catastrophe activity. Wong-Fupuy oversees a team of AM Best analysts responsible for the financial ratings of global reinsurance organizations covering the United States, Bermuda and European markets and is actively involved in AM Best's rating process for the world's largest reinsurers. He will be joined on the panel by Managing Director Mat Carletti, JMP Securities; Senior Director John Iten, Financial Services Ratings, S&P Global; and William Wilt, president, Assured Research, who will be moderating.



CAS is the world's only actuarial organization focused exclusively on property/casualty risks and serves over 9,500 members worldwide. For more information about the seminar, please visit CAS' conference page. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005559/en/

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[May 24, 2023] Israeli startup EVR Motors appoints former JLR executive Nick Rogers

Rogers' appointment propels EVR's global expansion in vehicle electrification across all sectors PETAH TIKVA, Israel, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/-- EVR Motors, an Israel-based electric motor innovator specializing in high power-density electric motors, is announcing the addition of Nick Rogers, a renowned global automotive leader, to its board. With a wealth of experience spanning 38 years in executive management and engineering, Rogers has held key positions in top companies within the industry. Rogers brings a remarkable career history, having served as Executive Director of Product Engineering and Board Member at Jaguar Land Rover, where he played a pivotal role in the development of their cutting-edge models, including the award-winning Jaguar I-PACE, the fully connected Land Rover Defender, and the highly acclaimed fifth-generation Range Rover. Prior to this, Rogers served as Chief Engineer at BMW and Rover Group. Opher Doron, CEO of EVR Motors, stated: "Nick's extensive experience with European OEMs, his familiarity with the Indian automotive market, and his diverse engineering background make him an ideal addition to our board as EVR expands its global presence across all segments of vehicle electrification." EVR Motors has developed a groundbreaking motr topology known as the Trapezoidal Stator Radial Flux Permanent Magnet (RFPM) motor, which has received 10 patents in the past year. RFPM enables the production of smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective motors tailored to customer requirements. EVR motors are 30% to 50% smaller and lighter compared to conventional electric motors, resulting in significantly reduced prices. EVR's current product line consists of four families, ranging from 3kW to 200kW, expanding EVR's markets from 2 and 3 wheelers to passenger cars, commercial vehicles and offroad vehicles.



EVR Motors is supported by a group of investors led by Marius Nacht, a prominent figure in serial entrepreneurship, technology companies, and high-tech investments in Israel. Ophir Shoham, former head of the Defense Ministry's R&D Directorate (MAFAT), serves as the company's Chairman, overseeing Nacht's high-tech investments. EVR is currently engaged in a financing round to accelerate market penetration, enhance production capacity, and develop additional motors. Under the leadership of Opher Doron, who assumed management in 2019, EVR Motors has made significant strides. Doron, previously the manager of IAI's space plant and leader of the IAI team responsible for designing and constructing SpaceIL's Beresheet spacecraft, brings extensive experience in leading complex projects. Additionally, Doron oversaw the development, construction, launch, and operation of IAI's communications and observation satellites for Israeli and international customers.

EVR Motors was co-founded by Eli Rozinsky, the current company President and COO, along with Victor Kislev and Ruslan Shabinski. The company boasts a dedicated team of 40 professionals, including PhDs, engineers, an engine assembly team, and a testing and control group, based in Petah Tikva and India. Images can be downloaded here. Media contact:

Amir Ben Artzi

Meirovitch PR, [email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/israeli-startup-evr-motors-appoints-former-jlr-executive-nick-rogers-301833517.html SOURCE EVR Motors LTD

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[May 24, 2023] JEDEC Publishes Major Update to JEP30 PartModel Guidelines

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced significant updates to the JEP30 PartModel Guidelines, including all reference documents and related XML Schema files. JEP30 and its constituent documents are available for free download from the JEDEC website. JEP30 establishes requirements for the frictionless digital exchange of part data between part manufacturers and their end customers responsible for electrical and electronic products creation. The JEP30 guidelines define a standardized format that can be efficiently consumed across different CAD tools and environments. By defining a common framework for part model creation and verification and helping to ensure different tools can accurately interpret and utilize the models created by the full spectrum of part manufacturers, JEP30 offers a transformative resource for both compnent manufacturers and designers.



The updated JEP30 part model guidelines can be used to define the digital twin of a part with the detail to enable significant process efficiencies throughout the part and product life cycles, including design, manufacturing, quality control, test, material declaration, and supply chain. "The JEP30 PartModel is truly a disruptive technology that will revolutionize the way system design companies develop and manufacture their products by enabling the automation of manually intensive functions, prone to human error, that are prevalent in today's electronics design environment," said Michael Durkan, JEDEC Task Group Chair and PartModel Sponsor. "The PartModel is a secure, trusted digital container provided by component manufacturers that will streamline the design process by eliminating dependencies and establish integrity of part information at every step of a product's lifecycle."

For all forms of electronic parts, JEP30 guidelines define the XML structure for the assembly process classification, electrical, physical, thermal, material declaration, and supply chain characteristics including product change notices and product discontinuance. The guidelines are designed to be completely scalable to cover components available on the market today as well as new parts that emerge in the future. "The increasing speed of innovation have mandated new technologies along the systems value chain to keep pace," said Mian Quddus, Chairman of the JEDEC Board of Directors. "The enablement of component manufacturers to create standardized digital part models that can be easily used by designers and engineers in all varieties of electronic systems, will help propel an industry forward with next-level digitalization and automation." About JEDEC JEDEC is the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry. Thousands of volunteers representing over 350 member companies work together in more than 100 JEDEC committees and task groups to meet the needs of every segment of the industry, for manufacturers and consumers alike. The publications and standards generated by JEDEC committees are accepted throughout the world. All JEDEC standards are available for download from the JEDEC website. For more information, visit https://www.jedec.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005050/en/

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[May 24, 2023] Metronet Breaks Ground to Bring 100% Fiber Optic Internet to Kentwood

Metronet today announced that construction of its ultra-high-speed 100% fiber optic network has officially begun in Kentwood. Metronet's fully funded multimillion-dollar investment in the community will provide residents and businesses throughout the city with access to Metronet's future-proof fiber optic internet. Upon completion of Metronet's state-of-the-art multi-gigabit network, Kentwood will join the country's internet elite as Certified Gigabit City. Underground work in Kentwood has begun near the intersections of 32nd Street SE, Hampton Downs Drive SE, Breton Road SE, and Brook Drive SE. Construction activity will progress rapidly throughout the community with the first customers expected to be connected this summer. As construction progresses throughout the city, customers may sign up for presale to indicate their interest and prioritize service installation once available. Those interested in Metronet services may visit metronet.com to be notified once their address is available for installation and to access the presale. "We are pleased by Metronet's thoughtful approach to communicate with residents concerning their infrastructure installation project as the company works to offer additional fiber-optic services to our community," said Mayor Stephen Kepley. "Metronet is prepared to bring the power of an ultra-high-speed fiber optic network to Kentwood. With a focus on reliability, we eagerly anticipate residents and businesses enjoying seamless internet connectivity, enabling effortless connection between families and friends," said Ben Ruzick, Metronet Government Affairs Director. "We express gratitude for the unwavering support of these cities as we take a significant stride towards delivering an internet experience they will truly love." Kentwood residents will begin seeng Metronet trucks throughout the area as construction activities expand throughout the community. Residents will receive communication by mail about construction activity in their neighborhood 30 days prior to starting. Additional messaging, such as yard signs, will also be provided to notify residents of when construction is beginning in their neighborhood. Metronet crews are identified by ID tags and branded Metronet vehicles.



Metronet plans to hire local market management positions, sales and customer service professionals, and service technicians to support the Kentwood area. Those interested in joining the Metronet team can visit Metronet.com/careers to search available positions and submit applications. City officials interested in adding their community to Metronet's growing list of "Certified Gigabit City Powered by Metronet" may visit metronet.com/gigabit-city or contact Eddie Massengale, Metronet Sr. Director of Business Development & Government Affairs at [email protected] or call 423-280-9031.

About Metronet: Metronet is the nation's largest independently owned, 100% fiber optic company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. The customer-focused company provides cutting-edge fiber optic communication services, including high-speed Fiber Internet and full-featured Fiber Phone. Metronet started in 2005 with one fiber optic network in Greencastle, Indiana. Since then, Metronet and its affiliates have grown to serve and construct networks in more than 250 communities across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico, and Louisiana. Metronet is committed to bringing state-of-the-art telecommunication services to communities - services that are comparable or superior to those offered in large metropolitan areas. By offering XGS PON technology, Metronet can easily carry its communities into the future of multi-gigabit service. Metronet has been recognized by PC Mag as one of the Top 10 Fastest ISPs in North Central United States in 2020 and Top 10 ISPs with Best Gaming Quality Index in 2021. Broadband Now has recognized Metronet as the Top 3 Fastest Internet Providers and Fastest Fiber Providers in the Nation in 2020, and #1 Fastest Mid-Sized Internet Provider in two states in 2020. In 2020, Metronet was awarded the Vectren Energy Safe Digging Partner Award from Vectren. For more information, visit www.Metronet.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005272/en/

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[May 24, 2023] Entrepreneur and Philanthropist George L. Pla to Receive Honorary Doctorate, Deliver Address at Cal State LA Commencement

California State University, Los Angeles will confer an Honorary Doctorate on Cordoba Corporation's Founder and CEO George L. Pla at the commencement of the College of Natural and Social Sciences on Wednesday, May 24 at 9:00 a.m. and will be introduced and presented to the graduating class and guests by Los Angeles Mayor, Karen Bass. George L. Pla is the founder, president and CEO of Cordoba Corporation, a nationally recognized civil engineering, program and construction management firm. Pla is also the governor's appointee to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which is helping prepare for the 2028 Summer Olympics, and serves as the commission's presient. He served on the California Science Center Foundation Board of Trustees and led the planning of Cordoba Corporation's historic transport of the space shuttle Endeavour through the streets of Los Angeles in 2012. He is a co-founder of the City Club, a premier private club in Los Angeles that embraces and reflects the diversity and spirit of the city. Pla coauthored a book, entitled Power Shift: How Latinos in California Transformed Politics in America, which recounts the history of Latino political empowerment in California and beyond.



A Cal State LA alumnus, Pla has made a commitment to fund the George L. Pla Latino Leadership and Policy Forum at the university. His philanthropic efforts extend to national institutions, including Cordoba Corporation's commitment to supporting the Latino history initiatives at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005197/en/

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" " Alan, the Japanese-American owner of Hooper's Store, is seen here with (from left) Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Big Bird, Zoe and Julia. HBO

At a dinner party in 1966, Lloyd Morrisett, a vice president of the Carnegie Foundation, told his fellow guests how mesmerized his young daughter was by TV  so much so that he found her one morning watching the test patterns while waiting for a show to come on.

The party's host, documentary producer Joan Ganz Cooney, talked to Morrisett about ways they could use that addictive quality of television for good. They proposed using TV to educate preschoolers while entertaining them at the same time. Cooney went on to co-found Sesame Workshop, which has produced "Sesame Street" since 1969. The show first aired on PBS, and now also airs on HBO.

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"Sesame Street" is still going strong more than 50 years later, and while you and your kids probably grew up watching Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch, there are still surprising things you may not know about the Sesame universe.
[May 24, 2023] On The Border Introduces Elevated Rewards Program

On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand, is releasing enhancements to its popular Border Rewards loyalty program, making it easier to gain bold rewards. The revamped program introduces cheesy bonuses for On The Border's number-one selling menu item, Signature Queso, and two new loyalty tiers for On The Border's most dedicated members. The earning structure and all other benefits remain the same, making the program seamless for the members to continue enjoying the great benefits. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005532/en/ On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is releasing enhancements to its popular Border Rewards loyalty program, making it easier to gain bold rewards. With two new oyalty tiers, current and new Border Rewards members can redeem for the bolder flavors they crave more frequently. Silver members can enjoy $2 off queso every day. Gold members can enjoy 50% off queso every day. Everyone can join Border Rewards today by downloading the On The Border app and registering to join or by signing up online at ontheborder.com/border-rewards. (Photo: Business Wire)



"Our Queso Club was a huge hit that helped jumpstart On The Border's loyalty program. That promotion ended, but our guests remain crazy about our queso," says Suzie Tsai, vice president of marketing at On The Border. "We pride ourselves on making people feel special and heard by giving them what we promised: more queso and bolder rewards!"

With two new loyalty tiers, current and new Border Rewards members can redeem for the bolder flavors they crave more frequently. Silver members can enjoy $2 off queso every day. Gold members can enjoy 50% off queso every day. Loyalty Tiers Silver Tier: New members who sign up and existing members who have spent less than $250 in qualifying purchases in the 2023 calendar year.

Gold Tier: Members who have spent more than $250 in qualifying purchases in the 2023 calendar year. Gold members also get the added perk of monthly double points day; plus, membership continues for the calendar year and the year after. Gold Tier members have these benefits for both the current and upcoming calendar years. Everyone can join Border Rewards today by downloading the On The Border app and registering to join or by signing up online at ontheborder.com/border-rewards. About On The Border Founded in 1982, On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand. Known for its award-winning margaritas, house-made salsa, and sizzling mesquite-grilled fajitas, On The Border is a fan-favorite destination for authentic, contemporary Mexican food and vibrant good times. With more than 120 restaurants in the U.S. and Asia, there's always a fiesta waiting at On The Border. For more information, visit ontheborder.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005532/en/

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[May 24, 2023] Launch of the online catalogue of St. Lawrence actors and partners: the Cap Saint-Laurent tool

MONTREAL, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - To mark Quebec's maritime sector conference, the Assises quebecoises du secteur maritime, on May 9, 2023, CargoM, the Logistics and Transportation Metropolitan Cluster of Montreal, and Sodes, the St. Lawrence Economic Development, launched Cap Saint-Laurent, the online catalogue of actors and partners in Quebec's maritime and port sector. Funded by the ministere des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie (MRIF) and the ministere de l'Economie, de l'Innovation et de l'Energie (MEIE), Cap Saint-Laurent makes it possible to position Quebec's strategic advantages internationally and expedite the internationalization of its companies, organizations and research centres by providing a wide range of services and business resources, all in one place, for North American and foreign partners who use the major navigable waterway that is the St. Lawrence River. In addition to being a directory, Cap Saint-Laurent is a showcase for maritime sector achievements. Projects in cargo mobility, cybersecurity, process improvement, agility and decarbonization can address issues and serve as inspiration to implement new solutions. Cap Saint-Laurent is also part of Advantage St. Lawrence, the Quebec government's maritime vision focussed on three priorities: to provide modern, competitive port facilities along the St. Lawrence; to ensure efficient navigation that respects ecosystems; and to provide promising and sustainable development opportunities for communities along the St. Lawrence.



"CargoM and Sodes are proud to collaborate on implementing this tool. The members of our two organizations represent the entire logistics and freight transport sector along the St. Lawrence corridor. Cap Saint-Laurent will become a cornerstone because it will promote synergy among all of our stakeholders, not only in Greater Montreal but throughout Quebec. As the indispensable gateway to North America, able to easily and quickly reach a pool of 135 million consumers, this unique access route, the river, must be strong, sustainable and resilient. The Cap Saint-Laurent tool will contribute to achieving Quebec's action plan for growth and innovation."

- Mathieu St-Pierre, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sodes and Mathieu Charbonneau, Executive Director, CargoM "Our marine industry sets us apart on the world stage. Cap Saint-Laurent will support the internationalization of its ecosystem, its expertise and its initiatives with Quebec's partners abroad. I am certain that together, we can succeed in making the St. Lawrence River a world-class smart and green economic corridor, thanks to the expertise of all those fully engaged in this sector."

- Martine Biron, Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie and Minister responsible for the Status of Women

"Our transportation and logistics infrastructure, designed within a sustainable development framework, is burnishing our marine industry's reputation for excellence. With Cap Saint-Laurent, we have a new way to derive value from the St. Lawrence River from a responsible development perspective."

- Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister Responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister Responsible for Montreal and the Metropolitan Region To learn more about Cap Saint-Laurent and register your company, visit the website. About Sodes The Sodes is a non-profit organization whose mandate is to protect and promote the economic interests of the St. Lawrence. It represents the maritime community, including private and public stakeholders whose activities have a direct or indirect impact on the economy of the river, in all regions of Quebec. The Sodes is the privileged interlocutor of the governments regarding the development and economic life of the St. Lawrence, whether it is in the area of freight and passenger transportation, regional development or the environment. About CargoM Created in 2012, CargoM (cargo-montreal.ca  @CargoMtl) brings together Greater Montreal's logistics and freight transport stakeholders, including educational institutions, exporters and importers, research centres, associations and sectoral committees, around shared objectives and collaborative projects, with the aim of increasing the cohesiveness, competitiveness and outreach of this sector. Of vital importance to the development of Greater Montreal, it represents close to 130,000 jobs, 6,000 businesses and over $8.7 billion annually in economic benefits. CargoM's activities receive financial support from the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC), from the Government of Quebec and from all its members. SOURCE Metropolitan Cluster of logistics and transportation in Montreal

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[May 24, 2023] North Island Credit Union First Credit Union in San Diego County to Earn CDFI Certification

Through the Community Development Certification, Credit Union Will Expand Programs to Serve and Support Underserved San Diego Communities SAN DIEGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- North Island Credit Union announced today that it is the first credit union in San Diego County to receive certification as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) by the U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund. The CDFI certification is available only to organizations that have proven they provide financial services and products in communities that have historically lacked access to traditional banking services. "We're excited to earn this certification, which will enable us to expand on our mission to improve lives in our San Diego communities. The opportunities available to us as a CDFI will amplify our programs to invest in San Diego communities that need it most through providing critically needed access to capital and education programs," said North Island Credit Union President/CEO Steve O'Connell. "We look forward to this next step in serving and supporting our underserved communities by moving more underbanked community members to traditional financial services and providing loan programs to spark new growth and development in our service areas." Certified CDFIs are part of a national network promoting economic growth in America's underserved communites by financing businesses, creating jobs, and rebuilding neighborhoods. The CDFI certification allows qualified financial institutions to access federal funds to provide financial products and services in low-income communities for local residents and businesses. North Island Credit Union is the first credit union to receive the designation in San Diego County; there are now 36 CDFI certified credit unions in the state, per CDFI Fund data as of May 15, 2023.



With this certification, North Island Credit Union will apply for grant funding later this year to further expand its mission-driven programs for historically underserved San Diego communities that lack access to traditional, affordable financial products and services. CDFI certification is the latest step in North Island Credit Union's mission to meet the needs of underserved populations in its communities. Its Option Checking account was recently certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards, offering safe access to a traditional checking account, with zero fees or overdraft charges to support moving members out of a debt cycle. The credit union also has adjusted underwriting guidelines to provide easier access to funds, launched credit card products for members looking to build/restore credit, and offers a full suite of financial education and literacy resources.

In earning the certification, North Island Credit Union worked with CU Strategic Planning, a Tacoma, Washington-based firm that assists institutions with the CDFI application process. About North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union

California Credit Union is a federally insured, state chartered credit union founded in 1933 that serves public or private school employees, community members and businesses across California. With more than 170,000 members and assets of over $4.5 billion, California Credit Union has 24 branches throughout Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The credit union operates in San Diego County as North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union. California Credit Union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking, and leading-edge online and mobile banking. Please visit northisland.ccu.com for more information or follow the credit union on Instagram or Facebook @northislandcu. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/north-island-credit-union-first-credit-union-in-san-diego-county-to-earn-cdfi-certification-301832834.html SOURCE North Island Credit Union

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[May 24, 2023] Better Job Descriptions and Pay Transparency: Top Priorities for Gen Z Identified in New Symplicity Student Survey

ARLINGTON, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Symplicity, the globally trusted leader in student success in higher education and recruiting, is pleased to release its 2023 State of Early Talent Recruiting Report. Surveying over 3,700 students currently enrolled in four-year colleges and universities across the United States in March 2023, the report highlights and emphasizes many of the consistent trends among Gen Z and how they view work, employers, recruiting, and how they work with their career services offices. Only 46% of students actually feel confident in finding a job upon graduation, while 61% are actually confident that they are graduating with the skills they need for a career. There are a variety of factors Symplicity's survey identified that lead Gen Z students to this sentiment. When applying for jobs, Gen Z is seeking more realistic expectations and more specifics in job descriptions. The survey found that 59% of students were concerned that they did not have the right qualifications for the types of jobs they wanted when starting the job search process, and that too many unrealistic requirements would discourage 65% of students from applying. This sentiment was particularly truer for women, wih 63% of women vs. 52% of men being concerned about their qualifications when searching for jobs. The survey results suggest that employers should consider revising their job descriptions to make them more realistic and transparent.



Symplicity's 2023 survey also asked students about pay transparency. Gen Z values transparency across multiple areas of the job application process, particularly around salary and job responsibilities. Out of nine categories, pay transparency and equity was the most important diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) effort that students look for when evaluating a company's DEI efforts, with 87% stating it is important or very important when evaluating a company's DEI efforts. When it comes to salary range specifically, Symplicity's survey found that 53% of students said that they would be discouraged from applying to a job if there was no specific salary range in the job description, with 36% saying they might apply. This follows recent trends in states like California and New York which require employers based in the state to post a salary range in their job descriptions. In addition, Gen Z is critical of companies who are paying lip service and are more skeptical of a company's DEI efforts. In short, Gen Z wants companies to "walk the walk."

Finally, hybrid or remote work is becoming less important to Gen Z, with 42% of students saying that a hybrid or fully remote work option was very important or important to them when searching for employment. This is a decline from the 75% of students surveyed by Symplicity last year that identified a remote/hybrid option as important to them. Although remote work heightened in popularity during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now less of a priority and incoming new hires are vouching for more in-person time to improve their sense of comradery with coworkers and superiors. Our findings suggest Gen Z is hungry for human interaction. As newcomers, early talent recruits want to be able to establish their own networks and create spaces in which fruitful mentorships can develop. Symplicity's report emphasizes that Gen Z students are looking for more realistic job descriptions, salary transparency, and value employers who demonstrate a genuine commitment to DEI, while also wanting more opportunity for face-to-face interactions to establish their own network. To read the full 2023 State of Early Talent Recruiting Report, that provides valuable insights for employers looking to attract top talent, click here. About Symplicity

Symplicity Corporation is a global leader in student employability and engagement software solutions to more than 2,000 colleges and universities across 37 countries. Symplicity's SaaS platform supports the full student lifecycle, including early talent recruiting, accessibility, wellbeing and behavioral intervention. These solutions empower higher education clients to enhance a student's ability to stay in school, graduate and secure a first job. Learn more at www.symplicity.com. CONTACT:

Helena Okolicsanyi

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/better-job-descriptions-and-pay-transparency-top-priorities-for-gen-z-identified-in-new-symplicity-student-survey-301833699.html SOURCE Symplicity

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[May 24, 2023] Cengage Receives Top Customer Service Award for Excellence in Supporting Students and Educators

Customer Feedback Powers Sixth Consecutive Award from the Customer Relationship Management Institute BOSTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Edtech provider Cengage announced today that it has again received the NorthFace Scoreboard "Top Customer Support Award" from the Customer Relationship Management Institute (CRMI). The award is based solely on customer feedback and recognizes organizations whose exemplary service to their customers is consistently reflected in their customer satisfaction survey results. "We are delighted to be recognized for the sixth consecutive year as Northface Scoreboard Award recipients for excellence in customer service," said Dawn Gerrain, Senior Vice President, Cengage Academic Service Experience. "Our Cengage Service Experience team works hard to create a differentiated service experience that strengthens our position as one of the most trustworthy enablers in education. This award affirms those efforts." One of the aspects that differentiates the Cengage Service Experience team is the belief that great customer service is not just about a transaction: it is about addressing customers' concerns with empathy and creating an unexpected personal connection. Some of the other unique features of the Cengage service experience include: Virtual Office Hours : partnering with our sales team to delive start of the semester Zoom sessions that address purchase, onboarding, and platform specific questions and issues in real time with our learners and educators.

: partnering with our sales team to delive start of the semester Zoom sessions that address purchase, onboarding, and platform specific questions and issues in real time with our learners and educators. Transparency: proactively sharing how our platforms are performing via techcheck.cengage.com so customers can monitor if a platform is experiencing an issue.

proactively sharing how our platforms are performing via techcheck.cengage.com so customers can monitor if a platform is experiencing an issue. Expanded support channels : meeting our customers where they want to connect with us; including phone, web-created case, live and automated chat and through our social media handle (@CengageHelp)

: meeting our customers where they want to connect with us; including phone, web-created case, live and automated chat and through our social media handle (@CengageHelp) Quality self-service materials and support: through our community support site, support.cengage.com, customers can find a wide range of curated content from video tutorials, user guides and other resources including hundreds of self-serve articles based on commonly asked questions.



For more information on awards and this year's winners, visit https://www.crmirewards.com/.

About Cengage and National Geographic Learning

Cengage and National Geographic Learning, part of Cengage Group's portfolio of education businesses, provide education content and technology to support the learning goals of more than 12M digital learners, from middle school to graduate school, at more than 20,000 institutions globally. Our trusted content, reliable platforms, unique Cengage Unlimited subscription, and award-winning customer support teams make it easy for instructors to choose us year-after-year. For more information visit www.cengage.com or ngl.cengage.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cengage-receives-top-customer-service-award-for-excellence-in-supporting-students-and-educators-301833700.html SOURCE Cengage

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[May 24, 2023] Joint statement on the launch of the North American Semiconductor Conference and North American Ministerial Committee on Economic Competitiveness

WASHINGTON, DC, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Canada, the United States and Mexico fulfilled key commitments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Joseph Biden and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the North American Leaders' Summit in Mexico City on January 9-10 to deepen our economic cooperation, create the quality jobs of the future, promote investment, spur innovation, and strengthen the resilience of our economies. The three governments organized the first North America Semiconductor Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 18-19 with the support of the Semiconductor Industry Association and Arizona State University. The conference reflects a shared commitment by government, industry, and academia to work together to strengthen the resilience of the North American semiconductor supply chain. Canada, the United States and Mexico also launhed the North American Ministerial Committee on Economic Competitiveness (NAMCEC), fulfilling another commitment by our leaders at the North American Leaders' Summit, which will align efforts at the cabinet-level to strengthen regional competitiveness and productivity in industries of the future including semiconductors, clean energy, critical minerals, biomanufacturing, and information and communications technology. By harnessing the power of our private sector and academia, we can create quality, sustainable jobs and provide industry with the talent required to grow and prosper, and address the needs of North American workers.



At the Semiconductor Conference, the governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico committed to grow the following areas of collaboration in partnership with academia and the private sector: Information exchange to support a more robust and innovative North American research and development ecosystem, with the potential to forge new, cross-border partnerships in semiconductor research and development in areas of mutual interest.

Industry and academic partnerships to train the semiconductor workforce of the future.

Investments in the development, manufacture, and packaging of semiconductor technologies and related innovations in a way that addresses supply chain gaps and leverages the strengths of each of our nations. To advance these opportunities, Canada, the United States and Mexico committed to establish biannual dialogues among officials. Together we are taking important steps to enhance North America's status as a trusted supplier of semiconductors, printed circuit boards, and related technologies in the face of shifting global supply chains, while cultivating domestic expertise and supporting the transition to both a digital and green global economy.

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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[May 24, 2023] DHL Express U.S. Launches GoGreen Giveaway to Help Small Businesses Expand Sustainably

Small Businesses can Enter to Receive up to $10K in Shipping Stipends, GoGreen Plus Services, $20K Worth of Sustainable Business Consulting and more PLANTATION, Fla., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Although Small Business Month concludes within the week, DHL Express continues to find ways to support these growing businesses all year round. Today, the world's leading provider of international express shipping services has launched its GoGreen Giveaway to help U.S.-based small businesses grow more sustainably. Those who enter the DHL GoGreen Giveaway have the opportunity to win the grand prize, which includes a $10K international shipping stipend to apply to transport costs and GoGreen Plus services, good for up to 12 months; $20K worth of sustainable business consulting; and GoGreen Carbon Reporting. Four runner-ups will each receive a $5K shipping stipend to apply to transport costs and GoGreen Plus services, good for up to 12 months, and a Sustainability in Logistics Virtual Workshop. Giveaway applications are open from May 24 through June 30, 2023. "Many businesses are looking to enhance their commitment to sustainability, but obstacles such as financial constraints and a lack of clear direction are hindering their progress," says Greg Hewitt, CEO of DHL Express U.S. "With this giveaway and other resources, small businesses have the opportunity to receive the right support and guidance to achieve sustainable growth. Together, every one of us can play a vital role in shaping a sustainable future." The giveaway follows the company's recent survey of nearly 2,500 small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), including DHL customers, which gained insights into how businesses prioritize sustainability. Of all respondents, 95% said sustainability is important to their business, with almost half (48%) believing it's extremely important. However, when asked about the biggest challenge to achieving sustainable goals, 42% said the overall investment is the main obstacle, and 11% said they had no clue where to start. To be considered, applicants must be legally operating businesses with under 100 employees. With the help of DHL Consulting, the winner will receive a customized sustainability action plan focused on environmental impact and tailored to its unique business. Expert consultants will organize a workshop with senior management to review the revised business model and actionable initiatives recommended to improve sustainable performance. This may include but is not limited to, modifications around sustainable sourcing, warehousing and packaging.



DHL Express recently launched GoGreen Plus for U.S. SMEs, enabling customers to reduce ('inset') the carbon emissions associated with their shipments through the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Now, customers based in the U.S.and any countryhave the option to select GoGreen Plus when choosing their shipping preferences within MyDHL+, the company's online shipping and tracking platform. The service is designed to be fully flexible and can be selected for individual shipments. Shippers also have the option to tailor the CO2e reduction they want to achieve and the amount of SAF they use. The new GoGreen Plus service is made possible following DHL's recent collaborations with BP and Neste to supply SAF to DHL Express hubs around the world. The renewable part of the innovative fuel is produced from waste oils. Such SAF from wastes and residues can provide greenhouse gas emission reductions of up to 80 percent over its life cycle compared to the conventional jet fuel it replaces.

Click here to learn more or apply to the GoGreen Giveaway

Click here for more information on the DHL 2023 SME Sustainability Survey

Click here to learn more about the GoGreen Plus service

Click here to take advantage of the GoGreen Plus service Media Contact:

DHL Express U.S. Communications

Robert Mintz

Phone: +1 (425) 984-4249

E-mail: [email protected] Follow us on:

The Web: www.dhl-usa.com/express

Twitter: www.twitter.com/DHLUS

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dhlus

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DHLUSA

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/DHLExpress

YouTube: www.youtube.com DHL  The logistics company for the world

DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 395,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global sustainable trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, engineering, manufacturing & energy, auto-mobility and retail, DHL is decisively positioned as "The logistics company for the world". DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 94 billion euros in 2022. With sustainable business practices and a commitment to society and the environment, the Group makes a positive contribution to the world. Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to achieve net-zero emissions logistics by 2050. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dhl-express-us-launches-gogreen-giveaway-to-help-small-businesses-expand-sustainably-301833361.html SOURCE DHL

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[May 24, 2023] InventHelp Inventor Develops Simple Secure Lock (PHO-3036)

PITTSBURGH, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a practical means to provide enhanced safety, security, and peace of mind within homes," said an inventor, from Anthem, Ariz., "so I invented the SIMPLE SECURE LOCK. My design would be easy to install and use for both adults and children." The patent-pending invention provides enhancd security for the front door to a home. In doing so, it prevents unwanted individuals from entering the home. It can also be used to prevent children from leaving the home. As a result, it enhances safety and security. The invention features a simple design that is easy to install and use so it is ideal for households.



The original design was submitted to the Phoenix sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-PHO-3036, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inventhelp-inventor-develops-simple-secure-lock-pho-3036-301829668.html SOURCE InventHelp

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[May 24, 2023] National Month-over-Month (MoM) HPA in April was up 0.7%, indicating the continuing ability of the seller's market to push back on sharply higher rates

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nationally, prices have now returned to the peak level reached in June 2022 (not seasonally adjusted), according to data from the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) Housing Center. The national Month-over-Month (MoM) HPA in April was up 0.7%, continuing the upward trend that began in Jan. 2023, after MoM HPA had declined from Jul. to Dec. 2022. Based on Optimal Blue rate lock data, the HPA peak reached in June 2022 will be exceeded by May 2023. Home prices have increased in all of the 60 metros since their respective recent troughs in either Dec. 2022 or Jan. 2023 (see #1 in graphic). April's Year-over-Year constant-quality HPA was 1.4%, down from 2.6% a month ago, and a YoY Peak of 18.3% in March 2022 .



April's Year-over-Year constant-quality HPA was 1.4%, down from 2.6% a month ago, and a YoY Peak of 18.3% in March 2022. YoY HPA varied significantly among the 60 largest metros. It ranged from -11.8% and -10.2% in San Francisco and San Jose to 14.2% and 8.8% in Indianapolis and Kansas City (see #2 in graphic).

Historically, low price tier HPA has outpaced HPAs for upper price tiers. This trend continued in April, with the high price tier flat on a YoY basis, while the low price tier increased 6.0% YoY. April months' supply dropped from its recent uptick, signaling the continuation of the strong seller's market. Months' supply stood at 2.4 months in April 2023, dropping from 3.4 months last month and 3.6 months in April 2019 (pre-pandemic). (See #3 in graphic). The months' supply for the low price tier came in at 1.5 months in April 2023, helping to explain the 6% YoY price growth for this tier. The AEI Housing Center provides the most advanced and timely information on home prices available. Measures of home price appreciation like the Case Shiller index have months of lag. The Housing Center has published data for April 2023 and is able to accurately project May and June with Optimal Blue rate lock data as well. National Home Price Appreciation (HPA) Index  April 2023 Media Contact Details: Sissi Li

American Enterprise Institute Housing Center

https://www.aei.org/centers/housing-center/

[email protected]

203-419-5240 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-month-over-month-mom-hpa-in-april-was-up-0-7-indicating-the-continuing-ability-of-the-sellers-market-to-push-back-on-sharply-higher-rates-301833736.html SOURCE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH

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[May 24, 2023] Spellbook Secures $10.9M in Funding to Bring Assistive AI to Lawyers

Spellbook, the AI copilot for lawyers, today announced $10.9M in funding led by Moxxie Ventures, with participation from Thomson Reuters Ventures, Inovia Capital, The LegalTech Fund, Bling Capital, N49P, Concrete Ventures, Good News Ventures, Venture Newfoundland & Labrador and others, as well as a formal rebrand from Rally to Spellbook. This capital will power Spellbook's mission to expedite the most banal parts of legal work through AI, while supporting hiring, R&D and expansion.



Spellbook leverages OpenAI's GPT-4 and other fine-tuned large language models to enable legal practitioners to draft and review contracts up to four times faster. With this increased efficiency, lawyers are able to serve an estimated 30% higher client load. Meeting lawyers where they are, Spellbook integrates with Microsoft Word, freeing up lawyers from mundane, tedious tasks to focus on what matters most - providing effective legal representation and achieving the best possible outcome for their clients. "Spellbook is focused on empowering lawyers with AI tools that effortlessly assist them throughout their normal course of work," said Scott Stevenson, co-founder and CEO of Spellbook. "It's clear that AI will fundamentally transform every industry, and the explosive demand we've seen for Spellbook made it obvious that our approach has caught on. This round of funding is further proof of our thesis - we're excited to give lawyers more time to focus on thoughtful work and avoid drudgery, all while reducing errors and increasing accuracy."

"As a lawyer, I found that the career wasn't as gratifying as I had envisioned, as I frequently spent long hours on tedious drafting tasks," said Daniel Di Maria, co-founder and COO of Spellbook. "Spellbook's technology gives lawyers an ever-present AI copilot to help them make everyday decisions while requiring almost no habit change. They can practice the way they always have, but now with an AI partner to help them think and write faster." "We think that chat-based interfaces like ChatGPT are just the tip of the iceberg," said Matt Mayers, co-founder and Chief Experience Officer at Spellbook. "We think of Spellbook like a tailwind for the lawyer, swooping in to help them with their work before they even know they need a hand. This keeps the lawyer in the driver's seat, but helps them move much faster." "At Thomson Reuters Ventures we're committed to investing in technology to help accelerate innovation in the applications of generative AI. We're excited to invest in Spellbook and support its work driving productivity in the legal sector. Thomson Reuters plans to explore the application of Spellbook's generative AI technology to our industry leading, authoritative content to deliver customer value," said Tamara Steffens, Managing Director at Thomson Reuters Ventures. "Spellbook delivers a platform that fundamentally transforms and accelerates processes for over 600 legal teams globally. They impressed us with their speed to market and explosive growth, in addition to their leadership in legal workflow automation with their Rally platform," said Alex Roetter, General Partner at Moxxie Ventures. "We're excited about what generative AI will mean for legal and how Spellbook is meeting this moment, shipping features, onboarding customers and delivering value at a relentless pace." Today, more than 600 legal teams are actively utilizing Spellbook, and an additional 53,000 customers have signed up for the waitlist globally. With this round of funding, Spellbook grows in its ability to provide automated legal assistance to customers around the world. Spellbook was originally launched by Rally in 2022. The rest of Rally's product suite will remain active and be combined with Spellbook's AI to create a holistic, AI-driven legal management platform. For more information, please visit www.spellbook.legal or www.rallylegal.com. About Spellbook Spellbook is a legal software company which launched the first generative AI contract drafting tool in September 2022. The technology, powered by large language models like OpenAI's GPT-4, is optimized using legal datasets for superior contracting performance. More than 600 customers across the legal industry use Spellbook to support their lawyers with the resources to make more accurate and efficient legal decisions when drafting contracts and supporting documents. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005233/en/

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Key Insights

Institutions' substantial holdings in EnQuest implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price

A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership

Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls EnQuest PLC (LON:ENQ), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 63% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of EnQuest, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for EnQuest

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About EnQuest?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

EnQuest already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of EnQuest, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in EnQuest. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Double A Ltd with 11% of shares outstanding. With 8.3% and 5.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Aberforth Partners LLP and Schroder Investment Management Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 12 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of EnQuest

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that EnQuest PLC insiders own under 1% of the company. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It appears that the board holds about UK393k worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of UK310m. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 25% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 11%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand EnQuest better, we need to consider many other factors.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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[May 24, 2023] Ecole Ducasse and Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Announce Degree and Study Abroad Academic Partnership

Collaboration Opens Prestigious Pathway for Students to Complete Culinary Arts Degree at Ecole Ducasse in France PARIS and CHICAGO, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecole Ducasse and Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (Escoffier) announced today a new academic partnership offered to Escoffier students interested in pursuing their culinary arts degree with immersive study abroad program at Ecole Ducasse campuses in France. The partnership is an academic collaboration between Escoffier, the largest culinary school brand in the U.S., and Ecole Ducasse, Culinary School founded by renowned multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse. As a result of the partnership, qualifying students now have the unprecedented opportunity to expand their education and techniques and learn alongside Ecole Ducasse's renowned instructors at the Paris-based campuses' state-of-the-art facilities. "We welcome Escoffier's next generation of talented students and designed these dedicated pathways to inspire and enhance their educational experiences by learning from our chef instructors, Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, craftsmen, and hospitality experts" said Elise Masurel, managing director, Ecole Ducasse. Escoffier students who have completed their associate degree or diploma program in culinary arts at Escoffier's Austin or Boulder campuses, including online distance learning programs, are eligible to enter the second year of Ducasse's three-year bachelor's degree in culinary arts and graduate from the prestigious culinary school in Paris, France. "This is a partnership Auguste Escoffier himself would be proud of," stated Kirk Bachmann, Escoffier's Boulder campus president and provost. "This joint effort is an homage to Auguste's legacy of chefs supporting one another and always striving to learn and hone techniques," added Bachmann. The Ecole Ducasse and Escoffier partnership also inclues a wide range of eight to nine-week long study-abroad educational programs for qualifying Escoffier students. Led by Ecole Ducasse's culinary and pastry chef instructors, the immersive programs are designed to enhance core culinary programs and bring famed chef Alain Ducasse's culinary vision and French gastronomy to life for students during their stay in France.



For more information about the Ecole Ducasse and Escoffier Study Abroad program, visit https://www.escoffier.edu/french-culinary-school/ About Auguste Escoffier College of Culinary Arts

Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is the largest culinary school brand in the U.S. (based on comparable student population data currently reported in IPEDS). It is the only U.S. accredited institution, available through its Boulder campus, to offer 100 percent online culinary degrees which include culinary classes and real-world industry externships. Ranked in the top 10 culinary schools in the United States by USA Today and number one in the world by Chef's Pencil, the school's professional programs offer the proven combination of a classic and contemporary approach to modern industry skills training as well as sustainability-centered and business-focused curriculum. Escoffier offers Diploma programs for Culinary Arts, Pastry Arts, Food Entrepreneurship and Plant-Based Culinary Arts as well as Associate of Applied Science Degrees in Culinary Arts, Pastry Arts and Associate of Occupational Studies Degrees (AOS) in Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry, Plant-Based Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management, Holistic Nutrition and Wellness and Food Entrepreneurship. Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colorado is nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET). Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Austin, Texas is nationally accredited by the Council on Occupational Education (COE). Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is a Great Place to Work-Certified institution, a Newsweek Top Online Learning School and its Boulder (includes online programs) and Austin campuses are designated as Military Friendly Schools. For more information: https://www.escoffier.edu/ About Ecole Ducasse Ecole Ducasse is a network of schools founded in 1999 by multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse, dedicated to the transmission of outstanding French expertise and excellence in culinary and pastry arts. Ecole Ducasse runs three schools in France  Paris Studio, Paris Campus and the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie  as well as international schools with Manila Campus in the Philippines, Gurugram Campus in India, and Nai Lert Bangkok Studio in Thailand. All are united by a desire to share a passion for gastronomy with seasoned professionals as well as food enthusiasts, career changers and students. This broad portfolio of programs aims to meet all training needs: from short programs for experts or food enthusiasts to intensive two, four or six-month programs, to three-year undergraduate programs and bachelor's degree in culinary and pastry arts. Ecole Ducasse is part of Sommet Education, a worldwide leader in hospitality education. For more information: https://www.ecoleducasse.com/en Media Contacts: Ecole Ducasse

Mrs. Anouck Weiss

Chief Communication Officer

Email: [email protected] Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts

Patti Thomas

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ecole-ducasse-and-auguste-escoffier-school-of-culinary-arts-announce-degree-and-study-abroad-academic-partnership-301833738.html SOURCE Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts

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[May 24, 2023] TalentNet named Best Frontline-Focused Solution by HR Tech Awards

Talent Acquisition innovator recognized for creative, client-focused solutions TORONTO, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - TalentNet, a leader in the Direct Sourcing space, is excited to announce the company has been honored with the distinguished 2023 HR Tech Award in the Talent Acquisition category for Best Frontline-Focused Solution. These awards recognize innovative technology in the HR space, focusing on companies who create seamless, intuitive platforms to help connect candidates with the right positions. "In a world of scarce talent, TalentNet is bringing the power of Direct Sourcing to employers looking for contingent and full-time staff," said Ben Eubanks, Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory. "Candidates for frontline roles can apply in as little as 60 seconds, and employers can see immediate and significant cost savings versus other traditional hiring methods. Very impressive." TalentNet is proud to be highlighted along with the industry's top tech companies, and will continue to focus on creating positive candidate experiences using cutting edge technology. "We are thrilled to receive this honor from the 2023 HR Tech Awards. This recognition shows how important frontline solutions are in the talent acquisition sphere," said Jonathan Prothero, TalentNet's President. "TalentNet is focused on bulding a One Doorway platform that helps companies attract and manage all worker types through a single, branded entry point building a diverse talent community."



TalentNet's platform allows hiring managers and curators to smoothly build and manage their candidate pipelines. Users can easily organize candidates and quickly send email and text communications, as well as create messaging templates to make reaching out to top talent as intuitive as possible. "As the originator of the Direct Sourcing space, TalentNet utilizes our vast experience, ongoing customer feedback and the latest innovations in AI to constantly evolve our product to create a seamless talent acquisition experience." said Prothero.

To learn more about TalentNet's solution, book a demo here . About TalentNet: TalentNet introduced the world to a better way of sourcing in 2013 with the launch of the TalentNet contingent labor Direct Sourcing platform. Today, Direct Sourcing is one of the fastest-growing trends globally in talent acquisition. As the technology pioneer in Direct Sourcing, we empower some of the world's leading brands to provide job candidates with a seamless hiring experience while simplifying supply chain complexity and reducing cost. Our mission is to transform how organizations engage and acquire talent. Visit us at TalentNet.com

Follow us on LinkedIn View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/talentnet-named-best-frontline-focused-solution-by-hr-tech-awards-301833507.html SOURCE TalentNet

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[May 24, 2023] SMACNA Launches New Website to Raise Awareness for Indoor Air Quality

The new website, WeAreWhatWeBreathe.com, will serve as a "dynamic hub" for the importance of indoor air quality. CHANTILLY, Va., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA), the leader in promoting quality and excellence in the sheet metal and air conditioning industry, today announced the launch of WeAreWhatWeBreathe.com, a new website designed to raise public awareness for indoor air pollution and how indoor air quality (IAQ) improvements can help improve occupant's health. This comprehensive site operates as a one-stop-shop for visitors to explore how ventilation, airflow and indoor air quality impact schools, homes and office settings. Visitors can learn about the Ventilation Verification assessment, an important physical examination of a building's HVAC system made by trained and certified HVAC or Testing, Adjusting & Balancing technicians. The site also includes a guide to identifying federal and state funding opportunities to support HVAC system improvements and a locator to find a trained local HVAC professional. "The pandemic shined a much-needed lighton indoor air quality and some of the major health concerns arising in our schools, homes and workplaces," said Aaron Hilger, SMACNA's Chief Executive Officer. "As a standard-setting organization, SMACNA is proud to play a leading role in addressing the impact of poor ventilation and air quality on our lives. We are hopeful this website will be a helpful resource, while also instilling a sense of urgency for building owners and school systems to provide tenants with the clean, quality air they deserve."



The EPA's Science Advisory Board ranks indoor air quality (IAQ) among the top five environmental risks to public health. Inside our workplaces, homes and schools, exposure to air pollutants can be 2x to 5x worse than outdoors due to poor ventilation rates and underperforming HVAC systems. To learn more about indoor air pollutants and the need for better ventilation, visit WeAreWhatWeBreathe.com.

ABOUT SMACNA: SMACNA is an international trade association representing 3,500 contributing contractor firms and is a leader in promoting quality and excellence in the sheet metal and air conditioning industry. SMACNA members are responsible for effectively delivering the clean air Americans breathe in offices, homes, and hospitals; for many of the attractive facades you see on today's stadiums and office buildings; and for the comfortable, healthy, and safe living environments in which our citizens live out their daily lives. SMACNA has national offices in Chantilly, Va., outside of Washington, D.C., and on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit www.SMACNA.org. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smacna-launches-new-website-to-raise-awareness-for-indoor-air-quality-301833826.html SOURCE The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA)

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[May 24, 2023] Canada Invests in a Net-Zero Roadmap to Support Electricity Modernization in Saint John, New Brunswick

SAINT JOHN, NB, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Communities across Canada are advancing toward a sustainable, net-zero future. In New Brunswick, the Government of Canada is working with partners including local and Indigenous communities to scale up clean technology and enhance clean energy deployment. Investments in these sectors are critical to delivering good jobs while unlocking economic opportunities for generations ahead. Today, Wayne Long, Member of Parliament for Saint JohnRothesay, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, announced nearly $4 million for Saint John Energy's Zero30 initiative. This initiative includes developing a comprehensive net-zero roadmap to drive down operational emissions while advancing affordability by providing ratepayers with more innovative options. The project will include working with key community stakeholders and partners, including First Nations, while assessing the methods and technologies needed to meet electrical load growth while reducing emissions. This will be achieved through deep scenario modelling on energy and pollution to support decision making on various emission reduction methods through an actionable roadmap for achieving net zero. The project will also support community-level decision making by making available data, summary studies and models to all stakeholders for greater dissemination. Federal funding for this project is provided by Canada's Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs) , with up to $1.56 billion over eight years for smart renewable energy and electrical grid modernization projects. This program is actively supporting the scaling of renewable energy capacity that will provide essential grid services while supporting Canada's ongoing transition to a net-zero economy by 2050 and Canada's commitment to achieve a 100-percent net-zero-emitting electricity sysem by 2035.



Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy ensures Canada will remain a world leader in clean power. Budget 2023 included $3 billion over 13 years to recapitalize funding for the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program to support critical regional priorities and Indigenous-led projects. Budget 2023 also includes $40 billion of historic investments in the grid. This vital investment will be delivered in three ways:

a 15 percent refundable tax credit for non-emitting, and fully abated, electricity generation and stationary electricity storage systems, including batteries and equipment for the transmission of electricity between provinces and territories

$20 billion in low-cost financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank

in low-cost financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank targeted electricity programs, where needed, to ensure critical projects get built From coast to coast to coast, communities across Canada are advancing toward a more sustainable and prosperous future. Quotes "The Government of Canada is pleased to support Saint John Energy in its Zero30 initiative. Canada's clean grid is already a competitive advantage. To ensure that we can continue to attract investment and create more good, middle-class jobs, we need to keep increasing the supply of reliable, clean and affordable power right across Canada  including in New Brunswick. Through today's investment, we're doing that." The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson

Minister of Natural Resources "The Government of Canada is investing in building a sustainable and strong economy in Saint John and in communities across Atlantic Canada. That's clear from today's $4-million investment in Saint John Energy's Zero30 initiative to transform our growing electricity system and from our investment in the 42-megawatt Burchill Wind Energy project. Investments like these are how we create good-quality jobs for generations to come while taking ambitious climate action." Wayne Long

Member of Parliament for Saint JohnRothesay

"Zero30 is one of the most important initiatives Saint John Energy has undertaken. It will map a critical path forward to net zero while helping our customers get there, too. With the help of leading partners, we will find the best solutions and innovations to help us build a cleaner energy future  not just for us, but for everyone." Ryan Mitchell,

President and CEO, Saint John Energy Associated links

Saint John Energy

Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs)

2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy

Budget 2023 SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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[May 24, 2023] AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Oman Insurance Company P.S.C.

AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a" (Excellent) of Oman Insurance Company P.S.C. (Sukoon) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect Sukoon's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. Sukoon's balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects Sukoon's risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain comfortably in excess of the strongest threshold prospectively as the company executes its strategic plan, supported by continued internal capital generation. The company's balance sheet strength is supported further by its relatively conservative investment portfolio, excellent liquidity profile and prudent reserving practices. Offsetting factors include the company's high dependance on reinsurance, although the associated counterparty credit risk is mitigated partially by the use of a panel of financially sound reinsurers. Sukoon has a track record of strong operating performance, illustrated by a weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 9.9% over the past four years (2019-2022) (2022: 9.5%), following corrective actions implemented in 2018. Despite highly competitive conditions in the UAE insurance market, the company reported an improved profit after tax of AED 223.6 million (USD 60.9 million) in 2022, an increase of 8.5% over 2021. Sukoon's operating performance continues to be supported by robust non-life underwriting results, with the company achieving a four-year (2019-2022) weighted average combined ratio of 92.5% (2022: 92.1%), as calculated by AM Best, as well as healthy investment returns, with a weighted averae net investment yield (including gains) of 3.0% over the same period.



Sukoon has a market-leading position in the UAE, where it ranks as the third-largest insurance company by gross written premium (GWP). In 2022, Sukoon underwrote AED 4.4 billion (USD 1.2 billion) in GWP, growth of 24.0% over 2021. In recent periods, the company has executed several strategic initiatives to enhance its geographical and product diversification, notably through the launch of its Lloyd's syndicate-in-a-box and the acquisition of Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.'s UAE life insurance portfolio. In May 2023, Sukoon announced the completion of its entry in the UAE takaful insurance market through the acquisition of Arabian Scandinavian Insurance Company P.L.C. - Takaful ASCANA Insurance. Nonetheless, Sukoon's underwriting portfolio remains concentrated in its domestic market where approximately 70.0% of GWP is sourced. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005868/en/

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[May 24, 2023] New Report Highlights Power of Black-Led Change During the Three-Year Remembrance of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Formed in the wake of the 2020 Uprising for Racial Justice in response to George Floyd's murder, the Black Collective Foundation MN (the Collective) has engaged its national partners, the Center for Evaluation Innovation (CEI) and the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE), to research investments in racial justice. What will it take for institutional philanthropy to move at the speed of courage and invest wholly in Black lives? "Today, we share our first research publication: Toward Power-shifting Solidarity With Black-led Change. It unapologetically centers the progressive social, political, and economic change led by diverse groups of Black people and explores philanthropy's opportunities to transform and do better," said Lulete Mola, the Collective's president & co-founder. The research weaves together data from national and local philanthropic sources, insights from Black community leaders, and the input of stakeholders committed to racial equity in Minnesota. Among the findings from 0182021:



Less than 4% of funding for Minnesota nonprofits was focused on racial equity, and only about 0.5% was focused on racial justice.

nonprofits was focused on racial equity, and only about 0.5% was focused on racial justice. Funding for Black communities in Minnesota also increased but didn't keep pace with national trends.

also increased but didn't keep pace with national trends. Minnesota , the epicenter of the racial justice uprisings in 2020, saw only a tiny fraction of foundation funding invested in Black-led social change organizations. "The research asks: What will it take for institutional philanthropy in Minnesota and beyond to move at the speed of courage and invest wholly in Black lives?" says Dr. Chera Reid, lead researcher and co-executive director of CEI. Repa Mekha, Lulete Mola, and Chanda Smith Baker, leaders of the Collective, the state's first Black community foundation, are working to ensure Black-led organizations and communities are adequately recognized and resourced. While funding to Black communities rose in 2020, analysis from the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity, the organization behind Mismatched: Philanthropy's Response to the Call for Racial Justice, found it still was only 1.6% of institutional funding for the year.

"Like in our previous report, Mismatched , our analysis of more current data showed that claims of massive increases in racial justice funding in Minnesota were grossly exaggerated," said Lori Villarosa, executive director of PRE. She went on to add, "Fortunately, a growing number of Minnesota-based funders seem to be beginning to develop a structural racism lens for their grantmakinga trend we hope will continue." Systemic inequities take years to solve. The report provides five clear and tangible actions to urge all philanthropy to invest in Black lives year-round and long-term to build community power and support thriving individuals and families. To read the full report, visit https://www.minnesotablackcollectivefoundation.org/research MEDIA CONTACT:

Meredith Leigh Moore

612-520-7569

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-report-highlights-power-of-black-led-change-during-the-three-year-remembrance-of-george-floyd-301833935.html SOURCE The Black Collective Foundation MN

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[May 24, 2023] Government of the Republic of Namibia approves entry into pioneering US$10bn Agreement to develop Sub-Saharan Africa's Largest Green Hydrogen Project with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy

WINDHOEK, Namibia, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cabinet of the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) has approved entry into an agreement with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) to govern the development, implementation and operation of sub-Saharan Africa's largest, and its only fully vertically integrated, green hydrogen project. The transformative impact of this project on Namibia and its economy is considerable. The total project capital investment of US$10 billion is roughly equivalent to the country's annual GDP. At full scale development, anticipated before the end of the decade, the project will produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually. The pioneering Feasibility and Implementation Agreement (FIA) governs the process under which Namibia's first green hydrogen project will be realised, as a first step in the implementation of GRN's broader green hydrogen strategy. His Excellency, Hage Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, said: "The Harambee Prosperity Plan II noted that the Namibian Government would investigate the feasibility of incubating a synthetic fuels industry in Namibia, as a key transforming agent of our economy. On Friday the 26th of May 2023, we earnestly embark on that journey, as we kick start a process that has the potential to transform the lives of many in our country, the region and indeed the world."



Her Excellency, Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: "Namibia has the potential to become one of the main renewable energy hubs on the African continent and even world-wide. Today's agreement is a major step for the production of green hydrogen in the country. I am proud that Global Gateway allows the EU and Namibia to invest in a shared future fighting climate change together, making Namibia energy-independent and creating jobs and prosperity." Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, said: "We are delighted to have concluded the FIA and look forward to delivering on the next phase of development of this ground-breaking project.

On behalf of Hyphen, I would like to thank the Government for its unwavering support and relentless commitment to unlocking Namibia's green hydrogen potential. We are confident in our ability to work hand in hand with the people of Namibian to drive lasting change through economic development and job creation, whilst paving the way for a greener and brighter future." For media enquiries Contact FTI Consulting: [email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/government-of-the-republic-of-namibia-approves-entry-into-pioneering-us10bn-agreement-to-develop-sub-saharan-africas-largest-green-hydrogen-project-with-hyphen-hydrogen-energy-301833963.html SOURCE Government of the Republic of Namibia

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[May 24, 2023] Excellence Canada Announces the Recipients of the 2023 Canadian Business Excellence Awards for Private Businesses

TORONTO, May 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Excellence Canada is pleased to announce that, at the seventh annual Canadian Business Excellence Awards for Private Businesses, 24 Canadian organizations will be honoured for clearly demonstrating a strategic approach to successfully improving business performance and achieving goals, with a focus on the following three key performance areas: Delighted Customers; Engaged Employees; and Innovation. The Canadian Business Excellence Awards is an annual awards program that recognizes outstanding achievements by businesses in the private sector, from coast-to-coast across Canada. Submission criteria, eligibility conditions to apply, and deadlines for applications can be viewed in detail at https://canadianbusinessexcellenceaward.com/ The awards will be presented at the 2023 Canadian Business Excellence Awards for Private Businesses Cocktail Reception on Thursday, June 8th at Malaparte (TIFF Bell Lightbox) in Toronto.

The program features: Networking and Cocktails

Keynote Address by Kate Davi , Speaker, Comedienne, and Writer

, Speaker, Comedienne, and Writer Presentation of the 2023 Awards



https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sparkling-soiree-a-night-of-bubbles-and-laughter-tickets-608481373167 We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Canadian Business Excellence Awards for Private Businesses:

Alexa Translations  Toronto, ON

Altek Supply  Edmonton, AB

Applauz  Montreal, QC

BeaverTails Canada Inc.  Montreal, QC

CSPN (Customer Service Professionals Network)  Toronto, ON

eStruxture Data Centers  Montreal, QC

Geotab  Oakville, ON

Groupe MMI inc.  Saint-Laurent, QC

HGreg  Saint-Eustache, QC

Integracare Inc.  Toronto, ON

ISU Corp  Kitchener, ON

Jan Kelley Marketing  Burlington, ON

Jarvis Consulting Group  Toronto, ON

Kognitive Sales Solutions  Toronto, ON

MBC Managed IT Services  Richmond Hill, ON

OEIS Protection  Niagara Falls, ON

Petal Health  Quebec City, QC

R. Khanuja Dentistry Professional Corporation  Brampton, ON

Superior Glove Works  Acton, ON

T&T Power Group Inc.  Wellesley, ON

Valsoft Corporation Inc.  Saint-Laurent, QC

Waterford Global Inc.  Winnipeg, MB

Weston Forest  Mississauga, ON

Winright Law  Vancouver, BC PROUD SPONSORS OF CANADIAN EXCELLENCE Excellence Canada gratefully acknowledges the support of the Partners and Supporters of Canadian Excellence: Cocktail Supporter

CEO Global Network Media Supporter

The Globe and Mail Industry Supporters

SE Health

The Regional Municipality of Durham

Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care About Excellence Canada Excellence Canada is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that is committed to advancing organizational excellence across Canada. Since 1992, Excellence Canada has helped thousands of organizations become cultures of continuous quality improvement and world-class role models, through its Organizational Excellence Standard and its multi-level progressive methodology. As a national authority on Quality, Healthy Workplace, and Mental Health at Work, Excellence Canada provides excellence frameworks, standards, and independent verification and certification to organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. It is also the custodian and adjudicator of the Canada Awards for Excellence program, of which the Patron is the Governor General of Canada. For further information, please contact us:

www.cbeawards.com SOURCE Excellence Canada

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[May 24, 2023] The New Germany Fund, Inc. Announces Portfolio Manager Change

The New Germany Fund, Inc. (NYSE: GF) (the "Fund") announced today that Daniel Hann will replace Alexander Lippert as the Fund's deputy portfolio manager effective June 1, 2023. Leon Cappel will continue to serve as the Fund's portfolio manager. Mr. Hann joined DWS in 2011 with 5 years of industry experience. Previously, he worked as a Researcher at the European Centre for Corporate Engagement (ECCE). He received a MSc in International Management and Ph.D. in Finance from Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics. For more information on the Fund, including the most recent month-end performance, visit www.dwsfunds.com or call (800) 349-4281. Important Information Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, are not continuously offered. There is a one-time public offering and once issued, shares of closed-end funds are sold in the open market through a stock exchange. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to net asset value. The price of the fund's shares is determined by a number of factors, several of which are beyond the control of the fund. Therefore, the fund cannot predict whether its shares will trade at, below or above net asset value. The New Germany Fund, Inc. is diversified and primarily focuses its investments in equity securities of issuers domiciled in Germany, thereby increasing its vulnerability to developments in that country. Investing in foreign securities presents certain risks, such as currency fluctuations, and risks of currency and capital controls, political and economic changes, and market risks. Any fund that concentrates in a particular segment of the market will gnerally be more volatile than a fund that invests more broadly.



War, terrorism, sanctions, economic uncertainty, trade disputes, public health crises and related geopolitical events have led, and, in the future, may lead to significant disruptions in US and world economies and markets, which may lead to increased market volatility and may have significant adverse effects on the funds and their investments. The European Union, the United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Russian military and other actions in recent years. These sanctions have adversely affected Russian individuals, issuers and the Russian economy. Russia, in turn, has imposed sanctions targeting Western individuals, businesses and products. The various sanctions have adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, not only the Russian economy, but also the economies of many countries in Europe, including countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction. Certain statements contained in this release may be forward-looking in nature. These include all statements relating to plans, expectations, and other statements that are not historical facts and typically use words like "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," and similar expressions. Such statements represent management's current beliefs, based upon information available at the time the statements are made, with regard to the matters addressed. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. Management does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements: (i) the effects of adverse changes in market and economic conditions; (ii) legal and regulatory developments; and (iii) other additional risks and uncertainties, including public health crises (including the recent pandemic spread of the novel coronavirus), war, terrorism, trade disputes and related geopolitical events. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. NOT FDIC/ NCUA INSURED  MAY LOSE VALUE  NO BANK GUARANTEE

NOT A DEPOSIT  NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY DWS Distributors, Inc.

222 South Riverside Plaza

Chicago, IL 60606-5808

www.dws.com

Tel (800) 621-1148

 2023 DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA. All rights reserved The brand DWS represents DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA and any of its subsidiaries such as DWS Distributors, Inc. which offers investment products or DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. and RREEF America L.L.C. which offer advisory services. (R-096085-1) (05/23) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005774/en/

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[May 24, 2023] CytoDyn Announces President Takes Medical Leave of Absence

Antonio Migliarese assumes interim President role

Dr. Melissa Palmer appointed interim Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Salah Kivlighn joins CytoDyn as clinical and strategic advisor VANCOUVER, Washington, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) ("CytoDyn" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company developing leronlimab, a CCR5 antagonist with the potential for multiple therapeutic indications, announced today that Dr. Cyrus Arman, the Companys President, has taken a medical leave of absence. During Dr. Armans absence, Antonio Migliarese, the Companys Chief Financial Officer, will assume interim President responsibilities. Mr. Migliarese will be supported by the Companys recently appointed interim Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Melissa Palmer, as well as Dr. Salah Kivlighn, who recently joined the Company as a clinical and strategic advisor, in collectively leading the Companys continued priorities of lifting the clinical hold on the use of leronlimab in the HIV population, advancing the development of the NASH phase 2b clinical trial for submission to the FDA, and exploring potential strategic business opportunities. The Company plans to host an investment community webcast on a to-be-announced date in the near future. Dr. Palmer is an experienced industry executive and internationally renowned Hepatologist. She has held leadership positions at various biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including CMO of Gannex/Ascletis and Head of Liver Disease Clinical Development at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. At both Shire plc (acquired by Takeda in 2019) and Kadmon Corporation (acquired by Sanofi Company in 2021), Dr. Palmer led the global development of NASH and other liver disease programs. She was previously a clinical professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and the director of Hepatology at NYU Plainview, NY. Earlier in her career, Dr. Palmer maintained a solo medical practice devoted to treating patients with liver disease for 20 years. Since 1991, Dr. Palmer has served as a hepatology consultant to more than 60 biotech and pharmaceutical companies and has been a primary investigator for numerous clinical trials in NASH and other liver diseases. Dr. Palmer has authored over 100 publications, abstracts, manuscripts, and book chapters, in addition to the best-selling book "Dr. Melissa Palmer's Guide to Hepatitis and Liver Disease." Dr. Palmer, either as the primary author or co-author with colleagues from the FDA, has published several guidelines concerning drug-induced liver injury among patients in clinical trials evaluating potential drugs to treat NASH and other liver diseases. She trained in Hepatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she also received her M.D. degree. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Kivlighn, who is currently President and Managing Member of The Kivlighn Group, LLC, a company that provides strategic consulting services to companies across the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, brings to the Company more than 30 years of industry experience. Having held both scientific and commercial leadership roles, Dr. Kivlighn is a rare blend of science and business acumen. Recently, Dr. Kivlighn served as CEO of HepaTx Corporation, providing strategic, financial, and operational leadership. Prior to HepaTx, Dr. Kivlighn served as the Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Marketing and Program Operations for United States Pharmacopeia (USP), the official pharmacopeia for the United States. At USP, he created a new division with members in China, India, Europe, Latin America, and APAC, delivering a revitalized sales and marketing culture that yielded an average compound annual growth rate of 8.6%. Before his tenure at USP, he served as Commercial Vice President of Kite Pharma, Inc., now a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences. As Global Product Development Team Lead at MedImmune, nc., a subsidiary of AstraZeneca, Dr. Kivlighn and his team spearheaded the development of a Leukemia drug, LUMOXITI (moxetumomab pasudotox) which was acquired by INNATE Pharma, an independent clinical-stage biotech company. He also serves in advisory and board member roles for several companies.



Dr. Kivlighn began his career at Merck & Co. (Merck) where he held positions of increasing responsibility during his 15-year tenure. While at Merck, Dr. Kivlighn was the lead scientist for the discovery and development of Cozaar (losartan), and later helped to lead the massive growth of Cozaar to $3.5B in worldwide revenue. As a scientist and marketer, Dr. Kivlighn contributed to the successful launch of a number of trials. At Merck, he also co-led the development and commercialization of RotaTeq leading to an $800M franchise; RotaTeq was awarded universal recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Among Dr. Kivlighns many accolades, his team earned the prestigious Prix Galien Award for Best Biotechnology Product for RotaTeq. In addition, he earned the AstraZeneca CEO Award for his leadership during the development of LUMOXITI (moxetumomab pasudotox). Dr. Kivlighn is a sought-after global speaker and thought leader and has authored more than 77 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Texas Medical Center (University of Houston, Baylor College of Medicine & University of Texas Medical School), completing a fellowship in Integrated Physiology under the esteemed advisors Arthur C. Guyton and Thomas Lohmeier at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and a Bachelor of Science in Distributed Studies from Iowa State University. Dr. Palmer said, "I am excited about joining CytoDyn to support the further development of leronlimab following its impressive phase 2 data in patients with NASH. I am eager to help accelerate the NASH clinical development program and look forward to working with the Company's talented team and Dr. Kivlighn, with whom Ive had the pleasure of working in the past. Dr. Kivlighn stated, I have had the pleasure of getting to know the Companys Board of Directors and Tanya, Cyrus and Antonio, in addition to gaining an understanding of leronlimab, the current status of its development programs, the potential it has in various indications, and the current objectives related to the HIV clinical hold and future NASH clinical trial. I am thrilled to be able to leverage my experience and knowledge of the Company to support Antonio and the Companys clinical, regulatory, and strategic efforts during Dr. Armans leave of absence. Tanya Urbach, Board Chair, said Given the unanticipated circumstances, we are blessed to have had such a talented CMO as Dr. Palmer recently join the Company. We are further grateful for Dr. Kivlighns willingness to step in and support Antonio and the team at this time. Dr. Palmer and Dr. Kivlighn each bring significant experience not only in the oncology and NASH spaces but also in leadership roles with clinical and drug development companies. I believe these two individuals, coupled with Antonios strong management abilities, will allow us to not miss a beat during Cyruss absence.

About CytoDyn

CytoDyn is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of leronlimab, an investigational humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody (mAb) that is designed to bind to C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5), a protein on the surface of certain immune system cells that is believed to play a role in numerous disease processes. CytoDyn is studying leronlimab in multiple therapeutic areas, including infectious disease, cancer, and autoimmune conditions. Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Words and expressions reflecting optimism, satisfaction or disappointment with current prospects, as well as words such as "believes," "hopes," "intends," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "plans," "anticipates" and variations thereof, or the use of future tense, identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include statements about leronlimab, its ability to provide positive health outcomes, the Companys ability to resolve the clinical hold imposed by the FDA, the Company's ability to develop a successful operating strategy and thereby create shareholder value, the ability to obtain regulatory approval of the Companys drug products for commercial sales, and the market for actual commercial sales. The Company's forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and actual results could vary materially from those contained in or expressed by such statements due to risks and uncertainties, including: (i) the regulatory determinations of leronlimabs safety and effectiveness to treat the diseases and conditions for which we are studying the product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and various drug regulatory agencies in other countries; (ii) the Companys ability to raise additional capital to fund its operations; (iii) the Companys ability to meet its debt and other payment obligations; (iv) the Companys ability to recruit and retain key employees; (v) the Companys ability to enter into partnership or licensing arrangements with third parties; ((vi) the timely and sufficient development, through internal resources or third-party consultants, of analyses of the data generated from the Companys clinical trials required by the FDA or other regulatory agencies in connection with applications for approval of the Companys drug product; (vii) the Companys ability to achieve approval of a marketable product; (viii) the design, implementation and conduct of the Companys clinical trials; (ix) the results of any such clinical trials, including the possibility of unfavorable clinical trial results; (x) the market for, and marketability of, any product that is approved; (xi) the existence or development of vaccines, drugs, or other treatments that are viewed by medical professionals or patients as superior to the Companys products; (xii) regulatory initiatives, compliance with governmental regulations and the regulatory approval process; (xiii) legal proceedings, investigations or inquiries affecting the Company or its products; (xiv) general economic and business conditions; (xv) changes in foreign, political, and social conditions; (xvi) stockholder actions or proposals with regard to the Company, its management, or its board of directors; and (xvii) various other matters, many of which are beyond the Companys control. The Company urges investors to consider specifically the various risk factors identified in its most recent Form 10-K, and risk factors or cautionary statements included in subsequent Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements to take into account events or circumstances that occur after the date of this press release. CONTACT Investor Relations

CytoDyn Inc.

Office: 360.980.8524

[email protected]



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It hasn't been the best quarter for Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 15% in that time. But over three years the performance has been really wonderful. Over that time, we've been excited to watch the share price climb an impressive 988%. So you might argue that the recent reduction in the share price is unremarkable in light of the longer term performance. The share price action could signify that the business itself is dramatically improved, in that time. We love happy stories like this one. The company should be really proud of that performance!

On the back of a solid 7-day performance, let's check what role the company's fundamentals have played in driving long term shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for Baytex Energy

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

Baytex Energy became profitable within the last three years. Given the importance of this milestone, it's not overly surprising that the share price has increased strongly.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. This free interactive report on Baytex Energy's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 0.1% in the last year, Baytex Energy shareholders lost 28%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 3% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Baytex Energy , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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 Canadian exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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[May 24, 2023] Edtech Startup VIAS Campus Management Raises $3.3 Million Series A Round, Welcomes New Board Members

VIAS Campus Management, an edtech software company offering a comprehensive student information system (SIS) for higher education institutions, has completed its Series A funding round, securing a $3.3 million investment from Arthur Ventures. With its innovative approach to campus management, VIAS helps higher education institutions streamline their operations. The funding round unlocks the next phase of development for VIAS. "Our Series A is an exciting catalyst for our growth," said Tyler Caldwell, CEO of VIAS. "The round will enable us to accelerate product development, expand our team, and better serve our customers." Founded in 2020, VIAS emerged from one college's unmet needs for a modern SIS that integrates campus operations into a single platform. Recognizing the limitations of existing solutions, including outdated technology, limited functionality, and prohibitively high costs, the college operators sought to create a transformative SIS built by industry professionals, leading to the creation of VIAS. Since its inception, VIAS has been overwhelmed with demand, clearly meeting an underserved market need for a new type of SIS. VIAS now serves campuses across the country and the Series A funding round will propel the company's reach even further. Commenting on the investment, Arthur Ventures added, "As the global education market continues to thrive, we recognize the disruptive potentil of edtech. We are impressed by VIAS' innovative platform and are excited to support the company's growth. By investing in VIAS, we are investing in the future of higher education and the limitless potential of tomorrow's leaders."



VIAS is also pleased to announce the addition of two accomplished board members, Ryan Kruizenga and Amanda Greene. Ryan, a Partner at Arthur Ventures since 2016, brings extensive experience from his previous roles at Mainsail Partners, Summit Partners, and Piper Jaffray. Amanda is Oyster's SVP of Customer Experience and Operations and previously served as Head of Global Operations Strategic Planning at Airbnb. "We warmly welcome Amanda and Ryan to our board," said Caldwell. "Their expertise in scaling startups will be invaluable as we continue to grow."

VIAS' achievements demonstrate its growing prominence in the edtech industry as it leads advancements in campus management systems with technological breakthroughs. For more information about VIAS, please visit www.getvias.com. About VIAS Campus Management Founded in 2020, VIAS offers a comprehensive student information system, streamlining operations and increasing operational efficiency across the student lifecycle, including admissions, financial aid, accounting, accreditation, and career services. Visit online at www.getvias.com or follow VIAS on LinkedIn. About Arthur Ventures Arthur Ventures is a Minneapolis-based early growth capital firm that leads investments in B2B software companies. Since 2013, they have partnered with 50+ companies across the United States and Canada. Arthur Ventures manages $1.1 billion and is actively investing out of its $300 million fifth fund. For more information, visit www.arthurventures.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005587/en/

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This afternoon we share a tragic look at "the science" and more deets as the investigation continues . . .



Three days later, DNA from a buccal swab confirmed the woman's daughter was the dead infants mother, according to a search-warrant application for surveillance video filed May 22 by a KCPD investigator.



The woman who called polices 25-year-old daughter had told her via Facerbook Messenger on May 7 that the baby girl had died in her sleep on May 4.



The mother had messaged at least one other person about the girls death as well and told yet another witness that the 6-month-old girl had died in her sleep May 4.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

DNA links dead Kansas City, Missouri, infant found in woods to mother KANSAS CITY, Mo. - DNA evidence helped police identify the mother of the dead 6-month-old girl found on Mother's Day weekend in a wooded area in the 4000 block of Pittman Road. Kansas City, Missouri, police responded shortly before 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, to a wooded area behind a vacant lot to investigate a reported dead body.

Kansas City police use DNA to identify mother of baby left in woods KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Detectives used DNA and believe they've identified the mother of an infant after someone found the baby's body in a wooded area near East 41st and Pittman Road earlier this month. Investigators applied for a warrant to search the lot where they located the baby's body on May 13.

Developing . . .


Private rocket gear thwarted more than a few plebs today . . .



A few more deets . . .



"The company hired to haul the tanks confirmed they are empty and belong to SpaceX, tech billionaire Elon Musks space exploration company. Law enforcement helped escort the equipment around the Kansas City metro area."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Massive tanks on the way to SpaceX transported through the Kansas City metro area Those driving on highways in the Kansas City metro area on Tuesday may have caught a glimpse of tanks heading to SpaceX. Trucks are hauling two oxygen tanks to Brownsville, TX. Law enforcement helped escort the equipment around the Kansas City metro area.

Semis haul SpaceX tanks through Kansas City area, impacting traffic KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Semitrailers hauled two massive SpaceX tanks moved through the Kansas City metro Tuesday afternoon, causing long backups on local highways. The company hired to haul the tanks confirmed to FOX4 they are empty and belong to SpaceX, tech billionaire Elon Musk's space exploration company.

Developing . . .
The candidate from the Pentagon is bringing in the heavy artillery again.



Here's a bit of star power aimed at swaying voters with single-digit IQs . . .



Hawleys Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce mocked the Republicans fixation on manliness in a new ad featuring actor Jon Hamm, a Missouri native.



In the ad released Monday, the Mad Men lead questions Hawleys convictions while negative headlines about the politician flash by.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Jon Hamm Calls Josh Hawley A Coward In Ad For His Opponent Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has nothing on Don Draper. Hawley's Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce mocked the Republican's fixation on "manliness" in a new ad featuring actor Jon Hamm, a Missouri native. In the ad released Monday, the "Mad Men" lead questions Hawley's convictions while negative headlines about the politician flash by.

Jon Hamm narrates ad for Hawley opponent in Missouri: 'You can't fake courage' Actor Jon Hamm is narrating a campaign ad for Sen. Josh Hawley's (R) Democratic opponent in the Missouri Senate race, saying, "You can't fake courage." "Manhood, you hope that means courage," the former "Mad Men" star said in an ad for Lucas Kunce released Monday.

Jon Hamm Calls Josh Hawley A Coward In Ad For His Opponent Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has nothing on Don Draper. Hawley's Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce mocked the Republican's fixation on "manliness" in a new ad featuring actor Jon Hamm, a Missouri native. In the ad released Monday, the "Mad Men" lead questions Hawley's convictions while negative headlines about the politician flash by.

A glimpse at the psi-op . . .

You decide . . .
Warm weather violence is ramping up and we share more deets as the KCMO homicide count continues to keep pace with record breaking numbers achieved only in the past few years.



Here's the first report and more info . . .



Homicide 82nd and Forest

05-23-2023 just after 12:30 pm, officers were dispatched on a sound of shots call in the area 82nd and Forest. Upon arrival officers located a male juvenile teen who was being treated by EMS for an apparent gun shot wound in the parking lot of the apartment complex.



EMS immediately transported the victim to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased from his injuries.



There is no suspect information available at this time. The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still being investigated.



Detectives and crime scene personnel are on scene canvassing the area for witnesses and evidence.



If anyone saw anything in this area or has any information they are asked to contact the Homicide Unit directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS.



There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS hotline that result in an arrest.



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 link . . .

Teenager killed in Tuesday afternoon shooting in Kansas City, Missouri KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 16-year-old boy died in a shooting shortly before 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri. Police identified the teen as Zechariah Washington. The shooting unfolded at an apartment complex in the 8200 block of Forest Avenue. Police responded to the scene on report of gun fire.

Teen dies after being shot in KCMO on Tuesday afternoon KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A teenager has died after being shot in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday afternoon. According to the police, the shooting happened just after 12:30 p.m. in the area of 82nd and Forest. Police went to the area receiving a call about the sound of gunshots.

Developing . . .


In this post we catch up with police action, court cases and all manner of local crime reporting.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Police investigate double shooting Tuesday night in east Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo - Two people were injured in a shooting Tuesday night in east Kansas City, Missouri. The shooting unfolded about 7:30 p.m. in the 6400 block of Manchester Avenue. One person was critically wounded and the second victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

Former Kansas City cop, DEA agent pleads guilty to federal crime KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A former DEA agent and Kansas City, Missouri, police officer pleads guilty to federal crimes. Patrick Scot Witcher, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false federal income tax return. He admitted he failed to report more than $1 million in income between 2016-2018.

Court documents detail case of Kansas City infant's decomposing body found in woods Kansas City police investigating the death of a 6-month-old who was found in a state of decomposition in a wooded area suspect the child may have died in an apartment several days before her body was discarded there. The baby, whose identity has not been publicly released by KCPD, died of causes that remained unknown to police as of Monday.

Search warrant executed after baby's body is found in woods on Mother's Day KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A search warrant filed during an investigation into the death of a baby, whose body was discovered in the woods on Mother's Day, details how police tentatively identified the child. Following the discovery, Kansas City police made a public plea for information.

Teen accused in triple shooting near suburban Dallas could be in Kansas City, police say KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police in Rowlett, Texas, near suburban Dallas say a teen accused in a triple shooting in January could be in Kansas City, Missouri. Kenn'taevien Charvez Butler, 16, allegedly shot a 14-year-old girl and two adults at the Rowlett Twin Star Park at about 9:16 p.m. on Jan.

American Bar Association urges Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to stop execution of Michael Tisius KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Michael Tisius, 42, is scheduled to die by legal injection on June 6. In 2000, Tisius was convicted of shooting and killing two county jailers - 36-year-old Jason Acton and 33 year-old Leon Egley - at Randolph County Jail in Huntsville, Missouri, during a botched attempt to free 27-year-old Roy Vance, a former cellmate.

Former Kansas City police officer, DEA agent admits to filing fraudulent tax returns KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A former agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, who was also a Kansas City police officer, admitted to filing a fraudulent income tax return. Patrick Scot Witcher, 57, committed the fraud as part of a payday loan scheme.

Mother who 'loved her babies more than life itself' among 3 dead in KC nightclub shooting The photo of Antoinette "Libby" Brenson next to her laughing children as fake snow rained down on them immortalizes her smile. The picture, once just a happy holiday memory, is now the top of a GoFundMe page created by Brenson's loved ones in the wake of her death.

Community activists to discuss crime with Kansas City club owners KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners held its monthly meeting Tuesday. "You know crime is up," community activist Ron Hunt said during the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting. "We had a heck of a weekend."

Jury recommends more than 50 years in prison for Missouri mom whose 2 children died in hot car LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) - A jury has recommended that a Missouri woman whose two young daughters died inside a hot car in 2018 be sentenced to more than 50 years in prison. A Clay County jury found Jenna Boedecker guilty on Friday of two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and two misdemeanor counts.

How some locksmiths in KC area have scammed customers out of hundreds MISSION, Kan. - It was the middle of a weekday afternoon when Linda Collier locked her keys in her car. Luckily (or so she thought) she had a cell phone with her and Googled for a locksmith. "As soon as he got there, he said, 'Don't worry.

City leaders holding violence prevention forum amid recent spike in crime As of May 22, KCMO is on pace for one of the highest crime rates in its history. City council leaders have decided to take action and are asking for the communities input for creating a better and safer Kansas City.

Developing . . .
About the lead image . . .

The woman is not real, the street doesn't exist and everything about the image is completely generated by computer. The interesting part . . . TKC isn't much of an artist with very little drawing skill but this photo is almost EXACTLY what I envisioned when I asked A.I. to assemble the elements. A few minor tweaks it came up with a sexy Latina lady smiling in the middle of traffic. Pixel peepers can easily spot the flaws but working merely as an image to get to more important stuff . . . It's impressive.



And right now THAT inspires this peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Local Gunfire Persists

KCPD investigates shooting near 64th and Manchester Ave. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Kansas City police are investigating after two people were hurt in a shooting Tuesday night. Just before 7:30 p.m. officers were called to 64th St. and Manchester Ave. Police say one person was critically injured in the shooting and another person was hurt, but their injuries were considered non-life threatening.

Meet New Boss

Kansas City, Missouri, Board of Police Commissioners selects Cathy Dean as new president KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, Board of Police Commissioners has selected Cathy Dean, current vice president of the board, as its new president. Dean discussed her new role at the Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning.

Shooter Still Scaring Waldo

Kansas City neighbors remain concerned with man shooting BB gun at animals KANSAS CITY, Mo. - There are renewed concerns in Kansas City's Waldo neighborhood about a man neighbors say is firing BB's at their pets. It's a follow up to a story FOX4 first brought to you more than a year ago.

Tortilla Renaissance

James Beard finalist Yoli Tortilleria gives a glimpse of Mexico with the spirit of Kansas City When you're in the mood for delicious Mexican food in Kansas City, it's actually a bakery that should be your first stop.Yoli Tortilleria is located in Kansas City's historic west side. It's also a James Beard Award finalist for outstanding bakery."It's really a passion job for us," Yoli Tortilleria co-owner Marissa Gencarelli said.

Cowtown Even Filthier

Why are cockroaches getting into Kansas City kitchens? How to keep them out of your home Be wary of other critters trying to beat the heat in your house this summer in Kansas City. It might not just be you hanging out inside. Some cockroaches, like the German cockroach, hide indoors during the warmer months, but you're most likely going to run into the American cockroach, which can infest your home at any point.

Dial-A-Date Even More Unreal

For Artificially Ever After: Are $1/Minute Human-AI Relationships the Future of Love... or Loneliness? Last night I talked with Sigmund Freud, the historical neurologist founder of psychoanalysis, and a man dead since 1939. We talked about the lack of capacity of people to take accountability for their actions, and we even had time to agree on how right Stoics were on life:

Verse Confronts Book Ban

Miami-Dade school moves Biden inaugural poem out of elementary section of library after complaint | CNN "The Hill We Climb," the poem written by Amanda Gorman for President Joe Biden's inauguration, was moved out of the elementary section of one Miami-Dade County public school, the district confirmed Tuesday. It remains available to older children.

Ron Running

DeSantis to open presidential bid by out-Trumping Trump | CNN Politics Ron DeSantis' decision to announce his 2024 White House bid in a conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter on Wednesday will make a typically blunt statement about his campaign, the unruly populism of the modern Republican Party and an accelerating conservative media revolution.

Prez Rallies Loyal Progressives

White House believes up to 100 Dem votes may be needed on debt ceiling deal But the realization that the party might need to supply a sizable percentage of the House votes to avert an economically disastrous default - not to mention passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate - has increasingly shaped the White House's negotiating strategy.

Denying Escalation

U.S. distances itself from incursion into Russia that involved American Humvees The United States has sought to distance itself from a dramatic raid into Russian territory by pro-Ukraine forces who appeared to use American equipment in their attack. Moscow said Tuesday it had fought off an assault into its Belgorod region after two days of battles with attackers who had staged a cross-border raid.

Discourse Scares The Science

Climate scientists flee Twitter as hostility surges Scientists suffering insults and mass-spam are abandoning Twitter for alternative social networks as hostile climate-change denialism surges on the platform following Elon Musk's takeover.Glaciologist Ruth Mottram had more than 10,000 followers on Twitter but left in February and joined an alternative scientists' forum powered by Mastodon -- a crowdfunded, decentralised grouping of social networks founded in 2016.

Starlet Sells Smut

Gwyneth Paltrow peddles Goop anal sex toy - as a Father's Day gift Gwyneth Paltrow once said that she'd "rather die" than let her kids eat Cup-a-Soup, but it looks like she has no hesitations about a Father's Day sex toy. In a new gift guide for Father's Day posted on her infamous wellness website, Goop, the health halcyon includes a $219 prostate vibrator for dearest daddy.

Home Team Winning Recap

Mike Mayers slashes through Detroit's lineup in 4-1 win Following an extra inning collapse on Monday night, the Royals used a strong spot start from Mike Mayers to tame the Tigers in a 4-1 victory. The win snaps a four-game losing streak for Kansas City. With the odds stacked against them in facing Detroit ace Eduardo Rodriguez, the Royals' bats needed to capitalize on every, early opportunity.

Weather Change Underway

Pop-up afternoon & evening thunderstorms possible in the area today Hide Transcript Show Transcript IT'S THESE THESE STORMS, RIGHT. IT'S VERY DEPENDENT. RIGHT. SOME PEOPLE SEE NOTHING AND THEN SOME PEOPLE WILL HAVE A POP UP. YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THE SKY CAM THIS AFTERNOON. YOU'RE GOING TO SEE LIKE A LITTLE THUNDERSTORM IN THE DISTANCE. AND UNDERNEATH THERE, THAT'S 100% CHANCE OF RAIN.

Latto - Put It On Da Floor is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Jeremy Grimaldi is the crime and justice reporter for yorkregion.com and its sister papers. He is the award-winning author of A Daughters Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story.
Doug Ford says Bonnie Crombie seeking Liberal leadership while being mayor is a slap in the face to the residents
Police are trying to locate a federal offender with ties to Durham Region who has been declared in breach of his parole. - OPP photo
lechatnoir / Getty Images

Millions of Americans opt for freelance life instead of a standard full-time job. According to Zippia, as of 2022, there were 70.4 million freelancers in the U.S. -- that's 36% of the total workforce in the country.

What freelancers may not know is that there are certain states that are more hospitable to freelancers than others. We'll explore those states in this piece.

See: 22 Side Gigs That Can Make You Richer Than a Full-Time Job

Find Out: How To Build Your Savings From Scratch

Note though that just because some states stand out as particularly beneficial for freelance workers, that doesn't mean living in them enables one to wriggle out of federal fiscal responsibilities. There are also rules and caveats to watch out for.

"Be aware that if you work in one state, whether in person or remote, but live in another state, you may have taxable income in your working state," said Will Geeslin, a CPA with The Geeslin Group. "Invest in your knowledge and find a CPA or advisor to partner with. You're the boss of your business and educating yourself and have a resource at your disposal can save you significantly at year end."

One should also consider the strength of the job market for freelancers in every state.

"States like California and New York, despite having higher taxes, often attract freelancers due to their strong job markets and robust creative industries," said Akpan Ukeme, CFP, Finance4Zoomers.

And now let's explore the eight best states to work in as a freelancer.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a pretty stellar state for freelancers. This is both because it's an excellent getaway destination (helpful if you want a healthy work/life balance), and because it places basically no tax burdens on its residents.

"With [its] slogan 'Live free or die,' it's no surprise that New Hampshire is a fantastic destination to get away from pretty much everything," said Pete Chatfield, a CEO at Household Money Saving. It has one of the lowest tax loads in the country because residents are exempt from paying both state income taxes and sales taxes."

According to ZipRecruiter, as of May 7, 2023, the average annual pay for a freelancer in New Hampshire is $63,430 a year.

Side Gig: Earn Up To $200/Hour With This Easy-To-Start Job, No College Degree Required

Find Out: 26 Highest-Paying Jobs That Let You Work From Home

DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images

Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a wonderful place to get an education; it's also a great place to be a freelance worker.

"In terms of top states where freelancers can command higher rates, the highest-earning contractors are based in Massachusetts (at $49 an hour)," said Tom Bowen, economist at Gusto.

Tips: 43 Jobs That Can Make You a Millionaire Before Retirement

Manny Chavez / Getty Images/iStockphoto

California

California is a very expensive state to live in, but it has vital opportunities in terms of pay for freelancers. Bowen said that the average independent contractor makes $44 an hour in The Golden State. "This is likely driven by more contractors working in higher-paid industries like tech and finance."

benedek / iStock.com

Washington

Also hardly a cheap state to live in, Washington is a happening hub for freelancers, where decent pay is on the table. Plus, Washington has no state income tax.

"With no state income tax and a relatively high average hourly rate, Washington ($42 per hour) is an attractive option for contractors," Bowen said.

Sean Pavone / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Texas

Texas is another great choice for freelancers based in the U.S.

"The state boasts many benefits such as no corporate income tax, low unemployment rate and a low cost of living," said Georgia McKenzie, founder and CEO at Switch on Business. "Texas is also home to some of the most innovative companies in the world, such as Dell and AT&T, offering plenty of job opportunities for freelancers."

All this said, the average pay for freelancers in Texas is on the lower end --$26.21, according to Indeed.

Make Money With AI and Chat GPT: How To Earn $1,000 a Month

Shutterstock.com

Oregon

Off the bat, Oregon may not seem like a great place for freelancers: It's expensive and it boasts state income tax.

"[But] it has no sales tax," said Lauren Mendoza, CPA, founder Bank Standard. "Its strong creative and tech scenes provide opportunities for freelancers in these fields."

Plus, independent contractors can make some serious money in Oregon -- an average of $118,972 a year, according to Indeed.

DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images

Wyoming

Because Wyoming has no individual income tax and a low cost of living, Mendoza highlights it as a great state for freelancers. Additionally, "its natural beauty can be a draw for freelancers seeking a balance between work and life," Mendoza said.

The average pay for a freelancer reflects the state's comparatively low cost of living: $56,769, or $27 per hour, according to ZipRecruiter.

Andrew Zarivny / Shutterstock.com

Nevada

People often think of Nevada as a place to gamble their way into a fortune (because of Las Vegas), but it's also a rich location for freelancers.

"Nevada is often hailed as one of the top states for freelancers to thrive due to its favorable business environment and lack of personal income tax," said Kimberley Tyler-Smith, an executive at the career tech platform Resume Worded. "Freelancers can hold onto a larger portion of their earnings, allowing them to invest back into their business or enjoy a higher quality of life. Moreover, Nevada boasts a relatively low cost of living compared to many other states, allowing freelancers to stretch their income further and maintain a comfortable lifestyle."

Those in marketing may find Nevada an especially auspicious place to reside. According to Salary.com, the average base pay for a freelance marketer in Nevada is $91,590.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Best States for Freelancers To Work
Gary Crawford has announced he will run for the Ontario PC Party when the Scarborough-Guildwood byelection is called. - Metroland file photo
A Home For Every Plant: Wonders of the Botanical World, The Firefly Summer, and Dinosaurs: 400 Words for Budding Paleontologists. - Submitted photo
Are you planning a summer vacation holiday and searching for the ideal summer trip via road? Look no further than India's extraordinary locations.



(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - May 24th, 2023 -

Are you planning a summer vacation holiday and searching for the ideal summer trip via road? Look no further than India's extraordinary locations. India has a variety of landscapes, a rich cultural heritage, and a vast array of tourist attractions, so it has something for every traveller. Here is a list of the top summer travel destinations in India for an unforgettable road journey. Leh-Ladakh:

Experience the breath-taking grandeur of the remote Jammu and Kashmir regions of Leh-Ladakh. Conquer difficult mountain passes and explore enchanting monasteries while traversing breath-taking landscapes. Do not neglect the famous Leh-Manali Highway and Srinagar-Leh Highway, both of which are renowned for their incredible driving conditions. Explore awe-inspiring attractions such as Pangong Lake, Nubra Valley, and Magnetic Hill.

Spiti Valley:

Embark on a perilous journey through the desolate and difficult terrain of Himachal Pradesh's Spiti Valley. Drive or ride a bicycle along the Hindustan-Tibet Highway to see breathtaking scenery of Kunzum Pass, Chandratal Lake, and Key Monastery.

Rann of Kutch:

Immerse yourself in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch for a surreal experience. Drive across the white saline marshes at sunrise or sunset and explore the region's history, art, and cuisine. Do not miss the vibrant annual Rann Utsav celebration, which brings pleasure to the region.

Goa:

In Goa, renowned for its golden beaches, lively markets, and Portuguese architecture, you can indulge in relaxation and new experiences. Drive along the scenic coastal roads and partake in water-based activities, savour delectable seafood, or simply relax on the gorgeous beaches.

Jaipur:

Discover the regal allure of the "Pink City" of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Explore exquisite forts, palaces, and historical sites such as Amer Fort, Hawa Mahal, and City Palace. Jaipur is an excellent launching point from which to discover other captivating cities in Rajasthan.

Coorg:

Coorg, in Karnataka, is commonly referred to as the "Scotland of India" due to its tranquil mountains and verdant landscapes. Visit Abbey Falls, Raja's Seat, and coffee plantations while driving along winding roads and immersing yourself in the region's natural grandeur.

Pondicherry:

Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, is home to a unique combination of Indian and French influences. Explore the enchanting French Quarter, stroll along the promenade, and indulge in the delectable fusion of Tamil and French cuisine.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, India provides a vast selection of summer destinations for travel and an exciting road trip. Whether you're looking for excitement, relaxation, or cultural exploration, these locations offer unforgettable experiences for travellers. Therefore, fill up your tank and prepare for an incredible voyage through India's breath-taking landscapes and rich cultural heritage. Happy travels!

https://vdholiday.com/contact/

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The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But in contrast you can make much more than 100% if the company does well. For instance the ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (AMS:ABN) share price is 109% higher than it was three years ago. How nice for those who held the stock! It's even up 4.2% in the last week. But this could be related to the buoyant market which is up about 1.7% in a week.

Since the stock has added 519m to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

See our latest analysis for ABN AMRO Bank

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

ABN AMRO Bank was able to grow its EPS at 25% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. We note that the 28% yearly (average) share price gain isn't too far from the EPS growth rate. Coincidence? Probably not. This observation indicates that the market's attitude to the business hasn't changed all that much. Au contraire, the share price change has arguably mimicked the EPS growth.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. This free interactive report on ABN AMRO Bank's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of ABN AMRO Bank, it has a TSR of 151% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that ABN AMRO Bank shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 52% over one year. And that does include the dividend. That certainly beats the loss of about 2% per year over the last half decade. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand ABN AMRO Bank better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for ABN AMRO Bank you should know about.

ABN AMRO Bank is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Dutch exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Brace yourselves: the advent of a superintelligent AI is nigh.

A blog post coauthored by the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, and OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever warns that the development of artificial intelligence needs heavy regulation to prevent potentially catastrophic scenarios.

"Now is a good time to start thinking about the governance of superintelligence," said Altman, acknowledging that future AI systems could significantly surpass AGI in terms of capability. Given the picture as we see it now, its conceivable that within the next ten years, AI systems will exceed expert skill levels in most domains, and carry out as much productive activity as one of todays largest corporations.

Echoing concerns Altman raised in his recent testimony before Congress, the trio outlined three pillars they deemed crucial for strategic future planning.

The starting point

First, OpenAI believes there must be a balance between control and innovation, and pushed for a social agreement that allows us to both maintain safety and help smooth integration of these systems with society.

Next, they championed the idea of an "international authority" tasked with system inspections, audit enforcement, safety standard compliance testing, and deployment and security restrictions. Drawing parallels to the International Atomic Energy Agency, they suggested what a worldwide AI regulatory body might look like.

Last, they emphasized the need for the "technical capability" to maintain control over superintelligence and keep it "safe." What this entails remains nebulous, even to OpenAI, but the post warned against onerous regulatory measures like licenses and audits for technology falling below the bar for superintelligence.

In essence, the idea is to keep the superintelligence aligned to its trainers intentions, preventing a foom scenarioa rapid, uncontrollable explosion in AI capabilities that outpaces human control.

OpenAI also warns of the potentially catastrophic impact that uncontrolled development of AI models could have on future societies. Other experts in the field have already raised similar concerns, from the godfather of AI to the founders of AI companies like Stability AI and even previous OpenAI workers involved with the training of the GPT LLM in the past. This urgent call for a proactive approach toward AI governance and regulation has caught the attention of regulators all around the world.

The Challenge of a Safe Superintelligence

OpenAI believes that once these points are addressed, the potential of AI can be more freely exploited for good: This technology can improve our societies, and the creative ability of everyone to use these new tools is certain to astonish us, they said.

The authors also explained that the space is currently growing at an accelerated pace, and that is not going to change. Stopping it would require something like a global surveillance regime, and even that isnt guaranteed to work, the blog reads.

Despite these challenges, OpenAI's leadership remains committed to exploring the question, "How can we ensure that the technical capability to keep a superintelligence safe is achieved?" The world doesnt have an answer right now, but it definitely needs oneone that ChatGPT cant provide.
The National Security Minister says he's "not involved in any form or manner of approval of 
On 23 May, the EU Council of Ministers will discuss the lessons learnt from the situation in Ukraine.

Pal Johnson, Minister of Defence of Sweden, EU Presidency, stated this on Tuesday in Brussels before the EU Foreign Affairs and Security Council, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Today we will discuss with the defence ministers the lessons learnt from the situation in Ukraine. The European Defence Agency has prepared a very interesting report on this, which we will use in our further work. Of course, we will also talk about further assistance for Ukraine, which remains a top priority for the Swedish EU Presidency. I expect to continue discussions on the production of artillery ammunition, as well as on strengthening the European defence industry," the Swedish official said.

He said that, at the initiative of the Swedish Presidency, the meeting will include a business lunch dedicated to practical cooperation between the EU and NATO, which, according to Johnson, has never been closer than it has been over the past six months, particularly in the context of responding to Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The EU intends to further develop cooperation with the Alliance in other areas, including climate change, the development of modern technologies, and security and defence measures in outer space.

Answering a clarifying question from journalists about Sweden's attitude to the "aviation coalition" in the interests of Ukraine, the Swedish official reminded that Sweden does not use F-16s, but supports the intention of other countries to provide Ukraine with these aircraft and to conduct appropriate training for Ukrainian military pilots.

"We have taken into account the signals from the UK and the Netherlands about their willingness to provide training and probably supply F-16s to Ukraine. I think it is natural that this is being done. At the same time, it is already very important for Ukraine to ensure air defence. Sweden provides various types of air defence systems, as do other countries. Certainly, if Ukrainians receive these aircraft, it will be a way to strengthen their air defence capabilities," Johnson said.

As reported earlier, on 23 May, the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting continues in Brussels, with the participation of defence ministers.

Yesterday, the issue of extending aid to Ukraine was discussed at the level of foreign ministers, and tomorrow the EU Council will focus on trade issues.
Ukraine is investigating the alleged role of Belarus in the forced displacement of Ukrainian children from the territories temporarily occupied by Russia.

The relevant statement was made by the Office of the Prosecutor General to Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

"The fact and circumstances of taking Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the so-called 'recreational camps' in Belarus are currently under investigation in the mentioned criminal proceedings," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

They also noted that criminal proceedings had been initiated over the forced transportation/deportation of more than 19,000 children from the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions, including to Belarus.

This statement was made following a report by the Belarusian opposition in exile that 2,150 Ukrainian children, including orphans aged 6 to 15, had been taken to so-called health camps and sanatoriums in Belarus.

The Belarusian opposition claims that Ukrainian children were taken to the Belarusian sanatorium "Zoloti Pisky" in the Homel region and the sanatorium-resort camp "Ostroshytskyi Horodok" in the Minsk region.

From the Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine, the children were taken by bus to Russia and then by train to Belarus, the opposition said.

"Lukashenko personally ordered the transfers of orphans to Belarus and facilitated their arrival by financial and organisational support," the statement said.

The office of Lukashenko didn't respond to the agency's request regarding the published facts of deportation.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on March 17, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russian children's ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova.

The Russian president and his authorized representative are suspected of war crimes - deportation and illegal displacement of the population, in particular children, from the occupied territory of Ukraine.
The first Ukrainian F-16 will be one of the strongest signals from the world that Russia will only lose.

Thats according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, who delivered a video address to the nation on Wednesday night, Ukrinform reports.

"I wish you health, dear Ukrainians!

Today, I held the first meeting of the Staff after all the important visits, meetings and decisions  defense decisions that we have been working on for quite some time and are now getting them in cooperation with our partners.

First of all, this concerns the aviation coalition - a coalition of modern fighter jets for Ukraine.

We are doing everything we can to reduce the time until the result is achieved, until new and powerful aircraft with Ukrainian pilots emerge in the Ukrainian skies.

It is clear that this global step will allow us to expand our defense capabilities. Because it is only with powerful aircraft that an air defense system can be complete.

On the other hand, the first Ukrainian F-16 will be one of the strongest signals from the world that Russia will only lose because of its own aggression, becoming weaker and more isolated.

This will be a signal that Russian terror has lost, and our world, which is based on respect for independent nations and the right of peoples to choose their own path, has endured.

We will prepare the necessary basis to ensure that our aviation transition is as quick and efficient as possible.

Our warriors have already proved that they can master modern weapons with efficiency that was not expected from us. I'm sure they will be just as successful with the aircraft.

The main thing is the speed of training and supply, i.e. the time that will pass between decisions and the actual defense of our skies.

Today, as usual, I heard reports from the commanders, the Commander-in-Chief, the Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate on the current situation at the front, our counteraction to the occupier, and the capabilities that Russia is going to use against us.

We know how to respond. In particular, this applies to the missile threat and the constant terror of kamikaze drones.

Now Russia is increasingly resorting to so-called combined strikes - different types of missiles, different types of drones.

I am grateful to our Air Force, to all our defenders of the sky, to our intelligence for improving our defense faster than Russia can change its terror tactics.

If we take, for example, just one weapon of Russian terror, the Iranian Shaheds, our soldiers have shot down almost 900 of these drones to date. In total, about 1160 Shaheds have been used against Ukraine. We shoot down most of them.

And we are constantly looking for tools to make the share of downed Iranian drones 100%.

But today, given that such strikes are ongoing, I would like to appeal to the people of Iran directly. To everyone - to society, to Iranian ulama, to every Iranian family, to those people who are able to influence government decisions in Iran. A simple question: why do you want to be accomplices in Russian terror? Why are you on the side of the evil state?

The world sees what is happening, and you all in Iran see it. Support for evil cannot be denied.

Even though we have learned to shoot down most of your kamikaze drones that you are handing over to Russia, there are still hits.

When an Iranian drone kills a pregnant Ukrainian girl and her husband in their home, why do you, mothers and fathers in Iran, need this? When your Shahed hits a dormitory with our students, people die, a fire starts, rescuers arrive, and in a few minutes a second Shahed hits, taking the lives of those who were saving the lives of others... Why does Iran need such cynical murders? Committed by Russia's hands, yet with your weapons.

What do you, the people in Tehran, or in Shiraz, or in Saqqez, or in any other city in your country, get from this?

Unfortunately, even greater isolation from the world and even greater problems.

For Russia, absolutely everything is a target. Homes, schools, hospitals, houses of worship, churches, power plants, markets, even humanitarian aid distribution points and bus stops... There are thousands of examples of this. People of Iran! Russia is hitting everything indiscriminately. With artillery and mortars, missiles and drones - with what it has and what Russia is given on your behalf.

I am sure you must be on the other side of history - not with evil.

Russia started this war for the sake of enslavement. It is a war of a colonizer against a neighboring nation. Russia even steals people - our children! Thousands and thousands... Only absolute evil can steal the children of another nation. And by going against Ukrainians, the Russian occupiers are destroying all other national communities that have lived on the land of Ukraine for centuries. The villages of Greek Christians burned by Russians and Russia's systematic repression of the Crimean Tatar people, our Ukrainian Muslim community, are proof of this.

The people of Iran could live a very different life if you were not put on the same side with such evil as Russian aggression.

Your Shaheds who terrorize Ukraine every night only mean that the people of Iran are being pushed deeper and deeper into the dark side of history.

Glory to all who defend life!

Thank you to everyone in the world who helps strengthen our air defense, our aviation and save our people from Russian terror!

If we are strong, we will live!

Glory to Ukraine!"
Ukraine and Germany are launching a new project for Ukrainian communities, Renewables for Resilient Ukraine  R2U, which is the first stage of bilateral arrangements on deepening partnership in terms of green restoration.

The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Energy Ministry on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

As part of the project, twenty communities will be selected in order to conduct energy audit of critical infrastructure buildings and further provide them with renewable energy sources. The project period is 18 months, and its cost is about EUR 2 million.

With this project, we are expanding our cooperation with German partners, focused on strengthening the stability of the Ukrainian energy system through the decentralization of power generating and distributing facilities, Ukrainian Energy Deputy Minister Yaroslav Demchenkov noted.

In his words, special attention will be given to rural areas, coal mining regions, and those localities that had been most affected by hostilities.

A reminder that, on April 4, 2023, Ukraine and Germany signed a joint Statement of Intent, expanding the areas of the German-Ukrainian energy partnership with a focus on green recovery and rebuilding of Ukraines energy sector.

Photo: Ukrainian Energy Ministry
Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Mykola Solskyi and Spanish Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Luis Planas Puchades have discussed the export of Ukrainian-produced agricultural products towards Europe.

The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Solskyi expressed gratitude to the Spanish minister for providing assistance to Ukraine. In particular, Spain was among those countries that signed a letter from the relevant ministers of 14 EU countries to the European Commission.

The letter expressed concern over the temporary ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine to five EU countries, and called on the European Commission to explain that decision.

According to Puchades, Spain is following developments in Ukraine and is willing to further provide support for the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys recent visit to Saudi Arabia points to a new strategic level of relations between the two countries.

Thats according to Andriy Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office, who spoke at the national telethon, reports Ukrinform.

"I believe that President Zelenskys visit to Saudi Arabia was historic. ...We can state a new strategic level of relations between Saudi Arabia and Ukraine," Yermak said.

He noted that in the last 31 years, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia once visited Ukraine.

Yermak recalled that on May 21, President Zelensky also delivered a speech at the League of Arab States, attended by 22 delegations.

Read also: Zelensky meets with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

"In the President's address, there were powerful words about the human rights situation in occupied Crimea and what Ukraine is fighting for," Yermak said. He added that the speech was rather powerful as some things mentioned were not too pleasant to some of those present. However, the attendees did listen to the speech and most of the delegations received the address positively. After that, Zelensky held meetings with officials from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, and Oman.

"It will be really important for us that this meeting and speech took place. It sent a very powerful signal that today, Ukraine occupies a leading position in various regions. In various regions, people hear what is happening, hear about the war, the values for which we are fighting, and the fact that we will prevail, and this is very important because the unification of all civilized nations around Ukraine is the key to our victory," Yermak said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on May 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited Saudi Arabia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed the people of Iran, a country that supplies Russia with weapons killing peaceful Ukrainians. He called on the people of Iran to influence decision-makers at home.

Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a video address released on Wednesday, Ukrinform reports.

"Today, given that such strikes are ongoing, I would like to appeal to the people of Iran directly. To everyone - to society, to Iranian ulama, to every Iranian family, to those people who are able to influence government decisions in Iran. A simple question: why do you want to be accomplices in Russian terror? Why are you on the side of the evil state? The world sees what is happening, and you all in Iran see it. Support for evil cannot be denied," said Zelensky.

The president noted that, despite the fact that Ukrainian defenders shoot down most of the Shaheds launched by Russia, some of them reach their targets  civilian homes, schools, hospitals, houses of prayer, churches, power stations, markets, even humanitarian aid distribution points and bus stops.

"When an Iranian drone kills a pregnant Ukrainian girl and her husband in their home, why do you, mothers and fathers in Iran, need this? When your Shahed hits a dormitory with our students, people die, a fire starts, rescuers arrive, and in a few minutes a second Shahed hits, taking the lives of those who were saving the lives of others... Why does Iran need such cynical murders? Committed by Russia's hands, yet with your weapons. What do you, the people in Tehran, or in Shiraz, or in Saqqez, or in any other city in your country, get from this? Unfortunately, even greater isolation from the world, even greater problems," said president of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the fact that Russia had unleashed a war on Ukraine for the sake of enslaving the nation. Also, he noted that the people of Iran could live completely differently if they were not put on one side with such an evil as Russian aggression.
The Donetsk regions Mariupol, upon its de-occupation, is expected to receive expert assistance from French cities regarding the development of infrastructure and coastal areas.

The relevant statement was made by Mariupol City Council on Telegram, following a meeting between Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Good relations have developed between France and Mariupol. We want to preserve and continue them. There are several French cities with similar geography to Mariupol, and their experience can be useful for the Ukrainian city, the French ambassador said.

Boichenko expressed gratitude to the French side for their support for Mariupol residents, namely through a joint housing project that had already been launched.

The first dormitory designed for 35 families has opened in the city of Dnipro. Thanks to financial assistance from the Government of France, we are starting to create 330 more apartments for Mariupol residents. We are grateful for the much needed help. I am confident that our cooperation will strengthen, including as part of the Mariupol Reborn plan, Boichenko emphasized.

A reminder that earlier Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko presented the Mariupol Reborn city recovery plan, including the rapid restoration of critical infrastructure, followed by reconstruction and city revival projects.

Photo: Mariupol City Council, Telegram
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO said - MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS

The former chief executive of Google has warned that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to harm or kill many many people in the near future.

Eric Schmidt said that he was concerned about the existential risk of the rapidly evolving technology and warned that it would be difficult to contain.

My concern with AI is actually existential, and existential risk is defined as many, many, many, many people harmed or killed. And there are scenarios not today but reasonably soon, where these systems will be able to find zero day exploits, cyber issues or discover new kinds of biology, Mr Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference in London.

This is fiction today but the reasoning is likely to be true. And when that happens we want to be ready to know how to make sure these things are not misused by evil people.

The warning comes as Rishi Sunak prepares to host executives from the worlds top technology labs at Downing Street. The Prime Minister is due to meet Sam Altman, the chief executive of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, alongside Googles DeepMind and the AI start-up Anthropic, on Wednesday evening.

Discussions are expected to focus on creating an international framework for regulating AI, and responding to the rise of China in the field.

Mr Schmidt, who was Googles chief executive for a decade from 2001 and then its executive chairman until 2015, has also chaired the US national security commission on AI.

He said it would be extremely difficult to control the spread of AI, which he compared to the rise of nuclear technology.

Nuclear had the property that there was a scarcity, which was enriched uranium. We are alive today because it was really hard to get that, said Mr Schmidt.

This area is different for some reasons. One is that the proliferation problem is very hard to stop, because you can just steal it on a hard drive or a USB stick.

The former Google chief did not put forward proposals on how AI should be regulated, saying this is a broader question for society. However, Mr Schmidt said that the US was unlikely to create a new regulator to tackle the technology.

Mr Altman this week put forward proposals for an international regulator for AI, likening it to the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is understood that Wednesdays Downing Street meeting will discuss the UKs potential role in coordinating efforts between countries.

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Ukraine and Latvia will jointly restore the social infrastructure of Chernihiv region.

Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov stated this following a meeting with representatives of Latvia Ministry of Economy, Ukrinform reports with reference to the ministrys Facebook page.

It is noted that the key topic of the meeting was the participation of Latvia in the reconstruction of social infrastructure in the most affected communities of Chernihiv region, as well as the use of Latvian experience in the transition from the Soviet heritage to modern European architecture and construction.

"We are ready to study and implement typical Latvian project solutions for schools, kindergartens or other social infrastructure facilities. We are already encouraging local authorities to work on comprehensive programs for the development of territories. They will become the basis for the global renewal of the country. These plans cannot be imposed from above, each community must pave its own way of development. Our task as the ministry is to provide support in the creation of such programs," Kubrakov emphasized.

He added that the ministry invites Latvian business to work in Ukraine, in particular, in energy-related projects. The Deputy Prime Minister believes that the Black Sea and Danube port terminals concession projects, private-state partnerships in the modernization of heat and water supply, as well as waste processing are promising for Latvian investments.

Since the start of Russias full-scale invasion, Latvia has provided Ukraine with over EUR 388 million in military aid, which is over 1.2% of Latvia's GDP.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development is planning to restore Chernihiv region together with UNESCO experts.
| By Jen Badie

Excitement abounded May 18 as the graduates of the University of Maryland, Baltimores (UMB) Class of 2023 celebrated their many accomplishments with family and friends, though it was also a time for reflection on how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their early studies and bonded them with their classmates.

Students who gathered outside Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County were elated to be able to attend UMBs commencement, the second in-person ceremony since the pandemic started in 2020.

Fasika Delessa (center) with two fellow Francis King Carey School of Law graduates

COVID in general just changed a lot of things. It changed how the schools operate, and then also with the clinical setting how we approach medicine, said Chelsea Howell, DNP 23, who earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. To be able to celebrate with everybody is amazing because virtual graduations arent the same. And its nice to just be able to see everybody.

Howell, who is from California and came to UMB because she wanted to be in a top nursing program, was excited to celebrate the day with her parents and her brother and his girlfriend. A nurse practitioner, she plans to work in a clinic and hopes to teach.

Aditya Kavuturu, MS 23, who graduated with his MS in cellular and molecular biomedical sciences from the University of Maryland Graduate School, was especially appreciative about the in-person commencement.

I graduated with my bachelors from the University of Florida during the pandemic so I didnt go to the in-person graduation, he said. The in-person graduation is a lot better.

Fasika Delessa, JD 23, earned her JD from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and called the day surreal. Its just been such a long time coming.

She was looking forward to celebrating with her parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and seeing the joy on their faces, just knowing it was all worth it.

Delessa began her studies during the pandemic and became close to classmates during virtual learning.

But I was so grateful to go in person and for all the health care professionals that made that possible, said Delessa, who will work for a law firm in Washington, D.C., before clerking for U.S. District Court the following year.

Natalie Flynn, DPT 23, who earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and started at UMB in May 2020, said that it felt like she had been waiting for this day for a long time. She said her first summer semester, which was supposed to be a cadaver lab, was completely online.

They ended up doing a really good job with it. And I think in a weird way it kind of bonded our class more because there were a lot of unknowns for us and we had to figure out a lot of stuff together even with the faculty, too, she said.

Flynn, who will be moving to Seattle and hopes to work in acute care in a hospital and eventually specialize in cardio, added that commencement was the first time she was seeing some classmates without face masks because they have been working at clinical sites the past year.

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy graduate Emily Francis, PharmD 23, said she did a six-year program to earn her PharmD, while most students do four years of undergraduate and four years of graduate work.

This is the culmination of all my efforts. This is it for me, she said. I knew when I started college that I wanted to be a pharmacist. So now this is the realization of that.

COVID was very difficult. It was something new almost every year. We had the first year half in person and half online, second year all online, and third year in person. So I dont even think I would imagine a graduation during COVID. Im really happy just to be back in person and to be with everybody.

Francis, who will be starting a residency at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, also was looking forward to celebrating with her family.

My family have seen all the hard work, and Ive called them and cried and struggled but also now we get to have the happy times. We finally did it, she said.

Jon Christofersen, MS 23, earned his MS in cellular and molecular biomedical sciences from the Graduate School and said this was just the beginning of his journey because he plans to apply to medical school.

This is only a steppingstone for another degree later on and potentially another career later on, he said. So theres still lots to accomplish after today.
(Bloomberg) -- Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup positioning itself as the builder of a safer kind of chatbot, said it raised $450 million in funding to bolster the development of its AI bot, named Claude. The deal brings the companys total raised to more than $1 billion.

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Claude, like OpenAIs ChatGPT, is built atop a large language model and can be used for written tasks like summarizing, searching, answering questions and coding. Yet while ChatGPT has faced criticism  and been tweaked  after offering users some concerning results, Anthropic aims to make its chatbot more cautious from the start.

Anthropics goal is for Claude to be less prone than other chatbots to manipulation that will produce harmful or offensive results. The startups co-founders are former leaders from competitor OpenAI.

Spark Capital led the funding round, which also included Alphabet Inc.s Google, Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures and Zoom Ventures, the company said. The investment follows a nearly $400 million investment from Google that Bloomberg reported in February. The company declined to discuss its current valuation.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a handful of former OpenAI staffers, including siblings Daniela Amodei and Dario Amodei. The startup and its leadership have urged caution about the rush to develop and release AI systems, and their potential to transform industries.

Theres incredible potential that I think comes from these systems, but also, as were all seeing, theres really big potential for harm, Daniela Amodei said. I think we dont yet completely understand all of the potential for negative externalities that these systems can create. Were really just starting to see some of them.

Anthropic began offering its chatbot  its first publicly available product  to businesses that want to add it to their products in March. Claude is currently available through apps such as Quora Inc.s Poe, which lets users ask questions and discuss them. Its also on offer through Slack, via an app that can provide summaries of Slack threads and answer questions.

Anthropic plans to use the fresh cash influx for continued training of Claude and future AI models, Daniela Amodei said, and to bring its chatbot to more business users. Anthropic announced a partnership with Google in February through which its using Googles cloud computing service to train and roll out its AI models. The companys cloud partners are Google and Amazon Web Services, according to a spokesperson.

Its very capital-intensive to train frontier AI models, and thats generally why youll see the majority of these large systems being trained at post-IPO, publicly traded, well-established companies, Daniela Amodei said.

Although chatbots have been around for a while, Claude is part of a wave of newly powerful tools that have been trained on massive swaths of the internet to generate text that mimics human speech far better than predecessors. Such tools are an application of generative AI, which refers to artificial intelligence systems that consider input such as a text prompt and use it to output new content such as text or images.

OpenAI released ChatGPT for widespread use in November, and its sudden popularity spurred numerous tech companies to push out chatbots, too; these include Googles Bard and OpenAI investor Microsoft Corp.s Bing chat, which uses OpenAIs technology.

Daniela Amodei said Anthropic plans to increase its investments in AI safety research with the new funding. What we have found is being able to stay at the frontier in terms of developing more capable models often actually illuminates new safety challenges that we didnt see at smaller scale, she said.

Yasmin Razavi, a general partner at Spark Capital, is also joining Anthropics board, the company said, which increases the size of its board to four members.

Razavi said part of her interest in the company stems from its safety-related efforts. She also sees Anthropic as building a foundational technology at a time when the AI field is evolving rapidly.

Being at that foundational layer today, at least from my perspective, gives you a chance to see a second act and a third act and a fourth act of the industry, she said, and its moving incredibly quickly.

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(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.s cloud customers are clamoring to get their hands on the ChatGPT-style technology the company unveiled six weeks ago. But instead of being allowed to test it, many are being told to sit tight, prompting concerns the artificial intelligence tool isnt fully baked.

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Amazons announcement that it had entered the generative AI race was uncharacteristically vague, according to longtime employees and customers. Amazon Web Services product launches typically include glowing testimonials from three to five customers, these people said. This time the company cited just one: Coda, a document-editing startup.

Coda Chief Executive Officer Shishir Mehrotra said that after testing the technology he awarded Amazon an incomplete grade. The companys generative AI tools are all fairly early, he said in an interview. Theyre building on and repackaging services that they already offered. Mehrotra added that he expected AWSs AI tools to be competitive long-term.

People familiar with AWS product launches wondered if Amazon released the AI tools to counter perceptions it has fallen behind cloud rivals Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.s Google. Both companies are using generative AI  which mines vast quantities of data to generate text or images  to revamp web search and add AI capabilities to a host of products. The technology is unrefined and error-prone, but no one denies its potential to revolutionize computing.

Corey Quinn, the chief cloud economist at the Duckbill Group, a consulting firm that advises AWS clients, expressed what some were thinking about Amazons offering. Feels like vaporware, he said in an email, using the industry term for a product thats touted to customers before its finished  and may not materialize at all.

Matt Wood, an AWS vice president of product, said in an interview that Amazons generative AI software was new, not retooled. Weve got the product to the point where we wanted to let customers know what were working on and wanted to invite some customers to take it for a spin and give us some feedback as we go, Wood said. The idea that this is rushed or incomplete in a way which is careless, I would push back very heavily on that. Thats not our style at all.

Amazon shares rose about 1% in New York.

AI Leader

AWS currently has a commanding lead over Microsoft and Google in cloud computing. But with generative AI in their arsenals, Amazons chief cloud rivals could lure away its customers with a range of new services, from summarizing and generating documents to spotting and describing trends in corporate data.

Given Amazons deep expertise and competitive zeal, it would be premature to count the company out at this early stage. The Seattle-based giant has long been considered a leader in artificial intelligence and uses it for a wide range of critical tasks. Software selects how many products to order for sale on Amazon.com, estimates how many workers Amazons warehouses will need and plans routes for delivery drivers. AWS products identify faces in images or video, automatically monitor industrial equipment and extract text from medical records.

Read more: Amazon Plans to Add ChatGPT-Style Search to Its Online Store

But four current and former Amazon employees said Amazons intense focus on serving its customers means the company sometimes has given short shrift to the pure research undertaken by OpenAI, Microsoft and Google  the kind of work that can lead to breakthroughs like ChatGPT. The company stands by its customer-obsessed science approach, which it says helps recruit researchers who want to tackle meaningful challenges. In recent years, Amazon has also sought to partner more with university researchers and let employees publish more academic papers.

The companys investments in large language models, the technology used to train AI-based tools, still emphasized practicality, however. One model helps surface products on the web store that a shopper might not find in a keyword search. A second set of models, disclosed in a research paper last year, help train the Alexa voice assistant to better respond to commands in various languages. In mid-November, Amazon made the Alexa models available to AWS customers.

Two weeks later, OpenAI released ChatGPT and ignited a viral frenzy. People rushed to try out the chatbot and post their interactions on social media. Business leaders wondered how quickly the technology would be packaged into products. They began and asking AWS and its partners how their capabilities compared, according to people familiar with the situation. Before that, no customers were asking for a chat interface to a large-language model, said one of the people, who, like others interviewed for this story, requested anonymity to speak freely about a private matter.

The threat to Amazon Web Services became evident in January when Microsoft, already an OpenAI partner, invested an additional $10 billion in the closely held startup. Microsofts Azure cloud-computing service is No. 2 behind AWS. If businesses wanted the latest and greatest from OpenAI, Azure was the place to go. Microsoft does own that corner right now, said James Barlow, founder of Triumph Technology Solutions LLC, which helps companies use AWS.

Read more: The Tech Behind Those Amazing, Flawed New Chatbots: QuickTake

Amazon announced its response on April 13, the same day Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy published his annual letter to shareholders. A new AWS service called Bedrock would let companies tap into models built by Amazon partners such as Stability AI, AI21 Labs and Anthropic. The company also disclosed that it had built two of its own large language models, called Titan. One took a similar approach to the work by Amazons product search team, and the other is a ChatGPT-like text generator, built to create summaries of content and compose emails or blog posts, among other tasks.

In his letter, Jassy wrote that Amazon had been working on large language models for a while and said that the company believes it will transform and improve virtually every customer experience. He pledged to continue substantial investments in the technology.

Wood said he has spent the vast majority of his time during the last six months working with generative AI product teams and customers. Across AWS we have teams that are jamming on new capabilities and experimenting and prototyping and ideating using this technology, he said. Most of the customers that Ive spoken to have been off-the-charts excited about generative AI, our vision for it and the capabilities of Bedrock.

But most customers havent had a chance to test the technology because they need to secure approval from Amazon first  a highly unusual demand, according to four people familiar with AWS product launches. Typically the cloud services arm provides broad access to its tools, even when engineers are still finalizing them, for fear of seeming to favor one customer over another or risking the impression the product isnt ready, these people said.

Wood said limited previews were pretty normal for the company and cited three instances when products were initially released to a select group of customers.

Jim Hare, a distinguished vice president and lead Amazon analyst at Gartner Inc., said he has yet to speak to a customer who has tried the new AI tools. It felt to me like, I dont want to say rushed, but they felt they had to put something out as their response to what everyone was talking about with Google and Microsoft with OpenAI, he said in an interview. He and others noted the Bedrock announcement lacked typical documentation such as technical guides and demos.

One possible explanation is that Amazon, mindful that the OpenAI and Google chatbots often get things wrong, wants to make sure its technology is sufficiently polished before pushing it to longtime customers. Company executives and researchers have also said the tools need to be secure and capable of protecting sensitive customer data. Amazon isnt alone in keeping a tight leash on its generative AI models. Companies wanting to try out similar technology from Meta Platforms Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. also must receive permission.

Executives at two AWS customers said theyve been promised access to the large-language models by June. Wood declined to say how many customers were using Bedrock, or when new ones might be accepted. Were gonna onboard new customers as we go, he said. In the meantime, Amazon is looking to capitalize on the explosion of interest in generative AI, holding forums featuring AWS salespeople. Customers are asking about it regularly, Barlow said.

Amazon has also announced deals with a few companies that said theyll use the services, including Deloitte, which said its in the initial stages of testing them, as well as 3M.

Another is Royal Philips NV, the Dutch medical technoogy firm. Shez Partovi, the companys chief innovation and strategy officer, said Philips aims to use Bedrock to test whether Stability AIs image-recognition tools could help radiologists flag problematic patient scans to more quickly identify illness.

The technology has passed a precipice, said Partovi, a former AWS executive. We do believe there is a bona fide value to medical imaging, as services are released like Bedrock.

Philips hasnt used Amazons Titan models, Partovi said, and a spokesperson added that the company is currently more focused on learning than evaluating Bedrocks performance.

In a potentially ominous sign for Amazon, Partovi said Philips is experimenting with ChatGPT. If there is a service out there with another cloud provider that will advance our proposition  and is not offered by our provider  were going to use that service, he said.

(Updated with Amazon shares. A previous version of this story corrected a name spelling in the third paragraph.)

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A step forward in providing fair and transparent access to justice to transgenders in Sindh

Karachi, 24 May 2023- With funding from the US Embassy's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the Government of Sindh is committed to delivering gender-responsive rule of law to protect the rights of the more vulnerable, particularly the transgender community in Sindh. Unfortunately, transgenders community are often intimidated and marginalized due to a societal pattern that excludes them from the mainstream.

Transgenders are thus denied their right to effectively access justice and choose not to report or follow a legal recourse in instances where they are victims of crimes of gender-based violence, harassment, sexual abuse and assault. The criminal justice sector has limited capacity, specialized skills and knowledge on how to effectively deal with issues faced by transgenders and the interactions often result in a lot of emotional distress for transgenders.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC), with gracious funding from the INL, is implementing a two-year project to support the Government of Sindh with the goal to protect the rights of transgender and vulnerable groups in Sindh. The objective is to improve the organizational response to cases involving transgender individuals, ensure fair and impartial access to justice, and uphold the rights of transgender individuals who are victims of gender-based violence or in conflict with the law.

The program is guided by research and assessment studies to identify the actual needs of the transgender community to deliver a specialized training regime for the criminal justice sector to effectively deal in handling and registration of complaints, medico-legal examinations using scientific methods, and investigation of cases through the use of modern techniques of investigation. Backed by these objectives, the UNODC organized the first Stakeholders' Consultation on the Technical Assistance Needs Assessment (TANA) study on transgender access to justice on 23rd May, 2023 in Karachi. Funded by the INL, the main objective of the study is to identify the existing policy, procedural framework, practices, and gaps in dealing with cases involving transgender individuals.

The consultative workshop brought together a cross-section of approximately 50 participants, representing senior officials from the police, prosecution, judiciary, Sindh Judicial Academy, Ministry of Human Rights, Health, Social Welfare, and Sindh Commission on the Status of Women. Government departments and institutions shared details on the existing legal and policy framework and mechanisms to address issues and cases reported by and against transgender individuals in the province. Civil society organizations, including Gender Interactive Alliance, Sub Rang Society, Legal Rights Forum, and Legal Aid Society, were also present and provided valuable inputs.

The consultation provided a unique space for exchange of knowledge and ideas to support the design and implementation of TANA study. The participants expressed their proactive support to UNODC through the provision of relevant information and access to data to aid in the execution of the study, which will go a long way in laying the foundations for the provision of effective access to justice to the transgender community in Sindh.

The stakeholders consultation on TANA study was funded by the US Embassy's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) as part of Pakistan's Terrorism Prevention Programme (PTP2) implemented in Sindh and Balochistan.
May 24 2023

A B-listed former Debenhams department store on Argyle Street, Glasgow, is to be brought back to life through conversion to offices.

Cooper Cromar proposes to adapt the 1932 landmark on behalf of Sovereign Centros to support the future redevelopment of the St Enoch shopping centre, converting upper floors and adding rooftop and rear extensions.

Key to this approach will be a reconfiguration of internal access arrangements, notably repositioning the western stair core to the rear of the property to improve what will become the main entrance. Lifts and escalators lining the atrium will also be removed.

In a statement, the architects observed: "In early 2021, it became apparent that Debenhams would be vacating the building entirely, and that finding an alternative retail operator for the building would be unlikely, so the client requested that we investigate the introduction of office accommodation to all levels, supplemented by compatible leisure uses at the first-floor link to the St Enoch Centre mall, and a possible rooftop restaurant unit.

"The existing stair core is one of four which still possess period details and are given heritage significance; it is proposed that the remaining three will be retained and we will liaise with Iceni Heritage Consultants to carefully review and conserve as appropriate..."

Extending upwards and outwards the plans include an expansive 10,0000sq/ft rooftop restaurant, complemented by an external dining terrace with a sloped glass structure capping the central atrium.

A retail presence on Argyle Street will be maintained through four ground-floor shops.
Members of the Swiss government's economic commission have rejected a proposal to tax huge profits made by some Swiss companies as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, the parliament said on Wednesday

GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) Members of the Swiss government's economic commission have rejected a proposal to tax huge profits made by some Swiss companies as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, the parliament said on Wednesday.

"By a vote of 15 to 10, the commission proposes rejecting the initiative put forward by national adviser (lawmaker) Balthasar Glattli, which seeks to impose a temporary Federal windfall tax on profits made as a result of the war in Ukraine," the parliament said in a statement.

The rejected initiative proposed imposing a tax on Swiss companies that took advantage of the sharp rise in global commodity prices to make significant profits, given that 80% of Russian exports are processed through Switzerland.

"Most commissioners believe that such a tax would significantly disrupt market mechanisms and lead to undesirable side effects. In addition, the commission notes that the taxation of windfall profits is technically unlikely to be applicable," the statement added.

Earlier in the month, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that arms manufacturers, speculators and major Western economic circles, which make record profits, were interested in the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc.s Banamex could represent a good opportunity for Mexico to own a bank, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday after the US bank announced that it would halt a direct sale of the unit.

Most Read from Bloomberg

AMLO, as the president is known, said he had been informed on Tuesday that talks had halted between Citi and billionaire German Larreas Grupo Mexico SAB, which was close to clinching a $7 billion deal for the unit. Thats between them, he said.

Citi on Wednesday said it would stop talks to sell the bank after over a year of negotiations, and that it now plans to sell shares of Banamex in an initial public offering. That opens room for the Mexican government to seek to be a partner in the bank, mused AMLO in his daily morning presser, adding that the country could spend as much as $3 billion on a stake in Banamex.

He added that he would reach out to the Finance Minister to start talks on the possibility of a private-public partnership with Citi.

Read More: Citi Walks Away From Banamex Sale Plan That Bore AMLOs Scrutiny

In an explanation of his math, the president said that if Citi expected to get $7 billion from the sale, about $2 billion of that amount would be made up of taxes. Of the remaining $5 billion, the government could contribute $3 billion for a stake and the rest could be sold in shares to Mexicans through the IPO.

Almost every country has a bank, we dont, he said.

Lopez Obrador threw a wrench in the negotiation last week by seizing control of a railroad line operated by Grupo Mexico. While the president said that decision didnt affect his support for the Banamex deal, it added to tension between the president and Grupo Mexicos controlling shareholder Larrea.

Read More: Billionaires Spat With AMLO Threatens Investor Appeal in Mexico

Grupo Mexico declined to comment on the Banamex sale or on AMLOs comments on Wednesday.

--With assistance from Carolina Gonzalez, Maya Averbuch and Michael O'Boyle.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 24th May, 2023) CARACAL, an EDGE Group Company and a leading small arms manufacturer, today announced signing an agreement with Ketech Asia, an advanced ammunition producer and small arms solutions provider, for the production and resale of CARACALs car 816 in Malaysia.

The agreement was signed by Hamad Al Ameri, CEO of CARACAL, and Mohd Nahar Mohd Nasir, CEO of Ketech Asia, at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2023), being held in Langkawi, Malaysia, until 27th May.

Under the agreement, the two companies will conduct a transfer of technology that enables Ketech Asia to assemble the highly reliable, mission-proven CAR 816 tactical assault rifle at its new facilities in Pahang, in support of the Royal Malaysia Armed Forces requirements.

Cooperation will also take place to review the potential of co-developing new firearms, and Ketech Asia will become an official reseller of the rifle, underscoring EDGEs confidence in developing valuable and mutually beneficial industry partnerships in Malaysia, with the aim of increasing sales of regionally manufactured advanced products and solutions in markets across Southeast Asia.

The agreement with Ketech will also aid EDGE to explore other opportunities in Malaysia for the full range of CARACAL small arms.

Attendees of LIMA 2023 can visit EDGE at stand A07 at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) in Langkawi, Malaysia.


Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th May, 2023 ) :Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday, signalling 18 months of acrimony ahead as he and Donald Trump lock horns in what is expected to be an attritional contest for the Republican nomination.

DeSantis was considered a rising Republican star, but has been caught flat-footed by months of relentless attacks from the former president, who has surged into a commanding lead despite being engulfed in a firestorm of criminal investigations.

The 44-year-old governor will make his announcement in a live-streamed chat with billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk on the network's audio platform as he bids to co-opt some of the tech mogul's star power to upstage Trump.

"I'm endorsing Governor DeSantis -- he doesn't hold back and he's trying to make changes," one backer said in a video compilation of messages of support posted on Twitter by the Never Back Down political organization.

Musk teased the 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) Twitter Spaces event in remarks to a conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal, promising it would be live and unscripted, with "real-time questions and answers." The announcement will come with a campaign launch video and the start of a three-day retreat in Miami for some of DeSantis's wealthiest donors, who will be briefed on the campaign before the governor hits several early-voting states next week.

Long viewed as the most viable challenger to twice-impeached Trump, DeSantis is better known than most of the hopefuls in the chasing pack for the Republican nomination -- but still lacks the frontrunner's national profile.

The launch format offers him a dual advantage -- giving him precious access to Musk's 140 million followers, many of whom are in Trump's base, and, if he wins the nomination, the attention of a chunk of younger, less conservative voters he will likely need for a shot at the White House.

DeSantis has used his platform as Florida's chief executive to burnish his conservative credentials, signing off on some 80 new state laws this spring, many targeting "woke indoctrination" in schools and other public institutions.

They include a ban on the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, a block on funding for efforts to promote diversity at public universities and one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

Never Back Down, which has been acting as the governor's de facto campaign arm, has a ground operation in most of the early nominating states and is making plans to expand.

But the launch comes with DeSantis's ratings in decline as a number of policy missteps have prompted disquiet about his readiness to take on Trump.

He faces the daunting task of closing an enormous polling gap, with Trump posting leads of close to 40 percentage points, despite being indicted on felony financial charges and being found liable for sexual abuse in a New York civil trial.

Behind the scenes, the Trump and DeSantis camps have been jostling to secure political endorsements from state lawmakers while, at the national level, Florida's congressional delegation has broken heavily for Trump.

Musk is a well-known DeSantis admirer, although he was clear that Twitter would remain neutral on the nomination and that his hosting of the campaign launch should not be taken as an endorsement.

"I've said publicly that my preference, and I think the preference of most Americans, is... to have someone fairly normal in office," he said, without making any explicit criticism of Trump.

The former reality tv star was banned from Twitter after the 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters and has not posted since being reinstated in November.

He has been attacking DeSantis almost daily on his record, character and fitness for office, but responded to Wednesday's announcement with relative restraint -- simply posting favorable polling on his own online platform, Truth Social.

"Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. This way he doesn't have to interact with people and the media can't ask him any questions," a Trump aide said.
Hong Kong, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th May, 2023 ) :Stock markets tracked losses in Wall Street on Wednesday as investors grow increasingly concerned about stalled US debt ceiling talks aimed at averting a painful default.

The optimism that flowed through trading floors at the start of the week has given way to trepidation, with several Republicans questioning an early June deadline, and some even saying the country is nowhere near running out of cash anyway.

All eyes are now on Washington, where President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have had a number of meetings to find a path to lifting the borrowing limit from the current $31.8 trillion.

The two men said Monday that talks had been "productive" and they were confident a deal would be coming.

Republicans have set cutting spending next year to 2022 levels as a "red line", but Democrats have so far refused to commit to that.

On Tuesday, Republican Representative Ralph Norman warned that McCarthy had said the two sides were "not anywhere near close" to an agreement.

The Speaker also tweeted: "With just 9 days left to go, Republicans remain the only ones in Washington who have actually done anything to lift the debt limit and avoid default." However, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struck a more upbeat tone, saying: "We are seeing movement." "Both sides have to understand that they're not going to get everything that they want." - Key figures around 0715 GMT - Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 30,682.68 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 19,161.43 Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.3 percent at 3,204.75 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.0 percent at 7,686.26 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0783 from $1.0774 on Tuesday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2443 from $1.2415 Dollar/yen: UP at 138.60 Yen from 138.57 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.52 pence from 86.74 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $73.74 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.1 percent at $77.67 per barrelNew York - Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 33,055.51 (close)-- Bloomberg news contributed to this story --
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Beijing hopes that Washington will support and facilitate the work of the new Chinese ambassador to the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) Beijing hopes that Washington will support and facilitate the work of the new Chinese ambassador to the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

China's new ambassador, Xie Feng, arrived in the US on Tuesday. In an address upon arrival, Xie said there were serious difficulties in the bilateral relationship and pledged to follow principles of peaceful coexistence.

"We hope the US will provide support and facilitation for Ambassador Xie Feng as he carries out his duty," Mao told a briefing.

The spokeswoman noted that China has always developed relations with the US in line with the principles outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping including mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. However, China firmly defends its sovereignty as well as interests in security and development.

Beijing hopes that Washington would be willing to work together in order to get the bilateral relationship back on the track of "sound and steady growth," Mao added.

Xie, China's twelfth ambassador to the US, has said that during his deployment in Washington he would adhere to the three principles promulgated by Chinese President Xi Jinping  mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win partnership  as they "represent the fundamental and right way for the two countries to get along with each other in the new era."

"At present, the China - U.S. relationship is faced with serious difficulties and challenges. My appointment means to me not only honor, but also enormous responsibilities," Xie was quoted by China Global Television Network as saying upon arrival.

A few days before the new Chinese ambassador's arrival, US President Joe Biden said he expected a thaw in Beijing-Washington.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit the United States on June 5 for discussions on the NATO alliance and other shared issues, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

"President Biden looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark to the White House on Monday, June 5 to further strengthen the deep and enduring ties between the United States and Denmark," Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Biden and Frederiksen will review US and Danish efforts as NATO allies to strengthen transatlantic security and bolster economic prosperity, the statement said.

The two leaders will also coordinate on issues including energy security and climate change, the statement added.
(@FahadShabbir)

The 2014 Crimea status referendum, which resulted in the peninsula's reunification with Russia, fully reflected popular opinion, the leader of the French right-wing National Rally parliamentary group, Marine Le Pen, said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) The 2014 Crimea status referendum, which resulted in the peninsula's reunification with Russia, fully reflected popular opinion, the leader of the French right-wing National Rally parliamentary group, Marine Le Pen, said on Wednesday.

"I have always said the same thing: Crimea has been Russian for two centuries, and it was Ukrainian for sixty years, given away, no doubt, at the whim of a dictator. I fully support the referendum, I think that Crimea's residents expressed their will freely by a vote, in order to reunite with Russia. I think that it is absolutely legitimate," Le Pen said during a televised speech at the French National Assembly.

Le Pen said that she made a trip to Crimea and was able to talk to people there who, in her opinion, have a much deeper connection with Russia. After the referendum, there have been no refugees from Crimea, she added.

International authorities under the auspices of the UN could have arranged another referendum in order to validate the results of the first one, but they did not, Le Pen stated.

On Wednesday, Le Pen appeared before a parliamentary commission investigating foreign interference to provide answers regarding the alleged financing of her party, the National Rally, by Russia.

In spring 2022, Le Pen was accused of having links to Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, which President Emmanuel Macron tried to exploit during the 2022 presidential race by bringing up a loan from a Russian bank to her party and claiming that this makes her dependent on Moscow. Then, Le Pen was accused of receiving two loans from Russian banks for a total of 11 million euros ($11.8 million). The National Rally leader, for her part, explained that she had to turn to Russian banks as it was impossible to receive money from French or European banks.
(@FahadShabbir)

Six people have been killed and dozens of homes washed away in central Afghanistan after heavy rains were funnelled down mountain valleys causing devastating floods, a local official said Wednesday

Herat, Afghanistan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th May, 2023 ) :Six people have been killed and dozens of homes washed away in central Afghanistan after heavy rains were funnelled down mountain valleys causing devastating floods, a local official said Wednesday.

Research describes Afghanistan as highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is making extreme weather events more harsh and more frequent.

Abdul Wahid Hamas, a spokesman for the Taliban governor in central Ghor province, said the area hit by high waters on Tuesday "has not seen such a flood at least in the last decade".

He said three women and a child were killed when their home was washed away in the provincial capital of Firozkoh -- 280 kilometres (170 miles) east of the city of Herat.

"People of the area have seen huge losses," said Bahauddin, 47, a relative of the four fatalities, who goes by only one name.

In Pasaband district, in the same province, a man and a woman were also swept away and later found dead, Hamas said, while one person remains missing after the flood.

More than 100 houses and about 200 hectares (500 acres) of agricultural land were destroyed, with canals used to irrigate the fields damaged, he said.

"It was raining heavily and flood waters were coming from the mountains," Hamas told AFP. "We don't have more details of the financial losses for now."
Spanish energy company Repsol intends to sell 49% of shares in its portfolio of wind and solar energy projects in Spain, both those already in operation and those about to be launched, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported on Wednesday, citing sources

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) Spanish energy company Repsol intends to sell 49% of shares in its portfolio of wind and solar energy projects in Spain, both those already in operation and those about to be launched, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

The deal is still in its early stages and is expected to be finalized by the end of 2023, the newspaper said, adding that its value is estimated at 700-800 million Euros ($753-860 million).

The total capacity of all the renewable energy source power plants in Repsol's portfolio is about 600 MW, the newspaper said.

The plants are reportedly located in the Spanish autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, and Castile and Leon.

Similar deals, aimed at attracting a minority partner, have been part of Repsol's strategy to develop its portfolio of renewable energy projects. In July 2022, the company sold 49% of its shares in solar energy company Carra Solar to Inditex founder Amancio Ortega's Pontegadea investment fund for 27 million euros. In November 2022, it made a similar deal with Pontegadea in relation to its shares in Delta Wind Farm. The transaction was valued at 245 million euros.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the administration of US President Joe Biden over an app that allows illegal immigrants from Mexico to apply for entry into the country, the attorney general's office said.

The CBP One mobile app, available to those living in northern Mexico, allows non-citizens without proper documentation to apply online for entry into the US through some southwestern land border crossings instead of applying directly at checkpoints, according to the lawsuit.

"The Biden Administration deliberately conceived of this phone app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more foreign aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive," Paxton was quoted as saying by his office, adding that he would fight back in court to defeat the "unlawful open-borders policies."

Paxton's lawsuit said the Federal government's use of the app to control the southern US border "does not meet even the lowest expectation of competency and runs afoul of the laws Congress passed to regulate immigration."

The attorney general added that the goal of the lawsuit is to stop the constant flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico into the US.

Paxton has filed over 20 lawsuits against the Biden administration, including over the Keystone XL oil pipeline, mandatory pay raises for federal contractors, a face mask mandate and obligatory vaccinations for corporate employees.

Earlier this month, the Title 42 immigration policy, which allowed migrants to be sent home as a measure to combat COVID-19, expired. Shortly thereafter, Biden said the situation at the US southern border was "much better" than expected, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the number of asylum seekers had dropped by half since the end of Title 42.

Under the Biden administration, the US has faced a record number of migrants arriving at its border with Mexico. The previous record was broken in 2021 and later in 2022 with over 2.3 million people. The US government said the country faced an influx of more than 1.2 million migrants in 2023. Meanwhile, Fox news and other media outlets claim that more than 6 million illegal immigrants entered the country during Biden's term.
More than 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Somalia in just 130 days due to a mix of conflict, severe drought and devastating floods, marking a record rate of displacement for the African country, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) More than 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Somalia in just 130 days due to a mix of conflict, severe drought and devastating floods, marking a record rate of displacement for the African country, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

"The figures recorded by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), show that conflict was among the main causes of displacement between 1 January and 10 May this year, while over 408,000 people were displaced by floods engulfing their villages and another 312,000 people by ravaging drought," the agency said.

UNHCR Representative in Somalia Magatte Guisse said the humanitarian needs in Somalia continued to grow.

"We are working together with humanitarian agencies to respond as best we can, but with new displacement climbing by the day, the needs are overwhelming," Guisse said.

NRC country director in Somalia, Mohamed Abdi, said the humanitarian organizations "can only fear the worst in the coming months as all the ingredients of this catastrophe are boiling in Somalia."

Somalia has been embroiled in a series of bloody civil conflicts since the early 1990s, which prompted the deployment of a series of UN and African Union peacekeeping missions, in addition to stringent restrictions on the import of weapons under an international arms embargo.
Maha Energy AB

The shareholders of Maha Energy AB (publ) gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday 24 May 2023 for the Annual General Meeting.



The income statements and the balance sheets for the Company and the Group were approved and the Board of Directors and the CEO were discharged from liability for the financial year 2022.

The Meeting resolved that no dividend shall be paid for the financial year 2022 and that the companys available funds shall be carried forward in new account.

Fabio Vassel, Paulo Thiago Mendonca, Enrique Pena, Viktor Modigh, Richard Norris, Halvard Idland and Kjetil Solbraekke were re-elected as members of the Board of Directors. Fabio Vassel was re-elected as Chairman of the Board.

The Meeting approved fees payable to the members of the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, including remuneration for committee work, to be as follows: (i) annual fees of the members of the Board of Directors of SEK 300,000 (excluding the CEO); (ii) annual fee of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SEK 415,000; (iii) annual fees of SEK 40,000 to members of the respective committees (excluding the CEO); (iv) annual fees of SEK 60,000 to the Chairman of the respective committees; (v) members of the Board of Directors shall be entitled to invoice the Company in so far as they perform services outside the Board assignment.

The accounting firm Deloitte AB was re-elected as the auditor of the Company, with authorised public accountant Andreas Frountzos as the auditor in charge, for a period until the end of the 2024 Annual General Meeting. The auditors fee shall be paid upon approval of their invoice.

The Meeting resolved to approve the Companys remuneration report for the financial year 2022.

The Meeting resolved in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors on changes to the policy for remuneration and other employment conditions for senior executives of the group, which shall apply for the time being. The policy is applicable on agreements entered into after the Annual General Meeting, and as far as changes are made to existing agreements, thereafter, and shall be reviewed at least every four years.

Following shareholders ahead of the annual general meeting submitting questions to the Board of Directors regarding the Boards proposal on an incentive programme for employees and consultants through issuance of warrants, the Board of Directors decided to withdraw the proposal with the intention of providing more detailed information if the Board should decide to propose a corresponding incentive programme at a future general meeting.

The Nomination Committee has made a corresponding assessment as the Board of Directors with regards to the incentive programme for the members of the Board of Directors through issuance of warrants, and decided to withdraw the proposal.

The Meeting resolved to authorise the Board of Directors to  for the period up to the next Annual General Meeting and at one or more occasions  resolve upon issuance of new shares, warrants and/or convertible debentures. Payment may be made in cash, in kind, through set-off of claims or otherwise be conditional. The Companys share capital may be by support of the authorisation be increased by an amount corresponding to 20 percent of the share capital and number of shares in the Company as of on the date the Board of Directors make use of the authorisation. Deviation from the shareholders preferential rights shall be allowed in situations where a directed issue is deemed more appropriate for the Company due to timing, commercial or similar reasons, and in order to enable acquisitions.

For more information, please contact:

Paulo Thiago Mendonca, CEO

Phone: +46 8 611 05 11

E-mail: info@mahaenergy.ca

Guilherme Guidolin de Campos, CFO

Phone: +46 8 611 05 11

E-mail: info@mahaenergy.ca

Miscellaneous

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, 16:00 CEST on 24 May 2023.

About Maha

Maha Energy AB (publ) is a listed, international upstream oil and gas company whose business activities include exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas. The strategy is to target and develop underperforming hydrocarbon assets on global basis. Maha operates the Mafraq field in Block 70 in the Sultanate of Oman and assets in the United States. The shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (MAHA-A). The head office is in Stockholm, Sweden with a technical office in Calgary, Canada, as well as operations offices in Grayville, Illinois, USA, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and Muscat, Oman. For more information, please visit our website www.mahaenergy.ca.

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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2023) The United States and its allies have turned the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) into a marginal structure, while deliberately destroying the architecture of European security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"For years, Washington has been deliberately destroying the European security architecture ... By turning the OSCE into a marginal structure, which has no influence on the situation with European security, the US and its allies have long taken an openly provocative course on expanding NATO to the east," Lavrov said at an international meeting of high representatives in charge of security issues taking place in the Moscow region.

The current policy of Western countries has been contradictory to the commitments made at the highest level not to strengthen one's own security at the expense of the security of others, the Russian minister added.

Russia has been a consistent critic of the alliance's expansion following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with Lavrov saying last year that it was geared toward strengthening and perpetuating the unipolar world led by the US. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in April 2022 that further expansion of the bloc eastward was aggressive in nature and would not make Europe more secure.
USM Construction and Design Receives $335K Grant from Mississippi Board of Contractors

Wed, 05/24/2023 - 01:20pm | By: Ivonne Kawas Prado

The University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) School of Construction and Design is the recipient of a $335,000 grant from the Mississippi Board of Contractors. This grant will provide the necessary resources and funding to enhance USMs Construction Management program and make a lasting impact on the construction industry in Mississippi.

Expressing his enthusiasm, the School Director Dr. Emre Bayraktar stated, I am thrilled about securing a significant grant from the Mississippi Board of Contractors. This grant will provide the necessary resources and funding to elevate our Construction Management program and bring about substantial curriculum enhancements.

The grant will play a pivotal role in expanding course offerings and curriculum, enabling USM to develop a master's program in Construction Management. Additionally, the grant will support the establishment of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Construction. This center will serve as a hub for fostering innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurial thinking among our students, faculty, and industry professionals.

This marks a significant milestone, as the funds will facilitate the establishment of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Construction, said Dr. Bayraktar. As a hub for fostering innovation and forging connections, this center will be instrumental in supporting student startups and aspiring entrepreneurs in the construction field by offering mentorship, resources, and networking opportunities.

Dr. Bayraktar also aims to strengthen the school's partnerships with the construction industry, which will help create even more valuable connections for students.

Through collaborations with contractors, developers, and industry organizations, the school plans to provide networking and experiential learning opportunities, including job fairs, industry-led projects, and the participation of students in various professional competitions and events, said Dr. Bayraktar. By actively engaging with the industry, the school aims to align its program with current industry needs and ensure that our graduates are in high demand.

Another exciting aspect of this grant is the establishment of a scholarship fund that will be dedicated to supporting deserving students who demonstrate a passion for the construction field. Additionally, it will help enhance USMs endowment fund for the Professor of Practice.

"The establishment of a scholarship fund will ensure that financial limitations do not hinder a students pursuit of a quality education, said Dr. Bayraktar. It will provide opportunities to talented individuals who might otherwise be unable to pursue their educational goals.

USM's School of Construction and Design is dedicated to providing a top-notch education in Construction Management and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in the construction field. This generous grant from the Mississippi Board of Contractors will empower the school to continue to achieve these goals and contribute to the growth and development of the construction industry in Mississippi.

"The positive impact this grant will have on the institution, its students, and Mississippis construction industry is immeasurable, said Dr. Bayraktar. We are very grateful for this grant, and we are excited for whats to come.

Visit the website of the School of Construction and Design to learn more or call 601.266.4895.
The Taliban have announced the resumption of direct flights between Afghanistan and China after a gap of three years, saying it would help boost bilateral economic and political relations.

The first weekly passenger flight of the national flag carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines left Kabul on Wednesday for Urumqi, the capital of the western Chinese border province of Xinjiang. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the air operation in early 2020.

The Taliban deputy minister for transport and civil aviation, Ghulam Jilani Wafa, hailed the resumption of the air service while addressing reporters at the airport in the Afghan capital.

"These flights would directly impact enhancing economic, political, and commercial ties between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and China," Wafa said, using the official title for the Taliban's unrecognized government.

No country, including China, has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, mainly over human rights concerns and restrictions imposed on women's access to education and work.

China has stepped up engagements with its conflict-ravaged neighbor since the Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021, when all United States-led Western troops closed out their involvement in the Afghan war and departed the country after almost two decades.

On Tuesday, the Chinese ambassador to Kabul, Wang Yu, told Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi that Beijing "has maintained normal relations with Afghanistan and is willing to strengthen it."

Muttaqi's office said the Chinese diplomat promised his country would facilitate increased Afghan exports to China and expedite "preliminary work" on the Mes Ainak mines, which contain Afghanistan's largest copper deposits.

The Taliban's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has said it hopes for Chinese investment in the site, which is about 40 kilometers southeast of the Afghan capital.

In April, the ministry reportedly talked with a Chinese company about a potential $10 billion deal to extract lithium but offered no further details. The South Asian nation has an estimated untapped mineral deposit of about $1 trillion, including iron ore, copper, lithium, gold, gemstones, and hydrocarbon resources.

In January, Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar and Wang jointly announced a contract with a Chinese company to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin in the northern provinces of Afghanistan over the next 25 years.

The deal would bring about $540 million in Chinese investment and would create an estimated 3,000 jobs, according to Taliban officials. China reportedly will build a refinery in Afghanistan to process the oil.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended a trilateral dialogue with the Taliban and Pakistan in Islamabad earlier in May, and he agreed to extend Beijing's global Belt and Road Initiative to Afghanistan.

Islamabad has received billions of dollars in Chinese investment, building major economic infrastructure projects, such as roads, power plants, and ports. The collaboration  the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC  is the BRI's flagship project. Both countries say they are set to link it to Afghanistan to promote regional connectivity.

The Chinese foreign ministry recently released an 11-point policy statement regarding Afghanistan. It emphasized the need for the Taliban to ensure "moderate and prudent" governance in Afghanistan through an "open and inclusive" political structure, while urging the international community to enhance engagement with Kabul.

The statement also expressed hope the de facto Afghan authorities would fulfill their "commitment in earnest" to effectively combat terrorism.

In exchange for its economic outreach, China primarily seeks assurances from the Taliban to prevent the spread of extremism from Afghanistan into Xinjiang and beyond and ensure the security of Chinese nationals.

Beijing has long alleged that extremists linked to the anti-China East Turkestan Islamic Movement use sanctuaries on Afghan soil to wage cross-border terrorism.

China's deepening engagement with Afghanistan apparently stems from its interest in mineral extractions and to further its own influence in the broader region.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 24, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) ("Arcos Dorados" or the "Company"), Latin Americas largest restaurant chain and the worlds largest independent McDonalds franchisee, today announced its participation in the following investor event:

BofA Securities 2023 Emerging Markets Debt and Equity Conference. This in-person event will be held in Miami, from Wednesday, May 31 to Friday, June 2, 2023, and the Company will participate on June 1 and 2.

This information is also available in the Events section of the Companys IR website: www.arcosdorados.com/ir.

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About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados is the worlds largest independent McDonalds franchisee, operating the largest quick service restaurant chain in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has the exclusive right to own, operate and grant franchises of McDonalds restaurants in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories with more than 2,300 restaurants, operated by the Company or by its sub-franchisees, that together employ over 95 thousand people (as of 03/31/2023). The Company is also committed to the development of the communities in which it operates, to providing young people their first formal job opportunities and to utilize its Recipe for the Future to achieve a positive environmental impact. Arcos Dorados is listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ARCO). To learn more about the Company, please visit the Investors section of our website: www.arcosdorados.com/ir.

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VP of Corporate Communications Arcos Dorados

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Three Cambodian land rights activists who were arrested on charges of plotting against the government planned to provoke a peasant revolution by teaching farmers about class divisions between rich and poor, an official said Tuesday.

Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, and his colleagues Nhel Pheap and Than Hach were charged Monday by a court in the countrys northeast with plotting against the state and incitement to commit a felony, said Am Sam Ath of the local rights group Licadho.

He said plotting against the government carries a possible prison term of five to 10 years, while incitement to commit a felony is punishable by six months to two years. He described the charges as sending a message of intimidation to civil society groups.

The three suspects were not available for comment and their lawyers were not immediately reachable.

However, a statement on Theng Savoeuns Facebook page said, In this life, we have tasted all sorts of flavors, but we remain firmly strong because our daily work is not what they have accused of us, rather we work at basic humanitarian tasks, helping the victims, helping farmers, helping the community, to make them understand their rights and obligations, and to help them find a solution."

The arrests in Ratanakiri province came as Cambodia prepares for a general election in July that is certain to return to power the governing Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has led the country for 38 years with little tolerance for dissent. The opposition Candlelight Party, the sole group posing a credible challenge to the governing party, was not allowed by the National Election Committee to contest the polls and expects a ruling this week on its appeal of that decision.

The three activists were arrested on May 17 after hosting a workshop in Ratanakiri province about land rights and other issues affecting farmers. The police detained 17 of the workshops 39 participants but released all but the three, who were charged and placed in pre-trial detention on Monday.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Gen. Khieu Sopheak said the three were arrested because their activities violated the law and were outside the main goals of their organization, which he said were to teach farmers more productive agricultural techniques.

He said the workshop instead discussed political issues such as the division between rich and poor and how to incite farmers to hate the rich.

Their lecture was to teach about peasant revolution, about the class divide in society. Khieu Sopheak said. He said such language mirrored the ideology taught by the communist Khmer Rouge to poor farmers, especially in Ratanakiri province, in the early days of their revolutionary struggle before taking power in April 1975.

The brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which was ousted in 1979, is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians from starvation, illness and violence.

Hun Sen joined the Khmer Rouge in 1970 when it was fighting against a pro-American government but defected from the group in 1977 and allied himself with a resistance movement backed by neighboring Vietnam.

Land grabs by wealthy and influential people have been a major problem for many years in Cambodia. Land ownership was abolished during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and land titles were lost, making ownership a free-for-all when the communist group lost power. Under Hun Sens government, much land that had been resettled was declared state land and sold or leased to wealthy investors, many of whom critics said were cronies of the governing party. Security forces have been employed to help evict tenants from such areas.

Khieu Sopheak said the three land activists admitted their crimes during police interrogation and that the authorities had found evidence of their activities on a computer and in documents from the groups training workshop.

Farmers from other provinces who support the three activists defied official harassment to travel to Phnom Penh to stage protests in front of the Interior Ministry demanding their release.

Rights worker Am Sam Ath expressed his concern that the three face such serious charges for working for the benefit of farmers and their communities. He said it might make it harder to help farmers in the future.
Canada and Saudi Arabia agreed Wednesday to restore full diplomatic relations and appoint new ambassadors, five years after a dispute over women's rights activists damaged relations and trade between the two countries.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada's ambassador to the kingdom and withdrew its own ambassador after Canada's foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada, tweeted support for women's right activists who had been arrested. The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and ordered their citizens studying in Canada to leave. The activists have since been released.

The foreign ministries of the two countries issued statements saying Wednesday's decision stemmed from discussions between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.

Canada's ministry said there is "desire for both sides to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interests."

Canada has appointed a new ambassador, Jean-Philippe Linteau.

The dispute centered around tweets by Canadian diplomats calling on the kingdom to "immediately release" detained women's rights activists. Among those arrested at the time was Samar Badawi, whose writer brother Raif Badawi was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and later was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam while blogging.

His case long has been raised by international human rights groups and Western diplomats, including Canadians, who have called on Saudi Arabia to free him. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Canada and received Canadian citizenship.

The Saudis have been on a diplomatic push in recent months. Saudi Arabia has restored diplomatic ties with Iran, moved to end the kingdom's yearslong war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, and led the push for Syria's return to the 22-member Arab League.
Four Chinese citizens living in Florida and a real estate brokerage that operates in the state have joined together in a lawsuit challenging a new law that places severe restrictions on the ability of some non-U.S. citizens to purchase property there.

The case, Shen v. Simpson, charges that Florida law SB 264, which was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis this month and goes into effect on July 1, violates the plaintiffs' rights to equal protection and due process under the U.S. Constitution.

The bill places restrictions on the purchase of property by individuals who are citizens of "countries of concern," including Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia and North Korea, but the rules are most severe for Chinese citizens.

Under the law, it will become illegal for Chinese citizens who are not lawful permanent residents of the U.S. to purchase any real estate in Florida. Chinese citizens who currently own property in the state will be required to register those properties with the state. Violation of the law is punishable by fines, criminal charges and imprisonment.

The suit names several defendants, including Wilton Simpson, Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture, whose agency would be in charge of enforcing the law. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services had not yet responded to VOA's request for comment.

Asian Americans concerned

Opponents of the bill said that it will increase racial animus in the state and pointed out that the legislation echoes many anti-Chinese and anti-Asian laws that were passed across the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and which were later ruled unconstitutional.

"There's a huge amount of concern within the Asian American community in Florida and other communities that are affected by this law about how it stigmatizes people of Asian descent," Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, told VOA. "It will make it harder for anyone whose name sounds like they may be [from] one of the countries to buy property within the state."

"Xenophobic policies and rhetoric toward China stoke racial bias," Bethany Li, legal director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said in a statement. "We have repeatedly seen how policies in the name of national security have harmed Asian Americans  from immigration restrictions to the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans in camps and post-9/11 surveillance. Failing to call out the discriminatory impacts means our community will continue to experience racism, violence, and the erosion of rights."

"All Asian Americans will feel the stigma and the chilling effect created by this Florida law, just like the discriminatory laws did to our ancestors more than a hundred years ago," attorney Clay Zhu, a co-founder of the Chinese-American Legal Defense Alliance said in a statement. "We shall not go back."

Support from both parties

The bill was introduced earlier this year after DeSantis, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, expressed a desire to prevent Chinese companies and nationals from buying property in the state. The bill had both Republican and Democratic sponsors in the state legislature. It passed the Senate unanimously, and the House by a bipartisan margin of 95-17.

However, in a hearing last month, when more than 100 Chinese Americans turned out to protest the bill and warn that it would contribute to anti-Asian racism, lawmakers sought to assure them that the intent of the bill is not to harm any people currently living in Florida.

"The only people who this bill discriminates against is the Communist Party of China," Republican Florida State Representative David Borrero said during a hearing last month. "The only people who have worried about not being able to buy land here? Those who are not living here."

That assertion was echoed by Democratic State Representative Katherine Waldron. "I think everybody in that room is probably not included in this bill," she said after the hearing. "We're not trying to cause anybody harm who lives here."

Laws not unique

At least 13 states have laws on the books that prohibit or restrict foreign ownership of land dedicated to agriculture. According to data collected by the Congressional Research Service, only about 3.1% of private agricultural land was owned by foreign nationals or corporations in 2021.

In the wake of the controversy over a Chinese spy balloon that traversed part of the U.S. earlier this year, a number of other states have seen similar legislation introduced.

Florida's focus on residential and other property makes it the first such bill to expand a ban on foreign ownership beyond agricultural land, but it is not likely to be the last. Lawmakers in Texas, for example, have been considering legislation that would bar citizens of China, Russia, or Iran from owning homes in the state.

Toomey, of the ACLU, said his organization has identified new legislation targeting foreign ownership of property in a dozen different states.

Restrictions common worldwide

Restrictions on foreign ownership of residential property, while new to the U.S., are not uncommon around the world. Such laws are adopted for a variety of reasons, including concerns about national security, money laundering, and high housing prices.

In January, Canada began enforcing a new law barring foreign investors from buying residential properties there for two years. The measure was intended to reduce inflated housing costs, which lawmakers believed were being caused, in part, by non-citizens purchasing homes.

Early this year, the government of Spain's Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, lobbied for a ban on noncitizens purchasing residences there, claiming that wealthy foreigners were driving prices so high that people native to the islands could no longer afford to live there.

Other European countries also place restrictions on foreigners seeking to purchase residences, including Austria, Denmark, Italy and Switzerland. In some cases, the laws have been on the books for decades.
Four years ago, high school and college students in the class of 2023 had just entered their first year when the coronavirus pandemic hit. They were thrust into an academic world of uncertainty when in-person classes stopped and were moved to online platforms.

Now recent graduates, they are the last undergraduate class with memories of what it was like to be students when the pandemic began.

"It was shocking and confusing because we didn't know what was going to happen with our studies," said Sarabeth McClain, 22, who just received her undergraduate diploma in economics and political science at Rhode Island University.

When the World Health Organization declared COVID a global pandemic in March 2020, in-person classes stopped in the United States, forcing students to learn online.

"It was chaotic. I was taking classes that quickly went virtual, and I started to feel more distant from my professors," said Rachel Buxbaum, who was in a doctoral degree program in clinical psychology at Long Island University in New York. "Plus, I began seeing psychotherapy patients online, and it all felt overwhelming."

COVID-19 changed everything, including the college experience.

"It was a resilience test for these students and impacted their ability to focus on education," said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

According to a 2021 Best Colleges survey, 9 out of 10 college students said they struggled with isolation, anxiety and a lack of focus during the pandemic.

For much of two years, the lives of both college and high school students were turned upside down with uncertainty and the unease of not spending time with their classmates in person.

"The quarantine led to an increase in social anxiety for them," explained Caroline Clauss-Ehlers, a psychology professor in the School of Health Professions at Long Island University. "Interacting with their peers is important to them, and with the quarantine that was lost, including some social skills."

"I was struggling," said high school student Jessica Hernandez, who graduated from Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, Virginia, "because I couldn't socialize with anyone since everyone was stuck behind a screen."

Besides social isolation, another Best Colleges study, in 2022, found the transition to remote learning caused significant stress from an increase in distractions and a loss of academic resources such as academic advisers.

"I felt neglected because the teacher wasn't there to help me in person," Hernandez told VOA, "and there were many distractions at home with my phone and TV easy to get to all the time, while I'm watching online classes from my bed."

However, another high school student called her online learning "super easy."

"It was such a quick transition during COVID that the teachers didn't have much time to figure out online learning," said Reda Adkins, a graduate of Perry High School in Perry, Ohio, "and so they were laid back and there was no pressure on the students to study and learn."

According to a 2021 Frontiers in Psychology survey, 33% of college students were concerned about their academic futures due to the pandemic.

"I don't feel there are many advantages to taking classes online," said Sam Lodge, a graduate in economics at the University of Wisconsin. "It hurt me academically because it was harder to learn and process the information."

"I didn't like online learning and missed the structure of going to class, including classroom discussions," said McClain.

"The professors prepared me academically," said Matthew Shea, who received his diploma from Pennsylvania State University. "However, it was hard to pay attention during the lectures when you're not in the classroom. I was also more hesitant to ask questions online rather than in-person, where I am more comfortable raising my hand."

However, other students adapted to learning virtually, Pasquerella noted.

"Most students were skeptical about learning online during the pandemic, but after in-person college classes resumed, many wanted to have more online courses, especially for the flexibility."

According to a new survey by TimelyCare, a virtual health and well-being program for students in higher education, about 80% of graduating seniors say the pandemic affected their workforce preparedness.

"I'm looking for employment right now," Lodge told VOA. "During COVID, the lack of being social, including talking to new people, has had an impact on my reaching out to people who are hiring."

Despite a disrupted college experience and trepidation about entering the workforce, nearly all of this year's college graduates are hopeful for their future, TimelyCare said.

"I'm looking forward to my work as a clinical psychologist in primary health care at a hospital in New York," said Buxbaum, who completed her doctoral degree.

"I feel like I'm regaining my mental energy, and I'm going to a local community college in northern Virginia to study to become a nurse," said high school graduate Hernandez.
The Dutch government said on Tuesday it would hold U.S. industrial group 3M Co. liable for polluting the Western Scheldt river with potentially harmful substances known as PFAS, or "forever chemicals."

3M said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters that it had received a letter from the Dutch government's legal representative on Tuesday and was studying its contents.

The Netherlands said it would hold the company responsible for pollution in the Dutch part of the river, allegedly caused by its nearby Belgian plant.

Higher than acceptable pollutant levels have resulted in financial damages for the fishing fleet and the government, the Netherlands said.

"I think polluters should pay ... Holding 3M liable is in line with that basic position," Dutch Infrastructure and Water Management Minister Mark Harbers said in a statement.

3M said it had already invited the Dutch authorities to have a meeting about the PFAS situation in the Western Scheldt.

"(We) welcome the opportunity for conversation with the Dutch government and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management," it said in its statement.

3M's website shows it has a plant that makes products that contain PFAS on the Belgian side of the Scheldt river, which originates in France.

Last December 3M set itself a 2025 deadline to stop producing PFAS. The European Union is considering a ban on the chemicals.

Perfluoralkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) do not break down quickly and have in recent years been found in dangerous concentrations in drinking water, soils and foods.

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOAs Veronica Balderas Iglesias

The chemicals have been used in everything from cars to medical gear and nonstick pans due to their long-term resistance to extreme temperature and corrosion.

But they have also been linked to health risks including cancer, hormonal dysfunction and a weakened immune system as well as environmental damage.

The Dutch government said there would be an assessment of how much of the alleged PFAS damages 3M could be held liable for.
Amnesty International on why international criticism has not deterred Iran from its recent execution spree. Iranian residents of Japan protest to urge G7 leaders to get tougher on Tehran. Israels Alma Center on why it exposed apparent location of underground Iranian drone base. US Commission on International Religious Freedom on why more Iran sanctions might curb religious freedom violations.
As a high-profile meeting of tourism ministers from Group of 20 nations ended in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, local officials said they hoped the attention would lead to more business for the local tourism and film industries.

The G20 consists of 19 of the worlds biggest economies plus the European Union.

Kashmir reported record tourism last year, with 18 million visitors who sought out the regions diverse landscapes, lakes and snow-capped Himalayan peaks.

Local officials, however, see a brighter future in revising the regions film industry.

Sameer Kaul, a leader of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, a regional political party, said the industry would be helped in part by loosening up the regions heavy security.

Speaking to VOA, Kaul said, We shall have to go beyond political tokenism and facilitate the creation of hospitality infrastructure, supporting human resources and involve the local population as opposed to restricting their movement and forcing them to stay homebound every time an event of any kind is held here.

Starting in the 1960s, the region was a favored location for Indias widely popular Bollywood movies.

That largely ended three decades ago when political unrest in Kashmir suspended most film shoots. According to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a privately owned economic research group in Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir now has the third-highest unemployment in India, with an alarming 23.1% rate.

Economy revived by film?

In 2021, the government of Jammu and Kashmir rolled out a five-year plan to try to boost the local film industry, but locals are critical.

Ayash Arif, a 60-year-old artist with decades of experience in the industry, said the current policy promoting the film industry is not working.

The policy has not been implemented and is not functioning. We dont know anything about it," Arif said. "There is no film council, as is mentioned in the policy.

According to Arif, regional cinema needs to be developed to provide maximum employment to the locals. We need soft loans from the government and associated agencies to produce a maximum number of regional films that will provide jobs to locals.

Sushil Chaudhary, the founder of mobile cinema operator Picture Time DigiPlex, said to bring back the past glory of the regions film industry, government help is necessary.

I hope to see G20 policymakers do some miracle to bring back the happy times, Chaudhary said.

Bilal A. Jan, an award-winning filmmaker from Srinagar, told VOA that filmmakers need funding that must finance both fiction and nonfiction films in different regional languages.

Apurva Chandra, secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said during the meeting that more than 404 films, TV soap operas and advertisements were permitted for shooting in Srinagar.

A handicraft trader, Irfan Hamdani, told VOA that rather than showing off Kashmir as an example of stability and normalcy in the region, the government should focus on addressing the areas burgeoning unemployment problems.

Fifty-three foreign delegates, including 46 from G20 and specially invited countries, along with seven representatives from multilateral organizations, participated in the tourism meeting in Srinagar. China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and special invitee Egypt chose not to attend.
Human Rights Watch is calling for an investigation into the death of a Lao political activist living in exile in Thailand.

The group said the body of Bounsuan Kitiyano was found on May 17 in a forest in northeastern Thailand near the border with Laos. An initial police investigation indicated that Kitiyano was shot while riding alone on his motorcycle.

The 56-year-old Bounsuan was a former member of the Free Laos group involved in several protests in front of the Lao embassy in Bangkok demanding respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. HRW says he was recognized as a refugee by the United Nations refugee agency.

This cold-blooded killing of a prominent exiled Lao political activist demands an immediate response from the Thai authorities, Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement Wednesday.

HRW says Thailand has consistently failed to prevent or adequately respond to attacks against political critics of repressive neighboring governments of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

HRW also said Bounsuans murder sends a spine-chilling message that nowhere is safe for critics of the Lao government, citing the August 2019 disappearance of human rights and democracy activist Od Sayavong in Thailand, and the shooting of Anousa Luangsuphom, an activist and online critic of the Lao government, in the capital, Vientiane, on April 29 of this year. Luangsuphom was initially reported to have been killed in the attack, but his family later told HRW they falsely reported his death to protect him while he recovers.
Tranquil rides on the scenic Dal Lake in intricately carved wooden shikara boats. Traditional dance to the beat of local music. Learning the hook step with actor Ram Charan to Naatu Naatu, this years Oscar-winning song featuring the Indian movie star.

All are part of New Delhis effort to welcome G-20 delegates to its part of Kashmir, the Himalayan territory disputed with its neighbor, Pakistan.



As India attempted to exude a sense of normalcy by hosting the third G-20 tourism working group meeting in Kashmir amid heavy security and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari conducted a protest campaign on his side of the divided territory, the status of the 75-year-old conflict looked murky.



Expressing outrage, Bhutto Zardari called Indias decision to hold the first major event on its side of Kashmir since revoking its special autonomy almost four years ago a display of arrogance.



That was India sending a message to the world that we dont believe in international law," Bhutto Zardari told VOA. We can violate international [United Nations] Security Council Resolutions, and theres nothing you can do about it. And by holding the event in occupied Kashmir today, they are sending the same message to their participants and to the international world.

This year, as the president of the G-20  a group of 19 of the worlds biggest economies plus the European Union  New Delhi is hosting nearly 100 events across the country.



Indias Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar rejected Pakistans objections to hosting the tourism conference in the disputed territorys summer capital, Srinagar.



Pakistan has nothing to do with the G-20, nothing to do with even Srinagar and Kashmir, Jaishankar told reporters early this month.

The South Asian nuclear rivals have fought three wars over the disputed region since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. A 1948 U.N Security Council resolution that outlines a process to resolve the issue has never been fully implemented.



Kamran Bokhari, a senior director at the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, told VOA that currently, the Kashmir conflict has little relevance internationally because it is unresolvable and mired in a stalemate.



The only reason that it has any importance is because it is between two nuclear-armed historic rivals in the most densely populated region of the world, Bokhari said in written comments.

Former Indian diplomat Manju Seth called the dispute a matter of perception.



I think disputed as far as who is concerned, you know? In our view, it is no longer disputed, and it's ... always been a part of our country, Seth told VOA, reiterating New Delhis stance.



While most countries sent just local staff to the tourism conference, Pakistani allies China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey skipped the event. However, only China, which also has a border dispute with neighboring India, issued a condemnation.

[This] says something about how the issue itself is defined by the international community, contrary to what India claims [it is seen] as an international dispute, Pakistans former ambassador to the U.N., Maleeha Lodhi, told VOA.



She rejected the notion that attendance by dozens of G-20 delegates was a quiet endorsement of Indias position on Kashmir, instead blaming global politics for the continuation of the decades-old conflict.



The fact that the  Security Council has been unable to implement its own resolutions on Kashmir  is a reflection of big power politics, said Lodhi.

Fernand de Varennes, U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues, recently criticized the meeting, saying that by hosting the session in Kashmir, India is seeking to normalize what some have described as a military occupation.



Reeling from decades of separatist militancy that has killed tens of thousands, Indian-administered Kashmir is among the most heavily militarized parts of the world. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the insurgency, but Pakistan says it only provides moral support to the separatist cause.



Security was bolstered for the event, with New Delhi deploying National Security Guards, marine commandos and Border Security Force personnel to join dedicated police units. As the event drew closer, though, security moved into the background to give a sense of normalcy amid reports of mass detentions.

Bokhari said the fact the G-20 is happening in Kashmir shows the most powerful nations have accepted New Delhis claims the security situation has improved.



Obviously, India has been able to demonstrate that it has things more or less under control, he said.



According to Indias minister of tourism, G. Kishan Reddy, a record 18.4 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2022, with the government expecting that number to grow.



However, only 20,000 of the millions of tourists were foreign visitors, according to local officials.

As India works to make the conflict-riddled scenic valley welcoming for globe-trotters, Lodhi notes, Pakistan has no choice but to continue to internationalize the issue, to keep raising it at key forums.



New Delhi says it will not discuss the issue with Pakistan until Islamabad stops supporting terrorist activities against it, a charge Pakistan denies.



We would like to discuss  the status of what is [the part of Kashmir] with Pakistan, which was originally a part of India, Seth said.



Earlier this month, Jaishankar told reporters, There is only one issue to discuss on Kashmir, that is when does Pakistan vacate its illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.



Pakistan calls its part of Kashmir, Azad or Free Kashmir.



Some information for this story came from Reuters.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, on Tuesday on a visit aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two Muslim-majority nations amid heightened global geopolitical tensions.

Widodo hosted Raisi at the colonial-style presidential palace in Bogor, just outside the capital, Jakarta. Raisi is visiting at Widodo's invitation as Indonesia aims to speed up its post-pandemic economic recovery by increasing exports.

The two-day visit is expected to deepen Iran's ties with Indonesia after the two nations concluded negotiations this month on a Preferential Trade Agreement. The two leaders witnessed the signing of that pact and 10 other agreements Tuesday.

At a joint news conference after meeting with Raisi, Widodo said they discussed expanding export opportunities in the Middle East and Iran and opportunities for Iranian businesses to invest in the development of Indonesia's new capital on Borneo island.

Raisi said the countries hope to raise the value of their two-way trade to $20 billion.

Bilateral trade increased by more than 23% last year to $257.2 million, according to Indonesia's Trade Ministry.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, is seeking new markets for its exports to reduce its reliance on traditional trading partners, many of which have been affected by the weakened global economy and geopolitical risks. Iran is a nontraditional trade partner for Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

Raisi said his country has attained "remarkable development" in its economy, science and technology despite decades of U.S. government sanctions.

"The numerous documents that we signed today showed the will of the two countries to develop relations in all situations despite of threats and sanctions by the enemies," Raisi said.

"We believe that sanctions and threats cannot stop us in any way," Raisi said. "Cooperation and communication with neighboring countries, Muslim nations and countries that are aligned with us is our priority."

The two leaders said they also discussed heightened geopolitical tensions in many parts of the world and agreed to continue their support for Palestinians and education for women and humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

In February, Raisi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to seek further cooperation following a September meeting in Uzbekistan, when Xi underscored China's support for Iran.

Both China and Iran have sought to project themselves alongside Russia as a counterweight to American power.

Washington has accused Iran of selling hundreds of attack drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and has sanctioned executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer.

While in Indonesia, Raisi is scheduled to meet with House Speaker Puan Maharani, religious figures and businesspeople. He also will visit Jakarta's Istiqlal Grand Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, and give lectures at an Islamic university.

Widodo's last trip to Iran was in 2016, while the last official state visit from Iran was in 2015, when then-President Hassan Rouhani attended the 50th commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung city.
(Bloomberg) -- Asian travel and retail stocks fell amid concerns on the latest wave of Covid in China as well as a possible slowdown in the US economy.

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Shares of luxury brand Prada SpA and Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd. slid as much as 6% each in Hong Kong. Cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. and Tokyo Disney operator Oriental Land Co. dropped more than 5% in Tokyo. The regional benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 0.7%, as Washingtons prolonged debt-ceiling impasse hurt sentiment.

Familiar themes resurfaced as vaccine makers climbed in the US overnight after news that China expects to see virus infections peak at about 65 million a week toward the end of June. Meanwhile, European luxury stocks erased more than $30 billion in market value amid worry on US growth.

Concerns over Chinas latest coronavirus wave triggered the selloff we see in casino and travel shares today, said Alvin Ngan, an analyst at Zhongtai Financial International Ltd. Chinas slower-than-expected economic recovery also put a cloud over consumer sentiment on luxury spending.

Still, Ngan remains positive on the long-term reopening story and sees the dip as a good buying opportunity for casino stocks. Share performance among stocks that benefit from tourist demand has been uneven this year, with Prada still up more than 20% while Shiseido is little changed.

Much of Japans recent inbound tourist traffic is from Singapore, Korea and Taiwan, as well as Westerners taking advantage of the weak yen, said Amir Anvarzadeh, a strategist at Asymmetric Advisors Ltd. This correction will provide a big buying opportunity for investors who missed earlier rallies in reopening stocks, he said.

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Vietnamese students now make up the fifth-largest group of foreign students in the U.S., according to the 2022 Institute of International Educations (IIE) annual Open Doors report. The report found 20,713 Vietnamese students studied in the U.S. in the 2021-2022 academic year.

But now some Vietnamese universities have recently begun trying to attract U.S. students to study in Vietnam, a goal that is challenging, some education experts told VOAs Khanh An. (May 2023)
Israel is attempting to deepen its already close ties with many African countries by providing access to technology that can help Africa deal with its growing population. Officials from six African officials visited Israel last week to discuss more cooperation. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen
Shima Shahrabi, a journalist for the website IranWire, said Wednesday she was concerned about the physical condition of her brother after Iranian authorities arrested him more than three weeks ago.

Shahrabi tweeted that her brother, Sajjad Shahrabi, was arrested because of her own media activities and that phone contact with her brother has been cut off for a week.

She added that her brother said he had been held in solitary confinement and was then moved to a multi-person cell following a hunger strike.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Sajjad Shahrabi, who worked as a reporter and host for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, was arrested at his fathers house May 3 in Tehran.

Reporters Without Borders says Iran has been one of the worlds most repressive countries in terms of press freedom since protests began in September in response to the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini.

On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told VOA the United States calls on Iranian authorities to stop arbitrary arrests and sham trials, and to stop depriving the Iranian people of basic freedoms.
A watch that was once owned by the last emperor of China's Qing Dynasty, whose life formed the basis of the Oscar-winning film "The Last Emperor," sold for a record $6.2 million at a Hong Kong auction on Tuesday.

An Asian collector residing in Hong Kong calling on the phone bought the rare Patek Philippe watch that had belonged to Aisin-Gioro Puyi, according to the auction house.

The hammer price, which excludes the buyer's premium fee, was $5.1 million.

Thomas Perazzi, head of watches at auction house Phillips Asia, told Reuters that it is "the highest result" for any wristwatch that once belonged to an emperor.

It was one of only eight known Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune timepieces and was gifted by Puyi to his Russian interpreter when he was imprisoned by the Soviet Union, the auction house said. It easily beat a pre-sale estimate of $3 million.

Other watches owned by emperors and sold at auction include a Patek Philippe timepiece that belonged to the last Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, which sold for $2.9 million in 2017.

A Rolex watch that belonged to the last emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, fetched $5 million at an auction in 2017.

Born in 1906, Puyi was the last emperor of China's Qing dynasty, who began his reign at two years old.

After Japans defeat in World War II in 1945, Puyi was captured at China's Shenyang Airport by the Soviet Red Army. He was detained as a war prisoner and incarcerated in a detention camp in Khabarovsk, Russia, for five years.

The auction house said it spent three years collaborating with watch specialists, historians, journalists, and scientists to research the watch's history and verify its provenance.

Perazzi told Reuters that the watch was the finest Patek made at the time.

Journalist Russell Working, who interviewed Puyi's interpreter Georgy Permyakov in 2001, said he gave the watch to Permyakov on his last day in the Soviet Union, shortly before he was extradited back to China.

These were the kind of things he sometimes did to people that were very special to him, Working said.
New developments:

Poll by University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and NORC finds half of people in the United States support U.S. military aid for Ukraine, while about one-fourth oppose it. The level of support is nearly unchanged from last year.

United Nations says it recorded nearly 8,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia invaded last year, as it warned the world is failing to protect civilians.

The toll of casualties is fast mounting in Ukraine, with the head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group saying Wednesday that 20,000 of his men have been killed in the lengthy fight for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those killed in the battle for control of Bakhmut were Russian convicts who were promised their freedom from sentences for criminal offenses if they fought in Ukraine for six months. But the mercenaries were often sent to the battlefront with scant training and often were killed soon after in fierce combat with better-trained Ukrainian troops.

White House officials said Prigozhins casualty estimate was in line with their own that Russian losses have accelerated. Russia claimed in recent days it has captured Bakhmut, while Ukrainian officials say they have not given up the fight for the city and are trying to surround it.

Casualty figures for the now 15-month conflict have varied widely, depending on the source of the information. Prigozhins estimate for Bakhmut alone stands in sharp contrast to Moscows widely disputed claim that just over 6,000 of its troops had been killed as of January, about 11 months into the war.

The U.S. estimated this month that Russia had sustained 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in the fighting, half of them Wagner forces, since December alone. Analysts say Ukraine has also lost thousands of its troops, although Kyiv has not said how many.

U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, despite his forces fighting alongside Moscows troops, has been a frequent critic of Russian defense leadership, claiming Moscow has not supplied Wagner with enough ammunition.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin extended his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russia's stated goal of "demilitarizing" Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv's military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

Asked why Prigozhin would make the Bakhmut death toll claim, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, Its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever they've been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military."

Russia: Belgorod under attack again

A Russian official said Wednesday the Belgorod region along the border with Ukraine came under attack by drones overnight.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that administrative and residential buildings were damaged, but that no one was hurt.

Gadkov said Russian air defenses shot down most of the drones.

The attack came a day after Russia said it halted a cross-border ground attack in the same area.

Russia blamed the raid on Ukrainian military saboteurs, while Ukraine contended that it was an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will react promptly and extremely harshly to further attacks on Russian soil.

Bakhmut fight

Ukraine's military said Wednesday the focus of fighting was in Bakhmut and Marinka, with the probability of Russian forces attacking Ukraine with missiles and air strikes remaining high.

The Ukrainian military's general staff said in its daily update that Russia had launched 41 airstrikes during the past day, and that the attacks injured civilians while also damaging civilian and administrative buildings.

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday the situation in Bakhmut remains very dynamic.

Russia claimed to capture the city that has been the focus of months of intense fighting. Ukraine said it was still in control of some areas on the outskirts of the city.

Ryder also told reporters the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group is expected to focus on ground-based air defenses, ammunition and training on F-16 fighters when they hold their next meeting Thursday.

Peace effort

The speaker of the Czech Parliaments lower house, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, told VOA that peace talks are not possible right now since Russian troops occupy parts of Ukraine and that the peace plan put forward by China includes contradictory points.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said peace talks cannot happen until Russia pulls its forces from occupied Ukrainian lands.

Pekarova Adamova said Tuesday during a visit to Washington that Europe cannot accept Russias occupation of Crimea, Donetsk or Luhansk, areas that Russia has claimed as its own.

The end of the war must be when really Ukrainians decide that this is acceptable on the conditions of the best for them, Pekarova Adamova said.

She also said Russia needs to be punished through a special tribunal, not only President Vladimir Putin but also all people who are responsible.

Pekarova Adamova expressed support for continuing military aid to Ukraine, because they show us they are really brave and do their best to protect their country and their people.

State Department Counselor Derek Chollet told VOA the best thing China could do to bring about an end to the conflict is use its relationship with Russia to convince Putin to halt the invasion.

Clearly, they have a close relationship with Russia. President Xi [Jinping] and President Putin have met several times, and before this war, they released a very lengthy joint communique talking about a relationship, a partnership with no limits. What we would be asking our PRC friends to do is use whatever influence they have over Russia to get Putin to stop this war, Chollet said. I haven't seen much to suggest that they're willing to use that influence. And I haven't seen much to suggest that even if they were willing to use the influence, it would work to change Putin's mind. But that's the simple thing we're asking.

VOAs Nike Ching and Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
White House budget officials and key House Republican negotiators are resuming talks Wednesday to increase the U.S. governments borrowing limit before it runs out of cash to pay its bills in the coming week or so and at the same time trim future federal spending.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters that the negotiations were still productive, but days of talks have yet to produce an agreement that Democratic President Joe Biden and McCarthy believe could win a majority vote in both houses of Congress.

McCarthy and Biden met at the White House on Monday, and McCarthy said they would get together again later Wednesday.

I firmly believe we will solve this problem, McCarthy said. Were not going to default.

It remained unclear, however, exactly how Biden and Democrats pushing for only relatively modest trims in government spending and Republicans pushing for steeper cuts could get to an agreement, and to what extent the debt ceiling would be increased beyond its current $31.4 trillion figure.

I will not raise taxes, McCarthy declared, rejecting a White House proposal to increase taxes on the wealthiest U.S. taxpayers and large corporations. Nor, he said, would he allow a House vote on a measure to raise the debt ceiling without accompanying it with spending cuts.

Sixty percent of Americans believe we should not raise the debt ceiling without cutting spending, he said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly said the government will soon run out of enough money to meet its obligations, such as interest on government bonds, salaries for federal workers and government contractors and stipends to pensioners. The government could default for the first time as soon as next week, on June 1, she said.

The government reached its existing borrowing limit in January, but the Treasury adopted extraordinary measures since then to keep paying its bills. Without enough new tax receipts flowing into government coffers in the first days of June, the government would then face the difficult choice of deciding which bills to pay.

Officials have warned that a default by the United States, the biggest global economy, could prove catastrophic, roiling the worlds stock markets, forcing job layoffs in the U.S. and hurting the U.S. credit standing, resulting in higher interest rates for borrowers.

The U.S. government has raised its debt ceiling 78 times over several decades, under both Democratic and Republican presidents, and three times under former President Donald Trump.

The current dispute is complicated with the Democrats controlling the White House and narrowly the Senate, while McCarthy has a slim Republican edge in the House.

Aside from agreeing to increase the debt ceiling for a year, hard-line Republicans in the House have insisted on sharply cutting back government spending over at least the next six years. The White House wants a debt limit extension past the November 2024 presidential election, in which Biden is seeking a second term and flat, as-is government spending limited to the next two years.

But the two sides have yet to agree on a way to bridge their differences. Talks broke off Tuesday without any apparent progress.

House Republicans want to reduce federal spending back to 2022 levels and impose strict work requirements for Americans enrolled in such low-income relief programs for food and cash assistance and the Medicaid health insurance program.

The White House wants to end tax breaks for wealthier Americans and some corporations, although Republicans remain opposed to any tax increases or cuts in defense spending. Republicans have instead proposed sharp cuts in other government programs except for those at the Pentagon.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that the negotiations were moving forward, but said that both Democrats and Republicans have to understand that theyre not going to get everything they want. She said the goal is to get to a budget that is reasonable, that is bipartisan, that Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate will be able to vote on and agree on.

Representative Garret Graves, one of the House Republican negotiators, said Tuesday there were still significant gaps between the two parties.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has praised his countrys ties with China, saying relations are at an unprecedented high level.

Mishustin made the comment during a meeting Wednesday in Bejiing with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Mishustin also met with President Xi Jinping, and reports say Xi offered Beijings support on Moscows core interests.

Mishustin said the bilateral relationship is characterized by mutual respect of each other's interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West. According to the Associated Press, Mishustin did not mention Russias war in Ukraine.

Mishustin and Li signed several agreements involving cooperation on trade services, Russian exports of agricultural products to China, and sports.

Mishustin is the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscows invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. China has become Russias biggest customer of oil and gas exports due to sanctions by Western nations in response to the invasion. Russian state media recently said that Russian exports to China will increase by 40% this year.

China has refrained from publicly criticizing Russias invasion of Ukraine. Beijing maintains it is neutral in the conflict.

The United States has cautioned China against providing military support to Russia for the war.
As the fighting in Khartoum entered its 22nd day, the remaining civilians in the city described brutal conditions. Many had nearly run out of supplies, markets remained shuttered and imports were no longer entering the country.

Yousif Ahmed is a store owner and merchant in the city and described the dire situation. He said the conditions are unstable, that people might resort to stealing just to survive. We may have to steal the days sustenance in the coming days, everything is gone now, we are suffering greatly from this disaster, all people may have to steal in a week, he told VOA.

Ahmed said insecurity in the city also means that businesses have to find ways to protect their goods to avoid being targeted.

For me, as a grocer, the situation is very bad. There are no goods, and we feel insecure because we could be looted at any moment. Some merchants now store goods in their homes.

According to the U.N., nearly 19 million Sudanese could suffer from food insecurity because of to the conflict. Advocates said $445 million is needed to support refugees fleeing Sudan and to provide aid in the next six months.

Mohammed Hassan Abu Shama, another Khartoum resident said living conditions in the city have deteriorated dramatically.

People have begun to store food supplies and most stores are lacking basic necessities, he told VOA. The price of flour is very expensive, and the price of bread has doubled. People want to travel outside Khartoum, but tickets are also expensive, whether they are in the states or outside Sudan. This war destroyed many things, we hope things will be better.

But amid the instability, and in the absence of a functioning government and relief organizations, Sudanese in some neighborhoods of Khartoum organized voluntary civil initiatives to help alleviate the crisis for the poorest citizens.

Hassan Mohammed Ahmed Salih from a neighborhood called Jabra explained how the community is stepping up to help feed those in need.

We obtained quantities of flour from some agents and distributed it to a large number of poor citizens in the neighborhood and solved the problem of flour shortages, he said.

Ahmed Salih said the community also comes together to help in different areas, including providing security and reaching out to people who need medical attention.

We will form three committees concerned with the health situation, the living situation, and the security situation. We will work to collect information, and in the same way we addressed the flour shortage, we will try to provide health and medical services for all patients in the neighborhood by bringing in doctors and medicine. If we are not able, we will offer moral support in these circumstances.

Residents say the situation is getting worse each day. They fear the longer the markets are closed and relief supplies are unable to reach those trapped in the city, the greater the human suffering will be.

This story originated in VOAs English to Africa Service.
Months after banning Afghan women from work for the United Nations and other aid agencies, Taliban authorities have told aid workers that new guidelines allowing women to return to humanitarian work are almost complete.

Taliban leaders in Kandahar said guidelines that will allow women back to work & resume girls' education are nearly completed, Jon Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), tweeted on Wednesday after meeting Taliban officials in their stronghold in southern Afghanistan.

The Taliban have not said when the new rules will go into effect. It is also unclear whether the new guidelines will permit women to return to jobs in public service.

A Taliban official who met Egeland said aid agencies should expand their operations because corruption and insecurity have been completely terminated in Afghanistan.

Immediately after seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban fired almost all female government employees except in the health and education sectors. No woman serves in the Talibans interim cabinet.

The Islamist leadership has also closed secondary schools for girls for nearly two years, though it has said the ban is temporary and will be lifted after new guidelines are completed.

Until the new guidelines are announced, some female aid workers could return to work under an interim solution.



We have initial agreement of looking for interim solutions so that our brave professional female colleagues can come back to work, Egeland said in a video adding that the NRC would not work with male-only staff.



Since the ban on womens work, the NRC has downgraded its activities in Afghanistan by 40%, Egeland said.

Huge funding gaps

In addition to sparking widespread international condemnation, the ban on womens work has also adversely affected humanitarian operations in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the U.N. warned about huge funding gaps disrupting critical aid work in the country.

To assist over 28 million vulnerable Afghans, some of whom face starvation, the U.N. has asked donors for $4.6 billion this year. As of May 24, less than 8% of the appeal ($353 million) has been fulfilled.

The United States has contributed about $35 million to the appeal this year, second only to Japans $61 million contribution. Last year, the United States was the largest donor to the Afghanistan appeal and gave over $1.2 billion.

Earlier this year, Thomas West, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, warned that aid to Afghanistan would be reduced for various reasons.

In response to global criticism of their misogynistic policies, Taliban officials insist their denial of womens basic rights is an internal Afghanistan matter and that it should not be politicized to cut off aid to the country.


Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is urging African countries to abandon their stances of neutrality towards his country's war with Russia.

Many African countries have refused to take sides in the European conflict, with several abstaining from votes at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia's invasion. Ethiopia is one of them.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Wednesday, Kuleba said Ukraine was "very upset that some African countries chose to abstain" and called them to lend Ukraine diplomatic support "in the face of Russian aggression."

"Neutrality is not the answer," he told reporters. "By being neutral towards Russian aggression against Ukraine, you project neutrality to the violations of borders and mass crimes that may occur very close to you."

Russia has built a substantial presence in several parts of Africa, where Russian private military contractor Wagner is active, and recently held joint military drills with South Africa. Russia plans to hold an Africa-Russia summit in July.

Kuleba also called on African countries to endorse the "ten-point peace formula" proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in December and emphasized Ukraine's wish to build "mutually beneficial" relations with Africa, based on trade in energy, technology and pharmaceuticals.

"We have to remind each other of the importance of Africa to Ukraine and the importance of Ukraine to Africa," Kuleba said, admitting that Ukraine's previous attitude towards the continent was characterized by "inertia."

Both Ukraine and Russia supply a significant amount of grain to Africa.

Kuleba is currently on an African tour that also includes visits to Morocco and Rwanda. In Ethiopia, he held discussions with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat and Azali Assoumani, the president of the Comoros and current chair of the continent-wide body.

Kuleba made his first trip to Africa in October when he visited Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya. The trip was cut short after Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.

His Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, has also been active in shoring up ties with African countries since the Ukraine war broke out, touring the continent once in 2022 and making at least two visits so far this year.
Over the last year, a good number of insiders have significantly increased their holdings in Australian Dairy Nutritionals Limited (ASX:AHF). This is encouraging because it indicates that insiders are more optimistic about the company's prospects.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

See our latest analysis for Australian Dairy Nutritionals

Australian Dairy Nutritionals Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when insider Ding Qiumei bought AU$940k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.048 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than AU$0.024 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months Australian Dairy Nutritionals 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Australian Dairy Nutritionals is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Does Australian Dairy Nutritionals Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Australian Dairy Nutritionals insiders own 20% of the company, worth about AU$2.9m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Australian Dairy Nutritionals Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in Australian Dairy Nutritionals and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Be aware that Australian Dairy Nutritionals is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 3 of those are a bit concerning...

But note: Australian Dairy Nutritionals may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Donors raised around a billion dollars Wednesday in new commitments for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa during a pledging conference held at the United Nations, but failed to close the gap on an appeal seeking $7 billion.

We must act now to prevent crisis from turning into catastrophe, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told donors. Make no mistake: action will make all the difference.

The U.N. says $7 billion is needed this year to assist nearly 32 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia who are facing acute food insecurity after five failed rainy seasons have caused unprecedented drought. With the year nearly half over, Guterres said they have received just 20% of the funds.

Without an immediate and major injection of funding, emergency operations will grind to a halt and people will die, he told donors.

With Wednesday's commitments and the money the U.N. has already received this year, it brings the total to around $2.4 billion for the Horn.

Enormous needs

The U.N. childrens agency, UNICEF, says more than 7 million children under the age of five are malnourished and in need of nutritional therapy. Nearly 2 million could die from severe malnutrition.

Across the Horn, crops have failed and more than 13 million livestock have died, wiping out both livelihoods and food sources. Conflict in parts of Ethiopia and Somalia have further exacerbated food insecurity.

Last year, a famine was averted in Somalia after increased international funding, led by the United States, helped scale up humanitarian assistance. But the country still suffered severely, with the U.N. estimating that 43,000 people died, most likely due to the drought. This year, difficulties continue, as the World Food Program had to reduce food assistance to 3 million Somalis last month due to severe funding shortfalls. Without a cash injection, the agency says it will have to make more cuts in July.

U.N. deputy humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the conference that although famine was averted in Somalia, the humanitarian emergency is not over.

This year, while improved rains have started to ease the impacts of drought, they have brought a new set of risks and challenges, including disease outbreaks, she said.

U.S. envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced an additional $524 million to address humanitarian needs in the Horn, bringing Washingtons assistance to more than $1.4 billion through the end of September 2023.

In a world abundant with food, entire communities should never starve to death. Never, she said.

Germany announced $226 million for this year and next; Britain pledged $178 million for East Africa, of which $120 million will target the drought-affected countries in the Horn. But many countries did not step forward with new or expanded pledges.

Aid organizations disappointed

International aid organizations expressed disappointment, pointing out that many pledges were not new.

This was a vital moment for rich donors to step up and show their commitment to saving lives, said Fati NZi-Hassane, Oxfams Africa director. They have failed millions of people caught up in this vicious spiral of hunger, displacement, and insecurity.

People will continue to die from hunger and malnutrition if they are not supported with long-term and scaled-up investments that address immediate needs while contributing to resilience and climate adaptation, said Allison Huggins, deputy director for Africa for Mercy Corps.

The truth is that the data, the early warning systems and some of the solutions are clear, but the political and financial commitment has so far been far too weak, David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, told the meeting.

Wednesdays conference was co-hosted by the United Nations, with the governments of Britain, Italy, Qatar and the United States, in collaboration with Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.
The fighting between Sudan's military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday.

The International Organization for Migration said the clashes have forced over 1 million people to leave their homes to safer areas inside Sudan. Some 320,000 others have fled to the neighboring countries of Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

The fighting erupted on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the country's fragile transition to democracy, which was disrupted by a military coup led by the two generals in October 2021.

The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors' Syndicate  which mainly tracks civilian casualties. It has also pushed the East African country to near collapse, with urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and its neighboring city of Omdurman turning into battlegrounds.

Egypt is hosting the largest number of those who fled, with at least 132,360 people, followed by Chad with 80,000 and South Sudan with over 69,000, the agency added.

Sporadic fighting continued Wednesday in several areas, despite a cease-fire reached this week. Residents reported hearing gunshots and explosions in central Khartoum as well as areas close to military facilities in Omdurman.

The weeklong cease-fire, which was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, took effect Monday night. It was the latest international effort to push for humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-torn country.

A joint statement from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia late Tuesday warned that neither the Sudanese military nor the Rapid Support Forces observed the short-term cease-fire.

"The Sudanese people continue to suffer as a result of this devastating conflict," the statement said. It called on both sides to "fully abide by their commitments" and to implement the temporary cease-fire to deliver urgently needed humanitarian relief.

Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned both parties of possible sanctions if the latest cease-fire was not adhered to.

The fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Sudan. According to the U.N., the number of people who need assistance this year has increased by 57% to reach 24.7 million people, more than half the country's population. The international body said it would need $2.6 billion to provide them with much-needed humanitarian assistance.
The United States would not accept preconditions set by the People's Republic of China while pursuing open lines of communication with Beijing, a senior State Department official told VOA on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the official said there is not much indication that China is willing to use its influence over Russia to end its war on Ukraine.

State Department counselor Derek Chollet spoke Tuesday to VOA State Department bureau chief Nike Ching about China and Ukraine ahead of the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference to be held in mid-June when U.S. ambassadors will return to Washington for meetings.

The following excerpts from the interview have been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: What can you tell us about Ukraine's spring counteroffensive since summer is around the corner?

DEREK CHOLLET, COUNSELOR OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE: We have been supplying Ukraine, along with our 50 other coalition partners, with the resources they need to defend themselves and to take back territory. I'm going to let the Ukrainians speak for themselves in terms of the timing of their counteroffensive and what their aims are.

VOA: Which countries are willing to, or have promised to provide Ukraine with F-16s? And what numbers are we looking at?

CHOLLET: We're working through those specifics right now. Our Pentagon colleagues are working closely with Ministries of Defense throughout Europe and elsewhere to talk about the way forward on F-16s. It's got to start with training, because these are planes that are not easy to operate. They require weeks and weeks of training. We're still working through who is actually going to be providing those planes. We've made no decisions on that for ourselves.

I don't think it's going to be a system particularly relevant, because of the timing, to the coming counteroffensive. But nevertheless, when we think about Ukraine's needs for the future, and its ongoing needs to deter and defend itself, these planes are going to be a critical part of a modern Ukrainian military.

VOA: Can you talk about Ukraine's diplomatic push to challenge Russia's influence in the Global South? Because Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is starting his tour to Africa this week.

CHOLLET: Foreign Minister Kuleba and [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and the entire Ukrainian leadership have been very determined to try to take their case throughout the world, all corners of the world. There're no better people to make the case for Ukraine than the Ukrainian leadership, and so we very much support their efforts. And I know President Zelenskyy had a successful visit to Jeddah and the Arab League Summit. I know they're also engaging with Middle East partners, as well.

VOA: Chinese envoy Li Hui is visiting European Union headquarters in Brussels before heading to Russia, according to media reports. How do you assess China's peacemaking efforts? Does China have the credibility?

CHOLLET: It's a good thing that the Chinese are now talking to the Ukrainians and that an envoy has visited. Quite frankly, I've modest expectations for this effort. I mean, what China can be most helpful in doing is trying to make the case to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and getting Vladimir Putin to stop this war. It's important to note this war could end tomorrow if Vladimir Putin decided to pull his troops out of Ukraine. I see no evidence to suggest that Putin is thinking about that anytime soon.

VOA: To clarify, does the United States see the PRC [People's Republic of China] as having a case with Putin or not?

CHOLLET: Clearly, they have a close relationship with Russia. President Xi [Jinping] and President Putin have met several times, and before this war, they released a very lengthy joint communique talking about a relationship, a partnership with no limits. What we would be asking our PRC friends to do is use whatever influence they have over Russia to get Putin to stop this war.

I haven't seen much to suggest that they're willing to use that influence. And I haven't seen much to suggest that even if they were willing to use the influence, it would work to change Putin's mind. But that's the simple thing we're asking.

VOA: Moving on to the U.S.-China relationship: Was national security adviser Jake Sullivan's recent meeting with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi bad news for Russia?

CHOLLET: Well, I don't want to talk about whether it's bad news for Russia or good news for Russia. It was a very businesslike meeting between our national security adviser and Wang Yi to talk about the U.S.-China relationship, and to speak forthrightly from our side about some of the challenges that we see emanating from the PRC, some of the fundamental differences we have with them. But also, importantly, to talk about the areas for dialogue and cooperation that we continue to hope to be able to achieve with the PRC.

We, again, have some fundamental differences with the PRC, and we're going to stay true to our principles and values and our interests there. But at the same time, we think it's important to have dialogue with the PRC to talk about how we manage those differences, how we put guardrails on this relationship.

VOA: Are Sullivan and Wang going to meet regularly, such as quarterly?

CHOLLET: Well, no, there's no decision at all on a regular meeting. Secretary [Antony] Blinken was just hours from departing for Beijing several months ago until the Chinese irresponsibly and unacceptably flew a surveillance balloon over the United States. So, that's a dialogue that we very much hope to be able to restart at some point. There's no plans for that as of yet. There's no decision on sort of the frequency of the dialogue. What's important is that we are willing to have that dialogue, and that's the case we're making to China.

VOA: Can you tell us about U.S. Ambassador to PRC Nicholas Burns' meetings at the Chiefs of Mission Conference in Washington next month?

CHOLLET: Nick Burns is one of our most accomplished diplomats in modern U.S. history. We very much trust his judgment, and we're thrilled that he's taken on this difficult assignment to return to service to be in Beijing. He's had several meetings in Beijing just in the last week to help talk about ways we're going to try to get this relationship in some place where we have, again, guardrails on it, and we have a floor on, beneath it, to help support it. So, we'll look forward to his firsthand impressions on how that's going.

VOA: Chinese officials have said that there's a need to stabilize a relationship with the United States. But at the same time, they also demand the U.S. to stop strengthening ties with Taiwan, stop putting restrictions on trade, on technology. Are those preconditions?

CHOLLET: There's certainly nothing that we would accept. Let the PRC speak for themselves about what kind of conditions they put on any sort of dialogue with us. We're very clear that we will not diminish our commitment to our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific or anywhere. We will continue to defend our interests and stay true to our values. While doing that, there is space to have a dialogue with the PRC or anyone else.
Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's participation at the Group of Seven Summit in Japan, the G-7 leaders announced last week that it would provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and the training for Ukrainian pilots to fly them.

After months of Ukraine pleading for Western fighter jets, U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said the United States would support a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter aircrafts, including F-16s.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko responded to the news on Saturday with a warning that Western countries would run "colossal risks" if they supplied Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, according to the TASS news agency.

On Tuesday, Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson of the Air Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, discussed the training of Ukrainian pilots with VOA's Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze.

The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Let's talk about the pilots. Because there are also a lot of questions now: Are they training already? And for how long do they have to train?

Yurii Ihnat, Ukraine Air Force spokesman: Everyone is asking questions regarding the pilots. Infrastructure is a secondary issue for now. Indeed, the training is the issue. Because Western technology has a different philosophy, ultimately, for piloting, these are completely different technological things.

MiG-29 and F-16 aircraft are the same age, they are fourth-generation aircraft. But the F-16 went through several stages of deep modernization. The onboard equipment was replaced there, the radar was replaced there, the most basic thing is that in the plane, it is a radar that sees targets and can track several targets at once, at which several missiles can be fired at once. This is very important for war. Specifically for war.

Several stages of deep modernization made this aircraft completely different. Unlike the MiG-29, with which the Russians compare it, they say these are aircraft of the same class. Well, let them try to face the F-16. Thus, the pilot just needs to transfer, let's say, from an old 1960's car to a new 2010's car, where everything is automated, where there is an automated gearbox, a new display and so on. The same is in the plane. There are approximately 300 switches and buttons in the MiG-29, the pilot must manually control all these devices, distract himself from combat operations, and perform these movements. In [the] F-16, part of this is already limited and automated.

VOA: So, the pilots can be even more educated and have more experience?

Ihnat: Yes. Here again, the focus is on young pilots who are able to communicate better with the latest technologies, gadgets and so on. The touchscreens, it's all in the F-16. Here, you just need to understand how it works, like a child playing a computer game. Likewise, the child learns it step by step. It takes some time to adapt. Even the control handle, in the MiG-29, in the Soviet equipment, it is in the middle, the pilot controls. Here [in the F-16], it is on the side.

VOA: Like in a car.

Ihnat: Yes. Like a gamepad. He [the pilot] controls it like a gamepad.  The plane will do part of the work for him, for the pilot. And the main thing to do is to learn how to fight on it. This is the key. They will fly in a week or two, who knows how much. But use all types of weapons against air, ground and surface targets. To work in a pair, as part of a link, an aviation unit, and to use all types of this weapon effectively, requires flight hours, this requires flight time with an instructor, then independent flights in simple weather conditions and difficult weather conditions. All this is achieved by the level of preparation. In principle, those pilots and young people who will go to study in different countries of Europe, maybe the United States  they already have 200 flight hours after university. They already have tens or hundreds of hours of flying in combat operations on Soviet equipment. Therefore, I think they have a huge incentive, a huge desire.

VOA: Have you already determined how much time the pilots will need, and how many of these pilots Ukraine has today who can quickly master [F-16s]?

Ihnat: As for the number of pilots, we have the list: first round, second round, third round. The commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, personally makes decisions regarding the dispatch of certain specialists.

VOA: Are we talking about 100? 200?

Ihnat: No, we're talking about dozens. Surely, we can't afford to send all the pilots at once. What are we going to be left with? We carry out dozens of airstrikes against them [Russians] every day. With the Soviet equipment, but we do. There is no other way out. The infantry needs air support. If it is not there, then more people will die. Therefore, there are no options here.

Thus, dozens of pilots have been identified and will go in waves, possibly to different countries, as well as aviation engineers who will service the equipment. This is also the second component that is also needed.

Here are those pilots who already know English, young pilots, motivated, who will go there to study. Two pilots underwent training in Arizona ... not training, it is necessary to separate evaluation, evaluation of Western and American specialists. They put them on flight simulators, as they are called in America, and said: "Fly."  They watch how well they can adapt to this fighter jet, to the F-16, and try to fly it. To perform take-off and landing, other things on simulators, was done. We stated in the Air Force that it would be six months of training. Well, the Americans came to the conclusion that up to four months. And who knows how, maybe someone will master it faster. People are different, everyone has different individual training. That's why there are such good predictions about training, and we think they will come true.

VOA's Patsy Widakuswara and Carla Babb contributed to this report.
The White House says it is looking into reports about the alleged use of U.S.-provided equipment in what appeared to be a raid by anti-Putin Russian volunteers Monday in the Belgorod region in Russia, although the U.S. cannot confirm the claim.

"We don't support the use of U.S.-made equipment for attacks inside Russia. And we've been clear about that with the Ukrainians. We've been nothing but consistent about our concerns in that regard, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday.

Russia called Mondays incident an incursion by saboteurs deployed by Kyiv, with officials and state media using various epithets ranging from militants to terrorists.

Ukraine denied involvement in this week's Belgorod incident, calling it an act by disgruntled Russians.

Earlier, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder confirmed that the U.S. government had not approved any third-party transfers of equipment to paramilitary organizations outside the Ukrainian armed forces, nor had the Ukrainian government requested any such transfers.

"The United States has communicated regularly with Ukraine that the security assistance that we're providing them is for them to use inside Ukraine, as part of their efforts to defend their country and their sovereignty, said Ryder.

He noted the Pentagon could not confirm the veracity of the images with the alleged U.S.-provided vehicles inside Russia.

I don't know if it's true or not, said Ryder. He pointed out that a couple days ago there were some bogus images of reported explosions at the Pentagon, which never happened. We have to take a look at these things and make sure we get the facts before we make assumptions.

When asked by reporters about the fighters use of U.S.-made hardware, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, "It is no secret for us that more and more equipment is being delivered to Ukraine's armed forces."

Previously, the Russian government released images of the alleged American Humvees, which according to the Russians were destroyed near Belgorod. Some users on Twitter, however, suggested the images with the trucks might have been staged.

Russias vulnerability

The raid in the Belgorod region means the Russians cannot effectively protect their borders, analysts told VOA.

The Russians did not expect the battles would move to their territory, said George Barros, a Russia analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, or ISW.

If these Russian volunteers indeed penetrated as deep as they claim to have, then it demonstrates that Russian field fortifications don't really mean anything if they're not sufficiently manned, Barros said. He added that the raid exposed the vulnerability of Russias defense lines.

I'm sure a lot of people have seen all those maps of the extensive lines that the Russians have dug all across the entire front line. Some analysts have argued that these extensive field fortifications and trenches mean that the Ukrainians are going to have a hard time moving, he said.

"But if you don't have enough soldiers physically occupying those lines, then they're not going to be effective at preventing maneuver. And we know that for the entirety of the Ukrainian front line, which is about a little over 1,000 kilometers long, the Russian forces do not have enough infantry to be able to physically occupy to effectively defend the entirety of it, Barros said.

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, now head of the Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukrainian security think tank, said that until this point, observers had seen mostly bombings or other forms of sabotage inside Russia. Now, "the idea of the inviolability of Russia as a territory was seriously undermined," he told VOA.

Here, we are talking about armed personnel who entered the territory of the Russian Federation and stayed there for some time," Zagorodnyuk said. "Therefore, people who are citizens of Russia demonstrated to Russia that it is not protected. The idea that Russia is physically untouchable and completely protected from different threats or raids from any side is a fiction. Russia is as vulnerable as many other countries."

Raid objective

Ilya Ponomarev, a political representative of the "Freedom of Russia" Legion that was involved in the raid, told VOA that the goal of the Belgorod operation was to "create a piece of free Russia and keep it as long as possible."

Ponomarev said another objective was to distract the Russian army from the Ukrainian front line ahead of the expected Ukrainian offensive. The Russians were surprised. They didnt expect this.

He said Ukraine's role was minimal and emphasized that none of the Ukrainian military participated in the operation, only Russian citizens.

Ponomarev said he was hopeful that the Russian volunteers could free the country from the current regime. "This is our country, and we will liberate it. ... There will be a new flag and a new government," he said.

Alexander Vindman, former director for European affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, said this could be significant. "It seems to me that this is actually a Russian separatist movement - maybe with the support of Ukraine, but they act independently, achieving their own goals," he told VOA.

ISW analysts said that so far they had not seen any unusual movement of Russian troops.

Regardless, Barros said events in the Belgorod region have caused a certain degree of panic, factionalism and incoherency within the Russian informational space.

Frankly, I think Russian sources have done much more to actually amplify and create panic around these particular raids, more so than the Ukrainian information space, he said.

VOAs Tatiana Vorozhko and Iryna Matviichuk contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
New developments:

Poll by University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and NORC finds half of people in the United States support U.S. military aid for Ukraine, while about one-fourth oppose it. The level of support is nearly unchanged from last year.

United Nations says it recorded nearly 8,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia invaded last year, as it warned the world is failing to protect civilians.

A Russian official said Wednesday the Belgorod region along the border with Ukraine came under attack by drones overnight.

Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that administrative and residential buildings were damaged, but that no one was hurt.

Gadkov said Russian air defenses shot down most of the drones.

The attack came a day after Russia said it halted a cross-border ground attack in the same area.

Russia blamed the raid on Ukrainian military saboteurs, while Ukraine contended that it was an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will react promptly and extremely harshly to further attacks on Russian soil.

Bakhmut fight

Ukraine's military said Wednesday the focus of fighting was in Bakhmut and Marinka, with the probability of Russian forces attacking Ukraine with missiles and air strikes remaining high.

The Ukrainian military's general staff said in its daily update that Russia had launched 41 airstrikes during the past day, and that the attacks injured civilians while also damaging civilian and administrative buildings.

SEE ALSO:

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday the situation in Bakhmut remains very dynamic.

Russia claimed to capture the city that has been the focus of months of intense fighting. Ukraine said it was still in control of some areas on the outskirts of the city.

Ryder also told reporters the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group is expected to focus on ground-based air defenses, ammunition and training on F-16 fighters when they hold their next meeting Thursday.

Peace effort

The speaker of the Czech Parliaments lower house, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, told VOA that peace talks are not possible right now since Russian troops occupy parts of Ukraine and that the peace plan put forward by China includes contradictory points.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said peace talks cannot happen until Russia pulls its forces from occupied Ukrainian lands.

SEE ALSO:

Pekarova Adamova said Tuesday during a visit to Washington that Europe cannot accept Russias occupation of Crimea, Donetsk or Luhansk, areas that Russia has claimed as its own.

The end of the war must be when really Ukrainians decide that this is acceptable on the conditions of the best for them, Pekarova Adamova said.

She also said Russia needs to be punished through a special tribunal, not only President Vladimir Putin but also all people who are responsible.

SEE ALSO:

Pekarova Adamova expressed support for continuing military aid to Ukraine, because they show us they are really brave and do their best to protect their country and their people.

State Department Counselor Derek Chollet told VOA the best thing China could do to bring about an end to the conflict is use its relationship with Russia to convince Putin to halt the invasion.

SEE ALSO:

Clearly, they have a close relationship with Russia. President Xi [Jinping] and President Putin have met several times, and before this war, they released a very lengthy joint communique talking about a relationship, a partnership with no limits. What we would be asking our PRC friends to do is use whatever influence they have over Russia to get Putin to stop this war, Chollet said. I haven't seen much to suggest that they're willing to use that influence. And I haven't seen much to suggest that even if they were willing to use the influence, it would work to change Putin's mind. But that's the simple thing we're asking.

VOAs Nike Ching and Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
KHARTOUM, SUDAN  As the fighting in Khartoum entered its 22nd day, the remaining civilians in the city described brutal conditions. Many had nearly run out of supplies, markets remained shuttered and imports were no longer entering the country.

Yousif Ahmed is a store owner and merchant in the city and described the dire situation. He said the conditions are unstable, that people might resort to stealing just to survive. We may have to steal the days sustenance in the coming days, everything is gone now, we are suffering greatly from this disaster, all people may have to steal in a week, he told VOA.

Ahmed said insecurity in the city also means that businesses have to find ways to protect their goods to avoid being targeted.

For me, as a grocer, the situation is very bad. There are no goods, and we feel insecure because we could be looted at any moment. Some merchants now store goods in their homes.

According to the U.N., nearly 19 million Sudanese could suffer from food insecurity because of to the conflict. Advocates said $445 million is needed to support refugees fleeing Sudan and to provide aid in the next six months.

SEE ALSO:

Mohammed Hassan Abu Shama, another Khartoum resident said living conditions in the city have deteriorated dramatically.

People have begun to store food supplies and most stores are lacking basic necessities, he told VOA. The price of flour is very expensive, and the price of bread has doubled. People want to travel outside Khartoum, but tickets are also expensive, whether they are in the states or outside Sudan. This war destroyed many things, we hope things will be better.

But amid the instability, and in the absence of a functioning government and relief organizations, Sudanese in some neighborhoods of Khartoum organized voluntary civil initiatives to help alleviate the crisis for the poorest citizens.

Hassan Mohammed Ahmed Salih from a neighborhood called Jabra explained how the community is stepping up to help feed those in need.

We obtained quantities of flour from some agents and distributed it to a large number of poor citizens in the neighborhood and solved the problem of flour shortages, he said.

SEE ALSO:

Ahmed Salih said the community also comes together to help in different areas, including providing security and reaching out to people who need medical attention.

We will form three committees concerned with the health situation, the living situation, and the security situation. We will work to collect information, and in the same way we addressed the flour shortage, we will try to provide health and medical services for all patients in the neighborhood by bringing in doctors and medicine. If we are not able, we will offer moral support in these circumstances.

Residents say the situation is getting worse each day. They fear the longer the markets are closed and relief supplies are unable to reach those trapped in the city, the greater the human suffering will be.

SEE ALSO:

This story originated in VOAs English to Africa Service.
WEDNESDAY, May 24, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Seizures of illicit ketamine by drug enforcement agents have surged throughout the United States, growing 349% from 2017 through 2022, a new study finds.

Rising use of ketamine could increase the likelihood that people who use the drug recreationally may instead get a potentially harmful version of the substance, researchers say.

This dramatic rise in ketamine seizures by law enforcement may be indicative of rising nonmedical and recreational use, said study co-author Joseph Palamar, a researcher in the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU School of Global Public Health.

"Unlike illegal ketamine years ago, most illegally obtained ketamine today is not pharmaceutical grade and is sold in powder form, which may increase the risk that it contains other drugs such as fentanyl, Palamar said in a school news release.

Unintentional exposure to fentanyl can lead to overdose and death.

Ketamine is referred to as a dissociative anesthetic hallucinogen because it makes patients feel detached from their pain and environment, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. It is commonly prescribed off-label to treat chronic pain and depression.

Loosened prescribing restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to an industry of pop-up clinics prescribing ketamine online and off-label, the study noted.

Though the risk of overdose from ketamine alone is low, some people who use the drug report negative dissociative side effects, such as feeling dizzy or nauseous, Palamar said.

Palamar has written extensively on club drugs like ketamine, ecstasy and others. Hes concerned that any illegal powder in the United States may be contaminated with fentanyl. It is currently showing up in heroin and cocaine.

Promotion of prescription ketamine in recent years is also fueling black-market use and availability, Palamar said.

Researchers also found that the total weight of ketamine seized in the United States increased from 127 pounds in 2017 to about 1,550 pounds in 2022. This represents growth of more than 1,100%.

Tennessee, Florida and California had the most seizures of the drug. However, its not clear whether those states have the highest usage.

The research was supported by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study results were published May 24 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

More information

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has more on ketamine.

SOURCE: NYU Langone Health/NYU Grossman School of Medicine, news release, May 24, 2023
In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it's worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But every investor is virtually certain to have both over-performing and under-performing stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS), since the last five years saw the share price fall 51%. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 39% in the last year. More recently, the share price has dropped a further 13% in a month. Importantly, this could be a market reaction to the recently released financial results. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report.

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 B&G Foods

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Over five years B&G Foods' earnings per share dropped significantly, falling to a loss, with the share price also lower. The recent extraordinary items contributed to this situation. At present it's hard to make valid comparisons between EPS and the share price. But we would generally expect a lower price, given the situation.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of B&G Foods' 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. 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. In the case of B&G Foods, it has a TSR of -29% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

B&G Foods shareholders are down 34% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 5.9%. 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 5% 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. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for B&G Foods (of which 2 are a bit concerning!) you should know about.

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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The world is changing, things are moving fast. The old world is already dead while a new world is only emerging.

87% of the worlds population does not share the Western view on the war in Ukraine. Their governments see that the United States is nothing more than a paper tiger. They now refuse to obey the dictates of the G7.

You may not know anything about it and its natural: Western news agencies dont relay this kind of news. They hide the debacle from you. So, we have gathered correspondents from five continents and we publish a weekly newsletter to give you access to the work of a news agency. In Voltaire, International Newsletter you will find contextualized news, unbiased facts placed in their historical background.

This wealth of information is only available by subscription:

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Contents of N41:

EDITORIAL

 Israels participation in the UN could be suspended for non-compliance with its commitments

AMERICAS

 Foreign Influences in U.S. Elections

 Restricting voting rights in the US

 U.S. Revises State Secrets Classification System

 End of the investigation into FBIs role in "Russiagate"

 House could prosecute Antony Blinken for "contempt" on May 24

 Washington Post accuses Yevgeny Prigozhin of betraying his homeland

 CIA recruits spies in Russia

 Chile President fails to solve the problem of the disappeared from the Pinochet dictatorship

EUROPE

 Council of Europe establishes Register of Russia-caused damage in Ukraine

 Council of Europe proclaims "Reykjavik Principles for Democracy"

 UK and Netherlands mobilize to deliver F-16s to Ukraine

 French spies in Iran

 French Parliament wants to make the EU flag mandatory on the pediment of town halls

 Wacky judgment against Nicolas Sarkozy

 Macron says Russia is Chinas vassal

 Volodymyr Zelensky wins 2023 Charlemagne Prize

 The promises of the Law and Justice party

 EU-Indo-Pacific summit fails

 Eurovision rejects Volodymyr Zelenskys request for video call

 Russia destroys largest stockpile of Western ammunition in Ukraine

 Ukraine could attack Russia and Hungarian interests

 Six EU states call on Zelensky to negotiate peace

 Westerners are still delivering weapons to Ukraine

 President of the Ukrainian Supreme Court jailed for "corruption"

 No news of Generals Oleksandr Syrskyi and Valeri Zaluzhnyi

 China begins its mission of good offices on the Ukrainian conflict

 Four Russian aircraft destroyed by Ukraine in Russia

 Ramzan Kadyrov says he paid Ukrainian spies

 Russia withdraws from CFE Treaty

 Russia and Iran sign agreement for a section of the North-South Transport Corridor

AFRICA

 African Union good offices mission to Ukraine and Russia

 Egypt moves closer to Iran

 Brother Rached Ghannouchi sentenced to 1 year in prison

 Commitment by both Sudanese parties to protect civilians

 German ambassador to Chad was preparing a color revolution on behalf of the US

 UN Secretary-General accuses Wagner and Malian army of murder, rape and torture

 Isaias Afwerki in Beijing

 South Africa says it has not delivered weapons to Russia

 South African armies cooperate with Russian counterparts without lining up behind Moscow

ASIA

 International arrest warrant against Riad Salame

 Syria officially reintegrated into the Arab League

 US lawmakers oppose normalization of relations with Syria

 Qatari presidency of the 2023 ILO summit challenged

 Recep Tayyip Erdogan expected to be re-elected

 Iran again threatened by US and Israel

 A new electoral map in India

 Imran Khan still under threat from Pakistani government

 Thais vote against junta

 South Korea receives Mrs. Zelensky

 North Korea prepares the launch of its first spy satellite

 USA/China Meeting

 Chinas population policy

 For Japan, China and Russia form a military bloc

 Installation of a hotline between the Japanese and Chinese Ministries of Defense

OCEANIA

 Australian regional government fears conviction for Covid lockdown measures

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

 Advisor to Joe Biden elected director of International Organization for Migration

 ASEAN Summit

 Cancellation of the Quad Summit
Bill Lee, right, with Spike in 2009. Illustration: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

Bill Lee, the jazz bassist and composer who performed with a number of music greats and scored the early films of Spike Lee, his son, has died. He was 94 and died at his Brooklyn home this morning, Spike confirmed to the New York Times. Bill Lee played double bass in jazz groups in Atlanta and Chicago before moving to New York in 1959. There, he began working as a sideman, along with recording his own albums. He performed with Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Simon & Garfunkel, Arlo Guthrie, Gordon Lightfoot, and Judy Collins, among many others. By the 1980s, he was collaborating with his son, Spike, for whose early films he composed music. He first scored Spikes 1983 short Joes Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, before going on to compose the music for the films Shes Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, and Mo Better Blues  the latter of which is about jazz musicians. Bill Lee also had roles in all of the features except Do the Right Thing.

Lee stopped working with his filmmaker son in the 1990s over a number of disagreements, around the time the elder Lee was arrested for heroin possession. In 2017, as he was releasing a TV-series remake of Shes Gotta Have It, Spike Lee said their collaborations dissolved because of technology. He explained that it could be difficult for Bill to compose for a finite space like a two-minute-and-20-second movie scene. He doesnt write like that, Spike said with a laugh. He just wrote it for  forever! Still, Bill Lee continued performing jazz into the last years of his life and was known for holding long jam sessions at his Fort Greene apartment.
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) -The Biden administration's U.S. solicitor general said Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court should not review a ruling won by Alphabet's Google LLC against song-lyric website Genius over Google's alleged copying of Genius' lyric transcriptions.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in a court brief that the justices should let stand the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that Genius' case was preempted by federal copyright law.

Genius, formerly known as Rap Genius, sued Google in New York state court in 2019 for allegedly posting its lyric transcriptions at the top of Google search results without permission.

Genius does not own copyrights in the lyrics, which are usually held by the artists or publishers. It accused Google of violating its terms of service by stealing its work and reposting it on Google webpages.

The 2nd Circuit last year upheld a Manhattan federal court's decision that Genius' breach-of-contract claims were based on copyright concerns and could only be pursued in a copyright lawsuit.

Genius told the Supreme Court that Google's win could allow big tech companies to steal content from sites that aggregate user-created information including Reddit, eBay and Wikipedia without repercussions.

Google said it holds licenses to the lyrics and argued that Genius wants to "ignore the true copyright owners and invent new rights through a purported contract."

Prelogar on Tuesday criticized the 2nd Circuit's suggestion that copyright law "categorically" bars contract claims that are based on a "promise not to copy" creative works.

But the solicitor general recommended declining the petition because it was not clear Genius could prove it had a valid contract with Google.

Prelogar also said there was "little indication" that another appeals court would have handled the case differently.

Genius attorney Josh Rosenkranz said Wednesday that "there is an entrenched circuit split on whether and when breach of contract claims are preempted," and that "review isn't just warranted, but urgent."

A Google spokesperson said the company does not "crawl or scrape websites to source lyrics," and called Genius' claims meritless.

The Solicitor General's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
Kenneth Anger Photo: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Kenneth Anger, a pioneer of experimental queer cinema and Hollywood chronicler, died on May 11. Spruth Magers, the gallery that has shown his work since 2009, confirmed the news. It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of visionary filmmaker, artist and author Kenneth Anger, the gallery tweeted on May 24. Kenneth was a trailblazer. His cinematic genius and influence will live on and continue to transform all those who encounter his films, words and vision. Known for films that explore open-ended questions about dreams and unconscious desire, Anger constructed a similar kind of mystique about his own biography. He often said he was born in 1930, though an unauthorized biography by legendary sleaze chronicler Bill Landis lists Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyers date of birth as February 3, 1927, in the unauthorized biography Anger. The filmmaker also claimed he began his career playing the changeling prince in A Midsummer Nights Dream (1935), but experts dispute the assertion. Angers directing debut came in 1947, when he released the film Fireworks to the ire of film censors. The homoerotic, dialogue-free black-and-white short was shot at his childhood home while his parents were away, depicting Anger in the arms of a man in the style of La Pieta. The film won a Los Angeles obscenity trial over its queer elements, such as a shot of a lit firework jutting out of a characters pants and overall gay tension.

Anger made two dozen surrealist psychological pictures over the course of his artistic life, encountering the major creative and cultish forces of the era. In the 1950s, he worked as an assistant for famed film archivist Henri Langlois, who co-founded the Cinematheque Francaise, an institution that inspired French New Wave artists. Anger cozied to Western occult religion Thelema with artist Marjorie Cameron and made his film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) with Cameron and writer Anais Nin. He later teamed up with musicians Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Bobby Beausoleil  the latter wrote the score for Angers Lucifer Rising (1980) while imprisoned for a conviction in connection to the Charles Manson murders. Some scholars claim his most refenced film, Scorpio Rising (1963), inspired the idea of modern music videos with its pop-rock soundtrack  it featured songs like Bobby Vintons Blue Velvet  and quick cuts of men on motorcycles. To make money, Anger wrote Hollywood Babylon, two loosely fact-checked gossip books about stars from the nascent days of the industry based around stories he had heard as a child and his own recollections. After a two-decade-long pause, Anger picked up the camera again in 1999 and continued to make films that inspired the likes of Martin Scorsese, John Waters, and David Lynch.
Streamliner At your service. On the redesigned Max app, Martin Scorsese, director of Raging Bull, is credited as one of eight of the films creators instead of its director. Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Taking HBO out of its name wasnt the only cut Max made yesterday. As the streamer rebranded to Max, writers called out a change to its details pages for movies and TV. Originally, HBO Max credited actors (as starring), directors, and writers. For Max, credits pages were tweaked to combine the latter two positions under the umbrella term creators. In response, the Writers Guild of America, West, which is leading the ongoing writers strike, and the Directors Guild of America released a joint statement condemning the move as a credits violation.

DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter wrote, This devaluation of the individual contributions of artists is a disturbing trend and the DGA will not stand for it. Noting her guilds solidarity with the WGA, Glatter continued, We intend on taking the strongest possible actions  to ensure every artist receives the individual credit they deserve, while WGAW President Meredith Stiehm added how disrespectful and insulting the change Max made is to the artists behind the works that make corporations billions.

A screenshot of the Raging Bull Max page, where Martin Scorsese (director) and Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin (screenwriters) are jointly credited as creators. Photo: Max

A Max spokesperson says, We agree that the talent behind the content on Max deserve their work to be properly recognized. We will correct the credits, which were altered due to an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max and we apologize for this mistake. Its worth noting that, in general, its not always a given that credit information will be readily visible on a given streaming services user interface, which makes it all the more jarring when cast or crew find themselves miscredited. As for when the corrections will be made, Max has not yet made that clear.

The new HBO Max (MAX) has eliminated writer/director credits in their interface in favor of a vague "Creators." This is what Raging Bull currently looks like. It's so fucking over. pic.twitter.com/gPveQ469GB  John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) May 24, 2023

An absolute master class in how to fuck up a streaming service. This will be studied for years. https://t.co/zl1GB2ggc3  Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) May 24, 2023

Content, contd: Made by (a bunch of people in no particular order who gives a shit well delete this anyway if we need a tax write off who cares if this is what our whole business is actually based on hey what does Home Box Office mean) https://t.co/jdpkeHA5Bx  Peter (or is it?) Ramsey (@pramsey342) May 24, 2023

This is why unions and solidarity are so important.



When the DGA & WGA were formed, one of the first things we fought for was proper credit for our work. If we didnt have our unions, WBD would be getting away with this. But not today, Zaslav. Not today. #WGAStrong #DGAStrong https://t.co/z3YXTRYihc  David Slack (@slack2thefuture) May 24, 2023
The Apple Inc logo is seen at the entrance to the Apple store, in Brussels

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) - The U.S. solicitor general on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an appeal by Apple Inc and Broadcom Inc stemming from their $1.1 billion trial loss to the California Institute of Technology in a patent infringement case.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was correct when it ruled last year that the companies could not seek to invalidate Caltech's patents in court after Apple failed to raise its invalidity arguments at the U.S. Patent Office.

Caltech declined to comment on the solicitor general's filing. Representatives for the companies and the solicitor general's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Pasadena, California-based Caltech sued Apple and Broadcom in Los Angeles federal court in 2016, alleging millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and other devices with Broadcom Wi-Fi chips infringed its data-transmission patents.

Caltech has also sued Microsoft Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Dell Technologies Inc and HP Inc for infringing the same patents in separate cases that are still pending.

A jury in 2020 ordered Apple to pay Caltech $837.8 million and Broadcom to pay $270.2 million. The Federal Circuit took issue with the amount of the award and sent the case back last year for a new trial on damages, which is yet to be scheduled.

Apple and Broadcom had argued at the Federal Circuit that they should have been allowed to challenge the patents' validity at trial. The appeals court upheld the decision to bar the invalidity arguments because Apple previously could have raised them in its petitions for Patent Office review of the patents.

The companies told the justices that the Federal Circuit misread the law, which only bars arguments that could have been raised during the review itself.

Prelogar said in her Tuesday brief that the Federal Circuit interpreted the law correctly.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
Rome marks national holiday with military parade.

Italy celebrates Festa della Repubblica, Italy's Republic Day, with a national public holiday on Friday 2 June 2023.

This year marks the 77th edition of the annual event which commemorates the day in 1946 when Italians voted in favour of a republic and against the monarchy which had been discredited during world war two.

The national event will see President Sergio Mattarella lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Rome's Vittoriano monument in Piazza Venezia at 09.15 on the morning of 2 June.

Rome will host a military parade on 2 June. Photo credit: davide bonaldo / Shutterstock.com.

After the president lays the wreath, one of the most popular events associated with Festa della Repubblica in Rome takes place: a spectacular aeronautical display by the Frecce Tricolori jets flying in formation over the city centre, emitting plumes with the red, white and green colours of the Italian flag.

President Mattarella travelling in the vintage Lancia Flaminia car on 2 June as per tradition.

This is followed by a major military parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali, against the backdrop of the Colosseum, comprising thousands of members of Italys army, navy and police forces.

The event will result in numerous street closures and traffic restrictions in the centre.

President Mattarella marking Festa della Repubblica in 2022. Photo Quirinale.

Festa della Repubblica falls on a Friday this year, resulting in a long weekend, with all of Italy's public offices and schools, and many businesses, closed for the national holiday on 2 June.
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BRUSSELS  A top European Union court ruled Wednesday that the European Commission was wrong to approve millions of euros (dollars) in aid to help Italian airlines cope with the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The EU general court said the European Commission  the blocs executive arm  failed to provide a statement of reasons for its finding that the measure at issue was not contrary to EU law provisions other than those governing state aid.

The 27 EU member countries must seek approval from the blocs executive branch when granting financial support to companies. Many countries across Europe did so in 2020 to help keep their airlines afloat during the pandemic.

In October 2020, Italian authorities informed the European Commission of their plans to provide 130 million euros ($140 million) to airlines holding an Italian license under certain conditions, and the commission did not raise objections.

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To benefit from the aid, airlines were required to pay their Italy-based employees  as well as employees of third-party companies involved in their activities  a remuneration at least equal to the minimum set by the national collective agreement applicable to the air transport sector. Air Dolomiti, Neos and Blue Panorama, now known as Luke Air, fulfilled the requirements.

The case was brought by low-cost airline Ryanair, which also was struggling to survive at the time.

It was the second judicial win in a month for the Irish carrier after the court annulled decisions by the commission approving massive bailouts designed to help Lufthansa and SAS.

It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling, which can be appealed, might have, and if the airlines would have to pay the money back. The European Commission said it will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.

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The commission is the EUs anti-trust watchdog. As pandemic restrictions in 2020 brought travel to a halt and threatened the existence of airlines, the commission eased its policies, approving billions of euros in support for national flag-carriers.

Under a fast-track system set up during what the commission described as an unprecedented crisis, Brussels approved around 3 trillion euros in state support across all sectors in the 27 member nations. Ryanair believes that 40 billion euros was granted to Europes airline sector alone.

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Social democracy is the answer. The question is how to deliver inclusive, broad-based wellbeing to the 650 million or so people in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite a long history of social struggle and revolution, successive governments of various ideological stripes throughout the region have ultimately failed to provide its citizens the rights and opportunities embodied in their egalitarian national mythologies.

State-led, inward-looking development strategies crashed and burned, giving way to pro-market reforms under the aegis of the neoliberal Washington Consensus. Those didnt deliver either. Democracy  embraced almost universally in the wake of the blood-soaked military dictatorships that prevailed from the 1960s through the 1980s  also failed to provide most Latin Americans with a life of dignity.

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The present-day consequences are obvious: turmoil in Peru; the storming of Brazils seat of government by followers of former president Jair Bolsonaro; the left-right whiplash of Chilean politics and the political maelstrom in the runup to presidential elections in Argentina; the violence pushing thousands of migrants from Central America, Haiti and Venezuela.

Social democracy is the solution. But saying that doesnt get you very far. It just raises a new question: Given evidence of its success, why hasnt Latin America given it a shot?

In the postwar years of the 20th century, Western European democracies built welfare states upon tax-funded redistribution and social insurance to underpin an enviable track record of social and political stability. From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, universal access to health services and old-age pensions, government-funded childcare and housing assistance successfully mitigated the inequality delivered by the markets and laid the foundation for a fairly sturdy social contract.

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In Latin America, by contrast, redistribution had few friends  resisted fiercely by economic elites on the right yet dismissed on the left as a diversion from the revolutionary program that would deliver a workers utopia. So redistribution has rarely been more than an afterthought: Inequality in many Latin American countries is not much deeper than Europes, before taxes and government benefits kick in. But the public sector does next to nothing to close the gap.

Governments in the region have now and then introduced new redistribution programs, like Brazils Bolsa Familia, launched during the first administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which provided, on average $35 a month to some 13 million low-income families. While they have been effective at combating poverty, they are narrowly targeted. And they have proven politically vulnerable.

What to do with these observations? A group of Latin American thinkers  academics, think-tankers, policymakers from past and present governments  have been grappling with these questions, trying to come up with a proposal to start building welfare states across the Western Hemisphere. (Full disclosure: I have participated in several of their meetings.)

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Their project, held under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program and divulged last month in Mexican media, includes valuable ideas to overcome some of Latin Americas idiosyncratic obstacles.

Consider informality. A typical worker in Latin America will expend half of his or her working life in the informal sector  outside the contributory system of payroll taxes used to fund pensions and other elements of social insurance in most of the world. Whats more, 90% of employers have five or fewer employees. That makes it difficult for them to fund unemployment insurance.

Whats necessary, writes the Mexican economist Santiago Levy, is to generate a new architecture of social protection based on a principle of universality: to cover everybodys health services and pensions, as well as insurance against disability, death and unemployment. Benefits cannot be tied to the track record of employment.

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In addition, the authors propose prioritizing government funding for the care economy. They cite estimates by the UNs Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean that non-remunerated work caring for children, the sick and the elderly  which is overwhelmingly provided by women  amounts to somewhere between 16% and 25% of GDP. This is not just inequitable, it keeps large numbers of productive workers out of the formal workforce.

This effort provides an interesting starting point. And yet the perhaps inevitable limitation of the proposal is that it cannot overcome the most important political challenge to provide social insurance and build true welfare states in Latin America: the need to pay for it.

It wont be cheap. Its an illusion to think of building solid welfare states with tax burdens below 30 points of GDP, write the authors of the group report, former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda, political scientist Gaspard Estrada and Carlos Ominami, a former economy minister of Chile.

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Maybe thats not much, compared with the 34% of GDP raised, on average, across the industrialized nations in the OECD. But its more than what most Latin American governments are used to raising.

On average, the tax take in Latin America amounts to 23% of GDP, the authors write. (Argentina and Brazil raise significantly more, but the money is tied up by bloated public sector payrolls and pensions.) And even the governments of the left that have come to power across the region in recent years are having trouble raising more.

Consider Chile. Coming into office with the promise to bury neoliberalism and rekindle solidarity, the government of Gabriel Boric proposed to Congress a bill that would raise government revenue  which stands at 22% of GDP  by another 3.6 points, to fund a more generous safety net. Congress said no.

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In Colombia, the new left-wing government of Gustavo Petro managed to get a tax package through Congress, but only to raise another 1.3% of gross domestic product. In Mexico, the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador isnt even trying: Tax revenue is near the lowest among big Latin American countries and the budget is perhaps the tightest in the world.

Maybe the convulsions wracking Latin America can help deliver the region from its frugality. After all, all the way back to Otto von Bismark, the construction of social insurance around the world has been largely motivated by conservative fear of political turmoil. Today, the main threat to democracy comes from the populist right. But the argument holds: Give workers health care and they may not demand revolution. Ensuring a stable social compact may be something the economic elites are willing to pay for.

Latin American democracy is in debt with the societies that built it, write Castaneda, Estrada and Ominami. Its survival requires this debt to be acquitted.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Eduardo Porter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin America, US economic policy and immigration. He is the author of American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise and The Price of Everything: Finding Method in the Madness of What Things Cost.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2023 Bloomberg L.P.

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Reuben E. Brigety II, the bow-tie-loving U.S. ambassador to South Africa, does not look like a man who would bring a roof down. But he did. The South African rand crashed to a record low on May 11, shortly after he accused the country of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine. A row between Pretoria and Washington would put billions of dollars in trade at risk.

A furious South African government denied that the weapons were secretly loaded into a ship at a naval base near Cape Town. Meanwhile, the radical Economic Freedom Fighters and South African Communist Party called for Brigety to be booted out of the country. So did many commentators. Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation had already been underway when Brigety made his remarks.

Two days later, the ambassador apologized, and admitted he had crossed the line with the manner of his comments. South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced they had resolved the diplomatic kerfuffle and that South Africa was unlikely to face any repercussions. Calm returned to relations between Pretoria and Washington.

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To the rest of Africa, however, the Russian ship episode, and its handling by the South African political class, were just part of the clumsiness that has diminished the standing of what was once the economic superpower of the continent. It was South Africa-based pay-TV pioneer DStv that brought the world into African homes. MTN Group Ltd. was synonymous with mobile telephony across the continent. South African supermarkets, and retailers, fanned out into the continent and drove a new wave of consumption. South African Airways was the juggernaut of the skies. Today that bad South Africa is history  and its not good for the country.

In 2014, Nigeria took the prize as Africas largest economy and has held on to it since. South Africa is in second place  after losing the spot briefly to Egypt. In countries like Uganda and Rwanda, MTN remains strong, and South African banks are still stalwarts in several nations. But in 2020, South African Airways collapsed. Supermarket chain Shoprite Holdings Ltd. and retail behemoth Massmart Holdings Ltd., once supreme across the continent, have exited several African markets.

South Africa scores lowest on the Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) by the African Development Bank. The annual study tracks whether entry is visa-free for citizens from other sub-Saharan African countries, if a visa on arrival can be obtained, and if visas must be secured in advance. The low standing has further hurt business in South Africa.

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The country was, of course, a once-upon-a-time political beacon because of Nelson Mandela. Everyone loved Madiba. When the cerebral and sometimes mercurial Thabo Mbeki succeeded to the presidency, he spoke of an African Renaissance and, replacing the discredited Organisation of African Unity with the African Union (AU), helped establish the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), to hold the continents leaders democratically accountable and to censure them in cases of corruption and human rights abuse. The APRM has since withered away  not least because so many of those evils have played havoc with South Africas own politics.

When Brigety started the arms controversy, he said the alleged Russia deal raised questions about South Africas vaunted non-aligned status in the developing world. Ramaphosa went to some pains to underline that South Africa remained so and wouldnt be pressured into changing its reputation for independent policies. Indeed, Pretoria abstained from the March 2022 and February 2023 United Nations resolutions against Russian aggression against Ukraine (28 African nations voted in favor).

As precious as South Africas non-aligned status may be, its a toothless strategy in the current diplomatic round. No one gets rewarded for being neutral. Indeed, there is little recompense for African states who choose to condemn Russia. Kenya got a few visits from foreign dignitaries but not much more. South Africa might have been better off saying it was supplying weapons to Russia. As alarming and unlikely as that would have been, Pretoria would at least have had a stronger geopolitical hand to play. Short of something like that, the continents giant will just keep getting smaller and smaller.

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More From Bloomberg Opinion:



Ramaphosas Ukraine Peace Mission Is Pure Deflection: Bobby Ghosh



East Africas Pirates Are Forgotten But Not Gone: James Stavridis



Your Nation Is Its Story, For Better or Worse: Andreas Kluth

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is a journalist and writer based in Nairobi, Kenya.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2023 Bloomberg L.P.

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Key Insights

Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Boston Beer Company's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions

A total of 5 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership

Insiders have been selling lately

To get a sense of who is truly in control of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 67% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And things are looking up for institutional investors after the company gained US$140m in market cap last week. The one-year return on investment is currently 2.3% and last week's gain would have been more than welcomed.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Boston Beer Company.

See our latest analysis for Boston Beer Company

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Boston Beer Company?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Boston Beer Company already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Boston Beer Company's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Boston Beer Company. Our data suggests that C. Koch, who is also the company's Top Key Executive, holds the most number of shares at 18%. When an insider holds a sizeable amount of a company's stock, investors consider it as a positive sign because it suggests that insiders are willing to have their wealth tied up in the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 12% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 9.4% by the third-largest shareholder.

On looking further, we found that 54% of the shares are owned by the top 5 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Boston Beer Company

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of The Boston Beer Company, Inc.. Insiders own US$902m worth of shares in the US$4.0b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 11% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Boston Beer Company , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Global fashion brands wanting to enter the Australian market are increasingly choosing exclusive deals with retail partners over opening their own stores and .com.au channels, which was the dominant method during the 2010s influx that brought in the likes of Zara, UNIQLO and Sephora.

From Wednesday, The Iconic will be the only place in Australia customers can buy from brand & Other Stories, described as Swedish fast-fashion giant H&Ms more sophisticated, feminine older sister.

A model wears a style from & Other Stories, which is launching this week on The Iconic. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

It has three million Instagram followers, and celebrity fans including Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, who wore one of the brands dresses during her 2018 tour of Australia, and actors Emma Roberts and Selena Gomez.

The benefit of such deals are twofold: for the retailer, the strategy is a way of testing a market without having to invest in bricks and mortar. But whats in it for the consumer?
Consumers are set to benefit from a change that will permit advocacy groups, such as Choice, to make complaints directly to the competition watchdog, a move that is expected to fuel more investigations and better protect consumers.

The Albanese government will allow trusted groups representing consumers and small business groups from mid-2024 to lodge complaints to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) through a dedicated express lane, where the groups have strong evidence of systemic market issues under the consumer law.

Xavier OHalloran of Super Consumers Australia, welcomes the fast-tracking of complaints to the ACCC. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Xavier OHalloran, director of advocacy group Super Consumers Australia, says the change recognises the important role consumer organisations play in keeping regulators directly accountable to the interests of Australians.

Under the change, the ACCC will have to respond to the complaints within a certain period of time.
The former NSW minister for multiculturalism has been forced to apologise for an allegedly racist comment he made towards a newly elected Labor MP in state parliament on Wednesday.

Oatley MP and opposition multiculturalism spokesperson Mark Coure apologised twice to Cabramatta MP Tri Vo after Minister for Women Jodie Harrison interrupted question time to demand he withdraw his comments.

Mark Coure in his former role as minister for multiculturalism in 2022. Credit: Nikki Short

Harrison told this masthead she heard Coure say: I thought that bloke [Vo] worked in catering.

Coure withdrew the comments immediately and spoke again to apologise to Vo, saying a comment he made was a poor attempt at humour and was not intended to cause offence.
By Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) -British telecoms regulator Ofcom gave BT the green light to offer discounted wholesale fibre pricing to broadband providers, saying the plan to drive uptake of faster connectivity was not anti-competitive.

BT, the country's largest broadband and mobile operator, wants to offer discounts to retail providers including Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk in return for moving customers to the national fibre network it is building.

The plan, called Equinox 2, was opposed by competing network Virgin Media O2 and new fibre builders known as "altnets".

"Our overriding objective is to bring better broadband to people across the UK, by promoting competitive investment in high-speed networks and making sure there's a level playing field for all companies," an Ofcom spokesperson said.

"With this in mind, and based on the evidence available to us, we don't consider (BT) Openreach's new pricing discounts to be anti-competitive."

Ofcom delayed its decision in March after concerns were raised over BT's boss saying the company's fibre network expansion would "end in tears" for some of its competitors.

That sent its shares down 4% on the day, with investors unnerved by anything that would deter broadband providers from moving customers on to BT's fibre network, helping to underpin the multi-billion pound build.

The regulator had also said it needed more time to consider the large number of responses it had received.

Shares in BT rose 0.1% to 149 pence on Wednesday, a day after Franco-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi increased his stake to 24.5%.

Katie Milligan, Openreach's chief commercial officer, said the decision was "good news for customers as it means lower prices and long-term certainty  encouraging the switch to faster, more reliable broadband connections".

Virgin Media O2 said supporting investment was crucial for Ofcom to meet its own strategic priorities to drive fixed network competition at scale.

"While we're pleased Ofcom took more time to review these proposals, it must be prepared to act decisively in future to keep BT in check and protect its own long-term objectives," a spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton and Jason Neely)
(Bloomberg) -- ByteDance Ltd. co-founder Zhang Yiming has set up an investment company in Hong Kong, indicating hes planning a new chapter after quitting his leadership roles at the social-media giant in 2021.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Cool River Venture HK Ltd., incorporated last week, lists Zhang as its sole director, a filing from the Hong Kong Companies Registry shows. Its only shareholder is a Cayman Islands vehicle named Galaxy LLC.

Zhang is creating a new venture in Hong Kong just as the city seeks to lure back rich people after years of isolation and population decline during Covid. The government is planning tax cuts and other measures to attract at least 200 family offices in setting up or expanding operations there by the end of 2025.

Also read: Hong Kong Family Offices to Get Tax Concessions in Revamp

ByteDances co-founder is among the top tech executives who have quit their corporate roles as China cracked down on the wealthy in a common prosperity drive to reduce inequality. In recent years, hes frequently traveled to Singapore and has donated money to an education fund in his hometown, joining other tycoons in giving back to society.

Meanwhile, ByteDances US short-video app TikTok has also been facing headwinds: Its chief executive officer sat through a grueling five-hour Congress hearing in March where lawmakers repeatedly questioned him about the units Chinese ownership and Beijings ability to access the data of millions of Americans. Last week, the governor of Montana signed a measure prohibiting the apps download by the general public, a ban the company is seeking to stop.

Also read: TikTok Under Fire Reveals $13 Billion Drop in Founders Fortune

Zhang, who holds a Hong Kong ID card, has a fortune estimated at $42.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Chinese media outlet Yicai reported the Cool River Venture incorporation earlier. A ByteDance representative didnt have any immediate comment.

--With assistance from Zheping Huang.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Taliworks Corporation Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.97

Current share price of RM0.81 suggests Taliworks Corporation Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

The RM0.93 analyst price target for TALIWRK is 4.7% less than our estimate of fair value

Does the May share price for Taliworks Corporation Berhad (KLSE:TALIWRK) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. 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 Taliworks Corporation Berhad

Is Taliworks Corporation Berhad Fairly Valued?

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we 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 (MYR, Millions) RM129.6m RM132.7m RM136.3m RM140.4m RM144.8m RM149.6m RM154.6m RM159.9m RM165.5m RM171.3m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 1.87% Est @ 2.38% Est @ 2.74% Est @ 2.99% Est @ 3.16% Est @ 3.28% Est @ 3.37% Est @ 3.43% Est @ 3.47% Est @ 3.50% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 10.0% RM118 RM110 RM102 RM96.0 RM90.0 RM84.5 RM79.5 RM74.7 RM70.3 RM66.2

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM891m

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 10.0%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM171m (1 + 3.6%)  (10.0% 3.6%) = RM2.8b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM2.8b ( 1 + 10.0%)10= RM1.1b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM2.0b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM0.8, the company appears about fair value at a 16% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

The Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Taliworks Corporation Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 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 Taliworks Corporation Berhad

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market.

Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Threat

Dividends are not covered by earnings and cashflows.

Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.

Looking Ahead:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. 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 Taliworks Corporation Berhad, we've put together three fundamental factors you should consider:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Taliworks Corporation Berhad (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about. Future Earnings: How does TALIWRK's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Ganga Dussehra

Place : Uttar Pradesh

Month: June

Significance: Celebration of the descent of the sacred river Ganga

Date: 30.5.2023

Ganga, the holy river is venerated by the Hindus as a mother as well as a goddess. Ganga Dusshera is, celebrated on the 10th day of the Hindu month of Jayeshta. Ten days of this month are devoted to the worship of this holy river.

According to the legends, 'Gangavataran' or the descent of the Ganga (Ganges), happened at this time. Ganga, the eldest daughter of Himavan and Mena and sister of Parvathi was married to the gods in heaven but later brought down to earth by the great 'tapas' of Bhagiratha, grandson of king Sagara of Ayodhya. Ganga came down to earth reluctantly and Lord Shiva took her on his matted locks, to avoid the danger of Ganga's fury. She then descended to earth from the tangled locks of Shiva in seven streams.

The source of the Ganga is at Gaumukh, a two day trek from Gangothri , Uttaranchal . Places such as Rishikesh , Haridwar, Garh-Mukteswar, Prayag, Varanasi etc where Ganga flows hold special significance on this day.

Devotees flock to these places and Varanasi with its numerous ghats situated on the west bank of the Ganga, to touch the river water, bathe in it and take the river clay home to venerate. A bath in the river Ganga is believed to purify the bather of all sins and to die on its banks is considered most auspicious. If that is not possible, then the immersion of the ashes after cremation in the river Ganga is believed to release one from the cycles of birth and re-birth.

In Haridwar, 'aratis' are performed at twilight and a large number of devotees meditate on river banks. Ganga jal (water) is kept in sealed pots in homes by the devotees and is used on sacred days in sanctifying places. People who cannot reach Ganga banks on this day, bathe in some nearby tank or river invoking Ganga by chanting her name and offering prayers to her.
Lynn Baxter did everything she could to keep her son home. She begged and pleaded  even tried a bribe  fearful and unhappy about his decision to join the fight in Ukraine.

But Cole Zelenco didnt waver. He held his mom in his arms, gave her a great big hug, told me he loved me and he needed me to believe in him and believe in this cause.

And to let him go.

Baxter recalled a conversation with a retired navy SEAL who told her when a person like Cole is called to serve, it is their mission; their calling in life. As the mother of a soldier, it was her job to support him, whatever that might entail.

Even if it meant saying goodbye.

On April 26, while defending a major supply route into the city of Bakhmut, 21-year-old Zelenco, as well as Kyle Porter, 27, of Calgary and at least three Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian artillery fire while taking shelter in a bunker.

Baxter said she was told her son and his fellow soldiers had been informed of the gravity of the situation in Bakhmut, the site of the longest-running and bloodiest battle of Russias invasion of Ukraine, but chose to honour their commitment.

Even after the worst happened, it is her sons conviction he was doing the right thing that she holds on to.

It does give me consolation, it does give me peace, because in his 21 years Im amazed at what this young man has accomplished. He went forward and he never looked back.

He knew what he was getting into, he accepted it. He knew the risks and he knew that he had to follow what his beliefs were  to protect humans, protect humanity  and thats pretty special.

Im grateful I got him for 21 years

With military service in their background, both Zelenco and his sister Elena joined the Canadian Armed Forces out of a Grade 12 co-op program. Elena left to pursue her PhD in chemistry but he saw a future in service, either within the military or policing.

He was a very deep introspective thinker who was very interested in philosophy  he had an incredibly infectious laugh, you always knew it was him, his mom said. He loved to laugh and he made all of his family and friends laugh.

Very kind individual. He always saw the best in everybody.

Zelenco was in his third year at Brock University studying political science when Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. Almost immediately, he knew what he wanted  he received his release from the military, took leave from school and joined the fight.

Although his great-grandfather was born in Odessa, Baxter said the family doesnt have any ties to the country. Zelenco saw how Ukrainians were being treated and wanted to help  even when countries are fighting, he said citizens need to be treated with dignity and respect, and he wanted to do his part to protect their human rights.

That finely tuned sense of justice was evident to Baxter even when he was a little boy, describing him as very stubborn, when he wanted to do something he would do it.

And this time, he wanted to protect Ukrainians.

As part of Ukraines International Legions 92nd Mechanised Brigade, Zelenco served from April to July 2022. He returned to Ukraine for a second tour in October, and he would stay until his death.

Baxter said she spoke with her son often on a secure line, but he was secretive with information to protect me from worrying.

He would tell me that he was leading missions on his own and he had a group of soldiers that served underneath him and he was very proud  of his soldiers, he was proud of what they were doing, she said.

He kept conversations light, teasing his mom. Baxter recalled one video call that started with, Mom, I have a child and before her heart stopped completely, he moved the camera to show her an eight-week-old puppy he had rescued.

Before leaving for Bakhmut, the puppy was given to another unit and Zelenco told his mom, turns out I wasnt very good at puppy training.

Since his death, Baxter said it has been almost surreal. But within the pain, there has been love and humility, and a deeper understanding of who her son was. She knew he was a good man, but as a single mother, she was often busy focusing on the parenting part, making sure he cleaned up after himself and ensuring he was happy.

Now, listening to stories of support, Im humbled.

One soldier told her, while at the lowest point of his life, it was her son who saw them through. When in Niagara, Zelenco would stop by St. John Ukrainian Catholic Church and sit in the back pew and have coffee with the older parishioners.

Its amazing. You dont realize really how many lives somebody has touched until theyre no longer here, and he certainly touched many, many, many lives in a positive way, said Baxter. If he could see this, it would just be confirmation that he did the right thing for him and for humanity.

On Friday, Zelenco returned to Niagara. For his family, it was heartwarming to see the community lining St. Catharines streets and overpasses to welcome him home.

We were really overwhelmed with the support, said Baxter.

Now, as she prepares to say goodbye, with a memorial and celebration of life Thursday at Club Roma, she takes a moment to think about how she wants Cole to be remembered.

Even though his life was short, he lived by his convictions at such a young age and we are very proud of him for being that kind of human being. We are grateful to have had him in our lives.

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It started out as an average Tuesday morning for James Tucker.

The Cambridge trucker had picked up a load in Guelph and was travelling along the Lincoln Alexander Parkway on his way to make a delivery on the rural east Hamilton Mountain.

The parkway was busy, but traffic was moving smoothly as folks made their way to work. However, that changed as Tucker went under the Upper Gage Avenue overpass.

Out of the corner of my eye, on the opposite side, I see a motorcycle in the air, Tucker said in an interview with The Spectator. Moments later, both the motorcycle and the driver were on the ground, Tucker said, noting he does not know what caused the collision as he did not witness it.

Two people have been transported to hospital following a two-vehicle crash on the Lincoln Alexander Parkway on Tuesday morning. The Hamilton Spectator

Taking in the scene from the eastbound lanes, the 39-year-old said he pulled his truck over to the side of the road and ran across the parkway to help.

Hamilton police said at around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, officers were called to a serious collision involving a motorcycle and vehicle on the westbound Linc.

Lanes were closed in both directions at Upper Gage for several hours, with the highway fully reopened just before 3:30 p.m.

The motorcyclist, a man in his 60s, was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries, said Const. Krista-Lee Ernst. His condition was later updated to critical, but stable, police later confirmed to The Spectator.

The driver of the car, a man in his 50s, was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, said Ernst.

Tucker said when he got to the motorcyclist, he checked him for a pulse, and the man let out a moan and rolled over slightly.

Hes alive, Tucker remembers yelling, urging those around him to call 911.

Hamilton police closed the westbound Linc between Dartnall Road and Upper Gage Avenue after a serious collision on Tuesday morning. The Hamilton Spectator

Looking down at the man, Tucker said he could see that one of the mans legs was badly injured just below the knee. Tucker then started yelling for other witnesses to give him something to make a tourniquet out of.

Tucker said a nearby witness handed him a belt, which he wrapped around the mans leg. As he was trying to pull the belt tight around the leg, an off-duty police officer and off-duty Hamilton paramedic had also come to assist.

Dave Thompson of the Hamilton Paramedic Service confirmed to The Spectator that an off-duty paramedic on their way home from work stopped to help in the aftermath of the crash.

While Thompson could not speak to the exact injuries the motorcyclist sustained, he described them as life-altering in nature.

Shortly after, first responders arrived at the scene. Tucker said he helped paramedics get the man into the ambulance, which sped off toward the hospital.

Once Tucker got back to his truck, he broke down.

I just started to cry, said Tucker. I had to sit on the side of the road for 40 minutes before I could drive. I was in so much shock.

Tucker said the situation hit close to home, detailing to The Spectator how he nearly lost his leg in a tractor accident in 2019 and back in 2008, he ended up in a coma as a result of a crash on his motorcycle.

I would do it again, no hesitation, said Tucker, speaking of his response Tuesday morning. Ive been there  so I know that pain.

The road closure caused massive traffic problems throughout the day, with police asking motorists to avoid the area for several hours as police investigated the collision.

Hours after the crash, police deployed their remotely piloted aircraft system in the area to assist with the probe, said Ernst. She confirmed that officers utilize drones as an investigative measure for serious collisions.

The crash remains under investigation by the collision reconstruction unit. No charges had been laid in relation to the crash as of Tuesday evening.

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WINNIPEG - Manitoba Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew promised an economically focused, fiscally responsible government if his party wins the Oct. 3 election, although his outline to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce was short on details and costs.

An NDP government would balance the budget within a first term, Kinew told chamber members at a luncheon Tuesday, while also expanding child care and promoting immigration.

Kinew also promised to enhance the mining sector by boosting critical mineral development.

Not only do we have the critical minerals  lithium, cobalt, silica, nickel and so on  but we can produce those resources with higher labour standards, higher environmental standards and greater respect for human rights compared to any other jurisdiction in the world, Kinew told the audience.

The NDP, which represents all four northern Manitoba seats in the legislature, is in favour of mining, Kinew later told reporters.

Those are important jobs that are the backbone of those communities, and wed like to see more opportunities like that here in Manitoba, Kinew said.

The federal government has increasingly focused its attention on the critical mineral industry, in part to build a more robust supply chain to manufacture goods such as electric-vehicle batteries.

The United States is seeking a trusted trade partner for the materials, Kinew said, and Manitoba is well suited to be that partner.

Finance Minister Cliff Cullen said Kinew has opposed mining in the past by signing the Leap manifesto, a statement by environmental, labour, Indigenous and other groups roughly a decade ago. Among other things, the manifesto calls for no new infrastructure projects aimed at increasing extraction of non-renewable resources.

He is the man that signed the Leap manifesto which said keep it in the ground, so it sounds like hes having an about-face, Cullen said.

The governing Progressive Conservatives have also accused the NDP of planning to raise the sales tax if elected. Kinew has repeatedly denied that.

In the last election, the NDP campaign platform included a promise of higher income taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year. Kinew would not specify whether that promise will resurface.

Were not rolling out our fiscal plan today, Kinew said.

Well lay out the details on the fiscal side as we get closer to the election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2023.

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ST. JOHNS, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labradors English school board spent nearly $700,000 on the unsuccessful challenge of a human rights complaint filed on behalf of a deaf boy.

Documents obtained by the boys father and shared with The Canadian Press today show the school board racked up $681,917 in legal bills to fight the complaint after it was filed in 2017.

The list of invoices shows the board spent nearly $494,000 last year alone as the case came before a tribunal in St. Johns, N.L.

The provinces human rights commission ruled in March that the board had discriminated against Carter Churchill, who is now 12, between 2016 and 2020, from kindergarten to Grade 3.

The ruling says Newfoundland and Labrador English School District failed to provide adequate supports for Carter, who is non-verbal and has cerebral palsy, and those failures caused him irreparable damage, including a significant language delay.

The boys father, Todd Churchill, says its appalling and disgusting that the board spends so much on lawyers while children like Carter are left behind.

Instead of just acknowledging it was a problem, resolving the problem, fixing the problem, they decided they were going to go on this nuclear option of trying to beat us down at all costs, he said in an interview.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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HAY RIVER, N.W.T. - Residents of the town of Hay River are to be allowed to return to the Northwest Territories community Thursday, even as a wildfire continues to burn on the nearby Katlodeeche First Nation reserve.

About 3,500 residents from the town and reserve were forced to leave their homes on May 14.

A post on the towns Facebook page Wednesday said the evacuation order would be reduced to an evacuation alert, meaning residents are allowed to return but should be prepared to leave again if conditions worsen.

Conditions are still not without risk, but the town recognizes the offsetting impact and risks to residents being away from their homes, the post states.

The mayor and council appreciate residents sacrifices during this time. Countless people have relentlessly worked to ensure there has been no damage to your homes or properties and are excited for you to return.

Germaine Michel said shes looking forward to returning home. She has been staying in Manning, Alta., about 500 kilometres to the south, with friends after leaving Hay River in her camper in the middle of the night.

The fire was bad. Really, really bad. It was across the river and you could see it, she said, adding it was smoky when she left.

I dont think I really brought everything I needed. I just panicked and went around the house, got what I thought I needed and then left.

When she returns home, Michel said she plans to repack the camper in case they have to leave again.

Kate Latour said shes also happy to be able to go home. She, her husband and child have been staying at her brothers home in Fort Resolution, N.W.T.

Hearing the evacuation alarm going off this year caused even more stress than I was imagining it might, and panic, she said.

Latour said she is grateful for the work of firefighters and other service providers. She said she and her family will be there to help Katlodeeche First Nation, which has suffered damage from the fire.

Glenn Smith, Hay Rivers senior administrative officer, said Tuesday during an overview of the re-entry plan that getting the fire under control was a key condition for allowing people to return. He said the fire will be active throughout the summer and weather will affect its severity and the risk it poses.

We know that everyone wants to come home. We know that this has been extremely stressful on so many levels and we are doing everything we can to get you back home as soon as it is safe, Mayor Kandis Jameson said. We had a safe evacuation and we are not going to risk bringing people back too soon.

Re-entry begins with the restoration of essential services on Wednesday, which includes calling in staff, completing inspections and assessments and stocking supplies. That is to be followed by general community re-entry on Thursday at noon, and finally allowing the return of people with special health-care needs, such as dialysis, once the evacuation alert is lifted.

The Katlodeeche First Nation will have a separate plan for residents to return.

Crews continue to tackle the out-of-control wildfire near the town that is more than 32 square kilometres in size. Firefighters are completing control lines to the south and east of the fire, and blacklining or extinguishing burnable fuels in front of control lines.

More than a dozen buildings have been damaged by the fire on the reserve.

While there have been spot fires in Hay River as winds carried embers over the river, there were no fires in the town Wednesday morning and no damage has been reported.

Residents from both Katlodeeche First Nation and Hay River were previously forced to leave their homes last May due to historic flooding in the area. In October, the Northwest Territories government said it estimated the flooding caused more than $174 million in damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure in the communities.

As of Wednesday, 11 fires were burning across the territory, including a nearly 57-square-kilometre fire about 50 kilometres south of Sambaa Ke. Crews have been pulled off that fire due to its intensity and risk but it is still being monitored.

A wildfire greater than 38 square kilometres in size is also burning around 100 kilometres west of Kakisa. The territory said the community is not at risk.

A total of 17 wildfires have burned around 170 square kilometres in the territory this season so far.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

 By Emily Blake in Yellowknife.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

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Be cautious of AI 'euphoria' as the sector is not a near-term investment play, Goldman Sachs' top stock strategist says

Goldman Sachs' chief US equity strategist says that AI trades are long-term investments. Paper Boat Creative/Getty Images

Goldman Sachs' chief US equity strategist told investors that AI trades are long-term investments.

"There's a lot of euphoria around it," David Kostin told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.

Mega-cap names like Meta and Alphabet are benefitting from AI integration now.

David Kostin, the chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, urged caution on artificial intelligence investments as these aren't necessarily near-term plays and their implications remain uncertain.

"The AI trade is likely to play out over a longer-term period of time," Kostin told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. "There's a lot of euphoria around it. And some of the stocks that are likely to benefit from [this are] the larger cap tech stocks that have done great: Meta, Alphabet, Google, Microsoft, Amazon to a certain degree."

He added that revenue and growth prospects for Big Tech are likely to benefit from integration.

There's a significant value add to AI for companies. Integrating the technology could increase productivity and cut down on operating costs through automated labor.

Meta, for example, announced plans to incorporate generative AI into the social media giant's advertisements. Kostin added that AI can boost net margins by 400 basis over the course of a decade.

These tech companies will likely "outperform but it's not necessarily [AI] that lifts you to a to a higher level," the firm's top stock strategist says. "And the question now is then: 'Well, over what period of time are the generative AI benefits that may inure to corporations?"

AI comes with a lot of uncertainty, Kostin says, citing potential "issues of dislocated employees." He added: "Do taxes go higher? What exactly are the externalities there?"

Others on Wall Street have expressed similar concerns. Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Global Research, described the AI sector as in a "baby bubble" for now in a recent note to clients.

The AI rush began rattling markets in late 2022, after the launch of ChatGPT, OpenAI's open-language chatbot. Suddenly, companies seemed to jump on the opportunity to capitalize on anything related to AI. There were 168 mentions of AI during first-quarter earnings calls for Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.

Read the original article on Business Insider
VANCOUVER - A pathologist who performed an autopsy on the body of a 13-year-old girl found dead in a park defended his impartiality as an expert during cross-examination Wednesday in the murder trial of Ibrahim Ali.

Dr. Jason Morins assertion came after Alis defence lawyer suggested he was not an independent witness, has worked closely with police and he was being directed by the Crown.

Morin denied that suggestion, telling the B.C. Supreme Court jury that his involvement with the Crown relates solely to his job and that all compensation he receives is for his time.

Ive been asked by the Crown to come and give my evidence as it pertains to my autopsy and what my opinions on that are, he said. I would be asked that in any murder trial and I wouldnt be specifically working for the Crown in that respect.

Ali pleaded not guilty last month to first-degree murder.

The body of the girl, who cannot be identified under the terms of a publication ban, was found in Burnabys Central Park in July 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing.

Content warning: material that some may find disturbing follows.

Morin previously said his autopsy determined the teen died after being strangled, which had caused blood vessels in her eyes and face to burst.

He also told the jury during direct examination by the Crown last week that sperm was found in her body.

Defence lawyer Ben Lynskey questioned Morin on Tuesday about the nature of the girls injuries and his findings about the cause of death being strangulation.

Morin said about 80 per cent of strangulation cases see bruising to a victims neck, but there was no bruising on the girls neck and no major injuries to her body.

He previously said he had identified a number of injuries, including bruising, scraping and tearing on the back of her head, as well as to her face, arms and legs.

On Wednesday, Lynskey pressed the pathologist about whether he tired to help the prosecution by suggesting other experts.

Morin said he knows the limitations of his expertise and if asked a question he couldnt answer, he would defer to someone who could.

That is not me working for the Crown, Morin said.

Crown counsel Isobel Keeley said in an opening statement last month that the court would hear evidence showing the girls killing was random, but DNA results would prove Ali sexually assaulted the girl.

She said the evidence would show the girl was passing through a neighbourhood park when she was dragged off a pathway into the forest by Ali, sexually assaulted and strangled.

The defence has not yet told the jury its theory of events.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.

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EDMONTONNearly 200 Alberta doctors have gone public to warn that their provinces health-care system is in crisis.

The doctors say the situation is a result of both the pandemics impact on the system and of government policies that have left health workers and patients in the lurch.

In an open letter signed by 192 doctors and released Wednesday, the doctors say they are increasingly unable to meet their professional commitments to provide comprehensive and accessible care.

The system is in crisis and it is becoming progressively more difficult to just do the basic tenets of emergency care provision, said Dr. Allison Foran, an emergency room doctor based in Calgary who signed the letter.

The letter highlights three areas where they say gaps in patient care are most concerning: lack of access to primary care; a shortage of hospital beds; and critical health-care labour shortages.

It lists examples of how gaps in service delivery are affecting patients: They say that increased waiting times in Calgarys emergency departments mean patients have to wait up to 15 hours to see a doctor, and that its not uncommon to see 40 or 50 people at any given time in the emergency department.

While the letter emphasizes the situation in Calgary, it adds that signs of a capacity crisis are everywhere and that rural areas are also suffering from staff shortages and intermittent closures of their emergency departments.

The letter states there are gaps in surgical and cardiac specialist coverage in Calgarys hospitals and that sections of emergency departments are routinely closed due to lack of specialized emergency nurses  something Foran has witnessed in her work.

I cannot remember the last time that I went to work where we had the entirety of the emergency room open, she said. That is a direct effect of policy that has affected our emergency room workforce.

So what that means for citizens of Calgary, for your grandma, for your kid whos fallen on the playground is that when you go into that emergency room  were looking at 50 people in the waiting room waiting hours and hours and hours. And we just physically cannot connect with you because of these other things that have rendered big parts of the department unusable.

She said the situation has created layers of moral distress for care providers who are unable to properly do their jobs.

As further evidence of challenges faced by the health-care system and those who work in it, the letter says there are about 650,000 Albertans without a family doctor, which forces them to attend emergency departments as a last resort and leads to worse outcomes for chronic health issues.

The doctors say the payment structure imposed by Alberta Health discourages physicians from working in family medicine and incentivizes them to pursue specialty roles. This has led to the loss of family doctors to other provinces, countries and private clinics, the letter says.

They say there are a shocking 42 residency training positions in family medicine in Alberta that went unfilled this year after the first round of matching, compared to two spots in British Columbia and zero in Saskatchewan.

The future looks bleak for primary care in this province when we cannot fill positions designated to train the next generation of family doctors.

They say a scarcity of long-term-care spaces is resulting in many hospital patients having nowhere to be discharged, which adds further pressure on emergency departments.

The dynamics are having a direct impact on nurses, the letter states, who were already mandated to work overtime during the pandemic and often faced hostility from patients who were frustrated by long wait times to see a doctor.

This was exacerbated by a government proposal to cut pay for nurses, the letter says.

The cumulative effect has been that many experienced emergency nurses have decreased to part-time work, have gone to work as emergency nurses in other provinces/countries or have left the emergency department altogether, creating an ongoing shortage of nursing staff.

The staff shortages have created more circumstances of unsafe and unduly stressful work, the letter says.

The doctors are calling on the Alberta government and Alberta Health Services to recognize the crisis, allocate additional resources to health care and restore what was once a respectful relationship with front-line health care workers.

In a statement, Alberta Health Services said We acknowledge the concerns expressed by some of our physicians. AHS has reached out directly and offered to meet.

UCP Leader Danielle Smith also responded to the letter on Wednesday. She said she made health care a top priority in her time in office and that theyve seen reductions in wait times for hospital admissions, ambulance arrivals and also the provinces surgical backlog.

I had been hearing very many of the same concerns that the doctors raise Weve got to do more. I appreciate everything that our front-line doctors are raising, she said.

The doctors did not take a partisan stance in the letter but Foran said the situation has worsened over the last three to four years and she hopes health care will be a top of mind issue for voters on election day, Monday.

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The clock is ticking away on a winning lottery ticket valued at millions of dollars as the expiry date looms near for the lucky winner to claim their jackpot.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation said Tuesday in a news release the unclaimed $70 million LOTTO MAX ticket was sold on June 28, 2022. Billing it a rare occurrence in Canadian lottery history, the OLG added that the winning ticket is set to expire on June 28, 2023.

If this  ticket expires, the $70 million prize will be returned to players through future bonus games or promotions, the corporation added.

The ticket was purchased at an authorized lottery retailer in Scarborough, OLG said, adding it has very detailed information about this winning ticket. However, as the ticket was purchased at a lottery retailer, we dont know the identity of the person or group that purchased the ticket.

The winning numbers for the June 28, 2022 LOTTO MAX draw were as follows: 8, 19, 22, 41, 42, 46, 47 with a Bonus 10.

We ask OLG lottery players to check places where they usually store their tickets, such as in clothing pockets, personal accessories (i.e. handbags, backpacks, wallets, computer bags), your vehicles glove compartments or sun-visors, kitchen, bedroom or office drawers, the corporation said.

The lottery corporation is asking the winner to contact them at 1-800-387-0098.

Information about this ticket and other unclaimed tickets can be found on the OLG.ca Unclaimed Tickets page.

MH Mahdis Habibinia is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: mhabibinia@thestar.ca

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A falsified photograph of an explosion near the Pentagon spread widely on social media Monday morning, briefly sending U.S. stocks lower in possibly the first instance of an AI-generated image moving the market.

Just past 10 a.m. New York time, when the photo was circulating, the S&P 500 declined by about 0.3 per cent to a session low. As news emerged that the image was a hoax, the index quickly rebounded.

The fake photo, which first appeared on Facebook, showed a large plume of smoke that a Facebook user claimed was near the U.S. military headquarters in Virginia.

It soon spread on Twitter accounts that reach millions of followers, including the Russian state-controlled news network RT and the financial news site ZeroHedge, a participant in the social-media companys new Twitter Blue verification system.

A duty officer from the Pentagon said in an email to Bloomberg there were no reported incidents Monday morning. The Arlington Police Department also tweeted, There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public.

Ahead of official sources refuting the photo and the Twitter accounts that spread it, people pointed out that the image may have been generated by artificial intelligence.

Nick Waters, a researcher at the open-source intelligence group Bellingcat, said in an interview that the shock of hearing about a rumoured explosion near the Pentagon led him to examine the photo.

Check out the frontage of the building, and the way the fence melds into the crowd barriers, he said on Twitter. Theres also no other images, videos or people posting as first hand witnesses.

As the facts emerged, Twitter accounts responsible for spreading the photo began to delete their tweets or post corrections. RT and ZeroHedge deleted tweets with the image, and ZeroHedge said the photo had been confirmed as fake. A paid account on Twitter called Bloomberg Feed that also posted the photo was suspended Monday morning.

A Bloomberg News spokesperson said that Bloomberg Feed and a Twitter account called Walter Bloomberg, which also carried the report, arent affiliated with Bloomberg News.

While the origin of the image remains unclear, speculation that it was generated by AI deepened concerns that emerging technologies that make it easy to create images and other content will accelerate the spread of misinformation.

On Facebook, the account that first published the fake photo  alongside other published posts related to the conspiracy group QAnon  had a false information label appended to their original post. Facebook blocked access to the post and said that the image had been checked by independent fact-checkers.

Twitter and Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook, didnt respond to a request for comment. RT also didnt immediately respond.

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KYIV, Ukraine  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims from that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhins comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices and on Saturday touted what he claims is the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, he went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and training to be completed.

Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometres (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the war's front lines, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.

___

Kozlowska reported from London. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  A man who was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him, authorities said.

Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was submerged Sunday evening as the tide came in, and his body was recovered Monday morning, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told The Associated Press. A member of Porters group called 911 when they couldnt get him out, but it was too late, authorities said.

The accident was the latest tragedy at Turnagain Arm, a 48-mile-long (77-kilometer-long) estuary carved out long ago by glaciers that travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels a major highway. At low tide, the estuary is known for its dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks. At least three other people have gotten stuck and drowned there over the years. Many more have been rescued, including someone who was fishing there last month.

Its big, its amazing, its beautiful, and its overwhelming, Kristy Peterson, the administrator and lead EMT for the Hope-Sunrise Volunteer Fire Department, said of Alaska. But you have to remember that its Mother Nature, and she has no mercy for humanity.

Peterson, who responded to the call, spoke with others in Porters party but didnt talk to him during the desperate rescue attempt.

When we respond, we respond with the utmost of good intentions and as mothers and fathers and uncles and brothers, she said. We respond with as much passion and vigor as we can.

The volunteer members of the department will gather later in the week for a debriefing, she said.

I have been in contact with all my members, and theyre all heartbroken, Peterson said. This is a hard situation.

The accident occurred near the community of Hope, a quaint community of about 80 people. It lies across Turnagain Arm just 22 miles  but a 90-minute drive  from Anchorage.

The estuary travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels the Seward Highway, the only highway that goes south and delivers tourists from Anchorage to the sportsmans paradise of the Kenai Peninsula.

At low tide, Turnagain Arm is known for its mud flats that can suck you down, Peterson said. It looks like its solid, but its not.

When the tide comes back in, the silt gets wet from the bottom, loosens up and can create a vacuum if a person walks on it.

Signs are posted warning people of hazardous waters and mud flats.

Ive really got to warn people against playing the mud, Peterson said. Its dangerous.

Some people attempt to walk across Turnagain Arm or walk the 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Anchorage to Fire Island during low tide, sometimes prompting rescue efforts.

There have been other deaths on the mud flats. In 1988, newlyweds Adeana and Jay Dickison were gold dredging on the eastern end of the arm when her ATV got stuck in the mud, the Anchorage Daily News reported. She then became stuck when trying to push it out and drowned with the incoming tide.

In 1978, an unnamed Air Force sergeant attempting to cross Turnagain Arm was swept away with the leading edge of the tide. His body was never found, the Anchorage newspaper reported. In 2013, Army Capt. Joseph Eros died while trying to cross from Fire Island back to Anchorage.

Earlier this month, a man was rescued from the mud flats after one leg became stuck, and he sank to his waist while fishing in Turnagain Arm.

Peterson said they got the rescue call after Porter was in serious trouble, and it takes time to mobilize. Another department  about an hours drive away  also responded.

Peterson urged people to call 911 as soon as possible.

If you think that theres an issue, if you think that there even might be an issue, call, she said. Because we can get resources moving, and we would rather turn around and go home then it be a disaster.

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Democracy works best when people fundamentally believe in it. Thats also true about efforts to keep Canadas democracy safe from bad actors.

The much-awaited report on foreign meddling in Canadian elections, released on Tuesday, rests on a bold idea in this day and age: that the institutions of our democracy, including politicians and the media, are capable of restoring faith in the system.

Given the state of politics, its an almost radical premise. David Johnston, the author of this new, preliminary look into foreign interference, is giving Parliament first crack at looking into whether Canadas electoral system is imperilled by anti-democratic forces.

And its already looking like Parliament may not be up to it. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has shut the door on what Johnston proposed to get politicians working together on the problem  high-level security briefings on the state of foreign interference.

I will not be silenced, Poilievre declared, almost immediately after Johnston issued his appeal.

Johnston would have known this was a tough call  a majority of Parliament itself, all the opposition parties, wanted a public inquiry. There should be a role for the public in getting to the bottom of foreign meddling in Canada, Johnston suggested, but only in the form of hearings later this year  not a full-blown inquiry right away.

Basically this former governor general is telling politicians to heal their own democracy if they want to keep it intact from Chinese and other interference  the hottest issue on Parliament Hill this year.

If you are a Canadian who has been mildly worried about the reports that China and other foreign actors are messing with electoral politics in this country, Johnstons report might land as a reassurance. Parliament, hes said, has all the tools to get to the bottom of this, provided everyone is acting in good faith.

Yet Johnstons own report itself throws some cold water on whether that can happen, given how things have gone so far.

I fear that the way that this story unfolded has led elected officials to engage with it in an excessively partisan way, which harms the confidence Canadians have in their institutions. Johnston writes in his report.

Yes, that is the problem, isnt it?

Johnstons report doesnt tackle what could be the thorniest problem in all this fuss over foreign meddling  that its landed in an era of deep cynicism about whether democracy works and amid a Parliament that looks dysfunctionally polarized, especially on this issue.

In an editorial board meeting with the Toronto Star after he delivered his report, Johnston said several times that public trust was at the heart of his mission to look into foreign interference.

I wouldnt have taken the job unless I believed it would improve trust, he said.

Asked how he would define success in this job of special rapporteur on the foreign-interference issue, Johnston said: one of the markers will be what happens with Parliament and the oversight committees and the more effective functioning and less partisanship in Parliament in dealing with foreign influence. Do we change that culture so that those folks that we elect to be accountable for these things, in fact, truly are taken seriously, (and) deal with it?

Changing the culture is a tall order, especially with Conservatives continuing their relentless assault on Johnstons own integrity  something he defended sharply in several encounters on Tuesday, calling them the first hes endured in 50 years of public service.

And once again, that is the problem. The reputation attacks on Johnston, the allegations that hes too close to Justin Trudeau, a ski buddy, are being made now in politics because thats where the state of debate lies.

Johnston also told the Stars editorial board he was hoping that the media coverage in coming days and months could be forces of reassurance for the public.

His success, he said, would also be marked by what your editorial board reports in a years time  about are we as Canadians doing a better job in dealing with foreign influence, which will surely increase in its power and impact during that course of time?

Yet Johnstons own report contained some detailed critique of media coverage to date, including in the Globe and Mail and Global News, for everything from lack of context to outright inaccuracy. Still, he appears resolute that the media, like Parliament, can stand on guard for democratic fundamentals.

The basic tension in Johnstons report is between optimism and cynicism. Is there enough faith in politics to fix a system  and an issue  that is crowded with cynics and people preying on crumbling belief in democracy?

Johnston ultimately decided, it appears, that his solution, to fix from within, may not be ideal, but its better than any alternative. Funny, that sounds a bit like Winston Churchills old saying: Democracy is the worst form of government  except for all the others that have been tried.

Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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Bring it on.

Thats Premier Doug Fords message to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie as she gears up to run for the Ontario Liberal leadership.

My question is, what took so long? Shes been campaigning for five years, Ford told the Star on Tuesday.

My other message to Bonnie is, bring it on. Bring it on, said the Progressive Conservative premier.

Despite his bravado, Ford, who was re-elected last June 2 with an increased majority, emphasized that he has lots of work to do before the 2026 campaign.

I take nothing for granted. Were going to work hard and people will have that choice moving forward, he said.

Im going to focus on what were doing. Im not worried about what Bonnies doing to self-promote herself  and thats it.

Fords comments came after Crombie launched a leadership exploratory committee of more than 40 prominent Liberals.

Among the notable Grits urging her to run are former cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan, Dipika Damerla, Brad Duguid, Steve Peters and Reza Moridi, and veteran insiders Tim Murphy, Jack Siegel and Qasir Dar, co-author of a scathing post-mortem on the partys 2022 election defeat.

A popular three-term mayor who won 78.5 per cent of the popular vote in the Oct. 24 municipal election, Crombie spent Tuesday on a media blitz  by mid-afternoon she had already conducted 23 media interviews.

She was puckish when told of Fords throwing down of the gauntlet.

If the Ontario Liberals place their confidence in me, then I would look forward to challenging the premier  if hes still the Ontario PC leader, the mayor said.

The Star reported Monday that the Tories privately consider a Crombie candidacy as an existential threat to a party that has won the past two elections and ended almost 15 years of Liberal rule in 2018.

Crombie, a former Liberal MP who was never a part of the governments of former premiers Kathleen Wynne or Dalton McGuinty, said the Grits moved too far to the left in recent years.

She believes her centrist approach and experience governing a big city can woo voters away from Fords Tories  especially in and around the Greater Toronto Area.

The Liberals, who lack the dozen seats required for official party status in the 124-member legislature, are looking for a saviour after successive drubbings by Fords Tories.

New Democrat Marit Stiles is the Official Opposition leader with 30 MPPs to seven for the Liberals and 81 for the Tories. There are also three Independents, one Green and two vacancies.

So far, Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York) and Liberal MPP Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands) are the only registered candidates in the Grits leadership contest, according to Elections Ontario.

Erskine-Smith officially entered on May 16 and Hsu filed his paperwork last Saturday.

Others considering bids are Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre), a former provincial cabinet minister and one-time Ontario Liberal Party president, and MPPs Stephanie Bowman (Don Valley West) and Adil Shamji (Don Valley East).

The race will be decided Dec. 2 using a new one-member, one-vote ranked-ballot system similar to how the Conservatives elect their leaders.

To enter the race, candidates must pay a $100,000 fee plus a $25,000 refundable deposit.

Crombie will remain as mayor before making a final decision to formally enter the race later this year.

Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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By Josh Ye

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Lenovo's fourth quarter revenue fell 24% and it cut 8% to 9% of its workforce, the Chinese group said on Wednesday, as demand for personal computers (PCs) continued to slump.

The world's largest PC maker said revenue for the January-March period was $12.63 billion, marking the third consecutive quarterly fall. Lenovo's result compared with a $12.74 billion average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.

For the full year through March, Lenovo said its revenue shrank 14%, marking the first annual decline since 2019.

Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming, said in a call with reporters that Lenovo had cut 8% to 9% of its workforce in the quarter in order to "manage expenses".

Its Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing added on the call that the adjustment was done and Lenovo has no further layoffs planned.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave a huge boost to electronics sales as consumers and companies alike stocked up on or upgraded existing gear to accommodate a shift to remote work.

However, revenue started contracting last year as demand began to fall. For the previous quarter, Lenovo reported a decline in revenue of 24%, its steepest in 14 years.

Global PC shipments across the industry declined 29% in January-March to 56.9 million units, fewer than the same period in pre-pandemic 2018 and 2019, showed data from researcher IDC.

Yang said in an interview that he expects PC demand to recover in the second half of the year.

"By the end of this quarter or early next quarter, the inventory digestion will come to an end so that the activation number and the shipment number will be more consistent".

China's cyberspace regulator said last week that Micron, the biggest U.S. memory chipmaker, had failed its network security review and that it would block operators of key infrastructure from buying from the company.

While Lenovo sources components from Micron, Yang said the regulatory actions would not have a big impact on it.

"We have a pretty diversified supply chain. Leveraging that, we will still be able to meet our customers' requirements in all our markets," he said.

To improve profit margins, Lenovo has been expanding non-PC businesses, such as in smartphones, servers and information technology (IT) services.

For the full year through March, its non-PC businesses grew 7% and now make up about 40% of total revenue.

Overall net income attributable to shareholders fell 72% to $114 million versus analysts' $212.49 million estimate.

Lenovo shares fell 3.7% before the earnings results were released, compared with a 0.94% benchmark index drop.

(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Louise Heavens and Alexander Smith)
Today

A mix of sunshine and increasing high clouds. Remaining dry, except areas closer to Maryland and Delaware border where a late day shower is possible.

Tonight

Partly cloudy overnight; a shower or two from far southern PA to Delaware and far South Jersey.

Tomorrow

A mix of clouds and sunshine, warm, and mainly dry for Memorial Day. Once more, a shower or two from far southern PA to Delaware and far South Jersey can't entirely be ruled out.
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Reading man was sentenced to decades in prison for trafficking a woman in Berks County.

Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Wednesday that Hector Rivera was sentenced to 33  to 69 years in prison. Rivera was convicted in February after a jury found him guilty of 15 charges, including human trafficking.

As part of his sentence, Rivera will also be required to register as a tier one sex offender.

Prosecutors say Rivera preyed on a vulnerable young woman, enticing her with drugs and threatening her with violence.

The defendant exploited and manipulated a young woman, using drugs and threats of violence to keep her under his control, said AG Henry. Todays sentencing ensures that Rivera is held accountable for perpetrating this cruel and violent behavior. The Office of Attorney General is committed to using every tool at our disposal to prosecute human trafficking crimes and bring predators to justice.

A Grand Jury investigation found that, in 2019, Rivera began selling drugs to his victim, who struggled with addiction. When she could no longer pay for drugs, Rivera forced her to perform sexual acts for him and other men in exchange for crack-cocaine.

In April 2020, authorities say Rivera brought the young woman to a hotel in Reading where she was coerced to have sex with men in exchange for money. Rivera kept all of the money from these transactions for himself.

We are thankful that justice has been served in this case, but the work continues on behalf of the many victims still out there in need of help, said Major Serell Ulrich, director of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. We appreciate the hard work of all the law enforcement personnel, including those in the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, who made this outcome possible.
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Two gun reform measures that narrowly passed by the state House are heading to the state Senate.

The pair of bills currently being discussed in Harrisburg look to change gun laws in Pennsylvania.

"Very common sense legislative initiatives to help stem the tide of gun violence that I really think would work in our community, Berks County and Reading for sure," said Senator Judy Schwank (D - Berks.)

One bill would require background checks on every sale of a gun and the other would provide a way for loved ones or law enforcement to ask a judge to hold a hearing to temporarily disarm someone who may be going through a crisis.

"It's not taking anyone's guns away from them who is a responsible gun owner and doesn't wish to do any harm to anyone," explained Schwank. "This is often times what I hear from constituents, or you know our gun owners themselves, that they support legislation such as this."

Gun reform discussions aren't just happening here in Pennsylvania but continue to be a key issue across the country.

One Republican state lawmaker says the two bills passed by the Pennsylvania House set out to disarm law-abiding citizens.

Senator Schwank says the bills will have a challenging time passing in the Senate and people need to reach out to express their feelings to elected officials in Harrisburg.

"You can't be a bystander when it comes to this," Senator Schwank said. "You're really going to need to reach out to your legislators both in the House and in the Senate just to get, you know, a groundswell of approval in terms of getting these bills considered in the Senate."
READING, Pa.  The Reading Planning Commission on Tuesday night reviewed a revised plan of record for modifications to the Wawa store at 1946 N. 11th St.

The modifications include the addition of an ethanol-free fuel tank, which involves the disturbance of 5,356 square feet for the addition of a 12,000-gallon tank and the replacement of the concrete mat on the tank fields.

Engineers for Wawa explained that in doing routine soil analysis for this project, it was discovered the soil had elevated lead contamination.

The report of the contamination was reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Reading, and DEP subsequently approved a remediation plan which is expected to be complete by October.

Planning commission officials noted that the lead contamination would have most likely come from a junk yard, which was located on the site several decades ago.

The planners said they appreciated the detailed presentation on the contamination and the plan of action to remediate the issue.

Manufacturing building

In other business, the commissioners reviewed a sketch plan for a new building for Mitsubishi Chemicals Advanced Materials Inc. at 2120 Fairmont Ave.

Engineer Scott Miller, with Spotts, Stevens and McCoy, explained the project entails the construction of a 59,000-square-foot, one-story building on two parcels, totaling 1.3 acres.

The new building is intended to be used for manufacturing and will be an extension of the company's existing facility. According to the company website, the advanced materials division involves specialists for the production, processing and application of engineering plastics and innovative composite materials.

Miller said the plan for the new building exceeds the maximum building coverage, which will require an application for a variance to the zoning hearing board.

City Engineer and Acting Public Works Director Timothy Krall suggested that Miller set up a technical meeting with him and the authority's consulting engineer to discuss stormwater management and sewer planning modules.
EASTON, Pa. - The Northampton County Coroners Office has identified the body of the man found in the Lehigh River last week as that of a missing Lehigh University student.

The coroner's office said it was called to the river, by the Easton city line, on May 19. The man found was Daniel Lee, who was reported missing to the Lehigh University Police Department on January 20, the coroner's office said.

The cause of death was determined to be drowning, and the manner of death was ruled suicide, according to the coroner's office.

Lee was a second-year engineering student from New Jersey.

"Lehigh University representatives have been in contact with Daniels family, and our thoughts and sincerest condolences are with his family, friends and loved ones," according to a message sent out to the university community by President Joseph J. Helble.

"Struggling with mental health and well-being is a difficult subject that is important to address openly and directly as a community. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or emotional distress, there are counselors and resources available through Lehigh for students, faculty and staff (including off-campus support through MySSP). You also can call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988 or using chat services at suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

"As we come together to support one another, I also encourage those who may be struggling with their mental health to seek support."
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

A mix of sunshine and increasing high clouds. Remaining dry, except areas closer to Maryland and Delaware border where a late day shower is possible. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy overnight; a shower or two from far southern PA to Delaware and far South Jersey.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Northampton County's future is green, county Executive Lamont McClure reiterated Wednesday, and that means more open space and more money.

McClure, a Democrat who is in his second term as the elected executive, also hinted at his own future during the annual State of Northampton County address at the Hotel Bethlehem.

"I'll be there another term or two," he said. McClure was first elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021. If he won and served two more terms, he would be the county's top official through the start of 2034. He served eight years on county council earlier.

On the topic of being "green," McClure touted his administration's success in preserving open space. By the end of his second term, he said the county will have spent $25 million to preserve green space and farmland. The county has added three parks during his tenure.

The other "green" -- money -- was not overlooked.

"We're one of the wealthiest counties in the state," McClure said. That puts Northampton County in a class with Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties in the Philadelphia area.

When introducing McClure, Don Cunningham, chief executive of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., said median county family income was $69,000. The LVEDC was host to the address.

Taxes are another component of the county's "green-ness." McClure's five budgets, approved by county council, have kept property taxes level four times and cut them once. McClure said his tax strategy is a signal to businesses and homeowners that Northampton County is a good place to be.

The three green items together touch upon one of McClure's favorite topics, "warehouse proliferation." Warehouses cover green space, yet they create jobs and generate tax revenue. They and the truck traffic they bring in are also one of the main complaints about the Lehigh Valley, even though one study estimates that the industry creates about 10% of regional jobs.

"Our people are done with warehouses," McClure said, to applause, before noting, "There is nothing inherently bad about warehouses."

Thousands of residents of Lehigh and Northampton counties work in warehouses or deliver products from them.

"I would never denigrate the work that these folks do," he said. Warehouses pay taxes, employ people, and have brought investment from corporate icons such as FedEx, Amazon and UPS to the region.

McClure has said before that there are enough warehouses, and he will oppose giving tax breaks for more.

Then, quoting the LVEDC's Cunningham, the executive pointed out, "Not all big boxes are warehouses." Modern manufacturing is done in big rectangular structures, not old-time brick buildings where workers gather at the loading dock for lunch.

McClure singled out Bowery Farming, a "vertical" agriculture company that operates inside a big box on old Bethlehem Steel Corp. property just off Route 78. Bowery grows produce inside, pesticide-free.

Bowery reflects how Bethlehem has bounced back from the demise of steel, McClure said. Bethlehem Steel poured its "last cast" in its namesake city in 1995 and went bankruptcy in 2001.

Cunningham was Bethlehem's mayor as Steel was going under, and helped guide the city to its current affluence.

Not everybody is sharing in the wealth yet.

"Everybody ought to share in our bounty," McClure said.

He discussed three initiatives to help those left behind:

affordable housing for workers

broadband internet access for all students

a fight against fentanyl, a deadly narcotic that is sometimes passed off as a less dangerous recreational drug.

The executive also applauded the county staff of close to 2,000 for working through the COVID-19 pandemic, singling out Jennifer Stewart-King, administrator at Gracedale, the county nursing home. When the pandemic led to short-staffing at Gracedale, McClure said Stewart-King would come in on weekends to work as a CNA (certified nursing assistant).
EASTON, Pa. - The lights and cameras are all ready for the action. Wednesday is dress rehearsal night at the State Theatre. The region's biggest high school theater stars are getting ready for the Freddy Awards Thursday night.

Theater teaches you a whole lot about dedication and teamwork. One of the students performing in the Freddys this year will soon be applying those skills in a whole new way.

"Every five-year-old girl is like, 'I want be a princess one day and have a pretty ballgown, and I got to see that come to fruition," said Sydney Bennett, a senior at Bethlehem Catholic High School.

"Sydney was a consummate performer," said Diana Tice, the theatre director and the chair of world languages, fine arts, business and P.E. at Bethlehem Catholic High School. "Prepared, dedicated, worked very hard on her music, very hard on her lines."

The lead of Bethlehem Catholic High School's musical has been singing her whole life, so far.

When it came to deciding what's next, Sydney Bennett said, "West Point reached out to me, and they were like, 'hey, we really like your PSAT score. You should check us out. I did, and I found that it was something that I really aligned myself with value-wise, and just something I really could see myself doing for the rest of my life. So, the next day, I became an athlete too."

The training began. This theater kid joined cross country.

The whole West Point idea clicked, since Bennett comes from a military family.

"My pop pop...he kind of instilled in my mom, who then instilled in me a lot of the values of duty, honor, country, which are West Point's core values, and God and family and how you fight to protect the things that you care about and the discipline that it takes," said Sydney Bennett.

She worked for it and got in.

Now, this Cinderella turned cadet candidate leaves for intensive training June 26.

"I have to be there at 5:40 in the morning, and I get 90 seconds to say goodbye to my parents and I don't have contact with them except for letters until about mid-August," said Sydney Bennett.

"I'm going to be here supporting her, writing to her every day," said Holly Bennett, Sydney Bennett's mom.

The plan: be an international law major and Arabic minor.

"She's very much committed to whatever she puts her heart to and more importantly than that, she really cares about the future of not only our country, but the world," said Holly Bennett.

But first, she's capping off her musical days by performing at the Freddys.

Then, she's speaking at her graduation June 7, and turning 18 on June 8.

"You're beaming with pride," said Holly Bennett.

Among Bennett's accomplishments: Model United Nations two-time gold winner, National Honor Society president, a member of her class' top ten, and band front captain of the color guard.

"She brought a unique turn on Cinderella. That strong woman that she is shone through in her Cinderella," said Tice. "My life is enriched so much, especially by Sydney."

From the stage to the academy, her options are endless, and she's eager to make a difference.

"You trade in your glass slippers for combat boots," said Sydney Bennett. "It doesn't happen every day."

Bennett is keeping the music a part of her life by doing glee club at West Point.
EASTON, Pa. - Now that Bryan Kohberger has been arraigned, the months leading up to trial are expected to be full of hearings. Some are wondering: is there significance to him doing what's called "standing silent" at Monday's arraignment?

David Leroy, a criminal defense attorney and the former Idaho attorney general and lieutenant governor, discussed standing silent in court with 69 News.

"I think the situation and option of standing silent in Idaho and every other case, probably goes back several 100 years, perhaps an English common law, or people often accused of some crime before the king had relatively few rights, and they were literally damned if they did and damned if they didn't say anything," said Leroy.

Today, it's a defendant's right to stand silent and have the judge enter not guilty pleas for them. That's exactly what happened with Bryan Kohberger on Monday.

"It's impossible to read too much strategic choice into the thing," said Leroy. "It does potentially give the defendant more options to continue negotiating with the prosecutor. It obviously tells the judge that we're still pondering our strategy."

It's called standing mute in Pennsylvania, where Kohberger is from, though legal experts say it's not common in either state.

"In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, you can enter a plea of guilty, not guilty or no contest plea," said Scott Wilhelm, a managing partner at Winegar, Wilhelm, Glynn & Roemersma. "In the State of New Jersey, you must enter a plea of guilty or not guilty."

The trial is scheduled for Oct. 2, but there are some hearings leading up to it.

June 9, the judge is set to address the gag order, which prevents anyone involved in the case from discussing it. Several media organizations and the Goncalves family want to change that.

"The bigger the case, the more hearings you're likely to have," said Wilhelm.

"Some may relate to evidence. Some may relate to procedure. Some may relate to timing," said Leroy.

Kohberger will be required to be at all of those hearings.

June 27, the judge will consider potential evidence and the release of grand jury materials.

"The whole purpose of pretrial hearings are for the court to determine which evidence it's going to allow the parties to offer to the jury, so that you can hopefully have a smooth trial and make sure the jury only hears the evidence that it's supposed to hear," said Wilhelm. "Some evidence may need to be excluded because it could be in violation of a defendant's rights. Some evidence may not be relevant."

The trial for the brutal killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle is expected to last about six weeks.
After almost 50 years of service at the same company, a woman in Arkansas is ready to retire, and her company wants to honor her commitment.

Loretta Neely has been at KFC for 47 years and when she announced she was ready to retire, the fast food chain wanted to make sure we all knew her name.

They created the Loretta Neely Drive and Passion award in her honor, calling it a living legend award.

Loretta has been working at the KFC in West Memphis for decades. She says getting the job 47 years ago was something she prayed for.

"I started off, you wouldn't know, chopping cotton, and I prayed and asked the Lord to give me a job and I promised him I was gonna stay at it. So I end up, got a blessing, two blessings, I got this job, I got married the same year," she said.

She's been at it ever since. Loretta says her passion for serving others is what has kept her there all these years.

She loves the people who come in, "my people" as she calls them. She also says she loves her coworkers and guiding them and helping them develop as good workers.

She has a real pride in the work she does and her coworkers say it shows.

She's looking forward to traveling, spending time with her grandkids and with her church family and her husband.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and public servants who fled the mob's attack told a judge on Wednesday that they are still haunted by what they endured, as the judge prepares to hand down sentences in a landmark Capitol riot case.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta heard victim impact statements a day before he's expected to deliver the first Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy sentences to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and an associate convicted of plotting to block the transfer of power from President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors are seeking 25 years behind bars for Rhodes, which would be the longest sentence by far handed down among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens crossed paths with Oath Keepers members in Senate hallways as rioters invaded the building, shouted insults and threw projectiles at police. Owens recalled his wife bursting into tears when she saw the blood and bruises on his arms and legs after the riot.

We experienced physical trauma, emotional trauma and mental trauma, Owens said during the hearing in Washingtons federal court . The traumas we suffered that day were endless.

Rhodes scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad as he listened to the statements.

Terri McCullough, who was chief of staff to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said rioters were trying to hunt down the California Democrat as her staffers hid in a conference room for hours, hearing chants and threats.

The defendants violated our workplace, our government and our democracy, McCullough said, adding, Democracy succeeded.

Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who was assigned to Pelosi's security detail, said some of his co-workers have quit because of what they experienced.

Lives and careers have been ruined and will never return to normal, he said.

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who encountered Oath Keepers in the Rotunda, said rioters turned the citadel of American democracy into a crime scene. Dunn said he is a shell of his former self and dreads coming to work every day.

While he still feels scarred by Jan. 6, Dunn said he found a little relief from the jury's conviction of Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, adding that he is profoundly grateful that, in this case, justice has been done.

The judge also heard statements from Virginia Brown, who was a Senate chamber assistant and helped carry a box of electoral votes across the Rotunda on Jan. 6. As the mob breached the Capitol, Brown kicked off her shoes so she could run faster. She recalled fearing for her life and praying that she wouldn't encounter any insurrectionists.

I constantly relive the memories of that day, said Brown, who was a college sophomore at the time. I cannot measure how many hours of sleep I've lost.

Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November alongside Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs after prosecutors spent weeks making the case that Rhodes and his extremist group followers had plotted an armed rebellion to keep Biden, a Democrat, out of the White House in favor of Trump, a Republican.

Rhodes, who didnt go inside the Capitol, took the witness stand at trial and told jurors that there was never any plan to attack the Capitol and that his followers who did went rogue.

Meggs will also be sentenced on Thursday, followed by two Oath Keepers on Friday who were acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other crimes. Another four Oath Keepers convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial in January will be sentenced next week.

Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for the Oath Keepers besides Rhodes.

The judge canceled the sentencing scheduled this week for one defendant, Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia, as he weighs whether to overturn the jurys guilty verdict on obstruction and a documents tampering charge.

Prosecutors are urging the judge to apply enhanced penalties for terrorism, arguing the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Judges have so far rejected the Justice Department's request to apply the so-called terrorism enhancement in the handful of Jan. 6 cases it has sought it in so far, but the Oath Keepers case is unlike any others that have reached sentencing to date.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a week to over 14 years. The remainder have received sentences such as probation or home detention.

The sentences for the Oath Keepers may signal how much time prosecutors will seek for leaders of another far-right group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial this month. Those defendants include former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is perhaps the most high-profile person charged in the sprawling Jan. 6 investigation. The Proud Boys are scheduled to be sentenced in August and September.

Over seven weeks of testimony, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to defend Trump, discussed the prospect of a bloody civil war and warned that the Oath Keepers may have to rise up in insurrection to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act.

On Jan. 6, Rhodes' followers shouldered their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. The Oath Keepers had stashed weapons at a Virginia hotel for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if needed. The weapons were never deployed.

Rhodes' lawyers are urging the judge to sentence him to the roughly 16 months behind bars he has already served since his January 2022 arrest. In court papers filed this month, Rhodes attorneys argued that all of Rhodes writings and statements were protected political speech.

None of his protected speech incited or encouraged imminent violent or unlawful acts, nor were any likely to occur as a result of his speech, they wrote.

Richer reported from Boston.
(Bloomberg) -- China is stepping up training at its government agencies, universities and state-owned enterprises on how to safeguard state secrets, underscoring Beijings increasing emphasis on national security.

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An app linked to the National Administration of State Secret Protection began offering a course this month intended to help Communist Party members and government organization employees bolster their knowledge and skills about secret-keeping, according to a post on the apps official WeChat account.

The Baomiguan  or Views on Secret Keeping  app is running the program from May to September, it wrote in a post dated May 4.

The secret-keeping course has been promoted in recent weeks, according to interviews with workers from three state-owned enterprises, along with notices from at least eight universities and six local government agencies seen by Bloomberg News. It illustrates Beijings growing focus on protecting national security, even as President Xi Jinping seeks to prioritize economic development and portray a welcoming environment for foreign companies.

SOE employees who have used Baomiguan told Bloomberg News that they had not been required to download or train and test using the the app prior to this year.

The Baomiguan training is intended to further enhance the secret-keeping awareness of personnel involved with classified information, according to a notice published this month by the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology.

Course takers also need to take a test on the subject material, and then submit certificates proving their completion to the schools office in charge of secret keeping, the university notice said, adding that the course was required by a provincial authority that oversees state secrets. It applies to school officials and personnel involved in defense and military research.

The Baomiguan training applies to both domestic workers and those who are based overseas, according to an internal memo from one of the state-owned enterprises that was seen by Bloomberg News.

The official Baomiguan WeChat account said more than 1.46 million people have enrolled in the course as of May 8, with about a third receiving their completion certificates.

Baomiguans publisher, Gold Wall Press, is run by the national state secrets administration, according to a 2020 notice on the agencys website. The app itself is about two years old.

The governments anti-spy campaign ramped up last month, when Beijing passed a vague counter-espionage law that expanded the list of activities that may be considered spying as part of a national campaign.

The most high-profile target so far has been Capvision Pro Corp., a consultancy with headquarters in New York and Shanghai that has been accused of leaking state secrets and said after a probe that it would set up a committee to manage compliance issues.

In recent months, Chinese authorities have also questioned employees at US consulting firm Bain & Companys Shanghai office, and raided New York-based due diligence firm Mintz Groups office in Beijing and detained five of its Chinese employees.

Baomiguan warned local officials in a statement on its official WeChat account Thursday to be careful of foreign intelligence agencies offering money for classified information in the name of investment and research.

Infiltration, collection and secret stealing is becoming worse and worse, it said in a statement. Grassroots cadres should always stay alert.

--With assistance from Rebecca Choong Wilkins and Lucille Liu.

(Updates with Baomiguan statement in the last two paragraphs.)

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PITTSBURGH (AP)  A 15-year-old student was charged with homicide in the fatal shooting of his 15-year-old schoolmate just outside a school in Pittsburgh shortly before classes were due to start Wednesday morning, police said.

Officers found Derrick Harris just before 7:30 a.m. with gunshot wounds by the front steps of Oliver Citywide Academy, police said. A gunshot detection system indicated 11 rounds had been fired. Major Crimes Commander Richard Ford said Harris was critically injured and rushed to a hospital, where he died.

The other 15-year-old student, who was seen by an officer running from the school with a gun, was arrested and a weapon recovered, Ford said. The student was identified as Jaymier Perry in a court docket and Jamier Perry in a police statement. He was charged with criminal homicide, possession of a firearm by a minor and carrying a firearm without a license. Perry was taken to the county jail, according to police. Court records didnt list a defense attorney.

Oliver Citywide Academy is a full-time special education center serving grades 3-12, according to the city school districts website. It wasnt immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

Most students were still on their way to the school when the shooting happened, and buses were rerouted to another school building, according to city spokesperson Maria Montano. Students who were already in the school were kept in the building and classes were canceled for the day.

We believe, based on the information that we have and the video weve been able to see, that we have the actor in custody and theres no potential threat to the other schools, Ford said.

The citys new police chief, Larry Scirotto, on the job for his first full day following confirmation Tuesday, said at the scene that such violence was unacceptable.

The tragedies cannot continue unchecked, Scirotto told WTAE-TV, vowing to work to assure parents that when they send their kids to school that their kids wont become a victim of gun violence.

Mayor Ed Gainey vowed to help students affected by the shooting and said his administration would connect the family with support services.

No child should ever have to fear going to school, and no parent should ever worry about their child never coming home, Gainey said.

We have cultivated a culture of violence and death, celebrated guns, and glorified shooting, he said in a statement.  We have to cultivate a new culture, create a new path forward for our kids."

The shooting came a little more than a year after another student was gunned down at the same school. Fifteen-year-old Marquis Campbell was killed in January 2022 as he sat in a school van waiting to go home. The alleged shooters  two brothers who Campbell knew from another school  were charged earlier this year with murder and conspiracy.

The shooting also came exactly one year after 19 students and two teachers were gunned down at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents shows signs of winding down.

In the letter, which Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty asserted that Trump is being treated unfairly and asked for a meeting to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors. The language echoed some of Trump's own complaints in recent months about the investigations being led by special counsel Jack Smith.

It was not immediately clear what specifically prompted the letter, but the yearlong documents probe appears to be nearing an end. Agents and prosecutors have interviewed a broad cross-section of witnesses, including attorneys for Trump, former White House officials and other close aides.

The investigation is seeking to determine whether Trump illegally retained hundreds of classified documents taken with him from the White House to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, after the end of his tenure and whether he sought to obstruct government efforts to get the records back.

It is not uncommon for defense lawyers to seek meetings with senior Justice Department officials to argue against potential indictments of their clients, though it is unusual for such meetings to include the attorney general.

Special counsels enjoy broad autonomy within the Justice Department, and officials have repeatedly signaled that the recommendation on whether to pursue charges against Trump or anyone else in the investigation belongs with Smith and his team. Garland did not move once to overrule any of the actions taken in the recently concluded probe by another special counsel, John Durham, into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016.

Trump's lawyers and a Trump spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

In addition to the documents investigation, Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
LONDON (AP)  The U.K. interior minister wont face investigation over allegations that she tried to pull strings after getting a speeding ticket, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday, in an attempt to lay to rest one of several ethics claims dogging the Conservative government.

Sunak said he had consulted his standards adviser over the claims about Home Secretary Suella Braverman and decided her actions didn't breach the code of conduct for government ministers.

But Sunak gently chastised Braverman, saying a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.

The case centers on a speeding ticket Braverman got last year, when she was the U.K. attorney general. The Sunday Times reported that Braverman had asked civil servants to arrange a private speed-awareness session for her, rather than the usual group course for drivers who commit minor offenses. The newspaper said that civil servants refused to get involved.

In a letter to Sunak, Braverman said she had made inquiries about doing the driving course in a way that maintained her security and privacy as a senior government minister with police protection.

I recognize how some people have construed this as me seeking to avoid sanction  at no point was that the intention or outcome, Braverman said.

She said she ultimately opted to pay a fine and receive demerit points on her license rather than taking the course.

I regret that my attempt to find a way to participate in the course in a manner that would have satisfied these (security and privacy) concerns has enabled some to construe a potential conflict of interest, Braverman said.

Braverman is a favorite of the right wing of the governing Conservative Party who has championed the U.K.s controversial plan to send asylum-seekers who cross the English Channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

Sunak promised a government of integrity, professionalism and accountability when he took office in October after three years of tumult under predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. But he has lost several ministers to rule breaches.

Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson quit in November over bullying allegations, Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi was fired in January for failing to come clean about a tax dispute, and Dominic Raab quit as deputy prime minister last month after an investigation found he had bullied civil servants.

Sunak himself is also being investigated. A parliamentary watchdog is studying whether he properly disclosed his wifes interest in a company that stands to benefit from a big boost to government-funded childcare.

Johnson, who resigned in July, is also back in the spotlight. The former prime minister, who was fined last year for breaking his own governments pandemic lockdown rules in the so-called partygate scandal, has been reported to police again over more potential breaches of COVID-19 restrictions.

Johnson was reported by civil servants over alleged visits to Chequers, the prime ministers official country retreat, as well as potential breaches in the leaders Downing Street residence.

The Metropolitan Police force and Thames Valley Police said they were assessing details relating to incidents between June 2020 and May 2021. Johnson denies wrongdoing.

The material came to light as lawyers were helping Johnson prepare his submissions and testimony to Britains upcoming public inquiry into how the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, retired judge Heather Hallett, who is chairing the probe, chastised officials for trying to withhold parts of Johnson's diaries and his WhatsApp messages from the inquiry. She said that "the entire contents of the specified documents are of potential relevance to the lines of investigation being pursued by the Inquiry.
Id never really considered that the success of a jukebox musical could be location-dependent, but several times while watching The Stamping Ground I found myself wondering whether it would ever catch on outside of Scotland. Its based around the songs of Runrig, a hugely popular Scottish band who called it a day in 2018.

The show was first seen in Inverness last summer and this is its first tour though, tellingly, all the venues its playing are in Scotland. Of course, Sunshine on Leith is a very Scottish jukebox musical too, but the songs of The Proclaimers are known and loved far beyond Scotlands borders in a way that Runrigs mostly arent.

The Stamping Ground is as grounded in the Scottish Highlands as Sunshine is grounded in Edinburgh. Euan and Annie have returned to their home village of Glenbeag, a move partly triggered by the bullying of their daughter Fiona at school in London. When they arrive they find the village struggling to survive, having lost the cafe, the post office and most of its population. Only the pub remains, and developers are circling it with the intention of converting it into holiday homes. Euans family past returns to haunt him as they struggle to adjust to their new life, while the future comes into focus through the enigmatic figure of Summer, who helps on the croft with Euans mother.

The plot is very conventional, and you can tell from early on exactly how it is going to unfold. In fact, I wondered whether the creative team has been watching Local Hero. The path of romance, the journey to acceptance, the salvation of the pub and the community: everything lines up just how you expect it to. However, tab A is fitted into slot B pretty energetically thanks to Morna Youngs engaging script. Sure, there are dangerously shonky elements, such as a gay love story that feels tokenistic, and the angry father/daughter relationship isnt convincingly fleshed out, but it all unfolds with colour thanks to the strong characters. They may be stereotypes, but theyre engaging ones.

And lets face it: thats one of the hazards of the jukebox musical form. The songs come first, and the story has to be retrofitted around them, so if the lurch from script to song is often quite awkward then thats hardly Youngs fault. The Stamping Ground therefore stands or falls on the strengths of Runrigs songs, and on that basis it just about holds up. Theres variety, from rocky energy to wistful ballad, and the songs are performed by a cast who are totally committed to the material. Euans tortured struggle for a role is embodied effectively by Ali Watt, and Jenny Hulse makes Annies journey poignant as she grows closer to the land while growing distant from her husband. Naomi Stirrat is particularly engaging as Summer, both in her singing and her acting, and the ensemble of smaller characters are all brought to life with distinctive variety. Kenneth MacLeods designs evoke the highland setting through craggy abstract symbolism, and the scene changes flow quickly and easily around the musicians on stage.

So yes, its dramatically wobbly, and it could happily lose 20 minutes of its running time; but I tapped my feet, I smiled consistently and, in the end, I even sang along, which I guess constitutes a pretty strong night out at the theatre.
(Bloomberg) -- Chinas benchmark stock index erased all its gains for the year as a weaker yuan and developers debt woes added to persistent worries over growth and geopolitics.

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The CSI 300 Index closed down 1.4% Wednesday, with the energy and financial sectors leading the decline. The benchmark is among the worst performers in Asia this year, compared to a more than 3% advance in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index and double-digit gains in key gauges for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Chinese stocks have steadily fallen out of favor since a reopening rally fizzled at the end of January, belying bullish conviction calls from Wall Street analysts at the start of 2023. Weaker-than-expected economic data have prompted banks from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Barclays Plc to slash their growth forecasts, while worries over worsening ties with Western countries have also hurt sentiment.

READ: Yuan Weakness Risks Dealing Another Blow to China: Taking Stock

Developers financial woes were again in focus on Wednesday, with a number of local government financing vehicles struggling to repay debt on time. A Bloomberg gauge of Chinese builders shed more than 2%, falling for the 11th session in its longest such streak since 2018.

It looks like its going to be a grueling year, said Dai Yuzhong, a fund manager at Shanghai Shinyu Private Fund Management Co. The pessimism in the market is spreading, and negatives ranging from the yuan losing the 7 level to worries about LGFV payment are putting investors on the defense.

Outflows from foreign investors continued. They offloaded 4.5 billion yuan ($635 million) after a $1.1 billion selloff via trading links with Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Read: China LGFVs Last-Minute Bond Payment Highlights Local Struggles

Tensions between China and the US have heated up as Beijing banned purchases of Micron Technology Inc.s products on national security grounds, which ignited accusations of over-reach from US officials.

Traders are also watching how Chinas new Covid wave, which is forecast to peak at about 65 million infections a week toward the end of June, may affect the recovery.

Read: US Must Widen China Chip Curbs in Micron Riposte, Lawmaker Says

Investors this year have turned to more themed trades as the macro environment deteriorated. State-owned enterprises have witnessed eye-popping gains after regulators called for building a valuation system with Chinese characteristics, a term some interpreted as a signal to boost valuations. Artificial intelligence-related companies also saw frenzied trading earlier this year before enthusiasm cooled.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong slid 1.9% on Wednesday, while a gauge of technology stocks lost 2% to close at its lowest since late November.

--With assistance from April Ma.

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(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. spent 16 months preparing its Banamex unit for a sale that ultimately fizzled after meddling by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

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Representatives of the US bank and German Larreas Grupo Mexico SAB had spent months preparing the final touches on a $7 billion deal that would have allowed the mining magnate to acquire most of Banamex. Financing was arranged and press releases were written. All that was needed was Larreas official sign-off.

Lea la nota en espanol.

Then AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, took one step too far.

In a move that shocked Mexico, the president seized a section of Grupo Mexicos railroad tracks in the state of Veracruz. Declaring the property of public utility, he transferred it to a government entity. It wasnt a one-off. Just weeks earlier, AMLO had introduced a set of bills that would extend the states reach into aviation and mining.

Taken together, the unprecedented moves spooked Larrea into privately seeking assurances that the banking industry wouldnt be next, asking whether similar moves might be attempted after the Banamex deal closed, according to people familiar with the matter.

Reassurance was slow to come, and so Larrea dragged his feet on signing a deal, the people said. Then, earlier this week, AMLO teased that he was weighing a public-private partnership for Banamex, a move that added even more uncertainty to Larreas ability to pull off the bid. When Citigroup executives came to him with an ultimatum  sign on the dotted line or they would have to move forward with an initial public offering  Larrea told them to do whatever they had to do.

And so, Citigroup announced Wednesday it would go ahead with an IPO for the business, an option that was always on the table but one executives favored less because it would take longer.

Reality is, it takes at least two to strike a deal, Susan Roth Katzke, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a note to clients.

Finding a buyer didnt seem as tricky a year ago, when Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser began the sale process. Bidders including Spains Banco Santander SA and the billionaires Carlos Slim and Ricardo Salinas began lining up. With some $44 billion of assets up for grabs, they were lured by the prospect of owning the countrys second-largest bank, with roots dating back 130 years.

But from the beginning, AMLO made his preferences known for how any sale should proceed. The left-wing president had publicly called for a local, rather than foreign, buyer and required there be no massive layoffs in the aftermath. He also wanted to preserve the historically important art collection that Banamex owns.

Even on Wednesday, after Citigroup had declared it would pursue an IPO instead, AMLO mused that Banamex could represent a good opportunity for Mexico to own a bank, with the government spending perhaps $3 billion for a stake in the company.

Citigroup  which has long said its continued investment in Banamex was proof of its belief in the countrys prospects  still faces the thorny task of separating the institutional business it plans to keep operating in Mexico from the retail unit its dumping. On the plus side, the IPO option allows the bank to resume share buybacks this quarter. They had been on hold because the sale was expected to temporarily hurt capital levels.

We concluded the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual-path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business, Fraser said in a statement Wednesday.

The Weill Era

When Citigroup announced it would acquire Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival in 2001, it was instantly heralded as a landmark deal for the country in the wake of the devastating Tequila Crisis of the mid-1990s. At the time, analysts said the $12.5 billion price tag was equal to all foreign direct investment in Mexico.

Back then, Citigroup was led by Chairman Sanford Weill, who spent years assembling a collection of Wall Street and consumer-finance businesses that helped solidify the lenders spot as the the largest financial institution in the world.

Flash forward two decades and Fraser was just a few months into her tenure when she announced in April 2022 that the company would dispose of 13 retail-banking divisions around the world as part of her push to simplify Citigroup and focus on more-lucrative businesses. One division was notably missing from the list: Banamex.

At the time, the New York-based bank was adamant that it had the proper scale to compete effectively in Mexico. Indeed, the unit was home to the companys largest network of retail branches.

Still, less than a year later, Fraser did an about-face, announcing Banamex had ultimately fallen victim to the CEOs drive to improve efficiency. At the time, Citigroup said the unit had roughly $44 billion in assets and consumed about $4 billion in average allocated tangible common equity.

The Mexican bank Grupo Financiero Banorte, Banco Santander, Banca Mifel and billionaire Carlos Slims Grupo Financiero Inbursa SAB all indicated interest or submitted bids.

But one by one, all of those lenders dropped out or were told by Citigroup they would no longer be moving forward in the process. And Wednesdays announcement nixed the only remaining bidder.

Now Citigroups task will be to successfully manage Banamex during the next two years as it prepares for the IPO. Meantime, itll be open season on Banamexs market share for a long, long time, Barclays Plc analyst Gilberto Garcia said in a note.

Also on Citigroups to-do list: Separating out its institutional and private-banking services in Mexico. It expects that work to be completed in the second half of next year, allowing an IPO to take place in 2025.

That means the offering will probably take place after AMLO is scheduled to leave office.

(Updates with comment from Barclays analyst in the 21st paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. plans to sell shares of its Banamex unit in an initial public offering, ending talks for a potential $7 billion divestiture to a local buyer in a deal that faced complications from Mexicos president.

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The US bank had been close to a deal to sell most of Banamexs retail operations to Grupo Mexico SAB. Although several bidders had been vying for Banamex over the past year, the pool of potential buyers dwindled after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador placed conditions on any deal, including a requirement that Mexican capital back the transaction and there be no massive layoffs. He also wanted to preserve the historically important art collection that Banamex owns.

Lea la nota en espanol.

Banco Santander SA and Mexicos biggest locally owned bank, Grupo Financiero Banorte, dropped out in the wake of the presidents demands. With only German Larreas firm left in the bidding, AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, last week seized control of a railroad line operated by Grupo Mexico. While Lopez Obrador said that decision didnt affect his support for the Banamex deal, it added to tension between the president and Larrea, Grupo Mexicos controlling shareholder.

Citigroups IPO decision is an opportunity for the Mexican government to seek a partnership in the bank, AMLO said in his daily morning presser, adding that the country could spend as much as $3 billion on a stake in Banamex. He added that he would reach out to the finance minister to start talks on the possibility of a private-public partnership with Citi.

Read more: AMLO Says Mexico Could Offer $3 Billion For a Stake in Banamex

Grupo Mexico declined to comment.

The decision allows the US bank to restart stock buybacks this quarter, the New York-based company said in a statement Wednesday. Citigroup had been holding off on share repurchases because the sale, which could have fetched at least $7 billion, was expected to temporarily hurt capital levels.

We concluded the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual-path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business, Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser said in the statement.

Ditching Banamex is part of Frasers broader retreat from global consumer banking in order to focus on more profitable businesses. Citigroup is also finishing up efforts to dispose of 13 other retail units across Asia and Europe.

Shares of Citigroup fell 3% at 2:04 p.m. in New York. Grupo Mexico shares rose as much as 9.6% in Mexico City in their biggest intraday jump since Nov. 4. Shareholders had been skeptical about the mining and railroad companys foray into banking.

The US company still plans to offer institutional and private-banking services in Mexico, and will continue to separate those offerings from its retail products in coming quarters. It expects that work to be completed in the second half of next year, allowing an IPO to take place in 2025, according to the statement.

The business up for a public offering will retain the Banco Nacional de Mexico brand, known locally as Banamex. The division has roughly 12.7 million retail customers, 6,600 commercial clients and 10 million pension-fund customers.

The offering will include Banamexs 38,000 staffers as well as the units credit-card offerings, retail-banking products, consumer loans and residential-mortgage loans, according to Citigroup. It will also include the divisions annuities, pension assets, deposits and commercial-banking products.

Banamexs art collection  one of the largest collections of Mexican art in the world  will also remain part of the new company.

This decision demonstrates our commitment to choose the best outcome for our shareholders and allows us to resume a modest level of share buybacks this quarter, Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said in the statement. Given the uncertainty regarding regulatory capital requirements, we will continue to assess buybacks on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

Citigroup plans to report Banamexs results as part of the firms continuing operations until its ownership in the company falls below a 50% voting interest, according to the statement.

Calls to Divest

Citigroup agreed in 2001 to pay $12.5 billion for what was then known as Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival, Mexicos second-largest bank at the time. The division eventually became the US banks largest branch network in the world and one of its most profitable divisions.

But the company still faced calls to divest the unit, which has been involved in a series of scandals. In one case, Banamex said it was defrauded out of hundreds of millions of dollars on loans it made to the Mexican oil-services provider Oceanografia SA. Years of regulatory scrutiny followed, and Citigroup overhauled its lending practices in the country. It resolved a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the matter in 2018.

In 2017, Citigroup admitted to criminal violations and agreed to pay $97 million to resolve an investigation into the US unit of Banamex following a Justice Department probe into the divisions anti-money-laundering controls and due diligence.

Citigroup still stood by by the operation, which it saw as a key source of profits. Even when it announced in 2021 that it would sell more than a dozen retail businesses abroad, it excluded Mexico.

Mexico is a scaled franchise, Fraser said that year. When I compare Mexico to our Asian consumer franchise, they really benefit from the scale.

But by last year, that thinking had changed as Fraser continued with her turnaround strategy of focusing on steadier streams of revenue in businesses such as wealth management and treasury services.

In 2021, the final year for which Citigroup broke out results for the unit, revenue had dwindled to $4.25 billion, less than half what it was a decade earlier.

Citi has operated in Mexico for over a century, and we will further invest and grow our industry-leading institutional franchise in this critical global hub, Fraser said in the statement Wednesday.

(Updates share prices in ninth paragraph. A previous version of this story was corrected to include full name of German Larrea in third paragraph.)

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Bank of Georgia Group PLC (OTCMKTS:BDGSF  Get Rating)s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $39.15 and last traded at $39.15, with a volume of 0 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $39.15.

Bank of Georgia Group Price Performance

The firms fifty day moving average price is $33.80.

Bank of Georgia Group Company Profile

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Bank of Georgia Group Plc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and wealth management services. It operates through the following business segments: Retail Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and JSC Belarusky Narodny Bank (BNB). The Retail Banking segment provides consumer loans, mortgage loans, overdrafts, credit cards and other credit facilities, funds transfer, and settlement services.

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ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CHPT  Get Rating) CEO Pasquale Romano sold 20,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,148,054 shares in the company, valued at $33,184,432. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Pasquale Romano also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Monday, May 15th, Pasquale Romano sold 20,000 shares of ChargePoint stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.51, for a total value of $170,200.00.

ChargePoint Price Performance

NYSE:CHPT traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $8.49. The stock had a trading volume of 7,150,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,854,299. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.48. ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.82 and a 52 week high of $19.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of -8.51 and a beta of 1.69.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ChargePoint

ChargePoint ( NYSE:CHPT Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $152.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.31 million. ChargePoint had a negative return on equity of 82.84% and a negative net margin of 73.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. will post -0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ChargePoint in the 4th quarter worth approximately $230,588,000. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ChargePoint in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ChargePoint by 305.4% in the 4th quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,635 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ChargePoint in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new position in shares of ChargePoint in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.87% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on CHPT. Citigroup dropped their target price on ChargePoint from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on ChargePoint in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. They issued a neutral rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on ChargePoint from $25.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of ChargePoint in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on ChargePoint from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ChargePoint has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $17.68.

ChargePoint Company Profile

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ChargePoint Holdings, Inc provides electric vehicle (EV) charging networks and charging solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers a portfolio of hardware, software, and services for commercial, fleet, and residential customers. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Campbell, California.

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Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO  Get Rating) CEO William Ross Greenberg sold 8,741 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.33, for a total transaction of $107,776.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,561 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,090,687.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE TWO traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $12.43. The stock had a trading volume of 835,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,239,290. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $13.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Two Harbors Investment Corp. has a 52-week low of $11.59 and a 52-week high of $21.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.73 and a beta of 1.75.

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Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 4th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 19.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 3rd. Two Harbors Investments dividend payout ratio is currently -72.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Two Harbors Investment

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 10.4% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 355,009 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $5,222,000 after buying an additional 33,403 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 16.0% in the first quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 22,729 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,127 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 1,371.0% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,710 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 13,710 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 117.2% in the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 346,951 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 187,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 9.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,714,835 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $54,645,000 after purchasing an additional 329,744 shares during the last quarter.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TWO shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $17.25 to $17.50 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $16.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a sell rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $16.38.

About Two Harbors Investment

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Two Harbors Investment Corp. is a real estate investment trust, which invests in, finances, and manages agency residential mortgage-backed securities, mortgage servicing rights, and other financial assets. Its objective is to provide risk-adjusted returns to its stockholders over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation.

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Albert Technologies Ltd (LON:ALB  Get Rating) shares traded up 56.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as GBX 8 ($0.10) and last traded at GBX 8 ($0.10). 833,209 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 147% from the average session volume of 337,338 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 5.10 ($0.06).

Albert Technologies Stock Up 56.9 %

The stocks 50 day moving average price is GBX 8 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 8. The stock has a market capitalization of 7.98 million and a PE ratio of -0.53.

About Albert Technologies

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Albert Technologies Ltd. provides autonomous cross-channel artificial intelligence marketing platform in Israel and internationally. The company offers artificial intelligence-based software to brands and advertising agencies using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. It develops and deploys algorithmic solutions to provide marketers with a self-driving solution for cross-channel campaign execution, testing, optimization, analysis, and insights.

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Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBDO  Get Rating)s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $2.74, but opened at $2.81. Banco Bradesco shares last traded at $2.70, with a volume of 2,294 shares traded.

Banco Bradesco Trading Down 1.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $28.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

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Banco Bradesco (NYSE:BBDO  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The bank reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $9.82 billion during the quarter. Banco Bradesco had a net margin of 9.54% and a return on equity of 11.66%.

Banco Bradesco Increases Dividend

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 13th. Investors of record on Monday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.0035 per share. This is an increase from Banco Bradescos previous monthly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Banco Bradescos dividend payout ratio is presently 9.68%.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Banco Bradesco by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 154,532 shares of the banks stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 9,051 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. increased its position in Banco Bradesco by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 154,750 shares of the banks stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 31,066 shares during the last quarter. KCS Wealth Advisory acquired a new stake in Banco Bradesco in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $158,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Banco Bradesco by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 154,868 shares of the banks stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 7,312 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Banco Bradesco in the 4th quarter valued at $50,660,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.01% of the companys stock.

Banco Bradesco Company Profile

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Banco Bradesco SA engages in the provision of financial and insurance services. It operates through Banking, and Insurance segments. The Banking segment includes banking activities. The Insurance segment covers auto, health, life, accident and property insurance, and pension plans aw well as capitalization bonds.

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Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX  Get Rating) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,206 shares of the shipping companys stock after selling 409 shares during the quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLCs holdings in Matson were worth $2,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Matson by 300.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 441 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Matson by 115.9% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 803 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. bought a new position in Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. lifted its position in Matson by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 1,191 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.55% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Vic S. Angoco, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.18, for a total value of $545,440.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,193 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,081,258.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Vic S. Angoco, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.18, for a total value of $545,440.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,193 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,081,258.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark H. Fukunaga bought 1,573 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $63.59 per share, for a total transaction of $100,027.07. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 24,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,545,046.23. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,941 shares of company stock valued at $1,764,803 in the last ninety days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Matson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MATX traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.57. 48,834 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 302,727. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Matson, Inc. has a one year low of $56.51 and a one year high of $95.51.

Matson (NYSE:MATX  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The shipping company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $704.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $704.34 million. Matson had a return on equity of 33.72% and a net margin of 19.54%. The companys revenue was down 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 10th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Matsons payout ratio is 6.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MATX shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Matson in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Matson from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Stephens lowered their price objective on Matson from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd.

About Matson

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Matson, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of logistics and transportation services. It operates through the Ocean Transportation and Logistics segments. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation, container stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, and other terminal services.

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RocketFuel Blockchain (OTCMKTS:RKFL  Get Rating) and loanDepot (NYSE:LDI  Get Rating) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares RocketFuel Blockchain and loanDepots gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio RocketFuel Blockchain $30,000.00 129.72 -$4.66 million ($0.14) -0.86 loanDepot $1.26 billion 0.51 -$273.02 million ($1.74) -1.16

RocketFuel Blockchain has higher earnings, but lower revenue than loanDepot. loanDepot is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RocketFuel Blockchain, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

Analyst Recommendations

3.5% of loanDepot shares are held by institutional investors. 28.7% of RocketFuel Blockchain shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 88.7% of loanDepot shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

This is a summary of current recommendations for RocketFuel Blockchain and loanDepot, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score RocketFuel Blockchain 0 0 0 0 N/A loanDepot 1 7 0 0 1.88

loanDepot has a consensus price target of $1.83, suggesting a potential downside of 8.79%. Given loanDepots higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe loanDepot is more favorable than RocketFuel Blockchain.

Volatility & Risk

RocketFuel Blockchain has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, loanDepot has a beta of 2.41, suggesting that its share price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares RocketFuel Blockchain and loanDepots net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets RocketFuel Blockchain -4,533.66% -322.79% -216.22% loanDepot -29.28% -44.95% -6.20%

Summary

loanDepot beats RocketFuel Blockchain on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About RocketFuel Blockchain

(Get Rating)

RocketFuel Blockchain, Inc. operates as a crypto payments company. The firm provides check-out payment options using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies along with consumer privacy protection solutions to eCommerce stores and merchants and their customers. Its check-out systems are designed to enhance customers data protection, enabling consumers to pay for goods and services using cryptocurrencies or by direct transfers from their bank accounts without exposing spending credentials such as credit card data. The company was founded on April 2, 1987 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

About loanDepot

(Get Rating)

loanDepot, Inc. engages in originating, financing, selling, and servicing residential mortgage loans in the United States. It offers conventional agency-conforming and prime jumbo, federal assistance residential mortgage, and home equity loans. The company also provides settlement services, which include captive title and escrow business; real estate services that cover captive real estate referral business; and insurance services, including services to homeowners, as well as other consumer insurance policies. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Flexible Solutions International (NYSE:FSI  Get Rating) in a report issued on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

Flexible Solutions International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FSI opened at $2.94 on Friday. Flexible Solutions International has a 52 week low of $1.51 and a 52 week high of $3.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $36.57 million, a P/E ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.74.

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About Flexible Solutions International

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Flexible Solutions International, Inc is an environmental technology company engaged in the research, development, and manufacture of products that save water and energy. It operates through the following segments: Energy and Water Conservation Products and Biodegradable Polymers. The Energy and Water Conservation Products segment consists of a liquid swimming pool blanket which saves energy and water by inhibiting evaporation from the pool surface, and a food-safe powdered form of the active ingredient within the liquid blanket.

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Globeflex Capital L P boosted its position in Taylor Morrison Home Co. (NYSE:TMHC  Get Rating) by 78.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 499,576 shares of the construction companys stock after acquiring an additional 219,987 shares during the quarter. Taylor Morrison Home accounts for about 1.9% of Globeflex Capital L Ps holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Globeflex Capital L P owned 0.46% of Taylor Morrison Home worth $15,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMHC. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Taylor Morrison Home in the first quarter valued at approximately $466,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Taylor Morrison Home by 7.9% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the construction companys stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in Taylor Morrison Home during the first quarter worth approximately $309,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in Taylor Morrison Home by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 45,038 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its holdings in Taylor Morrison Home by 9.4% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 68,917 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 5,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.33% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on TMHC. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Taylor Morrison Home from $33.00 to $42.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Taylor Morrison Home from $45.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday. Credit Suisse Group lifted their target price on shares of Taylor Morrison Home from $41.00 to $47.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Taylor Morrison Home in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Taylor Morrison Home presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.25.

Insider Activity at Taylor Morrison Home

Taylor Morrison Home Stock Performance

In related news, EVP Darrell Sherman sold 14,595 shares of Taylor Morrison Home stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $649,477.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 119,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,321,265.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link . In other Taylor Morrison Home news, Director William H. Lyon sold 26,381 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.56, for a total transaction of $990,870.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,135,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $155,322,468.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . Also, EVP Darrell Sherman sold 14,595 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total transaction of $649,477.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 119,579 shares in the company, valued at $5,321,265.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold a total of 671,666 shares of company stock worth $27,832,604 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.20% of the companys stock.

Shares of Taylor Morrison Home stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.64. The companys stock had a trading volume of 299,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 993,040. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.71. Taylor Morrison Home Co. has a fifty-two week low of $20.05 and a fifty-two week high of $45.51. The company has a current ratio of 6.09, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Taylor Morrison Home (NYSE:TMHC  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 26th. The construction company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.45. Taylor Morrison Home had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 24.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Taylor Morrison Homes quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Taylor Morrison Home Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Taylor Morrison Home Profile

(Get Rating)

Taylor Morrison Home Corp. engages in the business of residential homebuilding and the development of lifestyle communities. It operates through the following segments: East, Central, West, and Financial Services. The East segment includes operations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Orlando, Raleigh, Southwest Florida, and Tampa regions.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TMHC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Taylor Morrison Home Co. (NYSE:TMHC  Get Rating).

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Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN.A  Get Rating) shares fell 2.9% on Monday . The company traded as low as $8.36 and last traded at $8.36. 649 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 1,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.61.

Gray Television Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $796.21 million, a P/E ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.22. The businesss fifty day moving average is $8.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.09.

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Gray Television (NYSE:GTN.A  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter. Gray Television had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 18.22%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

Gray Television Company Profile

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Gray Televisions dividend payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

(Get Rating)

Gray Television, Inc, a television broadcast company, owns and operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. As of February 28, 2019, it owned and operated television stations in 91 television markets broadcasting approximately 400 program streams, including approximately 150 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network, and the FOX Network.

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One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH).

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

Check out our latest analysis for Sonic Automotive

How Is ROE Calculated?

Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Sonic Automotive is:

4.6% = US$39m  US$855m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.05 in profit.

Does Sonic Automotive Have A Good Return On Equity?

By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. As shown in the graphic below, Sonic Automotive has a lower ROE than the average (19%) in the Specialty Retail industry classification.

roe

That certainly isn't ideal. That being said, a low ROE is not always a bad thing, especially if the company has low leverage as this still leaves room for improvement if the company were to take on more debt. When a company has low ROE but high debt levels, we would be cautious as the risk involved is too high. Our risks dashboard should have the 4 risks we have identified for Sonic Automotive.

The Importance Of Debt To Return On Equity

Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.

Sonic Automotive's Debt And Its 4.6% ROE

It seems that Sonic Automotive uses a huge volume of debt to fund the business, since it has an extremely high debt to equity ratio of 3.69. The combination of a rather low ROE and high debt to equity is a negative, in our book.

Summary

Return on equity is one way we can compare its business quality of different companies. In our books, the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. 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.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So I think it may be worth checking this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.

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Holmen AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:HLMNY  Get Rating) traded up 1.2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $19.75 and last traded at $19.75. 300 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 69% from the average session volume of 178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.52.

Holmen AB (publ) Stock Performance

The companys fifty day simple moving average is $20.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.88.

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Holmen AB (publ) Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 30th were given a dividend of $0.4758 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 29th. This is a boost from Holmen AB (publ)s previous dividend of $0.38. This represents a dividend yield of 2.27%.

Holmen AB (publ) Company Profile

Holmen AB (publ) produces and sells paperboards, papers, wood products, and renewable energy in Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, rest of Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company's Forest segment offers logs, pulpwood, and biofuel to sawmills, pulp mills, and paperboard and paper mills; and manages forests, which cover approximately one million hectares.

Further Reading

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Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG  Get Rating) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,506 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 4,279 shares during the period. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF comprises about 1.9% of Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLCs holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLCs holdings in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF were worth $6,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 145.5% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,590 shares of the companys stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 36.2% during the first quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 52,003 shares of the companys stock worth $5,570,000 after acquiring an additional 13,829 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF during the first quarter valued at about $241,000. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 2.0% in the first quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 14,640 shares of the companys stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.07% of the companys stock.

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iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSEARCA:AGG opened at $98.16 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $99.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.68. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a 1-year low of $93.20 and a 1-year high of $104.39.

About iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

IShares are index funds that are bought and sold like common stocks on national securities exchanges as well as certain foreign exchanges. iShares are attractive because of their relatively low cost, tax efficiency and trading flexibility. Investors can purchase and sell shares through any brokerage firm, financial advisor, or online broker, and hold the funds in any type of brokerage account.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AGG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG  Get Rating).

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Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,533 shares of the retailers stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Walmart comprises about 1.2% of Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLCs holdings in Walmart were worth $4,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. My Personal CFO LLC bought a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 112.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 212 shares of the retailers stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 105.3% during the 4th quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the retailers stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Lipe & Dalton bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. 31.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 563,717 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.26, for a total transaction of $80,194,380.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 264,873,644 shares of the companys stock, valued at $37,680,924,595.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 9,708 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total transaction of $1,382,127.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,371,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $195,330,785.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 563,717 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.26, for a total value of $80,194,380.42. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 264,873,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,680,924,595.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,647,447 shares of company stock valued at $2,926,567,683 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 47.06% of the companys stock.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $147.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $396.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.48. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $117.90 and a 52-week high of $154.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $148.40 and a 200 day moving average of $145.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 18th. The retailer reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.15. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 1.82%. The company had revenue of $152.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 6.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 7th. Walmarts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Capital restated a buy rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Walmart from $160.00 to $164.00 in a report on Friday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Walmart from $161.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Walmart from $165.00 to $170.00 in a report on Friday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Walmart from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $166.13.

Walmart Profile

(Get Rating)

Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sams Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.

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NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP  Get Rating) had its price target dropped by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $74.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, The Fly reports. Royal Bank of Canadas price target indicates a potential upside of 21.71% from the stocks current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of NextEra Energy Partners from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $81.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $87.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 17th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a sell rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $78.83.

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NextEra Energy Partners Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NEP stock opened at $59.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. NextEra Energy Partners has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $86.06. The firms 50 day moving average price is $60.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy Partners

NextEra Energy Partners ( NYSE:NEP Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $301.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.92 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a net margin of 25.91% and a return on equity of 2.38%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy Partners will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

In other news, Director Peter H. Kind purchased 1,750 shares of NextEra Energy Partners stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $56.89 per share, with a total value of $99,557.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 32,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,839,822.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 2.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 29,854 shares of the solar energy providers stock valued at $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 43.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,474 shares of the solar energy providers stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,858 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 123.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,466 shares of the solar energy providers stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 8.7% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,860 shares of the solar energy providers stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 0.6% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 65,199 shares of the solar energy providers stock worth $5,488,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.05% of the companys stock.

NextEra Energy Partners Company Profile

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NextEra Energy Partners LP engages in the acquisition, management, and ownership of contracted clean energy projects with long-term cash flows. It owns interests in wind and solar projects in North America and natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. The company was founded on March 6, 2014 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, FL.

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Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT  Get Rating) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on NAT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Nordic American Tankers from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Nordic American Tankers from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Nordic American Tankers from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $5.25.

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Nordic American Tankers Stock Performance

NAT traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $3.83. 5,841,512 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,184,287. The firm has a market capitalization of $799.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.83 and a beta of 0.09. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $3.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Nordic American Tankers has a 1-year low of $1.80 and a 1-year high of $4.65.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers ( NYSE:NAT Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 22nd. The shipping company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 2.96%. The business had revenue of $87.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $79.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.14) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Nordic American Tankers by 2.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 510,212 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 14,048 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 25.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 606,947 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 122,381 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 128,599 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26,995 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Nordic American Tankers by 11.1% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 257,510 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 25,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 3.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,897,210 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $21,082,000 after buying an additional 366,761 shares during the period. 40.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

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Nordic American Tankers Ltd. operates as an international tanker company. It owns and operates Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was founded by Herbjorn Hansson on June 12, 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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Ntt Docomo, Inc. (OTCMKTS:DCMYY  Get Rating) rose 0% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $36.17 and last traded at $36.13. Approximately 3,300 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 29,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.12.

Ntt Docomo Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.13.

About Ntt Docomo

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NTT DOCOMO, INC., a telecommunications company, provides various mobile services in Japan and internationally. It operates through three segments: Telecommunications Business, Smart Life Business, and Other Businesses. The company offers iPhone, iPad, smartphone, tablet, and feature phone products and services under the docomo name, as well as d POINT CLUB, a point program.

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Old Mutual Limited (LON:OMU  Get Rating) fell 0.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 46.15 ($0.57) and last traded at GBX 46.15 ($0.57). 302,886 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 317,082 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 46.50 ($0.58).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Old Mutual from GBX 62 ($0.77) to GBX 60 ($0.75) and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th.

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Old Mutual Trading Down 0.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 96.32. The firm has a market cap of 2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 659.29 and a beta of 1.15. The companys 50 day simple moving average is GBX 49.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 51.93.

Old Mutual Increases Dividend

Old Mutual Company Profile

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th were paid a GBX 2.27 ($0.03) dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a yield of 4.58%. This is an increase from Old Mutuals previous dividend of $1.25. Old Mutuals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5,714.29%.

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Old Mutual Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides financial services primarily in South Africa and rest of Africa. The company operates through Mass and Foundation Cluster, Personal Finance and Wealth Management, Old Mutual Investments, Old Mutual Corporate, Old Mutual Insure, and Rest of Africa segments.

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Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR  Get Rating) insider Shyam Sankar sold 269,510 shares of Palantir Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total value of $3,169,437.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,603,950 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $18,862,452. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Palantir Technologies Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of Palantir Technologies stock traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $12.64. 147,901,906 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 46,211,137. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -98.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 2.85. Palantir Technologies Inc. has a one year low of $5.84 and a one year high of $13.42.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd now owns 57,591 shares of the companys stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 95,700 shares of the companys stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 30,470 shares of the companys stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. Sepio Capital LP increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 16,181 shares of the companys stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 51,712 shares of the companys stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. 31.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

About Palantir Technologies

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PLTR. DA Davidson began coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. They issued a neutral rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $6.00 to $7.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $8.50 to $10.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palantir Technologies currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $8.54.

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Palantir Technologies Inc builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community in the United States to assist in counterterrorism investigations and operations. The company provides palantir gotham, a software platform which enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants, as well as facilitates the handoff between analysts and operational users, helping operators plan and execute real-world responses to threats that have been identified within the platform.

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Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 91,325 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after buying an additional 2,322 shares during the quarter. Pfizer makes up about 1.4% of Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLCs holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLCs holdings in Pfizer were worth $4,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. RB Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 6.7% in the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.1% during the first quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 36,081 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $1,868,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 46,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 136.3% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 36,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $1,903,000 after buying an additional 21,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 6.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,337,418 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $69,238,000 after buying an additional 79,887 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.62% of the companys stock.

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Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE PFE opened at $39.62 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $223.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.17 and a 52 week high of $54.93.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.23. Pfizer had a net margin of 31.25% and a return on equity of 37.53%. The business had revenue of $18.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 28.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Pfizers dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, May 17th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $47.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, major shareholder Pfizer Inc purchased 1,811,594 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $2.76 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,999.44. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 5,952,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,428,245.88. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Pfizer Inc bought 1,811,594 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.76 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,999.44. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 5,952,263 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $16,428,245.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $38.58 per share, for a total transaction of $38,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,480. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 1,813,594 shares of company stock worth $5,076,999. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Pfizer

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Pfizer Inc is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company. It engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of biopharmaceutical products worldwide. The firm works across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PFE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating).

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Shares of PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund (NYSEARCA:HYS  Get Rating) were up 0.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $90.46 and last traded at $90.34. Approximately 155,657 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 334,905 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.97.

PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund Trading Down 0.6 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.41.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new stake in shares of PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,326,000. Compass Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Financial Group Inc. now owns 27,875 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Beaumont Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,613,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund by 456.7% in the 3rd quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 41,188 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,598,000 after purchasing an additional 33,789 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000.

PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund Company Profile

The PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund (HYS) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in high yield fixed income. The fund aims to capture exposure to the short maturity segment of the high-yield corporate bond sector. HYS was launched on Jun 16, 2011 and is managed by PIMCO.

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damircudic / iStock.com

If U.S. lawmakers fail to reach a debt ceiling agreement in time to avoid a government default  something that could happen as soon as June 1  millions of Americans might see disruptions to their health insurance coverage.

Read: Heres How Much Money Experts Say You Should Have in Your Savings Account If Youre in Your 50s

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One of the main impacts of a default would be felt by Americans who receive government-run health insurance from programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Thats because many healthcare providers depend on Medicare and Medicaid for revenue, Politico reported  and those programs could see funding cut in the event of a default.

Medicare alone accounted for more than one-quarter (26%) of national hospital spending as recently as 2021. If the federal government suspends Medicare funds because it has run out of money, providers might have difficulty meeting their own obligations, according to a recent report from Moodys Analytics.

Disruptions to Medicare and Medicaid payments are a problem for the healthcare industry and most significantly smaller hospitals and doctors offices with little financial wiggle room, especially in rural areas, the Moodys report said. Longer term, healthcare providers would likely be more hesitant to see Medicare and Medicaid patients.

For millions of Medicare recipients, this means they wont have access to healthcare services they currently depend on.

Americans who get health insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace could also see a disruption in benefits. These Americans would instantly see their premiums go up if the U.S. Treasury Department can no longer fund subsidies because of default, Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, told Politico. Those who cant afford the higher premiums might end up losing coverage.

A major impact would also be felt by Americans who depend on the Veterans Affairs department for certain health services. In the event of a default, some veterans hospitals might not remain open, meaning veterans could lose access to needed care, according to Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Even if lawmakers come up with a plan to raise the debt limit and avoid a default, hundreds of thousands of Americans could see a disruption to their health insurance, The Hill reported.

The reason is that U.S. House Republicans want to include stricter work requirements for Medicaid recipients as part a debt ceiling deal with President Joe Biden. Under the GOP plan, roughly 600,000 Americans would lose healthcare because they would no longer qualify for Medicaid, The Hill reported, citing an April analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. Most of those affected would be low- and moderate-income Americans who are 19- to 56-years-old and capable of working.

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Although Biden and leading Democrats publicly oppose such a measure, there are fears that the president might be willing to make certain concessions to get a deal done and avoid a default.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Could You Lose Your Health Insurance If the Debt Ceiling Isnt Raised?
Several analysts have recently updated their ratings and price targets for Stantec (TSE: STN):

5/12/2023  Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Desjardins from C$87.00 to C$89.00.

5/12/2023  Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from C$88.00 to C$90.00.

5/12/2023  Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$84.00 to C$89.00.

5/11/2023  Stantec was downgraded by analysts at Atb Cap Markets from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating.

4/3/2023  Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from C$86.00 to C$88.00.

Stantec Stock Down 0.7 %

TSE:STN opened at C$77.21 on Wednesday. Stantec Inc. has a one year low of C$53.93 and a one year high of C$83.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 82.00, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of C$8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.71. The firms 50 day simple moving average is C$79.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$72.85.

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Stantec (TSE:STN  Get Rating) (NYSE:STN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported C$0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.70 by C$0.12. The firm had revenue of C$1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$1.10 billion. Stantec had a return on equity of 12.36% and a net margin of 5.76%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Stantec Inc. will post 3.4457244 earnings per share for the current year.

Stantec Dividend Announcement

Insider Buying and Selling

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. Stantecs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.37%.

In other news, Director Michael Aloysius Kennedy sold 3,572 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$58.21, for a total value of C$207,942.55. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately C$116.43. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Stantec Inc provides engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting services in the areas of infrastructure and facilities in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company provides consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics.

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Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW  Get Rating) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,486,215 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 458,162 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Groups holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $373,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Phocas Financial Corp. purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Exos TFP Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 10,796 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.23, for a total transaction of $866,163.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,322 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,598,944.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 10,796 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.23, for a total value of $866,163.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,598,944.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 34,667 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.33, for a total value of $2,646,132.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $851,766.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 81,000 shares of company stock worth $4,706,960. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the companys stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SCHW traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.18. The company had a trading volume of 3,727,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,380,131. The company has a market capitalization of $92.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $45.00 and a 12-month high of $86.63.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.13 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Charles Schwabs dividend payout ratio is presently 27.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Charles Schwab from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $53.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, April 17th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $68.73.

Charles Schwab Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Charles Schwab Corp. is a savings and loan holding company, which engages in the provision of wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services. It operates through the Investor Services and Advisor Services segments. The Investor Services segment includes retail brokerage and banking services to individual investors, and retirement plan services, as well as other corporate brokerage services, to businesses and their employees.

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PHX Minerals Inc. (NYSE:PHX  Get Rating)  Investment analysts at Seaport Res Ptn upped their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of PHX Minerals in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, May 18th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst N. Pope now expects that the oil and gas producer will post earnings of $0.07 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.03. The consensus estimate for PHX Minerals current full-year earnings is $0.21 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for PHX Minerals Q4 2024 earnings at $0.08 EPS.

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A number of other research analysts also recently commented on PHX. TheStreet downgraded shares of PHX Minerals from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on shares of PHX Minerals from $7.00 to $5.50 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on PHX Minerals from $6.00 to $4.70 in a report on Monday. Alliance Global Partners started coverage on PHX Minerals in a research note on Monday, April 17th. They issued a buy rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on PHX Minerals in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, PHX Minerals has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $5.07.

PHX Minerals Price Performance

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PHX Minerals

Shares of NYSE:PHX opened at $2.99 on Monday. The companys fifty day moving average is $2.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.24. The company has a market cap of $110.66 million, a P/E ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.63. PHX Minerals has a 12-month low of $2.33 and a 12-month high of $4.98. The company has a quick ratio of 5.13, a current ratio of 5.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of PHX Minerals by 540.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 31,528 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 26,606 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in PHX Minerals in the first quarter worth about $33,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in PHX Minerals by 1.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 416,606 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 6,046 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in PHX Minerals by 10.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 513,071 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 48,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of PHX Minerals by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 465,853 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 27,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.07% of the companys stock.

PHX Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.0225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 19th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. PHX Mineralss payout ratio is 10.34%.

PHX Minerals Company Profile

(Get Rating)

PHX Minerals, Inc engages in the acquisition, management, and development of non-operated oil and natural gas properties, including wells located on the firms mineral and leasehold acreage. The company was founded on December 3, 1926 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX.

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Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK  Get Rating) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Teekay Tankers from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. TheStreet upgraded Teekay Tankers from a c rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $51.00.

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Teekay Tankers Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE TNK traded down $1.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $38.85. The companys stock had a trading volume of 403,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 519,716. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.83 and a 200 day moving average of $36.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Teekay Tankers has a twelve month low of $14.90 and a twelve month high of $48.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.25, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of -0.15.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teekay Tankers

Teekay Tankers ( NYSE:TNK Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The shipping company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $367.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.54 million. Teekay Tankers had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 32.12%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 129.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.74) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Teekay Tankers will post 13.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Toroso Investments LLC bought a new position in Teekay Tankers in the 1st quarter valued at about $234,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Teekay Tankers by 239.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 45,848 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $1,969,000 after purchasing an additional 32,353 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Teekay Tankers by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 380,200 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $16,322,000 after purchasing an additional 29,697 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Teekay Tankers in the 1st quarter valued at $419,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Teekay Tankers by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 236,582 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $10,156,000 after buying an additional 15,645 shares in the last quarter. 28.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Teekay Tankers

(Get Rating)

Teekay Tankers Ltd. engages in the provision of crude oil and refined petroleum products through the operation of its oil and product tankers. It operates through the Tanker and Ship-to-Ship (STS) Transfer segment. The Tanker segment includes the operations of all the tankers, including those employed on full service lightering contracts.

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SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 29,717 shares of the business services providers stock, valued at approximately $3,986,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BR. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 290 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. General Partner Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 82.5% in the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 365 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity

In other news, VP Laura Matlin sold 4,052 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.73, for a total transaction of $622,913.96. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,825 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $895,477.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Robert Schifellite sold 15,695 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $2,394,900.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,314 shares in the company, valued at $7,677,413.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Matlin sold 4,052 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.73, for a total transaction of $622,913.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $895,477.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,922 shares of company stock valued at $3,335,277 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Broadridge Financial Solutions Stock Down 1.6 %

Several brokerages have weighed in on BR. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a report on Monday, April 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $169.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadridge Financial Solutions has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $161.40.

BR stock traded down $2.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.75. 227,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 550,368. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.35 and a 1 year high of $183.33. The firms 50 day moving average is $145.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.72. The stock has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 40.29%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.725 per share. This represents a $2.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. Broadridge Financial Solutionss payout ratio is presently 62.23%.

About Broadridge Financial Solutions

(Get Rating)

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of investor communications and technology solutions to banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and corporate issuers. It operates through the following segments: Investor Communication Solutions and Global Technology and Operations. The Investor Communication Solutions segment offers services for broker-dealer investor communication, customer communication, corporate issuer, advisor solutions, and mutual fund and retirement solutions.

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Shares of The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited (CVE:WI  Get Rating) traded up 5.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$0.40 and last traded at C$0.40. 1,000 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 96% from the average session volume of 26,743 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.38.

Western Investment Company of Canada Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$0.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of C$12.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.00 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.76.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Western Investment Company of Canada

In other Western Investment Company of Canada news, Director Scott Tannas sold 75,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$0.38, for a total transaction of C$28,500.00. Company insiders own 11.26% of the companys stock.

Western Investment Company of Canada Company Profile

The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited, is a private equity firm specializing in buyout and middle market investments. It seeks investments in retail and distribution, human services, agriculture and related services and special situations. The firm prefers to invest in USA and Canada with a focus in companies which are headquartered in Western Canada like Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

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Europe should work more closely with the United States in forging a common policy towards China, according to the Czech Republic's foreign minister.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Jan Lipavsky said the EU "has to cooperate with the US, much more than [with] China".

"That's my plea, that's my intervention into the European debate," Lipavsky said, amid a heated debate in the EU over a new China strategy, and on how aligned its approach should be with that of Washington.

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.

Some parts of the bloc - notably France and Germany - have sought to create distance with some of Washington's more hawkish policies and prefer to view China policy through a broadly economic lens.

A paper commissioned by the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell and debated by EU members this month, said the bloc "should not subscribe to an idea of a zero-sum game whereby there can only be one winner, in a binary contest between the US and China".

But Lipavsky is a prominent voice in a caucus of Central and Eastern European countries that looks to Washington as a guarantor of their national security.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. Photo: Facebook @Jan Lipavsky alt=Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. Photo: Facebook @Jan Lipavsky>

The grouping has adopted a more assertive approach towards Beijing - particularly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February. Some of those governments were annoyed at the level of engagement prescribed by Borrell's paper.

"Tell me where a country stands on the United States and I know what it will say about China," said Tim Ruhlig, an analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations, in a recent blog post.

"Central and Eastern European countries yearn for US security guarantees because of Russia," he said.

Since coming to office in late 2021, Lipavsky's government has become one of Europe's most vocal critics of China and strongest supporters of Taiwan. It has been described as a return to the "Havelian" outlook of the past - in reference to former president Vaclav Havel - with democracy and human rights at the core of foreign policy.

Prague's position among Europe's most hawkish was confirmed in January when former Nato general Petr Pavel won the presidential election to replace Milos Zeman, who nurtured close ties to Beijing during a decade in office.

One of Pavel's first steps was to call Taiwanese counterpart Tsai Ing-wen. Pavel last month said China could not be a peacemaker, because it benefits from a prolongation of war in Ukraine.

Lipavsky concurs. "China definitely benefits from any weakening of Russia, that is definitely for the benefit of China. I think it's obvious why," he said. Asked to elaborate, he said that with a weak Russia, "there are more possibilities for China, for example, to have influence in Central Asia".

"I am praising China for their stance on nuclear security. And for the clear statement on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ... but I don't see that China is proposing a real plan," he said, referring to Beijing's 12-point position paper for peace in Ukraine. "So I will definitely stick to the Zelensky plan."

Others in Europe - notably, again, in the West - hold more hope of China acting constructively over Ukraine.

A Chinese peace envoy is currently touring western Europe, after stops last week in Kyiv and Warsaw, where he was told in both capitals that Beijing's peace plan would not cut the mustard.

"Ukraine's peace proposal, the 10-point proposal, is much more favourable, much more in line with the European approach and with international law because it entails, first of all, the respectful internationally recognised borders," said Pawel Jabonski, Poland's undersecretary for state.

But despite this, Lipavsky said EU members are becoming more aligned on what challenges China brings, even if they disagree with how to respond.

"Maybe we don't have a unified position on the solution. But definitely, we are closing significantly in on the description of reality," he said, when asked about foreign ministers' talks on China in Stockholm earlier this month.

"The whole Western civilisation is asking this question, how to deal with the rising power of China?" Lipavsky said in Brussels. "China's vision for their world order definitely is not fully compatible with our vision for multilateral order, based on the rule of law."

He downplayed the fallout of French President Emmanuel Macron's insistence that Europe should not follow the US into a potential conflict in Taiwan.

"It was a French ship which went through the Taiwan Strait, if I'm right. So we have to understand that security in Europe and in Asia cannot be separated. It shows that the biggest countries in Europe do understand."

EU and US officials will meet next week - also in Sweden - for the latest installation of their Trade and Technology Council. They are expected to flesh out further cooperation on export controls and sanctions circumvention.

On the latter front, Brussels has trained its sights on Chinese companies it accuses of contravening EU sanctions by re-exporting to Russia goods made in the EU that are banned from being sold to Russian firms.

A more controversial proposal - on which EU members are yet to agree - would permit Brussels to ban the shipment of these goods to countries in which companies are found to flout EU sanctions.

Lipavsky said Prague is on board with punishing countries that undermine Western efforts to stifle Russia's military. "That is how the sanctions regime works, the idea is to prevent Russia from being able to wage war."

But there are limits, it seems, to how far the Czech Republic is planning to push Beijing. According to Lipavsky, there are no imminent plans to leave China's economic grouping with other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, even though he has described it as "dead".

The group was called 17+1 until Lithuania left in 2021. The departures of Baltic nations Estonia and Latvia brought it down to 14, and many expect Prague to be the next out the door.

"If it was up to me I would recommend leaving this group. We should have done it already, but it's not up to me. It's the decision which must be made by the government, but I think that we are slowly approaching it," said Petr Kolar, foreign policy adviser to Pavel, in a recent interview in Prague.

Lipavsky, however, said that "we have quite a clear position on that and I don't see an urgency to change it currently". He added that Prague has "downplayed" its activity in the format and is "scrutinising" its membership of the group in line with a broader review of China strategy.

The position has led to some criticism domestically, where analysts have noted "discrepancies" between tough rhetoric on China and concrete policies.

"The current coalition feels it needs to prioritise and does not see 'opening a second front' with China while dealing with Russia's invasion to Ukraine, as a wise move," said Ivana Karsakova, an expert on China's influence in Central Europe and a policy adviser to EU commissioner Vera Jourova on the same topic.

"Hence you see a discrepancy between the rhetoric of the currently ruling coalition on issues such as exit from 14+1 before and after the election."

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 Battle at Lake Changjin cast and crew on the red carpet of the 18th and 19th Huabiao Film Awards ceremony in Beijing on May 23. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Huabiao Film Awards, one of China's most prestigious film competitions, announced the winners for its 18th and 19th editions on Tuesday night.

Established by China's top film regulator in 1995, the 18th and 19th awards ceremonies were postponed because of the pandemic, so it was decided to have them together in one belated ceremony.

My People, My Country, a 2019 anthology blockbuster celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, was one of the biggest winners in the 18th edition, taking home four awards, including the best feature, best actor and best actress.

Reflecting the industry's recognition to highlight the collaborative effort of Chinese filmmakers, My People, My Country and other nine movies, including The Climbers, and The Captain, jointly won the best feature entry, or to give it its official title, the Excellent Feature Film Award, of the 18th Huabiao Film Awards.

The Wandering Earth cast and crew on the red carpet of the 18th and 19th Huabiao Film Awards ceremony in Beijing on May 23. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

The 19th edition also saw the Excellent Feature Film Award given jointly, to 10 movies, including The Battle at Lake Changjin, and Embrace Again.

Chen Kaige, a representative auteur of China's so-called fifth generation directors, won two Outstanding Director awards, for My People, My Country (2019) at the 18th edition and The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) at the 19th edition.

He said that My People, My Country, which incorporated seven directors for seven standalone tales, is an unprecedented film in the history of Chinese cinema, featuring a collaboration of several of the country's top filmmakers, and recording some of the most pivotal historic moments since the founding of New China.

The best actor award for the 18th and 19 editions went respectively to Zhang Yi for My People, My Country, and Liu Ye for Island Keeper.

"I feel quite surprised to have won this award," said Zhang. "Every time I receive recognition for my work, I feel a strong sense of pressure to worry that if I could maintain that level of quality in future projects and continue to satisfy audiences. Each award also serves as a new challenge that pushes me to start from scratch and create even better work."

Winners of the Huabiao Awards, respectively (consecutively from left) Dante Lam, Zhang Zifeng, Liu Ye, Red Suxi and Zhang Yi. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

The best actress award for the 18th and 19 editions were won by Ren Suxi for My People, My Country, and Zhang Zifeng for Sister.

Ren said she takes the award as an inspirational encouragement and believes it will motivate her to produce even more high quality films in the future.

The Wandering Earth, China's highest-grossing sci-fi epic of all time, won two awards at the 18th edition, for the best feature and the best scriptwriter.

For most of the attendees at the ceremony, held in the National Indoor Stadium, the event provided a precious opportunity to take stock of the achievements of the Chinese film industry over the past few years.

Huang Jianxin, the producer of My People, My Country and The Battle at Lake Changjin, said he has seen more young talent emerging in China's rapidly developing film industry, and expressed his admiration for their passion and love of cinema.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
The Small Apron Project aims to encourage active participation of children in family labor across the country. [Xinhua]

The Small Apron Project was recently launched in Beijing, aiming to encourage active participation of children in family labor across the country.

By collaborating with schools, families and the society, the project encourages children to wear small aprons and help their parents in cooking, promoting traditional Chinese virtues and emphasizing the importance of labor education.

In addition to engaging children in colorful offline activities that explore delicious food and culinary culture, the project also encourages them to record their involvement in housework via short videos and share them online.

Yang Qingbing, vice president of Xinhuanet, stressed the significance of stimulating children's enthusiasm for labor through different means.

Ding Zhigang, vice president of China Hospitality Association, said that the association will continue to work with different partners to invite chefs to teach children how to cook, motivating them to participate in family labor.

The Small Apron Project aims to encourage active participation of children in family labor across the country. [Xinhua]

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua)  President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to a forum on the development of Tibet that opened on Tuesday in Beijing.

"People's happiness is the ultimate human right, while development holds the key to delivering better lives to the people," Xi noted in the letter to "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China."

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, people in Tibet, with the strong support of the central government and people throughout the country, have worked with fortitude and brought about a resolution to the problem of extreme poverty that had plagued the region for centuries, the letter said.

Tibet has achieved a moderately prosperous society in all respects along with the rest of the country, demonstrating vibrant and thriving scenes, it added.

Xi said he hopes that on the new journey of advancing Chinese modernization, Tibet can fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, step up efforts to promote high-quality development, and strive to build a prosperous, harmonious and beautiful new socialist Tibet underpinned by unity, civility and modernization so that the people of Tibet can enjoy better and more fulfilled lives.

The forum, themed "New Era, New Xizang, New Journey: New Chapter in Xizang's High-quality Development and Human Rights Protection," is hosted by the State Council Information Office and the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Xi's letter was read out by Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, at the opening ceremony.

Abdilahi Ismail Abdilahi, who teaches at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said he agrees with what Xi said in the letter about human rights.

"I've seen with my own eyes that human rights are well protected in Tibet, which is different from what I had read from Western media," he said.

Alexander Birle, chief representative of Hanns Seidel Stiftung in China, said that Xi's letter shows the importance of Tibet's development to China.

"There are different approaches to human rights protection. Cultural protection is also an important part of human rights protection, and China has done a lot to respect and protect the cultural heritage of Tibetan people," he said.

The high quality of education in Tibet also impressed Maria Gustava, Mozambique's ambassador to China, who recently visited the region for the first time.

"We visited some schools, especially for younger children, and they were learning so many things, including those through the internet and computer," she said, adding that such high-quality education will bring a better future for the region.

Before the forum, representatives of Chinese and foreign attendees were also invited to visit Tibet.

Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, reads out a congratulatory letter written by President Xi Jinping to "2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, China", and attends the opening ceremony of the forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2023. [Xinhua/Liu Bin]

(Source: Xinhua)
Netflix is officially beginning its crackdown on users who share passwords in the United States.
On May 18, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents shot and killed Raymond Mattia, a Tohono Oodham tribal member, after he called the agency to report several immigrants were trespassing on his property.

U.S. Customs and Patrol Patrol agents sit along a section of the international border wall that runs through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 in Lukeville, Ariz. [AP Photo/Matt York]



Mattias residence is located in the Menagers Dam community of the Tohono Oodham Nation, a Native American reservation home to 10,700 out of 34,000 members of the Tohono Oodham tribe.

The Tohono Oodham Nation encompasses some 3 million acres in southern Arizona on the border with Mexico and is the second-largest Native American reservation in the United States. Some members of the tribe also live just across the border in northwestern Mexico.



As of this writing none of the police agents responsible for shooting and killing Mattia have been identified, much less arrested.



Since the shooting took place on Native lands, the FBI will be overseeing the investigation into the killing. The FBI, Border Patrol and Tohono Oodham Nation police have all confirmed they will not be providing additional details pending the outcome of their investigation.



While details of the incident remain vague, according to family and witnesses, when the CBP agents showed up at Mattias residence some time before 10:00 p.m. Thursday, they shot and killed Mattia in a hail of gunfire.



According to family members in the house, Mattia was two feet away from his front door when he was shot 38 times by agents of the Ajo Border Patrol Station.

I keep hearing the gunshots and I cant get over it, a family member who wished not to be identified told News 4 Tucson. Its very sad just to know who they were shooting at you know.

The agents involved in the shooting were assisting the Tohono Oodham Nation Police Department during the call to Mattias residence.



In a statement released by CBP on Monday, the agency claimed that they were responding to a call of shots fired west of the Menagers Dam community. The statement claims that sometime after 9:30 p.m. a tribal officer and several CBP agents encountered a named individual outside of a home who abruptly extended his right arm from his body which prompted three agents to shoot their guns, striking the individual several times.



The statement claims that due to poor weather a medical helicopter was not dispatched to the scene to take Mattia to the hospital and he was declared dead shortly after 10 p.m. The statement notes that there were at least seven border patrol agents wearing body cameras at the time of the incident, but no body camera footage has been released as of this writing.



Unlike in the interior of the country or on non-reservation land, US Border Patrol agents are allowed to stop and harass residents of the Tohono Ooodham Nation reservation if they suspect any illegal activity.



Ophelia Rivas, a close family friend of Mattias, reported to News 4 Tucson that I have dealt with Border Patrol aggression and unmonitored behavior out here on Tohono Oodham land without any regard to the respect and to the land and to the people.

The shooting occurred in the Border Patrols Tucson Sector, which, according to the CBP, has the highest number of use-of-force incidents across the agency with 158 incidents reported so far this year.

The last recorded killing in the Border Patrols Tucson Sector by an agent was the fatal shooting of US citizen Noe Mejia on March 14 after an officer-involved car chase.

The killing of Mattias took place mere days after a migrant child, Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, died in CBP custody in Texas where she was held with her parents and two siblings for several days in an overcrowded and unsanitary holding facility.



Alvarez, who had a history of sickle cell anemia and heart disease, was denied medical care even as her mother pleaded with Border Patrol agents, desperately explaining that her daughter felt pain in her bones, struggled to breathe and was unable to walk.

Although the child tested positive for influenza upon arrival, the agents in charge of the facility did not deem it necessary that the little girl receive hospital care until she went limp and unconscious with blood coming out of her mouth days later, according to the mothers first-hand account.

They killed my daughter, because she [went] nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe, Mabel Alvarez, the mother of Anadith said. She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didnt do anything for her.

The death of Alavarez in CBP custody follows another death of a child, 17-year-old Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, also under CBPs custody in Florida, which occurred a week prior.

These deaths come after the expiration of the Title 42 policy earlier this month. The policy, which allowed the US government to illegally deport immigrants and asylum seekers using the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic, was first enacted under Trump and continued under Biden until recently.



Under the new Title 8 policy, migrants, including unaccompanied children, are not supposed to be turned away immediately, nor are they supposed to be held in migrant processing facilities for more than 72 hours, but these rules are often broken, with CBP agents citing unusual busy times as an excuse for violating the rights of immigrants.



The Alvarez family is now working on getting Anadiths remains to their final destination in New York City, the same state where Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams is considering placing migrants at Rikers Island, one of the most brutal and notorious prison complexes in the US.
The Conservative governments anti-strike Minimum Service Levels Bill took another step towards becoming law Monday evening. It forces a proportion of UK employees to work during a strike, denying them the basic right to withdraw their labour and sabotaging effective industrial action.

Currently targeting the rail, firefighting, health and education sectors and impacting one in five workers, the law could be extended to cover ever wider swathes of the workforce.

The Tories large majority in the House of Commons is waving the strike bill through its parliamentary stages, but its smooth passage into law is being guaranteed by the lack of any organised opposition. This was underscored by the protest held by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Parliament Square during the vote.

TUC protest against the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Bill, Monday, May 22, 2023 [Photo: WSWS]

A deliberately muted affair, upper estimates suggest it attracted just 600 people. The TUC excused this dismal showing by describing the event as an emergency protest, as if called at short notice. But the strikes law has been making its way through parliament for months. The TUC, formally representing 5.5 million workers, had ample opportunity to build a larger turnout, and enough notice to organise a major demonstration on the weekend.

Its refusal to do so was in keeping with the trade union bureaucracys tame response to the law since its conception. A small protest of a few thousand was held outside Downing Street in January. Already active industrial disputes were cobbled together on February 1 to coincide with a TUC day of protest against the bill, designed to make a show of opposition while avoiding anything that could be accused of being a political strike by the government. Nothing more was done until this Monday.

The TUC and its affiliated unions do not want a mass movement to defeat the legislation. They appeal instead to civil rights groups, the House of Lords, and to concerned Tories to vote with Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats to amend the legislation, while pushing for a future Labour government pledged to repeal it.

A mass movement on such a fundamental issue as the right to strike, at a time of deep social and economic crisis, would threaten big business, the imposition of savage austerity and the UKs key role in NATOs de facto war with Russia in Ukraine. It would test the trade unions ability to police the class struggle to breaking point.

What the trade union bureaucracy wants from Labour is to re-establish the employer-union partnership upset by the Tories ultra-confrontational approach, which they fear is provoking an uncontrollable movement in the working class.

Opening Mondays protest, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak asked for a commitment from Labour and every other opposition party: as soon as we have a change of government, were going to repeal this legislation. He went on that if the Tory government would not deliver a new deal for working people, were going to make them pay the electoral price. It was with absolute delight that he introduced Labour MP Jo Stevens to speak to the protest.

Paul Nowak speaking at the TUC protest against the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Bill, Monday, May 22, 2023 [Photo: WSWS]

Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Mick Lynch, before selling out the strike against Network Rail and trying to do the same with the train operating companies dispute, previously spoke to audiences of tens of thousands and insisted Enough is Enough. He told the few hundred assembled that he and the TUC were asking Mr Starmer and the Labour Party, vote against this legislation You must not only robustly oppose this bill; it must be repealed, and you must go on the record during this debate that it will be repealed in full within 100 days[!] of a Labour government being elected.

Nowak and Lynch implored Labour to go further and implement a bill of rights for workers, with Lynch demanding it repeal four decades of anti-trade union laws.

Mick Lynch speaking at the TUC protest against the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Bill, Monday, May 22, 2023 [Photo: WSWS]

Any mass audience of workers would wonder if they were hearing about the same Sir Keir Starmer and the same Labour Party that has banned its MPs from attending picket lines and threatened anyone criticising NATO with expulsion. The speakers are desperately trying to generate false hope in a proven enemy of the working class to encourage a passive response to one of the gravest anti-democratic assaults in recent British history.

National Education Union leader Kevin Courtney even asked, How do we fight back?, replying, Well, I never thought I would say this on a trade union platform, but good for the House of Lords. They passed some amendments If you know a Lord, talk to them, get them to vote it down again. If you know an MP, contact them; loads of letters on the TUC website that you can use.

Inside the House of Commons, barely any Labour MPs turned up for the debate, with just 13 speaking as various amendments from the House of Lords went down to defeat. Those that did pitched their opposition to the unnecessary and inflammatory character of the law, citing the opposition of unions and employers alike.

Mike Amesbury worried the law would make matters considerably worse in terms of industrial relations, Rachael Maskell that it could make things more difficult Why is the Minister going against the employers, not just the trade unions?

Sam Tarry called the bill counterproductive, because the Governments own analysis says that minimum service levels could lead to more strikes and more non-strike industrial actionwildcat action outside of the restraining influence of the bureaucracy.

Deputy Leader Angela Rayner added to the list of valued critics of the law, the rail industry; the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; the CEO of the confederation of recruitment companies; the CEO of the NHS Confederation; President Bidens labour Secretary; the International Labor Organisation; all UK trade unions; the TUC; the Welsh and Scottish Governments and Tory MPs Stephan McPartland and Jacob Rees-Mogg!

Labours pledges to repeal the legislation are worthless. The Blair and Brown governments idolised by Starmer and his front bench kept all existing anti-union legislation in place during their time in office. And any Starmer government would be tasked with imposing an even more nakedly pro-business, anti-worker agenda under conditions of a raging economic crisis and a war on European soil.

The same goes for the union leaders talk of disobedience and defiance once the law is on the books. Lynch pledged, We will defy this law, calling on the TUC to commit to the same stance. Nowak had said, You might get this legislation on the statute books, but we will not stand by and let you sack one single nurse, one single paramedic for exercising the right to strike.

But if the union bureaucracy has mounted no serious struggle against the law before it reaches the statue books, why should anyone expect one once it has? Union leaders have instead spent the last months driving nails into the coffin of the UKs cost-of-living strike wave, with hundreds of thousands of workers sold out, and hundreds of thousands more stranded in disputes frozen by the union leaders.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been expelled from the Parliamentary Labour Party, did not speak in the debate but made clear that he will not fight the ongoing betrayals of Starmer et al in a preacherly column in Labour Outlook. He politely urged my colleagues from all parties to defend democratic rights, and for the labour movement to fight back, putting forward a vision that redistributes wealth and power in our workplaces and communities in order to heal todays turbulent terrain and societal fractures with the politics of hope.

The threat posed by the Tory strikes bill requires a mass mobilisation of the working class, organised independently of the union apparatus to topple the government, kill the bill and above all give impetus to the creation of a genuinely socialist party to fight for workers interests.
Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President Bea Bruske and her leadership team were re-elected unopposed at the CLCs recently concluded convention in Montreal, Quebec. The delegates unanimous endorsement of Bruskes leadership and reward of a further three years at the CLCs helm testified eloquently to the bureaucracys unity on its two main goals: suppressing the class struggle and providing unstinting backing to the pro-war, pro-austerity federal Liberal government as it spends tens of billions on rearmament and waging imperialist war abroad and attacks the democratic and social rights of the working class at home.

CLC President Bea Bruske addressing the CLC's 30th constitutional convention in Montreal [Photo: CLC/Twitter]

The Bruske-led slate of candidates, known as Team Unite, proudly declared on the achievements section of their campaign website, We helped broker the confidence and supply agreement between the Liberal government and the NDP [New Democratic Party], ensuring electoral peace until 2025.

This is confirmationstraight from the horses mouthof the correctness of the World Socialist Web Sites assessment that the union bureaucracy played a pivotal role in facilitating the March 2022 agreement under which the union-sponsored NDP has pledged to keep the Justin Trudeau-led minority Liberal government in office through June 2025. In announcing this parliamentary and governmental alliance, which stops just short of a formal coalition, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said it was aimed at guaranteeing political stability.

In keeping with this agreement, and with the full-throated support of the unions, the NDP has backed all of the provocative actions Ottawa has taken, first in instigating, and then in prosecuting the US-NATO war in Russia in Ukraine. To date, the union-NDP backed Liberal government has provided the far-right regime in Kiev with over $8 billion in military and financial support since the war began in February 2022.

The unions and NDP are also fully on board with massive hikes in Canadian military spending. This includes the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets and the spending of tens of billions to modernize the Canada-US joint North American Aerospace Defence (NORAD) to wage great power strategic conflict and a supposedly winnable nuclear-war with Russia and China.

With its confidence and supply agreement, the NDP also gave its stamp of approval to the dismantling of all remaining COVID protection measures as demanded by the far-right Freedom Convoy. It has also endorsed Finance Minister Chrystia Freelands program of post-pandemic austerity designed to make the working class pay for the hundreds of billions of dollars handed over to big business with no strings attached when COVID first emerged in 2020.

The timing of the agreement was of enormous political significance. It was finalized almost exactly one month after the imperialist powers succeeded in goading the reactionary Putin regime into invading Ukraine. It also followed just weeks after the occupation of downtown Ottawa and blocking of border crossings by the fascistic Freedom Convoy, which was instigated by, and enjoyed the backing of, powerful sections of the ruling elite.

The Trudeau government responded to the Freedom Convoy by invoking the draconian Emergencies Act, which arrogated sweeping repressive powers to the state, to disperse the occupiers. The NDP voted with the government in support of these authoritarian powers, which, now that the taboo on their use has been broken, can and will be deployed against working-class opposition to capitalist exploitation and war.

In the months leading up to the announcement of the deal between Trudeau and Singh, it was the unions who pushed the hardest for its conclusion. Immediately after the Liberals failed to secure a majority in the September 2021 federal election, Unifor, the countrys largest industrial union and for decades the most vocal proponent of strategic voting, publicly urged the formation of a governmental coalition between the Liberals and NDP. While Unifor is not currently affiliated with the CLC, the CLC and its affiliates, as well as the Quebec-based CNTU and CSQ, joined it in welcoming the re-election of a supposedly progressive minority government and parliamentary majority.

Within a matter of weeks, the Montreal-based daily La Presse was reporting that the chiefs of staff of Trudeau and Singh were meeting secretly to discuss the parameters of a confidence-and-supply agreement.

While the NDPs task is to ensure political stability inside the House of Commons, the unions end of the bargain is to block any working-class-led challenge to the ruling elites class war agenda outside of parliament.

Bruskes term as the head of the CLC covers a period in which the union bureaucracy has sabotaged a series of major workers struggles that could have spearheaded the development of a mass movement against the financial elites policies of war abroad and attacks on workers social and democratic rights at home.

These include the May 2022 strike by over 40,000 construction workers in Ontario, the November 2022 defiance of anti-strike legislation by 55,000 Ontario education support workers, and the two-week strike by over 100,000 federal government employees in April this year.

Numerous smaller struggles, including many in which workers sought to resist the homicidal pandemic policy pursued by all levels of government, were shut down by the unions. In so doing, the union bureaucracy invariably lauded the sanctity of the collective bargaining system, that is the legal and organizational structures upon which the close ties between union bosses, government ministers, and corporate executives rest.

The union bureaucracys close partnership with the Liberal government has been decades in the making. One of Trudeaus first major meetings upon assuming power in 2015 was a closed-door affair with over 100 top CLC union bureaucrats, who pledged to collaborate with the Liberals on a range of policy areas.

This cooperation found its clearest expression in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), during which Unifor President Jerry Dias functioned as a semi-official government adviser. The renegotiated deal consolidated a US-dominated protectionist trade bloc in North America aimed at facilitating the projection of American and Canadian imperialisms predatory interests around the globe.

The intimate ties between the Liberal government and the union bureaucracy were further underscored by Trudeaus decision to appoint Bruskes predecessor as CLC president, Hassan Yussuff, to the Senate, Canadas upper chamber of parliament, upon his retirement.

The outbreak of the pandemic saw the unions take their partnership with the Trudeau government to a qualitatively new level. Then-CLC President Yussuff proclaimed the need for a collaborative front between the unions, government, and corporate elite. This corporatist alliance served as a key mechanism for forcing workers back into unsafe workplaces, where they were infected en masse by a potentially deadly and debilitating virus. This ruthless profits before life agenda has led to the deaths of over 50,000 Canadians.

The CLCs unanimous endorsement of this reactionary record by re-electing Bruske unopposed must be taken as a serious warning by working people. As the union-backed Liberal government, supported in parliament by the NDP, intensifies its push to offload the cost of waging an imperialist war on Russia onto the backs of working people, the countrys top union bureaucrats are making clear that they will do everything in their power to help impose this class war agenda.

In this, they will receive the support of pseudo-left groups like Fightback and Socialist Action, which systematically cover up the unions role in forging and sustaining the NDP-Liberal parliamentary and governmental alliance. While they make the occasional criticism of Singh and the NDP for getting too close to the Trudeau government, these outfits deliberately cover up the instrumental role the unions play in sustaining it in office as part of their efforts to keep the working class under the bureaucracys stifling grip.

The urgent task facing workers is to break politically and organizationally out of the straitjacket imposed upon them by the union bureaucracy. This requires a political rebellion against the union/NDP/Liberal alliance, the building of new organizations of rank-and-file struggle independent of the bureaucratic union apparatuses, and workers making socialist-internationalism the axis of their struggles.
This is the second part of a two-part article. Read part one here.

One of the key issues that has been raised in the right-wing attack on EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) is the laboratory work conducted by EHA in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017-2018 with bat coronaviruses. None of this work by either organization, contrary to the conspiracy theories about gain of function research, involved making coronaviruses more likely to infect human beings or more dangerous to their health.

On the contrary, this work, with viruses known not to cause disease in humans, has in fact provided considerable data that proved valuable when the viciously infective and lethal SARS-CoV-2 emerged in mid-November 2019. In short, they clearly understood the threat they were working diligently trying to prevent.

Dr. Peter Hotez, molecular virologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor University, told Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, People dont understand the importance of the hard work EHA is doing and how unique and critically important it is. There are not many groups doing the granular grunt work needed to understand how these viruses emerge and transfer to humans.

The study of the mechanism of zoonotic transfer into human populations has been set back by the same forces who have used pseudo-scientific and disproven constructs to claim that because there are gaps in understanding this mechanism, the virus must have been created in a lab and set loose through incompetence or by nefarious design.

Sampling bats in Guangdong province of China. [Photo by EcoHeath Alliance]

Former NIH director Harold Varmus, who has been a staunch defender of Peter Daszaks work, told Hiltzik, It is impossible to say what would have been accomplished if the hiatus in funding did not occur. Restoring the grant cannot restore the three years in which [EcoHealth] was deprived of support for such critical work at a critical time.

The recent discovery of raccoon dog DNA in stalls contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the western stalls of the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan has only provided further confirmation of the central role this market had in the outbreak that began in mid to late November 2019, according to estimates based on genetic analysis of the early lineages of the SARS-CoV-2 virus conducted by Dr. Michael Worobey and colleagues.

These findings on raccoon dogs substantiate reports published in leading scientific journals that close to 50,000 wild animals and 38 different species had been sold between May 2017 and November 2019 at the Huanan market.

Damning to the argument of the Republican-backed COVID origin report that declared the outbreak started as early as September is the the World Health Organizations (WHO) 2021 origin study conducted in China, which found no evidence of heightened rates of influenza-like illnesses in Wuhan, Hubei province or the surrounding provinces before the reported outbreaks that occurred in December of 2019 in the massive metropolis of over 12 million people. Additionally, serological analysis of blood banks from September through December did not find one case of SARS-CoV-2 antibody in the tens of thousands of specimens evaluated, corroborating the WHOs results.

The entire argument by US officials and various media sources, brought in as a pseudo-scientific cover for their allegations that Chinese laboratories were unsafe and plagued with technical incompetency, was fabricated. The full text of the January 19, 2018, American Embassy in Beijing cable titled China Opens First Bio-Safety Level 4 laboratory demonstrates that following two years of effort, which is not unusual for such facilities, the WIV lab was accredited in February 2017 by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment.

It is not uncommon for international assistance in training technicians and scientists to safely operate high-containment laboratories. For instance, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, which has a well-established Biosafety Level-Four lab, was collaborating closely with the WIV.

As the cable concludes, the report makes some very critical observations that challenge the prevailing false conceptions that are being promoted:

The ability of WIV scientists to undertake productive research despite limitations on the use of the new BSL-4 facility is demonstrated by a recent publication on the origins of SARS. Over a five-year study,  (and their research team) widely sampled bats in Yunnan province with funding support from NIAID/NIH, USAID, and several Chinese funding agencies. The study results were published in PLoS Pathogens online on Nov. 30,2017, and it demonstrated that SARS-like coronaviruses isolated from horseshoe bats in a single cave contain all the building blocks of the pandemic SARS-coronavirus genome that caused the human outbreak. These results strongly suggest that the highly pathogenic SARS-coronavirus originated in this bat population. Most importantly, the researchers also showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus. This finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like disease. From a public health perspective, this makes the continued surveillance of SARS-like coronaviruses in bats and study of the animal-human interface critical to future emerging coronavirus outbreak prediction and prevention. WIV scientists are allowed to study the SARS-like coronaviruses isolated from bats while they are precluded from studying human-disease-causing SARS coronavirus in their new BSL-4 lab until permission for such work is granted by the NHFCP.

Additionally, Worobey, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, who has seriously taken on the lab-leak versus market origin question, explained that two lineages of SARS-CoV-2 emerged around the same time centered around the Huanan market and not some other place in the city. Of note, WIV is located miles away to the west of the market.

Early cases, both with and without connection to the market, infected with both lineages, have been linked geographically to Huanan to a remarkable statistical significance. This means that in a lab leak scenario it would require two people at the WIV, without knowledge of becoming infected by two different versions of the virus, to have then traveled to Huanan without causing anyone else to get infected and cause a chain of infections to sustain itself into an outbreak. Statistically, this would be extremely unlikely and implausible. Yet the US intelligence apparatus and Democrats and Republicans want the public to believe this precise scenario.

Worobey recently remarked in a lecture at Arizona State University, Lab leak proponents cling to the contention that the presence of a lab that studies viruses and the emergence of a coronavirus pandemic in the same city cant possibly be coincidental. But my colleagues and I showed in 2021 that this virus wasnt going to emerge just anywhere in China: It took a city.

He added, Simulations indicate that when a virus with the properties of SARS-CoV-2 jumps into a human in a sparsely populated rural area, it will fail to cause an outbreak 99 percent of the time. But take that same virus into a huge city like Wuhan, and about a third of animal-to-human transmissions will result in an epidemic.

Notably, every major hub in China has academic institutions studying viruses, bacteria and other pathogens. It is precisely in a place like Wuhan where pandemics emerge and not because they have an institute of virology but because they are densely packed with new hosts for viruses that can support their transmission. Inevitably, Worobey notes, had the outbreak occurred in Beijing, lab-leak conspiracists would have made the same allegations.

It is worth noting that Peter Daszak was part of the WHOs R&D Blueprint group which met in early 2018 and coined the term Disease X, defined as a novel pandemic pathogen originating in animals, which would emerge somewhere on the planet where economic development drives people and wildlife together. His work has documented that spillover of SARS-like viruses is common in Southeast Asia and portends new pandemics in the near future, given the current political climate.

A recent report by scientists working at the Chinese Center for Disease Control has identified two beta coronaviruses that contained furin cleavage sites, implying these evolutionary mechanisms are not uncommon among coronaviruses. This is contrary to the allegations of the conspiracy theorists who claim that the presence of a furin cleavage site in SARS-CoV-2 suggests that it was engineered rather than developing by natural evolution.

Sampling bats in Yunnan province of China. [Photo by EcoHealth Alliance]

Another recent paper on research conducted in rural Myanmar found that between 2017 and 2020, approximately 12 percent of the people tested had at some point been infected with a diverse range of sarbecoviruses, of which SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 are two notable coronaviruses, meaning zoonotic spillovers have become far more common than previously anticipated.

Professor David Robertson from the University of Glasgows Centre for Virus research, remarked, These spillovers in rural areas tend to not spread as theres unlikely to be a large enough population to sustain chains of transmission. Thats why a city like Wuhan was so significant for being the start of the pandemic, as theres lots of opportunity for further human to human spread.

EHAs restoration victory remains uncertain because the same House committee that asked the National Academy of Medicine to expel Daszak from membership has called the reinstating of EHAs grant beyond outrageous. Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee Cathy McMorris Rodgers wrote Christi Grimm, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, on May 8, 2023, asking her to assist our understanding about how the audit was conducted and the basis for not recommending debarment of EcoHealth  please provide the work papers of the audit of the NIH grant to EcoHealth to the Committee no later than May 22, 2023.

Conclusion

There is not a single verifiable fact that could suggest a lab-leak scenario at the WIV or any other facility in Wuhan. There is growing evidence of the epidemiologic picture on the ground in and around Huanan seafood market in November and December 2019. There has been robust molecular analysis showing a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2, and long experience with the overwhelming biological preponderance of bat coronavirus with potential zoonotic transmission capacity in Southeast Asia. Given all these scientifically incontrovertible factors, one must ask why US authorities, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration, are so determined to denounce and bankrupt EHA and their critical work in preventing the next pandemic?



The two decades of work by EHA are a byproduct of the extensive collaboration across national borders which characterizes the best of modern scientific inquiry, where trust and respect develop out of a collective effort to address urgent questions that could affect the wellbeing of the worlds population.

Coronaviruses and other deadly pathogens are biological organisms that lack consciousness. In an evolutionary process, they react to their environments in order to propagate their genetic codes. When their natural habitats are impacted, the mechanisms they possess to replicate give one or another form of the pathogen an evolutionary advantage in adaption. This advantage can mean becoming more infectious, more resistant to antibodies or more destructive to their host, depending on the circumstances. It also means they find new hosts to infecthumans.

Dr. Peter Daszak, right, and Dr. Shi Zhengli, lead scientists on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institive of Virology. [Photo by EcoHealth Alliance]

This is the evolutionary logic behind the many previous pandemics that have left their marks on human civilizations, with deadly consequences if they are ignored and allowed to take hold.

In the struggle against such pandemics, mankind has developed numerous tools and highly specialized disciplines, particularly relating to public health and disease prevention. In its initial three years of success with the Zero-COVID strategy, China invented nothing new. It simply carried out systematically and rigorously the time-tested measures of quarantine and isolation that were being abandoned by all the major capitalist countries and eventually by China itself, at the end of 2022, with tragic consequences.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that for the capitalist ruling elites, the enforcement of their manic needs to extract ever more surplus value from the working class means the complete rejection of well-established principles of public health and disease-fighting and the advances made in scientific inquiry and the technology that supports this work. Clearly, EcoHealth Alliance became collateral damage in this process: its work no longer aligned with the dictates of the capitalist mode of production.

Concluded
The World Socialist Web Site has received a further outpouring of opposition from postal workers against the deal reached by Communication Workers Union (CWU) leaders Dave Ward and Andy Furey with Royal Mail. The agreement was set to be voted on by 115,000 postal workers starting from tomorrow and closing on June 14, but the CWU announced today that it has postponed the ballot for a second time.

Ward, Furey and the unions postal executive originally stalled the vote by putting back the ballot a week in recognition that the deal would be thrown out. The CWU claimed that this was to address the failed revisions which had been implemented by Royal Mail in the past few months. The CWU agreed these revisions in a joint statement on March 2.

The 35 page agreement between the union and the company would usher in the most brutal attack on postal workers in Royal Mail history and affords the union bureaucracy a privileged position as co-partners with management. As postal workers explain, the earlier revisions have not been overturned and they are facing further demands either without any opposition from the CWU or through its direct collusion.

The write-ins from postal workers make clear the CWU leaders and postal executive have crossed every red line on pay, terms and conditions which postal workers waged 18 days of national strike action over.

The WSWS encourages postal workers to continue to write in and expose the truth. Written submissions from Royal Mail workers are helping to cut through the propaganda and lies of Royal Mail and the CWU bureaucracy, showing the need for a rank-and-file fightback. All Royal Mail workers are welcome to attend the next online Zoom meeting of the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC) this Sunday May 28 at 7p.m. You can register here.

***

Harrogate, North Yorkshire: Postie for 34 years. I was on the march through London, special day. I cannot believe how CWU can paint this as a good deal. Were told its the best we can get. Really!!! Medical retirement now only 12 weeks pay irrespective of service reduced by weeks off pending that medical retirement. Absolutely scandalous. I bet managers EVR (early voluntary retirement) and medical retirement packages havent changed and just as we need them. Not a coincidence I bet with a damaged aging workforce. While Pinocchio Thompson sits at home till October 31st receiving 700,000 for being s**t.

Virtually all Allowances gone, pay not much above minimum wage now. Our value of wages has been eroded to the point that its now just ok, not good anymore.

Prepping own work, part timers work. All before delivery of 19.7 km, 29,000 steps a day pushing a heavy trolley in all weathers for up to 5/6 hours, day after day. Feels like purgatory.

CWU and managers have sold us out to protect their own vested interests at the cost of those they are meant to serve and protect. At the beginning of this dispute they said, We wont accept a bad deal. So, whats this Dave? Its an absolutely atrocious deal wrapped up as best we can do. Need to start again and give the workers what we pay you for, a GOOD NO DEAL.

I cannot believe anyone in CWU head office can think this is okay. Its a surrender deal to appease the company. If they were going bust whose fault was that? Not ours but their own. Let them go bust, cant be any worse under government control. Greed is the killer here. We should never have been privatised. A sad year for an old once-great company. I am disgusted and disillusioned by our so-called union.

Coventry, West Midlands: What does Ward care when hes on 145,000 a year? Why would anyone? He dont give a s***

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Hi, I have worked for Royal Mail for nearly 38 years and I can honestly say I have never seen this company run so bad. There has been so much change in the last few years, and we are all so down in morale. Everything Royal Mail does always fails. We do not have a say in the workplace, etc. You feel pressure and intimidated doing your daily job and this should not be happening in the workplace.

Bolton, Lancashire: Here at Bolton workload impossible to complete in contracted hours, going over most days, delivering large parcels as well as lapsing. Yet people are still coming in and starting before their time, unpaid. Stomach churns when I get up for work knowing whats waiting for you. If managers did our job for a day they would be in tears.

Dave Ward, how have you got the brass neck to recommend this offer?? Would have more respect for you if you said that you know it is a shite deal, but it is all we will get. VOTE NO.

York, North Yorkshire: Just over 2 years until I retire. Dont think I will make it with all this extra work! Its crippling me!! To add insult to injury if we have someone off sick we are asked to cover, because we are so short staffed. I have worked for Royal Mail for 20 years and have never seen anything like this!! Its a no from me!!!!!!!

Doncaster, South Yorkshire: Ive been out of contract for months, but still working for Royal Mail. Theyve just increased my targets, but still no contract, no job security at all. Members of my team have left and there is zero intention to replace them, despite us now being overloaded. Seems every decision currently has to be approved by the board or at least thats what the management at our site are using as an excuse.

Holt, Norfolk: I work in a small office. We used to have 12 rounds, we are now down to 10 and about to face a further reduction to 9. This means that fewer of us are expected to take on 33 percent more work each. And these rounds continue to grow as more and more housing estates are going up in our area!

Newcastle, Tyneside: Regardless of what happens, Im not complying. I will do my 8 hours at my pace, do what is best for me, and never do overtime. They can bloody well try to sack me. This wilful delay is bullshit. Im willing to deliver, but if I run out of time... Not my problem.

Yateley, Hamphshire: Revisions have been brought in making our rounds unachievable, with another 6 rounds due to be cut in June and July further adding calls to our jobs. Managers are starting to bully and harass when you bring stuff back or cant complete, despite them admitting in meetings that they knew the revision wouldnt be possible. Funny how their tone has changed now it's in.



Our union rep just tells us to work to our time, which is fine when youre not the one delivering 3-or-4 days mail with a fake smile to customers that youve spent years building a relationship with who are starting to get sick of it. I loved this job, felt like an integral member of my town and could see it being a role for life. Now I just feel like a laughing stock having lost 18 days pay for things to only get worse.

Billericay, Essex: At the moment our depot is at its lowest moral. We are being forced to clear all letters and parcels which has become impossible to do. There are on average 8 walks that dont get touched every day. Weve had workers going sick because of stress and pressure and feeling down because of the number of changes that are being put on them without warning and not having a chance to have their say.

We have been let down by the union big time, by them caving into Royal Mail demands. Our depot has seen a lot of workers take early retirement or leave for a new job. As for actual working conditions regarding vans, hours of work, new sequels, plus many other things, I could be on here for hours. It would be easier to talk to someone. Thanks for this opportunity.
Published on April 24, an Australian parliamentary report, Sick and tired: Casting a long shadow, gave Long COVID sufferers a voice but minimised the impact of the ongoing pandemic and the resulting Long COVID crisis.

The inquiry, commissioned last September, received 566 submissions, many from Long COVID sufferers. Scientists and doctors testified to the high level of concern.

A drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, January 8, 2022. [AP Photo/Mark Baker]

Hundreds of sufferers outlined the debilitating nature of their condition, especially brain fog. Many related the difficulty in getting a diagnosis or getting access to suitable treatment. Their submissions form an appendix to the report.

Mary Klestadt, for example, related: I had gone from a person who had a full and busy life, ran (a) communications (business) and a web site  to someone who could barely hold a conversation and couldnt manage paying bills.

One submission outlined the situation of a family member who contracted COVID working in an aged care facility.

Their Long COVID symptoms include ongoing fatigue, headaches, coughing, breathing problems, trouble sleeping, difficulties focusing on tasks due to fatigue and an ongoing feeling of ill health. My family member has no access to any Long COVID specialised treatment clinics in their area in regional Victoria, with most being located in city/metropolitan areas.

Another submission stated: Being a patient suffering Long Covid in Australia is horrendous. Diagnosis is very slow, GPs (General Practitioners) are hard to book, there is no real knowledge and no real diagnosis, no medication to help symptoms because they are simply thought they will eventually resolve after months of suffering.

The WSWS has correctly characterised Long-COVID as a mass disabling event that will have devastating consequences for generations as the pandemic rages on. As our series reported, Eric Jeffrey Topol and his team published a study in Nature Reviews Microbiology in January that estimated that 65 million people are now suffering from Long COVID worldwide. This is undoubtedly an underestimate of the true extent of the crisis.

There is no national registry of Long COVID cases in Australia. Estimates of the prevalence depends on the definition of Long COVID applied. According to the Burnet Institute, 500,000 adults have Long COVID in Australia.

This toll could more than double by the end of this year. Kirby Institute epidemiologist Raina MacIntyres submission to the inquiry reported: The model estimated that with a vaccine-only policy and no other efforts to mitigate transmission, almost all Australians will be infected at least once in the time window from January 2021 to August 2023. The total people with Long COVID by December 2023 is 1,323,482, with 43,910 of these being children 0-4 years of age.

This is an indictment of the Labor governments role in presiding over the elimination of all mitigation measures, leaving the population subject to the pandemic.

The inquiry was chaired by Labor politician Dr. Mike Freelander. His introduction to the report declared: There is much that we do not understand about the virus, such as the fact that it is likely changing from being an acute pandemic virus to now an endemic form.

This depiction of the pandemic as transitioning to an endemic form is a pseudo-scientific justification for the elimination of all mitigation measures aimed at controlling the virus.

As explained: The term endemic implies a predictable and controllable level of disease in a given geographic region.

In reality, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, producing immune system-evading variants. The latest subvariant Omicron XBB.1.16, given the name Arcturus, which emerged in India, is spreading globally. It has been detected in 33 countries, including Australia, and is expected to become the dominant variant.

The parliamentary report stated: Evidence received throughout the inquiry highlighted that currently, the only way to certainly prevent Long COVID is to avoid any COVID-19 infection. To this end, the Committee turned its attention to how Long COVID can be prevented through COVID-19 vaccines, antiviral treatments for COVID-19, and reducing transmission by improving indoor air quality and ventilation.

This statement leaves out the fact that the federal Labor government and its state and territory counterparts have scrapped all remaining safety measures, including mask and vaccine mandates and isolation requirements, and closed COVID testing and contact tracing facilities. So there is no effective surveillance of the spread of the virus, ensuring that most of the population has been infected.

The report presented estimates from the Department of Health and Aged Care, based on serological surveys of blood donors, that two-thirds of the population had been infected by August 2022. Infections would have substantially increased since then.

Anecdotal evidence was presented at the inquiry of people being infected several times, thus heightening their chance of contracting Long COVID.

The Omicron variant surge in December 2021 was used by governments internationally as an opportunity to end safety measures in order to reopen the economy. Without any evidence, they proclaimed the variant to be less virulent. In Australia, the Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly put this in its crassest form when he said the Omicron variant could be his number one Christmas present.

The report claimed: Evidence is emerging that most people with Long COVID will recover. But Long COVID is still little understood and the possible long-term consequences cannot be known currently. It is well established for chicken pox that its long-term manifestation, shingles, may not appear for several decades.

In her submission, MacIntyre provided a chilling assessment of the proportion of Long COVID sufferers who would never recover from Long COVID: Over 3 percent of the 04-year-old age group are estimated to never recover, while almost 1 percent of 519-year-old and over 6 percent for the population 20+ years old were estimated to never recover.

The report declared: The importance of mask wearing, physical distancing, hygiene and taking other health precautions when visiting high-risk settings cannot be underestimated. However, the enforcement of these health measures is largely at state and territory government discretion, and to varying extents, now a matter of individual responsibility.

This promotion of individual responsibility is to absolve governments of any obligation for ensuring public health. One of the greatest achievements of science, originating in the Renaissance, was the development of public medicine to fight the scourge of pandemics. The science of public medicine and all its gains over centuries have been ditched in the drive for the profit interests of the ruling class.

Academic Nick Dregenberg pointed out in his submission: The public is asked to individually manage their risk of infection, but the data they might use to do that, such as testing/case data linked to location, is being removed from public dashboards, and testing and reporting is optional. You cant manage a risk you cant see. And in workplaces staff are not told of other infected colleagues.

According to the Burnet Institute submission, the nature and prevalence of Long COVID in Australia is not unique compared to other countries. Yet the report questioned whether international Long COVID prevalence studies are applicable to the Australian context.

In support, it cited the federal Department submission that most people in Australia who have had COVID-19 have been infected with the Omicron variant, which has been the dominant variant in Australia since December 2021. Infection with Omicron has been associated with a lower risk for Long COVID than infection with the Delta variant.

This is a reassertion of the unfounded claims that Omicron is less virulent.

The committees recommendations, based on these faulty premises, promote the use of vaccines and antivirals, along with improved ventilation in buildings. These measures will do nothing to alleviate the condition of people who already have Long COVID. Nor does it reinstate the other mitigation measures necessary to combat the pandemic, such as mask mandates, contact tracing and isolation where necessary.

The government has not formally responded to the report. Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said on April 24 that it would contribute $50 million to research into Long COVID, on top of $19.6 million already being spent. This is minuscule compared to the huge emerging crisis and the complexity of the condition.
Days before the second round of the Turkish presidential elections on Sunday, People Alliance candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Nation Alliance candidate Kemal Klcdaroglu are both calling to deport millions of refugees and promoting law and order to fight terrorism.

AP Photo/Turkish Presidency via AP Photo Photo by Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [AP Photo]

Sinan Ogan, the candidate of the far-right Ata Alliance, which came third in the first round with 5.2 percent (2.8 million votes), announced his support for Erdogan in the second round. However, the alliances main force, the Victory Party, announced its support for Klcdaroglu yesterday. The Victory Party received 2.2 percent of the vote (1.2 million) in the May 14 general election.

Klcdaroglus reactionary anti-refugee propaganda, which he has been carrying out for years, has become the main campaign theme after the first round on May 14, accompanied by the fight against terrorism promises. This is a warning to all workers.

It exposes the political bankruptcy of the Kurdish nationalist Peoples Democratic Party (HDP)-Green Left Party (YSP) and the pseudo-left parties that lined up behind Klcdaroglu, presenting him as an alternative to Erdogan. By channeling growing social opposition of the masses behind another pro-imperialist right-wing faction of the ruling class, they helped the ruling class block any genuinely left-wing challenge to Erdogan from the working class.

Contrary to the lying claims of the political establishment, defenseless refugees fleeing imperialist wars from Afghanistan to Iraq and Syria pose no threat to the social and democratic rights of workers and youth in Turkey.

The Erdogan government has however attacked democratic rights and built-up a police state in the name of the fight against terrorism. It used this as a pretext to justify the imprisonment of thousands of HDP members, including party leaders, the dismissal of elected mayors and acts of state repressionsand also Turkeys continued illegal military presence in Syria and Iraq.

This agenda, on which both Erdogan and Klcdaroglu essentially agree, constitutes the framework for the bourgeoisies onslaught on the working class amid a deepening economic and social crisis in Turkey and internationally as NATOs war against Russia escalates.

The Sosyalist Esitlik Grubu (SEG), the Turkish section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), calls on workers and youth to reject both pro-imperialist candidates and their reactionary programs. It fights for the political independence and international unity of the working class. It is impossible to defend basic democratic rights without defending refugees against all reactionary factions of the ruling class and opposing imperialist war.

In a joint press conference with Klcdaroglu yesterday, Victory Party leader Umit Ozdag echoed the arguments of far-right and fascistic tendencies internationally. If you dont want Turkey to become an immigrant land, if you dont want to worry when your daughter goes out on the street ... then support the policy that will send 13 million refugees to their homeland and vote for Kemal Klcdaroglu on May 28, he declared.

Ozdags disgusting attack on refugees, who officially number around 4 million, as potential rapists is hardly unique. Klcdaroglu, who has adopted the rhetoric of both Sinan Ogan and the Victory Party, recently said: Those who love their homeland should come to the polls before the incoming fugitives completely darken the lives of our daughters. Before the press conference, Ozdag thanked the CHP youth for writing Syrians will go home on the walls.

Ozdag is a virulent xenophobe who emerged from the fascist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), now Erdogans main ally in the People Alliance. His father, Staff Captain Muzaffer Ozdag, was a member of the junta that launched the 1960 military coup.

Ozdag became a leader of the Good Party, led by Meral Aksener, which broke away from the MHP after the NATO-backed coup attempt against Erdogan in 2016. Together with Klcdaroglus Republican Peoples Party (CHP), the Good Party leads the Nation Alliance.

After Ozdag supported Klcdaroglu, a seven-point protocol agreed upon by the Victory Party and the Nation Alliance was published. Its purpose section blames the social destruction caused by Erdogans policies on refugees. It also made clear that basic social demands of the working class will be met with violent state repression.

The purpose of the protocol, it wrote, is to determine details of joint work and cooperation to ensure national unity and solidarity, solve the problems of poverty, corruption, prohibitions and severe economic problems, and deport refugees and fugitives who pose a serious security and demographic problem for Turkey.

All refugees and fugitives, especially Syrians, will be deported within one year at the latest, it declared. According to international conventions to which Turkey is a party and to domestic Turkish law, this deportation plan is illegal. However, the European Unions Fortress Europe policy and Erdogans collaboration with it have largely abolished in practice the basic democratic right to asylum.

The document pledges an effective and decisive fight against all terrorist organizations, stating that appointing state officials instead of mayors whose links to terrorism are established by legal evidence will continue within the framework of judicial rulings 

This means that Erdogans policy of dismissing elected HDP mayors in Kurdish provinces without a judicial ruling and replacing them with state officials will continue.

The HDP-YSP has allied with Klcdaroglu based on their joint orientation to US and NATO imperialism. Despite CHP support for state repression of the Kurdish people, it issued a hypocritical statement after a leadership meeting yesterday criticizing the compromise on the appointment of trustees targeting the HDPs elected mayors. However, it raised no objections to plans to deport refugees within a year and other undemocratic provisions. The HDP has said that it would declare its final decisions on the election today.

The agreement between the Victory Party and the Nation Alliance came after Ogan announced his support for Erdogan on Monday, despite Klcdaroglus best efforts. Ogan said he and Erdogan had agreed on almost identical terms. An uninterrupted, consistent fight against all kinds of terrorist organizations will continue. There is now a timetable for the [deportation] of refugees and fugitives, he declared.

The CHP chairman ... supposedly started his political journey as Gandhi Kemal and will end it as Nazi Kemal, Erdogan said at a rally on Tuesday. But his reactionary record and alliance with Ogan reveals that his criticism of Klcdaroglu on refugees is hollow demagogy.

In an interview, Erdogan said his government will continue its policy of sending back refugees. He said, We have been supporting the safe and voluntary return of refugees from the beginning. So far, nearly 560,000 refugees have returned to areas cleared of terrorism [in Syria]. This number will increase as terrorist organizations are cleared from Syria.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched several invasions into northern Syria attacking the US-backed Kurdish nationalist Peoples Protection Units (YPG) to prevent an emergence of a Kurdish state next to Turkey in northern Syria. Today, the Turkish army, along with its Islamist proxies, occupies significant parts of the region.

Erdogans government plans to completely eliminate the possibility of a Kurdish state by settling Syrian Arabs in illegally built housing in these areas. This dirty plan is accompanied by efforts to restore relations with Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The pseudo-left parties that lined up behind Klcdaroglu and remained silent on his anti-refugee campaign responded cynically to Ogans endorsement of Erdogan, who they hoped would support Klcdaroglu.

The major pseudo-left Workers Party of Turkey (TIP), which received nearly 1 million votes in the parliamentary elections, posted an edited picture of Erdogan and Ogans faces together and declared, You will lose Erdogan! But the TIP did not object to Klcdaroglus alliance with the Victory Party, the main force behind Ogan in the first round. The TIP is now campaigning for Klcdaroglu.

The Stalinist Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), from which the TIP emerged, also called for a vote for Klcdaroglu in a statement on Tuesday, revealing its own political bankruptcy. It absurdly declared: This vote does not mean a choice between two candidates who compete with each other on Americanism, bigotry and anti-immigrant sentiments, nor does it mean accepting either the People Alliance or the Nation Alliance, which have formed new alliances even before the election process is completed.

The Sosyalist Esitlik Grubu rejects the pseudo-lefts claim that there is no alternative to supporting Klcdaroglu. In reality, the election has shown Klcdaroglu is no alternative to Erdogan. The way forward is the struggle to mobilize the working class independently, on an international, socialist anti-war program, rejecting both pro-imperialist candidates of the ruling class. This means building the Sosyalist Esitlik Partisi as the Turkish section of the ICFI.
The first round of Greeces general election Sunday was won comfortably by the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party, with almost 41 percent of the vote. It was a rout for the largest opposition party, Syriza (the Coalition of the Radical Left), which secured just 20 percent, a fall of over 11 percentage points since 2019.

NDs victory came despite widespread opposition in the working class to its austerity agenda, its homicidal pandemic policies, leading to six million infections and over 36,000 deaths, and its placement of Greece at the centre of NATOs de facto war against Russia.

The result was not even impacted by the weeks of mass protests and strikes following the horrific death of 57 mainly young people in Februarys train crash in the Tempi valley, caused by decades of cuts and the slashing of staff.

Electoral map of Greece showing Syriza's rout by New Democracy. New Democracy won 58 out of 59 of Greece's electoral districts. The sole electoral district won by Syriza is marked in red on the map. [Photo: screenshot: Greek Ministry of Interior election page]

Workers are in acute social distress, having been bled dry by 15 years of austerity. Under these conditions, the victory of ND can only be explained by the absence of any genuine left alternative. The great majority of the working class concluded that none of the official parties of the nominal leftSyriza, PASOK and the Stalinist Communist Party of Greece (KKE)were significantly different from ND. Voting is compulsory in national elections in Greece, but some 40 percent of the electorate abstained from voting at all.

Syrizas period in office, from 2015 to 2019, and the years since its initial defeat by ND, have demonstrated that it is a party of European Union-dictated austerity that has acted as one of Europes main jailers of refugees and has played a decisive role in facilitating NATOs war against Russia.

The record of Syriza is a strategic experience for the international working class, demonstrating the bankruptcy of claims made by pseudo-left tendencies around the world that meaningful change can be made by voting their pro-capitalist parties into government. It is essential for workers to consciously reject this political trap amid mounting strikes and protests internationally that raise the necessity of a socialist struggle against capitalism.

Greece's then prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, addresses members of his Syriza party during a meeting, in Athens, May 27, 2019 [AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis]

Syriza came to power in a landslide election victory in January 2015, after it pledged to end the savage austerity of previous PASOK and ND governments. Instead, it enforced at least seven comprehensive austerity packages demanded by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the troika. This included 15 cuts in pensions, reductions in wages, tax hikes, redundancies and budget cuts across the public welfare, education and health sectors.

Syriza entered government in coalition with the Independent Greeksa right-wing xenophobic party with ties to the far-rightas its junior partner. The pro-capitalist policies enforced by Syriza, in partnership with the trade union bureaucracy, resulted in levels of social immiseration without precedent, including 30 percent unemployment, from which many Greek workers have never recovered. This left Syriza incapable of benefiting from popular opposition to ND among workers and youth. Its leader, Alexis Tsipras, made great play of the Tempi train crash, but no one forgot Syrizas role in creating the conditions for the disaster by privatising the rail network in 2017 as part of over 6 billion in privatizations.

Syriza has, in fact, shifted further to the right since 2019, renaming itself the Syriza-Progressive Alliance in a bid to win support among PASOK supporters. Tsipras declared in the main election debate that he was fully aware of the countrys fiscal capabilities.

Syriza voted alongside ND and PASOK last September to accept the NATO applications of Sweden and Finland. In office, moreover, Syriza was a trusted NATO partner, providing the alliance with critical military bases, including the Souda Bay naval base, which is now integral to the war against Russia.

Responsibility for all of Syrizas political betrayals is shared by the myriad pseudo-left groups that proclaimed it the model for building similar broad left electoral formations in Europe and internationally. In every instance, these partiesincluding Podemos in Spain, the Left Bloc in Portugal, the movements around former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Gabriel Boric in Chilecarried out the same political betrayals, for which the working class has paid not only in savage austerity, but in an eruption of militarism and war.

With Syriza widely discredited, sections of the pseudo-left tried to perform the same deception by advocating support for the political vehicle of Tsiprass former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis: MeRA25 (European Realistic Disobedience Front). Days before Sundays vote, Jacobin magazine, allied to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), ran an interview with Mariana Tsichli, a candidate for the MeRA25-Alliance for Rupture coalition with another Syriza splinter, Popular Unity. Tsichli claimed to be seeking to overcome Syrizas baleful legacy by rebuilding a united radical-left space, able to learn from past failures and respond to the challenges of the present.

Far from representing any such alternative, Varoufakis was the joint architect of Syrizas betrayals, stating on taking power in 2015 that he only wanted to impose a slightly modified version of austerity based on standard Thatcherite or Reaganesque economic policies and negotiating with the troika on that basis throughout.

With workers viewing him as equally toxic as Tsipras, MeRA25-Alliance for Rupture received less than the 3 percent vote required to enter parliament, losing the nine seats it had gained in 2019. Giving vent to his own right-wing agenda, Varoufakis blamed his defeat on the fact that people dont want the truth, really, and attacked ND from the right for four years of spend, spend, spend with the support of the European Central Bank.

The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), the world Trotskyist movement, was the only party that offered workers timely warnings of the class character and political role of Syriza.

On January 27, 2015, as Tsipras took power, the World Socialist Web Site wrote:

Syrizas election victory does not express a political development, a step forward, progress or anything of the kind by or for the working class. In its origin, social composition and politics, Syriza is a bourgeois partyone of many, including the Democrats under US President Barack Obamathat come to power making promises of hope and change and then impose policies of austerity and war. It will inevitably betray, sooner rather than later, the aspirations for an end to social hardship and suffering that it has cynically exploited Syriza has come to power based upon a programme that articulates the interests of a powerful section of the Greek bourgeoisie and more privileged sections of the upper-middle class. It makes its appeal to yet more powerful forces: the imperialists of Europe and the United States.

The ICFIs November 13, 2015 statement, The Political Lessons of Syrizas Betrayal in Greece, was written in the aftermath of Syrizas trampling on the mass No vote rejecting the troikas dictates in the partys own referendum, and its ramming of a massive new austerity bailout through parliament. The statement explained:

It must be bluntly said that the experience of the Syriza government has been a major defeat for the working class The central task is the political rearming of the working class and the building of a new revolutionary leadership, based on a remorseless critique of the parties, personalities, and political conceptions that were responsible for the defeat. This has been the significance of the work carried out by the International Committee of the Fourth International in relation to the Greek events. In Greece, in Europe and throughout the world, the working class can defend itself only through the building of new working-class parties, which are entirely independent of all sections of the capitalist class, based on an internationalist revolutionary program, directed toward the establishment of workers power, the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of a world socialist society.

In its assessment of Syrizas four years in power and its electoral defeat in 2019, the WSWS insisted that workers make a reckoning with pseudo-left politics in its entirety.

This experience has unforgettably demonstrated the impossibility of fighting a bankrupt capitalist order by voting for left populist parties to implement reforms under capitalism. The betrayal carried out by Syriza, rooted in its class basis in the affluent petty bourgeoisie, will be repeated if similar parties come to power elsewhere. The way forward is a turn to the perspective of classical Marxism, that is, Trotskyism: the revolutionary mobilization of the full industrial and economic power of the international working class to take control of economic life and state power.

The most farsighted workers and youth must now turn to the building of a Greek section of the ICFI, as part of a new revolutionary turn by the European and international working class.
The most expensive Democratic mayoral primary in the history of Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the United States, took place on May 16. A total of nine candidates campaigned for the partys nomination to run in the November general election, expected to be a shoo-in for the Democratic candidate.

The city has been run by Democrats for the last 70 years, amid deindustrialization, soaring inequality and growing working class restiveness. Philadelphia is one of the poorest cities in the nation, with a third of its children living in poverty.

The candidates in the primary comprised the typical assortment of rich, business-owning millionaires, career politicians and fake left candidates, such as Helen Gym. The latter was endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders, and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and House of Representatives Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).

In a very tight race, according to polls, Cherelle Parker, a former state representative and current city councilwoman, secured a larger than expected victory, winning by a margin of 10 percent. She ran on a right-wing, pro-business, law-and-order platform, calling for the hiring of more police officers, an increase in police funding and the institutionalization of the unconstitutional stop-and-frisk policing tactic.

Police have repeatedly terrorized and killed workers and young people in Philadelphia. Last year, police officers executed an unarmed 12-year-old boy lying face-down on the pavement. In a more recent case, a landlords private police officer shot a tenant in the head.

Parker will face off against Republican David Oh, a member of the Philadelphia City Council. Oh is an attorney and former member of the Army National Guard. He has little chance of beating his opponent in a city where registered Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans.

Mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker takes part in a Democratic primary debate at the WPVI-TV studio in Philadelphia, April 25, 2023. [AP Photo/Matt Rourke]

Political pundits have compared Parker to the current mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, who also ran on a right-wing, pro-police program and is himself a former police officer. Parker, for her part, embraced the comparison, refusing to distance herself from Adams or his right-wing politics.

A survey conducted by Lake Research Partners and Vera Action found that an overwhelming majority of Philadelphians reject this pro-police agenda. The survey stated:

In yet another major-city municipal election where crime and public safety dominated the issue agenda, voters once again showed an understanding of these issues far more complex and nuanced than the political discourse and conventional wisdom would have suggested. 72 percent of voters prefer an approach to safety that focuses on preventing crime and addressing its root causes. In fact, fewer than one-quarter of all respondents (22 percent) prefer tough on crime policies.

The election underscored the fact that none of the pressing social issues impacting the working class, such as good-paying jobs and health care, affordable housing, the eradication of COVID, safe schools and high-quality education, will be resolved within the two-party capitalist system. This includes the supposed progressives in the Democratic party.

In the lead-up to Election Day, Gym racked up endorsements from Sanders, AOC, a DSA youth group, newly elected progressive mayors in Chicago and Boston, and a list of Hollywood celebrities.

Despite the support of such high-profile figures, Gym managed to garner only 22 percent of the vote, placing her third behind Rebecca Rhynhart, a former Wall Street executive and city controller. While touted as a progressive and fighter for the people, Gyms platform failed to distance her from her more right-wing competitors in the Democratic Party.

The endorsements by Sanders and AOCboth of whom have fully supported Democratic President Joe Bidens increase in military spending and the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, as well as the ending of all restraints on the COVID pandemicdid little to increase the enthusiasm of voters for Gym. Less than 30 percent of registered Democrats cast a ballot in the primary.

In spite of Gyms bluster in the past about capitalism, including denouncing it as an immoral system, she never uttered the word at her final election rally. Nor did Sanders or AOC, who shared the stage with Gym.

In the end, her empty rhetoric did not attract large numbers of working class voters, who are increasingly alienated from both big business parties.

A former teacher, Gym portrayed herself as an implacable fighter for public education, determined to fix the public schools in Philadelphia, which have seen teachers and students poisoned with asbestos and lead-tainted water, as well as a tragic toll in infections and deaths from COVID. At the same time, she said she was willing to work with proponents of charter schools on the citys Board of Education.

Gym was backed by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT), led by Jerry Jordan, who supported her education plan, saying it was thoughtful and [had] proactive measures to address a real crisis in our city. Jordan was responsible for sending teachers back into unsafe classrooms at the height of the Omicron surge in 2022, while rank-and-file teachers fought for remote learning to save lives. The endorsement of Jordan and the PFT fell on deaf ears, revealing the deep alienation of the rank and file from the trade union bureaucracy and Democratic politicians.
Pickets at Unite for Success Academy in Oakland, California [Photo: WSWS] [Photo: WSWS]

The Oakland Education Association (OEA) announced Monday evening that a tentative agreement (TA) used to call off a seven-day teachers strike was ratified by the membership. The union had called off the strike without a vote last week, with only nine days left in the school year as a method of pressuring teachers to accept the sellout contract.

According to OEAs email to teachers, 72% of union members participated in the vote with 90% of those voting in favor, or 65% of the total membership. This is a modest drop from the strike authorization vote, where 87% voted in favor with 88% participating, or 77% of members.

These figures, assuming they were not doctored by the bureaucracy, must be taken with a grain of salt, given significant alienation and hostility felt by teachers towards the bureaucracy. This was expressed in a mass membership contract meeting held last week which was attended by only a handful of people. If the figures are accurate, they are less a sign of support for the contract than a vote of no confidence in the union to conduct a struggle.

The TA is largely identical to the Oakland Unified School Districts (OUSD) last offer on compensation before the strike, which brings pay in real terms back to what teachers were earning in 2016. One of the few differences is that it adds several common good demands, to serve as window dressing. These issues include funding quotas based on the racial categorization of schools, earmarking funding where significant proportions of the student body are African American. This is aimed at driving a wedge between the diverse population of teachers, student and parents, including Latino students, including immigrants from Latin America, who make up roughly half the districts student body.

Other common good demands during contract talks had included points on school closures and creating safe classrooms without mold or vermin, but each and every one of those was dropped by the union in favor of non-binding consultative committees. For example, the school closure agreement specifically includes This agreement in no way abrogates the ability or authority of OUSD to close or merge schools. Each of the common good agreements includes an unambiguous final clause reading This agreement will expire in full without precedent on June 29, 2025 and, as of that day, shall cease to have any force or effect.

The Common good demands are being used by teacher unions across the country in order to posture as progressive while ramming through the budget cuts demanded by politicians. The president of United Teachers Los Angeles, Cecily Myart-Cruz, who rammed through a contract in Los Angeles this semester, published an article in The Nation that praising OEA while blatantly lying about the content of the tentative agreement.

Myart-Cruz claimed that the district had settled on a plan to ensure that schools are free from gun violence, asbestos, lead, and mice infestations, instead of creating a committee to discuss the issue. In Oakland these consultative committees are to be implemented alongside school closures and the continuing degradation of school conditions as a whole. OUSD already approved layoffs of support staff in March.

The contract sets the stage for massive cuts in the district to fill a $79 million budget deficit next year. These cuts are being implemented at the local and state level by the very politicians that the union has endorsed. OEA president Ismael Armendariz campaigned for State superintendent Tony Thurmond, who has demanded school closures and budget cuts from OUSD for years. Armendariz also campaigned for county superintendent Alysse Castro who has insisted throughout negotiations that gains made by teachers must be offset by cuts elsewhere.

As in 2019, when the OEA rammed through the last contract after shutting down a strike, the union bureaucracy is hailing the strike as a great victory. The 2019 contract saw teachers real wages collapse by 12% and was immediately followed by school closures and layoffs by OUSD which the OEA refused to fight. The 2019 contract was only passed by a thin margin, 57% to 43%, after a stormy membership meeting where most of the speakers denounced the deal.

Seeking to avoid a repeat of 2019 when militant teachers nearly overrode the unions effort to shut down the strike, this time the OEA violated any pretense of democracy and shut down the strike without a vote of the teachers. As usual, the teachers union did not offer members strike pay during the stoppage, and dangled a $5,000 signing bonus in front of teachers to pressure them into accepting the no strike pledge of the contract in advance of school closures and budget cuts.

Many teachers felt trapped by the unions maneuvers and saw no way to fight both the union and district in the last few days of the school year.

The distance between the union bureaucrats and this majority of teachers who authorized the strike, in which key demands included an immediate 23% raise as well as concrete and enforceable measures for classroom air quality and conditions, was sharply demonstrated by the union leadership elections held during the strike as well as the union meeting to promote the TA at the start of voting.

Although the union elections ended during the strike, as teachers across the district demonstrated their intense desire to fight for better conditions, fewer than one in three voted in the elections. In all, Armendariz won his seat as president with the votes of fewer than 20% of union members. The mass meeting called last week to sell the TA attracted only 60 teachers. With a big bargaining team of roughly 50 members, this means that almost no teacher who wasnt directly involved in negotiations even bothered to listen to the unions pitch.

The Oakland Educators Rank-and-File Committee was founded in 2019 to fight to take the strike out of the union bureaucracies hands and push for a unified political struggle of teachers across the state and country in defense of public education. Schools are under attack from both big business parties under a worked out plan including budget cuts, school closures, charter schools and vouchers. This national assault cannot be fought district by district.

As the committee wrote in its statement urging a rejection of the contract :

The capitulation of the OEA leadershipwhich repeats at a higher stage of the global class struggle their betrayal of our 2019 strikeis not the product of the subjective spinelessness of the union leaders. Rather, it is an expression of their integration with the Democratic Party, which controls the entire political system in Oakland and California.  While Democrats and Republicans across the country claim there is no money for education, the Biden administration is demanding a $1 trillion military budget to push for war with Russia and China.

Teachers across the country are pushing back against the relentless assault on schools, including Michigan educators seeking to protect students after a six year old died from a mystery illness,' and San Diego teachers who have been without a contract for over a year. Only a unified struggle of school workers that relies on mobilizing the working class can enforce the social right of teachers and students to safe, quality schools against the desire of both big business parties.
Dr. Doom economist Nouriel Roubini. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/GettyImages

"Dr. Doom" economist Nouriel Roubini said US regional banks will "certainly" face a credit crunch.

"There will be certainly some credit crunch especially among regional banks, those are the ones that are squeezed," he said.

Fears of a credit squeeze have risen as banks tighten lending standards following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic.

US regional banks are 'certainly' going to face a credit crunch - and that will erode growth in the world's largest economy, according to "Dr. Doom" economist Nouriel Roubini.

"There will be certainly some credit crunch, especially among regional banks. Those are the ones that are squeezed," Roubini told Bloomberg Wednesday during the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

"Those are the banks that lend a lot to households, to small businesses and medium-sized enterprises, and commercial real estate. Estimates as of now is that, that credit crunch is going to reduce economic growth in the US by at least 50 basis points," the economist said.

Fears of a credit squeeze have risen as banks tightened lending standards - to iron out asset-liability mismatches and protect balance sheets - following the failures of multiple US lenders in recent months. Morgan Stanley's top stock strategist cited lending data last month to suggest that the loan crunch had already begun.

"If there are other headwinds for the global economy, you could see in the second half of the year, outright contraction in the United States," Roubini added.

Roubini has previously sounded the alarm on a US credit crunch, saying a "good chunk of the US banking system" will face a "serious" squeeze, tipping the economy into recession, he added.

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Striking workers at the Clarios plant on May 14, 2023 [Photo: WSWS]

For more than two weeks, 525 workers at the Clarios plant in the Toledo suburb of Holland, Ohio have waged a determined strike against the worlds largest auto battery manufacturer. They have not backed down despite court injunctions, the hiring of strikebreakers and the sabotage of the United Auto Workers bureaucracy.

On Monday, workers voted by 76 percent to defeat a second pro-company deal pushed by UAW International and local officials. As with the first agreement, rejected by 98 percent, the second included a cut in real wages and new 12-hour shifts without the payment of overtime after eight hours.

In a response to the vote, Clarios management declared in a statement, We are disappointed that our represented employees did not ratify the agreement despite the endorsement of the UAW bargaining committee. It continued threateningly, We are committed to continuing to operate our facility to support our customers and we are evaluating our next move.

The outcome of the Clarios strike will have enormous consequences for the more than 170,000 GM, Ford and Stellantis workers in the US and Canada whose contracts expire in mid-September. It is the first battle in the broader war against the global automakers demands that workers bear the full cost of the transition to electric vehicles by accepting the destruction of their jobs, wages and working conditions.

Fearing that the Clarios workers will spark a broader rebellion by rank-and-file workers, UAW President Shawn Fain and the rest of the union apparatus are doing everything they can to black out news of this fight, isolate the strike and starve the workers into submission. Among workers, however, there is widespread support for the courageous Clarios strikers and growing demands by Big Three autoworkers for a ban on handling any scab batteries until the strike is won.

The courageous stand by the Clarios workers has inspired every worker who has learned about their fight. The following is a selection of statements of support from autoworkers and other workers. We urge workers in the US and internationally to send your statements to comments@wsws.org.

A Ford Chicago Assembly worker

To all Clarios battery workers, thank you for standing up to the big guys in the UAW office that dont know what we go through for these companies. These companies are making billions of dollars and paying UAW members like were dirt. Its hard work, I know. I have been a UAW Ford worker for 37 years, and they keep taking more and more all the time. I support you and I thank you, for what you are doing for everyone.

Your friend at Ford Chicago

Dana worker in Pennsylvania

We should all be pulling for these workers. We have to let the corporations know that they cannot keep putting the little guy down. I fully support their strike and hope that it encourages other workers to also strike and shut down even more production.

Stellantis worker and member of Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee in Detroit

Were behind the Clarios workers 100 percent. This isnt just about Clarios, its about the Big Three too. We are going to be next. We are the ones whose blood, sweat and tears makes them all this money, and its time we stand up together and fight for what we need and to make it better for the next generation.

Clarios already cut your pay, and they thought a three percent raise was something. But you said, Hell no. We want everything you took and more. Enough is enough. Were not going to let these corporations bully us anymore.

It blows my mind how the UAW officials brought back the same contract with a little bigger signing bonus. They must think were stupid. Fain is like the rest of the UAW officials. They dont care about anything but lining their own pockets. We know theyre using Clarios batteries in the Ram 1500 trucks, but UAW Local 140 is lying about it.

If all the Big Three workers stood together and said, Im not making another car with these scab batteries, that would be powerful. We would be putting their backs against the wall instead of ours. Everybody, Jeep people, Warren Truck and other workers are speaking out. We care, its not just about us, its about all of us. Its not just in the US, but worldwide.

Nexteer auto parts worker in Saginaw, Michigan

The situation at Clarios is a mirror image of what the unions done to us. The unions not standing up for us; weve got to stand up for ourselves. The companies and the UAW want us to be subservient to their needs.

You cant believe how good it was to read the article about Clarios workers fighting the international UAW trying to shove a contract down their throat. Years ago they did this so many times to us [legacy members of Local 699]. Our storyline goes back years. We have been fighting the international UAW since before 2010. The Steering Gear plant was spun off as Delphi; that was the beginning of the end. After the Delphi bankruptcy, we were promised health care through the VEBA trust, and GM actually paid approximately $47 million to the UAW to cover us. We were all used as a head count to come up with the payout. Now they [the UAW apparatus] wont honor that agreement. We have been fighting for justice from the same union that was supposed to protect us. Theres much more to our story, but thats for another day.

In 2015, the UAW finally called us out on strike after we overwhelmingly rejected their sellout contracts. However, it was only a 20-hour strike! We walked out and the UAW called us back. They said theyd made an agreement, and it turned out we were making less money than when we walked out.

As workers, we should not be fighting against other workers anywhere in the world. We must unite together. Nexteer sets up competition among its various locations: the Saginaw plant against Nexteer in Morocco, against Nexteer in Brazil and so on. Were internally battering each other. I dont think anybody should be running a machine in Mexico and in Michigan and making a different wage. We need to be equal. This is why we need to build these rank-and-file committees.

Stellantis workers at Detroit Assembly Complex-Mack

Workers are mad with Fain over what is happening in Ohio. We heard that the UAW negotiated a crappy contract. It was the same exact contract they voted down previously. If Clarios gets a bad contract, it will affect us.

The UAW has it set up to divide and conquer. Now they are talking about a third tier in the EV plants. My niece at KFC makes more than an autoworker. Pensions are almost gone. They want to force people to work until they die. People cant afford food or medicine.

All the Big Three workers should stand behind the Clarios workers. We need to shut down with them. It is going to take everybody. Not one here, and one there. All North America. It should be teachers, autoworkers, bus drivers, mechanics, all together. We all need pensions, cost of living and time-and-one-half after 8 hours.

Jeep worker at Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex

I wholeheartedly support the Clarion workers in their fight for a better contract. Stay strong brothers and sisters. The contract the UAW brought back was almost identical to the first one. We are headed into a contract, and its going to be unfair and ridiculous too. The UAW is not helping the Clarios workers, but we workers want to. If we could all just stop putting these Clarios batteries in the Jeeps that would really help the Clarios workers.

Member of GM Flint Truck Assembly Rank-and-File Committee

We want our coworkers to know they are handling batteries produced and handled by scab workers hired by Clarios and approved by the corrupted UAW bureaucracy. If we were in the situation of the Clarios workers and the contract, which we may very well be in the months coming up, we would need other workers to support us. We all must stand firm with our demands together.

Nothing has changed since Shawn Fain has become president of the UAW. Fain is carrying out the same traditions as Ray Currylike highlights instead of the actual contract. The fact that the UAW agreed to introduce into the contract 12-hour dayswith the 2-2-3 scheme so they dont pay overtime after eight hoursis terrible!

The more information we have, the more aware the rank-and-file workers can be. The UAW bureaucracy is not involved in giving information; theyre involved in concealing information. The UAW is for the corporations and the rank-and-file committees are for the workers. We say to all workers, build rank-and-file committees!

Another GM Flint RFC member

Im glad the Clarios workers did not roll over and stood up! The UAW and the auto industry is trying to set a precedent. The sellout contract presented to the Clarios strikers could be for us next.

Im disgusted with getting highlights which arent worth the paper theyre printed on. The rank and file need to know what is going on. There are two opposing forcesthe corporations and the workers. The union claims to be for us, but they are with the company. Thats what the joint ventures are all about. What the union is doing is a conflict of interest. I am disgusted with the UAW not standing with the Clarios workers.

Another GM Flint worker

As a member of the GM Flint Assembly Rank-and-File Committee, I support the striking Clarios workers. Their struggle against Clarios and the UAW apparatus is just the beginning of a fight autoworkers will have against the big three, with the contracts ending in September.

The UAW has done nothing to expand the strike to other Clarios plants in the US or in other countries, even though workers in all those plants make the same batteries and share the same interests against the company. All autoworkers as well, not just at Clarios, need to realize that our interests are also the same.

Clarios supplies the Big Three, including where I work, with these batteries. We need to inform all our coworkers about whats going on and that these batteries being made are coming from scab work which undermines the efforts of the striking Clarios workers.

The UAW apparatus wont do anything to make the strike known, and they wont call on workers to not handle the batteries. This is why workers themselves must do so through rank-and-file committees. This needs to happen to stop a defeat of the strike and make sure the UAW apparatus doesnt impose another sellout contract on workers at Clarios. If that happens it will set a precedent for later this year when the Big Three contracts end and where the UAW apparatus will do the same thing to workers in plants like mine.

From a Temple grad worker who was just on strike

Clarios workers should not suspend their strike. Nor should they be persuaded to accept the rotten terms offered to them recently. Instead, they should work to expand their movement to the majority of their own workers and then the wider working class.

We stand with Clarios workers! From experience, big unions will do little to assist a strike, financially or otherwise, and workers may suffer financial hardship. That said, the benefits of a real contract that measurably improves their life will be worth it. On the other hand, taking a rotten deal, which my union certainly did, may leave workers feeling dissatisfied and split. The costs of striking, if a terrible deal is accepted, will take months to recover from.

Clarios workers deserve better than that! We all deserve better! The working class, the world over, should spread their message, donate to any strike fund they may have, and push their leadership for transparency and proper advocacy.

CSX railroad worker in Baltimore

Corporate greed at its finest, 2 on, 2 off, 3 on work week, 12 hours a day no overtime. Then hide the fact that the money they are taking from workers will fund the war in Ukraine. Using scabs and other tactics to force favorable votes is outrageous.

Baltimore CSX worker

Fain apparently has time in his schedule to grovel before capitalist politicians in Washington, but he wont show up to support these workers on the picket line. This is a bankruptcy of leadership. Workers have the ability to take these fights into their own hands, it is evident the unions will not fight.

Baltimore CSX worker

I would say its vitally important for solidarity between brothers and sisters from all unions at this time. Any one unions membership is sadly not enough to beat both the corporations and the politicians in Washington. Union members across the country need to be active and engaged in solidarity for all contracts in all industries.

Are you a Clarios or other auto or auto parts worker? Fill out the form below for more information about forming rank-and-file committees.
On Monday, speaking in Guangzhou, capital of South Chinas Guangdong Province, Dr. Zhong Nanshan, one of Chinas foremost respiratory disease experts, announced that a wave of COVID-19 infections with the latest XBB subvariants of Omicron was building in his country.

The surge is expected to peak at the end of June, with a projection of around 65 million infections per week, the countrys second largest wave during the pandemic. However, given the lack of testing, this must be considered a vast underestimate, as with any data regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, China has a considerable number of elderly and vulnerable people who remain largely unvaccinated.

As with China, other waves of infection are ripping through the populations of Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Brazil. According to the World Health Organizations (WHO) situation report, hot spots continue in Thailand, Indonesia and India, where deaths are also climbing.

In Thailand, Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, confirmed that between May 14 and May 20, 2,632 patients were admitted to hospital for COVID-19. Of these, 401 had lung infections, 226 required ventilators, and 64 deaths have been documented. He attributed the surge to the rainy season and beginning of in-class instruction for children. He called for taking general precautions, wearing masks and avoiding crowded indoor spaces.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, despite attempts to conceal the real state of the pandemic, recent reports on social media and on-line sources suggest that hospitals are once more overflowing with patients, and medicinal oxygen is in acutely short supply. These have been corroborated by various medical entities, local physicians and researchers in Brazil.

Additional countries affected include Vietnam, Philippines, Mongolia and to a less extent in Japan, South Korea and Australia. There are also spikes in cases occurring in the African countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabo Verde, Uganda and Mauritius.

These developments only confirm that the World Health Organizations (WHO) declaration that it was time to end the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) was premature. Rather than a serious assessment of the state of the pandemic, it more resembles the declaration of mission accomplished made by former President George Bush two decades ago, on June 5, 2003, in premature celebration of US imperialisms conquest of Iraq.

While the wars of US imperialism over the last quarter century have killed over 4 million people, the deliberate decision by the ruling elites to give free rein to this deadly, contagious pathogen, which could have been eradicated in short order, is responsible for 20 million deaths and severe health consequences for tens of millions more.

According to Chinese health officials, by early May the new XBB subvariants, which were born out of the recombination of two previous Omicron strains, accounted for 84 percent of all sequenced SARS-CoV-2 viruses, up from a miniscule 0.2 percent in mid-February. It should be recalled that when the Chinese authorities lifted their Zero-COVID policy late last year, a tsunami of infections with the BA.5 Omicron subvariant hit the entire country, with estimates of over 1 million deaths.

That a new wave of infections has appeared on the horizon three months later only demonstrates in stark terms the immune-evasive and contagious property of these continuously evolving strains and the criminal irresponsibility of the decision to end Zero-COVID.

Line-up for mass COVID testing in Shanghai a year ago, before the abandonment of the Zero-COVID policy. [AP Photo/Chen Si, File]

Shanghai, that had beaten back the BA.1 subvariant just over a year ago, is now facing XBB.1.16, XBB.1.16.1.1 (Pangolin lineage FU.1), XBB.1.5, XBB.1.9.1 and multiple offshoots of the BA.5 subvariant.

The Chinese National Health Commission, like every other state health institution, continues to underplay the implication of the new surge with the oft-repeated claim that there is no significant change in the pathogenicity of newer variants. But by calling for developing more effective vaccines, Chinese officials are effectively conceding the mounting dangers to the population. A study from the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently showed that in a sample of 368 COVID-19 infections, 104 were reinfections and a majority of those reinfected had previously received a booster.

Xie Xiaoliang, a biophysical chemist at Peking University, said at a recent academic conference, Global data shows that mutations in the virus can intermittently trigger multiple rounds of peaks in infections, roughly once every five months, so researchers need to be prepared for a possible peak in outbreaks this winter.

Xie Liangzhi, chairman of Beijing-based SinoCellTech, told the Global Times, The vaccines based on original variants are not designed to prevent infection by new variants. The former cannot induce sufficiently effective neutralizing antibodies against the mutated strain, whereas the new generation of vaccines, which are more targeted, can induce sufficient and effective antibodies.

Even the WHOs Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition has acknowledged that the current vaccines efficacy against symptomatic disease is limited and declining with the XBB.1 lineages. They are recommending changing the formulation directed at these strainssuch as XBB.1.5 or XBB.1.16and shifting monovalent formulations, discarding the vaccine against the original strain as it no longer circulates.

Such admissions only underscore the continued failure of the vaccine-only strategy that the WHO itself had previously warned against. They had openly stated that vaccination without mitigation of the disease to the utmost possible extent was untenable as a pandemic control strategy. Its adoption now by the WHO is a scientific retrogression and a capitulation to the political pressures the agency has faced from the beginning of the pandemic.

The only viable solution to the present pandemic calamity is the reimplementation of the core public health strategies that have been proven effective for centuries, such as quarantines, isolation and masking, while every effort is directed to the development of pan-coronavirus and mucosal vaccines, as well as including therapeutics and infrastructure planning to ensure indoor air quality is verified free of pathogens.

A study published last week in Nature by Sato Labs from the University of Tokyo offered a glimpse into the virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB variant. As previously noted, the XBB evolved out of the recombination of two previously co-circulating BA.2 lineages, BJ.1 and BM.1.1.1, last summer, a landmark event in the pandemic, according to Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman National IMA COVID Task Force & past president of the Indian Medical Association. Essentially, all previous variants involved individual mutations. XBB represents a qualitative change, as convergent evolutionary pathways enable the coronavirus to develop more complex adaptive capacities.

As the authors of the report note, To our knowledge, this is the first documented example of a SARS-CoV-2 variant increasing its fitness through recombination rather than substitutions. They also found that XBB.1 had a profound resistance to antiviral humoral immunity induced by vaccination or breakthrough infections of prior Omicron subvariants, consistent with reports from other groups.

It should be added that although XBBs pathogenicity remains similar to its predecessors, it is no guarantee that future variants will not evolve more lethal versions. Recombinant events could very well link a highly transmissible variant like XBB with a variant that has similar tropism in deep lung tissue like Delta, leading to a variant with both characteristics: greater infectiousness and greater deadliness. That it has not happened yet is simply a case of blind luck.

As the WHO noted, the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic erased 337 million life years for the worlds human population. More worrisome, annual world statistics are also showing that there is a growing threat from non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. That COVID-19 is contributing directly and indirectly in this sphere is no longer a matter of debate.

All the public health gains in the first two decades of the 21st century are quickly being erased. Global life expectancy has plummeted. Diseases like HIV, cholera, tuberculosis and malaria are making gains again as access to necessary health care is being destroyed due to capitalism. Meanwhile, the threat posed by novel emerging pandemic pathogens has only grown in the face of inaction by governments all over the world and the demise of effective public health systems.
There has been an outcry in Australia and internationally over the May 17 police tasering of Clare Nowland, a tiny, frail 95-year-old great-grandmother living with dementia in an aged care home in Cooma, New South Wales. As a result of the police attack, Nowland fell. She suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, and is now in hospital receiving end of life care.

Clare Nowland [Photo: Facebook]

So shocking was the incident that it was widely reported around the world. Nowland, weighing only 43kg and just 1.6 metres tall, had allegedly been walking toward officers at a slow pace, using a walking frame, while holding a steak knife. Yet the police determined that she posed such a threat that they had to shoot her down with potentially lethal barbed taser darts.

The public has been so disturbed because what happened to Nowland, while particularly shameful, is not an aberration. It speaks volumes about two critical issuesthe rising levels of police violence, especially against vulnerable and working-class people, and the appalling conditions in chronically-underfunded and understaffed nursing homes.

The callousness of the police response, and clear signs of a coverup, only heightened the anger and disgust. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb decreed that the police would not release the video of the shooting, captured on police body cameras, claiming it was protected under the Surveillance Act. She told the media she would not even watch the footage herself, saying she did not want to prejudice a police investigation. That investigation is to be conducted internally by the police force itself, led at the highest level by Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter.

While the officer who opened fire with the taser, a senior constable with 12 years of experience, was suspended from duty five days after shooting Nowland, he remains on full pay. Regardless of his individual culpability, however, it soon became clear that this attack was part of a wider pattern of systemic police brutality.

Within days, family members of other aged victims of police attacks came forward. On Sunday, Emma Grahame revealed that police had used handcuffs to restrain her mother, an 81-year-old, 45kg dementia sufferer in a Sydney nursing home in 2020, after being called by staff. Video of the incident shows the handcuffed woman, Rachel Grahame, howling in pain and distress, as six officers held her down. Emma Grahame only eventually obtained the video and police notes of the incident by using the states freedom of information laws.

In a third case, Kirsty McGregor said she and her family were not told when police were deployed against their 79-year-old mother, Norma Robertson, in 2020 at a Sydney dementia unit. McGregor only found out about the incident the next day, when she visited to find her distressed mothers arms and legs covered in bruises.

Reports from the UK also showed the prevalent police use of tasers, including against a 10-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy and a 93-year-old man with dementia. Police were investigated for manslaughter last year when Donald Burgess, 93, a dementia sufferer with one leg, died after being tasered by police at a care home in Sussex.

Tasers have long been known to be potentially deadly weapons. At least 49 police killings in the United States in 2018 were a result of tasers, following 500 fatalities in the decade to 2012.

In NSW, Labor Party Premier Chris Minns and his ministers moved to shield the police from the public outrage over Nowlands treatment. Minns said it was really important for people to have confidence in the police investigation, saying it would be monitored by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).

The LECC is a nominally independent oversight body set up in 2017 by the previous Liberal-National state government in a bid to stifle mounting popular opposition to cover-ups of police killings. The NSW Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, took a similar line, saying police should ensure an LECC investigation into their handling of such cases.

But an LECC report released this week on its first five years of monitoring NSW police investigations of critical incidentsones in which police operations resulted in deaths or serious injuriesshowed the sham of the LECC monitoring process.

The LECC reported a rising number of such serious incidents157 over five yearswith nearly half involving people experiencing mental health crises. It also revealed lengthy delays in police investigations and a lack of LECC powers to compel police to report incidents or provide testimony.

On average, the internal police investigations examined by the LECC took 20 months to be finalised. Only 52 of the 157 investigations had been completed, despite some stretching back to 2017. Few led to misconduct findings against policejust 16with no indication as to what, if any, penalties resulted.

In just five years, 13 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had died in these police operations, while six were seriously injured, and that rate of indigenous death and injury had doubled in 2021-22, the most recent year covered by the report.

The toll may be even higher, because the report said it was up to the police force itself to decide whether to classify incidents as critical, and thus reportable to the LECC. In addition, a LECC representative attended less than half the reported critical incidents, leaving the police free of scrutiny at the scenes.

Moreover, the report said the LECCs power to live monitor interviews with the police involved was illusory because officers frequently denied permission for that monitoring. Police also could refuse to provide the LECC with their version of events, often on the grounds of avoiding self-incriminationat least 29 had done so since 2017.

The LECC proposed greater training of police officers in mental health responses, but the report admitted that many such official and coronial recommendations had been made for years, without any improvement.

On any careful reading, the overall picture from the LECC report is that of an effectively lawless police force, authorised by successive governments, Labor and Liberal-National, to operate with impunity, resulting in escalating levels of police violence under conditions of mounting social tensions and stress.

Other evidence emerged this week of the underlying crisis in aged care, including the lack of resourcing, staffing and training for low-paid aged care workers to deal properly with dementia-related and other problems among elderly residents.

The nursing home where police tasered Clare Nowland, Yallambee Lodge, a 40-bed facility run by the Snowy Monaro Council, was under pressure due to high levels of occupancy, according to the councils most recent report.

That had resulted from the closure of private residential aged care services in nearby Bombala last year, due to the inability to hire the required numbers of full-time staff members, including registered nurses.

The federal Labor governments aged care minister, Anika Wells, said the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission was conducting a separate investigation. Yet that is set to be a whitewash as well. Yallambee Lodge was audited against the governments aged care quality standards in February and assessed as fully compliant.

A quarterly report by that commission revealed an increasing number of violent incidents in aged care homes. Service providers reported 7,663 instances of unreasonable force in the last three months of 2022, the highest quarterly figure since records began in April 2021. Nearly 10 percent involved use of force by staff.

Neglect was reported 1,893 times in the final three months of 2022 and more than 170 aged care services did not meet mandated quality standards. The most common breaches were a lack of safe and effective personal and clinical care and ineffective governance systems.

Continued underfunding of aged care by the Albanese Labor government, perpetuating decades of cuts, and the ongoing COVID pandemic, wilfully let loose by every Australian government, has intensified this crisis. More than 5,400 aged care residents have died from COVID in Australia, the majority under the Labor government over the past year.

The ever-more evident indifference by governments to the lives of the elderly is one of the starkest expressions of the growing human toll and social disaster being produced by the capitalist profit system.

The use of tasers under these conditions points to the essential nature of the police as an instrument of capitalist rule. So far, the victims have been predominantly vulnerable, ill or aged members of society, but the police licence to kill or maim is ultimately designed to be aimed against rising political and working-class opposition to the increasingly intolerable conditions of life.
Indias Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, led by the Hindu-chauvinist strongman Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is mounting a sweeping attack on citizens constitutionally protected right to criticize its actions on social media.

It has authorized the creation of an official fact-checking unit that will have the power to order social media platforms to expunge whatever this far-right government deems as fake or false or misleading postings. This was officially announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on April 6 in an order amending the already anti-democratic Information Technology rules the Modi government had set out in 2021.

All of this has been carried out in an autocratic style by means of a government gazette notification, with hardly any consultation with corporate media organizations and long recognized associations of journalists, let alone widespread democratic debate. The government Gazette is the official organ of the national government, published weekly to announce and disseminate decrees, legislation and documents, whereupon the provisions become legally binding.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering in 2020. [AP Photo/Aftab Alam Siddiqui]

According to the new rules, this so-called fact-checking unit, or bureaucracy of Truth as some critics have aptly named it, comprised of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, will constantly monitor social media platform postings to identify fake or false or misleading information [with] respect of any business of the Central Government.

This wording makes clear that the government is particularly concerned with suppressing criticisms and exposures of its own actions and policies, including its relentless promotion of communalism, corrupt relations with big business and increasing resort to authoritarian methods of rule and outright criminality. However, the ambit of what the new fact-checker censors may order removed goes far beyond even this. It includes posts that threaten the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence, or prevents investigation of any offence, or is insulting any other nation.

Thus social media-hosted conversations or links to articles that criticize states and governments with which the Modi government has friendly ties, such as US imperialism, the Saudi absolutist sheiks or Israel, could be deemed by the fact-checker censors/bureaucrats as harmful. So too could postings that call for mass antigovernment protests or defiance of antistrike essential service orders.

In such cases, the fake news censors will notify online social media companies or their intermediaries including Twitter, Facebook and even WhatsApp and order them to immediately take down such postings. If they fail to do so, these companies risk losing their safe harbor protections.

Under the safe-harbor protections in the IT Act of 2000, intermediaries such as Twitter, Facebook and other social-media platforms are protected from any legal liability for content posted on their platforms by their users.

By threatening to remove this safe-habour protection, the government seeks not only to compel the social media conglomerates into enforcing its fake news suppression-orders. It is also seeking to intimidate them into preemptively identifying and removing controversial content, so as to remain in the governments good books.

There has been no concerted effort by press organizations to challenge the BJP governments new state censorship body and regulations. The Editors Guild of India, which claims to be an organization formed to protect press freedom, issued a pathetic statement that termed the IT Ministrys sweeping attack on free speech regrettable. It then urged the Ministry to withdraw this notification and conduct consultations with media organisations and press bodies. In other words, the Guild wants to be consulted as a partner to come up with more palatable mechanisms for social media censorship.

Similarly the opposition parties, including the Stalinist Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, have not lifted a finger to mobilize opposition to this brazen and transparent attack on fundamental rights. The Stalinistswhose efforts are focused on assisting the Congress Party, until recently the Indian bourgeoisies preferred party of national government, in forming a right-wing anti-BJP electoral alliance for the 2024 national electionsissued a terse, pro forma statement criticizing the governments fake news initiative.

The only court challenge to these latest IT rules has been filed by standup comedian Kunal Kamra in Bombay High Court. The court while hearing Kamras petition observed that prima facie, the rules dont seem to offer protection to fair criticism of the government like parody and satire.

Recently the Modi government ordered raids on BBC offices after the British state broadcaster aired a documentary entitled India: The Modi Question that indicted Modi as directly complicit in the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in the western state of Gujarat, where he was the states Chief Minister. Government and BJP leaders denounced the documentary, and the Modi government blocked access to it.

These latest moves are an extension of the Modi governments largely successful campaign to intimidate and cow the corporate media. The electoral wave that brought Modi to power in 2014 was very much media-driven, as the ruling class rallied round the BJP in the calculation that it was their best instrument for more aggressively pursuing pro-investor reforms at home and their great power ambitions on the world stage. However, to ensure continued strong media support, the BJP once in office used strong arm tactics and gangster-style threats to intimidate the press.

This was elaborated on by Bobby Ghosh, the former editor of the Hindustan Times, in a column he wrote for the Japan Times following the Indian government raids on BBCs offices in Mumbai and Delhi on trumped-up tax fraud charges. Just two years in power, wrote Ghosh, the Modi government was already demonstrating an intolerance of criticism that was familiar to me from my previous experiences as a foreign correspondent in the dictatorships of the Middle East. Stories deemed embarrassing to the government or the ruling party led routinely to minatory phone calls from ministers and bureaucrats: The threats ranged from the withholding of ads and the pursuit of punitive lawsuits to investigations into my personal finances and those of my family. [Emphasis added]

Nowhere has the Modi government acted as brutally against the press as in Indian-occupied Kashmir. On October 19, 2020, slightly over a year after the Modi governments August 2019 constitutional coup abrogating the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, Indias only Muslim-majority state, police raided and permanently padlocked the Srinagar offices of Kashmir Times. As Anuradha Basin, the executive editor of the publication, recounted in a column in the New York Times, the raid was punishment for daring to question the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

It has positively become dangerous to be a journalist in India, as the Modi regime and the BJP governments in various Indian states act viciously towards anyone it views as critical of their policies. They have charged numerous journalists with sedition. Some, arrested under the notorious UAPA antiterrorism legislation, have been held in prison for years without trial. According to the nonprofit organisation, Reporters Without Borders, India ranks an abysmal 161 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. In 2022, the country ranked at 150.

The Modi government is brazenly pushing ahead with these latest rule changes governing social media to further extend its repressive reach and prevent the dissemination of critical comments and exposures made by ordinary working people, political opponents and independent media voices, especially left-wing and socialist ones. It is doing so despite the fact that the previous amendments to the IT rules in 2021, which called upon the social media companies to voluntarily remove postings the government identified as fake or misleading news, are still the subject of a court challenge. In August 2021, the Bombay High Court issued a stay against a couple of the new rules but refused to throw out the amendments in their entirety even though they grossly infringe upon citizens basic free speech rights.

This again goes to show that the courts are themselves enabling the far-right, Hindu-supremacist Modi government to systematically chip away at democratic rights and impose its authoritarian rule. Time and again, Indias Supreme Court, which constantly postures as a sentinel of citizens democratic rights, has greenlighted the illegal acts of the Modi government and the Hindu right, such as the imposition of essentially dictatorial rule on Jammu and Kashmir through presidential decree since 2019 and the building of a temple to Lord Ram on the site of the razed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
zamrznutitonovi / iStock.com

Some businesses cater to senior citizens, but fintechs arent usually one of them. As American Banker noted, many fintechs use technology as a way to reach younger customers rather than older ones, but there is at least one exception: Charlie, a neobank that aims to make financial life easier for older Americans.

Discover: 6 Types of Retirement Income That Arent Taxable

Find: Demand for Gold is Up. Heres Everything You Need to Know.

The company, which launched a couple of weeks ago, will let account holders withdraw their Social Security payments up to four weeks early, Banking Dive reported. The service is free and available to customers who link their Social Security direct deposits to their Charlie deposit accounts.

This is an especially important feature for seniors who depend on Social Security for a major source of income  and a lot of them do. Among elderly Social Security beneficiaries, 37% of men and 42% of women receive 50% or more of their income from Social Security, according to the Social Security Administration. An estimated 12% of elderly men and 15% of women rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income.

For these beneficiaries, having early access to Social Security payments can help them pay unexpected bills without having to wait an extra month. The business model also works in Charlies favor because of the way it simplifies the process of receiving funds.

Its a nice instrument for a company like ours [because] we can provide early access to a payment thats made by the United States government, Charlie CEO and co-founder Kevin Nazemi told Banking Dive. Were not dealing with 50 payroll systems and thousands of employers. Were dealing with the Social Security Administration as the entity that needs to meet their obligation of providing that money.

Charlie will be available as both an app and a desktop tool, American Banker reported. Among its features are a no-fee demand deposit account that pays 3% on all balances as well as a debit card.

Account holders can request early access to Social Security benefits on or after the first of each month, after which Charlie will advance the funds into the customers account. The company will get the funds back when the scheduled payment comes in from the SSA.

Charlie fills a need for increasingly tech-savvy seniors who got an education in technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nazemi told American Banker

We believe that a growing number of those in the 62-plus community prefer a solution that is custom-built for their unique needs, he said. The pandemic necessitated using technology to access healthcare services and communicate with loved ones. If someone retired in the past few years, their goodbye party was likely over Zoom.

Charlies customer service operation will be based in the United States, American Banker reported. Underlying deposits are held with Ohio-based Sutton Bank.

Meanwhile, Charlie is working on additional applications to serve other needs for seniors. As Banking Dive noted, the company plans to launch a home pension product that would let users turn a percentage of their homes value into an annuity and a source of income.

Take Our Poll: Are You Concerned About the Safety of Your Money in Your Bank Accounts?

Most of the 80% of seniors who own their homes, 100% of their homes value is set to go to their legacy, and yet theyre living in an environment where over half of them live Social Security check to Social Security check, Nazemi said. And over half of them dont feel prepared for their retirement.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Early Social Security Payments  This Neobank Lets Retirees Withdraw Benefits 4 Weeks in Advance
Under the agreement, EDGE will conduct a transfer of technology to Ketech Asia

CARACAL will collaborate with Ketech Asia on localized assembly and resale of the CAR 816 tactical assault rifle

ABU DHABI, United Arab of Emirates, May 24, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CARACAL, an EDGE Group ("EDGE") Company and a leading small arms manufacturer, today announced signing an agreement with Ketech Asia, an advanced ammunition producer and small arms solutions provider, for the production and resale of CARACALs CAR 816 in Malaysia. The agreement was signed by Hamad Al Ameri, CEO of CARACAL, and Mohd Nahar Mohd Nasir, CEO of Ketech Asia, at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2023), being held in Langkawi, Malaysia, until 27 May.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523005046/en/

EDGE Group Company, CARACAL, Signs Agreement with Malaysia-based Ketech Asia at LIMA 2023 (Photo: AETOSWire)

Under the agreement, the two companies will conduct a transfer of technology that enables Ketech Asia to assemble the highly reliable, mission-proven CAR 816 tactical assault rifle at its new facilities in Pahang, in support of the Royal Malaysia Armed Forces requirements. Cooperation will also take place to review the potential of co-developing new firearms, and Ketech Asia will become an official reseller of the rifle, underscoring EDGEs confidence in developing valuable and mutually beneficial industry partnerships in Malaysia, with the aim of increasing sales of regionally manufactured advanced products and solutions in markets across Southeast Asia. The agreement with Ketech will also aid EDGE to explore other opportunities in Malaysia for the full range of CARACAL small arms.

Attendees of LIMA 2023 can visit EDGE at stand A07 at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) in Langkawi, Malaysia.

About EDGE

Launched in November 2019, the UAEs EDGE is one of the worlds leading advanced technology groups, established to develop agile, bold and disruptive solutions for defence and beyond, and to be a catalyst for change and transformation. It is dedicated to bringing breakthrough innovations, products, and services to market with greater speed and efficiency, to position the UAE as a leading global hub for future industries, and to creating clear paths within the sector for the next generation of highly-skilled talent to thrive. With a focus on the adoption of 4IR technologies, EDGE is driving the development of sovereign capabilities for global export and for the preservation of national security, working with front-line operators, international partners, and adopting advanced technologies such as autonomous capabilities, cyber-physical systems, advanced propulsion systems, robotics and smart materials. EDGE converges R&D, emerging technologies, digital transformation, and commercial market innovations with military capabilities to develop disruptive solutions tailored to the specific requirements of its customers. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, EDGE consolidates more than 20 entities into four core clusters: Platforms & Systems, Missiles & Weapons, Electronic Warfare & Cyber Technologies, and Trading & Mission Support.

For more information, visit edgegroup.ae

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523005046/en/

Contacts

For media enquiries, please contact:

EDGE Group Communications

Priya Roy

C-Priya.Roy@edgegroup.ae
Key Insights

The projected fair value for CapitaLand India Trust is S$1.03 based on Dividend Discount Model

CapitaLand India Trust's S$1.06 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate

Our fair value estimate is 21% lower than CapitaLand India Trust's analyst price target of S$1.30

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of CapitaLand India Trust (SGX:CY6U) by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

See our latest analysis for CapitaLand India Trust

Crunching The Numbers

As CapitaLand India Trust operates in the real estate sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.0%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 11%. Compared to the current share price of S$1.1, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. 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.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= S$0.09 / (11%  2.0%)

= S$1.0

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 CapitaLand India Trust 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 11%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.441. 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 CapitaLand India Trust

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Shareholders have been diluted in the past year.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Singaporean market.

Good value based on P/E ratio compared to estimated Fair P/E ratio.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.

Next Steps:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it 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. 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 CapitaLand India Trust, there are three further elements you should look at:

Risks: Take risks, for example - CapitaLand India Trust has 5 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) we think you should know about. Future Earnings: How does CY6U'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 Singaporean stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Meta Platforms suffered a setback on Wednesday as Europe's second-top court ruled as legitimate the EU antitrust watchdog's requests for information related to its investigation into Facebook's data and online marketplace.

A spokesperson for the U.S. tech giant, which had compared the European Commission to a fishing super trawler vacuuming up data over the requests, said it was "considering its options" over the court decision.

"The General Court finds that Meta Platforms Ireland has not successfully demonstrated that the request to provide documents to be identified by search terms went beyond what was necessary," the Luxembourg-based General Court said.

The court added in its ruling that Meta had also not shown that "establishing a virtual data room failed to ensure that sensitive personal data was sufficiently protected".

Meta can appeal on points of law to Europe's highest court, the EU Court of Justice.

"We also welcome the Court-established virtual data room, which recognised that purely private information - including personal medical files - has no relevance to any competition investigation," the Meta spokesperson said.

Meta said it handed over more than a million documents since 2019 even as it questioned the necessity and proportionality of the data requests. An increasing number of companies have criticised such requests.

The cases are T-451/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission & T-452/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
EU, Google to develop voluntary AI pact ahead of new AI rules, EU's Breton says

EU, Google to develop voluntary AI pact ahead of new AI rules, EU's Breton says FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows Google logo and AI Artificial Intelligence words

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Alphabet and the European Commission aim to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) pact involving European and non-European companies before rules are established to govern the technology, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Wednesday.

Breton earlier met Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, in Brussels.

"Sundar and I agreed that we cannot afford to wait until AI regulation actually becomes applicable, and to work together with all AI developers to already develop an AI pact on a voluntary basis ahead of the legal deadline," Breton said in a statement.

He also urged EU countries and EU lawmakers to finalise details of the Commission's proposed AI rules before the end of the year. Both groups have yet to start negotiations to iron out their differences.

Concern is mounting about fast-developing AI's potential to upend the way society and businesses operate. Governments are scrambling to find a way to rein in negative consequences without losing the benefits, or stifling innovation.

EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, who also met Pichai, underlined the need to act together.

"We need the AI Act as soon as possible. But AI technology evolves at extreme speed. So we need voluntary agreement on universal rules for AI now," she said in a tweet.

The European Union and the United States plan to step up cooperation on artificial intelligence to establish minimum standards before legislation enters force, Vestager said on Tuesday.

Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said she voiced her concerns to Pichai about the spread of pro-Kremlin war propaganda and disinformation on Google's products and services and the risks of disinformation in EU and national elections.

Pichai agreed to look into problems faced by independent Russian media in monetising their content in Russia on YouTube, Jourova said.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sharon Singleton; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
A view shows the cityscape on the Nairobi Expressway undertaken by the China Road and Bridge Corporation along Uhuru highway in Nairobi

Chinese hackers attacked Kenyan government as debt strains grew A view shows the cityscape on the Nairobi Expressway undertaken by the China Road and Bridge Corporation along Uhuru highway in Nairobi

By Aaron Ross, James Pearson and Christopher Bing

NAIROBI (Reuters) -Chinese hackers targeted Kenya's government in a widespread, years-long series of digital intrusions against key ministries and state institutions, according to three sources, cybersecurity research reports and Reuters' own analysis of technical data related to the hackings.

Two of the sources assessed the hacks to be aimed, at least in part, at gaining information on debt owed to Beijing by the East African nation: Kenya is a strategic link in the Belt and Road Initiative - President Xi Jinping's plan for a global infrastructure network.

"Further compromises may occur as the requirement for understanding upcoming repayment strategies becomes needed," a July 2021 research report written by a defence contractor for private clients stated.

China's foreign ministry said it was "not aware" of any such hacking, while China's embassy in Britain called the accusations "baseless", adding that Beijing opposes and combats "cyberattacks and theft in all their forms."

China's influence in Africa has grown rapidly over the past two decades. But, like several African nations, Kenya's finances are being strained by the growing cost of servicing external debt - much of it owed to China.

The hacking campaign demonstrates China's willingness to leverage its espionage capabilities to monitor and protect economic and strategic interests abroad, two of the sources said.

The hacks constitute a three-year campaign that targeted eight of Kenya's ministries and government departments, including the presidential office, according to an intelligence analyst in the region. The analyst also shared with Reuters research documents that included the timeline of attacks, the targets, and provided some technical data relating to the compromise of a server used exclusively by Kenya's main spy agency.

A Kenyan cybersecurity expert described similar hacking activity against the foreign and finance ministries. All three of the sources asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of their work.

"Your allegation of hacking attempts by Chinese Government entities is not unique," Kenya's presidential office said, adding the government had been targeted by "frequent infiltration attempts" from Chinese, American and European hackers.

"As far as we are concerned, none of the attempts were successful," it said.

It did not provide further details nor respond to follow-up questions.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Britain said China is against "irresponsible moves that use topics like cybersecurity to sow discord in the relations between China and other developing countries".

"China attaches great importance to Africa's debt issue and works intensively to help Africa cope with it," the spokesperson added.

THE HACKS

Between 2000 and 2020, China committed nearly $160 billion in loans to African countries, according to a comprehensive database on Chinese lending hosted by Boston University, much of it for large-scale infrastructure projects.

Kenya used over $9 billion in Chinese loans to fund an aggressive push to build or upgrade railways, ports and highways.

Beijing became the country's largest bilateral creditor and gained a firm foothold in the most important East African consumer market and a vital logistical hub on Africa's Indian Ocean coast.

By late 2019, however, when the Kenyan cybersecurity expert told Reuters he was brought in by Kenyan authorities to assess a hack of a government-wide network, Chinese lending was drying up. And Kenya's financial strains were showing.

The breach reviewed by the Kenyan cybersecurity expert and attributed to China began with a "spearphishing" attack at the end of that same year, when a Kenyan government employee unknowingly downloaded an infected document, allowing hackers to infiltrate the network and access other agencies.

"A lot of documents from the ministry of foreign affairs were stolen and from the finance department as well. The attacks appeared focused on the debt situation," the Kenyan cybersecurity expert said.

Another source - the intelligence analyst working in the region - said Chinese hackers carried out a far-reaching campaign against Kenya that began in late 2019 and continued until at least 2022.

According to documents provided by the analyst, Chinese cyber spies subjected the office of Kenya's president, its defence, information, health, land and interior ministries, its counter-terrorism centre and other institutions to persistent and prolonged hacking activity.

The affected government departments did not respond to requests for comment, declined to be interviewed or were unreachable.

By 2021, global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic had already helped push one major Chinese borrower - Zambia - to default on its external debt. Kenya managed to secure a temporary debt repayment moratorium from China.

In early July 2021, the cybersecurity research reports shared by the intelligence analyst in the region detailed how the hackers secretly accessed an email server used by Kenya's National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Reuters was able to confirm that the victim's IP address belonged to the NIS. The incident was also covered in a report from the private defence contractor reviewed by Reuters.

Reuters could not determine what information was taken during the hacks or conclusively establish the motive for the attacks. But the defence contractor's report said the NIS breach was possibly aimed at gleaning information on how Kenya planned to manage its debt payments.

"Kenya is currently feeling the pressure of these debt burdens...as many of the projects financed by Chinese loans are not generating enough income to pay for themselves yet," the report stated.

A Reuters review of internet logs delineating the Chinese digital espionage activity showed that a server controlled by the Chinese hackers also accessed a shared Kenyan government webmail service more recently from December 2022 until February this year.

Chinese officials declined to comment on this recent breach, and the Kenyan authorities did not respond to a question about it.

'BACKDOOR DIPLOMACY'

The defence contractor, pointing to identical tools and techniques used in other hacking campaigns, identified a Chinese state-linked hacking team as having carried out the attack on Kenya's intelligence agency.

The group is known as "BackdoorDiplomacy" in the cybersecurity research community, because of its record of trying to further the objectives of Chinese diplomatic strategy.

According to Slovakia-based cybersecurity firm ESET, BackdoorDiplomacy re-uses malicious software against its victims to gain access to their networks, making it possible to track their activities.

Provided by Reuters with the IP address of the NIS hackers, Palo Alto Networks, a U.S. cybersecurity firm that tracks BackdoorDiplomacy's activities, confirmed that it belongs to the group, adding that its prior analysis shows the group is sponsored by the Chinese state.

Cybersecurity researchers have documented BackdoorDiplomacy hacks targeting governments and institutions in a number of countries in Asia and Europe.

Incursions into the Middle East and Africa appear less common, making the focus and scale of its hacking activities in Kenya particularly noteworthy, the defence contractor's report said.

"This angle is clearly a priority for the group."

China's embassy in Britain rejected any involvement in the Kenya hackings, and did not directly address questions about the government's relationship with BackdoorDiplomacy.

"China is a main victim of cyber theft and attacks and a staunch defender of cybersecurity," a spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Aaron Ross in Nairobi, James Pearson in London and Christopher Bing in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in BeijingEditing by Chris Sanders and Joe Bavier)
Two former Jackson Police officers have been indicted on murder charges and a third officer on a manslaughter charge in connection to the Dec. 31 death of Keith Murriel, who died while in custody of the three officers, City of Jackson officials announced during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

Former officers Kenya McCarty and Avery Willis were indicted by a grand jury last week on second degree murder charges, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said Wednesday, while James Land was indicted on a manslaughter homicide charge.

In a move coinciding with the news conference, the city released hours of unedited body camera footage which showed the officers repeatedly using at least one stun gun on the 41-year-old.

Murriel was Black, as is at least one of the officers charged with murder. The Clarion Ledger's review of the footage is ongoing. However, video shows Murriel being stunned 13 times in the first 5 minutes of one of the videos.

This image provided by the Jackson (Miss.) Police Department shows Keith Murriel. A Mississippi grand jury has indicted two former police officers on murder charges and another ex-officer on a manslaughter charge in the death of Murriel, a Black man seen on video being pinned down and repeatedly shocked with stun guns during a New Year's eve arrest. Officials in the state capital of Jackson released body camera footage Wednesday, May 25, 2023 that showed then-officers Avery Willis, Kenya McCarty and James Land struggling to handcuff Keith Murriel as he was apparently stunned numerous times over 10 minutes.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba characterized actions taken by officers in the video as "excessive, disheartening and tragic."

The incident happened starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, at an extended stay hotel on Beasley Road in Jackson when officers took a man into custody. Then-JPD Chief James E. Davis later released a statement saying that Murriel's death was the result of a health emergency, only for Lumumba to publicly disagree with the chief about a month later. Davis abruptly announced his retirement Friday.

Interim Chief Joseph Wade, who was the department's assistant chief until last week, spoke at the news conference. Wade offered condolences and prayers to the Murriel family.

"We strive at the Jackson Police Department to create community trust. When we fail, we create community distrust," Wade said. "I would ask of the citizens of Jackson to continue to support the dedicated hardworking men and women of the Jackson Police Department, who put their lives on the line every single day."

Story continues

Wade promised continued transparency and accountability.

During the news conference Wednesday, Lumumba said though he and Davis had a "different take" on the video at the time, it was not the cause of his departure.

"That had nothing to do with his decision to retire and my decision to accept his retirement," Lumumba said.

After offering his condolences to the Murriel family, Lumumba said it was important to him and leadership at JPD to release the video as soon as it was possible to do so without interfering in the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

"That has been this administration's position and the Jackson Police Department's position from the very beginning," Lumumba said. "At the time of the events and the subsequent investigation, the investigation was conducted by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and so we chose not to release the video at that time because we did not want to compromise the ongoing investigation, but consistent with the position that we believed that this needed to be released, we not only stated publicly, but we also wrote correspondence to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation acknowledging that we believed that this needed to be released."

Story December death: Officers placed on administrative leave after man dies in police custody.

Owens said his office's prosecution of the three former JPD officers should not be construed as an indictment of the department as a whole.

"The District Attorney's Office would like to acknowledge the brave actions of the entire Jackson Police Department, and we do not think the actions of a few represent the bravery of so many," Owens said. "We'd also like to acknowledge the transparency of the mayor of Jackson and the willingness today to release sensitive footage. That speaks to transparency and openness in how we police and protect the people."

Lumumba said that the videos were shared with the Murriel family prior to being released to the media.

"We are on the side of justice and want to see justice take place," Lumumba said.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson Police Department officers indicted over in-custody death
For the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii), everything boils down to numbers.

Certainly, the multistakeholder organization, whose tentpole initiative, Clean by Design, has transitioned hundreds of mills in countries worldwide to greener, more efficient practices, cannot function without them. Its data, after all, that underpins the Sustainable Apparel Coalition spinoffs ability to identify, fund and scale projects that reduce the fashion industrys prodigious impact. And its data that demonstrates whether its efforts are headed with sufficient speed in the right direction.

More from Sourcing Journal

On Monday, Aiis latest impact report summed up 2022 with some new figures. Over the past year, 380 facilities serving nearly 30 brands completed one of the San Francisco-based groups programs, whether Clean by Design, its carbon tech benchmarking assessment or its carbon target setting. (Another 220 facilities were actively participating in at least one of these.) Together, graduates of its initiatives staved off 56,346 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to taking 12,127 cars off the road. They also saved enough water to fill 714 Olympic-sized swimming pools and as much energy as would keep 3,504 washing machines chugging for a year.

Also expanding in 2022 was Aiis reach, which increased from 19 regions worldwide to 28. Today, it covers a wide swath of the planet, including Bangladesh, mainland China, Guatemala, Egypt, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam, all of which required localized tweaks to activate the organizations solutions.

Weve always kind of known that it cant be top-down; it almost has to be bringing the right resources to a region and letting them make them uniquely their own to solve for the problems, said Aii president Lewis Perkins. Because their problems are also slightly different.

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Overall, factories made more than $8 million in investments, reaping $4.8 million in savings in return. To put it another way, the average facility shelled out more than $501,000 to recoup nearly $300,000.

To be sure, decarbonization doesnt come cheap, particularly at the outset. According to Aiis research, it will cost the fashion industry $1 trillion to fully decarbonize its supply chain by 2030. In June, the organization announced the launch of the Fashion Climate Fund, a $250 million collaborative that is rallying funds from donors such as H&M Group, the H&M Foundation, Lululemon, PVH Corp., Target and The Schmidt Family Foundation to unlock $2 billion in blended capital to help the sector meet its goal of halving carbon emissions by 2030. As 2023 kicked into gear, Aii opened its inaugural call for submissions for the Climate Solutions Portfolio, which will dole out grants from the fund.

Things are only going to ramp up now that the stage is set for industry engagement and collective action, Perkins said. Now comes the bridging of the gap between aspiration and execution, something that watchdog groups, from Stand.earth to the NewClimate Institute, say is stymying measurable progress. Aii and the World Resources Institute (WRI) estimate that the apparel industry generated 1 gigaton of CO equivalent in 2019, or roughly 2 percent of that years global greenhouse gas emissions.

The story of Aii, and the industry as a whole, is that 2022 was a big increase year in programmatic engagement, adoption and resourcing, Perkins said. From my perspective, the big story is theres growth happening and actual climate action within Scope 3 of the supply chain. Its Scope 3, where a brand or retailers indirect operations reside, after all, where as much as 90 percent of a supply chains emissions are generated.

One point of pride is that the organization managed to expand its program coverage from two carbon-reduction interventions, as identified by Aii and WRI in their 2021 Roadmap to Net Zero report, to five, meaning that its tackling not only energy efficiency and energy but also maximizing material efficiency, scaling sustainable materials and practices, and eliminating coal in manufacturing.

Historically, Aii has homed in on low-hanging fruit to whet the appetite of users involved, said Kurt Kipka, its chief impact officer. Over time, however, it has seen manufacturers shift those efforts from an almost purely cost-savings standpoint to a more strategic path, which paved the way for other opportunities.

The groundwork that we laid with a couple of interventions that we started with really did pay dividends for us as we look to expand that work, both with manufacturers and brands that weve worked with historically, but also new brands and manufacturers who are just getting started, [while] recognizing that everyone is coming at this challenge from a different perspective but can also benefit from aligned language consistent tools and resources, he said.

But make no mistake, cost-effectiveness is still a key consideration for its initiatives, which ring up to $17 per metric ton of CO equivalent reduced compared with an average of $67 per metric ton for alternative, external decarbonization strategies such as solar thermal and offshore wind.

I dont think thats the only metric that you can look at when youre thinking about a solution, said Ryan Gaines, Aiis chief financial officer. But as we get into reviewing those other solutions that are out there, its an important benchmark to think about which ones are going to be the most cost-effective and at least to implement first. I think eventually you have to go deeper and deeper into the hard-to-reach and more expensive-to-reach carbon, but at least it helps us to start to prioritize with the limited funding that is available today.

As 2023 barrels forward, Aii is in build mode around the financial unlock that it hopes the Fashion Climate Fund will accelerate.

And so bringing more partners not just from the philanthropic or the brand engagement, but also the banks that were talking to and the other financial institutions that will participate in a lot of the loan models that we hoped to create, Perkins said. For us, its about building out that level of resource where were really starting to look at that sort of pre-seed pilot model scale approach that weve been pitching through our programs all along.

For Kipka, this is the year Aii will be diversifying its projects and partners through the Climate Solutions Portfolio. So far, it has received more than 100 applications, which an advisory council comprising experts such as environmental scientist Linda Greer, Textile Exchange Climate+ director Beth Jensen and Lululemon director of product sustainability and environment Crispin Wong is reviewing.

I have a lot of hope, as Im reaching the end of that review process that weve landed on a really strong subset of the applications, he said. But theres still so much room for growth, and if anything keeps me up at night, its that we might just miss something that might slip through the cracks. But those are the types of things that our advisory council is going to continue to dig into revisiting those criteria, making them more focused, and even framing our ask more succinctly based on key categories of filling that innovation gap.

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With Asteroid City, has Wes Anderson directed one of his best movies yet or is it a misstep in an otherwise lauded career? Is the new film, due out in June, a return to form after The French Dispatch or a disappointment following his 2021 ensemble anthology? Those are the questions critics are asking following the debut of Asteroid City at the Cannes Film Festival, where the response to Anderons new film seemingly traveled to the moon and back.

Like any movie by Wes Anderson, Asteroid City is the epitome of a Wes Anderson movie, Indiewire critic David Ehrlich wrote in his rave review. A film about a television program about a play within a play about infinity and I dont know what else (as one character describes it), this delightfully profound desert charmer  by far the directors best effort since The Grand Budapest Hotel, and in some respects the most poignant thing hes ever made  boasts all of his usual hallmarks and then some.

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But on the other end of the spectrum, theres The Hollywood Reporter critic David Rooney. Asteroid City is an archly cutesy new film [that] joins the ranks of Andersons more distancing work, notably The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Rooney wrote, citing two other cult favorite Anderson movies that split critics upon release. The writer-director seldom seems more self-satisfied than when hes spinning his wheels. Anderson has always been like a smart kid playing in a hermetically sealed sandbox of quirky action figures and quaint toys. Here, thats quite literally the case as he strands a bunch of people in 1955 in a tiny fictitious desert town in the American Southwest with a population of 87, isolating them there after an alien encounter that prompts the government to step in and impose military quarantine.

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For The Daily Beast, Esther Zuckerman found herself on Team Wes, and like Ehrlich, found Asteroid City to be Andersons best film since The Grand Budapest Hotel. Its a thoroughly hilarious piece that coalesces into something almost haunting, she wrote. Asteroid City is thick with Americana, but the charming hootenanny of it all works in tandem with the deep questions the director is asking.

For Variety, Owen Gleiberman boo-hissed Asteroid City  and like Rooney, compared it unfavorably to two favorable Anderson films, The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited.

Then there are the Anderson films that even most of his fans dont pretend to like all that much  the fussy, top-heavy, narratively batty yet stretched-thin concoctions like The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Gleiberman wrote. Asteroid City is one of those, only more so.

Asteroid City is due out June 16 via Focus Features and features an all-star cast led by Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, and the usual Anderson players like Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, and Liev Schreiber. The studio describes the film as follows: Asteroid City takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955. Synopsis: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

What the plot summary doesnt reveal  but something critics noted in their reviews  is that the film includes a framing device set during the production of a television show. Heres how Vanity Fair critic Richard Lawson explains it in his review. Asteroid City is a mid-century television special about the making of a stage show by a Thornton Wilder-esque writer played with foppish melancholy by Edward Norton. The play, Asteroid City, is brought to vibrant life for us in the audience  though not, necessarily, for the imagined audience of the fictional broadcast, he wrote. (Like Ehrlich and Zuckerman, Lawson also found the movie to be Andersons best in years.)

But that conceit is maybe one of the elements that caused consternation among those who didnt vibe with Asteroid City, suggested Deadline critic Todd McCarthy.

The show-within-a-film conceit doesnt really pay off; arguably, it complicates the work with little to show for it, and general audiences, as opposed to art film aficionados, will be baffled as to whats going on, McCarthy wrote. There is even one more layer to the proceedings that, arguably, is more of a bother than a plus. But otherwise, this is a fresh, original, and disarming creation unlike anything else you might have seen with a degree of stylized storytelling that is notable and often exciting.

Andersons films have been hit and miss as awards players, but comparisons to The Grand Budapest Hotel certainly bode well. That film won four Oscars  including Best Score and Best Production Design  and received nine overall nominations. Grand Budapest was a Best Picture nominee and earned Anderson himself three nominations, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

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ACHTEL 97 Digital Cinema Camera

If you're not familiar with Australia-based Achtel or their 9x7 Digital Cinema Camera, don't fret  you're not alone. This exclusive piece of technology has managed to remain under the radar for most people, and for good reason. Packed with specialized features tailored for VFX plates and immersive cinema experiences (such as IMAX, Flying Theatre, and Giant Screen), this camera comes with a hefty price tag of $200,000, making it an indulgence reserved for only a select few. Adding to its exclusivity, there are currently only five of these cameras in existence.

However, the tides may be turning soon for Achtel. The company is currently constructing three more cameras with the European rental market in mind. Furthermore, Achtel will be making an appearance at the upcoming Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles, aiming to generate more buzz and expand its presence in the United States. While the camera has already been put to use in the US, the stunning aerial footage of downtown LA captured by XM2 Pursuit using the 9x7 is a testament to the camera's capabilities and the imagery it can produce.

The 9x7 camera features a 9344x7000 sensor, hence its brand name, offering true correlated double sampling to achieve an astonishing resolution of up to 18,688x14,000 (260 Megapixels). Achtel is quick to point out that pixel count is only half of the story, prompting us to dig deeper into the other half.

The development of the camera began in 2020, hitting minimum viable product (MVP) in 12 months. The idea had been brewing for a couple of years, during which Achtel conducted extensive research into unconventional hardware and software solutions.

Originally designed for IMAX and Giant Screen applications, the camera eventually found popularity as a specialized VFX tool, replacing the need for large multi-camera arrays. A single 9x7 camera can effortlessly replace an 8-camera setup, reducing costs and simplifying the capture of high-resolution VFX plates. Remarkably, this camera is also the only commercially available option that meets the deliverables for MSG Sphere (of which there might soon be another MSG Sphere, in London).

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At the core of the camera lies a specialized 65 Megapixel APS-H size sensor with a global shutter, boasting exceptional contrast at the photosite level. This level of contrast sets it apart from most high-end digital cinema cameras, making it particularly well-suited for imaging that demands unparalleled sharpness, a feat difficult to achieve with traditional high-end digital cinema cameras.

The camera also adopts an innovative approach to color science. While supporting traditional choices, it also embraces the Direct Scene-Referred workflow, capable of producing colorimetric images straight out of the camera. This means images do not require additional color correction and remain consistent across different lighting setups. This workflow offers several advantages, such as an ultra-high gamut that enables vibrant and saturated colors, which modern digital cinema cameras often struggle to reproduce due to gamut clipping caused by chromatic adaptation.

Entaniya HAL 220 LF fisheye

When it comes to lenses, the Achtel 9x7 camera brings some interesting options to the table. While rectilinear lenses are mostly limited to ARRI Signature Primes and a few selected Sigma ART Prime lenses, there is a noticeable lack of zoom lenses that can match the desired levels of sharpness. Although the ARRI Signature Zooms come close, they still fall short compared to the image quality achievable with Signature Primes.

Interestingly, one lens that has gained popularity for capturing VFX plates and Giant Screen footage with the 9x7 camera is the Entaniya HAL 220 LF fisheye lens. This lens provides unique perspectives and wide coverage, making it a favored choice for such specialized applications.

While this camera might not be going in the kit bag for most filmmakers, it goes to show what is possible in today's world, and the size of such a device is simply mind-blowing. If it's slightly out of your budget, check our best cameras for filmmaking, or best cameras for film students guides.
FBI Warns of Fake Jobs Used to Turn Tourists Into Slaves at 'Pig Butchering' Compounds

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has issued a stark warning for people traveling to Southeast Asia: Be wary of too-good-to-be-true job listings. It could be a scammer trying to lure travelers to cryptocurrency fraud compounds.

The public service announcement claims criminals target individuals on social media platforms and online employment sites. The scammers offer jobs in areas such as customer service or tech support, then sweeten the deal by promising competitive salaries, attractive bonuses, flexible hours, and free accommodation.

Once on location, travelers are coerced through the threat of violence and passport confiscation to participate in cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, like pig butchering, says the FBI.

FBI Searches Home of Former FTX Exec and Sam Bankman-Fried Ally

'Pig butchering' is the nickname given to scams involving criminals setting up a fake profile on social media or a dating app. Once theyve earned a victims trust, or fattened the pig, they convince them to send money for a fake investment opportunity and disappear.

The fake jobs the FBI warned about get even more grim after the scammers have detained a duped tourist. The criminal assigns a debt to each victimcalling it travel fees, or room and boardand uses the victims debt and fear of local law enforcement to intimidate them into staying.

Trafficked victims are sometimes sold and transferred between compounds, further adding to their debt, the FBI said in its advisory.

FBI Forms New Crypto Crimes Unit as DOJ Names Enforcement Team Director

The alert from the U.S. agency also includes a number of traveler tips in order for individuals to protect themselves: Research the company beforehand; enroll in the Smart Traveller Enrollment Program (STEP); and keep your family and friends up to date constantly.

Fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes are becoming more sophisticated over the years, with California regulators trying to stamp out recent use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to dupe investors and snag unsuspecting individuals. One such plan included a fake AI-generated CEO for YouTube.

Crypto scams have been on the rise this year. Earlier this year Web3 bug bounty project Immunefi reported that the number of hacks and scams in the crypto space has risen 192% in Q1 compared to last year.
Eggy | Credit: Jamie Wdziekonski/Sub-Lation

Melbourne avant-pop crew Eggy released their excellent second album, With Gusto, via Flightless Records in July 2022. The band will kick off a comprehensive European tour in June, playing shows in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Switzerland. Theyve got one more hometown show before they go, headlining Melbournes Brunswick Ballroom on Friday, 26th May.

Eggy will be supported by Dainis Laceys Cool Sounds, whose latest album, Like That, was one of Music Feeds favourite local albums of 2022; Nic Oogjes of NO ZU will lead his latest project, Cong Josie & the Teardrops; and Palm Springs, aka Tropical Fuck Storms Erica Dunn, will be up first.

Eggy: With Gusto

Eggy is led by vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Zoe Monk, Sam Lyons, and Dominic Moore, alongside drummer Charlie Wolstenholme and synth player Lucy Packham. The band released its debut album, Bravo!, amid pandemic confusion in November 2020.

Their second album, With Gusto, was Triple Rs Album of the Week in August 2022 and the band followed its release with a run of shows around metro and regional Victoria. Theyve since played headline shows in Sydney and Brisbane, appeared at Goom Fest and Grinchfest, and performed on Triple Rs Live at Triple R program.

The bands European tour kicks off on Friday, 9th June at A Forest Festival in Cigole, Italy. Theyll squeeze in a total of 19 shows in a three-week span, wrapping up at Italys Off Tune Festival on 1st July alongside the likes of Kurt Vile and Fujiya & Miyagi.

Eggy  EU Send Off Show

w/ Cool Sounds, Cong Josie & the Teardrops, Palm Springs

Friday, 26th May  Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne/Naarm VIC

Tickets on sale now

Eggy in Europe 2023

Friday, 9th June  A Forest Festival, Cigole, Italy

Saturday, 10th June  Channel Zero, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Sunday, 11th June  Kset, Zagreb, Croatia

Wednesday, 14th June  Dabadaba, San Sebastian, Spain

Thursday, 15th June  Lata De Zinc, Oviedo, Spain

Friday, 16th June  Avenida, Fafe, Portugal

Saturday, 17th June  Ho! Gruf, Lugo, Spain

Sunday, 18th June  Mar, Pone de Lima, Portugal

Tuesday, 20th June  Maus Habitos, Porto, Portugal

Wednesday, 21st June  Lounge, Lisbon, Portugal

Friday, 23rd June  Nice, Esposende, Portugal

Saturday, 24th June  Surfing the Lerez Festival, Pontevedra, Spain

Sunday, 25th June  La Atalaia Del Gardoki, Sopelana, Spain

Tuesday, 27th June  Supersonic, Paris, France

Wednesday, 28th June  Popanz Fest, Cologne, Germany

Thursday, 29th June  Horst Klub, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland

Friday, 30th June  Bad Bonn, Dudingen, Switzerland

Saturday, 1st July  Off Tune Festival, Prato, Italy

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More info via YA YA YEAH

Further Reading

The Best Australian Albums of 2022

NO ZU Comes to an End: Nicolaas Oogjes on the Highs, Lows and the Community that Made NO ZU

Tropical Fuck Storm Decry Sydney Festivals Lack Of Respect For Artists

The post Eggy to Play Melbourne Send-Off Show Before Inaugural European Tour appeared first on Music Feeds.
Evanescence | Credit: Greg Doherty/Getty Images

Arkansas hard rock band Evanescence will be celebrating 20 years of their debut album, Fallen, at venues around Australia in August 2023. The US fivesome will perform hits such as Bring Me to Life, Going Under and My Immortal at venues in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth.

Led by vocalist Amy Lee, Evanescence released Fallen via the indie label Wind-up Records in March 2003. The album reached number one on Australias ARIA albums chart and the UK albums chart. It made it to number three on the US Billboard 200 and has subsequently gained diamond accreditation in the US, denoting sales in excess of ten million.

Evanescence  Everybodys Fool

Fallen has sold more than 420,000 copies in Australia, earning it 6x-platinum accreditation. Lee and co.s debut album was the fifteenth highest-selling album in Australia 2003, and the band have toured the country a handful of times since its release.

Their most recent visit was in February 2018 following the release of 2017s Synthesis, Evanescences fourth album. Lee and her bandmates  guitarists Troy McLawhorn and Tim McCord and drummer Will Hunt  released their fifth album, The Bitter Truth, in 2021. The album debuted at number three on the ARIA albums chart.

The band, which also includes touring bass player Emma Anzai, will perform highlights from Fallen along with a career-spanning best of set at all dates on the upcoming Australian tour. Tickets go on sale at 9am local time on Thursday, 1st June. Details below.

Evanescence Fallen 20th Anniversary Tour 2023

Thursday, 24th August  Riverstage, Brisbane QLD

Saturday, 26th August  Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Monday, 28th August  AEC Theatre, Adelaide SA

Wednesday, 30th August  Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne VIC

Saturday, 2nd September  Red Hill Auditorium, Perth WA

Tickets on sale 9am (local) on Thursday, 1st June via Destroy All Lines. Sign up for pre-sale access here  pre-sales begin at 9am local time on Wednesday, 31st May.

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Further Reading

Evanescence Announce Free Livestream Concert Hosted By Alice Cooper

That Bring Me The Horizon Collab With Amy Lee From Evanescence Happened Because They Ripped Off A Verse

Both Coldplay Shows at Perths Optus Stadium Are Now Sold Out

The post Evanescence to Celebrate 20 Years of Fallen on 2023 Australian Tour appeared first on Music Feeds.
Six people were injured and one is dead after a two vehicle crash in Cut Off ejected five from the vehicle.

Mary Borne, 37, of Galliano was driving south on LA 3235 in a Lincoln Navigator and at the intersection with West 54 Street she made a left hand turn into an oncoming Ford. Louisiana State Police responded to the wreck May 19, just before 11 a.m.

She and the four other occupants of the vehicle were not wearing seatbelts and all were ejected. Mary Borne's relative Destiny Borne was pronounced dead at the scene. All other passengers of the Navigator were rushed to a New Orleans hospital for critical injuries, and remain there as of Monday, May 22, according to Louisiana State Police Public Information Officer Ross Brennan.

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The driver and the passenger of the Ford both were restrained and suffered moderate injuries.

According to a news release from the department a standard toxicology sample was collected from both drivers and submitted for analysis. The crash remains under investigation.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Fatal Cut Off crash leaves one dead, six injured
Dust off your rusty machetes and polish the edge of your best hunting knife: The annual public python hunt is coming later this summer.

Since the first Florida Python Challenge in 2013, we have reached a countless number of people across the globe, alerting them to the negative impacts caused by Burmese pythons and other invasive species in Florida, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission chair Rodney Barreto in a press released sent out Wednesday.

This year's hunt will take place from Aug. 4 through Aug. 13, and there are categories for professional and amateur hunters.

Biologists perform a necropsy on a large female Burmese python at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida Wednesday, April 26. The state announced Wednesday that this year's annual hunt will be held from Aug. 4 through Aug. 13.

FWC says the 2022 hunt removed 231 pythons from the Everglades, with nearly 1,000 people from 32 states and even Latvia taking part in the 10-day hunt.

Over the past 20 years, the Burmese python has established itself as perhaps the most damaging of all invasive animals found in Florida.

In hopes of trimming the population while raising public awareness, the state of Florida holds an annual hunt.

Florida has more invasive species than most countries, and the Burmese python may be the most destructive foreign animal in the entire historic Everglades, which stretches from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay.

All kills must be done humanely

Even though Burmese pythons don't belong in Florida, you still must treat them humanely. Many hunters use a 4-inch hunting knife to slice off the head in a way that kills the snake immediately.

They hold the python just behind the skull with one hand and slice through the snake with the other.

It can be a bloody mess, and the snakes will try to bite you and may spray you with liquid feces.

It's legal to hunt year-round

Although the state holds an annual hunt, it is legal to hunt pythons ever day of the year on public lands and on more than two dozen properties managed by FWC.

Summer can be a productive time for hunting as the next generation hatched recently, so there will be plenty of small snakes on the landscape.

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Many of the largest snakes are caught during winter months, when snakes will slither onto concrete surfaces, like roads, to warm themselves.

More: Deadly Burmese pythons: Summer means it's time for biologists to crank out necropsies

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FWC says more than 18,000 snakes have been removed by hunters over the past two decades.

These snakes get big

Burmese pythons can grow to more than 18 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds. If that sounds like a sizeable animal, that's because it is.

Pythons are at the very tip of the food chain here, and they're generalist predators that will eat nearly anything. So while you may fear alligators, crocodiles, bears or panthers, pythons are the biggest beasts in the woods here.

You can make money

This year the state is giving out a total of $30,000 in cash and prizes.

Professional hunters registered with the state are paid year-round for snakes they capture and kill.

Connect with this reporter: Chad Gillis on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Annual Burmese python hunt will draw snake killers from across country
A woman accused of raising money for a terminally ill girl  then stealing it  is back in North Carolina and now faces felony charges.

Tammy Ann Domenick, 53, scammed Mooresville residents, businesses and families with a seemingly legitimate fundraiser, according to an Iredell County Sheriffs Office news release. But after the event Domenick fled to Arizona, police said.

More than $29,000 is unaccounted for, Iredell authorities said in January, when charges were first filed.

She was arrested and after a lengthy court fight, she was extradited to North Carolina last Thursday, according to police. She faces eight felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and is being held on a $210,000 bond.

Domenicks offenses began in January 2022, according to police. She befriended the family of a girl battling vanishing white matter disease and asked to organize a fundraiser, Queen City News reported in January of this year. The girl, now in kindergarten, was expected to live to 6 years old, according to the station.

Domenick touted LKN Fest, the major event expected to raise funds to pay for the girls medical expenses, according to police.

Shed done this before  in New York, Domenick told the family, according to police. But the vendors and family soon realized the event was not what Domenick had advertised, according to the news release.

She vanished, and none of the money or various gifts, including clothes, health products and food, were accounted for, according to the sheriffs office.

An Iredell County detective traced Domenick to Arizona, where shed started an identical scheme, according to police.
Purple Star Student Awards were presented at the Purple Up Recognition Lunch honoring military families at the Early Learning Family Center Thursday.

Students, schools, and military personnel were honored Thursday as Great Falls Public Schools commemorated the Month of the Military Child at the Early Learning Family Center.

The Purple Up Recognition Lunch, hosted by GFPS Superintendent Tom Moore, featured guest speakers from state and military leadership in Montana, including Office of Public Instruction Superintendent Elsie Arntzen and Mission and Support Group Commander Col. Christopher Karns of Malmstrom Air Force Base.

Karns said hes had 13 assignments during his 28-year military career. In that time, his 18-year-old son has attended 10 different schools, and his 14-year-old son eight.

In every one of those (assignments), the family is a part of that journey, Karns said. Every place I go, the only thing my wife and I are concerned about is the quality of education, and will our kids be able to integrate into the school system?

Karns said he has been very grateful for the leadership in Great Falls across the board, from local government to the school district.

What this community has done in terms of education for Malmstrom, you guys are truly heroes, Karns said. The memories that are made, the lessons learned in school are critical. You are contributing greatly to our nations defense.

Meadow Lark Elementary students Ezekial and Zola Brody received Purple Star Student awards Thursday at the Purple Up Recognition Lunch in honor of military families at the Early Learning Family Center.

Before presenting awards, Arntzen spoke about the sacrifices made by military-connected families.

(The students) serve with the adults, Arntzen said. They are part of the missionOur mission is working together. In every corner of this state, in every corner of every classroom, we need to be working together.

Four Purple Star Student Awards were presented to those in military families, including Levi Nelson of ELF, Ezekial and Zola Brody of Meadow Lark Elementary, Karson Wonsick and Alice Bartter of Chief Joseph and Tahlia Murrilo of Great Falls High.

Cadet Nathaniel Mayer, the cadet corps commander of the Great Falls High JROTC, received a full-ride scholarship to Montana State University for his achievements with the program. Mayer officially received the scholarship by inking his letter of intent in the style of a student-athlete signing with a college program.

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JROTC Cadet Corps Commander Nathaniel Mayer (center) of Great Falls High School was awarded a scholarship to Montana State University for his efforts in the program as part of the Purple Up Recognition Lunch honoring military families at the Early Learning Family Center Thursday.

Five schools were awarded the Purple Star School Award, including Great Falls High School, Chief Joseph and Meadow Lark elementaries, the Early Learning Family Center, and Montana School for the Deaf and Blind.

We wanted to partner with families from around the country to know that they could come to Great Falls and that we had specialists that could work with deaf and hard-of-hearing children and visually impaired children, and make Great Falls an option for military families, said Paul Furthmyre, superintendent of MSDB.

Great Falls High Principal Geoff Habel said the goal of the school is to be a place of inclusion for all.

We have a long history of a very diverse population at Great Falls High, were over 100 years old, Habel said. We just wanted to let everybody know a little more about us and be a welcoming place.

Accepting the award for Chief Joseph was Principal Brian Miller, who said that over 20 percent of the schools students are from military-connected families.

Were just excited to support them and be a part of their journey, Miller said.

Meadow Lark is an amazing place, Principal Teresa Sprague said. We do have a relatively high military population of families that we serve, including (Montana Air National Guard). Really this just signifies the collaboration we want to do and how we want to make sure we do everything we can to support our military families in transition and the day-in and day-out and that were at our best in meeting their needs.

Said ELF Principal Colette Getten: I believe that we have been awarded this for our successful pilot of transitional kindergarten and just the momentum that it has created for our military families, our staff and the community in general.

GFPS Supt. Tom Moore (far left) and Montana OPI Supt. Elsie Arntzen (far right) pose with Purple Star Champion Award winners Col. Christopher Karns of Malmstrom Air Force Base, retired Master Sgt. Michael Wonch and retired Lt. Col. Brian Holbein of the JROTC program at the Purple Up Recognition Lunch Thursday.

Receiving Purple Star Champion Awards were retired Lt. Col. Brian Holbein and retired Master Sgt. Michael Wonch of the JROTC program at Great Falls High, as well as Col. Karns.

Reporter Grady Higgins can be reached at ghiggins@greatfallstribune.com. Photos were provided courtesy of Matt Ehnes of Jared's Detours.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Great Falls Month of the Military Child ceremony recognizes community
After a beloved scientist was found dead in Norwich, Connecticut in 2004, his killers were able to evade justice for more than four years. How?

On the evening of May 14, Norwich police received a call that a dead body had been found at a local house. Upon their arrival, they found the victim, a man in his 50s, lying in a pool of his own blood. It was clear he had been viciously beaten, and there were even shoe patterns on his clothing, indicating someone may have stomped on him.

It was a horrific scene, Joe Dolan, a retired detective with the Norwich PD, told Oxygens An Unexpected Killer.

RELATED: Maryland Teen Linked To Adoptive Parents Gruesome Slayings

The victims shoes and wallet were missing, and there was blood on multiple parts of the property, suggesting the struggle had actually began in the backyard. Police turned to the woman whod made the 911 call, and she explained shed gone to the house after seeing a sign indicating it was for rent. When she called the number, a woman told her that her husband was the owner and he was currently at the property doing some renovation and she should go and talk to him about renting.

She did just that, only to find the mans body in the driveway.

It was the info police needed: The owner of the property was 56-year-old Eugene Mallove, a respected scientist whod studied at both Harvard and MIT. He held a PhD in environmental engineering and was passionate about stopping global warming. The house in Norwich, where his body was found, had been the same home Eugene had grown up in. Hed since taken it over and rented it out while he and his family lived in New Hampshire.

Though police now knew who the victim was, they still had major questions: Why would anyone want Eugene Mallove, a well-liked academic, dead, and why would they do it in such a brutal way?

Investigators spoke to Eugenes wife, Joanne, who told them that the day Eugene was killed, hed driven his minivan to Norwich to clean up the property. However, Eugenes van wasnt in the driveway when police got there. They also spoke to Eugenes neighbors, one of whom reported seeing him mowing the lawn that morning but recalled the van was gone at around 8:30 that night.

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Eugene Mallove Auk 203

Eugene Mallove

Authorities soon received a call from a local casino and learned Eugenes van was in the employee parking lot and likely had been there for hours. They had the van towed for processing but found no fingerprints in the vehicle, suggesting whoever had driven the car had likely been wearing gloves.

A search of the casinos security footage also proved fruitless; it had been too foggy for a clear image of the vans driver to be captured.

Back at square one, police went to speak with Eugenes wife again in the hopes of finding out if he had any enemies. Joanne said Eugene had evicted a couple named Patricia and Roy Anderson from the Norwich property around two weeks before he was killed. The pair had stopped paying rent and it took Eugene six months to evict them.

Neighbors were able to lead police to the Andersons' son, Chad Schaffer, who lived with his girlfriend, Candace Foster. Shaffer claimed his parents hadnt seen Eugene since they were evicted and that there was no bad blood between them. He also gave police their new address, and when detectives went to talk to the couple, they repeated what Shaffer had said. They also had solid alibis for the night of the murder.

Investigators next turned to the autopsy report, which showed Eugene had sustained 32 lacerations to his face and body and had had his trachea crushed. Around the same time, police had also begun receiving tips someone had been hired to kill Eugene, possibly due to the work he was doing on sustainable energy.

RELATED: Young Mother Zip-Tied And Stabbed 90 Times At Michigan Home

It occurred to me that he was doing work that might have threatened someone enough that they would have murdered him, his friend Rick Broussard recalled.

Cold fusion was a controversial school of thought at the time, but was it controversial enough to get an innocent man killed? According to detectives who worked on the case, the idea of a hitman was too far-fetched, and so they focused their investigation in other directions.

Multiple suspects appeared over the investigation, but all were eventually cleared. Authorities were at a standstill.

I had to accept it, but it was a terrible thing, Eugenes cousin, Jana Goldstein Scher, told producers. I would cry on the way to work. I think, when you go through a tragedy, your world becomes very small.

The case went cold until four years later, when a new task force was created and they were able to get a $50,000 reward up for information leading to an arrest in Eugenes case. Within weeks, police finally got the tip they needed. A woman claiming to be friends with Chad Schaffer and his girlfriend, Foster, told police Foster confided shed seen Schaffer come home with bloody clothes around the time Eugene was killed. Schaffer would also appear nervous whenever news reports about the murder were shown on TV, she said.

Police spoke to the womans boyfriend next, and he claimed Chad had confessed to him that hed killed Eugene.

Mozzelle Brown Candace Foster Chad Schaffer Auk 203

Mozzelle Brown, Candace Foster and Chad Schaffer

Foster, whod since parted ways with Shaffer, was called in for questioning. She told authorities she was afraid of her ex, who she shared children with, and so they offered her participation in the witness protection program in exchange for her story. She agreed and was able to positively identify a set of keys found at the crime scene as the same keys that had been at their house for years.

Still, police suspected that there was more Foster was hiding from them  and they were right: Eventually, she admitted Schaffer had not acted alone when he killed Eugene. A man named Mozzelle Brown, Schaffer's cousin, had been with him, she claimed.

Soon, the full story spilled out: After the eviction, Patricia had called her son repeatedly to tell him the landlord was now throwing their stuff in the trash. Schaffer told Brown about what was happening and they went to confront Eugene at the house. The confrontation soon turned physical and Schaffer and Brown brutally beat Eugene and then left him for dead.

Foster admitted shed later returned to the rental property with the two men to help cover up what they had done. When they arrived, Eugene was lying on the ground but he was still breathing. The men decided they needed to kill him. They beat Eugene further, but it wasnt until Brown stood on his throat that he died. Then, after Eugene was dead, they tried to make the scene look like a robbery, and Foster drove his car to the casino parking lot and abandoned it there.

All three were tried for the crime. Brown, whom police believed was the violent ringleader of the trio, was sentenced to over 50 years in prison, while Schaffer got 25 years and would be eligible for parole after serving 17 years. Foster, who faced lesser charges as she'd worked with the authorities, was sentenced to a few years in jail to be followed by probation.

After the verdict, Eugenes loved ones were left to grapple with the loss of a brilliant man, one whose family and friends cared for him deeply.

I think Eugene did make a big difference in the world. I think he could have made a bigger difference, had he been around longer, Broussard said.

For more on this case and others like it, watch An Unexpected Killer on Oxygen.com.

(This story was originally published on January 29, 2021. It was updated on May 23, 2023.)
[Source]

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has called on governments in Southeast Asias Greater Mekong region to increase protection for newly discovered species at risk of extinction.

An international team of scientists and researchers discovered 380 new species across Asia, such as a color-changing lizard, a muppet-like orchid, a new venomous snake and a tree frog with skin that resembles moss. The discoveries were made from 2021 to 2022 across five countries in the biodiverse region, including Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The team found 290 plants, 19 fish species, 24 amphibians, 46 reptiles and one mammal.

More from NextShark: Chinese woman arrested for honoring Nanjing Massacre war criminals at Buddhist temple in Nanjing

In Laos Vientiane province, the Dendrobium fuscifaucium orchid was discovered coincidentally by a local vendor.

A toad discovered in the Thai-Malay peninsula was named Ansonia infernalis for its bright reddish and orange coloration that resembles the flames of hell, according to researchers.

More from NextShark: San Diego State University to create its first-ever Asian American studies department

These remarkable species may be new to science but they have survived and evolved in the Greater Mekong region for millions of years, reminding us humans that they were there a very long time before our species moved into this region, K. Yoganand, head of WWFs Greater Mekong regional wildlife, told CNN.

However, the WWF noted that the newly discovered species may soon disappear due to human activities that threaten their existence.

More from NextShark: Chinese parents sue daughter they abandoned for not buying her brother an apartment

According to Truong Q. Nguyen, writer of the foreword to the WWF findings, the species in the Greater Mekong region face threats of deforestation, pollution and overexploitation of natural resources, compounded by the effects of climate change.

More concerted, science-based and urgent efforts need to be made to reverse the rapid biodiversity loss in the region. Using the critical evidence base that is laid by scientists, we all need to urgently invest time and resources into the best ways to conserve the known and yet unknown species.

The WWF has been working with governments, nonprofits and partners across the Greater Mekong countries on conservation strategies to protect the newly discovered species and their habitats.

More from NextShark: 63-year-old victim of violent robbery is latest in series of assaults against elderly Sikhs in Queens
A K-9 trained to work with deputies was killed after it bit an off-duty deputy and refused to let go, according to the Greenville County Sheriffs Office in Upstate South Carolina.

The attack happened late Sunday, May 21, and the deputy was hospitalized, according to a news release.

It took place during a non-training activity at the off-duty deputys home in Pickens County, the sheriffs office said.

The deputy, an experienced K-9 handler, was unexpectedly bit by the two-1/2-year-old male (Belgian) Malinois, and the dog failed to release despite repeated verbal commands and multiple attempts by witnesses to pull the dog off.

A relative of the deputy rushed out and discharged their own firearm at the dog to save the deputy, according to the sheriffs office. The dog died from the gunshot wound, officials said.

The deputy was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover after some time, officials said. Details of the injuries were not released.

Investigators say the dog was in the deputys care, but the two were not partners in the K-9 unit. The injured handler was caring for the K-9, whose primary handler was away at training, as is standard practice, officials said.

The incident is being investigated by the Professional Standards division of the sheriffs office.

Belgian Malinois resemble German shepherds. They are known for being strong and well-muscled and developing an unbreakable bond with human partners, according to the American Kennel Club.

Annoyed cows lead cops to fugitive hiding in their pasture, North Carolina town says

Lost boy and his dog found wandering road in Louisiana. The dog led cops to his home

911 call about fight ends with Florida cop separating 2 brawling goats, sheriff says
Speaking to ET from the South of France on Tuesday, 'The Idol' actress shared her feelings on the response for her dad's work in 'Jeanne du Barry'

Mike Marsland/WireImag, Samir Hussein/WireImage

Lily-Rose Depp is showing support for her dad after their back-to-back premieres at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Speaking to ET from the South of France on Tuesday, the actress shared her feelings on Johnny Depp being well-received at the festival's opening night on May 16, where his biographical drama Jeanne du Barry was met with a standing ovation.

"I'm super happy for him. I'm super excited," Lily-Rose, 23, told the outlet in a virtual interview. "And it's so awesome that we get to do projects that we're super proud of."

The 59-year-old arrived at the prestigious film festival a year after his highly-publicized defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.

Weighing in on the veteran actor's spirits as of late, a source recently told PEOPLE that Johnny "is doing fantastic" now.

"He really enjoys working and touring again. He has managed to turn his life around," said the source of Depp, who will next direct the movie Modi after touring with his band The Hollywood Vampires. "He is prioritizing his health and work."

Related: Johnny Depp 'Doing Fantastic' After Cannes Appearance: 'He Is Much Happier' Now, Says Source (Exclusive)

Doug Peters/PA Images via Getty Images

The source added, "He was living a destructive life and people close to him were concerned. Everyone is excited about how he turned things around. He is much happier too."

As for Lily-Rose, the Chanel model is making her own waves in Cannes after Monday's debut of her HBO series, The Idol, starring Abel Tesfaye (also known as The Weeknd) and directed by Sam Levinson.

Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty

Related: The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp and HBO Defend 'The Idol' After Reported Creative Clashes, Alleged Toxicity on Set

For her first time watching with an audience, Lily-Rose said the feeling was "incredible," adding that "It felt such a beautiful celebration and a culmination of everything that we've been through together, and just kind of a beautiful process that was in the show  and creating this little family together and it just felt really, really nice."

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Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty

"It was the first time that I had watched it with an audience outside of like, myself and Sam and Ashley and Abel, which is just kind of how I watched the first couple episodes," Lily-Rose said. "But it was incredible. It felt like such a beautiful celebration and a culmination of everything that we've been through together, and just kind of a beautiful process that was in the show, and creating this little family together, and it just felt really, really nice."

The actress, "Especially to get to celebrate together, and we're just so happy for the response from the room. It felt really nice to watch the reaction and everything, and finally get to share something with the world that we're all so proud of."

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He sat in a chair against the wall in the doctor's colorless waiting room, quietly anticipating a nurse calling his name. Lines only time can create etched across his face, and a baseball-style hat covered his silver hair. He was tall and thin, and his clear blue eyes seemed to avoid others in the room. I didn't know the gentleman and didn't want to stare, but after noticing his cap, I knew I must be in the presence of a tall, thin, blue-eyed hero.

His cap and approximate age told the story of his service during the Vietnam War. His ship's name was embroidered in gold above the cap's bill, reminding me of a time when friends and family, including my brother, left for war.

I see more of those hats as I stroll the streets today, and I thank God I do. Soldiers who survived the brutality of all wars, including Vietnam, should always crown their heads with pride. And when we see them walk by, let us be humbled and show our appreciation.

Lynn Walker Gendusa's brother, John, served in the Vietnam War. When a member of his crew asked him why they were there, he responded, It is complicated, but no matter the reason, we are here because our country asked us to serve."

In the mid-1960s, my brother was a lieutenant on a Navy destroyer in the South China Sea. Like many Vietnam veterans, John told war stories only among fellow veterans, keeping their military service and actions quiet. However, one day he recounted, "I was on deck when a young man working in my crew asked, 'Lieutenant John, why are we here?' "

What do you mean, Roy? John replied.

Like many other warriors, Roy was just out of high school and participating in a foreign battle far from his homeland.

What is the reason for this war? the young man asked again.

My brother replied, It is complicated, but no matter the reason, we are here because our country asked us to serve."

They both returned to work and war.

Hear more Tennessee voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought-provoking columns.

Merely to serve was what our government asked of all young men and women in those days. Because our country evoked the draft, many had no choice. They courageously entered the conflict in often nonforgiving places via boats, planes, helicopters and boots on the ground. More than 59,200 never returned home. After arriving back on our shores, 300,000 more died from Agent Orange exposure.

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How many others painfully endured post-traumatic stress syndrome and war-related injuries?

Lynn Walker Gendusa

This Memorial Day, let it be a reminder that not all war casualties happen on the battlefield. No matter in what war, conflict or circumstance a soldier gave his or her life, this country's citizens are not thankful enough. We who never served or suffered the effects of war do not understand the sacrifices of so many.

At the end of May each year, we plan what we will do; barbeques, swimming or celebrating a day off by doing little. But Memorial Day should be a solemn observance honoring those who gave all for us to have the freedom to enjoy all the things we do. Let's take the time to teach our children about the brave men and women who ensured they have the privilege to attend school or church and to dream without limits.

I believe no veteran should ever be homeless or required to pay for the best medical or psychological care, and should always be treated with dignity and respect. To do less is abhorrent and un-American.

Vietnam veterans bore additional pain because their country was tired of an unpopular war. There was no applause at the airports or fanfare of any kind when they came home. These brave soldiers walked home quietly as if abandoned by those who gave them no choice but to serve.

How sorrowful we should be for the pain we caused those unselfish heroes. Many still bear the physical and mental scars of war. Yet they thrive on the comradery of fellow service members while mutually grieving the loss of friends who didnt survive the battles.

I stroll each year through a cemetery in the Tennesee town where I was born. Among the headstones bearing the names of families I recognize, there are many veterans. Toward the end of a row, there is a single bronze stone with an American flag perched above it.

It reads: "Lieutenant John E. Walker. US Navy Vietnam. July 25, 1941, to April 29, 1998."

Tears fall each time I lay a flag and flowers next to his headstone. My big brother, my defender, my hero, is just one of multitudes who loved his country enough to join a battle. Tragically, he died from the effects of war because he was merely asked to serve.

Until he left us, he wore his cap proudly, as he should.

Honoring those who gave all they could to maintain our freedom shows the rest of us the immeasurable value of courage.

Lynn Walker Gendusa is a writer in Georgia and the author of the book "Southern Comfort." She is originally from Monterey, Tennessee.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Opinion: Memorial Day time to honor the immeasurable value of courage
Michelle Yeoh has a production ritual.

Before filming a project, the Academy Award winner gathers with cast and crew for a blessing ceremony, joss sticks in tow, to conjure protection and prosperity for all involved. "I've worked in Hong Kong pictures in Asia and this is something that we always do without fail," Yeoh explains to EW. "It's not a religious ceremony. What it is, we are coming into your space. It's like, 'Give us your blessings, let us work here peacefully, bless everyone who is on the project, and we will not disturb you too much.'"

It's a ritual the cast and crew of the Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once participated in prior to production, and aptly, it's a ritual the cast and crew of Disney+'s American Born Chinese participated in.

In the action comedy series from creator Kelvin Yu, Heaven and Earth collide. Adapted from Gene Luen Yang's acclaimed 2006 graphic novel of the same name, American Born Chinese follows teenager Jin (Ben Wang) as he juggles high school social life with home life. When he meets new student Wei-Chen (Jim Liu), he finds himself caught in a battle with Chinese mythological deities from folktales of centuries past.

American Born Chinese

Carlos Lopez-Calleja/Disney Michelle Yeoh on 'American Born Chinese'

It's also a gut punch meditation on Asian American identity, which resonated deeply with Yeoh, who portrays Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Wei-Chen's "auntie."

"I have a lot of younger American born Chinese friends, and I see them trying to deal with their identities: 'Am I this or am I that?'" Yeoh ruminates. "And it's very hard, especially when you think, 'I have to fit in.' It's also hard for the parents because it's like, how do I help my child fit in and not stand out in the wrong way? But what we have forgotten is we should embrace each other's differences and not be afraid to be different."

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"Our culture, our heritage, is so steeped with history and beauty," Yeoh adds. "Why would we not want to learn more about it?"

The mythological figures in the series originate from stories that trace back to 16th century China  namely, Journey to the West, a novel attributed to writer, poet, and politician Wu Cheng'en. Considered a classic of Chinese literature, the text is a fictionalized account of 7th-century Buddhist monk Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India in search of ancient scriptures.

How 'American Born Chinese' riffs on the mythology of the Monkey King

Carlos Lopez-Calleja/disney Guanyin (Michelle Yeoh) and Wei-Chen (Jim Liu) in 'American Born Chinese.'

The Monkey King (played by Daniel Wu in the series) and Bull Demon (Leonard Wu)  characters that have been tirelessly adapted for the big and small screens across the east and west  are among the key players. "A lot of westerners know the story, but it's nice to draw the two worlds," Yeoh says. "You have the Goddess of Mercy, who is from Heaven, now part of Earth. I love the way our writers have brought her to a very modern place. I love the fact that we are telling these stories for friends over here that might not know."

Besides, "Who gets to play the Goddess of Mercy every day?" Yeoh quips. "It was a beautiful opportunity to show this very iconic, revered goddess that I have had in my life all my life because of my grandmother and my mom [and] give her a 21st century feel. She could be walking amongst us because she's there to hear you, to help you, and that was what I really found very compelling about this, apart from the action and all the craziness."

Yes, Yeoh's martial arts prowess is utilized in the series, which is packed with gratifying action sequences. The star says the team was very intentional when it came to crafting the martial arts scenes of Guanyin, who is, after all, the embodiment of compassion and mercy.

American Born Chinese

Carlos Lopez-Calleja/Disney Michelle Yeoh and Daniel Wu on 'American Born Chinese'

"We had to be very respectful," Yeoh says. "Goddess of Mercy does not fight. She looks at you with love and compassion." In one particular showdown with Wu's Bull Demon, the antagonist charges toward the deity (ole!) and she fights back, but "to be very aware, she doesn't hit him or punch him," Yeoh notes. "This was something that we did not want the Goddess of Mercy to be doing. She's deflecting him. She's pushing him away. But at the same time, she needs to teach him a lesson or hope that she can impart a lesson on him."

The lessons the divine Guanyin imparts on Wei-Chen also help drive the series, leading to an explosive and fulfilling finale for the teens and the world at large. There is, however, one hindrance that even deities are not immune: the assemblage of IKEA furniture, which Yeoh's goddess humorously struggles with during her time on Earth. As for whether Yeoh herself is adept at the construction of those damn Swedish coffee tables, she cites her character and quips, "If she can't do it, there's no way I can do it!"

American Born Chinese premieres May 24 on Disney+.

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Mike Moorman escorted his son Cale, an avid rider, home on horseback after his last day of school

Deer Creek School District The horseback pickup

An Oklahoma father made his 8-year-old sons last day of school extra memorable by skipping the usual station-wagon pickup line and showing up on horseback instead.

Mike Moorman made the 2.5-mile trip to Edmond's Rose Union Elementary School with not just one, but two horses in tow  3-year-old Nova and a 12-year-old quarter horse named Grady, according to Today.

Moorman was emulating a tradition from his own childhood, he told the outlet: On the last day of school, I rode my horses to school."

Related: Quadruplets Homeschooled Together Since 3rd Grade Graduate from Same College: 'Going to Have a Party!'

The man's son, Cale, has been an avid rider since he was small, Moorman told the outlet, saying Cale loved everything about riding.

The thoughtful father coordinated the unconventional pickup with the boy's school, which was more than happy to accommodate his plan, according to a spokesperson who spoke with Today. "The schools principal agreed as a way to celebrate the last day of the school year. She knew it would be a memorable experience for not only Cale but for his classmates too," the official said.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories!

In order to stay safe, the boy even "put on a cowboy hat helmet before they left," the school official added.

Related: Touching Photos Show Father Walking Son to First Day of Kindergarten and College

A Facebook video posted by the Deer Creek School District depicted the entire event, with the District writing, "If this isnt the sweetest way to get picked up on the last day of school, we arent sure what is!"

"We love our Deer Creek families!" the message continued.



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Read the original article on People.
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A strange throughline that biologists see among the different species of the world is that animals that tend to require fewer breaths per minute live longer. Tortoises can live up to 150 years, and only take three or four breaths a minute. By contrast, humans 12 to 16 breaths per minute, and the average American has an average lifespan between 76 and 77 years.

So in the quest to hack our bodies to make them live longer, many people are starting to tout the effects of oxygen restrictionbetter known as hypoxiaas a potential solution. While this has been mostly relegated to new age circles, clinical researchers are finally starting to take these investigations into the lab. With the effects of calorie restriction on increased lifespan well documented by new research these days, scientists are eager to see if other limitations actually end up boosting longevity as well.

Scientists at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have published what seems to be the first ever study that demonstrates how hypoxia can lead to long lifespans in mammals. The new findings were published Tuesday in PLOS Biology.

This May Be Our Best Chance to Find the Secret to Longevity

We have long been excited by the possibility that hypoxia could be beneficial and wanted to rigorously test this hypothesis, Robert Rogers, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the new study, told The Daily Beast. But we had no assumptions that it would actually work.

The study builds off previous research led by co-author Vamsi Mootha, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, who had been studying the effects of oxygen restriction in mice for over a decade. Ambient oxygen levels for most life on Earth is around 21 percent. Moothas lab first found that restricting oxygen to about 11 percent helped extend lifespan and delayed degeneration of brain cells in mice afflicted by Leigh syndrome (a severe neurological disorder) in 2016, and in mice afflicted by Friedreich's ataxia (a genetic disorder affecting the nerves) in 2019.

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Living to 150 May Be Possible. But Is Society Ready for It?

Based on those observations as well as whats been observed in more primitive organisms like yeast and roundworms, the team wanted to see what chronic hypoxia could do for healthy mammals.

As part of the study, Rogers, Mootha, and their colleagues bred mice in environments of normal oxygen levels (21 percent), and compared their lifespans to mice who at 4 weeks of age were moved to environments with reduced oxygen (about 11 percentsimilar to an altitude of about a little over 3 miles).

The mice in reduced oxygen environments lived a whopping 50 percent longer, with media lifespans of 23.6 weeks compared to the other cohorts 15.7 weeks. In addition, hypoxia seemed to also delay the onset of age-associated neurological impairments.

Could Colder Temperatures Increase Human Lifespans?

At present we do not know the mechanism by which hypoxia extends lifespan in these mice, Rogers admitted. Though caloric restriction has a longer body of research behind it, oxygen restriction is still a new space, and more research will be necessary to really pinpoint the mechanisms that allow hypoxia to increase lifespan in animals. In fact, what probably ends up coming out from these investigations will be a better sense of how to emulate what happens in the body in order to increase healthy agingand not a straight up prescription to hook people up to tanks of reduced oxygen.

Moreover, Rogers cautioned against trying to speculate what the results could mean for human aging. He did highlight an interesting tidbit of research from the 1960s and 70s, when Indian Army soldiers assigned to serve three years at altitudes higher than three miles saw decreased incidence of age-related diseases like diabetes and heart disease. So the new findings seem to fall in line with the little weve observed in humans so far. We view this initial report as laying the foundation for this important line of future research, said Rogers.

That doesnt mean you should start looking for ways to take in more oxygen in a foolish attempt to live longer. Oxygen is essential to survival, and deprivation can do incredible damage to the body and its organsoften permanently. So leave the lifespan hacks to the researchers for now.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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[Source]

It was a hot summer day in July 1954. A businessman, whom people say looked just like any other traveler, arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

However, this man would cause chaos  of the existential kind  minutes later. Upon checking his passport, authorities found that he came from Taured, a country that does not exist.

In an apparent head-scratcher, the mans documents appeared legitimate. His passport had stamps from countries he previously visited, including Japan. He explained that Taured was located in Europe in an area nestled between France and Spain. He even pointed it out on a map.

But to the Japanese authorities  and to us, at least in this universe  this country is the Principality of Andorra. The man became angry and confused, insisting that Taured has existed for more than 1,000 years.

More from NextShark: Performance artist Diana Oh breaks boundaries within the family in Oh Family Project'

Japanese authorities did not know what to do. Following the interrogation, they decided to take the man to a local hotel until they could get to the bottom of the situation. The mans room, which was several floors up, was locked, heavily guarded and had no balcony.

Despite this level of security, he would be gone by morning without a trace  or so the tale says.

More from NextShark: Chinese boy watches TV too much,' gets punished with all-night TV binge

This story, often called the Man from Taured, has become one of modern historys most well-known urban legends about alternate or parallel universes. The tale has been adapted into books (1, 2) and is a favorite topic on TikTok and YouTube, engaging both conspiracy theorists and social media users who are simply curious.

What many retellings about the man, however, fail to reveal is the truth behind the legend. This may be deliberate since keeping the mystery alive, after all, is fun.

On the other hand, some storytellers may also be completely clueless about the myths real-life origins, as accounts of the incident themselves are not always consistent.

Story continues

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The truth

The story of the Man from Taured has been heavily sensationalized, but it does originate from an actual incident, according to news sources at the time.

However, this incident was not about alternate universes, but a simple case of fraud.

First of all, the year was not 1954, but 1959. The man, identified as John Allen Kuchar Zegrus, had been traveling with his phony passport for some time, somehow managing to trick other countries. Unfortunately for him, his scheme ended in Japan, where he was convicted of illegal entry and fraud at the age of 36 in April 1960.

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Zegrus reportedly traveled to Japan with his Korean wife from Taipei. He was not arrested until he cashed forged checks to cover the costs of their stay in the country, as per fact-checker Snopes.com, which also exposed the truth behind the legend.

A Tokyo judge reportedly sentenced Zegrus to one year in prison. From there, the situation took a much darker turn: After his sentence was interpreted, Zegrus stood and slashed his arms with a piece of broken glass that he had hidden in his mouth, declaring, Im going to kill myself!

Zegrus was reportedly rushed to a nearby hospital, and it is here where his reported timeline ends. It is understood that he eventually served his sentence, but who he truly was and where he actually came from remains a mystery. His wife, who was 30 at the time, was reportedly repatriated to South Korea. It is unclear what happened to her.

Some believe Zegrus came from Algeria. This is due to his citation of places called Tamanrasset (which he claimed to be the capital of Taured south of the Sahara) and Tuared (a variation of the spelling of Taured, which is thought to be a misspelled version of Tuareg). Tamanrasset is the name of a province in Algeria, while Tuareg is an ethnic Islamic group that primarily lives in the Sahara, including southern Algeria.

While Zegrus and countless others have made up hoaxes about parallel universes, the reality of such remains unknown. However, physicists around the world are now taking the concept of a multiverse more seriously. Even Hollywood also embraced the idea more in recent years, with films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once being a shining example.
Krysti Hanson was tired of commuting to Turkey Creek from Fountain City every day.

I worked at a few different salons and had a private salon suite in Turkey Creek, Hanson said. During COVID we shut down, obviously, then coming back to work they had capacity issues.

Hanson realized what she really wanted was her own space. So she opened Serendipity Hair Studio at 5034 N. Broadway in Fountain City.

I wanted to be able to make it my own, have control of the decorations, the guest experience and the vibe, she said.

It didnt hurt that her new salon is just three minutes from her house and has an abundance of natural light. I have a ring light and I dont even need it, she said. After doing hair at the MGM casino for six years, I wanted a smaller boutique salon, something more intimate, and this is perfect.

The urge to strike out on her own felt serendipitous, according to Hanson. I was struggling to find something in this area and thought I needed to build it, she said. It ended up being something so beautiful and unexpected, it has turned out amazing  serendipitous.

After doing hair at the MGM casino for six years, Krysti Hanson "wanted a smaller boutique salon, something more intimate, and this is perfect.

Hanson said her husband pushes her to do things that are way out of her comfort zone. My sweet husband had it all together for me in three months, she said. My lease was up and I had a full clientele, so he did all of the fixtures. I was going for a Vegas vibe and wanted something different. I do get homesick, so seeing the desert mural by Mara Wilson makes me smile, and I have framed pictures of little landmarks including the Little White Chapel in Vegas.

The Hansons used to live in Las Vegas and would visit family in Kingsport regularly. I loved the Friday Night Lights and the family feel of East Tennessee. I promised once my youngest son started kindergarten six years ago, we would move, she said.

I feel like Fountain City is a city within itself.

Serendipity Hair Studio opened last November, but Hanson does not anticipate having time to celebrate with a grand opening until this fall. This community has become my family; I feel like opening the salon has made it more so, she said. I have built more Fountain City clientele since opening here.

Story continues

Currently there are three stylists listed under the Instagram account @serendipityhairstudio_: Hanson, Ava Ratner and Nicole Giles, and they are looking to add another.

We have an online booking system, and all of our stylists are independent and accept bookings through their Instagram pages, said Hanson. We are here Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays.

When it comes to the services Hanson offers, she says she loves a good transformation through hair color. My favorite technique is hand painting, she said. I use Davines (products) from Italy; we are a Davines exclusive. Everything is very clean and leaves your hair shiny and healthier than before you colored it.

Serendipity is more than just a place to get your hair done, said Hanson, who believes it is important to focus on the guest experience.

I want it to feel different, starting with the beverages and snacks  we have all of the fruity flavors of sparkling water, Truly, White Claw and every coffee flavor you can think of.

Other small details that add to the atmosphere are the scent of the salon, the warm towels and Hansons love of lush, green houseplants and quirky wallpaper in the restroom. I want them to feel like they are on vacation and can escape reality for a while, she said.

Serendipity Hair Studio even has a signature collection of custom candles. I collaborated with Blumenberg, said Hanson. The scents are Lady Luck, Stardust, Little White Chapel, Highview Drive, and Vegas Vic  he is a Vegas staple. That candle has an earthy cedar smell. Little White Chapel reminds me of drinking almond champagne the night I met my husband. Highview Drive has a coconut scent and reminds me of having barbecues with my dad, and Lady Luck is a sugared rose petal scent. And Stardust smells like honeysuckle, jasmine and white tea.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Serendipity Hair Studio in Knoxville has a Vegas vibe
Thomas Roche - Getty Images

Max (formerly HBO Max) debuted its highly-anticipated documentary Bama Rush on May 23. The series highlights four University of Alabama students as they attempt to join in on the sorority rush week, aka a seven-day process in which potential pledges  PNMs, or prospective new members in Greek speak  explore the university's sororities through official events. ICYMI: Bama Rush took over TikTok in 2021 as PNMs shared their get-ready with me vlogs and spilled the tea on their experiences as they tried to land a spot in one of the school's esteemed sororities.

The new doc introduced viewers to four PNMs, including Shelby Rose who began filming when she was still a high school senior and had just received her acceptance into the University of Alabama. Her journey in the series gained attention from viewers, who wanted to know more about the UA freshman. Read ahead for everything we know about Shelby Rose and what her role is in Bama Rush.

She rushed Phi Mu

On August 14, 2022, Shelby revealed that she was officially a member of Phi Mu. "HONEY I AM HOME!!! PHI MU FOREVERRRR @uaphimu the best home," she wrote in a celebratory Instagram post.

She is a pageant queen

Most recently, Shelby was crowned Miss Quincy Outstanding Teen pageant in January 2023. She revealed that she began participating in pageants after a friend recommended it to her in 2018. During an interview with Muddy River News, Shelby Rose said, "At first I said no, I wasn't interested at all... But the more I found out about it, the more interested I became... I fell in love with it." She previously won the title in 2018, 2020, and 2021.

She majored in public relations with a minor in digital content engagement

During her interview with Muddy River News, Shelby opened up about her plans to major in public relations with a minor in digital content engagement.

She's active on social media

Shelby keeps up with her friends, family, and fans on social media, where she has more than 6,000 Instagram and 62,5000 TikTok followers.

Story continues

She was adopted and founded a non-profit to help foster children in her home state

Throughout her appearance in the documentary, Shelby revealed that she accidentally found out she was adopted and said that it "turned my world upside down. According to Shelby, she had been in therapy since she was 13 and sought "trauma treatments" to help manager her "anxiety and depression." Shelby also revealed that she launched Fostering Hope, an organization to assist foster children and foster families in Illinois.

She stopped filming before rush week and spoke out against the series

On May 8, Shelby took to Tik Tok to clarify her involvement in the documentary after the trailer was released. According to Shelby, she was filmed during her senior year of high school and didn't film once Rush Week began at UA "because what they were doing did not align with my morals and values, and it made me very uncomfortable."

While she didn't elaborate on her exact issue with the doc, Shelby said she does "not agree with any of the negative things said about anything to do with the University of Alabama campus as a whole, and the UA Panhellenic Association." Shelby added that the whole purpose of her joining the documentary was to "shine a light on girls from very small towns in the North going to a huge school and rushing."



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Our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment, the advisory from Dr. Vivek Murthy stated

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has issued a landmark advisory regarding the impact of social media, and says that it can have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.

In the 19-page advisory released on Tuesday, the nations top doctor offered ample data to back the assertion, in what the report calls a public statement that calls the American peoples attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed.

Our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment, the advisory stated.

It continued, In early adolescence, when identities and sense of self-worth are forming, brain development is especially susceptible to social pressures, peer opinions and peer comparison.

According to the advisory, up to 95% of youth ages 1317 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media almost constantly. Also, in the U.S., nearly 40% of children ages 812 use social media.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. Murthy shared that children are particularly impacted by too much exposure to apps such as TikTok and Instagram.

Theyre in a different phase of development, and theyre in a critical phase of brain development, he told the newspaper.

The report also encouraged parents and others to monitor their childrens social media use and to think about a family media plan, where screen-time expectations could be set.

Related: Montana Governor Approves Statewide TikTok Ban  the First of Its Kind in the U.S.

Social media exposure is linked to conditions including eating disorders, body dysmorphia and low self-esteem, per the report, with some evidence also pointing to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The report comes on the heels of efforts to limit the apps.

Story continues

Last week, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte approved a statewide TikTok ban, making Montana the first state to attempt such a broad rejection of the popular social media platform.

After signing the legislation  which passed in both the state House and Senate this spring  Gianforte tweeted, "To protect Montanans' personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana."

The legislation cited both security concerns and argued that the platform "directs minors to engage in dangerous activities" in order to generate content, such as "throwing objects at moving automobiles, taking excessive amounts of medication," and "licking doorknobs and toilet seats to place oneself at risk of contracting coronavirus."

As for the Surgeon Generals advisory, it did not go as far to condemn social media use for young adults and children, but it concluded: We do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents.



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youth-lagoon-feature.jpg youth-lagoon-feature - Credit: Tyler T. Williams*

Seven years ago, Trevor Powers cut the cord on Youth Lagoon. In 2011, the Boise native, 22 at the time, had shared his celestial, entrancing dream-pop debut, The Year of Hibernation, with the world, swiftly scoring him Tumblr-era indie reverence. Powers released two more records as Youth Lagoon, the last being Savage Hills Ballroom in 2015, before calling off the project. There is nothing left to say through Youth Lagoon, he wrote at the time.

Time away was the antidote. Earlier this year, Powers revived Youth Lagoon with Idaho Alien, the first single from Heaven Is a Junkyard, out June 9. Hes returning with lots and lots of life under his belt. Things thrown my way that I wouldnt have ever chosen, he says. But now that theyve happened, everything looks a little different, feels a little different, tastes a little different.

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In 2021, Powers experienced a drug reaction to an over-the-counter medication that threatened to take his voice entirely. It was the first time in my life that my body felt like a prison, he says. That months-long period, though grueling, forced Powers to recalibrate. I was so demolished physically and emotionally and spiritually that it felt in a lot of ways like I died, he says. It was like every fear that I had ever had in my life came true. And because it came true, it feels like it cured me.

Heaven Is a Junkyard doesnt find Powers miraculously void of the anxiety and existentialism that hooked Youth Lagoon listeners all those years ago. Hes still brawling with mysteries: On The Sling, which features strings from Rob Moose, he considers the ways that love and memory can both save us and make us suffer. Heal my hurt/With the love that I gave/Will the loneliness fade? he asks on Mercury. Now, though, his musings are noticeably more serene. I know Im gonna deal with fear in different ways throughout life, he says. But as a whole, the beast looks so different now, and Im not scared of it.

Story continues

We spoke to Powers about the long-awaited Youth Lagoon resurgence, what his health crisis taught him about self-love, what heaven is to him, and more.

Do you have any nerves around returning to Youth Lagoon with a new album after so many years?

Theres really not, because Im so confident in it. Theres not a single thing on the album that I wouldve done differently. Ive given it everything that I have, in a way where nothing can steal any of that from me. No matter what people think of it, I know what it means to me. And thats really all that matters.

That being said, anytime you create something you always hope that other people can attach themselves to it and pull something from it. But the reason I create music is a selfish endeavor  exploring parts of my brain to get to know myself. Its how I deal with internal shit, or the way that I see the world, the way that I see others. Its one of the only things in life that makes sense.

In the past when you were releasing music, either as Youth Lagoon or for your solo project, did you feel like there was more pressure?

I had dealt with a lot of pressure, especially after I made The Year of Hibernation, which came out in 2011, which is so bonkers. But after I had made that, being as young as I was, I just didnt know how to deal with that amount of attention and eyes on what I was doing. Obviously a huge part of me was psyched that people cared, but then another part of me was completely overwhelmed because I just didnt know what to do with that.

I came out with Wondrous Bughouse in 2013, and that was a huge turning point, because there were a lot of people that felt like I should only do this one thing. It felt a little like I was being treated like one of those toy monkeys with cymbals, and they only wanted me to crash the cymbals together. It really drove me fucking crazy because I was moving on. When I do something creatively, Ill never do that same thing again, because it already exists, so why would I, right? Moving on to Wondrous Bughouse, that was part of me saying, OK, what else can I do? How else can I fail? How else can I learn all this stuff? Which is why I got into music. I just felt like I was misunderstood, which was frustrating. That continued with Savage Hills Ballroom. The frustration grew and grew and grew to the point where I could no longer even identify with this thing that I had created because of how other people were viewing it. The whole thing just started feeling kind of icky.

And then you started making music under just your name for a while. How was that?

After I killed off the Youth Lagoon moniker in 2015, I made two albums under my own name. Mulberry Violence came out in 2018 and Capricorn in 2020. Those were incredible because it felt like I didnt have eyes on me. Obviously there were some people that were still paying attention, but it was a very different story. It felt like going to college. I had the freedom to just try things and there was no worry.

I had some song ideas that I was tossing around maybe four years ago, and I didnt really know what they were. Nothing had a shape yet. Then I had this huge drug reaction at the end of 2021, and my whole life flipped upside down. Every path that I thought I was walking down just no longer existed.

To the extent that youre comfortable speaking about that experience, what did that health scare reveal to you about life and music?

I took an over-the-counter medication and it fucked with my digestive system so bad that it created essentially a geyser of acid in my stomach that would soak my larynx and vocal cords to the point where I couldnt talk for really long periods of time. I had seen multiple specialists, ER visits, I had an endoscopy, colonoscopy, you name it. Every single test done. Doctors couldnt figure out what it was that this medication did. It went on for months and months and months and months. And to be honest, Im still healing from it. Im probably at about 90 percent.

Like a lot of people, theres been suffering in my life before. I mightve had a shitty day or shitty week, but never to the point where the suffering was so extended. For months, I was in a very dark place. I was seeing a couple therapists and trying to get a grip mentally, because I knew that once I could find some calmness in the storm, thats when true healing would begin.

One of the therapists asked me, What are some things that you love about yourself? It was such a hard question for me to answer that it made me start crying. It was either later on that day or the next day, I was thinking about when I had killed off Youth Lagoon. To re-embrace this part of me that ended up feeling like it was getting polluted or I didnt identify with, and to reintroduce it to who I was as a person now, felt like the truest form of self-love that there was. That was the turning point. It was when I had started accepting these parts of me that I had abandoned because they felt old. I started piecing them back together, uniting them with these ideas that I was wrestling with as a person now. It felt fresh when I started combining those two worlds.

One of my favorite songs off of your new album is Trapeze Artist. Correct me if Im wrong, but it seems like the lyrics are pointing to that experience specifically.

No, thats totally correct. Thats one of the few times in the album where I actually talk about the experience blatantly. The rest, the emotion is there, but its through other lenses.That song is very specific.

With the other songs on the record, are you telling stories through characters?

Im playing a lot with the combination of fiction and non-fiction. Ill take things that people around me might have said or things that are based on very real-life scenarios, but then put them through this lens of playing around with characters while at the same time leaving in things that are directly from me.

For instance, in Idaho Alien, the narrator of that story is me. The chorus was written during the peak of everything I was experiencing. I dont remember how it happened/Blood filled up the clawfoot bath/I will fear no frontier. To be honest, that was how I was able to exorcise some of these demons of wanting to escape my body when it felt like a prison.

When you tell these stories, do you find it a little safer to use these narratives? Does that feel more comfortable to you rather than just heart-cut-open confessions?

I dont know if its necessarily safer. Its just more fun. It gives me more to play with. Even songs like Idaho Alien or a lot of the record where Im dealing with a lot of dark imagery and heavy subject matter, Im having fun doing it.

Theres a lot of joy in it. Thats one thing that I think gets lost on people, is they can get so sucked into something having a tone of emotional distress, and they think that youre wallowing in it. I love getting things off my chest; it makes me way lighter of a person. But the movies, the books, all that stuff that I gravitate towards are the things that are dark. I have a lot of fun playing around in those worlds.

What kind of music, books, or movies have inspired your writing?

Lots of filmmakers. Wim Wenders  his road movie trilogy has been huge in this whole process. Terrence Malick, Sofia Coppola, Andrei Tarkovsky. I feel like I can rip off movies all day long because its a different art form. You can do whatever you want with it. I listen to a lot of music, but if Im listening to one artist too much and I end up emulating some of that, its so much more obvious when youre stealing someones shit.

Theres all kinds of records Ill fall in love with, but I tend to pull way more from movies and books. I love 1950s crime novels, people like Jim Thompson and that whole world. Im always trying to devour everything around me.

In Mercury, one of the lines asks, Does heaven glow like mercury? And the title of the album is Heaven Is a Junkyard, so that imagery runs throughout the record. What is heaven to you?

Its a super fucking hard question. Theres all kinds of spiritual and religious themes and symbols and imagery that I love playing with because theres so much there to unpack. These symbols already come so fully loaded. That makes it way more fun. Even words like god, theres so many different ways to take that word. For some people, theres a lot of baggage, history, and trauma related to church.

I personally was raised in a Christian church. I havent stepped foot in a church in years. Through therapy Ive had to work really fucking hard to get things out of my system. Im also so grateful because it showed me that there is such a beautiful mystery that were surrounded by, and thats what Im in love with: that unknown veil. How do I get closer to it? How do I try to understand it? That drives all of my work. And you can call that whatever you want. You can call it God, you can call it nature, you can call it mystery, but I think its all saying the same thing.

It might sound trope-y to say, but I do think that Heaven starts right now. People are so consumed with Heaven is up there or Heaven is far away or Heaven is this place that were heading to. I think that Heaven does start right now and sometimes the people that lose sight of that most are the people that are the most religious because what theyre spreading on earth is hell.

Theres a theologian I love whose name is Richard Rohr, and he quotes Catherine of Siena, saying, Its heaven all the way to heaven and hell all the way to hell.

Youve said that in the past, youd write about faraway things and that was your way of running from home, but the best material has actually been right where you are. What is home to you?

Home is where love is. My family, for instance, were not radius-based people. I have three brothers. We all live far away from each other, but it doesnt change that sense of home being this connective tissue, this unbreakable twine. So when I see my older brother in Seattle, I feel like Im home. Or when I see my youngest brother on the East Coast, I feel like Im home. Now Im an uncle. I have shitloads of nieces who I love so much. One of them is actually the little voice on that opening track Rabbit. She lives a three-minute walk from me. Thats where home is. Its different for everyone, but everyone has that good stuff somewhere.

What do you most hope that listeners take away from this album?

I really dont want people to feel alone. Thats my big thing. Throughout this whole journey of writing it, Ive been coming to terms with the realization that when you do spend a lot of time alone and getting to know yourself, then ironically, thats when you start feeling the least alone. Our society is so saturated by distraction, social media, artificial friends, right? It tends to stretch us in these ways that we feel more alone than ever. The more that Ive had time to meditate every day, be with myself wholly and fully, thats when I start realizing, Oh wow, Im not alone.

I sense this greater thing, this unknown love thats always there. That is a throughline throughout all the music and thats the main thing I want people to pick up on. Even though theres darkness, youre only in the darkness because youre heading towards the light.

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Garage Door Market to Grow at a CAGR of 5.0% from 2023 to 2031, Reaching US$ 27.6 billion: As per TMR Study

Transparency Market Research

Rapid urbanization and infrastructure development, is another factor that is anticipated to stimulate the market share in the coming years

Wilmington, Delaware, United States, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. - The global garage door market stood at US$ 18.0 billion in 2022 and the global market is projected to reach US$ 27.6 billion by 2031. The global industry is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 5.0% between 2023 and 2031.



The market value of garage door is increasing, owing to the booming construction and real estate industries, which play a vital role in driving the demand for garage doors. The need for durable, secure, and aesthetically pleasing garage doors increases, as new residential and commercial buildings are constructed.

The rise in urbanization, coupled with an increasing number of housing projects and infrastructure development, fuels the demand for garage doors. The renovation and reconstruction activities, is another significant factor contributing to the market growth. There is a growing trend of renovating existing buildings and replacing outdated garage doors, with changing consumer preferences and the desire for improved functionality and aesthetics.

Homeowners and businesses are investing in modernizing their properties, including upgrading their garage doors to enhance curb appeal, energy efficiency, and security. The trend is expected to drive the growth of the garage door market as consumers seek innovative and technologically advanced solutions.



The market prospects have been driven by factors such as the increasing focus on energy efficiency, which has become a significant consideration for consumers, leading to the demand for garage doors that offer better insulation properties.

To Remain Ahead of Your Competitors, Request for a Sample: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=85619

Energy-efficient garage doors help to reduce heat loss or gain, leading to lower energy consumption for heating or cooling the garage space. The increasing awareness of environmental sustainability and the potential for energy cost savings are key factors driving the adoption of energy-efficient garage doors.

Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue USD 18.0 Bn Estimated Value USD 27.6 Bn Growth Rate - CAGR 5.0% Forecast Period 2023 - 2031 No. of Pages 170 Pages Market Segmentation Type, Category, Material, End-use, Distribution Channel Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Latin America Key Players Frontier Pacific, Integrity Overhead Doors, Wayne Dalton, Raynor, Safe-Way Door, Martin Door, Windsor Door, Alulux GmbH, First United Door Technologies, General Doors Corporation, Novoferm GmbH, DoorHan Group Of Companies, Other Key Players

Key Findings of the Market Report

By type, sectional doors are likely to be most preferred, attributed to the increasing demand for smart garage solutions, as well as the benefits it offers such as enhanced security, ease of operation, versatility and customization, thermal insulation, and durability and longevity.



By category, automatic doors are anticipated to hold the major share, owing to their convenience and ease of use, safety and security, technological advancements, and energy efficiency.



By end-use, residential segment is expected to boost the market growth



Global Garage Door Market: Growth Drivers

The global garage door market is projected to expand at a steady pace from 2023 to 2031, owing to the increasing focus on safety and security, rising demand for customization and aesthetics, and increasing awareness of maintenance and repair.



Another factor that is projected to augment the market growth includes the government initiatives and regulations, as well as growth in e-commerce and online sales channels.



Additionally, the rapid urbanization and infrastructure development, and growing awareness of smart home integration, are the major factors that are anticipated to fuel the market prospects in the near future.



Share Your Precise Requirements for Customized Sample: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=85619

Global Garage Door Market: Regional Landscape

North America is expected to dominate the garage door market during the forecast period, attributed to increasing residential construction, renovation and replacement needs, and emphasis on energy efficiency.



The regional market is witnessing an increase, due to the factors such as increasing focus on security, and technological advancements.



Growing home improvement and renovation market, and favorable economic conditions in the region, are also anticipated to escalate the growth of the regional market over the analysis period.



Global Garage Door Market: Key Players

Some of the key market players in the global garage door market are:

Frontier Pacific

Integrity Overhead Doors

Wayne Dalton

Raynor

Safe-Way Door

Martin Door

Windsor Door

Alulux GmbH

First United Door Technologies

General Doors Corporation

Novoferm GmbH

DoorHan Group Of Companies

Other Key Players



Competitive Landscape

Prominent players in the garage door industry are taking advantage of the rapidly increasing demand for garage door. To further their outreach, players are relying on collaborations, partnerships and acquisitions with existing small, medium and large-scale providers. Some prominent market developments are as follows:

In 2022, Clopay Corporation introduced a new line of garage doors with enhanced durability and resistance to extreme weather conditions, providing homeowners with added protection and peace of mind.

In 2022 , Amarr Garage Doors launched a smart garage door opener system that integrates with home automation platforms, allowing users to control their garage doors through voice commands and smartphone apps.

In 2022, Overhead Door Corporation unveiled a new series of garage doors with built-in security features, such as biometric fingerprint scanning and advanced encryption technology, ensuring the safety of homeowners and their belongings.

In 2022, Wayne Dalton introduced a revolutionary garage door design that incorporates transparent panels, allowing natural light to enter the garage space and reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Browse the Full Report with Facts and Figures of the Garage Door Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=85619<ype=S

Global Garage Door Market: Segmentation

Type

Overhead Door

Roll-up Door

Fire-rated Door

Sectional Door

Others (High-speed Door, etc.)



Category

Manual

Automatic

Material

Steel

Aluminum

Wood

Vinyl

Others (Composite, etc.)



End-Use

Residential

Commercial Warehouse and Distribution Center Hypermarket and Mall School and College Hotel and Restaurant Auto Dealer and Service Center Hospital and Clinic Office and Commercial Complex Others (Construction Project, Airport, etc.)



Distribution Channel

Direct

Indirect

Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

South America



About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

Contact:



Nikhil Sawlani

Transparency Market Research Inc.

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Google searches related to personal sexual orientation and gender identity have skyrocketed since 2004, according to new research.

The Cultural Currents Institute released an analysis that explored Google searches from 2004 to this month that included searches for questions such as am I gay, am I lesbian, am I trans and how to come out, as well as searches for nonbinary. The new analysis found that searches for these phrases jumped by more than 1,300 percent during that period.

The analysis suggested that states that lean more conservative are the most closeted, with Utah leading the country in searches for am I gay, am I lesbian and am I trans. Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia and New Hampshire followed Utah in searches for am I gay, while Connecticut, Kentucky, Washington and Colorado followed it for searches for am I lesbian.

The regional differences highlighted below are significant, offering a geographical landscape of self-questioning and discovery across America, the analysis reads. Utah, a state with traditionally conservative social values, surprisingly tops three out of five search term categories. This might indicate a significant underlying questioning of identity among its internet users, possibly driven by the conflict between personal feelings and societal expectations.

States that followed Utah for searches in am I trans included Kentucky, Colorado, Michigan and Washington. Oklahoma led the nation with the query how to come out, and was followed by West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Kentucky. Vermont led the country in searching for the term nonbinary.

This analysis comes as many conservative-led states are pursuing legislation targeting member LGBTQ members, especially the youth trans community. A record of 490 bills targeting LGBTQ rights have been introduced just this year in at least 45 states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Fifty-seven of them have already become law.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Imagine one day you wake up and a famous artist has installed a mural on the side of your homeshooting up its value, but also leaving you with many responsibilities you did not anticipate.

That was the reality for one couple in the United Kingdom. Homeowners Garry and Gokean Coutts discovered one morning in August 2021 that Banksy had stenciled a near 20-foot-tall seagull on the side of their residence in Lowestoft, Suffolk. They told The Daily Mail that it has created a living nightmare.

More from Robb Report

Council officials informed them that they needed to spend 40,000 (about $49,500) to maintain the work by the mysterious artist. Then, they discovered they would also have to protect it from burglars.

I have had to hire a night watchman to look after it after someone stole part of it and tried to sell it on Facebook. Another time vandals were caught with a dozen pots of white paint and were apparently going to paint over it, Garry Coutts told the paper.

The artwork was removed in April after the couple hired a firm and council officials approved closing the road for the task, The Daily Mail reported. The company reinforced the wall with 12 layers of resin and five tons of steel before a 40-foot crane removed the work in one piece. The couple hopes to sell the artwork and replace it with some form of replica. The Times reported that the project altogether is likely to cost 200,000 (about $247,000). But the removed wall is likely worth a few million dollars.

At first it was obviously incredible but as things have gone on it has become extremely stressful. Im not sure Banksy realizes the unintended consequences on homeowners. If we could turn back the clock, we would, Coutts said.

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The mural did have a positive local impact. A spokesman for Lowestoft Town Council told the paper: The artwork has been a draw to tourists and a talking point for Lowestoft on the national stage.

Back in 2021 the artist claimed responsibility for the work in a three-minute video titled A Great British Spraycation in which he created artworks in English seaside towns.

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Click here to read the full article.
Police raided a Best Western hotel in search of an employee accused of sex crimes and found him hiding in the attic, authorities in New York said.

The 47-year-old was arrested on May 5 after an exhaustive search of the Best Western hotel in the Town of Owego, state police announced in a May 23 news release.

He was charged with first-degree sex abuse, according to police. It wasnt specified what exactly led to his arrest.

The man, of Owego, is also accused of hundreds of child sex crimes in neighboring Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Hes wanted on 400 counts of sexually related offenses against a child by the Sayre Borough Police Department in Sayre, Pennsylvania, according to the release. Sayre is about 20 miles southwest of Owego.

The man was detained in Tioga County Jail for an arraignment and processing, police said.

State Trooper Aga Dembinska told McClatchy News in a statement on May 23 that he is facing a charge related to sexual contact without consent. She declined to provide further details.

Our utmost priority is to protect the victim and releasing more details could re-victimize the victim, Dembinska said.

McClatchy News also contacted Best Western Hotels & Resorts for comment on May 23 and is awaiting a response.

Owego is about 30 miles southeast of Ithaca.

Stepchildren whipped, waterboarded by stepdad forcing them to sell brownies, feds say

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David Sacks, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, will host Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in an audio chat on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday (24 May) where Mr DeSantis is expected to announce his campaign for 2024 president.

Mr Sacks, 50, is a longtime friend of Mr Musk and supporter of Mr DeSantis.

Though Mr Sacks name is not as prominent as other tech-industry giants, the entrepreneur has a long history of leading and investing in major companies like PayPal, Yammer, Facebook, Airbnb and more.

In more recent years, Mr Sacks has become a major donor to political campaigns for individual Republicans like JD Vance and Mr DeSantis.

What experience does Mr Sacks have?

Mr Sacks  who was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1972 and moved to Tennessee with his family as a child  was the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and head of product for PayPal from 1999 until 2002. He has been dubbed part of the Paypal Mafia, a group of former PayPal employees who went on to have successful tech companies- like Mr Musk.

In 2008, he founded Yammer which became one of the fastest-growing software-as-a-service companies to exist. In 2012, Yammer was acquired by Microsft for $1.2 bn.

Mr Sacks co-founded the venture capital firm Craft Ventures in 2017, where he remains a partner.

David Sacks (Founders Fund / YouTube)

He also has the podcast All-In alongside fellow entrepreneurs Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg.

Last year, Mr Sacks was widely reported to be helping out his longtime friend, Mr Musk, behind-the-scenes when his fellow South African-born friend acquired Twitter.

What does Mr Sacks believe in?

Like Mr Musk, Mr Sacks says he is a proponent of free speech.

In a blog post on Medium in 2021, Mr Sacks criticised big tech social media platforms for permanently banning politicians.

His belief in free-speech was echoed more recently in an interview with conservative personality Benny Johnson.

Mr Sacks accused the media of not allowing anti-vaccine activists and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr to speak freely and questioned critics justification of saying Mr Kennedy was spreading misinformation.

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The entrepreneur also expressed support for Tucker Carlson after he was unexpectedly fired from Fox News.

Tonight Ill be watching Fox News drinking Bud Light. Not.  David Sacks (@DavidSacks) April 24, 2023

Mr Sacks has also been an outspoken critic of US policy towards Ukraine following the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

In a piece for The American Conservative last year, Mr Sacks proposed a peaceful end to the war which included holding referendums on the future of Donbas and Crimea, both of which were illegally occupied by Russian forces in 2014.

On Twitter, Mr Sacks is vocal in criticising the US for its involvement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and has repeatedly clashed with critics of Vladimir Putin, including former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.

PS Putin and his entourage have made abundantly clear that stopping NATO expansion was not their central war aim. Listen to them, not me.  Michael McFaul (@McFaul) May 15, 2023

In October Mr Musk retweeted an article Mr Sacks wrote for Newsweek in which he argued that continued military support for Ukraine could lead to Woke War III. The article itself was a response to the backlash Mr Musk received over a Twitter poll suggesting a peace deal which would strongly favour Russian interests.

Ukraine-Russia Peace:



- Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.



- Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchevs mistake).



- Water supply to Crimea assured.



- Ukraine remains neutral.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022

In his Newsweek article, Mr Sacks wrote: There will be no peaceful resolution to this conflict that America doesnt at least have a hand in negotiating, and we should be leading the effort. Instead, weve been deferring to the Ukrainians and their maximalist demands, upping the sanctions on Russia as Putin ups his rhetoric against the West.

While he has been criticised for his outspoken views despite lacking a foreign policy background, he has argued that his lack of expertise is actually an advantage: Not being a member of the MIC [military industrial complex] is clearly an advantage in understanding the conflict.

What political candidates has Mr Sacks supported?

Since the 1990s, Mr Sacks has supported both Republican and Democratic candidates according to OpenSecrets.

His largest donations have gone toward the PAC supporting GOP Ohio Senator JD Vance, the conservative Purple Good Government PAC, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Republican National Committee.

Over the last two years, Mr Sacks has expressed vocal support for Mr DeSantis on Fox News and Twitter as well as donated to his political campaign.
We all know Mothers Day is every day for the superwomen in our lives  from moms and grandmothers to aunts and not-so-fairy godmothers.

But if you want to to do something special for the specular women in your life on the holiday, many Delaware restaurants are raising a toast to maternal figures up and down the state.

Check out these Mothers Day celebrations that offer boozy brunches, lavish dinners and breakfast buffets on Sunday, May 14.

Le Cavalier, Wilmington

This red wine-braised cut of veal shoulder is available at Le Cavalier in Wilmington.

Hotel du Ponts Le Cavalier is hosting its much-loved Mothers Day Brunch again this year.

The dining event features a four-course, prix-fixe menu that highlights brunch staples and seasonal delights.

Menu sneak peeks include brioche french toast with cinnamon whipped cream, skate wing amandine with brown butter and sauteed greens, Provencal-style omelets and smoked salmon benedict with chives and creme fraiche.

To end the meal, madeleines, sorbet and chocolate tarts will be served.

Reservations are $75 per adult and $25 per child under 10 years old. Seatings are available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Resy.

42 W. 11th St., Wilmington, (302) 594-3154; www.lecavalierde.com

The Hilton Wilmington/Christiana, Christiana

The Hilton Wilmington/Christiana will have bananas foster cheesecake stuffed French toast available at their Easter brunch on April 9, 2023.

The Christiana Hilton is hosting a Mothers Day brunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the holiday.

Featured dishes include bananas foster cheesecake-stuffed French toast, honey-citrus salmon with berry quinoa, grilled marinated filet medallions, carving stations, cinnamon-sugar beignets and more.

Kid-friendly fare also will be provided.

The brunch is $75 for adults and children 12 years old and above, and $29.95 for children ages four to 11. Kids three years old and under eat for free.

To make a reservation, call (302) 631-1542.

100 Continental Drive, Christiana,(302) 454-1500; www.hiltonchristiana.com

Tonic Seafood & Steak, Wilmington

Tonic Seafood & Steak features plenty of tasty eats sure to satisfy your taste buds.

On Mothers Day, Tonic Seafood & Steak in Wilmington is hosting a celebratory brunch and dinner.

Brunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., serving an a la carte menu filled with brunch staples. Dinner will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. and features the restaurants regular dinner menu.

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Visit tonicsns.com/mothersday23 to make your reservation.

111 W. 11th St., Wilmington,(302) 777-2040; www.tonicsns.com

Blue Moon, Rehoboth Beach

This crab benedict can be found at Blue Moon in Rehoboth Beach.

Looking for live music to wow Mom while you dine? Blue Moon in Rehoboth has just what you need.

The restaurant is hosting a Mothers Day brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.

Brunch will feature an a la carte menu as well as Blue Moons signature $6 mimosas and Bloody Marys. Along with your midday meal, you can enjoy tunes from jazz guitarist Carey Smith in the Atrium.

The brunch cost is $32 per person and $12 for children. This includes coffee, tea, soda and scones.

Dinner features a $25 filet mignon with a side item and $25 bottles of wine from Blue Moons award-winning list.

Keeping the music flowing from brunch, Roxy Overbrooke Cabaret will be taking over the mic in the Atrium at 8 p.m.

35 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach, (302) 227-6515; www.bluemoonrehoboth.com

Abbotts Grill, Laurel

Abbott's Grill is hosting its annual Mother's Day buffet again this year.

Abbotts Grill is back with its annual Mothers Day buffet this year.

The buffet will run from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and features dishes like oysters, eggplant Parmesan, crab crepes, flounder Florentine, roast beef and an array of sides, salads, breads and desserts.

The buffet is $38 for adults and $14 for children under 10 years old. Call to make a reservation.

111 Delaware Ave., Laurel, (302) 280-6172; abbottsgrill.com

Park Cafe, Wilmington

Park Cafe in WIimington is home to this tasty French toast with blueberries.

Park Cafe in Wilmington is hosting a Mothers Day brunch buffet on May 14.

The dining event will feature a live omelet station and a carving station.

The cost is $48 per person and $18 for children 10 years old and below. Seatings are available at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.

To make your reservation, visit parkcafede.com/mothersday23/.

2510 W. Fifth St., Wilmington, (302) 543-2233; www.parkcafede.com

Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware restaurants offer brunch, lunch, dinner for Mother's Day
Flickinger Center for Performing Arts in Alamogordo, New Mexico

Filmmaker Larry Sheffield and the Flickinger Center presented two documentaries, "Alamogordo, Center of the World, 1945," shown on Friday, April 21 and" Oppenheimer After Trinity," that will be shown Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m.

The films dive into the events before and during the Manhattan Project.

Sheffield created a trilogy of documentaries that cover the "past, present and future" of The Manhattan Project. Two of the documentaries were released while the third film is still in the works. The third film will cover the 'future' aspect of the Manhattan Project.

Sheffield presented "Alamogordo, Center of the World, Trinity 1945" for the films bi-annual presentation at the Flickinger Center on Friday, April 21. According to Sheffield, the first documentary is what started the idea for the trilogy project in 2019.

The Manhattan Project was a WWII government research and development project that resulted in the first nuclear weapons testing and use.

The U.S. conducted its first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Site in southeast New Mexico as part of the project.

Larry Sheffield

According to Brittanica, after the nuclear bomb dropped at the Trinity site in Alamogordo, it was followed by a mushroom cloud that stretched 40,000 feet. The bomb created a power that was equal to nearly 20,000 tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT).

Although the area was remote and sparsely populated, the people that did live there and those who continue to are still affected.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium is a nonprofit that still feel the impacts to this day within decades of family lines.

"I have tried very hard to talk about our group in New Mexico who has not had their day in court, so to speak, and bring the folks from Nevada to help collaborate with the New Mexico Downwinders consortium to bring an avenue for people focusing on what happened," Sheffield said.

"When we presented the film in Las Vegas, Nevada, we had an entire room filled with retired atomic workers, and after the bomb left New Mexico, Nevada is where the next decade of nuclear testing happened, those folks spoke about how they were proactive on getting government assistance from injuries they sustained in their employment during this particular endeavor."

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The Flickinger Center for Performing Arts presents Center of the World, Trinity 1945 by Larry Sheffield

More: Tularosa Basin Downwinders honor those affected by Trinity Site nuke tests in New Mexico

Sheffield said the second film, "Oppenheimer after Trinity" won four film festival awards.

The film was a winner at the Indie Short Fest, in Los Angeles, California, for Best Documentary Short, as well as a winner for "Best Producer," Platinum award at the Independent Short awards in Los Angeles, California. It also won "Outstanding Achievement" at the Royal Society of Television and Motion Picture, in West Bengal, India.

Poster for "Oppenheimer after Trinity"

"We started out doing the first film with an intention to show the relationship between Alamogordo and the Trinity Site where the first atomic explosion happened," Sheffield said. "First film is great, but we found many stories that continued to unravel so we thought we could do it in a second film, but we had so much content and this is such a complex subject, that we decided to make a trilogy."

With much content covered according to Sheffield, a few of the community members like, Mary Martinez, were curious why there may not have been context on Downwinders in "Center of the World" and hope that there will be in the following two films.

Martinez is also a member and founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and had been looking forward to this trilogy.

"The first film, I know is part of a trilogy but this first film said nothing at all about people who have been aversely affected, so it saddened me that, that was the case. I have not seen the second one so I don't know if that will still be the case." Martinez said.

Martinez said she had the opportunity to speak to Sheffield and was told that in the future documentaries there will be more discussed about those affected. She said she "eagerly" awaits the next two films.

Sheffield said the goal is to get the trilogy on streaming platforms.

"I don't want to say they'll be on Netflix because we haven't spoken to any one from Netflix but there are great streaming platforms that love documentaries so if all else fails, we are definitely going to have them on Amazon Prime," Sheffield said.

The second documentary Oppenheimer after Trinity will premiere at 7 p.m., May 19 at the Flickinger Center. Sheffield said the second film focused on the events before, during and after the Trinity explosion.

"We talk a whole lot about Alamogordo in the second documentary and there is some footage that no one has found that we put in the second film," Sheffield said.

The third part of the trilogy speaks about bringing German scientists to the U.S., Operation Paperclip, and testing V2 rockets at the same bombing range as the previous films, which is now White Sands Missile Range.

"We are about 50 percent finished with the third film, and once it's past that percentage, we just keep tweaking it, so I am hoping for us to have it out by September 1 of this year," Sheffield said. "I want my films to reflect the historic and accurate events that happened. My films are just the facts. It fills the actual story itself."

Although the first film covered the facts and background of the Manhattan Project, Martinez still hopes that Sheffield will reach out further to Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and dig into what the organization is all about.

"My hope is that Sheffield will delve a little more into our group. We, as a nation are not recognizing the negative affects that happened, if we don't recognize that we are bound to repeat it all again," Martinez said.

Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on twitter at @Juan36Corr.

This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Documentaries explore history of Manhattan Project in New Mexico
Dave Miller, the farmer who opened his land to the author as a boy 30 years ago, pose with his first turkey from the land where he saw wild turkeys for the first time in the late 1990s.

The first place I ever saw a wild turkey was on a farm in Newton County, Indiana. I was sitting in my treestand, bow in hand, waiting on a deer to make its way in my direction. When I heard leaves crunching under footsteps, I thought the biggest buck in the woods was walking right to me.

Then, magically, the buck turned into a flock of turkeys. I nearly fell out of the tree. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. It was like a dinosaur had walked down the trail.

From that first sighting, a lifelong passion was born. Turkey hunting is at the top of my list for outdoor pursuits. Ive been incredibly fortunate to have completed World Slam of turkey hunting, which consists of taking at least one each of six different sub-species of wild turkey  Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriams, Osceola, Goulds, and Ocellated. Ive taken turkeys in 11 states and multiple in Mexico. But this past week, I took a turkey that means as much to me as any Ive ever taken before.

I was 14 years old when I took my first deer on the same Newton County farm where I saw those turkeys. That was 30 years ago, as Im now 44. Its strange to think about a 30-year block of time, but somehow three decades have slipped away. Those years have been full of living, and I dont look back with many regrets, but one is not spending enough time hunting back home where my roots are firmly entrenched.

When Indianas turkey season opened on April 26, I found myself for the first time in over 25 years back on the same Newton County farm where I saw those birds so many years ago. I had never returned to hunt turkeys there. But, this year, thanks to a gracious invitation from the farmer to come back and hunt for a gobbler, I was able to close the full circle from seeing my first turkey to hunting one in the same woodlot 30 years later. It was a nostalgic homecoming.

Opening morning was calm but cold. As the sun began to rise, I was situated in the middle of a 40-acre woodlot with my three-decoy set spread out in a beautiful opening. With each passing minute, I was sure a gobbler was going to sound off in the next few seconds, pitch down off a limb and start strutting towards me. It never happened. I finally gave up a went looking for a bird.

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Most of the northern Indiana landscape is highly segmented. Meaning, tracts of land are typically small with woodlots, usually running between 5 to 20 acres, dotting the enormous expanses of agriculture fields. This farm is different. I had about 600-acres to roam. So, when I finally made it to a finger woods jutting out into an open ag field, I had walked just under three miles. I needed to drink a little water and respond to some work emails on my phone.

I eased back into the woods about 20 yards and found a fallen over tree to sit on. I took off my face mask and gloves, laid my shotgun on my left side and pulled out my phone. At this point, I still hadnt heard a gobble and it was now 8:30 in the morning, two hours after legal shooting light. Before temporarily diving into my work obligations, I struck my box call. There was no response, so I laid my call down next to gun and started scrolling.

With my eyes fixed on the screen in front of me, I didnt see the gobbler sneaking in. My senses exploded when I heard the unmistakable spit and drum of a mature gobbler. Sometimes, and this was one of those times, when a gobbler drums close enough to you, you can feel the vibrations. This old boy had slipped in to about 15 yards without making a peep, and I couldnt have been situated any worse. I was sitting exposed on a log with no facemask or gloves and my gun was on the wrong side. All I could do was freeze.

For five minutes I didnt dare blink. I tried to breathe only every 30 seconds or so. I was sure hed be gone in an instant. But with his head up like a periscope moving side to side in search of his lady love, he looked past me more times than I can count. When he finally looked over his shoulder to the right opposite my direction and made just the slightest movement to turn and head that way, I grabbed my gun with my left hand and in one fluid motion brought it to my right shoulder where my trigger finger swiftly found its mark. I fired. The bird never moved after the shot. There was flop in this game. It was over.

It took a moment to sink in. In all honesty, my eyes welled up a little bit with tears. So much life has happened in between seeing my first wild turkeys on this very farm and killing one of their descendants so many years later. So much change. So much loss. But through all the ups and downs, my love of wildlife and the pursuit of fish and game has never waned. My commitment to conservation has grown to levels I never expected, and this farm is where much of that loved was first developed. Ill be forever grateful to the landowner for sharing his special piece of Heaven with me and allowing a young boy to explore the natural world. His generosity helped mold my life. Think about that the next time a young person wants to hunt your land. Whats more valuable. One more for yourself, or potentially lighting a fire in a boy or girl who could go on to serve conservation for 50 years.

For those of you who read last weeks column about the special turkey vest I wore and shells I used on Missouris opening day, I am happy to say I did it again. I am two for two on opening mornings this year wearing the mans vest and shooting his shells. The hunting Gods have smiled bright on me this season, and I believe its partly because Im carrying his energy with me. If you missed the column, its available on my website, driftwoodoutdoors.com.

As another turkey season begins to wind down, I am left thankful for the people, places and wildlife I have encountered. Time in nature cleanses the soul, and this turkey season has been special, one Ill never forget. I hope you have made good use of this beautiful month of April we were gifted and lasting memories in the great outdoors.

See you down the trail

For more Driftwood Outdoors, check out the podcast on www.driftwoodoutdoors.com or anywhere podcasts are streamed.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Driftwood Outdoors: Homecoming turkey hunt completes full circle
Learn what makes Kewpie mayo the G.O.A.T. and how to make a DIY version

The Spruce Eats / Sabrina Tan

Mayonnaise is one of those love-it-or-hate-it condiments. When I was younger I absolutely hated mayo except for some reason in macaroni salad; but something changed in the last decade for me and now I cant get enough of it. Give me all the egg, crab, and macaroni salads; slather copious amounts on my sandwiches, and ladle all the aioli over my paella. If you are a mayo lover and have yet to try Kewpie, you are in for a real treat.

What is Kewpie Mayo?

Kewpie is a Japanese brand of mayo. The main difference between Kewpie and American mayo is that Kewpie uses only egg yolks, while American mayo uses whole eggs. Another difference is that Kewpie mayo uses rice or apple cider vinegar rather than white distilled vinegar. This yields a richer and creamier product that tastes like egg salad in custard form, much rounder and fattier on the palate with a silky smooth finish. Kewpie mayo made in Japan also contains MSG, while American-produced Kewpie uses yeast extract instead.

Okonomiyaki (Osaka-Style Japanese Pancakes) Recipe

How To Use Kewpie Mayo

Kewpie can be used in a variety of applications. Basically anything that calls for regular mayo, I would encourage you to try subbing with Kewpie or doing a half-half combo. I love using it to make egg salad and deviled eggs; and if you have access to fresh sushi grade fish, you can chop it up and mix it with some Kewpie and Sriracha for a basic spicy tuna or salmon.

Where To Buy Kewpie Mayo

Kewpie is available in most Asian supermarkets or your favorite online marketplace. It comes in a very generic squeezy bottle shaped like a flat bowling pin encased inside crispy plastic with its signature red cross hatching, baby doll graphic, and logo.











How To Make Your Own Kewpie Mayo

Cant find Kewpie mayo? Heres an easy hack for tweaking regular mayo to get a similar product.





2 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon MSG, optional

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper





Bring a small pot with about 2 inches of water to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Place the egg yolks, sugar, and MSG, if using, into a small heatproof mixing bowl over the pot and whisk continuously to gently cook out any bacteria until slightly thickened and a thermometer registers 160 F. Its such a small amount, it literally took me 30 seconds, so dont blink. Remove the bowl off the double boiler and whisk in the mayo, vinegar, mustard, and white pepper to combine.

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If you dont feel like taking the extra step with the egg yolks, you can just whisk everything else together but trust me the added yolks are worth it.










For this Texan, Cajun boudin is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Shutterstock

I grew up thinking that people everywhere ate boudin on a monthly basis, and was shaken to my core when I moved to New York and learned Id have to pay $40 in overnight shipping if I wanted to cook my favorite Cajun dish. In my hometown of Beaumont, Texas, and throughout Southeast Texas and Louisiana, boudin is as common as I imagine acai bowls to be in Los Angeles. If I went to a cookout, odds are that I had my choice of hamburger, hot dog, or boudin. The word boudin means sausage in a few languages, but the only boudin Im concerned with is a Cajun specialty, a sausage (though the term does not do it justice) filled with pork, rice, and regionally variable seasonings like peppers, celery, onions, and fiery spice blends. While it might sound somewhat standard, this humble food has a perfectly crisp-tender texture and flavor-packed interior that rivals the best smoked links Ive ever had. It should be on your grill this summer.

Related: 10 Gas Station Foods Across the Country That Are Worth the Detour

This pork-rice-sausage combo owes its existence to the French. When the Acadians (an ethnic French group) migrated to Louisiana from Canada in the late 18th century  settling in the area that is today appropriately called Acadiana  they brought boudin blanc and boudin noir, two classic French sausages that are drastically different from the boudin Im talking about here. A confluence of poverty, resourcefulness, and a developing rice industry led the Acadians and their Cajun descendants to add every scrap of usable pork along with filling, affordable rice into their sausage casings, creating their own distinct rendition of boudin over time.

The exact ingredients in a link of boudin can vary slightly, depending on the family recipe, brand of choice, or personal preference. Most traditionally, it has both ground pork shoulder and pork liver, but many people forgo the liver today (although I personally recommend it). Some boudin recipes call for just green onions, and some call for the entire holy trinity of green bell pepper, onions, and celery. Garlic is pretty much always included, and recipes will usually call for a few spices commonly used in Cajun cooking, like cayenne, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, and more.

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Related: Don't Mess With Texas Caviar

Back home, most people buy boudin thats already made and simply grill it themselves. You can find it at just about any grocery store or meat market in Louisiana and Southeast Texas, and its occasionally sold at gas stations too. Some home cooks  especially those more steeped in Cajun culture, like people living in Acadiana  will make their own boudin from scratch, but most consumers simply have a favorite brand. If youre not near Cajun country, there are lots of specialty grocers that ship boudin nationwide. Im partial to ordering from Market Basket Smokehouse because it originated in my hometown, but its easy to find Cajun food products online.

Photo by Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Ali Ramee / Prop Styling by Christina Brockman

Related: Fried Boudin Balls with Creole Mustard Dipping Sauce

You can also buy more extreme variations, like crawfish or jalapeno cheddar boudin. And of course I cant neglect to mention the beloved appetizer of Southeast Texas and Louisiana  present at many a wedding on passed plates, as well as served up on plastic checkered tablecloths in strip malls  boudin balls. In my opinion, these crispy fried rice balls give arancini a run for their money. Rather than being piped into a casing, the boudin filling is rolled in bread crumbs, and deep fried. Boudin balls are crispy, rich, and delicious on their own, but theyre even better when served with a tangy dipping sauce like remoulade, a cold, creamy condiment with chopped pickles and spices such as cayenne and paprika mixed in.

The beauty of boudin lies in two things: the flavor and the feel. Juicy pork and mild, fluffy grains of Louisiana rice soak up the savory notes of onions, peppers, paprika, garlic powder, and the other aromatics or seasonings that have been mixed in. Some boudin is smoked, which adds an extra layer of complexity and depth to the experience. When you grill a link, the casing becomes browned and crisp, contrasting with the fall-apart-tender interior. Rice is crucial to achieving this textural feat, adding little morsels of soft starchiness throughout.

Related: A Refuge In Acadia

My favorite way to eat boudin is wrapped in a tortilla, but theres no wrong way to consume it: in a bun, with a knife and fork, or with your bare hands because you simply cannot wait are all acceptable. One Memorial Day Weekend after a few too many canned seltzers on the beach, I discovered that I could dunk my tortilla-wrapped boudin in queso, which I still believe to be the pinnacle of innovation. However you want to boudin, you do you and as long as you are in fact enjoying some boudin, Ill be happy.

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Read the original article on Food & Wine.
Nancy Jo Adams



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Dedicated outerwear for hunting specific game is usually an optional luxury. However, since turkey hunting involves such specialized gear and a particular style of hunting, turkey vests have become de rigueur for most serious turkey hunters. You can use backpacks or slings, but the relatively low cost of a turkey vest makes it a no-brainer if you turkey hunt a lot since a vest provides tailored features that make your hunts more comfortable and efficient.

One unique aspect of turkey hunting is that it usually involves long sits on cold ground. As a result, most vests incorporate some kind of padded seat which often detaches to streamline things if you wont be using it. Technical pockets in front keep your calls, strikers, and extra shells front and center to minimize your movements to maintain concealment and increase your odds of bagging a bird.

Best Turkey Vests

What to Consider When Choosing a Turkey Vest

How technical does it need to be?

A lightweight and minimalist turkey vest is ideal for run-and-gun hunters who want to be more mobile in the field, while a more technical vest with larger pockets and a thicker, padded seat is better for hunters who plan to sit for hours on end.

For those who have a long hike out after a successful day of hunting, an extra-large game pouch or harvest strap comes in handy for hauling out a 20-plus pound bird with a 16-inch tail and sharp spurs on its legs. If you plan to spot and stalk, or if you hunt in western states where you may be traversing vast expanses of land, make sure your vest/pack combo isnt so heavy that it becomes a burden.

How much storage do you need?

Depending on what you carry with you, you may want larger or fewer pockets. To prevent calls, strikers, shells, and other items from falling out when belly crawling or maneuvering through brambles and briars, look for pockets with a magnetic or zipper closure. If you use a box call, get a vest with a box call pouch. Hunters who spend a long time in the field may want to look for a vest with pockets big enough for a water bottle, decoy, insect repeller, and food.

Story continues

Hunting Season Essentials: Best Turkey Calls for Luring a Tom  Rangefinders for Every Hunter  Hunting Jackets for Men and Women  Hunting Pants We Love

How should a turkey vest fit?

A turkey vest should fit close to the body and snug at the midsection. If its too large, it can hang loose and catch branches, vines, and limbs, and even hinder shooting. It may also cause excess noise when youre traversing the woods, especially if youre moving quickly to head off a bird at the pass. Keep in mind that most products listed as one size fits most can have their limitations, and every product fit varies. Check the manufacturers size chart.

Do I need a vest with an incorporated seat?

With the popularity of turkey stools, chairs, and loungers, many turkey hunters no longer use the attached padded seat on turkey vests. Most, if not all, turkey vests include detachable padded seats. If you plan to use a vest with an incorporated seat, look for one with ample room to comfortably sit on the ground for long periods of time. Also look for a multilayer cushion with a water-resistant bottom to keep dew and wet ground from soaking through and ruining your day.

Choose the right pattern for your area

If you are hunting in southern states, for example, where pines are abundant and the woods are already green in early spring, you will want to choose patterns that include a variety of green. Some brands use Gore Optifade Concealment, a camo technology designed to fool the eyes of wild game (rather than from the perspective of the hunter) and that can be used in various terrain.

How We Evaluated These Turkey Vests

I'm a Colorado-based hunter of deer, elk, pronghorn waterfowl, and moose in the Rocky Mountains. I've been hunting since I was a teen, so I've had experience with what apparel and gear works and what doesn't.



Each Spring and Fall I try to take my limit (of one!) of Merriam's turkeys in the Rockies. I also hunt back home in Upstate New Yorks Eastern hardwood forests, so I understand the challenges of chasing turkey in several different regions, seasons, and for different types of hunters.

For this article update, I counted on not only my familiarity with the top brands and types of vests that work best, but also relied on the research and testing previously done by writer and expert Nancy Jo Adams, the original author of this article.

Nancy Jo Adams is an avid turkey hunter. Her reviews have appeared in numerous print and digital outlets, including Hunting Life Magazine and Southern Outdoors Magazine. Over the last 15 years, she has hunted turkey in more than a dozen states in various conditions on different terrain, from the sweltering sandy flatlands of Florida to the snowy mountains of Montana.

Nancy owns most of the turkey vests included in this roundup, and one of her all-time favorites, the Tenzing TR18 Turkey Vest, is no longer available. However, knowing what she loved about that vest helped guide the recommendations made here.

A turkey vest is going to be personal to each hunters needs, wants, and budget. With our combined efforts, evaluation, and experience, this article will help you to determine which options below best meet your needs. and which turkey vests are worth your investment.

Photos courtesy of Nancy Jo Adams // The Sitka Gear Equinox has a convenient fowl slip noose for carrying out a bird without having to shove it into a gear bag.

Equinox Turkey Vest

Sitka Gear is well-known for its technical hunting gear, and it doesn't disappoint with its newest release, the Equinox Turkey Vest. This high-quality vests one-size-fits-most sizing can accommodate XS through XXL hunters thanks to a slide shoulder system that allows for a formfitting torso adjustment.

It's a game-changing feature if you often have a hard time finding vests that arent too long in the torso or aren't adjustable beyond what the shoulder straps allow.

Instead of a rear game bag, the Equinox employs that backpack space for more storage and includes a fowl slip noose on the shoulder strap to carry harvested game. Its dual-density foam seat isnt as bulky as traditional foam, making it less cumbersome while walking yet still comfortable for sitting.

The magnetic closure on the water-resistant clamshell pocket will make it easy to get to your pot and mouth calls, while an additional elastic hook and loop closure adds extra security. This high-quality vest has plenty of pockets for keeping gear organized for a full day in the field, including interior mesh pockets, an exterior box call pocket, one for a striker, and one for accessories.

Theres also a water bladder pocket with stem flap that makes it easy to stay hydrated while on the hunt.

Shop Now Equinox Turkey Vest $249.00 sitkagear.com

Grand Slam Turkey Vest

The Grand Slam includes a removable and adjustable kickstand-style frame that lets you lounge even when theres nothing to lean against. A fold-away memory foam seat and detachable shoulder straps let you sit in comfort, and the vests heavy fabric is durable enough for just about any hunting condition.

There are numerous secured pockets, including a smartphone sleeve that lets you use the phone without removing it, and places for mouth and box calls. Interior mesh pockets are convenient for seeing whats inside without having to dig around every pocket to locate something. The vest holds two water bottles but is also hydration-bladder compatible.

Shop Now Grand Slam Turkey Vest $139.99 amazon.com

Will Primos Signature Series Turkey Vest

This turkey vest incorporates the design ideas of one of the best-known turkey hunters in the industry. The Will Primos Signature Series features a pocket for everything related to turkey hunting, including dedicated spots for clippers or a folding hand saw, a Thermacell, and pot calls.

It also has a box call pocket with a built-in chalk pocket and tension strap to keep the call quiet, as well as interior mesh pockets that make finding things easier. The vest has adjustable shoulder straps and dual front buckles and is available in five sizes, from M to 3XL.

Shop Now Will Primos Signature Series Turkey Vest $153.38 amazon.com

Run-N-Gun 200-Turkey Vest Frame

The 1.5-pound, minimalist Run-N-Gun may look like it doesnt have much to offer, but this turkey vest packs in all the necessary features you need for a turkey hunt.

Its 10-point adjustment system lets you fine-tune the fit no matter your size, and its 198-cubic-inch backpack provides storage beyond the dedicated mouth, pot, and box call pockets, striker slots, and zippered pouches.

Theres even room for a hydration bladder. The six-layer cushion flips up and cinches out of the way and can be removed when not in use.

Shop Now Run-N-Gun 200-Turkey Vest Frame $72.86 amazon.com

Upland Turkey Hunting Vest

This waterproof turkey vest is perfect for those who are organized and particular. Its streamlined design for hunters who carry only what they needhas dedicated pockets for mouth calls, box calls, pot calls, and strikers.

The expandable harvest bag has a built-in pocket for a hydration bladder that can be fastened out of the way when not in use. The vest falls right at the waist, and the detachable five-layer foam seat flips up and securely out of the way at the small of the back for a no-bulk design.

Shop Now Upland Turkey Hunting Vest $229.66 amazon.com

NWTF Pursuit Convertible Turkey Vest

The NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation) Pursuit is unique in that it can be worn as a vest with all the necessary features you need for a turkey hunt or as a fanny pack that doesnt make you sacrifice the most essential features.

Four clips release the top (the vest) from the bottom (the fanny pack). If you choose to use the Pursuit as a fanny pack, the only features youll have to sacrifice are the shell loops, mouth call pouches, and phone/rangefinder pocket on the shoulder strap, and the hydration bladder pocket and roll-top game bag on the backpack portion.

Youll still have the large main compartment of the fanny pack, the dedicated box and slate call pockets, a place for a water bottle and Thermacell, and the detachable high-density foam seat.

Shop Now NWTF Pursuit Convertible Turkey Vest $75.00 dickssportinggoods.com

TZ TV18

For hunters with back issues or anyone that wants added comfort for long sits in the woods, the Tenzin TV18 uses a spring-loaded leg system to create a sort of lean-to back rest.

There is also a layered foam seat that folds out to keep your bottom cushioned and insulated against the cold ground. Beyond the seating system, there are 11 compartments in total for turkey calls and gear plus a game pouch and hand warmer pockets.

Because the aluminum frame and legs add quite a bit of weight (total of 3 pounds), this isnt a great fit if you have long slogs into your turkey hunting zone, but its a great option for shorter hikes that lead to long sits.

Shop Now TZ TV18 $129.99 tenzingoutdoors.com

Outdoors Deluxe Turkey Hunting Vest

Maybe you're not sure yet if you want to invest in a dedicated turkey hunting vest. If you fall in this category, the low cost of the Deluxe Turkey Hunting Vest from Academy Outdoors house brand, Magellan, makes it easy to give one a shot. While its a cheaper option, you still get all the essentials from padded seat cushion to dedicated pockets for calls.

The front of the vest is essentially two oversized zippered pockets with internal slots for calls. This helps protect your turkey gear, but its not as quick or quiet to access since the outer pockets are zippered.

The rear pouch provides extra storage, or can be used as a hydration bladder holder or game pouch if left open. The seat cushion is thick and comfortable for long sits, but sticks out and can be bulky if walking in tight brush.

While its not the lightest vest on the market, the ample open mesh on the front of the shoulder straps helps make it more breathable.

Shop Now Outdoors Deluxe Turkey Hunting Vest $55.00 academy.com

Ol Tom Time & Motion Turkey Vest

Drake is a big name in the waterfowl hunting space, but their Ol Tom turkey gear takes the same quarry-specific specialization and brings it to turkey gear.

The Time & Motion vest stands out for its simple, streamlined design that minimizes bulk and focuses on giving you what you need front and center. Your climate and the vagaries of spring weather can mean anything from snow to summer-like temperatures.

If you struggle with vests that leave you sweating in your favorite spot, the Time & Motion vest is worth a look for its streamlined build and lighter fabric. And you can always use layers underneath for when its chilly.

Despite being fairly minimalist, this vest still offers all the essentials, including a quick-deploy Magnattach seat cushion that pairs with a T-Beam backpad structure for an anywhere seat. Slates, strikers, and even mouth calls all have dedicated, easy-access sleeves and tethers and theres even a dedicated flashlight pocket if thats part of your kit.

This vest lacks some of the oversized storage of larger vests, but there are still zippered inner mesh pockets for miscellany.

Shop Now Ol Tom Time & Motion Turkey Vest $130.00 amazon.com

Our Experts Nancy Jo Adams and Justin Park on What Makes a Great Turkey Vestand What Doesnt

PM: What features are most important to you in a turkey vest?

N.J.A.: I am a big proponent of a place for everything and everything in its place. I want to be able to find things predawn with little effort and without a light source. So my first requirement in any vest is that it has a variety of pockets, including one thats large enough to store my Thermacell (without one, it ends up floating around in the large game pocket, where I have to dig around to find it).

Secondly, I want my pockets to be secure so I dont lose things when Im crawling on my hands and knees or belly crawling to cut off a bird. I also prefer pockets with zippers and double magnets, as Velcro closures are too noisy in the woods.

PM: Any other features to look for?

J.P.: Brands have gotten pretty ingenious with what they've built into their vests, and features range from must-have to nice-to-have to superfluous. Many vests incorporate some kind of hydration system compatibility.

Having easy access to your water without having to reach for a stashed water bottle helps minimize movement, so you may want to look for a vest thats compatible with a hydration bladder rather than a simple water bottle holster.

Some vests, like the Alps OutdoorZ model offer more structure than just a pad so you dont have to lean against a tree for back support, allowing you to find more diverse setup spots for your sit. Many hunters already own a binocular harness or holster, but some vests come with one integrated into the vest, which helps minimize the number of straps and buckles around your shoulders and chest.



PM: Worst turkey vest fail?

N.J.A.: In the spring of 2009, during an afternoon hunt in Clay Center, Kansas, I learned the importance of having a quality turkey vest with well-designed and practical features. We saw a rafter (aka a group) of turkeys at the end of a hayfield. It was a reasonable distance away, so we had to crawl on all fours in tall grass to shield us at the edge of the field.

When we finally got within reach of the birds and set up, I found that all my spare shotgun shells, my ratchet clippers, and a few calls were no longer in my vest.

The vest I was wearing used a single center coin magnet on the sizable loose cargo pocket flaps, and as I was crawling and sneaking through the weeds, items dropped out of my pockets. Fortunately, I had three shells in my shotgun. But this was a good reminder why quality and design are crucial when shopping for a turkey vest.

PM: What are some unique things you carry with you on a hunt that other hunters might not think of?

N.J.A.: I pack a crumpled brown or black plastic bag in a pocket and use it to mimic the sound of a turkey scratching the ground when feeding in the fallen leaves and underbrush. It makes the ideal call for bringing curious toms closer in search of a feeding hen and when you dont want to get busted using a call.

I also pack a quart-sized Ziplock bag and a rubber band to secure the toms bloody head and neck when carrying it out and to protect my pants and game pouch from getting messy.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Jo Adams // The magnetic clamshell-style pocket on the Sitka Gear Equinox provides easy access to mouth and pot calls.

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We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?

So, the natural question for VCPlus (Catalist:43E) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

Check out our latest analysis for VCPlus

How Long Is VCPlus' Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. As at December 2022, VCPlus had cash of S$2.3m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was S$1.6m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of approximately 17 months from December 2022. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Is VCPlus' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Whilst it's great to see that VCPlus has already begun generating revenue from operations, last year it only produced S$828k, so we don't think it is generating significant revenue, at this point. As a result, we think it's a bit early to focus on the revenue growth, so we'll limit ourselves to looking at how the cash burn is changing over time. Even though it doesn't get us excited, the 28% reduction in cash burn year on year does suggest the company can continue operating for quite some time. VCPlus 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 VCPlus Raise Cash?

While VCPlus is showing a solid reduction in its cash burn, it's still worth considering how easily it could raise more cash, even just to fuel faster growth. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

VCPlus has a market capitalisation of S$28m and burnt through S$1.6m last year, which is 5.7% of the company's 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.

So, Should We Worry About VCPlus' Cash Burn?

The good news is that in our view VCPlus' cash burn situation gives shareholders real reason for optimism. Not only was its cash burn reduction quite good, but its cash burn relative to its market cap was a real positive. Cash burning companies are always on the riskier side of things, but after considering all of the factors discussed in this short piece, we're not too worried about its rate of cash burn. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for VCPlus you should be aware of, and 2 of them are concerning.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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[Source]

A 20-year-old student in the Philippines recently made headlines after claiming on social media that he had been accepted into 30 different universities in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Julian Martir, the son of a tricycle (public transportation in the Philippines) driver and vendor, initially earned praise for claiming that he was able to obtain scholarship grants totaling approximately 106 million Philippine pesos (approximately $1.9 million).

Martir's announcement garnered significant attention, with news outlets and online platforms sharing his story.

However, doubts began to emerge when Martir faced scrutiny during a recent news interview in which he appeared to struggle in providing clear explanations for his chosen academic path.

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His alma mater, Negros Occidental High School (NOHS), also released a statement noting that they are still trying to verify Martir's claims due to a lack of "first-hand information.

Martir was subsequently subjected to criticism on social media, with some online users resorting to online bullying and branding him as a fraud.

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In a recent interview with News5, Martir stood by his claims, university applications and scholarships, asserting their authenticity.

Martir also shed more light on his application process, which involved submitting them all online after taking a gap year to prepare.

"I hope everyone will stop accusing me, or kung ano-ano man yung sinasabi ng mga ibang tao (or whatever it is that other people are saying about me)," Martir stated. "Just to make my statement clear din po, all of the universities I applied to are true po" (I genuinely applied to all of those universities).

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Addressing the universities' responses to his applications, Martir asserted, "totoo po yung 30 universities na inapplyan ko po. Kahit na i-email niyo sila ng paulit-ulit, they will give you the same response na ni-review talaga ang application ko with scholarships (It's true that I applied to 30 universities. Even if you email them again and again, they will just give you the same response that they have reviewed my application for the scholarships)."

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Another news outlet reached out to the 30 universities he named to verify Martir's claim.

Eight of the 10 universities that responded confirmed his admission, with five of them confirming the scholarship offers. Among the universities that reportedly confirmed his acceptance were Ohio Wesleyan University, Alfred University, Woodbury University, Webster University, Ball State University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Michigan Technological University and the University of Massachusetts Boston.

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Twitter user Ewemiz Insigne, a Filipino student on a full scholarship at Colby College in Maine, also came to Martir's defense, noting that it is possible that the student had not been lying about his acceptance letters.

But I believe Julian's saying the truth. The list below are schools Julian was accepted to. These are some of the most common "safety schools" international students apply to as they have high acceptance rates, and tend to be generous with merit scholarships. pic.twitter.com/9RYNxToZvm  Ewemiz Insigne (@doEWEMIZme) May 19, 2023

The list below are schools Julian was accepted to. These are some of the most common safety schools international students apply to as they have high acceptance rates, and tend to be generous with merit scholarships, she explained.

She also explained that since scholarships from different schools cannot be combined, Martir will still face financial challenges should he choose to pursue his studies abroad.

HOWEVER. For Julian, who seems to be from a low-income background, this isn't enough. Many of these schools have costs of $50-70k/yr, and scholarships often only cover up to $20k/yr. Scholarships from different schools can't be added, so Julian can't afford these acceptances.  Ewemiz Insigne (@doEWEMIZme) May 19, 2023

Applying to colleges abroad is somehow both easier and harder than people think. It is a complex process that requires a lot of privilege, time, and money, but it is also a lot more accessible than the majority of the public believes, she wrote.
A former agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, who was also a former Kansas City police officer, pleaded guilty Monday to filing a false tax return as part of a payday loan scheme, according to a news release from the U.S Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Patrick Scot Witcher, 57, of Wichita Falls, Texas, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Kansas City to one count of filing a false federal income tax return.

In his plea, Witcher admitted that he assisted five people in establishing, operating and managing of various payday lending businesses.

One of the those he helped was Joel Tucker, a Prairie Village man with deep ties to Kansas Citys payday lending industry. Tucker was sentenced in 2021 to 12.5 years in prison for dodging taxes and for a scheme that targeted consumers to pay debts they often didnt owe.

Tucker is the brother of Scott Tucker, who is serving more than 16 years for running what authorities called an exploitative payday loan business that ripped off more than 4 million borrowers. In March, Tucker was also sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $40 million in restitution for filing a false fraudulent tax return. That sentence is to run concurrently with his previous sentence.

In his plea, Witcher admitted to filing false federal tax returns that included more than $1 million in unreported income between 2016 and 2018 from payday lending businesses. Those businesses supposedly operated outside the United States and then on Native American reservations, when in reality the operations were based in the Kansas City metro area, according to the district attorneys office.

Witcher, who was employed with the Kansas City Police Department from April 1991 to September 2002, is facing up to three years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing has not been set.
The newest faces of Nespresso took InStyle behind the scenes as they got ready for a party celebrating their collaboration with the brand.

The French Riviera is teeming with revelry this week, as a global set of celebrities and filmmakers descend on the south of France for the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Among those in town are actresses Julia Garner and Simone Ashley, who Monday night celebrated their newly released Nespresso commercial with a beachside dinner. Earlier in the day, the two debuted the commercial  in which they star opposite longtime Nespresso frontman George Clooney  to a small group of Cannes attendees. Then it was time to convene with their glam teams to prepare for the al fresco nighttime event.

Before attendees noshed on a Cali-Mex-inspired meal by chef Diego Alary (espresso-spiked cocktails included), Garner and Ashley walked us through their getting-ready process, from the makeup looks fitting for a glamorous European town to the shoes they partied all night in.



InStyle: How were tonights makeup looks achieved?

Julia Garner: Typically, I love really clean skin. I have to make sure my skin's good, and I like a red lip and a nice brow. That's really itthat's all I know how to do. But today Hung [Vanngo] did an amazing [smoky] eye. He does the most incredible eye, so whenever I have him, I'm like, "just do your eye."

Simone Ashley: Harold James did my makeup today. I love when he works with my skin. He always makes it really glow and just knows the different tones to use for my skin shade. And I love the way he makes my eyes and my eyebrows look. Today we did a luminous eye with a little bit of cat eyeliner and a bit of a lash.

Related: Natalie Portman Says That Men and Women Are "Expected to Behave" Differently at Cannes

Tell us about your outfits for tonight. What drew you to them?

Garner: I'm wearing [an] Area pantsuit and Jimmy Choo shoes. I like that it's simple, but not simple. Nothing beats a very good pantsuit, and it's white  it feels like Cannes. And then Bobby Eliot [did my] hair, Hung Vanngo, makeup and Elizabeth Saltzman, styling.

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Ashley: This is all Versace, and it's like a neon-y, peach color. We checked out what the backdrop was for the Nespresso [space] in Cannes, and I was like, "I may as well lean in and do a bit of matchy-matchy."

I'm very grateful to be wearing Bulgari jewelry tonight. We did a few rings and then a statement choker. I always love a choker.



Julia, how do you maintain your blonde, and how did Bobby Eliot style your hair tonight?

Garner: [My blonde] is a lie. I am a blonde, but I try to get it highlighted every six weeks. I do a lot of hair treatments and a lot of hair masks. It's curly so it gets dry. Tonight, [Bobby] just curled some pieces and that was it.

Tell us about your hair, Simone.

Ashley: My wonderful hairstylist and dear friend Peter Lux does my hair, and he is a master of creating these fan pieces within hair. Every time I do a look with him, I just hand it off to him and I trust whatever he has to do. He's an artist by every meaning of the word, and he's just magical with his fingers. He really can sculpt and create the most incredible, unique pieces.

Simone, what do you look for in an event look?

Ashley: I love a pop of color. Black is also super chic and really strong and powerful as well, but I always like to lean into a pop of color  something that's fun, young, and modern. Sometimes if the dress and the outfit is quite loud, I love to do minimal hair and makeup. When the dress is quite simple and minimalist, I love to go all out  let my hair down and do a really graphic, smoky eye.

How long does it usually take you and your team to get you ready?

Garner: We allow two [hours], but we're also all really close and we giggle a lot. We don't need to watch TV, we can just chat it up  it's that kind of crew. Time flies.

Ashley: It takes a village, so I always love to credit my whole team  from my stylist, Rebecca Corbin-Murray, to glam, makeup, nails, everything. Nails are so important, by the way; the attention to detail. My dear friend, Emily [Rose], does my nails and we always go for a chrome look usually. But for this, we just wanted to keep it really clean and minimal. But how long does it take [to get ready]? I like to have three hours usually so we can just relax and enjoy it; [so] I can breathe a bit before I go out into the chaos.



Tell us about your decision to work with Nespresso.

Garner: It was such an easy yes. George Clooney's amazing and he's been doing this for so long. [Also] I grew up watching these commercials, and I'm such a big coffee drinker.

Ashley: The Nespresso commercials, they're so timeless and classy. And the brief for this was two girls, Julia and I, playing George and winning a bet against him. I thought it was just super cheeky and fun. What an amazing opportunity to work with someone like George Clooney and such a wonderful actress like Julia. So it was a no brainer.

What are your coffee orders?

Garner: Mine switches  I'm not consistent. It depends on the weather, but it's all about the beans. I usually like black, but then I like a flat white too.

Ashley: A hot oat milk flat white. It's the most comforting thing first thing in the morning.



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Pictured is Indiana's new "More To Discover" sign

New refreshed road signage at the state borders will welcome Hoosiers, visitors and those just passing through to let people know there is "more to discover" in Indiana.

As part of a push to grow the state's tourism and economy, the 19 new interstate road signs are part of the larger "IN Indiana" campaign, created by the Indiana Destination Development Corporation, to inspire more out-of-state visitors to move, work or visit the Hoosier state.

'IN Indiana': State launches tourism campaign following height of COVID-19 pandemic

The signs will be installed by May 26, just in time for the Indianapolis 500 this Sunday. The racing spectacle is estimated to bring about 300,000 people to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is annually considered one of the largest sporting events in the world.

In June after the racing frenzy, 57 more signs will be installed along non-interstate roads.

IndyCar newbie? The Indy 500 questions you were too embarrassed to ask

"We are thrilled to extend the reach of the IN Indiana campaign throughout the entire state," said Elaine Bedel, IDDC Secretary and CEO, in a news release. "Tourists and residents will have a warm Indiana welcome whenever they cross our state borders."

The signage will cost about $43,000, according to an INDOT spokesperson.

A mock-up of the Clear Creek Welcome Center near Terre Haute

Business in the capital: Indianapolis considers $55M purchase of Pan Am Plaza

Indiana Welcome Center getting $32 million revamp

The Clear Creek Welcome Center in Terre Haute will receive over $32 million for a total renovation of a new building paying homage to the speedway and racing history, a dog park, improved bathrooms and expanded truck parking.

Construction kicks off this summer and expects to reopen in 2025.

Contact IndyStar Pulliam Fellow Cate Charron at ccharron@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @catecharron.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New Indiana welcome signs want visitors to 'discover' Hoosier state
Shama Beckford didnt qualify to compete at the Olympics in Tokyo, but hes still hopeful. The qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics at Teahupoo next summer are just around the corner.

For me, being one of the first sponsored surfers in Jamaica, Ive already been blessed to achieve so much, Beckford told us in an interview a few years back. When I first started surfing it was very humble, and just for the passion and love. I feel like I already have the cake, and its just extra icing on top with each new accomplishment. To represent my country and make my people proud is the biggest honor. And more than anything, Im most grateful for the opportunity to inspire so many young kids from Jamaica. To have them look up to me is honestly the best feeling in the world.

Click play to learn more about the uber-talented Beckford. Maybe (hopefully) well see him represent Jamaica in a big Chopes pit next year.

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WEYMOUTH  A memorial service will mark the 400th anniversary of the massacre at Wessagusset in 1623, when English Colonists ambushed members of the Massachusett tribe.

The memorial is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at the Wessagussett Wetland and Woodland conservation site at 215 Sea St. Descendants of the Massachusett known as the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag will play drums and share the history of their ancestors.

Wessagusset in North Weymouth is the second-oldest settlement in Massachusetts, founded two years after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.

Weymouth officials and members of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag unveil historical panels at the Wessagussett Wetland and Woodland site off Sea Street on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021.

The town bought the 4-acre Wessagussett Wetland and Woodland site on May 6, 1999, to prevent development. A group of residents led by Jodi Purdy-Quinlan had advocated for the purchase.

Purdy-Quinlan received a grant from Weymouth Cultural Council, funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, to hold the memorial.

"It has been 24 years since I preserved this land in honor of the Neponset Band of the Massachusett. I felt it was important to bring their descendants to honor their ancestors," she said.

More: Weymouth Special Olympics 'a win-win for everybody'

There are so many plans for development in Weymouth - check out 5 of them

The Massachusett tribe lived in the area seasonally to hunt, plant and fish. An outbreak of smallpox brought by European settlers killed about 90% of native people from Maine to Rhode Island between 1616 and 1619.

In 1622, London entrepreneur Thomas Weston planned a colony on the Fore River, which the Native Americans called Wessagusset, or "place where the rocks meet the water." Weston hoped to make money on beaver skins, fish and timber.

But the Englishmen were ill prepared and resorted to stealing from the Massachusett Indians, who in response plotted against the men. On April 6, 1623, Myles Standish led a surprise attack that killed seven Native Americans, which triggered more violence. The Weston colony ultimately broke up and some of the colonists moved back to England.

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A second group of families arrived months later to resettle the area. The colony was incorporated as a town and its name was officially changed to Weymouth in 1635.

Interpretive panels describing the area's history were added to the Wessagussett Wetland and Woodland site in 2021.

Reach Jessica Trufant at jtrufant@patriotledger.com

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Massachusett tribe massacre memorialized in Weymouth after 400 years
Millions of people in Central Mexico were warned this week to prepare for potential evacuation from their homes as activity from a volcano sometimes called one of the world's "most dangerous" continues to increase.

Over the weekend, the Mexican National Coordination for Civil Protection raised its threat to Yellow Phase 3, advising millions of people in the towns surrounding the Popocatepetl Volcano to prepare for a possible evacuation. Additionally, people have been urged not to travel within a 7.5 mile radius of the volcano.

The next level, Red Phase 1, would require a mandatory evacuation, although authorities currently do not believe that will be necessary.

Conoce el mapa de peligros del #Volcan #Popocatepetl, el cual te muestra:



 Rutas de #Evacuacion

 Zonas expuestas

 Escenarios de caida de #ceniza, #lava y fragmentos balisticos



Consultalo aqui: https://t.co/SyfR03RIXq pic.twitter.com/CH2HLIwByD  Coordinacion Nacional de Proteccion Civil (@CNPC_MX) May 23, 2023

The volcano poses such a risk because it lies in a densely populated region, with around 25 million people living within 60 miles of its base. It sits close to Puebla, Mexico's fifth-largest city, and poses an ash threat to Mexico City, the country's capital and largest city.

Asi amanece hoy el volcan #Popocatepetl.



Vista San Nicolas de los Ranchos #Puebla via @jabed1



Para ver en tiempo real: https://t.co/4yt8RjRzbm



GIF pic.twitter.com/AArabpESCH  Webcams de Mexico (@webcamsdemexico) May 22, 2023

The volcanic eruption has already disrupted daily life in the region. It caused a temporary shutdown at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City over the weekend, and has canceled classes in dozens of municipalities across the states of Puebla, Mexico, and Tlaxcala. Hermanos Serdan International Airport in Puebla halted flights on Monday. Residents near the volcano are also being advised to stay indoors as much as possible and cover water containers to avoid ash contamination.

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Volcanic ash from Popocatepetl was swept from the roof of a shopping mall in Puebla, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/l1xm5Mxxdr  Storyful Viral (@StoryfulViral) May 23, 2023

The volcano began erupting in the 1990s after decades of dormancy, and has remained a threat ever since. Since May 15, scientists have recorded tremors, explosions, and expressions of gas and lava. Ash fall has been seen in the region, with videos of people cleaning it off cars, sidewalks, and even the roof of a shopping mall surfacing on social media.

For now, residents and tourists alike are being urged to stay alert and be prepared to evacuate should the situation escalate further. Scientists have urged calm, noting that the situation is not unique in the volcano's recent history and that it's likely to stabilize, albeit at a high level of activity and ash emission. Activity has not yet surpassed a period of time in the early 2000s when around 40,000 people were evacuated from the mountain's vicinity.

You can find more information via the Mexican National Center for Disaster and the Mexican National Coordination for Civil Protection.
After more than three hours of testimony between state representatives, farmers, ethanol plant owners and carbon pipeline companies, Minnehaha County commissioners must wait another two weeks to decide if an ordinance meant to bring pipelines under county oversight will come to fruition.

Minnehaha County Board of Commissioners were forced to delay a final vote on Ordinance MC16-179-23, an ordinance amendment that creates new regulations and processes on transmission pipelines  including pipelines used for carbon sequestration  to a June 6 commission meeting.

The Minnehaha County Commission has heard arguments for nearly a year over carbon pipelines. In this file photo, a group of over 20 residents listening in on Minnehaha County Commission's discussion considering a twelve-month moratorium on pipelines, just weeks after Brown County approved a similar moratorium to halt Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solution's permitting process for their planned CO2 pipeline on Tuesday, August 2, 2022.

The proposed ordinance amendment would institute various setbacks on pipelines in the county. Companies seeking to build a pipeline in the county would also have to apply for a permitted special use with the county's office of planning and zoning, which would weigh their application based on new setback criteria included in the ordinance.

Residential homes, churches and businesses would be allotted a 750-foot setback from the center line of a pipeline to the location's property line. Pipelines would also have to maintain a 1,000-foot separation from public parks and schools, while municipal setbacks would vary from half a mile to one mile based on population.

Companies would also be able to apply for a conditional use permit if a permitted special use is not allotted by the planning and zoning office.

More: Lincoln County carbon pipeline battle leads to recommendation of a CO2 committee

Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures, two companies with plans to build what would be the nation's largest pipeline system in South Dakota and four other Midwest states, would be impacted by the ordinance.

Commissioner Joe Kippley brought three amendments to the ordinance, which were discussed by the board, one of which prevented the final vote on the entire ordinance.

The most controversial proposed amendment reduced the minimum setback for residential areas to 330 feet. According to this amendment, measurements would also begin at the point of the physical structure closest to a proposed pipeline, which would potentially further truncate any setbacks.

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More: Some South Dakota farmers resent ethanol industrys push for carbon pipelines

A motion to amend the ordinance was split in an equal 2-2 vote. Because of the tie vote, the decision on the amendment is unresolved and prevented the commission from making a final vote on the ordinance as a whole.

Another amendment, which passed unanimously, extends the application deadline on transmission pipelines from seven to 30 days and grants the planning director more power to oversee the application. It also places a 30-day response deadline on the county.

The third amendment, which would remove an annual conditional use permit fee of $300 per linear mile of pipeline in the ordinance, with fees going to county's general fund, failed for lack of a second.

Dominik Dausch is the agriculture and environment reporter for the Argus Leader and editor of Farm Forum. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @DomDNP and send news tips to ddausch@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Minnehaha County pipeline ordinance delayed after split amendment vote
As the search for Minnesota mom Madeline Kingsbury is about to enter its eighth week, investigators say they've pulled a highly respected prosecutor out of retirement to help.

The 26-year-old was last seen dropping her kids off at daycare around 8 a.m. on March 31, and sent her last communication to her sister around 8:15 a.m. that day. Winona County Police Chief Tom Williams has characterized the disappearance as "suspicious" and "involuntary."

RELATED: Minnesota Mom Missing Under 'Suspicious' Circumstances 'Chuckled About A Funny Photo Exchange' In Last Texts To Sister

Since then, law enforcement has conducted dozens of searchess and more than 1,000 volunteers have scoured over 120,000 acres near Kingsbury's home by the Mississippi River and found no trace of the missing woman.

Phil Prokopowicz, formerly the chief deputy attorney in Dakota County, Minnesota, is consulting the nearby Winona County Attorney's Office on the matter, and will assist if charges are brought against anyone in the case. Minnesota Department of Public Safety Spokesman Bonne Bowman told Fox News Digital that he is "arguably one of the best in the business."

A police handout of Madeline Kingsbury

Madeline Kingsbury Photo: Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Facebook

"The Winona County Attorneys Office has brought on Mr. Prokopowicz in a consulting capacity, as they often do for cases that are potentially complex," Bowman told the outlet via email.

Kingsbury had planned to move out of the home she shared with the father of her children, Adam Fravel, with whom she was embroiled in a custody battle, according to her sister. Fravel was the last person to see her alive. He denies any knowledge of Kingsbury's whereabouts.

In an interview with KTTC on Saturday, the missing woman's sister, Megan Kingsbury, confirmed Prokopowicz's involvement in her sibling's case.

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We dont have a ton of details right now as far as what specifically he is looking into as the immediate concern is the custody trial," she told the outlet.

RELATED: Questions Swirl As Police Hunt For Clues In Suspicious Disappearance Of Minnesota Mom

In a TikTok video posted over the weekend, Megan shared photos of her missing sister that "really hit [her] in the feels," adding that her family "just [wants] to find her and find out what happened to her."

"How is she still missing? Like, how," she lamented. I just dont understand. Somebody has to know something about what happened to her and where she is. She didnt just walk away."

Currently, Kingsbury's children are staying with the missing woman's father, but they are officially in the custody of Winona County officials, according to the New York Post. Fravel is seeking custody of the children, but at a previous court hearing, lawyers addressed "the elephant in the room" that Fravel was the last person to see Kingsbury alive, according to Fox News.

A police handout of Madeline Kingsbury

Another custody hearing is scheduled for June 6, according to the Post.

While law enforcement has stated they do not have any suspects at this time, we know Mr. Fravel was the last person to see Ms. Kingsbury, the Kingsbury familys lawyer argued in a May 5 letter obtained by Fox. Ms. Kingsburys family have significant concerns based upon their knowledge of Ms. Kingsbury and Mr. Fravels relationship that Mr. Fravel knows more about Ms. Kingsburys disappearance than he is letting on."

Previously, Kingsbury's sister Megan told Fox News that Fravel and his family would not communicate with them regarding Madeline's disappearance. But in an April statement, Fravel expressly denied any further knowledge.

Over the course of the last 12 days my family and I have been subject to a myriad of accusations regarding the disappearance of the mother of my children, Fravel said at the time.
Homepage image: Inside Beni Rugs studio in Marrakech. | Courtesy of Beni Rugs

Weekly Feature |

By Caroline Bourque

In 2015, Robert Wright was on assignment in Morocco working on a rug-shop-themed photo shoot for footwear brand Soludos, where he was marketing director. The rugs inspired more than just the brands next marketing campaign. Long story short, no one on the crew, myself included, really worked that daywe all fell in love with these beautiful creations, says Wright. He went back to the shop later that day, spent time talking with the family who owned the business and spotted an opportunity. Our idea was: Lets celebrate this beautiful craft, and see what we can bring to the table.

The encounter led Wright to launch direct-to-consumer rug company Beni Rugs in 2018. Hes not the only one who saw potential in the sector. In recent years, a handful of businesses, including Salam Hello and Ouive, have popped up, looking to apply a DTC model to the Moroccan rug industry. The upside is considerablethe Moroccan craft market now exceeds $2 billion in sales annuallyand rife with the challenges of taking a centuries-old approach to rug production and tailoring it to the appetites of the U.S. market.

Beni Rugs partnered with design editor Tom Delavan on a recent collaboration - Photo Credit Courtesy of Beni Rugs

The cut out the middleman ethos of DTC brands seems like a natural fit for the category, as the rug trade in Morocco has traditionally operated as an endless series of handoffs between maker and market. In most cases, female artisans in rural areas weave on home looms with locally sourced materials, including hand-spun wool purchased from nearby shepherds and natural dyes made from plants and herbs. Their craft is a combination of their own artistry and regional styles, like the diamond-patterned Beni Ourain rug style made by Amazigh tribes in the Atlas Mountains. When the product is finished, artisans sell to middlemen who transport rugs to local markets; from there, a series of similar transactions occur, transferring the products to ever-larger markets in larger citiesat ever-higher prices. When all is said and done, artisans operating this way receive an average of 4 percent of the profits on each rugif a piece sells for, say, $8,000 at a market in Marrakech, the weaver might earn just $320 on their work.

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For a generation of entrepreneurs straight out of the e-commerce boom, the industry seemed rife with untapped potential. Much like DTC brands had cut out the retail middleman in U.S. markets, entrepreneurs like Wright saw a chance to cut out the literal middleman in the Moroccan rug industrywhile also tailoring their offerings to the U.S. market and providing better financial conditions for artisans. So far, the strategy has worked well for the young companies. Between 2019 and 2021, Beni Rugs experienced triple-digit growth, which has only declined slightly to double-digit growth in 2022 as the pandemic has cooled home sales. Ouive, founded in 2018, has seen 33 percent growth in revenue since its first year in business, expanding from an inaugural line of vintage rugs into its core offering of made-to-order rugs, along with moving into new categories like home goods and fashion. Salam Hello has also expanded, debuting an experiential trip for tourists to visit its weavers in Morocco and more recently introducing a collaboration with General Assembly.

Cutting out the middlemen has an obvious financial benefit for entrepreneurs, but it fits neatly into a consumer culture where shoppers are ever more curious about the story behind their purchases. Trying to live in a more connected world by connecting the end user to the makerI think thats going to continue to gain in popularity, and people are going to seek that out more, says Mallory Solomon, co-founder of Salam Hello. Her site takes pains to draw a link between the end product, a rug and the artisan who made it (often, pieces have names such as Fadmas Indigo Trellis Hand-Knot).

The idea is compelling. Getting it to actually work is tough. Beni Rugs launched in 2018, but according to Wright and co-founder Tiberio Lobo-Navia, it took nearly three years of prior groundwork to bring the companys idea to market. When we first approached our Moroccan partner and mentioned that we wanted to create a company that would [offer made-to-order] custom Moroccan rugs, the look on his face was pure disbeliefI think he actually laughed at us, says Wright. The industry in Morocco just never operated like that.

As the company gained traction, the pair decided to go bigger: Instead of just re-imagining the rugs, they also wanted to rethink the production process. In 2021, that led Beni Rugs to open its first mini studio in Moroccoan 8,000-square-foot space outside of Marrakech that houses a weaving team, quality inspection and raw materials processing. Of course, theres a reason vertically integrated models hadnt already been implemented in Morocco: Artisans are scattered in rural areas across the country, often in mountainous regions, and are commonly responsible for childcare and household duties. The companys solution has been to bus weavers out to its facilities, along with providing benefits like health care and childcare, with the ultimate goal of establishing satellite studios for farther-flung villages.

Other U.S.-based rug exporters have gone straight to the source by partnering with weavers who work from home or from regional studios, choosing instead to travel to collect rugs for export. Solomon and her co-founder Abdellatif Mouhsine began research for their company by scouting the villages and regions with a rich weaving history, then embarking on a journey to meet weavers who wanted to join their DTC venture, launched in 2019.

As we were traveling, we would meet a friend of a friend, and then that friend of a friends cousin had an auntwe might go there and talk with them and realize, Oh, they specialize in this specific technique, says Solomon. Weve grown those relationships and cultivated them, and thats how weve organically grown the network.

Weavers working in Beni Rugs new studio in Marrakech - Photo Credit Courtesy of Beni Rugs

Ouive, launched by founder Kristina Williamson, uses a similar method but also partners with entire collectivesup to 20 and 30 weavers who operate in their own shared space, and liaise with Ouives local representatives to coordinate the design process for specific orders. The company prioritizes flexible timelines, giving artisans the space to complete their work while balancing family time and other obligations, and also factors in their creativity by offering two main product lines: a made-to-order collection and a ready-to-ship collection of the weavers own creations.

When determining pricing and compensation for Ouive pieces, Williamson pays weavers a per square meter rate agreed upon between local production partners and weavers based on the difficulty of the weave and designa similar price to what she might otherwise pay when buying wholesale in a shop in Marrakech. While the company then factors in its own markup based on operating expenses, the majority of the wholesale revenue goes to the companys weavers. For us, its not about increasing our profit by going directly to the weavers, says Williamson. Its the same for us to spend a certain amount per square meter in Marrakechbut I know that amount is going to the weavers, [rather than the middlemen,] and thats the way it should be.

Others believe its possible to make the rug trade even more direct, by cutting out exporting companies entirely and helping the artisans sell their work directly to consumers. Organizations like The Anou Cooperativea weaver-owned group founded in 2013have found ways to help artisans claim ownership over the design process and profits by managing their own sales.

To overcome high rates of illiteracy among artisans, as well as language barriers that keep them from tapping into foreign markets, Anou created an online marketplace that artisans can navigate using only pictures and symbols to upload photos of their work for sale. Anou also hosts financial literacy workshops for its weavers, helping them learn how to properly factor in their time and labor when pricing their product.

These are the people making crafts that Morocco is known for, and these products are present everywherein magazines, in Airbnbs, in hotels, in moviesliterally everywhere, says Hamza Cherif D'Ouezzan, the Fez-based marketing director of Anou. Except the artisans today in Morocco are living miserably.

For weavers, the monetary benefits of the cooperative system are substantial: Instead of making what Anou clocks at an average of 4 percent of the profits on their work, they collect 80 percent, with the remaining revenue funneled back into educational programs and infrastructure for the cooperative. Beyond its website and online marketplace, the companys success in recent years has prompted it to open a brick-and-mortar retail store in the northeastern Moroccan city Fez and begin development on a carbon-negative wool mill elsewhere in the country. So far, the organization counts more than 900 artisans as members.

Ouives product assortment includes both ready-made and made-to-order carpets - Photo Credit Courtesy of Ouive

Anou is also able to partner with brands in the U.S., including Unilever, World Market and ZZ Driggsthe latter of which teamed up with Anous artisans for a rug collaboration earlier this year. As ZZ Driggs founder Whitney Frances Falk explains, her best experiences shopping for Moroccan rugs involved visiting the country herself, accompanied by a veteran rug dealer and translator who could help her navigate conversations and negotiations with the weavers.

But that was personal shoppingfrom a buyers perspective, the experience is much murkier. Falk describes how U.S. demand for Moroccan pieces reached a fever pitch just before the pandemic, after beginning to climb roughly 15 years ago in tandem with the rise of wellness culture aesthetics, where Moroccan rugs are paired with low-slung furniture and meditation pillows. With the subsequent influx of new players and Etsy sellers in the industry, she explains, it was hard to find the same transparency she felt when dealing face to face with the artisans themselvesthough she says working with Anou helped. Its so hard to move up in the scale of business but still have that earnest, authentic transparency, says Falk. It was great to partner with Anou on a collection of rugs and [share] their amazing story.

Cherif D'Ouezzan believes that the artisans who make up Anou will always be the ones who drive the success of the Moroccan rug marketnot American brands. Today, youre going to come and build this business in Morocco, but tomorrow, youre going to go and visit India and fall in love with it, and go and build a business in India, he says. The people that have interest in this market and will sustain it over time are the artisan community, and thats why its really important that the artisans themselves own the business.

The relationship between Moroccan craft and consumers abroad is complex, with roots that date back more than a century to French colonial rule, which lasted from 1912 to 1956. In 1917, the French protectorate in Morocco established two craft institutions: one designed to support local markets and independent craftspeople, and one geared toward satisfying the European and American markets. [The latter] wanted to fantasize the product, make it a bit perfect and a bit exotic, says Hamza El Fasiki, a U.K.-based artisan, educator, author and expert in Moroccan craft.

That same year, the French protectorate invited American author Edith Wharton to the countrya visit that produced In Morocco, the first English-language travel guide to the country, which presented it as a destination for adventure in vignettes tinged with dated exoticism. (If one loses ones way in Morocco, civilization vanishes as though it were a magic carpet rolled up by a Djinn, she wrote.) The increased export of Moroccan goods and boost in Western tourism contributed to a rising interest in the countrys artisan-made carpetsdesign icons like Le Corbusier and Charles and Ray Eames deployed the rugs alongside their modernist furniture, while renowned decorator Billy Baldwin put a room carpeted with the recognizable Beni Ourain rug on the cover of his 1972 book Billy Baldwin Decorates.

The consequence of these things is that were still having a separation between the craftsperson whos making the carpets, and the person who is making the carpet [while] conscious and aware that their market is European and American, says El Fasiki.

Even today, he explains, there are two main differences in the ways weavers work: some work independently and serve the local market, and some create for international markets, mainly by working for foreign-exporting companies. The difference comes down to a couple of factors: the design process (U.S. exporters often give weavers aesthetic parameters to suit American tastes); and the marketing, which sometimes channels Moroccan stereotypes to target a U.S. audience. The stories, the way they do the marketing, it would never work with Moroccans, says El Fasiki. [The American exporters] use exotic narrativeslike flying carpets and stuff like that.

Salam Hello recently debuted an experiential trip for tourists to visit its weavers in Morocco and a collaboration with General Assembly - Photo Credit Courtesy of Salam Hello

Sometimes, he says, those stories tend to sideline the artisan rather than highlighting and celebrating their role as a one-of-a-kind creator. The carpet is being marketed outside Morocco, which is very good because Morocco needs foreign currencyits good for the economy, good for craftsmen, says El Fasiki. The bad part is that its not very fair. The craftsmen are not connected to the world, not part of that narrativejust weaving the carpets without even an Instagram page or anything.

The situation places the industry in a difficult position. Foreign markets like the U.S. are a key source of revenue for Moroccan rug-makers, and American consumer behavior is different from that of Moroccans, so companies with American ties are well-positioned to facilitate salesyet that system still divorces artisans from direct profits.

Another complicating factor: The population of weavers in Morocco is dwindling. Thats partially thanks to 1990s labor laws, which protected children from working in foreign-exporting carpet factoriesbut in the process also disrupted the tradition of craft apprenticeship at a very young age. Beyond that, the Moroccan government began encouraging families to send their children to school and pursue higher education in the latter half of the 20th centurybut since crafts are considered working-class vocations, El Fasiki explains, its not common to study weaving in Morocco like one might study fine arts in university in other parts of the world. Plus, many of todays Gen Z and millennial Moroccans are simply put off by the profession, particularly by the idea of low pay and poor working conditions with very little recognition for their work.

Counteracting this trend is part of the appeal for this new wave of DTC companies. For example, Beni Rugs has found success in recruiting weavers from the younger generation by structuring its work environment like a regular office jobwomen work nine to five, are no longer responsible for every step of the production and sales process, and receive reliable compensation thats twice the national average in Morocco. Anou, meanwhile, has approached the issue from the other end of the supply chain: Artisans are given the skills and ability to connect directly with a foreign market, allowing consumers abroad to get to know the weavers behind the rugs theyre purchasingfor example, each weavers name, portrait and biography are shown alongside their products on the organizations online marketplace.

One thing all parties agree on: In a changing world, the Moroccan rug industry needs to evolve not only to serve a new generation of consumers, but also to improve conditions for its makers. Otherwise, the industry is liable to lose its artisan populationand can expect a time-honored craft tradition to go along with them.

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Drazen Zigic / iStock.com

Americans who apply for federal Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are required to meet an extended set of eligibility criteria to qualify, and one of those has to do with income.

Food Stamps: What Is the Maximum SNAP EBT Benefit for 2023?

Find: How To Build Your Savings From Scratch

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is a federal program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides food-purchasing assistance to low-income households. Beneficiaries now pay with electronic benefit transfer cards instead of food stamps.

Everyone who lives together and purchases and prepares meals together is grouped together as one SNAP household, according to the USDA. Thats the case even if they purchase and prepare meals separately. In most cases, you are not eligible for SNAP benefits if an institution gives you most of your meals, but there are exceptions for elderly persons and disabled persons.

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In terms of income eligibility, the USDA looks at both gross income and net income. Normally, your household must meet both the gross and net income limits or you are not eligible for SNAP and cant receive benefits. The exceptions are households with an elderly or disabled person, in which case you only need to meet the net income limit.

For the purposes of SNAP, gross income is a households total, non-excluded income before any deductions have been made. Net income is gross income minus allowable deductions.

If all members of your household receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income or, in some places, other general assistance, your household might be deemed categorically eligible for SNAP because you have already been determined eligible for another means-tested program.

The current income eligibility limits listed below apply to households in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. SNAP gross and net income limits are higher in Alaska and Hawaii, so if you live in those states, contact your local SNAP administrator.

Household Size Gross monthly income

Net monthly income

1 $1,473 $1,133 2 $1,984 $1,526 3 $2,495 $1,920 4 $3,007 $2,313 5 $3,518 $2,706 6 $4,029 $3,100 7 $4,541 $3,493 8 $5,052 $3,886 Each additional member +$512 +$394

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: What Is the Highest Income for Food Stamps in 2023?
The celestial room of the Columbus Ohio Temple, pictured, is designed to be a tranquil respite that represents the progression toward Heavenly Fathers presence. The newly renovated temple opened for invited guests on Monday and will be open for the public to tour starting April 29. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

On Monday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints newly renovated Columbus Ohio Temple opened its doors to the media and special guests.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine attended the first day of the event, alongside church leaders Elder Allen D. Haynie and Elder Vaiangina Sikahema of the North American Northeast Area presidency; Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director of the churchs Temple Department; and Elder Kevin W. Birch, who is an Area Seventy, per a release.

The temple will be open for touring and public viewing daily starting on April 29, and will run until May 13  excluding Sundays. Open house tickets are available for everyone online, free of charge, with tours lasting about 50 minutes, reported The Church News.

The church released a video showing the details of the temple, including the focused usage of the magnolia blossom, which symbolizes purity and is common in the Columbus area. Flowering across the stained glass on the temples spire  just below the statue of angel Moroni  the magnolia is colored pink.

With the original dedication in September 1999, the temple was due for an extensive renovation that included improved acoustics to create a quieter and more reverent experience for templegoers in the hustle and bustle of central Ohio, as well as climate control improvements made outside the temple, making it more energy efficient.

During the temples three-year renovation, the nearest temples for local church members was almost three hours away in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky.

The temple will be dedicated on June 4 in two sessions by President M. Russell Ballard, who is the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Another temple was announced in April 2022 that will be built in Cleveland, although a groundbreaking date hasnt been released yet.

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This article originally appeared on Outside

It was a growing weariness of lugging six-packs of beer on hiking trips that inspired my search for the perfect camp cocktail. I've attempted hanging bags of red wine from shrubs and rocks, which inadvertently ends up looking like a sinister blood bag rather than camp vibe aesthetic (also: bears). And, despite my rapid aging, I'm still not cool or mature enough to stoically sip Scotch from a hip flask, staring deep into the flames of the campfire.

And so I set out to try a heap of ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails to see if any were good enough to replace the fireside beer. Armed with cans of Golden Rule, On The Rocks, Hornitos, Finnish Long Drink, Cutwater, and Tip Top Proper Cocktails, I began this serious mission. After only a few sips, I was confronted by the question: Why do so many canned cocktails suck? Often, it's a Goldilocks story of too syrupy sweet, too bitter, or too artificial. The truth is, the price for convenience is steep, with the major roadblocks to success being shelf life and stabilization. To preserve a citrus-based cocktail like a margarita, juice must be pasteurized. Likewise, carbonation levels for something like a mojito must be precisely pressure-perfected to keep the can from exploding.

Needless to say, I was not psyched about the results of the unfolding taste test. And then I cracked open a Tip Top negroni. It was boozy, it was herby, it was bitter, it was balanced. Poured over a big rock, it could have been served at my favorite bar. The can is a marvel too--at 100-milliliters, or 3.4-ounces--it's about a third of the size of a beer can. This tipple is built, well, like a real cocktail without fillers and its portable size means it slips easily into a backpack. I pushed back from the countertop, my work here is done.

Drinking Tip Top while camping (Photo: Luke Beard)

The idea for Tip Top came to Yoni Reisman and Neal Cohen (both National Outdoor Leadership School graduates) when they were backpacking in Wyoming's Wind River Range. As one does on the trail, they dreamed of topping off a grinding hike on a hot summer's day with a cold drink. What if, they imagined, you could plunge some gin martini cans into an ice-cold glacial lake, lay back in the sun and wait for it to cool to just the right temp, before enjoying the crispest martini on the planet? Simply put, on the trail and elsewhere, there is a demand for high-quality cocktails in environments that don't typically allow for the meticulous care and preparation required to make them.

Reisman and Cohen enlisted the help of seven-time James Beard Award-nominated Atlanta bartender Miles Macquarrie. He was up to the task, ultimately creating a negroni, along with a gin martini, an old fashioned, and a Manhattan that could be canned and hold its integrity. When Tip Top took off, the trio dug deep and took on the citrus-based cocktails like the margarita and daiquiri. Those offerings, along with a Bee's Knees and a limited edition Jungle Bird, now also appear on liquor store shelves.

Tip Top's notably high proof, which ranges from 52 to 74, risks rusting a traditional aluminum can, so the company cans in steel. You'll surely appreciate this durable detail when chucking one into your backpack--I know I will.

Bonus: If you're the type of camper intent on mixing and shaking your own trailside cocktail (here's looking at you car campers), pick up a copy of Backcountry Cocktails (Running Press, May 2023) by Steve Grasse and Adam Erace. Although inspired by adventures in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the recipes translate to any outdoor outing (See: the Orange-Tarragon Freeze, a drink that you freeze in your Nalgene and sip after it thaws to slush, and the Hemenway Daiquiri, which tastes of the forest thanks to pine cone syrup). Broken down by season, there's a hefty mix of hot (red wine wassail!) and cold drinks, along with the occasional recipes for trail food like granola bars, grilled pizza, and cast-iron trout with wild greens. There's also the invaluable Hiker's Lament, a green juice-based cocktail that'll nurse you back to health if your night included a few too many Tip Tops or other boozy bevs.

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A composite image show Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) examining a 17th-century map of eastern Europe with Valery Zorkin, a Russian justice official. The inset shows a part of the document labeled "Ukraine". Kremlin/Bibliotheque Nationale de France

Russian President Vladimir Putin said an old map proves Ukraine isn't a real country.

But the document in fact shows the area near Kyiv labeled as "Ukraine."

Putin has cited his much-criticized belief Ukraine isn't a real country in justifying Russia's invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday cited a 17th-Century map of Europe to back his discredited thesis that Ukraine isn't a real country, a claim that he's used to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion.

But, even on the terms of Putin's thesis, there was a problem: the document clearly marks part of the territory as being "Ukraine."

In a meeting with the chairman of Russia's constitutional court, Valery Zorkin, the two pored over a map made by a 17th century cartographer for France's King Louis XIV.

The Kremlin published a video of the encounter, in which Putin and Zorkin hold the map up as proof that a Ukrainian nation is a historical fiction.

The map Putin inspected appears to be a copy of one made in 1674 by French cartographer Hubert Jaillot, showing parts of eastern Europe and Asia, with cities and territories marked out.

Here is a screengrab from the Kremlin video, and underneath a clearer copy of the map from France's national library.

Vladimir Putin and a Russian official inspect a 17th century map showing Russia and eastern Europe. Kremlin

A 17th century map by cartographer Hubert Jaillot in which the section labeled "Ukraine" is circled in red. Bibliotheque Nationale de France/Skitch

Putin seized on the map to back one of the core arguments he has made in support of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine  that it's not a real country and so should be incorporated into Russia.

"The Soviet government created Soviet Ukraine. This is well known to everyone. Until then, there was never any Ukraine in the history of humanity," Putin said.

In fact, the map does clearly show Ukraine. Below is a zoomed-in version of the section highlighted in red above.

A close up view of part of a 17th century French map showing "Ukraine, land of the Cossacks." Bibliotheque Nationale de France

The text translates to "Ukraine or land of the Cossaks", and sits next to the Dnipro river that runs through modern-day Ukraine. The capital Kyiv, spelled Kiow on the map, is also visible nearby.

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Back then, what was to become Russia was known in parts of Europe as the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, while Polish nobles ruled large swaths of what is now Ukraine.

In a thesis published just before the 2022 invasion, Putin claimed that Ukrainians and Russians are "one people" who have been divided by hostile foreign powers, framing his invasion as a means to reunite them.

Historian Bjorn Alexander Duben, writing for the London School of Economics, said that in the 17th century, when the map was made, Ukraine had a distinct culture and language from Russia, and Cossack tribes were emerging who asserted their independence from Polish rulers and Moscow.

In 1790, the Russian empire absorbed much of what is now Ukraine. Ukraine briefly became independent after the 1917 Russian revolution, but was soon absorbed into the Soviet Union.

It was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 that Ukraine became an independent nation again, a development which Russia accepted at the time.

But "Ukrainian de facto political entities struggling for their autonomy or independence had existed long before that," Duben wrote.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Video footage of a flash lighting up the night sky above an airport runway.

Video footage of a flash lighting up the night sky above an airport runway.

An unusual green meteor recently exploded as it plummeted through the sky over Australia, giving off a brilliant flash of light that could be seen for miles and a loud bang that stunned local residents below.

Cameras at Cairns Airport in Queensland captured a video of the exploding meteor, known as a bolide, at 9:22 p.m. local time on May 20. Video footage uploaded to the airport's Facebook page shows an initial green flash lighting up the night sky before a secondary white flash.

Additional footage captured on smartphones, dashcams and security cameras showed that the flash was visible as far away as Normanton, which is around 370 miles (600 kilometers) west of Cairns, The Guardian reported. The sound of the explosion could be heard most clearly above the town of Croydon, which is around 60 miles (100 km) east of Normanton, suggesting that the meteor exploded somewhere overhead.

The space rock was likely quite small, between 1.6 and 3.2 feet (0.5 and 1 meter) across, and could have been traveling up to 93,000 mph (150,000 km/h), Brad Tucker , an astrophysicist at Australian National University in Canberra, told The Guardian. Any fragments that crashed to Earth would likely have been very small and were likely still frozen, he added.

Related: Extremely rare fireball meteor may have sparked a blaze that burned down a California home

A still of the initial green flash given off by the meteor.

Bolides are meteors that blow up in Earth's atmosphere due to a buildup of friction that eventually causes the space rocks to instantaneously shatter with enough force to trigger a sonic boom, according to the American Meteor Society .

The meteor "essentially does a belly flop," Tucker said. "The friction builds up and causes that glow and then it hits breaking point, which causes the huge flash and the sonic boom."

Most bolides emit a white or yellow light when they explode. The unusual green flash of the meteor that exploded above Croydon was caused by a high concentration of metals such as iron and nickel in the meteor, Tucker said.

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Similar green light can also be given off by fireball meteors, which are extremely bright meteors that break apart in Earth's atmosphere but do not explode with the same intensity. In August 2022, a green fireball was spotted above New Zealand , and in November 2022, another one crashed into Lake Ontario .

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Bolides occur in Earth's atmosphere relatively frequently. Between July 2017 and January 2022, astronomers detected around 3,000 bolides, according to NASA's Earth Observatory . But observers on the ground witness only a few of these blasts each year, because most of the explosions happen away from populated areas or above the ocean.
Prince Ludwig chivalrously caught his bride after she fainted during the church ceremony

Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images

Sophie Evekink had a graceful recovery after fainting during her royal wedding.

On Saturday, the 34-year-old doctoral student briefly lost consciousnesses during her wedding ceremony to Prince Ludwig of Bavaria. The couple tied the knot on Saturday morning at Theatiner Church in Munich, Germany, and the bride fainted in church.

"A spokesperson confirmed that Princess Sophie fainted during the wedding this morning. After a drink she was fine again and the ceremony continued," royal blogger ChristinZ tweeted.

Quoting a guest, German newspaper Bild similarly reported, "'The bride fell backwards, the groom caught her. The groomsmen rushed over. We are glad that she felt well again straight away.' "

Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images

Related:Prince Ludwig of Bavaria Marries Sophie Evekink in Germany

According to the outlet, Sophie fainted during her vows, and Prince Leopold also came to her aid. The royal bride, who the House of Wittelsbach now styles as Princess Sophie, seemed to be in good spirits as she exited church with Prince Ludwig, 40, and gave a wave to the crowds who came out to see them.

The newlyweds then traveled to Nymphenburg Palace, where Ludwig's cousin Duke Franz of Bavaria hosted an afternoon reception.

Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images

Prince Ludwig is in line as future head of the Bavarian family behind Duke Max of Bavaria, Franz's brother, and Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, his father. The German royal is the great-great grandson of King Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria. Though the monarchy dissolved in the German Revolution of 1918 following World War I, the Bavarian royal family has ceremoniously continued on.

Ahead of the wedding, a spokesperson told PEOPLE that the celebration would reflect regional elements and personal touches, from the participation of traditional Bavarian delegations in the ceremony and church to local food and drink on the menu.

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Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images

Related:Queen of Malaysia Reveals Dress Code for Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan's Royal Wedding (No Tiaras!)

Princess Sophie was a timeless bride in a Reem Acra gown with long sheer sleeves and floral lace details, tailored locally in Bavaria. She glittered in the floral tiara Ludwig's grandmother Princess Irmingard wore on her wedding day in 1950 and a complementary veil from Ukrainian brand WONA. Her groom was classic in a suit with the insignia of the Royal Bavarian House Knights Order of Saint George and the House Knights Order of Saint Hubertus.

The couple announced their engagement in August 2022, and asked for donations to Learning Lions in Kenya and the Nymphenburg Aid Association Foundation in lieu of gifts.

Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty

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Princess Sophie is a dual Dutch/Canadian citizen and a graduate of University College London and the University of Oxford. She previously worked for the United Nations on health and human rights in Geneva, Switzerland and the United Nations in New York and is currently researching for her doctorate at the Law Faculty at Oxford University, where she teaches a course on transitional justice at the Criminology Centre.

Prince Ludwig studied law in Gottingen, Germany, specializing in human rights and international humanitarian law. Since 2011 he's been a board member of the Nymphenburg Aid Association. For the last decade, Ludwig has spent much of his time in rural Kenya, where he's founded several non-profit organizations. At the request of Duke Franz of Bavaria, he also carries out representative and honorary tasks in Bavaria.

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Read the original article on People.
Time to plan ahead, Play's discounts are for fall and winter trips.

Courtesy of Fly Play

Summer travel is shaping up to be very expensive, but one low-cost airline is looking ahead, putting flights to Europe on sale for 35 percent off.

Icelandic carrier Play is offering big savings for the off season on flights from the United States to popular European cities like Paris, London, and more, the airline shared with Travel + Leisure. The sale is valid on bookings made from Wednesday to May 29.

"Summer is a big time for vacations and holidays but this is also the time that travelers start planning their shoulder-season and winter trips, Birgir Jonsson, the CEO of Play, told T+L. With PLAYs biggest discount to date, passengers can save more and book their dream trips for the fall to popular destinations including Amsterdam, Paris, London, and more. By planning now for trips in 2023, passengers can make the most out of their travel and enjoy affordable, less crowded experiences.

The sale is valid on travel to Iceland, Paris, London, and Dublin from Sept. 1 through Dec. 15, and to Amsterdam and Glasgow from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31. The sale is available from Plays U.S. cities: Baltimore, Boston, New Yorks Stewart Airport, and Washington Dulles.

To book, travelers can use the promo code PLAYMEMDAY.

Fall and winter tend to be less busy (and expensive) than summer, and thats especially true this year since airfare to Europe and Asia is expected to cost as much as it has in five years, and international flight costs in general are up nearly 40 percent compared to last summer.

In fact, last month, Delta reported its international flights were already 75 percent booked for the summer, and United Airlines told T+L it is expecting to see its busiest Memorial Day holiday period in more than a decade with international travel up 16 percent compared to last year.

Play, which first started operating flights in Europe in 2021 before launching its first flight from the United States last spring, operates a "hub-and-spoke model" in which all flights connect through Reykjavik before heading on to other European destinations or back to the U.S. The airline is a low-cost carrier and charges per flight leg for everything from checked baggage to food and drinks, and even a package that includes carry-on bags and priority boarding.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
One of President Joe Bidens judicial nominees is pulling his name from consideration for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench, the second such politically painful withdrawal this month.

Jabari Wamble, currently a federal prosecutor, is yanking his nomination to fill a district court seat in Kansas, according to a letter sent to Biden on Tuesday. His move follows that of Biden judicial pick Michael Delaney, who stepped out of contention as an appellate court nominee last week as it became clear that he lacked the Democratic support needed to advance.

"After careful thought and consideration, I feel that it is best for me to continue my work at the United Statess Attorneys Office in the District of Kansas. I have been humbled and honored by the faith you placed in me with this nomination, Wamble wrote in the Tuesday letter. He is the son-in-law of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.).

Aides were under the impression that the American Bar Association would rate Wamble not qualified for the nomination, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity. The ABA has not issued a public ruling on Wamble on its website, and never made an official judgement on him.

Biden previously nominated Wamble for an appellate judgeship last year, but the Senate never confirmed him. He was nominated for the federal district court seat this year, but Kansass two GOP senators have not indicated whether they would waive their veto power over his nomination  a Senate tradition known as the blue slip.

The state's two Republican senators, Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, both have said they're waiting to see who is nominated for Kansas' appellate court opening before weighing in on Wamble. The White House has been working closely with Moran to fill the states vacancies.

President Biden is proud to have nominated Jabari Wamble, a deeply qualified attorney who has served with distinction as a prosecutor at the state and federal level in Kansas, who received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Kansas, and who has dedicated his life to serving the people of Kansas, said Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the White House.

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Wamble's withdrawal comes as Biden picks for the judiciary have faced notable pushback. This month, POLITICO revealed that Delaney advised a free-market legal group that opposed Biden on key issues, including a major climate change executive order. Two weeks later, Delaney asked Biden to pull his nomination.

And last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) voted against confirming another Biden pick for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Nancy Abudu. The Senate still confirmed Abudu, though Manchins no vote was the first time a Democratic senator broke with the Biden White House on a judicial confirmation vote.

Overall, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Biden have had significant success filling open judgeships, especially at the appellate level. But federal district courts have proven more challenging, with some Republicans declining to approve of nominees by withholding their blue slips  sparking a progressive campaign to do away with the custom.

Durbin declined to comment on Wambles nomination.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text STRENGTH to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

In a decision that has been in the works since the overturn of Roe v. Wade last June, South Carolinas state senate has passed an abortion ban, Senate Bill 474, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, that stands whenever a fetal heartbeat is audible, which is often at 6 weeks after conception, CNN reported.

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There are not many exceptions to the ban, except for cases of rape and incest, which are considered only up until 12 weeks into the pregnancy  and doctors performing an abortion procedure must report those instances to the local sheriff for legal protection.

Other exceptions include fetal health anomalies or physical health emergencies that might cause danger to the birthing persons life. Mental health emergencies, such as suicidal ideation as a result of a forced pregnancy that may have been a result of trauma, are not included in the language of exceptions.

Click here to read the full article.

Pregnant people might not feel safe either self-reporting or having their assault or incest reported by doctors, and therefore may choose not to have an abortion. This trauma alone can result in a mental health condition, or exacerbate pre-existing mental health issues.

The bill also uses the language of fetal personhood to mandate biological fathers to pay child support from conception and to separate the fetus from the person carrying it in a medical emergency. That means that doctors are required to expend as much effort saving the life of the fetus as saving the mother if an abortion is medically necessary in an emergency. According to Abortion Every Day writer Jessica Valenti, the mandate that doctors separate a woman from her pregnancy  rather than give her a standard abortion, means that women will be forced to go into labor or have C-sections, even when doing so will be much more physically and emotionally onerous.

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But, as Valenti points out, the mental health of the person carrying a pregnancy is not part of the equation in South Carolina.

Photo: Sean Rayford/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

South Carolina is not the only southern state imposing abortion restrictions recently.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, 13 states, including Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, almost immediately implemented their trigger bans on abortion, per the Guttmacher Institute. But following that, many states have passed new abortion restrictions, including North Carolinas 12-week abortion ban, going into effect on July 1, 2023. Florida also passed a 6-week abortion ban last month.

Abortion access in the South is now barely possible, and people in those states will have to rely on accessing birth control and emergency contraception to avoid unplanned pregnancies.

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Donald-Trump-1 - Credit: (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Donald Trumps legal team is requesting an in-person meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss the special counsel investigation into the former president.

Trump posted the letter  addressed to Garland and signed by attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty  to Truth Social on Tuesday night. Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter, and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly, the letter reads. No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion. We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.

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Per a letter he posted on Truth Social, Trump's attorneys John Rowley & James Trusty have written to Attorney General Garland requesting a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his pic.twitter.com/dWMxLIKTg4  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 24, 2023

Garland appointed Jack Smith special counsel last November, tasking him with overseeing the Justice Departments investigations into Trumps role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and whether Trump illegally hoarded classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago. Smith is reportedly wrapping up his work on the latter probe, for which Smith has secured testimony from several figures close to the former president  including Evan Corcoran, the attorney who wrote a letter last summer claiming, falsely, there was no more classified material at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Smiths investigation, as well as the Justice Department at large, alleging its all part of a Democratic scheme to prevent him from retaking the White House in 2024. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!! the former president wrote Monday morning.

Trumps legal trouble extends well beyond the Justice Department probes. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has long been investigating whether he tampered with Georgias 2020 election results. Willis signaled last week that indictments could be coming in August. Theres also New York, where Trump has already been charged with several felony counts of falsifying business records. Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday slated that trial to begin next March. Very unfair, but this is exactly what the Radical Left Democrats wanted, Trump griped on Truth Social. Its called ELECTION INTERFERENCE, and nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before!!!

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Click here to read the full article.
Previously unseen personal moments of the King are among clips to feature in a new BBC documentary.

Charles R: The Making of a Monarch will offer audiences a chance to view unseen and rarely seen footage of Charles, telling his more than 70-year story as heir to the throne, through his own words.

Buckingham Palace has granted the BBC exclusive access to unseen footage of Charles from the 1969 documentary, Royal Family.

The footage shows the royal family enjoying a bonfire at Sandringham, the then Prince Charles flying solo, and the future King on a private visit to Malta in 1968.

There are also unseen clips of Charles on royal engagements, including a trip to the Royal Mint with his parents, and a visit to a North Sea oil platform.

Other intimate family moments that have never been seen before include the Queen, Charles and other members of the family taking a trip by hovercraft and the family sitting down to dinner onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.

BBC Studios has also been given special permission to use clips from the royal familys private home movie footage, showing the Kings early love of nature, gardening and animals.

The BBC said the programme is told through the Kings own words, as recorded through the decades.

Unseen footage of the King will be revealed in the BBC film (PA)

Viewers will hear the King discuss his childhood, including his memories of the Queens coronation, as well as his school days, adolescence, and investiture as Prince of Wales.

It also contains recollections of the Kings military service and personal commentary on his commitment to charitable work, as well as his private passions and the role of the institution he now heads up.

Five never before seen images from the programme were released on Tuesday including shots of the then-prince flying a plane solo, a visit to the Royal Mint with the Queen, a trip to Malta when he was young, and a shot of the prince decorating a Christmas tree at Windsor.

Simon Young, the BBCs head of history said: Its a real privilege to be trusted with such rare, unseen archive material to create a new and distinctive portrait of someone so famous and photographed.

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As their majesties coronation approaches, this film will give audiences a fresh insight into his remarkable life.

Claire Popplewell, creative director for BBC Studios events productions, added: This documentary brings audiences a treasure trove of scenes filmed across seven decades in the life of the King.

Unique and unseen moments with contemporary archive sources and the spoken words of His Majesty, Charles R: The Making of a Monarch tells the story of how a prince became a king.

Charles R: The Making of a Monarch will debut on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday April 30.
Some of the Highest Rates for Savings Accounts Are No Longer Coming from Traditional Banks

Sundry Photography / Getty Images

Bank customers in search of the best savings account rates quickly learn that you wont find them at most traditional brick-and-mortar banks. Instead, you need to look at online-only banks that arent stuck with expensive branch and labor costs and can therefore afford to offer better annual percentage yields.

Learn: Heres How Much Money Experts Say You Should Have in Your Savings Account If Youre in Your 50s

More: How To Build Your Savings From Scratch

And its not just online banks that are trotting out competitive savings rates, either. The field has grown to include fintechs as well as companies with little connection to the banking industry at all. All are scrambling to offer the best savings rates in a market that has become increasingly crowded and competitive.

A recent GOBankingRates analysis of the best high-yield savings accounts for May 2023 placed TAB Bank at the top, with an APY of 4.76%. The list also includes online-only banks like Synchrony Bank and Vio, along with online banking subsidiaries of traditional financial companies, such as the CIBC Agility Online Savings Account and Marcus by Goldman Sachs.

Now Silicon Valley tech firms are getting in on the action  including Apple, which recently launched its Apple Card savings account. As CNBC reported, the account offers a 4.15% APY in partnership with Goldman Sachs.

Another player is stock trading app Robinhood, whose Robinhood Gold feature offers a 4.65% APY. Robinhood Gold lets you earn Interest on uninvested cash that is moved your brokerage account to partner banks, CNBC reported.

Heres a look at other non-traditional banking options for high savings rates:

LendingClub, an online lender that offers a savings account with a 4.25% APY.

Upgrade, another online lender whose savings account offers a 4.56% APY for customers with a minimum balance of $1,000.

SoFi, a fintech with a banking charter that offers a savings account with a 4.2% APY.

This rush to offer the best savings rates might be good news for consumers  and good business for fintechs  but not all of the news for fintechs has been cheery of late. In March, Cross River Bank was issued a consent order by the FDIC alleging that the bank engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices related to fair lending regulations, American Banker reported.

Cross River is a banking-as-a-service company that makes loans through fintechs. As American Banker noted earlier this month, Cross River neither admitted nor denied the charges. But the situation could have a ripple effect on all banks that partner with fintechs.

Its a shot across the bow for every partner bank, especially small ones, Todd Baker, a Columbia University fellow and managing principal of Broadmoor Consulting, told American Banker. If the largest and most sophisticated partner bank can get into this much trouble, every partner bank is at risk.

The rise in bank-fintech partnerships even led Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu to address the issue in a September speech.

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He basically said, theres been a lot of activity in this banking as a service,' Maria Gotsch, president and CEO of Partnership Fund for New York City, told American Banker. We believe theres risk in that to the system and were going to be putting out parameters around how we want that interaction to work. Banking as a service does not mean that you are outside of the regulatory purview and that you are not subject to the same standards regulations that we have for the large banks.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Some of the Highest Rates for Savings Accounts Are No Longer Coming from Traditional Banks
Veterinarians, veterinary students, animal rescue workers, and volunteers, who devote themselves to saving the lives of these dogs and cats conduct amazingly difficult work. Saving injured or ill animals and performing life-saving operations are all part of the job. Dealing with abusive and dangerous customers should not be.

The TikTok account of veterinarian @Drforbeez recently uploaded a video where she describes what happened when she was interviewing a potential employee. It should really make you think about how some people treat the staff who care for our pets.

View the original article to see embedded media.

It's not surprising that the interviewee said they were good at deescalating conflict. Earlier this month an employee of a veterinary clinic in Kentucky was shot and killed by a pet owner during an argument.

Between caring for sick or injured animals that don't make it to dealing with aggressive dogs and making the devastating decision to euthanize them is just part of what they go through daily. Add to that abusive clients and it's no wonder there's a nationwide veterinarian shortage.

There is magic in watching the transformation of an animal rescued from neglect or abuse. Watching an injured or mistreated pet mend its wounds and find their forever home is one of the best things ever. But sometimes that doesn't happen. And TikTok user @Queenofcarrotflowers posted a sad video to illustrate what those who save animals go though on a daily basis. Caring for a cat or dog who ends up dying anyway and having this scenario play out day after day is something I don't think a lot of us could handle. Animal workers do this nonstop. My sister was the Vet Services Supervisor and Director of the Emergency Response Team at a Humane Society and I could barely stand to listen to her stories of boxes of starving kittens dumped at their doorstep or rescuing fighting dogs before their owners came to the yard brandishing shotguns.

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In the clip above, Morgan references 'The Dead Dogs on My Phone' written by Paige Kim, the Behavior and Enrichment Coordinator at the Irvine Animal Care Center, about grief and the importance of witnessing and remembering the shelter animals who die and it's a touchingly sad glimpse of what these animal care workers experience everyday. Kim writes, "So I keep the dead dogs in my phone to remember those brief, fleeting moments where they were loved and safe, and so they know theyll always be remembered."

People go into animal work, or volunteer to work with animals, because they love animals. Between cruelty incidents, animal hoarding cases, pets that have been horrifically injured in accidents and pet owners who are either abusive or downright dangerous, this is just another group of essential workers who deserve a lot more respect than they get.

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.

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Viewers of WBOC-TV may have noticed the absence of a familiar morning face over the past few weeks.

WBOC-TV is a regional news source serving the Delmarva Peninsula, and a Delawarean has provided leading coverage for the stations in Salisbury, Maryland, and Dover for the past 27 years.

Jimmy Hoppa, of Laurel, is the morning news anchor for WBOC News This Morning and the afternoon talk show co-host for DelmarvaLife. But for the past three weeks, he has been off-air.

Fans of the show and Hoppa took to Facebook to inquire about his absence and wish him well.

WBOC-TV anchor Jimmy Hoppa speaks to the volunteers at a 2004 Salvation Army Volunteer Breakfast.

Good morning Tameka, Mike and Bill. And until the return of Jimmy Hoppa, good morning. We all want to see how great that lawn is of yours since you have been off. Make Mike and Bill jealous, one comment read.

Check out these new Avelo destinations: Cheap flights from Delaware can take you to 14 Southern destinations. Things to do and see

I hope Jimmy Hoppa is OK. Miss him in the mornings, another commenter said.

When a fan asked what happened to Jimmy Hoppa on a May 5 post to the stations Facebook, the account responded that he is off for a few weeks for a medical procedure and will be back soon.

He is doing well; weve been in contact with him, said a receptionist at the WBOC-TV Salisbury station. He will be back. Actually, he should be back any time.

If youve been gripping the edge of your seat every morning waiting for Hoppas face to brighten up your morning, rest assured staff are confident he will be back on air in no time.

Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Fans of WBOC-TV morning news anchor Jimmy Hoppa wondered where he went
Scoop, there it isthe worlds priciest ice cream, that is.

Guinness World Records has crowned a Japanese ice cream the most expensive on the globe, thanks to its 880,000 yen ($6,380) price tag, CNN reported on Monday. That incredible dollar amount is in part due to the desserts star ingredient: white truffles sourced exclusively from Alba, Italy.

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It took us over one and a half years to develop, with a lot of trials and errors to get the taste right, a representative from Cellato, the brand that makes the ice cream, told Guinness World Records.

Technically, Cellato is calling the frozen treat a gelato, and its namebyakuya, or white night in Japaneseis a nod to its most notable ingredient. Along with the white truffle, which on its own can sell for as much as 2 million yen ($14,500) per kilogram, the dessert includes two types of cheese, edible gold leaf, and sakekasu, a paste-like item created in the process of making sake. To come up with the flavor, Cellato worked with the chef Tadayoshi Yamada, who oversees the French-Japanese restaurant RiVi in Osaka.

The ice cream and its ingredients

Those with the means to buy the ice cream will also receive a handmade metal spoon meant to be used for their enjoyment of the dessert. Cellato advises lucky tasters to pour in the white truffle just as the ice cream softens up. If it arrives to you in too frozen a state, the company says to let the ice cream defrost at room temperature or microwave it at exactly 500 watts for 10 to 20 seconds. And if youre interested in eating your dessert with a little boozy accompaniment, sake or French white wine is recommended.

Cellato also sells a black-truffle version of its ice cream, and CNN noted that the brand is hoping to expand to flavors including other luxe ingredients like Champagne and caviar. While all of those items come with an up-charge, Cellato isnt focused just on the price. The company said its working to combine European ingredients and traditional Japanese foods, opening up consumers palates to unique combinations.

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A white-truffle ice cream certainly meets that bar, and it set a world record in the process.

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Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials gathered at the University of Kentucky Tuesday to break ground on a new agriculture research building.

The new $65.9 million Forage Animal Production Lab will include more than 52,000 square feet of space for offices, laboratories, collaboration space and greenhouses. The research conducted there will focus on improving the productivity, sustainability and competitiveness of farms that raise beef cattle, horses, sheep and goats, especially for small- and medium-sized farms.

The new building, called the Forage-Animal Production Research Unit, will include design upgrades and expand the research capacity for agriculture in Kentucky, according to UK. The building is scheduled to be complete in 2026, and is funded by federal money.

Todays groundbreaking for the Forage Animal Production Lab speaks to the heart of what a land-grant institution, like ours, is so distinctively positioned to do: to take basic scientific discovery and apply that knowledge to applications that can be transferred directly to producers, said UK President Eli Capilouto.

The building will be staffed by six scientists from the USDAs Agricultural Research Services and seven UK researchers, as well as laboratory technicians and administrative employees. Capilouto praised McConnell for his role in helping to secure the federal funding for the building.

This is a big moment, not just for UK but for the entire Commonwealth, McConnell said. Central Kentucky is well on the way to becoming the go-to hub for high-tech, advanced agricultural research. Its special focus on the cattle and equine industries in particular will help keep Kentuckys multi-billion dollar agriculture industry at the forefront of our nation.

The United States is the largest producer of beef in the world, and Kentucky is the eighth-largest in the nation, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. The Kentucky beef industry produced more than $1 billion of beef in 2022. There are approximately 73,500 total farms in Kentucky, more than half of which are beef cattle producers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the lab will allow important collaboration to happen between scientists, and produce research that will have widespread impact on agriculture.

This lab is a testimony to collaboration, its a testimony to science, but its also a commitment to those who produce and those who farm, Vilsack said. Were going to continue as a society to support them and be with them as they figure out creative and new ways to be sustainable.
West Asheville Presbyterian Church located at 690 Haywood Road.

ASHEVILLE - Today's burning question is about rumored plans to demolish a West Asheville church. Got a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Executive Editor Karen Chavez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: Is the West Asheville Presbyterian Church on Haywood Road being torn down? Why? How old is it? Cant it be saved? Does it qualify as an historic structure? If its torn down, what would go in its place?

Answer: The answer to most of these questions lay with the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, which is the regional governing body for the Presbyterian church, spanning 94 congregations and over 13,000 members.

When a congregation decides to dissolve, its property reverts back to the Presbyterian church, and that's what happened here  Buncombe County Property Records indicates the church and its surrounding land, all 1.39 acres, was deeded by the West Asheville Presbyterian Church back to the Presbytery of Western North Carolina in December 2021.

From there, said Cameron Murchison, stated clerk of the WNC presbytery, the property of the congregation is the responsibility of the presbytery to take care of thereafter.

Let's take these one at a time.

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The back entrance to the West Asheville Presbyterian Church.

Is the West Asheville Presbyterian Church on Haywood Road being torn down?

An administrative commission was created, responsible for both closing the West Asheville congregation and discerning what's next for the property. Co-chair of the commission, Marcia Mount Shoop, pastor/head of staff with Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, said while much is still being determined, the church building will come down.

We have already voted that the building has to be razed, Mount Shoop said. "We had a consultant look at the building, and do an analysis of what's possible, and they felt that it needed to be torn down."

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Why?

Murchison said it's not happening now, but the building will be demolished in the future.

Analyses we had done of the building structure indicates that the cost of bringing it to code is pretty substantial and that it might be better to not plan to maintain that building, but try to develop something different on that property," he said.

Age, structural issues, general disrepair and "hazardous substances" mean it would "cost more to renovate than to start over," Mount Shoop added.

The back of West Asheville Presbyterian Church on Haywood Road.

How old is it?

According to Patrick Johnson at First Presbyterian Church of Asheville, the other co-chair of the administrative commission, the congregation of West Asheville Presbyterian was started out of the First Presbyterian, located on Church Street in downtown Asheville. First Presbyterian planted a number of churches in the area between 1873 and 1950s, he said, and this was one of them.

For a few more details, I took a quick trip to the Buncombe County Special Collection on the lower level of Pack Memorial Library downtown.

An article from The Asheville Citizen, dated Jan. 28, 1924, indicated that the West Asheville Presbyterian Church had been in existence since 1913, and began with Rev. P. P. Winn, who started an afternoon Sunday School in the "upper room of a store."

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They began meeting in a temporary building in 1916 with about 41 members.

A Sep. 24, 1921 article announced the construction of the building that would become the church at 690 Haywood Rd. The cost? $35,000.

A clipping from The Asheville Times on Sept. 24, 1921. The article headline is "Construction of church started."

The total appraised value of the property now is $4.9 million, with $3.6 million of that the building itself.

"The new building will be on the site of the present frame structure which is to be rolled to the rear of the church lot and will be used temporarily as a Sunday school room," read the 1921 article.

The church was opened June 18, 1922, according to a clipping from that same day.

"(The church) is declared to be one of the prettiest examples of church architecture for a structure of its size in the United States," the article said. "No plans have been spared in making the church complete in every detail. From cellar to dome the new building is modern in every respect."

The article said the church had a membership of 250 people, and additions were already planned.

A clip from the Asheville Citizen Times from June 18, 1922. The article headline is "West Asheville Presbyterian Church will be opened today."

Built in "colonial style" with "four massive columns in the front," the church featured "eight large art glass windows, each 16 feet high."

Over the years, as planned, several additions were made to the church, the most recent in 1960, according to property records.

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Cant it be saved?

The intention of the Presbytery seems to be to "save" the property in one form or another, if not the building itself.

Does it qualify as an historic structure?

The building is not located in a historic overlay or listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

If its torn down, what would go in its place?

Mount Shoop said there are no plans to sell the property to a developer, and the intent is for the Presbytery to stay involved with the next phase of its life.

But I would say, again, as we cultivate an equity lens and think about reparative steps, we havent taken anything off the table in terms of the way other partners are involved in this," she said.

Murchison echoed that they are not looking to outright sell the property, and are intending to establish new community partners and create something new.

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We dont want to abandon ministry on this site, but we are now trying to determine what exactly the shape of the ministry is going to be," he said.

Stairs to the basement of West Asheville Presbyterian Church.

Mount Shoop said they want to invite more people to the table, especially Black and brown residents, to be part of the process.

"I don't feel it should just be the presbytery's decision," she said.

I have a deep commitment to racial equity and to the work of equity and reparative steps in this community around race, so part of my role on the commission has to ask the commission to really cultivate an equity lens in the way we make decisions about whats next for the property."

Johnson added that the commission feels very hopeful about the property's future. With so much "social need" in the West Asheville area, and work done by different nonprofits over the years, he said, citing The Steady Collective and Asheville Poverty Initiative, our hope is that this property and land can be used to meet this need."

People can contact the Presbytery of Western North Carolina at 828-438-4217.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Woman: What is the future of a West Asheville church?
Monroe County Executive Adam Bello on Tuesday issued an executive order in anticipation of the possible arrival of hundreds of asylum seekers and migrants from New York City.

The move comes less than two weeks after New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned officials from across the state that he may send as many as 300 people by bus to any of New Yorks 62 counties at any time. Adams said that New York City was anticipating the arrival of approximately 3,000 migrants during the first week after Title 42 expired on May 12.

State officials have said they expect to see a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving in New York. In response, Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration and several other communities have declared states of emergency.

"Other municipalities, whether inside or outside of New York State, transporting busloads of migrant families to a hotel within our community without a plan in place to support them, is not fair to our residents, and is not fair to the migrants who would be housed here," Bello said. "Clear communication and coordination is essential if we are to navigate this situation successfully, which is why I have had a continued dialogue with the Governors Office,her Commissioners, as well as fellow County Executives across the state facing the same challenges."

The order prevents any hotel, motel, shelter, or other multiple-dwelling units from entering into a contract with anyentity to provide emergency shelter unless an Emergency Housing Plan is submitted to the Monroe County Department of Human Services and receives approval.

"This plan must demonstrate that arrangements have been made to ensure any individuals brought to Monroe County will receive adequate housing and necessary support services, and have their fundamental needs met for the duration of their stay," Bello said.

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More: Separating fear, rhetoric from reality: What Title 42's end really means for New Yorkers

A number of counties in the state have already declared states of emergency, including Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. Albany County issued a similar executive order on Tuesday, according to Bello.

"Monroe County welcomes people from all over the world," Bello said. "This Emergency Order does notprevent migrants from coming to Monroe County while they await resolution of their legalasylum application. Rather, it ensures that if migrants need to be housed here, it is done so in athoughtful way with a reasonable plan in place to protect everyone involved."

The executive order went into effect immediately upon signing, and will remain in effect for five days, although it could be extended.

Bello said the County was already working to adsress a housing crisis and an unprecedented shortage of emergency housing available to support individuals experiencing homelessness.

"Monroe Countys Department of Human Services works daily to address these shortfalls, but continues to face difficulties in identifying adequate emergency housing and providing supportive services to those in need of suchhousing," Bello said. "We expect any surge locally will exacerbate our housing shortages and put a strain on our support systems in place."

Contact reporter Sean Lahman at slahman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @seanlahman.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Monroe County NY issues executive order for possible influx of migrants
A Missouri man who crashed a rented U-Haul truck into security barriers near the White House on Monday told federal agents his goal was to seize power and kill the president, according to court records.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, crashed the rented truck into security barriers around Lafayette Square in front of the White House late Monday, according to a statement of facts from a Secret Service agent, shared by the Department of Justice. Kandula exited the vehicle and took out a red-and-white flag with a Nazi swastika in the center before officers intervened, authorities said.

According to the filing, Kandula told agents that his goal was to get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation and that he would kill the President if thats what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.

The Chesterfield, Mo., man allegedly said hed been planning his actions for six months and told agents that he thought they had been successful, saying, whether I got into the White House or not, my message was received. He clarified that his message was intended for organizations such as the Secret Service, according to the filing, which did not share details about what exactly the message was.

Kandula also said he purchased the swastika flag online because Nazis have a great history and lauded Adolf Hitler, saying he admires the authoritarian nature, eugenics, and  one world order of Nazis, according to the document.

The U-Haul crash damaged the security barriers, but no explosives or weapons were found with Kandula and no injuries were reported, authorities said.

Kandula had rented the truck in Virginia when he arrived at Dulles International Airport, just outside of D.C., on a one-way ticket, according to federal records.

U.S. Park Police said Tuesday the man was arrested on charges including threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a president, vice president or member of their family; assault with a dangerous weapon; reckless driving; destruction of federal property; and trespassing.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that President Biden had been briefed on the incident. Hes relieved that no one was injured last night and grateful to the agents and the law enforcement officer who responded so quickly, she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
[Source]

Chin-Kee  the startling caricature of a negative stereotypical Chinese in Gene Luen Yangs graphic novel American Born Chinese  was the biggest dilemma series creator Kelvin Yu faced in adapting the novel into a Disney series.

The fictional character symbolizes the harmful stereotypes reflected in the racist nature of American pop culture in the past. In Yangs novel, Chin-Kee was depicted as an embarrassing cousin who other characters wished to avoid as much as possible.

The cousin character is the most controversial part of the book, Yang tells NextShark. He is purposely offensive. He's the embodiment of all of the negative stereotypes that many of us Asian Americans grew up with, so to move that onto screen on Disney+ really was difficult.

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Concerned with adapting the caricature for modern audiences, Yu reflected on his own journey in Hollywood as an Asian American actor.

What Kelvin and his writing team did was they infused Kelvin's own experience as an Asian American actor. Kelvin's very first acting job was one where he played a stereotype character named Freddy Gong and that translated into Freddy Wong on our show, Yang explains.

Yu appeared on Ryan Murphy and Gina Matthewss American comedy-drama TV series Popular, which ran for two seasons on The WB from 1999 to 2001. Freddy Gong emerged in six episodes of the high school teen drama as an unpopular, stereotypical Asian student.

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Yu eventually turned to that character when creating Freddy Wong for Disneys American Born Chinese.

In the series, Wong is a character on Beyond Repair, a 90s sitcom series that is being rebooted. While the caricature part has been dropped, Wong still appears as a comic-relief character with an exaggerated Asian accent. Wong is played by the actor Jamie Yao, who soon reflects on his past sitcom role, in the fictional world of the American Born Chinese.

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The character would be played by Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan, who recently admitted to initially passing on the role.

I remember when I first heard about this character when I was offered the role, it scared the hell out of me. In fact, I actually passed on it because I told our creative team that this is the type of portrayal that we do not want to see in 2023, Quan shared at a post-screening Q&A in New York City.

The 51-year-old actor later had a change of heart after discussing the character with Yus creative team, noting that Wong is like art imitating life.

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In light of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Yang hopes that the Asian American community will value the importance of storytelling as he has in creating American Born Chinese.

I hope they see that our stories are important, our stories are a vital part of the fabric of the society and if we have something to say, we should say it, Yang says.

Its visibility, executive producer Melvin Mar adds. I think with all that's happening in our community these days, changing the narrative and reducing the otherness in our community is vital.

Mar tells NextShark that he has been a fan of Yangs graphic novel since 2006 and has waited 10 years for it to finally be adapted into a show.

I have never read anything that sort of spoke to me and stuck with me that much, Mar says.

After Mar met Yang on a panel that their mutual friend was hosting at the time, Yang eventually welcomed the idea.

He called me two months later and said, I think I'm ready to do this, Mar shares.

American Born Chinese also stars Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Wu, Jimmy Liu, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Stephanie Hsu, Ronnie Chieng and Jimmy O. Yang, among others. The show premieres on Disney+ on May 24.

Check out NextSharks full interview with Yang and Mar below:
The crime sounded like the plot to a movie.

At the secure private library of the Vatican, home to countless ancient treasures, a forger was afoot. The same was true in the centuries-old Riccardiana Library in Florence, at the National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona, at the Marciana National Library in Venice.

In daring burglaries dating back to at least the 1980s, a sophisticated thief had lifted priceless 15th-century bound editions of letters Christopher Columbus had sent from the New World, and replaced them with clever fakes  forgeries left undiscovered for decades, and left on display for the world to believe in.

The mystery turned out to involve an antiquarian with an extraordinary memory, a South American art collector, and telltale clues offered by centuries-old bookbindings.

But unlike in the movies, those rare monuments to history werent chased down by some suave but unorthodox Interpol agent with a cultivated mustache, or a reckless archaeologist with a yen for conspiracy theories.

The mystery was solved, instead, in Delaware.

Specifically, it was solved out of a little suite on the ground floor of a poured-concrete Wilmington office tower, originally designed for an insurance company.

Wilmington is hardly a glamorous nerve center for the international art scene, even as many great works do come here to be sheltered from taxes in anonymous warehouses. But when it comes to solving transnational art crime, Delaware is known to agents all over the country and, in some cases, the world.

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In the past decade or so the small Wilmington office of Homeland Security Investigations, home base for fewer than 10 agents, has helped repatriate ancient historical artifacts to countries from South America to the cultural centers of the Old World.

The diaries of a Nazi collaborator. Religious paintings from old Cuzco in Peru. Roman manuscripts dating back to the 9th century. And of course those priceless letters from Columbus  which, technically, did have a price, going for around a million dollars.

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Just last month, the island nation of Cyprus declared itself grateful for the return of two coins dating back millennia. Courtesy, also, of agents in Wilmington and Philadelphia.

What these cases have in common is a soft-spoken special agent named Mark Olexa who sports dark suits, tightly cropped brown hair and a look of visible discomfort when receiving praise. He receives praise reasonably often.

While international hubs such as New York and Washington remain busier sites for artifact smuggling and prosecutions, Wilmington pulls far above its weight. Olexa is one of few special agents who has made a perhaps unintentional specialty out of finding the long-lost and the irreplaceable pieces of the ancient world  and helping send them home.

And so when federal agents and U.S. attorneys from Philadelphia or San Antonio come across purloined Peruvian artifacts or a mislaid Roman coin, Olexa is often the person they call.

"Success breeds more success," said Kenneth Krauss, Wilmington's resident agent in charge. And more success breeds even more.

When asked about the reasons for that success, Olexa points to a long line of U.S. attorneys in Delaware and Philadelphia whove been diligent in doing the intricate research and legal wrangling required to close a cultural artifact case  often unique challenges that involve sealed warrants, wealthy collectors who stay forever anonymous and archaeological forensics.

A stolen kris dagger, once given as a gift to naval commander Oliver Hazard Perry, was repatriated from Canada in 2019 and given to the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. The case was handled by Homeland Security Investigations in Delaware.

He credits also the agents at other offices who bring in cases, and a parent office in Philadelphia willing to offer its resources for quixotic quests that might send agents to Florentine libraries or the home of a cagey Buffalo book collector.

But when you ask the head of the Wilmington office, he instead points to Mark Olexa.

"The main reason why we have such success is sitting right here next to me," said Kraiss, the agent in charge. "It's agent Olexa. We always say, it's all about our people, all about the agents and how they work. And it's a testament to Mark, why Delaware is so successful."

How the forged million-dollar Columbus letters landed in Wilmington

Art crime is far from where special agent Olexa started his career.

Its also a small portion of the cases handled by HSI, the perhaps lesser-known wing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Philadelphia HSI office, which oversees Delaware, devotes the lion's share of its resources to tracing the movements of drugs and weapons, to human trafficking and to the many shadowy things that might happen on the internet.

In the mid-2000s, Olexa was part of an HSI team working to uncover arms procurement for Hezbollah in an investigation called Operation Phone Flash. He also worked on a case investigating six men who planned an armed assault on New Jerseys Fort Dix beginning in 2006.

But in 2011 after coming to Wilmington, Olexa fielded a tip that seemed too strange to be real. A tip that would change the course of his law enforcement career.

A book dealer in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, named Jay Dillon  whose resume includes selling the first book to visit the moon and an Egyptian Book of the Dead  had begun to notice something askew.

While surfing on his computer, Dillon saw a digital image of a bound 1493 letter from Christopher Columbus owned by the National Library of Catalonia, one of only 30 or so copies known to still exist.

Columbus' letter was among the world's first bestsellers, detailing his epochal landfall in a New World with many islands inhabited by numerous people. The residents did not resist, Columbus crowed, when he issued a proclamation and thus took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King.

But in that letter, Dillon saw something that unnerved him. He recognized the markings and imperfections on the Barcelona letter as the same ones he'd previously seen on a copy offered by a dealer  a feat of memory that boggles Paul Needham, a 15th-century book expert and former Princeton University librarian who consulted on the case.

Im still amazed that he spotted this, Needham said. He matched them up, from photographs in a dealers catalog. The probability would be infinitesimal that two copies would have tiny dirt spots on the leaves in exactly the same places between different copies. It was a brilliant discovery.

Suspicious of forgeries, Dillon traveled to Barcelona and to other European libraries to examine their bound copies of Columbus letters. And then he walked those suspicions to the desk of special agent Mark Olexa.

Someone has been stealing Christopher Columbus letters and leaving reproduced forgeries in their place, he told Olexa. He arrived with troves of corroborating evidence.

I just remember filling up a notebook with all this information that was being conveyed, and it was a bit overwhelming, Olexa said now. Prior to that, I didn't even know what a Columbus letter was.

That meeting was the beginning of an investigation that would span at leeast three continents, four countries and 13 years  a case that made Olexas reputation as an agent who would know what to do with stolen historical documents, and that kicked off a long run of cultural artifacts recovered by Delaware's HSI office.

Heres some of the more significant cultural artifacts retrieved with the help of HSI Delaware in the past decade.

2011-today: four letters from Christopher Columbus

A reprinted copy of Christopher Columbus original letter written in 1493 about the discovery of the New World is displayed during a press conference in Rome, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The United States has returned to Italy a letter written by Christopher Columbus in 1493 about his discovery of the New World that was stolen from a Florence library and unwittingly acquired by the Library of Congress.

After Dillons visit, and an improbable-seeming theory, agent Olexa went to Princeton to ask Needham, a world-renowned expert, for a second opinion.

He was gobsmacked to find that Needham backed up Dillons suspicions, and his research.

At that point, trust and verify, Olexa said.

So Olexa asked Needham to join him on a trip to the European libraries to analyze the purported forgeries.

Librarians at the old libraries were reluctant to believe such thefts were possible  certainly not on their watch!  but the pages in the European collections were indeed reproduced forgeries, sewn back into the original book bindings.

Once we start piecing together that these are forgeries in these libraries, well... where did the originals potentially go? Olexa said.

The world of rare book collectors is small. It is complicated and pretty secretive, Needham said. But it is also a world that keeps quite detailed records, to verify the provenance of each rare book.

Using the little markings and imperfections on each Columbus letter as their guide  and also the way in which each page was bound  Olexa and Needham were able to track each of the pilfered originals and verify their source.

The book from Barcelona had ended up in the hands of a South American collector. The one from the Vatican turned up in Atlanta. And the Florentine letter? It had been given as a gift to the U.S. Library of Congress.

A fourth pilfered letter, from the Venice library, turned up in Texas.

More: Stolen 40 years ago, rare Christopher Columbus letter recovered by Delaware investigators

The whole process, from the initial search to the legal process, took years for each stolen letter. But eventually each owner, including the Library of Congress, was persuaded that it was in their best interests to hand over the stolen pieces of history.

Three of the four have already been repatriated. Asked whether the pope was aware of the theft and recovery of the Vatican's letter, the librarys vice prefect concurred.

Yes, he was informed, Ambrogio Piazzoni told CBS news show "60 Minutes" in 2020. He was very pleased with this return.

The fourth Columbus letter, due in Venice, was scheduled to be sent home in spring 2020. But fate, and a worldwide pandemic, intervened. The historic letter still awaits its homecoming.

We expect that to happen in the near term, Olexa said.

2013: Finding the stolen diaries of Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg

By November 2012, the Wilmington HSI office had made substantial progress in the Columbus letter case.

Once you have a reputation that youre capable of bringing together a complex case like that, it has a snowball effect, Olexa said. Referrals begin to come in  including some cases he cant talk about yet, he said.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum contacted the Wilmington office about another stolen document: This one was the personal diaries of a Nazi intellectual named Alfred Rosenberg, whose musings were thought to detail Hitlers early plans to dominate the Soviet Union.

The museum already hired a private investigator to track down the diaries, which had long ago been "improperly" taken from U.S. possession by a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, who'd since died in Pennsylvania. The museum's investigator had suspicions that a person in the Buffalo area now had possession. But suspicions arent proof. And the museum had hit a dead end. Could the Wilmington office, and the Delaware U.S. attorney, offer some help?

As it turned out, all that was needed was a little persuasion.

(We) made a point of going out and conducting a very important interview with the person that was suspected of last having possession I think he was made aware of the potential consequences, the legal implications and consequences, for him to possess property that belonged to the U.S. government, Olexa said. This is not a legal burden you want to pass on to your children, Olexa told the person, whose name has not been released. The agents then left, not knowing whether the conversation had been successful.

But a month or so later, after consulting some lawyers, that person contacted HSI saying they might be able to get hold of that Rosenberg diary the government seemed to be looking for. On June 13, 2013, the diary was entered into the collection of the Holocaust Museum, where it remains.

Having material that documents the actions of both perpetrators and victims is crucial to helping scholars understand how and why the Holocaust happened," said museum director Sara J. Bloomfield at the time. "The story of this diary demonstrates how much material remains to be collected.

2012-2014: Stolen Peruvian paintings and cultural artifacts

In 2012, the Delaware U.S. Attorneys office, and HSI Wilmington, recovered multiple Peruvian artifacts, in particular a millennium-old jar and a pre-Columbian bronze blade, an investigation that began and ended in Delaware.

But the more interesting story, said Olexa, is how four Cuzco paintings also found their way back to Peru.

Olexa had been invited to a training seminar on the subject of cultural repatriation. While there, he was approached by a HSI agent from San Antonio.

After a tip in 2009, agents from the parent HSI Austin office investigated and eventually located what they believed to be four Colonial-era devotional paintings stolen from Peruvian churches, painted in the Cuzco style thought to be the first European-influenced school of painting to flourish in the Western Hemisphere.

But the Texas agents had run aground on the last crucial step of the legal process: obtaining a seizure warrant to get the objects into the governments possession. So they enlisted Olexa to help bring it home; Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hall was able to issue a seizure warrant out of Delaware after analysis by a subject matter expert.

I was the one that ended up swearing out the seizure warrant, Olexa said. But ultimately (the case) was Austin's. It was theirs, they were the lead. I think it goes to show you that there's really no egos in this. You just get the job done.

The four paintings were returned to Peru in a pair of ceremonies, in 2012 and then in 2014.

2019: Return of 9th-century Roman manuscripts and Contorniato coin

Two 9th century Roman manuscripts, describing the sale of lands and vineyards, were repatriated to Italy in 2019 after an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations in Philadelphia and Delaware.

In 2019, another batch of ancient artifacts returned to Italy. These cases originated in Philadelphia, Olexa said, but the Delaware office was again brought in on the case because of Wilmington offices ever-growing history with investigating cultural artifacts.

Two 9th century manuscripts from Benevento, Italy, detailing the sale of lands and vineyards, had been given to the University of Pennsylvania as a gift in 2010. Meanwhile, a nearly two-millennium-old Roman Contorniato di Traiano coin came into the possession of a Pennsylvania auction house upon the death of its previous possessor.

Both of these turned out to have been stolen from museums in Italy. In both cases, the owners surrendered the objects willingly after a long investigation.

2023: Repatriation of 4th century B.C. Cypriot coins

One of two 4th century Cypriot coins repatriated to the Republic of Cyprus in a ceremony January 2023, after a seven-year investigation by Homeland Security Investigations in Delaware and Philadelphia. Depicted on the front og the coin is Hercules.

The Republic of Cyprus, a small nation near Turkey, sent a tip to the Philadelphia HSI office in late 2016, Olexa said. Two 4th century B.C. Cypriot coins had just been smuggled to the United States: one depicting Hercules, one with lions on each side.

But though the initial information arrived quickly, Olexa said, the investigation was both lengthy and complex  eventually comprising nearly seven years and involving the forensics team at the Smithsonian Institute. The coins finally arrived home, along with several other repatriated antiquities, in April of this year.

We got the tip in 16, and the repatriation happened in 2023," Olexa said. We will go to great lengths. Because if the roles were reversed, and we were asking them for something, we would hope they would take the same amount of time, effort and diligence.

Other cases worked by the Delaware office during the same period include a kris dagger once owned by Oliver Hazard Perry, repatriated to the U.S. Naval academy Museum in 2019 from Canada; ancient feline ceramics from Costa Rica repatriated in 2022; and multiple other cases involving rare books.

The repatriation ceremonies for those books have yet to occur, Olexa said, and so he can't yet comment. But those cases, like many others, came in because of his previous investigation of the Columbus letters, he said.

"Once you start finding these things," said Olexa, "other things kind of find their way to you as well."

Matthew Korfhage is a Philadelphia-based reporter for USA Today Network.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Nazi diaries, Columbus letters: Delaware known for solving art crimes
KYIV, Ukraine - Despite a brutal Russian invasion that has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians and laid waste to swaths of the country, Ukraine continues to allow Russian oil and gas to cross its territory to serve its European neighbors - generating revenue for Kyiv and Moscow and illustrating how hard it is for the bitter enemies to cut ties.

Senior Ukrainian officials have demanded that their Western partners impose tougher sanctions and cut virtually all economic ties to Russia, saying "more must be done" to cripple Moscow's war machine. But as surreal as it might seem, Ukraine insists that it has virtually no choice but to maintain its own commercial deals and has lobbied to preserve them, arguing that they provide some leverage over the Kremlin and help constrain where the Russian military carries out airstrikes.

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Oleksiy Chernyshov, the chief executive of Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz, conceded the bizarre optics of Ukraine still doing business with Russia. "It is for me, it's impossible, as a Ukrainian citizen - that is my first reaction," Chernyshov said, adding that this was a personal and emotional response.

But Naftogaz - and senior political leaders - insist that Ukraine cannot and should not shut the pipelines, both to lay claim to residual revenue (although the amount Moscow is paying, if anything, is not public information) and because some of Kyiv's European supporters are still dependent on Russian oil and gas.

Russia's continuing profits, and Kyiv's frustrations, were spotlighted recently in classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked on the Discord messaging platform, which said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered blowing up the Druzhba oil pipeline earlier this year.

According to the document, which was obtained by The Washington Post, U.S. officials questioned the seriousness of the threats, which may have been an outburst of frustration at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has voiced pro-Kremlin positions and insisted on an exemption from a European Union effort to end purchases of Russian oil.

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Moscow sent about 300,000 barrels of oil per day last year through the Druzhba - or "Friendship" - pipeline, which crosses Ukraine. Russia is also obligated to pump some 40 billion cubic meters of gas annually through Ukraine's gas transit system because of supply agreements that predate the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian officials say they are in a quandary. Russian hydrocarbons crossing their territory earn the Kremlin millions of dollars and help fund its war machine. But Kyiv also needs the money it earns on transit and wants to be a reliable economic partner to European nations, some of which could face destabilizing price increases if Russian energy supplies were suddenly cut off.

Chernyshov said Kyiv must uphold its contractual obligations, and the decision to end the deliveries lies with the countries on the receiving end, such as Hungary, which need Russian oil and gas for heat in the winter. "This stream has not been stopped in order not to make other countries that are supporting Ukraine freeze," he said.

The Kremlin has used energy supplies as a weapon, including in the 2000s when it twice cut off supplies to Europe.

But Kyiv has also insisted that Russia's gas must continue to flow, even in the years since Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and fomented a separatist war in the eastern Donbas region. Ukraine insisted that it should sustain its role as a transit country, while also demanding that countries like Germany not help Russia build new pipelines - a view critics called hypocritical. Now, Ukraine says all of its supporters should reduce or eliminate their use of Russian energy.

A working group on Russian sanctions, chaired by Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, and Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, published an "action plan" last month that laid out additional steps that should be taken to punish Russia - but the plan pointedly called for preserving the transit of Russian energy across Ukraine.

It also called for suspending "all remaining Russian-controlled pipeline routes" taking Russian gas to the European market, as well as the TurkStream pipeline through Turkey. "End the direct supply of Russian gas to the European Union, except through Ukraine," the action plan said.

Anders Aslund, an economic expert focusing on the former Soviet Union who was part of the sanctions working group, said the logic of maintaining transit across Ukraine was clear: Gas would go to European markets regardless, because the E.U. included several exceptions, or "carveouts," to its embargo regime for countries like Hungary.

What's more, Russia is committed to paying Ukraine a total $7 billion dollars over a five-year contract signed in 2019, called a "pump or pay" agreement, which requires Moscow to pay whether it ships any gas. "So why not get the money?" Aslund said. "The contracts have been agreed with the European Union for these carveouts."

The goal of the sanctions is not to introduce "a general ban against trade with Russia," Aslund said, but "to cause Russia maximum damage without causing Ukraine more damage than necessary."

On May 10, E.U. envoys met in Brussels to discuss a new package of sanctions against Russia, its 11th so far. Previous measures targeted individuals, businesses and sectors of the Russian economy, and restricted exports and imports.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, at a news conference with Zelensky in Kyiv the previous day, said the E.U. would "continue to do everything" in its power "to erode Putin's war machine and his revenue." Zelensky praised the E.U. proposals, which he said would hit Russia's atomic energy sector. But he and other officials have said this is still not enough.

Under its gas contract with Kyiv, Russia is obligated to pay Ukraine some $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually. After the war began, one key entry point for Russian gas in occupied territory in the east was shut down, with conflicting claims over who was responsible. saying Ukrainian officials insisted there was capacity to send all Russian gas through another entry point. However, Russia drastically reduced the amount of gas that it pumped through Ukraine.

In September, Naftogaz filed a case at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, saying that "funds were not paid" by Russian state gas company Gazprom "neither on time nor in full" under the terms of the contract. Naftogaz declined to specify how much was missing from payments, however.

"We will make Gazprom pay," said Yuriy Vitrenko, the head of Naftogaz at the time. Gazprom, in response, said there were no "appropriate reasons" to pursue the case and threatened to impose financial penalties against Naftogaz.

Gas has been at the center of Russia and Ukraine's troubled relationship for decades. At one point, Russia sent more than 80 percent of its gas across Ukraine to European countries.

Russia hoped to bypass Ukraine by opening two gas pipelines across the North Sea to Germany. As the second, called Nord Stream 2, was being built, Ukrainian officials argued that some of Russia's gas should continue to traverse Ukraine as a way of preventing a full-scale war. Nord Stream 2 was built but never used. The war happened anyway.

Still, Nataliia Shapoval, vice president for policy research at the Kyiv School of Economics, said Russia's use of Ukrainian pipelines "creates some additional protection" and has appeared to limit Moscow's airstrikes. "During their campaign against the energy sector this winter, gas transportation and storage were not their primary targets, for sure," Shapoval said.

The Druzhba oil pipeline has likewise been spared, halting operations for only "a couple of days, when they didn't have the power to run the pumps," said Matthew Sagers, an energy transport expert at S&P Global Commodity Insights in London.

Sagers said Druzhba carried about 80 percent of oil for Hungary's largest oil company, MOL, last year and is supposed to carry between 50 and 55 percent this year.

In addition to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia depend on oil shipped through Druzhba. Plus, Ukraine earned close to $180 million on transit fees from Druzhba last year, Sagers said. "Money is money."

In the end, Sagers said, the Ukrainians "don't need to blow up the pipeline - they could just simply stop doing business if they wanted to."

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(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong, which is preparing to introduce a new regime for trading digital assets, is responding to concerns raised by industry players about the shortage of a crucial type of worker.

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In conclusions from a weeks-long consultation published Tuesday, the Securities and Futures Commission included a provision that may allow licensed crypto platforms to employ fewer so-called responsible officers than previously thought.

The difficulty finding responsible officers, or ROs, had emerged as a hurdle for crypto companies seeking permits under Hong Kongs new regulatory regime, which takes effect June 1. Thats threatening to set back Hong Kongs push to establish itself as a crypto hub, a key part of the citys effort to recover from the twin blows of political unrest and unpopular Covid restrictions.

Its the hardest position to fill in Hong Kong right now, Lily King, chief operating officer of Cobo, a digital-asset custodian which is applying for a Hong Kong license, said before the SFCs announcement. There arent enough ROs in the market.

RO System

ROs are a feature of Hong Kongs broader regulatory system for financial services. The RO arrangement, which requires a firm to have two such executives for each type of license it holds, is also being used for the framework for digital assets.

Aside from a permit to provide automated trading services, a crypto exchange might also need licenses for dealing in and advising on securities, as well as for managing assets, depending on the scope of its operations.

Executives acting as ROs must be licensed by the SFC and have relevant experience and product knowledge for the type of permit they hold. They are responsible for ensuring their companies comply with rules, and can be subject to civil and criminal penalties in the event of a breach.

There are about 18,000 ROs in Hong Kong, holding licenses ranging from asset management to trading and corporate finance. However, only 95 have the Type 7 license for providing automated trading services, a key one for crypto exchanges.

Digital-asset ROs also need experience in areas such as blockchain technology, further narrowing the field of suitable candidates.

Seeking to ease some pressure on crypto firms, the SFC said Tuesday that it may approve one single individual as RO under both securities and anti-money laundering ordinances. That would allow a virtual-asset trading platform to employ fewer such workers during the transition to the new regime, according to the regulator.

As there may be a lack of talent with both virtual asset and traditional securities experience, we are prepared to adopt a pragmatic approach, the SFC said, adding that it will provide more details later.

The regulator is processing three to four applications from crypto exchanges under the old regime and has received indications of interest from over five more for the new one, Chief Executive Officer Julia Leung said in an interview in late April. Huobi Global, OKX and Gate.io are among companies that have publicly said they plan to apply.

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Hong Kong has just two crypto exchanges licensed under its previous opt-in regulatory system for digital assets, so new entrants are mostly left to target ROs working in traditional finance. Yet those workers are typically reluctant to switch to crypto because its viewed as a riskier career path, so more incentives need to be offered to them, said Cobos King.

Because of the limited supply, ROs with crypto experience command up to 20% more in compensation than those in traditional finance  with salaries reaching as high as HK$150,000 ($19,138) a month, according to Daniel Lam, the founder of recruitment company Crypto Connect.

In terms of the severity of the issue on a scale of one to 10, I think were at seven to eight right now, said Jon Pham, a managing director at ZhongYi Investment Managers Limited, a legal and regulatory consultant that has advised more than a dozen crypto companies applying for a license in Hong Kong. It typically takes up to five months to hire for an RO position in crypto, he estimated.

One way Hong Kong has tried to address the shortage is by allowing people with strong technical backgrounds in crypto and blockchain to become ROs, even if they lack the purely financial qualifications, Leung said in the April interview. We want techie people who know the blockchain, she said.

A technically adept RO must still partner with a peer with relevant financial experience, according to an SFC circular.

The city also faces one potential hurdle to luring people accustomed to the work-from-anywhere ethos of the crypto world: at least one RO must be present at all times in Hong Kong to supervise the licensed business, according to local securities law.

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A federal grand jury has returned a 22-count indictment against Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer who was found guilty of killing his wife and son earlier this year.

Murdaugh, a former personal injury attorney, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on one count of murder each in the deaths of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, as well as two counts of possession of a weapon during a crime. In addition to the murder charges, he faces nearly 100 counts of various financial crimes including fraud and money laundering.

The new charges are separate from those dozens of counts, and were announced by the United States Attorney's Office's District of South Carolina on Wednesday morning.

The 22-count indictment includes charges of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, and alleges that Murdaugh engaged in three different plots to take money and property from personal injury clients over the course of years.

According to a news release announcing the charges, in one scheme that ran from 2005 to 2021, Murdaugh allegedly worked to defraud and take money from clients who received settlement funds. He allegedly directed settlement funds to himself by using incorrect forms, claiming funds as attorney's fees and disbursing them to himself, claiming false fees, creating fraudulent expenses, disbursing fees to himself instead of routing them through his law firm, and intercepting insurance money meant for beneficiaries and putting the money in his personal account.

Alex Murdaugh listens to testimony during his trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Feb. 10, 2023, in Walterboro, South Carolina. / Credit: Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

In a second plot, Murdaugh allegedly conspired with his banker, Russell Laffitte, for at least a decade to commit wire and bank fraud. The indictment alleges that Laffitte, who was convicted on federal charges for his role in the scheme in 2022, served as Murdaugh's personal representative for personal injury clients. In this role, Laffitte collected over $350,000 in fees. As part of the plot, Murdaugh directed employees to make settlement checks payable to "Palmetto State Bank," but the checks were then delivered to Laffitte. Murdaugh then directed Laffitte to use the checks "for Murdaugh's benefit," the district attorney's office said. The funds were then allegedly used for Murdaugh's loans and expenses, as well as cash withdrawals.

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In a third alleged scheme, Murdaugh created a bank account, called "Forge," in Sept. 2015. Murdaugh allegedly presented the account as a legitimate corporation for structuring insurance settlements, and from in or around May 2017 through at least July 2021, he allegedly funneled stolen personal injury settlements through the account. Fourteen of the charges against Murdaugh, all for money laundering, are related to this account, for which Murdaugh was the only authorized signer.

Separate from the three schemes are allegations in the indictment that Murdaugh conspired with another personal injury attorney to defraud his former housekeeper's estate and his homeowner's insurance carriers. In Feb. 2018, Murdaugh's housekeeper died after falling at his home. Murdaugh recommended the housekeeper's estate hire the other personal injury attorney to file a claim against him and collect from his homeowner's insurance. The claim was settled, but the indictment alleges that Murdaugh and the other attorney conspired to siphon settlement funds for personal use. The second attorney allegedly sent checks totaling nearly $3.5 million to the "Forge" account used in the third scheme. The estate of the housekeeper did not receive any settlement funds. Murdaugh has previously been charged with two counts of obtaining property under false pretenses for these events.

Murdaugh's lawyers, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, told CBS News they believe the charges will not go to trial.

"Alex has been cooperating with the United States Attorneys' Office and federal agencies in their investigation of a broad range of activities," they said. "We anticipate that the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial."

The 22 charges carry financial and jail time penalties.

"Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers," said U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina Adair Boroughs in the news release announcing the charges. "South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the public's trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"We are grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this case and to the South Carolina Attorney General's Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for their work to hold Alex Murdaugh, and those who enabled him, accountable in our state system," she said. "We remain committed to doing our part to further that effort in the federal system."

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Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper watched a classroom of fourth grade students at Huntingtowne Farms Elementary School take on an engineering challenge Wednesday.

The youngsters tried to build the tallest tower possible using materials their teacher provided.

It was a fitting activity for Coopers visit, considering hes facing similar colossal obstacles in trying to stop Republican-proposed legislation that he says will dismantle public education in North Carolina, worsen the states teacher shortage and provide veteran teachers with only $250 in salary increases over two years.

Our public schools have meant a lot to our state, Cooper said, and I want future generations to benefit from public schools.

Coopers visit to Huntingtowne Farms Elementary in south Charlotte was part of his state tour speaking out against education legislation from the Republican-controlled General Assembly. It comes days after he declared public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency.

GOP lawmakers want to increase funding for private school vouchers so that any family, regardless of its income, would qualify to apply for vouchers to attend a K-12 private school.

There is a private school voucher scheme thats going to siphon a little over $3 billion from the general fund and it will directly affect a number of public schools throughout North Carolina, Cooper said. This is private school vouchers on steroids. Anybody at any income level can get money to send their children to private school.

Cooper also called Republicans proposed salary increases for teachers paltry and woefully inadequate and warned they would worsen the teacher shortage in a state that has more than 5,000 teacher vacancies. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has 506 as of May 19.

Its really disheartening to see our legislators funnel millions of dollars away from public schools, Lorin Bent, who serves on Huntingtowne Farms PTA, told The Charlotte Observer. Its really sad, and we are getting a coalition together to fight it.

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Gov. Roy Cooper watches as students at Huntingtowne Farms build towers out of materials provided by their teacher.

Sounding the alarm

Cooper told CMS officials Wednesday that the state has the money to raise teacher salaries substantially, but legislators have proposed giving greater pay raises to other state employee classes and intentionally put teachers at the bottom.

A millionaire is going to get $5,300 to send his or her kid to a private school, while a veteran public school teacher gets $250, Cooper said. Thats what were talking about here.

Coopers $5,300 figure was inaccurate. Proposed legislation Cooper was referring to would give veteran teachers $250 raises across two years. Under the voucher bill, highest-income earners would get $6,492 to help send their child to a private school over that same two years.

CMS teacher Justin Parmenter serves on the advisory boards of Public Schools First NC and Red 4 Ed NC and was elected NCAE Region 3 Director in April 2020. He writes about public education in North Carolina in his Notes from the Chalkboard.

Parmenter says many public schools are struggling with the impacts of poverty and the loss of good teachers due to unreasonable workloads, inadequate resources and low pay.

Rather than painting those schools as failures and luring families away, Parmenter said, state legislators need to focus on ensuring our students and teachers have what they need.

Cooper declared Monday that public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency in the face of extreme legislation from Republican state lawmakers. He also said the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education.

On Wednesday in the media center of Huntingtowne Farms, Cooper said the vast majority of North Carolinians support public schools. He said some legislators have given up on public schools and thats unacceptable.

And he reiterated hes sounding the alarm with those same words  its a state of emergency.

No, its not an executive order like during the pandemic or for a hurricane, but it is an emergency, he said. Its time for people to respond.

The legislatures agenda for the coming weeks includes passing a state budget for the year starting July 1.

North Carolina U.S. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis issued a statement shortly after Coopers visit ended Wednesday.

Through his partisan temper tantrums, its clear that Cooper isnt handling being a lame duck governor very well, Tillis said. Gov. Cooper created a phony state of emergency in a desperate attempt to block bipartisan, fiscally responsible legislation that will cut taxes for hardworking families, provide pay raises for teachers, more educational opportunities for students, and fund Medicaid expansion.

Parmenter, who teaches at CMS South Academy of International Languages, said Rep. Tricia Cothams recent party switch from Democrat to Republican will make it difficult to stop bad policy in the state.

I am grateful that Gov. Cooper is getting the word out about the harm this massive expansion of school vouchers will do to public education, he said.

Gov. Roy Cooper said of his state of emergency declaration of public education in North Carolina: No, its not an executive order like during the pandemic or for a hurricane, but it is an emergency. Its time for people to respond.

Declaration ridiculous

Cotham, of Mecklenburg County, in a tweet Monday afternoon, called Coopers public education campaign political theater.

The Governor is advocating for systems rather than students themselves, Cotham wrote. Education is not one-size-fits-all and NC families should have the freedom to determine what kind of education is best for them. My bill to expand the NC Opportunity Scholarship program, to allow all NC families to make that choice, will soon be on his desk, waiting on his signature.

Brooke Weiss, the chapter chair of Moms for Liberty - Mecklenburg County, was on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning to discuss Coopers ridiculous declaration of a state of emergency, Weiss told the Observer.

Weiss says her local Moms for Liberty chapter supports the private school voucher legislation, although we dont take an official stand on school choice.

Families are finally going to get an opportunity to get their children out of a failing system, Weiss said on Fox & Friends.

In CMS, 34.5% of CMS students achieved proficiency in fourth grade math, according to the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nations report card. For fourth grade reading, 32.8% of CMS students achieved proficiency.

More resources for private schools means fewer resources for public schools, at a time when we already dont have what we need, said Parmenter, the Charlotte teacher. Also, the majority of voucher recipients are white, a trend which will certainly persist with the voucher income eligibility requirement being scrapped. That means racial and economic segregation in our traditional public schools will continue to increase.

Editors note: This story was updated on May 25 to provide more accurate numbers than Cooper gave about how much the wealthiest stand to receive from expanded vouchers.
The Columbus Alternative High School (CAHS) is at 2632 McGuffey Rd. in the Linden neighborhood. The school is known for stringent academics. It is one of 19 high schools in the Columbus City Schools system. (Columbus Dispatch photo by Doral Chenoweth III)

A former Columbus Alternative High School teacher pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges related to accusations he secretly took videos up the skirts and shorts of students and other females.

Justin Robert Foley, 47, of Delaware, Ohio, appeared Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Columbus and entered guilty pleas under an agreement with federal prosecutors to two felony counts: sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.

Foley was employed as a chemistry teacher at Columbus Alternative High School when he committed these crimes between approximately June 2018 and September 2022, according to court records.

The first count is related to producing images of a 15-year-old girl's genitalia area, court records state.

Court records state that videos and photos recovered from Foley's accounts showed "females of various ages in department stores around the Columbus area, Downtown Columbus public areas, near Ohio Wesleyan University, downtown Delaware areas and outside Conger Elementary School" in Delaware.

The victims were not aware they were being recorded, police said.

A federal judge will sentence Foley at a later date. The sexual exploitation of a minor charge alone is punishable by a minimum 15 years in prison.

Past reporting: Former Columbus teacher faces federal charges of taking sexual videos, photos of students

The investigation into Foley arose after Google sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which passed the tip onto Delaware police in August. Foley had uploaded numerous images of child pornography via Google email accounts, according to court records.

Foley was arrested on Sept. 20 by the Delaware Police Department on state charges after admitting to having more than 5,000 images and more than 160 videos of child pornography on his cellphone and other electronic devices.

A criminal complaint against Foley was filed in federal court in November, superseding the local charges.

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jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Columbus City teacher pleads guilty to taking 'upskirt' videos
The House on Wednesday passed Republican-led legislation to overturn President Joe Bidens student debt relief program and nullify the freeze on federal student loan payments and interest.

The rebuke of Bidens student loan policies cleared the House on a 218-203 vote. The measure now heads to the Senate where it faces an uncertain path.

Vote breakdown: Two Democrats broke with Biden and joined with Republicans in voting to block student debt relief. Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington voted in favor of the GOP resolution.

Debt ceiling looms: Nearly all House Republicans already voted to block student debt relief as part of their bill last month to raise the debt ceiling alongside spending cuts and other policy changes.

The latest legislation passed the House as some conservatives are pushing Republican negotiators to continue to demand the White House agree to undo Bidens student debt plan, which offers up to $20,000 of loan forgiveness for tens of millions of borrowers, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Wednesday urged colleagues to hold the line and keep student debt relief as one of the items on the table in the talks, even though White House officials have said repealing the presidents policy accomplishments are a non-starter.

Floor debate: Republicans on Wednesday railed against Bidens relief plan, criticizing it as too expensive and unfair to people who didnt take out student loans.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the sponsor of the Congressional Review Act resolution, blasted Bidens more than $300 billion debt relief plan as a reckless, unfair, unlawful, unconstitutional student loan transfer scheme.

The Biden administration is simply transferring the debt from borrowers who willingly took out student loans to hardworking taxpayers who did not, said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chair of the House education committee.

Foxx sparred on the House floor with Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) who accused Republicans of using bigoted logic in arguing that student loan forgiveness is unfair.



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If we legislated using the logic that you bring to this issue here today, women and Black folks wouldnt have the right to vote because it would be unfair to those who never got to vote before them, Frost said.

Foxx demanded that Froshs comments be taken down from the House record. After several minutes of deliberation among aides on the House floor, Frost withdrew the comments and continued with his speech.

Democrats defended Bidens plan, pointing to Education Department estimates that most borrowers who would receive relief come from families earning below $75,000. The income caps on the program are $125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Student debt cancellation can and will change and save lives, said Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who was a key lawmaker pressuring Biden into canceling student debt and blasted the Republican effort to undo gut essential relief from borrowers.

Veto threat: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday reiterated that Biden would reject the legislative effort to overturn his student debt relief program. He will veto this bill, Jean-Pierre said.

She criticized Republican lawmakers for shamelessly going after student loan forgiveness when some of them received forgiveness on their small business loans during the pandemic under the Paycheck Protection Program.

Jean-Pierre also defended the administrations plan to cancel debt as a way to help prevent borrowers from default when loan payments restart this summer.

Whats next: The legislative effort to stop Bidens student debt plan now heads to the Senate.

Under the Congressional Review Act, Republicans can force a vote in the Democrat-controlled chamber and bypass the typical 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. The measure can pass with a simple majority vote.

Nearly all Senate Republicans have signed onto the resolution, S.J. Res. 22. But its not clear yet if Republicans, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, the ranking member of the Senate education committee, will be able to convince a handful of moderate Democrats to break with the White House and vote against student debt relief.

Several Democrats have expressed concerns with Bidens loan forgiveness plan but havent said whether theyd vote to block it.
Authorities are searching for Bradley Gillespie, who escaped from Allen/Oakwood Correctional Facility.

One prisoner who escaped Tuesday from an Ohio prison near Lima has been caught and one is still on the loose and "considered dangerous."

Bradley Gillespie, 50, who was incarcerated on a murder charge has not been found. James Lee, 47, who was in on burglary and safecracking charges, was found in the Henderson, Ky., area about 350 miles southwest of the prison.

Both escaped from the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution.

Gillespie "should be considered dangerous" according to a statement from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Anyone who sees him or has any information regarding his whereabouts should call 911 immediately.

A $21,000 reward is being offered by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Allen County Sheriff's Office for information that leads to the capture of Gillespie.

The Henderson Police Department said Gillespie was likely in the Henderson area.

"Continue to stay vigilant, lock your doors, and contact 911 if you see anyone matching the description or have unlocked buildings that Gillespie could be hiding (in)," the department said.

Gillespie is reported to be 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds, police said.

5/24 6:30 a.m. UPDATE: James Lee has been captured in Kentucky. Bradley Gillespie remains at large. If you see, Gillespie call 911 or 1-866-4WANTED. pic.twitter.com/OQMXeDv9m7  OSHP_NWOhio (@OSHP_NWOhio) May 24, 2023

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is leading the investigation. The patrol Findlay Post has a tipline at 1-419-423-1414.

Gillespie was found guilty in the 2016 murders of Frank Tracy, Jr. and Hannah Fisher in Paulding County. Tracy's body was found near a cemetery and Fisher's was found in an apartment. Investigators determined both were shot in the head inside a 2016 red Jeep.

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Lee pleaded guilty to burglary in Allen County in 2021 and convicted of breaking and entering in Auglaize County in 2020.

Both inmates were unaccounted for during a prisoner count at 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to a release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and DRC. Lee and Gillespie were last seen in the prison on surveillance video at 8:41 a.m. on Monday.

Lima City Schools went on a soft lockdown Tuesday after reports of the escape.

Search now focused near Kentucky boat ramp after early morning chase

Just after 3:15 a.m. Wednesday, Henderson officers observed "a stolen vehicle believed to be occupied by two escaped inmates out of Ohio," a department news release states.

Officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled. Officers pursued the vehicle until it crashed on a residential street in central Henderson - where police said the two occupants fled on foot. Police arrested Lee, who was reported to have been traveling with Gillespie, after the chase. Gillespie was able to evade capture and is still considered to be at large.

"We currently have a perimeter set up in the area of Camaro Drive and we are using (the) resources we have to locate Bradley Gillespie," the HPD news release states.

At 9:15 a.m, Kentucky authorities said they established a command post at the Hayes Boat Ramp, where investigators reportedly recovered a piece of Gillespie's clothing.

"The park is closed while multiple agencies assist in coordinating efforts to locate Bradley Gillespie," the news release states. "Please avoid the area."

Henderson law enforcement last released a public update regarding the search at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Houston Harword is a reporter for the Evansville Courier & Press.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Authorities search for Ohio prison escapee suspected to be in Kentucky
While SpaceX completed the first fully integrated flight test for its Starship vehicle in April, the event wasn't exactly a complete success. The company blew up the spacecraft due to a separation failure, and that caused debris to shoot out across hundreds of acres of land that contained sensitive habitats. It also started a 3.5-acre fire on state park land. In response, environmental and wildlife nonprofit groups filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), accusing the agency of failing to assess the Starship program's environmental impact around SpaceX's Texas launch site in Boca Chica. And now, SpaceX has filed a motion in court, requesting to be allowed to join the agency as a defendant.

If you'll recall, the groups suing the FAA claimed that the agency had violated the National Environment Policy Act when it allowed SpaceX to launch its super heavy-lift vehicle without conducting an environmental impact statement (EIS) assessment. The FAA did conduct an environmental review of SpaceX's launch site and asked SpaceX to make more than 75 changes, but it didn't push through with an EIS assessment, which is a much more involved and in-depth process that could take years to finish.

In its motion, SpaceX detailed the lawsuit's potential impact on the company. The plaintiffs, after all, are requesting for its launch license to be revoked and for the FAA to push through with an EIS assessment. SpaceX said "further licensing of the Starship/Super Heavy Program could be significantly delayed" by the lawsuit, which could also damage "substantial national interest." SpaceX has existing contracts with NASA and the military, and a Starship variant is expected to take Americans to the moon.

The company also argued that the FAA "does not adequately represent [its] interests," so it has to step in and defend itself. According to the CNBC, the plaintiffs aren't opposed to SpaceX joining the fray, as it is "standard and expected for the applicant to intervene in a case where their permit is at issue."

During a subscriber-only Twitter chat over the weekend, company chief Elon Musk reportedly said regarding the explosion: "To the best of our knowledge there has not been any meaningful damage to the environment that we're aware of." SpaceX has been preparing for more tests before Starship's next launch attempt and recently rolled out the vehicle's latest prototype to a suborbital pad at Starbase in Texas for an upcoming static fire test.
FRAMINGHAM  Two years ago on Thursday, Jasmyn Beatty was found dead in her Route 9 apartment, bleeding from apparent stab wounds to the back of her neck.

The Middlesex District Attorney's Office continues to seek answers to what happened to the 28-year-old woman.

No one has been arrested. No one has been charged.

"The investigation into the death of Jasmyn Beatty remains open and ongoing," according to a statement from the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. "Since the time of her death, investigators have interviewed numerous people, conducted forensics testing and canvased the neighborhood."

The door to Jasmyn Beatty's apartment is at right on the third floor of 1640 Worcester Road in Framingham in this June 2021 file photo. Beatty, 28, was found was found dead there the previous month. Police are treating the case as a homicide but have not made any arrests.

Beatty was found early on May 25, 2021, in her apartment at the then-Halstead Apartments (now the Green at 9 & 90) by a friend. She was found on the floor of her apartment in a pool of blood with a knife near her body.

What investigators believe happened

The state Medical Examiner's Office ruled the manner of her death was sharp force injuries and the cause of death was undetermined.

'Countless hours': Middlesex DA's Office continues to seek clues in Framingham woman's death

In a statement shortly after Beatty's body was discovered, the District Attorney's Office said the death was an "apparent homicide." In a press conference at the time, District Attorney Marian Ryan said the woman suffered a significant "slash wound" to the back of her neck.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan speaks during a press conference in May 2021, shortly after the stabbing death of Jasmyn Beatty, 28, of Framingham.

Rhode Island native was accomplished in finance

Beatty grew up in Rhode Island, graduating from Cranston High School. She was a 2015 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, graduating with honors and a degree in business administration.

Shortly before her death, she had begun working as a senior financial analyst at Staples' corporate office in Framingham. She previously worked at TJX Companies Inc., also in Framingham.

Beatty lived with her dog, Bentley.

'Open and active': Police unsure whether Framingham woman's attacker was known or random

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Bentley's parents, Maria DaCruz, of Rhode Island, and Reginald Beatty, of California, could not be reached for comment.

'A smile that would brighten your day'

"She was a 'Sweet Special Flower' to her mother and a true 'Daddys Little Girl' to her father," according to her obituary. "She had a smile that would brighten your day and chase away sadness when she reached out to lend a helping hand. Of all the loves Jasmyn had, none could compare to the love she had for her rescue dog Bentley. When you saw Jasmyn, Bentley was always by her side. Her passing will be a void in Bentleys life, however, he will continue to be loved and well cared for with Jasmyns mother Maria."

The District Attorney's Office is asking that anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the morning of May 25, 2021, around 1640 Worcester Road to contact Framingham police at 508-532-5911.

"We are grateful to the members of the public who have come forward and we continue to encourage anyone with any information to contact us," the District Attorney's Office said.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Jasmyn Beatty stabbing still under investigation
[Source]

Uber recently confirmed that it has put its chief diversity and inclusion officer on a leave of absence following a controversial employee event called "Don't Call Me Karen."

In a statement to The New York Times, Noah Edwardsen, an Uber spokesperson, confirmed that the company put Bo Young Lee, Ubers chief diversity and inclusion officer, on leave after Black and Hispanic employees raised their concerns over her two-part event.

The event was reportedly part of Ubers Moving Forward, a series that discusses issues about race, gender, identity and class.

We have heard that many of you are in pain and upset by yesterdays Moving Forward session, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi reportedly wrote in an email sent to employees. While it was meant to be a dialogue, its obvious that those who attended did not feel heard.

More from NextShark: 13-Year-Old Filipino Defeats 2 of the World's Fastest Rubik's Cube Speed Solvers

A Black employee first raised concerns weeks after Uber held its first Dont Call Me Karen event in April, according to The New York Times.

During an all-hands meeting, the employee reportedly asked the company how it would prevent tone-deaf, offensive and triggering conversations from being included in its diversity initiatives, to which Lee allegedly responded, Sometimes being pushed out of your own strategic ignorance is the right thing to do.

Complaints piled up following Lees alleged response and her second Dont Call Me Karen event.

More from NextShark: College Professor Violently Assaults Female Colleague for Not Loving Her Back

Black and Hispanic employees took to Ubers workplace communication app Slack to voice their concerns, with some claiming that they were lectured during the second event about how they initially reacted.

Some employees also reportedly claimed that Lee was dismissive of their concerns after she lectured them about the struggles white women experience and how Karen is a derogatory term.

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I think when people are called Karens its implied that this is someone that has little empathy to others or is bothered by minorities others that dont look like them. Like why cant bad behavior not be called out? one employee reportedly wrote.

More from NextShark: Man goes on '10-minute racist tirade' after hearing two men speaking Korean on an Auckland train

The Dont Call Me Karen events, with the second event being held in late May, were held via Zoom for up to 500 employees.

Lee, who joined Uber shortly after Khosrowshahi became the CEO in 2018, made history as Ubers first-ever chief diversity and inclusion officer.

She was previously the first Global Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Risk and Insurance Services businesses for Marsh and McLennan Companies before she joined Uber, according to her company profile.

More from NextShark: Chinese Student Suffers Eye Injuries After Alleged 'Hate Attack' in the UK

While the origins of the term remain unclear, many people online use Karen to describe an entitled person who harasses or reports people of color in public.

Some widely reported incidents of this occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as when the CEO of a skincare brand harassed a Filipino American for writing Black Lives Matter outside his own home in San Francisco and when a Filipino American woman was accosted in Torrance, California, while exercising.

The rise of such incidents pushed a supervisor in San Francisco to introduce an ordinance known as the CAREN Act that would criminalize racially biased 911 calls.

It should be noted that the term Karen should not be confused with the Karen people, an indigenous group of people living in the Thailand-Burma border region in Southeast Asia.
A Ukrainian influencer said Tuesday that shes been banned from the Cannes Film Festival after a gory protest last weekend.

Ilona Chernobai, a Ukrainian fitness instructor and model, was removed from the red carpet of the French festival Sunday after covering herself in fake blood in a show of support for her home country in its war with Russia.

Chernobai represented Ukraine wearing a blue and gold dress, the colors of the nations flag. As she climbed the steps of the Palais des Festivals, she pulled bags of prop blood from beneath her skirt and poured them onto her body.

Ukrainian model and fitness instructor Ilona Chernobai is detained by security Sunday after she covered herself in fake blood at the Cannes Film Festival.

Ukrainian model and fitness instructor Ilona Chernobai is detained by security Sunday after she covered herself in fake blood at the Cannes Film Festival.

Security moved quickly to take away the woman, who was violating a protest ban the city of Cannes, France, announced earlier this month.

Chernobai wrote about her actions on Instagram, telling her 1 million followers, The action was in support of the occupied territories and our people who live there.

In the caption, translated into English by Variety, she continued, On the red carpet of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, I came out in a dress in the colors of our flag and poured red paint on myself. I used my chance and with this act I reminded what is happening in Ukraine!!!

Though Chernobai said she worried about losing her social media platform for sharing the bloody scene, she said, I am very glad that my act spread all over the world media! People should not forget about us!

I am with Ukraine in my heart. I did what I had to do! Chernobai added, going on to say that while shes banned from the festival, the protest was worth it.

The demonstration comes after Russian mercenaries, known as the Wagner Group, declared control over the city of Bakhmut last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlins claims during a Group of 7 summit in Nagasaki, Japan, where he told delegates that Bakhmut was not occupied by Russian forces.

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We are not throwing people [away] to die, Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter on Sunday. 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.

Related...
Jaguar Land Rover factory - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Britain is set to beat Spain in the race to host Jaguar Land Rovers gigafactory, handing a significant boost to the UK auto industry.

Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar, is close to finalising a deal to build an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in the UK.

The main aspects of an agreement have been drafted and, though sources warned that no deal has yet been signed, the investment is expected to be unveiled as soon as next week.

Tata's chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, is scheduled to meet the prime minister next week, the BBC reported.

The Indian conglomerate had been assessing both Britain and Spain as a location for a gigafactory. Earlier reports suggested Tata had been leaning towards Spain given cheaper electricity costs.

Jeremey Hunt, the British Chancellor, offered the business 500m to come to the UK, which was more than the 350m (300m) subsidy promised by Madrid.

The government declined to comment on Tatas decision, as did the Indian conglomerate.

News of the planned gigafactory, which is expected to be based in the Gravity business park in Somerset, will be cheered by Britains auto industry. Senior figures have warned that car manufacturing in the UK risks falling into terminal decline without significant investment in battery production.

Britishvolt, the country's hope for an independent battery plant, collapsed into administration earlier this year. It left only Nissan, JLRs biggest competitor in the UK, with a domestic battery supply.

Separately, Kemi Badenoch is seeking a meeting with Elon Musk after the Tesla boss raised the prospect of building its next factory in England.

The Business and Trade Secretary has instructed officials in her department to contact Tesla, the Telegraph understands, following comments made by Mr Musk on Tuesday.

Addressing business executives in London by video link, the entrepreneur said his company would start scouting for a new gigafactory site later this year, adding: I will strongly consider England.

A looming 2035 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars means it is increasingly important to have gigafactories in Britain.

FILE - Twitter, now X. Corp, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk poses prior to his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, May 15, 2023 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces event with Musk on Wednesday, May 24. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File) - AP Photo/Michel Euler

The Brexit deal also means that cars built using imported batteries will soon attract a 10pc tariff if exported to Europe.

Stellantis, the car giant behind Fiat and Vauxhall, has warned that its investment in Britain is under threat unless the Brexit deal is renegotiated.

Mr Hunt on Wednesday insisted the issue could be resolved without fresh talks.

He said the so-called Windsor Framework agreed between the UK and the EU in February had created a different relationship with the EU.

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UVALDE, Texas  The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 in some ways changed the conversation yet again on gun violence in the United States: 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers died in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

But what made the Uvalde attack extraordinary was not just the death toll. It was the fact that more than 370 officers from local, state and federal agencies had responded to the scene  some standing in the school hallway  but allowed the gunman to remain holed up with students inside the school for 77 minutes before storming in to kill him.

In the aftermath, that left a host of questions, not only about the laws governing access to guns but also about police training, emergency responses, school security and preparedness, and who ultimately would be held accountable for a failure that occurred on so many levels.

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In the year since the attack, a number of people have resigned or lost their jobs. New laws have been debated, and some have been passed. Criminal investigations have been opened. Survivors have undergone months of physical therapy.

Those who did not survive have been buried.

Did any of it make another mass shooting less likely? In Uvalde, people have had their doubts.

Almost a year now, and honestly nothing has changed, Jesse Rizo, the uncle of one of the massacre victims, told the Uvalde school board in the weeks before Wednesdays anniversary of the shooting.

The attack on May 24

The gunman climbed a low fence and entered the school through what turned out to be an unlocked door around 11:30 a.m. that Tuesday, as students in the classrooms mainly targeted, Rooms 111 and 112, were watching movies. Within minutes, several officers, including the chief of the small school police force, Pete Arredondo, arrived and followed the sounds of gunfire to the two classrooms. Two officers were grazed by bullets as they approached one of the classroom doors and pulled back.

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Arredondo made the decision to treat the situation not as an active shooting but as a barricaded subject incident, and a decision was made to wait until a heavily armed tactical team from the Border Patrol arrived with better equipment to breach the classroom.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, immediately laid most of the blame on Arredondo for the delay, but a special Texas House committee report on the shooting found that the failure was systemic, noting that scores of officers were there and that they also failed to act, even as children were dialing 911 from inside the classrooms.

Would a faster police response have saved lives? There is still no clear answer to that question. The victims suffered terrible injuries and most appear to have died right away. But some died on the way to the hospital and in a final footnote in the report, the committee concluded, It is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait for rescue.

Several people have lost their jobs

Arredondo was among the first to go, when the school board voted unanimously in August to fire him, to the sound of cheers and claps in the packed school auditorium. Lawyers for Arredondo, who has said that officers reasonably focused on preventing the bloodshed from expanding to other classrooms, called his firing an unconstitutional public lynching.

The school district later dismantled its entire police force, which consisted of five officers, and is still in the process of revamping it with new hires.

The city police force did not emerge unchanged, either: The lieutenant who was in charge on May 24 while the police chief was on vacation, Mariano Pargas Jr., stepped down in mid-November after 18 years in the force.

And amid pressure from the families of the 21 victims, Hal Harrell, the school superintendent, retired in the fall. He was replaced in the interim by Gary Patterson, a former superintendent from San Antonio.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, the state police agency that includes the Texas Rangers, also took steps to push out at least two out of the seven officers who were under investigation for their role in the response, including Sgt. Juan Maldonado and a Texas Ranger, Christopher Ryan Kindell, although some of those investigations are still pending.

The local district attorney, Christina Mitchell, is still looking into whether criminal charges should be brought against any of the police responders. Mitchell has said that she intends to present any evidence of criminal wrongdoing to a grand jury. No decision is expected for months.

Investigations are also still pending from the Justice Department and the city of Uvalde, which has hired an independent investigator.

Everybody that was there that day has to be held accountable, said Uvaldes mayor, Don McLaughlin.

Changes to police training and equipment

The response by officers in Uvalde has been broadly condemned. But it has not resulted in immediate changes to how police officers are trained in Texas. In July, McCraw, the state public safety director, said his agency would provide proper training and guidelines for recognizing and overcoming poor command decisions at an active shooter scene.

But several policing experts said that creating that kind of training presented a challenge because countermanding orders from an incident commander went against the very orientation of most police departments. And the state has yet to roll out new training based on last years directive.

In the meantime, the focus has been on increased safety precautions and better equipment. In Uvalde, local police now have additional ballistic shields and helmets, as well as new tools for breaching barricaded doors. At schools in Uvalde, school administrators have installed new 8-foot fences, sensors that would alert staff if a door did not lock properly and more security cameras to monitor activity outside all schools.

Robb Elementary will be demolished

The school where the attack occurred sits behind chain-link fencing with its windows boarded over, and is slated to be demolished as soon as lawsuits and the pending investigations are concluded. Mitchell, the district attorney, and many victims families are among those taking legal action to block the demolition of the school until there is no further need to collect evidence from the crime scene. Patterson, the interim superintendent, said plans for a permanent memorial were under discussion, but it has not yet been decided what and where that would be.

A new elementary school is to be built 3 miles from where Robb Elementary now sits. The new school, which does not have a name yet, is scheduled to open its doors in 2024, said Eulalio Diaz Jr., a member of an advisory committee overseeing planning for the new campus. Early designs include the colors of papel picado, the traditional Mexican folk art that features multicolor sheets of paper  in recognition of the Hispanic culture that has long been a large part of Uvalde, and the families at Robb Elementary.

For now, Robb Elementarys students have been dispersed to other schools.

Changes in gun laws

Texas has moved to widen access to firearms in the year since the shooting.

Months before the attack, Texas lawmakers did away with permit requirements to carry handguns. After the attack, the state also effectively lowered the age required for carrying a handgun to 18 from 21, once officials stopped defending the higher age limit in court in December.

There had been slight movement in the Legislature in early May, when a bill that would have raised the age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle to 21 from 18 received a favorable vote in a House committee. The legislation would possibly have prevented the 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde from purchasing the weapon he used in the massacre.

But the bill missed a key deadline and failed to receive a vote in the full Texas House.

Elsewhere in the country, there has been a mixed record on gun control laws proposed since Uvalde, with access restricted or expanded depending on which party is in control.

Washington state, where Democrats control state government, last month became at least the ninth state to join efforts to prevent the distribution of AR-15s and other powerful rifles often used by mass shooters, after the earlier lead of states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Republicans have moved in the opposite direction, with lawmakers in several states introducing legislation to expand the ability to carry concealed weapons without a permit and eliminate such things as gun-free zones.

Last summer the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would have reinstated a federal ban on assault weapons, but it stalled in the Senate.

Also last summer, Congress passed a federal gun bill that brought the often-divided body together, galvanized by the tragedy in Uvalde. Democrats and just enough Republicans approved a measure that enhances background checks for potential gun buyers under 21, allowing law enforcement agencies to check juvenile records, including mental health records, starting at 16. President Joe Biden has signed it into law.

The law also provides millions of dollars for states to put red flag laws in place, strengthens laws against straw purchasing and trafficking of guns, and provides funding for mental health crisis intervention.

Gun violence activists, including the Uvalde families, said they planned to return to Washington, D.C., to lobby for a total ban on assault weapons.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
A national search for an armed and dangerous fugitive has focused on South Carolina, after the wanted man was spotted in the Charleston area Tuesday, according to the FBI office in Columbia.

At about 11 p.m., Michael Burham was seen near Broomstraw Hill Road in Awendaw, the FBI said Wednesday in a news release. Thats by the Atlantic coast, about 20 miles from Charleston.

On Sunday, the North Charleston Police Department said it was one of multiple law enforcement agencies working with the FBI in the manhunt for Burham.

Police said they became involved when contacted about a kidnapping. Officers responded to the 7100 block of Rivers Avenue where they met two victims who were kidnapped from their home in Pennsylvania and driven to North Charleston by Burham, according to police.

Further information on the victims and their conditions was not available. There was no word how they separated themselves from Burham.

In addition to the kidnapping, Burham is wanted in New York on a rape charge, and is also being investigated for his involvement in a homicide, North Charleston police said.

The 34-year-old Burham is from western New York and is considered a person of interest in the May 11 death of a woman whose body was found in the street, The Buffalo News reported.

Michael Burham is wanted by the FBI and multiple law enforcement agencies.

The Berkeley County sheriff said his officers had an encounter with Burham earlier Tuesday.

After receiving a 911 call from the Halfway Creek Road area of Huger about a suspicious man, deputies were able to track him down, the sheriffs office said. Thats about 11 miles from Awendaw.

The man gave deputies a false name and then ran off, according to the sheriffs office. Deputies chased the man, but he was able to get away, according to the sheriffs office. During the chase, the man dropped a bag and inside were articles that confirmed Burhams identity, the sheriffs office said.

They were asking questions. He was being real evasive, and at that point, they determined that he actually was the suspect that all the law enforcement agencies in the Lowcountry are looking for, Sheriff Duane Lewis told WMBF. We had a brief foot pursuit with him in the woods here at the Francis Marion National Forest. At one point, we did deploy the Taser. He did escape from the immediate area.

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The FBI said they currently believe Burham might be hitchhiking, or using a beach cruiser bicycle for transportation.

Law enforcement described Burham as a 5-foot-9, 150-pound man with brown eyes and dark brown hair and facial hair. He was last seen wearing blue shorts and a gray shirt, according to the FBI.

Burham is considered armed and dangerous and members of the public should not approach him, the FBI, police and sheriffs office said.

If Burham is spotted, call 911, 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submit an online tip to tips.fbi.gov.

The search, on the ground and in the air, has involved members of the FBI; Berkeley County Sheriffs Office; North Charleston Police Department; South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, US Marshals; S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services; Charleston County Sheriffs Office; S.C. Department of Natural Resources; Summerville Police Department; City of Charleston Police Department and Mount Pleasant Police Department.
Shawn Edward Good, a former Wilmington financial adviser, was investigated and sentenced in connection with a Ponzi scheme.

A former Wilmington financial adviser was ordered to serve time in prison for running a decade-long Ponzi scheme that took more than $7 million from clients.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina, Shawn Edward Good of Wilmington was sentenced to serve more than seven years followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $3.61 million in restitution to victims by U.S. District Judge James C. Denver III.

In September 2022, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.

U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said Good was a financial predator who used his role as an investment adviser to take advantage of more than a dozen clients. Good was employed as a registered representative and investment adviser for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC in Wilmington.

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation Financial Crimes Unit investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Toby Lathan served as the prosecutor.

Shawn Good robbed the savings and retirements of clients who trusted him  including a widow, a single mom, and a retired police officer," Easley said. "He did it out of pure greed, to fuel his lavish lifestyle  purchasing luxury cars, exotic vacations and real estate. His scheme has finally come to an end thanks to the unshakable courage of the victims and the hard work of law enforcement at the IRS and the SBI. Faced with a choice between right and wrong, Mr. Good chose wrong. Now he will spend the next seven-plus years in federal prison.

At least 12 victims invested more than $7.24 million based on false statements and misrepresentations made by Good. Instead of investing in land development or bonds, Good used the money for personal expenditures including his Wilmington residence; a condominium in Florida; luxury vehicles including a Mercedes Benz, a Porsche Boxster, a Tesla Model 3, an Alpha Romeo Stelvio, and a Lexus RX350; fine dining; and vacations to Paris; Cinca Terra, Italy; Jackson, Wyoming; Las Vegas and other destinations. To lend credibility to the Ponzi scheme and to elude detection, Good also used a portion of investor funds to make payments to earlier investors.

Story continues

Previous coverage: Wilmington man sentenced for role in decade-long Ponzi scheme

According to officials, from 2012 to February 2022, Good executed a scheme to obtain money through an investment fraud commonly known as a Ponzi scheme. He solicited investments from business clients and others for purported real estate projects and tax-free municipal bonds, touting these opportunities as low-risk investments that would pay returns of between 6% and 10% over three- or six-month terms.

Donald Trey Eakins, from the IRS Criminal Investigation, Charlotte Field Office, said the IRS uses all its investigative tools to uncover abusive tax schemes that misappropriate client funds for personal gain by advisers and brokers.

Investment schemes that seem too good to be true should be a signal to investors to stay clear," Eakins said. "The IRS is actively pursuing promoters as well as investors who knowingly participate in these types of tax avoidance schemes."

To effectuate investments, Good caused some clients to obtain a liquid asset line of credit (LAL) secured by their Morgan Stanley investment or retirement accounts. Good directed clients to transfer the LAL funds to their personal bank accounts and then wire the funds directly to Goods own personal bank account. Other victims paid Good by paper check and wire transfers using funds derived from sources other than Morgan Stanley accounts.

Robert Schurmeier, director of the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, said the SBI's Financial Crimes Unit is proud to have joined the efforts in this investigation to help bring about closure and justice to the victims.

"As for the individuals who intentionally target vulnerable populations in their fraudulent schemes, they should anticipate we will always pursue justice vigorously on behalf of those we serve and protect, Schurmeier said.

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Reporter Chase Jordan can be reached at cjjordan@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington financial advisor to serve time in prison for Ponzi scheme
Crime and Courts Reporter

Donald W. Meyers is a multimedia journalist at the Yakima Herald-Republic covering crime and courts. He is also the writer behind It Happened Here, a weekly history column. Before coming to Yakima, Meyers covered a wide variety of beats at The Salt Lake Tribune, Daily Herald, and daily and weekly newspapers across New Jersey. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, serving as a regional officer in the organization as well as on the national Freedom of Information Committee.
Yakima County Government, Lower Valley Reporter

Hi, Im Phil Ferolito, longtime reporter with the Yakima Herald-Republic, where I have gained an array of experience from covering small city governments and school districts to big-picture issues concerning county government, crime and the Yakama Nation, a federally recognized tribe with important historical and cultural ties to the land. I began with the Herald-Republic in Oct. 2000 as a copy editor, designing pages, writing headlines and proof-reading stories. Over the years I have covered four Lower Valley municipalities, Granger, Toppenish, Wapato and Harrah, and the Yakama Nation. My goal always has been to shine a light in dark places and bring readers closer to concerning issues, important people, and other events in our community.
Tribes ramp up pressure on WA over gas prices as climate laws take hold
Emma Argo of Toppenish had planned to deliver her third child at Astria Toppenish Hospital, but it closed four months before her due date. After the closure, Argo said she felt an emotional toll.
Key Insights

Stemmer Imaging's estimated fair value is 57.92 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of 41.60 suggests Stemmer Imaging is potentially 28% undervalued

Analyst price target for S9I is 59.25, which is 2.3% above our fair value estimate

How far off is Stemmer Imaging AG (ETR:S9I) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

See our latest analysis for Stemmer Imaging

The Model

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 19.7m 20.3m 23.1m 23.9m 24.5m 25.0m 25.3m 25.6m 25.8m 26.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 5.06% Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Est @ 3.62% Est @ 2.60% Est @ 1.89% Est @ 1.40% Est @ 1.05% Est @ 0.81% Est @ 0.64% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 6.7% 18.5 17.8 19.0 18.4 17.7 16.9 16.1 15.2 14.4 13.5

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 167m

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 0.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.7%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = 26m (1 + 0.2%)  (6.7% 0.2%) = 401m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 401m ( 1 + 6.7%)10= 209m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is 376m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of 41.6, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 28% 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

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 Stemmer Imaging 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 6.7%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.092. 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 Stemmer Imaging

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 Electronic market.

Opportunity

Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the German market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the German market.

Moving On:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Stemmer Imaging, there are three fundamental elements you should look at:

Risks: Be aware that Stemmer Imaging is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about... Future Earnings: How does S9I's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the XTRA every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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(Bloomberg) -- Intuit Inc. declined in extended trading after reporting tax season revenue that fell just short of estimates on fewer-than-anticipated filings.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The company, however, gave a better-than-expected sales and profit forecast in the current quarter and raised its annual outlook.

Fiscal third-quarter revenue increased 7% to $6.02 billion, the company said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts, on average, estimated $6.09 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The period that ended April 30  including tax season  is the most critical for the maker of TurboTax and other finance software. Profit, excluding some items, was $8.92 a share, while analysts expected $8.45.

Intuit said the number of federal tax returns will decline about 2% by the end of the fiscal year and the market share among customers doing their own taxes will fall about three-quarters of a point.

This was driven by taxpayers who filed in order to receive pandemic-era stimulus and tax credits during the past several years but did not file taxes this season, Intuit said in the statement.

The decrease in the expected number of tax filers equates to approximately $200 million of negative impact to revenue per TurboTax, versus our original expectations, Chief Executive Officer Sasan Goodarzi said on a conference call after the results.

The shares fell about 5.5% in extended trading after closing at $449.80 in New York. The stock has gained 16% this year.

Revenue from the consumer group, including TurboTax, gained 3% to $3.3 billion in the quarter, short of analysts estimates of $3.53 billion. The IRS said last week that it will test a free agency-run online tax-filing tool, following an infusion of money from the Biden administration. Wall Street analysts still say its a remote possibility that a government-run system would disrupt TurboTax.

Goodarzi, in an interview, dismissed the potential effect of the governments program. The IRS and their partners dont know how to build software at scale  this is the government, Goodarzi said.

Intuits has been steering users toward a live, full-service version of the TurboTax service this year, in an attempt to compete with traditional accountants. Our future is TurboTax live, Goodarzi said. Especially with AI capability, we can really disrupt the assisted segment.

Goodarzi added that TurboTax already uses artificial intelligence to communicate with customers. The company had about 740 million digital interactions with customers this year, including through automated chat bots, compared with 24 million human interactions, he said.

Intuit said sales in the current quarter will increase 9% to 10%, raising its fiscal year revenue forecast to as much as $14.3 billion. Analysts, on average, estimated of $14.2 billion. Annual earnings, excluding some items, will be $14.20 to $14.25 a share. Analysts projected $13.81.

Read More: Free IRS TurboTax Competitor Is Closer After Biden Funding

In the fiscal third quarter, the small business segment grew 21% to $2 billion. Credit Karma sales dropped 12% to $410 million, compared with $379.3 million projected by analysts. The performance of Credit Karma and Mailchimp remain major investor concerns, Jordan Klein, an analyst at Mizuho, wrote in a note ahead of the results.

--With assistance from Naomi Jagoda.

(Updates with comments from CEO beginning in the sixth paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) --

Most Read from Bloomberg

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has made a $200 million commitment to pull carbon from the air. That includes a $20 million purchase from Swiss startup Climeworks for removal services, one of the largest corporate deals for removal services, JPMorgan announced on Tuesday.

Founded in 2009, Climeworks is one of the earliest companies to pursue direct air capture, a technology that aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it permanently. The company opened its first plant in Iceland in 2021, completed its first removal this year and is currently building its second plant in Iceland.

Though its a relatively small investment from JPMorgan, the injection of cash will help Climeworks scale up its services. Early corporate buyers help Climeworks reduce the financial risk of project development as well as secure additional buyers, the company said in a statement. A spokesperson for the startup did not provide details on when it would begin removals for the bank.

In addition to Climeworks, JPMorgan has also purchased 28,500 tons of removal services over five years from Charm Industrial, a California-based startup that uses bio-oil to store carbon, and signed a memorandum of understanding with CO280 Solutions to pull up to 450,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere over 15 years. The bank wouldnt disclose the value of those deals. Scientists estimate that the world may need to remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by mid-century to limit global warming.

Direct air capture startups still have a number of hurdles to overcome before they play a meaningful role in pulling planet-warming pollution out of the atmosphere. Chief among them is the high price that buyers currently must pay for their services. The Climeworks purchase averages about $800 per ton of removal, while most experts see $100 per ton as a target for DAC  or any other form of carbon removal  to be economically viable. DAC is also energy-intensive and could compete with other industries for clean electricity.

These arent the first investments JPMorgan has made in carbon removal. The financial services firm also recently joined Frontier, a public benefit corporation led by payment company Stripe that is pooling funding from large corporate buyers to jumpstart the carbon removal industry. In its Tuesday announcement, the bank said it was committing $75 million to Frontier, which includes $50 million for its own operational emissions and $25 million to help clients meet their own climate targets. All told, JPMorgan said its investments will cover 800,000 tons of carbon removal services and allow the bank to match every ton of its unabated direct operational emissions by 2030.

To complement our operational emissions reduction efforts, were collaborating with companies like Climeworks to address our unabated emissions today and, crucially, to support the development of scalable solutions that the world needs to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Brian DiMarino, JPMorgans head of operational sustainability, said in a statement.

The bank is part of an alliance of banks pledging to reach net zero by 2050 and has recently made substantial investments in renewables, according to a BloombergNEF analysis. Still, the amount that the bank will spend on the carbon removal deal is dwarfed by the amount it has used to finance fossil fuel projects. Between 2016 and 2022, JPMorgan spent more than $430 billion lending to and underwriting the fossil fuel sector, according to an annual report tracking banks put together by a group of NGOs led by the Rainforest Action Network. The report found that that made the bank the largest fossil fuel financier in the world over that time period, though JPMorgans lending to fossil fuel companies fell 42% last year.

(Corrects name of organization that authored report in the final paragraph. A previous version of the story updated the headline and first paragraph to clarify that JPMorgan is pledging $200 million to pull carbon from the air, of which $20 million will go to Climeworks.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Angajatii ar putea primi o zi libera pentru cursuri de prim ajutor

Orice salariat din Romania va putea cere o zi libera platita pentru a merge sa participe la cursuri de prim ajutor, dupa cum se stipuleaza intr o propunere legislativa, aflata pe masa Senatului. Ziua libera pentru participarea la cursuri de prim ajutor va putea fi solicitata [citeste mai departe]
Euro trades at 4.9624 RON Euro trades at 4.9624 RON The exchange rate of the national leu currency resulting from the quotations announced on Wednesday by the banks authorised to operate on the currency market is as follows: CITESTE SI Gov't rotation/PM Ciuca: Any formula is open; we are cutting down the number of ministries 12:19 9 Germany's President welcomed at Ciuca: This afternoon we'll meet again education unions and I believe we'll find a solution 11:38 7 Gov't rotation/PM Ciuca: Friday is the day when, according to the calendar, I shall submit my mandate 11:34 4 EXQUIS.RO Citeste articolul mai departe pe stiripesurse.ro

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Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. Investors in LBG Media plc (LON:LBG) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 37%. That falls noticeably short of the market decline of around 2.9%. Because LBG Media hasn't been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 11% in the last three months.

It's worthwhile assessing if the company's economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let's do just that.

View our latest analysis for LBG Media

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

LBG Media managed to increase earnings per share from a loss to a profit, over the last 12 months.

When a company has just transitioned to profitability, earnings per share growth is not always the best way to look at the share price action. So it makes sense to check out some other factors.

LBG Media's revenue is actually up 15% over the last year. Since the fundamental metrics don't readily explain the share price drop, there might be an opportunity if the market has overreacted.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. If you are thinking of buying or selling LBG Media stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

While LBG Media shareholders are down 37% for the year, the market itself is up 2.9%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. With the stock down 11% over the last three months, the market doesn't seem to believe that the company has solved all its problems. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand LBG Media better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with LBG Media , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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.

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Xi Jinping promite Rusiei o sustinere ferma chineza in dosarele intereselor fundamentale China si Rusia  foste rivale in timpul Razboiului Rece  isi consolideaza relatiile diplomatice si comerciale de aproximativ zece ani, o tendinta care s-a accelerat dupa invazia rusa a Ucrainei. Beijingul, care se declara neutru in acest conflict, indeamna la respectarea suveranitatii statelor, insa nu a condamnat niciodata in mod public operatiunea militara speciala pe care presedintele rus Vladimir Putin o desfasoara de la 24 februarie 2022. Premierul rus Mihail Misustin a sosit luni in China. El a luat parte marti la un Forum Economic la Shanghai, iar apoi a venit in capitala chineza, pentru Citeste articolul mai departe pe money.ro

Sursa articol si foto: money.ro

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American Democrats are far more ideologically led than the Republicans, and Democrats like to convince you and sometimes force you how to live, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

I dont like it, the prime minister said in a discussion with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait.



We have our own culture, the culture defines how we live, dont interfere, please! Dont educate us, dont say what is good, what is bad we dont like that. Its not your job.



No nation should tell Hungarians how to live their lives, he said. Former President Donald Trump understands that, he added.



Orban: Hungarys Decision to Block EPF Funds 'a Question of Principle'



Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday that Hungarys decision to block European Peace Facility funds to Ukraine after the country blacklisted Hungarys OTP Band was a question of principle.



In a discussion with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, Orban said: [I]f a country like Ukraine would like to get your financial support  they cant put your companies on the blacklist  So if you need our money, please respect us, and dont sanction our companies.



Answering a question on Hungary not being keen on Swedens NATO accession, Orban said political relations between Hungary and Sweden were poor. We would not like to import conflicts into NATO, and they should be solved before Sweden joined the alliance, he said.



Regarding the EUs decision to withhold funding for Hungary, Orban said that differences of opinion regarding decoupling concerning the blocs policy vis-a-vis Beijing and its handling of the Ukraine war were at the root of the decision.



Unlike the EU, Hungary stands for connectivity, and strengthening commercial and political ties, he said. Chinese investments offer a huge opportunity. Why should we miss it? Orban said. Whether China becomes a long-term opponent or partner of the West is our decision, he said.



Hungarys LNG purchases from Qatar, which Orban announced on Monday, are expected to start in 2026, he said. Besides energy security, Hungary also sees Qatar as a potential partner in agriculture, information technology and security, he said. Christian and Muslim countries can find common ground along traditional values such as God, the nation and the family, he said.



Regarding the upgrade of Hungarys sole nuclear plant at Paks, under way under a contract with Russian state-owned Rosatom, Orban said acting along national interests in Europe quickly resulted in being branded pro-Russian. But, Orban added, he stood for Hungary and Hungarian national interests.



Orban in Doha: Ceasefire Needed in Ukraine



A ceasefire and peace talks are needed instead of escalating the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.



Hungarys viewpoint of the war differs from that of the European mainstream because it is a neighbour of Ukraine, which has a sizeable Hungarian minority, Orban said in a discussion with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait.



Many of those Hungarians have lost their lives in the war, he added. This war is the failure of diplomacy. It should have never happened, he said. The main question is not who invaded whom but to save the lives that would be lost if the war continues, Orban said.



After a ceasefire is negotiated, the issue of a new security architecture of the European continent should also be on the agenda, Orban said.



Peace is only possible through an agreement between Russia and the United States, the prime minister said. Orban travelled to Doha on Sunday on an official visit at the invitation of his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.



Finance Minister Mihaly Varga and Economic Development Minister Marton Nagy were part of the delegation.
Qatar has been of crucial importance for Europe, since in the past year "a large part of the Russian gas missing from the European economy has been replaced by LNG from that country", Viktor Orban said in a video published on Facebook.

The prime minister announced that Hungary would also buy gas from Qatar in future. Orban arrived in Doha on an official visit on Sunday and is scheduled to address the Qatar Economic Forum.



In his video, he said he had held long, comprehensive and successful talks with the emir of Qatar. Orban noted Qatars outstanding economic performance and its presence across the world.



He also said Qatar was in the peace camp, which had an interest in an urgent settlement of the war in Ukraine, adding that Qatar was willing to mediate in the interest of peace talks.



The prime minister said an agreement had been reached concerning Hungarys gas purchases from Qatar, adding that standing on several feet is better than on one foot.



We have seen eye to eye in infrastructure projects, airport development, cooperation in the communications industry  we even concluded agreements in agriculture, he said. Good perspectives have opened up for bilateral economic cooperation, the prime minister said.



Economic Development Minister Has Talks in Qatar

Economic Development Minister Marton Nagy held talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Abdullah Al-Thani, Qatars minister of commerce and industry, in Qatar on Monday, his ministry said.



The ministers reviewed bilateral economic relations, with a focus on industry and trade cooperation and potential investment areas, the economic development ministry said in a statement.



They were in agreement that bilateral economic ties have been developing continuously in recent years and that this trend was set to continue. Trade turnover between the two countries increased by 24 percent last year, exceeding 76 million US dollars, the ministry said.



Nagy said Qatar was one of the fastest-developing countries in the Persian Gulf region, praising its exemplary growth in areas like the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the financial sector.



Qatar can also be a key partner to Hungary when it comes to ensuring its uninterrupted energy supply, he said. The parties were in agreement on the need to continue to boost bilateral economic ties and that the expansion of research and development and industry cooperation should be a priority, the ministry said.
Key Insights

Malayan Flour Mills Berhad's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership

Insiders own 22% of Malayan Flour Mills Berhad

A look at the shareholders of Malayan Flour Mills Berhad (KLSE:MFLOUR) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 35% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And following last week's 12% decline in share price, individual investors suffered the most losses.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Malayan Flour Mills Berhad.

Check out our latest analysis for Malayan Flour Mills Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Malayan Flour Mills Berhad?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Malayan Flour Mills Berhad. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Malayan Flour Mills Berhad's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Malayan Flour Mills Berhad. From our data, we infer that the largest shareholder is Wee Teh (who also holds the title of Senior Key Executive) with 12% of shares outstanding. Its usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider play the role of a key stakeholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.4% by the third-largest shareholder.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 12 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Malayan Flour Mills Berhad

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Malayan Flour Mills Berhad. It has a market capitalization of just RM689m, and insiders have RM152m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 35% stake in Malayan Flour Mills Berhad. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 26%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Malayan Flour Mills Berhad (1 shouldn't be ignored) that you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Feb. 21, 1939  May 22, 2023

Marlene Suddarth-Wyant went to her eternal home on Monday, May 22, 2023. Marlene was born February 21, 1939 in Shelby to Dean and Estelle (Pool) Ruth of Rising City. Her elementary education was received at Polk County Rural District 22. Marlene graduated from Rising City High School as salutatorian in 1956. Marlene was united in marriage to Hugh Suddarth on May 17, 1959. They farmed for 12 years before moving to Rising City in 1985. In 2009, Marlene moved to York and made many good friends. Marlene was united in marriage to Fred O. Wyant on April 17, 2020 and they enjoyed traveling together.

Marlene had a strong faith and was active in both Rising City and York United Methodist Churches and many other organizations. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and spent most of her adult life as a loving caregiver and great friend to the young and old.

Survivors include husband, Fred; sons, Nevin (Janene) Suddarth of Ankeny, Iowa, Zach (Lori) Suddarth of York, J.B. (Rose) Suddarth of Lincoln; 10 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Elaine Ruth of Rising City; brother-in-law, R.C. (Marcia) Mead of Cheyenne, Wyo. and nieces, nephews, cousins and close friends.

Preceding her in death were her parents; husband, Hugh in 2000 and brother, Dick Ruth.

Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at the United Methodist Church in Rising City. Burial will follow in Circle Mound Cemetery in Rising City. Visitation will be held on Monday with the family present to greet friends from 5-7 p.m. at Metz Mortuary in York. Memorials for Marlene may be directed to the York First United Methodist Foundation or The Rising City Ladies Auxiliary for the cemetery flag project. Condolences may be left for the family at www.metzmortuary.com. Metz Mortuary, York is handling arrangements.
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LINCOLN  A 12-week abortion ban based on gestational age will take effect in Nebraska Tuesday because of legislation Gov. Jim Pillen signed into law Monday.

Joined at the signing ceremony by about 25 state senators who backed the legislation, Pillen signed Legislative Bill 574 into law. An emergency clause in the bill will enact the abortion ban immediately, while restrictions on gender-affirming care for individuals under 19 won't take effect until Oct. 1.

"LB 574 is the most significant win for social conservative agenda in over a generation in the state of Nebraska," Pillen said at the bill's signing ceremony.

LB 574 launched the Legislature into unprecedented levels of turmoil this session. The bill narrowly survived four contentious rounds of floor debate, getting just enough votes each round to overcome opposing filibusters.

Those filibusters appear poised to continue through next year. State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, who has led the resistance to the bill, launched a filibuster of every bill on the floor after LB 574 made it out of committee, and vowed to continue the strategy through next years 60-day session.

The bill's introducer, Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, said Friday that the filibuster aided in LB 574's passage. Without it, Kauth said the bill likely would have died in February, and she would have worked through the interim to bring a new proposal. But the filibuster gave lawmakers time to negotiate and come up with an amendment that enough lawmakers could support.

"The filibuster is actually what made this happen," Kauth said.

Kauth's original bill sought to completely ban puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries for individuals under 19. But an amendment adopted late during floor debates changed those provisions and added the abortion restrictions.

The amended bill will tighten Nebraska's 20-week abortion ban to 12 weeks, based on gestational age. Earlier this session, lawmakers tried to pass a bill that would have restricted abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, but that proposal failed by just one vote.

The introducer of that bill, Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, said the amendment kept all the original provisions of the bill except for the change in deadline.

Opponents to this proposal frequently referred to it as a 10-week abortion ban, due to it being measured by gestational age and not fertilization. Gestational age measures a pregnancy based on the womans last menstrual period, whereas fertilization refers to the moment the egg is fertilized. The difference between the two could amount to several weeks.

However, it still allows more abortion access than the six-week ban that failed this year. According to 2021 statistics from the State Department of Health and Human Services, about 85% of Nebraskas abortions happen beyond the six-week mark, while only about 13% happen after 12 weeks gestation. The law also includes exceptions for rape, incest and life-saving procedures.

Opposing Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln pleaded with supporting lawmakers to not support the emergency clause on the abortion ban, arguing it could cause challenges for physicians, but she did not change any minds.

You could unnecessarily ensnare a medical professional whos trying to follow the law, Conrad said.

Andi Curry Grubb, Nebraska executive director for Planned Parenthood North Central States, said her organization has been preparing for changing its process since the six-week ban was introduced. Because of that, she said Planned Parenthood will be able to comply with the new law as soon as it takes effect.

Most of Planned Parenthood's current patients receive abortions prior to the 12-week deadline, Curry Grubb said. However, the change will require at least three patients to be relocated to other states this week.

Curry Grubb said the most common reasons women seek abortions from Planned Parenthood after 12 weeks is because of fetal anomalies  which is not included as an exception under the law  or because they have come from other states with stricter abortion bans, and thus pushed their pregnancy further.

The latter reason has contributed to a rise in second trimester abortions seen across the network of Planned Parenthood North Central States, which includes Nebraska's clinic. Curry Grubb said since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, the network has seen a 40% rise in second trimester abortions.

On the gender-affirming care restrictions, Nebraska's chief medical officer will be tasked with establishing qualifying criteria for puberty blockers and hormone therapy for people under 19 by Oct. 1. Gender-affirming surgeries within the same age group will be fully banned by that date.

Pillen said these provisions are necessary to protect kids from being "duped" into undergoing such care. He alleged that kids were being manipulated into thinking the treatment is the way for them to be happy.

"That is Lucifer at its finest," Pillen said.

The chief medical officer must follow a set of guidelines as to how to regulate the medication, including setting a minimum number of gender-identity-focused therapeutic hours a patient must undergo to receive it, and a minimum waiting period between a medical practitioner receiving the patients consent and prescribing the treatment.

Because the chief medical officer is appointed by the governor, opponents argued this provision is a thinly veiled attempt to maintain the full ban of the original bill. Pillen appointed ear, nose and throat physician Timothy Tesmer to the position in February, though he has yet to be confirmed by the Legislature.

Opponents have also argued that LB 574 is inviting a lawsuit. A statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska indicated that litigation is an option they are considering.

"Every option is on the table to undo these regressive measures, including seeking justice through the courts," interim executive director Mindy Rush Chipman said in the statement. "We will not stop working toward a future that safeguards all Nebraskans' rights, including the rights of transgender youth, their families and people in need of reproductive health care.

Pillen said the state is prepared for any lawsuits and he believes that the law can be defended successfully.

Photos and video: Scene at Nebraska Capitol as lawmakers debate LB574 for final time
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LINCOLN  Nebraska lawmakers added a 12-week abortion ban to a controversial bill that seeks to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender youths.

The Nebraska Legislature advanced Legislative Bill 574 in a 33-14 vote Tuesday night. While the bill had been slated for its final round of debate, lawmakers also adopted an amendment Tuesday that will require the legislation to make it through one more round of debate before it goes to Gov. Jim Pillens desk to be signed into law.

Our kids are our future, and the advancement of LB 574 is an important step in protecting that future, Pillen said in an email statement after the vote. I applaud the senators who voted for LB 574 and stood up for our common sense, conservative values. I am proud to have partnered with conservative senators in this fight and look forward to signing the bill upon final passage.

Andi Curry Grubb, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska, said the group was saddened by but not deterred by Tuesdays vote.

This fight is far from over. For now, abortion and gender affirming care remain safe and legal in Nebraska and our residents have the right to control their bodies, families and futures, she said in an email to The World-Herald. And we wont stop until we win this fight for Nebraskans today and for generations to come.

Tuesdays debate had many twists and turns, with several points of order made and motions to overrule the chair. The tensions rose as the night went on, with lawmakers on both sides accusing the other of degrading the sanctity of the Nebraska Legislature.

Throughout the day, a din of voices echoed on the floor from hundreds of protesters in the rotunda, representing opponents of the measure, along with a few supporters. It became loud enough that Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly at one point called for the chamber doors to be closed, but ultimately decided against it.

After the bill got the 33 votes necessary to end an opposing filibuster, several opponents on the Legislatures balcony stood up and chanted, One more vote to save our lives, you cant debate on human rights. The chants continued even as Kelly ordered the balcony to be cleared, causing the Legislature to recess for a few minutes as security guards escorted people out.

Supporters of the bill went through back hallways to leave the chamber. Several had moved their vehicles at the urging of the Nebraska State Patrol to avoid any problems with the bills opponents.

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha yelled, Youre trash as LB 574s introducer, Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, and other bill supporters left the chamber.

Hunt and Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha declined to comment after the vote. They left the chamber arm-in-arm to cheers from the bills opponents, who included former Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks.

The scene at the Nebraska Capitol right now as lawmakers opposing #LB574 exit the chamber. #neleg pic.twitter.com/ZT3HRaWnGa  Erin Bamer (@ErinBamer) May 17, 2023

The original bill sought to completely ban puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries for individuals under 19. The amendment, introduced by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, narrows the ban to just surgeries, and calls on the states chief medical officer to establish regulations on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for youths. Those who were already undergoing such care before the legislation takes effect would be exempt.

The amendment also revives an attempt to further restrict Nebraskas 20-week abortion ban to 12 weeks. Earlier this session, lawmakers attempted to pass a bill that would have restricted abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, but the bill failed by just one vote.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha slammed the tactic supporters used to get to a vote on the amendment, frequently calling to cease debate on priority motions she made against the bill when only a handful of lawmakers had the chance to speak.

This is not how good policy is made, and it is beneath the Nebraska Legislature, Cavanaugh said.

The 12-week proposal takes from a suggestion made by Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, who was one of the primary reasons the previous bill was blocked. Though the amendments ban is more restrictive than Riepes proposal as it is based on gestational age, not fertilization, Riepe called the proposal a reasonable compromise.

Gestational age measures a pregnancy based on the womans last menstrual period, whereas fertilization refers to the moment the egg is fertilized. The difference between the two could amount to several weeks. Multiple opponents referred to the proposal as a 10-week abortion ban.

We have proven time and time again in the past year that we have the power to defeat these harmful bans, Curry Grubb said. We know this goes against the will of Nebraskans, who want to retain their bodily autonomy. Thats why its imperative Nebraskans keep stepping up and have their voices heard. We need to let the people elected to represent us know that this isnt acceptable, and we arent backing down. Not now. Not ever.

In terms of transgender health care, Hansens amendment is a less restrictive version of both LB 574 and what Kauth was planning to offer through her own amendment. She previously said her amendment would mainly include a grandfather clause, while maintaining LB 574s ban on puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries.

However, Kauth expressed her support for Hansens amendment. Although she isnt totally happy with the changes he proposed, she said, Hansens amendment would ensure the votes are rock solid to pass the measure. Several lawmakers had previously indicated they wouldnt continue to support the original bill unless changes were adopted.

Hansen and Kauth both described the amendment as a compromise  both on LB 574, and on the previous six-week abortion ban. Hansen said the changes to LB 574 incorporated suggestions opponents made during a series of talks after the trans health care bills second round of debate.

Before she was ushered out, Kauth said she was very pleased with how it went.

I knew it was going to be hard, she said. I think it was a good compromise.

But opponents, including some lawmakers who participated in the talks, rejected the notion that the amendment was a compromise. Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha introduced his own amendment last week that would regulate only gender-affirming surgeries.

My amendment is more of a true compromise, John Cavanaugh said.

Opponents also criticized the change leaving regulation of puberty blockers and hormone therapy to the states chief medical officer. Because the position is appointed by the governor, who supports LB 574, they alleged this was a thinly veiled attempt to maintain the full ban of the original bill.

Its really harming kids more, said Hunt.

The criticism of LB 574 is nothing new, as the bill sparked backlash as soon as it was introduced. For the last 45 legislative days, opposing lawmakers filibustered as much as possible to protest the legislation. Their effort was spearheaded by Machaela Cavanaugh.

Kauth largely ignored the ongoing filibuster. In her view, she said, the bill isnt an attempt to discriminate against trans youths, but an attempt to protect vulnerable children.

Our kids deserve the right to grow up, Kauth said.

Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln said bill supporters had discounted science, medicine, parental rights and process to push a desired outcome.

What was on display thus far in the session and particularly today was nothing more than raw exertion of raw political power, she said, urging Nebraskans to become more involved with the political process, both when the bill comes back for a final vote and in the future.

World-Herald staff writer Martha Stoddard contributed to this report.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
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Nebraska lawmakers gave their final approval to a bill that bans some gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth as well as abortions after 12 weeks.

At the end of an emotional and often raucous day that was briefly interrupted by protests in the legislative chamber, 33 senators voted to shut off a filibuster and send the bill (LB754) to Gov. Jim Pillen for his signature.

Because the bill has an emergency clause attached, LB574 will become law a day after Pillen signs it.

When it does, gender-affirming surgeries for individuals under 19 would be outlawed in Nebraska, and the Department of Health and Human Services would be required to develop regulations for puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

Opponents said that rule-making process could ultimately ban those treatments, as well.

Transgender youth who have already begun treatments before Oct. 1 this year would be allowed to continue those treatments, according to supporters.

As amended earlier this week, the bill also bans abortions after 12 weeks gestational age, which is marked from a woman's last menstrual period. That's about 10 weeks after fertilization.

Opponents raised concerns about the lack of exceptions for fetal anomalies, and that the amendment did not remove criminal penalties for abortion from state statute.

Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, told Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, who raised those concerns, that he would work to remove those criminal penalties in a future legislative session.

An amendment from Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont would have changed 12 weeks gestational age to 12 weeks post fertilization and added "fetal anomalies incompatible with life" to the bill. But that amendment was not considered on Friday.

Photos and video: Scene at Nebraska Capitol as lawmakers debate LB574 for final time
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With a bill to legalize cannabis for medical use in Nebraska stuck in committee, medical marijuana advocates will try to put the issue before voters for the third straight election cycle.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana plans to file two initiatives with the Secretary of States office on Thursday with the goal of qualifying the measure for the November 2024 general election ballot.

Crista Eggers, the statewide campaign coordinator for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, earlier told state senators on the Judiciary Committee that if the Legislature failed to take action that parents like her would.

For 10 years this has been talked about and advocated for by patients and caregivers like myself, said Eggers, whose 8-year-old son, Colton, has intractable seizures. I would have hoped our legislative body had decided it was important enough, but unfortunately that has not happened.

Two separate petitions have identical language to a pair of measures that were circulated in 2022. Both seek to force the Legislature to change state statute and legalize cannabis for medical use instead of amend the state constitution.

The first petition will enact a new state statute protecting doctors who recommend cannabis and patients who use it for medical reasons, and the second requires the Legislature to legalize the production, supply, and distribution of cannabis for medical purposes.

We know the people support this, Eggers said. We are going to execute and put that into motion to have safe and regulated medical cannabis in Nebraska.

Once the petition language has been accepted by Secretary of State Bob Evnen, Eggers said Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana are planning to launch their campaign in June, with the goal of exceeding the signature-gathering requirements outlined in state law.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana will need to submit a number of signatures equal to 7% of registered voters in the state, including 5% of voters in 38 of Nebraskas 93 counties.

The renewed effort comes after the two petitions fell about 9,000 signatures short of qualifying for the November 2022 general election ballot, and after the state Supreme Court found a 2020 ballot violated the single-subject rule for ballot initiatives after nearly 200,000 signatures were submitted.

The decision to pursue a ballot initiative also comes as the Legislature once again failed to act on Lincoln Sen. Anna Wisharts attempt (LB588) to pass a medical marijuana law in Nebraska.

Wisharts bill, which was heard by the Judiciary Committee in February, outlined a narrow list of qualifying medical conditions for which patients could seek medical marijuana, and also detailed the steps physicians must perform before they can recommend cannabis to a patient.

Patients recommended cannabis were allowed to purchase and possess up to 2.5 ounces or 2,000 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol  better known as THC  from state-licensed dispensaries, which were required to contract with licensed pharmacists trained in medical cannabis.

LB588 would have also prohibited patients from smoking or vaping cannabis, cultivating their own marijuana plants, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of cannabis, or from using cannabis while riding as a passenger.

The bill, which Wishart said would have been one of the most conservative medical marijuana laws in the country, was the result of agreements between doctors, pharmacists and state senators who voiced concern about past efforts they found too broad.

But even after emotional testimony from a handful of parents of the roughly 19,600 Nebraska children who live with severe epilepsy and other individuals who described living with chronic pain, Wisharts bill remained stuck in committee.

Wishart said turnover in the Legislature and on the Judiciary Committee resulted in a membership that did not follow the actions of past committees which had advanced medical marijuana legislation to the floor for debate.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who opposed medical marijuana when he was a state senator, and Nebraska's chief medical officer also added to the opposition at the committee hearing earlier this year.

Wrestling with how to proceed, Wishart tried to narrow the bill further than it had already been narrowed, eventually landing on a right to try proposal for parents of children with severe epilepsy only.

That proposal would not have allowed for dispensaries to open in Nebraska  there would have been no industry here, Wishart said  but would have allowed those patients, at the recommendation of their doctor, to travel to other states to buy cannabis.

It also would have decriminalized possession of marijuana for those individuals, she added.

I think I could have gotten that out of committee, Wishart said, but I didnt feel confident I would have enough votes on the floor and because of that and because it was so narrow, we decided we needed to go back to the ballot.

There are more people than those with epilepsy that would benefit from having access, she added.

Eggers said she likely would have stepped aside had the Legislature acted on the right to try legislation, which she says would have helped her son. But with the bill still sitting in committee and with its paths closed this year, she said shes prepared to throw herself behind the ballot initiative again.

I voiced this to several senators that if the Legislature does not do something, anything to show progress, that we would do it ourselves, Eggers said. It was a straight-up threat, and I intend to follow through with that threat.

The new ballot initiatives revive what Wishart called the battle-tested language reviewed by local and state attorneys used in a previous effort that fell just short of gathering the needed votes in 2022.

Wishart, who is one of the sponsors of the initiative, said filing the petition language more than a year ahead of the July 2024 deadline for qualifying for the ballot will give the campaign a long runway to collect the necessary number of signatures.

What weve learned is that we dont have to wait for a major donor to start, she said. We basically collected 180,000 signatures on a volunteer-led, shoestring budget campaign the last time around, and now weve got a year and a half to do what we did in three months last time.

Eggers added the lessons learned from falling just short in two campaigns over the last two years have been used to adjust the strategy moving forward.

We have signers who have signed this petition, not once but twice, she said. We have a lot going for us, and I think we have the ability to get it done.

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The senator taking the lead on criminal justice reform in the Nebraska Legislature says recent talks brokered by the governor and state attorney general have paved the way for progress that can be achieved yet this year.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, chairman of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee, said he has a package of proposals that he hopes to amend into a bill Monday during the waning days of the 2023 session.

In addition to several proposed changes aimed at cutting Nebraskas chronic prison overcrowding, the package calls for the formation of a state task force that would look to modernize and reform the states sentencing laws.

Wayne said he believes the plan can make a dent in the states burgeoning prison population while also creating a path forward for future changes.

The plan came out of talks last week with prosecutors and others who have opposed many past reform proposals. Wayne credited Gov. Jim Pillen, Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly and Attorney General Mike Hilgers with playing a vital role in convening the negotiations.

Kelly is a former federal and state prosecutor who is now part of the administration that must deal with running and funding the states prison system. That gives him a unique perspective, Wayne said.

We got something that I think will make a significant impact on reducing our prison population, Wayne said. Its setting up a framework on how (to) tick off issues one at a time.

Among the proposals generally agreed to that Wayne hopes to amend into LB50 as early as Monday:

 Create a Nebraska Sentencing Reform Task force, made up of representatives from the governors office, attorney general, Legislature, law enforcement and prosecutors, that over the next two years would work to overhaul the states sentencing laws.

 Make geriatric parole available for most inmates aged 75 or older who have served at least 15 years of their sentence. Those convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping or crimes involving sexual contact would not be eligible. The decision on early release would still be up to the parole board.

 Create a mandatory window of parole eligibility for inmates beginning at least two years before they would be mandatorily discharged. The change is intended to reduce the number of offenders jamming out, which means being released into the community without supervision when their sentences end. Release decisions would remain up to the parole board.

 Create a pilot program for whats often called a halfway back house  secure, temporary housing for parolees who commit technical violations  as an alternative to sending them back to prison.

 Require that for previous convictions to be used to elevate misdemeanor theft to a felony, the previous convictions should have occurred in the previous 10 years.

 Reduce the mandatory minimum sentence for alleged habitual criminals if the latest offense does not involve violence, threats of violence, sexual contact or unlawful possession of a firearm.

* Expand problem-solving courts  special courts like drug courts that seek to work with offenders to keep them out of prison.

* Streamline parole for certain qualified offenders, with one of the conditions being good behavior behind bars.

Other changes Wayne had sought  among them reducing penalties for possessing very small amounts of drugs  will be the subject of the future discussions on sentencing.

Nebraska lawmakers also appear poised to address the growth and overcrowding in the states prison system by spending more than $350 million to build a 1,500-bed replacement for the Nebraska State Penitentiary.

But based on current projections for the states prison population, Nebraska could be faced with building another new prison before the decade is out.

Nebraskas prison system for years has suffered from chronic overcrowding and staff shortages. Moreover, an Omaha World-Herald analysis found Nebraskas prison population has grown 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 was one of only five states to increase its prison population during that period.

The plummeting inmate numbers nationally have been attributed to falling crime rates and states re-examination of the get-tough-on-crime policies that swelled inmate ranks nationally since the 1980s. Nearly 40 states have engaged in such justice reinvestment initiatives since 2007.

But a similar reform effort in Nebraska crashed and burned in the Legislature last year.

Gov. Pete 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. Since lawmakers and Ricketts were unable to reach any compromise in the final days of the session, nothing passed.

Wayne, the new chair of the committee that deals with criminal justice issues, was hoping to revive the effort this year with a new governor. But when his committee advanced a bill last month containing a number of last years proposals and others, it faced opposition from Pillen, Hilgers and prosecutors.

Wayne said that led to the recent talks that produced some breakthroughs, as well as pledges to work for more in the future.

It was the healthiest and most honest conversation I have been a part of, Wayne said.

Nebraska's 10 state prisons from least to most crowded
New Delhi: HDFC Bank on Wednesday announced that it has launched Future Bankers 2.0, a pan-India recruitment programme to transform young graduates into banking professionals within one year. The Special Recruitment Programme will be offered in association with the Manipal Global Academy of BFSI.

Candidates can apply for the programme via HDFC Bank Future Bankers Website.

"Future Bankers 2.0 is a one-year professional diploma that aims to create a robust, future-ready talent pipeline for HDFC Banks retail banking business  a key thrust area for the bank," the bank said in a statement.

Future Bankers 2.0 offers a mix of classroom sessions, guest lectures, group discussions, role plays, and field work. In addition to this, the programme provides eight months of paid internship and on-the-job training at HDFC Banks branch locations within the country to further strengthen a students grounding in banking products, processes, compliance framework, and day-to-day banking operations.

HDFC Bank said that upon successful completion of the course, a student will get a Postgraduate Diploma in Sales & Relationship Banking from Manipal Academy of BFSI and an assured job opportunity as a personal banker at the grade of Deputy Manager with HDFC Bank. All the successful candidates will be offered an annual CTC up to Rs.5.59 lakh, said the bank.

Future Bankers 2.0 gives a golden opportunity to postgraduates to start their careers at a certified Great Place to Work. The new hires will get to work with a banking industry leader imbibing in themselves best-in-class people practices and processes. Under Future Bankers 2.0, students will get an incredible opportunity to get practical training on the job at a competitive pay scale and earn while they learn, said Vinay Razdan, Chief Human Resources Officer, HDFC Bank.

The Manipal Academy of BFSI will focus on training them to be highly skilled, qualified executives and ensure that the services provided by them across the bank branch networks remain consistent with the highest service quality standards. We are excited to shape young futures and provide the banking industry with trained quality personnel through this long-standing association with HDFC Bank, said Robin Bhowmik, Chief Business Officer, Manipal Global.
New Delhi: Virgin Orbit, the bankrupt rocket company founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has shut down operations after selling its business to three aerospace companies for about $36 million in a bankruptcy auction.

Rocket Lab bid $16.1 million for the company's headquarters in Long Beach, California. Stratolaunch was awarded its $17 million "stalking horse" bid for Virgin Orbit's 747 jet. Launcher, a subsidiary of Vast Space, bought the company's facility in Mojave, California for $2.7 million, reports CNBC.



"As Virgin Orbit embarks on this path, the management and employees would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders," the company said in a statement. In April, Virgin Orbit laid off nearly 85 per cent of its workforce -- about 675 employees -- after it failed to secure key funding.



Rocket Lab said the Virgin Orbit assets will improve its production, manufacturing, and test capabilities, especially in developing its larger Neutron rocket. Virgin Orbit's six rockets in various stages of manufacturing assembly, and its intellectual property, are yet to be sold.



Founded by Sir Branson in 2017, the company began commercial service in 2021, and delivered commercial, civil, national security, and international satellites into orbit. Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rockets are designed and manufactured in Long Beach, California, and are air-launched from a modified 747-400 carrier aircraft that allows Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc to operate from locations all over the world.
West Bengal HS Result 2023: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) issued the Higher Secondary (HS) or Class 12th board exam result 2023 today, May 24, 2023. Students can view their results at wbresults.nic.in.

In total, 8,24,891 applicants took the West Bengal class 12 test, with 7,37,807 passing. Boys have a pass rate of 91.86 percent. East Midnapur districts outperformed all other districts with a 95.75% pass percentage.

West Bengal Result 2023: Here's how to check

Visit the official website wbresults.nic.in

Go to WBCHSE 12th results page.

Enter your login credentials and submit.

Check and download your result.

West Bengal Result 2023: Compartment Exams

WBCHSE class 12 compartment tests are held for those who failed the exams on the first attempt. Candidates have a second chance to improve their exam marks via compartment exams. Candidates can apply for the compartment exams by visiting the West Bengal board's official website. After the board results are announced, the complete schedule for the class 12 West Bengal compartment exams will be released.

Here's how to apply for supplementary exams

Step1: Students have to visit the official website of West Bengal Board: https://wbchse.nic.in

Step 2: On the websites homepage, click on the link West Bengal Compartment Registration Form 2023.

Step 3: A form will be displayed on the screen after clicking on the link.

Step 4: Students will be required to fill in the details such as the students name, roll number, fathers name, and registration number in the given spaces.

Step 5: After filling in personal information, they must select the subjects in which they scored below 33%.

Step 6: After filling out the registration form with all the necessary details, students must submit a nominal fee and click on the Submit button.

Step 7: They can preview the registration form after filling it.

Step 8: Download the form and save it for future reference.

Schools can receive their students' mark sheets and certificates beginning May 31 at 11 a.m. at distribution camps set up across the state. WBCHSE held Class 12 board exams from March 14 to 27, with around 8 lakh pupils taking part.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday evening to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) head Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. Kejriwal, Mann and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders will meet Thackeray on Wednesday at the latter's residence around noon. On Thursday, they will meet Pawar in the afternoon at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre located opposite the state administrative headquarters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. The AAP leaders held a nearly hour-long meeting with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo at the state secretariat.

After the meeting, the Delhi chief minister told newspersons that a forthcoming vote in Rajya Sabha on a bill to convert the central ordinance into law will be a 'semi-final' before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He also alleged the saffron party 'buys MLAs, uses CBI, ED to try to break' opposition governments, besides using Governors to disturb non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments such as in 'Bengal, Punjab, Telangana and Andhra'.

"BJP has made a mockery of democracy," Arvind Kejriwal said.

Mamata Banerjee told reporters that the TMC supports AAP in the fight against the Central ordinance.

"It is a grand opportunity to defeat BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the Rajya Sabha as all the opposition parties are united on the issue of the ordinance," she added.

The Bengal CM also quipped that the double engine (BJP's government in both state and centre) has become a 'troubled engine'.

Why AAP and Centre are at loggerheads over new ordinance?

The bone of contention between the AAP government and the ruling BJP has been the Central government ordinance setting up a National Capital Civil Service Authority which overturned a Supreme Court order last week giving control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. The new ordinance takes away these powers from the Delhi state government and gives them to a committee which would be effectively controlled by the Centre.

A central law has to be brought to replace the ordinance and opposition parties are hoping to stall that in the upper house or Rajya Sabha when it comes up for debate.

The 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, the opposition hopes.

It is notable that none of the chief ministers mentioned the Congress party in connection with the unity they were trying to forge over the ordinance. The largest opposition party has, as yet, not made clear its position on the ordinance, though senior Congress leader from Delhi Ajay Maken on Tuesday strongly opposed extending any support to Arvind Kejriwal on the issue of the Centre's ordinance on the administration of services in the national capital.

Kejriwal has earlier met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the ordinance issue following which the latter extended full support to AAP in its tussle with the Centre on the matter.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. employees received news Wednesday of the final round of previously announced job cuts, which affected thousands of workers in the companys business departments. Now, remaining staff are hoping an uncomfortable limbo at the company can end.

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The layoffs complete the bulk of the restructuring Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced in March to eliminate 10,000 positions. Initial reductions affected the companys recruiting and human resources departments, and in late April jobs in Metas tech groups were slashed. Zuckerberg has said further cuts will come in only a small number of cases for the rest of the year, giving those people left a cold sense of relief.

The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said the layoffs were necessary to improve efficiency, after over-hiring during the pandemic. Meta promised faster product development and decision-making that sent its shares up more than 100% so far this year. But employees said some important work and planning has been at a standstill. Notably, Meta is still deciding on its product roadmap for the rest of the year, while it sorts out resources following cuts in the tech group, a person familiar with the matter said.

During the limbo, employees have been unsure who to collaborate with, how to shift responsibilities on their teams or who would be cut next, according to current and recently let-go employees, who asked not to be named discussing internal issues. Zuckerberg announced which business units would be impacted weeks ago, leaving workers anxious and demotivated, making up tasks for themselves or avoiding work until theres a clearer directive, others said.

Fired employees were notified individually by email at 5 a.m. in San Francisco, and Zuckerberg plans to address those now out of a job this morning, one of the people said. In some countries, a large portion of the local workforce has been affected. In Ireland, Meta said Wednesday it expected to eliminate about 490 roles, across several teams including finance, sales, marketing and engineering. The company also earlier cut its whole Instagram presence in London.

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment.

The three rounds of cuts this year follow a slashing of 13% of Metas workforce in November  the first major layoffs it had ever done. The company is simultaneously in a hiring freeze for most roles, and going through a process of asking middle managers to become individual contributors, or risk losing their jobs in some cases.

Executives have blamed a rush of hiring during the pandemic, when people were stuck at home spending more time online on Metas social media platforms and advertising dollars surged. Then last year annual revenue growth declined for the first time as the economy looked less certain and changes by Apple Inc. made digital ads less effective, prompting marketers to pull back spending. In the face of falling sales, Meta was met with harsh scrutiny over the billions of dollars its spending on the virtual reality platform called the metaverse, a business line that may take a decade to make money, and investors drove the stock down 64% for the worst year on record.

In February, Zuckerberg announced that 2023 would be the year of efficiency, sending the stock soaring 23% in one day and validating the cost-cutting measures. Even as the company is firing employees, it continues plowing billions of dollars into improving infrastructure for artificial intelligence technology and Zuckerbergs vision of the metaverse.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
New Delhi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Wednesday joined a series of opposition parties and announced to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28. Nitish Kumar's JD(U), Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are among the other opposition parties that have announced to boycott the inauguration.

"We have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building... Not asking the President to inaugurate the building is an insult to her," RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav told reporters.



Earlier in the day, RJD MP Manoj Jha said that as per the Constitutional system, the President should do the inauguration.

"This would have been as per the tradition of the Parliament system. But the Prime Minister does not listen to anyone," he said.



He added that all the opposition parties have decided to give a message to the government that even if history is written after 20-25 years, people will still know that opposition parties had boycotted the inauguration keeping in mind that the Constitution is supreme.

On Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had raised an objection to President Murmu not being invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying the Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India, and the President of India is its highest Constitutional authority.

"It looks like the Modi government has ensured the election of President of India from the dalit and the tribal communities only for electoral reasons," he had charged.

The opposition parties had boycotted the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the building by PM Modi in December 2020, citing concerns about its timing amid farmer protests, the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic distress due to a lockdown.

New Parliament can seat over 1,200 MPs

The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 384 in the Rajya Sabha chamber. In the case of a joint sitting of both Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber.

The new building, constructed by Tata Projects Ltd, will also have a grand constitution hall to showcase India's democratic heritage, a lounge for MPs, a library, multiple committee rooms, dining areas and ample parking space. The triangular-shaped four-storey building has a built-up area of 64,500 square meters.

The building has three main gates -- Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar, and Karma Dwar. It will have separate entrances for VIPs, MPs, and visitors.
In another blow to ousted Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, his close aide and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday resigned from his party which is under pressure from the government over the May 9 violence. Chaudhry's resignation came a day after former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari quit 70-year-old Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and condemned the actions of the former prime minister's supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9.

"My earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan," he tweeted. Chaudhary served as the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the minister for science and technology during his government. He was the PTI's senior vice president and the party spokesman. Mazari, 72, announced her resignation and retirement from active politics after she was released following her arrest for the fourth time since May 12 when she was picked from her residence by police and sent to jail in connection with the violence on May 9. She served as the minister for human rights from 2018 to 2022, under Khan's regime.

On May 9, violent protests erupted after paramilitary Rangers arrested Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander's House, the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khan's arrest. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also stormed 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 Khan's supporters were arrested following the violence that the powerful Army described as a ?dark day? in the history of the country.

Several top PTI leaders, including Chaudary and Mazari, were arrested in the wake of the unrest. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that those involved in attacks on military installations would be tried in the military courts while those charged with attacks on civilian targets would be prosecuted under civilian laws. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday the government was mulling a possible ban on Khan's PTI party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations after the former prime minister's arrest. Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
New Delhi: The bipartisan leadership of an India-focused group of US lawmakers of the House of Representatives on Tuesday called for extending an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint session of Congress during his upcoming state visit in June at the invitation of President Joe Biden. "On June 22, 2023, President Biden is hosting Prime Minister Modi for an Official State Visit and a State Dinner. As State Dinners have come to signify the President`s utmost respect for visiting heads of state, granting a joint address to Congress is a commensurate honour for the leader of the world`s largest democracy and perhaps the most critical partner to countering China in the 21st century," Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and James Waltz, a Republican, wrote in a joint letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy.



"We firmly believe that inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver a joint address to Congress would further strengthen the deep and enduring friendship between the US and India," they added in the letter.



There were no indications if Speaker McCarthy, a Republican, will agree. If he does and Modi accepts the invitation, the latter will become the first Indian Prime Minister to address a joint session of US Congress twice. The first was in June 2016, in which he sought to project a new energy for the bilateral relationship with the two sides overcoming "the hesitations of history".

Also Read: PM Narendra Modi Discusses Boosting Trade, Defence With Australian Counterpart



Biden has invited Modi for a state visit in June, the two sides announced earlier this month, with a state dinner at the White House as well.



The last Indian Prime Minister who was given a state dinner was Manmohan Singh; he was hosted by President Barack Obama. Singh was also the first foreign leader given a state dinner in Obama`s presidency.



A state dinner is a rare gesture and signals a special relationship, which India and the US have to come to share over the last decade or so, going back several administrations and governments on both sides.

Also Read: PM Modi's Sydney Event: From 'C, D Es' To Unveiling Of 'Little India', Check Key Highlights



Khanna and Waltz, who are co-chairs of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives, invoke this special relationship to request the US Speaker to invite Modi.



"The foundation of our partnership lies in our shared commitment to democracy and the upholding of a rules-based international system," they write in the letter, adding, "With mutual interests in promoting global security, stability and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity, the US and India have forged a deep bond. The recent in-person bilateral meetings between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have reaffirmed our dedication to a resilient international order that safeguards sovereignty, upholds democratic values, and promotes peace and prosperity for all."
The inauguration of new Parliament building in New Delhi has kicked off a political storm. While the central government is trying hard to turn the inauguration ceremony into a grand affair, the opposition parties are opposing the event. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the new Parliament House will be inaugurated on May 28 and 'Sengol' - an independence event symbol - will be installed during this time near the Speaker's seat.

What is Sengol?

Sengol is an important historical symbol associated with the independence of India. Sengol was used as a symbol of the transfer of power when the British declared India's independence. Lord Mountbatten - having no firm idea about the procedure to transfer power - had asked country first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru as to what traditions/rituals needed to be performed to transfer the power. Nehru further discussed the issue with last Governor General of the country, C Raja Gopalachari, who informed Jawaharlal Nehru about Sengol - a Tamil tradition in which a senior priest presents a sceptre to a newly crowned king.

After this, a Sengol was imported from Tamil Nadu and the 'Scepter' became the symbol of the transfer of Sengol power. Sengol was then crafted by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a renowned jeweller from Chennai (Known as Madras then). The scepture is about five feet in length and features a 'nandi' bull at the top, representing the concept of justice and fairness.

Where is Sengol kept?

Till date, Sengol was kept in a museum in Allahabad and will now be taken to the new Parliament House. Amit Shah revealed that this Sengol is the same which was given to former PM Jawaharlal Nehru at the time of independence i.e on August 14, 1947 as a symbol of transfer of power.
New Delhi: An Amazon employee who was laid off in January has now returned to the company, as the tech giant hires her back in a senior role only after four months.

Paige Cipriani has returned as the Product Marketing Manager, Social Marketing at Amazon in the US.

Taking to Linkedin, Cipriani wrote, "I am so happy to announce that on Monday I started back at Amazon on the Social Marketing team, the same team I was on before being laid off in January. I was re-hired, as a Product Marketing Manager, in a newly opened position so will be focusing on a different line of business than before".

"I feel so thankful to be back on such a great team and am looking forward to what this new (yet familiar) journey holds," she added.

In January, Cipriani shared, she was amongst the 18,000 employees affected by the Amazon layoffs.

"Unfortunately, yesterday I woke up to the news that I was one of 18,000 employees laid off from Amazon. It is incredibly hard and I am still trying to process it all," she wrote on LinkedIn in January.

Meanwhile, Amazon India has laid off around 400-500 employees from its Cloud division AWS as well as People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT) or HR and support verticals.

The downsizing in the country was part of the 9,000 layoffs announcement in March by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, according to sources.
New Delhi: The White House on Tuesday said that President Joe Biden receiving a large number of requests to the state dinner he is hosting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month shows the 'excitement level'. Addressing a press conference, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said that Modi's state visit on June 22 will be an opportunity to reaffirm the 'deep and close' partnership between the United States and India.

"I think that is a good thing. That shows the excitement of the prime minister being here on June 22," Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in response to a question on President Biden being 'flooded' with requests from Indian-Americans seeking an invitation to the much sought after state dinner for Modi.

She added that Biden getting those requests shows why it is 'critical' to continue growing the partnership that the US has with India.

"The president and the first lady looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for the official state visit," she added.

The White House Press Secretary also said that this will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India, and the 'warm bonds' of family and friendship that link Americans and clearly Indians together.

"That is very important to the president. The visit will also strengthen our two countries' shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to evaluate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space," she said.

ALSO READ | India 'Most Critical' Partner To Counter China: US Lawmakers Ahead Of PM Modi's State Visit

Earlier last week, Joe Biden reportedly walked up to PM Narendra Modi during the Quad meeting in Japan and told him that he is getting a large number of requests from prominent citizens to attend the Indian leader's programmes during his state visit to Washington DC.

To this, the US President also told Modi in a lighter vein that he should take his autograph.

"You 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 actors to relatives. You are too popular," Joe Biden reportedly told PM Modi.

Echoing a similar view, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also reportedly said that he too is finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event, where Modi spoke on Tuesday.
New Delhi: The Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan (RBSE), Ajmer is expected to release the RBSE Board Results 2023 for classes 10th and 12th Arts soon on the official website - rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in. Although the official confirmation is still pending, it is anticipated that the RBSE 10th Result 2023 and RBSE 12th Arts Result 2023 will be announced today.

Please note that the Rajasthan education board has not yet provided the official schedule for the declaration of RBSE 10th and 12th Arts Result 2023. Once the schedule is released, students who appeared for the Rajasthan Board Exams 2023 will be able to access and download their RBSE Board Result 2023 marksheets for classes 10th and 12th from the official website - rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in. The process to check the results will be made available on the website, and students can follow the provided steps to obtain their results.

It is advisable for students to regularly check the official RBSE website for the most accurate and up-to-date information regarding the release of the RBSE Board Results 2023.

Here's How To Download RBSE Board Result 2023

Step 1. Visit the official website of RBSE, rajresults.nic.in or rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in

Step 2. On the homepage, click on the Rajasthan Board 12th Arts Result 2023 or RBSE 10th Result 2023 link

Step 3. In the newly opened tab, enter login details - roll number, DOB

Step 4: Click on 'Submit' and your RBSE Board Result 2023 will appear on the screen

Step 5: Download your RBSE Board Result 2023 and take printout for future reference

The Rajasthan Education Board successfully conducted the RBSE 10th Board Exam from March 16 to April 13, and the RBSE 12th Board Exams were held from March 9 to April 12. It is important to note that in case the official websites experience technical difficulties during the result declaration, candidates will have the option to check their RBSE Board Result 2023 through SMS.

Furthermore, the RBSE has already announced the Rajasthan Board Class 8th Result 2023 on May 17. Students can access this result on the official website of the Rajasthan Education Board - rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in.

As the RBSE is yet to officially confirm the date for the declaration of RBSE 10th and 12th Arts Result 2023, it is recommended that students stay updated by visiting the official website for the latest information and updates regarding the release of the results.
TS EAMCET Result 2023: The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, (JNTU) Hyderabad will declare Telangana State Engineering, Agriculture, Medical Common Entrance Test, TS EAMCET Results 2023 tomorrow, May 25.

TS EAMCET Result 2023 Date, Time

JNTU will declare the TS EAMCET Result 2023 On May 25 at 11 am on the official website - eamcet.tsche.ac.in. Once released, candidates who appeared for the TS EAMCET 2023 will be able to check and download their Manadabdi Scorecards following the simple steps given below.

TS EAMCET Result 2023: Steps To Download Manabadi Marks Memo

Step 1: Visit the official website - eamcet.tsche.ac.in

Step 2: On the homepage, click on the link that reads, "Download TS EAMCET Result 2023"

Step 3: In the newly opened tab, entre your hall ticket number, date of birth and other required credentials

Step 4: Click on the 'Submit' button and your TS EAMCET Result 2023 will appear on the screen

Step 5: Download your TS EAMCET Result 2023 and take a printout for future reference

"The results of TS EAMCET 2023 will be released on May 25, 2023 at 11 am by P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Minister for Education, V Karuna, IAS, secretary government (higher education), Navin Mittal, IAS, commissioner, collegiate education and technical education, professor R Limbadri, chairman, Telangana State Council of Higher Education, professor Katta Narsimha Reddy, vice-chancellor, JNT University Hyderabad, professor V Venkata Ramana, vice-chairman and Srinivasa Rao, secretary, TSCHE, and university officials at Golden Jubilee Seminar Hall, JNTU Hyderabad," read an official notification.

TS EAMCET 2023 answer key has already been released for agriculture and medical streams on May 14 and engineering on May 15. The exam was conducted from May 10 to May 14.
WBBSE 12th Result 2023: The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has declared the West Bengal 12th Result 2023. Students who appeared in WBBSE 12th exam can now check their West Bengal 12th Result on official websites at wbbse.wb.gov.in and wbresults.nic.in. Often websites crash due to heavy traffic scroll down for the alternative methods to check scores.

WBCHSE held the WB class 12 Board Exams from March 14 to March 27. It is crucial to note that the internet results will be provisional, and the hard copy mark sheets will be distributed on May 31.

West Bengal Result 2023: Here's how to check via SMS

Step 1: Access the SMS feature on your smartphone.

Step 2: Type WB12 roll number in the SMS body.

Step 3: Send the SMS to either 5676750 or 58888.

Step 4: Wait for a response.

Step 5: You will receive an SMS containing your West Bengal HS Result 2023 on your mobile phone.

Step 6: The SMS will provide details about your qualifying status and marks obtained in all subjects.

West Bengal HS Result 2023: Here's how to download scorecards via Digilocker

Step 1: Go to DigiLocker app on your phone and click on sign-up.

Step 2: Register yourself by entering details such as name, email id, Aadhaar card number, and mobile number and submit.

Step 3: Enter the security PIN on the app that you receive on your phone.

Step 4: After logging in, look for WB 12th Result 2023 under the education section.

Step 5: Enter your Aadhaar card number and click on submit.

Any mistakes found in the class 12 results must be reported to the board for correction. WB Class 12 students can contact their respective school principals to have the issues with the board corrected, or they can contact the WBCHSE directly. Meanwhile, the WBBSE released the class ten results last week. The secondary examination was passed by a total of 2016779 students. The pass rate in the Madhyamik test this year was 93.12%.
Michael Gove - Andrew Milligan

Michael Gove has ordered an independent review into claims of corruption at Britains biggest freeport.

The Levelling Up Secretary said that he had taken the exceptional decision to commission an independent panel review into the redevelopment of what was the Teesside Steelworks.

The Teesworks project, a joint venture between two local developers and Tees Valley Combined Authority led by Conservative mayor Ben Houchen, has been rocked by allegations of cronyism in recent weeks.

Local MP Andy McDonald used parliamentary privilege to allege industrial-scale corruption between Mr Houchen and businessmen Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney.

Reports allege that land worth millions of pounds had been sold off for as little as 1-an-acre and that Mr Musgrave and Mr Corney were given a larger stake in the joint venture effectively for free.

Mr Houchen has denied the claims and said that they are part of a Labour smear campaign.

In a statement from Teesworks given to the BBC in April, Mr Musgrave and Mr Corney said they had nothing to hide and accused Mr McDonald of an abuse of power.

Mr Houchen wrote to Mr Gove to say he would wholeheartedly support a parliamentary investigation into allegations of wrongdoing connected to the 4,500-acre site.

Rishi Sunak and Ben Houchen - Charlotte Graham

His letter came in tandem with Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy asking the National Audit Office (NAO) to open a full investigation into the Teesworks project.

Mr Gove said that the NAO would not be the correct office to conduct the investigation as it did not have the power to examine local government bodies.

However, he said: Given the importance to you and to Teesside of addressing this matter, I have taken the exceptional decision to support the commissioning of an independent review to consider the specific allegations made.

Mr Houchen said that he welcomed Mr Goves decision.

He added: As someone whose primary responsibility, as Mayor of the Tees Valley, is to attract investment and create jobs for local people, I felt that the recent misinformation and the abuse of Parliamentary Privilege by Andy McDonald was starting to have a negative impact on the prospects of Teesside and the local community.

I feel that an independent review is necessary to show investors, businesses and local people that there is no corruption, wrongdoing or illegality in what has become and continues to be an incredible project for jobs and investment in our region.

A Government spokesman said: The Government has not seen evidence of corruption, wrongdoing, or illegality in relation to Teesworks.

These allegations, however, pose a very real risk to the delivery of much needed jobs and economic growth in Teesside.

Given the importance to Teesside of addressing this matter, and the request made by the Mayor Tees Valley, the Secretary of State has taken the exceptional decision to support the commissioning of an independent external assurance review.

In line with established practice, the government will be announcing the appointment of a Panel to undertake the review shortly.

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The Centre today approved a Y-Plus security cover for Bageshwar Dham trust chief Dhirendra Shastri. Following the big decision, the Madhya Pradesh state government has also issued necessary directions for deployment of security cover to Dhirendra Shastri.

What does a Y-Plus security cover to Dhirendra Shastri means?

A Y-plus security cover means that every state's police department will have to provide dedicated security personnel whenever Baba Dhirendra Shastri and his convoy enters the respective state. The centre, in a letter written to various state governments, has asked to ensure security for Dhirendra Shastri. The special security cover to Dhirendra Shastri has been provided in view of meteoric rise in his popularity in recent times. Dhirendra Shastri has organised a number of Darbaars (public meets) in recent times. The durbars have fetch huge number of crowds in various states and have even created law and order situation at times.



What Is Y Plus and Y Category Security?

Y+ category is a security detail of 11 personnel, including 2-4 commandos and police personnel. Y category is a security detail of 8 personnel, including 1 or 2 commandos and police personnel.
New Delhi: A historic sceptre, 'Sengol,' which marked the transfer of power from the Britishers in 1947, will be placed in the new Parliament building as a major cultural symbol of India's independence, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday. 'Sengol' was received by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on August 14, 1947, to represent the transfer of power from the British and was kept in a museum in Allahabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new parliament building on May 28. Shah stated that the installation's purpose was clear both then and now. He said that power transfer is more than just a handshake or the signing of a document and that it must be linked to local traditions while keeping modern needs in mind. "Sengol represents the same feeling that Jawaharlal Nehru felt on August 14, 1947," he added.

"On the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, PM Modi will dedicate the new Parliament to the nation," Amit Shah said at a press conference here. "It demonstrates his foresight in some ways. This is a lovely attempt to reconcile our cultural heritage, tradition, and civilisation with modernity. This building was built in record time by approximately 60,000 people. The Prime Minister will also recognise them."

The Home Minister said a historical event is being resurrected on this occasion. The historic sceptre known as 'Sengol' will be housed in the new Parliament building.

Also Read: 'Soul Of Democracy Sucked Out': 19 Opposition Parties Issue Statement To Boycott New Parliament Inauguration

Addressing a press conference here, Amit Shah said, "On the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, PM Modi will dedicate the new Parliament to the nation. In a way, it shows his far-sightedness. This is a beautiful attempt to merge our cultural legacy, tradition and civilisation with modernity. Around 60,000 people worked on the construction of this building in record time. The PM will also honour them." The Home Minister said that a historical event is being revived on this occasion. The historic sceptre, 'Sengol', will be placed in the new Parliament building.

"A historical event is being revived on this occasion. The historic sceptre, 'Sengol', will be placed in the new Parliament building. It was used on August 14, 1947, by PM Nehru when the transfer of power took place from the British. Out of all the promises made by PM Modi for 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', one promise was respect and regeneration of our historic traditions," he said.

Also Read: 'Unfortunate': Union Minister Pralhad Joshi On Opposition Skipping Parliament Opening

The Home Minister added, "The historic incident is from August 14, 1947. It is called Sengol in Tamil, the meaning of this word is full of wealth There is a tradition behind this associated with ages. Sengol had played an important role in our history. When PM Modi got information about this, a thorough investigation was done. Then it was decided that it should be put before the country. For this, the day of the inauguration of the new Parliament House was chosen."

Recalling the historic event, the Home Minister said that 'Sengol' was chosen as the symbol of the transfer of power after intensive research.

"When the time for transfer of power came, Lord Mountbatten who was the Viceroy asked former PM Nehru about what should be the symbol of transfer of power to the country as per the Indian traditions. Nehru discussed the issue with freedom fighter and avid historic scholar C Rajagopalachari. He (Rajagopalachari) after doing an intensive historic research said that as per the Indian traditions, 'Sengol' has been marked as the symbol of historic transfer," Shah said.
BJP MLA from Belthangady constituency in Dakshina Kannada district, Harish Poonja has stirred a controversy by stating that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah got 24 Hindu activists killed. The Congress workers are preparing to lodge a police complaint against him. MLA Harish Poonja said this while venting out his ire at Hindu activists who campaigned for Congress. He was speaking at a local function last week. The audio and video clips of the statement have gone viral on social media. Satyajith Surathkal, a Hindu activist, had campaigned for the Congress party.

"You sought a vote for Siddaramaiah who got 24 Hindu activists killed. You sought a vote for Congress which is proposing a ban on Bajrang Dal," he said. The statement had stirred a controversy. BJP is alleging that during the tenure of Siddaramaiah between 2013 and 2018, coastal Karnataka region, especially Dakshina Kannada district, witnessed a series of murders of Hindu activists. The saffron party further alleged that the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah protected the accused persons by deciding to withdraw cases against the workers of PFI and SDPI.

The BJP had made it a poll issue in 2018 and swept elections in the coastal region. Siddaramaiah then had denied giving protection to the accused persons and maintained that the murders had happened due to rivalry and personal enmity. CBI investigation showed that Paresh Mesta, a Hindu youth who was alleged to have been killed in communal violence, died accidentally. The investigation report proved to be a major setback for the BJP during elections.
UPSC Result 2023: Garima Lohia, who secured the second position in the civil services examination 2022, believes that 'motivation, self-study, and analysis' are what can make 'anyone successful' in the prestigious Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam. A resident of Bihar's Buxar, Garima cracked the examination in her second attempt, the results of which were announced by the UPSC on Tuesday. A graduate in Commerce from Kirorimal College of Delhi University, Garima cleared the UPSC CSE 2022 with Commerce and Accountancy as her optional subjects.

"I was keen on appearing for the UPSC exam since my childhood. I was sure that I would crack the UPSC examination, but I never imagined that I would secure the second rank," Garima Lohia told the news agency PTI.

She added that she started preparing for civil services after completing her graduation and that she kept her preparations balanced and used to take regular breaks to meet her friends and relatives.

"Motivation, self-study and analysis will make anyone successful in the examination. Proper guidance is also necessary," she added.

UPSC Result 2023: Several advantages of preparing at home, says Garima Lohia

Garima Lohia said that it does not make much of a difference whether a candidate prepares for the UPSC CSE in a small town or a big city.

"But one thing I must say, there are several advantages of civil services preparations at home. I studied for nearly 8-10 hours a day," she said.

She said she would like to work for women's empowerment and education after joining the service.

Garima, who lost her father in 2015, studied up to class 10 in Buxar, then she went to Varanasi for her higher secondary education.

Ishita Kishore is UPSC CSE 2022 topper

Delhi University graduate Ishita Kishore topped the civil services examination 2022.

While Garima secured the second rank, Uma Harathi N and Smriti Mishra bagged the third and fourth ranks, respectively.

UPSC Result 2022: Over 900 candidates clear civil services exam

As many as 933 candidates -- 613 men and 320 women -- have qualified for the civil services examination 2022 and the top 25 candidates comprise 14 women and 11 men.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main, and interview -- by the UPSC to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.
Sara Ali Khan's popularity among her fans needs no introduction, which is why she makes the most of her fandom. The actress recently updated her followers with light-hearted content from her Cannes 2023 debut. In an Instagram Reels that has garnered close to 2 million views, Sara can be seen sharing a fun commentary in Hindi about her journey from Kedarnath to Cannes. She beautifully rhymed the sentences to make them sound sensible.

In the video, Sara Ali Khan, who made her Bollywood debut with Kedarnath, talks about the delicious food with a touch of humour. Not just that, Sara also made her fellow friends say Namaste. Wearing a Christian Dior cape, the actress shared many excerpts from the dreamy stay at Cannes and a bit from her emotional speech where she expressed gratitude saying, Thanks for having me here.

Soon after she posted the reel, fans flooded the comment section with red hearts and fire emoticons.

Love for Kedarnath

Sara Ali Khan holds Kedarnath in high regard. Kedarnath marked Sara's Bollywood debut in 2018 opposite late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Every now and then, she shares pictures from her trips to the place. In the past, she posted a gratitude note about visiting the temple while shooting for the movie.

The first time I came to these places, I had never faced a camera. Today I cant imagine my life without it. Thank you Kedarnath for making me who I am and giving me all I have. Very few people are lucky enough to come to you, and I am full of gratitude and appreciation that I can thank you. Jai Bholenath, she captioned the post.

Future Projects

A number of projects await Sara Ali Khan on the work front. She has recently been promoting the upcoming romantic comedy, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, along with Vicky Kaushal. In addition, she has Ae Watan Mere Watan and Homi Adjania's Murder Mubarak.
New Delhi: Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, opposes the idea of giving money to kids who don't deserve it. Musk contends that executives shouldn't give their shares to their kids if they don't have the desire or interest to run the businesses. Instead of just handing shares to kids who might not have a strong interest in the business, he thinks it is preferable to hand over the reins to deserving people within the organisation.

Musk may have erred in the past, but his philosophy of delegating authority to skilled people rather than to successors makes a lot of sense. (Also Read: 9 Most Popular Mobile Phones Of All Time)

The billionaire recently revealed that he has already chosen people who would be able to take over his firms if he were unable to do it himself in an interview at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council. He is certain that bosses should not, however, simply transfer their enterprises or voting stock to their offspring.

"I am definitely not of the school of automatically giving my kids some share of the companies, even if they have no interest, inclination, or ability to manage the company," Musk stated. I believe that was a mistake.

The oldest of Musk's nine children is 19 years old, according to public records. His 3-year-old son, X AE A-XII, is usually accompanied by him to different events, and he even gave him a unique Twitter badge.

Musk does not, however, get along with all kids. In fact, because she no longer wants to be linked with her father, his oldest daughter asked to change her name. The daughter declares herself to be transsexual. According to the 18-year-old, she no longer desired to be "related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form."
New Delhi: A 38-year-old Indian-origin hacker from Virginia was sentenced to more than four years in prison for hacking into computers and stealing customer credit card numbers. Chirag Patel from Norfolk pleaded guilty to computer fraud and was sentenced by US District Judge G Murray Snow to 51 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.





He also was ordered to pay $87,522.25 in restitution, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said on Monday. ( Also Read: 8 Signs He Has crush On You: Check According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), between August 2017 and July 2020, Patel hacked into the Phoenix-based computers of an international hospitality company on numerous occasions. ( Also Read: Facebook Owner Meta Starts Final Round Of Layoffs He then fraudulently transferred and redeemed customer reward points from the company's customer loyalty program.In addition, Patel also stole credit card numbers and other personally identifying information (PII) from customers and loyalty program members, which were stored in the company's computers.Patel took screenshots of customers' and members' information, which included credit card numbers and other PII, and saved the screenshots to a Google Drive he controlled.In total, between August 2017 and July 2020, Patel stole and possessed more than 1,200 credit card numbers, the FBI investigation found. He used some of the stolen credit card numbers to make unauthorized purchases and also tried to sell some of the stolen credit card numbers.
Business Monzo - SAM BUSH

The founder of Monzo has quit London in favour of San Francisco as he said the US was much more accepting of tech companies than Britain.

Tom Blomfield, who co-founded the banking app in 2015 and left the company in 2021, said Britain was not always favourable to ambitious founders who want to do something unusual.

Mr Blomfield made the comments as he announced he would join Y Combinator, a so-called start-up accelerator, as a partner. He said the company has worked on projects ranging from AI to space rockets to supersonic jets.

He told Bloomberg: That ambition and that sort of belief that you can achieve anything I think is very, very powerful and intoxicating, and doesnt exist as much in London.

The US capital markets at IPO [initial public offering] stage are much, much deeper and much more accepting of high growth tech companies. I dont think that is going to change anytime soon.

Y Combinator hot-houses startup founders by giving them ready access to capital and specialist advice to speed up their companies growth. Companies that have participated in Y Combinator's programme include Airbnb, the online forum Reddit and the file-sharing website Dropbox. Mr Blomfield used the programme to launch Monzo after he struggled to raise money in London.

Nikolay Storonsky, chief executive officer of Revolut Ltd., smiles during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. RevolutA is expanding into stock trading, allowing its customers to buy and sell U.S. equities. Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg - Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg

The departure of Mr Blomfield will intensify concerns that London is an increasingly unattractive location for startup founders seeking investment in their businesses.

Earlier this month Nikolay Storonsky, chief executive of rival Revolut, complained that Britains extreme bureaucracy was stifling the companys application for a UK banking licence.

The Telegraph later revealed that Bank of England officials plan to reject Revoluts application over concerns about its accounts.

Meanwhile, ministers have expressed irritation at the British ectors apparent hostility to business.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt suggested bosses at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) should understand their wider responsibilities for economic growth after blocking Microsoft's 55bn merger with Call of Duty maker Activision.

Microsoft president Brad Smith said the EU was a better place to do business than Britain in response to the decision.

Regulators in the US are also opposing the buyout, while their counterparts in Brussels waved the deal through.

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PARIS (Reuters) - Moonfire Ventures, launched in 2020 by former Atomico co-founder Mattias Ljungman, said on Wednesday that it had raised $115 million to invest in European startup technology firms and in the AI (artificial intelligence) sector.

The fund-raising by Moonfire Ventures highlights the growth in Europe of artificial intelligence, which has led politicians around the world to examine how AI could be better regulated.

"Europe has been a leader in AI and we find our best fit is to support the next generation of founders solving some of our greatest challenges within health, work, finance and gaming," said Ljungman in a statement.

The European Union's tech chief, Margrethe Vestager, said earlier this week that the EU and the United States are set to step up cooperation on artificial intelligence with a view to establishing minimum standards before legislation enters force.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musks plan to host Ron DeSantiss 2024 presidential campaign announcement on Twitter will mean promotion of the live audio event to the billionaires more than 140 million followers on the platform he owns, underscoring the social networks shift toward a more partisan approach to political discourse.

Most Read from Bloomberg

While Musk said Tuesday that its important for Twitter to have a range of voices, the open embrace of a national candidate at such a critical campaign moment resembles implicit support. That opens the company up to more criticism and a potential row with one of its biggest advertisers, Walt Disney Co., which is engaged in an escalating dispute with DeSantis, Floridas Republican governor, over his policies in the state.

Its also a break from the typical decorum held by social media leaders, who for years have faced scrutiny from users and policy makers about the potential bias of their ubiquitous platforms. While Musk has been open about his political opinions  before the US midterm elections in 2022, he advised users to vote Republican  this pushes Twitter further into being a partisan platform, and risks alienating other constituencies as well as advertisers averse to aligning with a particular political party.

Read More: Managing Musk Will Be New Twitter CEOs Biggest Challenge

Im not at this time going to endorse any particular candidate but I am interested in X/Twitter being somewhat of a public town square, Musk said Tuesday at the Wall Street Journals CEO Council Summit. Last November, Musk said in a tweet that he would support DeSantis if he ran for president in 2024.

DeSantis will join Musk at 6 p.m. ET in a Twitter Spaces audio livestream on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the plans, and the campaign will release a launch video. DeSantis in Florida has pushed positions that arent nationally popular, such as a ban on abortions after 6 weeks, an expansion of capital punishment, permitless concealed carry of guns and strict limits on how race and gender can be discussed in schools.

Twitter, along with Meta Platforms Inc.s Facebook and Instagram, have power over what their users see, to the extent that during the 2016 elections Russia tried to manipulate the content on those platforms in order to affect US public opinion. The social networks have stuck to the refrain that they are non-partisan platforms that have worked to improve the accuracy of the information people see, and say they have enforced their guidelines equitably across both sides of the political aisle.

Read more: Metas Instagram Readies Twitter Competitor for Summer Debut

San Francisco-based Twitter has been a key platform for real-time information while people are voting and deciding how to vote. Under its past leadership, the company devoted extensive resources during elections to labeling or removing content that could affect the voting process. Approximately 300,000 posts were labeled as disputed or misleading, and in some cases, tweets were put behind warnings that users had to click past to view. Notably, Twitter banned former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol out of concern his posts were inciting violence, after hiding several of his tweets.

Its not clear what advertising and content policies Musk, who bought Twitter last year for $44 billion, will carry through to the next election.

This checks off a lot of boxes for DeSantis, said Katie Harbath, who previously ran election policy at Facebook. It indicates an alignment with Twitters conservative audience and needles Trump on the platform that he used to dominate.

For years, social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, were accused by Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits of squelching right-leaning voices and discourse. Both have taken pains to make their platforms more welcoming to a broad range of views, and more recently, some of Facebooks most popular pages have come to be dominated by far-right groups. Under Musk, Twitter has also proven hospitable to conservative  and in some cases, fringe-right  viewpoints.

The effort to appear non-partisan has been essential to keeping the platforms in the good graces of lawmakers and, perhaps more importantly, to their advertisers. For marketers, optics matter. Many businesses dont want to pay money for their ads to sit alongside posts advocating violence, amplifying threats or spreading harmful misinformation.

Advertisers were already fleeing Twitter because of the companys failure to moderate content or prevent their ads from appearing next to problematic tweets. Since Musk took over, advertising revenue has declined by 50%, Musk said in March.

Disney, one of Twitters largest advertisers according to Musk, has continued buying ads on the platform, but that could potentially change as the platform begins amplifying DeSantis, who has been publicly feuding with Disney.

Disney is in a major fight with DeSantis over state legislation on sexual identity, oversight of municipal services at the companys parks and other issues. Disney has a large presence in Florida, where it operates its flagship theme park and employs about 70,000 people. The company has been using its economic heft to push back against DeSantis. Earlier this month Disney scrapped scrapped plans to build a nearly $1 billion corporate campus in the state.

Disney didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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FILE PHOTO: Airbus A220 jets of Swiss Airlines are seen at Zurich airport in Zurich

By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) -Airbus is not looking to launch a stretched version of its A220 jetliner in the current environment, the planemaker said on Wednesday, effectively knocking down speculation of a launch at the upcoming Paris Airshow.

A larger version of the 110-130-seat small passenger plane has been on the horizon for some time and an Airbus spokesperson reiterated that it was a matter of "when not if".

"But right now, the A220-100 and A220-300 are priority and we're not looking to launch a new variant in the current environment," the spokesperson added.

Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury has indicated that resolving recent industrial delays is the planemaker's top priority amid continued pressure on the supply chain.

Speculation of an imminent launch circulated on Wednesday after some media highlighted a Bank of America note suggesting Airbus would launch the so-called A220-500 version at the June 19-25 event outside Paris.

Two industry sources ruled out an air show announcement.

A larger version of the loss-making A220 program, acquired from Canada's Bombardier in 2018, would allow Airbus to renegotiate supplier contracts and lower overall production costs per aircraft, which have kept the venture in the red.

It would also mount a challenge to the Boeing 737 MAX 8.

But it would eat into a market currently served by the 150-seat A320neo, a core part of Airbus's narrow-body family that generates most of the planemaking giant's profits.

MID-DECADE

Airbus expects most demand for narrow-body jets to migrate upwards to the larger A321neo size, where it is already outselling the largest models of the Boeing 737 MAX.

Most industry sources expect an A220-500 launch to be closer to the middle of the decade, with the jet entering service around 2030 and potentially boasting new wings and engines.

Such a gamble would have wider implications on the main battlefront for sales between Airbus and Boeing.

It could herald an eventual splitting of the narrow-body market into two as Airbus replaces the A320neo first and addresses a replacement for the larger A321neo at a later stage with newer technology, according to industry analysts.

Such a decision could nonetheless erode the compatibility which is seen as a key selling point of narrow-body jets.

Airbus has suggested a new A220 version could also open up a choice of engines. It told The Air Current last year it would welcome offers from General Electric/Safran joint-venture CFM International in addition to current supplier Pratt & Whitney.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Aurora Ellis and David Gregorio)
A Norfolk Southern train. (Photo: Shutterstock/Andy Borysowski)

Norfolk Southern and the heads of 12 unions have pledged to work together to improve safety, sending a letter to all craft and management employees describing the renewed partnership.

The letter, signed by NS President and CEO Alan Shaw and the presidents of the 12 unions, comes as NS (NYSE: NSC) and other Class I railroads face federal scrutiny over railroad safety. A Feb. 3 derailment of an NS train in East Palestine, Ohio, brought a national spotlight on the issue of rail safety, with federal regulators and industry stakeholders following the accident seeking to define whether and how rail safety should be better addressed.

The letter calls for the company to do better through more collaboration, a review of best practices, employee input and consultation with experts, according to NS Tuesday news release.

Protecting the safety of workers is one of the founding values of labor unions, and union leadership advocates tenaciously on behalf of the safety and wellbeing of our people, the letter said. Management at Norfolk Southern shares that deeply held value, and invests time, energy, and resources to provide our people with the training, equipment, and technology to support safe operations.

It continued, We wont agree on everything. Thats okay. Our belief in the importance of safety unites us. We want our people to show up to work every day knowing their employer and their union are working diligently to help them do their jobs safely.

The union national presidents that signed the letter were those representing the American Train Dispatchers Association; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes; Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers  Transportation Division; and Transportation Communications Union.

Shopcraft unions signing the letter were Brotherhood of Railway Carmen; International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers  Mechanical Division; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; National Conference of Firemen & Oilers; and Transport Workers Union.

In an unrelated event this week, an attorney representing seven rail unions sent testimony to the Surface Transportation Board that sought to bolster the argument that sufficient head count at the Class I railroads can enable the railroads to provide improved service. That testimony also called on STB to revise the common carrier obligation.

Another union calls for passage of a congressional rail safety bill

As NS and union leaders expressed a renewed partnership to improve rail safety, the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers called for U.S. senators to vote in favor of rail safety legislation that recently passed the Senate Commerce Committee.

IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. said the Railway Safety Act not only calls for safety improvements but also work-life improvements for railroad carmen and machinists.

For our members specifically, the bill prohibits the railroads from placing impossible time constraints on rail car and locomotive inspectors.  The bill would also require more frequent locomotive and rail car safety inspections, while ensuring that these inspections are performed as intended and by highly trained and qualified personnel, Martinez said.

IAM says its members include locomotive machinists as well as members from affiliate unions, the Transportation Communications Union and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen.

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(Bloomberg) -- Oil rose for a third day as a bullish US stockpile report propelled a rally led by Saudi Arabias warning to short sellers.

Most Read from Bloomberg

West Texas Intermediate futures settled above $74 a barrel, closing Wednesday at the highest level since early May. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told speculators earlier this week to watch out, which some interpreted as a signal that OPEC and its allies may be considering another output cut ahead of its meeting next week. Meanwhile, US crude inventories fell the most since November, a government report showed.

However, the continuing standoff over debt ceiling talks in Washington, which has weighed heavily on broader financial markets, continues to cap crudes rise. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said late Tuesday the two parties had yet to reach a deal to avert a first-ever default.

Despite the recent rally, oil is still down around 7% for the year as traders grapple with Chinas lackluster post-Covid economic recovery, interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and the US debt conundrum. Russian exports have also remained robust, despite pledges to cut production in retaliation for Western sanctions.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
OpenAI may leave the EU if regulations bite - CEO 'Oversight of A.I.: Rules for Artificial Intelligence' Subcommittee hearing in Washington

LONDON (Reuters) - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on Wednesday the ChatGPT maker might consider leaving Europe if it could not comply with the upcoming artificial intelligence (AI) regulations by the European Union.

The EU is working on what could be the first set of rules globally to govern AI. As part of the draft, companies deploying generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, will have to disclose any copyrighted material used to develop their systems.

Before considering pulling out, OpenAI will try to comply with the regulation in Europe when it is set, Altman said in an event in London.

"The current draft of the EU AI Act would be over-regulating, but we have heard it's going to get pulled back," he told Reuters. "They are still talking about it."

The EU parliamentarians reached common ground on the draft of the act earlier this month. It will now be debated between the representatives of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission to thrash out the final details of the bill.

"There's so much they could do like changing the definition of general purpose AI systems," Altman said. "There's a lot of things that could be done."

A General Purpose AI System is a category proposed by lawmakers to account for AI tools with more than one application, such as generative AI models like Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.

(Reporting by Reuters staff)
Pan American Energy Corp.

Having successfully completed the Phase 1 drill program, the Company will utilize the results to execute a step-out drill program, Phase 2, to further characterize the deposit

Figure 1 - Drill Hole Locations

Figure 1 - Drill Hole Locations

CALGARY, Alberta, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pan American Energy Corp. (the Company or Pan American) (CSE: PNRG) (OTC PINK: PAANF) (FRA: SS60) is pleased to announce positive drill results from its initial exploratory subsurface drill program, Phase 1, at its Horizon Lithium Project (Horizon) in Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. The program involved targeted drilling in strategic locations based on extensive geological research conducted by the Companys strategic contractor partner, RESPEC (RESPEC). This initial exploratory drilling program consisted of eleven (11) targeted diamond core drill holes on Pan Americans 17,334 acres of lithium-bearing claims resulting in the identification of substantial lithium deposits within the region. The successful drill program represents a major milestone for Pan American, showcasing their expertise in identifying and evaluating valuable mineral resources. The Company remains committed to responsible mining practices and intends to continue exploration efforts to further delineate the size, quality, and economic viability of the newly discovered lithium deposits.

Highlights from this Phase 1 drilling program include:

Peak lithium grade of 2,040 ppm

1,118 intervals of lithium-bearing Siebert Fm. sent for assay with 63% returning grades at or above 300 ppm and 44% greater than 600 ppm of lithium

Total of 7,486.5 ft drilled with outstanding core recovery of Siebert Fm. exceeding 98%

Setup and implementation of a streamlined core processing facility in Tonopah, NV to provide geotechnical & lithologic logging, core cutting & storage, and sample selection & preparation

Phase 1 operational success included controlled surface disturbance, minimized environmental impact, and respectable performance by KB Drilling, Inc.

Drilling was halted on drill hole HL018 at 162 ft and is being evaluated for re-entry

Lithium Concentrations: Lithium concentrations presented in the table incorporate no cut-off reflecting a more robust weighted average of the full dataset per hole. Assay results indicated excellent core recovery and encountered high lithium concentrations with thick zones of mineralization.

Shallow Overburden: The alluvium cover on the property is comparable to industry peers with a similar range of depths. The distribution of fifty-five (55) samples taken from depths shallower than 130 ft, 21 of such samples have ppm values over 300 ppm of lithium.

Depth of Mineralization: Drill holes were advanced as far as 998 ft depth  doubling the regional peer standard total depth of approximately 500 ft. In doing so, the Company demonstrated that lithium mineralization extends to a more significant range. In addition, lithium bearing claystone at Horizon are extensive and several decimeters thick. The bedrock of the Siebert Formation was not encountered allowing for further exploration at depth.

Deposit Significance : The Pan American team is thrilled by the presence of exceptional lithium concentrations observed in the thorough exploratory drill holes and sample depths. This exciting discovery validates the Companys geological hypotheses and is motivation to expedite further exploration and assessment of these claims, aiming to classify the deposit as an inferred, indicated, and measured resource in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, Standard of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Future Plans: Building upon the outcomes of the Phase 1 program, Pan American has begun drilling the Phase 2 comprehensive step-out drill program. This next phase will focus on gaining a better understanding of the deposit. By conducting additional drilling and obtaining more data during Phase 2, the Company will be able to determine the overall grade and thickness of the lithium deposit in the immediate area. These crucial findings will enable Pan American to advance the deposit towards a quantified resource assessment and position Pan American for follow-on exploration programming across the rest of the property.

Table 1: Summary of Phase 1 Exploration Results

Hole ID From (ft) To (ft) Drilled Siebert Thickness (ft) Weighted Li Grade (ppm) Peak Li Grade (ppm) HL005 448.0 908.0 460.0 809 1,785 HL006 215.0 908.0 693.0 762 1,810 HL007 120.0 998.0 878.0 776 1,485 HL008 126.0 424.0 298.0 753 2,040 HL009 59.0 600.0 541.0 173 459 HL010 74.0 989.0 915.0 185 928 HL018 Siebert not intercepted HL019 435.0 698.0 263.0 248 703 HL020 74.5 598.0 523.5 880 1,740 HL021 100.0 600.0 500.0 699 1,300 HL022 89.0 601.5 512.5 345 960 ppm = parts per million (a) No cut off grade enforced

Jason Latkowcer, Chief Executive Officer, expressed their enthusiasm regarding the recent findings, stating, Pan American is delighted to announce the results of the Phase 1 drill program that resulted in the discovery of a substantial lithium deposit at the Horizon Lithium Project. This marks a significant step forward in our mission to identify and develop North American critical mineral resources that contribute to the green energy transition. The completion of the 11-hole drill program has provided compelling evidence of another promising lithium resource in the world class jurisdiction of Esmeralda County. We are committed to responsible mining practices and look forward to further exploring and developing this exciting lithium project as we embark on Phase 2 drilling. There is a tremendous amount of property left to explore - we are just getting started!

As Pan American advances the project, they will collaborate with local communities, regulatory authorities, and stakeholders to ensure the exploration and potential future mining activities are conducted in a sustainable and environmentally conscious manner.

Figure 1 - Drill Hole Locations

Figure 1 - Drill Hole Locations

Core Handling and Sampling Procedures:

Core handling and sampling procedures are as follows:

Cored samples transported twice daily from the drill pad to RESPEC/Pan American Energy core logging headquarters in Tonopah, NV, by RESPEC geologists.

Detailed core examination of the samples was completed using industry standards for core descriptions by RESPEC geologists. Logging criteria include Geotechnical and Structural parameters (RQD, structure types and infill, planarity, roughness, hardness, and angle to core axis), Lithologic qualifiers (lithofacies, mineralogical composition, and cementation), and acid reactivity for calcium carbonate.

On-site core-slab sampling program was performed by the RESPEC geologists with a 5% Quality Control insertion rate using Certified Reference Materials (2 pulp types of known Lithium content and 2 separate pulp blanks). Sample selection was completed on every 5-foot depth increments and accounts for notable lithological variations. The program also includes random core-slab sample duplicates from every drill hole in the study area. Once coarse and pulp rejects are returned from ALS Geochemistry, located in Reno, NV, a small percentage will be sent to a check lab.

Core photography and database management of all sampled intervals and core boxes was performed by RESPECs field personnel.

Samples were transported to ALS Geochemistry located in Reno, NV, by RESPEC field personnel.

Chain of custody and sample assaying tracking/controls were kept throughout the entire program. ALS Geochemistry is independent of the Company.

ALS Geochemistry performed ME-MS61 multi-element analyses by four acid digestion and ICP-MS on all of our Lithium-Bearing claystone samples.



Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Tabetha Stirrett, P.Geo, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Pan American Energy Corp.

Pan American Energy Corp. (CSE: PNRG) (OTC PINK: PAANF) (FSE: SS60) is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties containing battery metals in North America.

The Company executed an option agreement in Canada with Magabra Resources providing for the right to acquire up to a 90% interest in the drill-ready Big Mack Lithium Project, 80 km north of Kenora, Ontario. The Company has also entered a property option agreement with Horizon Lithium LLC providing for the right to acquire a 100% interest in the Horizon Lithium Project, located within Esmeralda County  Tonopah Lithium Belt, Nevada, USA.

To register for investor updates please visit https://panam-energy.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Jason Latkowcer

CEO & Director

Contact

Phone: (587) 885-5970

Email: info@panam-energy.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words could, intend, expect, believe, will, projected, estimated and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companys current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the Companys planned exploration activities, including the nature, timing and scope of the Companys Phase 2 drill program; the potential for the Company to declare an inferred mineral resource at Horizon before the end of the year; the Companys ability to develop Horizon into a significant USA-based lithium project; the nature of the mineralization at Horizon, including its similarity to the mineralization at neighbouring properties and its ability to be explored and developed in a similar manner to neighbouring properties; the Companys intention to send certain pulp rejects to a check lab; and the Companys intention to file a NI 43-101 Technical Report for Horizon.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including, in respect of the forward-looking information included in this press release, the assumption that: that the Company will proceed with its planned exploration activities in the manner and on the timelines currently contemplated; the Company will be permitted for future planned exploration activities; future exploration activities conducted at Horizon will be successful and will continue to indicate the existence of lithium mineralization at Horizon; that the similar geological features of Horizon to nearby properties are indicative that the geology and mineralization at Horizon are similar to such properties; the Companys exploration activities at Horizon will validate the existence of commercially minable lithium mineralization at Horizon and that the Company will proceed to develop a mine at Horizon; that the Company will file a NI 43-101 Technical Report for Horizon.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Companys management, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include the risk that further exploration at Horizon does not proceed in the manner currently contemplated, or at all; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to receiving requisite permits and approvals, changes in project parameters or delays as plans continue to be redefined, that mineral exploration is inherently uncertain and that the results of mineral exploration may not be indicative of the actual geology or mineralization of a project; that the geology or mineralization of nearby projects may not be indicative of the geology or mineralization at Horizon; that mineral exploration may be unsuccessful or fail to achieve the results anticipated by the Company, including that the Company may fail to declare an inferred mineral resource at Horizon by the end of the year, or at all, and that the Company may fail to validate the existence of commercially minable lithium mineralization at Horizon or develop a mine at Horizon; and that the Company may not be successful in preparing or filing a NI 43-101 Technical Report for Horizon, containing the results of the Phase One drill program or at all. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c598455c-5664-4821-b40e-c56ff2768d1f




Key Insights

DRB-HICOM Berhad's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

The largest shareholder of the company is Etika Strategi Sdn. Bhd. with a 56% stake

Institutions own 21% of DRB-HICOM Berhad

If you want to know who really controls DRB-HICOM Berhad (KLSE:DRBHCOM), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 57% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And institutions on the other hand have a 21% ownership in the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about DRB-HICOM Berhad.

View our latest analysis for DRB-HICOM Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About DRB-HICOM Berhad?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

DRB-HICOM Berhad already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at DRB-HICOM Berhad's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in DRB-HICOM Berhad. Our data shows that Etika Strategi Sdn. Bhd. is the largest shareholder with 56% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia is the second largest shareholder owning 10% of common stock, and Lembaga Tabung Haji, Endowment Arm holds about 3.7% of the company stock.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of DRB-HICOM Berhad

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of DRB-HICOM Berhad. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It seems the board members have no more than RM20m worth of shares in the RM2.6b company. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 21% stake in DRB-HICOM Berhad. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 57%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand DRB-HICOM Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Report Combats Misinformation in Bitcoin Mining Debate

Report Combats Misinformation in Bitcoin Mining Debate

According to a report in CoinDesk, the ongoing debate surrounding Bitcoin mining is overlooking the voices of those most affected by the industry's operations. In upstate New York, where crypto mining facility Greenidge Generation is located, environmentalists have been successful in influencing legislation targeting mining companies. However, local residents near Greenidge feel excluded from the conversation, while the broader debate fails to acknowledge the role the facility plays in their lives.

The Greenidge facility has faced criticism from environmentalists who claim it is responsible for harming aquatic life and contributing to harmful algal blooms. However, the rhetoric used by these critics, including New York Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, has been debunked by state data and direct, on-the-ground experiences. Meanwhile, advocates for the industry are touting the potential benefits of Bitcoin mining, such as investments in renewable energy and improvements to energy grids. The debate has become highly politicized, focusing on environmental and philosophical concerns, without fully considering the nuanced realities on the ground.
Here are all of Republican elected officials backing Ron DeSantis' 2024 presidential campaign

Reps. Thomas Massie and Chip Roy were among the earliest backers of DeSantis campaign. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call; Scott Olson/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to announce his presidential campaign on Wednesday.

He already has the support of a handful of members of Congress.

But most GOP members of Florida's congressional delegation have already endorsed Trump.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to announce his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday evening.

The most formidable challenger yet to former President Donald Trump, DeSantis is starting his campaign with the endorsement of a handful of Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Nonetheless, Trump over the last two months has locked up the support of most of the Republican House members from Florida  and he's garnered far more endorsements overall than DeSantis.

But the Florida governor has his admirers on Capitol Hill. Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who has said she plans to remain neutral in the primary for now, declared DeSantis to be the "leader" of the GOP after the 2022 midterm elections.

And for many Republicans, DeSantis represents the best shot at dislodging Trump as the party's standard-bearer after several disappointing election cycles.

Here are all of the prominent Republicans who have expressed support for DeSantis' 2024 campaign:

Five House members

Bob Good  the Virginia congressman, who refused to back Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid in January, endorsed DeSantis in a statement in early May, saying "strength in the face of adversity is needed more today than ever before."

Laurel Lee  the Florida congresswoman endorsed DeSantis in April, saying she "had the honor of witnessing firsthand his unparalleled leadership under pressure" when she served under DeSantis as Florida's Secretary of State.

Thomas Massie  the Kentucky congressman and outspoken libertarian endorsed DeSantis in April, saying he's been "honored to call Ron DeSantis a friend for over a decade."

Rich McCormick  the Georgia congressman endorsed DeSantis in May, saying in a Twitter video that the 2024 "election is about winning" and "who can earn victory in Georgia."

Chip Roy  the Texas congressman and House Freedom Caucus member endorsed DeSantis in an email to supporters in March, over two months before DeSantis announced, saying it's "time for younger, but proven, leadership to offer America eight solid years of transformational change."

This list is periodically updated as more Republican elected officials endorse DeSantis.

Read the original article on Business Insider
workers not retiring

Rethink that retirement party. More and more, seasoned workers are defying expectations and staying put in the workforce for a compelling reason-they simply can't afford to retire.

That's the finding from a new study by Korn Ferry that found that the number of clients with investment powerhouse Fidelity who can afford to cover all their expenses in retirement dropped from 83% last year to 78% this year.

For help managing your own retirement planning, consider matching for free with a vetted financial advisor.



The Big Problem

The Korn Ferry study isn't the only data showing a problem. Payroll services company Paychex found that about one out of every six current retirees (about 17%) were considering going back to work, with more than half of them reporting that they needed more money.

The increase in older workers staying on the job is causing concerns in the executive suite because corporate planners have been expecting their expensive older workers to retire which would open senior-level jobs for younger workers looking to advance their careers.

"You're in a little bit of a box if the performance of the older workers is good," says Ron Porter, leader in Korn Ferry's global human resources center of expertise.

That's a big switch from 2020 when corporate types were desperate to keep older workers on the job in the early phases of the COVID-19 epidemic. The resulting labor shortages that continued prompted many large companies to launch "returnship" programs aimed at recruiting and training people who'd been out of the workforce for any length of time, including parents and retirees. In 2023, however, many firms are looking to cut costs or restructure, and executives want to see higher-paid 50- and 60-somethings move into retirement.

Impact on Younger Workers

workers not retiring

In fact, many corporations have been expecting the older members of their workforce to move on as naturally as the aged-in to qualifying for Social Security and could start making withdrawals from tax-deferred retirement accounts without penalty. The expectation was that younger workers with different skills could help reshape how they do business.

That desire could turn out to be bad news for middle-aged and younger workers. Because age discrimination by employers is illegal, it's risky to target older workers. That could give older workers some new leverage with their employers, who could turn to offering buy-outs. Another option is the nascent practice of retirement-track positions. These jobs are designed to allow older workers to transition to retirement by putting them in positions to oversee and train younger workers, transferring knowledge and skill, and moving to shortened work weeks.

The Bottom Line

Older workers worried that they can't afford to retire are staying on the job longer, causing concern among corporate executives who want their higher-priced employees to move on and open senior positions for younger workers.

Retirement Planning Tips

A financial advisor can help you get ready for retirement. Finding a financial advisor doesn't have to be hard. SmartAsset's 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 you're ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Use SmartAsset's free retirement calculator to get a sense of if you are on track to meet your retirement goals.

Photo credit: iStock.com/Moon Safari, iStock.com/oatawa

The post Retirement Crisis: Older Americans Struggle to Afford Life After Work appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
whyframestudio / iStock.com

As concerns build over the future depletion of Social Security reserves and U.S. senators actively look to strengthen the retirement, disability and survivor insurance program, its clear a large portion of Americans are firmly opposed to raising the full retirement age for benefits from 67 to 70 years.

Retirement Savings: Experts Say This Magic Number Is the Key  and Its Not $1 Million

Compare: 10 States To Avoid If Youre Living on Just a Social Security Check

According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 78% of Americans dont want the retirement age increased, leaving 17% in support of adopting a new age limit when workers are eligible for 100% of the benefits theyve earned.

When asked if they would support raising the full retirement age if it meant their benefits would last longer, 62% of respondents said they still would disagree with the retirement age raise, while 30% would favor an age hike.

Additionally, while food costs topped respondents lists for most pressing financial concerns, retirement savings ranked in the top three for 35- to 49-year-olds (at No. 2 with 17%), 50- to 64-year-olds (at No. 1 with 25%) and those over 65 years old (also at No. 1 with 26%).

When it comes to the golden years, Americans young, old and in-between share the same worry, said Quinnipiac professor of finance and business Osman Kilic. Theres a cloud of doubt hanging over the quality of life theyll have when they retire, especially among those between 35 and 64 years of age.

The survey, conducted in collaboration with the Quinnipiac University School of Business and its Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum XII event, polled 1,795 U.S. adults between March 9 and March 13, 2023. As SmartAsset noted, 29% of respondents identified themselves as Democrats and 27% as Republicans (meanwhile 29% said they were Independents, while the remaining 15% said they belong to another political party or simply dont know).

See: Social Security Payments Could Stop in July If Debt Ceiling Not Settled, Say Experts

Experts: Social Security, SNAP Benefits Likely Among First Casualties If Debt Ceiling Leads to Default

Without legislative reform, the combined assets of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are expected to become depleted starting in 2034. It is anticipated that the continuing total fund income will be sufficient to pay 80% of scheduled benefits at that time, according to the Social Security Board of Trustees.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Retirement Savings: New Poll Shows 78% of Americans Dont Want Retirement Age Raised
(Bloomberg) -- Stratolaunch LLC and Rocket Lab USA Inc. are among the buyers for assets of Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc., the bankrupt space-launch company tied to billionaire Richard Branson.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Virgin Orbit will sell its modified Boeing 747, known as Cosmic Girl, to Stratolaunch for $17 million after no better bids emerged, according to bankruptcy court papers filed Tuesday. Meanwhile, Rocket Lab is buying Virgin Orbits primary rocket factory in California for $16.1 million.

The piecemeal sale indicates no adequate bids emerged for the whole of Virgin Orbit during an auction. Launcher Inc. is set to buy a test facility for $2.7 million, court papers show. Vast Space announced a deal recently to acquire Launcher.

The asset disposals, which total more than $35 million, are subject to bankruptcy court approval.

Virgin Orbit thanked stakeholders as it said in a statement that it would cease operations. The company said its technology has made substantial contributions to the field of commercial rocket launch.

Virgin Orbit had been exploring options including a possible sale or arrangements that could allow it to continue operating after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early April. Stratolaunch had earlier made a stalking-horse bid for the 747 jet.

Read More: Billionaire Branson Sits Out Virgin Orbits Costly Flameout

Founded by Branson as an offshoot of his space-tourism venture Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., Virgin Orbit focused on sending small satellites to space on its LauncherOne rocket. The vehicle is designed to take off not from the ground but from underneath the wing of its Cosmic Girl jet. Virgin Orbit had successfully flown to orbit four times since 2021. It went public via a reverse merger in late 2021.

The company suffered a high-profile failure in January 2023, when its LauncherOne rocket malfunctioned during a mission and failed to reach orbit, causing the loss of all nine satellites on board. The mission, which took off from Spaceport Cornwall in the UK, was meant to be the first orbital launch to take place from British soil.

Low on cash in mid-March, Virgin Orbit furloughed almost its entire staff during an all-hands meeting as the company searched for a financial lifeline. The company attempted to start some limited operations roughly a week later, as executives negotiated with Texas-based venture capital investor Matthew Brown to potentially inject $200 million into the company.

That deal never materialized, though, and Virgin Orbit halted operations at the end of March.

Despite the latest asset sales, no successful bidder was chosen to buy its LauncherOne rockets. At the time of the sale, Virgin Orbit had about half a dozen rockets in various stages of manufacturing, according to the company. It wasnt immediately clear what would happen with those.

--With assistance from Siddharth Philip, Jonathan Randles and James Nani.

(Updates with company comment in fifth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- In yet another sign of the increasing financial stress facing US hospitals, a public health care operator in California has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Most Read from Bloomberg

San Benito Health Care District in Hollister filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on Tuesday, citing labor costs, a years-long shortage of working capital and a $5.2 million overpayment from Medicare it had to return, the court filing said. The Chapter 9, which is filed by municipalities and public entities, is rare compared to other bankruptcy filings used by corporations and individuals.

The move allows the district to address excessive health-care costs for its workers and find a partner or buyer, a press release prior to the filing said. The district operates the 25-bed, 116-year-old Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital and a handful of specialty and rural health clinics and nursing homes.

In court papers, it listed assets of $100 million to $500 million and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million. It is one of Californias 76, mostly rural, health care districts which are run by locally-elected boards to operate and finance ailing hospitals in underserved areas.

Hospitals in California are in a precarious position, Matt Fabian and Lisa Washburn of Municipal Market Analytics wrote in a note on Monday, citing the closures of nine rural hospitals in the state since 2005. And 20% of the states hospitals broadly are at risk of closing, according to an April report by consultant Kaufman Hall, which also says more than 70% have unsustainably low margins.

Governor Gavin Newsom this month approved $150 million in interest-free loans to help financially-strapped hospitals. The program will boost the credit outlook in the short term, Fabian and Washburn wrote.

Read more: Newsom Approves $150 Million in No-Interest Loans for Hospitals

The challenges, of course, are not just in California, theyre particularly dire for rural facilities across the US. While patients are seeking care after early-pandemic shutdowns, hospitals are coping with notably higher labor costs and shortages, the end of pandemic-era federal aid and a long-term movement of many profitable procedures to outpatient facilities. Overall expenses rose 17.5% between 2019 and last year, according to a report issued by the American Hospital Association.

While larger facilities have big endowments and recognized brand names to cushion their balance sheets, smaller facilities lack those benefits. And rural facilities that treat a disproportionate number of elderly and poor patients get reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid that are lower than what private insurance pays. That contributes to what Fitch Ratings has called a renewed credit divide.

Rural hospitals often lack the patient volume to support operations, said Brock Slabach, chief operations officer at the National Rural Health Association.

Slabach said Californias loan program can do a lot of good but repayment may be difficult, especially as rural hospitals are already looking at construction costs needed to bring their buildings up to code.

Anything that provides access to capital for a rural hospital is very welcomed, but finding financing continues to be difficult for rural facilities, Slabach said in an interview. To access capital, you need to have a demonstration of financial strength and financial viability.

The district, which employs about 700 workers, issued bonds in 2005, 2014 and 2021, according to a court filing.

The San Benito Health Care District has been cutting costs but will run out of cash next year if it cant modify operations, Mary Casillas, interim chief executive, said in court papers. Like many bankrupt public entities, among the districts main financial problems is unfunded pension obligations, according to the documents.

The districts health care facilities will remain open during the bankruptcy, said Marcus Young, a spokesman for the district.

A consultants report from last year recommended three options to allow the district to increase enough revenue to remain independent, all costing at least $200 million. But management concluded that a merger with a larger system would be a more optimal solution.

Young said filing for bankruptcy will bring more interest from a buyer, adding that several parties have expressed interest in a potential partnership or purchase.

The San Benito Health Care District case is 23-50544, in the California Northern Bankruptcy Court in San Jose

--With assistance from Steven Church.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Russia pleads with India for help avoiding financial black list, warning oil and weapons deals are at risk, report says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sergey Bobylev/Reuters

Russia could become black listed by the Financial Action Task Force in June.

To avoid this, Moscow is pressuring India to help thwart the blacklisting effort, Bloomberg reported.

Russia has told India that key energy and weapons deals would be at risk.

Russia is asking for India's support to avoid getting on a black list that would further isolate Moscow from global finance, Bloomberg reported.

The pressure comes as the Financial Action Task Force  an intergovernmental group focused on combating money laundering and terrorist financing  prepares for a June meeting, during which members could implement restrictions on Russia.

Though its invasion of Ukraine had already made Russia the world's most heavily sanctioned country, an FATF blacklisting would put Moscow in the same category as North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar.

If Russia is added to the black list, FATF members, banks, investment firms, and payment-processors must perform additional due diligence and could even enact countermeasures, according to Bloomberg.

Because Russia was suspended from FATF in February, it's urging other countries like India to help thwart the blacklisting effort.

The Kremlin has warned India that defense, energy, and transportation deals between the two countries would be at risk under the designation.

They include weapons exports, cooperation between oil firms Rosneft and Nayara Energy Limited, and the development of a railway corridor. Russia is India's top arm supplier and has emerged as a major oil supplier in the last year.

Russia has also said that even being added on the FATF's "gray list"  a less severe measure  would still threaten deals.

Moscow believes that India has "special credibility" within the FATF that should be used, but has also turned to other governments for similar support, sources told Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Ukraine has championed the black listing, but is not a member itself.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Key Insights

Using the Dividend Discount Model, Sanford fair value estimate is NZ$3.37

Current share price of NZ$4.28 suggests Sanford is potentially 27% overvalued

Sanford's peers are currently trading at a discount of 28% on average

Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Sanford Limited (NZSE:SAN) as an investment opportunity by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Sanford

What's The Estimated Valuation?

We have to calculate the value of Sanford slightly differently to other stocks because it is a food company. Instead of using free cash flows, which are hard to estimate and often not reported by analysts in this industry, dividends per share (DPS) payments are used. Unless a company pays out the majority of its FCF as a dividend, this method will typically underestimate the value of the stock. We use the Gordon Growth Model, which assumes dividend will grow into perpetuity at a rate that can be sustained. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.2%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.0%. Compared to the current share price of NZ$4.3, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= NZ$0.2 / (7.0%  2.2%)

= NZ$3.4

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 Sanford 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 7.0%, 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 Sanford

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Food market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Good value based on P/E ratio compared to estimated Fair P/E ratio.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it 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. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a premium to intrinsic value? For Sanford, we've put together three further factors you should assess:

Risks: Be aware that Sanford is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about... Future Earnings: How does SAN'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 New Zealander stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia shares dropped after both Canadian banks missed earnings estimates, with loan-loss provisions higher amid a macroeconomic outlook thats continuing to darken.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Scotiabank set aside C$709 million ($523 million) for potentially souring loans, while Bank of Montreal has C$1.02 billion in provisions for credit losses. Bank of Montreals numbers included an initial of C$517 million on the performing-loan portfolio of Bank of the West, the bank said in a statement Wednesday.

Its the first time Bank of Montreal has reported results that include the San Francisco-based lender, which it bought from BNP Paribas SA for $16.3 billion.

The higher-interest-rate environment is finally starting to bite on the consumer and on borrowers in general, Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management, told BNN Bloomberg Television. When they are saying we need to increase provisioning, theyre saying we see headwinds for the economies of Canada and the US.

Bank of Montreal shares fell 3.5% to C$113.33 at 9:41 a.m. in Toronto, while Scotiabank slipped 2.2% to C$65.02. Bank of Montreal has declined 7.6% this year and Scotiabank is down 2.1%, compared with a 3.3% drop for the S&P/TSX Commercial Banks Index.

Banks enjoyed a period of pristine credit quality after governments responding to the pandemic flooded their economies with liquidity. Banks have long projected that those trends will eventually normalize, which means putting more into reserves for loans that borrowers are unable to pay off.

Scotiabanks net interest margin  the difference between what the bank earns from loans and what it pays depositors  was 2.13% in the fiscal second quarter, compared with 2.11% in the previous three months and 2.23% a year earlier. Excluding some items, profit totaled C$1.70 a share, less than the C$1.76 average estimate of 11 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Negative View

Meanwhile, Toronto-based Bank of Montreal reported 1.69% in net interest margin, the same level as a year earlier and above analysts expectations. Earnings excluding some items totaled C$2.93 a share, missing the C$3.21 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Overall, we have a negative view on Bank of Montreals results as adjusted EPS was below our forecast and consensus on high expenses though capital seems solid, RBC Capital Markets analyst Darko Mihelic said in a note to clients.

Scotiabanks higher set-asides for credit losses hurt net income in both the Canadian banking and the global banking and markets segments. The Canadian banking segment also dealt with higher non-interest expenses, with revenue up from a year earlier countering the increase.

Scotiabanks international division  centered on Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru  sets the lender apart from Canadas North America-focused banks, with the unit weighing on the lenders shares in recent years. Scott Thomson, who took over as chief executive officer of Toronto-based Scotiabank earlier this year, said in February that the divisions returns are not commensurate with our expectations in certain countries and that the firm is in the process of assessing our international business mix.

The units net interest margin rose to 4.12% in the three months through April from 4% in the fiscal first quarter.

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it ended an enforcement action against the Canadian lender related to its anti-money-laundering controls.

--With assistance from Sandra Mergulhao.

(Updates with strategist comment in third paragraph, shares in fourth.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Generally speaking the aim of active stock picking is to find companies that provide returns that are superior to the market average. And in our experience, buying the right stocks can give your wealth a significant boost. For example, the Siemens Healthineers AG (ETR:SHL) share price is up 57% in the last 5 years, clearly besting the market decline of around 6.6% (ignoring dividends).

With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

Check out our latest analysis for Siemens Healthineers

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Over half a decade, Siemens Healthineers managed to grow its earnings per share at 0.4% a year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 9% per year, over the same period. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. In the case of Siemens Healthineers, it has a TSR of 72% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

Although it hurts that Siemens Healthineers returned a loss of 0.6% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 1.0%. Of course, the long term returns are far more important and the good news is that over five years, the stock has returned 11% for each year. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Siemens Healthineers (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on German exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Silicon Photomultiplier Demand is Predicted to Grow at an 8.3% CAGR, Reaching US$ 274.4 Million by 2031: Transparency Market Research Analysis

Transparency Market Research

Silicon Photomultiplier Market is expected to rise significantly during the forecast period, owing to the numerous advantages offered by silicon photomultipliers such as low voltage operation, excellent timing performance, high sensitivity, immunity to the magnetic field, etc.

Wilmington, Delaware, United States, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. - The global silicon photomultiplier market (SiPM) stood at US$ 123.7 million in 2021 and the global market is projected to reach US$ 274.4 million in 2031. Global silicon photomultiplier industry is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 8.3% between 2022 and 2031.



Rise in use in the automotive industry and the surge in demand for detection and imaging applications drive the global silicon photomultiplier market. However, the technological incompatibility of SiPMs hampers the market growth. High demand from the Asia-Pacific region is expected to open up new opportunities for the market players in the future.

High penetration of these silicon photomultiplier products is witnessed in emerging nations, especially in their healthcare and automotive sectors. Several technological advancements taking place in the silicon photomultiplier would contribute to the surging growth of the market.

Many key silicon photomultipliers manufacturers like On Semiconductor, TE Connectivity, and Broadcom, are increasingly investing in developing cost-effective, technologically advanced, and more secure products & solutions for further applications.

For Insights on Global, Regional, and Country-Level Parameters with Growth Opportunities by 2031 - Download a Sample Report!

Market Snapshot:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue US$ 123.7 Mn Estimated Value US$ 274.4 Mn Growth Rate - CAGR 8.3% Forecast Period 2022-2031 No. of Pages 174 Pages Market Segmentation Type, Device Type, Application, Industry Vertical Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, South America Companies Covered AdvanSiD, Broadcom Inc., CAEN S.p.A, Cremat Inc., Excelitas Technologies Corp., Fraunhofer IM, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Onsemi, Philips, TE connectivity

Key Takeaways of Market Report

Global silicon photomultiplier market to generate absolute dollar opportunity worth US$ 274.4 million until 2031.

Global silicon photomultiplier market from 2021 to 2031 is 8.3%

Global silicon photomultiplier market is currently valued at US$ 133.8 million in 2022.

Global silicon photomultiplier market stood at US$ 123.7 million in 2021.

Market value of the global silicon photomultiplier market management from 2018 to 2022 is 7.5%

Asia Pacific is said to have a market share of 57.4%

North American market region is estimated to have a market share of 38.9%



Global Silicon Photomultiplier Market: Growth Drivers

Product launches have enabled the silicon photomultiplier market growth forward. For instance, in March 2021, ON Semiconductor implemented a new RDM-Series silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) range, which adds LiDAR sensor functionalities to the company's product portfolio of advanced sensing products.



ArrayRDM-0112A20-QFN is the market's first SiPM product, equipped to meet the demands of LiDAR applications in the automotive sector and even beyond. SiPM's high internal gain permits sensitivity down to the single-photon level, which, when combined with the high PDE, enables detection of the lightest return signals as a result, also with low, reflecting targets, the range can be extended to higher distances.



Healthcare is one of the few sectors that experienced tremendous growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical devices, imaging devices, medical services & managed care, and pharmaceuticals saw particularly significant growth.



Medical imaging is an important operational area within the healthcare sector that has been experiencing considerable growth even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.



Growth increased manifold during the pandemic when the increased demand for diagnostic imaging saw a surge in the requirement for medical imaging devices such as PET scanners, X-ray machines, and MRI machines.



Buy this Premium Research Report | Immediate Delivery Available - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=51168<ype=S

Global Silicon Photomultiplier Market: Regional Landscape

APAC is expected to register the highest growth in the silicon photomultiplier market during the forecast period. Growth in medical infrastructure across various countries in this region is expected to propel the growth of silicon photomultipliers. Asia Pacific is said to have a market share of 57.4%.



Expanding market potential in the region is primarily attributable to the expansion of developing nations such as China, Japan, and India. Asia-Pacific market is predicted to increase due to expected growth in China's nuclear power industry, a growing proportion of nuclear power plants in India, the Japanese government's decision to reconsider its nuclear power process, and growing deployments of medical imaging equipment in India.



North America dominated with the highest share in 2021. North America has a large market for silicon photomultipliers in healthcare, automotive, consumer electronics and telecommunications, aerospace, oil and gas, and others. North American market region is estimated to have a market share of 38.9%



United States now maintains the highest share of the market; this pattern is projected to continue over the forecast period.



Global Silicon Photomultiplier Market: Key Players

Broadcom Inc.



Acquisition

Broadcom Inc. acquired silicon photomultiplier market (SiPM) assets of KETEK GmbH. Broadcom Inc. has taken all SiPM products from KETEK GmbH and integrated KETEK GmbH products into their product portfolio and continue to sale their SiPM products.

KETEK GmbH



Development

KETEK GmbH has developed the new SiPM -TIA-MODULE as an excellent plug-and-play PMT replacement, based on its PM33xx- WB silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). It provides exceptional linearity with an internal low-noise preamplifier and has an integrated bias circuit.

Get Customization on this Report for Specific Research Solutions: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=51168

Global Silicon Photomultiplier Market: Segmentation

Type



NUV SiPMs

RGB SiPMs



Device Type



Analog SiPMs

Digital SiPMs



Application



LiDAR

Medical Imaging Hazard & Threat Detection Gamma Ray Spectroscopy Handheld and Mobile Devices Analytical Instrumentation Others (Optical Sorting, Flow Cytometry, etc.)



Industry Vertical



Automotive

Healthcare Consumer Electronics Aerospace and Defense Industrial Others (IT & Telecommunication, Oil & Gas, etc.)



Regions Covered



North America

Latin America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa





About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

Contact:

Nikhil Sawlani

Transparency Market Research Inc.

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(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. issued a sharp rebuke after S&P Global Ratings cut its long-term credit rating a notch further into junk territory, citing the Japanese tech conglomerates exposure to private market valuations and other external risk factors.

Most Read from Bloomberg

S&P said that SoftBanks credit risks are rising because its selling off public assets such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and increasing its exposure to private startups with more volatile valuations as a result. It downgraded the companys rating to BB from BB+. SoftBank shares fell as much as 2.3% in Tokyo, while its credit default swaps  the cost to insure SoftBanks debt  rose by the most in about a month.

Asset risk in SoftBank Group Corp.s investment portfolio is rising more than we had assumed; its liquidity and creditworthiness are likely to remain materially weakened for the next year or so, the agency wrote in its report.

SoftBank criticized the decision and argued the credit-rating agency had failed to accurately analyze its circumstances. The Tokyo-based company contended that selling off assets like Alibaba in exchange for cash is clearly better for its balance sheet stability.

Over the past year, our strict defensive financial management has strengthened our financial position as never before, the company said in its own statement. It is extremely regrettable that our financial soundness was not properly assessed, and we will continue our dialogue with S&P.

Read more: SoftBank Explores Plans to Become a Lender in Private Credit

In an interview after the agencys decision, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said the rating cut will not impact SoftBanks borrowing costs nor the way it manages its balance sheet. Given the companys ample cash reserve of over 5 trillion, the company wont need to issue new bonds for a while, said Goto.

SoftBank will still need to refinance bonds that were sold to retail investors  some 350 billion worth  which are coming due during the March quarter next year, according to Goto. Only time will tell where yields trade around that time, but SoftBanks coupon rate for bonds sold to individuals are linked to Japan Credit Rating Agency Ltd.s ratings and not those of the S&P, he said.

If SoftBank sees weaker demand for its bonds, we can always adjust the timing of any fresh issuances, Goto told Bloomberg News in a video call.

This is not the first time SoftBank has fought back against credit-rating firms. It has had a years-long clash with Moodys Investors Service to which it has not provided information since March 2020.

Weve had respect for the S&P, said Goto. Its too bad they came to such an unreasonable conclusion.

--With assistance from Finbarr Flynn.

(Updates to add CDS movements in the second paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
China unveils plan for development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Xinhua) 08:54, May 24, 2023

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- China has unveiled a plan for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Tuesday.

The plan, jointly issued by the MIIT, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the local governments of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, said that the region's level of coordinated industrial development will have improved significantly by 2025.

In recent years, the coordinated industrial development of the region has achieved landmark results, and the region's industrial structure has been continuously optimized, according to the MIIT.

As of the end of 2022, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has cultivated over 1,100 "little giant" firms, the novel elites of small- and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market, accounting for 12 percent of the country's total.

Solid progress should be made in developing high-end, smart and green industries in the region, fostering quality enterprises, and building the region into a growth pole for the innovative development of advanced manufacturing and a demonstration zone for coordinated industrial development, the MIIT said.

The ministry said that measures will be strengthened to improve the region's business environment, strengthen the coordination of various factors, optimize the region's coordination mechanism, and ensure monitoring and evaluation work.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
By Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has asked Washington to review its criteria for new semiconductor subsidies, concerned over the impact of rules to limit chip investment in countries such as China, a U.S. public filing showed.

In March, the U.S. commerce department proposed rules to prevent China and other countries it deems to be of concern from tapping funds of $52 billion earmarked for semiconductor manufacturing and research under the so-called CHIPS Act.

A leading chipmaker and major investor in the U.S. chip sector, South Korea asked the United States to review the rule that prevents recipients of U.S. funding from building new facilities in such countries, beyond 5% of existing capacity.

"The Republic of Korea believes 'guardrail provisions' should not be implemented in a manner that imposes an unreasonable burden on companies investing in the United States," South Korea said, using its official name.

The filing gave no further details, but the South's Yonhap news agency said Seoul had asked to raise the limit to 10%.

South Korea's industry ministry declined to comment.

The United States has said the incentives aim to help restore America's leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, boost employment and ensure economic and national security.

South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix, the world's top two makers of memory chips, have invested billions of dollars in chip factories in China.

Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost more than $25 billion.

In its comments, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd sought clarification of the proposed rule to ensure that investments in the U.S. chip-making sector were "not unduly and unintentionally restricted," a filing showed.

SK Hynix Inc also made comments, but the public version gave no details.

Its parent SK Group, which plans to invest $15 billion in the U.S. chip sector, some for an advanced chip packaging factory, has said it is considering applying for funding.

"Potential CHIPS Act funding recipients have numerous existing legacy facilities in China," an industry group, the Semiconductor Industry Association, said.

"It is critical for these companies to be able to protect their past investments in these facilities by ensuring they remain commercially viable."

SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics did not immediately provide comments to Reuters.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has said funding applicants should be ruled ineligible if they did not agree to allow union organising.

"The U.S. government should not be in the business of funding union-busting employers," it said in a filing on Tuesday.

The commerce department began accepting subsidy applications for leading-edge chip facilities in March. On June 26, it will open applications for "current-generation, mature-node and back-end" production facilities.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi in Seoul and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Ed Davies and Clarence Fernandez)
President Joe Biden walks past House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California after the GOP leader introduced him to speak at a Friends of Ireland Caucus St. Patrick's Day luncheon in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2023. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Stocks will feel pain even if lawmakers raise the debt ceiling before the X-date, market vet James Athey said.

That's because government spending cuts will weigh on growth, which will weigh on stocks.

Biden is scheduled to continue debt ceiling talks with congressional leaders on Tuesday.

Stocks may feel the pain even if lawmakers reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a potential US default scenario, according to Abrdn's James Athey.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, the Abrdn investment director pointed to ongoing talks between President Biden and lawmakers, who are still sparring over the conditions to raise the country's borrowing limit.

The White House and member of Congress will likely reach a deal before the US defaults on its debt, Athey said, but a solution will probably involve spending cuts, which will be a headwind for equities.

"Almost by definition you need to see something given to the Republicans to get them on board, and of course that's likely to take the form of spending cuts, and that's a gross headwind, which I don't think is at all baked into markets at the moment," he said. "I think we get a deal, I don't think anyone is delighted about it, but everyone's somewhat satisfied. But I think there is still downside risk to equity and bond yields on the fact that it's likely to be impeding growth going forward."

President Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and other congressional leaders are expected to resume debt ceiling negotiations on Tuesday. McCarthy has said he would reject any short-term debt ceiling increase without negotiating government spending cuts, though experts say that's likely to crimp economic growth.

McCarthy's proposed bill, which slashes around $4.5 trillion in government spending, would likely result in recession, Moody's chief economist warned.

Congress now has a little over a week to raise the national borrowing limit before the US could potentially default on its obligations, which could include missing payments on some of its $31 trillion mountain of debt. Experts have warned that such an event would be a catastrophe for markets and the economy. Stocks could crash 45%, the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated, rivaling the crash seen around the 2008 recession.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Talks over forming Thailands next government are well into their second week and theres still no sign that a pro-democracy coalition led by Move Forward will garner the support it needs to ensure that Pita Limjaroenrat becomes the nations 30th prime minister.

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Despite downplaying some controversial campaign promises and cobbling together an alliance of eight parties that commands a majority in the House of Representatives, Pitas coalition still doesnt have the 376 parliamentary seats needed to bypass a 250-member, military-appointed Senate that also gets to vote on the next premier.

The uncertainty has Thailands markets and global investors on edge, with the main stock index continuing to languish as Asias worst performer so far this year and the baht slumping to a two-month low. The currency has lost more than 2% since a post-election bounce a day after the May 14 vote.

While the 42-year-old Pita has shown his political acumen in winning the vote and building a coalition, hes up against a royalist establishment and military that may be unwilling to see him come to power. Rivals in other parties are also watching to see if he falters.

The Election Commission has to release official results confirming 95% of lower house seats within 60 days following election, and then the House has to convene within 15 days after that. But theres no time limit for when the next leader has to be picked.

Until there is a new prime minister, the caretaker government is led by Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the general who led the 2014 coup and has held power since. If no party can win majority support, he could remain in place for months to come.

Its worth noting that in 2019, though the election was held on March 24, the premier was selected only on June 5 with a cabinet unveiled on July 11.

With that background, here are some scenarios that could unfold:

Pita Wins

The most straightforward path for Move Forward is to either win over enough senators to make up his coalitions shortfall  about 63 seats currently  or form an alliance with the third-place Bhumjaithai Party, which won 70 seats in the election. Neither will be easy.

No one knows whether a chunk of the military-appointed Senate can be persuaded to vote for the opposition parties that dominated the vote. At least one senator, Wanchai Sornsiri, said hell vote for whoever the coalition nominates, adding that many of his colleagues are undecided.

I believe each senator is mature and isnt stubborn, but each has their own thought, Wanchai said.

Yet for Pita to win over enough senators, he may have to further soften his pledge to ease up on Article 112, a law that mandates as many as 15 years in jail for each charge of insulting top royals, including King Maha Vajiralongkorn. While changing the lese majeste law is popular with some voters, its a step too far for many parties and the establishment.

Dialing back his vows to change Article 112 could also unlock support from Bhumjaithai, giving Pita a parliamentary majority. But Move Forwards vow to put cannabis back on the list of controlled narcotics  reversing a decriminalization policy championed by Bhumjaithai  may make such an alliance impossible.

The conservative Democracy Party that won 24 seats in the lower house is scheduled to meet Wednesday morning to elect a new leader. It may also discuss whether or not to support Pita, according to the party.

Pro-Democracy Split

If talks drag out, Move Forwards coalition partner and second-place finisher Pheu Thai could end its support for Pitas bid and try to form a government led by one of its three candidates for the post  including the daughter of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

As the partys principal backer, Thaksin made clear that Pheu Thai would not support any attempt to reform the lese majeste law. That makes Pheu Thai a more palatable choice for conservative groups and the Senate, even after governments led by Thaksin and his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, were ousted by the military in separate coups.

In the eyes of conservatives, Pheu Thai has become the lesser of two evils, said Napon Jatusripitak, a research fellow at Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

The Harvard-educated Pita could also see his candidacy ended if allegations that he violated election rules by holding shares in a defunct media company lead to him losing his parliamentary seat. Pita has said he only manages the family estate that has the shares.

Pheu Thai stands to gain the most if Pita is disqualified or if the coalition fails to take shape under Move Forwards leadership, Napon said.

Among Pheu Thais prime minister candidates are Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksins youngest daughter, and real estate magnate Srettha Thavisin.

Minority Government, Military Coup

Another scenario involves the Senate backing a minority government led either by Bhumjaithais Anutin Charnvirakul or one of the military-backed parties. But that would risk sparking protests similar to those that broke out in 2020 after Move Forwards predecessor, the Future Forward party, was disbanded.

Since the Senates ability to vote for the prime minister expires next year, any minority government is at risk of falling in a no-confidence vote. To guard against that, its possible that the establishment may petition the courts to disband Move Forward or Pheu Thai as what happened in the past to their predecessors, using the push to amend Article 112 as pretext.

However, any move to ban the nations popular politicians  or stage yet another military coup  may lead to massive demonstrations. And this time the risks are even higher for the royalist establishment, as protesters have recently been much bolder in directly targeting the monarchy than in previous years.

While the possibility of another coup can never be ruled out in Thailand, experts rank this as the least likely option, for now.

I think all parties want to avoid this, said Tamara Loos, a professor of history and Thai studies at Cornell University. The conservative political parties, military and monarch have to come to terms with this changed political landscape.

--With assistance from Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Pathom Sangwongwanich and Adrian Leung.

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Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL), is not the largest company out there, but it saw significant share price movement during recent months on the TSX, rising to highs of CA$45.71 and falling to the lows of CA$38.68. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Gildan Activewear's current trading price of CA$38.68 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Gildan Activewears outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

Check out our latest analysis for Gildan Activewear

What's The Opportunity In Gildan Activewear?

Great news for investors  Gildan Activewear is still trading at a fairly cheap price. My valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the stock is CA$60.01, but it is currently trading at CA$38.68 on the share market, meaning that there is still an opportunity to buy now. However, given that Gildan Activewears share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us another chance to buy in the future. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

What does the future of Gildan Activewear look like?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that its the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. Gildan Activewear's earnings over the next few years are expected to increase by 24%, indicating a highly optimistic future ahead. This should lead to more robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? Since GIL is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to accumulate more of your holdings in the stock. With an optimistic outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation.

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on GIL for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its prosperous future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy GIL. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to make a well-informed buy.

With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Gildan Activewear.

If you are no longer interested in Gildan Activewear, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE:FC), might not be a large cap stock, but it received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NYSE over the last few months, increasing to US$49.08 at one point, and dropping to the lows of US$34.98. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Franklin Covey's current trading price of US$37.66 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Franklin Coveys outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

View our latest analysis for Franklin Covey

What Is Franklin Covey Worth?

Franklin Covey is currently expensive based on my price multiple model, where I look at the company's price-to-earnings ratio in comparison to the industry average. Ive used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because theres not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stocks ratio of 27.25x is currently well-above the industry average of 21.13x, meaning that it is trading at a more expensive price relative to its peers. If you like the stock, you may want to keep an eye out for a potential price decline in the future. Since Franklin Coveys share price is quite volatile, this could mean it can sink lower (or rise even further) in the future, giving us another chance to invest. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

What does the future of Franklin Covey look like?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so lets also take a look at the company's future expectations. Though in the case of Franklin Covey, it is expected to deliver a negative earnings growth of -0.8%, which doesnt help build up its investment thesis. It appears that risk of future uncertainty is high, at least in the near term.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? If you believe FC is currently trading above its peers, selling high and buying it back up again when its price falls towards the industry PE ratio can be profitable. Given the uncertainty from negative growth in the future, this could be the right time to reduce your total portfolio risk. But before you make this decision, take a look at whether its fundamentals have changed.

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping tabs on FC for some time, now may not be the best time to enter into the stock. Its price has risen beyond its industry peers, on top of a negative future outlook. However, there are also other important factors which we havent considered today, such as the track record of its management. Should the price fall in the future, will you be well-informed enough to buy?

Since timing is quite important when it comes to individual stock picking, it's worth taking a look at what those latest analysts forecasts are. At Simply Wall St, we have the analysts estimates which you can view by clicking here.

If you are no longer interested in Franklin Covey, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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(Bloomberg) -- US lawmakers are urging Washington to strike back against China for its decision to bar Micron Technology Inc.s memory chips, threatening to further inflame tensions between the two countries.

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Representative Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who leads a China-focused congressional committee, wants Changxin Memory Technologies Inc. placed on a blacklist that effectively bars dealings with American firms. Thats in response to Beijing this week blocking Micron from supplying Chinese critical infrastructure on national security grounds, an unusual move thats already ignited accusations of over-reach.

Gallagher wants Changxin on a list that already encompasses many of Chinas largest technology companies, including networking leader Huawei Technologies Co. and its largest storage firm Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. The Entities List blocks the shipment of everything from American software to circuitry without licenses, effectively preventing access to the building blocks of much of modern technology.

The tensions over technology have been brewing since the US imposed sweeping export restrictions on semiconductor equipment and knowhow to China, aimed at stifling its chip sector development, and set off dueling accusations of economic coercion.

John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said Wednesday that Chinas ban on Boise, Idaho-based Micron was intended to undermine the Group of Seven consensus on countering perceived hostile policies by Beijing, but wont derail White House efforts to restore high-level talks, including between leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.

Gallaghers Republican colleague Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized Beijings move on Micron and called for a response.

The Biden administration and our allies and partners must make every act of coercion more costly to the CCP, he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. I urge the administration to use the many authorities Congress has given it to hold the CCP accountable.

Read more: Xis Micron Ban Shows His Limited Options to Hit Back at US

Washington should lean on allies such as South Korea to try and prevent Microns peers from stepping in to fill the void in China after the Micron action, argued Gallagher, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. dominate the worlds supply of memory chips, which power most electronics as well as servers and smartphones.

This is the latest example of PRC economic coercion, designed to intimidate the U.S. government from implementing export controls and harass the U.S. companies that abide by them, Gallagher, whos known for his hawkish stance on China, wrote in a statement.

The Commerce Department should also ensure no U.S.-export licenses granted to foreign semiconductor memory firms operating in the PRC are used to backfill Micron, and our South Korean allies, who have experienced exactly this kind of CCP economic coercion firsthand in recent years, should likewise act to prevent backfilling.

Read more: Chinese Chip Rival to Samsung Seeks IPO at $14.5 Billion Value

Chinas foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday defended the governments Micron decision.

The cybersecurity review on Microns products sold in China is carried out according to Chinas laws and the decision was made based on facts, she told reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

The US without any evidence has listed scores of Chinese companies and individuals into all kinds of lists and imposed all kinds of restrictions, she added. That is what economic coercion is.

Changxin Memory is one of a handful of major Chinese firms that embody Beijings ambitions to match the US technologically, particularly in the semiconductors that drive most advances from AI to self-driving cars. It plans to file for a domestic initial public offering this year that could value the Chinese chipmaker at more than $14.5 billion, a milestone debut that could help galvanize the countrys technology aspirations.

Changxin is already one of the largest Chinese makers of DRAM storage chips, an industry that could serve as a launchpad for more advanced semiconductor development down the road.

--With assistance from Lucille Liu, Ramsey Al-Rikabi and Jennifer Jacobs.

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The US's AAA credit rating could be at risk even if it keeps making bond payments but can't meet other obligations

American flag over US money STILLFX/Getty Images

Credit-rating firms are holding steady in their belief lawmakers will reach a deal to avert a US default.

In the event of a default, the US could be downgraded even if it prioritizes bond payments.

Creditworthiness and ability to pay all obligations affects investors' trust in US Treasury markets.

The speed with which federal policymakers reach a debt ceiling deal could be consequential for the US's creditworthiness, and even if a worst-case scenario of a debt default is averted, missing other payment obligations could still harm the country's standing.

According to Bloomberg, credit rating firms remain optimistic that a deal will be reached. Negotiations to avoid a US default have been ongoing between President Joe Biden and Congressional Republicans, who need to lift the US borrowing limit before June 1, which is when Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government will run out of money to meet all of its obligations.

Despite partisan friction, the two sides have struck a positive tone about the negotiations, indicating that a deal may be in sight. For this reason, Moody Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings  the latter of which downgraded the US following 2011's debt ceiling standoff  are all maintaining their steady outlook.

But with time running short, a default still remains on the table. Previously in March, Republicans had offered the idea of avoiding the crisis by "prioritizing debt," or paying off certain obligations ahead of others. For instance, the government could keep making payments on bonds while skipping payments to some contractors.

If this were to happen, Fitch has indicated that the US would be downgraded from its AAA status. Yellen has also spoken against this strategy, calling it a "default by another name."

Meanwhile, Moody's said it may bring the government's credit down to Aa1 if an interest payment on a bond is delayed, which is possible if the Treasury runs out of funds.

The US's creditworthiness is central to the risk-free reputation of the country's Treasury market  even the threat of a downgrade could send investors fleeing debt tied to the world's largest economy.

Further delays on a debt ceiling resolution could do more than harm US credit. According to Goldman Sachs, even if a default is avoided, liquidity could be drained as markets help restore the Treasury Department's cash balance. As of last week, the Treasury General Account had $60.6 billion, a significant drop from the previous week's $114 billion.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Why is Target pulling some Pride merch? The retailer's response to hostile backlash, explained

Pride month merchandise is displayed at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, N.J., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

WASHINGTON (AP)  After intense backlash from some shoppers, Target is removing certain items and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month.

In confirming the changes to this year's Pride collection, which has been on sale since early May, the Minneapolis retailer cited safety concerns for employees that have been targeted by hostile customers.

Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team members sense of safety and wellbeing while at work, Target said Tuesday in a written statement. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans.

The confrontations in Target stores are taking place as state legislatures introduce a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ+ individuals across the country. Some advocacy groups have criticized Target's response  calling on the retailer to not back down to hate-filled backlash and reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.

Here are some things to know about the controversy surrounding the Target Pride collection and the company's response.

DID TARGET PULL ITS PRIDE COLLECTION?

Target did not pull its entire Pride collection, but it has removed certain items ahead of Pride month.

The chain also made other changes to the selling of its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide, with Target confirming that it moved its Pride merchandise from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern locations after confrontations from shoppers in the region.

WHY IS TARGET PULLING PRIDE PRODUCTS? AND WHICH ONES?

Target said it's pulling certain items from the Pride collection due to intense and threatening backlash from some customers  which has impacted employees' sense of safety, the company said. Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores.

The retailer added that it would be "removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Target declined to further specify which products would be impacted.

Tuck friendly womens swimsuits, which allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts, were among Target's Pride items that garnered the most attention. There are bogus claims on social media platforms that the swimsuits were being sold in the children's department. Designs by Abprallen, a London-based company that designs and sells occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories, have also created backlash.

WHAT STARTED THE CONTROVERSY AROUND TARGET'S PRIDE COLLECTION?

The controversy gained traction online last week as conservative media attacked Targets Pride month collection  which has also been the subject of several misleading videos in recent weeks that falsely claimed the retailer is selling tuck-friendly bathing suits designed for kids. The backlash also spilled over into physical stores.

Target and other retailers have been expanding their LGBTQ+ displays to celebrate Pride month in June for roughly a decade. Today's confrontations in Target stores arrive amid a surge of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people across the nation.

There are close to 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, an unprecedented number, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Those efforts focus on health, particularly gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, and education. State legislatures are also pushing to prevent discussions in school regarding sexuality and gender identity.

WHAT HAS BEEN TARGET'S RESPONSE?

In addition to deciding to remove some of its items amid other adjustments to the selling of its Pride collection, Target said that the company's focus is now on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.

Some activists and advocacy groups, however, have criticized Target's response  calling on the retailer to reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.

Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the floors, not pushed into the proverbial closet. Thats what the bullies want. Target must be better, stated Kelley Robinson, president of The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights group in the U.S.

Extremist groups and individuals work to divide us and ultimately dont just want rainbow products to disappear, they want us to disappear, Robinson added. For the past decade, the LGBTQ+ community has celebrated Pride with Target  its time that Target stands with us and doubles-down on their commitment to us.
Has 'The Window' Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Getting into an elite, top-10 U.S. MBA program became dramatically easier in 2022. Will the window remain open for long?

Last spring, Poets&Quants reported that the window of opportunity to get into a reach business school in the United States had narrowed dramatically. Applications were up, acceptance rates were down, and yield  the percentage of admits who actually enroll  was on the rise across the board, all of which suggested that the leading MBA programs had fully recovered from the coronavirus pandemic and were returning to their normal, highly selective selves.

That was an assessment based on 2021 data. With 2022 data available this spring with the release of the U.S. News MBA ranking, its clear that declarations of the window closing were a bit premature.

At the elite B-schools of the top 50 U.S. MBA programs as ranked by Poets&Quants, acceptance rates have climbed back up, meaning more applicants are gaining admission even as class sizes have shrunk (in some cases severely). These elite schools (including all of the M7 schools), where applications plummeted in the 2021-2022 cycle, responded by admitting significantly more applicants (and watching their yield slip as more of those applicants enjoyed the luxury of choosing other schools).

Many lower-ranked schools, however, saw the opposite in 2022: They decreased their acceptance rates in 2022, in some cases dramatically. See tables below and the following pages for details.

EIGHT OF TOP 10 B-SCHOOLS SAW MBA APPS DROP BY DOUBLE-DIGIT PERCENTAGES

Did the just-concluded 2022-2023 cycle bring a continuation of this trend, with acceptance rates continuing to go up at the top-ranked as the MBA faces pressure to evolve from digital and other competition? Or did the numbers snap back again? And what happened at the schools ranked below the top 10, where in some cases applications were up and acceptance rates down? We'll have to wait to find out, as most B-schools don't release admission data from their full-time MBA programs until the fall.

As we await confirmation about what transpired in the recently concluded 2022-2023 application cycle, and as the 2023-2024 cycle officially gets underway, it's notable that 2022 acceptance rate data is remarkable for the encouragement it provides anyone considering an MBA at a top-10 school, every one of which saw their acceptance rate climb last year.

That includes U.S. News' No. 1 Chicago Booth School of Business, where the acceptance rate grew to 30.1% from 22.6%, an increase of one-third and the biggest jump in the top 10; and P&Q's No. 1 Wharton, where the rate grew to 22.8% from 18.2%, an increase of one-quarter. Notably, in 2021, none of the top-10 U.S. B-schools had acceptance rates over 30%; in 2022, three did, with Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business the highest at 33.4%. (Tuck, interestingly, is the only top-10 school that had a lower rate in 2022 than the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, when its rate was 34.5%.) Cumulatively, the top-10 acceptance rate climbed to 22.2%, just shy of the 22.3% recorded in the pandemic crucible year of 2020.

The clear cause of these climbing acceptance rates at the elite schools: a cratering of applications. Apps plummeted across the top 10, with eight of 10 schools seeing drops by double-digit percentages. Wharton's apps fell 13.9% from 7,338 to 6,319; Booth's fell 13.6% from 5,037 to 4,352; Stanford's fell 16.5% from 7,367 to 6,152. At Harvard, MBA applications declined 15.4% from 9,773 to 8,264; at UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business they dropped 17.1% from 3,841 to 3,183; and at Yale School of Management they fell 19.8% from 3,877 to 3,237. But the biggest decline was at MIT Sloan School of Management, where apps dropped by nearly a quarter, 24.8%, to 5,349 from 7,112.

A DIFFERENT PICTURE DOWN THE RANKINGS

The top schools responded to the loss of app volume by opening their gates a bit wider. But what about the rest of the top 25? For the second-tier schools, the outlook was not so dire, and their responses commensurate. Six of the 15 schools saw increases in applications: Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Washington Foster Business School, Emory Goizueta Business School, Indiana Kelley School of Business, and Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. Of these, all but Cornell Johnson and USC Marshall decreased their acceptance rates from the previous year; Emory Goizueta's 16-point drop to 37.1% from 53.1% was among the most dramatic of any top-50 school, a decline of more than 30%.

And what about the top 50? Widening the lens, the average acceptance rate among all the top 50 U.S. business schools in 2022 was 31.2%  actually a bit lower than 2021's average rate of 31.8%.

Why the difference? Lower class sizes are one reason. A return to pre-pandemic admissions standards, including reinstatement of entrance exam requirements, is another.

NINE TOP-50 SCHOOLS HAVE ACCEPTANCE RATES BELOW 20%

Of the 10 lowest acceptance rates in the P&Q top 50, a remarkable four schools are ranked outside the top 25. After Stanford (8.6%) and Harvard (14.4%), the next-lowest rate is at Rochester Simon Business School, ranked No. 30, at 14.7%. MIT Sloan (14.8%) is next, followed by B-schools ranked 35th, 31st, and 33rd, respectively: Ohio State Fisher College of Business (15.1%), Arizona State Carey School of Business (18%), and Penn State Smeal College of Business (18.5%).

More noteworthy stats:

Highest acceptance rate in the top 10: No. 9 Dartmouth Tuck, 33.4% (in 2021: Tuck 29.5%)

Highest in the top 25: No. 25 Georgetown McDonough School of Business, 50.9% (in 2021: Georgetown 48.1%)

Highest in the top 50: No. 49 Utah Eccles, 61.6% (in 2021: BYU Marriott 60.7%)

Nine schools in the top 50 have acceptance rates below 20%; in 2021 there were 10. Twenty-four schools are below 30%; in 2021 there were 27. In 2020 there were only 18.

Acceptance rates went down year-to-year at 22 schools overall; last year we reported that this happened at 21 schools. Among the biggest drops was Emory Goizueta's, from 53.1% to 37.1%, but bigger declines occurred at Rutgers Business School (from 43.9% to 26.1%, 17.8 points) and Michigan State Broad College of Business (from 44.7% to 23%, 21.7 points).

And the biggest jump? That happened at another Michigan school, the Ross School of Business, which saw its acceptance rate climb 7.9 points to 28.1%.

See the next pages for more on acceptance rates, yield, class size, admits, and applications at the top 50 U.S. business schools.

AND DON'T MISS LAST YEAR'S STORY ON ACCEPTANCE RATES AT THE TOP 50 U.S. B-SCHOOLS and MBA APPLICATIONS AT THE TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS: WHERE THEY'RE UP, WHERE THEY'RE DOWN

Has 'The Window' Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Stanford MBA students outside class. Elena Zhukova photo

STANFORD'S YIELD FALLS FROM LAST YEAR'S ALL-TIME HIGH

Yield is a number that schools never report and that U.S. News and other magazines rarely calculate. But it's an important number because it shows the strength of a school's appeal for the select group of applicants who have gained admission. Typically, yield is in the 30% to 40% range, and 2022 was no different in that regard.

The way it was different: Far more schools saw their yields decline, and while the declines were mostly small amounts, they indicated that admits in 2022 exercised greater freedom to choose between available options. Forty-three B-schools saw their yields decline, including eight of the top 10; by comparison, in 2021, 45 schools saw their yields increase  also including eight of the top 10. Eighteen of 51 B-schools saw double-digit yield increases in 2021; in 2022, none did.

There is little surprise year to year over which schools will have the highest yield: It's usually Stanford or Harvard. Last year, Stanford recorded its highest-ever yield, 93.6%, and that was far and away the best of any P&Q-ranked B-school; this year the GSB saw its yield drop to 80.3%, while Harvard was one of two top-10 schools to see an increase, to a ranking-high 85.5% from 82.7%. (Yale SOM was the other, to 38.8% from 38.2%.)

More yield facts from 2022:

Lowest yield in the top 10: Dartmouth Tuck, 37.6% (in 2021: Yale 38.2%)

Lowest yield in the top 25: USC Marshall and Emory Goizueta, both at 28.9% (in 2021: Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, 35.7%)

Lowest yield in the top 50: No. 41 Maryland Smith School of Business, 23.9% (in 2021: Emory Goizueta, 34%, and Maryland Smith 34.2%)

Fifteen B-schools had yields above 50% in 2022, down from 20 in 2021. There were 10 in 2020 and 16 in 2019. Only five schools were above 60%, down from nine schools; three schools above 70%, down from five; and three above 80%, down from four. The highest yield in the lower half of the top 50 was at BYU Marriott School of Business, at 81.8%, though that can be explained by the extremely low tuition the Provo, Utah-based B-school offers Mormon admits. Otherwise the highest yield in the bottom 25 was at Arizona State Carey School of Business, at 66.7%. The Carey School also boasts the biggest yield increase year to year: 9.3 percentage points.

And the biggest yield drop? Minnesota Carlson School of Management, which saw its yield fall 15.1 points to 35.8%. See page 6 for more yield data for the top 50 MBA programs.

Has 'The Window' Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

The B-school with the lowest acceptance rate in the lower half of the P&Q top 50: Simon Business School at the University of Rochester at 14.7%. The Simon School is one of just four schools ranked 26-50 with a rate below 20%

CLASS SIZES SHRINK AT MOST MBA PROGRAMS

Most of the top 50 business programs in the U.S. saw a decline in enrollment in 2022. Compared to 2021 figures, only seven of 49 schools reported an increase in enrollment. And the declines were often dramatic.

UCLA Anderson School of Management dropped 50 seats in 2022, to 322. Duke Fuqua School of Business dropped 48 seats, to 399. UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business was down 44 to 247; MIT Sloan was down 42 to 408; Texas-Austin McCombs School of Business was down 50 to 220; and Emory Goizueta was down 52 to 113. The biggest decline in raw numbers was at UNC Kenan-Flagler, which dropped 54 seats to enroll 242 MBA students in 2022  but more dramatic still was what happened at Texas A&M Mays Business School, which shaved its MBA cohort by more than half, to 33 seats from 74; and at Pittsburgh Katz School of Business, which went down to 39 seats from 82.

Over a three-year period from 2020 to 2022, the biggest downturn in raw numbers has occurred not at a small program but at Columbia Business School, which has dropped more than 150 seats. This is despite actually adding spots in 2022. Meanwhile Harvard Business School, which has the biggest overall MBA program at 1,015 students, has reported the biggest uptick since 2020: 283 students.

See page 5 for more enrollment data for the top 50 schools.

Has 'The Window' Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

In 2021, none of the top-10 U.S. B-schools had acceptance rates over 30%; in 2022, three did, with Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business the highest at 33.4%

Has 'The Window' Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Columbia has seen the biggest decline in MBA enrollment of any top-50 school since 2020: down 153 seats. However, CBS did enroll 15 more students in 2022 than the previous year

Has 'The Window' Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Harvard Business School boasted the highest yield in 2022: 85.5%. Brigham Young University Marriott Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business were second and third, both at just over 80%; no other school had as much as 70% yield, which is the percentage of admits who actually enroll

The post Has The Window Reopened? Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs appeared first on Poets&Quants.
World's richest person Bernard Arnault's wealth drops by $11 billion  meaning Elon Musk is once again closer to the top spot

Bernard Arnault's fortune took a hit from a decline in LVMH shares. Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Bernard Arnault, the founder, chairman, and CEO of LVMH saw $11 billion wiped off his fortune on Tuesday.

Arnault's net worth was hit by a 5% drop in LVMH's share price.

A market rout hit luxury retail shares on Tuesday over fears of slowing US consumer spending.

Bernard Arnault, the world's richest person, saw $11.2 billion wiped off his fortune on Tuesday, narrowing his lead over Elon Musk, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The retail tycoon  now worth $192 billion  has a $12 billion lead over Musk's $180 billion fortune, narrowing from $21 billion on Monday, per Bloomberg.

Arnault's net worth was hit by a market rout in the luxury sector over fears that US spending would be slowing amid economic uncertainties.

The uncertainty sent the shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, or LVMH  where Arnault is the chairman, and CEO  tumbling 5% lower to 834.2 euros, or $900, on Tuesday.

The Frenchman derives his wealth from a 97.5% stake in the luxury fashion brand Christian Dior holding company that controls 41.4% of LVMH.

Even after the one-day rout, Arnault's is still up by nearly $30 billion this year so far, per Bloomberg.

He has seen his wealth soar this year as LVMH's share prices surged on expectations that China's economic reopening after nearly three years of strict COVID-19 restrictions will lead to a robust demand for luxury goods.

In April, LVMH became the first European company ever to cross $500 billion in market valuation.

Arnault also became the third person ever after Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon  to top $200 billion in net worth in the same month.

LVMH shares are about 23% higher so far this year.

LVMH did not immediately respond to an Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Xiaomi Corp. quarterly revenue slid 19% in a reflection of crumbling demand for electronics and internet services in a sputtering Chinese economy.

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Sales fell across all its businesses, led by a 24% slide in smartphone revenue and 28% plummet overseas. That overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly profit, after cost reductions and a big one-time gain from the value of its investments propped up the bottom line.

Xiaomi is in the midst of a capital-intensive transformation that co-founder and Chairman Lei Jun has called his last major undertaking: becoming a player in the electric vehicle market. The company, best known for razor-thin profit margins on high-spec smartphones, is looking to make a move into the crowded EV space and investing significant time and money into the project. Xiaomi aims to begin another round of testing for its prototype EV this summer, sticking with a target to begin selling models by 2024, executives said.

To offset the heavy investments required, Xiaomi has tried to keep a lid on costs such as marketing. Its net income came to 4.2 billion yuan ($596 million) for the March quarter, helped by a fair-value gain on investments of more than 3.5 billion yuan. That exceeded the average estimate of 2.5 billion yuan. Revenue of 59.5 billion yuan also came in above an average forecast of 58.8 billion yuan for the same period.

To sustain its EV push, which would take years to pay off, the company has to rely on its traditional business of consumer electronics and online services, which has taken a big hit from Chinas economic slowdown. Double-digit declines in the global smartphone market have yet to run their course, as IDCs latest data show a 23.5% drop in Xiaomi handset shipments during the first quarter.

Of all the vendors that are suffering during this tough economic climate, Xiaomi is facing the brunt of it. Inventory is highest for Xiaomi in almost all the regions, said Nabila Popal, research director with IDCs Worldwide Tracker team. Xiaomi also lost its lead in the India market, which has got to be quite painful for the company.

Xiaomi launched a new flagship Xiaomi 13 Pro handset in February, which it quickly followed up with a 6,499-yuan Xiaomi 13 Ultra a month ago. Both phones feature Leica Camera AG branding and Sony Group Corp.s most premium 1-inch image sensors, placing the emphasis on upgrading Xiaomis premium range. The company, like others in the market, is trying to gauge when the oversupply issue will be rectified.

Everyone is anxious about exactly when the tide will turn and wants to be first to ride the wave of recovery, Popal said. However, its a tricky situation. Anyone who jumps in too soon will drown in excess inventory.

--With assistance from Ville Heiskanen.

(Updates with executives comments on EV from the third paragraph)

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(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that signs of market stress are now beginning to emerge as the federal government moves closer to running out of cash, and that the Biden administrations focus is on completing a debt-limit deal rather than contingency planning for a default.

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We are committed to not having missed payments and raising the debt ceiling, Yellen said Wednesday via video conference to an event in London. Were not involved in planning for what happens if theres a default, she added when asked whether the Treasury was engaged with major financial institutions in game-planning for such a scenario.

Investors have shown signs of increasing concern, with the S&P 500 Index of US stocks down 0.9% as of 11:11 a.m. in New York, after a 1.1% slump on Tuesday. In the Treasuries market, investors are demanding ever-higher premiums on bills that mature when the government is seen most at risk of default. Rates on securities due June 1 and June 6 surpassed 6%.

The VIX index, a measure of expected volatility in stocks  often called the fear gauge  jumped after a prolonged period of calm.

One of the concerns I have is that, even in the run-up to an agreement  when one does occur  there can be substantial financial-market distress, Yellen said. Were seeing just the beginnings of it.

The Treasury chief also reiterated that her department may run out of cash to pay the nations bills as soon as June 1.

Read more: Debt-Limit Doomsday Clock: What June Looks Like for US Treasury

Its highly likely that we would run out of resources to meet all the governments obligations in early June and possibly as early as June 1, she told the conference, sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. We no longer see very much likelihood that our resources will enable us to get to the middle or end of June.

Yellen said she planned to update Congress shortly, and try to increase the level of precision, though she emphasized there remained much uncertainty about day-to-day government payments and receipts.

Its hard to be precise about exactly which day we will run out of resources, she said, referring to the so-called X-date.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief US economist Michael Feroli wrote to clients Wednesday advising that we still think the most likely outcome is a deal signed into law before the X-date, though we see the odds of passing that date without an increase in the ceiling at around 25% and rising.

Debt-limit negotiations are expected to resume at noon Wednesday after discussions Tuesday hit a fresh impasse, with the two sides said to be far apart on key issues. Republican lawmakers have refused to raise the cap on US borrowing unless President Joe Biden agrees to spending cuts.

Yellen said she viewed a deal in the coming days as possible. Theyre working toward an agreement that could command bipartisan support, she said.

Yellen again avoided providing specifics about what the Treasury and the White House would do in the event of a default. Many observers and market participants assume the Treasury would prioritize payments of interest and principal on outstanding debt securities.

Treasury and President Biden will face very tough choices if Congress doesnt act, she said.

(Updates with market data and additional Yellen comments from third paragraph.)

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Local residents could see Fredericksburgs familiar landscape featured on the big screen.

On Sunday, the cast and crew of Written by Mike, a film scripted and directed by Spotsylvania County resident Ryan Cudahy, called it a wrap on the first phase of film production.

Cudahys passion for film took root early in his childhood and continued to grow through his high school years. From attending film school to interning at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France, Cudahy has since been engaged in the world of cinema, producing several independent movies such as Jeremys Sin, Swipe and Mount Skylight.

Cudahy, who is the tourism marketing assistant for Fredericksburgs Office of Economic Development and Tourism, said he has been introduced to and appreciates every detail of the city.

Its important to me that we feature Fredericksburg, he said. The locations we have filmed at have been so gracious to us and I think its very important that we highlight what a great, accepting, welcoming and kind city this is.

Four years in the making, Written by Mike follows the stories of two young couples and their struggles involving anxiety, trauma and mental illness, and how they overcome their struggles.

Writing the film, Cudahy said, began as a therapeutic exercise. Through self-reflection and examining his past relationships, Cudahy worked to produce an authentic script that will peel back the many layers of mental health.

Im trying to do my part to end some stigmas about mental health, to let people empathize, to let people know just where the chips fall, Cudahy said. I think people are going to see either themselves or people they know in this film, and thats very important. Ive said to my crew constantly: I think the characters are the most important aspect of the film, more than just the plot itself. So I think that its important to make sure people can relate to them.

Cudahy sees film as a team endeavor, and highlights the value in bringing together a group of people who are able to communicate effectively and trust one another.

We invested in the right people, he said. Its important to recognize how people will work together, what theyre going to be doing, where the important aspects of a story come in, and who are going to be the best people to tell that story.

Will Sidaros, the films co-producer, worked with Cudahy in Richmond during production of the first season of the Apple TV series Swagger.

We really enjoyed collaborating with each other. We saw eye to eye on a lot of things and you have trust in the person that youre working with, Sidaros said. Were working on something that Ryan is passionate about. A lot of this has to do with Ryan as a person, about his situations in the past, exploring him, and then exploring the two situations he has been trying to work into this story.

Shot primarily downtown, Written by Mike viewers are likely to recognize local sites such as Curitiba Art Cafe, Fredericksburg Square and Red Dragon Brewery.

Everyone is donating their location for free. In addition to that, though, I think its important to give back at the same time, Cudahy said. Were a small, skeleton-crew production. We dont have the ability to donate a lot, but what we have done is try to feature as many local businesses as we can.

Laughing Horn Productions, an independent company formed last year by Culpeper business owner James Laughorn, is funding and managing the film.

To have a company like Laughing Horn Productions come in and really help us out, its been wonderful, said Cudahy. I really am glad that businesses like that exist and am very thankful to Laughing Horn for making this project possible.

Cudahys cast and crew appear to share his passion and enthusiasm for the project.

We had a lot of people audition and our four leads are extraordinary, said Cudahy. Noah Peterson, Miranda Newman, Matthew Malito and Maggie Gough are all amazing actors who crushed their auditions.

Its just a huge opportunity as an actor to be able to kind of diversify my portfolio and learn a lot along the way, said Ashburn native Noah Peterson. This is going to be my first feature as an actor and I could not be more excited.

Peterson connected with Cudahy eight years ago and was excited for the challenge of working on this project.

This script is a very intense emotional drama. So theres a lot of times where our characters are in conflict. And luckily, we have all this rapport together where we can kind of play off of each other, he said. It has been a very natural experience, which is cool to have on film because its such a technical form of acting. So to really be able to, like, fall into the character and truly feel these emotions is very exciting for me.

Miranda Newman said that working on Written by Mike has reinvigorated her love for acting and filmmaking. Newman credits Peterson for encouraging her to audition for the production, where she landed one of the leading roles.

Wrapping and finishing our first weekend, I just felt so proud and excited to continue with the process, said Newman, who attributes her fulfillment and continued energy to the chemistry shared by the cast and crew.

By having a good relationship with everybody, youre able to communicate and be open in a film like this, said Newman. Its really important that weve created a safe space and built strong relationships with each person on the team because you have to be able to trust everybody in the room in order to be comfortable enough to be vulnerable.

Sidaros said the message of the film will resonate with viewers.

I think the best way to describe this film is that you get the chance to observe the lives of two different couples as they go through struggles that require them to make tough choices, grow together or collapse. he said. Its interesting because we often dont think of movies as reality. You think of them as, oh, obviously things are going to work out in the end. But sometimes it doesnt. This film will be about exploring human nature as it is.

The crew anticipates finishing phase two of the filming process by June 18 and completing post-production by October.

Cudahy looks forward to sharing the film with local residents.

Were hoping to have it available to the public by late 2024, said Cudahy. The plan is to begin submitting the film to festivals after post-production. I highly encourage people to check it out if we get in. Film submission is a cutthroat thing, but Im confident. Ive seen the footage so far, and I think weve got a shot.
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A bill that would reform various aspects of Nebraska's criminal justice system is moving forward in the Legislature, but lawmakers remain at odds over some of its provisions.

Lawmakers advanced the bill (LB50) to its second round of debate with a 28-8 vote Monday night. As amended by State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, the bill would cover a wide range of issues such as increasing Nebraska's problem-solving courts and expanding parole options.

Last year, lawmakers failed to pass a bill with recommendations from a study group created to help overhaul Nebraskas criminal justice system and reduce Nebraskas worst-in-the-nation prison overcrowding. This year, former Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln introduced LB50 with some of last year's consensus proposals.

Wayne, the Judiciary Committee chair, took the lead on LB50 after Geist resigned to focus on the Lincoln mayoral race. He said his goal is to reduce the number of Nebraska inmates who "jam out"  that is, complete their sentences and are released without supervision or rehabilitation.

Often, Wayne said these individuals have committed the most violent offenses and eventually end up back in prison, contributing to overcrowding. With lawmakers approving a new $350 million prison and several other massive tax relief proposals this year, Wayne said, LB50 is essential to improving public safety and preserving the state's finances.

"We cannot afford to not do something in the right way," Wayne said.

At one point Monday, it looked like the bill might fail in the first round after several Judiciary Committee members spoke against Wayne's amendment.

Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln, who replaced Geist, said the concerns narrow down to two provisions from Wayne's amendment. She said some habitual criminals could wind up with reduced sentences, and changes to parole eligibility could allow some inmates to be granted parole earlier.

But Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln said the measure's language wouldn't actually reduce sentences for habitual criminals, but would instead adjust the options for judges in doling out sentences for repeat offenders.

Other supporters also noted that making inmates eligible earlier for parole doesn't mean they are guaranteed to get it.

Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha said Monday's debate gave him "deja vu" to last year's debate over criminal justice changes, when the bill was halted after lawmakers couldn't reach a compromise. He said Wayne had already made several concessions and said opponents should rely on their own opinions, rather than being influenced criticism from the Nebraska county attorney's association.

"At every point of the process, there's an agreement, and then you guys get two or three days and y'all come back and the agreement is over," McKinney said.

Bosn and some other Judiciary Committee members agreed at the end of first-round debate to vote "yes" on Wayne's amendment and the advancement of the underlying bill, with the promise that senators would continue to negotiate on the details before the second round of debate.

With the end of the session on June 9 rapidly approaching, lawmakers have limited time to reach an agreement. It is unclear when LB50 will be scheduled for its second round of debate.
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VALPARAISO  A Hebron couple was arrested on felony neglect charges for allowing three of their children to rack up a large number of absences and tardy days from elementary school, court records show.

Kevin Carrico, 36, and Crysta Carrico, 37, face charges of neglect of a dependent  educational neglect.

A case manager with the Porter County Juvenile Probation Department said a fourth-grade student at Boone Grove Elementary School in the couple's care had 40 unexcused absences and five tardy days during the 2020-21 school year.

The same child had 59 absences and 16 tardy days during the 2021-22 school year, the charges say.

A first-grade student at Porter Lakes Elementary had 56 unexcused absences and 14 tardy days during the 2021-22 year, charging documents say, and 33 absences and 13 tardy days for the current school year.

Lastly, a third child, who is a fourth-grade student at Boone Grove Elementary, had 48 unexcused absences and 11 tardy days during the 2021-22 school year, and 32 absences and eight tardy days in this school year, records show.

The cases stem from a referral from Project ATTEND, which is an initiative by the Porter County Juvenile Probation Department and Porter County schools aimed at resolving truancy issues among elementary school students.

Kevin Carrico's case is pending with Porter Superior Court Judge Mike Fish; Crysta Carrico's case is being handled by Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer.
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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 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.

Photos: Nebraska Gov. Pillen signs bill limiting abortion, transgender health care
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Pool days beat the summer heat, but they also come with a looming possibility of accidents.

For Blake Collingsworth and his wife Kathy, founders of Josh the Otter, that dreadful day came in June of 2008 when their toddler, Joshua, fell into the pool at a family get-together and drowned.

While the couple thought they had everything in place with a locked fence and high door locks, it only took a few minutes for them to lose their son forever. Now, they are working to get the message to other parents and adults while teaching children water safety with their childrens book, Josh the Baby Otter.

At the YMCA, Association Director of Aquatics Cheryll Peterson-Brachle is also trying to prevent fun afternoons at the pool from turning into fatal accidents with swimming lessons and life-saving classes.

Here are some water-safety tips to utilize this summer:

Set boundaries with your child around water

The first step to protecting your child from dangerous water situations is to establish the rules before they even touch the water. Whether you are at a friends house, a lake or your own backyard, teach your child from a young age that they must always ask for permission to get into the water.

We talk to our kids about how its important to look both ways before you cross the street, Peterson-Brachle said. Its equally important that children ask a responsible adult before they get in the water.

In addition to asking for permission, pair the children into swimming buddies who can look out for one another. Blake Collingsworth said its also important to discuss with children about tiring out and to communicate when they need to rest.

Perceptually, kids can think that rafts and safety points are closer than they actually are, Collingsworth said its important for children to understand when their bodies are becoming wary.

Set standards with present adults to watch the children

Even if a lifeguard is present, Collingsworth and Peterson-Brachle agree that a responsible adult should provide an extra layer of protection with one more set of eyes.

As lifeguards, we work really hard to watch and try to identify people when they get in trouble before its too late, Peterson-Brachle said. The parents are also a watchful eye over that because they know their kids. They can start to see that theyre getting tired, and then it might be necessary for them to restrict them to water that they can stand in or being in the water with them.

For the adults watching the children, take 15-minute shifts with your undivided attention. This means putting away distractions such as a phone, book or leaving to grab a drink. After your shift, another adult should be designated to watch the pool.

Prepare your child to succeed

Peterson-Brachle recommends signing up for swimming lessons as early as six months old to learn how to turn onto their back to get air in the event that they fall into the water. If a child can crawl, they can get to the water.

Anytime the child is in a swimming lesson, you help decrease their risk of drowning, she said.

In addition to swimming lessons, all non-swimmers should wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket and have a responsible adult in the water. Peterson-Brachle said that even swimmers can quickly become a non-swimmer when they become tired.

While water wings and blow-up inner tubes are fun, she said they should be avoided as a safety piece as they frequently lose air and can put a child at risk.

Peterson-Brachle also recommends that parents buy bright-colored swimsuits so children are more easily identified in the scenario that a child becomes passive and goes under water. While pool water clarity does help, dark colors and blue shades of swimsuits can easily be unrecognizable at the bottom of a pool.

Assess the situation prior to swimming

There are stark differences between public and private pools as opposed to open waters such as lakes and rivers.

Peterson-Brachle said that while swimming in open water, its difficult to know what the depth of the water is and what lies underneath. In addition, you should only swim in lakes and rivers that are designated for swimming. Open water is not as forgiving as pool water from the standpoint that it can lower visibility and currents can quickly take children under.

No matter where you are swimming, Collingsworth said, you should always locate where the shepherds hook is in case you must pull a child out of the water. Locate the AED and emergency phone.

Prepare a safe environment at home and away

For those with swimming pools at home, Collingsworth recommends having a locking fence around the water and covers for when the pool is not in use. He recommends adding a motion sensor camera that will send a notification to your phone. He suggests setting a specific alert sound to differentiate from other cameras on your property.

If I would have had that on my phone when Joshua wandered out to that backyard pool, it would have alerted me. I could have looked at my phone and seen him out there, he said.

Along with physical barriers to the pool, Peterson-Brachle recommends keeping toys out of the water when they are not in use to avoid the attraction to the pool. Oftentimes, she said, kids will reach into the water for a toy, fall in and quickly become a fatality.

She also said to keep a first aid kit, extension pole or shepherds hook, life jackets and an emergency phone nearby.

Prepare yourself

Finally, when taking precautions for your child, you should also consider your own situation in the water. While swimming lessons are recommended for your child, Peterson-Brachle recommends that parents take swimming lessons as well for those who dont know how to swim. Organizations like the YMCA teach children as young as six months old as well as teenagers and adults.

Another resource parents should consider is learning CPR and introducing the concept to their kids. The American Red Cross, National Safety Council of Nebraska and other organizations provide training courses for individuals and groups to learn life saving skills.
Gov. Jared Polis will deliver a local version of his State of the State address next month in Colorado Springs.

Polis will speak at 3 p.m. June 15 at Weidner Field, 111 W. Cimarron St. in southwest downtown. The event, sponsored by the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & EDC, will feature a recap by Polis of the General Assemblys just-concluded legislative session and whats ahead in 2024.

As governor, Polis delivers a State of the State address before the General Assembly convenes in January at the state Capitol in Denver; the last several years, hes followed those remarks with a similar address in Colorado Springs before local business people and civic leaders.

While Polis typically makes his Colorado Springs appearance a few weeks after his Denver address, he wanted to wait this year so that he could discuss the 2023 legislative session, a Chamber & EDC spokeswoman said.

The cost to attend the Colorado Springs event will be $45 for Chamber & EDC members and $65 for nonmembers. Polis State of the State address is planned to take place outdoors at Weidner Field, a multipurpose stadium. If it rains, however, the Chamber & EDC said it has a contingency plan to move the event indoors.

For more information, go to the Chamber & EDCs website at www.coloradospringsedc.com, and click on member services and events.
NEW MEXICO

US regulators OK spent nuclear fuel storage facility

ALBUQUERQUE  U.S. nuclear regulators licensed a multibillion-dollar complex to temporarily store tons of spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico from commercial power plants around the nation, a decision likely to be challenged in court.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its decision on May 9, saying it will allow the energy company Holtec International to build and operate the facility in southeastern New Mexico. New Jersey-based Holtec may still need to acquire permits from the state, and top New Mexico officials have vowed to fight the project.

The New Mexico project would have capacity to temporarily store up to 8,680 metric tons of used uranium fuel. Future expansion could make room for as many as 10,000 canisters over six decades. The material would be transported to New Mexico via rail.

Critics say most would be brought from East Coast sites, prompting concern after recent railway accidents involving other chemicals and cargo.

Colorado may join in nuclear power generation renaissance

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state's congressional delegation say they fear New Mexico will become the nation's dumping ground for spent nuclear fuel because the federal government has no permanent solution for the waste piling up at commercial reactors around the country.

New Mexico approved legislation in March aimed at stopping the project.

Holtec has argued that the New Mexico measure is pre-empted by federal law and that a court fight would only delay the economic boon that would come from building the complex. The company has spent an estimated $80 million pursuing the 40-year license to build and operate the facility.

State proposal would extend free child care, boost pay

SANTA FE  New Mexico would extend indefinitely no-pay child care for most children up to age 5 with increased payment rates to private and public child care providers under proposed regulations announced May 8.

New Mexico's current child care subsidies  among the most expansive in the nation  were initiated with federal coronavirus relief money. Education officials are now grappling with financial strategies to sustain efforts to expand the reach and quality of child care services in a state with low rates of workforce participation and high rates of childhood poverty.

New Mexico in April 2022 expanded eligibility and waived co-payments for child care assistance to families earning as much as four times the federal poverty rate  equal to about $120,000 for a family of four. But the provisions are set to expire in August.

The proposed regulatory change from the Early Childhood Education and Care Department would extend those guidelines and ensure that service taxes on child care assistance are not paid by parents.

Creation of a free adult high school, first of its kind, passes Colorado legislature

Enrollment in the assistance program has increased over the past year by nearly one-third to roughly 19,340 children under age 6, according to the department. Children ages 6 and over receive financial assistance for before-school and after-school programs.

About 72,000 children in 43,000 families are eligible for child care assistance under current rules.

Surging state spending on early childhood education is underwritten in part by a roughly $2 billion trust sustained by taxes on oil and natural gas production and investment income.

Additionally, voters in 2022 approved increased annual withdrawals from the state's land grant permanent fund to pay for early childhood education initiatives.

NORTH DAKOTA

Governor signs law protecting tribal adoptions

North Dakota's Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law to protect tribal cultures by codifying the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law, Burgum's office announced May 8.

The federal Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted in 1978, gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children.

Also known by the acronym ICWA, it was created in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaska Native children were taken from their homes by public and private agencies.

Several other states  including Montana, Wyoming and Utah  have considered codifying the act this year, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the federal law.

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Colorado moves to protect Native American students' right to wear traditional regalia

A handful of white families have claimed the law is based on race and is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause. They also said it puts the interests of tribes ahead of children. Lower courts have been split on the case.

Supporters of the law include Native American leaders who have long championed it as a way to preserve Native families and culture.

Mike Nowatzki, a spokesperson for the governor, said the new state law ensures "that these important protections for Native American children and families will remain in place in North Dakota regardless of what happens with the ICWA in the federal court system."

NEBRASKA

Ponca tribe Chief Standing Bear honored with stamp

A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law was honored on May 12 with the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait.

The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the Army forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return. This prompted him to file a lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a Native American is a person with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Mount Blue Sky: Colorado board votes unanimously to rename Mount Evans

The Postal Service, which released the stamp at a ceremony in Lincoln, Nebraska, has printed 18 million stamps. The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II, based on a black and white photograph taken in 1877, the Postal Service said.

More than 100 members of the Ponca tribe died during or soon after the forced journey to Oklahoma, including Chief Standing Bear's only son. It was a desire to have his son buried in their homeland in Nebraska's Niobrara River Valley that resulted in the return of Chief Standing Bear and 29 others and their subsequent arrest.

A congressional investigation later determined the government wrongly gave away the Ponca homeland and removed the tribe, leading to congressional legislation in 1881 that gave some compensation to members of the tribe. In 1924, an issue that arose in the 1879 trial was resolved when Congress approved a law that conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.

OKLAHOMA

Police rush to respond to cries for help ... from a goat

ENID  Sometimes a wrong call can really get your goat.

Police in Enid, Oklahoma at first walked slowly and cautiously through the grassy, wooded area of a farm seeking the source of faint cries in the distance.

"That's a person," one of the officers said to the other on a video that has been widely shared from a Facebook post by the police department in the city about 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. The distressing noise that sounded like human cries for help escalated as officers David Sneed and Neal Storey began running to help who they thought was perhaps a person trapped under farm equipment.

Instead, it was a goat.

Colorado's agriculture kids are alright | GABEL

"The farmer said he had two male goats in the barn, and he took one out and he wasn't happy," according to police spokesperson Cass Rains.

Now the town and the police department are enjoying the tale of the rescue that wasn't.

All in all, as the department wrote: "You really can't say it was that baaad of a call."

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Air Force Lieutenant General Timothy Haugh to head both the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Cyber Command, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The official confirmed a Politico report that cited an Air Force notice sent out Monday.

Haugh is now the deputy commander of the military's U.S. Cyber Command, reporting to the current NSA and Cyber Command chief, Paul Nakasone.

The NSA is America's electronic spy agency; Cyber Command is charged with protecting U.S. military networks from digital threats as well as hacking America's enemies.

Haugh has served in a number of intelligence and cybersecurity roles, including as director of intelligence at Cyber Command and Deputy Commander of Joint Task Force Ares, the U.S. effort to hack Islamic State militants in the Middle East, according to his Air Force biography.

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More recently, Haugh served as commander of the Cyber National Mission Force - sometimes described as a kind of digital special operations force. The Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed him in his current position last year.

Haugh has three masters' degrees, in telecommunications, joint information operations and national resource strategy. He was an ROTC program graduate at Pennsylvania's Lehigh University, where he majored in Russian Studies.

The NSA, Cyber Command and the White House did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Doina Chiacu; editing by Caitlin Webber and Mark Heinrich)
A man who was shot by law enforcement alongside his pet dog died after an alleged attack on a pair of Fountain police officers over the weekend, according to Colorado Springs police.

Two officers responded to a domestic violence call on Taos Circle in Fountain around 6 p.m. Saturday.

During the investigation, one of the officers was attacked by the man's dog, police said. While the dog was attacking the officer, the dog's owner reportedly began to assault both officers. Police said officers responded by firing at least one round each, hitting the man and the dog.

The dog died at the scene and the owner was taken to the hospital with at least one gunshot wound. He later died of his injuries, according to police.

The El Paso County Coroner's Office identified the man as 51-year-old James Boyle of Fountain.

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One officer was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries; the other sustained minor injuries. Both officers, who have not been named, are on paid administrative leave per department policy.

Detectives with the Colorado Springs Police Department are investigating the shooting per standard practice for outside agencies to investigate use-of-force incidents.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call Colorado Springs police at 719-444-7000 or, to remain anonymous, call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 719-634-7867 or 1-800-222-8477.
A Christian filmmaker who lives in El Paso County will serve no jail time after he pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit online solicitation with a minor, a judge decided Tuesday.

Stephen Paul Greisen, 68, was arrested in September after allegedly attempting to pay an undercover El Paso County detective to engage in sexual acts. Prosecutors say Greisen believed that the detective was a 14-year-old girl.

During a plea hearing in March, attorneys told Judge David Gilbert that the plea agreement would require Greisen to register as a sex offender in Colorado, and serve five years in Colorado's sex offender intensive supervision probation program (SOISP).

On Tuesday, Gilbert accepted the terms of the plea agreement, which did not include jail time.

If Greisen violates the terms of his probation he could be still be subject to a jail sentence of up to five years.

A longtime friend of Greisen and professional associate who requested not to be identified told Ministry Watch in an October interview that he was shocked at Greisens Sept. 7 arrest.

This is a tough one for Colorado Springs, especially, due to his deep connections with top international ministries and leadership, along with the massive level of respect he engendered," the friend said.

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According to an arrest affidavit, Greisen made contact with the undercover officer on Sept. 7, and despite being told twice that the age of the girl was 14, he agreed to pay $170 for sex.

"K, I can be there in 20 min?" Greisen wrote to the detective.

After arriving at the address given by the undercover detective, Greisen was arrested on charges of inducement of child prostitution, patronizing a prostituted child and sexual assault on a child. He had $180 in his pocket, according to the affidavit.

Greisen was among 12 men arrested in 2022 through undercover investigative efforts by the Colorado Springs Police Department and El Paso County Sheriffs Office's joint Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and special agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In addition to Greisen, nine men arrested during the undercover operation faced the same or similar charges. Court records show that four of those men have yet to be sentenced, two received the same sentence as Greisen, one received eight years in SOISP, one received a deferred prison sentence of four years and one received an indeterminate sentence of at least four years in the Department of Corrections.

Court records show that the lone man serving a prison sentence as part of the undercover operation, 70-year-old Timothy Tischler, also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2002 and received a 48-year prison sentence.
Colorado State Patrol troopers have seen an "alarming" upward trend in the number of hit-and-run crashes across the state in the first quarter of 2023.

So far this year, State Patrol has seen a 22% increase in hit-and-runs, including those involving property, according to a news release from the agency. In the first three months of 2023, there were 729 as compared to 596 in the same time last year.

State Patrol is still seeking information to solve three active fatal hit-and-run cases.

Colorado State Patrol Chief Matthew Packard urged anyone who hits a person, vehicle or piece of property not to panic, as the consequences of fleeing the scene out of fear are far worse than the consequences of remaining on the scene.

"Operating out of fear will only worsen this situation," Packard said in a news release. "Stay at the scene, check to make sure you and anyone is injured and call 911 to report the collision."

In addition to charges associated with the crash itself, leaving the scene of a crash can lead to criminal charges  some of which are felonies.

If an uninsured motorist were to stay at the scene of a property crash, they could be charged with careless driving and no proof of insurance, adding up to eight total points.

If the same uninsured motorist were to leave the scene, they could also be charged with fleeing the scene of an accident, making the point total 44 and including possible jail time and/or a fine.

"Whether the driver doesn't have a license, is impaired, or drove carelessly/recklessly and for whatever reason leaves the scene of a crash, although serious in nature, it pales in comparison to the charges he could face by leaving the scene," according to the release.

In 2022, State Patrol investigated and solved every "felonious" hit-and-run case, of which there were 20 total, according to the release.

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In 2023 so far, there have been eight new cases and five have been solved.

The unsolved cases are as follows. State Patrol requests public assistance in solving the open hit-and-run cases:

Feb. 1, case No. 2B230337: A hit-and-run crash near Constitution Avenue and Waynoka Place, in front of the nearby Sonic fast food restaurant in El Paso County, killed an 18-year-old male from Peyton.

The run vehicle is a 2017 to 2022 gray Ford F-250. Anyone with information about the crash or the Ford driver is asked to call the Pueblo Colorado State Patrol Dispatch Center at 719-544-2424.

Jan. 1 between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m., case No. 2B230002: A hit-and-run crash near Fontaine Boulevard and Metropolitan Street in El Paso county killed a 19-year-old bicyclist.

The run vehicle is believed to have been a 2015 to 2017 black Ford Expedition. The bicyclist was wearing bright pink clothing.

Anyone with information about the crash or who may have seen the bicyclist is asked to call the Pueblo Colorado State Patrol Dispatch Center at 719-544-2424.

May 19 at 5 p.m., case No. 1D232018: A four-vehicle hit-and-run on U.S. 287 just south of Larimer County killed two people.

The run vehicle is believed to be a dark red/maroon 2009 or newer Dodge Ram 1500 with chrome front and rear bumpers and chrome wheels. The right side of the vehicle is damaged.

The driver is believed to be a heavy-set male about 50 to 60 years old with a white beard. Anyone with information about the crash or the driver is asked to call the Denver Colorado State Patrol Dispatch Center at 303-239-4501.
Jury selection is set to begin next month in the trial of an El Paso County man accused of strangling a sex worker and hiding her body in the backyard of his parents' farm on top of a rotting horse carcass.

Joel Hollendorfer, 47, is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in the death of 19-year-old Kara Nichols, who was reported missing in October 2012.

During a hearing on Wednesday, both the defense and prosecution announced that they were ready for trial, confirming that jury selection will begin on June 12. Hollendorfer pleaded not guilty to all charges in February.

Defense attorney Michael Bowman spent the majority of Wednesday's hearing objecting to a request for expanded media coverage of the trial.

Judge William Bain said the request would allow for the trial to be recorded and redistributed on platforms such as YouTube. Bowman argued that allowing the trial to be broadcast on platforms with little to no comment moderation would be "disruptive" to court proceedings and could potentially impact the trial.

Bowman referenced a "recent eight-week trial" in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court that was broadcast by third parties on YouTube and other platforms in which Bowman claims defense attorneys, witnesses and the defendant were mocked and harassed by online commentators.

"It's exceptionally destructive and exceptionally problematic," Bowman said.

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While not making a direct reference, Bowman was likely referring to the murder case of Letecia Stauch, which gained a significant amount of publicity online over the course of the nearly two-month trial. Stauch was found guilty earlier this month of killing her 11-year-old stepson Gannon Stauch, and sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecuting attorney Christina Perroni said the prosecution had no position on the expanded media request and would defer to the judgment of the court. Bain did not make a ruling, taking Bowman's objection under advisement.

Defense attorneys also told Bain that they would move to dismiss the tampering with physical evidence charge because they say the statute of limitations had expired. Bain told the defense that it must file the motion by the end of Wednesday.

Hollendorfer is accused of strangling Nichols in 2012. The case went cold for nearly 10 years until detectives reinterviewed Hollendorfer's ex-wife, who had initially been uncooperative with the investigation. Hollendorfer told his ex-wife that he accidentally killed an escort and buried her body at his family's farm near Black Forest, according to testimony from Hollendorfer's preliminary hearing. Nichols' remains were later found on the property.

Jury selection for Hollendorfer's trial is expected to last one day, with opening statements scheduled for the following day.
As the Mitchell High School class of 2023 crossed the Broadmoor World Arena stage and received diplomas on Tuesday, the ceremony held additional meaning for some: It was a promise of academic pursuits to come, of a future in which higher education could be achieved without mounds of student debt trailing in its wake.

Forty-one students comprise the inaugural cohort of the Mitchell Promise, an initiative brought to Colorado Springs School District 11 by the Dakota Foundation and the Legacy Institute. Qualifying graduates receive full-ride scholarships to Pikes Peak State College under the new partnership.

The Mitchell Promise was life changing for student Victor Torres, whose dream of one day becoming a wildlife officer stood behind cumbersome financial barriers, he said. His dad considered a third job just to make ends meet and support his sons pursuit of success.

Instead, Torres will attend PPSC for his first two years of undergraduate studies before transferring to a four-year institution to complete his degree in wildlife conservation and biology.

I chose Mitchell Promise because I didnt want to put anyone through that. I didnt want them to struggle just so I could be happy, Torres said. Now I can focus more on studies and less on how Im going to pay for it.

PPSC primarily offers associates degrees, which often require just two years of schooling. The state college is a popular option, however, for students planning to transfer to larger institutions after accumulating credits at lower to no costs.

The concept appealed to student Carolina Vargas, who recalled watching her brothers financial struggles as he worked to pay for his education. Entire paychecks were devoted solely to college with little room for outside spending.

Although Vargas was initially hesitant, encouragement from her senior counselor, Christine Braun, and from her family prompted her to pursue the Mitchell Promise.

Dont be dumb. Apply for it, she recalls her parents saying. Its been like a blessing to us.

The scholarship targets middle income families that might not receive as much state and federal grant assistance as those with lower incomes, according to D-11 Career and College Access Coordinator Leilani Mullins.

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Students must meet certain requirements in order to receive a Mitchell Promise scholarship, Mullins said. In addition to credit and competency requirements established at the district level, students must maintain a 3.0 GPA, have a 90% attendance rate, complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and apply for and get admitted to PPSC.

We definitely want to be good stewards of the tax money that is paid to us, Mullins said. We want to give funding to students who we believe have the ability to be successful.

The Mitchell Promise was conceived as an incentive for students at one of D-11s lowest achieving high schools recently on the verge of outside intervention that could have resulted in closure.

In 2019, Mitchell received its fourth consecutive priority improvement rating for failing to meet achievement, growth and postsecondary workforce-readiness expectations, according to the Colorado State Board of Education. The rating, determined by the state boards performance frameworks, is a warning to improve or else face action: If a school retains the status for five consecutive years, the state board must direct an action that could include management by an outside entity, conversion to a charter school or closure.

After COVID temporarily paused the framework in 2020 and 2021, Mitchell and D-11 representatives presented a comprehensive plan for improving student outcomes at a hearing before the state board last spring. The board voted unanimously in favor of the schools plan, thereby extending its accountability clock an additional two years before board intervention. Mitchell will face another hearing after 2024 performance ratings.

Last year the schools graduation rate sat at 63%, well below the states average of 82%, according to Colorado Department of Education data.

This year, that rate rose to 94%, according to Principal George Smith, who marked the occasion by shaving a heart in his hair in the style of his poster doppelganger Drake. The class of 2023 also raked in more than $1.5 million in scholarships.

This idea of student futures is an area of heavy dialogue and investment for District 11 going forward. Our work is not done on graduation day, Superintendent Michael Gaal said. The report on our work starts today.

The Mitchell Promise pilot program is fully funded through the class of 2025 with up to $200,000 each year. The program demonstrates D-11s commitment to students from preschool through grade 14, according to Gaal. The district will seek additional funding, either through philanthropic donations or taxpayer ballot measures, to continue the program in perpetuity.

In time and with appropriate funding, Gaal said, the district intends to expand the program to other high schools. That way, students like Torres can cross the graduation stage in confidence.

Before I even found out about (the Mitchell Promise), I was really stressed out. I was more concerned, How am I going to pay for college? What if I dont get any scholarships? Torres said. Now Im stress free.
For the first time in three years, the number of fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in the state plateaued, signaling hope for families, law enforcement and government health agencies that Coloradans are taking precautions in the wake of the drugs deadly societal infiltration.

But the magnitude of the crisis remains staggering.

Numbers obtained by The Denver Gazette from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment show 920 people in the state died from fentanyl poisoning in 2022, up .09% from the 2021, when 912 people lost their lives.

Fentanyl rose in popularity because of its potency, lower cost and availability.

Fentanyl has all but replaced heroin, said Sam Bourdon, manager for the agencys Harm Reduction Grant Fund, which focuses on financial support to programs that aim to prevent overdose deaths and reduce health risks associated with drug use.

Just three years ago, fentanyl was an unknown to many people. It didnt start appearing on the Colorado scene as an illicit drug until 2017.

Though the drug remains an incredible problem, this small bump is an improvement compared to the precipitous spikes in fentanyl-involved overdoses seen in years before. For instance, deaths from fentanyl-involved poisonings jumped 69% between 2020 and 2021  from 540 to 912.

But fentanyl overdose deaths made their most concerning leap when fentanyl-involved overdose deaths more than doubled from 222 in 2019 to 540 in 2020, a 143% increase.

Deaths from the pills known on the street as blues remain high as compared to other illicit street drugs, such as methamphetamine and heroin, which both saw decreases.

Overall, overdose deaths in Colorado also went down in 2022  from 1,881 in 2021 to 1,799 last year.

Alcohol poisoning deaths across the state held steady at 60, the same number as the year before.

Compared to other states, Colorado lies toward the bottom of the pack when it comes to fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in 2021, the most recent year for such a data release. Among the 31 states and Washington D.C. which reported their findings to the Centers for Disease Control in 2021, Colorado sat at 22nd, according Bourdon.

National numbers for 2022 wont come out until later this summer.

Fentanyl is usually transported into Colorado by arterial highways, such as I70 and I25. For that reason and the fact that demand is more urgent in urban areas, many of the rural regions of Colorado, including Kiowa, Jackson, Rio Blanco, Mineral and Gilpin counties, were virtually untouched by total drug overdose fatalities.

Denver, Adams, El Paso, Arapahoe, and Jefferson were top five in order for total drug overdose deaths.

Faces behind the numbers

Christina Luna did not get out of bed on her first Mothers Day since the death of her 15-year-old Josiah Joe Velasquez.

Last year on a sunny May afternoon, Joe kissed Luna goodbye and took off to meet some friends at an Arvada Dairy Queen. A shy boy, he had just been accepted into his big brother Carlos circle and he was excited to meet a girl who seemed interested in him.

Sitting by himself on a stool in the DQ lobby while his new crowd milled around outside, he popped a blue pill someone gave him, collapsed, and lay on the ground for 15 minutes before anyone noticed. By the time the EMTs showed up, it was too late.

I remember driving to the parking lot and getting in the lobby. I heard them say that he didnt have a heartbeat, Luna said.

The high school sophomore was revived, but never regained consciousness.

He was on life support for a week at Childrens Hospital Colorado before Luna made the decision to take him off of life support. She buried him with his favorite Puerto Rico hat.

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Joe Velasquez was one of Colorados 920 people who died from fentanyl poisoning in 2022.

Luna has started a Facebook group dedicated to other families who have lost a child to the deadly blue pill.

This past Sunday, May 21, marked a year since Joe was taken off of life support. His family and friends honored his short life at his gravesite, which still doesnt have a headstone because Luna cant afford one. Instead, she brings a large photo of him in the Puerto Rico ball cap and places it at the top of the plot as a substitute.

I am still in shock, she said. I find myself in denial.

She wishes she or someone at the DQ had known about a drug called Narcan. Maybe her son would have had a chance.

Miracle nasal spray

Public health scientists attribute Colorado leveling off in terms of fentanyl-involved overdose deaths to public awareness and also to a nasal spray called Naloxone, or Narcan, which they say will soon be offered over-the-counter.

Most vital to us is getting Naloxone into hands of individuals who use drugs and into the general community. Its very easy to apply, said Bourdon. Ive also seen the distribution of test strips, which are used to determine whether fentanyl is present in an illicit drug.

Bourdon said that though Narcan is available from a pharmacy through insurance for $40-100, its been distributed free of charge to public safety organizations, jails, local public health departments, and libraries by the states Overdose Prevention Unit.

Lots of people have taken advantage of free Narcan handouts.

From fiscal year July 2021 to June 30, 2022, people distributed 124,814 doses. This fiscal year, from July through March, that number more than doubled with 287,814 doses of Narcan given away.

On Tuesday, a McDonalds in Loveland recognized Thompson Valley High School senior William (last name not provided) who saved a someone from overdosing in the bathroom. Last week, he was at the McDonalds at 1809 W. Eisenhower Rd. in Loveland eating dinner when someone ran out of the bathroom saying a male was passed out and turning purple in the stall.

William, who is studying to get his EMT, immediately ran to assist the male, administered Narcan and did CPR until first responders arrived on scene and took over, McDonalds stated in a news release. There is no doubt that the male likely would not have survived had William not stepped up and offered his help.

Bourdon hopes the trend continues and even decreases in 2023, and that fewer Coloradans will die of fentanyl-involved poisonings.

So far this year, the CDPHE reports 223 Coloradans have succumbed to the drug, but that number is not complete for May, as there is a 3-4 month lag in the registration and processing of the death certificate data.

Behind each number is a heartbreak

The loss of Joe at 15 was a horrible kick-off to the destruction of Christina Lunas family as she knew it.

Consumed with guilt and depression, Joes older brother, Carlos, became addicted to fentanyl and has quit school, she said.

Keeping him alive is her greatest struggle, but its hard.

Her 18-year-old daughter graduated from high school Tuesday.

The fact that the escalation of fentanyl deaths has slowed in Colorado gives her hope that Joe did not die for nothing.

Each person isnt just a statistic. They have families they have their own lives, said Luna.

A map of where to find Narcan can be found at www.stoptheclockcolorado.org.
The former head of Google said artificial intelligence-powered tools may prove an existential threat to society.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned that the development of generative artificial intelligence, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Bard, could have disastrous consequences in the near future. Schmidt is the latest tech CEO to claim artificial intelligence is a threat to society as the technology comes under greater scrutiny from lawmakers and the White House.

AMERICA ISN'T READY FOR THE ERA OF AI NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS

Schmidt framed the technology as an "existential risk" during an appearance Tuesday at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit. The risk could include "many, many, many, many people harmed or killed," Schmidt said.

Schmidt led Google from 2001 to 2011.

"There are scenarios, not today, but reasonably soon, where these systems will be able to find zero-day exploits in cyber issues or discover new kinds of biology," Schmidt said, "Now, this is fiction today, but its reasoning is likely to be true. And when that happens, we want to be ready to know how to make sure these things are not misused by evil people."

"Zero-day exploits" are gaps in cybersecurity that hackers could abuse.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in March that it was good for the public to be a "little scared" of ChatGPT. Altman has pushed for national and international regulators to track the technology's development.

A majority of Americans say artificial intelligence poses a threat to humanity, according to a May 17 Ipsos/Reuters poll.

Original Location: Artificial intelligence poses 'existential risk' and could kill many people, former Google CEO says

Washington Examiner Videos
As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) gears up for his long-awaited presidential campaign launch, he's been increasing his visits to the early-voting nominating states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, meeting with voters, and attempting to soften his image among Republicans.

It's a tacit acknowledgment of former President Donald Trump's relentless attacks against DeSantis's persona and public griping from fellow Republican lawmakers that the governor needs to beef up his people skills if he wants to defeat Trump in the battle for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination.

REPUBLICANS RIP BIDEN FOR TRYING TO INSERT TAXES IN DEBT CEILING DEAL

DeSantis has taken notice by holding impromptu meet-and-greets during an Iowa stop, in which 200 people came to hear him speak, and flipping burgers with Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) and Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) this month. Last week, DeSantis was literally kissing babies and visiting diners in New Hampshire. But will it be enough to help the governor convince GOP voters to select him as their next presidential nominee? It's complicated. Strategists told the Washington Examiner that DeSantis's uphill climb is tangled by Trump's effectiveness as a third-time presidential candidate and his dominance over the Republican base.

"He's never going to be as charismatic as Donald Trump, who can go up on stage and at a rally with thousands of people and hold court for 45 or 50 minutes without a script," Matt Dole, a Republican political consultant based in Ohio, said of DeSantis. "That's Donald Trump. That's not Ron DeSantis. But DeSantis can bring what we all liked about Trump's policies and governance and not have the back end, which is, you know, the Twitter and all of that."

Although Trump consistently leads polling of Republican primary voters, DeSantis has also consistently finished in the second spot and, in some polls, has been shown to win over President Joe Biden in battleground states. Yet attacks from Trump and his campaign have led to a decrease in DeSantis's poll numbers, and more Republicans, such as Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), have launched presidential campaigns suggesting that DeSantis's attempts to be the anti-Trump candidate aren't quite guaranteed.

Make America Great Again Inc., a Trump-supporting super PAC, gleefully boasted last week that the rising number of GOP 2024 candidates "smell Ron DeSantis's blood in the water and no longer see him as an obstacle."

Ford O'Connell, a Florida-based GOP strategist, said that retail politics isn't DeSantis's real problem as a candidate. It's the scrutiny that comes with being a front-runner running against an extremely agile Trump on the national stage that has tripped DeSantis up at times. "Trump is zigging and zagging while DeSantis is trying to catch up, and it's a massive primary hole," said O'Connell. "It's one he can overcome. He's got to do the little things right. But he's going to have to certainly win Iowa or he's going to be a flash in the pan."

Trump has made surprising decisions during this third time seeking the presidency that has paid off at times. He sat for a live CNN town hall with host Kaitlan Collins, his first with the network since 2016, which his campaign saw as a success. The audience often clapped for Trump as he jostled with Collins and gave him access to a more mainstream audience. Another sign of Trump's prowess is his dominance of endorsements from Florida's congressional delegation, seen as an embarrassment in DeSantis's own backyard.

But DeSantis has rallied back with endorsements from 37 Republicans in Iowa's state legislature, more than any Republican candidate had in 2016, and touted the endorsements of 99 Florida state lawmakers, the vast majority of the state's 113 Republican lawmakers. He also has the endorsement of 51 New Hampshire legislators.

Yet in order to have a credible chance at taking down Trump, DeSantis will need a decisive win in Iowa's first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses next year. Never Back Down, the DeSantis-sanctioned super PAC, is ramping up staffing in the Hawkeye State and has already poured millions in ad buys championing the Florida governor's record.

"As we saw at his recent visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, the momentum behind Gov. DeSantis continues to grow as more voters meet him and learn his story of service to country, faith, and family," said Erin Perrine, Never Back Down's communications director, in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "Conservatives across the country are rallying behind the Governor, already making this primary a two-man race, while DeSantis isn't even a candidate because they know he is the only Republican who doesn't just talk the talk, he follows through on the hard fights like taking on woke corporations. Not only do voters know DeSantis will beat Joe Biden, but they know DeSantis will always fight for our future."

Tyler Clark, a Republican consultant at Red Maple Political in New Hampshire, witnessed DeSantis's interactions with Republicans during the Amos Tuck annual fundraising dinner last month. "I would say he did a spectacular job. After his speech, he worked that entire crowd of 500 people taking selfies, talking with folks, going table-to-table," Clark said. "So, I give him 10 out of 10 from what I've witnessed firsthand."

Clark said that the attacks from Trump and his allies' ads attacking DeSantis demonstrate how much of a strong rival DeSantis is.

"From what I've seen here is a lot of Trump people coming out and bashing Gov. DeSantis, and I think it's because they're worried. So really, it shows a sign of weakness from the Trump campaign," Clark said. "I saw that ad about eating pudding with his fingers, and that just seems so bizarre to me. And now all this stuff, saying he has no charisma, is just as false from what I've seen." Clark is referencing a MAGA Inc. ad that attacked DeSantis for allegedly eating pudding with his fingers, according to reporting from the Daily Beast.

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DeSantis has mostly either taken subtle digs at Trump or refused to outright attack the former president in the lead-up to the presidential campaign launch. But Gregg Keller, a Republican consultant based in Missouri, said DeSantis will need to start forcefully pushing back against Trump. Otherwise, Republican primary voters "will abandon him pretty quickly."

"He cannot allow himself to be seen as some sort of punching bag," said Keller. "I don't think primary voters yet believe that he is not a fighter. But I think that's got to be his No. 1 communication imperative going forward is proving to Republican primary voters that he has the personality and the pugnacity to go out there and fight for them every single day."

Original Location: DeSantis faces real estate politics questions as he readies 2024 run

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Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) team released a teaser video ahead of the expected launch of his 2024 presidential campaign.

The video, tweeted from DeSantis's wife Casey's Twitter account, includes narration describing America as being "worth the fight" and shows DeSantis walking onto a stage.

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"They call it faith because in the face of darkness, you can see that brighter future, a faith that our best days lay ahead of us. But is it worth the fight? Do I have the courage? Is it worth the sacrifice? America has been worth it every single time," the narration said.

The video then fades to black and shows a number to text for more information. When the number is texted, a message responds back saying, "Thank you for subscribing to receive texts from Ron DeSantis for President."

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The video is the latest sign of the Florida governor's looming presidential campaign, which will reportedly be announced on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday night. He is expected to launch his campaign with an event in his hometown of Dunedin, Florida, next week.

The Florida governor has been consistently placing second behind former President Donald Trump in GOP primary polling, and is widely seen as the top rival to Trump.

Original Location: DeSantis team releases 2024 teaser ahead of rumored campaign launch

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If Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announces his presidential campaign on Wednesday night as expected, he will be the first 2024 GOP candidate to do so on Twitter.

DeSantis is set to join Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk and DeSantis backer David Sacks. It's an unconventional approach, highlighting the Musk era of the social media platform and the perception the site is now more favorable to the Right.

BIDEN'S OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS: STUDENT LOANS CANCELLATION IN LIMBO

But that doesn't mean there won't be criticism. Almost immediately after news of DeSantis launching a campaign on Twitter broke, former President Donald Trump and his allies denigrated the approach.

"This is one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history. The only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter, is DeSantis' after party at the uber elite Four Seasons resort in Miami," said Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., in a statement.

Other Trump allies also hit DeSantis for using the social media platform, to which the former president hasn't yet returned since being reinstated after a ban.

"Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. This way, he doesn't have to interact with people, and the media can't ask him any questions," a Trump adviser told the Washington Examiner.

Vanity Fair responded to the news with a story that compared Musk to David Duke in the headline, prompting Christina Pushaw, a DeSantis spokeswoman, to respond, "They're losing their position as gatekeepers  and they can't handle it."

DeSantis's decision to announce on Twitter is seen as a way to sideline established traditional media outlets, with which the governor has famously battled. Musk has made overtures toward conservatives such as Tucker Carlson after his Fox News ouster, and his purchase of the site elicited praise on the Right. Following the Twitter announcement, DeSantis will speak with former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) on Fox News at 8 p.m. ET for his first TV interview as a presidential candidate.

In contrast, after Trump gave a prime-time interview with Carlson following his historic indictment stemming from a 2016 hush money payment scheme to porn actress Stormy Daniels, he also participated in a live CNN town hall event after years of antagonizing the network.

Former Republican Rep. David Jolly (FL), now a member of the Forward Party, called DeSantis's Twitter decision "a serious miscalculation" and a "Dumb move." Jolly said there were three missteps for DeSantis announcing on Twitter: "1. He's leaning into the 'weird'. 2. He's doubling down on being the candidate who needs a safe space. 3. He's promoting his association with regressive ideology."

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But DeSantis needs to win over GOP primary voters before he can turn into the general, and that will require winning over conservatives who have stuck with Trump.

With Trump posting on his social media platform Truth Social over Twitter, it gives DeSantis space to own Twitter similarly to how Trump did from 2016 through 2020.

Original Location: DeSantis tries something new in his highly anticipated 2024 announcement

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Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel denied intervening to retaliate against a whistleblower in the Hunter Biden investigation, a report claims.

Werfel denied the allegations of retaliation in a May 17 letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, which was obtained by Fox News. In the letter, the commissioner said that the reassignment of the whistleblower was at the direction of the Department of Justice and was not his doing.

Daniel Werfel testifies before the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing to be the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

DEBT LIMIT: MULVANEY SAYS 14TH AMENDMENT ROUTE COULD BE HARMFUL AS TALKS CONTINUE

"I want to state unequivocally that I have not intervened  and will not intervene  in any way that would impact the status of any whistleblower," Werfel said.

"The IRS whistleblower you reference alleges that the change in their work assignment came at the direction of the Department of Justice. As a general matter and not in reference to any specific case, I believe it is important to emphasize that in any matter involving federal judicial proceedings, the IRS follows the direction of the Justice Department," he continued.

Werfel claimed that he reached out to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russel George to learn more. However, he said that laws pertaining to an ongoing investigation mean he is not able to provide additional details.

"When I first learned of the allegations of retaliation referenced in your letter and in media reports on May 16, 2023, I contacted the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). In light of laws and policies designed to protect the integrity of pending proceedings, I am unable to provide details on this matter," the commissioner wrote.

"TIGTA confirmed that my role as Commissioner in any whistleblower proceeding is not an investigative one. When an IRS employee raises allegations of this kind, the Commissioner's office does not run an investigation, seek the identity of the whistleblower, or similarly intervene; instead, the Inspector General serves as a critical guardian of the whistleblower process and conducts relevant inquiries into the matter," he added.

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The Washington Examiner reached out to the House Ways and Means Committee for comment.

The whistleblower was a career IRS criminal supervisory special agent who, according to his lawyer, could reveal "clear conflicts of interest" in the Biden investigation as well as "examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected."

Original Location: IRS commissioner denies retaliating in Hunter Biden whistleblower complaint: Report

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Eligible New Mexico taxpayers have nine more days to file a 2021 New Mexico Personal Income Tax return in order to receive rebates worth up to $1,000 for married couples filing jointly, according to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's (D-NM) office.

The deadline to file the income tax return for the payments, worth $500 for single filers and $1,000 for couples filing jointly and heads of household, is on Wednesday, May 31.

A LOOK AT WHAT PROGRAMS COULD BE AFFECTED IF THE US DEFAULTS ON ITS LOANS

"Prices for basic necessities continue to be high across the nation," Lujan Grisham said in a statement last month. "Our state today is in a fantastic financial position, and it's important to me that New Mexico's families are sharing in that success."

Residents that have already filed their tax returns will receive the payments automatically when they are disbursed in mid-June. There is no separate application for the rebates, and it is separate from tax refunds. However, those who received the refunds for their 2021 returns by direct deposit will receive the rebate through direct deposit as well.

Taxpayers who have moved to a different address since filing their 2021 return can update their address by using the Taxpayer Access Point self-service portal. They can also formally change it by filling out and submitting a Form RPD-41260 Personal Income Tax Change of Address Form to the Taxation and Revenue Department as soon as possible.

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State residents who did not need to file taxes in 2021 because of their income level could receive relief payments in July. But residents will need to apply for the relief funds when applications open because the relief payments will be released on a first-come, first-serve basis through the state's Human Services Department.

No application date for the relief payments has been announced so far.

Original Location: Stimulus update 2023: Deadline to file for direct payment worth $1,000 closes in nine days

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Jack Smith's special counsel investigation into Donald Trump and his alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago is reportedly "wrapping up" as the Justice Department moves toward a possible indictment of the former president.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland late last year to handle Trump inquiries related to the Capitol riot and the Mar-a-Lago classified records sagas. A decadeslong DOJ veteran prosecutor, he had been a prosecutor at The Hague, where he investigated alleged war crimes in Kosovo, until late last year.

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It was reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Smith "has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in his criminal investigation" into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified information at Mar-a-Lago.

The outlet said that "some of Trump's close associates are bracing for his indictment and anticipate being able to fundraise off a prosecution." It added that "in recent weeks prosecutors working for Smith have completed interviews with nearly every employee at Trump's Florida home" and that "questions that appeared to home in on specific elements Smith's team would need to show to prove a crime."

Smith served under Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, leading the DOJ's Public Integrity Section from 2010 to 2015. Smith led a team of 30 prosecutors in conducting public corruption cases throughout the United States, including a mixed track record of going after high-profile politicians. He also inserted the DOJ into what would become the Lois Lerner IRS scandal targeting conservative nonprofit groups during the Obama years, which Trump has criticized him for since he became special counsel.

Multiple outlets also reported on Tuesday that since becoming special counsel, Smith issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization seeking information on any foreign business deals since Trump took office in 2017, including possible deals in China, France, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Trump Organization told the New York Times that "while the Trump Organization has, for decades, been a global real estate empire, we made a strict pledge to not enter in any new foreign deals while President Trump was in office, a commitment that the company fully complied with."

President Joe Biden is also being investigated by another Garland-appointed special counsel, Robert Hur. Biden's personal attorneys said they first discovered classified documents in early November 2022 at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, located in the nation's capital. Biden's lawyers then found more classified documents at his Wilmington home in Delaware, and the Department of Justice found more when it conducted its own search.

Garland's decision to allow personal lawyers for Biden who didn't have security clearances to search for classified documents at the president's Delaware homes has also been harshly criticized by Republicans.

Trump attacked "Jack Smith and his group of thugs" at a CNN town hall earlier this month, saying he "had every right to under the Presidential Records Act" to take documents from the White House after he left office and that he "took the documents. I'm allowed to." He claimed that "who took them more than anybody is Joe Biden."

Trump argued that the documents "become automatically declassified when I took them."

Trump's legal team sent a letter to the House Intelligence Committee in April echoing these themes.

"As demonstrated by the discovery of documents with classification markings 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," Trump's team wrote. "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."

Debra Wall, the acting archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, sent a letter to Trump last week telling him that it would be handing over records to Smith, writing, "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."

Trump returned an initial batch of 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives in January 2022. However, the National Archives said it had found some records with classified markings and believed Trump continued to possess other records, and in February 2022, it referred the issue to the Justice Department.

Wall sent a May 2022 letter to Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran informing him that an initial review "identified items marked as classified national security information."

The archivist said this resulted in Biden and the White House being made aware of the situation as the FBI sought access to the records.

The National Archives told Trump's lawyers in early May 2022 that it "will provide the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President [Biden]." Corcoran pointed to "a few bedrock principles" in a letter back to the DOJ, including that "A President Has Absolute Authority To Declassify Documents" and that "Presidential Actions Involving Classified Documents Are Not Subject To Criminal Sanction."

The National Archives letter in May 2022 was followed the next day by a grand jury subpoena, then by a June 2022 visit to Mar-a-Lago by investigators, and finally by the August 2022 raid. Garland quickly said that he "personally approved" the search.

The White House, the National Archives, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines all pointed to Garland's appointment of special counsels in the Trump and Biden classified documents sagas as reasons for missing deadlines or deflecting questions about Trump and Biden earlier this year.

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The Biden administration has also cited the existence of special counsel investigations as a reason to slow-walk information sharing with Republican congressional investigators as well.

The DOJ confirmed the special counsel justification for delays in information sharing, citing Garland's late 2022 appointment of Smith and Hur as a reason why the DOJ was limiting the sharing of information on these matters.

Original Location: Trump classified documents: Jack Smith 'wrapping up' Mar-a-Lago investigation

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K-12 standardized test scores tanked across Colorado amid the pandemics lengthy school shutdown and have yet to climb back to even pre-COVID levels. And those levels were abysmal to begin with. Indeed, testing back in 2019 revealed at most a third of students performed at or above grade level in math and English.

Its no wonder a survey this past spring by education reform advocacy group Ready Colorado revealed only 31% of respondents said they feel Colorado public education is headed in the right direction.

In such a climate of near-free fall for academic performance, youd think the states largest teachers union, which represents 39,000 educators, might want to propose a solution. Or, at least, a response.

Instead, the Colorado Education Association passed a resolution  blaming much of the worlds ills on capitalism.

"The CEA believes that capitalism inherently exploits children, public schools, land, labor, and resources, the resolution read. Capitalism is in opposition to fully addressing systemic racism (the school to prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality and income inequality."

Thats right, capitalism  the economic system responsible for the Industrial Revolution, the Model T Ford and the iPhone. Its also the economic system that funds the construction of our public schools and, in a roundabout way, the hefty salaries of the CEAs union bosses.

The resolution was adopted discreetly last month at the unions state assembly but confirmed publicly for The Gazette only last week. It reads almost like a parody  an attempt to satirize Marx and Engels 1848 Communist Manifesto to reflect todays woke sensibilities.

But its also alarming. Not so much because this salad of stray thoughts has much chance of influencing students or anyone else. Nor because of how it reflects an elementary ignorance of modern history, to say nothing of Economics 101.

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And not even because it exposes the ever-more-leftward, ever-more-out-of-touch tilt of the states, and nations, largest teachers union. Thats old news for a labor union that was boycotting Florida orange juice back in the 1990s to punish its advertisers for sponsoring talk radios Rush Limbaugh broadcasts.

Rather, its alarming because of what the resolution and the union itself fail to address: Colorados dismal student achievement.

Ready Colorados President Brenda Dickhoner got it right in The Gazettes report: "With a majority of our students not reading, writing or doing math at grade level, we would urge the CEA to focus on improving student outcomes instead of dismantling an economic system that promotes human prosperity and innovation.

At best, the resolution is tilting at windmills. At worst, its fiddling while Rome burns.

Perhaps we shouldnt expect any better from an organization that bears some of the responsibility for the latest drop in test scores. It was the Colorado Education Association and its local affiliates that had lobbied to keep schools closed much longer than necessary during the pandemic. In the face of abundant data that COVID in fact posed a very low risk of serious effects for school-age kids, the unions continued to advocate keeping everyone home.

Meaning, all but the most online-learning-inclined children idled adrift in cyberspace, often unsupervised, barely tethered to whatever it was they were supposed to be learning on their screens. Many languished as their learning eroded.

All of which only serves further to disqualify the union as a serious voice on education policy. While the union is preoccupied with its support for a discredited revolution of the 19th century  Colorados kids are ill prepared to excel in the 21st.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently signaled a shift in climate litigation aimed at energy producers, allowing the suits to proceed in state rather than federal, courts across the country. This is bad news for energy producers and consumers.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision written by the late Justice Ginsburg, previously found that climate change policy is not under the purview of federal courts and is better suited for Congress. State courts conversely are held to no such standard and are generally viewed as friendlier venues for winning massive awards against energy companies.

There is no legal basis for blaming energy manufacturers for purported damages from climate change. Rather, activist groups are looking to redefine environmental policy through the courts. Their stated goal is to not only make manufacturers pay for alleged damages, but also to increase prices for consumers.

Nearly two dozen states, cities, and municipalities across the country are suing major energy companies, in an attempt to hold them liable for damages that they allege were caused by climate change. Three localities in Colorado  Boulder County, San Miguel County, and the city of Boulder  have joined the litigation effort.

Given the global nature of emissions it is impossible to assign blame to a few energy producers in just one country for alleged damages caused by climate change. Everyone across the globe uses energy, and there are energy producers in nearly every country in the world. By that logic, everyone is responsible for causing climate change.

The architects of the Colorado litigation have said: Whether thats cutting back on the harmful activities, and/or to raise the price of the products that are causing those harmful effects so that if they are continuing to sell fossil fuels, that the cost of the harms of those fossil fuels would ultimately get priced into them.

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Colorado residents rely on energy products to heat their homes, fuel their vehicles, and live their daily lives. Increasing energy prices significantly would be financially devastating  especially to low income and minority communities. Since Colorado has a major energy industry presence, if these lawsuits are successful the statewide economic costs would cause tremendous harm.

The most recent estimates have found that the energy industry creates enormous economic benefits for Colorado, generating $13.5 billion in annual economic activity and supporting about 90,000 jobs. The industry also provides nearly $1 billion in tax revenue, which is about 80% of the money that the school trust pays to Colorado schools.

Ultimately, courts are not the appropriate venues for setting environmental policies on such a scale, legislatures are. Former Attorney General of Colorado and U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, noted, By establishing rules that punish oil and gas companies, such cases can tilt the direction of energy development  it is the type of fundamental policy that should be determined by elected officials, not by state court judges.

Colorado policymakers have already shown that they can advance productive and innovative ways to reduce emissions  the main culprit environmentalists blame for climate change  without the need for such counterproductive lawsuits. For example, in 2021 the Legislature passed a bill with broad bipartisan consensus to Promote Innovative and Clean Energy Technologies in the Electric Utility Sector.

Instead of litigating against the very businesses that are helping to create the sustainable future that environmentalists claim they are fighting for, these local governments should find ways to expand private incentives that will help support a cleaner energy future.

Emissions in the American power sector have dropped by 35% since 2005, mainly due to investments made by utility providers to switch to cleaner burning natural gas and other alternative fuel sources. As the demand for newer and cleaner energy sources continues to grow, the private sector will continue to innovate to meet that demand.

Paul Prentice is a senior fellow at the Independence Institute.
The Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday that if someone is charged with multiple drunk driving offenses, what matters is which incident results in a conviction first, not necessarily which offense happens first.

Under Colorado law, each subsequent impaired driving conviction receives a harsher sentence. Consequently, prior convictions are important for determining the severity of the punishment. By 6-1, the Supreme Court ruled it is possible for a defendant with two separate impaired driving cases to be sentenced as a second-time offender in the case that, chronologically, began when there was no prior DUI.

The law "refers only to 'convictions'  a word that is explicitly defined in the statute," wrote Justice Melissa Hart, "with no mention of the underlying 'violation.'"

The case of Jacob Woodside raised a question the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals had never addressed before: When a defendant incurs two drunk driving charges on different dates, but the chronologically second offense is resolved before the chronologically first offense, what effect does the sequence have on a "prior conviction?"

Prosecutors in Weld County charged Woodside for driving under the influence in August 2021. Nearly three months after that first offense, prosecutors in Grand County charged Woodside with DUI again in a separate case. Woodside ended up pleading guilty to driving while ability impaired in the Grand County case while the Weld County charges were still pending.

Woodside was prepared to plead guilty in Weld County, but argued the later charges from Grand County should not count as a "prior conviction" and, accordingly, Woodside should be sentenced for only a first offense.

"We believe that if this would be sentenced as a first offense," said prosecutor Erica White at the time, "then the Defendant is getting a windfall, basically, of being able to have two DUIs in a very short span of time and being able to plead to both of them as first offenses."

County Court Judge John Briggs agreed with her interpretation, prompting Woodside to appeal directly to the Supreme Court.

In 2010, the legislature enacted a law to create increasingly severe punishments for repeat drunk driving offenses, which are misdemeanors until the fourth conviction. A first DUI offense, at the time the law took effect, could result in at least five days of jail and up to 96 hours of community service, while a second offense could result in at least 10 days in jail with 120 hours of community service.

A person is a second-time offender if they have a prior conviction "at the time of sentencing."

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"One of the reasons you gotta have these multiple-DUI laws is because people who have a tendency to get DUIs have a bunch of them," said Stan Garnett, who was the Boulder County district attorney at the time of the law's enactment. "The intent of the legislature is to provide more severe penalties, enhanced penalties, for people with more than one of these."

In responding to Woodside's appeal, the Colorado Attorney General's Office argued that under his interpretation, Woodside would receive two convictions for a "first offense"  one for the Grand County case that resolved first and another for the Weld County case that started first. Defendants in Woodside's position could thus "game the system," the state insisted.

The Supreme Court's majority agreed that a "prior conviction" was not the same as a "prior offense," and the legislature clearly intended for prior convictions to count against a defendant regardless of when the DUI occurred chronologically.

"Woodside is asserting that having pled guilty to two distinct incidents of intoxicated driving, he should be sentenced for two first offenses. But he did not commit two first offenses; he committed two offenses," wrote Hart in the May 22 opinion. "Woodsides interpretation would incentivize gamesmanship by allowing defendants to forestall resolution of an earlier case while resolving a later one to get first-offense treatment in both."

Justice Monica M. Marquez saw otherwise. To her, the legislature enacted a framework to punish recidivism more harshly. Imposing a stiffer sentence on a defendant for a chronologically first offense  before he became a recidivist  is therefore unconstitutional.

"In addition to disregarding the plain language of the statute," Marquez wrote, "the majoritys interpretation raises constitutional concerns because it permits a court to sentence a defendants first offense more harshly as a second or subsequent offense based on conduct committed after the offense for which the defendant is being sentenced."

To avoid gamesmanship, Marquez suggested the Grand County judge and prosecutors simply should have waited for Woodside's first DUI charge in Weld County to resolve itself. Any logistical challenges that may arise, she added, "cannot trump the constitution."

Bruce I. Brown, the former district attorney for Colorado's Fifth Judicial District, said it is not a rare occurrence for people to incur multiple DUI charges in a short period. He believed the majority's conclusion will prevent alleged drunk drivers from exploiting "gaps in the law."

"The public interest clearly is aligned with the majority's reasoning  appropriate sentencing including treatment for multiple DUI offenders will save lives," Brown wrote in an email. "Any Legislator who would attempt to change this law would be on the wrong side of public safety to a degree that none would venture that far out on a political limb, even if they disagreed with the result."

The case is People v. Woodside.
Gov. Jared Polis handed out his fourth, fifth and sixth vetoes from the 2023 session Tuesday.

The vetoes cover two controversial measures, one in which House Democrats complained loudly that a House Republican had violated the rules in changing his vote on a gambling measure.

The other, on tax increment financing, is tied to just one mixed-use development near Loveland.

Senate Bill 23-273 would have amended the Urban Renewal Law and updated one of five exemptions related to agricultural land, Polis noted in his veto letter.

The bill was intended to fix a "perceived loophole" from a 2010 law that also dealt with agricultural lands in urban areas. But SB 273 was intended to target a single urban renewal plan, and while the plan has now been approved, "we must also carefully consider the ramifications that retroactively altering existing statute could have on planned development proposals and future urban renewal plans," Polis wrote.

"Passing a law that retroactively changes the playing field would create greater uncertainty across our state and discourage investment in housing," the governor said.

Polis also vetoed a bill that drew consternation from House Democrats over what they claimed was a violation of House rules.

Senate Bill 23-259 would allow those licensed by the Colorado Limited Gaming Act to extend credit of at least $1,000 to patrons under certain criteria.

SB 259 lost on a 31 to 34 vote on May 6, with one of the "no' votes coming from Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, who had spoken against the bill.

After the vote, he briefly left the House floor and then returned to ask for a reconsideration and changed his vote from a "no" to a "yes." The measure then passed, 33 to 32.

House Democrats claimed he left the House chamber to talk to a lobbyist for the gaming association.

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In a formal letter of protest on May 8, Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch, pointed out that, in the last three days of the session, under rule 35(b), a motion for reconsideration of a vote must receive a two-thirds majority vote.

That didn't happen, Marshall said.

In his veto letter, Polis said the measure raised concerns around whether people with gambling disorders can "meaningfully consent to a transaction," and about issues "regarding the ability of a person with a gambling disorder to freely consent to a loan while on a gambling spree."

The bill's intended target was out-of-state "high-rollers," the governor wrote, but the bill was not tailored that way.

The third bill Polis vetoed is House Bill 23-1146, which would have prohibited certain employers from taking adverse action against an employee who accepts a cash tip offered by a patron of the business. The bill carved out exceptions for gaming, health care, and services to the elderly.

"This is not an appropriate area for state regulation," Polis wrote in his veto letter.

Businesses cite concerns that tipping can lead to unequal treatment of patrons and employees and instead choose to prohibit tipping while paying a higher base wage, which he called a legitimate business choice for an employer.

The exceptions, he wrote, appear to be arbitrary.

"At its best, tipping can encourage service excellence and provide additional income for workers. At its worst, tipping can lead to preferential treatment for some patrons, less income for unlucky workers, or even unscrupulous behavior. The balance of whether to allow tipping is best left to the private sector and the free market of employers and employees," the governor said.

Polis has until June 7 to finish signing bills sent to him by the legislature.
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City of Lebanon: Resist the narcissistic enablement of homeless self-destruction.

The city of Lebanon proposed a designated camping or sleeping area for homeless individuals.

This is in response to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that states if that no shelter location exists, cities must allow the homeless to camp on nonexempt public property. The ruling also decriminalizes the act of seeking protection from the elements for a person with no alternative.

Providing the homeless population with a place to camp appears noble. However, allowing public camping enables destructive and criminal behaviors  behaviors that inhibit the ability to become housed.

At the root of homelessness are people struggling to provide basic needs for themselves due to hardcore drug addiction, mental health disorders and physical illness. Numerous studies indicate many of the unhoused population is drug-addicted and/or are mentally ill. Many have chronic physical conditions.

Logic says someone of sound mind and body would accept public assistance, or move to an area they can afford rent, rather than camp on the streets. An addict nodding out with a needle in their arm or the mentally ill person shouting obscenities at the clouds in 45-degree Oregon rain is not just down on their luck.

Addicts and mentally ill people have limited capacity for hygiene and medium- to long-term thinking. As a result, homeless camps in Portland, Salem, Eugene and other large West Coast cities are full of filth, garbage, human waste, stolen property and drug paraphernalia.

Instead of those cities caring for people who cant care for themselves, addicted and mentally ill homeless people are allowed to occupy the fringes of society.

Life at the fringes of society is full of theft, physical and sexual assault, property defacement, garbage dumping and other behaviors that lower the standard of living for those who live there and the people around them.

The city of Lebanons proposed budget for the homeless camps appears to be an underestimate for the law enforcement, garbage cleanup, and mental health and addiction services necessary for the homeless population.

These services will strain the budget and pull away law enforcement and other public servants from their already overstretched duties. The result will be a greater burden on the city and people of Lebanon.

Other societal costs are associated with the enablement of public camping. Businesses near homeless camps have reduced customer traffic; property values decline and those living near homeless camps are victims of regular theft or physical threats.

As a result, businesses close and residents with the means to do so move away. These societal costs amount to unregistered taxes that lower the quality of life for everyone.

This burden imposed on Lebanon comes from other parts of the state, where voters undermined the quality of life in their own cities. Lebanon is not like those areas, fortunately. To keep Lebanon free of the decay found in other Oregon cities, the Lebanon City Council should resist enabling untreated drug addiction and mental illness. Providing a place to camp is not the answer to difficult problems harbored in the homeless population.

The city of Lebanon has a chance to lead and fight poor policy decisions that drive people away from other once nice Oregon towns. It is worth standing up for our city and fighting public camping mandates: mandates that amount to little more than a narcissistic way of ignoring untreated drug addiction and mental illness.

Instead of enablement, Lebanon and other likeminded cities should explore legal avenues to force the state and Ninth Circuit courts to address homelessness root cause while respecting private businesses, the citizens of Lebanon and the people unable to care for themselves.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Lobster populations around the Maritimes remain in good shape, though climate change may be to blame for a recent downward trend, the federal Fisheries Department says.

Adam Cook, a research scientist with the department based in Halifax, said Tuesday that populations started rising around 2010 and peaked a few years ago amid strong demand for the crustaceans. As the populations rose, so did lobster landings, making for a lucrative industry.

Even though most populations appear to be shrinking in recent years, Cook said the numbers remain strong and sustainable when compared to levels recorded before 2010.

The latest numbers are contained in a series of stock status reports released in late March.

"We still think there's enough lobster for there to be a sustainable lobster population," Cook said in an interview. "Over the last number of years, the conditions have been favourable to lobster ... We're still in what we consider the healthy zone." One of the key factors contributing to the healthy numbers has been a lack of predators, the scientist said.

As a result, the department does not have any conservation concerns about lobster. That is welcome news to an industry that exported $3.26 billion worth of product in 2021, beating the previous record of $2.59 billion set in 2019.

Outside the Maritimes, lobster are fished in Newfoundland and parts of Quebec. But the three Maritime provinces dominate the Canadian industry.

Almost all coastal communities in the Maritimes are involved in the inshore lobster fishery, which now has 3,000 licence-holders employing about 7,500 fishers.

In Lobster Fishing Area 34, which stretches from southwestern Nova Scotia to the Bay of Fundy, lobster landings account for 20 per cent of Canadian totals, making it the country's largest lobster fishery. The annual haul there averaged 21,844 tonnes over the past five years.

But the past six seasons have seen total landings decreasing from the record high in 2016.

There are a number of restrictions on the fishery that help with conservation, including a limited number of licences and traps, strictly enforced fishing seasons and restrictions on catching small lobsters and egg-bearing females.

Still, the latest numbers show populations sliding downward in most areas across the Maritimes, except along Nova Scotia's eastern shore and Cape Breton.

"You can't always be setting new highs," Cook said. "At some point populations become self-regulating and you'll see declines, even in an undisturbed, natural population."

Cook said the warming of the Atlantic Ocean caused by climate change could be to blame, but more research needs to be done.

"There are ecosystem changes going on," he said. "We have heard reports about the Gulf of Maine warming considerably faster than a lot of other places. These are things we're thinking about. But from a biological perspective, we still feel there is ample lobster to be contributing to the population."

Unlike some ocean-dwelling creatures, lobsters are fairly resilient when it comes to fluctuations in water temperature, but even they have a limit. Still, it remains unclear if that limit has been reached in some areas.

"These are major research questions we are working on now," Cook said.
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I spent Thursday, April 27, in a canoe on Iowas most iconic river from Kendallville to Bluffton and spotted at least four pairs of Great Horned Owls hanging out with us much more closely than normal, watching over and protecting newly fledged owlets.

We were fortunate to witness two little fuzzy heads desperately supporting each other swinging on a small tree-top branch in a strong wind. It was quite a sight and it seemed they were hanging onto each other as much as the branch. If it were not for two heads, it appeared to be only one body.

All these owl sightings made me anxious to check on the Winnebago River owlets the next day. Both were still in their home, as one quickly disappeared to the back of the cave and the other little fellow earned the name No Fear as he sat at the entrance and simply stared me down for close to a half hour. Both parents flushed early from nearby trees.

That prompted another float the next day with a couple serious Nature photographer friends and Bruce McKee captured the close up of No Fear. Both adults were again nearby and we did not get to see No Fears sibling.

The following Monday, May 1, owl-status curiosity was killing me, so despite constant wind at 30-40 mph with gusts to 50, I found No Fear sitting on a branch on the downwind side of a tree trunk. Surprisingly, to get there he had to fly across the river and now seemingly afraid to take wing again, he was quite patient and posed for a long time.

Just as I turned to leave, he attempted another very short flight and with the unpredictable wind and not choosing a good place to land, he executed a nice soft crash landing in some heavy brush, just as his parents returned.

The younger sibling this day earned the name Shy Guy, as he instantly scrambled to the back of their home, not to be seen again. Perhaps he was learning from, or laughing at, the older sibling.

Mondays incident forced another float on May 2, and again both parents jumped early, and No Fear briefly followed them, flying much more confidently, but quickly tiring in the strong wind. Learning from the day before, he landed on a larger branch but it took quite a while to turn and face the wind so as to not get blown off his perch.

It was kind of funny to watch as he did his best to control both wings with the wind ruffling his feathers in the wrong direction. True to his name (or likely afraid to fly again), he posed for over a half hour as two canoeists exchanged places several times to redirect his attention and secure a better location for photographs.

With our visual recording needs satisfied we headed downstream and suddenly the owlet Shy Guy clumsily winged his way across the river in front of us and gracelessly grabbed a much-too-small branch. With one wing extended out on a higher branch than his body, he hung on for dear life as the wind ruffled feathers all over his body and bounced him around. That pic courtesy Jim Rose.

In an attempt not to induce even more stress on him, we proceeded on, dumbfounded that Shy Guy HAD to be watching us as we had the extended photo session with the sibling No Fear. It seemed we were so focused on the first owlet, we didnt look for the second one and Shy Guy appeared to be as uncoordinated as No Fear was the day before.

At take out we broke up a family of six Canada geese, three of four little fuzz balls submerging and two popping up right beside me as I eddied out. We were very happy when we spotted all six getting back together about a hundred yards downstream.

So, another float was essential the next morning, as if I hadnt had enough already. The Canada Goose Early Warning Detection System was in full force and I thought the odds were not in my favor to set eyes on any great horned owls.

After circling back upstream several times riverbank to riverbank in their territory with none in sight on any high or low branches, on the last pass before paddling home I beheld yesterdays blundering brancher inspecting me from the ground not 10 yards away.

It had to be Shy Guy as he appeared to be completely exhausted from learning to fly and land safely in the strong wind of the past two days. Comically ironic that on this very calm early morning he did not move at all, even when I moved in as close as possible and played peek-a-boo through brush, tree trunks, and branches.

As we studied each other for the next hour a pair of Magnolia Warblers were frantically feeding in front of me, several Cliff Swallows dive-bombed for flying insects, three sassy Blue Jays made a scene about us, and a Red Belly Woodpecker hammered away on a hollow log. Shy Guy was still holding his statuesque pose as I calmly but reluctantly stroked away downstream.

How quickly Mother Nature embraces us if we just slow down to allow it. Six canoe trips in seven days and this Owl Extravaganza earns a gold medal in my record book. God took a rest after six days, so I suppose I should too. And the Great Horned Owls will also appreciate a rest day from me.
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A 22-year-old from Haymarket died after a Monday afternoon crash in Pittsylvania County, the Virginia State Police report.

Police responded to the single-vehicle wreck at about 1:10 p.m. Monday on U.S. 29, about a one-tenth of a mile north of Dewberry Road in Pittsylvania County.

Virginia State Police spokesperson Richard Garletts reported James Gabriel Jackson Jabari was driving a 2003 Ford F-150 south on U.S. 29, when the vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway, overcorrected, crossed into the median and overturned ejecting the driver.

Jabari, who was not wearing a seat belt, was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital where he later died.

Police are continuing to investigate the crash.
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Caesars Virginia has donated $200,000 to a local homeless shelter and a group that provides services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

During an event Tuesday morning in front of the Danville Casino, Caesars Virginia General Manager Chris Albrecht presented a $100,000 check each to House of Hope and Haven of the Dan River Region.

[Its] just a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to give here locally in Danville, Albrecht said. We couldnt be more excited to partner with them on this exciting moment.

The funds came from money spent by patrons during two invitation-only sneak-peek events held at Danville Casino during the week before its grand opening on May 15, Albrecht said.

The company is not keeping any of the money it made before opening Danville Casinos doors to the public, he said.

House of Hope Executive Director Jude Swanson said the organization will use the $100,000 to support its recently completed expansion.

Already, we have seen that we are on track to serve more than twice the amount of people that weve served in the past and that is taking a lot of our resources, Swanson said during an interview after the event. This donation from Caesars is certainly going to help.

Charisse C. Hairston, CEO at Haven of the Dan River Region, said news of the donation was a shock. The group, which has a shelter for women and children, wants to build an off-site facility for adult males.

Having funds will allow us to do that, Hairston told the Danville Register & Bee.

Haven serves an average of about 100-115 clients through its shelter, counseling and advocacy services, Hairston said.
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The 16-year-old victim in Sunday nights homicide was defending a female during an argument that led to the fatal shooting, according to a search warrant.

Witnesses stated that there was a long domestic history between the suspect and the female at the apartment, Danville Police Department detective B.R. Bidgood wrote in the warrant filed Monday in Danville Circuit Court. The victim was defending the female at the apartment during the argument.

It was about 2 p.m. Sunday when officers responded to Purdum Woods Apartments in the 1500 block of Richmond Boulevard.

Police found the 16-year-old at the K building dead from a gunshot wound, authorities reported. A 19-year-old also was hit by gunfire, but those injuries arent considered life-threatening, police said.

Kyon Marquez Herbin, 20, is facing charges of second-degree murder and malicious wounding in the incident. Police said he was arrested in Burlington, North Carolina, where he awaits extradition to Danville.

A Virginia law prohibits law enforcement agencies from releasing the identity of juvenile victims.

According to the search warrant, the victim and the suspect were arguing before the suspect shot the victim and began chasing the second surviving victim and threatening witnesses.

A second search warrant filed Monday stated a vehicle sustained damage from gunfire that may have been related to the homicide.

The vehicle ... was also observed on camera leaving the scene and following the suspect vehicle and then returning to the scene, the warrant states.

The incident marks the fourth homicide in Danville this year and the third this month alone.

Anyone who has information on Sundays shooting may contact the Danville Police Department by calling patrol at 434-799-6510 option 4; investigations at 434-799-6508 option 1, and option 1 again; 911; or Crime Stoppers at 434-793-0000.

In addition, residents may approach any officer they see, use social media, email crimetips@danvilleva.gov, or use the crime tips app CARE.
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The Averett University School of Nursing held two nurse pinning ceremonies May 5 to honor the class of 2023 in Pritchett Auditorium at the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center.

These ceremonies, steeped in centuries of tradition, celebrated Averett students who have successfully completed their Bachelor of Science in nursing, Accelerated Bachelor of Science in nursing or Master of Science in nursing (MSN) degrees this spring.

Dr. Teresa Beach, Averetts dean of nursing, welcomed these graduates into the noble, honored, trusted profession of nursingone with a rich history. The nurse pinning ceremony includes many significant symbols, from nursing caps and pins, to lamps and anointed oil.

Eight traditional BSN graduates were honored, alongside 13 ABSN graduating peers who completed their degree from Averetts School of Nursings ABSN Norfolk Learning Center. An additional eight ABSN graduates finished their programs, but did not participate in the ceremony.

Averett launched its ABSN program in 2021 as a professional path for those with non-nursing bachelors degrees or at least 60 non-nursing college credits. The accredited program combines an online curriculum with hands-on application in an interactive, state-of-the-art learning lab and can be completed in about 16 months. Students also apply their skills through clinical rotations at health care partner sites in Norfolk.

These ABSN graduates bring the total count of ABSN alumni to 52, a group which boasts a 100% first-time pass rate for the National Council Licensure Examination from its August and December 2022 graduates.

Its especially meaningful to have our ABSN students, faculty, staff and families here, said Averett President Tiffany M. Franks. We welcome you home, and to your soon-to-be alma mater.

The ABSN program complements Averetts School of Nursing offerings in Danville, including the four-year BSN program and the MSN program with a focus in two key areas  family nurse practitioner and emergency nurse practitioner.

Three MSN graduates marked their professional transition into the FNP role, moving into the advanced practice realm of nursing. FNPs can serve as the primary health care provider for patients. The FNP status empowers nursing professionals to take on more responsibility and do their job with greater autonomy, handling everything from performing examinations to formulating diagnoses to writing prescriptions.

During the two ceremonies, nursing faculty presented graduates with a pin denoting the nursing school from which they have graduated. Female graduates wore the white nursing cap, which has been part of the female nurses uniform since the early history of nursing, representing a hygienic and professional look. Today, it serves as a universal symbol of nursing care and kindness. Both ceremonies also included a blessing of the hands with anointed oil.
As part of the Diversity Day 2023, Corinne Cahen, Minister for Family Affairs and Integration and patron of the Diversity Charter Letzebuerg, visited a high school and three companies active in the field of diversity to discuss the various initiatives they are taking to promote diversity at all levels in their respective institutions.

MFAMIGR (de g. a dr.) Christian Scharff, president du Comite pour la Charte de la diversite Letzebuerg ; Corinne Cahen, ministre de la Famille et de lIntegration MFAMIGR (de g. a dr.) Nancy Thomas, directrice, IMS Luxembourg ; Martine Eischen, presidente, Conseil dadministration Trisomie 21 Letzebuerg ASBL ; Corinne Cahen, ministre de la Famille et de lIntegration ; Francoise Thoma, CEO de la BCEE ; Vanessa Hoffmann, secretaire, Trisomie 21 Letzebuerg ASBL ; Vicky Schiltz, educatrice diplomee, Trisomie 21 Letzebuerg ASBL ; Carole Mousel, educatrice graduee, Trisomie 21 Letzebuerg ASBL MFAMIGR (au milieu, de g. a dr.) Michel Wurth, president du Conseil dadministration dArcelor Mittal SA ; Corinne Cahen, ministre de la Famille et de lIntegration ; Nancy Thomas, directrice, IMS Luxembourg, ensembles avec les signataires d'Arcelor Mittal MFAMIGR (de g. a dr.) n.c. ; n.c. ; Nancy Thomas, directrice, IMS Luxembourg ; Sandeep Jalan, Chief Finance Officer ; Corinne Cahen, ministre de la Famille et de lIntegration ; n.c. ; Christian Scharff, president du Comite pour la Charte de la diversite Letzebuerg ; n.c. ; n.c. ; Priscilia Talbot, chargee de projets, IMS MFAMIGR (de g. a dr.) Corinne Cahen, ministre de la Famille et de lIntegration, et Christian Scharff, president du Comite pour la Charte de la diversite Letzebuerg, ensembles avec les signataires du Lycee Michel Lucius MFAMIGR Photo de groupe

The day started with a visit to the "Diversity Fair" stands of the Lycee Michel Lucius, which covered a.o. the areas of cultural, gender and special needs diversity. Although the school won the ASTI "School without Racism" award in 1997, it is not currently a signatory to the Charter. However, it has students of 80 different nationalities who, from primary school onwards, advocate diversity, respect for others and inclusion of all.

The next station was SES, which has been a signatory of the Diversity Charter since 2020 and won the Diversity Award in 2021 in the category 'Communication and Organisational Values' with its project 'Equality & Inclusion working groups'. An exchange on SES diversity projects was followed by a tour of the premises. The visit ended with a group photo near the antenna.

BCEE, which has also been a signatory of the Diversity Charter since 2020, invited to the opening of a photo exhibition created with the Trisomie 21 Letzebuerg association.

The afternoon ended with a visit to Arcelor Mittal, a signatory of the Diversity Charter since 2020. There, the staff members organised a first fair that testifies to the cultural diversity within Arcelor Mittal, which employs employees of 64 different nationalities. Culinary specialities, small quizzes and explanations about the traditions of the different countries were waiting for the visitors on several stands.

At 6 p.m. the official signing ceremony of the Diversity Charter for new members took place. The 251 current signatories were joined by no less than 43 new organisations. This was also the occasion to present the results of the Diversity Charter's Autonomous Working Groups.

Diversity Day and Diversity Charter

The Diversity Day was organised, in collaboration with IMS Luxembourg, for the ninth consecutive year. Its objective is to:

- Valuing diversity strategies implemented in organisations

- To enable creative thinking around the notion of diversity

- Raise awareness of diversity among the general public and organisations

- Celebrate diversity in all its facets

The Diversity Charter was created in 2012. It is a national commitment proposed for signature to any organisation in Luxembourg that wishes to commit to the promotion and management of diversity through concrete actions that go beyond legal obligations.

The Diversity Charter Letzebuerg is supported by six privileged partners from the private sector: Deutsche Bank, PwC, Linklaters, RBC Investor & Treasury Services, Sodexo and HSBC Luxembourg. The Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region is the seventh privileged partner. The privileged partners contribute to the definition of the strategy and priorities of the Diversity Charter Letzebuerg and contribute financially to the project.

This public-private partnership is a unique governance model at European level.

More information on the Diversity Charter here.

Press release by the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region
Photo: The Canadian Press Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday he was sending Republican negotiators to the White House to finish out debt limit talks.

But McCarthy, R-Calif., said the two sides are still far apart.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. APs earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP)  Debt ceiling negotiations are locked on a classic problem that has vexed, divided and disrupted Washington before: Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to roll back federal government spending, while President Joe Biden and other Democrats do not.

Time is short to strike a deal. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday that it seems almost certain that the United States would not make it past early June without defaulting. That would be catastrophic, as the government risks running out of cash to pay its bills as soon as June 1.

We are seeing some stress already in Treasury markets, Yellen said at a Wall Street Journal event.

"Even in the run up to an agreement, when one does occur, there can be substantial financial market distress, were seeing just the beginnings of it, Yellen said.

The political standoff is edging the country closer to a crisis, roiling financial markets and threatening the global economy. Anxious retirees and social service groups are among those making default contingency plans. Negotiators are heading to the White House to resume talks at noon.

Cheered on by a hard-charging conservative House majority that hoisted him to power, McCarthy, R-Calif., was not swayed by a White House counter-offer to freeze spending instead. A freeze is not going to work, McCarthy said.

I dont understand where Democrats think they cant find $1 to cut, McCarthy said Wednesday morning.

We have to spend less than we spent last year. That is the starting point.

The longstanding Washington debate over the size and scope of the federal government now has just days to be resolved. Failure to raise the nation's debt ceiling, now at $31 trillion, would risk a potentially chaotic federal default, almost certain to inflict economic turmoil at home and abroad.

Dragging into a third week, the negotiations over raising the nation's debt limit were never supposed to arrive at this point.

The White House insisted early on it was unwilling to barter over the need to pay the nations bills, demanding that Congress simply lift the ceiling as it has done many times before with no strings attached.

But the newly elected speaker visited Biden at the Oval Office in February, urging the president to come to the negotiating table on a budget package that would reduce spending and the nations ballooning deficits in exchange for the vote to allow future debt.

I told the president Feb. 1," McCarthy recounted. "I said, Mr. President, youre not going to raise taxes. You've got to spend less money than was spent this year.

Negotiations are focused on finding agreement on a 2024 budget year limit. Republicans have set aside their demand to roll back spending to 2022 levels, but say that next years government spending must be less than it is now. But the White House instead offered to freeze spending at current 2023 numbers.

By sparing defense and some veterans accounts from reductions, the Republicans would shift the bulk of spending reductions to other federal programs, an approach that breaks a tradition in Congress of budget cap parity.

Agreement on that topline spending level is vital. It would enable McCarthy to deliver spending restraints 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.

But what, if anything, Democrats would get if they agreed to deeper spending cuts than Biden's team has proposed is uncertain.

The White House has continued to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president at their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes is off the table.

The negotiators are now also debating the duration of a 1% cap on annual spending growth going forward, with Republicans dropping their demand for a 10-year cap to six years, but the White House offering only one year, for 2025.

Typically, the debt ceiling has been lifted for the duration of a budget deal, and in this negotiation the White House is angling for a two-year agreement that would push past the presidential elections.

Past debt ceiling talks have produced budget agreements in which both parties have won some concessions in a give and take.

Republicans, however, are pushing additional priorities as the negotiators focus on the $100 billion-plus difference between the 2022 and 2023 spending plans as a place to cut.

They want to beef up work requirements for government aid to recipients of food stamps, cash assistance and the Medicaid health care program that the Biden administration says would impact millions of people who depend on assistance.

All sides have been eyeing the potential for the package to include a framework to ease federal regulations and speed energy project developments. They are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially been lifted.

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.

McCarthy promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the weekend  just days before the potential deadline. The Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden's desk to be signed.

McCarthy faces a hard-right flank in his own party that is likely to reject any deal, and that has led some Democrats to encourage Biden to resist any compromise with the Republicans and simply invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own, an unprecedented action the president has resisted for now.
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GREENSBORO  Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont hosted an annual meeting in late April where volunteer Tyffany Fugitt of Eden received the national Appreciation Award.

The Appreciation Award recognizes a registered Girl Scout adult who has delivered outstanding service to at least one geographic area or program delivery audience.

Fugitt has served as a Girl Scout volunteer in the Rockingham/Caswell area for two years. As the Service Unit Specialist, Fugitt makes sure that both girls and adults are engaged in the Girl Scout program. Scout leaders said her ability to get girls involved in the planning of events and programs makes her area girl-led and welcoming for other members to join the organization.

Our volunteers play a critical part in delivering our mission to the girls throughout our council area, said CEO of GSCP2P, Jennifer Wilcox. With their dedication and leadership, they are helping us teach girls lifelong skills, building their confidence to try new things and instilling in them a desire to serve others and their communities. And the same can be said of the volunteers- they also grow so much by being a part of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience.

To learn more about GSCP2P, you can visit www.girlscoutsp2p.org. Questions about volunteering or Girl Scouting in your local area can be directed to info@girlscoutsp2p.org or 800-672-2148.
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CHICAGO  Mark Guarino is a child of Oak Park, Illinois, and has been a writer since high school, his work appearing in a vast and varied number of publications, on stages of theaters in plays he created and now, finally, between covers in a spectacular book dedicated to the musicians of Chicago.

He loves the sounds of this city and has spent the last decade researching, interviewing and writing about the people who make music, promote music, own places where music is played, and those who sit and listen.

The book is titled Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival (University of Chicago Press). The handsome jacket illustration is by Jon Langford and the snappy foreword by Robbie Fulks, both of them from other places (Wales and Pennsylvania, respectively) but both popular and influential on the local music scene that Guarino so artfully captures.

These two are part of a huge and colorful gang that populates the book, which traces 100 years of country, western and folk music here.

There have been other books that tackled parts of this compelling story. Here is the first complete tale and it is far more than a tour through your record collection. It is also the story of this city in all its complexities and inequities, informing us why Chicago played such an important role in the early development of country and folk music (and) later served as a place where the music entered new sonic realms.

We were, as Guarino puts it in print, an unusual hothouse for creativity, and he explains the reasons why and where, which was mostly in small taverns and clubs.

Having personally and professionally been a small part of this scene, many of the people and places are familiar to me and so I can tell you with a bit of authority that Guarino knows the territory in all its forgotten heroes and nuances.

At 53 years old, Guarino is too young to have witnessed firsthand much of what he writes about, but he hears and appreciates the echoes and has been able to find the threads that connect through the decades.

The stories excite and he puts the reader into the action, then and now.

He was not, for instance, alive when a young man, on his way to New York and a new life as Bob Dylan, showed up on the University of Chicago campus carrying a guitar, harmonica and his given name, Robert Zimmerman.

There he met Elvin Bishop, later an original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who describes him, during an interview with Guarino as, Little chipmunk-faced guy with a flat hat and peacoat on. I said, Oh, this poor bastard seems like a nice guy but hes never going to make it. Listen to that voice. His harmonica playing was useless too.

To bring to life the past Guarino interviewed  in living rooms, nursing homes, everywhere I could find them, he says  hundreds of people who shaped and shared our musical scene. He mines the past and finds gems.

He chooses, wisely, to begin his book with these words from Win Stracke: Chicago has no entrenched cultural tradition like New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Los Angeles. An idea can grow here without being required to conform  Oh, Im not suggesting that we dont have entrenched cultural organizations here, but by and large a great section of Chicagoans are able to view a new cultural movement without prejudice and with a healthy curiosity.

Never heard of Win Stracke?

Guarino brings him vividly to life, this troubadour to whom music was a pursuit that had dignity, who was hounded by the FBI and believed that musicians were necessary to remind people where they came from and who they could become. He founded the Old Town School of Folk Music, which taught and inspired generations of music makers.

To meet Stracke is worth the price of the book but there is so much more. This city nurtured Bonnie Koloc, John Prine, Fred and Ed Holstein, Mike Bloomfield, Michael Smith  So many more. They found their voices in the taverns and small clubs that persisted, sometimes struggling to survive. Especially true of the country performers and venues, dubbed hillbilly by the press and politicians, and marginalized and even demonized.

As Guarino writes, this book is about Chicagos defining role in these kinds of improbable exchanges among artists who freely reinvented country and folk traditions, and their empowerment by a series of gatekeepers, some of them radical idealists and others hard-knuckled hustlers.

There is John Lair, the brains behind the WLS Barn Dance program, which from the 1920s through World War II was the nations commercial heart of country music, and made him millions. There is Al Grossman, a tough West Sider now best known, if known at all, as Dylans manager. Read the reason why Guarino rightly labels him folk musics most notorious impresario, and about his Gate of Horn, the first folk nightclub, with his performers dressed in suits and ties and his audiences drawn for the suburbs.

More pleasant encounters come when you meet Earl Pionke, who made a mecca of his Earl of Old Town and become the father figure to a generation of folk talents. And there is the unforgettable Richard Harding, whose most famous club was the Quiet Knight and who, over 20 years at various places, gave such performers as Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen their first Chicago stages, but also doted on local talent. The city eventually shut him down and the last time I saw him, before his death in 2012 of cancer, he was driving a cab.

The book overflows with such characters and wonderful if sometimes sorrowful stories. Many of the people here are fascinating, some are flawed, some fragile. Heres a fun story: The already quite famous Paul Simon called the grand talent Bonnie Koloc and asked if she might show him around the citys folk club scene. She did and later invited him to hear her perform at her home base, the Earl. Simon showed up, Guarino writes, but Gus Johns, the doorman, turned him away because the room was beyond packed and Simon was just another fan.

There is not a page in the book where one cannot sense Guarinos enthusiasm and passion. But this is not a polemic. Its too wildly entertaining for that. As Guarino writes The idea of Chicago as an incubator for creative movements might sound preposterous, considering its tough character and harsh climate, but thats what it was because the artists who took root there knew how to survive with what they had.

The book will thrill any music fan but it is something more than that. It gives readers a greater appreciation of the heart and resilience and creativity of this city and its ability to sustain and nurture those talented to persevere. If you can make it here ...

He is especially passionate about the current scene, which he sees as a direct reflection of past booms. The performers are here. The stages are here. Its a good time to be alive and listening and reading.

The beat goes on.
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GREENSBORO  Just two years after winning $5,000 in a General Mills recipe contest, a local baker has won $20,000 more from the company.

Venee Pawlowski of Black Magnolia Southern Patisserie in Greensboro won the $20,000 grand prize in The Biskies Contest from General Mills.

The Biskies Contest was open to chefs, owners and employees of commercial restaurants, challenging them to create a biscuit-based entree, side or dessert using Pillsburys new Southern Style Unbaked Biscuits and two or more additional ingredients. In addition to the $20,000 prize, the contest awarded $5,000 each to three runner-ups.

Pawlowski won with her upside-down apple praline biscuit, described by General Mills as a fluffy buttermilk biscuit layered with brown sugar-roasted apples, served with bourbon buttermilk sweet biscuit ice cream and topped with bourbon caramel, pecan pralines and salted toffee.

Judges called Pawlowskis recipe an innovative twist on a simple classic, adding that the biscuit shines as the star of the dish, blending perfectly with unexpected flavors.

They also said that the addition of ice cream takes this dessert to a whole new level."

Pawlowski previously won a $5,000 prize for her bourbon banoffee pecan cinnamon rolls.

Pawlowski said in a telephone interview that she was very surprised to win again  especially because she almost didnt enter. I actually entered the very last day. One of the PR reps (for General Mills) who I had met before was in town for her daughters swim meet, and she came by and said I should enter.

She said she thinks her biscuit was a hit with judges because it is a twist on the nostalgic comfort food of apple pie and ice cream. Tarte tatin (a French apple tart) is one of my favorite desserts and this is essentially a play on tarte tatin  and everyone loves the apple pie and ice cream experience, she said. And then I add toffee and bourbon  my go-tos for a yummy dessert.

Pawlowski is one of many bakers in the area who were prompted by the pandemic to pursue the dream of starting their own business. Back in 2020, Pawlowski had been working at Greensboro Country Club when the pandemic shutdown led to an extension of her maternity leave. She then starting selling baked goods at Green Bean coffee shop and directly to customers through her Facebook page.

Two years ago, she was baking in her home. But since then she has opened a retail location in Revolution Mill. Black Magnolia baked goods are also sold at such locations as Common Grounds coffee shops, Cille & Scoe, Dannys Restaurant and Sleepy Headz Coffee.

Pawlowski said that the contest win comes just as she is planning to go on maternity leave. Im due any day now, she said.

Looking down the road, she said the contest earnings will help Black Magnolia with some expansion plans.

Weve started expanding into breads. And right now were just a pickup corner, but wed like to be more of a sit-down business. We would like to be a full-service coffee bar.
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It all happens so frequently that we forget which tragedy were now mourning.

 Ken Sehested

Pete Hamill, called the quintessential New York journalist by The New York Times, was there, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at 11:58 p.m. on June 5, 1968, when his friend Robert Kennedy was murdered.

He saw it happen: A pimply messenger arrived from the secret filthy heart of America. He was curly haired, wearing a pale blue sweatshirt and blue jeans, and he was planted with his right foot forward and his right arm straight out and he was firing a gun.

Later, Hamill expressed his rage in an article, Two Minutes to Midnight. It was more than rage. It was despair. It was giving up on America.

The unspoken thought was loudest, he wrote, the countrys gone. Medgar Evers was dead, Malcolm X was dead, Martin Luther King was dead, Jack Kennedy was dead, and now Robert Kennedy was dying. The hell with it.

I remember those dark days, days that caused many to lose faith in their country. But I wasnt where Pete Hamill was.

I am, truth be known, a closet optimist where America is concerned. I hide it well, I suppose, sometimes even from myself. Deep down, where you dont have to justify what you believe, I have always believed that, no matter how far off course we strayed, our better angels would step up and lead us to do the right thing.

I am no longer convinced of that.

The sheer volume of steadily accumulating tragedy is overwhelming.

I wanted to quote Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), but mass shootings began to run together. Was he referring to the shooting at the school? No, that was in Nashville. Maybe it was the shooting in Texas? Which shooting in Texas? It must have been the one at the medical facility in Atlanta. Of course, hes from Georgia.

What Warnock said, in the quote I was looking for, was that we are all victims, even those of us who have not lost a friend or family member to violence.

Gun violence  whether in mass shootings, spur-of-the-moment shootings, gang-related shootings, shootings related to other crimes, or shootings that seem to have no rationale whatsoever  is on our minds.

We think about it. We talk about it with each other.

At breakfast one of the guys in our Thursday morning group asked another  both are gun owners  What are we going to do about guns?

The answer? The same answer every honest person gives: I dont know.

Even if the manufacture and sale of firearms were prohibited by law, there would still be 400 million guns out there.

We are becoming a heavily armed nation so fearful and angry and hair-trigger anxious that gun murders are now just the way in which we work out our frustrations, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) in a speech on the floor of the Senate. This is a dystopia, and Im here to tell you that its a dystopia that weve chosen for ourselves.

There is at least one firearm in 45% of American households.

Someone in 18% of American households bought a gun during the pandemic, when many people felt isolated, lonely and afraid.

Afraid of whom? Other Americans. We are arming ourselves against each other in an undeclared war that takes 20,000 lives each year.

In an oft-cited Fox News poll, more than 80% of respondents said they are in favor of red-flag laws, background checks and mental health checks on prospective gun buyers, and raising to 21 the age at which one can buy a gun.

Seventy-seven percent said there should be a 30-day waiting period for all gun purchases. Sixty-one percent would like to see a ban on assault-style weapons.

That is what the good citizens of the land say they want but see no sign of getting from their government. Left to themselves, they believe they have no recourse but to buy more guns.

Therein lies a source of the darkness  the feeling of utter futility, betrayal, fear and rising anger  that is descending on America.

Pete Hamill drove home in the early morning hours of June 6, 1968, his friend Robert Kennedy now dead, and drank himself to sleep.

I didnt have any tears left for America, he wrote, but I suppose not many other Americans did, either.

Im not there. Im not in that dark place.

But sometimes I think I can see it from here.
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As if we didnt know before, we do now.

The Republican-controlled legislature in North Carolina isnt simply ambivalent toward public schools in North Carolina. Its downright contemptuous of them.

How else to explain that, even as the General Assembly continues to nickel and dime public schools, it intends to expand, by leaps and bounds, the amount of taxpayer money that would go to private schools?

Identical bills in both chambers of the legislature would more than double the amount of taxpayer money that pays for vouchers for students who attend K-12 private schools in the state.

To add insult to audacity, GOP lawmakers also plan, effective in the 2024-25 school year, to make the vouchers available to students of any income level, meaning wealthy students also would be eligible for the awards, called Opportunity Scholarships.

Let that marinate for a moment.

Theoretically a millionaire could receive assistance for private school tuition  from the taxes you pay.

Already the income threshold for eligibility for vouchers had been creeping upward over the years. Currently, a four-person family that makes $89,841.50 annually qualifies at the top of the scale.

Under the new legislation, anyone would. The awards would range in value from more than $7,000 annually for families with the lowest incomes to $3,000 a year for the wealthiest.

And, yes, the same GOP that fought a judges order to adequately fund the neediest school systems in the state plans to write bigger checks to private schools without knowing or caring about either the irony or the hypocrisy of it all.

And the same GOP that proposes paltry raises to public school teachers ($250 over twoyears for veteran teachers, Gov. Roy Cooper says) sees nothing wrong with siphoning more andmore money away from public schools at the same time.

So, who could blame Cooper, a Democrat, for accusing the General Assembly of legislative malpractice?

In a YouTube video released Monday, the governor declared a state of emergency and accused Republicans of attempting to choke the life out of public education.

Cooper cited Republicans preoccupation with culture wars in the classrooms.

He attacked their plans to further cut taxes for the wealthy. This drops an atomic bomb on education by reducing the state budget by 20%, he said.

And the governor pointed out the thousands of teacher vacancies in the state that wont be filled by offering modest wages.

These ideas spell disaster that requires emergency action, Cooper said.

Spokespersons for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger dismissed Coopers statement as a publicity stunt. The governor certainly didnt lack for extreme language in his remarks.

But, given the circumstances, hes entitled. The numbers dont lie.

During the current school year, $133 million in Opportunity Scholarships went to more than 25,500 students in 540 schools. If the Senate passes the bill as the House already has, the program would swell to more $500 million annually by 2031.

Meanwhile, according to the state Office of Management and Budget, the increase in voucher dollars would decrease public school funding by more than $200 million.

The House bills primary sponsor, incidentally, is Mecklenburg County Rep. Tricia Cotham, a recent Democrat turned Republican whose vote was instrumental in overriding the governors veto of much tighter abortion restrictions in North Carolina.

As for how bad this looks, who cares?

Theres no shame to the GOPs game. With veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the legislature, who needs to be coy? You do what you want.

At least you do until enough constituents  Democrat, Republican and unaffiliated  rise up and a draw a line.

And they just may when they realize that this may sound like a joke but the GOPs serious.

Vouchers for anyone, regardless of income? Thats rich.

And all too real.
" " More than 47,500 Americans died by suicide in 2019, which is about one death every 11 minutes. KatarzynaBialasiewicz

Americans have come, grimly, to grudgingly abide  if not necessarily accept  the idea of suicide. We understand that it's a national problem, a dangerous and growing one. We whisper reverentially about it. We shake our heads. But then, sadly, we simply move on.

To be sure, there are many who spend their lives trying to help those who struggle with suicide. For the rest of us, though, it may be time  it is, in fact, probably well past time  to recognize that suicide in America is both serious and solvable.

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It's time to stop moving on and start speaking up, experts say.

"I think we need to be having a national conversation," Jennifer Payne, the director of Women's Mood Disorders Center and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, said when we spoke to her in 2018.

"Suicide prevention requires a comprehensive approach that addresses risk and protective factors ... at multiple levels including societal, community, relationship and individual levels," Deb Stone, a behavioral scientist in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Violence Prevention and the lead author on a sobering 2018 study on suicide, writes in an email. "There's a role for everyone in the community."
Image source: RSNA

Infants and neonates with suspected congenital heart defects are a technically challenging group of patients for any imaging method, including CT, said Timm Dirrichs, M.D., senior physician and specialist in cardiothoracic radiology in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at RWTH Aachen University Hospital in Aachen, Germany. There is a substantial clinical need to improve cardiac CT of this vulnerable group. Its essential to carefully map the individual cardiac anatomy and possible routes of surgical intervention using the highest possible diagnostic standards.

PCCT is an emerging imaging technique that counts the exact number and measures the energy of incoming x-ray photons. Compared with DSCT technology, PCCT offers higher image resolution and/or reduced radiation doses, which is of particular interest when imaging children. The PCCT technique has already been shown to improve cardiovascular CT imaging in adults. However, data on neonates and small children are lacking.

Our aim was to evaluate the image quality of first-generation photon-counting CT for cardiac imaging in children with suspected cardiac heart defects compared with third-generation dual-source CT (DSCT) and to compare the respective radiation exposure, Dr. Dirrichs said.
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A granite stone marker will be placed Saturday on the unmarked grave of a Civil War veteran who moved to Helena after the war and died years later in an accidental shooting.

The marker for Albert E. Haskell will be installed and he will be honored with a flag-raising at 11 a.m. at the Benton Avenue Cemetery, 1975 N. Benton Ave.

The public may attend.

The marker is partially being paid for by E Clampus Vitus, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of the American West, said Tom Pearson, a member of the group and the secretary/treasurer of the Benton Avenue Cemetery Association. The cost for the stone is $1,750, of which $500 has been donated. An additional $1,250 remains to be raised, organizers said.

Those familiar with the Benton Avenue Cemetery said 50 veterans are buried there. Of those, 25 have government tombstones and 24 have private markers. They said Haskell remains the one veteran without a marker.

Pearson, 81, said he was aware of Haskell's unmarked grave and feared that if he died no one would recall where Haskell was buried. He said E Clampus Vitus, who he referred to as "The Clampers," offered to help.

Haskell, who was 56 upon his death, had no marker. The cement base is ready for a suitable stone to match what would have been supplied if someone had ordered one in 1898.

Haskell, sometimes called Abe, was born to Edward and Sarah Haskell in 1842 in Tioga, New York. He was a farmer, but he enlisted into the Union Army with Company D, 106th New York infantry regiment on June 2, 1862.

Shortly thereafter he was made corporal. He was severely injured and captured at Monocacy, Maryland, July 9, 1864, and confined at Danville, Virginia, according to a news release announcing the event.

He was exchanged on March 25, 1865, and hospitalized in Washington, D.C. His accumulated injuries during the war were listed as: shot six times and run over by a gun carriage. He was promoted to first sergeant on May 25, 1865, and mustered out on June 22 of that year, event organizers said.

It is unknown who came to Montana first, Albert or his parents, or if they came together. By 1870, they all lived at Silver Gulch, and Albert and his father were listed as gulch miners, the news release stated.

Edward and Sarah listed their personal estate at $300, and Albert listed his as $7,000. He was the wealthiest man in the gulch, perhaps from a pension, or he was that good as a miner, event organizers said.

That was a substantial amount of money for that time, Pearson said of Albert Haskell's estate.

On Jan. 11, 1872, Sarah Haskell died at the age of 58. Edward purchased a family plot in Benton Cemetery, which is where Sarah was buried. Sarah has a small unreadable tombstone.

In the 1880 census, Edward and Albert were living together in Belmont.

A woman listed as housekeeper, and a Chinese man, both close in age to Albert, were living in the household. All three are listed as laborers. Edward Haskell is listed as maimed, crippled, disabled or otherwise bedridden. He may have died shortly thereafter, the news release stated.

"Because he had a family plot in Benton, one can assume that he was buried there. There is a marker similar in size to that for Sarah, but it, too, is unreadable," it stated.

On Dec. 9, 1898, Albert was shot in a hunting accident. He died the same day at the age of 56.

Pearson said Haskell was cleaning his cabin after having breakfast and a young man he was going to go hunting with was inside the cabin and cleaning a gun. The gun went off and struck Haskell in the back.

Pearson said there were no descendants, at least none that he could find. Nor has he been able to find a photograph of Haskell, he said.

When asked how he felt about Saturdays scheduled service and the long overdue marker to be placed on Haskells grave, Pearson, who has joined "the clampers," offered a short response.

It pleases me, he said.
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A visitor at Yellowstone National Park pulled a bison calf out of the Lamar River on Saturday, resulting in the decision by park rangers to euthanize the animal.

Park authorities are now seeking information from the public about the incident, which took place Saturday evening in the Lamar Valley.

In the aftermath, the park defended its decision to destroy the calf, which could not be reunited with its herd, rather than take it to an animal sanctuary, saying federal and state laws would have required the calf to be quarantined first. But a calf that is unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine.

"We made the choice not because we are lazy, uncaring or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology," the park wrote in a follow-up statement. "We made the choice we did because national parks preserve the natural processes."

The newborn calf had become separated from its mother as its herd crossed the Lamar River near the confluence with Soda Butte Creek, the park said. As the calf struggled, the man pushed it up from the river and onto the riverbank.

Other visitors later saw the calf walk up to and follow cars and people on the adjacent road, according to the park.

Park rangers tried to reunite the newborn with its herd, but those efforts failed. Interference by people can sometimes cause wildlife to reject offspring, the park said.

Yellowstone staff later killed the calf when it became evident that it had been abandoned by its herd and was creating a hazardous situation by approaching cars and people.

A similar incident occurred in 2016 when a Canadian man loaded a bison calf into his SUV because he thought it was cold. The man was fined and given probation. That incident also occurred in the Lamar Valley after the calf was separated from its herd while trying to swim the runoff-swollen river.

Park rules require people to stay at least 25 yards from all wildlife and at least 100 yards from bears and wolves. People who get too close are sometimes hurt or injured. Even if they aren't, they can face fines.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Yellowstone National Park tip line at 307-344-2132 or YELL_tip@nps.gov.

22 animals to look for in Yellowstone (and your odds of spotting them) Rocky Mountain elk Northwestern gray wolf American bison Grizzly bear Black bear Bighorn sheep Bobcat Canada lynx Coyote Shiras Moose Mountain lion Red fox North American beaver Snowshoe hare White-tailed jackrabbit Jackalope North American porcupine Bald Eagle Golden eagle Great horned owl Trumpeter swan Sandhill Crane
Photo: The Canadian Press Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ AP/J. Scott Applewhite

The highest-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill says he's confident the U.S. won't go into default on its debt.

But Kevin McCarthy also says it won't be his fault if it does.

The double-barrelled message from the speaker of the House of Representatives comes as the ominous countdown to the so-called "X-date" continues.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the U.S. government could run out of money as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling.

Congressional negotiators are meeting again today with their White House counterparts in an effort to resolve the impasse.

Experts say a U.S. default, even for a short time, would have deep and wide-ranging economic repercussions across the continent and around the world.

"I don't think there'll be a default, and I don't see how you would blame Republicans," McCarthy told a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Democrats, he said, have done nothing to prevent the standoff, even since February when McCarthy first indicated he wanted to see spending cuts before raising the debt limit.

"They told us we shouldn't talk. So, I'm sorry: if you want to blame Republicans for solving problems, we'll take that blame."
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A state District Court judge on Tuesday put the brakes on several new abortion restrictions in Montana, including laws to tighten requirements for medically necessary abortions covered by Medicaid, require ultrasounds and ban the most commonly used procedure to terminate pregnancies in the second trimester.

In an oral ruling following a four-hour hearing in Lewis and Clark County District Court, Judge Mike Menahan granted preliminary injunctions against four bills recently signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. All four were passed by GOP lawmakers during the legislative session that ended earlier this month, and subsequently challenged in a pair of lawsuits filed by plaintiffs including Planned Parenthood of Montana, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Blue Mountain Clinic, All Families Healthcare and the American Civil Liberties Union Montana.

Defendants in the two lawsuits included the Department of Public Health and Human Services, department director Charlie Brereton and Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

"I think the purpose of an injunction is to essentially maintain the status quo," Menahan said. "That, above all considerations, is the most important one for me."

Menahan previously granted temporary restraining orders on two of those new laws earlier this month. House Bill 721 sought to ban dilation and evacuation, the only procedure used in Montana to terminate pregnancies after 15 weeks gestational age. It effectively banned abortions in Montana after that stage of pregnancy, despite an existing state Supreme Court ruling that protects a right to an abortion up to viability.

And House Bill 575, which was temporarily blocked three weeks ago, sought to require ultrasounds before all abortions and set the default for viability at 24 weeks gestational age, regardless of the condition of the fetus. On Tuesday, plaintiffs made the case that the ultrasound requirement effectively outlawed telehealth medication abortions, by requiring an in-person visit prior to being prescribed the medication.

"That adds an extra step to the procedure and it obviates the whole benefit of doing direct-to-patient abortion care," said Dr. Steven Ralston, a professor of OBGYN at the University of Maryland who testified remotely as an expert witness for the plaintiffs.

The defense cited witness testimony to make the case that ultrasounds are the accepted medical standard for determining the gestational age of a fetus, and identifying potential complications like an ectopic pregnancy. That refers to a dangerous condition in which the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

Deputy Attorney General Thane Johnson also pointed to the testimony of one of the plaintiffs witnesses, All Families Healthcare owner Helen Weems, who noted that she conducts ultrasounds prior to performing abortions at her clinic in Whitefish.

Dr. George Mulcair-Jones, an expert witness who testified for the state, practiced in Butte for 30 years and specialized in miscarriages and stillbirths. He called ultrasound the gold standard for safely performing those types of procedures, which he stressed are medically similar to abortion.

I think it protects the woman, it allows the best kind of care and to be frank, it protects the abortion provider, if the person does decide to have a termination, to know the gestational age, to know theyre doing an abortion at the appropriate place with the appropriate method, Mulcair-Jones said.

The preliminary injunction puts those laws, along with House Bills 862 and 544, on hold until there is a final ruling on their merits.

HB 862 would block Medicaid from covering abortions except in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is at risk. The plaintiffs argued that doing so amounts to a partial abortion ban for lower-income Montanans. Dr. Samuel Dickman, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of Montana, testified that 45% of the providers patients rely on Medicaid for abortions, and would have difficulty paying the costs out-of-pocket.

He also noted that requiring patients to prove their pregnancy was the product of rape or incest would result in many of them opting against seeking an abortion.

It would put patients and providers in an incredibly difficult position, Dickman said. We know that victims of sexual assault often take months or  even more often  years in order to feel comfortable disclosing to a close friend or family member.

He added, For those who chose to share it, that would be a retraumatizing experience for those survivors.

The state stressed that access wouldnt change under the law; patients would simply need to foot the bill themselves.

If they pay for them, you can provide them, Johnson noted during his cross-examination of Dickman.

Also on hold is House Bill 544, legislation largely identical to an administrative rule from the state health department that required preauthorization for abortions covered by Medicaid and changed the definition of what counts as a medically necessary abortion. It also limited who can perform the procedure to only physicians.

In other states with similar laws in effect, Dickman said, providers are being forced to wait while patients conditions worsen to provide abortion care, and that puts providers in an ethically compromised position.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that a determination of medical necessity should rest with health care providers, and not the state. Weems testified that she takes into account a patients medical history as well as physical, emotional and social well-being. Factors like an abusive partner, depression or previous substance abuse influence that determination, she said.

The state argued that the new laws provisions only require that those providers include documentation to back up their assessments that the procedure should be covered by Medicaid. In her closing, Assistant Attorney General Alwyn Lansing argued the law in part reduces the risk of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services running afoul of federal requirements for Medicaid dollars used to cover abortions.

It would certainly hurt the public were DPHHS to be enjoined from enforcing the rule that protects the very Medicaid funds the plaintiffs patients benefit from, Lansing said.

In a joint statement released after the hearing, the plaintiffs praised Menahan's decision to enjoin the laws.

"While this fight is not yet over, we are relieved that Montanans can still access vital, medically necessary, and potentially life-saving reproductive health care services without being unjustly turned away due to their income and insurance status," the statement read in part. "Pregnant people who rely on Medicaid deserve the same access as every other Montanan to the full spectrum of reproductive health services, including abortion."

Emily Flower, a spokesperson for Attorney General Knudsen, released a statement referring to Menahan's 2011 voting record as a Democratic lawmaker before he was elected to the district court.

It's not surprising that a judge who had a 100% voting record with Planned Parenthood while a Democrat in the Legislature would block the most basic health protections for pregnant women and unborn babies," Flower wrote. "That said, this is a preliminary matter at this point. The complete factual and legal argument will reinforce the constitutionality of these laws.
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DECATUR  Interns working for Archer Daniels Midland Co. this summer will come away with plenty of hands-on experience.

But before they take their place in departments related to their chosen fields, the group of nearly 180 interns are spending the first week getting a better understanding of the international company and the products it makes.

Those products include the protein used for the Feed My Starving Children meal packages distributed to malnourished families in nearly 70 countries. On Wednesday, the interns assisted in packing the meals for the nonprofit organization.

The meals and the protein that goes into it, it comes from ADM factories, said Illinois State University student Morgan Gabriel.

ADM North American Campus Recruiting Team visited some 35 colleges and universities to recruit its team of summer interns.

They come from Canada and all across the U.S., said Lori Racine, ADM campus recruitment manager. They will be working in Decatur and 39 other locations.

The jobs include a variety of careers, such as engineers, commodity traders, transportation logistics, sales, accounting, audit, finance, marketing, information technology and grain origination.

And we have one sustainability intern and we have one edible bean intern, Racine said.

ADM reaches out to large universities as well as specialty schools. But they gravitate to the schools that are near ADM locations, Racine said.

Several of the students are returning interns. Michigan State University student Rylee Harding spent last year working in agriculture operations in Reese, Mich. ADM is so big, but they make it feel so homey and small, she said.

Although she admits she didnt feel comfortable in last year's ADM internship, Harding wanted to try another position with the company. Im just thankful I could come back and try something new in a different avenue, she said. Im trying commodity trading.

James Robinson was offered other internships for the summer; however, it was the ADM interviews that impressed the ISU student. We really hit it off, he said. We had a long, detailed conversation for about 20 minutes. I talked to other employers for about five minutes.

The interns have already had opportunities to work alongside other employees. And they are treating us like family, Robinson said.

Mackenzie Hebert, an Ohio State University senior, had a positive experience during last years internship. She applied again requesting a different location in the company. And Ive already heard from a couple of managers that theres a spot open for me if I want to come back, Hebert said. But Im thankful to try something different and feel my way around.

Accounting intern and Millikin University senior Cameron Stott had several directions he could go with the company, he said. I wanted to try auditing, he said about his second internship. So I was also doing finance and auditing.

The interns receive approximately three weeks of training. But after that it was easy, Stott said.

Youre there to learn, Harding said. They are there to guide you, but they want you to get that real work experience.

University of Illinois student Colin Lewis was encouraged by his schools advisors to apply for the internship. They had a lot of great things to say about ADM, he said. And it was almost a perfect fit.

Lewis has interned at other companies in the past. I wanted to get into the bigger corporation stuff, so Ill be in the Decatur office here, he said.

The companys focus on sustainability and the environment was also a draw for a few of the interns. Its not all about money, said Trine University student Parker Gillespie. Its about succeeding in many different avenues.

Working for a large company was intimidating for Gillespie. Just because I feel like smaller companies tend to have a stronger connection with the people you're working with and a better environment, he said. But even at this large company, youre not just a number. Every group and the company as a whole are focused on each individuals success and career.

They are open to keeping you part of the team, Robinson said. This is my first internship and they definitely set the bar high.

Check out these historical photos of ADM's past in Decatur Tom Dahman Robert Coan Ray Mudd Grain dust Explosion Explosion - another look Frank Copenhaver Extracting Unit Lewis Jones Parker Post Unloading Soybeans Soviet Favorite Talking Shop Taste Test Researchers Plenty of variety Archer Daniels Midland Co. ADM clarifier Archer Daniels Midland Co. Outstanding Young Farmers Archer Daniels Midland Co. expansion Archer Daniels Midland Co.
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DECATUR  It sounds like the real estate bargain of the century: the iconic Powers-Jarvis Mansion in Decatur, which sold for more than $400,000 in 2005, is now listed for a song at just $130,000.

The devil, of course, is in the detail.

The soaring circa 1909, three-story Greek revival-style home, sitting on a 1.3 acre corner lot at 357 W. Decatur St., is currently in foreclosure and for sale.

History of the Heartland, a group of Decatur activists dedicated to historic preservation, said the real estate professional involved told them the current tenant and former owner is refusing to leave.

So whoever buys the property buys it with the interior sight unseen and must make their own arrangements to evict the occupant.

The listing agent is named as Renee Sommer of County Line Realty; she didnt immediately return a call from the Herald & Review. A check of the listing details on Zillow, however, confirms the $130,000 price tag. And it does point out that room sizes in the five-bedroom, five-bath, 7,700-square-feet interior (newspaper records say 9,400 square feet) are estimated and the place is being sold AS IS and occupied.

The house was bought at auction in 2005 for $400,000, plus a 5% buyers premium, to a person the Herald & Review identified as Anthony Garson. A check of legal records shows that a man named as Anthony J. Grason is the subject of a foreclosure action by U.S. Bank NA, as trustee, on behalf of the J.P. Morgan Mortgage Acquisition Trust.

The principal balance due on the note, mortgage and modification agreement is $458,465.83 according to the foreclosure complaint. Amount of modified indebtedness: $467,245.12.

Grason is also listed in legal documents as being locked in a legal battle with the city of Decatur after he filed a temporary restraining order seeking to stop the city from shutting off the mansion's water supply May 5.

Plaintiff Grason contends there exist exceptional and emergency circumstances; such relief would preserve the status quo and avoid unnecessary hardship, said the complaint filed by Grason, who is representing himself in the Macon County Circuit Court proceedings.

The Herald & Review called at the home Tuesday afternoon but received no answer at the weathered front door, which is missing its doorbell and knocker.

Bret Robertson, chairman of the History of the Heartland group, said it appears the mansion has deteriorated and is in rough shape. But he believes it could be brought back to the glittering magnificence of its past under the care of the right owner.

That would be wonderful and that was our hope in drawing attention to it, said Robertson.

It would take a very special buyer, somebody who is going to have to put up with an uncertain process to be in possession of the house to begin with and, even after they buy it, there are great unknowns about the condition of it. So it will take somebody with deep pockets and a tolerance for risk and a passion for this type of Gilded Age mansion.

Thats also the view of Decatur real estate expert Tom Nolan, managing broker with Nolan & Associates, who said the house was a gem and could shine again. I think with the right owner, yes, it could return to its original grandeur very easily, he added.

The house is certainly loaded with history. Built by business magnate Charles Powers, whose family was one of the biggest landowners in Macon County, it was designed to impress with its own ballroom.

Later it was owned by oil tycoon Vernon Jarvis and Hollywood star Nancy Walters, the sister of Jarviss wife, often stayed at the home. She visited there for an extended stay in 1961 after she finished shooting Blue Hawaii with Elvis Presley; its even rumored the King of Rock n Roll once came to visit her there.

Later years were less than kind: the house stood empty and forlorn by the end of the 1960s, was damaged by an arson fire in 1970 and even faced a threat to bulldoze it in the mid-1970s to clear the way for a housing complex for the elderly. The mansion was saved after a chorus of local protests and a planning dispute forced the developers to abandon the project.

The mansions luck got better in 1988 when the Bachrach family, who owned Decatur-based Bachrach Clothing Inc., bought and restored the home and used it as a training center for their business before it was sold at the 2005 auction.

7 of Decatur's most historic homes John H. Culver home Linn House Oglesby Mansion A.E. Staley Residence Eli Ulery house James Millikin Home Powers Mansion
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DECATUR  The Illinois State Police have opened a new forensic laboratory in Decatur that officials say will help reduce Illinois' DNA testing backlog.

The new Illinois State Police Decatur Forensic Science Laboratory is "now officially open for business," State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly announced on Tuesday.

The facility is located along U.S. 51 by the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center. It includes 12,200-square feet of laboratory space and will serve law enforcement agencies statewide.

The Decatur facility is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology and will be staffed with highly trained individuals who are critical to providing DNA analysis for the citizens of Illinois, Kelly said. The new lab will further reduce backlogs and allow us to solve crimes faster and bring justice to all involved.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other Illinois leaders last year touted the lab as evidence of Democrats efforts to tackle rising crime rates and other public safety concerns.

In Feb. 2022, Kelly told the Herald & Review that the State Police lab is "a partnership with the Buffett Foundation."

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation provided the building, Kelly said, while the state provided funding for scientists, equipment and other features.

The lab's focus is high-throughput DNA testing, which comprises about 20% of all State Police forensic cases in the laboratory system, the department said. The lab's forensic scientists will examine crime scene evidence and analyze DNA to identify with suspect profiles.

The lab also utilizes robotics, which will increase the State Police's testing capacity by processing case samples with minimal hands-on work from scientists

The Decatur facility is the seventh forensic State Police laboratory.

According to the State Police, it bringing new jobs to the area. The facility's employee roster includes 12 forensic scientists, five evidence technicians, five administrative staff and five crime scene investigators.

The State Police forensic science laboratory system provides forensic science analytical services to more than 1,200 state, county and local criminal justice agencies.

According to State Police data, it currently takes around 3.6 months for a DNA case to be completed.

Testing backlogs for trace chemistry, drug chemistry, latent prints, firearms, toxicology and footwear have all decreased by approximately 37% since 2021, the organization said.

In June 2022, the State Police announced the number of pending sexual assault forensic assignments older than 180 days reached zero, the first time the state was in compliance with the Illinois Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act since its passing in 2010.

Video inside the Decatur forensic lab can be found on the State Police YouTube channel.
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Did Big Tech just win big at the U.S. Supreme Court? That seems to be the view of most commentators in the wake of the recent unanimous decision in two cases that had the potential to challenge the so-called liability shield that protects internet service providers from liability for content posted by their users.

But Im not so sure Big Tech won much at all. All the justices really did was kick the can down the road a bit. When the issue comes before them again  and it will, probably soon  at least four justices seem willing to weaken or eliminate the liability shield.

The cases in question involved separate lawsuits, one against Google and one against Twitter, for allegedly abetting terrorist acts via content posted on their sites. In both cases, the defendants claimed that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act made them immune from suit. The arguments, which Ive analyzed before, are complex. Suffice it to say that when the cases were argued in February, many observers thought the sky was about to fall. A decision against the these service providers, we were assured, would break the internet.

In their unanimous opinions, the justices never addressed the immunity issue. They only ruled that the Twitter plaintiffs hadnt made a case for abetting, and the Google plaintiffs probably hadnt either.

A Big Tech win for now, sure. But next time, the opposite could be true. For all we know, the next case filed in federal court might find a sympathetic judge who decides that Section 230 does not in fact shield internet service providers from liability when their content causes harm. Not a single word in the courts decisions in the Google and Twitter cases would serve as a restraint.

And when it comes up again, the Section 230 liability shield is probably in trouble. Justice Clarence Thomas, the courts most senior member, is a well-known skeptic of the view that Section 230 renders internet service providers immune from suit. The courts newest member, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, has questioned whether it is consistent with what Congress intended to use the provision to protect internet service providers from suits when they actually promote (as opposed to merely transmit) troubling content. Other justices, particularly Amy Coney Barrett and Samuel Alito, also seemed to disagree with the broad claims of protection made by the internet service providers.

Of course, Congress could act before the issue reaches the Supreme Court again, thus resolving the limits of internet liability once and for all. After all, Big Tech seems to be hated across the political spectrum these days. During the 2020 presidential campaign, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden called for the provision to be repealed. And congressional action, rather than judicial fiat, would seem the ideal way to settle the argument over what the limits of liability should be. Alas, its difficult to imagine that the parties could agree on exactly how to reform it.

One reason, as the legal scholar Jeff Kosseff has pointed out, is that many members of Congress seem not even to understand what Section 230 does  the reason, perhaps, that it is blamed for pretty much anything online that some segment of the public doesnt like. According to an analysis by Brookings, the last time the provision was amended  a 2018 revision intended to shut down sex-trafficking sites  the effect on the targets was small. The unintended consequences on innocent users were substantial.

The members are not alone in their misunderstanding. Even the best of the news media get this one wrong. Kosseff tells the amusing if troubling story of the New York Times having to correct itself on whether it is Section 230 or the First Amendment that protects objectionable speech on social media, and then correct itself again later on whether it is Section 230 or the First Amendment that enables platforms to remove content not meeting their standards. (Hint: In neither case is the right answer the statute.)

None of this is to say that Section 230 is perfect as it stands, or that amendments would necessarily be bad. Thats a question for another day. Nor am I saying that when the issue arises again, the justices ought to limit the scope of the provision. Im suggesting only that its way too early to say that Big Tech has won the fight. Policymaking is a game for long-termers.
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BRISTOL, Tenn.  As part of its Subaru Share the Love Campaign, which took place between November and January, Subaru of America and Wallace Subaru of Bristol presented Crossroads Medical Mission with a $35,027 check.

In her comments during the presentation of the check on Tuesday, Cindy Rockett, executive director of Crossroads Medical Mission, highlighted Wallace Subarus role as a community partner, having donated around $200,000 to them over the years.

Theyre such a good community supporter, and what this money does is it helps Crossroads Medical Mission to provide free health care to uninsured, generally low-income people in our community, Rockett said. This years check is so large that its helping us to hire an additional health care provider, and we are just so very grateful.

In his remarks, T.C. Baker, general manager of Wallace Subaru of Bristol, highlighted seeing Crossroads Medical Missions growth.

Its incredible to see Crossroads grow over the years. I mean, the crew they have out here today seems like every year theres more and more of them. Baker said. Were happy to support them any way we can, and this check is just another way we can help them grow.

Until 2022, the Crossroads Medical Mission, a non-profit established in 2002, provided medical care to communities in need across Southwest Virginia and parts of Northeast Tennessee entirely via the Big Cat II, their mobile medical clinic. Rockett highlighted how moving into a brick-and-mortar location this year while also keeping their mobile clinic active has allowed them to reach out to and serve more individuals, families, and communities across the region.

It really has changed the climate of Crossroads. Weve got more staff now. We have been able to get community health workers, so were able to provide even more services, Rockett said. We just see more and more new patients coming to see us.

As Rockett walked the Herald Courier through the examination rooms inside Big Cat II, she spoke about how the mission is funded via community donations, as well as through Safety Net Healthcare funding from both Tennessee and Virginia.

COVID changed the picture a little bit because there was a lot of COVID money out there thats helped us to pay for stuff thats drying up now, but pre-COVID and now post-COVID, were going back to Safety Net funding from the two states, which is about 20 to 30% of our budget, Rockett said. Other than that, its just generous people from the community and businesses like Wallace Subaru.

Rockett highlighted that the medical services they provide are similar to those offered at a family practice doctors office and emphasized that none of their patients, who tend to be low-income uninsured individuals and families, ever have to pay for their services.

We kind of get people who are falling through the cracks, Rockett said. We do not pass along our costs. So, patients that come to us, theyre uninsured. Theyre not paying to see a doctor or nurse practitioner. Theyre not paying for their labs. A lot of times, if theyre on expensive medications, we can get those through pharmacy assistance programs.

The new offices of Crossroads Medical Mission are at 433 Scott St, Bristol, Virginia.

Big Cat IIs schedule can be found online at the Crossroads Medical Mission website.
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A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a new admissions policy at an elite public high school in Virginia that critics say discriminates against highly qualified Asian Americans.

The 2-1 ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturns a ruling last year from a federal judge who found that the Fairfax County School Board engaged in impermissible "racial balancing" when it overhauled the admissions policy at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

The school frequently is cited among the best in the nation, and parents jockey and prepare for years to get their children admitted. But for decades Black and Hispanic students have been woefully underrepresented, while Asian Americans made up more than 70% of the student body.

In 2020, the school board significantly revamped the admissions process, scrapping a standardized test that had been a linchpin in favor of a system that set aside equal numbers of Thomas Jefferson slots at each of the countys middle schools, among other changes. The process does not take race into account. It does give weight in favor of applicants who are economically disadvantaged or still learning English.

The first freshman class admitted under the new rules saw a significantly different racial makeup. Black students increased from 1% to 7%; Hispanic representation increased from 3% to 11%. Asian American representation decreased from 73% to 54%.

Critics of the new policy say it discriminates against Asian American applicants who would have been granted admission if academic merit were the sole criteria, and that efforts to increase Black and Hispanic representation necessarily come at the expense of Asian Americans.

But Tuesday's majority opinion from Judge Robert King said the school board had a legitimate interest in increasing diversity at the school, and twisting those efforts to call it discrimination against Asian Americans simply runs counter to common sense.

A concurring opinion from Judge Toby Heytens went further. He said the policy is race-neutral on its face, just as courts have required.

Having spent decades telling school officials they must consider race neutral methods for ensuring a diverse student body before turning to race-conscious ones, it would be quite the judicial bait-and-switch to say such race-neutral efforts are also presumptively unconstitutional, he wrote.

Judge Allison Jones Rushing dissented.

The Policy reduced offers of enrollment to Asian students at TJ by 26% while increasing enrollment of every other racial group. This was no accident. The Board intended to alter the racial composition of the school in exactly this way, she wrote.

Rushing said the policy is neutral on its face but the debate that surrounded its implementation reflected a clear desire for racial balancing. She criticized her colleagues for refusing to look past the Policys neutral varnish.

King and Heytens were appointed by Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively. Rushing was appointed by Republican Donald Trump.

Tuesday's ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a pivotal case challenging whether Harvard University and the University of North Carolina should be allowed to take race into account in their admissions policies.

Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of current, former and prospective TJ parents, said it will seek to have the case heard by the Supreme Court.

Discrimination against students based on their race is wrong and violates the Constitutions guarantee of equal protection," said foundation attorney Erin Wilcox.

John Foster, an attorney for the school board, praised the ruling.

The court reached the correct decision, and we firmly believe this admission plan is fair and gives qualified applicants at every middle school a fair chance of a seat at TJ," he said.

The school's admissions policy is also under investigation by Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares.

It is wrong to create an admissions policy using race, national origin, or any other protected class under Virginias Human Rights Act as a factor, spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said.
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HICKORY  Starting Monday, June 5, the Hickory Twirlers Square Dance Club is offering a series of 12 lessons. The first lesson is free, then $44 for the remaining classes, ending Aug. 28.

Participants will meet each Monday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the youth building of St. Lukes United Methodist Church, 52 16th Ave. NW, Hickory.

No partner is needed. All ages are welcome. The Hickory Twirlers have had members ages 7 to 77. Theres no dress code but do wear comfortable shoes. The club also recommends bringing your own water.

Teacher Ron Kapnick has more than 30 years of experience as a caller, and he will have you dancing in no time. Once youve completed the 12 lessons, you will be able to dance with any mainstream square dance group in the United States.

For more information, call Barbara Appling at 703-307-3307 or find the group on Facebook at Hickory Twirlers Square Dancing.
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It is still Fort Bragg.

But only until June 2.

Then North Carolinas mammoth U.S. Army base will become Fort Liberty.

Still, it will always be Fort Bragg in my memories.

My first experience in a racially integrated work situation was in ROTC summer camp at Fort Bragg in 1961. I was the product of a segregated secondary and college education. It was different at Bragg. Not only were there many Black cadets in my company, but the regular Army lieutenant colonel in charge of us was Black. He was a wonderful leader.

I remember the welcome speech he gave on our first day. He gathered his cadets around. We were scared to death, and he told us the story of Fort Bragg, and how it came to be named for a military leader, a general in the Confederate army named Braxton Bragg. I thought many years later that he must have had to bite his tongue because Bragg had fought to keep Blacks in slavery.

Many of the Black cadets were potentially superior future officers. They prepared me, as the Army of the 1950s and 1960s prepared hundreds of thousands of other Southern men, for the changes to come in civilian life in North Carolina.

I arrived at Fort Bragg as a white boy who had never gone to school with Blacks, never eaten in the same restaurant, never drunk at the same water fountain, never rode in the same section of a bus or a train  and put me right beside some of the best people I ever met (not all my same color). I was never the same.

When I left that summer, I dont want to say I was free of racism, but I was a changed person. I rejoiced in the diversity that Army life brought me and the great strength that came from mutual trust and respect. And I knew that the principal beneficiary of the opening of doors of opportunity was me.

If our nation is ever successful in completing its task of erasing racism, intolerance and injustice, the armed forces and particularly the Army and Fort Bragg must be given due credit.

The Army has led the way.

Like many other North Carolinians, I have spent other times at Fort Bragg, including almost two years when I was on active duty, living on Bragg Boulevard.

The most memorable time was on Thanksgiving weekend in 2002 when, as I wrote then, a little after midnight I picked up my son Grier at his Raleigh home, helped carry his heavy gear to my car, waited while he ran upstairs to tell his wife goodbye, get a look at his brand new daughter, and then began our drive to Fort Bragg for the beginning of his long journey to the other side of the world. It was raining as we approached Fayetteville, turned off Business I-95, and then on to Bragg Boulevard, passed the house where I lived as a young Army officer, and then passed by the shopping centers, pawnshops, night spots, mobile home lots, car dealerships and the other strong marks of a military town.

Still under the heaviness of the rain, we came on the base, passing through security where my son returned the salute of the guard, a signal that we would soon arrive at the point of formation, where my son and his traveling companions would gather this early morning to begin their trip to Afghanistan.

I will be happy to call it Fort Liberty from now on, but I will always remember what Fort Bragg has meant for me.
Photo: CFSEU-BC Blue fentanyl found during the November 2020 raids.

Drug trafficking charges have been laid against three people in the Lower Mainland, stemming from three-year-old investigation.

The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit announced Wednesday that 32-year-old Karina Marie Graham, 27-year-old Leo Minh Trung Thach, and 40-year-old Aaron Trung Thanh Nguyen are all facing drug charges, after officers raided homes in Burnaby, Abbotsford and Vancouver back in November 2020.

The investigation began in May 2020, after police received information about alleged drug trafficking by several people in the Lower Mainland.

During the police raids, officers found about four kilograms of fentanyl, smaller amounts of heroin, fentanyl mixed with other drugs, carfentanil, ketamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA, and about $24,000 in cash.

Last week, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada formally laid charges against the three accused.

Graham is facing three charges of trafficking and one charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking, Thach is facing four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, while Nguyen faces one count of trafficking and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

All three have since been released on court-ordered conditions and are scheduled to appear in Vancouver court next month.

The collaborative work by CFSEU-BC and partner agencies is key when combatting criminal activity associated to organized crime, said Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, of the CFSEU-BC.

We remain committed to holding accountable drug traffickers who prey on the most vulnerable citizens in our communities by trafficking in potentially deadly fentanyl and other substances.
Australians using a friend or family members Netflix account will now have to pay for it as part of a worldwide password crackdown by the streaming giant.

Netflix on Wednesday sent an email to subscribers who are currently sharing their account outside of their household informing them that this is no longer allowed.

Users will be given the option to either pay an extra $7.99 per month to allow for an extra member outside of their household, or to transfer these users onto their own membership which they will pay for.

A Netflix account is for use by one household, the email from Netflix said.

If you want to share Netflix with someone outside of your household, you can use these features.

The crackdown has been looming over Australian users for several months, after it was rolled out in New Zealand, Portugal, Canada and Spain in February.

It marks another effort from Netflix to turn around its dropping subscriber count and reach profitability.

It is a big switch from its previously turning a blind eye to the practice of password sharing, and even actively encouraging it.

In 2017, the official Netflix account tweeted that love is sharing a password.

Netflix has previously claimed that there are 100 million households using shared accounts, and that this is impacting the companys ability to invest in great TV and films.

Netflix will be using the IP address of a users home to determine which devices using the same password are in the main household and which are in another location. Those in another location will no longer be able to use the same account without paying extra.

A user can also manually set their main household.

It will still be possible for the main account holder to use Netflix in another combination through a combination of the use of IP address, user details and one-time access codes to validate their identity.

A standard Netflix account holder, who is already paying $16.99 per month will be able to add one extra user for $7.99 per month, while a premium user who is paying $22.99 per month can add two users for the same price each.

The same password sharing crackdown was also launched this week in the US.

It was first announced in April last year after it was revealed that Netflix had seen an overall reduction in its subscribers for the first time in a decade.

Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in the final quarter of 2022.

According to the Consumer Survey on Online Copyright Infringement 2022 report, a quarter of all respondents engaged in some kind of account sharing activity.

The tactic has proved to be effective so far in the countries it has been rolled out in, leading to increased revenue and subscriber numbers.

In a shareholder letter earlier this year, Netflix said that there is a cancel reaction in a market when news of the password crackdown is announced leading to a short-term reduction in users, but this is more than offset by an increase in subscribers as borrowers start to activate their own accounts and existing members add extra member accounts.

In another effort to reverse its fortune, Netflix late last year launched a cheaper $7 monthly subscription tier that includes advertising.
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Have you noticed all the art around? There are sculptures rotating around Concord. Theyre interesting to say the least.

Down in Gibson Village there is a mural on the concrete wall at the top of the hill at the church. At the intersection of Kerr Street and McGill there is the beautiful peacock. It looks so much better if you pull up from Kerr Street looking straight on.

The boards between the two buildings used to be the service times for McGill Baptist Church, which had been at the top of the hill. The Blackwelder family and our friend, the late Dwight Blackwelder, used to maintain it. The beautiful peacock is a wonderful replacement.

On West Avenue in Kannapolis, the city installed some nice pieces.

Down in Mount Pleasant theyve got a second historical mural that just went up on the side of a downtown building. Or how about the Avett Brothers mural in Concord and the kids reading piece in front of the library?

Our parks and public spaces are filled with memorials and remembrances  many come from civic groups. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a great example.

Our community art is a combination of public, private and community efforts. Thank you to those who have made this possible. Lets all keep working together on these projects as our communities grow.

 Mark Plemmons

This week (May 22 28)

Crotchet 101 and 102  Tuesday, May 23, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Come lean the basics of crotchet: how to create a slip know, chain, single crochet, half-double crochet and more. Beginners are welcomed. All supplies provided. Ages 13 and older. Free. Registration required. Meeting Room, Harrisburg Public Library; 201 Sims Parkway. For more information, visit https://cabarrus-cep.bc.sirsidynix.net/event/crochet-101-har/.

Crafters Unite  Friday, May 26, 4-6 p.m. Gather with other adult crafters to work on crafts in a comfortable atmosphere. Ages 13 and older. Free. No Registration. Located in the Meeting Room, Harrisburg Public Library; 201 Sims Parkway. For more information, visit https://cabarrus-cep.bc.sirsidynix.net/event/crafters-unite-har/

Next week (May 29June 4)Art Lab  Wednesday, May 31, 10-11:30 a.m. Join us for Art Lab. Well tour The Galleries current exhibition, then create a special art project designed with the exhibitions uniqueness in mind. Cost: $5 per student; Ages: 6-16; Instructor: Deb Reid, Volunteer & Educator; Adult supervision required; Limited to 15 students per class; Registration is required. Visit https://bit.ly/3azT4Yg to register for the latest Art Lab.

Upcoming!

Orquesta Sabrosalsa  Friday, June 9, 7 p.m.

Family Day  Saturday, June 10, 1-4 p.m. Join us for craft stations perfect for preschool/school age children and their families. Family Days are free and open to the public. English and Spanish speaking volunteers will help with crafts. Cabarrus Arts Council, 65 Union Street South, downtown Concord. www.cabarrusartscouncil.org/arts-education/family-days

Painting with Palette Knife Using Acrylic  Saturday, June 17, 10 a.m.  2:30 p.m. Using a palette knife when painting creates many very interesting textures and marks that together create a unique creation. Learn how to use the many different types of palette knives and how each makes different shapes and textures to create both a landscape and florals. You will get to paint two pieces, which will teach you how to use your palette knives in different ways. Registration Required; $60.00 CAG Members, $70.00 Nonmembers; Materials Are Not Provided; 223 Crowell Drive, NorthWest, Concord; Clearwater Arts Center & Studios. For more information and registration, send an email to triciad226@gmail.com or phone/text 540-845-4519.

Art Walk on Union  Saturday, June 24, 11a.m. to 4 p.m. Art Walk on Union is an all-day arts festival for artists and makers to sell their handmade artwork. The day features live music, food trucks, local brews & wines, plus participation from local galleries, shops and restaurants throughout downtown Concord. Sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company; AWoU Partner: the city of Concord. Cabarrus Arts Council, 65 Union St., S., downtown Concord. More details for the public and for artists interested in having a booth at https://bit.ly/artwalkonunion.

Art Lab  Wednesday, June 28, 10-11:30 a.m. Join us for Art Lab. Well tour The Galleries current exhibition, then create a special art project designed with the exhibitions uniqueness in mind. Cost: $5 per student; Ages: 6-16; Instructor: Deb Reid, Volunteer & Educator; Adult supervision required; Limited to 15 students per class; Registration is required. Visit https://bit.ly/3azT4Yg to register for the latest Art Lab.

Ongoing

After School and Adult Art Classes in drawing, painting, pottery, and sculpture. After school classes from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and adult classes from 6-8 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday one day per week for 6 weeks. For more information, call 704-786-8570.

North Carolina Music Hall of Fame The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame Museum is a safe, fun and touch-free visit for your friends & family. The museum is open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon and 1-4 p.m., closed noon 1 p.m. for lunch. Reserve your visit at Make A Reservation  North Carolina Music Hall Of Fame; 600 Dale Earnhardt Blvd.Kannapolis.

Open Art Day  Every Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Bring your lunch and drink, bring a project you are working on and your supplies. Or bring work youd like to share and discuss. This is a working, weekly meeting, each Tuesday, to work with and share with artists and like-minded people who appreciate creativity. ClearWater Arts Center & Studios (223 Crowell Drive NW, Concord)  enter through the double glass doors facing Kerr Street, called the Greenway Gallery). For more information: About Us (cabarrusartguild.org).
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CHARLOTTE  alpitronic Americas LLC, a manufacturer of high-power electric vehicle charging stations, will create 300 new jobs in Mecklenburg County, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The company will invest more than $18.3 million to locate its United States headquarters operation and service center in Charlotte.

Were grateful that alpitronic has decided to make their U.S. home right here in North Carolina, Governor Cooper said. Our state is developing a burgeoning e-mobility supply chain with the support of yet another clean energy company. Our favorable business climate, reliable transportation network, and skilled talent help global companies fuel their growth.

Founded in Bolzano, Italy in 2009, alpitronic is the developer and producer of the hypercharger, a high-power DC charging station, which recharges vehicles with up to 400kW. As a market leader in Europe, the company develops and manufactures proprietary hardware and creates its own software. In addition to its administrative operations, the alpitronic Americas headquarters will operate a technology, test, and repair center to service its EV charging stations within its 70,000-square-foot space.

Were excited to start our operations for the U.S. in Charlotte shortly, said Philipp Senoner, CEO of alpitronic srl. Our decision to come to North Carolina, a state which is developing towards an e-mobility cluster, was consciously made based on the economic conditions. Within the next years we expect strong growth of our business based on our reliable high-performance charging solution, which is contributing to the transition towards e-mobility for passenger vehicles and trucks.

Were experiencing incredible momentum in our journey toward a clean energy economy, said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. North Carolina ranks second in the southeastern United States for STEM graduates and has a leading research ecosystem that will continue to attract sustainability pioneers such as alpitronic to North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce led the states efforts to support alpitronics location to North Carolina.

Salaries and payroll

Although salaries for the new positions will vary, the average annual salary for the new positions is $90,158. The average wage for Mecklenburg County average wage of $80,349. The project could create a potential annual payroll impact of more than $27 million per year for the region.

alptronicss project will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the states Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project is estimated to grow the states economy by $832 million. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $2,327,250 spread over 12 years. State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grants reimbursement payments to a given company.

Because alpitronic chose a site in Mecklenburg County, classified by the states economic tier system as Tier 3, the companys JDIG agreement also calls for moving $775,750 into the states Industrial Development Fund  Utility Account. The Utility Account helps rural communities across the state finance necessary infrastructure upgrades to attract future business.

This another outstanding win for Mecklenburg County and the state, said N.C. Senator DeAndrea Salvador. Our region is a leading center for diverse, tech talent and can undoubtedly offer alpitronic the world-class workforce they need to execute their growth strategy.

Were delighted to welcome alpitronic to our community, said N.C. Representative Mary Belk. Innovative companies locate their headquarters in Charlotte because they recognize the people of our region have the talent and drive to help businesses get a great return on their investment.

The recruiters

In addition to the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, other key partners in the project include the North Carolina General Assembly, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina Community College System, Central Piedmont Community College, Mecklenburg County, City of Charlotte and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.
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CONCORD  Mission accomplished. For the sixth consecutive year, ahead of the Coca-Cola 600 each Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedways Mission 600 set out to honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces by pairing Coca-Cola Racing Family and other drivers alongside units from different branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

This year defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Denny Hamlin and fellow Coca-Cola Family Racing drivers Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon and Joey Logano, along with Aric Almirola, visited military to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve. This years campaign included a mix of in-person and virtual visits spanning from the Middle East and Arlington National Cemetery to bases in North Carolina and Virginia.

The Coca-Cola 600, being on the eve of Memorial Day, its a nice reminder to be able to bring the stars of our sport out so they can actually see what the military does each and every day  that sense of team, that sense of service, that sense of duty  the same characteristics that make for a successful race team, said Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter. When we bring these drivers out for Mission 600, its really cool to see them kind of rethink things. They see the military there during pre-race, but to be able to interact with them outside of the race weekend and see how they work to protect our freedoms, its a unique connection point for our sport to the military.

Austin Dillon, Paul Swan visited Fort Bragg (April 19)

Dillon and Swan, alongside Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter, spent the day learning about the equipment and training that members of the 82nd Airborne receive. The trio toured Fort Bragg in a UH-60 Black Hawk and fired an M119A2 Howitzer, rode in Infantry Squad Vehicles, dined with service members in the Warrior Restaurant, took part in an Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) and participated in live-fire exercises.

Daniel Suarez visited virtually Area Support Group  Jordan (April 27) During the hour-long virtual visit, members of ASG-J shared with Suarez, Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter and Performance Racing Network President Doug Rice insights into their mission to provide logistics, communications needs, force protection and host nation coordination throughout the region. Over the course of the conversation, Suarez and the unit found common ground on topics ranging from the importance of teamwork to persevering through adversity.

Denny Hamlin visit Arlington National Cemetery (May 3)

Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing President Dave Alpern joined Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith, executives from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and Coca-Cola Consolidated, as well as Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, continuing an annual tradition for the defending Coca-Cola 600 race winner to kick off Military Appreciation Month each May in Arlington, Va. The group also toured the cemeterys artifacts room, visited with members of the Old Guard and toured the Pentagon.

Joey Logano visits Naval Station Norfolk (May 10)

Logano, alongside Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter and NASCAR Salutes ambassador Jesse Iwuji, toured the expansive USS Nitze destroyer, met with commanding officers and the crew, toured the ships bridge and aft missle deck, and served chow to sailors. Following the tour, Logano participated in a ship handling trainer simulation, which gave the veteran driver an in-depth education in maneuvering a warship at sea.

Aric Almirola visited Camp Lejeune (May 16)

Almirola, along with Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter, met with Marines from the 2D LAR (Light Armor Reconnaissance) Battalion, flew in an MV-22 Osprey, participated in a tire-changing demonstration, learned about a variety of weapons systems, and fired an M242 Bushmaster from an LAV (Light Armored Vehicle). Almirola also served lunch to dozens of Marines, courtesy of Smithfield.
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Kannapolis Memorial Day Ceremony will be May 29th at Veterans Park in Kannapolis starting at noon.

The ceremony will be preceded with a parade. It will include veterans; the A.L. Brown High School Navy JROTC Unit; the Northwest Cabarrus High School Airforce JROTC Unit carrying the 50 state flags of the United States; veterans marching and or riding in a trolley; the Freight-liner Ride of Pride Truck celebrating the 21st anniversary of the Ride of Pride and, an escort by the Patriot Guard.

Want to participate?

Any other units or vehicles wishing to march in the parade should call Jimmy Wilson, chairman of the ceremony, at 704-794-3417.

The parade will form up at the corner of the parking garage and Laureate Way and start at approximately 11:40 a.m. The ceremony in the park will start at noon.

The guest speaker this year is Rear Admiral Miriam L. Lafferty, Assistant Commandant for Reserve [CG-] U.S. Coast Guard.

We will also recognize any Gold Star families present, Wilson said. Were asking everyone to bring their own chairs, small American flags to wave and umbrellas if needed, water will be made available throughout the park.

The former Miss North Carolina Miss Victoria Huggins will be singing. This years ceremony is sponsored by Beaver-Pittman American Legion Post 115.

The Ladies Auxiliary Unit 115 will be distributing poppies and will have baked goods for you to make donations for their effort to help our veterans in our nursing homes and at the VA Hospital in Salisbury.

For more information, call Wilson at 704-794-3417.
Cohesity, a leader in data security and management, announced today at its three-day Cohesity Catalyst virtual conference an expanded partnership with Google Cloud to help organisations unlock the power of generative AI and data. In addition, Cohesity unveiled Cohesity Turing, a unique, comprehensive, and rapidly evolving set of AI technologies that brings the power of AI to data security and management. The expanded partnership with Google Cloud, along with Cohesity Turing, will enable organisations to leverage their entire data estate through a single, secure workflow across on-premises, multicloud, and edge environments.

For years, Cohesity and Google Cloud have provided joint customers with a simple yet robust enterprise-grade solution for the backup and recovery of applications. Building on other recent announcements, Cohesity is continuing to extend its AI-ready data security and management platform -- Cohesity Data Cloud -- to work closely and have deeper integrations with leading cloud services, including Vertex AI, Google Clouds fully managed ML (machine learning) platform designed to help companies to accelerate the deployment of ML and AI models.

The combination of Cohesity's data security and management capabilities and Vertex AI will enable joint customers to gain new insights into the same data theyre already securing and managing on Cohesitys platform. Through this integration, customers could, for instance, quickly search across exabytes of data to gain insights into data patterns, like finding anomalies in their data to detect threats, find answers to very specific questions, or quickly recover data using contextual searches.

Vertex AI is one of the best platforms for building, deploying, managing and scaling ML models - and were excited that Cohesity is joining our growing open ecosystem to help more customers get value from their data via AI, said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. Cohesitys excellent data security and management capabilities, combined with Google Clouds powerful generative AI and analytics capabilities, will help customers get exceptional insights into their backup and archived data.

To apply generative AI transformatively, businesses need to be able to easily get rapid insights from their data utilizing cutting-edge and leading AI/ML models. We are excited to be leading the charge in generative AI in the data security and management industry as we build out next-gen generative AI solutions for our category, said Sanjay Poonen, CEO and president, Cohesity. We also agree with Google that AI must be handled securely and responsibly. With our unique platform, Cohesity not only provides phenomenal search via our built-in indexing capabilities but robust security protocols to help customers maintain control and privacy of their data at every turn.

Creating Unprecedented Efficiency and Insights Via Cohesity Turing

To address the rapidly evolving needs customers have with AI and data, Cohesity is introducing Cohesity Turing, a collection of AI/ML capabilities and technologies that are integrated into its multicloud data platform and solutions. As new AI needs emerge, Cohesity will continue to advance the portfolio of technologies offered and powered by Cohesity Turing while enabling customers to use AI responsibly and securely.

Michael Alp, Managing Director, Cohesity, Australia and New Zealand, said, "Next-level data security capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI) are two of the hottest technologies that organisations are both challenged by today and keen to adopt. To help companies with their AI deployment journey, today Cohesity has announced the introduction of Cohesity Turing - a set of comprehensive AI technologies that bring the power of AI to data security and management capabilities - and that we are expanding our relationship with Google Cloud by integrating Cohesity's Data Cloud Platform with Vertex AI - Google Cloud's fully managed machine learning platform that helps companies deploy ML and AI models."

Through Cohesity Turing, organisations can and will be able to utilize the latest AI capabilities to drive more efficient operations, garner greater insight into security risks, and derive more value from data. A sampling of AI/ML capabilities powered by Cohesity Turing include:

Ransomware anomaly detection: Uses advanced modelling and advanced data entropy detection to see anomalies in data ingested, which can provide early warnings of a hidden threat with data under protection.

Uses advanced modelling and advanced data entropy detection to see anomalies in data ingested, which can provide early warnings of a hidden threat with data under protection. Threat intelligence: Provides highly curated and managed threat feeds used in conjunction with machine learning models trained on millions of samples to detect threats accurately and keep organisations up-to-date automatically.

Provides highly curated and managed threat feeds used in conjunction with machine learning models trained on millions of samples to detect threats accurately and keep organisations up-to-date automatically. Data classification: This helps ensure that organisations can identify their most sensitive data and where that data is located.

This helps ensure that organisations can identify their most sensitive data and where that data is located. Predictive capacity planning: Enables customers to meet current and future business SLAs with machine-driven recommendations, including a what-if simulator and forecasting capacity utilization based on previous capacity utilization.

In addition, in the near future, customers will be able to turn to Cohesity Turing to derive even more insights from their data via the Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) AI model workflows. Cohesity believes RAG technologies can help customers get deeper insights and discovery from data or quickly find content in petabytes of data. Cohesity has multiple patents pending in this area.

Advancing Technology that Was Tailor-Made for AI From Day One

Cohesity Data Cloud - built on a unique distributed file system for the multicloud -was designed for massive scale and to empower customers to easily manage and secure their data across on-premises, cloud, and edge environments. Customers can utilize this same modern platform for AI, deriving benefits from Large Language Models (LLM) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), while also maintaining control of the data. Via this platform, customers will be able to:

Search for data simply and quickly using everyday language: Backup data from Cohesity is indexed and contains the specific metadata that makes utilizing that data in LLM possible. The LLM can draw upon rich Cohesity context to provide more informed, human-readable and actionable responses.

Backup data from Cohesity is indexed and contains the specific metadata that makes utilizing that data in LLM possible. The LLM can draw upon rich Cohesity context to provide more informed, human-readable and actionable responses. Maintain strict security protocols and manage AI responsibly: Through Cohesitys comprehensive, built-in role-based access controls, only the right people have access to data based on privileges specified by the customer. Customers can also control what data can be accessed by these AI models.

"Cohesitys data security and management solutions have long incorporated AI and ML capabilities, and with the introduction of Cohesity Turing, Cohesity is taking a unique approach to the seamless integration of customer data with responsible AI and governance, ultimately helping organisations to build trust around integrating and leveraging AI with their data, said Christophe Bertrand, Practice Director, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). And while there is a lot of hype around AI, Cohesity is introducing a pragmatic approach to bring the power of AI to an expanded number of use cases.

For More Information:

Hear more about AI, security and cloud by attending Cohesity Catalyst, the virtual data security and management summit, May 24-26.

Read more about unlocking the power of your data with Cohesity and AI.

Learn about another recent announcement that showcases how Cohesity is supporting AI in a multicloud world

Read more about how Cohesity is unleashing the power of Retrieval Augmented Generation in Large Language Models in this blog.

Hear Cohesity CEO and President Sanjay Poonens vision for why customers and partners choose Cohesity in this video.

About Cohesity

Cohesity is a leader in data security and management. We make it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data  across the data center, edge, and cloud. Cohesity effectively helps organisations defend against ransomware attacks with comprehensive data security and management capabilities, including immutable backup snapshots, AI-based threat detection, user behaviour monitoring, and rapid recovery at scale. Cohesity solutions can be delivered as a service, self-managed, or provided by a Cohesity-powered partner.
Cohesity, a leader in data security and management, today announced at Catalyst the companys three-day virtual summit, expansion and rapid innovation with the Data Security Alliance.

Cohesity added new members to the alliance, including Netskope, ServiceNow, and Zscaler. The company delivered new integrations with CrowdStrike, and ServiceNow and announced an updated integration with Tenable. The alliance, announced in November 2022, also includes BigID, Cisco, CyberArk, Mandiant, Okta, Palo Alto Networks, Qualys, Securonix, and Splunk.

"To help companies better protect and secure their data, we have now expanded the Cohesity Data Security Alliance with the addition of ServiceNow, Netskope, and Zscaler - who join our twelve other data security solutions vendors and services partners - and three new data security integrations. To support companies establish or maintain cyber resilience, we have announced two new technology integrations with CrowdStrike and ServiceNow, both of which are focused on closed-loop threat detection and attack response, and a re-architectured integration with Tenable that improves the proactive scalability of vulnerability scanning.

Our growing relationships and integrations with the big three cloud providers and many of the best data security companies offer our channel partners extensive opportunities to develop and deepen Cohesity-focused offerings. said Michael Alp, Managing Director, Cohesity, Australia and New Zealand.

The Data Security Alliance offers a unique and comprehensive approach to security. Through this one-of-a-kind alliance, leading cyber security, data security and management, and services vendors partner to seamlessly bridge enterprise IT and security by sharing context and enabling new workflows. This collaboration can help customers detect threats and respond to attacks faster, improve remediation, and advance cyber resilience -- all while utilising their existing security and data management investments.

This type of alliance is in high demand by enterprises globally. In a soon-to-be-released global research study commissioned by Cohesity, with partners BigID and Tenable, 87% of the more than 3,000 IT and security respondents polled believe that in order to help win the war against ransomware, it is important that data security and management and cyber security companies team provide complete and integrated anti-ransomware solutions.*

The following are new Data Security Alliance partners:

Netskope: Cohesity and Netskope will provide enhanced data protection to tackle the challenges of double-extortion ransomware attacks. Cohesitys zero-trust protection of immutable backup data helps ensure data is available for recovery if production data is encrypted. When coupled with instant mass restore, organisations will be able to recover from ransomware attacks in hours versus days.

Netskope's Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE) platform, with its Zero Trust Engine, provides AI-powered visibility and control of sensitive data across the web, SaaS, and private apps. Enterprises can reduce the attack surface by applying zero-trust principles to unmanaged networks and protecting all traffic through real-time data and threat protection. Through this integration, enterprises can thwart data exfiltration by ransomware attacks that can expose customer, employee, and partner data, as well as intellectual property, for extortion purposes.

ServiceNow: ServiceNow Security Operations (SecOps) brings incident data from the Cohesity Data Cloud into a structured response engine that uses intelligent workflows, automation, and a deep connection with IT to prioritise and resolve threats based on the impact they pose to organisations.

Zscaler: Data protection is top of mind for customers. Cohesity integration with Zscaler provides customers with industry-leading Zero Trust security in the world's most deployed cloud data protection solution. Cohesity will classify backup data and share information about sensitive files with Zscaler. Zscaler's data protection platform not only fortifies cloud-based communication channels but also incorporates functionalities such as automated data discovery powered by AI and machine learning (ML), as well as seamless deployment requiring no manual configuration. These capabilities enable precise enforcement of outbound traffic policies, aligning them effectively with customer data protection guidelines. Furthermore, the integrated workflow optimises the allocation of security team resources while actively shaping user behaviour pertaining to the handling of sensitive data.

With the addition of new security partners Netskope, ServiceNow, and Zscaler and our growing portfolio of security integrations, we have one of the most robust data security ecosystems in the industry to help fight the threat of attacks, said Sanjay Poonen, CEO and president, Cohesity. Todays increasingly sophisticated cyber threats cannot be solved by one vendor alone. It takes an integrated network of cyber security, data security and management, and services experts to thwart the persistence of bad actors. Were excited to be fulfilling our vision via new and expanded integrations with our valued partners and look forward to working together to help enterprises win the war against cyber threats.

The following are new or advanced integrations with Data Security Alliance members to increase the speed and efficiency of threat detection:

CrowdStrike: Integration with Cohesity provides closed-loop detection and response for attacks directly within the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. Customers obtain enriched visibility in their CrowdStrike Falcon LogScale dashboard  the platforms modern observability and log management offering  with insights from Cohesity, allowing fast correlation, investigation, and response to incidents in one location.

ServiceNow: ServiceNow Security Operations provides closed-loop detection and response for ransomware attacks via SOAR integration, adding to the existing capability to create workflows through their IT service management (ITSM) solution. This allows teams to rapidly access and address threats based on the potential impact on the business.

Tenable: Cohesity is pleased to launch a new, re-architected integration with Tenable that powers our marketplace app CyberScan. The updated Tenable integration provides improved scalability to meet the demands of growing workloads so that snapshots can be scanned rapidly and support demanding SLA and RTO requirements. The improved scalability also improves vulnerability scanning used proactively as part of cyber resilience best practices.

CrowdStrikes modern, scalable observability and log management solution is an ideal complement to Cohesitys exceptional data management capabilities. Together, we help customers rapidly advance cyber resilience within their organisations, said Daniel Bernard, chief business officer at CrowdStrike. With the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, powerful integrations help defeat the bad guys and offer customers the most comprehensive and advanced approaches to protecting their people, organisations, and data.

We welcome the opportunity to innovate with Cohesity to help our customers strengthen their cyber resilience and contribute to the momentum of Cohesitys Data Security Alliance, said Ray Komar, vice president of technical alliances, Tenable. We're excited to support the newly re-architected integration of marketplace app CyberScan powered by Tenable, which provides greater scalability so large workloads can be scanned more efficiently and rapidly. Proactive, rapid vulnerability scanning is a critical part of cyber resilience best practices.

Improved collaboration between data management and security providers, and tighter integration of their respective services, is critical in meeting the threat of ever more sophisticated cyberattacks such as ransomware, said Johnny Yu, research manager, Storage and Computing, IDC. Cohesity has shown strong momentum in adding key security providers to its alliance and making more integrations available to customers to help defend against cybercrime.

*April 2023 survey conducted by Censuswide of more than 3,000 IT decision-makers and SecOps professionals (split nearly 50/50 between the two groups) from businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and Japan. Full report to be released by July 2023

About Cohesity

Cohesity is a leader in data security and management. We make it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data  across the data centre, edge, and cloud. Cohesity effectively helps organisations defend against ransomware attacks with comprehensive data security and management capabilities, including immutable backup snapshots, AI-based threat detection, user behaviour monitoring, and rapid recovery at scale. Cohesity solutions can be delivered as a service, self-managed, or provided by a Cohesity-powered partner.
GUEST OPINION: Local businesses need to be visible to potential customers in their area to stay competitive. One way to achieve this is by engaging with digital marketing SEO services . SEO involves optimizing a website and its content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can lead to increased website traffic, more leads, and, ultimately, more sales.

For local businesses, SEO is especially important because it allows them to target customers in their specific geographic area. By optimizing for local keywords and including location-specific information on their website, businesses can increase their chances of appearing in local search results. This is crucial for businesses that rely on foot traffic or serve a specific local market.

In addition to improving visibility and targeting local customers, SEO can also help local businesses build credibility and authority online. When a business appears at the top of search results, it sends a message to potential customers that they are a trusted and reputable business in their industry. This can lead to increased brand awareness and loyalty, as well as more referral business.

The Importance of Local SEO

Local SEO is an essential aspect of digital marketing that helps local businesses like electricians reach their target audience in a specific geographic area. It is a strategy that focuses on optimizing a website's content and structure to rank higher in local search results. In this section, we will discuss the importance of local SEO for businesses.

Increased Visibility

Local SEO helps businesses to increase their visibility in local search results. When a user searches for a service in a specific location, such as heating and cooling in Melbourne, search engines display local results first. By optimizing a website for local search, businesses can ensure that their website appears at the top of the search results, increasing their visibility to potential customers.

Improved Local Search Ranking

Local SEO helps businesses to improve their local search ranking. A higher local search ranking means that a business is more likely to appear in the top search results for a specific location. This can lead to increased traffic to a website, which can result in more leads and sales.

How a Good Web Design Compliments SEO

A good web design compliments local SEO by ensuring that a website is user-friendly, optimized for mobile devices, and easy to navigate. A website that is well-designed and optimized for local search can help to improve a business's local search ranking, increasing its visibility to potential customers.

In conclusion, local SEO is essential for businesses that want to reach their target audience in a specific geographic area. By focusing on optimizing a website's content and structure for local search, businesses can increase their visibility, improve their local search ranking, and attract more customers.

Optimizing Your Website for Local SEO

Keyword Research

One of the most important aspects of local SEO is keyword research. This involves identifying the keywords and phrases that potential customers are using to search for businesses like yours in your local area. By targeting these keywords, you can improve your website's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more local traffic to your site.

To conduct keyword research for local SEO, you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush. These tools allow you to identify the search volume and competition level for specific keywords, as well as related keywords that you may want to target.

On-Page Optimization

Once you have identified your target keywords, the next step is to optimize your website's on-page elements for local SEO. This includes optimizing your page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, and content for your target keywords.

In addition, you should ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, as more and more local searches are conducted on mobile devices. This means that your website should be responsive and easy to navigate on smaller screens.

Local Business Listings

Another important aspect of local SEO is local business listings. These are online directories that list local businesses and provide information such as business name, address, phone number, and website URL.

By ensuring that your business is listed on popular local directories such as Yelp, Google Maps, and Yellow Pages, you can improve your website's visibility in local search results and attract more local customers.

Google My Business

One of the most important local business listings is Google My Business. This is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to manage your business information and appear in Google Maps and local search results.

To optimize your Google My Business listing, you should ensure that your business information is accurate and up-to-date, including your business name, address, phone number, and website URL. You should also add photos and videos to your listing, respond to customer reviews, and post updates about your business.

By optimizing your website for local SEO, you can improve your visibility in local search results and attract more local customers to your business.

Measuring Local SEO Success

To determine the effectiveness of local SEO strategies, businesses need to track and measure their progress. Here are some tools and metrics that can help measure local SEO success.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that provides valuable insights into website traffic and user behaviour. By tracking metrics such as organic search traffic, bounce rates, and conversion rates, businesses can measure the impact of their local SEO efforts.

Google My Business Insights

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including search and maps. GMB Insights provides data on how customers find and interact with a business on Google. This includes metrics such as the number of views, clicks, and calls generated from GMB listings.

Rank Tracking Tools

Rank tracking tools allow businesses to monitor their search engine rankings for specific keywords and phrases. By tracking rankings over time, businesses can determine the effectiveness of their local SEO strategies. Some popular rank-tracking tools include Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz.

Overall, measuring local SEO success requires a combination of tools and metrics. By tracking website traffic, user behaviour, and search engine rankings, businesses can evaluate the effectiveness of their local SEO efforts and make data-driven decisions to improve their online visibility.
AI-driven networks provider Juniper Networks has unveiled Juniper Beyond Labs, a new initiative it says is focused on shaping the future of the networking and IT industries with pioneering research, pathfinding projects and experimental technology developments.

Juniper announced that Beyond Labs will leverage innovation centers in Sunnyvale, Bengaluru, India and Westford, Massachusetts - and will collaborate with a community of academic and industry partners with a goal of breaking new ground for sustainable leading edge networking technologies to help meet the future needs of a digital world.

Almost every aspect of the global economy now touches the network in some way, and this will only continue as AI, machine learning and cloud services continue to proliferate alongside an exponential increase in connected users and devices, says Juniper, adding that this has created opportunities, but also infrastructure complexities, security vulnerabilities and environmental challenges that require new ways of deploying and managing network technology to improve the experience of network users and operators. Juniper Beyond Labs will help incubate big ideas and innovative solutions to the worlds toughest technology challenges.

For Juniper customers and partners, such as Eurofiber and Intel, along with the broader academic community like Purdue University, Juniper Beyond Labs will provide an opportunity to influence research directions and pathfinding projects. The resulting contributions could spur proof-of-concept demos and the ability to provide feedback to shape the direction of research.

Participating members, will also have access to Juniper Beyond Labs research and innovation developed. As an example, Juniper will be extending its collaboration with Intel and work on the integration of the Intel FlexRAN Reference Architecture, private 5G networks, Juniper RAN Intelligent Controller and the Juniper Cloud-Native Router on Intel Xeon processors, to enable new capabilities to support 5G transformation.

Juniper Beyond Labs research will focus on a cross section of networking domains, including IT, Data Center, Security, AI/Automation, Network Operations, WAN and 5G/6G along with emerging areas, like Quantum Computing, where research is ongoing. In particular, Juniper Beyond Labs will prioritize sustainability as an integral part of network design principles and related use cases to help network operators meet sustainability targets. For example, the Juniper RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform today offers energy savings features such as traffic steering that allows efficient utilization of network resources to meet capacity demands while avoiding additional capital investments.

While Juniper Beyond Labs is officially launching today, it has already developed the award-winning Juniper RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and the disruptive Juniper Cloud-Native Router (JCNR) which takes full advantage of container economics and operational efficiencies to provide service providers flexibility in deploying 5G, Juniper explained.

Im a researcher at heart, so Im thrilled that Juniper Beyond Labs will give us a newfound ability to research, tinker and experiment more freely with next-generation network technology to solve massive challenges the industry faces. Some of the solutions we develop could become commercially available, but the goal is to push the limits of what we think is possible to meet the needs of an evolving digital world, said Raj Yavatkar, Chief Technology Officer, Juniper Networks.

Industry executive commented on the Juniper Networks launch of Beyond Labs:

Eric Kuisch  Chief Operating Officer, Eurofiber: Quantum computers will eventually challenge encryption techniques, which is why Eurofiber and Juniper Networks have launched a Quantum testbed in the Netherlands. Together with Juniper Beyond Labs we are innovating a new security approach, using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC).

Dan Rodriguez, CVP Network and Edge Solutions Group, INTEL: Working to address industry challenges requires innovation that starts at the community level. Our collaboration with Juniper across network initiatives has helped to accelerate the RAN ecosystem with tangible business outcomes at mobile operators. We look forward to continuing this momentum through our participation in Beyond Labs to advance how the digital world connects.

Will Townsend, VP & Principal Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy: Network automation is key to making as-a-service, private LTE & 5G connectivity offerings a reality for enterprises. Juniper's Beyond Labs efforts could position Juniper for success with automation and other adjacent enterprise services and applications.

Sonia Fahmy, Professor of Computer Science, Purdue University: As a computer science professor at Purdue, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Juniper with my undergraduate and graduate students. Our engagement with Juniper has been both rewarding and inspiring, providing us with valuable insights and knowledge. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue this collaboration through the Juniper Beyond Labs program.
Victorias Yarra Valley Water is encouraging more schools to join the Schools Water Efficiency Program (SWEP), which enables schools to continuously track their water usage using data logger technology.

SWEP provides free data monitors to participating schools, giving teachers and students access to up-to-date information about their own water usage through a fun educational online platform.

Since its launch in 2012, SWEP has successfully registered over 1,376 schools in Victoria, which is more than half of all schools - and schools in Yarra Valley Waters service area, based in Melbournes east, showed the highest water efficiency results, saving over 2 billion litres of water  and more than $8.5 million in total.

It also offers specialist advice and curriculum materials for monitoring and managing water consumption and continuing the water efficiency education of Victorian school children, and Yarra Valley Water says the lesson that every drop counts is an important one. The aim of the program is to instil water saving habits that will last a lifetime.

Mitcham Primary School Principal Erin Norman said the school had benefitted from joining the SWEP program in 2017.

Conservation is the responsibility of our whole school community, and our students embrace this, their sharp eyes have helped us locate several leaky taps and cisterns, initially identified by SWEP reports, but often hard to pinpoint, she said.

The school has saved over 1.5 million litres of water and $6,000 so far.

In addition to promoting sustainability, and raising water conservation awareness in our school, SWEP has also saved us a lot of money on our water bills, Norman said. SWEP has taught our students to lead by example with the need to save water.

Yarra Valley Water General Manager of People, Performance, and Culture Amy Singe said saving water is an important lesson to learn.

Were very proud to part of the School Water Efficiency Program, helping Victorian schools make a difference, she said. But its not just at school where we can make a difference.

There are simple things you can do to help save water when youre at home, like turning off the tap while you are brushing your teeth or taking a shorter shower.

The SWEP program not only teaches kids about sustainability, it also empowers them to actively conserve water in their daily lives. By instilling these values early on, the program aims to cultivate lifelong habits of water efficiency.

"We know by teaching kids about water conservation now, they can build good habits that will last a lifetime, Singe added.

The SWEP program also includes curriculum resources to combine maths, science, and environmental studies for students through real-world examples.

The initiative aligns with the Victorian Governments Target 150 campaign, which encourages Melburnians to reduce their average daily individual water usage from 159 to 150 litres a day.

Schools can monitor and manage their water consumption through the SWEP website, with the website opening in a new window to a tailored curriculum program allowing teachers to use the schools water data when teaching mathematics and science.
Photo: The Canadian Press Hands on a keyboard type in North Vancouver, B.C., on December 19, 2012.The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is warning about evidence that Chinese hackers have been targeting critical infrastructure networks in the U.S. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

State-sponsored hackers from China have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, cybersecurity officials from around the world, including Canada, warned Wednesday in a co-ordinated effort to root out the perpetrators.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security was just one of several international agencies, all of them part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, that took part in amplifying the alert issued by the U.S. National Security Agency.

The discovery of what the NSA described as "indicators of compromise" was first made by Microsoft and attributed to Volt Typhoon, a Chinese state actor that the company said has been active since mid-2021.

Volt Typhoon "typically focuses on espionage and information gathering," the software giant warned in its own threat assessment.

"Microsoft assesses with moderate confidence that this Volt Typhoon campaign is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises."

Rob Joyce, the director of cybersecurity for the NSA, described the style of attack as "living off the land"  using existing network tools and valid credentials to better avoid detection.

"A (People's Republic of China) state-sponsored actor is living off the land, using built-in network tools to evade our defences and leaving no trace behind," Joyce said in a statement.

"That makes it imperative for us to work together to find and remove the actor from our critical networks."

The Microsoft report describes stealth as one of the interloper's key goals in order to maintain access to the target network, which is why it relies on existing administrative tools and "hands-on-keyboard" activity to avoid detection.

"In addition, Volt Typhoon tries to blend into normal network activity by routing traffic through compromised small office and home office network equipment, including routers, firewalls and VPN hardware."

Microsoft said Volt Typhoon has already targeted infrastructure facilities around the U.S., including in Guam, where the U.S. maintains an air force base and naval port, both of which are central elements of its military presence in the Pacific Ocean.

Pentagon officials also believe Guam and its military installations were among the principal targets of the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in February after a week of drifting through North American airspace.

Canadian officials say there have been no reports of any systems inside Canada being targeted.

"The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security joins its international partners in sharing this newly identified threat and accompanying mitigation measures with critical infrastructure sectors," agency head Sami Khoury said in a statement.

"The interconnected nature of our infrastructures and economies highlights the importance of working together with our allies to identify and share real-time threat information."

Other agencies taking part in Wednesday's announcement included the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and cybersecurity agencies in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

"For years, China has conducted operations worldwide to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from critical infrastructure organizations around the globe," said CISA director Jen Easterly.

"(Wednesday's) advisory, put out in conjunction with our U.S. and international partners, reflects how China is using highly sophisticated means to target our nation's critical infrastructure."
McNamara joined AvePoint in August 2022 as Director of Solutions Engineering after a decade at Microsoft-focused professional services consultancy, Antares Solutions, where he previously held the position of General Manager.

AvePoint says that in his new role, McNamara will focus on the development and execution of its ANZ strategy by working with internal teams, channel partners and customers to help them migrate, manage and protect data leveraging the AvePoint Confidence Platform.

AvePoint notes that it runs an advanced platform for SaaS and data management to optimise operations and secure collaboration - and offers the only full suite of SaaS solutions to migrate, manage and protect data in Microsoft 365.

According to AvePoint the need for ANZ organisations to optimise their SaaS operations and secure their collaboration is rising rapidly, and according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), there were 497 notifiable data breaches reported in the second half of 2022, a 26 per cent increase compared to the previous six months.

It's become increasingly clear over the past 12 months that were entering a new era of SaaS management and data protection. Threats are rising, consumers are becoming more aware of data privacy, and brand reputations are on the line like never before. With increasing regulation also comes the high financial risk of not prioritising organisational data, said McNamara.

The importance of our work at AvePoint is not lost on me, and Im humbled to be able to lead the ANZ operations at such a critical juncture in the regions approach to data management. Im looking forward to working closely with our customers and partners to help protect the data of everyday Australians and New Zealanders, whilst ensuring seamless collaboration for organisations.

AvePoint says its strategic focus is the continued acceleration of its channel business in the region through system integrators, value-added resellers, managed service providers and distributors.

In early 2022, AvePoint announced a new partner platform, alongside a new training system and services certification. Today, 400+ partners across ANZ utilise AvePoints multi-tenanted management platform Elements to drive more success with their customers and ensure collaboration resilience.

AvePoint customers in ANZ include the Reserve Bank of Australia, HostPlus, Santos, the University of Auckland, Vision Australia, Cancer Council NSW, and Cardinia Shire Council, among others, AvePoint concludes.
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Major automakers are eliminating AM radio from new vehicles, arguing the antiquated system is unnecessary and is incompatible with electric engines.

But House lawmakers will convene a hearing in early June to discuss the importance of keeping AM radio in cars, committee spokespeople confirmed exclusively to The Technology 202.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.) will hear testimony from public safety experts about why they think AM radio is still essential for vehicles.

The hearing comes as lawmakers in both the House and Senate sound the alarm on AM radio being phased out, a move they say could prevent Americans from receiving public emergency notifications and stifle political discourse.

AM radio was popular through the 1960s and '70s, but once FM radio came on the scene, it was able to provide better audio quality at the cost of transmitting across a shorter distance.

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The debate has made unlikely alliances, as lawmakers argue that AM is a crucial service that can reach Americans in life or death situations when FM or other transmission methods fail.

 A bipartisan, bicameral bill introduced last week would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a rule requiring carmakers to keep AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without a separate payment or fee.

 It also requires automakers selling cars without AM radio before the effective date to disclose that AM is not present.

 The bill, titled the AM for Every Vehicle Act, has endorsement from Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), as well as Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.).

 It also has endorsements from Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington, who call it a "clear public safety imperative."

"AM radio plays an essential role in our communities, especially during public emergencies when other alert systems that rely on the electric grid and cellphone networks may not work. I'm looking forward to the Energy and Commerce Committee holding a hearing on this important matter soon," Pallone said in a statement to The Technology 202.

Republicans have also argued that popular conservative talk shows that rely on AM airwaves could suffer from the phaseout. Eight of the country's 10 most popular radio talk shows are conservative, as our colleague Marc Fisher previously reported.

AM radio has largely been discontinued in electric vehicles made by companies like Tesla, Ford, BMW, Mazda and Volkswagen on the grounds that the motors in those vehicles create electromagnetic frequencies on the same wavelength as AM radio and could lead to interference. Automakers also argue that AM's phaseout trends with the population that grew up with AM: one that is getting smaller and older.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an automaker trade group, has previously said that AM mandates are unnecessary and that the Integrated Public Alerts and Warning System can be transmitted across AM, FM and other types of radio, as well as cellular networks in case of an emergency.

Former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in February wrote to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg arguing that the United States should seek assurances from automobile manufacturers to keep AM in new cars.

"AM radio plays an essential role in our communities, especially during public emergencies, and we look forward to hearing from public safety experts about the importance of ensuring this continues to be a resource for Americans," McMorris Rodgers said in a statement to The Technology 202.
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Would-be spies face many challenges - from mastering the difficult technical or linguistic skills that intelligence agencies seek, to the new life of secrecy that awaits them if they are accepted. But, according to the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service, its potential recruits have more mundane concerns: the lack of remote working and not being able to take their personal cellphone to work.

"We cannot offer certain things that are taken for granted today," Bruno Kahl, president of the Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said in a live-streamed discussion Monday. He called recruitment a "major challenge" for the agency.

Remote working is "barely possible" for the agency's workers for security reasons, he continued, and the idea of not being able to take cellphones to work "is asking a lot from young jobseekers today."

He noted a lack of recruits for certain roles in science and technology, cyber experts and Arabic speakers, and said the BND is using "new methods" to recruit within specific target groups. He also cited a competition for skilled workers from other, better-paying employers.

"Just three years ago, before [the coronavirus], I could always say that we have 10,000 applications every year and can choose the best of them - which also wasn't enough; even then there were deficits," he said.

The BND did not immediately respond to The Washington Post's request for comment Tuesday.

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Kahl's remarks appear to reflect a wider demand for flexibility among younger workers since the pandemic, as other intelligence agencies across the world adapt to new demands of the modern workforce and ramp up their recruitment tactics.

Last year, Britain's three main intelligence agencies - MI5, MI6 and GCHQ - announced an end to the requirement for applicants to have at least one British parent. Now they must only hold British citizenship, and MI6 says on its recruitment website that its "flexible working policy means you can work around personal commitments."

Earlier this year, the CIA said that security issues leave "few chances to work from home or any other unsecured location." But the agency added that it aims to improve flexibility in other ways.

The CIA has also tried novel approaches at home and abroad, from publishing recruitment videos on YouTube to launching a social media campaign in Russian to recruit new spies. GCHQ (which stands for Government Communications Headquarters) regularly releases puzzles for members of the public who want a sense of the challenges involved in its work.

The U.S. federal government has also been seeking new ways to attract talent, including job fairs and more internships, as its workforce ages.

A YouGov poll carried out from August to September 2021 in 14 countries found that 49 percent of workers in Germany would like to work from home at least some of the time in the future. In the United States, the figure was 66 percent.

Working from home also comes with certain protections in Germany: In late 2021, a federal court ruled that the route from an employee's bed to their desk while working at home is considered a commute.
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 The L.A. Times reports that tourists who visit New York and L.A. conclude that New Yorkers are kind but not nice while L.A. residents are nice but not kind. Our laid back stereotype is very real. I dont display any bumper stickers because I dont believe in anything strongly enough to potentially get my car keyed.

 The Wall Street Journal reports Anheuser-Busch is offering to buy back expired Bud Light from stores after consumers boycotted the beer for identifying it with Transgender activism. The resulting boycott has been killing sales. To win back its old customer base, Bud Light is adding mullets to its cans.

 The NAACP warned black people not to travel to Florida, claiming Floridians dont value black lives. Thats silly. The state has the nations highest number of black-owned businesses, and if you get sick drinking screwdrivers, the Florida Orange Growers will be the first to tell you that OJ didnt do it.

 Speaker McCarthy battled President Biden to cut spending in debt ceiling talks on Monday. Its bound to become a 2024 campaign issue. This week every actress over eighty in Hollywood is up on Mulholland Drive being pushed off the cliff in a wheelchair, rehearsing for the commercial audition.

 Hillary said Saturday voters have a right to worry about Bidens age but hopes he can stay sharp and win in 2024. She seemed to be hoping Joe can just live long enough to beat Trump. I just hope for Joes sake there isnt a Stairway to Heaven or he could arrive at St. Peters gate with two broken legs.

 President Biden arrived home safe and sound from the Japan G-7 summit Sunday after his near steep fall while walking down the stairs on camera at a Hiroshima shrine. I admire his tenacity. Joe Biden has done a fearless job for two and a half years trying to prove that gravity is a white supremacist.

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 South Carolina Senator Tim Scott announced hes running for the GOP presidential nomination Monday. He called for a renewal of patriotism and religion and free enterprise and opportunity for all. The next morning, Scott was tried and convicted by the Women of the View for Anti-Soviet Agitation.

 House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer Monday demanded an unclassified FBI document which an FBI whistleblower says will blow the lid off foreign payments to the Biden family. The FBI must have laughed in his face. Criminals are a lot less dangerous than a well organized government.

 Jeffrey Epstein reportedly tried to blackmail Bill Gates over an affair Gates had with a beautiful Russian bridge player. Epstein was also capable of blackmailing all his powerful political guests on his private island full of underage girls. Im starting to think Jeffrey Epstein was hanged by a lynch mob.

 Hunter Biden told an Arkansas judge he cant afford his twenty-thousand-dollars-a-month child support payments. Hunter is renting a house in Malibu across the road from a swanky alcohol and cocaine rehab. It allows the Secret Service agents to keep an eye on Hunter while getting the treatment they need.

 ABC News reported newly discovered ancient tombs in Egypt are five thousand years old dating back to the Old Kingdom Eras. The pharaohs were mummified with their hands crossed over their chest. Thats because the ancient Egyptians believed there would be countless waterslides in the afterlife.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> There is nervousness in the homes of ambitious American high school students awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University. Will the justices upend preferences for certain racial and ethnic groups? Will they ruin the chances of many teenagers getting into a top school, which would bring them lifelong success?

The answer to the second question is no, regardless of how the court rules.

Affirmative action admission policies can help colleges achieve greater diversity on their campuses. But in the course of that public debate, we do college applicants great harm if we give them the false impression they will do better in life if they attend highly selective schools.

Long-standing research shows that except for some low-income students, being admitted to the most selective colleges has no significant effect on whether those young people achieve their dreams for life.

We're all naturally fascinated with pecking orders. We can't resist reading the latest rankings of colleges, restaurants, movie stars, even mouthwashes. Yet we don't seem to notice that many of our bosses at work and leaders in government attended colleges and universities far from the top of the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The best research on the effect of college selectivity is still the 1999 study by Stacy Berg Dale, a researcher at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Alan B. Krueger, a Princeton economist who later became chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Their remarkable report, a National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper titled "Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College," examined 14,239 students at 30 colleges, ranging from the most selective, including Yale and Swarthmore, to less selective places like Denison University and Penn State. The students enrolled in college in 1976 and were surveyed on how much money they were making 20 years later.

Dale and Krueger found that those who attended more selective schools did "not earn more than other students who were accepted and rejected by comparable schools but attended less selective colleges." They concluded that "unobserved characteristics," such as persistence, humor and warmth, might have influenced success in life as measured by salary, but getting into the pickiest schools did not.

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One exception, they said, was low-income students. Those who attended more selective schools on average earned slightly more. Since 1976, the racial mix of college students has changed, with the percentage of white students dropping from 84% to 54% by 2020, as the percentage of all other racial and ethnic groups rose. Whether that shift might alter the conclusions of the Dale-Krueger study is unclear; there's been no comparable study addressing that issue.

A 2018 study by Suqin Ge, Elliott Isaac and Amalia Miller found that women who attended more selective colleges made more money than similar women who attended less selective colleges. But the reason appeared to be that women who attended selective colleges were less likely to marry and put their careers on hold for child rearing.

We can see in our own lives and from academic research that successful people do not come only from ultra-selective schools. In fact, most people I have interviewed about how college helped them succeed point to a specific program, professor or even informal connection made on campus, not to the selectivity of the school itself.

The opportunities provided by American colleges, whatever their selectivity, appear quite obvious to young people from Asia and Africa who enroll here. Steve Becker, a former high school counselor in Pennsylvania, does a wonderful job of explaining how this works on his website, lesshighschoolstress.com.

He ranked colleges just before the pandemic by the number, not the percentage, of first year students with SAT math scores over 700 or ACT math scores over 30. Such people were in the top 5% of test takers. Here are the top 10 U.S. schools on that scale in descending order: University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, Ohio State, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas Austin, Purdue University, University of Washington, UCLA, Rutgers University and Texas A&M. He found Michigan had 5,200 of those top students in its entering class and Texas A&M had 3,300.

"So if you know very bright, hard-working students who feel like they have to settle for' Purdue because they were turned down by Northwestern or Notre Dame," Becker said, "point out to them that they'll have as many top-5% math students in their freshman class at Purdue as the other two universities put together."

Becker also points out a 2012 study by the Chronicle of Higher Education on employers' priorities when choosing applicants just out of college. The study ranked eight factors in deciding whom to hire. Here they are in descending order: nature of college internships, what jobs they had in college, college majors, volunteer experiences, extracurricular activities, relevance of coursework and grade-point averages. College reputation was the very last factor.

Much has been written lately about Americans losing faith in higher education, but there's little evidence of that in the high schools I study, from wealthier suburban campuses to urban charter schools full of ambitious but lower-income students. The word "college" still retains a magic in those places.

We may still obsess over the college rankings and argue over what the Supreme Court does. But there is no question that colleges of every sort improve lives in innumerable ways, no matter what percentage of applicants they let in.

Jay Mathews is a journalist who has written eight books about education, including his college admission guide "Harvard Schmarvard."
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CHICAGO  Mark Guarino is a child of Oak Park, Illinois, and has been a writer since high school, his work appearing in a vast and varied number of publications, on stages of theaters in plays he created and now, finally, between covers in a spectacular book dedicated to the musicians of Chicago.

He loves the sounds of this city and has spent the last decade researching, interviewing and writing about the people who make music, promote music, own places where music is played, and those who sit and listen.

The book is titled Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival (University of Chicago Press). The handsome jacket illustration is by Jon Langford and the snappy foreword by Robbie Fulks, both of them from other places (Wales and Pennsylvania, respectively) but both popular and influential on the local music scene that Guarino so artfully captures.

These two are part of a huge and colorful gang that populates the book, which traces 100 years of country, western and folk music here.

There have been other books that tackled parts of this compelling story. Here is the first complete tale and it is far more than a tour through your record collection. It is also the story of this city in all its complexities and inequities, informing us why Chicago played such an important role in the early development of country and folk music (and) later served as a place where the music entered new sonic realms.

We were, as Guarino puts it in print, an unusual hothouse for creativity, and he explains the reasons why and where, which was mostly in small taverns and clubs.

Having personally and professionally been a small part of this scene, many of the people and places are familiar to me and so I can tell you with a bit of authority that Guarino knows the territory in all its forgotten heroes and nuances.

At 53 years old, Guarino is too young to have witnessed firsthand much of what he writes about, but he hears and appreciates the echoes and has been able to find the threads that connect through the decades.

The stories excite and he puts the reader into the action, then and now.

He was not, for instance, alive when a young man, on his way to New York and a new life as Bob Dylan, showed up on the University of Chicago campus carrying a guitar, harmonica and his given name, Robert Zimmerman.

There he met Elvin Bishop, later an original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who describes him, during an interview with Guarino as, Little chipmunk-faced guy with a flat hat and peacoat on. I said, Oh, this poor bastard seems like a nice guy but hes never going to make it. Listen to that voice. His harmonica playing was useless too.

To bring to life the past Guarino interviewed  in living rooms, nursing homes, everywhere I could find them, he says  hundreds of people who shaped and shared our musical scene. He mines the past and finds gems.

He chooses, wisely, to begin his book with these words from Win Stracke: Chicago has no entrenched cultural tradition like New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Los Angeles. An idea can grow here without being required to conform  Oh, Im not suggesting that we dont have entrenched cultural organizations here, but by and large a great section of Chicagoans are able to view a new cultural movement without prejudice and with a healthy curiosity.

Never heard of Win Stracke?

Guarino brings him vividly to life, this troubadour to whom music was a pursuit that had dignity, who was hounded by the FBI and believed that musicians were necessary to remind people where they came from and who they could become. He founded the Old Town School of Folk Music, which taught and inspired generations of music makers.

To meet Stracke is worth the price of the book but there is so much more. This city nurtured Bonnie Koloc, John Prine, Fred and Ed Holstein, Mike Bloomfield, Michael Smith  So many more. They found their voices in the taverns and small clubs that persisted, sometimes struggling to survive. Especially true of the country performers and venues, dubbed hillbilly by the press and politicians, and marginalized and even demonized.

As Guarino writes, this book is about Chicagos defining role in these kinds of improbable exchanges among artists who freely reinvented country and folk traditions, and their empowerment by a series of gatekeepers, some of them radical idealists and others hard-knuckled hustlers.

There is John Lair, the brains behind the WLS Barn Dance program, which from the 1920s through World War II was the nations commercial heart of country music, and made him millions. There is Al Grossman, a tough West Sider now best known, if known at all, as Dylans manager. Read the reason why Guarino rightly labels him folk musics most notorious impresario, and about his Gate of Horn, the first folk nightclub, with his performers dressed in suits and ties and his audiences drawn for the suburbs.

More pleasant encounters come when you meet Earl Pionke, who made a mecca of his Earl of Old Town and become the father figure to a generation of folk talents. And there is the unforgettable Richard Harding, whose most famous club was the Quiet Knight and who, over 20 years at various places, gave such performers as Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen their first Chicago stages, but also doted on local talent. The city eventually shut him down and the last time I saw him, before his death in 2012 of cancer, he was driving a cab.

The book overflows with such characters and wonderful if sometimes sorrowful stories. Many of the people here are fascinating, some are flawed, some fragile. Heres a fun story: The already quite famous Paul Simon called the grand talent Bonnie Koloc and asked if she might show him around the citys folk club scene. She did and later invited him to hear her perform at her home base, the Earl. Simon showed up, Guarino writes, but Gus Johns, the doorman, turned him away because the room was beyond packed and Simon was just another fan.

There is not a page in the book where one cannot sense Guarinos enthusiasm and passion. But this is not a polemic. Its too wildly entertaining for that. As Guarino writes The idea of Chicago as an incubator for creative movements might sound preposterous, considering its tough character and harsh climate, but thats what it was because the artists who took root there knew how to survive with what they had.

The book will thrill any music fan but it is something more than that. It gives readers a greater appreciation of the heart and resilience and creativity of this city and its ability to sustain and nurture those talented to persevere. If you can make it here ...

He is especially passionate about the current scene, which he sees as a direct reflection of past booms. The performers are here. The stages are here. Its a good time to be alive and listening and reading.
MATTOON  The Journal Gazette has received from Senator J.R. Hamilton and Representative Robert Howard the following telegram: "Charleston and Mattoon road contract will be let immediately and built this year." This is certainly good news to the people of Mattoon and Charleston and the intervening territory and it is to be hoped that there will be no delay in letting the contract and building the road. Probably there is no road in this section of the state, at least none in this county, that will carry more traffic than the Mattoon-Charleston road after it is built. It is generally understood that the plans of the state highway department will call for a road paralleling the Big Four road on the north side of that road, the new road beginning at the Monroe crossing corner east of this city, where the present paved road turns north. The new road will parallel the Big Four to the overhead bridge west of Charleston and will from that point follow the present road into Charleston. If this plan is followed, it will be necessary for Charleston and Mattoon and the owners of land along the route and residents of Loxa to purchase the right of way from the Monroe crossing corner to the Big Four overhead bridge...MATTOON  Blueprints of plans for the erection of the new First Baptist Church at Richmond Ave. and 19th Street were received this morning at the officers of James & Shinn. Members of the congregation, headed by Rev. J.M. Lively, pastor, conducted a campaign to raise funds for the new building. Plans for the church were drawn by Charles Harris, an architect of Urbana. The contract for the erection of the church will be let soon, and work is expected to start June 15. The new church will be modern in every respect and the total cost will come to $45,000, it is estimated. The outside walls will be made of Tuxedo mat face red bright and cornices, pillars and other trimmings will be made up of Bedford stone.
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New York (CNN)  Kraft is fixing one of the biggest complaints about its cheese slices: the packaging.

The companys Kraft Singles are getting a a major makeover, with not only easier to open individual wrapping but also a refreshed logo and new packaging design. Its the products first redesign in five years.

The goal of the revamp is to address the No. 1 complaint from customers, which has been the inability to easily open the clear wrapper, Kraft said in a release. The redesigned flap on each slice adds more texture and makes it easier to find, and its also thicker and sturdier so it can be opened without tearing.

The exterior packaging features a larger, slightly redesigned logo as well as simple and bold typography. Kraft is also putting more emphasis on the cheese not having artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, and its adding a new graphic that says made with real dairy.

The redesigned wrappers and packaging will be used on all of the Kraft Singles product line, and they will roll out through the end of the year.

The moves comes as Kraft Heinz (KHC) has been closely examining its entire portfolio of foods in an effort to increase the companys net sales by $2 billion through 2027.

To do that, the companys is leaning into comfort and convenience over healthy options  even as competitors focus on health. As part of its earlier turnaround efforts, Kraft Heinz has been trying to reinvigorate decades-old brands like Velveeta and Oscar Mayer, and the company recently unveiled a new line of frozen meals.

In particular, Kraft Singles is ripe for a rebrand because sales of processed cheese have been in long term decline for at least a decade, according to Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData Retail, who noted customers have instead been buying fresher and minimally processed alternatives.

Among some, there is a general perception that processed cheese singles are artificial and dont taste all that good. Kraft Singles also dont connect all that well with younger demographics, he told CNN. The rebrand will make the product stand out more on shelf and gives it a more contemporary look.

50 most popular food and snack brands 50 most popular food and snack brands #50. Honey Nut Cheerios #49. Rice Krispies Treats #48. Milky Way #47. Reese's Pieces #46. Tostitos #45. Goldfish #44. Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn #43. French's Mustard #42. Jif #41. Lifesavers #40. Land O'Lakes (butter) #39. Kraft Foods #38. Oreo Cookies #37. Smucker's #36. Fritos #35. Cheerios #34. Ghirardelli #33. Chiquita #32. Nabisco #31. Twix #30. Kellogg's #29. Chips Ahoy! #28. Frito-Lay #27. Campbell's #26. Land O'Lakes #25. Lay's Chips #24. Cheetos #23. Snickers #22. Nestle Toll House #21. Pringles #20. McCormick #19. Ruffles #18. Dove #17. Planters #16. Quaker #15. Reese's #14. Dove (chocolate) #13. Heinz Tomato Ketchup #12. Pillsbury #11. Doritos #10. Hershey's Kisses #9. Heinz #8. Oreo #7. Betty Crocker #6. Kit Kat #5. Ritz #4. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup #3. Lay's #2. Hershey's #1. M&M's
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Q: Are wills and other estate forms available online valid and enforceable if theyre properly completed?  R.H.

Answer: Sometimes buying things off the internet might not be the bargain youre hoping to get.

Mike Wells, a local attorney, said there are potential pitfalls when you use someone other than a lawyer to create such documents.

Everyone wants to save money and some options for the preparation of legal documents at a reduced fee or for free will be provided.

But generally the preparation of critical legal documents without a lawyer at all is just a bad idea, Wells said. There are big differences between forms, and what the facts may require.

You can get help and financial aid, if you qualify, for such critical legal documents as wills and powers of attorney from the lawyers at Legal Aid and lawyers who volunteer for Legal Aid.

Online, Wells said, you generally pay a fee to a company for a plan for legal documents. The company will then get a lawyer to draw up the documents at a lower cost than youd paid going straight to a lawyer.

But the key component is the involvement of a lawyer to make sure critical facts, determinative of what happens when events require, are factored in when defining legal documents are prepared, Wells said.

If your document does not speak to the particular issue at hand, it is not going to be determinative of the solution.

Each case is different, and a lawyer should be used to make sure that the documents reflect the needs of the individual.

Otherwise, you run a big risk of getting something wrong, often when it is too late to do anything about it, Wells said.

Q: A few months ago, I applied for a Winston-Salem/Forsyth County landfill permit through City Link, but I never got the permit. When I called again in late March I reapplied for it, but the permit still hasnt arrived. Can you help?  M.J.

Answer: The staff at City Link looked into what happened with the permit.

After looking into the matter, we found that the landfill permit was sent to the customer on February 8, 2023. Since the permit was not received by the citizen, we will reissue the permit, a City Link spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the permit will be mailed Wednesday, and you should get it within 10 business days.

Q: I saw a car with a North Carolina license plate recently that had an orange sticker with a T on the sticker. Why is that sticker issued?  L.R.

Answer: Its a temporary registration. According to information from the frequently asked question section of the Durham County governmental website the orange license plate sticker with a T is a temporary registration that is given when property taxes on the vehicle arent paid at the time the vehicle is purchased.

The temporary registration gives the buyer 60 days to pay the property taxes to the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. When the taxes are paid, a regular 12-month sticker will be issued for the vehicle.
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An independent streak  a key element of Appalachian Mountain Brewerys founding in 2011  has inspired its co-founders to take the rare step of buying their freedom from a global conglomerate.

Nathan Kelischek and Chris Zieber have bought the ownership stake of the Boone company from Anheuser-Busch for an undisclosed price.

Kelischek and Zieber, cousins from Asheville, became the first craft brewers to ever buy themselves back from Anheuser-Busch, said Hannah Kaminer, a contracted spokeswoman for AMB.

Zieber is head brewer and Kelischek as brewmaster.

The repurchase comes as AMB plans a taproom in Mills River, near Asheville, this summer.

Were grateful to have spent the last two years as active founders within A-Bs craft portfolio and want to thank the people at A-B, including our fellow craft brewery founders, for the support, collaboration and friendship that weve enjoyed during our time together, Kelischek and Zieber said.

We will be shifting our focus immediately on growing our local team, opening our new taproom and continuing our investment in sustainability and philanthropy efforts that make a difference in our North Carolina communities.

This all hinges on producing the highest quality products and delivering a unique experience for our customers.

Kaminer said with just a smidge of hyperbole that this story is causing shock waves across the craft brewing industry.

For example, VinePair.com said in a posting that its surprising to see a small brewery purchase its brand back from a beer giant  especially in todays craft beer market.

Acquisitions of craft brands have slowed in the past five years, as large corps find less success in sales.

Kelischek and Zieber didnt divulge their reasoning for purchasing the brand back from A-B, but its a strategy that stands out among a sea of corporation-held craft beer portfolios.

AMB has been known for its Long Leaf IPA, Boone Creek Blonde, Mystic Dragon Cider, Spoaty Oaty Pale Ale and Porter brands. Its also known for its charitable and community initiatives.

For example, AMB has teamed up with several local farms to donate spent grain for the cattle feed.

This helps us to divert grain from ending up at landfills, and helps local farmers make ends meet saving up to 50-plus tons of feed per year.

Earlier in May, AMB brought home two medals from at the 2023 World Beer Cup: a gold medal in the Golden or Blonde Ale category for Boone Creek Blonde Ale; and a silver in American-Style Lager category for their Down South Lager.

Background

AMBs original taproom opened in 2013 and quickly became known for their hospitality and producing balanced crafts with their own Southern twist.

Kelischek is a 2011 graduate of Appalachian State University majoring in environmental science with a minor in chemistry and geology. Zieber graduated with a degree in environmental science from UNC Chapel Hill in 2011.

Craft Brew Alliance Inc. and AMB reached an agreement in April 2015 that gave AMB access to Craft Brews distribution channels in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. That distribution became a major portion of AMBs revenue stream.

In October 2018, Craft Brew acquired AMB.

Brewbound, a publication focused on the craft beer industry, estimated Craft Brew spent a combined $45 million to buy Appalachian, Wynwood Brewing Co. of Miami, and Cisco Brewers of Nantucket, Mass., during that time frame.

In 2020, Craft Brew Alliance sold to Anheuser-Busch the remaining 68.8% of Craft Brew that it had not already owned for $221 million.

The vast majority of Craft Brews brands are distributed through A-Bs network of independent wholesalers per the companies commercial agreement.

AMB said it will continues to distribute their beers and ciders throughout the Carolinas with their same wholesale partners and retailers.

In March, AMB helped launch Bojangles into the alcohol business  but not at its restaurants.

They are partnering on Bojangles Hard Sweet Tea, which is distributed through retail supermarkets and convenience stores such as Circle K, QT, Sheetz, Spinx, Harris Teeter, Ingles, Lowes, Walmart, Food Lion and others in the Carolinas.

Bojangles, based in Charlotte, now has about 800 restaurants known for its fried chicken, biscuits and sweet tea.

The hard tea is sold in individual 16-ounce cans and in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans.
In late February 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it was allocating $5.6 billion in grants to finance community programs, including affordable housing development plans and assistance for people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk. The grants benefit all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. nonstate territories.

According to HUD, the Biden administration has exceeded its annual goals for mitigating homelessness by 25% until 2025, an ambitious objective outlined in the federal strategic plan launched in December 2022.

Despite the government's efforts, the U.S. does not consistently rank well compared to other member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding policies to resolve homelessness, particularly when measured against countries of comparable economic stature.

The problems, though similar, differ widely among nations due to population, public policy, geographical and weather conditions, income inequality, and health care systems. The same applies among the states; two densely populated states, New York and California, rank alongside one of the least populous states, Hawaii, making up the top three states in people experiencing homelessness. In 2020, they were the only three states with more than 40 people without homes out of every 10,000 inhabitants. The homelessness rate in D.C. far surpasses that oven even the worst-off states, with more than 90 people in 10,000 without a home.

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the already lethargic progress of the U.S. in addressing the homelessness crisis, though it is still uncertain how much the pandemic truly affected the situation.

While Congress, HUD, and local governments handed over billions of dollars in emergency aid to properly quarantine and protect the unsheltered, even demanding that hotels provide temporary accommodation for hundreds of persons, data gathering became a distinct challenge. Eviction prompted by rental nonpayment was halted thanks to policies such as the federal eviction moratorium and parallel programs at local levels, yet any change in the number of unsheltered homeless remains nebulous due to insufficient data gathering and the general difficulty in tracking individuals with no constant point of origin.

Experts agree on one thing: The pandemic exposed the brittleness of existing sheltering resources and the long road ahead toward finding a lasting comprehensive solution. The aim is to provide not only affordable housing, but also sustainable answers to the many factors that force people into homelessness, including social reintegration programs, mental health care, substance abuse treatments, and a safe haven for domestic violence victims.

Foothold Technology cited data from OECD to visualize how U.S. housing stock and policies compare to other countries and what that means for reducing rates of homelessness.
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Winston-Salem police are seeking the public's help finding a missing teen.

Laela Kamoria Jones, 14, was last seen leaving her home at 3054 N. Patterson Ave. on Jan. 14, police said.

Jones was seen getting into a green 2000 Buick Century with an unknown person, and that vehicle left the scene from a nearby parking lot, police said.

Jones is about 5 feet 4 inches in height and weighs 140 pounds, police said. She was last seen wearing a robe with glittery sparkles that say "DRIP" on it, black leggings, fluffy black slides and a pink bonnet on her head.

Jones' family members learned that Jones could be pregnant and seeking medical attention, police said. Jones doesn't have any other medical issues.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Laela Kamoria Jones can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.

Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is on Facebook.
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Norman Hoveling

October 5, 1931 - May 15, 2023

Norman Hoveling, 91, of Johnson Lake, passed away on Monday, May 15, 2023, at Tabitha Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Lincoln, NE.

He was born on October 5, 1931, in Fremont, NE and was adopted by Carl and Irene (Franzen) Hoveling. Norman was baptized through the Lutheran Church where he would continue his education in Leigh and then in Columbus, NE. He attended Columbus High School with the class of 1950. After high school, Norman began working as a mechanical contractor for Ray Martin Co.

On December 12, 1951, Norman was united in marriage to Doris Gertsch. Three children were blessed to this union: Kirk, Kip, and Keri. In 1952, Norman decided to join the United States Marine Corps and became a combat veteran with the 1st Division during the Korean War conflict and was stationed at Point Mugu, California. In 1954, after spending a year in combat he was assigned as part of the military police during the Korean War conflict, Norman was honorably discharged.

Upon his return to civilian life, Norman was awarded a five-year apprenticeship program at Local 88. He continued working as a service manager for the Ray Martin Co. and became a part owner of Ace Plumbing & Heating. He continued working in these departments until he retired and in 2019, had completed 62 years with the union. During his life, he held a journeyman plumbing license, master fire sprinkler license, and a master plumbing license.

After retirement, Norman and Doris moved to Johnson Lake where he got to spend plenty of time hunting, fishing, and building street rods. When he was no longer able to do these activities, he spent his time building bird houses and bird feeders. During his time at Johnson Lake, he was a member of the S.I.D board, where he focused on carp removal and was also a past member of the Johnson Lake Development Inc. Norman was a member of many clubs, including the Heartland Car Club, Goldenrod Antique Car Club and was a part of the American Legion in Lincoln and Elwood. He was also a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church and member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington since 1994.

Those left to cherish his memory is his loving wife of 71 years, Doris Hoveling of Johnson Lake; sons, Kirk J. (Diane) Hoveling and Kip V. Hoveling, both of Lincoln, Nebraska; daughter, Keri L. Beiriger of North Platte, Nebraska; grandsons, Travis (Heather) Hoveling, and Garett (Jenna) Hoveling, both of Lincoln, Nebraska; four great grandchildren, Laylah, Tyson, Huxley, and Nora; nephews, Mark and David; nieces, Christy and Sarah, as well as many great nephews, extended family, and friends.

Besides his parents, Norman was preceded in death by his sister, Shirley; brother and sister-in-law, Cork and Linda Cavlovic; nephew, Kevin Shelton, and son-in-law, Greg Beiriger.

Graveside Services with Military Honors will be held on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Nebraska with Pastor Rob Kuefner, officiating.

Memorials are kindly suggested to Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington or the Carp Removal at Johnson Lake.

Reynolds-Love Funeral Home in Lexington is honored to be assisting the family with arrangements. Please share online condolences with the family by visiting: reynoldslovefuneralhome.com
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The attorney for a 22-year-old Lincoln man who lied about his age while befriending two underage girls then sexually assaulted them asked for probation at his sentencing Tuesday.

Defense attorney Carlos Monzon said he believed Emanuel Chavez's case was different than many first-degree sexual assault cases, because of his closeness in age with the victims and unsophisticated nature.

"This is an individual that has expressed remorse, has expressed sincerity as to that remorse and shame as to what he has done to the victims in this case. And I believe that is something that should not be taken lightly," Monzon said.

He said Chavez has been in treatment for nearly a year.

"What he did was inexcusable. But what we need to look at as a society is what  is better for society in this case," Monzon said, asking for probation with the possibility of waivable jail time so Chavez could continue working and getting treatment.

Moments later, the prosecutor said she respectfully disagreed.

"We have here today an individual that every parent, caretaker and law enforcement officer wants behind bars in order to keep the youth of our community safe," Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Julie Mruz told the judge in front of a courtroom of supporters on both sides.

She said not only did Chavez sexually assault two young girls, but he was attempting to lure a third "into his trap."

"If it weren't for law enforcement, it may have happened a third time," Mruz said.

In an affidavit for a search warrant, a Lincoln Police investigator said Chavez had sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl twice, filming it once, and a 14-year-old girl and he was sending sexually explicit photos to a third girl, who was 13.

He'd met all of them online and told one girl he was 18, when he was 20, and two others he was 16.

Chavez ultimately pleaded no contest to first-degree sexual assault, enticement by electronic device and possession of child pornography for his actions.

In court Tuesday, Mruz said Chavez has a problem and fortunately he's dealing with it through treatment. But that didn't take away from what he has done and who he has hurt.

"Mr. Chavez is a predator. His M.O. is to prey on young females, lie about his age, bring them to his home and have sexual intercourse with them," the prosecutor said.

In the end, Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong said while Chavez had no criminal history and lots of letters from supporters, his crimes involved young children who he surely knew were too young to consent to sex and occurred over several months.

"So this was not a momentary indiscretion," she said. "These assaults were premeditated and intentional."

And the victims' lives have been permanently damaged and altered by his actions, the judge said.

"These is nothing I can do to repair that damage. I wish there were," Strong said, sentencing Chavez to 28 to 37 years in prison.

Most dangerous cities in Nebraska Dangerous Cities in Nebraska 6. South Sioux City 5. Scottsbluff 4. North Platte 3. Lincoln 2. Grand Island 1. Omaha A note about the numbers
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Hundreds of community members and local leaders gathered Wednesday at Tower Square to help raise money for the city's nonprofits on Give to Lincoln Day.

Its about creating and facilitating giving, but its also about celebrating the act of giving, said Alec Gorynski, president for the Lincoln Community Foundation. We like to call this Lincolns one big day of giving, and its about being in a community of giving.

As of 9 p.m., more than $7.16 million had been raised from nearly 22,000 donors. Cedars was leading in donations with nearly $420,000 raised. Cedars provides a safe environment for children to stay while experiencing homelessness.

Cedars Education Coordinator Jay Voigt said the donations will continue to fund the Carriage House, a semi-supervised independent-living house for young, pregnant moms to learn life and parenting skills for up to 120 days.

The next leading organization, Food Bank of Lincoln, had raised nearly $335,823 as of 9 p.m. The Food Bank of Lincoln works to help alleviate hunger in Southeast Nebraska.

Each donation will be amplified with a portion of a $500,000 match fund provided by the Lincoln Community Foundation, presenting sponsor West Gate Bank and 24 other sponsors.

The other organizations in the top 10 include the University of Nebraska Foundation, Center for People in Need, Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach, Peoples City Mission, Lincoln Literacy, Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties, Capital Humane Society and the Friendship Home.

But those not on the top of the leaderboard also benefit from the fundraising day. A handful of those in the last 50 spots are eligible to win $500 through West Gate Banks Small but Mighty donation. One of those winners was BikeLNK, which plans to use the money raised Wednesday to help pay for operational funding, which allows the bikes from ROAM Share to be utilized and maintained in Lincoln, according to Logan Spackman, city manager for BikeLNK.

Im tremendously grateful for the opportunity that Lincoln Community Foundation and West Gate Bank have provided and the opportunity to get some additional donations, Spackman said. Lincoln is such a generous community. Were excited to be part of it to serve in that, and we think its just a great extension of what it means to be a community member in Lincoln.

Nearly 70 organizations gathered at Tower Square from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. to offer activities and demonstrations, and provide information to donors about their missions.

This Give to Lincoln Day says so much about the generosity, kindness and awareness in our community about the need to pay it forward, to give back, to try to help make Lincoln a better place to call home, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said.

The Capital Humane Society received some of that generosity as they surpassed their goal of $110,000. At 7 p.m., the organization that helps furry friends had over $115,000.

Ruby Mussman, marketing and special events coordinator, said the money will go toward their community programs. The Pawsitive Impact Project is one of these programs that provides affordable preventative care for income-qualified pet owners such as vaccinations, deworming and microchipping as well as a free food and supply pantry.

Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach achieved its goal of surpassing $200,000 in donations, with more than $210,000 as of 7 p.m.

It is such a blessing to have this event in Lincoln, said Director Lori Wellman. It helps us all year-round helping people with homelessness, substance abuse and poverty.

The money will be used for programs throughout the year, including the Bold Hope Expands campaign, where families coming out of homelessness can get furniture, meeting spaces for hunger relief teams and additional office space.

A lot of people think of us as a place to get food, but its so much more than that, so its great to get to educate people one-on-one and share more with people about all of our different services, event planner Jenn Boettcher said.

Blue Star Mothers of America was also at Tower Square to interact with community members and spread awareness about their organization. Blue Star Mothers help current military personnel or veterans and provide packages to deployed service members, as well as support local moms of military members. The care packages are sent three to four times a year and include thank-you notes, artwork from kids, snacks and hygiene products.

Its hard to be deployed and far away from home and be in scary places, said Robin Keralis, mother of an Air Force member. And then we support each other because we know its kind of scary to be a mom of a military kid sometimes with the worlds situation.

Treasurer Erica Kutter also has a son in the reserves and said that every package costs about $100 to send. In addition to sending packages to their own children, the Blue Star Mothers of America also send the care items to military men and women who havent gotten mail since theyve been deployed.

Sometimes well do a whole ship and well send 50 boxes to a ship, and its like Christmas they say, Kutter said.

Donations will be accepted online until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, and checks or cash can be dropped off until 5 p.m. at the Lincoln Community Foundation office, 215 Centennial Mall South. Checks should be made to the Lincoln Community Foundation with the selected charity written in the memo line. The minimum donation is $10 and donors can select which charities they would like to designate their gifts to. The full list of organizations is available at GiveToLincoln.com.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2023
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Five years after dropping its health insurance plans with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, the University of Nebraska plans to return to the Omaha-based insurance provider.

In an email to campus on Tuesday, NU President Ted Carter said the university plans to change its health, pharmacy and dental insurance carriers in 2024 pending approval of the Board of Regents.

NU will move its health insurance plans from UMR, a United Healthcare company, which it entered into a five-year contract with in 2018, back to Blue Nebraska.

The university will also switch its dental insurance carrier from Ameritas to Delta Dental of Nebraska, and its pharmacy insurance carrier from CVS Health to EmpiRx Health, Carter notified employees.

"We are bringing these changes forward following a robust competitive bidding process that attracted bids from multiple vendors," Carter said.

A committee of 12 faculty and staff worked with an outside consulting firm, Gallagher Benefit Service, to evaluate the bids on a number of factors, including the number of providers in a network and the discounts offered by those in-network providers.

The switch won't save NU any money. Five years ago, amid statewide budget challenges, the change to insurance providers netted NU nearly $12.3 million in savings between its health, dental, and life insurance plans.

Nearly all  99%  of health providers used by NU employees and their families within the last year were in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska network, Carter said, while 86% of dental providers were in the Delta Dental network.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska also agreed to hire 24 paid interns from NU, capitalizing on a policy change made by the university late last year to give companies added consideration if they agreed to take on student workers.

Carter said the proposed switch in insurance carriers will go before the NU Board of Regents on June 22 for approval.

If the bids are accepted by regents, the new plans would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. NU expects "minimal disruptions" with the transitions, and has set up customer service lines to help answer employees' questions.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2023
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Margaret Reist Local government reporter Margaret Reist is a recovering education reporter now writing about local and county government and the people who live in the city where she was born and raised. Follow Margaret Reist Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

A disappointment, followed by good news for supporters of the Pershing mural, who have launched the second phase of a fundraising campaign to restore and reinstall the giant mural that graced Lincolns downtown auditorium for 65 years.

On the heels of learning the Legislature did not appropriate $1.5 million to Wyuka Cemetery for the restoration, a small group that spearheaded fundraising to save the mural got a $250,000 matching grant from Lincoln's Harbor of Dreams foundation for the next phase.

To say we are excited is an understatement, said Liz Shea-McCoy, who led the group that raised nearly $850,000 in four months to save the mural before the city demolished the old auditorium.

The Wyuka Board of Trustees voted to reinstall the 38-by-140-foot mural on the cemetery grounds as part of a larger vision to turn a portion of the grounds into a playground and picnic area with new landscaping and a bike trail connection.

The state can give money to the cemetery because it was established as a public charitable organization, but this year's Legislature didn't act on Lincoln Sen. George Dungans bill (LB411).

The timely grant  which will match any donations up to $250,000  comes just before Lincolns annual Give to Lincoln Day on Wednesday.

The match will automatically be applied to donations to the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation through the Give to Lincoln Day website or through the foundations website.

The group has an ambitious goal: to raise $3.1 million over the next several months to refurbish and reinstall the 763,000 tiles of the mural, which depict 38 figures in an array of sporting, theater, dance and circus events.

Thats a lot of money, but one shouldnt underestimate the small group, which managed to raise the money necessary to get all the tiles down in August before the city started demolition of the old auditorium on Centennial Mall  a process that has yet to begin.

Weve learned the artwork is a memory cache for thousands of Nebraskans, Shea-McCoy said. Thousands of donors have memories of concerts or special events they attended, and thousands more are fascinated by the vast span of the mural and the interesting artistic elements contained thereon.

A special viewing opportunity of the proposed lakeshore site at Wyuka Park is available during Memorial Day events at the cemetery during daylight hours Thursday through Monday.

Fundraisers and conflicts

Whether the Lancaster County engineers participation in a Lincoln Independent Business Association fundraiser was appropriate became the subject of a tense exchange between the county engineer and County Commissioner Rick Vest at a recent County Board staff meeting.

This spring, LIBA hosted a fundraiser where one of the items auctioned off was an engineer for a day, with Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman.

Vest, a member of LIBA who was out of town at the time, logged onto the silent auction and noticed the event.

That caused me concern on a number of fronts, Vest said at the County Board staff meeting last week.

He said he was concerned about using taxpayer resources for a particular entity, especially one that endorses political candidates. He also had liability concerns.

Vest said he spoke with Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Director Frank Daly, who told him it was a gray area and that, had he been asked, he would have advised against, but that he wouldnt take any action.

Daly, in an interview, said Vest did not file a formal complaint. He said he talked with Dingman, who, along with others, has told him she regularly gives tours of the countys roads and bridges.

The fact that one of these things is auctioned off, I cant say its a violation of anything, he said, though he understands why it could raise red flags.

During the County Board meeting, Dingman noted that while the County Board has authority over the budget, she has authority over her department.

I am an elected official, we are equal on the flow chart," she said. "I think its disparaging that you would accuse me of using taxpayer assets inappropriately. If you had a problem, you could have picked up a phone and called me.

Dingman said she gives tours to any groups or individuals that ask. Before the pandemic, she said she gave about 30 tours a year, but since the pandemic thats slowed to about 10 a year. She said shes offered the tours for fundraisers for the Downtown Rotary.

Commissioner Matt Schulte came to Dingmans defense, saying shes led by example and that such outreach is important because so many people dont understand how government works.

Schulte said governors have auctioned off a nights stay at the Governors Mansion and questions about Dingmans activities were like a CNN witch hunt.

Other commissioners said they had concerns, especially since LIBA gets involved politically and endorses candidates (technically, its the LIBA political action committee that endorses candidates).

Commissioner Sean Flowerday said he didnt like any organizations using the county logo  which LIBA did in promoting the engineer for a day event  and use of the logo was something the board did have authority over.

Pink postcards

Remember those pink postcards sent to taxpayers last fall that caused all sorts of confusion?

They were the result of the Truth in Taxation law (LB644) introduced by Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair that required counties where a city, county, school district or community college is headquartered to send out the postcards if said subdivisions total property tax request increased by 2% or more.

Well, those postcards could cause more changes this year, if a portion of a revenue bill making its way through the Legislature survives.

Last year, the budgets of Southeast Community College, Waverly Public Schools, Raymond Central Public Schools and the city of Hickman all triggered postcards.

But the hearings werent held until September, when many of the elected boards had already approved their budgets.

Dennis Meyer, Lancaster Countys budget and fiscal officer, said the Legislature wants to change the law to require the hearings before the final budget hearings of those subdivisions.

For those required to hold such hearings, it would mean pushing back the final budget hearings at least a month  into September.

If there's no pink postcard, and no hearing, they could follow their regular budget process, but those that do would not get their budgets approved until well into the fiscal year.

And even with that change, Meyer said, he'd still recommend people show up earlier, when a quorum of elected officials are crafting the budget  not right before a final vote at a hearing where not all elected officials are present.

Photos: Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural-trapeze artists Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural Pershing Center mural-musicians
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Nebraskans will soon have the opportunity to get tax incentives for donating to scholarship funds for private and faith-based schools under a bill passed in the Legislature Wednesday.

Lawmakers passed the bill (LB753) in a 33-11 vote, sending it to Gov. Jim Pillen's desk to be signed into law. The legislation was introduced by state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of the Omaha area, who has pushed for years to provide more school choice opportunities.

LB753 will provide tax credits for individuals and entities making donations to scholarship funds intended to help students attend private and parochial schools. Under the bill, $25 million will be available for credits in 2024, with the same amount available for the next two years. After that, the limit for credits will grow to a maximum of $100 million per year.

Individuals and businesses could not receive more than $100,000 in annual credits, while estates and trusts would be capped at $1 million per year.

In a session filled with controversy, LB753 saw its fair share. Just a few weeks ago, hundreds of educators rallied in Lincoln to oppose the bill, contending that it would deplete money for public schools through the state funding used to support the tax incentives.

Opposing lawmakers made the same argument in each round of debate. They also questioned whether it was constitutional.

Rather than granting parents and students more school choice, opponent Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington said LB753 was really about giving donors more choice. She argued the bill gives favorable treatment to a specific type of charitable giving, and neglects many other philanthropic efforts.

"This is about giving one type of giving first-class tax status," DeBoer said.

Linehan said the Legislature has worked on many other tax-relief measures this session alone, so lawmakers are not solely focused on benefiting the wealthy.

"Let's not pretend we don't like tax credits," Linehan said.

Linehan and other LB753 supporters say the bill doesn't take any money away from public schools, and have pointed to several other measures in the works this year to increase funding for public education. One of those efforts is a $1.25 billion Education Future Fund to boost state aid for schools, which passed through the approval of Nebraska's two-year budget.

The Legislature has considered similar measures to LB753 in each of the last five years, but all have failed. Last years proposal fell five votes short on a filibuster-ending cloture motion.

This time around, the bill ended filibusters with the support of a handful of Democratic lawmakers  Omaha Sens. Justin Wayne, Mike McDonnell and Terrell McKinney. Wayne said LB753 contributes to his effort to enact transformational changes for parts of his district, representing low-income areas of North Omaha.

"I support this because this multi-faceted approach is what we're supposed to do down here to make sure we raise the water and tides for everyone," Wayne said.

Photos: Hundreds of Nebraska educators gather at Captiol to protest LB753
EU defense ministers fail to agree on new military aid to Ukraine

Xinhua) 09:08, May 24, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers fix a damaged armored personnel carrier in Chasive Yar, west of the city of Bakhmut, April 10, 2023. (Photo by Peter Druk/Xinhua)

Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 220,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March. These alone were worth 800 million euros and the EU was on track to provide 1 billion euros worth of ammunition.

BRUSSELS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The defense ministers of the European Union (EU) member states have failed to reach an agreement on new military aid to Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said here on Tuesday.

Borrell said after Tuesday's EU defense ministers' meeting that the overwhelming majority of member states had backed a proposal to increase the European Peace Facility budget by 3.5 billion euros (3.77 billion U.S. dollars), although he stressed that not all of it will be used to assist Ukraine.

"I still don't have unanimity on this, and it's still being discussed," he said, adding that he expected the remaining "hurdles" to be surmounted soon. He recalled that more than 10 billion euros in military support have already been provided to Ukraine.

Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 220,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March. These alone were worth 800 million euros and the EU was on track to provide 1 billion euros worth of ammunition.

This photo taken on April 10, 2023 shows damaged houses in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Photo by Peter Druk/Xinhua)

"Our aim is to provide one million projectiles over the next 12 months," Borrell said, adding that the EU had already trained 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers and was on track to train 30,000 by the end of the year.

He explained that as part of a three-pronged strategy, member states are being asked to provide ammunition from their own stocks. There is also an effort for the joint procurement of 155 mm caliber ammunition and to boost the capability of European industry to manufacture the necessary ammunition.

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, attended the meeting and briefed ministers on the latest developments in the conflict in Ukraine.

Borrell welcomed the decision to initiate training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He said the training created a positive momentum that will eventually lead to the deployment of these jets in Ukraine.

"I am glad that pilot training has already started, and I hope that soon we will be able to provide this weapon to Ukraine," he said prior to the start of the meeting in Brussels.

Delegates attend a ceremony for Finland's accession to NATO at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, April 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
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The Shorewind Apartments in the 7000 block of South Shore Drive, May 24, 2023, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

A local apartment investor has greatly expanded its holdings in the South Shore neighborhood, paying $22 million for two properties close to the Obama Presidential Center, according to CoStar and county property records.

New City Property Management bought Shorewind Apartments, a 16-story building at 7000 S. South Shore Drive on the lakefront, along with a smaller building one block west at 6951 S. Oglesby Ave., from San Francisco-based Belveron Partners.

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The two buildings together have 250 units, according to a spokesperson for Belveron, which declined to comment further on the sale. .

The price tag is significantly more than the $16.8 million Belveron, one of the nations largest owners of affordable housing, paid for the 1920s-era buildings in 2019. The boost worries some community members who say the $830 million presidential center, rising in Woodlawns Jackson Park just to the north and set to open in 2025, could raise local housing costs beyond the reach of many residents.

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The buyer is going to want a return on their investment, and the only way I see you can make a profit is to increase the rent, said community organizer Dixon Romero.

NCPM became one of the neighborhoods largest landlords last year when it paid $14 million for 7100 S. South Shore Drive, a 10-story, 162-unit building one block south.

James Oppenheimer, the companys founder and CEO, said as a local firm its committed to holding these properties for years, will provide needed investment, and do so without displacing tenants, many of whom get rental subsidies such as Section 8.

Weve had no complaints about gentrification at 7100, and I dont think anyone will use the term at 7000, he said.

In 2020, Chicago City Council passed the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance, a measure pushed by a coalition of community organizations, which requires all rental and for-sale housing developed on city-owned lots in that neighborhood to reserve a portion for very low-income residents and funded several programs to rehabilitate existing affordable housing.

Romero, founder and executive director of Not Me We, a housing advocacy group, said South Shore needs a similar community benefits agreement to create and preserve affordable housing, and prevent the displacement of existing residents.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 42 Construction continues on the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, April 18, 2023. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

South Shore is the number one eviction neighborhood in the city, and its been that way since 2010, he said.

The neighborhood had an eviction rate of 8.7% in 2019, three times higher than the citywide rate, according to the South Shore Housing Data Project, a 2022 report from the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and other groups. And 30% of residents live at or below the poverty line, with 57.6% considered housing cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

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Almost 90% of voters in South Shore precincts near the Obama center favored a community benefits agreement, according to a nonbinding referendum on the Feb. 28 mayoral and City Council election ballot, Romero said.

The Obama center is like a huge object dropped into a body of water, its causing these waves of speculation, but it doesnt have to cause displacement. It can be a real honor for the president and an inspiration to the community, but we have to be here to enjoy it.
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BURLINGTON  Expansion of the Runaway Micropub brewery is triggering a chain reaction of business relocations in Downtown Burlington, including the Chamber of Commerce.

Five businesses are either growing or moving as a result of the Runaways need to carve out space for an expansion that will double the size of the popular brewpub.

In addition to the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, the situation is impacting Burlington Menswear, Bear Realty and the Cultivated artisan market  all in the center of Downtown Burlington.

Bernard Petersen, who opened the Runaway three years ago, said his brewpub operation is growing faster than he anticipated. He expressed gratitude that neighboring businesses are willing to adjust to make room for his expansion.

Its a collaborative effort among all the businesses, he said.

Among the changes that are underway:

The Runaway at 109 E. Chestnut St. is expanding next door into the Burlington Menswear location.

Burlington Menswear at 113 E. Chestnut is moving next door into the Chamber of Commerce location.

The Chamber of Commerce at 113 E. Chestnut B is moving a block away into the Bear Realty building at 565 Milwaukee Ave.

Bear Realty is purchasing and moving into the storefront currently occupied by Cultivated artisan market at 161-165 E. Chestnut.

Cultivated artisan market is leaving Burlington and resettling in the Walworth County city of Elkhorn.

The Chamber of Commerce is leaving its headquarters location in The Loop on Chestnut Street at the same time the organization is growing into tourism promotion and rebranding itself Experience Burlington.

The City of Burlington has enlisted the chamber to take over tourism using hotel tax dollars previously spent elsewhere.

M.T. Boyle, the chambers executive director, said the organization plans to resettle on Milwaukee Avenue effective Sept. 1. Boyle said a move was under consideration even before the Runaways expansion took shape.

We were already starting to look, she said.

In the Bear Realty building, the chamber is negotiating a three-year lease for about 1,400 square feet of office space on the third floor, plus some public display space in the lobby. Boyle said there will be less focus on visitor center activities, as that sort of material is shifted increasingly to the internet.

Boyle said the new location will allow for strong chamber signage at a busy intersection.

I think its going to be a really nice space, she said.

The chambers move clears the way for Burlington Menswear to relocate from its current location so that the Runaway brewpub expansion can take over the clothing store.

Shelly Leverenz, owner of Burlington Menswear, said that while she had no plans to move, she welcomes the new storefront as a chance freshen up her stores appearance and maybe add a few new features.

Were going to go with the flow, she said.

The mens clothing store has been open in its current location for 25 years.

Leverenz said she does not view the relocation into the former chamber storefront as difficult or complicated. With the way the buildings are arranged, even her address will remain the same.

Itll be an easy move, she said. Itll be just out one door and in another.

Taking over the clothing store will double the size of the Runaway and provide more space for public seating, an expanded kitchen, a new stage for live music and other new amenities.

Petersen in January got an upgraded liquor license from the city as part of his expansion strategy.

Although he had long-range growth plans, Petersen said, those plans advanced quickly after be obtained the liquor license and learned that the Chamber of Commerce was considering relocating.

Life went into fast-forward, he said.

After Burlington Menswear moves, the Runaway will begin remodeling that estimated 2,000-square-foot space. The brewery expansion could be completed by next year.

The chambers decision to relocate into the Bear Realty building followed the real estate companys decision to move into The Loop by purchasing the Cultivated artisan market site. The market occupies two adjoining storefronts on Chestnut.

Karl McKillip, who owns the Bear Realty building at 565 Milwaukee Ave., said the real estate firm is planning to vacate about 3,000 square feet on the buildings first floor.

While it is not the same space that the chamber is leasing on the third floor, McKillip said the chamber hopes also to negotiate space in the first-floor lobby to create a high-profile presence.

The chamber is moving into third-floor offices being vacated by a financial services firm that is downsizing into smaller space elsewhere in the building. The property has space for about eight to 10 tenants.

McKillip said he is sorry that Bear Realty is leaving, but he is pleased to see them growing into their own new site.

We wish them well, he said. Theyre looking to make a change.

Cultivated artisan market has been part of Burlington for four years, including the past two years at 161-165 E. Chestnut.

Business owner Sarah Sobocinski said she was surprised to learn that Bear Realty was buying the property and that she would have to relocate.

She leased a storefront in Elkhorn after being unable to find another spot in Burlington for her clothing and gift consignment store and expects to complete the move by mid-August.

Sobocinski said she understands why Bear Realty wants to be part of The Loop at the heart of Downtown.

Im going to miss it a lot, she said. It just didnt work out.

Kids learn to pump up the jams at library's musical exercise program, in photos Landon Kreiter, 2, gets moving at musical exercise program for kids at Burlington library Angelina Sikiaridi, 3, joins the fun in Burlington library musical exercise program for kids Breeyn Cranley leads a musical exercise program for preschoolers at Burlington library Everett Kreiter, 2, exercises at Get Moving program for kids at Burlington library
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

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KEARNEY  Tri-City BMX will host a gathering of some of the best dirt racers in the Midwest next month.

Each of the 100 to 150 riders who will compete June 9-11 at Kearneys BMX track will be pedaling to advance from the races in Kearney to the ultimate BMX competition, the Gold Cup Finals in September in East Moline, Illinois.

Other Midwest regional races are planned in Des Moines, Iowa, and Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Well pull riders from all the regional states, said Josh Osterhoudt, who will be among Kearney-area riders fighting on June 9-11 for a spot in the Gold Cup Finals.

Osterhoudt said BMX racing has grown in popularity because of the fierce competition and the competitors' spectacular abilities. BMX racers as young as age 3 will compete in the June 9-11 regionals.

Members of USA BMX can register at the track or online at tricitybmx.net or email for more information at tricitybmx1713@gmail.com.
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Jonathan Zaragoza, one of Chicagos most promising young chefs, finally has a permanent home. So it makes sense he chose to name the project Calli, the word for house in Nahuatl, a pre-Hispanic language still spoken in parts of Central Mexico.

Calli is inspired by places in Mexico that made me feel at home, Zaragoza said. The hospitality will be very similar to Mexico, where people are very warm and endearing.

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The restaurant opens Thursday.

Though open to the public, Calli is located on the second floor of Soho House Chicago, a members-only club in the West Loop. Itll be in the same space that formerly housed Suenos, the excellent Mexican seafood pop-up from chef Stephen Sandoval that just ended its stay. Currently, Sandoval is getting ready to open a bricks-and-mortar restaurant in West Town.

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[ Review: One of the best openings of the year is a Baja seafood pop-up too stunning to ignore ]

Unlike Suenos, Calli is not a pop-up. Its a permanent fixture, Zaragoza said.

Instead of focusing on a specific region of Mexico, Zaragoza hopes to showcase what hes learned from his extensive time in the country. Its based on things that I like to eat when Im traveling around Mexico, said Zaragoza. So itll feature some raw seafood preparations, inspired by the countrys thousands of miles of coastline. But there will also be a mole presence, from places like Oaxaca and Puebla.

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Zaragoza said there will also be a deep focus on working with masa, the dough made from nixtamalized corn. I love working with masa, and were going to show it off in numerous forms, Zaragoza said.

That will definitely include housemade corn tortillas, but hes just excited about other offerings. Well be making garnachas, which are like smaller tortillas that are fried lightly and then topped, Zaragoza said. Thatll be served with carnitas and fermented tomatillo. Hell also be making tostadas raspadas, made by cooking a tortilla halfway, scraping part of the underdone part off and then frying it. They are whimsical and frilly, with lots of nooks and crannies, Zaragoza said.

The menu will feature a mix of smaller and larger plates so diners can choose the experience right for them. Its a little bit of everything, Zaragoza said. You can come in for something small and quick, or go with a larger plate and have a sit-down meal. The cocktail program will be focused on keeping it really simple and showing what makes Mexican drinks really good. That means using lots of fresh fruit juice. But there will also be drinks like a mole Old-Fashioned, where the glass will be fat-washed with mole.

Zaragoza started working in the Chicago restaurant scene early. Hes the son of John Zaragoza, whose restaurant Birrieria Zaragoza is one of the most beloved neighborhood restaurants in Chicago. (Recently, the Zaragoza family announced that it was opening a second location of their birrieria in Uptown.) He also was a chef at Masa Azul and consulted on the short-lived Con Todo.

[ Just opened: Miru at St. Regis Chicago hotel, plus 7 more new and notable restaurant moves ]

Calli has been more than a year in the making, so Zaragoza is mostly just ready to let people in. Its going to be a fun space for people to hang out and explore Mexican food through our lens, Zaragoza said. The Mexican culinary landscape in Chicago is super rich in talent. Im just thankful to be a part of it.

Calli opens in the Soho House Chicago (113-125 N. Green St.) on Thursday. Itll be open Wednesday through Saturday, from 5-11 p.m. On Sundays, Calli is open for brunch, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations can be made on OpenTable.

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nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com
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KEARNEY  A Kearney man died at the scene of a single-vehicle crash northeast of Kearney Tuesday evening.

Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, Buffalo County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to investigate a single-vehicle crash near 160th Street on Poole Road. A southbound pickup truck had entered the east ditch and struck a power pole.

Scott King, 42, was found dead in the road ditch approximately 100 yards from the truck. He is believed to have been the driver of the pickup truck. Next of kin have been notified.

Preliminary investigation indicated after striking the pole, a power line was down near the truck. The Buffalo County Attorneys Office has ordered an autopsy.

Buffalo County Sheriff's Office deputies were assisted by members of the Kearney Police Department, KVFD fire and rescue personnel, CHI-GSH paramedics, Buffalo County Attorney's Office and the Buffalo County Highway Department. The investigation remains open.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, left, shakes hands with Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense





South Korea's Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup met with Malaysia's prime minister, Wednesday, to discuss ways to enhance bilateral defense and arms industry cooperation, Seoul's defense ministry said.







Lee paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim earlier in the day on the Malaysian island of Langkawi after his arrival in the country, Monday, for a four-day trip to attend the biennial Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition.







During the meeting, the two sides assessed that their countries have developed solid cooperative relations over the past 60 some years and that Malaysia's recent decision to introduce South Korea's FA-50 light attack aircraft marked a new turning point for the development of bilateral ties, according to the ministry.







Lee attended a contract signing ceremony the previous day that finalized Seoul's export of 18 FA-50s to the country. Korea Aerospace Industries, South Korea's sole aircraft manufacturer, signed a letter of acceptance with Malaysia in February to supply the aircraft.







The Malaysian prime minister noted the introduction of the aircraft demonstrated that South Korea is an important and friendly country to Malaysia, and expressed hopes to further develop defense cooperation through people-to-people exchanges and combined exercises, according to the ministry.







Meanwhile, Lee requested the prime minister's interest and support in increasing the South Korean arms industry's role in Malaysia's future military reinforcement projects, including its push to introduce littoral mission vessels.







He also expressed Seoul's willingness to strengthen defense cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and asked for Malaysia's support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southeastern city of Busan. (Yonhap)


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Mike Cerv, the co-owner of the Madison restaurant Hot Lunch, said he feels lucky to be alive even as he mourns his friend and business partner, Roger Barts, who died three days after Cerv was hospitalized for an unrelated illness.

Hot Lunch is closed, but Cerv is determined to reopen the business as soon as possible. Meanwhile, customers and the restaurant and bar community are rallying around Cerv and Barts family.

Barts, 35, died May 6 of an infection. Cerv, 31, has been hospitalized since May 3. Cerv wouldnt comment on Barts death, except that I miss him.

So, 23 days in the hospital with multiple surgeries is very stressful right now, Cerv said by text Wednesday, but happy and feel truly blessed to be alive.

Barts and Cerv opened their quirky neighborhood sandwich shop in October at 708 E. Johnson St. in the former Forequarter space, with Troy Knight as a silent partner.

Food is served on school lunch-type trays with individually wrapped candies such as SweeTarts and Gobstoppers. Barts handled Hot Lunchs beverage and service operations, took orders and brought out food, while Cerv did most of the cooking.

Cerv said in an email that he got very sick in early May and went to the emergency room after his leg started swelling out of nowhere. He said that his leg wasnt cut, but he didnt feel right.

He was told he had some sort of infection that rapidly spread to his kidneys, which he said were failing.

Cerv went into sepsis, a serious and life-threatening complication caused by the bodys response to an infection, which can lead to tissue damage and organ failure. Hes had two surgeries on his leg, including one Monday, and expects to have at least one more.

Doctors are still unsure the exact cause of any of this, he wrote. I just want to keep pushing to heal as fast as possible and get back to the shop and make it bigger and better. Make it the most it can be with knowing wherever Roger is he will always have our back from beyond.

Barts had a staph infection, said his mother, Barb Cook. The bacterial infection apparently got into a cut on his arm, she said. Cook, of Poynette, said her son was intubated by the time she got to the hospital, and she never got to talk to him.

She has been to Hot Lunch many times and has taken friends there to show it off. Those kids nailed it right on the head. They had a dream and they put it together and customers have nothing but good things to say.

And its not just customers. Paul Miner, 26, Hot Lunchs main employee, said his job there has been one of the best working experiences hes ever had.

Miner met Cerv in 2021 when Cerv was a chef and consultant at Baldwin Street Grille. Cerv promoted Miner to sous chef. Hes the one that saw something in me, really made me who I am as a cook.

Miner said he didnt know Barts well before working at Hot Lunch, but Barts quickly became one of the closest people in his life.

The days I remember most werent the times where I was in the restaurant with him open to close. It was the times that we would then later spend on each others couches. Just watching Jersey Shore until 2 in the morning. Thats the kind of guy Roger was. He was everyones best friend. And I dont know if Ill meet anyone like that again.

Presence known

The tight-knit Madison restaurant community has been mourning Barts, who it says was uniquely energetic, spirited and helpful.

Barts was a lead server at Rare Steakhouse when it opened in 2014 and worked there for six months before being recruited to help open Olivers Public House, which closed in 2019. In a Wisconsin State Journal story last year, Barts said his two years there as assistant general manager and then general manager were his introduction into the bar world.

He then worked as creative director for Merchant and Lucille, as bar manager at the Great Dane Downtown, and at The Tinsmith events venue.

Cerv also had worked at Alchemy, the cheese shop Fromagination and the Old Fashioned.

The idea for Hot Lunch was hatched about eight years ago, Cerv said, while he was cooking at Grampas Pizzeria on Williamson Street. He spent five years there, and its where he met Barts, who was bartending next door at Gibs Bar.

Devan Friedl, 32, who works at Nattspil, said she and Barts entered Madisons cocktail scene at about the same time, nine years ago. Friedl worked at Merchant from 2014 to 2019, where she said she and Barts had good conversations.

She said she could always call on Barts if she needed something, even when they worked at different places. Hed come over and help me. Id go over and help him. Wed help each other.

Fundraising

A fundraising event and raffle Monday night at the Bur Oak, raised $4,311 for Cervs medical bills, while a GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $10,000 toward its $20,000 goal.

Another event with a raffle, Rog Babe Rager, will take place from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday at Merchant with a DJ and dancing. The menu with have all of Barts favorite drinks with many of his bartending friends working. The event will raise money for Barts family and also for Cervs medical care.

If you go What: "Rog Babe Rager," a fundraiser for Roger Barts' family and Mike Cerv's medical care When: 5 to 10 p.m. Memorial Day Where: Merchant, 121 S. Pinckney St.

Cerv said he doesnt have health insurance and is trying to get it now.

Sherry Carpenter, 69, and Jim Carpenter, 71, both retired, got to know Barts and Cerv when their daughter, Claire, worked at Grampas. Sherry Carpenter said she was thrilled for them when they found their niche with Hot Lunch and she went there frequently.

She once had Barts and Cerv over for Thanksgiving dinner. I think it was one of the best Thanksgivings weve ever had, Sherry said. We had a lot of fun.

Coming together

Emily Samos, a server who works at Nattspil and studied event planning at Madison Area Technical College, helped organize the Bur Oak fundraiser. She said shes known Barts and Cerv for about five years and was blown away by how many people showed up Monday and bought raffle tickets. She didnt get a head count and said people came and went during the five-hour event.

Bringing people together is an important way to cope with the loss and hardship, she said.

Cerv is just a big presence on the East Side of Madison, Samos said Tuesday. It just felt like it was a necessary thing to do, especially because those people in the service industry dont have health care. And hes been in (the hospital) for almost three weeks.

Samos said the service industry has such a big, loving community and these events help people stay close. She spent an orphans Christmas with Barts and Cerv last year when they opened Hot Lunch to friends and family.

Everyone in the service industry feels a connection, she said.

We have seen each other at our best and our worst. Its unlike anything else and it shows in how we show up for our community and for each other. Its the best family Ive ever had.
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Summer is almost here, and that means expanded hours at the museum and archives. Beginning June 1, we will be adding Saturday hours to our schedule. For the months of June, July, August and September, the Vernon County History Center (a.k.a. Vernon County Museum) will be open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. As always, we are also open by appointment.

Get your summer off to a great start with our early June events, beginning with the next grill-out on Saturday, June 3. The Vernon County Historical Society will be grilling bratwurst and hot dogs at Nelson Agri-Center in Viroqua from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All proceeds will help us to preserve and promote our shared local history.

Then, just in time for June Pride Month, the Wisconsin Historical Societys traveling exhibit, We Will Always Be Here: Wisconsins LGBTQ+ Historymakers, will open at the museum on Monday, June 5. The exhibit will be set up in the first-floor conference room. Eight Wisconsinites from the past and present are featured on panels inspired by graphic novels, with original artwork by Ojibwe artist nipinet landsem.

Those featured include Ralph Kerwineo (1876-1932) of Milwaukee, Ted Pierce (1907-1999) of Madison and Lou Sullivan (1951-1991) of Wauwatosa. In addition to this traveling exhibit, we will also have on display our own new exhibit about local LGBTQ+ historymakers, called In Plain Sight: The Taylors of Lynxville. These exhibits will be at the museum during regular hours through July 1 with the exception of Saturday, June 17, when they will be on display at the Viroqua Area Pride festival in Eckhart Park.

Remember that the historic Sherry-Butt House at 795 N. Main St. is opening for the summer season on Memorial Day weekend. The house was built for Civil War Col. Cyrus Butt and his family in 1870, just five years after the end of the war. The Civil War era will come to life again for a few hours on Saturday, June 10, when Company B, 2nd Wisconsin reenactors from La Crosse visit the house.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day, the soldiers of Company B will set up a camp on the lawn, drill, load and fire muskets (with blanks), and answer questions from the public. Food and drink will be served, and the house will be open for tours. This event is free, and it should be a great time for young and old alike.
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Seven interns are set to graduate Thursday from a program called Project SEARCH  and all seven have job offers. In her six years as a Project SEARCH instructor, this is a first for Laura Anderson.

Project SEARCH is a year-long employment prep program for young people with disabilities that takes place entirely at the workplace. For these seven interns, that workplace was Gundersen Health System.

Defining a future

This program helps students define a future. The goal is to help them figure out what they like to do, what theyre good at and in which kind of work environment theyll find success, Anderson said. For nine months, we focus on how to become an employee. Interns are also building soft skills and working toward independence.

Sterling Solberg and his mom, Sheryl, understand the importance this graduation day represents. Last year, Sterling, who is on the autism spectrum, graduated from Project SEARCH.

These are kinds of programs we need, Sheryl said. Sterling is so capable. We are big cheerleaders for this program.

Project SEARCH began in 1996 at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center when the director of Cincinnati Childrens Emergency Department felt that, because the hospital served individuals with developmental disabilities, they should commit to hiring people in this group. She partnered with a special education director and together, they launched Project SEARCH. Now, there are more than 700 chapters across the country.

How it works

The School District of Holmen holds the license for the local chapter of Project SEARCH, but its open to young adults age 18 to 21 from any school district. Interns come from as far as Prairie du Chien and Independence.

Students complete three, 10-week rotations in three different departments. They learn hands-on skills while working in their departments and soft skills during an hour of daily classroom time.

I have a passion for teaching about transition, said Anderson, who, in addition to being a Project SEARCH instructor, is a special education teacher at Holmen High School. Our kids have challenges, but they also have lots of abilities. We help employers see that.

Anderson recruits both students to intern in the program and departments within Gundersen to host them  noting that Gundersen provides the training ground but isnt required to hire interns at the end of the program. This year, departments like inpatient pharmacy, post-anesthesia care unit, laundry, maintenance and food service agreed to participate.

Our interns cleaned and sanitized rooms, filled nurses orders and even delivered medications, Anderson said.

After graduation

During Sterlings internship, he spent time in Central Services, inpatient pharmacy and maintenance. Following his internship, he was offered a job in Central Services, that departments first-ever hire.

Upon this years graduation, interns will move onto jobs at UW-La Crosses maintenance department and local health care centers. Two interns have accepted jobs at Gundersen.

What we do is so different from school.  It doesnt feel like school at all, Anderson said. Through these nine months, these students have matured, grown up and are ready to become employees.
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WASHINGTON  Donald Trump speaks about his legal woes in a way that would make most defense attorneys wince.

A recent sampling: In a March interview on Fox News Channel, the Republican former president said he had the right to take classified documents with him to his Florida resort and wouldnt say he hadnt looked at the records since leaving office. During a CNN town hall this month, he said he told a Georgia elections official you owe me votes in the 2020 election.

At the same town hall on May 10 he insulted a female writer as a wack job  only a day after that same woman, E. Jean Carroll, won a $5 million judgment against him in a civil suit alleging defamation and sexual assault. On Monday, Carroll amended a lawsuit to hold him liable for the town hall remarks.

Trump, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has never hesitated to offer his opinion or joust with his antagonists. The problem, legal experts say, is that the former president is under intensifying scrutiny from state and federal prosecutors, and those same prosecutors can use the former president's statements against him in a variety of ways.

Any utterances by a defendant, whether they are confessions, denials, observations, nonsensical gibberish, or just plain goofy are nothing but pure gold for prosecutors," said Julieanne Himelstein, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington.

Trump has found himself under investigation by prosecutors stretching from New York to Georgia.

He was indicted in March by a Manhattan grand jury on charges related to hush-money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. On Tuesday, a New York judge set the trial to begin on March 25, in the midst of the primary contests. Trump, appearing via video conference, threw his hands up in frustration at the timing of the trial and glowered at the camera.

A local prosecutor in Georgia is investigating whether the former president and his allies broke the law in seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis suggested last week that indictments could come in August. Meanwhile, a Justice Department special counsel is probing the former presidents role in the Jan. 6., 2021, insurrection and the discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Largo, Trumps Florida home and resort.

In recent media appearances and during rallies, Trump has made comments that could be seen as incriminating or, at the very least, complicate his legal teams ability to beat back charges. He seemed to get into particular trouble during a May 10 town hall hosted by CNN.

The former president spent nearly an hour discussing a range of issues while also commenting on the investigations in ways that run counter to generally accepted legal advice. Not only did he re-insult Carroll and provide Fulton Countys prosecutor more fodder for her probe but he also gave the Justice Department an opening by claiming he couldnt recall whether he had shown classified documents to anyone.

Joyce Vance, a law professor who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama under President Barack Obama, opined on Twitter: There were prosecutors and agents taking notes tonight.

Trump also suggested that he was personally involved in taking records to Mar-a-Lago  I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified, he said. That statement is at odds with arguments made by his own lawyers, who as recently as last month suggested in a letter to Congress that the document removal was the result of haphazard records-keeping and packing rather than an intentional decision by Trump.

The statements are being made as the documents investigation shows signs of winding down and as Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith zeroes in on the question of potential obstruction, drilling into the failure by Trump and his representatives to return the classified records in his possession despite being issued a subpoena to do so.

Trumps penchant for public statements was on display in the last special counsel investigation he faced. He famously told an interviewer in 2017 that he was thinking of this Russia thing when he fired former FBI director James Comey. His lawyers sought to explain away that statement by noting that he had also said that he knew that firing Comey would prolong, rather than shorten, the Russia probe.

Legal scholars said that prosecutors might not be able to use some of Trumps comments if they are not relevant to the charges or might be deemed prejudicial by a judge.

They also may not need to play them to jurors because other evidence is much stronger. While Trump said on CNN that he told Brad Raffensperger you owe me votes, he was also tape recorded asking the Georgia elections official to find him more votes. The call came in January 2021 as Trump was desperately trying to overturn Georgias election result.

Its not inculpatory any more than the fact that we already have a recorded phone call, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University. It might be more damning had we not had the actual recording of the phone call.

Former prosecutors and defense attorneys say a clients public comments can hamstring how they present their cases to a jury. It can reveal their strategy and lock them into certain lines of attacking the prosecutions case. Such comments might also encourage them to do everything they can to keep their client from taking the witness stand.

Here are the 7 takeaways from Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Florida elections 1. Kentucky voters set stage for biggest governors race of 2023 2. Trump wins proxy battle with DeSantis 3. Cameron could make history 4. Democrat wins Jacksonville mayors office 5. Progressives make a split decision in Pennsylvania 6. Pennsylvania Republicans go with establishment-backed candidate in Supreme Court race 7. Election denier falls flat in secretary of state race
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.

Ukraine hasnt said how many of its soldiers have died since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhins comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.

Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.

Prigozhin  himself a former convict  has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.

He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.

In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism  questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russias goal of demilitarizing Ukraine has backfired because Kyivs military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.

In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.

In Washington, Kirby speculated Wednesday on Prigozhin's motives.

And its possible that this could be a sort of morbid way of him ... claiming credit for whatever theyve been able to achieve in Bakhmut, but also trying to publicly embarrass the Ministry of Defense further that the cost was borne in blood and treasure by Wagner, and not by the Russian military.

In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.

In what it says is likely a low estimate, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that from February 2022 until early April 2023, it recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster  often spiced with obscenities  and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.

Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.

A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war.

Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.

Russias largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhins interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia. Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.

On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that heavy fighting was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.

The head of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyivs forces are continuing their defensive operation in Bakhmut, with unspecified successes on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.

A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.

Now we dont need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it, Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep it. This is more appropriate, and thats what we are doing now.

Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down a large number of drones in Russias southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod. He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.

Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such attacks.

Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the war's front lines, are unclear.

Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.

Kozlowska reported from London. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Andrew Katell in New York contributed.
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WCCU Credit Union President and CEO, Kevin Hauser will be retiring on June 2. Kevin was hired by WCCU in 1991 and was appointed as President and CEO in 2003. During his tenure, he played a significant role in growing the credit union from an asset size of $135 million to nearly $900 million.

Monte Torgerson, Board Chairman, said, On behalf of the Board of Directors, 240+ staff, and over 40,000 members, we want to thank Kevin for his 32 years of dedication to our credit union. With his leadership, WCCU grew from three locations to 13 branches, including a mobile branch and an in-school branch. In addition, Kevin has made a lasting impact on the staff and the communities that WCCU serves. We are sincerely grateful to Kevin for his dedication to WCCU and wish him a healthy and happy retirement.

Hauser added, Over the past 32 years, WCCU has enriched my life with opportunities and friendships. Words cannot begin to express how deeply grateful I am for this incredible journey. Thank you to our communities and members for letting us be a part of your lives. I want to give an even bigger thank you to the staff of WCCU. They do so much for our members and Im proud to have known and worked alongside them.

With the assistance of an independent external consultant, the Board of Directors has appointed Chris Barnick to succeed Kevin Hauser as the President and Chief Executive Officer.

Barnick was born and raised in St. Peter, Minnesota. He brings over 20 years of experience of working in the financial services industry including Wells Fargo, Affinity Plus Credit Union and most recently, he was a Senior Vice-President at Think Mutual Bank in Rochester, Minnesota.

Barnick said, I am honored to join an organization comprised of passionate, hardworking, and caring people that are committed to helping its members build a better life. The WCCU family has done an amazing job of making a difference in their communities through excellent member care, education, financial giving, and through its innovative spirit. I am also very excited and humbled to continue to build upon the great things that Kevin has accomplished in his outstanding career. I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to reach their financial goals and I cant wait to help make this a reality for the people of Southwest Wisconsin!

Barnick and his wife, Alicia, along with their family dog, Casper, are in the process of relocating from Eagan, Minnesota, to Westby. They have three grown children, Zachary, Charlie, and Annabelle. Barnick will transition to his position at WCCU on Monday, June 5.

To recognize Kevin Hausers retirement and thank him for his contributions, WCCU is hosting open houses at the following offices, and all are welcome to attend:

Wednesday, May 31, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., WCCU Reedsburg;

Thursday, June 1, 2 to 5 p.m., WCCU Richland Center (Main Office);

Friday, June 2, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., WCCU Westby.
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Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman said Wednesday she had hired an additional attorney to aid her office in its work related to the disappearance of Winona resident Madeline Kingsbury.

Former Dakota County chief deputy attorney Phillip Prokopowicz was brought in to help with the legal matters.

My office has hired Mr. Prokopowicz to provide professional legal services in a consulting capacity. There has been no criminal case referral made by law enforcement to our office related to the Madeline Kingsbury disappearance, Sonneman stated. As you are probably aware, there is a child protection case involving the Kingsbury children that our office is handling.

Kingsbury was last seen the morning of March 31. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension considered Kingsbury endangered, and Winona Police Chief Tom Williams calledn the disappearance involuntary in April. Law enforcement has not named a suspect.

The child protection case involving Kingsburys two children is set for hearings in June. Kingsbury has sole custody of the children according to court documents.

Editors note: This story was updated May 25 to correct the date Kingsbuey was last seen.
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World War II-era aircraft hang over the main hall of the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park, across from the Science Storms exhibit. The museum celebrates its 90th birthday in 2023. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Were on our third fake out spring (conservatively), so you know what that means: summer is fast approaching, even on days it doesnt feel like it. Someday, well want to spend more hours outside than in and be on the lookout for divertissements that fit the bill.

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When that day comes, weve got you covered. Below, our summer museum highlights, some of which you can even enjoy in the great outdoors:

Ah, summer in Hyde Park: After picking up a fresh tan (or sunburn) at Promontory Point, mosey toward the recently re-christened Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly known as the Oriental Institute) to check out Artifacts Also Die, an examination of threatened antiquities in modern-day Iraq. The brave of heart can follow it up with Dog Fight: The Animal Experimentation Debate in 20th-Century Chicago a few blocks away at the Joseph Regenstein Library, recounting the University of Chicagos role in arguing in favor of live experiments on dogs abandoned in city pounds.

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Artifacts Also Die, Tuesdays through Sundays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Aug. 27 at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, 1155 E. 58th St.; suggested admission fee $10 adults and $5 children; isac.uchicago.edu

Dog Fight: The Animal Experimentation Debate in 20th-Century Chicago, Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., except Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. through Sept. 1 at Special Collections Research Center, Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St.; free admission, the public can access the Special Collections Research Center exhibitions via the visitors center; lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/exhibits

Vincent van Gogh's "Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnieres)," 1887. Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: The Modern Landscape runs through Sept. 4. (Provided by Art Institute / McCormick)

Whats new at the Art Institute: As usual, Chicagos largest art museum offers an embarrassment of riches this summer. Already on view: an homage to the Parisian suburbs of Asnieres, which inspired modernists like Van Gogh; filmmaker Margaret Hondas transformation of the Modern Wings Griffin Court skylight; selections from queer photographer Peter Hujars pioneering career; and an assemblage of ghoulish Japanese prints. Still to come are spotlights on Ellsworth Kellys portrait drawings and Spanish Mexican surrealist Remedios Varos paintings. Thursdays 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays through Mondays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; admission free to $32.

A big birthday year: The Museum of Science and Industrys major marquee event this year might be its Pompeii exhibition, open through the summer, but the museum also celebrates a big milestone on June 19: its 90th birthday. Dont miss the temporary exhibition marking the occasion, featuring an artifact from each decade of the museums history. Daily 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr.; general admission is $26 for adults, $15 for children.

Pompeii: The Exhibition, through Sept. 4, additional admission is $18 for adults and $14 for children

90 & Beyond: Our Stories, Your MSI, through May 2024

Bearing witness: Anne Frank may have penned the most famous diary to survive the Holocaust, but hers was far from the only one. A journal kept by 14-year-old Rywka Lipszyc, documenting life in the odz Ghetto, is the focus of this exhibition at the Illinois Holocaust Museum. Lipszyc was later imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen; agonizingly, she lived to see the latters liberation but likely died in a German hospital just weeks later. The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the odz Ghetto, Wednesdays through Mondays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sept. 24 at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Dr., Skokie; free to $18; ilholocaustmuseum.org

Wood you look at that?: The Chicago Architecture Center has an optimistic and surprising answer to our climate-change scaries: the future of urban development just might be built in wood. Mass timber, a superstrong engineered composite wood, generates fewer carbon emissions during production than steel and concrete and partially absorbs greenhouse gasses. (By the way, if youre worried about an 1871 redux, mass timber is apparently quite fireproof.) Sponsored by the Softwood Lumber Board, this exhibition is pretty, shall we say, invested in its sales pitch, and some have argued the deforestation necessitated by mass timbers large-scale production undermines any potential benefits. But at this point, isnt anything worth a shot? Reframed: The Future of Cities in Wood, daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 29 at the Chicago Architecture Center, 111 E. Wacker Dr.; free to $14; architecture.org

Speaking of climate change: Next month, E(art)H Chicago, an initiative by the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation, unveils 12 public artworks raising awareness about environmental justice. Youll find them all over the city from Albany Park to Hegewisch, where they will remain for at least a year. But the real limited-time offer is two jam-packed weeks of events marking the occasion, from site-specific dance performances to documentary screenings. Events run June 3-17 at various locations; public artwork details and full lineup at earthartchicago.org

Through the eyes of immigrants: While the old saying that Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw isnt true  and probably hasnt been for decades  the citys reputation for nurturing tight-knit, plentiful Polish enclaves doubtlessly precedes it. The Chicago History Museum acknowledges this legacy with a new exhibition documenting two centuries of Polish life in the city. Back Home: Polish Chicago, Tuesdays through Saturdays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sundays noon to 5 p.m. through June 2024 at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St.; free to $19; chicagohistory.org

The Driehaus Museum is housed in the 19th century Nickerson Mansion, built for banker Samuel Mayo Nickerson at the height of the countrys Gilded Age. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune 2008)

An architect ahead of his time: If youve never been to Paris but walked down Michigan Avenue, you already know the work of Hector Guimard. Synonymous with the art nouveau movement, the architect and designer dreamed up the Paris Metros iconic cast-iron entrances, with a local copycat adorning the Metra stairway at Michigan and Van Buren. (Does that make it the Metra?) The Driehaus Museum hosts the first American retrospective of le style Guimard in more than 50 years, featuring 100 furniture, jewelry, metalwork, ceramic and textile pieces, plus Guimards own drawings. Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism, Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursdays and Sundays 11. a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 22 through Nov. 5 at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 40 E. Erie St.; admission free to $20; driehausmuseum.org

Overlooked no more: The first hula dancers to arrive in Chicago performed at the 1893 Worlds Fair, held the same year the Field Museum was founded. But, like other non-Western participants treated as sideshow attractions during that fateful event, practitioners of this Native Hawaiian oral and movement tradition remain chronically misunderstood. Chicagos Legacy Hula, a Field Museum exhibition exploring generations of hula in the city, offers a corrective. If you visit the Field Museum later in the summer, be sure to save time for the latest iteration of The Changing Face of Science, a series celebrating scientists underrepresented in their fields. This time, the spotlights on Dr. Jingmai OConnor, the Fields associate curator of fossil reptiles and the punk rock paleontologist studying the mysterious holes in Sue the T. rexs skull. Daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Field Museum, 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr.; general admission $18-$30.

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Larger than life, among the leaves: Cleveland-based artist Olga Ziemska unveils the biggest show of her career at the Morton Arboretum just in time for Memorial Day weekend. And we really do mean big: Ziemska constructs five towering sculptures from tree branches and other organic materials collected on the Arboretums grounds, inspired by its similarity to the landscapes she grew up around in Poland. Of the Earth, through spring 2025, daily 7 a.m. to sunset at the Morton Arboretum, 4100 IL-53, Lisle; general admission $9-$17; mortonarb.org

Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.
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Winona Area Public Schools named four semifinalists the board will interview Thursday, May 25, for the opening superintendent position.

The semifinalists are Bradley Berzinski, principal at St. Charles Public Schools; Craig Gerlach, interim superintendent at the School District of Mishicot in Wisconsin; Angi McAndrews, principal at Rochester Public Schools; and Kent Mutchler, superintendent at Geneva Community School District in Illinois.

The identities of other applicants who the board did not name as finalists cannot be revealed due to state privacy laws.

The board will hold the first round of interviews at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, May 25, at the Winona Senior High School Library Learning Commons, on the second floor of Winona Senior High School.

Interviews are open to the public but will not be live streamed or recorded so candidates receive equal opportunities. Each interview will last an hour.

The Minnesota School Boards Association, the search firm contracted by the district board, recommended each of the four finalists out of a field of eight at a special school board meeting Tuesday, May 23.

Barb Dorn, director of leadership development and executive search with the Minnesota School Boards Association said the candidate pool was very strong.

The organizations search team, primarily composed of educators, vetted applicants in a process that included pre-interviews, a social media sweep and contacting references, said Dorn. Recommendation decisions were shaped by desired skills identified by the board and in the stakeholder survey, including an understanding of finance and implementing board directives.

Dorn shared information regarding each recommended candidate at Tuesdays board meeting, including appraisals by references. However, no semifinalist can be matched to information shared at the meeting given data privacy laws restricting how the board can discuss candidates.

Each of the candidates we are recommending are interested in the opportunity, said Dorn.

Finalist recommendations closely matched with the candidates individual board members expressed interest in interviewing. The board unanimously voted to extend offers to interview the four recommended candidates after discussion.

After the first round of interviews Thursday, the board will decide which candidates will be called back for a second interview to be held Wednesday, May 31. The board will conduct its own reference checks after selecting finalists.

During the second interview, the board will receive anonymous feedback from representatives of different employee bargaining units on finalists strengths and areas of improvement.

Its another piece of information that I think is important and we need to look at, board chair Nancy Denzer said Tuesday. Its another set of eyes and ears and I think it will be good for us.

The board voted to use the stakeholder survey, which garnered nearly 300 responses from parents and guardians, staff members and community members to represent what the community wants in the next superintendent.

The board is expected to begin contract negotiations with the lone finalist June 1 and approve the contract June 8.
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For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the sister city relationship between Winona and Misato, Japan took an in-person form.

Tuesday was Misato Day in Winona. Representatives from Misato toured Winona, discussed the renewal of the cultural exchange program that was halted because of the pandemic, and attended a reunion and memorial for longtime program organizer Joe Lepley.

Misato Day is an opportune time for the city of Winona to meet with the Misato delegation, Mayor Scott Sherman said in his proclamation of Misato Day. To show how powerful humanity can be when we unite to promote peace, progress and prosperity for a better world and reaffirm the commitment to our sister city relationship.

The delegates from Misato included Misato Mayor Seiichi Aizawa; Hiroaki Kamata, who is chairman of the Misato International Friendship Association; and cultural exchange coordinators Ryuji Ashida and Nayumi Sato.

The group met with Winona city staff and members of the Winona International Friendship Association at city hall Tuesday morning to discuss the cultural exchange program.

This exchange program is an important program that impacts the future of the students, Aizawa said. We are excited to be able to resume this program once again.

The discussion of next school years exchange  which would see students from Misato coming to Winona in October and between six to eight students from Winona going to Misato next spring  was paired with laughs, gifts and a general excitement to see each other again.

It might seem half the world away, then you get together and the bond is still as strong as the last time you saw them, said WIFA Co-Vice President Tim Breza. COVID drove us apart for years but the relationship is still there.

After their city hall visit, the Japanese delegation met students and talked with them about their potential for traveling to Misato, and got a tour of Winona Middle School with Principal Dave Anderson.

Gay Mortensen, co-vice president of WIFA, said the generational thread of students each year being excited for the opportunity to travel to Misato has been lost since the start of the pandemic.

That thread of a sixth grader saying, Oh, I cant wait for eighth grade to be a part of that is gone, Mortenson said. We need to rebuild that.

At the Misato Sister City reunion later in the day Tuesday, past Misato travelers through the program gathered to share stories, photos and laughs with the Misato delegation based around the communal relationship the two cities share.

It was a life-changing experience, Willa Krase, who went to Misato for the program in 2018. Heres a different culture of people living on the other side of the world and what really struck me was how similar we all were.

Another former student ambassador, Carolyn Macon, said the trip opened her eyes to more than just a new culture and traveling outside of the United States for the first time but little things like music. That she still listens to today.

We are at this crossroads thats quite unique, Breza said about Winona. We are able to experience cultures across the world.

Additionally, the reunion was also a time for remembrance for the late Joe Lepley. Who was a longtime and beloved organizer of Winonas trips to Japan.

Michelle Alexander, board chair of WIFA, said Lepley worked hard to build trust between cultures and communities.

He never stopped trying to make this program a part of our lives, Alexander said.

Reuniongoers wrote messages about Lepley to send to his family and lit lanterns in the Japanese tradition of remembrance.

Reflecting on his experience of Winonas Misato Day, Mayor Aizawa said Winona and Misatos relationship is like the cherry trees planted at Lake Park in 2012 as a gift from Misato: growing still, strong and with deeper roots each year.

Close Being Misato Day in Winona Tuesday, there was a reunion for past student ambassadors and people a part of the cultural exchange trips to Japan. In addition to the reunion for Misato travelers, a remembrance for Joe Lepley was held. Messages were written to be sent to Lepley's family and also lanterns were lit in the Japanese tradition of remembrance. With Sugar Loaf Bluff in the background, the gathered-reunion of Misato travelers take a group photo with delegates from Misato Japan. Mayor of Misato, Seiichi Aizawa (left) and Mayor of Winona, Scott Sherman (right) stand with the proclamation that names May 23, 2023 Misato Day in Winona. With many gifts exchanged between city staff and their guests from Misato Tuesday, one gift was a stained glass cardinal given to Mayor Aizawa which was made in Winona. An integral part of Winona and Misato's sister city relationship is its cultural exchange program for students in both cities. On Tuesday, Winona Middle School Principal Anderson gave the Misato delegation a tour of the school. During their tour of the middle school Tuesday, representatives from Misato were able to visit classrooms and interact with students. Students asked questions about Japan and the cultural exchange program. Winona Middle School Principal, Dave Anderson (left), receives the gift of a haiku from Misato Mayor Seiichi Aizawa. Misato Day 2023 Being Misato Day in Winona Tuesday, there was a reunion for past student ambassadors and people a part of the cultural exchange trips to Japan. In addition to the reunion for Misato travelers, a remembrance for Joe Lepley was held. Messages were written to be sent to Lepley's family and also lanterns were lit in the Japanese tradition of remembrance. With Sugar Loaf Bluff in the background, the gathered-reunion of Misato travelers take a group photo with delegates from Misato Japan. Mayor of Misato, Seiichi Aizawa (left) and Mayor of Winona, Scott Sherman (right) stand with the proclamation that names May 23, 2023 Misato Day in Winona. With many gifts exchanged between city staff and their guests from Misato Tuesday, one gift was a stained glass cardinal given to Mayor Aizawa which was made in Winona. An integral part of Winona and Misato's sister city relationship is its cultural exchange program for students in both cities. On Tuesday, Winona Middle School Principal Anderson gave the Misato delegation a tour of the school. During their tour of the middle school Tuesday, representatives from Misato were able to visit classrooms and interact with students. Students asked questions about Japan and the cultural exchange program. Winona Middle School Principal, Dave Anderson (left), receives the gift of a haiku from Misato Mayor Seiichi Aizawa.
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American poet Amanda Gorman recites a poem during the Inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. The poem written for Bidens inauguration has been placed on a restricted list for elementary-aged students at a school in South Florida after a complaint by one parent. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

MIAMI  A poem written for President Joe Bidens inauguration has been placed on a restricted list at a South Florida elementary school after one parents complaint.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, poet Amanda Gorman vowed to fight back. Her poem, The Hill We Climb was challenged by the parent of two students at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, along with several books.

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Im gutted, she wrote. Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.

Gorman, who at 17 became the countrys National Youth Poet Laureate, said she wrote the poem The Hill We Climb, so all young people could see themselves in a historical moment, and that shes received countless letters and videos from children who were inspired to write their own poems.

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She became an international sensation at Bidens inauguration, where she was the youngest poet to read at the ceremony since Robert Frost was invited to John F. Kennedys in 1961.

In The Hill We Climb, Gorman references everything from Biblical scripture to Hamilton, and at times echoes the oratory of Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. With urgency and assertion she begins by asking, Where can we find light/In this never-ending shade? and used her own poetry and life story as an answer.

She said she planned to share a message of hope for Bidens inauguration without ignoring the evidence of discord and division. She had completed a little more than half of the poem before Jan. 6 and the siege of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

The poem and books are still available in the media center for middle school-aged children, Ana Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade school district, said in a statement.

While book bans are not new, they are happening much more frequently, especially in Florida  where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has championed policies that allow the censorship of books some have deemed inappropriate for children in schools, causing national uproar.

DeSantis, who entered the 2024 presidential race Wednesday, has leaned heavily into cultural divides on race, sexual orientation and gender as he gains support from conservative voters who decide Republican primary elections.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the decision to ban Gormans poem, saying Biden and his administration stands with her.

The President was proud to have Ms. Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet speak at his inauguration, she said.

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Banning books is censorship, period, she added. It limits American freedom  Americans freedom and we should all stand against that type of act.

Yecenia Martinez, principal of the K-8 school, which is part of the Miami-Dade public school system, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the poems ban. The school is named after Bob Graham, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator from Florida.

Daily Salinas, the parent who objected to the poem and books, told the Miami Herald shes not for eliminating or censoring any books. Salinas said she wants materials to be appropriate and for students to know the truth about Cuba. It was not immediately clear what she objected to in Gormans poem.

After her complaint, a materials review committee made up of three teachers, a library media specialist, a guidance counselor and the principal, determined one of the books in question was balanced and age appropriate, and would remain available for all students, the newspaper reported.

The other four were deemed better suited or more appropriate for middle school students. The books were to remain in the middle school section of the media center, the review concluded.

And lets be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on the bookshelves, Gormans post said. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.
British Stalwarts for Ukraine War Admit Failure of Sanctions

May 23, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Two prominent British publications now admit that the almost unprecedented economic sanctions applied against Russia are failing, reports Alastair Crooke, on May 21 in Beirut-based Al Mayadeen media network, in an article entitled, Financial Shock and Awe On Russia Pronounced Dead by Two Establishment Journals.

Crooke writes, with devilish delight, Two very establishment, Anglo-American media in the U.K. finallyand bitterlyhave admitted it out loud: Sanctions on Russia failed. Crooke quotes The Spectator (for which Boris Johnson was editor, 1999-2005), in which its lead article on May 13 reads:

Unleashing financial shock and awe on a scale never before seen, Russia was to be cut off almost entirely.... Putins Russia, went the theory, would be impoverished into surrender. 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. But these figures [on limitations to the EU energy boycott] do not explain the scale of the failure to damage the Russian economy. 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 Indiaboth of which preferred to buy oil at a discount than to make a stand against the invasion of Ukraine.... The West embarked on its sanctions war with an exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world.... The results of the miscalculation are there for all to see.... The Russian economy has not been destroyed; it has merely been reconfigured, reorientated to look eastwards and southwards rather than westwards.

Moreover, in the May 10 Telegraph, Allister Heath also bemoans:

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.... 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.

Crooke adds on his own behalf, For some, reading these words, their reaction will be one of utter amazement: How come it took this long for the British Establishment to wake up to that which all the world knew?

He continues, The Spectator, in fact, gives us the answer: An exaggerated sense of Western influence around the world.  Crooke adds, Or simply put: delusionary hubris placed blinders on Western policymakers; they could not see what was before their own eyes.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR WEDNESDAY MAY 24, 2023

The Peace Speech: An International Mobilization To Take Back the American Government

May 23, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)While it has been noted by former British diplomat Alistair Crooke, commenting on the admission, both in the London Telegraph and the Spectator, of the failure of the NATO sanctions policy of financial nuclear war against Russia, that delusionary hubris placed blinders on Western policymakers; they could not see what was before their own eyes, he, in his commentary, failed to compare this doomed outlook to that contained in Classical tragedyfor example, Sophocles Oedipus Rex. Crooke, like many academic commentators whose descriptive rendering of the present civilizational crisis may be accurate, tells us nothing of the way out, of how to defeat tragedy.

When former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn brought up the actions of South Africa, the Vatican and Brazil in pursuing peace and a cessation of the world war now ongoing in Ukraine, the hapless Prime Minister Rishi Sunak blithely and proudly proclaimed the necessary death of the Ukrainian nation for the greater glory of the Anglospherethat Ukraine must reject peace. Meanwhile, in answering a reporters question yesterday, former President of Russia and current Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said: In the West, there is no one to talk to about security guarantees. NATO is not serious about the threat of a nuclear apocalypse. NATO is mistaken in considering a nuclear conflict impossible since events can go according to an unpredictable scenario. If that condition of Russia-U.S. relations persists, as Medvedev has stated it, thermonuclear war would seem tragically inevitable, given the axiomatic self-doom being pursued by Perfidious Albion and its D.C. henchmen.

The alternative strategic orientation to this lack of creative imagination, available to all that seek it, might be called Think and Fight Like Beethoven! What needs to be understood is the Indispensable Role of Classical Artistic Methods of thinking for humanitys short-term and durable survival. Lyndon LaRouche, in his 2000 composition Politics As Art, on the eve of the 2000 Presidential election, insisted on the need for a fundamental change in the American citizenry, and proposed person-to person discussionof a certain typeas the way to bring that about.

The model you must come to know, to be able to rise to that higher level of deliberation on the subjects of our nations policy-making issues, is the model to be found in re-enacting the Socratic dialogues of Plato, viewing those dialogues for what they are: Classical dramas portraying exchanges among characters typifying notable actual figures from the living history of the Greece of that age. It is by re-enacting those dialogues as dramas, that ordinary people, may be pleasantly surprised to touch something of that quality of mind which makes for genius, as they become, through experience, increasingly efficient, even as ordinary citizens, in use of the most important principles for rational selection of political choices. From that standpoint, you will also come to know, that every form of important Classical artistic composition, functions according to exactly the same principle as Platos Socratic method.

The use by Schiller Institute founder and leader Helga Zepp-LaRouche of the speech, and the 60th anniversary of the speech of assassinated President John F. Kennedy at American Universitythe Peace Speechhas already inspired a lawful, if somewhat unexpected optimism among those who have either revisited that speech, or heard it for the first time. It is not only the poetic quality of the vision offered there, but the change in mind-set upon which the speech turnsfrom the world-destroying brink of October 1962 to the species affirming plea of June 10, 1963, that is most striking: For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our childrens future. And we are all mortal.

The Kennedy Presidency is particularly most startling to those born after 1984, who have been encumbered by the living experience of the Presidency after that time, particularly since September 11, 2001. For them, the American University speech is a revelation. Most importantly, however, the Schiller Institute, as with its internationalization of the principles of the American Declaration of Independence in its slight re-write and proclamation of the Declaration of the Inalienable Rights of Man, has appropriated the JFK Peace Speech as a weapon for peace today.

Those who are honest know that the population of the United States today needs international assistance in order to take back its government. Those who are honest, know that there are no national measures, in any nation of the trans-Atlantic sector, including the United States, that can save those nations from the doomed financial and banking system that is about to publicly and unceremoniously collapse. A global Glass-Steagall, not a one-nation banking reform, is the baseline for survival, including the physical survival of tens of millions in the short term. The Anglo-American so-called security state, including the Durham report-exposed FBI, the Nord Stream pipeline explosion-exposed Pentagon, and the Russian hack/Russiagate exposed NSA, CIA, etc. must be dismantledbut how?

It must be done by invoking the power of the American Presidency to denounce and undo the present foreign and domestic policies of the United States. But this is a spiritual power, the power of the intention of the Presidential office. As

RFK Jr. pointed out in a recent interview, my uncle used to say ... Ben Bradlee, his best friend, asked him what he wanted on his gravestone, and he said, He kept the peace. He said the primary job of a President of the United States is to keep our country out of war. That is the primary job, and he succeeded in doing that. But no President since him has.

Lyndon LaRouche in Glass-Steagall & Beyond: Our Credit System, said:

The only legitimate expression of a necessary, general form of warfare has been resistance up to or beyond nuclear defense against a foe whose threat is an expression of a modern technological form of oligarchical interest. All other forms of warfare or its like, are actionably criminal, clearly so if the violator is of the quality of the current British imperially reigning oligarchy and its allied puppets. That evil oligarchical expression must be defeated, and thereupon, excised from position of power, at all necessary risk.

President Kennedy demonstrated that he believed that, and took the necessary conceptual risk, at American University. Only a citizenry that relives the drama of what that President did, between October 1962 and June 1963, now, can provide the political basis for this nation, and perhaps the world, to survive. The Zepp-LaRouche Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture can only be embraced and implemented by a population that believes and demands that it is greater than the tragic destiny of the failed Anglo-American oligarchs who, though they may to seem to have ruled in these past decades up to this point, have been tested in the balance and found wanting by history, and the just laws of the universe. We who are not so condemned must take back our government using a politics as art as our efficient means of securing the peace.
Brazils environmental agency recently refused to give oil company Petrobras permission to search for oil under the ocean near the mouth of the Amazon River.

Petrobras is Brazils state-run oil company.

The oil company wanted to start a drilling project near the northern coast of Brazil, in an area known as the Tapajos Basin. Activists describe the area as unique and say it contains plants and coral reefs that are sensitive to chemicals. A number of environmental organizations pushed the agency to reject Petrobras application.

When the environmental agencys leader, Rodrigo Agostinho announced his decision last week, he said the company did not fix some technical inconsistencies in its proposal.

The head of Petrobras is Jean Paul Prates. He said the company has never had an oil leak during offshore projects. His word, however, was not enough to persuade the agency of the projects safety.

Petrobras noted that it would appeal the decision. The oil company believes exploring the northern coast is important for the nations economy. Brazils oil production, Petrobras said, is expected to reach its highest level soon and then start to drop off. The company planned to invest half of its $6 billion exploration budget for the next five years in the area.

Agostinho called the area a new exploratory frontier with high vulnerability in his announcement.

Groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace were among the organizations asking the agency to reject Petrobras request.

Another group was Health and Happiness, a Brazilian nonprofit led by Caetano Scannavino. He was pleased with the decision and said it was an example of prioritizing science in the service of the collective.

He went on to say any mistake in the area would hurt the environment. If the agency had permitted drilling, he said, it would be going against the Brazilian governments promise of a decarbonized future.

The Climate Observatory is a network of environmental nonprofit groups. It said the agency is protecting an unknown ecosystem and maintains the coherence of the Lula government.

Brazils president is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He had been president from 2003 to 2010 and permitted offshore drilling during that term. The large oil projects helped pay for improvements in Brazilian health, education and welfare programs. Some members of Lulas Workers Party political group consider oil money as a way to increase social spending.

Lula now says he supports the environment. His promises about protecting the Amazon rain forest helped him win last years election over former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Experts and activists say Lulas reputation would be hurt if his government permitted the offshore drilling project.

Suely Araujo is a former head of Brazils environment agency and now works with the Climate Observatory. Araujo said the decision to block the drilling project means Brazil should also start to end its dependence on fossil fuels, like oil and gas.

However, not everyone from the area close to the drilling site was pleased with the decision. Randolfe Rodrigues is a senator from Amapa State, the state that stood to gain the most if Petrobras found oil.

He said the restriction on oil exploration will hurt the development of Amapa. He said he would put a group together to fight the decision.

Petrobras said its proposal did not violate any requirements set forth by the government, and its exploration area was far away from the river. The oil company said it would continue to look for new drilling areas, but also work to find a way to drill in the area it first targeted.

There are other projects for the environment agency to consider. They include the repair of a highway through the rain forest, construction of a major railway for transporting grain and the renewal of a hydroelectric dams operating permit.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press.

______________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

inconsistency n. the quality of not having all parts agreeing with each other or of not being the same

frontier n. an area that distant from where people are and is not known well

vulnerability n. a weakness or a quality that permits something or someone to be hurt or damaged

prioritize v. to make something important so it will be dealt with soon

decarbonized adj. (environmental) related to effort to reduce the amount of carbon-based fuels used for energy

ecosystem n. everything that exists in a particular environment and that is connected with its surroundings

coherence n. the quality of being well organized and logical

reputation n. other peoples opinion about a person

______________________________________________________________________

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An experimental skin treatment might help young children who have strong reactions to peanuts. The new skin patch is designed to train the body to deal with the food allergy.

An allergy is a strong sometimes dangerous reaction that comes after eating, touching or breathing something that is harmless to most people.

About two percent of U.S. children are allergic to peanuts. Some are so allergic that even a small amount can cause a life-threatening reaction.

Some children outgrow the allergy. But many must avoid peanuts for life and carry medicine to treat a severe reaction if they accidentally eat peanuts.

In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first treatment to increase tolerance to peanuts. The treatment is called Palforzia. It targets four to 17-year-old children and is eaten daily. The California-based drug company Aimmune Therapeutics makes Palforzia. The treatment is also being tested on children younger than four.

The new patch

The new patch is called Viaskin. It provides a similar treatment to Palforzia but through the skin. Frances DBV Technologies is researching skin-based treatments as another way to help the body tolerate allergens like peanuts.

The Viaskin patch is covered with a small amount of peanut protein that the skin takes in. A daily patch is worn in the upper-middle part of the back, where young children cannot pull it off.

On May 11, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study on peanut allergies involving 362 young children ages one to three. The children were tested for the allergy and received the treatment for one year. After 12 months, researchers said the children who took the skin-based treatment showed more tolerance or less severe reactions than those who had taken no effective treatment, or a placebo.

Dr. Matthew Greenhawt is an allergist at Childrens Hospital Colorado who helped lead the study. He said, if additional testing shows good results, this would fill a huge unmet need.

The researchers said that about two thirds of the children who used the real patch could safely eat more peanuts, about three to four.

That compares to about one third of the children who were given the patch without the peanut protein: the placebo. Greenhawt said that group likely included children who were outgrowing the allergy during the test.

Four children receiving Viaksin experienced an allergic reaction called anaphylaxis that was found to be related to the patch. Three were treated with the medicine epinephrine to calm the reaction, and one dropped out of the study as a result.

Some of the children also accidentally ate foods containing peanuts during the study. Researchers said allergic reactions happened less often among the Viaskin users than those wearing the patches without peanut protein. The most common side effect was skin irritation around the patch.

The results are very good news for toddlers and their families as the next step toward a future with more treatments for food allergies, said Dr. Alkis Togias of the National Institutes of Health. He was not involved with the study.

Togias warned that it is too early to compare treatment by skin and by mouth. But he pointed to data suggesting that both have different good and bad effects. He suggested that treatment by the mouth might be stronger but also might cause more side effects.

DBV Technologies also struggled for several years to bring the peanut patch to market. Last month the company announced that the FDA wanted additional safety research for toddlers.

At least two studies are reportedly being carried out. One is researching a longer treatment program. A second study is targeting four- to seven-year-olds.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Lauran Neergaard reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

patch  n. a piece of material that contains a drug and that is worn on your skin to allow the drug to slowly enter your body over a long period of time

tolerance  n. your body's ability to become adjusted to something (such as a drug) so that its effects are experienced less strongly

anaphylaxis  n. (medical) an extreme, sudden reaction that includes swell, increased blood pressure and breathing that comes from coming in contact with a drug or protein

irritation  v. to make (part of your body) sore or painful

toddler  n. a young child who is just learning to walk

____________________________________________________________________

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LEXINGTON  The Lexington city council considered adding restrictions for commercial vehicle parking in residential areas during their meeting on Tuesday, May 23.

City Manager Joe Pepplitsch said city staff was recommending adding a specific commercial vehicle definition to the city code and adding restrictions regarding their parking in residential zoning districts.

Pepplitch noted the city receives many complaints about semis, semi-trailers, panel trucks, etc., parking on residential streets. Its more prevalent than people think, Pepplitsch said.

The definition for commercial vehicles in the city code would be, truck-tractors or semi-trailers, panel trucks and any commercial hauling trailers.

The section in the code regarding trucks and commercial vehicles parking in residential districts was proposed to read, In all residential zoning districts, the parking of trucks and commercial vehicles is expressly prohibited on any residential zoned lot or on any street or public property within a residential zoning district or adjacent to residential property.

The parking of commercial vehicles in those areas wont be a violation if:

Trucks or commercial vehicles being used for the purpose of delivery of pickup of goods in a residential area , with loading and unloading not to exceed one hour

Unloaded trucks classified as one ton or less which have no malodorous, offense, foul or noxious odors

Trucks or commercial vehicles being used in connection with construction, repair, service or moving operations may be parked in a residential area while the construction, repair, service or moving operations are actually in process.

Council member Steve Smith asked about parking a commercial vehicle in a drive way. Pepplitsch said the proposed parking code was written to not allow these types of vehicles to be parked in those zones at all.

Pepplitsch acknowledged there are two sides to the issue, on one hand are business owners who own the vehicles and might park them on their property or on the street in front of the property.

On the other is the surrounding neighborhood who may take issue with such large vehicles taking up space on a street or being parked in front of their own properties.

Pepplitsch showed the council members a few photos as example of the issue. In one, a semi-truck was parked in a driveway, but a four door car was parked behind it and was taking up the sidewalk space, with the back end hanging off in the street.

When asked by the council about penalties for infractions, Pepplitsch said the council could implement a warning at first and then followed by a penalty. Failure to abide by the city code is typically a $500 fine.

City Attorney Brian Copley said Lexington isnt the first area community to deal with this issue. It was noted the language from the proposed parking code was largely pulled from Kearneys code.

The proposed parking ordinance was approved on first reading by the council, it will be brought back to the city council for final consideration at a future meeting.

The next item on the agenda was a request from the Lexington Optimist Club and Three 21 Tavern to use the parking lot at the southwest corner of the intersection of 5th and Grant Streets for a street dance on June 17-18, Alumni Weekend.

The plan is to fence in the east parking lot of Three 21 Tavern with cattle fencing, there would be one entry and paid bouncers will be checking identification and providing patrons wristbands. The council approved the request.

The last item was a contract for fiscal year 2024 with the West Central Nebraska Area Agency on Aging to provide meals at the Lexington Grand Generation Center.

Pepplitch noted reimbursements had slightly increased but otherwise the contract remained the same, the council approved.

During the roundtable discussion, Pepplitsch said preliminary work will be starting at Patriot Park in the northwest area of town.

Dirt work is also underway at the Wycoff Addition, west of Lexington Regional Health Center and at the future Lexington Racquet Complex, in Plum Creek Park.
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A plan for implementing Nebraskas new voter identification requirements cleared a major hurdle Monday, despite fierce objections from the senator who led efforts to put voter ID on the ballot.

Senators advanced Legislative Bill 514 past first-round consideration on a 43-1 vote, after adding an amendment backed by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, the committee chairman, said the amendment was the product of weeks of work. He said it aims to carry out the will of Nebraska voters, who overwhelmingly passed the voter ID measure last year, without being so restrictive that it would deny people their right to vote.

The amendment spells out what documents would be accepted to prove identity for voting, how ID requirements would be handled for mail-in ballots, how people could get free IDs for voting and when exceptions would be allowed.

Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar, who sponsored the ballot proposal, cast the lone vote against advancing the bill. She called the committee amendment unconstitutional and said it would not stop people from voting without ID or require verification of citizenship.

Nebraskans have spoken, and now its our responsibility to ensure that only the votes of eligible voters are counted, she said, arguing that the committee amendment betrays the will of the voters.

Slama urged senators to support her implementation proposal instead. Her amendment covered the same basic topics as the committee amendment but had more expansive requirements concerning citizenship, mail-in ballots and exceptions to the photo ID requirement.

Her amendment failed with eight votes in support and 22 against. Numerous senators sat out the vote. The vote was even more lopsided against a second proposal she offered near the end of the debate.

During her filibuster against LB514, Slama claimed that the committee amendment had been written by Secretary of State Bob Evnen to make his job easier and was being pushed by people who traditionally oppose voter ID.

Its voter ID without voter ID, she said.

Evnen declined to comment about her claims other than to say, I dont have amendments. I try to respond to requests that have been given to me.

Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln argued against Slamas proposals, saying that neither the ballot measure nor explanatory language put together by supporters of the ballot measure mentioned citizenship or mail-in ballots.

The debate stems from the constitutional amendment passed last year requiring qualified voters to present valid photographic ID before casting a ballot in any election. The amendment left it to lawmakers to determine how the requirement should be carried out.

Under the committee plan, voters would have to start showing ID after April 1 next year. That means the requirement would be in effect for Nebraskans casting early ballots for the 2024 primary election.

Voters would be able to use IDs issued by the federal government, state of Nebraska, local governments or Nebraska colleges, as long as they have the persons name and photo. Expired documents would be accepted.

Military and veteran IDs, tribal IDs and patient records with photos kept by nursing homes, assisted living facilities or hospitals also would be accepted.

People casting mail-in ballots would have to include the number from their Nebraska drivers license or state ID card or a copy of an accepted ID document. People who go to the polls without acceptable ID could cast a provisional ballot but would have to show a valid ID to election officials by the Tuesday after the election to have their vote count.

Voters with a reasonable impediment to showing voter ID could be exempted, including those with a religious objection to being photographed and those who cannot get an ID because of disability, illness or lack of a birth certificate or other required documents.

The proposal would allow people to get a free state identification card for voting purposes and a free copy of a state birth certificate, if needed to obtain a state ID card.

The amendment would require the Secretary of States Office to publicize the new requirements. It also would require the office to develop a process for ensuring that only citizens are on the state voter rolls.

Among other things, Slamas proposal would have required, for mail-in ballots, that a registered voter or a notary public sign under penalty of law that they had checked the voters ID. It would have accepted only IDs that had required proof of citizenship to obtain, and it would have had a more complex process for exempting people from having to show an ID.

A look at how voter ID laws differ from state to state Alabama Alaska Arizona Connecticut Delaware Idaho Indiana Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana New York Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
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Former President Donald Trump, left on screen, and his attorney, Todd Blanche, right on screen, appear by video before a hearing begins in Manhattan criminal court, in New York, May 23, 2023. (Curtis Means/AP)

WASHINGTON  Donald Trump speaks about his legal woes in a way that would make most defense attorneys wince.

A recent sampling: In a March interview on Fox News Channel, the Republican former president said he had the right to take classified documents with him to his Florida resort and wouldnt say he hadnt looked at the records since leaving office. During a CNN town hall this month, he said he told a Georgia elections official you owe me votes in the 2020 election.

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At the same town hall on May 10 he insulted a female writer as a wack job  only a day after that same woman, E. Jean Carroll, won a $5 million judgment against him in a civil suit alleging defamation and sexual assault. On Monday, Carroll amended a lawsuit to hold him liable for the town hall remarks.

Trump, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has never hesitated to offer his opinion or joust with his antagonists. The problem, legal experts say, is that the former president is under intensifying scrutiny from state and federal prosecutors, and those same prosecutors can use the former presidents statements against him in a variety of ways.

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Any utterances by a defendant, whether they are confessions, denials, observations, nonsensical gibberish, or just plain goofy are nothing but pure gold for prosecutors, said Julieanne Himelstein, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington.

Trump has found himself under investigation by prosecutors stretching from New York to Georgia.

He was indicted in March by a Manhattan grand jury on charges related to hush-money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. On Tuesday, a New York judge set the trial to begin on March 25, in the midst of the primary contests. Trump, appearing via video conference, threw his hands up in frustration at the timing of the trial and glowered at the camera.

A local prosecutor in Georgia is investigating whether the former president and his allies broke the law in seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis suggested last week that indictments could come in August. Meanwhile, a Justice Department special counsel is probing the former presidents role in the Jan. 6., 2021, insurrection and the discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Largo, Trumps Florida home and resort.

In recent media appearances and during rallies, Trump has made comments that could be seen as incriminating or, at the very least, complicate his legal teams ability to beat back charges. He seemed to get into particular trouble during a May 10 town hall hosted by CNN.

The former president spent nearly an hour discussing a range of issues while also commenting on the investigations in ways that run counter to generally accepted legal advice. Not only did he re-insult Carroll and provide Fulton Countys prosecutor more fodder for her probe but he also gave the Justice Department an opening by claiming he couldnt recall whether he had shown classified documents to anyone.

Joyce Vance, a law professor who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama under President Barack Obama, opined on Twitter: There were prosecutors and agents taking notes tonight.

Trump also suggested that he was personally involved in taking records to Mar-a-Lago  I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified, he said. That statement is at odds with arguments made by his own lawyers, who as recently as last month suggested in a letter to Congress that the document removal was the result of haphazard records-keeping and packing rather than an intentional decision by Trump.

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The statements are being made as the documents investigation shows signs of winding down and as Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith zeroes in on the question of potential obstruction, drilling into the failure by Trump and his representatives to return the classified records in his possession despite being issued a subpoena to do so.

Trumps penchant for public statements was on display in the last special counsel investigation he faced. He famously told an interviewer in 2017 that he was thinking of this Russia thing when he fired former FBI director James Comey. His lawyers sought to explain away that statement by noting that he had also said that he knew that firing Comey would prolong, rather than shorten, the Russia probe.

Legal scholars said that prosecutors might not be able to use some of Trumps comments if they are not relevant to the charges or might be deemed prejudicial by a judge.

They also may not need to play them to jurors because other evidence is much stronger. While Trump said on CNN that he told Brad Raffensperger you owe me votes, he was also tape recorded asking the Georgia elections official to find him more votes. The call came in January 2021 as Trump was desperately trying to overturn Georgias election result.

Its not inculpatory any more than the fact that we already have a recorded phone call, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University. It might be more damning had we not had the actual recording of the phone call.

Former prosecutors and defense attorneys say a clients public comments can hamstring how they present their cases to a jury. It can reveal their strategy and lock them into certain lines of attacking the prosecutions case. Such comments might also encourage them to do everything they can to keep their client from taking the witness stand.

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For example, they said, Trump may have admitted to taking classified documents from the White House but his lawyers wrote, The purpose of this letter is not to opine about whether these documents are actually classified or have been declassified.

If Trump were to ever testify, prosecutors could use such contradictory statements to poke holes in his story, making it harder for his defense team to tell the jury a coherent narrative.

It could well be that what Trump is doing is making it impossible for him to testify because hed be so damaged were he to testify, said Richard Klein, a criminal law professor at Touro University in New York.
Yesterday, the local branch of Bank of China issued the worlds first Yulan Bonds, as part of its latest move to push for the internationalization of the RMB, according to its statement. The bonds have a two-year maturity and a total value of RMB2 billion. Fitch Ratings has assigned an expected rating of A(EXP) to Bank of China Limiteds proposed senior unsecured Yulan notes that are issued by the banks Macau branch under the USD40 billion medium-term note (MTN) program. According to Fitch, the proposed notes will represent BOCs direct, unconditional, unsecured and unsubordinated obligations and they are rated in line with its Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR).

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During his meeting with businesses from the Lusophone Commonwealth, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng expressed his hopes that Macau would be promoted.

Officially known as the called Portuguese-speaking Countries Community, the Lusophone Commonwealth includes a Confederation of Enterprises, a delegation of which recently visited Macau.

Nelma Fernandes, president of the confederation and the head of the delegation, met Ho during the visit in Macau.

Ho understood this visit as a vote of confidence in Macau, Hengqin and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

He hoped the Confederation would work to promote Macau, Hengqin and the GBA to Lusophone companies, to further strengthen trade cooperation and escalate Macaus function as a Chinese-Portuguese platform.

He also reiterated Macaus role in connecting China and Lusophone countries, citing the consistent increase in bilateral trade over the past 20 years as proof.

Ho introduced Macaus strategies of development to Fernandes, and the inauguration of the China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries Economic Cooperation Forum (Macao) in 2003.

In response, Fernandes said that through this visit in the GBA, the Confederation hoped to build cooperation in the short, mid and long-term with Macau.

She also expressed her willingness to further promote relations between China and Lusophone countries, as well as escalating Macaus function as a Chinese-Portuguese platform.

She has also agreed to organize Lusophone enterprises to Macau during the next Ministerial Meeting of Forum (Macao).

The head of the Confederation has also described Hos earlier visit to Portugal as effective in presenting Macaus situation after Covid-19 to the business circle in the country.
Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec signed an agreement with Sri Lanka today [Macau time] to enter the South Asian island countrys retail fuel market as it struggles to resolve a worsening energy crisis amid an unprecedented economic upheaval.

The contract agreement would enable Sinopec to import, store, distribute and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka, which has had a fuel shortage for more than a year.

The move comes as Beijing looks to consolidate investments in Sri Lankas ports and energy sector amid growing security concerns raised by the island nations immediate neighbor, India, which considers Sri Lanka to be its strategic backyard.

Sri Lanka, which is facing a foreign exchange crisis, hopes the deal will help to resolve its energy crisis.

The agreement signed this week in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, was made to ensure uninterrupted fuel suppliers to consumers, the presidents office said in a news release.

Under the pact, Sinopec will be granted a 20-year license to operate 150 fuel stations currently operated by Sri Lankas state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and to invest in 50 new fuel stations and in the countrys energy sector, the nations Power and Energy Ministry said in a statement.

Sinopec can start operations within 45 days of license issuance and this development brings hope for a more stable and reliable fuel supply, boosting the countrys energy sector and providing assurance to consumers, the presidents office said.

When the economic crisis hit Sri Lanka last year, the government couldnt find foreign currency to import fuel, triggering a severe shortage that lasted for more than two months and forcing people to endure long lines at fuel stations. Sri Lankans are still allotted limited amounts of fuel that is distributed according to a QR code system.

In an effort to resolve the crisis, Sri Lanka opened its retail fuel market to foreign petroleum companies, asking them to use their own funds to purchase fuel, without depending on Sri Lankan banks for foreign exchange. The government has given approval to two other foreign companies  Australias United Petroleum and U.S. company RM Parks in collaboration with Shell  to enter its fuel market.

An Indian oil company already operates in Sri Lanka. But, India is concerned over the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka, which sits along one of the worlds busiest shipping routes.

Sri Lanka borrowed heavily from China over the past decade for infrastructure projects including a seaport, airport and a city being built on reclaimed land. The projects failed to earn enough revenue to pay for the loans, a factor in Sri Lankas economic woes. In 2017, Sri Lanka leased the seaport in Hambantota to China because it could not pay back the loan.

China accounts for about 10% of Sri Lankas loans, trailing only Japan and the Asian Development Bank. MDT/AP
Foreign companies in China are uncertain about what they are allowed to do following police raids on consulting firms and want greater clarity about how newly expanded national security and other rules will be enforced, a foreign business group said yesterday.

The British Chamber of Commerce in China said a survey of its members found they are more optimistic following Decembers lifting of anti-virus controls that blocked most travel into and out of China. It said they want to invest but are waiting for steps to restore the trust and certainty in China amid tension with Europe and Washington and official plans to promote economic self-reliance.

If there is greater clarity and greater certainty, then we believe that companies will commit more to China, said the chamber chairman, Julian MacCormac, at a news conference. Some 70% of companies are really waiting to see how conditions develop before taking action.

The Chinese government says foreign companies are welcome and is trying to encourage them to invest more. But they are uneasy following the expansion of national security and other rules with little explanation and official plans to create competitors to global suppliers of processor chips and other technology, sometimes using subsidies and market barriers that have strained relations with the European Union, Washington and other trading partners.

Earlier this week, the government banned use of products from the biggest U.S. maker of memory chips, Micron Technology Inc., in computers that handle sensitive information. It said Micron had unspecified security flaws but gave no explanation.

Companies are on edge after police raided offices of two consultancies, Bain & Co. and Capvision, and a due diligence firm, Mintz Group. Authorities have given no explanation. They say companies are obliged to obey the law but have given no indication of possible violations.

The British chamber represents some 650 companies, many of them in finance, consulting and other service industries that might be affected by tighter curbs on what information can be gathered in China and how it can be used and stored.

Yesterdays report included 171 suggestions for Chinese regulators including greater clarity about data restrictions on the auto industry and addressing what it said is unfair treatment of foreign companies in government purchasing.

The chambers director of government relations, Sally Xu, said member companies that responded to a request for questions ahead of a meeting next week with a Ministry of Commerce official all asked about the investigations of consultants.

Our companies are concerned about this, Xu said. They wonder, where is the line between what we can do and cannot do?

A survey in April found 76% of companies that responded are more optimistic following the end of anti-virus controls that blocked most travel into and out of China, according to the chamber. But its report said the outlook is clouded by an unpredictable business environment, political tension and increased talk of self-sufficiency.

This language around security and self-reliance needs to be balanced against the message of welcome to come to China, because I think there is some nervousness, McCormac said. It raises uncertainty about, whats the future like for me as a company in China?

JOE McDONALD, BEIJING, MDT/AP
The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has begun efforts to familiarize the public with the new veterinary law that will be enacted April 1, 2024.

It recently organized a briefing on the law  officially referred to as the Law on Veterinary Clinical Care and Commercial Activity of Animals  which was attended by 200 people. The bureau said some attendees were from the veterinary sector.

The bureau hoped to introduce the details of the law and the transitional arrangements through the event, as well as collect opinions on supplementary regulations. It also hoped to enable stakeholders to better understand the legal framework and be more cooperative with its implementation.

During the briefing, participants received details on the certification regime for professional accreditation and the registration requirements for veterinary surgeons.

They also enquired about the requirements for the issuing of licenses for establishments, the use of the establishments, requirements for partitions, facilities and equipment, the obligations of license holders, and more, according to the IAM.

The bureau has also collaborated with local animal rescue group Everyone Stray Dogs Macau Volunteer Group to co-host a coloring competition to promote caring for animals, respect for life and responsible pet ownership.

The competition has three categories, for five to eight year olds, nine to 12 year olds, and 13 to 16 year olds. Applications will be accepted until July 28.

The competition welcomes the participation of local school students.

The competition will see 39 awardees, who will win cash prizes up to MOP1,500 and certificates.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee condemned an unusual rise in the number of withdrawal requests to the citys organ donation system, saying yesterday that police would investigate suspicious cases.

According to the government, the citys centralized organ donation registration system received nearly 5,800 withdrawal applications in the five months since December, when the government raised the possibility of establishing an organ transplant mutual assistance program with mainland China.

More than half of the withdrawal applications were found to be invalid, either as duplicate applications or coming from people who had never opted in.

At a regular press briefing, Lee pointed to those who withdrew their applications without ever registering, calling the moves suspicious.

I severely condemn those who attempt to cause damages to this noble system which saves lives through organ donations, he said. This is a shameful act.

Hong Kong has a separate system for matching donated organs to patients and does not have any standing mechanism to share cadaveric organs with institutions in mainland China. Cross-border organ transplants have been permitted on a case-by-case basis, if the situation warrants.

Under an opt-in system, Hong Kong currently has more than 357,000 registrants in the financial hub that houses 7 million people.

Organ donations have been met with resistance in both Hong Kong and China because of an ingrained cultural desire to keep bodies intact.

The government issued a strong-worded statement Monday, saying it could not rule out that a small number of people made withdrawal attempts in a bid to undermine the reputation of the system, and to increase administrative burden. Without naming any platforms or any individuals, it said it noticed a small number of people had distorted the virtue of organ donation by promoting the idea that donors should scrutinize the identity of the recipients online. Some also urged others to withdraw from the system, it added.

On Hong Kongs Reddit-like forum LIHKG  where pro-democracy supporters discussed strategies for the 2019 anti-government movement  some users were skeptical about the proposed system. Others posted a link for making withdrawals from the register.

The Hong Kong government floated the proposal after a baby girl underwent the citys first transplant using a heart donated from mainland China in December. It said the organ assistance program under consideration could be activated immediately after medical personnel could not match a donated organ with a suitable patient locally.

Hong Kongs medical standards are considered some of the highest in the world. While Chinas medical system has advanced over the past few decades, many Hong Kongers remain skeptical about its health care services. Allegations of forced organ harvesting in China, particularly targeting minorities in detention, have added to concerns about a cross-border organ cooperation.

In 2015, Beijing ceased transplanting organs taken from executed prisoners in response to human rights concerns and later provided data to the international community to show it was fighting against illegal organ transplants. MDT/AP
East Timors opposition party won Sundays parliamentary election, meaning independence fighter Xanana Gusmao is likely to return as prime minister in Asias youngest democracy.

The final vote count released by the National Elections Commission yesterday showed the National Congress of the Reconstruction of East Timor, known as CNRT, won 41% of the votes and gained 31 seats out of 65 in the National Parliament.

The ruling Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, or Fretilin, had 25% of the votes and 19 seats. It promised to accept the election outcome.

The Democratic Party won six seats, the rural-based Khunto Party five and the Peoples Liberation Party four.

A total of 17 parties ran. They were required to have a woman in at least every third position in their party list and seats were allocated for those with an electoral threshold of 4%.

No parties formed coalitions before the vote, leaving the choice of who will head the government between Gusmao, who chairs CNRT, and Fretilin leader Mari Alkatiri, who is also a resistance-era figure.

Fretilin and CNRT have blamed each other for years of political paralysis. Tensions between the two largest parties since 2018 led to the resignation of Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak in 2020 after the government repeatedly failed to pass a budget.

But he agreed to stay until a new government was formed and to oversee the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. His government has operated without an annual budget and has relied on monthly injections from its sovereign fund, called the Petroleum Fund.

His governing coalition is currently made up of Fretilin, the PLP which he heads, and the Khunto party.

The former Portuguese colony was occupied by Indonesia for a quarter-century and gained independence after a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999. Indonesias military responded with scorched-earth attacks that devastated the East Timorese half of the island of Timor.

East Timors transition to a democracy has been rocky, with leaders battling massive poverty, unemployment and corruption as the country continues to struggle with the legacy of its bloody independence battle and bitter factional politics that have occasionally erupted into violence. Its economy is reliant on dwindling offshore oil revenues.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year granted an observer status to East Timor ahead of it becoming the regional blocs 11th member.

The U.N. estimates that nearly half of East Timors population lives below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 a day, and that 42 of every 1,000 babies die before their fifth birthday because of malnutrition. GANTRY MEILANA, DILI
Portuguese police aided by German and British colleagues yesterday resumed their search for Madeleine McCann, the British child who disappeared in the countrys southern Algarve region 16 years ago.

Between 20 and 30 officers, some in uniform, could be seen in the area by the Arade dam, about 50 kilometers from Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old was last seen alive in 2007.

Portuguese police had set up a blue base tent and cordoned off the area to the media and public. Eyewitnesses said police began searching shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday in an area some kilometers away from the tent. More than a dozen cars and police vans could be seen arriving in the area.

On Monday, Portuguese detectives issued a statement saying the search was being resumed at the request of German authorities and with help from British officials.

German prosecutors in Braunschweig said in a written statement Tuesday that criminal procedural measures are currently taking place in Portugal as part of the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case.

They added that the measures are being implemented by way of mutual legal assistance by the Portuguese prosecution authorities with the support of officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office.

More detailed information on the background is not being released at this time for investigative tactical reasons, the statement said.

In mid-2020, German officials said a 45-year-old German citizen, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who was in the Algarve in 2007, was a suspect in the case. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasnt been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of Madeleines disappearance.

The case stirred worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of her stretching as far away as Australia, along with a slew of books and television documentaries about the case.

Rewards for finding Madeleine, who would now be 20, reached several million dollars. MDT/AP
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LAS VEGAS  Arizona, California and Nevada have proposed a plan to significantly reduce their water use from the drought-stricken Colorado River over the next three years, a potential breakthrough in a yearlong stalemate that pitted Western states against one another.

The plan released Monday would conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water through 2026, when current guidelines for how the river is shared expire. About half the cuts would come by the end of 2024. That's less than what federal officials said last year would be needed to stave off crisis in the river but still marks a notable step in long and difficult negotiations between the three states.

The 1,450-mile river provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes. It produces hydropower and supplies water to farms that grow most of the nation's winter vegetables.

In exchange for temporarily using less water, cities, irrigation districts and Native American tribes in the three states will receive federal funding, though officials did not say how much they expected to receive.

Though adoption of the plan isn't certain, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton called it an "important step forward." She said the bureau will pull back its proposal from last month that could have resulted in sidestepping the existing water priority system to force cuts while it analyzes the three state plan. The bureau's earlier proposal, if adopted, could have led to a messy legal battle.

"At least they're still talking. But money helps you keep talking," said Terry Fulp, former regional director of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Basin region. He noted the agreement is a "short term, three-year deal" and that because the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming didn't face immediate cuts, they were not part of the pact.

"The goal was so the government didn't have to issue a mandate" based on priority rights, he said. "It looks like that's what what's going to happen."

The three Lower Basin states are entitled to 7.5 million acre-feet of water altogether from the river. An acre-foot of water is roughly enough to serve two to three U.S. households annually.

California gets the most, based on a century-old water rights priority system. Most of that goes to farmers in the Imperial Irrigation District, though some also goes to smaller water districts and cities across Southern California. Arizona and Nevada have already faced cuts in recent years as key reservoir levels dropped based on prior agreements. But California has been spared.

Under the new proposal, California would give up about 1.6 million acre-feet of water through 2026  a little more than half of the total. That's roughly the same amount the state first offered six months ago. It wasn't clear why the other states agreed to a deal now when California didn't offer further cuts. Leaders in Arizona and Nevada didn't immediately say how they'd divide the other 1.4 million acre feet.

The Imperial Irrigation District would account for more than half of California's cuts. J.B. Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California, said the district has already taken measures to improve water efficiency and will need to do more. He said the district is working on a pilot summer idling program where farmers would sign up to turn off their water for 60 days for forage crops. During that time of year, yields are already down and more water is required, he said.

Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, stressed that the announcement is not a final deal. He said the proposal still needs analysis and approval from the federal government.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said the deal provided a way to "build our reservoirs back up in the near-term," but added that work remained to address long-term effects of climate change and overallocation. Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Joe Lombardo of Nevada also praised the agreement.
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DENVER  The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man killed by a sheriff 's deputy while suffering a mental health crisis will get $19 million from state government and local agencies and changes to how officers are trained, under a settlement announced Tuesday.

The shooting of Christian Glass after his SUV became stuck in the mountain town of Silver Plume last year drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people with mental health problems.

In addition to the payout, believed to be largest of its kind in Colorado history, Sally and Simon Glass also negotiated for changes they hope will prevent another family from suffering a loss like theirs. Clear Creek County will establish a crisis response team and its sheriff 's office will train and certify all deputies in crisis intervention, according to documents released by their attorneys.

The state of Colorado, which had three officers on the scene of Glass' June 11, 2022, killing, in addition to those from local agencies, will create a virtual reality training scenario for the Colorado State Patrol based on the shooting that will focus on de-escalation in stressful situations involving officers from different agencies.

A video message from Simon and Sally Glass will also be shown to state troopers and Division of Gaming officers at the beginning of their active bystander training. The program focuses on encouraging officers to intervene if they think a fellow officer is going too far or needs to step away from an incident.

There was no indication from body camera footage that officers from other agencies attempted to stop the breach of the vehicle before Christian Glass was shot. Glass was brandishing a knife when the officer fi red.

An attorney for the Glasses, Siddhartha H. Rathod, said they hope hearing their story will help officers have the strength to intervene if necessary.

"Any of the seven officers there could have stopped this simply by saying something. They want to empower law enforcement to have this courage," he said of the shooting.

The settlement, which the communities of Georgetown and Idaho Springs also joined, is the largest for a police killing in Colorado, topping the $15 million settlement reached in 2021 for the death of Elijah McClain, and also ranks among the top in the United States, Rathod said. His law film, Rathod Mohamed bhai LLC, also represented the mother of McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after police in the Denver suburb of Aurora forcibly restrained him and a paramedic injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. Former Clear Creek County sheriff 's deputy Andrew Buen, who shot Glass, and his supervisor, former Sgt. Kyle Gould, are both being prosecuted in Glass' death. A grand jury found they needlessly escalated the standoff after he called 911 for help. Gould was not at the scene but was watching events unfold on body camera footage and authorized officers to remove Glass from his vehicle, according to court documents.

Lawyers for both officers unsuccessfully tried to get the charges against them thrown out. While Buen's lawyer objected to how information was presented to the grand jury, Gould's lawyer argued that Glass needed to be evaluated for drugs, alcohol and mental health problems and could not just be allowed to leave.

In response to police killings of people in mental distress, reformers have pushed for crisis intervention and de-escalation training for police and even alternative policing programs where mental health responders are sent to some emergency calls instead of law-enforcement.
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June 16, 1963May 20, 2023

MadisonJoann Sams, 59, of Madison, passed away peacefully in her home amongst her family on May 20, 2023.

Visitation will be held at St. Bernard catholic churchMiddleton, 2015 Parmenter St., at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 26, 2023. Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. followed by luncheon. Per her wishes, cremation rites will be accorded.

Joann Sams was born in Madison, Wi, on June 16, 1963, to Margaret and Bruno Sams. she proudly graduated from James Madison Memorial High school. after high school, Joann was fortunate to be included in the wave of disability advocacy that provided vocational support for meaningful employment with community Work services. through that program, she found her lifelong career at the Wisconsin crime lab where she was an integral part of their team for 27 years.

Joann's home life was supported through community living connections, one of the first community-based residential facilities in Madison. she made a home there with lifelong friends and staff who became family. they enjoyed pizza parties, picnics in the yard, and holiday decorating. Her family is grateful to rise up for providing compassionate care when she needed it most.

Special Olympics played a large role in Joann's active life. she competed in the international games in a variety of year-round sports. Joann had a full social life, including dances, travel with able trek tours, and spending time with her family.

Joann will be deeply missed by her siblings: Nancy O'Brien, Paul (Mary) Sams, and Mary Kay (Charlie) Mussey. she is also survived by her nephews: Matt Sams, Nate (Nikki) Sams, Marcus (Ashley) Mussey; niece, Caitlin (Byron) Malkus; and great-nephew and great-niece.

Donations can be directed to community Work services, community living connections, or special Olympics of Wisconsin. links found on cress website.

Please share your memories at www.cressfuneralservice.com.

Cress Center 6021 University Ave. Madison (608) 238-8406
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A 32-year-old Madison man fatally shot at a Far East Side lounge early Sunday has been identified.

Raheem D. Blue died from a gunshot wound after being shot outside the Lush Lounge at 3769 E. Washington Ave. around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Police have made no arrests in the fatal shooting, Madison's sixth homicide this year.

Officers were nearby and arrived on scene within 45 seconds of shots being fired and immediately began providing aid to the victim, police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said in a statement.

Police arrived to a "chaotic scene," with fighting in the parking lot outside of Lush Lounge and people in the midst of leaving a private event at the lounge, Fryer said.

Madison police said more than 20 detectives are investigating the shooting, interviewing witnesses and reviewing digital evidence, said Stephanie Fryer, a police spokesperson.

Police asked anyone with information to contact police at 608-255-2345, or Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014 or P3Tips.com.

Today in history: May 23 1939: USS Squalus 1945: Heinrich Himmler 1975: Jackie Moms Mabley 1984: General C. Everett Koop 2007: George W. Bush 2012: Mohammed Morsi 2021: Eric Carle 2021: Phil Mickelson
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A town of Blooming Grove man arrested Monday night in a special enforcement effort faces an 11th offense of OWI, authorities reported.

Just before 7 p.m. on Monday, a Dane County Sheriffs Office deputy working under the Click It or Ticket seatbelt enforcement grant stopped Michael A. Kundert at Long Drive and Millpond Road in Madison for a seatbelt violation, Sheriffs Office spokesperson Elise Schaffer said in a statement.

Kundert, 65, who also was cited for driving with a revoked license, was taken to a local hospital where he consented to a blood draw, and then booked into the Dane County Jail.

The statewide Click It or Ticket enforcement effort started Monday and runs through June 4. It is funded through the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Safety, in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Photos: Madison's most dangerous intersections, as seen from space No. 10: Packers Avenue and International Lane No. 9: Zeier Road and East Washington Avenue No. 8: South Park Street and West Badger Road No. 7: Thierer Road and East Washington Avenue No. 6: North First Street and East Washington Avenue No. 5: Buckeye Road and South Stoughton Road No. 4: South Baldwin Street and East Washington Avenue No. 3: North Stoughton Road and East Washington Avenue No. 2: Watts Road and South Gammon Road No. 1: Pleasant View Road and Mineral Point
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A man who was arrested for the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian Saturday night on Madisons North Side called 911 a short time after the crash to report his vehicle had been stolen, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

The call made by Anthony M. Moore, 23, of Madison, was done in order to cover up his involvement in the crash, Assistant District Attorney Lexi Keyes said in court.

The complaint charges Moore with homicide by intoxicated driving and hit-and-run causing death for the incident about 8:50 p.m. Saturday in which a woman who was crossing Aberg Avenue at Shopko Drive was killed when she was struck by a vehicle that did not stop at a red light.

Witnesses estimated the vehicles speed at 50 to 60 mph in an area where the speed limit is 45 mph, the complaint states. A probable cause affidavit also states police reviewed city camera footage from the intersection that captured the crash.

The crash killed Nicole M. McDougal, 40, of Madison, the Dane County Medical Examiners Office said.

I just want to say my sister, she was the type of person that, she gave everything, McDougals sister, who was not identified by name, told Court Commissioner Jason Hanson in court Tuesday. Whether it left her without, she gave it. And what the court decides today for the amount that is needed to be posted, I think that money cant buy her back and bring her back. I feel like she was left with no options.

After Moore was located, police noticed an odor of marijuana on him, and at one point while being booked into the Dane County Jail, Moore told jail deputies that he might withdraw from the painkiller Percocet while at the jail, the complaint states. Officers also noted he was very sleepy and dozed off at times.

A sample of Moores blood was drawn at a hospital after he opted for that instead of field sobriety tests, but the results of the blood test were not included in the complaint.

In court, attorney Diana Van Rybroek, appearing with Moore, said evidence of intoxication in the complaint that supports the homicide charge seemed thin, and questioned whether it met the threshold of probable cause.

Hanson said probable cause for the charge was supported by other observations noted in the document, such as Moores refusal to perform field sobriety tests, his drowsiness when officers located him and the circumstances of the crash itself.

Hanson ordered Moore jailed on $100,000 bail. He will return to court for a preliminary hearing on May 31.

According to the complaint:

After the witnesses saw a black vehicle strike McDougal, police received a call of a suspicious vehicle in the 700 block of Jacobson Avenue. The caller said around 9 p.m. the smashed-up vehicle parked in front of his house and the driver got out and ran.

Police ran the license plate of the vehicle and found it was registered to Moore and his grandmother, who lives about three blocks away in the 700 block of Gannon Avenue.

Around the time that Moores vehicle was seen parked in front of the Jacobson Avenue home, police noted there had also been a call to 911 in which Moore reported his vehicle as having been stolen. The 911 Center said the call by Moore was made from a location close to the intersection of Jacobson and Home avenues, a half-block from where the damaged vehicle had been left.

When an officer went to the Gannon Avenue address, he saw Moore approach. Another officer who sat with Moore described him as continually yawning and sighing loudly at first, then laughing quietly. He soon fell asleep. One officer noted Moore was unable to stay awake during her contact with him.

At one point, Moore woke up and said, in apparent reference to the victim walking her dog, What the (expletive) they got a dog out for? What the (expletive)? Then he started laughing. He fell asleep again and continued to sleep on and off until he was moved to a squad car after about two hours.

At Meriter Hospital, Moore was asked by police if he was willing to perform field sobriety tests, but he asked instead for blood tests, saying, It will show everything.

Before he was booked into jail later, Moore also made a phone call, telling the person on the other end, I killed somebody.

Here are the safestand most deadlydays for drunk-driving fatalities Here are the safestand most deadlydays for drunk-driving fatalities DUI fatalities by season Most dangerous holidays for DUI Most dangerous days of the week for DUI Most dangerous weeks of the year Ways to stay safe on the road during the holidays Consequences of getting a DUI DUIs leave a lasting financial impact An end to drunk driving Methodology
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Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. May 18, 2023.

Editorial: A step toward a more just system

A proposal in the Wisconsin Legislature to increase pay for public defenders and assistant district attorneys strikes us as a necessary step to safeguard both public safety and the rights of those accused of crimes.

The plan, which was advanced Tuesday by the Legislatures budget-writing committee, increases starting pay for the roles to $36 an hour. Thats a little less than a $9/hour raise, bumping the pay from around $57,000 annually to $75,000 per year.

Thats a big jump. Its fair for people to ask why such an increase is necessary when so many people see miniscule raises in their jobs. But its also fair to point out whats at stake.

Prosecution in the American court system is always a publicly-funded role. Thats because its the state or the federal government that brings the charges. Using private attorneys to do so simply wouldnt make sense.

The Constitution also guarantees defendants competent legal representation. No one is required to have an attorney when charged  and some people do choose to defend themselves  but anyone who wants representation must have it. Fulfilling that guarantee requires public defenders.

The workload for each role is substantial. Bringing or defending a charge competently requires familiarity with the evidence, numerous interviews and depositions with those involved, discussions with experts and potential witnesses. It requires long hours of research to determine which laws apply and develop familiarity with precedent cases that could come into play.

In other words, the work attorneys put in for criminal cases is considerably more intensive than what any courtroom drama shows. The result is constant strain from court deadlines, mounting caseloads and the time it can take away from caring for oneself and ones family.

Unlike many other stressful jobs, those who work on behalf of the public in criminal law have an obvious and lucrative exit. Private practice is often substantially more profitable, and you get to choose which cases you want to pursue.

When the exit sign is that brightly lit, retention is a challenge. In January, the State Bar of Wisconsin called understaffing a crisis situation. Raising pay wont instantly fix staffing issues, but it could well prevent them from getting worse.

What happens when things get worse? We saw a preview of that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when states shut down their courtrooms. Cases couldnt be tried, leaving some of those charged in jail for much longer than normal. One group of defendants sued, saying they went weeks without even having public defenders assigned to their cases.

Wisconsin still has a 35,000-case backlog, according to an Associated Press article on the Legislatures proposal. And, while speedy trials are a Constitutional right, there isnt a good timeline to resolve this load.

More than just defendants are harmed when that kind of situation emerges. Victims and their families are left waiting for justice, too. The inability to conclude the trial looms over everyone, making it difficult to fully move on with life.

Having a functioning and well-staffed system for public defenders and prosecutors isnt optional. It shouldnt seem optional. Its a requirement, both morally and constitutionally.

The proposal currently making its way through the Legislature seems to have bipartisan support. Thats good. Both sides should recognize the need. And, in this case, they seem to be acting on it as well.

Whether you realize it or not, this is something everyone in the state needs. Anyone can become a victim of crime. There may not be any quick fixes to the challenges Wisconsins legal system faces, but the proposed increases seem like a step in the right direction as the state wrestles with solutions.

Wisconsin State Journal. May 21, 2023.

Editorial: Keep diversity efforts on campus

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.

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.

Kenosha News. May 21, 2023.

Editorial: Wisconsin Elections Commission proposal needs new look

Earlier this month, as promised, the Legislatures Republican-controlled budget writing committee axed more than 500 spending proposals from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Snared in that start-from-scratch net was a request from the Wisconsin Elections Commission to beef up confidence in state and local elections by adding 10 full-time staff for a new inspector general office at a cost of $1.9 million over two years.

The new division in the WEC would handle voters concerns and deal with the recent spike in records requests and complaints that have been hard for the state agency to deal with in a timely fashion. It would also be charged with helping to train local election officials and reviewing the accessibility of polling sites.

The proposal got unanimous support from the three Republican and three Democratic election commissioners last year and the Republican chair of the WEC lamented GOPs axing of the proposal.

I certainly hope it comes back, said Don Millis. These are things we can do to improve confidence, and thats where this inspector general comes in.

He said he is hopeful the proposal can be taken up as separate legislation, outside the budget process, by state Republicans.

The 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms  fueled with controversies and skeptics hunting for evidence of voter fraud  which was not found  brought about a surge in complaints and records requests for the state agency.

According to the WEC, ahead of the 2022 midterm, the state agency received more than three times the number of complaints it had in 2020 and records requests topped eight times its 2016 average.

Whether that will continue in the future, given our fractious political nature in the state, is up for debate.

Were not fans of growing the size of government at any level unless a need can be demonstrated andyes, we understand Wisconsin is giddy about its record surplus and there are many politicians  Republican and Democrat  filled with ideas on how to spend that.

But the WEC proposal has some merit and the work of the state agency to build confidence in state and local elections and the 1,800 local clerks who run them is a high priority.

If the WEC proposal can be revived  and it may not be  we would suggest it come back in a pared down version. Are 10 full-time staffers really needed? Can that $1.9 million over two years be reduced to a more manageable number? And we would also like to see a sunset clause attached to this proposal.

If voter complaints and records requests continue to surge after two years, then the Legislature could revisit it.

END
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School employees and volunteers would be explicitly prohibited from sexual harassment of a student under a proposed bill that its sponsors say seeks to close a loophole in state law related to instances of sexual misconduct.

Its time Wisconsin establishes strong legal protections against sexual misconduct in Wisconsin schools for all students, Rep. Tod Ohnstad, D-Kenosha, told reporters Wednesday. If there ever was a bipartisan issue, this is it.

Sexual contact with a minor is already illegal under Wisconsin law. But the new proposal  introduced by Ohnstad and Rep. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha; Rep. John Spiros, R-Marshfield; and Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona  would bar sexual misconduct by school staff members or volunteers. The bill defines sexual misconduct as sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or physical contact of a sexual nature that interfere with a pupils academic performance or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive school environment.

Law enforcement or county agency officials informed of instances of sexual misconduct would be required to report the situation to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Any school employee found guilty of the new law would automatically lose their educator license for at least six years.

We can no longer allow those who commit crimes against children the opportunity to be reinstated or volunteer, no matter the amount of time that has passed since the committed crime, Ohnstad said.

A memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau notes that Wisconsin does not have existing law explicitly targeting sexual harassment in schools.

Title IX, a federal law, prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment. However, the law only applies to schools that receive federal funding, which includes public schools, but not all private schools. The bill would establish sexual misconduct of a student as a felony crime.

Currently, Wisconsin has prohibitions on sexual contact with a minor, and separately, prohibitions on sexual harassment in the workplace, the bills authors wrote in a co-sponsorship memo. However, if a teacher engages in sexual misconduct at their workplace towards a pupil, based on reports from law enforcement in these kinds of situations, there is not a crime that can be charged.

Minnesota and Illinois have expanded laws prohibiting discrimination in schools to also include sexual harassment. Those laws cover both private and public schools.
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LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP)  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 the GOP holds 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 election.

Neither of South Carolina's presidential contenders, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, attended the gathering in Lexington, a suburb of Columbia, the capital.

Scott, who entered the race on 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.

The GOP's 2024 field is expanding, with Scott, Haley, former President Donald Trump and former Arkansas Gov. 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 Gov. 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.

Given its prominent status on the nomination calendar, South Carolina for months has drawn a number of GOP presidential contenders.

Trump visited in January to roll out his South Carolina leadership team, which includes Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Sen. 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 actually 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 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. ___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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Attending college can get pricey, so youll want to avoid costs from other places  like your bank account.

More than 668,000 students paid nearly $15.5 million in bank account costs in a year, an average of almost $26 per person, according to a 2022 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Whats worse is that some colleges endorse costly bank accounts as part of their partnerships with banks.

Do not assume that because your college or university partners with a bank, that bank is offering you a good deal, Aaron Klein, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said in an email.

Before heading off to college, consider what factors you need in a college checking account. Theres no grade on this, but the wrong bank can cost you.

Decide what features matter

Checking accounts work similarly wherever you bank, but some features vary or arent available at every bank, including branches, highly rated mobile apps, certain account fees and perks such as direct deposit up to two days early.

Decide a few things going in, like whether you need a bank that offers joint bank accounts to share finances with a parent and whether youll want credit cards or other loan options at the same place.

 Learn more: How to choose a bank

The biggest banks generally have robust apps and big branch networks, but their account fees can be high. In contrast, regional banks and credit unions  the not-for-profit counterpart to banks  might have lower fees and more of a community focus, but they have fewer branches and might lag in technology. Online banks can have minimal fees and high-quality apps, but they often lack a branch network and the ability to deposit cash isnt guaranteed. Nationwide ATM access is usually available at credit unions and online banks through shared networks, but they might not be as easy to spot as big bank ATMs.

Just dont limit your options to only accounts marketed as college checking. You might miss out on banking features youd want.

Check for fees

Watch out for fees on monthly maintenance, ATM usage and overdrafts. You can often avoid a monthly fee, such as $5 or $10, by having a certain minimum balance or direct deposits into your account  or by finding a checking account without monthly fees. Using an ATM to withdraw cash outside your banks network can trigger a fee of around $2 to $3 from your bank, plus a fee from the ATM operator. And overdraft or nonsufficient funds fees can be $30 or more per transaction, which will kick in if a payment drops your account balance below zero.

Carla Sanchez-Adams, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, recommends looking into Bank On certified accounts, which dont have overdraft or NSF fees. Transactions that would bring an account balance below zero get declined instead. Plus, these accounts can have screening practices inclusive of those with less banking history.

You might have to pay fees for some services, such as getting a checkbook. Not every account is going to be completely free, says David Rothstein, senior principal at Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, who manages Bank On, CFE Funds national platform that promotes financial inclusion.

Factor in account security

This year, there have been three bank collapses. While bank failures are rare, federal deposit insurance protects your money. If a bank fails, you get up to $250,000 of your money back. Banks get insured through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and credit unions have the equivalent protection through the National Credit Union Administration.

However, its more complicated with accounts at newer financial tech firms, such as Chime and Current, as well as with debit cards at firms like Cash App and PayPals Venmo. These companies typically partner with banks to provide pass-through FDIC insurance in their accounts. But if these companies fail, getting your money isnt as straightforward as with a bank. This uncertainty is one reason why tech firms accounts arent eligible to be Bank On accounts.

Its true that a lot of the fintechs have a relationship with banks behind the scenes, but thats never really been tested, Rothstein says.

Beyond FDIC insurance, look for multifactor authentication in banks mobile apps to boost account security. Also, confirm that a bank provides monthly statements and spending alerts so you can monitor transactions and flag any that appear fraudulent.

Go beyond checking when you're ready

Once you have a checking account for college, consider a savings account for money you wont need to spend next month. See if your bank offers secured credit cards or credit builder loans, which can be good steps to establishing credit history. Secured credit cards usually require a cash deposit upfront equal to your borrowing amount, while credit builder loans entail making all payments before receiving the full loan amount.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

Spencer Tierney writes for NerdWallet. Email: spencer.tierney@nerdwallet.com.

The article How to Pick a College Bank Account as Carefully as Your College originally appeared on NerdWallet.
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FICTION: Brandon Taylor follows grad school novel 'Real Life' with another look at the lows of higher learning.

"The Late Americans" by Brandon Taylor; Riverhead (320 pages, $28)



In his second novel, Brandon Taylor moves his diverse cast of graduate students from Madison, Wisconsin, to Iowa City as he continues his unsparing view of life in and around the Ivory Tower.

While the campus novel has a long tradition of airing the foibles of academia, Taylor's critique goes deeper. And darker.

The book's title hints that Americans are at some kind of end point, and that a wake is needed for such qualities as civility, sincerity, equity, love and hope.

The novel opens with a blazing, satirical look at a graduate seminar in creative writing. A young woman reads aloud a long confessional poem that sparks praise.

"I want this in my veins. Hard," says Helen.

Fellow student Seamus, however, finds the work pretentious, "the aping of poetry in search of validation." He mockingly asks its writer, "Are you a poet or a caseworker?" Things go badly from there.

We cut to Seamus' part-time job as a chef at a hospice, preparing mushroom bisque for terminal patients.

When describing skilled labor, Taylor's prose grows luminous, as when Seamus "peeled a fresh pile of onions, and pulled the knife through their bulk with one certain motion. He loved that first bite of the knife through the material wet of the ingredients. He could read, in that very first moment, the final taste of the dish."

The novel's vivid opening chapter proceeds to a violent sexual encounter between Seamus and an exceedingly unpleasant man. It also raises intriguing questions about whether the young poet/chef is right or deluded in his view of contemporary literature.

Disappointingly, this promising Seamus story line almost disappears from "The Late Americans." The sole later chapter that returns to him also surges with fresh energy as it describes Seamus' feverish attempt to meet a graduation deadline with a poem he hopes has true significance.

Elsewhere, we drift almost plotlessly between potlucks and hookups involving a diverse cast of less-engaging twentysomethings: bickering gay couples, dance students, a music studies major, an MBA candidate, a blue-collar townie and a swim instructor.

Taylor writes keenly about race, class and homophobia in this circumscribed world. Even among supposed BFFs there are constant "microbetrayals," as one character calls them, that show how racism, in a supposedly liberal Midwestern college town, is never far from the surface.

These discussions dilute rather than strengthen any throughline promised at the novel's outset. So much hostility. So much hopelessness and self-loathing. Seamus says his circle is "inconsequential," "posturing all the time." Such assertions undercut our desire to relate. Few and far between, and often seemingly tacked on, are brighter epiphanies, their brevity often signaled by the phrase "in that moment."

The big ideas raised by Seamus  Is his condemnation of today's woke academic culture valid? Is he blinded by his whiteness? His sexism? What is the correct role of the contemporary artist?  resonate most strongly in the scattershot mix.



Claude Peck is a former Star Tribune columnist and editor.
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TWIN FALLS  This was a different kind of case.

Sydney Rain Gibson was in court Monday afternoon. On paper, the charge was felony drug possession, but the backstory was much more.

I obviously dont need to go into details, District Judge Ben Cluff said as he was about to hand down a sentence, as the story of how the case unfolded was already well-known between the prosecutor and public defender.

Gibson, 19, was the driver in a dramatic high-speed pursuit Aug. 26 that roared through parts of Magic Valley at speeds in excess of 100 mph. It ended in a field north of Buhl with gunshots, as her boyfriend, Caleb Tussey, fired a .40 caliber handgun multiple times before being mortally wounded by deputies, an investigation found.

Gibson was charged with felony eluding, but, as part of a plea deal, she signed a written plea of guilty to a charge of drug possession. Public defender Eileen McDevitt praised the public defenders office for agreeing to shift charges toward that charge.

Gibson told officers during the investigation of the officer-involved shooting that Tussey forced her to drive.

She had been in fear of her life, McDevitt said. There was a gun present.

She had posted a $10,000 surety bond in October, and when sentencing was handed down, she was still free. As was part of the recommendation, the sentence of three years fixed and two years indeterminate was suspended, and Gibson will be on probation for three years.

She will also perform 100 hours of community service and pay about $900 in restitution.

One thing is clear, Cluff said at the hearing: When drugs are present, bad things happen.

Gibson told officials she and Tussey had taken methamphetamine previous to the incidents that night. Tussey was known to deal in drugs, she said.

Gibson will still be on a tight leash. Cluff amended the terms of probation to read that Gibson must submit to drug testing at the request of any law enforcement officer.

Court records show that Gibson failed two drug tests in January in Cassia County, and failed to show up for seven random tests.

Things have changed now that Gibson is living with her grandparents in southern Nevada, and the arrangement is working well, McDevitt said. Her grandfather, who attended the sentencing, is supportive, and Gibson wants to go to college and pursue a career in nursing.

She hasnt had any positive tests from mid-March to mid-May, McDevitt said.

Im glad to see they are negative so we can proceed, Deputy Prosecutor Justin Seamons said.

Recovering from the trauma of the morning of Aug. 26 will still take time, McDevitt said. Cluff agreed, and encouraged her to seek any needed counseling.

Gibson did not make a statement during the hearing.
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TWIN FALLS  With a wave of an arm, Charlie the Chicken entered the gymnasium and hundreds of students erupted in cheers.

The 6-foot tall, bright yellow chicken then mounted a unicycle with training wheels and rode, weaving around the assembled students, accompanied by thumping beats of dance music provided by DJ JUL3Z.

The occasion was Bickel Elementary Schools achievement assembly, and Charlie the Chickens appearance was the brainchild of Michelle Brewer.

The reason why Im wearing the chicken suit today is because our bar graph went from 31% to 60%, Brewer told the Times-News. So thats a 29% growth in mathematics.

Brewer likes to offer wild rewards as incentive for students to apply themselves on monthly and year-end math and reading assessments and, every year, she dreams up a different zany reward.

Last year, Brewer was taped to a wall as a reward for students meeting their goals.

I just try to motivate the kids, Brewer said.

Every month, Twin Falls School District students take a state-required assessment. The Istations Indicators of Progress (ISIP) program for early reading and math is a form of online, computer-adaptive testing that shows each students proficiency and improvement from month to month.

Jennie Peterson is elementary programs director for the district. She said ISIP scores are a tool used by teachers and administrators to adjust personalized instruction.

Its one that we rely on pretty heavily for our data to kind of drive our instruction, Peterson told the Times-News. What it allows us to do is really get down into targeted information on our students on where we need to target our instruction.

Gone are the days when assessment tests were done by filling in a bubble on a sheet of paper. These days, the assessments are computerized and adapt to the student who is taking the test, with questions below and above their bubble, made by Isation, which is used across Idaho.

They still have some pen-and paper assessments, but those are infrequent.

Theyre probably more fun than they were when we were kids, for sure, Peterson said. Theres animation, theres some gaming to it, that type of thing.

The assessments can show if a student can improve in certain areas to achieve proficiency. For English language arts, it looks at things like vocabulary, spelling, even understanding the relationship between word-sounds (called phonemic awareness in education-lingo) can be targeted for focused instruction to help get students to the point where they can read for comprehension.

We check that data every month and thats how teachers will put their students into flexible targeted groups to be able to address specific needs of students, Peterson said.

All schools in the district have goals for student improvement. But Brewer has taken those goals, and created some interesting incentives.

She really encourages the kids and makes that important, and includes them in whats going on  all of our schools do that, Peterson said. I think shes a little more extreme with her celebration, which is great.

Eva Craner, the districts public relations direction, told the Times-News that Brewers technique works for student buy-in.

When theres something to work toward, as an elementary-age student, thats something that they can process and say, Yeah, Im going to do my best because I want to see my principal do this silly thing, Craner said. Student engagement is important to getting accurate data of how students are actually performing.

The assessments are important drivers of instruction, too, she said.

Data is important in the Twin Falls School District. It indicates how successful we are, or where we need to continue to work, Craner said.

PHOTOS: Inside Magic Valley schools, 2022-23 Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary Party at Bickel Elementary A principal in a chicken suit? Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Lawmakers, others listen in at Rock Creek Elementary Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Building playground accessibility Learning to grow healthy foods Learning to grow healthy foods Learning to grow healthy foods Learning to grow healthy foods Learning to grow healthy foods Learning to grow healthy foods Learning to grow healthy foods School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls Back to school Back to school Back to school Going back to school Going back to school School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls School enrollment numbers in Twin Falls Lawmakers tour schools in Twin Falls
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Beginning with the Revolutionary War, almost 1.4 million Americans have died in our nations wars, including about 667,000 killed in combat. We remember, honor and mourn those gallant souls every year on Memorial Day  May 29 this year.

Those Americans who have served in or near war zones carry their memories throughout the year. It should not be just a once-a-year observance for everyone else.

The countrys more recent conflicts, starting with Vietnam, have seen a blurring of the battle lines, where American service personnel have teamed up with local forces to fight a common enemy. For those who have worked hand-in-hand with local forcesSouth Vietnamese, Iraqis or Afghansit is hard to forget those local troops who died in the common cause.

Although our Memorial Day is for commemoration of our war dead, I think it would also be appropriate to honor those foreign partners on this special day.

Quote Those Americans who have served in or near war zones carry their memories throughout the year. It should not be just a once-a-year observance for everyone else.

For most of my tour in Vietnam, I lived and worked beside South Vietnamese soldiers (ARVNs), mostly Roman Catholics or members of the Cao Dai Church. As human beings, they had the same hopes and aspirations as most Americans. I trusted them with my life and I believe most of them felt the same. I cant think of Americas fallen without thinking of them.

Almost 300,000 ARVNs died in the war and we left many more of them to a horrible fate. They deserve remembrance and respect. I know that many Americans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan feel the same about their foreign partners. When you form trusting bonds in wartime, it is hard to break them.

Although our bonds with the people of Ukraine are at a different level, where we are mostly non-combat partners providing moral support and weaponry from the sidelines, I have that same feeling about those valiant humans. The Ukrainians are fighting and dying in a war that serves the vital national interests of the United States and NATO, as well as our allies on the other side of the planet. Ukraine is the proverbial point of the spear that protects freedom and democracy from the despotic regimes in Russia, China and Iran.

If we allow Russia to prevail, it will give great encouragement to the autocrats, quite possibly leading to a spread of hostilities to Taiwan and any number of Asian, African and South American nations currently in the sights of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

Although I rarely find issues upon which I totally agree with Sen. Jim Risch, Ukraine is one such issue: An exceedingly important one. The senator realizes that it is essential to Americas strategic interests that Ukraine prevail in Putins genocidal war. I agree with his view that the U.S. needs to increase and expedite the supply of war materiel to Ukraine. Risch has observed that the Ukrainians are fighting today for what our founding fathers fought for in 1776.

Incidentally, that observation was made when the Senator recently recalled his meeting in Ukraine with a former Green Beret from Boise, Nick Maimer, who had been volunteering to train Ukrainian civilians in how to defend their country. Maimer was reported to have been killed by Russian artillery fire earlier this month. God rest his soul. He joins thousands of Ukrainians who have died in the fight.

Ukraine has reportedly suffered 124,500 to 131,000 total casualties, including 15,500 to 17,500 killed in action and 109,000 to 113,500 wounded. Because their fight is largely our fight, it would be most appropriate to remember and mourn them, along with our war dead and our foreign partners who died in supporting American troops.

On Memorial Day, Ill be remembering my 58,220 brothers and sisters who died serving their country in Vietnam. Ill also be thinking of Lts. Dinh and Tanh, Capt. Thanh and interpreter Tom, who were with us all the way until we abandoned them to their ugly fate in 1975.
Stocks slightly rose Wednesday even as investors grow increasingly concerned about stalled US debt ceiling talks aimed at averting a painful default.

The PSE index, the 30-company bellwether of the Philippine Stock Exchange, picked up 12 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 6,615.95 as two of the six subsectors advanced.

The broader all-shares index lost 2 points, or 0.06 percent, to settle at 3,525.36 on a value turnover of P3.80 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 101 to 68, while 50 shares were unchanged.

Six of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Ayala Corp. which climbed 2.64 percent to P699.50 and Bank of the Philippine Islands which rose 1.94 percent to P105.00.

The peso barely moved to finish at 55.77 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, most Asian markets traded lower Wednesday. The optimism that flowed through trading floors at the start of the week has given way to trepidation, with several Republicans questioning an early June deadline, and some even saying the country is nowhere near running out of cash anyway.

All eyes are now on Washington, where President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have had a number of meetings to find a path to lifting the borrowing limit from the current $31.8 trillion.

The two men said Monday that talks had been productive and they were confident a deal would be coming.

Republicans have set cutting spending next year to 2022 levels as a red line, but Democrats have so far refused to commit to that.

On Tuesday, Republican Representative Ralph Norman warned that McCarthy had said the two sides were not anywhere near close to an agreement.

The Speaker also tweeted: With just 9 days left to go, Republicans remain the only ones in Washington who have actually done anything to lift the debt limit and avoid default.

However, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struck a more upbeat tone, saying: We are seeing movement.

Both sides have to understand that theyre not going to get everything that they want.

Some Republicans have said they do not believe warnings from the Treasury and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the coffers are about to run dry.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said an agreement must be reached by June 1 otherwise the United States risks defaulting on its debt repayments, which most economists warn could spark turmoil in the global economy and markets.

The CBO, the Bipartisan Policy Center and banking giants including Goldman Sachs have also penciled in the first few weeks of next month as the period when the crisis could come to a head.

But House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday he wanted to see more transparency on how they came to that date of June 1.

It looks like theyre hedging now and opening the door to move that date back.

And Texas Representative Chip Roy described warnings of a default as a manufactured crisis, adding: The fact is, were not going to default on our debt.

Thats just completely false. Weve got the money to do it.

SPI Asset Managements Stephen Innes said: Beyond economics, the debt limit debate highlights the political polarization that persists in the US, and casts a cloud over the political process in Washington.

The repeated brinkmanship could catch the eye of the rating agencies once again after S&P downgraded the US credit rating during a similar standoff in 2011.

He added that back then, the underlying issue was the worsening political polarization, and its hard to argue that the process has done anything other than continue to worsen since 2011.

After the sell-off on Wall Street, Asia and European markets were also under pressure on Wednesday.

Hong Kong and Shanghai each gave up more than one percent, while there was also selling in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Singapore and Mumbai, though there were gains in Wellington, Jakarta and Bangkok. With AFP

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The Department of Transportation on Wednesday asked European investors to invest in big-ticket infrastructure transport projects of the Marcos administration.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista made the pitch to top officials of the European Union-Association of South East Asian Nations Council and European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines to invest in big-ticket infrastructure transport projects.

Bautista identified the added value of projects being implemented by the agency in partnership with international financial institutions, foreign governments and business groups.

He said that because of budgetary constraints, project financing from foreign business groups presented the most viable option to undertake these projects.

The biggest obstacle has always been fund-sourcing, considering the strained national budget of our government after coming out of the pandemic, Bautista said during informal discussions with officials of the EU-ASEAN Business Council and ECCP.

We have offered various infrastructure transport projects to international financial institutions, private investors, and professional associations and industry groups, he said.

Bautista cited the proposed privatization of the operations and management of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as an option for private sector investment.

Other regional airports across the country are in the pipeline for privatization, he said.

Bautista also touted infrastructure projects in various transport sectors such as railways, maritime and road, including the Metro Manila Subway, North-South Commuter Railway, LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project, MRT-7 and MRT-4.

Its important because they can assist us in financing the projects through PPP so we hope that the investors from their countries can be supportive of many projects of DOTr. We have PPP projects for airports, rails and for roads and for maritime, Bautista said.

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Noting that motorcycles are a safe and convenient mode of public transportation in the country, Sen. Grace Poe believes it is about time to legalize these two-wheeled vehicles.

Poe said the Department of Transportation pilot study on the viability of motorcycle taxis which started in 2019 can be used as a basis for legislation.

After more than four years of continuous studies by the technical working group (TWG), it now appears, without a doubt, that commuters are overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing motorcycles taxis, Poe noted.

She said the TWG survey reports 96 percent of motorcycle taxi passengers believed that government should allow motorcycle taxis.

The study also showed that commuters favor motorcycle taxis affordability and quicker conveyance time in the clogged streets of urban centers where motorcycle taxis were allowed to operate. Grab senior executive vice president Lim Yew Heng said the passage of a motorcycle taxi law will be a boon for commuters. This will encourage the entry of motorcycle taxi companies that will provide Filipino commuters with more transportation options.

Earlier, Lim participated in the hearing convened to tackle proposals seeking to regulate and legalize motorcycles-for-hire and ensure that it is safe, convenient and affordable mode of public transportation.

Grab believes that a well-regulated and inclusive framework for motorcycle taxis in the Philippines can bring significant benefits, Lim said.

Passing a law that regulates motorcycle taxis stabilizes the regulatory environment, which will encourage healthy competition, he added.

The sooner a motorcycle law is passed, he added, the better for consumers, who under the current setup can only choose between three motorcycle taxi companies.

At present, three motorcycle taxi companies that are part of a pilot program have been allowed to ply Metro Manila roads under a provisional authority to operate issued by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The three companies are Angkas, Joyride, and Move It. Angkas, which is the dominant player among motorcycle taxi companies, has 30,000 riders on record, according to its owner George Royeca.

Angkas had earlier sought to block the entry of the two other companies in January 2020 when it petitioned a Quezon City court to issue a 72-hour temporary restraining order against the implementation.

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Peshawar, Pakistan  Six security personnel were killed in an overnight siege by dozens of Pakistan Taliban militants on a Hungarian-owned oil and gas exploration site, police and the energy firm said Tuesday.

Pakistan has seen an increase in militancy since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, with the Pakistani chapter of the movement carrying out attacks mostly targeting security forces and foreign interests accused of exploitation.

About 50 fighters attacked a site owned by the Budapest-headquartered MOL Group around midnight in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, district police chief Asif Bahadur told AFP.

They were armed with light and heavy weapons and fired mortar shells, killing six security personnel at the main entrance to the remote site near the Afghan border, said Bahadur.

Police said the dead included four members of the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary police assistance force, and two Pakistani security guards.

In a brief statement the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility and said its fighters had attacked a Frontier Constabulary check post.

The exchange of fire continued for more than an hour. Police forced the militants to flee, Bahadur said, also blaming the Pakistan Taliban.

The MOL Group confirmed the death toll but said none of its employees were killed.

Two wells near the attack site have been temporarily shut down by remote access and the wells are now secured, it said in a statement.

Noor Wali Khan, a second district police official, also confirmed the attack and the death toll.

The MOL Group has operated a Pakistan subsidiary since 1999 and employs 400 people there, according to its website.

We are assessing the information, a spokesman for the Hungarian embassy in Islamabad said, adding that no diplomatic action was planned.

Bahadur said the attackers came from the nearby North Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan and has historically been a hive of militancy.

The area was heavily targeted by drone strikes and an Islamabad military offensive to rout Islamist fighters during the US-led post-9/11 war in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Taliban  known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  was formed in 2007 by militants who splintered off from the Afghan Taliban to focus their fight on Islamabad for supporting Americas invasion.

Since the Taliban returned to Kabul, Islamabad has said TTP fighters are using Afghan soil to plot their attacks.

On Monday, officials said two empty girls schools in North Waziristan were attacked overnight by militants, leaving nine classrooms destroyed but no casualties. The attack has not been claimed by any group.

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The Technological Institute of the Philippines (T.I.P.) made it to Top 50 on its maiden participation in the 2023 World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI), after two of its projects were commended for their ethical value and relevance to the fourth industrial revolution.

T.I.P. ranked 41st in the WURI ethical value category for its Project Ilawa: Clean Energy That Cleans while its A Virtual Tour to Cultural and Heritage Space of Corregidor Island in GPS-Based Augmented Reality ranked 44th in the fourth industrial revolution category.

It is an honor for T.I.P. to be recognized for the impact of its activities and programs that promote ethical values, as well as its innovative endeavors along the fourth industrial revolution, said T.I.P. President Dr. Elizabeth Quirino-Lahoz.

The entries went through a blind peer review process and ranked based on their innovativeness, implementability, and impact. Overall, T.I.P. found itself in the WURI Global Top 200 Innovative Universities.

WURI evaluates the participating universities real contributions to society by highlighting their creative and innovative approaches to research and education, focusing on the following key issues: Industrial Application, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Ethical Value, Student Mobility and Openness, Crisis Management, and Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The 2023 WURI rankings were announced during the 3rd Annual Conference of the Hanseatic League of Universities (HLU) hosted by the Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida, USA last May 17, 2023.

The WURI Conference 2023 is organized by the Institute for Policy and Strategy on National Competitiveness (IPSNC) and co-sponsored by four global institutions: the HLU with the Institute for International Policy Studies (IPS) of South Korea, The Taylor Institute at Franklin University Switzerland, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

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Heres what happened locally on May 24 over the past century, as reported in this newspaper, which went from being called the Henry Bulletin to the Daily Bulletin to the Martinsville Bulletin:

100 years ago: The Whitmell Country Life Conference to be held Friday and Saturday of this week is the second conference of this type to be held at Whitmell and is the second time such a conference has been held in a rural district. Through Mr. F.C. Beverly, the conference was brought to Whitmell three years ago.

75 years ago: The Lee Telephone Co. was distributing new directories today to its total of 8,040 subscribers. Of the total 4,678 telephones are connected with the Martinsville exchange, which is an increase of 308 new telephones since the first of the year.  The telephone book shows there are 2,167 telephones in Martinsville residences. Of this total, 290 homes have extension. The city has 1,686 business telephones, and there is a total of 535 business and residential telephones in rural lines out of the Martinsville exchange.

50 years ago: A director has been hired and other staff members are being selected for ANCHOR (A New Chance Organization) House for troubled youths at Cleveland Avenue and Brown Street. The house is expected to open June 15. The house will serve Martinsville, Henry and Patrick counties. John Luther Williams will direct the home.

25 years ago: Jeff Young was the feature race winner at Oak Level Raceway Friday night on his home track. Young took the Limited Late Model Stock Event, finishing ahead of Melvin Compton and Sammy Cooke. Jon Turner was the Mini-Stock division winner, followed by Jay Foley and T.A. Gauldin. The Dirt Dobber race wehnt to Jimmy Hardy, with Deborah Smith second and Mike Hopkins third. Pee Wee Turner won the Super Street division, followed by the car of Paul Hancock and Danny Davis. In the Springs 550 event, Barry Belcher came in first, with Donnie Amos second and Peton Sellersa third.
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ASHEVILLE  Air travelers across western North Carolina will be able to book nonstop flights to the Mile High City starting in the early fall.

United Airlines will start booking nonstop flights from Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) on United to Denver International Airport (DEN) for travel starting on or after Sept. 29. The flight will operate on an Embraer 175 aircraft. The addition by United is a result of the organizations ambitious United Next plan and part of a larger United announcement of 35 new flights, a dozen new gates and three new clubs in Denver.

The addition for Asheville Regional provides another big cross-country hub for WNC travelers another directly to the Rockies or for use as a connector to other West Coast destinations.

Nonstop to Denver on United is an incredible addition to the route map at AVL, said Lew Bleiweis, AAE, president and CEO of the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority. Denver is a significant hub for United, and daily service will not only provide great access to and from Denver and Colorado but will also provide easy connections to and from western locations. We thank our partners at United for their continued investment in WNC. This is a huge win for us all.

The daily flights will leave Denver International shortly after 10 a.m. each morning, with scheduled arrival in Asheville just after 3 p.m. The return flights from Asheville back to Denver will take off at 4:30 p.m. each afternoon. Advanced ticket to and from Denver can now be purchased at united.com.

Serving more than 1.8 million passengers in 2022, Asheville Regional Airport is continuing its growth trajectory, and is the third-busiest airport in North Carolina. United Airlines has a long history of providing air service at AVL, and now provides daily service to Chicago, Denver and Newark.
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Interim Superintendent Brian Oliver recently announced that MaryAnn Basney has been selected as the 2022-23 Teacher of the Year for McDowell County Schools.

Additionally, Tina Flynn has been named Elementary Teacher of the Year. Basney is on staff at East McDowell Middle School while Flynn teaches third grade at Glenwood Elementary School.

Basney was all smiles upon the news and was happy to celebrate with her students, according to a news release.

I am so incredibly honored to be recognized as the McDowell County Teacher of the Year, she said. I simply do not have words.

Oliver and members of the district staff visited East McDowell Middle School and Glenwood Elementary on Friday to make the announcements in front of Basneys and Flynns students and colleagues. All of the 15 school winners were honored at the annual Teacher of the Year Celebration held Thursday night at Glenwood Baptist Church. Oliver shared with the guests at the event, Everyone here is worthy of this honor. I want all of you to enjoy tonights celebration because, no matter who is announced tomorrow, you are all deserving.

The faculty at each school in the district selects a school winner each year as part of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Teacher of the Year process. Each school winner is then judged based on professional portfolio, classroom observation, and an interview with the district selection committee. The district honors an Elementary and a Secondary Teacher of the Year. One of those two is selected as the MCS Teacher of the Year and represents the district at the Regional level, according to the news release.

Basney earned her Bachelor of Science degree (Magna Cum Laude) in special education from Western Carolina University in 2013, with minors in math and psychology. She attained licensure as a math teacher later that summer and joined the staff at East Middle as an inclusion and resource teacher. Basney was named the 2019-20 Secondary Teacher of the Year. She currently teaches eighth-grade math.

I love what I do and where I work, she said. My students help me to be the best version of myself every single day and I am so proud of what they accomplish. Our county is full of wonderful educators and I am privileged to represent McDowell County.

Flynn began her teaching career in 2000 as a third-grade teacher with Henderson County Schools. After moving to Indiana, Flynn taught Title I Reading, first, second, third and fourth grades. She earned her degree from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and K-6 elementary education licensure.

I am honored and humbled to be recognized among so many outstanding teachers in McDowell County and my colleagues at Glenwood Elementary, she said. I am so proud to be a small part of the great things we collectively do for the kids in our school system.

Basney will represent the district at the NW Regional level in November, according to the news release.
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The Old Fort Board of Aldermen recently agreed to hold a public hearing on Monday, June 12, about the proposed $1,676,500 budget for 2023-24. The plan for next fiscal year doesnt call for an increase in the towns property tax rate.

At the regular meeting on Monday, May 15, the Old Fort aldermen talked about the budget for next fiscal year of 2023-24. The $1.67 million budget is reduced by $140,000 due to the towns participation in the Fonta Flora Trail Head project. When completed, the Fonta Flora Trail will run 100 miles from Morganton to Asheville, and will include Glen Alpine, Marion, Old Fort and Black Mountain. It will connect with other hiking and biking trails along the lake and river, through the mountains and into downtowns.

Old Forts cost on the trail heads park is $100,000 and the town purchased the property for it from owner Gary Jones. The town already has appropriated the cost in the current budget, said Town Clerk/Finance Officer Renee Taylor.

The proposed budget doesnt call for a property tax increase. But it does call for increases in the water and sewer rates.

Town employees will be getting a cost-of-living raise. But the amounts of the raises vary depending on the supervisor recommendations. The proposed budget does not have any capital purchases budgeted, but there are some repairs at the towns sewer treatment plant and wells, according to town officials.

During the regular meeting, aldermen agreed to have the public hearing on the budget during the June 12 meeting, as required by state law. Like all other local governments in North Carolina, Old Fort has to adopt a budget by June 30.

In other business, the board:

Adopted the water shortage response ordinance.

Adopted the municipal accounting services, cybersecurity and technical assistance memorandum of agreement resolution.

Adopted the agreement for purchase and support of application software. The software is being supplied by the N.C. League of Municipalities. The software is Black Mountain Software. The town will be responsible for the software agreement after three years.

Talked about the bids for the Fonta Flora Trail Head work. They were opened on Thursday, May 11, with Baker Grading and Landscaping being the lowest bidder. Alderman Wayne Stafford made the motion for the town to enter into a contract with Baker Grading and Landscaping for the construction of the trail head. Alderman Erin Adams seconded this motion and it was approved unanimously.

Talked about getting requests for qualifications from engineering firms. Three engineering firms that responded to the towns request. Alderman Wayne Stafford made the motion to accept WithersRavenel of Cary and McGill Associates of Asheville for the towns engineering services. The board also decided to give Alderman Melvin Lytle authority to sign work orders as necessary for completion of the projects. These motions were approved unanimously.

Heard from Lewana Keaton who spoke to the Board of Aldermen about regulations for signage placed on buildings for businesses. Mayor Rick Hensley told her she would have to go by the rules in McDowell Countys signage ordinance.

Heard from an update from Hensley who said the town was still waiting for a letter from Auria about the reserve from the 500,000 gallons of water for fire protection.

Heard an update about Andrews Geyser. All studies have been completed for the geyser to be added to the National Register of Historic Places and construction should start soon on a new pipe under the creek.

Appointed Alderwoman Erin Adams as the towns representative on the board of the Foothills Regional Commission.

Held a closed session about an economic development matter. No action was taken.
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In March, I had the great opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to chaperone my daughters eighth-grade field trip. I have read and talked a lot about the nations capital over the years, but had not visited in some time. It was a well-planned and purposeful week. I believe each of the students and adult chaperones received some things from it.

One afternoon, we visited Arlington National Cemetery. After being screened at the visitors center, we began the walk up the series of hills to the restored plantation house belonging to the Lee family. While walking, I noticed soldiers in their dress uniforms. People often forget Arlington is a working cemetery each day.

My group journeyed first to the grave of President Kennedy. The hills are steep and plotted with graves in every direction. I looked to my left and saw a gleaming white horse off in the distance. It seemed like something out of a fairy tale until I noticed the caisson attached to the animal and some troops with a family processing not far behind. As we toured, a funeral was just beginning.

It was simply a beautiful spring day for someone to come home to their final resting place.

The moment provided a respectful pause. I certainly did not know the individual, but I have examined war and conflict with my students over the years. I have interviewed veterans and taught several in various courses. I confess that I do not know enough about their struggles. The funeral procession, done with honor and dignity, put a lump in my throat. It was an honor to be present; watching someones final ride.

My group finished our time at the Eternal Flame with President Kennedy and walked down past the graves of his brothers. We continued up the hill toward the mansion. As with tours, we were crunched for time and needed to be at the top of another hill at the Veterans Amphitheater for the ceremonial changing of the guard.

Yet, as we walked, I began to hear sounds of gunfire. The funeral was finishing with the gun salute and, soon after, the sound of taps waffled through the breeze. I stopped to honor the individual and the family as tourists walked back and forth. Out of respect, I stayed in my spot in the middle of the road until the trumpet finished.

All across the country this weekend, people will remember. Memorial Day is for the living to remember the individuals who willingly sacrificed their lives so the rest of us can continue to sleep safe at night in a free county. Their service and sacrifice remains emblematic of a country where rights and choices matter.

Walking Arlington National Cemetery is a constant reminder about freedom not being free. Liberty constantly costs the lives of people who willingly choose to preserve it for the rest of us. Freedom costs families who lose loved ones in defense of their communities and country.

Lincolns note of these honored dead rings constantly true from his Gettysburg Address. There are not many other words to properly describe the commitment and sacrifice of a warrior.

I stood there on the famous hill listening to taps and those things were not lost on me. Here was another warrior, or a warriors spouse, going the final distance. Yes, I felt pride just thinking about the many commitments the individual must have made. He or she gave things up in their acts of service. They measured the costs of their actions. They battled other situations which came up in the courses of their journey. They must have loved. Judging from the family walking behind the caisson, they were loved well.

American soldiers are honored all over the world in American cemeteries in places from the Philippines to North Africa. This weekend, their graves will definitely be decorated and visitors will pass by their markers and be reminded of how special each of them are.

We do not just remember them for their sacrifice, we remember them as people with a heart, and a brain, and dreams with some measure of honor and valor. Their lives were taken from them in defense of some greater things.

As taps lingered off over the hills, I mourned, but I kept moving. I knew I had more journeys to take because the individual down below made some of my journeys possible by defending me in some way.

The funeral became a solemn act for many reasons. That life  a testament to service. As people kept moving among the funeral, I wondered how many of them were thinking the way I was. I hope they were thinking similar things.

Because we must never forget.
The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo urged Tuesday the armed forces to ensure security in the country during the electoral process, and until the inauguration of the deputies to be chosen in the parliamentary elections on June 4.

Sissoco Embalo was speaking to the military, on parade, at the General Staff of the Armed Forces, at the headquarters, at Amura Fortress, in the center of Bissau. Accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Biague Na Ntan, the Guinean President said he was visiting the place as commander-in-chief and not as a politician, to see former colleagues again.

Umaro Sissoco Embalo served the Guinean Armed Forces in the 1990s. I came to talk to my comrades in the trenches, to tell them to stay away from politicians because all the uprisings that have happened in this country have been promoted by politicians, but those who end up paying are us, the military, said Embalo. Addressing General Biague Na Ntan, the President urged him to urge all elements of the Armed Forces to work to ensure that the electoral process runs smoothly until the new deputies are sworn in.

I have charged the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces to make sure that things run smoothly. I think that the elections will be fair, free, and transparent, and whoever loses will know how to respect the expression of the will of the majority, observed Sissoco Embalo.

The Guinean President took the opportunity to clarify that he is not involved in the electoral campaign, because he is an arbitrator of the process and that no one has seen him with the jersey on or calling for the vote for a particular party.

Umaro Sissoco Embalo considered that perhaps some parties are misinterpreting his words during the ongoing election campaign, which is scheduled to end on June 2nd. In an open letter addressed today to the head of state, the electoral coalition Inclusive Alliance Platform (PAI)  Terra Ranka demanded the President of Guinea-Bissau to stop interfering in the electoral campaign and comply with the law. Made up of five parties, the PAI-Terra Ranka coalition is led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), whose president, Domingos Simoes Pereira, the head of state has already warned that he will not appoint prime minister in the event of an election victory.

The leader of the Social Renewal Party (PRS), Fernando Dias has also made calls for Umaro Sissoco Embalo to stay away from the election campaign because they are not elections to choose the President of the Republic. The Head of the Guinean Armed Forces, General Biague Na Ntan, assured that nothing will happen during the electoral process and promised peace and tranquility in Guinea-Bissau.
The Sao Tomean Government wants to reduce the dependence of more than 80% on foreign aid to finance the public investment included in the General State Budget for 2023, which started to be discussed on Tuesday in parliament, said the Prime Minister.

The document is valued at 3.775 billion dobras, corresponding to about 154 million euros, and predicts a 2% growth based on a recovery in the farming and fishing sector, an increase in the industrial sector, and a boost in the services sector.

A quick analysis of the composition of the countrys revenues reveals the chronic reality with which we have been living for quite some time and which we urgently need to change. Donations represent approximately 40% of our budget revenues, said Patrice Trovoada, in the presentation of the General State Budget (OGE).

To this day the revenue we produce is not enough to make the State function regularly and to finance all our needs as a sovereign country. In fact, we are fed by the riches produced by other countries, he added. The chief executive considered that the situation of external dependence should be at the center of the Governments and the San Tomean Nations concerns. We have to quickly find the ways and means that will allow us to reverse this situation in the medium term, he stressed.

The Sao Tomean Prime Minister said that the OGE expenses will be divided in 18.7% for the Education, Culture and Sciences sector, 18.3% for the States general expenses, 12.2% for Health, Labor and Social Affairs, 10.7% for Infrastructure and Environment, 8.1% for Defense and Internal Administration, 7% for Finance, and 3.4% for Foreign Affairs.
Angola needs one billion dollars (926 billion euros) to implement its Long Term Strategy for the next 27 years (ELP-Angola 2050), announced the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mario Caetano Joao.

The minister was speaking in Luanda, after the presentation of the ELP-Angola 2050, currently under public consultation, to international organizations, development agencies and diplomatic missions.

According to Mario Caetano Joao, cited by Angolan news agency, Angop, this is the amount that the economy will need to make the leap that the Angolan government intends by 2050, and should be mobilized via foreign direct investment, citizens resources and commercial banks.

The governor pointed to human capital (education, health and others), infrastructures (production, transport and distribution of electricity) and diversification as priorities in the new dimension of the countrys economic growth and stressed the need to strengthen pre-school education, up to the age of 5.

The minister said the Angolan government will put more financial instruments on the market to promote agribusiness and highlighted investment in infrastructure as a driving factor for inclusive economic growth, productivity and social development.

The ELP is the basic tool that presents the countrys long-term strategic development options and predicts that non-oil Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow 3.3 times by 2050, from $84 billion to $275 billion (78 billion to 255 billion euros), while the population will increase from the current 32 million to 70 million.

The document also foresees that the non-oil per capita GDP will increase 1.2 times, going from the current 3.7 thousand to 4.2 thousand dollars (3.4 thousand to 4 thousand euros), counting on the support of non-oil exports that should grow 13 times more, going from five billion to 64 billion dollars (59 billion euros).
The Angolan authorities arrested two Chinese citizens accused of drug trafficking and promoting prostitution, for more than three years, in the province of Luanda, announced Monday the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC).

According to the SIC spokesman, Chief Superintendent Manuel Halaiwa, four women of Vietnamese nationality were also retained, one of them 19 years old, in an illegal migration situation and allegedly recruited by the two accused to practice prostitution.

Manuel Halaiwa said that in the residence, located in the area of Zango Zero, municipality of Viana, were found some substances presumed to be cocaine, syringes and some monetary amounts, stressing that three of the four women were subjected to toxicology tests with positive results.

The accused will be presented to the Public Prosecutors Office, while the women will be referred to the Migration and Foreigners Service due to their irregular migration status.

The SIC spokesman said that the women had their passports retained by the two accused, who in turn were also illegal in Angola, with expired visas. One of them had a work visa and the other had a border visa, but both are already expired, it remains to be seen what activity the citizen with the work visa was connected to, said Manuel Halaiwa.
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When we hear or read a string of words, we are unconsciously making predictions about what's coming next. That's much like what AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard do. At root they are predicting what the next word should be in their responses, with human-like accuracy.

Large language model AIs and human brains are fundamentally different, but that doesn't mean that AIs don't have a role in understanding the human brain. Gina Kuperberg, the Dennett Stibel Professor of Cognitive Science and professor of psychology, studies language comprehensionhow the brain makes sense of language. She and her colleagues use AI to help understand human cognition.

"As I'm speaking to you right now, you're taking every single word and you're incrementally building up meaning from the combination of words that I'm using," she told me. "You're doing that really quickly. You're not waiting until the end of each sentence or each clause to do that. You're doing that as you're going along, and based on your interpretation, you're predicting what I'm going to say next."

In her research, she is trying to figure out the neurobiology of that mechanism, where in the brain it takes place, how quickly it happens, and precisely how it happens.

Tufts Now spoke with Kuperberg, who is also a psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, to learn more about language and learning.

Tufts Now: What similarities and differences are there between large language model AI chatbots and humans in terms of learning languages?

Gina Kuperberg: A large language model is trained with very, very large bodies of text. It's trained to predict upcoming words. In doing so, it picks up the statistical contingencies, the very complex higher-order relationships between words.

Our brains are constantly predicting the next word, too, and our brains are very good at picking up statistical contingencies and very complex higher order relationships between words.

So in one sense, you could say the reason why these large language models are so successful is because they capitalize on something that our brains do all the time. But just because these chatbots can predict the next word and perform so well doesn't necessarily mean that the precise mechanisms by which they do that are the same as those used by the human brain.

Is there anything that cognitive neuroscientists can learn from these AIs to understand the human brain?

Well, it may be that they are learning similar representations to the human brain, and that may tell us something. But it's also important to recognize that, even though these large language models produce language so well, the precise computational mechanism by which they get there are quite different from those used by the human brain.

We know quite a lot about the neurobiology of cognitive processes, including language in the brain. And we also know quite a lot about how these large language models are constructed. And they're very different.

For example, in the human brain, with different layers of cortical structure, we know that there's constant interaction and feedforward and feedback interactions between these different layers.

And we know that the state-of-the-art language models like ChatGPT, the transformer-based language models, don't have feedback interactions between layers. They're wired differently from the human brain.

So just because you can get a really good end result with themand we can use that to try and understand human language comprehension and productionthat doesn't that we can make claims about the precise connectivity and the precise mechanisms by which it reaches that end goal.

Do you use these AIs in your research?

We use them more as a tool to try and understand how the brain works. For example, we know that the brain predicts upcoming words, so we use ChatGPT to predict upcoming words and then look to see how the predictability of each upcoming word correlates with brain activity.

For another project in my lab, we're looking at produced speech, and we're looking to see the similarities between ChatGPT predictions of each word that someone produces and what the brain produces.

We're also seeing whether the predictability of each word produced by people with schizophrenia is reduced compared to our controls. And then we're also giving the language model progressively less context to see whether that makes a difference.

I'm curious about the work that you're doing with schizophreniacan you explain that a bit more?

Speech produced by people with schizophrenia, which is a severe mental disorder, can in some patients be characterized by what's known as thought disorder. That means that their language can be disorganized and difficult to understand.

We're trying to figure out whether we can describe the speech produced by people with schizophrenia in terms of reduced predictability, and whether people with schizophrenia predict on the basis of global or more local context. A large language model is ideal for testing this hypothesis. My graduate student Tori Sharpe is leading the project.

We have access to speech samples produced by people with schizophrenia in their very first episode of psychosis as they're describing pictures, and we can assess the predictability of each word that they produce. We find that predictability of each word is reduced in schizophrenia.

That's interesting, but what's more interesting is that, based on only the local context, people with schizophrenia produce language that is just as predictable as the language produced by people without schizophrenia. The way that we were able to figure this out is by giving the large language model different amounts of context to make its prediction.

When you give the model words 150, and estimate the predictability of word 51, and then compare people with and without schizophrenia, you find that the people with schizophrenia produce less predictable words. But if you give the model words 42 to 49, and use this limited context to estimate predictability, then it turns out that there is no difference between the predictability of the people with schizophrenia and healthy controls.

That's important, because it tells us that people with schizophrenia are able to predict the next word based on local rather than global context. That's been a hypothesis in the research for a while, but now with large language models, we can systematically test it.

Is that related to memorythat people with schizophrenia can't hold words one through 41 in short-term memory, only words 42 to 49?

It may well be related to their working memory, but that's still an open question. In our current research with one measure of short-term working memory, we saw no difference. It may be a more specific kind of verbal working memory that is impaired in patients. We also found that the local versus global difference predicted the degree of thought disorder within the patient group, which is important because it provides a way to operationalize this clinical symptom.

Are there other uses of AIs in your research?

A grad student in my lab, Samer Nour Eddine, is developing a "toy" language model based on the principles of an algorithm known as predictive coding. The nice thing about toy language models is that, unlike large language models where the inner workings are somewhat obscure, you can understand how they work and tweak their precise mechanisms and algorithms.

The predictive coding algorithm has been very successful in explaining important phenomena in the human visual system. What Samer did was to use the precise architecture and algorithm of predictive coding to simulate a neural signature called the N400, which is highly sensitive to the predictability of each incoming word. When you get an incoming word that is unpredictable, the N400 is large, but it gets smaller and smaller as words become more and more predictable.

Samer has used predictive coding to simulate this N400 effect. There's no way a large language model can do that. A large language model can describe the sensitivity of this N400 effect to predictability, but it can't simulate its time coursethe rise and the fall of the N400 over time and it can't simulate other factors that the N400 is sensitive to.

What's cool about predictive coding is that it's biologically and cognitively plausibleit was first used to describe phenomenon and the visual system. It has lots of feedforward and feedback connections across layers just like the human brain. I think some people are trying to develop large language models based on predictive coding principles, but it is quite different from the state-of-the-art things like ChatGPT, whose architecture is quite different from a predictive coding architecture.

Some people are alarmed by chatbots' abilities. You seem to be using them in useful ways in your research. What is your general take?

It's just like anything, isn't it? When paper first came into use, Plato was alarmed; he thought people would use it unwisely and it would destroy the brain's ability to think and use memory.

I think one should certainly be alarmed in terms of large language models being unprecedented tools for disseminating misinformation. But there are always amazing uses for new technology and new AI tools.

It's going to change the way people write. It can't change the way people think. It's not going to make us obsolete. So, like the internet, there are really good things to be done with AI tools, and really bad things, and it's up to us to use these things wisely and carefully.
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Abstract. Credit: Journal of Applied Physiology (2023). DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00789.2022

Low-load, blood-flow-restricted resistance exercise (BFRRE), a form of strength training during which a pressure cuff partially restricts blood flow to the target muscle group, has been growing in popularity. New research out of Aarhus University in Denmark suggests that this exercise technique could reduce age-related muscle loss. The study is published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

The ability to maintain muscle mass and function as we age is associated with improved quality of life, metabolic health and longevity. BFRRE allows users to build muscle mass while avoiding the injury risk that comes with heavier weights.

Researchers split 23 healthy, older adults who did not typically participate in high-intensity physical activity into two groups. One group participated in a six-week BFRRE program, while a group of control volunteers maintained their current daily activity level.

Before and after the intervention, researchers evaluated both groups for muscle strength and endurance. They used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans to measure body composition and took biopsies of the participants' thigh muscles.

The exercise group completed four sets of bilateral knee extensions (until they tired) three times a week under supervision. Researchers calibrated weight load to 30% of each person's maximum capacity and adjusted it three times over the course of the study. Researchers also determined individualized levels of blood-flow-restricting pressure for each participant, averaging 97 millimeters of mercury. On average, a full session took less than seven minutes.

The exercise group saw improvements in multiple measures of muscle strength and endurance, including an improvement in walking capacity. In the biopsies, the cross-sectional area of both slow- and fast-twitch muscles also increased in size. The control group saw no such changes.

"Notably, since these results were obtained with a modest exercise volume and in a very time-efficient manner, BFRRE may represent a potent exercise strategy to counteract age-related muscle decay," researchers wrote.

More information: Jakob Wang et al, Low-load blood flow-restricted resistance exercise produces fiber type-independent hypertrophy and improves muscle functional capacity in older individuals, Journal of Applied Physiology (2023). DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00789.2022 Journal information: Journal of Applied Physiology
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The government has an obligation to ensure that information about the health risks of cannabis use is as equally accessible to the public as cannabis products have become. Credit: Shutterstock

Non-medical cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2018. Although a primary motivation for legalization was to enhance public awareness of the health risks associated with cannabis use, the Canadian government's online resources regarding cannabis harms may not reveal the full picture.

Well-known health impacts of cannabis use include respiratory issues, decreased cognitive ability, psychosis and risk of future substance use.

Recently, cannabis dependence has been identified as a risk for users of all ages. Approximately one in 10 adults and one in six adolescents who experiment with cannabis will become dependent. The risk increases to one in two for daily users.

Chronic use refers to weekly or more frequent cannabis use over a period of months or years. Chronic cannabis users are at risk of more severe and less frequently discussed health consequences. Examples include cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC).

These conditions are rarely mentioned in the media. They are also absent from Canada's online consumer resources on cannabis, despite their potential to be debilitating and, in some cases, fatal. More research is required to gauge the incidence rates of these conditions.

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, first defined in 2004, refers to cyclical vomiting experienced by chronic cannabis users ("emesis" means vomiting). People who have CHS can exhibit reoccurring episodes of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and dehydration, sometimes requiring hospitalization.

CHS is typically divided into three stages. In the first, prodromal phase, an individual starts to negatively react to cannabis, but vomiting has not begun. Symptoms include nausea, abdominal pain, heavy indigestion and lack of appetite. This initial phase can last for months to years, during which most affected people maintain normal eating habits.

Next is the hyperemetic phase, characterized by cyclic vomiting or "hyperemetic episodes." Patients report intense and overwhelming vomiting during this phase. Some find that hot showers or baths temporarily ease their nausea.

The hyperemetic phase continues until the individual stops using cannabis. Once cannabis use has ceased, the recovery phase starts.

Currently, the most informative online resources regarding CHS are hosted on Reddit, in threads such as r/CHSinfo. While cases of CHS are not well-documented, evidence suggests that the commercialization of the cannabis market led to an increase in CHS-related emergency department visits. Increased public awareness of CHS could help address these trends.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as "broken heart syndrome," is an acute reversible heart failure condition characterized by the weakening of the heart's left ventricle, often caused by severe emotional or physical stress. "Takotsubo" refers to the apical ballooning shape in TTC, which resembles Japanese octopus traps.

Although originally believed to be a benign condition, there is a substantial risk of mortality with TTC.

TTC is most common in post-menopausal women, however, studies have suggested a link between chronic cannabis use and TTC in younger individuals. Incidents of TTC in cannabis users are associated with serious illness including stroke and cardiac arrest, even though these patients usually have more favourable cardiac risk factor profiles compared to older, non-cannabis using patients.

While the interplay between chronic cannabis use and TTC remains unclear, researchers have hypothesized cannabis use and stress have similar hyperactivation effects on the amygdala, a structure located in the brain's temporal lobe. Excessive activation of the amygdala and the sympathetic nervous system is believed to be a dominant contributor to TTC.

The cost of chronic cannabis use

Although I research cannabis, I was unaware of TTC and CHS until I heard Liv Wilder's story in episode 135 of the This Is Actually Happening podcast. I reached out to Wilder, who lives in the United States, to ask about his experience with cannabis and these conditions, which he also discusses on Instagram.

When Wilder was introduced to cannabis at age 20, he found a new sense of peace after struggling with anxiety and alienation since childhood. He began using cannabis daily.

After several months, he began experiencing intense nausea and vomiting that would last for hours. Some episodes required emergency room visits, where he received intravenous anti-nausea medication, but no clear diagnosis.

When Wilder switched from dried flower to concentrates, colloquially known as "dabs," the higher dose of cannabinoids increased the frequency of his nausea and vomiting. Over the next two years of cannabis use, his nausea and vomiting became increasingly tortuous.

After a minor, unrelated surgical procedure performed under general anesthesia, Wilder breathed vomit into his lungs during recovery, turned blue and was rushed to emergency.

The apex of his heart had ballooned due to the stress of the anesthesia, years of chronic cannabis use and persistent vomiting. He was put on dialysis and life support, which led to a blockage in his right femoral artery, resulting in his foot becoming necrotic. His leg was amputated while he remained in a coma.

He woke up some time after his surgery as an above-the-knee amputee. Three years of chronic cannabis use had cost him his right leg.

Wilder was diagnosed with TTC, CHS, acute kidney injury and neuropathy in his left foot. He struggled with cannabis and alcohol abuse for 18 months following his amputation, but has abstained from both since July 2019. He is now very active in the gym, and loves rock climbing and camping.

Improving cannabis education

At present, occurrence rates of CHS and TTC in Canada remain unclear. According to the 2022 Canadian Cannabis Survey, one in five Canadian cannabis users reported daily use in the past year. CHS has been estimated to affect one of every 200 daily cannabis users. Associations between TTC and chronic cannabis use are not as well understood.

Providing consumers with a regulated source of cannabis that is not synthetic, contaminated with pesticides, or laced with other drugs is necessary. As a scientist who studies cannabis emissions, I am an avid supporter of legalization. Nonetheless, commercialization of the market without sufficient cannabis education contradicts the goal of the Cannabis Act: to protect the public health and safety of Canadians.

Now that Canada's federal review of the impacts of legalization is underway, it is essential to highlight chronic cannabis use and associated health risks. The government has an obligation to ensure that information about the health risks of cannabis use is as equally accessible to the public as cannabis products have become.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Credit: University of Pennsylvania

Recurring headaches are one of the most common nervous system disorders, with an estimated 45 million, or one in six, Americans complaining of headaches each year. People who experience headaches or migraines regularly are probably familiar with different triggers for their headachessuch as consuming alcohol, increased stress, or changes in sleep quality.

But what people suffering from headaches might not realize is that climate change can have effects on headaches.

How can climate change cause headaches?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, rising global average temperature continue to impact widespread changes in weather patterns, and extreme weather eventssuch as heat waves and hurricanesare likely to become more frequent or more intense. Experts suggest that the stress of these events can trigger headaches.

"Not only can experiencing an extreme storm itself be stressful, but the aftermath, where we have to deal with injuries, destruction to our homes or other property, and the loss of our possessions can add to that stress." said Marilyn Howarth, MD, an adjunct associate professor of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Core with the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET). "This stress can cause people who are already susceptible to headaches to experience them more frequently or more acutely."

With the increase of weather events that cause flooding, like hurricanes and other intense downpours, there is also an increased likelihood that storage facilities for chemicals and other hazardous materials may be disturbed, which could cause spills and leaks that can contaminate the soil, water, and air.

"A number of common chemicals, like solvents, are known to cause irritation in the nose and throat, and headaches, and if a high enough concentration of these chemicals makes it into the soil around our homes, or into our drinking water, exposure can cause headaches in some individuals," Howarth noted. "Individuals may also come into contact with contaminated water while attempting to access their homes or evacuate the affected area, which could trigger headaches."

Research also suggests that rising temperatures associated with climate change have an impact on changing foliage and pollen in some areas.

"These changes can lead to an increase in pollen that already exists in an area, or the introduction of a new kind of pollen in an area that has never seen it before," Howarth elaborated. "People with existing allergies may see them get worse, and people who never experienced allergies in the past might develop them."

A recent study from Holly Elser, MD, Ph.D., a Neurology resident at Penn Medicine, illustrates an increase in emergency department visits for patients diagnosed with headaches following wildfires in California. "Wildfires are most common in the Western U.S., with climate change driving the intensification and length of wildfire seasons. But even Mid-Atlantic states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey are subject to the effects of wildfires," Elser said, noting a "red flag" warning in the Philadelphia region, just last month, resulting from warm temperatures, combined with very low humidity and strong winds, caused an increased risk of fire danger.

What should patients at risk for headaches know?

Elser recommends that patients who experience headaches should monitor how they feel, noting whether their symptoms worsen on days when air quality is poor.

"It is easy for individuals to monitor air quality using the weather app on their smart phone, or online with the National Weather Service," said Elser. "If there are high levels of smoke, pollution, or pollen, patients should avoid going outside on those days as much as possible if they know their headaches could be triggered."

What role can health systems play?

Both Elser and Howarth emphasized the importance of recognizing that changing weather patterns can cause or make a lot of types of health conditions worse, not just headaches. Research shows that pollution associated with climate change can lead to poor sleep, asthma and other lung conditions, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and increased rates of cancer, and that experiencing severe weather can cause anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health disorders.

"In the short term, it's important for clinicians and health systems to anticipate an increase in visits complaining of headaches or other associated symptoms, following climate events like wildfires or flooding," said Elser. "Neurologists who treat headaches and migraines should be sure to consider environmental triggers and risk factors when counseling patients, especially if they are in areas that are impacted by increased wildfires."

Recently, Penn Medicine has partnered with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to create the Philadelphia Regional Center for Children's Environmental Health (PRCCEH). PRCCEH aims to identify and protect the health of children in Philadelphia from many environmental threats and health problems, such as asthma, lead poisoning, air pollution and toxic chemicals and promote and harm reduction and reduction of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Children may be particularly susceptible to climate change impacts such as increased air pollution exacerbating asthma and flooding redistributing chemicals and causing mold growth which can also exacerbate asthma.

"In the long term, it's important for everyone to be aware of the impacts of climate change on human health, and take action to prevent and manage these big climate events," said Howarth. "The more we understand all the ways climate change impacts our health, the better we can proactively develop strategies to care for folks who are impacted as these events unfortunately become more common."

More information: Holly Elser et al, Wildfire smoke exposure and emergency department visits for headache: A casecrossover analysis in California, 20062020, Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain (2023). DOI: 10.1111/head.14442
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A man in Namibia has died of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, prompting the country to declare an outbreak of the viral tick-borne disease, the government said on Wednesday.

Also known as Congo fever, the disease has a high fatality rate of up to 40 percent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"One case is considered an outbreak," the health ministry's executive director, Ben Nangombe, told AFP. "The disease is tick-borne, so it can be considered localized."

The infected man was taken to a clinic in the eastern city of Gobabis last week with symptoms of the disease, which include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, sensitivity to light and nausea.

He was later placed in isolation at a hospital in the capital, Windhoek, where he died.

Laboratory tests on Sunday confirmed it was a case of Congo fever, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that 27 contacts, including 24 health workers, had so far been identified.

Endemic in parts of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, the virus is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals, via contact with blood or tissues during or after slaughter, according to the WHO.

Namibia had previously reported six cases and three deaths since 2016. Its previous outbreak was in 2020.

 2023 AFP
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America's top health official said there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people's mental health.

The top US health official on Tuesday issued a stark warning to parents, tech companies and regulators, saying the evidence is growing that social media use may seriously harm children.

In a lengthy advisory, US surgeon general Vivek Murthy said that while not without benefits, "there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents."

Social media use by young people in the United States is nearly universal, with up to 95 percent of adolescents reporting using a social platform and more than a third saying they do so "almost constantly," according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Murthy's report said social media can help children and adolescents find a community to connect, but that it also contains "extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content," which can "normalize" self-harm and suicide.

It can perpetuate body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and depression and expose children to online bullying while they are undergoing a critical stage in brain development, the report warned.

Murthy called on policymakers to strengthen safety standards around social media and urged tech companies to responsibly assess the impact of their products on children and share data with researchers.

He also advised parents to establish tech-free zones at home in order to promote in-person communication, and to educate children by modelling healthy, responsible online behavior.

The report comes at a time when authorities across the United States are searching for ways to regulate social media use, and curb its ill-effects on young people in particular.

Earlier this month, the US state of Montana banned the use of TikTok on its territory. The Chinese-owned video sharing giant is challenging the decision in court. And in March, Utah became the first US state to require social media sites to get parental consent for accounts used by minors.

"We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisisone that we must urgently address," Murthy said.

 2023 AFP
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One 10 ml vial of 1000 mg ketamine. Credit: Psychonaught/Wikipedia

A new analysis led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) at the University of Florida found a 349% rise in seizures of illicit ketamine by drug enforcement throughout the United States from 2017 through 2022.

The study findings suggest that rising use of ketamine, a short-acting dissociative anesthetic commonly prescribed off-label to treat chronic pain and depression, can increase the likelihood that people who use recreationally or who use inadvertently may encounter an adulterated and potentially harmful version of the drug. The study published online May 24 in JAMA Psychiatry.

"This dramatic rise in ketamine seizures by law enforcement may be indicative of rising nonmedical and recreational use," said study author Joseph J. Palamar, Ph.D., MPH, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health and a researcher in the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU School of Global Public Health. "Unlike illegal ketamine years ago, most illegally obtained ketamine today is not pharmaceutical grade and is sold in powder form which may increase the risk that it contains other drugs such as fentanyl." He further added, "Unintentional exposure to fentanyl can lead to overdose."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government eased prescribing practices for controlled substances so that more patients could use telemedicine and retain access to vital medications. While many patients benefited, the loosened restrictions also gave rise to an industry of pop-up clinics prescribing ketamine online and off label for a variety of mental health conditions, with little oversight of side effects.

"Though the risk of overdose from ketamine alone is low, some people who use the drug report negative dissociative side effects, such as feeling dizzy or nauseous." In addition, Palamar, who has published extensively on the use of "club drugs" such as ketamine, MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy), and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), among others, warns that people who use ketamine recreationally should be concerned about more than the drug's dissociative side effects.

The fear, according to Palamar, is that any illegal powder in the U.S. may be contaminated with fentanyl, just as it is now turning up in heroin and cocaine. He also warns that media and medical promotion of prescription ketamine in recent years is fueling black-market use and availability.

In addition to describing the rapid rise in ketamine seizures from 2017 to 2022, Palamar and colleagues found that the total weight of ketamine seized in the U.S. increased from 127 pounds in 2017 to about 1,550 pounds in 2022, an increase of more than 1,100%. The highest numbers of seizures were reported in Tennessee, Florida, and California, but it is unclear if these states have the highest usage since the location of seizures does not necessarily reflect the final destination of the drug shipments.

Palamar hopes these latest findings will better inform prevention and harm reduction strategies to protect the public from increased exposure to illegal ketamine and possible adverse effects from use. NDEWS continues to monitor the use and effects of ketamine and many novel drugs to alert the public about alarming trends in a timely manner.

In addition to Palamar, co-investigators include senior author Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., MPH, at the University of Florida in Gainesville; Samuel T. Wilkinson, at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.; Thomas H. Carr, at the University of Baltimore in Maryland; and Caroline Rutherford, at Columbia University in New York City.

More information: Trends in Illicit Ketamine Seizures in the U.S. from 2017 to 2022, JAMA Psychiatry (2023). jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap  psychiatry.2023.1423 Journal information: JAMA Psychiatry
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A study led by Brown University researchers has found that a low-impact, meditative movement program involving qigong was as effective as more standard exercise programs in improving cancer-related fatigue.

Fatigue is a common, debilitating and often long-term side effect of cancer as well as its treatment. Researchers at Brown University's Carney Institute for Brain Science found that people with cancer-related fatigue who practiced qigong, a mind-body movement practice, showed clinically significant improvements in fatigue over the course of a 10-week study. Qigong was as effective at reducing fatigue as a more energy-intensive exercise and nutrition program, the researchers found.

The new study, led by Brown's Stephanie R. Jones, an associate professor of neuroscience, who built on work by the late Assistant Professor of Family Medicine Catherine Kerr, analyzed the effects of a regular qigong practice on cancer-related fatigue and compared the results to fatigue treatments involving exercise. The study is published in Integrative Cancer Therapies.

As many as 45% of cancer survivors report moderate to severe fatigue even years after stopping treatment. The researchers note that this fatigue can be more burdensome and disruptive to daily life than ongoing pain, nausea and depression. While studies show that exercise can help improve fatigue, there is not yet enough evidence to recommend a particular type of exercise or regimen. In addition, a moderate-to-vigorous exercise program may feel too intense or overwhelming for some patients with fatigue.

"Our study is important because it is the first randomized clinical trial to directly compare qigong practice to the best standards of care for fatiguenamely, exercise," Jones said. "It would have been hard to predict that people who perform gentle non-aerobic intentional movements would show the same level of improvement as those who go through moderate strength training and aerobic exercise. It is exciting that our findings establish that this is indeed the case."

The study included 24 female participants who had completed cancer treatment (including surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy) at least eight weeks prior to the research, all of whom reported cancer-related fatigue and agreed to participate in 10 weeks of classes.

Half of the group was assigned to take classes in qigong, a Chinese mind-body practice that involves sequences of gentle, rhythmic and repetitive movements as well as meditation. The other half participated in a class focused on healthy living that incorporated both physical exercise (Pilates-like core movements as well as resistance training and aerobic exercise) and general health and nutrition education.

All classes were held twice a week, for about two hours per session, at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. For both groups, researchers analyzed changes in participants' fatigue, emotional health and stress before and after the intervention.

The findings showed that both interventions significantly improved cancer-related fatigue. The improvement levels were more than double the established "minimal clinically important difference," which is the minimal change in score considered relevant by patients and physicians.

The results from the qigong group were comparable to those from the exercise and nutrition group. The participants in the qigong group also reported significant improvements in mood, emotion regulation and stress, while those who had completed the exercise and nutrition program reported significant improvements in sleep and fatigue levels.

Mind-body approaches, which include qigong as well as yoga, mindfulness and tai-chi, are receiving increasing attention for their potential to affect physical, emotional and cognitive healthall of which may be helpful for those with cancer-related fatigue, Jones said. Importantly, the researchers noted that a gentle, low-intensity practice like qigong may offer some of the same physical benefits of exercise without requiring the same level of physical effort, which can be difficult for someone who has recently been through an experience like cancer.

Jones and her team at are now studying how qigong might affect a person's perception of fatigue.

"We are currently also examining changes in electrophysiological measures of brain and muscle activity that occur with practice in each group," Jones said. "We're testing the hypothesis that the treatment efficacy is related to modulation of brain-muscle communication that may be distinct in each group due to the different techniques."

Jones noted that this study of 24 women was relatively small, and that future research could study the effects of mind-body interventions for cancer-related fatigue with larger and more diverse study populations.

This work underpinning this study was initiated by Catherine Kerr, who before her death in 2016 directed translational neuroscience at the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown University. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1995, Kerr benefited from qigong practice and sought a better understanding of why. That interest led to the current study.

"We hope that this study, which was conceived by our colleague, the late Dr. Catherine Kerr, in her cancer journey, sets a foundation for further scientific inquiry on the healing trajectories promoted by qigong," Jones said.

More information: Chloe S. Zimmerman et al, A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial Comparing Effects of Qigong and Exercise/Nutrition Training on Fatigue and Other Outcomes in Female Cancer Survivors, Integrative Cancer Therapies (2023). DOI: 10.1177/15347354231162584
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Graphical abstract. Credit: JCI Insight (2023). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.164768

A team of researchers at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy is reporting that by manipulating TAK1, a signaling protein that plays an important role in development of the immune system, they can slow down disease progression and improve muscle function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

DMD, caused by mutations in dystrophin gene, is an inheritable neuromuscular disorder that occurs in one out of 3,600 male births. DMD patients undergo severe muscle wasting, inability to walk and eventually death in their early thirties due to respiratory failure. The disease is marked by an inflammatory response and death of muscle fibers. Eventually, the muscle fibers are replaced with fat and fibrotic tissue that causes severe muscle weakness.

"Our results suggest that TAK1 (transforming growth factor -activated kinase1) is a regulator of skeletal muscle mass. By specifically targeting this protein, we can suppress the death of muscle fibers, known as myonecrosis, and slow down disease progression in DMD," said Ashok Kumar, Else and Philip Hargrove Endowed Professor and chair, Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, whose results were published in JCI Insight.

"Our research shows that activating TAK1 can stimulate myofiber growth in a model of DMD, with no negative impact on muscle health."

In a previous breakthrough, Kumar's team uncovered a surprising fact: TAK1 is essential for maintaining skeletal muscle mass and that activating TAK1 beyond normal levels can enhance skeletal muscle growth.

For this research, the team designed experiments to reduce or augment the levels of TAK1 protein in skeletal muscle at different stages of disease progression.

"Our experiments demonstrate that depletion of TAK1 activity during peak necrotic phase followed by re-introduction of TAK1 at post-necrotic phase leads to substantial improvement in muscle pathology," said Anirban Roy, research assistant professor.

The current standard of care for DMD is focused on reducing inflammation with corticosteroids, which modestly reduces disease progression, but has serious side effects.

"Accumulating evidence suggests that regulation of immune response, autophagy, and metabolism along with gene correction therapy can be promising approaches to slow down disease progression in DMD patients," said Roy.

More information: Anirban Roy et al, Targeted regulation of TAK1 counteracts dystrophinopathy in a DMD mouse model, JCI Insight (2023). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.164768 Journal information: JCI Insight
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The biology underpinning a rare genetic mutation that allows its carrier to live virtually pain-free, heal more rapidly and experience reduced anxiety and fear, has been uncovered by new research from UCL.

The study, published in Brain, follows up the team's discovery in 2019 of the FAAH-OUT gene and the rare mutations that cause Jo Cameron to feel virtually no pain and never feel anxious or afraid. The new research describes how the mutation in FAAH-OUT "turns down" FAAH gene expression, as well as the knock-on effects on other molecular pathways linked to wound healing and mood. It is hoped the findings will lead to new drug targets and open up new avenues of research in these areas.

Jo, who lives in Scotland, was first referred to pain geneticists at UCL in 2013, after her doctor noticed that she experienced no pain after major surgeries on her hip and hand. After six years of searching, they identified a new gene that they named FAAH-OUT, which contained a rare genetic mutation. In combination with another, more common mutation in FAAH, it was found to be the cause of Jo's unique characteristics.

The area of the genome containing FAAH-OUT had previously been assumed to be "junk" DNA that had no function, but it was found to mediate the expression of FAAH, a gene that is part of the endocannabinoid system and that is well-known for its involvement in pain, mood and memory.

In this study, the team from UCL sought to understand how FAAH-OUT works at a molecular level, the first step towards being able to take advantage of this unique biology for applications like drug discovery.

This included a range of approaches, such as CRISPR-Cas9 experiments on cell lines to mimic the effect of the mutation on other genes, as well as analyzing the expression of genes to see which were active in molecular pathways involved with pain, mood and healing.

The team observed that FAAH-OUT regulates the expression of FAAH. When it is significantly turned down as a result of the mutation carried by Jo Cameron, FAAH enzyme activity levels are significantly reduced.

Dr. Andrei Okorokov (UCL Medicine), a senior author of the study, said, "The FAAH-OUT gene is just one small corner of a vast continent, which this study has begun to map. As well as the molecular basis for painlessness, these explorations have identified molecular pathways affecting wound healing and mood, all influenced by the FAAH-OUT mutation. As scientists it is our duty to explore and I think these findings will have important implications for areas of research such as wound healing, depression and more."

The authors looked at fibroblasts taken from patients to study the effects of the FAAH-OUT-FAAH axis on other molecular pathways. While the mutations that Jo Cameron carries turn down FAAH, they also found a further 797 genes that were turned up and 348 that were turned down. This included alterations to the WNT pathway that is associated with wound healing, with increased activity in the WNT16 gene that has been previously linked to bone regeneration.

Two other key genes that were altered were BDNF, which has previously been linked to mood regulation and ACKR3, which helps to regulate opioid levels. These gene changes may contribute to Jo Cameron's low anxiety, fear and pain.

Professor James Cox (UCL Medicine), a senior author of the study, said, "The initial discovery of the genetic root of Jo Cameron's unique phenotype was a eureka moment and hugely exciting, but these current findings are where things really start to get interesting. By understanding precisely what is happening at a molecular level, we can start to understand the biology involved and that opens up possibilities for drug discovery that could one day have far-reaching positive impacts for patients."

More information: Hajar Mikaeili et al, Molecular basis of FAAH-OUT-associated human pain insensitivity, Brain (2023). DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad098 Journal information: Brain
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:

Generation of Kif5ac.3005+1G>A mouse.A. Point mutation c.3005 + 1 G > A at the 3 exon 27 splice junction was introduced using CRISPR-Cas9. The gRNA sequence followed by PAM was also part of the genetically edited site conserved in human and mouse. The mutation introduced is predicted to have a novel KIF5A C-terminal only 13 amino acids different from the human counterpart.B. Sanger sequence chromatograms for WT, HET and HOM animals. In the HET chromatograph, R represents the base A or G.C. RT-PCR and Rsa1 restriction confirmed the loss of exon 27 in mRNAs from HET mice. Sample genotyping results shown.D. Survival of HET and HOM mice was comparable to WT mice in a 36-month analysis (Blue: WT n = 68; Red: HET n = 142; Gray: HOM n = 50, p = 0.835).E. Weight evaluation showed no difference between WT (blue) versus HET (red), with males (closed circles) of both genotypes weighing more than the females (open circles). n  10 per sex per group. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)Blue = WT; Red = HET; Black = HOM. Credit: Neurobiology of Disease (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106148

A study by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine used a newly developed mouse model to examine the possible role of a gene called KIF5A in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Normally, KIF5A codes for a protein that transports essential molecules forward along an axon, or nerve fiber. Genome-wide association studies have linked a variant (i.e., mutation) of KIF5A to ALS. This study examined how this variant might contribute to the development of the disease.

"Our findings could lead to a better understanding of how ALS develops in people who have this mutation," said principal investigator Stephen Kolb, MD, Ph.D., professor of neurology and biological chemistry and pharmacology at Ohio State.

Kolb and his colleagues developed the animal model that incorporates an altered version of the mouse Kif5a gene called "Kif5a variant (c.3005+1G>A)." At one year of age, both animals that had one copy (heterozygous) and two copies (homozygous) of the gene showed normal survival, weight and motor function.

When subjected to nerve injury, however, both heterozygous and homozygous animals showed delayed repair of motor units (neurons and the group of muscle fibers they innervate) compared to mice with normal Kif5a genes.

After two years, aged mutated mice showed even poorer repair of motor units following injury, suggesting that Kif5a variants and age work together to reduce the ability of axons to repair motor units after injury.

The researchers reported their findings in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.

"Humans who have ALS-associated KIF5A variants appear healthy for decades before the onset of symptoms," Kolb said. "Our findings suggest that the onset of disease in these individuals might result from the accumulation of stressors such as nerve damage and changes due to aging, resulting in a failure by axons to repair the damage and maintain motor units."

Kolb added, "Our knock-in splice mutation is more representative of ALS mutations found in clinical settings, but it does not exhibit the motor-neuron degeneration that is characteristic of ALS. This is a perennial challenge in ALS research."

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive loss of muscle control and eventual paralysis. Individuals lose muscle strength and the ability to move, speak, eat and breathe.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 5,000 new cases of ALS are diagnosed each year in the United States, with most people living two to five years after symptoms develop. The cause of ALS is unknown.

More information: Kelly A. Rich et al, Impaired motor unit recovery and maintenance in a knock-in mouse model of ALS-associated Kif5a variant, Neurobiology of Disease (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106148 Journal information: Neurobiology of Disease
Minister of State Malcolm Noonan TD today announced that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is ready to move forward with the reintroduction of the Osprey to Ireland in summer 2023.

Osprey are a magnificent fish-eating bird of prey that became extinct in Ireland many years ago. The NPWS has been researching and preparing for the potential reintroduction of these birds for a number of years and now expects to reach a significant milestone with the arrival of the first 12 Osprey chicks in July. The reintroduction programme aims to establish a viable, free-ranging Osprey population that eventually breeds in Ireland.

The project has been led by a highly experienced NPWS team, headed up by Divisional Managers Dr Phillip Buckley and Eamonn Meskell, who also led and delivered the ongoing and highly successful White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Programme in Ireland. The experience gained and knowledge acquired during the Eagle programme will be of great benefit to the Osprey Reintroduction Programme.

Commenting on the preparations for the chicks arrival, Minister Noonan said:

The NPWS plans to bring 50-70 Osprey chicks to Ireland from Norway over a five-year period. NPWS has drawn on international expertise and learning from around Europe and North America in the development of this programme. In particular, the project has the direct involvement of colleagues from Norway and UK, who are not only top Osprey experts, but who have led and supported other key species-reintroduction programmes in Europe. The NPWS has great expertise from its introduction of the white-tailed eagle and the same, highly experienced team will now put their knowledge to good use as we embark on the reintroduction of the Osprey.

As part of a programme of events celebrating National Biodiversity Week, Minister Noonan visited some of the nesting platforms currently in place for migratory Osprey who sometimes visit Ireland. New nesting platforms are being erected in Irelands Southeast, on a key migratory route for Osprey between Northern Europe and Africa. They will be in place and ready for the arrival of the chicks this summer.

NPWS Divisional Manager Eamonn Meskell continued:

In addition to the holding pens at the release sites, artificial eyries will also be constructed in the release area. The details of construction of holding pens and artificial next sites, feeding and care of birds, their transport and release are based on extensive experience with other Osprey reintroduction programmes, and with the White Tailed Eagle reintroduction programmes in Ireland over nine years. Once the chicks arrive in Ireland well be monitoring their progress and adapting their feeding regime to build towards their eventual release over the summer.

Dr Philip Buckley, NPWS Divisional Manager for the South West Division said:

We are extremely grateful to the authorities and colleagues in Norway for supplying the young Ospreys, and for their expertise which is enabling this landmark conservation programme to happen. Likewise to the farmers and landowners involved and also to many others from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain, elsewhere in Europe and indeed internationally who are providing expertise or helping with this work; their help is critical and much appreciated.

Ospreys became extinct in Ireland 150 years ago. They have a long heritage in Ireland, with several place names around Ireland, particularly in Munster, referencing the bird. For example, Killarney National Park is home to a site known as Osprey Rock at Loch Leinn pointing to the birds history in Ireland, particularly close to rivers and lakes as it hunts for fish. While the programme may take some time for the species to begin breeding again, the reintroduction of this fish-eating apex predator will provide significant insights into the health of the Irish ecosystem, and its waters over time.

ENDS

Notes to the editor

Photos of Osprey attached for use.

NPWS Project heads can be made available for interview on request.

Key information about Osprey (source: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds RSPB)

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/osprey

What they eat

Fish.

Measurements

Length:52-60cm

Wingspan:145-170cm

Weight:1.2-2kg

Identifying features

Feather colour: Brown Cream/buff White

Leg colour: Blue

Beak: Black Medium length Hooked Powerful Chunky

Natural habitats: Marine and intertidal Wetland

Habitat

The most important habitat requirement is the presence of large watercourses such as rivers, lakes or coastal areas. This ensures an ample supply of medium sized fish near the water surface for them to eat.

Clean unpolluted water is highly beneficial to them.

In areas providing high quality habitat and good food supplies you can get many congregating together.

Feeding behaviour

The osprey is a specialist feeder, relying on medium-sized fish, both marine and fresh-water. The bird will fly above the waters surface to locate fish, sometimes gliding and soaring up to 70 metres high.

Nesting habits

Ospreys are believed to be largely monogamous, and strongly faithful both to nest and mate.

The nest, called an eyrie, is generally built on the top of a large tree, usually a conifer, but deciduous trees are also used. In parts of their range, ospreys may nest on cliff ledges, coastal rocks, buoys and electricity pylons.

These long-lived birds are mainly site faithful and some nests have been in use for some 20 years, with the birds adding to it each year. The nest is a large structure made of branches and twigs, lined with small twigs, moss, bark and grass. It takes both birds 14-21 days to complete a new nest, which at completion can be 120-150 cm across and 50-60 cm deep. As more material is added in later years, the nest can grow to a depth of 150-200 cm.

Breeding timeline

In the second half of April, the female lays two or three eggs at 1-3 day intervals and incubates them for 37 days per egg. Even though chicks hatch a few days apart, aggression and dominance by the older chick is rare. This asynchronic hatching is typical for most birds of prey.
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Lily Gladstone, a Montana actress, worked her way from home-state theater and independent films to a standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival.

On Saturday, Martin Scorseses new film, Killers of the Flower Moon, finally had its world premiere at months of anticipation, earning nine minutes of applause, according to media outlets.

She performs with luminaries like Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tantoo Cardinal, to name a few among a typically star-studded cast that the famed director can attract.

Early career

First, some background: Gladstone (Blackfeet/Nez Perce) grew up in Browning and East Glacier, then moved to Seattle with her family when she was 11. She returned to her home state and earned her BFA in acting at the University of Montana and toured with the Montana Repertory Theatre in The Miracle Worker. After graduation, she acted in plays and independent films, including Winter in the Blood, a 2013 adaptation of the novel by James Welch (Blackfeet/Gros Ventre) by directors Alex and Andrew Smith.

Her breakthrough role was in director Kelly Reichardts Certain Women. That 2016 feature happened to be another adaptation of work by a Montana author: Maile Meloy. Reichardt translated her short stories of female protagonists into vignettes, with Gladstone starring opposite Kristen Stewart.

After receiving national acclaim for that performance, Gladstone scored a role on the Showtime series Billions, and then in Reservation Dogs, a ground-breaking series from Indigenous creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, she portrays Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, whose family and people have become enriched by oil on their land in 1920s Oklahoma. The wealth makes them a target, and what seemed to be random illnesses turn out to be something far more heinous. Its based on real-life events, chronicled by journalist David Grann in his book of the same title.

Here are some responses after the screening:

A standing ovation

It drew a lengthy standing ovation that CNN estimated at seven minutes, after which Scorsese thanked the Osage people.

Osage reactions

Jim Gray, former chief of the Osage Nation, is the great-grandson of Henry Roan, one of the victims in the book. He consulted with the filmmakers and has seen the film before its premiere. He tweeted his thoughts on the film after Saturday's premiere:

It was excellent. Scorsese even captured some of our humor. The performances across the board were Oscar-worthy, I mean it. I've never seen a movie like this before. No White Savior, nothing needed to be made up. The violence is real and the music of the Osage language was beautifully spoken by all of the actors especially the non-Osage actors. At some point I stopped worrying about the subtitles. But the ending. Oh man, you will not forget the ending. But you're going to have to see the film for that."

Shannon Shaw duty, editor of Osage News, wrote a review from Cannes:

"She steals every scene shes in. Her presence, her depth, her control, the nuances she brings to the role, shes brilliant. In person, shes as kind as she is beautiful. She deserves every accolade she receives."

In a conversation after the screening, Gladstone said: I cant think of another story up to this time that has helped an audience fall in love with a Native woman so that people will [care] about all of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women that we are dealing with now that people dont look for, except for search parties, families.

Rolling Stone

Their reviewer called it an indictment of white supremacy, then and now," and a masterpiece as "brimming with reverence for a culture that survived a horrible trauma as it is filled with exhilarating flourishes, film history references, and explorations of the faultline between the sacred and profane.

New York Times

Gladstones husband in the movie, Ernest Burkhart, is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Manhola Dargis of the New York Times wrote:

With her beauty, stillness and sly Mona Lisa smile, Mollie exerts a great gravitational force on Ernest and the viewer alike; youre both quickly smitten. DiCaprio will earn most of the attention, but without Gladstone, the movie wouldnt have the same slow-building, soul-heavy emotional impact.

The Guardian

Peter Bradshaw also highlighted the dynamics of their relationship:

Gladstone creates a persona for Mollie that is flawed and self-reproachful, with some shame at having collaborated with her persecutor. She has dignity and calm and rises above the squalor all around her, but that calm is also the stricken immobility of illness.

"Killers of the Flower Moon" is slated for theatrical release in October.
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A new documentary, called "The Art of Primitive Survival: Native American Tools and Techniques," will debut on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Johnny Arlee Victor Charlo Theatre in Pablo.

The documentary features Buck Hitswithastick, a Bitterroot Salish cultural expert, who discusses the role of tools and demonstrates to viewers how to make them. In the film, Hitswithastick talks about Native American history, tradition and tribes' connection to land and animals.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Hitswithastick, who will also display some of his tools at the event.

The project was funded in part by the Montana Arts Council and is hosted by the Cultural and Language Studies Department program at Salish Kootenai College.
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The Whitefish Planning Board voted by a 4-0 margin to recommend approval of a developers requests related to an apartment development that could bring 146 units of housing to Whitefish, including 44 permanently deed-restricted units for people making between 60% and 80% of the area median income.

The Whitefish Corridor Community is proposed for 6.55 acres of land north of Edgewood Place between Texas and Colorado avenues, and the 146 units of housing would be divided among seven buildings on the property. Those buildings would range in height between two and three stories, and would contain a mixture of one- and two-bedroom apartments. The land in question is a combination of 2.33 acres of WR-4 high density multifamily residential zoning, and 4.23 acres of WR-2 two-family residential district zoning.

The applicant for the development is Ruis Texco LLC., a company owned by Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruis. Ruis Texco has asked the city for approval of a planned unit development for the project, and for a variance that would allow it to deviate from the citys parking setbacks for open air parking adjacent to single family use zones. That variance would be to allow for the developer to decrease the required setback distance from 15 feet to 5 feet.

Lauri Moffet-Fehlberg, the senior vice president of DAHLIN Architecture, presented on behalf of the developer, and said that the request for the variance in setback requirements is to better allow for some of the proposed multi-story buildings to be situated more centrally on the development site, and thus further away from nearby homes.

City staff had recommended conditional approval of the project in a staff report submitted ahead of the planning boards May 18 meeting. Among the 11 conditions of approval put forward by city staff are requirements that the developer install a crosswalk and improve the sidewalk ramp on the west side of Colorado Avenue, and work with the Montana Department of Transportation to improve the timing of the intersection at Edgewood Place and Wisconsin Avenue. In a report, city staff found that based on the submitted Traffic Impact Study, the increase in delay at studied intersections would not create an unreasonable impact to the transportation system such that safety may be compromised, and that intersections at East Second Street and Bake Avenue, and at Wisconsin Avenue and Woodside Lane, would have acceptable levels of service whether or not the project is developed. City staff also found the development to be in compliance with the citys growth policy.

The board voted to amend one condition of approval, changing the language about buffering requirements in an attempt to broaden the requirements for what buffering should accomplish between the developments parking lot and the homes it will border. The amendment requires that buffering along the edges of the parking lot must be installed to prevent headlights from shining on adjacent properties, and to provide privacy for adjacent housing.

Board Chair Steve Qunell acknowledged that the additional buffering requirements might be redundant in comparison with what the city would already require, but indicated that he felt something more was needed to address the concerns of people who live nearby.

Wendy Compton-Ring, a senior planner with the city of Whitefish, explained that in assessing the project, staff noted that a number of properties to the north of the project site already have fencing in place that would separate those properties from the parking lot. She said that with that in mind, staff believed that the primary concern would be headlights shining into backyards, something she said they believed could be mitigated by the required five feet of dense landscaping, possibly involving a berm or low fence.

During discussion, Qunell also asked Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman to discuss the stormwater runoff plan requirements the city would impose on the development. Multiple people during the public comment period expressed concerns about runoff snow melt and water running off the development property and onto their land, something they connected to work that had been done to develop the Edgewood Place roadway.

One commenter, Patrick Davey, said he agrees that affordable housing is something Whitefish needs, but that there are small things with the project that were being overlooked. Among Daveys concerns was the loss of privacy for himself and other people who live on Waverly Place to the north of the development site.

He said one of his main issues with the project is the high watermark, saying that pooling water in one area had created a pond with ducks.

So Im not sure what filling with concrete and just paving over is going to do to me and everyone else, if its just going to push water into all of our yards, or if its just going to be constantly flooded above it.

Workman said soil filling in the area that has already taken place is considered development, and that the citys engineering standards will hold the project to its pre-development figures for runoff. The development will have to meet the citys 100-year storm requirements in developing water treatment, water capture and slow release on the site.

Before casting her vote in favor, board member Allison Linville acknowledged the frustration expressed about infrastructure issues in the city, but said that they cant be pinned on any one project, and that she believes this projects location is appropriate and that the deed-restricted units included would be a great benefit to the community.

I think this can make a big impact on our housing needs in the city, Linville said.

Those housing needs came up during public comment, including from some people who live near the development site and had expressed some concerns about the proposed plans.

Doug Rhodes, who owns property on Waverly Place, said he was concerned about the high-water table and water related issues, as well as an influx of traffic and cars at nighttime.

I think its good that theyre going to provide 20% of (affordable) housing. Thats very good. And I support that. But I think its a very dense project. And Id like to see more landscaping and a buffer between existing residences, Rhodes said.

The planning board heard from around 20 people during public comment, with almost no one explicitly calling for rejection of the project. Multiple people who spoke acknowledged Whitefishs need for housing, including affordable housing, but also expressed their concerns about aspects of the project, including potential groundwater runoff impacts, exacerbation of traffic problems, and a loss of privacy because of the developments proximity to nearby homes. Several people also unequivocally called for the planning board to approve the development.

Shelter WF, a nonprofit focused on housing inequality that formed after the citys rejection of the Mountain Gateway Development, organized support for the Whitefish Corridor Community project, and four of its board members spoke at the meeting in favor of the development.

This development will provide at least 44 real life people with permanently affordable homes and will provide at least an additional 102 real life people with stable rental homes, said Shelter WF President Nathan Dugan. Given that many units have multiple bedrooms, were most likely talking about more than 146 people being positively impacted.

Among those who also spoke in favor of the project was Cameron Blake. Blake is a board member for Flathead Families for Responsible Growth (FFRG), a nonprofit group that first formed to oppose the Mountain Gateway Development. Blake voiced her belief that the city needs to continue to be conscious of congestion and traffic issues north of the viaduct, and how developing with density will impact those issues, but she said that FFRG could support the project given that there is a satisfactory plan in place to address stormwater runoff concerns.

Qunell briefly delved into some statistics surrounding the housing situation in Whitefish as he explained why he would be voting in support of the development. He noted that the median listed rent in Whitefish is $3,000 a month, and that its been determined the city needs 580 new below market rate apartment units by 2030 in order to keep up with growth. Qunell also spoke about the traffic issues north of the viaduct.

As a community we have said over and over again that we support affordable housing. With that comes some inconveniences as well. And we just have to accept that. If we are going to put our money where our mouth is and provide housing for the people that want to live and work here, we are all going to have to deal with the inconvenience, Qunell said.

Also voting in favor of approval was board member Whitney Beckham, and Vice Chair John Middleton.
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A 31-year-old Clancy man has been arrested and charged with deliberate homicide in connection with an early Sunday shooting death of a White Sulphur Springs man in Meagher County, officials said Monday.

Dominic Paul Driscoll is being held in Broadwater County jail on no bond, authorities said.

Meagher County authorities received a call about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, reporting a gunshot wound at 206 E. Baker St., near the Castle in White Sulphur Springs, Meagher County officials said.

Deputies, along with Meagher County Ambulance, found one person with a gunshot wound to the chest and one person with a gunshot wound to the ankle. Both were transported to Mountainview Medical Center for medical treatment, authorities said.

The person shot in the chest was declared deceased at Mountainview Medical Center shortly after arrival. He has been identified as Benjamin Andrew Bullington, 28, of White Sulphur Springs, officials said.

The other person was identified as Dominic Paul Driscoll, 31, of Clancy.

After being treated, Driscoll was arrested and charged with deliberate homicide and transported to the Broadwater County Detention Center, authorities said. Officials did not disclose Monday what prompted the shooting.

No other suspects are involved in this case and there is no risk to the public as a result of this incident, county officials said.

Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Montana Crime Lab and the Montana Highway Patrol are assisting the Meagher County Sheriff's Office with the investigation. The Meagher County Sheriff's Office asks the public to respect the privacy of the families involved in this tragedy while they work through this difficult time.

Anyone with information on this crime should contact the Meagher County Sheriff's Office at 406-547-3397.
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The early part of whitewater rafting season is well underway and will be celebrated at back-to-back gatherings on the Lochsa and Salmon rivers in coming weeks.

First up is Lochsa River Madness, a grassroots gathering on the Lochsa River over Memorial Day weekend. It will be followed by the outfitter-organized Big Water Blowout on the Salmon River at Riggins on June 3.

Rafting is more of a participatory activity than a spectacle, but both of these events offer opportunities for nonrafters to watch high-flow-induced carnage  raft lingo for flips and spills. On the Lochsa, spectators gather at Lochsa Falls, a Class IV rapid that has a knack for exposing the underside of boats. On the Salmon River, rapids Lake Creek and Ruby offer gawkers the best chance to see mayhem.

People show up like NASCAR fans to see folks make big rides or sometimes not make it and see flips, said Roy Akins, a Riggins fishing and rafting outfitter.

Spectators, who line the river in lawn chairs, encourage rafters to take aggressive lines and aim for the boat-flipping Big Easy Wave in Lake Creek and the Pancake Wave in Ruby.

They boo you if you make it and cheer you on if you crash, Akins said.

Similarly, the carnage fans on the Lochsa want boaters to aim for the meat of Lochsa Falls.

When rafting becomes a spectator sport, you can expect people to push the limits on what is normal for having fun on a river, and nothing demonstrates that more than this Lochsa Madness event, said Hunt Paddison, owner of Three Rivers Rafting at Lowell.

Its more of an organic event without an entity managing the show. Paddison said boaters should remember the Lochsa is a serious whitewater river that requires proper gear like whitewater boats and life jackets and cold-water precautions like wetsuits and dry suits.

I encourage people to make safety their priority and be courteous of other river users and to be mindful of the biggest threat on the Lochsa, which is hypothermia, and to be really careful on Highway 12  the semis dont slow down too much.

The river, known for big early season water, is a favored destination for experienced boaters looking to ride the crest of spring runoff.

The Lochsa is like 50 fantastic rapids that vary in difficulty. The river users can increase the difficulty of the rapids as the skill set ratchets up, Paddison said.

Its location along U.S. Highway 12, its general lack of woody debris and dangerous obstacles, combined with its big waves, make it an ideal river for outfitters to introduce nonrafters to the activity.

From a commercial standpoint, with the right protections and a good guide staff, you can offer the general public an experience on the Lochsa with good risk management in place, Paddison said. You can get safety boats out there, youve got good roadside support and, on top of that, its a free-flowing river so it changes constantly. Its very dynamic and its beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

The Idaho Whitewater Association will show video highlights on the evenings of May 27 and 28 at the Wilderness Gateway Campground Pavilion.

The Big Water Blowout was organized to demonstrate that Idahos rivers, while dangerous during the higher flows of spring, can be safely run when people go with professional, trained outfitters. But Akins said it also serves as a sort of diplomacy between the small towns river-based businesses and its traditional ranching, logging and mining base. During the blowout, many Riggins outfitters offer discounted trips. It features other activities such as live music after-parties and a Dutch oven cookoff that Akins said has become as popular as the rafting side of the Blowout.

The schedule for the June 3 event includes whitewater carnage videos being shown from 9-10 p.m. MDT at Riggins City Park. Outfitters will be running short trips through the biggest rapids from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Dutch oven cookoff starts at 3 p.m., with judging at 6. It will be followed with live music by the Scott Pemberton O Theory, a Portland, Oregon-based jam band, at Riggins City Park. More information is available at facebook.com/bwbrf/.
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Gov. Greg Gianforte on Monday signed a bill banning drag story hour events in public schools and libraries, capping off a series of successful bills aimed at the transgender community from the 2023 legislative session.

The state Legislature passed House Bill 359 from second-term Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, on May 2, the final day of the legislative session with the support of most Republicans; the House passed the bill 63-33, and the Senate 29-21. While a handful of GOP lawmakers voted against the proposal, Mitchell testified in support of the bill that the caucus's position is "that there is no such thing as a family-friendly drag show."

Lawmakers had anticipated the bill would face legal challenges. The bill started as a ban on minors attending drag shows, but was heavily amended in the Senate to block minors from attending adult-oriented performances. Amendment sponsor Sen. Chris Friedel, R-Billings, said the change would make the bill defensible in court. Earlier this spring, a bill in Tennessee that recently passed was temporarily blocked in court because it was found to be unconstitutionally vague.

A free conference committee huddled after the Senate amendment to realign the bill more closely to its original intent. The version that passed the Legislature bans drag story hours in schools and libraries that receive public funding and bans minors from attending sexually oriented or obscene performances on public property.

In its definitions section, HB 359 identifies a "drag king" or "drag queen" as a male or female performer who "adopts a flamboyant or parodic" male or feminine persona "with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup."

Drag story hour is defined as "an event hosted by a drag queen or king who reads children's books and engages in other learning activities with minor children present."

Last week, Gianforte, a Republican, signed Senate Bill 458, which defined the word "sex" in state law as only male or female. In late April, Gianforte also signed Senate Bill 99, to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

In response to the bill signings, Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers and House Minority Leader Kim Abbott issued a joint statement condemning the new laws.

Montanans want the freedom to live their lives without government intrusion. Governor Gianfortes decision to sign SB 458 and HB 359 into law betrays that freedom in favor of a direct, government attack on the fundamental human rights of LGBTQ+ Montanans, they said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

The series of bills aimed at transgender people drew a significant public response, featuring some of the longest-running hearings animated by opponents to the legislation. It was during the final floor hearing on SB 99 in which Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat and transgender lawmaker from Missoula, told GOP lawmakers they would have blood on their hands for approving the proposal. Zephyr's seminal dissent soon after extended to protesters being arrested in the gallery and the House of Representatives voting to ban her from the floor.

Montana State News Bureau editor Holly Michels contributed to this story.
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The Golden Valley County man killed earlier this month at his rural home has been identified.

Dennis Murnion was found dead May 15 by county deputies at a residence on Hedgesville Road, about 14 miles north of Shawmut. The Golden Valley County Sheriffs Office could not specify how the 66-year-old died, but Undersheriff Mark Olson said Tuesday his death has been ruled a homicide.

Murnions death was the first homicide investigated by GVSCO since the Kennedy Administration, Olson said. Two people are currently in custody as suspects in the homicide, but no criminal charges have been filed.

GVSCO deputies were dispatched to Hedgesville Road to conduct a welfare check May 15, the Gazette previously reported. After finding the body of Murnion, GVSCO launched a search that included members of the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and Wheatland County Sheriff's Office. Members of the Casper Police Department in Wyoming arrested the two suspects May 16, Olson said.

While the names of the two suspects have yet to be released, they are described as a 37-year-old man and 21-year-old woman. Theft charges have already been filed against both suspects, Tami Allen with the Golden Valley and Musselshell County Attorneys Office previously told the Gazette, and more charges are expected to be filed as the investigation progresses. The two suspects are being held in custody on a $50,000 bond.

Golden Valley County, with just 830 residents, is one of the least populated counties in Montana. Its sheriff's office consists of Sheriff Robert Pallas, Undersheriff Olson, two sergeants, a deputy and three reserve deputies. The last time deputies were called to a homicide was in 1962 when a man shot and killed his wife at their Ryegate home.

Dorothy Ann Wolff, a 40-year-old mother of five, was fatally wounded while struggling over control of a rifle with her husband, Edward Wolff. Edward Wolff was hospitalized when a bullet went through his jaw. Although he was charged with murder following the shooting, according to newspaper accounts, Dorothy Wolffs death was ruled an accident following a coroners inquest.
" " Santa stands on a street in New York City collecting for a Toys for Tots program. UKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images

If you're going through a rough time financially, rest assured that there are organizations donating their time and money to ensure your children don't feel deprived during the holiday season. The U.S. Marine Corps collects toy donations from generous citizens across the United States and distributes them to children in need, through a program called "Toys for Tots." If you would like to register so your children receive gifts, rest assured that signing up online is easy. Ensure that your children have a holiday they'll never forget. Just follow the steps listed below and learn about how you can register for Toys for Tots online.

Go to the website http://www.toysfortots.org/ Click on the button entitled Request a Toy, at the top of the screen. Near the bottom of the page you'll see a message that says, "If you would like to apply for assistance from Marine Toys for Tots this Christmas CLICK HERE." Click on it to find your local campaign. On the Find Your Local Campaign page, choose your state. Next, choose your city or county. You will be redirected to a Toys for Tots website specific to your region. Click on the button titled Request a Toy, found at the top of the screen. Contact your area's coordinator by email, phone call or text, depending on the instructions given for your area on the screen. The website will list the names and contact information of the coordinators. You usually have to live in the area that the local campaign serves. Some websites will direct you to fill out an online form, rather than calling or emailing. Remember to include your name, phone number and address. In addition, list how many children you have, their genders and their ages. A coordinator will call you to verify your contact information. The application deadlines vary by city and state. [source: Toys for Tots ].

Please note that in many regions, the local Toys for Tots doesn't give toys to individual families, but rather only to agencies like the Salvation Army or United Way. So once you get to the local Toys for Tots page for your area you may be directed to contact a specific nonprofit to request toys.

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Originally Published: Apr 19, 2011
In the wake of some of the greatest technological advancements in modern history, the world lit up in flames when it came face-to-face with ChatGPT. ChatGPT, or Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, ascended to stardom within days of its official release to the public. The chatbot can do various tasks that the user requests, from debugging lines of code to detailing facts about various historical events. While minor requests such as the ones aforementioned are certainly within ChatGPTs capabilities, users are beginning to test the limits of the artificial intelligence application by going even further with their demands and directives.

ChatGPT, which compiles the knowledge and information of several groundbreaking feats over the past half-century, has been far from a simple process. The first true development of AI networks can be traced back to the late 1950s when a man from Cornell University, Frank Rosenblatt, developed the machine Perceptron. The engine was the first-ever instance in which a device could readjust itself to construct better projections. After making a prediction before the trial, Perceptron would modify its understanding if its forecast was initially wrong, thus putting it in a more promising position to get other prognoses correct. Although Perceptron was not entirely what people today consider artificial intelligence, the boundaries and concepts that Rosenblatt developed make him widely considered the creator of the first-ever neural network.

Three decades later, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, neural networks had made staggering leaps of progress with better retention of words for a longer period. The year 1997 saw computer scientists create LSTM, or long short-term memory, which continued to strengthen the memorization of data sequences.

From these developments, OpenAI (the parent company of ChatGPT) opened its first language model in 2018, just a year after Google had transformed the AI landscape with their own model titled Transformers. OpenAI quickly released GPT and GPT-2, taking into account new methods of data tracking without manual assistance and further raising the sheer power of the implementation of new knowledge.

In South Korea, for instance, one mans piqued interest in the bot led to a full testing of ChatGPTs strengths. The country has been a pioneer in technology and artificial intelligence for the past 20 years with major companies in the field such as LG and Samsung. Now, attempting to enforce the worlds first bill enabling consumers to create their own AI technology, the nations craze for ChatGPT has led to the creation of a book written entirely by the chatbot. The book, 45 Ways to Find a Purpose in Life, took just 38 hours to write, edit, translate and proofread. The first sale of the publication happened a week after the beginning of the project, a stunning turnaround that could cause worry for authors and publishers.

In Italy, ChatGPT was actually banned over issues of privacy, a move that attracted attention worldwide. While some see the ban as harsh, others see the regulation as a societal wake-up call to slow down the development of AI. Several top minds in the tech field, most notably eccentric Tesla/Twitter mind Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, have asked for a six-month hiatus of sorts in the development of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT for fears of further turbulence. The untapped potential of these widely popular bots can have many effects on daily life, from college admission essays to a worry that personally retaining information will decline due to increased dependence on these applications.

While we are not at Terminator levels of adept artificial intelligence, it is up to our generation to begin to ensure that ChatGPT and similar machine-learning bots do not spin out of control.

Alex Seojoon Kim is a high school sophomore in Stillwater.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Untapped potential: Popular bots can have many effects on daily life
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ATSUGI, Japan  Airman Christopher Armstrong, a native of Mooresville, North Carolina, serves in the U.S. Navy as a member of a helicopter squadron forward deployed to Japan.

Armstrong attended William Amos Hough High School and graduated in 2017.

Armstrong joined the Navy two years ago.

I joined because I saw all the positive things that the Navy has done for our country, said Armstrong.

Today, Armstrong serves as an aviation electronics technician with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 51.

Skills and values learned in the Navy are similar to those found in Mooresville.

One of the lessons that my parents taught me is to have a strong work ethic, said Armstrong. They also have taught me honesty, responsibility and to put in effort to work with people from different backgrounds.

Members of HSM 51 fly and maintain Navy helicopters, which are able to perform many different missions. Some of the most common operations include search and rescue, air assaults, medical evacuations, supply transport and hunting submarines.

This year commemorates 50 years of women flying in the U.S. Navy. In 1973, the first eight women began flight school in Pensacola; one year later six of them, known as The First Six, earned their Wings of Gold. Over the past 50 years, the Navy has expanded its roles for women to lead and serve globally and today our women aviators project power from the sea in every type of Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard aircraft. Our Nation and our Navy is stronger because of their service.

As a member of the Navy, Armstrong is part of a world-class organization focused on maintaining maritime dominance, strengthening partnerships, increasing competitive warfighting capabilities and sustaining combat-ready forces in support of the National Defense Strategy.

The Navy is important to our national security because of our forward deployed ships, said Armstrong. We can take the fight to our enemies at their borders instead at ours.

Armstrong serves in Japan as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces. These naval forces operate with allies and partners to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Service members in this region are part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which has the largest area of responsibility in the world.

As the largest force in our nations front line against revisionist actors, U.S. Pacific Fleet meets this great responsibility with strength, resolve and confidence, said Adm. Samuel Paparo, U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander. Together with our joint and combined partner operations, we are positioned to defend  across all domains  any attempts to threaten our nation, our allies and partners security, freedom and well-being.

Armstrong and the sailors they serve with have many opportunities to achieve accomplishments during their military service.

I am most proud of earning my qualifications which allows me to help my shipmates be better, said Armstrong.

As Armstrong and other sailors continue to train and perform missions, they take pride in serving their country in the United States Navy.

Serving in the Navy means enabling our allies to reach their own goals while collaborating with the United States, said Armstrong.

Armstrong is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.

I would like to thank my mentor, added Armstrong. I remember speaking to him and learning more about the Navy, which is what made me join.
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ASHEVILLE  Air travelers across Western North Carolina will be able to book non-stop flights to the Mile High City starting in the early fall.

United Airlines will start booking non-stop flights from Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) on United to Denver International Airport (DEN) for travel starting on or after Sept. 29. The flight will operate on an Embraer 175 aircraft. The addition by United is a result of the organizations ambitious United Next plan and part of a larger United announcement of 35 new flights, a dozen new gates and three new clubs in Denver.

The addition for Asheville Regional provides another big cross-country hub for WNC travelers another directly to the Rockies or for use as a connector to other west coast destinations.

Nonstop to Denver on United is an incredible addition to the route map at AVL, said Lew Bleiweis, AAE, president and CEO of the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority. Denver is a significant hub for United, and daily service will not only provide great access to and from Denver and Colorado but will also provide easy connections to and from western locations. We thank our partners at United for their continued investment in WNC. This is a huge win for us all.

The daily flights will leave Denver International shortly after 10 a.m. each morning with scheduled arrival in Asheville just after 3 p.m. The return flights from Asheville back to the Denver will take off at 4:30 p.m. each afternoon. Advanced tickets to and from Denver can now be purchased at united.com

Serving more than 1.8 million passengers in 2022, Asheville Regional Airport is continuing its growth trajectory and is the third busiest airport in North Carolina. United Airlines has a long history of providing air service at AVL and now provides daily service to Chicago, Denver and Newark.